The Spirit of a Nation

Over the years, I have asked many people a blunt and painful question: Will Israel survive? Charles Krauthammer, for his part, said that the survival of Israel depended on two things: the will of the people to survive and the support of the United States. Israelis had demonstrated the former, he said, in the two intifadas.

They are demonstrating it now, impressively and unmistakably.

Here is a little scene:

Here is some more singing, or chanting — deeply meaningful:

These cars on the side of the road? I find them very moving. People dropping everything to fight and defend. The Ukrainians did the same thing last year.

A former prime minister, reporting for reserve duty:

Have a look at this mensch:

• Hamas and other such groups have been called religious, patriotic, nationalist, liberationist. I regard them as death cults, primarily. These groups have always menaced the civilized world and always will. The civilized world must always be on guard against them, and smash them when they arise.

What Israel is dealing with:

What life is like now for Israelis:

One side cherishes life; the other side — sadists, ghouls, murderers. Sunk and lost in depravity.

In 2011, the Israeli government traded 1,027 prisoners — 1,027, including some very, very nasty and murderous characters — for one Israeli soldier, held hostage by Hamas: Gilad Shalit, “Israel’s Child.”

You can argue for or against — but that action said something about the nature of Israel.

• In 2005, the government, under Sharon, withdrew from Gaza. I understood him and his arguments. I also understood Sharansky, who argued against. These things, these arguments, have never really receded.

• Israel has experienced a colossal failure of preparedness. There will be time for an inquiry — an accounting — as after the ’73 war. But for now, I say: Just smash the enemy. Inquiries and recriminations can wait.

• Said Golda Meier, “If they lay down their arms, there will be no more war. If we lay down our arms, there will be no more Israel.”

Golda also said this: “We can perhaps forgive them, one day, for killing our children. It will never be possible to forgive them for making us kill their children.”

• In 2015, I wrote a piece called “Hung Up on Israel.” It was an attempt to answer the question: Why do you write so much about Israel? Why do you care so much about it?

Maybe I could quote the final paragraphs:

There is a great civilizational divide in the world, with the likes of ISIS and the mullahs on one side, and their prey on the other. Israel’s foes are our foes, or certainly my foes. If the world lets Israel go down, then the world is an ass, and a betrayer. Moreover, the prospects of civilization itself are in doubt. . . .

I have a friend who says she wants to move to Israel when the crunch comes. She is not Jewish, but she has a conscience, probably formed in World War II, when she was a girl. She and some family members had a narrow escape in that war. Not all of the family survived. And having seen one holocaust of the Jews, she can’t stand the idea of another. “If the bombs are going to fall on them,” she says, “I want them to fall on me, too.” This is extreme, but I understand it.

Some years ago, I attended a conference in Jordan on the Dead Sea. One day, at twilight, I stood on the shore and looked over at Israel. I thought of the teeming hatred against Israel, the annihilationist hatred. And I wanted to throw my arms around that country, somehow, in protection. I feel sure you understand.

• Let me recall a point I often heard when I was coming of age, in the last century. Modern Israel never wanted to be Sparta. They preferred to be Athens: a nation of scholars, poets, musicians, etc. But their enemies forced them to be a warrior-state. Everyone a soldier.

So — win. Survive. Prevail.

• “Eternal vigilance” is a cliché. Eternal vigilance is wearying, annoying — all that. But there is no choice. I hope that there will be peaceful coexistence between Israel and its neighbors someday. But even if that day arrives: Stay vigilant.