As I write this, we are now in a period of ceasefire – both on the Lebanon front and with Iran. However, that does not mean that the effects of this war and the conflict of the past two and a half years are not still being felt by all Israelis.
According to the official data, 23 people lost their lives during the missile strikes, and hundreds more were wounded or injured. People lost their homes after direct or partial hits to their residences, and the psychological effects, particularly among children, will no doubt be felt for a long time to come.
In this edition of The Jerusalem Report, published just over a week after the ceasefire was declared with Lebanon and a few weeks after the fighting with Iran subsided, we look at the challenges faced by Israelis and at their resilience in the face of nonstop war.
For the cover story, I explored the phenomenon of partners and parents of fallen soldiers increasingly requesting posthumous sperm removal in order to bring a child into the world.
I spoke with Hadas Levy, the first woman in Israel to mother the child of a partner killed in the Gaza war after his sperm was extracted postmortem. Her story of refusing to allow tragedy engulf her life and finding a way out of her grieving by bringing new life is extremely inspiring.
Feature writer Batsheva Shulman talks to new immigrants who arrived in Israel during the war, fulfilling a lifelong dream despite the fear.
The Report’s staff writer Chani Kaplan highlights the country’s emergency services that went into action after hundreds of people lost their homes in missile strikes.
Gila Tolub, co-founder and executive director of ICAR Collective, Israel’s Collective Action for Resilience, explores the technology being developed to address mental health issues as a result of the never-ending conflicts.
Feature writer Tania Michaelian talks to a family living on Israel’s northern border about their decision to stay put despite the dangers. And longtime Jerusalem Post culture reporter Hannah Brown writes about the challenges of war for people with disabilities, including her own son.
Rina Edelstein, VP of advancement at children’s charity, Orr Shalom, outlines the added difficulties faced by children at risk during wartime, and feature writer Dana Ben-Shimon talks to Arab citizens of Israel about their dual challenge of rising violent crime and the lack of bomb shelters in their neighborhoods.
Looking at the wider region, Middle East scholar, Dalia Ziada, examines why Arab countries that were also under attack from Iran kept their diplomatic channels with Tehran open; the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs’ Maurice Hirsch outlines Lebanon’s Hezbollah problem; and Shaul Bartal, from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, offers one possibility that could restore calm along Israel’s northern border.
On Iran, Jonathan Harounoff, author of Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomanLifeFreedom Revolt, examines the inspiring strength of Iranian women. Meanwhile retired British army officer Andrew Fox writes about how Tehran has taken advantage of anti-Israeli sentiment worldwide to peddle its propaganda, and former Knesset member Ruth Wasserman Lande argues that President Donald Trump’s strategy on Iran is no whim.
Wrapping up the edition, regular security contributor Eric R. Mandel explains why he thinks Israelis stay so resilient in spite of it all.
I hope you will feel as inspired as me by some of these stories but also understand that resilience isn’t always what it seems; underneath, there are those, especially the vulnerable, who are suffering even more.
– Ruth Marks Eglash