Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the Oct. 12 opening of the winter assembly of the Knesset reminded me of the “blood, sweat and tears” speech delivered by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the House of Commons in May 1940. “We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering,” the British leader said then. “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.” 

Netanyahu also promised victory on Monday. Victory at any costs, however long and hard the road may be. “We will also vanquish this current wave of terror,” promised the prime minister. The man who sees himself as Churchill's match promises Israeli citizens blood, sweat and tears in a war waged by an occupying nation against a people that has been striving for nearly 50 years for freedom, justice and equality.

Churchill's iconic speech was delivered in the midst of World War II, when the immense army of the Third Reich conquered nation after nation across Europe and threatened to attack Britain’s coast. In the Blitz, 43,000 British citizens were killed and a million homes were destroyed.

Netanyahu's promise to Israeli citizens is a victory by the strongest army in the Middle East in a war against children armed with stones, women armed with knives and youth armed with cars.