There is a passage in the 24th chapter of Mishlei, or Proverbs, that reads “Do not rejoice at the discomfiture of your enemies, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.” Often enough the ‘proverbial’ advice of our foundational texts can be eerily applicable to our present situation.
As most of you know, according to reports, Israel was able to audaciously and effectively cause pagers and communications devices belonging to members of Hezbollah to explode over two days, throwing the terrorist organization - most often characterized as effective and well organized - into chaos and confusion. It remains unclear if the operation had to be advanced as the devices came under suspicion, or on some other timetable.
What is clear, though, is that as a larger conflict looms in the north, Israel has been taking steps to shape the battlefield and diminish Hezbollah capabilities in ways we have never seen before. As well it should. It may be - it likely is - inevitable that such a larger conflict is necessary, as Hezbollah has left no indication it will withdraw its forces and its rockets from near the border, as envisioned as UN resolution 1701-2006, and as it has been attacking Israel unprovoked since October 8 of last year.
A larger conflict with Hezbollah will be no laughing matter. Their arsenal is vast, even if it is diminished to a degree since August. Their fighters are well organized, trained and equipped, and their combat experience in Syria gives them discipline and morale that Hamas and Islamic Jihad never had. Israeli civilians would be under constant fire, and the IDF would encounter big challenges.
This operation and those preceding it do demonstrate a few things, though, that should give Hezbollah pause, and should give us some strength.
Even in the midst of a year-long war, Israel did not resort to indiscriminate attacks. This was the most targeted counter-terror operation in the history of counter-terrorism. With very few exceptions (apparently, as we have to take Hezbollah’s word for it), casualties were limited to members of the group, its fighters, logisticians, officers, and affiliates in Lebanon, Syria, and reportedly even further afield, including the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon.
Israel has taken the initiative, and forced Hezbollah into a position where it needs to be reactive, instead of proactively advancing the Iranian agenda to slowly choke Israel from all sides.
The operation also put Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in a difficult position. His command structure has been compromised and severely damaged. Several thousand of his personnel are wounded, some severely. He doesn’t know what else is compromised. His capacity to effectively direct an all out war is much diminished. And Israel has twice or three times now launched massive attacks on thousands of rockets set, scheduled, and primed to fire into Israel imminently. So he doesn’t know if he can accomplish what his embarrassed and angered heart is telling him to do. On the other hand, if he does nothing, the embarrassment of the moment looks like growing weakness, and no terror organization essentially occupying a country like Lebanon can afford to look weak.
It remains to be seen what Nasrallah will ultimately choose, or if he has any choices at all. Even a weakened Hezbollah can cause massive damage in Israel, and for that reason alone I tend to follow the writer of Proverbs. The defeat or discomfiture of our enemies is and always will be a good thing, an outcome I pray for. But I’d rather read tehillim and pray for a swift, victorious end to the fighting then laugh at them.
Make no mistake, we must still do our part. We are coming up on one year of this war, and the horrors that began it. We can stand, act, give, and pray. In just under three weeks, we can and we must stand together. On October 7th, 2024, at 7 PM, we come together at Clover Stadium for an evening to remember the fallen, the captives, the heroes. We come together in prayer, in song, in resolute determination that the Jewish community and the Jewish people are resilient in the face of terror and antisemitism. Join us!!
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