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Daniel Polisar

‘The front is not there or here, but inside each of us’

How well have Israelis handled the war over the past year? By the measures David Ben-Gurion set forth, very well indeed
Prime Minister and Minister of Defense David Ben-Gurion with IDF Commander of the Jerusalem District Colonel Yossef Nevo and Jerusalem Mayor Mordechai Ish-Shalom at an army post on Jerusalem border, Musrara, West Jerusalem, beginning of August 1962. (PD David Harris via Wikimedia)
Prime Minister and Minister of Defense David Ben-Gurion with IDF Commander of the Jerusalem District Colonel Yossef Nevo and Jerusalem Mayor Mordechai Ish-Shalom at an army post on Jerusalem border, Musrara, West Jerusalem, beginning of August 1962. (PD David Harris via Wikimedia)

As we mark a year since Hamas’s atrocities launched a seven-front war pitting Iran and its proxies against Israel, I’ve been searching for a vantage point from which to assess the response of Israelis during this challenging time. Though the circumstances were of course different, I have found much wisdom in the words of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister and a strategic genius of the highest order. It was January 1948, Palestinian Arab militias were carrying out murderous attacks aimed at thwarting the UN partition plan calling for Jewish and Arab states in Palestine, and Israel’s four Arab neighbors and Iraq were expected to launch a war for that same end as soon as the British concluded their Mandate in May. The situation was more dire than what a far more powerful Israel faces today, but the similarities are still hard to miss.

While various factors would play a role in determining how the war would end, Ben-Gurion singled out one as decisive:

“What will determine the outcome is the test of wills…. Whoever’s will reaches its maximum level will withstand the test and remain alive. Whoever’s will fails will fall among the fallen.”

Ben-Gurion therefore concluded that the resources of the Jewish community in Israel had to be focused overwhelmingly on prosecuting the war, even if that meant temporarily neglecting areas of enormous significance such as Jewish immigration and settling the land. But decisions on allocating resources made by the leadership, and the fighting carried out by the men and women in the front lines, were insufficient. Rather, he laid out two crucial imperatives for Israeli society, beginning with one incumbent on every person:

“We shall not withstand the test until each of us understands that the front is not “there” or “here” – but rather inside each of us, that it is not this farm or that point that are at the front, but rather every man and woman, every youth and elderly person… and we are called to a supreme effort that includes each of us.”

Second, Ben-Gurion acknowledged that Israel’s enemies were capable of mustering a powerful will to win, but rather than imitating them, we had to reject the sources of their motivation and act on the basis of an alternative worldview. “In this distinction,” he declared, “is revealed the difference between the perspective of people of peace, like ourselves, and the perspective of men of war like the Mufti and Hitler and their like. There is a historical philosophy that sees in war the highest destiny of mankind, the glory of man, the glory of power and the right that power accords, and this philosophy supports war as a free choice and as the supreme end.”

In confronting the representatives of that view – akin in many ways to Hassan Nasrallah and other Islamists who have declared in recent years that “We are going to win because the Jews love life and we love death – Ben-Gurion explained:

“It is necessary that we take up the yoke of war and show a greater will to win than these others. We shall do it – precisely because for us war is not a goal in itself, and we see war as a terrible, accursed misfortune, and resort to war only from lack of choice – war and peace are nothing more than means to something else – and that ‘something’ will give us the advantage that our enemies do not have and that is denied to the followers of violence: a vision of life, a vision of national rebirth, of independence, equality and peace – for the Jewish nation and for all the nations of the world.”

When I assess how Israelis have acted over the past year, I believe we have largely followed Ben-Gurion’s twin admonitions. First, most Israelis (with the exception of a couple of sectors) have dedicated themselves to the war effort with remarkable focus and perseverance. This starts with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, mostly reservists in their twenties, thirties, and forties who were called away from their homes and careers, and have risked life and limb to defend their country. They could not have done so effectively and with peace of mind without the unwavering backing of their spouses, typically but not always women, who for months at a time have taken care of their families while providing emotional and logistical support to their life partners on the front lines. The spirit of voluntarism remains powerfully alive throughout society twelve months into the war, and is shared by young and old alike – who have taken upon themselves a myriad of activities to support the troops, the Israelis displaced from the Gaza envelope and the areas near the Lebanese border, and the families of the hostages.

The sense that “The front is inside each of us” also motivates a remarkably large number of Jews and other supporters of Israel around the world. While physically removed from the fighting, countless individuals and communities have gone well above and beyond to support Israelis in need of their assistance, especially but by no means limited to our soldiers and to the main victims of October 7.

Moving to Ben-Gurion’s second imperative, how have Israelis done in preserving through this bloody conflict “a vision of life, a vision of national rebirth, of independence, equality, and peace”? Though there are of course exceptions, I’ve seen a clear picture emerge from speaking with dozens of soldiers and hearing and reading the words of hundreds more. They are animated by a touching nobility of purpose: They are fighting so that their family, friends, and neighbors can enjoy the good and simple things in life, so that the hostages can be reunited with their families, and the displaced residents of the south and north can return to their homes, till their fields in peace, and send their children to their own schools so that they can flourish and contribute in turn to their country. Israelis as a whole are largely motivated by these same goals and are also dedicated to doing everything possible so the soldiers return home safely at war’s end and so those injured in body or spirit can recover and lead full lives in communities that embrace and uplift them.

None of this is to say that Israelis have handled every aspect of the war perfectly or that our success going forward is guaranteed. But it does suggest that when we look back on a horrific year, and forward towards an uncertain future, we should do so not only with the humility appropriate to the failures that led to October 7th, but also with a measure of pride and optimism.

About the Author
Dr. Daniel Polisar is executive vice president of Shalem College in Jerusalem. He researches and writes on Zionist history and thought, Middle Eastern politics, rhetoric, and higher education. Since October 8, his three sons have been fighting with the IDF in Gaza and he has been leading an initiative to provide essential gear for Israeli soldiers. He and his teammates recently completed a campaign in which they raised $12 million to supply soldiers in northern Israel and they have embarked on a follow-up effort to assist additional units that have entered the fighting. Donations can be made using information at tinyurl.com/IDFGearCampaign. Polisar can be reached at dpolisar@shalem.ac.il or via WhatsApp at +972-50-795-9474.
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