The 18th century produced countless geniuses who changed how we think in so many ways. Not least among them was François-Marie Arouet, better known by his pen name Voltaire. Like countless other savants in that era, he excelled at multiple disciplines – including history, philosophy, politics, and literature. 

But most of all, Voltaire is remembered for his sharp wit. One of his most famous quips was about the Holy Roman Empire, the loose confederation of principalities and dukedoms in what later became Germany. “This agglomeration which calls itself the Holy Roman Empire,” he said, “is in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”

Voltaire had little patience for pomposity and pretension, and his description of the Holy Roman Empire — a sprawling, lumbering political entity that dominated Central Europe for centuries — cut straight to the bone. 

It wasn’t holy — it was made up of competing Christian denominations, and the Church had long since lost control over its many local rulers. It wasn’t Roman — the connection to ancient Rome was tenuous at best, a grandiose title masking the reality of a Germanic confederation. And it certainly wasn’t an empire — it was a disorganized patchwork of feuding duchies and city-states that barely hung together under a distant elected emperor. 

Which is why Voltaire’s line is so memorable: it captured, in one withering sentence, the absurdity of dressing up a dysfunctional, fragmented mess as something it plainly was not.

Which brings us to the present day, and the latest diplomatic fad sweeping Western capitals: recognition of a Palestinian state. In the past few weeks alone, Britain, France, Australia, and Canada have all rushed to declare that “Palestine” should now be treated as if it is a real, functioning country.

But here’s the problem: it isn’t. As Voltaire might have said, there is no state — and frankly, there is no Palestine. According to the 1933 Montevideo Convention, a state must have four things: defined borders, a functioning government, a coherent judiciary and military, and a permanent population. Palestine has none of them. What it does have is a fractured leadership divided between a corrupt, un-elected Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and a genocidal terror regime in Gaza.

And yet, astonishingly, rather than confronting the nightmare reality that Palestinian national aspirations are being driven by an absolutist bunch of thugs — a murderous death cult that unleashed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — world leaders have chosen to reward them by indulging in the fantasy of Palestinian statehood. And make no mistake: when the Palestinians say “Palestine,” they mean all of Israel, not just Gaza and the West Bank.

Incredibly, October 7th has become a kind of twisted diplomatic success for Hamas and its international cheerleaders. A bloody terrorist rampage has been transformed into a Willy Wonka golden ticket at the United Nations, while foolish Western governments cower in the face of Islamic minorities and progressive loudmouths in their own countries. It is the international equivalent of applauding an arsonist by handing him the keys to the fire station — and then wondering why the fires keep spreading.

History offers us plenty of examples of phantom “states” that were recognized — or kind of recognized — despite having none of the attributes of genuine statehood. Take Biafra, for instance. In 1967, the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria declared independence. For three brutal years, Biafra functioned as a shadow state, fighting a bloody war with Nigeria that left millions dead. 

A handful of countries recognized Biafra, but most of the world did not. And even those who toyed with the idea of recognition knew, deep down — or maybe not so deep down — that Biafra was never going to be a viable state. When it collapsed in 1970, the recognition evaporated as if it had never been offered.

Then there’s Transnistria — a sliver of land wedged between Moldova and Ukraine, which declared independence in 1990. It’s thirty five years later, and Transnistria still parades itself as a state: it has its own flag, an army, border controls, postage stamps, and even its own currency. 

In fact, on paper, it looks far more like a real state than “Palestine” ever has. And yet — crucially — no one recognizes it. Because the world understands that Transnistria is just a Russian-backed invention, a geopolitical puppet masquerading as a country.

Which brings us back to “Palestine.” Like Biafra, it has no prospect of surviving the test of time. Like Transnistria, it is just a figment of its own fantasy and the political considerations of others. It’s totally absurd for such an entity to be recognized as a state. 

If anything, by the usual standards of statehood, Disneyland has a stronger claim to sovereignty than Palestine. It has borders, border checks, its own security personnel, and a coherent government in the form of the Disney corporation. If the world is in the business of recognizing make-believe kingdoms, at least Disneyland delivers joy and entertainment — instead of terror tunnels and mayhem.

Parshat Re’eh contains a sobering warning that echoes down to our own time. Moses tells the Jewish people (Deut. 13:2): “If a prophet or a dreamer arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign comes to pass, but then he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ you must not listen to him.” 

The Torah’s message is chillingly clear: appearances can deceive. Someone might come along and dazzle us with something that seems legitimate. But in the final analysis, legitimacy is not determined by wishful thinking. What matters is fidelity to truth.

The classical commentaries drive this point home. The Ramban notes that the Torah presents us with a scenario in which the false prophet’s “wonder” actually happens. He predicted it, and it came to pass. And yet, the acid test is not that it happened, but whether the prophet’s message aligns with eternal truth. If it does not, the wonder is not a wonder, it is a distraction. 

Rabbi Obadiah Sforno sharpens this even further: the false prophet’s “achievement” dazzles the crowd in the moment, but it has no enduring substance. The appearance of success collapses the instant you measure it against what is real and lasting.

Malbim adds a more unsettling twist. He explains that such deceptions are not accidents, but a Divine test: will people cling to principle when they are confronted with a fake wonder, or will they be seduced by its allure? 

It’s an uncomfortable question. Will the spectacle of international recognition – the pageantry of parliaments, diplomats, and foreign ministers standing before TV cameras declaring their recognition of “Palestine” – really deliver? It sure looks like progress. But in reality, it is a lie — a false prophecy that leads people astray, away from moral clarity and toward disaster.

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch constantly taught that the Torah is our safeguard against the fashions of the age, when hollow trends dress themselves up as timeless morality.

That’s exactly the point. The false prophet doesn’t look like a villain. On the contrary, he speaks the language of hope and righteousness. But he is a villain, spreading poison and destruction. So it is with “Palestinian statehood,” which is presented as a historical justice, but in reality is the epitome of terror, corruption, and wanton bloodshed.

By endorsing something that does not exist, the West is in effect falling into the trap of a false prophecy. Seduced by the theatrics of recognition, they are ignoring the truth that what they are doing strengthens terror and undermines their own credibility. They have mistaken illusion for substance — and that, says the Torah, is the very definition of a false prophet. 

As Voltaire himself put it, “Illusion is the first of all pleasures.” It’s time for the West to open their eyes and wake up from their dream.

The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California. 

Part one of this article appeared on Thursday, and can be read here.

Conditions Worsen -Massacres and Forced Conversions

When Henry II ascended the throne in 1369, a new era began for the Jews of suffering and persecution. Henry II instituted decrees that weakened the Jews politically, financially, and physically. He decreed that Jews be kept far from palaces, were forbidden to hold public office, could not ride on mules, and must wear distinct badges to indicate that they were Jewish and were forbidden to bear arms and sell weapons.

Under the rule of John I in 1379, the situation deteriorated even further for the Jews, as the government began making demands regarding Judaism itself. The Jews were forced to change prayers deemed offensive to the Church, and non-Jews were forbidden to convert to Judaism.

After the death of King John I in 1390, chaos spread in Spain, which led to many attacks on the Jewish community. The riots spread across the country, synagogues were destroyed, and tens of thousands of Jews were murdered. On June 6, the mob attacked the Juderia in Seville from all sides and murdered 4,000 Jews. Many Jews chose to convert to Christianity as the only way to escape death.

On the legislative front, antisemitic laws were passed to impoverish and subjugate the Jews and, it was assumed, lead them to convert to Christianity out of desperation. Under these laws, Jews were forbidden to practice medicine; forbidden to sell bread, wine, flour, or meat; prohibited from engaging in handicraft or any form of trade; forbidden to hold public office or act as a money-broker; prohibited from carrying arms or hire Christian servants or give presents or visit Christians; forbidden to trim their beards or cut their hair. Finally, they were also absolutely forbidden to leave the country and seek an end to their plight.

Although these laws aimed to humiliate the Jews, the entire kingdom of Spain was negatively impacted in the extreme. The rules had unwittingly stopped nearly all commerce and industry and shaken the country’s finances to its foundation.

The Great Disputation of Tortosa: The End is in Sight

In 1413, a virulently antisemitic preacher, Vincent Ferrer, the Spanish anti-pope Benedict XIII, and a Jewish apostate Yehoshua HaLorki devised a plan they were sure would lead to the conversion of the remaining Jews of Spain. They would hold a massive debate between the Jews and the Christians, with the pope presiding. According to their plan, the Christian representatives would undoubtedly emerge triumphant and compel the defeated Jews to accept Christianity.

Unlike the disputation in which Nachmanides successfully defended the Jews of Spain, the Disputation of Tortosa was set up with a clear bias toward the Christians. The Christian side always had the final word, and the king who served as the judge was negatively disposed toward the Jews and not open to an honest debate.

The debate lasted over a year, and the Jewish presentation became more persuasive over time. The Christians began to pressure the Jewish representatives to limit their arguments, and the Jews realized it was not to their benefit to continue. Benedict claimed victory at the end of the debate, and copies of the Talmud were confiscated and burned.

The debate was a demoralizing experience for Jewish Spain. By the middle of the 15th century, many Spanish Jews recognized that a Jewish community was no longer viable in their homeland. Looking for alternatives, in 1473, the Jews offered to buy Gibraltar from the king as a haven for their community, but the offer was refused.

Ferdinand and Isabella

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are remembered as the monarchs who backed Christopher Columbus in his voyage to the Americas. However, in Jewish history, they are remembered as the rulers who expelled the entire Jewish community.

The marriage of Ferdinand V of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 unified Spain and transformed it from a combination of provinces into a mighty kingdom. Ironically, the royal marriage had been arranged by a wealthy and learned Jewish leader, Abraham Senior, who tragically converted to Catholicism in 1492 rather than being expelled from Spain.

Isabella was a fervent Christian and, in partnership with the pope, set up an Inquisition in 1478 to find and fight heresy in the Christian world. The royal decree that founded the Inquisition explicitly stated that the Inquisition was instituted to search out and punish converts from Judaism who transgressed against Christianity by secretly adhering to Jewish beliefs and observing Jewish laws. No other group was mentioned, making it clear that Jews were the primary target of this decree.

The primary goal of the Inquisition was to expose Jews who were not genuine converts to Christianity but were still secretly practicing Judaism. In fact, this often was the case. It came to the point that the Christians would call converted Jews “New Christians” to distinguish them from the “Old (authentic) Christians.” Derogatorily, Jewish converts to Christianity were also called conversos, meaning “converts,” or worse yet, Marranos, which means “filthy pigs.”

In 1483, Tomas de Torquemada was appointed Grand Inquisitor. From this point onward, the Inquisition became infamous for its brutality. Torquemada established procedures for the Inquisition, where a court would be installed in a new area, and residents were encouraged to report information regarding Jews observing Jewish practices.

Evidence accepted included the absence of chimney smoke on Saturdays (a sign the family might secretly be honoring the Sabbath), buying many vegetables before Passover, or purchasing meat from a converso butcher. Then the court would employ physical torture to extract confessions and burn those who would not submit at the stake.

The Expulsion

The year 1492 marked the fall of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, and the year Ferdinand and Isabella decided to expel all Jews from Spain. The infamous Alhambra Decree, which ordered the expulsion, was issued in January 1492. This time, the monarchs did not target Jewish converts to Christianity but Jews who had never converted.

The main reason stated in the Edict of Expulsion was to prevent Jews from re-Judaizing the conversos. Another factor that certainly played a significant role was that Jewish money was needed to rebuild the kingdom after the costly war against the Muslims. The simplest way to acquire the funds was to expel the Jews and confiscate the wealth and property they would leave behind. (This was a method repeated numerous times during the Middle Ages in Europe, as European countries would expel the Jews to remove their debts and take the money from the Jews that were forced out of their country.)

The Jews, led by Don Isaac Abarbanel, tried to get the edict revoked. Abarbanel was a great Torah scholar and a leading rabbi, and had also served as the treasurer of Spain. As the most influential Jew in Spain at the time, he tried hard to rescind the expulsion order and even offered the monarchs 300,000 ducats for a reprieve.

He almost succeeded in getting the monarchs to rescind the edict, but Grand Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada thwarted his attempt.

According to the legend, Torquemada, who had an enormous influence over Queen Isabella, entered the room where Abarbanel was pleading his cause. Enraged, he threw the cross at the Queen, hitting her in the head, and yelled: “Judas sold his master (Jesus) for 30 pieces of silver. Now you would sell him anew!” With that, Abarbanel’s pleas were dismissed, and the edict remained.

Yet, Don Isaac Abarbanel was so crucial to the monarchs that they offered him a special dispensation to remain in Spain without converting, including a caveat that another nine Jews could stay with him so he could pray with a minyan. He refused their offer and led the Jews of Spain as they went into exile.

The calendar date on which the Spanish Jewish community ended and went into exile was August 2, 1492. The original date was intended to be July 31, but Torquemada extended it by a few days, unwittingly switching it to the date corresponding to the 9th of Av, Tisha B’Av. This was the day of the destruction of both the First and Second Temple in Jerusalem, a message the Jews understood as a reminder that their exile was but a continuation of the original exile hundreds of years earlier. As the Jews left Spain, Abarbanel directed that music be played, even though it was Tisha B’Av, to raise the spirits of the Jews and provide comfort and hope for the future.

Tens of thousands of Jews chose to remain by agreeing to convert, at least in name. The number of Jews who left Spain is not even approximately known. Historians of the period give incredibly high figures: Historian Juan de Mariana speaks of 800,000 people, and Don Isaac Abarbanel of 300,000.

Most of the Jews who fled Spain made their way across the border to Portugal. However, only five years later, Portugal forced the choice of conversion or death upon the Jews in its country, and Jews who could get out were on the run again.

Thousands of Jews who were exiled from Spain chose to go to Turkey. The Sultan of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, Bayezid II, welcomed them and observed, “They tell me that Ferdinand of Spain is a wise man, but he is a fool. For he takes his treasure and sends it all to me.”

Many Jews also chose to go to Italy, Holland, and the New World.

Christopher Columbus

On August 3, 1492, the day after the expulsion, Christopher Columbus left on his famed voyage of discovery. His diary begins: “In the same month in which their Majesties issued the edict that all Jews should be driven out of the kingdom and its territories, in the same month, they gave me the order to undertake with sufficient men my expedition of discovery of the Indies.”

With the 20-20 hindsight that history gives us, we can see the deeper connection between Columbus’s voyage to America and the expulsion. Precisely as one of the most vibrant Jewish communities of Medieval Europe was ending, God prepared for the founding of a place for Jews seeking freedom from persecution – America.

After hundreds of years, in 1834, the Inquisition was abolished, and Jews could return to Spain. However, the edict of expulsion was only repealed in 1968. This meant that from 1868 until 1968, Jews were allowed to live in Spain as individuals but not to practice Judaism as a community.

Spain During the Holocaust

When the Second World War broke out, Spain declared neutrality but supported the Nazis in the initial stages. Yet, Spain chose not to deport Jews and, in fact, allowed 25,600 Jews to use Spain as an escape route from the Nazis. Spanish diplomats protected approximately 4,000 Sephardic Jews in France and the Balkans, although this was against the will of their superiors. Also, in 1944, the Spanish Embassy in Hungary aided in the rescue of Budapest’s Jews by accepting 2,750 refugees.

Legend has it that General Franco refused to hand over the Jews to the Nazis despite their unofficial alliance because so many in Spain had “Jewish” blood, including Franco himself, and the Nazis would have included them in their decrees.

Contemporary Antisemitism

Remnants of antisemitism continue to exist in Spain, although at times it is the “new antisemitism” of anti-Zionism. Spain did not even recognize the state of Israel until 1986, when it did so as a condition for entering the European Union. Furthermore, according to research by the Anti-Defamation League and the Pew Polls, the Spanish public still harbors many antisemitic stereotypes, more so than in other Western European countries.

Even within the culture of Spain, antisemitism, going back centuries, can be heard. For example, In León, they drink lemonade mixed with a red wine called matar judíos (“kill Jews”). Instead of “cheers,” a local drinking phrase is “We are going to kill the Jews.” For hundreds of years, a village in northern Spain was named Castrillo Matajudios (“Castrillo Kill the Jews”). The residents finally voted to change the name in 2014.

Spain Today and The Lesson that Remains

Approximately 45,000 Jews live in Spain today. The majority live in Madrid, Barcelona, and southern Spain.

The Spanish Parliament approved a measure on June 11, 2015, to restore citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jewish individuals who were expelled during the Inquisition. The law allows relatives of individuals who were expelled in 1492 to apply for dual citizenship. To date, 36,000 Jews have been granted citizenship.

Nevertheless, for Jews, the tragic history of Spain is a reminder that a Jew’s home is never in exile.

There was indeed a Golden Age of Spain, but for the Jews, it was always a bit tarnished. Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, who lived at the time of the Golden Age, wrote, “Although I am in the West, my heart is in the East.”

Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA from 2007 – 2020. He is a popular speaker and has written for numerous publications. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org. A version of this article was originally published by Aish.

This week, the Israeli Supreme Court heard petitions by left-wing organizations demanding that Israel permit Red Cross visits for all imprisoned terrorists — including Hamas terrorists who raped and murdered Israelis on October 7.

Israel has thus far barred all visits to terrorists, using this as leverage to pressure Hamas to allow Red Cross visits to the Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

However, according to press reports, the government failed to present in court one of the most critical arguments against such visits: If Israel permits Red Cross access to Hamas terrorists, they will begin receiving monthly salaries from the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Under PA law, imprisoned terrorists do not receive their monthly salaries — known as Pay-for-Slay — until the Red Cross verifies their arrest and provides a Power of Attorney form, signed by the prisoner, to the PA Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs.

The PA Law of Prisoners states:

Clause 3 – Documentation
“For the purpose of the payment of a prisoner’s monthly salary, his relatives are required to present the necessary documentation to the authorized administration:

1.      An original document of the Red Cross attesting to his arrest, and an updated document must be brought every three months for a prisoner who is still in detention.”

Clause 5 – Power of Attorney:

“(3) The authorization of a representative is executed through a power of attorney issued by the Red Cross signed by the prisoner, or through a personal power of attorney signed by him and certified by a lawyer of the Ministry and by the General Administration for Legal Matters of the Ministry.”

Because the PA’s payment of salaries to terrorists constitutes a terror reward — and violates Israeli law — Israel is legally prohibited from allowing Red Cross visits. Doing so would mean knowingly enabling and facilitating these illegal terror payments.

The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.