‘Israel’s very existence is at stake’: Ambassador’s heartbreaking plea after losing his son

Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, delivered a powerful, deeply personal address to thousands of Chabad emissaries, mourning his eldest son, Moshe Yedidyah, killed in combat in Gaza, while asking for prayers for his second son, Neria, who remains hospitalized after being wounded in a terror attack in Samaria last September.

“The issue today is not Judea and Samaria. The issue today is not the Golan, the issue today is not Gaza, the issue today is not Jerusalem,” Leiter declared. “What is at stake at the present time is the very existence of Israel. Not any less than that.”

Warning that “antisemitism is a virus that mutates,” Leiter urged Jewish communities to recognize the threats they face. “We fight it by knowing who we are. We fight it by knowing who our friends are. And we fight it by knowing who the enemy is,” he said.

He also confronted The New York Times over its Gaza coverage, accusing the newspaper of spreading dangerous distortions. “This is a blood libel. And a blood libel will cost lives,” he warned, arguing that accusations of genocide against Israel could fuel further violence against Jews.

Closing with a moving tribute to his fallen son, Leiter recalled how Moshe drew strength from imagining himself carrying the hopes, prayers, and dreams of generations of Jews on his shoulders. He then challenged the Chabad emissaries to do more: “Add more. Add a little more. You’re caring for all the generations that have waited for this day and that are now facing threats once again as we have throughout our history.”