SWAMPSCOTT — A career journalist at heart, Steven Rosenberg traveled to a post-Oct. 7 Israel and stayed there for two weeks, eager to create the kind of story he wasn’t getting about the war between Israel and Hamas: how the people have responded.
The answer is complex. A social contract between the public and government was shattered when Hamas terrorists killed, sexually assaulted, kidnapped, and shattered thousands of civilians and festival-goers along Israel’s borders with Gaza. A war is now unfolding as the popularity of the country’s leaders plummets in the polls at home.
“There’s a social contract in the country … that calls for the government and Army to protect their citizens, and it also calls for the government and, if necessary, the Army to return its citizens from danger,” Rosenberg said. “That social contract was broken on Oct. 7, and remains broken for millions of Israelis. There’s a deep distrust in the government. After Oct. 7, polls have consistently indicated that the prime minister has about 20% support. Eighty percent either want him to resign or quit when the war ends.”
Moments later, he pointed to a necklace around his neck with a rectangular piece of metal engraved with a message in English and Hebrew: “Bring them home now.”
“The first day I was in Israel, I met with Brothers and Sisters in Arms, and the fellow who leads the organization … took this off his neck and gave it to me,” Rosenberg said, holding the metallic piece up. “Across Israel, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are wearing this in solidarity and unity for the hostages in Gaza.”
The editor and publisher of the Jewish Journal, Rosenberg spoke Thursday to 150-200 people at the Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott.
The war between Israel and Hamas, a militant organization headquartered in Palestine, has so far raged for exactly four months and one day since more than 1,100 Israelis were killed, and hundreds were taken hostage into Gaza, by Hamas forces in a sweeping, long-planned attack that caught the country by surprise.
“I went because I was very interested in learning how Israel was coping with an unprecedented, horrific situation,” he said. “Imagine waking up on Oct. 7 and learning of the atrocities that were happening to your fellow country-men, and then finding out that 1,200 people were murdered, and more than 250 taken, kidnapped into Gaza.”
Rosenberg saw signs of the barbarism, visiting sites that have transformed into memorials for the lost since the attacks on Oct. 7. While video of the attacks echoed around the world, Israelis lived through an aftermath that got much less attention.
“A modern society doesn’t have to grapple with this kind of trauma, and certainly, it was unprecedented,” Rosenberg said. “I wasn’t seeing the kind of stories I was interested in. I was interested in how Israelis were dealing with this. What was the psychological impact? What was the overall impact? How are they coping, and how are the 200,000 people who lost their homes because they had to be relocated… how are they dealing with it? You don’t hear about that.
“They’re living in hotels, in cities such as Eilat, and they’re also in communities such as the Dead Sea, where there’s a section of hotels,” Rosenberg continued. “The main thing I came away with from it is the unity and resilience of a country, of a people, who in the middle of trying to understand such a horrific, barbaric attack, have rallied together in such unity, in such a remarkable manifestation of brotherhood. Everywhere you go, people are volunteering. People are driving each other to appointments, arranging medical care, clothing, meals, you name it. If someone needs it, there’s a volunteer who will provide it.”
Rosenberg also repeatedly said it’s safe to visit Israel, and at one point named the Jewish National Fund as an organization that can help specifically non-Hebrew-speaking Jews stand with and volunteer to help in Israel.
What happens next for Israel, however, remains unknown.
“There’s a call for elections. There’s a call for resignation,” Rosenberg said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.