RSS
As Americans, We Cannot Forget the Human Cost of What’s Happening in Israel
A drone photo shows the damage over residential homes and a school at the impact site following a missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Bnei Brak, Israel, June 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Chen Kalifa
As the recent phase of the war broke out between Israel and Iran, former MK Rachel Azaria found herself unable to return to Israel, because the country’s airspace was closed. She eventually ended up leaving for Cyprus with the hope to catch a flight or a boat back to Israel. Over Shabbat, I had the opportunity to host Rachel Azaria in my home.
Azaria now serves as CEO of HaOgen, an NGO that supports Israel’s reservists and their families — providing psychological aid and physical assistance. These crucial services are an important part of the war effort.
As we sat at the table and began discussing the unfolding events in Israel and the broader region, I found myself listing off the many positives: the military’s initial operational successes, setting back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and the geopolitical recalibration that could favor the Jewish State for the first time in decades.
But as I spoke, I noticed a different expression on Rachel’s face — a weight in her eyes that told a more complicated story. I asked her what was wrong. Her response stopped me in my tracks.
“You don’t understand the pain,” she said. “Yes, we’re winning the war. But the cost is very, very high.”
That sentence lingered with me all Shabbat, and hasn’t left me since. Because it’s true. This moment isn’t just a military or diplomatic turning point. It’s also a human one. And it’s being lived in parallel, through two very different experiences.
There’s the macro story — the geopolitical screen. But there’s also the micro story — the human screen. And on this side, the toll is staggering.
Adults and children in Israel are living with the daily trauma of sirens, rocket attacks, and funerals. Marriages are under strain as reservists who come home are struggling to adapt and then readapt to civilian life. Families are economically battered, emotionally drained, and often psychologically scarred. The psychological trauma is real, not just among soldiers, but among civilians, mothers, and children.
This is a crisis that will take at least a generation to unwind. This quieter crisis is too often underreported or overlooked, especially by those of us watching from afar. As individuals and communities think about how to support Israel, this is a piece of the equation that needs attention as well
This is the split-screen reality of the war.
For those of us living in the Diaspora, especially here in America, it’s easy to focus on the big picture. Faced with rising antisemitism, media bias, and political hostility on our own streets, we look to Israel and find comfort in her strength. In many ways, we need her victories in order to feel strong ourselves — but we’re not the ones paying the direct cost.
Rachel’s voice, however, reminded me that someone is.
This is concurrently a tale of triumph and a tale of sacrifice. A tale of two screens — and we must direct help and resources to the micro human screen as well as the geopolitical one. We need to hold both realities in our minds — the great pride and hope for what Israel can accomplish, and the sober recognition of what it is costing.
Daniel Rosen is the Co-founder of a new initiative called Emissary4all which is an app to organize people on social media by ideology not geography. He is the Co-host of the podcast called “Recalibration.” You can reach him at drosen@emissary4all.org
The post As Americans, We Cannot Forget the Human Cost of What’s Happening in Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.