At a time when Israel is increasingly judged not by its actions but by the narratives imposed upon it, Israel’s recognition of Somaliland offers something quietly radical: moral clarity grounded in reality.

This decision is not symbolic, rhetorical, or performative; it is grounded in fact. Under the Montevideo Convention—the widely accepted framework for statehood—a state is defined by four criteria: a defined territory, a permanent population, a functioning government, and the capacity to conduct relations with other states. Somaliland meets all four. It maintains its own currency, security forces, and governing institutions, and its economy is largely sustained through domestic revenues. For decades, it has done so peacefully, consistently, and without exporting violence or terror to its neighbors.

These same criteria cannot currently be said to be met in the Palestinian case. That distinction matters, not only geopolitically, but morally.

Judaism and the Discipline of Reality

Judaism has never been comfortable with moral claims detached from lived reality. Jewish law and ethics are rooted in metziut, the world as it actually exists, not as we wish it to be. Rights follow responsibility. Compassion is inseparable from accountability. Peace is not imagined into existence; it is built through sustained behavior.

This is why Jewish tradition places such emphasis on testimony, boundaries, evidence, and consequence. It is also why Judaism resists what we might now call........

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