Israel's enemies have no incentive to end the war - opinion

During a time when many nations, especially the US, are putting pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire and end the Hamas war, someone should take the time to ask the question of whether or not Israel’s enemies have any real incentive to end the war.

If they were honest, they would have to admit that the answer is no. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Qatar have everything to gain by prolonging this war, in their quest to finish off the Jewish state. To end now would, for them, be the same as throwing in the towel, at a time when they’ve come as close as possible to realizing their goals. 

Never have they successfully invaded Israel by the thousands, slaughtering whole communities and pulling off the kidnapping of some 250 hostages, a feat of gargantuan proportions by any standard. They have us where they want us.

You have to believe that all of this has energized and empowered them as they reflect on what they were able to accomplish, even though it’s folly for them to believe that this is just the beginning in their effort to annihilate world Jewry, starting with the homeland. 

Of course, few consider the delusions of grandeur under which they operate. But to understand how they think, one has to take into consideration that the enemy perceives a great weakness in the fact that Israel seems very motivated to please the US by complying, as much as possible, with their expressed wishes, all of which are so obviously politically driven.

And that is the problem. The civilized, democratically run country of Israel values its allies, who generally stand with her. They have no desire to jeopardize that unique relationship.

At the same time, Israel’s enemies share no common values of freedom, civil rights, or humane principles. Thus, they don’t have the incentive to cooperate, find points of commonality, or exercise restraint, because those are seen as weaknesses and are never employed by terrorists. 

Consequently, their modus operandi is to go for the jugular until they punish and demoralize Israel for having the audacity to strike back when getting hit by the worst attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

Sadly, it is that reality that is either missed or purposely ignored by the same individuals who are shouting, “Ceasefire Now,” in an attempt to force our hand to wrap up a war that has barely degraded the enemy’s capabilities to wreak further harm.

Jerusalem Post writer Liat Collins alludes to the absurdity of this in her column, “Biden’s speech, Hamas’s deeds,” when she notes that US President Joe Biden, in a recent speech, taking credit for the Israeli proposal that would bring back the hostages, stated that “clearly, it’s easier to press Israel into compliance than to force the Hamas terrorist organization to act.” 

Collins cites the obvious: “For all the American talk of a ceasefire, Iran and the terrorists it supports continue to call for the elimination of the Jewish state, whatever it takes – more rockets, massacres, cyber attacks, and international isolation through lawfare and pressure. The end goal is to get Israelis to leave – between the river and the sea. Hamas does not have a peace plan. It does not want peace.” 

Any truthful person must come to the same conclusion, understanding that waging war, along with its many casualties and horrific carnage, is the acceptable price to pay for the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the others rooting for our demise. 

There will never be regret, contrition, remorse, or repentance from these sub-human creatures, who lack any conscience when it comes to the barbarism that they are willing to inflict upon their fellow man. That is the hallmark of savagery – it is an act that goes against all sane comprehension, happy to inflict pain to the point of glee.

Abandon call for ceasefire

This is why those who dare to call themselves civilized nations need to abandon the call for a ceasefire, especially when the ones for whom they are advocating are avowed killers who would stop at nothing to seize control of their countries in order to usher in their brand of warped religious and political ideology, which they believe must be observed by every inhabitant of the earth. To be blunt, they are not doing themselves any favor by preserving the enemies of civilization and mankind, who eventually will come for them.

These terrorists and hateful regimes cannot be contained. They can only be eradicated. Anything short of that will result in what has already occurred. Israel’s northern and southern residents are still unable to return to their homes, fearing the constant rocket launches that are still happening daily. 

No one can live securely under those dreadful circumstances, which means that Israelis have been pushed toward the center of the country, almost tantamount to ghettoizing them – something that was done in European cities during the Nazi regime. Can Israel afford to allow such a shameful repeat of history to reoccur?

In effect, it was the naive belief of our leaders that led us to think that all of these terrorists, as evil as they were, could somehow be contained if we would only show them that we respected them enough to work together, financially incentivize them, and treat them as a responsible, democratically elected government that could be trusted. October 7 was their payback, and our harsh lesson for failing to understand their unrelenting determination to want us dead.

We won’t make that mistake again, but we could be just as vulnerable. We stand at the precipice of making a different mistake by allowing ourselves to be pressured into ending a necessary war before we achieve our aim of ridding the world of the greatest evil of our time. 

Civilized nations may not thank us at this point for fighting on their behalf, but if we prevail and peace is the outcome, perhaps they will finally take a moment to express their gratitude for a job well done. It certainly beats the alternative.

The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal. She is the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, available on Amazon, based on the time-tested wisdom of the Book of Proverbs.