Hope Must Win This War

Will it ever end?

It feels like we’ve been holding our breath for an eternity. Israel is now nearing two full years of war, a war ignited by unspeakable cruelty, sustained by terror, and prolonged by silence and cowardice from much of the world. What began with the brutal October 7 massacre has spiraled into a global campaign, not just of military survival for Israel, but of moral survival for Jews everywhere.

Let us never forget how this war began. The slaughter of over 1,200 innocent civilians by Hamas terrorists, the rape and mutilation of women, the cold-blooded murder of babies, elderly Holocaust survivors kidnapped from their homes. For a moment, the world gasped. But that moment passed. Since then, the narrative was hijacked. The victims turned into villains. The murderers into martyrs.

Two years on, the pain has not dulled. The trauma lives in every Israeli household. The names of fallen soldiers echo in the hearts of a small nation forced to fight for its very existence….again. Hundreds of brave young men and women have fallen, many more wounded in body and soul. Others, unable to carry the emotional weight, ended their lives in silence. Their sacrifice was real, and it demands recognition.

Yet in the face of such darkness, Israel has shown remarkable strength.

The IDF has made unprecedented progress. High-ranking Hamas leaders have been eliminated, including Yahya Sinwar the so-called “mastermind” behind the attacks. Infrastructure of terror has been dismantled across Gaza and southern Lebanon. Israel’s elite units have pulled off stunning rescue missions, including the miraculous recovery of hostages against all odds. Anonymous acts of heroism happen daily. Quiet, uncelebrated, but life-saving.

Even Iran, the puppet master of terror in the region, has suffered major setbacks. Its nuclear programs, once seen as unstoppablehas been significantly disrupted by Israeli operations. Its terror proxies are weakened. Hezbollah is a shadow of what it was.

And yet… it doesn’t feel like victory.

Why?

Because the war, as bloody and costly as it has been, was never just about territory or terrorism. It’s a war for Israel’s legitimacy. For Jewish safety. For truth. And on that front, we are bleeding.

Israel is winning militarily, but losing in the court of global opinion. The world has turned its back. BDS campaigns are no longer fringe, they are mainstream. University campuses once devoted to free thought now silence Jewish voices. Synagogues are under attack in Europe. Israelis are vilified in The Hague while Hamas is excused as a “resistance movement.” Antisemitism is no longer hiding in shadows,it marches proudly in city squares, waving Palestinian flags while shouting for death.

Even Israelis themselves are beginning to lose hope. My dear friend, an ordinary father in Tel Aviv told me : “I don’t know how much longer we can do this,” he said, his voice trembling. “We’re fighting alone.”

But Israel must win. Not only militarily. Morally. Because surrendering to Hamas is not peace, it is death. The war must end, yes. But not with compromise. Not with ceasefires that let terror regroup. Not with fake truces that keep hostages underground.

The war must end with a clear, unshakable Israeli victory.

That victory will begin when the remaining hostages are returned dead or alive. When Hamas is fully dismantled. When Hezbollah is disarmed. When the international community finally recognizes that this is not a local conflict, it is a front line in a global war between barbarism and civilization.

It must also be a victory for truth: when people finally see that Israel did not choose this war. That Israel, even while being bombarded, did more to spare civilian lives in Gaza than any army in modern history. That Israel is not perfect but it is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, where Arabs have more rights than in any Arab country.

And it must be a victory for the Jewish people. For the right to walk freely in Paris, New York, Amsterdam, or Johannesburg without fear. For the right to defend our children and our homeland without being demonized.

To all who still believe in Israel, who still defend its right to exist: your voice matters more now than ever. Speak up. Loudly. Proudly. Because the greatest defeat would be silence. And the greatest victory would be hope.

We are tired. We are grieving. But we are still standing.

Let this be the last chapter of this war. And let that chapter be titled “Victory.”

Am Yisrael Chai.