The War on Israel and the Crisis of Jewish Identity

How I wish I could write only about the Parsha, without needing to speak of the war against the Jews. And I do not mean Gaza alone, but the broader, coordinated effort to deny our historical, legal, and strategic rights to the Land of Israel.

This is not only about the UN, the Western world, or the 142 states that consistently vote against us. At its heart, we Jews are facing a crisis of identity — a distortion of our history, and a denial of the connection between the Bible, Judaism, and the Land of Israel, and by extension, the State of Israel — Medinat HaYehudim.

Tragically, both liberal Jews and the ultra-Orthodox refuse to look honestly in the mirror. Hitler did not care what kind of Jew one was, nor did Hamas on October 7. Yet today, parts of our people divide themselves: the Haredim who see national service as a harsh decree, and others who detach Torah from land and history.

The Covenant of Nitzavim

Parshat Nitzavim begins with words that should stir us to our core:

“You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your leaders, your tribes, your elders, your officers, every man of Israel; your children, your wives, and the stranger within your camp… to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God.” (Devarim 29:9–11)

This covenant was not made only with those standing there in the desert. Moses makes it clear:

“Not with you alone do I seal this covenant… but with whoever is here, standing with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.” (Devarim 29:13–14)

That means us. All generations of Jews are included. The covenant is eternal.

But Moses also warns us: if we turn away from God, if we serve other gods and worship idols, disaster will come. The land itself will reject us. Exile, curses, and persecution will follow.

And here lies the heart of our moment. The “idols” of our time are not statues of wood and stone. They are false ideologies, lies, and distortions that deny truth and replace it with propaganda. These are the idols the nations worship today:

• The false belief that Jews are colonizers in our own land.
• The distortion that “Free Palestine” means liberation, when in fact it implies extermination.
• The rewriting of history to sever Judaism from Jerusalem and Israel.
• The moral hypocrisy that excuses terror while condemning self-defence.

These are the idols of our age, and Parshat Nitzavim warns us not to bow to them.

The UN Vote and the “State of Palestine”

This week, as we approach the second anniversary of October 7, the UN voted to recognize a Palestinian state. Many Western countries already have, and more will follow. The timing is striking. Less than two years after Hamas committed atrocities that still scar our people, the world moves to legitimize a state with Hamas woven into its fabric.

Einat Wilf put it bluntly:

“As critics have already pointed out, the Resolution is deeply flawed: no consideration is given to the fact that the Palestinians are split between two geographically separate territories. The new state’s borders are not specified, nor is its government. And there is always the chance that Hamas will still be in control. But there is a further problem with the Resolution, which has escaped most observers’ notice. Buried in the text, slipped into the small print, is a commitment to the Palestinian ‘right of return’… There it is, in black-and-white. The UK, France and other Western countries have been suckered into advocating for the destruction of the Jewish state.”
Read more here

This is not only a distortion of truth and history; it is the worship of a false idol — the fantasy of a peaceful Palestinian state that ignores terror, division, and reality.

The resolution’s irony is staggering: it acknowledges October 7 while simultaneously calling for recognition of a Palestinian state “without Hamas.” But how? Hamas is not a fringe group. It is embedded in Palestinian politics, society, and institutions. Gaza is ruled by Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has never disarmed them. To imagine a Palestinian state without Hamas is to cling to an idol of fantasy — a diplomatic illusion that comforts Western consciences while ignoring truth.

Erasing History, Denying Reality

Recently, I read When the Stones Speak by Doran Spielman. He describes the Pilgrim’s Road to the Temple Mount and the undeniable archaeological discoveries from King David’s era. Governments and organizations like the State Department under Obama and UNESCO may try to erase this history, but they cannot silence the stones. They testify: we are here, and we have always been here.

Spielman, who has devoted the last 20 or more years to the City of David Project, observes that the discoveries of the City of David leave no room for doubt: archaeology proves the Jewish people are indigenous to Jerusalem and Israel. He also notes that the City of David was forgotten for centuries, buried by time — and paradoxically, this forgetting preserved it, keeping its truth safe until our generation could uncover it. Every fresh find, he explains, sends out two shockwaves: one affirming the Jewish connection to the land, the other exposing the lies of denialism. The stones speak louder than propaganda.

Just this week, the Pilgrimage Path was formally opened in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He wrote:

“It’s a powerful reminder of the Judeo-Christian values that inspired America’s Founding Fathers,” acknowledging the biblical significance of the site. The excavated road is undeniable proof of the Temple that pilgrims traversed during the Second Temple period — around the time of Jesus.

Yet look at the headlines:

• BBC: “US Secretary of State inaugurates Israeli settler-led archaeological site in Jerusalem.”
• Reuters: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited a contentious archeological site beneath Jerusalem on Monday, giving U.S. backing to a Jewish settler-led project that critics say undermines prospects for a future Palestinian state.”

And critics piled on. Fakhri Abu Diab, an activist from Silwan, said the excavations were conducted without transparency and contravened international law on occupied territories. Rubio’s visit to the site, he warned, would embolden Israel and its settler movement:

“This act by the United States gives the green light for more settlement expansion, demolitions, ethnic cleansing, and all the practices carried out by Israel,” he said.

But the stones speak for themselves. The covenant lives in the earth beneath our feet. And no amount of distortion can erase that truth.

The book debunks all of this and more, and is not only a good read but an important one.

Link to buy:

I am sharing this photo taken by me in June 2019 when I was privileged to join a tour for a walk on part of the  Pilgrimage Road.

The Hypocrisy of Nations

Nations so quick to condemn Israel rarely face their own histories:

• Canada and its First Nations.
• Australia and the Aborigines.
• New Zealand and the Maori.
• Spain with inquisitions, expulsions and colonialism.
• France has endless foreign interventions.
• Britain, the map-drawer of the Middle East.
• Belgium – genocide in the Congo
• Germany – the Holocaust

And this is just scratching the surface – I have not mentioned the long history of Jews being banned, discriminated against, and persecuted in these countries throughout the centuries or the role of colonialism in raping these countries and the Slave Trade. And their refusal to correct their wrongs, their evils and instead scapegoat their sins on the only Jewish state.

Each should look into its own mirror before lecturing Israel about morality, sovereignty, or self-defence.

This hypocrisy is so evident as they deny our history and conveniently apply double standards regarding Qatar, a tiny emirate that has positioned itself as the patron and host of Hamas’s leadership — harbouring the world’s richest jihadists while funding colossal amounts of anti-America and anti-Israel propaganda, lobbying, and influence. Its wealth has purchased silence and legitimacy, turning murderers into “diplomats.”

Maybe it is time for the West to rethink its relationship with Qatar (and Turkey)

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/666592

The Jewish Mirror

But the Torah asks us to look into our own mirror as well. How do we see ourselves in this covenant? Secular Zionists identify with the historic return to the Land. Many in the Haredi world distance themselves, as though Torah could be severed from the Land, or Jerusalem from Jewish destiny.

Yet Parshat Nitzavim is clear: all of us stood together. Leaders and tribes, men and women, the native-born and the stranger — not some of us, but all of us.

As Rabbi Moshe Taragin said in a talk I attended, we are united in 80%, but not the other 20%. This is the subject of his upcoming book, “Geula,” and a follow-up to his previous book, Reclaiming Redemption: Deciphering the Maze of Jewish History.

Standing Together in Teshuvah

As we approach the Yamim Nora’im, the urgency could not be greater. Our divisions weaken us. Our excuses blind us. Our differences distract us from the truth of history and the covenant that binds us.

Teshuvah is not only personal — it is national. To return means to stand together, united in God, with honour, humility, and courage.

Parshat Nitzavim reminds us: the covenant was never about convenience. It was about unity, responsibility, and faith. To worship the idols of our age — lies, distortions, false moralities — is to betray that covenant. To return to God is to reject the idols and to stand firm in truth.

World Teshuvah, Moral Clarity, and the Gaza War

Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, taught that Nitzavim is not only about personal repentance. It is also about national teshuvah. Our return to the Land, the revival of Hebrew, the rebuilding of Jewish life — all of this is teshuvah, a re-alignment of Israel with its Divine mission.

Rav Kook insisted: “When Israel returns, the world returns with it.” That means the story of Israel is never just about us. It is about the moral direction of the entire world.

But before clarity comes confusion. The Gaza war has revealed the world’s crisis of moral clarity: Hamas leaders rebranded as negotiators, hostages turned into bargaining chips, Western nations condemning Israel while excusing Qatar for hosting terrorists. This is not justice. It is idolatry — worship of falsehood over truth.

Rav Kook reminded us: “The mercy of the wicked is cruelty.” False compassion for terrorists is cruelty dressed as diplomacy.

Choosing Life

Moses’ call echoes across generations: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse — choose life.”

• For Israel, teshuvah means fidelity to our covenant: defending life, resisting terror, and refusing to negotiate away truth.
• For the world, teshuvah means recovering moral clarity: ending hypocrisy, calling evil by its name, and rejecting false compassion.
• For each of us, teshuvah means rejecting the idols of falsehood and aligning our hearts with truth and life.

Toward World Teshuvah

The Gaza war is not itself teshuvah. But it is a crucible. It exposes the contradictions of a world still blinded by relativism and influence. Out of this confusion may yet come the awakening Rav Kook envisioned: a world teshuvah, a return to truth, justice, and God.

As I reflect on Nitzavim this week, I see that Israel’s task is to stand, as Moses said, “all of you standing today before the Lord your God” — with courage, clarity, and responsibility.

The covenant warns us: turn away, and curses will come; hold fast, and life will flourish. Today, the idols are lies, distortions, and false beliefs raised against Israel. To reject them is teshuvah. To choose truth is to choose life.

Teshuvah begins with Israel — but it does not end there. It is the path of the world.