By the grace of the Almighty, operation “House and Garden” in Jenin remains an exceptionally successful operation. Up to now, more than 120 wanted terrorist suspects have been arrested, around a hundred militants have been wounded and 10 eliminated.
During the night, two other headquarters used by terrorists for surveillance and battlefield management were identified and destroyed. Overnight, special forces of the Border Police Force, YAMAM, joined the operation, and managed to locate and destroy an underground mine with large stockpiles of weapons and explosives.
According to the IDF press service, there are still at least 10 terrorist facilities which need to be destroyed inside the so-called “Jenin refugee camp”, an area where terrorist infrastructure is concentrated. Also, according to an army report, during the night the armed terrorists showed almost no resistance and simply tried to hide from the soldiers.
As it is said (“Shmot” 15:16): “May dread and fright fall upon them; with the arm of Your greatness may they become as still as a stone!”
However, there are already many voices, mainly from the left, and certainly from the European Union, that the counter-terrorist operation must cease immediately.
We are convinced that the operation must continue until all the objectives have been achieved. And this must not be hindered by any “political considerations”!
Many times the Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach calls our attention to the fact that Israel pays a colossal price whenever political considerations interfere and makes adjustments to the military objectives.
Such was the case during the Yom Kippur War, the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of which we will celebrate this year. At that time, Prime Minister Golda Meir and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan did not permit Chief of Staff David Elazar to launch a pre-emptive counter-strike against the Egyptian and Syrian armies, and they also did not approve the mass and urgent mobilization of all reserve units.
This resulted in the heaviest casualties among our few units that had to hold back the strikes of the enemy armies and were essentially unable to delay the advance of the enemy.
Only by a miracle and the grace of the Almighty has the Syrian army stopped on its own in the Golan Heights and did not break into the northern parts of the country, while the Egyptian army, which stopped after crossing the Suez Canal, did not break into the heart of Israel from the south.
Today the situation is in some sense the opposite. The political leadership, which is clearly aware of the real threats, is demanding that the army expand the counter-terrorism operation, while the military command, weighed down by extraneous political considerations, is trying to make the operation as limited as possible.
We urge that this fatal mistake should not be repeated!
Ending the operation too early will be interpreted by the terrorist groups, and of course Hizbullah and its masters in Iran, as their victory, which in the end can only weaken our deterrence factor!
The army must complete at least all the things that have been planned in relation to the Jenin nest of terror. There are still at least three hundred armed militants hiding in the “refugee camp”, while the army, according to the army press service, knows the identity of only 160 terrorists to be eliminated or detained.
We are convinced the army must continue to act boldly and decisively, using our air superiority to minimise risk to our troops and kill as many insurgents as possible. Only in this way will we be able to achieve a long-term deterrent — as we did after Operation Protective Wall twenty years ago.
We also encourage everyone to continue to pray for the well-being of our warriors and for their safety, primarily by reciting Psalms: 20, 11, 12 and also by giving more donations — each according to their means and abilities. This is important for the protection of our warriors and all the people of Israel, and of course for the early coming of the Redemption in goodness and grace!