A lesson for the Arab world: Crash course in understanding the Jewish people

On October 7, 2023, Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar ordered an attack against Israel that he hoped would weaken Israel by shattering the Israeli people’s sense of security, by making them question their ability to defend themselves, and by demoralizing them. The next day, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah opened a second front from Lebanon to support his ally Sinwar. Another five fronts followed: the West Bank, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran.

Almost fourteen months later, the situation is not at all the way that Sinwar hoped it would be. Sinwar and Nasrallah are both dead, killed by Israel, and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is dead, killed in Iran in an attack widely attributed to Israel. Iran’s attempts to retaliate for the killing of Haniyeh were loud and expensive, but they did not weaken Israel, only killing one person, a Palestinian in the West Bank. Israel’s responses to Iran, however, were precise and effective, weakening their nuclear program. The Iranian regime now knows that Israel can do much more.

Twenty thousand Palestinian terrorists and thousands of Lebanese terrorists are dead. The Hamas arsenal is almost wiped out. The Hezbollah arsenal is severely reduced. The vast majority of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and commanders are dead. Yemen’s Houtis suffered devastating blows. The Iranian regime lives in fear. On November 26, 2024, after being battered by Israel relentlessly for months, Hezbollah did what it swore not to do, it broke its promise to continue its war in support of Hamas.

Hamas is now isolated, and the so-called “axis of resistance” is a shadow of its former self. This remarkable military defeat is a significant story in and of itself, but to me, the last fourteen months tell an even more interesting story: the story of the Jewish people.

The Palestinian and Lebanese supporters of terrorism, the Western “pro-Palestinian” activists, and any others who are obsessed with hating Israel should all sit up and understand what happened in front of their eyes. What they will see, if they put away their hatred for a minute, is the story of the Jewish people.

They will see why the Jewish people has lasted as long as it has and why it’s still going strong despite being a minority in a world where they have long been and still are hated, demonized, attacked, and murdered simply for being Jewish.

They will see that Jews often disagree with each other, publicly and without regard to what the rest of us thinks, exercising a right to free speech that they cherish and that their enemies can only dream of having.

They will see that Jews mourn their dead and cherish their living with all their hearts and without fear that the world may see them as weak, while their enemies cynically use their own people as human shields.

They will see that despite their disagreements and despite their respect for life, or perhaps because of them, the Jews fight back mightily when attacked.

They will see that Jews fight back not only with power and skill but also with integrity and respect for the lives of innocent people, even while they are falsely accused of the opposite.

They will see that Jews are like the sabra (Hebrew word for the cactus fruit), tough and prickly on the outside, but soft on the inside, and that like the sabra, they endure and thrive under conditions that many others would not survive.

And hopefully what they will see above all is that Jews are formidable enemies and even better friends, and therefore that being their friends is a much better choice than being their enemies.

But the Jewish people does not rely on naïve hopes. They will continue to be good friends while at the same time being formidable enemies. It is up to the rest of us to decide which side we want to be on.

With the Abraham accords, the Arab world took a step towards being the friends rather than the enemies of the Jewish state, and therefore of the Jewish people, but there is still a long way to go. Hopefully the last fourteen months have shown them the way forward.