I write a lot about leadership. I write a lot about Israel. I try to focus on indentifying challenges and problems and finding solutions. Complaining about challenges or problems doesn’t do anything good and if you can’t identify the challenge you have no way to identify a solution.

Today I find myself focused on how unbelievably bad our current world leadership is and concerned about the future not just for Jews but for our world. The leadership seems to simply not understand the basic difference between good and evil. Between right and wrong. Between leadership and a title. Between morals, ethics, and values and power.

In the past few days here are a few things we have seen that are of major concern to me.

Hezbollah shoots a rocket at Israeli Druze children playing soccer. 12 are murdered and hundreds injured. Our leaders are silent. The world is silent. The UN, UNICEF, Red Cross, and Amnesty International are silent. 12 beautiful children are dead with hundreds of more children injured by terrorists attacking civilians and the world remains silent.

Major terrorist leaders are assassinated. They are taken out in strategic attacks which don’t target civilians. The world is a better place without them in it and the message that is sent to those who follow them is that actions have consequences. That murdering civilians and taking hostages won’t be tolerated.

What was the response to this? The Biden administration warned Bibi not to escalate again and that if they do, the US may not have Israel’s back. The administration continues to not send the military aid to Israel that the US Congress has authorized. The UK leadership vows to stop providing any weapons to Israel. Turkey’s President Erdogan has threatened to invade Israel. Turkey, a NATO ally, has faced no pushback from NATO about this. President Biden said that ‘it wasn’t helpful’ to reaching a ceasefire despite all evidence showing that Hamas only responds to strength. Vice President Harris, running for President, has yet to even comment on the murder of 12 Druze Israeli children by Hezbollah. Protests in support of the terrorist leaders who were eliminated are occuring around the world. The PA declares a national day of mourning for the terrorist leaders who murdered Americans as well as Israelis with no pushback from the world. The UN, Amnesty, UNICEF, and the Red Cross are silent about the murder of the Druze Israeli children playing soccer.

As Israel prepares to be attacked by Iran with a major offensive, the world remains silent. When Iran and Hezbollah openly state they will be attacking civilians and city centers, not military targets, the world remains silent. Where are our leaders? Where is the outrage? Where are the ceasefire now people? Where are the people concerned about children being murdered? Where are those concerned about innocent civilans dying? Because it is Jews, there is none. Because it is Jews, leaders either stay silent or take action that enables it to happen.

In the US, we are in an election year and a major election for President. Yet when the current Vice President and nominee chooses to remain silent, our Jewish communal leaders do as well. When the current President blames Israel for escalating and harming the opportunity for a cease fire that Hamas has refused to agree to, our Jewish communal leaders remain silent. When the former President who is the Republican nominee is also silent on the assassinations and the threat of attacking civilians in Israel, our Jewish communal leaders also remain silent. We need our leaders to have true relationships where they can be critical of our leaders for their actions without fear of being ostracized. I have a good relationship with my member of Congress. There are plenty of positions he has taken that I disagree with and I reach out to him and talk about it with him. I express my disagreement and am willing to publicly state that I have done so. It hasn’t harmed our relationship. Our relationship has grown because we both understand that neither of us are making personal attacks and instead are sharing important positions. I don’t have to agree with him, his positions, or his votes. He doesn’t have to agree with me or my positions. We do share why were believe what we do and why we take the positions and the actions that we do.

I have no problem criticizing what our leaders do or don’t do. It isn’t personal. It is about actions and statements. When celebrities take idiotic stands in support of terrorists and hate and the killing of Jews, I have no problem calling them out. I choose not to support their work and won’t watch their TV shows or movies, I won’t listen to their music, I won’t support anything they are involved with. I also make it public. Roger Waters, Mark Ruffalo, Bella and Gigi Hadid, Eric Clapton, Susan Sarandon, John Cusack, Cynthia Nixon, Kanye West, Billie Eilish, and Kyrie Irving are just some of those who I no longer support.

We see ‘leaders’ like Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro, who lost the election but continues to force the false narrative that he won, blame ‘the Zionist influence in the media and social media for the coup attempt in Venezuela.’ Once again it is the Jews fault. Yet no leader will call him out on this blatent antisemitism.

We see protesters in the streets in Washington, DC mourning the death of the evil terrorist Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, stating “We will honor all our martyrs. There is only one solution. Intifada Revolution.” The same chants were being made by a protesters in Seattle, Washington. An intifada is a violent uprising. On the streets of Washington DC they are advocating for violence against the Jews while praising a terrorist. And once again, our leaders are silent.

The north of Israel is currently under attack. Rockets launched by Hezbollah at civilians. Homes and towns being attacked. This isn’t attacking military sites, it is attacking civilians. Where is the outrage? Where are the ceasefire now people? Where are our leaders? They are silent once again. Thankfully, Israel has Iron Dome, despite the antisemitic attacks by US ‘leaders’ such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) who openly weeped when funding to save Jewish/Israeli lives was passed in Congress.

The terrorists openly tell us who they are. They have recorded the horrific violence on October 7th to show the world. They have vowed publicly on video that they will continue to create more violence like October 7th over and over and over again. Yet the West wants to excuse it. The West won’t accept what they say and will blame Israel and the Jews. Here is another video where they tell us point blank that they started the war for Allah and will sacrifice every life for Allah. They say it’s not about occupation. But our leaders in the West know better what it’s about than those who are doing it. Our own leaders arrogance and desire for power creates greater problems and no solutions. Listen to them and believe them.

So while the West thinks that they know better, those in the region are different. The King of Jordan has come out and stated that “We will not allow a single missile or drone to pass through our airspace towards Israel.” They understand the evil of Iran. They understand what terrorists do. They know that Israel is the canary in the coal mine and that they are next if Iran is successful. I never in my life thought I would be grateful to Jordan while being disgusted by the UK, France, and the West.

Many people think this is only about Israel and the Jews. They forget that to Iran and the terrorist, Israel is merely ‘little Satan’. The Great Satan is the United States and it is our way of life they want to end. In Philadelphia they damaged a WWI memorial with graffiti, supporting Hamas. We see it happening all over with Death to America chants at rallies IN AMERICA. Yet our leaders remain silent. They fail to take action. They hide with the help of the media.

Iran is threatening to start World War 3. The rockets from Hezbollah are falling this evening. Egypt is reported to have a trove of weapons waiting to supply Hamas if Israel were to leave the Philadelphi corridor. Turkey, a US NATO ally, has threatened to invade Israel. Iran has threatened to attack Israel civilian centers. The US has sent naval battalions to the region to help. Yet where are our leaders? We don’t see them on the news. They aren’t holding press conferences. They haven’t called Turkish President Urdogan and told him to shut up and back down. They aren’t holding Egypt accountable. Our President is taking the weekend off in Delaware. Our VP and the leader of the other party are busy on the campaign trail, ignoring this. The leaders of Congress are silent. Congress can’t even be unified to take a stand.

In May when I was in Israel, my Israeli friends and many people I met there made the same comment to me. “When are you moving to Israel?” they asked. When I told them no time soon, they responded, “I hope you come while you are still able to come.” I thought they were being a little over the top. When they said the same thing in July when I was in Israel, I took it a little more seriously. I thought the day may come when I would have to move to Israel but didn’t think it was anytime soon. Today, just a month to the day when I landed in Israel in July, I wonder if it will have to be sooner than I thought. I wonder when the uprisings in the streets in the US, Canada, and Europe will become violent like in Germany on Kristalnacht. I wonder if the time will come when I no longer can get out and get to Israel when I need to. I wonder not when but IF our leaders will stand up for good vs. evil. If they will act on what is right rather than what is wrong or not act at all. Are they really leaders or just power hungry? Would they rather be right or have the world right?

These are scary times. They have gone beyond ‘interesting times’. The future is uncertain. World War 3 could begin any day. I pray every day that we don’t have a mass casualty event in the US yet expect there may be one any day. We need our leaders to understand that leadership is an action, not a position. Will they? I hope they will but fear they won’t. I am the eternal optimist yet the future doesn’t look so wonderful right now.