Linking the resuscitation of the two-state solution and the focus on the threats of yesterday
reprints from the jerusalem post, by Gol Kalev, january 17, 2025
See Gol Kalev’s Wall Street Journal op-ed- Israel and the International Criminal Court’s Threat to the U.S.
Era of seismic changes (2025):
Dump old frameworks
Jerusalem Post, January 20, 2025
In the last few months, we have witnessed some seismic changes in the Middle East: the modern concept of Syria collapsed, and with it comes a new threat to the countries created in the last 100 years. At the same time, Iranian influence in the Middle East is significantly weakened, while Turkey is rising as a significant regional power.
In the coming months, we should expect some more big changes in the global arena as US President-elect Donald Trump takes office. He already announced his intentions to acquire Greenland and possibly the Panama Canal, and he even raised the idea of ending Canada’s independence and turning it into a US state.
When seismic changes occur, legacy frameworks of the old circumstances become obsolete.
One can remember the debates in the Israeli media among pundits and around the negotiator tables: Should Assad control the water of the Sea of Galilee, or should his forces be stationed a few meters from the water in exchange for peace?
Today, Assad is out of Syria, the Golan Heights are recognized as part of Israel, and, as the popular Israeli song “My Daughter, Are you Crying or Laughing?” goes, “There are still guns on the [Hermon] mountain, my daughter, but they are threatening Damascus.” Indeed, if anybody engages in a debate today about whether Assad should be on the water on the Sea of Galilee or just near them, he would be mocked.
One can also remember the debates in the early 21st century about the two-state solution and “land swaps” – the idea that in exchange for Israel keeping “settlement blocs” in Judea and Samaria, Israel will give the Palestinians areas adjacent to Gaza, effectively extending the Gaza Strip.
One can only imagine what Oct. 7 would have looked like, if this had been the case.
Indeed, in the new world realities, not only the idea of expanding Gaza should be ridiculed, but so is the idea of the two-state solution – an obsolete framework, irrelevant in today’s circumstances.
Seismic changes occur not only to geopolitical circumstances, but also when it comes to ideological threats.
For much of the 2,000 years of exile, the threat to Judaism came from religious-based European hatred. When a new form of opposition to Judaism emerged in the late 19th century, called antisemitism, many dismissed it as merely a political view.
Indeed, antisemites did not level theological or religious accusations against the Jews, nor did they accuse Jews of using the blood of Christian children to perform religious rituals – they merely suggested that Jews were “occupying Europe” and corrupting humanity. (Later, the term antisemitism was retrofitted to include all forms of Jew-hatred – contemporary and historical).
European attitudes towards Jews were going through a dramatic shift at the turn of the 20th century, yet, Jews and their allies were not sufficiently alarmed, since they were captured in their old conceptions – those that were relevant in prior centuries of European opposition.
A similar dynamic exists today. As discussed in this column and in my book The Assault on Judaism, we are in the midst of a fast-moving multi-arena attempt to negate the idea of the Jewish state, and through it, to negate the idea of Judaism. In the last week alone, attempts have been made in a number of European countries to arrest Jews (again) and charge them with war crimes – part of an effort to demoralize and humiliate the Jewish nation (the more it changes, the more it stays the same).
And yet, this imminent threat to the survival of Judaism is not getting sufficient attention. Much of the focus remains on countering traditional antisemitism.
Whether it is geopolitical or ideological, seismic changes require us to dump old frameworks and adopt new strategies. Yet, it is hard for the collective human consciousnesses, and big systems, to internalize big changes as they occur. There is a natural tendency to operate within the confines of old obsolete frameworks and conceptions.
This is the case today, this was the case at the turn of the 20th century, and this has been the case since the beginning of times:
The writer is the author of a new book, The Assault on Judaism: The Existential Threat Is Coming from the West. He is chairman of the Judaism 3.0 Think Tank and author of Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism (Judaism-Zionism.com). His geopolitical articles are featured on EuropeAndJerusalem.com.
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Related: Jacob changes world order (16th Cent BCE)
This weekend, Jews will begin reading Exodus in synagogues, after concluding reading Genesis last week.
What is often missed in this transition is the monumental shift of world order that was put in place by Jacob.
The “conventional wisdom” at the time was that succession should be passed down to the eldest.
Indeed, Laban tells Jacob that this principle is so rooted, that the idea of giving the youngest ahead of the eldest daughter to be wedded is outright taboo.
When it comes to passing down the Abrahamic blessing, which was passed to Isaac and then to Jacob himself, it seems for much of the book of Genesis that there was only one dispute: Who is the eldest? Is it Leah’s oldest son, Reuben, or is it Rachel’s oldest son, Joseph?
Jacob initiates a seismic change in his final days that makes this question obsolete – effectively switching from a system of “seniority” to a system of “Divine-based meritocracy.” Apparently, Jacob views his role not to be determining who is really the elder son, but rather to understand what God wants him to do.
He first “neutralizes” Reuben’s claim by “promoting” Joseph’s sons (his grandchildren) to be his own: “Ephraim and Manasseh, like Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine,” he declares, essentially reducing Reuben’s claim to be pari passu with Ephraim’s.
He then “neutralizes” Joseph’s claim by switching the succession order of Joseph’s children, putting the younger Ephraim ahead of the older Manasseh.
Finally, he parts ways with his father, Isaac, and grandfather Abraham – who both made a clear succession choice (“winner takes all”) – and instead gives a blessing to all his children, setting the foundation for the nation of Israel.
Jacob created a new order. Therefore, the question of who is the older becomes irrelevant.
Indeed, from now on, the nation of Israel will operate under the system of “Divine-based meritocracy” – this is evident with the succession question of the new leader, Moses, introduced in this week’s Torah reading. The two presumed contenders, Joshua and Caleb, are not his descendants and are not even from his tribe. It is made clear that they are not picked by Moses based on age or seniority, but based on who God tells Moses to pick.
This concept is reiterated a number of times down the line, including when Samuel picks King David.
But all of these took place centuries after Jacob put in place this new order.
In the immediate months that followed, just like the seismic changes today, not everybody recognized the change.
Upon returning from Jacob’s funeral, Joseph’s 10 half-brothers, who self-describe themselves as “slaves of God,” effectively concede the elderly dispute of the old order and declare that they are “slaves of Joseph” instead.
Joseph corrects them: “Am I in the place of God?”
He comforts them and assures them that the questions and events of the past are indeed in the past. There is a new order put in by their father, Jacob, and hence they should have no fear. – G.K.
For more of Go Kalev’s column tying biblical events to today’s geopolitics and the frameworks of Theodor Herzl, see: Parasha & Herzl
This article first appeared in the Jerusalem Post Magazine on January 17, 2025, in Gol Kalev’s column: Judaism 3.0
See also Gol’s new column: The Assault on Judaism, which applies the ideas his new book to today’s policy decisions:
Hanukkah – Part II (2024): Negating Judaism as an idea (December 25, 2024)
France disrupting peace: In Syria (1920), in the West (2020s) (December 12, 2024)
The ICC Warrants: A Global Assault on Judaism (November 26, 2024)
The Assault on Judaism Penetrates Congress (November 20, 2024)
The West’s Attack on Judaism is a US National Security Issue (November 13, 2024)
Europe and Jerusalem has been featuring Gol Kalev’s geopolitical analysis since 2015: Europe and Jerusalem
Related Interviews with Gol Kalev
The Media is an actor in this war (American Sunrise)
The Assault on Judaism is coming from the West `(Washington Times)
Europe must decide: ICC or DC (Washington Times)
Western incitements against the Jewish state (American sunrise)
The Assault on Judaism was launched on October 14th, at an event hosted by the Begin Center in Jerusalem. See clips, read summary: Press Release
Watch the Full Event:
Purchase The Assault on Judaism on Amazon
For media inquiries and US Book Tour information: media@theassaultonjudaism.com
Related Jerusalem Post articles:
The assault on Judaism: Will the US hold Macron accountable as France takes the lead (Jerusalem Post, October 6, 2024)
Who decides: Who will live, who will die? (Jerusalem Post, October 7, 2024)
Response to antisemitism: Show the world that Judaism has become Zionism (Jerusalem Post, April 12, 2024)
Jerusalem Report corer: Gol Kalevs new book
Read an excerpt and Summary of the Assault on Judaism: Jerusalem Report Cover – September 23, 2024
The cover the September 23, 2024 issue of the Jerusalem Report features Gol Kalev’s new book:
Reprints from The Jerusalem Report, September 23, 2024, By Gol Kalev
Judaism is facing its greatest survival challenge since the Jews were deported from Judea, as a nuanced, layered, yet fast-paced assault is coming from the West.
Every few centuries there is an attempt to eradicate Judaism, using destruction mechanisms that are relevant to the time. Sometimes, it is done through an attempt to kill Jews by Jews, such as in Europe during the 20th century and during the Crusades of the 12th century. Sometimes it is done through an attempt to destroy Judaism collectively, as an idea, such as in Spain during the 15th century and by the Greeks during the 2nd century BCE.
Today, Hamas, Iran, and its proxies are attempting to destroy Judaism Jew by Jew through a physical assault. However, they do not have the capabilities to eradicate Judaism. Those destruction mechanisms are housed in the West and are carried through an ideological assault on Judaism.
Like previous large-scale assaults, the attack is being channeled through the most relevant aspect of Judaism at the time. In our era, this aspect is Zionism, which has become the anchor of Judaism.
In my 2022 book Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism, I showed that we are in the midst of a historic transformation of Judaism. I identified Israel-bashing as an existential threat to the survival of Judaism. I argued that recognizing that we are in Judaism 3.0 could help counter the threat, as the Israel-basher must stay in Judaism 2.0 – the illusion that Judaism is merely a religion. This allows the attacker to express “zero tolerance to antisemitism” (the threat to Jews and Judaism in the 20th century), while partaking in Israel-bashing (the threat to Jews and Judaism in the 21st century).
The Jerusalem Report dedicated the cover of its 2022 New Year issue to the book, with an article titled “Judaism’s transformation to Zionism – Countering the Israel-bashing movement,”which summarized the main thesis of the book. Since then, October 7 turned Judaism 3.0 from a thesis to a depiction of day-to-day life.
In my new book, The Assault on Judaism, which is being released in September, I describe the path to destruction of Judaism that was triggered on October 7. I show the interdependence between the physical attack and the ideological attack that followed, including how inevitable it was for friendly Western governments, which ferociously defend the Jewish state from physical attack, to partake in the ideological assault on Judaism.
I show the gradual activation of the destruction mechanisms. This includes the ICC and the ICJ setting the legal groundwork for the arrest of Jews en masse, and of Western governments, such as France, pledging in advance their collaboration – just as they did 80 years ago, the last time arrest warrants were issued against Jews en masse.
I show how an ecosystem is being developed for collective destruction of Judaism through DAS – demoralization, attrition, and sanctions. I also show how just like in the previous large-scale assault, there is an understandable, yet laughable, attempt to carve out “Good Jews” (Jews in America) from “Bad Jews” (Jews in Israel/Jews in the IDF/Jews in settlements).
Throughout my analysis, I draw not only on lessons from previous large-scale assaults on Judaism but also on the wisdom of Theodor Herzl, whose frameworks are becoming more and more relevant today. Indeed, just as Herzl identified back then, the lethal part of today’s assault does not come from the hard-core Israel-bashers on the fringe but from mainstream people in positions of power, who control the destruction mechanism. Those “Israel-bashers lite,” some of whom are my friends, are certainly not “organic antisemites” but are influenced by the pressure generated by the Israel-basher movement.
The ideological assault on Judaism has turned into a threat to global stability, but it has been all but ignored. A paradigm shift is needed – abandoning old conceptions and crafting long-term and short-term defense strategies correlated to the existential threat.
This is what I do in the last few chapters of the book, focusing on different stops along the path to destruction of Judaism, and tailoring a different strategy to counter each of those stops. I am glad that the book is already making an impact, and grateful that some of those in governments and media partaking in the assault invited me to present the arguments in the book, even before it was published.
Now The Jerusalem Report readers have the opportunity to be among the first to read an edited excerpt from the overview to the section of the book that outlines the strategies to intercept the path of destruction of Judaism.
BOOK EXCERPT:
Disrupting the path to destruction
Putting together an effective defense strategy against a large-scale assault involves three basic elements: acknowledging that indeed there is an assault; determining who is committing the assault; and identifying the arena in which the assault is being carried out. In the October 7 physical assault on Judaism, it was quite clear: We were indeed under a large-scale assault. It was carried out by Hamas, and the arena was Gaza. The same clarity exists for the ideological assault on Judaism: We are indeed under a large-scale assault on Judaism. It is coming from the West, and the arena for the attack on Judaism is Zionism.
Point of attack on Judaism: Zionism
To state the obvious, Zionism is not the reason for the attack on Judaism. It is the vehicle through which the ideological assault on Judaism is being made. That is because Zionism has become the anchor of Judaism.
Historically, large-scale attacks on Judaism have always been carried out through the most relevant aspect of Judaism of that time. When Judaism was anchored in the Temple, the Greeks tried to eradicate Judaism by desecrating the Temple, and the Romans by burning it. When Jews were organized in insular communities and bound together through the religious aspect of Judaism, the assault on Judaism was carried out through its theological and religious aspects. When Jews were given rights and lived freely in Europe, the attack was on the emancipated Jews – their success, freedom, and power.
Now that the Jewish state was reestablished and is thriving, Israel-bashing and anti-Zionism have replaced traditional antisemitism as the vehicle of opposition to Judaism. This is quite natural, as more and more of the world’s touchpoints with Judaism are now through Israel and Zionism.
Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, wrote: “How can we tell the power of an idea? When we see that nobody can ignore it – whether he is for it or against it.”
Zionism today is the one aspect of Judaism that cannot be ignored, including in opposition. Indeed, criticism of Israel has become the number one Jewish-related activity for many American Jews, by far more than going to synagogue, thinking about the Holocaust, or engaging in Jewish cultural activities.
In previous chapters of the book, I outlined the path to the destruction of Judaism and showed that we are already far along this path. To intercept that path of destruction, we need to have a deep and nuanced understanding of the various stops along this path, and tailor a defense strategy for each of those steps:
• The hard-core Israel-bashers who are leading the assault on Judaism through “pro-Palestinian” activities and slander the Jewish state and its citizens
• The Israel-bashers lite, who may not be organic Israel-bashers but are influenced by incitement in the media and by the pressure of the hard-core Israeli-bashers
• Governments that ultimately have the capabilities to activate the destruction mechanism of Judaism but also have the capabilities to defend Judaism
Each group along this path has its unique motivations, characteristics, and vulnerabilities.
Hard-core Israel-bashers
The hard-core Israel-bashers are the ones who drive public opinion against the Jews. They are the face of the assault on Judaism. They carry the “From the river to the sea” banners and accuse the Jewish state of genocide. They are the most vocal part of the assault on Judaism. However, they do not possess the destruction mechanism.
While they are not a homogeneous group, the crux of that part of the assault on Judaism are young progressives, driven by DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) and woke values. They are characterized by strong conviction. To their credit, most of them act on a strong belief that they are doing the right thing, per their understanding of the world.
While they have strong convictions, most of them lack content. They are not acting based on firsthand experience or independent research but rather on secondhand sound bites they get from their social networks, their friends, and their “clergy” (be they progressive professors, liberal news organizations, popular social media influencers, or opinion leaders). They express their opposition to Judaism through being “pro-Palestinian,” which in their social circles is akin to being pro-women, pro-minorities, or pro-justice.
A Catalan separatist once told me that the primary problem of their separatist movement is that they are occupied by Spain and not by Israel. If they were occupied by Israel, the entire world would be pro-Catalan, and nobody would have ever heard of Palestine.
Indeed, most of those hard-core Israel-bashers waving a Palestinian flag could not find Palestine on a map. But that is utterly irrelevant.
Western pro-Palestinianism has become a culture, a fashion, and a social trend. This, for example, was expressed in the September 2023 University of Pennsylvania festival Palestine Writes. For an American to write about a longing for a physical Palestine that he has never been to, nor heard much about, is rather absurd. However, he can write about injustice, about how he can imagine life under occupation, about the travesty of oppression, the cancer of fascism, and the malaise of Zionism – and, by extension, of Judaism – which, after all, represents a counter-diversity, counter-inclusivity concept to him.
Indeed, hard-core Israel-bashers, expressed through the Western pro-Palestinian movement, are driven by their opposition to colonialism, racism, suppression of freedoms, and the violation of human rights. Palestinians are merely a vehicle.
The way to address this group is to demonstrate that the Western pro-Palestinian movement is a Western colonialist movement that hijacked the plight of Palestinians for its own benefit.
While the intention of many Western pro-Palestinians is good, they should be aware that when they put on their keffiyeh, wave the Palestinian flag and head to the protest, they are engaging in Islamophobia, bigotry, racism, and white colonialism.
Palestinians and pro-Palestinians are two different, competing movements. They have different long-term objectives, short-term goals, cultures, symbols, ethos, mottos, and banners. In the clash between the interests of pro-Palestinians and Palestinians, it is clear who wins. The Western pro-Palestinian movement is well funded, organized, and structured, with access to resources and power.
As will be discussed in Chapter 11, this is reflected in Western pro-Palestinians systematic suppression of basic Palestinian rights, such as freedom of employment, freedom of consumption, property rights, and even the right to control their assets.
Western pro-Palestinians even engage in an act of racism when they wear their keffiyeh. Indeed, the keffiyeh is today’s blackface – a demeaning stereotype of an Arab of a previous century – not of today. Such dehumanization continues when it comes with the Western pro-Palestinian attempt to deny Palestinian refugees in Gaza the right to choose whether to stay or flee the war zone. The Western pro-Palestinian movement is dependent on the misery of their Palestinian victims, and hence acts to perpetuate it, to the tune of millions of dollars.
The most effective way to defend against the attack from hard-core Israel-bashers is to bring the battle to them, and that is what Chapter 11 in the book describes: “Arena shifting: Bring the battle to the Israel-bashers’ turf.”
Israel-bashers lite
The Israel-bashers lite may have no organic interest in the assault on Judaism, but they are influenced by the pressures created by the hard-core Israel-bashers and act on it.
Unlike the hard-core Israel-bashers who show their opposition mostly through rhetoric, since they do not have a destruction mechanism, the Israel-bashers lite can assault Judaism in both rhetoric and actions – they are the ones who possess the destruction mechanisms of Judaism. They are normative people in government, media, and international organizations.
They are sensitive to public sentiment and to their assessment of where “the wind is blowing.” The politicians in this group need to get reelected; civil servants need to execute the will of those they serve; journalists need to provide information to the public that reflects the public sentiment. As that journalist who rationalized the distorted headline “Israel kills dozens of Palestinians” put it, “This is what Europeans want to hear.”
This group is not only normative, but they want to stay normative. They are therefore risk-averse and vulnerable to social pressures. They do not want to separate from the prevailing wisdoms and the presumed principles of their milieu. As a result, this group is easily influenced by incitement against the Jewish state. Israel-bashers lite are not “organic Israel-bashers”; they are “reactionary Israel-bashers.”
Unlike the hard-core Israel-basher, the one thing the normative Israel-bashers lite fear is being perceived as antisemites. While being anti-Zionist and an Israel-basher is socially acceptable and even encouraged in certain circles, being anti-Jewish is a career-ending taboo.
Israel-bashers lite operate in an echo chamber that assures them that their participation in the assault on Judaism is not antisemitic.
Once there is a broad recognition that Judaism has transformed and Zionism is now the anchor of Judaism, Israel-bashers lite will be deterred. In Chapter 12, I describe how Israel-bashers lite can come on their own to the realization that the world increasingly now views Israel-bashing and Jew-bashing as synonymous.
Governments
Hard-core Israel-bashers fueled the assault, and Israel-bashers lite activated the destruction mechanisms. However, Israel-bashers can only go so far down the path to eradicate Judaism. They need to engage the full power of governments.
This was the case in previous episodes of assault. The antisemitism ideology that became popular in Europe in the early 20th century was mostly in rhetoric until a government – the German government – stepped in. Haman’s strategy to eradicate the Jews in the Book of Esther would also been in theory only, had the Persian king not decided to engage the full force of the Persian government.
This is the case today. As it became clear in 2024 that European and other governments opted to participate in the contemporary assault on Judaism, it is now left up to the United States to intercept the path to the destruction of Judaism.
The good news is that those other governments that partake in the ideological assault are dependent on the United States for their economic, political, and national security. The US has enormous leverage.
Assault on Judaism as proxy for assault on America
Let’s be clear: The assault on Judaism is also a proxy for assault on Americanism. This is both conceptually, in an attempt to negate the principles of the American Revolution and its Judeo-Christian basis.
The infrastructure that is being set by the ICC and the ICJ to arrest Israeli soldiers and political leaders can also serve as a “plug and play” template to be used against American soldiers and political leaders.
Just as Iran views the Jewish state as “Little Satan” and attacks it in part as a proxy to attacking America – “Big Satan,” the same is with the ideological assault on Judaism. If Israel, which international military experts state has the most moral army in the world, is “Little war criminal,” America in the attackers’ view is “Big war criminal” and can be next.
Indeed, on May 28, 2024, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor revealed that her country was planning to do exactly that: The US is next, she promised. Similarly, the assault on Judaism destabilizes the world and triggered a series of unrelated conversation under the “pro-Palestinian” banner – from the nascent discussion of Spanish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula to disruption of the American higher education system.
For this and other reasons, the assault on Judaism should not be treated as a matter of antisemitism but as a US national security issue. As discussed in Chapter 13, the assault on Judaism is a way to “launder” an attempt to destabilize America.
If one can intercept the assault on Judaism, one prevents the subsequent assault on America.
The US has the ability to intercept the destruction mechanism of Judaism; for example, by sanctioning the ICC and those who collaborate with it.
This is not the first time the US faced such a decision. During the previous large-scale assault on Judaism in the 1940s, the US had the ability to intercept the destruction mechanism used at the time. President Franklin D. Roosevelt evaluated the proposal to disrupt those mechanisms in the context of the range of threats the United States was facing at the time.
For the United States, neutralizing the death camps where the Nazis carried out their plan to eradicate Judaism by killing Jew by Jew would have taken resources from other crucial operations. FDR made the prioritization call and allowed the path of destruction to continue.
In our era’s assault on Judaism, it is the reverse: Disrupting the destruction mechanisms of Judaism is defending America. As discussed, the assault on Judaism embodies both a short-term and a long-term threat to America.
Unlike in the 1940s, the United States today has the capability, capacity, and pressing national interest to disrupt the assault on Judaism on its multiple levels, using various tools at its disposal and in so doing, defining America. Chapter 13 discusses those tools and offers some simple and immediate measures the US government can take to disrupt the assault
Gol Kalev is author of Assault on Judaism: The Existential Threat Is Coming from the West (TheAssaultonJudaism.com). He is chair of the Judaism 3.0 Think Tank and author of Judaism 3.0: Judaism’s Transformation to Zionism (Judaism-Zionism. com).
Purchase The Assault on Judaism on Amazon
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