The assassination of the senior Iranian official by the US military was greeted with great joy by all who knew the man's exploits and abilities. Some even compared it to the assassination of a senior Nazi official in World War II. Many commentators used the phrase - "The world is much better without him.".
Against them were the voices that generally oppose any aggressive action against terrorist elements. This will only increase hatred, they argued. In place of the man who was eliminated, another will emerge. And of course the key sentence - we tried the policy of assassinations and it did not solve the problem of terrorism.
For them, there is only one 'solution' – surrender and more surrender...
See the difference
The phrase 'we tried and it didn't work' is heard in many contexts of the struggle against our enemies, and it is pure demagogy. It's like a housewife saying: I've tried over and over again to clean the house and it keeps getting dirty again; just yesterday I washed the dishes and the sink is full of dirty dishes again. Yes, that's life. The struggle against evil doesn't end with a bang and we're done.
We are told: We were inside the Gaza Strip and we did not solve the problem of Gazan terrorism. True, we did not solve the problem completely, but every child sees the difference. When we were there, thousands of rockets were not fired from the Strip at Ashkelon, Beersheba and Tel Aviv. We had the capabilities to harm terrorist organizations in their formation. When we left there, we got a terrorist monster of enormous proportions.
See the difference between Gaza and Judea and Samaria. There are terrorists in Judea and Samaria too, but the constant war on them, and the disruption of terrorist nests at the beginning of their organization, leads to a state of relative calm. Every morning we are informed of the arrest of wanted individuals, and thus ensure security. This activity cannot take place in the Gaza Strip after we leave there, and the result is accordingly.
So too is the elimination of senior terrorist leaders. True, for every commander who is eliminated, a replacement will emerge, but the elimination is a severe blow to the organization, disrupting its capabilities and delaying the execution of its plots. It doesn't take long for a new person to step into the shoes of his predecessor, and in the meantime we have a weakened and more vulnerable organization.
And there are also people, with special skills, whose elimination changes the face of the arena. There are people who changed history for the better, and others who sowed destruction. It is very possible that if they had not existed, history would have been different. The saying "cemeteries are full of people who thought they were irreplaceable" is not always accurate. There are people who truly are irreplaceable.
Responding to frustration
We must recognize the fact that life is a constant war. Not only with the external enemy, but also with the internal enemy, the evil inclination that gives us no rest.
The Book of Tanya discusses the frustration that can fill a person with when faced with his inability to eradicate the urge. It explains that perhaps this is the purpose the Creator intended for man – to constantly fight with the urge, knowing that he will never be able to completely defeat it.
It is perfectly fine to strive for complete peace and an end to all wars – this is actually the aspiration for the coming of the Messiah. Only then will evil disappear completely, the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and God will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth. Until then, we must fight.
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