A psychological October 7: Shoshan Haran remembers

Shoshan Haran in Africa where she did agricultural aid work.

A psychological October 7.

That’s what some Israelis and Jews are calling this week. Donald Trump’s “deal” with Iran isn’t as bad as some of us predicted - it’s worse.

Iran gets billions. It gets to keep its weapons-grade uranium, and control of the Strait of Hormuz. It gets to keep making ballistic missiles, and it gets to keep the fascist Islamist dictatorship that subjugates Iran’s people.

And, in particular, it gets to keep its armies. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard in Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza.

Israelis have watched, in shock, as Vice President J.D. Vance - the one notionally charged with selling the deal - has attacked Israel. He has accused Israel of genocide: “You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.” He has dismissed Israeli concerns: “Wake up and smell the reality of the situation.” He has mocked what he calls the Israeli “freakout.” He has even said Iran is entitled to missiles and armies: “You can’t tell [them] they’re not allowed to have any self-defence.”

Part of that Iranian “self-defence” is Hamas. So, this week, I turned to Dr. Shoshan Haran, who was held hostage by Hamas. Iran’s Palestinian army.

She tells her story: “October 7 was a holiday. I had a lot of guests with me, my daughter, and my grandkids, when the alarm started. Usually it takes 10 minutes. But then we received WhatsApp messages warning that terrorists had invaded our kibbutz.”

Iran’s Gazan army - the one J.D. Vance seemingly thinks Iran is entitled to have - couldn’t get into the safe room. So they got a bulldozer and smashed open a wall. They said they’d throw in grenades if Haran and her family didn’t surrender. They surrendered.

She would never see her husband or her son-in-law - or her sister or her sister’s husband - again. They were all killed by Iran’s Hamas army.

Haran and her daughter and two of her grandchildren - ages three and eight - were jammed into a car and taken to Gaza. They were paraded through the streets and the Palestinians were jubilant.

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