Israel among the nations and the hope of Sukkot

When the people of Israel gathered in Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah, hearing the words of the Law brought them to tears. Yet their leaders called them to rejoice, to share food with those who had nothing prepared, and to find strength in the joy of the LORD. Soon afterwards, they built booths to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8).

That passage speaks to this week’s news. As world leaders gather at the United Nations, Israel again faces grave accusations, while at home the threat of terror remains all too real. Meanwhile, Jewish families are preparing for Sukkot, bearing witness to a hope that no speech at the United Nations can erase.

Grave accusations at the United Nations

Opening the General Assembly on 22 September, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Israel’s actions in Judea and Samaria were “bulldozing the path to peace and raising the specter of ethnic cleansing”. Such a grave charge demands evidence, not rhetoric, and any credible call for peace must confront Hamas’s responsibility for the war and Israel’s right to protect its people.

Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon told JNS: “Anyone would be better than Secretary-General Guterres,” noting that he “didn’t even visit Israel once after Oct. 7 and equated the IDF to Hamas”. With Guterres leaving office at the end of the year, we pray for a successor who will treat Israel by the same standards as other nations.

Pray for Neria Leiter

On the evening of 23 September, Neria Leiter, son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, was critically wounded in a Palestinian car-ramming attack at the Maccabim checkpoint near Modi’in. The IDF reserve soldier underwent several hours of brain surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, and doctors say his life remains in danger.

Neria has served hundreds of days in the reserves since 7 October 2023; his older brother, Major Moshe Leiter, was killed in Gaza in 2023. His father has asked the public to pray: “I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe that when the people of Israel unite, miracles happen.”

Who controlled the story from Gaza?

Palestinian photojournalist Mu’taz Azaiza, celebrated internationally for his coverage of the Gaza war, has described in a podcast how Gaza’s journalists belonged to a WhatsApp group called “SMART”, which he associated with a Hamas media official. Criticism of Hamas was routinely kept off camera: “When someone gets out of the ambulance and says, ‘May God punish Hamas,’ while I’m filming, the people around him turn their camera away.”

His account fits a wider pattern. The Israeli Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center found that at least 157 of the 266 media personnel killed in Gaza up to November 2025 were operatives of, or affiliated with, terrorist organisations. In June 2026 the Committee to Protect Journalists removed eight names from its database after Hamas and Islamic Jihad published obituaries identifying them as combatants. Images from Gaza must be received with discernment.

Between Yom Kippur and Sukkot

Yom Kippur ended at nightfall on Monday 21 September; Sukkot begins at sunset on Friday 25 September. After the solemnity of fasting and seeking forgiveness, the intervening days are filled with building the sukkah, preparing festive meals and obtaining the four species: a palm frond, myrtle, willow and an etrog. Repentance becomes visible in the work of one’s hands.

What the sukkah teaches us

For seven days Israel dwells in booths, so that each generation may remember that God sustained His people in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:42–43). The fragile shelter teaches humility: our homes and plans cannot give us absolute security, only God can. The festival also commands joy to be shared with the stranger, the fatherless and the widow (Deuteronomy 16:14), and points to a day when the nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship the King and keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16).

What does this mean for Christians?

Standing with Israel means speaking up when its security is dismissed or its people are judged unfairly, and refusing to excuse terror. As our Jewish neighbors prepare for Sukkot, let us also learn from them: reach out to a Jewish friend, open our homes to those who are alone, and give thanks to the God of Israel, who remains faithful whatever the nations say.

Prayer

This week, let us pray that unjust accusations against Israel will be exposed and that truth will prevail at the United Nations.

Pray for Neria Leiter’s healing, for comfort for his family, and for protection of Israel’s people from terror.

Pray that Jewish communities celebrating Sukkot will know peace and joy, and that we may be generous in hospitality and steadfast in friendship.

Pray for the coming of the Messiah and His kingdom, when the nations will learn His ways and Jerusalem will be a place of worship and peace.

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