In contrast to the state of the Jewish nation when it was left bleeding, bewildered and burying its dead following the unconscionable slaughter of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel is now crossing the border into Lebanon to deal on the ground with the terrorist parastate of Hezbollah. With a series of intelligence-driven peremptory strikes in leading up to the anniversary of the bloodshed on its own soil, the Israeli Defence Force and Mossad have decimated Hezbollah’s leadership cadre of religious extremists and vile antisemites. Next steps will not be bloodless. The Netanyahu coalition obviously recognizes this given its patience in refraining from turning Lebanon into a battlefield again.  

But the nation’s recovery from 2023’s grotesque wounding and its deftly-timed resurgence of irresistible just war force, demonstrates what all sensible people must recognize and, indeed, admire: When Israelis and the Jewish people said “Never Again” after the Holocaust, they meant it. It was not a slogan. It was a vow before God and for the ears of Abraham.

Let there be no misunderstanding. Despite the yip-yip-yapping of political elites, and the borderline insanity of pro-Hamas – pro-Hamas??!!! – protestors that have clogged our days for the past year, the path Israel is pursuing is justice, not vengeance. As The Catholic Register has stood with others in maintaining since last Oct. 7, the death and destruction in Gaza defines the word tragedy. But every drop of blood spilled at the cost of an estimated 41,000 lives in that heart-breaking enclave stains the hands of cowardly Hamas leaders. They knowingly incited retribution and then pusillanimously ducked for cover to protect their worthless assets in tunnels beneath the homes and hospitals of Gaza’s civilian population. 

Likewise, when Israeli bombs ended the reign of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah and his cohort of high-ranking terrorists last week, the crème de la crème of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance were all hiding in a bunker deep under an apartment building. This does not even merit the euphemism of collateral damage. It is the epitome of the terrorist modus operandi: “Let innocent people die so we can claim to fight in the name of the people.” 

What Israel has reluctantly embarked on is an end to the countenancing of such moral monstrosity,  and a ringing affirmation that it will not stand its people being violated in such a horrific calculus of evil. Yet against that justifiable pursuit of the means to a just end, a distressing segment of the media-politico nexus continues spreading the lie that the Jewish State is somehow the provocateur here, and as a consequence bears the lion’s share of blame for violence committed and lives lost. Last week in Montreal, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron stood shoulder to shoulder issuing a media op plea for a “ceasefire” vis-à-vis Israeli bombing in Lebanon. Ceasefire???

The firing would never have commenced had Hamas not drenched the soil of the Holy Land with Jewish blood. Nor would it have continued had Hezbollah not fired 9,000 missiles into northern Israel and driven 60,000 Israelis out of their homes –  a number horrifically compounded by the estimated 100,000 Lebanese forced to leave their homes because of the terrorist violence.

It’s a simple concept called cause and effect, which is inexplicably impossible for certain journalistic panjandrums to grasp. Some seem to deliberately distort it as occurred last week when Pope Francis reportedly condemned the Israeli action as “immoral.” His Holiness said nothing of the sort. He made a general point about military actions that go “beyond morality” but was emphatic he was not speaking about specific actors in the conflict.

“When there is something disproportionate, there is a dominating tendency that goes beyond morality,” he said. “A country that does these things — and I’m talking about any country  (emphasis added) — in a superlative way, these are immoral actions.” 

Indeed they are. Thank God since last Oct. 7, the State of Israel and the Jewish people have set us back on the path of moral return.