Pragmatic\n<\/p>\n
I have a wait-and-see approach. Enjoy the quiet as long as it lasts. (A friend\u2019s response to my question)\n<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the politicians:\n<\/p>\n
It ain\u2019t over till I say it\u2019s over\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael \u2018has more goals to complete,\u2019<\/a> says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement after a ceasefire between the US and Iran is announced\u2026\u201cWe will achieve them,\u201d he promises, \u2018either through agreement, or through renewed fighting.\u2019\u2026Israel, he says, \u2018is ready to return to fighting at any time.\u2019 \u2018The finger is on the trigger,\u2019 he warns.\u201d \u00a0(https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/liveblog_entry\/netanyahu-we-have-more-goals-to-complete-the-finger-is-on-the-trigger\/<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n A diplomatic disaster\n<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael wasn\u2019t even at the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security.\u201d \u201cThere has never been such a diplomatic disaster in all our history.\u201d (Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid)<\/a>\n<\/p>\n It only helps Iran\n<\/p>\n \u201cMK Avigdor Liberman, head of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, warned that \u2018a ceasefire with Iran<\/a> gives the ayatollahs\u2019 regime a break and time to regroup.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n Donald, the duck\n<\/p>\n \u201cDonald, you came off as a duck!\u201d (Netanyahu coalition member MK Zvika Fogel, of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, wrote on X)<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n But it was historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, who, in a recent Substack post, best revealed how these sentiments capture the Israeli character:\n<\/p>\n Hope\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Endurance\n<\/p>\n Depression\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe depression felt by a great many Israelis on the day of the ceasefire now appears to have been fully justified\u2026In the Middle East, victory is defined not by an army\u2019s performance but by its enemy\u2019s ability to survive. For the Iranian regime, like Hamas and Hezbollah, victory is established when the successors of assassinated leaders can emerge from the rubble and flash a \u201cV\u201d sign\u2026Many Israelis would be willing to endure another six weeks\u2014and more\u2014of sleepless nights, school-less days, and hours in our safe rooms to bring about even part of our vision of regional peace. Most would not be crestfallen if the current ceasefire fails and the campaign to defeat Iran in Middle Eastern terms resumes. The tens of thousands of IDF reservists who have already served hundreds of days in combat would readily serve hundreds more. Throughout, we would cling to the belief that \u201cit\u2019s possible\u201d; that someday a jeep will pass by with soldiers shouting, \u201cIt\u2019s over.\u201d (\u201cWhat Does the Ceasefire Mean in Israel<\/a>?\u201d Michael Oren, Clarity Substack post)\n<\/p>\n From Israel\u2019s inception to the present, the Jewish State has existed under an existential threat from regimes that have sought to wipe it off the face of the map. But this genocidal plot has backfired on Israel\u2019s enemies. Living under such conditions has instead instilled fearlessness, Jewish pride, and sacrifice in Israeli character. These attributes are among the reasons I made Aliyah. I wanted to be in a country where Jews were not only proud of their identity but were also unafraid to do what it takes to fight Jew hatred. With few exceptions, I found these attributes lacking in American Jewish communities and, certainly, in Jewish legacy organizations.<\/p>\n \t But there\u2019s something more that explains the heart and soul of Israeli character than fearlessness, Jewish pride, and sacrifice. I see it in the men and women who have chosen to embrace their Jewish identity by uprooting their lives in the United States, Canada, Australia, France, South Africa, England, South America, for a harder but more satisfying life in Israel. I see this something more in couples holding hands and in fathers and mothers pushing strollers as they walk down HaRakevet Road in Jerusalem, or Sderot Lachish in Carmei Gat. I saw it at the Kotel last night when we transitioned with prayer from the solemn holiday of Yom HaZikaron, Israel\u2019s Memorial Day, to the joyous holiday of Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut, Israel\u2019s Independence Day and then at Safra Square, where Israelis danced in celebration. My friend Marci Reiss offered an explanation of what this something more is in her weekly pre-Shabbat email to friends where she commented on the ceasefire. Her insight turned me around. Yes, we all have practical questions, but it\u2019s \u201cthe real deal,\u201d as Marci puts it, that matters:\n<\/p>\n \u201cWill it last? Was it too early? We don\u2019t know\u2026We don\u2019t know what tomorrow will bring. But we never do. Now is no different\u2026We should take comfort in what we do know\u2026There is a real deal. And it isn\u2019t with Netanyahu, and it certainly isn\u2019t with Iran. We know that G-d is with us. We know that we are the chosen nation. We know that G-d shows us endless miracles if we choose to see them. We need to remember that there is a real deal. It isn\u2019t about enriched uranium. It isn\u2019t about the Strait of Hormuz. And it certainly wasn\u2019t brokered by Pakistan. It\u2019s a deal with the Creator of the World. And it\u2019s a deal that will last.\u201d\n<\/p>\n History has shown us that we, as Jews, cannot count on politicians and world leaders. But in the final analysis, we could always count on the real deal\u2013the heart and soul of the Jewish people\u2013because we, as Jews, have always outlasted our enemies, and Iran will be no exception.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What the ceasefire teaches about the heart and soul of Israeli identity. Life goes on in Israel, ceasefire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5859,21614,34,37,1421,48,4499,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-78476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-aliyah","9":"tag-ceasefires","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israel-at-war","13":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","14":"tag-jewish-identity","15":"tag-middle-east"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116449220146602668","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-20-at-11.03.37-PM-1-e1776754012751.jpeg\")
\n\t\tA couple walking down HaRakevet Road, Jerusalem.<\/p>\n