The trauma of October 7 for Israel has changed the country for ever

Reading more appalling descriptions in The New York Times today of what happened on October 7 when Hamas terrorists raped, brutalised and murdered hundreds of girls and women, it is impossible not to conclude that Israel will never be the same nation again. What those girls and women suffered that day cannot and must not ever ever be forgotten by the whole of the rest of the world. For Israel, the trauma will never go away, but whatever happens in Gaza over the next few months, those responsible for ordering and carrying out the butchery of these girls and women should be found and identified. There are so many witnesses to the horrific attacks on October 7, as well as masses of video evidence, that no one can doubt that the aim of the Hamas terrorists was to brutalise the whole of Israel. It is difficult to see how Israel can ever feel safe again, even if a large proportion of the Hamas organisation is eliminated. This is exactly what Hamas, backed by Iran, wanted - to destroy every Israeli's peace of mind. It may have been on a much smaller scale than the al-Qaeda hijacked-planes attack on September 11, 2001. But the October 7 slaughter of 1,200 Israelis and other nationalities was magnified even beyond the horror of 9/11 by the mass raping, torturing and killing of so many Israeli girls and women.