How Can Israel Sustain its Newfound Unity after a Year of Division?

Since the October 7 attack, we are not expressing hatred toward each other because our pain is much greater. But we are not far from how things were before October 7. We could return to that previous state in a matter of days.

When outside influences that pressure the formation of our unity move away, internal feelings of hatred resurface. We might believe that coming closer during tough times let's us develop while maintaining that closeness. However, this idea is incorrect.

It is also important to note that our divisiveness throughout the year weakened us and strengthened those who wished to attack us. A captured Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 attacks stated how the ongoing protests and demonstrations in Israel encouraged Hamas during their preparations for the attack.

When outside influences that pressure the formation of our unity move away, internal feelings of hatred resurface. We might believe that coming closer during tough times let's us develop while maintaining that closeness. However, this idea is incorrect.

We need to undergo a reset and rebuild our unity from scratch, without external pressure dictating our actions but out of our own choice to live in a common connection to each other, with a spirit of unity, support, care, encouragement and closeness dwelling in our relations.

When we are in a conflict of opinions, we need to equally respect those who we are against, acknowledging that they might also be right and have their own opinions, and that their opinions represent other people and citizens. Thus, we indeed should take heed to treat each other with more kindness.

Unity means that we are ready to set aside our own opinions in order to unite with others.