In typical Orwellian European fashion, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to maintain dialogue with Ramallah and pursue a two-state solution. In reality, the Abbas regime has systematically undermined the two-state solution with its anti-Semitic opposition to the existence of a Jewish nation state within any borders. While Israel’s critics conveniently ignore this crucial fact, the European leaders condescendingly believe that they know better how the sovereign Jewish nation should run its affairs. While the Jewish people may no longer be in bondage in Egypt, only a decisive Israeli victory over its lethal enemies can restore full Jewish political and national freedom in its ancestral homeland Israel.

Passover is arguably the most Jewish and simultaneously most universal of all Jewish holidays. Its powerful message of freedom from bondage is timeless and has inspired countless Jews and non-Jews alike throughout history. Generations of oppressed, homeless and destitute Jews in Europe, the Middle East and beyond concluded the holiday with the timeless words of hope: “Next year in Jerusalem.” Egypt became a metaphor for bondage while Zion became a metaphor for personal and national freedom. Modern Zionism became the political vehicle that turned the ancient Jewish dream of returning home to Jerusalem and Israel into a reality.

Passover offers the Jewish nation a powerful connection to its ancient past while at the same time inspiring an even brighter future for the Jewish people.

Seventy years is a blink of an eye in the long history of the Jewish people. Yet during the past seven decades and against tremendous odds, the Jewish people built a modern and powerful state in its ancestral homeland Israel. For the first time in over 2000 years, the Jewish people is no longer homeless or defenseless. However, like any complex human project, modern Israel remains a work in progress. History in general and Jewish history in particular has a tendency of repeating itself in different ways. While the Jewish people no longer lives in exilic bondage, modern day pharaohs still systematically challenge its national and political freedom in different ways. Iran’s Islamist regime and its allies constitute the epicenter of today’s opposition to the existence of a Jewish national homeland. However, anti-Semitic groups like the Boycott Divestment Sanction (BDS) campaign tirelessly work to poison minds in the free world with their anti-Jewish bigotry.

While the United Nations and the European Union officially recognize Israel’s existence, they advocate policies that systematically seek to undermine the Jewish nation’s legitimacy and ability to defend its national freedom against its lethal enemies. The European Union is not merely opposed to a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. Most of Europe still refuses to recognize the Jewish people’s return to its ancestral capital Jerusalem. A powerful and independent Jewish state does not fit into the deeply entrenched European preferred view of Jews as homeless and defenseless. Ironically, self-appointed Western liberals lead the free world’s assault on Jewish national sovereignty and freedom. Many liberals hypocritically condemn Israel for exercising the universal right of self-defense against enemies seeking her destruction. Critics systematically blast Israeli defensive military operations as “disproportionate” and insist on applying negative double standards against Israel.

Israel’s inadequate PR has largely failed to address properly the widespread global hostility towards the Jewish state. Even eloquently presented rational facts will not end the widespread irrational bigotry against Israel and the Jewish people. Israel’s desire to placate implacably hostile audiences have made a bad situation even worse. The main reason for this is that appeasement implicitly puts you in an inferior position. Israeli political appeasement has eroded its impressive tactical military victories. Unlike any militarily losing aggressors in history, Israel’s enemies have therefore become accustomed to continue demanding that the Jewish state capitulate politically. This Orwellian reality has been facilitated by a widespread international hostility towards Israel. Hostile influential political organizations like the United Nations and the European Union have largely ignored Israel’s factually based positions and sided with Israel’s enemies.

Seven decades after its rebirth, Israel remains the only country in the world whose very existence continues to be challenged worldwide. Israel’s legendary late foreign minister Abba Eban eloquently addressed this anomaly decades ago:

“Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its ‘right to exist.’ Israel’s right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved. Israel’s legitimacy is not suspended in midair awaiting acknowledgement…. There is certainly no other state, big or small, young or old, that would consider mere recognition of its ‘right to exist’ a favor, or a negotiable concession.”

Modern Zionism led the Jewish people from exilic bondage to restored political and national freedom in Israel. In order to secure Jewish national freedom for future Jewish generations, the Jewish state must decisively defeat her enemies by forcing them to reconcile with the permanency of the return of the Jewish people to its ancestral homeland Israel.

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Daniel Kryger is a writer and a political analyst and a Fellow at the Haym Salomon Center.

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