Antisemitism’s wake-up call, we must keep God’s land - opinion

The Jerusalem Post recently hosted a conference called The Second Front emphasizing Jewry’s fight against global antisemitism in addition to the IDF’s military battle. Just like we must triumph over Hamas, we must eradicate antisemitism once and for all, a task that is finally within reach following the atrocities of October 7th.

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu taught, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear a hundred battles. If you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. And, if you are ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you will certainly succumb in every battle.” 

When it comes to antisemitism, since it changes form in every generation and often adopts contradictory characteristics, it’s hard to know this enemy. And because there is so much diversity within the Jewish community, it’s also difficult to know ourselves.

Yet, the Simchat Torah massacre has exposed the Achilles heel of our evil enemy, as well as our own latent power, providing us with the crucial element for total victory on the Second Front.

The most deplorable antisemites capturing headlines today seem impossible to understand but they are, in fact, quite shallow in their transparency. We scratch our heads at the sheer idiocy of the “Queers for Palestine” protesters.

How is it possible that such large numbers of far-left activists are crusading on behalf of a terror group that violently rejects all forms of diversity, equality, and inclusion?

Trying to make sense of the hatred

It seems to make no sense. The jihadists and anarchists might disagree on certain values and tactics, but our antagonists align when it comes to the underlying source of their animosity. They both equally vilify Judeo-Christian society and utterly reject the God of Israel.

Unlike the Nazis, who tried to hide their genocidal intentions, Hamas clerics proudly broadcast their global ideology of Islamic rule over the entire world. While they might rant repeatedly about the “occupation,” this conflict has never been only about Judea and Samaria, Gaza, or even Jerusalem. Radical Islam is at war with Judaism and Christianity, with Israel and America.

JIHAD DOESN’T distinguish between calling for the annihilation of all Jews and Christians, except for the order: first the Saturday people, then the Sunday people. Today, the Islamists are brutalizing the Little Satan, but they have even more heinous plots hatched against the Big Satan, for both nations are built on the common bedrock of Biblical principles and values.

Progressive activists who are storming city streets while screaming “from the River to the Sea” want the West to reject its Judeo-Christian heritage, the very source of our greatness. We must, therefore, recognize Sun Tzu’s second principle and reaffirm our commitment to “know yourself.”

Jews and Christians are two branches of the same tree whose roots are planted firmly in the same soil. We are the only two faith communities that share holy scripture and revere the Bible as the word of God. Despite all our differences, and across all denominations, those who worship the God of Israel recognize a special link between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. It is time for us to get to know ourselves better by delving deeply into the very source of our identity: the Tanakh, the Bible.

Israel’s essence as the one and only Jewish State provides us with the greatest weapon against our adversaries. There are approximately 2.5 billion Christians in the world, just under a third of the global population. Significantly, Bible-believers form a majority in 158 countries, about two-thirds of all the territories in the world.

No other nation on earth has so many potential allies. This worldwide faith community can be mobilized into an iron dome of support for the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Just as not all Jews are pro-Israel, neither are all Christians, but we have a common Biblical history and a shared spiritual destiny. Numerous scriptural passages describe Jews and Gentiles coming together in the days to come to worship the God of Israel in Jerusalem. The Bible is our shared story and the best answer to antisemitism.

For more than a century, Arab terrorism aimed to violently prevent the Jews from returning and settling in the land that God repeatedly promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. While we have legitimate moral and legal claims to this territory, our Biblical title is the most compelling in a world of moral darkness that cares not about facts nor history.

The best strategy for winning today’s war against Hamas and tomorrow’s wars against Hezbollah and Iran is straightforward and simple: the Jewish state must proudly embrace its Jewish identity.

SINCE OCTOBER 7, we have started to see the genesis of a religious revival in Israel. Secular IDF soldiers are asking for and wearing tzitzit (ritual fringe garment) for the first time in their lives and restaurants in Tel Aviv are making their kitchens kosher. Israelis are coming together in unprecedented unity while repenting and turning to God with great faith in a way we have never experienced in all 75 years of statehood. With the world’s attention focused intensely on Israel, our religious revival must spread to the Jewish community in the Diaspora, and then we must turn outwards.

The Jewish people can’t allow another day to go by without dramatically prioritizing faith-based outreach to our Christian allies. Jewish professionals need to find ways to engage their coworkers in conversations about what Israel means to them personally. Rabbis must reach out to the pastors and priests in their own communities and plan joint events in spiritual support for Israel.

When I was a rabbi of one of the 10 synagogues in Central Ohio, I was shocked that no one at the Jewish Federation had any meaningful relationships with any pro-Israel churches, of which there were more than 1,000 in Columbus. It all starts with relationships, and it is time for Jews and Christians to start getting together, carefully, of course, but quickly.

Those who read the Bible know that God did not bring the Jews back to Israel, only to let Hamas drive us out. There could be nothing more sacrilegious than for the Jewish State to divide the Biblical heartland.

The God of justice would never allow rewarding wicked murderers and rapists with additional territory. For Jews and Christians, the challenge of our generation and the battle of our lifetime is to make sure that we Keep God’s Land.

The God to whom Jews and Christians pray made an eternal covenant with Abraham, granting His promised land to His chosen people. Over two billion faithful recognize that over the last century, the God of Israel returned the Jews from the four corners of the earth, and transformed this barren wasteland once known as Palestine into a veritable Garden of Eden through an endless series of miracles.

Our despicable enemies hate what we have accomplished and what our history represents. Only spiritual warfare could unite barbaric Jihadis with ignorant academics in their cursed common cause.

For us to achieve victory on the battlefield and defeat antisemitism once and for all, Israel must unhesitatingly embrace our Biblical heritage.

The writer, a rabbi, is the founder of Israel365 and editor of The Israel Bible, which are both dedicated to strengthening relationships between Jews and Christians in support of Israel. He also serves on the leadership committee of www.KeepGodsLand.com.