Israeli embassy official addresses Hagerstown synagogue congregation about Hamas attack

Addressing the local Jewish congregation at its synagogue Sunday, an official from the Israeli embassy reflected on the Hamas attack that began a week ago, the response of Israeli people and the "extraordinary support" that Israel has received from other countries.

Noach Hacker, minister of economic affairs from Israel's embassy in Washington, D.C., was originally scheduled to speak to Congregation B'nai Abraham on Sunday about Israel's economy as part of the congregation's "To Life!" program series this year. The series marks the 130th anniversary of the local congregation and the 75th anniversary of the State of Israel.

After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, a Jewish holiday, Hacker changed his plans to talk instead about the attack and its fallout.

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Hacker shared a few stories about people he knew who fought to defend their "brothers and sisters" and died that early October weekend. He also talked about the need to continue to fight for Israel.

"We cannot accept anything less than a clear victory," Hacker said to about 50 congregation members in attendance at the synagogue near downtown Hagerstown and to about another 20 members watching via Zoom.

"The Jewish nation cannot be defeated," Hacker said. "The civilized and moral world will always prevail over the barbaric one."

Referencing the rocket and ground attacks, Hacker said that "Within the stories of horror, stories of heroism also come to light."

Israeli men and women left their homes that holiday "without any call from military authorities, but solely because they heard their brothers and sisters were in danger."

"They didn't wait for the right equipment or transportation. They collected what they could along the way, many times from fallen soldiers. And ran forward to save their people from the hands of the terrorist murderers," Hacker said.

Congregation President Lori Slavik said afterward that she and her husband, Stephen, returned home four weeks ago from a 10-day trip to Israel.

It was "quiet and peaceful" with no indication "anything like this" would happen, she said.

Hacker told the congregation that the "extraordinary support we've received from friendly nations, particularly the United States, have been truly unprecedented."

However, that support could wane over time, he said.

"Let it be known that the State of Israel and the people of Israel will never forget. We will continue to fight until victory is achieved for there is simply no alternative," Hacker said.

"Our strength, our resilience also depends on your unwaivering support. My brothers, my sisters, I implore you to continue showing your support through social networks, conversations with friends and acquaintances, and in any other way possible. We must ensure that such tragedy is never repeated. When we use the term 'Never again,' we truly mean never again," Hacker said.

"This is a time for us to come together, together we can stand strong and protect our people, our homeland and our future," he said.

Asked by a man in the main sanctuary about the possibility of attacks to Israel from the north, Hacker said embassy officials don't share that kind of intelligence information.

"We are sure that there are threats coming towards us. We know that. But as I said before, we're not going to stop until we have a clear victory. We can't, we can't," Hacker said.

Understanding that Hamas' objective is to kill Jews, Hacker said, "We can't live with that. We can't have that organization on our borders."

"So we prepare ourselves for other threats and our friends, the United States, helps us," Hacker said.

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At the time Hacker spoke, Israel had ordered more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza to move south as it prepared for a ground offensive.

As of presstime Monday, the ground offensive had not begun.

Asked after the program what message he had for the local community, Rabbi Mark Perman said, "That we appreciate the support of the greater community for what the Jewish people are struggling with."

"We feel the suffering" of all innocent people who have been and continue to be affected by this, Perman said. That includes the innocent Palestinian civilians.

Lori Slavick said innocent Palestinians have been persecuted and oppressed by Hamas, who uses those civilians as "human shields" and prevents them from leaving Gaza.

Perman asked the local community for "prayers and continued support."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Israeli embassy official addresses Congregation B'nai Abraham about war