The Federal President climbs over rubble and dirt in Kibbutz Be’eri, visits destroyed houses and hears reports of murder and terror. He also meets survivors of the October 7 Hamas massacre – will they ever return here?
On the morning of October 7th, the windows in Ziva Jelin’s house vibrated. She woke up her son. She heard the warning signal and suspected that this was not a normal alarm, not a rocket attack, as it happens again and again. The family retreated to the shelter that every house has here. Outside she heard the vehicles with which the attackers rammed their way into the area, shots, explosions, shouts in Arabic. Ziva Jelin received a request via her cell phone to stay in the shelter. “For a long time we didn’t understand what was actually happening,” she says.
Ziva Jelin is 61 years old and was born on Kibbutz Be’eri. She lived in one of the smaller, older houses on the left as seen from the front gate. The attackers moved primarily to the right, towards the newer, larger buildings. And a neighbor of hers, a soldier, was at home on this Shabbat day. With his weapon he shot at everything that moved towards the houses, says Ziva Jelin. “We were lucky.”
High security level despite ceasefire
Be’eri, the kibbutz that Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is visiting this Monday, is almost a synonym for the terror of October 7th. Located near the border with Gaza, it was one of the first Israeli settlements to be attacked by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Palestinian civilians that Saturday morning. According to Israeli figures, 130 of the approximately 1,300 residents were killed and more than 50 were kidnapped. Many houses are destroyed, often completely burned out. The Israeli army later evacuated the kibbutz, the remaining residents now live in emergency accommodation, most of them in a place on the Dead Sea, including Ziva Jelin.
It is the 52nd day since the attack and the fourth day of a ceasefire between the Israeli army and Hamas. Nevertheless, security precautions are high for Steinmeier’s visit. The Federal President and his wife Elke Büdenbender wear protective vests. The exact destination was not allowed to be known in advance; the delegation received several briefings on the precautionary measures.
Steinmeier has been to Israel many times – but the circumstances have never been so dramatic
Ziva Jelin has been to her house a few times to get supplies. She is a painter and for more than 30 years she ran the gallery in Be’eri, which is known far beyond the borders of the kibbutz. Modern art, a place of encounter. On that day she met Steinmeier, who had come to Be’eri with his wife and accompanied by Israeli President Izchak Herzog. You stand in front of the rubble of the completely destroyed gallery.
Steinmeier’s visit to Israel was planned for a long time. Actually, 75 years of Israel should be celebrated. But then October 7th came. It is Steinmeier’s fourth visit to Israel as Federal President. He has been here more than 20 times in total, mostly as foreign minister. He also visited the Gaza Strip once. But never before have the circumstances surrounding a trip to Israel been so dramatic. He came to show solidarity not only to Israel, which fell victim to the attack, but also to Israel “that is defending itself.” The Federal President wants to set an example against growing doubts about Israel’s conduct of the war, without ignoring the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population. A fine line.
On Sunday, Steinmeier met relatives of hostages with German citizenship in Jerusalem. Eight of them are now free, four women and four children. About 15 are still in the hands of their captors. It is uncertain whether everyone is still alive. Freeing hostages in the hands of Islamic Jihad is particularly difficult because contact with this terrorist group can almost only be made through Iran.
Tour of Kibbutz Be’eri. Two Israeli soldiers lead the German visitors into the house of the Kipnis couple, both pensioners. They lived here with their Filipino caretaker. Lilach Kipnis, a former social worker, wrote books for children suffering from trauma due to the constant fear of rocket attacks. You walk through this house over rubble and dirt. It smells of smoke, black streaks everywhere, traces of blood smeared in one room. The Kipnis and their caretaker were brutally murdered here. Israeli soldiers report that 80 percent of the bodies found in Be’eri showed signs of torture.
Some of the dead only had their teeth left
A few meters away, some women, former residents, are standing in front of a house. They are apparently sorting out the remains of their furniture. Another woman comes along and is taken in her arms. People still seem dazed.
Another destroyed house. Vivian Silver, a Canadian Jew who moved to Israel a few years ago, lived here. Silver saw herself as a peace activist; she looked after sick children in the Gaza Strip and sought medical help for them. The Israeli soldiers say that she drove to the border crossings to the Gaza Strip about once a week.
Silver went missing after October 7th. It was only weeks later that remains were discovered in her burned-out house and the woman was identified. Often, the Israeli soldiers say, all they can find are teeth from the dead. On November 11, Vivian Silver was pronounced dead.
Some residents of Be’eri had weapons, some fought back. The army came to help later, late, very late. A woman from the kibbutz says she wasn’t surprised. The government deliberately neglected the border region on the Gaza Strip because it deployed more soldiers to protect settlers in the occupied West Bank. The bodies of around 200 terrorists were later found in Kibbutz Be’eri, says one of the Israeli soldiers. This shows, she says, how many attackers there must have been in total.
“Witness how deeply the soul of Israel has been wounded”
Frank-Walter Steinmeier was deeply impressed after the tour. In Germany, people watched television and read reports, says the Federal President. But seeing the destruction yourself is something different. The kibbutzim, mostly cooperatively organized settlements that live primarily from agriculture and were often founded by European Jews, are “part of the soul of Israel,” says Steinmeier. “To be here is to witness how deeply the soul of Israel has been wounded.”
Germany wants to support the reconstruction of the gallery and a meeting center with seven million euros. Together with President Izchak Herzog, Steinmeier will take over the patronage. When Kibbutz Be’eri is rebuilt.
Sofie Berzon MacKie recently took over the gallery from Ziva Jelin. She also lived in Be’eri with her three children until the Hamas attack. Everyone survived, but what they saw, MacKie says, was “the worst thing you can experience without dying.” She and her children receive therapeutic treatment. They want to decide as a family whether they want to move back to Be’eri. But the memories would stay with her “for the rest of our lives” anyway.
No return as long as Hamas threatens the kibbutz
Under no circumstances, says MacKie, should people return to the kibbutz as long as Hamas still exists and continues to threaten the kibbutz. A life with missile alarms, shelters and evacuations, as has been normal in recent years, “I can no longer expect that from my children after everything that has happened.”
Ziva Jelin, the painter, says she wants to go back to Be’eri. She was born here. “I don’t feel comfortable anywhere else.” She believes the Israeli army’s war against Hamas is inevitable. “We didn’t want this war, but we have to do it.” Some hostages from Be’eri have now been released. But her brother’s 13-year-old granddaughter is still in the hands of the terrorists.
Of course, Ziva Jelin also hears about the children who are dying in the Gaza Strip, losing their parents or fleeing. But, she freely admits, she always thinks first about what happened to the children here in Be’eri and in other places in Israel.