I love Israel. Those who know me well understand just how deep that love goes. I visit as often as I can, and I often get asked, “When are you making Aliyah?” (moving to Israel.) I’m not planning to do that, but I would like to get to a point where my wife and I can spend a month or so each year living in different parts of Israel, renting Airbnbs or doing house swaps with Israelis who want to visit Orlando.

I was raised in a family that was extremely Zionistic. All four of my grandparents went to Israel. They shared the story of listening to the UN vote on the partition plan on their transistor radio and how when they knew it would pass, they yelled, screamed, and celebrated. My parents and in-laws have been to Israel. My brother, sister-in-law, sister, and brother-in-law have been to Israel. My wife and I have been together, and I have now been 26 times, with additional trips planned for this year.

I was also raised in a family that had deep and challenging conversations at the dinner table. Nothing was off-limits, and we were encouraged to challenge each other not just about facts, but also about values, morals, and ethics. It wasn’t uncommon to hear somebody at the dinner table say, “Yes, you CAN do it, but the real question is: SHOULD you do it?” Right and wrong were taught not just in legal terms, but in terms of morals and ethics.

My cousins and I spent a lot of time talking about this as we grew up together. Some are more liberal, some are more conservative, yet we would talk about right and wrong, moral and ethical issues, challenges in the choices we might make, and what those choices said about ourselves, our country, and our world. Nothing was simple, and the conversations would often continue well beyond the dinner table and sometimes last for days.

Raised that way, I still take a critical look at things. Too many people today think things are simple. A simple answer to solving the issues the United States faces is that ending the war with Iran is simple. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has a simple solution: if Israel just replaced Netanyahu, everything would be fixed. If the U.S. would go to a net-zero carbon output, we’d solve environmental issues. None of these are true. None are simple. They can begin a conversation, but each, like so many other things, is very complex.

As a result of the complexities and my desire to really understand what is going on, what is behind it, and the potential outcomes of various situations, I make sure to get a lot of updates and information about what is happening in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, and Iran. Sometimes the information is too much and can be overwhelming. I know I can’t depend on the mainstream media to give me real facts. They are in the entertainment division, and they focus on getting eyeballs, clicks, likes, forwards, and lots of engagement rather than reporting the facts. This is why I have spent time in the West Bank, talked with many Palestinians and Israelis, and made Palestinian, Israeli, and Israeli Arab friends. I can get real information about the complexities, not just the simple solutions that simply aren’t real and won’t work.

In most instances, the information I receive through multiple sources, often directly on the ground, is helpful and broadens my understanding of what is really happening in these areas. Earlier this week, I got an alert that surprised me in many ways. The alert stated, “Earlier this morning, Israeli security forces were dispatched to the area of Mukhmas and began extensive searches following a report regarding several Israeli civilians who had been in the area and lost contact. The forces are conducting searches in the area to rule out the concern of a security incident. The IDF will continue to provide updates as developments occur.” The next update stated, “Following searches and a joint multi-agency intelligence effort by the Israeli security forces in the area of Mukhmas, all of the civilians were located, and the concern of a security incident was ruled out.”

Why did this surprise me? Mukhmas is about 10–15 km from Ramallah, and I was just there a few weeks ago. The main village is spectacular. There are big, modern homes, beautiful infrastructure, a mosque, and it looks like the type of place any of us would love to live. The homes there are mainly owned by Palestinian expats who use them as their summer homes. It is truly an amazing village, as nice as any you’d find anywhere in the world. This part of Mukhmas is in Area B, where the Palestinian Authority handles civil administration while security control is shared with Israel.

When you leave the village, as we did, you move into Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and military administration. We spent our time in the portion that was in Area C. While there, we got to meet the Bedouins who live in that area. We heard their stories and how they lived there peacefully until the illegal settlers showed up and started terrorizing them. They told us how they chose not to respond to violence against them with more violence. One village disbanded due to the harassment and terrorism, while the other chose to stay despite being attacked multiple times each day.

Mukhmas is not a place where Israeli civilians would just happen to be. You don’t make a wrong turn in East Jerusalem and end up in Mukhmas. When I read the alert, I realized the Israeli citizens who lost contact were the terrorist settlers, and if we can’t call our own what they are, why should we expect anybody else to call theirs what they are? The fear from the IDF was that the villagers finally got fed up and responded with violence to the settler terrorism. It didn’t fit the people I met, so when I read the second alert, stating they were found and that it was not a security incident, I wasn’t surprised.

At some point, however, this may not be true. How long can you terrorize people in their homes before they respond with violence? Living in Florida, we have laws like the Castle Doctrine (Fla. Stat. § 776.013) which grants you the right to use deadly force against an intruder in your home or occupied vehicle without a duty to retreat. The law presumes you have a reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm if the intruder is actively and forcefully entering. This has more than been met for these villages who don’t have this legal protection.

I love Israel. It’s a deep part of my soul and my identity. My trip in May was my 26th visit. I have at least two more planned for this year. It is impossible to describe the feeling of being in Israel and walking the streets to somebody who has never been. For those who have been to Israel, you don’t have to describe it. I will defend the right of the State of Israel to exist to my dying breath. But I won’t defend this type of behavior. These people attacking the villages are terrorists. The people who lost communication were likely settlers off to do no good when their communication was lost. Unlike the Bedouins like Muhammad and Yusef, who aren’t getting protection from law enforcement, these terrorist settlers just lose communication, and it’s a nationwide alert. I bring this up because so many people don’t understand any of the dynamics of Israel, the Palestinians, the West Bank, or what the geography even looks like. I write and talk a great deal about how we do not teach the modern state of Israel to our children because they don’t know what it is like. Had I not just been in Mukhmas and seen it personally, met the people there personally, and had an experience with these terrorist settlers, I wouldn’t have known there was anything going on with this alert. It would have seemed like a situation where regular Israeli citizens were in danger. These were not regular Israeli citizens, and they were not in danger. They are creating danger for those who live there, quietly and peacefully. They count on the diaspora’s ignorance of the region to misunderstand what is going on. It’s beyond time to take on that ignorance and no longer permit it.

Our world today is dominated by social media. TikTok has become the way many people get their information. It’s not coming from reputable journalists with integrity; it is coming from people who want to monetize their accounts and who will do or say anything to get enough followers, clicks, and eventually revenue. It is coming from bots that generate fake content, images, and lies to sell their narrative. We continue to sink into our abyss because people don’t speak out and people don’t take risks to call out bad behavior. People don’t have the knowledge to have those deep and complex conversations. We live in a world where too many people want simple answers to complex questions. They may want that, but it isn’t reality. Things are no longer about “the truth,” “ethics,” or “morals.” It’s about “my truth,” “my ethics,” or “my morals.” We have lost that communal responsibility and communal discourse.

For the past three years, I have been blessed to work with clients who inspire me. Clients who are involved with deep issues and understand the complexities. They are answering questions like,

• How do we build a just society?
• How do we provide a quality education to those who face societal challenges?
• How do we teach leadership to teens?
• How do we make technology available to children who have no access but have the minds to excel?
• Can we use healthcare to build relationships and create opportunities for peace?
• Are there new and different ways to show Israel and Judaism in a positive light on college campuses through athletics and athletes?
• What is the best way to address the challenge of Jewish identity for people in their 30s and 40s?
• Can sports be a way to social justice?
• What does it mean to be Israeli, Arab, and a Zionist?

I enjoy working with my clients on these challenges because they remind me of those childhood dinner table conversations. Important topics. Important situations. Complex issues. People with passion who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty to solve problems. If any of these questions, or others like them, interest you, reach out. Get involved. Learn facts and challenge yourself with the moral and ethical parts, not just the legal parts. There is a role for everybody to play. It is the only way we are going to get ourselves out of the current world situation we are all experiencing.