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Faith and Our Religion Is What Truly Ensures Israel’s Future
David Ben-Gurion declares Israel’s independence, at the Tel Aviv Museum, May 14, 1948. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
The rebirth of a Jewish national entity, the State of Israel, in 1948 was no easy feat. It required determination, guile, elbow grease, and above all — the ability of its pioneering creators to straddle two distinct mindsets.
On the one hand, as Chaim Weizmann bluntly put it, “No state was ever founded on air, and no state will ever be maintained on air. We need friends.” On the other hand, David Ben-Gurion got it right with his famous quip: “In Israel, to be a realist you must believe in miracles.”
In recent times, and especially over the past couple of months, Israel has leaned more and more toward Ben-Gurion’s “miracles” approach — not by choice, but by circumstance. In the wake of October 7, as the Gaza war rages on with no end in sight and the hostages remain trapped in tunnels beneath Gaza, Israel has watched as former friends quietly turned their backs.
For the first time since its founding, the Jewish State may be heading toward a future without allies. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Netanyahu admitted as much, acknowledging that “Israel is in a sort of isolation,” and insisting the nation must transform itself into a self-reliant “super Sparta,” with an economy of “autarkic characteristics.”
In an article this week, the Financial Times put the question very starkly. The headline reads: “Can Israel go it alone?”
In the early years of Zionism, and in the period immediately after Israel was founded, the question would have seemed utterly absurd. The secular Zionists who built Israel were desperate for allies, and for good reason. Without the backing of sympathetic powers, the Jewish State would never have gotten off the ground, nor would it have survived its earliest years.
Chaim Weizmann’s tireless diplomacy produced the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Ben-Gurion’s delicate balancing act between Washington and Moscow, as well as London and Paris, during the first decade of the state secured the legitimacy and the weapons Israel needed to win its War of Independence and to establish itself as a haven for Jewish refugees, whether survivors of the Holocaust or those fleeing persecution in Muslim lands.
For the many decades that followed, every war Israel fought was as much about airlifts, arms shipments, and foreign support as it was about battlefields in Sinai, Judea, Samaria, Lebanon, or the Golan.
But the FT’s question, as jarring as it is, could not be timelier. Since Hamas’ barbaric rampage of October 7, 2023, Israel has taken the gloves off, pursuing its enemies across multiple borders and with unprecedented force.
Beyond Gaza, five countries have felt Israeli firepower in the past year — Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and, most recently, Qatar. Meanwhile, the war in Gaza grinds on, seemingly without end. Inevitably, Israel’s international allies — such as they were ever truly allies — have been alienated.
Even America, Israel’s most consistent friend, is starting to look shaky. A Gallup survey in March revealed only 46% of Americans now back Israel, the lowest figure in a quarter-century of polling.
Yet today’s Israel seems increasingly comfortable giving the world the cold shoulder. Netanyahu is fully aware of Israel’s emerging status as an international pariah, but it has not halted his harsh stance and belligerent military campaign.
“No one likes us, we don’t care” — the football chant made famous by supporters of London’s Millwall FC soccer team in the late 1970s — now appears to be shaping Israeli foreign policy. Without the friends cited by Weizmann, Israel will need to rely on the miracles evoked by Ben-Gurion.
So what is the answer to the FT’s question? Can Israel go it alone?
Parshat Vayeilech offers a striking perspective. Moshe, standing at the end of his life, tells the nation that although he will no longer be with them, they must not be afraid of the enemies they will soon face (Deut. 31:6): חִזְקוּ וְאִמְצוּ אַל־תִּירְאוּ וְאַל־תַּעַרְצוּ מִפְּנֵיהֶם כִּי ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ הוּא הַהֹלֵךְ עִמָּךְ — “Be strong and courageous, do not fear them, for Hashem your God, He is the One who goes with you.”
In other words, even without Moshe, even when all might seem lost and hopeless, Israel will never be alone. God Himself will be their ally, their protector, and their guarantee.
This same message reverberates in Tishrei, the month of awe and renewal. On Rosh Hashanah, we crown God as King; on Yom Kippur, we reaffirm His forgiveness and mercy; and on Sukkot, we remind ourselves that our true shelter is not fortresses or man-made protections, but the divine presence.
At precisely the moment we feel most vulnerable, we are reminded that our survival has never depended on external powers, but on God’s steadfast devotion to His people. Israel can go it alone — because we are never truly alone.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook (1865-1935), whose rabbinic career coincided with the emergence of the Zionist movement and who embodied the passion for the Jewish return to the Land of Israel, expressed this timeless truth with his usual brilliance. “The people of Israel live and endure forever,” he wrote, “because God is in their midst, and the Shekhinah never abandons His people” (Orot Yisrael 2).
Elsewhere, he emphasized: “The Shekhinah descended with Israel into the exile and dwelt among them, and suffered as they suffered” (Orot Yisrael 6:1). For Rav Kook, the enduring presence of God alongside His people — even in the darkest times — is the ultimate guarantee of Israel’s survival.
Chaim Weizmann was right: no state can survive on air, and friends are important. But David Ben-Gurion was also right: in Israel, realism requires belief in miracles — particularly, the miracle of God Himself standing behind our continued presence in His land, our land.
The truth is, Israel has always lived in the tension between those two poles. Allies matter, diplomacy matters, and strategic alliances matter — but none of these explains how Israel has survived against all odds, nor why the Jewish people are still here when so many ancient and far more powerful nations have long since disappeared into the dustbin of history.
The Financial Times asks if Israel can go it alone, as though the answer lies only in geopolitics and public opinion. But Vayeilech and the High Holy Days remind us that the answer lies elsewhere. We can endure isolation and survive the loss of allies because our destiny has never depended solely on human support. It has always rested on our covenant with God.
Rav Kook’s words echo across the century since he first wrote them: Israel does not endure because of external forces, but because the light of God lives within it.
So yes — Israel can go it alone. Not because of superior weaponry, not because of economic resilience, not even because of national grit — although all of those things are undoubtedly part of the mix — but because the God of history walks with us.
The Jewish people’s alliance with God is the greatest alliance any nation could ever hope for, and it is unbreakable. In the end, it is not isolation that defines Israel’s future, but faith. And faith assures us that the Jewish people, and the State of Israel, will never truly be alone.
The author is a writer in Beverly Hills, California.
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Sydney Teen Arrested for Knife Attack on Jewish Man Amid Surge in Antisemitic Hate Crimes
Demonstrators hold a placard as they take part in the ‘Nationwide March for Palestine’ protest in Sydney, Australia, Aug. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
A teenage boy in Sydney has been arrested for allegedly attacking a Jewish man at knifepoint on a train — the latest antisemitic incident in a troubling rise of anti-Jewish hate crimes across Australia.
On Wednesday, the New South Wales Police confirmed that a 16-year-old boy was charged earlier this week over the antisemitic knifepoint assault of a Jewish man on a train.
According to police reports, two assailants approached a 66-year-old Jewish man as he neared the train doors. They allegedly attacked him with a knife while shouting antisemitic remarks before fleeing the scene.
Shortly after the attack, the man was given medical attention on-site, though no major injuries were reported, before filing a formal police report.
NSW Police arrested the 16-year-old in Padstow, a suburb in Sydney’s southwest, but authorities are still searching for the second attacker as the investigation continues.
He was charged with intent to commit an indictable offense, common assault, publicly threatening violence based on religion, and intentionally intimidating someone to cause fear of physical harm.
As of now, the teenager remains in custody, having been denied bail and arraigned in a children’s court on Wednesday.
Antisemitism spiked to record levels in Australia — especially in Sydney and Melbourne, which are home to some 85 percent of the country’s Jewish population — following the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
According to a report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the country’s Jewish community experienced over 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, a significant increase from 495 in the prior 12 months.
The number of antisemitic physical assaults in Australia rose from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024. The level of antisemitism for the past year was six times the average of the preceding 10 years.
Since the Oct. 7 atrocities, the local Jewish community has faced a wave of targeted attacks, with several Jewish sites across Australia subjected to vandalism and even arson amid an increasingly hostile climate.
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UN Sanctions on Iran Loom After Vote to Delay Fails
Members of the United Nations Security Council vote against a resolution by Russia and China to delay by six months the reimposition of sanctions on Iran during the 80th UN General Assembly in New York City, US, Sept. 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
United Nations sanctions on Iran are set to be reimposed on Saturday, Britain’s UN envoy said on Friday after a Russian and Chinese Security Council resolution to delay them failed, prompting Tehran to warn that the West bore responsibility for any consequences.
The decision to restore sanctions by Western powers is likely to exacerbate tensions with Tehran, which has already warned that the action would be met with a harsh response and open the door to escalation.
The Russian and Chinese push to delay the return of sanctions on Iran failed at the 15-member UN Security Council after only four countries supported their draft resolution.
“This council does not have the necessary assurance that there is a clear path to a swift diplomatic solution,” Britain’s envoy to the United Nations, Barbara Wood, said after the vote.
“This council fulfilled the necessary steps of the snapback process set out in resolution 2231, therefore UN sanctions targeting Iranian proliferation will be reimposed this weekend,” she said.
UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS RETURN ON SATURDAY
All UN sanctions on Iran are due to return at 8 pm EDT on Saturday (0000 GMT) after European powers, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Diplomats had said the resolution to delay sanctions for six months had been unlikely to pass, after last-ditch talks between Iran and Britain, France, and Germany failed to break a deadlock.
Nine countries voted no, while two abstained.
Russia’s deputy envoy to the United Nations accused the Western powers of burying the diplomatic path.
US BETRAYED DIPLOMACY, E3 BURIED IT, IRAN SAYS
“The US has betrayed diplomacy, but it is the E3 which have buried it,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the council, saying the snapback was “legally void, politically reckless, and procedurally flawed.”
“Diplomacy will never die, but it will be more difficult and more complicated than before,” he told reporters after the Security Council meeting.
The European powers had offered to delay reinstating sanctions for up to six months to allow space for talks on a long-term deal if Iran restored access for UN nuclear inspectors, addressed concerns about its stock of enriched uranium, and engaged in talks with the United States.
The US representative at the council said Iran had failed to address E3 concerns meaning a return of sanctions was inevitable, although she left the door open for diplomacy.
France said the return of sanctions was not the end of diplomacy.
UN sanctions would come into force immediately on Saturday, while European Union sanctions would return next week.
Iran’s economy is already struggling with crippling sanctions reimposed since 2018 after US President Donald Trump ditched the pact during his first term.
The sanctions would restore an arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing, a ban on activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, a global asset freeze and travel bans on Iranian individuals and entities, and would also hit its energy sector.
Addressing the UN General Assembly earlier on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country bombed Iran’s nuclear installations with the United States in June, said the world should not allow Iran to rebuild its nuclear and military programs.
“We lifted a dark cloud that could have claimed millions and millions of lives, but ladies and gentlemen, we must remain vigilant,” Netanyahu told the General Assembly on Friday.
“We must not allow Iran to rebuild its military nuclear capacities, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. These stockpiles must be eliminated, and tomorrow UN Security Council sanctions on Iran must be snapped back,” he said.
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K-12 Union Antisemitism Is Politicizing Classrooms, New Report Says
Illustrative: A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a bullhorn during a protest at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on March 11, 2025. Photo: Daniel Cole via Reuters Connect.
Public sector education unions have turned K-12 classrooms into theaters of anti-Zionist agitation, thereby alienating Jewish teachers and students, according to a new report by the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI).
Titled, “Breaking Solidarity: How Antisemitic Activists Turned Teacher Unions Against Israel”, the report examines several major teachers unions and their escalation of anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish activity following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel — a series of actions which included attempting to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), staging protests in which teachers led chants of “Death to Israel,” and teaching students that Israel constitutes an “settler-colonial” state which perpetrates ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.
In New York City, report author Paul Zimmerman writes, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) has advanced from fostering popular support for anti-Zionism among students to seeking cover from government by placing one or more of its fellow travelers in high office. The UFT endorsed the New York City mayoral candidacy of Zohran Mamdani in July, calling the avowed socialist and Hamas sympathizer a potential “partner.”
“The historical record shows that, whatever their shortcomings, previous generations of teacher-union leaders stood up to antisemitism in K-12 schools on behalf of their Jewish members and promoted strong US support for Israel in the face of existential attacks on that country,” the report states. “Now, antisemitic activists grossly dishonor that legacy by weaponizing teacher unions to spread antisemitism, intimidate Jewish teachers, and recast the classroom as a battlefield against the West.”
Zimmerman outlines three concepts for reforming union conduct, reserving a significant role for the US Congress, which holds the power to investigate the union bosses and subpoena them before its relevant committees. He also calls on teachers to register their opposition by withholding compulsory union dues which ply union leadership with both resources and legitimacy.
“In the end, however, the millions of teachers who want no part in indoctrinating their students in anti-Western ideology — including antisemitism — or supporting unions that care more for supporting radical candidates and causes than making schools safe for Jewish educators and students must vote with their feet,” he concludes. “These teachers. who simply wish to help their students learn about the world and lead productive and meaningful lives, should consider abandoning their unions and cutting off the dues that subsidize this ugly agenda.”
Union antisemitism is receiving increased national attention, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.
On Monday, Jewish students employed as graduate workers by Columbia University filed a federal complaint against their campus labor union — Student Workers of Columbia, an affiliate of United Auto Workers (UAW) — alleging that its bosses devote more energy and resources to pursuing “radical policy proposals” than improving occupational conditions.
The National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW), a nonprofit organization which fights for worker mobility and freedom of representation that is providing the students legal counsel free of charge, said in a release shared with The Algemeiner that the students, who have formed the advocacy group Graduate Researchers Against Discrimination and Suppression (GRADS), are subjected to abuses which magnify problems inherent in compulsory union membership — chiefly that they may be forced to accept as representatives of their interests union bosses who act in “bad faith” and hold offensive beliefs.
NRTW pointed to another similar example in August, writing in a letter to the US Congress’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce that higher-education-based unions controlled by United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) are rife with antisemitism and anti-Zionist discrimination.
“Tracing its roots to communism in the 1930s, the UE is a radical, pro-Hamas labor union that has a long history of antisemitism,” the NRTW, one of the US’s leading labor reform groups, wrote on July 30 in a message obtained by The Algemeiner. “The UE openly supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is designed to cripple and destroy Israel economically. Today, the UE furthers its antisemitic agenda by unionizing graduate students on college campuses and using its exclusive representation powers to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. The hostile environment includes demanding compulsory dues to fund the UE’s abhorrent activities.”
In July, the National Education Association (NEA) teachers union’s Representative Assembly to ban the ADL, a measure that would have proscribed the union’s sharing ADL literature which explains the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust. In the lead up to the vote, a website promoting the policy, titled #DroptheADLFromSchools, attacked the ADL’s reputation as a civil rights advocate and knowledgeable source of information about antisemitism, the very issue the group was founded to fight.
The ban garnered the support of extreme far-left groups — such as Black Lives Matter, Faculty for Justice in Palestine, and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) — and others which have praised the use of terrorism against Israel and the broader Western world to advance a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which necessitates destroying the Jewish state. Its approval by the Representative Assembly prompted the ADL to say that the activists behind it were attempting to “isolate their Jewish colleagues and push a radical antisemitic agenda on students.”
Ultimately, the NEA Executive Committee refused to enact the ban, drawing praise from the ADL for having moved “reject this misguided resolution that is rooted in exclusion and othering.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.