A PERSONAL PUBLIC SERVICE POST
When I started First Rough Draft of History substack I thought it would, like the FRDH podcast, provide the historical context to help explain news events. Too many of the conflicts I have covered over the years continue to simmer and occasionally erupt, as has happened the last week since the Hamas terror assault on Israel. But this morning an old friend and colleague sent me this and asked me to get the word out. So I am breaking the format and sharing it directly with you. Think of it as a public service announcement for humanity
Just a small bit of context to add here:
Most of the kibbutzes where the massacres took place a week ago were set up by people often disparagingly called by right-wing Israelis and their supporters in the Jewish diaspora “peaceniks.” They moved to southern Israel at the edge of the Negev to make the desert bloom decades ago. Many, not just the Lifshitz’s, worked towards peace.
This would have been known to Hamas as they planned their attack.
But terror is indiscriminate and hatred is indiscriminate.
Hamas terrorists hate Jews, they really don’t recognize a distinction between Israelis, Zionists and Jews.
As I write this short post the anticipated Israeli ground invasion has yet to get underway. I hope the reason is because there are negotiations under way to get the Lifshitz’s and all the other hostages released, and also because I hope some involved in planning the assault on Gaza remember:
Terror is indiscriminate. Hatred is indiscriminate.
Update: A few hours after I posted this, Oded Lifshitz’s grandson, Daniel, got in touch. He updated me on the situation - there is basically nothing new to report but he added:
I think my grandfather would say about the situation, It is a chance to make something better in the Middle East.
He is someone who says of the Palestinians, they suffer like we suffer and we can work together to build peace.
He would be angry with me for saying his name and not saying the names of Palestinian children who have died.