We have (almost) concluded in the south, are escalating the campaign in the north, and not forgetting the threat from the east. After the collapse of its outposts in the north and the south, Iran is expected to focus its efforts on the Jordanian border.
Recent operations conducted by the various overt and covert branches of Israeli security establishment have evoked tremendous admiration in the country, and no less in the world. The power, the courage, and the determination have stunned the world, which watches in awe as the people of Israel returns to itself, to its strength, and to its pride.
This is the time to express appreciation and gratitude first and foremost to the Almighty, who gives power and strength to His people returned to land, to honor and thank the Prime Minister and the decision makers with him, to the IDF and the security forces down to the last of them. The courage required in undertaking so complex an operation, the painstaking and meticulous work of gathering intelligence, the technological sophistication, the professional rigor at every level, from the planning to the execution, all reinforce the hope in Israel and beyond that the triumph of good over evil is near.
We are in the midst of a biblical chapter, ascending on the road to the great vision of the promise, “and all the families of the earth will be blessed in you” (Bereshit 12:2). As we stride forward, our duty is to ensure that this is indeed happening, to believe that we are in the midst of the great process that is coming to pass.
The world looks upon us with admiration, some openly, some covertly. The nations recognize that before them is a unique people, dedicated to its mission of bringing morality, light, and justice to the world, of transforming the world into a better place, a world in which the words of the prophet Isaiah will be fulfilled: “Many nations will go and say: ‘Let us go and ascend to the mountain of the Lord…and He will instruct us of His ways and we will walk in His paths’” (Yeshayahu 2:3).
"I look out the window to see if it's all real," wrote Yehonatan Geffen at one time, and indeed we, too, at times do not believe whether all of this is indeed real; yet there is much work still to be done. The campaign in the north and south must end with full Israeli control that guarantees full and actual security to the residents of the north. But that is not enough. We must address the eastern border, Israel's longest border that is porous along its entire length and through which Iran seeks to extend its tentacles that seek to topple the Jordanian king and attack Israel from the east.
Presumably, if until now Iran has expended considerable efforts to transfer arms, funds, and terrorist leaders through our eastern border to Judea and Samaria in order to strike Israel from within, now, with the collapse of its forward outposts in the north and south, Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran is expected to intensify those efforts exponentially.
The Central Command soldiers are operating night and day to clear the area of ammunition and terrorists. They do so with dedication and unceasing sacrifice, and for this we are profoundly grateful, however, it is not enough. The enemy’s methods include not only combat and terror, but also gaining control of state lands and establishing facts on the ground. All these stem from the unconcealed hope that lurks in their hearts to bring about the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Arab state in its stead.
These steps require a preemptive political strike that will put an end to Arab hopes and dreams. The current war must not conclude without Israel applying its sovereignty over the Jordan Valley as a first and necessary step against those seeking to attack us from the east.
Establishment of communities, outposts and agricultural farms is an important, Zionist and pioneering act, but all these should fall under the comprehensive political umbrella of Israeli sovereignty over our land. In this way we will bolster Israel’s strategic depth, transform the mountainous escarpment rising from the Jordan Valley not only into a topographical wall against the enemy, but also and primarily into a proud and erect political wall.
At this juncture, when the IDF, the General Security Service and other security bodies are performing their blessed work, we have a golden opportunity to generate the dramatic change.
It is incumbent upon us to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and oust its head, Abu Mazen, a Holocaust denier, paymaster of terrorists, who has not condemned the Shabbat morning, Simchat Torah massacre, and, in addition, found it appropriate to send condolences on the death of Nasrallah. Wrapped in the mantle of an opponent of dangerous terrorism, Abu Mazen is more dangerous than Sinwar and Nasrallah. They clearly proclaim “our objective is to destroy Israel” and have made it easier for us to clarify to the world and to ourselves with whom we are dealing and from whom we seek to defend ourselves. Abu Mazen is pursuing a diplomatic course to establish a Palestinian state on the ruins of Israel. He does so in stages, as he learned from his mentor, the mass murderer Arafat, to act in accordance with the infamous Treaty of al-Hudaybiya.
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Despite everything we have experienced, the hypocritical, and perhaps naive, world believes that if only a Palestinian state were to be established, the problems of the Middle East would resolve themselves. That is not so. That state would be a terrorist state in the country’s heartland, and Greater Tel Aviv would become the envelope of the state arming itself, with Iranian support, with weapons incalculably more lethal and precise than those possessed by Hamas on the eve of October seventh. We must inundate the world with this insight. We must erase from the lexicon the term “Palestinian state,” the state that never was and must never be.
This is the place to caution already now against any intentions to introduce into Gaza and Lebanon, after the completing the eradication of Hamas and Hezbollah, Arab forces characterized as “moderate,” among them Saudi Arabia and the Emiratis, and allow them a sovereign foothold in our country. That must not happen. The State of Israel indeed needs to forge alliances, but without relinquishing its independence, parts of its homeland, and its sovereignty.
We have learned the hard way that we must be self-sufficient in armaments and ammunition, in agriculture, to return to Hebrew labor, to modesty and frugality. The application of sovereignty in the Land of Israel must be the political knockout blow to our enemies and the cherry on the sundae of victory.