July 4, 2025 - Day 637 - the Price of a Ceasefire

I don't want to live in a state of war. Missiles cutting through the sky and sirens wailing. 

But I also don't want to live through this again 5, 10, 20 years down the road. 

Why does it feel like we missed an opportunity? I've had this gut wrenching feeling for the past few days that we have somehow made it through nearly two years of war... and what have we accomplished?

In Gaza, Hamas is weakened but they are still in power. 50 Israeli hostages are still being held there, and I would argue the whole Gaza-Palestinian population has been held hostage by Hamas for 20 years.

In Syria, an ISIS terrorist in a suit is about to sign a peace treaty with Israel. After, of couse, attacking and murdering Alawites, Druze, and Christians within Syria. Leaving plenty to be concerned about while "making peace" with Syria?

In Yemin, the Houthis have still been terrorizing Israelis by firing ballistic misslies as recently as two days ago. As well terrorizing important shipping routes... globally and consistently for nearly two years. All while having one of the most severely malnutritioned populations in the world.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah is weakened but they still exist, are armed and in positions of power.

In Iran, there were significant blows to the Ayatolla's nuclear program but after two weeks in a fall out shelter Ali Khomeni has emerged even angrier and has returned to immediate collective punishment of the Iranian people. Over 700 Iranians have been rounded up in recent days, accused of collaboration with the Zionist enemy.

Iran feels like the biggest missed opportunity. Although the direct war with Iran lasted a horrible 12 days, the people of Iran were beginning to raise their voices. They were on the verge of a revolution. We could feel it 2,300 miles away. Rumblings, stirrings, bursts of song, chanting from darkened windows. The power of the people of Iran have been surpressed for 46 years under a brutal dictatorship. Shaking off the shakles of jihadi rhetoric was bubbling like a pot 30 seconds before the rolling boil. 

The Iranian people and the Israeli people have been connected by thousands of years of shared history. There is a lot of love, shared culture, and brotherhood between our people. The prayers that were sent to the Iranian population over those 12 days, I'm sure, matched the amount of prayers we said for ourselves. 

I personally prayed for the people of Iran, I still do. I truly believe that their freedom from the Islamic Regime will lead to real peace, not just in the middle east but globally. Iran is the center. They are the most important cornerstone to this elusive idea of world peace. Their peace is our peace. Their freedom is our freedom. 

We have come this far. We have held steadfast to our Jewish principles and values. We have combatted antisemtism globally while doing blockbuster style badass secret ops (pagers, drones, pricision strikes in enemy territories, etc.)... while physically fighting a ground war in Gaza and running our children to and from shelters. 

I don't know how to sufficiently explain the vast disappointment in where this war as gotten us. Because really, what was all of that sacrifice for if not to free ourselves from jihadi terrorism once and for all?

Otherwise, we are doomed to have our children repeat these same horrors and traumas over and over again... generation after generation. No. Absolutely not. I refuse to allow my daughters to grow up in a world with so much hatred, violence, and inabilty to hear and/or understand one another. 

No. Just no. Full stop.

The coming days will give details of the potential ceasefire with Hamas, and return of our 50 hostages. 

A ceasefire is not a peace treaty.

(A peace treaty with ISIS is the most cautious peace treaty of all time.)

In the end, I reiterate that peace will come when the people of Iran are free. In my estimation, their freedom would cause a huge shift in power in the middle east and spilling out into the world. Aliances with China and Russia would crumble, ending the war with the Ukraine. Funding to terror proxies would dry up and the supressed people of the middle east could regain their freedom and dignity. 

#FreeIran
#WomenLifeFreedom