It’s not that I enjoy seeing human death and unmitigated destruction, far from it. No, this was a narrower mirth, one borne of excitement at the belated defensive triumph of a country I love. After nearly a year of tragically killing civilians cruelly placed in the line of fire by merciless enemies unconcerned for their welfare, Israel had finally achieved a more surgical reaction to atrocious aggression.
In a word, it was brilliant. Having previously demonstrated to Hezbollah, the terrorist group at its northern border, the insecurity of cell phone communications, Israel allegedly created a bogus company to manufacture and sell them pagers and walkie-talkies. The only problem was that each communication device came heavily laden with a plastic explosive. Which, detonated remotely on two consecutive days in September, killed dozens and wounded thousands.
Here’s the beauty of it: almost all were Hezbollah operatives because, well, they were the only ones who’d received the devices from their terrorist bosses. “Let’s call it Operation Chutzpah,” chortled the Wall Street Journal. “…it will go down as an intelligence operation for the history books.”
Within days, Israel followed up with devastating airstrikes, destroying Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut and killing dozens of elite military commanders including the organization’s long-time leader and chief terrorist, Hassan Nasrallah. Wow, I marveled, finally the Israel of old has re-emerged. You know the one I’m talking about; the seemingly invincible, indefatigable, incisive and uncannily intelligent country feared by its bloodthirsty neighbors.
For a precious moment, the world remained uncharacteristically silent. For the better part of a year, it had complained unceasingly about the high number of Gazan casualties in the wake of Israel’s response to Hamas’ brutal and unprovoked attack last Oct. 7. The very next day, in fact, Hezbollah had jumped right in, launching massive rocket barrages that have displaced more than 60,000 Israelis and continue to this day despite Israel’s many warnings. Perhaps, I figured, the world was keeping its mouth shut now because it felt stunned and, um, had nothing constructive to say.
Ah, but then, of course, the huffy grousing resumed. “This must be brought to an end immediately,” French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere told the UN Security Council. And, not to be outdone, former US secretary of defense Leon Panetta chimed in, calling Israel’s ingenious attack “a form of terrorism” while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reverted to his idiotic trope that it constituted “genocide.”
All of which reminds me of something British journalist Douglas Murray recently told Sky News. “Sometimes people hated Jews for their race,” he said, “sometimes they hated them for their religion. In this era, the only permissible way to hate the Jews is to hate them for having a state.”
Or, I might add, for killing civilians and then for not killing them.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ devastating attack. Which, if all goes well, I will be spending in Manila with Israel’s ambassador honoring “the bravery, sacrifice and resilience of Israelis and Filipinos” during, and in the wake of, that historic event.
As we gather, so do the winds of a wider war in the Middle East. And yet I feel more optimistic today than I have in12 months. To Israel, I say, be brave, stay strong, and fight on until those who would banish you from the earth have laid down their arms and decided to love their children more than they hate you.
To the rest of the world, I have but one request: if you can’t be helpful, then please just stay out of the way.
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David Haldane is an award-winning American journalist, author, and radio broadcaster with homes in Southern California and Northern Mindanao. His latest book, A Tooth in My Popsicle, is available on Amazon. This column appears weekly in The Manila Times.
