Living by the sword in defense of Israel’s existence

The Oct. 7 Remembrance Day starkly exposed the profound difference, cutting to the very core of existence, between our narrative and the one our enemies tell themselves and the world.

I accessed pro-Hamas information sources, but found no difference between them and pro-Fatah channels. From their perspective, the near-total destruction of the Gaza Strip, the death of tens of thousands of their people, the displacement of the vast majority of Gaza’s residents and more were all worth the price of that one euphoric day when they were allowed to fulfill their perceived purpose: to murder Jews, behead our children, brutally rape our daughters, tie parents and children together and burn them alive, and commit other atrocities that only the imagination of these modern-day Amalekites could conjure.

They gleefully displayed recent images of parents whose children were murdered at the Nova music festival, breaking down in tears at the sight of their loved ones’ pictures pinned to poles at the site of the massacre. In an instant, a site of joyous celebration had been transformed into a blood-soaked altar, where hundreds of our sons and daughters were murdered by Gazans.

O earth, cover not thou their blood. (Job 16: 18).

This is what these Hamas supporters wrote to a bereaved mother: “No matter how much you cry … this is the punishment for anyone who sends their sons to kill defenseless Palestinians in Gaza. Keep your pig sons and go back to where you came from. This land is not enough for two. We welcomed you to our land because you were oppressed, and because the whole world hated you, and yet we protected you and helped you, you thieves and terrorists. And then you betrayed us and stole our land and homes and killed our people. Many of your pig sons are still killing defenseless Palestinians in Gaza.”

I present these words so we understand that these are the “principles of faith” of the Gaza Palestinians, and if you investigate — also of those in Samaria and Judea. Their beliefs have remained unchanged for a century. In the wake of Oct. 7, they force us to confront a harsh reality: There could be no compromise between these two conflicting narratives.

In their view, IDF soldiers are “sons of pigs,” one of the infamous labels for Jews in Islamic rhetoric. This dehumanization justifies the murder of Jews, portraying them as impure animals rather than human beings. “Go back to where you came from” implies there’s no connection between Jews and the land of Israel, that they belong in their places of exile. This is also one of the principles in Article 20 of the Palestinian National Charter, an official document of the “moderate” Palestinian Authority.

“This land is not enough for two” means there’s no room for compromise on this land. It’s also explicitly written in the Hamas Charter. “We welcomed you to our land” — in the 19th century, the land was sparsely populated, but in the Palestinian narrative, it was teeming with Arab life. Supposedly, they welcomed us generously. Don’t believe it? Ask about the thousands who were tortured and slaughtered in various bloody events, long before there was talk of a Jewish state.

“You betrayed us and stole our land” — you see, not only did we not express gratitude for the mass slaughter, but we allegedly stole their land. Their land, according to their perception, includes Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ashdod. The term “terrorists” is reserved for us, because they see themselves as freedom fighters demanding justice, while portraying us as robbers who plundered land that doesn’t belong to us. By the way, this is the dominant narrative among many Israeli-Arab citizens as well (see the vision of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel).

Lying is not a sin in this culture. On the contrary. The fact that our enemies use their children as human shields and hide massive explosives in kindergartens, schools and mosques — and even in children’s rooms — doesn’t matter to them at all. From their perspective, they are not responsible for their residents — “the U.N. is responsible,” and the United Nations has indeed accustomed them to the idea that they don’t need to worry about daily life because of the infinite amount of useful idiots who funnel money to them. In such a situation, they are left with ample time to focus on their reason for existence: killing Jews.

So what will be? Will we forever live by our sword? Apparently so. Rafael Eitan, the late former IDF chief of staff, once said that he prefers to live by his sword rather than having the sword of Damocles hanging over him. This obliges us to have long-term patience and iron resilience in all matters related to defeating the enemy and destroying its military and governmental capabilities. This should be a systematic and continuous operation, without slackening.

Let’s learn from our forefathers who returned to Zion in the Second Temple period, who knew how to build the land but also be shaped by it, and also to fight for it and defend it.

With one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon (Nehemiah 4: 11).

Dror Eydar is a former Israeli ambassador to Italy and a former writer and editor for Israel Hayom, where this essay first appeared.