Darkest Before Dawn: Reflections on the Anniversary of October 7th
The saying “the night is darkest just before dawn, but the dawn is coming” feels a very apt and yet aspirational saying on the eve of the one-year anniversary of October 7th, 2023. This day -which will forever live in historic infamy -- has caused the world of many friends and colleagues who live and work in the Middle East, to come crashing down around them. It must be said that October 7th was made possible by a combination of factors that have compounded over decades of political inaction from the international community -and the United States specifically- that led to this massive explosion of bloodshed that is now playing out across multiple countries, including Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen.
The attack on the Israeli people by Hamas and allied militias on October 7th 2023, has created a wound within Israeli society and the wider Jewish global community that will not close anytime soon, given that it was largest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust. To this day, the families of the Israeli hostages who remain in Hamas custody continue in vain to demand that their government agree to a ceasefire, ensuring the return of the remaining hostages to their loved ones, or at least allowing their bodies to be returned for proper burial.
Simultaneously, the Israeli government’s response to the October 7th massacre has been characterized by scholars of genocide and war crimes as, at minimum, ethnic cleansing, if not outright genocide. My Palestinian friends and colleagues have referred to what is happening in Gaza as a second Nakba. The tragedy that intertwines these two communities is hard to fathom. Between the two communities of Israel and Palestine, more than 44,000 people are dead- the vast majority from the Palestinian community.
The stories I hear from both communities are debilitating and should shatter the heart of anyone with even an ounce of humanity. I have endeavored to remind everyone I speak with about this conflict of the need to see the humanity and the nuances that exist within both communities. We can hold two truths simultaneously: what was done by Hamas on October 7th was a war crime and horrific and in need of justice for the victims, and the priority must be to bring the hostages back home. Simultaneously we must acknowledge that what the Israeli State has done in response to this horrific act is also a war crime demanding of justice, with victims who now describe Gaza now as “hell on earth.” There must be an end to this war so the Palestinians of Gaza can rebuild what’s left of their lives.
As one Israeli friend described to me, “Everyone is one person removed from knowing someone or a family impacted by October 7th and the subsequent war.” For my Palestinian friends hearing how many family members they have lost, killed by Israeli bombs, their bodies lost under the rubble, makes it hard to imagine how they will heal from this tragedy. Some families in Gaza have told me, “We are living just to prepare to die tomorrow.” There are no sufficient words in any language to sum up the depth of pain and loss I have heard over the last year of war.
While extremists in power in both communities control 99% of the weapons being brought to bear against each other, there are glimmers of hope. Palestinian peace activists I know (both Muslim and Christian) continue to engage with their Jewish counterparts in search of ways to bridge the divide and fight against Antisemitism, Anti-Palestinian hate and Islamophobia, even as they bear significant personal losses daily. Israeli activists, through numerous civil society movements and human rights groups, have banded together to fight the increasingly authoritarian and illiberal government that currently controls the Israeli State. The current coalition under Prime Minister Netanyahu cares nothing for the rule of law and prefers to champion a highly militaristic and ethno-nationalist ideology that is destroying Israeli society from within and costing Palestinians countless lives through this war and an endless occupation in the West Bank.
Yet there are places where Jews, Israelis, Palestinians and Christians are working together to save lives in Gaza, stand in solidarity with Palestinian families against the occupation, march in the streets to reject hatred and prejudice, and demand their political leaders grow a spine and end this war. At the precipice of a regional war in the Middle East, there are glimmers of hope for what could be; if only the humanity and empathy that numerous political and military actors have attempted to scrub out of their respective communities as they cling to power can be allowed to grow back and gain strength. The night is darkest before the dawn, and the dawn needs to come soon, for everyone’s sake.
