Hang Tough
Several years ago, I was in Jerusalem having lunch with a friend, a businessman in the city. He is typical Israeli: tough on the outside, nice guy on the inside. Physically, he’s also typical Israeli. They are unusually tough.
He told me that pretty often, he just walks home. To the Negev. Twenty miles one way.
When you hear something like that, you’re sure you’re dealing with a different kind of cat. Resourceful, tough, mean when necessary, always watching and observing. They rarely get caught off guard.
As I watch them deal with surrounding threats 24/7, I marvel all the more.
It’s a lesson for us.
We are watching from afar (although, it appears Iranian sleeper cells are starting to operate here in the U.S.). It’s easy to jump to some conclusions about where all this is going in the short-term.
While the big story is Iran, Israel is also dealing with the proxies of that satanic regime. Right now, Israel has moved back into southern Lebanon in order to deal with Hezbollah. A hard truth is that while the IDF thoroughly dominates the Middle East, it’s also true that her enemies will not go away. They can be decimated but refuse to stop. They are controlled by demons.
The necessary outcome is that Israel stay up to the Litani River. Question is, will it be permanent or brief? In the past, Israel has gone all the way to Beirut. In the 1982 Lebanon War, Ariel Sharon’s forces did just that. As usual, the terrorists and their friends in the international community distorted what was going on and Sharon was villainized. It led to Sharon’s resignation and Prime Minister Menachem Begin later left politics. Despite the political fallout, Israel remained in southern Lebanon until 2000.
Instances like this remind us we are not only still living in a fallen world…it’s getting worse.
Israel’s Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, considered a radical by that same corrupt international community, advocates annexing southern Lebanon. That would be bold, but this week Israel also considered it would consider staying indefinitely with whether Hezbollah is truly disarmed. As has been pointed out, that would require the Lebanese army getting involved. To date, that hasn’t happened. Since the 1970s(!), starting with the PLO and Yasser Arafat, the beautiful country of Lebanon has been kidnapped and brutalized by jihadists. This has been going on a long time and we all know of the massive stockpiles of rockets and missiles pointed at Israel, particularly the bread basket of the country near Tel Aviv.
Even though Israel’s brilliant operation in 2024 delivered a devastating blow to Hezbollah—including killing the killer, Sheik Nasrallah—old devils die hard.
This week, Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on the matter.
“We removed the threat of a ground invasion [into Israel from Lebanon] and are further widening the buffer zone,” he said. “We are determined to change the underlying foundations of the situation in Lebanon.”
I think he means it. He knows they have a chance to fundamentally change the equation. Even with Donald Trump’s back-and-forth commitment to finally dealing with Iran, it’s Israel that has to live in the region. Something has to give. Northern Israeli residents cannot continue to live with rocket attacks.
Lebanon’s government is not strong. No one knows how this will play-out short-term.
But my friend in Israel, through his example, reminds me we all have to be vigilant and maintain an edge for the duration. As famed paratrooper Richard Winters used to tell his Band of Brothers during World War 2…”Hang tough!”