Since the Iranian-sponsored Hamas devastation wrought on Oct. 7 - a Jewish Sabbath Day as well as what should have been the joyous holiday of Simchat Torah - I have struggled to share the horror and sadness I feel. But I know when people don't respond to unjust and cruel behavior, they are complicit.

To those who call for peace and harmony for all people, without going back to Biblical times, I want to remind you who the people of modern Israel are.

Some are the descendants of parents or grandparents escaping from violence, murder, and confiscation of possessions fueled by the pogroms sponsored by antisemitic leaders in Eastern European Countries in the late 1900s and early 20th century.

Some Israelis are Holocaust survivors. Must I remind us of the systematic slaughter perpetrated by the Nazis? Determined to eradicate the world of Jews, whole families were rounded up, tortured, homes and property seized.