Dispatch from Chamonix, Sderot, Geneva, Toronto: About Everything

Today is Sunday but, alas, it shall be a Sunday without Ya’akov Katz.

I am in Europe for a week…..holed up in a perfect little village in the French Alps. Beyond beautiful. Quiet. Weather is irrelevant but surprisingly good. The plan was to decompress. Breathe fresh mountain air. Restore.

Alas, all of that has proven to be more elusive than I would have thought. It is simply impossible to tune out the conflagration overtaking Israel. There is the full-blown military disaster in the north, south and everywhere in between. The constantly mounting international pressure to isolate and demonize Israel is taking a toll. Economically. Psychologically. And literally, as in Gaza and the north.

And we all see the continuing surge of antisemitism roiling the west. Just last week, on Tuesday, June 9, I was horrified – but not surprised – to see pro Hamas thugs roving in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in the north end of Toronto. Not just my hometown. I lived in that area until I was ten. It is deadly dull but fit the post-war ideal of the suburban idyll to a “T”.

Purpose built for young families in the 1950s, the neighborhood especially appealed to Jewish newcomers to Canada. In fact, in its early years, Bathurst Manor – known fondly as “the Manor” to locals – was home to a population in which Yiddish was the mother tongue of the majority of adults. It was a place where survivors congregated and felt safe. Canadian-born Jews and, over time – a more diverse demographic – flocked to the area.

Last Tuesday, in broad daylight, dozens of masked, pro-Hamas thugs descended on the Manor, menacingly. They taunted residents with antisemitic and anti-Israel slurs and threats. There were clumps of police officers, on bicycles. Just another rage-filled attack on people going about their lives. Jewish people.

Two days before, the annual Walk for Israel had ended at the JCC, which abuts the Manor. Many see the walk as a success, having attracted 50,000 participants. That is amazing. And many of those who turned up were not Jewish. Canadians showing solidarity with their beleaguered compatriots. Along the route – which was a shortened march up Bathurst Street – the police presence was heavier than anything, possibly ever, in Toronto. Unprecedented. They were there to prevent the pro Hamas “peaceful protesters” from disrupting a family day. For the most part the separation was successful. A wall of police, several deep, was necessary.

Bathurst Street – as anyone who has ever been to Toronto is aware – is the spine of the community of approximately 225,000, give or take. Yes. It’s that big. Canada, many people do not realize, is home to the fourth largest Jewish community in the world. After Israel, the U.S. and France.

For decades the Walk for Israel has taken a lovely, meandering route through the city. This year, the Jews had to be penned in. “For their own safety.”

At the end of the day there were bouncy castles and family fun. Behind the JCC – where this little carnival was set up -  is a ravine (another Toronto thing, ravines) where my older brother used to take me when I was little to collect tadpoles in the swamp. We’d put them in jars and take them home. Once there we transferred them to a larger plastic tub and tried to recreate a swamp. My brother taught me about evolution. He was strict about returning the tadpoles to their natural habitat once the bulges that would become their hind legs began to form. He wanted to be sure that these new frogs adapted well.

Those ravine outings were so important in my life. I learned about nature and biology but, more importantly, about patience and change. Every day we would examine the creatures to monitor them. The tadpole transformation into a frog has fascinated me ever since. And it is also a metaphor for how quickly everything can change. So quickly.

The Hamas supporters were apprehended in my ravine by police officers and prevented from continuing on to disrupt the family day. Sneaking through the ravine to scare children and families. For real. I figure that it was on that day - Sunday June 7 - that the Hamas crew discovered the Manor and made plans to return. And so, they did.

I expect that similar incidents are playing out all over Europe and in North America. But I am also aware that the situation in Toronto is one of the worst, anywhere. And, no wonder. No leader of government – federal, provincial, or municipal – has said a word about the incidents. They did not show up for the Walk for Israel. And not a single major television media outlet covered the Walk. Talk about erasing a community. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a simple, vainglorious man, has been silent.

Each community in North America seems to be focused on its challenges and there is less cohesion and co-ordination than one might expect. People feel isolated, adrift, lost and vulnerable. For good reason.

Meanwhile, in Israel, 11 soldiers fell in Gaza in recent days. Eight were killed in a single event when an armored vehicle in which they were traveling exploded. These numbers are not sustainable for Israel. Yet, in the midst of this horror the government of PM Benjamin Netanyahu passed legislation extending the exemption from military service to all ultra-orthodox men.  Yes, he’s playing to his base. But the hourglass is empty. The Israelis who serve will no longer accept this outrage. Would you?

The north of the country is a literal inferno. The risks of escalating the conflict with Lebanon are huge. Approximately 200,000 Israelis are still living in temporary lodgings, dispersed throughout the country. They have no idea when it will be safe to return to their homes, if ever. They have lost everything since October 7^th.

Just before flying to Geneva last week I was at a lovely Shavuot holiday dinner at the home of friends on a kibbutz near Sderot in the south. They, too, were displaced but were permitted to return home several months ago. Among the guests was a psychologist who works in the regional high school which was attended by virtually all the teens in the area attacked on October 7^th. I asked him what the atmosphere was like in the school.

Horrible, he said. The students and teachers have begun to drift back but most remain in limbo. Many students and staff were murdered. Some teachers are still held hostage by Hamas. These people have lived through the most extreme trauma and have such flimsy and inadequate supports in place. He will probably leave his job soon, he said. He is woefully under-resourced, humiliatingly under-paid and unsure that he can manage life in this boiling pot much longer.

The following evening, on the flight to Switzerland, I sat beside an executive who was traveling to attend a food tech conference near Lausanne. Lucky she is still welcome. For now.

(A major global exhibition for defense contractors, held annually in Paris, is officially free of Israeli entities or any representative of such entities, whether Jewish or not.  A decision rendered by the government was, remarkably, affirmed and expanded upon in recent days by a French court. Below, the extraordinary document, published yesterday was, presumably, sent to Israeli companies that had planned to participate in this event. And it was sent on the Jewish sabbath, no less.)

My seat-mate, married with three young pre-army age children, will likely leave Israel soon, she told me. Her husband, an IDF combat veteran, has lost confidence in the institutions of the country. Her nephew, all of 21, was recently discharged from his mandatory army service after spending months in Gaza. He is a mess, she said. Encouraged by an IDF campaign to step forward and request mental health support, he was rebuffed and told to return. Later. “We have to take care of the guys who are wetting their beds first. You seem ok.”

There’s more, but I’ll spare you.

Nobody takes any pleasure in these developments or in the ongoing suffering of the civilian population in Gaza. But we all know that “it’s complicated.”

Now – a look ahead.

In the coming days I will get into the military and political challenges plaguing Israel. We are planning to put out a podcast tomorrow, Monday, with our regular pundit, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus. On Wednesday we will serve up your weekly dose of Ya’akov. With him I intend to get into the domestic politics.

And on Friday or Saturday there will be a special podcast reporting on my attendance this coming Wednesday at the opening session of the summer plenary of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. I will be in the chamber, along with the Israeli Ambassador and a hostage family member who will address the assembled representatives. If I think of entering that chamber my blood boils. How the mother of a female hostage can summon the fortitude to do so is heroic.

So – I’ll make it up to you this week. I also had a long essay done, the bow tied – one week ago – and then the hostage rescue changed the world. What I had written about was suddenly less relevant. The pace of developments is head-spinning.

In closing, I should tell you that I did attempt today to do an interview with Mr. Conricus online. We both showed a full signal but the connection did not reflect that. And so, I receive that as a sign from the universe that I should relax, rest and truly restore, somewhat. And I submit.

So, until tomorrow, or Tuesday, au revoir from a rustic chalet at the end of the road in Chamonix.