War, as so often has been said, is hell. It unleashes an emotional tidal wave of fear and foreboding, grief and hardship. But war also can provide a panorama of crystal-clear clarity. And that is what we are seeing displayed before us today in stunning fashion.
First and foremost, anyone in the world with the ability or inclination to see – CNN and BBC obviously not included – now has a vivid picture of what true evil looks like. We in Israel have observed this ugly image from up close for at least a century, as we experienced the horrors of, among many others, the 1929 Hebron massacre; the Coastal Road massacre; the Park Hotel massacre; the Sbarro massacre; the too-numerous massacres of the two intifadas; and now, the Simchat Torah massacre.
None of these attacks had anything to do with “Palestinian persecution” or imagined injustice. They existed before there was the façade of a Palestine and are generated solely by a deadly combination of hatred for Jews and an insatiable blood lust.
When Ishmael, from whom the Arab nations are descended, was born, an angel proclaimed: “He will be a pereh adam; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him” (Genesis 16:12). The term “pereh adam” is often mistranslated as “wild man,” but it actually means “a wild creature in the guise of a man.” And this is exactly what we witnessed in the rampage on the Gaza border communities.
Subhuman animals that tore apart babies, raped young girls, mutilated bodies – and then gleefully displayed their victims on international screens. Some have characterized these creatures as contemporary Nazis and, while they certainly deserve this slur, they are far below Nazis. Nazis tried to camouflage and hide their crimes, while the Palestinians are openly proud of them; Nazis ultimately tried to save themselves and their families, while these degenerates are more than happy to sacrifice their lives if it means killing more Jews.
No, we have another, more concise model for these monsters – Amalek. Long ago, the Torah spoke of a tribal entity, a type of perverse, warped personality whose entire raison d’être is the extermination of Am Yisrael, no matter what the cost to them. We battled them in biblical times on several occasions – beginning with Joshua, who dealt them a heavy blow – but they managed to survive, and their deadly DNA is what powered the killers this past week.
Their children are fed a diet of hatred and shahidism, guaranteeing that they will perpetuate their poisonous venom for many years down the line. Because killing Jews is their entire reason for living, they cannot be persuaded, chastised, clinically treated, or bought off; they can only be eliminated en masse. This is the Torah’s instruction to us, a commandment of God that we highlight each Purim when we recall one of their ilk, Haman.
Yet, along with the vivid picture of this terrible evil, we are also witnessing its polar opposite: the dedication to life and liberty, the pure spirit exemplified by both our holy soldiers of the IDF and our people as a whole. The outpouring of love for one another, the donation of anything and everything that will help our armed forces, the camaraderie and unity that we now feel for one another are truly astounding.
Gone are the divisions between Left and Right, pro- and anti-reform, religiously observant or not. Instead, we are one nation with one heart and one goal: victory over the forces of evil. The critics who prophesied our demise have been silenced; the terrorists who sought our destruction have brought a wall of devastation down upon themselves and their families.
The chance to wipe out the cancer of Islamic radicalism
But – this fight is just beginning, and herein lies the opportunity that cries out to us. Though much of the world refuses to acknowledge it, there is a worldwide jihad lurking on our doorsteps. The battle taking place in Israel is but a prime example of what already is, or will be, the scourge of every Western country.
Islamic radicalism is a cancer that has infected virtually every corner of Europe; we have seen the videos of imams in London, Paris, Madrid, even Sydney, calling not only for the death of Jews but for the demise of Christianity.
Abhorring democracy – any democracy – they demand that civilized governments be violently replaced by caliphates, with non-Muslims reduced to vassals and serfs, if tolerated at all. Their mobs march defiantly down Broadway, Oxford Street, and the Champs-Élysées, eager to burn down the cities if they do not have their way.
As has happened so often in history, the Jewish people are at the center, the forefront of this battle for humanity. If we are left to fight alone, we will, with God’s help, prevail, but other countries will not be so fortunate. We now have the golden opportunity to take the fight to them, these haters of peace and equality, and purge them from our midst.
Lebanon must be freed from the clutches of Hezbollah; Iran must be liberated from the crushing reign of terror brought on by the ayatollahs. Every nation must reclaim the virtues of tolerance, equality, and justice that are being threatened by the growing extremist hordes. This will not be a short nor simple fight, but it may be the last chance the free world has to avoid a descent into the dark world of Islamic totalitarianism.
The first battle in this war is being waged on our precious, ancestral land. Our armed forces must not be constrained by Western – including and especially American – well-meaning “allies.” We must not bow to international pressure and agree to any ceasefire before our demands are met. We must not have mercy on those whom the biased media calls “innocents”; there are no innocents – those who do not directly engage in terror applaud and urge on those who do.
In any case, we are at war not with individuals but with countries and with ideologies. Our “rules of war” – a phrase the critics seem to love – are the same rules that the Allies unabashedly advocated at the indiscriminate fire-bombing of Dresden and the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is no such nonsense as “collateral damage” when defending your family against fanatical killers and marauding terrorists; they, and not we, are fully responsible for whatever casualties result from their crimes.
We must steel ourselves to be strong; this is not a time to show weakness. Indeed, it was weakness by the current prime minister that led directly to this massacre; the leaders of the attack, Ali Qadi (since eliminated) and Yahya Sinwar were among the 1,000+ terrorists released in the disastrous 2011 Schalit deal. And please, let us completely reject the absurd notion of “humanitarian” acts. Humanitarian gestures are for humans, and this enemy is not human.
US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have made some very pretty and positive speeches, and we are deeply appreciative of their words of support. But they must not be allowed to impose their politically correct but ultimately defeatist philosophy upon us. The struggle against al-Qaeda, ISIS, Gaza, and all the other euphemisms for Islamic terrorism cannot be fought halfway – not if we want to win and wipe out this threat for generations to come.
In truth, we are just the first line of defense for the world at large. If we succeed, we will be an example for others to follow. But if we do not prevail, God forbid, and if other countries do not join us in this epic battle, then no one, anywhere on the planet will be safe.
You say, my dear American friends, that you “have our backs.” But it is the front that we are most concerned about. As our brave fighters are called up to that front, an entire world hangs in the balance. May God give us strength and success in our noble mission. ■
The writer is director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana; write him at jocmtv@netvision.net.il