Is this normal?

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

It is hard to describe the mood here.  What we have experienced in the last 48 hours is indescribable.

We thought we had already experienced the worst.  October 7th.  Families destroyed.  Hostages returned to learn that their spouses and their children were murdered.  Young women kept in dark tunnels.. Emaciated men displayed on stages in bizarre "ceremonies." Hostages finally freed after hundreds of days of captivity given farewell certificates and goodie bags.  Unimaginable, sick behavior.

Only to be topped by the last 48 hours.  Four coffins.  A red-headed baby in one.  His red-headed four-year old brother in another.  Latest reports are that Hamas murdered the kids "with their bare hands."

An 83 year-old peace-activist great-grandfather who drove sick Gazans to Israeli hospitals in another coffin.  And in the fourth an unknown woman's body that Hamas tried to pass off as the children's mother Shiri Bibas.  Hamas says transferring the wrong body was due to a "an error or mix-up" and it will now investigate, as if this sort of "mix-up" happens every other day.

[Latest report as this is finalized:  Hamas has transferred another body to the Red Cross it claims is that of Shiri Bibas.]

A bizarre, depraved "ceremony" transferring the murdered bodies.  The caskets of the elderly man and the unknown woman affixed with a sign saying "Arrested October 7, 2023." Arrested???

Where is Shiri Bibas' body?  Speculation is that it was so tortured, so mutilated, that they did not return it.  Are they stupid enough to think that Israeli forensic specialists wouldn’t figure it out?  Whose body did they produce?  Do these sick people just keep extra bodies hanging around?

The word "surreal" is often used to describe things that are just strange.  But what has happened here, is truly not of this world.  It is like an infinitely deep, dark universe.

A fantasy?  Yes, if a fantasy includes a cruel nightmare.  Unimaginable, sick, bizarre behavior.

Somehow life goes on—people shopping for Shabbat, at restaurants, putting gas in the car.  All the trappings of "normal" life. But there is nothing normal about what has happened here.  There is a huge pall hanging over this country.  There is depression, dismay, and anger.

In November of 2023, just seven weeks into this ordeal, I questioned the entire idea of negotiating with Hamas.  I argued that only when Jews are subjected to terrorism does the world expect negotiations.  I argued that this process "normalizes" the taking of hostages by terrorists, and that it encourages further hostage-taking and terrorism generally.

Elation, trepidation, disappointment

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Today was a clear, beautiful, and warm Shabbat in Jerusalem, more like April than January. We were sitting in our synagogue, just starting to read the Haftorah portion, when a tzeva adom, a red alert, wailed out.

There was a little hesitation, some quick quizzical looks. One of our members called out something like “walla,” shorthand for “what are we waiting for,” and we all traipsed down to the shelter.

No panic. No rush.  More like resignation, a feeling of “once again.” A question of “isn’t this over yet?”  A look of “they have to get in one last shot.”

A couple of us pulled out and turned on phones and confirmed what we suspected: it was the Houthis firing their one-a-day ballistic missile at a population center in Israel.

Some people take a one-a-day vitamin.  The Houthis shoot a ballistic missile from a dirt-poor, failed nation that could use every dollar it can find at a people 1373 miles away who have done absolutely nothing to them. Their second in command has straightforwardly declared that their motivation is pure hatred of Jews.

The daily missile crosses a wide swath of Israel, inflicting terror and sending a substantial segment of the population to shelters and safe rooms.

They usually take their shot at night.  Today they chose the morning. Perhaps they were afraid they wouldn’t get it in before the ceasefire took effect.

We stood around in the shelter for about 10 minutes, waiting, resigned, chatting, thinking.  Then we went back up to the sanctuary and finished the service, undoubtedly like hundreds of thousands of other Israelis.  Life went on almost like nothing had happened.

As we finished the service, I did take special note of the last sentence of Psalm 29: “The Lord shall grant strength to His people; the Lord shall bless His people with peace.”

I hope so.  But I have my doubts.  Big ones.

Ceasefire now???

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Israel conducted a massive targeted bombing in a Beirut neighborhood, killing Hezbollah chief Nasrallah and several Hezbollah leaders.  The world is a better place because they are gone.  The world should rejoice.

But much of the world has reservations about killing these terrorists and crippling Hezbollah.  Russia condemned Israel.  Palestinian President Abbas called for Israel’s expulsion from the U.N. Hezbollah’s sponsor and chief funder, Iran, is absolutely appalled.

Even the so-called “enlightened” world is ambivalent.  Before Nasrallah’s death but after the killing of many of his commanders and after Israel began its intense bombing of Beirut, the U.S. and France called for a 21-day truce so that negotiations could occur.

Since Nasrallah’s death the U.N. Secretary-General, as he does whenever Israel acts to defend itself, has expressed his alarm at the violence.  President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have welcomed Nasrallah being sent on his way to his 72 virgins, but they have also said now it is time to stop fighting.

One would have hoped the President would have said now that Hezbollah is reeling from its defeats, now is the time to finish it off or at least to do as much damage as possible. Macron has called on Biden to pressure Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire, not Hezbollah and its sponsor, Iran.

One wonders why the Western leaders were so intent on a truce and negotiations prior to Nasrallah and his comrades’ demise, and one wonders why they continue to be so insistent now, despite Israel’s successes.  I don’t recall such interest in negotiations when the West was pursuing Al Qaeda and ISIS.

I argued early in the Gaza War that, when it comes to attacks by terrorist groups on Israel, the world acts as if terrorism is a normal and accepted behavior, and that negotiations are the appropriate and judicious response.

By treating the situation as normal and expected, the world encourages the terrorists to expect their terrorism to work, and it often does.  The same dynamic is now being urged on Israel by the United States and much of the rest of the “free world.”

To stop the fighting there is no need to negotiate, unless the intention is to concede something to Hezbollah.  All that is necessary is to enforce an agreement already negotiated.

My day in the South

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

I had been reticent to go down south to the sites of the October 7^th massacre.  Firstly, we live in Israel.  We are surrounded by reminders of the deadly day, the pain of the hostages and their families, the daily deaths of our soldiers, the hate that is directed at us.

We know people whose family members and close friends were killed and kidnapped.  We have close friends whose sons and daughters and their spouses have been called up for milluim (reserve duty) for months, some in Gaza, some in support roles.  The thought of the pain of seeing the sites of the actual massacre seemed over-the-top, unnecessary, just too much to take.

The second reason for my reticence was a feeling that perhaps going to see the killing and torture fields, the kibbutzim and moshavim, the Nova festival site, was an invasion of privacy, a desecration of holy sites.  I was afraid of feeling and looking like a gawker, like somebody who stares at a car pile-up.

I saw nothing wrong when others took a different view and chose different behavior.  Thousands of volunteers have poured into Israel to help during the difficult months since October 7^th.

They have selflessly given their time, their labor, their emotional support, and their money.  They have made a difference both materially and emotionally.  They and many others, visitors and Israelis alike, have made the trip to the south.

They have paid their respects, lent shoulders for those who needed them, and borne witness.  Many of those from abroad are going to go home and report to their families, friends, and communities on what happened there in a way only someone who has been there can.

We were prompted to finally go to the south to donate to and see the “Shuva Junction.”  Shuva is a moshav (cooperative community) a few kilometers east of the Gaza border. Immediately after October 7^th, three brothers set up a little coffee stand for soldiers going in and out of Gaza at the intersection that leads from the main road into Shuva.

The coffee stand grew into a way station where soldiers can take some R&R, eat, clean up a bit, and collect some snacks and other “extras” that the army does not provide.  https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-769644

Memo from a disgruntled Israeli

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

MEMO TO: U.N, EU, U.S., and all of the self-righteous intersectionalists at elite U.S. universities who don't understand anything about the Middle East and don't say a word about the famine in Sudan but love to dump on Israel and demonstrate their Jew-hatred when we have a war here.

FROM:  A disgruntled Israeli.

We're very likely to  have a really, really big war.  You will get very upset at us.  CNN, BBC, the NY Times, and the Washington Post will have the media equivalent of orgasms over all of the alleged starvation, water shortages, housing destruction, and all-around worst-ever-heard-of-in-the-history-of-the-world damage caused by Israel.

And, listening to the Ben Wiedemans of the world, and reading the Tom Friedmans of the world, it will all have been done for no reason except for the fact that we woke up one morning and  just felt like doing it.

One hundred missiles--yes, 100--were shot from Lebanon at Israeli civilians in the north Thursday.  Yes, in one day.  It continues today.  Everyday. 100,000 people cannot live in their homes.  Whole cities and towns are empty.

The world doesn't care.

Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government, has at least 150,000 missiles buried amongst civilian areas all over southern Lebanon, along with every kind of sophisticated military equipment imaginable.  Most of it has been supplied by and continues to be supported by Iran.

UN Resolution 1701, passed at the end of the 2006 Lebanese War, called for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the demilitarization of southern Lebanon except for the Lebanese Army.  Hezbollah's solution:  With Iran's support, it became part of the Lebanese government.

The world didnt care, and it still doesn't.

What is now Israel's uninhabitable north keeps creeping south.  Each day the bombardment from Lebanon gets more aggressive and makes more of Israel a target.  As Secretary of State Blinken has said, Israel has lost its sovereignty in the north.

This has been going on for months.  We are effectively ceding more and more territory.  No country can tolerate this.  No country would.

The world doesn't care.

The world will undoubtedly and predictably care when Israel, finally, attacks Lebanon to stop the effective taking of its territory.  Then the world will come crashing down on us.

Secretary Blinken, French President Macron when he isn't oppressing occupied New Caledonian or any of the other 12 French colonial possessions, and other world leaders are trying to prevent "an escalation," aka Israel defending its sovereignty by eliminating Lebanon's ability to continue to attack Israel.

Neither Blinken or any other leader seems to care that Israel has been and continues to be under attack.  Their oft-expressed fear is that Israeli actions to defend itself will "escalate" and cause a wider war, i.e. a war that impacts people other than Israelis.

Their repeatedly-stated objective of avoiding an escalation that would involve Iran and possibly Russia in war, whether it be in relation to Lebanon, Gaza, the Houthis--just about every tinderbox in the Middle East--has guaranteed one thing: escalation by those terrorists and rogue nations.

When you let them know that their actions will not result in direct and severe consequences for them you have pretty much guaranteed an escalation by them.

Thus, a fourth-rate terrorist group like the Houthis has the nerve to continually cripple world shipping.  And a third-rate power like Iran has the nerve to support terror and use proxies to destabalize nations around the world.

If you are the most powerful country in the world--the supposed leader of the free world--aren't others supposed to be deterred by fear of your power, not you by their's?

Israel will have to act to protect its sovereignty and to defend its people.  It will not be pretty.  Then the world, undoubtedly including those "self-righteous intersectionalists at elite U.S. universities who don't understand anything about the Middle East and don't say a word about the famine in Sudan but love to dump on Israel and demonstrate their Jew-hatred when we have a war here," will care.

Too late.

 

 

 

 

 

Home alone?

 (Originally published in The Times of Israel)

My wife and I arrived back in Israel two weeks ago after an extended stay in the U.S.  Even with the overwhelming problems and challenges, it felt great—liberating—to be back. You immediately feel that here Jews are making our destiny, are in control of our life as a people, that we have agency.

The contrast to the current situation in the U.S. is striking. The contrast to where we had been staying, Oakland, California, where the Jew-hatred and the goal of destroying our nation are loudly and proudly asserted at city council and school board meetings, on signs of demonstrators, and in windows of residents and businesses, is particularly striking.

Beginning with the poignant posters and artistic displays at the airport of dog tags representing the hostages, you are overwhelmed immediately with the sadness everyone feels for the hostages and the apprehension about the future.

We arrived just 48 hours before Yom HaShoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day, whose somber mood resonated even more deeply this year. On the afternoon of Erev Yom HaShoa, as restaurants and shops closed, as the radio played appropriate music and programming, you could feel the heaviness in the air. We then marked our people’s greatest tragedy while renewing our vow that we will never be defenseless again.

Just a week after Yom HaShoa came two particularly difficult days. First it was Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day), never an easy one when Israelis remember the thousands of mostly young people who have died defending the nation, as well as the thousands of victims of terror.

This year, with the events of October 7th still raw, with hostages then in their 221st day of captivity, with the bodies of murdered hostages being recovered, and with soldiers being killed and wounded daily, was especially tough.

We then transitioned into Yom HaAtzamaut (Independence Day).  The atmosphere usually turns light and we rejoice in the anniversary of the re-creation of a free and independent Jewish nation.  Israelis play music, barbecue, watch a tremendous air force flyover, and dance.

This year was much more subdued.  We did have some friends over for the traditional barbecue, although many others did not engage in the usual activities.

Biden's terrible turn

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

President Biden’s initial responses to Hamas’ atrocities demonstrated moral clarity, strategic acumen, and clear support for the victim of the attack, Israel.

Now, either from strategic errors or out of political concerns, or both, Biden is making some very serious mistakes, both on policy and politics.

The Biden Administration is wrong to pressure Israel not to pursue and eliminate Hamas in Rafah, the last refuge of the surviving four or five Hamas battalions.

Anything short of the total elimination of Hamas militarily will be claimed as a victory by Hamas, and it will be seen that way in the region.  Israel will have lost its most essential defensive tool: deterrence.

The attacks, which went on long before the October 7^th attack and which momentarily got the world’s attention on October 7th, will resume.  Israelis will lose faith in the army’s ability to protect them.

The south as well as the north of the country will be uninhabitable.  It will be the start of the end of the Zionist enterprise.  That is why some have referred to Hamas and the October 7^th attack as a “slow-motion existential threat.”

The Middle East nations that Israel has established relations with and those that are candidates for the future, all of whom look to Israel as a bulwark against terrorism and Iran, will view it as ineffective, a paper tiger.  They will start making their accommodations with Iran.

The more the Biden Administration pressures Israel not to invade Rafah, the more Hamas leaders Sinwar and Haniyeh and their fellow murderers think they can outlast the Israelis and survive as a force, and the more they will demand in exchange for the hostages.