NAHAL OZ (Israel), Oct 25 — Danny Rahamim pauses for a few moments as he thinks about his neighbours here on an Israeli kibbutz just a few hundred metres from Gaza.
If that was true before October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters stormed the border and carried out their unprecedented attack, it is even more true today, as Israel readies to vote in its first election since the country’s deadliest ever day.
With a sun-tanned bald head and sporting small glasses, Rahamim has spent 50 of his 72 years here at Nahal Oz, which, like many of Israel’s kibbutzim – small communities in the countryside where all work is shared – has historically reflected the socialist ethos of the country’s founders.
The kibbutzim were once bastions of the left, voting for peace with the Palestinians, but three years ago they found themselves on the frontlines of the Hamas attacks.
