Rage is not an action plan

Since October 7th, we have been full of rage. We can talk about grief, shock, and even creeping despair, but for me, more than anything—rage. Maybe for you too. First and foremost, the murderous, horrific attack by Hamas. Rage also at the residents of Gaza who aided the terrorists and at all those who supported the massacre.

On a completely different level, we also cannot exonerate the commanders of the IDF and the heads of the security services, and we certainly do not want to absolve the worst government and the most failed prime minister since the founding of the state. All accomplices deserve our wrath.

Yoel Esteron.

But just as despair is not a plan of action, rage is not a plan of action either.

Hamas should be eradicated from the face of the earth. You can't eliminate abominable ideas, but you can destroy those who try to carry them out. Radical Islam has stubborn strongholds in Asia and the Middle East. We will not succeed in saving the world from its horrors. But we cannot spare those who surround us and try to hurt us. That's clear, but that's not the whole story.

Those who strive to curb radical Islam should extend a hand of peace to moderate Muslims—not only to the Emirates, not only to Saudi Arabia, but also to our close neighbors. We are all disappointed by the majority of Palestinians' support for the October 7 massacre. But even disappointment, like rage, like despair, is not an action plan. If we want to live in a flourishing country, we must offer them something better than the temptations of radical Islam. Yes, nevertheless, and in spite of everything, it is in our interest to try to negotiate and strive for reconciliation with the people who share the land with us between the river and the sea.

Most of them don't believe us. Most of us don't believe them. Therefore, after the horrors of October 7, and after the long months of war, it will be difficult to build a bridge. But we don't have another country, and they don't have another country either. We embarked on a just war like no other. When the time comes, a just peace should be made. Overcome the rage, swallow the bitter disappointment, and give a chance for peace or at least better days for us and them.

And now, a look inside. There is rage also within us, between ourselves, between right and left, between secularists and ultra-Orthodox. Between those who are determined to live in a democratic and Jewish country and those who prefer to live in a more Jewish and less democratic country. But also at home, we have no choice—we have to strive for reconciliation. I am one of those who believe that without the essential values of democracy, Israel will not survive, and I write as best I can against the machers and thugs who want to weaken democracy. But we, the Israelis who are partners in my opinion, need to realize that even at home rage cannot be a plan of action.

Instead, we must listen to the voices of the other camp, even the harsh ones, and try to formulate ways to convince, explain, and talk. There are Israelis for whom any attempt to bridge the gaps with them is doomed to failure. Kahanist politicians, bigoted rabbis, violent lawbreakers, instigators. These can be dismissed in advance. That would be a waste of time. But all these together are a minority. A noisy minority, dangerous and threatening to bring us all down, but a minority.

We are the majority. We, the Israelis who believe in democracy, who work, serve, and contribute, are the majority, and we must patiently recruit hundreds of thousands more to our camp, perhaps more, and form around us a solid majority of the country's citizens.

This is the hope I choose; our hope since the judicial coup plot was revealed, and especially since a terrible war was imposed on us on October 7. To return all the abducted, to repair what was broken, to recover, to heal, to reboot Israel, democratic and Jewish, in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, because our hope is not yet lost.

Yoel Esteron is Calcalist's publisher and co-founder of Shomrim.