“Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 37:21-23

In an upscale Tel Aviv neighbourhood – the kind filled with joggers, beach bars and hotels that attract wealthy holidaymakers – Tahli Engel, formerly of Melbourne, tells a story you hear a lot in Israel, and it captures one of the most ­important, but least understood, perspectives emerging from the wars triggered by October 7. “Life in Melbourne, absolutely, was very good,” she says from her living room. But after October 7, 2023, she and her family began to notice “the changes”, as she calls them. The subtle hostility. The growing discomfort with displaying one’s Jewish identity.

They loved Australia and thought about staying for good. And yet – and this is the part we need to understand – they felt a compulsion to return to Israel, to a country in the midst of a catastrophic war. There were many reasons, of course – lifestyle and work opportunities chief among them – but the essence of it all is that her family, somehow, felt safer and stronger here. Let’s be as clear as possible: a quiet but profound shift in the global Jewish consciousness appears to be taking place, one that appears to be reshaping Israel, its diaspora, and which is driven by numerous converging forces that define this moment. The first is paradoxical. 

Australians are driving the cohort that is: their numbers are up 23 per cent, according to the Israel Aliyah Centre, and 87 per cent of the ­emigres are young adults aged ­between 18 and 34.

These aren’t refugees. They’re millennials and Gen Z professionals making a bet about where they can live as fully expressed Jews in the 21st century. Americans are doing the same. So are the British, the Canadians, the French. In other words, citizens from countries where government policy or civil discourse has been hostile enough to Israel or the local Jewish community. Hillel Weinstein, a former university student in Melbourne who moved to Israel last year, puts it bluntly: “I’d see encampments and huge signs saying ‘Free Palestine’ all over university property. I’m like, if this is where I’m studying, this is not a place that I want to be at.” Here, he walks the streets feeling “as safe as I’ve ever been. A lot of people have moved from around the globe to Israel, especially because they just don’t feel safe where they are”. Consider the irony for a moment. Young Jews are fleeing ostensibly peaceful Western ­democracies for a country that just fought a multi-front war and endured the sight of buildings being toppled by Iranian hypersonic missiles, because they feel more secure walking the streets of Tel Aviv than Brunswick or Newtown.

This is just another proof that Biblical end times prophecies can be trusted and that God is control of history. If you want to know about what is next on God’s agenda for planet Earth go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net, click on Resources and go first to PURPOSE of Jesus Millennial Kingdom and then click on ISRAEL for more on how Jesus and the glorified Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron for one thousand years.