As most of you will have noted, yesterday marked 300 days of captivity for the hostages taken on 10/7. 300 days of darkness, privation, abuse and worse. So much has transpired in those 300 days, and yet we find ourselves still praying, still hoping, still advocating and still demanding the release of all of them, those still alive and those already killed.
The number 300 has some potency, in our popular culture and in our own tradition.
Who can forget the stunning portrayal of Leonidas, king of Sparta in the movie “300” and the heroic defense of Thermopylae by 300 Spartan warriors against the Persian (!!) multitude. After holding the pass and keeping thousands of Persians at bay for days, the 300 fell, to the last man, but not before rousing the rest of the Greek city states to rise, come together, and defeat the Persians. To whatever small degree Vladimir Jabotinsky was influenced by Western military thought when he conceived of the “Iron Wall” concept in defense of our homeland some 100 years ago, I believe he may have had those Spartans in mind.
And then there is our own ancient tradition. In the Book of Judges, Gideon amasses an army of 32,000 to defend the united tribes of Israel against the oppressing Midianites, but, as instructed by the Almighty, he chooses only those 300 of them who do not bow down to drink water from a pool. His 300 arm themselves with jars and torches, and by way of stealth and deception they surprise and rout the Midianites.
These past months, the iron wall of the IDF, though punctured on 10/7, has heroically fought to defend our homeland from enemies on 7 fronts, coordinated - as I perceived when I spoke at our rally last fall on 10/10 - by the puppet masters in Iran. And this week, through stealth, strength, intelligence and determination, the 2nd in command of Hezbollah was found and eliminated, and, though unclaimed by Israel, the leader of Hamas was found and met justice in the middle of Tehran. A few weeks back the Houthi port of Al Hodeidah was destroyed in response to an attack on Tel Aviv; and it should be noted that these, along with Iraqi, Syrian, and Palestinian attackers have been part of an offensive against Israel, not defending themselves from her.
Iran’s strategy had been effective, to a point, and the attrition against Israel was becoming evident. It is clear that Israel is no longer allowing its adversary and her proxies to maintain the initiative. On the contrary, it has taken the initiative away from the Iranian axis, removed the combat effectiveness of one of them almost completely, and over time degraded the command structure of another, while severely damaging the economic viability of a third.
Does this put it in a better position to get a deal for the hostages? I don’t know. That is an incredibly hard calculus to figure out. What is clear is that Israel has put Iran and her proxies in a position right now of responding, and figuring out if and how to do so without endangering themselves or bringing more destruction upon their weapons, infrastructure, and economies. That is an unenviable task.
The next several days will be difficult, and they will demand our steadfastness, our prayers, and our vocal advocacy for our people and our homeland.
Am Hanetzach Lo Mefached! The Eternal People Do Not Fear!