Middle East Press On: Houthi, Jewish, Paralysis, Hamas Cynicism, Druze: New Age Islam's Selection, 5 May 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
5 May 2025
Israel Cannot Leave Houthi Threat In US Hands
Israel's Coalition Is Broken, But Early Elections Are No Cure For Leadership Paralysis
Turkey Can Be Counterbalance To Iranian, Russian Influence With US Support
I'm Not Afraid Of Hamas, I'm Afraid Of Us: Internal Divisions Make The Enemy Win
The Cynicism Behind Israel’s ‘Protection’ Of Syria’s Druze
Hamas’s Next Front? Sudan’s Islamist Army And The African Threat To Israel
Reclaiming Our Peoplehood: How To Prepare Jewish Youth For The Future
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Israel Cannot Leave Houthi Threat In Us Hands
By Jpost Editorial
May 5, 2025
Sunday’s ballistic missile attack by the Houthis on Israel, the fourth within 72 hours, was proof in the pudding that the threat posed by the terrorists from Yemen, who serve at the behest of their handlers in Tehran, is real and potentially deadly.
Israelis have gotten used to obeying – or ignoring – the sirens that blare whenever the Houthis launch a missile, something they have done with increased frequency since Israel began its retaliation against Hamas for the October 7, 2023, massacre.
But Sunday’s attack demonstrated that it’s nothing to be blasé about. Eight people were wounded when a Houthi missile or a fragment of it crashed near Ben-Gurion Airport in Lod, not far from Tel Aviv.
Sources in the IDF said they didn’t know whether it was a direct crash from the missile or whether it was fragments from the missile that crashed in the area. Army Radio noted that the missile was not intercepted, despite several attempts to intercept it.
Police commander Yair Hetzroni showed reporters a crater caused by the impact of the missile beside a road near the heavily traveled Terminal 3 parking lot.
“You can see the scene right behind us here, a hole that opened up with a diameter of tens of meters and also tens of meters deep,” Hetzroni said, according to a Reuters report.
Airlines shutter flights after missile evades security systems
The IDF will undoubtedly probe the alarming failure that allowed a missile fired from a great distance in Yemen to evade both American and Israeli defense systems, setting Israel back to a period of empty skies, flight cancellations, and anticipated fare hikes among Israeli airlines.
The successful assault – so close to a coveted Israeli target as its main airport – comes two months after US President Donald Trump ordered large-scale strikes against the Houthis to reduce their capabilities to attack Israel and deter them from targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, where they have wreaked havoc for years.
Israel, in apparent coordination with the US, has restrained itself from retaliation to the Houthis’ aggression, allowing the Trump initiative – the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January – to play out. This is in contrast to the forays conducted by the IAF following Houthi attacks during the Biden administration.
There have been nearly 700 strikes by the US from the air, often with the help of drones, on the Houthis in March and April, resulting in hundreds of casualties, but it’s unclear how much the campaign has impacted that capability, as the last three days have shown.
The appointment of a new prime minister in Yemen doesn’t appear that it will have any effect on the Houthis’ ability to launch their attacks on Israel, as Yemen’s government doesn’t control most of the country, which is occupied by Houthi gangs.
What’s evident, however, is that with the Houthis remaining unharnessed and able to do damage to the heart of Israel, Jerusalem can’t remain silent. Defense Minister Israel Katz talked tough on Sunday, saying, “Those who harm us will be hit sevenfold in return.” But action speaks louder than words.
Israel’s response must be nuanced, though, weighed in context to the broader confrontation with Iran and dependent to an extent on a green light from the White House. Israel’s policy shift, allowing Trump the opportunity to address the Houthi problem without Israeli involvement, is now being tested and should be reconsidered. Despite the best defensive capabilities, deadly missiles that are aimed to kill and destroy are bound to get through, like one did on Sunday.
The cabinet’s deliberations on what the response to the Houthis’ continued brazen acts of war against Israel should culminate in only one conclusion and plan of action: Despite the best intentions of the US, Israel must be responsible for its own security and must respond to the Houthis in the strongest possible way. It’s time to end the outsourcing.
No other country would put up with a foreign entity launching ballistic missiles at it on a daily basis. Israel shouldn’t, not for one day longer.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-852601
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Israel's Coalition Is Broken, But Early Elections Are No Cure For Leadership Paralysis
By Susan Hattis Rolef
May 5, 2025
Are new elections the answer to the present political mess? The answer to this depends on where you stand politically.
There can be no doubt that none of the current coalition partners is interested in early elections, which doesn’t stop some of them from repeatedly threatening to bring down the government if various demands are not met.
We do not know the accuracy of the various recent opinion polls – all of which, except one (Channel 14), repeatedly show the current coalition losing its comfortable majority of 68 Knesset seats and moving to well below 60 seats, with some even below 50 seats.
Thus, it is clear that the vested interest of all parties/election lists that make up the current coalition is not to hold new elections before the designated date, toward the end of October 2026. They all abhor the thought of returning the Center/Left to power.
Although there is general agreement on most issues, this does not mean there are no manifestations of disharmony within the current coalition. For example, there are different opinions over the mobilization of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men into the IDF or some form of national service.
Views also differ over prioritizing the release of all 59 hostages – dead or alive – who are still being held by Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad since October 7, 2023, as a bargaining card in future negotiations with Israel. The main concern is that many of the 2 or 24 hostages still believed to be alive might not survive for much longer unless released soon.
Netanyahu says hostages retrieval still an important war goal
Last Thursday, in a speech at the International Bible Contest at the Jerusalem Theatre, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that though returning all of the hostages is an important goal of the Israel-Hamas War, the supreme goal is absolute victory. This declaration caused controversy not only between the Right and Left, and between the hostages’ families and the government, but also within the coalition.
Other issues that the various parties in the coalition are not in complete agreement include what should be done regarding the settlement and annexation of territories of the Land of Israel that are currently not under Israeli sovereignty; the details of the judicial reform/revolution being advanced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee chair Simcha Rothman; and the extent and direction of government intervention in the media that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi advocates.
Just as it is clear why the coalition parties abhor the thought of early elections, it is clear why the opposition parties want elections to the 26th Knesset to be held as soon as possible. They all believe that the 37th government is the worst one Israel has ever had, not only because of its policies (or absence thereof) but because they consider some individual members of the coalition unsuitable or unworthy.
The prime minister himself is viewed as having passed his prime, not only in his physical appearance but in his public statements, ingenuity, and the quantity of factual inaccuracies and open lies he utters.
An especially embarrassing example was during his appearance at the Bible Contest last week, when he declared that 18 persons (i.e., Palestinians) suspected of arson – which had allegedly led to the massive fires near Jerusalem last Wednesday morning and consumed some 2,000 hectares of wooded areas – had been detained.
The Israel Police, which is not suspected of left-wing inclinations, declared in response that it did not know where this figure came from, and that only three suspects had been detained, only one of whom had been caught red-handed.
Netanyahu is also accused by the opposition of refusing to take responsibility for mishaps (to use a minimalist term) that have occurred during his current premiership, including the catastrophe of October 7, 2023 for which he accuses the security forces exclusively.
The opposition does not necessarily say that the prime minister is guilty of what happened that day but points out that as the country’s leader, he bears a good deal of responsibility. Netanyahu is also criticized for objecting to the formation of a state commission of inquiry that would investigate the catastrophe and point to those responsible and/or guilty.
The opposition also claims that Netanyahu’s own personal and political survival (especially since he was indicted in November 2019) have been his primary motivation for remaining prime minister and keeping his government together at any cost. Netanyahu gave Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir and Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich as much power as he did for this reason, even though he must have reservations about the ideologies and practical plans of both.
Before the 2021 elections, in an interview with Yonit Levi on Channel 12, Netanyahu stated that he would not appoint Ben-Gvir to the government because the latter was not fit to be a minister nor chair a Knesset committee. But in 2021, it was not Netanyahu who formed the government; it was Naftali Bennett.
Regarding his haredi partners, Netanyahu has done everything in his power to please them – whether on the issue of enlistment to the IDF, the provision of government funds for the haredi education system, or housing and welfare services.
It should, however, be recalled that when he was finance minister in Ariel Sharon’s government over 20 years ago, he made it clear that he would like to see the haredim integrate into mainstream Israeli society and was willing to achieve this goal through their pockets.
Another accusation made by the opposition against Netanyahu’s government, and against him personally, is that they are intent on wrecking Israel’s liberal democracy and breaking down its system of gatekeepers and checks and balances. There are also accusations of corruption – perhaps not major instances, but corruption nonetheless (Qatargate, for example).
As expected, Netanyahu calls all these accusations lies, just like his 2019 indictments, saying that the real problem is the “deep state,” made up of liberal has-beens, which prevents right-wing governments from realizing their policies.
Only the future will tell what the final outcome of all this mess will be. However, there is no doubt that neither the government nor the opposition feels comfortable these days; one side will do its utmost to prevent early elections, and the other will try to make them happen.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-852626
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Turkey Can Be Counterbalance To Iranian, Russian Influence With Us Support
By Salem Alketbi
May 5, 2025
‘I have a great relationship with a man named Erdogan – I like him, he likes me, and it drives the media crazy. We never had any problems, although we went through a lot.” With these candid and surprising words, US President Donald Trump characterized his relationship with his Turkish counterpart during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
Trump went even further, adding a more provocative statement when he disclosed a private conversation with Erdogan: “I said, ‘Congratulations, you’ve done what nobody’s been able to do in 2,000 years. You’ve taken over Syria.’ With different names, but same thing.”
In a consequential diplomatic gesture, Trump offered to mediate between Israel, portrayed as the state with the right to exist and hold privilege in the Middle East and Turkey, described as the state with historical Ottoman influence over its former Arab territories. He affirmed his readiness to bridge relations between the two nations.
Against this backdrop, the appointment of Tom Barrack as the new US ambassador to Turkey makes perfect sense. Barrack, well-known for his close ties to Trump, has received extraordinary and comprehensive authority, a clear indicator of the high priority the White House places on relations with Ankara during this decisive period.
According to informed sources, the new ambassador’s mandate focuses on three chief strategic areas: expanding economic and military cooperation between both countries, harmonizing positions on volatile regional questions, and repositioning Turkey as a necessary strategic partner for the United States in the region.
In the current state of intensifying regional competition, Turkey emerges as a historical counterbalance to Iranian and Russian sway.
I believe that the Ottoman legacy serves as one of Ankara’s strongest cards in this strategic power play.
Turkey strategically harnesses the collective memory of Arab populations who lived under Ottoman rule for centuries. While some Arab nationalist movements have promoted negative narratives about the Ottoman era, certain religious factions – particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, designated as a terrorist organization in numerous Arab countries – advocate a more positive interpretation of that historical period, especially in light of the chaos and fragmentation following the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
As the self-proclaimed legitimate heir to the Ottoman Caliphate, Turkey also seeks to participate in managing its “former Arab domains,” as Western analysts often term them, to promote stability and prevent security vacuums that extremist groups might exploit. This accentuates the enduring relevance of Ottoman heritage and Turkish cultural influence throughout these regions.
Energy cooperation makes another decisive strategic dimension, specifically regarding shale oil exploration in Turkey and natural gas development in the eastern Mediterranean.
Economic observers report that American oil companies, especially those with connections to Trump, are eager to invest in Turkey’s shale oil sector, drawing on their substantial experience while also seeking access to Syrian oil and gas resources.
Another opportunity involves Turkey’s potential participation in the EastMed gas pipeline project, a proposed infrastructure initiative designed to transport natural gas from Eastern Mediterranean fields (primarily Israeli and Cypriot) to European markets via Greece and Italy. Currently, this collaborative project between Israel, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy intentionally bypasses Turkish territory.
Recently, amid warming relations between Trump and Erdogan, hints point to possible Turkish involvement in the project, potentially rerouting it through Turkish territory, an alternative that might offer greater economic advantages.
Turkey wants to limit conflict in Syria
The third strategic priority involves carefully avoiding confrontations with Washington’s regional allies, chiefly the Syrian Democratic Forces and Israel.
This context helps explain recent statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who revealed ongoing “technical” discussions with Israel, aimed at reducing conflicts in Syria.
“We have no desire for confrontation with Israel in Syria,” Fidan stated unambiguously. He added that Turkey does not intend to enter into conflict with any country in Syria.
In a telling development that supports the thesis of behind-the-scenes Turkish pragmatism, Turkey and Israel held their first official meeting in Azerbaijan on April 10, 2025, establishing a deconfliction line between the two countries in Syria. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office confirmed this meeting the following day.
Turkish diplomatic sources indicated that these technical talks in Azerbaijan mark the commencement of efforts to create reliable communication channels to prevent potential clashes between Turkish and Israeli forces operating in Syria. The meeting occurred after escalating hostilities following Israel’s bombing of Syrian air bases where Turkey had planned to deploy forces.
This diplomatic engagement contradicts Erdogan’s public rhetoric, which has consistently featured harsh criticism of Israel.
It also reveals the dual nature of Turkish foreign policy: fiery anti-Israel rhetoric, for domestic and regional audiences, coupled with practical, pragmatic cooperation with Tel Aviv behind closed doors.
In my assessment, this meeting hardly surprises those familiar with the inner workings of Turkish statecraft. Erdogan, despite his inflammatory public statements regarding Israel, clearly acknowledges the importance of maintaining functional communication channels, given the connected security and economic interests at stake.
These developments, which appear to contradict Erdogan’s combative public statements, expose the true essence of Turkish policy: pragmatism that ultimately overrides ideological considerations.
Evidently, the primary beneficiary of this arrangement is Trump, who stands to secure major economic and political advantages. American companies within his orbit will benefit from lucrative oil and gas deals across Turkey and Syria, while the US president can present his diplomatic tactics to American voters as successful peacemaking in the Middle East without direct military intervention.
For his part, Erdogan receives valuable American political and economic backing that helps mitigate his domestic hurdles while reinforcing his position as an indispensable regional power broker.
The clear losers in this equation are the misled Arab societies in these “former Ottoman territories,” who once again find themselves pawns in great power politics.
Ultimately, what we are witnessing today is a strategic reconfiguration of Middle Eastern power, orchestrated by two pragmatic leaders: Trump, pursuing profitable business opportunities, and Erdogan, determined to maintain power while widening regional authority.
In this grand geopolitical chess match, lofty principles and rhetorical flourishes serve merely as public relations tools, while consequential decisions unfold behind closed doors, propelled by interests rather than values.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-852619
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I'm Not Afraid Of Hamas, I'm Afraid Of Us: Internal Divisions Make The Enemy Win
By Zvika Klein
May 4, 2025
I’m not afraid of Hamas. I’m not afraid of Iran. I’m not afraid of the IDF going back into battle.
I’m afraid of us.
As I write these words, the Israeli government has just approved a renewed large-scale IDF operation in the Gaza Strip. Fifty-nine hostages are still there. Dozens of families are clinging to life and hope by a thread. We are preparing to send our sons and daughters back into the battlefield. They are not afraid. They never were.
But I am.
Not because we are not strong enough. Not because we are not equipped.
Division wins the war for the enemy
But because this time, unlike the days that followed October 7, we are not as unified. Not even close. The clarity that once led a people from trauma to unity has been replaced by shouting matches, fatigue, blame, and confusion.
Some believe we’ve already lost this war. Others believe we haven’t yet begun to fight it. Many have simply stopped believing anyone at the top has a plan. The one thing we seem to agree on is that we’re angry—and it’s mostly at each other.
And that is the most dangerous battlefield of all.
We’ve been here before. Before the attacks of October 7, we were screaming at each other in the streets, blocking roads, shutting down the airport. Religious and secular. Right and left. Army and yeshiva. A nation splintered into factions—while our enemies watched and waited.
As the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks wrote, “Time and again, unable to resolve their own conflicts civilly and graciously, Jews slandered their opponents to the civil authorities, with results that were disastrous to the Jewish community as a whole.”
They were watching on October 6.
And they attacked on October 7.
We know how that story began. But what if it’s starting again?
This week, I watched with horror as members of bereaved families were shouted down by other citizens on live TV. I watched people accuse hostage families of undermining the war effort. I saw protesters call each other traitors, criminals, extremists. I heard the tone shift on every front. Anger is back. But it’s no longer just against Hamas.
It’s turned inward.
That, too, is part of the war.
Sacks warned: “Evil speech kills three people – the one who says it, the one who accepts it, and the one about whom it is said.” What we say to each other right now—on TV panels, on WhatsApp, in traffic—matters. It shapes the spiritual armor of our society. When words turn to weapons, no one emerges unscathed.
In his writings on the Biblical affliction of tzara’at, Rabbi Sacks taught that it wasn’t a disease but a mirror. A sign of moral failure, usually caused by lashon hara, evil speech. “For we truly are disfigured,” he wrote, “when we use words to condemn, not communicate; to close rather than open minds; when we use language as a weapon and wield it brutally.”
I fear we are disfiguring ourselves again.
Not physically—but spiritually.
The fatigue is real. The pain is real. The doubts, fears, and costs are real. But if we let them fracture us, we are sending soldiers into battle without the backing of a people who truly believe in one another.
And they deserve better than that.
They deserve a home front that fights for unity with the same tenacity they fight for our borders.
“Language,” Rabbi Sacks once wrote, “is the bridge across our solitudes.” If that bridge collapses, the best-equipped army in the world will be walking into Gaza on spiritual quicksand.
So yes, the IDF may be entering Gaza again. But unless we send our unity with them, we are sending them alone. And that is a moral failure we cannot afford—not now, not ever.
“Words have consequences,” Sacks wrote. “Diminishing their opponents, the self-proclaimed defenders of the faith diminished themselves and their faith... Language is God’s greatest gift to humankind and it must be guarded if it is to heal, not harm.”
Evil speech "kills three people," but sometimes, it does something worse. It silences the truth. It numbs the heart. It distracts a nation from the enemy at the gate—and sometimes, from the hostage in the tunnel.
We can win this war.
But only if we remember who we are—and speak like it.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-852628
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The Cynicism Behind Israel’s ‘Protection’ Of Syria’s Druze
Hani Hazaimeh
May 04, 2025
The Israeli government’s recent justification for its airstrikes on Syrian territory — citing the protection of the Druze minority — defies logic, morality and credibility. It is a breathtaking display of political insolence, one that insults the global conscience while revealing the darker strategic motives behind Israel’s regional policies. How can a state that has waged one of the most systematic campaigns of dispossession and repression against the Palestinian people now claim to be a champion of minority rights?
This grotesque contradiction is not a mistake — it is a deliberate strategy. By invoking the protection of minorities in Syria, Israel is not just seeking to justify its illegal military actions. It is actively laying the groundwork for a broader, long-standing agenda: the fragmentation of Syria into sectarian and ethnic cantons. This policy, rooted in expansionist ideology and geopolitical calculations, aims to dismantle the remaining strongholds of Arab sovereignty that resist Israeli hegemony in the region.
The idea of dividing Syria into Druze, Alawite, Sunni, Kurdish and Christian enclaves is not new. Israeli think tanks and military planners have floated such visions for decades as part of the so-called Yinon Plan — a strategy to weaken neighboring Arab states by exacerbating internal divisions and rendering them ungovernable. Syria, due to its central role in the Axis of Resistance and its geographic and political proximity to Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, has long been a target of this policy.
Israel’s targeting of Syria under the pretext of minority protection, therefore, is not about human rights. It is about fragmentation — turning Syria into a patchwork of mini-states that pose no threat to Israel’s regional ambitions and that can be manipulated or co-opted individually.
Moreover, by presenting itself as the “defender” of certain minorities like the Druze, Israel is attempting to sow distrust and fear among Syrian communities, deepening sectarian fissures and potentially inciting communal conflict. It is a colonial tactic rebranded in a modern setting: divide, destabilize and dominate.
This cynical exploitation of minority rights stands in stark contrast to Israel’s domestic record. Inside Israel, Palestinian citizens face institutionalized discrimination, economic marginalization and surveillance. In the West Bank, settlers routinely terrorize Palestinian communities under the protection of the Israeli army. In Gaza, Israel has turned the Strip into a humanitarian catastrophe zone, with its latest assault resulting in mass civilian deaths and infrastructure collapse. How can such a state claim to have the moral authority to lecture others on the protection of minorities?
The international community must not be fooled. Israel’s interventionist rhetoric regarding Syria is not rooted in humanitarian concern — it is an extension of an expansionist doctrine that has no regard for international law or the sovereignty of other nations. If left unchecked, this policy threatens to tear apart what remains of Syria’s territorial integrity and ignite further chaos across the region, from Iraq to Lebanon and Jordan.
True regional peace and security will never be achieved through bombs masquerading as benevolence or through schemes that weaponize ethnic and sectarian identities. It will only come through justice, genuine respect for sovereignty and a global stand against policies that exploit human suffering for strategic gain.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2599531
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Hamas’s Next Front? Sudan’s Islamist Army And The African Threat To Israel - Opinion
By Amjad Taha, Eitan Neishlos
May 4, 2025
As Israel marks its 77th Independence Day, it must confront a growing threat: Sudan’s Armed Forces have become the Hamas of Africa, and the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Backed by extremists, fueled by ideology, and infiltrated by terrorists, this army may soon serve as the launchpad for the next October 7th-style assault, only this time from Africa.
Sudan, once seen as a promising partner under the Abraham Accords, is now collapsing into a stronghold for global jihadists. UAE intelligence recently foiled an illegal shipment of weapons destined for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which are openly aligning with radical Islamist groups. This same network has supported terrorists behind recent attacks in Kashmir, India; smuggled Iranian weapons to Hamas; and previously trained Osama bin Laden’s fighters, all under SAF’s protection.
Sudan is no longer just a battlefield. It is rapidly becoming a terror hub, strategically positioned near Israel’s southern flank and the vital shipping lanes of the Red Sea.
The Baraa ibn Malik Brigade, operating under SAF, openly venerates Sayyid Qutb, the ideological architect of jihadism. Its leader, Al-Musbah Abu Zaid, often referred to as the Yahya Sinwar of Sudan, poses with figures like Mukhtar Badri, notorious for anti-Semitic incitement and global terror ties.
Al Qaeda’s Abu Hudhayfah al-Sudani has resurfaced, urging a new generation of Sudanese youth to join global jihad. His calls for martyrdom and guerrilla warfare mirror the ideology behind Hamas’s October 7th massacre.
At the same time, Daesh (ISIS) fighters are exploiting Sudan’s chaos to launder money, move weapons, and target maritime chokepoints near Israeli shipping lanes. The Red Sea, crucial for global commerce and Israeli security, is now within their sights.
While General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan claims to support normalization with Israel, the facts on the ground tell a different story. Islamist figures like Ali Karti, seen by many as the Ismail Haniyeh of Khartoum, and Mohamed Ali al-Jazouli have re-entered Sudanese politics, using SAF as a platform to restore the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in the region.
Iran as a central actor in Islamist resurgence
Iran is also a central actor in this Islamist resurgence. Port Sudan has quietly transformed into a key node in Tehran’s regional weapons network. Through covert maritime shipments and military contracts, Iran has begun supplying drones to the Sudanese Armed Forces, the same types used by the Houthis to target Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea.
This is no longer just a tactical partnership. It is a strategic expansion. Port Sudan is poised to become Iran’s logistical hub for arming proxies across Africa, from the Horn to the Sahel. Intelligence sources have already reported increased drone transfers through Iranian front companies operating near the port.
History provides a stark warning. In 2009 and 2012, Israel conducted airstrikes on Sudanese convoys smuggling Iranian weapons to Gaza via Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Known as Operation Blue and Operation Cloud, these missions exposed a deeply entrenched arms corridor between Iran, Sudan, and Hamas. That corridor is once again active, more sophisticated, more clandestine, and far more dangerous.
With Iran using Port Sudan to evade sanctions and arm extremist allies, the Red Sea is no longer just a geopolitical passage. It is becoming a battlefield.
Israel cannot afford to overlook this buildup. The convergence of Sudan’s Islamist revival and Iran’s drone diplomacy could redraw the security map of Africa and redefine Israel’s southern threat calculus.
This is not just Sudan’s internal crisis. This is Israel’s southern front. Africa’s Gaza in the making.
What must Israel and its allies do?
Israel and its allies must expose Sudan’s Islamist alliances and block their access to weapons and funding; Reframe Sudan’s war not only as a humanitarian disaster but as a strategic terror threat; and secure the Red Sea through intensified maritime surveillance and deterrence operations because the next wave of Hamas-style terror may not emerge from Gaza. It may rise from the Nile.
Israel’s 77 years of resilience must now be matched by foresight. And foresight begins with watching Sudan before it strikes.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-852544
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Reclaiming Our Peoplehood: How To Prepare Jewish Youth For The Future
By Masha Merkulova
May 4, 2025
As we celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut 2025, a hard truth remains: Israel has yet to fully win its war for independence. While we secured vital territory and established a state in 1948, our enemies never formally acknowledged defeat or accepted Jewish self-determination. This stands in stark contrast to how other conflicts ended, like Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender or Vietnam’s Paris Peace Accords. These endings created historical clarity and facilitated transitions to new political arrangements. But for Israel, no such closure exists.
From the first attack by the Arab League in 1948 through the October 7 massacre, the Jewish state has been engaged in one continuous existential struggle. The miracle of Israel’s survival and thriving Jewish communities worldwide defies logical explanation, pointing to something beyond mere historical coincidence. Yet the ideology that drove the rejection of Jewish sovereignty in 1948 remains the same force driving our enemies now.
Understanding the True Nature of the Conflict
This war is not about land. For decades, we’ve been sold a fantasy that negotiating on borders will bring peace—that if we stopped building Jewish towns and schools in contested areas, our Jihadist neighbors would allow us to live in peace. But these neighbors have been crystal clear: they will not accept a Jewish state.
This is a religious war of Islamist ideology against the Western civilized world. Our adversaries don’t hide this fact, so it’s time for the Western world to recognize this reality that Israel understands after 77 years on the front lines.
Transforming Jewish Education in North America
So, what does this mean for North American Jews? We must transform our educational and cultural institutions to reflect these realities.
The current crisis in Jewish education stems from an artificial separation between Jewish studies and Israel. Our educational institutions have mastered teaching about dead Jews while failing to prepare those living to advocate for themselves. Curricula treat Israel as a controversial political add-on rather than an integral dimension of Jewish civilization and continuity. A quick survey of Jewish school courses about the ancient world would reveal that our children spend more time on ancient Rome than on ancient Israel - the cradle of Jewish civilization.
Two fundamental shifts must therefore occur in how we educate our youth:
We must reject the false narrative that Jews are “colonialist settlers in ancient Palestine.” We must teach our children that Jews are from Judea. This truth stands firmly on archaeological discoveries, genetic evidence, historical records, and millennia of unbroken cultural traditions. Jewish indigeneity disrupts colonial narratives that frame Israel as a European project. Zionism represents the modern political expression of a 3,000-year connection to our ancestral homeland, not a 19th-century invention as often portrayed in educational settings like AP World History
We must reverse the damage done by decades of teaching Jews that Judaism is “just a religion.” We are a people, a nation, an entire civilization with religious practices and cultural traditions. A century ago, community leaders in Western Europe and then in the US decided it would be safer to present ourselves as mere practitioners of a faith tradition. This was never true, and it still isn’t.
A New Framework for Jewish Education
American Jewish communities must teach Peoplehood as the foundation of Jewish identity. David Gedzelman of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life articulated through his research that authentic Peoplehood transcends mere religious observance to embrace a shared historical consciousness and destiny.
This isn’t Hasbarah. This is teaching our children to advocate for themselves as Jews in America. Because until young Jews see themselves as part of a family with a shared history and destiny—indigenous to the Middle East, not merely people sharing theological beliefs—they will remain disconnected from Israel and will be ill-equipped to navigate contemporary Jew-hatred, which manifests as anti-Zionism.
A Vision for the Future
This Yom Ha’atzmaut, we celebrate Israel’s achievements and the resilience of the Israeli spirit—the same spirit that has defended our ancestral homeland since 1948. But true celebration of independence demands independence of thought. We must reject narratives that diminish Jewish indigeneity or suggest that peace can be purchased through territorial concessions. The tragic events of October 7 demonstrated the bankruptcy of this approach.
Moving forward requires educational transformation and strategic conditions that make continued rejection of Israel’s existence costly for our adversaries. By fostering a generation of Jews who boast their indigenous connection to the land and their place within the Jewish people, we create internal resilience. By supporting Israel’s security and right to defend itself, we create external conditions for eventual peace.
Masha Merkulova is the CEO of Club Z, a Jewish Zionist space for teens to connect to each other, Jewish history, and Zionism.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-852543
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