By Rachel Avraham
Today is Israel’s Memorial Day. On this important day, former Israeli Minister Ayoob Kara proclaimed: “On this sad, difficult dark day, I try to explain and find the words to express the traumatic situation that the fallen families experience and there are simply no words to describe their sorrow.” This is because they have experienced an unspeakable horror as a sacrifice for building this country.
The American psychologist Judith Lewis Herman once stated, “The ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social contract are too terrible to utter aloud. This is the meaning of the word unspeakable. Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.”
Kara understands the suffering experienced by Israel’s bereaved families more than most, as he served in Lebanon: “I was severely injured near Beirut. I was in Rambam Hospital in a caste for a long time. My brother Eli Kara was killed along the Syrian border in East Lebanon. He was the last victim before the withdrawal to what we call South Lebanon. My eldest brother Vagi was severely injured as well in the head in the center of Lebanon. He suffered a lot. My mother and father became depressed from this situation for these two brothers had no family. Every day, every month, became unbelievably horrific. I tried to make them feel better.” In the end, Vagi would succumb to his injuries, and both of Kara’s parents perished due to the sorrow.
Shipan Kumer Basu, a Bangladeshi Hindu dissident who heads the World Hindu Struggle Committee, proclaimed on Israeli Memorial Day: “I pay my respects to all the martyrs and to all the parents who lost their children in Israel’s various wars. I believe that the glorious history of self-sacrifice that the nation of Israel experienced will play a great role in inspiring others.”
“The nation of Israel was able to establish itself as a state in 1948 by accepting the greatest sacrifice,” he added. “I respect the heroism of the nation of Israel and salute their efficiency. Inspired by Israel, the Hindus are once again dreaming of building a strong India.” The state of Israel gained independence around the same time as the partition of India. Basu hopes that India can be as successful as Israel is.
