Dear Subscribers,
A few updates:
State of Tel Aviv is publishing a special podcast in the next few hours, focusing on the tragedy that befell two families on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, on the border with the Gaza Strip. For all, the horror continues, one year later.
Below, we have reproduced a note that was published in State of Tel Aviv on October 8, 2023. Accompanying that note is my column in the National Post from October 7, 2023. Honestly, I have no recollection of having written it and am amazed that I did.
State of Tel Aviv is launching a special section, which will appear tomorrow, titled: October 7, 2023. 2024. We will publish new material and update key podcasts and written articles that were published last year, in the aftermath of this dark day in our history. This special project will continue for at least one month. We’ll see how it takes shape, and what transpires here.
Our initial offering in this new section (in addition to the content published today) will be a short podcast based on my experience today at the site of the Nova Festival. Please let us know if there is anything in particular that you would like us to cover or address. We always appreciate your suggestions.
I cannot wait for this day to end. I am also keenly aware that for so many, October 7, 2023, will never end.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Note Below - From State of Tel Aviv, October 8, 2023.
I always turn off my phone at night.
Last night, before lights out, I checked the news, as I always do. A few stray rockets were reported to have been launched by Hamas at Israeli communities on the Gaza border. Sadly, that is not cause for alarm. It is a pretty regular occurrence.
I was awakened, early, and told that Israel was at war. I checked my phone and it practically exploded with unread messages. My daughter is there. Friends. Family. We all know people in the army, we know of people taken hostages, murdered, terrorized. So many messages asking for information about loved ones. The savagery unleashed by Hamas is surreal. It took hours to begin to process the magnitude of this demonic attack on civilians.
The sadistic videos taken of screaming children asking their mother if they were going to be killed. Asking what the Hamas terrorists wanted. I have been on the phone and WhatsApp all day. It is impossible to describe the extreme shock, rage, dismay.
Here is a piece that I dashed off for Canada’s National Post newspaper. This is just the beginning of what I fear will be a long and brutal conflict. I have so much to say but for today am focusing on the barbarism and the victims.
I just learned that among the civilian hostages force marched from their homes into the Gaza Strip is a 90-year-old woman. She is the aunt of the Minister of Defense. God help her and all of these victims. There are babies. Children.
It is beyond horrific.
Tonight my phone will be on.
My column in National Post, October 7, 2023.
Vivian Bercovici: Hamas carnage on Israel is on an unprecedented scale
This is one of the most massive terrorist attacks yet. And we still have no real understanding of what has happened, is happening and may still happen

“I went to sleep last night and woke up in Hell,” one of my many close friends in Israel said Saturday.
The scope and savagery of the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians overnight is incomprehensible, even for the Middle East.
Thousands of young Israelis were at a desert rave. We have no idea how many were murdered, injured, captured. Video of a young woman, screaming, forced onto a motorcycle with Hamas terrorists and begging her boyfriend – being force-marched – to save her. An old woman being forced to hold a machine gun with a masked terrorist beside her and make the victory symbol. Who knows what happened next.
A family terrorized in their home as their young child screams. We don’t see how that ends either. Homes in small towns and agricultural settlements near the border with Gaza were attacked. Mothers, babies, the elderly, children. Everyone has been beaten, murdered, taken captive. People shot at bus stops. On streets. Everywhere. Hamas and, likely, Palestinian Islamic Jihad are firing rockets all over Israel. Incomprehensible chaos.
One day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, thousands of Hamas fighters walked into Israel in the early morning hours and fanned out in an orgy of terror that authorities are scrambling to contain. The surprise is chillingly similar to the attacks by Syria and Egypt on Israel on Oct. 6, 1973, when Israel came perilously close to annihilation.
But those traditional armies were just that. Hamas is like a pack of wild dogs. Worse. They have weapons and target civilians.
Video footage of young women, bloodied and beaten, dead bodies desecrated, while the masked warriors shout “Allahu Akhbar.” God is Great. Sheer horror. Unknown numbers of civilians were forced to walk, barefoot, in the middle of the night, into the Gaza Strip, where they are now held hostage. Large numbers of civilians within Israel are similarly being held captive by Hamas.
The carnage is on an unprecedented scale. The sadism.
Israel was still Saturday night. Civilians were sheltering safely. There has been a massive military call up. And the immediate concern is that hostilities will erupt on the northern front with Hizballah, which would lead to unthinkable consequences.
Social media in Israel is notably inactive. People there understand when to shut up. I spoke to many on Saturday. They have sons and daughters in the army or called up to reserve duty. Husbands. Already, everyone knows someone who is being held hostage, someone who has been murdered. It is a very small country and in times of crisis becomes even smaller.
Cities being pounded with rockets. All over the country.
I have a friend who lives in a border community and has two young children. I was in touch with his mother, who lives in the central part of the country. My friend, his wife and kids are now safe. But they were huddled in their safe room as Hamas terrorists ravaged their home.
Clearly, there are many questions about this massive military and intelligence failure. But for now the focus is on saving as many lives as possible and containing the terrorists who have entered Israel to murder civilians. Rumours are rampant but there will be time to sift through truths, lies and ambiguousness.
The effect on Israeli society will be more devastating than 1973, the Munich massacre and the 1974 Ma’alot massacre combined. Iran is already celebrating.
I have seen videos that would sear the hardest of hearts today.
It was a religious holiday in Israel. And the sabbath.
Forget about Israel’s total humiliation and the indescribable suffering and trauma being inflicted on so many innocents. This is one of the most massive terrorist attacks yet. And we still have no real understanding of what has happened, is happening and may still happen.
People are posting desperate messages looking for word of friends and family who have not responded.
Madness and chaos.