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Hamas Horrors – May Israel Never Stand Alone
“My initial thoughts were to say nothing but a couple of sentences as an introduction.. I thought I could avoid talking about the children that were shot in their beds at 6.30 am on 7th October, when six thousand ‘innocent’ Hamas civilians stormed our villages..”
These were the first words of a gut-wrenching speech given by Amb. Michael Lotem, Israel’s Ambassador to Kenya, on the evening of Monday, 7th October 2024. Ambassador Lotem was speaking during the one-year commemoration of the horrific Hamas attack, at an event held at the Israeli Embassy in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi. In attendance were several members of the diplomatic community, corporate and religious leaders, and numerous other guests from far and wide. Also present were officials from a Kenyan university that recently launched a center for Jewish and Judaic studies at its Nairobi-based campus.
I had received my soft-copy invitation a week earlier, along with strict instructions to print and bring it with me together with my photo ID. So when the day arrived, I carefully did as instructed, arriving anxiously at the embassy’s gates forty-five minutes early. I was soon ushered into the clearance room, where Israeli security personnel politely but thoroughly scrutinized my ID and screened my possessions. But as I left the heavily guarded room, donned the proffered yellow ribbon, and joined my fellow guests, nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see.
First on the program was an audio-visual presentation of the events of the Oct 7th attack. Relayed on several video monitors across the exhibition grounds, each presentation provided an eyewitness account of the vicious atrocities committed during the Hamas attack.
“I thought not to mention the women who were raped, their chests cut and their bellies opened,” Amb. Lotem continued in his speech later that evening. “I thought I don’t need to tell you about the father and son who were tied together and burned alive or about the video recording I saw, taken by Hamas, of the decapitation of a soldier…”
Scenes like these flashed through several photo and video presentations that evening. “The Story of Linoy Elezra” showed a little boy named Michael and his 6-year-old sister who witnessed the brutal murder of their parents at Kfar Aza. Dialing the emergency hotline, Michael, age 9, was able to reach Linoy Elezra, who guided the two terrified children to a shelter where they hid quietly for 14 hours until help arrived. “The Last Recording” recounted the story of a group of young men and women who fled the Nova Music Festival and hid in a roadside shelter, only to be discovered and either killed or abducted by the marauding terrorists. One brave young lady recorded the harrowing incident on her phone but was murdered while still in the shelter.
The dumbfounded guests, myself included, listened quietly, horror-stricken.
“… I assumed you already saw a lot in the presentation..,” Ambassador Lotem continued. “But the truth is that you saw so little…”
Ambassador Lotem was right. We saw so little in the images and videos shown to us that evening. But the horror of what we did see cut right to the heart.
Many of us were deeply troubled and questioned why the state of Israel appeared to be prosecuting this terrible atrocity alone. Why was the majority of the global community either resolutely silent or vehemently opposed to what obviously needed to be done so that such horrors would never again be witnessed? It boggled the mind. And when Deputy Ambassador Ariel Arviv requested a moment of silence, we solemnly obliged, paying heartfelt tribute to those who suffered so horrendously at the hands of the terrorists.
We didn’t know it then, but less than 10 days later, the brutal terrorist mastermind Yahya Sinwar would be eliminated by Israeli troops while sheltering alone in a shattered building in Gaza. Neither did we imagine that in three months, we would have occasion to celebrate, with joy, the release of former hostages Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, the first to be set free under a cautiously negotiated ceasefire agreement. Nor could we tell that the release of four young female soldiers – Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – would also be secured, as we witnessed just a few days ago, with several more hostages expected to be set free in the coming weeks. Perhaps the mood would have been somewhat more optimistic, had we been aware of this most welcome prospect.
As the event drew to a close that evening, I found my way to the spot where Ambassador Lotem stood chatting with a small circle of guests. I had met him previously when I accompanied a small group of leaders to a consultative meeting with him in the embassy’s boardroom. A winning, friendly personality, the Ambassador bore the engaging wit and easy humor befitting a seasoned diplomat. But, of course, I could not assume he would recall the meeting. So, reintroducing myself, I asked if he would be so kind as to have his staff send me a copy of his speech.
“Of course,” he responded courteously. But, seemingly thinking twice, he reached into his coat pocket, retrieved a printed copy of the speech and graciously handed it to me. Surprised but honored, I asked if he would sign it. He did.
“Thank you for the support to Israel,” he wrote, penning the date and appending his name. Excusing myself after briefly exchanged pleasantries, I took a few minutes to peruse the speech before placing it carefully in my folder.
“Last week, in an interview,” read the Ambassador’s final paragraph, “I was asked if I agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statement that even if we have to stand alone, we will stand alone,” the Ambassador’s speech stated, referring to the puzzling global reaction to the nation’s plight. “And yes,” he concluded, “we will stand alone, if we have to stand alone.”
We sincerely hoped that this would never be necessary.
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