Mashabe sade - oct 30

Short ride today before we visit three oct 7th sites. Chod and I chose riding with the slow group as less bad than waiting an hour+ at meetup spot for Jason and the chalutsim. Heard a siren in the background, home front app running on the phone; surreal being 3km from gaza. Busy roads beat up with tank treads looking forward to getting south. 22 miles.

First stop down roads 34 and 232 to the burnt cars where 1500 cars were piled up to clear the roads and search for remains/possessions. Brutal. Then lunch at kibbutz be'eri (105 murdered, 3 bodies still in gaza, 7 hours till army got here, 350 terrorists) to meet with two survivors, who says they're rebuilding and not going anywhere. And that hamas must go. And Israeli govt not doing enough. They say they get strength from visitors like us - its why I'm here. They also say they've given up on peace. Crushing. Then nova. What can you say about this killing field? 378 brutally killed, 44 taken hostage (19 killed). Unspeakable evil.

Not sure how to capture the emotions. Like going to a nazi camp? Reliving sept 11? Seeing true evil? Realizing that they killed people who wanted to make peace, and hardened those who wanted them dead? And hearing about Israeli hubris - how the fence failed, no locks on safe rooms, belief govt/army would keep them safe. A hard day.  

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