In a matter of days, Israel has achieved devastating military dominance over Iran. As I write, Israel has destroyed about half of 360 Iranian ballistic missile launchers, eliminated 15 senior nuclear scientists and dozens of senior officials in the Iranian security apparatus. Israel has complete air superiority over Iran and is systematically working to destroy its nuclear capabilities. It is a miraculous victory on par with the awesome victory of the Six-Day War.
But this overwhelming display of force raises an obvious and painful question.
If Israel can crush Iran — the “head of the snake” — in under a week, why has the struggle to defeat Arab terrorism in Judea and Samaria dragged on for nearly six decades? The truth is, the Six-Day War never really ended. We won the battle, but we never fully claimed the victory. We never truly defeated the forces that deny our right to live in our most sacred places. What is stopping Israel from crushing a far weaker foe — one that lacks the ballistic missiles, deep-pocketed allies, and global reach of Iran?
To deepen the question: After the Six-Day War, an idealistic minority of Bible-believing Jews began to settle Judea and Samaria. Today, more than 600,000 Jews live there. And yet, Israel has consistently refused to declare sovereignty over its heartland. Why do we hesitate? Why do we fight bravely against distant threats — and falter when it comes to the land at our feet?
Judea and Samaria are not just real estate or security buffers. They are the heart and soul of Israel. To walk in Judea and Samaria, you don’t need a map — you need a Bible. These are the hills where Abraham walked, where Jacob dreamed, where David fought, and where the prophets called Israel to return to God. In a broader sense, this land is also the foundation of world religious history. It lies within an hour’s drive of nearly any point in modern Israel. The mountain spine running through Judea and Samaria is the geographic and spiritual backbone of the Jewish people.
And yet, for most of modern Zionist history, this land was neglected.
Netanel Elinson, in his book “A Brief History of Israeliness,” explains that early secular Zionism deliberately turned away from Judea and Samaria. These lands, steeped in biblical history, symbolized the religious identity that the founders of secular Zionism were trying to leave behind. They envisioned a new kind of Jew — strong, modern, and free from the burdens of exile and tradition. Their settlement efforts stretched north and south — but not eastward into the Biblical heartland. And this avoidance was not for lack of strategic value. The mountain regions of Judea and Samaria are elevated, defensible, and critical to Israel’s security. Yet the early Zionists avoided Judea and Samaria because they wanted to build a future disconnected from the past.
It’s almost as if the early Zionists opened the Bible, marked all the places mentioned in its verses, and decided to avoid them. The 1947 UN Partition Plan reflects this mindset: the Jewish state it envisioned bore little resemblance to the ancient map of biblical settlement. Where we once were, we did not return. Even during the War of Independence, when David Ben-Gurion fought to open a corridor to Jerusalem, he stopped at the Mandelbaum Gate, leaving the Old City in Jordanian hands. Only in 1967 did we finally return, but even then, when Colonel Mordechai “Motta” Gur famously declared “The Temple Mount is in our hands!”, we handed it back to the Islamic Waqf. That symbolic surrender has defined our policy toward Judea and Samaria ever since.
This is the tragic irony. The most ancient people on earth, who prayed for thousands of years to return to Zion, finally returned as victors — and then walked away. We handed back the place toward which we face in prayer, the place around which our liturgy revolves, the place where the presence of God once dwelled.
And so we arrive at the real reason Israel has failed to declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. It’s not fear of world opinion. It’s not military weakness. It’s not even political hesitation.
The obstacle is internal. It is spiritual.
Judea and Samaria represent more than territory. They represent the Bible. They represent God’s covenant. To embrace Judea and Samaria is to embrace Israel’s divine calling — to be a holy nation, a light to the nations, a people chosen for a purpose. And that is what much of Israel’s leadership has long been unwilling to accept.
For decades, Israeli leaders have clung to the illusion that Israel can be a “normal” nation, like France or Denmark, living according to the rules of geopolitics and realpolitik. But we are not normal. We never have been. Our very existence is a miracle. Our survival is supernatural. And the day will come when all of Israel will finally understand and accept this destiny.
The prophet Ezekiel describes what happens after Israel’s miraculous victory over Magog — often identified with Persia, or modern-day Iran:
First, God brings victory. Then, He reveals Himself — not to the world, but to Israel.
Rabbi Meir Wisser comments on this verse: “Then I will make known to Israel that I am leading them on the path of holiness — a path of elevation and ascent beyond the natural order.” In other words, the victory will lead to a national awakening. The defeat of Magog is only a first step. It serves to remind Israel of its unique destiny and is calling it to rise above politics and pragmatism, to walk a path of spiritual clarity and mission.
This is the answer. Judea and Samaria have not yet been fully redeemed because the people of Israel have not yet fully awakened. But the awakening is beginning.
The defeat of Iran is not just a military triumph — it is a spiritual message. It is a call to the people of Israel to recognize that God is not merely present in prayer books or religious rituals, but in the course of our national destiny. He is with us on the battlefield. He is orchestrating history.
Judea and Samaria are the next step. The time will come — and it is coming fast — when Israel will shed its confusion and fear. When we will no longer avoid the places that define us. When we will stop stuttering and finally speak with clarity: this land is ours, eternally, because it is God’s land, and we are His people.
This awakening is happening in real time. You can hear it in the voices of young soldiers. You can see it in the brave families confidently building new communities in the hills of Judea and Samaria. The overwhelming defeat of Iran is not the end — it is the beginning of a new era of redemption.
It is time to finish the Six-Day War.
Israel launched Operation Rising Lion to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities before they could complete their plan for a second Holocaust. In response, Iran unleashed hell on Israeli civilians – launching hundreds of missiles directly at homes, schools, and residential buildings, murdering 10 innocent people and wounding over 270 more.Over 700 families have been left homeless in just days. Entire apartment buildings destroyed. Children traumatized. Grandparents killed in their sleep.These suffering families are counting on you. They have nowhere else to turn. CLICK HERE TO SHOW SUPPORT TO OUR BRETHEREN IN ISRAEL
