Cheeky_Blinders

In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan confronts King David after he took Bathsheba and arranged the death of her husband, Uriah. Nathan walks directly into the palace and says, “You are the man,” delivering a public and divine rebuke. David doesn’t silence him. He repents, and he is punished. In a time when kings were seen as divine, biblical Israel introduced a different standard. Kings could be judged. Prophets could hold rulers accountable. Justice was not derived from the throne, it stood above it. This is the foundation from which modern constitutional government emerged. The idea that rulers must answer to a higher authority, whether divine or legal, didn’t come from pagan empires. It didn’t come from Greek democracy, which excluded most of the population and protected no universal rights. It came from the biblical tradition, which declared that all people are made in the image of God, that justice must be impartial, and that power must serve the vulnerable: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. Western civilization was built on this foundation. The rule of law, checks and balances, and human rights are not secular inventions. They are fruits of a moral worldview that sees every person as inherently valuable and every ruler as morally accountable. The French Revolution produced mass executions. Communist states led to the deaths of over 100 million people. Why? Because without transcendent moral limits, power becomes its own justification. Remove the biblical roots, and there is no reason why the strong shouldn’t dominate the weak. Without those roots, justice becomes subjective, and human life becomes negotiable.

October 7 was not a struggle for liberation. It was jihad against the enemies of Allah. The same battle Muhammad led against the Jews of Khaybar 14 centuries ago was replayed on that day. Jihad did not emerge as a response to imperialism or colonialism. It is not resistance. It is the divinely sanctified struggle to rid the world of the enemies of Allah, a war that has never ceased since the 7th century.

This is the second time I share a speech by this great Rabbi. In this speech he named every group clearly, one by one. But when he got to the most important group, he pulled back, he simply said “Hamas.” The truth is, it’s not just Hamas. Israel is an insult to Islam, an affront to their dream of a global caliphate. That’s the heart of the conflict.