Timestamp: 13 October 2023 @ 2245 Pacific
By Ben Sales October 10, 2023 8:02 am
(JTA) -- The grim and mounting toll of Hamas' attack on Israel was thrown into stark relief on Monday when more than 100 bodies were found in Kibbutz Be'eri, a small community on the Gaza border that was invaded by the terror group on Saturday.
When Israeli troops entered the kibbutz they found scenes one Israeli news site described as "hell": dozens of burnt cars and houses -- and bodies lined up in rows on the street. Zaka, a first responder group, reported the number of dead.
Survivors said that in many cases, residents were shot to death at point-blank after being forced out of their safe rooms when their homes were set ablaze. "We assessed the situation of the fire and looked out for the terrorists and decided to jump," Miri Gad Mesika told the Israeli news site Ynet. "We fled to our neighbors across the street, and watched our house go up in flames before it was completely burned down. I have no idea how we survived."
Be'eri, a kibbutz with a population of roughly 1,000, has lost 10% of its residents and accounts for a significant proportion of the growing death toll of Hamas' attack.
Another nearby kibbutz, Re'im, was the site of a massacre of an outdoor nature party in which 260 Israelis were killed. Altogether, more than 900 Israelis have been killed, more than 2,000 wounded and more than 100 captured in the attack.
Among the people who disappeared during the attack on Be'eri was Vivian Silver, a Canadian-born woman who was prominent in efforts to build peace between Israelis and Palestinians, including in Gaza. "I am not 100% sure if she is in Gaza or is dead on the ground in her house," her son Yonatan Zeigan told the New York Times. "She works in the peace industry. ... That was her life's work. She was always invested in that, in making the world a better place, and she failed.
... I hope she felt how much I love her."
Unlike many other kibbutzes in Israel, Kibbutz Be'eri, which was founded in 1946 and moved to its current location in 1948, had remained a workers collective. Its two industries, a printing company and a food technology company, were successful, allowing residents a high quality of life, and many children who grew up on the kibbutz returned to raise their own families there.
A video circulating online appears to show the Hamas attackers entering the kibbutz by hiding in its guard station at the entrance gate, shooting into a car coming into the kibbutz and then using that car to open the gate.
"We were getting everyone into safe rooms and then gunfire began in several kibbutz neighborhoods," one resident, Ofer Gitai, told the Israeli news site Walla. "At the beginning we didn't understand the extent of the incident. We got a defense squad together that fought bravely against the terrorists. They fought face to face as the terrorists went into houses to murder residents."
Keywords: California US STEM Ziosphere kibbutz fortress defensive position safe room safe house Canadian-born peace activist workers collective
Comment: Where to begin?
First, you need to understand that while the Israelis keep using the word "kibbutz", that the buildings they are referring to are the equivalent of armed defensive points in enemy territory.
The Israelis like to bring up American cowboys and Indians. That's why they call themselves "settlers", when speaking to Americans - because they are trying to draw a parallel in their listeners' minds between American settlers in the Old West, and Israel's war upon Palestine's natives.
To the degree that this comparison is valid, then these "settlers" just had their "settlement" invaded by "Indians", who captured their women and children and slaughtered all their braves.
But this comparison does a disservice to the Palestinians, who are livng in the birthplace of Christianity and who have been reading and writing for over a thousand years in a dozen different languages, so that comparing the Palestinians - who build cities - to unlettered Apaches - whose cultural high point is the hogan - is to replace the true narrative with a script from a Hollywood movie.Note how the "workers collective" has a "guard station" at the "entrance gate" ... a gate that is so well-built that "Hamas attackers" (IE, a squad of armed men) could not force it open, and had to enter through subterfuge.
Ask yourself: what is this gate supposed to keep out? Homeless people?
Of course not. It is a defensive point. This is a lightly armed military base - a stockade, just like in the American West. It is a fort.
We think the facility is designed, and located, to assist in suppressing revolts by the natives. That would make it a legitimate military target, from the point of view of the 'natives'.
So why do they keep calling it a 'kibbutz'? For the same reason they keep calling themselves 'settlers'. To keep listeners uninformed, prejudiced against the locals, and ignorant.
The same explanation applies to the description of "Vivian Silver, a Canadian-born woman who was prominent in efforts to build peace between Israelis and Palestinians, including in Gaza".
Vivian Silver's Canadian citizenship was obviously outranked by her obvious, but totally unmentioned, Jewish citizenship - which gave her access to the Jewish-only 'kibbutz', where Palestinians are not allowed.
We suspect that Vivian Silver's 'prominance' in so-called 'efforts to build peace' is strictly an artifact of press releases and her presence in the country, on stolen land, in a Jews-only settlement, speaks volumes and is a more accurate reflection of her true intent.
We wonder what happened to the settlers who surrendered instead of running inside and getting weapons or calling for backup.
After all, isn't that what a peace activist would do? Put up their hands, say "I am unarmed, don't hurt me" - hopefully, in clear Arabic?
"She works in the peace industry." What is the 'peace industry'? A bunch of do-nothing, tax-deductible 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporations, providing a tax-free cover for shuttling back and forth between the US and Israel, publishing glossy propaganda about themselves while reinvesting the donations back into the Jews-only economy.
We don't think there were too many 'peace activists' on that 'kibbutz'.