Should Israel end the fighting in Gaza?

Weeds can ruin the lush, carpet-like look of a well-tended lawn. Avid gardeners know that the most effective way to get rid of them is to uproot them from their base rather than hand-pick them out of the grass, because although no longer visible, that is only a momentary fix. In very short order, they will reappear, once again, ruining the beauty of the lawn.

This is exactly the situation which lies before us. Over the course of 17 months, Israel has managed to weed out thousands of Hamas terrorists, Hezbollah operatives up north and the squelching of uprisings in Judea and Samaria. Additionally, we have destroyed many tunnels, weapons’ facilities and so much more.  And though it sounds like a lot, it’s not enough.

Similar to those pesky weeds, terrorists must be pulled up by the roots so that they will not return.  In order to create a terror-free zone, all these killers have to go – right down to the last one. Failure to cut them off at the root, will only result in their reappearance, necessitating the military to go back in and yank them out by force.  Who knows how much damage they will have managed to wreak before that is done!

According to the latest new reports, there is speculation that Hamas has agreed to release five hostages in return for a seven-week ceasefire. It would be right to be suspicious as to what they intend to accomplish during that seven-week respite from the fighting which has, yet again, resumed. Leaving us no choice, once they refused to release the remaining hostages, we went back in to complete the job which was unfinished.

But it’s not just Hamas who wants a ceasefire.  In his article entitled, The Shin Bet, the law and democracy, writer Yisrael Medad says that hostage families, albeit a minority, are “demanding an end to the fighting altogether, in tandem with extreme left-wing groups.”

While it’s completely understandable as to why hostage families would be desperate to see a total ceasefire, knowing that it would be the only way for their loved ones to return, while there is still breath in them, what other reason would anyone have to see an end to the fighting? How does doing half a job serve our interests – especially when the enemy is so fervently committed to our demise?

Does anyone believe that an immediate ceasefire will bring about significant change in the ethos of Hamas terrorists? Will they suddenly arrive at the conclusion that they should rethink their strategy and lay low, because messing with Israel is simply too costly for them?

Quite the opposite! Even without a ceasefire, and the resumption of fighting, Hamas has declared an unequivocal victory. It’s not just biased outlets such as Al Jazeera which claim that, but many other sites as well.  

One such report states, “Minutes after the hostage agreement was signed between Hamas and Israel, the streets of the West Bank, several Arab capitals and even some European cities echoed with chants celebrating Hamas’ “victory.”

Yes, this is their perspective, despite the death of their top leadership, the decimation of so much of Gaza, the collateral deaths of their people, whom they put in harms’ way by embedding their weapons and terrorists within the civilian population, the massive homelessness created by a war they began, and so many other devastating effects which can only be attributed to their unrelenting goal of displacing Jews from their ancestral homeland.

Of course, the premature declaration of having won this war is nothing more than a public relations strategy by clever terrorists who hope to garner any lost support from Gazans who might finally feel as if they were duped into throwing in with a bunch of thugs who promised the sun, moon and the stars but ended up delivering the dust of the earth which now covers the debris of what was once a bustling community of homes, shops, marketplaces and all of the other commodities a society needs in order to function normally.

Instead, these same residents will have to face the inevitable prospect of relocation to another country, unfamiliar to them, where they will have to build their lives from scratch. Even though this is the hard truth, Hamas, along with their supporters, somehow think that by declaring victory, they can turn the facts around, causing people to believe that loss does not mean defeat.

So, if this is their thinking, after the massive beating that they got, how would they respond if we decided to capitulate and exit the war before our military goals are fully met? It would mean the preservation of smuggling tunnels which have yet to be blown up. It would mean a renewed chance of replenishing the weapons which were destroyed or seized by the IDF. And, it would mean allowing Hamas to regroup, re-strategize and regain the same areas over which our own young men and women lost their lives trying to defend.

Most importantly, how would the families of those soldiers feel? They paid the ultimate price to protect the homeland, knowing that, even after their deaths, Israel would continue to thrive, because the threat would be gone. It is not only for the citizens of Israel that we must continue to fight, to the bitter end, but it is also for the memories of those brave warriors who gave their all.

We owe them the commitment of finishing the job!  Of course, the return of our hostages does not negate fighting the terrorism which imperils our borders. Bringing back our hostages, both the dead and those who are barely holding on to life, but still amongst the living, is our highest priority, and creative ways must be explored how to do that expeditiously but without giving up everything.

Israel’s sacred commitment to life does not allow us to walk away from our people, chalking up their deaths to an unfortunate price to pay, all at the expense of ending the war. That is what makes us different from those who live on the other side of the fence. We strive to do both – save our own, while also battling the ruthless enemy which champions death as a means to achieve their end.

With God’s help, we will succeed at both objectives – returning every one of our hostages and finishing the thorough uprooting of the deadly weeds in our midst!