SAN DIEGO — Two years? It feels more like 20.

Another person who feels that way is Maha Shbeir, who worked as a doctor at Nasser hospital in Gaza. She recently told a reporter for the Associated Press that she feels as if over the last two years she has seen two decades' worth of pain, tragedy, suffering and hunger.

"I've seen cases of children, elderly people, women, cases of amputation, burns, head injuries," Shbeir said. "They weren't cases that a normal person could... I don't know how we will recover in the future from them, from those scenes that we've seen."

More than 67,000 Palestinians are dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands of others have been displaced, and starvation and illness in Gaza are widespread.

Look, I'm an ally of Israel. But some days, that's not easy to say. On the evening news, I see what I see. It's heartbreaking to see images of wounded and starving Palestinian children in Gaza, many of whom have lost one or both parents at the hands of the Israeli military.

But compassion shouldn't cause amnesia. The original sin was the monstrous acts of depravity committed by Hamas terrorists during a horrific daylong attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023. More than 1,200 people were killed — including many women, children and elderly people who lived in peaceful enclaves. More than 250 Israelis were kidnapped and taken into Gaza, many of them hidden in the homes of Palestinians who the media often refers to as "innocent."

So much has happened in 24 months. Here's some of the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good: The terrorist group Hezbollah — which has fired rockets into Israel since the mid-1990s — foolishly tried to take advantage of the chaos following Oct. 7. It was almost completely destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces. Just a few months ago, Iran — Hezbollah's chief benefactor — had much of its military and nuclear program destroyed in a 12-day war with Israel and the United States. Much of Hamas' leadership have been killed, along with top Iranian generals and scientists who worked on the country's nuclear program. Israel picked herself up off the ground and brought her enemies to their knees.

The bad: The Israeli population is deeply divided. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more polarizing than ever. Netanyahu was the right person to lead Israel in wartime. The moment called for strength, conviction and an iron will. Netanyahu had all three. But if and when this war comes to an end, his future is uncertain. The Israeli leader has a lot to answer for, ranging from accusations of corruption that predate the attack to questions about how his administration missed the warning signs that an attack was coming and why the IDF failed to come to aid of terrified Israelis hiding in bomb shelters.

The ugly: The inexcusable wave of antisemitism that followed the Oct. 7 attack — which traveled halfway around the world to infect many U.S. colleges and universities — has not dissipated. More than 145 nations now recognize a Palestinian state, and some hope the gesture will give the Palestinian people leverage against Israel. In September, a group of Western countries including France, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom joined the club. Of course, a Palestinian state is a nonstarter if there is any chance that it will be led by Hamas, which has vowed to carry out more Oct. 7-style attacks.

In this tragedy, the hostages loom large. According to media reports, just 48 remain in Gaza and only about 20 are thought to be alive. As part of the peace talks now taking place in Egypt, Hamas has said it will release the remaining hostages only in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The talks have come not a moment too soon for Jewish Americans.

According to a recent poll by The Washington Post, as many as 61% of American Jews say Israel is guilty of war crimes and about 4 in 10 say the country has committed genocide against the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are home and Hamas has been destroyed.

To be sure, these are noble goals. Yet it feels like what's really being destroyed is the special rapport between Israel and the Jewish diaspora in the United States. That relationship is priceless. If it breaks, it probably can't be fixed. That would be a terrible loss for both parties.

Let's hope Netanyahu understands that.

To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Taylor Brandon at Unsplash