The World Has to Get Used to Jews With Military Power

 

 The Era Of The Passive Jew Is Over!

For nearly two thousand years, the image of the Jew was largely the same across continents: powerless, bookish, vulnerable. From medieval Europe to the Arab lands, Jews lived at the mercy of their hosts. They survived by wit, prayer, commerce, and scholarship—but rarely by the sword. The notion of the Jew as a soldier, let alone as a military power, was unthinkable. The world grew accustomed to this stereotype. Jews were victims, not fighters. They were the persecuted, not the defenders.

Then came the rebirth of the State of Israel, and with it a historic reversal. For the first time in millennia, Jews became masters of their own defense. The same people who were herded into ghettos, who endured pogroms, who were deported to the gas chambers, now patrol borders, fly fighter jets, and command tanks. This is nothing less than a revolution in Jewish history and in the consciousness of the nations.

But not everyone has adjusted. Much of the international community still instinctively recoils when Jews exercise power, especially military power. When Israel fights back against terror, critics are quick to invoke disproportionality, as though the Jew must remain weak to remain authentic. The expectation lingers that Jews may suffer, but not strike. They may pray, but not shoot. They may cry, but not conquer.

This is not only hypocrisy—it is historical blindness. The Torah itself records a nation that fought wars, built armies, and secured its survival by strength and faith together. King David was not only a poet; he was a warrior. The Maccabees were not only priests; they were generals. Jewish sovereignty has always required Jewish arms. What the world sees today in the Israeli soldier is not an aberration but a restoration.

Israel’s military power is not an accident; it is a necessity. Surrounded by hostile neighbors, the Jewish state cannot afford illusions. Without deterrence, there is no survival. Without strength, there is no peace. And so the world must adjust its expectations: Jews are no longer a powerless minority but a sovereign nation with tanks, missiles, and resolve.

This shift is uncomfortable for many, not least because it shatters centuries of ingrained imagery. But it is time to face reality. The era of the passive Jew is over. The era of the sovereign Jew has begun. Israel is not ashamed of its military; it is proud of it. A Jewish soldier defending his people is as authentic an expression of Jewish destiny as a rabbi studying Torah.

The world may struggle with this new reality, but it will have to get used to it. Never again will Jews wait helplessly for others to defend them. Never again will Jewish survival depend on the goodwill of kings, priests, or presidents. From now on, the Jewish people carry their fate in their own hands. And that is how it must be.

Let’s be clear: no one lectures America about being “disproportionate” when it bombs terrorists. No one told Britain to hold back when the Nazis blitzed London. But when Jews defend themselves? Ah, then the rules change. Then the world remembers the Jew it preferred — weak, dependent, apologetic.

Too bad. That Jew is not coming back.

The Jewish people are not going back to the ghettos of Europe or the refugee camps of the Middle East. We are not returning to a time when others decided whether we live or die. We have our own state, our own army, our own destiny. And yes, that means Jews with tanks, jets, and an iron will to win.

If that makes the world uncomfortable, so be it. History has changed. Jews with power are not a temporary accident — they are the new reality. Israel exists, Israel defends itself, and Israel will not ask permission from anyone to survive.

The world had two thousand years to get used to powerless Jews. Now it must get used to Jews with power.

 REPUBLISHED:

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-world-has-to-get-used-to-jews-with-military-power/