Go figure

What is Hamas thinking? What is Hezbollah thinking?

Reportedly Iran seems to be possibly backing off from wanting to hit Israel hard. Hezbollah seems to still want to attack.

What was Israel thinking? Surely Israel realized that the assassination of certain terrorists in the capital cities of Lebanon and Iran could start a regional war.

America’s thinking seems quite straightforward, that events can lead to a regional war which can unstablize the Middle East, disrupt oil deliveries to the rest of the world, and put their troops in danger.

What is everyone thinking? Will this blow over and Israel will just continue to eliminate members of Hamas?

One thing we do see, is that by the US marshalling forces ready to attack Iran and Hezbollah, and also organizing a coalition of other countries to help defend Israel, and Israel announcing they are ready to go on the offensive, this may possibly lead to scaring Hezbollah and Iran enough so that they have second thoughts about attacking in a big way.

Many years ago, the Lubavitcher Rebbe quoted a passage from the Talmud and Medrash, that when an enemy comes to kill you, wake up early to kill him. The Rebbe pointed out that it doesn’t say ‘wake up early and kill him,’ but rather ‘wake up early to kill him.’ Meaning that the very act of mobilizing and threatening to attack can be enough to deter the enemy from attacking.

This is something that we are seeing now. We don’t know what will happen. But we are seeing the potential for deterrence. We are seeing that by Israel and its allies mobilizing forces, and declaring their intention to attack the enemy, that this alone might deter the enemy and prevent war.

Certainly, Iran was so humiliated by the assassination of an honoured guest in their capital city, they were ready to attack big time. They were furious, and the same with Hezbollah. Yet the mobilization of Israel and its allies seems to possibly be working.

There are those who say that the way to keep peace is to give in, but this whets the enemy’s appetite even more. You give them Gaza and they launch October 7, you give them Oslo accords and they launch intifadas.

What we are seeing now is that the advice about how to keep things peaceful and avoid war, namely by mobilizing and showing that you’re ready to attack, this may be working.

Time will tell. When we have history to look back on, this informs us for the future as to what is the wise way to proceed, in order to achieve a more peaceful world. By not giving away land, not giving away Gaza, not giving away the West Bank for Palestinian state, this is the way to discourage terrorism. By mobilizing, showing that we are ready to attack, this can deter. By hitting Hamas hard, as Israel did and is continuing to do, despite world condemnation against Israel, this is the way to punish evil and to deter future terrorism.

People may be very well-meaning; they want to give away everything in order to try to appease the enemy. But history is showing us, that sometimes tough love is the way to proceed.