The farmer wears a shirt that says “To the last furrow” and carries a personal gun. This isn’t the “Wild West”, this is Kibbutz Erez located north of the Gaza Strip. The Kibbutz is located just one kilometer (approx. half a mile) from the border with the Gaza Strip but their orchards are just 500 meters away. The farmers there take very seriously Joseph Trumpeldor’s declaration: “In the place where the Jewish plow will carve the final furrow, there our border shall be”
This declaration crystalizes the importance of Israeli agriculture as a national security issue, beyond the fact that a country that cannot feed itself is under existential threat. Israel, a land surrounded by enemies, needs the physical presence of Jews to hold and protect the land. It is the presence of farmers working the land who define our borders.
The military protects farmers. Farmers protect and hold the land. That is the equation.
If Hollywood produced a movie about what happened in Kibbutz Erez on October 7th, viewers would find the plot unbelievable. A friend’s daughter lives there with her husband and small baby. Her husband took his personal gun, locked her and the baby in the safe room, and went out to join the small group of men prepared to guard the Kibbutz.
The emergency guard is there to deal with small problems, individual terrorists. They are not supposed to have to hold off invaders, that’s the army’s job. But on October 7th, the IDF did not come.
The invaders came with overwhelming firepower – automatic weapons, grenades, and RPGs. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned – these few brave men fought for their lives and for their families. When they ran out of bullets, kids reloaded gun magazines. When one of the men was severely wounded, they managed to pull him into a house – which was later hit by an RPG but miraculously no one was further hurt.
They fought for HOURS. And they WON.
Amir Naim, may God avenge his blood, fell in the battle for Kibbutz Erez. He and his friends, a few brave men who stood alone against impossible odds, saved the Kibbutz from a massacre.
{Reposted from the author’s blog}
