Seeing the Light Within the Darkness

An artistic representation of the consequences

The horrible massacre on Simchat Torah is a miracle that Gd did for the sake of the people of Israel.

Our state was internally divided with a large, organized, and well-funded faction that is backed by the media and all the institutions, that was willing to tear the state apart and start a civil war if only to maintain its hold on power. All our enemies needed to do was stand aside quietly and watch us fight each other until our state falls apart.

A burnt house in Kibbutz Beeri

If I were the head of Hamas I’d prepare everything for the day this happens: I’d prepare forces in Gaza, Judea, Samaria, and inside sovereign Israel. When the state stopped functioning I’d send out the order to go out, capture territory, disrupt, riot, massacre in the Gaza envelope, Judea, Samaria, and inside sovereign Israel. I’d do it in coordination with the Huthis in Yemen who would blockade the naval routes in the south, and with Hizballah who would invade from the north, while the Israeli army would be split between Left and Right, with both factions shooting each other. I’d take over territory, and form a seemingly organized and safe government so that the Jews would be obedient until I’m sure of my victory. Then I would separate between Jews I found useful, which I would keep as slaves, and those who were not I would systematically exterminate with great pleasure.

Shani Louk's body taken to be paraded in Gaza

But Hamas saw that the State of Israel was merely beginning to show a few cracks and couldn’t hold back. It immediately launched its assault, succeeded much more than it expected, and massacred the population. With its actions it had shown on the one hand that its fighters are well trained, but on the other hand it had also shown that it has no method or logic. In some cases it decided not to bring the people it abducted to Gaza, and therefor killed them. In other cases it decided not to bring the people it abducted to Gaza, and therefor freed them. It captured territory without any possibility of holding onto it and sacrificed thousands of fighters for futile actions, all for the sake of creating a horror show, a few hostages, and parades of barbarism in the streets.

Terrorists captured in Northern Gaza, yesterday

With these acts that stem not from a strategic vision but an emotional one, Hamas healed the cracks in Israeli society and unified us in a holy wrath so powerful that even moderate people call for the destruction of Gaza, and has illustrated to us how important it is to fix the defects in our army and strengthen it. Just like the Left projects itself onto the Arabs and therefor thinks that the Arabs are rational people and that we only need to find the right deal in order to achieve peace with them, so too Hamas projected its own primitive barbarism onto the Jews and thought that images of horror will terrify us into surrendering or fleeing. Instead they only planted within us the determination to wipe it out, to fulfill with it the commandment to wipe out Amalek.

Yahaya Sinwar, the mastermind of the atrocity

With all of our failures on the one hand, and all of Hamas’s unreasonable successes on the other hand, I can only conclude that Gd helped them carry out their plot. Perhaps in part it was a punishment for our sins, but it is undoubtedly a painful wake up call that came to warn us about a terrible disaster that was about to befall us if we didn’t come to our senses. If this attack was the coordinated attack Iran wanted then we probably wouldn’t have only suffered one thousand dead in one day, but perhaps tens of thousands across the country. Now we are forewarned. Now we know our weaknesses and know what we must do to prepare.

Blessed is the true judge.

Gd given and Gd has taken. May Gd’s name be blessed.

This article was originally published on October 11, 2023, just 4 days after the October 7 massacre. I didn't yet know how right I would be, or that I was in some ways too pessimistic.

Translated from Hebrew