Don’t give Hamas this victory

Two unexpected guests arrived at our protest in Efrat, and in them I saw the victory of Hamas that we’re not talking about enough.

The protest marked the first time ever that residents of Efrat and Gush Etzion were gathering to clearly, unequivocally speak out against Kochav Yehuda, an illegal outpost east of Efrat that the army has dismantled 65 (!!) times, whose “residents” commit violent attacks against Arabs in surrounding villages (and any Israelis who have the nerve to try to help protect them) on a regular basis.

The outpost, which sits on private land owned by a family from East Jerusalem, receives support, guidance and supplies from the nearby Eitam Hill, an authorized farm that is designated for future expansion of Efrat. For example, after each time it is demolished by the army, a pick-up truck can be seen descending from the Eitam with supplies for rebuilding.

Before the protest, a group of us sat down with the head of the city council and heard that he is absolutely opposed to the outpost, and that he sees it first and foremost as a moral issue, which does not contribute to the security of Efrat’s residents, but actually detracts from it, as it forces the army to constantly react to their violent antics, as opposed to doing their work.

But while we heard words of condemnation, we had not seen effective action, and so we decided it was high time that we made our voices heard, in support of the army, in support of law and order, and against Kochav Yehuda. We have no doubt that if there were an illegal outpost of Arabs who were constantly terrorizing Jews on that exact same spot, anyone remotely connected to those involved would be arrested and interrogated within hours. And if the army would fail in their duty, the head of the city council would stridently demand and ensure that they fulfill it.

So it’s clearly not a question of capacity; it’s a question of priorities, and we wanted to make it clear that for us, as residents of Efrat, this issue – a moral stain on Efrat which undermines law and order and endangers us – must be made a priority.

So there we were, on a summer evening when most people are away on vacation, a small group of Efrat residents, many of whom have lived there for two decades and more, when suddenly, two young men joined us. They stuck out like a sore thumb. With their matching “Iron Wall” T-shirts, their heads unadorned by the kippot worn by all the Efrat men in attendance, and their megaphone, which soon became the tool to try to drown out our words of protest.

If you had watched the scene on mute, you would have been excused for thinking that they were outside provocateurs who had come to protest against settlers. Well, in fact, they were protesting against settlers, some of whom had lived in the settlements before they were born, but they were questioning our commitment to settlement in Israel, because we dared to criticize an illegal outpost.

But what struck me about what they were saying was that, in the end, it really came down to fear. Again and again they spoke of the danger of another 7/10, that our neighbors want to kill us all, that they’re all terrorists, and that the teenagers in hoodies that populate the outpost and attack our neighbors are Zionist heroes who are the ones keeping us safe from these enemies. And when I thought about it, I realized- this is where Hamas has really succeeded. This is the victory people aren’t talking about.

There is plenty of talk, as there should be, about the fact that, despite all of the government’s promises, Hamas still exists, it still has power and control. That, indeed, is a significant victory. But at this point, it doesn’t in any way pose a real, existential threat to Israel. There is also much talk (and there should be) of Hamas’ pyrrhic victory on October 7, which succeeded in killing more Israelis than any previous attack, but then brought about unprecedented death and destruction on the Palestinians. But we all knew that Hamas had the capacities and had the desire to use them to destroy Israel. So the real questions about that victory need to be directed at the political, security and intelligence bodies by an official investigative committee.

But there is another, more transparent and insidious victory, which is truly an existential threat, if we don’t recognize it and respond to it. The main purpose of a terror organization is exactly what you would expect: to terrorize. When the tool of terror is wielded effectively, even a small organization with few resources can control a great, powerful society.

The greatest victory Hamas can hope for is that their attack will provoke a fear in us that recalibrates our moral compass. If they can do that, they are not only controlling our decisions, they are controlling our very identity. If the fear of another October 7 causes us to tolerate the path of terror, Hamas has not only controlled our identity, but they have caused us to remake ourselves in their image, and thus, to abandon our qualitative moral advantage and justification in the world.

There’s bad news, there’s good news, and then there’s great news.

The bad news is that too many Israelis, and especially young Israelis, have allowed the trauma of the last three years to cause them to fall right into the psychological trap that Hamas set for us.

The good news is that it is in our hands to take this victory away from Hamas, and we can do it without firing a single bullet. All it takes is patient dialogue and sensitive education. A whole lot of therapy would help, too.

But the great news is that in two months, we have the perfect chance to take this victory away from Hamas and set ourselves on the road to recovery. The upcoming elections are an opportunity to replace the people who have been leading this country from a place of fear, which has led to an unprecedented breakdown of law, order and empathy in a society that used to pride itself on all three.

We have the chance to search out the leaders whose campaigns focus not on fear of our enemies, but on the hopes of the beautiful place that we can build together. We have the opportunity and the privilege to ensure that it will not be the fear of Hamas that defines who we are, but our pride in our own moral aspirations.