During the period of the "Pillar of Cloud" (Cheshvan 5773) army operation, when rockets from Gaza were aimed at Gush Dan and Jerusalem for the first time, HaRav Moshe Shapiro zt"l gave a unique address, explaining how, according to the teachings of Chazal, we are under the rule of Yishmoel at this very point in time.
He said, among other things:
It appears, and I refrain from going into this too deeply, that even common sense and normal circumstances show that we find ourselves in an unsolvable dilemma. A 'solution,' according to several inverted commas which we have experienced, can be used once or twice, but it is not a real solution.
However, any alternate solution in which we can imagine the possibility of sitting and discussing, coming to terms, is merely an insult to the intelligence of a ten-year-old boy. This is all nonsense. The Creator has placed us in the problematic situation of a stalemate.
To be sure, I am talking about a resolution in natural ways of the kind that the world is wont to arrive at. The power of intimidation, of even stronger intimidation... Of more power and even more power... But again, this is totally futile.
As it appears, the next time, with all the "intimidation," the entire country will be under fire, we will all be living under the danger of our brothers down south. In short, the situation has no solution. The Creator is pushing us more and more into a corner. At least, this is how things seem.
For some reason, they refuse to realize that the Torah has long since described such a situation. The words appear very explicitly in a book written over two thousand years ago and explained by Chazal, and the possibility of a solution is unique. There is no other.
Let us quote it verbatim from the gemara (Sanhedrin 97b): 'R' Eliezer says: If Israel repents, they are redeemed. If not, they are not redeemed. Said R' Yehoshua to him: And if they do not repent, they will not be redeemed? Rather, Hashem will put them under the rule of a king whose edicts are as harsh as those of Haman, and then Israel will repent and return to the good.'
The Rambam also rules (Laws of Teshuva 7:5): 'Israel is redeemed only through teshuva. The Torah has already promised that eventually, Israel will indeed repent at the end of the exile, and will then immediately be redeemed.'
"The meaning of 'a king as despotic as Haman' is such a one who seeks, just as Haman, to destroy and annihilate the Jews, from youth to old men, children and women, in one day.' A king as tough as Haman is hard to find, but men as wicked as Haman exist in the hundreds of millions, each of whom desires wholeheartedly to destroy the Jews. There exist even those who are willing to sacrifice their lives for this end of 'destroying, killing and annihilating etc.'
Only a king as wicked as Haman is the one who shall cause us to repent, and then, Israel is guaranteed that they will be redeemed immediately. Here, then, is the answer. The sure and ultimate solution. It has existed for many years, but for some reason, no one looks this way!
After quoting teachings of Chazal about Yishmoel, HaRav Shapiro added,
I repeat and reiterate: whoever dreams today that the prophecy of '...and the land was quiet for forty years' (Shofetim 3:11) will happen again and that things will quiet down since, after all, we intimidated them. I do not believe that there even one such a person in the audience. He would be out of his mind to think so.
The reality is as we have described it. We find ourselves in a situation that began a long time ago, but is now easier to see: It is a process which will end precisely as it written here. This is the scenario. G-d forbid, whoever believes otherwise, will not live to see the happy end.
