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Rosh Hashanah 2025: The World Won’t Defend Us, So We Must Lead
Jewish Americans and supporters of Israel gather at the National Mall in Washington, DC on Nov. 14, 2023 for the “March for Israel” rally. Photo: Dion J. Pierre/The Algemeiner
The world is not coming to save us. The world is not defending us. Lies about Jews and Israel dominate headlines, classrooms, social media, and government halls. Antisemites broadcast hatred openly. Too many movements that claim to fight oppression look the other way. Too many who say “justice” abandon Jews in our hour of need.
If we sit quietly, we fail our ancestors, betray our children, and erase our future. The shofar is sounding. And it is demanding action.
We are 0.2% of humanity — fewer than 16 million Jews on a planet of 8 billion. Tiny in number. Vast in responsibility. History proves that one Jewish voice can change the course of the world. One Jewish community can spark revolutions of morality. One Jewish action can protect life and defend truth. We are small, but we are unstoppable.
I have spent my life standing up for Jews in spaces where many said, “this is not your fight.” I have represented our people in civil rights, social justice, and human rights movements, and I have built bridges with Christians, Hindus, Druze, Jains, and Zoroastrians. From the arts, entertainment, and media spaces, to the LGBT, progressive, and Woke movements — to a diverse array of political and social movements on the right and the left — I have fought to ensure Jewish voices are heard where morality is debated and where the oppressed gather.
And I have also witnessed so much betrayal: many civil rights, social justice, and human rights organizations have turned their backs on Jews, normalized antisemitism, and excused attacks on us in the name of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist ideology.
Betrayal is not new — but it must not define us. It must define our response.
I don’t fight back. I fight forward. I act on purpose and with purpose. Every day, in government, in broadcast and print media, in workshops and speaking engagements, in interfaith initiatives, social media, and online, I work to motivate, educate, inform, inspire, and activate Jews and allies.
And the truth is simple: action begets action. Silence feeds the lies. Complacency fuels hatred.
But this is not my fight alone. There are many of us taking action. And, yet, I still see too many staying quiet. If I preach to the choir, I also help develop other preachers, and I also sing solo outside of the choir. Our echo-chamber is flimsy, so I work to empower and strengthen it, and also exist outside of it.
Join me.
Join me politically — raise your voice, advocate for policies that protect Jews and Israel, confront antisemitism at every level, and hold leaders accountable.
Join me socially — create, build, and strengthen Jewish and cross-cultural initiatives that stand for truth and justice.
Join me digitally — counter propaganda, amplify Jewish voices, challenge lies, and flood social platforms with fact and presence.
Join me in real life — speak in your communities, schools, workplaces, campuses, and houses of worship. Make your Jewish identity and advocacy unavoidable.
We are a small people — but we are fierce. We are resilient, determined, and unbreakable. We fight forward, not backward. We thrive where others would bow. We lead where others hesitate. Am Israel Chai is not a slogan. It is a charge.
The shofar is blasting. The world will not wait. It will not defend us. It is up to us.
On Rosh Hashanah, let this call awaken your courage. Let it ignite action. Let it remind you: Jews do not survive by shrinking. Jews survive — and Jews thrive — because we rise, speak, organize, and act. Not tomorrow. Not when it is convenient. Now.
The future of our people is not in the hands of strangers, institutions, or those passing by. It is in ours.
Act now. Lead. Fight forward. Make Jewish presence and advocacy impossible to ignore — in politics, society, and everywhere our people’s truth is at stake.
Yuval David is an Emmy Award–winning journalist, filmmaker, and actor. An internationally recognized advocate for Jewish and LGBT rights, he is a strategic advisor to diplomatic missions and NGOs, and a contributor to global news outlets in broadcast and print news. He focuses on combating antisemitism, extremism, and promoting democratic values and human dignity. Learn more at YuvalDavid.com, instagram.com/Yuval_David_, x.com/yuvaldavid, youtube.com/yuvaldavid, and across social media.
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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.