Something bad is happening to us. It is not enough that we have squandered deterrence and lost the courage to win, we must now make up excuses for our enemies in order to avoid having to respond. At one point, it was a lightning strike that resulted in the firing of rockets at Beersheba and Tel Aviv. This time it was a reckless Hamas operative who pressed the wrong button and inadvertently fired two rockets at Gush Dan, sending tens of thousands of panicked citizens running to the nearest bomb shelter. And what did we do in response? We struck dozens of empty infrastructure targets as people stood on the rooves and watched as our magnificent air force scattered sand and bits of concrete everywhere.
Former IDF Chiefs of Staff Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, in coordination with then-Defense Ministers Ehud Barak and Moshe Ya'alon, were willing to do almost anything to buy quiet, not, heaven forbid, security, or, God forbid, deterrence. They sufficed with a passive approach that relied on luck and the efficacy of the Iron Dome missile defense system. They consistently brought to the cabinet recommendations that resulted in an incorrect interpretation of the reality on the ground. And it seems this approach has now been adopted by our security forces. The continued transfer of suitcases of Qatari dollars to the Gaza Strip is a tailwind for Hamas. The policy of restraint that holds that "quiet will be met with quiet" is a display of weakness that Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranians interpret as permission to continue to plan their next joint attack.
Let us not be confused. Every moment that goes by without an Israeli offensive initiative allows Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip to train and grow more sophisticated in their efforts. Taking a strong stance on Hamas requires an offensive initiative and the incessant pursuit of its civilian leaders and military commanders. If the heads of our security forces continue to advise the cabinet to work toward calm and transfer large sums of money, I recommend they be fired and that Israel's leaders find an available author or unemployed poet to sit and write what amounts to either a letter of surrender or a swan song for Zionism's historic chapter in the land of Israel. For too many years, we have lived with the illusion of peace and coexistence. The time has come to make certain we are not a fleeting episode in this land.
What we need from our leaders now is to take responsibility, not to authorize displays of power. Let us feel that we are setting the tone, let us have a taste of victory and let us lead normal lives. We no longer belong to a generation that must justify itself and embark on a defensive war.
In the contemporary Middle East, there is no room for concessions or compromise. We either take responsibility for our future or someone else will. Hamas and Hezbollah may not be an existential threat to the State of Israel, but they could be an existential threat to the lives of a few thousand of our residents. We are now in the home stretch, and there will be no second chance.
