Month: October 2023

Israel has gone through an unspeakable trauma. The Simchat Torah Massacre on October 7th 2023, was the worst single day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Over 1,300 people were slaughtered in cold blood in their beds, their safe rooms and their homes. Women were abused, families burnt alive, babies were beheaded. Revelers at a Peace Music Festival were mown down in their hundreds. The brutal, inhumane, animal behavior of the Hamas terrorists was considered more violent even than ISIS with levels of barbarity not seen in modern times. Over 220 people were kidnapped and taken hostage, including grandmothers in their eighties, toddlers and even babies. Over 3,000 people were injured. Every single Israeli knows someone killed, kidnapped or missing. The shock and pain has rocked the very foundations of Israeli society. Israelis are hurting like never before.

On October 7th 2023, 1,200 Israelis were massacred in cold blood. They were slaughtered with maximum cruelty in their beds and in their homes. Whole families were brutally murdered including the elderly, women, children, even babies. Houses were burnt. Party revelers at a “Peace Festival” were gunned down in their hundreds. To put this into perspective 1,000 Israelis roughly relates to the equivalent of 35,000 Americans. More Jews were killed during the Simchat Torah Massacre than on any day since the Holocaust. 199 people were taken hostage including grandmothers in poor health, children and toddlers. After the carnage, over 3,000 remain injured. Many of them seriously. People often forget the ongoing price endured by the injured. Rehabilitation may take a long time, but the mental scars will be forever. In the years to come 10/7 will become as well known to Israelis and Jews worldwide, as 9/11 is to Americans (who, if you remember, put the month first).

At 6.30 am on the early morning of the Simchat Torah festival, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel in the north western Negev. It was the Sabbath, a time of tranquility and peacefulness. Most families were still in their beds. Hamas went from house to house, from community to community, murdering families in their beds and safe rooms in cold blood. At the same time there was a music festival in the name of peace, where young adults were dancing without a care in the world. Revelers were still partying when Hamas gunmen brutally mowed them down in their hundreds.