A recent and timely newsletter from Steve Maltz, October 2025 . Section headers aded by Christian Comment.
Light versus darkness
There’s a peace treaty now. Try telling that to the hundreds of thousands of “pro-Palestinian supporters” who have barely acknowledged it, yet persist in their marches and demonstrations, still spewing vitriolic hatred against Israel and Jews. Contrast the heart-felt celebrations in Israel for the release of the hostages with the silence from the “caring” progressives and Islamists and you realise that a story is unfolding, one of contrasting light and darkness. It’s a story birthed in the agonies of October the 7th, but it is one that can potentially save the world.
In Isaiah 49:6 and other places, Israel is called a Light to the Nations. This was taken seriously by David ben Gurion, when he adopted the menorah as the emblem of the State of Israel. In modern times this has also been acknowledged by Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech in 2010, calling his beloved land, a proud people with a magnificent country and one which always aspires to serve as Light unto the Nations.
Jesus Who sprang from the roots
What does this actually mean, in reality, especially as, in much of the World’s eyes, Israel is a pariah, a genocidal colonialist and a nation that doesn’t even deserve to exist, according to some? In common with the Messiah who sprang from the roots of Israel, it is despised and rejected by mankind (Isaiah 53:3), yet, as I said earlier, out of this darkness comes light. This is because, again in connection with the Messiah, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). Most importantly, shining light into darkness tends to reveal much that has been hidden. Let’s apply this principle to our modern world.
The events of the last two years have utterly transformed our view of the world and, although the downside seems to be a massive rise in antisemitism and delegitimization of Israel, it has opened the eyes of many into our world and what makes it tick. By shining light into the darkness we now know the following: the weakness of most of the leaders in the West (particularly the left-leaning ones), the evil of Islamists, the need for strength and perseverance to counter this evil, the love shown by Israel for its own people (and the contempt shown by Hamas for its people), the moral bankruptcy of the Marxist “woke” environment, the duplicity and hypocrisy of many of our politicians, the corruption of institutions that were once held in high regard (The U.N., the BBC, most of the mainstream media, many NGOs), the true intentions of Iran and Qatar and the devastating fact that no-one is immune from the antisemitism virus.
Gathering darkness
This final point is the most heart-wrenching. Discounting those knowingly given over to the darkness of militant Islamism and Marxism, the ‘useful idiots’, who provide the bulk of the baying mobs, either on the streets or on campuses, are on a fast-track to nowhere. Most of them have absolutely no grip on reality, on the true narrative of the Middle East, but have blindly bought into the false narrative constructed by the Soviets in the 1960s, that of a struggling, persecuted “Palestinian” nation.
The delusion is so strong now that debate with these people is impossible and now ordinary students, accountants, housewives and shopkeepers can openly call for the murder of Jews without any conscience or consequence. Anyone who queries them is denounced as a fascist or ‘far-right Nazi’, and the irony of this is laughable. With a nod to the comedy genius of Graham Linehan, “I hear you are a Nazi now, Father Ted” defines them totally. With another nod, this time to an excerpt from my book, Now Everything Changes:
“So, when you see Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian posters and banners everywhere, in High streets, University campuses and even Lake District beauty spots, it is not what it seems. It is nothing to do with sympathy for the Palestinians, but all to do with hatred for the Jews. It is not love and sympathy for a beleaguered people, but rather disregard and hatred of eternal pariahs in the world’s eyes. Every flag, poster and banner may as well all say the same thing, ‘We hate Jews,’ or simply feature a single swastika, black on a white circle, with a red background. It could be a Nuremberg rally of the Nazi era, or the flags of the Roman legions as they sacked Jerusalem, or the red-crossed emblems of the Crusaders massacring Jews in their villages on the way to the “Holy Land.” It is all the same, they all share the same spirit of evil.”
Noble race of people?
Think about it. The world had been taken in by the carefully constructed and expensively promoted fantasy of this noble race of people, driven from their land, desiring nothing other than a peaceful co-existence with its evil Jewish neighbour. In reality we have a people so ‘programmed’ by its leaders to embrace hate, death and destruction that no Arab country will take them in or help them in any way (have you seen the size of the wall dividing Gaza from Egypt?!)
A system that can create a Hamas that is even now turning violently on its own people, now that the Israelis have retreated. Yet try explaining this reality to the “Pro-Palestinians”. For them Hamas are just innocent freedom fighters and their banners still proclaim the supposed genocide and systematic starvation by the Israelis – both of which have been complete lies – despite the cease-fire!
Antisemitism transcends logic, hatred is just self-feeding. You would think that they would be celebrating the new freedoms of the Gazans, but not a sausage. Did they ever really care for them, or is it just a cover for their antisemitism? I think we know the answer of this one, particularly as you will never see them marching in their thousands for any causes that don’t involve Jews. And there are plenty of real genocides going on out there! Gazans are now realizing that life after the Israelis is going to be far worse for them, now that Hamas are unrestrained. Sadly, even if their “followers” do admit this, their mindset would never allow them to express it, such is the hold that the awakened Jew hatred has on them.
What of the future? Israel has shone light into these sad realities, but it is unable to fix them. There are two sets of victims here … and I am not talking about the Israelis, who are resilient, positive and forward thinking. They will move on and rebuild, because they are a healthy nation.
No, the victims are, firstly and most ironically, the Palestinians themselves. They are victims of their own leaders, not of the “perceived” enemies, the Israelis. Their leaders live in luxury and safety and, in battle, are quite happy to hide behind their own people. Their leaders need to be replaced or re-educated. There are peaceful Palestinians and Muslims out there, but they have always been kept at bay out of fear of reprisal. The only way forward is to acknowledge that they have got it wrong and have been manipulated by the hatred of some of their extreme elements for the Jews. History should warn them that antisemitism never ends well for the perpetrators! Israel wants to live in peace, it always has, despite the propaganda! Hands of peace need to be extended and the educational regime of teaching their people to embrace hate and violence needs to stop immediately. This is the only way forward.
Consumed by hate
As for the rest. It beggars belief how educated students and academics can be so consumed by hate that all critical faculties have been bypassed. They need to be educated, in order to be set free of the delusions. They need to be shown the history of antisemitism and the true story behind the State of Israel. Some will resist this, because the spiritual virus has too much of a hold on them. For them, there can only be a spiritual solution. And perhaps that’s a clue as to what this is all really about.
Israel is a light to the Nations, but perhaps more than it realizes. Antisemitism is bad for the perpetrators as well as the Jewish victims, but if it leads to a realization that something is wrong, then what we have here is a divine nudge. Perhaps we are on the verge of a great revival, now that evil has shown its true face and people are shaken into clarity? It is time for Christians to pray, perhaps even for themselves as antisemitism is more prevalent than most people realise.
Am Yisrael Chai, the People of Israel live. We should all rejoice in that fact.
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