It may sound paradoxical, but Jews and Shiites share remarkably similar founding narratives. We are a people who emerged twice from the crucible. Our nation was born when we escaped slavery in Egypt and rose to flourishing national revival from the ashes of the Holocaust. Our worldview is rooted in the biblical verses "But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread," (Exodus 1:12) and "And also the Glory of Israel will not lie nor repent" (1 Samuel 15:29). We are here to stay. "The eternal people do not fear a long journey," as Rabbi Yehoshua Weitzman, head of Yeshivat Ma'alot, once said.
Surprisingly, Shiites hold a parallel perspective. Shiism emerged from a deep sense of discrimination, persecution, and oppression. The founding figure of Shiism, Ali ibn Abi Talib, was repeatedly passed over in the succession of Muslim leadership after prophet Muhammad's death. When he finally became caliph in 656, he was assassinated just five years later. 19 years after that, his younger son Hussein sacrificed his life at the Battle of Karbala, fighting for leadership and what he believed to be the true and proper way of Islam. The massacre of Hussein and his 70 warriors became a defining moment in Shiite history, shaping the sect's identity to this day.
For centuries, Shiites endured social and economic hardship, which manifested in political marginalization. They suffered from inadequate representation and disunity. Their sense of persecution ran so deep that in 1974, when Shiite Imam Musa al-Sadr established a representative movement in Lebanon, he named it "Movement of the Deprived." The movement championed social justice and rights for Shiites within Lebanon. Later, inspired by Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979 and partly through the establishment of Hezbollah in 1985, their struggle gained a significant international dimension – particularly in confronting Israel and the West. Since then, Shiites are no longer a humiliated and despised sect. They proudly carry the legacy of oppression, jihad, self-sacrifice, and martyrdom (istishhad). In the name of events from the seventh century, they remain willing to fight today.
In October 2023, Hezbollah missed an opportunity to fulfill its mission of destroying Israel. Since then, it has suffered significant blows but remains undefeated. While we view victory as a decisive triumph through conventional military metrics, for Hezbollah and Hamas resistance means patience and sacrifice. From their perspective, survival equals victory. Though we've eliminated many of their commanders and fighters, this isn't their measure of failure. On the contrary, their metric for success is their organization's steadfastness, its ability to fight back against Israeli forces, and its capacity to strike population centers while spreading fear.
That's why, after the Second Lebanon War, Hassan Nasrallah could declare with triumphant pride: "Did any of us imagine that a few thousand members of the Lebanese resistance could stand firm for 33 days on bare, exposed ground, under the open sky, facing the strongest air force in the Middle East?" In their view, in a war of the few against many, "victim" versus "tyrant" – every achievement is a victory. In 2010, his deputy and successor, Naim Qassem, wrote: "Instilling the desire for victory doesn't guarantee achieving it... Instilling the willingness for martyrdom yields the fruits of all capabilities and achieves victory, martyrdom, or both together." Their long history proves that unwavering faith and sacrifice are their tools for victory.
About 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote "The Art of War," one of the most influential books on military strategy. In the third chapter, he wrote: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
We know ourselves well, guided by human morality and Jewish values. Now is the time to understand our adversaries – not just militarily, but religiously and culturally – to achieve victory.
Dr. Yehuda Balanga specializes in Arab affairs at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
