TEL AVIV — Last summer, the Shapiros gave Israel a deadline. If the right-wing government continued its push to take power from the courts — a campaign that the couple believed put democracy, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ progress in jeopardy — they would leave.
Then came Oct. 7, when Hamas-led fighters streamed out of Gaza to rampage through Israeli communities. Authorities say they killed around 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, and kidnapped about 240 more.
Now, as the Israel Defense Forces devastate Gaza, rockets fly overhead and war looms in Lebanon, the Shapiros say they can no longer imagine living anywhere else.
“I feel more Israeli than ever,” said Shapiro, who immigrated here from Paris a decade ago. “Last year, I thought I don’t need to be Israeli; I can just be a Jewish woman somewhere in the world living my life.
“Now, I can’t pretend that I’m not part of these people.”
