Sitting in a front-row seat to a brutal war, and living in the midst of it and having to report about it while working non-stop is deeply traumatizing.
That together with witnessing and reporting about terrorist attacks against the Jewish people for years, in the many forms it appears: stoning, ramming, stabbing, shooting, and axe attacks is only the beginning.
Being an eyewitness to vicious acts of lynching in the streets, beheading and setting bodies on fire, rocket/mortar/drone attacks, arson kites and fiery balloons exploding and setting Israeli fields and homes on fire has broken my heart many times and it only adds to my pain and trauma.
Worst of all, is seeing so many Israeli mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers in the cemeteries heartbroken as they have to bury their beloved family members or friends or fellow soldiers who were savagely murdered while the world looked away.
And the most innocent among us, our precious children are targeted also. The latest was the brutal murder of a Jewish child in the Benjamin region, a killing so gruesome that its full details were not made available for publication.
This heinous act was carried out by an evil terrorist named Ahmed Dawabsha, 21, a resident of Duma (near Ramallah), who savagely murdered 14-year-old Benjamin Achimeir after he set out to herd sheep.
When the two were close to each other, Dawabsha began to chase after Achimeir, saying, “I will kill you!”
Dawabsha caught up to the Jewish child when he fell over, and began to carry out the gruesome murder.
I can't even begin to imagine the horror of this young Jewish child as he fought for his life while this evil terrorist kept stabbing him repeatedly with a 20cm long knife.
Benjamin’s injuries were so gruesome that the details is not allowed to be shared. It's horrific. This vile terrorist was later arrested.
Where is the condemnation?
I wonder if this gruesome terror attack made it into your mainstream media?
Did your government or any of its leaders condemn this heinous terror attack? Or were they busy condemning and calling for sanctions Jews living in Judea and Samaria?
I wept when the news broke about the heinous murder of Benjamin, and feeling how devastating this is for his family. A Jewish child was murdered by another Palestinian terrorist and he is now rewarded for this evil deed by receiving thousands of dollars from Abu Mazen. It is evil and sick.
The atrocities of October 7th and the horror, deep grief, and trauma just swallowed all of us in Israel, in some ways it feels like free falling in a deep pit of trauma where there's no end.
It's an ongoing trauma like my doctor said.
I realized that all the trauma and pain I already was carrying pushed me to the limits of my soul when this horrific day came into being and like many people in Israel, I had to step back and breathe and try to process and deal with all of this pain and trauma.
Then this happened: it was Shabbat, my absolutely favorite time of week. I love the sound of silence, it normally gives me peace of mind but that particular Saturday was not peaceful, my body was hurting badly, and my soul was processing some of the deep trauma build up inside of me, and now news had broken about more precious soldiers, all sons of Israel, being killed in action in Gaza.
I was just in tears from everything happening when suddenly, I heard a child laughing and then the voice of a man laughing. The laughter went straight into my heart and I looked out my window and I saw my neighbor standing with his toddler son throwing him gently in the air.
I don't know who was laughing the loudest, the cute baby boy or his dad but it literally brought tears to my eyes. It was like the sun pierced through the darkness, through the trauma that is upon The Holy Land.
In that brief moment there were no trauma or pain but just the pure love and joy between a father and his son, the way it's supposed to be. This was a brief refuge that I needed for my heart and soul, since it has been hard to find here in Israel since trauma stepped into all of our lives after the massacre on October 7th.
Allow me to introduce myself to people who don't know me or have read my previous blogs on Jerusalem Post: My name is Jane Kiel also known around the world as Jerusalem Jane, a Danish lover and supporter of Israel, l have lived here in Jerusalem for nearly 10 years with hundreds of thousands of people following me on all my social media platforms for news and my views as I speak truth out of Zion as a foreigner to the world.
It happened rather quickly after arriving in Israel, it happened in a very deep and profound way. My heart stopped beating red and white from being born Danish changing into beating blue and white for the Jewish Nation.
Previously, the genesis of my passion for Israel began many years ago when my mother and I faced off in protest against terrorist PLO Leader Yasser Arafat when he was visiting Copenhagen in my home country of Denmark. He carried a cloud of evil, just unbridled evil. Little did I realize my stand for Israel that day as a young lady would carry me here to Israel.
I became part of Israel and Israel is part of me, my arrival felt like a homecoming, which Israel has been to me for more than 10 years now. There have been times where it was a matter of life and death, seriously, and I for one, can testify that when it comes to Israel there is more than just meets the eye.
This is a battle between good and evil, between light and darkness, it is unfolding in front of our eyes and also felt every day; especially while living in Jerusalem, the epic center of the world, in God's Holy City.
It has been 9 months of this just war in Gaza, a war that was forced upon Israel when Hamas brutally assaulted Israel with an army from hell who massacred entire families, and carried out atrocities not seen since the Holocaust.
They burned babies and gang-raped girls in front of their families, they mutilated and tortured 1200 people and kidnapped 251 innocent civilians into Gaza to the loud cheers of people in Gaza.
Not only that, civilians helped kidnapped Israelis and are holding hostages in their homes now, something I'll write more about in another blog.
The onslaught against Israel changed not only my life, but the life of every Israeli; we will never be the same. To add another layer of pain, the biggest terror organization in the world – Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8th – and they have been doing so every day since.
These rocket, mortar, anti-tank missile and drone attacks have driven nearly 100,000 people out of their homes to become refugees in their own nation, with people are running for their lives to bomb shelters every day, and living in hotels all over Israel while Hezbollah’s terror rains down on this nation.
This situation in the North is both traumatic and horrendous. Thousands of attacks from Hezbollah in the past 9 months has caused damage to buildings and setting the lands of Israel on fire from the impact of explosive devices fired by these terrorists.
If Israel didn't have the best military in the world paired with the world’s best defense system to take down most of these Iranian-supplied rockets and missiles, the casualties would be enormous.
The paradox in this situation (which is equally horrendous), is not one country in the world would put up with this, so why should Israel? We are getting close to a big war in the northern area, as the military continues with numerous drills in preparation for this.
Israel is at war on several fronts and we need your prayers more than ever. This is the Holy Land; this one and only Jewish state is under attack physically, politically and spiritually. The lies, hate and propaganda coming against Israel is beyond evil and wicked.
Be a voice for Israel wherever you are around the world in this critical hour. Whether it is in your quiet place of prayer, or you can make a difference by speaking up, standing up and supporting Israel to your government, friends, family, and in your church/synagogue.
The time is now to stand, speak and act. If not now, when after witnessing the worst atrocities that continue to happen to the Jewish people since the Holocaust?