On the day after the war, the kibbutzim of the envelope will flourish, lawns will fill green from the winter rain. Children will be born and fill the area with sounds of joy and baby murmurs.
The day after the war the roads will look new and shiny; The tank marks, potholes and grooves will fade away, and on the dusty and mud-filled paths will be ridden by groups of cyclists and running groups. Instead of the smell of horrors, there will be a smell of blossom and freedom.
On the day after the war, we will cry over the heavy price we paid, but we will be proud of our sacrifice and achievements. Those who fell in battle or were murdered will be buried in their graves, and those who live will return to their homes and families. The day after the war, the destruction of Hamas and the flourishing of Israel will reverberate in every sentence in Arabic. Whoever deals with the State of Israel will pay an intolerable price, they will say, and will remember that war. They don't mess with the Jews, they will tell their children from generation to generation.
IDF Spokesperson
The day after the war, they will live in the Galilee and the Negev without fear, without nightmares, without the color red. Security prisoners will see Israeli prisons as a terrible place to be: exposed concrete walls, devoid of conditions and interest, with no horizon in their eyes or minds.
The day after the war, Bedouin crime families from the Negev will be deterred from engaging in crime because the Israel Police will no longer contain it. The police, whose people fought that Black Saturday and afterwards, will not give up in any corner or place in our country.
On the day after the war, more and more pro-Israel organizations will pop up at prestigious universities, out of pride in what happened. Anti-Semites will be afraid to attack Jews around the world because Israel will exact a price. Liberal and conservative Jews will be proud of the Jewish state and remember that there is no better insurance policy for the Jewish people.
On the day after the war, ultra-Orthodox society will no longer give a mouth opening to those who oppose national or military service. ZAKA, United Hatzalah, MDA, Yad Sarah and other charitable organizations will be recognized as national service, but many Haredim will seek to enlist in the army. The Service for All Law will be introduced without significant objections in the political system. Every citizen will contribute to the state: ultra-Orthodox, secular or Arab.
Mother and daughter laying anemone blossoms in wine in the Shukda forest in the envelope (archive), photo: uncredited
On the day after the war, the most common names for Israeli babies will be Nahal Oz, Bari, Kfar and the names of fallen war heroes. The day after, the hate-mongers on social media will dissipate in front of a sane majority. The poison machines will be dismantled with the help of systematic labor and lack of demand.
On the day after the war, we will remain together, as in the reserves, hundreds of thousands of volunteers and servants. There will be elections, there will be arguments, there will also be politics, a state commission of inquiry, conclusions, demonstrations as in any democracy, but there is only one enemy in Israel – and that is outside.
Let's go back to talking about what is important: security, settlement and immigration, education and development of the country and its inhabitants. We will return to agree on the need for personal example and values, on the concept of leadership and responsibility.
On the day after the war it is possible. Because if we do not insist on such a finish line on the battlefield and in civilian life, if we do not insist on resetting the State of Israel after what happened to us, to lead it by force to return to being a safe and frightening state against the surrounding Arab enemy; If we do not raise the word "containment" to those who attack us, if we do not insist on flourishing and prosperity, on an exemplary society, on the insane legacy of heroism from this war, on courage, friendship, sacrifice and inner strength; If we don't insist on all of these at every turn, and certainly in the Israeli leadership, we won't get out of it. We have no other option the day after.
The Butterflies of Conception
Since the war began, I have not commented directly on politics. Full separation between life now in war as a reservist and the lives of others. Sometimes I can't seem interested in politics anymore. In my eyes, the war is taking place here, and what is happening there, in the Knesset in Jerusalem, are the last remnants of an old world. Last flutters of what was. The conception and preoccupation with care.
Bibi doesn't interest me. Judicial reform, ministers fighting with each other, a full-right government or attempts to escape responsibility are all distant background voices that are still more jarring than the sounds of cannons.
Still, two references from the separation I imposed on myself. One is about the delusional political claims about who belong to the fighters, those who enlisted and are risking their lives here. Well, they belong to the people of Israel. That's the only answer there is. Not of any party, and certainly not of anyone who is not part of this spirit.
"Unity on the home front gives a tailwind to the front" (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Anyone who wants to know, should unfortunately look at the list of fallen from that Shabbat until today. A great many officers who led, many brave people who charged that Saturday in the face of the terrorists' fire. Religious and secular, leftists and rightists, on which it seems to me that the only thing they agree on is duty and right. They agree that defending the homeland is done with weapons and not with words, and that unity on the home front gives a tailwind to the front.
The second comment is about someone who is in the political system and behaves as if he is an outsider. As long as a person is in uniform, he has no legitimate space to visit the army outside. Comments are heard inside.
Similarly, as long as an elected official is part of a coalition, he has no right to make comments as if he is not from there, he is neither connected nor responsible for what happens. To me, responsibility is a great privilege. There are those who see responsibility as a great burden. It's their right, they just can't continue in their job.
Good corner: In recent weeks, since the war in Gaza began, I have been living intermittently in one of the communities near the Gaza Strip.
I didn't officially move there, but like tens of thousands of other soldiers who enter and leave the Gaza Strip or the Galilee and Judea and Samaria, the communities have become their new home. Residents are staying in remote hotels. They miss home, visit here and there or worry about being sent a package of what happened before that Shabbat. The soldiers are the new residents. In the midst of this difficult situation, there are many evacuees who help, while coping personally, with soldiers who are in the community or returning to it, to the front headquarters in the agricultural areas, and to civilians, neighbors whose situation is not as good. A spirit unparalleled anywhere else.
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