A Nation That Survives Every War

From the very moment ancient Israel was founded by Avraham, the Jewish people have lived with war, persecution, and exile. The Land of Israel, aka Eretz Israel, has been conquered, ruled, and contested so many times that it is easy to lose track. A short list alone tells a powerful story: Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, the Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Caliphates, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, and the British Empire. Few peoples on earth can point to a homeland that has been fought over so relentlessly, yet remembered so faithfully.

Because of these endless wars, the Jewish people were scattered across the world. Life in the Diaspora was rarely safe. Persecution followed them from continent to continent, century after century. The most horrific attempt to erase the Jewish people entirely was Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution,” culminating in the industrialized murder of six million Jews in the death camps of Europe.

After the Second World War, the survivors of the Holocaust returned to the land that had been assigned to them under the Balfour Declaration, hoping for nothing more than to rebuild their lives in peace. The modern State of Israel was born with the dream of development, safety, and dignity. That dream was immediately attacked. Newly founded Arab states like Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and others, rejected any Jewish sovereignty in the ancient Jewish homeland and launched war after war.

The Arab leadership also created what later became known as the Palestinian–Israeli conflict during the 1948–1949 War of Independence. Arab residents of the new Jewish state were urged to leave temporarily so that the invading armies could push the Jews into the sea. About 650,000 left, many of them voluntarily, believing they would return after the Jews were destroyed. That plan failed. The Israelis, who have no other land, fought like lions and survived.

Since then, Israel’s history has been marked by an almost uninterrupted chain of wars and terror: 1948 War of Independence; the reprisal operations of the 1950s; the 1956 Suez Crisis; the 1967 Six-Day War; the 1967–1970 War of Attrition; the 1973 Yom Kippur War; the 1982 First Lebanon War; the 2006 Second Lebanon War; multiple Intifadas; and repeated wars with Hamas in Gaza, 2008–2009, 2012, 2014, and beyond.

And then came October 7.

On October 7, 2023, Israel experienced one of the darkest days since the Holocaust. Hamas terrorists crossed the border from Gaza and carried out a brutal massacre of Israelis, men, women, children, and the elderly, inside their homes, at a music festival, and on the streets. People were burned alive, raped, mutilated, and kidnapped. It was not resistance. It was pure, documented barbarism. Once again, Jews were attacked not because of what they did, but because of who they are.

The pain, trauma, and grief behind this long list of wars is impossible to measure. No nation can endure this without scars. And yet, when one reflects on this history, the strongest feeling, besides sorrow, is gratitude. Gratitude to the heroes of Israel: the soldiers who stood their ground, the commanders who led with responsibility, and the generations who ensured that Eretz Israel did not fall.

What is especially painful today is not only the war itself, but the global reaction. Antisemitism is rising at a frightening speed. Lies are spread, Israel is demonized, and Jews worldwide are once again blamed collectively. Even in global crises, whether Covid-19 or social justice movements, Israel and the Jews somehow become targets. Ancient hatred wears modern masks.

Hatred of Jews is as old as history itself. That is the tragedy. The shame is that modern humanity still allows it. Even more heartbreaking is when that hatred comes from Jews themselves, those who turn against Israel, against their own people, who only wish to live in peace in their ancestral homeland, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

It is time to be clear.
It is time to stand up for Israel.
It is time to show the heroes of Israel that they are not alone.

The people of Israel live. They have survived empires, exiles, pogroms, and genocides and they will survive this too.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Time To Stand Up for Israel

Time To Stand Up for Israel is an independent foundation dedicated to fighting misinformation, countering antisemitism, and providing clear, fact-based education about Israel. We do not engage in internal Israeli politics. We stand on two core principles: Israel has the right to exist. Israel has the duty to defend itself. Support our work: Donate and/or subscribe at: www.timetostandupforisrael.com