For decades Israel's military strategy in response to attacks had consisted of limited operations, reducing IDF casualties, and managing world opinion. This approach failed. We are now on the verge of an overdo invasion with boots on the ground to destroy and eliminate Hamas from Gaza. Will this be enough?
Hezbollah is provoking a second front on the northern border. Iran has threatened to unleash an "earthquake" if Israel moves ground forces into northern Gaza. Some see this as saber rattling to show support for their Palestinian /Arab proxies.Yet Netanyahu years ago observed that if someone says they plan to annihilate you, take them seriously.
Iran, a fanatical, totalitarian, and antisemitic regime has made this threat more then once. In 1933 a regime with similar intentions made the same threat and succeeded. With nuclear weapons, Iran's task will be easier since it obviates the need for the bureaucracy and logistics of transport and extermination. Zionism fulfilled the prophecy of the ingathering of 7 million Jews to live in our Promised Land. The Ayatollah envisions a different, darker narrative of death to the Jews.
At Israel's darkest hour since the Holocaust, one can hear echoes of Jabotinky's warning about eliminating the Diaspora or it will eliminate you. It's estimated that his pleas were heard by only tens of thousands, while millions remained and perished. If Churchill's repeated cries about the Nazi menace had been heeded, how many lives might have been saved? And had Israel been proactive during Yom Kippur 1973, the state of the nation would be different today.
Fifty years ago on that deadly day of Jewish mourning and in the war thereafter over 2000 soldiers were killed. On Simchat Torah 2023, the tragic day of joy, 1400 Jews, including infants and elderly were murdered and many barbarically abused, raped or dismembered. Over 100 remain kidnapped.
Hezbollah is the evil crouching at the door, waiting to build up more and wait for a weakened Israel. Iran says it is ready to pounce. Its resolute, obsessional anti Jewish ideology allows no compromise. Eliminating Hamas is the immediate task, but the future promises similar attacks from the north and the east.
Israel's only , and indeed dramatically successful, military strategy has been the 1967 pre-emptive strike. Waiting for a better armed Hezbollah invites an encore of carnage. Iran, a nation of 90 million with greater military capability than the '67 Arab armies, is formidable. But with time and nuclear arms they will not get weaker unless weakened. Yet America will not support a war initiated by Israel.
The world now knows that the battle is against not just Israel but against civilization, human decency and life itself. In 19 0 3, in the sleepy town of Kishinev, Russia, Jews were murdered, raped and butchered. 49 people died then. Yet this event brought the word 'pogrom' to the world stage and transformed Jewish life forever. 120 years later as the battle continues, with over 1400 murdered, the Hamas Simchat Torah slaughter has revealed to the world their vicious nature and evil aim.
Hopefully, this will transform the view of every civilized country so that they will support Israel and not stay her hand in this battle of light against darkness---not only with words but with whatever military support is needed.
Robert M. Schwartz, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and author of scientific papers on emotional balance and health, as well as popular articles on Jewish issues, social values, and sexuality. He was founder and President of Cognitive Dynamic Therapy Associates and Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine.