“Israel is not only responsible for the Jews who live within its borders. It carries a responsibility for the fate and future of the Jewish people everywhere.”

The wording has been expressed in different forms by Israeli leaders across generations, from David Ben-Gurion’s vision of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people to the repeated insistence of presidents, prime ministers, and Jewish Agency leaders that Israel’s bond with world Jewry is not symbolic but foundational. Israel was created not merely as a state. It was created as a guarantee that Jews would never again stand alone.

That is why a difficult question must be asked today.

Since October 7, Jewish communities around the world have stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel. They raised hundreds of millions of dollars. They organized rallies. They confronted hostile crowds on university campuses. They defended Israel in television studios, newspaper columns, city councils, parliaments, synagogues, and social media feeds. They absorbed threats, harassment, professional consequences, and in some cases physical violence because they refused to abandon Israel during one of the darkest moments in its history. Whether in New York, Paris, London, Toronto, Melbourne, Johannesburg, or Buenos Aires, millions of Jews carried Israel’s pain as their own. They worried about the hostages. They worried about the soldiers. They worried about Israel’s future. They defended Israel’s right to destroy Hamas and protect its citizens after the barbaric atrocities of October 7. The question that must now be asked is equally simple and uncomfortable: while Jews around the world have kept Israel constantly in their minds, has Israel’s leadership kept them in mind as well?

There should be no ambiguity about one fundamental point. Israel did not choose the war that began on October 7. Hamas did. The massacre of civilians, the murder of entire families, the kidnappings, the rapes, and the deliberate targeting of innocent people created a moral and military obligation for Israel to respond. Most reasonable observers recognize Israel’s right and duty to defend itself against a........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)