As Israel Rises Amid Wars and Hatred, Summit Stresses Jews' Biblical Foundations as Path to Victory

JERUSALEM, Israel – In today's chaotic Middle East, many in Israel are wondering what the path to victory might be, and some are talking about a spiritual answer.

After more than two and a half years of war, a major forum discussed the military, political, and economic issues facing Israel at The Middle East Summit, The Path to Victory, held recently in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder of the summit's sponsor, Israel365, told CBN News, "We believe that Israel is rising as a regional superpower. So we're here to discuss the spiritual implications of that, that Israel is finally becoming a light unto the nations and earning the admiration and the respect of the nations of the world." 

Weisz believes that being "a light unto the nations" includes how Israel conducts war and treats minorities.

"Israel is waging a very moral war," he stressed. "Israel is also, at the same time, embracing immigrants from all over the world, and there is the highest level of satisfaction and happiness here. People are having large families. We're doing something right despite all of the hostility or maybe because of the hostility, because of the persecution; Israel is setting an example of what it means to be a nation that is thriving."

Israel365 Executive Director Rabbi Pesach Wolicki told us that Israelis need to look to the Bible during this critical time.

"It's important for us, with everything else that's going on, to stay focused on the biblical foundations of our presence here in the land of Israel."

Wolicki contends that those who think that faith and politics should be separated are missing a key point.

"Faith and politics are both about how we run the world and how God runs the world and what our place is in it," he stated. "If I understand my politics through a biblical lens, then I have a more accurate view of what God is actually doing in the world. And when I read the Bible, if I, if I take the real life world of wars and nations and issues out of it, I'm not understanding the Bible correctly."

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Israeli Knesset member Ohad Tal believes that Israel reached one of the lowest points in its history on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas murdered some 1,200 people and kidnapped another 251.

"Since then," Tal explained, "we've basically changed the Middle East completely. I think Israel has proven itself to be one of the most resilient countries in the world, having the ability and the will, the will and the ability to fight back against our enemies."

Hamas terrorists held Tzvika Mor's son, Eitan, hostage for just over two years. Hamas abducted the Nova Festival security guard after he had spent nine hours helping injured party-goers escape.

The terrorists released Eitan with other remaining hostages last year.

At the summit, Mor told CBN News, "The idea that we can do the agreements with such barbaric neighbors, who murder babies, and rape women and burn everything, and slaughter parents and children together, like they did in 1929, long before the State of Israel was established – these ideas, they are no longer on the table. Today, even on the left, everyone understands that we must not give them a state.

Mor claims this also includes the issue of Israeli sovereignty over biblical Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.

"This is ours. This is the Bible's," he emphasized. "Our ancestors dwelt here, walked here, lived here. We have a history that we returned to our Land after two thousand years – not to fight with each other, but to build, to build together. And to fulfill the dream of our fathers and forefathers."

Zionist advocate Hillel Fuld's brother died while saving others during a 2018 terror attack. He says the two biggest challenges facing Israel are disunity and having a clear sense of the nation's own negative.

"Our enemies are masters at narratives," Fuld admitted. "They have the best story in the world. Now, the story is a lie, obviously, but you're oppressing us: Free Palestine.

He continued, "When in reality, there's never been a better story than the story of the Jewish people. We just don't tell it. We need to stop apologizing. We need to own it. And we need to shine our light because we are an incredible, incredible nation that punches above its weight." 

Since October 7th, Yishai Fleischer sees Israel as a much stronger fighting force. While being more cohesive and not believing that giving away land will bring peace, the Jewish state still faces challenges.

Fleischer remarked, "We've got to roll back the bad ideas of the 90s and the 2000s, the Oslo Accords. We're moving away from the blue state type of policies that have ruled this country for a long time, and we're moving a little to the red towards conservativism, family, Bible. Anti-jihad and a kind of national strength."

 And then comes what these leaders believe could be their path to victory.

"We have to own who we are. We are a source of real light. Not in a, 'I'm better than anyone else' (sense). In a way that our value system preserves things that are today considered taboo in the Western world: the family unit and education and things we've always had. And the West has forgotten that stuff. And we see the results."

Fleischer noted, "The most important thing for everybody on our side, on the good side, is to just hold on. Teach your kids the Bible, keep making business deals with Israel, come to Jerusalem, send your kids to Jerusalem, and don't, don't overstress it. You can't stop this birth rate, you can't stop this ingathering, you can't stop a Third Temple from being in Jerusalem. You cannot stop it."

Knesset member Tal concluded, "The path to victory goes by us going back to our sources, to our roots, to our identity, realizing who we are, why God brought us back from the four corners of the world, back to our homeland. And I think when we will realize who we are, what is our purpose, what is our mission in this world, I think we will be able to achieve unimaginable victory on all the fronts."