Today marks one month since the fall of reserve sergeant major Ben Zussman, who fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip.
I didn't know Ben, nor his family. But for a month now, Sarit Ammo's words have resonated with me, sharpening and deepening the abysmal difference between us and our enemies. Who is Mother Lioness, and who is Mother Ten who sniffs after blood and delights in corpses.
At the funeral, at the grave of her fallen son at the age of 22, Sarit stood tall and in her steady voice promised: "We will win. We have no other choice. We are a people that wants to live and not like our enemies, vile and cowardly, Nazis and their collaborators who sanctify death. We will live and prosper and build!" Perhaps Sarit's words contain the essence of the difference between us and our enemies.
Resources in Gaza are not mobilized to build kindergartens but to build tunnels under them, not to build factories but to collect weapons, not for high-tech – but for the manufacture of rockets. It is difficult for us as Western Israelis to understand their interest in terrorism
Part of the concept that has been shattered is the idea that we and the Gazans are the same on both sides of the barricade. "A mother is a mother is a mother" - so they say, and there is no mother who does not wish her son the best. The former chief of staff and later prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, said that if he had been a Palestinian and of the right age, he might have joined a terrorist organization. Because what's the difference between us and them? A mother is a mother, a soldier is a soldier. This is what some thought until October 7.
For years, Israel has cultivated the illusion that we and the Palestinians have a common dream. We all want quiet, prosperity, health and livelihood. We wanted to believe that we were alike. We were promised a dove, an olive leaf and a new Middle East, that Gaza would become Singapore. Just a few months ago, the head of Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliwa, explained that "the Gazans' face to an arrangement" is good for them, they have a livelihood, a fishing zone, workers go out to toil every day in the kibbutzim in the envelope, they have an independent government, sea, watermelon and matkot - what needs more?
Sarit's poignant observation of her son's grave distilled the cultural and religious chasm between us and our enemies. A Palestinian mother takes pride when her son calls to tell her that he murdered children and the elderly in their home. When a young Jewish woman is kidnapped, the crowd in Gaza celebrates. When a captive is beaten in Palestine Square, sweets are distributed to the spectators. The scale of our values and those of the Gazans is no different – it is the opposite. The Palestinian people choose terror and sanctify murder. Resources in Gaza are not mobilized to build kindergartens but to build tunnels under them, not to build factories but to collect weapons, not for high-tech – but for the manufacture of rockets. It is difficult for us as Western Israelis to understand their interest in terrorism. We believed that terrorism grows only out of real distress, we did not think that a person insists on adversity in order to adhere to terrorism.
Since the beginning of the last century, a series of Islamic fundamentalist movements have been at the forefront of religious violence: the Taliban, al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram and, of course, Hamas. Movements that have carried out thousands of terrorist attacks around the world. Islamic violence is also directed internally, with Sharia law ordering hundreds of executions every year. In 2020, about 88 percent of executions worldwide were ordered by Muslim countries. One of the sources of inspiration for the massacre is found in the Qur'an, which describes the fate of a Jewish tribe convicted of siding with Muhammad's enemies. The 800 Jewish men were beheaded, and the women and children became slaves. The Quran encourages blood vengeance, permits the taking of sex slaves as booty, and commands war against infidels and enemies of Islam. Muhammad's last will and testament to those who hear his lesson is to kill those who oppose Islam. "They were caught, surrounded and ambushed at every site," Mohammed instructs (Sura 9).
When the West thinks that livelihood, welfare and political independence are the pinnacle of Palestinian aspirations, it is mistaken, big time. For Islamists, this is hardly a rung on the ladder. The pinnacle of Islam, Muhammad's last words to his followers, is the obligation to slaughter infidels. Only when we internalize our cultural and religious differences will we be able to fight terrorism.
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