OpinionIsrael at War

Winning is the only thing

Destroying Hamas is within Israel's grasp.

Israeli reserve soldiers take part in a military drill in the Golan Heights in northern Israel on May 8, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.
Israeli reserve soldiers take part in a military drill in the Golan Heights in northern Israel on May 8, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.
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Joseph Frager
Dr. Joseph Frager is a lifelong activist and physician. He is chairman of Israel advocacy for the Rabbinical Alliance of America, chairman of the executive committee of American Friends of Ateret Cohanim and executive vice president of the Israel Heritage Foundation.

Vince Lombardi said it best: “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” As an equally important addendum, he asserted: “Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all-the-time thing.”

Israel cannot ever afford to lose. It must win to survive. Defeating Hamas is not only possible but within Israel’s grasp.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, who has acted as the IDF’s chief spokesman since Oct. 7, recently said, “The idea that it is possible to destroy Hamas, to make Hamas vanish—that is throwing sand in the eyes of the public.” 

He could not be more wrong. Evil can be defeated. Nazi Germany was defeated. The Japanese Empire was defeated. The list of the defeated is long.

Israel can and must bring Hamas to its knees. Israel is closer to this than one thinks. The goal is in sight.

Hagari unintentionally gave the enemy a boost with his misleading and inappropriate assessment. He also brought down the morale of the IDF. He should have refrained from saying what he did.

His motives are not clear. If he wanted to hurt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and give a shout-out to Benny Gantz—who recently resigned from Netanyahu’s War Cabinet—then he is playing politics. This is a serious misstep. It cannot and should not be tolerated.

Gantz should never have left the War Cabinet in the middle of an existential war. It was totally irresponsible of him. This is not the time to go into election mode, especially when Hezbollah has been ratcheting up its missile attacks on Israel.

The fact that Gantz was called for private talks with the Biden administration several months ago set the stage for his departure from the War Cabinet. The Biden administration did not hide its desire to replace Netanyahu with Gantz. Such meddling in Israel’s political process is unacceptable and inappropriate.

Israel has to keep its morale high and continue doing what it has done so well up to now. The “day after” will come and Israel is fully prepared for it. Oct. 7 will never be allowed to happen again.

Achieving that goal is the priority. America must allow Israel to win. Both Israel and America will benefit from it. Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.

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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