Medium published my new article “We Will Regret Boris Johnson’s Leaving”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visit an exhibition of destroyed Russian military vehicles and weapons, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

In a spectacular show of accord, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s entire government resigned leaving him in an untenable position which forced him to step down. On the face of it, the conservative party did the ethical thing and ousted its mischievous leader, who made a mockery of the Covid rules that he himself had legislated. However, I think that at least to a point, we should judge rulers more by what they do for their country, and less by how they behave as individuals. In the case of Boris Johnson, I think his leadership was good for the UK, good for America, good for Europe, and good for Israel, and I believe we will regret his departure.

For years, I had been saying that it is in the best interest of the UK to break away from the EU. Finally, after many years of hesitation, Britain found in Johnson the resolute leader to deliver Brexit. When the dust of minor scandals settles, this feat will remain as Johnson’s legacy, and I believe that Britons will hold it in his favor.

Ukraine is already lamenting Johnson’s departure, as he was a staunch supporter of it in its war against Russia, but there are those who say he might still return as head of NATO. I am not “in the know” when it comes to politics, but if this were to happen, it would benefit Europe.

Johnson’s views on how the world should run were advanced and constructive. Now that he is leaving, there is no doubt that the next prime minister will be less assertive and not as strong, and I think it is bad news for the UK and bad news for the world.

The problem is not only the ousting of Boris Johnson. Many people, and not only in the UK, feel disenfranchised and disillusioned with politics. They feel powerless and have lost hope in their ability to influence how their country is run, even though they are ostensibly living in democratic countries. As a result, people are losing interest in politics altogether. In my opinion, the media and politicians have a lot to do with it. They are deliberately confusing the public to the point that regular people, who could otherwise make educated decisions and draw serious and intelligent conclusions about their leaders, find it impossible to understand what is going on and simply give up.

I think that if people want a political system that works in their favor and does not exploit them, they need to focus on themselves rather than expect politicians to be attentive to their needs. If people focus on the connections between them, on enhancing their solidarity and cohesion, that mindset will percolate upwards. Politicians, in the end, need the people’s favorable views. If they see that people appreciate solidarity, they, too, will embrace it.

As I said above, Boris Johnson was good for Israel. Whether or not his successor will continue his policy regarding Israel remains to be seen, but it is clear that whoever comes next will have to reexamine the UK’s relationship with Israel. There is no doubt that Israel will continue to be a point of interest to the UK, as it is a point of interest to the entire world, but the policy of the UK’s next PM remains to be seen.

It is hard to tell what will unfold in the short run, but in the long run, the rule is that countries succeed and prosper when they maintain good relationships with Jews in general, and with Israel in particular, and do not prosper when they turn against Israel and Jews.

In the UK, the Conservative Party has been more favorable toward Israel than the Labour Party. This was particularly evident while Jeremy Corbyn was head of the Labour Party, as the party leaned heavily toward the Palestinians and against Israel. It is therefore only natural for me to hope that in the next general election in the UK, the Conservative Party will win again and the next PM will come from its midst.

Additionally, in recent years, it has become evident that by and large, Conservatives lean toward more traditional views concerning diplomacy, society, and family. The Left — most of whom vote Labour — advocates “progressive” views which increase the social instability and the confusion that people feel, as I mentioned above. For this reason, I believe that regardless of Israel’s interests, it is in the interest of the UK that the Conservative Party remains in power also after the next general election.

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My new article on Linkedin “For Hezbollah – a Tough Hand; for Our Brothers – a Soft Heart”

The Jerusalem Post just reported that Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan has asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the UN Security Council “condemn the Hezbollah drone operation targeting the Karish gas rig in Israel’s territorial waters last week.” While the drones were shut down before they could do any damage, Erdan insisted that the attack “may lead to an escalation in the region and [therefore] the international community must sharply condemn it.”

In my opinion, any condemnation, however strong, will accomplish nothing. Hezbollah has proven time and again that the only language it understands is that of power. Therefore, we should retaliate with deadly force, with missiles aimed not at the drones, but at the places that send them. At the same time, we must enhance our solidarity and cohesion. Only such a two-way movement will solve our security problems.

When I speak of firing missiles, I do not mean exchanging fire, as it happened previously. I mean making them realize that we have had enough, and we are not willing to tolerate their aggression any longer. We have enough conventional military options to make sure this happens, and we should use all of them and not take anyone’s opinion into consideration, just as no other country would hesitate to use all its power against an aggressor who has declared his intention to wipe out the defending country and has repeatedly tried to do so.

On the military level, our problem is not Hezbollah, but our own hesitance against it. Hezbollah has declared war on Israel, not the other way around, so why are we not treating it like an enemy that has declared war on us and says explicitly that it will not rest until we are gone? Why are we not destroying it? Would any other country avoid doing so?

At the same time, we must not neglect our inner fortitude, which comes from our cohesion. This is the key factor in our struggle. When it comes to solidarity, we are our only enemy. Internal division within the people of Israel has always been our biggest woe and our only real enemy, since as long as we are united, no one challenges us.

Currently, our hearts are soft toward our enemies, and tough toward each other. Unless we reverse the direction of our hearts, we will continue to suffer blows and our enemies will grow stronger and more brazen.

Internal unity, therefore, based on solidarity and cohesion within our nation, is our “ultimate weapon,” not because it destroys our enemies, but because it destroys their enmity. If we act decisively on both fronts, military and social, we will succeed and the world will support us. If we neglect either, we will not succeed and the world will condemn us, as it does today, and Hezbollah will keep winning.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Biden Will Not Bring the Messiah, Do Not Build on Him”

The Israeli public prepares for travel disruptions in getting to work or reaching family summer vacation destinations as the July 13th three-day visit of US President Joe Biden nears. Major arteries will be closed to public traffic as a convoy of 80 vehicles will accompany the president and 16,000 local police officers will be deployed.

After Biden lands and walks a red carpet flanked by the military honor guard accompanied by an orchestral welcome, he will begin his planned visit without wasting a moment.

The US president’s main goal for his trip to the Middle East, with visits to Saudi Arabia and other Arab oil-producing countries in the Persian Gulf, is to increase the amount of oil and natural gas they export to the world market in order to lower the high prices that the war in Eastern Europe is causing around the world.

If he succeeds, the White House will be able to rescue Europe from the energy crisis it has been plunged into by the war in Ukraine. This will lead to a drop-in oil and gas prices and will dampen inflation in the U.S. in the run-up to the American midterm elections this November.

To position America as a major player, Biden wants to strengthen relations between Europe and Ukraine and establish closer ties between NATO, Ukraine and other European countries.

The United States must come to grips with the huge impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, while Europe is still grappling with digesting the fact that the war is approaching in giant strides. The United States has no other choice and is obliged to order and deliver what the Russians delivered in the past to Europe, otherwise the continent will not survive the cold winter.

The move is much more complex than it seems. It is not just a matter of coming and signing papers. There is no solution to the conflict in sight, and a prominent figure like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was recently forced to resign, will not be able to act now in favor of Western Europe.

It is difficult to predict how successful President Biden will be in his mission, he is not a strong leader and no one guarantees that he will achieve what is expected from this visit. At first glance, everything may turn out well, but only in the long run will we know to what extent the visit might lead to significant change.

For Israel, Biden’s visit is particularly important in taking a clear stand against Iranian hostilities in the Middle East. Unfortunately, even a regional alliance between Israel and wealthy Saudi Arabia will not be able to stop Iran from using nuclear weapons. No country will be able to stop the Persian madness. Saudi Arabia will certainly benefit from such cooperation, because Israel is strong in arms and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aspires to rise in the international arena.

In the longer term, we will find that peace in the Middle East depends on Israel. Not in terms of military or technological capabilities, not in terms of political relations, but in terms of internal peace ties between us. As Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi in pre-state Israel and one of the most significant figures in the history of the Jewish people, wrote: “In Israel is the secret to the unity of the world” (Orot HaKodesh)
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Medium published my new article “Shinzo Abe — the Assassination of a Good Man for the World and for Israel”

Japan’s national election, the Upper House election, July 10, 2022. Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan, dies after being attacked during a speech in Nara City, Nara Prefecture. The remains of Shinzo Abe. Voters offer flowers. on July 10 2022 in Nara, Japan. (Photo by Kazuki Oishi/Sipa USA)

On Friday, two days before the elections for Japan’s upper house of parliament, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister, was assassinated while making an election speech in support of a local candidate in the city of Nara. I regretted hearing about it. While not all his international initiatives proved successful, and despite lackluster success raising Japan from a prolonged economic slump, Abe was a good leader for Japan, for the world, and for Israel.

Abe had a positive influence on his country; he was positive for Israel and positive for the world. Although it is not immediately evident how he did this, he helped make the world more stable. This is why I regret his passing.

Japan is located (both geographically and politically) in between China, Russia, and America. These giant global forces surrounding Japan place it in a unique position to be a balancing element. Shinzo Abe understood it, felt it, and indeed strove to promote balance.

Although the US tried to pull Japan to its side in its struggle against China, Abe managed to maintain good relations with the US while not getting pulled into a battle that was not good for Japan. The Japanese people do not perceive China as an enemy, and Abe did not want to engender enmity between them.

China, too, has its own aspirations concerning influence in Japan. While not aspiring to impose itself on Japan as it is attempting to do in Taiwan, it still strives for influence. Here, too, Abe managed to run between the raindrops and keep Japan dry.

Abe had positive feelings about Israel. He felt that Israel has a special role in the world arena, and that it was worthwhile to maintain good relations with it. He was not only seeking economic or technological benefits from Japan’s warm relations with Israel; he truly felt that Israel has some sort of a parental role with regard to the world. This was the basis of his respect for Israel, and not a political or economic opportunist attitude.

In fact, leaders are generally more sensitive to the role of Israel in the world. Boris Johnson, too, had a keen sense for Israel’s significance in the world. Because statesmen engage in international relations, they sense that there is a certain code, a connection that ties all nations together, and that Israel plays a key role in that connection.

The death of Shinzo Abe, the forced resignation of Boris Johnson, the chaos in Sri Lanka, the never-ending cycle of elections in Israel, and the plummeting popularity of Joe Biden are only some examples of leadership in disarray, indicating that a global process is underway. I hope these changes lead to a positive change, as many governments and nations will have to decide where they are headed.

The world has to change. Humanity must ask itself where it wants to go. There are many points of conflict in the world, and we have to provide an inclusive answer to them.

World leaders, as well as nations, must understand that the world cannot continue as it has thus far, with a constant threat of war and instability. We must all understand that the world needs better connections, healthier relationships between nations and people. This is where we should aspire.

For now, this transformation is happening through the falling of leaders. This is the milder version of the change. A more aggressive version will be the falling of bombs rather than the falling of leaders, as is happening in eastern Europe.

If we can harness the global political turmoil to set off a profound transformation in our relationships, we will all benefit from the events. If we avoid making the changes now, we will be painfully forced to make them later. Either way, the world requires correction.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Curse of Re-elections”

“As long as the laws of society are not satisfactory to each and every individual in the state, and ‎leave a minority that is dissatisfied with the government of the state, that minority conspires ‎under the government of the state and seeks to overthrow it,” wrote Baal HaSulam back in the 1930s in his essay, “Peace in the World.” To this he added that if the power of the losing faction “is not sufficient to fight the government of the state face to face, it will seek to ‎overthrow it indirectly, such as by inciting countries against each other and bringing them to ‎war, for it is natural that at wartime there will be many more dissatisfied people with whom they ‎will have hope to achieve the critical mass to overthrow the government of the state and ‎establish a new leadership that is convenient for them.”

It seems as though these words were written yesterday, not ninety years ago. What is worse, the pertinence of Baal HaSulam’s words proves that we have not learned much.

We established the Jewish state based on laws we borrowed from the British Mandate that ruled here before us, with some leftovers from the rules of the Ottoman Empire that ruled here before the British. These are not the laws of the Israeli nation, but laws of the nations of the world. This incongruity wore down the legitimacy of the judicial structure to such an extent that lawmakers and laypeople alike are leaning increasingly toward following their own interpretations of the law.

Without a common goal and a collectively adopted constitution, we will never have a stable government and a solid Jewish state. Our common law should be the law that was the basis of Jewish peoplehood: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Even when the people of Israel could not practice it, they always strove for it. If they do not, they are not regarded as Israel.

Currently, because no effort, or even aspiration to unite exists within the people of Israel living in the State of Israel, we are not Israel. What are we then? We are a collective of persecuted migrants and refugees, many of whom feel that the country they live in does not belong to them and dream of the moment they can return to the country from which they or their parents were chased away.

Herzl’s vision of forming a safe haven for Jews is not enough. If this is the only reason for our gathering here, we will not be able to form a cohesive and stable society. The obstinate, opinionated nature of our people will soon take over, and division and hostility will develop. This is what is happening to Israel today. As a result, the political parties have splintered and become fragmented, and a succession of elections ensued.

If we want to stabilize the Israeli society and prevent its disintegration, we need to fall in line behind a single goal that we value more than our own opinion. Also, the goal of our country should not be to save the Jews, but to save the world from division and conflict.

The reason Israel is always at the center of attention, especially in times of conflict, is that the world looks to Israel for example. Since the inception of our people, we have been tasked with serving as a model of unity. Our ancestors assembled from numerous tribes, clans, and countries, and pledged to love each other more than themselves. This is unheard of by today’s ostensibly civilized standards. In the ancient world, this was utterly inconceivable.

Nevertheless, our ancestors attempted it and succeeded. Moreover, they proved that when they unite, they triumph and overpower any nation that challenges them. They proved that military and economic success depend, in the case of the people of Israel, solely on their unity.

Alternatively, when they became divided and hostile toward each other, they demonstrated weakness, and foreign nations overpowered them and exiled them. Our unique nation, therefore, became the first nation that could choose its own fate. When it chose unity, it succeeded; when it chose division, it failed. In a sense, our nation was a proof of concept, a “pilot,” as historian Paul Johnson called us. We proved that foreigners can bond in peace and love if they value unity more than their own culture and tradition.

The modern-day curse of endless elections reflects a decline in the level of the unity of our people in the State of Israel. Instead of lining up around the tenet of unity above all other considerations, each party promotes its own agenda and claims that it will lead Israel to success. Yet, they are all wrong because if their ideas do not require national unity as a precondition, it makes no difference what agenda they support; it is condemned to failure.

Only when we realize our unity, above all differences, will the curse of perpetual elections be removed. Moreover, only when we realize this will the danger of another cataclysm to the Jewish people be averted, as Israel becomes what Israel is meant to be: “a light [of unity] to the nations.”

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Medium published my new article “The G7 vs. China”

In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping, launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The idea was very similar to that of the game of Monopoly: whoever owns more property, has more power and gains more wealth. Without much fanfare, China began to finance massive infrastructure projects and buy essential assets in countries around the world. Any country that wanted to benefit from China’s wealth and construction expertise had to sign an agreement that admitted it to the BRI. As of March this year, a whopping 147 countries have joined the initiative. In this way, without firing a single shot, China has carried out a successful worldwide invasion. Now, finally, the powers of the West are waking up.

The invasion is not limited to countries that have signed the BRI agreement. Chinese companies have bought or operate countless strategic assets in the US, for example. Chinese companies are also building Israel’s two new seaports (out of three that exist), Israel’s light rail, and a Chinese company owns Tnuva, Israel’s largest food manufacturer. What the Chinese realized long ago, and the West did not, is that investment means influence, and influence means conquest.

Now the West has finally woke up. That is, the US has realized that China is simply buying up the world. The Chinese offered the US to join their initiative, but the US would never agree to join China on China’s terms.

To counter China’s economic foray, the US recently brought together the seven most economically powerful western countries, known as the G7, to launch a counter-initiative that will hopefully impede the uninterrupted advancement of the BRI. The G7, consisting of the US, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, the UK, and Italy (which also signed the BRI agreement), have pledged $600 billion to counter China’s initiative. Regrettably for the G7, however, that sum is probably too little, too late.

China has gone a long way since the days when it was a closed, isolated country. First, it began to manufacture for the world. Subsequently, it began to export not only goods, but also expertise, labor, and wealth. If, previously, they admitted other countries into China by building factories that manufactured for European and American brands, now they are also penetrating those same countries through their wealth and expertise. The roles have been reversed.

For the moment, everyone seems content. Signatories to the BRI enjoy China’s wealth and building power, and do not have to pay for essential projects that would have been too costly for them to carry out. In return, China is gaining footholds in countries around the world, effectively buying their support.

Ultimately, however, human nature will win and only the landlord, i.e., China, will reap the profits. In the case of Tnuva, for example, they will allegorically take the food and leave Israel with the leftovers.

However, evolution never stops. China may think it can take over the world through economic power, but its downfall is bound to come. In the next phase of China’s evolution, forces will rise from within the country and disintegrate the Chinese society from within. It will take years, perhaps decades, but the process is certain to happen. When disintegration begins, China will decline.

China cannot remain strong indefinitely because it is relying on one force — socialism. If you rely on one force, any force, and do not balance it with an equal measure of its counter force, you disrupt the natural balance that exists in reality, and reality eventually overwhelms you. The only way to remain strong and successful is by employing contradictory forces equally, and creating a union that does not suppress any of them or gives precedence to any one force over the other. Then, when you have a balanced system, longevity is guaranteed.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Israelis Need Only One Passport”

There is a strange phenomenon that is probably unique to Israelis, or perhaps to Jews: purchasing an alternative citizenship. For some years, it was possible to legally purchase a Portuguese citizenship and get an EU passport, if you met certain conditions related to your ancestry. Now, a similar deal is being offered to people with roots in Germany. I can understand why after two millennia of persecution, Israelis are inclined to secure an alternative location in case trouble finds them here. However, I believe, and history is my witness, that hiding will not help us escape trouble. Our only protection is internal unity. No one has ever defeated, or even challenged us when we were united.

Therefore, I am not looking to buy an alternative passport or prepare a safe haven for myself, even though I have family outside of Israel. Instead, I am trying to do what I think I, and all the Israelis should do.

The more chaotic the world becomes, and it is quickly becoming very chaotic, the more the Jews will be accused of causing it. It is not because we are deliberately causing chaos, but because we are not setting an example of unity, we are blamed for the world’s inability to establish cohesive societies.

The reason for the global rise in antisemitism is not Israel’s negative conduct toward our neighbors, even though this is the world’s grievance against Israel. The real, albeit elusive reason for the intensifying antisemitism is the worsening division in the world, which it pins on Israel.

There is a simple reason for this: Whenever there is division, it is blamed on the Jews since our role is to set an example of solidarity and mutual responsibility, the tenets around which our nation was born, and the values we were tasked with exemplifying. Therefore, if Israel fails to fulfill its calling, the world condemns it.

In other words, the world hates us not for our actions, but for our inaction, for our refusal to practice and display internal unity. As long as we do not strive for solidarity and cohesion, we will not find peace or security anywhere, not in Israel, not in Europe, not in America, and not in Africa. Wherever we go, people will blame us for their wars and for their woes.

Our only safety net, therefore, is our unity. When we are united, we pacify the world’s wars and win humanity’s gratitude and favor. When we are divided, wars and conflicts ensue, and the world hates us for it and seeks to punish us.
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My article in Newsmax: “Integral Solution Needed to Address Root Cause of US Violence”

America hardly recuperates from the shock of a mass shooting in a certain city when a new incident takes place somewhere else. Seven people were killed and more than 30 wounded in the shooting perpetrated by a 21-year-old suspect at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

Gun violence in America has become no less than a social epidemic, and as with any other illness of such magnitude it is important to find the right treatment from the root cause of the problem.

Jacki Sundheim, a senior staffer at a local synagogue and Nicolas Toledo, a grandfather from Mexico, were among the fatal victims of the senseless parade attack by a suspect who, according to the police, acquired the guns legally. Undoubtedly, it is important to keep guns away from unstable, dangerous individuals, but the gun violence epidemic goes beyond laws and regulations since those willing to cause harm will always find ways to achieve their sinister goals.

In order to offer a true solution, we have to go beyond the symptoms of the problem. Human beings are social creatures and individuals cannot be separated from their culture when we are trying to understand a behavior that repeats itself. It is true that in America it is easy to purchase firearms, but what pulls the trigger is the growing egoism and division in American society.

In such a social climate of “every man for himself,” tension and frustration accumulate daily until people with violent tendencies explode in cruel ways. In their unbalanced minds a mass shooting is a way to “fix” the system and compensate for their fears and insecurities.

Lack of meaning and purpose in life are also key triggers. More and more people have no idea what they live for, and life with no meaning and purpose makes human life lose its importance and preciousness. Mass shooters feel that human life is cheap and worthless, and the more this lack of direction spreads throughout society today, the more mass shooters surface.

The remedy to this problem is education. America must treat the deep cultural and social conditioning that breeds these events by initiating a massive federal educational program to infuse people from an early age with new examples, norms and values. They should be regularly trained to cooperate, build trust, as well as develop social sensitivity to each other through workshops, discussion groups and collaborative projects.

Education does not refer only to formal systems for providing and acquiring knowledge. The aim of education should not be to simply create a workforce of trained individuals. Education must now focus on cultivating the human being. This means building a value system within a person and an adequate social environment around a person to balance the human ego and direct it toward positive realization.

Such a state will never come about by simply drafting new laws, but only through a change in the way human nature operates in society. Instead of relating to each other through egoistic lenses, we need to learn and develop new supportive, encouraging, understanding attitudes to every person.

In order to reach that level of positive change, society needs to forge meaningful and healthy connections through a new socio-educational shift, which will become doable and realistic when America realizes that it has had enough suffering and it is time for an integral solution.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Curse of Re-elections”

“As long as the laws of society are not satisfactory to each and every individual in the state, and ‎leave a minority that is dissatisfied with the government of the state, that minority conspires ‎under the government of the state and seeks to overthrow it,” wrote Baal HaSulam back in the 1930s in his essay, “Peace in the World.” To this he added that if the power of the losing faction “is not sufficient to fight the government of the state face to face, it will seek to ‎overthrow it indirectly, such as by inciting countries against each other and bringing them to ‎war, for it is natural that at wartime there will be many more dissatisfied people with whom they ‎will have hope to achieve the critical mass to overthrow the government of the state and ‎establish a new leadership that is convenient for them.”

It seems as though these words were written yesterday, not ninety years ago. What is worse, the pertinence of Baal HaSulam’s words proves that we have not learned much.

We established the Jewish state based on laws we borrowed from the British Mandate that ruled here before us, with some leftovers from the rules of the Ottoman Empire that ruled here before the British. These are not the laws of the Israeli nation, but laws of the nations of the world. This incongruity wore down the legitimacy of the judicial structure to such an extent that lawmakers and laypeople alike are leaning increasingly toward following their own interpretations of the law.

Without a common goal and a collectively adopted constitution, we will never have a stable government and a solid Jewish state. Our common law should be the law that was the basis of Jewish peoplehood: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Even when the people of Israel could not practice it, they always strove for it. If they do not, they are not regarded as Israel.

Currently, because no effort, or even aspiration to unite exists within the people of Israel living in the State of Israel, we are not Israel. What are we then? We are a collective of persecuted migrants and refugees, many of whom feel that the country they live in does not belong to them and dream of the moment they can return to the country from which they or their parents were chased away.

Herzl’s vision of forming a safe haven for Jews is not enough. If this is the only reason for our gathering here, we will not be able to form a cohesive and stable society. The obstinate, opinionated nature of our people will soon take over, and division and hostility will develop. This is what is happening to Israel today. As a result, the political parties have splintered and become fragmented, and a succession of elections ensued.

If we want to stabilize the Israeli society and prevent its disintegration, we need to fall in line behind a single goal that we value more than our own opinion. Also, the goal of our country should not be to save the Jews, but to save the world from division and conflict.

The reason Israel is always at the center of attention, especially in times of conflict, is that the world looks to Israel for example. Since the inception of our people, we have been tasked with serving as a model of unity. Our ancestors assembled from numerous tribes, clans, and countries, and pledged to love each other more than themselves. This is unheard of by today’s ostensibly civilized standards. In the ancient world, this was utterly inconceivable.

Nevertheless, our ancestors attempted it and succeeded. Moreover, they proved that when they unite, they triumph and overpower any nation that challenges them. They proved that military and economic success depend, in the case of the people of Israel, solely on their unity.

Alternatively, when they became divided and hostile toward each other, they demonstrated weakness, and foreign nations overpowered them and exiled them. Our unique nation, therefore, became the first nation that could choose its own fate. When it chose unity, it succeeded; when it chose division, it failed. In a sense, our nation was a proof of concept, a “pilot,” as historian Paul Johnson called us. We proved that foreigners can bond in peace and love if they value unity more than their own culture and tradition.

The modern-day curse of endless elections reflects a decline in the level of the unity of our people in the State of Israel. Instead of lining up around the tenet of unity above all other considerations, each party promotes its own agenda and claims that it will lead Israel to success. Yet, they are all wrong because if their ideas do not require national unity as a precondition, it makes no difference what agenda they support; it is condemned to failure.

Only when we realize our unity, above all differences, will the curse of perpetual elections be removed. Moreover, only when we realize this will the danger of another cataclysm to the Jewish people be averted, as Israel becomes what Israel is meant to be: “a light [of unity] to the nations.”
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My new article on Linkedin “At Highland Park, the Murderer Went for Jews”

Four of the seven victims of the Highland Park mass shooting were Jewish, and probably many of the dozens who were injured. According to a JTA report, “Although local authorities have not yet said whether they believe the shooter’s motivation was antisemitic, [a] Highland Park rabbi reported that the suspect, whom authorities said had pre-planned his attack for weeks, had previously visited a synagogue: his own.” Moreover, “Yosef Schanowitz, the rabbi of the Highland Park Chabad, told the Orthodox news site Anash that he recognized the alleged shooter, who … had been turned away from Chabad by its armed security guard during a Passover Seder this year.” About half of Highland Park’s residents are Jewish; this mass murder did not aim at random victims; the murderer went for Jews.

I have said it more times than I can count, but no one seems to listen: The Jews in the US are in danger, mortal danger. The danger is only increasing, and at some point, these warning signs will explode, as has always happened to the Jews throughout the bloody history of our people.

Nothing will change that trajectory unless American Jews do what they must. They will suffer such excruciating torments that will force them to change their ways. Currently, if you speak with American Jews, they still feel on the top of the world. They feel entitled and superior. It is bound to hurt them; pride is the bane that has always hurt the Jews, in the end.

If American Jewry wants to avoid appearing in Simon Rawidowicz’s next edition of Israel—The Ever-Dying People, they must reevaluate everything. First and foremost, they must realign themselves with the basic Jewish tenets of unity and solidarity.

By unity, I am not referring to sympathy with Israel’s enemies, thereby displaying their aversion toward the State of Israel. What I mean is placing unity among Jews above all other values and establishing it among all factions, views, denominations, and opinions in our nation.

Jewish unity is the cure for antisemitism and the road to safety not because it makes Jews strong, but because it is the calling of our people to show the world that it is possible to unite without encroaching on people who think or feel differently, but simply by placing the value of unity above all other values. This is what the world expects from all Jews, whether or not it articulates it in explicit words.

Our nation was born when our ancestors gave up their pride and united “as one man with one heart.” Since then, it has been our duty to repeat our ancestors’ feat in every generation. When we succeed, we thrive. When we fail, we suffer.

Currently, American Jews are failing miserably in the test of unity. Admittedly, Israelis are failing, too, but in this piece, I am referring to the situation in America.

Either way, both communities will pay heavily for their division, and will have to choose between unity and success or division and destruction. This, in fact, has been our choice throughout the generations.*

* For more on the link between Jewish unity and antisemitism, read my publications 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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