100 days ‘relative’, but terror absolute for Hamas victims
The past 100 days in Israel have been very different to the past 100 days in Australia. Penny Wong is about to see this first-hand.
I was in Israel on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its barbarous attack against my country. One hundred days later, I will be there again in preparation for Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s visit.
The past 100 days have been traumatising and transformative for Israel and the region. For most of this time, my work has been in Australia. My heart, however, has been in Israel, with my family and all Israelis. It is of great importance that the minister will be in Israel, to see and hear for herself what has been inflicted on my country and my people.
October 7 was an attack on Israel and Jews by Hamas terrorists, but it was also a flagrant and brazen signal of intent by a delinquent regime in Tehran to freedom-loving governments of the region and the world.
While the IDF is fighting Hamas in Gaza, it is simultaneously contending with the provocative brinkmanship of persistent attacks by Hezbollah along Israel’s northern borders with Lebanon and Syria. Meanwhile, in the Red Sea, global commerce is being strangled by Houthi attacks on merchant vessels, launched from Yemen.
Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi insurgents are three instruments of terror, violence and destabilisation that are all actively trained, funded and equipped by Tehran. What the democratic world has come to better understand over the past 100 days, Israel has known for years.
The strategic and foreign policy repercussions of the October 7 attacks on Israel will continue to unfold in ways that will be both unpredictable and unforeseen. For the foreign policy thinkers and decision-makers in liberal democracies, including Australia, the past 100 days have given a glimpse into the world view of a fanatical bloc of nefarious sectarian and ideological actors, who are seeking to remake an entire region according to their warped vision.
As a diplomat, these issues are naturally foremost in my thoughts. Yet, as an Israeli and a Jew, a father and grandfather, the experience of the past 100 days has also reawakened difficult thoughts about the relationship between time and trauma.
In his Special Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein determined that time is relative – that the rate at which time passes depends on your frame of reference. I do not profess to have mastered the theoretical physics behind this concept, but the notion resonates deeply with me when I try to come to terms with what some of my fellow Israelis are grappling with.
How long are 100 days when you are a hostage, held captive metres underground in tunnels beneath Gaza by sadists who deprive you of food, water and medical treatment for your broken body?
Israelis have learnt from freed hostages of the abuse they endured at the hands of their captors. How long have the past 100 days been for 19-year-old Naama Levy, who was filmed being bundled into an SUV by terrorists during the attacks. Naama’s hands were tied behind her back. Her sweatpants stained with blood, suggesting that the most savage violence was inflicted on her. We know Naama is one of 13 young women hostages still held captive in Gaza.
How does one begin to think about the span of 100 days when it is punctuated by brutality, rape and sexual assault? We live in a time where the safety and rights of women and girls across the world are, rightly, being recognised and uplifted. Yet, there has been a deafening silence from activists and women’s rights organisations about the depravity and cruelty inflicted on Israeli female bodies by Hamas terrorists. It is a disgrace, and a silent tragedy that will loom over these survivors for the rest of their lives.
How long have the past 100 days been for Doron Asher? She was shot in the back by a Hamas terrorist, and saw her mother executed in front of her eyes. She was determined to stay with her daughters Aviv, 2, and Raz, 4, at all costs, and spent 49 harrowing days being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Doron, Aviv and Raz were released as part of a negotiated humanitarian pause on November 25. I can only wish that time will heal the physical and spiritual wounds they sustained at the hands of Hamas.
How long have the past 100 days been for Tali Kizhner? Her son, Segev, was murdered on the morning of October 7. In late November, Tali travelled all the way to Australia as part of a group of relatives and representatives of victims and hostages of the Hamas attacks. Like the other Israelis in that group, Tali was grappling with unspeakable anger and grief, yet she epitomised the calm dignity of a mother who was honouring the memory of her murdered son. When she shared her testimony with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, she spoke on behalf of hundreds of Israeli parents whose children were ripped away from them on that dark and bloody day.
Israeli authorities estimate that at least 23 hostages have been murdered in Gaza by Hamas, which is refusing to return their remains. As you read this, there are still 136 hostages held in the depths of Hamas’s underground lairs. The world has not heard their testimony. We know nothing of their fate. How long have the past 100 days been for them? Lifetimes of anguish rolled into one never-ending nightmare. I often think about little Kfir Bibas, who was only 277 days old when he was kidnapped. His first birthday is on January 18. In our world, outside of Hamas’s dungeons, his birthday will be marked only with tears by those who love him.
The past 100 days in Israel have been very different compared with the past 100 days here in Australia, as Foreign Minister Wong will see first-hand.
Time may indeed be relative. Other things, however, remain absolute.
Amir Maimon is Israel’s ambassador to Australia.
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