Amb. Has Purim Message for Israel’s Enemies

“[Mordecai told Esther] And who knoweth whether thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that thou mightest be ready in such a time as this?” -Esther 4:14

“For the almighty God hath turned this day of sadness and mourning into joy to them. Wherefore you shall also count this day among other festival days, and celebrate it with all joy, that it may be known also in times to come, That all they who faithfully obey the Persians, receive a worthy reward for their fidelity: but they that are traitors to their kingdom, are destroyed for their wickedness.” —Esther 16:21-23

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Gilad Erdan, marked the Jewish feast of Purim by reminding the Iranians and all Israel’s enemies of how powerfully God saved the Jewish people in ancient Persia. God reversed the evils planned for the Jews and instead the Jews’ enemies were punished, an event modern anti-Semites should keep in mind.

In a statement before a UN Council posted to Twitter/X, Erdan said, “Tomorrow, dear colleagues, the Jewish people will celebrate the holiday of Purim, and this holiday is a very important message to the murderous Ayatollah regime [of Iran] and the rest of the world. [2]500 years ago, in Persia, which is modern-day Iran, the king signed a disastrous decree, a resolution calling to annihilate all the Jews in his empire.” The holiday’s slogan is “and the opposite happened,” Erdan continued. “Those who plotted against the Jewish people had their own schemes turned against them.”

So what exactly happened that the Jews commemorate still today—specifically, in 2024, starting on the night of March 23? Purim is a feast that historically was started to commemorate the salvation of the Jews from attempted genocide by a Persian official, through the prayers of the Jews and the intercession of Queen Esther (in Hebrew, she was Hadassah). Esther was chosen out of all the most beautiful girls in Persia to be the queen of King Xerxes (or Ahasuerus/Assuerus), but under the orders of her cautious uncle Mordecai concealed her Jewish identity. When royal official Haman became overly ambitious, and Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman rankled with the official, Haman plotted the death not only of Mordecai but of all Jews.

Mordecai asked for Esther’s help, and after praying and fasting she risked death by going to the king unsummoned. Xerxes loved her so that he promised Esther anything she wished, and at a banquet Esther revealed Haman’s bloody plot and her own Jewish identity. Furious at being duped by his official, the king ordered Haman killed on the gibbet designed for Mordecai, who then took Haman’s place as honored royal official. The Jews were empowered to fight back and kill their enemies, and in memory of their salvation from genocide the Jews established the feast of Purim. This historical account is recorded in the book of Esther, which is part of both the Jewish and Christian Bibles.

Erdan noted how the UN Council cares more about the Muslim holiday of Ramadan—which, every year, is used as a pretext by Muslim jihadis to perpetrate brutal terrorism—than it does about Jewish holidays, even though the Muslims are the aggressors in the current Hamas-Israel conflict. “Members of this council called for a ceasefire in honor of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. We respect Ramadan, but Hamas’s massacre was carried out on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah,” Erdan pointed out.

“So today, in [honor] of Purim, the request of the Jewish people is that this council takes real—real and active measures to release all of our hostages,” he added. The UN, whose employees actively participated in the Oct. 7 atrocities and whose UNRWA agency is inextricably tied to Hamas, is more worried about Gazan jihad-lovers than Israeli hostages.

Erdan ended, “And if we are successful, if the hostages return home and Hamas is dismantled, then, just as it says in the Megillah, the text that we read on Purim…‘the Jewish people had light and joy, gladness, happiness, and honor’ for us and all humanity.”

God bless all those celebrating Purim, and may the Lord God give victory to Israel over their modern enemies as He did over their ancient foes.