Israel is stronger than ever

(Oct. 20, 2026 / JNS)

The prevailing conventional wisdom in the European Union and the United States, especially among the left, is of an Israel shattered by the events of Oct. 7, 2023, an isolated pariah state overshadowed by genocide/apartheid accusations, questioning its raison d’être.

The internal reality is the exact opposite.

Returning from my seventh trip since Oct. 7, I see an unprecedented boom—construction everywhere. A people rededicated to their purpose have found their way to Jewish destiny, led by what are universally called the fighting lions of its youth.

Israel is now a nation fully contemplating its internal moral strength and realizing total external military dominance over its surrounding foes: a moral, military and economic victory that would have been unimaginable before Oct. 7. David Ben-Gurion, founding father and first prime minister, said that you can’t understand Israel unless you believe in miracles. Like the bumblebee that aerodynamically cannot fly, Israel never fails to deliver impossible accomplishments—never more than now.

The shekel has appreciated 25% since Oct. 7 to everybody’s astonishment, and the year-over-year GDP growth is an eye-popping 14.9%.

The bogus criminal investigation of the prime minister has evaporated in the sunlight of the true facts as presented in court.

The European Union’s hard-core antisemitic cold shoulder is balanced by India’s warm embrace.

The contrast with the decade before Oct. 7 is striking. For more than 10 years, lulled to sleep by the “concepzia,” believed by everybody, Israel became consumed by consumerism. Israel’s people thought they didn’t have to worry about Gaza. They were pacified with Qatari money. And the people threw themselves into consumerism; I saw Lamborghinis and Maseratis free-wheeling around Tel Aviv and thought I was in Beverly Hills or Miami, not a country surrounded by bloodthirsty barbarians on every side.

Then, two related things happened. Israelis chronically complained that they consistently voted right but ended up living in a left-dominated society that the majority of voters rejected, and the culprit in their minds was the Bagatz, the Israeli Supreme Court, run wild, dominating every aspect of life. Upon election, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu set out to fix that and put the court in its proper place.

An intense and obvious miscalculation occurred.

But it was not by chance. I personally witnessed in Tel Aviv the Kaplanistim, the Kaplan Street “anti-Bibi” phalanx, boarding bus after bus with identical placards; this was no spontaneous uprising. This was meticulously planned by the left. And they executed their plan with massive disaffected Israeli Arab and Jewish ultra-left-wing anti/post-Zionism support.

In an instant, the country switched from placid consumerism to massive riots that threatened the nation’s very existence.

But the Kaplan demonstrators forgot that our enemies were watching. Hamas pounced on this opportunity to attack murderously while the war among the Jews raged, eerily reminiscent of the Roman legions attacking Jerusalem 2,000 years ago while Jew fought Jew.

Hamas thought the barbaric genocidal massacre of Oct. 7 would break the spirit of Israel. It did the opposite.

Led by the youth who threw themselves into the battle with utter disregard for the dangers and total devotion to the mission, the country rediscovered its eternal Jewish destiny. As columnist Caroline Glick so aptly put it, the sirens roused Israel from its slumber and summoned it to greatness. It transformed from a country with trembling knees, deterred by Hezbollah’s 150,000 missiles, from a country that meekly offered no response when a terrorist set up a tent within its borders, from a country that dared not confront the evil puppet master of Iran.

It became a country that changed the face of the Middle East.

Like America in World War II, it screwed its courage to the sticking place and found strength it didn’t know it had.

The situation was similar to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and yet, totally different. Both were preceded by massive intelligence failures. But the Yom Kippur War saw 3,000 military casualties out of a population of 3 million. This war, while calling for great sacrifices, had 1,200 casualties out of 10 million—a testimony to the prime minister’s reverence for Jewish life while militarily executing brilliantly and insisting on total victory.

The Yom Kippur War left Israel’s enemy able to claim victory. This war left Israel unambiguously victorious against every foe against which it went to battle. While the Yom Kippur War had disastrous economic sequelae, Israel is now in the midst of an unprecedented logic-defying boom.

Americans call this “Israeli resilience.” In fact, it is the rebirth of the pioneer spirit of Israel before our eyes. Resilience is bouncing back to the status quo ante. What we see now is hugely better: a rediscovery of national purpose and pride.

At the beginning of the war, some frightened Tel Avivians left for America. We saw this happen when we volunteered and flew to Israel on Oct. 18, 2023. But nothing succeeds like success. Tel Aviv and Israel are no longer frightened. They are sober, cognizant of the huge sacrifices paid, but everywhere you go, Israel rises like the biblical parable of the dry bones, rediscovering itself, rediscovering its courage and rediscovering the joy of living.

Just look at the new big vertical outdoor mall in central Israel, BIG FASHION Glilot, mobbed with the people of Israel living life to the fullest.

The opposition to the prime minister pretends that they didn’t shrink from the challenge and bend their knees to the befuddled Biden administration. Trapped by Netanyahu’s masterful military and economic turnaround, their campaign boils down to a Marx Brothers’ punchline: “Well, who you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?”

And then, a gift from Dubai was the cherry on top. No 9/11 for Israel; in a spectacular example of tushiyah (“resourcefulness” or “abiding success”) cherished by all Israelis, a plumber snatched victory literally seconds from the jaws of death, igniting yet another round of optimism and self-confidence weeks before the election.

Israelis will not be fooled. They have eyes, and they can see. They have ears, and they can listen. They have minds, and they can think. They understand they are in the presence of this generation’s Ben-Gurion; they feel Jewish eternal destiny in their heart and soul.