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The episode hosts Yinon Dan Kehati, author of the book “Shma Yishmael” and a right-wing peace activist. In a conversation with Boris Gorelik, Kehati presents his approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a solution with religious and theological roots based on using Islam’s own sources.
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The root of the conflict is religious
According to Yinon Dan Kehati, the root of the conflict is religious. Islam, which for 1,400 years was accustomed to ruling over Jews as protected subjects, never had to theologically confront a situation of Jewish sovereignty over Muslims. The establishment of the State of Israel, especially on waqf land, is perceived as a humiliation and a “religious accident” that Islam seeks to erase from history.
Kehati explains that he does not dismiss the Quran or the faith of Muslims, but rather offers a different interpretation of it. This interpretation reconciles with the return to Zion as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the prophets of Israel, who are also prophets in Islam. According to this approach, opposition to Jewish sovereignty is in fact opposition to the prophets of Islam itself. Kehati believes that the future peace discourse should be led by the national-religious public, meaning the settlers, and not by the secular public, whose approach has failed.
Using Islamic sources
Kehati describes his method as a kind of spiritual jiu-jitsu: using Islamic sources and the religious energy of the other side to advance the Zionist argument. He does not rely on the Torah, because Muslims would immediately claim it has been corrupted (tahrif), but on the Quran itself.
As an example, he points to the concept of “wa’d Allah” (the promise of God), which is considered eternal and inviolable in the Quran. Since the Quran mentions God’s covenant with the Children of Israel, and it is never written that the covenant was annulled, a Muslim who acts against this covenant is in fact acting against Allah.
Regarding the claim that the Torah was corrupted, Kehati replies that the Quran itself came to “confirm” the Torah, and notes that only “some” of the Jews corrupted it. He also cites a hadith (Sunan Abu Dawood 4449) according to which the Prophet Muhammad judged Jews according to their own Torah. Kehati asks how it is possible for a true prophet to judge based on a source he himself considers forged.
From exile to sovereignty
Kehati argues that Israeli society still suffers from an “exile mentality,” and especially from a discomfort with using force. According to him, using force is not just about deploying the army, but also about taking responsibility for all the inhabitants of the land, including generosity toward those who accept our rule and punishment for those who oppose it. He criticizes the statement “I don’t want to worry about Gaza’s sewage,” arguing that when Israel does not take responsibility, the “sewage,” whether it is literal wastewater or incitement in the education system, flows back to it.
Boris raises the hypothesis that the disengagement from Gaza and the lack of contact with Jews contributed to the dehumanization that enabled the cruelty of October 7, and that the settlements, by creating friction and contact, might actually be an opportunity for peace. Kehati agrees and quotes Major General (res.) Gershon Hacohen, who said that the friction between settlers and Palestinians in Gush Etzion creates a new reality and allows them to see that there are human beings on the other side.
A phased political plan
Boris asks about the political solution and the demographic threat. Kehati clarifies that he is not aiming for a halachic state, but for a spiritual leadership that will unite all parts of the nation and adapt the principles of the Kingdom of Israel to our times, for example in a federal structure based on tribal lands.
He proposes a phased process of “restoring sovereignty,” not “annexation,” because you cannot annex what is already yours. The process would begin with a few villages as a pilot, whose residents would receive residency status, followed by pathways to citizenship subject to conditions. The conditions are based on the three options that Joshua bin Nun offered to the Canaanites: those who wish to flee may flee, those who wish to fight will fight, and those who wish to make peace may make peace. According to Kehati, the State of Israel has never properly defined the option of peace from within the Jewish tradition, and has always clung to the paradigm of separation and two states.
The original episode, in Hebrew: אמונה כדרך לשלום