Two years on: A changed world
The world is more precarious for the Jewish people right now than at any time since World War II
On Tuesday, we marked the two-year anniversary of Hamas’s heinous massacre.
The events of that day will forever be etched in our memory. 1200 people – men, women and children – brutally and sadistically murdered. Rape employed as a weapon of war. 250 taken hostage into the dark tunnels of Gaza, where 48 remain.
But we marked more than just the tragic, awful events of that day. We marked the day our world irreparably changed.
While we tended to our gaping emotional wounds, it seemed like the world conspired to kick us while we were down. Israel stands accused of the very crimes Hamas attempted to commit upon it. Western leaders have lined up to reward the terror group with recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Antisemitism has surged worldwide, resulting in physical attacks such as the firebombing of the Addas Israel Synagogue in Melbourne last December and then just last week, the terror attack at a Manchester shule on Yom Kippur in which two worshippers were killed.
The world is more precarious for the Jewish people right now than at any time since World War II.
And yet, today, we also have hope.
Cautious and delicate as that hope is, the deal brokered by US President Donald Trump promises an end to the war in Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages to Israel, 20 of whom are presumed to still be alive. The healing for our Israeli brethren can then actually begin.
For Jews in the Diaspora, an end to the war will hopefully also lead to less media focus on Israel, which has broadly been poor at best and biased at worst.
Those who are obsessed with demonising Israel will no doubt continue to do so, but others who may have joined the anti-Israel bandwagon under the guise of “humanitarianism” may disperse, while others may find the latest fashionable cause to latch onto.
We are not so naive as to believe that antisemitism will go back into its box. But we have to hope things will improve.
We will never go back to how we were on October 6, 2023. But hopefully, we can finally exhale, move on and dream of a brighter future for our people, both in Israel and around the world.