The Relativism of Safety

Another week has passed in this Gaza war (or whatever we will eventually call this war). Over 220 hostages of 40 nationalities are being kept by Hamas in Gaza. They still haven’t allowed the Red Cross to visit the hostages or provided a list of names. Four women were released. Two Americans, two elderly women aged 85 and 80. Hamas claimed they released them for humanitarian reasons, as if they are ca­pable of being human. Their husbands, who are even older, were kept in captiv­ity. Hamas is toying with all of us. How human can you be when you kidnap an 85-year-old lady on a motorcycle and then beat her and break her ribs?

My friends in India send messages and show concern. I reply that I am OK and safe. Safe is a relative notion. When compared to the people that live next to the Gaza border, I am safe. When com­pared to the people that live next to the northern border with Lebanon, where the terror group Hezbollah operates, I am safe. But to be honest with myself, I do not feel that safe. I speak to people and understand that the “Cursed Saturday”, as we now call the October 7 massacre, scarred us all. We check the doors and windows twice before going to bed. I don’t know about others, but when a car passes me on the road, I remember the Hamas jeeps that killed whoever came their way on the southern roads.

Soon after the Gulf War, in which Iraq fired missiles into Israel, it became mandatory to build an anti-missile safe room in new apartment buildings. The door of the safe room is made of metal and is very cumbersome. Approximate­ly 10 years ago, we renovated the house, and decided to remove the metal door of our safe room. I was naïve to think that I would not need it. We installed a nice wooden door to fit the other doors of the house. But to be on the safe side, we kept this door in the attic. In the current rocket barrage, people who stayed in their safe room were not harmed. On Cursed Saturday, this door saved many people who locked themselves in this room when the terrorists entered their homes. This Sunday, after seeing that rockets are pouring on us not just from Gaza but also from Hezbollah in the north and even the Houthis in Yemen, who sent a few long-range missiles our way, I decided to stop burying my head in the sand. I called Ronnie, our handy­man, and asked for his assistance in reinstalling the metal door. “Where are the original bolts?” he asked. “You must have kept them somewhere.” Where on earth did I keep those special bolts that connect the door to the hinge? I don’t remember what I did yesterday, so how can I remember where I kept those bolts 10 years ago? After three hours of searching in every drawer possible, there was a small miracle and I found them. The installed door was a big relief.

During the past three weeks, 8,000 rockets were fired on Israel by Hamas. The siren wails only in the area where the rocket is about to hit. The Iron Dome interception devices succeed 90 per cent of the time. For the remaining 10 per cent, you better find a shelter. I live in a small village surrounded by brinjal fields. During the past week, my village has not been very popular. We only had one siren a day. The scary stretch is between my home and my of­fice in Tel Aviv, 40 minutes of highway driving without shelter. Sirens caught me several times on the road. The instructions are to get out of the car, lie down on the ground, and cover your head. It’s not recommended to stay in the car which explodes easily. Today, while driving to make condolence visits to a bereaved family, I didn’t hear the siren but saw people stopping and stepping out of their cars. I immediately stopped, went some distance from the car, and lay flat on the ground covering my head and praying hard that the rocket would be inter­cepted. Those few minutes until we hear the boom feels like ages. A boom means an interception or a hit, hoping it hits an empty lot.

This war is a clash of civilisations. The leaders of liberal democracies understand that Hamas is an evil that must be eradicated, and support Israel not just by statements but also by pay­ing a visit and coming to see with their own eyes the atrocities committed and the remains of the villages that suffered the massacre. An air bridge of leaders reached here in the past two weeks. Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, Rishi Sunak, and Giorgia Meloni. They all understand that Hamas is not just a threat to Israel. It is a threat to human­ity. Hamas called for killing Jews around the world. If they really want to ‘free Palestine’, what does a Jew in New York or in Berlin have to do with their alleged mission? This Hamas call reached the ears of anti-Semitic and pro- Hamas movements around the world, and many anti-Jewish incidents were reported, including the murder of the Detroit synagogue president who was stabbed to death near her home.

Anti-Semitism and the ignorance of many people around the world are driving me crazy. Well, I don’t expect a Norwegian girl to know the history of the State of Israel and the Palestinians territories just as I am equally no expert in Norwegian history and its conflicts, if any. However, when a Norwegian girl protested in a pro-Palestine rally and was asked about the Israel-Palestine-Hamas conflict, she couldn’t explain why she protests. It just looked fashionable to join this rally. Ignorant people really think that there was once a sovereign state called Palestine that the Israelis conquered from the Arabs. People really think that Israel rules Gaza. For the sake of clarity, here’s a crash course in history. The British Empire ruled a territory called Palestine between 1917 and 1948. Prior to that, the Ottoman Empire ruled this region. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 issued by the British government supported the establish­ment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. The only Jewish state in the world. After World War II and the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, the need for such a state was even more urgent. A UN resolution of November 1947 declared the establishment of two states in the area called Palestine. One for the Jews, and one for the Arabs. This was rather similar to the partition made by the British between India and Pakistan. The Jews were happy with this resolu­tion and established the State of Israel. The Arabs didn’t agree and immediately upon the departure of the British, started a war with Israel, with the support of all neighbouring Arab countries. This war is called the ‘Independence War’. The current Gaza war feels like the second Independence War. The October 7 mas­sacre triggered our survival mode.

Today, a TV news channel played a recording of a WhatsApp call be­tween a Hamas terrorist while partici­pating in the massacre and his proud parents in Gaza. The terrorist, full of excitement said: “Dad, Mom, I killed 10 Jews, I am talking to you using the Jew­ish woman’s phone. I killed her and her husband, I am a hero.” The parents, full of joy and excitement, cheered him on. He asked them to open the video app so that he could show them his work. The mother said: “I wish I was with you,” and the father, with tears of happiness said, “Allah will bless you. Kill, kill, kill them all.” Those are our neighbours to whom the world wants us to provide electricity and water. The families of the Hamas terrorists support their activities. They danced and sang on the streets of Gaza on October 7. Hamas terrorists were caught and investigated by the Israeli forces. They said their mission was to kill the men and kidnap the rest, even kids and the elderly. They were promised that for each person they kidnapped, they would receive an apartment and $10,000.

This week was Dussehra in India, and I got many Dussehra greetings that were so relevant. “May the good triumph over the evil. May Lord Rama conquer the darkness around us.” And to that, I say Amen.

About The Author

Anat Bernstein-Reich

Anat Bernstein-Reich is chairperson of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce, a Friend of India Awardee for 2020, and CEO of BDO Israel-India Investment Banking firm

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