I recently attended a remembrance ceremony for a soldier who fell in Gaza a year ago. He was the son of dear friends. I had first met him when he was a child but was unaware of his special character. Nitai was a 30-year-old man who loved nature, people, and the Land of Israel.
He was a favorite uncle who would often hike off into the desert chasing waterfalls that resulted from sudden rainstorms. His glowing eyes and his flashing smile radiated excitement as he discovered a hidden natural wonder and shared his find with friends. Nitai was a skilled technocrat and a tank commander. Those who spoke about him articulated his selflessness and commitment to family, friends, and the land.
We are now in a period where one-year memorial ceremonies for young men and women are common on the Israeli landscape. Every single one embodies a unique story and our loss is great and nearly overwhelming.
Daily, parents and siblings communicate pride in their lost loved ones. They speak of the need to go forward, declaring that their children made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could live “normal, happy lives,” so that we could go to the beach, gather at a barbecue or party, or just chill together.
But life for these bereaved families is not happy. Their pain does not diminish, and they share their distress and brokenness. As friends, we try to provide support and comfort, but words elude us or are inadequate.
It is one year, three months, and counting since October 7, 2023. Nearly 100 hostages remain in hell, and we are tortured by the knowledge that whatever we have done is not enough.
Tens of thousands in the North live far from homes that are either destroyed, damaged, or still in harm’s way.
We wake up every morning hoping, praying for the end; for news that the hostages are on their way home or that their bodies will soon be released for burial; for word that Hamas and Hezbollah have agreed to unconditional surrender and that Iran and the Houthis have been thrown out by their own people.
These fantastical scenarios are dreams, perhaps illusions, as the reality is a status quo where rogue forces remain in place and at war.
Any reality check, any rational analysis should convince us that the terror front will not submit to negotiations with Israel or its allies, or to the fierce rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump.
Large stretches of Gaza and Hezbollah land have been destroyed and are now desolate. The senior leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah have been eliminated. These organizations and their Iranian mentors have been severely degraded both physically and figuratively.
History should guide us
Using history as a guide, the terrorists should sue for peace and plead for their and their people’s survival. Yet they remain intransigent and insistent that Israel end the war, withdraw from Gaza, and release hundreds of murderous terrorists.
With an almost diabolical lust for their own – and their people’s – destruction they remain committed to killing or expelling any and every Jew from the Middle East.
As I write, the media is buzzing with news of an agreement that may be implemented before this op-ed is published. Regardless, for those of us living in Israel, a ceasefire and hostage release is both critical and perturbing. We want our brothers and sisters, children and grandparents, soldiers and fallen to be returned to us. However, we are not so naïve as to believe that this ceasefire will lead to an enduring peace.
On October 6, 2023, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxies still lived under an agreed-upon ceasefire with Israel. Hundreds of millions of dollars of funding had been made available to them by their Iranian and Qatari sponsors with the consent of the Israeli government.
Rather than using these funds to raise the quality of life of the Palestinians, it had been utilized to design, construct, and implement an attack on Israel.
Tens of thousands of rockets, RPGs, drones, grenades, and bullets were stockpiled and distributed throughout Gaza and South Lebanon in an expanding network of underground tunnels, bunkers, rocket launchers, and command centers.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas used these weapons to strike Israel in the mistaken belief that internal dissension in the Jewish State could be parlayed into a military victory. We were and remain badly bloodied.
Jews in Israel and throughout the world, and all decent human beings who support freedom and democracy, must remember and honor our fallen heroes. If to recover our hostages, we are forced to go forward and make agreements with our duplicitous, evil enemies, we must do so with wisdom. The lessons of the last 77 years and of thousands of years of antisemitic attacks against the Jewish nation and its people should inform our decisions.
We must remain vigilant, united, and prepared for the next phase of this battle. After those dark early hours of October 7, our valorous young soldiers recovered, fought back, sacrificed, and ultimately achieved victory. The price of this victory was our brothers’ and sisters’ blood. We must make certain that it was not spilled in vain.
The writer is a distinguished emeritus professor of biochemistry and chemistry and former provost at the City University of New York. He lives in Rehovot and has two grandsons in the IDF, one currently in Gaza. The opinions in this article are his own.