Days after hundreds of missiles and drones were launched at Israel, members of the Jewish community are speaking out, saying Iranian leaders are cowards who hide behind proxies, adding that “almighty God” will protect those who live in the Holy Land.
Iran’s brazen and unprecedented attack on Israel late Saturday involved drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Only seven ballistic missiles reached Israeli territory, causing minor damage to an air base. Israeli and U.S. forces shot down the rest with help from British, French and Jordanian forces.
Aish CEO Rabbi Steven Burg spoke with Fox News Digital about Iran’s attack.
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Rabbi Steven Burg, CEO of Aish, said God has protected the Holy Land for more than 3,000 years, and will continue to protect the people of Israel as countries like Iran launch attacks against it. (Fox News Digital)
“Iran attacked. Iran has been attacking the Western world and Israel for so long, from so many places,” the former New York native said. “They just use proxies, because frankly, they’re cowards. And I think for them to kind of come out from behind the rock and throw all those missiles at Israel, I think people were a little surprised…but I think it’s a paper tiger. I think what turned out is they don’t quite have the ability that everyone thought they had.”
Aish HaTorah, according to the organization’s website, was started in Jerusalem in 1974, with a goal to provide outreach to and revitalize the Jewish people by giving them an atmosphere of mutual respect.
Shared values
Burg spoke from Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem, on Monday. As the only democracy in the region, he said, there are a “tremendous” number of shared values between Israel and the United States.
On the flip side, the U.S. and other allies told Israel not to retaliate, which Burg said is tough, because if any of those countries were to get attacked, he did not believe they would react the same way.
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Iranian pro-government supporters rally at Palestine Square in Tehran on Sunday, in a celebration of Iran’s attack on Israel. (Hossein Beris / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)
“To say that, ‘OK, you know, you took a shot in the chin. Just be thankful that you didn’t hit the canvas,’ I think Israel probably will have to hit back at some point, and then I think there’s a real question of who our real allies are going to be in the long term,” Burg said. “There’s no doubt that Israel must respond, because that’s the way it works in the Middle East. You know, when they hit you, and you don’t hit back, they just think they can keep bullying you and keep doing this. So there have to be consequences.”
In order to hit back, he explained, Israel will likely be smart about it and not be pushed into anything.
“They’re going to do it at their own time,” he said.
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The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system intercepts missiles fired from Iran, in central Israel, on Sunday. (AP/Tomer Neuberg)
Jews have been bullied and attacked throughout history. Aside from Iran’s attack over the weekend, Israel was attacked by Hamas-led terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, that resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, while also sparking an anti-Israel movement at U.S. universities, targeting Jewish students.
Burg said he thinks one of the things that disappointed Israel and the Jewish community as a whole is what is going on across campuses in the U.S.
Concerning trends
As a New Yorker, Burg said he remembers when al Qaeda terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11, an attack led by Osama bin Laden that killed thousands of Americans.
Now, more than 20 years later, Burg said he sees a concerning trend of videos on TikTok glorifying bin Laden.
“We’re watching these protests, we’re watching the campuses, saying it’s really time for the average American who loves freedom, who loves his country, to stand up, because when they talk about, you know, death to Israel, they’re really saying death to America, death to, really, western values,” Burg said, adding it was time to start saying America and Israel are great countries, and that democracy is a great way to live. “We have to stand for freedom, and I think that’s so important, for all of us to be together and to really make sure that society as a whole, continues in a free and thriving way.”
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A split of anti-Israel protesters at New York University. (Obtained by Fox News)
The people in Israel could easily live in fear, especially after the Oct. 7 attacks became the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
Burg said the attack “was big,” adding that over a thousand civilians were killed while many others were kidnapped.
‘Good versus evil’
The situation created a lot of nervousness among its citizens, as well as a lot of tension.
But what the attack also did was bring the country together, he said, creating a sense of need to get the people who were kidnapped back to Israel.
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“I think at this point, there’s such resiliency to understand that this is good versus evil,” Burg said. “I think there’s an understanding that this is the right fight.”
Thousands of Israel supporters gather near Central Park in New York City, Nov. 6, 2023. (Peter Gerber for Fox News Digital)
There is also an understanding that Israel will not be surprised again, he said, and the people of Israel know how to hit back.
“This is the Holy Land. There is a certain sense and a certain deep, deep belief in God, that God is there to protect us and help us on our journey,” Burg added. “We’ve been picked on and bullied. It’s just our story.”
Passover to be celebrated
Despite these attacks, people in Israel are preparing to celebrate Passover to honor the story of Israelites escaping slavery in Egypt.
“We get together to talk about how, over 3,000 years ago in Egypt, we were enslaved. We were forced to build the pyramids. And then God sent Moses to save us and bring us out of slavery,” Burg said. “If anything, the Passover holiday is about good triumphing over evil.
“We have an understanding that as long as we’re moral, just ethical, as long as we move forward in the right way, then we’re going to thrive. And all those nations throughout the years that, you know, tortured us and beat us up, they’re all gone. And yet we’re still here in our homeland that we’ve been in for 3500 years,” he added. “So, I think that there’s a really uplifting of spirit and soul, with this holiday and, I think if anything, we’re just going to come out stronger.”
Students of the Sharif University of Technology in Iran attend a protest sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was in the custody of the country’s morality police, in Tehran, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo)
Ultimately, the message Burg sent was that countries can continue to attack Jews, no matter where they are, God will protect them.
Iran’s government, he said, is not the government the people of Iran want — they want freedom.
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Burg continued to say people in Iran want to express themselves as they have been oppressed for so long.
“We have to take a really strong stand, and hope and give a little push, and watch this government fall, and watch the beautiful people of Iran take over and create peace with the rest of the world,” he said.
