By COLlive reporter
Knesset Member Ohad Tal of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism spent this past Shabbos Chayei Sarah in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, as thousands of rabbis gather for the International Kinus Hashluchim.
On Shabbos morning, Tal joined Bais Shmuel Chabad Congregation in Crown Heights for Shachris davening held at the Jewish Children’s Museum. He was welcomed by Rabbi Levi Garelik and the shul’s president Rabbi Moshe Pinson.
Tal, who heads the Public Enterprises Knesset Committee and is a member of the Knesset committees on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Economics, and Aliyah and Absorption, was invited to speak after Kerias Hatorah.
“Standing here, I feel like a Chabad Shliach,” he opened. “Chabad Shluchim around the world are known for their mesiras nefesh. Me standing here between you and the Kiddush is an act of mesiras nefesh,” he joked.
Tal went on to speak about the aftermath of the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023. He said Hamas was Israel’s weakest enemy, yet succeeded in hurting Israel the most. He said the turning point in the war was the pagers detonating on Hezbollah terrorists and the following IDF offensive, leading to a dramatic impact in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Yemen.
“They planned to ‘annihilate, murder and destroy all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on one day’ in all of Israel,” he said, quoting Megillas Esther. It wasn’t clear if he meant it figuratively and literally that October 7 was meant to be a full destruction of the Jews in the Holy Land.
Tal criticized Israel’s leadership for not taking a more uncompromising stand against Hamas and agreeing to negotiate to release terrorists in exchange for hostages. He said he didn’t shy from speaking against it at an event at Mar-a-Lago, the home of President Donald Trump in Florida.
He concluded by saying that Trump was not at fault for the deals he is offering since it was Israel who were nothing, stating clearly what they want and how they want to achieve it.
In fact, the head of Tal’s party, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, sharply criticized reports last week that the U.S. is moving indirectly toward recognizing a Palestinian state as part of a Saudi-Israel normalization deal.
Smotrich accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “two months of silence and diplomatic disgrace” after promising a strong response when several countries issued unilateral recognition. Smotrich urged Netanyahu to immediately declare that “no Palestinian state will ever be established on our ancestral land.”
Following the recognitions, senior Israeli security officials recommended personal sanctions on top Palestinian Authority figures, including severe limits on their movement in Judea and Samaria and through the Allenby Crossing, as well as economic measures targeting their family businesses. Netanyahu has not acted on the recommendations.
Meanwhile, a U.S. draft proposal for the UN Security Council includes significant steps toward establishing a Palestinian state. It calls for a multinational force in Gaza after the war and states that, following PA reforms, conditions may emerge for a “credible path” to Palestinian self-determination. The draft also envisions U.S.-led talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a political plan for peaceful coexistence.
VIDEO: Ohad Tal speaking of the victory of Zohran Mamdani
