To the Honorable Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Watching the bravery of our IDF soldiers from afar, I stop to wonder – how are they so strong, brave, resilient, and quite literally unstoppable? The IDF soldiers are like no other; they are united, working as a team, caring for each other, staring death in the face to protect the Jewish people and its land. I wonder, if the average soldier is so exemplary, what it must have taken to become the defense minister! Clearly you shone out from other soldiers and have thus risen to your honorable position. How one can take the fate of Am Yisroel and Eretz Yisroel on his soldiers is unfathomable. With the amount of responsibility you have, I can’t imagine how you can sleep or eat! Clearly, God has given you superhuman talent to be in the position you currently hold. May God be with you and all of Am Yisroel! I am but a humble house wife with no accolades of bravery or heroism to speak of, but sometimes the young and foolish can recognize what the elderly and accomplished have missed. Sometimes, it’s the simple basics that are missing, and it takes a ‘katan’ to speak up and state the obvious. Please Honorable Defense Minister, please, many a time you are quoted as saying, “I trust in the capabilities of our soldiers and commanders to end this war with a victory and to return the hostages home.” I beg of you, can’t you mention the Almighty even once? Only God in Heaven, Avinu Shebashamayim, can win this war for us. Hamas and anything remotely related to it is the Satan himself. The evil is too much to conquer without God’s help. The holiday of Chanukah is coming up, when we commemorate the Chashmonaim who despite their few numbers won a war against the most powerful nation in the world – the Roman Empire. The only way to their victory was believing that it was the Hand of God who brought this upon them, and it was the same Hand of God that would bring them to victory. Their shields were inscribed with the slogan – Macabi – which stood for – ‘Who is like you, our God?’ I beg of you for the sake of all of Am Yisroel, even if you feel differently – mitoch shelo lsihma ba l’ishma – if you would once insert into your encouraging speeches that it is with the help of God, you will positively change the whole outcome of this war. Many of your soldiers have already recognized that this is God’s war. They have donned Tzitzis and Tefillin, many for the first time in their lives. They are pictured in Gaza davening, keeping Shabbos – they recognize the might of Hashem. We need more people to recognize the hand of God. If you will add that to your inspiring speeches, you will influence others and enable your IDF to bring an honorable and glorious – and hopefully ultimate – victory to all of Am Yisroel! Speaking for many of my brothers and sisters, Mrs. R Friedman