When Netanyahu invoked the Bible in his speech to the American Congress, it seemed to disregard the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reducing it to a historical and religious assertion that ignored the ongoing issues of colonization and ethnic cleansing. His rhetoric, praised by Congress members eager for political gain, contrasted sharply with the reality of Zionism’s impact—an ideology that has led to persistent violence, displacement, and regional instability. As Israel continues to struggle with internal and external challenges, including its failure to ensure security and peace, the only viable path forward appears to be abandoning Zionism in favor of a democratic, inclusive approach that respects all inhabitants of the Holy Land, potentially transforming the region into a model of coexistence rather than a source of enduring conflict.
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When Netanyahu cited the Bible amidst the accolades of the American Congress, the prophets must have turned sharply in their graves. None were excluded. That sanctimonious figure railed against those who dare to call Israel a colonial state and rebuked them for not knowing that “the Land of Israel is where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prayed and where David and Solomon ruled… they don’t know that for 4,000 years Israel has been the home of the Jews and always will be!” Everyone stood up, applauding with an eye on their next political position.
As the days pass, Netanyahu’s speech to the American Congress is shaping up to be his political funeral. In that biblical passage, he even lies about the core of the Middle Eastern issue. The Jews have been present in the Holy Land since the times of Moses and company, coexisting with other populations for millennia. They could have continued to do so if not for the emergence of Zionism about a hundred years ago, a political ideology claiming the right to a Jewish state in the Biblically mentioned Land of Israel. That’s the crux. Zionism exploited religion to impose a Jewish state on the Palestinians. Since no one willingly leaves their home, Zionism has resorted to ethnic cleansing from its inception. This is both modern and ancient history.
Netanyahu and his cronies can believe in David and even Goliath, and sacrifice cows and lambs as much as they want, but their religious beliefs are one thing, reality is another, and what others believe is yet another. Meanwhile, many have followed other prophets, and the world has moved on considerably. Besides being colonial, the Israeli project has a crusader undertone, even though many rabbis dissociate themselves from Zionism. Transforming Palestine into Israel is a project born with British complicity, with Jews arriving from all over the West, deluded into finding a promised land, only to find an increasingly fiery hell instead.
Forget Isaac and Jacob, it’s time to take stock. Sticking to the facts, the Israeli project, as conceived, is a historical failure that has generated an endless series of pain and injustice from the first Nakba of 1948 to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Countless lives have been ruined, with millions of refugees scattered across the Middle East, ongoing violence and illegality in the occupied territories for decades, constant regional escalation, and worldwide disdain. It’s a hell for Palestinians, victims of Zionism, but also for many decent Jews and Israelis.
After decades, Israel can’t even guarantee security for its citizens, let alone a future. An epic failure. Yet, as the leading exponent of Zionism, Netanyahu can only conceive of attacks and the culmination of Palestinian annexation, fulfilling his youthful dreams. A plan proving unsustainable politically, economically, and militarily. Despite American therapeutic persistence, Israel is heading toward an end, and it might be too late to intervene. Too much wind has been sown for a storm not to erupt. And truth eventually finds a way to emerge along with justice. This is the current chronicle.
Israel’s only salvation is to renounce and uproot Zionism and start anew with a democratic and inclusive project instead of at the expense of Palestinians. A project that creates a secular state respecting human rights and giving equal dignity to all populations and beliefs of the Holy Land. If in the past seventy years, Jews had built a relationship with Palestinians instead of persecuting them, if they had worked together for a common future, history would have taken a different course, and today Palestine would be the most important country in the Middle East due to its historical, cultural, and even religious centrality. A pearl where Jews, Muslims, and Christians could have lived together with dignity and peace. An example for the planet instead of a disgrace. Paradise instead of hell. Proving the truth of the prophets’ wisdom instead of misusing their names for petty political purposes and making them turn sharply in their graves.
