Today Ariel Bibas is 5 years old. He should be waking up early, filled with excitement. His brother Kfir, who turned 1 on January 18 is awake with him and they should be waking up their parents with giggles, laughter and screams of joy. Instead, the entire Bibas family remains hostages, nearly 10 months after being kidnapped by Hamas. Kfir celebrated his birthday in captivity and now, unfortunately, so does Ariel. I slept poorly last night, thinking about these beautiful children and this beautiful family and what they are enduring.

As the world waits with anticipation for a possible/probably attack by Iran on Israel, the possible start of World War III, I find myself thinking deeply about how we got here. Hindsight is always 20/20 although in this case, so much of how we got here was predictible at the time of the decisions being made.

The Iranian regime is evil. It has oppressed the Iranian people since the 1979 revolution. They took and held American hostages for 444 days. I remember following the news at that time hoping for some resolution every day. I remember hoping that the hostages would still be alive and would be released. I remember staying home from school on the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated because that was the day they were released. I remember tracking their progress as they left Iran through TV news (there was no internet to get real time reporting) and being so excited when they finally were free.

The Iranian regime has only gotten more powerful, more evil, and become a bigger global threat since then. When the JCPOA was approved, it gave Iran the ability to grow financially and fund more terror, all while breaking the agreement from day one. The flawed belief at that time was that the Iranian regime was like us. That they would keep their word. That they cared about their people and the future of the country. They proved us wrong.

Yet the Biden administration doubled down on this false belief in removing sanctions from Iran. Giving them access to billions of dollars allowed them to increase their funding of terror. Despite the constant promise that there will never be a nuclear Iran, Secretary of State Tony Blinken recently stated that Iran is only 1-2 weeks away from nuclear breakout to having nuclear bombs. While he blames us leaving the JCPOA for this situation, Iran was already violating the agreement without consequence.

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and took hostages, there was immediate equivocation. Immediate excuses. Immediate denials of what happened. Hamas, like Iran, was treated as an entity that valued human life, that would want peace, and that would negotiate in good faith. Despite all proof to the contrary, that is how the United States and Europe treated them. The demands continued to be on Israel to do something rather than on Hamas to release the hostages. As a result, 303 days later, we still have hostages in Gaza. 304 days later, children like Arial and Kfir Bibas remain hostages. Kfir has now spent most of his life as a hostage in Gaza yet there is no outrage about this. No demand that these children, these babies, be returned.

The demand was that Israel minimize civilian casualties while Hamas worked to maximize civlian casualties. There was never a demand that Hamas change their ways, only that Israel does. The facts that the worldwide accepted civilian to combatant ratio is 9 civilians killed for every combatant and that Israel was below 1.5 civilian casualties for every combatant didn’t matter. The fact that Hamas uses schools, hospitals, medical clinics, and mosques as military bases didn’t matter. The fact that Hamas built terror tunnels longer than the NY subway didn’t matter. The US and the western world only held Israel accountable, allowing the terrorists to do more damage.

When the death toll of women and children is reduced by the UN by half, the world remains silent, hoping nobody will notice. When Israel is told there is no way they safely evacuate the people in Rafa and they do it anyway, the world doesn’t take notice. The emboldening of Iran and the terrorists grows.

When Hezbollah fires thousands of rockets into the north of Israel, when more than 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from the north and have been living in hotels for nearly 10 months, the world is silent. I met some of these families in Jerusalem. They were from a religious community in the north. This means they are families of 7+ people, living in a single hotel room for almost 10 months.

Israel was required to provide food, water, medicine, power, internet and more to their enemy who was trying to kill them. Yet when UNRWA and Hamas steal the food, don’t deliver the food, and sell the food on the black market, the blame is put on Israel. When there is proof that more than enough food is getting in to Gaza yet the food crisis remains, the world is silent.

We don’t have to be silent. I choose not to and I encourage you to be a loud voice as well. In July, while in Israel, I began singing the Achinu prayer daily. I have continued to sing it every day. It’s not long and it both centers me, fills me with gratitude, and reminds me of the hostages who remain in captivity. I also long for the day when I no longer need to sing it every morning.

We don’t have to be silent about what is happening. We don’t have to accept what others say. The protests in the streets of Philadelphia, Seattle, Brooklyn, Manhatten, Middlesbrough UK, Montreal, London, Washington DC, and many other locations are turning violent. Chants of ‘Intifada Revolution’ are occuring in the US, Canada, and Europe. We can choose to accept this as the new normal, as many in Germany did with Kristalnacht, or we can fight back. We can hope it will go away and hide until is does or we can learn from history that it never goes away and that staying silent always ends poorly for us and choose to speak up and speak out.

As Jews we are taught to want the world to be better. We are taught that it is our responsibility to make the world better. We want a better world not just for our children and grandchildren but also for everybody who lives in the world. This often blows up in our faces as we do things to harm ourselves. We make assumptions about others that are false. In the recent debate on Is the Two State Solution Viable, my friend Fleur Hassan-Nahoum made two powerful statements about the desire for a two-state solution and an end to the conflict.

“The problem isn’t that there isn’t a Palestinian State. The problem is that there is a Jewish State.”

“It is not their dream. It is our dream”

I told Fleur I wasn’t sure which was more powerful to me. We often want things so much that we pretend the other side wants it as well. I remember talking with my friend Mahmoud in East Jerusalem in May. He talked mostly about a 1 state solution which would mean the cost of peace is that Israel isn’t a Jewish state any longer. I have thought long and hard about our conversation and hope to spend more time with him in September as I have so many new questions for him.

I am tired of our leaders lying about what’s going on. I’m tired of our leaders not standing by our allies. I’m tired of having leaders without morals and ethics, people who don’t follow what they say or agreements that they sign. I’m tired of the encouragement of hatred from the left and the right that divide our country and our world.

Our literature is filled with those who do whatever is necessary to defeat evil. Harry Potter uses the unforgivable curse, Avada Kadavra, to finally rid the world of the true evil of Lord Voldemort. In Lord of the Rings, the evil Sauron is finally destroyed. In Star Wars, the evil Emperor Palpatine had to be killed by Darth Vader. In real life, we see what happened when the evil of Adolph Hitler (11 million murdered in the Holocast), Joseph Stalin (6 million people murdered), and even today with Bashar Assad murdering over 500,000 people and still counting are allowed to do what they want without consequence. Iran is the evil we face today. Iran is the largest state sponsor of terror. Iran is responsible for Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Iran funds hate. Should Iran actually get a nuclear bomb, they can be expected to use it. Yet we continue to appease them. We continue to think we can negotiate with them. We continue to think they share our values. We will continue to do this until they use a nuclear weapon in Europe or the United States. It’s time to fight the real evil and defeat it. It’s time to lead through action and do what is needed, even when it’s hard.

I’m tired of the hostages being in captivity and forgotten by our leaders. I’m tired of the mobs in the streets calling for intifada, revolution, also known as the elimination of the Jews. I’m tired of the rockets being fired at Israel and the people in the north having to be refugees. I’m tired of my friends being recalled to the IDF and put into harms way over and over again. My heart aches for those murdered on October 7th at the Nova Music Festival, Kfar Aza, Kibbutz Be’eri, and everywhere else.

I’m tired of our leaders not leading and I’m tired of them not clearly seeing that the evil and the problem is Iran. To paraphrase James Carville during the 1992 Clinton campaign for President, “It’s Iran, Stupid”. If our leaders wise up and get on track, they’ll realize that Iran is the cause of the world instability. The Iranian regime is core evil and needs to be eliminated. At all costs. During the hostage crisis in 1979-80, I remember a poster my cousin had in his room. It expressed our feelings then and expresses my feelings now.

Having been to Israel in May and July, having talked to my Israeli friends non-stop since October 7th, I know they are exhausted. Not just by what I am exhausted with but also with the nonstop bombs they face, the constant call ups to reserves, the funerals that seem to never end, the protests against the government, for the hostages, and to end the war. There is no end in sight. Yesterday all I wanted to do was to be back in Israel, with my Israeli brothers and sisters, knowing the war with Iran is coming yet knowing we were all together. As a passionate Zionist, a Jew who loves Israel and one who has Israel a permanent part of my soul, it’s hard not to be there at this time of need.

I write a lot about leadership and the lack of it. I write a lot about Israel and how important it is. I write a lot about my fears for the world. So, in summary, to all our leaders, I say once again, “It’s Iran, Stupid”. Bring them home now.

I’ve been very critical of our leaders for good reason. So I thought perhaps I should spend a few minutes talking about leaders who have truly inspired me. To show that there are leaders out there. There are people who are doing what is right not what is easy. People who are focused on making the world a better place, not just on making the world a better place for them. They may surprise you but they are truly amazing. Leaders are not elected although sometimes leaders get elected. Leadership is not a position but an action. These two people lead by example. They inspire. I can only hope (but doubt) that our elected officials will pay attention to them and what they are doing and choose to follow their example.

The first person I want to talk about is Flavor Flav (born William Jonathan Drayton Jr.). Yes, Flavor Flav, the rapper. This is the guy who dropped out of high school in the 11th grade, who as a kid was in and out of jail for robbery and burglary. The guy has had multiple issues with the law and with substance abuse. The man who was a founding member of the controversial rap group Public Enemy.

Why did I pick Flavor Flav? What makes him a leader? How has he inspired me and shown what a leadership really is? He signed a five-year sponsorship deal as the official hype man for the USA Water Polo Women’s and Men’s National Teams. Unlike most sponsorship deals, this doesn’t mean he gets paid for doing it. It means he will be paying and getting to do it. He chose to financially support the women’s US water polo teams so they are able to practice and attempt to win gold medals. He chose to support women’s athletics with his own money because they needed it, because he is a ‘girl dad’, this is a niche sport, and they have great athletes and need the help. He didn’t pick the most popular teams like men’s or women’s basketball or women’s gymnastics. He picked a niche sport that really needed his support. You see him on TV rooting them on at the olympics. This isn’t about his name or his personal fame or gain. This is about leading by example, using his wealth for good, and making a difference in the world.

This would enough to rank as a leader. But it isn’t enough for Flavor Flav. Just the other day, Olympic women’s discus athlete Veronica Fraley tweeted out that as she was about to begin competing in the Olympics, she couldn’t pay her rent. Her school only sent enough money for 75% of the rent and so as she was about to compete for her country, paying rent was a problem. Flavor Flav quickly responded, telling her he would take care of it immediately for her so she could compete the next day without worry.

Alexis Ohanian, Serena William’s husband and the founder of Reddit, joined Flavor Flav. While Flav covered the rent for the upcoming month, Ohanian paid the rent for the rest of the year. True leadership inspires others to join you. Flavor Flav has done that and is doing that. He stated his goal is for others to join him in supporting these athletes who only want to bring honor to America. We are now all rooting for Veronica Fraley and the US water polo teams to win, not just as American athletes but as human beings. We can all be inspired by Flavor Flav to do a little more. To make a difference in ways that we can. To do the right thing for the right reasons no matter what our past may be. We can all be an inspiration to others. Our actions can change lives and the lives we change can change the world.

The second leader who inspires me is Simone Biles. Yes, that Simone Biles, the Olympian and perhaps the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) gymnast. While her talent is truly amazing and watching her perform is spectacular, it’s not her athletic talent that inspires me. There are plenty of talented people who are amazing at what they do. That’s not leadership.

Leadership is what she did in 2021 at the Olympics. Not winning medals or competitions but winning at life. As she began strugging with mental health issues, feeling ‘the twisties’ and shaking due to the pressure she was feeling, Simone made the difficult choice to prioritize her mental health over winning at the Olympics. She took a lot of heat for that decision. When the women won the Silver medal instead of the Gold, she was criticized and she even said she felt responsible. She didn’t feel a part of the team and that she didn’t deserve the silver medal. Her teammates disagreed. She withdrew from all the remaining events so she could focus on her mental health.

It was a big risk for an athlete like Simone Biles to admit to having mental health struggles. She had enough courage to take care of herself and to publicly address it. She led and since then others have followed. Prioritizing mental health is now accepted by athletes and fans. It is because of Simone Biles and her courage. As I watch her compete in these Olympics, there is joy in her eyes. She is dominating the Olympics but more importantly, you can see she is dominating at life.

I saw a video of her throwing out the first pitch at an Astros games. The joy you see in her face, in her actions, warms my heart. Watch and be astounded, both with her incredible talent and the joy that exudes from her.

Not only did Simon Biles nail the somersault, she also nailed the First pitch pic.twitter.com/QSQL3xfK4C

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) August 2, 2024

If that is all Simone Biles did, it would be enough to shine as a leader. But it’s not. When Larry Nassar was accused of molesting gymnasts, Simone was the 3rd person to announce publicly that he had abused her. She then took action, fighting back against the system that enabled the abuse. She advocated for change. She testified in front of Congress.

She held people accountable. Joined by fellow gymnasts McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols, they described in detail what happened and how the system, including the legal system, failed not just them but the hundreds of female athletes that Nassar abused. She became the face of change in women’s gymnastics. How the system works. How the coaches treat the athletes. It is noticable to see the change. The joy in the gymnasts faces as they compete instead of the fear of failure. The way they hug and support each other. How the gymnasts used to be young and by 18 were seen as too old to competitors now being in their early and late 20s.

Simone isn’t done though. After winning a gold medal in these Olympics, her husband posted a picture of them together and kissing where he was wearing her gold medal. He posted:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jonathan Owens 🏈 (@jowens)

He got terrible criticism because he was wearing the medal she won. This Tiktok video was enough for Simone to actively respond.

@kierabreaugh

♬ original sound – Kiera Breaugh

She wrote a comment saying:

“Crazy thing is, I put my medal on every single one of my family members and took pictures. So don’t ever make assumptions.” She continued, “Like y’all are so f–ing miserable. Leave us alone.”

She wasn’t afraid to step up and say what she felt. She wasn’t afraid to take a public position even when it was criticizing her fans. She stood up for what was right and didn’t care about what blowback she might face. That’s leadership. She could have stayed quiet. She could have ignored it. She could have even publicly said that it was just a meaningless distraction. But she didn’t. She couldn’t ignore the hate he was getting. She couldn’t sit by idly and allow something wrong to continue. That’s leadership.

Being a leader isn’t easy. Both Flavor Flav and Simone Biles have been through tough times and chose to change the world. They chose to take risks, give of themselves, and take positions, often alone, because they believed in them. That’s what leaders do.

At this critical time in our world, I urge the leaders of America, of Canada, of the countries in Europe and around the world, in our Jewish communities and outside our Jewish communities, to look to these two amazing human beings for what leadership looks like. Take the unpopular position because it’s the right position. Stand up against evil and what’s wrong, speak up because it is the right thing to do, like Simone Biles, and make change, regardless of the potential personal cost. Don’t just support the popular but support what is needed, what is good, what matters, like Flavor Flav.

We desparately need our elected officials around the world, in the United States, and in our Jewish organizations and communities to follow their lead. I hope they can learn from true leaders what it means and change their behavior. The future of the world and the Jewish people depend on it.

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.