WhatsappToday, I used a break between my IDF reserve shifts to go to the Knesset, the symbol of Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland, until the true symbol, the Third Temple, is rebuilt, speedily in our days…
I never stop internalizing how blessed I am to live in this generation, one in which a Jewish boy born in New York City returns to live in our ancestral homeland, walking in and out of the Knesset, and doing whatever he can to help strengthen the Jewish people and the Jewish state of Israel.
I went to the Knesset today to participate in one of the most painful, honest, and clarifying conferences I have ever witnessed, a gathering of bereaved families, parents of hostages, soldiers who fought in Gaza, and Israeli Knesset members and ministers, all confronting the same question: what must Gaza look like at the end of this war if October 7th is never to happen again?
This was not a conference of theory or slogans. It was a conference of blood, loss, courage, and truth.
Avida Becher, a survivor of Kibbutz Be’eri whose wife and son were murdered in front of him in their safe room on October 7th, spoke with moral clarity that cut through every illusion. Gaza, he said, as it existed, is finished. There is no such thing as “innocent” civilians in Gaza. He witnessed the “innocent” Gaza civilians in his own kibbutz Be’eri.
Avida was clear, every child raised in Gaza becomes the next Hamas fighter. Peace does not come from restraint or apologies, it comes only after taking land and asserting sovereignty. We were once the Maccabim, he reminded us. We were expelled from Israel, persecuted in exile, annihilated in the Holocaust. Today, we are back in Israel, but we are still in the process of fully returning to being a people with the full fighting spirit of the Maccabim again.
Itzik Bunzal, father of Amit Bunzal who fell fighting in Gaza, demanded accountability.
Every defense and intelligence official responsible for the failure to protect Israelis on October must face prison. They had the intelligence, yet they ignored it and knowingly held back from escalating it to the government and Prime Minister.
Future leaders in intelligence and security must know that failure to protect Jewish lives has consequences. He warned that internal powers, especially the Supreme Court, have been actively blocking Israel from doing what is necessary to win this war. While soldiers fight and die, the Supreme Court holds sessions on the “rights” of Hamas terrorists in jail. His call was unmistakable: the public must show up en masse to Supreme Court proceedings to confront the immoral system that stops looks after the rights of our horrific enemies more than the right of Israelis to live in safety.
Rav Zarviv, an IDF soldier who fought in Gaza and led the operational shift to using D9 bulldozers instead of the IDF sending soldiers into deadly urban traps, explained what real moral warfare looks like: protecting Jewish lives first over the enemy.
Victory, he said, is only one thing, Gaza rebuilt with Jewish communities. He exposed how the Gazans have survived two years of war without working, through constant UN money transfers straight to their phones. Money that also goes to every single Hamas terrorist, as they are also considered Gazan civilians by the UN. That funding is allowing Hamas to rebuild tunnels and rearm as we speak. That international funding must end.
Trump’s emigration plan must be formalized, coordinated through Mossad and Shin Bet. Jihadi Gazans can live anywhere else, just not in Gaza.
Tzvika Mor, whose son Eitan was kidnapped to Gaza and later released, warned that terror cannot be stopped in Gaza while it is tolerated in Judea and Samaria. Failure to punish terror everywhere guarantees its return everywhere.
Tamar Teshuva, whose brother was murdered at the Nova music festival, stated what too many are afraid to say: there are no innocent civilians in Gaza. Terrorists deserve a death sentence. The justice system itself must be investigated, including the impact of the “Brother in arms” insubordination campaign and the justice system rulings that impacted the armies abilities, failures that enabled October 7th.
The second panel of the conference turned to Israel’s politicians and the future of Gaza.
Minister Orit Struck stated plainly that Gaza’s future depends on Prime Minister Netanyahu telling President Trump one truth: Gaza belongs to the Jewish people. Without saying this, the world will continue pushing solutions built on the lie that it belongs to our genocidal enemy.
In response to when we will see rebuilt Jewish communities in Gaza, she shared a striking statistic. she began her role as Minister of Settling the Land, there were 15 farms in Judea and Samaria; today there are 132. She didn’t build any of them. The people of Israel acted and set up all the farms. She, as the government Minister, followed and assisted.
This may have been the most important sentence of the entire conference, hinting that certain things the government is only able to do after the people acted first in creating pressure and facts on the ground.
Her message was clear, total victory in this war, including resettling Gaza, will not come from waiting for government permission. It will come from the Jewish people making it happen.
MK Simcha Rothman reinforced this point. Everything depends on Am Yisrael. If the people push, Netanyahu will have the backing to support it. Gaza will be under full Israeli sovereignty within ten years.
Upon being asked which will happen first, resettlement of Gaza or legal reform leading to the end of the sitting Supreme Court Justice Amit, he said, resettling Gaza will begin before Supreme Court Justice Amit steps down.
Positive insight into the timeline for resettling Gaza, while highlighting the uphill battle for the much needed judicial reform.
Rothman reminded us how quickly the Left transformed Israel in the 1990s. One day it was illegal for Israeli government officials to speak to representatives of the PLO, Rabin promised never to negotiate leaving the Golan heights, to the next day that the Rabin government illegally spoke to PLO officials, signed the Oslo “peace” deal based on those illegal talks, and begun negotiating leaving the Golan. The Justice system didn’t stop any of those changes. Yet, right wing governments can’t even get appointments approved, with the Justice system stopping every decision or appointment.
This war, he said, has finally exposed to Israelis how the justice system and security establishment work against the people, and the public now understands that change is essential in all of those bureaucratic systems.
Minister Amichai Shikli made it clear: there will be no line separating Gaza from Israel. The foundation for Jewish resettlement already exists, especially in northern Gaza. October 7th happened because of the expulsion from Gush Katif, and the next government will begin rebuilding Jewish communities there.
MK Amit Halevi echoed that within less than ten years Gaza will be under full Israeli control, if the Jewish people chooses it.
Younger generations understand this instinctively. The challenge lies with the
entrenched elites running the bureaucratic systems.
He emphasized the immense international and internal pressures Netanyahu navigated daily during this war and urged gratitude for what has already been achieved, including simply holding 50% of the territory in Gaza. At every step of the way, not only was there international pressure to stop the war, but also tremendous pressure from the career bureaucrats within the IDF, the intelligence services, the justice system, and with the support of mainstream media. It is amazing that Netanyahu was able to achieve what he did against all these forces that were trying to stop us from properly protecting ourselves.
Minister Amichai Eliyahu summarized it succinctly: when the Jewish people truly believes this land is ours, reality will follow.
MK Halevi concluded with perhaps the most sobering insight of the day: this war was fought not only against Hamas, but against internal Israeli bureaucracies — diplomatic, military, intelligence, and judicial — steeped in progressive concepts that led directly to October 7th and to fighting with one hand tied behind our backs. These systems must be rebuilt over years. This is deeper than one leader. It is a national reckoning.
Finally, Itzik Pitusi, whose family was expelled from Gush Katif, including his son who fell fighting there in this war, declared the truth without hesitation: resettling Gaza could begin within hours. Victory is resettlement. Without resettling Gaza, there is no security for Israel.
I left the Knesset further convinced of what I have known since the disastrous Gaza “disengagement”, really expulsion, plan…
The question is not what must be done. We all know there is only one way forward, total Israeli control of Gaza, full Israeli sovereignty, the rebuilding of Jewish communities in Gaza, and the implementation of Trump’s emigration plan for all the jihadi Muslims in Gaza, as well as Judea and Samaria.
The only real question is when the Jewish people will decide to turn this into reality. Stop waiting and begin to act.
History already answered how this happens. Jews did not wait for permission under the British Mandate to build communities, we built them. We did not wait for Israeli government approval to return to Hebron or to establish Alon Moreh, courageous Jews simply went and did it. Reality was created first; recognition from the State came later, after trying to stop it unsuccessfully.
Gaza will be no different.
Rebuilt Jewish communities in Gaza will begin the same way all great Zionist achievements began, with courageous Jews taking responsibility and acting. At first, the army will be sent to remove them. Then again. And again. And eventually, just as always, government permission will follow the facts created on the ground by regular Jews who stop waiting for government permission.
Victory will not come from resolutions, committees, or waiting for the “right moment.” Victory will come from the people. And this time, there is no doubt, the Jewish people in Israel are ready. Oct. 7th awakened a nation. Now, it’s up for us to lead, and for our elected “leaders” to follow!
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
PS – the program ended with Israeli journalist Ayala Hasson, one of the few journalists in mainstream media with integrity, interviewing freed captive Eitan Mor. That talk was phenomenal, for another time…
