Hamas kidnapped a mother, a toddler, and an infant. Hamas caused the murder of a mother, a toddler, and an infant. Hamas traded in their bodies. We must remind ourselves of these words again and again until they sink into our minds and never fade.
Not the government, which failed massively in the days, months, and years leading up to the massacre. Not the military, which was supposed to prevent the horrific disaster on October 7. Not the internal divisions that tore us apart in the period before Simchat Torah 2023. The culprit is Hamas, Hamas, Hamas.
For decades, we have grown accustomed to relying only on ourselves, and as a result, blaming only ourselves. "A people that dwells alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations," our sources say, and we have turned this into law. After desperate and naive attempts to achieve peace, we realized there was no one to trust, and so we adopted the exact opposite approach: we made ourselves solely responsible for everything, for better or worse.
This mindset is logical, but our mistake was taking it to the extreme. Instead of confronting the enemy outside, we turned our anger inward. Attacks by our enemies became a pretext for self-flagellation and, at times, disgraceful evasion to avoid confrontation.
This was true when we withdrew from the security zone in Lebanon, choosing to flee rather than face the threat. It was true during the disengagement from Gaza when we locked the gates and threw away the key, in the childish belief that the problem would disappear on its own. It was true when Hezbollah repeatedly tested our limits, and we convinced ourselves that a maritime agreement would bring quiet. And it became an established practice with the infamous "suitcases of cash," bribing a murderous terrorist organization.
Every time a deadly attack occurred, we turned the blame inward. When Hamas grew stronger and began carrying out suicide bombings, we labeled the victims "sacrifices for peace" because, in our minds, responsibility rested solely on us, not them. And we kept handing them weapons. We treated the victims of vile terrorist attacks as mere "scratches on the wing" of the strongest military in the Middle East, instead of recognizing our enemy's true intentions.
We have bargained, initially from the Right and later even more so from the Left, with our own military. Disengagement, judicial overhaul, both became fertile ground for calls to refuse service, weakening us again and again. Every time we suffered a blow, we pointed fingers at military and state leaders, paying little attention to the enemy striking us.
This does not absolve government and military leaders of responsibility. They are responsible for our security. They are responsible for our defense. That was true during the Second Lebanon War, and it is true in the current Iron Swords War. For this reason, they must all draw conclusions and step down. But alongside that, we must acknowledge that we have consistently directed our hatred inward instead of outward, toward those truly responsible for these events. A kidnapping? Olmert is to blame. A terrorist attack? Bennett is at fault. A massacre? Netanyahu is guilty. And Hamas and Hezbollah? Just background noise, irrelevant to the discussion.
Even after October 7, we refused to acknowledge the greater problem. As these words are written, we continue blaming ourselves for everything that happened, without devoting a thought to the monsters who carried out the massacre. The Netanyahu government is blamed for the entire event, while the invading military force, yes, a military force, that stormed our land is almost forgotten. Meanwhile, accusations of treason, protests on Kaplan Street, and refusal to serve in the military echo from the other side, unknowingly playing into the hands of terrorist organizations.
Hamas understands this perfectly and exploits it to its advantage. In its horrifying display of returning kidnapped corpses - a mother, a toddler, and an infant - it made deliberate spelling "mistakes" in its statements. Again, Hamas wrote "biguah" instead of "piguah" (a misspelling of the Hebrew word for "attack"). But their deliberate "mistakes," like their infamous 2014 message "Takof ta'ase biguim" (a misspelling of "Attack and carry out terror attacks"), are no laughing matter. This is part of Hamas's psychological warfare against us, and they are running circles around the so-called "Startup Nation."
The October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood attack was, more than anything, a psychological war. The massacre - horrific as it was - was secondary in Hamas's mind. They equipped the terrorists with GoPro cameras to broadcast the horrors in real-time. Even during the war, they meticulously documented and publicized every hit on our soldiers.
Exploding armored personnel carriers, whether destroyed by us in terrorist strongholds or hit by enemy fire, were immediately presented as the "elimination of Zionist soldiers." Every RPG fired at a tank, whether it caused casualties or not, was swiftly edited into high-quality propaganda clips, helping Hamas wage its PR battle, a battle where they are currently winning by knockout.
The images of Netanyahu as a blood-soaked vampire, with four coffins beneath him, were designed precisely for this purpose. Half the nation, which already harbors strong resentment toward the prime minister, now believes he is to blame. And Hamas is exploiting this sentiment to the fullest, knowing that no Israeli can ignore these images.
Their deliberate "mistakes" aim once again to lull us into complacency, to convince us they are a weak and foolish organization that cannot even use Google Translate like any 10-year-old in 2025. They want us to believe they are helpless, weak, and deterred, just as we once falsely assured ourselves before October 7.
But we must change our mindset. Or, to use a familiar phrase, "We need to start speaking Arabic." We must resist the propaganda and psychological warfare in which Hamas excels and currently dominates. Yes, the government made severe mistakes, and yes, the military failed on October 7. But Hamas is to blame for this event. The failure in defense was Israel's, but the sophisticated attack was orchestrated by the Hamas terrorist organization.
It is legitimate to be furious at state institutions for their failures, but we must not revert to the lies we once told ourselves. The Palestinian terrorist organizations are our real enemy, the most immediate and dangerous one. They are the ones lurking at our doorstep, looking for every opportunity to strike.
In April 2023, it was the massacre of a family. In October 2023, it was the slaughter of 1,200 people. They kidnapped and murdered a mother, a toddler, and an infant. And for that, they must pay. This will not end until they are decisively defeated. Total victory - not as a populist slogan, but as a fact.
Because if total victory is not the goal, then we are already on the path to the next massacre.
