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Greater Israel
Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, claimed on page 711 of the second volume of his diaries that the extent of the Jewish state stretches from the River of Egypt (Nile) to the Euphrates. However, it is possible that by the “River of Egypt,” he meant a smaller waterway located about 100 miles east of the Nile. Rabbi Fischman, a member of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, also stated during his testimony before the United Nations Special Committee of Inquiry on July 9, 1947, that “the Promised Land extends from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates, including parts of Syria and Lebanon.” A group of extremist Zionists, known as Revisionist Zionists, openly declared that establishing a Zionist state in Palestine would be impossible without the use of force, violence, and the forced transfer of the native Palestinian population. When the war between Britain and Germany began in 1939, Avraham Stern believed that the British were the primary enemy. The “Stern Gang,” a clandestine Zionist organization led by him, operated in the British Mandate of Palestine, carrying out terrorist attacks against both the British and Arabs. The British ultimately killed Stern in February 1942. In his “Principles of National Revival,” Stern declared the boundaries of the Jewish state to be from the Nile to the Euphrates. The group, later known as Lehi, was disbanded in 1948. One of the three leaders of the Stern Gang was Yitzhak Shamir, who became Israel’s Prime Minister in 1983, holding the second-longest tenure among Israeli leaders after Ben-Gurion. In fact, the Revisionist Zionists’ perspective in later years viewed Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon strategically rather than historically. In 1989, Shamir dismissed Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad’s speech about the “Nile to Euphrates” concept as “utter nonsense.”
In the late 20th century, Avrum Shmulevich, leader of the “For the Homeland” group alongside Ahavat Yisrael, worked toward the goal of establishing an Israeli state stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates, though these fringe groups had no more than a few hundred members. The term Eretz Israel alone does not mean “Greater Israel.” The Hebrew word Eretz simply means “land.” However, the term used by right-wing and extremist Israelis is Eretz Israel Hashlema, meaning the “Whole Land of Israel” or “Greater Israel.” This term does not refer to the lands promised to Abraham, from the Nile to the Euphrates, nor is it used for the relatively smaller region said to have been under the control of (Prophet) David or (Prophet) Solomon. The kingdom of (Prophet) Solomon extended from modern Syria to the banks of the Euphrates, covering a much larger area than present-day Israel. Its western borders were not significantly beyond those of modern Israel and were thus closer to the “River of Egypt” than the Nile. In practice, the term Eretz Israel Hashlema is used to refer to the territory occupied by the twelve tribes of Israel, the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, or parts of the Hasmonean kingdom. However, determining the boundaries of all these is largely based on speculation, with sources often deeply conflicting on the matter.
In this complete version of the Land of Israel (or Eretz Israel Hashlema), which spans from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestinians must be expelled from their land, and their place taken by occupying settlers. In this regard, the Six-Day War of 1967 was a critical turning point. Israel’s victory in that war gave it control over the West Bank, emboldening extremist Zionists and Jewish messianists to show little regard for the native Palestinian population. Immediately afterward, a group of Zionist settlers united to form what in Hebrew is called Tnuat Eretz Yisrael Hashlema and in English the “Land of Israel Movement,” with the term Hashlema (Whole) omitted in the English translation. The founders of this movement knew that “Greater Israel” was only applicable to the former “Western Palestine.” No responsible official ever referred to this movement as “Greater [Land of] Israel” or called for attacks on other parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Iraq.
The Gush Emunim settler movement, established in 1974, replaced the legal term “State of Israel” with the biblical term “Land of Israel” to justify their (illegal) settlements as a special covenant between God and the “Chosen People.” These individuals, who considered themselves the Chosen People, viewed Zionism as a process of “divine redemption.” According to Gush Emunim, if this land falls into non-Jewish hands, the coming of the Messiah will be delayed. Rehavam Ze’evi, leader of the Moledet (National Union) party, supported the “transfer” theory, which some critics argue is a polite term for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from Greater Israel. The vast majority of Israelis who settled in Hebron also supported the ideology of “Greater Israel.”
In the book Employing the Hand of God, the popularity of the messianic element of this apocalyptic doctrine is highlighted. Cyrus Scofield from Tennessee popularized the idea of the rapture of believers to heaven after the Messiah’s coming, a theological approach that emerged about 200 years ago in England. This theory states that Christians must turn to the biblical land of the Jews for their salvation, prioritizing that land over even the message of Christ. Scofield claimed that Christ would not return until the Jews implement a preordained plan, requiring them to leave their homelands in Russia, Europe, Africa, and America to settle in Palestine. With Christian support, they must destroy the holiest Islamic shrine in Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, sacred to about one billion Muslims worldwide. After the Messiah’s return, Jews must convert to Christianity. His doctrine, known as “Dispensationalism,” was codified in the Scofield Reference Bible.
However, in 2005, it appeared that public opinion in Israel did not support the biblical concept of Greater Israel. At that time, Yisrael Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, stated that he had come to terms with the fact that achieving Greater Israel in that era was highly unlikely. He said, “Expecting too much from one generation is unreasonable.” He noted that “the curses mentioned in Leviticus and Deuteronomy were fulfilled during the Holocaust. That same generation experienced the gathering of exiles, fought in seven wars, and built the Jewish state. Perhaps the realization of ‘Greater Israel’ will occur at another time.”
Recently, Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli regime’s Finance Minister, displayed a map on his podium showing Greater Israel, including parts of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt, declaring that Israel’s borders should extend beyond the Jordan River and Damascus in Syria. He admitted they are pursuing the realization of the “Greater Israel” idea. Previously, he had stated that the area called Palestine must be erased from the earth, and this time, speaking at an event in Paris, he claimed there is no such thing as the “Palestinian people,” asserting that the term was invented about 100 years ago. He declared that the true Palestinians are his family, born in Jerusalem (occupied Al-Quds) in the 19th century, and said this should be known by the residents of the Élysée Palace and the White House. He added that they are gradually moving toward achieving the promised land in the Torah, which even includes Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. His remarks sparked reactions from Jordanian authorities and other international officials.
In another instance, an image of a badge on the uniform of an Israeli regime soldier depicting the Greater Israel map further highlighted the centrality of this ultimate goal in the minds of the regime’s decision-makers, aiming to achieve the so-called sacred promised lands or “Greater Israel.”
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