Some 85-90 years ago, there were those who sounded the alarm repeatedly, warning of the grave danger looming over the Jews. But the human spirit, especially the Jewish one, prefers to seek reprieve. Today, just like then, there are those willing to pursue reckless deals and leave our enemies standing.
"For three years I have been appealing to you, the Jews of Poland, the crown of world Jewry, with an unceasing warning: The catastrophe approaches. My hair has turned white and I have aged during these years, for my heart bleeds over you, dear brothers and sisters, not seeing the volcano about to erupt and spew the fire of destruction.
"I see a dreadful sight. The time to escape is short. I know: You do not see, for you are preoccupied with daily worries. Heed my words at the eleventh hour. For God's sake: Let each save their own life while there is still time - and time is short." (Ze'ev Jabotinsky's words on Tisha B'Av 1938).
A year and a month after Jabotinsky's words, World War II broke out, and the catastrophe befell European Jewry. In hindsight, everyone wonders how they didn't see the obvious, and why they did not hasten to flee before the destruction. But that very blindness struck us – the Jews in Israel – three generations later in the years preceding the Oct. 7 massacre.
In the 1930s, few heeded the prophecies of warning voiced by Jabotinsky and others, probably because the human psychological mechanism, perhaps especially the Jewish one, prefers to seek reprieve.
We simply refuse to believe that our enemies' declarations of annihilation will materialize into actions. Just as my grandparents in Germany could not imagine Hitler establishing a systematic killing machine to destroy European Jewry – we did not believe Hamas could succeed in an act of genocide.
As the Psalmist phrased it: "They have eyes but do not see ears but do not hear noses but do not smell." All the facts and evidence lie before one's eyes – yet blindness strikes. One places faith in idols or technology instead of squarely facing the threatening reality.
This is a human phenomenon that only a few manage to overcome and go against the flow. From the Prophet Jeremiah to modern-day apocalyptic doomsaryers, party-poopers, and joy-killers from both sides of the divide, are met with delegitimization solely for daring to speak the truth the masses or establishment are unwilling to hear themselves, let alone allow others to hear.
This was another reason the warnings fell on deaf ears. The Zionist establishment was then hermetically controlled by David Ben-Gurion and socialism. They ridiculed, maligned, and condemned Zeev Erlich and the Revisionist movement he led. The implicit message was not to take the dire predictions too seriously: It would be fine, Hitler was deterred – he would not dare.
Thus, complacent and optimistic, "the crown of world Jewry" in all its hues – Zionists and anti-Zionists, ultra-Orthodox and secular, socialists and communists – arrived at the ghettos. The Revisionists, followers of the one who warned, were the first to call for armed revolt against the Germans. But even there, in the Warsaw Ghetto, with the death camps already operating and their fate well known, the Jewish establishment ostracized them, to the point that even the famous Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was conducted separately by the right-wing Jewish Military Union and left-wing Jewish Combat Organization, as the organizations' hatred for the other camp clouded his judgment.
Hilters of our times
This narrative extends beyond the last century. Like then, a very practical plan for the annihilation of the Jewish people and their state is pending today. The Hitler of our times – Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei – has been formulating and advancing it for decades. He set 2040 as the final date for realizing this goal, but given his advanced age of 85, he seems intent on expediting the timetable.
Right from the get-go, he has been driven by a burning, inexplicable hatred of Jews and America. But in recent years he has effectively come to terms with the "Great Satan", especially after the generous nuclear deal. As he put it, the deal with the Americans was "drinking a poisoned chalice", justified under certain circumstances according to his religious worldview. The move proved highly profitable for him. Some nine years after that deal, Iran is now stronger and closer to nuclear capability than it has ever been, while the West and Israel are alarmingly weakened.
Thus Khamenei was left with the "Little Satan". He has dedicated the past decade to giving special treatment to Israel, patiently and cunningly building a military noose around it. He has had pro-Iranian militias in Lebanon and Syria at the ready for years. He was at risk of losing Hamas in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack, but Israel achieved only moderate military gains in its counter-offensive and is now considering surrendering to most of the murderous organization's demands. So from Khamenei's perspective, Gaza is not lost, and may even serve him in the future.
He is investing tremendous efforts in undermining the Hashemite Kingdom from within and without. Pro-Iranian militias harass the kingdom's troops along the long border with Syria. They often manage to infiltrate and reach the Jordan-Israel border, smuggling in good amounts of ammunition into Judea and Samaria. This is the main explanation for the proliferation of weapons in the area and within the Green Line, and the increasing shooting attacks against civilians and soldiers. All this activity is backed by a nuclear umbrella, which he will likely break out from at the opportune moment for him.
In the first weeks after the horrific attack of Oct. 7, everyone realized the gravity of this situation and understood the need to unite against the clear and imminent existential threat. But time, the challenges of war, and the nature of Jewish factionalism eroded what should have been a united, crushing war against the Nazis of our times.
And so, this Holocaust Remembrance Day 2024, merely 6 months after the worst massacre since Auschwitz, the Satan from Tehran rubbed his hands with glee. The Jews are weak, divided, and again fail to grasp the severity of the danger facing them as a people, a state, and individuals. Those trying to warn, like Jabotinsky at the time, are condemned and maligned. The Jewish people are considered wise – but somehow refuse to learn by experience.
Same heroism, 50 years later
Those who do understand the magnitude of the threats, gathered on Wednesday evening in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. They number in hundreds who lost their dearest in battles against the Hamas enemy. It is precisely for this reason that they are trying to warn the remnants of the people dwelling in Zion that the war must continue until the enemy's destruction, or else – we will suffer a bitter fate.
"The Gvura Forum Encampment" is what the place has been dubbed. Earlier this week, its managers threatened to launch a hunger strike if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heeds the surrender terms of the deal and stops the war. Netanyahu, who is in personal contact with some of the bereaved families, listens to them intently and summoned them to a meeting tomorrow. Their pressure elicited a public stance from him, that "we will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas troops there - with or without a deal."
The encampment will remain there to ensure the prime minister keeps his promise. Among those participating in it is Danny Steinberg, father of Lt. Col. Jonathan (Yoni) Steinberg, the Nahal Brigade commander who was killed on the first day of the war. His son-in-law and one grandson are still fighting inside Gaza.
Exactly 50 years have passed since the elder Steinberg saved 24 soldiers who fled from the Egyptian army, until his son's own act of heroism when he fought Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Envelope and paid with his life.
"I was a tank driver, and this happened on the second day of the Yom Kippur War (Oct. 7, 1973)," Steinberg recounts. "There were 42 soldiers who fled the Milano outpost on the Suez Canal eastward, toward our position. They had run into Egyptian ambushes, and many were killed. We were engaged in tank-to-tank combat with the Egyptians, about 2 km (1.5 miles) away from us. Suddenly we saw from afar, midway between them and us, 'matchsticks' (soldiers in the IDF lingo) walking around. We didn't know if they were ours or theirs, and the order was given: 'Fire.'
"But then the tank's loader now known as Rabbi Yossi Carmel and I saw two of them waving a piece of cloth. My tank was closest to them. I looked through the episcope (an optical device in the driver's compartment) and saw they were holding a tzitzit, meaning they were our people. Yossi saw it too. We immediately reported it, and the order 'cease fire' was given. We approached them, while the battle raged on. They were exhausted. So we loaded them onto the tank. That's how I carefully drove them to the nearest gathering point."
The situation you describe, I say to Steinberg, echoes complex scenarios that occurred in this war with the hostages. Moreover, Yoni fell exactly 50 years after your act of heroism, under similar circumstances of rescuing Jews. The parallel cannot be missed.
"Now that you mention it, it does something to me. But when we went out to that war, it was 300 km (186 miles) away, we didn't think it was a war on our home. Yoni left his home in Shomria to fight for his homeland just 40 km away. People around the world won't understand this, they know nothing about what's happening here. There are outside pressures on our decision-makers from foreign leaders looking out for their own interests. It's pressure from a confused world that doesn't comprehend what awaits it," says Steinberg, who has seen much of the world in his recent years, leading organized tours for people with disabilities.
"I was in Northern Ireland – there were so many flags of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), it feels like you're in Gaza. Look at what's happening in London or Malmo. These countries are unwilling to recognize what awaits them, another 'European People's Spring'. All the Muslims everywhere will rise up against them from within. This is why our leaders need to stand tall and be proud Jews. We are not warmongers, but now we must stand upright, look our lovers and enemies squarely in the eye, strengthen the decision-makers, and achieve what they promised us at the outset of the war – Hamas' downfall. That means – entering Rafah immediately and achieving an instant and absolute victory in the south."
