Israel’s current multi-front war is existential. The price of having a democratic, free Israel is measured in the blood of its young warriors.
Yesterday, I planned to sit on the couch and read Kurt Schlichter’s new thriller, The Attack, when I got word that a soldier had been killed the night before. Actually, nine soldiers. But this one hit home. He was a 26-year-old reserve combat engineer. Combat engineers always go in where it is hot. His father and I met in 1991 at the Chabad House in Madison, Wisconsin. He was religious, and I hoped to be. The two of us arrived here in Israel a week apart in 1992; he came to finish his bachelor’s while I came for a postdoc, both of us at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. We had a startup for a decade before it ran out of gas. We have always stayed in touch and share happy occasions as well as less happy events. When our son and I were blown up on a Jerusalem street, he could see from his office window the smoke rising from King George Street. He eventually got my phone back for me after it fell out of a massive hole in the bag I had been carrying. His wife organized neighbors to bring us food every day for two months.
Their son went back into the army the week after the 10/7 pogrom in the south. I ran into the boy’s mother the day after they dropped him off at his base. She was extremely worried but very proud of her son. I had hoped that I would never see his name in the news, but yesterday he and others from his unit were listed as having been killed the night before. An initial report suggests that a tank shell hit an electrical pole, the falling of which set off a huge explosion in a Hamas rocket factory set for demolition. The planned explosion had been set for half an hour later, but the premature explosion caught soldiers still close to the site. Jewish tradition is to bury the dead as soon as possible or reasonable. Many a funeral has been pushed off slightly, waiting for an El-Al flight to make its way to Tel Aviv with mourning family members aboard.
The funeral was held at the military cemetery in Jerusalem at 4 pm. The ceremony was dignified and ended with a 21-gun salute. Many gave brief eulogies, including his heartbroken parents. Neither could speak initially due to the pain and the tears, but as they found their voices and spoke of their beloved child, their words became stronger. They spoke of a talented and dedicated young man. An architect by training, he ran a half-marathon barefoot. He was always a good and reliable friend and had the personal characteristics which every parent hopes and prays for as a child grows up. He represented the best Israel and the Jewish people had to offer, and he gave his life so that Israel can be safe for its people.
Hundreds came to pay their last respects. As I slowly made my way past the fresh grave, with a simple sign on it to identify its occupant, I noticed many newly dug graves. I tried to think of the similar pain that each family associated with every such grave must have experienced when they were under that massive metal tent on Mount Herzl. Israel has many military cemeteries throughout the country, and they are all experiencing similar events during this period. The ages listed on the graves I saw were all in their 20s and 30ss. They made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be free.
I wish that I could propose a better way of dealing with the demonic Hamas organization and its supporters. We don’t fight wars anymore. That is, we fight wars, but only within the parameters allowed by the international community, the press, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague.
While I have nothing against Antony Blinken personally, though he came in on the side of the PLO and against us in Sokolow v PLO, I wish that he and his boss could understand that harping on a Palestinian state at this moment is a bad idea. Gaza ultimately was a Palestinian state. When Israel left it in 2005, the Palestinians were free to rule themselves. Israel and Egypt controlled borders, but the Palestinians were free to develop Gaza and choose its political direction. The brutal three months of fighting simply reflect how much Hamas and its civilian supporters built up a massive armed camp instead of the Singapore of the Middle East. One must realize that the Palestinian civilians—the ones for whom the West demands protection—are full partners with Hamas. Like their German predecessors swaying for Hitler in Berlin of 1939, the Palestinians were ecstatic with the dead and wounded Jewish soldiers and civilians brought back to Gaza on 10/7. Released captives speak of being held and abused by Palestinian families. And who could forget the recorded call of a terrorist calling his parents from Israel to say that he had killed ten Jews. And his parents were so proud. The Palestinians had a state and turned it into a death factory; giving them a bigger state will only lead to worse outcomes than those already suffered by Israel and her citizens.
No people “deserve” a state. Most of the 200 or so countries in the world were created via bloodshed, including the United States. A funny thing with the Palestinians is that when one of their leaders is killed, his family speaks of how he wanted all of his life to die a shaheed—a martyr. Yet, those same folks sure spend a lot of money and effort to hide in tunnels or in unmarked apartments in Beirut or in fancy hotels in Doha to avoid the dying part. At the funeral yesterday, there were many tears. But there was no call for revenge. Hamas was never mentioned. Jews value life, as do the citizens of Western democracies. Freedom is not cheap; actually, the price is very high. The alternative for Israel is destruction, and it was after the destruction of one-third of the Jewish people in the Holocaust that Israel came into existence. The will of Israelis is to live, even if the price is too hard to bear. Israel has lost 560 soldiers, including those murdered on 10/7. This is an enormous price for a small country. May the memory of these young men and women be blessed.
This article is dedicated to the memory of Sgt. (res) Yakir Hexter, OBM.
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