A Time Like No Other

I haven't blogged for quite some time. We lost our soldier son in May 2022 and honestly I haven't felt like there was anything to write about or share here. But I am aware that my blog is called "Handmade in Israel" and that I have shared many wonderful things about the country I live in over the years. It's time to share some not so wonderful news.

On Saturday 7th October "Operation Iron Swords" began with a coordinated surprise offensive on Israel. The attack began in the early morning with a barrage of at least 3,000 rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, one of which reached the city that I live in. In parallel, some 2,500 Palestinian terrorists breached the Gaza-Israel barrier and massacred civilians in neighbouring Israeli communities. At least 1,350 Israelis were massacred, including residents of eight kibbutzim in southern Israel and 260 young people at the "Supernova" music festival. 199 unarmed civilian hostages and captured Israeli soldiers were taken to the Gaza Strip, including women, young children and babies. This was the largest sustained slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

Hamas, an Islamist terrorist movement, launched its attacks during the end of the Sukkot Jewish holiday and 50 years after the 1973 "Yom Kippur War", which also began with a surprise attack. Israel began conducting retaliatory strikes before formally declaring war on Hamas a day later.

I am not a particularly political person and anyway, I prefer to leave politics out of this blog. But these are the facts. Visiting my son's grave at the local cemetery, I discovered six new graves of young soldiers who have been killed in action in little more than a week. There are more new plots in the non-military section. We hear constant booms in the distance of the Iron Dome, Israel's mobile air defence system, intercepting rockets. Worry, together with the non-stop roar 24/7 of air force jets, keeps me awake at night. We have watched memorial service after memorial service on the television of those murdered and killed in action. Last Friday we stood holding Israeli flags in a guard of honour on the route to the cemetery for a former student at our boys' school. We worry about what will happen to our sons' friends and the children of all our friends when we progress into Gaza.

The terrorist attacks by Hamas are pure evil. Israel has a right to exist and anyway, as Golda Meir said, we have nowhere else to go. The antisemitic demonstrations in London, New York and around the world have shown us that. 

I urge you to keep us in your hearts in the coming days.

* The cards are all commissions I have made over the years for young people who are or were IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers or about to start their military service.

** This post has been shared on My Corner of the World, Little Things Thursday and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).