Just when you think that the scene has reached rock bottom, it gets more dismal. The horrific drone attack killing 7 humanitarian food workers in Gaza left people here in shock wondering how that calamity could have occurred. Israelis were confident it couldn’t have been a purposeful act, while much of the world was willing to attribute malicious intent to IDF forces. Mass media saw the incident as reinforcing a widespread “indiscriminate killing” calumny. The latest IDF report is that serious misjudgments and deviations from protocol did occur and several officers have been dismissed. Too little, too late.
Heightened anxiety also flows from Iran’s newest threats of retaliation following Israel’s liquidation of a high-level Iranian revolutionary guards’ commander in Syria. That operation was fully understandable, given the targeted commander’s integral role in transferring weaponry to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. But Israeli civil defense authorities have issued a strong alert. So we are stocking up on batteries, flashlights, and water anticipating a possible retaliatory attack on civilian infrastructure.
In the meantime, Israelis are still bearing the yoke of Benjamin Netanyahu’s fumbling coalition. Anti-coalition demonstrations have resumed and Tamar and I dutifully appeared last Saturday evening at the protest in Tel Aviv. After many months of wartime silence, we resumed our public denunciation of Netanyahu while this time demanding only prompt new elections. As expected, coalition supporters have branded such demonstrations as “disloyal” in a time of warfare. We, like most demonstrators, try to stress the issue of elections and the necessity of rebuilding confidence in leadership. Yet that message gets blurred by some demonstrators’ demand for a prompt deal to return captured hostages at virtually any cost to the current war effort and to the intended destruction of Hamas’ military capabilities. Benny Gantz, a current member of the war cabinet, subscribes to our pro-election focus. Gantz has come out in favor of advancing elections to September 2024 in order to restore faith in leadership while still not necessarily acquiescing in Hamas’ continued entrenchment in Gaza.
As you can sense from these reports, public morale here is low and dejection is widespread. Perhaps we (and you) can draw some consolation and inspiration from the multiplicity of heroic stories constantly emerging from this Israel/Hamas war. In my second report, I noted the extraordinary valor of Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, the 26 year-old combat veteran and security coordinator at Kibbutz Nir Am near Gaza. On October 7, she organized and supervised a 12-person team that kept 12-15 Hamas terrorists at bay for several hours until Israeli soldiers arrived and killed the attackers. Also on October 7, an all female tank unit was among the first responders to the massive near-Gaza Hamas incursion. That unit engaged terrorists for 17 hours near two kibbutzim (Holit and Sufa), preventing what would have been many more Israeli casualties. I had also mentioned in my second report the extraordinarily courageous conduct of Bedouin drivers who drove vehicles through live fire to reach and rescue scores of young people fleeing the desert concert scene where Hamas murdered 365 of the spectators.
For the moment, I want to highlight a different minority with whom I more closely identify – older men. For example, consider 61 year-old retired general Noam Tibon. On October 7, Tibon grabbed a gun and drove south toward Kibbutz Nahal Oz where his journalist son, Amir, and 2 young granddaughters were trapped in their cottage’s reinforced “safe room.” Tibon reached the kibbutz and joined other Israelis in door to door combat until 10 hours later he flung open the safe room door as one granddaughter remarked “Grandpa is here!”
Older men were also among the people who presented themselves for reserve duty upon the outbreak of this war despite not having been called up for duty. Yizhar Ginaton is a 79 year-old retired officer who had served full-time in the military from 1962 to 1986, including a stint in the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur war in 1973. Following October 7, 2023, Yizhar volunteered for reserve duty and is still serving as a civil defense liaison person between the IDF and local emergency agencies in Rishon le Tzion.
Older men were also among the considerable number of ex-IDF troops living abroad who rushed back to Israel to bolster reserve forces even though not called up. Itzik Mishal is a 71 year-old born in Israel who moved to Miami with his family at age 14 in 1966. In 1973, while a business school student in Florida, he flew to Israel, became a lone soldier, and served as a tank commander. Mishal had long ago returned to his Miami residence, but following October 7, 2023, he returned to Israel and, as a volunteer, served in a logistical unit of the armored corps stationed for several months in the Golan Heights.
These stories about the elderly strike a responsive chord with me, a fellow traveler. They by no means erode the countless heroic stories emanating from the younger ranks. The most heart-rending of these chronicles are perhaps among the eulogies. Yet dozens of soldiers have been seriously wounded, have undergone extensive treatment and rehabilitation, and at the end of the process have insisted on returning to their fighting units. They exhibit an amazing and inspiring determination to fight and persist. With that kind of dedication to Israel’s welfare, there is still hope of overcoming the looming threats and hardships.
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