SWAMPSCOTT — Community members gathered at Congregation Shirat Hayam Thursday night to welcome international reporter Steven Rosenberg as he recounted his recent experience in Israel.

Rosenberg has worked in journalism for more than 40 years and has worked for the Jewish Journal since 2017. He is currently a publisher. In January, he spent two weeks in Israel reporting on how the country’s war with Hamas has affected its people on multiple levels.

He cited one of his main inspirations for his work being that he feels the deaths and hardships of Israeli citizens have not received the same amount of attention in the media as that of Palestinians.

“The Palestinian story is being told every day. Surprisingly, the Israeli story is not, in addition to October 7,” Rosenberg said. “The atrocities that took place, the murders, the brutal things that occurred, the rapes, the mutilations, the kidnappings.”

After Rosenberg was introduced by Rabbi Michael Ragozin, a short film made by Rosenberg documenting his firsthand account was shown to the crowd.

The video featured the site where the “Nova music festival” occurred, in which more than 350 attendees were killed. Rosenberg also visited “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv, which has become a central site for Israeli families whose loved ones have been kidnapped by Hamas.

“He has been there for 104 days. We know his situation is not good,” an Israeli citizen said about a kidnapped loved one in the video. “I don’t know what else to say… he needs a hearing aid, he lost a lot of weight, we are very worried about him. And we need him home now.”

Rosenberg and Ragozin led a discussion after the video concluded. The pair emphasized the effect the war has had on the mental health of Israeli citizens, as well as their growing distrust in their own government.

“There’s an estimate that as many as 600,000 people now have PTSD since October 7,” Rosenberg said. “It’s a social contract in the country that calls for the government and the IDF to protect its citizens, and it also calls for the government, and if necessary, the army, to return its citizens from danger. That social contract was broken… There’s a deep distrust in the government.

Rosenberg added that polls demonstrate that current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only a 20% approval rating since the war began. However, Rosenberg said that the citizens appeared very united based on what he witnessed.

Ragozin expressed his gratitude for Rosenberg’s appearance and the knowledge he could share with the congregation’s community.

“This community is very lucky to have the firsthand account of such an esteemed and professional journalist as Steve Rosenberg,” Ragozin said.