Dear Friends in BISY,

As you must know the situation in Israel is beyond horrible. We are fighting against an inhumane terror organization- Hamas, that basically wants Israelis and Jews dead.

In this letter I would like to give you my perspective on what’s happening as an Israeli. I would appreciate it if you’d read this to the end very carefully and feel free to respond and share your thoughts with me.

I want to start with some facts. More than 1,200 citizens and soldiers that we know of, were murdered in 5 days of war (for context, 1000 Israelis are like 34,500 Americans)- most of them were killed in only one day. More than 3,000 were injured, and more than 150 men, women, kids and seniors were kidnapped to Gaza from their houses by terrorists.

We are still being attacked with rockets (more than 5,000 so far) in the south and center of Israel- in my city Holon as well. We do have “Iron Dome” (an air defense system which is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets) and in my house we have a bomb shelter as well. So I am safe.

Also, a lot of people were drafted to the reserve forces of the army. Most of my friends and the people I know have a father/ brother/ cousin/ husband/ boyfriend that were sent to the battlefield. Also, some of my teachers and family friends are on duty now. This is a really hard situation because we don’t know how much time it’ll take and when they’ll come back home.

In a personal manner. I am not scared. I know that we’re gonna fight back and hopefully, we’ll put an end to the Hamas regime in Gaza. But, in order to do so we need to stand strong and united against Hamas not just in the battlefield but everywhere. In Hebrew we call it the “Oref” which means the back of the neck- the support system of the people that are fighting for our safety.

I don’t know if you heard President Biden’s speech a few days ago (I highly recommend you to do so- it was historically significant and really powerful)- but for me it was heartwarming and filled me with hope. He repeated a few times that the US has our back and supports us. Also, the daily messages I receive from my American friends, sending their love and prayers, are so not taken for granted. Every Instagram story of someone not from Israel (and sometimes not even Jewish) who informs about the situation and supports Israel is giving me more hope.

So if there is one thing I want to tell you- is that you are our faces and voices. So keep spreading true information on social media, talk about the situation on other platforms like school or other activities, and just do what you can so that the facts won’t be silenced in the public sphere.

Because this war is not something only Israelis and Jews should care about. It’s a conflict that can affect the Middle East and the rest of the world as well.

Am Israel Hai❤ עם ישראל חי

Love and miss you all!

 Your hvp (Hodaya Vice President)