Once, the social, political and religious question that most disturbed me was: Will the Jewish people survive? The Shoah, the Jewish demographic dearth, intermarriage and assimilation, and low Jewish birth-rates were all part of this concern.

More than one Iranian leader has spoken of their wish for the destruction of Israel.

Now, however, given the situation of the world today, a different question most troubles me. It is not: Will the Jewish people survive? But rather: Will Israel survive?

The Jewish people, it is true, is not in ideal condition. A good share of the Jews in the Diaspora are moving away from conscious and active membership in Jewish people. Another, smaller share is growing, but along with the very welcome population growth there is also a growing insularity. Nonetheless, it does not seem that these communities in the West are threatened by any great physical threat. For the foreseeable future, they seem to promise a continued life for the Jewish people, however contracted and narrow many may decide they want that life to be.

On the other hand, Israel seems to be not in periodic danger as it was once, but in continual and growing danger. The major element here is the growth of radical Islam and, above all, an Iranian regional power that is very likely soon to have nuclear weapons. More than one Iranian leader has spoken of their wish for the destruction of Israel and at least two have contemplated that this might be done by nuclear means. Along with the Iranian threat, the two Israeli unilateral "disengagements" have brought radical Islamic entities to our borders - one, the Hizbullah in Lebanon, the other, Hamas in Gaza. And they, too, are only part of the threat, as Syria with its large army, large WMD resources, missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel, remains a threat, and a certain ally of Iran in any hostilities against Israel.

There are also shaky regimes in Egypt and Jordan, whose American arms could fall into the wrong hands. And, of course, America's great friend Saudi Arabia - the great disseminator of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the funder of Wahhabi radical Islam, the champion of the Palestinians - continues to weaken and undermine Israel in various ways. It is, for instance, doubtful that the United States would have pressured Israel so much to make concessions to the terror-supporting Palestinians had there not been Saudi pressure on the US State Department.

In recent years, many European states have turned their backs on Israel and, by and large, bought the Arab line on the Middle East conflict. The whole Third World is aligned against Israel and so much of the West. The US remains the only real Israeli ally, but its policy is too compromised by its energy dependency and large national debt.

Moreover, there are continuing efforts to weaken US support for Israel. These come from a number of sources; most dangerously, perhaps, from the radical Left elements within the American university and media worlds. Attacks on the so-called "Jewish Lobby" are aimed at discrediting the American Jewish community, leading to a weakening of its support and American government support of Israel. The shameful role played in the effort to delegitimize Israel by turncoat Jews and Israelis - Noam Chomsky, Uri Avineri, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe, and their ilk - is a central part of this.

Israel, it might be noted, is the only country in the world whose destruction is called for openly in the media and by major political leaders of other states. This is done without any real sanction by the UN or global powers.

The growing effort at delegitimization of Israel might be seen as part of a two-pronged attack, the second part being the actual physical military attack. The latter can come in many different conceivable ways, only two of which include conventional Arab armies or Iranian non-conventional missiles.
Delegitimization of Israel might be seen as part of a two-pronged attack.

In the midst of this mounting threat, it is important for the Jewish people, both within and outside Israel, to understand and appreciate the special meaning and value of the Jewish state - a meaning and value for which no Diaspora identity or entity can substitute.

Israel is the only Jewish state in the world. It is the Promised Land, the land to which Jews have come from eighty different countries. It is the only society in the world that lives by the Jewish calendar and provides the opportunity to its citizens to live a full Jewish life. It is the Jewish representative in the ongoing history and development of mankind. Its contributions in various areas of science and medicine have been a form of light to the nations, a true contribution to mankind. Here, more Torah is learned and lived than would be possible in any other place in the world. The enormous efforts and sacrifices that have gone into building and sustaining Israel mark out a great and miraculous chapter in Jewish history. The very survival of Israel in the sea of hostility in which it lives has been a kind of miracle.

Nothing the Jews have outside Israel compares to what the Jewish state is.

It is time for those Jews of the Diaspora who have any real concern for the collective identity and well-being of their people to cast aside the nonsense that the Diaspora might equal Israel in value. It is time they dedicate themselves to - if not living here - at least recognizing and helping promote the value of the Jewish state.