Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “For Hezbollah – a Tough Hand; for Our Brothers – a Soft Heart”

The Jerusalem Post just reported that Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan has asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the UN Security Council “condemn the Hezbollah drone operation targeting the Karish gas rig in Israel’s territorial waters last week.” While the drones were shut down before they could do any damage, Erdan insisted that the attack “may lead to an escalation in the region and [therefore] the international community must sharply condemn it.”

In my opinion, any condemnation, however strong, will accomplish nothing. Hezbollah has proven time and again that the only language it understands is that of power. Therefore, we should retaliate with deadly force, with missiles aimed not at the drones, but at the places that send them. At the same time, we must enhance our solidarity and cohesion. Only such a two-way movement will solve our security problems.

When I speak of firing missiles, I do not mean exchanging fire, as it happened previously. I mean making them realize that we have had enough, and we are not willing to tolerate their aggression any longer. We have enough conventional military options to make sure this happens, and we should use all of them and not take anyone’s opinion into consideration, just as no other country would hesitate to use all its power against an aggressor who has declared his intention to wipe out the defending country and has repeatedly tried to do so.

On the military level, our problem is not Hezbollah, but our own hesitance against it. Hezbollah has declared war on Israel, not the other way around, so why are we not treating it like an enemy that has declared war on us and says explicitly that it will not rest until we are gone? Why are we not destroying it? Would any other country avoid doing so?

At the same time, we must not neglect our inner fortitude, which comes from our cohesion. This is the key factor in our struggle. When it comes to solidarity, we are our only enemy. Internal division within the people of Israel has always been our biggest woe and our only real enemy, since as long as we are united, no one challenges us.

Currently, our hearts are soft toward our enemies, and tough toward each other. Unless we reverse the direction of our hearts, we will continue to suffer blows and our enemies will grow stronger and more brazen.

Internal unity, therefore, based on solidarity and cohesion within our nation, is our “ultimate weapon,” not because it destroys our enemies, but because it destroys their enmity. If we act decisively on both fronts, military and social, we will succeed and the world will support us. If we neglect either, we will not succeed and the world will condemn us, as it does today, and Hezbollah will keep winning.
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