04/10/2024
I have changed my profile picture to bring awareness that this war is finishing its 363rd day since Hamas and Islamic Jihad expolded through our fence with Gaza.
For 363 days, Israelis in the south and middle of our country, and the people of Gaza have been suffering a horrific cost that countinues today. All of the peaceful civilian communities along that fence that were attacked on the Gaza envelope still remain vacated and greatly destroyed from the original 2-day attack. Of the 250 hostages taken from within Israel (who were not just Jews, but Muslim and Christian Israelis, visitors from various countries, and foreign workers from Nepal, Thailand, Philippines, and Russia, among others), 101 of them remain in captivity...363 days later.
For 362 of those days, since Hezbullah joined the extremist attack on Israel from Lebanon. Although they are not a Palestinian group, Hezbullah is also an Iranian backed force; in fact it's the MAIN force of the Islamic Republic of Iran. So, it had to join in, and it did so by simply firing ground-to-ground missiles by the hundreds per day. And it then added the use of anti-tank missiles to destory civilian houses and vehicles within eyesight from southern Lebanon. 80% of the homes in some rural communities have been destroyed, while between 60 — 80,000 Israelis are refugees in our own country.
363 days later, nearly a million Gazans are still stuck in their flowing suffering, never being sure where they can be safe, far from where their homes once stood. Many are suffering disease and from unavailable medical care.
Many of our sons and daughters who serve in the IDF reserves are either still called up after 363 days, or returning for a third or fourth stint at war.
So, 363 is only a number. But it represents SO MUCH to so many.
Sadly, it's so close to the unfathomable 365 one year mark.
The only people who might see this number with pleasure are the radicals on both sides.
Learn about and support Gershon Baskin's 3-Weeks Plan to end all the belligerence and attacks, bring all our hostages back while releasing many Palestinian prisoners, and enable civilians on all sides of our borders to begin rebuilding their homes and their lives.
Support our Forum of Israeli Peace NGOs (פורום ארגוני השלום Peace NGO's Forum) to offer a peaceful alternative to war, which we all know will not end in a victory of either side. It will end in a negotiated settlement. So, help us move to those negotiations now.