Back to School, Back to Hope in Israel
Amid memories of October 7, Israeli children return with courage, proving that evil will not win and resilience defines the future
I’ll admit it, this school year feels different.
As millions of Israeli children returned to classrooms this week, my heart kept drifting to one group in particular: the children who were evacuated from the border communities immediately after the horrors of October 7. These are kids who endured the unthinkable; kids who watched their homes burn, losing friends, and, for some, still waiting for their loved ones to come back from captivity.
And yet, they showed up. Backpacks in hand. Smiles on their faces.
According to the Education Ministry, an astonishing 95% of all students evacuated from 32 northern communities are now back in school. That number, to me, is not just a statistic, it is an anthem. It tells the world something Hamas, Hezbollah, and every terror network still does not understand: you cannot break the spirit of Israeli children.
I read in the newspapers and watched on television as images flashed across the screen: images of children laughing as they lined up for the first day of school, their tiny voices rising above the hum of relieved parents. Yet behind those smiles lies a deeper story. Many of these same families spent months displaced, living out of suitcases in temporary housing. Many still carry invisible scars – children who saw their parents murdered, friends taken hostage, or entire neighbourhoods reduced to ashes.
And yet, here they are, pencils sharpened, hearts wide open, refusing to let fear win.
In Eshkol, one of the hardest-hit regions on October 7, the number of students starting the school year has jumped by 22.5% compared to before the attack. Families are returning. Classrooms are filling again. Life – slow, fragile, but determined – is reclaiming its place.
As United States Ambassador Mike Huckabee said during a school visit near the Gaza border:
“Bad people tried to stop you from reaching this important day – but no matter how hard they try, you stand strong and keep moving forward.”
And that is exactly what these children are doing: moving forward, hand in hand with the rest of the Israelis, leading the way towards resilience and renewal.
But as I watched students filing into their classrooms, I could not stop thinking of the hostages.
Some seats are empty. Some children’s siblings are still in Gaza. Some classmates’ parents will never come home.
Israel begins this school year carrying an impossible contradiction: celebration and grief, hope and heartbreak. And yet, this is the miracle of the Israeli spirit: no matter the wounds, the nation refuses to stop.
This is not about “moving on.” It is about moving forward. We honour those taken from massacred on October 7 and those killed in captivity by insisting on life, on joy, on learning, on building futures where children feel safe and proud.
I have been thinking a lot about how something as simple as a backpack can become an act of defiance. When a seven-year-old, who once heard rockets overhead, wakes up at dawn and walks back to class, that is a declaration: “You will not erase us. You will not break us. We choose life.”
This is why the start of the school year carries such weight: every book opened, every lesson learned, every drawing hung on the wall is a bold statement: evil did not win, fear did not win, and Israel’s children are still here, still standing.
In Metula, where Hezbollah rockets once forced 86% of residents to flee, students returned to classrooms on Monday 1st September. I bet there were tears during roll call, hugs that lasted longer than usual, and prayers whispered under the breath. And then… maths homework. Science experiments.
Normalcy, it turns out, is one of Israel’s most radical forms of resistance.
If you ask me, this resilience is at the heart of innovating the future of Israel.
Innovation is not only about apps and AI, it is also about rebuilding lives and reshaping dreams in the face of unimaginable adversity. It is about making sure every Israeli child, from Sderot to Kiryat Shmona, knows they belong, they are safe, and they have a future worth fighting for.
The Education Ministry has poured resources into securing schools, hiring counselors, and even creating trauma-informed classrooms.
To be clear, October 7 left scars on the nation. But evil did not win that day, and it will not win now.
When I watch nearly 2.6 million students streaming back into classrooms, see teenagers in Tel Aviv demanding freedom for the hostages, and watch kindergartens opening in places like Homesh after twenty long years, I am reminded of something simple yet profound, Israel cannot be shaken.
So today, to every Israeli schoolchild, from the tiniest kindergartener taking their first steps into a classroom to the twelfth grader preparing for that final exam, hear this: your country is profoundly proud of you.
For your courage. For your laughter, even when the world feels dark. For walking into classrooms that symbolize education, and hope itself.
Proud of your courage. Proud of your laughter, even when the shadows of fear still linger. Proud of the way you walk back into classrooms that are more than buildings; they are sanctuaries of learning, symbols of hope, and reminders that life always finds a way forward.
Because every time you open a book, you are opening the future. And in that future, Israel stands tall – free, safe, thriving, and stronger than ever.
This school year is more than an academic milestone. It is proof, written in chalk and carried in backpacks, that no massacre, no missile, no terror tunnel can destroy the unshakable heartbeat of the Israeli nation.
As I watched the flags fluttering outside schools in Tel Aviv and Kiryat Shmona, I thought of something simple: these children are truly the future, and the future is walking boldly into the classroom.
