Can Ran Gvili bring Israel back to October 6, 2023?

Finally, 843 days later, it is October 6, 2023 again.

“The First to Go Out to Battle, the Last to Return,” has been the rallying cry of the bereaved family of Staff-Sergeant Ran Gvili that waited the longest of all of Israel for their loved one to return from Gaza. As his Israeli flag-draped coffin was carried out by soldiers toward its eternal rest in his hometown of Meitar in Southern Israel this afternoon, it felt like someone was rewinding a cassette tape of history. But is this “back to the future” moment for Israel a hopeful one, where the nation can finally return to the night before its greatest tragedy?

While there are no remaining hostages, dead or alive, in Gaza for the first time since 2014, Israel can never truly go back to the October 6 status quo ante. That day, and the 843 days since, have inflicted too much death, injury, trauma, and pain upon a nation to return to the innocent eve of Simchat Torah 2023. Like the Shoah, it will be at least a generation before the wounds of state and society can begin to heal. Further, the aftermath of October 7 has shaken the core foundations of Jewish safety both at home and abroad. With the dramatic spike of antisemitism worldwide, there is no going back to being October 6 Jews anywhere on the globe.

While one chapter may have concluded — or as the Israeli expression we have heard all too often these past 2.5 years “the circle has closed” — it seems more likely, with apologies to Winston Churchill, that “now this is not the end — it is not even the beginning of the end — but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The reckoning of the return of Ran Gvili has begun — the end of the beginning is the inevitable next October 7 that Israel will experience in the future.

Unfortunately, as we weep tears of joy and sorrow, today is the day where the harsh realities of January 26, 2026, meet the tragic events of October 7, 2023. Now, 843 days later, at the extremely high cost of life and limb, both Israeli and Palestinian, neither the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli political or intelligence establishment, or even the international community have succeeded in defeating, disarming, and disbanding Hamas. The move to Phase II of the Trump “peace plan” — now four months into what was supposed to be a three-day window for all the hostages to be returned, dead or alive — is a less than promising proposal for Hamas’s complete and final destruction. The imminent re-opening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, long a conduit of Hamas (re)armament will only strengthen the terror organization, which has used the past few months of tactical delay in returning the hostages to strengthen its position and crack-down on dissent within the Palestinian population.

Now that Ran Gvili is home, the terrible truth that Israel must confront is that it lost the war — and is now losing the “peace.” What has been left standing is a powerful, battle-hardened, and reconstituted Hamas that has vowed to commit another heinous massacre at its first opportunity — “see you at the next October 7 soon.”

The sigh of relief that Ran Gvili is home may also be another excuse for the Netanyahu-led coalition to continue to take the wind out of the sails of a rigorous and impartial inquiry into the comprehensive political, military, and intelligence failure on October 7, and in the 843 days since, when deadly mistakes have been made on a daily basis. Whether on the streets or at the ballot box, the Israeli public must hold decision-makers accountable for their actions (and in-actions) — not only for the sacrifices made in 2023, but to prevent the slaughter of countless more in the future. There must be a change in the ‘concepcia’; while Hamas will surely attempt another massive incursion, Israel must learn the lessons of 2023 to harden the target for the next time. Going back to October 6 is an opportunity to right some profound institutional wrongs before the next October 7.

Today is also the day that the people of Israel must choose life over death, hope over grief, and unity over division. Perhaps the last remnant of October 7 holding the populace together was Ran Gvili, the humane and ecumenical cause that could bring together Israelis from all walks of life. As we snip the threads of our yellow ribbons tonight, will the solidarity of the past 2.5 years fray as well? Going back to October 6 means returning to the days of discord over the judicial reform, the dissention over the Haredi draft, tensions between Israel and the Diaspora, and many more issues that have remained only very lightly buried (if at all) while the public has waited for Ran to come home. Unless Israel deliberately chooses consensus and cooperation, it will only exhume the conflicts of 2023, now fully exposed to elements of political and ideological clashes unrestrained by the necessary decorum of “Bring Them All Home.” Ran may find eternal rest, but the people of Israel will be fighting each other once again, perhaps even long after the Israel-Gaza war has ended.

Welcome back to October 6, 2023 — the eve of history — Israel can’t ever truly go back in time, but the people can choose how they go forward as Ran Gvili finally comes home.