What have we learned since Oct. 7?

(JNS) Oct. 7, 2023, was the worst day in the history of the State of Israel and will be remembered as such for all time. But as New York Times columnist Bret Stephens noted in a column analysing the lessons of that day and the war that followed, “For all its undoubted horrors, this war may ultimately be remembered as liberating.”

Israel responded to Hamas’s day of genocide by waging war to destroy the Iran axis of which Hamas was a member. Stephens explained how Israel’s war had liberated the peoples of the region.

In Lebanon, thanks to Israel’s decimation of Hezbollah, the people are free from Iran’s proxy for the first time in 20 years. Hezbollah’s decimation fomented the fall of Syrian dictator and Iranian proxy Bashar Assad, providing the people of Syria their first shot at freedom in living memory.

Living under the protection of the IDF, the Druze in southern Syria have an opportunity to navigate their future safely. Following Israel’s successful military operation campaign—joined by the United States— to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and amassing an arsenal of tens of thousands of ballistic missiles, the Iranian people have their best opportunity in 46 years to oust their regime of terror and build a future of freedom for themselves.

And with Hamas crippled, Gazans have their first chance in 20 years to live a life free of the jihadist regime, if they choose to grasp it.

While his list was comprehensive, Stephens shied away from mentioning how Israel achieved this list of dazzling victories following the greatest disaster in its history.

On Oct. 8, when IDF forces were still fighting inside the kibbutzim that had been overrun by Hamas the previous day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his still stunned cabinet that Israel would recover from the savage carnage of the previous day and it would transform the Middle East.

At that same meeting, the top military commander told Netanyahu and his ministers that they must forget about seeing the 251 men, women and children who had been taken hostage the day before ever again. Netanyahu rejected his claim and insisted that with the proper mix of massive force and negotiation, Israel would defeat Hamas and return all of the hostages. So far, Israel has returned 205 hostages, 148 alive and Hamas is on the verge of total destruction.

Thanks to US President Donald Trump, Israel may see the return of the last 48 hostages within days.

For the first 15 months of the war, Netanyahu led Israel in this war while facing a hostile administration in Washington. The Biden administration adopted a passive-aggressive policy of slow walking arms and then embargoing them altogether, while demanding that Israel not take military actions, like seizing control over Gaza’s international border with Egypt, which were critical for victory.

In the midst of Israel’s war for national survival, the Biden administration presented itself as Israel’s stalwart defender, but worked with anti-Netanyahu groups and politicians to undermine the government.

Netanyahu didn’t buckle. He stayed true to course. If Netanyahu had listened to the Biden administration or his political rivals and enemies, who pressed to end the war without victory, Hamas’s terror chiefs would still be alive. Hezbollah would still control Lebanon.

Assad would still control Syria. Iran would be on the verge of declaring itself a nuclear-armed state and amassing an arsenal of tens of thousands of ballistic missiles that would threaten not only Israel’s existence but the security of the entire world.

Stephens’ decision to ignore the prime minister’s pivotal role as Israel’s leader in this war isn’t surprising. Before enumerating the ways that Israel has liberated the region, Stephens wrongly accused Netanyahu of responsibility for Oct. 7.

Stephens wrote that Netanyahu was willing to “tolerate Hamas,” out of “ideological convenience.” But the opposite is true. Netanyahu resigned from then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government in 2005 in opposition to Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza. Netanyahu warned at the time that the move would bring Hamas to power. As prime minister from 2009, Netanyahu fought the Hamas regime continuously.

Stephens also claimed that Israel’s perceived weakness in the months before Oct. 7 owed to “the Netanyahu government’s heedless push for a judicial ‘reform’ that looked to millions of Israelis like a lunge toward authoritarianism.”

There was nothing remotely “authoritarian” about the minor checks the Netanyahu government sought to place on Israel’s judiciary’s currently unchecked powers. To the extent that Israel was perceived as weak in the months that preceded Oct. 7, that perception was driven by the unprecedented campaign to dismantle the IDF’s elite reserve units carried out by deep-pocketed, well-connected political actors.

In a bid to blackmail Netanyahu and his ministers into abandoning their effort to reform Israel’s judicial system, in the months ahead of Oct. 7, leaders of the Left’s anti-government campaign proclaimed that thousands of reservists from elite IDF units were refusing to serve. Since Oct. 7, we learned that Hamas repeatedly cited the anti-IDF campaign in its media, intelligence reports and planning sessions as proof that Israel was vulnerable to invasion and destruction.

Stephens titled his article, “Lessons from a Long War.” Two lessons escaped his notice. First, the Israeli people, and particularly the soldiers in its citizens’ army, are a nation of heroes. Contrary to the expectations of its enemies, Israel’s staying power is stronger and longer than theirs.

Additionally, national leadership is crucial. Without competent and courageous leadership, even the bravest soldiers and nations falter.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, has stood the challenge. His strategic wisdom and his moral courage and willpower in Israel’s longest war have proven him worthy of the nation that he leads at this critical time in its history.

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