Tag: syria

Truth

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

The media around the world is mostly rotten. We have seen just how bad it is over the past 14 months with lies being told over and over again. The media promoting the lie of Israeli genocide. The lie of Israel starving the people of Gaza. The lies that ‘Jews deserved this’ and the lie that this is only about Israel, not about Jew hatred.

I get so fed up with the media lies that I mostly tune out the main stream media. No matter what station you watch or what newspaper you read, they are not giving you news and facts, they are giving you the narrative that they want to tell. From the word choices they use to the videos they choose to show, it’s a reminder than the news divisions are based in the entertainment division and it’s about getting views to sell more ads, not about telling the truth.

Today I want to write about and show truth. It’s not easy to find and it takes work on a daily basis to learn and understand what is really happening rather than the lies that are so easily told to us and that many believe. You can use these with your friends who don’t understand or who believe the lies because that’s all they hear.

We have known for a long time that they use actora in Gaza to simulate deaths and injuries. The same person has died multiple times in multiple locations. Dolls are used to simulate babies. Footage from Assad’s genocide in Syria (over 500,000 murdered) are shown to be in Gaza a decade later.

The acting isn’t very good and they don’t even try to make the actors look different when they die multiple times. The dolls are often easy to see. The footage they use from Syria is easily proved to be from there or was footage shown a decade ago. Here is another egregious one. This actor pretends to be a “victim” but accidentally uses the wrong foot while limping with a supposed broken foot. It’s only after he is hit in the head by the man ‘helping’ him that he switches the foot he is walking on from the broken one to the other one. The media lying isn’t even good, yet so many believe it. Jew hatred is real.

With the revolt in Syria and the fall of the Assad government, there is now a push to claim that Israel is trying to colonize Syria. The rebels, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are headed by a leader with long ties to Al Qaeda, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. al-Jolani has ties and connections to Isis as well. This is not a group you want to just assume the role of Assad. Israel took action. They destroyed the Syrian navy. They destroyed the Syrian air force. They destroyed the Syrian chemical weapons. They destroyed the Syrian rockets and launchers. They took control of the border with Syria to keep the people of Israel safe.

The IDF now estimates that 86% of Syria’s air defenses have been destroyed, which makes Syrian airspace a now much safer flight route for the entire world. The army says this opens up the opportunity to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites, yet another benefit to the entire world. A nuclear Iran is a danger to everybody.

The UN responds as you would expect. UN António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” This is while Syria is the middle of turmoil and there is grave danger to the Israeli people if no action was taken. Of course, Guterres has done everything he can to ensure that Israel is constantly in danger. He then calls for an urgent de-escalation by Israeli forces and a withdrawal from the Golan buffer zone. Once again, Guterres calls for the destruction of Israel. The media refuses to tell the truth.

For more than a decade, the media has lied about Syria. They kept the use of chemical weapons by Assad on his people quiet. They kept the brutality of his prisons a secret. They downplayed every Syrian death while using images from Syria to accuse Israel of killing Palestinians. Now that the Assad regime has falled, the truth is slowly coming out. In the Free Press, they just released an incredible report about Assad’s Sednaya prison. It’s a must read. The video inside the prison is haunting and chilling. Words like death camp and slaughterhouse are used and may be an understatement

The media bears responsibility for the ‘forced disappearance’ of 96,000 people. The media is responsible for the continued horrors that occured in Sednaya prison. The more I read about Assad and the torture and murders that were committed there, the more horrified I am. The angrier I become that the media, and the world, allowed this to happen once again. While this time the Jews weren’t the target, Jew hatred and antisemitism was used to cover up this brutality. How is Assad not wanted by the ICJ? how are those who participated in this brutality and barbarism not being held accountable by the world? The hypocrisy is deafening. Another example of the truth not mattering.

Astoundingly, the Druze leader of al-Suwayda in Syria made a powerful statement: “We refuse to live under rebel rule. We want Israeli rule and to be part of Israel.” This city of 120,000, mostly Druze with a large Greek Orthodox community, are openly stating that they want to be Israeli. The government that the ICJ and even some members of the US Congress call genocidal is a desirable place for minorities to live. A minority group is openly stating that Israel is the best country for them to live in. The truth is once again hidden by the outrageous lies. The people of Syria know. The Druze of Syria understand that they get freedom and human rights by being governed by Israel. The UN, the ICJ, the media, and especially some of our US members of Congress should be ashamed as their lies are outwardly being exposed.

It isn’t enough that the Druze leader of al-Suwayda openly states they want to be governed by Israel. Quite incredibly, we are seeing and hearing the same thing from the Druze villages on the easter Golan Heights. This video is from a Druze community in the southern Syrian village of Hader. The individual speaking calls for their village to be annexed to the Israeli side of the Golan Heights. The response further exposes the lies the UN, the ICJ, the media, and some of our US members of Congress propogate about Israel. “We agree. We agree.” they chant. The speaker goes on to talk about how they want to live with dignity and freedom….. in Israel, as Israelis. How do the liars explain this? They don’t even try. They ignore the truth instead.

The challenge for the Druze people of Syria is that while the southern Syrian village of Hader and the villages referenced in the video are close to the Israei border, the Druze living in Suwayda are in what is called Druze Mountain. It is not contiguous to Israel. The people living between the Eastern Golan and Druze Mountain are Sunni Arabs. Would they want to be a part of Israel? Would Israel want them to be a part of Israel? One thing we do know. If Druze Mountain and the Druze villages on the eastern Golan Heights became part of Israel, then Israel would not only be the Jewish state, it would also be the Druze state. How would Jew haters figure out a way to call Israel an apartheid state when it was the home not just to Jews but to the Druze as well? The facts would be inconvenient but the media doesn’t care about facts or truth. They would find a new way to twist the truth and lie about Israel.

When you want to hear truth from the media, you have to listen closely. You have to search and then hope they don’t lose their jobs for telling the truth. Erin Molan, from Sky News in Australia, has been telling the truth regularly. This past week she was fired for doing so. As she left, she recorded this powerful video. Listen to her words. You won’t hear them on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, BBC, or any other network. You used to hear it on Sky News but you won’t any longer. Listen to her words. Listen to the power of the truth. Imagine if this was the message we got in the United States from our media. Imagine if this was the message from the BBC and throughout Europe.

Thank you Erin for speaking out. Thank you for not shrinking in fear when they fired you for telling the truth. Thank you for making this video and for beginning something new. Perhaps you will lead a revolution that will bring the media back to reporting the truth. To having morals and ethics. To not being entertainment but being news. Watch and listen to this remarkable journalist. You won’t be disappointed.

Finally, we are now at day 434 of the hostage crisis. In 10 days, they will have been kept by these monsters as long as the American hostages were kept by Iran. The difference is the brutality. None of the American hostages taken by Iran were murdered. We know many of the Israeli hostages have been murdered by Hamas. None of the American hostages were sexually abused by Iran. We know many of the Israeli hostages have been sexually abused by Hamas. Look at the image below. 64 hostages are believed to be alive. Look at their faces. 36 are believed to be dead with Hamas keeping control of their bodies. 100 human beings tortured and abused. 434 days. It is unimaginable. It is horrifying. It should be the lead story on the news every single day and night. We should know every single one of their names, faces, and stories. Their families should be our families. Our media shows no compassion Our media shows no moral backbone. They should be ashamed. We should be ashamed. I pray every single day that the hostages are released and come home. I pray every single day for their health and welfare. May they all come home before we reach day 444.

Hypocrisy much?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

In the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011, President Bashar Assad was responsible for murdering over 500,000 civilians. He used chemical weapons on his own people in order to stay in power. Despite the massive unrest, both Russia and Iran lent their support and he was able to remain in power. The UN was silent. The International Court of Justice was silent.

Assad continued to abuse the Syrian people. He enabled weapons to come into Lebanon for Hezbollah to attack and terrorize Israel. He was a pawn of Russia and Iran. There were no protests on college campuses. No riots in the street. No calls of genocide, despite half a million people being murdered by him. Despite his use of chemical weapons on his own people.

Then an amazing thing happened. Rebels in Syria rose up against Assad this week. Because of the war with Ukraine, Russia did not help. Because of war with Israel through their proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the impact of the Israeli attacks responding to Iran, Iran did not help. Within a week, the Assad government fell. He and his family are now in Russia.

It is amazing what happens when you take on the bullies. With Russia and Iran out of the picture, the evil Assad regime is over. There are many different rebel forces now in charge of different parts of Syria. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Muhammad al-Julani (Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a) are aligned with Al Qaeda. Some are more moderate and Israel has talked with them about the border. Nobody knows what Syria will look like moving forward. What we do know is that the influence of Russia and Iran in Syria has been greatly reduced to eliminated. The people of Syria have freed themselves from the tyranny of Syria when given the opportunity. Where are the talking heads, using this as an example for the Iranian people and the Iranian regime? Where are the talking heads for the Gazan people and Hamas? Where are those same people for the Lebanese people and Hezbollah? They are nowhere to be found. Just like on the college campuses. If you can’t use it to blame the Jews, we will ignore it.

With the upheaval in Syria, Israel has gone ahead to secure the border. The IDF has secured the eastern part of the Golan Heights and the demilitarized zone to ensure the safety of Israeli’s living on the border. The map below shows it well. I fully expect that next week the Jew hating talking heads along with those on college campuses will blame Israel and accuse them of trying to colonize Syria. The hypocrisy is brutal. Israel has publicly stated they are merely securing the border. Israel has communicated with the Syrian rebels that they are not trying to invade Syria and are securing the border. Israel has let the rebels know that as long as they leave the border alone, there will be no attacks. Israel is destroying military stores to ensure the border remains safe. The facts won’t matter, just like they didn’t matter when Assad was murdering his own people. No Jews, No News.

Is what happened with the Assad regime in Syria a model for Iran? Reports out of Iran are saying that the fall of the Assad regime has created significant internal tensions within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as younger, radical members criticize senior leadership over the handling of the Syrian conflict. President Trump is expected to return U.S. “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran, this means the regime faces an increasingly precarious situation. Internal divisions within the IRGC risk undermining their ability to suppress unrest and project power abroad. We have seen the people of Iran rise up int eh past and the world ignore them and leave them to face the wrath of the regime. The world has changed, placing the regime in its most vulnerable position in decades. Will we finally see Iranian regime change, freeing the Iranian people from their tyranny? Will we see a new government that won’t be a state sponsor of terror? Will we see the return of the Persian people instead of religious zealots?

Early in the morning of December 4th, Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare’s insurance business, was assassinated in public on the streets of New York. While the business practices of insurance companies is reprehensible to many (they deny coverage, don’t listen to what doctors say, and are more interested in profit than healthcare), a public execution of a business leader is not acceptable. It creates a slippery slope where it is ok to murder anybody in a business you don’t like or think has harmed you. Not just insurance companies. A restaurant where you get food poisoning or a bad meal means the owner, chef, or even server becomes fair game. A dry cleaner that ruins your clothes is now a target to be killed.

Amazingly, there is a large group of people who don’t understand this. They are celebrating his murder. They even held a shooter look-a-like contest.

It makes me wonder where we are going as a country. It’s perfectly ok to not like Brian Thompson and what he stands for. It’s perfectly ok to not like United Healthcare or all insurance companies. If you want to wish bad things on those running these companies or the company itself, you can do that. I had a terrible experience at a specific restaurant and vowed to never give them any of my money ever again.

Greta Thunburg became a star on the world stage because of her care for the planet. She was outspoken about climate change and got the world’s attention. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year from 2019-2023. Many found her a voice of reason in an unreasonable world. It is clear that all this fame has gone to her head. Thankfully, she never won the Nobel Peace Prize as she now advocates publicly for the elimination of Israel. Her Jew hatred is public and she has become a hate filled person who loves herself and her fame more than anything else. It’s sad to watch somebody who seemed to genuinely care about the world and making it a better place, devolve into hate and bigotry. It’s sad when being famous is more important than anything else and drives you into hate. Using Greta’s own words, “F**k you Greta”.

We often think we have it bad. There is stress in our life. Pressure. We forget how lucky we are. I was talking with a friend in Israel this morning who apologized for his delay in responding because he was back in milium (reserves) once again. Then he shared that his wife’s nephew was an IDF soldier killed in Gaza last week and he had to deal with that. Yet he was apologizing to me for taking time to respond. He has stress. He has pressure. I needed no apology and told him that. Then I read this story from Shaquille O’Neal and it reinforced how lucky we are. How we take so much for granted. How these spoiled, elitist college students spew hatred because they don’t know anything. How these college professors and administrators enable and often encourage Jew hatred because they don’t know anything about life or reality. My friend taught me a lesson in gratitude. Shaquille O’Neal reinforced it.

Shaquille O’Neal said, “My stepdad was a sergeant in the army-a serious, strong man of character. We had an excellent relationship. I once played at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks in my first season in the NBA. I had a terrible game. Afterward, he called me and asked why I played so badly. He wondered if it was the pressure of facing Patrick Ewing and the Knicks. I told him I felt pressure. He said, ‘Tomorrow, I want you home at 7:00 AM. Pick me up-we’re going to see a family that has no home.’ On the way, we encountered a family in need. My stepdad stopped, gave them money for their next meal, and said, ‘That’s pressure. You have everything; you’re weak. There’s no pressure in playing basketball and earning millions of dollars. Real pressure is felt by those who don’t know when or where their next meal will come from! He told me to get out and help that family. I got out and saw a man with his wife and two children who had just lost their home. The man was looking for work. He told me he was cutting grass. I called a friend and asked him to get this man a job. I called another friend and said I needed an apartment for a family of four, promising to send a check the next day. They needed help. After that, I never felt pressure in a basketball game again because that family had real pressure.”

The entitled college students who believe the Hamas lies, who express publicly their Jew hatred, and who show they are terrible human beings don’t understand the world. They live in a mindset of blame and hate. Their entitlement shows itself in their expectations that everything should be given to them, that other people should work hard so they get things for free, and that not taking responsiblity is the way to success. They could use a lesson from Shaquille O’Neal’s father.

Hanukkah is late this year. It begins on Christmas. Just like many people, the only gift I really want is the return of the hostages. The end of Hamas and Hezbollah so there can be peace. I saw dreidel image and it expresses visually what I am feeling. No matter where it lands, the hostages get freed. That is not hypocritical. That’s what we are about. Freedom. Hanukkah is a holiday about freedom. This war is about freedom from terrorism. Freedom from Jew hatred and antisemitism. Freedom from Hamas and Hezbollah. Freedom from Iran. Freedom for the Syrian people. Freedom from hate and bigotry.

The dreidel letters The letters on a dreidel are an acronym for the Hebrew phrase “Nes gadol haya sham”, which translates to “a great miracle happened there.” In Israel, the dreidel replaces the letter Shin (Sham) with the letter Pay for Po (here). May this Hanukkah be one where we can say both – a great miracle happened there (return of the hostages, end of the war) and a great miracle happened here (a stop to the rampant Jew hatred).

Iran – will we let them off the hook again?

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Procrasination is something that I learned as a child would not serve me well. “Why do today what I can do tomorrow?” didn’t fly in my house growing up. I tried the argument about making my bed; I’m just getting into it tonight, so why make it? I tried to not empty the dishwasher because I could just take the dishes out and use them, just like out of the cabinet! I tried, “The project isn’t due for a few weeks, why start now?” None of it got anywhere in my house growing up. I learned that if you have to do something eventually, you might as well just get it taken care of now. It’s a pretty simple philosophy and has made life much easier for me.

It astounds me when I see smart people fail to understand this. The will put their heads in the sand, pretend not to see things, delay, delay, delay, for no purpose. At the end of the day, they still have to do what is necessary only now it is much more challenging and difficult.

That’s where we found ourselves today when it comes to the Iranian regime. We could have addressed their funding of terrorists for decades, but we didn’t. We could have addressed their nuclear weapon aspirations years ago, but we didn’t. The JCPOA merely delayed it, IF Iran would actually follow it, which they immediately did not. After almost an entire year of war betwen Israel and Iran’s proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis), we finally got to the real situation. War with Iran.

We’ve called them Iran’s proxies for years. We wouldn’t attack Iran. We had no sanctions, we put on crippling sanctions, we removed sanctions. We froze their money, gave them their money back, all for this evil regime to tyrannize the Iranian people, fund terrorists around the world, and do everything they can to develop a nuclear bomb. By all accounts, they are now very close.

Today, Iran fired 180 ballistic missiles into Israel. While it was expected, it was shocking. The entire country went on alert. I don’t know anybody in Israel who didn’t spend time in their safe room today. Some, more than others. Luckily the Israeli technology was able to shoot down most of the missiles. America and Jordan helped shoot some down. For the second time during the past year, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles at Israel with minimal/no effect.

Tel Aviv before the Iran bombing
Tel Aviv after the Iran bombing

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that Israel’s air defenses intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles. Some, however, landed in central and southern Israel. Israel’s national rescue service said two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel. In the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials said a Palestinian man was killed by a missile that fell near Jericho, Once again, Iran’s attack was scary but not lethal.

Missiles over Israel
Missile impact in Tel Aviv
Iranian missiles being shot down over the Kotel
Missiles over Ashdod
Iranian missiles at the Ayalon Mall in Bnei Brak
Ballistic missiles over Israel

Israel’s response is expected to be very different. They may target Iran’s oil refineries. They may target Iran’s nuclear facilities. They may target the Ayatollah himself. None of us know but Israel knows. Israel has been planning for this eventuality for a long time. Unlike the United States and Europe, Israel has not had it’s head in the sand when it comes to Iran. After missing so much that led to October 7th, Israel has showed her brilliance with the beepers, walkie-talkies, and elimination of the leadership of Hamas. The question for the US and Europe is are they going to treat the Iranian regime as a legitimate government who can be taken at the word or are they going to realize that this regime will lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. The US and Europe are measuring time in minutes, hours, days, and weeks. Occasionally in years. Iran is measure time in decades and centuries. We are at a critical time in history after this attack and the question is, “Will the world take advantage of the opportunity or we will once again let the moment pass us by?”

The Abraham Accords have shown that peace and normalization is possible. I have seen the Israeli Zionist Youth Movement in an Arab village (there are 55 Arab villages with this program and over 20,000 Arab children in the movement). I have Palestinian friends that live in East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Beit Ummar, near Hebron.

I have friends in Israel who live in communities like Haifa and Jaffa where Jews and Arabs live together in peace. Every day they show what can be the reality. I have been to the Hand in Hand schools, where Jews and Arabs go to school together. They learn Hebrew and Arabic. They study together, learn together, and grow up together. There are currently 6 of these schools in Israel with more than 2,000 students enrolled. Jaffa, Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, Wadi Ara, Haifa, an the Galilee all have these Hand in Hand schools.

We saw the dancing in the streets after Nasrallah was eliminated by the people of Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. They gave their thanks publicly to Israel for freeing them from an evil overseer.

The lie that eliminiting the terrorists will just create more terrorists has been exposed. Failing to eliminate terrorists create more terrorists. Continuing to fund UNRWA when there continues to be more and proof that their employees are members of Hamas and Hezbollah, that they are not delivering the food and aid to the people of Gaza, that they participated in the October 7 attacks and that they housed and helped hide hostages. As Israel frees Gaza from Hamas, Lebanon from Hezbollah, and potentially Iran from the Iranian regime, the opportunity for peace is large. What will we do?

It all comes back to where we are today. What are we going to do with Iran? Are we going to let them off the hook again? Are we going to miss the opportunity once again? Are we going to look back and regret how our leaders cowered in fear or be proud that they stood up to evil and made the world a much safer place? We will see what happens but we know that it starts and ends with Iran.

The Ego of the West may cause it to be lost

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

Israel just did what nobody thought they could. They not only eliminated the leadership of Hezbollah, destroyed many of their rockets and rocket launchers, and eliminiated Hassan Nasrallah, an evil terrorist responsible for murdering Israelis, Americans, Syrians, and Lebanese people in large numbers. You think that the world would celebrate the elimination of this evil man.

Many did, with meme’s like this filling the internet.

Even the Lebanese people are celebrating his death. It gives them a chance at freedom.

Yet there were so many more who mourned him, despite his despicable life of murder and terror. The Irish Republicans have idolized him and created things like this.

In America, we see far too many mourning his death and attempting to make him into a martyr. In Dearborn, Michigan, three separate mosques are holding martyr mourning sessions that they are live streaming as well.

In Ottowa, the antisemites pretending to only be against Israel, went to a Jewish neighborhood to hold a protest. They didn’t go to the Israeli embassy. They didn’t go to the Israeli consulate. They went to a Jewish neighborhood. But this has nothing to do with hating Jews. Their hypocrisy is obvious.

The college campuses continue to reek of antisemitism and Jew hatred. The University of Pennsylvania continues to fight with Columbia to see who can treat Jews the worst and who can be the most antisemitic school in the country. Students for Justice in Palestine (most of whom aren’t students, don’t want justice, and couldn’t pick out the countries in the middle east without help) posted this. Will the University do or say anythig? The odds say no.

SJP is really a hate group on college campuses

McGill University says, “Hold my beer!” to UPenn

McGill University wants to compete for the most antisemitic campus in North America

Then there is the media. I don’t expect anything different from them but I thought with how evil Nasrallah has been, with as many American’s he has murdered, with his mass murder in Syria and the acknowledged leader of a huge terrorist organization, they would at least be factual. It seems that is way too high a bar for them, as seen by the Washington Post and the Guardian

Yet the people of Lebanon, Iran, and Syria feel differently. Take a look at these signs and messages. They send a powerful message from the people of Syrian, Iran, and Lebanon about what they want. It speaks to the evil of Hezbollah from those living under their rule. Unfortunately, the elitists in the West and the antisemites in America, Canada, and Europe think they know better.

Please bear with me for posting so many videos and pictures. It’s simply amazing that the people directly impacted are clearly saying one thing yet the Western Elites think they know better. It’s the ultimate superiority complex. It is pretentious, ego-centric, and arrogant.

Syrian people with the sign in hebrew that says, “Thank you very much Netanyahu. By killing Nasrallah you light the path of peace”

Then there is one of my all-time favorites, Abu Mazen/Mahmoud Abbas. The President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), who is now finishing his 20th year of a 4 year term. Despite this incredible fact, the UN, Europe, and the United States give him credibility as a ‘democratically elected leader’. While many of the liberal elite fear that a Trump presidency would be more than the 4 year term, they have no issue supporting a man who is in year 20 of a 4 year term. The hypocrisy is brutal.

Mahmoud Abbas has had many opportunities for peace. Three consecutive Israeli leaders – Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and Olmert – sought to hand over permanent control of territory to the Palestinians. First to Yasser Arafat and then to Abbas. Olmert offered Abbas a map that showed Israel would give Palestinians nearly 94% of the West Bank, with Israeli territory in the remainder that would have been compensated for via a land swap, and a corridor connecting Gaza and the West Bank. Yet Abbas rejected it outright.

When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, they gave the PA an opportunity to build a state. Instead of building a state, instead of building the Singapore of the Middle East, Abbas and his leadership squandered the opportunity before Hamas took control in 2007. He has shown through every action he has taken that he doesn’t want a Palestinian State that lives next to Israel. He wants a Palestinian State with NO ISRAEL. Yet he has the chutzpah (yes I used a yiddush word with a terrorist) to say to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that, “We want a solution that will protect both countries – the State of Palestine and the State of Israel – so they can co-exist in peace, stability and security.”

The man who responded to the Olmert peace offer by starting the second intifada also said to the UNGA, “we cannot fight Israel, and we don’t want to fight, we want protection.” This from the man who sent suicide bombers into Israel, who denies the Holocaust, and ensure terrorists in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria and places like Jenin have become a breeding ground for local terrorist groups. And the UN loves him.

When Nasrallah was killed, Abbas mourned his loss. He offered his condolences to the Lebanese Hezbollah members. Once again he showed he doesn’t care about the people of Lebanon just like he doesn’t care about the Palestinians. What does he care about? Lining his own pockets. Arafat died a billionaire. Abbas is a billionaire. The money that comes in goes in his pocket first. As long as he can stay in power and not have peace, he gets wealthier and wealthier. Yet the world closes their eyes, continues to send him money, while the people hate him and everything that he represents.

Condolences to Hezbollah from Mahmoud Abbas

So what’s the point of this rant? We have clearly seen that bowing to pressure from the US or the UN does Israel no good. As important as the relationship with the US is, Israel must do what it needs to do for the safety and security of her people. When Rafah was said to be a ‘no go’ and that it was impossible to evacuate that many people, Israel went ahead and evacuated the people and went anyway. When the pressure from the US was to leave Hezbollah alone and try dipolomatic efforts that never work with terrorists, Israel proceeded to eliminate the leadership of Hezbollah in about 2 weeks and is reportedly preparing a ground incursion to push Hamas back to the lines agreed upon in the UN Resolution 1701 that the UN, the US, and the world has failed to enforce over the past 18 years.

Israel can no longer sit back and cowtow to the US or the world’s opinions. After October 7th we have seen that most of the world would happily let Israel die. The US does not exude strength which means listening to them only emboldens the terrorists. Israel must do what Israel must do in terms of security. Otherwise they have no country.

As former Ambassador Michael Oren said when he spoke at a local JNF event earlier this year, “Israel was founded with 2 covenants between the government and the people. The first was “Never Again” and on October 7th that was broken. The second was that “the IDF will always be there.” On October 7th, that was broken. Israel needs to renew that covenant. They need the citizens who live in the north to return to their homes. They need the hostages to come home. They need to rebuild the south where Hamas destroyed the kibbutzim. They need to rebuild the trust between the government, the IDF, and the people of Israel.

And then, in the words of Mia Schem, “We will dance again”. I can’t wait until there is another Nova dance party to remember the last and celebrate life. I plan on being there.

Am Yisrael Chai

It is Friday in America

Posted on by Keith Dvorchik

On my recent trip to Israel, we were in the Lower Galilee on a jeep ride. It was beautiful to ride through the lush area, climbing the mountain in the jeeps, until we reached an amazing view.

In the background, you see the Golan Heights. The Golan is a strategic area as whoever holds it has complete control of the valley below. Prior to 1967, Syria would sit there and shoot at the people living in the villages in the valley. In the 1973 war, the Golan was almost lost. The story of the tank unit in the 188th armored battallion is legendary. I first heard it a few years ago when we visited the unit as they proudly told the story of their unit. Totally outmanned, they managed to hold off the Syrians as the cost of their lives until support could arrive to fight and eventually win.

What I didn’t know is that my friend David’s cousin, Benny Katzin, was one of the leaders of that unit in 1973. While looking at that view, David told us his story. As he was preparing to leave for the weekend to spend both Shabbat and Yom Kippur with his family, Benny sensed that something was going on and there was something wrong. His overall commander told him not to worry and to go home and enjoy Shabbat and celebrate Yom Kippur with his family. He told him he had earned it.

Benny Katzin

The uneasy feeling wouldn’t leave him. As much as he wanted to see his family and spend the holiday with them, Benny couldn’t leave. His responsibility was too great. Instead of leaving that Friday afternoon to go home, he stayed on base just in case something happened. Something happened all right.

On Saturday October 6, 1973, the armies of Syria and Egypt attacked. Not only was it Shabbat, it was Yom Kippur. Israel was not prepared. On the Syrian-Israeli border, the Syrian army made incredible progress. They were so successful, so quickly, that they thought it was a plot to trick them into going to far so they stopped. This gave Bennie and his immediate commander, Yitzchak Ben Shosham the time to move any tanks that still worked to try to delay the Syrian army. They managed to hold off for another day while reinforcements were sent north, ultimately defeating Syria on the border. Bennie and his commander were fighting in the last 2 operating tanks against a Syrian force of 177. When only one tank worked, they both jumped into it to continue to fight. The were found dead together in that last tank. It had stopped being able to move so they used whatever ammunition they had until they ran out and were then killed.

Yitzchak Ben Shosham

What makes this story any different from hundreds of other acts of heroism at that time? Why bother with this specific story? Benny was a hero, not for what he did when the war began on October 6 or for what he did to defend Israel on October 7, 1973 when he died. It isn’t for taking on 177 Syrian tanks with just two Israeli tanks. If itsn’t because they were successful in delaying the Syrian army until reinforcements could arrive. Benny is a hero for what he did on October 5th. For choosing to stay. For listening to his gut and deciding it was more important to be there in case he was right rather than go home and hope he was wrong.

How many times have we been faced with that type of situation? We have a feeling something is going to happen. We know deep down that we should stay but we want to go home. We want to see our spouse, our children, our parents. We want to relax, eat a good meal, and not deal with the ongoing stress. How many of us do that instead of listening to our gut and doing the hard thing, staying.

Here in America, many of us have that feeling in our gut. Something is wrong. Something bad is going to happen. Whether it is something with women’s rights, individual rights, assassination attempts of leaders, school shootings, the rise of antisemitism, or many other things, we feel it deep within ourselves. The question is what are WE going to do? Are we going to ignore the signs that we see, the feeling in our gut, go home and hope it doesn’t happen? Are we going to sit at home and ignore the feeling, hoping if it happens, it is not to us or those we love? Are we going to leave the responsibility to somebody else because we can? Or are we going to be like Benny? Are we going to act? Are we going to say, “Not on my watch! I refuse to allow this to happen without doing what I can to stop it.”

We have the choice. Nobody would have faulted Benny for going home that Friday to spend Shabbat and Yom Kippur with his family. He would have been recalled on Saturday and been fighting against Syria on Sunday. He would have known. He would have to live with the fact that he knew in his bones that something was going to happen and left. He would have known that he could have made a difference on Saturday and didn’t.

The truth about Hamas, UNRWA, and Gaza is slowly coming out. The UN has already cut in half the number of women and children that have been killed in the war. If you take the numbers reported by Hamas/Gaza Health Ministry/UNRWA (they are all the same terrorists), in the UNRWA report from Tuesday July 9, 2024, they reported that 38,193 people have been killed. They don’t discern between terrorists and civilians. They don’t include anybody dying of natural causes. The same report estimated that 50,000 babies have been born in the past 9 months. This means that in this so called ‘genocide’, the population of Gaza has actually INCREASED even including the terrorists who have been killed and those who died of natural causes! While Israel is amazing in so many ways, they sure are terrible at genocide.

Yet the cries of genocide and apartheid remain. We’ve already seen how this ‘genocide’ is the only one in history where the victims have seen their population increase. If you go to Israel, you will soon realize so are the claims of apartheid. On my most recent trip, one of the participants got sick. I took her to the medical clinic that morning where she was treated by an Arab-Israeli doctor and nurse. When I got her prescription filled, it was by an Arab-Israeli pharmacist. The wonderful man who cleaned my hotel room every day, who I talked to multiple times a day and built a friendship with (and tipped him well for an awesome job done) is an Arab-Israel. Our medic and security guard one day was an Ethiopian-Israeli. One of our speakers shared with us that the number of Arab-Israelis choosing to serve in the IDF continues to grow significantly as are those who are choosing national service as an option.

Yet here in America and around the world, we are faced with these lies. We are faced with growing anti-semitism – I choose to call it Jew hatred because that’s what it really is. What are we going to do about it? How are we going to respond? Are we going to respond? Should we just sit back and hope it goes away? I have heard the arguments about Jews staying on the campuses where they are facing daily hatred both in and out of the classroom because we can’t abandon them. I disagree. Abandon them we must. Protecting ourselves is more important. Imagine a Jew-free Ivy league. How much would their prestige fall? How many Nobel Prize winners would now come from other Universities? How many innovators and business creators would now come from other Universities? The brain drain will affect them tremendously and our students stay safe. Imagine the amazing Jewish professors leaving the Ivy League hatred and improving the quality of education elsewhere. Rabbi David Wolpe writes about his year at Harvard and why he left. Imagine the talent leaving these hate filled institutions and going elsewhere.

It’s Friday in America now. The question is who are you going to be? Are you going to be Benny Katzin who chose to stay because he knew something was coming? Are you going to be like Benny and instead of going home to see family and celebrate the holiday, make the sacrifice to stay and fight? To be there because you know it is coming? It’s Friday in America. Are you going to look back with pride that you took action and didn’t let others face it without you or are you going to look back with regret because you could have made difference and didn’t. When your grandchildren ask what you did and where you were when it was Friday in America, how are you going to answer them? I know how I am going to answer them. My children already know the answer to tell their grandchildren about what I have done and what I am doing when it is Friday in America. What about yours?