As images emerged this week of Syrian prisoners being freed from Assad's notorious prisons, Syrian Jews who escaped to Israel decades ago were reminded of their own traumatic experiences under the regime. While welcoming its collapse, they say the documented atrocities barely scratch the surface of the systematic persecution they endured.

Even today, S. hesitates to tell everything. He's even afraid to identify himself. Years of terror under Assad's regime left deep psychological scars and persistent anxiety. His body also bears physical marks from the torture he endured while imprisoned in Syria. This week, Syrian Jewish emigrants in Israel welcomed the regime's fall, but their harsh memories from decades of tyranny under the Assad dynasty – both father and son – remain vivid.

"Life in Damascus was like living in a ghetto," S. recalls. "You couldn't leave the neighborhood without permission. For any purpose, you had to go to the Mukhabarat (intelligence) headquarters in the neighborhood and get approval. Assad Senior, may he rot in hell, made our lives miserable. Leaving the country was forbidden, especially for Jews. Anyone who spoke against the government was thrown in prison for decades, with no one knowing their fate. There was an atmosphere of constant fear."

Born in Damascus in 1947, he left at age 40. "I made aliyah through an unconventional route. We crossed the Syria-Turkey border on foot – 27 hours of walking without food or water, my family and another family, 17 people in total."

Did you believe you would live to see this regime fall?

"Honestly, no. After decades, you stop believing it could end like this."

The era that ended this week began in 1966 when Hafez al-Assad became defense minister in the Baath government. In 1971, he appointed himself president. After his death in 2000, his son Bashar inherited the position. This week, he fled with his family to Moscow as rebels advanced.

S. watched all the disturbing videos this week showing prisoners being freed from Syrian jails. "I know those places well – I'm a Prisoner of Zion. I spent a year and three months in Mezzeh prison."

At 22, married with a daughter, S. first attempted to cross the border into Lebanon. Near the border, the family was caught. "Jewish ID cards had 'Musawi' (follower of Moses) written in large red letters, impossible to miss. When we were caught, they told me to get out of the car. They took my wife and daughter out, removed the Muslim driver, and beat him severely. Blood was flowing everywhere. They released my wife and child but took me to prison. I have marks all over my body from that time – on my fingers, hands, feet, back. When I remember that period, everything goes dark," he says quietly.

When I apologize for perhaps stirring unwanted memories, he says the scars don't let him forget anyway. "I'm reminded of that time whenever I shower. Such torture in that prison, such torture. May their names and memory be erased."

Even with the slim possibility that it might now be possible, he has no interest in visiting where he grew up. "I can't look at Damascus – as far as I'm concerned, let all of Syria burn. I suffered there. I always told myself I didn't want my children to suffer like I did. When we left, we abandoned everything–- decades of work. I left my shop, my home. Within the Jewish community, we had it good, but with the regime? No, no, and no. I hope this regime disappears completely, but it still has roots there – this isn't over yet."

The peak of persecution against Jews in Syria under Assad came during wars with Israel. Arabs who fled Israel after the establishment of the Jewish state became particularly hostile neighbors. When the Six-Day War broke out, S. was visiting his fiancée's house. "We heard planes bombing; my brother-in-law and I went to look. We climbed onto the roof and watched the sky. The Palestinian neighbor went to neighborhood intelligence and reported us. Three or four armed intelligence officers came. We came down from the roof, and suddenly, they were pounding on the door, an iron door. They knocked the entire door down out of sheer hatred for us. The neighbor pointed us out. They took us, removed our belts from our pants, tied our hands behind our backs, and marched us through the streets – us and others they gathered from the neighborhood, 10 or 12 Jews. As we walked, all the Palestinian neighbors spat at us, cursed us, and then we faced interrogations at intelligence headquarters." The suspicion spread by neighbors was collaboration with Israeli fighters or paratroopers.

"In '73, when the war began, we were in synagogue," S. continues. "When they heard there was war with Israel, people left the synagogue and went home, afraid. You always knew regime officials could come whenever they wanted and do whatever they wanted to you."

He sighs deeply, hesitating whether to share another story. "I worked various jobs there. I was also in the burial society. Once, they came from intelligence on Friday night, saying, 'Come with us.' Where? 'To the cemetery.' What's at the cemetery on Friday night? 'We'll tell you later.' They took me from the synagogue on Friday night by car. We arrived there; they brought four coffins. And those coffins, I don't want to tell. Things have been hidden for almost 40 years. Secrets of 40 years. Still hard to tell."

What S. witnessed firsthand was the tragic story of four Jewish girls who were caught in March 1974 trying to escape Syria, were severely tortured, murdered, and their bodies mutilated. The event deeply shook the Jewish community.

A two-and-a-half-year-old prisoner

In his book "Escape from Damascus," attorney and CPA Jack Blanga describes the history of Syria's Jewish community and his family's escape across the border to Israel. Born in 1968, he arrived in Israel in 1980. He and his parents, Azur and Rachel Blanga, had a previous escape attempt that ended in capture and imprisonment. The father was imprisoned separately and endured hardships, while the mother was held with her son. In Israel, Blanga received a Prisoner of Zion certificate for the period he was detained with his mother when he was just two and a half years old. The detention conditions for the toddler, imprisoned with a group of women, were harsh. Water and food were barely provided, and hygiene was impossible. His release after several weeks came following intervention by international human rights organizations, who protested the imprisonment of a toddler.

Blanga is disappointed that the dictator managed to escape: "It's unfortunate they couldn't get their hands on Assad this week. After the atrocities he committed against his own people, he deserves punishment." In his book, he describes how, as a child,d he watched his father being forced to vote in Syria's unfree presidential elections, with an intelligence officer making it crystal clear to his father that there was no avoiding entering the polling station, nor avoiding marking "yes" on the ballot to support Assad's continued rule.

The horrific images from Syrian prisons distributed this week are just the tip of the iceberg, he says. "What they showed is very little. Many people simply disappeared over the years. They dissolved them, with all that implies. For us as Jews who grew up there, and also for the State of Israel, the regime's fall is definitely good news."

In 1992, following American pressure, Syria allowed thousands of remaining Jews to leave. "Syria needed US aid then, and as part of the pressure applied, they allowed Jews to leave. Their property had to be left behind. Very few have remained in Syria since then. In the early period in Israel, we had few means, and integration wasn't easy," says Blanga, who later became vice president of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel.

As an active community member here, do you have connections with the Jews who remained?

"A little, through social media. In recent days I've written to them but haven't received responses yet. These are elderly people, and it's hard to know if they're afraid or under pressure and, therefore, are not answering or if there's another reason. I hope everything is alright with them."

He, too, has only bad memories from his birthplace. "It's not easy growing up in a place you're forbidden to leave. We were prisoners there. You couldn't walk with a kippah in the street because they would throw stones at you. From the house where I lived in Harat al-Yahud, the Jewish Quarter in Damascus's Old City, we could see the Syrian Mount Hermon. It made me happy this week to know that our soldiers are now sitting there looking down at Damascus from above."

Following the Madrid Conference

Dr. Nathan Haswa, a family physician, was born in '69. "I was born in Damascus to my parents, Haim and Frida. The Jewish neighborhood then had about 4,000 people and 23 synagogues. The Jews were essentially hostages from '48 until '92. Even before Assad's regime, they were prevented from leaving the country, and under his rule, the situation worsened. Initially, Jews were prevented from buying homes and studying at university. After several years, these prohibitions were eased, partly due to pressure from Henry Kissinger. Jews were allowed to study and hold property. In '79, there was a possibility for the temporary exit of one family member in exchange for leaving a sum of money at the Mukhabarat offices."

For many families, the general desire to escape the harsh life in Syria was intertwined with decades-long forced separation from family members. In 1942, the Jewish Agency managed to smuggle about 1,100 children from Syria to Israel, but when the state was established, the border closed, and their families remained in Syria. Thus, they were separated for decades. "Every Jew in Damascus or Aleppo waited for an opportunity to leave. There were quite a few escape attempts through Lebanon and Turkey. Some were caught at the border," Haswa recounts.

He remembers the shock that gripped the community after the horrific murder of the four girls in '74. "I was a child, but I remember we went on a kind of protest march toward government institutions in Damascus. The young girls wanted to leave the country also because they had no Jewish suitors. At one point, Kissinger asked Assad to allow 100 girls from Damascus to leave for New York. He only gave him 13."

Haswa studied medicine in Syria at Damascus University, graduating in 1991. He describes the international circumstances of the early nineties that led to change: "After the US fought Iraq and the Soviet Union collapsed, the Madrid Conference was held, and within its framework,k Israel requested that Jews be allowed to leave. President Bush Sr. asked to permit Jews to leave Syria and also to release five Jews who were imprisoned in Damascus for wanting to escape the country. They were in very bad condition. At that stage, President Assad was supposed to be 'elected' for the fourth time. Damascus Jews were asked to participate in a pro-Assad campaign in exchange for releasing three or four prisoners. I remember the propaganda signs that Damascus Jews were forced to write, including my brother Marco, saying Assad was our father, that he was a good leader."

"In '92, Jews were allowed to leave, on condition they wouldn't emigrate to Israel. A declaration was made in the Syrian parliament, where Assad said Syrian Jews were free and had full rights to leave, buy, and acquire. I remember my late father paying the government representative 250,000 liras and giving him expensive gifts – carpets and vases – to get a passport. The next stage was going to the US Embassy in Damascus. They gave visas immediately. We flew on an Air France night flight to the US, and when we landed, we were greeted by Syrian Jewish organizations and refugee organizations. I was 24. Many Jews had relatives in the US, and the celebrations at New York's airport were huge. The synagogues left behind were looted, and the houses were looted. In '94, Rabbi Albert (Abraham) Hamra, the Chief Rabbi of Syrian and Lebanese Jews, made aliyah, and Shimon Peres received him. In Syria, 300 or 400 people remained. They wrote then that the era of Damascus Jews' exile had ended."

Haswa watched images of the regime's collapse this week, but no sense of nostalgia arose in him. "The Jews who left Damascus never felt and do not feel that Syria is their homeland or that they belong to the Syrian people. Even if there's longing for school or the Jewish neighborhood, and even if, over the years, some American passport holders went to visit, the general feeling is that no one wants to remember this country. What is there to see? The neighborhood is destroyed, and the synagogues were looted. Also, those who seized power now are not peace-loving people. It's a divided and torn country. I don't foresee a particularly bright future for it. I saw atrocities on television; now they're hanging Assad regime people, acting like ISIS. There's no security there, no government. Thank God we're not there anymore."

The post 'Let all of Syria burn': Jewish refugees welcome Assad's fall appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Dutch leader Geert Wilders wrapped up a brief but significant visit to Israel on Tuesday, during which he received the prestigious Jabotinsky Prize for Liberty and met with top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Wilders, whose Freedom Party recently emerged as the largest party in the Dutch parliament, reaffirmed his longtime support for Israel and visited strategic locations in the West Bank.

Wilders recalled volunteering in the West Bank during the 1980s in a post on X upon his arrival in Israel. He began Monday morning with a tour led by Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, which included a strategic observation point along the security barrier overlooking the Samaria hills. During the observation point stop, Wilders stated, "Settlement in Judea and Samaria is not just historical justice, it's Israel's bulletproof vest. Without settlement in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley, it would be impossible to maintain the State of Israel."

Great meeting today in Jerusalem with my friend Bibi @netanyahu. pic.twitter.com/azL0PBjveg

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) December 9, 2024

 He then traveled to Jerusalem for a series of diplomatic meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and Energy Minister Eli Cohen.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana presented Wilders with the Jabotinsky Prize for Liberty for his support of Israel during a ceremony held in the Knesset. Dagan, Ministers Amichai Chikli and Gila Gamliel, and other members of parliament attended the event.

During the ceremony, Wilders thanked his hosts for the award and said, "This is not the time to remain silent. This is the time to support Israel. If Israel falls to the forces of darkness, the West will be next."

"The main reason I am here is to show you that political leaders from Europe are not afraid to come here and say both here and in Europe that we will never abandon you and will always stand by your side. What drives the hatred for Israel? I fear it's the hatred of extreme Islamist fanatics. It's also the self-hatred of Western 'woke' individuals who no longer believe in fighting for truth." Wilders concluded his remarks in Hebrew, saying, "Thank you and Am Israel Chai."

Thank you my friend Speaker @AmirOhana and the Knesset for the most warm reception today in Jerusalem, #Israel. pic.twitter.com/L0ii5SqPww

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) December 9, 2024

Knesset Speaker Ohana, who presented Wilders with the award, said it was a fitting gesture for he "has consistently supported our right to live in security and defend ourselves, and clearly opposed the antisemitic violence sweeping Europe. He understands the threat that extreme Islamist and antisemitic elements pose not just to Israel, but to the free world as a whole. He confronted the lies spread by institutions like the International Criminal Court that distort justice and encourage terrorism. Geert brings the same optimism that Trump brings – but to Europe."

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said at the event: "I thank a true friend and true partner of the State of Israel – Geert Wilders. Your support is an important reminder of our unity and deep solidarity; we are together. Israel is in the midst of a war between civilization and a 3,000-year-old ancient world. On October 7, terrorists murdered residents of kibbutzim and called them 'settlers,' despite them not living in Judea and Samaria. From their perspective, it doesn't matter – they're all Jews. I want to tell you something new – for them, European citizens are also settlers! We are not the big enemy, European citizens are the big enemy. After October 7, we know better than ever – we must stand together against the common enemy, Europe and Israel must fight together."

Earlier in his political career, Wilders had been dubbed "Europe's Trump" by various media outlets and political analysts due to his populist rhetoric and controversial positions on immigration and Islam.

The post 'Europe's Trump' receives award during Israel visit appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A musical theater playbill might seem like an unlikely place to find Ben Shapiro's name, but the sharp-tongued American political commentator is indeed one of the creators behind "We Will Rise," which premiered recently in Beersheba. If that's not surprising enough, Shapiro maintains that among his many ventures, this is one of his most emotionally significant. While he couldn't attend the premiere, he plans to be present for the gala opening in Jerusalem.

The songs and music were composed by his father, musician David Shapiro, while Ben wrote the rest of the text. The story centers on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, connecting those events to the October 7 attacks in Israel and the ongoing military campaign in Gaza. Some characters in the musical are based on actual figures from the ghetto: Adam Czerniakow, head of the Judenrat, or Mordechai Anielewicz, leader of the uprising. Others are fictional or were developed with significant artistic license.

Shapiro, a Jewish-American affiliated with the conservative right, is one of the most influential political commentators in the US. He has tens of millions of followers on social media, and episodes of his daily current affairs podcast, "The Ben Shapiro Show", receive hundreds of thousands of listens. He graduated from UCLA and Harvard Law School, was previously an editor at the American news site Breitbart, has written bestsellers, and was among the founders of The Daily Wire. Since October 7, Shapiro has participated in numerous public debates, consistently standing with Israel and defending its war efforts.

He spoke with Makor Rishon for an interview to talk about the play as well as on politics, excerpts of which are brought below.

Q: What do you think Israel should do if Kamala Harris wins?

"I think that Israel should do the same thing whether Kamala wins or whether Kamala loses. I think what Israel needs to recognize, and I've said this to every prime ministerial candidate for the last 10 years, is Israel needs to become self-sufficient. Israel always needed to be self-sufficient. They need to be more militarily self-sufficient, they need to get off of American aid, and they need to generate an economic dynamism, unleash the economy over there sufficient to pay for all of that. What we've seen in the aftermath of October 7 is that Israel cannot be reliant on the goodwill of other nations, because that is a very precarious place to be. You don't want to be Blanche DuBois in this Tennessee Williams play. You don't want to be reliant on the kindness of strangers. And Israel has sustained itself by attempting moral suasion for several decades at this point. And it turns out that moral suasion doesn't go all that far. What actually goes far is the raw ability to sustain yourself. And so that means on an economic level is radical deregulation of the economy in Israel. It means allowing businesses to thrive and succeed. It means that it shouldn't take 300 days to do a real estate deal. It means that the taxes are way too high on literally everything, which is why half of real estate deals are now black-market real estate deals. It means that you shouldn't have to have a cousin in one of the, in a "misrad" [referring to a generic ministry in Israel] somewhere in order to get something done. It means that the stranglehold that Histadrut [the main public service Israel trade union] has on labor needs to stop.  The economy can't shut down every time somebody has a political gripe. All these things need to be done. And that's not a political point. That is, that is a reality. Either Israel's going to do that and have a dynamic economy because Israel has very, very high social fabric, high IQ, high confidence levels. And all of that is being held up. Like as everyone who is American who's ever visited Israel recognizes the miracle of Israel is that it works at all because the system is so gummed up and so ridiculous that it is sheerly through sort of bootstrapping and personal connections that anybody can get anything done over there. I mean, it's insane.

"You want a powerful military, you need to have a powerful economy capable of paying for all of those things. Make business easier. It'll be easier to pay for all of these things. Israel is a large enough, powerful enough country, economically speaking, that they should not have to rely on $3 billion in American military aid. The GDP in Israel is like $500 billion a year. Why is $3 billion in military aid deciding factor and how Israel makes its foreign policy? That's crazy. Israel, Israel should be an easy one. And, and by the way, Israel is going to be forced to whether they're like it or not because eight to 10 years from now, I think that there's a, the, the direction of American foreign policy is moving away from…But even though if, even if, you know, we don't need some day the aid from the Americans, we still need, out of his values we'll say, the veto in the Security Council. So we're still, you know, tied to America in that sort of way."

Q: Israeli diplomatic circles might tell you: Even if we don't need American military aid, we still need the American veto at the UN Security Council, so we can't ignore Washington's demands.

"I mean, first of all, I think that, so my view of the UN Security Council is significantly, I think the UN is a ridiculous organization on its face. I think that the idea that if Israel gets hit with a Security Council resolution, that somehow this is the end of the world, that is not true. What matters in international politics is raw, pure power. That's all that matters in international politics. And Israelis should start to understand that the, how is China or Russia able to get away with things? They're very powerful, large."

The post 'Israel needs to get off of American aid': Ben Shapiro goes on the attack appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to Washington for his first diplomatic trip since the Oct. 7 massacre carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas, and the following Gaza War imposed on Israel since then.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Biden, and afterwards with Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden, who announced his retirement from the presidential race yesterday, supports as his replacement. On Wednesday, Netanyahu will address both houses of the U.S. Congress. It is not yet known whether Netanyahu will meet with former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Trump is not in Washington, and if a meeting between the two is scheduled, Netanyahu is likely to fly to New York or New Jersey for that purpose.

Netanyahu arrives in the United States at a significant political moment, just after Biden's dramatic announcement yesterday of his withdrawal from the presidential race.

Regarding attitudes towards Israel, Harris has been perceived in recent months as expressing tougher positions than Biden. She criticized Israel for the severe hunger allegedly prevailing in the Gaza Strip, said in one of her speeches that a ceasefire was needed immediately, even before other senior officials made similar statements, and also that there should be a distinction between the people of Israel and its government.

However, in reality, even Biden - after his emotional speeches of support at the beginning of the Gaza War, immediately following Hamas' horrific massacre - applied pressure on Israel at critical points that at least prolonged the fighting. Among other things, the necessary military entry into Rafah was delayed, and it is possible that the pressure on Israel to reduce military intensity and allowing the entry of a large amounts of humanitarian aid, much of which fell into the hands of Hamas, also delayed an agreement that could have returned the hostages.

Harris, as president, is not good news for Israel

Beyond that, it cannot be denied that the cold shoulder Biden turned to Netanyahu in the year before the massacre, based on the meaningless argument of concern about judicial changes in Israel, led to an Iranian understanding that this was an appropriate time to attack Israel.

Fundamentally, Biden, who has already been called "the last Zionist president," has genuine affection for Israel. His story of meeting with the late Prime Minister Golda Meir seems to be known by every child in Israel. However, his statements that if Israel did not exist, it would have to be invented, and that a secure Israel is essential for the security of every Jew in the world, are likely to become rare from future American presidents, especially Democrats. Harris does not have such a value-based foundation.

However, more than Harris's positions, the intense pressures that led Biden to leave are the main thing to consider, and these pressures will also accompany Harris, even more so. The Democratic approach to foreign relations, that every conflict can be resolved diplomatically, has brought the world to one of its most dangerous situations since World War II. Europe is engaged in an explosive war, the Middle East is burning, and China is warming up on the sidelines. Harris, if she becomes president, is considered weak - and for Israel, as well as global peace and security, these are not good news.

The post While Biden was the 'last Zionist president,' Harris is different appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A survey conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), using  representative sample of 816 respondents, reveals that the majority of the Israeli public prefers Donald Trump over Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.

The survey, conducted before the assassination attempt, found that among Jews in Israel, 51% prefer Trump compared to 35% who prefer Biden, with 14% stating they have no opinion.

Among Israeli Arabs, however, the picture is completely different. Only 23% support Trump, 13% support Biden, with the majority (64%) having no preference.

There is also a decline in the trust of the Jewish public in Israel in President Biden's commitment to Israel. Only 34% of Jews believe that Biden supports Israel as much as at the beginning of the war, a significant drop from 47% in February. Among Israeli Arabs, the perception is different, with 52% believing that Biden's support for Israel remains strong.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Republican Party in Israel, Attorney Marc Zell, and the Israeli campaign manager for President Trump, Ariel Sender, landed this morning in New York and will participate in the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to confirm President Trump's nomination and select the Vice President candidate. Additionally, they will hold meetings with the former president's main campaign and discuss the party's platform ahead of the 2024 elections.

Zell said upon his arrival in New York: "The people of Israel are shocked by the heinous assassination attempt on Israel's best friend, President Trump, in Pennsylvania. We extend our sincere condolences to the victim's family and our prayers for the injured. President Trump has demonstrated leadership and the courage of a true leader. Thank God for the swift and efficient action of the U.S. Secret Service."

The post Most Israelis prefer Trump, even pre-assassination attempt appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Whoever regularly reads this supplement, has almost certainly noticed the special interest we show in the wonders of AI, and especially with the image and text motors that have made this whole business into something extremely accessible – or perhaps alarming, depending on your point of view. It was actually quite exciting to discover that the office of the person in charge of AI In Israel, in the flesh, is located in the office block right opposite the Mekor Rishon head office. In contrast to the mysterious "person in charge of the internet" whom the IDF Army Radio broadcaster, Razi Barkai, searched for back in 1996, the fact that the man in charge of AI is a real living soul was really moving in itself.

Dr. Ziv Katzir, the head of the TELEM (The National Infrastructure Forum for Research and Development) program for Artificial Intelligence at the Israel Innovation Authority, is in charge of the national AI infrastructure – "its integration" and "management", as per the definition of his tasks in the usual government-corporate-management jargon. Katzir dedicated his doctorate to the question of what happens to AI systems when people try to cheat them; so it might be a good thing that we met him momentarily before we came to understand that AI will be replacing us as writers and editors.

Q: Maybe we do need to learn how to cheat it?

"Why? "Generative AI will not make us redundant," he concludes at the offices of the Israel Innovation Authority in Jerusalem. "Some professions will disappear and some will be born, that's apparently true, but there will be no mass unemployment."

Q: There won't be?

"The problem always applies to the 'desert generation'. There will always be people who find it difficult to adjust to new technology, and we simply need to help them. Over the course of time, we have never really witnessed a technological revolution that has resulted in large waves of unemployment."

Q: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thinks otherwise? Prior to the current war, he spoke often about AI, voicing concern over the potential loss of jobs, coupled with a transition to a society in which there are a few people who generate considerable value, and a large number of people who simply will not be needed.

"AI is generic technology. We can do with it whatever we want. We can use it to generate better health, education, and transport, to close gaps and inequality, to make the use of taxes more efficient, and to deal with climate issues. And we can also put it to other uses too. When people ask me whether AI is good or bad, I always ask in response: Is the internet something good or bad? The internet is also generic technology. Some 70 or 80 percent of the bits on the internet are dedicated to doing bad and even awful things – pornography, arms and drugs trafficking, smuggling, money laundering, whatever. 20 percent of the bits on the internet; however, are involved in doing useful and positive things."

Q: So the internet is bad then?

"Well, not necessarily. I think that they are one and the same. There is a clear danger that some parts of the population will be adversely affected by AI, as they will not be able to deal with the leap forward. And it is our responsibility as a society to address that issue and help them. That's true. But I don't think that technology by nature is either good or bad."

Q: What is the daily agenda of the person in charge of the national AI program?

Let's begin with the question of why we need a national AI program at all. The answer is: in order to maintain Israel's pole position at the forefront of technology, as it is today, five or ten years down the road. Israel is currently in an excellent position."

Q: This interview is getting better as we go along. We are in a good position?

"In all the relevant metrics and standards, Israel is ranked between fifth and tenth place globally in the field of AI. These standards usually examine how much industry there is and how much capital and human capital there is, and whether or not the regulatory terms and conditions enable growth, and how much academic research there is, and to what extent the government is aiming towards this. I know that newspapers often like to publish headlines stating that 'we have missed the boat' and 'we are in a terrible situation,' but that simply is not true. It is factually incorrect. So, I get up every morning, motivated to act with the clear knowledge that this position is not guaranteed for us. If we do not run at a good pace, we will wake up in two years' time and discover that we have slipped down into fiftieth place."

Q: How do we run at a good pace?

"Firstly, we need to engage in an orderly effort to map things out and check where we are strong and where we can leverage the strengths, and where there are places that need to be reinforced. For example, in Israel, the human capital density is extremely high. The rate of AI experts per thousand people is good. But we are also an economy that is extremely dependent on high-tech and the academic sector, and we are a small society, so we need much higher human capital density. We simply cannot put up with average human capital density. Thus, we invest a great deal of energy in order to ensure that we have academics and additional researchers who are able to build startups. Traditionally, we are good at transferring academic know-how to industry and very good at inter-disciplinary connections. This is also manifested in AI. We are not as proficient at creating shapely and orderly strategic documents, and the same is true for establishing infrastructure that will endure for many years to come."

The Labor Movement

He is 46 years old, married to Gali, the father of three girls, and grew up in Netanya. He served as an ordnance officer rather than a technological unit as you might have thought as per the typical high-tech stereotype. "I wrote lots of software code at high school and I was discharged from the army just before the dotcom bubble burst, so it was fairly easy for me to make my way into the world of high-tech based on my knowledge rather than any professional certificates or diplomas. I have spent most of my adult life in the industry." Most of his professional career has been at Verint, where he served for 15 years in a series of technological management and entrepreneurial positions. His last position in the company was CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of its Cyber Intelligence Division.

At the age of forty, he took leave to write his doctorate dissertation, and then the tender for the position in the Israel Innovation Authority was published; he submitted his candidacy and won it. It is "the most difficult position that I have had in my entire career," he states, "by far."

Q: What have you managed to accomplish in the two and a half years that you have been here?

"Quite a bit actually." One of the greatest obstacles to the integration of AI in Israel is that here we tend to speak mainly Hebrew and Arabic. Anybody who uses NLP (Natural Language Processing) tools knows that on the whole all the work is carried out in English alone." NLP is a branch of AI that enables computers to understand, create, and use human language – the technology used by virtual voice assistants such as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, as well as chat-bots such as Claude or Chat-GPT.

In order to overcome the language barrier, he says, "We have put in a tremendous amount of work, more than fifty projects that have been supported in translation to date, in databases in which models can be trained, in trained models and models of abstraction, entity, and sentiment extraction models, transcription, questions, and answers, error detection. And we are returning all this work to the community. In other words, this is an asset that can be used by a company or a government ministry or an academic researcher. The fruits are beginning to accumulate and I assume that the majority of them will arrive towards the end of the year. These are projects that return to the community and are used by it. An additional field on which much work has been done is that of regulation and ethics. What is often referred to as Trustworthy AI. How do we ensure that all the apps will guarantee human rights and will be free of error."

 Q: And this is something that can be done at the local Israeli level?

"Nobody claims that the Europeans and the Americans will adopt the Israeli law, but there is a genuine intention to work as partners on processes that are currently ongoing globally. We are currently at a unique juncture in time. Nobody in the world is sure of how to address this issue so that we here do have the ability to create a significant degree of impact. Last week, I came back to Israel from negotiations regarding an international charter dealing with human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in AI. We are partners together with a large number of states that have worked together to shape the first charter in the world in this sphere. It involves highly complex negotiations. The Europeans pursue a certain method while the Americans opt for a different approach. The Europeans believe in legislation. Other countries say – we have an existing legal framework, but nothing has proven to be missing, let's begin to move forward and try and understand where things are lacking and then we can fix them as we progress. These are very different philosophical approaches.

"Representatives from some fifty different countries sit in the same room and attempt to reach common ground based on shared values relating to what democracies think about AI. Then they try to squeeze this into one legal text so that everybody can live happily with the outcome. Israel is a dominant player in drafting this charter. There are complete paragraphs in the text that are the result of the work that we have fed into this process. For example, we have made a claim regarding the right to innovation. This is an extremely Israeli position. It states that yes it is true that we do need to safeguard the citizens, but if we fail to create sandboxes or places where we can promote experimentalism and innovation – then all the good that we might be able to reap from AI will just not materialize. The bad too might not occur, we cannot guarantee this, but the good will certainly not materialize."

Q: By the way, has the current regional political situation managed to edge its way into this convention?

"We have been part of this negotiating team for two years now. There were strong differences of opinion as to what the charter should look like, but genuine friendship was forged. From the very beginning of the war, I have been offered nothing other than sincere empathy. People asked how I was and my family and how it is to be here during such difficult times. I must admit, I was concerned. When you travel abroad today as an Israeli representative, there is obvious concern. But I have seen nothing other than genuine empathy. The opposite is true. In the world of AI people will make the effort to come and here what we have to say. I attend forums and conferences – everybody makes the effort to come and listen to us. They ask how you succeeded. What did you do? And we have much to be proud of. For example, in Israel, there are more than 2,200 companies engaged in the generation of genuine AI, not instant AI of the simple 'mix and serve' variety."

 Q: What do you call "Instant AI"?

"If somebody uses ChatGPT to provide service to their end customers, that is instant. That's okay, I'm not against it, but he has not conducted any R&D (research and development) in the field of AI. So, we have more than 2,200 Israeli companies engaged in genuine R&D. For the sake of comparison, throughout all of Europe there are more or less the same number of companies.

"When you ask the average person in the street today what is AI, they will usually tend to think of Generative AI – models that generate text and images. But the truth is that this is only the tip of the iceberg for the entire AI spectrum. It is exciting, perhaps even jaw-dropping, but it is still rather small. There are plenty of other AI apps that are changing reality as we know it. For example, imagery processing using AI. It is possible to analyze the results of medical tests or photos of cracks in bridges, to engage in digital agronomy that are completely changing the face of agriculture."

Q: Please explain the issue of cracks in bridges. How can AI help with that?

"I can take a photo of the bridge in visible light or in imagery that penetrates into a much deeper level, and then analyze its structural strength: are there cracks in it? does it need to be renovated or not. Instead of an individual poring over thousands of photos and counting crevices and measuring length – I am not a bridge engineer, I don't know exactly what the standards here are... But I do know that now it is possible to take photos of bridges and send them to a computerized model that will conduct the relevant analysis for me. It will probably do it much faster and more accurately without getting tired.

"We recently had a tour of Kibbutz Yi'ron. There is a drone there that flies over the fields every morning, it photographs and analyzes whether an outbreak of a particular pest has begun in a corner of the field, so that this can then be addressed immediately. Essentially, in terms of global food security, this is groundbreaking technology. There are three Israeli companies considered to be world leaders in the field of digital agronomy. Or for example, examining tissue pathology. Today, an individual sits with a microscope and examines biopsy samples taken from people in order to see if there are cancerous cells. This too is a task that can be performed by AI."

Q: And then you claim that the work of a pathologist who currently sits in the lab is not in danger?

"Today there is a severe lack of pathologists. So, let's now ask just how long a pathologist can sit down without interruption, checking sample after sample, without tiring and not making any errors. What will probably happen is that the number of biopsies that it is possible to analyze at any given moment will multiply by a factor of ten or even a hundred. Only the complex cases in which the computer's recommendation is not absolute will then be forwarded to a human expert. So yes, the profession of a pathologist sitting with a microscope will probably not remain as it is, but there will not necessarily be less pathologists in the world. The manner in which your task is carried out will change. The method of writing code by a software programmer will definitely change. The way in which children are taught at school will change. The way in which you design websites or products will change. The way in which you go over a tax assessment will change. There can be no doubt about that. But that really does not mean that you will become unemployed."

Q: Education – because it is necessary to teach children other things so that they are ready and prepared for this constantly evolving world?

"Also, but the very act of teaching is another issue in itself. In Israel, the average class contains forty children so it is simply not possible to provide each boy and girl with the material they require, tailored for their needs. Those pupils who excel get bored while those who encounter difficulty in understanding the explanations are left behind. It is possible to tailor the content for each child's individual needs: Some children require study that is more visual in nature or involves more audio input or a more conversational approach, some prefer writing and there are those who can run ahead faster or slower. This can apply to a certain field within a subject. For example, if in English the student is proficient at writing but when it comes to talking the language he or she suffers from a lack of confidence, then AI can tailor a study program for that child's individual needs. This will not entail any unemployment in the teaching profession, both in Israel and around the world there is a severe shortage of teachers. Having said that, it is the method of teaching that will change."

Love of the Matrix

Not only does the danger of unemployment raise concerns about the unbridled power of AI, but also sci-fi threats: the machine era in which decisions are made by software in a "closed box" without explaining themselves and without taking into consideration the human factor, progress at such a rapid rate that humans are simply unable to contend with its pace. "The smart robots are taking over the world – everybody and their own favorite movie. I personally am a fan of The Matrix," Katzir states with a smile. "This is a primal fear of technology of any kind. I do understand this but it appears that we have begun to lose it a bit. I don't think that machines are going to take over the world, even though leaps forward such as the one we have witnessed with ChatGPT will continue to occur and at an accelerated pace. Technology is changing and will continue to evolve, and once a year or once every six months we will face some or other technological experience that will take our breath away. Machines will begin to do things that we thought they would never be able to do."

Q: What has stunned you or bowled you over in recent years?

"ChatGPT, although from a purely technological point of view it is not really a jaw-dropping development. One of the winners of the acclaimed Turing Award for inventing deep learning, which forms the technological basis for today's AI, was profoundly insulted. He gave an interview and said: everything had already appeared in my articles, what's new in all this? The answer is that what is new is the fact that it is highly accessible. That all of a sudden, anybody on the street can use this technology with no difficulty at all.

Katzir is concerned about other dangers inherent in AI. "The issue of privacy," he puts forward. "Issues relating to the capacity to explain things. When a machine recommends to somebody to make some or other decision, is that person genuinely able to critically examine that recommendation? There is much still left to do in this field. For example, let's suppose that I develop a system that provides people with recommendations as to their optimum career path. I will take the entire history of Israeli employment from the last twenty years, the individual will then engage in a conversation with the system, and it will say 'you should choose the following profession.' But in Israel, most of those employed in the teaching profession are women and 66 percent of the high-tech workers are men, so if I teach the system using past data and then ask it to forecast the future, it will simply mirror what exists in the data, as it is unable to act differently."

Q: In other words, the system will tell you: you are a young woman – go and be a teacher or a nurse.

"Yes. The society in which we live is full of bias. There is a danger that a decision-making support system will just intensify that bias or discrimination. And generally speaking, when people receive a recommendation from a computer they tend to accept that recommendation. There are numerous experiments in psychology that prove this. But a computer knows how to generate a thousand decisions in a second while a human is able to make one decision in an hour. If we take all the existing biases, then accelerate them by a factor of whatever, and people begin to adopt them without any critical response, we are likely to end up with considerable intensification and reinforcement of the existing biases. This is a process that needs to be addressed, and people are currently working on it."

Q: How?

"First of all, we need to be aware of it. Two weeks ago, we issued an initial call for action to integrate AI in government ministries. Within the call for action, we said: conduct a risk survey and then say how you are going to manage this in the future. In the employment example, after you have built the recommendation system, you need to take the resumes, input them into the system once as a man and then again as a woman, and then see if the system provides the same recommendation or not. After that, take the system six months after it has been launched on the market, and carry out statistical analysis of the recommendations to examine whether there is a bias across one thousand recommendations, two thousand recommendations, 5,000 recommendations.  By the way, I do not wish to solve all the biases. If in the name of equality, we will begin to send men for a uterine cancer scan, that would probably be a much less desirable use of taxpayers' money."

As far as the government is concerned, it is not advisable to intervene in every form of bias. "If Spotify makes an error and selects songs that I don't particularly like, then no material damage has been incurred," explains Katzir. "But if there is a bias in the pathology of a biopsy, then that it is clearly much more dangerous. Thus, we conduct risk surveys and then adapt the regulatory burden to the level of the risk. Risk management and proportionality are two principles that enjoy a broad degree of consensus. And it is from here that the split begins. Europe leads the line that advocates the need for broad legislation: in all AI apps whatever they may be, from Spotify to the pathologist, education and taxes, and whoever recommends what articles I should write – in all of these AI is AI is AI, so that legislation will regulate all of them together. In other words, they divide all the AI apps in the world into three parts: unacceptable risk, which are practices that the Europeans are not prepared to entertain under any circumstances, high risk and low risk."

Q: What enters the category of unacceptable?

"For example, biometrics in the public sphere. Facial recognition cameras on the street. Neither are they prepared to see 'social scoring' – a situation in which my civil rights are intertwined with my behavior according to some or other AI tool. Certain disciplines are in danger – for example, systems that are related to safety, such as autonomous vehicles. The implication of this is that anybody seeking to manufacture or market a product in Europe will be required to comply with the regulations.

"In contrast, the US, Canada, Britain, Israel and additional countries say that: examination of the app must be carried out within the specific context. It is not possible to conduct across-the-board examinations. One of my favorite examples from the world of medicine says the following: If I had a medication for onychomycosis (fungal nail infection) that might cause me to go deaf, then it is most unlikely to be approved. However, if I had a drug for a virulent, incurable form of cancer, which too might cause me to go deaf, then I would probably try it out. In other words, the context is of tremendous importance. And the Israeli approach opts for this method: examining the regulatory burden within the context by a regulator who understands the specific area of practice. The regulator must truly understand the potential benefits and the risk involved.

"Regulation is not necessarily legislation. Much of it is interpretation. I am not sure that primary legislation is needed for this. To impersonate somebody and then sell that person's house is already illegal today, there is no need for any new law to state that this is illegal. To expose private databases is already illegal today. This might be done using other means because of AI, but there is no legal vacuum. A great deal of interpretation is needed."

Q: Our strength lies in our chaos

The TELEM program – National Infrastructure Forum for Research and Development – headed by Katzir is also responsible for awarding grants to research students with a view to bolstering the human capital, and also for establishing IT infrastructure, super-computers accessible for young startup companies and for researchers in the academic world. "There is a global lack of IT infrastructure and we need to make them accessible in Israel and at a fair price that will be able to support innovation. It is happening here. We are engaged in activity to encourage experimentalism."

TELEM is a partnership of all the government R&D entities: the Israel Innovation Authority, the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) which represents the academic world, the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), often better known by its Hebrew acronym MAFAT, which represents the defense & security sector, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, the Ministry of Finance and the Israel National Digital Agency, whose function is to integrate technology in Israel's public service sector itself. "That is the core," explains Katzir. "There are additional entities that surround this core such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and so on."

Q: What do you need to fight so that Israel will continue to lead the way in this field? The budget?

"There is a budget. We were allotted a budget of one billion shekels over six years. That is a considerable amount of money and there is a commitment to continue to budget our activity. The key difficulty is in coordinating all the entities and getting them to move forward together. On the one hand, this is something that Israel excels at. We are a small country with a relatively small government. It is much more difficult, for example, for the US federal government to move together."

But they are much more organized.

"That is actually our strength. We are extremely disorganized and disorderly, we always have been, but that is also the very source of our strength. Our ability to set off and proceed with what we called 'the first stage', to begin to run ahead, to gain experience, to see what succeeds and what does not – that is an extremely apt match for our DNA."

Q: In another ten years' time, how will our daily lives improve thanks to AI?

"It will then be everywhere, engulfing each and every detail of our lives, and it will be much more multi-dimensional. Today we have AI tools that are designed to solve a specific problem. In the future, these will be much more versatile and flexible tools capable of connecting input, answers and media of different types. It is difficult to forecast just how this will look in practice. I am convinced that there will be a dramatic revolution in the way in which we conduct research, how we live and how we communicate, as well as the method we use to manufacture products and how we experience the world around us.

"And I am not worried about this change. Technology has always been a neutral player. The good and the bad lie firmly in our own hands. The world has not brought upon itself disaster or destruction with the numerous technological changes that have occurred to date, and I think that this time too it will not wreak destruction. I do believe that on many occasions, individuals do stupid things, but somehow, as a collective group, we usually tend to be okay."

The post The man in charge of AI in Israel predicts professions will disappear – but no mass unemployment appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

"Yesterday I was in euphoria, I was in the clouds. We really needed it, the air had already become stifling and oppressive," says Ditsa Or, in a conversation we had on the day after the release of Fernando Marman and Luis Har from Hamas captivity in a daring operation that would have done any action movie proud, carried out by operators from the Israel Police National Counter-Terrorism Unit (Yamam) and the Shin Bet operational unit along with combat troops from the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade and Shayetet 13 Naval Commando unit. "I was genuinely in euphoria. I forgot all the meetings I had scheduled, I couldn't eat a bite. All I could do was think about those brave soldiers who really deserved to deliver this moment of salvation with their own hands, and of course also about those who had now returned home after captivity."

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

"And then I saw all the messages posted by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and it made me really sad. The key message there was 'Now is the time to exert pressure as quickly as possible for an initiative to release the remaining hostages.' But hold on a moment, before you do this at least take a second to rejoice, we also really need to say thank you. Eventually, after people from within the group applied pressure, the Forum did issue a message of congratulations, with the word 'but' before and 'but' after. I really wanted to write to Ronen Tzur: 'Can't you put it in more demoralizing terms?' This is what they have been doing from the outset. Using scare tactics, dejection and all that negative energy."

Ditsa is the mother of Avinathan Or, who was abducted from the Nova party together with his partner Noa Argamani. The chilling sight of both of these young people being taken by a frenzied throng, he by foot and she screaming as she is whisked away on a motorbike – was captured on a clip that has been shown all around the world.

In the cozy lounge at the family house in the settlement of Shiloh, large posters portray Avinathan's smiling face, the second of the seven children in the Or family. In other pictures he is seen with Noa, as they travel together around the world, smiling. Ordinarily, Ditsa is a social & emotional counselor and lecturer. Somebody who tries to keep well away from the world of current affairs and politics. But in fact, her voice has been heard right from the start of the war, and it is somewhat different from that of media consultant Ronen Tzur, who is in charge of the activity of the "Hostages and Missing Families Forum".

Q: Do you find it frustrating that you are only three families in Forum Tikva, which advocates a different approach in the hostage families' struggle?

"Three families are not wrong. And besides, there are more than three of us. Today there are approximately an additional 30 families who strongly reject the spirit of how things are conducted in the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, and who identify with the messages of Forum Tikva. It's a sort of second circle of the Forum," which has already formed its own independent WhatsApp group. "As time goes by the fraud is gradually becoming uncovered. It's unconscionable that a civilian organization that is supposed to represent a broad variety of outlooks and opinions is actually being led by a political figure with a radical agenda like Ronen Tzur. He is the best campaigner in Israel, an extremely sophisticated person, and he has managed to wreak havoc and cause tremendous damage before people caught on to what he was doing.

"More and more families have now come to understand that his campaign has distanced the public from us. To a certain extent the public has become fed up with the hostages. Opinions have begun to be voiced of 'Why do you think that your children are more important than IDF soldiers,' and opinion polls show that support for them is dwindling. This is all his doing. He can take the credit for the damage to the hostages' struggle. Instead of devoting time to self-reflection within the Forum once the poll had been published regarding the fact that the public had been alienated from the hostage families, he immediately announced that this was a campaign by the prime minister that was intended to delegitimize the hostages. He presented a list of things that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had done. Some things had indeed happened, but to depict everything as an orchestrated campaign is simply delusional. He did this to put some distance between himself and the failure."

She is not only at odds with the working methods but also the very essence of the campaign: "The declaration of bringing them back 'at any cost.' Is that really the way to conduct negotiations? Is that how you fight the enemy? It undermines the state and the army. And it is my son, a hostage in Hamas captivity, who is paying the price for this. Those who hold him now know that they can ask for any price. He simply needs to wait, to hold on and to waste time, while we are busy weakening ourselves."

In answer to the question, she doesn't like addressing the issue of "What might have happened if..." but feels that "without the Forum's activity in Israel, Avinathan might already have been home. It is clear to me that the manner in which Ronen Tzur operates only serves to sabotage the possibility of attaining the hostages' release. This is something that I have kept to myself for a long time but now the time has come for me to spit it out. It has begun to become extremely clear and transparent. For a long time, I was afraid to say this in the Forum's group. Anybody who dared to say something that doesn't go with the flow or opposes their agenda, was subject to direct personal attacks. And in any event, all of us have to deal with an extremely chaotic and challenging situation. All of us are investing tremendous efforts to remain upright and to continue functioning on a daily basis. So having to put up with that type of flak is really no easy task."

Q: Release everybody without spreading a deal out over a number of stages

Last week, she recounts, the Forum tried to get all the families to sign a letter to the prime minister calling for an effort to reach an immediate deal. "I spent a whole day investing herculean efforts to include wording in the letter that we are calling for a deal to be concluded in one stage only. At the beginning, I spoke with the volunteers in the Forum, and then I gradually started to climb the hierarchical ladder and I had already managed to obtain Ronen Tzur's phone number, but I didn't phone him. They didn't agree to include this wording, based on arguments that I simply failed to comprehend. They said that they didn't want to go into details, that this would push away the public. What do you mean push away the public, they have already been pushed away. Perhaps if you change the tune a bit then the public just might to draw a little closer again. I am not prepared to be a signatory to messages calling for panic. If they were to include the issue of a 'one-stage deal', then that would be a gain for which I would be prepared to sign it."

The opposition to a deal that would begin with a "humanitarian" release of a group of some 35 hostages including children, women, the elderly and the sick, is an existential issue for her. "That would be disastrous. My son is in the last category, just before that of the dead bodies. In each hostage release stage, whoever remains behind will pay the price. In each hostage release stage, we are gradually giving up on the leverage that Israel can bring to bear. Whoever signs a deal that is spread out over a number of stages is effectively signing the death warrant of those who remain behind in Hamas captivity. That Satanic fiend, Sinwar, is forcing us to engage in a form of human trafficking. To buy the lives of one group in return for another. And if we are engaging in a form of human trafficking, then who is to say that the life of an 84 year-old man is worth more than that of a 31 year-old man? It's a total catastrophe. I am absolutely not prepared to enter into such a dialogue, but even as a human trafficker you are a second-rate negotiator."

Q: The decision to say openly that they are causing damage – was your decision?

"Mine alone, as a result of paying attention to the reality of the situation. It's the result of the same drive that has Ronen Tzur taking off his gloves. He is becoming more and more extreme and that poses a clear and present danger to my son's life. I regret having to act in such a contrarian manner. We want to be together and to act in unison, and they are acting from a position whose trend I can clearly see is designed to undermine that unison. Over the years they talked to us about unity when what they really meant was 'keep your opinions to yourself and anybody who refuses to toe the line with us – is the one causing the division.' The radicalism that Ronen Tzur represents belongs to a very small minority, and it isn't right that this minority should determine the agenda. We live in a democracy, no?"

Alongside the biting criticism, it is important for her to also state the positive activity being carried out by the Forum: "They do engage in excellent work on the personal and human level with the families of the hostages, taking care of their welfare and providing support with the immensely difficult situation with which they must contend. And they are also doing extremely important work on the international circuit too."

She was intending to speak with Ronen Tzur personally but has not yet got round to doing so. "I am not fond of what he has done, his conduct, but I do believe that he does possess an internal part based on good. When I wanted to speak to him I sought to connect with that internal light that exists in every Jew, but I don't currently feel that I have sufficient strength to be able to successfully touch that spark inside him.

"In general, speaking is the last thing that I would naturally wish to do. In that situation, my default was to shut all the doors and windows, to remain with myself and God. But I feel that I simply don't have the right to such a luxury, to run away and shut the door behind me.  I have been drafted, this is my Tzav Shemoneh (literally 'Order 8' – the Hebrew term for emergency call-up papers). And I am making a huge effort to put what I have to say into extremely precise terms."

Q: What is your opinion about the claim that the right-wing public cares less about the hostages?

"The absolute opposite is true. People are extremely committed, they are really going out of their way to do as much as possible and to help, whatever you say they will do. I think that some of the negative campaign is to place us inside the trap of saying that we need to choose between either the hostages or attaining victory in the war and toppling Hamas. As though if you choose one you have automatically given up on the other. Who says that that's how things work? That is exactly helping to serve Hamas' objectives. The correct way to release the hostages is to engage in a fight to eliminate Hamas. Whether that involves waging war in Gaza, working to sway international public opinion or economically. The reality of the situation is much more complex and enables diverse and creative solutions. Our soldiers have attained some unbelievable, glorious victories on the battlefield. Hamas' power is gradually starting to crumble. Their entire resilience and steadfastness is based on the defeatism that we tend to convey. This is a psychological war to weaken the spirit of the people."

As part of their private family struggle, for four months now they have been standing, day in day out, outside the Begin Gate entrance to the IDF HQ at the Kirya in Tel-Aviv. She stands there together with Yaron, Avinathan's father, and their children, the members of the broader family, Avinathan's friends and representatives of Nvidia, the company where he worked until October 7. The person who came up with the idea back in the very first week was their eldest son, who shortly afterwards was called up to take part in the combat effort in the Gaza Strip, where he served until about two weeks ago.

"We have been standing at the entrance from the third day of the war, every day from seven thirty in the morning until nine thirty at night, apart from Friday and Saturday. Many senior IDF officers, government ministers and cabinet members pass by. Some of them roll down their car window and say, 'We are with you.' Some of them stop for a few minutes, and some even actually park their car on the side and dedicate time for a genuine and meaningful meeting. Yesterday I spoke with the IDF's Director of Military Intelligence, Major General Aharon Haliva, we have spoken with the Director of Shin Bet on a few occasions, with current minister and former Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot, to mention just a few. We have turned the Begin Gate into Avinathan's Gate. Lots of meaningful meetings take place there. Direct meetings with members of the military and politicians, as well as social meetings between the diverse ends of the spectrum. Among those who stand together with us there are representatives of the entire social, political and public spectrum. Regular passers-by also stop to talk to us.

"If it is a day on which a cabinet meeting takes place or there is a heightened sense of a deal that is about to go down, then the Forum calls for a demonstration to be held there and a whole group appears with all the noise, the hustle and bustle with which we have become familiar from the protests on Kaplan Street. The drums, the trumpets, the horns and the megaphones that burst your eardrums. There is a standard operating procedure already in place when they arrive, the security guards at the Kirya close the gate and vehicles refrain from leaving."

Q: And how is the interaction between you and those demonstrations?

"There are activists who have jumped on the bandwagon and are exploiting the situation to continue the wars of the Kaplan Force (responsible for organizing the anti-government protests), and there are families who come, not many, with whom we conduct an extremely refreshing discourse, one that brings people together. Sometimes with the activists too, but not always. I have arrived at one key conclusion from all those meetings – in order to draw people in and bring them closer, talking alone is not sufficient. When you try to bridge the gap between positions based on a process of intellectual inquiry and observation, the main outcome is usually a clash and this tends to generate very little positive or beneficial impact. In order to connect with people, you need to start from the heart, from the most basic human level of who you are, what is troubling and hurting you. And then, when that connection has been forged, it is possible to gradually climb upwards towards world views and outlooks, what you believe in. I have actually seen this happen. I see people who come from a place of genuine concern, those who seek to have a positive influence and are prepared to pay a price for their inner truth. But there are also those who come seeking destruction."

A time for tears

Last week, Ditsa came back from a trip to the USA, where she spoke with an endless number of local communities, she spoke about Avinathan and of her ongoing efforts to secure his release. On the flight back home, she was invited to the cockpit to see the sunrise and she remained with the "wonderful" pilots, as she referred to them, until they landed back in Israel. "That was one of the most amazing experiences, to fly above the rising sun."

Q: But it clearly also embraces a considerable degree of frustration. The whole world is at your feet, and Avinathan, who is only a two-three hour drive from here, is unattainable.

"Yes. Our whole reality at the moment is one of extremes. On the one hand we face the deepest darkness while on the other hand there is an abundance of light and good – good deeds of Israeli citizens and of Jews all over the world, of God Almighty."

On Tu BiShvat they celebrated Avinathan's 31st birthday. "The largest birthday celebration we have ever made for him. On the eve of Tu BiShvat we stood outside the Kirya with lots of posters and balloons that Nvidia prepared. We prepared goody bags along with small packages with dried fruits, and we gave them out to all the cars leaving the base, to anyone passing by, in all several hundred bags. On the morning of his birthday, we gathered together here, the whole family, to take part in a really moving Tu BiShvat seder to commemorate the Jewish 'New Year of the Trees'. This was then followed by a special ceremony for the dedication of a new Torah scroll in Shiloh. Our friend, the amazing Sagi Va'anunu, launched and led a project off his own bat. This was an event that began at four in the afternoon and went on almost until midnight. Here in our home, we completed the writing of the letters of the Torah scroll. This was followed by a wonderful procession to the synagogue, with balloons and good wishes that we released. Everything was planned down to the finest details. Hundreds of people attended and everything ran as smooth as clockwork. The entire settlement was decorated. There were so many people who played a part in the preparations, such a massive investment and so much joy. People whom we had met and acquaintances we made as part of the special, cherished connections that have developed over the last few months also came. Tel Avivians, left-wingers. There was a genuine sense of emotion, of togetherness."

Ditsa talks of her tall, strong son. According to various testimonies, he had a number of opportunities to escape from the terrorists who overran the party, but he stayed with his beloved Noa, "He chose not to leave her behind in the claws of those scum," as his mother puts it, "but as soon as they arrived in the netherworld underground, they separated between them." Some of the women hostages who were released from captivity said that they had met her. According to their testimony, Ditsa recounts, "She doesn't stop talking about Avinathan, she is worried about him and misses him." About a month ago, Hamas published a video clip in which she appears. In contrast, there has not been even a single indication from the hell of Hamas captivity to attest to Avinathan's fate.

"We are constantly living on two different planes. We act here in the physical, natural world, we know that it is imperative to make every effort humanly possible in every way, and yet, at the same time we also live on the level of intangible belief and faith. The combination of these two is the basic formula for life. This combination does not mean that sometimes I am immersed in the physical, natural world and sometimes I am wrapped in the world of belief and faith, but it is rather the constant knowledge that everything that happens is managed by the Creator, and everything is for our good. So that everything that we do is derived from this awareness."

Q: Everything might be for our good, but in the meantime you and your son are undergoing so much pain and suffering.

"I can't say that I don't have any proposals of how to attain that good more efficiently," she smiles, "but after all, as Rabbi Nachman says, that if we were able to comprehend how God works, then we would actually be like him, and consequently, we wouldn't feel a need to serve Him and subjugate ourselves to Him? It is not always possible to understand everything in real time. But in the future, 'our mouths shall be filled with laughter', the laughter of joy and understanding."

Ditsa has currently taken a time out from teaching as she is totally invested in the effort to release Avinathan. "My life is completely different to what it was beforehand. I am living in a state of complete chaos. I have no fixed daily schedule, apart from the overall framework – in the morning until 11 and from 530 in the evening at the Kirya. Having said that, it is this chaos that allows me a considerable degree of freedom. I am free to do whatever I want. And there you have another example of the extremes I was talking about – I am currently in a state of such absolute freedom while Avinathan is imprisoned and he is denied the most basic freedoms of any human being."

During the morning hours, until 11 am, she allows the pain to overcome her, the crying, the tears and the prayers that are born and rise up within her. She lets them take up their time so that for the rest of the day she will be able to concentrate her energy on engaging in action.

Everyone, she says, can do his or her bit. "This war began with Israel's homefront suffering such a brutal blow. Innocent, unarmed people, who were not involved in anything, were hurt so severely in such an extreme manner. But at the same moment this turned all the civilians into fighters. Thank God that our amazing soldiers managed to take control of the situation and now the fighting is taking place inside the Gaza Strip rather than in our territory. But this really is a war of light against darkness of good against evil. Anyone who does a good deed, and everybody has their own opportunity to do good – is a fighter too and helps to bring forward the victory of the light."

The response of Ronen Tzur, the former head of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum: "For her own reasons, Ditsa has chosen to single me out and attack only me from the very beginning of this disaster, and those reasons remain with her. I respect and love dear Ditsa, and I will not argue with the mother of a son who has been kidnapped in the greatest failure and catastrophe in the history of the State of Israel. I will fight for the safe return home of Avinathan along with the rest of the hostages and am sure that they will be grateful for this."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Her son is held by Hamas; she wants Israel to adopt a new approach to negotiations appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.