Operation Swords of Iron: The Day the World Changed

At first glance, you may peer out your door or window and think, "Nothing has changed." But make no mistake; everything has shifted—just not in the way you might assume.

A global community that has legitimized the Palestinians and terrorist organizations like Hamas (the militant arm of the Muslim Brotherhood), all while accusing Israel of apartheid and human rights violations, has now become complicit in some of the most horrific crimes ever committed in human history. Each leader and citizen who has denounced Israel now bears the guilt of the bloodshed involving 1,200 Jews, over 200 hostages, and even the decapitation of infants—including an unborn child gruesomely cut from its mother's womb.

History has a way of coming full circle. The savage murders of innocent Israelis that the world has recently witnessed have unleashed a storm of wrath against evil—and its supporters—the likes of which the world has never seen before.

This week, as Jews, we return to the beginning of the Torah, reading from Genesis chapters 1 to 6:8. We start with the creation story, which concludes with G-D saying, "And it was very good." Nevertheless, just six chapters later, the reading ends on a somber note: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness (the Hebrew word being 'Hamas') of man was great on the earth...And the LORD said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created...'" Within just ten generations, humanity had deteriorated from good to evil.

To forestall the necessity of destroying the Earth again, G-D created the House of Israel—the Jews. He established them in His Land to act as conduits of Truth, revealing His ways and His laws for the betterment of humanity.

However, humanity often misses the message. Notably, history has recorded G-D's breaking point: the murder of Israeli children. Whether it was the Egyptian infanticide before the Exodus or the European atrocities against Jewish children before the reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948, G-D remembers. And justice is meted out.

Let us contemplate the following—Europe abandoned its Christian moorings for nihilism, replacing G-D with the Declaration of Human Rights as if the Holocaust were not a moral failing. This ethical blindness has empowered the EU and the UN to give voice to barbaric regimes while denouncing Israel. And the more they denounce, the more others chime in.

And now, once again, Europe and the world stand complicit for enabling Hamas to perpetuate the atrocities committed against Israel since October 7th, 2023—crimes committed against both Heaven and Earth.

Regarding violent retribution, the Rambam, citing our sages, noted that "the world's fate was sealed by the sin of violence—an evil committed against both Heaven and mankind."

When crimes are committed against the "apple of G-D's eye," they resonate in Heaven. Those who dismiss G-D's role as the LORD of Hosts might want to reevaluate their assumptions swiftly. The door of grace is closing fast, and the door of wrath is opening. And as the Torah questions, "Who can stand in the day of G-D's wrath?"

Israel is now entering an escalated phase of its protracted war against evil—a war it will win, but one that the world will lose.

When this war ends, the world will differ greatly from how it appeared on the day it commenced.