Israel stands alone in fight against terror one year after Oct. 7s horrors
In Israel, Oct.6, 2023 was a day marked by optimism.
Saudi Arabia was moving toward normalizing relations with the Jewish state, a once-unthinkable step that would dramatically improve Israel’s relationships with the Arab world. A pact with the Saudis including trade, tourism and security provisions would expand the historic Abraham Accords forged under Donald Trump, bolster a regional alliance with the United States and further isolate Iran.“Every day seems to bring a new advance in the fast-moving American effort to build a Saudi-Israeli alliance in the Middle East,” was how a Times of Israel columnist described the confident outlook that day.“Should an Israeli-Saudi deal be sealed, the two countries will owe much to Tehran for so expertly driving them into each other’s arms.”In late September, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had told Fox News that “We’re getting closer to peace every day.” In early October, an Israeli government minister had been photographed celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot in Riyadh. It was all too threatening for Iran and its terror proxies.
The normalization process had to be stopped if Israel was ever going to be eliminated. And so, a year ago today, thousands of Hamas terrorists crossed the border from Gaza and slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, including women and children.Rape and torture were rampant and some victims, including whole families living on kibbutzim, were burned alive. The Palestinian invaders took 250 hostages back to the hellholes of Gaza, hoping to trade them for their own survival in the war they had started. It was Israel’s 9/11, the deadliest day since the end of the Holocaust.
The horror echoes FDR’s famous description of the Dec.7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: “a date which will live in infamy.”Among the casualties was the agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Soon after Oct.7, the crown prince put the talks on hold and insisted any deal must includ...