Sometimes it hits so hard that you can’t breathe or stand up straight without shaking. The execution-style murders of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists was more than anyone could bear. By anyone, I don’t mean people who still use words like “justification,” “proportionality,” or “but what about?”

At what point can anyone, especially Jews, be anything but anti-Hamas? Though I know too many Jews who don’t know their Jewish or Israel history sufficiently, I don’t know any Jews who don’t pray and advocate openly to bring an end to the current crisis in the Middle East, and an enduring peaceful outcome for the region. But what about those who accost us about what Israel, a sovereign nation, has done to save its people, its land, and its future, without standing against Hamas and other terrorist proxies of Iran?

If there are Jews, especially young Jews, who don’t like the situation in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinian people, there are many ways to support change without being an anti-Zionist or a self-hating Jew. Actually, there are scores of used up and worn-out models from the past that reflect efforts of every likeminded peacenik who hoped to achieve peace. But ask yourself, why did all those models fail to win peace? The answer is that there’s never been a peace partner on the other side of the boundary with Israel. There still isn’t. Those who did emerge as peace partners were assassinated by their own people. And when their Jew-hating leaders died, they were martyred in the name of a constant struggle with Israel.

The horror of this last year is reflected in the murder of six hostages last week, because it stripped away some shreds of hope. But the ongoing horror is manifested in scenes around the world where once good people are pro-Palestinian by being pro-terrorists. That’s a horrific way to be pro-Palestinian. World leaders are not too late to address peace seekers who can learn from their sacred texts about humanity. There they can learn to welcome the stranger, and to honor those who are created in God’s image, too. I can be pro-Palestinian, because I long for and advocate for regional peace. But I’m foremost a champion of my people, the Jewish people, wherever they live, because to deny them my support denies my identity, faith, and heritage. It also denies my American identity, which I cherish, that honors the hopefulness of free people in a free land.

It’s been said many times—and history proves—that antisemitism is an omen, a dark omen, of the hatred, bigotry, and darkness facing the world-at-large. Iran isn’t coming only for the Jewish state. Iran, its terrorist proxies, and axis partners see the fall of Israel as the gateway to the fall of the west.

Israel is in a fight for its life and we are facing rabid antisemitism where we live. The world has lost its way by marching for terrorists. But the Jewish people can’t lose its way by marching with them and against each other. And if we prevail in securing Israel, opening a new path for peace for Palestinian self-rule without Hamas, then the region and the world will know peace, again. It won’t be a perfect peace like idealists want. It will be a fragile peace like we’ve known in the past. But it will be a peace that enables democracy and western civilization to thrive. And only in that space will Jews and Judaism thrive again, too.

It’s been often said, “We make peace with our enemies, not with our friends.” As the Jewish New Year 5785 comes, let’s learn from the past and prepare for the future. Let’s give peace with our enemies another chance.

L’Shalom,