Gaza War Inquiry

Getting rid of Hamas is only the first phase of the Gaza War. In order for the surgery to be complete, we have to get rid of the corrupt and incompetent politicians who brought this terrible situation about in the first place. To accomplish this, the people of Israel must demand a national public inquiry into the causes of the Gaza War. A public judiciary committee must be chosen that will have the power to convict and punish those responsible for the Hamas cancer in our midst, for the storm of Kassam rockets that has traumatized our nation, and for the cost of the war.

The investigation must begin with the arrogant political leaders, and their mafia of cronies, who orchestrated the Disengagement from Gaza and Gush Katif. Their egotistical cries of, "We will decide what will be!" motivated from their own personal or political gain, still ring out over the roar of fighter planes and tanks. Every Knesset member who voted for the Disengagement must be barred from holding public office. The heads of the Israeli Army who collaborated with the Disengagement, without warning the Israeli public of the dangers, must also be brought to trial. Next, the judges of the Supreme Court who turned a blind eye to the immorality of the expulsion must be stripped of all judicial authority. And the heads of the Israeli media, and the reporters who waged a campaign of libel against the settlers of Gush Katif, Judea, and Samaria, must be brought before the committee without recourse to journalistic immunity.

Getting rid of the Hamas is not enough. In order to insure a strong and safe Israel in the future, the Jews of Israel must rise up and demand that the people responsible for this tragic fiasco be barred from further public service.

The True Hasidim

I was planning on going to the Kotel today for the mass prayer but suddenly, I have two funerals to attend. The father of fallen soldier, Yonatan Netanel, z'tzl, is a friend from the neighborhood, and a teacher of two of my sons during their years in Talmud Torah. The father of fallen soldier, Dr. Dagan Wertman, z'tzl, is a neurologist that treated my parents.

The word "Hasid" means a righteous and saintly person, who is fervent in the proper and joyful performance of the Torah's commandments. Often, when you hear the word "Hasid," you picture a devoted Jew dressed in black clothes, a follower of Rebbi Nachman or Chabad. But the original meaning of the word is much different, as King David describes in a Psalm which we recite every day:

"Let the Hasidim be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds at night. The exalted praises of G-d are in their mouth, and a double-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements upon the peoples, to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the written judgment - this is the honor of His Hasidim. Halleluya." (Psalms 149)

The True Hasid

The soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who are risking their lives for the honor of G-d and the Jewish People, they are the true Hasidim. May the Almighty fight alongside them until the enemy is utterly crushed.   

O Jerusalem

Make no mistake. This is not a war over the Gaza Strip. This is not a war to bring quiet to Israel’s southern communities. This is a war for Jerusalem.

We gave the Arabs Gush Katif and the Gaza Strip, and still they fire their missiles. They are not satisfied with Gush Katif and the Gaza Strip. They want Jerusalem. They want all of the Land of Israel. They want the Jews out. It is as simple as that. If they had missiles that could reach Jerusalem, they’d fire at us too.

The name of the holy soldier who fell this morning was Dvir. The name Dvir is another name for Jerusalem. He gave his life fighting for Jerusalem. There is no higher honor than that.

Israel’s Prime Minister is wrong when he says over and over that our war is not with the Palestinian people. Not only Hamas wants Jerusalem. All of the Arabs have been indoctrinated with the same fanatical hatred for the Jews as Hamas. They all want Jerusalem, or, as they cry out in their cheers, “El Kudz! El Kudz!” They all want us out of here. They are all potential shihidim.

If there was ever a concept of Jewish ‘Jihad,” this war is it. As we have repeated written – Judaism is more than eating bagels and lox, and going to the movies on Motzei Shabbat. True Judaism is rebuilding the Nation of Israel in Eretz Yisrael. True Judaism is fighting the wars of Hashem. We have a Torah commandment called “Milchemet Mitzvah.” The Jewish People are commanded to go to war to establish Jewish sovereignty over all of the Land of Israel. Another part of this mitzvah of obligatory war is to defend the Jewish People against enemies who attack us. So we are now engaged in a milchemet mitzvah twice over. We are also commanded to wipe out the memory of Amalek. This means annihilating Amalek through war. The same spirit of Amalek that raged in the Nazi monster during the Second World War is the fire that burns in the hearts of Hamas and all of its fundamentalist Islamic offshoots, from Egypt to Iran. This evil spirit must be uprooted and destroyed.

No two-week military operation in the Gaza Strip will help. Any cease fire without first wiping out Hamas will only lead to missiles falling on Jerusalem, G-d forbid. There is absolutely no justification for allowing the enemies of Israel to continue to live in this Land. They must either be destroyed or transferred from our midst. For the sake of Jerusalem. To insure that Dvir has not given his life in vain – may his memory be for a blessing.