Rabbi Kook's Apocalyptic Jewish Redemption In early June 2024, thousands of Messianic far-right Israelis paraded through East Jerusalem as part of an annual Jerusalem Day flag march. Rejoicing in Israel's conquest of the city and its holy sites in the 1967 War, some chanted racist slogans, "Death to the Arabs!" and "May your village burn!"; these calls were darkly reminiscent of "Death to the Jews!" amid pogroms a century before. Still others called for dismantling the Al-Aqsa Mosque to make way for the ancient Jewish temple. A mob of religious Jewish students attacked Palestinian journalist Saif Kwasmi after it had tried to get at a female journalist. The popular parade began in 1968, a year after the Six-Day War. It was the creation of rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, the spiritual founder of Israel's Messianic far-right. Born into an influential rabbinical family in modern-day Lithuania, he was the son of the legendary rabbi, Abraham Isaac Kook. Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook (1891-1982) lived his life in anticipation of the Apocalypse.

In his magic kingdom, the first stage of the messianic redemption arrived with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. It was the reincarnation of the Davidic Kingdom. The second stage ensued after the 1967 War with the redemptive process premised on extending Jewish rule over the occupied territories on the back of the settlements. The third stage would come with the establishment of the Third Temple Mount on the holy Muslim sites of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in East Jerusalem. Hence, the recurring high-profile visits by sympathetic Israeli leaders to the Temple Mount to escalate the end of times. To the faithful, such turmoil was a divine sign because they expected the redemptive process to climax in the restoration of Jewish sovereignty over Amalek, the enemy nation of the Israelites. Hence, too, the coded references to "Amalek" by Israeli soldiers and Prime Minister Netanyahu during the Gaza War. In Kook's view, international condemnations of Israel were an offense to God.

Due to his hostility to Christianity, he was particularly critical of protests by Christian leaders. He condemned as illegitimate Begin's peace talks with Egypt, Israel's withdrawal from Sinai and Palestinians' administrative autonomy. God desired the territorial integrity of the land of Israel; a singular sanctified unity superseding all negotiated compromises. The laws of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew bible, took precedence.