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Source: https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/r14humnogg
Oct. 7 Was a Wake-Up Call Israel Cannot Afford to Forget
(Ynet News) Ari Shavit - There is no Israeli man or woman who has gone back to being who they were on Oct. 6, 2023. There is no Jewish man or woman who was not shaken to their core. Because of Hamas's barbaric attack three years ago, the country came face to face with its vulnerability. We all understood that we were targets. We know they want to murder us. They really, truly seek to destroy us and wipe us out. We live on the front line of an existential struggle. In the first decades of its existence, Israel knew it faced a constant existential threat. But in the 30 years preceding Oct. 7, Israel ignored the reality of its own situation and grew complacent. Until suddenly, jihadist Islam walked into the western Negev kibbutzim carrying assault rifles. True, the IDF reversed the course of the war. The bleeding Israel of fall 2023 became a regional superpower that, in 2026, our neighbors fear and respect. But what we learned on Oct. 7 is that the next Oct. 7 will come. The Middle East will not leave us alone. We will be attacked again. They will once again try to wipe us off the face of the earth. As Jews in a Muslim region, as Israelis in an Arab region and as a democracy in a region of tyranny and violence, we will always live by the sword.