This is not a battle over the Gaza Envelope. It is a battle over the entire land. If we ultimately hand Gaza to the Palestinian Authority on the silver platter of the lives of our dear ones, we will return to the same threat, only more intense.
The battle in which we are engaged is not merely a battle over the Gaza Envelope or a war against Hamas. We are in a battle over the status of Israel in the Middle East and in the entire world.
In the War of Independence, we achieved our place, and in the Six Day War, we reached our borders. In that war, G-d granted us the western Land of Israel in its entirety, but we did not have the wisdom to apply our sovereignty over it.
Since then, we have been in constant retreat: withdrawal from Sinai, withdrawal from Jericho, withdrawal from Hebron, withdrawal from Gush Katif, withdrawal from northern Samaria; withdrawals and concessions that result from the confused belief, devoid of logic, and disconnected from the reality of the Middle East, that ceding parts of the Land of Israel will bring peace.
Many among us find it difficult to internalize the aspirations of the Arabs surrounding us, and, as a result, they have difficulty internalizing with whom we are dealing.
To begin along the road to a more sober approach, we must become familiar with the principles of the Palestinian charter in which it is clearly stated:
A. Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinian people…
B. Palestine, within its borders, as they were during the British Mandate, is an integral territorial unit...
C. The Arab Palestinian people have legal rights to their homeland...
And so on.
Perhaps it is naiveté, perhaps it is the natural aspiration of the Jewish people for peace, but the result is that we view reality through Western eyes, incapable of believing that their entire objective is to undermine our sovereignty over our land.
We have sold ourselves the illusion that all our Arab neighbors really want is a good livelihood and economy. We turned a deaf ear to their words and dismissed them offhandedly as mere Arab rhetoric directed at their base. This is not true we said. They are becoming more and more Western we convinced ourselves. We blinded ourselves to the emerging reality around us and among us.
We failed in reading the map, and we failed in recognizing our neighbors.
Now, we must guard against making the same mistake, for the umpteenth time. It is incumbent upon us to come to our senses and clearly see the broad support that the perpetrators of the ruthless massacre in the Gaza Envelope receive from broad circles in the Arab world.
Therefore, it is not sufficient to topple Hamas. Those who will succeed them will have the same positions, the same hopes, the same objectives, and at the appropriate moment from their perspective, they too will act in the same murderous and ruthless manner.
These days, alongside calls to support our soldiers, we hear voices among us calling to transfer control in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority after the war. Are they blinded to the fact that it is the same ISIS reality with a slightly different name? Is there anyone who does not understand the implications of the massive payments transferred by the terrorist Authority to murderers and their families? Are we not listening to their speeches available to all, and the unambiguous hope that emerges from them to destroy the State of Israel and establish a state of their own in its place? Is it on these that they are placing their political hopes? Is it on these that they place their trust and base their future?
It is incumbent upon the leadership in Israel to resolutely and decisively resist American pressure and the illusion of several irresponsible Israeli leaders, who believe that it is from the Palestinian Authority that salvation will come.
The moment when, God forbid, the Palestinian Authority will gain control in Gaza, the dangerous idea of the two-state solution will also receive legitimacy, and in the heart of our country, a terrorist state will be established with international approval.
This is the time to remind ourselves and the world: Judea and Samaria are our homeland, and the envelope and shield of the coastal plain.
Time and time again, the call for a decisive war until victory is sounded. But, what is victory? Victory is not martyrdom and self-sacrifice that will ultimately deliver the land to our enemies and foes in the Mukataa, for them to continue striving to perform precisely the same actions.
Victory is applying Israeli sovereignty over the entire territory.
Full Israeli control over the land of Gaza is a victory. Establishing thriving communities, idealistic settlements like those of the residents of the Gaza Envelope, within the borders of the Gaza Strip, is a victory.
Instilling the understanding that the Gaza Strip is an indivisible part of the State of Israel is a victory.
Destroying buildings in Gaza and toppling Hamas rule are significant actions on the path to victory, but victory itself is Israeli sovereignty. If we settle for toppling buildings in Gaza, they will be rebuilt; if we celebrate the removal of Hamas, we will soon receive their replacements, who will be no better. The aspiration for “liberation of Palestine” will remain intact and pose a threat to all of our lives.
Only loss of the land will clarify our intentions to the enemy and deter it in the future. This is the time to restore Israeli rule over Gaza and significantly reduce the population by encouraging emigration. For those concerned about harming the "righteous with the wicked", we will remind them that in this Sodom, not a single righteous person was found to condemn the horrors of the Black Sabbath massacre. Gaza's fate is similar to that of Sodom. It is a moral imperative. That is the way that one distinguishes between good and evil.
We are at the moment of truth – it is either them or us. This moment has happened upon our life as a nation, this time with immense pain and a terrible price, and we must not squander this moment again. We must decide to lead toward our destiny as a people in the land of their forefathers, to distinguish between light and darkness, between good and evil, between moral and immoral. We will prevail, because all truth and justice are in our hands and on our side.
From now on, we must live with our finger on the trigger, with the voices of those murdered in our hearts, with our eyes looking to Zion, to be a free people in our land.