How much can we take?

That is the question I found myself asking this week. Within about an hour or two on Wednesday, two things happened that pushed all of us to the limit. First was the report that one of the heroes of October seventh, Police Major Igor Pibenev, had been laid to rest in the Ashkelon military after taking his own life. Pibenov, who was stationed in Hebron on October 7, rushed home to Moshav Yated in the Gaza Envelope to defend his wife Chen and his three daughters Emilia, Evelyn and Aria. On the way, he eliminated 13 terrorists. After arriving at the moshav, he continued to fight shoulder to shoulder with members of moshav’s security force. Everyone marveled at his heroism. They called him Rambo and were so proud of him. Everyone, it seems, but Pibenov himself, who was endlessly tortured by the thought that he should have saved more.

His widow Chen paid tribute to him: “You told me, ‘I can’t take it anymore, it’s too heavy for me, all those I couldn’t save. I want peace.’ I begged you, ‘Go to therapy,’ you told me, ‘Okay,’ and as always, you kept it in your stomach. You said, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have headed home… Maybe I should have driven all the way to Nova, and not home.’ I told him, ‘My love, you did the most important task, getting home.’ You told me, ‘That’s not enough.’ But for me, it was enough, because you came to us. It was most important thing. My love, I ask your forgiveness for not doing enough to save you from yourself. I love you, I love you very much. Now you’re free, you’re free.”

Even as I was reading this story on Wednesday, there was a news alert: In a terrorist driveby shooting in Samaria, a young mother of three on her way to give birth was targeted in a drive by shooting by terrorists. Tze’ela Gez , 33, of Bruchin did not survive, but doctors delivered her son, who is fighting for his life.

President Herzog: “The murder of Tze’ela Gez, on her way to give birth at the hospital, is a spine-chilling, horrific act of terror that shakes us to the core. At the very moment life was about to begin — life was taken in the most brutal way. Terror won’t break the Israeli spirit. We will relentlessly track down terror wherever it hides.”

Hannael, Tze’ela’s husband who was slightly injured in the attack, wrote a message in the family WhatsApp group: “Of course I am broken, that is natural, but I also thank God that I am alive, and I will be strong, to continue to be a light to the whole world. Because we will never let them break us.”

Perhaps that is an answer, no?

All of us owe it to these heroes amongst us to be worthy of their lives and their deaths; to live up to their magnificent spirits, and to do whatever we can to make our homeland a place of values, faith, prosperity and happiness.

The IDF are still looking for the terrorists who were responsible.

It is time to cancel the fake Oslo Accords which have brought nothing but death and suffering, and for Israel to incorporate Judea and Samaria and rid the entire area of terrorism. If we can do it in Gaza and Lebanon, why not on our own doorstep?

Last week I asked some questions about the Trump administration. This week I am amazed at the things President Trump has done in walking into the viper’s nest of Qatar and Saudi Arabia and saying to the entire Arab world that “all civilized people must condemn the October 7 atrocities against Israel… Gaza’s leaders take delight in raping, murdering and torturing innocent people. Can’t have it.”

Today, Trump told reporters in Qatar that he’d like to see the US “take Gaza” and turn it into a “freedom zone. “Hamas is going to have to be dealt with. Remember, Oct. 7 was one of the worst days in the history of the world, I think, not just, not just local to this region, it was one of the worst, most atrocious attacks anyone’s ever seen.”

Let us appreciate President Trump especially in light of the cowardly betrayals all over Europe: French president Macron, the despicable Pedro Sanchez of Spain who called Israel “a genocide state,” and that idiot Keir Starmer. We are blessed that President Trump firmly has our back.

As for those who still doubt, Abu Ali wisely reminds us: “Trump is the president of the United States, and was elected to serve the United States… to deal with the economy and immigration, not the citizens of Israel [and don’t forget the majority of American Jews don’t even support Trump! He owes us nothing].

“Nevertheless, Trump and the vast majority of senior officials in his administration have not hidden their support for Israel in the past and are not hiding it now. The fact that he has devoted so much time and effort to Israeli interests should fill us with gratitude. Trump did not have to launch such a massive attack on the Houthis (1,700 attacks, according to a figure cited by the Houthi leader, during which the US lost 2 F-18s and approximately 7 extremely expensive UAVs). I thank him for doing it and I’m not mad at him for stopping it. He didn’t owe me anything in the first place. When someone does me a favor, I’m grateful. When someone stops doing me a favor, it doesn’t mean I harbor resentment for it, because it’s essentially a gift.

“As for the Iranian nuclear issue – which is a central issue for Israel – the Trump administration has declared its opposition to Iran enriching uranium, threatened to attack Iran, and has armed Israel over the top with almost everything it needs to attack the Iranian nuclear program.

Should we complain about this?

“In the meantime, we need to be patient.

“Most of all, let’s not forget the intensity of the pressure on Israel from the Biden administration, which Netanyahu recently said dragged out the war by withholding weapons and insisting on the massive flow of aid that went straight to Hamas. Trump stopped all this pressure. Bless him. Israel now for over two months operated in a way that saves our soldiers’ lives and prevents aid to Hamas from entering. This was unimaginable under Biden.

“And let us also thank Trump for the billion-dollar sanctions on universities, strict enforcement, and deportation attempts (which are currently being blocked by the American legal system). He didn’t have to do it. What he’s doing in this matter is a tremendous and extremely important thing for the State of Israel. It has an impact going forward. For many years to come.”

The dramatic implementation of Gideon’s Chariots has begun with an enormous bang which hopefully took out Muhammad Sinwar, the architect of October 7. His body is still in the exploded underground bunker beneath the European Hospital, so Israel doesn’t have the DNA proof it’s waiting for. But all signs indicate he’s gone the way of his brother and Nasrallah. God be blessed.

The third Sinwar brother, Zecharia, was definitely killed last night along with his family. Israel has so far struck 670 terror sites including weapons storage facilities, underground terrorist infrastructures, and anti -tank missile launchers. The Hamas “Ministry of Health,” those liars, hasn’t stopped wailing about the number of dead terrorists. Hundreds down and millions to go… Five IDF divisions are currently participating in the attack on the Gaza Strip.

And exciting news: the archives of the Syrian secret police on hero Mossad agent Eli Cohen, whose information saved Israel from a catastrophe and who was executed by the Syrians, has been transferred to Israel, including his handwritten final letter to his family and 2,500 other original documents. Now, if we could only bring his body to rest here among his people.

And let us all give a moment of thanks to brave Yuval Raphael, who rose up from the horrors of her experience as a survivor of October 7 to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was a beautiful, hopeful song, and a wonderful delivery that despite all the catcalls and hatred achieved something remarkable: The European viewers voted for her en mass! She received the highest popular vote and came in second, despite the political votes of the judges! The silent majority of Europeans are fed up with Palestine-supporting thugs. This brave survivor spit in the faces of her detractors, ending her song with Am Yisroel Chai! What a remarkable people we are! So proud to be living here among these giants.

Let us hope the war will be over soon, Hamas soundly defeated, and the population transferred to Libya. Or the moon. Whatever. Disgusting hateful people who deserve the lives they now live. Yes, I mean the civilians too, not one of whom helped a single hostage. Not one of them is starving, by the way. Today another flour warehouse was raided, and the American team that will be distributing aid has already landed in Ben Gurion.

Too bad.

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