Israel began a new week on Sunday with a sense of determination after what many called the “difficult Sabbath” — a counterpart to the “black Sabbath” of October 7.
For 24 hours, the country absorbed the shock of the news that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers had accidentally killed three Israeli hostages — two Jews, one Arab — who had been trying to flee to freedom. In the chaos of the battlefield, amid attempts by Hamas to lure the IDF into ambushes, the soldiers had mistaken the hostages for terrorists.
So-called “friendly fire” incidents are not new: some 20% of the 119 Israeli casualties in this war thus far have been the result of such incidents. Often, the soldiers responsible have not done anything wrong; the deaths are simply tragic events.
One of the greatest wartime losses in Israeli history was the death in 1948 of Col. David “Mickey” Marcus, a volunteer military adviser who had trained at West Point. He went for a walk outside his post before a ceasefire and was tragically shot by a sentry, doing his job.
Late on Friday night, as news of the hostages’ deaths emerged, it seemed the entire war effort could fall apart. Hundreds of protesters, many of them relatives of the hostages that remain in Hamas custody, marched in Tel Aviv to demand a ceasefire, fearing their loved ones would be next. Critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the airwaves, blaming him for what happened — if not for the shooting, then for sending the military spokesman to break the bad news, rather than doing so himself.
But the IDF did something remarkable — and in the process, likely saved the war effort, and the country.
It conducted a swift investigation and immediately released the facts to the public: that the hostages had made every effort to signal to the soldiers that they were unarmed, and Israeli; that no one on the battlefield that day had even imagined that they would encounter any hostages simply walking in the open.
These facts sharpened the pain, but restored trust in the honesty and integrity of the IDF.
Then IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stepped in, and delivered what may be remembered as one of the greatest speeches in Israeli history.
Halevi made a public statement in which he not only took responsibility for the tragedy, but also hailed the heroism of the hostages, who “did everything possible” in the situation. He also expressed sympathy for the soldiers who had made the mistake: “There is nothing that the IDF soldiers and their commanders in the Gaza Strip want more than to rescue the hostages alive.”
He concluded: “In a single moment, the complexity of our justified war in Gaza has been demonstrated.”
Then he made the case for continuing the fight: “We entered into our fight in order to dismantle the enemy across the border, and to bring home our men and women being held hostage. Without this determined fighting, we will not be able to bring back the hostages and and return securely to the border communities. We must continue to fight courageously, without losing sight of our objectives.”
In some ways, this was an inappropriate statement for someone in uniform to make: it was a statement of policy, which must be made by democratically-elected civilian leaders, not soldiers.
But the public needed to hear that the IDF still had trust in its own powers, despite the terrible revelation of their limits. By the time the political leaders gave a press conference later in the evening, the mood of the country had settled: yes, there would be diplomatic efforts, but the fight would go on, through the pain of loss.
This was Israel at its finest: finding hope in the hopelessness, finding light in the darkest moment.
There will yet be miracles on the battlefield, and even dramatic rescues. But the Israeli public has come to terms with the fact that there will be no joy that can redeem the loss of October 7 — or December 15.
Victory, when it comes, will be humble. The heroes will be nameless — and they will not always be men (and women) with guns. Their heroism will be the everyday will to survive, and persist, through the pain.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
