Swords of Iron Day 1050 is about deception, and about the education that could have prevented it. Antisemitism is a kind of brain virus, and it infects otherwise healthy minds wherever truth is not being taught. Here is what stood out on Day 1050.
Swords of Iron Day 1050: Antisemitism Is a Brain Virus
One thing I keep noticing about antisemitism is that it can take hold in otherwise healthy minds when people are not getting the right education. You see it in Gaza, in southern Lebanon, in Iran, and among the Houthis in Yemen. You also see it when Western schools fail to teach the truth, or when TikTok and similar platforms are allowed to spread lies to young people at scale.
That is dangerous territory, and we need to take it seriously. A lie repeated to a teenager a thousand times a week becomes their worldview. It does not arrive as an argument they can weigh and reject; it arrives as background noise until it simply feels true.
This is why I keep returning to education rather than to slogans. You cannot argue someone out of a position they were never argued into. What you can do is give people the history, the geography, and the primary sources, and then trust them to think.
Shabbat, the Bible, and the Antidote to Deception
As Shabbat begins, families in Israel and around the world will gather to read the Bible and spend time together. That matters more than it may sound. A weekly rhythm of reading, resting, and talking honestly with your family is one of the few reliable defenses against a culture of manipulated feeds and manufactured outrage.
One day a week without the scroll, with a text older than any algorithm and people who know you well enough to disagree with you, is not a small thing. It is formation.
An ISIS-Inspired Plot Against the New York State Capitol
U.S. authorities have charged 35-year-old Jessica Bowie of Albany, New York, with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, after an FBI investigation uncovered a plot to detonate an explosive at the New York State Capitol. According to the Justice Department, she pledged allegiance to ISIS, conducted surveillance on the target, sought bomb-making materials, and planned to travel to ISIS-held territory in Syria afterward.
But I have to ask the obvious question: how does someone become radicalized like this in the middle of America? How many people are being pulled into misinformation simply because they were never given a foundation for recognizing what is true?
This is the great deception in miniature. It did not require a training camp abroad or a recruiter at the door. It required a screen, a grievance, and an absence of anything solid to push back against it.
Swords of Iron Day 1050: Israel, Colombia, and Real Friendship
I am grateful that Israel continues to help Colombia after its devastating earthquake. Our rescue delegations are working alongside local forces, because every hour matters when people are trapped without food, water, or sometimes even air.
I am also grateful for Colombia’s decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, making it the second country in the world to do so. Friendship, it turns out, runs in both directions, and it tends to show up in rubble long before it shows up in a communiqué.
Watching Syria and Turkey
Israel’s leadership is watching the budding relationship between Syria and Turkey very closely, especially as the Syrian Democratic Forces announce their integration into the new Syrian government’s structures. Turkey being a NATO member does not mean Israel should ignore a hostile military buildup near our borders. We will defend ourselves against threats wherever they emerge.
Alliances are not character references. A country can sit inside a Western defense structure and still spend its diplomatic energy working against the one democracy on its southern flank.
Antisemitism in Barcelona: Europe’s Warning Sign
Antisemitism in Europe is becoming impossible to ignore. A group of French Jewish tourists in Barcelona say they were surrounded, threatened, and chased back to their hotel by a mob chanting at them in the street. Reports put the group at seven people.
If Europe cannot protect Jewish visitors walking down a Spanish street in daylight, then Europe has learned nothing from its own history. And Jewish families notice. They notice which cities they can visit, which neighborhoods they can walk through, and which symbols they have to tuck inside a shirt.
Swords of Iron Day 1050: Come to Israel and Run for Zion
That is exactly why I want to invite you to take this seriously and come to Israel. Run for Zion! There are marathons in Tiberias and in Jerusalem, and I am also working with the Root & Branch organization on a unique olive-harvest pilgrimage.
My friend Jonathan Feldstein, an American-born Orthodox Israeli Jew, is helping people come to Israel, raise support for a cause, and run for something meaningful. We are also working with Marzy Amirizada, an Iranian-born Christian who escaped Iran’s regime and dreams of seeing a transformed Persia.
You can learn about the olive harvest at rootandbranchisrael.com, or contact the team at rootandbranchisrael@gmail.com to hear more about Run for Zion.
Come run with me. Come harvest olives with us. Stand with Israel, and please share this message as widely as you can. Showing up in person is still the strongest answer to a lie told from a distance.
Watch the Full Swords of Iron Day 1050 Update
You can watch the complete Day 1050 briefing on Rumble or on YouTube. For the previous briefing in this series, see Swords of Iron Day 1049, and learn more about the work of the Aliyah Return Center.
Shabbat shalom, friends. Am Yisrael Chai.
About These Swords of Iron Updates
These daily briefings are written from Israel by the team at the Aliyah Return Center in the Galilee, drawing on Israeli and international reporting alongside first-hand perspective from the ground. Our work centers on welcoming and supporting new immigrants, training ambassadors for Israel, and helping friends of Israel around the world understand what is actually happening here. If you would like to visit, volunteer, or support this work, you can reach us through the Aliyah Return Center website.