Learning from Zelensky to Stand Up for Ourselves and Restore Trump's Respect

by Leonid Baratz, Investigative journalist and Middle Eastern correspondent for the Ukrainian media, translated by Hillel Fendel.

It's always easier to pressure allies than enemies, as the United States continually proves. This is especially true with a president who tends to operate based on instincts that appear to change quickly. In Israel's current situation, it would do well to remember the lesson taught by Ukrainian President Zelensky when he faced American anger. 

Many remember the awkward, difficult scene that played out in the Oval Office in February 2025, when U.S. President Trump and Vice President Vance castigated Zelensky before the cameras of the entire world. They essentially "advised" him to show gratitude to the U.S. and allow it to determine the terms of a ceasefire with Russia. "You don't have the cards," Trump told him sharply. "We have all the cards, and without us, you have nothing." Zelensky did not cave in, and paid a heavy diplomatic price for a few weeks.

And here we are now, less than 18 months later, and the ones without the cards are none other than the Russians. The world sees Russian fuel tanks explode into the sky and dozens of Russian refineries knocked out of action, leading to long lines of people waiting for fuel throughout Russia and even the Crimean peninsula. It's Moscow, not Kiev, that is now asking for various kinds of truces, with Ukraine largely on the offensive. A year ago, Ukraine carried out the unprecedented Operation Pautina, which had been painstakingly planned for a year and a half, in which drones hidden inside portable wooden houses were smuggled on civilian trucks deep into Russian territory. At the designated moment, the roofs were opened remotely and the drones soared towards Russian nuclear sites located thousands of kilometers from the front line.

Interestingly, less than two weeks later, Israel attacked Iran in the 12-Day War known as Operation Rising Lion, which was also based on deep and patient intelligence penetration into enemy territory. It is difficult not to recognize in the Ukrainian offensive a familiar fingerprint of Israeli combat doctrine, which immediately raises the question of whether Kiev may have served as an initial testing ground for the implementation of these unique tactics. We may not know for many years whether Israel and Ukraine were working with some sort of cooperation, or whether this was just a coincidental case of "great minds thinking alike…"

In any event, Zelensky rebounded well following the White House dressing down, to the point where this month, at the G-7 summit in France, Trump himself admitted that the Ukranians are currently winning the war with Russia. Trump then surprised his allies when he announced the restoration of sharp sanctions against the Russian oil sector. Kiev's impressive military accomplishments would have been of no significance without an aggressive, ongoing diplomatic push, that was able to translate the situation at the front into the language of international interests.

This is precisely the lesson that Israel must learn and internalize at this point. It is well-known that the Americans are wielding a heavy pressure crush on PM Netanyahu and the government in Jerusalem to withdraw from the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, or at least to cease responding to murderous Hizbullah attacks such as those that have killed five Israeli soldiers in recent days. We must not blame our own government; on the contrary, it is our duty as a public to provide our leaders with our resolute support so that they can repel these foreign dictates, and certainly not succumb to the winds of concession blowing from many of our own television studios.

Caving to U.S. Would be an Iranian Victory

We in Israel, and the Americans as well, should have no trouble seeing who would profit from and rejoice at an Israeli withdrawal. Israel's historic task in the Middle East never relied only on its military strength, but chiefly on its image as the only regional player who can contain the Iranian axis – an image upon which the Abraham Accords is largely predicated. But the moment that the President of the United States declares that Israel is unable to complete its mission in Lebanon, and suggests that the job be passed to Turkish-influenced Syria, this image suffers a death blow.

Every time that Damascus or Ankara are perceived as being able to do what Jerusalem can't do, or is being stopped from doing, this rocks the very foundations on which Israel's position stands. It is therefore no coincidence that precisely the Qatar-Turkey axis are the main beneficiaries of a scenario in which we cede security responsibility in southern Lebanon.

Israel simply cannot afford to allow itself to retreat and thus gladden Iran, Qatar, and Turkey. We must therefore learn from the Ukrainian paradigm. From a historical perspective, it appears that Zelensky has emerged as a "Jewish" or "Israeli"-type leader much more than expected – and we have no reason to be embarrassed to take an example from him.

We must complete the operational cleanup of Hizbullah's stronghold in southern Lebanon, without leaving this task to outsiders. Iran must be shown with unmistakable force who controls the scene. Only then, just as happened with Ukraine, will President Trump's temporary anger be turned into renewed affection and respect - for ultimately he respects only results, not begging.

It was just a year ago that we started a war against those whom we called the modern-day Amalek – with very impressive results, including the elimination of the Ayatollah Khamenei and the weakening of Iran's military infrastructures. However, once we started the job, we must complete it, in the spirit of the Biblical injunction to totally wipe out Amalek. Amalek cannot be left half-wounded, we cannot stop the war in the middle, and we must certainly not endanger our very existence with transient surrender agreements. Even top officials in the US defense establishment and the Republican Party acknowledge that the current agreement is shameful and defeatist.

Most dangerously, the Iranian regime justifiably interprets the international pressure upon Israel as a green light to continue its multi-front war against us.  This not only endangers world stability and direct American interests, it also encourages the fanatical Iranian leadership to continue to pursue its nuclear program. Iran seems to have learned in the recent past that its strategies have been successful in forcing the West's hand and even bringing it close to its knees.

We know that our interests and those of the United States do not always overlap. That's OK. We must remind the Americans, however, that unfair accusations and threats against us are very harmful to Israel's attempts to ensure our international legitimacy, and even fuel anti-Semitism across the world.

We must learn from Zelensky, and from many of our own leaders in the recent and far-off past, that true security does not come from blind adherence to our allies, as strong as they may be. A nation that knows how to stand up for its own interests on the battlefield, and in the international arena, needs no outside confirmation to know that it is truly independent and strong.

Israel's Northern Border Must Remain Israeli!

All eyes are on the Israel-Lebanon border because of Israel's defensive war against Hizbullah. Under no scenario can Israel afford to leave it.

by Orit Strook, Israeli Cabinet Minister, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Throughout the last weeks (with a small hiatus ever since the US and Iran signed their controversial "memo of understanding"), wherever I have been in Israel, and whatever I may be engaged in doing, my heart finds itself drawn to the north. Occupying my thoughts are the northern towns of Metulah, Zar'it, Admit and Avivit, Misgav Am and Manara, and all those places situated on and protecting our northern border, yet forced to live with daily bomb sirens. The residents are impelled to look heavenward umpteen times a day to check if bomb-laden drones are on their way over. And each time they do, they also have to ask themselves (and me, via text messages or phone calls): Is the IDF staying in place to do the work, or Heaven forbid, clearing out?

Our northern compatriots know quite well what the IDF is doing in Lebanon, and what existential threat they are busy saving us from, day in and day out. For many years it was they who cried and warned about what was happening on the other side of the border: the digging of tunnels, lookouts on Israeli civilian and military positions, Iranian money flowing uninterruptedly to Lebanese villages, and the tremendous extent to which Hizbullah positions were being built up amidst the villagers. For 17 years they tried to wake up the security and government echelons – but these were 17 years of relative quiet, and who wanted to hear about war and tunnels and stark reality when they could so easily be ignored? It was truly a case of, "Quiet – we're arming."

And now, this terrible truth is being revealed in its full frightening danger: kilometer after kilometer of tunnels dozens of meters underground, with thousands of weapons, innocent-looking houses that are actually military outposts, and invasion plans that wouldn't shame the 7^th of October. And now our dedicated soldiers are combing the area, kilometer after kilometer, destroying the destruction machine the terrorists were building for us under the guise of the 17-year quiet – under the unsuspecting noses and closed eyes of those who were supposed to be in charge of preventing terrorism from within Lebanon: UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted at the end of the Second Lebanon War, entrusted – abandoned, more correctly – our security to the flimsy UN force called UNIFIL, and to the Lebanese army, a third of whose soldiers belong to the Shia community. Bound by that wretched resolution, we did not act to remove the threat growing on our border under the apathetic eyes of these two "forces."

Thanks to G-d's mercies, our northern border did not see an Oct. 7^th-like infiltration and massacre. This is truly a tremendous miracle, which we cannot take for granted. But the threat still exists, in the form of the infrastructures that were built there, ready and waiting for Hizbullah orders to "Start the attack!" A fair proportion of the tunnels and outposts have been destroyed, and many terrorists have been killed - but under American pressure, the job is far from over.

The ceasefire outline agreed upon in the past included a clause that the IDF is permitted to continue destroying any emerging threat across the border - and indeed the IDF and our other security agencies invested immense efforts in these counter-activities. But as time passed, the picture became increasingly clear: It is impossible to thwart terrorism solely from the outside, from the other side of the border – especially when we are supposed to count on help from other bodies, which never comes. Everyone now knows that the past plans for Lebanon have failed, and we may and must not return to them.

This is why what we have been doing for the past few weeks is so important – and why we must continue to do so, no matter what agreement President Trump and the Iranians come to regarding our future. We must continue operating within southern Lebanon, by ourselves, to destroy the terrorist monster growing there against us. The IDF now controls over 600 square kilometers (some 230 square miles) of southern Lebanon - Hizbullah territory, where no Muslim civilians now live - and it is being cleaned out of terrorist infrastructures such as tunnels, bunkers, and weapon stockpiles. It must be done, for the future of Israel's security.

We may not allow ourselves to stop this work, or to be forced into withdrawing and trying to secure ourselves only from within Israel; this has failed, cannot succeed, and may not be tried again.

I paid a shiva (consolation) visit to the family of fallen soldier Ohad Yaari last week; he was one of six IDF soldiers killed in southern Lebanon in the first half of this month (six more have been killed since then). His father Dudu pleaded with me: "Don't stop, don't give in, we're counting on you." I promised that we would not.

Ohad's family also asked me one more thing: to publicize on the eve of the Sabbath their call to "strengthen the light and kindness" in memory of their son: to light an extra Sabbath candle in each home and to commit to doing one extra good deed, so as to enter the holy Sabbath with an uplifted spirit and having added light and loving-kindness to the world in loving memory of Ohad, may G-d avenge his blood.

Can Small Numbers of Women Replace Hundreds of Male Tank Core Members?

Courageous IDF commanders must take a public stand. Op-ed.

by Emmanuel Shilo, editor of the Besheva weekly, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The announcement by first a dozen Hesder yeshiva heads, then another dozen, and now a full half of the Yeshivot Hesder in Israel – followed even by several army preparatory academies – that they will not send their students to serve in the IDF's Armored Corps is a resounding wake-up call and a bright red warning light to the IDF top brass.

Declarations of that nature are not issued easily from yeshivot whose students are a primary and high-quality component of the army's field forces. A glorious combat heritage of Hesder tank soldiers, beginning over 50 years ago, is now threatened with extinction, due to a feminist cause that childishly cares for nothing other than to smash glass ceilings. The problem continues to fester because of the irresponsible cowardice of senior IDF officials who fear confronting it and setting boundaries.

In the Artillery Corps, it's already a lost cause. The hesder yeshivot stopped sending their students to serve there a while ago, given that it became a totally mixed service corps in which the gender boundaries set by Jewish Law can simply not be observed. This has led to a major lack in Artillery reserves personnel, as male students who would have served in the reserves for years afterwards have been replaced by females who, for various predictable reasons, invariably do not show up to serve in the reserves. This is the problem that the Armored Corps, too, will soon face, if nothing is done to stop the introduction of girls into tanks.

It must be emphasized that the deployment of females into the Armored Corps has nothing to do with a lack of manpower. There is no such shortage, because the number of tank soldiers is limited in any event by the amount of tanks in the IDF. At present this number has been reduced, for various reasons; but even if it again rises, there will be no shortage of male soldiers to man them – on condition that the relatively few women are removed and the large number of yeshiva students can return.

From an operational standpoint, the integration of female combat soldiers into the Armored Corps primarily creates unnecessary difficulties. The pilot programs conducted so far have not been a success story. It is no coincidence that the females who were qualified to serve as tank crew members were specifically deployed in non-maneuvering battalions. And although the actions of the female 'Pere' company on October 7 were effective and even saved lives, their battle was not exactly Avigdor Kahalani's battle in the Yom Kippur War. In fact, they were later not permitted to fight inside Gaza.

The current decision to begin training female tank crew members for maneuvering battalions does not address any operational need, but rather only ideological feminist desires. The General Staff orders state unequivocally the right of every religious soldier to demand gender-combat combat service. During this past and ongoing war, it happened many times that troops had to remain locked inside their armored vehicles for days at a time. It goes without saying that it is impossible to maintain basic standards of modesty between men and women under such conditions. Single-gender tank crews do not offer a sufficient solution, because of overnight stays in a building or in defense encampments. Even separate battalions for female soldiers would not be effective, because tank battalions are split into smaller units and attached to infantry and combat engineering battalions and brigades.

And we have not even touched on the expected drop in operational abilities. The idea of ignoring or overlooking physical differences and abilities between the genders is simply dangerous. As several of the Yeshiva heads have said, "The army's main goal is to win, and that critical value is being shunted aside in the drive to satisfy feminist whims."

Where Do the Hareidim Fit In?

Good question. The "lack of consideration," to say the least, for the religious soldiers doesn't exactly encourage hareidi boys to enlist in the army. The hareidi public looks on and says to itself, "If the IDF refuses to take the religious-Zionist public's needs into account, after all the human losses it suffered, just because of a few girls, then why should we believe that they will fulfill their promises to us in the long term?"

This problem must be solved, and quickly. If the IDF commanders don't wake up and explain to the Supreme Court that their latest decision demanding an introductory trial of recruiting women into the Armored Corps this coming November – and we all know that such "trials" quickly become the norm – is simply unworkable, the Prime Minister and Defense Minister will have no choice but to intervene. If not, the military ramifications, as well as those caused by breaking apart the delicate fabric of our society, will become much too dangerous for the State of Israel to safely absorb.

Note 1: In Israel's over 70 Hesder yeshivot, students undergo a five-year program combining Yeshiva study and army service. Yeshiva preparatory academies (mechinot) provide a one-year yeshiva program for students who then go on to serve in the army for three years.

Note 2: After the publication of this article IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir decided that the "pilot" program to integrate female soldiers in the Armed Corps will not be held as planned in November.

Confusing the Ally for the Enemy

by Michael Puah, Director-General of the Jewish Leadership movement, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The massacre of Oct. 7^th should have taught us a basic lesson: Our enemy is not the settlers, those who work the land, or those building small new Jewish farms in Judea and Samaria (Yesha). The actual enemy is Palestinian terrorism, the goal of which is to banish Jews from their land – not just parts of it, but all of it, including Tel Aviv and elsewhere – and to destabilize the very existence of the State of Israel.

But it seems that despite the so-heavy price that we paid then, some members of our security apparatus are still caught in the old and dangerous conceptions. Instead of seeing those who build the farms as a pioneering force that buttresses the Israeli hold on our only homeland and strengthens our security, they all too frequently treat them as if they were the enemy. Large IDF and police forces are deployed to evacuate the outposts, clash with young Jewish pioneers, and destroy their structures, while not far away our real enemies are engaged in terrorist activity, agricultural theft, illegal takeovers of lands, and violent riots.

The message that this gives over to the Palestinians is destructive. When they see the IDF investing such efforts against the Jewish settlement enterprise, it fills them with motivation. They feel that the State of Israel itself is unsure about Jewish rights to live in and settle their land. Instead of deterring their terrorism, this policy encourages the Arabs to believe that their pressure and violence and hatred are working!

It's not only unfair to the settlers, it is also a very grave security miscalculation. The farms and outposts in Yesha have proven time and again their importance in the campaign to safeguard state lands, to prevent hostile take-overs, and to create an Israeli presence in strategic areas. Many of those involved in building the outposts and farms serve in the IDF reserves, in stints of weeks and months at a time. When they are treated as if they don't have basic human rights, let alone civilian rights, this impairs not only their dignity, but also the basic trust between the public they represent and the state institutions.

Whoever reads the news know that this also brings to the fore a basic contradiction: For long months we have been hearing from the IDF and the media of the grave shortage of IDF manpower, and that all the hareidim must be drafted in order to ease the load on the reservists – yet behold, when there is a "need" to destroy a farm or settlers' hilltop shacks, we suddenly see that dozens and sometimes even hundreds of fighters and Border Guardsmen and women are recruited for the mission.

If there really is a manpower shortage in the army, these forces should be deployed not to destroy Jewish settlement points, but to protect the roads from rock-throwers and worse, thwart terrorism, confiscate arms, and arrest hostile elements busy building more and more illegal Arab houses. The answer must be demanded: Is there a manpower shortage, or not?

The problem is not only operational, but also conceptual. For years, the settlers and Yesha residents have warned of the erosion of anti-terrorism deterrence. But instead of listening to them, the opposite was done: extensive efforts were invested in monitoring, restricting, and arresting them. The Simchat Torah slaughter showed in the most brutal way what happens when those who identify dangers and warn against them are treated as the enemies themselves.

The responsibility is not only upon the commanders in the field, for they are instruments of the policies and instructions they receive from above. The responsibility lies, first and foremost, with the top IDF echelons, which determine the order of priorities. They have clearly decided that the pioneer settlers are not acting in consonance with the conceptions in which many of our civil and military leadership is trapped.

The destruction of settlement points is very reminiscent of what happened prior to Oct. 7^th, when the radio equipment that was used to learn of and transmit reports of Hamas movements was confiscated. It can also be likened to when civilian patrol and defense units in the Gaza envelope were dismantled.

But even above this level of command stands our government. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz may not simply suffice with receiving reports retroactively. He must constantly examine whether the policies applied "on the ground" serve Israel's security needs – or harm them. When IDF troops are allocated to face off against Jewish pioneers instead of to fight terrorism, it is his duty to intervene and demand a change.

This is the clear responsibility of the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The nationalist public voted for a government that pledged to strengthen and secure the 550,000-strong Jewish population in Yesha, and change failed military policies – and not to target those who work tirelessly to support them and enhance their growth.

The State of Israel has to wake up and clearly distinguish between its enemies and those who love and support it. The IDF must concentrate its efforts on fighting terrorism, protecting Israeli citizens, and supporting our grasp on the Land. The Prime Minister and Defense Minister must make absolutely sure that the policies being carried out match the lessons learned so dearly since October '23.

We call for an end to confusion: Targeting and destroying the new farms and farmers encourages the hopes of those who wish to throw us out of our Land!

The Ceasefires Are Too Dangerous!

by Omer ben-Hamu, Deputy Director of the "Victory Generation Reservists Movement", translated by Hillel Fendel.

The situation in southern Lebanon cannot be allowed to continue. The last several weeks of explosive drones killing a soldier or two every week are intolerable. Ceasefires are agreed upon between Tehran and Washington, instead of in Jerusalem, and northern Israel is paralyzed and bleeding.

How did we reach this situation, and what can be done now?

Over a year ago, the IDF initiated an offensive, in the wake of the successful beeper operation against Hizbullah in September 2024. The offensive saw the practically-crippled terrorist organization running for its life, leaving behind equipment and installations worth tens of millions of dollars; IDF troops uncovered valuable military stockpiles in every abandoned village they reached.

This should have marked an unquestionable Israeli victory. We eliminated Hizbullah's charismatic leader Nasrallah and nearly all of its entire leadership, the large majority of its field military commanders were wounded from the beeper operation, and the entire population of southern Lebanon – strong Hizbullah supporters, based on what our soldiers found in their homes – had left on its own for the north.

But instead, as has happened so often in the past, we did not take advantage of the military momentum, and our government decided on a "stalemate" devoid of both logic and self-respect.

Israel signed an agreement that everyone knew in real-time was worthless. Our forces were to withdraw from all the territory (except for a small area with five military bases) we had captured, at a great cost in lives; the Lebanese citizens were to be allowed to return; and the Lebanese government committed to disarm Hizbullah – even though there was no dispute that it had neither the will nor the capability of doing so.

The breathing-room that this fake agreement gave Hizbullah enabled the terrorists not only to avoid being disarmed, but also to renew its stockpiles and armaments, rehabilitate its chain of command, and acquire hundreds of fiber-optic-guided FPV's (First-Person View, i.e., an operator can see a video of exactly what the drone "sees"). Because these can carry several kilometers of extremely thin optical fiber that connect them back to their base, they are not easily jammed or stopped, as in the past.

When Hizbullah later attacked us following the campaign against Iran, we responded again with many of the same mistakes: Instead of setting up for a short but powerful offensive, with full-scale recruitment and utilization of the element of surprise to capture southern Lebanon, the IDF – which admittedly was focused mainly on Iran – crawled around from village to village. And when the ceasefires in Iran and Lebanon were forced upon us, we found ourselves far from the Litani River (except in the east), not protected naturally by the river but rather by an imaginary "yellow" line that was easily infiltrated by terrorists.

In addition, our "consent" to the ceasefire meant that our forces were stuck mostly inside buildings, tracked and observed by Hizbullah. The terrorists had time to recover, stopped retreating, and began attacking our vulnerable soldiers with their new drones.

Contrary to what many talking-heads say, the great failure was not that we weren't prepared for the drone threat. The Russians, Ukrainians, and even the Americans were also not ready for it, even though their bases were attacked dozens of times. Rather, the problem was that we didn't finish the job when we had the chance; we weakly accepted these ceasefires that enabled the enemy time and again to regroup and start over.

The situation is creating considerable frustration among our forces. Not only are the campaigns prolonged, thereby creating manpower crises, but the ground forces are not clear on what their missions are. Are they supposed to advance and occupy territory up to the Litani? Are they supposed to destroy Hizbullah? Are they supposed to defend the Yellow Line? Are they supposed to wait and see what Trump decides?

Soldiers must know what their mission is, and reservists' families need to understand the goals of the fighting for which their loved ones are once again leaving home for the unknown.

Of course, not all is lost.
Israel is still the strongest and most dominant player in the Middle East. But what has to be done now is, firstly, to make sure not to repeat past mistakes. We relied too heavily on the Iron Dome anti-rocket system and underground tunnel-blocking methods; we cannot now rely once again just on our technological genius to come up with an anti-drone system. The drones are not our enemy, and neither were the tunnels in Gaza; the enemy is Hamas and Hizbullah. We didn't seem to realize this in Gaza, and at this rate, neither have we grasped this in Lebanon.

Secondly, the IDF must mobilize large-scale reserves for a short, decisive campaign. It has to occupy territory in Lebanon equivalent to the length of the optical fiber that guides the drones, whether it be 30 kilometers or even twice that, well beyond the Litani River.

Next, we must make it clear to the Lebanese public that Hizbullah is destroying Lebanon and causing it to lose its land. It must be distinctly established – despite Trump's temper tantrum this week – that every Hizbullah rocket or drone launch will be met with destroyed buildings in Hizbullah headquarters in Beirut and deep damage to infrastructure.

If children in Kiryat Shmona cannot take a bus to school safely, then no one in the Dahiya district and throughout southern Lebanon will find a single functioning gas station. Infrastructure that serves both Hizbullah and the Shiite population must be struck, including electricity and water, thus that Hizbullah will be blamed and pressured to disarm.

And finally, we must declare unequivocally that what has been will no longer be. For years, our enemies have grown accustomed to the cycle wherein they attack, we respond, and then a ceasefire kicks in, leaving the map more or less as it was. It must be made clear that from now on, an attack upon us will cost them a lack of sovereignty, permanently. Israel must announce formally that it will adopt the Golan Heights approach: Just as we never withdrew from the Golan, we will never retreat from Lebanon south of the Litani. Our enemies must be made to realize that attacking Israel will cost them in territory, for generations. And just to fill out the picture, Israel must add that we will retain the area north of the Litani as well if Lebanon does not disarm Hizbullah, as it promised.

This decisive, brisk approach will not only push back the threat of fiber-optic drones, but will also finally end the "cycle of violence:" Whoever starts a war against Israel will pay, on their own land, a price they simply cannot afford.