Part and parcel of life in Israel, particularly as an IDF officer, is finding yourself sitting in memorial ceremonies and visiting the homes of heartbroken families. Too many of them. For fallen soldiers. For victims of terror. A small country that is less than 80 years old should not have this many bereaved families, but this of course is our reality. 

Remembering loss and disaster is a type of expertise – indeed not the only one – that we as Israelis wish we did not have. It is the sad result of the many wars and horrific acts of terror we have experienced over the years. Yet, the largest terror attack on civilian communities in our history – a coordinated attack on civilians whose date is now synonymous with that event – we experienced after our American friends endured the same. We will soon mark twenty-five years since the September 11th attacks. 

As American and Israeli soldiers fought together arm-in-arm earlier this year, I often thought about the fact that most of them were born after 9/11. And so as we in Israel prepare to mark just three years since October 7th, I’ve found myself thinking about how the horrors of........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)