A half-century ago, Avigdor Kahalani distinguished himself in desperate times for Israel, times as desperate as those today.
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Syria and Egypt’s surprise attack on the most solemn Jewish holiday left Israel reeling on a day when the country virtually shuts down.
Egypt’s armor crossed the Suez into the Sinai Peninsula, occupied by Israel since 1967, as Syrian tanks lumbered across the Golan Heights, with Israel’s Galilee vulnerable below, no more than 15 miles away.
Syria’s thrusts were thwarted by vastly outnumbered Israeli tanks. One of its battalions was led by then-Lt. Col. Kahalani on the battle site that is now called “The Valley of Tears.”
Israeli tank resistance in the Golan gave the nation time to reorganize, mobilize, and fight back. The young battalion commander won Israel’s Medal of Valor, its highest military honor.
Now a retired brigadier general, Mr. Kahalani, 79, sees Israel’s latest Hamas war in stark terms.
“I’m sorry, I’m very cruel, but I don’t have the patience for games anymore,” he told The Epoch Times’ Israel bureau on Oct. 12.
“You have to shoot and eliminate and destroy. It’s either us or them.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists blew dozens of holes in Israel’s border fence, disarmed security cameras, roared through the damaged fence with motorcycles and trucks, and landed fighters using paragliders. They used their access not only to attack Israeli military and police installations—lightly defended during the joyous Simchat Torah holiday—but to murder hundreds of mostly defenseless civilians at a music festival, in a kibbutz, and along roadsides.
“The experience we are going through now is much worse than [the] Yom Kippur War. I have no doubt at all about it. In the Yom Kippur War, we fought army against army. Here, the citizens of the country have been abandoned. Until now, I don’t understand why,” Mr. Kahalani said.
‘If Lebanon Starts a War, We Have to Blow Up Beirut’
“I'll start with Lebanon because it’s ... on the brink. If Lebanon starts a war, we have to blow up Beirut. Unequivocally. To blow up all the water systems, all the electricity systems,” Mr. Kahalani said.“Let there be no situation where we are fighting against Hezbollah. Hezbollah should not interest us. We will hit the places from which the missiles are launched, but what needs to be taken down in Beirut is the big towers. Destroy the infrastructure, shut down the electricity, and shut down their economy.
Seeks Change of Government in Gaza
Mr. Kahalani expressed caution about Gaza, though, while maintaining that deposing Hamas is essential.“Regarding Gaza, I’m not sure that the plan the prime minister presented—to eliminate Hamas, uproot it, and so on—is realistic,” he said.
“Let’s say we go inside Gaza with tanks and find all the terrorists. Once residents stay there, what will happen after a year? Won’t they build a Hamas youth movement, and then it will develop into an army?
“That’s why the government there should be changed, and the government should be controlled by foreign countries, so that they will not be able to develop any weapons, and will not be able to develop such a regime of hatred and enmity for the State of Israel.
“And if that happens, maybe there will be a chance for quiet. If not, then we will advance to Gaza City, then we will advance to Khan Yunis, and maybe we will also reach Rafah.
“All I care about is that not even one Israeli soldier gets hurt in all this, and I say to the soldiers, ‘Shoot. Don’t move 1 meter forward. Don’t be heroes.’
‘They Only Understand the Language of Power’
Mr. Kahalani continued: “And stop pitying. ... Constantly think of the images of what they have done now in the Gaza Strip. Remember these images and shout, ‘O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs.’“Arabic is a language, but it’s also a mentality. We’re constantly talking to them in a language they don’t understand. They only understand the language of power.
“And now the question is—us or them. And for me, there is only one answer: us.”
What does his image of victory look like?
“The image of victory is that they are asking for a ceasefire,” Mr. Kahalani said.
“But in my opinion, you have to be realistic. Is it possible to kill [all of Hamas]? You cannot distinguish who is Hamas and who is not. These are civilian people, and one can turn around and hold his two children by the hand and say: ‘What do you want from me? I’m a citizen, a farmer,’ and so on.
‘They Bit the Hand That Fed Them’
Before the war, Israel controlled Gaza’s access to diesel fuel, water, and money and, in recent years, has sought a lower-tension balance with Hamas and Gaza, Mr. Kahalani acknowledged. Israel, meanwhile, sought peace with the Gulf States, resulting in the Abraham Accords and, more recently, Saudi Arabia.“And they bit the hand that fed them. So obviously, there’s no logic here—it’s like the scorpion that stings the frog. There’s no logic here in the Middle East. But only a different government will make a difference. Until that happens, we'll rule the territory. We need to protect ourselves,” he said.
Israel needs to bomb Gaza, even flatten it, “as much as necessary” to conquer it, Mr. Kahalani said.
“You need to move a kilometer or two. Don’t rush. If you see suspicious houses, flatten them. ... You need to find their tunnels, where they are, and burn them in one way or another. It requires us to go inside; it’s unavoidable,” he said.
Mr. Kahalani discussed the war’s impact on Israelis, which is different from that of the 1973 attack.
‘How Did We Get to This?’
“But now the citizen has been abandoned, and there is a very big rift between the state and the citizen. This rift is deep,” Mr. Kahalani said.“The last time this happened was in the Holocaust. The Jew hid, they came to him, they found him, and they slaughtered him. Now, even though there is a State of Israel, the Jew is hiding; they come to him and slaughter him.
“So, the entire State of Israel must ask itself, ‘How did we get to this situation?’
“The citizens should protect themselves. They should make sure they have all the protection measures that will give them a sense of security.
“The citizens will stand behind the army, embrace the army, because the embrace of the army by the citizens is a weapon.
“The soldier who fights on the battlefield should feel he is fighting for his commander, for his friends, but most importantly, he must feel that the homefront is behind him, supporting him every minute and every second, and embracing him.”
‘We Don’t Have Another Way’
“The citizens have to go through such difficult experiences. That’s life. It’s unavoidable, and take it as a difficult experience that we need to go through and that eventually we will win,” he said.“Is there light at the end of the tunnel?” Mr. Kahalani asked. “Surely, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Do we have another way? We don’t have another way.”
After being injured on the battlefield, he spent a year in the hospital.
“I said to myself, ‘Avigdor, you are going to go through a very difficult experience, and I see you growing to become a man out of it.
“I went through the worst suffering one can experience—you need mental strength for that. Leadership needs to be an example. It needs to radiate power. There are 1,001 things that can be done.
“First of all, the leaders in this country need to set an example to the citizens.”
If he were at the front, speaking to soldiers and commanders, Mr. Kahalani said that he would tell them:
“You are now going through a difficult experience. Remember that we don’t have another country. You are now going to go through an experience experienced by every new generation that guards the country.
“Look back and see the flag of the country being raised. Look back and see what happened to our nation throughout all these years. Look at the Holocaust and see what can be done to us if we are not strong.
“And in that respect, you will be the best professional in the world. Take care of yourself, but get the job done.”
