October 7th: Context: Thirteen Essays on a Common Thread

This book was first published in Russian on the eve of the first anniversary of the Simchat Torah War, in September 2024. As we prepared the English edition, we chose to leave the body unchanged. The war has now endured for a two year. Meanwhile, profound changes have unfolded around the world. Analysts increasingly speak of the geopolitical map undergoing visible and dramatic transformation. A new global order is forming-though whether its contours will be welcomed by all remains uncertain. And yet, amid all this change, one ancient force persists. Regrettably-inevitably-we must acknowledge it: antisemitism remains. In October 2023, forty-four countries publicly condemned Hamas, denouncing it as a terrorist organization, while about twenty nations affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself. More than one hundred experts in international law jointly stated that Hamas had committed numerous war crimes, including acts that meet the legal definition of genocide. Yet, at the same time, many international institutions and organizationsremained shockingly indifferent. The United Nations display a consistent anti-Israel bias. UNRWA, which has been credibly accused of assisting terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon, was never formally rebuked. The Red Cross and the World Health Organization were found to employ staff members with ties to Hamas. While the Red Cross has consistently advocated for the rights of terrorists imprisoned in Israel, it showed minimal concern for the innocent Israeli citizens held hostage in Gaza. Likewise, the global network of women’s rights organizations remained largely silent. The world watched as Israeli women were brutalized on October 7th-yet not a single prominent international women’s group issued a statement of support. At a congressional hearing on anti-Semitism in schools, university presidents’ evasive answers have angered senators. When asked directly whether calls for genocide of Jews violate the university code of conduct, the answer was that ＂it all depends on the context.＂ This expression has become a meme, and now we can only hope that readers will understand our message correctly: when we say ＂our book is about context,＂ we mean the original, non-meme meaning of the word. This war is unlike any other Israel has fought-not merely a defensive war, not merely a struggle for physical survival. The one Jewish state must continuously justify its right to exist and defend itself-armed and alone-well into the 21st century