Has Everything Really Changed?

Amid the overall complexity of life here, and especially in the past two years, everyone longs for change. Which really means that no one is satisfied. But saying “change” isn’t enough. Simply because it only says what we don’t want – that is, what exists now – and doesn’t say what we do want. What kind of change are we hoping for? What do we actually want this place to become?The return of all the living hostages this week brought a collective sigh of relief, of course. Yet it also pushed to the forefront the important question of what now?Is the change we seek merely a return to what was before October 6th, or do we want a real, profound transformation, one that leads us down a new path, toward a reality we haven’t yet tried?This is exactly the question Danny Rozin examines.

Ayala Shalev, Editor, That’s About Us

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Has Everything Really Changed?

Prof. Danny Rosin

“Everything changed on October 7th.” An axiomatic statement. Hardly anyone would deny it. Clearly, the lives of many people changed in the most dramatic way imaginable, and even without watching the horrific videos, there’s not a single Israeli who hasn’t been exposed, affected, connected, or who doesn’t know someone who was. And the two years that have passed since have also been full of upheaval and change; none of our lives remained as they were, physically or mentally.

Our perception of the world around us requires anchor points. If life once followed a familiar routine – from day to day, month to month, season to season, year to year – today everything feels dynamic, immediate, unpredictable. Without holding on to reference points, dates, events – it becomes hard to explain to ourselves where we stand, what has happened to us, and what the future might hold.

And October 7th is such an anchor, one of the strongest in the country’s history.

But has everything really changed? Or are we simply attaching far more meaning to that dramatic point in our recent past than it actually holds? Is it truly the starting point and foundation for everything that will happen from here on?

In trying to make sense of what is happening to us, we always look back, but we tend to stop at a symbolic point where, in our view, an event took place that caused the change. We often forget, or choose to repress, the fact that reality is not made up of isolated points, but rather of continuous processes. In past years, before October ‘23, we already had several prominent anchor points. Many of the so-called “graduates of ’73” look back at the Yom Kippur War as the moment of rupture in Israeli society — and they stop there, because that was when they lost faith in their government. The 1967 war and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, of course, marked another major turning point in Israeli history, one that shaped every aspect of our lives. Most of the “center-left” camp stopped there, believing that “Leibowitz was right,” and that if only we rid ourselves of the occupation, many of our troubles would disappear. But more and more of us now understand that our gaze must reach further back — to 1948. The war of destruction in Gaza has awakened repressed memories, and when people speak of a “second Nakba,” it’s impossible not to wonder again about the first Nakba, the one that was so thoroughly hidden from us.

And once the shell of denial is pierced, that opening statement suddenly sounds far less convincing. Mass expulsion, widespread killing, the destruction of villages and cities, dispossession, ethnic cleansing, terror, war crimes, words like “purification,” expressions like “there are no innocents,” victimhood and existential fear, Jewish supremacy, lies and media manipulation – we’ve seen them all, from the very beginning. Nothing has changed, and it certainly didn’t start on October 7th.

No decent person could justify the deadly attack on Shmini Atzeret, exactly two years ago. Many decent people will not look away from what occurred before and from what followed. And that matters, because only a deep understanding of causes and processes might prevent the next “October 7th.” No amount of rearmament, revenge, or destruction can promise that better than an agreement can.

Reaching an agreement can come from two directions.

The first: a deep and fundamental change in Israeli thinking, recognizing the Palestinian narrative, acknowledging the rights of the Palestinian people and the injustice done to them by the Zionist movement, returning to the values of truth, justice, and equality, and from there, reaching a genuine compromise between all those bound to this land.

Anyone who watched the free circus performance during Trump’s visit to the Knesset, that embarrassing display of servility before the overlord, the reinforcement of Israel’s status as an American protectorate that no longer decides anything for itself, and the speeches that cemented Israel’s self-image as invincible and always right – would understand that there is little chance of any conceptual change in Israel soon. We are stuck for a long time in the position of a people who have, by and large, committed genocide and take pride in it. We will not easily give up Jewish supremacy, nor the foundational aspiration of Zionism for a Jewish state as free of Arabs as possible. “Jewish and democratic,” of course. On that, everyone agrees, across nearly the entire political spectrum (except for a small handful).

So we are left with the second, less ideal option – a forced solution under international auspices: driven by interests of power and money.

It brings more foreign presence into the region, is carried out over the heads of the people involved, especially the Palestinians (Netanyahu has no interest in enduring another humiliation, and in any case, Trump decides the details) – all the reasons why this is a bad solution, one that will not ensure real and lasting stability, compromise, or peace. But who can afford to be picky today? The hostages have returned; prisoners and detainees have been released; the daily killing has almost stopped; international forces have already begun their work rebuilding Gaza; aid is starting to flow; and countries around the world have already pledged the funds. Internationalization is not independence, but the Palestinians cannot rise again without support, including the establishment of an effective governing framework.

So if “everything has changed” — perhaps it didn’t happen on October 7th, 2023, but rather exactly two years later, when the Palestinian phoenix grasps the hands extended by the world and rises from the ashes (literally and figuratively) toward its long-awaited independence. Perhaps then we will finally realize that supremacy is a dangerous illusion – and at last, we will be cured of it.

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Danny Rosin is a Professor of Surgery at Tel Aviv University and Head of Ambulatory Surgery at Sheba Medical Center.