A strong Jewish State is the only hope for peace in the Middle East, according to global expert on Jerusalem Daniel Luria.

Luria boasted that Israel was the most democratic and the freest nation in the Middle East but insisted this was because of Jewish values, not in spite of them.

“It’s a beautiful country and we tolerate, and it’s good for everyone,” he said as he pointed to a church, a synagogue and a mosque all within close proximity of each other in Jerusalem.

“One of the things that is to Israel’s credit is that we at least tolerate the other religions. Everything that needs to be done to protect the other religions, Israel does. The same courtesies are never returned.

“This could never happen in some of the Muslim countries. But here you see freedom of religion.

“The only way for peace is under Jewish sovereignty because we ensure the freedom of other religions. That’s the beauty of Israel. We are surrounded by people who don’t accept who we are, yet we accept the others.”

The executive director of Ateret Cohanim, which campaigns for a return to Jewish values, told me Netanyahu’s return to power signalled “the dawn of a new beautiful Jewish era”.

“We want a Jewish state for the Jewish people,” he said.

“We are steeped in Jewish history and all attempts to wipe that away with some of the extreme left wing parties to try to make it a multicultural democratic society only, and putting aside the Jewish state, well the country is not interested in that.”

Luria said traditional Jewish values guaranteed freedom for those who wanted to live in Israel.

Check out BibiReturns.com for all my latest reports from Israel.