Security forces acted quickly to capture the terrorists who carried out the attack in northern Samaria, in which yeshiva student Yehuda Dimentman was murdered and two other students were injured.
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Indeed, an important achievement that also conveys a message that anyone who harms Jews will be caught and punished.
But emphasizing the capture of terrorists misses the point. Such an approach is correct in criminal offenses. There, the perpetrators need to be caught and locked up.
In contrast, here the struggle is not criminal but nationalistic. The terrorists do not act as individual criminals, but in the name and on behalf of a public that supports them, admires them, and rewards them.
The national component
The terrorists, whether they are operatives of a terrorist organization or their activities are the result of personal initiative, see themselves as soldiers in a war for the land. Their goal is not to harm a particular Jew, but their main ambition is to push us out of the land, to make our lives miserable, and to ignite in the hearts of the Arab people the hope that they will eventually succeed in removing us from here.
Dealing with this terrorism cannot be reduced to the narrow aspect of capturing the terrorists. We must prove to them that the attacks do not advance their goals, but rather the exact opposite.
Because if they have the feeling that terrorism is giving them achievements in their fight against us, all the heroic operations to capture the terrorists will be useless, as success will encourage others to follow in their footsteps.
The big problem is that the progressive concepts that have infiltrated the military leadership and decision-makers ignore the national component and collective identity. They deny the national motivation that drives our enemies, and in any case do not allow for a correct and necessary response.
There were days when the Jewish response to the murder of Jews was to strengthen their grip on the Land of Israel. Following each murder of a Jew, another Jewish settlement was established. Our enemies saw with their own eyes their acts of terror strengthening Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel and pushing them back.
Such a response was true to itself and also sent a resounding message to our enemies. Today, unfortunately, the government is sending the opposite message.
Building response
My heart breaks at the sight of the soldiers who were sent to destroy Jewish buildings in Homs precisely after the murderous attack. It is impossible to understand this insensitivity, this insensitivity to people in pain, who have lost a dear friend. And above all, it is impossible to understand the folly of conveying a terrible message to our enemies – the attack achieved its goal; it advances the goal of seeing the Jews displaced from northern Samaria.
The response should have been completely the opposite. Jewish tradition advocates the notion that the proper commemoration of our loved ones is by building and doing things that were dear to the hearts of the fallen. When Jews are murdered, for whom the building of the Land of Israel was the essence of their lives – there is no proper commemoration than a new wave of construction in our country.
This is also the true comfort that can be given to their families, seeing that their sacrifice was not in vain, and that out of the heartbreak and pain, new lives were created, new homes were built, trees were planted, and roads were paved.
Is there hope that some members of the current coalition will remember the positions they recently championed and fought for, or will political survival push aside every belief and every value?
We'll live and see.
