Tag: palestine

Almost 400 days

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Am Yisrael Chai – we need to live not die

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are you waiting for? Am Yisrael Chai.

What a response! Thank you Dina.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Every so often there is something written by somebody else that is so amazing that I want to share it with others. The last one before this was by Yotam Berger. This time, it is an incredible response by Russian-Israeli author Dina Rubina. Her summation is concise, brilliant, and one I firmly agree with. Please read and know that we can stand up for ourselves, we don’t have to accept the lies and narrative, and we don’t have to play defense any longer. It is time for us to play offense both as Jews and Zionists.

Enjoy her words.

Russian Israeli author Dina Rubina was scheduled for an event to discuss her books at Pushkin House in London in collaboration with the University of London.

Before she was “allowed” to speak, however, event moderator Nataliva Rulvova demanded she clarify “her position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” saying other invited participants needed to “understand your position on this issue before responding.”

Here is the note Rubina received from Rulyova:

Hello, Dina!

The Pushkin House announced our upcoming conference on social media and immediately received critical messages regarding your position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They wanted to understand your position on this issue before responding. Could you formulate your position and send it to me as soon as possible?

– Natasha

Here is Dina’s blistering response to the ridiculous request.

Dear Natalia!

You’ve written beautifully about my novels, and I’m so sorry for the time you’ve wasted, because apparently we have to cancel our meeting.

The universities of Warsaw and Torun have just canceled lectures by the wonderful Russian-speaking Israeli writer Yakov Shechter on the life of Galicia’s Jews in the 17th and 19th centuries “to avoid making the situation worse.” I suspected that this would affect me too, since academia is now the main breeding ground for the most disgusting and virulent anti-Semitism, disguised as so-called “criticism of Israel.” I was expecting something like this, and I even decided to write you an email about it… but I put it aside. It’s time for me to publish it.

This is what I want to say to all those who expect from me a quick and obsequious report on my position regarding my beloved country, which currently lives (and always has) surrounded by ferocious enemies who seek to destroy it. My country which is waging a just war today against a rabid, ruthless, deceptive and cunning enemy. The last time I apologized was in elementary school, in the principal’s office, I was 9 years old. Since then, I have been doing what I think is right, listening only to my conscience and expressing exclusively my understanding of the world order and human laws of justice.

Natalia, thank you for your efforts, and I personally ask you to send my answer to all those who are wondering.

On October 7, Saturday, the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, the ruthless, well-trained, well-prepared and well-equipped Hamas terrorist regime of Iran, Hamas, which rules in the Gaza enclave (which Israel left about twenty years ago) attacked dozens of peaceful kibbutzim and bombarded my country with tens of thousands of rockets. Hamas has committed atrocities that even the Bible cannot describe, atrocities that rival the crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah. Atrocities filmed by the way, by GoPro cameras, the murders having taken the horror to the point of sending the images to their families or on social networks in real time.

For hours, thousands of happy, blood-drunk beasts raped women, children and men, shooting their victims in the crotch and heads, cutting off the women’s breasts and playing football with them, cutting off the babies from the wombs of pregnant women and immediately decapitating them, tying up and burning the small children. There were so many charred bodies that, for many weeks, forensic pathologists could not cope with the enormous workload of identifying individuals.

A friend of mine, who worked in the emergency room of a New York hospital for 20 years, then in Israel for 15 years, was one of the first to arrive in the kibbutzim, as part of a team of rescuers and of doctors. She still hasn’t been abe to sleep since.

While she is an emergency specialist, accustomed to dissected bodies and corpses, she fainted when she saw the macabre sight and vomited all the way back in the car. Among the Hamas militants, Palestinian civilians rushed in, participating in pogroms of unprecedented scale, pillaging, killing, dragging everything they could get their hands on. Among these “Palestinian civilians” were 450 members of this highly regarded organization UNRWA (United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East).

Judging by the utter joy of the population (also captured by thousands of mobile cameras), Hamas is supported by almost the entire population of Gaza. But the essential is there for us: More than two hundred Israelis, including women, children, the elderly, and foreign workers, were dragged into the beast’s den. A hundred of them are still rotting and dying in Hamas dungeons.

It goes without saying that these victims, who continue to be mocked, are of little concern to the “academic community”. But that’s not what I’m talking about right now. I am not writing this so that anyone will sympathize with the tragedy of my people.

During all these years, while the international community has literally poured hundreds of millions of dollars into this piece of land (the Gaza Strip) – UNRWA’s annual budget alone is equivalent to a billion dollars! – During all these years, Hamas used this money to build an empire with a complex system of underground tunnels, stockpile weapons, teach schoolchildren from primary school to disassemble and assemble Kalsashnikov assault rifles, print texbooks in which hatred of Israel is indescribable, in which even math problems look like this calling for the murder of Jews with every word:

There were ten Jews, the Shahid killed four, how many are left?

And now, when finally shocked by the monstrous crime of these bastargs, Israel is waging a war of annihilation against the Hamas terrorists who so carefully prepared this war, who placed thousands of shells in al the hospitals, the schools, kindergartens…

The academic community, which was not concerned about the massacres in Syria, nor the massacre in Somalia, nor the mistreatment inflicted on the Uighurs, nor the millions of Kurds persecuted by the Turkish regime for decades, this very worried community, which wears “arafatkas” [keffiyes], the trademark of murderes, around their necks at rallies under the slogan “Liberate Palestine from the river to the sea”, which means the total destruction of Israel (and Israelis). “Academics”, as polls show, have no idea where this river is, what it is called, where certain borders are located.

And it is the same public which asks me “to express a position cear on the issue”. Are you really serious!

As you know, I have been a professional write for over 50 years. My novels have been translated into 40 languages, including Albanian, Turkish, Chinese, Esperanto, and many more.

Now, with great pleasure, without choosing my expressions too much, I sincerely and with all the strength of my soul send to all the brainless “intellectuals” who are interested in my position to go fuck themselves.

— Dina Rubina

Russian-Israeli author Dina Rubina

Lies, Damn Lies, and Hamas statistics

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

The lies continue to grow and get more absurd.  The newest one is that Israel has trained dogs to rape Palestinian women.  In 2018 it was that Israel sent lizards to spy on the Iranian nuclear program.

In 2010 it was Israeli sharks that were trained to attack Egypt and that Israel trained Eagles to spy on Hezbollah.  In 2011 it was Israel training vultures to spy on Saudi Arabia.

GENOCIDE

The lie of genocide is particularly appalling.  People use it because it is easy to say, a powerful word, and a way to get people to hate Israel and Jews.  They like accusing Israel of it while ignoring the real genocide that occurred in Syria and what is currently happening in Sudan and to the Uyghurs in China.  These are real genocides but don’t involve Jews.  Gil Troy addressed this lie powerfully, writing:

Genocide means trying to wipe out a nation. For years, Gaza averaged a growth rate of 1.99 percent, 39th in the world. Having started this war, Hamas is 100% responsible for every death, especially because its terrorists hide behind Gazans and Israeli hostages. Still, Israel has minimized civilian deaths in its just war of self-defense. Urban warfare, atop hundreds of tunnels, is treacherous. A U.S.-led coalition killed 10,000 innocents to defeat ISIS in Mosul. After Oct. 7, when Israel needed to protect its civilians from Hamas, and deter others from massacring innocents, what else could Israel have done? 

In fact, Jewish population in Arab countries decreased from 1948 to 2023 by 99.83%.  At the same time, Arab population in Israel increased by 1,296%.  That is not a genocide.  When the war is over, the facts will show that it was anything but a genocide.  In the meantime, we fight the lie that continues to be told over and over again.

ISRAEL IS AN APARTHEID STATE

Israel gets wrongly accused of being an Apartheid State because it’s an easy word to use, people know it is not a good thing, and most people don’t understand what it means.  It’s easy to repeat, easy to write on a sign, easy to post on social media.  Similar to the use of the word Genocide, it gets wrongly used by people who don’t know what they are talking about to convince other people who don’t know what it means to agree.  Gil Troy explains it well when he writes:

South Africa’s racist Apartheid Regime enacted 148 laws defining people as “white,” “mixed” and “colored.” No Israeli law ever defined anyone based on race or skin color. Israeli-Arabs enjoy equal rights. In the disputed territories, Palestinians and Israelis are often kept apart based on security and/or mutual preference. But apartness is not Apartheid. The Apartheid libel tries racializing the Israeli-Palestinian national conflict. Israel’s enemies want to demonize and Nazify Israel, finding it guilty of biological racism. This charge deems Israel evil and worthy of the international death penalty, rather than a country in a complicated, painful border dispute.

Knowing this information is important to combat this lie.  The facts are on Israel’s side.  Too many people prefer the easy language than learning what the facts and definition are for what they are saying.

ISRAEL IS A COLONIALIST EMPIRE

Gil Troy also addressed the issue of Israel being branded a colonialist empire.  He wrote:

“Colonialism” means settling a far-away land, to extract resources or extend power. Calling Israel “colonialist” negates Jews’ indigenous ties to their homeland, while rejecting Christianity too.  Jesus emerged in a deeply-Jewish land of Israel also called Judea. Jews are the original aboriginal people. They put the “in” in indigenous, being tied to the same land, praying to the same God, maintaining the same traditions and culture for millennia. Whether you’re religious and believe the Bible, or historically-oriented and trust archaeological evidence – or both! — “Eretz Yisrael,” the land of Israel, has always been central to “Am Yisrael,” the Jewish people.

Archeology proves the Jews were in the land thousands of years ago.  Just this week, a 3,300 year old shipwreck was found off the coast of Israel.  This was a Canaanite ship – the people in the land of Israel when the Jews arrived from Egypt.  That was 3,300 years ago! 

The archeological finds show the history of the Jews in Israel goes back thousands of years, not just to 1948.  The City of David, built by King David, has been excavated.  You can see the underground original city of Jerusalem from King David’s time at various locations in Jerusalem.  The Crusader capital city of Akko has been excavated and you see what things looked like in the 1100-1200s.  The Tombs of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs in Hebron go back even before the Canaanites to the time of Abraham.  In Rome, they have the painting on the Arch of Titus showing the Romans coming back after sacking Jerusalem, carrying the great menorah from the Temple.  Yet the lies continue. 

The Israel Antiquities Authority said the silver coin shows the obverse face with the chalice in the center, and above it the letter “Aleph” marking Year 1 of the outbreak of the revolt, and the inscription “half-shekel,” the value of the coin. (Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.)

ISRAEL IS CREATING A FAMINE IN GAZA

Israel continues to be blamed for the food crisis in Gaza despite the antisemitic UN saying there is more than enough food coming into Gaza.  The problem remains UNRWA giving the food to Hamas instead of the people.  Yet the media refuses to cover it and the Jew haters continue to state the lie over and over again.  You can read the UN report here.

There isn’t a question that the people of Gaza are not getting food. It is not because of Israel not sending food and aid nor is it because Israel is blocking the aid from entering Gaza.  There are plenty of pictures of the aid piled up, waiting for UNRWA to pick it up and distribute it.  The food stays there for days.  The food and supplies end up with Hamas.  As Israel clears the tunnels and other military encampments in schools and other places, they find more and more of the stolen aid.  The people of Gaza have commented that the food and aid is too expensive for them to buy.  This FREE aid is being sold on the black market instead of going to the people.  This is Hamas and UNRWA, yet the blame is put on Israel.

Mike Fegelman, the Executive Director of Honest Reporting Canada, wrote a great article about the famine lie in the National Post.  In it he states, “Not only is there a paucity of evidence to suggest there is an ongoing famine in Gaza, there is an overwhelming amount of data showing precisely the opposite: in addition to locally produced food, huge amounts of humanitarian aid enters the territory on a daily basis, thanks to Israel.”  

IPC_Famine_Review_Committee_Report_FEWS_NET_Gaza_4June2024Download

This is the full report for you to read.

ISRAEL IS KILLING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Every day, you will see new reports that are not cited nor documented by any facts, about more Gazan civilians being killed by Israel with almost all of them reported to be women and children.  This is another big lie.  The Gazan health ministry is run by Hamas, and they say whatever they want for the headlines.  People make up facts. 

In this BBC article, they report that on May 6, 2024, the UN reported 34,735 deaths – of which there were 9,500 women and 14,500 children, citing the Government Ministry Office (GMO) as its source.  Two days later, the UN released a further report, switching its sourcing to the health ministry.  The result of this was that although the overall recorded death toll was almost unchanged (34,844), the number of registered deaths of women (4.959) and children (7,797) had both fallen nearly 50%.  They consider children anybody under 18, so any Hamas terrorists who were 16 or 17 are not being counted as terrorists but as children. 

I chose to cite the BBC article and its statistics because they are not a fan of Israel.  They are typically anti-Israel so the facts really stand out. 

The death tolls being reported include NO Hamas terrorist numbers.  They include every natural death, and everybody murdered by Hamas.  The data is unreliable and has been proven to be unreliable.  Each time more research is done, the death toll changes, just like the famine issue was changed.  It is important to know the lie and to be able to address it.  The lie gets front page news, the correction and the truth gets buried on page 10 inside.

In a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt spoke strongly about leadership.  He talked about those who actually get in the ring and fight.  Those who take action and those who take risks. If you want to end the lies, you must get in the arena and challenge them.  You must be the person Teddy Roosevelt talked about when he said:

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Teddy Roosevelt at the Sorbonne giving the historic speech

Are you willing to get in the arena? Are you willing to fight? To strive valiently for a worthy cause? I am. Come join me.

***Gil Troy’s full article about 12 Tough Questions and Simple Answers About Israel can be found here.

What world are we living in??

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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.

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.

Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, a great miracle happened there.

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

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.

Shlomi Ziv talking to his wife for the first time in 8 months.  I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried watching it too.

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.

My head hurts as the world spins out of control

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

 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.

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.

You must choose – so choose wisely

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Having been to Israel so many times, I know what is reported in the media isn’t true.  I know they exaggerate and like to say and show what they think will draw eyes and clicks.  It used to not bother me that much because it was so obviously not the truth and people would ask me about it.  It used to be like that.

Since October 7th, the media’s coverage of Israel has been worse than ever.  The big difference is now people believe what they are being fed is true and don’t bother asking questions.  They see something on social media and that becomes the truth.  A perfect example is the recent fire that occurred in Rafa after Israel dropped a bomb on Hamas terrorist leaders.  The bomb was a smaller caliber one, targeted to hit an exact spot, which it did, to eliminate the terrorists (which it did).  However, the terrorists had additional weapons with them that created a secondary explosion that started the fire that killed civilians.   

The media was all over the fact that Israel bombed a civilian area.  That Israel attacked a safe zone.  That Israel was burning civilians alive.   That the explosions beheaded babies.  The “blame Israel” narrative from the media and on social media has been brutal.  Now that Israel is responding to the daily massive rocket attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, the “blame Israel” narrative is growing.  The tent cities are returning on campuses.  There were shootings at Jewish Day Schools in Toronto and Montreal and a synagogue in Vancouver (luckily nobody was there when they happened so there were no injuries).  Yet the media stays quiet.  Since returning from Israel, what I have noticed the most is the combination of silence in defending Israel and the massive attacks on Israel and Jews from all over the place, including Jews.

I understand well-meaning Jews who care about morals and ethics having issues with the Israeli government’s decisions with the war.  I don’t understand those who haven’t been to Israel or at least those who haven’t been since October 7th leading the charge against Israel.  Being at Kibbutz Kfar Aza was an unbelievably powerful experience. Hearing the stories, seeing the devastation, and seeing Jabaliya so close, there was clarity in the war and the need to eliminate Hamas.  Standing at the site of the Nova Music Festival, sitting in front of the pictures of those murdered or kidnapped brought clarity of the evil of Hamas.  Stopping to visit the bomb shelter where Lee Sasi hid and survived while so many others died was deeply moving.  When I see Jews defending Hamas or using terms like ‘genocide’ for what’s going on, I am reminded of an old joke.

Throughout our history, we continue to make the same mistake over and over and over again.  We forget that we will always be Jews first.  We think we are Americans.  We thought we were Germans.  Polish.  Austrian.  We aren’t. We are always Jews. So those who forget this often times are at the front line of our persecution and then are shocked when they find themselves facing the hatred they denied existed or fought to defend. When I see these Jews posting on social media or being used as props in demonstrations, it makes me sick. We know the ending as we have seen it repeatedly over the past 3,000 years.

Since I have been back from Israel, the other thing I have noticed is the pressure being put on Israel to unilaterally solve the problem without the answer being war and defeating Hamas. It’s as if Hamas never videoed the events of October 7th for the world to see. Or that they didn’t publicly state that there will be many more October 7th events in the future. UNRWA is treated as a legitimite agency despite the proof that their employees participated on October 7th, were involved in hiding the hostages, and their schools and hospitals not only store weapons for Hamas, not only are the base for tunnels built by Hamas, but Hamas uses them to fire rockets at Israel. UNRWA gets the aid coming into Gaza and somehow it ends up in the hands of Hamas instead of the people. This is the agency people are listening to about humanitarian issues – one that behaves as anything other than a humanitarian agency.

Tunnels found under an UNRWA school – they were filled with weapons.

We have a leadership crisis. In the Jewish world. In America. Around the world. In Israel. Our leaders are determined to continue doing what has failed. The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, dies in a plane crash. Raisi, The Butcher of Tehran, is then eulogized at the UN, in the US Congress. A man who murdered tens of thousands of people in Iran is treated as a great leader. Our lack of leadership is appalling and yet we do nothing about it. One of my favorite movies, The American President, addresses leadership incredibly well.

  • Lewis Rothschild: People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.
  • President Andrew Shepherd: Lewis, we’ve had presidents who were beloved, who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.
The quote begins at the 2:44 mark but the whole scene is amazing

We often get hung up on our elected leaders and think that they are the only ones who can be leaders. I’m reminded of Rami Davidian, the farmer who lives near the Nova music festival site. Rami is a farmer. A regular guy. Nobody special. Elected to nothing. And yet on October 7th, he rescued 750 people from the Nova festival while Hamas was trying to murder them. We can all be Rami. We can all step up to lead when it is our turn, elected or not. We can speak out and speak up. We can change our small part of the world which changes the entire world. We can get educated and confront those who lie and spread lies.

As Spain recognizes a Palestinian State and calls the war genocide, they quickly backtrack when they realize that by doing this they make every person in Gaza a political refugee able to enter Spain on a humanitarian visa. They quickly stopped being public about either because they realized their words and actions had consequences.

As the Maldives now refuses to allow anybody with an Israeli passport to enter the country, they will see the impact as people with resources and morals refuse to visit the Maldives and pick other options instead, hurting tourism, their top industry.

As politicians lose their seats in the upcoming election because they tell lies and support terrorists, our leaders will shift what they say and what they do.

All of this happens because we take action. We lead by our example. We stand up and speak out when we hear people telling lies about Israel and about Jews. We refuse to be silent and refuse to stand by and allow others to attack us. For generations we were visitors in other countries and so we tried to fit in and keep quiet. We wanted to stay under the radar until it was impossible and then, too late. Today, with the modern state of Israel, we have a homeland. We don’t need to stay under the radar and quiet. Yet too many of us do. Too many of us remain convinced we are Americans first. Too many of us are afraid to lose what we have by standing up and speaking out when history tells us time and time again, if we don’t stand up and speak out, we are guarnteed to lose what we have. We each get to choose if want to be lambs to the slaugher or fight back. We have our examples. Abraham argued with God about Sodom and Gemmorrah. Queen Esther risked everything for the Jewish people. Moses gave up the chance to be Pharoah and rule Egypt to serve God and the Jewish people. King David took on Goliath. Hannah Senesh risked it all and paid the ultimate price for the Jewish people. The list goes on and on.

Hannah Senesh sacrificed her life for the Jewish people

So in these crazy times that we live in, who are you going to be? Are you going to be Nachson, who bravely walked into the Red Sea until it was over his head before God parted it to save the Jewish people or are you going to be the one who served the Egyptians and the Nazis to harm the Jewish people? Are you going to speak up for Israel and the Jewish people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did or are you going to be Mark Ruffalo who constantly criticizes Israel for existing and posts his own antisemitic digs at Jews?

I choose to be Dr. King. I choose light over darkness. I choose love over hate. I choose peace over war. I choose hope over despair. I choose being Jewish over hiding who I am. I choose good over evil. I choose action over inaction. I choose speaking up over being silent. Like our historical ancestors, I choose risk to flourish over safety to hide and eventually lose everything.

We each have to make our own choice. I hope you choose wisely.

The wise choice will give you life but the wrong choice will take it from you

More thoughts and inspiration from Israel

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

As I continue to process my 10 days in Israel this month, I can only do so in bite size pieces.  Here is my second bite at the experience and what it has meant to me and what I have learned.

On my trip in 2021, we had a number of Israeli men on our bus.  I wrote about Alex, whose son died on October 7th, in my last blog post.  Another person I met on that trip has become a close friend. I can’t use his name or pictures for security reasons.

There were a few things that he spoke about that really resonated with me then and as I unpack the time in Israel, reinforce common themes that have come out of the trip and that I want to apply in my life.  One of the most significant was when he talked about holding his son’s bar mitzvah at Kibbutz Be’eri.  After being decimated on October 7th by the Hamas terrorists, he wanted to bring light and life to Kibbutz Be’eri, so that is where he held his son’s bar mitzvah.  It’s like saying that I want to get married on the still smoldering ruins of the Twin Towers in 2001.  Let’s celebrate a significant event at the devastated site of the apartment building in Sunny Isles, Florida.  Let’s celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary at any of the sites of school shootings a few months after children were murdered there.  In many ways, it doesn’t make sense.

Yet through a Jewish lens, it makes total sense.  We value human life more than anything.  The Talmud teaches that Whoever Saves a Life Saves the World.  The idea of bringing light and life to a place where light and life was destroyed is incredibly Jewish.  It’s similar to what Noa was saying at Shura Army base when she spoke about making a better dinner for her family, being better for her children and husband.  We can take the sad, the dark, the bitter, and find a way to make the light shine again.  That’s what he and his family did at Kibbutz Be’eri.  They door a place stained with death, kidnapping, torture and pain and brought light to it.  They brought joy to it, if even for just a few hours or a day. 

Noa, a true inspiration about how to live life. Our teachers show up when we are ready to learn.

The lesson I take from this is that we all have an opportunity to bring light and joy to the world every single day.  It doesn’t matter what is happening in our own lives, in our country, or in the world.  We have the ability to make a conscious decision to do things that bring light to the world.  Sometimes it can be something as simple as holding the door for somebody.  Helping somebody cross the street.  Say a kind word to somebody that you see even if you don’t know them.  It doesn’t take much to bring light to our lives and the world.  It does take a conscious effort.  After this trip, one of the things I am going to do is find ways to bring light to the world around me.  Pay attention to the opportunities that present themselves every day and act.  The small random acts of kindness brighten somebody’s day and improve the world.  Thank you Yaron and Noa for inspiring and teaching me.

Our trip leader, Saul Blinken, was incredibly inspiring.  We spent most of our time based out of Jerusalem and he said something that had an immediate impact on me.  Saul said that every day we wake up in Jerusalem, it’s a miracle.  Every day we breath the air in Jerusalem is a miracle.  Every day we walk the streets of Jerusalem, it’s a miracle.  And every night we go to sleep in Jerusalem, it’s a miracle.  He asked us to imagine if somebody told the Jews who were being exiled by the Romans not to worry, that 2000 years later the Jews would be back in Jerusalem and there would be a Jewish state.  They wouldn’t believe it.  Yet it happened.

Saul passionately speaking to us. What an incredible teacher and friend.

From the time Saul said that I took it to heart.  Every day when I woke up, it was an incredible feeling to know that I was waking up in Jerusalem.  As I walked the streets, I had a deeper appreciation of what it meant to be able to do that.  Going into the old city, visiting the Kotel, walking freely throughout the city – everything became a WOW moment.  It reminded me of what my friend Roni Akele, the Director General of the Ethiopian National Project said about being a Jew in Ethiopia.  He said that they always dreamed of returning to Jerusalem.  Everything was about Jerusalem.  The psalm we sing is “If I forget you, oh Jerusalem….”

I fell in love with Jerusalem on my first trip to Israel in 1989 and it has never changed.  I am not an overly religious person, yet going to the Kotel is powerful.  This trip I got to visit Temple Mount for the first time.  Incredibly powerful.  As we stood there and said the Shema, I felt a connection that is indescribable.  Saul’s words hit home and deeply.  I’ll never take Jerusalem for granted again.  I’ll never take for granted all the time I have spent there, all the sites I have seen, all the friends I have who live there. 

It’s an opportunity to think deeply about gratitude.  This was my 21st trip to Israel and I hope to be back in Israel a few more times this year.  I don’t think much about it yet now I am filled with gratitude that I have these opportunities.  Each time I go to Israel, I get a deeper connection to Judaism and to understanding myself.  As I have said, I’m not very religious but I am very Jewish.  Israel brings that home to me.

I also think about how many things I have to be grateful for in my life.  Jerusalem can easily be representative of so many important things.  My family.  My health.  Doing work that is personally meaningful.  The success of my children as people and in life.  The life I have is truly beyond my wildest dreams.  It is easy to lose track of that and focus on the things that aren’t going well or that I don’t like.  Temple Mount was a good example.  I wish we could go there whenever we want.  I wish we could openly pray there and celebrate that holy space.  I could focus on the things we don’t have.  Or I can focus on the fact that we can go there.  That I did find a private place to pray quietly.  That I did feel the connection with God in this special place.  Our choices determine everything.  Do I want to focus on what I don’t have or what I have?  Do I want to be bitter about the things I think I deserve or be grateful for the wonderful things I actually have?  Just like I’ll never take Jerusalem for granted again, I won’t take the wonders and gifts of my life for granted either.  Nothing is perfect but it sure can be great.

A picture I took overlooking the Western Wall plaza. The beauty never disappoints.

The last thing I want to unpack in this post relates to Israelis.  Not since the second intifada have I been in Israel where I was thanked so much by Israelis for being there.  During the second intifada they were happy to see Jews coming because most were not.  It was the Christians who were coming to visit.  This time they were grateful for Jewish solidarity.  For knowing the Jews of the diaspora love Israel and support them as brothers and sisters.  That we are willing to come in the middle of a war because of our love for Israel and the people of Israel.   That the Jewish community truly is global.  There was a unity we felt and that they needed.  I never expected to get the thanks we did or for it to mean as much as it did to me. 

During the second intifada, part of the thanks was due to the economic benefit the country needed by our visiting.  While that is very true right now, that wasn’t what I was being thanked for.  The Israelis need to see us in person.  They need get our hugs and love.  They need to know they aren’t alone.  When the guys on our bus from an LA Jewish Day School gave the soldiers letters from kids at the school, they were deeply moved.  October 7th, the hostages, and the ensuing war is taking an incredible toll on the entire country.  Seeing their Jewish brothers and sisters from America and the rest of the world makes an incredible difference.

It’s a reminder to me that not only do I need to show up both through WhatsApp and in person for my Israeli brothers and sisters, I need to do the same for my friends and family.  That random phone call, text, or email may often mean far more than I ever thought.  Checking in on friends and family doesn’t take much effort and the payoff is always significant and meaningful.  This trip reminded me that the 30 seconds it takes to send a text or email, or the 15 minutes I allocate for a phone call, may change a person’s entire day and outlook.  It doesn’t matter if they reply or if they answer the phone.  The effort is what is meaningful.

The other thing that was surprising to me was the Israelis response to my tattoos related to October 7th.  I got them because of their meaning to me.  My children could have been at Nova.  I could have been there with them.  It hit home and hard.  The Mia Schem quote, “We will dance again” and the tattoo she got inspired me as well.  It is a reminder that we never give up hope.  We will overcome the challenges and not just survive but thrive.  Whatever is taken from us, we will get back.  They will never take our spirit or our soul.  Here in America, I get very few comments on them.  People are very used to tattoos and I have been surprised at the lack of comments or questions because of the uniqueness of them.  In Israel it was just the opposite.  Not only did they notice them, but people were stunned that October 7th meant that much to me.  ‘Wow’ was the most common thing said to me, followed by questions and a conversation.  At a t-shirt store where I got a few meaningful ones for myself, the owner was so taken by my tattoos that he asked if he could take pictures of them and use them on t-shirts he would sell.  Of course I said yes.  On my next trip, I’ll swing by and see if he has them on a t-shirt.  How cool would that be??

Nova music festival – it could have my kids and me.
The Mia Schem saying and tattoo

Standing up for what you believe in matters.  The old saying, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything” really holds true.  I’m not advocating that everybody should get a tattoo.  I am advocating that whatever matters to you, whatever you stand for, make sure that you actually do it publicly.  It matters.  People notice what you say and do and what you don’t say and don’t do.  If they are your values, make it public.

Trips to Israel, especially the Momentum Men’s Trips, always have me returning with my head spinning.  There is always much to unpack.  More is coming as I continue to process the time I spent there, the people I met, the things I saw, and how I felt.   If you have never been, I urge you to go.  If you have been, I urge you to return.  It truly does change your life.

Meeting with my friend Mahmoud, a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

I met Mahmoud in 2019 on my Encounter trip.  You can read about the trip starting with this blog post and continue forward.   It was great to see Mahmoud and we hugged when we saw each other.  He asked us to sit as we caught up on our families, work, and life changes.  This of course brought up the war which has impacted him both economically and in terms of how safe he feels for his family.  It was another connection point as I have those same feelings as a Jew in the United States. 

Mahmoud is incredibly smart.  The conversation was deep and not stuck on talking points or things that often impede real conversation.  It was refreshing to have somebody to talk with about what is happening without the incitement of specific words.

We didn’t use words like Genocide.  We both agreed that lots of people were dying, and we wanted that to stop.   We didn’t use words like forced famine.  We agreed that not enough food was getting to the people, and they were hungry.  He doesn’t believe enough food is getting in even if it wasn’t being stolen and sold.  He said there were fewer trucks going in now than before the war.  From what I understood that wasn’t accurate but I didn’t have the facts in front of me so chose not to dispute that point and just agree that people were hungry.  We agreed that the Hamas attacks on October 7 were unacceptable. We agreed that Hamas was evil.  We agreed that Hamas must be removed and cannot continue to exist in power. The murders, rapes, burning of bodies, and other actions were evil and unacceptable.  He shared that he and his friends were horrified when they learned of the attack.  We agreed that taking the civilian hostages was unacceptable and he shared that his hope was that they would be released the very next day.  He also said that he felt the taking of soldiers was different as this was an act of war by Hamas and taking military personnel for future prisoner swaps was ok.  While I understand his position on this, I struggle with it because of how Hamas treats prisoners. 

We talked about Zionism.  When we met in 2019, he made the comment that, “If Zionism means the Jews have a right to the land and we do as well, then I am ok with Zionism.”  When I said that the definition of Zionism is that the Jews have a right to a homeland and says nothing about anybody else, he commented that too many people disagree with me.  There are people who believe all of historical Israel belongs to the Jews and not only should we have the West Bank/Judea and Samaria but also Jordan and more.  That Greater Israel should be ours.  Just like there are Palestinians who believe there should be no Jewish state at all.  They believe the entire land should be Palestinian.  We can’t listen to the extremes and that’s where we are at the current time.  The media only covers the extremes.  That is what sells.  That’s what gets ratings and advertisers. 

We talked about the campus protests.  He wasn’t aware of the number of outside agitators that were involved with them.  As we discussed it, he commented that the fascists and communists always do that.  This is their pattern throughout history, so it isn’t a surprise.  I shared that in my opinion they were stealing his story and his pain for their own agenda which had nothing to do with Palestinians.  It was about anarchy and changing the United States government.   He agreed.

We discussed how the status quo in the relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians was not something that could continue long term.  When I participated in the Encounter trip, one thing that was clear to me was that the status quo couldn’t continue.  We agree on that.  From the day I met him, Mahmoud has been a proponent of a one state solution.  For him this doesn’t mean someplace that is free of Jews.  It is his position that Israel already controls the entire area and that it is already one state in which some of the people who live there get treated differently.  The challenge of a one state solution is that it would mean that Israel would no longer be a Jewish state.  That’s the cost of peace in a one state solution.  Unfortunately, I agree with him that the cost of a one state solution is the loss of Israel as a Jewish state.  I chose not to tell him that this would be unacceptable to the world Jewish community as the entire purpose of having a state of Israel is to have a Jewish state.  It is why I believe a one state solution will never occur.  The Palestinians would have to agree to leave the land and they are not going to do that.

He was pessimistic about any chance of a two-state solution working.  He made the point that Gaza was effectively a two-state solution. We see how that worked out.  I agree with him.  The challenge of a two-state solution is that the Palestinian leaders and people need to not just accept that Israel exists as a Jewish state but also there will be travel limitations and challenges because there are two countries with sovereign boundaries.  This also doesn’t even consider the trust factor needed.  The current trust factor is at best zero right now.  When I made the comment that it might take ten (10) years to get to a real two-state solution he shook his head and told me that was likely too long.  He said if it is going to take 10 years, it is dead.  I don’t agree with him here and we spent a lot of time talking about leadership. 

For those who have been reading my blog, you know how critical I have been about our lack of leadership.  This lack of leadership exists in the Jewish community, in America, in Europe and certainly in Israel and with the Palestinians.  The Palestinian Authority President Abbas was elected to a 4-year term in 2005.  There have not been elections since.  He is in year 20 of a 5-year term.  The world stays silent and supports him.  Prime Minister Netanyahu has been in power longer than any other Israeli Prime Minister.  While he has been in and out of power due to free elections, there is a reason why many countries have term limits for these and other positions.  A new voice is needed.  New leadership.

Both Mahmoud and I expressed our concerns about future leadership.  Who might it be?  Mahmoud is concerned Israel will elect Ben-Gvir, Smoltrich, or somebody on the far right like them.  I don’t share those same concerns as the Israeli people are not far right like them.  They are given a far too large platform because Netanyahu needs them to remain in power.  I am concerned that the leadership that will follow Abbas is going to be Hamas or Hamas like.  Somebody who will not lead towards peace but will lead back to the days of the intifadas and violence.  Both of us are stunned that in the United States, with well over 300 million people, these are the two candidates we have for President.  Because of their age, it is unlikely that either of them will be running in 2028 (one won’t be eligible per our constitution) so perhaps we can see some change in the US in four years but no matter who wins, it will be a very challenging four years.  With all this negativity about leadership, Mahmoud wanted to talk more about the people rather than leadership. 

His concern is that leaders are elected by the people.  His concern is that the anger and rage at Hamas is spilling over to the Palestinian people and will make things worse.  There are people who say, “just bomb them all” or “flatten Gaza and kill them all” or “they are all terrorists”.  I shared with him that as I was in Kfar Aza and at the Nova site, I felt rage.  I didn’t share that at Kfar Aza, as each bomb exploded in Jabaliyah, I felt better, as not only does that really bother me that I felt that way but also it would have been counterproductive to our conversation.  He isn’t wrong.  Israel is not the same country as it was on October 6.  The people of Israel are not the same.  The events of October 7 have altered the people and the country.  I don’t know where it is going to end up.  I told him I remain hopeful that when the war ends, and the war will end at some point, I am hopeful that the Israeli people can heal and look to a future where there can be peace and something like October 7 will never happen again.  He was much more pessimistic and really fears that the long-term impact on the Israeli people will be to radicalize them further and further to the right.  I shared my hope that after the war, it would bring them back towards the center due to the desire to live life. 

We also spent time talking about how important it is for Jews and Palestinians to talk the way we were.  To respect each other and share ideas, not ideology. To work towards finding solutions, not arguing and fighting for the sake of arguing and fighting.  He shared that while some Israelis do some to talk with him, he has no platform in Israel to do this.  Coming to the United States to talk to Israelis and Jewish communities isn’t the answer either.  We need more dialogue.  We need more discussion.  This brought me back to my points about leadership and how they can’t and won’t do this.  Perhaps after the war ends and Bibi is replaced and in the next few years when it is likely that Abbas will die, we will have a chance for new leadership that is willing to engage with each other and really work for the benefit of their people rather than to remain in power.  Maybe I am overly optimistic.  Maybe I am being too positive and too hopeful.  I don’t see another way to live.

As we wrapped up our 90-minute conversation, there is much to think about and much to contemplate.  We hugged goodbye and made plans to get together on one of my future trips to Israel.  Because of the time and the heat, we chose to take a cab back instead of walking.  Matthew and I began to talk a little about the experience, but those conversations will happen back in the US over a coffee or twenty. 

I appreciate Mahmoud for giving his time.  For sharing his opinions and concerns.  For listening to both Matthew and my comments, concerns, and opinions.  For being open to a real discussion and conversation.  For looking to the future and not being stuck in the past.  As we said during the conversation, we can’t change the past, but we can change the future.  I look forward to future conversations with Mahmoud and to a future where there is peace. To a time when the Palestinians can live in peace with their neighbor Israel.  When the thought of another October 7th isn’t on everybody’s minds. 

My friendship with Mahmoud and a number of other Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank/Judea and Samaria (two names for the same place) are examples that we can live together. We can have difference and get beyond them and live together. It gives me hope that when we finally get new leadership who truly cares about a different future, we might be able to have peace.