Current state of Israeli government by artist Amos Biderman
Quoting our friend, book publisher Gili Bar Hillel Semo, who encapsulated the mood and feelings of many here in Israel:
I can only tell it like I see it, I represent nobody but myself, and I don't have official sources for my information. These are just my impressions of what's going on. And what's going on is... complicated. There is no cohesive narrative.
Entering the third day of what more and more people are calling the "tofet" - inferno. Still in the dark about precise numbers, officially we are now at more than 1000 dead and at least that number missing. This is the highest number of Israelis killed in one day ever. It's more than the total number of Israeli casualties in the previous two decades together; more than the total number of casualties in the First and Second Lebanon Wars together. Many of the dead were young people attending a rave/music festival in the desert: twice as many dead as in the Bataclan attacks in Paris in 2015, more dead just at that one party as in all the suicide bombings of the late 1990's together.
The killings, as I've said before, were indiscriminate, but not random: because they hit locations close to the Gaza border, they hit mostly kibbutzim - known for being bastions of the left, and demonized as such - and the former development town of Sderot, which for decades has been a symbol of deprivation and governmental neglect. Being so close to the border, Sderot has long been an easy target for missile attacks, but it was only with the intervention of the Supreme Court that the State of Israel was forced to provide funds for shielding for educational institutions in the city, prompting MP Simcha Rotman, ringleader of the judicial coup in Israel, to say just this spring in criticism of the ruling: "little kids hit by missiles is not a good look, but shielding costs money".
In other words, this war cannot be judged outside the context of the judicial coup. More and more people are pointing to evidence that the writing was on the wall, but the leadership refused to look at it. Inbar Twizer on Twitter put together the following timeline:
* June 5, 2023: Hezbollah sets up tents in the north
* July 7: Netanyahu refuses to meet with the Chief of Staff for a security debriefing
* July 28: the Military Intelligence Directorate puts out a warning to the PM: Iran and Hezbollah perceive unprecedented weakness
* August 8: advisors to the Chief of Staff advise that he record all conversations with Netanyahu.
Nor has it escaped comment that on Saturday, when the fences came down on the Gaza border, troops usually stationed in the area were… not there. Many of them had been relocated, just days earlier, to patrol in Judaea and Samaria (West Bank); including troops allocated specifically to defending religious provocations in the Palestinian town of Hawara. I know my settler friends feel unfairly attacked by this presentation of facts, but it is just that: a presentation of facts. All the surveillance in the world is useless if, when breaches are detected – as they were, early on Saturday morning – troops are not there to respond. It took six hours before the military response reached the occupied towns, during which any number of civilians had already been murdered, or were injured and hiding, or were being kept hostage, sometimes under torture and rape. The military response was sluggish, unprepared, and insufficient. That's the sad truth.
What more and more Israelis are feeling right now is betrayal. We've been betrayed by our own government, which even now is incommunicado. Not a single minister has visited the wounded in hospital. Not a single one of the 33 ministers of the most bloated government in Israeli history has had the decency or the humanity to show their faces in a hospital ward. Not a single one.
At the same time, more and more tales of heroism are being shared, more and more examples of humanity at its finest. All day today all I'm hearing is how much people want to help, to volunteer, to do something. Collection centers are choked with donated items. Crowdfunding efforts reach their goals within minutes. By why in the name of everything holy should reservists have to CROWDFUND DONATIONS for safety equipment? Protective vests, helmets, shoes – the army warehouses are empty, or in disarray, unable to get equipment to where its needed. Meals! Restaurants all over Israel are donating hundreds of meals for soldiers stranded with insufficient kitchens. I've even seen a call for weapons!
We try to grab on to whatever heartwarming tales we can, because otherwise it's all horror, fear, betrayal and rage. The journalist who risked her life to report from the location of the music festival massacre, and found herself rescuing participants from hiding. The Arab driver who picked up as many people as he could and evacuated them under fire. The retired general who earlier this year lost an eye to a water cannon directed against him at a pro-democracy rally, now donning his uniform to join the reserves.
And our newest folk hero: Rachel, the "Boss Level Moroccan Grandmother" from Ofakim. Held hostage with her husband in their home for 20 hours by five militants armed with kalachinkovs and mortars, Rachel played Schecherzade, plying her captors with coffee, cookies, a hot meal – "I figured they'd be less irritable if they weren't hungry" she said – all the while finding subtle ways to convey information to police negotiators, who were finally able to kill the militants and release Rachel and her husband. And yet, I can't forget that she happens to be the mother of two policemen, one of whom was on the rescue team; other Rachels were not as lucky.
Another anecdote. I have a friend whose sister lives in Nir Oz – one of the kibbutzim that was basically decimated, residents massacred, properties destroyed. She and her family happened to be away from Nir Oz on Saturday and so survived. Yesterday they were able to visit the ruins of their home, and were immensely relieved to find both their dogs still alive and waiting for them. (Yes, the militants killed pet dogs too.) Later, in a clip released by Hamas propaganda channels, they saw that the dogs had actually been in the arms of Hamas looters on their way back to the Gaza strip! (My first thought was why the heck would Hamas take dogs as hostages? But of course they were loot. There was endless looting involved.) So the dogs had somehow managed to escape their captors and return.
Where is the Israeli government? Still absent.
The social contract is broken.
Israelis can be wonderful people, right now many of us are shining. We deserve better leaders.