Anxious and Armed, Israel Has Been Transformed After Hamas Attack
- After Oct. 7’s security failings many citizens take up arms
- Israel’s Jews and Arabs alike are gripped by a sense of unease
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Israeli children, long free to wander, are now routinely chaperoned. Gun license applications are up by a factor of eight. Self-defense classes are oversubscribed.
Since Hamas operatives crossed into Israel on a killing and kidnapping spree on Oct. 7, a society that enjoyed 15 years of calm and rising prosperity remains haunted by scenes of slaughter. Israelis have been left traumatized by the fear that thousands of militants on their borders will try again — and that their security services might again fail.