JNS
The prime minister’s invoking of Purim wasn’t merely an apt analogy. It was Bibi at his best, calling for unity in the face of what could turn out to be a biblical challenge.
The best sense of the mood in Israel right now can be gleaned from two sentences written by pundit Amit Segal—not, however, in one of his brilliant columns, daily newsletter or Channel 12 analyses.
No, these are lines that Segal ordered to be printed on a T-shirt, the front of which reads in Hebrew, “I don’t know when there’s going to be an attack on Iran.” For emphasis, the text on the back adds, “No point in asking me.”
The selfie that he posted on social media made followers giggle. It also aroused envy among fellow journalists who hadn’t thought of it first.
But anyone who heard Dan Senor’s “Call Me Back” podcast on Feb. 22 knew that the gag was in the works. In a preview of a segment for paid subscribers following the broadcast, Segal spilled the beans about it, explaining that it would be “the only way to skip the hundreds of people approaching to ask me [about it].”
Addressing the practical side of the issue, he went on, “We can sit here for an hour and discuss the timing [of a potential attack], and I may tell you that it’s [happening], let’s say, between days and weeks [from now]. But it’s totally different when someone with a flight ticket or a hotel reservation tell[s] you, ‘Listen, should I cancel? Should I go there or not?’ Because then you’re tested against your own prediction, which is very dangerous for a journalist—not because people will mock you if you say that Trump is never going to attack Iran and then he attacks.”
Though this, he acknowledged, “is terrible,” far worse is “having your parents-in-law count on you … and now they’re stuck in London, and they’re angry at you, and your wife is mad at you because she doesn’t have a babysitter.”
Humor aside, he went on to express his actual opinion—albeit without reference to whether locals or foreigners should alter their travel plans.
“While I still think the attack is imminent … and inevitable, I would question those waves of reports … saying [opposite things] simultaneously,” he began. “Forty-eight hours ago, it was [about] great negotiations with Iran, many concessions being made and [how the United States is] approaching an agreement [with the regime]. And, all of a sudden, now it’s, ‘No, we are heading to a war; this war is inevitable.’”
This, he stated, “looks like a spin to me. So, my general assumption hasn’t changed. There is going to be an attack. It’s going to be massive, unprecedented in the scope of Iranian wars. And yet, it’s not a matter of hours or days.”
Segal’s take appears to be the view with the broadest consensus in the Jewish state, otherwise known in the halls of the Islamic Republic as the “Small Satan,” which the mullahs repeatedly threaten to annihilate.
Peppering the discussion with literal and figurative home-front humor is equally widespread. Jokes about bomb-shelter preparations are rampant, alongside news of U.S. aircraft carriers and fighter jets arriving in the region, as well as the sight and sound of Israeli Air Force planes overhead at all hours.
The above makes talk of a potential deal that would stave off a military confrontation seem hollow. What didn’t sound the least bit vacuous was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments to the Knesset on Feb. 23, despite heckling from a few typically shrill oppositionists in the plenum.
“Israel has never been stronger; the alliance with the United States has never been closer,” he declared in an unusually brief speech.
He continued, “We are vigilant and prepared for any scenario. … I made it clear and conveyed to the Ayatollah regime that if they make the mistake—perhaps the worst in their history—of attacking Israel, we will respond with the kind of force that they can’t even imagine.”
This, he stressed, “is not the time for [internal] arguments. During these days, on the eve of the [Jewish] holiday of Purim—then as now—we have to close ranks, stand shoulder-to-shoulder. I trust in our might. I have faith in our commanders, our fighters, our nation. I trust you, the citizens of Israel. We’ve already proven that when we stand together, we achieve great things. On the eve of Purim, we will stand together and, with God’s help, guarantee Israel’s eternity.”
The prime minister’s invoking of Purim wasn’t merely an apt analogy due to the calendar date. It was Bibi at his best, calling for societal unity in the face of what could turn out to be a challenge of biblical proportions. You know, as recounted in the Book of Esther.
It was the leader of the State of Israel and the Jewish people reminding us what we’ll be celebrating next week: the story of Jewish deliverance from destruction in ancient Persia—contemporary Iran—through courage and resolve.
More than anecdotal evidence suggests that we’re “locked and loaded” and up to the task.
