After 58 years of hesitation, Israel must stop fearing foreign disapproval and finally extend full sovereignty over Judea and Samaria—the biblical heartland of the Jewish nation.
Last week’s preliminary Knesset vote to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria was condemned by critics as “ill-timed.” With U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Jerusalem, opposition politicians sought to embarrass the government. Yet, if this was the “wrong time,” one must ask—when is the right time? For nearly six decades, successive governments have promised sovereignty but failed to deliver, forever deferring decisive action “for a better moment” that never comes.
⚖️ Sovereignty: A Moral and Historical Imperative
Over half a million Israelis live in Judea and Samaria—citizens forced to seek army approval for home construction and road expansion in their own land. This legal limbo delegitimizes Israel’s presence in its cradle of civilization and nurtures the dangerous illusion that the heartland is merely “disputed.” Failing to apply Israeli law perpetuates the false hope of a Palestinian Arab state—a mirage that has already brought Israel rivers of blood and decades of terror.
🌍 History’s Lesson: Recognition Follows Reality
When Jordan annexed Judea and Samaria in 1950, only Britain and Pakistan recognized the move. Yet the world still treated it as Jordanian territory. When Israel unified Jerusalem in 1967 and formalized its capital status in 1980, few nations acknowledged it. Still, Jerusalem is Israel—de facto, de jure, and eternal. Likewise, the 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights was rejected by the UN as “null and void,” until the U.S. recognition in 2019 affirmed what Israelis always knew: sovereignty is not bestowed by the world—it is asserted by a nation confident in its destiny.
💥 Defiance Is Not Isolation
Critics warn of international backlash. Yet history shows the storm passes quickly. The same pundits predicted disaster when Washington recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; instead, the Arab world adapted, and the Abraham Accords flourished. Israel’s strength commands respect—not apologies. Real peace is achieved when Israel stands firm, not when it bends to the whims of foreign capitals.
🕎 The Illusion of “Peace Processes”
The Abraham Accords remain valuable for trade and diplomacy, but peace purchased at the price of sovereignty is hollow. A Saudi-Israeli normalization that demands a Palestinian state would hand victory to terrorism and reopen the wounds of partition. A Palestinian entity in Judea and Samaria would become another Gaza—a base for rockets, not reconciliation.
⚔️ A Call to National Courage
Israel’s reluctance to act stems from fear—fear of Washington’s disapproval, of economic pressure, of diplomatic tantrums. But nations that fear to define their own borders eventually lose them. The Jewish people, restored to their ancestral homeland after two millennia, cannot forever await permission from the world to live freely in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
🕯️ Conclusion: The Time Has Come
The world will bluster, the diplomats will protest—and then move on. The “dogs will bark, but the caravan will move on.” Israel must declare: Judea and Samaria are ours—not occupied, not disputed, but redeemed. Sovereignty is not arrogance; it is justice, history, and faith fulfilled.
It is not too early, not too late. The right time is now.
