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In Israel I Heard the Cries of a Determined People

(Bulwark) Will Selber - Americans have largely been spared from war. In a country where only 1% serve and even fewer see combat, almost no one understands that war will always be messy. It's different in Israel, where most serve. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is small but mighty. Its elite units - fighter pilots, special forces, paratroopers - are world class. But it can't withstand a year-long war without relying on its reserves, composed of 465,000 Israelis. Everyone is affected by the war. Two days after my official retirement from the Air Force, I went to Israel to see what it's like when a nation unites behind a war effort, as our country once did. My tour guide, Nuri, was a young commando who had fought on Oct. 7. As we walked to the site of the Nova Music Festival, I was immediately overwhelmed. I have been to many killing fields in Iraq and Afghanistan, but this was different. The unspeakable atrocities on those happy, optimistic young people - not just Jews, but Arabs and others, too - inspired an extra level of grief and anger. Here, 364 people were massacred and 40 more were taken hostage. Most of them were Jews murdered for being Jews, but some were gentiles who were murdered just for being around Jews. The terrorists, who didn't know about the festival beforehand, marveled at their fortune to descend upon young, helpless Jews celebrating life. And what followed was bloodlust in full array. Men, drunk with violence, luxuriated in massacring Jews. "We came here, and to be honest, all the bad guys were already gone," Nuri told me, "but there were all the bodies. They were everywhere." The area now bloomed with memorials. There were mourners everywhere. Families weeping by the memorials of their loved ones. But the cries I heard were those of a determined people being reminded that many of their neighbors just really want to kill them. The writer is a retired Middle East Foreign Area Officer with 20 years in the intelligence community.
2024-08-01 00:00:00
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