Trust is not a word you often hear in the Middle East. But many of the people who lived in Israel near the Gaza border trusted their neighbors to the West.
Even the Israeli government was convinced Hamas was deterred
and focused on civil and domestic affairs.
But Hamas spent its money on tunnels and weapons, the time was used planning a raid to cause what they hoped would be an uprising from all
corners of the Middle East, including the Israeli Arabs. This has not happened.
On the morning of October 7th there was confusion
across Israel. One person said they thought it was thunder, others assumed it
was a “typical” siren call.
Most learned of the severity of the problem by seeing a
short video on WhatsApp of a truck of terrorists driving through Sderot, a city
just a few miles from Gaza.
It was Saturday. It was a holiday. They were inside our borders.
October 7th broke a pillar of David Ben-Gurion’s philosophy. He said that when Israel fights she must do it in enemy territory to protect civilians and shorten the conflict. He said if they cross into Israel, we lose.
While Israel slept, Hamas rampaged through the streets killing
indiscriminately.
“WhatsApp is their Yad Vashem” someone said, indicating that
their phones are filled with memories and memorials to that day.
We were unprepared. Perhaps the best illustration is the
Mammad.
Since the 1990s every house in Israel is required to have a Mammad, a safe room to protect them from bombs that regularly fall. But these rooms often don’t lock, why should they, they are built
to protect against objects from the sky. They never expected a terrorist at
their door.
Many Israelis tried saving their families by holding the
door of their “safe” room shut.
As usual the citizens of Israel have risen faster than the
government. As one Israeli said: “Governments don’t know how to swallow such a
situation, civil society has acted faster and worked better. We are very good a
reacting.”
And what’s next?
As one man noted: It will take a year to win the fight, ten to
rebuild and a generation to de-radicalize.
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