Three Years After October 7, Israelis Parallel Americans’ Post-9/11 Mood Swings

Israel’s mood-swings three years after October 7, 2023 parallel America’s in September, 2004, three years after 9/11. Of course, Al-Qaeda’s assault on U.S. soil was, essentially, a one-time horror. Hamas started a seven-front war that continues, that also included launching over 46,000 rockets and ballistic missiles along with Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, Iraqi Jihadists, Syrian militias, and other Palestinian terrorists.

Americans observed 9/11’s third anniversary still fighting terror on multiple fronts. Opposing President George W. Bush’s re-election, Senator John Kerry questioned the wars’ achievements and the administration’s end game. By 2004, America had crushed al-Qaeda – although Osama Bin Laden would roam free until 2011. American forces had ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq – even as Americans questioned the need to invade Iraq.

When debating Kerry, Bush insisted:  “September the 11th changed how America must look at the world.” He emphasized that “75 percent of known Al Qaeda leaders have been brought to justice.” Still justifying the war against Saddam, Bush said: “In Iraq, we saw a threat and we realized that after September the 11th, we must take threats seriously before they fully materialize.” Bush framed the war as fulfilling America’s “solemn duty to defeat this ideology of hate… to protect our children and grandchildren.”

Two decades later, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu often compares the Hamas bloodbath to 9/11, while noting that 1,195 killed in Israel is equivalent proportionally to 40,000 Americans – “16 times 9/11.” Netanyahu keeps vowing: “absolute victory.” He details Israel’s achievements “in defending itself,” which “also” defended “many of the countries” bashing the Jewish State.

Echoing Bush, Netanyahu explains that “We changed Israel’s security doctrine. We initiate. We attack. We surprise. And we attack those enemies that seek our destruction.” For decades, he’s warned against the “ideology of hate” motivating the Jihadis. “This is not a clash of civilizations,” he insists. “It’s a clash between barbarism and civilization. It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.”

In 2004, Kerry supported America’s war aims while deriding Bush’s leadership and lack of accountability.  Kerry found Bush’s approach “plagued by a lack of planning, an absence of candor, arrogance and outright incompetence.”  Kerry charged: “You don’t take America to war unless you have a plan to win the peace.” And rather than isolating the Jihadis, Bush “left America isolated from the world.”

Gadi Eisenkot, the ex-general currently leading in the polls as Israel’s democracy also holds an election campaign three years later, juggles too, dismissing Netanyahu’s leadership and demanding accountability without disrespecting Israel’s troops. Mocking “absolute victory” as “a tall tale,” Eisenkot affirms that Israel is fighting “a just war, a war of no choice.”

In late 2024, Eisenkot toasted “operational achivements” – degrading Hamas, crushing Hezbollah — while insisting, “when you are prime minister, you also need strategic achievements.” Eisenkot, who joined Israel’s war cabinet October 12, 2023, then resigned June 9, 2024, complains that, from Gaza to Lebanon to Iran, “Netanyahu did nothing about the day after.” This April, Israel’s Opposition Leader Yair Lapid added: “Netanyahu went to war under ideal conditions, but with absolutely no idea how to end it. On the battlefield, we won; on the diplomatic front, it is a total defeat.”

America’s 2004 debate pivoted on an anomaly that has long frustrated Israelis: fighting terror is like fighting cancer; remarkable wins never eliminate the scourge – which keeps metastasizing. In 2004, 52 percent of Americans believed America was winning the War on Terror, with 57 percent finding al-Qaeda weakened. But 55 percent feared Bush had no clear plan to end the war – only 36 percent perceived some long-term strategy.

Israelis feel similarly torn. While seeing how the IDF enfeebled their enemies on every front, two-thirds fear another October 7. An INSS poll found 61 percent approving the IDF’s conduct of the Gaza war, yet only 34 percent approve the government’s management. The INSS found “skepticism regarding the overall strategic outcome.” The Israeli tabloid Yediot Acharnot recently ran the headline: “Three Years Later: Hamas is Still in Gaza, and Decisive Victory Remains Far Away.”

Such confusion and frustration three years later is logical. Israel’s unwavering Jihadist enemies cleverly manipulate their followers, their enablers, and their targets. Even for many Americans, Iraq’s ongoing chaos and the Afghanistan retreat obscure Bush’s greatest hard-to-track achievement. In routing al-Qaeda, America exorcised the widespread “September 12” fear that America would suffer many such catastrophes.

Military triumphs always look easier in hindsight than mid-fight – and democracies are notoriously impatient, especially in war time. Three years into the Revolutionary War, in 1778, soldiers’ Valley Forge misery demoralized Americans. Throughout 1864, as the Confederate military collapsed, Northerners’ gloom convinced Abraham Lincoln he wouldn’t be re-elected – until Atlanta’s burning that September. And in December, 1941, three years after Pearl Harbor, with newspapers predicting Americans in Berlin by Christmas, the Germans’ surprise attack inflicted 90,000 American casualties during the Battle of the Bulge – America eventually won that six-week last gasp.

Israelis still face well-armed enemies who keep fighting – despite biased reporting treating October 7 as a one-day Hamas assault, followed by a one-sided Israeli barrage. Over 78,100 warning sirens have sounded. And beyond the 1,192 murdered, 251 kidnapped, and 3,300 wounded October 7, 865 additional Israelis have died, with 33,343 wounded.

The pain of loss haunts all political discussions, and makes every partisan clash feel petty. “You have to understand, for our family and the 2,976 other families, every day is 9/11,” sighed Gordon Haberman last month, mourning his 25-year-old Andrea Haberman 25-years-later.  Israelis remain equally-imprisoned in October 7, three years later. Last Friday’s M’aariv “Musaf” – supplement – featured Rami Davidian, a Nova hero who rescued dozens of partygoers, nevertheless admitting: “I breathe October 7 ever hour and hour.” And Maariv’s front page reported: two of three Israelis fear another October 7.

 “So much has happened since that day – and so much hasn’t,” says Dikla Mizrachi, who “carries the loss” of her murdered 22-year-old son Ben Mizrachi “on her shoulders every second.” Still learning to be a “the mother to a dead child,” she and so many others are living in a parallel universe of pride and pain.

Fortunately, Israelis have also seen many beacons of light. Ben’s heroism in running into the Nova festival chaos, using his skills as a medic to tend to the wounded, has inspired many.  Reuters interviewed some of the 168 freed hostages, now treasuring their freedom, sunsets, cold water, and the people they love. Agam Berger, 22, abused by Hamas for 482 days, explained: “What gives me strength is my family, the people of Israel, to be involved in meaningful activity and to give others the strength of hope.”

The Flydubai terrorist attempt showed the world the threats that continue, the grit Israelis need, the survival skills they’ve developed. Two weeks from now, Israel’s election will highlight the polarization and strategic confusion. But the menace will keep ebbing-and-flowing, as the pain endures, paradoxically reinforcing the refusal to let their enemies rob Israelis of their joy, their quest for meaning, or their country.

Gil Troy is a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University and a Senior Research Fellow at the JPPI, the Jewish People Policy Institute. He is the author of nine books on presidential history and, nine books on modern Zionism, including “To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream”  as well as his latest e-books, “The Essential Guide to the U.S.-Israel Partnership: the 250th Anniversary Edition” – and, with David Suissa, “250 Reasons to Thank America: A Birthday Tribute to Gratitude.”