Just before I celebrated my 10th birthday – 50 years ago – the Yom Kippur War (1973) broke out. I remember the mood in the first days: How on the afternoon of Yom Kippur people were urgently called up to the army, the sirens blared all over the country, and how I helped my mother seal all the windows (blackouts) according to the authorities’ instructions. How my father suddenly disappeared. How everyone walked around with a radio on their ear, shocked and in pain. Due to my young age, these are mainly fragmented memories. After all, these things happened far away on the borders outside Israel, and I felt safe at home.

And then came October 7, 2023. Adults who lived through both wars describe recurring traumas—but with greater intensity. This time it affected civilians, not just soldiers. This time it was civilians—including children—who were ripped from their beds. Civilians murdered in their homes—the place that should be our safest place. Civilians of all ages abducted into enemy territory.

The shock that gripped me and so many others in the days that...

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