Retired Major General Gershon Hacohen, commander of the Gush Katif Disengagement, now admits that the withdrawal was a huge mistake. Indeed, he currently says that October 7 would not have happened had there been no withdrawal from Gush Katif in 2005. Numerous other supporters of the Disengagement have admitted it was a colossal error.

My friend Rabbi Yaakov Luban sent me a Jerusalem Post article on the regrets of the supporters of the Disengagement. In the article, it mentions that Ariel Sharon, the chief architect of the withdrawal, chose the word “Disengagement” so as not to imply that the army was surrendering from Gaza. Disengagement: simply untying the knot that kept the Israeli settlement connected to Gaza.

Rabbi Luban commented that it looks like we were right. You see, Rabbi Luban and I, when working in the OU, would often go on our lunch break for walks downtown and discuss world affairs. Unfortunately, the world did not always listen to us. When it came to Gush Katif, we were stupefied at how anyone could possibly believe this would lead to something good.

Although all the Orthodox movements and publications were against the Disengagement, none were willing to do anything about it. Total silence from all quarters – except for the National Council of Young Israel. I think it was one of the most baffling acts of silence in Orthodox history.

In truth, we were right about the Oslo agreements, as well, for which Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, ym”sh, received the Nobel Peace Prize. We felt that this could go nowhere. It would only embolden the PLO, which would now have autonomy over much of the West Bank. And so it was. Buses were blown up, and hundreds of innocent people lost their lives to Arab terror – all sponsored by the PLO.

So why were we right when all the brilliant politicians and military personnel were against us – and on two major fronts relating to Jewish survival?

I believe it is because we had a Torah upbringing. Instinctively, those with a Torah background have an innate feeling for what is better for Jews. That is why, when you see “hundreds of rabbis” sign a petition against Israeli policies in Gaza, they are almost exclusively Reform and Conservative. Without a true Torah nurturing, you cannot feel the real heartbeat of the Jewish People.

Very troubling in the article, written by David Weinberg, is his revelation about why the Disengagement truly succeeded. In a meeting that Mr. Weinberg hosted, present were a group of Canadian journalists who met with the then-editor of Haaretz, David Landau, an unabashed leftist. He told the surprised journalists that the reason the Disengagement succeeded is because it “crushed the Religious Zionists.” Now that the Religious Zionists, along with their rabbis, had been left to despair, there would surely be a chance for peace.

If this shocking revelation is true, then it shows even more how such a disaster can only come about because of a lack of Torah understanding.

Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.