On Saturday, October 7, an entire country was traumatized. Most residents' past experiences in wars and operations do not compare to the sights and stories we were exposed to this time, and this is only the tip of what happened there. A traumatized country.
Netanyahu to US Secretary of State: "Hamas should be treated the same as ISIS," Blinken: "We will protect Israel's back" GPO
Dysfunctional leadership. Not empathetic. A few members of the coalition bothered to attend the funerals. On the other hand, there were those who took a deep breath, immediately put on their uniforms, started the car and went down to the south to save lives. Others took a few more hours to come to their senses and take action. But within 24 hours, an entire country, heartbroken, stabilized. Put the trauma aside and immediately ask where they can help.
Civilian operations rooms were opened, donations were collected, logistics centers were established, and the families of abductees and missing were organized in an exemplary manner. Clothes, food, equipment and treats were collected. Volunteers filled hospital corridors to help the wounded, while others attended funerals of soldiers they didn't know. Artists went down to the Dead Sea, to the hotels where they gathered the stunned refugees of Kibbutz Be'eri, and tried to make their hearts happy even in their difficult hour.
, collecting donations and packing packages at Dizengoff Square for soldiers and families in the south. Photo: Yehoshua Yosef
, civilians enlist to collect donations for IDF soldiers and residents of the envelope. Photo: Yehoshua Yosef
Everyone contributed according to his strength and ability. The people of Israel did well to fill in what President Biden said at the end of his speech, when he quoted Golda Meir who whispered in his ear what Israel's secret weapon is: We have nowhere else to go.
Shame on your heads
The state and citizens stepped up and rose to the magnitude of the event. Those who did not, as mentioned, were the politicians. Shame. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have immediately held a cabinet meeting and immediately summoned Lapid, Gantz and Lieberman.
Instead, after receiving a generous offer from Yair Lapid at the start of the war, he rejected it. He preferred Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to his side, even though they only cause damage to national security. Lapid, who agreed to enter an emergency government headed by him, was rejected in disgrace. In the long run, this will play in his favor.
The chairman of the state camp, Benny Gantz, did not set conditions even though necessary, and will probably enter the government and give additional legitimacy to Ben-Gvir. He must have said to himself that at such a time we must show stateliness and responsibility and help. We will reveal to him that it is possible to help from the outside as well. There is no prohibition on offering advice to the chief of staff by two ex-chiefs of staff. No one will raise an eyebrow if they reach the pit in the Kirya or the war room in the field.
Netanyahu, Galant and Gantz launch the unity government, Photo: GPO
We will reveal something else to him, which he may not have thought of himself: Bibi wants him next to him when they enter a ground offensive, in order to share with him responsibility for the next casualties and for the next moves that will come when they will be investigated in depth. Because Ben-Gvir and Smotrich will be able to say that they are not responsible, because they were expelled from the cabinet.
I often quote the words of the late Geula Cohen, who used to say: "Under the clothes I wear there is an army uniform. At any moment I can go into battle." So yes, an entire nation has boarded khaki and is ready to fight.
Only at six after the war will we all have to process the trauma. She won't on her own. Even those who are veterans of Israel's wars have not seen or experienced such sights and descriptions.
Go down and take care of the kids!
An entire country should sit on the psychologist's couch. Until then, the prime minister's wife, who prides herself on her B.A.M.A. degrees in psychology, would do well to take care of the children of the residents of the Gaza envelope, who have undergone unimaginable trauma.
Yes, in those children whom the prime minister did not visit before the war, because he may have assumed that their parents did not choose him anyway.
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