Even before being appointed the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine in 1919, Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935) had become the foremost theorist of religious Zionism. Employing an innovative reading of Jewish mystical texts blended with various ideas from European thought, Kook developed a theological interpretation of history that he employed to show why his era was the appropriate time for a return to Zion. Yehudah Mirsky explains (free registration required):

In the kabbalistic doctrine of the [ten] s’firot [divine emanations], the tenth s’firah is the meeting place of divinity and the world; it is thus at one and the same time the Oral Torah (created by human interpretation [of the written text]), . . . the land of Israel, the [religious community] of Israel, and the immanent divine presence or Sh’khinah. This cluster of related mystical concepts was the lens through which [Kook] viewed nationalism and Zionism, and those developments shaped his new readings of Kabbalah. . . . [J]ust as the tenth s’firah is the repository for the spiritual energies of all the rest, the Jewish people are the repository for the spiritual energies of humanity, the “idealized distillation” of the history, beliefs, and ideals of the nation.

Contemporary nationalism was for Kook the vessel of the internally diverse spiritual life of mankind. “In our time, after the differentiation into nations, nobody can receive his spiritual influences outside of the garment of the specific channel of his nation.” But in keeping with his dialectical perspective, universal love must feature alongside national feeling in a God-saturated world. “Love of all creatures must live in the heart and soul, love for every individual, for all the nations.” Indeed, the existence of nations is only a waystation until the joining of all humanity in a single family.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.