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<\/a><\/p>\nWhat does all that red and black say?<\/p>\n
The decisions I made on October 7th are of a magnitude that one doesn’t make even in ten lifetimes. If it weren’t for my declaring at 6:41 AM, \u201cPhilistine Horseman\u201d, the terrorists would have crossed the Southern District; Nasrallah would have said \u201cactivate the Radwan Plan,\u201d and they would be shaking hands at Azrielli, not in hell.<\/p>\n
Who is this guy?<\/p>\n
He is Amir Cohen, who was the Commander of the Southern District on October 7th and is currently the Commander of the Central District of the Police. In his former role, Cohen was also the Commanding Officer of Master Sergeant Ran Gvili, z\u2019l, the last hostage to be returned to Israel. <\/p>\n
Now, what does all this mean? There\u2019s code here that most Israelis understand, but that might be confusing to others. <\/p>\n
\u201cPhilistine Horseman\u201d (Pareshet Paleshet): This is the specific Israeli police code word used to signal a full-scale terrorist invasion. By declaring it early, Cohen initiated a massive mobilization of forces.<\/p>\n
Radwan Plan: Refers to Hezbollah\u2019s elite Radwan Unit\u2019s plan to invade northern Israel. Cohen is suggesting that a failure to contain the south could have triggered a multi-front invasion from the north.<\/p>\n
Azrielli is a reference to the multi-tower shopping and office complex known as the Azrielli Towers, now an icon of the Tel Aviv skyline. What Cohen is saying is that the country came very close to Hamas forces from the south and Hezbollah forces from the north meeting in Tel Aviv on October 7th, or perhaps a day or two later. <\/p>\n
Now, Amir Cohen isn\u2019t exactly encumbered by a sense of inadequacy. And he would certainly acknowledge that he\u2019s hardly the only person who made critical calls on that horrific morning that prevented things from being much worse than the horror they were. <\/p>\n
But what interested me about the cover wasn\u2019t Cohen; the issue is that almost 2 1\/2 years after October 7, Israelis are still being bombarded with stories about how close Israel came to being not just attacked and slaughtered, but perhaps being rendered unrecognizable by devastation that could have far exceeded what actually transpired. <\/p>\n
And buried in all that, is this implicit question (that we\u2019ll see below once again)\u2014if the army didn\u2019t know what it was doing then, why are we so certain that it knows any better now? <\/p>\n
As far as I can tell, that discussion doesn\u2019t doesn\u2019t make it into too much of the English press. And ironically, what does seem to get discussed outside of Israel are, conversely, subjects that hardly ever come up here. <\/p>\n
One of those latter subjects is the \u201cgenocide\u201d subject. Catching up with those friends who\u2019re in town whom we want to see before they leave, what\u2019s struck me is this: even our American Jewish friends who are 1000% supportive of Israel invariably raise the issue of genocide. Not because they believe the accusation, but cause in their world, that\u2019s the subject one has to address (many are Jewish professionals). <\/p>\n
Here? You\u2019d really have to scour the Israeli Hebrew press to find mention of even the word \u201cgenocide\u201d anymore. Why is that? <\/p>\n
A hint can be gleaned from Liel Leibovitz\u2019 savagely critical piece<\/a> about the Super Bowl ad that Robert Kraft and his team prepared to counter anti-Semitism. In his unique and admirable style, Leibovitz (who was raised in Israel, has written extensively<\/a> about growing up as the son of Israel\u2019s most famous bank robber and is an excellent barometer of Israeli sentiment) opens by pulling no punches: <\/p>\n No matter what happens in the Super Bowl this Sunday, we already have a loser: Robert Kraft. Even if his New England Patriots win, the team\u2019s owner will go down in history as having created the single most embarrassing, idiotic, abominable, counterproductive, no good, very bad ad in the big game\u2019s history. Have you seen it? If not, let us save you 60 seconds and hours of vague nausea and catch you up to speed \u2026 <\/p>\n You should take the time to read Leibovitz\u2019 full assessment of why he believes the ad is so problematic. But for our purposes, what matters is what Leibovitz\u2014who though he now lives in New York, was shaped as an Israeli\u2014thinks the ad should have said: <\/p>\n Int. A kitchen in Beirut. Day.<\/p>\n Middle Eastern music is playing in the background, interrupted by the trill of a beeper bouncing around the kitchen table. A man approaches the table. We only see his midriff. He\u2019s dressed in black and carrying an AK-47. He picks up the beeper, looks at it, and places it on his belt, next to his groin. We hear a loud explosion. The screen goes bright white. Loud music comes on. It\u2019s \u201cTamid Ohev Oti<\/a>.\u201d Cut to:<\/p>\n Int. Fighter jet cockpit.<\/p>\n We see an Israeli Air Force captain flying his plane.<\/p>\n IAF captain:<\/p>\n \u201cTally Target 12 o\u2019clock. Welcome to Tehran, boys.\u201d<\/p>\n Int. Living room somewhere. Night.<\/p>\n A television screen is running a series of news reports about the killings of Hassan Nasrallah, Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Yahya Sinwar, and other murderous terrorists.<\/p>\n Ext. IDF base. Day.<\/p>\n A group of hot IDF soldiers is standing around, cleaning weapons, getting ready for action. Cut to:<\/p>\n Black screen. Caption: \u201cDon\u2019t Like Jews? Fuck Around, Find Out.\u201d <\/p>\n I don\u2019t know how serious Leibovitz really is when he says that\u2019s the sort of thing that the ad should have said. His version probably wouldn\u2019t go over great with the Super Bowl-watching crowd. <\/p>\n But Israelis, of course, don\u2019t watch the Super Bowl. They don\u2019t even know what it is. <\/p>\n What they do know is this\u2014they simply don\u2019t get the whining about the genocide accusation, even among those in the Diaspora who reject it and who care deeply about Israel. First, Israelis believe that it\u2019s false. Second, they believe the claim is fueled by anti-Semitism, so who cares what anyone thinks? And if you asked them, \u201care you denying that thousands and thousands and thousands of Palestinians died in the war and that many more are still suffering?\u201d they would said, \u201cNo, not denying that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo why aren\u2019t you Israelis even a bit ashamed?\u201d<\/p>\n Because, Israelis would say if they were to paraphrase Leibovitz, \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t have f*cked with us. That was the reason for creating this state.\u201d <\/p>\n We, many would say, are not going to walk around the proverbial high school hallway like the Jewish dweeb in the ad. Not being like him\u2014and not even knowing anyone who lives like him\u2014is the whole point of living here. <\/p>\n That, admittedly, is a bit of an overstatement. There are Israelis who\u2019re very concerned about what happened and is happening in Gaza, though almost none use the word genocide. But those Israelis are few and far between. <\/p>\n Mostly, Israelis are still grappling with how much worse things could have been. And with the fact that much has still not yet played out. <\/p>\n The other conversation unfolding about Israel\u2014among a very different crowd, whom we\u2019re also getting to hear from other friends who\u2019re visiting\u2014is the \u201cwe showed them\u201d conversation. In that world, Israel won, and won big. Hamas is badly battered. Hezbollah had its hands blown off. Asad fled to Moscow. Iran got badly beaten, and if need be, \u201cwe [i.e., of course, they, the Israelis] will do it again.\u201d <\/p>\n That\u2019s great fodder for the story that some people want to tell, but aside from a relatively limited swathe in Israel (just like the limited swathe above), that\u2019s also not the story that\u2019s being told here. <\/p>\n So, then, what\u2019s the story here? <\/p>\n More or less, I think, it is this: October 7th came very close to being much, much worse than the horror that it was [hence the cover above]. This might be far from over. And we might be utterly alone. <\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at the press here over the past few days.<\/p>\n With the danger of barrels being turned: Israel is supporting Gazan militias to the tune of tens of millions | New Revelations<\/p>\n Giving them many rifles: Quietly, according to foreign reports, Israel is maintaining the militias that oppose Hamas, which still remains the strongest organization in the Strip. Aside from ammunition, the support includes protected compounds for families, medical treatments, drones, vehicles, fuel, food, and even cigarettes. Now, there are those who are raising concerns about the barrels being turned against the IDF.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that last sentence that\u2019s the most important. Of course, we\u2019re being smart about funding Hamas\u2019 enemies, right? Why? Because don\u2019t they love us? <\/p>\n Remember how smart we were to let the Qatari\u2019s fund Hamas? <\/p>\n The question behind the headlines: after 2 1\/2 years, does anyone here really know what they\u2019re doing? <\/p>\n This is how the IDF is preparing for renewed fighting in the Strip.\u201d <\/p>\n Top Banner (White on Red): \u201cThe American round [of talks] against Iran has ended; Netanyahu is leaving for Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n Main Title (Large Bottom Text): THE URGENT VISIT (literally \u201cThe Panic Visit\u201d)<\/p>\n Sub-headline (Center Right): * The impasse: According to reports, the Iranians rejected American demands.<\/p>\n The fear: Jerusalem is worried about the possibility that Trump will retreat from \u201cred lines,\u201d including restrictions on ballistic missiles threatening Israel.<\/p>\n The pressure: The Prime Minister will fly tomorrow for an urgent meeting with the President\u2014at his [Trump\u2019s] request.<\/p>\n These are teasers for various opinion pieces and reports:<\/p>\n Ben-Dror Yemini \u2014 Khamenei has gotten stronger<\/p>\n Raz Shechnik \u2014 Compromises on the table<\/p>\n Smadar Peri \u2014 Hezbollah\u2019s making noise<\/p>\n Yohanan Plesner \u2014 Tensions in the Gulf<\/p>\n Yoel Guzansky \u2014 A clear threat<\/p>\n What does all this convey? It conveys a nervous country, a country that\u2019s not sure that America has its back when it comes to Iran (and certainly with not with regard to Iranian ballistic missiles), a country that, the more it looks, the more it understands (however perverse it sounds) that we actually got lucky on October 7. It\u2019s a country that made huge mistakes but will not investigate them. A country so desperate to defeat its enemies that its armies other enemies\u2014as if that ever worked out well. <\/p>\n And it\u2019s a country wondering whether the \u201cleader\u201d of the \u201cfree\u201d world is still sane. <\/p>\n The story about Trump\u2019s posted video of the Obamas (which I\u2019ve blurred and which I won\u2019t even describe because it\u2019s so sickening) is also all over the press here. Why? Isn\u2019t that outrage really an internal American issue? <\/p>\n Yes, but no. <\/p>\n Because here\u2019s the rub. We are vulnerable\u2014to a terrible deal in Gaza, to an Iran that is quickly rebuilding, to a Hezbollah that is flexing its muscles again, to a Congress that is tired of the MOU (which Israel is also tired of, admittedly). There\u2019s only one guy on the planet who can help us address all this, or who\u2014if it\u2019s better for him\u2014can also prevent us from protecting ourselves. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s what some Israelis I spoke to this weekend asked out loud, once they\u2019d heard the news from the States about the video: What if the guy on whom our most basic security depends has truly lost his mind? <\/p>\n How in the world is Bibi supposed to negotiate with that on Wednesday? <\/p>\n Who could have foreseen this coming? Trump posts a video, and for the first time in a very, very long time, a lot of Israelis suddenly have great sympathy for the predicament in which Netanyahu will soon find himself. <\/p>\n Because there may be nothing at all that Bibi can to do have this week\u2019s meeting go well. And if he can\u2019t, it won\u2019t matter whether it was Bibi or any other prime minister, a PM we like or a PM we don\u2019t. <\/p>\n Because, once again (think the weak Jewish kid in the Super Bowl video), the Jews are, well, the Jews. <\/p>\n And once again, the State of the Jews has become the Jew of the states. <\/p>\n Share Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n