I have been asked to report my feelings at this moment as both a lifelong Zionist (my first visit to Israel was in 1966) and an American. Where do I start? Shock, pride, terror, fury, and helplessness would be the emotions at the top of the list.
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Shock, along with the rest of the world, at how Israel could have been caught "asleep at the wheel", allowing the terrorists to strike at 6 a.m. on a holiday Shabbat. The arrogance and neglect…
Pride, for so many previous months watching millions of flag-waving Israelis in the streets stubbornly fighting to protect their democracy, and then the instantaneous pivot to coming together as one to support both our soldiers and the suffering and displaced bereaved hostage families.
Terror, for the IDF losses we know are coming, the fate of the hostages, and what the future will hold for the country after the dust has settled.
Fury – a useless emotion against entities like Hamas and Hezbollah because there is no soul or redemption possible there, but a genuine fury at the Israeli government, both present and past, for having created no real public relations voice at all in the US or Europe, leaving the non-Jewish world and the left-leaning youth ignorant about the realities of life in Israel and its history and the unremitting hate it has faced for generations past and will face for generations to come. The Arab voice is out there all the time, but again- Israel, where are you? We feel abandoned.
Helpless: On a personal level, having Israeli families I have known for 60 years sending their grandchildren off to war is just killing me. One friend alone has five grandsons in the IDF.
These are people I have known and loved all my life – their children and mine are friends and even the grandchildren. Three generations of love and friendship, and I sit here in New York unable to do anything except attend rallies and make monetary donations. One wonderful moment came though when I tried to make my third donation to the United Jewish Appeal's special fund for Israel and was told that there were so many donations coming in that they could not process them all and to call back later. That made me smile – if only for a moment.
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