OpinionIsrael at War

After the Black Sabbath, the light will return

The enemies of freedom will not prevail because the Jews fight to win.

IDF soldiers receive protective equipment from One People, a civilian group that formed shortly after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Photo courtesy of One People.
IDF soldiers receive protective equipment from One People, a civilian group that formed shortly after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Photo courtesy of One People.
Fiamma Nirenstein
Fiamma Nirenstein is an Italian-Israeli author, journalist and senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. An adviser on antisemitism to Israel's foreign minister, she served in the past as a member of the Italian Parliament, where she was vice president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Chamber of Deputies.

A month ago, all the sirens in Israel were not enough to warn of the descent of Hamas barbarians on the communities of Israel’s southern border. Now, fog has enveloped the future of the entire world, and only one certainty remains: We are disoriented and in shock.

We now realize that there are many essential things we do not know: We do not know if there is a limit to human cruelty, after having witnessed live, through the cameras of the terrorists themselves, the atrocities committed against children in front of their mothers, against mothers in front of their children.

We do not know if the nightmare of an army of murderers who, shouting Yehud, Yehud and Allahu Akbar killed 1,400 innocent people—dancing young people, old people, entire families, one by one—is really over.

For we see that these cries of terrorism and murder are now invading Western cities, and we do not know if there will be the strength and will to counter it. We do not know if the Jews will have to evacuate, as they have evacuated the towns that border Hezbollah’s Lebanon and Hamas’s Gaza.

We no longer know whether Israel, which we believed capable of defending itself effectively with cutting-edge technological and military means, is as strong as we thought. We do not know whether the extreme suffering of the families of the 240 hostages, including 30 children, will awaken the conscience of the West and prompt a collective demand for their release, which thus far has not yet been heard.

We do not know whether the world will understand that we are fighting a war of survival against monsters who view words like “peace” and “humanitarian aid” with contempt at best, use their own people as human shields and declare that they welcome their blood.

We do not know how long the antisemitic street rage will last, this virulent mixture of demented, ignorant woke culture and murderous Islamist hatred.

But one thing is clear: After the Holocaust, when it seemed impossible for the Jews to find the strength to build the State of Israel, the Jews continued to love life while their enemies loved death—and the Jews will give the people what they want. Jews fight to win. Israel’s young people at the front know that they are fighting a historic battle for the entire Jewish people even while they weep for the fallen.

All around, as in World War II, two blocs face each other, one good and one wholly evil. On one side, there is the Axis of Iran, Russia and China, each bent on domination and the extermination of freedom. On the other side are the United States, Israel and Europe. They are determined to defend their freedom. As on the day after the Black Sabbath, the sun will rise again and the light will return.

The opinions and facts presented in this article are those of the author, and neither JNS nor its partners assume any responsibility for them.
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