An Open Letter to My Non-Jewish Readers

This is the actual abduction of the Bibas family

Dear Non-Jewish Readers, 

On October 7th, Israel was attacked not by an army, not by an air force, not by a navy, but by a roving band of terrorists who murdered kids at a music festival, people in their homes, parents in front of their children. Over 1,160 people were murdered in cold blood. Over 250  hostages ranging in age from 9 months old to 86 years old were abducted to Gaza. 

6 months later, 134 hostages remain in Gaza, amongst them, 11 of are foreign nationals, 8 are American. No one really knows who is alive and who is dead. Shiri Bibas, and her sons, Ariel and Kfir, were claimed by Hamas to have been killed. Yarden, her husband and father of the boys, was taken separately and is thought to still be alive. 

But no one knows for sure. 

Let me repeat that: NO ONE KNOWS FOR SURE.

Here's a fun-filled fact. Hamas could stop this war any time it wants. Piece o'cake. Israel has said it every day in every way. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES and the war stops. If Hamas released them tomorrow, the war would stop on a dime. 

But that would be a problem for Hamas. They WANT to be victims. They want to blame everyone and every institution for their failure to establish a country. Being a victim is so much more fun. You don't have to do anything. You get to stand there and look pathetic while you spend every fucking dime to get to reinforce your tunnels and buy missiles to fire on civilians because no one thinks firing thousands and thousands of missiles on civilians who happen to be Jews is a problem.

IF Hamas released the hostages, countries across the globe, including Israel, the US, and maybe even a few Arab states, would be stepping up to help the Palestinians rebuild their country. Oops. Excuse me. It should  BUILD an actual country since Hamas never bothered with an economy or a government before this. Now that the network of tunnels has been exposed, it would be harder to divert funds to rebuild that network while the civilian population is starving, right? 

But screaming FREE PALESTINE doesn't really recognize that Palestine needs to be freed from Hamas, which is really the issue. But no one wants to talk about that part. Why would they? It would mean that the Palestinian people are opting for a real country. So far, that does not appear to be the case. 

Insisting that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine is another piece of abject stupidity being funded by Islamist groups like ISIS, Iran, and Islamic Brotherhood. Allow me to disabuse you of that concept with numbers. 

1. If Israel want to commit genocide against the Palestinians, it would've been over in a day or two. Okay? Clearly, that's neither their target nor their intent, but admitting that doesn't make for a good chant.
2. If Israel wanted to commit genocide against the Palestinians, the population of Gaza would not have grown exponentially since 2005. With a high birth rate (28 per 1000 people in Gaza. ) When Israel left Gaza in 2005, the population was 1.3 million. The most recent estimate is 2.1 million, not quite twice as many people as when Israel left. 
3. Does Israel want to take Gaza back? Hell, no. They want Hamas out so the daily missile barrage will cease. And yes, it's still going on. See Newsweek.
4. Arab Israelis currently make up about 20% of Israel's population. Those who hold Israeli citizenship have the same legal rights as any other Israeli. Is it perfect? No.  Are there problems and issues? Sure, just like minority populations in any other western country. But women fare far better in Israel than any other Arab nation. 

5. 

   Half Shekel coin issued by the Jewish rebels in 67–68 CE
   Letters are in Paleo-Hebrew.

   Israel is the poster-child for DECOLONIZATION. After more than two thousand years of facing east toward Jerusalem to pray, standing at the remnant of Solomon's Temple, continuously living in the land, Jews began to buy back their traditional homeland from the Ottomans. Piece by piece, land was purchased, developed, farmed, and the seeds of an economy were sown. Hebrew, the language of the Bible, our holy books, and our liturgy was resurrected as our daily language, replacing Yiddish and Ladino and other dialects that once divided us. The first modern currency, Israeli Pound (or lira yisraelit,) officially reverted to the shekel, our traditional monetary unit, in 1980.
   

It's pretty widely established that the goal of Hamas is to obliterate Israel and remove all Jews from Israel and the globe. The ADL published Hamas in its own words:

Statements by Hamas officials make clear the terrorist organization’s commitment to destroying Israel and killing Jews and Israelis around the world. 

• Ismail Haniyeh in 2020: He explained that Hamas rejects ceasefire agreements by which, “Gaza would become Singapore,” preferring to remain at war with Israel until a Palestinian state is established from the River to the Sea: “We cannot, in exchange for money or projects, give up Palestine and our weapons. We will not give up the resistance... We will not recognize Israel, Palestine must stretch from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.” 
• Hamas official, Hamad Al-Regeb in an April 2023 sermon: He prayed for “annihilation” and “paralysis” of the Jews whom he described as filthy animals: “[Allah] transformed them into filthy, ugly animals like apes and pigs because of the injustice and evil they had brought about.” Al-Regeb also prayed for the ability to “get to the necks of the Jews.” 
• Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Saleh Al-Arouri in an August 2023 interview:  He expressed Hamas’ desire for “total war” with Israel: “Therefore, we are convinced that if a total conflict begins, the airspace and seaports of this entity will be shut down, and they will not be able to live without electricity, water, and communications.” 
• Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi (Hamas representative in Lebanon) in an October 12, 2023 TV show laid out Hamas’ expectation that it would be Israel that would sue for peace and indicated that a ceasefire is part of Hamas’ overall strategy, but said that he was not at liberty to say what exactly Hamas has planned for the next step after a ceasefire. He also stated that October 7 had achieved its intended purpose of landing “a blow to the normalization (of relations between Israel and Arab countries).” 
• Hamas member, Ghazi Hamad on October 24, 2023: “Israel is a country that has no place on our land […] because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation.” (October 24, 2023, LBC TV (Lebanon)). He also vowed to repeat the October 7 attacks “time and again until Israel is annihilated,” and expressing a desire to “sacrifice martyrs” (referring to Gazan civilians) for Hamas’ ideological aim of destroying Israel. 
• In a speech before the International Union of Muslim Scholars in Doha on January 9, 2024, Ismaeel Haniyeh, chairman of Hamas's political bureau, called the October 7 massacre the “advanced [battle] front of the Ummah.” Calling for “financial jihad” (donations to Hamas) and “jihad of the teeth” (physical jihad), he asked the international audience, “Who wishes to invest in building the jihadist generation to liberate Jerusalem and to unite the blood of the Ummah with the blood of the people of Gaza, Jerusalem, and Palestine on the land of Palestine for its liberation and the liberation of Jerusalem?” 

Statements by Hamas officials also make clear the terrorist organization’s disregard for the loss of civilian life not only in Israel but also in Gaza. 

• Hamas senior leader Khaled Mashal stated on October 19, 2023 that he views the current loss of civilian life in Gaza – brought about by Hamas' strategy of using human shields – as essential: “No nation is liberated without sacrifices... In all wars, there are some civilian victims. We are not responsible for them.” 

• Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh, commenting on the loss of civilian life in Gaza on October 26, 2023: “The blood of the women, children and elderly […] we are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit.”  

I've left the links intact in case you want to see more.  Some of it is pretty terrifying, but you have to understand....it's not just about Israel and Jews. When they finish with us, they are planning to go after the rest of the non-Islamic world. And some of the Islamic world as well..the part that doesn't agree with their brand of sectarianism. (Gee, doesn't that sound a little like the Christofascists in our world? I thought so.)

Meanwhile, what's happening to the people of Gaza is reprehensible, made worse that Hamas refuses to do anything to help them as evidenced by the statements above. The targeting of WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN relief workers is equally inexcusable and the reaction of Israelis should drive home the point that they are not happy with how the war is being conducted by Netanyahu. Their collective anger with their own government should demonstrate that not all Israelis are supporting the government, and that like anything else in the Jewish world, there are enough divergent opinions for everyone to have one. 

The Times of Israel reported recent polls showing 71% of Israelis think Netanyahu should resign. This is not a surprise. Israelis are unhappy and the hostages are at the center of that anger. Do not make the mistake of thinking we are a single voice led by a single voice, Jews are great at arguing. Just look at the Talmud. It's what makes us strong. 

We are not sheep. We are  not lemmings. We are not the Jews of 1930s Europe. We have reclaimed our homeland and we're not going anywhere, so disabuse yourself of that notion. What Hamas did was to declare war on us, and by G-d, they got one. Now they stand there blaming us for the destruction, yet no one is talking about the missiles and the tunnels, the suicide bombers or the threats to wipe us from the earth. 

But they are the victims.

I don't think so. 

The victims are the Israeli kids at a music festival, families at home in their beds, children who watched their parents murdered, and parents who watched their kids die. 

The victims are the Palestinian children offered up as blood sacrifice to the gods of greed and power while their parents stood by and did nothing to stop Hamas from using them as human shields. 

The victims are the Jewish kids on college campuses being attacked and covered in a hatred they did even know existed. 

And the biggest victim of all? 

Truth. 

Newspapers don't print it, they spin it. TV presenters don't ask questions, they set traps for interviewees, then manipulate the footage. Politicians don't talk about what's really happening; they only talk about what will get them donations and votes. 

We are knee deep in this bullshit and there isn't a clear path out. 

And for the record, April 7th marked 6 months. Today, April 8th, 2024. was Day 183

THE WIFELY PERSON'S TIP O'THE WEEK

Release the hostages. 

Why You Need To Watch Iran... and other stuff to think about

First things first.

Miss Bialy

Last week was a disaster in the making. The short version begins when I had Bialy overnight, and on our first walk, she lunged and I didn't. Face plant thankfully in the grass. But once again, I bruised my torso and within 48 hours, I could not bend over which was a problem because Bialy was coming to stay for a week while Junior Son and family went on vacay. I could not pick up poop. So I did the least expected thing on the planet....I called Senior Son. Since he was already scheduled to come in for a gig at the end o'the week, I invited him to come here and work from my dining room. He was so shocked that The Iron Lady admitted she needed help, he came in on Friday and thank G-d he did. By Monday, I was felled by a good, old fashioned cold. I went down with a thud. Hence the 2-word blog. You're lucky you got that much

Bialy is old. About 98 in dog years. She's got arthritis. She's got kidney issues. She's skinny as a rail despite eating lots and lots of healthy, good things. She gets cold. She likes to snuggle up at night, preferably under a blanket glued to whomever is in the bed. And when she runs in her sleep, it's like have your own massage chair. Then, to add insult to injury, she dumped me for Senior Son. I suppose that was okay since he was the one walking her every hour. Over all, we had a good time. I am one lucky mam; that's a fer sure. 

Now, if you were wondering about why I told you all to watch Iran last week, it wasn't because the US freed up some of the cash we're holding. Nah,  I meant Hezbollah's increasing attacks on the northern border. Like Hamas, Hezbollah bows to its Iranian masters because they are the backers and the bankers. Iran supplies arms and cash to various Islamist groups. State sponsored terrorism at its finest. 

Iran has been supporting a terrorist network for years. Hamas is only one group. Iran also actively supports Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Iran's relationship with Hamas continues to evolve, and it's hard to tell what the real end game is. That said, they also support Hezbollah in Lebanon, Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, the Houtis in Yemen. The AJC posted a pretty complete list back in January. Go take a look if you think Gaza is the only place these Islamic Jihadists have a toe-hold. The network is extensively scary. 

Why bring this up? Well, it's like this. Hezzbollah is planning an attack similar to October 7th. They keep talking about it.  According to the UK's Jewish Chronicle, their offensive would be "October 7th on steroids;"

The Alma Research and Education Center, an institute located two miles from the Lebanese border focused on the security challenges along Israel’s northern front has obtained a Hezbollah video in which the terrorist group laid out an almost identical plan to the one carried out on Oct. 7 by Hamas: a rocket barrage followed by a ground invasion into Israeli towns and villages.

 

“All we have to do is listen to their own words, what they’re saying in Arabic, and cross it with their capabilities,” Alma Center founder Lt. Col. (res.) Sarit Zehavi told JNS.

Last week, another network was in the news: ISIS. In this case, ISIS-K took credit for the Moscow theater bombing. NPR had a pretty good article about Moscow, ISIS-K, and where it falls in the terror networking scheme:

Despite military and territorial setbacks, ISIS-K has been expanding its ambitions and operations, experts told NPR. 

"There have been reports of active and foiled ISIS-K plots in Europe," Mir said. "[The organization] really has a global mission of going after all entities that it considers as being opposed to its brand of Islamism." 

"Most of its attacks until recently were largely confined to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it carried out a major attack in Iran earlier this year that was incredibly devastating," Byman said.

Why Moscow? ISIS-K is still made about the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and then Putin's support of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Talk about holding a grudge. These guys hate everyone who doesn't align themselves with their version of world order. These are not guys without big dreams. Many believe in worldwide domination of Islam. The mission statements vary from group to group, but the reestablishment of an Islamic empire permeates them all. The violence will not end in the Middle East...Moscow illustrated that. So don't keep fooling yourself that this is about just Israel. Nor is it about Zionist or Zionism. It's about eradicating Jews from their homeland first, then the planet. 

And I keep wondering how these guys are fundamentally different from the MAGA crowd...the ones who wanna curtail civil rights, make this is Christian country, convert all the non-Christians, and who just haven't taken up arms....yet.

Why do I say yet ? Because according to Feckless Loser, if he loses this election, there will be a bloodbath. Yup. He said it at a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16th. Here's the quote:

“If you’re listening, President Xi — and you and I are friends — but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now … you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no. We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected...Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it...It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories.”

 And if that was no bad enough, he added:

 “If this election isn’t won, I’m not sure that you’ll ever have another election in this country.”

When you say stuff like that, people believe you. Just like they believed January 6th was a call to arms. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

No blog episode next week. I will be speaking on my favorite topic, THE POMEGRANATE  in Connecticut on Monday night, so writing isn't gonna happen. If you happen to be in the vicinity of Hartford...specifically Manchester, I'll guest author, live and in person, for the Sandals Lecture at Beth Sholom B'nai Israel. It'll be a good time. I promise.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Be there or be square. 

Living In a Post Factual Society

The blog I originally drafted for today cannot be published. It's a total screed.

Mousa Abu Marouk

I am not without compassion for the people of Gaza. They are victims;  victimized by their own leadership who park their sorry-ass butts in some posh hotel in Qatar while thousands of the people they supposedly represent die because they are used as human shields, sitting atop tunnels filled with Hamas rockets, bombs, and supplies. 

In an interview aired on Russian television, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas spokesman, was asked:

Many people are asking: Since you have built 500 kilometers of tunnels, why haven't you built bomb shelters, where civilians can hide during bombardment? 

Mousa Abu Marzouk: We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels. Everybody knows that 75% of the people in the Gaza Strip are refugees, and it is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them. According to the Geneva Convention, it is the responsibility of the occupation to provide them with all the services as long as they are under occupation.

In other words, it's not their job to protect their citizens.

Then whose job is it?

Did Hamas really think Israel would not retaliate for the massacre of October 7th? Did their leadership not give a single thought to what would happen when Israel struck back? 

Or are they playing a very long game, using the blood of their own civilians cast into harm's way as a new blood libel for Jew hatred?

Yeah, I think they were. 

They were depending on 2000 years of anti-Jewish sentiment lying right beneath the surface to bring out the wide swath of haters who would prefer to see Jews back in the gas chambers. 

From the river to the sea is absolutely their plan from the get-go, making sure the blood sacrifice of their own people would be the newest blood libel used to kill Jews, thereby attaining their Jew-free goal. 

Baked babies, beheaded babies, raped mothers, tortured grandparents...none of that mattered because, after all, they were just Jews. Dead Palestinian babies, mutilated Muslim children, some live ones used to pose as dead kids...only to get up again for repositioning...hospitals bombed by Islamic Jihad, but blamed on Israel, anything they could stage to make sure all Jews...not necessarily Israelis...take the fall to become the enemy worthy of extermination.

And if that's not gruesome enough, the Hamas 07 October invaders filmed themselves performing atrocities, using victims' cell phones to upload these videos to social media so that families got to watch their loved ones' last moments. Yet, when that same footage is shown in public places , supporters of Hamas, the very people who committed these atrocities, protest and, as at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, brawls ensued outside the venue. I should think those supporters should have been cheering to see their acts of depravity shown to the world. 

Silly me. 

Those same people talk about ethnic cleansing. Wanna know what's ethnic cleansing? That's when people of one culture/religion/color are forced to leave the place where they've lived for 2500 years. Maybe that question should be directed at the countries that make up the Arab world. 

Photo © J. Tocker 

In 2019, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv captured that exodus in an exhibit: Leaving, Never To Return. That slogan was written on the side of the one suitcase each person was allowed to carry out: رحلة بدون رجعة  which is Arabic for Trip with no return. Hundreds of thousands of Jews with just the clothes on their backs and their single valises had no place to go, so they went home...to Israel where their journeys began in the first place. Where after three thousand years the same language was spoken, the same alphabet was used, and the walls of the cities their ancestors built still stood.

From the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

Apartheid? Let's talk about that for a moment. Currently, the majority of Israelis would be, at least in this country, considered persons of color. All different colors. Jews are Jews; that's all that matters...not the color of skin, eyes, hair, or shoes. None of that is a barrier to citizenship.

At the same time, Israeli Arabs are fully Israeli citizens, serving in the IDF, in the police force, as members of Knesset, as doctors, heads of hospitals, lawyers, supreme court justices, voting in elections, establishing political blocs government, getting health care, education, power, water, and passports just like any other Israeli citizen..Jew, Christian, Muslim, Druze, Bahá’í , whatever.  Oh, and Gay Pride is a really big deal in Tel Aviv...and no one even gets thrown off a rooftop for being gay. 

For the record, Israel is a democracy. It is the only functional democracy in the Middle East.

According to Hamas's charter, Jews are not permitted to live in Palestine and most of the other Arab states. Israelis can visit, but they cannot establish residency. That more closely resembles apartheid.

For the umpteenth time...the only group occupying Gaza is Hamas. If the Palestinians would like to stop being human shields, then they have to get rid of Hamas. Israel is happy to help, as are many other nations, but the Palestinians have to start that process. They must begin to take back their own country. Plenty of nations will step up with economic and humanitarian aid when the funds stop being diverted to rocket launchers, missiles, and terror tunnels.

Keep this in mind: if you want to support Palestinian rights, don't condone the wholesale murder of kids at a music festival. Don't cheer for missiles being lobbed nonstop on schoolyards. You don't want Israelis to cheer when you get bombed, so why would you think Israelis are gonna sit back and let you bomb them without a response?  

Not realistic thinking on their part.

Exactly how many ceasefires and suicide bombers do you think it would take for your government to respond appropriately? Unless, of course, you're okay with your children and grandchildren being beheaded, kidnapped, and tortured? If that's okay with you, you should be offering up your family as human shield sacrifices for your staunch belief in the righteousness of Hamas.

I am damn tired of living in a post factual society, a place where fantasy passes for reality, and people who should know better don't do their homework. Where universities allow departments to spread utter garbage under their logo like the University of Minnesota's Department of Gender Women and Sexuality Studies faculty has done with their statement on Palestine. Clearly, the writers of that statement drank Hamas Kool-Aid before they put it out instead of doing their homework. 

Maybe they should send a delegation of feminists and LGBTQ+ folks to negotiate with Hamas. I'm sure Mousa Abu Marouk would welcome them all with a great rooftop party....if he happens to be in Gaza.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day

If you're not a fan of Jews, I would strongly urge you to boycott 

products invented/developed by Jews.

That means no instant messaging since IMs, DMs, WhatsApp 

are all derived from ICQ, an Israeli invention.

No USB Flash drives....Israeli invention.

No Epilday hair removers.

No Rummikub or Mastermind games.

No pressure bandages.

No mobile or camera phone.

No polio vaccine.

No Google. 

One should always be consistent 

about not benefitting

from those you hate. 

HAMOUSE IN THE HOUSE

Mouse-o-Ramp

Last week, I participated in an event for Washington County where I was a panel member for a middle school kinda job fair...which means I got to talk about being an author. I met lots of seriously interesting kids, learned most middle school boys intend to play for the NBA, while many girls but certainly not all, still leaned toward service fields like nursing and social work. I sat next to a guy who was a rhythmic/music therapist, and he was way more interesting than I was. I drove home in a blinding, unseasonably heavy rainfall and when I walked into the basement, I heard what sounded like water hitting the bucket I keep on the shelf. It wasn't water....it was a mouse trying to escape, but I didn't know that so when I reached up to grab the bucket, the mouse jumped up. I screamed (startled not scared of mice) and dropped the bucket. The bugger ran behind the furnace. "Moron!" I yelled. "Had you stayed in the damn bucket I woulda taken you outside and let you go! Now, I must employ the Death by Peanut Butter Mouse-o-Ramp!" 

Needless to say, the offending mouse was in the bucket the next morning. Things were quiet for a couple of days, but knowing how mice work in Minnesota, the bucket remained. Then Saturday, I found mouse evidence on the baker's rack in the kitchen, but no mouse upstairs. Sunday morning, there was a mouse in the bucket. This morning, there were 3 in the bucket: mom, dad, and a little guy. It was time to call Dr. Mouselin, my mechuten who knows about these things. We checked the foundation, the basement, and the garage for possible entry points. We found one...and stuffed it with steel wool. We'll see what the next couple of days bring. 

Mice are a fact of life in suburban and rural Minnesota. Yes, they are cute, no I don't like drowning them, and would prefer to release them back into the wild when possible. HOWEVER, mice are rodents and I would prefer not to share living quarters with guys who spread a variety of diseases. But that does not prevent me from feeling bad about killing them. 

They are terrorists in cute, little, furry packets; quiet, sneaky, operating in the dark, with no remorse about destroying/contaminating your food supply. So tonight, as I was checking Mouse-o-Ramp before heading off to write tonight's episode, I caught myself saying, "There you go, you little terrorists. Mess with me, will you? You will not win!'  And then I thought about the movie MOUSEHUNT with Nathan Lane. And then I thought about me calling them terrorists. 

I know there are all sorts of metaphors and similes used in the propaganda war surrounding Israel and Hamas, and I do not make light of what's happening there. Not in the least. But the similarities made me think long and hard about my own world view. 

Obviously, there is no equivalency here. There just isn't. Or maybe it's my imagination running rampant as I plot the death and destruction of the mouse in the house. Truth is I really don't want to kill mice. Even the thought kinda creeps me out. But the bottom line is that they cannot live in this house. There is no way for me to communicate with them, to convince them to go back outside to be free. They're just lookin' for a warm nest and free food. BUT...and this is an important point....this is my house, and if I take away the bucket prematurely, they will invite all their friends in and this will escalate to something really, really ugly. 

And that's the reason there can be no cease-fire with Gaza. Even a humanitarian pause is risky, but less risky than a ceasefire. Gaza has always been the one to break the ceasefire agreements, there is no reason to believe a new one would do anything more than allow them to rearm and regroup...much the same way removing the Mouse-o-Ramp will allow mice to return to their friends to invite them in. 

Am I a terrible person for not wanting mice in the house? No. Nor am I a terrible person for not wanting to give Hamas any room to rearm. An idiotic, simplistic comparison to be sure, but for reasons I cannot adequately explain, it made me think about my positions, and arrive at the conclusion that a ceasefire is non-negotiable at this time. 

UPDATE: A little terrorist just ran past me and dashed under the fridge! Not to worry, a second Mouse-o-Ramp has been deployed. This has got to stop! But now, I may have a clue as to where they're coming from.....

The other thing that needs discussion is the wide ranging support for Hamas on college campuses and across the 18-28 age group. I think they're called GEN Z, but who knows and who cares? These are the members of the safe-space generation, the ones who think critical thinking is unnecessary for people who support extreme positions, because, quite frankly, thinking isn't one of their strong suits. Whatever. I just want to share this video asking people to sign petitions in support of Hamas.

Please watch this video. 

A lot of people will complain this is cherry-picking, or manipulating interviews, but they are missing the point. When you see people cheering for Hamas on campuses and in urban demonstrations, when you see LGBTQ folks protesting to free Palestine, they are completely unaware of what Hamas is, what Hamas does, and how Hamas kills its own citizens. When confronted with what they are supporting, not everyone chooses to believe facts on the ground, or admit, at the very least, that they are uninformed. The clip just shows it up close and personal. 

Do you think Germans went around saying "Gas the Jews" back in 1932? Probably not. 

It is the refusal of an entire generation of Americans to do their own research or homework to understand the positions they are taking. That puts us Jews in the crosshairs on both the extreme Left and the extreme Right wing of each party. And now that it's out in the open, it's apparently okay to talk about it. Take this guy Klingenberg running for the school board in Roseville, MN. Did you know that the Nazis were really trying to save Jews? I didn't either.  But this guys and his followers make it a point to spread this information as though it was true. 

On an interesting note, I do want to comment about Dean Phillips' run against President Biden: do not dismiss this guy out of hand. He is the only one who is playing the long hand. I hope by next week Feckless is sitting is a jail cell, but we can't count on that. Nor can we be so sure that Joe Biden's health will not be impacted by the incredible stress he is under. Oh, yeah, there may be other Dems playing the what if game, but Phillips is the only one currently putting it out there. I think he's cagier than the rest of us....and I'm not convinced he actually wants to be POTUS. Still....

The GOP is bound and determined to run a criminal with signs of dementia for president. What does that say about this country?

Frankly, I'm afraid to ask.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I'm writing this on Monday

Election Day is tomorrow.

Whatever races you have going, GO VOTE.

Especially in school board elections. 

They are way more important than you might think.

New Depths of Disgust ....If you're not worried, you should be.

Over the weekend, an act so heinous it's indescribable, took place in Chicago. A little boy was stabbed 26 times because his family is Palestinian-American. His mother was also stabbed multiple times and is currently hospitalized. The perpetrator was their landlord, a man named Joseph Czuba, who had, in the past, given the child toys and even built him a treehouse. According to the New York Times:

In court documents, prosecutors described the landlord, Joseph M. Czuba, 71, who has been charged with murder and hate crimes, as angry, erratic, paranoid and violent. 

He had been listening to conservative radio coverage of the Middle East war in the days before the attack, the prosecutors said, wanted his Palestinian American tenants to move out of his building and was increasingly concerned that he was in personal danger because of his connection to them.

So he stabbed the kid and his mother. In America. In Chicago. In a place that is supposed to be safe...his home. No child should be sacrificed on the altar of political rhetoric. What happened in Chicago is as heinous as what happened in Israel...and Gaza, too. Innocent people died on both sides. Civilians. Children. Grandparents. Non-combatants all, and all are dead because the politics of hate is practiced world-wide. And it's increasingly practiced in these here United States. 

Last week, the Twin Cities Jewish community came out for an event in support of Israel. When we arrived, the line already snaked around the building. Police and County Sheriffs were positioned around the building, parking lot, and all doors. While they were there because credible threats exist and the intent is to make us all feel safe, I did not feel safe in the slightest. I did not feel safe because I knew Jews and Jewish events in the United States are considered targets. Still, more than 1700 people showed up. 

The venue, one of the local synagogues on the Minneapolis side, was filled to the scuppers. Every available seat, every available standing-room space was takens. Hundreds more could not even get into the building, and listened to the live stream in the parking lot on iPads, tablets, and phones. I saw almost every one of our morning minyan regulars as well as dozens of other St. Paul denizens. We were lucky; we may have been all the way in the back, but we could hear Senator Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, and Governor Tim Walz clearly denounce the slaughter in Israel. We listened to speaker after speaker pledge unwavering support for Israel, but we also knew in other places we were being called war criminals and murderers. Oh, you know the drill. 

As Israel is held to some bizarre standard that precludes self-defense, all Jews become targets for hate. In Australia, 1,000 protesters in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House chanted Gas The Jews.  Jewish students on college campuses across the US are threatened by groups that would silence those who support Israel. Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia, all Ivy League institutions, have become centers for antisemitic actions toward students by other students under the guise of free speech. For the most part, the administrations have remained woefully silent. Google Jew Hatred on Campus and you can check it out for yourself. Claims that this is about Israel just don't hold up; it's about Jews. 

UPenn President Liz Magill, after being faced with unprecedented backlash to the university's lack of response to concerns voiced by Jewish students, alumni, staff, and board members, sent out a letter basically apologizing. She wrote:

At Penn, we are confronting these events in the wake of recent antisemitic acts on campus and individuals, with a public history of speaking out viciously against the Jewish people, appearing on campus as part of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival.

Many have voiced their anger and frustration about this event. Please know that I hear you. I know how painful the presence of these speakers on Penn’s campus was for the Jewish community, especially during the holiest time of the Jewish year, and at a University deeply proud of its long history of being a welcoming place for Jewish people. The University did not, and emphatically does not, endorse these speakers or their views. While we did communicate, we should have moved faster to share our position strongly and more broadly with the Penn community.

"A welcoming place for Jewish people."  Yup, that's what she said. Maybe it's me, but that one gave me the creeps. Would she have said, "Black people," or "Italian people," or even "Catholic people?" I don't know,  but her tone left me ever so slightly unsettled...and suspicious of her motives. Maybe I'm just too sensitized by the rhetoric around me. 

Getting rid of Jewish people in general is definitely on a whole lotta tables. The new rhetoric is just like the rhetoric of Nazi Germany, of Imperial Russia, or even the Inquisition...just wrapped up in a white flag with a blue star. When so-called intellectuals rave about supporting Palestine's struggle to be "free," they have no clue that Palestine was never a country to begin with. They rant about Gazans not being able to leave...well, maybe they could if Hamas had officials at the border to check passports...which they don't...which is why the border to Egypt is closed. NOT because the Egyptians or the Israelis closed it. Maybe they'd still have a potable aquifer if they hadn't used all the pipes and funding for rocket launchers... but hey! that was not an Israel problem; that was a Hamas problem,  not that anyone would admit to that. As the radical masses carry on about these injustices, they blame Israel, not Hamas for the squalid conditions, in turn, giving the haters open season to hate not Israelis, but all Jews. 

We are not safe from the extreme right, nor are we safe from the extreme left. We are oh-so-conveniently stuck in the middle. 

Tempio Maggiore

Every synagogue I know has security details in place on Shabbat. Outside doors are locked, easy, welcoming access is no longer possible. Several years ago, while in Italy, I was told to register before going to the Tempio Maggiore di Firenze for shabbat. I sent an email, then upon arrival in Florence, I went to make sure I made the list on Friday morning. I was stunned to see the fences and soldiers with automatic weapons patrolling in front and on the grounds of the synagogue. Tonight, while I was in Talmud class, a representative of the safety committee popped in to say we could no longer leave an interior chapel door open for people coming in for minyan. Is this what is coming for us? Apparently, and it scares the hell outta me. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Readers have written asking me what they can do to help. Like I have a magic answer for that? Actually I might: send money. Right now, Israel has numerous organizations that are crying out for donations for relief, supplies, body armor, you name it....they need it. Below is a list sent from my friends in Herzliya of established placed to donate with some I've added:

Friends of IDF 

Lone Soldier Center 

Help ZAKA 

United Hatzalah 

Magen David Adom - this link is being matched by Mike Bloomberg:  

Stand With Us where you’ll also find items to share on your social media

Leket Israel our local food rescue and distribution initiative

Shaul Foundation for families in crisis 

St. Paul Federation Israel Emergency Campaign 

Jewish Agency: Victims of Terror fund  

More agencies can be found Here:  TC Jewfolk Resources to Help Israel During Operation Iron Swords. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The age-old adage,  

put your money where your mouth is,  

applies big time here. 

Please find a fund you like and pitch in. 

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.