The world is shocked by Israel’s terrible resolve What could they have been thinking, these Hamas barbarians? Most likely that the Israelis would retaliate as per usual. The Israelis would fire away at a few buildings, and then be done, as it had been in the past. After that, life would get back to normal. For along the border between Israel and Gaza, normal means that since 2007, Hamas terrorists get to toss thousands of missiles into Jewish towns, with only routine response from the Israelis, who have gotten so used to this that they consider it “mostly peaceful.” Not so for the Israelis who actually live along that border, and must spend half their lives in bomb shelters. Jewish kids grow up traumatized. After the horror of Oct. 7, the entire nation got traumatized, so that between Israel and Hamas, and between Israel and the rest of the world, nothing can ever be the same. Something snapped. As it did when Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, and there was much rejoicing among the Japanese ranks for an operation that worked so successfully, but later moved Admiral Yamamoto, who planned the attack, to soberly remark, “I fear that all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Indeed so. Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden come to mind. So too, Israel, in response to Oct. 7. For the Israelis, that date will forever live in infamy, and there would be no going back to business as usual. The hurt is too deep. That was FAMILY, brothers and sisters who were savaged. There can be no forgive and forget. Not now. Never again. Yes, something snapped in the Jewish psyche. The nations, and some from the left within Israel itself, traitors actually, implore Israel to make deals with Hamas, and to hurry for a ceasefire. In other words, …surrender. Don’t they know? Obviously not, that Oct. 7 filled Israel with a terrible resolve. There would be no end to the war until every Hamas terrorist was hunted down and eliminated. No matter how long it takes, and how loudly the nations scream. Yes, of course Israel wants peace, but only after the reckoning had been done, so that Israel’s enemies should think twice before playing Israel for sport. The Israelis have had enough of this game. If they ever had any doubts, the Israelis finally know this enemy, which grabs hostages, and now, even now, toys with them, for being Jewish. In a world of black hearts, this is the darkest. Before Oct. 7, idealists within Israel trusted in the inherent goodness for those particular Arabs. After all, they are human, just like us. Oct. 7 taught otherwise. Or, as we have it in this novel , Slot Attendant, “In no time you lose your faith in the goodness of humanity. We are MUCH lower than the angels. One week on the casino floor will cure your idealism. People are snippy, testy, cranky, nasty, grumpy, grubby, sly, sneaky, vulgar, fat and ugly. “Philosophers, scientists and theologians don’t have the answer. Slot attendants do.” Think now of the barbarians the Israelis keep facing from Gaza and all over. New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva . He wrote the worldwide book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal,” the authoritative newsroom epic, “The Bathsheba Deadline,” followed by his coming-of-age classics, “The Girls of Cincinnati,” and, the Holocaust-to-Montreal memoir , “Escape from Mount Moriah.” For that and his 1960s epic “The Days of the Bitter End,” contemporaries have hailed him “The last Hemingway, a writer without peer, and the conscience of us all.” Contact here . NOW AVAILABLE: The collection of Jack Engelhard’s op-eds, Writings, here Engelhard books J.Engelhard Plus, a free sample chapter of his noir gambling thriller, Compulsive, is available from his website, here .
