The list of the accomplishments of the IDF and American armed forces in the fight against Iran reads like the military equivalent of the Dayenu prayer in the Haggadah, or, to be ecumenical, a wish list for Santa.
It is simply breathtaking, not just in the scope and intensity of its accomplishments, but in the context of what we thought we were dealing with before the fighting began.
In the wake of the destruction visited upon the Iranian regime, its arms and economy, it is easy to forget the looming specter that Iran so haunted us with for decades.
Here was the puppetmaster, the great manipulator of lesser but still deadly proxies. Here was the fanatical and fanatically obsessed power relentlessly intent on producing nuclear weapons.
Those weapons would complement a staggering and increasingly sophisticated array of missiles and drones that would make Iran both impregnable and unstoppable.
This “don’t look behind the curtain" image of Iran was enough to have the Obama and Biden administrations placate and appease it, hoping to be the last eaten by the alligator that they were feeding.
It was little Israel who pulled back the curtain and made the world aware that the Emperor had no clothes, as it neutralized Iran’s air defenses and enjoyed unchallenged access to Iranian airspace.
That in and of itself would be a major Dayenu. But it led to the opportunity to help prepare the way for American B2 Spirit stealth bombers to seriously degrade if not completely destroy key nuclear sites throughout Iran.
The list of related accomplishments in diminishing Iranian power and prestige is astounding, but somehow it is the subject of a yes…but view of things.
In this perspective, the accomplishments are necessary but not sufficient. What becomes sufficient however is up to the wisher: all nuclear sites destroyed, uranium retrieved and removed, the Strait of Hormuz freely navigable, and the mother of all wishes - regime change.
But like petulant, bratty kids, not to get everything I want is to get nothing in too many people's minds.. Even worse, it is to impugn the very decision to undertake the effort of countering Iran.
How have we come to such a state of affairs? How is that we have lost our ability to appreciate and to value that which we have actually accomplished and the benefits those accomplishments have bestowed?
Is this a bi-product of a digital universe, where events are known in real time, and the news cycle is a daily phenomenon? Is this the product of leaders who, for reasons that might make good sense, nevertheless sound like whatever they say is likely to change in the next day or two?
Or have we just become demanding, insistent, and incapable of dealing with works in progress, with uncertainty, ambivalence and nuance?
Have we just adopted a rigid mindset that says, well if its not like the 1967 Six Day War, then whatever we have accomplished is tantamount to defeat. Okay, we haven’t been beaten, but we haven’t won either.
Perhaps it then becomes necessary to define winning and victory. I would submit that if say five years ago you said to Israelis, okay, now look, here is the outcome of a confrontation with Iran in which no Israeli planes are downed and while too many soldiers are killed or injured (though far less than the analysts had feared from such a confrontation and to us every life is a world), here is what we were able to accomplish, and here is what the world would look like thereafter.
My strong hunch is that there would have been near universal approval and applause for the exact same set of facts and circumstances we are dealing with right now.
The reason simply is because the change from the status quo then would have been dramatic and qualitatively transformative.
Now in fairness, the issue of disruption, sacrifice, stress and trauma would not have been an issue, as it has for us today. But still, I fear that we have lost some perspective.
My prooftext for this is the widespread reporting of the sentiments of bereaved families that the way to honor the sacrifice of their loved ones is to continue the fight, to not settle for a partial win.
What these families are saying is that the struggle is a process, a work in progress, demanding patience and resolve.
Blanket judgments such as the cynical and self-promoting judgments of the Israeli and American political oppositions do a tremendous disservice to the understanding insistence of bereaved families that continuity and persistence will ultimately validate and sanctify the sacrifices of our fallen and injured.
We are in a season of great respect and appreciation. We bow our heads to the sacrifices of so many over the years, and then in the blink of an eye switch to joyful appreciation and celebration for the blessing of having a sovereign, humane and powerful country.
Our appreciation must be tinged with the recognition that Israel is still an adventure, with an arc that points to continued improvement and growth.
Israel is a work in progress and the incredible effort to further protect ourselves from those who would destroy us is also a work in progress.
We have embarked on a great and important mission to preserve our future for our next 78 years. We are getting there, but it is not linear progress.
But we are getting there, and we owe to it ourselves to see that our glass is indeed half full and that, with Hashem’s assistance, we will prevail.
Douglas Altabef is the Chairman of the Board of Im Tirtzu and a Director of the Israel Independence Fund