OPINION

Some 3,350 years past, one of the most celebrated Biblical miracles occurred just miles away from the current conflict in Gaza.

Nearly three and a half millennia ago, the Jewish people suffered as slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.

For hundreds of years, the Jews forcibly served the mightiest leader of the world.

This tyrant denied their basic human rights and subjected them to the very worst human atrocities.

The God of the Israelites selected the most humble of all Jews and greatest of all prophets, Moses, to lead them out of slavery.

Moses brought God's message directly to Pharaoh: "Let my people go."

The stubborn Egyptian leader refused this order up until the last of the 10 plagues, the killing of all the firstborns in Egypt.

Being that the Jews also lived in Egypt, Moses instructed them to smear the blood of a lamb on their doorpost so the angel of death might "Passover" the houses of the Jewish firstborns while the Egyptian firstborns would perish.

This pass-over was the final blow to Pharaoh, who lost his firstborn son to the plague.

As they say, the rest is history; Moses led the Jews through the Red Sea, chased by the evil Pharaoh.

The next chapter of this incredible story is highly relevant to the perilous time we are now living through.

The mission of Moses was not only to free the Jewish people from bitter bondage but to lead them to the land promised to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people and a prophet revered by both Christians and Muslims.

God Himself had given this promised land, the Land of Israel, flowing with milk and honey, directly to the people who would descend from Abraham.

After 40 years of wandering, these Jewish people entered the holiest of lands and, along with the Torah/Bible they had received on their journey, became a nation, one that the Master of the Universe had chosen to be a shining light unto the peoples of the world.

A Jewish nation that would still suffer under a multitude of enemies, but a nation that would live for eternity inside its promised land.

We read in the Haggadah, the written account of Passover, that in every generation, "they rise to annihilate us, but the Holy One, Blessed is He, rescues us from their hand."

The Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, in which Hamas savagely murdered over one thousand Jews, is yet another example of our enemies attempting to annihilate us.

While the world protests against the Jewish response to this atrocious aggression, it's up to reasonable minds to explain and deliver the truth.

In 2005, when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, a de facto two-state solution was at hand. The Palestinians had a new opportunity to govern themselves as they so demanded, yet they chose the terrorist group Hamas to represent them.

From that fated day in August of 2005, as Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza, the Palestinians immediately began firing rockets. Why, you might ask, would the newly liberated Gazan leadership attack Israel after Israel had withdrawn?

Because even before the Hamas-led government stepped into power, the Palestinians had already made their desires clear. They had and continue to have no desire for a two-state solution.

They want all of the land from "the River to the Sea," from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, free of Jews.

They want this tiny strip of land for themselves as one Palestinian state with no regard for the United Nations 1947 resolution that offered them half of this land while half would go to the Jews.

They rejected the UN compromise of 1947, they rejected the birth of modern Israel in 1948, and they joined with neighboring states in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 to war against the Jews.

Never mind that of the 193 member nations within the United Nations, 56 are from predominantly Muslim countries.

With nearly 2 billion Muslims in the world out of a world population of about 8 billion, 56 Muslim countries seem proportionate.

Why, then, has there always been and continues to be such revulsion, antagonism, and resistance to one Jewish state?

One Jewish state promised by the God of the Jews as well as the God of the Christians and Muslims.

The stench of antisemitism is once again blowing globally.

History records that Jews have been forced to leave every country they have ever lived in.

Still, who could have imagined that here in America, there would be calls for the death and expulsion of Jews?

It's happening all over our college campuses, in our streets, and, shockingly, even in the halls of Congress.

While it's clear to most that the rationale and arguments presented by the haters are hollow and without fact, their efforts are protected and continue to grow.

What can we do to help the world understand the truth about the current plight of the Jews in Israel and globally?

We must go back and re-explain the history of the Jewish people.

We were chosen by God to manifest his holiness, goodness, fairness, and his love for all people globally.

Jews as a people were born out of slavery and formed a nation, a nation destined to dwell in the land that flows with milk and honey, the land of Israel.

This land, with its holy capital of Jerusalem, referred to in Jewish prayer as Zion, is the eternal homeland of the Jewish people.

Just as the Jewish world respects the sovereignty of the Muslim nations and all nations of the world, we expect the same for our tiny Israel.

Mighty enemies have risen to annihilate the Jews, among them the Roman Empire, the Greeks, the vile and hateful Nazi regime, and now the Palestinians.

Wake up, enemies of Israel!

The Jewish people and the Jewish nation respect your people and your lands!

Take this example and tell your children the truth. In every generation, they will rise to annihilate the Jews, but the Holy One, blessed is he, rescues us from your hand.

Philanthropist Chuck Lessin is Vice-Chair of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, President of Keneseth Beth Israel Synagogue, and the Founder of Jerusalem Connection.