Editorial on Hamas attack: Solidarity with Israel

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Where’s the sympathy? I asked myself this this week. As soon as the barbaric attack by Hamas terrorists began on Saturday, relativization and controversy began to follow on social media and in politics. However, the natural reaction that should have been there at the beginning has been almost lost: sympathy for the victims of this incredible attack.

It is important to remember the scale of what happened: on no day since the end of the Holocaust have more Jews been killed than on October 7, 2023. Beheaded, shot, tortured to death. More than a thousand people.

The State of Israel is a refuge for the people against whom the greatest crime in human history was committed just over eight decades ago. And this refuge is now under attack again. The terrorist organization indiscriminately killed civilians, soldiers, men, women and children. What does this mean for the people of Israel? Swiss journalist Cecile Cohen impressively describes in SonntagsBlick how the surprise attack changed the country – read her moving diary from Jerusalem, the wounded city.

A week ago, countless people there and across the country felt unprotected and abandoned. From the army, from the intelligence services, from your government. The Hamas attack was traumatic for millions of Israelis. Not since the founding of the state in 1948 has their self-esteem as a nation been so shaken.

Compassion turns into solidarity

Are we in Europe, in Switzerland? From horror comes compassion, from compassion comes solidarity—solidarity with Israel and the Jewish population. This includes giving the Jewish state in the Middle East the right to defend itself. Because if Israel does not show any strength, it will not survive. Powerful neighbors still want its destruction. If we do not want Jewish life to disappear again, we must stand together for the homeland of the Jews in the world: Israel.

Source: Blick