Author: Dutch Israeli

The Siman Tov family

My video on YouTube about the Siman Tov family.

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This is the Siman Tov family. Consisting of Yonatan (Johnny) Siman Tov, Tamar Kedem-Siman Tov, 6 year old twins Shahar and Arbel, and 4 year old Omer. A beautiful, happy, laughing family of five from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Johnny and Tamar met in 2011. Johnny was a born and raised Nir Oz kibbutznik, while Tamar was from Jerusalem. They both wanted to see the world, so they spent a year in Australia and New Zealand together, where they traveled around as backpackers. These photos are from Johnny’s facebook page. You can just see how happy they were, trekking in the wild nature, seeing the famous landmarks and seeing all those amazing places. I sure they never wanted it to end. They made some good friends in Australia, who they stayed in contact with after they went back to Israel.

After 7 years together, they got married in May of 2018. They settled down in Nir Oz and soon welcomed twin baby girls, Shahar and Arbel. Two years later, they celebrated the birth of their third child, a little boy they named Omer.

For years, the family lived happily in kibbutz Nir Oz. Johnny’s mother Carol Siman Tov also lived in Nir Oz, as did Johnny’s four siblings with their families. Carol is originally from the USA, and the entire family holds US citizenship.

Johnny seems to me like a typical, friendly, down to earth kibbutznik. He was one of the acricultural managers of the kibbutz and worked on the wheat fields. This is one of his facebook posts:

“Those were the days…” he writes wistfully. His love for the land, for agriculture, for getting his hands dirty working the tractors, is evident.

Tamar Kedem Siman Tov was a very driven person, always wanted to make the world a better place. She fought for woman’s rights, she was a peace activist and a politician. She was actually running for mayor of the local council, and had a very strong online presence to support her campaign. It looks like a lot of people in the council admired her and intended to vote for her.

This was Tamar’s profile picture in 2021. It says: “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies”.

In the early morning of October 7, 2023, the sirens started wailing in kibbutz Nir Oz. Johnny, Tamar and the children went into their “safe room”, a room built of solid concrete with a steel door and window shutter, made to withstand missiles and gunfire. Every house in Israel has one. They assumed it was just regular rockets being fired from Gaza, something that occurred almost daily in their area. Tamar sent off a quick text to her friends in Australia: “Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all going ok.” Going ok. As they say in Australia.

But soon, they started to understand that this was not like every other day. Something immeasurably worse was happening. They heard gunfire outside and voices, shouting in Arabic. In horror, they realized their kibbutz was being raided by terrorists, who were going from house to house, killing people and setting fire to their houses. It was only a matter of time until the voices and guns would get to their house. They locked and barricaded the door. Johnny kept up a text exchange with his family, who were locked inside their own houses in the kibbutz.

When the terrorists broke into the house of the Siman Tov family, they couldn’t immediately get to them. So they set the house on fire. Slowly, the room filled with smoke. Johnny texted to his sister, Ranae: “They’re here. They’re burning us. We’re suffocating.” Choking on the smoke, they were forced to open the reinforced window of their secure room, so they wouldn’t all die of smoke inhalation. But behind the window, gunmen were waiting for exactly that.

Tamar and Johnny were immediately shot through the window. They managed to close the window again to protect the children from being shot. But they must have known they all faced certain death by fire or smoke. The terror, pain and grief they must have gone through in that room is unimaginable. Later that day, Johnny, Tamar, Shahar, Arbel and little Omer were all found dead in the safe room of their burned house. The children had died from smoke inhalation.

Hamas also got to the rest of Johnny’s family. His mother, Carol, was shot to death together with her dog, Charlie, in her own house. The rest of the family excaped with their lives. Although one of the brothers got shot, he survived.

So tell me: if this is not premeditated murder in cold blood, then what is?? If this is not the most horrendous crime imaginable, then what is?? Shooting little children execution style? Gunning down an old lady and her dog? What kind of depraved savages could do this?

Hamas is not an army fighting for the rights of their people. They are a terrorist organization, dedicated to the systematic destruction of the state of Israel, of the Jewish people and of all Western civilization. They are also a cruel, totalitarian regime that terrorizes their own people. There is no excuse for what they did and they cannot be allowed to continue to exi

Nothing can bring back the Siman Tov family, and the other 80 people of kibbutz Nir Oz who were murdered that day. Nothing can heal the terrible loss of their family, their friends, and everone who knew them. The entire country is in mourning. But the kibbutzim who were raided on Black Shabbath, are in unimaginable pain.

This is the memorial planted in Nir Oz for the Siman Tov family. We will never, ever forget them, and how they died. At the hands of violent murderers.

Ethiopian Jews – the Lost Tribe

So, what’s the story with Black African Jews? Aren’t all Jews white Europeans? No, absolutely not. Apart from the Mizrahi Jews (Jews from the Middle East, Asia and North Africa), there are West-African Jews, too. The story of the “Beta Israel” (Ethiopian Jews) is incredible. Listen to this!

The Beta Israel are the descendants of Jews who migrated to West Africa during the Babylonian Exile. They were isolated from other Jewish communities for more than a thousand years. The Western world did not know the Beta Israel existed, and they themselves didn’t realize there were other Jews in the world – they thought they were the only ones who had survived the exile. For centuries, they lived in more than 500 small villages in Northern Ethiopia, where they held on to their faith and their identity against all odds and under religious persecution. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many of them were forced to convert to Christianity. Those people are now known as the Falash Mura.

In the 1970’s, the Beta Israel finally made contact with the Jewish community in Israel. When the Ethiopian Civil war broke out in the 1980’s, Ethiopian Jews, driven to despair by war, famine and persecution, fled to Sudan, where they stayed in refugee camps. Their dream was to immigrate to Israel and finally be safe. And they made it happen.

Working together with the Beta Israel, the Israeli government managed to arrange a series of incredible rescue missions with names like Operation Moses and Operation Solomon. 45,000 Ethiopian Jews were flown to Israel in airplanes with the seats removed to fit more people. There aren’t many moments in Israeli history that make me feel proud and tearful, but this is one of them.

But not all Ethiopian Jews made it to the flights. As many as 4000 people perished during the journey to Sudan and in the refugee camps. They walked through the desert on foot, a journey that could take up to a month. And the Sudanese were not exactly friendly and welcoming. The Jews faced hostility and violence as well as hunger and exhaustion. The rescue operations were incredibly complicated, involving undercover agents in Sudan and depending on absolute secrecy. Arab countries did not agree with helping Jews and Sudan did not want it known that they were allowing this. Many people had to wait in the camps for years and died from illness and violence. The road from Ethiopia to Sudan was a trail of tears. What the Beta Israel went through to finally get to Israel is unimaginable.

So, is the life of Ethiopian Jews better in Israel? According to the Ethiopian people I know, yes, definitely. They now live in an economically wealthy country, where they do not have to suffer hunger and persecution. They can exercise their faith freely, they have access to education, healthcare and benefits. But there are dark sides to this story, as to every story.

The cultural gap between the Beta Israel and other Israelis was huge. Ethiopian Jews spoke Amharic, a language no other Israeli understood. Their African customs were very different from those of the rest of Israel. They ended up marginalized, in poor neighbourhoods, with a high unemployment rate and little interaction with other Israelis.

At this time, around 160,000 Jews of Ethiopian origin live in Israel. The second generation, the children of the immigrants, are changing things around. Education and employment rates are much higher. They serve in the army, they speak Hebrew as their native language (in addition to Amharic), and they are proud of being Israeli, as well as Ethiopian.

But of course, things are not perfect. Far from it, in fact. The Ethiopian community in Israel faces discrimination and mistrust. Police brutality against Black people has been happening here, too. Missing and murdered Ethiopian Israelis get far less public attention than non-Black Israelis. We still have a long way to go to address these injustices.

But Ethiopian Jews are an incredible strong and resilient people. They held on to their identity through thousands of years of isolation and persecution. They face their challenges in Israel and they fight for change. They assimilate, but without losing their unique culture. They carve their own path. Personally, I am in awe of them.

The gorgeous and talented Eden Alene, who represented Israel in the Eurovision song festival in 2021.

Shani Louk – forever young

This is my YouTube video about Shani Louk. It’s the best performing video on my channel, with 42K views. I can only guess why that is. Is it because of the horrific footage and the famous, prize-winning (yes!) photo of the abuse and abduction of her lifeless body? Is it because of her arresting looks? Is it because of the universally terrifying idea of going to a hippy music festival and being brutally murdered by rabid terrorists? It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t monetize my content. All I want is for people to watch, or read, and know what we went through.

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This beautiful, free spirit is Shani Louk. She is 22 years old and will stay 22 years old forever. She will not grow up, have children and experience everything life has to offer. Shani Louk was murdered on October 7, 2023, at the hands of crazed, bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists.

Shani was born on February 7, 2001, to an Israeli father and a German mother. The family lived in Israel, but often visited Shani’s grandparents in Germany. They lived for several years in Portland, Oregon, but eventually moved back to Israel.

Shani was artistic and loved travelling. She became a tattoo artist and travelled the world with her Mexican boyfriend, Orión Hernández Radoux. She was a convinced pacifist and refused to serve in the Israeli army. She was also very active on social media and had a lot of followers. Her instagram, which was full of ethereal photos of her, had more than 13,000 followers.

Shani lived in Tel Aviv and often went to raves and dance parties. On October 7, she and her boyfriend Orión were at the Supernova festival. There are several photos and videos of them dancing, laughing and having a great time.

Until all hell broke loose and many hundreds of Hamas terrorists flooded the party in a frenzied killing spree, hunting people down, bullets flying everywhere. Shani called friends on her phone, telling them to flee. She also called her mother, saying that she was trying to get to her car, to hide from the terrorists. After that, her phone went silent.

Hours later, the livestream of the terrorists’ video cameras showed a naked, seemingly unconscious woman in the bed of a pick-up truck, being paraded through the streets of Gaza City. Shani’s friends and family recognized the distinct tattoos and the long dreadlocks, and realized with horror that this was Shani Louk. They had to watch helplessly as terrorists spat on her, pulled her hair and screamed “Allahu akhbar!!”. There are stills from this footage, but I am not going to show them, as they are too shocking. The footage and the stills are easy to find on the internet, for whoever wants to see the full horror of what Hamas did to Shani Louk.

Initially, it was thought that Shani was still alive, that she had been taken hostage. But on October 30, almost a month after the attack, part of Shani’s skull was found at the site of the festival. A vital part, without which she could not possibly live. All hope was gone for Shani’s family. Although they did not have her body, they had to accept that she was dead. “It was like being kicked in the head,” Shani’s brother said.

Because part of her skull was found, rumours circulated on the internet that Shani had been beheaded. But it is more likely that she was shot in the head and died instantly. Fortunately, she escaped the fate of other women, who were gangraped, tortured and beheaded. Her family takes some comfort in the idea that she did not suffer.

And what about Shani’s boyfriend, Orión Hernández Radoux? Orión holds both Mexican and French nationality. He is not an Israeli, he came to Israel as a tourist, to be with Shani. He is 31 years old and has a little daughter. According to his friends, he is a man of music and festivals, of love and family, adventure and peace. Orión has been missing since the attack. There has been no news of him whatsoever. His body was not found, so he is presumed to be a hostage. But there is no evidence that he is alive.

However, after the 7th of October, a series of chilling messages were sent from his phone. It seems that Hamas terrorists got hold of his phone and used it to send messages in Arabic to his contacts. “I spit on you,” they read, “God damn you.” And “Liberate Palestine”, “kill the Zionists”. That is Hamas’ message to the world. Very sophisticated.

As I am writing this, the IDF is pushing into Gaza, searching for the hostages. I hope and pray that Orión will be found, alive, with the others. And that he is ok. But even if he is, he will be traumatized forever. I’m so sorry, Orión, that this had to happen to you.

#bringthemhome

Kibbutzim

On October 7, 2023, several kibbutzim (plural of kibbutz) in the immediate surroundings of the Gaza strip were raided by Hamas terrorists. The kibbutzim Be’eri, Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza, Alumim, Nir Yitzhak, Magen, Sufa and Re’im were invaded, massacred and burned. The singed ruins of the once lively communities now stand silent and deserted.

So what’s a kibbutz? That’s some sort of socialist commune, right? Some sort of Soviet experiment that Russian Jews brought to Israel. Excuse me, Russian Zionists. They must have stolen the land from poor Palestinians and brought their racist, communist ideology with them. Right?

Wrong. On every account. Let me tell you what kibbutzim really are, and their history. What’s my authority for telling this story? I live in one. I have lived in a kibbutz for twenty years. I know how they work. I know the good and the bad, the beauty and the ugliness inside out.

A kibbutz is an agricultural community based on equality and sharing of resources. The word “kibbutz” literally means “gathering”. The first ever kibbutz was founded in 1910, long before the state of Israel existed, even before the British Mandate existed. The land now known as Israel/Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. Jews and Arabs both lived in the area. Since the late 19th century, a steady trickle of Russian and Eastern European Jewish immigrants had been coming into Palestine, fleeing from the frequent pogroms. (A pogrom is a violent attack on Jewish people, with the aim of killing them, seizing their possessions and expelling whoever is not dead.)

Palestine in that time was a harsh environment. Some parts were hot, dry and rocky, and other parts were swampy and full of malaria mosquitoes. Individual people didn’t manage to make a living from the land. The only way to survive was to stick together and to form collectives. Groups of Jews bought land together to establish farms. Bought it. They bought the land, they did not steal it. Yes, I know. Astonishing!

The first kibbutz was Degania (cornflower). It still exists, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. More kibbutzim followed. People bought land collectively and shared everything equally: work, food, housing, money. This way of living and farming was successful because people worked together and shared labour and expenses, while equally sharing in the harvest and the profit (if any). These first immigrants were from Russia and Europe, so the kibbutzim that were founded in this early period consisted mainly of Ashkenazi Jews. The wave of immigration of Mizrahi Jews from the Arab countries came much later. They were also largely secular. Kibbutzim are still predominantly non-religious.

Over time, the kibbutz socialist ideology developed: everyone had to contribute equally and was rewarded equally. Meals were eaten together in the dining hall and holidays were celebrated collectively. Children lived separately from their parents in the “children’s house”. Both parents went out to work the land, while other kibbutz members looked after the children. Kibbutz leaders were elected democratically and every decision was made by voting. Everything was owned collectively and each member got the same salary, no matter what job they did.

In the 1960’s and 70’s, this communal style of living appealed to the flower-power generation in Europe and the USA. It became popular for Jewish and non-Jewish young people from all over the world to travel to Israel and volunteer on a kibbutz for some time, sharing in the work and the unique way of life of the kibbutzniks (kibbutz members). In fact, a number of famous people were at some point in their life kibbutz volunteers, like Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Dylan, Sigourny Weaver, Simon le Bon, Bernie Sanders and Boris Johnson.

This is how I ended up there. I’m one of the last foreign volunteers to come to Israel. I went for a kibbutz experience in 1999, all wide-eyed and eager and interested. It was honestly one of the best times of my life. Working in the fields, making friends with kibbutzniks and other volunteers from all over the world, travelling and experiencing new things every day.

Then, in 2000, the Second Intifada started. This was a wave of violence directed at Israelis from Palestinians, in the form of suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings. A total of 773 Israeli civilians were killed in this way over the course of 5 years. Israel became a no-go area for foreigners. The stream of volunteers from Europe and the USA, Japan and Korea dried up. Israeli kibbutzim began to rely heavily on Thai foreign workers in agriculture. No young, idealistic people wanted to come for a volunteer kibbutz experience anymore.

Except me. I never left. I had fallen in love with a kibbutznik and married him. We lived, worked and raised our children in that same kibbutz. My husband was born and raised here, and so was his father. My father-in-law was born in 1945 in Israel, to refugees from the Holocaust in Poland. His childhood was far from easy, I would even say traumatic. At that time, children were separated from their parents at 6 weeks old. They went to live in the “children’s house”, where they were taken care of by nannies, so their parents could go and work on the land. They had no choice. Their life was hard work, poverty and war, and they did what they had to, to survive. My father-in-law saw his parents a total of two hours a day. He remembers being jealous of the dog, because the dog could stay and sleep at home, while he had to go back to the children’s house.

The separation of families was one of the hardest things to hear about and one of the dark sides of kibbutzim. Many children grew up disconnected and insecurely attached. Fortunately, this changed in the early seventies. My husband and his siblings lived with their parents, although they spent a lot of their time in daycare, at school and in after-school groups. This was the kibbutz mindset: everyone worked hard, men and women, and children were cared for collectively. My husband remembers his childhood as a great time, always in a gang of friends, playing sports, going on adventures, celebrating holidays.

When I came to the kibbutz, life was still very much communal. People ate in the dining hall, put their laundry in to be washed in the shared laundrette, drove cars that belonged to the kibbutz (you had to put in a request if you wanted a car to go somewhere), and even shared the traditional blue work clothing. Everyone got the same salary, from the dishwashers to the factory manager.

But that way of life was starting to fall apart at the seams. The flipside of sharing everything is losing freedom and individuality. Young kibbutzniks were not happy with the restrictions put on them. They had to work in the kibbutz, they couldn’t own a car or travel abroad when they wanted to. There were so many things they had to do: go to school, work, do kibbutz chores (kitchen duty etc), serve in the army… They longed to break free. They saw their friends from towns make their own money, buy their own cars, own their own houses. They wanted to study, work in hightech, travel the world and be successful. Not break their backs in the cow shed or on the cotton fields, like their parents had done.

So in the end, capitalism won out. Most kibbutzim started the privatization process and became more like regular villages or neighbourhoods. But figuring out who owns what and who deserves what is no easy task. Our kibbutz’s dining hall is closed. The laundrette is now a corner shop. The childrens’ house has been converted to rented appartments. Most people work outside the kibbutz and own their own house. But the process was extremely slow and difficult and came with a lot of arguments, fallings out, people quitting or getting fired, outside interference, anger and frustration.

And that’s the other thing. See, people get fed up with each other when they have to see each other day in, day out. You can’t escape each other. Our kibbutz is very small and everyone knows each other. Not only that, but everyone knows everything about each other. The good, the bad and the ugly. It’s kind of like a never ending family party, where you cannot escape the creepy uncles, the bitchy cousins, the complaining old aunts. Nothing is a secret. And nobody is perfect. Everyone has things they prefer not to let the whole family know. Well, too bad. Gossip is currency. Also, no matter how much you like someone, after meeting them on the kibbutz paths five times in the same day, you duck behind a fence so you don’t have to say: “Ah haha, we meet again, next time coffee!” Again. For the millionth time.

But in the end, I love my kibbutz. And no matter how often I argue with my neighbours or grit my teeth over people driving their cars on my grass, I love my kibbutz family. Some of them have died in terror attacks or in wars. Some of them are fighting in Gaza as I am writing this. After October 7, this tsunami of grief and fear has bound us together like never before.

Here’s to kibbutz Be’eri, to Kfar Aza and Nir Oz. Here’s to all those kibbutzim that were overrun, massacred and burned. Hamas will not win. Kibbutzniks are some of the toughest people alive. They will come back and live there again, work the land and honour their dead. As they have always done, since the beginning.

Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed

Avera Mengistu

Hamas is a terror organization. They have been kidnapping people and taking hostages long before October 7, 2023. Often, the people they choose are the more vulnerable members of society. Especially when these people literally walk straight into their hands. Like Avera Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli Jew who has been held by Hamas since 2014. Yes, there are Black African Jews and yes, he has been a hostage for almost 10 years.

Avera Mengistu was 27 years old when he walked from his home in Ashkelon to the Gazan border, climbed the fence and disappeared into Gaza. He was immediately taken hostage by Hamas. According to his family, Avera was in a confused and emotional state that day. He had been suffering from mental illness for years and had been hospitalized twice. No one knows what exactly he was trying to accomplish by crossing the border.

But Hamas immediately took advantage of the situation. They took Mengistu captive and said he was a prisoner of war. They claimed he was a soldier and was wearing a uniform. This is categorically untrue, as Avera never served in the army due to his mental health issues. Very little was heard from or about him for years.

Until, in January of 2023, Hamas released a video of Avera Mengistu. In the video, he asks: “How much longer will I be in captivity? After so many years, where are the state and the people of Israel?”

The Mengistu family can not be entirely sure that this really is Avera, but it does seem to be him.

Avera’s parents and his brothers are forever missing a part of their family. They fight to get publicity for their story. They feel neglected and pushed aside by both the government and the media of Israel. They feel that because of Avera’s race and mental health, he is not given the same importance as the hostages of October 7. Where is the outrage, the outcry over Avera Mengistu?

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Hisham al-Sayed

The story of Hisham al-Sayed is very similar to that of Avera Mengistu. Hisham is a Bedouin Israeli Arab who has been held by Hamas since 2015. (And yes, there are Arab, Muslim and Bedouin Israelis.)

Al-Sayed was born in 1988 in the Bedouin town of Al-Hura in the Negev desert. He studied in Cyprus and London, but struggled with both physical and mental health disorders. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, vertigo and hearing loss. Hisham tried to join the Israeli army but, like Avera Mengistu, was not enlisted due to his health problems.

Hisham’s family say he heard voices in his head, telling him to cross over the border with Gaza. He tried to do so many times, and finally succeeded in 2015. Hamas took him and has held him captive ever since. As with Mengistu, they claimed he was a soldier and therefore a prisoner of war, which is not true.

In 2022, Hamas released a video showing Hisham al-Sayed looking very sick, lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask and an IV drip. His Israeli ID card was shown lying open on the bed.

Al-Sayed’s family are desperately worried about him. He needs medical treatment and medication. Like Mengistu’s family, they have tried to generate international publicity for their son’s case, but failed to do so. They, too, have accused the Israeli government and press of not caring enough, because their son is a Bedouin.

The cases of Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed are very sad. They highlight not only the cruelty and sadism of an organization like Hamas, holding vulnerable, unwell civilians prisoner for years, but also the undeniable difference in treatment of minority groups in Israel, like the Bedouins and the Ethiopians. While their families fight for recognition, their sons languish in the dungeons of Hamas, unknown by the general public and the international community.

There is a lot wrong in Israel. But that does NOT mean it is an apartheid state. It is not. All Israeli citizens have the same basic rights and opportunities, no matter their religion or ethnicity. But of course, in reality, some groups have a much harder time than others. This is something we need to work on. Just like the USA, Europe, Canada, Australia and everwhere else.

#bringthemhome

Mizrahi Jews

Jews are white people, right? They have German and Polish sounding names and they come from Western and Eastern Europe. They are basically white colonists, occupying the land of the indigenous people of Palestine. That’s the narrative that is being spread lately, anyway.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Jews come in all colours and cultures, and many of them have lived on the Arabian peninsula for thousands of years. Mizrahi Jews are people whose ancestry is traced back to Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq – even Palestine itself. Yes I know, shocker!!

This is from the “Jews from the Middle East Fact Sheet” of the Jewish Voice for Peace:

“Of 7 million Israelis, 35-40% are Mizrahim, 15% are Russian immigrants, 20% are Palestinian Israelis, 2.2% are Ethiopian, and 25-30% are Ashkenazi Jews and others. This means 55-60% of the Israeli population is ‘non-white’; together, Mizrahim and Palestinian Israelis form a majority.”

As you probably know and accept, Jews originated from the land we now know as Israel. In the 6th century BCE, their country was invaded by the Babylonians and many of the Jews fled – an event known as the Babylonian exile. Some of them travelled far and wide and settled in Europe, Poland and Russia. Their descendents are now called Ashkenazi Jews. They have lighter skin, hair and eyes and some of them still speak Yiddish, which contains elements of Hebrew, German and Eastern European languages.

But most Jews did not travel that far, or in that direction. Many settled closer to Israel, in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Others spread out over the rest of the Arabian peninsula and stayed in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen, and some ended up in Persia (Iran) and Turkey. Yet others moved to Northern Africa and settled in Morocco, Libya, Tunesia and Algeria. These Jews are now known as Mizrahi (or Sephardic) Jews. Their skin, hair and eyes are darker. They speak many languages, but not Yiddish. Their culture and customs are very different from those of the Ashkenazi and share a lot of similarities with Arabic cultures.

In the Second World War, 85% of the Jews that were murdered in the Holocaust were Ashkenazi. Most of the Jews in Germany, Poland, Eastern and Northern Europe were wiped out in a huge-scale, monstrous act of genocide. We all know about this. (And if you don’t, you should). My husband’s family from his father’s side is Polish. His grandparents were the only ones in both their families who survived. They emigrated to Israel in an attempt to leave the unspeakable horror behind. But his other set of grandparents came to Israel from Iran. And they were not running from the European Holocaust. They were fleeing from something else.

After the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel in 1948, all Arab countries surrounding Israel declared war. They did not want a Jewish state next to them. In fact, they decided they did not want any Jews inside their own countries, either. This led to the Jewish Exodus from the Muslim world. Around 900,000 Mizrahi Jews were expelled from all Arab and Northern African countries. An estimated 650,000 of these people fled, often on foot, to Israel, which, against all odds, managed to hold its own against the entire Arab world, and even won the war.

And then, there were the Jews who never left. Yes, some Jews stayed where they were after the Babylonians took over. They stayed when the Greeks and the Romans came and went. They stayed through all the Crusades. The country was called Canaan, the Holy Land, Mandatory Palestine. It was ruled by Romans, Christians, Muslims and later the British. But Jews have always lived in Israel. They have sometimes been called Palestinian Jews. But really, they were the original Israelis, who simply never left. Jews are indigenous to Israel, just as much as Arabs are.

So wait a moment before you shout “from the river to the sea”. Do some research. Where do you want the Jews to go? Back to where they came from? The majority of them came from Arab countries, where they were harassed, persecuted, stripped of their citizenship and expelled. None of the Mizrahi Jews can “go back to where they came from”. They would be either deported or simply killed instanty. If you remember, Muslim countries hate Jews. “From the river to the sea” is a call for a death sentence to all Jews. Do you really want to be a modern Nazi?

This very compact history of the Mizrahi Jewish people is obviously extremely simplified. And their immigration to Israel did not go without a hitch. European Jews and Middle Eastern Jews were so different from each other that many problems arose between them. Mizrahi Jews felt like second class citizens, discriminated against and pushed to the side. Some still feel like that. Their feelings are valid and the injustice done to them must be addressed.

Also, I am not in any way saying that Arab Israelis / Palestinians are not indigenous to Israel. They are. But so are Jews. And we must find a way to live together. I believe it can be done. But not with Hamas.

The Bibas Family

Shiri Silberman-Bibas (32), Yarden Bibas (34), Ariel (4) and Kfir (9 months) lived in kibbutz Nir-Oz. They were happy together and had a beautiful little family, two little boys with flaming red hair. Shiri’s parents immigrated from Argentina 40 years ago, while Yarden Bibas is from Yemeni descent.

In the early morning of October 7, kibbutz Nir Oz was invaded by hundreds of Hamas terrorists, armed to the teeth. They went from door to door, killing entire families, shooting children in their beds, tying people up and torturing them, setting their houses on fire and burning them alive.

In a panic, Yarden, Shiri and the children hid in the safe room of their house, together with Shiri’s parents. They contacted their family, telling them what was happening. “It feels like the end,” Yarden texted to his sister. Then: “They are coming into the house.”

After that, there were no more texts. But Yarden and Shiri’s family saw their loved ones in the Hamas videos of that day. The little boys’ bright red hair was hard to miss. They had to watch as armed men escorted Shiri out of the house, sobbing and terrified, clutching her two babies. Then, they had to watch as terrorists beat Yarden with a hammer and took him away separately, wounded and bleeding from his head.

This video and the screenshots made the Bibas family the most famous hostages. Kfir, at nine months old at the time, is the youngest hostage of all. The following image has been shown all over the world.

People are also trying to find out the identity of the man in the light blue shirt behind them, the man whose face Hamas is trying to conceal. Is he a Western journalist? There is a theory that there were journalists and photographers with the terrorists, who had prior knowledge of the attack and who came along to film and photograph everything that happened. There are freelance Gazan journalists seen in other pictures, some of them with known ties to Hamas. The cruelty and callousness of people standing by and taking photos of a massacre is inconceivable.

For weeks, there was no news of the Bibas/Silberman family. Shiri’s parents, Jose Luis (Yossi) and Margit Silberman, were assumed to be hostages, until their bodies were identified in kibbutz Nir Oz. They had been murdered, not abducted.

After 7 long weeks, Hamas finally caved under immense pressure and agreed to release the minor hostages and their mothers. For a week, every night a small number of children, mothers and elderly women were released.

But Shiri Bibas and her redheaded babies were not among them. Every night, their family, along with the entire country, prayed that they would come home the next day. People held vigils and released orange balloons in honour of the children. Tomorrow… Tomorrow, the ginger babies will come home.

But they never did. On November 29, Hamas released a video of Yarden Bibas. They filmed his reaction while terrorists told him that his wife and children were dead, according to them, killed in an Israeli airstrike. They forced the sobbing and broken man to blame the Israeli government and to say that they had killed his family. There are no words to describe psychological torture of this level. The entire country is brokenhearted and just wants to bring Yarden and the bodies of Shiri and the children back to Israel.

There is no evidence that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir are really dead. It is possible that Hamas is using them as pawns in their psychological warfare tactics. Earlier, Hamas claimed to have passed them on (sold them) to another terror organization, and lost track of them. We have no way of knowing what is the truth. But the heartbreak and the pain is real, for all of us.

We keep on hoping for a miracle, and that one day, the Bibas family will return home. We love you, Kfir, Ariel, Shiri and Yarden.

#bringthemhome

Noa Argamani – abducted by civilians

This is Noa Argamani. She is 26 years old and studies engineering. She is the beloved only child of Israeli-born Yacov and Chinese-born Liora Argamani. Noa is close to all of our hearts because of her remarkable beauty, the terrifying video of her abduction and the heartbreaking story of her mother. She is also my friend’s cousin. I have to start with Noa, because to me, she embodies all that is good, and kind, and beautiful. All that was destroyed and torn away from us by Hamas.

Noa was at a party that day, with her boyfriend Avinatan Or. They went to a music festival called Supernova, in the Negev desert. They sang and danced, laughed and enjoyed themselves with friends. Until suddenly, the music stopped, the sirens started wailing and hell broke open, spewing out masked men with guns, on motorcycles and in jeeps, driving into the crowd at full speed, shooting at everyone they saw, screaming “Allahu akhbar!!”

Panicked people fled in all directions. The masked men chased after them and emptied their weapons at them, shooting innocent, unarmed young people in the back. Noa and Avinatan ran for their lives, terrified and in shock.

But the terrorists caught up with them. Five, ten men jumped at Noa and Avinatan. Two men pulled Noa on a motorcycle, while the others held Avinatan down. Noa cried and screamed: “No, no, don’t kill me!” But the kidnappers laughed at her and drove away with her. She stretched out her arms to Avinatan, who was being taken away by a group of men, and who could do nothing but stare after her in terror.

We have this footage because the terrorists filmed it and uploaded it on TikTok. Yes, they were proud of what they did. They were full of glee. They took pleasure in killing, torturing, raping and kidnapping unarmed young people at a music festival. The following pictures are stills from the footage.

This is the last anyone saw of Avinathan Or. He is presumed taken hostage. Noa was seen later on in Gaza in other footage, so she is known to be a hostage.

Noa’s parents, friends and family are beside themselves with worry. Noa’s mother, Liora, is suffering from terminal brain cancer. She is afraid of dying without ever seeing her daughter again.

I didn’t know what true evil was, until I saw the footage and heard the stories of the supernova music festival. Now, I know what evil looks like. It is hundreds of bloodthirsty men, firing into a crowd, chasing fleeing people, laughing and shouting “Allahu akhbar!!” while grabbing, raping, murdering and abducting young girls.

At the moment I am writing this, two months after the “black shabbath” as we call it, a number of children and women have been released from captivity. But not Noa. Where are you, Noa? What are they doing to you? Are you alive, are you hurt, are you suffering? Our hearts are bound to you and to Avinatan, and to your parents. We pray that Liora will see her beloved daughter again before she leaves this world.

We love you, Noa and Avinatan. #bringthemhome.

Edit 3/1/24

It has come to light that the men who abducted Noa Argamani were not Hamas members. They were Gazan civilians who followed Hamas through the gates on October 7 and blazed a trail through Israel, looting, killing and raping. And abducting pretty young girls as trophies. If you watch the videos, it is clear. These men do not wear hoods and their faces are clearly visible. They do not carry automatic weapons and ammunition belts. It is absolutely sickening and enraging. Nobody knows where they’re hiding Noa and what they’re doing to her. But somebody must know these men. Someone knows who they are and where they are keeping Noa and the other girls who have not been returned.

Edit 17/1/24

On January 14, Noa appeared in a video released by Hamas, together with two other hostages: Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky. They were forced to say that Israel should stop the war or they would be killed. At the end of the video, Hamas gave us a nice little game, to guess who was going to be murdered that night.

Noa was the only one who survived this demonic game. My guess is the civilians who abducted her, sold her to Hamas. Hamas knows how famous and beloved Noa is. They use her as a pawn to force us to do what they want.

So Noa is alive, for now. God help her. 💔

October 7, 2023

YouTube: Stories of Israel – True Crime

I’m a true crime fan. I have followed the true crime community for years. The psychology behind the terrible stories is fascinating. What makes murderers and kidnappers tick? Why do they do what they do? What made them this way? And who were their victims? How do their loved ones deal with something so dark and awful?

Then, true crime happened to me.

This story was a letter that I wrote on November 7, 2023, exactly a month after the terrible, traumatic event that changed all of our lives forever. I sent this letter to all my favorite true crime podcasters and YouTubers, who I have watched and listened to for years. I have supported them, encouraged them, defended them and donated to them. Now, I felt like I needed them to support me.

None of them answered me or acknowledged my plea in any way. None of them expressed sympathy or addressed the living nightmare we have experienced and are still experiencing. Not one true crime YouTuber has told our horror stories. By now, I realize that they are not going to. So I decided to do it myself. This is the letter I sent to them.

—

I want to tell you a story. It is a very, very shocking and gruesome story. I will only tell you the outlines, because the details will give you nightmares forever. To me, this is true crime at its most horrific, most devastating and most… True. Every single word of this is true, and there is video evidence for all of it.

On October 7 of this year, the south of my country was invaded by thousands of terrorists. The attack came out of nowhere and we were all caught off guard. They drove in with trucks and cars and motorcycles, sailed in with boats over sea and even flew in with paragliders. The terrorists broke into people’s homes and murdered more than 1200 people. The victims were men and women, children and babies, elderly and disabled people. Many of them were tortured, mutilated, beheaded, or burned alive. Parents were brutally murdered in front of their children. Parents were made to watch as their children were killed. Their houses were then set ablaze. Many people died in the flames and were burned beyond recognition.

Other terrorists drove further into the country and came to a music festival, where many young people were dancing and enjoying themselves. They shot as many people as they could and grabbed and gangraped many of the young women, until they died, until their legs and pelvises were broken. The naked, lifeless bodies were then piled on trucks, some missing limbs or heads, and paraded around for everyone to see.

The terrorists then kidnapped living people. They pulled them into their cars and on motorcycles, and took those people with them. They abducted a total of 240 men, women and children, who have been held hostage for a month now, with very little signs of life.

I am of course talking about the massacre by Hamas in the south of Israel. Since that horrible day, we have all been living in hell. Our every waking and sleeping thought is of pain, fear and death. Time stood still for us on that day.

I am not asking you to take sides in the terrible war that followed this mass murder. The only thing I want from the true crime community is to acknowledge that what Hamas did to us was a crime. It was not an act of war. There was no war at that time. What they did was a deliberate and premeditated crime, with the goal of murdering and kidnapping as many Israelis as they could, while maximizing our suffering as much as possible. That was their only goal.

There is plenty of evidence for this. The terrorists wore cameras on their heads and recorded every horrific act they committed that day. They uploaded it on social media, proud of what they did. Much of the footage is freely accessible, although not all of it. Some of it is too gruesome to be shown to the general public. It has been compiled into a movie, that has been shown to journalists and news outlets around the world. Half of them were unable to stay in the room and finish watching. All of them came out shaking and feeling sick.

The people held hostage range in age from nine months to 86 years old. They are from a wide range of nationalities. They are Israeli, American, Thai, Filipino, Tanzanian, Argentinian, German, British… The list goes on. Their families do not sleep and cannot breathe. Their lives are hell.

What I want is for the international community to acknowledge that this was a terrible crime against the people of Israel, whether they were Jews, Muslims, Christians or otherwise. Hamas murdered without distinction. A lot of Israeli Arabs, Thai foreign workers and visitors were killed and captured as well as Jews.

The MeToo movement turns a blind eye to the violent rape of hundreds of Israeli women. The Red Cross and Unicef do nothing to secure the release of 30 children being held hostage, or to verify that severely wounded hostages receive medical care. Antisemitism has sprung up over the entire world. Jews feel threatened and unsafe everywhere. Jewish children are being kept home from school in Europe. Jewish college students in the USA are not going to class, for fear of being harassed.

I am powerless to stop any of this. But I have a voice. So I post, and I write. I want everyone to know what is happening. It feels to me as if history is coming full circle and repeating itself.

That is my story. I am fortunate to not have been affected personally and my family is safe. But friends and family of my friends have been murdered, abducted or killed in battle. We are traumatized, shocked, angry and afraid. And so very, very sad. I live for the day that the hostages will come back home. I pray that they are still alive.

Thank you for listening.