This is profound, and moving, and worth the read. AGHamilton poured his heart out on Twitter/X about why Hamas' horrific terror attack on Israel feels so different to him:
Wrote this around midnight last night to try to explain how I’ve felt since Friday night. I know it’s long, but hope you will consider reading. https://t.co/9KbrF6XuDc
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 11, 2023
Here is the original tweet:
So the last 5 days have been among the most mentally draining of my life. I’ve been trying to figure out why it has been so bad. This conflict is not new to me. Jew hatred is not new to me. Death is not new to me. So I’m gonna do something I rarely do on here and just ramble a…
— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 11, 2023
The entire tweet reads:
So the last 5 days have been among the most mentally draining of my life. I’ve been trying to figure out why it has been so bad. This conflict is not new to me. Jew hatred is not new to me. Death is not new to me. So I’m gonna do something I rarely do on here and just ramble a bit about my personal history to explain why this feels different.
My family left the Soviet Union in 89. At the time, most Jews were desperate to get out. Jews were basically second-class citizens in the USSR. My parents and my 3-year-old self were lucky enough to get visas to the United States. Most others, including my grandparents and much of my extended family, escaped to Israel. Identifying as Jewish was always really important to my parents. It was a source of pride. Not because they were religious. Far from it. But as I would later understand, when half your family is massacred for their identity, it becomes a lot more than just a religious belief that you can just change one day.
We came to the U.S. with about $60. A local Jewish organization was kind enough to cover 2 months of rent in a small apartment and fill up the fridge. I can remember how tight the money was from visiting a store once we got here. I saw a cheap toy that I, being a little sh*t, demanded to have. My dad was unable to say no to me so it caused a fight between him and my mom. I somehow remember him skipping the meal that night to offset what my toy cost. My dad knew about 3 words of English at the time, but he loved to talk. So he would still manage to have hour-long conversations with everyone we met somehow. Don’t ask me how I remember any of this, but I confirmed it years later. My parents almost immediately got 4 low-wage jobs between them. Not only did they need to earn for us to survive, but my dad was committed to us visiting my grandparents in Israel as soon as we could.
The first chance we got to go there was in 1991. It happened to be during the Gulf War. I know this because I will always remember being woken up in the middle of the night for my parents to put one of those ridiculous gas masks on me. Every household in Israel had them by then. I couldn’t comprehend why someone was trying to hurt us. I remember being told at some point that it is because we exist. A few years later, when our situation was a little more stable, I started going to Israel every summer to stay with my aunt and grandparents. My grandfather was the youngest of 7 siblings, but 3 of them had been gone since the war. One of his brothers had the numbers on his arm and it took me some time to learn what they meant. I would spend half my days playing outside with friends. I didn’t speak Hebrew but I learned to understand it and the kids who spoke Russian would often translate. The other half was with my grandparents. They eventually moved to a very large hostel, which is essentially a retirement home. That hostel happens to be about a mile from where a rocket hit today in Ashdod. I would walk there daily and play dominoes and cards with the retirees (Durak was their favorite game and I was great at it). I noticed that a lot more of them had those numbers and by then I understood what they meant. Very few of them liked to tell their stories, but I would pry some details out of them from time to time when I got a little older. It was always amazing to me how they could recount the most horrifying events imaginable without really getting too emotional. I would get more upset about them than the people who survived them. But the message was always the same at the end: “Now we are here in Israel. Now our kids are here. We survived and that’s what matters.” The "we" they were using wasn’t themselves individually, but we as a people. They could not kill us. Or as the saying goes, The People of Israel Live. Survival was their accomplishment and they took pride in it.
I kept coming back most summers, even once the Second Intifada started. I remember my teenage friends wanting to go to the pool on Saturday, but I was afraid of getting on a bus. I couldn’t understand why my friends didn’t seem to care given all the bus bombings, but they had been desensitized to it, and being targeted for existing became the norm. One of those friends would later die in a bombing. By then it was well understood that they wanted to kill us because we are Jews and that would not change any time soon, but life must go on. I would come back years later and by then they were still trying to kill us, but it was no longer busses and suicide bombers. Instead, they were using rockets that meant we would have to regularly run to bomb shelters, but again Israel had taken steps to ensure its people could live.
What I found amazing in thinking back is that no one in Israel ever let the hatred or attempts to kill us define their lives. Not when Saddam was firing missiles, not when the PLO was blowing up buses, and not when Hamas was firing rockets. Those around Israel always did what they had to survive, but they still went on with their lives. They went to school to learn math and science, not how to hate Palestinians. The goal was never death for a cause, but prospering at life. The previous generation had survived and the mandate for future generations was to not waste it.
That brings us to this past weekend when a group of modern-day Nazis again committed to our destruction unleashed the type of hell that our people hadn’t seen since so many were branded with those numbers. The trauma of the reality that this could happen again is just devastating to those of us who know the history. Too many took survival for granted. The anger we feel isn’t just at the killers, but at ourselves for letting it happen. it feels like a betrayal of the survival stories we heard from our grandparents. We had a shared responsibility to those who survived the last time our families were left to fend for themselves against evil to not let it happen again, and we failed. We have to do whatever it takes to make sure we do not fail again. That will mean some very hard days ahead, but there is no choice. Our survival depends on it. The people of Israel live.
Very, very powerful stuff from someone who has seen firsthand what this hatred does.
Thanks so much for sharing your story with us. Praying for Israel and those fighting for their very existence.
— Judy Keen, #TeamSanity, #DeSantis2024 (@jkzoie) October 11, 2023
Many prayers.
Thanks you for sharing your story and the pain your family has endured. There is an evil in the world that has taken hold but Israel will endure, her people will endure. 🙏🏻
— Lisa (@kittywhisperer7) October 11, 2023
There is evil in the world, and we must stand up to it without fear, to beat it back wherever it rears its ugly head.
I marched in Washington in the 80s and protested in front of the Soviet Embassy in support of the Soviet Jews. I’m so glad you and your family were among those who were able to leave. Thank you for telling your story. Am Yisrael Chai.
— 🇮🇱rockmom 🇮🇱 (@rockmom) October 11, 2023
AGHamilton is a gem and a good follow. We are glad he was able to leave, too.
I have followed AG for a long time, and the last few days he’s proven again and again why he is an essential follow. You won’t always agree with him—and it is foolish to only follow people you agree with—but he is almost always worth listening to https://t.co/F4rRnsi1Jl
— (((Aaron Walker))) (@AaronWorthing) October 11, 2023
Always worth listening to. Especially now.
Heartbreaking.
— Daddy Warpig (@DaddyWarpig) October 11, 2023
Hamas must be eradicated.#IStandWithIsrael https://t.co/eCFLzko1B5
It is heartbreaking. And it can never happen again.
A must read thread. My heart goes out to all of our Jewish friends. I feel so helpless that I don't know what to say to them other than my thoughts and prayers go out to them as they fight unspeakable evil hellbent on destruction of innocents. https://t.co/yNjytD7VNV
— John Brooks 🇮🇱/🇺🇦 (@Jbroks86) October 11, 2023
Sometimes, all we can do is pray, and speak out for what is right.
Amazing story. Powerful read. https://t.co/JsZ1iTPF5x
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) October 11, 2023
Amazing doesn't do it justice.
“They went to school to learn math and science, not how to hate Palestinians. The goal was never death for a cause, but prospering at life.” https://t.co/xTDMaTcsAi
— VMSwiderski (@VMSwiderski) October 11, 2023
And therein lies the difference.
“They went to school to learn math and science, not how to hate Palestinians. The goal was never death for a cause, but prospering at life.”
— vbspurs (@vbspurs) October 11, 2023
And THAT is the difference between Israelis and Palestinians in a nutshell. Full stop. Punkt. Finis.
Full stop.
Beautifully written. Thank you so much for sharing - I think many of us (who aren't Jewish and haven't grown up with this) are instinctively outraged by the last week, but this puts into much clearer perspective *why*.
— The River Nix (@NixAshes) October 11, 2023
Yes, it does.
Thanks for sharing. These have been the most painful days of my life. The massacre is hard enough, but watching the whole world erupt in joy over it is devastating.
— Missus Bennet 🚚 🚛 (@poornerves) October 11, 2023
That has been so devastating, and we are so sorry evil is so pervasive.
There are many of us that are not Jewish but feel so much heartbreak for you and Israel. We are absolutely horrified at what is happening to the people of Israel. We are praying for you and Israel every minute of every day. God be with you. Amen
— DennySue (@DennySue1) October 11, 2023
Amen.
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