On the anniversary of the October 7 attack, Yonatan, brother of Alon, who was killed in Kfar Aza, wrote about grief, family memory and the need for a state commission of inquiry.
Yonatan, whose brother Alon was killed in Kfar Aza, recalls in a personal reflection for the October 7 anniversary his brother’s last message: “I love you. You are strong.” Three years later, he still returns to those words in search of strength.
At first, he writes, he was trying to learn how to breathe inside the catastrophe. In the second year he began to understand the scale of the void; now he fears that, with time, names will turn into numbers. Preparing the national memorial ceremony brings him back to the pain, he says, while also offering a small sense of support.
Yonatan hopes people with different views and beliefs will gather in the park to stand together in the face of a shared tragedy. He urges people to see the individual behind every photograph and family, and says remembering those killed, abducted and those who went out to rescue others is a responsibility shared by Israelis.
He also calls for a state commission of inquiry. In his view, the country must establish how the disaster happened, who was responsible and what must change to build a safer future. “I don’t know if the pain will ever become smaller. I know I want it to have a direction,” he writes.
Yonatan is identified as Alon’s brother and a co-founder of the Kumu movement and the national memorial ceremony organized by families of October 7 victims.