US President Donald Trump, Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the Israeli Parliament on October 13, 2025.
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The Knesset (Israeli parliament) was abuzz with Scripture on October 13. Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid spoke, followed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and finally the guest of honor, US President Donald Trump. All mentioned the Bible in their speeches to the jubilant audience of members of parliament, foreign dignitaries and a gaggle of news reporters.
The special session was convened to celebrate the release of the last 20 living hostages from Gazan captivity that day, and to thank US President Donald Trump for his crucial role in securing their release.
Uncharacteristically, that morning The Jerusalem Post ran a front-page headline from the New Testament, “God bless the Peacemaker” (paraphrasing Mt. 5:9).
Page one of The Jerusalem Post on October 13, 2025
Opposition head Lapid drew on the ancient Jewish sages of the Mishna to praise Trump: “Whoever destroys a single soul…is considered as if he had destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a single soul…is considered as if he had saved an entire world” (Sanhedrin 4:5).
“We must now prove ourselves worthy of what has been achieved. From its founding, Israel has said to the world that our strength, our power, rest upon our values,” he said.
“The Middle East is our home. We are here to stay. Our story did not end in the Bible. It began there. It continues in our laboratories and universities, in our innovation hubs. Hamas, Iran, and the Houthis, they all read the wrong intelligence reports. The real intelligence report on Israel’s intentions is found in the book of Genesis. ‘And I will give you and your descendants after you…the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession’ (17:8). We call upon the nations of the Islamic world and all our neighbors, Saudi Arabia, Syria, others. We are here to stay. We can do great things together.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu referenced the Book of Ecclesiastes, which was read in Jewish communities worldwide that week: “It’s not a book of action. It’s a book of meditations, of thought, a perspective on life and on death. And in this book we read the immortal words of King Solomon: ‘To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….A time for war and a time for peace’ (3:1, 8). The last two years have been a time of war. The coming years will hopefully be a time for peace. Peace inside Israel and peace outside Israel.”
He also referred to “biblical miracles” that had led to victory during the past two years, and to right decisions made by Trump. Later that day, he would again speak of the juxtaposition of war and peace, citing Psalm 29:11, “The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace.”
President Trump invoked the “Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and cited the Psalms, stating, “The God who once dwelled among His people in this city still calls us, in the words of Scripture, to ‘turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it’ (34:14 [15]). He still whispers truth into the hills and valleys of His magnificent creation, and He still writes hope into the hearts of His children all over the world.
“And that is why, even after 3,000 years of pain and conflict, the people of Israel have never given up–from the threats to Zionism, from all sorts of threats–you want the promise of Zion, you want the promise of success and hope and love and God.”
The president spoke of “faith” and a “blessed future for all of us,” and recalled the “heart of [King] David” to describe the Jewish people’s resilience.
Unique among the nations, it was a festive convocation of politicians and world leaders, wrapped in biblical themes of promise.