The small gravel shed by the aging cracked pavement pressed painfully into my chin and forehead, so I turned my face to the side and moved my hands from behind my head to cushion my cheek, then shifted back again after a few moments, unsure what to do. Rocket attacks are not part of my daily routine. 

I had arrived in Israel a few hours earlier and traveled south from Jerusalem with my host to visit the kibbutz where he lived for a month nearly 30 years earlier; it had been overrun by Hamas on Oct. 7th. 

The rocket attack occurred shortly after we arrived, and after hitting the ground for a few minutes, we were moved by the soldiers present into a block house until the danger passed.  

There, we met a young man who lived on the kibbutz but had been away the morning of Oct. 7. He walked us around the deserted grounds. He showed us bullet-ridden and burned-out homes, telling us the stories of the dead and wounded, the kidnapped, and the survivors, what was seen and what was recorded by the killers themselves. 

Natalie, a beautiful 20-something American from Long Island with a nose ring and lotus tattoos told me she woke up in her tent on Oct. 7 when her friend came to get her. The music festival’s dawn set was starting, accompanied by a rocket attack. Don’t worry, her friend told her, they always shoot rockets at us, but the Iron Dome anti-rocket system protects us. This was Natalie's first rocket attack too. 

But as they joined the EDM party, her friend told her this rocket barrage was heavier than usual. They saw paragliders flying toward the festival too, but didn’t realize they were coming to rape, murder, mutilate, and kidnap their friends. It was weird – the rockets exploding, the paragliders, the music – but not scary, until the music stopped, the gunfire started, and she and her friends started running, not even knowing where. 

It’s true that since Oct. 7, many Gazans have died: Many Hamas gunmen, yes, but also many civilians who chose to stay despite warnings of combat to come, or ones whom the commandos living in the tunnels below their homes and shooting rockets from their roofs would not allow to leave. 

It’s true, too, that Oct. 7 did not occur in a vacuum. Arabs have been attacking their Jewish neighbors since the 1948 war from which the state of Israel emerged: Arabs attacked Israel and lost in 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006, and now since 2023, not to mention the constant rocket attacks in recent years, or the pogroms in the decades and centuries before Israel’s independence. 

So, it is important to be clear-eyed and consider both sides of this story. 

One side seeks to kill Jews, especially those who do not leave Israel or submit to Islam. The other side seeks to live – in peace, pursuing prosperity alongside anyone that does not seek to kill or dominate them – and is willing and able to do what's necessary to survive. 

One side teaches children to hate Jews and Christians and that those who die killing Jews and Christians will live in paradise. The other side teaches math and science and to love and respect your neighbor, no matter who they may be or what they believe. 

Death is an opportunity and a triumph for some and a tragedy to be overcome for the others. 

Some burrow underground and buy weapons to kill, choosing poverty and privation for their own people while plotting mass murder, while others develop systems to defend against the enemy’s weapons and build skyscrapers and companies that sell innovative technologies to the world. 

One side holds medieval beliefs, killing LGBTQ+ people and requiring that women submit to men, while the other side shares our beliefs, hosts gay pride events and empowers women to be anything from mothers and soldiers to venture capitalists and prime ministers. 

One attacks, attacks, and attacks, but plays the victim. The other parries, counterattacks, and wins, refusing to be victimized, and instead finds a way to survive and thrive. 

The situation does not call for complex moral analysis. If the so-called Palestinians lay down their arms, they would live in peace and prosperity forever; if the Jews lay down their arms, they will be dead or driven out of Israel in a week. 

That's reality. These are the two sides to this story. 

Yet Western protestors and politicians indulge in fantasies rooted in antisemitism, imagining a progressive Palestine composed of people just like them who live in an open-air prison, denied their civil rights, put-upon by inhumane, power-hungry Jews. 

Indeed, Ireland, Spain, and Norway just announced that they are recognizing the magical progressive state of Palestine; isn’t it grand when one’s dreams become a reality?

But there is no such state. 

There are two autonomously governed areas in which people who call themselves “Palestinian” live. One is Gaza – that’s governed by what’s left of Hamas – and the other is a territory on the West Bank of the Jordan river – that’s governed by the Palestinian Authority.  

Both are dedicated to destroying Israel and killing Jews.

There are only two realistic alternatives in this beautiful corner of the world: Be with the Jews or be with “death to the Jews.”

Being with Jews means being for life, peace, and prosperity for all under the rule of law in a state in which Jews, Muslims, and Christians have the equal right to practice their faith and to vote and participate in political coalitions that, as a practical matter for the foreseeable future, will be led by Jews …

Or …

Being with “death to Jews,” which means the destruction of Israel and any vestiges of its existence, another holocaust, and yet another Jewish diaspora. 

Sure, anyone living far away can imagine a third, fourth, or fifth alternative. But rockets have a way of focusing one’s attention on gritty, hardscrabble realities. 

Ireland, Spain, and Norway chose fantasy over hard realities. They chose “death to the Jews” and destruction over creation, privation over prosperity, hate over love, perpetual war over durable peace – they chose death over dancing.