Martin's Musings

Three years.

It’s been three years since October 7, 2023, the day when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on a Shabbat morning and a Jewish holiday. Three years since at least 1,200 innocent people were brutally murdered and more than 3,400 were injured in their homes, at a music festival, on the roads, and in places where they thought they would be safe. Three years since 251 hostages were dragged into Gaza.

Three years since the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Three years later, thankfully, all the hostages are now home again — though, sadly, not all of them made it back alive. The weekly Run for Their Lives vigils have ended.

But a rise in antisemitism around the world and hateful incidents pretty much daily have prevented many of us from fully processing or grieving for what happened that day. And we weren’t even there.

Suffice it to say, for many people, October 7 remains an open wound that still hasn’t healed.

Three years later, and in many ways, it still feels like yesterday.

That’s why I held off on watching episodes 7 and 8 of Fauda season 5.

I knew what they were about. I knew they depicted October 7. I knew they would show the massacre and the horror of that day. And after everything I’ve already watched, read, heard, and seen about October 7 over the past three years, including during my trip to Israel in June 2024, part of me wondered whether I really needed to see this dramatization of it.

I’d already watched the season’s first six episodes, but then I paused. This past weekend, I finally watched episodes 7 and 8. I’m glad I did.

In fact, I think everyone should watch them.