Neither Peacenik nor Kahanist

A popular misconception is that you are either a foolhardy peacenik who doesn’t know how to defend the country or you are an extremist nationalist who promotes violence. The reality is, as King Solomon said, to everything there is a time and place. 

The holy Rebbe of Chabad charts a practical path for ending the cycle of terrorist violence and achieving peace in the Middle East as delineated in the book Make Peace: A Strategic Guide for Achieving Lasting Peace in Israel by Rabbi Elisha Pearl.

A Clear-Eyed Assessment of Failed Strategies

Pearl begins by critically examining the conventional strategies that have repeatedly failed to deliver peace:

• Ceasefires — Rather than achieving lasting peace, ceasefires have generally been used by the enemy to stop Israel’s advance and create an opportunity for the terrorists to regroup, rearm, and commit worse atrocities in the future.
• International Peacekeepers — Based on the United Nations’ abysmal record of bias and failure, UN Peacekeepers often haven’t kept the peace but have facilitated terrorist groups in waging war on Israel.
• Land for Peace — Since the terrorists refuse to recognize Israel and do not accept coexistence with the Jewish state, but rather they aspire to have all of it just for themselves, marked by the complete eradication of Israel “from the river to the sea,” hence ceding land for peace is nothing more than folly that facilitates the terrorists to take what they can for a worthless piece of paper and then continue their violent agenda to take the rest later.

The Rebbe’s Torah-Based Strategy: Peace Through Strength

Rejecting these flawed paradigms, Pearl introduces the Rebbe’s Torah-based doctrine of peace through strength. As it says in Psalms 29:11, “G-d will grant His people strength and bless them with peace.” While at first, these principles may seem counterintuitive, they are a wise, nuanced approach that seeks not the destruction of the enemy but the end of enmity itself, hence heralding the possibility of a genuine and enduring peace.

Here are the core principles:

1. Zero Tolerance — Israel’s military must establish deterrence such that the murderous enemy will understand that any aggression will be countered with a “decisive response,” making their aggression futile. Effective deterrence is crucial because it can prevent the need for a full-scale war and the resulting loss of life. This approach of the Rebbe is anchored in the halachic principle of pikuach nefesh in which the saving of lives is of paramount importance.
2. Proactive Defense — This policy requires absolute vigilance and the neutralization of emerging threats including the use of preemptive attacks on our enemies preparing to strike us. As stated in Talmud Berachos 58a: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up to kill them first“.
3. Fully Neutralizing Threats — Contrary to popular idealized social justice beliefs that concessions and appeasement bring peace, the reality is when fighting an enemy whose radicalized ideology demands your very destruction that we must fight to comprehensively dismantle the enemy’s capacity for warfare (and not just seek a shortsighted “containment” strategy) to ensure they do not re-engage in hostilities again in the future. As it says in Deuteronomy 20:30, “You shall lay siege to the city that is waging war against you until it is subdued.“

The Rebbe teaches that as well-meaning as pacifism may be, it is not a workable strategy against a hate-filled recalcitrant enemy and only perpetuates an endless cycle of violence. As Pearl explains:

The enemy and its supporting populace will only stop their aggression if they believe that further warfare is no longer beneficial to their interests.

A Humanitarian Vision Rooted in Torah

While the Rebbe’s approach is often mischaracterized as hawkish, Pearl clarifies that it is, in fact, deeply humanitarian. The Rebbe’s goal is to end the bloodshed and foster a reality where former enemies can become friends, in line with the Torah’s teaching to “eliminate sins, not sinners.” He advocated for a rigorous, informed pursuit of peace that upholds the dignity and rights of all people, without succumbing to naïve or simplistic solutions.

Finally, as much as we may want peace and desire it now, we can’t fool ourselves that the enemy terrorists will simply stop their murderous ideology and attacks and concede our right to exist and sovereignty in the land of Israel. Therefore, we must have faith in the Almighty and engage with the enemy with vigilance, strength, and determination to defeat their plans to kill us. Only then, will there be a chance for peace together the fulfillment of G-d’s promised land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.