This morning Sam and I started to talk about how long the war has been going on, how long the hostages have been in captivity and how Oct 7th was almost 140 days ago. All measurements of time. But time was been confounding for me since Oct 7th. Has it been only hours that became days and then weeks and now months? Or has time taken on biblical proportions where the days of creation actually were expressions of geologic epochs?
The first hours after I heard the news of the Hamas attack were agonizingly long because it was all confusing. It was chaotic and since in America we could not “help” jump into action, respond through action it all felt frightening and uncertain. I watched the same reports over and over on i24. I could not make sense of the news reports because even the reporters could not make sense of the situation. I just knew one thing, this is a modern pogrom.
How many times did I watch the white pickup truck filled with Hamas terrorists headed to Sderot’s police station? I will never know. I stared at my phone as if it could tell me what was really happening. Sam and I took turns trying to cajole one another to not feel paralyzed. We reminded each other we could not let Hamas succeed to hurt us from afar.
Then the first days felt even more agonizing as the death toll grew to unimaginable numbers and the accounts of hostages being kidnapped emerged. Surely those first days when the Hamas terrorists were still being rooted out from communities all over southern Israel each exceeded 24 hours.
Now the days and weeks continue to unfold in this time bending fashion.
But I am so fortunate that I met retired General Avivi Amir during the first hours of my mission trip..
General Amir is a very busy man who fortunately took time to meet with us at the site of the infamous Nova Festival.
He now runs a think tank that brings together the talent of 20,000 retired Israeli military who evaluate and make recommendations on Israel’s security challenges.
We were standing at the site of the Nova Festival where over 400 people enjoying music were slaughtered and more than 40 taken as hostages. General Amir who previously had been a commander in Gaza started with a pronouncement,”this war was not a surprise.”Two years ago his group had advised the Israeli government that war was imminent. The government was warned that either it would be a Six Day War scenario ( with Israel launching a pre-emptive campaign) or a Yom Kipur War scenario ( surprise attack). Now with hindsight we know Hamas surprised Israel by launching an incredibly damaging terrorist attack. Israel was caught by total surprise on another holiday, Simhat Torah.
He as well as most every Israeli I met acknowledged the glaring questions that must be addressed - Why was there such a devastating lapse in security? They know Israel will have to honestly come to terms with how as a nation they were caught by surprise. But right now there is a war that demands different focus. As in medicine we say, things have to be triaged.
Of course General Amir wished Oct 7th never occurred. But generals tend to not wallow in despair. We all listened with rapt attention as General Amir literally shook us free from our American side-liner perspective that leads to despair and inaction.
I was at first startled as he intoned in his clipped and piercingly direct style:
-It’s going to be a long war
-It’s going to be a difficult war
-The hardest part may still be ahead of us
-We are living in a time of Biblical Proportions
General Amir disabused us of any preconceptions. He set us on a path to inquire, observe and learn and he proclaimed, “ we ( all Jewish people) have a huge opportunity.”
-we now can deal with the threats that have been developing around us for the past 20 years
-We need to win decisively ( translate against Hamas, Hezbollah, and all Jihadists threatening Israel)
-We need to be strong and UNITED ( remember these retired IDF officers have been demonstrating for democracy over the past year)
His message was not discouraging. In fact, General Amir comes from a place of profound knowledge. As he shared his assessment of Israel’s current situation his clarity made me feel optimistic. That is an incredible gift in a time when most Jews feel the oposite emotion.
He wrapped up with a message that I have embraced as my own. Nearly every day as I encounter the glaring anti Israel and antisemitic challenges of each news cycle on the local, national and international stages, I reach back to the strength of the Israelis I encountered. I summon a previously unrecognized reserve of strength and clarity. My mission to Israel gifted me with clarity. That clarity reminds me that as Jews we have incredible strength. By standing up against anti Israel behavior in our communities and speaking up we as proud Jewish Americans we are shaping the world.
I want to be on Team Israel. I agree with General Amir that:
-we will have a Golden Age
-We will have real peace agreements
-We (Israel) will have a flourishing economy
-Jews will be able to make Aliyah and move back to Israel
Every January and February throngs of Israeli nature lovers flock down south to enjoy the landscape along Gaza when is transformed into fields of red. Red of anemones ( flowers) not the blood spilled by the hands of terrorists. This year those plans had to be canceled as there is a war but the poppies did emerge this year. When a visited a few weeks ago I was surrounded by the ugliness of death and destruction in Otef Aza. But when I looked down I saw the first anemones pushing their way into spring and I smiled just a bit. Those red anemones are my personal symbol of optimism during the distortions of time.
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