Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Elder of Ziyon
The unstated implication - which is explicit in many Arabic articles - is that the Jewish presence on the land is an aberration of history. In this worldview, the Jews will inevitably eventually be driven out like the Romans, Byzantines or (especially) Crusaders. They are outside interlopers who will flee when things get tough, like the French in Algeria.
Arabs believe their own propaganda of the frightened, colonialist Jew who really wants to live in Europe or America and will run away at the first sign of trouble. One reason they love the absurd theory that Jews are really Khazars is because they are not threatened by European colonists - but they are very afraid of indigenous Jews who would fight to the death for their land.
Israel hasn't helped dispel this worldview. In every war, Israel never pressed its advantage to destroy its enemies; every war ended with a negotiated settlement of some sort. The Arabs looked at these settlements as capitulation to their might, and as proof that the Jews really aren't there permanently. After all, if the tables were turned, the Arabs wouldn't stop their wars until the Jews were all gone. Israel's desire for peace with its neighbors, rather than conquest, is seen as weak.
Worse, after the previous Gaza wars, Israel always stopped and left Hamas in place. The impression given was that Israel did not have the stomach to really fight, that domestic and international pressure was more important to Israel than winning decisively.
This was the major factor that prompted Sinwar to plan October 7. He knew there would be a bloody backlash but his own study of the Israeli psyche, colored through his own antisemitism, was that Israel would relent under world pressure when Hamas would ensure many civilian casualties.
What Sinwar and the Arab world did not count on was Israel's own "sumud."
The word is actually Biblical. "Tzamad" means "to fasten" or "to bind." (Interestingly, it is often used to describe Israelites' joining idol worshipping cults.)
Both sides got their opponents completely wrong. October 7 showed Israelis that the conflict with Gaza was not "manageable." And the events after October 7 showed the terrorists that Jews were not running away.
To the West, most wars are not existential. They erupt and they eventually end without much change in the status quo. Even wars the West is involved in happen thousands of miles from where their populations live, so they are remote - almost like playing video games. And like everyone else, they project their own worldview on everyone else.
Just like the Arabs, the Western world didn't account for Israel's determination. Its "sumud." Yes, October 7 was horrible, sure, we sympathize, but the Jews will get over it - its just like a big bus bombing.
The world didn't really get it, which is why the international community thought that Israel would act the way it acted in previous wars. Israel tried to tell everyone that this was different, that Israel is not messing around, that Hamas must never be allowed to threaten Israel again.
This is the steadfastness that Israelis have.
Because the media and world governments don't get this, they look at Israel as going overboard. They want to restrain Israel because they cannot relate to how Israelis feel after October 7. And they simply could not imagine that Israel could prevail against entrenched underground terrorist armies. That creativity and innovation is also a feature of Jewish steadfastness.
Jewish life has been centered around Israel and Jerusalem for thousands of years, and the long diaspora didn't weaken that, although internal Israeli politics made people temporarily minimize that past of their consciousness.
Hamas re-awakened the Jews' sumud.
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"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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