1.
You can smash them ...
teroʿeym - cannot be a positive statement such as, “you will”. One does not break and smash to pieces that which has been given him as his inheritance and his possession. It is is rather a conditional statement - “If you will have to break them with a rod of iron, then you will smash them to pieces like potters' vessels.”, “The subject and content of your prayers should be that the nations, through quiet and peaceful persuasion, should come to submit to the spiritual and ethical demands made known to them by you. If, however, they will not be receptive in this manner to the realization of the goal of mankind, if it will become necessary to use force to overcome their resistance to God, then they will break into pieces devoid of power, like potters vessels struck by a rod of iron.”