by Yehuda Vald, Director-General of the Religious Zionism party.
We had an amazing insight while in the midst of anti-Hizbullah combat just a few days ago. We were waiting for the Oketz elite K-9 unit (which uses dogs specially trained to sniff out weapons, ammunition, or volatile chemical vapors from explosives and booby traps, and then sit in place to alert the fighters without detonating the explosives) to scan a house for explosive devices before our entry. I stood there, in the courtyard of a house in the heart of Lebanon, enwrapped in dust and sweat, on a mission to destroy terror infrastructures deep within the territory. I caught the eye of the fighter standing next to me and asked him: "Can you believe what's happening with us right now?"
He just looked at me, and I continued: "If I had told
you three years ago that we would be 13 kilometers deep inside Lebanon,
marching wherever we feel like, moving between houses and fields almost without
fear, opening an operational position in a destroyed village – one of many dozens
all along the border - and that on the route back, we would see Israeli flags
waving along the roadsides with the city of Tyre in the background, what would
you have said?"
It took him a few long seconds to change his perspective. I
could see the magnitude of the historic event gradually come through to him –
and then we received the order to move into the house and prepare it for
destruction.
In the middle of battle in Lebanon, looking around at the
big picture as the year of 5786 was drawing to a close, it must be said
wholeheartedly: Israel's security situation has never been better. The reality
created on the ground over the past year is nothing less than a strategic
revolution.
Let's start here in the north: IDF forces have complete
control deep inside Lebanon and are able to act freely all along the long
border. Hizbullah, the terrorist organization that sat on our fences for
decades, looming threateningly and murderously over our northern towns, has
been systematically decimated. Thousands of its terrorist operatives have been
killed, and the rest have been distanced tens of kilometers towards the north.
On our northeastern sector, Israeli outposts are stationed
deep within Syrian territory, and the critically strategic Mt. Hermon Crown has
become a strong built-up Israel outpost, fortified and protected.
In the south, Israel holds 60% of the Gaza Strip, from which
so many murderous attacks emanated over the decades, and of course especially
in 2023. Our brave and courageous soldiers man the Yellow Line (the north-south
line that divides Gaza into IDF territory and that which is still controlled by
Hamas), systematically gunning down anyone who nears the border, or who took
part in the Simchat Torah massacre three years ago.
And of course, we cannot forget the head of the terror
octopus seeking to attack Israel from every angle: Iran. Israeli forces carried
out unbelievable missions precisely in the heart of Tehran; dozens of leading
Iranian officials and military figures have been liquidated, including the
leader himself, Ali Khameini. Working in tight cooperation with the United
States, our forces destroyed infrastructures and headquarters, killed many
terrorists, and landed a very heavy blow against Iran's nuclear installations.
Israel's recent strategic revolution is not confined merely
to the security realm. In the realms of construction and the settlement
enterprise as well, there has never been a Jewish presence as broad, deep, and
significant in Judea and Samaria as there is today. Dozens of new communities,
and over 100 farms, have been established throughout the territory, and we have
even returned to the northern Shomron communities from which our fellow
citizens were expelled during the days of the Disengagement 21 years ago.
In the north, often very close to the Lebanese border, new
homes are being built and dozens of young families are joining these veteran
pioneering communities. Kindergartens in Metula and Zar'it are once again teeming
with life and children playing. To the south, in the Gaza envelope and the
Tekuma region, hundreds of new couples and families are settling down,
construction is in full swing, and the waiting lists only continue to grow
longer.
The Israeli economy has revealed strength that surprised all
the analysts. Despite nearly three years of difficult and complex war,
unemployment is at a historic low, the stock exchange is climbing, hi-tech
stocks are taking off, foreign investments flow in at a record-breaking pace,
and the shekel is strong against the dollar and other foreign currency. As
predicted in the Talmud, at the time of the Ingathering of the Exiles, the Land
of Israel is giving forth its fruits ever so generously.
But of all the miracles, the biggest one is taking place in
our life spirit. Despite the futile attempts, morning and evening, to convince
us how terribly divided we are, the truth on the ground is diametrically the
opposite: Israeli society is experiencing one of its greatest moments of unity
in its history.
Hundreds of thousands of reservists and their families
eagerly put their entire daily routines on hold and enlist to protect the
homeland. Thousands of volunteers embrace our many bereaved families, medical
teams act with endless sensitivity and compassion to rehabilitate the wounded,
tens of thousands of youths volunteer in their communities, and businesses
donate equipment and food on an unprecedented scale. All of this is happening
across the political spectrum: right and left, religious, secular, and haredi.
This is the unconditional love (Ahavat Chinam) of and within the Nation of
Israel.
I'm not coming to whitewash the terrible prices that we have
paid since Oct. 7, 2023. My eyes are not closed to the hardships, the pain, and
the heavy crises we have undergone since then. We have paid in our must
expensive currency: the lives of our best sons and daughters. The tears of the mothers,
widows and children continue to sear our hearts. Not for naught do we pray on
Rosh HaShanah, "May this year and its curses come to an end."
But alongside the pain, as the year of 5786 ends, it is
incumbent upon us to view our nation and people, and G-d's blessings, in a
generous and positive manner. We must and want to say Thank You with all our
hearts for all the many miracles and great abundance of good that G-d has
showered upon us this past year.
A moment after we completed our mission deep inside Lebanon,
while wearing our uniforms filled with dust and sweat, we stood and prayed
together: "So many great thanks for all the good and all the kindnesses, o
dear Father in heaven."
Yes, we need many more of them, many more salvations and
consolations. We pray that the new year be filled with blessing.