The Wifely Person Speaks: What if there was a genocide and nobody cared?

In recent days, there has been an increase in the news coming out of Darfur. You remember Darfur, dontcha? Sudan? Civil war? Warring factions? Mass murder? That sort of thing.

In recent weeks, the civil war in Sudan and Darfur has heated up again. It's important to understand who the combatants are. The New York Times explained some of this, along with a comparative photo of El Geneina, the area currently under siege.

Longstanding ethnic tensions have underpinned the violence in Darfur for decades. Just as the Arab-dominated Janjaweed carried out a genocidal campaign against ethnic Africans in the 2000s, the Rapid Support Forces [RSF] are targeting them now, with international warnings that a genocide could happen again

The Janjaweed have their own agenda. The RSF is pretty much the new and improved version of the original:

...an Arab nomad militia group from the Sahel region^[6] that operates in Sudan, particularly in Darfur, and eastern Chad.^[7] They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen.^[8] According to the United Nations definition, Janjaweed membership consists of Arab nomad tribes from the Sahel, the core of whom are from the Abbala Arabs, traditionally employed in camel herding, with significant recruitment from the Baggara.
Janjaweed nomads were initially at odds with Darfur's sedentary population due to competition over natural grazing grounds and farmland, a conflict exacerbated by dwindling rainfall and drought. The Janjaweed were a major player in the Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2020, in opposition to the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement rebels.^[9]^[10] In 2013, the Rapid Support Forces grew out of the Janjaweed.^[11]

[I'm leaving the Wiki links in to make it easier for you, gentle reader.]

On September 9th, the Secretary of State Colin Powell advised the Senate a genocide occurring in Sudan. That position was rejected by the Sudanese government, and that rejection of genocide was echoed by the UN, The African Union and the European Union.

The conflict in Darfur is not new; in fact, it's been going on since about 2003. It's important to note that both sides of the conflict are primarily Sunni Muslim. NOT all, but most. According to Wikipedia:

The Darfur genocide is the systematic killing of ethnic Darfuri people which has occurred during the War in Darfur and the ongoing War in Sudan (2023–present) in Darfur.^[2]^[3] The genocide, which is being carried out against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, has led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict several people for crimes against humanity, rape, forced transfer and torture. An estimated 200,000 people were killed between 2003 and 2005.^[4]

As it is being observed, some have likened the new attacks as a Rwanda-like genocide of 1994. From History.com:

During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, also known as 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in the east-central African nation of Rwanda murdered as many as 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority. Started by Hutu nationalists in the capital of Kigali, the genocide spread throughout the country with shocking speed and brutality, as ordinary citizens were incited by local officials and the Hutu Power government to take up arms against their neighbors. By the time the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front gained control of the country through a military offensive in early July, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were dead and 2 million refugees (mainly Hutus) fled Rwanda, exacerbating what had already become a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

You remember Rwanda, dontcha? You know....The 100-Day genocide? Estimated 800,000 dead? Mass murder by machete? The film HOTEL RWANDA ? These days, it appears the Hutus and the Tutsis live side by side in peace. Who'da thunk?

The kidnapped girls

Not exactly genocide, but important to notice how most of the world was silent about the kidnapping and sexual slavery of the 276 Chibok girls of Nigeria who were taken from their Christian school in April, 2014 by Boko Haram. 57 escaped, but it's thought that 130 of the girls, ranging in age from 16-18, were sold to men as wives. Many bore children and when some managed to return, they were rejected by their families. Where is the outrage for them?

So, two things come to mind as I read and re-read these articles.

1: IF a gang comes into your territory with the intent to kill anyone and everyone encountered, does that mean you get to fight back? Or, even though they came to kill, are you still obliged to provide them with food, water, and utilities when they return to their base with hostages? How about safe passage in and out of your country while releasing their comrades-in-arms from your jails? Maybe we should return their guns?

2) Since the genocides in Africa have been going on for decades and certainly are not news, where are the protests, encampments, demands for cease-fire, and threats of violence against one side or the other on college campuses and city centers? Doesn't anyone care about the children of Darfur? Where is all that righteous anger? The passion? the requirement to remove all Sudanese from the United States? Where were the college demonstrations on behalf of the Nigerian school girls?

The demonstrations we see in the US are pro-terrorist, anti-Jewish attempts to finish what Europe started. Antisemitism in Europe did not begin with Germany. Jews have been singled out as enemies of the state in damn near every European country because we have the temerity to BE Jews. Now, we are attacked in the streets because we refuse to cower before our attackers.

Watch the video below, released today in Israel, and tell me why we don't get to defend ourselves from this brutality? What other nation, after being attacked, is expected to supply their attacker with food, water, and electricity, as if we were responsible for this war?

The families of HershGoldberg-Polin, Or Levy, and Eliya Cohen have authorised the release ofpreviously unseen video showing the moments their loved ones were abducted by Hamas on 7.10.

The three Israelis fled from the Nova music festival and hid in a field shelter with other partygoers when terrorists threw grenades and fired inside. Hersh, Or, and Eliya survived and were abducted to Gaza where they’re still held to this day.

There is a war going on. No one disputes that. No one disputes that what is happening in Gaza is a humanitarian tragedy. But the world seems perfectly fine with ignoring the genesis of that tragedy. Calling Israel the aggressor and Gaza the victim is really spin. Israel was minding its own business on that day. Most people in Gaza claim they were, too, but when the marauders return with their hostage victims, somehow they managed to pour into the streets to celebrate the brutalization of civilians. Somehow, they managed to take the hostages into their homes and their dungeons where they were tortured and the women raped.

And somehow, all those protesters and campus chanters think that is okay. Well, it's not.

We have already established that I am not a big fan of Netanyahu or the Israeli government at the moment, but I believe the State of Israel has the right...nay, the DUTY... to defend its citizens from further terrorist attacks. When Hamas announces they plan to repeat and repeat and repeat October 7th until every Jew is dead, there is no reason not to believe them.

Oh, no...they never said that. Guess again. And listen for yourself:

Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad: We Will Repeat the October 7 Attack Again Until Israel Is Annihilated

Y'know what? People are gonna believe what they want to believe; truth has nothing to do with it these days. Everyone needs someone to hate, someone to blame. It's so much easier than taking responsibility for one's own actions. So much easier to hate than to feel for people who have lived under constant missile barrages for 20 years. So much easier to shout slogans you don't understand than to recognize base hatred of the other you claim to love when you're the one screaming how you are the other and need to been recognized as such in and out of your safe space.

Neither Israelis of all kinds nor Jews of any kind have safe spaces any more. We are all out in the open; we refuse to bow down to your cowardice, and we will not abandon being Jews because you're envious of our tenacity.

Look, our entire history consists of they tried to kill, they didn't, let's eat.

Remind yourself of that the next time you have a bagel.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Ever wonder why bagels are "Jewish?"

They were created in 17th century Poland

because Polish law prevented Jews from baking bread.

The bakers circumvented this by boiling the dough before baking.