Sovereignty, When?

Posted on October 31, 2025 | Comments Off on Sovereignty, When?

(First published at Israelnationalnews.com)

It certainly seems like last week’s preliminary Knesset vote declaring sovereignty over most of Judea and Samaria was ill-timed. It was an opposition maneuver meant to embarrass the government, especially considering that US Vice-President Vance was in Israel at the time. Probably a better time would have been any other time in the last 58 years, including last month, last year, five years ago, and next week. If anything, the move set back our ability to exercise Israel law over Judea and Samaria, as it moved the Americans from a position of studied neutrality to vehement objection. It was a cynical move at the wrong time.

That being said, we have to ask ourselves, if last week was the wrong time, when is the right time? Most often people who remonstrate against a worthy deed by saying it is the “wrong time” never quite articulate when would be the right time. It is a classic politician’s (and occasionally, rabbi’s) trick to avoid making tough decisions by embracing something wholeheartedly but then failing to implement it out of cowardice or other concerns, often described as “the big picture.” It works well, and we should ask our government, many of whose leaders have been promising sovereignty over Judea and Samaria for decades – especially during election season – when is the right time?

In a sense, it is analogous to successive Israeli governments publicly proclaiming the imperative of all nations recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but then privately urging foreign governments (such as the United States) not to do it.

What does sovereignty mean? It is unwise and unjust to keep territories and its resident population in legal limbo for more than half-century. More than 500,000 residents do not deserve to have to seek army approval for construction issues. Worse, a reluctance to declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria nurtures the fantasy that this land – the heartland of Israel, after all – is not really ours, and that one day it will be the foundation of a Palestinian state. We keep that diabolical dream alive by playing semantic games, failing to promote our own interests, and cowering before the dictates of even friendly allies who, it must be said, have their own interests like all nations have their own interests.

What would be the effect of defying the United States and the world and passing the Knesset law in its second and third readings? We should distinguish between the practical and the political effects.

The immediate response of all nations including the US would be non-recognition of Judea and Samaria as part of the State of Israel. Much would be made of that, too much. Historians could remind us that when Jordan annexed Judea and Samaria in 1950 – necessitating the change of that country’s name from Transjordan to Jordan – until two countries on the globe recognized that annexation, Britain and Pakistan. Only two. Yet, did anyone in the world doubt that Jordan was the claimant and that the land was part of Jordan? Of course not. It is a semantic and legal game.

For that matter, Israel formally annexed Jerusalem in June 1967, then cementing its status as part of Israel and our eternal, undivided capital in 1980. How many countries have recognized that annexation? Who cares? Practically, Jerusalem is Israel, which in legal terms is considered a de facto annexation. To the extent that we tolerate those nations which trample on Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem by maintaining consulates that function as embassies to the Palestinians is shameful, and an indictment of our government for several generations. Why doesn’t the government shutter these consulates? Apparently, it is never the right time.

Consider, as well, Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981. The UN Security Council declared it “null and void.” No country recognized it until the United States did in 2019. Who cares? Does anyone doubt that the Golan is part of Israel? It is worthwhile to add parenthetically that Israel’s annexation of the Golan did not stop Israel’s government in the 1990’s from negotiating a possible surrender of this vital land to Syria despite such negotiations violating Israeli law.

There are other cases of countries across the world declaring sovereignty over specific parcels of land, and other nations either recognize it or do not, and life goes on. What is missing in terms of international recognition is gained through clarity, an expression of national will, and a desire for some measure of finality in a nation’s borders.

Those are practical considerations. The political and diplomatic factors receive the most attention. Several Israeli governments have begun the process of declaring sovereignty and then abruptly aborted them. PM Netanyahu’s governments had several opportunities to declare sovereignty when Trump declared himself an agnostic on the question, and flubbed them all, caving in for one reason or another. It seems clear that our reluctance to apply Israeli law to much of Judea and Samaria is rooted in a fear of what the Americans will say or do. The threats – in line with President Trump’s style – are blustery, thunderous, and vague, including, perhaps, loss of support at the UN, boycott of weapons sales, etc., and all, like most of Trump’s threats to sundry countries across the world, unlikely in the extreme to materialize. Will the US turn on Israel for declaring sovereignty over land that is in our possession for almost sixty years and is an integral part of our biblical patrimony? How that aligns with American interests is a mystery.

If anything, putting another nail in the coffin of Palestinian statehood is in the interest of Israel, the United States, and what passes for the moderate Arab world. A Palestinian state would constitute a threat to us and to much of the Arab world, and a new and even larger terror base than was Gaza. It should be obvious to us that any country that opposes our sovereignty over Judea and Samaria because such is perceived as the death knell for an independent Palestine does not have our best interests at heart.

Do we? Does the Israeli government have the capacity to act in our national interest without our hand being held tight by our greatest patron? Based on past experience, the answer is no – except if we insist and we demonstrate clearly to the US why this is in our and their interest.

To the Americans, sovereignty over Judea and Samaria takes a back seat to expanding the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia who, along with other countries, apparently threaten to walk away from negotiations if a pathway to an independent Palestine is not created. But such is not in our national interest, and if we don’t assert our national interests forcefully, and explain cogently why, we will find ourselves under enormous pressure to midwife a Palestinian state into existence with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

For sure, it is incomprehensible at this point to see how Israeli society would ever agree to such a situation, which would be both a reward for past terror and an incentive for future terror. Now the political establishment is largely against it but our leaders can be as fickle as the people they lead. PM Netanyahu was a sworn opponent of Palestinian statehood, then supported it, and now opposes it again. The opposition leaders keep their fingers to the wind to see which way the public weathervane blows. In truth, only those whose commitment to the land of Israel is rooted in religious doctrine are inflexible and will remain implacably opposed to again partitioning the land of Israel. All others, whose world views are based on politics, history, security, and the like, will necessarily be more malleable. Under pressure, they will succumb and then rationalize it quite eloquently.

If we do not declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, the day will soon come when a Palestinian state is back on the global agenda, and vigorously. We must preempt that. One way to do it sensibly is to make it part of the negotiations on the Abraham Accords.

Let’s face it: The Abraham Accords is mostly about trade and business, in other words, money. That is the American interest, more than a Trump Nobel Peace Prize. (After all, how prestigious can such an award be if Yasser Arafat was a recipient?) Our peace treaties are quite similar. Neither Egypt nor Jordan has maintained an ambassador in Israel for several years. Relatively few Israelis visit those countries, and even fewer Egyptians and Jordanians visit Israel. Business aside, these treaties and the Abraham Accords engender an absence of war, itself quite valuable, but not the type of peace that exists between countries with warm relations and shared values. Yes, a cold peace is better than a hot war, but what if the cold peace eventually paves the road to a scorching hot war because we have allowed ourselves to be lulled into complacency?

We erred in not annexing Judea, Samaria, and Gaza decades ago, and we have paid a terrible price in life and blood for that neglect, which has also whetted the appetite of our enemies that they can ultimately wear us down and destroy us. Arabs who live there need not become citizens; there are tens of millions of people who live in the United States who are not citizens. We need not twist ourselves like a pretzel trying to find the right legal formulation.

A rapprochement with Saudi Arabia is not worth it if the price is a Palestinian state, the redivision of Jerusalem, and/or a repudiation of our rights and claims to Judea, Samaria, and our eternal capital. After all, Trump cherishes agreements, ceremonies, and deals far more than substance, but we have to live with the substance. Thus, our soldiers can be killed during a “cease fire,” which again goes into effect when the shooting stops, and then when the shooting continues and stops again. It is a fantasy to think that Hamas will disarm and depart on its own, and an even deadlier fantasy to think that the United States or any Arab countries will go to war in Gaza to do it.

We have to live in reality. Part of reality is defining our national interests and pursuing them sedulously. The reaction to our declaration of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is likely to be quite similar to the reaction to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital eight years ago (which was then followed by a handful of other nations). That is, predictions that the heavens will collapse, the Arab street across the Middle East will explode, and the region will descend into war.

The reality was otherwise. The reality was some public handwringing from a few countries, followed by … nothing. The dogs bark and the caravan moves on. We are not needy beggars at the trough of world recognition. We are a generation that has been blessed to return to our ancient homeland, as promised in the Bible, a generation of dedicated warriors and fighters who have been given nothing by the world on a silver platter.

It is time we act like it.

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Dangers Ahead

Posted on October 22, 2025 | 2 comments

(First published at Israelnationalnews.com)

If past is prologue, Israel is entering a period as dangerous, if not more so, than actual wartime. We are not strangers to the phenomenon of winning wars, losing the subsequent negotiations, and winding up in a much worse strategic position than when the hostilities ended. We have withdrawn from Gaza already five times since 1948. The boundaries at the conclusion of the Six Day War have mostly disappeared into the sands of history.

The Sinai Peninsula has been surrendered several times, the last in return for its demilitarization. That buffer zone is also gone, as the Egyptian Army has returned in force to the Sinai. The great Arab and Western summit several weeks at Sharm el Sheikh recalled for me that Ron Eliran song, after the Six Day War, in which we purported to return “to Sharm el Sheikh a second time but it is in our hearts always.” Maybe in our hearts – but not the world’s maps or consciousness. Few remember that Israel captured Sharm el Sheikh twice and then forfeited it.

It should not be lost on anyone that we just fought a war on multiple fronts and the results were decisive on all fronts – except the one which launched the war, Gaza. We achieved great strategic advances in Iran, whose nuclear program was arrested and for the moment neutralized; in Syria, where Assad is gone, Israel commands the Golan, Hermon, and points beyond; Yemen has been (at least) temporarily defanged; and in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been greatly weakened and might even be compelled by the Lebanese government to submit to its authority. Iran is being held accountable for all its proxies, itself a deterrent. For sure, much credit should be given to PM Netanyahu for orchestrating these successes in a masterful way and to our military that realized such triumphs.

Of course, waging war in those territories was not complicated by the presence of Israeli hostages cruelly held and brutally mistreated, as it was in Gaza. And undoubtedly Hamas has also been weakened grievously but as a suicidal death cult nurtured in a culture where Jews are hated and Israel must be destroyed, it will not be difficult for them to reconstitute. Such has already begun.

The diplomatic dangers we are facing are a consequence of fundamental errors that the American negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are making. I believe they mean well, and like President Trump, truly desire the peace and prosperity of Israel and the region. And the deal they engineered was nothing short of miraculous, a hidden miracle that reflects Shlomo’s words in Mishlei (21:1): “Like the water courses (in different directions), so is the king’s heart in G-d’s hand; He turns it whenever He desires.” It was an amazing feat to induce Hamas to free our hostages at one time, upfront, thus relinquishing the diabolical leverage they had over us. That was a stunning accomplishment for which the Americans and our government (Netanyahu, Ron Dermer, and others) deserve praise, notwithstanding the release of terrorist murderers that will plague us for years to come. And that the Arabs and Turkey pressured Hamas can surely be traced to our attack on Doha that suggested to Qatar that its territory is not sacrosanct as a haven for terrorists. But Witkoff and Kushner neglect two points.

First, they do not seem to consider the reality of Hamas, as Hamas itself advertises, proclaims, and uses to recruit new terrorists. It helps to read the Hamas charter: “Palestine is the land of the Arab Palestinian people, from it they originate, to it they adhere and belong… Palestine is a land whose status has been elevated by Islam… Palestine is a land that was seized by a racist, anti-human and colonial Zionist project that was founded on a false promise (the Balfour Declaration), on recognition of a usurping entity and on imposing a fait accompli by force… Palestine is an Arab Islamic land. It is a blessed sacred land that has a special place in the heart of every Arab and every Muslim… Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea… Resistance and jihad for the liberation of Palestine will remain a legitimate right, a duty and an honour for all the sons and daughters of our people and our Ummah.”

These are the words – never revoked or modified – of Hamas, a genocidal death cult that wants to destroy us. What part of this Jew-hating screed signals to the American negotiators that Hamas is a worthy interlocutor, deserving of a seat at the table of civilized nations? It is hard to detect any wiggle room in their call to genocide. In truth, the naiveté about Palestinian intentions has been a staple of American and Western diplomacy since the Palestinians were invented in the late 1960’s.

Some people found it very humane that Steve Witkoff, a bereaved father himself, offered condolences to the Hamas terrorist leader Khalil al-Hayya, whose son was killed in the Israeli attack on Doha, Qatar. I found it bizarre. Witkoff’s son died, sadly, of a drug overdose. Khalil al-Hayya’s son died because he was present in the headquarters of a genocidal death cult that yearns for the death of Jews (and Americans, but that is another matter). The difference between the two young men could not be starker. One was innocent and troubled; one was a terrorist or at least an associate of terrorists. Khalil al-Hayya himself called the massacre of Jews on October 7 “a great act,” something that should greatly curb any sympathy we have towards this monster.

The relentless and eternal hatred of Hamas – and of the Palestinian Authority – for Israel and Jews remains. We cannot wish it away. These are not “stupid Middle Eastern word games,” as Mr. Kushner called the long-lasting and frivolous focus of decades of Western diplomats. This is the sad reality. Nothing has happened that controverts that reality, and this reality has been ignored for time immemorial because – as once explained to me by a senior US negotiator – there could never be negotiations if we accepted that as a possibility. But wishing something away does not make it go away.

Thus, the absurdity of PM Netanyahu “apologizing” to Qatar for Israel’s attack on the Hamas headquarters, which of course I understand and accept on a political level (it’s just words, and it did help free the hostages from captivity). But was Qatar asked to apologize for hosting on its soil a genocidal death cult or subsidizing it with billions of dollars used to build its subterranean terror infrastructure? Of course not. Was Hamas asked to apologize for its ruthless assault on October 7 – its murdering, raping, pillaging, and kidnapping? Of course not; see their charter above, it is their “legitimate right.” Indeed, of all the billions the world plans to “invest” in the rebuilding of Gaza, should not the first allocation of that money be given to us to rebuild the Jewish communities around Gaza? After all, why are the aggressors more entitled to that money than the victims?

This is because of the second, almost inevitable, error made by the negotiators. They assume Qatar’s good faith and do not see them for what they are: fomenters, aiders, and abettors of terror. Witkoff and Kushner have this notion that Arabs say one thing in public and something else in private (that part is true) and assume that what they say in private is the truth and what they say in public is to quell the Arab street. They are seemingly oblivious to the possibility that what they (the Americans) are being told in private are lies for their consumption, while what the people are inculcated, and what their media proffer, are their true feelings. Children across the Arab world – and even in Palestinian schools in Jerusalem, certainly in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza – are still being taught that Jews are evil and Israel is illegitimate.

It is quite possible that these negotiators are being played and I hope that they consider that possibility. Some would argue that they might be blinded by lucre, their investments and plans for more, in these countries, but I think it is more likely that they see Qatar and Egypt (worse, Turkey) as worthy negotiators and countries instrumental in Gaza’s future because they have no choice but to believe that.

Just like Oslo was founded on willful delusions accepted by the world and thrust on the Israeli people, and just like the Gaza expulsion was sold to the Israel public by the promise of no more wars and deaths in Gaza, we are being sold this dream of imminent peace by assuming the good will of the funders, advocates, and brethren of the genocidal death cult. We fall for this latest delusion at our peril.

Part of the mirage is that peace is moments away, while it is likelier we will find ourselves again in a war of attrition, in which our soldiers and civilians occasionally are attacked and die, and we are urged to show restraint to maintain the “cease fire.” After the Six Day War, from 1968-1970, Israel lost roughly 900 soldiers in that War of Attrition, about as many as died in the Six Day War itself. We must be alert not to fall into this trap again and not pretend that only we have to “cease” while the enemy can still “fire.” And that fire can take the form of attacks on our soldiers, rockets sent our way, bombs placed in our restaurants, shootings at bus stops, and stabbings on our streets – all of which we will be cajoled into downplaying to protect the “cease fire.”

Additionally, we should be wary of another old tactic employed by our enemy and embraced by the West: attributing terror against Israel to “rogue groups” (like Trump just termed the Hamas attack that killed two soldiers from Modiin). This recalls similar excuses from decades past when to protect the PLO or Hezbollah, all terrorist acts were routinely attributed to a “previously unknown group,” which actually was the same old group, and occasionally to “lone wolves.” This verbal legerdemain fooled those who desperately wanted to be fooled. (I suppose we should then also attribute our counterattacks to “rogue forces” not under the control of our government, but I suspect we will not be believed).

We should also be concerned about safeguarding the “process,” diplomatic double talk for accepting our losses, paying a steep price, and doing nothing that will endanger the continuation of talks. There are certain staples in the world of illusion. Words matter more than deeds. Declarations of peace matter more than peace itself. President Trump repeatedly threatens to eradicate Hamas, just as Israel is assured that only Arab forces of which we approve will enter Gaza, but will all that be thrust aside to keep the process going?

There will be tremendous pressure on Israel to compromise on the disarming of Hamas, in whole or in part, and on the complete banishment of Hamas from Gaza; to overlook if all the bodies of our fallen and murdered held in Gaza are not returned; to pretend that violations of the cease fire do not mean there is no cease fire; and to allow nefarious forces such as Qatar and Turkey to gain a foothold in Gaza – Qatar, the longtime host of Hamas, and Turkey, from whose consulate in Jerusalem (which should be closed forthwith) it orchestrates anti-Israel activity through its organs TIKA, KUTAD, Younes Amra, and others. The Turks are especially dangerous, and especially in Jerusalem, where the Hamas leadership previously incarcerated has now been released and resumed its previous support of terror.

The genius of agreement was that, if executed, it fulfills all of Israel’s war aims. The weakness is that those objectives might be conceded under pressure to maintain the illusion that peace has broken out. Israel must insist that the disarming of Hamas and demilitarization of Gaza take place before any money enters Gaza, that voluntary emigration be placed on the table as a viable option that the international community will facilitate, and that a Palestinian state is a nonstarter. 

Witkoff and Kushner believe that all residents of the Middle East want peace with Israel and prosperity for all. I wish it were so. Absent concrete evidence – a good start would a complete halt to funding terror and relocation of all Gazans who do want a better life – we should not believe that.

Once again, the world will expect Israel to endanger itself to accommodate our enemy. The pressure will be intense. Let us ensure that does not happen. 

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Raw Deal

Posted on October 10, 2025 | 4 comments

(First published today at Israelnationalnews.com)

The euphoria in some circles regarding the Trump Gaza deal, matched by the despair in other circles, sidesteps the ambiguity of it all. If the deal frees all our hostages and requires a minor redeployment of forces from parts of Gaza, then a plausible case can be made for it. The Trump achievement would then be compelling Hamas to relinquish its greatest asset without gaining its most cherished objectives. Indeed, Trump subtly signaled this by changing the preamble of his rambling boast to “the first phase” of the deal. That implies there will be other phases, and if no agreement is reached on those other phases, then Trump gets the signing ceremony and adoration he craves, and Israel will have a free hand in pursuing its other war objectives: dismantling Hamas, disarming that genocidal death cult, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a security threat to Israel. The war can then be waged without Israel being encumbered by the presence of hostages.

 That is a best-case scenario.

 The worst-case scenarios are that we are being lied to (it has happened before), that there are secret agreements that have not yet been shared with the public that will undermine our security in the future, or there will be intense international and domestic pressure on Israel’s government to maintain the cease fire even if that guarantees Hamas’ survival and rebuilding. The fog of modern diplomacy is as opaque as the fog of war.

 And yet, even this short-term agreement – a cease fire and partial withdrawal in exchange for the return of our hostages – leaves a bitter taste and reflects poorly on Israeli society – the people and the politicians – because it requires the release of thousands of murderers and terrorists. That has endangered us in the past and will do so again in the future. The problem is that we only rhetorically reckon with the real price we are paying and mollify ourselves by declaiming how “painful” it is. But it cannot be that painful if we keep paying that price.

 When did it become so obvious to the world – so obvious that it is assumed and not worthy of much discussion – that Arabs can gleefully murder Jews and then be released to freedom because their supporters took innocent civilians captive? Why does the world assume that we will engage in such disproportionate and demoralizing barter – one thousand Arabs or more for one Jew? The Entebbe rescue was the last time that Israel could present itself to the world as a nation that does not kowtow to terrorists, and that was almost fifty years ago. Since then, we have become among the world’s most courageous fighters against terror, as well as one of the most craven appeasers of terror in the world. We know it, the enemy knows it, and the enemy knows it so well that he will repeat this tactic when it suits him and then repeat it again.

 It is good that Nazi sympathizers were unaware of this in the early 1960’s or they would have simply kidnapped one hundred Jews and demanded the release of Adolf Eichmann in return.

 It is hard to conceive of another country in the world doing this. The five Taliban leaders released by Obama’s government to win freedom for the US Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl were described as “very dangerous” – but none had ever murdered an American. If our enemies demanded the release of Yigal Amir for whatever reason, would Israelis approve, because they are willing to pay any price? Can anyone imagine a situation in which the US would exchange convicted Trump attempted assassin Ryan Routh under any circumstances? Of course not; only we do that.

 Despite the obscenity, Israel is contemplating the release of hundreds of murderers of Jews – those who killed an Israeli cabinet minister, those who blew up the Sbarro restaurant murdering sixteen people, including seven children, and maiming more than a hundred others, those who butchered the Fogel children, etc.

 What is wrong with us? We console ourselves that this weakness shows our compassion and concern for life but true compassion and concern for life also demands deterring future murders and kidnappings. Instead, we are encouraging it, even incentivizing it. We can pat ourselves on the back that we are not releasing “that guy,” whoever he is, or Nukhba this or that, but eventually we will. We know it, and certainly they know it, so who are we fooling, and why are we inciting our enemy to do whatever it takes to free Barghouti and other assorted terrorists, rapists, murderers, and kidnappers, in the next round? Why play that macabre game when we know we will lose?

 We have repeatedly announced to the world that Jewish blood is cheap. We are among those who cheapen it, if this is the best strategy we have. PM Netanyahu has successes on his ledger but among his most compelling failures is being the prime minister who negotiated the Sinwar deal (freeing 1200 terrorists including the October 7 mastermind in exchange for one soldier) and then freeing thousands more in the deals of the last two years. The Arabs will kidnap and murder again; it is not a question of if but when. The only real question is how many and, of course, who? Who will be the next Jewish victims of Arab terror and kidnapping?

 If Netanyahu once (1987) authored a book entitled, “Terrorism: How the West Can Win,” he could now write the sequel, “Terrorism: How it Got the Better of Israel.” For that alone – the failure to deter this tactic and instead habituate the world to expect this Israeli capitulation to terror – he should be driven from political life. This does not come from any anti-Netanyahu bias; I respect what he has achieved as I can criticize what he has failed to achieve. Note that the Midrash (Breisheet Raba 55:8) teaches that just as hatred distorts a person’s view of reality, so does love. Those who hate whatever Netanyahu does simply because he does it are psychologically similar to those who love whatever Netanyahu does simply because he does it. Neither are thinking that much.

For our own sanity, we must look away from the jubilation in the Arab world we will again engender when these mass murderers go free. Look away, because it is the face of our defeat, our degradation, our disgrace, and no spin cycle can wash that away. We are awarding our enemy one of its primary objectives in attacking us in the first place! And have we ever stopped to consider why would any decent society want to welcome back and celebrate murderers? It is because that segment of Arab society approves and endorses such conduct; that we indulge them is a sad commentary on us.

In this and in too many other areas of statecraft, we ignore the Torah’s directives. One such directive: “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for (unrequited) blood pollutes the land; there will be no expiation for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it” (Bamidbar 35:33). It desecrates G-d’s name to have His land inhabited by murderers of His people who go unpunished for their crimes – and yet we convince ourselves of our wisdom and righteousness.

 Worse, after going to great lengths to destroy the leadership of Hamas, freeing these terrorists provides Hamas with new and immediate leaders, reinvigorated by their time in Israeli prison, emboldened by our fecklessness, and ready to struggle on. We have and will pay a heavy price for that. (It is worth noting that just nine years after they own the release from US custody of five high profile terrorists, the Taliban drove the US from Afghanistan and reclaimed its caliphate.) We have so few current leaders, unfortunately, who are willing to challenge the “freedom for hostages at any price” policy, excepting the leaders of the Religious Zionist parties. (The Haredi parties have compromised their ability to weigh in on the propriety of these matters because of their general rejection of IDF service.) Releasing these murderers is the “any price” we feared – and if this is the best that an “all-right wing” government can accomplish, then do not be surprised if it suffers in the next election, to the detriment of us all. We should remind ourselves that a government of people of faith, grounded in the values of Torah, is more important than a government of “all right-wing.” The fact that this is the best of what secular Israel has to offer – right and left – is sobering.

We see today that in a war between the civilized and the savage, the civilized can never win. They can at most stalemate because at a certain point – sometimes earlier, sometimes later – the denizens of the civilized society turn against the war, preferring the soothing fantasies of peaceniks to the harsh facts of real life. Similarly, in negotiations between the civilized and the savage, the savage will always win because he is unencumbered by any moral notions. Witness this oddity, a first in history: those who claim to be victims of “genocide” have stridently and consistently opposed an end to that “genocide,” and instead are driving a very hard bargain against the alleged perpetrators of the genocide. That is unprecedented; all prior victims of genocide just wanted it to stop, and quickly. It makes one wonder….

Then again, the truthteller is always at a disadvantage versus the liar; the truthteller has but one narrative to offer while the liar has an infinite number of lies that he can promote.

 How can this travesty be averted in the future, especially now that the world and our enemies are conditioned to expect from us this recurring surrender?

–          We must pass a law – declaring it non-justiciable so the Supreme Court does not overturn it – mandating the death penalty for any Arab terrorist murder or attempted murder.

–          We must pass a law banning the exchange of terrorists for innocent hostages except under these conditions:

–          Any government that proposes an exchange of terrorists for innocent hostages is automatically dissolved and new elections must be held within 90 days, just as if the government failed to pass a budget on time. Just as a government that cannot pass a budget is inherently dysfunctional and has lost its right to govern, so too a government that repeatedly submits to terror and thereby cheapens Jewish life is inherently dysfunctional and has no right to govern.

–          The only way new elections would be averted is if a Knesset supermajority of ninety MK’s votes to approve the terrorist for hostage exchange.

For the government in power, this would test their sincerity in pursuing such a deal knowing that it leads to their demise, as it would also test the opposition’s customary ardor in doing anything to topple the government.

And it would be better if it was banned outright. These nauseating swaps are classic examples of stage-one thinking, in which people do not think of consequences beyond the immediate. It is one of the greatest weaknesses of modern man and we succumb to it again and again. And there are too many Jews who are eerily comforted whenever Jews get to be victims, tortured, abused, murdered, and kidnapped, reveling in our helplessness, as if we were still dwelling in the exile without a living Torah and without having returned to G-d’s land. They prefer wallowing in self-pity more than a forcible and conclusive self-defense.

 Those Jews add to our suffering and prolong our agony. Sometimes I fear that they may constitute a majority of Israeli society – I don’t think so but I do fear so. If that is the case, when the next massacre of Jews takes place, G-d forbid, and settlements in Judea and Samaria, or Kfar Saba and environs, are attacked October 7 style, they will be tempted again to blame the government, the army, the politicians, and maybe their grandmothers. It is as if a person continually injects poison into their bloodstream and then blames the doctors for not saving them.

 Perhaps the blame can be found more easily, past and present, if we just look in the mirror. It is why we should focus less on congratulating ourselves for faux victories and diplomatic pretenses and more on appealing to the mercies of the Lord, on whom we will once again rely to save us from our follies.

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Pilgrimage Revival

Posted on October 5, 2025 | Comments Off on Pilgrimage Revival

(First published in Image Magazine – Pilgrimage Revival – IMAGE Magazine)

One of the most familiar and elevating of Jewish rituals in ancient Israel was the thrice-yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the Aliya Laregel. Jews came with their families and offerings to Jerusalem to celebrate Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, “to behold the pleasantness of the Lord and to meditate in His sanctuary” (Tehillim 27:4). It was not only a life-changing experience; it was also life-shaping, life-affirming. It placed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple at the epicenter of every Jew’s consciousness. And it did more than that.

The Aliya Laregel was a time of bonding for all Jews, as Jerusalem was celebrated as “the city that is united together” (Tehillim 122:3), the city “which confers fellowship on all of Israel. And when? Only when the tribes ascend together on the festivals” (Talmud Yerushalmi, Chagigah 3:6). All Jews assembled in Jerusalem: the young and old, the rich and poor, men and women, the various tribes from the north, center, and south of Israel. Despite the throngs of people, “no person ever said, ‘there is no room for me to lodge overnight in Jerusalem’” (Avot 5:5). The great medieval commentator Don Yitzchak Abarbanel noted that, in truth, it is a great miracle, that in an overcrowded setting, no one ever felt uncomfortable.
Even diverse levels of religious observance were muted on the festivals. All Jews were presumed to heed the laws of ritual purity. Everyone could eat other’s food and drink each other’s wine. No Jew could be declared impure, such as with tzara’at, on the festivals. A nation that was divided into tribes – today, into political parties and religious factions – found its commonality on the festivals, with Aliya Laregel. Jerusalem, which we are taught was never divided among the tribes (Washington DC paralleled this practice), reached its spiritual apex on the holidays, as all Jews felt a deep, personal, and intimate connection with the Holy City, their nation’s capital and seat of government, the spiritual center of Jewish life, the place where the Divine presence was intensely experienced.
Imagine if Aliya Laregel could be revived today, not in the strictly halachic sense because the Holy Temple has not yet been rebuilt, but practically. Imagine if Jews from across the world ascended to Jerusalem three times a year on the festivals. The spiritual, political, and psychological benefits would be enormous and overwhelming. We would strengthen the attachment of all Jews to each other, a connection that is often frayed for sundry reasons. Most simply, we would affirm in the eyes of the world (and Jews) the profound bond between the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem, our capital since the time of King David – and a bond that is important to underscore in light of our enemies who seek to delegitimize and disenfranchise the Jewish people from Jerusalem and the land of Israel.
Imagine if all Jews, of all backgrounds and various ethnicities, gathered in Jerusalem on Pesach to re-experience our formative moment as a nation some thirty-three centuries ago, liberated from bondage to become G-d’s chosen people; on Shavuot, to reclaim the Torah as our heritage and birthright; and on Sukkot, to acknowledge and be grateful for G-d’s protective hand that has preserved us until today, after millennia of exile, persecution, and suffering, only to return us to our land, declare independence, and reestablish the Jewish state – a feat without precedent in all of human history.
Together, we would celebrate our origins (Pesach), our mission (Shavuot), and the blessings of Divine Providence (Sukkot).
The Jewish people would be uplifted and transformed. The world – we can continue to imagine – would be galvanized to appreciate the extraordinary return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and to the world stage in all our glory.
Reviving Aliya Laregel – the pilgrimage dimension of the three festivals – is more feasible than we might otherwise think. Many tens of thousands of Jews already come every festival to Jerusalem. The streets are packed, the Old City is alive, the Kotel is buzzing. We already have realized the vision of Zecharia the prophet: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand because of old age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets” (4:4).
That already is the reality – and the renaissance of Aliya Laregel will further unite all Jews and deepen our connection with Jerusalem. Start with one festival. Let’s do it!

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