By Corey Ribotsky
On October 7, 2023, the world witnessed one of the most barbaric terrorist attacks in modern history. Hamas militants stormed into Israel, raping women, executing children, burning civilians alive, and dragging hostages deep into Gaza. The cruelty was not spontaneous—it was planned, filmed, celebrated.
But instead of global moral clarity, the world delivered equivocation. Instead of outrage, the international response gave us justifications. Rather than condemn Hamas’s butchery, major media platforms and global protests turned their attention to vilifying Israel and chanting slogans like “Globalize the Intifada”—a thinly veiled call for more bloodshed.
It is one of the great moral failures of our time.
And now, months later, as Israel takes decisive action to defend not just its people but the broader world from Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the same cycle repeats. Judgment falls on the Jewish state, not the terrorist regime in Tehran.
This pattern is not new—but it is dangerous.
A Nation Like No Other
There is no country on earth that lives under the existential threat that Israel does. Surrounded on all sides by regimes, militias, and terror organizations that openly declare their intent to annihilate it, Israel stands not only as a sovereign nation—but as a symbol of resilience, unity, and faith.
This is not simply a geopolitical fight over land. For the Israeli people, Israel is not just a country—it is the soul of their collective existence. And that’s what so many critics, observers, and political opportunists fail to grasp. This unity is unparalleled. No Western nation could survive such relentless assault from without and within, yet Israel’s citizens—Jews of every background, culture, and ideology—stand together with one voice: Am Yisrael Chai. The people of Israel live.
Even as missiles rain down, as buildings fall and loved ones are buried, the Israeli people remain unwavering. They understand something the rest of the world is afraid to confront: this isn’t just another war. This is a battle between civilization and barbarism, between life and death, between a democratic society and a death cult fueled by religious extremism and genocidal ambition.
The Crusades Revisited
The world may not want to admit it, but history is repeating itself. The present-day conflict in the Middle East bears the eerie hallmarks of a modern-day crusade—except now, it is not about conversion or conquest for land, but rather an ideological war against the very existence of the Jewish people.
What the world forgets is that the original Crusades ultimately failed. Why? Because the Church sent soldiers to fight and take territory defended by its native citizens. And a paid army—no matter how well armed—is no match for people who are willing to die to defend their homes, their families, and their very way of life. That is what the world does not understand about Israel. Israelis are not simply defending a border—they are defending their collective soul, their shared history, and their children’s future.
Hamas is just one proxy. Iran is another. The chants on university campuses and in the streets of Western capitals may be sanitized with activist language, but they echo an ancient hatred that has mutated, yet never disappeared.
And the world, once again, turns away.
Why It Matters to Everyone
Some may ask, why should we care? The answer is simple: if Israel falls, the fire does not stop at its borders.
Iran’s missiles, drones, and terror financing are not limited to one region. Their ambitions reach Europe and, yes, the United States. The same ideology that seeks to wipe Israel off the map views America as the “Great Satan”—the next domino to fall.
Israel’s fight is not just about defending its people; it is about drawing a red line for the modern world. A line that says: we will not let evil win.
The Hypocrisy Is Deafening
No other nation would be judged for protecting itself against a genocidal regime. No other people would be lectured about “proportionality” while its civilians are being slaughtered, kidnapped, and targeted by an enemy that uses schools and hospitals as shields.
The global standard for Israel is not just unfair—it is discriminatory.
Worse, it has emboldened extremists worldwide. The surge in antisemitism since October 7 isn’t a coincidence. It’s the product of a moral vacuum created by global leaders too cowardly to take a stand, and too politically compromised to name evil when they see it.
Conclusion: Israel Will Not Fall
Despite the darkness, there is light. That light is the unity of the Israeli people. It is their unwavering belief that their existence is not a matter of negotiation. It is their moral clarity in the face of genocidal hatred. And it is the knowledge that if they don’t fight now, they may not have another chance.
Israel’s fight is misunderstood by the world. No one can fully comprehend what it is like to be Jewish in a world that continually shows open, unapologetic hatred toward Jews. There has never been another people in modern history who were rounded up and industrially murdered the way Jews were in the Holocaust. When we as Jews say ‘Never Again,’ we mean it. Israel’s very existence is a living declaration of that vow. It gives every Jew in every corner of the world a place they can go—where they will never be cast out for their beliefs, never be targeted simply for being Jewish.
Imagine, if you will, that the great Catholic Church faced an organized, violent movement to erase Catholicism from the earth—its churches burned, its followers hunted, its history denied. How would the world respond? Would they ask for proportionality? Would they remain silent? Or would they finally understand what it means to live under the shadow of extinction?
Israel stands today, as it has before, surrounded, outnumbered, and judged unfairly. And yet, it fights on. For its survival. For its people. And, whether the world acknowledges it or not—for the security and moral compass of us all.
It’s time the world woke up. Not to judge Israel, but to thank it.
RibotskyInstitute.com 
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