A. The people of Israel have been in a frenzy in recent days, and rightfully so, around the issue of the “Pact with Satan”.
In the meantime, it seems that the short-term, emotional and submissive perspective – fueled by wishful thinking detached from reality – is the one that currently has the upper hand.
The credit for this downfall, apart from sophisticated campaigners and Sinwar's document of intentions, can be attributed, at least a little, to each of us who did not stand firm and in the face of media pressure.
God willing, we are still praying and working to turn things around.
There is a chance, thanks to the Arabs who “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity” – otherwise the Golan would have long ago been in the hands of the Syrian rebels, and Judea and Samaria in those of Arafat.
There is a chance that this can happen, also thanks to noble and exemplary figures, such as the families of the “Forum HaGvura” (Forum of and the Forum HaTikva (Forum of Hope).
Time will tell.
Today, we will try to learn from history how hostages are actually released: by diplomatic-economic pressure together with uncompromising military threat. Not by surrender.
B. In 1985, when southern Lebanon was held by the IDF, an American Boeing 727, TWA flight 847 from Athens was hijacked with 153 passengers and crew, and landed in Beirut. The hijacking was carried out by Hezbollah, and the goal was to pressure Israel to withdraw and to release prisoners.
What was the answer they got?
Heavy political-economic pressure on Syria, the actor with the greatest influence on Lebanon at the time; and this brought the kidnappers to their knees.
Aggressive diplomacy led to the release of the hostages after two weeks, and Hezbollah's demand for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon was not fulfilled at all.
Sound familiar?
Sound simple?
Next.
C. In 1985, the passenger ship 'Aqila Lauro' was hijacked by the PLO organization, planned and led by Yasser Arafat and Abu Abbas. There were 97 hostages on board, and the hijackers demanded a massive release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, in exchange for their release.
Firm, aggressive pressure made Syria and Egypt afraid to cooperate with the kidnapping, leaving the kidnappers unarmed and ineffective, and bringing to the release of the kidnapped, with zero response to their demands.
D. From the international arena: release of hostages in Nigeria's oil industry in the 2000’s, the kidnapping of the "Finca Magdalena" in the Philippines, the release of the ship "Al-Roha", the kidnapping of hostages in South Sudan, the kidnapping of the employees of the "Areva" company in Niger, the kidnapping of hostages in Afghanistan, Release of Korean citizens in Yemen, kidnapping of "Médecins Sans Frontières" team members in Chad, and on and on.
One only need learn a bit of history, and to maintain a speck of common sense.
H. If it's that simple, what is going on here?
The answer to this question warrants a whole article in itself, but part of the consequences of the Progressive's framework of dismantling identities, leads to an inability to maintain a coherent and moral backbone.
A person whose Jewish identity is an enemy to him is in a state of dissonance – running away from himself, from his roots.
In order to gain support for his war against himself, he must paint those who respect their Jewish identity as a cold and misanthropic person who wants to sacrifice hostages for 'Messianic delusions'. ‘After all’, he must muse, ‘if my national and Jewish identity is not monstrous, then what am I running from?’
It needs to be said in a clear voice – abductees have been released in the past and will be released in the future, by political-economic pressure and a deadly military threat.
When a person has faith in the righteousness of his way and in the righteousness of the presence of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, he has no problem being deadly in front of those who kidnapped his daughters and sons.
This is the only way for the real release of all our abductees. Any other way we try will lead to a decade of battles and attacks of attrition by Hamas. They will continuously hold abductees as pawns, while we supply them with the kinds of achievements that will only serve as further inspiration and bring out the dormant terrorist from within another million Arabs.
This great time that we are in, calls for us to be the responsible adults who do not fall for campaigns, but instead hold firm to reality in the face of all challenges, and lead it to its next level.
We must act, not out of a sense of immediate catastrophe, nor out of a sense that all is lost.
In every public issue we need to think about what kind of consciousness we need to achieve that will better prepare us for the next issue.
After this challenge there will be many more, in some we will win and in some we will be kidnapped a little, but eternity cannot be stopped.
'Path pavers'
