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‘We can win this war,’ Netanyahu tells Chabad rabbis

‘The Lubavitcher rebbe called me the ambassador of the Jewish people,’ Netanyahu tells Chabad emissaries, says Israel is ‘winning the war’ against Hamas.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday hosted a delegation of a Chabad emissaries from Israel and around the world to mark the 30th anniversary of the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

The meeting included Israeli cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs, Chabad on Campus Chief Operating Officer Rabbi Avi Weinstein, Chabad on Campus Israel Director Rabbi Moshe Shilat and Harvard University Chabad Emissary Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi.

During the meeting, Netanyahu recalled his first meeting with the Rebbe four decades ago.

“I saw the Rebbe the first time in Simchat Torah, 42 years ago. He said three things: Ahavat Yisrael [loving Israel], defend Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] and fight the lies.”

“In each generation they rise up to destroy us. And God will redeem us from their hands]. But we have to help the Kadosh Baruch Hu [God]. We have to take our own active action against our would-be destroyers.”

Netanyahu reassured the emissaries that Israel “can win” the current war in Gaza and is in fact already winning it, while emphasizing the need to also fight the “battle for public opinion.”

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“We’re fighting back in Gaza, we’re fighting back in Lebanon, we’re fighting back in other parts of the Middle East. But we also have to fight the battle for public opinion, for justice and for our own solidarity, our own solidarity with our people who are beleaguered.”

“We can win this war. We’re going to win it. We are winning it in fact. Pummeling our enemies with the force and the indomitable courage of our soldiers. They are tremendous heroes. No question about it. But we also have to win the war in the world. The quicker we end this war, the quicker we’ll be able to also fend off the slanders, and that’s something that we’re going to do.”

Netanyahu urged the emissaries to carry the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s “message of truth,” and recalled the late rabbi dubbing him the “ambassador of the Jewish people” during his time heading the Israeli mission to the United Nations.

“The most important message I have for you is don’t bend, don’t cower, don’t surrender, not to these antisemitic lies, not to the fear, not to the intimidation. You are our ambassadors in the spirit of the Rebbe.”

“This is what the Rebbe told me. He said: ‘You are going to be the ambassador of the Jewish people in the Hall of Darkness,’ as he called the UN. He said, light a candle of truth. Stand up against our enemies and for our people and for our land.”

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“That’s the same message. It hasn’t changed. It’s just become even more necessary, more acute, more indispensable than at any time your lifetimes. Carry that message to our people. Carry that message of truth to the world.”