To the daughters of Israel:
Kidnapped by Hamas-ISIS, the Nazi terror group living next door.
I write to you as a woman who, among all Jewish and Israeli women, feels extreme fear, dismay, and sadness over the mere thought of the abuse you’ve endured.
In a world where even the idea of being raped is worse than death itself, many of us cannot fathom the sexual assault or abuse you have endured.
Unthinkable conditions
We cannot normalize your bodies being used against you. We cannot wrap our heads around the holocaust conditions you are experiencing.
Daughters of Israel:
We are here thinking of you and looking over our shoulders in fear. Paranoid to an extreme degree. We do not trust the same. We do not smile the same. We do not sleep the same.
Daughters of Israel:
We think of you every nanosecond of every second of every minute of every day. How you belong home with your parents and friends among laughter and joy. How you should be growing up in safety, love, and comfort. Rather than engulfed in pain, fear, and a never-ending cycle of not knowing what is next
Daughters of Israel:
Your pain is our anger. And it runs so deep that when we think of you, we are ill. We see red!
Are you together? Are you alone? Have you seen sunlight? Did your period come? Do you even know what month it is? Have you eaten? Do you have water?
Daughters of Israel:
Have you seen your moms fighting for you? We have. Lionesses of Israel looking to bring their baby cubs home. They will not sleep, we will not sleep, until you are home.
Daughters of Israel should be safe in Israel.
When you come home – because you will come home, because there is no other option except for you to come home – we will try to love you back to life, care for you so deeply, show you we support you after the horrors you’ve endured.
We will try so hard to lift you out of the darkness and hope that you can build the beautiful lives you deserve.
Daughters of Israel:
We hope our love is strong enough to cure your pain. That our empathy and support for you can someday take away even a molecule of the unfair, unprovoked hurt that has been forced upon you.
Daughters of Israel should be safe in Israel.
The author is a writer who lives in Tel Aviv. She often writes about travel, food, wine, and hospitality.