"YOU will not utter one word here!" A father refuses to allow his (murdered) daughter's commander to speak at an IDF ceremony
And Haviv Rettig Gur, one of this period's most insightful commentators, with a take on Israel and its history that will leave you thinking about Israel entirely differently than you have until now.
Someone, very much in the know, who served in a former American administration and is a seasoned observer of politics both American and Israeli, asked me a question at dinner in New York the other day. “Let’s say we’re now in December (2024),” he said. “What do you think the situation in Israel looks like?”
With the obvious caveat that no one really knows, here’s what I said. The likelihood is that in December, a bit more than half a year from now, here’s what will be:
Israel will not have all the hostages back.
Hamas will not be crushed. Sinwar and Deff may or may not be dead, or vanished, but Hamas’ fighters will not be gone. Israel will still be in Gaza, fighting will continue intermittently, at the very last.
The north will not be resolved. Either Israel and Hezbollah will still be playing the game of chicken that they’re now deeply into, or, no less likely, massive warfare will have broken out in the north, and if it does, that war may well also still be going on in December.
Benjamin Netanyahu will still be Prime Minister. Opposition to him will likely have grown, there might well be massive protests on the streets, but it will probably take longer (barring a crisis like the Haredi draft issue, a military cataclysm or something else) to dislodge him.
My friend nodded, and said, “basically exactly how I see it.”
It would be great if much of the above was incorrect. I’d love to be wrong. Time will tell. But that’s the horizon at which Israelis are peering, and it colors everything.
In the meantime, pride and resilience surge here, but so does rage. In a brief video clip below, we’ll see an IDF ceremony at which the father of one of the women soldiers who was trapped in her base near the Gaza border on October 7, and may have been burned alive, had words for his (deceased) daughter’s commander. IDF ceremonies used to be sacrosanct. But sanctity, it seems, sometimes does not trump rage.
We’ll get to that, and a terrific lecture by Haviv Rettig Gur, one of the most insightful Israeli columnists writing and speaking on this transformational time for Israel.
First, though, a review of what we’ve covered this week.
SUNDAY (3/17) We opened the week with a conversation with author Alex Sinclair to discuss his new novel, PERFECT ENEMY, which was both thought-provoking and a heck of a lot of fun. I pressed him into whether or not he would have written the same book had he written it after October 7th.
MONDAY (03/18): We offered a few glimpses into the soul of Israel at this time, when war has become the “new normal,” with Gaza a slog and the north far, far from resolved. We included a moving video of an event for pregnant women whose husbands fell in the war and who will give birth as widows.
TUESDAY (03/19): We focused a subject we all often ignore—Judaism in the Jewish state. We introduced two religious leaders, Rabbi Daniel Epstein and Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum, one via a video and the other a FB post from Abu Dhabi.
WEDNESDAY (03/20): A podcast with finance and investment expert, Shelly Hod Moyal, who co-leads iAngels, a firm she co-founded and scaled to becoming one of the most active venture funds in Israel. We heard from her the story of her extraordinary success, her firm and its social commitments, and also found out why she’s so optimistic about Israel’s future.
THURSDAY (03/21): We shared a video of Israeli TV presenter and comedian, Lior Schleien, giving his assessment of what another Bibi term would look like.
The man in the video above is Eyal Eshel, father of Sgt. Roni Eshel z’’l. Roni was a tatzpitanit, an observation soldier, who was killed on October 7th. She was considered missing for more than a month, until it was tragically discovered that she was killed on her base in Nahal Oz during the massacre. She may well have been burned to death, as the father alludes to.
The video does not need much comment. It’s just a window into the grief and agony that refuses to subside, that has all of Israel in its grip, one way or another. If you go to the Instagram page that’s been put up in her memory, you can hear the recording of her at her post, radioing in that she sees armed terrorists making their way to the border fence.
Help did not come in time.
Why has Israel, and the pre-State community that preceded it, been at war for 100 years? How does Israelis’ take on history make them unique, and why does the world thus not understand Israel or her people? Once we understand that, we can understand how the Palestinians see Israelis, and why their view of Israelis has destroyed their people. But in this video we begin earlier … with American Judaism, and Israeli Judaism, and how their takes on history are so different.
In a truly fascinating presentation, Haviv Rettig Gur addressed all these questions in a lecture at Shalem College (Israel’s first and only liberal arts college), where I work, and we thought to share it with you.
It’s not short, but it’s fascinating. Find a quiet spot, set aside a bit of time, and allow yourself to think about Israel in a way you never have before.
Today we’re sharing the link to the newly released volume of Sapir Magazine, “Friends & Foes.” As I’ve mentioned before, SAPIR is, to my mind, one of the very best, most thoughtful, Jewish publications in English today, and SAPIR has of late been addressing issues related to this unprecedented time in Jewish history. The new issue is well worth your time.
Impossible Takes Longer is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and at other booksellers.
The Eshel video is a gut punch. I don’t think I've ever seen or heard said anything quite like it.
The Gur lecture is superb. I see someone has shared a link to the second. I hope I'll be able to find the third.
An incredibly enlightening and insightful presentation by Rettig Gur. Todah Rabah for posting.