Emma Bouvin: Three years later, the wound is still wide open

Everyone in Israel remembers where they were on October 7, 2023, at 06:29 in the morning. That's when the terrorist group Hamas launched its massive attack on Israel, an attack that still sends shockwaves through Israel on an essentially daily basis.

It could be about a Hamas commander who is said to have been killed, or about relatives who still have no answers as to how it could happen, how their loved ones could be taken away from them. Recently, it has been about the anniversary. In Israel, it was celebrated a couple of days ago, during the holiday of Simchat Torah, which was the same holiday as the attack.

October 7 is highly present in the election campaigns, which are intense and aggressive

On Simchat Torah, religious Jews dance to pay homage to the holy scriptures and to end the Jewish holiday season. This year, a group wanted to dance in the place where the Nova festival was held three years ago, the place where 378 partying youths were killed by Hamas patrols.

Others absolutely did not want anyone dancing there. Relatives of youths who were deprived of their lives raised their voices against the initiative, protesting that it would dance "on their blood". They saw it not as a tribute, but as an affront.

There was still dancing. But mostly in a parking lot adjacent to what used to be the stage area at the festival. In the place where thousands, unaware of what was to come, danced on October 7, a silent protest was held instead.

Israel is a divided country. It is especially noticeable now, when the people will soon go to the polls. The other week I was standing on a street in Jerusalem, right under a huge poster with the face of extreme right-wing minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, when some young opposition election workers clashed with weekend fliers. Some passers-by got so mad just by seeing the whale workers on the street that they went up and roared in their faces. Others spat as they passed.

The opinion polls show roughly the same situation as in the Swedish Riksdag: deadlock. There are two equal-sized blocs, neither of which can form its own majority, and then there is a group of Arab-Israeli parties that both blocs refuse to cooperate with.

Yet the war did not end. Nevertheless, the wound is still open

October 7 is highly present in the election campaigns, which are intense and aggressive. "The government must be replaced or it will happen again!" "If the opposition wins, it will happen again!"

The fear of it happening again is ever-present.

The bloody children's rooms in Kibbutz Be'eri, the stench of death in the Novafestival field, the corpses along the highway in southern Israel and the stories of the traumatized survivors. All that is etched on the retina of those of us who experienced the days after the attack. Some things don't go away because time goes by. Some things maybe shouldn't either, some horrible memories have to be repeated and repeated so that no one will ever forget.

Just after the previous anniversary, Israel and Hamas agreed on a deal. The last Israeli hostages were released and Palestinian prisoners were freed. The most intense part of the war in Gaza, which cost tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, ended.

Yet the war did not end. Nevertheless, the wound is still open. The Israeli, current government, is not doing much to try to heal it, quite the opposite. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used part of his anniversary speech to talk about revenge. About how everyone involved should be punished.

The question is whether the opposition can do something different, should it win.

And if the Israelis will be allowed to dance again. Together.

Read more: Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023