Israel's recent decision to formally recognize Somaliland has generated a great deal of discussion, primarily through the lenses of geopolitics, security, and regional realignment. That is entirely understandable. Situated along the strategic Gulf of Aden, Somaliland offers Israel a critical diplomatic foothold in the Horn of Africa.

But beyond ports, shipping lanes, and intelligence cooperation lies another, largely overlooked dimension of this emerging relationship: Jewish history. Long before the two countries recognized each other, Jews were already present in Somaliland, leaving behind traces that still whisper to us across the centuries.

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Israel's decision to recognize Somaliland is more than a mere diplomatic and historical footnote. It is a sober acknowledgment of reality, a strategic investment in regional stability and a moral statement about rewarding responsible governance in a volatile neighborhood. At a moment when the Middle East and the Red Sea basin are roiled by proxy wars, piracy and Islamist extremism, Jerusalem has chosen clarity over convention and the implications are profound.

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For decades, Israel was told that its construction in Judea and Samaria was the issue that stood in the way of peace; that bricks and mortar, families, and schools were the obstacles. The Jewish state froze building starts, uprooted communities, dismantled thriving towns, and even expelled Jews from their homes in the naive belief that territorial retreat would buy legitimacy and security. It did neither.

But over the past three years, a quiet and historic revolution has taken place: Israel has returned to building. And it has done so at a record pace.

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In every generation at this time of year, the Jewish people revisit the heroism of the Maccabees, those indomitable warriors who refused to bow before tyranny and who rekindled the flame of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.

Yet, too often, our remembrance is sentimental rather than substantive. We light candles, spin dreidels, and sing familiar songs, but we forget that behind the story of Hanukkah stood flesh-and-blood leaders who spoke words meant to stiffen the resolve of a battered nation.

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A journey that began more than 2,700 years ago may at last be coming to a dramatic end.

This past Sunday, the Israeli government announced that it had approved a comprehensive plan to bring all the remaining 6,000 members of the Bnei Menashe community of India on aliyah by 2030.

For some people, this might be just another entry in their newsfeed. But for anyone who believes in the promise of Jewish destiny, the vision proclaimed by prophets and carried by exiles over thousands of years, this is nothing less than a watershed moment.

The Bnei Menashe are descendants of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel exiled by the Assyrian empire in 722 BCE, toward the end of the First Temple era.

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