I heard nearly the same exact words from R Moshe Wolfson zl who was a Talmud of R Yakov and in fact his hired mashgiach and right hand man. He gave us a whole shuir on the miracles and virtues of Zionism despite opposing its secular nature . It wasn’t hearsay or an ArtScroll book. I heard it from the tzadik mouth. This is more reliable than a source from our Torah that can always be interpreted how one likes. This is a mesora from a tazadik. By the way he also once told me that part of the reason that he says long sholosh seudas Torah was due to what he saw by the Satmar Reba Zya . So he knew all sides yet said what he said
