Israel: Last Hanukkah and Now
Sermon, Shabbat Mikets/Hanukkah 5785
Rabbi Sam Cohon, Congregation Beit Simcha, Tucson, AZ
In view of the dramatic events in the Middle East over the last few months, I’ve been thinking seriously about what Hanukkah was like a year ago, and what it’s like this 5785 year. At a time of year when we read the story of Joseph, who was the best predictor of future events in the entire Bible, we do well to examine what we thought was happening a year ago, and where we are now.
First, the challenges: a year ago we were hopeful that the remaining Israeli hostages held by the brutal Palestinian terrorists of Hamas in Gaza would be released soon. Most of us did not believe the war in Gaza could go on more than a few more months, in view of its impact on Israel’s society, economy and military. Of course, a year later, nearly all of the 110 hostages not freed in the original deal with Hamas back in November of 2023 remain in Gaza. At best, perhaps half of the 101 believed to be held there are still alive, missing another Hanukkah in terrible captivity. And the Gaza War continues to grind on, with casualties among the IDF troops, and dislocation and destruction for the civilians in Gaza. Hamas’ leadership has been destroyed, and its two top officials are dead, as are most of its terrorists. But it is not fully eliminated, and it appears that this is unlikely to be possible for Israel, even after 14 months of warfare and nearly complete Israeli military control of the Gaza Strip.
12 months ago, at last Hanukkah, we were particularly concerned that Hezbollah would extend its desultory warfare with Israel in the north and open a fully engaged terror campaign or even a full-scale war. Hezbollah was believed to possess the strongest non-state military in the world, with an enormous cache of rockets and missiles that could wreak havoc on Israel, from the north to the center of the country to the south. We were also troubled that Iranian troops were located in Syria, virtually on the border with Israel, and there was firing from both Syrian and Iranian military positions into Israel. And in the far south, the Houthis in Yemen were firing long-range missiles at Israel, yet another front in a seemingly endless series of problems for the Jewish state.
A year ago, the arch-enemy of civilization, the Islamic Republic of Iran looked poised to exploit Israel’s disastrous Gaza situation, ready to use not only its proxy terrorists in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and Yemen, but perhaps wiling to directly attack Israel should the opportunity arise.
And all around the world, after a super-brief period of solidarity with the victims of the October 7th atrocities, Israel was being pilloried and harshly condemned in a variety of antisemitic and certainly anti-Zionist attacks in the media, on campuses, by governments and in public rallies and of course online.
Hanukkah is a time of hope and light, of the celebration of miracles. But last Hanukkah, a short 12 months ago the signs were not pointing towards any miraculous deliverance. In fact, it all looked pretty dark. And when I visited Israel in late January and early February of this year it certainly was a time of challenge for the whole nation. Some aspects of life felt normal—but there was a general grimness to the fabric of life that I had never experienced there before. Clearly it was a very hard and dangerous time for our beloved homeland of the heart, Israel.
Now, no one has ever gone broke betting against positive change in the Middle East. That is, pessimism is usually the operative formula for understanding this volatile region. In spite of that, I must tell you that this Hanukkah looks very different indeed from a strategic perspective for Israel. Things have changed dramatically and unexpectedly, and there is reason for optimism in a different way than there has been in a long time.
First, difficult urban warfare in Gaza neutralized the extensive Palestinian terrorist infrastructure there, and Israel succeeded in eliminating all the individual terrorists who planned October 7th, and most of those who perpetrated the atrocities. Hamas is not gone. But it is down to a tiny fraction of its former strength.
After Israel killed a Hamas leader in Teheran, Iran decided to directly attack Israel. It did so twice, sending rockets and missiles towards Israel; those attacks were almost entirely defeated by Israel and American military operations, with intelligence assistance from Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Israel responded with restraint, but in a nonetheless devastating air attack that eliminated Iran’s air defense systems and most of its missile construction sites and depots, as well as other military targets. Iran essentially lies open to air attack at any time by Israel now.
Then, this fall, in a shocking campaign of incredibly successful military intelligence, Israel hammered Hezbollah, killed its leader, destroyed most of its weaponry, and with few Israeli casualties forced it to beg for a cease-fire in a few short weeks. And then, most unexpectedly of all, after the collapse of Hezbollah, Syria fell to its own rebels. After five decades of brutal oppression, exploitation, torture and genocidal massacres conducted by order of the Assad family, Islamist Syrian rebels overthrew the government of Bashar Al Assad in just 11 days.
Assad and his wife fled to asylum in Russia, apparently the new home for deposed brutal dictators—his wife has now left him to seek asylum in England, by the way—while the Islamist rebels consolidated power with lightning speed, capturing and looting Assad’s presidential palace. In response, Israel’s army moved to occupy the military posts the collapsing Syrian Army deserted near the Israeli border, and quickly wiped out a fair amount of Syria’s advanced weapons systems and missile capacity and navy.
Just to put some perspective on all of this, remember, if you will, that Syria nearly fell to the ISIS Islamist terrorists back in 2014-2018, but Assad’s regime was saved by the intervention of Russian air power, and Iranian military support. During that same war against the Islamist “Caliphate”, US forces as well as Turkish and Kurdish military units eventually annihilated the Islamist threat, at least in Syria and Iraq. All of that served to keep Bashar al-Assad in power and allowed Syria to base Iranian military elements along the Israeli border, causing much trouble. Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, was also employed supporting the murderous Assad regime, which used chemical weapons on its own citizens when they got too rebellious. After ISIS was crippled back in 2018, it looked like Syria was going to stay under the evil domination of the Assads for another generation or two.
But this is the Middle East, where strange and terrible things happen as a matter of course. On October 7, 2023 Hamas Palestinian terrorists unleashed an atrocious war crime attack against Israeli civilians in the south of Israel. In the north, Hezbollah provided some cover and support for Hamas by firing missiles and rockets into Israel’s northern communities. The IDF attacked Hamas, and after nearly a year of hard fighting Israel essentially eliminated Hamas as a threat. They then turned to Hezbollah in Lebanon, determined to end its shelling and rocket attacks and the murder of Israeli citizens in the north of the country. This was the same Hezbollah that was helping Iran prop up the Assad regime in Syria. In a series of lightning strikes that began by blowing up the pagers used by Hezbollah and included the elimination of the longtime Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah, Israel whipped Hezbollah conclusively. Hezbollah has, for the present, ceased to be a dangerous fighting force in the region, thanks to Israel.
Iran, the sponsor of all these anti-Israel proxies, made the mistake of attacking Israel directly from the air during all this warfare. Israel carefully retaliated by knocking out Iran’s air defense systems and much of its missile capacity, too.
And of course, Russia, whose air force brutalized the Assad regime’s opponents, including ISIS, a few years ago, is otherwise occupied now in Ukraine. They had no resources to spare to support their hapless, evil client state in Syria this time around.
That meant that in a short period of time, Assad’s terrible regime had lost the foreign and terrorist military aid that had kept it in power. Hezbollah was on its heels and Iran was out of the fight, Russia was busy in Europe, and when the Islamists in the north and east of Syria figured out what the situation was, they simply attacked. In less than two weeks Syria was overrun by these newly cleaned up and professionalized al Qaida disciples, and Assad was gone to his new accommodations in a dacha in Russia.
In essence, the Palestinian terrorists, rapists, kidnappers and murderers of October 7th 2023, contributed materially to the wipeout of the leadership and most of the terrorist power of Hezbollah, and to the destruction of the Assad family’s power in Syria, not to mention the severe diminishment of Iran’s influence in the region.
We will see how the new reality in Syria plays out. For now, the new regime there pledges to focus on cleaning up and rebuilding Syria, free of the horrible tortures and failures of the Assad era. It professes to have no interest in cultivating an international caliphate or an anti-Israel military campaign. It says it seeks peace. We hope that remains true as we go forward.
Israel has already begun to turn its attention to the remaining terrorist regime, the Houthis way down in Yemen. I suspect they will be losing their ability to attack Israel soon as well.
After a rough year overall, one thing is certainly clear: Israel is now in a much stronger position vis-à-vis its standing in the Middle East. Hanukkah celebrates the military defeat of a Syrian dictator and his armed forces. Isn’t it apt that this Hanukkah looks much better for Israel than last Hanukkah, in part because of a slightly similar situation?
This is the season of miracles. Some of these geostrategic changes seem pretty miraculous, don’t they?
I must stress that no one has ever succeeded betting that Jewish history would go well, or that the Middle East would make sense. The hostages remain in Gaza. The tens of thousands of Israelis who were evacuated from their homes in the north, and the thousands more in the south, remain, for the most part, refugees in their own land. Israel’s politics are still pretty toxic. The Prime Minister still has not taken responsibility for the failures of October 7th. War continues for the suffering civilians of the Middle East, and the IDF remains engaged in battles on several fronts, especially in Gaza. Israel’s diplomatic situation is tenuous, at best, and antisemitic activity remains high around the world.
In spite of all that, this Hanukkah we should feel a profound sense of relief and gratitude. On the regional basis, Israel has not been this secure in a long time. The possibility for actual peace is clearly visible, if dimly so. The potential for this to be a vastly better year, for Israel and the Jewish people, is evident.
And so, we say a modified version of the Hanukkah blessing for the candles: blessed are you, God, who creates miracles for our people at this season of the year, as you did so long ago for our ancestors.