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Israel Isn’t Going Anywhere
Protesters hold signs demanding the liberation of hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip after they were seized by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 21, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
JNS.org – Trying to understand current events in the Middle East without knowing its history is doomed to failure. Trying to understand Israel without an understanding of Jewish history and Zionism is equally futile.
Over 100 years ago, the Jewish people began to realize they would never be safe without their own land, government and army, along with the power to determine their own future. For its entire history, the State of Israel they founded has been under attack. Although Israel has extended its hand in peace to its enemies from the beginning, it has never known a day of peace.
It will take historians decades to understand what led to the Oct. 7 massacre. Undoubtedly, many of Israel’s enemies—and even some friends—will blame Israeli policies. Many Israelis and their supporters will claim it was the age-old antisemitism embraced by Islamic fundamentalism.
History teaches that the latter are correct. Arab and Muslim violence against Jews goes back to the origins of Islam. Palestinian Arab violence against Jews began decades before Israel was founded. Hamas’s dedication to violence is hardwired into its very being.
There are many people, including some Jews, who attempt to differentiate between the Jewish people, Zionism and the State of Israel. Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists make no such distinction. Palestinian terrorists have targeted Zionist Jews and non-Jews, anti-Zionist Jews in Israel and anti-Zionist Jews outside of Israel. Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and their supporters regularly call for the murder of Jews. This violence is based on hate, not politics.
Moreover, hate does not self-generate. It is justified by culture and ideology. Mainstream Palestinian ideology is racist and genocidal. It maintains that Jews have no history in the Land of Israel and thus no right to live in it. As a result, Palestinians wrongly believe that their terrorism will eventually succeed in ethnically cleansing Israel’s Jews.
The Palestinians don’t understand that this is suicidal. Zionism is not a modern colonialist ideology. It is the modern expression of a belief that is thousands of years old. The deep connection the Jewish people have to their historic homeland is rooted in every aspect of Judaism. The idea that the Jews would wait 2,000 years to return to their land, risk life and limb to restore it to its former glory, build an entire country and then abandon it is absurd.
Supporters of the Palestinians make a similar mistake. They either fail to understand that the Palestinians support ethnic cleansing or actively support it. That this is both morally obscene and ultimately self-destructive does not occur to them.
The overwhelming majority of Jews are Zionists. Their support for the Zionist movement’s belief that the Jewish people have a right and a need for a homeland hasn’t waned. In fact, with each Palestinian attack, Zionists feel their belief that the Jews will only be safe on their own land with their own army to protect them is confirmed once again. Israel’s enemies should study Jewish history. If they did, they would understand that the Israeli people and their state aren’t going anywhere.
The post Israel Isn’t Going Anywhere first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.