Where civilization began, civilization is facing its deepest darkest challenges in hundreds of years. One can’t describe the things which were done to Jews on October 7th in Israel. And the things which today Israelis are facing.
Visited Rinats farm where where I met hundreds of survivors of the festival, the rave where our people were slaughtered and raped, kidnapped and mutilated. They go to the farm for rehabilitation, for counseling, for trauma work and to try to reintegrate. Here, there are young people who can't speak due to trauma. Some of them have had to be institutionalized. Watching close friends being executed, heads being chopped off, mass rape. Are these things appropriate to discuss? How?
What is adquate punishment for Hamas? There is none.
I just met a young man, Niko. He invited his 30 best friends to his 30th birthday party in the desert. 28 of his friends were murdered and tortured. The one survivor killed himself last week. He’s the only one of his 30 friends still alive. And there is more. Who will these people marry? How will these people continue? The generations of pain which our people will suffer. The traumas of our children who have seen real life monsters.
I have a friend whose husband and two kids are missing. We all have missing friends who we sit with who have countless family members missing. Strollers which are empty. We all know soldiers in danger and families of fallen soldiers.
And Israelis see American antisemitism and believe major attacks will happen in the United States, and worldwide on Jews. American Jews will need to stand up to threats in a way which they aren’t accustomed to doing. Without the IDF. Will there be safety for American Jews? American Jews need to get Israeli passports and purchase homes here. Israel offers safety for Jews who live anywhere.
And Israel will see a golden age after the war in real estate, in business, in investing as Americans and Jews worldwide flock to Israel. I imagine an Israel which is rebuilt, much as Jews from the former USSR in the 1990’s and Europe more recently helped this country, so too will Israel benefit as the only place in the world safe for Jews. Where Jews fight back.
Meanwhile we are against the backdrop of a mainstream media which simply hates Jews. Sitting with media in America and in Israel is an exercise in futility. We compete with a Hamas-run Gaza Department of Health – those who raped and pillaged are considered reliable sources for the media.
We aren’t fighting for our image. We are fighting for our survival.
And as Israelis ask where are American Jews, Israelis are on the front lines brave soldiers, brave warriors who believe these are the days of the late 1930’s, late 1940s. We can't say never again any more – it happened.
As I sit writing in my Tel Aviv home, sirens of incoming rockets blare and I go to the safe room. And all I can think of is the words of a survivor from Kibbutz Beeri who told me they have one condition for returning to Beeri – a home without a safe room. The people of Israel don’t want a safe room from monsters anymore. They want the monsters gone.
There will always be a before the war, and an after the war. We will win the Am Israel Chai War.
Ronn Torossianis an Israeli-American who writes from Tel Aviv, Israel.