What Hamas recorded on smartphones and uploaded to social media was a 21st century pogrom. The massacre of more than 1,400 people renewed and validated the dread that resides in every Jewish Israeli as a kind of inheritance-the embedded collective memory of trauma that has kept a society's sense of confidence eggshellthin even behind the most powerful fighting force in the Middle East.
What that military is directing onto the Gaza Strip-6,000 bombs in the first six days-had by Oct. 17 killed more than 3,000 people. For Palestinians, the Israel-Hamas War is likely the worst trauma since the Nakba, or "catastrophe"-as they refer to the 1948 victory of the Jewish army that, in establishing a Jewish homeland, exiled more than 700,000 Arabs who claimed the same land. Their descendants' defiant presence in blockaded Gaza (where 2.2 million people are ruled by Hamas) and on the West Bank (where 3 million chafe under Israeli military occupation) has posed a persistent challenge not only for Israel's security, but also for the moral code cultivated during the millennia that Jews had not a state, but a tradition. Revenge hangs in the air over Gaza along with cordite. And just as no gentile can apprehend the horror of the Oct. 7 sabbath, nothing can communicate the experience of bombardment.
Imagine enduring both. The roughly 200 hostages Hamas carried away at gunpoint were awakened at dawn by the terror of a missile onslaught and faced the darkness of Gaza beneath the thunder of Israeli munitions. They form a kind of human bridge between two realms. "I can only hope that she is being held in Gaza," says the son of 74-year-old Vivian Silver, a peace activist missing from her kibbutz. "What a terrible hope that is."
Denne historien er fra November 06, 2023-utgaven av Time.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra November 06, 2023-utgaven av Time.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Gaza's Doctors Face a New Fight - Polio has resurfaced in Gaza for the first time in 25 years, with the first case confirmed Aug. 16 in a 10-month-old unvaccinated child in Deir al-Balah, the enclave's health authorities said;
Polio has resurfaced in Gaza for the first time in 25 years, with the first case confirmed Aug. 16 in a 10-month-old unvaccinated child in Deir al-Balah, the enclave's health authorities said; the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in July that the virus had been initially detected in wastewater in the city.
Justin Theroux The Emmy-winning actor, writer, and producer on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, his roles in cult classics, and the enduring love for The Leftovers
I was absolutely a fan.
An adaptation of Three Women makes four a crowd
FOR A WORK OF LITERARY NONFICTION TO thrill readers the way Lisa Taddeo's 2019 best seller Three Women has done, it must offer more than just rich subject matter.
3 sisters and one empty recliner
DEATH CAN BOTH TEAR FAMILY MEMBERS apart and bind them closer-often simultaneously.
NATASHA ROTHWELL OUT FRONT
The creator-performer moves from beloved supporting roles to center stage in a deeply personal new comedy series
STILL PROCESSING
Not all ultra-processed foods are the same. Or, some argue, even unhealthy
IRON FIST
A crackdown on El Salvador’s gangs made Nayib Bukele one of the world’s most popular leaders. Is he going too far?
Long-distance relationships aren't just for romance
NURTURING LONG-DISTANCE friendships takes work, but the payoff is worth it-and even small gestures can keep bonds alive.
HOW TO KNOW IF YOUR DYNAMIC IS TOXIC AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Friends can be great-until they're not.
It's never too late to make new friends
CHRIS DUFFY ISN'T GOING TO SUGARcoat it: making friends as an adult is hard.