Opinion: 1,000 Days Since Oct. 7

A Milwaukeean visits the Gaza border area, finding pain and resilience

“Thirty hours before the events of Oct. 7, I gave birth to my daughter. While I was still in the hospital, with my husband and son at the kibbutz in hiding, my siblings found my mother riddled with Kalashnikov bullets on the path here,” Liora Ben-Tsur recounted as we stood at the exact spot Hamas murdered her mother. As I hugged her, I felt overcome with emotion. 

I first met Liora in February 2023, while visiting Israel and touring the Adi Negev Nahalat Eran Rehabilitation Village in Ofakim, where she was the communications director at the time. I was very interested in this unique program, as I am a parent of a daughter with an intellectual disability. The next time I would hear about Ofakim, it would be the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated the town in the Negev.

Now Liora is a leader in Atid L’Otef, (the Future of the Envelope). The area of Israel that borders Gaza is called the Otef, or “envelope, ”and includes several regional councils consisting of kibbutzim and towns. It is being restored and revitalized, after carnage that included homes attacked with exploding grenades and incendiary devices literally with the inhabitants in their shelters.  Many displaced residents have already returned home. However, a community that has experienced such trauma, in an area precariously close to a sworn enemy of the Jewish people, is especially challenged to return to normal. The organization, of which Liora is a co-founder, seeks to return the Otef to the vitality the area once possessed. 

As I was visiting Israel in late June 2026 and attending the Jewish News Syndicate policy summit in Jerusalem, I arranged to drive to the Gaza border area and spend some time with Liora and her family at kibbutz Ein HaShlosha, where she lives with her husband Dor and their four children, the youngest born in late 2025. They demolished and rebuilt their home, even though it was spared in the attacks, to remove the physical ghost of that fateful day, whilst Dor and the children hid in the erstwhile safe room as evil monsters roamed outside.  

Their new home is quite nice. As we walked throughout the kibbutz to see other homes being renovated, I thought about the four who were murdered here on that Simchas Torah morning. It was a smaller number murdered here in Ein HaShlosha than in Be’eri and Nahal Oz and other places whose names dominated the media coverage.  

A lower casualty count. Why? 

The mobs of Gazans who infiltrated into Israel seeking to murder and rape Jews had discovered a surprise as their frenzy unfolded. From Ein HaShlosha, it was a very short distance to an open field where peace loving and happy Israelis decided a few days before to descend upon to dance and celebrate life. The site of the Nova Music Festival. 

While Liora drove me to the site, I looked out the window and could imagine terrorists on motorcycles and on foot along the roadside moving quickly to the grounds to shock and then terrorize and assault the mostly young crowd. Hundreds of innocent lives were lost in a frenzy of rape, disfigurement and murder. It is believed that Hamas was unaware of the festival, and this was a stroke of luck and dream come true for the Jihadists.  Utter ecstasy to slaughter so many, not to mention the bounty of kidnapped dead souls to be used as barter later when Israel would defend itself. 

The Nova Festival site is now maintained by the Jewish National Fund as a memorial site in memory of the murdered and a place where families can commemorate their loved ones. It is a worthy and moving commemoration. There are stanchions throughout with the stories of those whose lives were extinguished that day. It is incredibly sad but also inspiring to think about what all those young Israelis meant, and how they lived for peace and joy.  

Which brings me back to Liora and her mother. On Nov. 13, 2023, the Times of Israel ran a series of stories about Those We Have Lost. “Marcelle Taljah, 63: Murdered a day after granddaughter born,” read the headline.  

The article states, “Marcelle Taljah, 63, … was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha on October 7. Taljah, who lived near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, was visiting the kibbutz to help out with her grandchildren since her daughter had just given birth to a new baby on October 6. According to her family, Taljah was on the way to visit her older grandchildren in the kibbutz on Saturday morning when she was gunned down by terrorists.” 

Liora said, “My mother was a woman sweeter than honey. She was heading toward Dor and the kids with candy on Simchat Torah when the terrorists killed her in Ein HaShlosha. She did only good in our world. Our heart is shattered”. 

While Liora was in the hospital recovering from the birth, she was relaying information to her two brothers who lived 25 kilometers away so they could try to rescue her family. They jumped in their car with their guns and headed to the border area. As a communications practitioner and former reporter, she had contacts within the IDF and government and was on her phone trying to assess the situation, provide real time navigation and positioning information to her brothers and find out what the hell was going on and why the army was so slow to respond. All while holding her newborn in her other arm. 

In my conversation with Liora, and as described by the Times of Israel article, Liora’s mother’s body “was found by her sons on the path leading to their sister’s home. She was still holding onto a box of Nature’s Valley Granola Bars.” 

Just one story of about 1,200 souls who were massacred that day. 

Last month, as we reached the 1,000th day since Oct. 7, we may pause to remember. We are also made keenly aware that the threat to the Jewish people and the state of Israel, remains and abides, while antisemitism explodes around the world. The people at the Nova festival just wanted to dance. The people of Israel, just want to live in peace without the missiles, terror, bloody incursions and Jew hate around them. 

Yet, I have no doubt these strong and resilient people will take care of the land of Israel, in the name of Zionism, in the spirit of the Jewish people everywhere. They are not inclined to let the terrorists win. 

The Chronicle publishes a variety of opinion articles, including this one, which are not necessarily representative of the views of this newspaper or its publisher. 

Writer Andy Palec works in commercial real estate and writes about politics and foreign affairs. He is a member of the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Council and lives in Wauwatosa.