U.S. President Joe Biden descends from Air Force One at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Contrary to the hype surrounding the landing of Air Force One with President Joe Biden on board, I am not excited about his arrival in Israel. I never had any faith in him, much less in Obama, and the same is true of any world leader. However they perceive their leadership, I know their hearts are governed by the same singular power that exists in the world: the power of connection.
Because Israel feels dependent on the United States for its security, there is some concern that the evident decline in US global power and dominance will have a negative impact on Israel’s position in the world. In my opinion, this is the wrong approach. We are Israel, the nation that coined the terms “mutual responsibility” and “solidarity”; we owe our strength to our unity, and to nothing else. When we are together, we are invincible. No one will defeat us when we are united because no one will want to fight against us. On the contrary, everyone will root for us as long as we root for each other.
“While the leaders of Israel and the United States are making their statement during the official reception at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel-Aviv, reaffirming their mutual commitment to Israel’s security and to the collaboration they intend to deepen, I know that there is only one thing to which Israelis must commit: to one another. There is only one superpower in the world: the superpower of connection.”
While the leaders of Israel and the United States are making their statement during the official reception at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel-Aviv, reaffirming their mutual commitment to Israel’s security and to the collaboration they intend to deepen, I know that there is only one thing to which Israelis must commit: to one another. There is only one superpower in the world: the superpower of connection.
When the Jewish people first united into a nation, their only adhesive was faith in unity. But with it, they had achieved all that they had achieved. When a nation is united, they learned, nothing can overcome it and no mountain is too high.
Therefore, I place my faith in our unity. If we restore the solidarity and mutual responsibility that our ancestors had cultivated among them, we will achieve greatness. Our economy will thrive, our enemies will disappear, and the world will want to learn from our example. It will be just as it was in the days of the Second Temple, before the conflicts tore us apart. In those days, writes the book Sifrei Devarim, people from other nations would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation.’”
As then, so now, if we want to achieve greatness, we should not look to foreign leaders to assist us; we should open our hearts to one another and let the superpower of unity prevail.
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