I am a Jew.
I spent this past July in Israel. It was one of the most transformative experiences of my life and the culmination of the year-long Diller Teen Fellowship, a global program emphasizing leadership, community service, and Tikkun Olam, which in Hebrew means repairing the world.
Even with everything going on, including the massive protests against the government’s proposed overhaul of the judicial system, not once during my time there this summer (or during my family’s trip there in 2019) did I ever feel unsafe.
That sense of security no longer remains.
Waking up on October 7th, I faced the news of the barrage of Hamas rocket fire by drone, preventing the Iron Dome from activating. I watched in horror the ambush and massacres by Hamas terrorists at the kibbutzim. I saw the murder in cold blood of music festivalgoers, families sleeping in for the holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, people waiting for the bus, soldiers in their barracks, and innocent motorists traveling on a highway, all the while wondering if my family was okay. I watched innocent civilians paraded through the streets with the crotch area on their pants soaked in blood from the vile acts they endured stoically.
The onslaught was indiscriminate, and the few who were spared are now held hostage in sordid conditions where their family can only hope they are alive. October 7, 2023 will be known as the date of death for 1200 Jews, the most in a single day since the Holocaust.
I am angered and disillusioned by the responses of many. Already, politicians are pontificating on the reasons behind the terrorist attack, justifying it through twisted logic that attempts to understand the motives of terrorists who profess they love death like we love life. Elected officials with massive followings, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in particular, have the audacity to remain silent for days throughout this massacre, only feeling it necessary to post when one Jew says something reprehensible. Meanwhile, rallies around the world chant “gas the Jews” or “F@$% the Jews.”
Rather than condemning the worst terror attack since 9/11, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist group in the U.S. and AOC’s primary benefactor, promoted a rally in solidarity with Palestinian “resistance.” On October 8th, before the family members of victims could begin to find solace in a proper burial, protesters marched through Times Square, brandishing banners celebrating Hamas and chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” This de-facto Hamas call to action originates from the belief that the only way for Palestinians to have a nation comes at the complete destruction of Israel–and its Jews.
Many university presidents, who were eager to chime in on every other social political topic of relevance, suddenly feel sanctimonious enough to issue statements that feign moral equivalence or even condone exercises of “free speech” when they call for the mass murder of Jews. The hypocrisy is so palpable you can almost feel it.
Intelligence failures, Iranian support for Hamas, and internal Israeli politics aside, there is no situation where it is moral or just to celebrate the kidnapping, rape, torture, and slaughter of innocent people. There is no “both sides” to this issue.
My friend and Diller exchange partner Tomer, who stayed in Mountain Lakes and visited MLHS last March, has spent the last few days between his apartment in Rishon LeZion, where I stayed with him this summer, and a bomb shelter. His older brother Nir was called up to serve in the army, and some units from his post have already been massacred. My 20-year-old cousin Avigail is also fighting with the army, and my relatives near Haifa have spent far too much time in their bomb shelters since the attacks began that Saturday.
Like Ukraine, Israel is facing a challenge to its very existence. And like Ukraine, Israel will fight for survival. We Jews always think about the phrase “never again” and what it meant to have suffered wholesale slaughter of our community 80 years ago, with the complicity of much of the world in the process. We take those two words seriously and we will ensure that no one will ever forget what happens as a consequence when we are attacked.
When Israel does its moral duty and fights to extinguish the Hamas terrorist organization within Gaza, be prepared for the entire world to shift their unequivocal condemnation upon Israel. We are called seekers of genocide, ethnic cleansers, or any other pejorative to compare the victims of Nazism with the perpetrators themselves.
Please, stand with Israel as it fights to eradicate the menace of Hamas like the world did to destroy ISIS. To the Palestinians who will inevitably be caught in the collateral damage of a war brought upon them by their government, it is a tragedy that they will have to face uprooting or death. But Hamas, who is supposed to protect them, instead keeps their terrorist infrastructure within apartment buildings and their headquarters below hospitals, mosques, and schools. Every drop of blood spilled from this war is their responsibility, their fault, and their choice.
One day, I hope for peace. Today, I hope for the renewed safety of the largest population of Jews in the world and respite for my family and friends in Israel.
כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה,
וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח קָדִימָה,
עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה;
עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ,
הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם,
𝄇 לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ,
אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם.
The Israeli national anthem: “Hatikvah,” written in hopes of a day when diaspora Jews could be safe In Israel
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