Book by Wienerin

How Israelis helped themselves after the terror

Anita Haviv-Horiner has written a book about the cohesion of Israelis after the Hamas attack: "Solidarity means action"

(Bild: Zwefo)

In her book, a native of Vienna describes how civil society reacted to the hardship following the Hamas attack.

"It was a terrible feeling," recalls Vienna-born Anita Haviv-Horiner on October 7, 2023, when she was sitting at breakfast with her daughter in Netanya, Israel, and suddenly one horrifying message after another popped up on her cell phone. It was the day of the Hamas attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were murdered, more than 300 kidnapped and thousands injured.

The state had failed, the army had failed, and as a result the institutions failed, most of the authorities - everyone was simply overwhelmed. But then the cohesion of Israeli society became apparent. Originally a pioneering society that relied on its will to survive. "Everyone who could started to help," says Haviv-Horiner. "On a small or large scale. Civil society stepped in for the state."

Everyone who could, started to help. On a small or large scale. Civil society stepped in for the state.

Autorin Anita Haviv-Horiner

The education expert and author, who works partly in Israel, partly in Vienna and partly in Germany, was so enthusiastic about this that she wrote a book about it. In 17 interviews, she spoke to volunteers who, each in their own field, tried to help people - in trauma therapy, memorial work, with their commitment to internally displaced persons (tens of thousands of Israelis lost their homes that day and the following days), in agriculture or by helping the wives of reservists who were suddenly called up.

A picture after the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023

(Bild: APA/AFP/Aris MESSINIS)

Some were afraid of the night alone
She was particularly impressed by an ultra-Orthodox woman who was looking after the families of soldiers. Within a very short time, she gathered more than 3,000 strictly religious women around her who did the same. This involved everyday things such as help with shopping, childcare, cleaning or dealing with the authorities. "Or the fact that some women were afraid of being alone - and wanted someone to spend the night in their apartment," explains the Israeli-Austrian dual citizen.

Or a family from which two relatives had been kidnapped. On the evening of October 7, all family members gathered in the kitchen of the father of a Hamas victim and divided up the "jobs": One was to take care of contacts with authorities, one with the media, the next one or two with traces of the abductees and much more. The contacts soon stretched from Tel Aviv to Berlin and New York. And of course it was no longer just about their own family, but about the relatives of all the hostages.

One of the abductees from the family mentioned above was released - the second was murdered by Hamas. The campaign for the release of the remaining hostages continues to this day.

Hamas staged the release of some of its hostages.

(Bild: AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A vet looked after dogs and cats
Or a psychotherapist who gathered professional colleagues around him to look after those for whom the state of Israel is generally not particularly interested - the Bedouins, some non-sedentary Arabs with Israeli citizenship, some of whom were also massively affected by the Hamas attack. For the terrorists, it did not matter that they were Arabs and Muslims, for them they were Israelis.

The last chapter in the book "Solidarity Means Action" tells the story of a young vet who made it her mission to look after the dogs, cats - but also cows, sheep and goats - that were suddenly left to fend for themselves and might not have survived.