Our finest
Every war has its sad days. Sunday was one such day. That Hamas was dealt a heavy blow -- to the point that it begged for a brief cease-fire -- can hardly alleviate the pain. We are mourning the loss of our dearest, our finest sons and grandsons.
Every decent Israeli shares this grief. Those who wanted a ground offensive knew this could happen. Iron Dome has intercepted Hamas' projectiles in the air, and the foot soldiers were mobilized to do the same to its tunnels, which have not been properly tackled for the past 20 years. Melancholy was everywhere in the wake of Sunday's incident. To paraphrase the Bible, when the nation's soul faints within, it hunkers down. Gone are the days when you could embargo the casualty rate until the fighting was over. During the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, funerals were held only after the cease-fire was announced. This is no longer on the menu in Israel 2014. The public has the right to know, but it does not have the right to lose its mind and buckle under the pressure.
Israelis must hold their fellow citizens' lethargic hands and support their overwhelmed knees; they must invigorate them so that they are no longer at loss for words, so that they can overcome their tears. Israel must plow ahead and continue moving along the treacherous path up the mountain. Israelis must recite the words of Nathan Alterman, who wrote, "A nation does not retreat from the trenches where it lives."
That is why Israelis must rally behind the flag, and they have, as individuals and as families. In days such as these, there are two kinds of Israelis. Those who have loved ones "inside" and those who do not. The Jewish people have experienced this feeling time and again throughout their history, including now, as they defend themselves in the Land of Israel. Our sons have taken the mantle in this era, and our grandchildren will pick up from where we left off later.
Events such as these have a noticeable effect on the upper echelons. They can impact things on the ground, in both directions. They might lead to an unnecessary escalation, but they can also result in unwarranted weakness. The overwhelming majority of Israelis offered their support for Operation Protective Edge early on, and they have been well aware of the painful, if justified, criticism that this would generate along the way. And they knew that they would have to filter out the rubbish that would be blurted here and there.
On Sunday, for example, one commentator, who has been in the news business for quite some time and who is known for his tendency to sound gloom and doom, said that Hamas has had the upper hand because it has managed to persistently fire rockets at Tel Aviv. But he has somehow not drawn the right conclusions from the Second Lebanon War , which proved that in order to bring rocket fire to a complete halt, one has to actively attempt to topple regimes, be it in Gaza or in Beirut. In that regard, Hamas has not been more successful than Hezbollah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz have done their utmost to avoid a confrontation with Hamas. No one can claim otherwise. Netanyahu and Ya'alon did the necessary diplomatic heavy-lifting to ensure there would be international support for Protective Edge. They made that painfully clear during the special press conference on Sunday. Their comments suggest their determination and persistence have not ebbed.
In retrospect, the IDF should have been more vocal when it warned Gazans to leave neighborhoods that served as terror hubs -- particularly children. But that lesson will only be applied the next time around, if that happens. Israel must internalize this to avoid footage of dead non-combatants whose lives could have been spared, had they not been subject to Hamas threats. Such pictures carry significant weight on the world stage.
The IDF's pressure on Hamas is ultimately what determines the timing of the cease-fire. Hamas will not get to reap a political dividend from its military defeat. Let's hope the IDF reduces its use of ground forces by then and reverts back to operating from the open skies.
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