Is Lebanon Bringing the IDF Back to Its Old Way of Doing Things?

Oct. 11 2024

Meanwhile, the IDF carried out two separate airstrikes in Beirut last night, one of them hitting the city proper, rather than the Hizballah-dominated suburb of Dahiya. In trying to make sense of the progress of Israel’s campaign in Lebanon, I found very helpful both this in-depth conversation and this essay by Eran Ortal, even if much has happened since the latter was published two weeks ago. Among much else, Ortal puts the war in the context of IDF’s own history:

In the decades since the 1990s, with the exception of Operation Defensive Shield, [which crushed the second intifada], Israel has refrained from embarking on decisive military moves. Operational decisiveness, let’s remember, is an original Israeli-military concept. Israel has never aimed for absolute victory and the evaporation of its enemies as political bodies—only for the removal of an immediate military threat. The war on terror, which focused on terror groups rather than armies, accustomed the IDF to a pattern of surgical (and eternal) pursuit of terrorist leadership on the one hand and deterrence operations from the air, usually according to the “steps of escalation” method, on the other.

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More about: Gaza War 2023, IDF, Lebanon

A Jewish Obligation to Vote

On October 3, 1984, Rabbi Moses Feinstein—a leading figure among American Orthodox Jews, whose halakhic opinions are obeyed and studied today—wrote a letter encouraging Jews to vote in the upcoming elections. Feinstein, a talmudist of the old school, was born in a shtetl in the vicinity of Minsk, then in the Russian empire, before elections were known in that country. He came to the U.S. in 1937, at the age of forty-one, to escape the ever-worsening persecution of devout Jews in the Soviet Union. That experience no doubt shaped his view of democracy. Herewith, the letter in full:

On reaching the shores of the United States, Jews found a safe haven. The rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights have allowed us the freedom to practice our religion without interference and to live in this republic in safety.

A fundamental principle of Judaism is hakaras hatov—recognizing benefits afforded us and giving expression to our appreciation. Therefore, it is incumbent upon each Jewish citizen to participate in the democratic system which safeguards the freedoms we enjoy. The most fundamental responsibility incumbent on each individual is to register and to vote.

Therefore, I urge all members of the Jewish community to fulfill their obligations by registering as soon as possible and by voting. By this, we can express our appreciation and contribute to the continued security of our community.

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More about: 2024 Election, American Jewry, Democracy, Halakhah