1. Burning Chametz
The war that began on October 7 is not just against the cruel criminals who lost any right to life: We are fighting against the existence of evil in the world. Those who slice open a pregnant woman's belly and behead the baby she is carrying should be cleansed from this world. A society that breeds a creature who calls his mother in Gaza using a phone he has stolen from a Jewish woman he has just murdered and boasts, "I just killed 10 Jews," and a society that produces a mother who then gives her blessing to that son is an accomplice to genocide, and it too should be fought. A shipping container full of dead Jewish babies, some of them beheaded, others with their limbs chopped off – the work of the Hamas' "heroes" – there is no way in the world that such a society can continue to exist in this way on our borders.
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The elimination of Hamas is thus the eradication of evil from the world. It is a moral duty, just as humanity had a moral duty to annihilate Nazi Germany or to wipe out ISIS. The world has lost its moral compass after many years in which language and thought have been policed by political correctness – we have a duty to return to the supreme value: preserving our lives. We must destroy the places of Hamas in Gaza together with the tens of thousands of the new Nazis who inhabit it. Because it is from Zion that this new Torah shall go forth to the world.
2. War and the Messiah
Don't be afraid of messianism. In the bible, the messiah is anointed in oil to take up a political or religious role. Messianism is the desire for a better world in which there will be no war and where we will not suffer from evil, a world where the wolf will live with the lamb. "In all of My sacred mount nothing evil or vile shall be done; For the land shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). Our sages teach us that the difference between their time (under the rule of a foreign people) to the time of the Messiah is "servitude to foreign kingdoms." In other words, political independence.
Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook opened his essay "Orot – Lights of War" written during World War I, as follows: "When there is a great war in the world, the power of the Messiah awakens. The time of pruning of tyrants, the wicked are being eliminated from the world and it fills with a fragrant scent. The song of the turtledove is heard in our land…. And afterwards, with the cessation of war, the world is refreshed with a new spirit, and the footsteps of the Messiah become even more apparent."
Indeed, it was toward the end of the war that the Balfour Declaration was published, and after the war, the victorious powers convened in Sanremo on the Italian riviera where Great Britain was awarded a mandate over the Land of Israel to bring about the realization of the Balfour Declaration on the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.
3. No justification for gas chambers
Let's talk about public diplomacy. We don't have to apologize anymore. Our main argument is that we will no longer allow anyone in the world to harm Jews. Period. Without ifs and buts and without trying to find the reasons for the rage of those who would harm us. We will not participate in this sickening game, which consists of an attempt to understand evil. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' statement that the massacre committed by Hamas "did not happen in a vacuum" but was connected to the "occupation" is an example of this moral relativism. Guterres must have felt righteous and moral in being able to understand "both sides": the Jewish state and Nazi Germany. Those looking to understand the psycho-pathology of the Gazans are like those who look for reasons why the Nazis gassed Jews. In the wake of October 7, the game is over: Anyone who harms Jews or Israeli citizens can have only one fate – to leave this world. A society that murders 1,400 Israelis in all sorts of cruel ways and holds hundreds of hostages does not deserve a supply of gas and electricity, and if they want hospitals they should go out of their place instead of protecting Hamas' terrorists as human shields. No assistance whatsoever. They should be under complete siege until the hostages are released.
This is not only Israel's war, but also a war for the whole free world. Israel is the forward outpost in the defense of the free world. We are not asking for anyone's permission to exist, nor are we asking for legitimacy to defend ourselves. The statements by foreign leaders who identify with us that they support "Israel's right to exist" and "its right to defend itself" should be greeted with a forgiving nod rather than an expression of gratitude. What these statements mean is that they have not internalized that this war is not only ours but also theirs! We will be thankful when those leaders who wish to show their support speak out against absolute evil, support our war against the new Nazis, and take it upon themselves to act in a similar manner.
4. The answer: Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a solidarity visit last week. I would have said to her: "Madam Prime Minister, Italy does not help us with weapons or with its military, but at this time you can do something historic that will resonate around the world, precisely because of Italy's place in the region where the Roman Empire once ruled: recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announce the transfer of the Italian embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital of Israel. That would correct a moral injustice and encourage the spirit of our people in our time of need." Such an action would clarify where the world stands regarding the moral war against evil, and it would highlight Israel's central importance as the forward post in this struggle. In April 1920, at the Sanremo Conference in Italy, the Balfour Declaration was enshrined in international law; now we must come full circle: Strengthening Jerusalem's status as Israel's historic capital would be a fitting response to the attempted genocide against the Jews.
5. New political constellations
Political perceptions in Israel are also about to change; few now talk seriously about a Palestinian state. The complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the uprooting of Jewish settlements, and even the transfer of graves taught us that where there are no Jews, their murderers will prosper. No sane person would agree to allow a society that sees the genocide perpetrated by Hamas and the residents of Gaza against Jews as normal to establish an independent political entity on the mountain range that looks over Israel's large population centers. Were we to do so, we would see in Judea and Samaria what happened in Gaza, multiplied a hundred-fold. God forbid. In light of the horrors that we experienced and the threats in the north, it is clear that this may be our lot in the heart of the country. The Jewish settlements in Samaria and Judea are the military and moral security belt of the center of the country. Without them, what happened in Kfar Aza could, God forbid, happen in Kfar Saba. And thus, we should be thinking of new political constellations to replace the traditional left and right divide.
6. Lot is kidnapped and Abraham goes to war
The war began at the same time as we began to read our foundational book, "Genesis." If the first two portions, Genesis and Noah (in fact, the first eleven chapters), are "pre-history", in the next portion Lech Lecha we enter into our history: Abraham is commanded to go from his country, his place of birth and his father's home to the land that God will show him (Genesis 12). At one point, a war breaks out between kings from the northeast and local kings in Canaan, and Lot, his nephew, is kidnapped and held prisoner with his family. When Abraham finds out, he does not hesitate and sends the people of his household to war: "At night, he and his servants deployed against them and defeated them; and he pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He brought back all the possessions; he also brought back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, and the women and the rest of the people" (Genesis 14:15-16). The deeds of the forefathers are signs for their descendants.
Later in Genesis (chapter 15), we are told of the "Covenant Between the Pieces" in which the historiosophical formula of exile and redemption appears, including the promise that the exile will not be final, "and they shall return here in the fourth generation" (Genesis 15:16) – at the end of the journey, we will return home. We will always return, even if European or Middle Eastern Nazis fight the historical process of the return of the Jews to Zion. At the end of Abraham's vision of the future of the nation he founded, we are assured: "On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram: 'To your offspring, I assign this land…'" (ibid:18). Let the world hear.
