This past week has been intense. Really, really intense emotionally, mentally and spiritually. For me and for all of Israel. And today even the weather is an expression of what is churning inside us. The rather warm winter is giving way to high winds and angry looking skies, thunder and lightning, interspersed with breaks of glorious sunshine that are fleeting passages, only to be replaced by cloudbursts of driving, pounding rain and hail, then a rainbow and bitter cold winds.

I work part time as an independent journalist for a few magazines and e-news outlets. This week I was asked to cover two stories which had me interviewing the grieving parents and wives of fallen soldiers. What can I say? There are few words, but I have been privileged to be able to enter into the pain, the anger, the questioning, the hope and the love of these amazing people (I will eventually write a post about this). All are determined to honor their loved one’s legacy in beautiful and creative ways that not only help them, but the entire country move forward. Still, the heaviness is almost unbearable.

Last night, John and I had tickets to see our favorite Israeli artist, Idan Raichel. I cannot say enough about his music. I started following him in the early 2000’s when my Israeli girlfriend gave me one of his CDs. We saw him 4 times in Los Angeles and I’ve heard him perform 3 times here in Israel. Not only is he an extremely talented artist, his music is just beautiful to hear. An Israeli Medal of Honor recipient and Poet Laureate of Israel, his words (in Hebrew) are extremely profound and romantic in the highest of ways. Several make me cry. He sings of life, loss, love, family and the need to cherish every moment in this world and hold fast to what is good.

Before the concert started, the news had been leaked that the four deceased hostages to be returned the next day included an 85 year old grandfather and peace activist, Oded Lifshitz. He was abducted along with his wife, Yocheved, 82, who was returned December, 2023. Oded spent much of his life advocating for co-existence with the Palestinians and spreading peace, taking sick Gazans to the Israeli hospitals for their cancer treatments. Just let that sink in: the Hamas monsters kidnapped elderly people in their 80s and then left several to die or be killed in those terror tunnels. This Israeli man helped them live. it is ironic that a man who dedicated his life to peace was murdered by the same group he sought to dialogue with. After her release, Yocheved described her brutal treatment at the hands of the terrorists.

And then came news that we so dreaded to hear, shattering all our hearts. Our beloved Shiri Bibas and her babies, Ariel and Kfir are coming back in boxes. The Bibas family is still holding out hope that it is not them being returned, because Hamas has already delighted in the use of psychological warfare and torture of the Israeli people. Hamas proclaims captives are dead when there are actually signs of life. And they have told captives being released that their loved ones are alive and waiting for them, when they were, in fact, murdered. It’s a sick and twisted game they play. And our hearts and our insides are all in knots.

Last night’s concert, typically upbeat and celebratory, was a night of subdued intensity. (As an aside, we’ve been taken aback by how much people have aged over the past 16 months, we included. Idan seemed to have grown a decade or more older in the past year). It was in no way political, but the songs all spoke to our heart. Especially this one, “In the Night,” which was written in 2008.

This morning at 8:00 am, the macabre, demonic show began. It was more than difficult to find a live feed, since (thankfully and rightly) Israeli stations, and even Memri and AlJazeera were not streaming live coverage. Today the streets were thronged with “the innocent civilians of Gaza” all waving flags and cheering as there procession of four white Red Cross vehicles carrying the bodies of deceased hostages rolled through. At one point, the path was so clogged, the convoy had to pause for minutes. Palestinian flag-waving celebrants we’re jumping on the tops of the Red Cross SUVs. They were handing out candy and sweets. (It’s a famine everyone. Remember that. People are starving).

At the designated ceremonial location, today’s stage was all black. With black curtains opening to reveal a most hideous photoshopped canvas backdrop. It featured photographs of the Bibas family and Lifshitz covered in a pool of blood. An image of Netanyahu with vampire fangs, dripping blood and spattered with blood, dripped onto those photographs of the deceased hostages. (At this point many of us were/are still holding out hope beyond hope that it was all a psy-op and that the bodies inside were not those of the captives). The heading for this one read “The War Criminal Netanyahu and his Nazi Army Killed Them With Missiles and Their Zionist War Weapons.”

The pallbearers of this surreal Satanic ritual appeared all dressed in black. Their faces covered. Different colored headbands represented the separate, but united, factions of resistance (terrorism). They came carrying simple wooden coffins painted black. Each coffin had the photo of the deceased and their name in Hebrew (the name ‘Ariel’ was emblazoned underneath the picture of Kfir. Your guess is as good as mine on that one. The photo of Netanyahu with the Hebrew for evil dictator and. Nazi killer was written underneath. Four coffins were placed on the stage. In the background, a loudspeaker played festive Arabic music as the crowd chanted along and clapped to the rhythm.

As usual, members of the Red Cross were there to sign the papers. This time no certificates of goody bags were issued. They approved the hand off and loaded each of the coffins into waiting vehicles. The Red Cross vehicles then met the IDF at the appointed location. At some point, after the exchange was made (Idid not see this happen), the black boxes were changed for white coffins with the flag of Israel draped over them.

By the time the bodies reached Israel and were transferred to Israeli ambulances (ZAKA), the streets were lined with police, military and mourners – saluting and waving Israeli flags. The bodies were taken to a Tel Aviv forensics unit to identify the remains and the cause of death.

In the meantime, Hamas journalists were interviewing the “innocent civilians” who kidnapped Shiri and children. It was the face of evil. Arab reporters indicated that the kidnappers are still alive and were proud of their deeds that day. One person even joked about kidnapping the dog and then shooting it in front of the family.

No other people on earth parade their war crimes in front of the world to see. No other people celebrate it in their town squares, or what is left of them. Of coffins being put on display in a weird, sick, twisted show. The coffins stamped “Arrested 7/10/2023”. Never forget the world wants to reward this kind of barbarity with their own state. Anybody that doubts the brutality of these terrorists or thinks these people can be negotiated with needs to re-examine the whole story as well as their own core values.

The last straw, the last thing that broke my heart was a statement released by the Ministry of Health. “The identification process of Kfir will be complicated. Usually, identification is done through cross referencing teeth. Kfir was kidnapped before his teeth grew in.”

I want to cry. I want to scream from the top of my lungs on my balcony. I want the world to see the real side of this whole ugly mess and what Israel is up against. I should be writing my commissioned stories for the newspaper. The stories of grieving parents. Parents, who after losing their sons when a building booby trapped by Hamas exploded and collapses killing 4, wounding 10 seriously of whom 3 are still in comas – these parents visit one another in consolation and support, and then go to the hospitals together to visit the families of the survivors. We do not gloat over death and destruction. We value life.

Oded Lifshitz was just identified as one of the corpses. “The grieving state of Israel does not have to wait for the cause of death to be determined. The only cause of death is that a grandfather and a mother and her children were kidnapped from their home on Shabbat Simchat Torah morning,” stated Idan Raichel just a few minutes ago.

We will cry. We will mourn. We will grieve. We will lift our voices to G-d and pray. But we will move forward. We will go on. Why? Because there is no other choice. In the end our enemies will be vanquished. We will live. We will dance again. Just not today- May the memories of all the fallen and all the murdered be for a blessing to those who think of them.

Again, if you find this interesting or important, or if this another side that you have not seen reported, please, please share this with as many people as possible. The world really needs to know the truth.

(As an update… just got the report that Hamas attached a little parting note to Oded’s coffin. It reads: To the family of Oded Lifshitz. We would have preferred your sons to return to you alive, but your own army and great leaders chose to kill them instead of bringing them back. You were the victim of a leadership that does not care about its children.” How horrific is this? Trying to divide the country against Netanyahu in the middle of all that is going on. This is neither the time nor the place. In the meantime, I have procrastinated the writing of these articles. One due tomorrow. The other next Monday and it’s getting later by the minute….