Torah Study Alone is Not Enough

Rav Dov Landau (YWN)

I am both surprised and dismayed. 

Rafi Goldmeier (Life in Israel) reports that Rav Dov Landau, who at 93 is one of the senior Roshei Yeshiva in the Charedi world published the following comments in the Israeli Yated Neeman (Which  I presume was translated and summarized from the Hebrew by Rafi):

In the letter Rav Landau writes that all Torah learners and all Haredim should know that we only have Torah learning and nothing else. Those involved in other activities who pretend that they are bringing salvation from the dangers around us should know they are causing damage to themselves, their children and to their families and to others.

I am not surprised that Rav Landau believes that Torah study is vital to the salvation of Klal Yisroel. Nor am I dismayed that Yeshiva students of all ages and backgrounds have intensified their Torah study at this time in an effort to beseech God for His mercy. What both surprises me and dismays me is the latter part of that letter. Which says that doing anything else causes ‘damage to themselves, their children and to their families and to others.’

Does he really think the IDF is wasting its time? Or worse hurting Klal Yisroel by fighting Hamas? Does he think they should lay down arms; pick up a Gemarah and start learning? 

One might respond that he wasn’t talking about the IDF, but instead about all the other things going on. Like fund raising. Or expressing moral support. Or thanking the US for their support. I don’t know. But he did not differentiate. He did not say that he wasn’t talking about the army. Which leads me to believe that he actually believes that only Torah study can save the Jewish people and nothing else.

I do not believe that this is mainstream Charedi  thinking. I am far more inclined to believe that the thinking of a Gadol of the past is the real mainstem thinking. One may recall that after the 67 war (or was it the 73 war), Rav Chaim Shmulevutz had a Seudas Hoda’ah (a banquet for the purpose of thanking God for His salvation) wherein he expressed gratitude to both the IDF and the students of Torah for their efforts which he believed spared his Yeshiva, Mir. 

One might also recall that students of Yeshivas Brisk (Israel) and like minded Charedim that were present at the event were outraged by that comment and strenuously protested his reference to the IDF. They see the IDFas an extension of the ‘evil’ anti Torah Zionist government. that should NEVER be praised. Only condemned.

Rav Shmulevitz understood that God wants His people to do their part in every way they can before he stretches out His hand to help us. We must make every effort to solve our own problems before we ask God to intervene on our behalf. That is why Rav Shmulevitz thanked both the IDF and those who studied Torah for their effort and sacrifice on behalf of the Jewish people.

Much as I vehemently disagree with Rav Landau he is entitled to his opinion. But then I would have to ask why the vast amount of Torah study that has been going on  in the holy land (and which in fact is constantly increasing) has not protected us til now? I do not believe there is any dispute about the numbers of people studying Torah in  Israel these days being exponentially greater than at any time in modern history. Perhaps even in all if Jewish history.

Based on Rav Landau’s formula, we should have been in the best shape ever for God’s protection. And yet on that fateful day of Simchas Torah (October 7^th) we were ‘treated’ to the most violent slaughter rape, maiming, beheading of men, women, children (babies even!), and the elderly since the Holocaust!

If all we needed was intense Torah study, we already had that in spades.

The answer of course is that Torah study is not enough without doing our Hishtadlus in every way we can. And that is where we failed. Israel’s security apparatus let us down. 

My hope is that even the highly partisan (to the Yeshiva world) Yated will not let Rav Landau’s letter be the final word on this subject. That there are other Charedi rabbinic leaders with the courage to publicly disagree with him and perhaps even reference Rav Shumelevitz to support their disagreement. Because if they don’t they will in my view be participating in a disaterous corruption of the Torah.

One more thing. This was difficult for me to write. Now is not the time to criticize rabbinic leaders. But I cannot help but speak out at what I believe is a harmful and insulting comment about what the Jewish people are doing right now with respect to the most serious threat to our existence since the Holocaust.

Trump, DeSantis, Haley, and Israel

Trump, DeSantis, and Haley (The Hill)

Who’d a thunk it? Strangely enough, my preferred candidate for president has caught up in the polls. At least as far as second place is concerned. According to one poll I saw this morning Nikky Haley and Ron DeSantis are tied at 16% each for the Republican nomination for president.

I have been a fan of Haley ever since her tenure as the US representative to the UN. I will never forget her full throated, unconditional support for Israel while she was there. And her justifiable condemnation of all the anti Israel resolutions issued by that ‘august’ body. 

Her pro Israel attitude there mirrored that of Israel itself. This is the kind of commitment to Israel I would love to see in the president. Which was not the case with the current President until reality struck him in the face.

Please do not misunderstand. I am extremely grateful to the president for expressing his strong unwavering support for Israel both in word and in deed. I believe that he was sincere in expressing empathy for the victims, survivors, concern for all the hostages, as well as understanding what their families have gone - and are still gong through.  

But until October 7^th, that support was not warm. It was expressed as a matter of American policy which was at the time highly critical of Israel’s right wing government. His cool approach to Israel’s newly re-elected prime minister was reflected by his refusal to invite him to the White House upon his election – which has been a tradition of American presidents for decades.

This is not the case with Haley. She stood firm with Israel without reservation. While I’m happy to see that both Haley and Biden are on the same page with respect to Israel’s right to defend itself by way of eradicating Hamas, it is worth noting those differences .

This is also not to say that Haley’s support for Israel is stronger than her closest rival, DeSantis. I believe either one of them would be a major improvement with respect to supporting Israel. I prefer non judgmental warm relationships over judgmental cold ones.  

Nor is our relationship with Israel the only issue by which I assess political candidates. But as things stand now, it is my number one concern. 

But all that may be irrelevant considering the 300 pound gorilla in the room. Donald Trump not only leads the Republican pack by a wide margin, in a race between Trump and Biden, Trump seems to have a slight edge. Although it may not a statistically significant lead, at the very least it's a dead heat.

That is astonishing considering the multitude of federal and state indictments Trump is now facing. The latter of which involves the RICO (organized crime) statute. If convicted, the law mandates prison time. And yet it seems that about half the country (or more) could not care less. They would still prefer him to Biden.  

I honestly don’t get it. The former president has time and again proven himself to be a narcissist of major proportion. Every issue, including Israel’s existential war with Hamas is about him. His immediate reaction to the most horrific brutal attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust was not empathy for the victims and their families. Nor was it about Israel’s right to retaliate. His reaction was that if he were president, this would not have happened. And then he blamed Israel’s leadership for the attack. I don’t think he even mentioned Hamas.

Now it’s also true that he has since given his unequivocal support to Israel and condemned all those protesting in support of Hamas. Adding that if he were president those pro Hamas protestors would be deported.  

That might sound nice for the Jewish people to hear now that we face a dramatic rise in Muslim antisemitism. Antisemitism  not seen since the Holocaust. But to the best of my knowledge he has no constitutional right to do that. (Not that he cares about the constitution.) 

How bad is Muslim antisemitism? From The Guardian: 

A mob in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan has stormed the airport in Makhachkala in search of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel.

In the past day, local people have besieged a hotel in search of Jewish guests and stormed the airport after reports emerged that a flight from Tel Aviv was arriving in the city. Passengers were forced to take refuge in planes or hide in the airport for fear of being attacked.

Local health authorities said that 20 people had been injured, including two who were critical.

My guess is that Palestinians in Gaza feel the same way about us. As Jonathan Rosenblum put it in his latest Mishpacha column:

...it is worth noting that while the civilians of Gaza may be entitled to certain protections under the rules of warfare, they are hardly innocent. Not only did they elect Hamas to govern them, at least once, but anyone watching the scenes of from Gaza City on October 7 — the passing out of candies to celebrate the slaughter of Jews, the parading of hostages before jeering crowds — could certainly be forgiven for thinking that the residents of Gaza were at least as “exhilarated” by dead Jews 

So I wouldn't feel all that sorry for people who believe we should all be killed. Even if they aren't doing it themselves

Back to Trump. For me it makes a lot more sense to vote for people like Haley or DeSantis – both of whom are unprecedented  supporters of Israel and the Jewish people. Both of whom would have domestic policies that politically conservative leaning voters could agree with. Policies like those of the former president, which I mostly approved of. Do we really need a narcissist like Trump over true patriots and friends of the Jewish people like Haley or DeSantis?

And yet as things stand now, it looks like, by the will of the American people, the former president is about to get a second term.

One might ask why Haley suddenly got such a bump in her numbers. I think it’s because suddenly foreign policy has risen to the top of the American agenda. That is Haley’s strong suit - having  gained some foreign policy cred dealing with foreign countries during her time in the UN 

While pocket book issues usually determine how a vote will go, national attention has turned eastward.  It appears that Haley’s strong pro Israel credential has served her well at this historical moment.

What this tells me is that the American people are not being fooled by the nightly news focus on Gaza suffering. The American people understand who Hamas is and what they stand for. They know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. And they are delighted to see Israel do something about it. 

The American people understand that Israel did not start this war and never wanted it.They also understand why civilian suffering in Gaza is not the fault of the good guys. That Israel is doing what's necessary to stay alive and to destroy the greatest danger to civilization since Nazi Germany. Despite the best efforts of the media to paint Israel as uncaring about civilian casualtues, They know who to blame instead for that.  

I firmly believe that the vast majority of the American people know what’s going on. They know who is the aggressor and who is the victim. Unlike Europeans, they see the Jewish people as equals and often look up to us with admiration for all we have accomplished as a people despite centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust. And they do not  want to see that happen again. 

God bless the United States of America. 

The following is the prayer for the protection of the Israeli Defense forces (IDF):

May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighters from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor. May He lead our enemies under our soldiers' sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory.

Hamas, the Media, Protests, and Iran

Protesting Israel all over the country  (PBS)

Antisemitism is alive and well in this country. The number of angry protests against Israel is astonishing. The protests are all about Palestinian suffering at the hands of Israel. But at the core most of these protesters are plain old fashioned antisemites. Focusing on Palestinian suffering gives them cover to claim that they are not antisemites. They are just humanitarians fighting for a people under siege by powerful army that doesn’t care about human suffering. 

While some of these protestors might be that naïve I am convinced that most of then are either antisemitic Palestinians (like Rashida Tlaib) or are the 21^st century version of majority of German citizens who were antisemitic and enamored of  their leader, Adolf Hitler. They place no value to the concept of a Jewish state. Which is why you hear chants like  ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ at those protests. 

The media hasn’t helped. Their focus Israeli airstrikes, daily scenes of bloodied Palestinians crying over lost loved ones, which according to the Hamas Health Ministry numbers north of 8000 civilians many of who are children.  (Now Hamas wouldn't lie about something like that, would they?) Not to mention media references to shortages of food, water and fuel - all blamed on Israel.

While the media has mentioned the fact that many of those casualties are the result of Hamas using their own people as human shields, the overwhelming focus is on the the unbearable misery Gaza residents are going through. Kind of putting Hamas responsibility on the back burner as they keep talking about Israeli airstrikes.

What about all those shortages? Water shortages would be solved by fueling water pumps - blaming Israel for no longer providing it. That is true But the reason they have stopped providing fuel is because Hamas has been diverting  and hording fuel to send rockets into  Israel. Hamas has enough fuel stored  to solve the water shortage. No one disputes that. But Hamas prefers attacking Israel over helping their own people The media knows that and has even mentioned it. But they prefer blaming Israel. That is sick!

One of the constant questions being asked by the media is why the US isn’t pressuring Israel to have a ‘humanitarian’ cease fire so that negotiations to get the hostages out can be given time to succeed. And so that Palestinians in Gaza can get the humanitarian aid they need? 

This type of question is insulting in the extreme! It presumes that Israel doesn’t care about their own hostages or the human suffering of Palestinians. Do they not understand that Israel did not start this war and does not want it?!. My guess is that they either don’t realize it or don’t care.

I wish I could say that I am surprised at the following from AP:

The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, the first United Nations response to the war 

The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States. It would have unequivocally condemned the Oct. 7 “terrorist attacks” by Hamas and demanded the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas, which is not mentioned in the Arab-drafted resolution. 

World antisemitism is alive and well, too. It is in the mothers milk fed over the centuries.to generations of much of the world population. Thank God the the leaders of the most powerful nation in the world, the United States, is not one of them.

Where was the UN after Hamas slaughtered 1400 Jews? That they now complain about proportionality since more than 8000 Palestinians in Gaza been killed is a red herring. As if  Israel has to suffer as many casualties in order for it to be fair fight? Really?   

How absurd! The high number of civilian causalities in Gaza is the direct responsibility of Hamas. Israel warns Palestinians to evacuate before they attack.  Hamas tells them to stay. Hamas terrorist infrastructure is placed in the midst of their the civilian population. One such location recently discovered is under a Gaza hospital!

Arab allies like Jordan are calling the attack on Gaza  genocide, and of course blaming Israeli airstrikes for that. But if it is a genocide, it is one of  Hamas’s  own making. Not a single one of our Arab allies has blamed Hamas. Where the blame belongs.

Israel has no choice top continue along on its present course - whose goal is to destroy Hamas. No matter how many civilians Hamas puts in their way.  I am glad that US leadership, military leaders, and the majority of both parties realize that.

One more thing. It’s nice to see the US stand up to Iran, not allowing any attack against US troops to go unanswered. Iran for its part keeps threatening the US with severe consequences if Israel keeps up its attack against Hamas.  

Well, let them try. It would not make me too unhappy if the US saw that as an act if war against the US. And activated the full might of the US military upon them. With the goal to restore freedom to the huge number (most?) of the  Iranian people desperate to escape form the hell of Iran’s extremist Islamic Republic. 

I know that a war with Iran will not be a ‘piece of cake’. American boots on the ground will result in American casualties that will make the war in Iraq and Afghanistan look like a trip to Disneyland. But in my view there is no greater danger to world peace than the Islamic Republic of Iran. Starting with their export of terrorist supplies to Hamas and Hezbollah.  

I also know that a lot of people will accuse me of being an armchair hawk. And not caring about the bloodbath American troops will surely suffer in a war with Iran. 

Well, I do care and resent any implication that I don’t. But the alternative of allowing Iran to continue to export terrorism all over the world can easily result in more innocent bloodshed of the type that happened to Israel on October 7^th. There is not the slightest doubt that the US will win that war if given the green light by congress do do what’s necessary to win it. 

World War II is sometimes called the ‘good war’. That was a time where Americans could not enlist fast enough in the military to fight Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. In my view a US war against Iran would be just as virtuous. Deserving to be called the second ‘good war’.

Administrative Note

Some of my readers seem to be having a problem accessing the comments. It seems that this problem has gotten worse. Some are blaming this problem on their browser, Chrome. I use Chrome and I do get comments. Even when I am signed out.

Comments on my blog are hosted by Disqus. Disqus is unsecured. Some versions of Emes Ve-Emunah are secured. My host, Blogger, does not allow unsecured comments on the secured version of their blogs.

My suggestion to those who cannot read the comments is to do the following:

1. Delete the secured version. If you have it bookmarked, it should be unbookmarked.

2. Google Emes Ve-Emunah and then click on it. It will be the unsecured version which will include Disqus comments.

3. Bookmark it. This way when you click on that bookmark, you will always get the unsecured version and the accompanying Disqus comments.

 I hope this helps

 

Israel’s Moral Obligation to Its People

Israel bombing Gaza (The Guardian)

How many people believe that bombing a city filled with innocent civilians is an immoral act? I sure do. One might ask, are there any exception to that rule? The quick answer would surely be no. Impossible! An act like that is mass murder. No exceptions.

Well, not exactly. There have been exceptions. A city filled with innocent civilians was actually bombed to the tune of over 100,000 innocent civilians being annihilated. To the cheers of the American people. That happened back in 1945 when the President of the United States, Harry Truman, ordered the US military to drop a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. And then he did it again to Nagasaki, another city in Japan. At the time, Japan was engaged in war with us.  They were our mortal enemy sworn to win at any cost including kamikaze suicide missions. 

Instead of calling Harry Truman a mass murderer (perhaps the greatest mass murderer of all time) he is considered a hero to the American people. Bombing those 2 cities into oblivion ended World War II.

These are among my thoughts as I see daily reports about thousands of innocent Plaelstinian civilians in Gaza being killed by Israeli air attacks. Point being that the existential threat to Israel by Hamas is no different than was the existential threat to the US from Japan in the 40s. In fact I think the threat to Israel is even greater. Israel has no choice but to respond the way it has. 

Aside form the obvious difference in magnitude, there is another significant difference between what the US did to Japan back then and what Israel is dong now to the Palestinians in Gaza. Killing all those innocent people In Hiroshima and Nagasaki was intentional. Killing Palestinians in Gaza is not intentional. And yet the numbers are high – not because of any intent by Israel - but because of Hamas using their own citizens - including children - as shields.

To argue that Israel should stop because of all the innocent life being lost ignores that reality.  A ceasefire now would give Hamas a chance to re-group and re-arm. And to kill as many Jews as possible in a goal to kill us all. Israel cannot stop. Their very existence is at stake. Same as when the US was at war with Japan.

Israel has – not only the right – but the moral obligation to go forward in the mission to destroy their proven mortal enemy, Hamas (and other Jihadist groups like them).  Whatever it takes. Regardless of how many innocent civilians are placed in their path by their enemy. 

What about the hostages? Getting them out is a priority. But Israel must not be deterred in their existential mission.  

In my view, and in what I believe is the view of the entire civilized world (with the US leading the way) is that what happened to Israel on October 7^th more than justifies its current response. 

And for the first time in my memory the media is being even handed about that. Witnessing the daily news reports that describe the destruction, carnage and misery experienced by Palestinians in Gaza, they always remind viewers of what Hamas did to Israel first. Often in excruciating detail. Which - having seen videos taken by Hamas themselves - noting that what they describe is a fraction of what they saw of the brutality with which Hamas did it. Not to mention the constant and continual barrage of rockets indiscriminately fired into Israel. Totaling well into many thousands.

I am happy to report that the first order of business in the House of representatives under its new Speaker, Mike Johnson, was to show full support for Israel by a vote of 412 to 10, with six members voting "present," This - even though according to Hamas, there have been over 6000 Palestinian casualties in Gaza. Many of whom were children.

All of which brings me to Academia. Many student organizations in prestigious universities have condemned Israel only. Completely ignoring why Israel is doing this.

I cannot understand what kind of moral guideline ignores something like that! I am pretty sure they think they have the moral high ground. But I think something else is at work here: Good old fashioned antisemitism. Whether they realize it or not, they have surely been influenced by the antisemitism of some of their leftist progressive mentors at those schools.

Thing is, I doubt that these students think of themselves as antisemties. They have been influenced to see Palestinians as victims of an Apartheid regime whose brutal military severely mistreats them. And occupies their land illegally.

They may rationalize as follows: Israelis suffering?! Really?! It’s about time those Jews got a bloody nose! Good for Hamas for resisting Israel’s brutal Apartheid occupation. They are freedom fighters for their people. A people that lives in misery because of Israel. 

Now it might be true that this kind of thinking is done by a relatively small number of students influenced by mentors so deeply immersed in leftist progressive propaganda that they can’t see the truth staring them in the face. But that they represent the most elite segment of American intelligentsia - some of whom will become the leaders of the future is a scary proposition to contemplate. And it doesn’t help that university officials back them up as a matter of free speech. 

I hope there is a silent majority of students on these campuses that recognize their fellow students’ antisemitism for what it is. If there are, I wish they would speak up.

The Good News and the Bad

The settler pogrom in Huwara earlier this year  (The Guardian)

First the bad news. VIN reports the following: 

President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke out against retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. He also said he was redoubling his commitment to working on a two-state solution to end the decades long Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Biden said the attacks by settlers amounted to “pouring gasoline” on the already burning fires in the Middle East since the Hamas attack.

“It has to stop, and it has to stop now,” Biden said at the start of a news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was being honored with a state visit to Washington.

Settler violence against Palestinians has intensified since the Hamas attack, and Palestinians have been killed by settlers, according to Palestinian authorities. Rights groups say settlers have torched cars and attacked several small Bedouin communities, forcing them to evacuate to other areas.

The West Bank Protection Consortium, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations and donor countries, including the European Union, says hundreds of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced in the West Bank due to settler violence since Oct. 7. That’s in addition to over 1,100 displaced since 2022.

Deadly violence has been surging in the West Bank as the Israeli military pursues Palestinian militants in the aftermath of the Hamas attack from Gaza.

Here’s the thing. These reports are coming out of organizations and media that are not necessarily friendly to Israel (to say the least). So they should be taken with a grain of salt.  And even if true, it might be exaggerated. Or there might be some sort of explanation that would justify what they did. For example if it was done in self defense. I do not know the circumstances.

But if, as I suspect might be the case, these are retaliatory acts of revenge in the aftermath of the Hamas attack by ‘price tag’ type settlers, then I disagree with the President. It is not enough to tell them, ‘It has to stop, and it has to stop now’. 

It’s not only immoral, in a time of war it amounts to treason. They are tampering with the very existence of the Jewish state by undermining world support. Which Israel needs now more than ever. These violent settlers need to be tried in a court of law and if found guilty, spend the rest of their miserable lives in prison. Religious settler extremism like this needs to be destroyed as a movement. They must no longer be allowed to practice their evil ways. Which ironically, many of them believe are based on the Torah.  The Israeli government should make it illegal for people like this to live anywhere on the West Bank. With serious jail time  for those who try.

A word about Biden’s ‘two state solution’ comment. As I have said many times. I am in favor of this option in theory. But not as things stand now – even if Hamas is defeated. Until such time that the Palestinian leadership condemns terrorists instead of financially rewarding their families and stops naming streets after them, there is no way there can be a Palestinian state along side Israel. And until such time that Palestinian mothers stop celebrating successful terrorist attacks by passing out candy in the streets to their little children, there can be no Palestinian state. 

Palestinians have demonstrated by their actions that they have no interest in getting along with us. Their leaders can scream ‘two state solution’ all day long. But they cannot be trusted as long as they consider their terrorists to be martyrs for their cause. A cause that will never accept Jews living on any part of ‘their land’ if they can help it. And they consider ‘their land’ to extend from the river to the sea - i.e, all of Eretz Yisroel. Unfortunately I do not see that attitude changing any time soon.  

So much for the bad news. There is good news to report. As noted here recently, there has been an increase  in Charedi army enlistment. I had suggested that this would not change the Charedi religious paradigm against army service for Charedi youth. That despite the current increase in Charedi enlistment - there is no such thing as a grass roots movement that can change their version of ‘Daas Torah’. 

Screenshot of Rabbi Rami Ravad, a Charedi recruiter with R' Chaim  Kanievsky

For the most part I still think that’s true. But last night on the PBS News Hour (of all places) I was pleasantly surprised to see a very positive piece about Charedim that included a non judgmental explanation of why they oppose army service. Leila Molana-Allen, the same reporter whose reports from Gaza have been very sympathetic to Palestinian suffering, explained it very fairly - almost favorably.

Charedim believe that in the merit of their Torah study they are doing their part in the war effort. And that even so there are a lot of mainstream Charedim that have been enlisting. She interviewed one Chasidic fellow from Bet Shemesh who has enlisted and asked him why he made that decision. 

He answered in a way that I would have expected anyone with any kind of moral compass would: How could he not join the army under these circumstances? How could he let others put their lives on the line while he sits safely with his family? When asked how this would effect his wife and very young children he answered that it would be hard on them but that he had the full support of his wife. 

This fellow did not appear to be some sort of outlier. He seemed pretty mainstream. Some one that would not go against his Daas Torah. Which to me means that there is a glimmer of hope that there will indeed be a change of attitude about army service in the future. That as a result of current conditions the Charedi leadership finally realizes that army service is not some sort of government social engineering tool. And that the primary purpose of the military is to protect Jewish lives and to fight mortal enemies in times of war.

That being said I don’t think this will change the primary focus of the Charedi world to be on Torah study. That will still ne number one. They will still be guiding Charedi youth to do that. But my hope is that those Charedim that choose to serve in the army will no longer be discouraged. Especially if they are accommodated in Nachal Charedi type units.

This could foreshadow a new and more positive relationship. And it may even encourage more secular Jews to give observant Judaism a second look. You never know.

Did the UN Secretary General Justify Hamas?

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres (BBC)

I used to have respect for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. When he was chosen for that position, I recall his rebuke to Holocaust deniers. Especially in the Arab world.  I remember thinking, ‘Finally! ...a UN leader that will stand up for Israel’s right to exist.’ Although he was also sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians, I understood that it was not unreasonable to sympathize with a people he saw suffering. 

But his recent statement about Israel’s war with Hamas exposes a bias that undermines his credibility. Being sympathetic to a suffering people does not mean placing equal blame on both sides. It means looking at the facts and the context and then forming an opinion based on that understating. Guterres has not done that. That became obvious in the following comment made by Guterres - reported in Reuters: 

"It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation," 

Guterrez was quick to deny that he was justifying the Hamas attack: 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday rejected accusations by Israel that, in a statement to the Security Council, he had justified attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel. 

"I am shocked by the misrepresentations by some of my statement ... as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas. This is false. It was the opposite," he told reporters, without specifically naming Israel.

Sorry Mr. Guterrez. Not buying it. It’s true that the Hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum and that indeed Palestinians are suffering. But as noted here many times, their suffering is not Israel’s fault. It is the fault of Palestinian terrorists that have attacked Israeli civilians in suicide bombings and assorted other acts of terror. Terrorists that live in the territories among fellow Palestinians blending in with their brethern. Thereby hiding in plain sight. 

How many suicide bombings and assorted other murderous attacks must Israel endure before taking measures to protect themselves? Yes, these measures do indeed cause hardships for the Palestinian people. But what choice does Israel have? How many Israelis have to be killed by Palestinian terrorists before they take action to prevent them? 

Israel has learned the hard way not to trust a Palestinian leadership that rewards the families of Jihadists killed in action... and names streets after them. 

So yes! The Hamas attack did not happen in a vacuum. And yes, Palestinians are suffering. But the fault lies not with Israel. The plain and simple fact is that it is the fault of a Palestinian leadership that glorifies Jihadist terror. And a Hamas that acts upon it. That is the root cause of the problem. 

Furthermore, Mr. Guterres, you completely ignore the fact that Palestinians could have had their own state over 75 yeas ago, when your own UN partitioned Palestine into 2 nations. One Jewish and one Arab. Israel agreed immediately, But the Arab nations rejected it and instead went to war hoping to drive the Jews into the sea! Hamas is currently the most severe expression of that attitude. 

In that cause, they do NOT want their people to live well. They want their people to suffer so they can villify Israel for it. Making sure that their own people see Israel that way, too. 

So if you are going to say that the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation," you need to tell the truth about why that is. And place the blame where it belongs. Which is NOT on Israel but on the Palestinian leadership and their henchmen Hamas.  

The one thing I am 100% sure of is this. Israel would like nothing better than to live in peace and friendship with the Palestinian people. Remove terrorism and Jew hatred from the equation and Israel would be happy to help them build a state that would live in peace and harmony with them. That was true in 1948. And it is still true today. At least in theory. It’s just too bad that the level of hatred has increased to the point of no return. Thereby requiring Israel to take measures it would have preferred not to take. Which currently means doing what’s necessary to  destroy their mortal enemy, Hamas.

That you did not mention any of that, Mr. Guterres, and said simply that ‘The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,’ imputes blame to Israel. That is both unacceptable and a lie. While its true that you did originally say the following: 

"Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets."

That was completely undermined by his later comment. I therefore agree with Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan. I call upon Guterres to resign immediately.

A Just War and a Former President's Hubris

Screenshot of PBS reporter Leila Molana-Allen

If it bleeds, it leads. As predicted early on here, the news media is focusing on the horror that Palestinians in Gaza are going through. Night after night ever since Hamas attacked Israel, we see images of devastation and bloodshed. All because of Israel’s air strikes. Is it any small wander that Palestinians and their sympathizers are so enraged and vehemently  protesting Israel? What they think they see is an Apartheid colonizer bombing impoverished civilians into submitting to their brutal occupation.  

Except that this is not what is happening. Yes. Those images are real. And Israeli airstrikes are the proximate cause of all that very real suffering. But Israel is NOT to blame. There is only one entity responsible for all this carnage. Hamas. They knowingly brought this upon their own people. 

One might even say they did it deliberately so as to vilify Israel as much as possible. Maximizing their own casualties by placing their terrorist infrastructure amid civilian targets such as mosques, schools, and hospitals knowing that if Israel attacked - civilians would be the first causalities.  By now, this should be obvious to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention. But all those protestors see are the horrible media images of civilian bloodshed caused by Israeli airstrikes.

I have been wondering whether there are any Gaza Palestinians who realize the truth about who really is responsible for their misery. Surely they have all been brainwashed to blame Israel exclusively.  Well there is at least one Palestinian grandmother in Gaza who does realize the truth. This morning on the CBS Morning News one crying grandmother (amidst the rubble that was probably her former home) was grieving over the catastrophe that  has befallen her. and to my surprise she openly and courageously placed the blame squarely upon Hamas. My hope is that she is not the only Palestinian in Gaza that feels that way.

Nonetheless, it is Israel that is dropping those bombs. There is no question about that. And there are some observers here, openly warning Israel to be more careful about civilian casualties. One such individual was former President Barack Obama.

I could not believe my ears when he was quoted moralizing about Israel that way. In what seemed like an almost angry tone he rebuked Israel for not caring enough about civilian casualties in Gaza. Adding (in so many words) that the world is watching and they could lose support from their allies. 

I never thought President Obama to be an arrogant individual.  Despite my strong disagreements with him in the past over his support for that stupid nuclear deal with Iran - and allowing the UN Security Council to pass an anti Israel resolution, I believed he was a man of integrity that believed that what he was doing to be in the best interests of both the US and Israel.

But telling Israel to be more careful about civilian casualties is the height of hubris. He thinks he is morally superior to Israel?! Does he really think Israel is being careless about human life? No other nation at war has done more to spare the lives of civilians than Israel has. Sometimes at the cost of their own soldiers lives. They always warn Palestinians of what they are going to target – giving them enough time to evacuate. What other country in the world signals their military targets to the enemy in order to spare the lives of innocents? 

There is a reason there are so many civilian casualties. Hamas deliberately places its terrorist infrastructure amidst civilians. Thereby maximizing  casualties which they can blame on Israel.  

The former president should know that. He is not stupid. He nonetheless chose to ignore those facts acting like  Israel’s moral superior. Making matters worse, I have not heard a word from him about what Israel has gone through.  His tepid preface about Israel having the right to defend themselves was practically a throw-away line which was followed by a much lengthier warning. I’m surprised he isn’t out there protesting with all the other Palestinian sympathizers.

Israel has no choice. They have to do what’s necessary to rid themselves (and the world) of one of most cutthroat terrorist organization since ISIS. Their barbarism against Jews two weeks ago has proven them to be no different. They must be eliminated. Which Israel is about to do at great cost to themselves in both blood and treasure. 

I am happy to see that the current president has parted company with his former boss and sees things far more clearly. Giving full support (both morally and materially) to Israel’s mission to destroy Hamas. In fact his request for a delay in the ground war Israel is about to embark on - in order to get the hostages out first-  is probably the right thing to do. But ether way, Biden’s support for Israel mission has not wavered.

Why Israel is doing this should be obvious. But I was pleased to see PBS Mideast reporter Leila Molana-Allen  make some very revealing comments yesterday about that (in what was at times - emotional tones). Even though on a daily basis she has been reporting sympathetically about suffering Palestinians, here is exactly what she said in response to PBS news anchor, Amna Nawaz’s question about a video of Hamas atrocities reporters were shown by the IDF:  

So, officials told us they decided to show us.

It was a 45 minute film at a screening held in private of hundreds of hours of footage that they have collected.

They said they felt that we had to see this.

You saw a small clip of it there.

That's all that's been released, because it is so graphic.

And I have to say that, in 15 years of reporting on conflicts, this is some of the worst, most brutal personal violence I have seen.

We saw horrific scenes.

I can't describe a lot of it to you because it's too graphic.

But we saw a parent rescuing his two young boys half-dressed in the morning, trying to take them into a safe room, a Hamas militant immediately throwing a grenade in there.

The two young boys screaming for their father as they watched him die covered in shrapnel wounds, as were they.

We still don't know the fate of those young boys.

They put together footage from victims' phone cameras found at that music festival together with Hamas body camera footage.

And we can see the victims after they had been piled into the shelter together.

We see some of them alive on a phone video, and then we see most of them dead piled on top of each other, others with missing limbs being piled into trucks as they're taken into Gaza.

And it is the treatment of those hostages as well that really was a focus today.

We see them being taken into Gaza.

And people are, of course, incredibly worried about their welfare.

And this is one of the things that's created such a fear, a chill in the heart of Israelis across the country, because this does feel like an existential fight with this level of horrific violence they have endured. 

Only ignorant fools and antisemites would want to see Israel stop what they are doing in Gaza right now.

If those protesters were honest about who to blame for all the carnage, they should be directing their anger towards Hamas. Not Israel. Same thing the former president. Fully supporting Israel. Demanding that Hamas be utterly destroyed.  - KNOWING that civilians are never their targets.  But as I said they are either too stupid to realize that or are blatant antisemites disguised as caring humanitarians. I do not believe the former president is either one of those But he sure is acting like it! And that sickens me.

May God protect the IDF in their holy mission to destroy Hamas once and for all. They may not be able to kill their ideology. But just like ISIS - they can destroy their leadership and infrastructure to the point of making them impotent. May it be God’s will.

Unprecedented Unity - How Long Will it Last?

Charedim in the IDF (TOI)

Yes. It’s unprecedented. As Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein suggests from his vantage point in Israel, the unity that now exists in Israel is unprecedented. Which is ironic considering that just a few weeks ago divisions in Israel were just as unprecedented.

The implication of this is clear. The greater the existential threat, the more united we get. No matter how far we are politically and religiously - the words ‘Am Yisroel Chai’ - ‘the people of Israel live’ resonates with all of us. That sentiment has been on everyone’s mind ever since that brutal attack by the barbarians of Hamas. 

Even while Israelis are trying to live their lives as normal as possible, the danger to their very existence has not been this dire since the Holocaust. It’s true that most of the civilized world supports Israel in it’s time of crisis. But there are also huge numbers of people that see Israel as war mongering baby killers about to embark on a mission of unprecedented carnage in Gaza. 

That feeling has been bolstered by the media focus on what Israel has already done in Gaza.  There are almost daily reports about food shortages and the lack of water. Images of entire Gaza neighborhoods being leveled by Israeli bombs; its people carrying blood covered babies with no where to go. People crying bitterly over the loss of their homes. Or worse  the loss of their parents, children, brothers, sisters, - and entire families.

Palestinian sympathizers all over the world see all this and are enraged! Angry protests, many of them violent - have been taking place all over the world against - not only Israel but the United States. I saw this first hand yesterday as I passed by a busy intersection in my neighborhood here in Chicago. A small group of Jews waving Israeli and American flags were involved in an angry shouting match with people driving by in a car waving a Palestinian flag. If they would have had guns, I’m sure they would have been fired. I don’t recall ever experiencing anything like that.  

With this kind of danger facing us all, I long for the disunity of just a few weeks ago, when we were at relative peace and had no clue what was coming. Unity like this I  do not need. Not that it will last anyway if past is prologue.

There is another interesting phenomenon related to unity going on. Arutz Sheva reports the following:

Approximately 120 haredim enlisted Monday morning in the IDF.

The group, which arrived at the Tel Hashomer draft office, is expected to undergo a short basic training, after which they will be placed in various positions, such as paramedics, ambulance drivers, heavy equipment drivers, or packaging food.

Since the start of the fighting on October 7, when terrorists breached the Gaza-Israel border fence and rampaged Israeli towns, massacring and kidnapping, over 2,000 haredim have requested to join the IDF and take part in the war effort. 

There are a lot of people making all kinds of predictions about this being a sea change in the Charedi attitude about the army. They see it as a grass roots change that will influence Charedi leadership about army service. I wish I could agree. But I don’t. Their leadership  has been vehemently opposed to army service ever since the founding of the state. First because of their desire to maximize Torah study. Second (and perhaps more importantly for them) they see the IDF as a Zionist social engineering tool to disabuse Jews of religious observance turning them into secular Israelis. 

This has been disproven.  The Hesder program has not disabused anyone of religious observance. Same thing Nachal Charedi. But they say that there are indeed young people from observant homes that do become negatively influenced religiously by their IDF experience. That there are so many that have not  - even in the regular army - is ignored. Also ignored is that those who are negatively influenced have in many cases already started going down that path. 

One might think that the sudden spate of Charedi enlistees signals an eventual change in the way Charedi leaders will view army service. But I tend to doubt that. Just before the war Charedi politicians submitted a bill to the Knesset that would equate Torah study with army service. Thus exempting them all from army service forever. They have already said that when this is all over they will re-submit that bill. I believe them. I don’t think it will pass. But their views on army service will be the same then as they were before.  

Sadly I am not as optimistic as Rabbi Adlerstein. I hope I’m wrong but I do not see the current unity as permanent. Nor do I see Charedi leadership budging on their view of army service. Once this is all over, it will be back to business as usual. I hate to be ‘Debbie Downer’ at a time like this. But I just call ‘em as I see ‘em. again 

At least for the time being it’s good to see a unity that includes Charedim who see army service as  a moral obligation at this time of crisis. 

May God protect all of our men and women in uniform as they proceed on their holy mission.

Middle East Misery - Whose Fault Is It, Anyway?

The scars of carnage in Sederot (Le Monde)

As noted in previous posts, I am extremely gratified by the President’s full throated support of Israel’s goal of eradicating Hamas. That support has been echoed by responsible law makers on both sides of the political aisle. Congressional support is stronger than it has ever been. I believe that in all of Jewish history in the Diaspora, the Jewish people have never been so valued and protected by the nation in which they live. I am more than grateful for that.  

I have also seen a poll indicating that about 70% of the American people support President Biden’s approach to the situation. Even the mainstream media has been sympathetic and supportive of Israel albeit expressing equal sympathy for innocent Palestinians in Gaza for what they are undergoing.

On that score it was difficult to watch a young Palestinian woman - a student in one of their universities - crying bitterly over the loss of her home. Which was demolished by an Israeli airstrike after she was warned to leave. (Which she obviously did.) 

In a crying voice she asked why are they (the Israelis) doing this? The implication being to balme Israel for the loss of her home. What bothers me about her comment is her blindness to Hamas responsibility in all this. They are the ones causing her all that misery. Dirsn’t she see that? Dors she not know Hamas did in Israel two weeks ago? I guess not. All she sees is an occupier exercising their military might to indiscriminately kill and maim innocent Palestinians in Gaza for no reason at all. 

Why doesn’t  she - and many other Palestinians in Gaza having similar experiences - recognize reality and blame Hamas for all their troubles?! She ought to be asking why her own people slaughtered so many innocent Jews and took over 200 hostages! But I digress.

There is one segment of America who reacted to the atrocity on October 7^th by blaming the victim. Students at several major ivy league universities, starting with Harvard placed full responsibility on Israel for that atrocity. Saying that the ‘occupation’ led desperate Palestinians from Gaza to do this. Some of those sentiments were reflected by their school’s leadership! From Jonathan Rsoenblum’s column in last week’s Mishpacha Magazine:

31 Harvard student groups… could not even wait 24 hours to blame Israel “entirely” for the atrocities committed against those murdered by Hamas, without indeed even mentioning said atrocities. If that represents even a fraction of the “class” of America’s future movers and shakers, then I could not bear to live in such a country. And it surely does: Earlier this year, the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, endorsed the BDS movement against Israel.

We are not talking about a handful of campus radicals. Those same Harvard students expect to move easily into Wall Street firms, government jobs, and high-paying law firms.  

It’s difficult to understand how some of the (supposedly) most intelligent and well educated Americans among us are saying the same kinds of things about us that Hitler did in the 1930s. Ignoring our history of persecution. Ignoring the fact that Israel is a refuge for Jews with millennia long legacy of persecution. Ignoring any context. Ignoring the fact that Palestinian demands for their own state could have been satistisfed at the same time Israel was created.  Something Israel immediately agreed to at the time! 

It’s true that their radical views are not mainstream. It’s true that their views reflect those of the extreme left. But even so, to be blinded to what the Jewish people have gone through historically and are still going through - is nothing short of willful ignorance that in my view can only be attributed to latent antisemitism.. 

Despite their small numbers, they should not be considered an insignificant minority. True they are a minority.  But they are not insignificant. Students at these schools tend to be future movers and shakers of American society. They have the real potential to eventually negatively influence American policy with respect to Israel.

All of which makes this very worrisome despite their relative small numbers. 

My hope is that these students do not represent the thinking of the majority of their fellow students. I believe that  most students are NOT antisemitic. That they are aware that everything has a context. Why they haven’t spoken up is also worrisome.

I hope that is because they just do not want to get entangled in counter protests that will detract from their studies. Not that this is the right thing for them to do. Sometimes you have to speak up and do the right thing. To show the world that these radical left student groups do not speak for the majority. If I am right, I think the student majority has an obligation to not be silent!

The Situation - 2.0

Netanyahu rallying the troops (Yahoo Finance)

For many years, my hope and dream was that there would be peace in Israel. That we could somehow make a deal with the Palestinians so that eventually we could live together as two peoples side by side with friendly relations along the lines of the US and Canada. 

If even one Jewish life could be spared, I would have even agreed to the Oslo Peace Accords worked out between Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak that would have created a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.  A view shared by the leader of the Charedi world at the time, Rav Shach. 

This is how much I value Jewish life. My view has not changed. What has changed is the realization that this solution is a virtual impossibility. Creating a Palestinian state would be suicide for the State of Israel. A suicide that would include multitudes of Jews being slaughtered in the process. It would be a tragedy of epic proportion not seen since the Holocaust! 

Israel dare not give up one inch of land. This is how I felt long before Hamas massacred 1400 Jewish souls a couple of weeks ago. 

The hatred of Jews is in the mother’s milk of virtually every Arab. This is how they have all been  indoctrinated from cradle to grave for at least the last 100 years. Those who are actually friendly to us (and there are many) had to overcome that indoctrination. An indoctrination fed by their political leaders and their religious clergy who see us infidels and as usurpers of their land.  Given the choice they would just as soon see us killed as expelled from their land. 

Palestinian leaders - even the so-called moderate ones - do nothing to disabuse their people of that hatred. They do the opposite by glorifying their Jihadists as freedom fighters. That indoctrination is reinforced in a myriad of ways: at home, in the schools in their mosques, in their news and entertainment media, and in their social media..

Hamas is merely the overt expression of that hatred They are the ones who act on it. Cheered on in the Arab street when they succeed in one of their ‘missions’ - as was the case two weeks ago. Hamas is also the most powerful element of the Palestinian people. Far more able to take over the reins of power than the the PA (Palestinian Authority). 

That was made very clear after Gaza was given to the Palestinians by the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Hamas wasted little time wresting control of Gaza from the PA. They have ‘governed’ that tract of land ever since with a mission to terrorize Israelis. The goal of which was to eliminate Jews from ‘their’ land either through expulsion or death. The latter of which has been their Modus Operandi ever since.

I realized this fact long ago. Which is why a two state solution is an impossibility. As long as there are groups like Hamas, Israel cannot afford to give even the ‘moderate’ PA any kind of Palestinian state. What happened in Gaza, will happen in the West Bank. Hamas will take it over. Creating a Palestinian state is an existential that I oppose with every fiber of my body! I would even go a step further and say that even if Hamas is obliterated (God willing), there are other groups that will take their place with the same commitment to our destruction. All of which will be supported by Iran.

Unless we can get them all and demolish Iran, there can be no Palestinians state.

If there is one good thing to come out of the current situation, it is that a lot of Israelis on the left who supported a two state solution as recently as two weeks ago - in the belief that it would lead to peace - seem to have abandoned that belief.  They now realize that peace is impossible as long as there is a Hamas in the world with Iran backing them.

I don’t fully understand why they did not realize this before. But it is clear that they realize it now. The communities that bordered Gaza were all of that liberal mindset before the massacre. Now, I doubt there a single one of them does not believe that Israel must destroy Hamas. That there can no peace with them in the picture. 

The nation of Israel is united in ways not seen since the six day war or the Yom Kippur War. We are all on the same side. Every Israeli soldier, regardless of their politics, regardless of how religious they are, regardless of who they voted for in the last election, regardless of how they feel about their Prime Minister... has one goal: to go into Gaza and destroy Hamas.

I’m only sorry it has taken so long for the left to see that. And that it took the massacre of 1400 Jewish souls to change their hearts and minds about who and what they are dealing with. But… better late than never. It’s nice to see such Achdus between the left and the right in Israel; the religious and irreligious. I would have never thought that possible just a few short weeks ago. 

The young Jewish IDF soldiers on the front lines are all eager to go into Gaza and get the job done. They are of one mind and one purpose - determined to succeed.

Needless to say, the prayers of the vast majority of Klal Yisroel are with them. Including those of us that live in the Diaspora. 

That being said, the thought of so much Jewish blood being shed in even a noble goal such as this saddens me greatly. I hope and pray that not a single hair on the head of any soldier be harmed. But the likelihood of Jewish blood being spilled is pretty high. And in the case of Gaza, I fear that the hostages will God forbid suffer that same fate! (May God save them all!)

But as the people Israel now realize, they have no choice. Israelis cannot live this way. The enemy must be destroyed. God willing they will be. I am happy that President Biden feels the same way. Even while cautioning Israel to no act out of rage as the US did after 9/11, he has expressed his complete support of Israel’s mission here. 

There will be a lot of questions asked after Israel succeeds in their mission. Such as: Who will govern Gaza after Hamas is gone? What about other terrorist groups waiting to fill that void? Will they succeed? That would make any victory short lived. And what about Iran? Who is going to stop them from continuing to foment anti Israel hatred and supplying terrorists with the means to destroy us? 

I can’t answer these questions. They are legitimate and concerning. But there will be time to worry about that later. For now, Israel must take care of the business at hand. And do whatever it takes to get that job done as quickly and as painlessly as possible. 

Of Useful Idiots and Antisemitic Congressmen

‘Not in My Name’ protester, Jake Ehrlich (Detroit Free Press)

Let me be clear. The deliberate murder of innocents is morally repugnant. No matter who  or what they hate.

There have been massive protests in the Arab street, and all over the  world including right here  here in the US. Claiming moral outrage at Israel for killing innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza in a hospital bombing. 

I would suggest that their moral outrage does not apply to Jews. There were no protests at all after Hamas massacred 1400 innocent Israeli civiilans . If anything there was celebration in the Arab street about a Palestinian 'victory'! And yet the image they project is one of moral outrage against an immoral IDF.

The mainstream media is more than happy to report that moral outrage accompanied by horrific clips of the bloodshed and suffering Palestinians that resulted from that ‘bombing’ .There were some pretty heart rending images of dead bodies, body bags, and people crying over lost loved ones at the hands of the IDF. Who  can resist condemning Israel, the country responsible for that.  

It is easy to get upset by those images and condemn those responsible.  Except that as pointed out yesterday, their rage is misdirected. It should be directed at Islamic Jihad. Based on the military intelligence analysis of both the US and Israel, there is a high degree of confidence that Israel was NOT at fault. Additionally a recording of a conversation between two of the Jihad terrorists involved can be heard acknowledging that it was one of their rockets that caused all that suffering.

Not only did that revelation not stop those protests. They have increased – right along with their rage against Israel and the US. The protestors do not want to be bothered by the truth. They still blame Israel.

Which brings me to a Jewish group known as ‘Not in My Name’ and other such groups which can be seen protesting Israel too. To cite just one example from the  Detroit Free Press: 

As Israel prepared to intensify its assault on the Gaza Strip with a potential ground invasion, dozens of southeast Michigan Jewish people gathered Monday outside a downtown Detroit federal building with a message for their elected leaders: “Not in my name.”

The group of about 100 called on Democratic U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow to help “stop the genocide of Palestinians” as Israel wages a retaliatory war against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza and earlier this month killed about 1,300 Israelis.

They can also be seen protesting Israel in the US capital.  They too do not believe the evidence, They see the same thing Palestinians see. Israel’s mighty war machine killing innocent civilians.

To make sure the world knows that they are Jews, many of them can be seen wearing a Talis and a Kipa. I am absolutely convinced that if one were to ask any one of them, they would say they are expressing moral outrage at an occupying force whose political system is one of Apartheid. 

Moral outrage?! Where was their outrage at Hamas, the governing body of Gaza that perpetrated the most horrible attack against innocent Jews since the Holocaust?! I do not recall a single protest by a single ‘Not in My Name’  Jew saying anything about that. Not a peep! 

To say that I am thoroughly disgusted by these Jews would be the understatement of the year. They might say they have the moral high ground. But by their lack of expressing any public outrage against  Hamas they have proven just how immoral they are. 

Making matters worse is that they are (or will be) used for propaganda purposes by Palestinians themselves to show just how universal the condemnation of Israel is. We used to call people like this useful idiots. That is in fact what they are. Helped along with the mainstream media simply identifying them as Jews

Jews like this do not represent the ideals of Judaism. No matter what symbols of Judaism they use to give that impression. They represent humanistic values. Humanism is not Judaism. Furthermore, it appears that their version of humanism does not include compassion for Jewish suffering. 

What kind of humanist can ignore the bloody murder of 1400 Jews in a raid by Hamas terrorists that included rape, torture, beheadings of babies, and kidnapping of innocent Jews? Why did we not see these ‘idealistic’ young stooges not protesting that? Why do  they only protest now? And why do they  continue to protest even after hearing the truth about who is really responsible?

That Palestinians protesters are blinded to the truth is bad enough. But when Jews refuse to believe the hard evidence that Israel is not responsible - it is beyond disgustng and ought to be fully condemned by all responsible Jewish organizations -  religious or secular.

It should not escape anyone’s attention that two prominent congressmen doubled down on that false narrative despite proof that it was indeed false. From VIN: 

In addition, antisemites Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar both falsely tweeted that Israel bombed a hospital and murdered patients, and neither has retracted nor deleted those tweets. 

Although the mainstream media was also guilty of at first jumping to the wrong conclusion - buying Palestinian claims that Israel was responsible, they have all acknowledged that the evidence is to the contrary. 

The question is, why did these two congressmen perpetuate that lie? And why hasn’t the rage against the killing of innocents near that hospital in Gaza been redirected toward Hamas? I think the answer is simple. They are blatantly antisemitic and see Hamas as heroes - freedom fighters for the Palestinian people against the Jews.

Why they keep getting re-elected is a mystery to me. Meanwhile  Hamas could not be happier about all of this. With respect to increasing hatred of the Jewish people -  Mission accomplished.

Eyes on the Prize

I am once again grateful for the President’s enthusiastic support. Especially when there has been so much  pressure on him to pull back on that support because of a horrendous attack against a hospital in Gaza. It has been estimated that 500 innocent people (mostly Palestinian civilians) were killed.

The reaction on Arab street was swift and predictable. On the West Bank protestors called for the ouster of  PA president, Mahmoud Abbas. (I actually agree with them but for entirely opposite reasons.) They want him out because they blame him for what they see as constant Israeli aggression against fellow Palestinians in Gaza culminating with a deadly attack against a hospital in Gaza.  

That might seem to be a legitimate perception since Israel has been indeed bombing targets in Gaza in their attempt to destroy the terrorist infrastructure imbedded in various highly populated areas of Gaza. Who can blame them for seeing Israeli culpability in this attack? It is an obvious conclusion based on these circumstances.

Except that this conclusion is very like wrong. Israel has strongly denied having bombed that hospital, based on their examination of the circumstances. They have concluded that Islamic Jihad was responsible for hitting that hospital with one of their own rockets which was aimed at Israel but fell short hitting that hospital. This may sound like a ‘He said. She said’  But apparently the evidence was strong enough to convince the President that ‘the other team’ was responsible.

But even if it had been an Israeli bomb that did that, it would have been an accidental casualty of war. Israel does not target civilians. Innocent civilians being killed happen all the time in war. However when it happen in in Gaza it is not that accidental. Not because of Israel. But because of the sinister use by Hamas of their onw people as human shields. This way when any of those human shields gets killed by an Israeli defensive military action, Hamas and their sympathizers accuse Israel . of being baby killers. That is in essence what they are saying now about that hospital attack. And Arab nations bought it.

Thing is - Israel goes out of its way to warn civilians in Gaza about an impending attack – giving them enough time leave the premises. All while Hamas discourages them from doing this - so that they can have more casualties to blame on Israel

That is the difference between this tragic loss of 500 innocent civilians in a Gaza hospital and the intentional mass murder of 1400 innocent Israeli and American citizens less than two weeks ago. Hamas deliberately sought to kill, torture, and rape innocent  Jews and in the process took 200 hostages. The death of innocents at the hand of the Israeli militarily is never intentional

I could therefore never fully understand why in the past - the only people making this distinction were Israelis themselves. The world was very quick to condemn Israel as war criminals when they had to know that Israel was merely defending themselves after their own civilians were attacked. 

World leaders and the mainstream media reserve their sympathy for Gaza residents - giving little more than lip service to the reason they are suffering. There are always casualties of war. In this case, those casualties are increased precisely because of Hamas, not because of anything Israel did. Israel’s defensive actions have always included minimizing the collateral damage to innocents citizens.

Thus proving to me (not that I ever needed any proof) the latent antisemitic bias of Europe. And the misguided sympathy of the liberal/left mainstream media that only sees the ‘here and now’ and rarely recognizes context.

It’s true that  the US has always supported Israel’s right to defend itself in the past. But they have always added comments like the following:  Israel has to be more careful to avoid civilian casualties . 

I had always resented those ‘warnings’ since I know that Israel goes out of its way to avoid civilian casualties when they are involved in a defensive actions in Gaza. Sometimes at the cost of their  own soldiers’ lives! 

Well the US did not say that this time. In response to media questions about so many Palestinian casualties - he has consistently been responding  that Israel has a right to defend itself.  e come up in past Gaza wars. 

On that score the President has not wavered. On the contrary. His strong verbal heartfelt support for Israel upon being made aware of the vicious attack by Hamas was followed by immediate action. He has sent two of the US's most powerful aircraft carriers and their accompanying destroyer ships to the region -  as a warning to enemy nations like Iran and entities like Hezbollah to not take advantage of the situation and attack Israel. He has sent additional military aircraft to Israel and will ask congress to approve billions of dollars of additional military aid to Israel. He has also sent 2000 American combat troops as advisory personnel to Israel. Although they are not there as ‘boots on the ground’ they are there to show the world that when America says it has Israel’s back, they mean it. 

Perhaps the most important thing he did was to show his support was by going to Israel in the middle of a war exposing himself to its dangers. It was nice to see the leader of the free world embracing the Prime Minister of Israel; standing side by side expressing the same sentiments, despite their disagreements.

The US will never allow Israel to be destroyed. Israel is one of the US’s most important allies. It is right up their with the UK and France. Israel is probably more important to the US than even those two countries. This is what I heard an analyst on CBS say this morning when asked why the President is so quick to take Israel’s side on the hospital attack. 

Considering how biased the mainstream media has been in its coverage of Israel - it’s amazing that he actually said this. I have always thought this was the case. Now it has been corroborated y a political analyst not always that sympathetic to Israel.

Yesterday on my flight back to Israel I was able to access live reports on the war from CNN and the BBC. Yes they were outraged by what Hamas did to Israel. They actually  expressed deep sympathy for Israel this time. 

But as is so common by the left, they expressed moral equivalency between what Israel is dong and what Hamas did. They spent a lot more time interviewing Gaza residents on the hardships they are enduring because of Israel.  As if  Israel is more to blame for the carnage against Palestinians than is Hamas for the carnage against Israelis!.

I wish I could say that it is only leftist media like CNN and the BBC doing  it. But it appears the that Ivy League schools like Harvard are doing it too - blaming everything on Israel. According to a tenured and highly respected Jewish professor I know, it is not just BDS students but the schools themselves! 

I a however happy to see that the US president and the vast majority of congress is not buying any of that. God bless them.

It is with that in mind that Israel does whatever it takes to get hostages out of Hamas’s grip. and then  proceed to do whatever it takes to obliterate that evil entity and lesser ones like Islamic Jihad. I am 100% certain that Israel will take every precaution to minimize civilian casualties. I am also sure that that those precautions will add casualties to the IDF. (May God protect them). But Israel must keep their eyes on the prize. Which is to destroy Hamas and Islamic Jihad in order to protect the Jewish people of Israel.