The routine for most Israelis since October 7, 2023, has been: Get up in the morning, immediately review the news, breathe again when no soldiers were lost or terrorist attacks were promulgated, go to beit knesset if you are so inclined, go to work with one eye or ear on the media, get through the day – and begin the next. Many days involve going to a funeral of a fallen “Hero of Israel” or visiting those who have suffered losses or are waiting for the return of hostages. The war in Gaza grinds on and the rockets, drones, RPGs, and antitank weapons scream towards civilian targets in the North, the Red Sea, and Eilat. Uncertainty and anxiety are the norm. But as a society, Israelis are determined to reach our goals: the return of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas. This is an existential battle, and it must be won. With G-d’s help, it will be won.
Paradoxically, in the shadow of the Simchas Torah War, life in Israel has returned to a fragile norm. Many reservists (millieuimniks) have been sent home and returned to work. Businesses are reopening and the streets of Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem are packed with people and cars. The Israeli media continues its unending analysis of the current situation, and pundits constantly point out what the army, the government, and its ministers could be doing better. This is a Jewish state and, despite the world’s obsession with telling us how to conduct every aspect of our lives and constantly holding us to unique moral standards, we Israelis are never at a loss for self-criticism. Whereas, pre-October 7, the internecine disparagements threatened to tear our country apart, for the moment, most of our people are tolerant of different views, ideologies, and philosophies. The comradery of the battlefront and the sacrifices of young soldiers from every niche of Israeli society have made many realize we have a common future and fate. It is essential that this intersocietal empathy survive and continue post-victory.
Recently, to relieve the stress of daily life, we traveled to the Galilee to see the abundant flowers that are the result of an unusually wet winter. The Northern half of Israel has already received 150 percent of the normal rainfall for this period, and the hills and valleys of the lower Galilee are a lush green and speckled with yellow, red, purple, and white flowers. Traveling past Megiddo through the Jezreel Valley with my wife, daughter, and granddaughter made me conscious of how beautiful and diverse is the flora of the Holy Land. We saw yellow chardal (mustard) flowers in abundance, the last stages of multicolored kalaniyot (anemones) and the purple turmusim (Blue Lupine) standing tall and straight in magnificent clusters.
After trekking through soggy fields, calmed by the serenity of nature, we traveled to Poriyah, a tranquil area above the slopy hills to the west of the Sea of Galilee. We enjoyed a peaceful vegetarian lunch in a bucolic setting and then drove to a hotel on the banks of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).
All the while, about 40 kilometers to the North, Hezbollah continues to fire on Israel. Fourteen Israelis have lost their lives, which were upended in a flash, without warning. Shortly after the Hamas massacre on October 7, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which now de facto runs Lebanon, began an unprovoked attack (despite the existence of a UN-underwritten ceasefire agreement) on civilian villages in the Upper Galilee. Nearly 80,000 Israelis fled from their homes and are now displaced persons (mifunim). The world has remained silent in response to the more than 3,000 projectiles fired by Hezbollah, who are close ideological first cousins of Hamas and the Houthis. Where are the calls for a ceasefire by these terrorists?
Like numerous Israeli hotels, Chof Gai has been a contributor to the Israeli war effort. For the last three months, it has housed about 400 displaced Israeli families, supported by government funds that have provided for all their needs. This has changed Chof Gai from a tourist hotel to a community service facility. In addition to sleeping accommodations and serving three meals a day, the hotel now houses a kindergarten, a daycare center, and a laundry facility. One might think its administrators would be frustrated and complaining about the matzav, generically the situation in Israel. However, the management we spoke to all showed tremendous compassion and empathy for the mifunim and could not stop talking about the quality of their new guests and how they have acted, in what is a less-than-ideal situation. We left uplifted by the response of the average Israeli citizen to the challenging matzav. The fact that the Sea of Galilee is nearly topped off and will soon be overflowing also raised our spirits.
Driving back to Rehovot, I reflected on life for Israeli citizens. We remain a very complicated society. We love music and culture and follow Weizmann’s vision that science will contribute to alleviation of human suffering and to the betterment of mankind. We have given the world tremendous gifts in medicine, communication, and agriculture. As a people, we seek to fulfill the dictum of being a light unto the nations. Yet, we are accused from the outside of being genocidal and an apartheid state. We have been bashed by the media and the world for indiscriminately killing Gazan civilians and being an occupying, colonizing society. It is becoming the norm for “protesters” to chant “down with Israel,” “from the river to the sea,” and “ceasefire now,” even though the current war started when Hamas unilaterally broke a ceasefire, massacred more than 1,200 defenseless civilians, and took 250 woman, children, and elderly hostage. The indifference of the world to the challenge faced by Israel is not surprising. Jews only seem to be appreciated when they are living in ghettoes or dying in death camps. I am a dual American Israeli citizen. I am proud of both the United States and Israel and of being part of am Yisrael in our historic homeland. Given the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic violence sweeping the globe, our homeland provides an essential refuge to ensure the future of the Jewish people. The Jewish nation is determined not to let others define our destiny, and despite the hypocrisy of an indifferent world and the incessant bombing by our Palestinian, Lebanese, and Yemenite adversaries, to enjoy the green hills, valleys, and beautiful flora of the Galilee.
The writer is a distinguished emeritus professor of biochemistry and chemistry at the City University of New York. He lives in Rehovot and has two grandsons in the IDF. The opinions in this article are his own.
