The special committee for the care of Holocaust survivors, chaired by MK Merav Cohen, held a special discussion today (Wednesday) on the situation of Holocaust survivors in light of a year since the "Iron Swords" war. To the committee came Ruth Haran, a Holocaust survivor who escaped the massacre in Be'eri, who lost her son Avshalom on October 7th and whose family members were kidnapped. Haran spoke at the committee and recounted in a choked voice the comparisons between the October 7th events and the Holocaust, and about her family's story.
"To be built is to give everything you can to the people."
Haran opened her speech and said: "My mother told us after the Holocaust, we will go up to the Land of Israel. She came from a Zionist home and said to build and be built, and this is not a trivial statement." To build is to give everything you can to the people because that's how a nation is built. Therefore, we must build and be built. My sister worked at a mental hospital in Haifa, and my brother was taken to Palyam, which is like the naval Palmach. My mother started working as a supporter for Holocaust survivors who came with babies and were afraid to touch them because they came from the Holocaust."
The Holocaust survivor recounted: "When I woke up on the morning of October 7th and saw what had happened, I cried out, 'This is really a Holocaust!'" "But I know it wasn't a Holocaust because the Nazis were very systematic and the murder was very planned and methodical, so I call it satanic, whereas these pogroms came as wild savages. It was simply a massacre of a people living there in peace and tranquility. It was barbaric murder; they dragged old women to cars. I saw a baby's bed soaked in blood in Be'eri. It was traumatic."
"But it's not correct to say that October 7th was a Holocaust, it was a tragic event but not a Holocaust. If we call it a Holocaust, we are trivializing the Holocaust itself." The Holocaust will never be forgotten; it was a diabolical act of one nation against another.
At the end, she told the committee members: "I am a bereaved mother, Avshalom, my son, was murdered in Be'er Sheva. I find comfort in the fact that he was 60 years old and had seen a beautiful life. He worked hard, and people admired him."
The sister of one of the hostages also spoke at the conference: "He experienced as a child the pogrom that accompanied him throughout his life"
Hadassah Lazar, the sister of Shlomo Mansur, a father of five and grandfather of 12 who is held captive by Hamas, also spoke at the special session and addressed those present: "I ask you to think of your grandfather or father who is in a cage, eating a quarter of a pita a day, freezing, and thinking that he has been forgotten." Shlomo experienced as a child the Farhud that accompanied him throughout his life. You can imagine what happens to a child who has seen things that should not be seen: the murder of babies, the rape of women, and the burning of houses. Shlomo was kidnapped from his home and experienced another Holocaust in his old age.
The abductee's sister added and recounted: "Shlomo loved the kibbutz, a noble soul with golden hands who was the kibbutz's carpenter, full of compassion with endless generosity." Shlomo was kidnapped at a weight of 57 kilos and we are worried about his fate. Every Yom Kippur, Shlomo would call me to ask for forgiveness, but this time it's my turn to ask him for forgiveness for being neglected. Begging, don't send him to old age. "Bring him back home," said the committee chair, Merav Cohen. "The population of Holocaust survivors is particularly sensitive to emergencies in general, and certainly to traumatic events of this magnitude," the committee chair said at the beginning of the discussion. The comparison between the Holocaust and October 7 is warranted in light of the atrocities. The Holocaust survivors I meet give me hope that there will still be good times, but for there to be good and for there to be revival, we need to bring the captives home.
Ella Ostrovsky-Berman, a researcher at the Brookdale Institute, presented the results of a study conducted to examine the condition of the survivors and the changes that occurred in their lives following the "Iron Swords" war. According to the survey results, about 20% were directly or indirectly affected by the war's damage.
Additionally, shortly after the war began, the elderly experienced a deterioration in various aspects of life: about a quarter of the respondents reported a worsening in their health condition, 15% experienced a decline in their functioning within a few months, and 30% reported a deterioration in their economic situation. The vast majority of the elderly rely on a support network in at least one area of life. "Those who were vulnerable were more affected this year," she concluded.