Heather Shenkman MD

At this point much of what I would like to say has already been said about the latest horrors. But I would like to stress several things. 1) The degree to which this attack has been unprecedented really can't be overstated. At the time of writing this post, over 700 people have been reported to be killed in Israel within a 24-48 hour timeframe. This figure represents more Israeli deaths from this conflict than the total Israeli deaths that took place in the last 20 years of this conflict combined...just in one or two days. In fact, I'm not even aware of a historic time when more Jews died in a single day or two since The Holocaust. 2) The manner in which these deaths occurred were unspeakable horrific, but I think it's important that I still try to put words to them. I have seen children kidnapped, ripped away from their parents arms, the elderly shot dead, bodies of tortured and defiled women, some of which raped to the point of hemorrhaging through their blood soaked pants, a music festival full of civilians, ~260 of which mowed down like feral hogs....and all of which recorded by the very attackers in broad daylight, and celebrated. Worse yet, I have seen the actions defended, fervently, unapologetically, and with every mental gymnastic or whataboutism in the book any good "revolutionary", "freedom fighter", "liberation lover", or any other ideologically deranged trite platitude identifier can think of. This attack is not only brutal in its own right but it has brought out the worst elements that humanity has to offer. 3) This not only will almost certainly undermine any reasonable effort for peace in the near future, but it will likely result in one of the worst protracted bloodbaths we have seen in decades. I don't claim to know the solution for long lasting peace here, but whatever it is, it's not this. Hope everyone stays safe in these dark times.