Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked outrage across the Middle East this week after stating he feels deeply connected to the biblical vision of a “Greater Israel.”
During an interview with former Knesset member Sharon Gal on i24News, Netanyahu was asked if he connected to the vision of “Greater Israel.” He responded without hesitation: “Very much.”
The term “Greater Israel” has in recent decades meant a few different things in relation to borders.
- In pre-state decades, adherents of Revisionist Zionism applied it to the entirety of the British Mandate for Palestine, which included neighboring Transjordan (known today as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan).
- Following the Six-Day War in 1967, the concept resurfaced in calls to retain newly captured territories, including Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula.
Gal’s meaning was made clear in the pendant he presented to Netanyahu as a gift. The piece of jewelry, which Gal sells online, is in the shape of the “Greater Israel” concept that follows the outline found in Genesis (15:18):
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”
Modern representations of this map, like that depicted in Gal’s pendant, have Israel’s borders expanding to encompass all of Jordan and Lebanon, most of Syria, and about half of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iraq.
Arab media screenshot.
It was to this biblical vision that Netanyahu affirmed his connection.
And that didn’t sit well with the Arabs.
- The Arab League labeled Netanyahu’s remarks a violation of Arab states’ sovereignty and a threat to regional security.
- Jordan outright rejected the expansionist “illusions,” denouncing them as dangerous provocations.
- Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) joined the condemnation, warning that such rhetoric undermines peace and international law.
- The Palestinian Authority denounced the comments as blatant “colonialism,” which is how the PA also refers to the present State of Israel.
Next phase of prophecy?
For the past 30 years, endorsement of maximalist territorial ambitions were confined to the fringes of Israeli politics. But post-Oct. 7, more and more voices are heard suggesting that the time is near when Israel will finally expand to its full biblical borders.
In an interview with European public service broadcaster Arte aired in October 2024, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus.” Not long after that interview, the Assad regime fell and Israeli troops moved into southern Syria. Smotrich noted that the time was near, and that “little by little” Israel would possess all of the land promised to it by God.
Around the same time, Arab media was in an uproar over a handful of social media photos showing Israeli soldiers in Gaza and southern Lebanon wearing custom-made patches showing a greatly expanded Israel and the words “Promised Land of Israel.”
Illustration. Social media screenshots.
The patch shows Israel ruling over a large chunk of Egypt, all of Jordan, half of Saudi Arabia, and the bulk of Lebanon and Syria. The patch is by no means official, and anyone wearing it risked disciplinary action, as non-official insignia is forbidden in the IDF, but it highlights a growing feeling that the next phase of Israel’s prophesied restoration is near.
A year earlier, an IDF captain was filmed telling his troops as they prepared to enter Gaza that “we will return to the entire Promised Land, including Gaza, including Lebanon. Everywhere.” The officer was summoned for questioning and subjected to disciplinary action. But again, his remarks were not isolated. They represent a growing sentiment among Israelis, especially those who recognize the biblical nature of the hour.
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