The Resistance society, the occupying group

“I don’t have a home or a car anymore since the regime destroyed them, but I have a belief I’m willing to die for.” These are the words of a young man who, for a long time, kept the security and military forces of the Zionist regime in the West Bank awake at night. He was a young man, not yet thirty, who had humiliated a ruthless army armed to the teeth with weapons and surveillance technology. Despite numerous attempts by security forces to assassinate or arrest him, they failed each time. The crucial question is, what drives the rise of young people like Abu Shuja’ in the West Bank and across the broader Resistance Movement? What kind of support allows individuals like him to stand up to this terrorist group and deliver such significant blows?

In one of the latest attempts, in July, ten months after the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, Palestinian Authority security forces entered a hospital in Tulkarm to arrest Abu Shuja’. However, at that moment, doctors, nurses, and local residents clashed with the security forces, preventing them from arresting him. Some even escorted and protected him all the way to the Nur Shams camp. These same people in the West Bank, more than 10,000 of whom have been arrested by the regime’s security forces since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Flood, have paid a heavy price in their support of the Resistance. Even before the Al-Aqsa Flood, they resisted the increasing occupation and blatant oppression by the Zionist regime on a daily basis, becoming the greatest threat to the regime’s existence.

In another part of the Resistance Front, in a border village in Lebanon near occupied Palestine, life continues despite the village having suffered severe damage from the regime’s bombings, with many homes destroyed. The shops are open, people are going about their daily routines, and the sound of sheep can be heard. A friend who witnessed this scene said they asked an elderly villager, “Haji, look across the border. The Zionists have fled, abandoning their villages and settlements to escape Hezbollah’s fire. So why are you still here? Why haven’t you left the village like the Zionists?” The old man replied, “Even though the Zionists have nearly destroyed the village, I’m staying. I’m staying so that the movements of the Party’s fighters can blend in with my family and me. I can’t fight, but this is the least I can do to help the Party.”

The spirit of Resistance is evident in every member. For example, after American forces bombed Yemen, Nasr al-Din Amer, a Yemeni, responded to a Palestinian who said, “We didn’t want Yemen to be bombed because of its support for us,” by saying, “Now that we’re being bombed like Gaza, we finally feel at peace. We were ashamed that the people of Palestine were being bombed while we were not.”

Yes, this is what gives fighters on the battlefield their courage. It’s the strength of a resilient society that raises individuals like Abu Shuja’ and cares for them as if they were their own, as the children of Palestine. This is a resistance born from within the society itself, a force that supports its fighters. Resistance is an ideal passed down from generation to generation, shaping the community. And the Zionists know well that you cannot fight or kill an ideal. This ideal holds that dying for one’s beliefs and fighting against oppression is sacred, and it firmly believes that through their sacrifice, they can ensure their eternal life. This is a society that has brought the spirit of the Imam Hussain (pbuh) to life, making it tangible for the world to see.

In a meeting with a group of martyrs’ families, the Leader of Islamic Revolution also spoke about the resistance of the Palestinian and Gaza people, saying:

It has become clear that ‘Islamic faith’ is the factor that creates such strength and resistance as demonstrated by the way the [Palestinian] people have stood steadfast despite the bombardments. They have refused to give in or to raise their hands in surrender before the enemy. Despite all the atrocities that they [the Zionist regime] have committed, [the issue of Gaza] has … introduced Islam and the Islamic faith [to the world].

The Leader of Islamic Revolution presents this popular resistance as a model of the highest and most profound expression of Islam to the world, and especially to the Islamic Ummah.

On the other side of the story, things are entirely different. Here, we’re not dealing with a resilient society but with a community that, at the slightest sign of crisis, rushes to form long lines at Ben Gurion Airport to flee, and turns off the lights in their settlements near Gaza and Lebanon, as if no one ever lived there. They constantly protest their displacement and the drawn-out war, expecting full support from the occupying regime. This is despite the fact that the Zionist regime has provided these displaced people with free accommodation in hotels across the occupied territories, and they receive support from around the world, including from Muslim countries in the region.

This is a community that has always struggled with a shortage of manpower for its wars and is now forced to face the embarrassment of conscripting the Haredim for military service. Even at the risk of government collapse, the regime has resorted to passing laws to compel the Haredim to join the war effort.

There’s a difference between a society that seeks everything just to survive and sees this world as its ultimate goal, and a society that values belief and ideals over the short span of this life. One society fights to return to its homeland, while the other is willing to be displaced anywhere in the world, even resorting to widespread atrocities and genocide just to stay alive.

Amos Yadlin, the former head of Aman (the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate) and one of the most prominent security and military analysts of the Zionist regime, is a strong advocate for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange. He emphasizes the importance of this exchange for the Zionist regime in a detailed Twitter thread and in separate interviews with Zionist media. In one of his key statements on X, he says: “Without bringing back the prisoners, there is no victory. We are a people who sanctify life, not death. It has always been this way, and it must continue to be this way …”

Examining this statement might clarify the reasons for the differences between the Resistance Society and the occupying group. The occupying force, which values and even sanctifies everything for its own worldly life, mistakenly believes that the Resistance Community shares its perspective. It fails to see that Resistance has become the core identity of its members. The occupying force expects that by increasing its brutality and attacks, it will weaken the Resistance. Instead, it only strengthens it. The consequences of its actions are evident in the growing power and influence of the Resistance not just in Palestine, but also in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and across the entire region.

It is no coincidence that the Leader of the Resistance has declared in a historic speech that there is no defeat for a people who have martyrdom. The future inevitably belongs to those who have learned to bear the cost of their ideals in an unequal struggle and pass this legacy on to the next generation through their efforts and sacrifices.