Eretz Yisrael or Israel? Let’s settle the confusion and fill the gap with the one time able to bring us together. Israel and Judea and Samaria and, yes, Gush Katif too—we all need to simplify our message if we are to unify an live as a free people in this land.
by Roov
Where are we, anyway? Some will say it’s Eretz Yisrael, the biblical “Land of Israel.” Others will insist it’s just “Israel,” the modern state. But let’s be honest: this dual terminology is confusing at best and self-defeating at worst. What do we call the land as a whole—the entirety of our homeland between the river and the sea? The enemies of Israel have a clear, simple answer: “Palestine.” And we’re still stuck fumbling with clunky phrases that dilute our claim and confuse our story.
It’s not that Eretz Yisrael is wrong—it’s foundational. But in today’s context, it sounds archaic, distant, even abstract. It doesn’t pack the punch needed to assert our modern connection to the land. “Israel,” meanwhile, refers to the modern state, with its borders, government, and international recognition. The problem is, “Israel” alone doesn’t reflect the entirety of our homeland. It leaves Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan and other historical heartlands conceptually adrift.
And then there’s the real kicker: when we talk about the “Land of Israel,” people outside think we’re talking about the state of Israel, not the whole land. And when people inside brand us as a “settler wingnut” or Hebrew words to that effect, an we blame them? We’ve muddled our identity by trying to fit the grandeur of our heritage into bureaucratic or biblical categories, instead of embracing the one name that carries both the weight of history and the clarity of purpose to unify our fractured land and people.
That name is Zion.
Zion has always been more than a place—it’s an idea, a promise, and a rallying cry. It’s the concept that binds Jews to their homeland, spiritually and physically, across millennia. Zion doesn’t compete with the State of Israel or the term Eretz Yisrael; it completes them. It’s the overarching idea that unites the state and the land under one banner. Where Israel is the beating heart, Zion is the soul. It’s the last line in our national anthem, for heaven’s sake.
By contrast, when we cling to fragmented names like “Judea and Samaria,” or rely solely on “Israel,” we profoundly weaken our narrative. The enemies of Israel chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and the world knows exactly what they mean: they want all the land. We stutter in response, throwing out a patchwork of terms that do little to counter their claim.
We’re acting like the lovely lady in that Solomonic courtroom who was ready to slice her kid in half, even if the infant wouldn’t survive the slicing and dicing. If we are the real parents we would never allow our child to be cut in half. Not physically and not spiritually. Now that most of us adults know that there is no peace partners to speak of, or speak with, we may as well as speak the truth. Zionism is an empty shell unless we embrace as a nation the idea of Zion.
Let’s not kid ourselves: if we don’t articulate our own unified and unifying vision of the land, the whole land, someone else will—and not in a way that respects our history or rights. The whole land, from the river to the sea, is not “Palestine.” Not is it just “Israel,” either, and certainly not some scattered collection of terms like “Greater Israel” or “Eretz Yisrael.”
No. It’s Zion—whole, indivisible, unapologetically Jewish. And unapologetically ours. That’s where we stand. That’s our line in the sand.
Some will kvetch, “But isn’t Zion too old-fashioned? Too abstract?” Not at all. Zionism was, and remains, the movement that turned the ancient dream of a homeland into a modern state. Zion is already in our DNA; it’s the essence of our identity. Reclaiming it doesn’t mean replacing Israel—it means reinforcing it. It means giving a name to our homeland that transcends borders and unites the people and the land in one purpose.
It’s not an accident that Hollywood used it as the name of the only survivor nation that stands up to the all-powerful Matrix which, try as it might, could not destroy. We need our Neo.
The time has come to cut through the confusion and speak with clarity. Let the enemies of Israel cling to their fake claim of “Palestine”: hankerings for a non-existent land that never was.
The more our enemies target “Zionism” as a boogeyman, the more we should embrace it, and explain its meaning to the world: not as an “ism” but as a real place, where we came from and to where the Jewish People has returned. Don’t like it. Sorry for you.
No, We have a better, stronger answer: Zion. It’s the one name that binds the past to the present, the land to its people, and the ideal to the reality.
Zion is not just a place on a map. It’s not just a signpost on our way.
It’s time we say so—loudly, clearly, and with pride—together. Zion is the one idea that unites our homeland.
Welcome to Zion.
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