Massacre mustn't destroy vision of peace sought in Minnesota

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Oct. 7 was supposed to be a relaxed, joyous day. The Sabbath and the Simhat Torah holiday were to be jointly celebrated, a time when families come together and go on picnics. Suddenly, the all too familiar siren — Code Red — blared in the quiet morning hours. It was 6:30 a.m.

Ofir Libstein, head of the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, was with his family in their home in Kfar Aza. Ofir and his wife Vered woke their three kids, ages 10, 14 and 17, and ran into the MAMAD, the fortified safe room within their home that could withstand a direct missile hit. Over the years, the Libsteins along with tens of thousands of Israeli residents living in communities near the Gaza Strip were sadly all too familiar with the warning sirens signaling incoming mortar ordinances or Qassam missiles launched by Hamas from Gaza, affording them 15 seconds to run to shelters. Due to the decades of missile attacks, the local municipality raised funds to reconstruct the area's schools and kindergartens to withstand a direct missile hit.

But Oct. 7 was not an ordinary attack. Ofir heard the ominous sound of heavy machine guns. Something was awfully wrong. Vered recounted how Ofir took his gun, his helmet and protective vest, and ran out. His brother Doron recounted that Ofir saw paragliders in the sky shooting down toward the kibbutz residents. Ofir ran to the armory where rifles and ammunition were stored. In emergencies a civil guard of army veterans are in charge of defending the kibbutz.

Ofir was apparently the first. He took a rifle and ran back toward his home to defend it. Ofir was confronted by two jeeps carrying approximately 20 Hamas terrorists who sprayed the community with heavy machine guns. Ofir did not stand a chance. He was killed outside his home with the rifle by his side. Seven hours later when his wife and three boys were rescued by Sayeret Matkal, Israel's Delta Force, they had to walk over Ofir's lifeless body.

The tragedy of the family did not end there. Ofir and Vered's older 19-year-old son, Nitzan, shared an apartment in the kibbutz with other youth. Hamas terrorists also attacked their residence. Nitzan was shot in his thigh but managed to shelter in the safe room. He called his mother and later his aunt, a doctor, who instructed him on how to dress his wounds to stop the bleeding. Nitzan's cellphone battery died out after two hours. When Sayeret Mattkal finally stormed the house in the late afternoon they overcame and killed four Hamas terrorists in the apartment. There was blood all over the safe room. As of today, there is no sign of Nitzan. His family fears the worst — that he was killed or, in another horrific scenario, dragged by Hamas into captivity in Gaza.

The family's tragedy continued. Nitzan's grandmother was shot dead by Hamas as were two of his cousins.

As of today, 53 of the members of Kibbutz Kfar Aza were killed, 17 are missing and seven were abducted to Gaza. Kibbutz Kfar Aza, with a population of 700 hundred people, lost 10% of its population on Oct. 7. Bodies were booby trapped. Some were beheaded. Most of the homes were burned or dynamited by the terrorists.

Ofir Libstein loved his community. He was of modest demeanor, with a lot of energy, beaming with contagious optimism, always smiling. Ofir's successes are seen all over Shaar Hanegev: new kindergartens, improved playgrounds, better services for the nursing home, physical therapy and hydrotherapy, cultural activities and concerts year round. In his address for the Jewish new year on Sept. 15, Ofir emphatically referred to Shaar Hanegev as "my private Heaven."

Indeed, Ofir was extremely proud of his singular famed tourism project Darom Adom Festival (South Red) celebrating the blossom of the Kalaniot during the spring of each year when tens of thousands families come from all over the country to see the blossom of these wild red flowers.

The Libstein family's tragedy is also our own, as in his life, Ofir articulated and worked toward fostering peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. As a local leader, Ofir believed in the power of entrepreneurship and creating business opportunities as an effective vehicle to soften if not totally overcome the bitter, lasting Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

To that end, Ofir took part in a program with Israeli and Palestinian entrepreneurs entitled "Education to Employment" sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, and held here, at Hamline University. Ofir offered to build a platform — the Dolphins — "as a social start up encouraging residents in the region from both sides of the border to dream, initiate, create and take responsibility for designing their communal life … and fulfill their social and economic vision."

The Star Tribune, which covered the story, succinctly underscored the promise of Ofir's idea: "commerce and collaboration can trump national borders and religious differences when it comes to planning a better future."

Is Ofir's vision dead or just on hiatus? It is time to eradicate the religious fanaticism and bigotry championed by Hamas and its sponsors so that Ofir's vision for coexistence can have a chance to succeed.

Arie Zmora was a co-director of the multiple exchange programs among Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and Lebanese funded by U.S. Department of State at Hamline University from 2001 through 2013.