An organized group visit to the devastation of Israel's south has led to
a reversal of a once-held belief in open borders.
By Adrian Wolff
Ever since I served in the mid-1970's as a young junior IDF officer in Gaza, I have always felt there are both good and bad people in this world but that one must be circumspect in one's judgment; do not succumb to perceptions based on abstractions but be guided by facts.
I traditionally supported an open border with Gaza as it fostered a healthy environment of improving relations enabling Gazans to secure employment in Israel in order to earn good wages and provide for their families at home in Gaza. I also hoped that those Gazans who found work in Israel's enterprising agricultural settlements, would gain from the exposure to our county's innovative agricultural technologies which they could take home and use to improve Gazan agriculture and impact on the Gazan economy. I most certainly did not expect that many of these workers would rather than taking back "ideas" to improve Gaza, would instead take back "intel" to destroy Israel.
Employment Ends. For these Gazan laborers who crossed over daily into Israel to work before the October 7 attacks, it may well be their last. (Photo: Said Khatib/AFP)
What came in daily to Israel as "innocent" workers from Gaza, returned to Gaza by night as spies. By providing detailed information to Hamas, they paved the way for the October 7 massacre - the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust.
I learnt this first hand when I recently participated in a specially organized tour by the Israel Military History Association to visit the devastated region and met local residents and community leaders – all one way or the other, survivors of the October 7 massacre. I left this experience with a complete reversal of midset
They Came, they Worked, they Betrayed. Palestinian workers from Gaza provided the detailed information of Israeli homes so that the killers knew exactly where to go in their murderous spree.(Photo: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
What was unleashed on unsuspecting Israelis on their Sabbath and festivity of Simcha Torah was not a Gazan people exercising resistance by but an orgy of savagery where Hamas operatives raped and murdered, burnt families alive, beheaded children, displayed the head of an IDF soldier for sale in Gaza and even booby-trapped a female rape victim's body with a grenade after murdering her. The local Gazans population danced in the streets for joy on October 7. This was all made possible by allowing and facilitating Gazans to come and work in Israel so that they could take back vital information. We created our own Troyan Horse and are paying dearly for our folly.
Unlikely to Return. Palestinian workers, who were stranded in Israel since the October 7 attacks, cross back into the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom border on November 3, 2023. (Photo: Said Khatib/AFP)
In Sderot, our group of 50 met with the former head of town security, who explained what happened during the first hours of the invasion on the 7th October. Following the information they gleaned from the workers Israel allowed in, the October 7 infiltrators knew the addresses of all the local municipal personnel, not only where they lived but even who had dogs, metal gates and alarm systems. It was evident, the Hamas terrorists "planned to kill family members together."
We heard how Hamas overran the local police station which was not only understaffed that day but had no offensive automatic weapons to defend themselves. Hamas captured the roofs of the surrounding apartment buildings and shot any person trying to enter the police station. This area became a 'killing field' and 35 Israeli officers were killed in the battles for the police station which the IDF eventually took control of but was so devastated that today is a flat sand field.
A Police Station that Once Was. What was left of the Sderot police station following the massacre and subsequent battles on October 7. (Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP)
We then visited a kibbutz (that shall remain nameless) on the Gaza border where we were met and addressed by the head of its agriculture. All of the 750 residents of the kibbutz had been evacuated and only a handful of staff and himself were left to manage the agriculture.
He spoke highly of the efficiency of the Tel Aviv municipality in accommodating the kibbutz members in two hotels in Tel Aviv, how the children have been absorbed in local schools and social workers were providing vital assistance.
We learned how the kibbutz had employed 40 Gazan agricultural workers and then how the terrorists had maps of the entire kibbutz, detailing the homes and with instructions to kill everyone.
Following these revelations, we could well understand why when projecting into the future, his position was to no longer employ Gazans but to use foreign workers instead. It was not a moral but an existential position.
We heard about the experiences of a Commander of an Infantry unit known as "Yamam". A National Counter-Terrorism Unit, Yaram was established in late 1974 after the Ma'alot massacre on Israel's northern border with Lebanon that involved the hostage-taking of 115 Israelis by Palestinian terrorists, chiefly school children and ended in the murder of 25 hostages and six other civilians.
On October 7, the Commander was advised of terrorists in a moshav (a cooperative village community) close to Sderot. The unit arrived at the main gate of the village but had no idea of how of many terrorists there were inside and where they were positioned. Also, they had no map of the village, no battle plan and no heavy weapons. Nevertheless, this small unit entered the village on foot finding along the way corpses of the slaughtered local civilians, which the commander correctly calculated would lead him to the terrorists. It took them two hours to kill all eight terrorists. Unfortunately, a 20-year-old female member of this commando unit was killed by the terrorists during this operation.
Visiting a family in another small village near Sderot, we heard how a group of terrorists entered this village armed with a map of the area that included details of who to kill. The breadth of information the terrorists had was staggering. A wife of an army officer told us the group of terrorists who approached her house, carrying such detailed information that included "we had a parrot at our front door." The plans that were found confirmed that they were to kill the entire family including their three young children.
This brave woman engaged the terrorists in combat and managed to hold them off until IDF reinforcements arrived a few hours later.
Once subdued, she asked one of the captured terrorists how old he was. He answered fourteen and revealed that his goal in life was "to kill Jews."
Site of Slaughter. The writer visits the Nova Music Festival Memorial Site at Kibbutz Re'im where hundreds of party goers were slaughtered by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza.
At days end my attitude had changed. What was evident following Hamas killing over 1200 in the first 36 hours, including the 364 at the Nova Music Festival, and the taking of over 250 hostages into Gaza that the plan was to kill every Jew on sight besides those to be taken as hostages.
It would be not only technically wrong to describe these Hamas terrorists as "animals" it would be an injustice towards animals. Animals kill to eat; these EVIL Gazans kill humans because they are Jews.
Soldier's Welfare. The writer (right) delivering food parcels to reserve soldiers on IDF bases in the south.
From once a believer in a controlled open border with Gaza, I have undergone in my thinking a complete 180 degrees and would advocate to having the borders permanently closed to daily workers with only exceptions to those who have specific purposes - thoroughly investigated - to gain permits to enter Israel.
If Hamas was smart enough to import weapons into Gaza as well as manufacture them, then they can find a way to import food and develop employment opportunities other than digging underground tunnels. I have lost all sympathy for them. The IDF claims more food trucks are entering Gaza today than before the 7th October. Hamas is stealing the food and selling it. Their suffering is a direct consequence of the war they initiated.
About the writer:
An economics graduate of the University of Cape Town (UCT), Adrian Wolff transitioned from a lifetime in the commercial world to becoming a qualified Israeli Tourist Guide and is the author of 'ISRAEL A CHRONOLGY - from Biblical to Modern Times' available through Steimatzky, Amazon, Israel Museum, B-G Airport, Yad Vashem and ANU Museum. Rising to the rank of major in the IDF, Wolff is a member of The Israel Military History Society.
While Israel is presently at war, every Friday, he delivers home-made meals donated by Ramat Hasharon families to army units alternating between the north and Gaza areas.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
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