Now I want to open my mouth to Satan. Open big... Say ahhh... Great, you can close. So far, up to the moment of writing, Israeli Arabs have shown responsibility, maturity, loyalty. For the time being, the weapons remained in the houses, the disturbances in the mixed cities were postponed to another time, the internal front was not opened.
True, there are really unfortunate cases here and there of Israeli Arabs posting in support of Hamas, and it's a good thing that some of them lose their lives all at once during an unpleasant visit by the police and detention. And some students forget who teaches them; And there are academic institutions that don't kick them out to Alef Azazel and will study in Amman; And there are motorcyclists from the sector who deliberately harass at night and bounce the heart with the grunt of their engines; And I am also sure that within the public there are quite a few who wish for our defeat and rejoice in our disaster - but I have a feeling that something happened here this time, and I wish I would not commit suicide today.
The Arabs of the State of Israel were forced to choose sides this time. They understood that a double game would not go here. And they chose. They did not happily choose, perhaps not wholeheartedly, but the complete quiet from the sector, zero mass events and riots, the almost complete silencing of internal violence, and the support of quite a few elements in Arab society on the side of the state in hasbara, all these point to something significant that is happening here.
Perhaps Israeli Arabs chose life, chose partnership with us over the option of Hamas. Perhaps the atrocities inflicted on their people across the border made it clear to them that there was a gaping chasm between them, and it is also possible that the Arabs, who were massacred by their brethren and did not avail their pleas, arranged their heads for the Arab citizens. In the eyes of Hamasniks, they are part of us. Went for them.
This week I sat with Mansour Abbas in the studio and listened to him attentively. Unless the man is a super-player, unless he is a master at applying one of the principles of Islam, taqiyya, the permissible lie to deceive the enemy, the man spoke in a manner that arouses deep admiration. He fully disapproved of Hamas, leaving no narrow opening for identification or justification, spoke of full civil partnership, did not fail or fall.
In my view, even though he was blackened in the election campaigns and to this day he is used to sow fear and hatred, the man is a real, great, important leader. True, his party colleagues are not there, they are fickle little dwarfs, but I believe that if he joins forces in Arab society that want coexistence, people like Yousef Haddad, Nail Zoabi, the Atidna movement and others, gold will come out of this mud.
From this disaster we will rise. Perhaps this time we will rise up together with our Arab neighbors. Hand in hand. I wish Amen.
Rifleman
I am a 02 rifleman. Not proud of it, that's how it turned out. All these years I didn't pay any attention to this figure at all. Among the many numbers that go with a person from birth, enlistment, maturity, the number 02 was not particularly important to me, except for the Jerusalem area code to which I was intimately attached in my youth. And only Jerusalem zero two.
And suddenly, it became critical. I can't get a gun license, and even if I get a stolen weapon through my friends in the underworld in the Triangle, I won't really know how to use them. You may vaguely remember how to load and how to shoot generally, but certainly not how to use effectively.
On 7 October, the dreams were broken. The imagination that Jews can live in the Land of Israel without knowing weapons intimately is a thing of the past. What happened in the envelope could happen tomorrow along the entire border, could happen in the mixed cities, could very well happen in the north. There is a situation in which every Jewish citizen will meet, not us, with a direct threat to his life, and will have to respond. Type 02 people will not be able to adequately respond to the challenges of the next attack.
Therefore, I propose here, privately or in my country, to upgrade all the former Jobniks - all the personnel (impaired fitness), anyone who has undergone a chain of soldier and the weapon never reached - to the 03 or 05 riflemen in a basic training course, which will be given to anyone who wants it. You don't need all the mannerisms of the army's authority, you don't need the grumbles and drones, but you do need full mastery of a variety of weapons in combat situations, from a pistol to a rifle to heavy machine guns.
Take me for a month, preferably without sleeping on the bedding of Scabias, and bring me back to my home as a warrior. I'm willing to pay any price so as not to be helpless, so as not to wait for someone who, at 18, made a better decision than I did, to save me from the clutches of absolute evil.
Israeli society will have to reorganize. There is no longer room for reality whitewashers, comfort agents, mind numbers.
It wouldn't be okay. That's the only working assumption I accept right now. There will be no peace in our generation, and no, even when a child grows up, there will still be an army and there will be wars. This is our fate, and it is preferable to the second option of our people, to be annihilated without fighting.
King David said after Saul's fall, "To teach the children of Judah a bow." Then yes now. To teach the Israelites weapons, and battle, and self-control, and Krav Maga. Build strength that isn't built on technology and fences, but on personal strength. I'm ready for my golden basic training. Who picks up the masting?
Clip
Did you watch the super-viral video of the commander of Battalion 7007, Lt. Col. (res.) Maoz Schwartz, who is a rabbi in the Ashdod Yeshiva, giving a speech to his soldiers before going into battle? Oh, what a good stuff. Get it on TikTok or any other website, and watch it a few times. Will give you clean oxygen to breathe.
Rabbi Schwartz knocks out a speech in which he not only urges his soldiers to go out and fight on behalf of the massacred and kidnapped, but emphasizes the fact that his fierce fighters are a link in a chain of Jewish fighters - from the fighters of King David, through the Maccabees, the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto, members of the Haganah, Irgun and Lehi, members of the Palmach, and up to all the fighters of this nation since we became a nation.
And I don't know why, or maybe it is, when he said this matter of the chain of generations, tears of excitement and gratitude burst out of my eyes. Because putting this war in a historical context, remembering all the giants on whose shoulders we stand, remembering all the heroes who sacrificed their lives through the generations, is the most empowering thing in my opinion, the most giving meaning beyond the immediate meaning of revenge, an important value in itself, and the restoration of security.
Here and there in the Land of Israel there is a hobby of finding commanders who pray with their soldiers, or quote sources, or show a connection to the God of Israel, and denounce them as uniformed agents of religion. I have deep contempt for the religious soldier hunters who bring their world into service. I know for sure that a soldier who is connected to his heritage, his history, his ancestral faith and his faith, manages to muster more devotion and more ability to cope with difficult situations than someone who lives only in the now.
Not that there aren't complete secularists who give their souls away, certainly there is, there is no inclusion on either side, but in general, a connection to roots has never harmed any plant, and certainly not David's. And it should not be concluded, God forbid, that I am in favor of all kinds of behaviors such as the exclusion of women in the name of religious belief. Of course not, and never, and this war only proved how much not.
But just as we must set limits to religiosity, we must set limits to secularism in the IDF, and not let it castrate commanders who know how to give purpose and faith out of the common asset we all share, the people of Israel, the Land of Israel, the Torah of Israel.
We pray for Rabbi Schwartz, commander of Battalion 7007, for the safety of his soldiers and for all our soldiers and all the people of Israel to return to peace and bring victory. Artist.
avrigilad@gmail.com
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