Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “In Response to Norwegian Labeling, Israel Should Cherry-Pick Its Goals”

Norway has just joined the group of European countries that implemented a 2019 European Union and UN Security Council resolution that establishes an obligation to label products originating in “Israeli settlements”—areas Israel gained control of in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, which are disputed by Palestinians—so consumers can make “informed choices” when shopping.

The EU court’s decision has long been viewed by Israeli authorities and manufacturers as antisemitic and discriminatory since Israel is the only country singled out. Despite the fact that there are more than 200 territorial disputes worldwide, the labeling measure applies only to Israeli goods.

Wine from the wineries in the Golan Heights, oil from the olive groves in Judea and Samaria, and a selection of fruits and vegetables from East Jerusalem exported to stores in Norway are labeled as coming from the “Israeli settlements” or from the “occupied territories.”

It may be necessary to condemn such decisions, but in reality, there is no need to lose any sleep over it. Nothing will happen if Norwegians will not drink Israeli orange juice for breakfast or will not season their salmon with Israeli olive oil. Israel will know how to export and distribute its products all over the world. Also, there are shortages in many countries due to the war in Eastern Europe, so it is not difficult to market products where there is a demand.

Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark already implement labeling practices for Israeli products. They have long been known for their anti-Israel stance. It is due to their nature and common spiritual root with Germany. They are also ideologically closer to the Arab world and lean toward them.

Fighting directly in international organizations like the UN or condemning the decisions of world governments like the government in Oslo is a war without any chance of winning. It’s like fighting windmills. The reason is that behind the labeling of our wines and olives there is a deeper story.

In the depths of their hearts, haters of Israel feel that we hold the key to their good future in our hands. Hatred of Israel is not a transient phenomenon, but a measurable law of nature. When we unite across all conflicts and disagreements, the hatred against us diminishes. On the other hand, when we are separated and emotionally distant from each other, hatred toward us grows in the world, and it strikes us again and again with bursts of antagonism, such as in the form of UN resolutions calling for labeling products from Israel.

The correct spirit that should be created between us is a spirit of connection and unity, an Israeli spirit of mutual guarantee, which is the only force that is able to neutralize the negative forces against us. There are even stronger and greater forces between us that even we are unfamiliar with, and even if the whole world were to slam the door in our faces and lock it with seven locks, by virtue of the spiritual connection between us, we could open it, or rather, induce our great enemies to open the door to us.

We are a nation that carries within it the social idea of ​​”love your neighbor as yourself.” Only a return to this love can eradicate the hatred of the world toward us. It’s not about holding hands and singing in a circle like in kindergarten, but the feeling that should be in our hearts that we are connected in a circle like friends, united like a warm family, united like a nation characterized by reciprocal care and support.

If we act in this way we will become a “light unto nations,” a light that will pass to all the nations of the world, and that will not only bring about a change in the punitive Norwegian labeling, but change in every area in our reality. As it is written, “The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which the sparks of purity would shine upon the whole of the human race the world over.” Rav Yehuda Ashlag, (“The Arvut – Mutual Guarantee”)
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Debunking the Myth that America Loves Israel”

Americans have probably long known this, but for Israelis, the realization that America may not be our best friend and faithful guardian is somewhat of a shocker. Now, for those still in doubt, a new book by Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Maryland Jeffrey Herf, exposes the “extent and intensity of opposition to the Zionist project in the entire top leadership of both the State Department and the Pentagon.”

Herf’s extensive research draws on new research in government, public, and private archives. The research reveals, for example, that on September 13, 1947, two and a half months before the League of Nations’ vote on the establishment of a Jewish and Arab state in Palestine, William Eddy, special assistant to secretary of state by George Marshall, wrote to his superior of his objection to the establishment of a “theocratic, racial Zionist state.” According to Herf, “Eddy found the Zionist project morally objectionable.”

Eddy was far from being a lone voice. The objection to the Zionist project “was shared by Secretary of State Marshall; the under secretary of state, Robert Lovett; the head of the Department’s Near East Division, Loy Henderson; the secretary of defense, James Forrestal; members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, the first director of the Central Intelligence Agency; as well as Kennan and his Policy Planning Staff in the State Department.”

On February 1, 1944, Senators Robert Wagner and Robert Taft introduced a resolution seeking to abrogate the 1939 White Paper issued by the British Mandate authorities in Palestine, due to its anti-Zionist bias. According to Herf, “Critics of the Wagner-Taft Resolution denounced the Zionist project as an effort to establish a theocratic state,” and argued that Wagner and Taft were proposing “to establish a theocratic state based upon religious or racial discrimination.”

I am always in favor of exposing the truth as a first step toward correction. Indeed, America’s attitude toward Israel has always been very pragmatic. It has always sought to do what is best for America and nothing else.

America has no regard for Jewish or Israeli interests or for anyone’s interests but its own. Nor do they care about pressure from Jewish lobbies or the State of Israel; they simply have no regard for it. Whatever is good for America, this is what they will do, and the sooner everyone in Israel realizes it, the better it is for Israel. If at some point, America decides that supporting or protecting Israel does not serve its interests, it will kick ‎ Israel out the window just like that.‎

We should wake up from our naivety that leaders and countries that smile at us do so because they like us. I understand that centuries of persecution and suffering have made us receptive to such gestures, but they are illusions, and like all illusions, they always shatter painfully.

If Israel wants to be accepted by the nations, it must nurture its inner solidarity, and abandon its futile attempts to appease the world. The only thing that the world needs to see in Israel is Israelis striving to unite above all their divisions. This should be the sole interest of the State of Israel. However, unlike America’s interests, Israel’s interests are congruent with the interests of America, and with the interests of the entire world.

Our duty is to be a model of unity, solidarity, and mutual responsibility. Nothing else will legitimize our presence in the land of our fathers, who taught us that “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is the comprehensive law of our nation. Until we strive to set an example of such unity, no one will accept us. But if we learn to embrace one another, the world will embrace us in return.

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And speaking of books, you will find more on the link between Jewish unity and hatred of Israel in my book The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “On the Defendant’s Stand Once More”

A couple of days ago, the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, established by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC ) on May 27, 2021, submitted its first report. To no one’s surprise, the report is completely one-sided. In fact, it did not even pretend to be anything else. Navanethem Pillay, the Commission’s chair, stated bluntly, “The findings and recommendations relevant to the underlying root causes were overwhelmingly directed towards Israel.”

Although accustomed to being the perennial defendant, it seems that the Commission’s statements touched deeper this time. Rather than explain how the Commission is one-sided, apart from its self-explanatory title, I would like to quote a somewhat lengthy but very apropos passage from Israel Hayom’s senior diplomatic commentator, Ariel Kahana: “Russia invaded Ukraine and is committing war crimes there. China locked down cities with tens of millions of people, is menacing Honk Kong, and oppressing the Uyghurs. In Ethiopia, hundreds of thousands more have died in a war no one cares about. In Venezuela, mass protests were forcibly suppressed; and of course, in North Korea, the regime continues to abuse its citizens and threaten its neighbors,” writes Kahana.

“As for these ‘minor’ issues,” he continues, “the international body known as the ‘United Nations Human Rights Council’ either doesn’t address them at all or only partially. When it comes to Israel, on the other hand, the UNHRC has all the time and resources in the world … ‘special investigators’ … and professional, unbiased reports that somehow show that Israel is responsible for every atrocity across the globe. If it weren’t so sad, it would be funny.”

While this report is clearly another step in the campaign to delegitimize Israel, I must say that regrettably, we are complicit in this crime. We are allowing it to happen, even though we can prevent it.

I will say more than that: While every word Kahana wrote is true, the report is correct, as well. By failing to make the necessary changes within Israel, we are making ourselves “responsible for every atrocity across the globe,” as Kahana put it.

I have no wish to blame anyone in the world since, in my opinion, they have no free choice, while we, and only we, do have the choice to do what we must, yet we are not doing it. This is why we are treated as we are.

What is our choice? We have the choice to correct our relations here in Israel, transcend division and hate, and solidify our nation as one unit. We have the choice to place mutual responsibility and solidarity above all other values. We have the choice to practice “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor,” and we also have the choice to practice loving our neighbors as ourselves.

We have the choice, but we are doing none of the above. This is why the world says that our country “feeds resentment and fuels recurrent tensions,” to use the words of the report. We are not doing this by mistreating Palestinians; we are doing this by patronizing and hating one another.

Israel must show the world what it means to be a corrected society, a properly organized country based on mutual responsibility and genuine mutual concern. Then, and only then, will humanity accept us. Until we set such an example, the world’s attitude toward us will keep worsening, to drive us to do what we must.
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You will find more on the link between Jewish unity and hatred of Israel in The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Iraq – Ties with Israel Punishable by Death”

On November 30, 1947, one day after the League of Nations (precursor to the UN) announced the end of the British Mandate in Palestine and the establishment of two states—one for the Arabs and one for the Jews—Palestinian Arabs began to attack Israeli settlements. That was the beginning of Israel’s War of Independence. On May 14, 1948, when the British officially left Palestine, David Ben Gurion announced the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, namely the State of Israel. The very next day, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt (joined by Saudi and Sudanese forces), and Lebanon, declared war on the fledgling state and their armies invaded the country. On July 20, 1949, the final armistice was signed (with Syria), and the war was over. Israel was now a fact. The only country that never signed an armistice with Israel is Iraq.

The War of Independence was not the end of wars for Israel. Nevertheless, following many years of frequent clashes, all the countries, including even hostile Syria, are now in an official state of peace, or at least an armistice with Israel, if not complete normalization of relations. There is no love lost between Israel and its neighbors, as much as Israel would like there to be. However, there has also not been a state of active war with any of them for several decades.

Iraq, however, remains the one exception. To his day, it is in an official state of war with Israel. Recently, it underscored that point when Iraqi lawmakers have passed a bill criminalizing any ‎relations with Israel, including business ties. According to the legislation, violation of this law is ‎punishable by death or life imprisonment.‎ A ‎parliament statement also said the legislation is “a true reflection of the will of the people.”‎

Israel has no border with Iraq, no conflict of interest over water, oil, or waterways, and no religious conflict as Iraq is not particularly fanatical about its Islam. Iraq’s policy toward Israel is driven by one and only motive: hate. It simply hates the fact that Israel exists, and this is all the reasoning it needs.

Hate is a very powerful engine. With hate, you can keep a nation united. Every politician knows it, and Iraq is no exception. Its hatred of Israel keeps it together.

However, we can change Iraq’s attitude toward us if we choose to. We may not know it, but Israel holds the key to the world’s attitude toward it. If we change how we feel about each other, Iraq, and in fact all the countries that hate us, will also change how they feel about us for the better.

Israel is always at the center of attention. Just look at the latest report by the UN Human Rights Council. Other countries may commit the worst atrocities, but only Israel has a mandatory agenda item aimed at condemning Israel in every single commit of the council.

Because we are constantly at the center of attention, the hatred between us makes the world detest and despise us. This is how the world is built, and there is nothing we can do to change it.

Therefore, if we want the world’s attitude toward us to improve, we must improve our attitude toward each other. This is how it has always worked, and it will never change.

Moreover, when we fight among ourselves, the world accuses us of inciting wars throughout the world. When we make peace with one another, the world thinks of us as peacemakers. Until we accept this fact and act accordingly, nothing will improve in the world’s relation toward Israel.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can American and Israeli Jews stay together?“

A recent survey of US and Israeli Jewish millennials conducted by the American Jewish Committee shows that roughly a quarter of the respondents in the US have been forced to hide their Jewishness due to the anti-Israel climate, which also made roughly a quarter of the respondents rethink their connection to Israel.

In times where the anti-Israel climate intensifies, American and Israeli Jews can stay together as a result of us Jews strengthening ourselves. Also, we need to accurately define what being Jewish means, and what it means to be an Israeli in the State of Israel and in today’s world.

A Jew is one who aspires for unity with everyone (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). People who have no aspiration for unity cannot be considered Jews.

If we accept and start living according to the true spiritual meaning of being Jewish, then one’s place of residence would not matter, whether it be Israel, America or the moon. We would all live according to the same values. If you aspire to positively connect with others, then you are a Jew because you want unity with everyone.

Based on the video “Can American and Israeli Jews Stay Together?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Why the World Believes We Killed Shireen Abu Akleh”

On May 24, AP News reported, “Review suggests Israeli fire killed reporter,” but “no final word.” Two days later, CNN echoed AP News, declaring, “Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces.” The Palestinians refuse to allow forensic examination of the slug that killed Abu Akleh, and Israel already stated that no Israeli soldiers were firing any shots at the time of her death, but the world has made up its mind.

Following the reports, and in view of Israel’s stance, a student asked me this: “The most amazing thing to me is that they determined that Israel shot her on purpose, that Israeli soldiers killed a journalist deliberately! I know that an Israeli soldier would never deliberately shoot a civilian because it contradicts everything that every soldier is taught before he is allowed to take the first practice shot,” he protests. “So how can it be that the world is certain that we did it, that Israel deliberately killed a civilian?”

My answer to him was simple: The world wants it to be this way. The whole world wants to adopt this version because this is how it wants it to be. The whole world wants to accuse Israel of more and more crimes until the very existence of the Jewish state is delegitimized.

This is why not only CNN and AP, but almost the entire world media is against Israel and gives false accounts of what is happening. Worse yet, even if Israel could examine the slug that killed Abu Akleh and prove that it did not come from an Israeli gun, no one would believe it. In fact, no one would even bother to read Israel’s report; they would assume that we are lying even before they read the first word.

Trying to confront the Palestinian arguments on their level is a lost cause. We can say whatever we want, but the world will not listen to a single word, and cheer instead for every word that comes from the Palestinians.

If we want legitimacy, we need to take a completely different approach. We will earn the world’s legitimacy to live in the State of Israel when we begin to live like the people of Israel, and stop trying to live like the rest of the world. Subconsciously, this is what the world expects from us.

The world blames us for everything that is bad in this world because they feel, even if they do not admit it to themselves, that we have the power and the obligation to make the world good. And since the world is not good, it is our fault.

Humanity does not believe that anyone has that capability but us, Jews, and does not expect anyone else to help the world emerge from its crises. They expect this only from us, and resent us for not doing so. This is the real reason why antisemitism intensifies every time there is trouble.

The Palestinians are attacking us not because they want the land back, although this is how they feel, but because we are not using the land for the purpose that the world entrusted it in our hands. We are the nation that was told that if we do not unite as one man with one heart, God will turn the mountain on us like a vault. We are the nation that committed to loving others as much as we love ourselves, and we are the nation that was commanded to be the light of the nations, to be a model of unity for the entire world.

We are also the nation that broke our oath time and time again, until we were exiled from the land precisely for hating one another. 75 years ago, the League of Nations gave it back to us, but since we have not built a model society, the world wants to take it back from us.

The press merely reflects the sentiment of the world. If we restore our unity, the world will change its attitude toward us and the reports will change accordingly. Until we do so, we should not expect any positive coverage from the media.

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You will find more on the link between Jewish unity and hatred of Israel in The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord, and Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “No Surprise: UN Promotes Palestinian Sovereignty Plan with Jerusalem as Capital”

Last week, in peculiar proximity to Israel’s Jerusalem Day celebrations, it became known that the United Nations is working intensely with the Palestinian Authority and a Jordanian architectural design company to establish eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state by 2030, drawing up “elaborate plans for the expropriation of Israeli land.”

The plan, built by UN-HABITAT, the United Nations programme for human settlements, the International Peace and Cooperation Center (IPCC), a Palestinian urban planning and development organization, and Arabtech Jardaneh, an engineering and architectural design firm, aims to “see parts of the Oslo Accords appealed.” It also envisions Jerusalem as “the Capital of the State of Palestine, its beating heart, and its foremost metropolitan area,” and has drawn up “elaborate plans for the expropriation of Israeli land for the project.”

While it is unsettling for Israeli ears to hear such news, we should not be surprised. As I have written and stated multiple times, the UN, which represents the nations of the world, does not want us here. It regrets its 1947 decision to divide the land between Jews and Arabs, and would like to see Israel wiped off the map.

We should not be surprised that this is happening since we ourselves are making it happen. There is a very simple formula for the acceptance of the Jewish people among the nations: When we unite with our enemies, they unite against us; when we unite with each other, our enemies unite with us.

Jerusalem should be the spiritual center of the Jewish people. In other words, it should be a powerhouse of unity, a model of solidarity and cohesion for the whole world.

The Hebrew name of Jerusalem is Yerushalayim, from the words Ir Shlema, city of wholeness. This is the place where all the conflicting forces of the world should complement one another and benefit from each other rather than try to destroy one another. Currently, the conflicts are there, but complementarity is nowhere in sight. This is why the city is so full of strife, conflicts, and violence, and why the nations vie over it.

We should not expect peace to prevail in Jerusalem until we make peace among ourselves. We are the ones who have been commanded to unite “as one man with one heart” and thus become “a light to the nations.” We are the ones who gave the world the motto “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and we are the ones who are expected to demonstrate it. This is the meaning of being a light to the nations.

After World War II, the nations decided that we deserved another chance and voted to establish a Jewish state in the historic land of Israel. On the surface, the decision was motivated primarily by the horrors of the Holocaust, but behind it was the expectation that we would also return to our calling.

But we have not returned to our calling to be a light of unity to the nations. Since our return, we have demonstrated division, hatred, collusion with enemies against our own people, and hatred among factions of the Jewish society. We have let down humanity.

The only way we can remain in our historic land is by returning to our historic mission to be a beacon of unity to the world. When we recognize the sovereignty of love for one another over us, the world will recognize our sovereignty over Jerusalem.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Why Advanced Nations Become Antisemitic”

What do the Babylonian Empire, ancient Rome, 13th century England, 15th century Spain, and 20th century Germany have in common? All of them were among the most, if not the most advanced nations of their time, and they all tormented the Jews or altogether eliminated them. Even more interestingly, they all turned on the Jews when they were in their prime. Why are we, the Jewish people, always blamed for all the woes? Why are we attacked, and why do the most vicious attacks come from the most advanced nations? To answer these questions, we need to know our place in the world and our obligation to humanity.

The more chaotic the world becomes, the more it turns against the Jews. Jews are always blamed for things that go wrong. When adversity becomes too much to bear, the frustration erupts against the Jews.

We Jews always feel that it is unjust that we should be blamed for things we did not do, but this does not change the world’s opinion, and for a good reason. Without realizing it, the world is not really accusing us of doing harm, even though some make up various libels. In truth, the world is accusing us of not doing what we should be doing, which is what we did for ourselves when we became a nation: unite our warring hearts.

Especially today, when every problem—even as minor as monkeypox—spreads around the world and becomes a global problem, it is manifestly clear that only worldwide mutual responsibility can help us overcome the world’s problems. In the absence of mutual responsibility, humanity tries various makeshift solutions, which ultimately only aggravate the problems. Everyone knows that if we could only work together, humanity would overcome every problem, but we cannot bring ourselves to cooperate, and so we are forced to improvise and ultimately fail.

The ancient people of Israel, whose founding fathers came from a variety of (often hostile) tribes, had found a way to unite against all odds. They realized that unity was the most important asset for society and made all other values secondary. They taught this to each other, they taught this to their children, who taught their children’s children, until they had become a new nation bound not by blood relations but by the value of unity.

No other nation had been born this way before or since, and no other nation has managed to forge such a bond among its members. The people of Israel, for their part, became responsible for sharing their unique method of building nations that live in peace with one another and among themselves. The early Jews were well aware of their commitment, but since the last exile, two millennia ago, they had forgotten it. The world, however, still remembers that the Jews hold a special secret that they are denying it. This is the reason for the world’s perpetual resentment against the Jews.

Moreover, the more advanced a nation is, the more difficult it is for its people to maintain solidarity, and the more they need the ancient Hebrews’ method for achieving unity. If we examine the legacy of the ancient Jews, we will find that it is not the love of knowledge or the zest for power, but the motto “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Because solidarity is such a rarity in advanced nations, these nations become the most resentful toward Jews and blame them for their troubles.

While this is true of advanced countries, it is also true in general, that when any adversity comes upon a nation, it comes because of one core reason: lack of cohesion, lack of solidarity, or in other words, lack of unity. At that time, the nation’s people feel that it is the Jews who are behind it. They cannot articulate why they think so, but they do nonetheless. However, the fact that they blame us for their adversity necessarily implies that they believe in our ability to prevent it. Indeed, if we taught them how to unite the way our founding fathers had united, they would not fall into their sorry state. This is why they hate us.

Therefore, if we want the world to stop hating us, we must help correct the world by learning how to unite. To do this, we ourselves must unite above our divisions, just as our ancestors did when we first became a nation. Once we achieve this, we will become the example of unity that the world wants to see in us. We can walk in circles for centuries to come, but it will not change the fact that until we unite among us and set an example of unity to the world, the world will remain mired in wars, blame us for them, and beat us up as punishment.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Enemy Within: Antisemitism on Israeli Campus”

Once common only at US and European universities, Israeli higher education institutions have now become the site of heightened political confrontation. Images of heated demonstrations—some of them turned violent—in which Palestinian flags are raised in front of Israeli flags, are commonplace on Israeli campuses. Statements of support for terrorists and incitement chants such as, “Death to Israel” resound with increasing frequency. So, what are we waiting for? Either we begin to move toward Jewish unity, or soon there will be no more land in which to weep.

The commemoration of Nakba Day, the day the Arabs call a “catastrophe” marks the day of Israel’s independence. Its onset last week initiated widespread protests against Israel’s existence. The physical clashes between Jewish and Arab students show that the situation on Israeli territory is deteriorating. At prestigious higher education institutions such as Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, there are increasing tensions between demonstrators who support the Palestinian cause and pro-Israel activists.

Jewish students worry about their safety, they feel threatened and fear that the situation could escalate into terrorist attacks on campus. They see that both the authorities and the administrators of the universities turn a blind eye toward campus antisemitism on the grounds of freedom of expression.

Everything we do in the context of rapprochement between Jews and Arabs, we do wrong. Nothing we have done has brought any good, nor will it bring any good. Unfortunately, we do not learn from our mistakes. So, we try again and again to bring the Jews and Arabs closer together by all possible means: at universities, in the workplace, and in everything at our disposal. In the end, it becomes clearer that we just prepare live ammunition to shoot ourselves in the feet.

Radical opinions that hanker to wipe Israel off the map hide beneath the facade of “intellectual” debates. The problem is simply that Jews and Arabs fail to live together in harmony on Israeli territory, period. Judging by the current circumstances, a point may be reached where we will be forbidden as Jews to enter our own capital, Jerusalem, until eventually we will have no place in the Land of Israel to call our own.

No Arab person who feels that this land belongs to them can support the State of Israel. I understand them. They will use their seats in the Israeli Congress, their ministerial positions in the government, and all other possible means to push us into the sea. I do not think there is any real intention for coexistence, even if such is not openly stated now. We as Jews must begin to open our eyes and realize that we can only rely on ourselves, on our ability to unite to secure our place in Israel.

The problem is that we are not idealistic enough, and instead only think of how to serve ourselves at the expense of others. We do not rise above the private individual ego. The Arabs realize that this weakens us and they take advantage of it. In contrast, they understand that their success depends on how connected they are, on how strong they are together, and therefore they succeed everywhere.

Do not get me wrong. I, too, want the Arab population to do well and live a quiet, normal life, but land for peace will never be the solution. Instead, we must create the conditions to divide the population into two peoples and make it clear that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. How long will we continue our endless debates and realize that this is how it has to be? The problem is that by then, it may be too late.

But to live in the land of Israel, we must earn this right or we had better give up the land. We can triumph over any threat and prevail only when we use the help found in our special Jewish spirit.

Today, the opposite is the case; we are not carrying out our role. We have a fragmented society with all kinds of groups that come from different countries but without a common vision. This checkerboard approach may work in America which is not existentially threatened, but for Israel it could spell a death sentence. Quite simply, Israel will survive and thrive to the extent that Jews are bound together by good relations, reciprocity, and mutual care. The sooner we move in that direction, the better.
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My new article on Linkedin “The World Waits for Israel”

A student of mine told me that thirty years ago, a sheikh from the extremist Palestinian Hamas movement predicted that in 2022, between the month of Ramadan and the month of June, Israel will be destroyed. He asked if I thought there was a chance that this could happen. I told him he can sleep quietly because it won’t, not now. However, if we continue to conduct ourselves as we have been so far, we will not exist for long. The nations voted to establish a Jewish state because deep down, they await and long for our spiritual awakening—to set an example of brotherly love and mutual responsibility. If we live up to their dream, they will rally behind us, including Hamas. If we disappoint them, they will revoke Israel.

Our internal cohesion or lack thereof determines everything that happens, not only among Jews, but in general. Everyone senses this but us. You can often hear antisemites blaming Jews for all the problems in the world. This is a testimony to the fact that they see us as responsible for the well-being of the world. And they are right, since through our own unity or disunity we make the world choose unity or division.

Since the inception of our nation, we have been obligated to serve as “a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison” (Isaiah 42:6-7). We have never been relieved from duty, and the fact that the nations hold us to a higher standard proves that they still expect us to lead by example.

It is no coincidence that the two dominant religions—Christianity and Islam—emerged from Judaism. However, because the example we currently give is one of division and hatred, this is the treatment we get from the world. If we injected a different spirit into the world, the world would be different, and so would the way the world treats the Jews in general, and Israel in particular.

This is why it is written in The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) that after Israel make peace among themselves, “By your merit, there will be peace in the world.” This is also why Rav Kook wrote around the time of World War I, “If we were ruined and the world was ruined with us through unfounded hatred, we will be rebuilt and the world will be rebuilt with us through unfounded love.”

It follows that the world will not like us, or even accept us as long as we do not like one another. However, if we do accept and like one another, the world will embrace us and support us because we will be setting the example it expects to see from us.

Our internal cohesion or lack thereof determines everything that happens, not only among Jews, but in general. Everyone senses this but us. You can often hear antisemites blaming Jews for all the problems in the world. This is a testimony to the fact that they see us as responsible for the well-being of the world. And they are right, since through our own unity or disunity we make the world choose unity or division. If humanity chose unity, there would be no problems anywhere. Since it chooses division, there is no solution to any of our problems, and more of them keep piling up.

Whatever we are, shines on the world. If we are “a light to the nations,” the world shines with us. If we are “a darkness to the nations,” the world darkens with us and hates us for it.

It is all a question of our internal unity. We need not please or appease anyone; we should only try to—after two millennia of hatred and division—love one another, as one man with one heart, just as we were at the moment of the birth of our nation.

This is the solution to the problems of the world, and to the grievances that the world has against us. This is why when seeking solutions to America’s social problems, the most notorious antisemite in American history, Henry Ford, founder of the auto company, recommended looking into the ancient Jewish society, before it fell into unfounded hatred: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, … would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

Indeed, the world waits for Israel.
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