More than a century ago, in 1918, David Ben-Gurion wrote a remarkable essay titled Gvul artzeinu v’admatah – “The Borders of Our Land and Its Territory.” It was written before the State of Israel even existed, when the Ottoman Empire had just collapsed, and the modern Middle East was being carved up by foreign powers.
Ben-Gurion asked a simple question: What are the natural borders of the Land of Israel?
His answer was not based on politics or temporary diplomatic arrangements. It was based on geography, history, and the strategic reality of the land itself.
He wrote that the Land of Israel is a natural geographic unit bordered by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Syrian desert in the east, the deserts of Sinai and Arabia in the south, and the mountains of Lebanon and Hermon in the north.
And, most importantly, he concluded that the natural northern border of the Land of Israel is the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
Think about that.
The very founder of the State of Israel understood something that we are painfully relearning today through war and bloodshed: the Litani River is the only defensible northern border for the Jewish state.
For decades, Israel has allowed Hezbollah, an Iranian terror army, to entrench itself just meters from our northern communities. The result has been predictable: rockets, tunnels, terror attacks, and the evacuation of entire Israeli towns.
This is what happens when a nation ignores the strategic geography of its own land.
Ben-Gurion understood that south of the Litani, the terrain, infrastructure, and population patterns are tied to the Galilee, while north of it, the Lebanese mountain region begins. The Litani is not an arbitrary line; it is a natural defensive boundary.
History has proven Ben-Gurion right.
From Ben-Gurion’s vision to today’s threats
Hezbollah turned southern Lebanon into an Iranian missile base pointed at Israeli homes. The international community promised to disarm Hezbollah through UN resolutions: They failed. The Lebanese government promised to control its territory: It failed. UNIFIL promised to keep the peace: It failed.
The only way to ensure the safety of Israel’s northern communities is exactly what Ben-Gurion understood over a century ago: Israel must control the territory up to the Litani River and resettle it with Jewish communities. Because security for Israel is only ensured with a Jewish civilian presence.
And the same logic applies elsewhere.
Ben-Gurion also made clear that the Jordan River was never meant to be the eastern border of the Land of Israel. Jewish history began east of the Jordan, with the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Menashe, settling in the lands of Gilead and Bashan. The desert beyond them formed the true natural barrier.
These truths were understood by the early Zionist leaders. They were not extremists; they were strategic thinkers who understood the geography of the land they were rebuilding. Over time, Israel’s leadership began thinking like a small, frightened country rather than like the sovereign nation reborn in its ancestral homeland.
Instead of shaping borders according to strategic reality, we allowed foreign diplomats and international pressure to define them for us.
And that has produced terror states on our borders, rocket armies on our doorsteps, and endless wars.
But the events of the past year have changed everything.
The Iranian axis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and their terror networks across the Middle East, launched what was meant to be the final act in their plan to destroy the Jewish state. Instead, the opposite has happened: Israel is now destroying the Iranian axis of evil.
Israel has demonstrated once again that the Jewish people are no longer victims of history – we are its makers.
As we watch the collapse of an Iranian terror empire that spent decades investing in surrounding Israel with proxies, a historic opportunity is emerging.
We have an opportunity not just to win a war, but to reshape the strategic reality of the Middle East by having our enemies understand defeat in their language: by losing land.
That means returning to the strategic clarity of the founders of the Jewish state. Ben-Gurion understood that a sovereign Jewish nation must control the terrain necessary for its survival. Borders that invite invasion are not borders: they are illusions.
The Jewish people returned to our homeland not to live forever behind temporary ceasefire lines drawn by foreign empires. We returned to rebuild a nation in our ancestral biblical homeland, capable of defending itself. That also means securing defensible borders. It means ensuring that no terror army can ever again sit on the hills overlooking our homes.
More than a century ago, David Ben-Gurion looked at the map and the Bible and understood the truth.
Today, history is giving Israel the opportunity to finally implement it.
The question is whether we will have the courage to do so.
The writer is host of The Pulse of Israel daily video podcast and CEO of the 12 Tribe Films Foundation, which produces media content highlighting Israel’s biblical, historical, and strategic importance to the Jewish people and the world. He is the 2025 recipient of the Ari Fuld Project’s Lion of Zion Award.