The past few weeks have reminded us—painfully—why the world still needs the Jewish state.
From college campuses in the U.S. to the streets of London, Sydney, and New York, antisemitic chants and slogans have rung out with terrifying boldness. "From the river to the sea" isn’t a call for justice; it's a call for the eradication of Israel.
Protesters are demanding not coexistence, but the end of the world’s only Jewish state. And too many in power are remaining silent.
It’s easy to forget, amid the comforts of Western life, that the existence of Israel is not just a matter of national pride—it is a matter of Jewish survival. The Holocaust taught us that we cannot rely on others to protect us. Pogroms and expulsions taught us that assimilation doesn’t equal safety.
Zionism was, and is, the assertion that Jews deserve a nation of their own—not as a gift from the world, but as a right.
Today, that nation is under attack. Not just with rockets from Gaza or threats from Iran, but from the chants of students and activists who seek to erase its legitimacy.
The double standard is glaring. No one calls for the dismantling of China over its treatment of Uyghurs, or of Russia over Ukraine. Yet the Jewish state is held to impossible standards.
The answer to this moment is not to shrink back, but to stand up. To say clearly: Israel is necessary. Israel is just. And Israel is here to stay.
This article is republished from JNS.org. Written by Jonathan S. Tobin.
Read the full article here: https://www.jns.org/antisemites-are-still-proving-why-we-need-israel
