Our plan had been to post today the second half of yesterday’s presentation on Zionist history and how October 7th represented a breach of Zionism’s promise to the Jewish people. We’re delaying that until tomorrow, in order to be able to share with you today two items that have taken Israeli social media by storm.
The video above, a message from Iris Haim to the soldiers in the unit who accidentally shot her son as he was desperately trying to escape Hamas captivity, has riveted Israeli hearts and minds since it went viral on Instagram.
Her heart is so embracing that not much more needs to be said.
Below is a video clip, now chilling, from when she appeared on Israeli television news, when her son was still alive.
An extraordinary “will” from a young soldier to his family, which they discovered only when they received his belongings after he died in battle, is also touching the hearts of Israelis deeply.
Below is the Hebrew text as it has been shared on Israeli Hebrew social media, followed by our translation:
Translated text:
The will of the medic who fell in Gaza: “I had the opportunity to give of myself.”
The family of Sergeant Shay Arvas, z’’l, who served as a combat medic in the Givati Tzabar Battalion and who fell in October in the armored personnel carrier incident in the northern Gaza Strip, received his personal belongings this week, including a “will” he wrote on his phone two weeks before his death. "Just in case...", is how his last letter opens, the last letter he left, detailing his love for the country, his belief in the cause and his request to his family to continue their lives and be happy.
To my beloved Adar, my dear mother, the best father in the world and all my brothers, Chen and Tami Ray and Amiri, Or and Niv, Ran and Moriah, Emily and Ari and Tal and Stav and the immediate family. I want you to know how much I miss you and I love you, and the truth is that I was happy to do what I do to save people and protect the country because it's something I always wanted. Something that has always been a part of me since I was little and now I had the opportunity to do it and give of myself to the country as well. So you know that all this was not for nothing and was worth it. All the people of Israel will continue this tradition, and love the country because people didn't just die here for nothing, and there are people who have to protect it.
I know it will be difficult, but I want you to continue as you are. Go on in life, give as much as you can, be a united family. Adar, my love, keep going. It will be hard, but I really want you to be as happy as you are now and keeping moving forward.
And all my close friends, I love you and appreciate you for all life we lived together and the experiences we've had together. It was fun, I enjoyed it a lot, and I had a happy life. Grandpa, I know you always believed in me and were very proud of me for becoming a combat fighter, so be proud, even now, because I didn’t die for nothing."
In the midst of these dark and painful times, in which it remains unclear that Israel can achieve the goals it has set for itself in this war, the humanity and devotion of many Israelis — to each other, to their soldiers and to their nation — is in large measure what buoys the country.
Our challenge, in the years to come, will be to fashion a society worthy of the extraordinary sacrifice these young (and not so young) women and men have made.
If you’re just joining us, Israel from the Inside typically posts a written column on Mondays and a podcast on Wednesdays. That is obviously irrelevant for the time being.
We’ve delayed all the podcasts that were ready to go, because the people whose stories they tell deserve to tell them when we all have the bandwidth to hear. Hopefully, that will return some day.
For the next three weeks, beginning Sunday, December 17th, we will be posting a bit less, as people in the United States will be on vacation, traveling and the like, and here in Israel, as some reservists are being rotated out of units, those of us who could not leave while our kids were/are at the front, will be using the time to visit kids abroad.
Extraordinary humanity in the darkest of times