Know your enemy and you will defeat him.
Parsha and its realization - Parshat Chayei Sara and the war of the 'Iron Swords' 5784
Rabbi Eliezer Haim Shenvald
Dedicated to the IDF soldiers' success, to safeguard them lest any harm come to them, to my son's speedy recovery - Mordechai Abraham ben Malka (may he live long), to the healing of all the wounded and the return of the abducted.
One of the basic conditions for victory and defeating the enemy in battle is 'knowing the enemy'. A deep acquaintance with his worldview and culture - what motivates him to confront us, his goals in the war, his ways of thinking, the way of acting, the doctrines of warfare, the means of warfare, and his weak points. In each "Five paragraph order" a chapter is dedicated to the 'enemy' and the possible and expected methods of action (COA - courses of action). The role of the Intelligence Corps at all levels is to engage in getting to know the enemy, in all possible areas and levels, from the strategic level to the tactical and micro-tactical level. It is their duty to assess their intentions in advance and warn about the ways of operation, in the immediate and long term, so that we do not find ourselves surprised.
When there is a gap between the sides, in culture, ways of thinking and reasoning, the parties will have difficulty understanding the intentions and plans of the opponent. Professional intelligence must study the enemy's logic as it is and analyze his conduct according to his tools only. If he insists on interpreting the enemy's intentions according to his own thinking tools, most likely will be mistaken and find himself surprised.
An internal debate broke out about the roots of the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs, even before the establishment of the state, the renewal of the Jewish settlement in Israel, and the outbreak of the bloody clashes between Jews and Arabs during the period of the British Mandate.
The Arabs presented the conflict as territorial, against the background of the 'occupation', which 'dispossessed' them of their lands as 'masters of the land' who have 'national rights' to political independence. This way they justified the feelings of revenge and hatred and the repeated attempts to harm the Jews. Among the Jews there were those who adopted this concept, and believed that through good neighborly relations, concessions, endowment of national rights, and territorial compromise it would be possible to resolve the conflict, end the state of war and hatred and reach reconciliation and peace.
On the other hand, there were those who pointed out that the root is in the Islamic religion, where a religious obligation does not allow under any circumstance to compromise on the control of less than all parts of the country, from the sea to the river. "Peace" talks, as many as there were, are just a pretense, as part of the 'step plan' which was intended to finally gain control over the whole country. From the extreme Islamic interpretation also comes the hatred for Jews, the indoctrination and the fanatical education to fight, to initiate brutal acts of killing and murder as much as possible. The only answer we can offer is to ensure tight security control to keep them away from establishing organizations and equipping themselves with means of warfare, so they can not harm us, to charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us, and to create a long-term deterrent.
For various reasons, there were and are, many who do not want to believe that the root of the conflict is religious. They formulated concepts and based the conflict and its aspects according to Western cultural judgment and not according to the Islamic religious perspective. At times this also affected intelligence activities, and even created 'dead areas' while monitoring the enemy's trends and intentions.
It seems that the brutal and shocking massacre that took place on Shabbat Simchat Torah 5784 that revealed the true face of our enemies, brought about a change in many.
In the previous Parashot we read about the struggle for Abraham Avinu's legacy that took place between Yitzhak and Ishmael:
... שהיה מריב עם יצחק על הירושה, ואמר, אני בכור ונוטל פי שנים, ויוצאים בשדה ונוטל קשתו ויורה בו חצים, כמה דאת אמר כְּמִתְלַהְלֵהַּ הַיֹרֶה זִקִּים וגו', ואמר הֲלֹא מְשַׂחֵק אָנִי
"From Sarah’s reply — “for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son״ — you may infer that he (Ishmael) was quarrelling with Yitzhak about the inheritance, saying, “I am the first-born and will, therefore, take a double portion”. They went into the field, and he (Ishmael) took his bow and shot arrows at him (Yitzhak), just as you say (Proverbs 26:18-19) “As a madman who casteth firebrands, [arrows and death] and says: I am only מצחק mocking” (Rashi Bereshit 21:9).
The dispute was also over the inheritance of the land:
ועל הארץ ההיא נפלה הקנאה בין יצחק ובין ישמעאל ולסוף נדחה ישמעאל
"The land was then the object of jealousy between Yitzhak and Ishmael, till the latter was rejected as worthless…" (Kuzari 2:14).
The rejection is explained to us in our Parasha:
וַיִּתֵּן אַבְרָהָם אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ לְיִצְחָק. וְלִבְנֵי הַפִּילַגְשִׁים אֲשֶׁר לְאַבְרָהָם נָתַן אַבְרָהָם מַתָּנֹת וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם מֵעַל יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ בְּעוֹדֶנּוּ חַי קֵדְמָה אֶל אֶרֶץ קֶדֶם
"Abraham willed all that he owned to Yitzhak; but to Abraham’s sons by concubines Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Yitzhak eastward, to the land of the East". (Bereshit 25:5)
According to the Sages, the difficult struggle will continue in the future, between the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Abraham:
ישמעאל מנין, שנאמר וקראת שמו ישמעאל. ולמה נקרא שמו ישמעאל, שעתיד הקב״ה לשמוע נאקת העם ממה שעתידין בני ישמעאל לעשות בארץ באחר הימים, לפיכך נקרא שמו ישמעאל, שנאמר ישמע אל ויענם.
"Why was his name called Ishmael? Because in the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will hearken to the cry of the people arising from (the oppression) which the children of Ishmael will bring about in the land in the last (days); therefore, was his name called Ishmael". (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32:3)
If we get to know and understand the enemy, we will know how to defeat him.