Magazine

Sounds and images are seared into the collective consciousness as Israelis grapple with a psychological toll unlike any in their history.

"Israel is the only one standing against the terrorists," says Sarah Idan, former Miss Iraq and ardent Israel supporter.

A boy who feels guilty for the conversations he had with the terrorist who guarded him; a young girl who jumps with alarm at every knock at the door; a man who is reluctant to enter hospital "as the screens there remind me of Gaza”, and a woman who refuses to go out on the street without an armed guard. Experts treating those hostages released from Gaza tell us of the manifestations of complex and unique post-trauma.

A rarity in the military, two female snipers from the IDF's Bardelas unit share their experiences from the Gaza frontlines.

“When we were held captive, we agreed that the bastards who had abducted us did not deserve the prize of having even a single murderer released in return for us." The survivors of the El Al hijacking to Algeria return to the moments of terror.

A damning report found that the world's leading broadcasting body has been blatantly biased against Israel since the October 7 attack. In an extensive interview with Israel Hayom, Trevor Asserson, describes the linguistic and visual manipulations that fuel hostility towards Israel.

With low-cost drones have outwitting multi-million-dollar weapons systems, 21st-century combat zones have become far more dangerous.

Prof. Merav Roth sheds light on the coping mechanisms for survival as a nation fights to have the hostages returned. “The external reality, in which the Israeli sense of partnership and common fate is under attack and the profound belief that ‘we don't leave any injured on the battlefield’ is being undermined, it is attacking our ability to come together and unite," she warns.

The Tahan family rebuilds life in Kibbutz HaOgen following the loss of their father in the Gaza war and evacuation from their home in northern Israel.

Almost a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, paradoxically, aliyah numbers decline by 43% even as interest in Israel and Jewish heritage and culture soars.