I recently saw a video clip from the first season of the West Wing about the virtue of a proportional response. It struck me deeply as I feel as frustrated about Iran attacking Israel and the definition of ‘proportional response’ being used by the West as President Bartlett is in the clip about Syria. Since Iran fired nearly 500 ballistic missiles at Israel, does that mean Israel should shoot 500 ballistic missiles at Iran? Would taking out their oil refineries or nuclear facilities be considered proportional to 500 ballistic missiles? It also inspired me to go back and rewatch the show for the umpteenth time as it inspires me and we live in a time with such great need for inspiration.
One of the great things about the West Wing is that the characters are strong, the issues still relevant, and the challenges are real. I don’t always agree with President Bartlett, Leo McGary, Josh, Toby, CJ, or Sam, but I enjoy the challenges they face and the way they think through things. I find myself wishing for the moral clarity of President Bartlett, even during struggles. I wish for the outrage of Toby Ziegler in his quest to be moral and just. I enjoy the struggles of Josh Lyman as he tries to do the right thing but often struggles with the question of, “do the ends justify the means?”
In Season 1, episode 10, Toby Ziegler is called out to the scene of a death because his card was found in the pocket of the coat the homeless man who died was wearing. Toby realizes it was a coat he gave to Goodwill and then realizes that the homeless man who died was a Marine veteran from Korea. He is offended and humbled by the way this veteran is being treated. It took 90 minutes for them to remove his body. He wasn’t going to be honored with a military funeral despite getting awarded a Purple Heart. He intervenes, uses President Bartlett’s name, and arranges for a funeral at Arlington National Cemetary with full military honors for this veteran.
At the same time, the episode explores Mrs. Landingham’s backstory. Her twin sons were in medical school when they were drafted to Viet Nam. They could have gotten an exemption because of medical school but chose not to. She shared with Charlie that she and her husband begged them get the exemption but they refused, wanting to serve their country as they felt is was their obligation. Both of her sons were killed in battle, paying the ultimate price for our freedom.
Toby speaks with President Bartlett about using his name to arrange the funeral. When President Bartlett makes the comment that every homeless veteran would now come ask for special treatment, Toby replies, “I hope so.” That struck me deeply. I never served in the military. After the movie Top Gun, I wanted to join the air force to fly jets but when I found out my vision disqualified me, I lost interest. It’s a decision I have often wondered about, sometimes with deep regret. I have friends that made Aliyah to serve in the IDF and have often wondered why I never considered that. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for veterans. They put their lives at risk for our freedom. They are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. I feel a deep debt to all of them and it has always bothered me that we have homeless veterans. We owe them everything and don’t adquately repay them. Toby’s comments are how I feel.
When Toby leaves for the funeral, Mrs. Landingham tells him she wants to join him and go to the funeral. My heart ached for her and tears filled my eyes. There are so many families that have lost members due to their military service that are not aware of. They live with the pain daily. It brought me to today and the war between Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, and ultimately Iran.
I have many friends who have children serving in the IDF. I have many friends who have served in the IDF and are now serving once again as they have been called up for reserves. Many have been recalled multiple times, putting their lives on hold for months at a time, risking their lives. One of my friends was a commander in Gaza for the first four months of the war. I spent time with him right after he left Gaza and the impact on him was palpable. I could see it in his eyes. I could hear it in his voice. He told me that on the plane from Israel to the US it was the first time he had quiet in four months and he finally began to process what he had experienced and seen. He spoke very briefly about how many times he was almost killed. It was hard to see and hear.
Every time they announce IDF casualties, I am very hesitant to click on the link to see who the person is that was killed, afraid it will be one of my friends or one of my friends’ children. I have been lucky so far that none of the names are people that I know. Yet each and every one is family. Each and every one is a terrible loss. I make sure to read each name slowly, their age, their hometown, and anything about them that is shared. I feel an obligation to them and their families to know about their loved one who paid the ultimate price to ensure the future and safety of the Jewish people.
When I was in Israel in July, we went to visit the grave of one of the participant’s friends in Modi’in. He was a medic who was leaving Gaza in a car with other medics when a rocket fired by Hamas his their car, killing them all. He was just like Mrs. Landingham’s sons in The West Wing. As we stood by his grave, hearing stories about him, my heart broke. I looked around that section of the cemetary and saw all the graves of these young people who gave their lives to protect Israel and the Jewish people. That section was just for those killed since October 7th. There were far too many graves. I walked through, documenting them all on video, because owe it to them and their families to remember them.
Walter Hitchcock, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel from the New Mexico Military Institute, is credited with the saying, “Freedom is not free.” It is one of the most accurate quotes I have ever seen. We, as Americans and as Jews owe a debt to those who keep us free. The US military. The IDF. It is a debt we can never repay and a debt that as Americans, we barely pay the interest on. We must do better.
During my last conversation with my friend who was the commander in Gaza, he casually commented that he had “just landed in NY and two days ago I left Rafa.” He said it as if he was reporting that he just came back from the grocery store. During my May trip to Israel, he left our group because he had to back into Gaza that night. We had plans to spend more time together that trip but he spent the rest of the time I was there in Gaza. I have had business meetings postponed because they were called up for “melowim”, Hebrew for reserve duty.
These are warriors. These are heroes. They fight to keep us safe. They fight for our values and for our way of life. Many of them are 18 or 19 years old. They risk their lives for us. Let’s make sure we never hide our gratitude for their service or their sacrifice.
IDF lone soldiers from France. These are the faces of the young people who defend the Jewish people. Look at those behind them and notice how young they are.
Am Yisrael Chai. God bless America. May those serving in the IDF and the US military be kept safe in performing their sacred duty.
The past few years have been crazy in America and the world. The past year, since the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel, have increased and/or exposed antisemitism in the world and in the United States in a scary way. I have been very vocal about my concerns about the lack of leadership by our elected officials at all levels of government as well as within the Jewish community. Those concerns remain and grow stronger every day.
This past weekend gave me hope from the PEOPLE of America. What happened? What did I experience? What did I do? How did this happen?
First of all, I want to acknowledge that it was Rosh Hashana and I celebrate the chagim different than most. Services don’t do it for me so I find other ways to connect with God. Sometimes it is at the beach. Sometimes it’s in nature. It’s usually something that has deep meaning to me and gives me a chance to assess my life, my choices, and how I want to do better in the upcoming year.
As strange as it sounds, this year, I returned to my Alma Mater, Penn State University, for the Penn State – UCLA game. How could a football weekend give me such hope during such a bleak time? It doesn’t sound reasonable let along possible. Yet it happened. On multiple levels through multiple situations. With multiple different people.
I flew out on Thursday to meet one of my best friends who is like my brother. We’ve been friends and it’s been like this for 36 years. I called him mom, mom. He calls my mom, mom. His Aunt Jean my was my Aunt Jean. My dad was like his dad and my parents treat him like a 3rd son. It’s that type of relationship. He picked me up at the airport, we grabbed lunch, caught up, and went to see his new house and to hang out with his wife, who I have known literally just as long as he has (almost to the minute!). That’s a different story for a different time.
After stopping for lunch we went to his new house, built on 125 acres. Living in the country provides a different experience. People are nicer. People take care of each other. There was a different feeling being there than in the city. A calmness. Safety. Natural community. People know who belongs and who doesn’t. They look after each other. Favors are commonplace, not to keep a count but to help others. With the hate of the last year, it was refreshing to be in a place where kindness and care was so essential to life.
On our drive to Penn State, there were four of us in the car. We spent the time talking, laughing, bonding, and connecting. I didn’t know the other two guys before we got in the car, yet by the time we got there, it felt like we had been friends for life. It was refreshing to be with people who wanted to connect, who wanted to get to know each other, and focus on similarities, not differences. On the way, we stopped at Sheetz for dinner (If you don’t know what Sheetz is, you are missing a Western Pennsylvania highlight). The common Pennsylvania battle is Sheetz vs. Wawa. As the only one with Philly roots, I chose to remain silent about the competition to enjoy the company (although I prefer Wawa). We shared the unloading of the car, shared setting things up, and enjoyed each other’s company. There was common responsibility. It wasn’t any one person’s job to do anything. It was all of our jobs to do everything. How refreshing! The focus was on the common good, not counting who did what or if somebody had done too much or not enough. We hung out, talked, watched some TV, enjoyed the company, and then went to bed, getting ready for a full next day.
Friday was golf day. The four of us spent the day on the course, enjoying a beautiful October day of sunshine and cool weather. Three of the four of us are not good golfers but we sure had a lot of fun. We played on teams for the front nine, competing against each other. By the end of the front nine, we dropped the competition and just enjoyed hitting the ball, laughing at each other, and excited about the good shots we hit. As we finished golfing, the rest of the crew coming up for the weekend arrived. We headed home, ready to shower, have guests for happy hour, and then have dinner.
The more people who showed up, the more we bonded. Everybody was different yet we focused on our similarities. Living in a world where half our country hates the other half, it was an incredible change to be with people who didn’t care about the differences, who didn’t want to focus on the problems but instead enjoy everything we had. One of the guys owns cigar shops and we listened to him, fascinated by the things he was telling us and learning from him. On a beautiful evening, we sat on the back porch, enjoying each other’s company.
I had been having a health issue for a couple of days and it wasn’t getting better. I am known to try to just power through things and not always make the smartest decisions about my health needs. Since most people, including myself, know this, I finally decided to ask my wife about what was going on. Since she’s a nurse, I probably should have asked her a few days before, but again, I’m not always the smartest when it comes to my own health. When I shared what was going on, she told me to go to the Emergency Department at the hospital right away to get seen and have it addressed. She made me promise to text her when I got there and keep her updated. She knows me too well and that without making me promise to go right way and text her when I got there, I might delay going (or find a reason not to go at all). When I shared what I needed with a couple of guys, they jumped up to volunteer to help. I had offers to take me, to wait with me, whatever I needed. I didn’t need anybody to sit with me so I took the ride, thanked everybody for their offers, and went to be seen.
As I sat waiting to be seen, sitting next to an Amish couple (yes, a real Amish couple), a number of the guys started texting me to check on me. These were people I didn’t even know two days before. The power of community and friendship was clear. I found myself remembering what it was like growing up in Central Pennsylvania, where everybody really did care about each other. Our parents always knew that somebody’s parents would be watching us, no matter who’s house we were at. Somebody’s parents would pick us up when we needed to. It was that common responsibility, just like when we arrived at the house at Penn State, that I grew up with. I found myself wondering how that had changed throughout the country and very grateful to have found it once again.
After being seen and having the pressing issue taken care of with a promise to see my doctor in Florida when I got home, I was picked up and went back to the house. The response I got was amazing. People asking how I was. People checking on me. One of the guys had a similar issue and got open and vulnerable sharing about it with me. Some of these people I hadn’t even known 24 hours and yet I mattered that much to them. It was so powerful and overwhelming. I have written and talked about how kindness costs nothing and how valuable it is, yet being on the receiving end was both surprising and overwhelming. It’s something I will never forget.
The next day was the Penn State – UCLA football game. The guys were shocked that I was going, having just been at the hospital the night before. I felt fine after they resolved my issue and I wasn’t going to miss out. Throughout the tailgate before the game, the game, and the tailgate after the game, different guys would come up to me and tell me how they shared what happened with their wife and their wife was asking about me. They couldn’t believe I was at the game, happy, and having fun.
At the Penn State – UCLA game, less than 18 hours after my hospital visit
So much of our life is determined by out attitude. Despite the health issue, despite a couple hours at the hospital, with every opportunity to look at the negatives, I only wanted to focus on the positives. I wanted to be at the tailgate with friends. I wanted to enjoy the game with friends. I wanted to focus on the good rather than the negative. We all have that choice every day. How often do we take it? How often do we get stuck in the negative, complaining, whining, missing out on the opportunities that are in front of us because we are focused on something we have no control over.
Back at Beaver Stadium. I forgot how much joy I have there
A few of the guys who are now my lifelong friends pulled me aside to talk. They got vulnerable and shared some things going on in their lives because I had taken the risk and shared what was happening with me right then and there. I wonder how many people there are that are looking for that opportunity to get vulnerable and never find it, never feel safe enough, to open up. As strange as it sounds, I found myself glad that I had the medical issue because it gave me the opportunity to be vulnerable and that then allowed others to do so as well. We live in a world where being right is so important that we forget to be human. We argue and fight over things we have no control over instead of focusing on the things that matter. People. Friends. Family.
Before we all left on Sunday, I made sure to tell them that we need to find a weekend next year that doesn’t conflict with a Penn State home game and do this for a UCF game so I can expose them to the Bounce House. There was real excitement and hopefully we can make it happen during the 2025 season. I spent roughly 3 days with these guys and they are now friends. People I want in my life moving forward. People who showed me kindness and care when I needed it. People that opened up to me and that I opened up to.
Imagine a world where instead of half the country hating the other half, we had people who cared about the other half. Not in a political manner. Not in a big picture, social justice, argue about policy manner, but as real human beings. There is something special in the Central/Western Pennsylvania area that I had forgotten, having moved from Pennsylvania to Florida in 1992. The hominess. The welcoming attitude. It’s a lesson I am glad to be have been reminded. It is a reminder that it is my responsibility to act and behave that way no matter how other people choose to act and behave. It is that reminder of the power of kindness. It is that reminder that we all want and need to connect, no matter how crusty our exterior may be, and we all have the opportunity to create that connection.
So to Master Gunny Jimmy, Steve, and Gary, my newest friends, thank you for being who you are. Thank you for reminding me of how to act and behave all the time, especially in this crazy world. Thank you for your friendship. To my friend Aric, thanks for being my brother and thanks for bringing us all together.
Now ask yourself, “How do I live my life?” Do you live in joy or in anger? Do you live in kindness or resentment? Are you willing to be vulnerable and allow others to be vunerable with you? What type of person do you want to be and what type of world do you want to live in? We all get to make those choices and we all can live in the world we desire based on our actions. We are not powerless and don’t have to accept what is being given to us. This weekend reminded me of that.
In the immortal chant based exactly on this lesson (click on it read the story), one that never gets old:
Procrasination is something that I learned as a child would not serve me well. “Why do today what I can do tomorrow?”didn’t fly in my house growing up. I tried the argument about making my bed; I’m just getting into it tonight, so why make it? I tried to not empty the dishwasher because I could just take the dishes out and use them, just like out of the cabinet! I tried, “The project isn’t due for a few weeks, why start now?” None of it got anywhere in my house growing up. I learned that if you have to do something eventually, you might as well just get it taken care of now. It’s a pretty simple philosophy and has made life much easier for me.
It astounds me when I see smart people fail to understand this. The will put their heads in the sand, pretend not to see things, delay, delay, delay, for no purpose. At the end of the day, they still have to do what is necessary only now it is much more challenging and difficult.
That’s where we found ourselves today when it comes to the Iranian regime. We could have addressed their funding of terrorists for decades, but we didn’t. We could have addressed their nuclear weapon aspirations years ago, but we didn’t. The JCPOA merely delayed it, IF Iran would actually follow it, which they immediately did not. After almost an entire year of war betwen Israel and Iran’s proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis), we finally got to the real situation. War with Iran.
We’ve called them Iran’s proxies for years. We wouldn’t attack Iran. We had no sanctions, we put on crippling sanctions, we removed sanctions. We froze their money, gave them their money back, all for this evil regime to tyrannize the Iranian people, fund terrorists around the world, and do everything they can to develop a nuclear bomb. By all accounts, they are now very close.
Today, Iran fired 180 ballistic missiles into Israel. While it was expected, it was shocking. The entire country went on alert. I don’t know anybody in Israel who didn’t spend time in their safe room today. Some, more than others. Luckily the Israeli technology was able to shoot down most of the missiles. America and Jordan helped shoot some down. For the second time during the past year, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles at Israel with minimal/no effect.
Tel Aviv before the Iran bombingTel Aviv after the Iran bombing
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israel’s air defenses intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles. Some, however, landed in central and southern Israel. Israel’s national rescue service said two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel. In the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials said a Palestinian man was killed by a missile that fell near Jericho, Once again, Iran’s attack was scary but not lethal.
Missiles over Israel
Missile impact in Tel Aviv
Iranian missiles being shot down over the Kotel
Missiles over Ashdod
Iranian missiles at the Ayalon Mall in Bnei Brak
Ballistic missiles over Israel
Israel’s response is expected to be very different. They may target Iran’s oil refineries. They may target Iran’s nuclear facilities. They may target the Ayatollah himself. None of us know but Israel knows. Israel has been planning for this eventuality for a long time. Unlike the United States and Europe, Israel has not had it’s head in the sand when it comes to Iran. After missing so much that led to October 7th, Israel has showed her brilliance with the beepers, walkie-talkies, and elimination of the leadership of Hamas. The question for the US and Europe is are they going to treat the Iranian regime as a legitimate government who can be taken at the word or are they going to realize that this regime will lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. The US and Europe are measuring time in minutes, hours, days, and weeks. Occasionally in years. Iran is measure time in decades and centuries. We are at a critical time in history after this attack and the question is, “Will the world take advantage of the opportunity or we will once again let the moment pass us by?”
The Abraham Accords have shown that peace and normalization is possible. I have seen the Israeli Zionist Youth Movement in an Arab village (there are 55 Arab villages with this program and over 20,000 Arab children in the movement). I have Palestinian friends that live in East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Beit Ummar, near Hebron.
I have friends in Israel who live in communities like Haifa and Jaffa where Jews and Arabs live together in peace. Every day they show what can be the reality. I have been to the Hand in Hand schools, where Jews and Arabs go to school together. They learn Hebrew and Arabic. They study together, learn together, and grow up together. There are currently 6 of these schools in Israel with more than 2,000 students enrolled. Jaffa, Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, Wadi Ara, Haifa, an the Galilee all have these Hand in Hand schools.
We saw the dancing in the streets after Nasrallah was eliminated by the people of Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. They gave their thanks publicly to Israel for freeing them from an evil overseer.
The lie that eliminiting the terrorists will just create more terrorists has been exposed. Failing to eliminate terrorists create more terrorists. Continuing to fund UNRWA when there continues to be more and proof that their employees are members of Hamas and Hezbollah, that they are not delivering the food and aid to the people of Gaza, that they participated in the October 7 attacks and that they housed and helped hide hostages. As Israel frees Gaza from Hamas, Lebanon from Hezbollah, and potentially Iran from the Iranian regime, the opportunity for peace is large. What will we do?
It all comes back to where we are today. What are we going to do with Iran? Are we going to let them off the hook again? Are we going to miss the opportunity once again? Are we going to look back and regret how our leaders cowered in fear or be proud that they stood up to evil and made the world a much safer place? We will see what happens but we know that it starts and ends with Iran.
Israel just did what nobody thought they could. They not only eliminated the leadership of Hezbollah, destroyed many of their rockets and rocket launchers, and eliminiated Hassan Nasrallah, an evil terrorist responsible for murdering Israelis, Americans, Syrians, and Lebanese people in large numbers. You think that the world would celebrate the elimination of this evil man.
Many did, with meme’s like this filling the internet.
Even the Lebanese people are celebrating his death. It gives them a chance at freedom.
Yet there were so many more who mourned him, despite his despicable life of murder and terror. The Irish Republicans have idolized him and created things like this.
In America, we see far too many mourning his death and attempting to make him into a martyr. In Dearborn, Michigan, three separate mosques are holding martyr mourning sessions that they are live streaming as well.
This is what happens in Jihad capital of America, three separate Shia mosques in Dearborn are hosting their own "martyr" mourning sessions this evening while a live stream is also are going on. People in the Middle East are celebrating his elimination while in America their mourn… https://t.co/DuNUcWsEOV
In Ottowa, the antisemites pretending to only be against Israel, went to a Jewish neighborhood to hold a protest. They didn’t go to the Israeli embassy. They didn’t go to the Israeli consulate. They went to a Jewish neighborhood. But this has nothing to do with hating Jews. Their hypocrisy is obvious.
Holding a hate rally in a Jewish neighborhood in Ottawa is clearly against Canadian laws.
The college campuses continue to reek of antisemitism and Jew hatred. The University of Pennsylvania continues to fight with Columbia to see who can treat Jews the worst and who can be the most antisemitic school in the country. Students for Justice in Palestine (most of whom aren’t students, don’t want justice, and couldn’t pick out the countries in the middle east without help) posted this. Will the University do or say anythig? The odds say no.
SJP is really a hate group on college campuses
McGill University says, “Hold my beer!” to UPenn
McGill University wants to compete for the most antisemitic campus in North America
Then there is the media. I don’t expect anything different from them but I thought with how evil Nasrallah has been, with as many American’s he has murdered, with his mass murder in Syria and the acknowledged leader of a huge terrorist organization, they would at least be factual. It seems that is way too high a bar for them, as seen by the Washington Post and the Guardian
Yet the people of Lebanon, Iran, and Syria feel differently. Take a look at these signs and messages. They send a powerful message from the people of Syrian, Iran, and Lebanon about what they want. It speaks to the evil of Hezbollah from those living under their rule. Unfortunately, the elitists in the West and the antisemites in America, Canada, and Europe think they know better.
Please bear with me for posting so many videos and pictures. It’s simply amazing that the people directly impacted are clearly saying one thing yet the Western Elites think they know better. It’s the ultimate superiority complex. It is pretentious, ego-centric, and arrogant.
Syrian people with the sign in hebrew that says, “Thank you very much Netanyahu. By killing Nasrallah you light the path of peace”
Graffiti spotted in Tehran: “Antisemitism has no place in the future of Iran.” pic.twitter.com/vBaBiohPFg
From Iraqi 🇮🇶 to Israel 🇮🇱 THANKYOU! Congratulations to my Jewish brothers & sisters, congratulations to #Israel 🇮🇱 & the civilized world on the elimination of #hizballah ter*rorists weapons leader #Nasrallah , this major achievement by Israel 🇮🇱 will bring peace to our region… pic.twitter.com/girwwlWBfS
Iranian and Jewish Canadians come together in Toronto to celebrate the world without Hassan Nasrallah. Here is @SalmanSima handing out sweets to the crowd. 🦁☀️🇮🇱🇨🇦📟📟💥 pic.twitter.com/PZaN0Ec1px
Then there is one of my all-time favorites, Abu Mazen/Mahmoud Abbas. The President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), who is now finishing his 20th year of a 4 year term. Despite this incredible fact, the UN, Europe, and the United States give him credibility as a ‘democratically elected leader’. While many of the liberal elite fear that a Trump presidency would be more than the 4 year term, they have no issue supporting a man who is in year 20 of a 4 year term. The hypocrisy is brutal.
Mahmoud Abbas has had many opportunities for peace. Three consecutive Israeli leaders – Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and Olmert – sought to hand over permanent control of territory to the Palestinians. First to Yasser Arafat and then to Abbas. Olmert offered Abbas a map that showed Israel would give Palestinians nearly 94% of the West Bank, with Israeli territory in the remainder that would have been compensated for via a land swap, and a corridor connecting Gaza and the West Bank. Yet Abbas rejected it outright.
When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, they gave the PA an opportunity to build a state. Instead of building a state, instead of building the Singapore of the Middle East, Abbas and his leadership squandered the opportunity before Hamas took control in 2007. He has shown through every action he has taken that he doesn’t want a Palestinian State that lives next to Israel. He wants a Palestinian State with NO ISRAEL. Yet he has the chutzpah (yes I used a yiddush word with a terrorist) to say to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that, “We want a solution that will protect both countries – the State of Palestine and the State of Israel – so they can co-exist in peace, stability and security.”
The man who responded to the Olmert peace offer by starting the second intifada also said to the UNGA, “we cannot fight Israel, and we don’t want to fight, we want protection.” This from the man who sent suicide bombers into Israel, who denies the Holocaust, and ensure terrorists in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria and places like Jenin have become a breeding ground for local terrorist groups. And the UN loves him.
When Nasrallah was killed, Abbas mourned his loss. He offered his condolences to the Lebanese Hezbollah members. Once again he showed he doesn’t care about the people of Lebanon just like he doesn’t care about the Palestinians. What does he care about? Lining his own pockets. Arafat died a billionaire. Abbas is a billionaire. The money that comes in goes in his pocket first. As long as he can stay in power and not have peace, he gets wealthier and wealthier. Yet the world closes their eyes, continues to send him money, while the people hate him and everything that he represents.
Condolences to Hezbollah from Mahmoud Abbas
So what’s the point of this rant? We have clearly seen that bowing to pressure from the US or the UN does Israel no good. As important as the relationship with the US is, Israel must do what it needs to do for the safety and security of her people. When Rafah was said to be a ‘no go’ and that it was impossible to evacuate that many people, Israel went ahead and evacuated the people and went anyway. When the pressure from the US was to leave Hezbollah alone and try dipolomatic efforts that never work with terrorists, Israel proceeded to eliminate the leadership of Hezbollah in about 2 weeks and is reportedly preparing a ground incursion to push Hamas back to the lines agreed upon in the UN Resolution 1701 that the UN, the US, and the world has failed to enforce over the past 18 years.
Israel can no longer sit back and cowtow to the US or the world’s opinions. After October 7th we have seen that most of the world would happily let Israel die. The US does not exude strength which means listening to them only emboldens the terrorists. Israel must do what Israel must do in terms of security. Otherwise they have no country.
As former Ambassador Michael Oren said when he spoke at a local JNF event earlier this year, “Israel was founded with 2 covenants between the government and the people. The first was “Never Again” and on October 7th that was broken. The second was that “the IDF will always be there.” On October 7th, that was broken. Israel needs to renew that covenant. They need the citizens who live in the north to return to their homes. They need the hostages to come home. They need to rebuild the south where Hamas destroyed the kibbutzim. They need to rebuild the trust between the government, the IDF, and the people of Israel.
And then, in the words of Mia Schem, “We will dance again”. I can’t wait until there is another Nova dance party to remember the last and celebrate life. I plan on being there.
I got back from Israel on Friday September 20th. On Saturday night, September 21st, the bombs and rockets started en masse from Lebanon and Iraq into the north of Israel. On Sunday night/Monday morning of September 23rd, the village across the street from Kibbutz Lavi, were we stayed less than a week ago, had a direct hit from Hezbollah. Luckily the family was in the safe room, so nobody was injured. It’s not the first time something like this has happened to me. During the 2nd intifada, the night before we flew home, we were out a club having a good time. The music was good, the people were great, and we enjoyed ourselves. A day later we flew home. A few days later, a suicide bomber blew themselves up in the club we had just been. I’ve been in Israel when masses of people were on the Syrian border, threatening to breach it and enter Israel. We could hear the chants and the gunfire from our hotel rooms. Once again, our flight was the next day.
While in both situations I left just before a major attack on a place I had just been occurred, things are very different this time. Before, these were isolated terrorist attacks. That sounds horrifying but it also means that it was one person or group of people, at one place, focused on doing damage and murdering people at that location. It was very local. Now it is different. The entire country is being targeted. While in Israel last week, rockets were fired close to where we were. In both cases, the alerts didn’t go off where we were but did go off a few kilometers away. The train station in Modi’in, where I had been in May, had damage. My friends in Modi’in, who I had spent Shabbat with, had to go into their safe room on Sunday night.
My friends at Kibbutz Ravid sent me this video of the rockets over their heads and Iron Dome shooting them down. Less than a week ago, I was there.
Rockets over Kibbutz Ravid
This was over Tzfat, one of my favorite cities in Israel. I haven’t been there since prior to October 7th and couldn’t go on this trip because it wasn’t safe. I wasn’t far from Tzfat and could see it in the distance, but just being a few kilometers away makes a huge difference in terms of safety when Hezbollah is bombing indiscriminately.
Rockets over Tzfat
I speak to friends in Israel every day now. When I wake up my WhatsApp is filled with updates about the war. What Israel is doing to Hezbollah and what Hezbollah is firing at Israel. The alarms are now going off across almost the entire country. Iraq is now firing on Israel as well. It all stems from Iran, an existential threat to the US as well as Israel, and yet we stay silent.
Actually we don’t stay silent. We get continued lies from people like Representative Rashida Tlaib, who still hasn’t removed her lies about the hospital bombing on social media from 10 months ago. This is her speaking out yesterday.
The Israeli government has deliberately blocked food, medicine, medical supplies, and fuel from entering Gaza for almost a year now. Using starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime.
Congress must pass the UNRWA Restoration Act to restore humanitarian relief to Gaza. pic.twitter.com/EeV6l6V2DN
Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for President, is both Jewish and hater of Israel. She also continues to spew her hatred and lies on daily basis. This is one of her most recent posts, again accusing Israel of genocide.
As a Jew who grew up after the Holocaust, it was essential to come to terms with genocide and affirm that it would never happen again. That means to not perpetrate, nor be a bystander, to genocide.
Representative Ilhan Omar, a noted antisemite and Jew hater was silent as Hezbollah fired rockets on Israel for 11 months, as more than 60,000 Israelis have become evacuees and refugees in their own country. It’s only when Israel fights back that she opens her mouth.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur, is another avid antisemite and Jew hater. She has continued to attack Israel since October 7th. She continues to spread lies. This post was from yesterday.
I keep on saying that Israel is writing a new page of genocide. This video, of settlers taking boats to watch the bombing of Gaza, is disgusting beyond what decent human body and mind can tolerate. https://t.co/AYLYFD1gne
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) September 24, 2024
The UN does nothing while she spews her hatred and lies. They don’t tell her to stop. They don’t fire her. They don’t attempt to distance themselves from her. The media is silent on all these Jew haters and liars since it doesn’t move then
There is no price to be paid by these two members of Congress who are not only antisemetic but also lying. There is no criticism by the Republicans or the Democrats of Jill Stein and her lies, likely because they don’t deem her a threat to them. Despite her vile and hateful rhetoric, it doesn’t benefit them so they stay silent. The media remains silent on those who are clearly Jew haters and liars. They continue to support and advocate for the terrorists.
This is the Washington Post article as the people of Lebanon celebrate Nasrallahs death and their freedom from his tyranny.
Israel will fight and win. She has no other choice. I talk to friends in the IDF and they are committed. A friend of mine just sent his 18 year old son off to the IDF and to join the war this week. Other friends have been recalled to serve. The elimination of Nasrallah means the leadership Hezbollah is all gone, sending a clear message to Iran and anybody else who wanted to murder and eliminate the Jews that they are not safe. They will pay for their efforts.
Both President Biden and VP Harris issued statements after the elimination of Nasrallah. In both, they continue to hold to the fallacy that a cease fire is the desired outcome. A ceasefire only benefits Hamas and Hezbollah. It benefits the terrorists. It doesn’t benefit the people of Gaza nor those of Lebanon who yearn to be free from the yoke of terrorists. It doesn’t benefit Israel who wants safety and security. For decades the US policy has been to pressure Israel in the belief that land for peace would work. We have seen time after time that it doesn’t. As my friend Fleur Hassan Nahoum so eloquently says about the two-state solution, “It was our dream, not theirs.”
The world is tired of war. I get it. We all are. Those who are evil and live in hate are taking advantage of this exhaustion. Russia and Putin against Ukraine. China is waiting so they can take Taiwan. Iran directing Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraq and the Houthis against Israel. The way to peace is through strength and deterrance, not through diplomacy. Strength and deterrance create the situation where diplomacy can work. Without the fear of strength, our enemies have nothing to fear and no reason to negotiate in good faith or give up anything of value. They know we will always cave. Israel’s elimination of Hamas leadership and their military in Gaza shows that strength. The elimination of the leadership of Hezbollah, including their newly appointed leader after only a few hours, shows strength.
In today’s world, sometimes I think Israel is the only one with common sense. There are plenty of problems with the Israeli government and I have been as critical as anybody of the power and influence that Ben Gvir and Smoltrich have, the issues with judicial reform, some of the policies in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, and many other things. When it comes to evil, Israel understands you can only eliminate it, you can’t negotiate. Israel understands that in that region, the only thing that is respected is strength. They don’t try to negotiate with Iran and the Supreme Leader, they show him what will happen if he continues his efforts at genocide.
The Abraham Accords happened when the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain realized that the strength of Israel, both militarily and economically, was beneficial to them. Sudan and Morroco joined when they also realized it was to their benefit. Saudia Arabia and Indonesia were ready to join before October 7th for the same reason. The strength of Israel in removing Hamas and Hezbollah, even taking much longer than anybody expected, will only increase the likelihood that they will end up normalizing relations with Israel.
I worry about my friends in the IDF, my friends who have children in the IDF, my friends who live in the north and the Galilee, my friends in the south, my friends who have moved their bedrooms or their children’s bedrooms to their safe room because it’s easier than waking them up and trying to move them when the alerts go off. I hope that by destroying Hamas, eliminating the leadership of Hezbollah, we can get to place where they don’t have to do this any more. Where the people of Shlomi, who lived in my hotel for almost a full year now, can return home. Where the hostages will be released and this nightmare can end.
One thing that has become clear in the past few weeks with Israel’s attack on the leadership of Hezbollah. Israel will not accept the status quo. Israel will not return to the way things were on October 6, 2023. Containing the terrorists is no longer acceptable. Israel will protect her citizens. Israel will not abandon the north. The country is different now than before October 7th and will never be the same. But in the words of released hostage Mia Schem, “We will dance again.” The Jewish people and Israel will rise and be strong.
Every so often I read something that strikes me deeply. The words of the author are like music. The taste of fine wine. When I come across things like this, I feel like it’s my obligation to share them. Most of what we read is biased, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, and anti-West (although they will deny the last one).
Last week, Allister Heath wrote such a piece in the Daily Telegraph. The fact that a British paper published it is shocking. The sadness that our American press does not print these voices is depressing. A friend and colleage forwarded it to me today. As I read, each sentence, each word, struck me deeply. He writes with moral clarity and expresses far better than I can the way that I feel. So now I am sharing it with you, including a link at the bottom to the orginal article is you want to forward that to people.
Allister Heath
Robbed of its moral bearings, bereft of any sense of right and wrong, incapable of distinguishing heroes from villains, the West can no longer celebrate when good triumphs over evil.
Israel’s brilliantly audacious booby-trapping of thousands of Hezbollah pagers, followed by the blowing up of the terror group’s walkie-talkies, is a stunning fillip for the forces of civilisation worldwide.
A tiny nation of just 9.3 million, of which 7.2 million are Jewish, living in a country the size of Wales, reeling from the worst anti-Semitic pogroms since the Holocaust, Israel is leading the war against barbarism, its young conscripts doing a job that would once have required intervention by a Western coalition acting as global policeman.
The fact that so many in Britain, Europe and America, especially the young, no longer take Israel’s side in this existential combat exemplifies our cultural, intellectual and ethical degeneration.
The Biden administration is obsessed with preventing “escalation”, even though that is what is required if Iran is to be stopped from gaining the means to wage a nuclear World War III. All too predictably, America, seemingly determined to ensure the survival of every regional terror group, appeared upset at the successful attack on Hezbollah. David Lammy, our foreign secretary, is delivering speeches claiming climate change is a worse threat than terrorism; in a rational world, Lammy would be privately congratulating his Israeli counterparts for the most successful surgical operation ever conducted against a terrorist organisation, with few civilian casualties, and pledging Britain’s help.
Instead, Keir Starmer has turned against Israel, banning the sales of some weapons – a policy that Germany appears intent on following – and refusing to oppose lawsuits against the Jewish state, in an unforgivable moral inversion.
Labour has placed Britain on the side of those nihilists masquerading as human rights lawyers who negate the essential distinction between victims and aggressors, between rule-bound, democracies desperate to minimise civilian casualties, and bloodthirsty dictatorships for whom their people are pawns to be sacrificed.
Hezbollah is funded and controlled by the Iranian regime, an obscurantist, fascistic, millenarian tyranny that persecutes minorities, women and dissidents. Violating human rights and plotting war crimes is Hezbollah’s raison d’être: its 150,000 missiles point towards civilian centres and, like Hamas and Iran itself, it seeks Israel’s liquidation, guaranteeing the massacre, expulsion or subjugation of Jews. Hezbollah has forced some 63,473 Israelis to flee their homes since October 7. This is unsustainable and explains why a major Israeli response is looming; obscenely, this will trigger widespread condemnation of the Jewish state.
Western foreign policy is a mishmash of cowardice, delusion and contradictions. Iran is a threat to the world; its alliance with Russia is deepening. Turkey, led by the despot Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has threatened Israel with invasion, yet remains part of Nato. Qatar, which puts up senior Hamas terrorists in luxury hotels, is a major non-Nato ally of the US, home to a crucial Western military base and a major investor in London. Egypt, a recipient of US aid, has tolerated myriad tunnels to southern Gaza, refused to let in any Palestinians and, bizarrely, is not held responsible for supplying Gaza with provisions, that task falling to Israel. None of the three latter regimes face sanctions: global ire is reserved for Israel.
One reason Western elites have become so Israelophobic is that, infected by wokery, they increasingly loathe Europe’s and America’s history and traditions, and view the Jewish state as a standout example of a Western model they reject.
Winston Churchill would be convicted for crimes against humanity today, as would Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry Truman. D-Day would be ruled illegitimate because so many French civilians died during the Battle of Normandy.
Democracies might as well not bother with nuclear weapons, for detonating one, even in retaliation for an unprovoked attack, would be deemed a war crime. I’m in favour of much stricter rules than those governing World War II, of doing everything possible to protect civilians, but this is madness.
The Just War is a foundational principle. States have the right to defend themselves. Every civilian life lost as collateral damage is a tragedy, but pacifism is a deluded utopia that fails to grasp the reality of the human condition. It is madness to criminalise all warfare, and despicable to focus on that conducted by democracies and ignore that advanced by our enemies.
It is equally stupid to entrust so much power to legal activists. Much historic anti-Semitism has been ratified by kangaroo courts, including during the 1930s. The Trial of the Talmud took place in France in 1240, with rabbis forced to defend religious texts against trumped-up accusations of blasphemy and obscenity.
Other bigot-fests masquerading as ordinary trials include the Disputations of Barcelona and Tortosa, the Damascus Affair, the Dreyfus affair that prompted Emile Zola’s seminal J’accuse, and the trial of Mendel Beilis in Ukraine in 1913. It is a well-established model that hasn’t gone out of fashion in far-Left quarters. They no longer explicitly single out religious beliefs or individuals but leverage lawfare to delegitimise what just happens to be the only Jewish state.
The fact that the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice have the trappings of a legitimate legal setting does not mean they necessarily embody justice. The fact that their rulings are deemed legitimate by Left-wing elites doesn’t automatically make them such. The fact that today’s blood libels take on the language of “human rights” doesn’t make them less monstrous. The fact that it is possible for a country as unjustly governed as South Africa to lead a genocide case against Israel proves that the entire system is rotten. The case is backed by Iran, Brazil’s far-Left president, Ireland and Egypt: we must have been transported into an alternative, Kafkaesque universe.
Israel is the supreme embodiment of law-bound national, democratic sovereignty, of peoplehood, of matching a nation to a state, of post-imperialism, of capitalism and technology, and of the continued relevance of the monotheistic religions. If you tear down Israel, you destroy the very ideas that underpin the West, the international order implodes and the autocracies triumph.
The stakes are thus unbelievably high. We must support Israel, and allow it to finish the job of annihilating Hamas and defeating Hezbollah.
The stakes are high. Hamas is almost defeated. Hezbollah is on the run. Iran is racing to obtain a nuclear bomb. If we learn from history, we will understand that if they achieve it, the world will never be the same. Imagine if Germany had gotten the bomb before the US during WWII. The time is now to put an end to this evil. Will you speak up or will you stay silent? Will you help save the world or will you allow it to be destroyed. The choice is yours. I’ve made mine.
I spent this week in Israel with one of my clients, Dror Israel. Dror works with youth in schools, afterschool programs, youth group, and summer camps. It was an amazing four days that both inspired me further with the work they do and also challenged me to ask why we can’t replicate it here in the US. At a time when it’s clear that we have lousy leadership throughout our organizations, local, state, and federal governments, and internationally, why can’t we look to a different model that not only inspires leadership but teaches it. That not only values the individual but also the group. That has proven to work across diverse groups of people. What stops us from actually doing better?
Gary (Dror Israel), me, Irit, Marc, and Michael. My partners and I had an incredible experience with Dror Israel last week.
Here is a great example of what we saw in Israel with a Dror school in Ravid. The students wanted to have a music room. There were two challenges to adding a music room. There was no existing room that could be repurposed for a music room and while there was plenty of room to build a music room, there was no money to build a new music room. Simple, right? In America, this would mean there would simply be no music room. Two good reasons, a lack of creativity to figure out a solution, so the answer is simply ‘no’. Not with a Dror school!
The students wanted the music room so they had to figure out a solution. And figure it out they did! They learned that there were old shuttle buses that used to take people from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion airport that no longer worked. They learned that if they could get one of the shuttle buses to the school, they could have the bus for free. The school has a maker space where they use 3D printing and computer software to design things build in a mdoern ‘wood shop’. What did the students do? They used their technology and what they had available to them to make their own drum set! Problem solved. Solution achieved. There is now an amazing music room, housed in the old shuttle bus, that students use all the time. Imagine if our students, leaders, government, etc. used this type of thinking. Imagine if they were empowered to find solutions to our problems
The old shuttle bus that is now a music room. Pretty ingenious.Inside the music room/old shuttle busThe drum set was made by students on campus using their technology. What a great space!
I would love to do something like this at my house to make an art studio for my wife. Put in some air conditioning and she’d have exactly what she wants without having to lose a bedroom in the house, without having to convert our garage and lose that space. Without having to deal with permits and zoning. If you ever see an old bus in my driveway, you will know that I was inspired by the High School students of Ravid and that it is an art studio, not a bus!!
We have so many children struggling in school in the United States and no solutions for them. This was before Covid closed schools for up to 2 years and made it even worse. I was proud when my younger son decided to stay home and go to Community College where he could learn to wake up, do homework, study, and get back into the learning mode without the stress of going away to college. He graduated with his AA Magna Cum Laude and now that he is at a traditional 4-year University, he is doing outstanding academically. He was the minority who made that non-traditional decision. Our education system doesn’t encourage creative thinking or solutions. It doesn’t encourage learning, it is based on test scores.
The Dror schools are based on a different philosophy. Teachers are encouraged to engage students where they are. They are required to listen and learn from their students. They get to know their students as people, not just as test scores. While everybody at Dror is an educator, they play different roles. Listening to those in the classroom talk about their students was enlightening. They knew about their home life. Those who struggled to get to school regularly would get phone calls from their educators every morning to make sure they were awake and coming to school. They call them educators instead of teachers because that’s what they are doing. Educating. Not teaching to a test. Not teaching things to regurgitate on a test when you can simply find the information on your phone when you need it. They are educating them for life. Showing them how to treat people, how to invest in people and relationships. How to succeed in life, not on an exam.
At the school in Ravid, we saw some incredible, creative ways to encourage learning. They have a stable for horses and teach riding. It’s not just riding though. The students are required to do everything for the stables. They get up early to feed the horses. They clean the stables. They rub down the horses. It’s not just a class on horseback riding. It’s a class on life, responsibility, and committment. They teach that joy comes with work. We met Tamar, a wonderful 16 year old young woman there, 16 year. She shared her story with us. She was struggling at a regular school. Nobody paid attention to her. She was lost. She spent too much time out late doing things she ‘shouldn’t have been doing.’ At the Dror school in Ravid, the teachers paid attention to her. She said, “when I need to, I can get up, leave class, smoke a cigarette, and then come back.” Hearing her love for the school and for learning was exciting. She loved the horses but that wasn’t what she wanted to focus on. She told us her goal was to get her certificate in dog training. The school doesn’t just have stables and horses. They have a kennel and an entire dog training curriculum. For those who love animals, they can get a real education in this school and leave with a trade to ensure they have a successful life. Imagine education focused on that instead of test scores to get you into college to get a degree that you can’t find a job with.
Horses in the stablesMore horses in the stables
We see this type of thinking in Israel all the time. Tel Aviv was an empty beach 115 years ago. Now it’s a thriving city and one of the world centers of technology and innovation.
A picture of the founding to Tel Aviv. That sand is now a bustling city.
Israel, an agricultural country just 40 years ago, became known as start-up nation in the 2000s. Computer chips, instant messaging and SMS technology, along with medical innovations and much more all come from Israel. Massive use of desalinization to create drinkable water and water for irrigation is Israel. Drip irrigation is Israel.
Warren Buffet famously said, “If you are looking for brains, energy and dynamism in the Middle East, Israel is the only place you need to go.”
He also said, “In industries ranging from software to textiles, Israelis have shown that they have a special genius for devising creative solutions to problems.”
My final Warren Buffet quote is, “Israel has created a miracle in the desert. It is a miracle of creativity and innovation.
Each of these quotes reinforces what the Dror educational model in Israel does. Creative. Innovation. Solutions. Genius. Brains. Energy. Dynamism. Inspired to use their minds to find solutions. To analyze the situation and be creative to find a resolution.
Faced with 150,000 rockets in the north with the Iran proxy Hezbollah threatening, Israel had a real issue to deal with. This was not Hamas with far fewer rockets and far inferior weapons. This was an existential threat. How did Israel address this? On September 17th, the beepers that Hezbollah was using went off and then exploded, killing, injuring, and maiming thousands of terrorists. The next day, the walkie talkies they switched to exploded, killing, injuring and maiming even more terrorists. Their communications network destroyed, their leaders injured, Hezbollah was weakened. Israel targeted their leadership and eliminated them.
Truly weakened, Israel moved in. They began bombing the Hezbollah military sites where these rockets and the rocket launchers were kept. They destroyed rockets and rocket launchers, limiting what Hezbollah can do to attack them.
This doesn’t mean that Hezbollah can’t attack Israel, they can and have. The area around Haifa is under attack tonight however as big as it is, it could have been worse. They still have plenty of rockets. They are now limited. Hezbollah’s main target tonight was the Ramat David air base, where most of the Israeli jets flying into Lebanon have been based. Half of the rockets were intercepted, some direct hits in Nazareth, but no injuries reported thus far. Ramat David air base was not harmed. Israel used creativity, innovation, genius, and boldness to find a solution to the massive amount of rockets on her northern border.
Rockets launched at Israel late Saturday night, early Sunday morning on September 21-22.
To give you context, I was in Acre (Akko), Karmiel, and that area just a few days ago. I was in Nazareth, where this video was taken. Israel isn’t a big country and needs to use their creativity and innovation to stay alive.
Nazareth after Hezbollah rocket attacks tonight
I started by writing about the creative way students got a music room and ended with the creative way that Israel reduced the threat. It is all about creativity and encouraging the use of minds to find solutions. Despite the rockets falling in Israel tonight, Israelis remain undeterred. They know there is a solution for everything when they put their mind to it. This video was from Nazareth, the same place as the fire above, after the rockets fell.
I arrived in Israel this time on Thursday September 12th. My flight was changed to leave 3 hours early so I arrived at 3:30 am. The airport was empty – a strange thing at any time. I got to my hotel by 5 am, they let me check in 10 hours early for a 280 shekel charge, and I was in business. A shower, a nap, and off to my first meeting of the trip. The first four days were a combination of meeting with potential clients, friends, and enjoying Israel and the beach. I got a lot accomplished and was able to really enjoy being in Israel.
I also began spending some time with Israelis without touring. Time talking about life. About the last year and how things had changed. Most of my trips to Israel involve an itinerary related to seeing locations. Jerusalem and the Old City. The Kotel. The Kotel tunnels. The City of David. Masada. The Dead Sea. The mystical city of Tzfat. Ammunition Hill. The strategic value of the Golan Heights and the importance of the Galilee for agriculture. Meaningful places that help me ask and answer questions about myself and what it means to be a part of a people that is over 3,000 years old. I could tell this trip would be different. This wasn’t going to be a trip about my own self exploration. This wasn’t about who I am, who I want to be and how to get there. This was going to be an experience focused on who Israel was. The impact of October 7th. Who Israel is currently. Who Israel might be in the future. From time spent with my friends Grace and Yocheved who live in Israel (both made Aliyah about 30 year apart) to my friends Margot and Tamar (Margot made aliyah over a decade ago while Tamar is a sabra) I could tell just how different the country is and the impact on them. It was going to be a different type of exploration.
I had Shabbat dinner with Margot, Tamar, and their family in Modi’in. I wrote about that previously. On the drive home, Tamar and I had a deep and meaningful conversation. Knowing her as a proud Israeli and her history it was painful to listen to her uncertainty about the country we both love. As a mom, she expressed the concern for her children. She expressed her concern for the impact on not just her and Margot as parents but on her friends who are parents. The challenges of her children being so young and yet seeing and hearing things that were not age-appropriate. Her 9 year old daughter asking questions that are meant for much older children but are now part of her reality. Hostages. Hate. Murder. Invastion. Loss of family. She shared a dream her daughter told her about where terrorists came to their house, killed everybody but her and took her into captivity as a hostage. No 9 year old should have this as part of their reality. As a parent, my heart broke.
Our talk took the entire drive. It was deep. She shared things she needed to but hadn’t had a safe space. Everybody in Israel is living this horror. It was the first glimpse for me into what Israelis are really going through. It hurt. Deeply. These are my people. My family. My mishpacha. The last 11 months have not only been horrific, each day makes it a little worse as there is more death. More rockets. More destruction. More hostages found or confirmed dead. More fear of it happening again. Does Israel stop to get as many hostages back and let the people heal, knowing full well that they will end up repeating this again in the future? Do we do whatever it takes to end it and worry about the human and emotional toll after? Theoretically it had been a challenge for me as I debated in my own head. Talking with Tamar showed me it isn’t theoretical. It’s real people struggling with real emotion and life. We got to my hotel and gave each other a big hug. It was the start of my head spinning journey that continues on the plane as I write this.
Saturday night I had dinner with a group of newer friends. All but one I met just a few days before. Most were Israelis who had made aliyah. Two were IDF soldiers, recalled from the reserves to fight in Gaza. As we talked over dinner, I could see the impact the war has had on them. These two Americans who moved to Israel to follow their zionist dream not only got their dream but also their nightmare. One had finished his reserve duty, the other was about to go back in for another round of reserve duty. The one who had finished his was preparing to return to America and then to travel. He needed to get out of israel and get away. He needed to wander and clear his head. It was obvious to me that the other one needed this as well but didn’t have that option as he was back in mellowim (reserves) and had to finish this round before he could even consider it. I tried to think what it must be like to make aliyah, live your dream, join the army and complete your service. Begin to start you life as an Israeli when all hell breaks lose. Your dream becomes a nightmare. In and out of reserves. In and out of Gaza. Seeing things nobody should see. I realized it was something I simply could never comprehend. I have called this Israel’s greatest generation. They have showed up in a way that was unexpected and unprecidented. They are paying the price for it. When this is finally over, how long will it take them to heal? How will their children be affected? For those that don’t have children, how long will it take for them to have children? Immediately? A few years? Many years? Never?
The diaspora Jews have showed up as well. Many have chosen to flock to Israel to volunteer. What other people run TOWARDS a war zone? This was my third trip since October 7th. I would have come more often except my family wouldn’t let me go until May 2024, 7 months after October 7th. I would have gone October 8th and they know it. My friend Mark had never been to Israel before October 7th. This was his 3rd trip since. He’ll be back in December. All to volunteer. All to make a difference. Masha was back to volunteer again and brought her sister Diana on her first trip to Israel. Leon was back to volunteer again and again. He took his break on Shabbat and then went right back to working hard in the fields. He’s a successful attorney who leaves his practice to do this. Masha has found a way to work remotely so she can do her job while in Israel. Mark takes time off from his career. The sacrifice is clear. It is inspiring. Yocheved left her job and got on a plane in October to be in Israel while her brother fought in Gaza. She helped start a volunteer organization, Sword of Iron, that now has nearly 40,000 people a part of it. She is 24 and has literally changed the world.
Yocheved and me at the group dinner on the beach in Tel Aviv
Is this a new definition of Judaism? Is a return to our Zionist roots, working the land, giving of ourselves, going to be the next advent in Judaism for those who are Jewish at heart but have not been Jewishly connected? There are many who are running far away from Israel, yet there are many who are literally running to Israel. I have alway believed that Israel is core to my identity as a human being and as a Jew. Is this going to be a new reality for many Jews? I have watched as Israel has changed the lives of so many people and the impact of October 7th has completely changed who they are. I know it has changed me. I know it has changed others. When we look back in 100 years will see this being a turning point? The rise of the greatest generation of Israelis since the founding of the state? The change in the diaspora in their relationship with Judaism?
Sunday night I met with one of my partners and a potential client. Hersh Polin Goldberg (z’l) was a key part of the conversation. There were things about him that I didn’t realize. Things that made his death that much more tragic. An even bigger loss, if that’s even possible. As I was talking business, his presence hovered over us along with all the hostages still in Gaza. It was an introduction to the trauma of the hostages on Israeli society that I was about to experience. After our meeting, we headed to Jaffa for a private talk by Avigdor Lieberman, a candidate for Prime Minister when the elections finally happen. While it was entirely in hebrew, one of my partners translated for me. Once again, it was eye opening to sit in the room and hear what he was saying. The questions were blunt and powerful. Pointed. He answered them all. Some with the answers that I expected and others in ways I did not expect. While I knew Israel wasn’t the same country since October 7th and felt it on my two prior visits, this was a different depth that I hadn’t experienced before. It continued building on the conversation Tamar and I had on the drive. The future of Israel is undetermined. Not the physical existance but the spiritual existance. The essence of what the country is going to stand for and what level of trust the people were going to have. It reminded me of Michael Oren saying that on October 7th the 2 convenants the government made with the people in 1948 were broken. The first is “Never Again”. Never again died on October 7th. The second is that the IDF will always be there to protect Israeli citizens. That myth also died on October 7th. An existential covenant broken. A country questioning who they are and what they stand for. The soul of the country on the table up for debate. If I thought that it would now be time to chew on this and come up with some bright, pithy statement, I was very wrong. It was just the start of what would overload me and keep my head spinning all week long.
Monday we went to Kiryat Gat, the temporary home to those who lived at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7th. Nir Oz was devastated on October 7th. We met with Gal Goren, a 22 year old boy, who lived at Nir Oz. On October 7th he was away from home on a retreat. His family was at home in Nir Oz. On that Sunday he learned that his parents were missing. Were they alive? Were they dead? Were they hostages? 18 days later, his father’s body was found in the fields. It took 18 days to find his father’s body while it was simply in the fields. In July 2024, 9 months after he last spoke to his mother and she was last seen, her body was recovered in Gaza. She had been wounded on October 7th severely and only survived a few hours yet it took 9 months to get her body returned and closure for her family. As we sat on the couch in Gal’s home, listening to him tell his story, looking at pictures of his parents in the room, I realized that his parents were probably close to my age. I later looked it up and they were both 56. Maya Goren (z’l) and Avner Goren (z’l) were simply parents of 4 children. They were living their lives, no differently than me living my life. Until terrorists showed up. They are gone. Their children have no parents alive. I could see the pain in Gal’s eyes. I could hear it in his voice. I can’t imagine what his younger sister is going through. His two older brothers are in the IDF, the organization that failed them. In Nir Oz, there was not a single IDF bullet fired. By the time the IDF got to Nir Oz, the terrorists were completely gone. It took them 8 1/2 hours to arrive. Hundreds of terrorists against five people with guns. Somehow the five people lasted over two hours before the last was killed.
Gal’s parents, Avner (z’l) and Maya (z’l) from Gal’s living room.
How do you deal with an epic failure of intelligence and security? As a country that prides herself on safety and security, on the IDF being a badass army, how do you reconcile that it took them 8 1/2 hours to arrive. 117 of the 400 people on the kibbutz were murdered or kidnapped and taken hostage. It’s an incredibly indictment of the IDF yet it is the IDF that is required to keep Israel safe. Two of Gal’s brother are fighting for an organization that didn’t save their parents. Gal went back into the army to be an IDF educator. After having their parents murdered and the IDF not showing up for 8 1/2 hours to Kibbutz Nir Oz, Gal and his two brothers went back to the IDF to play their role. I can’t imagine what that must be like. Around every turn is the failure that resulted in the dealth of your parents and yet you double down, invest, and give of yourself to the army.
During the four days I spent with my client, we explored the experience of the evacuees deeply. Nir Oz. Kiryat Shemona. Kibbutz Reim. A school just for evacuee children in Kibbutz Ravid. More than 11 months after the attack, these communities remain evacuated and remain living in temporary places. Some in hotels. Some took over entire buildings. Some are scattered around and nobody is sure if the community will return. It is not just the number of internal evacuees due to the war who have been displaced. Those used to living on a Kibbutz with lots of land and freedom are now cramped into a hotel room or a small apartment. Their entire life has been turned upside down and for some there is no timetable for their return. I experienced a little of this on my last trip with the people of the town of Shlomi living in our hotel. It was shocking to see then. To see the meta perspective of so many communities still living like this was troubling to say the least.
The front door to the apartment building where the Nir Oz community now lives in Kiryat Gat. Never forget the hostages.
The world pays attention to the people in Gaza, terrorized by Hamas, used as human shields by Hamas, refused by Egypt and without any pressur on Egypt from the United States to be me let into Sinai to live, where there would be no reason for military attacks. Yet the world is silent about the Israeli internal refugees, some who will no be able to move back to their home communities for many years. Some who will never move back to their home communities. The Jews remain the world’s pariah. In a world that frowns upon hatred and bigotry against any minority community, the only one that it remains acceptable and encouraged to hate are the Jews.
We heard from a lot of people about both what they experienced on October 7th and what they began to do on October 8th. Carmi told us about taking her 7 month old daughter into their safe room while her partner was up north celebrating his birthday that weekend. I can’t imagine being in a safe room for nearly 30 hours with a 7 month old and limited bottles, diapers, and entertainment, all while trying to shield them from the sounds of the rockets and the fear of terrorists entering your building and attacking you. I can’t imagine the horror of knowing your family was at risk and getting no update, and then when you get the update it is that they have been taken captive by Hamas and are hostages in Gaza. Zohar told us about his sister-in-law and niece, taken into Gaza where they spent 50 days as hostages. The fears of his brother and himself. The non-stop fight to get not only them returned but all the hostages returned. As we spent time at the Hostage Family Forum, hearing Zohar’s story, it was painful. Hearing his anger at the government was powerful and understandable. He summed up my thoughts on our leadership, which I have written extensively about, when he said, “We don’t have leaders. We just have government.”
As we walked through the Hostage Family Forum building, I felt the sadness. I felt the depression and anxiety. The effort to do anyting to make a difference. To push the government to get them home. To actually lead. Somebody has referenced this building as the saddest place in Israel and I believe that to be true. The posters of hostages on the wall where their age was crossed out and updated by a year. In a few weeks, they will all have celebrated a birthday in captivity.
There are Americans who are still hostages yet our government remains largely silent. There is no pressure on Hamas, Qatar, or Iran to have them released. If America won’t force the return of our hostages, who is going to put the pressure on diplomatically? The only choices are surrender to the wishes of Hamas or military action. Neither are good options. So we sit. They protest. I write. They cry. The hostages get a day older and a day closer to death. Shame on us. We like to think we are better than that yet the proof is there that we are not.
We went to hostage square. I was there in May and the sadness envelopes you. The mock tunnel is powerful. Walking through it is depressing and I always think of what I was told in May that released hostages said after going through the mock tunnel, “I only wish they were that big.” I bought some Israeli flags with the yellow ribbon through them. I have my ‘NOW’ hat. While up to now I have struggled with what happened on October 7th and how that has changed me, now I find myself thinking about what happened AFTER October 7th and that is changing me. We must do better. We must get leaders not government. It is up to us to BE THE CHANGE. I look at people who were seen as changemakers, people who spoke up and spoke out about other causes and how today they ignore what happened on October 7th and ignore Hamas and Iran. How they simply engage in Jew hatred. Greta Thornburg has become a racist and bigot, spewing Jew hatred. What a shame. Leaders of the UN show they are merely power hungry Jew haters with their statements and the resolutions. Is this the world we want to live in? Is this the behavior we want to encourage? It never ends with the Jews. We are merely the first. Are you ready to be the second? The third? Because you will be.
October 7th didn’t just affect the Jews. On this trip we spent time in the arab village of Ein Mahil. My client works with all Israelis. Jews. Arabs. Druze. Christians. It’s about people and children. They work with the children of Majdal Shams, the Druze village where Hezbollah murdered 12 children playing soccer by bombing them while they played. Hundreds were wounded. I wanted to go visit but it was deemed not safe. It made me sad. Tzfat was not safe to go visit. Most of the north is not safe. We went to Akko, we went to towns around the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) but we could not see anything further north. There were two mornings where rockets were fired in our general vicinity. We did not get alerts but they did 10-15 minutes away. I made sure to text my family that everything was ok, not wanting to alarm them but also not wanting them to worry.
Ein Mahil was a great place to visit. The youth center there is part of the Israeli Zionist youth movement, HaNoar HaOved (NOAL), that I am working with. Yes, you read that correctly. The arab village, just like the Druze village of Majdal Shams, are places where there are Israeli Zionist youth groups where arab and druze children are members. There are 55 arab villages that have this youth group. You read that correctly. 55 ARAB VILLAGES HAVE A ZIONIST YOUTH GROUP THAT ARAB CHILDREN PARTICIPATE WITH AND LOVE. More than 20,000 Arab children are participants in this Zionist youth group. We got to hear from leaders of the Ein Mahil branch. They grew up in the movement. They are Israeli, Arab, and not only participated in a Zionist youth movement but are now leaders of a Zionist youth movement in their Arab Village!! Abu Hani, the Mayor of Ein Mahil came to speak with us. His daughters were in the Zionist Youth movement. Yes, he is also Arab. The children were having so much fun. I enjoyed getting to walk around and talk with them. By talking I mean mostly hand motions as they spoke Arabic and I don’t. I’ll never forget this one little girl, Yasmina. When I saw her name on her project and called her by name, the smile on her face was precious. When we went to take the picture, I made sure that this shy little girl joined us. She smiled when I called her by name and waved her over. Who says you can’t communicate with kindess and love instead of words.
In Ein Mahel with the kids and the Arab members of NOAL, an Israeli Zionist Youth group, along with the staff.
Gazel, the head of the branch, spoke to us. She only spoke Arabic so it was translated. Lina, who learned English from watching Friends and How I Met Your Mother on TV spoke with us. Yousef, who was an early participant in the movement in 1995 (the movement began in Ein Mahil in 1989!) spoke to us. Shadi, another leader in the movement, told us about how he began in 4th grade and now his children participate. Shadi told us what October 7th was for him. It was something I never considered. How did October 7th impact Israeli Arabs? He was out with his son, getting haircuts. After hearing what happened, they got in the car and raced home. He said he drove like a maniac. He didn’t know who was going to want to kill him. Would it be Hamas because he was an Israeli Arab? Would it be Arabs who think he is a traitor because he was in an Zionist youth group and now is a leader of the movement for Arab children? Would it be Jews who see him as an Arab and think he is a terrorist? I can’t imagine the fear he and others faced, thinking every person they encounter could be an enemy and wanting them dead, all because they live in Israel, are Israeli citizens, and get along with Jews. Shadi told us his Jewish friends from other villages were calling to check on him. They understood what was happening to Israeli Arabs. Calls that Israel is an apartheid state simply miss the facts. Every one of those people needs to visit Ein Mahil. Majdal Shams. Or any of the 55 Arab villages with a Zionist youth group thriving. The 12 Druze Villages (almost all of the Druze Villages) that have a Zionist youth group thriving.
Gazel, Yousef, me, Gary, Shadi, Marc, Michael, and Lina. New friends in Ein Mahel that I can’t wait to see again.
The effects of October 7th and more importantly, the effects of what has happened since October 7th, will not only change Israel forever, it is changing our world. I felt the impact of hate like I never have before. October 7th was an explosion of hatred that was overwhelming. What has happened in the 11+ months since then is an ongoing hatred, ongoing pain and suffering, ongoing bigotry and racism. Ongoing terror. For many of us, today is not September 20, 2024. It is still October 7, 2023. Until the hostages are returned, until Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are defeated, until the refugees from the north and south of Israel can return to their homes and rebuild, and until the people of Gaza can live safely, in peace, with their neighbor Israel, it will always be October 7th. As Zohar so powerfully stated, we need leaders, not government. Where will they come from? How do we get there?
There is much more from this trip to process. More I will write about. For now, I have added the pain of everything after October 7th to the pain of what happened on October 7th.
Today is my younger son Matthew’s 22nd birthday. I get home in time to celebrate it. While I treasure the time celebrating his birthday with him, I will be thinking of Gal, who because of hatred, because of bigotry, because of Hamas and Iran, didn’t get to celebrate his 22nd birthday with his parents and will never get to celebrate another of his birthday’s with his parents. Gratitude for what I get and sadness for what he lost.
There are many things we take as truth ‘just because’. Rituals we do because that’s what we were taught, without understanding the why or the intention behind them. Things we accept as fact, once again, ‘just because’. We live in a time where we no longer have that luxury.
On the English calendar, my dad died on September 6, 2022. I will always remember him on that day. In addition, the Hebrew calendar (which is lunar) means that his yartzheit (remembrance of the day he died) is different. It was the 11th of the month of Elul. This year the 11th of Elul began last night (Friday night) and it is all day today. Being in Israel and staying in a hotel, I wanted to think how to best remember and honor him. Typically I would light the yartzheit candle that burns for 24 hours and use that to reflect. Being in a hotel, lighting the candle wouldn’t be possible.
It was also Shabbat (the sabbath). This added an additional opportunity and compexity. What would I be doing Friday night and with whom? And then Saturday would be a completely free day to reflect – what an opportunity! The first answer came quickly. My friends Margot and Tamar invited me to their new home in Modi’in (the just moved there from Jerusalem) to enjoy Shabbat with their family. I always see Margot when I am in Jerusalem, so the chance to see their new home, see Tamar and their beautiful 3 children, was something I couldn’t pass up. An added bonus was Margot’s parents were visiting along with another friend of theirs from Jerusalem.
The last time I got to spend time with Margot and Tamar’s kids was about 2 1/2 years ago. During that visit, the two older ones put on costumes and ran around playing while the youngest had already fallen asleep. Remembering how much they loved costumes, I brainstormed with Margot about what they would want and got them special presents. I couldn’t wait to give them their presents and see the joy on their faces. It was something very much in the spirit of my dad – bringing happiness and joy to people was so important to him.
The excitement of the costumes was as I hoped. They put them on and ran around. It was so much fun to watch their faces and hear their voices.
Black Panther, Spiderman, and Red.
I smiled as I watched their joy. It was a fitting way to honor my dad. He loved children and loved making people happy. As they talked excitedly to me, especially Halleli as Red, I was filled with his presence. I felt like him with his grandchildren, paying full attention to them and validating their excitement with his listening. We laughed, we sang and we danced. Margot and Halleli did a dance together that was fun to watch. Halleli danced by herself for us. The joy was palpable. Yartzheit’s and remember those we have lost is usually sad and somber. I’m grateful that this year, on my dad’s 2nd Yartzheit, he joined us in spirit by making it fun and full of light. It was his spirit and the way he lived that infused Friday night. As Tamar drove me back to my hotel in Tel Aviv we had an in depth conversation about the impact of the war on her and Margot, on other parents, and especially on children. It was a reminder to me of not just what Margot and Tamar and other Israeli parents are doing to protect their children but all the things that my parents did to protect my siblings and me. I was filled with gratitude. It was far better and more meaningful than simply lighting a candle.
Margot and Halleli dancing
The day of my dad’s yartzheit (Saturday) I had a slow morning of rest and relaxation. I then spent the day on the beach with some new friends. It was a great day to celebrate life. That’s what my dad did, celebrated life. It was a different way to honor his memory this year. It was also very meaningful because it was about the essense of who he was. It was about his values (family) and happiness and enjoying life. It felt right. It felt good. And I felt him with me the entire time. ‘Just because’ you are supposed to light a candle for remembrance isn’t enough. I lived the day as my dad would have, truly remembering and honoring him.
One of my favorite pictures of my dad and me
I’m currently in Israel. The past few days I have been in Tel Aviv and enjoying the weather, the beach, the Mediterranean, delicious food, and time with friends and colleagues. A group of new friends went to dinner on the beach and it was amazing to learn how interconnected we were. The food was good, the company better, and the view of the beach spectacular. Later, we sat on the roof last night talking about Israel, perceptions, safety, and much more. It was a beautiful night. The weather was cool, the sky was clear, you could see and hear the Mediterranean. We talked about the beauty of Israel. How safe we felt. Our love for the country. Some of us were here for the first time. Some for multiple times. Some were Jewish and some were not. What a diverse group. Around midnight our group broke up and I walked back to my hotel.
A few hours later my phone rang. It was my oldest son. It woke me from a deep sleep and I immediately answered. His voice was full of excitement as the team he coaches had just won a big road game and for the second week in a row, the part he coaches played a key role in them winning. It was awesome that he wanted to call me to share his joy. I didn’t mind that it was 4 am for me – the fact he wanted to share this joy with me right after the game ended meant the world. This was my dad’s dream – that his children would have that type of relationship with their children. That his children would remain close as adults. I shared in his joy with immense gratitude. Does life really get any better than your children having success and joy and wanting to share it with you? I don’t think so. I know my dad didn’t think so.
On the field after the first home game – nothing comes close to celebrating your children’s happiness and success.
I fell back asleep and a few hours later, when I woke up, I saw messages from friends in the US asking what was going on and if I was safe. I wasn’t sure what they meant since it was quiet in Tel Aviv and I slept well. I opened my WhatsApp to see what was going on and saw this:
I understood why they were worried and reaching out. Thankfully the rockets and the alerts did not reach Tel Aviv. It didn’t impact my sleep nor did I have to go to the 2nd floor saferoom in the hotel (yes, there is one, and yes, I know where it is). The rockets and the sirens did reach Modi’in, where I have many friends and where I had Shabbat dinner this week. I checked on my friends and they are all safe, just a bit flustered from the 6:30 am sirens and going to their safe rooms, getting their children and sometimes parents into the safe room, in the time alotted for safety. I responded to my friends that reached out that I was safe and we had no sirens. Even though it was around midnight on the East Coast of the US, I texted my family, brother and sister, and mom to let them know we had no sirens and I am safe. Hopefully it didn’t wake them up and they can have a restful sleep and see it when they wake up.
A rocket did hit part of the train station in Modi’in. In May, I was at that train station. If the trains ran later on Friday afternoons (they close just after 2 pm for Shabbat), I’d have been there on Friday afternoon. This is the reality of terrorism, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthi’s and the head of the snake, Iran. This is what Tamar and I were discussing on the ride to my hotel Friday night. How does she explain this to her young children? How do she and Margot deal with the stress of parenting plus parenting in a war plus shielding their children and keeping them safe, physically, emotionaly, and spiritually. Most people understand that the IDF soldiers, the families of hostages, the rescued hostages, and those who lost loved ones on October 7th or afterwards, are struggling. The reality is the entire country is struggling. You feel the struggle when you are here. The recovery will take a long time after the war ends. Tamar and I discussed that on our ride from Modi’in to Tel Aviv. While we are seeing the greatest generation of Israelis step up in this time of crisis, there are other generations that are doing the best they can in these circumstances to survive, to live, to protect their children. The repurcussions of this war are long standing. There is a deep wound in the Israeli psyche and the Israeli people that will need to heal. Those of us in the diaspora need to understand this and help as much as we can. Coming to Israel is part of that support. As diaspora Jews, we do not understand the power of our coming to Israel during this time and the message it sends to our Israeli brothers and sisters. To know they are not alone now is critical. I have been here three (3) times since May. The thanks that I get, and the shock from many that I would come to a war zone at all, let alone 3 times, is powerful. Our Israeli brothers and sisters need us. They need our support. I urge you to come. More will be coming from me in the very near future about new ways to get here that are meaningful and affordable. It matters.
Escalator at the train station in Modi’in after a rocket hit the station
Our choices determine who we are. My dad taught me that. It’s what we do, not what we say. He taught me that too. I have lived my life in a way that when my grandchildren ask what I did at key moments, there are answers that I will proud for my children to share with them. On 9/11 I was active and helping address the trauma the UF students were dealing with. During Covid I was active in helping ensure we found ways to being back our employees quickly and provide needed services. After October 7th I made sure to be at the rally in DC, I got active with helping hostages that were released, and helping Israel. I have come here 3 times since October 7, brought students on a leadership trip, and am working with Israeli nonprofits that help children, families, small businesses, US college students, and families of hostages.
“Just because” isn’t good enough. It’s no longer acceptable. Each of us have the ability to make a difference with our actions. A friend of mine in Richmond posted this message on Facebook about a fraternity brother and me being in Israel together with a picture of us here.
Two past Richmonders who are amazing Israel advocates who don’t just talk the talk but are constantly walking the walk and using social media to share their experience! This is so much more powerful than the ho hum talk of people who lead without their personal investment and family involvement. We need THIS here!
We need this everywhere. Take action. You can. The status quo does not have be accepted. In my dad’s memory, I refuse to be silent. I refuse to sit by idly. I refuse to accept the unacceptable and will fight for the future of the Jewish people, the land of Israel, and the type of world not only that I want to live in but one that I want for my future grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I owe them no less. My grandparents did if for me, how can I not do it for mine?
As I write this, I’m on an El Al flight to Israel. It is my third trip since May. My 23rd trip overall. My third since October 7th and my first since the murder of Hersh Goldberg Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, and Ori Danino.
I had fun going through El Al security. The security agent and I had a great conversation and she even spoke to me in Hebrew and I understood about 2/3 of it and got the entire gist of what she is saying. I still can’t speak Hebrew but she enjoyed my struggle to understand. I got a pass for the El Al lounge and my seat upgraded (which helps on a 10 1/2 hour flight). I ran into my friend James Cohen, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Minneapolis, in the lounge. That’s what happens with Israel travel. You always run into somebody that you know. I talked a bit with my seatmates and have been working using the in-flight internet even as we are over the Atlantic Ocean. Pretty amazing.
I am both excited and a bit apprehensive with this trip. Excited because I love Israel and will get to explore the work of a client of mine, Dror Israel, a bit more. I get to see friends who live in Israel and spend time with colleagues who are also friends. I’m a bit apprehensive because it’s the first time since the murder of those six hostages. I still feel the effects of learning of their murder. It was a version of October 7th all over again. I’m not sure to expect or how I’ll feel when I land and while I am in Tel Aviv and around Israel.
Last night, a friend and client of mine invited me to join him to hear Douglas Murray speak in Miami Beach. I became a fan of Douglas when he was writing about poetry once a week for The Free Press. His writing helped me better understand and connect with poetry and for a while, I wrote about music lyrics the way he wrote about poetry. I’m no Douglas Murray, so I stopped. Since then, I have become a big fan of his public outspoken support of Israel, his clear understanding of what is really happening in Israel, Gaza, and with the war. His willingness to be on site and report and then take on those who know nothing and like to repeat the Hamas lies as facts. My friend and client knows Douglas personally so we got great seats and the invitation to meet him after the event.
Douglas speaking in between sharing the videos with us
He started his talk by showing videos of when he went both to the devastated Kibbutzim in the south that were attacked by Hamas. The videos were nothing I hadn’t seen before. To be honest, I watched the videos before to understand – having been to Kfar Aza twice and the Nova site twice, having heard from survivors of Nova, survivors from Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Alumim, parents of hostages, and leaders in the IDF, I stopped watching them. This was the first time I watched the horror since my visits to Israel resumed in May. They hit me differently this time. It wasn’t the videos. It wasn’t his description. It was a sensory effect I had. I could smell the area. I could feel what I felt standing in Kfar Aza and at Nova. The horror listening to the survivor from Nova and then months later visiting the bomb shelter she hid in, that 12 people were murdered in, where she hid under dead bodies and used them to protect herself from bullets and grenades. It was the look in my friend Yaron’s face when I saw him a few days after he left Gaza after the first four months of the war. It was a gut punch that I didn’t expect.
Douglas was then joined by Natasha Hausdorff, a British attorney who fights publicly for Israel the way Douglas does. Natasha and Douglas are an amazing team who debate together and fight to educate peole together about what is really happening.
Douglas and Natasha
Nothing that they discussed was new to me. Nothing was unexpected. Yet there were a few things that really resonated, that made me think and will continue to make me think.
The first was about the campus protesters and those who are anti-Israel and Jew haters. Douglass said, “They never find a terrorist they don’t adore”. That statement struck me very powerfully as I see it with so many people. I see it with the Hollywood celebrities who try to seem intellectual by repeating the lies of Hamas. Even when they say some of the stupidest things, they double down on it, because, as Douglas said, they never find a terrorist they don’t adore. There is no winning with these people because there will always be a new terrorist for them to support.
When talking about the terrorists, he said, “It is impossible to imagine these people.” He is right. When I spent time in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, and met with leaders of Palestinian civil society, there were people I met who inspired me and gave me hope for peace. In May I visited with one and we had an intense 90 minute conversation. It wasn’t easy. We didn’t agree on everything, but it gave me hope for a future where we can find common ground. During that trip, I also met with people who I truly believe would have killed me that minute if they could have. I heard from the head of the community center in the Aida refugee camp (which is really a city, not a refugee camp in any way but the fact the world supports them) who bragged about the suicide bomber from his community center, the person who he taught, who he mentored, and who listened to him and killed himself and Israeli’s by blowing himself up. I’ll never forget the look on his face, the pride in his voice, and how happy he was when talked about this suicide bomber. I think the only regret he had was that there was only one who actually followed through.
On my two visits to Kfar Aza, I listened to people talk about the second and third wave on October 7th of people coming to the Kibbutz. They came to steal and loot. They took shoes off the dead bodies, stole jewelry, art, and anything of value. One man told us how he watched a man on crutches arrive from Jabalia, go into a house and take a TV off the wall, strap it to his back, and using crutches return to Gaza. The horror they shared of how the people they knew and the people they had at their dinner table and considered friends were the ones who mapped out the kibbutz for Hamas to attack and then came to loot and steal is something I will never forget. The anti-Israel crowd and those who want peace at any cost think it can happen because they think the terrorists want the same things we do. They don’t. As Douglas said, it is impossible to imagine these people.
The two of them were talking about the Philadelphi corridor the UN and the UN peacekeeping force that has been proposed. Douglas talked about how at the end of the war with Lebanon, Israel withdrew and there was a UN peacekeeping force put in place between Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Israel. He was there watching as they pulled out in their UN truck. Rockets then flew over their head, shot by Hezbollah into Israel. The ‘peacekeepers’ stopped, waited for them to pass by, and then turned around and sped back to their base. In his words, this “is not peacekeeping. It is war watching.” His point is that unless Israel maintains the security in the Philadelphi corridor, where there are tunnels big enough that trucks drive through them, where there is so much soot on the walls from the exhaust from these trucks that it is obvious what was happening and that this is how Egypt was supplying Hamas with weapons and rockets, it will simply happen again. The UN is not going to stop them. Egypt was culpable before October 7th, why would they be trustworthy now? Unless it is Israel monitoring that border, we will simply be back to war watching and rearming Hamas.
As they talked about about what they saw in Gaza, the facts were astounding. Every other house had either weapons stored in it or an entrance to the tunnel system. Every other house! They shared that what the IDF learned after going in and searching these houses is that there was no need to look for the weapons or the tunnel entrances in the kitchen or the living room. All they had to do was go to the children’s rooms. That is where the weapons were stored and found and that is where the entrance to the tunnels were found. The entrance to the tunnel where Hersh Goldberg Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alex Lobanov, and Ori Danino were kept and murdered was in a child’s room. You can see the Disney characters painted on the walls.
The walls of a child’s room where the tunnel entrance was found.
This is who Hamas is. This is what terrorism is. Use the child’s room for storing rockets, bombs, grenades and guns. Put the entrance to the tunnel system in the child’s room to ensure maximum protection for Hamas because they are being protected by children. As he said previously, “it is impossible to imagine these people.”
The last thing he said that really struck me was about the protesters on college campuses. He talked about how their goal is to be part of a revolution. It doesn’t matter what the revolution is about. It doesn’t matter if the end result is positive. They need to be a part of something. They need to find some connection and being part of a revolution is their way. I found myself wondering if they really are that desperate to find meaning in their lives. I wondered what we have done as a society to create people who need to live in hate to find common ground. People who don’t know how to connnect or find meaning so they search for anything they think will do it. It made me sad to think that the only way they gather and connect with people in person was to find an enemy to hate and through that hatred, they could find connection and meaning. This is the country we live in. This is the society we have built. I laugh with the friend I grew up with about how on weekends we could watch the morning cartoons and then we were kicked out of the house for the day. We drank from the hose because you couldn’t go in the house to get a drink – you had water right there! How we wandered the neighborhood together, rode bikes all over the place together, made up games to play to fill the time, and found meaning in being together. Can we ever get back to a place where our children learn that instead of video games and screens? What will we do to ensure they have meaning without hatred?
Hanging out with Douglas Murray and my friend Adam after the show
Douglas and Natasha brought a little more insight for me into what we are facing. It is evil. It is Jew hatred. It is ignorance. Perhaps it is also loneliness and a need to connect. Perhaps there is such a loss of meaning for this generation that they are willing to sell their souls to find that spark and that connection. While this is an existential threat to the State of Israel and the Jewish people, perhaps it is also an existential threat to our entire way of living. Douglas Murray’s bestseller, The War in the West addresses this. Are we willing to fight that war? How much do we really value our way of life?
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