1.
An Italian newspaper editor shared a compelling story with me last week in Rome: On a flight from Milan, he found himself seated next to Israelis his age returning home from vacation. Their conversation was a lament for Israel and Zionism, expressing despair over "what had happened to the country" and a lack of hope for its future. However, in front of him sat a group of 17-year-olds, also heading back to Israel. Their discussion painted a stark contrast to the adults. These teens spoke with clarity about their intention to serve in combat units and defend their nation. They viewed this as a central value and an honor. "This is the country we dreamed of," they said. The editor was astounded by these two entirely different worldviews.
I showed him a video from a Border Police basic training graduation ceremony this week. My son had the honor of commanding a group of trainees there. In his farewell address to his soldiers, he echoed what his own commander had said about him not long ago when he was a recruit: "He had something special, a spark in his eyes, a desire to succeed, to prove to himself that he could do things he didn't believe possible before." Then, my son called up the chosen trainee, presented him with his personal beret, and gave him a warm embrace. We watched them with awe: twenty-year-olds with a spirit two millennia old, shouldering the heavy burden as light as dust, rejoicing in their country that granted them the privilege to defend it. I glanced at the eyes of the veteran journalist who had seen so much in his life; there was a glimmer of hope in them.
2.
How's the situation in Italy? I asked. He said that beneath the surface, there's a growing hatred towards Israel. People are being incited, and the antisemitism that was suppressed at other times is reemerging in the wake of the war.
A week earlier, I heard similar sentiments from Jews in New York. Some mentioned they had bought weapons for a day of need. I told the Jews that they had received all the signs to return to Israel. I opened the Talmudic tractate of Sanhedrin (97b), where our sages say that if Israel doesn't repent, the Holy One, blessed be He, will set up a king as harsh as Haman, and immediately they will repent (in the words of the Talmud: they will make "teshuva"). Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai proved in the 19th century that the primary meaning of "Teshuva" in the Bible isn't religious but geographical: to return home. Come home, I urged them.
3.
Israel doesn't invest enough in public diplomacy, said the Italian editor. Action can be taken effectively: Focus on specific social networks with one central message in different directions: Do the Jewish people have a right to a state of their own? If so, does Israel have the right to defend itself? We discussed how the current war has brought us all back to the first War of Independence in 1948.
Later, I spoke about the West's disgrace at a major news agency. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to invade Israel. A NATO member is threatening to fight Israel. This is an indicator of the US's weakness as the leader of the alliance. And what's the response of the member states? I heard Geert Wilders condemn it. And the rest? A deafening silence.
Israel, I said, doesn't need these condemnations. It's you who needs to take a clear stance on Israel's right to defend itself because this isn't just our war but a war of the entire free world against a tyranny seeking to enslave it in the name of a death cult. Look at your streets; you've fallen asleep at the wheel and don't see the danger looming over you. Erdogan indirectly threatened the Judeo-Christian civilization, of which Israel serves as an outpost in its defense.
4.
From the steps of the cathedral in Viterbo, the city that served as the seat of popes competing with the Vatican in the Middle Ages, I left a message for my son: Here, you understand firsthand the meaning of the biblical commandment, "And you shall tell your son," or "And you shall tell your soldiers." I passed on to you what my father passed on to me from his parents, and you will, God willing, pass it on to your children as you did with your soldiers. The meaning of this intergenerational transmission is that we are a link in a long chain, part of an ancient nation that has overcome obstacles no other nation has faced. We have wrestled with God and with people, and we have prevailed. You are the fourth generation since Auschwitz, I told my son. Your great-grandmother was sent there in cattle cars and survived to build a family in the independent state that didn't exist then to protect her. Now it's your turn.
