Don’t let the post-ceasefire blues get you down

I don’t know about you, but every time there’s a ceasefire — and it’s a little ridiculous how many I’ve lived through in the near-30 years I’ve lived in Israel — I crash and burn a little.

The past week and a half was mind-bending and earth-shifting and sleep-depriving, and along with the relief of going back to sweet blessed routine, there’s something of an post-adrenaline slump as we awaken from this bizarre dream to realize that, oh yeah, actually, we’re actually still in the middle of a 20-month marathon of wars within wars within wars, there are still hostages in Gaza and soldiers dying on the front, and things were looking pretty bleak before all this started, weren’t they?

And now, the morning after, we’re already reading depressing headlines: seven young soldiers killed in a terrible incident in Gaza, and lots of speculation about the Iran campaign: is it really true that Iran’s nuclear program was destroyed? Did we really accomplish anything serious? The damages from this round with Iran were immense, was it really worth it? And so on and so forth.

Don’t be confused, my friends.

We’re not in the same Middle East we were in a week and a half ago.

What Israel accomplished in this campaign is beyond imagination and beyond words. Even if the doubters are right and Iran’s nuclear program was not set back as badly as Trump and Netanyahu claim. Even if the IRGC clamps down on any resistance and hires new people to replace the ones killed in this round. Even if it turns out to be just a “round” and we need to go back in there for another one.

Operation Rising Lion proved that Iran is not untouchable. The word “paper tiger” was tossed around a lot in the media, but it wasn’t just Iran’s weakness that Israel demonstrated — it was our strength, and our indomitability. For decades, the pessimists among us have been predicting a catastrophic war with many, many losses. Even going into this operation, we were expecting massive casualties, and for many years, we hesitated to make this move because we thought it would be impossible without incurring heavy losses. The fight was not without cost; we lost 28 civilians, 3,000 were wounded, and more than 9,000 were displaced. But that is a fraction of what was predicted, and very, very different from the apocalyptic scenarios we’d been imagining.

What’s more, even after 20 exhausting months of war, Israelis were more than willing to take the hit for the cause of striking Iran. One of the most striking phenomena of an Israeli war — and Operation Rising Lion was no exception — is that when it begins, there is a travel crisis caused not by Israelis running away from the war, but Israelis running towards it, desperate to be with their families and stand with their people during this critical time. If that’s not a sign of how much the Israeli public was ready and willing to do what it takes to remove the Iranian threat, I don’t know what is.

Gone is the idea that a military operation in Iran would be impossible, or too dangerous, or too costly to carry out. Gone is the idea that Israel is too weak, or too restrained by the US, or too surrounded by enemies to protect itself against looming existential threats. Iran’s entire strategy of encircling us with terror groups that can be activated at their command to destroy us lies in ruins. And the Arab nations that have been not-so-secretly eyeing the idea of normalization have just received a spectacular demonstration of how worthwhile it is to have Israel on your side.

It may take weeks, months, or even years to fully understand the impact of Operation Rising Lion. Will it really eliminate the threat of a nuclear Iran for good? Will it lead to the downfall of a monstrous regime that has been robbing and oppressing its people for decades? What effect will it have on the war in Gaza? There’s a lot that remains to be seen. But there’s one thing I know, and that is that we live in a safer, stronger Israel, and a safer world, than we did on June 12. Don’t let the talking heads distract you from the magnificent and miraculous accomplishments of this operation.

But maybe take a nice long nap today.