WhatsappThe world as we know it is coming apart, yet Israel is extraordinarily well positioned for what comes next, if we remain true to our ancestral, indigenous identity and embrace leadership that puts Jewish strength, sovereignty and independence ahead of international approval.
Unfortunately, much of Israel’s center-left remains trapped in the failed worldview of yesterday: that our future depends on a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia, the supposed leader of the Middle East’s “moderate” Sunni bloc, while maintaining dependence on increasingly progressive Western European governments.
Events unfolding around us are exposing just how dangerous that worldview has become.
Israel does not need to choose between dependence on Riyadh and dependence on Brussels.
Israel needs to choose Israel!
The attacks on Saudi Arabia should be a wake-up call for every Israeli.
Iran-backed Houthis have demonstrated once again the limits of money, sophisticated weaponry and international alliances. Saudi Arabia is enormously wealthy, has purchased some of the most advanced American weapons systems in the world and enjoys powerful strategic relationships. Yet Iranian proxies have been threatening the kingdom and destroying its critical infrastructure, including a recent attack on the airport in Riyadh.
There is an important lesson here for Israel: No alliance can replace national strength and independence.
President Donald Trump wants Israel to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia. If such an agreement advances Israel’s interests, wonderful. We should cooperate with Saudi Arabia wherever our interests overlap.
Meanwhile, voices on the Israeli left continually insist that we must repair relations with progressive Western European governments, accommodate their demands and avoid international isolation at almost any cost.
But look at Europe. France, and now Belgium, is literally on fire, with the government and police totally losing control of the rioting red-green jihadi citizens!
Western European countries are struggling with uncontrolled migration, jihadi extremism, political polarization and the growing cooperation between the radical “progressive”, really regressive, left and jihadi movements. Yet these same governments routinely lecture Israel about how to fight jihadist enemies, how to secure our borders and what concessions we should make to those seeking our destruction.
We should maintain relations with every country interested and listen respectfully to allies.
But we must never outsource our survival to their approval.
That should be one of the great lessons of Oct. 7.
For too long, Israel has allowed international considerations to restrict its freedom of action. We worry about Washington, Brussels, London and Paris. We ask what the international community will permit instead of first asking what Israel needs to survive.
Thankfully, the current Netanyahu government largely put an end to that failed mentality. The alternative offered by Eisenkot, Bennett, Lapid, Liberman and Golan, however, wants to return to it, willing to accommodate international pressure and revive policies Israel should have left behind.
I am not arguing against alliances. Israel should build as many alliances as possible, even with contentious countries like Saudi Arabia, Western Europe and countries throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
But alliances are tools. They are not insurance policies.
A good alliance must strengthen Israel without compromising our sovereignty. A bad alliance would make Israel dependent upon another country’s weapons, political approval or willingness to allow us to defend ourselves.
The moment an alliance gives another government an effective veto over Israel’s ability to eliminate a threat to our people, its price has become dangerously high.
Israel must always retain the ability to say no.
That is sovereignty.
And that is the sovereignty Netanyahu has achieved during this war, gains that Eizenkot, Bennett, Lapid, Liberman and Golan are prepared to walk back.
The globalist left is salivating at the opportunity to reverse the sovereignty gains Netanyahu has secured over the past four years. They are barely hiding it. Their post-Netanyahu agenda has even been branded “Delete Four Years.”
They are telling us exactly what they intend to do: turn back the clock.
This type of alliance applies even to our extraordinary relationship with America.
President Trump has been an exceptionally supportive friend of Israel. America remains our most important international ally. But Trump will not be president forever. American administrations change. Political movements change. Public opinion changes. American interests change.
Israel therefore cannot build its national-security doctrine around who happens to occupy the White House.
Our goal must be precisely the opposite: Build an Israel strong enough to defend itself regardless of who occupies the White House.
That means producing more of our own weapons and ammunition. Strengthening independent air-defense capabilities. Securing energy and food supplies. Developing resilient supply chains. Expanding our economy and technological base.
And, ultimately, ensuring that no foreign government possesses a veto over the Jewish state’s ability to defend the Jewish people.
This requires a psychological change as well.
Too many Israelis still think of Israel as the tiny, vulnerable Jewish state desperately dependent upon powerful countries for protection.
That is no longer who we are.
Israel is a military, intelligence and technological power. Israeli innovations save lives around the world. Our medical technologies improve health care. Our agricultural and water technologies help societies grow food and survive drought. Our cybersecurity protects critical infrastructure. Our defense technologies protect Israeli and allied soldiers and civilians.
Israel is not a burden upon the world.
Israel is an asset to the freedom-loving world.
We need to start conducting our foreign policy with that understanding.
Saudi normalization could be an extraordinary achievement. But Israel should enter such a relationship as a powerful, independent Jewish state pursuing shared interests, not as a country desperately seeking another piece of paper agreeing to diplomatic demands promising regional acceptance.
If Saudi Arabia wants a relationship with Israel, it should be because Israel is strong, technologically advanced, militarily capable and strategically valuable.
That is a far healthier foundation for peace.
If they don’t accept us in that way then no deal.
The same principle applies to Western Europe and America.
It is also the fundamental lesson of the modern Zionist movement of returned Jewish sovereignty.
For 2,000 years, Jews depended upon others for our security. Kings, governments and political movements sometimes protected us, until they didn’t.
Governments changed. Leaders disappeared. Political movements shifted. And suddenly yesterday’s protection was gone.
The establishment of the third Jewish commonwealth, the modern State of Israel in 1948, is different.
The Jewish people returned to our ancestral homeland so that responsibility for Jewish survival would finally return to Jewish hands.
That does not mean isolation. Quite the opposite.
Make friends. Build alliances. Trade widely. Cooperate with Saudi Arabia when our interests coincide. Work with European governments where cooperation benefits us. Strengthen our relationship with America.
But never confuse friendship with dependence.
And never surrender Israel’s freedom to defend itself in exchange for another nation’s promises.
The instability in the Middle East should remind us of that. The turmoil inside Western Europe should remind us of that.
Oct. 7 should have taught it to us forever.
Israel’s future cannot depend upon Riyadh, Paris, Brussels or London.
Ultimately, it cannot even depend upon Washington.
Israel’s future must depend upon Israel.
Our soldiers. Our economy. Our technology. Our weapons. Our faith. Our national strength.
Alliances? Absolutely.
Dependence? Never.
The Jewish people did not return home after 2,000 years to outsource responsibility for Jewish survival again.
Israelis must choose wisely in the upcoming elections. But whatever happens, we will overcome.
We are the Jewish people. Empires have risen and fallen, yet against every law of history, we are still here, back in our ancestral homeland, rebuilding our nation. That is no accident. God is watching over us.
Better days are ahead. Strengthen your faith. Stand proud. We are home. We are back, and this time, we are here to stay.
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
