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Israeli diplomat Ofir Akunis reminded Americans this week — in remarks carried by conservative outlets — that Israel is, unequivocally, the homeland of the Jewish people. That clarity is not rhetorical flourish but the proper, unapologetic defense of a nation under unrelenting delegitimization efforts abroad.
Akunis, who has been serving as Israel’s consul general in New York since spring 2024, arrived in the United States to do hard, unapologetic advocacy at a critical moment for our friend and ally. He left a long career in the Knesset to take on the job because Israel needs advocates who will not mince words or bow to fashionable guilt or the campus mob.
This isn’t surprising coming from a seasoned Likud veteran who has long rejected the tired narratives that try to shrink Israel’s history and rights. Akunis has publicly insisted in the past that the Jewish historical connection to the land is real and non-negotiable, a truth that the left’s delegitimizers would rather bury under euphemisms and legalistic hair-splitting.
He also invoked the holiday of Hanukkah to make a moral point conservatives should embrace: light dispels darkness, and clear truth defeats slander. That religious and cultural framing matters now more than ever as antisemitic activism and anti-Israel rhetoric seek to blur right and wrong; reminding Americans of the moral roots of Israel’s claim is both timely and necessary.
Too many in our institutions have treated Palestinian propaganda as a competing moral claim instead of a campaign of delegitimization that endangers Jewish life worldwide. Akunis’s blunt language — saying what many in power are too timid to say — is the right response: defend truth, defend history, and stand by an ally that shares our values of religious freedom and self-determination.
Patriotic Americans should take note and stand with diplomats who fight for clarity over moral equivocation. Support for Israel is not partisan virtue-signaling; it is fidelity to an ally and to the moral principles that keep civilization standing against those who would tear it down.
