As the Gregorian calendar new year begins, we pray that 2024 sees a speedy and safe return of the estimated 129 hostages still being held by Hamas and a successful realization of the goals set by the government for Operation Swords of Iron.
We stand united behind the security forces serving in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere to defeat Israel’s enemies, starting with Hamas, and safeguarding the country in the coming year. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, “We give full backing to our forces. They are doing amazing work in a difficult war.”
Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones in battle and terrorist attacks over the past year, to the families of the hostages, to the wounded, and to the estimated half-a-million people who have been evacuated from their communities due to the war.
Since the Hamas massacre on October 7 until the end of 2023, some 1,400 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed, including more than 500 IDF soldiers, almost 170 since the ground invasion began in the Gaza Strip on October 27. The Defense Ministry says about 3,000 members of the country’s security forces have been wounded, including almost 900 soldiers. The death toll among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is said to have surpassed 20,000, at least 8,000 of whom were Hamas terrorists, although these figures are difficult to verify.
The Gaza war has threatened to expand into a war on multiple fronts, including the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Yemen-based Houthis, but so far Israel has managed to contain the conflict.
We are grateful, and we are hopeful, in these challenging times
We salute all those Israelis who have banded together and volunteered to contribute to the war effort, and the many institutions and organizations working tirelessly to help out and urge others to follow their lead.
We express our heartfelt appreciation to those countries – headed by the United States – that have rallied behind Israel, to Diaspora Jewry and pro-Israel communities of various faiths for their unwavering support, and to foreign officials and celebrities who have shown their solidarity by visiting the country in recent months.
We welcome the strong pro-Israel stand taken by Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, at the opening ceremony of the Pan-American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires. “I want [to extend] a warm greeting to all the Jewish people and in particular to those who have family or loved ones near the front lines,” JTA quotes Milei as telling some 10,000 people who gathered in the stadium. “I want to ratify at this moment my unalterable commitment to the State of Israel and the Jewish people in their fight against Islamic terrorism, for peace and freedom.”
On the other side of the coin, at the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu slammed South Africa’s “mendacious pontificating” that Israel is perpetrating genocide. “No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is Hamas,” he declared. “It would murder all of us if it could. In contrast, the IDF is acting as morally as possible; it is doing everything to avoid harming civilians while Hamas is doing everything to harm them and is using them as human shields.”
Due to the ongoing war, the cabinet approved Netanyahu’s proposal to reschedule local elections from January 30 until February 27 “to enable as many reservists as possible to participate in the elections.” As part of a pre-war coalition deal, the cabinet also approved the appointment of Eli Cohen as Energy and Infrastructure Minister in place of Israel Katz, and the appointment of Katz as foreign minister in Cohen’s place.
As 2023 drew to a close, the population stood at 9.8 million, an increase of 179,000 people or 1.9%, according to the CBS, which said the population is set to pass a watershed of 10 million in 2024.
Israel, a nation of innovation and resilience, faces formidable challenges in the year ahead – strategic and military, political and diplomatic, financial and economic – but has much to look forward to as well. In keeping with the slogan that has become synonymous with this war, we urge the people of Israel to remain united, strong, and patient until victory is achieved. Together we will win!
No one knows how long this war will go on, but we can only hope that it will be remembered as the war of 2023 – and not 2024.