Preventing Hamas from returning to lead the Gaza Strip and returning the abductees must be our ultimate goals. Israel must not continue to accept the activities of an ISIS-like organization so close to us. But Prime Minister Netanyahu's assertion that this is an existential threat to Israel only increases the damage to our image after the events of October 7.
On September 11, 2001, the worst terrorist attack in American history took place. Nineteen Al Qaida terrorists hijacked four passenger planes. Two planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York and crashed them, another flew to the Pentagon building near Washington, destroying a significant part of it, and the fourth, apparently intended to bomb the White House, crashed in Pennsylvania with all its passengers inside.
IDF attacks in the Gaza Strip // Photo: IDF Spokesperson
2,977 civilians were killed that day, and the US went to war on Afghan soil, where al-Qaida terrorists were hiding. Our October 7 is America's September 11: an unexpected and unimaginable event, civilian casualties and a harsh military response, which after a few years led to a very significant contraction of the organization and the killing of its leader.
But September 11 was not defined as an existential threat to the United States. It was a terrorist event. Terrorism usually selects civilian targets whose attacks cause chills and fear, because it is clear that it cannot overcome the entity it harms. In both incidents, the terrorists were determined and willing to risk their lives to kill large numbers of innocent people. They made preparations under the radar, and intelligence saw activity and misunderstood it because it thought that such things did not happen. The astonishment is very severe, the coming to its senses follows, the preparations against a repeat event are made quickly and the terrorist group is dying.
Al-Qaida was not an existential threat to the superpower, just as Hamas is not an existential threat to Israel. The terrorists made a move that shocked us all, wounded us and ridiculed the efforts made to prevent terrorists from infiltrating our territory. His actions may lead others to imitate him and damage our self-confidence, but those who claim that this is an existential threat underestimate Israel's strength both militarily and morally. When this statement comes from the mouths of the most important figures in Israeli politics, one might think that they themselves believe that Israel is a collection of cobwebs – and nothing could be further from it.
Chilling mistake
Excuse me, is there forgiveness? I read and reread Netanyahu's admission of his mistake. The lashing out announcement a few hours earlier, in which he accused the heads of the defense establishment of adopting and disseminating the concept of "deterred Hamas," surprised me bluntly – but not in its content. She reminded me of what Golda Meir said in a newspaper interview after the Yom Kippur War, about how she had no choice but to trust the generals' words, because she didn't understand military matters. It didn't help her then, just as it won't help Netanyahu now.
But the confession that followed was unprecedented. It wasn't a request for forgiveness for accidentally stepping on someone's leg on a bus. It wasn't the "oops" after a slip of the mouth. It was a genuine apology for what he had written beforehand, along with giving full backing to all the heads of the security forces. The man who cannot make a mistake suddenly admits to a chilling mistake of blaming the heads of the Israeli defense establishment in the midst of a war that he sees as a war for our existence. Is he so dismissive of them that he imagines that the heads of the arms will take seriously his promise of backup?
Arden. Gilad - Go home and join the government. Among the 38 competent and effective ministers, you will do less harm than as head of our delegation to the UN with the yellow star.
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