There is no "Yeah, but....."

The Kedem family (z"l)
executed in their home on Nir-oz Kibbutz

Tamar Kedem messaged friends in Australia at 2.45pm on Saturday to say they were all inside a bunker inside their home on Kibbutz Nir-oz in southern Israel.  

“Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all doing okay,” the message said. One hour later, Tamar stopped responding to messages. Shortly afterwards, Hamas terrorists entered the shelter and executed them.

from The Jewish Chronicle 

Allow me to make this as simple, clear, and factual as possible.

When terrorists go door-to-door slaughtering civilians, that's not an act of war, that's a pogrom. 

I'm sure you've heard the word bandied about on many occasions, but maybe you don't really know what a pogrom is. According to Merriam Webster, a pogrom is 

an organized massacre of helpless people; specifically, such a massacre of Jews

Britannica provides a broader definition: 

Pogrom, (Russian: “devastation,” or “riot”), a mob attack, either approved or condoned by authorities, against the persons and property of a religious, racial, or national minority. The term is usually applied to attacks on Jews in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In case you're wondering, pogroms did not stop after the early 20th century when Jews fled Russia and the Ukraine. One might (and probably should) call the Holocaust a mega-pogrom, but they did not stop after the Nazis were defeated either. Nope. Pogroms continued in Poland, notably in Krakow and Kielce, Hungary, Slovakia,  and even Great Britain in the 40s. Anti-Jewish riots have never really stopped. Ever. 

This weekend was just another pogrom in a long line of state-sanctioned hatred of Jews. The difference is, we're fighting back once again. 

But why bring up ancient history now? Well, probably because it's not so ancient. Recognizing Hamas for what it is, a state-sponsored terrorist organization, is only the first step in dealing with the disaster that is Gaza. 

The propaganda machine will never admit that there has never been an independent or otherwise Palestinian state on that land. The last independent state was during the Second Temple period, and that kingdom, the one where Herod was king, was absorbed into the Roman Empire as a vassal state, which it remained under various empires like the Ottoman and the British until Israel was declared a sovereign state in 1948. 

Jews, on the other hand, have had viable kingdoms there, built major economies, had currency, government, and state symbols on independent nations on that land. We predate the other Abrahamic siblings; Christianity...remember Jesus was one of us... started in the early years of the Common Era and Islam was founded in 610 C.E., 600 years after Christianity. At no time, not even during the exiles, were all Jews removed from our land. We have been there as an identifiable people since the Iron Age when the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah were established....which is about 1200-1100 B.C.E. That's a pretty substantial history even discounting the Five Books of Moses as a historically accurate source.  In other words, we were there as us long before the other faith groups. We ARE the indigenous people.

Now that we have that out of the way....

Noa Argamani's abduction 
from Supernova.

First: there is no moral equivalency for the actions of Hamas. No one can call terrorists who execute civilians in their homes and at music festivals "freedom fighters" of any kind. They are murderers. Terrorists. Enemies of all humankind. They deserve to be hunted down just like they did to the families of Kibbutz Nir-oz and the kids at the annual Supernova Rave. If you think there is, then you are an antisemite, hate Jews, and believe in genocide. 

Second: Israel withdrew all forces from Gaza in 2005, but retained border control...for obvious reasons. In 2006 Hamas won the parliamentary elections, defeating Al Fatah, but a year later, wrested all control of Gaza, tossing out all opposition from Fatah. While this is a gross simplification, it's important to note that Gaza had its own government for a brief moment. Where is that government now?

Third: Hamas is a state-sponsored terrorist organization holding the people of Gaza hostage. The people of Gaza have been consistently denied their human rights NOT by Israel, but by Hamas who uses any and all money coming into the territory to promote violence instead of building an economy. Hamas systematically prevents them from having a state, NOT Israel. Hamas prevents open elections, Not Israel. Hamas prevents dissenting opinions from being aired, NOT Israel. Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist around the throats of the populace.

Fourth: Hamas claims Gaza has been under siege for decades. I would posit that is not true.  Israel has been under siege by Gaza  since missiles have been constantly and continually fired at border towns and kibbutzim in southern Israel since 2001. Those missiles are aimed at schools, hospitals, and markets, therefore preventing the people of that region from any semblance of normal life. Children of towns like S'derot do not know life without bomb shelters. 

Israel has a moral imperative to defend her citizens. If bombs are launched at school yards, buses, and civilian spaces, and terrorists infiltrate cities as suicide bombers, Israel had an obligation to find the source and stop it immediately. No other nation has ever been told to stand by for negotiations while the civilian population is under attack. 

NO OTHER NATION. 

Then why is Israel the exception?

Well, you could say because it is prosperous. Or because it has been involved with border issues since the Balfour Declaration. Or maybe it's because it opened its arms to refugees from all over the world.

Or maybe, just maybe it's because there were mostly Jewish refugees.

I'm going with that last one. 

If you don't want Jews in your country, great; that's your loss. But we still get to live peaceably in our homeland. Just like the French. Or the English. Or the Egyptians. Or the Syrians. No one argues with their right to be in France. Or England. Or Egypt. Or even Syria. 

But not Jews. We're told we don't have that right.

Do not attempt to revise history so you can claim you pre-date us and bar us from our own homeland. That's total bull-hockey. You don't pre-date us. We've been around that area along the Mediterranean without exception for about 3000 years, give or take a decade. Sorry folks, but we qualify as indigenous.

And do not think for one Jerusalem nano-second that Israel's current domestic issues will impede our ability to defend our own. You'll find out the hard way that even with all the intelligence failures...and good gravy, there are too many to list...if you think Israel is going to fall, you are wrong. It will not. 

You can call Israel names yet everyone, including Israeli Arabs, gets to live in Israel. And vote. And get health care. And have access to education. Jews, however, cannot reside in most Arab countries. Still. To this day. You can claim Israel doesn't support civil rights, but have a Palestinian Pride Parade in Gaza and see how long it takes for you to be tossed off a roof. You can say whatever you want,  but it does not mean it's true. 

Yet, Israel is singled out again and again for having the temerity to simply exist. 

Now, do you want to talk about all those Hamas Freedom Fighters.....or do you remember this is what Nazis looked like? Jews were routinely rounded up to be shipped off to death camps. If they could get away with it, that's exactly what Hamas would do to us. 

Oh, you don't believe that. Hmmm. The Hamas Charter of 1988 clearly states judenrein, a Jew-free zone, is the intent:

From the Preamble:  

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

From Article 7: Moreover, if the links have been distant from each other and if obstacles, placed by those who are the lackeys of Zionism in the way of the fighters obstructed the continuation of the struggle, the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

From Article 13: There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.

From Article 15: The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.

Those are just a few highlights; the red is mine. Read the whole thing if you really want to check out the actual Hamas agenda. I guarantee it's not what you thought it was. Oh, yeah... it doesn't stop at Jews. Just so you know. 

Yaffa Adar

So, what happened last Shabbat? Terrorists obliterated border barriers and crossed into Israel. They also went in by sea and by parasailing. The intent was to murder any and all persons, civilian or military, encountered. They executed civilians at point blank rage in their homes and in shelters. The attacked a music festival taking place nearby. According to eyewitnesses, several women at Supernova were raped before being shot at point blank range. More than 260 bodies have been recovered. Hostages of all ages, from infants to elderly Israelis, including an 85 year old woman, a Holocaust survivor named Yaffa Adar were abducted at gunpoint from towns, the kibbutz, and the festival. 

Oh, and in many cases, the terrorists were narrating the events on camera for the world to see. I'm not going to post them here...just go to YouTube and search Hamas Social Media. You can watch until you vomit.  

Hostages were transported into Gaza; one can only surmise they are being used as human shields, stashed wherever Hamas thinks Israel will bomb because they know Israel will not willingly kill civilians...hostages or otherwise. On PBS Newshour tonight, I heard a Palestinian complaining that this time, Israel did not notify them they were going to bomb his neighborhood so they could get out. What other country notifies targets in advance of airstrikes to get civilians out of the way? (I don't think Russia does that for Ukrainians.) Israel does. The people of Gaza are complaining that Israel did not notify them. Did Hamas notify Kibbutz Nir-oz they were going to execute any Israeli they found? I don't think so. 

I have only one question: where are all those Gazans who say they want a real country, one with an economy, one with food on supermarket shelves, and one with petrol for their gas tanks? If they are out there, they are the ones who should be ridding Gaza of these terrorists, not the IDF. They are the ones who should be fighting the thieves and the murderers in their midst. The people of Gaza must decide exactly what they want. otherwise this is an endless cycle. Until they make a viable decision, they are culpable for the actions of Hamas. They are just as guilty as if they pulled the triggers themselves. Kinda like the Germans who closed their drapes and looked away. If you're looking for an equivalency, you can use that one.

Gaza, your victim card has expired; there are no more pathetic excuses for allowing Hamas to run your country. If you want a country, get yourselves an economy instead of a terrorist regime. There are way more of you than there are of them. All that foreign aid they're using to line their own pockets and build tunnels? That's YOUR money, not theirs. They do not have your good and welfare in their sights. After all, Arafat died with a $12,000,000 personal bank account in Paris. If it was good enough for Arafat.....

Wake up, People of Gaza! Take control of your own future ...if for no other reason than for the sake of your children. When that day comes, you will find you actually have partners for peace and economic stability not just next door, but all over the globe. You'd have to be morons to not take advantage of that.

We, the Jewish People, will welcome that day, but We, the Jewish People, will not stand idly by until it comes. We will protect our country.

We are

עם אחד

One People

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Yeah, we just showed on the beach at Akko up after WWII. 

Not.

Oldest known coin marked YEHUD...Judea...in Aramaic.
5th-4th Century BCE.
In other words, we've been there for a long, long time.