Lianne was me

Last year I wrote a piece in my Times of Israel blog about Oct 7th, 2023 (You can read it here). To summarize, it was me venting about how I was feeling after what happened that day. How my trust in many international organizations had disappeared, how I felt alone, frustrated, and more. 2 years later, I feel the same. Nothing has changed.

I am writing this from Bulgaria. Husband and I decided we couldn't be in Israel for the 2 years of that horrible attack by Hamas on Israeli territory. Why? Because everything, and I mean everything, would remind me of what we lost and what we are still trying to rescue: our people and some sense of coexistence.

But you can never run away from what runs deep in your soul, and in different moments of our trip, even while writing this article, I have heard Israelis around me. All the memories came back, the wound started bleeding again, and I remembered that my world, as cliché as it sounded, exploded on October 7th, 2023.

Who is Lianne?

While waiting for my husband in the car, I was casually scrolling on Twitter and saw this post. Paraphrasing it, it basically says that Eli Sharabi's wife was not Jewish, and therefore their kids were not Jewish either (Judaism passes via the mother). "Despite" not being Jewish, they were still murdered.

I really couldn't believe it. This was the first time reading this new piece of information, so I had to do some quick research. Unfortunately, I do not have a paid subscription to The Telegraph (here is the link in case you do), but the headlines confirmed the news I got before.

And I burst into tears. Lianne was like me, a non-Jewish foreigner married to a Jewish Israeli man and building a life here, in the so-called Holy Land. She probably went through the whole partner visa process, proving to the Minister of Interior that her love for Eli was real. She did the whole ordeal and stayed with Eli to raise their kids together in his, now their, land. They were building their legacy, just like my husband and I are doing now.

Many non-Israelis were kidnapped and/or killed on October 7th, 2023, but Lianne and Eli are a living example of a mixed couple, a minority community within the Israeli population, but we exist, and we also suffered a lot that day and since that day.

Why are today's Lianne important?

Because as a minority within the different Israeli communities, we can provide a safe space for the Jewish community, which incidentally is also a minority - 0.2% worldwide. When we are abroad, my husband is no longer coming from Israel; he is currently walking the streets of Bulgaria as a Peruvian.

He can use my last name, my citizenship, and my representation as needed when needed. He should not have to hide his roots, but if I can protect him, and I want to always protect him, my country and my roots are his to hold as his.

Before Oct 7th, I had my doubts about getting an Israeli citizenship at the end of my partner visa process. Today, I can't wait to hold that blue passport and say one of my homelands is the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That my land is a land of fighters, of resilient people, of survivors.

Lianne was me

2 years is too long. We have been holding our breath too long. I represent a community of Liannes (Mixed Neshamot), and every day is as painful as the first one. We sent our partners to the reserves. We fight for them online and offline. We lick our wounds in private and go back to the international arena to make sure our partners and our kids have a world to go explore whenever they want.

We have cut family and friends ties for the sake of our relationships. We have and will stand with our partners unconditionally. We are still trying to rescue our people and some sense of coexistence. We are still here.

Lianne was not Jewish. Lianne and her non-Jewish daughters were brutally murdered on October 7th, 2023. Eli was taken hostage in Gaza and spent 491 days in captivity. Only on the day of his release, Eli learned about his wife and daughters.

Lianne was not Jewish. I am not Jewish. Lianne was brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists. I am somehow still alive. Lianne was me, and I wish I could hug Eli, because even though I do not know what it means to lose your other half and your kids, I do know what it means and takes to build a mixed family in Israel.