Three years after the Hamas gunshots rang out across southern Israel, the world is still living in the October 7 era.
asserted
world → ring → era
In the lead-up to the attacks, Israelis were mostly consumed by their internal politics – specifically the Netanyahu government’s moves to strip power from the nation’s Supreme Court - rather than external threats.
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Israelis → consume → Court
The Palestinian cause had faded from international attention.
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cause → fade → attention
Just days before the assault, US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan described the Middle East region as quieter than it had been in two decades.
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it → describe → decades
Then came the rampage.
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rampage → come → ?
To help foreigners understand the scale of such an atrocity in a tiny country of around 10 million people, Israelis often point out that, in per capita terms, the casualty figure of 1200 people killed was 13 times greater than the fatalities of September 11.
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figure → help → September
Two hundred and fifty people – including young children and grandmothers – were taken hostage into Gaza, sparking a mass protest movement to secure their release.
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people → include → release
“October 7 was one of those cosmic moments when you realise the world has changed and will never be the same again,” Australian Council of Executive Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin says.
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Ryvchin → realise → Jewry
“It brutally showed the world that the days of Jewish torment, of women dragged to captivity, of decapitation, pack rape and thrill killing, did not belong to history.
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It → show → history
For those who hate Jews and long craved to see them get what was coming to them, October 7 was euphoric.”
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October → hate → them
The Israeli state’s failure to prevent, and adequately respond to, the worst terror attack in the nation’s history still rattles its citizens.
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failure → prevent → citizens
“The main question we ask, and all of Israel asks all of the time, is: where was the army?” Danny Majzner, whose Australian-Israeli sister Galit Carbone was murdered in a kibbutz near the Gaza border, told this masthead ahead of the first anniversary of the attacks.
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sister → ask → attacks
Such questions remain unanswered two years later.
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questions → remain → ?
The void is largely because of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vigorously blocked an independent commission of inquiry into the attacks, even as polls show three-quarters of Israelis back such a probe.
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quarters → block → probe
The head of the Israeli military, plus the leaders of the nation’s internal and external security agencies (the Shin Bet and Mossad respectively), eventually lost their jobs following October 7, but Netanyahu remains in power despite overseeing the worst security failure in Israel’s history.
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Netanyahu → lose → history
His reckoning will come on October 27, when Israelis go to the polls for the first time in four years.
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Israelis → come → years
While Netanyahu’s popularity plummeted after October 7, he still has a shot of remaining prime minister if his ideologically diverse opponents cannot cobble together a winning coalition.
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opponents → plummet → coalition
Among those running in the elections are at least nine Israelis drawn into politics through direct involvement with October 7, including relatives of loved ones taken hostage and those who risked their lives to save others.
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who → run → others
The impending elections have heightened the blame game and the history wars.
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elections → impend → game
Israeli newspaper Haaretz last month published an explosive book extract claiming the leader of the United Arab Emirates had warned Netanyahu that Hamas was planning an operation just days before October 7.
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Hamas → publish → October
The Atlantic followed by reporting Egypt’s intelligence chief had visited Tel Aviv shortly before the attacks with a dire message about Gaza.
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chief → follow → Gaza
Former security agency Shin Bet boss Ronen Bar last week said he would file a defamation lawsuit against Netanyahu, who accused Bar of failing to inform him about the attack.
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who → say → attack
The full story of what led to October 7, let alone its aftermath, is yet to be told.
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what → lead → October
What is undeniable is that the assumption among Israeli political and military elites that Hamas had been contained and did not pose a major threat proved both hubristic and inaccurate.
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Hamas → contain → threat
Regardless of whether Netanyahu wins or loses at the end of the month, there is no going back to the before times.
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going → win → times
No Israeli prime minister will allow Hamas to control territory on the Israel-Gaza border, nor will they allow Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to menace Israelis living in the country’s north.
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Hezbollah → allow → north
While Israel was always going to respond forcefully to the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, the ferocity and duration of the subsequent war in Gaza shocked the conscience of citizens around the world.
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ferocity → go → world
Images of dying children, buildings blown to rubble, and emaciated toddlers sparked global protests.
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Images → die → protests
Despite Israeli denials, to many the military response to October 7 seemed motivated by vengeance rather than self-defence.
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response → seem → vengeance
The film Naza, a damning account of Israeli targeting practices based on anonymised interviews with soldiers who fought in Gaza, received a 25-minute standing ovation last month at the Venice Film Festival.
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who → base → Festival
A senior Israeli minister said he wanted to revoke the citizenship of the Israeli filmmakers on the basis they had betrayed their country.
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they → say → country
The war in Gaza crippled Hamas militarily and killed most of the group’s senior leaders (including October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar) but the group achieved strategic goals.
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group → cripple → goals
The war raised the profile of the Palestinian cause, scuppered the prospect of an imminent peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and helped turn Israel into a pariah state across the world.
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war → raise → world
By the end of 2023, Israel was facing genocide charges in the International Court of Justice.
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Israel → face → Justice
Soon after, the International Criminal Court indicted Netanyahu for alleged war crimes, curtailing his ability to travel internationally.
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Court → indict → ability
Before October 7, life was difficult and demoralising for ordinary Palestinians living in the occupied territories.
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life → live → territories
Almost a year into a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump, Gaza remains a humanitarian disaster.
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Gaza → broker → Trump
Around 1500 Gazans have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire began, according to local health authorities – on top of the 73,000 estimated Palestinians killed during the war.
uncertain
ceasefire → kill → war
Trump’s peace plan for Gaza remains in limbo: an international stabilisation force has not entered the country and Hamas has not relinquished its weapons.
asserted
Hamas → remain → weapons
In the West Bank, Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have surged to horrifying levels.
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attacks → surge → levels
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
