We see an upside-down world: those whose positions are based on lies and deception proclaim this lie with all their might and determination, while those who have truth and justice avoid using them or, at most, express them in weak language.
Recently, we have heard the speeches at the UN and the declarations that accompanied them. The Arabs repeat again and again the blatant lie that they have been residents of the land for some three thousand years, while the Jews are foreigners and occupiers. Why should they lie so much? Why won't they stick to the claim that they represent a population seeking self-determination?
Because they understand that alongside pragmatic arguments, a sense of justice must also be established. If this land is not theirs, pragmatic arguments lose their weight. A person cannot argue that his friend should give him part of his apartment, on the grounds that he has a large family while the neighbor lives alone in a large house. If the house is not theirs, the needs of each and every one are of no interest to anyone.
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Return to the right
In contrast, we have almost completely abandoned the claim of justice and right and we speak again and again about security needs. There is no doubt that security is a crucial consideration, since ensuring life and preventing human sacrifice are no less important, but the security issue cannot be separated from moral justification and questions of justice and right.
If the security argument becomes the only component in our thinking and in explaining our position to the world, it is doomed to failure. When one side brandishes a value argument and clings to its right to the land, while the other side entrenches itself behind security reasons, the other is destined to suffer defeat. They will offer it solutions to security questions and strive to give the other side what seems right and just. Therefore, we must remember the principled, moral, and value-based roots of our right to this land.
Not conquering
On Shabbat, when we read the Torah, Genesis, it is worth taking a look at the words of Rashi, in his first commentary on the Torah. Rashi raises a question about the very fact that the Torah opens with the story of creation. After all, this is not self-evident. Isn't the Torah the book of laws of the people of Israel? And supposedly it should have opened with the first commandment that Israel was commanded. The answer is amazing: the story of creation was intended and brought forth to establish our right to the Land of Israel!
Thus Rashi says in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak: "If the nations of the world say to Israel - you are robbers, who have conquered the lands of seven nations, they will say to them - the whole earth is the Holy One of God; He created it and gave it to whomever is right in His eyes. At His will - it was given to them, and at His will - it was taken from them and given to us." In other words, through the story of creation, the Torah equips us with a victorious answer to the Gentiles' claim about the 'conquest': "You are robbers, who have conquered.".
From this stems our moral, incomparably just rightful right to the Land of Israel. When we settle in Jerusalem and Hebron, in Elon Moreh and Shiloh, we are doing the most right and just act – the return of the Jewish people to their home, to their land and their inheritance. This truth must be proclaimed again and again, with determination and confidence, and it will prevail.
