DToday the war between Israel and Hamas will last exactly seven months. Despite talks about a possible ceasefire, the end of this horrific battle is still not in sight. It makes you despondent. There the fighting goes on and on, here the shouting and polarization.
Heap. That’s what we need now. A straw to cling to, no matter how small. I’ve often been asked lately how I manage to stay optimistic. To be honest, I’m not sure I’m that optimistic at all. The hostility is so great at the moment, how can you ever overcome it? It often makes me sad and despondent. Yet I don’t allow myself to get bogged down in these kinds of feelings.
Giving up is not an option. In fact, keeping hope is an active choice. You only notice it when you consciously look for it. Sometimes that hope is almost invisible; it consists of just a few encouraging words between the lines. Just as often, hope comes from an example that is not necessarily representative of the entire narrative. Yet hope seekers have to rely on this. Any form of hope is essential to continue to believe in the soft forces.
One of the stories that gives me hope is about the Jewish Aya Meydan and the Arab Ismail Alkrenawi. On the morning of October 7, Aya got up early for a bike ride. She had not even left the gate of her kibbutz Be’eri when the rockets literally flew over her head. Hisham, an Arab waiter from the local cafeteria, ran up to her and warned that Hamas militants were nearby.
Together, Aya and Hisham hid in the bushes. There, Hisham called his family in the Bedouin town of Rahat. Hisham’s cousin Ismail didn’t hesitate for a second and prepared to go get his cousin. Along the way he found countless bodies on the asphalt. He also saw a large group of young people fleeing. They came from the Supernova Festival. Ismail decided to get as many of these young people to safety as possible before freeing his cousin. In total he saved more than forty partygoers.
Once Aya and Hisham were safely in Ismail’s jeep, Ismail was apprehended by the Israeli army. He had several guns pointed at him. The soldiers thought he was a Hamas militant who wanted to take Aya hostage. “Don’t shoot, you idiots,” Aya shouted. “This is not a terrorist, but a hero. I owe him my life.”
Maybe this seems like just a drop in the bucket, nothing more than a single point of light. I think it’s much more than that. It is not without reason that a well-known statement from the Torah is: ‘He who saves one person saves the whole world.’
Natascha van Weezel (1986) is a journalist. Every Monday she writes a column for Het Parool.
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