60 | APRIL 18 • 2024 

My friend Hai, an Air Force veteran in 
his early 70s, came out of retirement and 
is in Tel Aviv or on a military base almost 
every day. As we walked the kibbutz, he 
told me, “It’s like a stone in my heart. It’s 
like our War of Independence. We got 
proof of what will happen if we lose.
” Then 
we turned a corner and he saw the wife 
of his cousin, the former hostage, being 
interviewed as she retold her story. Both 
Hai and Rony hurried to hug her, and they 
shed tears together. 
Leaving the kibbutz, we headed a 
few kilometers north to the site of the 
Nova Music Festival, where 3,000 young 
revelers had been attacked, brutalized 
and terrorized, and many women raped, 
by Hamas and other Gazans who had 
streamed across the border. Four hundred 
were murdered and 40 taken hostage.
Part of the site is now a series of 
memorials and tributes to those young 
people. The visitors, including many 
soldiers in uniform, wandered among the 

pictures, personal items, memorial candles, 
artwork and flags that had been erected. At 
first, I was struck by sadness and disbelief, 
but what I took away was the awesome 
expressions of love. The displays didn’t 
look sad; they looked full of life as did the 
people in the pictures and on the memorial 
stickers that were all around. Life was 
celebrated amid horror.

ISRAELI OPINIONS 
It was great to be with family and friends, 
who were really happy I had come. We 
reminisced and caught up and talked about 
the matzav, “the situation.
” 
To a person, whether right, left or center, 
there was agreement that Prime Minister 
Netanyahu had to go, and that the country 
needed to come together. There was 
also agreement that Israel had to restore 
security and deterrence, which meant 
eliminating Hamas. Some of my peace-
seeking friends were not in the mood to 
seek peace, prioritizing care of their loved 

ones, their country and themselves. My 
other peace-seeking friends, who had 
concluded there would be no peace, saw 
the attack as further proof. None were 
happy about it, but all were determined. 
My cousin Oren, a cyber-security expert 
in his mid-40s, told me his company 
missed colleagues serving in Gaza. He says 
those telling Israel to stop fighting because 
of civilian casualties do not understand 
Hamas, and how Israel is different. “We 
don’t lay awake at night thinking of ways 
we can kill their children. They do.
” We 
discussed our Jewish identities and, though 
thoroughly secular, he feels a strong bond 
with his fellow Jews beyond Israel.
My friend Yisrael, now retired in his 
early 70s, voiced questions many must be 
asking themselves. “
Am I to live here with 
soldiers on the borders all my life? The life 
of my children? My grandchildren? I don’t 
know if this is a way you can live.
” 
My friend Yitz, an observant American 
Israeli who made aliyah with his wife in 

ERETZ

continued from page 59

LEFT: A memorial to Maya Puder, 25, is 
one among many at the Nova Festival site. 
Maya, an aspiring actor and filmmaker, 
was found dead near a bomb shelter. 
RIGHT: Photos, personal items, stuffed 
animals and other remembrances surround 
the Dizengoff Square Fountain in Tel Aviv.

