Demonstrations against the Netanyahu government last Saturday, January 6th, in Tel Aviv
Image: Bloomberg
There are more weapons and more hugs – and again more protests against the government. The historian Fania Oz-Salzberger, daughter of the writer Amoz Oz, on the situation in Israel.
Ms. Oz-Salzberger, we are speaking exactly three months after October 7th and almost a hundred days after the start of Israel's war against Hamas. What does it mean to be Israeli these days?
The entire society is still stuck in a time loop. We knew the type of violence perpetrated by Hamas from our grandparents' stories, but we could never have imagined having to go through something like that ourselves – despite the wars and terrorist attacks that we were used to in Israel. Everyone, including Arab Israelis, is aware that they too should be kidnapped, mutilated, raped and murdered. Funerals are constantly taking place in the wake of October 7th and the war. Victims continue to be identified, hostages are murdered, and people learn that friends or relatives are no longer held hostage but have already been killed. Many struggle against becoming post-traumatic.
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