Let's get real!! Israel did not start this war, or, let's go back to 1948. While the residents of the new state of Israel were dancing the hora in the streets, and singing songs of peace and hope for the future, The entire mideast area surrounding this tiny little country attacked with the wish to eliminate the only Jewish State off the face of the earth. That, of course, would have encouraged antisemites from every nations to repeat the action until there no Jews left. Think for a minute what the world would have been like. But that is a comment for another time. Israel hates war, hates killing and hates hate. But put yourselves in their place. Your comfortable town or city or village is suddenly overrun by sick minded, evil men with knives, gun, grenades, etc., suddenly coming down the streets shooting, stabbing, raping your women, killing babies, burning home filled with people, and taking some for hostages. Now what would you expect would happen when the army or police of both arrive and finally kill or capture most of those inhumane alien. Would you run to the UN and complain, and if you did, do you think they would do a thing? Would your hold up your Bible and say, no,you can't do that to us, the Bible says so. Of course now, you would fight back and hit the backers of the intruders tons of rockets, gunfire, etc., In turn, they will fight against you, and governments all of the world will suddenly blame the victims for all the warfare. No author of war stories could imagine this scenario. No one would believe it and the book would never sell. Well it has happened and all our news outlets tell of the "horrors" of devastion in Gaza, and Beirut, etc. We all know that Hamas, Hezbollal hold their secret meetings in residential areas. They even brag about. We see mothers crying over the bodies of the children, while we know that their home was also inhabited by Hamas, or Hezbollah or other terrorist groups. Chances are that mother knew that, and yet she and family were prevented from leaving the home for a safe place. Hamas loves big casualty numbers. Getting back to the rules, let's get to the big problems: What are the Biblical Rules of PEACE? Where are the Peace talks? If Hamas wants an end to this, let them bring all the remain hostages, the bodies of those who have been killed while in captivity to front. Put up white flags, and israel will take their own. And I am certain Gaza will be quiet. IN the North, the internatiolal community has to raise Hell against Iran, destroying their nuclear capability, removing,, preferably in coffins, the leaders of the Iranian government, an give the country back to the real Iranians. As to Yemen, Qatar, that would be an easy sweep, as they have never stopped using slaves and that is against international law. Peace is possible, but it takes at least two parties. Israel would be so happy to be one of those parties.
Politically correct as the 146 of the 193 countries in the UN General Assembly's vote demonstrates. However, Jordan gave the so-called West Bank this name in 1950 to erase any connection of the Jews to the area. And what precisely is that area? For millennia called Judea Samaria, it is the heart of the Jewish homeland. The very word "Jew" derives from Judea. Adding insult to injury, it is now common practice to hive off the heart of Jerusalem and call it East Jerusalem.
Bad enough that world politicians and the international media happily adopt these politically driven revisions, it is even worse when Jews use them to describe their ancestral territory.
If Jews accept that the ancient city of Jerusalem and their traditional, ancestral heartland belongs to the Arabs, by what moral, religious, historical or legal right do they have to claim Israel belongs to the Jews. No it would not! Having ceded Judea, Samaria, and "East Jerusalem," Jews would be no more than occupier, settler, trespassers needing to be driven out.
We should all be aware that the day wherein we describe out enemy the way he describes himself, we lose the battle. And the day we describe ourselves the way our enemy describes us, we lose the war.
Thank you for providing me rational framework the IDF uses for its operations. It is clear from responsible reporting that the IDF does make every effort to operate within this framework.
Frankly, way too much energy spent on justification, on proving how moral and ethical we are in war. Always on the defensive ..... why we are not committing genocide, why we are not ethnically cleansing, how we exemplify proportionality, that we are not targeting or starving civilians. If I am forgetting something, let me say now, that we are not guilty of doing that either. In fact, if you would like to be party to the most moral combatant you ever had, please attack Israel. We are the Saints of War.
As an agnostic, It is still wonderful to read how the Talmud and Yiddishkeit has always been concerned with ethics and morality in war but in the real world, its not the Talmud that matters, its the Geneva Convention and its protocols that carries the day. And that is the litmus test that must be passed. Any unbiased person knowing the facts would know that Israel has passed that litmus test with flying colors.
We have answered the many accusations ad nauseam and yet, we are getting destroyed in the PR war. As much as we have beat them militarily, they are beating us terribly when it comes to public opinion. Don't know about you but what it tells me is that we need to adopt a very different strategy when it comes to the PR war. Personally, I think we need to go on the offensive. The question is how? I dont have the answer but i think if we all spent less time defending ourselves and more time figuring that out, we would be better off.
Its quite ironic that when we started going offensively militarily, with the preemptive strikes, and the cellphones, and that assassinations, we seemed to earn a great deal of respect from the world. We need to do the same in our PR battles.
For me this was a very educational article. I was surprised to find the Talmud agreeing with the ancient Roman military philosophy of defensive / offensive war. Or in other words first strike capability and use.
I disagree with the Rabbi regarding 1982. It was a terrible terrible mistake to allow combatants and particularly the PLO to escape. The Rabbi uses Talmudic interpretations but in ancient times modern rules of warfare did not exist. If an enemy surrendered the fighters would likely be executed or at best enslaved. So they had no incentive to surrender. Leaving a path of escape gave them the only viable alternative and for a losing force it meant abandoning the land they were fighting over. Today the laws of war (at least on Israel's side) mandate that soldiers in uniform who surrender are to be given POW status and released at the end of hostilities. There is no reason in a defensive war (and the 1982 war though one of choice was obviously still defensive) for Israel to have allowed the enemy to escape.
Israel must have Real Jewish Warrior Leadership that will immediately Nuclear Strike and Totally
Annihilate Iran, followed by Conquest and Jewish Reclamation of Lebanon, Crushing of Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and the Expulsion of All Arabs from within Israel. Full Stop. Case Closed. There is no other True Torah Solution. All the regressive, woke, warped B.S. of this article
means absolutely nothing. All those who are so uselessly tortured looking for absurd paths of
mercy for Israel's Genocidal Enemies, Stand directly in the way of Israel's Victory.
Let's get real!! Israel did not start this war, or, let's go back to 1948. While the residents of the new state of Israel were dancing the hora in the streets, and singing songs of peace and hope for the future, The entire mideast area surrounding this tiny little country attacked with the wish to eliminate the only Jewish State off the face of the earth. That, of course, would have encouraged antisemites from every nations to repeat the action until there no Jews left. Think for a minute what the world would have been like. But that is a comment for another time. Israel hates war, hates killing and hates hate. But put yourselves in their place. Your comfortable town or city or village is suddenly overrun by sick minded, evil men with knives, gun, grenades, etc., suddenly coming down the streets shooting, stabbing, raping your women, killing babies, burning home filled with people, and taking some for hostages. Now what would you expect would happen when the army or police of both arrive and finally kill or capture most of those inhumane alien. Would you run to the UN and complain, and if you did, do you think they would do a thing? Would your hold up your Bible and say, no,you can't do that to us, the Bible says so. Of course now, you would fight back and hit the backers of the intruders tons of rockets, gunfire, etc., In turn, they will fight against you, and governments all of the world will suddenly blame the victims for all the warfare. No author of war stories could imagine this scenario. No one would believe it and the book would never sell. Well it has happened and all our news outlets tell of the "horrors" of devastion in Gaza, and Beirut, etc. We all know that Hamas, Hezbollal hold their secret meetings in residential areas. They even brag about. We see mothers crying over the bodies of the children, while we know that their home was also inhabited by Hamas, or Hezbollah or other terrorist groups. Chances are that mother knew that, and yet she and family were prevented from leaving the home for a safe place. Hamas loves big casualty numbers. Getting back to the rules, let's get to the big problems: What are the Biblical Rules of PEACE? Where are the Peace talks? If Hamas wants an end to this, let them bring all the remain hostages, the bodies of those who have been killed while in captivity to front. Put up white flags, and israel will take their own. And I am certain Gaza will be quiet. IN the North, the internatiolal community has to raise Hell against Iran, destroying their nuclear capability, removing,, preferably in coffins, the leaders of the Iranian government, an give the country back to the real Iranians. As to Yemen, Qatar, that would be an easy sweep, as they have never stopped using slaves and that is against international law. Peace is possible, but it takes at least two parties. Israel would be so happy to be one of those parties.
" the Palestinian West Bank"
Politically correct as the 146 of the 193 countries in the UN General Assembly's vote demonstrates. However, Jordan gave the so-called West Bank this name in 1950 to erase any connection of the Jews to the area. And what precisely is that area? For millennia called Judea Samaria, it is the heart of the Jewish homeland. The very word "Jew" derives from Judea. Adding insult to injury, it is now common practice to hive off the heart of Jerusalem and call it East Jerusalem.
Bad enough that world politicians and the international media happily adopt these politically driven revisions, it is even worse when Jews use them to describe their ancestral territory.
If Jews accept that the ancient city of Jerusalem and their traditional, ancestral heartland belongs to the Arabs, by what moral, religious, historical or legal right do they have to claim Israel belongs to the Jews. No it would not! Having ceded Judea, Samaria, and "East Jerusalem," Jews would be no more than occupier, settler, trespassers needing to be driven out.
We should all be aware that the day wherein we describe out enemy the way he describes himself, we lose the battle. And the day we describe ourselves the way our enemy describes us, we lose the war.
Thank you for providing me rational framework the IDF uses for its operations. It is clear from responsible reporting that the IDF does make every effort to operate within this framework.
rise up and kill: a motto for our time ... need even up the odds a bit!
A good and informative piece I see!
Self-defense and right to protect one self and others should be sincerely noted and employed!
Peace is for all humanity!!!!OK?
Frankly, way too much energy spent on justification, on proving how moral and ethical we are in war. Always on the defensive ..... why we are not committing genocide, why we are not ethnically cleansing, how we exemplify proportionality, that we are not targeting or starving civilians. If I am forgetting something, let me say now, that we are not guilty of doing that either. In fact, if you would like to be party to the most moral combatant you ever had, please attack Israel. We are the Saints of War.
As an agnostic, It is still wonderful to read how the Talmud and Yiddishkeit has always been concerned with ethics and morality in war but in the real world, its not the Talmud that matters, its the Geneva Convention and its protocols that carries the day. And that is the litmus test that must be passed. Any unbiased person knowing the facts would know that Israel has passed that litmus test with flying colors.
We have answered the many accusations ad nauseam and yet, we are getting destroyed in the PR war. As much as we have beat them militarily, they are beating us terribly when it comes to public opinion. Don't know about you but what it tells me is that we need to adopt a very different strategy when it comes to the PR war. Personally, I think we need to go on the offensive. The question is how? I dont have the answer but i think if we all spent less time defending ourselves and more time figuring that out, we would be better off.
Its quite ironic that when we started going offensively militarily, with the preemptive strikes, and the cellphones, and that assassinations, we seemed to earn a great deal of respect from the world. We need to do the same in our PR battles.
papa j
This is highly interesting
For me this was a very educational article. I was surprised to find the Talmud agreeing with the ancient Roman military philosophy of defensive / offensive war. Or in other words first strike capability and use.
I disagree with the Rabbi regarding 1982. It was a terrible terrible mistake to allow combatants and particularly the PLO to escape. The Rabbi uses Talmudic interpretations but in ancient times modern rules of warfare did not exist. If an enemy surrendered the fighters would likely be executed or at best enslaved. So they had no incentive to surrender. Leaving a path of escape gave them the only viable alternative and for a losing force it meant abandoning the land they were fighting over. Today the laws of war (at least on Israel's side) mandate that soldiers in uniform who surrender are to be given POW status and released at the end of hostilities. There is no reason in a defensive war (and the 1982 war though one of choice was obviously still defensive) for Israel to have allowed the enemy to escape.
Israel must have Real Jewish Warrior Leadership that will immediately Nuclear Strike and Totally
Annihilate Iran, followed by Conquest and Jewish Reclamation of Lebanon, Crushing of Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and the Expulsion of All Arabs from within Israel. Full Stop. Case Closed. There is no other True Torah Solution. All the regressive, woke, warped B.S. of this article
means absolutely nothing. All those who are so uselessly tortured looking for absurd paths of
mercy for Israel's Genocidal Enemies, Stand directly in the way of Israel's Victory.
Since 1948 many works on the views of the Torah and Talmud and their commentaries on warfare have been written