At 6.30am on Oct. 7, hundreds of armed Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza. They took over Israeli towns and villages, broke into homes and slaughtered entire families. Some civilians were burned in their homes. Others were dragged outside and brutally executed. Young children witnessed their mothers being butchered. Some villages were burned to the ground.
At the same time, Hamas terrorists infiltrated a music festival attended by thousands of young people, killing everyone in their way. Hundreds of young men and women who were there to celebrate life and music were murdered.
The Hamas terrorists returned to Gaza, parading desecrated and naked bodies of young women through the streets, as hundreds of observers celebrated and handed out candy.
If that is not enough, the Hamas terrorists also kidnapped more than 150 people, mostly civilians, including children, babies, mothers, fathers, disabled people and elderly women. Some were dragged out of their nursing homes. The youngest was a six-month-old and the eldest an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor.
About 1,300 men and women were murdered on Oct. 7 alone, the greatest number of Jews murdered in a single day since the Holocaust.
More than 3,000 people were injured, some critically, but all have been traumatized for life.
This was not only an attack against Israelis. Dozens of the people who were wounded, murdered or abducted were citizens of the US, the UK, Canada, France, Italy, Thailand, Ukraine, Nepal, Brazil, Germany, Russia, China and elsewhere. More than 43 states had citizens who were murdered and kidnapped.
Oct. 7 is Israel’s Sept. 11, 2001, and Pearl Harbor combined. It is a small country; 1,300 dead in Israel would be proportionally equivalent to more than 3,000 people dead in Taiwan.
We all know someone who was killed, wounded or abducted. I know three people who lost their lives on Oct. 7 and the number might climb, as many of the bodies have yet to be identified because they were desecrated so badly.
There is a lot to be said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The issue is complex, but what happened in Israel on Oct. 7 is unacceptable. It was no struggle for the freedom of Palestine. It was a well-planned massacre of innocent civilians. It was terrorism at its most brutal.
Hamas has proven that it is no different from the Islamic State group.
This is not just another round of combat. This is a major historic event that has global implications. If this unhuman cruelty happened in Israel, it can happen anywhere.
This is traumatic, as people can no longer feel safe in their own homes.
Israel is fighting for its existence and in this war against terrorism, no one should be indifferent.
Maya Yaron is Israel’s representative to Taiwan
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