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.
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.“
The amount of lies, misstatements, and falsehoods I have seen since October 7th are truly amazing. I had stopped watching most major media news because of their agendas a while ago. I now see their ‘highlights’ on social media and it disgusts me even more. Critical analysis is to be expected. Factual and fair discussions are to be expected. Disagreements on policy is to be expected. None of that is what we are getting.
What we are getting is truly unethical journalism. It’s agenda based, largely focused on Jew hatred. What we are getting is completely unanalyzed propaganda being spread as fact. I remember going through Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, the first few times and wondering how that type of crazy propaganda actually worked. We are now seeing it in real life, in real time.
I watch somebody like Piers Morgan go for ratings instead of the facts. I listen to him say the most ridiculous things to get views and clicks on social media. When faced with the facts, he chooses to bulldoze over people and shout them down unless they push back powerfully and argue with him. Which then gets him more views, more clicks, and more ratings. He is now the news version of Jerry Springer. Watch his interaction with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum. He could have asked, “Why don’t Palestinians have the same rights as Americans?” When caught, he quickly shuts down the conversation.
What do the Palestinians want exactly ? Ignorance and hypocrisy in one short clip. Do they want a one state or a two state solution? Even @PiersUncensored is confused 🤦🏽♀️ pic.twitter.com/ZtyohRmE5v
— פלר חסן נחום Fleur Hassan-Nahoum (@FleurHassanN) June 6, 2024
I listen to what Christiane Amanpour says regularly and it makes me sick. A once respected journalist is a shill for terrorists and those who hate Jews. When interviewing people from the UN, UNRWA or UNICEF, she never bothers to ask why Hamas terrorists are being found in their schools and medical clinics. She doesn’t seem to wonder why the entrance to Hamas tunnels are found near the UNRWA schools and clinics. She is happy to highlight that the people near the schools and clinics are in danger but leaves out the reason why – the connection to Hamas. She is happy to report on the Israeli people being unhappy with Netanyahu but neglects to discuss that there is an electoral process that will enable them to choose somebody else. She fails to discuss how Abbas is now in year 20 of a 5 year term or how Hamas has been in power since 2005 with no opportunity for the people to select another form of government.
The lies I see in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or told on the nightly national news make my stomach turn. I’ve been to Israel since October 7th and am going back in a few weeks. I see the pain and struggle of the Israeli people. I see the impact of the war and how everybody wants it to end as soon as possible. The hostages are on the minds of everybody, and their return is felt throughout the country. Other than far right extremists, nobody is talking about taking Gaza in a land grab. They are talking about a military grab of the hostages. They are talking about eliminating Hamas and their leadership as a risk to Israel.
On my last trip I went to both Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the site of the Nova music festival. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. At Kfar Aza I saw what Hamas did. I had seen it on the 47-minute Hamas video and other clips. I saw it in the Sheryl Sandberg documentary, “Screams of Silence”. Yet standing there, listening to the story of each family at each house, burned my insides. Seeing the street of young people where EVERY SINGLE PERSON was either killed or taken hostage was brutal and I’m not sure I will ever truly recover from that. Walking up to the back gate where the Hamas terrorists came through followed by the second and third wave of ‘innocent Gazans’ who came to rob the people they had become friends with and ate lunch and dinner with regularly, was infuriating. Seeing how close Jabaliyah was (less than a mile from the gate, less than half a mile from the back of the Kibbutz) was a bit shocking. Knowing I could walk to Jabaliyah in 10 minutes or less from the Kibbutz was a reality check. These are the things the media doesn’t show to the masses.
Jabaliya from the back of Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The fence is halfway to the back. It’s less than 1 mile away.All those killed or taken hostage at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th.
I listen to the cries for a cease fire, and I wonder what these people are thinking. A cease fire with people who say they will do what they did on October 7th over and over and over again until all the Jews are dead? How do you have a cease fire with that type of person? You certainly can’t trust them to keep their word. You know that it’s only temporary and the end result will be even more people killed. It seems that the long-standing complaints about our education system are finally showing themselves with so many people unable to do any critical thinking or analysis. Before September 11, 2001, I understood American’s lack of understanding about the risk of terrorism because we had not experienced it. After 9/11 I can’t understand the desire to defend terrorists, especially those who merely call Israel, “Little Satan” because the United States is the “Great Satan”. They openly call for our destruction and American’s still defend them. Who have we raised? Where is basic intelligence?
In the last week, I have begun to see the next wave of this propaganda. Israel is now going to take over Lebanon in the next land grab. The bombs Israel is dropping and the attacks they are involved with in Lebanon are somehow not related at all to Hezbollah sending rockets into Israel on a daily basis for the past month. The fact that Israeli’s who live in that northern area have been evacuated for months due to the bombing by Hezbollah is ignored. Israel fighting back to keep her citizens safe isn’t reported. Once again, it is framed as Israeli (Jewish) aggression and a land grab. They are denying that Arab nations kicked out Jews and that Jews left freely of their own will. They deny their own Judenfrei stated goals. The lies continue.
France has banned Israeli citizens and companies from attending a defense technology trade show.
The Maldives banned everybody with an Israeli passport from entering, now creating an issue for the Christians, Muslims, Druze, and Baha’i Israelis. That’s because the Maldives really only intended to ban Jews and is now trying to find a way to backtrack.
The tent cities are popping back up on college campuses, now not covered by the media because interest in that story has passed. Gabby Deutch highlighted in her X posting that, “The New Republic, a historic institution in American journalism, has a writer covering antisemitism who spent the morning of Oct. 7, after the crimes of Hamas were clear, calling the actions a “rebellion” & writing “good morning” above a picture of the attack.”
Just today, the Department of Education brought the first cases brought since October 7th to a close, finding that The University of Michigan and CUNY didn’t adequately investigate campus antisemitism and Islamophobia There are still more than 100 cases open. Think about that. 100 open cases on college campuses in the United States where they have not protected Jewish students from antisemitism.
This is the world we live in today. I know most people who read this know most of this already. The key is for those of us who know, to keep learning. For those of us who don’t know to learn. And for everybody to educate those who don’t know. There are plenty of people who hate Jews and do this intentionally. There are far more who simply know nothing and believe what they see or read because they don’t have a way to get information. This weekend, I spent time with some friends in Central Illinois. I had a long conversation with one of them who told me he really didn’t know. He didn’t believe what he was reading and seeing because it made no sense, but he didn’t know the history. He didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know the basic facts. That’s our job. To educate. To challenge the lies. To show proof. When they claim there were no rapes, we need to shout them down and show the facts. When they claim Israel murdered the Israelis on October 7th, we need to shout them down and show the facts, the Hamas self taken videos.
As my friend said today, it’s time to play offense. As Jews, we have hidden or played defense for thousands of years. Playing defense is no longer acceptable. We need to play offense. We need to be educating those who don’t know. We need to be speaking out loudly about what is going on. We need to challenge the lies. We know from our many thousands of years of history that it never just goes away. We can’t hide and escape. Just as Israel is fighting back from the pogrom of October 7th, so must we, in the diaspora, fight back against the lies and hatred since October 7th. Never again is now. How will you answer your grandchildren when they ask what you did to protect the Jewish people after October 7th? This is your chance to choose your answer.
There hasn’t been a lot of joy since October 7th. Sure, there have been family simchas. There have been birthdays and anniversaries. Life continues which means meaningful events occur, but there hasn’t been much sheer joy. Briefly when the hostages were released in December after 50 days of captivity. There has been a lot of stress, a lot of grieving, a lot of worry about friends and family members serving in the IDF. Concern with the rise of antisemitism on campus and in our cities and towns.
This morning was joy. It was announced that four (4) of the hostages were rescued from the market in Nuseirat. They were being held captive in private homes by ‘civilians’. The same ‘civilians’ that participated on October 7th. The same ones that held hostages after October 7th. The same ones that hide guns and rockets in their children’s bedrooms, a baby’s crib, in the schools and in the hospitals.
Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir Jan (21), Andrey Kozlov (27) and Shalom Ziv (40) are free today. The IDF had a very detailed and daring rescue planned and got them out. They were being held in “civilian homes’.
Almog Jan spoke after being released and said that they were moved from house to house during the 8 months of captivity. When the media and other groups talk about the innocent people being killed, remember that the innocent people helped with October 7th. They were involved with the second and third waves of the attack. They turn their homes into military bases, even their children’s rooms and baby’s cribs. They hide hostages in their homes. The definition of ‘innocent’ seems to not fit very well.
The rescue of the hostages has reverberated throughout the Jewish world. Friends in Israel reached out with a joy I haven’t heard in a long time. Friends in the US shared their excitement and gratitude. It has been the topic of the day. These two videos are what it is all about. It’s the importance of Jewish community. They are why we want and need Israel. When I read that Noa Argamani said, ‘There was a knock on the door. A voice said, “It’s the IDF. We’ve come to take you home.’” I got chills.
Noa Argamani reuniting with her father. I cried watching this.
As wonderful as the news of the rescue of the hostages was, there was sad news as well. Arnon Zamora (z’l), an IDF soldier who was a part of the force that broke into the apartment where the hostages were being held, was severely injured during a battle, and later died in the hospital. This brave IDF soldier risked, and lost, his life for Israel, for the Jewish people, and for the hostages. Arnon left behind a wife and two children. On October 7th, he led the battle at the Yad Mordechai Junction, eliminating dozens of terrorists and preventing the terrorists from infiltrating northwards. He then went on to fight in the battle at Kibbutz Nahal Oz and Kibbutz Be’eri. Unlike America, who still does nothing to rescue the American hostages in Gaza, Israel takes action. Arnon knew the risks. He also understood that rescuing the hostages was far more than saving these four people. It was saving a nation. It was saving the Jewish people. What a hero. What a huge loss. What a lesson. What an inspiration.
Arnon Zamora (z’l), killed in the rescue of the four hostages. May the memory of this hero always be for a blessing.
Almog Meir, shown above with his grandfather, learned today that his father died today. When they went to notify Yossi Meir about his son, they found his body. Yossi died before learning his son was alive and had been rescued. I can’t think of much worse for a parent, not knowing if your child is alive or what type of abuse they are undergoing as a hostage. Almog celebrates his freedom by preparing for the funeral of his father a day later. I can’t imagine what he is going through. Hamas stole his time with his father and may even be the reason his father died, so worried about the fate of his son.
Those who hate Israel and Jews have already come out strong with criticism. They focus on the approximately 200 dead and 400 injured in Gaza during the rescue. They like to overlook the fact that the hostages were kept in personal homes. They like to forget that the market and the UNRWA camp had become Hamas military installations. They don’t like to admit that Hamas firing at the IDF killed many of the people. They call them ‘innocent civilians’ despite the fact that they participated in the keeping of the hostages, they allowed Hamas to have military bases inside their community, and were actively involved with Hamas.
They also use the pictures of Noa Argamani and claim that she wasn’t raped (we don’t know if she was or wasn’t on October 7th or since then) so there was no sexual violence or rape by Hamas and that she gained weight so was treated great and somehow got food when there is none available and Gazans are starving. In their rapid Jew hatred, they actually are proving that UNRWA is giving the food to Hamas and not the people. They are showing their Jew hatred because Noa isn’t pregnant which automatically means there was no rape or sexual violence by Hamas. The rabid antisemitism is unbearable to watch especially with the lies they spread.
They criticize the tactical approach Israel used which involved pretending to be humanitarian vehicles to get into the area. They neglect all the times Hamas has used ambulances, hospitals, schools, and mosques to attack Israel and Jews. It’s a very self-indulgent approach to attack Israel and the Jews. It is their pattern. We cannot allow it to continue. We must call out the lies every time we hear or read them. We must call out the Jew hatred and antisemitism when we see it.
The IDF showed us today the importance of fighting back. We each have that responsibility. We cannot allow the lies and half-truths to stand unchallenged. We cannot allow the facts to be manipulated and twisted. At my age, I can’t join the IDF to fight back but I can fight back with advocacy, with knowledge, and with relationships. I can stand up and speak out. I wear my Magen David everywhere. I wear my dogtags for ‘We will dance again’ and for ‘Bring then home now’. I wear my lapel pins, one for the hostages and one with the US and Israeli flag on it. I wear short sleeves to show off my ‘We will dance again’ and ‘Nova’ tattoos.
The world we live in is one filled with Jew hatred. We have a choice. We can fight back or we can try to hide. Throughout history, our attempts to fit in and hide have not worked. Fighting back has been the only way to ensure our safety. I choose to fight back. Just like the IDF rescuing the 4 hostages today by fighting back, so will I fight back. I refuse to run and hide. I refuse to pretend I am not Jewish and try to fit in, hoping that they will leave me alone. Those who side with evil because they hope they will be spared should look at history. It never works out that way.
Israel and the IDF showed us how we fight back today. They showed us how every Jew matters. They inspired us. Now it’s our turn to show them how we fight back. How every Jew matters to us. We need to inspire them. We fight back by speaking up. We fight back by writing to our legislators and holding them accountable. We fight back by voting and making sure the incumbants and challengers know that Israel matters to us. We insire our Israeli brothers and sisters by our actions. We visit Israel to show them we care and they matter. We visit the Kibbuzim that were devastated on October 7th, the Nova festival site, the displaced Israelis from the North and the South, and soldiers on bases to give them a hug and remind them that they matter to us. After my trip to Israel in May, it became clear how important just showing up was to Israelis. I’ll be back in July in part to do the same thing all over again.
Today was a great day as 4 hostages were rescued. There are 120 more to get home. The leadership of Hamas must be stopped. There is a lot left to do. One of the famous sayings in Pirke Avot, the Ethics of our Fathers, is, “You are not required to finish your work, yet neither are you permitted to desist from it.” This holds true with the war in Gaza. We must engage. We must fight back. The world thinks they can bully us and as the IDF showed today, they are wrong. Let’s make sure they see it from all of us.
Every day, I find myself getting more and more frustrated at the lack of leadership in our Jewish communities, in our country, and around the world. The rise of Jew hatred is not just what we see on college campuses. It’s not just the ICC and the charges from South Africa that other countries are now joining. It’s not just the shooting at Jewish schools in Toronto and Montreal or a synagogue in Vancouver. There is a systemic effort going on to make us think we are safe while the walls close around us. We are once again putting our heads in the sand and failing to see what is actually happening. This scares me.
As things in the north of Israel are now literally on fire, we have reached a new point in both the war and the Jew hatred around the world. Israel has been attacked from the south and many people are no longer living there while the war in Gaza continues. Evacuations from the north are well known but not appreciated. Kiryat Shemona, where I have visited numerous times, now has only 8 houses left standing because of the bombing. Iran has said any offensive by Israel against Hezbollah in Lebanon will result in a full war with Iran. And yet the United States continues to kowtow to Iran and its role as the number one sponsor of state terror in the world. Israel is literally being squeezed from three sides (the third is the Mediterranean Sea). How much longer before the terrorists get an uprising in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria to squeeze Israel on all four sides while the United States plays games with Iran and our upcoming election? This chalkboard image describes a scary future.
My great-grandfather told us that once, we could go traveling in Syria.
My grandma told that once, we used to be able to travel in Lebanon.
Mom tells me that once we could travel in the Galilee.
And yet, as Jews in the diaspora we continue to fight with each other. We continue to ignore the existential threat to ourselves and work to defend those who openly declare their hatred and desire to murder us. The Jewish apologists in the diaspora, specifically in America make me physically ill. Their efforts not only undermine Israel, they put every Jew in America at risk. They encourage the hatred of Jews by legitimizing it. The encourage attacks on Jews by legitimizing it.
Former Staff member of the US Department of the Interior, Lily Greenberg Call, was quoted as saying,
Instead of fighting for peace and the end of Hamas, true evil, her ‘Jewish values’ requires her to sacrifice the lives of Jews. Instead of being a Queen Esther, a Hannah Senesh, a Golda Meir, she gives up the ability to save Jewish lives. This is the same thinking in Spain prior to 1492 and in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. It is what led to the destruction of the 2nd Temple by the Romans in 70 and our 2,000-year exile. We refuse to learn. We refuse to stand up for ourselves and fight back. Thankfully we have Israel now who fights back. Israel inspires many of us in the diaspora to also fight back and not put our heads in the sand. Lily Greenberg Call represents a generation that would have Jews eliminated because of their sense of fairness. They, like generations before them, believe that if they stand with those who hate Jews, they will treated as if they aren’t Jews. That never works out. History has shown us that a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.
Somebody I follow on Twitter posted this.
I would add to the bottom, “Don’t defend their actions.” the Lily Greenberg Calls of the world excuse this behavior and blame the victim. The wouldn’t do this for any other group, just for Jews. It is amazing how quickly the world has forgotten the horrors of October 7th. Of the videos made by Hamas of what they were doing that day. I’ll never forget the joy in the voice of the Hamas man who was telling his parents that he personally murdered 10 ‘Yehuds’ (Jews). The joy in his father’s voice. How proud his mother was of him. I’ll never forget watching a terrorist behead a Jewish man on October 7th. Of the father jumping on a grenade to save his children who, traumatized, are taken to their kitchen by the terrorist while he gets a drink. The pain in their voices will never leave my mind. I’ll never forget walking through Kibbutz Kfar Aza and seeing the destruction from not just Hamas, but the second and third wave of Gazan civilians who came in and did more damage, robbed and mutilated Jewish bodies. These were people who the day before had sat together, talking peace, sharing a meal, hoping for a better future. A day later, these Gazans had no problem mutilating them. My friend from the trip, Mikey, posted this on Instagram that captures the feeling of being in Kfar Aza better than I have.
I haven’t given up on the many Palestinian people I have met who do want peace. Who want to live next door to Israel. Unfortunately I am giving up on the world who would rather support terrorists that want them dead than those who want peace. Iran and their proxies Hamas and Hezbollah have been clear that they want a Caliphate. They want the world to be their type of muslim and sharia law to be the law of the world. No more England, France, or Spain. No United States, Canada, or Mexico. No China or Russia. Everywhere must follow their version of Islam and live under sharia law. It won’t take too much longer for the first of these countries to experience this impact. Some are struggling with it again. It continues to be a self-inflicted wound.
I can only hope that our American leaders wake up to the threat. That they decide it is more important to lead than it is to plan for the next election. That being a leader means you do what is needed for the benefit of the country, not what is needed for you to be re-elected. That the threat of Iran, almost a nuclear Iran, is so great that action must be taken. That the corruption of the UN, UNRWA, and the Palestinian Authority is so great than none deserve to survive. That the Abraham Accords, bringing never before seen peace in the region, are a good things and worth investing in. Saudia Arabia and Indonesia were ready to normalize relations with Israel prior to October 7th. The world was changing.
Today we have UNRWA turning their schools in Gaza into military institutions. Tunnels with openings inside or next to the schools. Weapons stored and fired from the schools. These are UNRWA schools, funded by the UN and by the world.
Tunnel opening inside the clinic, weapons in the UNRWA school. Documentation of combat team activity
In response to the anti-tank fire from the UNRWA school towards the troops, the combat team intervened in the school compound, which is also near the mosque and… pic.twitter.com/82QQcZZXP3
We have Hamas using homes as militiary bases and the world cries when these homes/bases are destroyed. The picture below was from a child’s bedroom in Gaza.
The world wants to be social justice warriors and ignore the realities. I am fearful for the future of not just the United States but the world as a whole. What happens when Europe falls? When mass casualty events are occuring in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and around the world? Are we really that far away from the post-apocalyptic world of the Mad Max movies? I’ve been watching the new TV show Fallout on Prime with my kids. Is that our near future?
I am also amazed at the power of the protesters who know nothing. They attend Ivy League universities. The attend top academic institutions and yet show their indoctrination and lack of knowledge every time they open their mouths. We all saw the Columbia woman who wanted food delivered to their illegally occupied building at Columbia. We have seen many interviews of people who don’t know what river it is nor do they know what sea it is. This woman might be the worst of them all, self proclaiming she spent a semester in Israel/Palestine yet not knowing anything when asked. She even thinks Israel is a muslim country!
I returned from Israel two weeks ago. I go back to Israel in four weeks. Just as I wasn’t sure what Israel I was going to in May, I’m not sure what Israel I will be returning to in July. Will the hostages, or at least some of them, be freed? Will there be a ceasefire? Will Hamas leadership still be in place? Will there be a full war in the north? Can we go further north than Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? What will my second visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the Nova site feel like? How will the world have changed in just the 6 weeks between visits?
Since my return from Israel, I have dug deeper into what is going on and it makes me sick the more I dig. The systemic hate. The lies that are told. Some of our ‘leaders’ who are filled with hatred and misinformation. I am usually a very optimistic person. I usually can find the good in any situation. I’m known for finding a pathway through challenges to a better place. As I sit here today, I am at a loss. As a world traveler, there are few places other than Israel that I would visit today. As an American, I don’t want to visit many of our states. Part of me thinks the only solution is what some of my Israeli friends have told me – to make Aliyah, to move to Israel where I will be safe. Yet I also know that running from the fight for security isn’t the answer either. The fight is here. There is no escaping it. Leaving it to people like the woman in the video who knows nothing isn’t acceptable. Abandoning people like Mikey who are fighting the fight here isn’t acceptable. Leaving it to apologists like Lily Greenberg Call is doing self harm and not acceptable. So I will stay and fight. I will urge you to join me. The future of the Jewish people is at stake. The future of the United States is at stake. The future of the world is at stake. Don’t sit by idly. Don’t stay uninformed or be quiet because you are afraid of the consequences of speaking out. I promise you, the price of your silences is far worse than the price of using your voice.
The words of Elie Weisel are more important now than ever.
We are the ones suffering and being humiliated. The people of Gaza are suffering and being humiliated because of Hamas, Iran, and those who would sacrifice them on the idol of Jew hatred. We cannot be silent. We cannot be neutral. We are the tormented. And we refuse to the victim once again.
I’ve been captivated by watching what is happening on the various college campuses in the United States over the last week. I admit that when I was in college, I was not an activist. It was the mid to late 1980s and while there were some protests on campus, it was largely calm and quiet and a wonderful place to be. I had way too much fun and not enough studying and almost no activism. When I began working at the University of Florida Hillel in 1998 that began to change and by the time my tenure at UF Hillel ended in 2013, I was a full-fledged campus activist. My focus was on understanding, partnership, friendship, communication, and inclusion. Focusing on our similarities rather than our differences became a passion of mine during those 15 years and remains one today. So as I watch these ‘activists’ on college campuses and how the ‘leadership’ at each University chooses to handle their behavior I am fascinated by what is happening.
I grew up in an era where we had a lot of freedoms. My mother was famous for teaching us, and our friends, that you do whatever you want as long as you were willing to pay the consequences. It was a lesson I learned early in life and have continued to use today. Actions have consequences. Take the risk, accept the consequences. This lesson is part of what I find so challenging as I watch what is happening now.
These ‘campus activists’ (I use quotes because many of them are not from the campus nor are they activists, they are imported to agitate and inflame the situation) fully expect that there will be no consequences to them for their actions. They expect others to have consequences. Delays in getting places. Inability to access campus. Having to take classes remotely. They don’t get the permits they need or if they get them, they don’t follow the rules that are affiliated with the permit. Their entitlement is amazing to witness.
You see it being taught by their professors. As the videos of professors being arrested because they thought they were above the law are shown, I find it humorous. These entitled individuals are shocked that anybody would actually hold them accountable. The students and the professors have grown up in a world in which nobody taught them that actions have consequences. That if they take the risk, they have to be willing to accept the consequences. We see it with the University Presidents who choose to allow these encampments to remain and who won’t discipline or remove the discipline from those who violate the rules. They aren’t doing these students or professors a favor.
Emory Professor being arrested because she isn’t follow police directions and is breaking the law
And then there are those who do hold people accountable for their actions. President Ben Sasse at The University of Florida ensured there would be no encampment by reminding everybody in advance what the rules are and what the consequences are for violating them. Nobody questioned whether he would enforce the consequences of their actions and as a result, free speech was maintained as was the safety of Jewish students. At places like The University of Minnesota, The University of Texas and Emory University, those violating the rules and/or breaking laws were arrested. When they chose not to listen to the police officers, they were forcibly removed. That’s the real world. Actions have consequences.
Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I admit my generation was different. It’s something that we need to look back upon and see how far we have gone off the rails in the name of ‘protecting’ our children. This video, while intended as humor, also shows the difference.
The rise of hate speech isn’t new, and it doesn’t begin in 2016 with Donald Trump like many want to believe. For proof, I offer this 2010 letter to the Editor that I wrote in the University of Florida campus newspaper, The Alligator, calling out hate speech
It was more civil in 2010
In July 2014, the Pacific Northwest head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) came out and said that The Holocaust wouldn’t have happened if Jews had guns in Nazi Germany. At the time, I called the statement, “Idiotic, simplistic, and simply wrong.” I stand by those words today. More Nazis would have been killed but likely more Jews as well. It was a statement based on the belief that Jews are weak and won’t fight back and need guns in order to be allowed to exist. I’m not anti-gun at all. You can ask those who know me. I am anti-hate and anti-stupidity. As a child, my mom would often complain that I had no tolerance for stupid people, and it caused me problems then as it does today. Smart people can act stupidly at times. We see that today. My fight with the NRA in 2016 over this person’s comment and antisemitism got national attention and you can read about it in the Seattle Times. Or just google me and the NRA and it comes up.
Over the last 8 years it pretty clear that I was right and the author of the second piece, who likely approves of the antisemitic, hate filled, violence driven campus actions, was wrong. Some people won’t learn even when they are the target.
Seven (7) years ago we got this warning from the UAE’s Foreign Minister and failed to heed it. It helps explain why were are where we are today.
7 years ago, the UAE’s Foreign Minister issued a warning to the West.
Today we see elected officials like US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) join the antisemitic and violent gathering at Columbia and publicly make the following statement while facing no serious consequences.
“I think it is really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”
While she is trying to say that Israel is committing genocide, a factual lie. In reality it was Hamas who did commit a genocide on October 7th. And intended to kill more Jews. And has openly stated that they will continue to kill Jews until they are all eliminated. That is the definition of genocide. Yet Rep. Ilhan Omar faces no backlash.
We see Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Ortiz (AOC) (D-NY) also visit the Columbia cesspool of hate and then posting on X (Twitter)
“Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act. It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
They are peaceful to her as a woman of color who isn’t Jewish. In this case, she is the one with the privilege she often rails against. Calling the police on people breaking the law is what we do in the United States, unless you live in New York. Enforcing our laws is what happens in countries ruled by laws unless you live in New York. I do agree with her that we have a ‘heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk’ but I assign that failure of leadership to Columbia University President Manouche Shafik who chooses daily not to enforce the rules of Columbia. I assign it to the leadership of Columbia University who continue to allow President Shafik to remain in her role when she is showing daily that she isn’t able to do her job and protect ALL students, which includes Jewish students.
Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) was also at Columbia University, not protecting the Jewish students from his district but to encourage those breaking the law and violating Columbia’s policies to continue doing it. To continue to chant things like ‘Death to America’ and ‘We are all Hamas’. To harass and threaten Jewish students. As one Jewish student recounted,
“They were pushing and shoving me. . . They threw rocks at my face. At that moment, my life was totally threatened. And there was no safety authority on campus.”
At least Representative Bowman is losing his primary race and will hopefully not be in office in just a few months.
I grew up in a Zionist home with parents and grandparents who were Zionists. We all support the existence of a Jewish homeland, the State of Israel. The fact that there was a country that we could be a citizen of just by showing up sounded really amazing and empowering. The thought of actually making Aliyah, moving to Israel and claiming citizenship, was a fantasy throughout my youth. My cousin actually did it in 1980 and was the outlier we all used as our token Israeli relative. During and after college I had a few friends who made Aliyah and I thought it was cool for them. During my 15 years at UF Hillel I had many students who chose to make Aliyah, become lone soldiers and serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). It wasn’t until the 2000s that I thought maybe some day it would actually be something that I would want to do. The more I went to Israel, the more time I spent there, the more the fantasy became a dream and maybe even a goal and objective.
Just a couple of years ago, in my mid-50s, I realized that I didn’t really want to make Aliyah. It was a fantasy. I wanted to live as an American in Israel. Expensive apartment. Eating dinner out at fancy restaurants. Not have a real job to go to every day. I changed my fantasy to spending a month in Israel every year at some point. That seemed more realistic. It became something to being to save and plan for. I knew my wife would never really want to make Aliyah and be that far from our kids and her parents and siblings but a month a year was something I could discuss with her.
Since October 7th, I have been questioning everything. As America becomes more and more unsafe for Jews, my fantasy of being an American spending a month in Israel every year has gone back to considering if maybe we did need to move there in order to be safe. A country under attack from at least 4 fronts (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iran), in an active war zone, was safer than America. What a scary thought. Yet I also know I am not the only one who struggles with that concept and that thought. I talk about it with friends. We look back at those who saw the signs in Germany and Europe and left when it was possible compared to those who were stubborn and stayed until they went to the death camps and want to learn from their sacrifice. From their murder.
And then I find Arabs speaking out against Hamas and trying to speak sense to these radicalized students and professors. People like my friend Ali Abu-Awaad. People like Loay Alshareef, who I have reached out to, who is traveling to campuses all over America and posting on social media. Watch a few of his posts and you may have hope that there is a future with peace.
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This video is going viral on Instagram!
Islamists and extremists despise witnessing the unity between Muslims and Jews.
I'm unapologetic and will continue this work despite the hate.
— Loay Alshareef لؤي الشريف (@lalshareef) April 26, 2024
Dear White Americans and Gen Zs who support or tolerate Hamas supporters on US campuses, a gentle reminder from a credible Arab Muslim voice from the Middle East:
You are supporting a terror group with the same Islamist/ Muslim brotherhood pathological creed that brought down… pic.twitter.com/ltfKJRFVHJ
— Loay Alshareef لؤي الشريف (@lalshareef) April 23, 2024
⚠️WATCH
I recently spoke at the University of Southern California, I explained to students the dangers posed by Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas’ ideology to the region.
I also debunked common misconceptions, such as the claim that their opposition is only against Zionists, not Jews. pic.twitter.com/wT2rKbfKqi
— Loay Alshareef لؤي الشريف (@lalshareef) April 24, 2024
So maybe I need to stay and fight. Maybe there is a third option that our ancestors in Germany and Europe didn’t have. Instead of running to safety or sticking our heads in the sand, maybe we can stand up together and fight back. We can be the nonviolent version of Mordechai Anielewicz, who at 20 years old was trying to get Jews to return and fight against the Nazis. Who just before he turned 20 began to fight back in the Warsaw Ghetto. And who at 23 led the actual uprising against the Nazis. Their valiant effort didn’t defeat the Nazis but it showed that Jews could and would fight back. It inspired the future leaders of the new State of Israel to fight and defend themselves. He and those who fought with him inspire me not give up hope and to keep fighting.
Mordechai Anielewicz didn’t do it along. There were other leaders who joined him. Icchak Cukierman, Tosia Altman, Marek Edelman, Cywia Lubetkin
One of the great things about being Jewish is we have thousands of years of role models. Not just the biblical ones we learn about but recent ones like Mordechai Aneilewicz. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Natan Sharansky. David Ben Gurion. Moshe Dayan. Golda Meir. Elie Wiesel. Betty Freidan. Harvey Milk. Louis Brandeis. Judy Blume. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. There are many more. And that’s just recent role models.
I choose to follow the role models I mentioned and fight. I choose to not give up and not be quiet. I choose the third option. What will you choose?
I’ve written about Bayard Rustin a few times since I learned about him. He was an incredible friend to the Jewish people and an avid Zionist, even visiting Israel and meeting with then Prime Minister Golda Meir. I decided to watch the new movie about his life, focusing on how he made the March on Washington occur. It’s available on Netflix.
Watch the trailer
I was stunned as I watched the opening scenes of the movie which depict the end of segregation and the first time African Americans were attending the same schools at white students. Not because of how awful and vile what happened at that time was. Not because of the suffering those students went through to bravely fight for their right to equal opportunity. I was stunned because it looked exactly like what Jewish students are facing on college campuses today. People yelling in their face. Calling them names. Treating them like second class citizens. It was horrible and unacceptable then. It is horrible and unacceptable now. Yet it’s happening every single day on college campuses across the country and in Canada.
Jewish students forced to hide and barricade themselves in the library at Cooper Union in NY.
Bayard Rustin was the brains and genius behind the march of Washington, DC where Dr. King gave his “I have a dream speech”. He talked about having the largest peaceful protest in history – 100,000 people on the National Mall (the actual number was 250,000). After October 7th, I was part of 300,000 people who gathered together peacefully in Washington, DC., in support of Israel and the Jewish people. When it was announced, I knew I had to be there. I knew that I wanted to be able to tell my future grandchildren that I was there. I wanted to be a role model for my children, nephews, and nieces, that I went and was part of it. It felt like a big hug, being there with signs supporting Israel and demanding the release of the hostages. Singing Hatikvah with 300,000 people was something I will never forget. History repeats itself – in 1963 it was the March on Washington for civil rights. In 2023 it was the rally for Israel with 300,000 people gathering to not just support Israel and the Jewish people but support each other.
There is a scene in the movie where Bayard tries to get the NAACP on board with the march. The head of the NAACP, Roy Wilkins, was afraid of what might happen if they had 100,000 ‘Negroes’ coming to Washington to protest. In the scene, they talk about other marches with far fewer people and highlight one, from 1932, done by WWI veterans. President Hoover unleashed the military to break up the march. Using tear gas and bayonets, the military chased away the veterans and those supporting them, burning their shanty towns in the process. Wilkins asks in the movie, “what was their race?” The answer, “they were white.” His fear of what might happen led the NAACP to say no to the march. We face the same thing today in the Jewish community. We have many communal leaders, many Jewish stars in sports, entertainment, and politics, who are afraid to take a bold position after October 7th, with the rise of antisemitism everywhere, out of fear of what might happen to them. This fear paralyzes us and results in more damage occurring to Israel and the Jewish people everywhere. It’s ok to be afraid, it’s not ok to let that fear paralyze us into inaction. As Jews, we have thousands of years of history that shows us what happens when we live in fear, when we don’t act, when we just try to be a part of some other society and don’t stand up and fight for ourselves when threatened. I made the decision after October 7th to not be paralyzed by fear. I made the decision to speak out against the evil of Hamas and of the Iranian leaders. I made the decision to call out antisemitism whenever and wherever I see it. It’s an ongoing conversation in my family as they are concerned about what some crazy, hate filled person might do. How I may be targeted. How my family may be targeted. One thing I know from our Jewish history is that if we stay silent, we will all end up being targeted, we will all end up being harmed. I’m not willing to repeat the mistakes of the past. Bayard Rustin wasn’t willing to accept being paralyzed by the fear of what might happen at the march. He knew that doing nothing would result in a far worse outcome. I hope we, as Jews, can learn from his leadership and not be afraid to stand up for ourselves, to speak out, to call out those who hate us and wish to harm us.
As they talk about what date to hold the march, the first suggestion is a Monday. Bayard replies, “Mondays are hard for our Pastors.” He then adds, “and Fridays are bad for our Jewish friends.” It’s a great reminder that as Jews, we were active in the civil rights movement. We played an important role and built a strong relationship with the African American community. In the years since then, for whatever reason, that relationship has deteriorated. We, as the Jewish community, don’t have the relationships we need with many other groups. We do with the Evangelical Christian community because THEY have been active supporters of Israel. We have neglected our relationships with other groups. As a large community, we are absent on MLK Day and the celebrations. As a group, we are not there during Pride month. As a group, we are not joining our Muslim brothers for their community Iftars during Ramadan. Because we have neglected these relationships, we see many of these groups not being there for us when we need them. It’s our responsibility to be there for them before we need them to be there for us. Bayard Rustin showed that when he was considerate of Shabbat and that if the march was on a Friday, the Jewish community couldn’t be there. He knew we’d be there for them if he was thoughtful first. I hope that we can learn to invest in these relationships outside the Jewish community. We are so hyper-focused on what’s going on inside the Jewish community that we are not ensuring the relationships we need outside the Jewish community are strong.
Bayard Rustin with Prime Minister Golda Meir during his visit to Israel in 1969
The movie has 2 scenes in which Senator Strom Thurmond plays a key role. In the first, he makes allegations against Dr. King about being a communist because Bayard Rustin, one of his close friends, was involved with the communist party earlier in his life. This false allegation was designed to stop the march and to create problems for Dr. King. The second is when he goes on the radio to ‘out’ Bayard Rustin as a ‘pervert’ due to his conviction for engaging in homosexual sex to attempt to stop the march from happening. It’s very similar to the false allegations against Israel being made by Representatives Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Jamal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and many others today. Senator Thurmond was a known racist. The Representatives I mentioned above are known antisemites. Bayard fought against Senator Thurmond and wouldn’t allow him to win. Today, we must do the same against these antisemites in our own government. We can’t allow them to win. We can’t excuse their statements or their behavior.
There are two very powerful lines in the movie that apply to our Jewish community today. The first is when Bayard Rustin says to Dr. King, “when we tell ourselves such lies, start to live and believe such lies, we do the work of our oppressor by oppressing ourselves.” We have far too many people in our Jewish community who tell themselves lies about Israel and Zionism, who live and believe these lies, and not only do the work of antisemites but do it better than they do. It is our obligation to confront these lies in our own community. It is responsibility to make sure that members of our Jewish community are educated with the facts, not with the lies that Jew haters tell. Bayard Rustin knew that about his community. I hope we learn that lesson for ours.
The second line I am referring to also comes from Bayard Rustin speaking to Dr. King in the scene when he says, “on the day I was born black, I was also born homosexual. They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.” The same holds true today. Countries either have a right to defend themselves or they do not. Countries either have a right to make peace with their enemies through direct negotiations or they do not. Countries either get to have their democratic election processes or they do not. Israel cannot be held to a different standard than every other country in the world. When they do that, just like Bayard Rustin knew about freedom for all people, they are being antisemitic and going against the values they say they believe in. We cannot let them get away with it. Bayard stood up and spoke out and got the support from those he needed to speak out as well. We need to do the same. We cannot allow the double standard to continue to exist. We must demand our leaders, both political and those with large followings, do the same and speak out. We must condemn those who use the double standard to hide their antisemitism. It is not up to others to do this. It is up to us.
Near the end of the movie, the 10 heads of the committee for the March on Washington are invited to the White House to meet with President Kennedy. Somebody says that Bayard should be with him. Bayard already won – the March happened and was a huge success. He declines and says he is going to pick up trash. The rest leave to meet the President and he takes a bag and begins to pick up trash. The young people who follow him are shown with admiration in their eyes. They get it. It is about the work. It is about making things happen and driving change. Who gets the credit isn’t important to those who really want change. The same holds true for the Jewish community. You see this more in Israel than in the United States. In Israel they are all heroes because they do what is necessary. Civilians volunteering in the fields to pick produce. IDF soldiers risking everything for their country and the Jewish people. People moving all over the country to help those displaced with educational needs, healthcare needs, mental health needs, and whatever needs they have. In the United States we tend to focus more on who gets the credit. Who is the public face. We need to learn this lesson from Bayard Rustin. It’s the same lesson Ronald Reagan spoke about. In the words of President Harry S. Truman,“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” We have a lot of work ahead of us to fight antisemitism, to advocate for Israel, to educate both the Jewish and non-Jewish community, and for our survival. We can’t worry about who gets the credit, we have to be willing to pick up a bag and collect trash.
The saying on Ronald Reagan’s desk from the Harry Truman quote. We can all learn from this
The song at the end of the movie, Road to Freedom, is by Lenny Kravitz. Lenny is African American and Jewish. How fitting for the blog post. The lessons of Bayard Rustin applied to 2024 antisemitism through the song written and sung by an African American Jew.
I watched the movie Rustin to learn more about a man I recently learned about and have been fascinated with. How did such an important figure in the civil rights movement get basically erased from our history? How many others like him are there? I seem to learn about more of them all the time. Yet while watching the movie to learn about him, there were so many lessons that apply to our lives today. To the world we live in today. The fight for civil rights is not over. So many communities are still fighting it today. In the Jewish community, we fooled ourselves into thinking we were not one of them. October 7th and the aftermath showed us we are. While we still have many who don’t think this is true, who ‘do the work of the oppressor by oppressing ourselves,’ the rise in antisemitism in the United States and around the world shows us that that it is true. We have much to learn from the life of Bayard Rustin, an avid Zionist and friend to the Jewish people. I could write an entire post just about his connection to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Let’s take a moment to thank him and honor his memory by learning the lessons he taught us and apply them today. From what I have learned about him, I think he’d really like that.
Bayard Rustin standing behind Dr. King during the I have a Dream speech
America has always been a beacon of hope. A melting pot or a salad bowl, depending on which analogy fits you best. As a Jew in America, I always felt different but also felt safe. We are a country who follows the rule of law. We strive to do better and to treat people better. While America has a troubling history with slavery and the incarceration of Japanese during World War 2, I always felt we tried to recognize our errors and do better. While racism is real, I also saw strong efforts to combat and eliminate it. Marriage equality was a big step towards recognizing people are people.
After October 7th, I realized I was living in a bubble, in a dreamworld that doesn’t exist. I understand my African American friend and my LGBTQ+ friends much better. The America I thought existed doesn’t. Hate is encouraged and allowed. Far too many people, especially ones who call themselves leaders, are more interested in being re-elected than in doing what is right. I am embarrassed by my naivety when it comes to the struggles of other minorities as my worldview was simply wrong.
I was impacted this weekend with the story of a horrific murder of a Jew in San Diego and the attempted murder of a Jew in Switzerland. Their offense? Being Jewish.
Jewish dentist Dr. Benjamin Harouni was killed and two other people were wounded in a shooting at a dental office in El Cajon, California on Thursday. The killer was Mohammed Abdul Kareem. Immediately it was decried that it had nothing to do with Dr Harouni being Jewish or Mohammed Abdul Kareem being Muslim. Violent attacks on Jews are typically immediately denied being because they are Jews. Unlike similar attacks against other minorities, attacks on Jews are excused and minimized. How can be expected to feel safe in America when this type of violence occurs against Jews and is immediately minimized?
On Saturday night, as Shabbat ended, a 62-year-old Orthodox Jew was stabbed outside the Agudas Achim synagogue in Zurich, Switzerland, by a 15-year-old Swiss citizen who shouted ‘death to Jews’. The man was critically injured. The rise in Jew hatred is astounding and the lack of response by leaders around the world is frightening. How are Jews expected to feel safe in this type of environment?
On Saturday, in Times Square, an Uber driver found a grenade in the back seat of his car. The bomb squad was called to make sure it didn’t go off. There was a large Israel protest mob there and they wouldn’t let the bomb squad through. Their hatred of Israel and Jews was so great that they would rather have a grenade go off in Times Square, around them, and have loss of life, than allow the police and the bomb squad through.
The Uber with a grenade it – anti-Israel and anti-Jewish protesters wouldn’t let the bomb squad get there
As I began to spend a little more time reading about both of these incidents, I noticed a trend occurring. More and more stories of Jew hatred have been occurring. And the response to them is absurdly inadequate and being allowed by leaders of organizations, schools, City, State, and the Federal government.
For example, Origins High School in Brooklyn has become a haven for Hitler-loving hooligans who terrorize Jewish teachers and classmates. On Oct. 26, just three weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis, 40 to 50 teens marched through Origins HS in Sheepshead Bay waving a Palestinian flag and chanting “Death to Israel!” and “Kill the Jews!” That is horrific by itself, yet school, city, and state leadership failed to but a stop to it.
Origins High School Global History teacher Danielle Kaminsky has publicly stated how afraid she is to go to work due to being targeted as a Jew by students, yet the school has done nothing. How do we know for sure? Here are few examples of other things that have happened at the school:
A student painted a mustache on his face to look like Hitler and banged on classroom doors. When someone opened, he clicked his heels and raised his arm in the Nazi gesture, security footage shows.
Three swastikas in one week were drawn on teachers’ walls and other objects.
A 10th-grader told Kaminsky, 33, who is Jewish, “I wish you were killed.”
Another student called her “a dirty Jew” and said he wished Hitler could have “hit more Jews,” including her.
Students pasted drawings of the Palestinian flag and notes saying “Free Palestine” on Kaminsky’s classroom door. One scribbled note that said simply, “Die.”
A Jewish sophomore found three swastikas scribbled on his laptop charger when he returned from the restroom.
The door of Danielle Kaminsky’s classroom
The school, the City Government, and the State Government are failing to do anything about this. No suspensions. No expulsions. No disciplinary action. No protection for Jewish students or teachers.
At Berkeley, a pro-Palestinian mob surrounded a campus auditorium, broke a window, and harassed Jewish students trying to enter the building. Israeli lawyer Ran Bar-Yoshafat was invited by a Jewish student group to address the subject of Israel and international law. This included “the rules of wartime conduct and how the [Israel Defense Forces] can better protect civilians.” An estimated 200 protesters chanted “intifada” and “free Palestine” and banged on windows. Three Jewish students were injured. What has happened to freedom of speech on college campuses? Is it only freedom of speech if you aren’t Jewish? Doesn’t the University have an obligation to protect the students and speakers who are exercising their right to free speech and sharing information that an educational institution is supposed to value for debate and deep thinking?
It gets worse, however. The leaders of Bears for Israel, the pro-Israel group that organized the event, had been seeking a meeting with Berkeley’s chancellor since October 2023. Nearly 5 months and the chancellor hasn’t made the time for Jewish students with concerns about Jew hatred, antisemitism, and the safety of Jews. They reached out again last week but have not heard back. They have been told the chancellor would “absolutely” consider a meeting with them but declined to say more. Think about that. Absolutely consider. Not that the chancellor would meet with them, but that the chancellor would CONSIDER a meeting. It’s clear that the safety and security of Jewish students don’t matter at Berkeley.
A few weeks ago, on February 19, the Jewish studies director at California State University at Long Beach, Jeffrey Blutinger, was invited to San José State to give a talk on “how to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine.” Pro-Palestinian protesters showed up outside the classroom. A San José State history professor and supporter of Israel, Jonathan Roth, got into an altercation with some of them, grabbing a person’s hand after they tried to block him from recording with his phone. Blutinger was escorted out of the classroom by police. Once again, freedom of speech doesn’t apply to Jews. Ensuring there is an opportunity to listen and learn on a college campus used to be sacrosanct. In today’s world that happens for everybody but the Jews.
If that wasn’t enough, the next weekend, signs were found on the walls of UCSB’s multicultural center attacking the student-body president, Tessa Veksler, who is Jewish. The signs said, among other things: “You can run but you can’t hide Tessa Veksler,” “Tessa Veksler supports genocide! You cannot hide,” and “Zionists are not welcomed!” The signs were removed, and the multicultural center is temporarily closed. The students who did this will not be held accountable and Veksler has to live in fear of being targeted at her university because she is Jewish.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has filed a federal complaint against the Berkeley Unified School District, alleging officials ignored the bullying and harassment of their Jewish students. The harassment has led some families to decide to move out of the district. One parent publicly stated:
“What drove me to leave the district was a pervasive bullying, as well as an antisemitismand the inability of the district to educate my child while keeping her safe.”
Jewish children are not being kept safe in public schools in America. I think about the stories my Uncle Ralph talks about being in elementary school in Berlin in the late 1930s and I don’t see much of a difference between what is happening in the world today and what happened to him as a child. It’s frightening.
In Canada, it might even be worse. The Canadian International Women’s Day (INSPIRE) cancelled its keynote speaker because she had previously served in the IDF more than 30 years ago! INSPIRE had rescinded its speaking invitation to Leah Goldstein, a Jewish motivational speaker and the first woman to win a grueling 3,000- mile bicycle race across the United States, citing as the reason “a small but growing and extremely vocal group” that took issue with Goldstein’s IDF service more than 30 years ago.
It gets worse. I am not old enough to have seen the ‘No dogs, no blacks, no Jews’ signs on stores and restaurants. Yet in 2024 here is a sign in Toronto saying, “No service for Jews.”
Sign from the days of Jim Crow Sign in Toronto March 2024 – not that different
The college campuses aren’t just antisemitic in the US. At Toronto’s Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD) a Jewish student said she feels unsafe returning to class after antisemitic messages, including death threats, were scribbled on the walls of her school.
She stated, “I had never felt so sad in my life. They were all like horrible things about me, horrible things about Jews.” She is the former president of the university’s Jewish Club and reported that the messages were found in the school’s so-called “yellow staircase” – a six-story space where students are encouraged to express themselves freely on the blank wall space.
She tried to combat the hate with painted words of peace, but those, too, were covered up by messages like “F U Zionists.”
“I started getting death threats. There was even sexual connotations relating to my mother and Hamas.”
And in shocking news, she has not received an adequate response from the school following the incident and has missed more than two weeks’ worth of class due to concerns about her safety.
“There were talks about a meeting three weeks ago and they still haven’t followed up about that.It took them forever. It took them days to shut down and paint over the stairwell.”
I wish this was everything but unfortunately, it’s not. Before winter break in a public school in Toronto, there was antisemitic graffiti drawn on the walls.
The graffiti included an X drawn through a sketch of an Israeli flag and the Star of David, the words “Free Palestine,” “get rid of the k-kes” and “Hitler was right,” plus a sketch of a Palestinian flag and a sloppily drawn swastika. There was also the hashtag “KillTheJews.”
Antisemitic and Jew hatred graffiti in a Toronto school.
The school didn’t even inform parents for more than a month. Nothing was done to address the hateful graffiti or ensure the safety of Jewish students.
Let’s not leave out our federal government. The Houthi’s are still not designated as a terrorist organization. Iran continues to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis and has instructed Hezbollah to increase attacks on Israel and they will send rockets and money to them to do it. We continue to think we can use diplomacy with Iran. Congress can’t pass the financial aid package for Israel to defend herself. Just the other day, Vice President Kamala Harris called for Israel and Hamas to accept immediate six-week cease-fire, stating that the ‘Deal is on the table’. The challenge is that Israel has been ready and its Hamas that refuses. Yet there is no criticism of Hamas. Reports have come out that Sinwar wants to incite violence during Ramadan and won’t accept a ceasefire because of that. Yet no outrage from our government about this. No outrage at the Red Cross for failing to see the hostages and deliver medication. The hostages have now gone 150 days without ANY medication. As a son with Type 1 diabetes, I know that if he didn’t get insulin for 150 days, he wouldn’t survive. Where is the outrage?
I never thought I wouldn’t feel safe as a Jew in the United States. Yet here in 2024, I do. I refuse to let fear dominate my life. I wear my new, special Magen David (star of David) proudly outside my shirt. I have two dog tags I wear, one ‘Bring them home now’ and the other ‘We will dance again’. I put a piece of tape on my shirt, over my heart, with the number of days the hostages have been in captivity. I won’t hide but I don’t feel safe.
A friend of mine in Israel recently asked how many of his friends have changed their last name on their Uber account due to fears of safety. It was a sad question, and the answers were sadder. My younger son still wears his Chai necklace but no longer wears it outside his shirt when he is on campus. My family is concerned when I wear my Israel sweatshirt, t-shirt, or soccer jersey. I want to fly an Israeli flag but don’t due to safety concerns for my family. This is the world we live in today and this is the America we live in today. Jew hatred is not just on the rise, it is here. In June 2016, I wrote an op-Ed in the Seattle Times about the rise of antisemitism and there was real pushback by many that it wasn’t really happening. I wish that they were right. What was happening nearly 8 years ago has only gotten worse.
We’ve seen the hate groups locally, most recently in Winter Park just 2 weeks ago. We see it happening nationally and internationally. We see it with the anti-Israel and Jew hating mobs. It’s why I chose to write this blog today. And as I was finishing writing it, my wife sent me this article from The Atlantic about how The Golden Age of American Jews is ending. Some of what I have written about is included. There is much more involved and it’s a long read but well worth it.
We live in scary times. Unlike the 1930s in Germany, we now have Israel and Jews aren’t afraid to stand up and speak out. I know many Jews who have gotten their conceal carry permits and who now are gun owners and practice at the range. I have to admit that I am one of them. America today isn’t safe for Jews. We are being attacked everywhere we go. Public schools, Universities, Synagogues, restaurants, and in the streets.
For those of you who have previously stood up against hatred against other groups, thank you. Hate is not acceptable PERIOD. I ask you now to stand up against Jew hatred. You can dislike the Israeli Government and Bibi Netanyahu. You can want the war to end and no more innocent civilians on both sides to be killed. That happens when the hostages are released and Hamas surrenders. Put the pressure on Hamas to release the hostages. Put the pressure on Hamas to surrender. If you pay attention, you will see that the people of Gaza, particularly in the north where Hamas is no longer in control, and publicly condemning Hamas for creating all the problems they face.
Everybody in the United States is supposed to feel safe. It’s clear from the past few years that there are many groups who do not feel safe. I don’t know that I truly understood what they faced until now. I stand with them and their right to live in safety and security. I hope they, and you, will stand with me and the Jewish community as we only want the same thing.
I’m going to finish with an ask. JOIN Orlando, a group I am involved with and get much value from and have much gratitude for, is doing a 36 hour fundraiser where all gifts are matched 3X. So your gift of $100 is really $300 to JOIN. I agreed to be a champion and help raise money for their programs. I personally have been to Israel with JOIN, I learn with a Rabbi from JOIN, I am friends with leaders of JOIN. During these challenging times that I just wrote about, JOIN helps keep me grounded. So if you would consider making a gift, not only does it get matched 3X, it would be a personally meaningful thing to me. Click on the link to donate. And you can watch the video below to see the work that JOIN Orlando does. Thank you for considering making a gift.
As a Jew in the United States of America, I have been struggling since October 7th. It is difficult to put into words and explain but I am going to try to do so in many ways and hopefully one of them will be clear enough to understand.
I grew up with my Great-Grandma Rose, my grandparents and my parents teaching me the value of helping others. Whether it was through Tzedakah (charity), Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), doing acts of random kindness, holding the door for others, or something similar, it was a core part of our identity and what we did. As kids, we were taught to make the world a better place when we could and as a result, the world would end up being better. If we were there to help others and were good people, others would be there for us and we would find good people. We were taught that part of how the Holocaust happened was because people didn’t speak up, people weren’t allies, and our job was to change that. To speak up, to build relationships and allies, to ensure that NEVER AGAIN would really mean NEVER AGAIN. I believed that implicitly for a very long time.
I have spoken out publicly for more than a decade about the rise of hate in general and the rise in antisemitism. I have publicly condemned all hate against any and every community. Hate against the LGBTQ+ and the Trans community is not acceptable and must be decried. Hate against the African American community is not acceptable and must be decried. Hate against the Muslim community, the Asian community, the Sikh community, the Hindu, the Christian – it doesn’t matter what community, hate only breeds more hate and being silent because it’s not against your group merely ensures that your group will end up being targeted. It is why I was one of the first to sign the Central Florida Pledge, a call to action for residents of Central Florida to create a safe and inclusive community for all. The pledge asks residents to commit to treating all people with kindness and respect, especially those with whom they disagree.
Unfortunately, for the past few years, I have been amending that statement because of the realities of the world. When talking with my kids, I have reminded them that ‘hate isn’t ok against any group, except the Jews’ because the rise in antisemitism was being excused and other groups chose not to speak up, not to speak out, not to stand up and be counted against hate when it was against the Jewish community. I wanted my children to remember not only their responsibilities to stand up to hate but also set proper expectations that when the hate was directed at them, they may not have the support they expected. I hated doing this but I wanted them to be prepared for reality.
The book, “Jews Don’t Count” calledthis out well before October 7, 2023 happened
The October 7th happened. The horror was unspeakable. I sat, staring at the TV, following news from Israel, flipping channels, reading updates of Israeli newspapers, sending whatsapp messages to friends in Israel, scanning the names of those confirmed murdered and those kidnapped and taken hostage for the names of friends and family. As I spoke to my friend Maor, the Consul General for Israel in Miami, he told me to turn it off as it was too much for the soul of anybody to keep watching. I tried but couldn’t do it.
I started focusing on Twitter/X and getting angry at what was being posted and arguing back. It only made me more angry and more frustrated at the lack of information, the strong hatred, and the absolute joy people were taking in the murder and kidnapping of Jews. I started blocking people and trying to looking only at sports related posts which used to aggravate me but now seem inconsequential.
Celebrities started advocating for Hamas and the terrorists and against the Jews. Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, and John Cusack became new objects of disgust and the short list of celebrities who I no longer would watch or listen to their movies/music continued to grow. Certain members of the US Congress actively spreading hate against Jews made me shake my head and beyond being angry, got me scared about what could be ahead. The similarities to the 1930s in German were too real. While many have been saying this about the far right for a number of years, I was now watching it happen in real time from the far left. I began to question being safe living in the United States as a Jew. I began to think where I would move if I had to and when that might be. I began to think of who would hide my family and me if it was too late to leave and I needed to hide. When I identified who that would be, I actually asked them if they would hide my family and me if/when the time came that we needed to hide.
Mark Ruffalo apologizing for his Jew hatred before continuing to hate Jews publicly. Celebrities like him only apologize when called out and then go back to their Jew hating ways.
Susan Sarandon clearly not know what River and what Sea they are talking about as she advocates for the destruction of Israel. Her later apology was insincere.
John Cusack was an active antisemite on social media before being called out here. Embarrassed, he defended and apologized for his stance but continues to hate Jews and continues to say things incredibly hateful, hurtful, and antisemitic.
When I visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam in 1989, I imagined what it would be like to have lived there, in hiding, fearing for your life from the leaders of your country. In late 2023 it was no longer theoretical as I began to think what it would be like living in hiding in the United States and where I would be living. Would I be freezing in the winter? Would I be hot in the summer? Would I be able to live inside? Would it be living outside?
I came across this thought about Anne Frank today and it struck home. For many, the line in her diary, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good heart.” Is inspirational. I admit until recently it was inspiring to me. Today I read it very differently. There was a time that I shared her hope and optimism about people really being good at heart. I might have even written something like that in the past decade. Today I wonder.
Today I wonder how she felt when they loaded her on the cattle car. Did she still have hope and belief in the goodness of people? Had she no longer questioned it and only saw evil? What about when they shaved her head and tattooed a number on her arm? Was that when she no longer saw good in people? Was it when she was starved and got sick that he lost her belief in the goodness of people? Was it when she got typhus and began to die that she lost her belief in people being inherently good? Was it when she finally realized that she was going to die in that concentration camp, alone, bald, starving, sick, dehumanized, that she finally came to grips with people perhaps being inherently evil instead of good?
It is frightening how easy it is to envison ourselves in this picture instead of them
The piece I read was clear that the Diary of Anne Frank is not meant to be inspirational but rather a story of horror. It’s meant to show us the evil in people extinguishing the light in people. It’s meant to show us that without our ACTIVE intervention, evil wins over good. We have been reading it wrong all these years. It’s a warning to us from a beautiful and innocent 13-year-old girl filled with hope and belief who, step by step, loses it all until she dies a horrible death.
The Diary of Anne Frank is a warning, not an inspiration. We’ve gotten it wrong for decades.
I hear that warning loud and clear. We have many people who are good and who are fighting against evil. Yet we have far more that are showing their inherent evil and hatred. UNRWA and the UN and the Red Cross have been shown to be evil organizations, despite their stated goals of good. The Red Cross still hasn’t visited the hostages, still has refused to ensure they get their needed medication. It’s now 120 days. UNRWA had at least a dozen employees ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE in the atrocities of October 7th who were not fired until last week. There are at least 10% of all UNRWA employees who are part of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, terror organizations. Estimates are that at least 1,300 of the 12,000 UNRWA employees are part of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. The UN’s mission, “maintaining peace, advancing human rights and promoting justice, equality and development.” applies everywhere except the only Jewish state in the world, who they constantly target and refuse to defend. As countries begin to pause funding to UNRWA, there are now cries about the impact on the people of Gaza. Yet there is plenty of documentation that UNRWA ensures Hamas gets the aid before the people. That UNRWA aids Hamas and the people of Gaza need to riot and storm the supply areas to get the food, water, medicine and other supplies provided to UNRWA to dispense to those in need. The people need help, not Hamas. And UNRWA is effectively Hamas. Will we ever learn?
Statement by US Representative Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on UNRWA
Today is February 3rd. Tomorrow my mother-in-law turns 80 and my oldest child turns 24. At the end of the month my father would have been 80. Would my father even recognize the world he left in September 2022? Would he be telling me how it looks just like his parents told him the 1930s looked? Will my oldest live to 80 as a Jew in America? Will he be able to live in America his entire life as a Jew?
During Covid in October 2021, when Israel was still shut down to tourists, I had the opportunity to go on a special trip. Instead of the normal 400 people, there were 80 of us. The country was empty. When we went to visit to Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial, there were only two other people in the entire museum besides us. It was a deeply moving experience and for the first time I identified with the middle-aged people in the pictures who were mostly murdered immediately at the death camps. It was no longer me who was the freedom fighter. I was no longer the leader in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. I was no longer the person kept alive to work in the death camps trying to survive and help others survive. Those were my children. I was the either the one who betrayed my people by playing the role of ‘good Jew’, excusing what was happening in order to survive another day or sent directly to the gas chambers. It was a shocking moment for me that I had to process with the group later on.
The Hall of Names at Yad Vashem. Will our pictures one day be there? Will our stories be told to future generations and if so, what will those stories be?
In February 2024, I know who I am. While I am not the leader of the resistance, of the Warsaw ghetto, nor the active partisans fighting in the woods, I am also not going to excuse what’s going on for another day of survival nor am I going willingly to the gas chambers. I will speak out, I will demand change, I will not allow the growing hate to continue to grow while I sit silent or excuse it. I see others who choose to be quiet and fly under the radar. I see others who find excuses for October 7th and the Jew hatred that has been shown day after day since then. I get incredibly frustrated and angry as Jews excuse evil against our community that they would never excuse against anybody else. I will not be one of them. I will not hide, nor will I be quiet. While I fear another Shoah may be coming to Europe and America, I will not be someone who simply believes in the goodness of people and that good will win over evil. Good only wins over evil with a lot of help. We are facing evil like we haven’t seen in 80 years. I’m in the army of good, fighting that evil, with whatever I have. I will not let evil win because I believe in good. I will fight for good to win over evil. I hope you join me.
It’s not just what side are you on. It’s are you actively fighting evil. If you don’t actively fight evil, it will win.
We choose in our hearts and our actions if we will actively support good or evil. Failing to support good is unconsciously supporting evil.
Good has the final say but only if you use it. We can’t be silent or we waste of final say.
Choose to actively feed the good. If you don’t feed good, it won’t win.
Evil will win if we don’t fight for good. Are you going to stand up and speak out for good or let evil win?
We must remain vigilant and continue the struggle for good or evil will take control
The evil of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthi’s and the Iranian government are currently better organizaed, better trained, better armed, sneakier and gutsier than good. What are you going to do to change that or are you going to let evil win?
Gandalf is right. It’s the small, everyday deeds that we do that will defeat evil. We each have the power to change the world. Are you going to use the power you have for good?
keithdblog 