Israel awoke Saturday morning to a nightmare.
More than a hundred killed, more than a thousand wounded, dozens kidnapped, terrorists holding hostages in cities, images of innocent civilians being herded into Gaza, thousands of rockets raining down everywhere from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
All of a sudden, the worst possible scenario—a scenario long feared could transpire in the north with Hezbollah infiltrators from Lebanon—materialized in the south. Seemingly out of nowhere, seemingly without warning.
Fifty years after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Israel—which for weeks has been debating and dissecting and discussing the lessons of that war—was caught again off guard, unprepared and surprised. A half-century later, we are facing what seems to be yet another colossal intelligence failure.
But just as suddenly, something else happened as well.
Just as suddenly, everything else pales in comparison. Just as suddenly, the mechitza wars in Tel Aviv seemed inconsequential. Just as suddenly, the reasonableness clause seemed a lot less important. Just as suddenly, those who said they would not show up for reserve duty showed up at their bases along with those who were called out of the synagogue on Shabbat/Simchat Torah in an emergency call-up.
Suddenly, the country, so divided, found a reason to unite.
Even the politicians—who all bear responsibility for the destructive divisiveness that descended upon the country over the last few months—spoke in more conciliatory terms about national unity.
Calls for victory in war
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring the nation at war, said, "I call on all citizens of Israel to unite in order to achieve our highest goal – victory in the war."
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said he told Netanyahu that "in this emergency situation, I'm willing to put aside our differences and form an emergency, narrow, professional government." And National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz said, "I want to say clearly, in a way that resonates from Gaza, via Beirut, to Tehran: the entire people of Israel are united."
Finally.
It took a sneak attack, the murder of civilians, the kidnapping of men, women, and children, but finally, the country is now radiating a sense of being one again.
For years, even before the creation of the current government and the judicial overhaul debate, there was an old saying that that if the Arabs would just leave the Jews alone, the Jews would kill themselves.
Over the last few months, it seemed at times as if we were determined to do just that.
Hamas’ attack, an attack that was carefully prepared and undoubtedly coordinated with other malevolent actors in the region, showed that the Arabs can not leave the Jews alone. And, as a result, the Israelis are doing what they have proven an uncanny ability to do in the past: put aside their tremendous differences to face a common enemy more dangerous than any domestic bogeyman that they may have constructed.
Isn't it a shame, many people are obviously thinking, that it takes a tragedy of this proportion—that it takes nothing less than a war—to unite this nation?
Of course, it's a shame. Literally, a crying shame. But at least we have that.
At least the country has the ability to put everything aside and come together when under attack. It's undeniably a weakness that Israel is such a badly divided nation. But it's undeniably a strength that this badly divided nation is able—at least in times of emergency—to put those differences aside and rally together.
It must, because the alternative is unthinkable.