Chaim begins by saying that “discipleship” is the key to victory in this war, which has now dragged on for 102 days. He mentions that just that morning there was a large barrage of rockets from Gaza into the southern Israeli city of Netivot, despite all the damage Hamas has already sustained.
Chaim rhetorically asks what the solution is to the problems this situation poses to Israel. He says that when he was in university studying for his degree in “Government, history and strategy and Counter-terrorism in the Middle East” and he believed discipleship is the solution to these problems.
He then runs down some of the extenuating problems Israel faces including being increasingly surrounded and menaced by hostile actors on all the borders.
He mentions that Gaza was completely turned over to the Palestinians in 2005 and since then, the children of Gaza have been “discipled” in how to hate Jews and Israel and look for opportunities to commit violence against them.
On the other hand, Israeli children are taught from a young age to be courteous and respectful towards others.
He says that he has fought in many wars and he’s also seen many “peace initiatives” but none of them have worked and none of the wars have produced a decisive victory that ended the conflict.
Chaim says that many Israelis were, before the Hamas attacks on October 7th, looking for ways to make peace with the Palestinians. In fact, many of the people killed in the attacks were peace activists.
Chaim cites the example of David ben Gurion who made a personal choice to retire and then be buried in the Negev because he wanted Israelis to build their country and he thought the Negev was vitally important to that effort.
Chaim says that the Palestinians need a leader like that who wants to build their own country, not just tear down Israel.
Chaim then tells a story about how a friend of his who was one of the peace activists was at a school for Palestinian children, giving them candy and having a fun activity. Suddenly there was a TV program on that showed some IDF soldiers and the children started spitting on the TV to show their contempt for the soldiers. That, Chaim says, is an example of bad discipleship, as their parents had taught them to hate Israelis. He says that during this war, he’s also seen many pictures of Palestinian “martyrs” who died while attacking Israelis. He says the antidote to that is good discipleship, teaching children to value and respect others.
He concludes by quoting I Samuel 29:25; Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling.
He says he’s read this verse at the funerals of some of his comrades who were killed in action. He also says that Israel is not going anywhere and will see this mission through to the end.
