Despite all the tears, trauma, and terror we have experienced over the last year and a half, though we knew that the terrorists were baby killers who had slaughtered and tortured countless children on October 7, we were not emotionally prepared for this.
All the foreboding, all the advance, ominous warnings we had received - even from the terrorists themselves – could not cushion the shock we felt at hearing of the murders of Shiri, Ariel, and baby Kfir.
Their very names had given us hope; hope that we would sing again a (ital)Shir of joy at their freedom; hope that we would celebrate the bravery of these young lions who had descended into Hell and emerged once again into the light.
But it was not to be; there would be no “mother and child reunion” to give our nation the spiritual lift we so desperately anticipated.
By murdering these holy hostages in cold blood – and let no one believe for a moment that anyone but Hamas caused their deaths – the enemy has confirmed what we already knew on the first day of the war – it is either them, or us.
'Ill-fated' hostage deal
Ever since the ill-fated hostage deal began, we had perhaps deluded ourselves into thinking that we could reach some form of “accommodation” with Hamas, that we could meet on some kind of humanitarian, moral “turf.”
But we were wrong, and the Bibas atrocity confirms it. The Hamas terrorists are not like other creatures; they are sub-human – both literally and figuratively. They crave death – first and foremost ours - and, almost gleefully – they will sacrifice their own lives and certainly those of their fellow Palestinians in order to destroy us (ital all) ”Aym al banim,” mother and child together. We have learned in the hardest way possible that Hamas cannot be babied, bought off, and bargained with.
What will we do now, and where can we go from here? Will we shrug our collective shoulders and helplessly “move on?” Will we free even more murderous killers, thus assuring the continuity of their genocidal campaign for generations to come?
Every terrorist who is freed is not only an insult to the families they destroyed and the heroic soldiers who died capturing them, but it is creating another machine gun aimed at our innocents, another suicide bomb waiting to detonate in our streets and cafes.
Most frightening of all, the Bibas killing forces us to confront an essential, existential question that cuts right to the core: Do we have what it takes to survive in the brutal, show-no-mercy Middle East?
How can we avenge the slaying of the Bibas family members and honor their memory? What good can somehow emerge from this terrible crime? I suggest we first hold a National Day of Mourning for all those murdered over the last 500-plus days, seeking forgiveness for anything we did – or did not do – that may have contributed to their demise. But that is not enough. Even as we cry for their loss, we must at the same time rise up in righteous fury.
We have to gather up our courage and dedicate ourselves to eradicating the evil called Hamas, no matter what or how long it takes.
We will – we must - search deep within ourselves for inner strength and pledge that come what may, surrender is not an option. With God’s help and fierce determination, we must win this battle for our survival.