While Israelis may debate the question philosophically, I say YES to celebrating the downfall of our enemies.

By Jonathan Feldstein

Yeah, I am celebrating.

For the past two weeks, Israel (including the Mossad, IDF, and military intelligence) have shown unparalleled prowess and success in the global war on terror.  

First, thousands of Hezbollah beepers exploded on command. Then their walkie talkies. This is recognized as the most precise counter-terrorist operation ever. Before and after, Israel took credit for the targeted assassination of nearly all the top Hezbollah leaders. Israel targeted and destroyed countless Hezbollah missiles and launchers, along with other weapons and systems. Whether by design or chance, the debilitating of Hezbollah’s communications systems, destruction of its weapons and infrastructure, and elimination of many top leaders caused many of the remaining leaders to have to meet in person, providing another opportunity to eliminate them while hiding deep in bunkers beneath Beirut’s civilians.

Unlike our enemies who shout “Allahu Akbar”, revering the greatness of their deity in the midst of and following the massacre of civilians (whether a year ago on October 7, or two decades ago on 9/11), I am celebrating the downfall of Israel’s enemies.

I am celebrating Israel’s intelligence, fortitude, and ability, all of which fell short a year ago in a multi-system failure that allowed the most inhuman massacre of 1200, kidnapping of 251, beheading, gang rape, sexual mutilation, burning people alive, and more.

I am celebrating that so many terrorist leaders, their headquarters, and so much of their infrastructure have been destroyed.

Unlike our enemies whose demise I do celebrate, I am not celebrating the death of “innocent civilians.” Though to be honest, I have become less liberal in who I consider innocent.  If you have allowed your children to be indoctrinated by genocidal hate for generations; if you have participated in any way in building terrorist infrastructure in, under, or around civilian areas and institutions; if you have witnessed this and not at least reported it or resisted it; and if your neighbor’s home has become a weapons cache, you own no small part of the blame.

I am celebrating the message to the Iranian Islamic regime that they are in our crosshairs, and to the Iranian people that the end of the regime is in sight. When that happens, the funding and arms to its terrorist tentacles will wither and die.

I am celebrating the first time in decades that Lebanese citizens can see a light at the end of the evil Islamic hijacking of their country, and that they can be emboldened to vomit out all the terrorists in their midst.

I am celebrating the strong message this sends to our Arab allies, that we have the same enemy and must continue the fight together even if they won’t do so in public. Even if they cannot rely on the US whose policies too often embolden and enable the terrorists, that they can rely on Israel, and similarly should be partnering with Israel, with or without the US support.

I am celebrating how the past two weeks have been a game changer for the entire Middle East. Iran could once hide its nuclear weapons behind the threat to unleash Hezbollah’s massive arsenal. Hezbollah can still do damage but has been so degraded; not only can the Iranians not hide behind this threat, but they realize they might be next. After two successful long-range attacks on Houthi weapons and infrastructure in Yemen – the same distance from Israel as Tehran – the Ayatollahs are rightly hiding.

I am celebrating because Israelis are grappling with whether we should be celebrating at all, and if so, how it’s appropriate. It shows our humanity, our values, our Biblical grounding. Yes, as they try to exterminate is, the Jewish people are debating if and how to celebrate the downfall of our genocidal enemies.

But I am also dismayed. Given last year’s massacre from which Israelis are still traumatized, Israel has had to rebuild its deterrence. There are so many against us, including would be allies.

In 1983, Hezbollah killed 241 Americas, including 220 Marines: the single deadliest day for the U.S. Marines since Iwo Jima. That same day, Hezbollah killed 58 French paratroopers. Now is the time for the US and France to help Israel to finish the job for which they failed or neglected to do all these decades ago. Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil  – who Israel eliminated last month – had a US $7 million bounty on his head for two 1983 Beirut truck bombings that killed over 300 people at US embassy and a Marines barracks. The US should be sending thank you notes not to mention the reward!

I am dismayed and distressed that fear of escalation has become a US military strategy. While cognizant of the play of US election considerations, it displays weakness to both our Islamist enemies, and to the Arabs who are looking for strong allies.

Parroting “ceasefire” as a foreign policy is a cop out, kicking the can down the road. It only delays inevitable future fighting. After defeating the British at Trenton, George Washington did not call for a ceasefire; he went on to defeat them at Princeton.  Nor did Patton at the Battle of the Bulge.

Things still may get much worse before getting better. By the time you read this, Israel may be engaged in an all-out ground incursion in Lebanon to rout out and push back the remains of Hezbollah’s army away from the border so tens of thousands of Israelis can come back to their homes who they have evacuated.

May all Israelis who have been forced to evacuate their homes and communities be able to return home soon and safely, and may this be the beginning of a new future for Israel and the Middle East.

About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Jornal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

A journalist’s reflections of October 7 and the year that followed

By Rolene Marks

I have walked the decimated ruins of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where time has stood still and the burnt, grenade-riddled pockmarked walls give testimony to what happened there. I have stood in the control room of Nahal Oz, devastated at the burnt remains where young, female soldiers were incinerated, raped or taken hostage into Gaza, where they remain. I have smelt the stench of death. It is an oppressive stink, that is hard to describe but you know it when you smell it. I have sat with the family members of hostages and looked into their sorrowful, exhausted eyes. I have walked the killing fields of the Nova Festival site, where the trees whisper, “never forget what happened here”. I almost get the feeling that the trees apologise that they could not protect those that ran and tried to hide from the murderous bullets, rapes and torture that they endured at the hands of the monsters.

I have seen the piles and piles of mangled, burnt cars.  They are the final resting places for their occupants eradicated from this earth by fire and flames. Each car represents a universe.

I have sat with the families of hostages – those we hope are still alive and those who were murdered. I have hugged Nissim Louk, father of Shani Louk, whose body on the back of a Hamas pick-up truck, clothes ripped, legs bent at a grotesque, unnatural angle with a bullet hole in the base of her skull as it taken into Gaza by cheering terrorists, became the image that shocked the world. What do you say to a grieving parent?

I have been into the miguniot (shelters), where frightened revelers tried to hide. These shelters are only designed to protect about 10 people from rocket fire. They became slaughterhouses as 30 to 40 people sought shelter only to be massacred by bullets and grenades – or taken into the terror tunnels below Gaza. There was no shelter to in these roadside death traps.

I have attended the shivot for fallen soldiers and stood in a guard of honour, devastated at the loss of life. We yearn for the day we beat our swords into plowshares. I have sat and spoken to those soldiers. Our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers who serve. I know without any doubt that they do everything in their power to preserve civilian lives while defending ours. This fact has been corroborated by the international military experts I have had the privilege of speaking with.

I have seen the footage and visuals that are imprinted on my soul, things that nobody should ever have to see. As journalists, we are the recorders of history but nothing prepares you for the depths of depravity and trauma of seeing the evidence of rape, mutilation, murder, kidnappings, beheadings, burnt and decomposing corpses, executed babies and devastated communities.

I have seen it with my own eyes. It is undeniable – despite the many who engage in an orgy of denial.

I have reviewed the evidence gathered off the bodies of terrorists. I have.

The proof of what happened is irrefutable – I have seen it, heard it and smelt it.

I have been a witness to the atrocities – and now you have too.

I have cried more tears that I though the human body could produce. We all have. I cry for the victims. I cry for us. I cry for the people of Gaza. I cry for the futility of all of it.

The simultaneous, split personality actions of many who both deny and celebrate the atrocities committed against Israel. Antisemitism has always been the oldest and most irrational form of hatred but its latest iteration in the form of rabid anti-Zionist Israelophobia is beyond anything experienced in our generation. Many deny the atrocities because maybe they have to face up to the murderous genocidal entity they support –  but at the same time celebrate what happened because you know they were just waiting for the opportunity to say “but the Jews had it coming”. Of course, they will swear blind that they love Jews – they just hate Zionists. Well over 90% of Jews are Zionists. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people. It is the realization of the return to our ancient and indigenous homeland. It our right to self-determination and in the modern era, the ability to defend ourselves. Is our audacity of self-defense what really sticks in people’s gullets? I think it is. We have learnt the lessons of history.

Israelis have enormous empathy for Palestinian suffering, contrary to what the media tells you. We do not want to see innocents suffering. This war of wars that Hamas forced on both our people is hopefully the last. Israel recently marked four years of the historic Abraham Accords. It is our stubborn hope that in time, our Palestinian neighbours will join the circle of peace. Before this happens, both sides have a lot of healing to do. The “social justice” warriors outside of Israel who think that calling for the Jewish state to be boycotted or exterminated “from the river to the sea” impede any chances of peace and healing.

The calendar tells me that it has been a year – but for us it has been 365 7 Octobers. We will never be the same people who went to bed on 6 October. How could we be? We will emerge stronger, braver and tougher. We will thrive as the generations before us have done. We will grow and we will rebuild our shattered communities. This is our victory.

Feature picture: Migunit (mobile shelter) at the Nova site (Photo: Rolene Marks).

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).