The war in the Gaza strip has been raging for more than two months now and the Israeli army is moving forward decisively to rid Gaza of the scourge that is called Hamas, while at the same time making every effort to retrieve the hostages that were taken by the Hamas animals on October 7th.
Of the many slogans being used today, to convince the Israeli people (and others) that Israel will overcome this disaster, is “Together we will Win”, which has been spread on walls, flags, cars, buses and even commercial products. While it sounds convincing and definitely, the latter part (“We will Win) is something to hope for, the first part “Together” is somewhat ironic and maybe even cynical.
No doubt, the Israeli people (or at least a significant part of the Israeli people), have united behind the IDF and sent their sons to fight, provide volunteer services to the troops, from transportation to a hot meal and believe that the Israeli Army will prevail in the fight against Hamas. The price will be high but it is realized that this may be more of a war for survival than any of Israel’s previous wars and Israel has no choice but to fight until Hamas is eradicated.
However, the word “Together” was used only because it sounds good, maybe will convince people to put aside their doubts and because it makes a nice slogan.
The simple facts show that there is very little “together” in Israeli society today. The turmoil of the past year (before October 7th) has brought to the fore the very deep conflicts that threaten to destroy Israel from within (even without the help from Hamas). And while these conflicts have mostly been put on hold until after the war, some people and organizations believe that this is the right time to move forward with their goals.
The Israeli government is one such organization for which the word “together” is a joke. While before the start of the war, already billions of shekels were appropriated for so-called “Coalition Money”, the war budget redirected only a small amount of this money to war-related issues, such as the rebuilding of the Settlements that were destroyed on October 7th. And the Ultra-Orthodox coalition partners got most of the exorbitant amount of money that they managed to be allocated to them as “Coalition money” (which is no more than political bribery) so they can continue to fund the thousands of young men who sit in “Yeshivas” and waste their time while they should be sitting in Tanks, D-9’s or run after terrorists in Gaza. Smotrich, the Israeli Finance minister did not even attempt to prevent this scandal and it is quite clear that he got orders from his boss, to hand over the money so that the coalition will remain intact.
Another scandalous example of how the Israeli government acts is the minister of Settlements and National Missions (who came up with that ridiculous name?) Orit Struck. She protested that money was taken from her ministries’ budget and instead suggested it should have been taken from the pensions of IDF personnel who are lining their pockets with illegally obtained money. Besides the repulsive remark in the direction of soldiers that fought and still are fighting for her safety and that of her followers, she should be reminded that as “minister of nothing” she goes home with NIS 58,000 every month, and will get a pension for doing nothing, faster than anyone else in Israel does.
However, the winner in disgusting behavior not doubt goes to Tally Gotliv. Gotliv, a Knesset member for the Likud party and known for her loud and dirty mouth. Gotliv claimed, after the IDF acknowledged the disastrous mistake in Gaza whereby Israeli soldiers killed three Israelis that were captured by Hamas on October 7th , that the army published its mistake in order to convince the politicians (and the public) that the war should be stopped. Gotliv should be shut up and removed from the Knesset to prevent further scandalous outbursts.
The Israeli population should be grateful that the war is being handled by the Army, under the direction of the war cabinet, which has two generals that can be trusted to do the right thing for Israel (one of these, lost his son two weeks ago in battle in Gaza) and have sufficient influence to prevent political motives to come into play as far as war issues are concerned.
The real war Israel will have to fight will be after the Gaza war is ended and won. Soon after the soldiers will come home, nobody will use the word “together” anymore. Because it served its purpose during the Gaza war but will lose all its meaning for the war for Israel’s survival that will follow.
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