‘Most people are in such pain they can’t see pain on the other side’

Second Lieutenant Yannai Kaminka, who was killed on October 7 while staving off Hamas’s attack on Gaza border communities, was raised by parents who live according to the principle, “Love thy neighbour as thyself”.

In the case of Yannai’s mother, Elana Kamina, the neighbours in question are Palestinians, especially the residents of Wadi Fukin village situated in a valley beneath the sprawling town of Tzur Hadassah where she lives.

“They are our neighbours. How could you have a good life if you aren’t considerate of your neighbours?” she asked in an interview at her home, during which she sharply criticised authorities for demolishing Wadi Fukin houses during the current war.

Her concern for Palestinians is rare now. Israelis, reeling from the Hamas onslaught, have become far more afraid of Arabs and aggressive in their thinking of how to relate to them. There is a wide tendency to generalise that all Arabs, and not just Hamas, pose a threat.

Yannai, who was 20, died a hero’s death on October 7, when about 1200 Israelis were killed by Hamas, some in gruesome fashion. The vast majority of victims on the deadliest day in Israeli history were civilians. The Hamas invasion triggered a devastating Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has seen even its allies strongly criticise Israel.

Yannai was killed after helping to save the lives of newly drafted soldiers under his command by sending them to a shelter for relative safety. Yannai thought the new soldiers did not have enough training to participate in the battle so he and other officers and sergeants took up posts in place of their subordinates and fought in defence of the Zikim army base without them, Kaminka explained. Only one Hamas militant got through to the base and the adjacent Kibbutz Zikim was unscathed.

In speaking with Kaminka, 49, a marketing writer and an executive board member of the Tag Meir group that seeks to counter violent extremism, one taps into the origins of Yannai’s concern for others and the sense of responsibility that he displayed on October 7.