So many of us Israelis can hardly speak right now at all. The rage is directed above all at Hamas — and all those who support, abet, fund, arm, defend or show understanding for them.
So many of us Israelis can hardly speak right now at all.
Part of it is the shock. Like 9/11, like Hurricane Sandy and the first COVID lockdown — a sudden, thorough reversal of life coupled with immediate responsibility.
Living in a daze while there is so much to do.
We resist the urge to hide under a blanket. We act, even if it is difficult.
Everybody is a mess. News anchors are a mess. Government officials are a mess.
A high-level diplomat friend texted me Sunday morning: “How are we supposed to do this?”
Just in general. That’s what we’re all feeling.
But as the hours pass, shock gives way to infinite anger.
The rage is directed above all at Hamas — and all those who support, abet, fund, arm, defend or show understanding for them, including those Palestinians in Gaza who support them and those preening self-righteous “pro-Palestinian” Westerners whose antisemitic veil is so thin as to be promiscuous.
Those who prattle on about “genocide” but have no qualms about enabling it under the banner of “resistance.”
What twisted mind considers killing and kidnapping toddlers a legitimate form of “resistance”?
Yet we see so many twisted minds in the West today.
We are also looking for other places to put our anger.
Politically, there is much agitation — for now, muted but certain to break out into the mainstream — about the debacle, the massive intelligence failure, the massive military failure.
Yes, yes. Our leaders failed us. We’ll deal with them in due course.
And then there is the grief.
We are only now starting to see the names, the images, the lives prematurely ended.
Many in their early 20s. But also children, parents, grandparents.
People we know. My son’s best friend and a friend’s best friend’s son.
