Eilon Kotler survived the October 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists on the Kfar Aza kibbutz he had called home for all of his 40 years. Others were not so lucky.

“They killed us just because we were Jewish,” he says. The kibbutz, with a population of only about 400, lost 62 people in the attack, including Kotler’s best friend. Another 19 were taken hostage, and five of those people remain in Hamas captivity.