I have to say I entered the weekend pretty depressed. The ICJ’s vicious and absurd ruling that the Jewish people have no right to their own land, coupled with the death of Yevgeny Ferder, 50, as he innocently went about his life in Tel Aviv only to be murdered by a Houthi launched drone by people who are one step up from loin-cloth savages waving clubs, was hard to digest.

According to his niece, Yevgeny, who was from Belarus, had lived in Israel for three decades and was a reservist. He was killed when the drone struck the Tel Aviv hotel he worked in. According to the Times of Israel, the drone was a modified Iranian-made UAV believed to have traversed Egypt, flying over 2,000 km in more than 10 hours to reach Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said the drone had been identified, but human error led to it not being engaged by air defenses, and no alarms being sounded.

The idea that our defences failed because our protectors are only human was pretty depressing. All that stands between us and them are our people, who are our only defenders on this planet.

How our enemies rejoiced! “Israeli defences failed to intercept the ‘aerial target,’ smirked al-Jazeerah. Actually, Israeli defenses worked just fine, except that the person at the helm screwed up. Happens. But, depressing.

Luckily this Shabbat I spent with the youngest member of my growing family, three month-old Joseph, son of my grandson Hillel. Like his biblical namesake, he is very handsome, and the girls (myself and his Mom) fluttered around him all day long hoping for one of his captivating smiles, which are dispensed frugally, but magnificently.

Here is a young couple who grew up in France, married there, and made the decision to leave Europe behind and make Aliyah. She is in a program to earn an optometrist’s degree; he is in his last year in yeshiva. Because of the insane housing prices in Israel, there is almost no hope they’ll be able to afford their own home any time soon. He is also – as he should be – subject to the Israeli draft. But since the country hasn’t actually decided who and how many yeshiva students they are drafting, his future is in limbo, not an easy situation for a twenty-something with a wife and child. He has been to the recruiting office several times. Since March, his yeshiva has ceased receiving government funding – something else I agree with – and is now relying on foreign donations.

It is a strange predicament for me, who wholly supports the effort to draft all segments of Israel’s population equally. It’s easy to speak in generalities, a little harder when it hits home. I feel for his wife, who is also a student, and her anxiety about his leaving her alone – physically and financially –  for months to undertake his responsibilities as a citizen of Israel. But then, I think of my other grandson, who is studying for a Master’s in computer science and was in Gaza as part of the Yahalom Unit, the engineering corps blowing up the Gazan tunnels. He was released from reserve duty after four months to resume his studies and rejoin his wife of one year. If not enough soldiers are available, they might very well call him up again, and that would be horribly unfair.

This is the reality all Israelis live with. There are no “villians” here, only human beings trying to live their best lives, and be faithful to their values and upbringing.

Being so close to a tiny baby again had an effect on me: his beautiful, innocent, wide-eyed wonder. His soft skin and tiny fingers. They are so vulnerable. I couldn’t help thinking about the kind of culture that breeds human beings who would deliberately target and harm a baby for ideological reasons, not in collateral damage in the midst of a war. Such people have no place on this planet. They need to be wiped clean from the face of the earth, root and branch, not only for the sake of Jews, but for the sake of humanity.

I learned of the retaliatory attack against the Houthi’s oil refinery and weapons depots after Shabbat. Good, I thought. For every Israeli citizen they murder, let them pay the consequences. After all, what have we ever done to the Yemenites that they should try to murder us in our beds? Our planes reached Yemen even though they are 200 kilometers further away than Teheran. As our Defense Minister said: “Let the fires of the refinery in Yemen be seen all over the Middle East.”

But as I head to bed, I can’t help wondering what tomorrow will bring. Make no mistake, we have the ability to hit all our enemies. We can kill them much more efficiently and with greater impact than they can kill us. If only we were as interested in killing as they are. If only it was the reason we exist, as it is for them. Unfortunately, this is something we have been forced into against our will. As in any fight with a bully, you have to resort to their tactics, but it’s not what you would choose to do if you had a choice.

I wish all my grandsons could live their young lives pursuing their studies, enjoying their young brides and their tiny children. I wish, and I pray, for all these maniacs to be defeated and to just leave the good people of Israel alone to live their intelligent, happy, good lives in the land of their forefathers.

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