“[There has] been shock and horror as to what has occurred, with… the acute scale of the Hamas terrorist atrocity, and it must be referred to as a Hamas terrorist atrocity.
“This is not the Palestinian people, this is Hamas and they’re terrorists, and it’s an atrocity.”
On 7 October the militant terrorist group that governs the Gaza Strip – Hamas – launched an invasion into Israel and ransacked several border towns, killing thousands of Jewish civilians and abducting hundreds more.
The response from Israel has been to declare war against Gaza, to cut supplies into the strip and bomb the Palestinian exclave.
“I think the main thing is the defeat of Hamas… they have a goal that is to eradicate Israel and the Jewish people and so Hamas must be overcome, for the safety of the Palestinian people, as well as the Jewish Israeli people.”
Pictured: The Gaza Strip is a Palestinian exclave populated with more than two million Palestinians.
The escalating conflict has been broadcast in real time via social media and Mr Vogel said it can lead to some people misunderstanding and misrepresenting the situation.
“I think the media coverage does give a disproportionate amount of voice to certain people that don’t seem to understand the history of Palestine and the fact that Jews have lived for centuries in the Israeli territory…
“It wasn’t an introduction of new people to new lands, and… most importantly, Israel gave Palestine the opportunity for them to manage themselves and be their own country. But unfortunately, the uprising of Hamas has led to territorial terrorist activity rather than living together harmoniously.
“It would be nice if, throughout the Middle East and throughout Israel and Palestine in particular, people could find a way to work for peace rather than trying to eradicate another faction, another group of people that don’t accord with your same religious views.”
“This isn’t political, it isn’t religious, this is just totally inhumane, barbaric behaviour.”
Mr Vogel told Express that there is a strong Jewish community in Guernsey that has been growing over the past few years and it has come together in support of each other during this difficult time.
“You’ve got a strong Jewish community here in Guernsey that has come together over the past few years... and obviously an atrocity as grave as this has brought us together more. We have come together to check that other people who are from the island are safe.
“That naturally then led us to our next question – when we established they were safe – how can we help? And the simplest thing was to send funds to improve the quality of protection; bulletproof helmets, jackets for the reservists who’ve been called up… so, we’ve been donating money.”
Mr Vogel said support from the local community is very welcome.
Pictured: Israeli/Palestinian relations have led to decades of intermittent fighting.
Mr Vogel said Guernsey is lucky to have people who are offering not only their help, but support to those struggling with the impact of what is happening in Israel and Gaza.
“We’re very lucky that we have amongst us, Marni Alexander, who is a professional counsellor and coach,” he said.
“She is dedicating a huge amount of her time to counselling people around the world who are suffering with loss and grief.
“We’re very privileged to live in a very safe, very, very warm environment surrounded by a fantastic community… so, our focus is more looking outside.
“This weekend has been very, very tough for all of us. This is the biggest terrorist atrocity [against the Jewish community] for 50 years.”