Michal Sella OPED: Three years after the attack, what are we teaching our children?

By Michal Sella

 

On Oct. 7, 2023, when the most horrific massacre of Jews since the Holocaust took place, no one imagined that three years later the daily social, political and security reality in Israel would still be revolving around the tragedy. 

 

Oct. 7 was an unimaginably violent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the horrible war in Gaza that followed. Violence, hatred, and racism in our region have skyrocketed and may have changed the nature of this conflict forever. 

 

At the same time, Israel must maintain a democracy in which Jewish and Arab citizens live together while also fighting a war. How can this happen when the reality in Israel becomes more extreme every day?

 

Here are just a few of the events that shaped the Jewish holiday of Sukkot celebrated last week.

 

An attempted hijacking of a plane flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, which had mostly Israelis aboard, could have sparked another war if it had succeeded. Passengers managed to intervene, overcome the attacker, and land the plane safely. 

 

Two days earlier, Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of a serious external threat, while the security establishment assured the public that his announcement was politically motivated and not evidence of an imminent attack.

 

In the West Bank, terrorist settlers attacked a nonviolent Palestinian population, setting homes on fire and forcing families out. A tunnel was discovered near the city of Kfar Saba, triggering fears of another Oct. 7-style event, this time in central Israel.

 

The Israeli social atmosphere has become increasingly divisive and tense. A candidate from the right-wing Likud party wrote on social media to an 88-year-old former hostage whose husband was murdered on Oct. 7, saying he wished she could be returned to Hamas captivity due to her critiques of Netanhayu.

 

This was Sukkot 2026 in Israel.

 

This is the context in which schools across Israel are marking the Oct. 7 anniversary. Israeli children live in an unstable security situation, never knowing if school will open the next day or whether a ballistic missile attack will begin. Their leaders can insult a former elderly hostage, ministers publicly support violence, and adults are divided on all topics related to the war. What do we expect Israeli children to think, say, or become?

 

While this violent version of Israel exists, another Israel is striving to face and shape reality. A substantial part of Israel’s education system is working to educate Jewish and Arab children differently, for peace, understanding, and against racism. It is possible to rebuild and recover our values after Oct. 7 and the war. 

 

At Givat Haviva, Israel's largest campus for Jewish-Arab shared society education, students from Jewish and Arab public schools are able to meet each other, talk, understand, argue, and explain themselves in a safe environment. They are even able to mark the Oct. 7 anniversary together. 

 

These youths can do something adults in Israel do not even dream of. Through education, they can grasp each other's pain, rather than compete over who is the bigger victim. They are able to understand a complex story.

 

Most importantly, they are able to separate the suffering of the individual from the larger situation. To meet one person with a personal story, and try to suspend, even for a moment, the hatred and racism that is being fed to them from the adult world.

 

The weeks before the Oct. 27 elections are crucial. The level of polarization here is frightening. Many fear we will see extreme violence during the elections, something we have never witnessed in Israel before.

 

But it is also an opportunity for a new Israeli chapter. I work constantly with the younger generation. Our children are watching us. They are observing how we speak to each other, how we deal with fear, how we treat the other side, and how we behave when everything around us is falling apart.

 

We have a responsibility to show them that another reality is possible. The fourth anniversary of Oct. 7 will come. I hope that by then we will be able to look back and say that we did not allow that tragic day to define who we are forever.

 

We must choose to build a strong, peaceful, and equal country for our children.

 

Michal Sella is the CEO of Givat Haviva, an educational center promoting a shared Jewish-Arab society in Israel.