From inside the safe rooms
This is hard to read. I had to take it in stages.
Hamas attack on Israel kibbutz Be’eri captured by mothers’ WhatsApp group
Shortly after sunrise on the morning of Saturday 7 October, a message pings on 200 phones of the Be’eri mothers’ WhatsApp group.
Minutes later another message lands: “We have a terrorist on the stairs. Call someone.”
WARNING: Some readers may find details in this article distressing.
Hamas gunmen had just begun a day-long rampage through this kibbutz in southern Israel, and over the next 20 hours the women channelled their horror, disbelief and reassurances through the chat – as militants roamed the neighbourhood shooting residents dead and setting fire to homes.
Hiding in their safe rooms these women – some huddled with their families – described the shouts and explosions they heard outside, told each other where gunmen were, shared tips on coping with smoke that filled their rooms, and repeatedly called for help. In some cases, that help never came.
Go slowly.
Oh, my.
We all know in our hearts that these types of things happen, that humans are capable of this level of evil, but to read the firsthand accounts is just…
No more words.
I need a walk.
Yes. Knowing it is one thing and reading something like this (or seeing the film “Nuit et Brouillard” for example) is another.
There are accounts of both sides killing each other’s children and civilians. What bothers me is how many people are compelled to take sides, from those who have political reasons to religious reasons, all the way down to those who root for one or the other as if they’re a sports team or something. I say ‘reasons’ as a figure of speech, because there is nothing reasonable about it. It’s gruesome.
If only we could start with actions instead of sides. Let’s take the side of No to genocide, torture, terrorism, mass murder, rape, abduction, expulsion, subordination, injustice, war crimes.
Agree, and no to religion. Just no.
“But he started it first!”
The press has been reluctant to show images of the aftermath of Hamas’ ‘resistance.’ But do note that not only does Hamas use Gazans as human shields, they provide well organized photo ops of weeping citizens and injured children.