2 days Ago By Special to National Post
Article content Despite the slaughter, pillaging and rapes committed by Hamas and many of its fellow Gazans, the international outbreak of antisemitism and the deaths of its soldiers in the ensuing war, Israel is stronger now than it was before October 7, 2023. Recall the circumstances before that terrible day. Israel was surrounded by a ring of united enemies avowedly dedicated to its destruction.
Iran was moving toward nuclearization, referring to Israel as a one-bomb country given its size and repeatedly declaring its intention to eliminate the Jewish state. Israel was paralyzed from fighting back because it was in the crosshairs of Hezbollah’s 150,000 missiles stationed across the border in Lebanon. Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006 had ended in a virtual stalemate and the terror group’s strength had increased tenfold since.
Israel was facing periodic wars, and relatively regular missile attacks, from the Gaza Strip. Hamas support in the West Bank was increasing, prompting terror attacks within its boundaries and on Israel beyond. Although Syria was weak, it served as a funnel for Hezbollah in Lebanon, which had rescued President Bashar Assad between 2013 and 2016 during its civil war and owed it greatly.
The mental health of Israelis suffered from the omnipresent threat of missiles raining down and the ultimate danger of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed back in 2021 that he would never permit Iran to become a nuclear power, his words rang hollow as his ability to enforce his pledge diminished. The threat of Israel’s primary deterrents — its spy agency, Mossad, and its reputation of otherworldly genius, along with the unbeatable Israel Defense Forces — had dimmed in the eyes of the nation’s adversaries, as its historic successes such as the Six Day War and the rescue of hostages in Entebbe had receded into the distant past and it had not succeeded in eliminating any of its adversaries, Iran, Hamas or Hezbollah.
Further, that loss of credibility made potential allies, such as the Sunni states, unlikely to side against Iran. Worse yet, Iran and Saudi Arabia were reconciling, with Israel entirely left out. After the attacks on October 7, all of these fears appeared realized: Hezbollah launched a missile attack in solidarity the next day, enemies of Jewry celebrated throughout the world with hate-filled demonstrations, and in Canada, much of the two million-strong Muslim community, whom the Jewish community had always strongly supported when anti-Muslim hatred arose, either looked away or joined in.
In fact, according to a study by University of Toronto Sociologist Robert Brym released on April 9, more than 40 per cent of Canadian Muslims surveyed justified suicide bombing targeting Israelis. More than one-third said Jews were not entitled to a state of their own and a full 60 per cent believed that Zionism was racism. At the same time, in the aftermath of October 7, universities and the Canadian left joined in on the overt public antisemitism.
Things turned as Israel displayed its spirit, unity and technological and intellectual prowess. Many Jewish Israelis from all quarters of the globe booked flights after October 7 to fly back to fight. Hamas tunnels have turned into tombs as some 20,000 of their fighters have been killed , according to Israel.
Mossad, in a sophisticated, elaborate, year-long planned play, had all senior Hezbollah fighters using Israeli-made pagers and detonated them simultaneously last September, killing and injuring anyone who had them on hand. This was followed by an attack by hundreds of Israeli warplanes on the Hezbollah missile caches, eliminating half of the arsenal in one stroke. Hezbollah and Hamas leaders were systematically eliminated.
When Iran, pressured to support its partners, launched two missile attacks in April and October , they caused virtually no damage to Israel. Israel‘s counterattacks , on the other hand, pumelled Iranian missile capacity and wiped out nearly all of its air defences, leaving Iran, nuclear installations and all, an open runway for the next Israeli attack. The annihilation of Hezbollah energized the Syrian opposition which conquered that country in a matter of days in December and declared that it wanted peace with Israel.
Saudi Arabia has stopped talking to Iran and in December started talking to Israel again. Sunni Arabs are openly mocking Iran and Hezbollah on social media, while Israel‘s deterrence has been restored to its highest in decades. Hezbollah has been shut out of Lebanon‘s parliament as of February and, when Israel ordered that civilian planes no longer fly from Tehran to Beirut last month, Lebanon complied .
Israel attacks Hezbollah troops daily whenever they show their heads without any response. Today’s situation would be unimaginable 16 months ago. U.
S. President Donald Trump has recently agreed with Israel that, if Iran does not quickly denuclearize, it will face military intervention. With Israel chomping at the bit for Trump’s permission to take out its enemy, Iran is resorting to meek responses.
If Israel blows out its nuclear facilities, said its president last month, it will build them back. Hardly the Iran of old. The tinder that ignited the eruption, Hamas, is on the point of obliteration, with its leaders being picked off daily while hundreds of Gazans protest against it in the streets.
What is worse than before? Openly expressed international antisemitism primarily from Muslims, the universities and the left. But even that has a silver lining. Most Jews died in the Holocaust because they did not believe Hitler’s and their fellow countrymen’s threats until it was too late; they took no steps to protect themselves or flee.
Jews around the world now have had a massive wake-up call. They will not be so credulous going forward. Jews from Europe are emigrating to Israel in record numbers along with others from North America.
Overt antisemitism is unpleasant but Jews are no longer credulous. National Post.
