JD Vance Calls Israeli Bid for Sovereignty “Weird” and “Very Stupid” (Judean Rose)

Generally, when dignitaries and officials visit Israel, they make a point of stopping at the Western Wall — the Kotel — and they refrain from invoking Jesus Christ. This is done out of respect for the fact that Israel is the Jewish State, something the United States has always recognized.

Over the years, the Wall stop has become almost a diplomatic ritual: a solemn photo-op that signals respect for Jewish history and friendship with Israel. To skip it is to make a statement.

The Curious Choreography of a Visit

During his October 2025 visit, Vice President J.D. Vance broke with that choreography. The official itinerary, released on October 21, listed a visit to the Wall and a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But that is not what happened.

Instead, Vance went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — a Christian pilgrimage site — where he spoke openly about Jesus. “I know that Christians have many titles for Jesus Christ, and one of them is the Prince of Peace,” he told reporters. “And I’d ask all people of faith, in particular my fellow Christians, to pray that the Prince of Peace can continue to work a miracle in this region of the world.”

To many, his words might have sounded well-intentioned — a sincere call for peace. But in the context of the Jewish State, invoking Jesus in public remarks was tone-deaf and inappropriate. In diplomatic language, symbols matter. To skip the Wall and choose a Christian site, to publicly invoke Jesus in the Jewish State, is not a neutral act. One analysis noted that “Vance did not visit the Wall, and went instead to honor and pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre” — a move seen as a quiet rebuke to Netanyahu amid friction over Israel’s new sovereignty bill.

The truth is, I’m perfectly fine with Vance visiting a church instead of the Wall — especially since he did visit the Wall on a previous trip to Israel. But it seemed he was hammering home a point, and in doing so, crossed a line. Suggesting that people of faith — which presumably includes Jews — should pray to the “Prince of Peace” is, frankly, offensive to Jews.

He’s welcome to believe in any deity he likes. I only wish he respected our beliefs as much as I respect his right to believe in his. The visit to the church, coupled with a public call for Jews to pray to Jesus, felt off.

The Sovereignty Bill

What truly drove the point home, however, was Vance’s attitude toward Israel’s sovereignty bill. The Knesset had just granted preliminary approval to a measure ending the state of martial law in Judea and Samaria — a step many see as Israel finally asserting sovereignty over its own heartland.

Israel deliberately left the status of these territories vague after capturing them in 1967, hoping to keep the door open for negotiations. But after decades of failed peace processes, terror, and external meddling, many Israelis now believe it’s time to end the ambiguity. Declaring sovereignty, for us, is an act of self-preservation.

The world, after all, keeps declaring that our land is “Palestine.” Yet these are Jewish ancestral territories, won in a defensive war. There is no reason why Israel should not to claim them formally as part of the Jewish State.

Vance’s Dismissal

Asked by reporters about the bill, Vance replied:

“That was weird. I was sort of confused by that… When I asked about it, somebody told me that it was a political stunt that had no practical significance. It was purely symbolic… If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it.”

If I’d been there, I might have asked him: What’s weird about Jews declaring sovereignty over land that rightfully belongs to them? Why would that confuse a Bible-believing Christian? Surely you know this is land God gave the Jewish people.

To call it “symbolic” is wrong. It was an act of survival. We see the writing on the wall: the world is preparing to carve up our land again and hand it to those who burned, raped, and murdered our people on October 7. Enough. It’s time we took control. It’s our land.

There is nothing “weird” about Jews who love their land enough to protect it.

Bibi’s Balancing Act

Prime Minister Netanyahu had little choice but to downplay the vote, calling it “symbolic” to placate Washington. In spite of Likud’s abstention, the bill still passed its first reading 25–24 — a small but historic majority.

I understand the realpolitik: during a fragile “ceasefire,” the timing looked bad to Vance. And yes, Arab states may have pressed the U.S. to rein Israel in. But Israel’s right to its land should never be a bargaining chip for diplomatic convenience.

Still, what Vance said was shocking. “Very stupid”? “Insulting”? To whom, exactly? To say that a Jewish decision about Jewish land is meaningless or offensive — that is the real insult.

Trump Doubles Down

Trump later backed him up in an interview with Time Magazine:

“It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”

Which is ironic, because just seven weeks earlier, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told Israeli media:

“The United States has never asked Israel not to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. We respect Israel as a sovereign state and will not tell it what to do.”

Unlike Vance, Huckabee refuses to use the propaganda term West Bank. He calls the area by its proper geographical designation: Judea and Samaria. In 2017, he said:

“There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”

Vance, by contrast, parrots the old Washington line, warning that annexation would “embolden extremists on both sides” and “undermine trust.” Someone should tell him that we cannot annex what is already ours.

Amb. Huckabee seated to the right of Vance

Language and Truth

Words matter. “Annexation” implies we are seizing something foreign. But Judea and Samaria are as integral to Israel as Haifa or Jerusalem. The proper term is not annexation, but sovereignty — the right of a nation to rule its own land.

We Jews have waited millennia for this sovereignty. We have bled for it, prayed for it, and reclaimed it piece by piece. No American politician, no matter how high his office or how lofty his faith, has the right to tell us it “won’t happen.”

A Visit Full of Meaning

In the end, Vance’s visit was about symbolism — not just the church or the Wall, but the deeper question of whose faith and whose history command respect. To pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre while scolding Jews for wanting sovereignty over Judea is to miss the moral center of this land entirely.

Yet we would never ask Vance to believe as we do, or share our faith. We ask only that he respect our beliefs and rights — and stop presuming to decide what Jews may do in the land that God gave them.

Vance’s visit was full of symbols, and symbols often speak louder than statements. Skipping the Wall for the church might have been meant as a gesture of faith, but to many of us it felt like a gesture of distance — from Israel, from Jewish history, from understanding what this land means to its people.

Faith, after all, is personal. But our connection to this land is not only a matter of belief — it is the story of our people, written into our prayers, our bones, and our history. That is what Vance failed to grasp: that our faith, our story, and our land are bound together, a holy bond that can never be severed, and never surrendered — not even to Donald Trump and his vice president.

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

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What right do you have, Lindsey Graham? (Judean Rose)

PM Netanyahu with US Senator Lindsey Graham© GPO/Haim Zach

Senator Lindsey Graham is considered to be one of the most pro-Israel members of Congress. It’s difficult to imagine why. In speaking to the Jerusalem Post at the recent Republican Jewish Coalition summit, Graham trotted out the old two-state solution from its well-earned grave, dusted it off, and insisted that without it, Israel has no sustainable future.

"Being pro-Israel means telling hard truths," said Graham. "The only path that keeps Israel Jewish and democratic is a two-state framework, when the conditions are real. That is the reality friends should say out loud."

Graham claims to be a friend to Israel. But what kind of a friend tells Israel it must give up land, hand it over to bad people, and let them move in and rule it? Does Graham have a God complex? Because God Himself does not seem to have endorsed this plan. God granted that land to the Jews, not to anyone to else, and most especially not to the bestial neighbors.

Therefore, Senator, speaking between friends, I have questions:

What right do you have, Lindsey Graham?

What right do you have to carve up our land and give it away to our enemies—speaking of it so matter-of-factly, as if it were a foregone conclusion, telling us that the only way to get peace is to give away our ancestral lands to the baby-killers who burned, beheaded, and raped our people?

Of what faith are you that you would take the Holy Land away from us? That you would separate the Jews from Judea?"

But apparently, the good senator doesn’t think of himself in this way, as a thief. He has ideas! "Hamas must be gone as a governing and fighting force,” said Graham. “Then you put Gaza in the hands of Arabs who do not want to kill all the Jews—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others. They reconstruct Gaza. They change the school system so it does not glorify killing Jews. You devolve authority based on performance. If they cannot meet the metrics, they do not get the power. Meanwhile, Israel gets new security boundaries and the right to act."

How lucky is Graham to have insider information. He knows which Arabs wish to kill all the Jews and which do not. He also believes that world opinion trumps Israel’s, even when it renders Jews unsafe.
“If you want to marginalize the Jewish state, go down that road,” says Graham. “It will do more damage to Israel’s future than any bomb Iran could ever build. You would lose support here in America, and you would isolate Israel from the world.”

Lindsey Graham is smart. He knows that there are a whole lot of Muslims. For some reason he thinks this means that Israel has to let them move in. “There are a billion Muslims. If you imagine a new Middle East with no Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, you are living in a dream world,” says Graham.

In playing the numbers game, Graham somehow misses the fact that there are 22 Muslim Arab states in the region. He wants the Jews to also give them eastern Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. But do they have to live in these places? Is there no arable land left in any of those 22 Arab states where Israel’s nasty neighbors might reasonably reside alongside other Muslims who speak their language and share their culture?

Senator Lindsey Graham professes to be a Baptist and a born-again Christian. How then does he simply ignore the fact that God gave Israel to the Jews? Graham postures as Israel's ally, yet wishes us to accept terrorists as our eternal neighbors and relinquish our ancestral lands to them.

Is this your idea of turning the other cheek, Lindsey Graham?

If so, fine—turn yours if you must, but please, spare the Jews. That doctrine is part of your faith, not ours.

Our Talmud says something else altogether: "If someone is coming to kill you, rise up and kill him first."

For us, self-defense is not optional—it's a sacred imperative.

Coming next week, IY"H: JD Vance on the sovereignty bill.

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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We Can’t Celebrate Peace When They’re Still Killing Us (Judean Rose)

The day the 20 living hostages were released, the media told us that all Israelis were celebrating. But that wasn’t quite the truth. For many of us, it was more of a collective sigh of relief. The last of the live hostages had made it out. It had not been at all certain they would, or that they had even survived. Thank God they were out.

But this peace deal was nothing to celebrate, because it would not bring peace and would not keep us safe. How could it when in exchange for those 20 living hostages, tortured and starved for 737 days, we released 1,968 Arab terrorists from our jails, 250 of them serving life sentences for murdering or planning the murders of Israeli Jews? Only 200 would be expelled, the rest would be released into the wild.

For our dear 20 hostages, we were releasing murderers back into our cities and towns to ride on our buses and trains, to work and shop freely alongside Israelis. At least this time we were getting more bang for our buck. In 2011, Yahya Sinwar, the eliminated architect of October 7, was released from Israeli custody along with 1,026 of his fellow terrorists, all for a single Jew, Gilad Shalit.

This time we “only” had to set 2,000 more monsters free among us for 20 live Jews and 28 dead.

How could this be right—even celebrated? How many more Sinwars/October 7ths will there be? Why on earth would this bring peace? It is a fact so blatantly obvious: releasing terrorists from Israeli custody never brings peace.

It didn’t this time, either.

Hamas has already broken the truce — attacking Israeli troops and murdering two IDF soldiers. It broke it earlier by not releasing all the hostages all at once. Broke it so many ways, so many times. Playing Hamas terrorist chicken, as always. 

But at the point where they attack and murder Jews, it should have been over. Done.

One would expect an honest US broker at that point, to back Israel to the hilt and call it all off. All the wonderful peace. But no. Instead we get Jared Kushner chiding us, “A lot of people are getting a little hysterical about different incursions. But what we are seeing is that things are going in accordance with the plan. Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense warfare to a peacetime posture.”

Yeah, Jared. Tell that to the families of Yaniv Kula and Itay Yavetz. Do you think they're being a "little hysterical about different incursions?"

Tell us more, oh Jared Kushner who has business dealings with the Hamas-supporting Qatar. Tell us what you told Lesley Stahl, about how murdering two of your fellow Yidden qualifies as acting in good faith “as far as we’ve seen” (emphasis added):

Lesley Stahl: Now, part of the agreement was that, as you had mentioned, Jared, 28 bodies, Israelis were supposed to come out in phase one by now. Do you think that Hamas is breaking the agreement? Is it bad faith?

Jared Kushner: So this has been a very intense effort on behalf of our joint center with Israel and with the mediators in order to convey whatever information Israel has on the whereabouts of the bodies to the mediators and to Hamas in order to retrieve them.

Lesley Stahl: So you're involved in this part of what's going on right now. Are you trying to reassure the Israelis that Hamas is really looking for the bodies? 

Jared Kushner: We're just trying to convey information and make sure that everyone knows the expectations and push both sides to be proactive in terms of finding a solution instead of blaming each other for breakdowns. 

Lesley Stahl: But are you saying publicly right now that Hamas is acting in good faith, seriously looking for the bodies? 

Jared Kushner: As far as we've seen from what's being conveyed to us from the mediators, they are so far, that could break down at any minute. But right now we have seen them looking to honor their agreement.

The things he said!

It made me want to vomit. Still does. 

How could anyone use the word “honor” anywhere near "Hamas?" And what does honor mean to Jared Kushner—that Hamas can kill a couple of Jews and we’ll look the other way, nudge nudge, wink wink?

Jared Kushner asserts a moral equivalence between monsters and (Jewish) victims, characterizing Israel's reaction to the Hamas attack as no different than the attack. It's just two sides "blaming each other." Yet two more young Jewish men now lie cold in their graves.

How can we speak of peace when they're killing us. How do we celebrate while our hearts are bleeding.

Jared, somewhere inside your bespoke Savile Row suit I know you remember Beeri, what you saw there, when the air was still thick with the smell of what had happened there.

Why have you chosen not to be, after all, a Jewish hero?

When will you give us a reason to celebrate?

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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Why Bibi Deserves Our Unity in Israel's Darkest Hour (Judean Rose)

For some people, Bibi bashing is their favorite sport. Personally, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else at the helm at this terrible, dark time for Israel and the Jewish people. When things went down with Iran, I felt relief that it was Bibi, and not Bennett, Lapid, or Gantz in charge.

I won’t deny it. There’s a lot to pin on Netanyahu. October 7 happened on his watch. And still, I believe he loves Israel and the Jewish people, and I think it’s eating him alive that October 7 happened under his leadership. So many deaths, so many atrocities—it weighs on him. You can see on in his face, in his eyes. He’s had multiple health issues since the war began: prostate surgery, urinary tract infection, food poisoning, dehydration. His skin hangs loose on his neck; his voice at the press conference with Marco Rubio was hoarse and weak. He looks beleaguered.

Am I asking you to pity him? In a sense, yes. Because pity here is another word for mercy. If Bibi is to lead us effectively, we need to get off his back. We need to stand behind him as one people.

Unity as a Jewish Imperative

Unity has always been a problem for the Jewish people. The Torah itself tells us that Israel only merited receiving the Torah when it “camped as one man with one heart” at Sinai (Exodus 19:2). Put simply, the unity of Israel (Achdut Yisrael) is not a luxury—but a condition for Jewish survival.

History shows that whenever we are fractured as a people, our enemies take advantage. The destruction of the Second Temple is remembered by our sages as the result of sinat chinam—baseless hatred among Jews. In our own time, the catastrophic October 7 massacre exposed how internal strife left us distracted and vulnerable.

Whether it’s bitter battles over judicial reform or a public letter from 80 so-called Orthodox rabbis accusing Israel of not doing enough for the Gazan people or against the settlers, division makes us weaker than the sum of our parts.

The reverse is also true. When Jews put aside differences and stand as one, we are far mightier than our numbers suggest. That is why it is so painful to see Jews curse their own prime minister in public, or parents of hostages scream at him on camera. It does not bring their children home. It only strengthens the enemy’s resolve, showing Hamas how valuable the hostages are. The cries against Bibi serve as fodder for the hatred of Jews already spreading unchecked around the globe.

Lawfare in Wartime

Instead of focusing fully on the war, Bibi is dragged into court four times a week. MK Moshe Saada calls this “utterly absurd,” a witch hunt that robs the prime minister of his most precious resource: time. Saada asks the judges to look at his children, fighting on the front lines for 350 days, and understand that this case must wait until the war is won.

I personally hate that Bibi is dragged into court four times a week. I don’t want him futzing around in court over bogus, politically motivated charges. I want him figuring out the best way to handle this war.

American commentator Mark Levin, after witnessing the trial in Tel Aviv, said it was “much worse” than he imagined—“ludicrous,” “unconscionable,” and unlike anything that would pass for justice in America. He saw what we all know: that this is lawfare meant to topple Netanyahu, even in the midst of a life-and-death war.

How can Israel fight on all fronts when we spend so much of our national energy undermining our leader?

A New Year’s Plea for Mercy and Silence

As my late mother (A”H) was wont to say, “Don’t wash your dirty linen in public.” It was good advice then, and it’s good advice now. Criticism has its place, but shouting it in the streets while our soldiers fight and our hostages languish helps no one. It weakens us all.

I love Israel. I love living here, every day. But I long for a deeper strain of patriotism in Israeli society: the instinct to defend the leader of your country reflexively in wartime, whether you voted for him or not. Bibi is not perfect. But he is ours. He is also one of us, literally. A Jew, a part of Am Yisrael, the nation of Israel.

This Rosh Hashanah, God willing, I’ll be right there in shul at sunrise, ready to ask Hashem to guide and fortify our prime minister in battle, and for the people to stand behind him. I will pray, hard, that we learn to put aside our differences and complaints—they only make us weak. Unity is the thing we need, the thing that makes us strong. It’s the thing that makes us unbeatable, unbreakable—and unstoppable as a force for good in the world.

With blessings for a sweet new year! Shana Tova. 🍎🍯

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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Jews Praying in Judea Too “Sensitive” to Show, Says ChatGPT (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Here’s a story that says everything about how Jewish rights are treated in today’s world.

Last week, after writing about how Jewish prayer ties us daily to the Land of Israel, I asked an AI program to suggest a feature image. Among the ideas it gave me was this: “Sunrise over the Judean hills with someone wrapped in a tallit praying.” It was perfect—authentic, moving, and exactly what my column was about. So I said, “Yes, generate it.”

The reply? “I wasn’t able to generate that image—the request violates our content policies.”

Imagine that. First, ChatGPT suggests it as an appropriate image. But when I approve it, suddenly it’s a violation. What changed? Nothing—except that the moment I asked for the image to be made real, the rules shifted. The message seems to be that Jews praying in Judea can be floated as a suggestion, but must never actually be shown.

The official explanation? That such an image was deemed “politically sensitive.”

But “politically sensitive” is just code. It means appeasing those who cannot bear to see Jews in Judea, who insist we don’t belong there. Yet Judea is not just our homeland; it is our very name. In Hebrew, it is Yehuda; from this comes Yehudi—the Jew. To call a Jew praying in Judea a violation is itself a violation: of indigeneity, of identity, of truth.

It no doubt upsets Arabs to see Jews praying in Judea. But it certainly upsets this Jew to be told we may not even depict ourselves praying in our native land. Why don’t Jewish sensitivities matter? Why do Jewish feelings count for less? Is it because there are more Arabs than Jews? More Muslims than Jews? More antisemites than Jews? Or is it simply because they shout louder?

Actually, the plain truth is starker than that. It’s this: the world simply doesn’t care what Jews feel and think. In fact, it is expected that when the world insults the Jews, the insult will be swallowed—our people too polite or too fearful to respond. We are expected to endure having our rights trampled, our sensitivities ignored. The world knows we won’t riot or burn embassies.

But those who rage at the sight of Jews in Judea—the Arabs and their sympathizers, along with the just plain Jew-hating chorus—are loud and angry and violent, especially the last. And so their outrage is indulged, while Jews are expected to tamp down their feelings—not to air them, but to starve them of oxygen until they die. Jewish love for the land is, to the Jew-hating world, inconsequential, immaterial, to be dismissed. Not because the world feels bad that the Arabs don’t have a state, but because the world really, REALLY hates Jews.

But the thing is, the refusal to depict a Jew praying in Judea is a denial of history. It’s the erasure of the Jewish right to be seen praying in the place we come from. And we must not let that go unchallenged. The world expects us not to speak out. It’s time we stopped caring.

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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Jewish Prayers Shred the Global Palestine Fantasy (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Anyone who’s ever read a Bible knows that God gave Israel to the Jews. And yet, as of September 3, 2025, 147 United Nations member states have declared a state of “Palestine” on Jewish land. Two non-UN member states, Vatican City and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic also recognized “Palestine” on Jewish land, for a total of 149 entities who think it’s okay to declare what God gave to the Jewish people, a state for the people who have tried everything they know to eradicate the Jewish people.

Now, Belgium has joined the chorus of countries, along with Australia, Canada, France, Malta, and the United Kingdom, that have decided to steal Jewish land and gift it to the people who have vowed to wipe out the Jews. All of these countries will bring their declaration to the United Nations General Assembly, which begins six days from now—the latest example of a long tradition: deciding for the Jews what to do with Jewish land.

Even more so after October 7, when Jews were raped, mutilated, and burned alive by those the world wants to take over Jewish land. Why not? Antisemitic academics, international bodies, and even some misguided Jews claim that our people’s attachment to this land is a recent invention, a political project, or an act of colonialism.

But what none of these governments, scholars, or pundits can erase is the truth Jews carry in their mouths and hearts every day. In our prayers—morning, noon, and night, on weekdays, Sabbaths, and festivals—we declare again and again our eternal bond to this land. Our liturgy is our living title deed.

To be sure, not every Jew prays. Not every Jew is observant. But the Torah was given to every Jew, as was Israel. And whether or not a Jew opens a siddur, the words of prayer have bound our people together across generations, keeping Israel at the center of Jewish life.

Liturgy as Living History

These liturgical references are not accidental. Israel was not “invented” and inserted into our prayers. These references to Israel form a continuous thread from our earliest days as a people until now. The words come from God Himself—from Torah, Psalms, and Prophets. Our sages safeguarded those words and wove them into the rhythm of daily life. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the rabbis acted with purpose, ensuring that Israel and Jerusalem would never fade from our hearts. Even in exile, they structured our prayers around yearning for home.

A Jew in medieval Spain, Yemen, or Poland prayed the same words Jews say to this day: “Return in compassion to Jerusalem Your city… rebuild it soon in our days.” For two thousand years, those words kept us facing east, toward Zion. They kept us bound together as one people, one nation, with one homeland.

This is not colonial nostalgia. It is lived reality. For Jews, Israel was never “over there.” It was always right here, on our lips, in our hopes, in our obligations. The dream of return was not optional piety; it was embedded in the rhythm of our days.

Answering Today’s Critics

When today’s activists, politicians, or academics declare that Jews have no indigenous claim to Israel, they erase centuries of daily testimony. The very prayers we recite prove them wrong. Imagine a people in exile for millennia, clinging to their identity through ritual words that call them home. This is not a people inventing ties to land — it is a people preserving them against all odds.

Our critics can argue politics, but they cannot rewrite our liturgy. They cannot erase the Rachem prayer in Birkat HaMazon, the Boneh Yerushalayim in the Amidah, the Ya’aleh V’yavo on festivals, or the Al HaMichya after-blessing that recalls both the land and Jerusalem. These references to the Land of Israel are not side notes, but the heartbeat of Jewish prayer.

Jewish indigeneity to the Land of Israel is not just history written in archaeology, or law codified in scripture. It is at the heart of our daily prayers. Each blessing and each festival returns us to the land. Even in exile, the words kept us near.

Critics often speak as though Jews once lived in Israel, were exiled, and were replaced by an Arab nation called Palestine. This is a distortion of history. There was never a state called Palestine, and certainly never an Arab state by that name. While most Jews were exiled, many remained — some hiding in caves, others clinging to towns and villages. Across centuries of conquest and oppression, there was always a Jewish presence in the Land of Israel.

That is why Israel matters to Jewish people everywhere. It is not a political project, nor an afterthought of modern nationalism. It is the fulfillment of a promise never forgotten: that Israel is our home, and Jerusalem our eternal city.

📖 Some References to the Land of Israel in Jewish Liturgy

Prayer Section	Text (Hebrew / Verse / Citation)	Translation / Context
P’sukei D’zimra (Verses of Psalms; morning intro prayers)	Ps. 132:13 — כִּי בָחַר ה׳ בְּצִיּוֹן, אִוָּהּ לְמוֹשָׁב לוֹ	“For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling.” — God’s dwelling in Zion/Jerusalem.
	Ps. 146:10 — יִמְלֹךְ ה׳ לְעוֹלָם... צִיּוֹן לְדֹר וָדֹר	“The Lord shall reign forever… O Zion, to all generations.” — Enduring divine rule over Zion.
	Ps. 147:12 — שַׁבְּחִי יְרוּשָׁלַיִם אֶת־ה׳, הַלְלִי אֱ-לֹהַיִךְ צִיּוֹן	“Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.” — Praise for Jerusalem/Zion.
	Ps. 135:21 — בָּרוּךְ ה׳ מִצִּיּוֹן, שֹׁכֵן יְרוּשָׁלִָם	“Blessed is the Lord from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem.” — God’s presence in Zion/Jerusalem.
	Ps. 48:13–15 — סֹבּוּ צִיּוֹן... מִגְדָּלֶיהָ	“Walk about Zion… count her towers…” — Zion as enduring stronghold for future generations.
Amidah (Central Prayer) Weekday / Shabbat / Yom Tov	קִבּוּץ גָּלֻיּוֹת — וקבצנו יחד מארבע כנפות הארץ לְאַרְצֵנו	“Gather us from the four corners of the earth to our land.” — Ingathering of exiles.
	בּוֹנֵה יְרוּשָׁלַיִם — ולירושלים עירך ברחמים תשוב	“Return in compassion to Jerusalem Your city.” — Plea to rebuild Jerusalem.
	עֲבוֹדָה — וְתֶּחֱזֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ בְּשׁוּבְךָ לְצִיּוֹן בְּרַחֲמִים	V’techezenah eineinu b’shuvcha l’Tzion b’rachamim — “May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy.”
	יעלה ויבוא (insert on festivals/Rosh Chodesh)	“The remembrance of Jerusalem Your city… and of Messiah son of David Your servant.”
Musaf (Festivals/Rosh Chodesh)	וּמִפְּנֵי חַטָּאֵינוּ גָּלִינוּ מֵאַרְצֵנוּ... וְהַחֲזִירֵנוּ לְצִיּוֹן עִירֶךָ	“Because of our sins we were exiled from our land… return us to Zion Your city.” — Exile and return theme.
Shabbat Mincha Amidah — Ata Echad	עַם אֶחָד בָּאָרֶץ	“One nation on earth.” — National unity rooted in the Land.
Torah Reading (Ki Mitzion)	כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה, וּדְבַר ה׳ מִירוּשָׁלִָם (Isa. 2:3)	“For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
Hashkiveinu (Shabbat Evening)	הַפּוֹרֵשׂ סֻכַּת שָׁלוֹם... עַל עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל יְרוּשָׁלִָם	“Who spreads the shelter of peace… over His people Israel and over Jerusalem.”
Nachem (Tisha B’Av)	נַחֵם... אֲבֵלֵי צִיּוֹן וַאֲבֵלֵי יְרוּשָׁלַיִם... בּוֹנֶה יְרוּשָׁלַיִם	“Comfort the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem… who rebuilds Jerusalem.”
Shacharit (Concluding line in many rites)	אוֹר חָדָשׁ עַל צִיּוֹן תָּאִיר	“Let a new light shine upon Zion.” — Hope for Zion’s renewal.
Monday Psalm (near end of morning service)	Ps. 48 — “Walk about Zion… count her towers.”	Reprise of Zion’s endurance within the weekly cycle.
Birkat HaMazon (Grace After Meals) Weekday core text	על שהנחלת לאבותינו ארץ חמדה טובה ורחבה	“…for the inheritance of the desirable, good, and spacious land You gave our ancestors.” Al she’hinchalta la’avoteinu eretz chemda tova ur’chava
	ברוך אתה ה׳... על הארץ ועל המזון	“Blessed are You… for the land and for the sustenance.” …al ha’aretz v’al ha’mazon
	ועל ירושלים עירך	“…and on Jerusalem Your city…” V’al Yerushalayim irecha
	ועל ציון משכן כבודך	“…and on Zion, the dwelling of Your glory…” V’al Tziyon mishkan kevodecha
	ובנה ירושלים עיר הקודש במהרה בימינו	“And rebuild Jerusalem, Your holy city, speedily in our days.” U’vnei Yerushalayim ir hakodesh bimeheirah b’yameinu
	ברוך אתה ה׳, בונה ברחמיו ירושלים	“Blessed are You, Lord, who in His mercy rebuilds Jerusalem.” …boneh b’rachamav Yerushalayim
Al HaMichya (After-blessing for light meals)	ועל הארץ ועל המחיה… ועל ארץ חמדה טובה ורחבה… ובנה ירושלים עיר הקדש במהרה בימינו	“…for the land and for the sustenance… for the desirable, good, and spacious land… and rebuild Jerusalem Your holy city, speedily in our days.”

Note: Texts and wording vary by nusach (rite), community, and siddur. This chart highlights many central references to the Land of Israel and Jerusalem, but is incomplete and should not be relied upon as an exhaustive index.

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Letter of Infamy: When Rabbis Parrot the Settler Violence Lie (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Last week I addressed the accusation of “famine” in Gaza in a letter (HERE) signed by more than 80 Open Orthodox rabbis. This week, I want to look at the second charge in that same letter: so-called “settler violence.” 

To hear the rabbis tell it, extremist settlers are raining down bloody hell on “Palestinians.” But that is exactly false. Which suggests that the signatories have not at all done their due diligence before affixing their names to what stands as a very public condemnation of Israel at a time of extreme peril for the Jewish people.

If they had done the bare minimum research before signing their John Hancocks to that statement accusing Israel of not doing enough to combat “settler violence,” they would have discovered that only four months earlier, in April 2025, Israeli NGO Regavim had released a detailed report on this very subject, “False Flags and Real Agendas, The Making of a Modern Blood Libel: The ‘Settler Violence’ Narrative as a Weapon in the Battle to Delegitimize the Jewish Presence in Judea and Samaria and the State of Israel”

Regavim, which monitors land use and policy in Judea and Samaria, examined the UN database that is perpetually cited as proof of “settler violence.” What they found was that the numbers collapse under scrutiny, reduced to dust.

“The UN incident list we obtained distinguishes between 2,047 incidents of violence against Israelis and 6,285 incidents defined as violence against Palestinians… once one delves into the list of incidents, the clear conclusion is that the vast majority do not describe violence related to settlers, and certainly do not describe violence initiated by settlers against Palestinians. Among the 6,285 incidents… 1,361 were simply Jewish ascents to the Temple Mount, every one counted as ‘settler violence.’ Another 1,613 were general complaints, such as ‘entry onto land’ during tours or hikes, which do not involve assault or harm. Ninety-six involved legal infrastructure projects carried out by the State of Israel.”

This is the extent of the UN’s “evidence” of settler violence. Temple Mount visits. Land surveys. Legal infrastructure. In other words: ordinary life contorted into charges of violence. And when those distortions are stripped away, we are left with a big pile of nothing.

“After subtracting these cases, only 833 incidents remain, which the UN classified as settler violence against Palestinians in the Judea and Samaria, allegedly resulting in bodily harm and in some cases also property damage. This constitutes only ten percent of the original list, which sought to reflect alarming levels of severe violence by settlers against Palestinians in the Judea and Samaria. Not only did this review cut 90% of the events, undermining the foundation of the UN’s arguments and their consequences, but the remaining cases suffer not only from lack of credibility but also from a disgusting level of false accusation against the real victims.”

Ten percent. That’s all that survived the first cut. Yet these reports, too, are riddled with distortions. Almost half of the reported cases were clashes with both sides involved. Of the rest, some cases of "settler violence" were attributed to Israeli security forces, while others were Arab terror attacks against Jews—recast as ‘settler violence.' Blood libels dressed up as data.

As Regavim concludes:

“…examination of these cases revealed that in many of them, it is not settler violence of one kind or another, but rather the opposite: these are terror attacks by Arabs against settlers that ended with the injury or elimination of the attacker.”

Had the rabbis taken five minutes to investigate, they would have found this information—current, comprehensive, and devastating to their claim. Instead, they affixed their names to a letter built on entries in a database programmed to tell lies. Even the name of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik is invoked, as if to give the letter's distortions a veneer of authority. But the Rav, as he is known to those who revere him, would never have put his name on something so harmful to the Jewish people.

Which brings us to the names of the rabbis, themselves.

As my friend Julie P. on seeing the list of names helpfully pointed out, "Not one is Sephardi or Mizrachi."

Look down the list of 80 signatories. It’s tragic really. You’ll see Schudrich, Greenberg, Yanklowitz, Dolinger, Chernick, Feigelson, Schlesinger—names that could have come straight from an early, 20th century Lower East Side synagogue membership roster.

 

With one half-exception—a single hyphenated surname suggesting a mixed background—the entire coalition is Ashkenazi.

And this is telling. Sephardim, even those who are not religious in practice, are deeply respectful of rabbinic authority and tradition. Watching how they comport themselves in the presence of a sage is instructive. I have seen secular Sephardi women cover their arms and heads with a shawl when a rabbi entered the room. Nobody asked them to. They simply revere the rabbis who have guided their people according to the same traditions for generations. Perhaps it is that steadfastness that inoculates Sephardim against the hubris of lecturing Israel on “moral clarity” while parroting Hamas propaganda without looking deeper at the actual facts.

List of signatories

Rabbi Yosef Blau

Rabbi David Bigman

Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich

Chief Rabbi Michael Melchior

Chief Rabbi Jair Melchior

Rabbi Joav Melchior

Chief Rabbi David Rosen (former CR)

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz

Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg

Rabbi Hyim Shafner

Rabbi Daniel Landes

Rabbi Herzl Hefter

Rabbi Shua Mermelstein

Rabbi Yoni Zolty

Rabbanit Mindy Schwartz Zolty

Rabbi Frederick L Klein

Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky

Rabbi Michael Whitman

Rabbi Dr. Jeremiah Unterman

Rabbi Barry Dolinger

Rabbi David Silber

Rabbi Yonatan Neril

Rabbi Ysoscher Katz

Rabbi Isaac Landes

Rabbi David Polsky

Rabbi Baruch Plotkin

Rabbi Mikey Stein

Rabbi Elliot Kaplowitz

Rabbi Ariel Goldberg

Rabbi Ben Birkeland

Rabbi Ralph Genende

Rabbi David Glicksman

Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman

Rabbi Dr. Martin Lockshin

Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Giller

Rabbi Avidan Freedman

Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein

Rabbi Dr. Shalom Schlagman

Rabbi Dr. Daniel Ross Goodman

Rabbi Aaron Levy

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller

Rabbi Dr. Mel Gottlieb

Rabbi Dr. Joshua Feigelson

Rabbi Jonah Winer

Rabbi Dr. Michael Chernick

Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn

Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger

Rabbi Elhanan Miller

Rabbi Joel Hecker

Rabbi Michael Gordan

R. Sofia Freudenstein

Rabbi David Levin-Kruss

Rabbanit Myriam Ackermann-Sommer

Rabba Ramie Smith

R. Shayna Abramson

Rabbi Zachary Truboff

Rabbi David A. Schwartz

Rabbi David Jaffe

Rabbi Steve Greenberg

Rabbi Gabriel Kretzmer Seed

Rabbanit Rachel Keren

Rabbi Benyamin Vineburg

Rabba Dr. Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

Rabbanit Leah Sarna

Rabbi Dr. Wendy Zierler

Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz

Rabbi Shimon Brand

Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez

R. Emily Goldberg Winer

R. Dr. Erin Leib Smokler

Rabba Adina Roth

R. Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy

Rabbi Drew Kaplan

Rabbi Dina Najman

Rabbi Emile Ackermann

Rabbi Daniel Geretz

Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz

Rabbanit Tali Schaum Broder

Rabbi Max Davis

Rabbi Tyson Herberger

Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky

At first, I wondered whether one surname on the list—Neril—might break the pattern. I had never heard that one before and thought perhaps it was Sephardi. But no. Rabbi Yonatan Neril is Ashkenazi, and best known for founding the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, an organization that promotes environmental action across faith communities. His presence on the list highlights the broader orientation of many of the signatories toward progressive and ecumenical causes, rather than toward Israel’s defense in its hour of need.

 
The rabbis who signed this letter of betrayal may have meant no harm to their own, but intentions matter little here; the effect is the same. That letter was like piling logs onto a raging fire—then dousing it with gasoline. 

History will not remember the rabbis' statement kindly. At best, the signatories will be judged naïve or misguided. Sad, but with tragic consequences for the Jewish people and in particular for Israel’s hostages and soldiers. The rabbis' missive jeopardizes Israel’s ability to free the hostages by emboldening the enemy, who now see that even Jewish clergy can be turned into weapons against the Jewish state.

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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Harmful Rabbinic Statement: When Leadership Fails in the Name of Morality (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

When more than 80 self-described Modern Orthodox rabbis signed a public letter accusing Israel of failing to prevent starvation in Gaza, the result was not “moral clarity,” as the document’s title claimed. Instead, it provided a dangerous boost to Hamas propaganda at a time of unprecedented hostility toward the Jewish state.

The statement, “A Call for Moral Clarity, Responsibility, and a Jewish Orthodox Response in the Face of the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis,” insists that while Hamas is guilty of heinous crimes, Israel bears responsibility for preventing hunger in Gaza. Cloaked in the language of compassion, the letter distorts reality, undermines Israel, and arms its enemies with new talking points.

Jewish law holds leaders to the highest standards of truth in speech. Yet this letter repeats claims that collapse under scrutiny. Though it does not have to, since May, Israel has facilitated the entry of nearly 183,000 tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The United Nations, by contrast, reports just 67,000 tons—a discrepancy of more than 115,000 tons. The explanation is simple: Hamas steals, hoards, and diverts supplies, while the UN amplifies those manipulated figures. In fact, since the start of the war, Israel has facilitated the entry into Gaza of almost 2 million tons of aid.

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Instead of consulting Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which publishes daily data on aid deliveries, the signatories embraced Hamas-tainted statistics and then presented them as an Orthodox moral imperative. This feels more like moral confusion and cluelessness than moral clarity.

Aid entry data is published regularly on a dedicated website.

It provides a daily breakdown of the number of trucks entering Gaza, categorized by crossing point and type of goods.

The data presented on the site reflects the full and accurate picture of the aid that Israel… pic.twitter.com/UwGattKdbK

— COGAT (@cogatonline) August 19, 2025

The harm goes far beyond numbers. Anti-Israel media outlets in Turkey and the Arab world immediately broadcast the rabbis’ statement as proof that even Orthodox leaders accuse Israel of starving Gaza. The familiar weapon of “even Jews say” has now been upgraded: even Orthodox rabbis say.

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Such messaging hands Hamas and its allies exactly what they need—Jewish voices validating their narrative—while antisemitism continues to surge globally.

Those who hold the title of rabbi carry an obligation to weigh the impact of their words. Their statements reverberate far beyond their intended audience, particularly in times of war and rising antisemitism. To sign one’s name to a letter that repeats propaganda is not an act of conscience but a failure of responsibility.

Rabbis are expected to serve as witnesses for the Jewish people, not to echo the accusations of those who seek the destruction of the Jewish state. At a minimum, Jewish leaders must confirm the facts before attaching their authority to public pronouncements.

The rabbis who signed this letter may not intend to harm Israel. But intentions do not negate consequences. By repeating distorted figures and equating Israel with Hamas, they have lent credibility to falsehoods that endanger Jews everywhere.

This is not moral clarity, nor is it an Orthodox response. It is, at best, naïve—and at worst, a dangerous gift to Israel’s enemies.

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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