PBS News Hour - Full Show - Israelis mark Passover in shadow of war: 'We cannot celebrate together'

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

This year, Easter and Passover coincided, not only with each other, but with the war in Iran. That led to subdued holidays in Israel. Gatherings were restricted in size, and access to Jerusalem was severely limited. Producer Karl Bostic and Nick Schifrin report on Passover under fire in Israel. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

This year, Easter and Passover coincided not only with each other, but with the war in Iran. And that led to subdued holidays in Israel. Gatherings were restricted in size, and access to Jerusalem was severely limited. Producer Carl Bostic and Nick Schifrin have this report on Passover in Israel under fire. This year in the Holy Land, the holidays turned into tests of faith. Residents in Metula, Israel's northernmost town, rush inside whatever reinforced room, offers seconds of safety. The sirens of incoming Hezbollah rockets or missiles provide only 15 seconds of warning.

What sounds like distant booms, outgoing Israeli air defense, on the first day of Passover. We are not safe. We cannot celebrate together like each year, every year. It was a missile. It's here. This is the car. Damage no more. Miriam Hood shows producer Carl Bostic the aftermath of a Hezbollah strike just last week.

This car, on her street, full of pockmarks, her hotel pierced by shrapnel. She owns the base Shalom. She says Passover doesn't feel as it should. Is there a reason to celebrate right now? No. No reason. We are not celebrate today. We stay home, no family.

Holy Week is supposed to help inaugurate spring, but for many of the faithful this year that joy was missing, and instead weeks of war left emptiness. What should have been a full Western wall was instead deserted because of restrictions on group gatherings during the war. In northern Israel, with Lebanon in the distance, that means a town largely evacuated. One of Matula's residents who stayed behind — This is the traditional food for Pesach. — is both spiritual guide and protector.

Israel Pachter is a reservist on duty and a rabbi in Matula. He helps residents hold on to their spirit and their homes. The end of this street, it's Lebanon. Hezbollah also thought it's a very good idea to start with us, and he started. During the war with Iran, Israel says Hezbollah fired more than 2100 drones and missiles into northern Israel. Rockets, fire, whatever it's going to be, we are here to protect our community. We're me and my friends, and we do it 24 hours a day.

We first met Pachter two years ago when he and his wife Sarah were evacuated following the October 7 terrorist attacks in the 2023 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Part of the winning is to keep our morality up. Today Israel has invaded southern Lebanon to create what it calls a security belt along the border so Mottula's residents can remain if they choose. Of course, it's not peacefully in quiet now, like regular, and a lot of families went out only for Pesach. Many Matula residents fled here, Tiberius, 40 miles to the south, an ancient biblical

city on the Sea of Galilee, where Scripture says Jesus walked on water. And it's a temporary home for the displaced, to mark the moment the Jews gained freedom from a vengeful Pharaoh in Egypt. Moshe Weinstein leads the Passover Seder with his family and Matula residents. But one is missing. His son, Omer, was killed in October 24 by a Hezbollah rocket. Omer was supposed to inherit the family farm from his father. His gravestone overlooks the outskirts of Mutula.

If I had stayed in the synagogue and prayed 24-7 for a son like Omer, I wouldn't have received one. Across the table from him, his son-in-law, Mushi Wachal. This is the husband of my daughter. And the Wogshaws continued the family business on the same land, where the family has lived more than a century. Despite being there for five generations, have you ever thought about getting mature? We returned after the war.

Our daughter asked us not to return. We promised her that at the first siren, we would leave. And we haven't kept that promise. The current war started and we stayed in Matula. Because on this holiday that marks Jews escape from bondage toward the biblical promised land, they hold on to their homes in the face of war. For the PBS News Hour, I'm Nick Schifrin.