It feels somewhat surreal that it is now 2025 and we are still discussing an ongoing war that began due to the horrific Hamas terror attack in 2023.

An attack in which Israeli and other civilians were taken hostage, and this war has still not brought them all home.

An attack for which the Israeli government, which is the same government that was in power on October 7, has refused an independent inquiry to determine the failures and errors that led to the attack.

An attack that cannot be justified, but for many, anything is justified in response to it.

It's hard to remember and disentangle all the small instances that have occurred since 2023, as the gravity of the ongoing war and its unimaginable suffering becomes so all-encompassing, but in many ways, it is the small instances that foreshadow what's to come.

One story that has stayed somewhat under the radar in the diaspora is the tragic death of Gur Kehati.

Kehati was a combat medic in the Golani brigade who was killed in Lebanon while tasked with accompanying civilian Ze'ev Erlich in southern Lebanon in late November.

Erlich was a 71-year-old civilian from the occupied West Bank settlement of Ofra, and an amateur archeologist. The circumstances of Erlich's presence in Lebanon are still unknown, though it is suspected that he was brought to Lebanon unlawfully.

Kehati was among those tasked with accompanying Erlich on this operation and was tragically killed, along with Erlich, in a Hezbollah ambush at the ancient fortress they were surveying. 

Investigations are still ongoing to determine the exact purpose of this operation. At the same time, the Kehati family reports a lack of trust in the IDF, the government, and their unwillingness to comprehensively and transparently investigate this occurrence.

Meanwhile, last week in a settlement in the northern West Bank, an archeological conference was held in memory of Erlich. The Kehati family showed up at the conference, their grief and pain evident.

"Our son died, and no one even bothered to put a picture of him over here," shouted Ron Kehati, Gur's father. "Why did you rush to hold this conference, when our son's blood hasn't even dried yet?"

This is, once again, an isolated incident that symbolizes a larger and systemic struggle. A staunchly liberal and secular Israeli family, with a strong commitment to the IDF, Zionism, and the future of the state, reduced to a social media spectacle, with Israelis arguing whether or not the actions of the Kehati family at the conference were justified.

Meanwhile, religious right-wing settlers seeking to destroy any future of liberalism or democracy in Israel continue with their destructive agenda, lamenting the lack of unity while dismissing the very real pain and frustration of the Kehatis due to them being "leftist activists."

It is not just recent actions by the IDF, the ever-expanding settlement project, or the ongoing Gaza war that have created such friction within the diaspora Jewish community concerning our feelings about Israel - it is that the messaging is completely incoherent.

There is no family more quintessentially aligned with the Israel that is sold to us in the diaspora than the Kehatis - secular, liberal, Zionist, proud military history - and yet, because they are at odds with not only this government, but successive Israeli governments over more than a decade, their story is silenced, hidden, and downplayed.

This has been seen time and time again since October 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza - whether it's the families of the hostages fighting for a deal to secure their release, politicians who speak of the erosion of Jewish and Zionist values in this coalition government, or the Kehatis, those who represent the Israel we have been taught to love are now treated as traitors.

Our mission at JSpaceCanada is not a radical one - it's to work to create the very Israel that we learned to love, that we have been taught to support since we were young.

In 2025, we should all take inspiration from the Kehati family. We should loudly call out and put pressure on those who attempt to destroy a liberal, democratic, and secure Israel through messianic extremist fantasies. Those who stay silent should not be surprised when the version of Israel they're selling isn't one the community is buying any longer.