After 1000 Days
An open letter to our fellow citizens, to our children, grandchildren and great‑grandchildren, and to Rotem, Shaked and Shir Matias, whose mother, Shachar Deborah Troen Mathias and father Shlomi David Mathias were murdered in their “safe room” at Kibbutz Holit while protecting Rotem.
In the early morning of October 7, 2023, Rotem was sixteen-and-a-half. Deborah told him to lie down in the narrow space between the bed frame and the wall and she lay on top of him while Shlomi held a mattress against the door, desperate to keep the terrorists at bay. Automatic fire, a grenade and gun fire overcame him. Rotem, who was shot through his mother’s body, felt her death tremors and heard his father scream that his arm had been blown off. He was alone and only evacuated to Soroka Hospital some ten hours later. Shir, then 21, and Shaked, 19, hid alone, each in her safe room in the young people’s section. Deborah had called to warn them to lock their doors. They heard the horror—shots, cries and explosions—and at 8:01 received a WhatsApp from Rotem: “Mom and Dad are dead. Sorry.” He was wounded. Then contact was lost. They were not evacuated until after eight.
We are writing 1000 days after October 7. It’s not a simple story and it isn’t over.
Carol / Raxel and Selwyn/ Ilan Troen, parents of a large bereaved family.
We want to thank you, Shir, for your intense activity and efforts to remind Israel’s citizens and our government that what happened on October 7, more than 1000 days ago, was no mere “unfortunate event”. Your frequent interviews in the media and your sharp, clear, painful words—important, urgent, and heart‑rending—explain why an independent state commission of inquiry is essential to our national defense and security and crucial to rebuilding trust. We’re very proud of you. We wish we could tell Mom and Dad face to face what we tell them in our hearts.
Your emphasis is spot on, and we’re writing to repeat it. It’s not only the Gaza periphery that’s involved. The entire State of Israel, from the river to the sea, was and is, under attack.
This is not new. At Soroka hospital, the morning after surgery to remove the bullet that stopped just a millimeter from his intestines, we asked Rotem what he wanted people to know. The members of the Press were asking. “That this didn’t just start now” was his immediate reply.
Long before October 7 we understood—even those who didn’t live under the recurring threat of Katyusha rockets and Red Alerts—that there is no “absolute security.” And in recent months, when we spent days and nights hurrying to find shelter from missile attacks, the IDF spokesperson repeatedly reminded us. The reminders accompanied ongoing news coverage of devastated residential areas in the center and periphery of Israel and stories of the kidnapped, dead and wounded: “There is no airtight defense.” Yes. We are experienced.
Even those who wanted to believe can now see that the promise of absolute victory with absolute security cannot be fulfilled. It’s a misleading slogan. The words are hollow and empty. The dreaded news of yet another fallen soldier is announced with the painfully formulaic “It has been permitted for publication”. The IDF continues to fight heroically and defends us at a terrible cost of dead and wounded. But we know they cannot achieve an “absolute victory” and ensure absolute security.
Yet security Amore than ever is needed. It’s our government—not only the armed forces– that is responsible for our personal, social and political security. In Shir’s words, security requires trust in leaders “in suits and in uniform”, not absolute, blind trust, but trust in a government that demonstrates commitment to owning up to the facts.
The current government has not acknowledged that a disaster happened – to all of us. During its watch Hamas terrorists breached the borders of Israel and murdered and massacred us—more than 1,200 civilians in one day. We all saw and heard it happening, from 6:29 am on October 7 when the attacks began and as the terror unfolded.
We remember the heroism of citizens and soldiers who on their own initiative acted to defend and save others, often at the cost of their own lives. And we cannot forget the long hours calling and waiting for help when nobody answered and nobody came.
We watched armed terrorists abduct 251 civilians and soldiers and drag them, just a short distance, through the fields to Gaza. This happened in broad daylight. The Hamas nuhba terrorists filmed themselves and shared pictures and bragged to their thrilled and proud families and made sure the families of their victims would witness the horror.
Yet our government did not pursue them, rescue them, return them immediately. Our government did not ask, does not ask now, more than 1000 days later: How did we let this happen?
More than 1,000 days later the government still has not identified its mistakes, has not investigated, has not drawn conclusions and most importantly, has not implemented lessons based on findings. Shir, our 23‑year‑old granddaughter, has asked, even pleaded for answers. What errors of judgement allowed such horrifying results? Without a full investigation, how can she return to Holit and trust that she’ll be safe? How can any of us trust we won’t be taken by surprise yet again?
One thing is clear. The “conception” that we can achieve “Absolute Victory over our enemies” is mistaken, and endangers our lives and our very existence.
The current government has blocked an independent investigation and repudiated citizens who ask “how?” “EICHA?” in the word that opens the Book of Lamentations. Yet we must continue to speak out. Our national resilience bandages but cannot heal our wounds. The truth is needed. 07/10/2023 was a massacre, a Pogrom, the worst calamity the State has known. What is happening to us is not merely regrettable. False declarations that we are all- powerful and have rendered our multiple enemies powerless are embarrassing.
Our government — both coalition and opposition — must rebuild public trust by establishing an independent state commission of inquiry to uncover, learn and teach, and correct the errors that permitted the October 2023 disaster.
The war they promised would remove the threats of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran has continued for more than 1,000 days. Our soldiers, in regular service and reserves, are prepared, dedicated and strong. They fight courageously and tirelessly to defend us. But they are also worn out by the burden of responsibility for our security.
We—the home front—from infants to the very elderly, from the confrontation line in the north to the Gaza periphery and everyone in between—are being worn out as well by an unending war with promises of absolute victory and no realistically defined finish line. Citizens evacuated from their homes in towns and settlements along the country’s borders need trust to rebuild. They deserve a government that sees them, hears them, and responds to them. As Shir demanded: Look us in the eye!
We are calling all citizens of Israel to attention. Our eyes have to be open and our ears attentive and listening. To move forward together we need responsible leaders, ethically and morally committed to all the citizens of the State, as affirmed in our Declaration of Independence. We urgently need a government that is attentive, responsible, honest, and worthy of our trust.
Ilan and Carol Troen
Omer, Israel
