And exhale.
The collective breath of relief across Israel is almost impossible to describe. After 738 days of torment, it’s finally October 8.
The overwhelming joy that our hostages are now free. The anxiety of bloodthirsty terrorists released back to our doorstep as part of the ceasefire deal. The immeasurable gratitude to President Trump, who defied all conventional wisdom to show the world the true greatness of America. And just a hint of vindication — that our war, our just war, yielded the results we once thought we could only dream of.
For two years, since even before the IDF entered Gaza in late October 2023, we were accused of committing genocide. We were told we sought to annihilate innocent women and children, painted as Nazis by smug commentators and corrupt UN officials who demanded we simply surrender to the Hamas death cult.
Their accusations gave way to sanctions and arrest warrants for our elected leaders; to Israelis being excluded from international events; to Jews being pogrom’ed on the streets of Europe; and to Iranian missiles striking the heart of our cities.
The trauma has been relentless. Yet we did not waver. How could we, when our hostages endured horrors we could hardly imagine? So we remained resolute, clinging to the sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, we would see them dance again. That hope and resilience makes us who we are.
That doesn’t mean we aren’t filled with righteous anger. For two long years, the international media told us our fight was futile. That if we only allowed Palestinians to declare a state, Hamas would kindly free the hostages out of the goodness of their hearts. That we should stop fighting evil and instead appease it. They were wrong.
And that doesn’t mean we aren’t worried. Amid our euphoria, we are already bracing for what may come next. Many of the 1,900 Palestinian detainees and security prisoners just released into Gaza and the West Bank have Israeli blood on their hands. They will harm us again if given the chance. Hamas, despite assurances from its patrons in Qatar that it seeks a “new chapter” with Israel, has already begun reconstituting its forces and blatantly violating the ceasefire by withholding the bodies of hostages they murdered, who were guaranteed would be released. As we speak, Hamas is executing Palestinians in Gaza en masse, and there is no clear mechanism to demilitarize them. We know this moment is a respite, not an end. We know we will again have to take up arms against those who seek our destruction.
To those abroad insisting this deal could have happened sooner: it could not have. Only Israel’s courageous campaign in Gaza, including the dismantling of Hamas’s military machine, the destruction of its tunnel empire, and the elimination of its leadership, created the leverage for this agreement. Only Trump’s diplomacy, combined with Israel’s battlefield victories, made it possible. Peace is not conjured by handshakes and lofty words on paper; it is compelled by strength.
This is not the end of our war for survival; it’s a brief breath between battles. Israelis understand that freedom and safety are not permanent conditions. They are achievements that must be won again and again.
But we won’t be thinking about that tonight.
Tonight, as we sit with our families around the dinner table, we marvel at what was just accomplished. We pray for the return of every last soldier, and for the souls whom we could not save in time.
Tonight, on the two-year anniversary of the massacre that shook our world and made us hold our breath — we’re finally dancing again.