The Spirit of Zion

Israel is a land of miracles, not the least of which is her people. That is our impression after six days of war — the echoes, if not exact, are evocative — with the Islamic Republic of Iran. So reports our A.R. Hoffman. There mightn’t be another nation capable of fighting so well on the frontlines and carrying on so courageously on the home front. Under skies streaked with missiles, the Jewish state is full of spirit, and a relatively tiny country is now leading the West. We understand that this war is still in a dangerous phase. There could be reversals or surprises. It is not too early to say, though, that Operation “Rising Lion” will be studied for as long as there is human conflict. The defeat of the Iranian high command, the control of Iranian air space, the strikes on nuclear facilities, and the sheer audacity have proven anew that the Israel Defense Forces are to be reckoned with among the wonders of the modern world.Israel’s successes in this first week of war come after predicate achievements, notably the crippling of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. That has left Iran bereft of its proxies, and contributed to the fall of another Iranian client, the House of Assad in Syria. Those battles have been waged despite the world’s opprobrium. As Chancellor Merz put it this week, Israel is doing the West’s “dirty work” — meaning fighting on the frontlines.All of this success comes after what could be considered Israel’s nadir — its failure to anticipate and block the attacks by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were murdered in 2023 and 250 persons taken hostage. That was a nightmare made real, but also, it appears, a blunder by the terror chief Yahya Sinwar, whose brutality hastened his bloc’s downfall. Now, even as it mourns its losses, this country of eight million has become a colossus. To focus only on Israel’s military exploits, though, would be to miss how all of Israeli society has soldered together in this week of war. Mr. Hoffman was there for a vacation when the war erupted. His dispatches record the bomb shelter bonhomie, mutual care, and sense of purpose that is animating Israelis. All this for a country that has been at war for what is nearing two years, with all the wear — on, say, reservists and families — and tragedy that entails.We hope it’s not too much to say that today’s Israelis would make Menachem Begin and David Ben-Gurion — not to mention Vladimir Jabotinsky and Theodor Herzl — proud. All of Israel is now a front, but, Mr. Hoffman reports, a sense of unity prevails, and even a bit of normalcy. There is, too, a stoicism about the whole situation, the sense that the war is just and that, if this nation is to prevail, the struggle must be pursued until victory. President Trump is owed credit for giving Israel the space to fight, and he yet may deserve more plaudits if he commits America to the battle that the Jewish state has so ably waged. In any event, Israel has proven that its spirit is undimmed and its capacity to defend itself is undiminished. When the missiles fell, Zion itself arose like a lion, just as was foretold in the Book of Numbers to which the country has reached during this time of test and triumph.

The Spirit of Zion

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