I often wonder if part of this insane disconnect we're dealing with when it comes to the US, the UK and our supposed European and other "allies" is that they simply don't understand what war is. They've had some terror attacks, they've had "police actions" on the other side of the world, but within living memory they simply don't have any experience. Even in most of Europe there we're talking only people over 80 who have any memory of what an existential threat and war on the home front is.

To them it's all theories and dogma. War by remote control, something you can just "walk away from" if it doesn't go the way you plan.

An utter failure to understand the meaning of an existential threat on your doorstep, what it means to run from rocket sirens, what it means to look over that border a few hundred metres or maybe a kilometre or two from your home and see people there with their Hamas or Hizballah flags and guns ready to kill you.

The same way they don't get that urban warfare with a terror group firmly embedded in a civilian population will not be neat and tidy, no matter how many precautions you take, no matter if you follow the dictates of the laws of war to the letter, there is no way to just neatly pick out Hamas without causing any other casualties or damage.

I've tried to explain this over and over again to highly educated intellectual friends and family in various Western countries. I get responses like "well, Israel should only have defensive weapons", with absolutely no comprehension what that even means. When I ask them what a purely defensive weapon is they say "Iron Dome!" So I ask them how that could save us from a repeat of the October 7th invasion and they have no answer except to insist that Israel is "overreacting" and needs to be "reigned in". Then I ask who is going to reign in Hamas and Hizballah, if they expect Iran, China, North Korea and friends to stop supplying them with weapons. And of course they have no answer except to say that "Israel needs to calm down and stop the war". Total, utter disconnect with the reality. Totally failure to understand the daily threat to Israel's survival.

Yair Agmon is an Israeli journalist who took it upon himself to collect stories of October 7th. He recently published a book of forty personal stories from that day in the Gaza border region. This is my rough translation of an extract from one of them and Agmon's thoughts about the meaning of Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel in the wake of the trauma of October 7th. "And on October 7th, the morning of Simhat Torah, all this story collapsed before our eyes. My sister Mikhal lives on moshav Amioz, right near the border fence with Gaza. For a day and a half she was holed up in her shelter, together with her family. Nobody came to rescue her. Nobody came to save her from the horror of the terrorists. By a miracle she survived. But in nearby kibbutzim, on that same morning, at that very time, the story was very different. Entire Israeli villages, towns and military bases were all overrun. Soldiers and civilians were slaughtered and kidnapped. The forces of darkness, modern day Nazis of our generation, crossed the border fence and turned the state of Israel into horrific killing fields. In every generation they rise up to wipe us out. That's how it looked. That's how it sounded. That's how it felt. Where was God? To save us from them? Where was He? Where was the Holy One Blessed Be He? Why didn't he come to save us?

There is one story in the book, a beautiful story that I love so much, the story of Ihud Hatzalah ambulance fifty four. It's the story of three Hareidi guys, good time guys, but with good hearts, who decided that their ambulance would drive in to the inferno. All the ambulances were left outside the immediate battle zone. But their ambulance drove straight in. Because they were heroes. They saved over 60 people on that day. Rescued them from the inferno. Saved their lives. It's simply unbelievable what they did. 

And there's one episode, in their story, this episode that I love. This is what Emmanuel says "So we were driving towards the Otef (Gaza border region), and when we get towards southern Israel we notice dozens of vehicles en route with us, charging ahead in the same direction as us, some with gun barrels sticking out the window, some wearing uniforms, some without uniforms, but all of them charging charging charging southwards. 

And we're an ambulance, so we put on the loudspeaker, that they should allow us to overtake them, but still, people are overtaking us! Going to fight! And we get to a red light and we try to carefully go through it, but everyone runs the red light! No one stops. Everyone is travelling onwards, forwards, to fight!" 

And a few days ago I met Emmanuel in a petrol station in Jerusalem. I met with him and his heroic friend to bring them copies of the book and a hug. And when we met I asked him about this scene, masses of Israelis rushing in to the line of fire. And Emmanuel said that it was insane. There was a look line of vehicles fleeing the south. But there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of Israelis rushing forward, in to the line of fire. To fight in Re'im (the site of the Nova music festival). To save lives. To make a stand against the Nazi Hamas terrorists attacking Israel, to shoot them, to say "Never Again". 

Yes, it's true, on October 7th the State of Israel crumbled before our eyes. The Zionist project failed. The Jewish State failed to protect its residents. That's true. It was a total collapse. Stinging. And it is so painful that it's hard to even think about it. And it's hard to write about it. So many people were murdered. So many soldiers fell. So many beloved brothers and sisters were kidnapped. It's true. That's all true.

But, and there is not more important but than this, in all of this shame, heroes rose up amongst us. And I'm not talking about isolated examples, one or two or three people who fought selflessly. No. I'm talking about hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands of Israelis who rushed forward. They had weapons. They had ammunition. And they had courage, to race onwards, like lions, like partisans, like Israelis.

When I stood in the death camps of Poland, way back in 2005, I felt two stories in my heart. One a Jewish story, beaten, oppressed, bruised and defeated. And a second Israeli Zionist story, of resilience, of courage, of advanced fighter plances and tons of self confidence. And like then in a sad, quiet Poland, so now. So today. I like this double story. One story of a state which abandoned its Jewish residents. And a second story of Israeli fighters who rose up to defend their nation and their land.

It's true, the war is not yet over. The hostages have yet to return home. This land is still full of refugees and survivors. It will take entire generations to process the trauma that we suffered. And despite it all - the day that the Zionist enterprise collapsed is also the day that we discovered that it succeeded. The Jewish gene changed. We no longer go like sheep to the slaughter. Even when the army fails. Even when the state seems to crumble before our eyes. We have amongst us countless brave warriors, fearless, who charge forward. This was the most Jewish day we have known. Davka on that day, that was the day we discovered that we are Israelis. ובשבעה באוקטובר, בבוקר שמחת תורה, כל הסיפור הזה קרס אל מול עיני. אחותי מיכל גרה במושב עמיעוז, ממש צמוד לגדר. במשך יום וחצי היא התבצרה בממ"ד, ביחד עם המשפחה שלה. איש לא הגיע לחלץ אותה. איש לא בא להציל אותה מאימת המחבלים. בנס היא נותרה בחיים. אבל בקיבוצים הסמוכים, באותו הבוקר, באותן שעות ממש, התרחש סיפור אחד. יישובים ובסיסים שלמים נכבשו. חיילים ואזרחים נרצחו ונחטפו. כוחות האופל, נאצים בני דורנו, חצו את הגדר, והפכו את מדינת ישראל לגיא הריגה אימתני. בכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותינו. ככה זה נראה. ככה זה נשמע. ככה זה מרגיש. ואיפה הקדוש ברוך הוא שיציל אותנו מידם. איפה הוא. איפה הקדוש ברוך הוא. למה הוא לא בא להציל.

ויש סיפור אחד בספר, סיפור יפה שאני כל כך אוהב, זה סיפור על אמבולנס מספר חמישים וארבע, של ארגון "איחוד הצלה". זה סיפור על שלושה חרדים שבבניקים כאלה, עם לב טוב, שהחליטו שהאמבולנס שלהם ייכנס לתוך התופת. כל האמבולנסים נותרו מחוץ לאיזורי הקרבות. אבל האמבולנס שלהם נכנס פנימה. כי הם גיבורים. הם הצילו למעלה משישים אנשים ביום הזה. ממש חילצו אותם מהתופת. והצילו את החיים שלהם. זה לא להאמין פשוט.

ויש קטע, בסיפור שלהם, זה קטע שאני אוהב. ככה עמנואל אומר – "אז אנחנו נוסעים לכיוון העוטף, וכשאנחנו מגיעים כבר יותר לאיזור הדרום, אנחנו רואים בדרך עשרות כלי רכב נוסעים איתנו, דוהרים קדימה לאותו כיוון שלנו, חלקם נוסעים עם קנה של נשק מחוץ לחלון, חלקם עם מדים, חלקם בלי מדים, אבל כולם דוהרים דוהרים דוהרים דרומה.

ואנחנו אמבולנס, אז אנחנו מפעילים מערכת כריזה, שיתנו לנו לעבור, ובכל זאת אנשים עוקפים אותנו! נוסעים להילחם! ואנחנו מגיעים לרמזור אדום, מנסים לעבור כזה בזהירות, אבל כולם עוברים שם באדום! אף אחד לא עוצר. כולם נוסעים קדימה, להילחם!".

ולפני כמה ימים נפגשתי עם עמנואל, בתחנת דלק בירושלים. נפגשתי איתו ועם החברים הגיבורים שלו, כדי להביא להם ספרים, וחיבוק. וכשנפגשנו שאלתי אותו על הסצינה הזאת, שבה המוני ישראלים שועטים אל תוך האש. ועמנואל אמר שזה היה מטורף. היה טור של מכוניות של אנשים שנמלטו מהדרום. אבל היו מאות, אם לא אלפי ישראלים, ששעטו קדימה, אל תוך האש. כדי להילחם ברעים. כדי לנצח חיים. כדי לעמוד מול הנאצים החמאסניקים, לירות בהם, ולומר להם - "לעולם לא עוד".

כן. זה נכון. בשבעה באוקטובר מדינת ישראל התפוררה מול עינינו. הפרויקט הציוני נכשל. מדינת היהודים לא הצליחה להגן על תושביה. זה נכון. זו קריסה מוחלטת. צורבת. והיא כל כך כואבת שקשה לחשוב עליה. וקשה לכתוב עליה. כל כך הרבה אנשים נרצחו. כל כך הרבה חיילים נפלו. כל כך הרבה אחים אהובים נחטפו. זה נכון. הכל נכון.

אבל, ואין אבל חשוב מזה, מתוך הקריסה הזו, מתוך הבושה הזו, קמו ועלו לנו גיבורים. ואני לא מדבר על יחידי סגולה, על אחד שניים שלושה אנשים שנלחמו בחירוף נפש. לא. אני מדבר על מאות, על אלפים, על עשרות אלפי ישראלים שנחלצו קדימה. היו להם נשקים. היתה להם תחמושת. והיה להם אומץ, לשעוט קדימה, כמו אריות, כמו פרטיזנים, כמו ישראלים.

כשעמדתי במחנות ההשמדה בפולין, אי אז באלפיים וחמש, הרגשתי בלב שלי שני סיפורים. סיפור אחד יהודי, מוכה, נדכא, חבוט ומובס. וסיפור אחד ישראלי, ציוני, עם חוסן, עם אומץ, עם מטוסי קרב משוכללים, ותועפות של ביטחון עצמי. וכמו בפולין העצובה והשקטה, כך גם עכשיו. גם היום. אני חי בתוך סיפור כפול. סיפור אחד על מדינה שהפקירה את תושביה היהודים. וסיפור שני על אינספור לוחמים ישראלים שקמו להגן על עמם ועל ארצם.

נכון, המלחמה עדיין לא תמה. החטופים עדיין לא שבו. הארץ עדיין מלאה בפליטים וניצולים. את הטראומה שעברה עלינו, נצטרך לעכל דורות שלמים. ובכל זאת - היום שבו המפעל הציוני קרס, הוא גם היום שבו גילינו שהוא הצליח. הגֶן היהודי השתנה. אנחנו כבר לא הולכים כצאן לטבח. גם כשהצבא נכשל. גם כשהמדינה מתפוררת מול עינינו. יש בינינו אינספור לוחמים עזי נפש, חסרי פחד, ששועטים קדימה. זה היה היום הכי יהודי שידענו. ודווקא בו גילינו שאנחנו ישראלים.

Seven months on and I can't believe I still have to explain this to so many of our friends overseas who say to me Israel should just capitulate to Hamas:

Israel is fighting an existential war orchestrated via Iranian proxies Hamas (and Hizballah).

Israel is fighting against enemies with no moral red lines, for whom kidnapping civilians is just another means of warfare, for whom massacre and mass rape of civilians is a legitimate means of warfare.

An enemy who gleefully hides their fighters, weapons and rocket launchers primed and ready among their own civilian population in the hope that this will lead to casualties among their own civilian population.

This is not some "police operation" half way across the world like the Americans or British or French fought in Afghanistan or Iraq or Vietnam or anywhere else.

This is right next to us. This is Canada invading New England, raping and pillaging as they go. This is Ireland firing rockets and drones into Wales and England on a daily basis. This is Mexico sending gunmen swarming over the border to burn down American border towns while massacring and kidnapping their civilians residents. This is Germany invading France with the intent of killing as many French people as possible just because they are French and wiping the French Republic of the map.

In any of those scenarios the attacked country would have not just a right but an obligation to its own citizens to defend them with whatever means necessary to save the lives of their people and protect the territorial integrity of their country from invasion.

Except when it comes to Israel the Israeli army is apparently only allowed to protect Israeli people if it can do so without harming any enemy civilians.

With all the good intentions in the world, with all the precautions in the world, it is not possible to fight a war without there tragically being civilian casualties, and this goes double and triple for a war against Hamas which intentionally embeds itself within a civilian population, urban warfare and tunnel warfare of a kind not seen even in the warrens of Iraqi cities.

Israel is doing all it can to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza, and yet this too is condemned. Israel is told by America it can't fight against the Hamas terror battalions holed up in Rafiah unless it evacuates all civilians and provides aid for them. When Israel leaflets Rafiah warning civilians to evacuate because Israel is about to act (and thus losing any element of surprise against Hamas) France condemns Israel for evacuating Gazans from their homes.

It is an obscene Catch 22 situation in which Israel's supposed "friends" in the West are creating an impossible situation in which Israel is simply not allowed to wage this defensive war. The message is that Israel is simply not permitted to defend itself, that the lives of Israelis do not matter and the defence of the State of Israel is not considered legitimate. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, Israel is being squeezed to surrender to genocidal terrorists who openly declare their aim of wiping Israel off the map.

Israel's so called "friends" create a twisted situation where Israel is held to impossible standards and condemned for a war of self-defence forced upon Israel by the Hamas invasion. Supposed "allies" like the US threaten to withold vital weapons during wartime (and according to a Wall Street Journal report are actually withholding arms from Israel now). Canada has placed an embargo on Israel. Belgium is threatening similar.

What does having "allies" mean if they are so ready to deny Israel vital weapons during wartime, during a defensive war of survival against an enemy who declares over and over their readiness to perpetrate October 7th again and again?

What does it mean that the supposed free democracies of the West seem quite at ease with the idea of denying vital arms to Israel at a time of war, at a time when Israel is surrounded by existential threats on so many borders, while Hamas and Hizballah will continue to be armed by Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, will continue to build their arsenals and continue to attack Israel?

Israel is expected to negotiate with the Hamas terrorist organisation which perpetrated the October 7th atrocities. Rather than the world rallying in support of the Israelis kidnapped from Israel and demanding their immediate release the supposed "honest brokers" of the world pressure Israel relentlessly to give in to every Hamas demand, to release murderers from Israeli jails who openly clamour to murder more Israelis, to end this war of self-defence leaving Hamas intact to rebuild its war machine to launch another October 7th, to abandon the people of Israel's borders to more years of rockets and bombardment and the ever present threat of another invasion.

I wonder if this fickle behaviour of so many Western governments is simply their own privileged naivete. They simply have been at peace for too long. Yes, they have suffered occasional terror attacks, but they truly don't understand the concept of the enemy at the door, what it means to be invaded, what it means to have a neighbour, as Ukraine does, who doesn't believe you have a right to exist and wants you erased.

Is the dividend of peace in Europe, of peace in north America and the Pacific that these free countries of the world simply can't understand the meaning of fighting for you life, of an existential war of survival? Are these countries just too comfortable and privileged to get it? If it's been generations, or maybe even never, since you've had to run for cover in an air raid or seen your border towns and cities overrun by brutal enemies do you simply have no concept of what this means?

Nourishing body and soul

 
First hallot and first bread baked after Pesah.

For the refuah of my friend Liora Leah bat Tova, for our relative Devorah bay Nisa Etel, for all the thousands of Israeli wounded, for all of Israel, for the refuah of this very broken world.

Since October 7th it feels like we've baked more hallah then I can ever remember us baking, vast quantities that are used or handed out, not hallot to stock the freezer.

Hallah isn't just bread in Jewish tradition, there is a mystical spiritual element to the act of making hallah, especially in a quantity large enough to take a symbolic biblical tithe with a special blessing.

Baking bread as a spiritual act is deeply embedded in Jewish culture, a connection to the divine concept of creation, of providing the most basic sustenance for both the body and the soul.

Making hallah is a time to pray for the sick and the injured in body and soul, for peace, for mercy on the world, for health, for the well being of our loved ones, for the safety of our children and all the world's children.

The custom is so ingrained in our society that it is more of a cultural phenomenon than a religious one, there is an aspect of folk religion, a comforting practice that comes from ordinary lay people, from families, from communities just gathering together for solace and hope.

Much of the hallah baked goes to those in need, including those in need of emotional support, a comforting food hug to show the many many shattered souls they are not alone. Something to nourish the body and the soul together.

Taking the break from baking over Pesah this year more than any other felt like we were remiss in something.

Baking hallah is something ordinary folks can do in all this turmoil around us, in a world that seems to have veered so violently off course from the one most of us were raised to expect. Something we can do to bring a little warmth and solace in to this broken world. It feels like a drop in a vast ocean of tears, but hopefully it's something.

 Tonight in Jerusalem we passed a demonstration walking past the Foreign Ministry building. Hundreds of people were walking in a quiet, dignified procession holding aloft photos of their loved ones, Israeli soldiers who fell in the fighting in Gaza with the title "Until victory - don't let our loved ones sacrifice be for nought" and similar sentiments calling for the continuation of the campaign to destroy Hamas' military capabilities and end their murderous rule in Gaza. So many posters, so many fallen.

Just a short distance away is the marquee where families of the hostages have a vigil for their loved ones still held captive in Gaza. So many posters, so many hostages.

So much heartbreak.

Damn Hamas.

Time of our Freedom

Throughout my childhood my family were very active in the campaign for Soviet Jewry. I thought everyone had an uncle with a pen that could write in invisible ink who travelled to the Soviet Union smuggling Hebrew books and vital medications for Jewish dissidents captive behind the Iron Curtain.

Every Pesah we had a place setting and an empty chair waiting for our Soviet sisters and brothers to be free to join us.

And then one year the Soviet Union fell and the Iron Gates were flung open. Hundreds of thousands of Jews flooded in to Israel. Our prayers were realised.
The true coda to the story though happened many years later. Pesah 2003 we went to relatives near Jerusalem for seder. My cousin was working as an ICU nurse, she had a shift starting after seder and walked her down to wait for her transport to the hospital.

All of a sudden someone else out for a late post-seder walk rushed over and grabbed my uncle in a bear hug. It was one of the Soviet Jewish dissidents he had visited decades earlier in Moscow. A man he had brought the vital medications for, Hebrew books for.

And here he was, dressed as an openly religious Jew embracing my uncle on seder night in the heart of Israel. And he recognised my uncle whom he hadn't seen since that meeting in Moscow under the watchful eye of the KGB "tail" conspicuously following them.

The coda has another coda because for a couple of years ago my uncle decided to treat himself to Pesah in a kibbutz guesthouse. He arrived erev yom tov to find that he had been assigned a room in a little two room kibbutz chalet. Sitting out in a deck chair outside his room he heard someone calling out to him. Sure enough his neighbours in the nextdoor room where this former refusenik and his wife and they shared seder night together.

I know not every story has such a happy ending. We don't know who of the hostages whom today are held captive in tunnels instead of behind an Iron Curtain are still alive to be reunited with their loved ones. We don't know if the empty chairs that so many will be leaving by their seder will be filled.

But in the 1970s and early 1980s the idea of the Soviet Union falling and the Jews going free seemed fantastically remote. We dreamt of one day sharing the seder with the families my uncle visited in Moscow but I don't know if we truly believed we would see the day when we would all merit to stroll the streets of Israel together.

Seder isn't a celebration of the "happy ending" though. It takes us through the pain and the hardship of our ancestors, their desperation and despair.

Each person must see themselves as though they themselves were brought out of Egypt, to put themselves in the position of those who suffered slavery and persecution to remember also that hope and redemption can come in the darkest hour even when it seems all is lost.

May all those who are missing be found, may all our hostages return home, our thousands of wounded be healed and the souls of all find comfort.

It's not just "rain"

I'm going to mention rockets again. I know, you're bored of me mentioning rockets. What's a few rockets? It's just like rain, right? There's Iron Dome, why are Israelis making such a deal of a few rockets?

Well, first of all, it's not "a few", we're talking more than 13,500 in the last six months.

Second, Iron Dome isn't 100%. It's an incredible system, it's saved countless lives, but it isn't perfect.

For example, during the October 7th attacks the Hamas barrage at Israel's Gaza border region was so intense that a local Iron Dome battery ran out of anti-rocket missiles. More than 3,500 rockets were fired by Hamas at Israel in the first 24 hours of the war on October 7th, as cover for the Hamas invasion. The Iron Dome commander had to drive to a nearby base to restock their munitions and while she was on the road she was murdered in a Hamas ambush. Israel lost an experienced Iron Dome commander and until it was possible to resupply that battery was out of commission.

Iron Dome and Israel's other excellent anti-missile defence systems do amazing work, but they aren't 100%. Each system is a defence against a specific type of projectile, different ranges, different altitudes. And Israel's enemies aren't stupid, knowing Israel has a layered defence framework they attempt layered attacks, different kinds of rockets, different kinds of drones, slower, faster, higher, lower, anti-tank missiles who's trajectory and shorter range make them hard to intercept.

Today in the northern Israeli village of Arab el-Aramshe, right near the Lebanese border, their luck ran out. For months this village has been one of the Israeli communities most heavily targeted by Hizballah from southern Lebanon. Its proximity to the border gives Hizballah easy line of sight to terrorise the residents.

There were several direct hits on the village today, including on their local community centre. While the wounded from that strike were being evacuated another round hit the entrance area outside the building. Fourteen have been wounded, three seriously.

These are far from Israel's first casualties from enemy rocket fire.

For years now Israel has been targeted by thousands and thousands of rockets and missiles, more recently drones, from Hamas, from Hizballah and now also from the Houthis in Yemen.

This isn't rain, it's a growing existential threat which has only increased over the years, exploding into the thousands we've seen in recent months, killing Israelis, wounding Israelis, destroying countless Israeli homes, farms and workplaces.

These rockets were a deadly part of Hamas' October 7th invasion of Israel, keeping millions of Israelis pinned down in shelters, providing cover for the drone attacks which took out Israeli motion sensors and cameras guarding the border fence and herding hundreds of party goers at the Nova festival in to public shelters where they were easily picked off by Hamas gunmen who turned these places of refuge in to death traps. If Israelis had not been conditioned to be so used to rocket fire as just "something that happens" the response to the initial volleys fired at Israel that morning might have been very different.

The potential destruction could of course have been much worse, but this besides the point, If someone is trying to destroy you but you succeed in blocking them most of the time that doesn't remove the murderous intent of those who keep trying to kill you.

Meanwhile Israel has to plough vast amounts of resources, time, people, research and money, into a complex anti-missile defense system. How many hospitals, educational frameworks and scientific research of all kinds could have been funded with this, used to make the world better for everyone instead. But Israel doesn't have a choice, without Iron Dome and other systems we would be sitting ducks for this massive rocket and drone onslaught.

And then this week we had 350 ICBMs, attack drones and cruise missiles fired at us from Iran.

And once again our friends and allies overseas respond with "it's just rain", the anti-missile defence intercepted 99% of the missiles and drones, just ignore it" and "don't respond, it's been and gone, you can always intercept any more missiles". Tell that to the little Israeli girl fighting for her life in hospital after her home was hit by shrapnel from one of those ballistic missiles.

The upshot of all this "don't respond" talk is that Iranian ICBMs and attack drones with their hundreds of kilos and many tons of explosive warheads should just be "normalised" the way Hamas and Hizballah short range rockets have been until now. We should just accept this new deadly "rain".

This is why many Israelis feel there is a need to respond. This time we were "lucky". This time there was a coalition and enough anti-missile defences to stave off the massive Iranian onslaught.

How long can we keep that up now? How many billions do we have to keep restocking these incredibly expensive defences? How many times will Iran now follow the Hamas and Hizballah playbook of gradually testing our defences, upping the number of lethal projectiles until they God Forbid find a chink?

No one wants to talk about it but Israel can't allow this to be normalised because it sets a precedent for more attacks like this and creates an accepted level at which we are expected to just accept that people will shoot missiles and drones at our population.

Would any other country be expected to just accept this?