(NewsNation) — Eyal Biram, 31, currently studying for his MBA in London, has lost nine friends in the past two weeks since Hamas attacked Israel. As a “Captain in Reserve,” he is prepared to be called up at any time and is willing to lay down his life in the war.
“All of my friends are on the front lines right now,” said Biram.
The looming threat of an Israeli ground invasion in the Gaza Strip has many Israelis considering joining the 360,000 IDF reserve troops on the front line in the conflict with Hamas.
In an interview on “NewsNation Prime,” he shared how his friends had encountered a scene that defied human imagination after Hamas attacked a music festival in Israel.
Biram revealed that he, like many, never anticipated such an extreme escalation of the conflict. He said that the initial shock of the attack was compounded by the fact that there had been a semblance of coexistence with Hamas controlling Gaza since Israel’s disengagement in 2005.
“We just hoped that the Gaza area will be a hope for peace in the Middle East. We hoped it would be a kind of a small Singapore. And for us on Saturday morning, the 7th of October was a total shock,” Biram said.
Biram said there was a need for unity among Israelis in the face of the common enemy, as the conflict transcended political and religious divides.
He discussed the mass evacuations taking place in Israel, with over half a million people displaced due to the ongoing threats from both Hamas in the South and Hezbollah in the North.
“We are not facing just a small terror organization, but rather, Iran with a vision for an Islamic caliphate that I hope will not happen because it will not just put Israel in danger. It will put also the Palestinians in danger,” Biram said.
Biram said with unwavering determination that this was a “die or live” war, emphasizing that Israel had no other option but to defend itself against the attacks from the militant groups.
“We have to win this war to make Israel, the Middle East safe. And as I see it, also, the United States of America and many other Western countries that believe in the same democratic and freedom values,” Biram said.