Sad Update

Dear all, as you probably know, Israel was gravely attacked on Saturday, October, 7 2023 by Hamas terrorists coming from the Gaza streak. More than a thousand civilians including many children and babies were murdered and more than a hundred civilians, among them babies, children and elderly people were kidnapped to Gaza. Many of the victims were inhabitants of Israeli kibbutzim and towns near the Gaza streak border. Many others were young people participating in a music festival in the south. The atrocities perpetrated against these innocent civilians are incomprehensible.

Saturday’s attack has led to a fierce war between Israel and the Hamas forces in Gaza. The Israeli goals are to strip Hamas and other terrorist groups that are currently controlling Gaza from their military capabilities, and to lead to the release of the hostages. There are, of course, concerns that the war might be extended to other fronts. In the meantime, Israelis all over the country (and mainly, near Gaza) are subject to heavy rocket firing. Air-raid sirens are wailing incessantly, forcing everyone to run to residential secure spaces or shelters. 

While hundreds of thousands of Israelis were called to reserve duty, we still plan to open the 2023/2024 academic year on November 4, and we will try to keep teaching and hold other scientific activities (on my part, this may also include blogging on academic matters from time to time). There were also some nice initiatives by Israeli Professors to offer private lessons to students in mathematics, physics and computer science. (Here are some FB links by Lior Silberman, Aryeh Kontorovich, Shai Whyborski, and others).