These days we are urged to be very careful of disagreements. The social fabrics are thin and prone to unraveling, and any word of criticism can be interpreted as conflicting divisiveness, at a time when the need for unity is no less a matter of life and death. Having said all that, I must respond to Yochi Brandes' article, which was published in Israel Hayom last Friday.
Maya there meets her family after returning from Hamas captivity
Yochi writes: "On the liberation of Gilad Shalit... We paid with the blood of thousands. If we prefer the lives of the abductees to the defeat of Hamas, we will pay with the blood of tens of thousands." These words, with their pseudo-mathematical logic, are doubly outrageous, because they emanate from the mouth of a woman of intellect and culture, one of the most prominent voices of the Israeli and non-Orthodox beit midrash.
"Alas for my soul seeker!"
It begins with the absurd assertion that the Shalit deal, and only it, is responsible for the thousands of blood spilled. It is – and not, let's say – the policy of containment, which saw Hamas's military buildup and orchestrated incitement as something we could live with. The one that called rocket barrages "trickles" and "leaks," suffered provocations on the border fence and ignored everything we know today that must not be ignored.
The Nazis of Hamas, with or without the Shalit deal, have neither a manpower problem nor a motivation problem, we have it. Only the government of Israel will decide whether to persecute our enemies every day, before and after deals, or indulge in false peace.
Returning Home: The Abductees from the Fourth Phase on their Way to Israel (Archive) // Arab Networks
After this determination, it concludes that tens of thousands of abductees still held captive by Hamas will already be killed. Simple math for beginners. One multiplied by 130, and what is that close name of yours from Nir Oz. Not only does it completely ignore the possibility that Israel may no longer sink so quickly into sleepy peace, but it also fails to take into account that since October 7, "Woe to my soul seeker!" and woe to the bastard who approaches our fence.
It also ignores the ancient Jewish rule that states, "Berry and maybe, berry is better": in any dilemma between something certain and obvious and what may be, and may be, one goes with the obvious and certain. Certainly when it comes to the law of souls, and certainly when Hamas can continue to be toppled in a week or two, while the time of the abductees is running out.
What's next?
This is not what I expected from a Torah scholar like Yochi Brandes. Just as I could not have expected that in the article she would not mention even once the concept of "redemption of captives" - a mitzvah that is not some progressive nonsense of the spoiled, but a sacred principle in Judaism and Israeliness.
Yochi Brandes. How can such things be hurled at us?, Photo: Arik Sultan
To her claim that in their struggle for the release of the abductees, the families are actually saying that the lives of their loved ones are worth more than the children and grandchildren of everyone else, to which, I admit, I have no answer here. Not a single family would think of sending another citizen to hell in exchange for the safety of their loved one.
How can such things be hurled at us? Should it be mentioned again that each of the abductees' families is also a bereaved family? Should we make it clear that besides that, we also have children in the army? Is it not clear to anyone that the abductees are not a private matter for their families? They were all kidnapped, and we are all "families of the abductees." Except for the bastards who set fire to the family tent or who throw a triple finger at the Barry disaster.
What's next? I ask myself apprehensively. How close is the day when we will find ourselves facing an intellectual who will call for an end to the defeatist principle "we leave no wounded in the field"?! Who here is tired of all our core values?
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