The modern State of Israel has been forced into many wars of survival. Each time, Jews have been pressed to ask: what does victory mean? Is it merely surviving? Is it holding the line? Or does Judaism demand more—a crushing, unambiguous defeat of evil so that it can never rise again?
The Torah does not shy away from the concept of milchemet mitzvah—an obligatory war. Rambam (Hilchot Melachim 5:1) defines such a war as the battle to save Israel from those who rise against her. In such cases, compromise is not an option, because the very existence of the Jewish people is at stake. The verse in Devarim (20:1) commands: “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horses and chariots, a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them—for Hashem your God is with you.”
This is not about land swaps, ceasefires, or temporary truces. The Torah view is clear: evil that rises to annihilate Israel must be confronted until it is broken. Amalek is the paradigm—“Timcheh et zecher Amalek” (Devarim 25:19)—obliterate the very memory of those who seek Jewish destruction.
For decades, Israel’s wars have often ended in half-measures. 1948 ended with armistice lines but not peace. 1967 with victory but no finality. 1973 with survival at great cost. Even in Gaza 2009, 2012, 2014—the pattern repeats: the IDF strikes, Hamas licks its wounds, and the cycle begins anew. But Jewish law and history teach us that survival alone is not victory.
Victory means that the enemy raises a white flag. It means that Hamas is stripped not only of weapons, but of the will and ability to rule Gaza and to threaten Israel ever again. Anything less is not peace—it is merely an intermission.
There are those who argue that crushing Hamas completely will be seen as harsh in the eyes of the world. But the Torah’s moral compass points elsewhere. “He who is merciful to the cruel will in the end be cruel to the merciful” (Kohelet Rabbah 7:16). Allowing Hamas to survive is not compassion—it is cruelty to Israeli civilians who must live under rocket fire, to the hostages still in captivity, and to the next generation of Jewish children who will be forced into bomb shelters.
When the Torah speaks of victory, it speaks of shalom—true peace. Ramban explains that peace is the natural outcome when enemies know that they cannot rise again. That is why Yehoshua’s conquest of the land was decisive. The nations were subdued, not appeased. Only then could Israel build a life of Torah within its borders.
Israel today faces the same imperative. Hamas must be brought to complete surrender—not weakened, not temporarily deterred, but dismantled. That is the Jewish view of victory. Only then can peace come to Israel and even, ultimately, to her neighbors.
Victory is not a ceasefire. Victory is not restraint. The Jewish view of victory is the unambiguous defeat of those who rise to destroy us. As long as Hamas remains standing, the war remains unfinished. The survival of Israel demands more. The Torah demands more. Victory means Hamas raises its hands in surrender, its tunnels destroyed, its rule ended. Then—and only then—can Israel truly fulfill the verse: “And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down with none to make you afraid” (Vayikra 26:6).
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