Ownership of Israel

Overview

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Chaim Herzog addressing the General Assembly on 10 November 1975.

The basis for Israel’s security begins with understanding the morality and the basis of Jewish ownership of Israel—God’s gifting the Land of Israel to the Jewish people as recorded in the Bible. Articulating this argument—both internally and on the international stage—is the only effective way for Israel to guarantee its physical security, assure resolve and morale of its people, and gain international legitimacy.

The Strategic Foundation: Israel’s Deed of Ownership

From the very inception of the Jewish nation, its connection to the Land of Israel has been a defining part of its identity. In the Covenant of the Parts, G-d’s initial commitment to the first Jew, included the promise that his descendants would inherit the Land of Israel, known then  as Canaan.

The Torah records the event, which occurred in the year 2018 from creation (1743 BCE):

The L-rd formed a covenant with Avram, saying, ‘To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt until the great river, the Euphrates River.’”

This promise was reiterated to Abraham several times, with G-d later adding that Israel would be “an eternal inheritance to the Jewish people.” This promise was later affirmed to his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, the patriarchs of the Jewish people.

Thereby, the Jewish people’s deed to the land, the Rebbe explained, is the Bible.

Israel was given to the Jewish people in an eternal covenant between God and Abraham and his descendants, until the end of time. The Bible records this, saying “To your descendants I have given this land,” which serves as the deed of gift. It conveys, enforces, and announces to all the nations of the world that the connection between the Jews and the Holy Land is the eternal covenant between God—the Creator and Master of the world—and the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, your descendants, until the end of time.

Jews at the Kotel in the 1800s.

The numerous conquests of the land through the ages do not usurp Israel’s status as the eternal inheritance of the Jewish people, as specified in Torah. Through millennia and across geographical locations, in prayer and daily life, Jews consistently refer to the land as “Artzeinu—our land,” declaring themselves in their holiday prayer liturgy as temporarily “exiled from their homeland.”

While continuous Jewish presence in the land, UN resolutions, and the 1948 declaration of independence represent historical realities, they do not constitute the basis of Jewish claims to Israel. Only the divine gift of the land to the Jewish people grants them their irrevocable right to the land, a purpose of justice and truth.

Security Implications

A nation’s security hinges upon its citizens’ identity and commitment to its defense and development. A population that views the land as an inseparable part of its heritage will demonstrate greater strength, unity, and willingness to serve in the military and contribute to national security efforts. In Israel's case, this firm resolve is even more vital with ongoing threats to her survival and legitimacy.

On June 30, 1980, Motti Eden, a journalist for Kol Yisrael radio, met with the Rebbe for a private audience, part of which was later broadcast. During this meeting, the Rebbe expressed deep concern over troubling developments in the Middle East. Citing reports from Washington, the Rebbe warned of a significant rise in religious radicalization among Arab youth, and noted that national commitment among Jewish youth was declining:

Painfully and unfortunately, with respect to Jewish youth, the trend is just the opposite. Thirty years ago in Israel, “pioneering” was a valued ideal. No one needed convincing to be a pioneer—they came on their own and demanded, “Give me a plot of land in a settlement, in the Negev desert,” where they would prove their self-sacrifice.

Now they're saying, “Enough already! We've lived under pressure for thirty-two years. Now we deserve to live a peaceful life, a fun life.” They're tired already, they want a few years of rest. They are still idealists, but they rightfully demand a break between one crisis and the next.

To reorient and re-energize the youth, the Rebbe urged that they must be taught about their personal bond with Israel:

The first and most crucial priority: We must change the perspective of the youth regarding their personal connection to the Holy Land—emphasizing that they are part of a single continuum spanning thirty generations of Jewish men and women. That thirty-five or forty generations ago, the Jewish people entered the Holy Land, which was given to them as an eternal inheritance. It is not theft; there is no injustice in this. The Arabs arrived a thousand years later—and then left; they were not interested in it…

Diplomatic Implications

In conversation with Israeli representatives the Rebbe increasingly urged to adopt this narrative when defending Israel in international forums as the only effective path in achieving true global legitimacy. 

Chumash from the year 1517. Text of Genesis in the upper right corner, Rashi's commentaries at the bottom.

The Rebbe pointed to the first entry on the Torah by Rashi, Judaism’s foremost and most universally accepted commentator. On the opening verse of the Torah, Rashi questions why the Torah, which is primarily a guidebook of instruction and laws, begins with the story of creation.

Rashi explains that G-d chose to begin the Torah with the story of creation in order to communicate the a single message:

If the nations of the world will say to Israel, “You are thieves for having conquered the lands of the seven nations,” Israel will reply, “The entire world is G-d’s; He created it and granted it to whomever He desired. It was His will to give it to the [seven nations], and it was His will to take it from them and give it to the Jewish people.”

Writing in the eleventh century, during the Crusades—a period of widespread antisemitic violence—Rashi writes that the Torah equipped future generations with a definitive response to accusations that Jews are “thieves” with no rightful claim to Israel. Foretelling the claims the nations will cast against the Jewish rights to the land on a moral basis, his guidance was unequivocal: the most powerful defense is to proclaim the truth: God created the world and chose to give Israel to the Jewish people.

Rashi's commentary was revolutionary in its accessibility. Written for children as young as five, not only scholars, his explanations became the bedrock of Jewish Torah study for centuries. Until today, Jewish children study Rashi’s comment as they begin their study of Torah. This directive fundamentally shapes the Jewish perspective on their connection to the Land of Israel.

Israel's representatives can point to this Rashi, written hundreds of years before the modern state's founding. What the world recognizes and respects is how deeply this belief is embedded in the Jewish psyche and has been passed down through generations..

Other Arguments

The Rebbe argued that when Israel bases its claim on legal or even historical arguments, it undermines its international position, and its safety. While these narratives have repeatedly shown to unsuccessfully counter opposing narratives,  the argument that has not been adopted would affirm Israel’s ownership effectively.

Israeli President Zalman Shazar meets with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

In a 1969 exchange with President Zalman Shazar the Rebbe writes:

[Israeli diplomats] consistently declare that Israel is an entity founded in 1948 on territories left by the British, from which the Haganah expelled the Arabs, and where the UN ‘permitted’ it to exist.”

My reply simply is: This is not true in the slightest. Israel is not a new entity. Rather, in 1948, a significant part of the Land of Israel was liberated.

This isn’t just semantics. It’s a key difference:

Putting forth Israel as “a State established in 1948, with the approval of the nations of the world,” constitutes no substantive answer to the claims of the Arabs, the Vatican, the UN, and those Jews who declare that “you are thieves for having conquered the land of other nations.”

Sharply criticizing Israel's public diplomacy, the Rebbe contends that these narratives undermine Israel's legitimacy and contribute not merely to strategic setbacks but to tangible terrorist violence:

The argument [that Israel’s right to the land stems from a UN resolution or the Balfour Declaration]… has caused harm in the past; it causes harm to the vital interests of the State of Israel at present, and it has led to many casualties.

The claim of continuous Jewish historical presence in Israel, while factually accurate, faces the same limitations as Native American territorial arguments in the United States. Basing Israel's legitimacy on the Balfour Declaration or UN agreements invites challenges to the morality of those very decisions, and places Israel’s entire legitimacy on the foundations of those same fickle international bodies. Similarly, justifying Israel as a response to the Holocaust or antisemitism faces accusations of resolving one injustice by committing another. These foundations remain vulnerable to moral critique and political revision.

The unique Jewish claim to the land rests in divine covenant—a foundation that transcends human revision or debate.

The Rebbe concludes his letter to Shazar:

The people who live in Zion live in the Land of Israel, a land that is special and is unlike any other. It is not merely, “a country that sits between Syria and Lebanon and Jordan and Egypt.”

I demand, with great emotion, that Israel’s representatives in Washington and the UN declare this fact, and that they bang on the table while doing so.

Universal Recognition

Despite being rooted in Jewish tradition, God’s gift of Israel to the Jewish people remains the most effective argument on the world stage.

The Torah is universally recognized as a foundational historical document, whose authority and influence have shaped much of history. Moreover, from a geopolitical perspective, individual nations' personal beliefs are irrelevant. What matters is how they perceive Jewish assertions of connection to the land. When the world observes the confidence and conviction with which Jewish people assert this connection, it commands respect.

This is especially resonant in regards to America, as its founding fathers were guided by the Bible in establishing the United States.

Further Reading

Talmud Sanhedrin 91a, Chabad.org Megillat Taanis, Sefaria

Sicha 25 Sivan 5734 Yiddish Transcript

Talk Like a Jew - Address (micro-donation)

Make Your Claim - Address (micro-donation)

https://youtu.be/6T75Hvc7SVs?si=kzg_HXek7MwYMjwK&t=97

https://youtu.be/o9LtEer6hwk?si=ztJ2RKUpSgioj4ke

https://youtu.be/9jBgsket-5A?si=5OxkXUSwnDTS-p8a