Tag: iran

Almost 400 days

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

It’s been almost 400 days since Hamas invaded Israel, murdered 1,200 people, raped women, and kidnapped civilians. 101 hostages, including 7 AMERICANS, remain in Gaza nearly 400 days later. To put it in context, Iran held 52 American hostages for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981. We don’t know when the hostages will return, or how many will return alive, but we hope and pray that it will be less than 444 days .

Recently we marked some significant dates that were once unimaginable. Oct 7, 2024 marked one year on the secular calendar since the Hamas attack on Israel. On the Jewish calendar, that anniversary was September 25-26, during the holiday of Simchat Torah. It is hard to believe that it has been over a full year since that horrible day. It’s hard to believe that we still have 101 hostages in Gaza more than a year later. It’s an embarrassment that there are still American hostages being held by Hamas and our government has not done all it can to get them back.

I saw this just before Simchat Torah and it struck me powerfully. One day, one murderous attack by terrorists, and 1,200 Yarzheits as a result. The explosion of antisemitism around the world. The hatred expressed on college campuses and at the United Nations, especially from leaders of the UN such as Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. She is the Joseph Goebbels of today, spewing her Jew hatred and propoganda around the world from her bully pulpit. Her boss, António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, refuses to discipline her or refute he hate and lies. When I look at the image below, I can’t help but think of the Children’s Exhibit at Yad Vashem. The link is visible and powerful.

When I think of the hostages, my heart breaks. While not particularly religious, every day I sing the Achenu prayer for them to come home. It’s one little thing that I can do, no matter where I am, to ensure they are remembered and never forgotten.

One of the faces of the hostages has been Hersch Goldberg-Polin (z’l) and his parents, Rachel and Jon. Hersh was tragically murdered along with 5 other hostages by Hamas. Last week, Rachel released this powerful video. It’s hard to watch. It’s harder to listen to. But it’s also a must watch and must listen. Hear the brutality that Hersh and the other hostages had to endure. Understand that Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran want every Jew to suffer like this. While Israel has offered pathways to peace, they only want Jewish death. As my friend, Fleur Hassan Nahoum has so elequently stated, “The problem isn’t that there is no Palestinian State. The problem is that there IS A JEWISH STATE!“

I’ve grown so tired on the lies being told. Of those with no knowledge spewing hatred based on these lies. The use of words like genocide and colonizer about Israel and Jews. The blatent antisemitism from certain political leaders and many businesses. The changing of history because it doesn’t fit their Jew hatred. Former President Bill Clinton has been vocal about how hard he worked to create peace in the Middle East and have an independent Palestinian State that lives in peace with it’s neighbor Israel. This speech is so significant because just as then General Eisenhower mandated that pictures be taken of the concentration camps as he liberated them because he didn’t think people in the future would believe what happened, this video documents FROM President Clinton what happened. He speaks directly about what was offered, what Israel agreed to, and what Yassir Arafat rejected. It’s so powerful, I have both the video and the text below.

“And the only time Yasser Arafat didn’t tell me the truth was when he promised me he was gonna accept the peace deal that we had worked out, which would have given the Palestinians a state on 96% of the West Bank and 4% of Israel, and they got to choose where the 4% of Israel was. So they would have the effect of the same land of all the West Bank. They would have a capital in East Jerusalem.

 I can hardly talk about this…. And they would have equal access all day every day to the security towers that Israel maintained all through the West Bank up to the Golan Heights.

All this was offered, including, I will say it again, a capital in East Jerusalem and 2 of the 4 quadrants of the old city of Jerusalem, confirmed by the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, and his cabinet. And they said no. 

And I think part of it is that Hamas did not care about a homeland for the Palestinians. They wanted to kill Israelis and make Israel uninhabitable. 

Well, I got news for them, they (the Jews) were there first before there their faith (Islam) existed. They were there. In the time of King David, in the southern most tribes, Hadjardia and Samaria.”

Powerful words from President Clinton. They should be a wake-up call to the woke antisemites about the lies they are being fed. But they aren’t. Instead, people are angry at him for what he said. We live in a world where the facts don’t matter, only a person’s individual truth. Hezbollah fires rockets into Israel for a year and when Israel finally responds, they are the ones who are responsible. UNRWA steals the food and aid and gives it to Hamas, yet it is Israel who is starving the people of Gaza. Iran fires over 300 missiles at Israel and then fires nearly 200 missiles at Israel in a second attack. Yet Israel is required to limit the response. Not with a proportional response of 500 missiles fired at civilians like Iran did. Not attacking their oil or nuclear facilities. Lies and double standards.

I like to think that it won’t continue but I know better. We have nearly 400 days of proof. We have hateful people like Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Francesca Albanese, Candace Owens, and many more that prove it to us constantly. Our fight must continue. As my friend Tal, a Lt Colonel (res.) in the IDF said to me last week as he prepared to go back for Miluim once again, this time in Lebanon, we are all tired but we must fight on. We must win. And so togther, we fight. Together we advocate. Together we lobby. Together we educate. It’s day 393. We won’t stop.

Iran – will we let them off the hook again?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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 bombing
Tel 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.

The Ego of the West may cause it to be lost

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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.

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.

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”

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.

Am Yisrael Chai

Am Yisrael Chai – we need to live not die

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

There isn’t a lot in this world that really shocks me. Maybe it is because I have low expectations of our leaders and of the people in the world. Maybe it is because I expect people to say dumb, uneducated, and ill-informed things. Perhaps it is because I have seen people feed off of hatred and believe anything that fuels their hate. It may even because I have come to believe that most people are dumb. Our education system is broken. They aren’t taught, they don’t learn the basics, and everything is based on headlines, clickbait, and opinions rather than facts.

Since October 7th, I have found myself being consistently shocked by one thing. The number of Jews who put their own self-interests and needs low on their priority list. Maslow’s heirarchy of needs clearly shows how the basics, food, water, shelter, etc. are the base. That is what we need most of all. Second is safety and security. I watch so many Jews place their own safety and security much lower on the list, concerned much more with the things in self-esteem and self-actualization. They are important but not at the risk of one’s own safety.

This has been bothering me a great deal lately. So much so that I had trouble sleeping last night. I dreamt that I was talking to the Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, murdered by Hitler and the Nazis. They were yelling at me about things such as equal rights, women’s rights, freedom of worship, access to health care, marriage equality, etc., telling me that I would have no need for that after they murdered me. These were all things that mattered to people who were alive, not to people who were dead. It shook me and I awoke at 3:30 am, unable to fall back to sleep.

Murdered Jews by the Nazis. Without safety and security we have nothing.

They are right. All the things we put value on in our society only matter to the living. Once we are dead, clean air doesn’t matter to us because we are no longer breathing air. We don’t need drinkable water, because we aren’t drinking fluids. It doesn’t matter who we have the right to marry because we are not getting married, we are dead. The only one with rights to our bodies are the undertakers who are preparing us for burial or cremation. These are truly first world problems and challenges and I am grateful that we have them to fight for. They are important and matter – when we are alive!

Some may say, “What about your children and grandchildren? Doesn’t it matter to them?” Here is the unfortunate news. They are not coming to kill just me. They are going to kill my children and grandchildren too. My brother and sister. My nieces and nephews. None of us are exempt. So once again, when they are alive, it matters a great deal. But when we are all dead, killed because we are Jews, it doesn’t matter at all.

Many people think I am overreacting. They think I am fear mongering. Perhaps. I hope so. The Jews of the 1930s thought so until it was too late. The rise of Jew hatred has been visible for a long time and I have been told I was overreacting for more than a decade. I wish they were right. The monthly drawing of swastikas on buildings in Seattle have grown to daily instances of violence against Jews around the world. Just yesterday, on Shabbat outside a Chabad in NY city, a Jewish man was stabbed by somebody yelling “Free Palestine”. His crime was being Jewish. I remember my African-American friends talking about the problem of “Driving while black” or “Shopping while black”. I empathized and thought I understood. I realize now that I didn’t.

This is an election year which makes things even more sensitive. People support one candidate or party over the other and demonize the one they don’t support. I’m not asking for anybody to comment on this blog about which candidate/party they support, why, or why the other one is evil. What I find shocking in this election cycle is how the survival of the Jewish people isn’t the number one concern for every Jew. In a world that is filled with Jew hatred, where violence against Jews is increasing daily, where the calls for violence against Jews is increasing daily, the fact that our safety and security isn’t the top priority stuns me.

I wonder if the changes in Jewish life over the past 50 years of so is the reason why. My grandparents knew that being Jewish meant a risk to their safety and security. They lived through the Holocaust, albeit in the United States. My Uncle Ralph, who lived through Kristallnacht while hiding upstairs with his grandmother, was 9 years old when his family left Munich to escape the Nazis. After escaping, he and his family had to deal with the Japanese, an ally of Germany, taking over in the Philipines. He understands the risk of our safety and security,

My Uncle Ralph speaking via Zoom to the Orlando community on International Holocaust Memorial Day

Today’s generation does not. They believe they are American’s first. They believe that America will always protect them. While I hope this is true, the Jews of Germany felt the same way until it was too late. I watch as Jewish college students align themselves with Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Code Pink, and other groups that hate Jews, are funded by Jew haters, and are aimed at eliminating Jews. I shake my head. When I see Jewish LGBTQ+ students holding signs that say “Queers for Palestine” I wonder how much they really know about Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Authority. If they understand how they would be treated by those governments.

It reminds me of a story my friend David Abramowitz tells about his father, Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz z”l. Rabbi Abramowitz was the founding Rabbi of Temple Menorah in Miami, a very successful synagogoue. In 1989, at 75 years of age, with a lifetime contract at the syngagogue, he shocked everybody by telling them that he had failed. The youth were not educated and were not staying Jewishly connected. He left his lifetime contract to create a radical program with a radical idea. The Jewish Leadership Institute (JLI) would take students to Israel at a highly subsidized price to teach them leadership and infuse them with a Jewish connection, Jewish knowledge, Jewish values, and how Judaism is relevent in their daily lives. This was a decade before Birthright. Fifteen years before MASA. 31 years before RootOne. I have seen the impact of this program since 1998. It’s more than what Birthright and MASA do because the mission is different. I was on the trip in July and saw the impact during the trip, not just after the trip.

See the impact it made me wonder how much of what we see with Jews not prioritizing our safety first and being stuck on Tikkun Olam, thinking that repairing the world is the greatest thing we can do, even at our own expense, is because of a lack of real knowledge. Over the past few years I have been investing some of my time in learning more Jewishly. High quality and interesting learning. Content based learning. Things I can apply in my daily life type of learning. I think this impacts the way I think, the things I value, and certainly my actions.

One example is the first prayer we say in morning services. I’m not a service goer and would never have known anything about this without being taught. We thank God for the rooster knowing the difference between day and night. It’s a prayer of gratitude. It’s a prayer to remind us to pay attention to the beauty of nature and all that is around us. In a world filled with so much darkness, I now start my day by saying thank you to God and being grateful for all that I have in my life and that is around me. It’s a simple thing to do and I do it in english. It’s my own prayer and awareness. It also helps me stay out of the negativity that is so pervasive in today’s world.

It’s been over 10 months since October 7th and we still have hostages being held in Gaza. The Red Cross has yet to visit them. They are never mentioned by the UN or UNRWA. We cannot forget them. We know the importance of human life in Judaism, Pikuach nefesh. We know that the mishnah tells us that whoever saves a life saves an entire world. In Israel in July, we learned and sung the Acheinu prayer at least once a day. It’s not an ancient prayer and is only 35 years old. It was easy to learn and easy to sing. Every day, I continue to sing the Acheinu prayer to make sure I never forget the hostages. Judaism gives us these reminders all the time about how to behave. This prayer is just one example.

I have also learned that when we praise God for all the amazing things he does for us, it is a reminder that we are made in the image of God and that we are supposed to strive to be that way as well. We are not expected to do things that will harm us however. The exceptions abound where our health, our lives, take precedent over everything else. The Talmud tells us very clearly that, “You shall live by them, but not die by them” and is based on Leviticus 18:5. When I see people doing things that harm the Jewish people or the State of Israel because of their belief in Tikkun Olam or Jewish values, it frustrates me because they harm themselves and the Jewish people with a faulty understanding. It’s always fair to criticize a government and a leader for their decisions, policies, and actions. When they are undermining the Jewish people, the State of Israel, it is not ok. That’s what they do. I have former students of mine who claim they love Israel as they work to rip the country apart. I wonder, “Where did I go wrong?” How was I unable to teach them where the lines are between criticism of governments and criticisms of the Jewish people?

My dream from last night of the victims of the Holocaust scolding me will haunt me for a long time. They are a reminder that life comes first. Without our lives, everything else doesn’t matter. Make no mistake, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Palestinian Authority want us all dead. From the River to the Sea means no Jews – we are all pushed into the sea. They openly say it. They don’t hide their intentions. When they say they are going to kill us, we need to believe them.

We continue to make the same mistakes. It is our history. We try to fit in and think they will leave us alone. We work to be a part of their country and think they will appreciate us as part of their country. We think if we only give them what they want, they will leave us alone. What we forget is that what they want is for there to be no Jews. What they want is to kill us all. This is thousands of years old and we are once again making the same mistake again. As my father would say to me, “If we don’t take care of the Jews, nobody else will.” My friend Fleur Hassan-Nahoum says it so well when she says, “The problem isn’t that there is no Palestinian State. The problem is that there is a Jewish State.“

I hope that I am wrong. Over a decade ago, with the rise of Jew hatred, I openly said that I hoped that I was wrong. This isn’t something I want to be right about. Yet I was right about the rise of Jew hatred. I was right about the far left and their hatred of Jews when everybody said it was just the far right. I don’t want to be right here, but I fear that I am. We need to stop helping them kill us. We need to stop thinking that they will like us, want us, and leave us alone if we just go along. History shows that never happens.

Invest in learning about Jewish values so you can apply them appropriately. Invest in Jewish practice that you find meaningful, whatever that may be. Visit Israel to see the reality, not what the Jew hating media tells you. Be proud to be Jewish and don’t hide. Don’t think it will just pass you by. The thought that keeps playing in my head is what far too many friends in Israel have said to me. “I hope you can move here before it is too late and they won’t let you leave.“

What are you waiting for? Am Yisrael Chai.

Iran, Israel, the US, the UK and a surprise from Jordan

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I had a totally different topic for this blog post and was in the middle of writing it when the alerts came out that Iran had launched drones at Israel.  It quickly became 50+, 100+ and the final report is more than 300 drones. Iran launched cruise and ballistic missiles.  Yemen has launched drones.  Hezbollah launched drones and rockets.  The US came to the support of Israel.  American forces intercepted drones in the skies over Iraq and Syria.

This image, from the NY Post, shows where things came from yesterday.

Reports indicate that British fighter jets stationed in Cyprus will assist in intercepting the drones.  Jordan launched planes and shot down those that came through their airspace.  Egypt closed it’s airspace and said they would destroy anything that came through it. Iran has said they will attack US bases if there is any US offensive involvement.  There was no way I could finish the blog I intended to write with this going on.

So, I’m going to write about where we are.  These are my opinions.  They are my hopes, dreams, concerns, and fears.  I will be wrong about many of them, and we will find out in the coming days what I was right about, what I was wrong about, and what things are yet to be determined.  I’m going to write them now anyway, even as things are developing moment by moment and by the time this is published, some of what I write may be dated.

Most people expected an Iranian response after the bombing of the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria.  The IRCG is a branch of the Iranian military that has been designated by the US as a terrorist organization.  The retaliation was expected to happen after Ramadan, so it’s not a surprise that Iran did something.  I’m not sure anybody expected that it would 300+ drones with bombs, cruise, and ballistic missiles, or that it would come from Iran, Yemen, and Hezbollah.  As I watched TV, last night, reading my WhatsApp updates from both the IDF and the Bernie News Network (an amazing way to get updates), I am filled with so many different emotions.

My first reaction was “this is what happens when you allow evil to remain.”  I have written at length about evil and how it needs to be destroyed.  The world’s inability to eradicate evil when we see it, leads to things like this.  Hamas is evil and must be removed.  There are no excuses to not remove them.  The leadership of Iran is evil.  As Iranian people.  I have friends both of Iranian decent and who live in Iran currently and they hate the government.  Hezbollah is evil.  The Houthis are evil.  As long as we are willing to allow evil to remain, to continue, for any reason, we put the world at risk.  Yesterday was a good example of why Israel must go into Rafa and eliminate Hamas.  It’s why we can’t continue to attempt diplomacy with Iran.  Their government is evil and cannot be trusted.  They only respond to strength.

My second reaction was to reach out to my family and friends in Israel to check on them.  With this many drones and missiles fired at Israel from multiple directions, the entire country is on lockdown.  Everybody is concerned.  My friends with young children were playing games with them to keep them calm as they were in their safe room.  Those with adult children serving in the IDF are concerned not only about their own safety but the safety of their children.  Those without children at home were trying to sleep but obviously couldn’t.  And my friends that are single were sharing their confidence in Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Arrow 3 Israel has in place.  I reached out to two friends in the IDF.  One responded that ‘it will be a long night’.  The other, a high-ranking officer, did not respond as I’m sure he was involved in high level, secret meetings about the response to Iran’s attack, when and how Israel will enter Rafa, or some other critical matter.  October 7th was personal for me and many diaspora Jews.  The attack today is another personal attack, a day I won’t forget. 

Drones and missles over Jerusalem being shot down by Iron Dome and David’s Sling.

As I watched the news, once again I was amazed as people blamed Israel for Iran’s attack.  People defending the Iranian government and this massive attack.  People trying to separate Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis from Iran.  I found myself getting very angry listening to them spin responsibility, saying Israel deserved to have 300+ suicide drones ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles fired at the entire country, targeting civilian and military targets.  The video of Iron Dome in effect over Temple Mount is a spectacular example of targeting non-military targets.

Drones flying over the Temple Mount. Thanks to Iron Dome, nothing was damaged and nobody injured.

I think about our US government and those who voted against funding Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Arrow 3 technology.  These are defensive technologies, designed only to save lives.  They have no purpose other than to save the lives of civilians from terrorists firing rockets, missiles, and drones at Israel.  The members of the US House and Senate who don’t support Iron Dome funding are even more clearly antisemitic.  The only reason to have them is to save the lives of all Israeli citizens and those who live in Israel.  When they vote against this funding, they are saying that Israeli lives don’t matter.  On a day like today, when hundreds of rockets and missiles are fired at Israel, the need for this technology is even clearer.  I’ve written about how October 7th has changed me.  The events of today have impacted me as well.  Those who won’t support Iron Dome and defensive technology designed to save lives are people who I view as wanting me and all Jews to be dead.  If they had their way, many Israelis would have been killed.  My friends and family.  If I happened to be there, me.  And they’d be happy if I was killed here.  That makes them people who shouldn’t be in office and who I feel an obligation to do what I can to have them lose their positions.  Today, and their actions, have made me an activist.

The Arrow 3 system defeating a ballistic missile in space. This video has gone viral on X with over 850k views since I posted it.

Here is the list of the 9 who voted against Iron Dome and the two who voted ‘present’ in case you want to be an activist as well.

From Top L-R Reps. Jesus Garcia, Raul Grijalva, Rashida Tlaib, Thomas Massie, Andre Carson, Marie Newman, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hank Johnson. (Composite/AP)

Israel isn’t alone.  Despite some of the challenges with the Biden Administration and the House and Senate, the United States joined with the UK and Saudi Arabia to deploy jets from Cyprus to defend Israel and shoot down drones and rockets before they arrived in Israel.  Jordan directly intercepted drones targeting Israel.  Egypt closed its airspace and activated its air defense systems.  Not too long ago that would have been an unthinkable thing to say.  A few days ago, it was Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iraq trying to talk Iran into not doing anything.  Another unthinkable statement just a few years ago.  Both Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are still on track to normalize relations with Israel in the future.  Despite the rise in antisemitism, despite the worldwide criticism of Israel in the war with Gaza, despite the negativity Israel faces in the media, Israel is not alone.  As Jews, we don’t have to be alone either.  We can build relationships with different groups to that we are there for them in their time of need and they will be there for us in our time of need.  Just like it took Israel a great deal of effort to make the Abraham Accords a reality and it’s taking hard work to get Saudi Arabia and Indonesia to normalize relations, it takes a lot of hard work to build those relationships.  So start now. 

A cruise missile shot down in Jordan. 8 months ago, the idea of Jordan helping defend Israel was unthinkable.

While the drones and missiles that Iran fired have largely been neutralized today with minimal damage and injuries, it is far from over.  Israel will retaliate.  Iran has threated the US directly and any other nation that gets involved to help Israel.  Will China and/or Russia get involved?  Is this the start of World War 3 or will it pass.  Nobody knows at this point but what we do know is that we must remove the evil for if we don’t, it will grow.  It will spread.  It will come to the United States, and we will face attacks on our own soil.  We will be in a far worse position for allowing it to remain than to do the hard work to eliminate it.  Eliminating evil isn’t easy.  It isn’t pretty.  It won’t come without criticism from those who don’t understand the power of evil and the cost of eliminating it.  We must do it anyway.  The cost of removing evil is less than the cost of letting it remain, grow, and flourish.

As we move into a new day, we have heard that the Biden administration has told Israel that while Israel will always have the support of the US in defending herself, the US will NOT be involved with any retaliation against Iran.  Once again, the infatuation of this administration with diplomatic attempts with the Iranian government, who doesn’t believe in diplomatic solutions and only strength, is astonishing.  They are correct that the incredible defense by Israel and her allies is a major win against Iran but without a response, Iran will only see weakness.  The message they receive is that this time it was stopped but we can do it again and again until it actually works.  There must be consequences.  The lack of consequences is why the government of Iran continues to terrorize and brutalize their citizens.  It’s why they ignore the nuclear sanctions and continue to develop a nuclear weapon.  The Iranian government lives by the words my father ingrained in my while I grew up, “Talk is cheap” and “Show me, don’t tell me.”  Iran needs to be shown there are consequences and a slap on the wrist or telling them they were bad doesn’t do it.  Israel will respond because they understand the need for strength.  They understand that without showing strength, you lose.  And losing for Israel means not existing.

I spoke to a friend of mine in Toronto late last night.  I didn’t realize that while I was captivated by the news and checking on my friends in Israel, in Toronto they were in the streets cheering Iran’s attack.  While the Israeli people were being terrorized by the sirens, hiding in safe rooms, listening to the explosions above their heads, Jews in Toronto were being terrorized by people in the streets.  This is another example of the power of weakness.  I was immensely sad chatting with my friend in Toronto.  She shouldn’t have to go through this.  Her husband and sons shouldn’t have to go through this.  The Jews of Toronto shouldn’t have to go through this.  Canadians will support the rights of anybody EXCEPT the Jews.  This is the world we live in today and unless we are willing to be activists, unless we are willing to stand up and speak out, unless we are willing to show strength and fight back, we will live in terror.  I refuse to live in terror or be a part of allow this to continue.  That’s my choice – you have to make your own and live with it. 

While Israel survived this first attack by Iran with minimal damage, it is only the beginning.  The world must face the fact that Iran is evil.  Their own people hate their government and have tried to resist while the world stood by and watched.  Now it is Israel who will fight back.  Who will escalate the situation.  The world can’t sit by quietly.  They must choose a side.  Let’s hope they choose good over evil.  Let’s hope they understand the fight they are in and that the price, while high, to eliminate evil is worth it. 

Am Yisrael Chai

PS:

Jews are used to being attacked and persecuted. As such we have developed a sense of humor that even in horrible times, we use to cope. Here are two items that in the midst of this horror, I found amusing and lightened my spirit just a little. I hope they do for you.

The 2 state delusion?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

As the hostages begin day 123, the war between Israel and Hamas continues with hand to hand combat inside the tunnels, things get more heated in the north with Hezbollah, and the US-England partnership is bombing the Houthis and Syria in retribution for the 3 soldiers murdered by Iran and 40+ injured, I find myself in disbelief at the world stage and what’s going on in the United States.

Montana Tucker at the Grammy’s highlighting the hostages and urging to ‘Bring them home’. Very different than Annie Lennox asking for a cease fire that only benefits Hamas and that Hamas rejected.

Calls for a ceasefire continue to grow even though Hamas has publicly stated that there will be no ceasefire nor any peace as long as Israel exists.  Not as long as Israel has soldiers in Gaza, but as long as Israel exists.  Today, Hamas rejected another ceasefire offer yet the pressure remains on Israel to simply stop defending herself. Israel has basically stopped the bombing and is engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the tunnels, trying to free the hostages.  These calls for a ceasefire are unilateral for Israel, not forcing Hamas to release the hostages and surrender.  It’s as if October 7th never happened. 

The newest twist has been the call to require a 2 state solution as part of the end to hostilities.  Not only are Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) committed to there being no Israel, both have no interest in a 2 state solution.  Yet the US and Europe are obsessed with this currently impossible solution.  Can you imagine if after 9/11 the US was required to have the Taliban as a new state on the northern AND southern border?  Instead of dividing Germany after WWII can you imagine allowing the Nazi’s to remain in power of a demilitarized state in the same location with evil countries feeding them weapons and bombs despite the demilitarized requirement?

It’s not that a 2-state solution is never possible.  It’s not possible now.  In 2019, when I spent time with leaders of Palestinian civil society, I was amazed when some of the brightest people around told me that if there were elections, they would probably vote for Hamas because the PA did nothing and while Hamas probably would also do nothing, there was at least a chance they might do something to benefit them.  New leadership is needed for the Palestinians.  Leadership that wants to live in peace with their neighbor Israel.  My friend Ali Abu Awwad, founder of the Taghyeer movement, focuses on Palestinian non-violence, change, and living in peace with their neighbor Israel.  He speaks openly, stating, “peace will not come through Jewish blood.  It will come from Jewish hearts.”  That’s the type of leadership needed for peace and a functional Palestinian state. 

My friend Ali Abu Awwad is the voice for the future. Click on the link above with his name and read about a new way forward through Palestinian non-violence and trust. 

Elliot Abrams wrote a beautiful and powerful article about The Two State Delusion on February 5th that should be required reading by all of our elected officials.  We cannot want peace more than the PA, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran do.  Until there is a modern-day Sadat and a modern day Begin, there simply isn’t a path to peace or a 2 state solution. 

Sadat and Begin – great leaders who risked everything for peace. It cost Sadat his life yet the peace holds 44 years later.

I try to imagine or find any other country that is told by their allies and the world that they don’t have the right to defend themselves.  A single country that is told they can’t keep their citizens safe.  Imagine rockets were being fired at the US from Canada and Mexico.  How long would it take for us to level the country?   Three US deaths and 40+ injured on January 28 by terrorists has resulted in the reported deaths of between174 to 225 civilians due to U.S. drone strikes in Yemen.  There is no outrage as we understand that when attacked, the accidental death of civilians occurs.  It is one of the horrors of war and why war should be a last resort, not a first action.  The terrorists of Hamas view it just the opposite.  For them, civilian deaths should be high because it helps their cause.  They do what they can to ensure that civilians are used as human shields and are put in harm’s way.  If you doubt that, ask yourself how many rocket launchers, grenades, bombs, and rifles are kept in your child’s school.  As yourself when you go to the hospital, if there are rooms there where rocket launchers, grenades, bombs, and rifles are kept.  When you go to worship, ask the religious leader to see the rocket launchers and armory they keep. 

I wear my dog tags every day.  One says “bring them home now” and the other says “we will dance again”.  Along with my Magen David (star of David), this guy who only wore an apple watch for years wears these proudly displayed outside my shirt.  I have masking tape I have begun to wear counting the days the hostages have been kept.  Today I will sadly write 123 on the masking tape and put it on my shirt.  Yesterday I wore my “I stand with Israel” sweatshirt with the blue ribbon attached for the hostages.  At the grocery store a number of people asked about my sweatshirt and commented.  No comments were negative, which surprised me. At the bank today, the teller asked me about 123 and when I told her, she shared empathy and said she’d pray for the hostages.

We are truly in a battle for our lives.  There are many in the Jewish community who want to downplay this.  They want to say it’s about Israel and Zionism or the Netanyahu government.  I spoke with my US representative yesterday and we discussed the difference between the government and some of the elected officials in Israel and compared them to members of our US government.  They are people who are held accountable to the electorate.  Just as the current US administration will be held accountable in November with elections where they job performance is evaluated by voters, so too will the Israeli government either at the end of their terms or earlier if the government falls (the difference between the US and Israel’s parliamentary system).  This is very unlike in Gaza where there have not been elections since 2007.  Or the PA where Mahmoud Abbas was elected on January 9, 2005, to serve as President of the Palestinian National Authority for a 4-year term.  He is now 19 years into his 4-year term.  Where is the outrage? 

We are seeing the world once again blame the Jews.  We are held collectively responsible for the hatred against us.  Just as 9/11 was labeled a Jewish conspiracy by many, today it’s Covid-19.  We are accused of blood libels, controlling the banks and the media.  The 2021 book by Dara Horn, People Love Dead Jews, calls back to the words of former Prime Minister Golda Meir, who famously was quoted stating, “If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.” Israel gets this.  Many in the diaspora get this.  Unfortunately, we still have many, such as Peter Beinart and Norman Finkelstein, who don’t get it yet have the public stage.  And the media loves to give attention to those who hate us and want us dead.

A powerful book – they love us when we are dead

I heard Peter Beinart speak in Seattle and met him afterwards. He will excuse Jew hatred and make it our fault until we are all dead.

Norman Finkelstein is the son of Holocaust survivors and one of the worst at excusing Jew hatred and blaming Jews for everything. He is vile.

The current situation reminds me of both The Emperor’s New Clothes and something that happened when I was in High School.  We all know the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes.  When I was in High School, we had a kid in my homeroom who had many issues.  One day he stood in front of a bulletin board in the hallway with a cigarette lighter in his hand as he lit the paper on the bulletin board on fire.  When somebody asked him why he was lighting the bulletin board on fire, he looked right at them and said, “I’m not lighting the bulletin board on fire.”  The worldwide Jewish community is under attack and no matter how much we want to pretend we have beautiful clothes; we are naked.  And no matter what is said, the bulletin board is being lit on fire.  We can either wake up, speak up, speak out, and counter the lies and blood libel being spread or we can whimper away and revisit the horrors of the past.  I agree with Golda and would rather be alive.  I will continue to call out the nakedness and the bulletin board being lit on fire.  Pretending otherwise only ensures our destruction.  I hope you decide to join me.

Golda Meir understood that unless we stand up for ourselves, nobody else will.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Trouble sleeping after the video so a (very) long post to discuss

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I saw the video of the Hamas atrocities from October 7, 2023, this past Thursday, December 14, 2023.  It was 47 minutes of horrifying video of the worst that people do to each other.  It was evil incarnate.  The Israel consulate shared with us that they have even worse video that they won’t share because it’s both too horrifying and because they don’t want to traumatize the families of the victims.  After what I viewed, I completely understand and don’t want or need to see that footage.

A friend asked me the next day if I was able to sleep that night, having just witnessed these atrocities and I told them that I had slept ok and was still processing everything that I saw and that I felt and integrating it with conversations I have had with family and friends living in Israel, some actively serving in the IDF and in the middle of the war.

I appreciate the sleep I had the night of Thursday December 14 because I haven’t slept well since.  The more I process, the more I think about it, the more I share with others about the experience, the more I feel my feelings, the worse I sleep.  There is so much that disturbs me about October 7, about what I hear from my Israeli family and friends, about the news coverage and what is happening in our country, what some of our Representatives and Senators in Washington are saying and doing, the United Nations, The International Red Cross, the loss of life that is occurring, all juxtaposed on my own experiences in Israel, with Israeli-Arabs, with Israeli Druze families, and with Palestinians.  My mind constantly spins with many thoughts that consume me.

On my 2019 Encounter trip to Israel, I spent 4 days meeting with leaders of Palestinian civil society and became friends with 4 amazing people.  I have found myself thinking about them often since the video.  They want peace with Israel.  They are vocal about Israel’s right to exist.  They are the people we need to have a larger voice. 

One of them, Ali Abu-Awaad, came to Orlando and spoke to a crowd that was half Israeli just before the pandemic.  The Israelis were blown away as they had never heard a Palestinian speak like that.  I’ll never forget what he said in Ramallah and in Orlando.  “The path to peace is not through Jewish blood.  It is through Jewish hearts.  We have to give the Jewish people a reason to trust us.”  How are they doing?  What are they feeling? 

I think of Osama, who was taught to hate the ‘Yehuds’ from birth, found redemption in an Israeli jail, through Combatants for Peace, and at a Shabbat dinner.  Does he still keep a kippah in his pocket because he never knows when he’ll be invited to Shabbat dinner? (A direct quote from him).  Does he still believe in a better future or has this shaken his hope for the future.

I think of Mahmoud, the owner of the Palestinian bookstore in East Jerusalem, where the password for Wi-Fi was “JerusalemIsOurs” and yet his startling admission to us later that evening that “If Zionism means the Jews have a right to the land and we also have a right to the land, then I am a Zionist.”  This came from somebody who a few years early thought Zionism was evil.  I think of the former Hamas member and former member of the Al Aqsa Brigade that I had lunch with one day.  Are they still on a path to peace or has this brought back their hatred and desire for violence?

I think about my friends and family in Israel.  I check in regularly.  My friends and family in Jerusalem are largely safe but also emotionally impacted.  Most of them have family living elsewhere that are at risk or have children, relatives, and/or friends who are actively serving.  Reading the names of the soldiers lost every day is a painful daily occurrence where we hope and pray not to know any of the names and then feeling guilty that we didn’t know the brave soldiers who paid the ultimate price for the Jewish people and the State of Israel. 

I think about my friends who live on Bitzaron, a Moshav in the south of Israel.  On October 7 we texted via WhatsApp as they hid in their safe room, hoping that terrorists wouldn’t come to their Moshav.  We have kept in touch throughout the time since and I have shared the aching in my soul to be in Israel, volunteering, helping to cook, clean, harvest crops, or do whatever they need me to do.  They have told me not to come yet, it wasn’t safe yet, wait a little longer.   Last week they messaged me, asking if I could come to help them with harvesting the crops as many are reservists, called up to fight in this war, and they don’t have enough people to harvest the crops.  It broke my heart telling them I couldn’t come now, as my family doesn’t want me to go because of their fears for my safety.  My wife has been to Israel 5 times and knows the realities.  My kids have seen me go to Israel most of their lives and know my love and passion for the country and the people.  They know how much I want to go and yet, as of now, I won’t go in order to honor their needs.  And yet I think of Irit and Avi and the Moshav and their crops and the need for food for the country and am left so conflicted.

I think of my friends and their children who are currently serving on the front lines.  I think of their bravery.  Some close to my age yet still on the front lines.  Others are 18, 19, 20, 21 – younger than my own children – who are doing what is needed for the Jewish people and the State of Israel.  I worry about them every single day, those serving in the South and in Gaza as well as those in the north dealing with Hezbollah.  I pray for their safety and that this war ends successfully soon so they can return to their lives.

I think of my friends who have family members that were either murdered on October 7 or were taken hostage.  The two that I know were hostages have thankfully been released.  I have previously written about Hila, kidnapped at 12 years old and released the day before her 13th birthday.  I’m so grateful to everybody who went to the Amazon page we set up to buy her birthday and Hanukkah gifts so she would feel the love from the worldwide Jewish and non-Jewish community.  Everything we listed and added and added was purchased and sent to her.  Her mother was released just after Hila’s birthday, so they are together but how are they doing?  How shattered are they?  How will they recover?  I have a little relief knowing that all of us joined together to help in our small way for her birthday and for Hanukkah to bring some light to their darkness. 

I think about those who are still hostages.  Are they alive?  Do they believe we haven’t forgotten them?  What about the infant and the children?  What about the women who were raped and taken captive?  Are they still being raped?  Are some of them now pregnant with their rapist’s baby?  Will they ever be released?  We are now getting daily reports of hostages murdered in captivity by Hamas.  Are they all dead and we are just waiting to hear the news day by day?  What about the tragic shooting of 3 escaped hostages by the IDF?  Are there more hostages that escaped?  What about the IDF soldiers who shot them – they were trying to keep safe and alive and now have to live with this for the rest of their lives. 

I think about those in Gaza who will remain after Hamas is removed.  How do we take care of them so that they believe in peace and in a future without violence, with prosperity and freedom?  How and who will rebuild Gaza?  I pray it will be the Abraham Accord countries who have the resources and can help put in a new government that will benefit the people of Gaza and give them a chance for a meaningful and fulfilling life that occurs peacefully next to their neighbor, Israel.  Is there hope?  Will we lose focus and leave them to be ‘saved’ by Iranian money once again? 

I think about all those calling for a “Ceasefire Now” because it sounds wonderful and their believe it will save lives, not understanding that Hamas has said they will commit the same atrocities or worse again and again and again.  Their leadership has said this publicly, on video, multiple times.  “Ceasefire now” means let Hamas regroup, rearm, and begin to murder Israelis once again, continuing the cycle of violence and ensuring more die.  How do we help them see that evil must be eradicated.  That there is no diplomacy with evil.  The only trust that exists with evil is that they aren’t trustworthly.

I think about the International Red Cross and how they haven’t seen a single hostage in captivity in Gaza.  Their only role has been to serve as a taxi service for those being released.  How they refuse to ensure needed medication gets to the hostages.  The abject failure of this organization haunts me and angers me. 

I think about UNRWA and how ineffective they are and how they are actively keeping Hamas going and harming the citizens of Gaza.   The Gazan people are rioting and stealing the aid from the warehouses because they know Hamas will steal it from UNRWA and they won’t get the food and medicine and water being supplied daily.  I think about the UNRWA employees who kept hostages in their homes.  About the doctor at a hospital who kept a hostage in his home.  These are the ‘innocent civilians’ we hear about and they are not innocent, they are complicit.

I think about being safe in the United States and around the world.  I haven’t felt safe in a year and have taken steps and continue to take steps to ensure my safety and the safety of my family.  I wait for the violence against Jewish people in the United States to increase significantly.  I wait for the first of what I fear will be many Jewish mass casualties in the United States.

I’m sorry this is so long but now you know why I have trouble sleeping since watching the video.  You know what I think about when I am awake and when I close my eyes.