We don't feel like celebrating, but they haven't won - opinion

• Published date: 19 April 2024
• Author: ANDREA SAMUELS
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Right now, however, many of us don't feel like celebrating – and that's OK

When the impressive Israeli Air Force, along with our allies, neutralized 99% of the all-out missile and drone attack launched against us by the blood-thirsty Islamic Republic Guard Corps (IRGC), we didn't let the victory go to our heads.

We didn't go out onto the streets whooping with joy, toting machine guns, and handing out sweets, as our enemies would have done. Instead, we afforded ourselves a wry smile and maybe took to social media to express our pride in the Air Force and relief that, aside from one young girl who, very sadly, was hit by shrapnel, no one was injured – before quietly and confidently carrying on with our lives.

Unable to forget the tragedy of October 7

How can we celebrate when the death and destruction of October 7 are still so fresh in our minds? How can we celebrate when we're still embroiled in a bloody war that has already seen hundreds of soldiers lose their lives and thousands more suffer life-changing injuries?

How can we celebrate when the North of the country is still coming under heavy rocket barrages on a daily basis and over 100,000 people have lost their homes and are now living as refugees in their own country?

How can we celebrate when over 130 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, some of whom have, reportedly, been murdered there?

These are just some of the questions with which I've been wrestling since October 7, whenever something that normally would have sent me to the nearest pub for a few festive drinks, now leaves me cold.

ANOTHER SPECIFIC issue that has been plaguing me of late is Passover. How can we celebrate the festival of freedom, now, when so many of our brothers and sisters are being held in captivity? How can we carry on as normal in the face of this tragedy?

Would it be best simply to abandon Passover altogether this year, as some have indicated they will?

While we may not choose to "celebrate" Passover, we must honor and observe it, perhaps in a way that marks it out from other years, by, for example, leaving an empty chair at the Seder table and saying a Passover prayer for the release of the hostages as...