Today Is Israel’s 9/11

Escalation in Gaza Conflict Results in Casualties and Hostages

Sirens reverberated across various Israeli cities as rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip caused injuries to five people in southern and central Israel.
READ MORE » https://www.israel365news.com/376679/escalation-in-gaza-conflict-results-in-casualties-and-hostages/?

U.S. Sends Military Aid to Israel Amid Conflict with Hamas, White House Confirms
In response to the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas, the U.S. has initiated deliveries of essential military equipment and munitions to Israel, according to an announcement by the White House on Monday.
READ MORE » https://www.israel365news.com/376685/democratic-socialists-of-america-criticized-for-backing-nyc-rally-supporting-palestinian-actions/?

IDF Issues Evacuation Directives for Gazans Amidst Conflict with Hamas

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released videos in Arabic on social media platforms advising Gaza residents on evacuation procedures as the military retaliates against Hamas's recent actions.
READ MORE » https://www.israel365news.com/376688/idf-issues-evacuation-directives-for-gazans-amidst-conflict-with-hamas/?

Israeli Hostages Need Your Prayers

In a shocking and cruel attack staged by Hamas against Israel on Saturday, more than 150 Israeli citizens of all ages, from the young to the elderly, were taken hostage.
READ MORE » https://theisraelbible.com/israeli-hostages-need-your-prayers/?
[WATCH] Laurie Cardoza Moore Calling for Prayers and Support for Israel

On the 50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a new day of horror has befallen Jewish State.
WATCH » https://www.israel365news.com/video/laurie-cardoza-moore-calling-for-prayers-and-support-for-israel/?#
United Hatzalah Calls for Public Assistance amid Crisis in Gaza Periphery

With 1,500 of its 7,000 members presently stationed in the affected area, the organization has provided treatment to over 1,000 individuals, both civilians and soldiers.
READ MORE » https://www.israel365news.com/video/laurie-cardoza-moore-calling-for-prayers-and-support-for-israel/?

Duty and Solidarity: An Exodus from NYC to the Frontlines

As Israel begins to respond to the horrific attack, IDF reservists in the US begin to return to Israel.
READ MORE » https://www.israel365news.com/video/laurie-cardoza-moore-calling-for-prayers-and-support-for-israel/?

Faith Amidst Fear: A Simchat Torah Like No Other
by Zahava Schwartz
This normally joyous holiday turned into a haunting reminder of the fragility of life and the undying spirit of our faith.
READ MORE » https://www.israel365news.com/376694/faith-amidst-fear-a-simchat-torah-like-no-other/?
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What You Need to Know about Israel’s War Against Hamas
LATEST
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ISRAEL’S WAR AGAINST HAMAS
ELLIOT MATHIAS
Answers to commonly asked questions.

The startling attack on Israel that was launched this past Saturday morning was the deadliest attack in the history of modern Israel.

As of Tuesday October 10th, Israeli media is reporting approximately 900 Israelis were murdered and over 2,500 hospitalized1. Additionally, more than 150 Israelis were captured and taken back into Gaza, where they are being held hostage. The vast majority of Israeli casualties were civilians, including women, children, and the elderly.2

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Today Is Israel’s 9/11
Three pieces and a podcast that tell the truth—plainly—about a catastrophic day.
BARI WEISS
OCT 8

READ IN APP https://substack.com/app?utm_source=email

You’re about to withstand a barrage of lies about the war that broke out today in Israel.

Some of those lies will be explicit. Some of them will be lies of omission. Others will be lies of obfuscation. Or lies of minimization. Lies told by people who are simply too afraid to look at such an ugly, barbarous reality. And lies told by people whose true beliefs are too ugly to quite say aloud. Turn on cable news and you can hear some of them right now.

So let’s get some facts straight.

Israel was attacked last night. It was attacked by Hamas terrorists who streamed over the border from Gaza. They came on foot and on motorbikes. They came by truck and by car and by paraglider. They came to Israel to murder and maim and mutilate anyone they could find. And that is what they did.

It is impossible to know the numbers of the dead or the missing or the injured.

The official numbers as of this writing: 300 Israelis dead; 1,590 wounded. And dozens—maybe many more—taken hostage into Gaza. They include women, elders, and children.

But none of those words or numbers capture the evil of what unfolded today.

Young festival-goers running for their lives. Teenage girls dragged by their hair by Hamas men. An old woman forced to pose with a Hamas rifle. A mother—a hostage—cradling two redheaded babies in her arms.

I have friends in Israel. Each one of them has a story of someone they know who is missing. Or injured. Or killed. This was not a tit-for-tat, as you’ll see the mainstream media try to spin it. This was not a justifiable military response, or just another day in a cycle of violence. This was the slaughter of innocent civilians.

New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America today announced a protest in honor of the attacks. It’s called All Out for Palestine: “In solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid.” The anti-Zionist group IfNotNow explained the attacks as Israel’s fault and said of the dead Jews: “Their blood is on the hands of the Israeli government.”

You will see a lot like this in the coming days. Ancient lies told in new language whose end is always, strangely, the same: a justification for genocide.

Think about 9/11 and the kind of shock and terror we felt. That is what Israelis feel today. That is the level of devastation Israel is now experiencing.

We are left with so many questions:

How did this happen?

Who is to blame for this catastrophic security failure?

How will Israel respond? How will Israel save the hostages in Gaza?

What was the extent of Iran’s involvement in this sophisticated operation?

Will this change the Biden administration’s policy toward the Islamic Republic?

And so many more.

Those are the questions that require answers. But for today, while others offer mealy-mouthed pablum, we want to do something simple: to tell the truth—plainly—about a catastrophic day.

We’ll have much more reporting for you in the coming days. We’re going to work hard to give you the kind of independent, honest journalism you expect from The Free Press. So if you believe in our work, please, support us by becoming a paid subscriber today:

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Herewith, three essays from a nation at war. The first, by Noah Pollak, explains why today was Israel’s 9/11—and urges us not to avert our eyes from evil. The second, by 20-year-old Arad Fruchter, is a first-person account of his encounter with Hamas terrorists in Israel’s southern desert. The third, by Rabbi Daniel Gordis, tells of a day that began with joyous singing at synagogue and ended with his son being called up to war. And on Honestly: a conversation with historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren.

Today Is Israel’s 9/11
NOAH POLLAK
·
OCT 7
Today Is Israel’s 9/11
I am going to describe the images coming out of Israel over the last 12 hours. I don’t want to believe any of them are real, because they are horrifying, among the most gruesome scenes of mutilation, murder, and abduction imaginable. But there is now going to be a war between Israel and Hamas—and possibly a broader regional war. Israel will invade Gaza. As we speak, Israelis my age are being called up to war. Some of them are my friends.

Within two or three days, the media narrative will change, as it does every time, and the grisly invasion that started the war quickly will be minimized into a half sentence of euphemistic dishonesty in press accounts (“an incursion by Gaza-based militants”) so that the focus can turn to prosecuting Israel.

This is part of why everyone needs to know about the images—the ones you won’t see if you turn on MSNBC or the BBC today. Because so much of the media and Western foreign policy officialdom do not want to embarrass the Palestinians by showing the sadistic brutality of Hamas. They do not want to undermine the coming effort to pressure Israel to stop fighting. They do not want people to notice the Iranian role in the war and how it is fueled by an appallingly dangerous Biden administration policy toward the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

So that is why you need to know.

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I Was at a Music Festival When the Terror Began
ARAD FRUCHTER
·
OCT 7
I Was at a Music Festival When the Terror Began
My friends and I love trance music, so when we heard about a 16-hour party in the desert, with DJs coming in from abroad, we bought tickets and drove down from the northern part of Israel. We arrived on Friday night at around 11 p.m. and set up camp.

The event was held a few miles from the Gaza border, but there was no announcement from the army that the area was under threat, or anything like that. The event was amazing. We stayed up all night, and around 6:30 we were still on the dance floor. DJ NoFace was playing his set when we heard rockets above us—it almost seemed like fireworks—and the words Tzeva Adom, or Code Red, over and over.

I realized what was happening, that we were in the worst possible place—in a crowd of people in the middle of a flat expanse—and that we needed to get out of there immediately.

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From Joy to Terror: A Postcard from Jerusalem
DANIEL GORDIS
·
OCT 7
From Joy to Terror: A Postcard from Jerusalem
We gathered outside the local community center at 7:00 this morning to celebrate the last day of the High Holiday season. It’s a little known holiday called Shemini Atzeret, when we pray for rain, thank God for our bounty, and dance with Torah scrolls.

The air had a touch of Jerusalem’s fall chill, so we were, perhaps, singing with a bit more gusto than you might expect. That was when we heard the faint booms in the distance. One and then two.

People begin to look at each other, wondering, “What is that?”

We told ourselves it was nothing. Maybe Iron Dome shot down a rocket or two—that happens here not infrequently.

But then a series of explosions, still very far away. “Must be construction,” someone whispered to me.

But it was Shabbat, and there’s no construction in Israel on Shabbat. And he knew that.

Then: the air raid alarm.

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War in Israel: Michael Oren Explains How ‘Evil’ Infiltrated the Country
BARI WEISS
·
OCT 7
War in Israel: Michael Oren Explains How ‘Evil’ Infiltrated the Country
Listen now (53 mins) | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyuahu called October 7, 2023, a “black day” and that “what happened today has never been seen before in Israel.” Historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren helps us make sense of the unfolding crisis.

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