By Rohana R. Wasala

We survived Pharaoh, we’ll get through this too.

• Meir Ariel, singer and songwriter

Just over two weeks ago, Israelis commemorated the second anniversary of the horrific October 7 terror attacks carried out by Hamas in Southern Israel. During the raid, the Islamists massacred in cold blood about 1200 men, women and children including babies, and took hostage 251 more. Following days of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in Egypt, brokered by America with the participation of Qatar and Egypt, it was agreed to release all the 48 remaining hostages (including 20 still living and the bodies of 28 dead in captivity) in exchange for a large number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. According to Wikipedia (accessed October 21) the 20 living hostages were freed on October 13; 15 of the bodies are yet to be released. At this moment of writing, clashes between the two sides are being reported, in spite of the ceasefire being in operation, Israel blaming Hamas for ‘blatant violations’ of the terms of the agreement. Hamas on its part claims that the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) broke the ceasefire agreement first. 

But let me return to events surrounding the second anniversary commemoration. The online edition of The Jerusalem Post  (October 7) reported that Diaspora Jews from Paris to Sydney to New York marked the day with religious observances and memorial ceremonies, praying for peace. There is no doubt that the presently silent non-Jewish majority of the rest  of the civilized world were with them in spirit on that day of mourning. October 7, 2023 will go down in Jewish history as the day that saw the most inhuman anti-Semitic violence committed on unarmed Jews in the eighty years to date since the end of World War II, which is synonymous with the Holocaust or the physical elimination of six million European Jews through shootings and gassing by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler. 

In contrast, news came, especially from Western capitals, that pro-Palestinian demonstrators, like students from some American universities, joyfully celebrated the October 7 Hamas attacks. In Australia, a number of social media posts highlighted how anti-Semitic graffiti exalting the October 7 outrage such as ‘Glory to  Hamas’, ‘Glory to the martyrs’, and ‘Oct 7, Do it again’ were seen scrawled or sprayed by Palestinian supporters across street walls , building fronts and billboards in the cities of  Sydney and Melbourne. Some web journalists critical of these pointed out that such slogans could be counted as incitement to violence according to Australian laws, such as the hate speech law. Australian PM and Labour Party leader Anthony Albanese decried the above-mentioned graffiti as ‘terrorist propaganda’ that he called ‘abhorrent’. He warned that those responsible ‘must face the full force of the law’. However, his opponents have questioned the wisdom of granting tourist visas, late in 2024, to some 3000 Palestinians fleeing Gaza after October 7. According to Wikipedia, 1732 of those refugees had arrived in Australia by the beginning of December that year.

Chris Kenny, columnist for The Australian newspaper, and political commentator and the host of ‘The Kenny Report’ programme on Australia’s Sky News TV, recently criticised  prime minister Albanese for bringing in refugees from Gaza without proper security screening. Kenny’s reasons for his views are too well known to need explaining. He also drew the PM’s attention to the urgent need to ban the Islamist organization known as Hizb ut-Tahrir, which, he said, is banned in the UK, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Germany, and Bangladesh because they are worried about its extremist views (which are championed by Hamas, and other similar extremist Islamist organizations). 

Many people around the world do not seem to agree with ideas like those of Chris Kenny. Wikipedia describes him negatively as a  ‘conservative political commentator’. That is the usual label that any journalist is assigned who speaks against the genocidal goal of totally wiping out Israel that Hamas and other Islamist extremists will not give up on. I for one cannot understand why Israelis should not defend themselves against those who seek their annihilation for no reason. 

In the UK, meanwhile, as the online BBC News website reported about the time of the second anniversary, there was a joint march by students from London universities, and rallies were held in Edinburgh, Belfast, and Sheffield. According to the same source, British prime minister Keir Starmer urged students not to join pro-Palestinian protests on Tuesday (October 7), warning of ‘rising antisemitism on streets’. He said it was ‘un-British to have little respect for others’ by staging demonstrations on the anniversary. PM Starmer added that protests had been used by some as ‘a despicable excuse to attack British Jews’. (Heightened security to protest the Jewish communities in Britain was established after the deadly knife attack near a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday October 2, which happened to be the Yom Kippur Day, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The attack by thirty-five year old Jihad Al-Shamie, a rape suspect on bail, left two elderly worshipers dead and three others seriously injured.)  Keir Starmer is the leader of the British Labour Party. However, like his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, he faces constant criticism for his alleged woke-ist indulgence towards violent Islamic demonstrators in the UK. Keir Starmer is often greeted with the title ‘two-tier Keir’ for seemingly soft-pedaling on Islamist migrants who sometimes turn unruly, while treating more harshly the British nationalists who show their disapproval of the activities of those elements. 

In a feature on the online Forward magazine about  the annual International Bible Competition (Chidon Ha’Tanach) held on May 1, 2025, a columnist wrote how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, presiding over the awards ceremony, made a reference to the ongoing Gaza operations. Netanyahu said, What is the verse in the Tanach that most fits with an existential war? That’s our war — a war of existence,…… Maybe it’s from the Book of Numbers. I think so. A people that rises like a lion, leaps up like the king of beasts.”

Reporting on the same event, the Israel government’s official web page (May 1, 2025) quotes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks as follows:

I am talking about the question: which verse from the Bible is the most fitting to the War of Redemption? That’s our war.

Perhaps the one in the Book of Numbers [23:24]: Behold a people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up”.

So, I looked up the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament of the NKJV. The components of the Tanach/Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible are identical to those of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible arranged in a different order. Numbers 23:24 verse runs as follows:

Look, a people rises like a lioness,

And lifts itself up like a lion;

It shall not lie down until it devours the prey,

And drinks the blood of the slain.

As per Reuters, Israel carried out air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories, and military commanders on Friday June 13, 2025. These were codenamed ‘Rising Lion’ by Israel. After the raid on Iran, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said: We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history”, and added, ”Moments ago Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat”. So, the name Rising Lion chosen for Israel’s Iran attack comes from a Biblical verse that promises a victorious future for a powerful Israel, with implications for precluding a nuclear war in the region. PM Netanyahu believes that that monumental prophecy is coming true at present.