Anyone who has met IDF commanders in recent days has seen and heard how focused the army is on the war in Gaza, convinced of its ability to achieve its goals, takes seriously the challenges it poses, is concerned about the possibility of opening additional fronts, and above all, bears responsibility. What happened on October 7, and what has been happening since.
Netanyahu: "After the war, Gaza will no longer be a threat" | GPO
This is true in every branch of the army and beyond: the Shin Bet, the Mossad, the Israel Police and the Ministry of Defense. Everyone understands that in order to win, you have to focus your effort on the here and now. That if actions and decisions are postponed until tomorrow, it may be too late. That in order to win, you have to put aside your ego and your instincts and internal struggles, put on a vest and helmet and a B uniform, and go to work.
That is why no one heard even a shred of accusations exchanged between the IDF and the Shin Bet, or between Military Intelligence and Southern Command, or within the organizations themselves. Make no mistake: there are people in them, too, and they too are critical (and even harsh). But they all bear something greater than all this, a shared responsibility for our present and future here.
IDF forces neutralizing tunnels in Gaza, photo: IDF Spokesperson
For this effort to succeed, the IDF and the defense establishment alone are not enough. A complementary effort by the civilian sector is required, which is no less critical to the success of the war. Everyone is required to do his part to the best of his ability, out of unity of common purpose.
This war is and will exact an enormous price from the home front. The first to pay the price of the evacuees, and in their spitz the refugees of the kibbutzim in the envelope. Those whose loved ones were murdered and kidnapped, their homes burned, and their future uncertain.
The government is not rising to the challenge
Supporting them is supposed to be the first step in the civilian campaign, which is the complement to the military campaign. It is morally correct because they have paid the heaviest price, it is professionally correct because they need the most assistance, and it is strategically correct because their rehabilitation is part of Israel's victory over the murderous terror that arose against it on October 7.
The facts are simple. They are what caused volunteer divisions and organizations to rise up and enlist. They also caused the Ministry of Defense to undertake, without anyone asking it, to rehabilitate the communities, agriculture, and people. All of them understood that without them the business would collapse, that we were all part of this existential campaign.
Unfortunately, the Israeli government is unable to rise to the magnitude of the challenge. A month after the tragedy that struck us, it manages to surprise even those who thought they had seen it all. "The finance minister asked me not to transfer coalition funds for the benefit of the evacuees," the chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee said yesterday, teaching us all the priorities of those in charge of all of our money.
These are no longer the nonsense of some government ministers, the unnecessary ministries, or the cowardice that prevents many of them from facing the evacuees and the families of the fallen and abducted, looking down and being willing to absorb criticism. It's already much more than that. This is the understanding that some of them are not really fighting this war, but are looking for ways to continue what happened here until the Simchat Torah offensive. I am asked to tell them enough. You can't go on like this, and you can't win like that. Join the joint effort, or make room for others.
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