Just one correction Candace “Israel is not gone” maybe brutalized, and in great pain but still standing strong and proud a magnificent nation of people and under the most bizarre circumstances Israel is doing what Israel always does and that is stands up for its people 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
Excellent piece, but pretty one-sided when it comes to Netanyahu. Surely there are a few Israelis who think he’s really not a wannabe dictator? Who recognize that he is a true patriot, loves his nation, and, over the course of decades, served his nation well as a political and military leader?
An yet, there are people who deny all of the carnage, rape and murder. There will be a special place in Hell for them, reserved for heathens with no one whit of morality, not one speck of conscience. Hamas could stop this, if they wanted to.
I'm a big fan of Glenn Greenwald's and a subscriber to his Locals. I haven't been able to listen to him for months because of his take on the Hamas attack. I still get updates from him which I don't read but recently something he sent caught my eye. He said something along the lines that there was no rape or sexual assaults. I didn't watch his Rumble, nor read too deeply into what he wrote because I did not want to have more strongly negative feelings toward him. But I told my husband "are we wrong? Have we been falling for lies?" But I have read and seen first hand accounts of people who witnessed rape. And first hand accounts of doctors and pathologists who said there was evidence of rape and mutilation. It is so important that these stories are shared because there is another narrative that smart people believe and spread. I appreciate all your efforts in getting these stories out there.
Thank you for taking the risk and for going. I've been wrestling about making the trip and visiting our cousins who live in Israel. But, it is scary. You made the trip so we can hear first hand about the trauma to Israeli society. Thank you, thank you.
I do work to inform myself. For example on the front page of the Wall Street Journal TODAY you will find the headline Visual Evidence Shows Illegal Settler Construction In West Bank Surging followed by this: “A Wall Street Journal investigation found… Israeli settlers have been rapidly building illegal roads and outposts across the West Bank. The work is sometimes done under armed guard with funding from the Israeli government.”
Watch the accompanying video to inform yourself about how the Palestinians are being slaughtered.
Ever since Bari mentioned that she was in Israel, I was wondering where the stories were! I look forward to listening to the coverage. Bari and The FP have been my source for news and solace since 10/7.
This war pauses when the Gazans surrender and release the hostager, living and 0therwise.
This war ends when the Gazans are taught the Laws of Noah and the Torah's requirements for non-jews to live in Israel. It will take a King Hezekiah level of leadership.
Iran, Russia, and their deadly posse sure hate the entire Western world, let alone Israel, but behind all Western ills there is China orchestrating the strategic steps in its world submission plan.
Even though it sounds like a conspiracy theory today, the future - a near future, I believe - will prove me right.
The entire Middle East is responsible for the the plight of Palestinians. They are denying aid and safe shelter to fellow Muslims to turn the world against Israel and destabilize the west. Sadly, it's working.
Thank you for your article and your journey into a war zone. I wish someone would explore more deeply the simplistic binary between the evil Hamas and the innocent and suffering everyday Gazan and Palestinian. In a culture where children are schooled in Jew-hatred in schools named for terrorists, it seems to me that the problem goes far deeper than a handful of Islamist fanatics terrorizing their own people, making them in much of the reporting equal or even superior to those Israelis slaughtered on 10/7. The following interview https://quillette.com/2024/03/04/dan-schueftan-transcript/ is probably behind a paywall, but search for Schueftan. Extreme perhaps, but insightful in his apprehension of the culture and values war at the heart of the conflict. It seems to me that in the West we want to lay the blame on a handful of bad actors, when the reality is far more disturbing in its implications. From our hubristic attempts to make Iraq a democracy to securing a more humane society in Afghanistan, our efforts flounder in a thoroughly alien social and cultural landscape.
Thank you Ms. Kahn and all the FP crew for setting aside your understandable qualms about visiting a war zone to provide this moving and thought provoking report. I was fortune enough to spend 6 weeks in Israel in 2008 (though it didn’t feel lucky at the time: my partner of 18 years finally got sick of my bullshit and gave me one week’s notice to vacate her Greenwich Village apartment. She suggested I “just go back to Texas” but I had enough United miles for a direct NYC to Tel Aviv flight so…). The people were beyond gracious to me once you penetrated their necessary defensive shield. I used a budget local hotels as my base and at first I thought the proprietor didn’t like me but one day I was in the lobby and I heard her talking to someone pointing at me and saying “Ally”. I would walk to a nearby Czech pub at night to write my sabbatical travelogue (I need to dig that up) and I asked the bouncer once why he had let me right in but was so hard on some other folks I watched walk in. “We can tell” he said simply. Great country, great people, my God Bless you in wiping out the threat of intolerance and bigotry as much as possible in our so very flawed civilization
I’m analyzing the comments about safety. Pepper spray is a reasonable safety measure. I recommend the First Defense brand. It what we used in Law Enforcement and I speak from experience that it works. 1.3% concentration is quite nice.
Not showering home alone? That peaks my clinical interest. Are home invasions common in your area? If not the response is all the more interesting. Whether its a trauma history or severe anxiety there might be something there worth looking into.
I wonder how large of an impact this sort of fear has on your life.
Thank you for this, Candace. You write with a videographer’s eye, giving us images, and you write with a mother’s heart, giving us a deep sense of the suffering and the courage of Israelites. Since October 6, it has been easy to turn our attention to a war, but you bring our gaze back to the war’s roots and its myriad human ramifications.
Just one correction Candace “Israel is not gone” maybe brutalized, and in great pain but still standing strong and proud a magnificent nation of people and under the most bizarre circumstances Israel is doing what Israel always does and that is stands up for its people 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
Excellent piece, but pretty one-sided when it comes to Netanyahu. Surely there are a few Israelis who think he’s really not a wannabe dictator? Who recognize that he is a true patriot, loves his nation, and, over the course of decades, served his nation well as a political and military leader?
I hope the people who voted for Hamas regret their ballot cast as much as the Israelis who voted for Nutty-yahoo.
An yet, there are people who deny all of the carnage, rape and murder. There will be a special place in Hell for them, reserved for heathens with no one whit of morality, not one speck of conscience. Hamas could stop this, if they wanted to.
Thank you for your reporting.
I'm a big fan of Glenn Greenwald's and a subscriber to his Locals. I haven't been able to listen to him for months because of his take on the Hamas attack. I still get updates from him which I don't read but recently something he sent caught my eye. He said something along the lines that there was no rape or sexual assaults. I didn't watch his Rumble, nor read too deeply into what he wrote because I did not want to have more strongly negative feelings toward him. But I told my husband "are we wrong? Have we been falling for lies?" But I have read and seen first hand accounts of people who witnessed rape. And first hand accounts of doctors and pathologists who said there was evidence of rape and mutilation. It is so important that these stories are shared because there is another narrative that smart people believe and spread. I appreciate all your efforts in getting these stories out there.
Thank you for taking the risk and for going. I've been wrestling about making the trip and visiting our cousins who live in Israel. But, it is scary. You made the trip so we can hear first hand about the trauma to Israeli society. Thank you, thank you.
I do work to inform myself. For example on the front page of the Wall Street Journal TODAY you will find the headline Visual Evidence Shows Illegal Settler Construction In West Bank Surging followed by this: “A Wall Street Journal investigation found… Israeli settlers have been rapidly building illegal roads and outposts across the West Bank. The work is sometimes done under armed guard with funding from the Israeli government.”
Watch the accompanying video to inform yourself about how the Palestinians are being slaughtered.
Ever since Bari mentioned that she was in Israel, I was wondering where the stories were! I look forward to listening to the coverage. Bari and The FP have been my source for news and solace since 10/7.
This war pauses when the Gazans surrender and release the hostager, living and 0therwise.
This war ends when the Gazans are taught the Laws of Noah and the Torah's requirements for non-jews to live in Israel. It will take a King Hezekiah level of leadership.
Iran, Russia, and their deadly posse sure hate the entire Western world, let alone Israel, but behind all Western ills there is China orchestrating the strategic steps in its world submission plan.
Even though it sounds like a conspiracy theory today, the future - a near future, I believe - will prove me right.
The entire Middle East is responsible for the the plight of Palestinians. They are denying aid and safe shelter to fellow Muslims to turn the world against Israel and destabilize the west. Sadly, it's working.
Thank you for your article and your journey into a war zone. I wish someone would explore more deeply the simplistic binary between the evil Hamas and the innocent and suffering everyday Gazan and Palestinian. In a culture where children are schooled in Jew-hatred in schools named for terrorists, it seems to me that the problem goes far deeper than a handful of Islamist fanatics terrorizing their own people, making them in much of the reporting equal or even superior to those Israelis slaughtered on 10/7. The following interview https://quillette.com/2024/03/04/dan-schueftan-transcript/ is probably behind a paywall, but search for Schueftan. Extreme perhaps, but insightful in his apprehension of the culture and values war at the heart of the conflict. It seems to me that in the West we want to lay the blame on a handful of bad actors, when the reality is far more disturbing in its implications. From our hubristic attempts to make Iraq a democracy to securing a more humane society in Afghanistan, our efforts flounder in a thoroughly alien social and cultural landscape.
Thank you Ms. Kahn and all the FP crew for setting aside your understandable qualms about visiting a war zone to provide this moving and thought provoking report. I was fortune enough to spend 6 weeks in Israel in 2008 (though it didn’t feel lucky at the time: my partner of 18 years finally got sick of my bullshit and gave me one week’s notice to vacate her Greenwich Village apartment. She suggested I “just go back to Texas” but I had enough United miles for a direct NYC to Tel Aviv flight so…). The people were beyond gracious to me once you penetrated their necessary defensive shield. I used a budget local hotels as my base and at first I thought the proprietor didn’t like me but one day I was in the lobby and I heard her talking to someone pointing at me and saying “Ally”. I would walk to a nearby Czech pub at night to write my sabbatical travelogue (I need to dig that up) and I asked the bouncer once why he had let me right in but was so hard on some other folks I watched walk in. “We can tell” he said simply. Great country, great people, my God Bless you in wiping out the threat of intolerance and bigotry as much as possible in our so very flawed civilization
Looks like you're due for another visit :)
I’m so grateful to you for covering this story, especially now. There’s no news amnesia at the Free Press.
I’m analyzing the comments about safety. Pepper spray is a reasonable safety measure. I recommend the First Defense brand. It what we used in Law Enforcement and I speak from experience that it works. 1.3% concentration is quite nice.
Not showering home alone? That peaks my clinical interest. Are home invasions common in your area? If not the response is all the more interesting. Whether its a trauma history or severe anxiety there might be something there worth looking into.
I wonder how large of an impact this sort of fear has on your life.
Thank you for this, Candace. You write with a videographer’s eye, giving us images, and you write with a mother’s heart, giving us a deep sense of the suffering and the courage of Israelites. Since October 6, it has been easy to turn our attention to a war, but you bring our gaze back to the war’s roots and its myriad human ramifications.