On the eve of October 6th, 2023, Amir Tibon and his wife Miri thought that all they had to worry about was how their 3-year old daughter, Galia, would perform in her dance for their kibbutz celebration the next day. She’d rehearsed with her kindergarten that evening but no one knew how these little ones would do in front of an audience, even among the familiar faces of their close-knit community. They had no idea that the next morning would begin the most harrowing ordeal of their lives: the invasion of the lush, peaceful green of their kibbutz by hundreds of armed Hamas terrorists who had the mission of killing, maiming, burning, and capturing as many Israelis as they possibly could. Amir and Miri rushed immediately into Galia’s and Carmel’s(1 year old) bedroom, also their “safe room,” a room built to protect them against rocket shelling but certainly not machine gun blasts or fire explosions (many safe rooms did not have locks on the doors). This is where they waited, in the dark, with a few water bottles, no bathroom, food or electricity for 9 hours while they heard screaming and gunshots just outside their door. All they knew was that Amir’s father was coming to rescue them. But when? And how?
This is not only a MUST READ, but should be compulsory for everyone who believes they have formed an opinion about the conflict between Israel and Hamas/Iran/Hezbollah. For while Tibon, a journalist for Haaretz for many years tells his and his family’s heroic story, he also tells the backstory of Hamas, of Israel, of Netanyahu, and how it came to be that we are here in this hideous quagmire in which we find ourselves. He of course tells his own story from his own perspective. He cannot do otherwise. But he tells the historical perspective with journalistic integrity, having done extensive research, interviewed many on all sides, and does so with an honesty that is almost uncomfortably brutal.
What comes to light, is that there have been clear and present signs, over the past many years, that have been ignored, most shamefully by Netanayu and his enablers, that this attack by Hamas was inevitable and imminent. Qatar had been funding Hamas for years, with the tacit agreement -even encouragement – by Netanyahu. While this funding was supposed to go to the civilians of Gaza to improve their lives, to build schools, parks, businesses, hospitals, community centers, etc., it instead went to the construction of the notorious, massive, high-tech tunnel system. Hamas used these tunnels not only to import ammunition and money, but also to hide its planning, readying for this military attack on Israel. And while it did not accomplish all it set out to do, it accomplished the capturing of hundreds of hostages, many of whom are still, a year later, being held down in cages in these dark, dank, airless, food-less tunnels to this day.
And it is clear that while both sides have a claim to the land, and there are some on both sides who seek peace, the years of wars and militancy have pushed more to the extreme on both sides. Even while hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been protesting in the streets against the extreme right-wing government in Israel, there are still thousands of Israelis who are extremists in their own right. Many of the settlers in the West Bank have carried out horrific terrorist attacks on their Palestinian neighbors – a disgrace in the name of religion. But just as evil, if not more so because of scale and scope, is the terrorism that has been ongoing by Palestinian extremists, Hamas included, who have been holding their own citizens hostage, in a sense, using them as human shields, as well as carrying out horrific terrorist acts on Israelis in the name of their religion as well.
Bottom line, this is a fraught, complicated, nuanced issue where many have sought to establish compromise and too many have interfered. Extremists on both sides have refused to accede the middle ground, to see any path to compromise. On the few monumental occasions when we’ve bravely come close, extremists have thwarted these attempts. It feels hopeless.
But all we have is hope, so we have to continue to hope.
There is a solution: there could be 2 states, side by side, if extremists on both sides would lay down their arms and compromise. It would take a replacement of both current governments – Hamas and Netanyahu’s government – to proceed to that ideal. It would take Iran’s government changing and staying out of the current mix.
It might take a miracle to open those Gates of Gaza.
kindread spirits 