I wish to thank all my readers around the world for expressing their empathy and compassion for Israel in these difficult times. Some of you I know personally from book events, with some of you publishers I work closely, and others I don’t know at all, but we have a special connection through the stories and the characters. You are all in my heart and I thank you in the name of other Israelis who need to know that you stand with us.
Tales of tumult: Israeli authors decode war
- A call: Help release the Israeli captives/ Yishai Sarid
- October 7 2023, a day that will live in infamy/ Noa Menhaim
I also want to express my utmost confusion from some journalists who asked me whether I think these horrific terror attacks are the result of the Israeli occupation.
Sometimes there is no 'why'
On some occasions throughout history, reality is able to penetrate the different narratives and hit a rock-bottom truth. Some cases are so clear, so evident, that they transcend our ordinary way of looking at things. This is the case here.
Clip from the video released by IDF, blurred due to the nature of the hard-to-watch scenes
Beheading children, burning families in their own houses, dragging the elderly to captivity - there is no “reason” or “justification” for that whatsoever.
If you are someone who is concerned about human rights, you shouldn’t look for "reasons" and "justifications" for beheading children. If you are a feminist, you shouldn’t try to “understand” the raping of women in a music festival. If you are a humanist, you should realize that any attempt to understand “why” they did it, is already looking for the answer in the wrong place.
Yaniv IczkovitsPhoto: Arik SultanSometimes there is no “why”. Sometimes the deed and the dead speak for themselves. The “why” is exactly what is seen - annihilation, murder, cruelty, sadism, savage etc. - if you are looking for a “why” you want might start with these words.
This is a picture of an entire family that was butchered in Nahal Oz on October 7th - Do you really want to ask WHY?
First published: 02:51, 10.24.23