Yesterday and today I am consumed with the Bibas family. Shiri Bibas and her children, Ariel and Kfir. Hamas has reported them dead and that their bodies will be returned tomorrow, February 20th. I think of Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and Ariel and Kfir’s father. My heart is torn in two for him. He endured nearly 500 days of brutal captivity and torture only to be released into a different type of brutal captivity and torture.
Yet we cannot think that the Bibas family is the only situation where beautiful young Jewish children were murdered simply for being Jewish.
On Oct 7, savage barbarian Hamas animals shot & killed 9 month old Mila Cohen in Be’eri.
This isthe Siman Tov family, an Israeli-American family. Johnny and Tamar, along with their children Shahar (5), Arbel (5), and Omer (2), were murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7th in their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel. They were burned alive.
Hamas set fire to the family’s house in an attempt to force them out of their safe room and kill them, but they stayed inside. Johnny, the father, sent a final text to his sister: “They’re here. They’re burning us. We’re suffocating.”
Johnny’s mother, Carol, a 70-year-old woman, was also murdered by Hamas terrorists with her dog in her own home
The Siman Tov family. Johnny (z’l), Tamar (z’l), Omer (z’l), Shahar (z’l) and Arbel (z’l).
On that day, over a dozen other children under the age of 10 were brutally murdered among the 1,200 victims. Thirty eight (38) children were murdered on October 7th with 42 children abducted to the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Here are pictures of some of them so we never forget their faces. Note that they are not all Jewish but they all lived in Israel, killed by genocidal terrorists that the world and college campuses glorify.
Yet today it is the Bibas family that is in my soul. For 500 days I hoped and prayed that they were still alive and would be returned alive. I wanted to see Ariel and Kfir play and laugh and grow up. I wanted to see Shiri and Yarden raise their beautiful children and maybe even add to their family. It appears that will not happen as Hamas has reported that Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir’s bodies will be returned to Israel on February 20th. This has not been confirmed by Israel.
This is a picture that should haunt us all forever. It shows the evil of Hamas. A panicked mother, holding her children close, fear exuding out of the image into each of us. What would she have done to save her children that day? What would any of us have done to save our children? Anything and everything that we could. She was powerless and so were we.
I read this powerful piece about this picture and Shiri Bibas and her family. My blood boils. My heart breaks. Imagine it was your children, your grandchildren, your siblings. Imagine it was your nieces and nephews. Babies. This is the face of evil. We cannot let the world close their eyes, bury their heads, and tell more lies. We have gone beyond the place of reason and directly into the fight against evil where there is only one acceptable outcome. Evil is eliminated.
Someone filmed this moment Someone stood there Looking at a mother holding her two babies Protecting them with her body, her heart, her soul. Someone stood there And saw And watched Someone and another someone and another someone and maybe even another mother And no one reached out and said “Come on mama, come on mama…” And all the light went out long ago And what if I were there in her place And what if I had to choose who to keep holding And of whom to let go Because there isn’t a single mother Who can contain her pain over her children And the look in her eyes – this is every mother’s greatest fear It’s a look that stares at the devil And starts a negotiation Take me Leave them Take me, leave one Do with me whatever you want Just have someone take them to a safe corner Only a mother can understand a look like that And I I wasn’t there either…..
Lisa Davidson Oren
When I look at the pictures of the beautiful Bibas children, tears come to my eyes. Sweet, innocent children. A toddler and an infant. Ripped from their home by terrorists. How scared must they have been? How much did Shiri and Yarden try to comfort them? I think back to when my boys were that age and tears come to my eyes, pain in my chest, rage filling my heart.
Rabbi Mendy Kaminker of Chabad of Hackensack wrote this powerful and beautiful poem. It struck me powerfully as I think of this beautiful child, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered simply because he was Jewish. This picture cuts deep in my heart. Evil took him and yet the world responds by encouraging evil to continue.
Oh, young redhead toddler You like a little angle With a smile from heaven But you are stuck in hell
If you were An endangered whale The world would have stopped at nothing To save you
Heads of countries Would have spent millions To bring you back home
But you are not a whale You are just a small Jewish toddler
We prayed for you Your brother, your mother And even now, we keep on praying
And whatever happens We will not forget your smile Because you are our brother
Oh dear Oh G-d Your people have suffered enough We beg you to bring Moshiach And end suffering forever
Far too many of our ‘leaders’ have remained silent or spoken up for the ‘innocent Gazans’ without speaking up for the innocent Israelis. They have been silent about the hostages, complaining about a response by Israel that was too much. How would they respond if the United States was invaded, our citizens mass murdered, kidnapped, taken hostage, and tortured. We saw the results of September 11th which was smaller in scope. A 20 year war. When the claims are that too many people are dying, let’s take a look at what happened after September 11th.
U.S. military personnel
Between 2001 and 2021, 2,459 U.S. military personnel died in Afghanistan
1,922 of those deaths were in action
18 CIA operatives were killed
20,769 U.S. service members were wounded in action
Civilians
The Costs of War Project estimates that 46,319 Afghan civilians died in the war
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that 212,191 people died in the war
Opposition fighters
The Costs of War Project estimates that at least 52,893 opposition fighters died in the war
Other casualties
1,822 civilian contractors died
Thousands of Afghans died
The war also resulted in injuries, illnesses, displacement, malnutrition, and environmental degradation
The war in Afghanistan began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The U.S. government spent $2.3 trillion on the war.
The Jew haters and antisemites try to make Israel’s response to Hamas’s attack, declaration of war, murder, kidnapping, and torture of her citizens as more than normal in war. They try to paint Israel and the Jews as overreacting and going beyond the scope of war. This is a bald faced lie. The numbers above prove it. Displacement is a part of losing a war. We have seen that throughout history. It’s part of what discourages countries from engaging in war. Otherwise there is no risk in losing a war so it would happen more frequently. The world is asking Israel to enable Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran to wage continuous war in an attempt to eliminate Israel and the Jews. That is unacceptable.
When our leaders do speak out, it is important to note it and thank them. Unfortunately they are rare. Representative Ritchie Torres has been one of them. His post below is clear, powerful, and on-target. I thanked him and encourage you to do the same.
Thank you @RitchieTorres for continuing to be a voice of compassion and clarity against evil. I only wish more of your members of the US House of Representatives would follow your leadership. https://t.co/l6Hab1RMg7
My friend Rabbi Leor Sinai reminded us of an important fact that the world fails to recognize. He wrote, “Shiri, Ariel & Kfir Bibas were taken by Gazan civilians, not Hamas. In fact the majority of 3,000+ invaders on Oct 7 were Gazan civilians. Let that sink in. It is a culture and society in disease. This Thursday is going to be hard. All of Israel will mourn.” The media and the world fail to acknowledge that much of what happened on October 7th were civilian driven. I’ll never forget hearing from a man at Kfar Aza who was there on October 7th. His front porch became the headquarters for Hamas leadership as he and his wife hid in their safe room. His description of watching a man come from Jabaliya on crutches, crossing the fields and the broken fencing, going into a home and coming out with a television strapped to his back as he used his crutches to return to Jabaliya, will always remind me that this was not just Hamas. This was civilians. On November 20, 2024, Prime Minister Netanyahu offered $5 million and safe passage out of Gaza to anyone returning a hostage. We know hostages were being held and are being held by private citizens. Three (3) months later, not a single person has taken him up on this offer. It’s not just the Hamas militants that are involved.
On the same day that Hamas announced that the Bibas children and Shiri Bibas were murdered, in the United States, in New York, in Borough Park, we had this violence. There is no condemning of this from the media. Even New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued the weak statment of, “Last night we saw protesters in Boro Park targeting Jewish New Yorkers with hateful rhetoric and antisemitic chants. This is unacceptable. We are grateful to @NYPDnews for their diligent work keeping all New Yorkers safe.” Nothing about the violence. Only about ‘chants’.
The violence in Borough Park from an anti-Israel, Jew hating, ‘pro-Palestinian’ mob.
On November 7, 2023, just a month after the horror of October 7th, Senator John Fetterman not only put up the posters of every hostage on the walls of his office, he also posted this on X and pinned it to his account where it remains today. It’s sad that our allies are so few and inspiring when they are so public.
In my front office I have displayed the posters of the innocent Israelis kidnapped by Hamas.
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) November 7, 2023
I am conflicted. With stage 1 about to conclude, with Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas likely confirmed dead tomorrow, with most of the remaining hostages likely dead, where do we go from here? I hope that Israel demands all the hostages back immediately for there to be a phase 2. I hope the US will back them up. I hope Hamas will agree. I don’t think they will agree. I’m not sure a phase 2 will happen otherwise. The slow process cannot continue. After 500 days it is enough. The hostages have suffered enough. The families of the hostages have suffered enough. The people of Israel have suffered enough. The families of IDS soldiers and those serving in milium (reserves) have suffered enough. The Jewish people have suffered enough. It’s time to put an end to this once and for all. Whatever it takes.
I am reminded of a few quotes from former Prime Ministers Golda Meir and Menachem Begin to ring true more than 40 years after they said them. Read and them and think. Read them and ponder. It’s clear to me what we have to do, no matter how much the world doesn’t want to let us because the world doesn’t want us to exist. I won’t apologize for wanting to live. I won’t apologize for fighting those who want me and all Jews dead. For those of you who do apologize, think of how your words of apology will look on your tombstone if you are lucky enough to have one and not be in a mass grave. That’s the harsh reality we face. The truth isn’t easy and neither is the path forward. But if we want a path forward, we must do whatever it takes to ensure there is one.
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Last night, my dad (z’l) came to visit me. It was the second time he has come to visit me since he died on September 6, 2022. The first time was well over a year ago and it was very emotional for me. We spent a lot of time talking and I really needed him at that time. Things in my life we unsettled and he has always been my ‘go to person’ to talk about my life and get perspective. I was very lucky that way. Lately, I have been missing him and treasuring my mom a lot. I have asked him to come visit again, something I didn’t expect would happen but I knew that if I asked, maybe it would happen. After a month or two of asking, he showed up last night.
Many of you may not believe that those we love can come visit us in our dreams at night and that is perfectly fine. I do believe it and have now have had it happen twice with my dad. It was a crazy dream – things were all over the place and nothing was connected until all of a sudden I walked up to the gym counter and there he was. He started to talk to me and I just reached out and gave him a big hug. I hugged him intensely the entire time, tears in my eyes, until he was gone. Whatever words he was saying didn’t matter. I needed that long hug from my dad and I got it.
I think this is because of what happned with the hostages this past Saturday. I was deeply affected not just by the way they looked and how they were clearly mistreated, but also by the story of Eli Sharaby. A bright eyed, vigorous, healthy man, who is only 5 years younger than me, was taken hostage on October 7th. His wife and daughters were murdered by the Hamas terrorists that day but he didn’t know this for his 491 days of captivity. He actually spoke about how much he looked forward to seeing them when when Hamas paraded him before release and forced him to speak. They knew his family was murdered and they watched him and laughed. It was painful to see. It was painful to hear. I cannot even imagine what it was like when he was told they were murdered 491 days ago.
Perhaps it is because we are close in age. Perhaps it is because I have one child who has started his career and lives in North Carolina doing what he loves and isn’t at home. Perhaps it is because my second child is graduating college in May and while he wants to get a job and stay local, who knows what will happen. Eli’s loss felt very personal to me.
Perhaps it is the story of the Bibas family. This family of four, mother, father, and 2 boys who are just about the same age difference as my boys, were kidnapped on October 7th. Yarden, the father, was released a week ago from captivity. His wife Shiri and two beautiful boys, Ariel and Kfir, remain hostages and we don’t know if they are alive or dead. More and more, I have been preparing myself for their bodies to be returned and to have to know that these beautiful young children were murdered by terrorists out of hate while the world didn’t care. They remind me of my family. With Yarden home, perhaps I am identifying closely with him and the fears for his family and their lives. I can’t imagine that feeling nor do I want to imagine it. Last night, I needed my dad and his hug and I got it.
These are crazy times. After more than a year with nothing strong coming from the American administration, President Trump spoke loudly and clearly yesterday about the condition of the returned hostages. CNN reported that the hostages “appeared to look gaunt”, a horrible minimization of their condition. The legacy media still can’t report the news, they have to insert their own Jew hatred and anti-Israel takes into their reporting.
“Hamas has been a disaster… I watched the hostages come back today. And they looked like Holocaust survivors, they were in horrible condition. They were emaciated… I don't know how much longer we can take that.” –President Trump pic.twitter.com/Ku7gHaEjvk
Today, Hamas announced they are pausing the release of the hostages this upcoming weekend. It was only a matter of time before they would violate the agreement. Everybody knew that because Hamas has no morals and no ethics. Their word is not reliable nor dependable. It is why there can be no peace. It is why there is no hope for a Two State Solution. As my friend, Fleur Hassan Nahoum has eloquently stated, “The Palesteinian leadership have never wanted a state. It is not their dream. It was our dream.” She continues, “The problem of the conflict is not that there isn’t a Palestinian State. The problem is that there is a Jewish State.”
Hamas’s announcement suspending Saturday’s planned hostage release is an intentional plan for them to regain world sympathy through their lies. Their reason for suspending the release is a complete lie, as available data shows consistent humanitarian aid flow since January 19, with 12,600 trucks entering Gaza, maintaining the 600 trucks per day requirement. This steady flow, averaging 4,200 trucks each week, directly challenges Hamas’s claims of aid restriction. It is not just the COGAT (Israeli data) that shows this. Other monitoring mechanisms confirm these figures, with their own data validating that Israel has consistently met the agreement’s humanitarian benchmarks.
Don’t expect the media to report the facts. They will report what Hamas says and the lies. I’m telling you now so that you have the accurate information before the lies come out. Hamas is trying to frame this violation of the agreement through a humanitarian lens because they know the media will report their lies and not the truth, helping them to gain international support. I can already see the tweets coming from Antonio Gutteres, Secretary General of the UN, complaining about the lack of aid going in despite the documentation saying the opposite. I can already see the tweets from the bigoted and racist Francesca Albanes, they UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, claiming Israel is starving the people of Gaza despite having just seen what starvation looks like with the release of the hostages on Saturday.
The world will demand that Israel maintain the ceasefire even though Hamas has broken the agreement unilaterally. The world will demand that Israel move into phase 2 of the ceasefire even though Hamas failed to live up to phase 1 of the cease fire. The world can kiss my a**. This is when I am glad that Bibi is the Prime Minister and Trump is the President. They don’t live in a delusional world when it comes to Hamas. The proof of this is right after Hamas announced they will break the ceasefire agreement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) issued a decree revoking the payment system to families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prison or to families of Palestinian terrorists. This “Pay for Slay” program has been an abomination that UNRWA has been funding for years. Abu Mazen didn’t just announce it, he made sure to inform the Trump administration in advance. This is what happens when you stand up to bullies. They stop their awful behavior. Hamas is a bully and while the media and the Western nations will support their lies and hatred, there is a growing population that will not do so any longer.
An example of this is that over the past few months, I have seen more and more people standing up for Israel and the Jewish community. More people willing to be public in calling out the lies and the Jew hatred. Douglas Murray, comedian Michael Rappaport, Senator John Fetterman and Representative Ritchie Torres along with newscaster Erin Molan seemed to be alone for a long time. Today, I read this post on X that warmed my heart. Not just the post but the comments by others stating that they are not Jewish and why they speak up for the Jewish community. People quoting her with their own reason along with those commenting below. It appears that we are finally seeing the type of support that has been missing for the past 16 months. Read the entire post. Look at the comments of those sharing why they support the Jewish community. You can find those who quoted her post and their reasons. It is heartwarming. It is hopeful.
I’m not Jewish, but there’s a reason that I’ve risked everything to speak up for the Jewish community.
And when I say everything, I mean everything. I mean being blocked by friends that I grew up with, unfollowed by most friends and associates, accused of being a spy for the…
With Hamas ending the ceasefire, we are going into another phase of Jew hatred on the public stage. At least this time we have a President who understands the evil of Hamas. We have many more people speaking out in support of the Jewish community and of Israel. Perhaps we are moving closer to a resolution where Hamas will be ended, where we will get as many hostages as possible home alive, and where Israel can return to peace and a chance to recover and heal.
For all of those in Israel, they desperately need it. And for those of us in the diaspora for which every day since October 7th has been October 7th, we need it as well. As President Trump said, I don’t know how much longer we can take this. Perhaps Hamas showing who they really are once again will finally be noticed. I doubt it but I can hope.
As I finish writing this, I learned that my friend Mahmoud, the owner of the Educational Bookstore in East Jerusalem and at the American Colony hotel was arrested by Ben Gvir’s police for basically selling books. I met Mahmoud in 2019 as he took us around East Jerusalem and talked to us about his experience living there as a Palestinian. We went to his big bookstore for lunch and talked some more. That afternoon, we went to him home where we dug even deeper. He said something there that I will never forget and that gave me great hope. He said, “If Zionism means the Jews have a right to the land and that we have a right to land as well, then I am fine with Zionism.” It was a profound and huge statement for a different future. In May when I was in Israel, a friend and I walked through East Jerusalem to his bookstore at the American Colony hotel where we spent 90 minutes engaged in a deep conversation. Mahmoud was devastated that Hamas took hostages and wanted them returned on October 8th. We covered many challenging topics and disagreed about many things but the one thing we agreed on was the hope for peace and a desire to live in peace with each other. There are many people who advocate for violence, for murdering the Jews, for eliminating Israel, and who actually engage in violence. They should be arrested. Somebody like Mahmoud who actively wants peace should be supported, not arrested. I am angry. I am hurt. It has been bad enough when it is Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, Syria, and others doing it. It is horrible when it is the US media and our supposed Western allies that are doing it. Yet it is far worse when it is Israeli leadership doing things.
Mahmoud and me at this American Colony Hotel bookstore in May 2024
If we truly want peace, if we truly want to heal, we have to build relationships with our potential partners, not arrest them. There are plenty of people to arrest for their criminal behavior. It’s time Israel gets rid of those bigots in her government. Bibi can do better. Israel can do better. The Jewish people deserve better.
Three more hostages were released. Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy were all taken hostage on October 7, 2023. They were held by Hamas for 491 days. We shuddered as we thought of the abuse they were undergoing. When we saw them today, we realized how horrible it has been. How evil Hamas is. How useless the Red Cross is. That UNRWA and the UN are terror organizations. All you have to do is look at the before and after pictures of them to understand. These pictures bring tears to my eyes.
Pictures of Ohad, Eli, and Or, before they were kidnapped and upon their release. It is horrifying.
As Or Levy was being paraded before Hamas and the ‘innocent Gazan people’ before his release, you can see the condition he is in. He has to be help up on both sides to walk. He is barely able to stand. He looks like a Holocaust survivor. The images of walking skeletons from the liberation of the death camps in the 1940s are being repeated in 2025 as they come out of Gaza after 491 days of captivity. They are what famine and starvation look like. There will be no apologies or retractions from those who claimed Israel was starving Gaza, proven wrong once again. There will be no criticism of Hamas for how they treated these men and the hostages. The world doesn’t care. That’s the reality.
We have seen images of family members as they see their loved ones for the first time upon their release. Most images we have seen are those of joy and celebration. They know their loved one underwent terrible abuse. They know that the person coming home isn’t the same person that was taken on October 7th. But they have been able to watch them return with a sense of joy. Today’s release was different. While the anticipation was that of joy, when they saw the images of their loved one and what they looked like, there was shock and horror. This was captured best in the image of Ohad Ben Ami’s family as they got their first view of him. The shock. The horror. The pain in their eyes. I can’t get over the look in their eyes. It brings tears to my eyes. It makes me filled with rage and my jaw locks with anger. What the monsters of Hamas and those who support them, both in and out of Gaza, did to these men is horrifying. That the world allowed and enabled it is even worse. I think of the celebrities wearing their red hands pins, not even knowing the story behind them, who bear responsibility for what happened to these men. If looking at the images of Ohed, Eli and Or aren’t enough to wake you up to the reality of Hamas, let the faces of Ohed’s family show you.
We talk about cruelty. Eli Sharabi was held for 491 days and allowed to maintain the hope of reuniting with his wife and daughters. This is despite Hamas murdering them on October 7th. This is despite Hamas knowing they murdered his family. As they released him today, they allowed him to speak about how much he looked forward to reuniting with his family. They cheered and jeered him. They mocked his hopefullness because they knew. It was their final ‘fuck you’ to Eli. You may be free from out captivity but soon you will know that we murdered your entire familiy, destroyed what you loved the most, and we will always live in your head and in your heart. Monsters. It is not just the monsters of Hamas that are responsible. We see the people in the street cheering Hamas and what they do. We see some of our politicians and celebrities who support Hamas. We see students on campus supporting Hamas. They all own this as well. They are playing their role in this inhumanity.
Erin Molan spoke out powerfully today. She has been a powerful, clear voice since October 7th. When you listen to her talk, you hear her pain, not just as a human being seeing the abuse these men underwent, but how the rest of the world stood by and stayed silent. How the rest of the world blamed Israel and held Hamas blameless, while Hamas starved and terrorized the people they kidnapped. Listening to her talk captured my anger. Her words were perfectly stated. “The world is a disgrace.”
Why do we release 30 terrorists and murderers for every one of our people held hostage? Shouldn’t it be a 1-1 ratio? Why is Hamas emboldened to ask for an even greater ratio in phase 2 of the ceasefire agreement? It is because we love life. It is because we value life. It is because we all feel the pain of those murdered and kidnapped and desperately want their return. We feel for their families and what they are going through. And it is because of pictures like the one below of Or hugging his 3 year old son Almog after 491 days of captivity. It touches us deeply. It is core to who we are. We all feel the love from Or to Almog and from Almog back to Or. It makes us want to hug our children a little tighter, no matter how old they are.
Or hugging his 3 year old son Almog after 491 days of captivity.
The events on October 7th and since then have impacted me greatly. I wrote and shared about the two tattoos that I got related to October 7th. On my left arm, I have a tribute to the Nova festival with the Golani tree. When an Israeli sees it, they are taken aback. They can’t imagine that as a diaspora Jew, I would feel their pain so strongly that I would make it a part of my physical being. There are a number of people who have told me they didn’t see me as a ‘tattoo guy’. This image speaks loudly and strongly to me and I wanted to make it a part of who I am.
After seeing what Hamas did to Emily Damri, I was deeply moved, not only by what happened to her but how she responded. Her smile, her determination, and her wililngness to share what happened to her hand with the world was inspiring. Moshe Shapira, a father and artist who lost his oldest son, Aner Shapira, on Oct. 7, 2023, turned the image of Emily’s injured hand into a symbol of blessings. This symbol spoke to me in a powerful way. On my other arm, I had gotten the same tattoo that Mia Schem did after her release, saying “we will dance again”, reminding her and me of the resilience of the Jewish people. We will dance again. We will continue to live and to thrive. I found the art of Moshe a perfect fit with the words of Mia. On Friday, I went to get Moshe’s image added under Mia’s words on my right arm. I asked the artist to move the hands slighty apart so they would frame the October 7th date.
The addition to my arm. It’s a powerful image and reminder.
The image of Emily’s hand also is the same as the the American Sign Language symbol for “I love you”. It’s also the symbol of the priestly blessings, the first of which is inscribed underneath this image. In Hebrew it says, “May the lord bless and protect you.” Powerful words. And yes, this is the symbol that Leonard Nimoy, a Jewish man, used to create the vulcan image used by Mr, Spock on Star Trek.
The world may not wake up, even as the physicians have reported that the three hostages released today were in the physical condition of people who had spent a year in a concentration camp. That is Hamas. That is what some of our politicians and many Hollywood celebrities support. It is what the UN supports. The same with the Red Cross. The condition of these hostages was so alarming, so shocking, that Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote the following letter to Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN. The UN is a hate organization. They are a bank account for Hamas and Hezbollah. The letter documents Hamas’s inhumanity and crimes against humanity. The UN will do nothing which is why it is time for them to be disbanded. Secretary General Guterres will do nothing, which is why he needs to be indicted for crimes against humanity. UNRWA is a UN agency that participated in all of this. He is the leader of the UN which oversees UNRWA.
The images of today are shocking. They should spur us all into action. Those who are Jew haters will ignore it or celebrate it. We must continue our fight. We must continue to live and fight for our survival. If you haven’t spoken out yet, start now. This is no time to be silent. This is no time to ‘go along to get along.’ This is no time to put your head in the sand and hope they will leave you alone. Ohad, Eli and Or are images we cannot forget or they are destined to be images of us in the future.
Stand up. Speak out. Be loud. Be proud to be Jewish. Don’t let those who hate win. Am Yisrael Chai – the Jewish people live!!
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine called to tell me that her family was moving from Orlando to DC because they felt Florida was no longer safe for their family. It is a strange thing to hear about where you live. Yet I understood what she meant and why she felt they had to move. It wasn’t the gun laws in Florida nor was it the mass tourists or the humidity. It was the political climate where the government was getting into their personal lives. It was because their daughter is Trans.
My heart broke as they sold their dream home, packed up, and moved. We stayed in touch and I saw her last year when i was in DC and we got together for dinner and to hang out. Her daughter was flourishing and the family, while missing Florida, was doing well.
She reached out to me today to let me know that she and her daughter were moving to Israel for two years because America was no longer safe for her family. I had known this was a possibility for a few weeks and hoped that it wouldn’t be what ended up happening, but it is.
How do we live in a country where people literally have to leave because they feel unsafe to live here because of who they are? I know there are many people who are undocumented, who did not follow our immigration laws, that feel unsafe. Their feeling of being unsafe is the risk of being sent OUT of the country and their desire is to stay. This is the opposite. They are choosing to leave because staying wouldn’t be safe.
I understand the concern about safety. With the rise of antisemitism and my public stance on speaking out, I felt that I became a target of those who hate. I was on TV regularly and was clearly identified as being Jewish and a leader in the Jewish community. My information is public. Anybody can find where I live with a simple property search. They can see what cars my family and I drive and follow us easily. We had people in Orlando wearing Nazi uniforms, flying Nazi flags, chanting hateful sayings, hanging Jew hating banners from bridges over interstate roads and even assaulting jewish students on camera.
Two hate groups met on a bridge in Orlando in September 2023The entrance to Disney in June, 2023, with protesters flying multiple Nazi flags
I couldn’t take the risk of being a victim of serious hate crimes against me or my family, so I went to get my concealed carry permit. I made sure that if the need every came up to protect my family from serious harm, I could. I also reached out to a friend to ask if they would hide me and my family, if the need every came. Just the thought of making that call made me sick to my stomach. When I actually did it, it felt worse.
As I watch what my friend and her family are going through, they are actually leaving the country. We have reached the point where American’s don’t feel safe living in our country because of hate. Hate for those that are different. Hate for those we don’t understand. Hate based on lies, misstatements, misunderstandings, and lack of knowledge along with pure bigotry.
I have friends who have many differences. At least four that I know of have children who are Trans. Some of my friends are Gay or Lesbians. Others are different races and religions. Their differences only enhance my life, they don’t detract from it. Their friendship, who they are, make my life better. I have learned that friendship is about who shows up. It’s not because you are have similar physical characteristics. As I think of my friend and her daughter getting ready to leave for Israel, I am both excited for them and this journey (a part of me has always wanted to make aliyah), and I am sad for them, forced to move once again due to safety concerns as a result of hate and bigotry.
We can do better. We must do better. We must be better. This isn’t about giving any singular group ‘special privileges’. This is about ensuring that every American has the same inalienable rights guaranteed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, where it is written, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In this time where hate in our country continues to grow, we must also remember the words of the Declaration of Independence that come after this. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. Government is to ensure we have these rights, not to take them away. The past few decades have shown our Government to be taking them away. And once again, the Declaration of Independence tells us what happens when our Government does this. “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, had many beliefs about the government. It’s purpose was to ensure these rights for all. Not for some. Not for those who agreed with him. Not for the limited few who met random criteria of wealth, age, race, gender, sexuality, etc. For all. That’s why he wrote those words in the Declaration of Independence.
Our Government exists to serve the people and ensure our inalienable rights. Somehow we have forgotten that. Somehow we have gotten to a place where Government now scares half the country all of the time.
Once again I go back to Thomas Jefferson, one of our most influential and impactful founding fathers for inspiration. We have seen our government struggle to truly guard our inalienable rights for nearly 30 years. Year after year, it seems to get worse. It doesn’t matter who the President has been, which party has control of the House of Representatives or the Senate, our government has bred divisiveness and created fear among the citizens. The type of fear that led my friend to leave the country with her daughter to keep her daughter safe. For the past 3 Presidential elections I have chosen to write in candidates because I refused to support either of the ones running. I reject the ‘lesser of two evils’ with the belief that I don’t want evil at all. I want inspiration. I want somebody who truly cares about the entire country to lead it, not with an agenda to only benefit half the country (I don’t care which half). I’ve taken lots of grief for this but I don’t care. In this past election, it seemed many people agreed with me. Now it’s time for us to to listen to Jefferson and have ‘a little rebellion’ to force the change we want. What we are currently doing isn’t working. There is no reason to think it will work after the election in 2 years or in 4 years if we keep doing what we are doing.
It’s time for us to stop the insanity. It’s time for us to take action and do something different. We need to listen to Albert Einstein and take action. Forget about bringing business back to America. We to make sure our citizens feel safe and don’t need to leave to stay safe. We need to have a government that reflects the vision of Abraham Lincoln. “Of the people, by the people, for the people.” The way things continue to go, what we have will perish from the face of the earth.
I hope my friend and her daughter will feel safe enough to return to live in the United States. That is up to each of us to remember that if we want freedom for ourselves, we need freedom for everybody. If we want to feel safe in our country, we need everybody to feel safe in our country. If we truly value our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, we need to make sure that everybody is represented and personal beliefs don’t become our country’s policies.
The question is what are you going to do? Do you want to wait until it’s your turn to have to leave the country? Do you want to put your head in the sand and think they won’t eventually come for you? Because they always do. I faced it myself with Jew hatred. I have seen it happen to my friend and her family. I choose to speak up. I choose to take action. As long as we allow hate to exist, it will grow and eventually will come for all of us.
It is the middle of January, 2025 and yet it is also October 7, 2023. The calendar moves on yet for many of us, it remains October 7, 2023, one of the worst days in Jewish history. The Holocaust and the destruction of the first two temples are certainly worse, but October 7, 2023 belongs in the top 5 of all time worst days in Jewish history. The 15 months that have followed have reinforced the Jew hatred that we saw on that day.
More than 1,200 men, women and children, including 46 Americans and citizens of more than 30 countries, were slaughtered by Hamas on October 7. Girls and women were sexually assaulted. Babies were cooked alive in ovens. People were beheaded. The depravity of Hamas’s crimes is unspeakable and yet we must speak. I watched the 47 minute Hamas video and those images are forever burned into my mind as are the comments of the representative from the Israeli Consulate that day – that they had worse footage that they simply wouldn’t release because it was too graphic and too horrific to be in the public domain. Hamas also took 254 people hostage that day, including 12 Americans. Four of those Americans – Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l), Itay Chen (z’l), Judy Weinstein (z’l), and Gad Haggai (z’l) – were murdered by Hamas.
Since October 7th, the rise in antisemitism has been profound. Jews are attacked daily for being Jewish. Jewish buildings are being attacked. Jewish schools shot at in Montreal. Attempted firebombings. Jews have been threatened with arrest in England just for looking Jewish. Synagogues in the United States have had protests blocking people from entering or exiting the building to pray. University campuses are filled with hatred, not just from other students but from faculty. Classes are including antisemitism as part of their curriculum. Columbia had Jewish students take their finals in the spring of 2024 online because campus wasn’t safe instead of making campus safe.
All of this has made we wonder how we got here. And yet, I do see some brightness flickering. Growing stronger. Not only because people who are Jews but not connected are now saying, if I am really Jewish no matter what, maybe I should learn what being Jewish means. It’s also because of our allies stepping up and speaking out. Shouting from the rooftops that these are lies and fighting not just along side us but often times leading the fight.
They give me hope. Not only do I want to talk about them but I want to show what is possible from things that have happened in the past. We don’t have to accept hatred in our lives, in our communities, in our city, state, country or world. It requires effort and requires allies. Not just to fight Jew hatred but to fight all hatred.
I’m going to start in the past. In 1993 in Billings, Montana, somebody threw a rock through the picture window of a Jewish family’s home. The family had been displaying a menorah in the window, a very Jewish custom and part of the Hanukkah celebration. The local paper—The Billings Gazette—hear about the story and did something that would be shocking in today’s world. Rather than excuse the behavior, rather than publish lies about why it happened, rather than make up something about Hanukkah being offensive to Christians, rather than, as happened in my own Orlando Sentinel where a very well known and respected columnist published a column with the headline, “In college protests, media hysteria overshadows reality“ making the claim that there really wasn’t antisemitism on campus and it was being overblown. He took the side of the terrorists and those who spout hate over Jewish students attempting to go to class. I reached out directly to him, angry and frustrated by what he wrote since it simply wasn’t true. When called out on this, he stood his ground, basing everything on his nephew’s reports and what was happening in Florida. A nephew he admitted is part of the protest movement against Israel and the Jews. Florida, a state in which leadership has done what very few other states have done to protect Jewish students. He never apologized. He never retracted what he said. The column remains posted. At least he hasn’t tried to comment on the rise of antisemitism since then.
In Billings, Montanta, in 1993, they reacted totally different. Instead of minimizing what happened, the newspaper published a full-page image of a menorah, urging its readers to tape the picture up in their windows. There were only approximately 150 Jews in Billings, yet the greater community displayed over 10,000 newspaper menorahs.
The newspaper menorah from Billings in 1993
Billings didn’t stop in 1993. With the rise in antisemitism, they reprinted the menorah in December, 2022 and held a public menorah lighting. All in a town with a small Jewish population. Because they believe in morals and ethics. Because they chose to stand against hatred, including Jew hatred. In a world where we don’t hear or publicly see much support for Jews, it’s important to recognize it and show people that they can make a difference and they can stand against hate.
It’s similar to the “MyZuzzah, YourZuzzah” campaign that Patricia Heaton created, encouraging people who aren’t Jewish to stand up against Jew hatred by putting a mezzuzah on their front door. Special solidarity mezzuzahs were created for those who aren’t Jewish but want to show solidarity.
That’s what allies do. They stand up. They speak out publicly. We have plenty of celebrities who speak out in favor of Jew hatred. Examples include Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, John Cusack, Bella Hadid, and many more. We need to focus on those like Patricia Heaton, who stand with us.
People like Douglas Murray, a journalist who has been speaking loudly for a long time. He isn’t Jewish. He has no Israeli family members. Yet he speaks out loudly, clearly, and passionately about the stakes of this war and the moral clarity required. Here is just one example of what he does and says.
There is Australian news anchor Erin Mulan, also not Jewish, who has been actively talking about the truth of what happened on October 7th and the evil of Hamas. It cost her her job. She didn’t care. She continues to speak out and speak up. She uses her platform to advocate for truth, Israel, and the Jewish people. You can watch her recent report from Israel.
Natasha Hausdorff is another ally. She is a British barrister, not Jewish, and an incredible advocate. She often travels and speaks with Douglas Murray. She gave the closing argument in the Munk Debate staying that Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism. With no dog in the fight, she chooses truth and humanity. Listen to her closing argument in the Munk Debate.
It’s not just academics. Boxer Floyd Mayweather recently took his second trip to Israel since October 7th, calling Israel his “home way from home”. He doesn’t just speak with his words. He takes action with his money. He has used his private plane to deliver essential medical supplies to the nation. and during his previous visit in March 2024, he not only spent time meeting with IDF soldiers, rescue workers, and civilians, he donated an fleet of ‘medicycles’ to Magen David Adom.
On his recent trip in December 2024, he visited an IDF base where he hosted a barbecue for military personnel. He visited the headquarters of United Hatzalah, Israel’s largest volunteer emergency medical service and then made a $1 million donation to United Hatzalah, supporting their critical work. He has donated $100,000 to buy bullet proof vests for Israeli medical volunteers. Like I said, he doesn’t just say it with words, he shows it with actions and with his money.
Floyd Mayweather receiving the Champion for Israel Award at the Dan Family Aish World Center
We need to thank our allies. We need to invest in building relationships so we have more allies. Antisemitism thrives when the non-Jewish community allows it to. When the non-Jewish community steps up and says no, antisemitism and Jew hatred decrease. I have spent countless hours talking with non-Jewish friends about what’s going on in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, as well as in Orlando, Florida, the U.S. and around the world. Helping them to understand. Perhaps if that Orlando Sentinel columnist had strong Jewish relationships, he would have asked for input before writing and publishing that column. We cannot sit idly by and let others tell our story. We must reach out to potential allies and engage with them. We must thank and engage with those who are our allies and are actively speaking out against Jew hatred.
It’s the only way to survive.
Douglas Murray, Adam Bellos, and me after Douglas spoke in Miami.
In the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011, President Bashar Assad was responsible for murdering over 500,000 civilians. He used chemical weapons on his own people in order to stay in power. Despite the massive unrest, both Russia and Iran lent their support and he was able to remain in power. The UN was silent. The International Court of Justice was silent.
Assad continued to abuse the Syrian people. He enabled weapons to come into Lebanon for Hezbollah to attack and terrorize Israel. He was a pawn of Russia and Iran. There were no protests on college campuses. No riots in the street. No calls of genocide, despite half a million people being murdered by him. Despite his use of chemical weapons on his own people.
Then an amazing thing happened. Rebels in Syria rose up against Assad this week. Because of the war with Ukraine, Russia did not help. Because of war with Israel through their proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the impact of the Israeli attacks responding to Iran, Iran did not help. Within a week, the Assad government fell. He and his family are now in Russia.
It is amazing what happens when you take on the bullies. With Russia and Iran out of the picture, the evil Assad regime is over. There are many different rebel forces now in charge of different parts of Syria. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani (Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a) are aligned with Al Qaeda. Some are more moderate and Israel has talked with them about the border. Nobody knows what Syria will look like moving forward. What we do know is that the influence of Russia and Iran in Syria has been greatly reduced to eliminated. The people of Syria have freed themselves from the tyranny of Syria when given the opportunity. Where are the talking heads, using this as an example for the Iranian people and the Iranian regime? Where are the talking heads for the Gazan people and Hamas? Where are those same people for the Lebanese people and Hezbollah? They are nowhere to be found. Just like on the college campuses. If you can’t use it to blame the Jews, we will ignore it.
With the upheaval in Syria, Israel has gone ahead to secure the border. The IDF has secured the eastern part of the Golan Heights and the demilitarized zone to ensure the safety of Israeli’s living on the border. The map below shows it well. I fully expect that next week the Jew hating talking heads along with those on college campuses will blame Israel and accuse them of trying to colonize Syria. The hypocrisy is brutal. Israel has publicly stated they are merely securing the border. Israel has communicated with the Syrian rebels that they are not trying to invade Syria and are securing the border. Israel has let the rebels know that as long as they leave the border alone, there will be no attacks. Israel is destroying military stores to ensure the border remains safe. The facts won’t matter, just like they didn’t matter when Assad was murdering his own people. No Jews, No News.
Is what happened with the Assad regime in Syria a model for Iran? Reports out of Iran are saying that the fall of the Assad regime has created significant internal tensions within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as younger, radical members criticize senior leadership over the handling of the Syrian conflict. President Trump is expected to return U.S. “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran, this means the regime faces an increasingly precarious situation. Internal divisions within the IRGC risk undermining their ability to suppress unrest and project power abroad. We have seen the people of Iran rise up int eh past and the world ignore them and leave them to face the wrath of the regime. The world has changed, placing the regime in its most vulnerable position in decades. Will we finally see Iranian regime change, freeing the Iranian people from their tyranny? Will we see a new government that won’t be a state sponsor of terror? Will we see the return of the Persian people instead of religious zealots?
Early in the morning of December 4th, Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare’s insurance business, was assassinated in public on the streets of New York. While the business practices of insurance companies is reprehensible to many (they deny coverage, don’t listen to what doctors say, and are more interested in profit than healthcare), a public execution of a business leader is not acceptable. It creates a slippery slope where it is ok to murder anybody in a business you don’t like or think has harmed you. Not just insurance companies. A restaurant where you get food poisoning or a bad meal means the owner, chef, or even server becomes fair game. A dry cleaner that ruins your clothes is now a target to be killed.
Amazingly, there is a large group of people who don’t understand this. They are celebrating his murder. They even held a shooter look-a-like contest.
🚨 There is a UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter lookalike competition happening right now in NYC.
They are awarding a winner to whoever looks most like Brian Thompson's killer.
It makes me wonder where we are going as a country. It’s perfectly ok to not like Brian Thompson and what he stands for. It’s perfectly ok to not like United Healthcare or all insurance companies. If you want to wish bad things on those running these companies or the company itself, you can do that. I had a terrible experience at a specific restaurant and vowed to never give them any of my money ever again.
Greta Thunburg became a star on the world stage because of her care for the planet. She was outspoken about climate change and got the world’s attention. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year from 2019-2023. Many found her a voice of reason in an unreasonable world. It is clear that all this fame has gone to her head. Thankfully, she never won the Nobel Peace Prize as she now advocates publicly for the elimination of Israel. Her Jew hatred is public and she has become a hate filled person who loves herself and her fame more than anything else. It’s sad to watch somebody who seemed to genuinely care about the world and making it a better place, devolve into hate and bigotry. It’s sad when being famous is more important than anything else and drives you into hate. Using Greta’s own words, “F**k you Greta”.
"F**k Germany. And f**k Israel", says little jihadi-wannabe @GretaThunberg, while still laughing. She really has lost the plot entirely. pic.twitter.com/XoM62kjxde
We often think we have it bad. There is stress in our life. Pressure. We forget how lucky we are. I was talking with a friend in Israel this morning who apologized for his delay in responding because he was back in milium (reserves) once again. Then he shared that his wife’s nephew was an IDF soldier killed in Gaza last week and he had to deal with that. Yet he was apologizing to me for taking time to respond. He has stress. He has pressure. I needed no apology and told him that. Then I read this story from Shaquille O’Neal and it reinforced how lucky we are. How we take so much for granted. How these spoiled, elitist college students spew hatred because they don’t know anything. How these college professors and administrators enable and often encourage Jew hatred because they don’t know anything about life or reality. My friend taught me a lesson in gratitude. Shaquille O’Neal reinforced it.
Shaquille O’Neal said, “My stepdad was a sergeant in the army-a serious, strong man of character. We had an excellent relationship. I once played at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks in my first season in the NBA. I had a terrible game. Afterward, he called me and asked why I played so badly. He wondered if it was the pressure of facing Patrick Ewing and the Knicks. I told him I felt pressure. He said, ‘Tomorrow, I want you home at 7:00 AM. Pick me up-we’re going to see a family that has no home.’ On the way, we encountered a family in need. My stepdad stopped, gave them money for their next meal, and said, ‘That’s pressure. You have everything; you’re weak. There’s no pressure in playing basketball and earning millions of dollars. Real pressure is felt by those who don’t know when or where their next meal will come from! He told me to get out and help that family. I got out and saw a man with his wife and two children who had just lost their home. The man was looking for work. He told me he was cutting grass. I called a friend and asked him to get this man a job. I called another friend and said I needed an apartment for a family of four, promising to send a check the next day. They needed help. After that, I never felt pressure in a basketball game again because that family had real pressure.”
The entitled college students who believe the Hamas lies, who express publicly their Jew hatred, and who show they are terrible human beings don’t understand the world. They live in a mindset of blame and hate. Their entitlement shows itself in their expectations that everything should be given to them, that other people should work hard so they get things for free, and that not taking responsiblity is the way to success. They could use a lesson from Shaquille O’Neal’s father.
Hanukkah is late this year. It begins on Christmas. Just like many people, the only gift I really want is the return of the hostages. The end of Hamas and Hezbollah so there can be peace. I saw dreidel image and it expresses visually what I am feeling. No matter where it lands, the hostages get freed. That is not hypocritical. That’s what we are about. Freedom. Hanukkah is a holiday about freedom. This war is about freedom from terrorism. Freedom from Jew hatred and antisemitism. Freedom from Hamas and Hezbollah. Freedom from Iran. Freedom for the Syrian people. Freedom from hate and bigotry.
The dreidel letters The letters on a dreidel are an acronym for the Hebrew phrase “Nes gadol haya sham”, which translates to “a great miracle happened there.” In Israel, the dreidel replaces the letter Shin (Sham) with the letter Pay for Po (here). May this Hanukkah be one where we can say both – a great miracle happened there (return of the hostages, end of the war) and a great miracle happened here (a stop to the rampant Jew hatred).
In Australia they tried to burn Jews alive this week. That isn’t a typo. It’s not a quote from the 1930s or early 1940s. This was last week.
The world likes to pretend that antisemitism isn’t on the rise. They like to pretend that Jews aren’t being targeted. Leaders exclude Jews from those protected like other minorities. Yet this week they tried to burn Jews alive.
This wasn’t about Zionism. This wasn’t about Israel. This was about murdering Jews. They attacked a synagogue. Filled with Jews. The image is powerful and frightening. Read the words out loud and realize what just happened.
People will say, “That’s Australia. That type of hate could never happen in the U.S.” Then the results of a shocking study by the ADL is released. Want a job in America? If you’re Jewish, you’ll need to send 24% more applications than others to get the same response. If you’re Israeli? 39% more. Systematic hiring discrimination is real. Jew hatred exposed in a different venue. Those who espouse their Jew-hatred, their antisemitism, get upset that there is an impact on their future or current employment based on their actions. Yet there is no outrage at blatent discrimination against Jews in the hiring process simply because they are Jews. Or Israeli. The world continues to lose its mind.
That’s horribly antisemitic and highlights the growth of Jew hatred. Yet it gets even worse. At UCLA, Jewish students were put on a ‘no hire’ list. UCLA’s Cultural Affairs Commissioner, Alicia Verdugo, also texted her colleagues to be on the lookout for “zionists.” UCLA gets federal funding. This is a blatent Title VI violation and their federal funding should be stripped. This type of behavior with any other minority would not only result in Verdugo’s firing, the University itself would have leadership change and the federal funding would be at risk. Yet nothing is happening to UCLA or Verdugo. It is bad enough that we have this type of Jew hatred at UCLA however the fact that there is no consequence for it is even worse.
We also get to have our Jewish leaders invest in antisemitism. Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff not only voted for a resolution to stop sending weapons to Israel, he publicly spoke about his reasons, using Hamas and Hezbollah propoganda as his facts. When he got backlash from the Jewish community and those in Georgia who support Israel, he came out plublicly defending his vote, stating, “This is who I am.” It’s good to know he is a Jewish antisemite. It’s good to see so many people in Georgia being so upset with him and Senator Warnock for their votes. Ossoff’s up for election in 2 years and there are already efforts to ensure he loses in the primary. Maybe we really are beginning to return to some normalcy. We can only hope.
Speaking of hope, there was one piece of news that gives hope, a smile, and a good chuckle. BYU’s Jewish Quarterback, Jake Retzlaff, just got a “Name, Image, and Likeness” (NIL) deal with Manischewitz! The irony is great. A Jewish quarterback, at a Mormon school, where alcohol is prohibited, gets a marketing deal for kosher wine (and matzo and latke mix). I know few people who really love Manischewitz wine – it’s what you drink because you have to. Maybe Jake Retzlaff will make it the kosher version of Boone’s Farm. I can imagine a whole bunch of teens, sitting in the woods, passing the bottle of Manischewitz blackberry or cream wine amongst themselves. Will they call it the Manny? The Schew? The Witz? I’m sure there will be some creative name they come up with for the 2025 version of Boone’s Farm! Maybe this can bring some Jewish love instead of Jewish hate.
Many of us were pleasantly shocked when President Donald Trump posted this statement on Monday. The power behind it was shocking. I heard from many people that this is what they expected when they voted for Trump. I heard from others that they hate it when they agree with something Trump said. The most common theme I have heard is, “what if President Biden had said this on October 8th?” It’s something many of us will wonder about and we will never know because he didn’t. He was supportive of Israel, visited Israel, and has ensure Israel has the weapons they need despite lots of controversy and delays with some weapons. Despite the good President Biden has done for Israel since October 7th, he has never come out this strongly about the hostages and demanding their release. Now that we know that Omer Neutra was actually murdered on October 7th and Hamas stole his body and took it into Gaza, there remain 6 American hostages alive plus Omer’s body in Gaza. The words that we use matter. Who says them matter. It is why we need to advocate to our leaders so that they speak out. So that they get educated. It is why we fight those who use words to delegitimize and lie.
My favorite line in President Trump’s post is the end where he states, “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW”. It’s different than “Bring them home now” and puts the responsibility where it belongs – on Hamas to release them and on Iran to force Hamas to release them. Words matter.
A perfect example of this was when President Biden went to a bookstore in Nantucket and purchased The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, written by the Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi, an anti-Israel academic who recently retired from Columbia University. The author describes it as “a history of settler colonialism and resistance from 1917 to 2017.” Once again, attempts to spread the lies that Israel is a colonial state and that despite rejecting multiple oppotunities for peace and state of their own over the past 76 years, the Palestinians are ‘resisting’. There are many options to learn about the history of the region. There are many academic books that provide unbiased and factual information. The fact that President Biden chose this book is a problem. The fact that he publicly walked out with it for the media to see is yet another problem. Actions make statements. Intentional or not, President Biden’s actions made a statement providing support for the lies about Israel.
I don’t know why I am shocked or surprised at the antisemitism that happens throughout the world. The violence no longer shocks or suprises me, it simply disgusts and saddens me. What does suprise and shock me is when Jewish academics blatently lie and spread falsehoods. This is where truth is supposed to be sought. This is where it is ok to debate issues however facts are facts. It is ok to debate opinions and interpretations but you don’t get to create your own facts.
Except at Yale University where the Center for Jewish Studies completely changes the Talmud from being Jewish to being Palestinian. They have completely removed Judaism and Jews from the Talmud, making them Palestinians instead. I find it beyond offensive. It is another reminder about how important it is to do research on Universities before sending your child there for an education. My oldest already has his master’s degree and my youngest graduates college in May. I would never send them to Yale or any of the schools that have shown themselves to be antisemitic. Columbia? No thank you. Penn? Not a chance. Harvard? Are you crazy?
When we see things like this, it’s critical to not just call them out but also to make sure the Department of Education knows about it. All Universities receive federal funding and are held to standards. Title VI violations have been reported and lawsuits filed. It’s critical we hold these Universities, their Presidents and their faculty accountable for their actions and their inactions. If we allow them to get away with it then we are just as responsible as they are.
When our leaders speak up, we see what happens. On Monday night, the UJA-Federation of NY held their Wall Street dinner. This year it raised $55 million dollars, an all time record. The focus of the diner was on the hostages and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l) spoke. In her keynote address, she urged them to use their voice and power to make a difference, stating, “I know that there are many in this room that have the ability to make this happen. It might be that the only reason you do it is because it is righteous, it is holy. It is the singular most godly act you will ever do in your life to help these innocent and beloved souls who are languishing in Gaza.”
At the event, UJA-Federation Board Chair Marc Rowan, who last year made headlines for stopping his significant donations to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, in response to its handling of campus antisemitism went even further, calling on these Wall Street leaders to use the power of their organizations’ voices and their hiring power to fight antisemitism. “It is our responsibility, it’s our job, it’s our challenge, to secure the future of the Jews and the future of Israel. Fundamentally, we need to pivot,” he said. “The Wall Street community is a very fortunate community. Many of you in this room are leaders. Raise your voices, charitable boards, school boards, boards of civic organizations. Remind those around you that antisemitism will not be tolerated.”
The more our leaders speak out, the more power we have. The more we can fight antisemitism and protect Jews. The family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin (z’l) has made sure that his memory is a powerful tool for remembering the hostages and doing everything they can to get them freed. Visuals matter. Words matter. Actions matter.
What are you going to say? What are you going to do? How are you going to make sure you are seen? The days of being silent and hidden are long gone.
It amazes me how the world chooses to forget and ignore the 101 hostages remaining in Gaza. When Iran held 52 American hostages for over a year, the world paid attention every single day. The TV show Nightline was created specifically for nightly updates on the hostage crisis. As a child, I remember the daily concern and stayed home from school as Ronald Reagan was inaugurated and the hostages were released, just to watch it happen and get the updates.
The 101 hostages, including 7 Americans, have been held for 422 days, close to them being held as long as Iran held the hostages from 1979 to 1981 (444 days). Yet the world remains largely silent. In August 2024, six of the hostages were brutally murdered by Hamas. None of the American hostages Iran took in 1979 were murdered. The world was outraged then and is quiet now.
Yesterday, Hamas released a video of Edan Alexander, one of the 7 Americans still being held hostage. It’s hard to watch. What is harder for me is the realization that for the 420 days that he has been held, America has largely forgotten him and the other 6 Americans. Other countries demanded Hamas release their hostages over a year ago and Hamas complied. America has not. It’s an embarassment. It’s horrifying. They have been allowed by our leaders to remain hostages simply because they are Jews.
Recently I wrote and posted the video of released hostage Mia Schem talking at the UN. She urged people to look at her and realize it isn’t too late to save the current hostages. The sign below in a neighborhood in Jerusalem uses the memory of Hersch Goldberg-Polin (z’l) to remind us of the same thing. We cannot forget the hostages. We cannot allow them to remain brutalized and in captivity by Hamas. We must ensure they are released and returned to Israel – all of them, alive or dead. I urge you to do something and say something about the hostages every day. Remind yourself and others of their plight. I say the Achenu prayer daily to remind myself. I wear my yellow ribbon pin. I wear my dogtags. We owe it to them.
In Israel, the reminder of the hostages is daily. It’s everywhere. It is overwhelming, as it should be. Released hostages Raz Ben Ami and Gabriela Leimberg (left); Michel Illouz, father of the late Guy Illouz whose body is held in Gaza; released hostage Danielle Aloni; and Yifat Zailer, cousin of hostage Shiri Bibas, spoke yesterday at an event marking one year since the first and only hostage deal took place. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since that deal happened. I remember watching it closely as the cousins of my friends were scheduled to be released. I remember sitting on pins and needs as I waited for confirmation that they had been released and then for reports on their health and safety. This should be the headline on the news. This should be above the fold in our newspapers. Because the hostages are mostly Jewish (note they are not all Jewish), the world doesn’t care. If you really wonder about the rise of antisemitism and if the past could happen again, simply watch the hostage situation as it is happening again.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquartered in Tel Aviv is dedicated entirely to the hostages and their families. I’ve been there twice. It is referred to as ‘the saddest place on earth’ and I have to agree that is certainly is one of them. The Kibbutzim that were attacked on October 7th and the site of the Nova festival are two others that could claim that title. Yet visiting there and hostage square, just around the corner, is something that I feel compelled to do on each visit since October 7th. As long as thre are hostages remaining, I must remember them. I must speak out for them. It’s an obligation I think we all have. Every day, I still sing Achenu, praying for their safe return. It’s an easy thing to do so I’ll post it again here in case anybody wants to join me in this daily ritual. Hebrew or English it doesn’t matter.
My friend Lou’s daughter wrote this powerful piece about what studying at Stanford has been like as a Jewish student. She dropped out of her Ph.D. program there as a result. The stories are heartbreaking. We aren’t physical hostages but we are hostages to hate. I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in the northern United States last week. He was telling me about how scary it is to walk around publicly Jewish. I was telling him that I don’t care. I won’t surrender my identity. I won’t pretend to be something that I am not. Then again, I don’t wear a kippah and most people think I am Italian, not Jewish. My tattoos on my forearms are visible but most people don’t think of them as something Jewish unless they are Jewish.
Unlike the hostages in Gaza, we have a choice. We can choose to act like hostages, to hide our Jewish identities. Or we can choose to be proud of our intentities and fight back. I choose to fight back. I choose to stand up against the hate. I choose to not let them win. They can try to physically assault me. They can yell and scream at me. They do their damnest to make me intimidated to be Jewish. It won’t work. I am part of a 3,000 year old tribe and won’t disappear. Listen to the powerful words of my friend Andrew Lustig who writes powerful poetry. I am Jewish.
Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. They murdered 1,200 people. Kidnapped over 250 and still have 101 hostages. They fired rockets towards civilian areas, not only trying to kill Israeli citizens but on misfires, destroying the people of Gaza’s homes and killing them. Hezbollah has been firing missiles into Israel since October 7, 2023, also targeting civilians. Iran, on two occasions, has fired hundreds of rockets, including over 200 ballistic missiles on one occasion, also at Israeli civilians. Yet it is Israel that is held accountable by the world and the ICC for the death of civilians. Despite the fact that this is one of the lowest civilian to combatant mortality rates in history. Despite Israel begging Egypt to open Sinai to allow civilians to move there and be safe from attacks against Hamas. Despite Hamas using homes, hospitals, mosques, and schools as military bases and creating human shields. The hypocrisy is unbelievable and shows the blatent antisemitism in the world.
Just last week, 19 US Senators voted in favor of limiting military aid to Israel as they try to defeat the evil of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. This was led by “Jewish” Senator Bernie Sanders and one of the vocal proponents of limiting this aid was Jewish Senator Jon Ossoff.
The same day that Bernie Sanders brought his bill to the Senate floor, allowed by “Jewish” Senator Chuck Schumer (who has not brough the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the Senate Floor), Rabbi Zvi Kogan (z’l) was reported missing from the UAE. It was suspected at the time that he was kidnapped by Iran.
Today we learned that the intelligence and security authorities in the United Arab Emirates located the body of Rabbi Kogan (z’l). He was murdered because he fought back against his kidnappers. Rather than let him go because the kidnapping wasn’t going well, they chose to murder him. The murder of Rabbi Kogan is a criminal antisemitic terrorist incident. The State of Israel has already publicly stated that they will act by all means and bring justice to the criminals responsible for his death. The UAE has already announced the arrest of three suspects. The power of the Abraham Accords is real. Yet despite all that Iran continues to do, there are no charges pending at the ICC against Iran. The Hamas leader charged by the ICC was already dead when they charged him. The IC didn’t charge the leaders of Hamas who recently left Qatar for Turkey. The ICC didn’t charge Turkish President Erdogan for housing these murders and terrorists.
Once again, it is only the Jews who are targeted.
I am exhausted from the hypocrisy and the lies. Today we saw rockets fired at civilians in Israel once again. We saw the attempted kidnapping and murder of Rabbi Kogan (z’l) in UAE simply because he is Jewish. And as countries around the world publicly state they will the ICC arrest warrants if Netanyahu or Gallant should visit the country (and the EU attempt to mandate every EU country do it), the realities are beyond absurd. Prosecutor Karim Kahn is far from a man of honor. He is presently under investigation for sexual misconduct. He brazenly accused Netanyahu and Gallant of “war crimes”, “deliberately depriving Gaza’s civilian population of essential goods, including food, water, electricity and medical supplies” as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against civilians.”
The absurdity of these claims should be enough for them to be invalid, yet because they are Jews, the fact that Israel delivers an average of 3,729 food trucks per month into Gaza with an average of 3,374 calories per person per day: almost double the needs of an average adult human, doesn’t matter. The food truck delivery and calorie amounts are documented in a detailed study by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Anybody who doesn’t want to believe it simply because it is an Israeli university study can easily verify the data using public informatio. Similar data is available regarding fuel, water, medical supplies, and all other forms of humanitarian aid, yet the lies grow and get spread by American politicians and celebrities, European governments, and world media.
Israel and the World Health Organization (WHO) just coordinated a massive polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza. It is important to note that the children who did not get vaccinated and in fact were not even seen by the employees of WHO are the Israel child hostages. In the midst of this massive campaign, the only children deemed ineligible to receive the vaccines were the Israeli hostages. It’s clear that these are not the acts of a country attempting to harm, starve or kill civilians—in fact, it is exactly the opposite.
On top of everythign else, it is well documented, including by UN sources, that the terrorist organization Hamas and other crime affiliates habitually steal much of the humanitarian aid that enters Gaza, as well as torture and kill civilians who attempt to take aid for themselves. It is also well documented that many UNRWA employees are actually Hamas members and are intentionally diverting the aid to Hamas instead of the people. There are no sanctions against UNRWA. In fact, just after failing to stop military aid to Israel, it was “Jewish” Senator Bernie Sanders trying to have the United States return to funding UNRWA despite their clear and documented ties to Hamas, terrorism, and the theft of humanitarian aid.
And then, today, after some of the leadership of the United States and those in the incoming administration were vocal about sanctions against the ICC, their spokesperson at the United Nations came out with a public statement that the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant could be revoked if Israel demonstrates a credible and thorough national investigation into the allegations. Since we already have the facts needed to disprove the allegations, what investigation is needed? It shows the power of standing up to Jew hatred. It shows that antisemitism can die in the light and when people stand up and speak out. It shows the power of peace through strength. It also shows the ICC is illegitimate
Talking about Jew hatred and antisemitism, two Israeli tourists in Townsville, Australia, were insulted and threatened by the owner of this store simply because they were Jewish. “Get the fuck out of my store! I don’t give a fuck about Israel but I do care about the fact that you’re a dirty, filthy Jew.” At least she didn’t try to hide it behind Israel and openly showed her bigotry and hatred. This video shows everybody what we face. I think the people who need to see it the most are the Jews who pretend it isn’t real and doesn’t happen. The Jews who excuse the behavior and try to blame it on us.
It’s why we must fight. It’s why we can’t stay silent. It’s why we can’t allow the lies to continue to be told unchallenged. The lies are what people believe. The lies are what ensure our destruction. Our fighting against it is what saves us. Don’t sit back and allow the hypocrisy of Jew hatred to win. Your voice matters. Your circle of influence matters. You matter. Take action now.
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