As a young boy, Danny Rahamim had a dream.
asserted
Rahamim → have → dream
To live in a place where money didn’t matter and community was everything.
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community → live → place
In his teenage years, he discovered through books that such places existed in Israel: the agrarian kibbutz communities where utopian socialist ideas were put into practice.
asserted
ideas → discover → practice
They also served as a human buffer, entrenching the new state’s boundaries.
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They → serve → boundaries
While serving as a young army officer on the Gaza border in 1975, Rahamim came across a kibbutz called Nahal Oz and knew he had found his home.
“I thought, this is exactly what I’m looking for,” he says, as birds chirp in the trees surrounding us.
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birds → serve → us
“There is something special here that magnetises people.”
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that → be → people
From its founding in 1951, the kibbutz faced ambushes from across the Gaza border, just 750 metres away.
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kibbutz → face → border
But Rahamim would regularly cross into Gaza to buy jewellery, eat hummus and catch up with Palestinian friends, including some who attended his wedding.
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who → cross → wedding
However, the eruption of violence in the late 1980s known as the First Intifada, the emergence of the Islamist group Hamas and the construction of a barbed wire fence largely severed the two sides of the border from each other.
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eruption → know → other
Still, Rahamim remained a committed peace activist, even after a 2014 mortar shell fired by Hamas killed a four-year-old boy from the kibbutz.
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shell → remain → kibbutz
Then came October 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists stormed over the border and killed some 1200 people, taking another 251 hostage.
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terrorists → come → hostage
Rahamim, 71, and his wife, Siobhan, spent a whole day trapped in their home as the terrorists roamed around the kibbutz, shooting dead anyone they could find.
uncertain
they → spend → anyone
As the hours crawled by, there was no sign of the supposedly mighty Israeli army.
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hours → crawl → army
Fifteen members of the kibbutz were killed and eight taken hostage into Gaza.
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eight → kill → Gaza
The toll would have been higher had Noam Tibon, a retired army major general, not raced down the highway from his home in Tel Aviv, armed only with a pistol, to save his son Amir, his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren who lived in Nahal Oz.
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who → retire → Oz
Tibon joined with an elite commando unit and took control of the kibbutz after engaging in close-quarters combat with the Hamas militants.
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Tibon → join → militants
“He saved many lives; he was brave,” Rahamim says of Tibon’s daring rescue.
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Rahamim → save → rescue
Three years later, Tibon has embarked on a new mission: winning a seat in the Israeli parliament and driving Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, from power.
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Tibon → embark → power
‘Jump into the mud’
Tibon, who was happily retired and had no political ambitions on October 7, is running as a candidate for the Together party led by two former prime ministers, the centrist Yair Lapid and right-wing Naftali Bennett, in Tuesday’s elections.
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who → jump → elections
“October 7 changed Israel forever; it will not be the same country,” Tibon says.
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Tibon → change → Israel
“The country is controlled by Netanyahu, who is taking us to hell, and we need to get Israel on track again.
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we → control → track
I realised I can’t sit on the fence any more; I have to jump into the mud.”
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I → realise → mud
Tibon is one of at least nine Israelis running for election who were drawn into politics by a personal involvement with October 7.
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who → run → October
Another is Shira Shapira, whose son Aner emerged from the deadliest day in Israel’s history as a national hero.
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son → emerge → hero
The 22-year-old hip-hop fan was attending the Nova music festival with friends when it came under attack.
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it → attend → attack
While hiding in a roadside shelter with other festival-goers, Aner, a member of the Israeli military’s elite Nahal brigade, realised the terrorists were likely to throw grenades inside the shelter.
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terrorists → hide → shelter
He managed to catch and throw back at least 10 grenades to protect the others huddling inside, even after a rocket blast severed one of his hands.
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blast → manage → hands
The final grenade he caught killed him.
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he → catch → him
“On October 7, our whole world collapsed and we had to build it again,” his mother says at a cafe near her home in Jerusalem.
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mother → collapse → Jerusalem
As we talk, her phone keeps pinging with messages, lighting up a wallpaper image of Aner.
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phone → talk → Aner
In her grief, Shapira emanates pride.
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Shapira → emanate → pride
Something essential was revealed about her son that day, she says.
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she → reveal → son
“I think it’s shallow to say he was brave.
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he → think → ?
His whole life led to this moment.
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life → lead → moment
He had a strong sense of right and wrong.
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He → have → right
He cared for people he didn’t know.
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he → care → people
Nobody was there telling him what to do.”
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Nobody → tell → what
Like Tibon, Shapira had no plans to enter politics before October 7; the trained architect loved her career as a civil servant in the heritage department.
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architect → have → department
But after being courted by an array of parties, she is running for former military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party (meaning straight or honest in English).
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she → court → English
She felt a connection with him given his son died while serving in Gaza.
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son → feel → Gaza
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
