Your humble editor has recently been in touch with several professionals in the Israeli lighting industry. Understandably, many of them prefer to remain off the record. Yesterday, we featured a Zoom interview with lighting designer Dorit Malin, and today, we published an email from an OEM. You can find his unedited comments below, but please be aware that they contain graphic content and may be challenging to read.
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Dear Randy,
Unfortunately, at noon I will pay my last respects to the son of a dear friend of mine who was murdered at the music festival that took place near Kibbutz Re’im
The facts that have been published over the past few days shock us all
Beyond the unimaginable number of innocent civilians who were murdered, the way they were massacred should infuriate any person of conscience
The rescue teams found babies and toddlers who had been burned while alive and other who were beheaded
In one of the destroyed houses was found the body of a pregnant woman shot in the head with her stomach cut open and the fetus removed from her womb and stabbed, and It is not possible to know what came before what
I am sorry that I must share these horrific descriptions with you, but it is important that your readers know why Israel is embarking on a war of attrition against the Hamas organization
This is not revenge! This is a justified preventive war against a cruel enemy who has removed himself from the family of civilized nations
Just like the justified war waged by the Allies against the Nazis until their defeat and eradication
The Israeli army called on the residents of Gaza to leave the battle zones through safe evacuation routes to reduce as much as possible the harm to the civilian population
The next few weeks will be difficult, but we will not give up until security and peace return to the people of Israel
Modern history has often shown that out of the abyss of bloody conflict a new era of peace can emerge
Although it is difficult to see now, I hope that the elimination of Hamas will allow the rise of moderate and pragmatic forces in Palestinian society
In the long run, peace and understanding between our two peoples is as basic a need as life itself
-Yoav Avinur
