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AND IT CONTINUES - Exactly one year ago, on the morning of the seventh of October, we woke up to a harsh reality. The State of Israel was under an unprecedented attack by the abominable terrorist organization of Hamas.
It can’t be October 7 yet, because the hostages aren’t home, families continue to sit in the unknown hell of life post October 7. Soldiers are still fighting in Gaza and now in the North of Israel.
It’s all I can think about — it has been in my mind all day every day for nearly 365 days. I want to stop time. We’re not ready for this.
On October 7, I was with my family in Boston, visiting my aunt. The jet lag woke me up at 3 a.m. Boston time and, glancing at my phone, the push notifications of all the horrors happening in Israel, where the travesties of the Hamas attack were well underway, kept me awake.
Thousands of people are still displaced from their homes. Too many moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends sit waiting for their loved ones to return from the frontlines hoping they are not another number.
I thought things would have changed by now. We hoped for so much more, for so much better, one year later. But here we are — one year after the terror attacks that shattered our world — and so many things are still unfinished.
How can it almost be October 7, 2024, when in many ways my world froze at 6:29 a.m. on October 7, 2023.
I’m exhausted and I think there is a collective communal exhaustion. The weight of the past year has settled heavily on our shoulders, with no sign of relief. There’s a collective fatigue in the Jewish community — and beyond — that makes it feel like we are still locked in last year’s tragedy, unable to move forward.
I have failed. Our leaders have failed. Your leaders have failed. And the world turned upside down.
We failed to bring everyone home. We failed to find peace. We failed to protect the innocent. We failed to prevent the loss of so many lives on all sides. And as we stand on the brink of reliving that awful date, I can’t help but think — what are we doing differently? Where is the change we so desperately need?
Israel’s civil society shone in the country’s darkest hour, but as the war continues with no clear end or even end goal in sight and over 100 people still held hostage by Hamas, healing and rebirth are not possible.
The country cannot continue and cannot heal or move forward without bringing the hostage’s home. It is a complete fracture of the most basic contract between a country and its citizens, and a country that has broken this contract cannot simply continue on.
Israel’s leadership has failed its people and has taken neither accountability nor responsibility for this failure. There is only so much the people can do to make life in the country good without a leadership taking responsibility and acting determinedly for the benefit of the citizens.
We need to reflect and grieve, yes. But we also need to take action. We must demand that our leaders step up and fulfill their promises.
We must support the families of the hostages with every resource possible. We must ensure that those displaced are not forgotten. We must rally to provide needed support to IDF soldiers on the field but also when they get home with the care needed to heal. As Diaspora Jews, we must continue being on the front lines of the war against antisemitism while our brothers and sisters fight the war on the frontlines with Gaza, Northern Israel, and more.
(Mihran Kalaydjian has over twenty years of public affairs, government relations, legislative affairs, public policy, community relations and strategic communications experience. He is a leading member of the community and a devoted civic engagement activist for education spearheading numerous academic initiatives in local political forums.)
