History closes one chapter and opens another

Historic has become an overused word, cheapening its meaning. It is too often invoked by journalists to apply to an unaccomplished political candidate, anointing them with the hopes and dreams of their promises. It’s a way to project future success upon their present, often vacuous, ambitions.

October 13^th, 2025 will be regarded as an actual historic day. It’s the inverse of the modern version of the term. It will mark the triumph of action over the negative predictions of “experts” and the paired chiding from media who selected them to tell us what we must accept from their world view.

Even as recently as last week, we had major news outlets citing Hamas’ aggression as a war that Israel started. CNN stated, “It’s been two years since Israel launched its war in Gaza and life in the enclave has never been harder.” 

Even The Wall Street Journal chose passive voice to hide blame, stating that hostage Yarden Bibas’ wife Shiri and their two young children “died in captivity.” Reminding the world they were brutally murdered in cold blood was just a bridge too far.

Two years and six days after Iran’s proxies paraglided into a music festival and set off the most savagely brutal attack on a western nation this century, the remaining twenty living hostages held by Hamas have been freed. The day itself is only bittersweet. 

The costs to get here – from the horrors of that initial attack to the unfortunate yet necessary human costs of war – are staggering. The price of peace will also be great.

Rebuilding is expensive. Buildings and humanitarian aid cost a lot. Trust often costs even more.

The currency of the peace deal forged by President Trump and his unlikely team of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and guided by the multi-titled Secretary of State Marco Rubio is trust, in a group that has yet to demonstrate they deserve, much less have earned it. That trust is girded in part by hope, and part by necessity. Wars after all are expensive, well beyond the monetary costs. 

Thus, as we celebrate for the families who are now re-united – both those families with hostages as well as those with soldiers who can now return from the battlefield, we must approach the next steps to come with our eyes wide open. We must never forget that the paragliders from October 7^th were not just attacking Israel, but that their brutality was a strike upon the West in total.

Let us not forget those who directly suffered that day. But let us also be stone cold soberly aware of what happened within hours across the U.S. and Europe. “Spontaneous” protests to “Free Palestine” occurred in major U.S. and European cities.  Well-funded encampments sprang up on college campuses, with the “students” somehow arriving with matching tents and organized talking points. 

They were coming for all western democracies. They had a lot of help.

Our major media outlets began quoting Hamas’ mouthpiece Health Ministry as if they were delivering objective facts. Our President’s official spokesperson responded to questions about attacks on Jewish students and citizens with concerns about Islamophobia.

We’ve learned a lot about our institutions and ourselves over the past two years and six days. We’ve redefined “Nazi” as someone from the opposite party who says things we don’t like. 

We’ve learned that in far too many circles antisemitism is not only acceptable but celebrated as long as you pretend the hatred is about “Israel” even when the slight or attack is based solely on a person being Jewish. And we’ve learned too many of our institutions – government, academic, and media – pretend not to notice these things while overtly contributing to the problem. 

So this week is historic both as an end to a war but the beginning of an unwritten chapter. We must work together to author the passages with hope and optimism, but with our eyes wide open to the wolves in sheep’s clothing who live among us. We cannot ignore those who demanded “ceasefire now” are not the ones celebrating. 

We’ve had two years and six days to fully understand what they wanted. It wasn’t October 13^th.  It was the continued march from October 7^th to the destruction of Israel, and then on to the rest of the West.

As children, we learned to end our jubilant stories with “and they lived happily ever after”.  As adults, we understand the difference between a momentary achievement and the continuity of life. No pain is ever permanent; no victory is ever final.

October 13^th was a historic day. What becomes of it is up to us, as we are the ones to author this history.