Thoughts from Cookie Schwaeber-Issan

Prayer for Israel – Australia has a long association with Cookie Schwaeber-Issan. Cookie is the granddaughter of European Jews who arrived in the US before the Holocaust. Making Aliyah in 1993 she is retired and now lives in Israel with her husband. We first met Cookie when she was Principal of the only messianic school in Jerusalem – Makor HaTikva. Today Cookie is a freelance writer for All Israel News and the Jerusalem Post. We asked Cookie to present her thoughts on the events leading up to the attack on Israel on the 7th October 2024 and what is the ongoing effect of this tragic situation.

An Overview Of Before October 7th

To properly understand the events which led up to October 7^th, one must be familiar with Israel’s Parliamentary electoral system which grants the political party that receives the most votes the job of forming a coalition from the preponderance of other smaller parties, towards the goal of meeting the threshold of at least 61 votes.

This means that the final makeup of the government is dependent upon the desires of the larger party which was tasked with the choices as to which smaller parties they want. In the end, however, it may not necessarily reflect the will of the people. This is exactly what occurred in December 2023 when an extreme religious coalition came into power.

Among their many goals, was to change existing laws that favored the religious and also served to exonerate the prime minister, who was embroiled in four different legal cases, any of which could have sent him to jail. It was these dramatic shifts which birthed the protest movement that grew exponentially, threatening the unity and peace which had been enjoyed up until then. While it was asserted that the protest movement was made up of professionally paid agitators, the truth is that it was by and large regular, everyday Israeli citizens who saw the proposed changes as a great threat to their personal freedoms and rights and took to the streets in protest.

Coupled with this was the frustration which had, for years, taken hold as Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas failed to be a suitable peace partner for Israel. Once Hamas became the elected government of Gaza in 2006, Israel sought to replace Abbas, by propping them up financially, politically and every way possible. Of course, it was a colossal miscalculation to believe that avowed barbaric terrorists, dedicated to Israel’s destruction could fulfill that role, but, nonetheless, the hope was that they could.

During all those years, they amassed great wealth from other nations and agencies, encouraged to generously help them, culminating in the construction of hundreds of massive-sized tunnels which facilitated the smuggling of weapons from other countries, the creation of an entire underground city, including hidden residences, weapons’ storehouses and just about everything else.

At the same time, they invested in the building up of a ferocious military machine, comprised of well-indoctrinated young men who had been taught to believe that Israelis were the demons and monsters who needed to be eradicated without mercy.

For many months, prior to October 7^th, IDF observers began noticing military exercises close to the border as well as overhearing conversations and other intelligence, all pointing to the inarguable fact that an attack was imminent. Once reported, Israeli intelligence (Shin Bet), the police, the IDF, government officials and politicians chose to ignore those warnings, knowing that such a disclosure would undermine the narrative that everyone had been wrong by foolishly investing in Hamas as a reliable peace partner.

Observers were told to be silent, to the point where lack of compliance would threaten their careers. In short, the warnings were there, but they were an inconvenient nuisance to the political aspirations of all.

An Overview Of During And After October 7th

This is the backdrop to the Shabbat morning attack of October 7^th when Hamas cleverly cut off all of Israel’s detection electronic warning systems by disengaging them, facilitating the parachuting invasion of thousands of Hamas terrorists into the south, who then massacred kibbutz residents in their communities, killing, torturing and dismembering whole families, young children, babies, the elderly and any who came to their defense. A publicly held event in the forest adjacent to the kibbutz was also the site which became a killing field as young people, enjoying a concert tried to scramble to escape the wholesale slaughter and rape which was about to occur. Those who weren’t murdered were quickly carted off to Gaza as hostages, many who remain there to this day.

Still unexplained is how the military was delayed in immediately coming to the defense of these communities, leaving the residents to endure the worst onslaught since the days of the Holocaust. Some spent 24 hours in their bomb shelters before they heard the Hebrew-speaking voices of IDF soldiers letting them know that it was safe to come out. Other reports state that soldiers stood outside the gates of kibbutzim while seeing the smoke and hearing the sounds of a slaughter taking place inside, but still failed to enter in order to stop what was happening.

Some reservists, upon hearing what was taking place, chose to leave their homes and head south to stop what was going on in real time. A number were later detained and accused of misconduct when they encountered terrorists on the way. It remains the subject of an investigation in an effort to appease The International Court of Justice in the Netherlands which has asserted that war crimes were committed and must be punished.

It didn’t take long for the pre-October 7^th protest movement, previously focused on preventing the legal changes being sought by the religious coalition, to morph into a protest movement dedicated to the return of the Israeli hostages who have been languishing in the tunnels of Gaza for more than 10 months.

Internationally, another phenomenon took place in the form of blatant and unapologetic antisemitism, demonstrated on American college campuses, social media, corporations and just about any public arena which has been hijacked by Woke and Progressive ideology, viewing Israel as the oppressor and Palestinians as the oppressed, serving a narrative which fits neatly into their worldview. Diaspora Jews, not even associated with Israel, their politics or policies, became the target of guilt by association.

This dangerous and spontaneous outbreak of Jew-hatred also spread throughout Europe, Canada and Australia where cries to “gas the Jews” was heard at demonstrations which took place in Sydney. For the first time in 80 years, Jews had to calculate when it was safe to go outside, dress in a way which didn’t identify them as Jews and think twice about putting up mezuzahs on their doorposts, indicating that this was a Jewish residence. In some European cities, such as Paris, Belgium and London, antisemitic graffiti was scrawled on Jewish domiciles, as if to mark them as evildoers.

In Canada, synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish venues have experienced repeated vandalism, arson and constant threats to their Jewish population, now considering whether it is wise to remain in such a hostile environment. Of course, most have seen the hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters who have protested, stopped traffic and demanding that their government representatives virulently turn against Israel.

Hamas and Palestinian flags have been raised, replacing American and European flags in public places, and now, as the Democratic National Party is gearing up for their presidential convention, massive pro-Palestinian protests are being organized in the hope to shift the entire party to one which rejects and castigates Israel.

In short, there is a coordinated effort to reverse the tragedy of October 7^th to a golden opportunity which foments hatred and loathing towards Israel and all Jews worldwide. It continues to gain support and momentum and likely will not die out anytime soon.