The joy and the pain

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

As I scanned possible T-shirts to grab yesterday morning, Yom HaAtzamut (Israel Independence Day), I spotted my very worn blue Israel Association of Baseball shirt with Israel in big clear letters emblazoned on it along with a fairly contemporary, artsy drawing of a couple of baseball bats.

A thought ran quickly through my mind:  How many places in the U.S. would someone feel uncomfortable or unsafe wearing that shirt?  Or perhaps it would be simpler to ask: how many places would you feel safe and comfortable wearing it?

Questions I would never have thought to ask a mere 20 years ago seem very prudent and reasonable given the reports of demonization, harassment, and violence.  Tree of Life in Pittsburgh. Temple Israel in West Bloomington.  Boulder, Colorado. The 2nd Avenue Deli just a week or so ago. Synagogues and other Jewish institutions throughout America vandalized, graffitied, shot at.

Friends and relatives hiding their Stars of David, moving their Mezuahs inside the door.  Gatherings taken indoors, addresses of events not publicized.  My father and grandfathers–outspoken, proud, loud Jews–are spinning in their graves.

I wrote a while back about the dangers of American Jews receding from public life, ceding the public square, restricting their identites as Jews to private spaces.  I am afraid it is happening.  

How different it is here in Israel. We wear our Jewish identity–T-shirts, tallises, jewelry, kippas, you name it–without a thought, unabashed.  We discuss and argue Jewishly in public, loudly.  We live by the Jewish clock and the Jewish calendar.  The destinations on the bus are in the same language Jews prayed in a thousand years ago (as well as Arabic and English). Israeli/Jewish identity is baked into every aspect of life.

It is a liberating, joyful experience.  It is also often a heavy burden.  Israelis, often rated among the happiest people on earth, also pay a terribly high price for living as unself-conscious Jews/Israelis in control of their destiny.  Running to shelters. Burying young soldiers. Feeling alone. Worrying. And worrying some more.

Monday night through sundown Tuesday was Yom Hazikaron, Rememberance Day.  It is not like Memorial Day in the U.S. with sales, boats, and picnics.  It is solemn.  We went to a ceremony at the Jerusalem Theater, a three minute walk from our apartment.  It was one of the hundreds if not thousands of ceremonies held throughout the country, in every neighborhood of every community.  It focused on “lone soldiers,” young people who come from abroad to serve, who fell in battle.

Dear friends and family in The Golden Medina

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

A seder enveloped by sirens and a heart rendering funeral motivated me to write to friends and family in the United States, some of whom have been in touch as well as the many who have not.

Family and friends:

This Passover, and last night’s seder in particular, is especially poignant and, in some ways, quite strange.  We know that many in the U.S. are opposed to the war or, if not that, are conflicted about it.  We know that includes many American Jews, including those that care about Israel.

We understand that position from an American perspective: the economy, being seen (wrongly, in our view) as the aggressor, the cost, the price of a gallon of gas, dislike of President Trump, lack of clear messaging, apparent lack of a well thought-out strategy, etc.

(We are also cognizant of the shock and the feelings of vulnerability and isolation that many American Jews feel due to the startling increase in Jew-hatred in America and around the world.)

Most Israelis, including us, see it from a different perspective. We see an axis that bombarded our north and south with missiles for over two decades, that viciously attacked us on Oct. 7, 2023, that continues to bombard us to this day, that repeatedly declares its intention to destroy us, that dedicates itself to developing the weapons to do so, and that appeared to becoming very close to being in a position to do so.

Regardless of possible differences in perspective, we REALLY APPECIATE the messages of concern and support we have received.  At a time when we are running for cover, when our lives and movement are restricted and fraught with danger, when we are sustaining injuries and deaths, when our young people are making the ultimate sacrifice, when our neighbors with young children are under incredible strain, when we are feeling very isolated and alone, your messages have been a lifeline, a reminder that people care, that we are not alone.

We’re hanging in there.  It does take its toll.  Everyone is weary. It seems that in Jerusalem the frequency of attacks has decreased a bit the last 48 hours. But we’ve had periods like that before.  The north is getting hit hard by Hezbollah.  And they get no warning—they have to get to a shelter in 15 seconds.

The center of the country and Tel Aviv are still getting hit hard by Iran.  Our daughter in Tel Aviv  had them at 9 and 9:30 Monday night and then, starting about 7:45 yesterday morning, had about four in the course of two hours.  Many were wondering how they would cook for the seder while running to shelters.

The shelter, the siren, and the check please

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Three weeks into the war and I'd say we are tired, weary, worried, united, committed, sometimes uplifted, and resolute.  We have a routine of sorts.  We've adapted.

Me: Want to go to dinner? Restaurant A or Restaurant B?

Wife: B. It's less expensive and less formal.  I'd rather be interrupted and run for shelter from there.

Waitress:  Can I have your phone number?

Us:  Sure. Why?

Waitress:  In case of a Tzeva Adom (red alert).  Some customers "forget" to come back and pay after spending time in the shelter.

I've been reading an 880 page book, the biography of William F. Buckley, Jr., a seminal figure in America's modern conservative movement.  I've gotten through 550 pages. Three-fourths of my reading has been done in 15 minute timeframes while sitting in the shelter up the block from our apartment.  Neighbors have asked about this big, heavy book I lug up to the shelter night and day. Now there is interest in what will be finished first: the book or the war.

One of the neighbors we have gotten to know in the shelter, an upbeat woman with a Ph.D. in a science, likes to take long showers, a risky endeavor these days.  She's figured out that, based on the history, the most unlikely time for missiles being aimed at us is 4:00 a.m.  So she got up at 4:00 a.m. to take a long shower.  A smart, or a mad, scientist.

Everyone has his or her own way of adapting to the situation. Everyone has their own tolerance for risk, for what makes them uncomfortable, and for what doesn't.  It is not all logical.

We take walks in the neighborthood.  We are always cognizant of where the nearest public shelter is, what apartment building might have a shelter we could use, how long it would take to run to a shelter.

It helps to use an app that plots out the nearest public shelter and how far away it is.  I have it on my phone.  It is red and has a person sitting under a roof with three missiles pointing down at it.  It is called "Bomb Shelter."  Very subtle.

Red alerts and clown noses: Purim under fire

 (Originally published in The Times of Israel)

It has been quite a Shushan Purim in Jerusalem.

We were awaken to a tzeva adom (a red alert) at around 6:00 a.m.  Nothing like running half asleep to the shelter down the street to get a morning off to a quick start.  No coffee needed.  After visiting with our neighbors in the shelter–we've gotten to know some very nice people the last few days–the all-clear sounded and we headed home.

One of the most difficult challenges of this war has been deciding when it is safe to jump in the shower.  After there has been quiet for a while?  Right after an all-clear, the thinking being it will take them a while to launch the next round?  Who knows?  In any event, I got a quick one in.

The rest of the morning was quiet.  Or, I should say, free of missiles.  I could hear the sounds of Purim from the streets.  Singing, kids laughing,  glasses clinking.  In the early afternoon I decided it was safe enough to take a walk in the neighborhood to soak up the atmosphere.  Lots of kids and adults in costume.  A festive atmosphere despite the tension and worry in the air.

Then, an alert sounded.  I floundered for a moment, until a man with a big red clown's nose on his face and clown's shoes on his feet told me to follow him to the nearest shelter.  Only in Jerusalem on Shushan Purim would I put my life in the hands of a guy with a clown's nose and shoes.  But it worked.  I spent about 10 minutes in the shelter with my new clown friend, lots of cute Queen Esthers, 10 year-old breakdancers, and soccer players, among others.

The all-clear sounded and I started what I thought was a leisurely stroll back to our apartment.  Another alert went off.  I was too far from the shelter I had left but not close enough to the one on our street.  So I again followed the crowd and found myself with another group of Purim celebrators.  This time there was an assortment of dogs with them.

Another all-clear and I got home.  Thinking the action was over for the day, I was relaxing or, I should say, doing the best imitation of relaxing that one can do in these circumstances, when at around 4:15 this afternoon, another alert went off.  If we are reducing Iran's ability to fire missiles, we have not experienced it today.  Could they be throwing some last Hail Mary's?  Should I be bringing Mary into this?  Aren't things complicated enough?

It is not lost on Israelis that we are taking on an evil Persian regime, and that we killed an evil Persion leader, while we mark a holiday that celebrates the demise of Haman, an evil Persian Prime Minister who wanted to exterminate the Jews and who was stopped by the heroic action of the Jewish Queen Esther.

It also is not lost on Israelis and many Iranians that the Persian King Cyrus ended the Babylonian captivity in 539-538 BCE by issuing a decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, financed the rebuilding of the Second Temple, and permitted religious freedom, and that, if things go well, the Jewish nation, in partnership with the U.S., might return the favor 3100 years later.  What goes around sometimes does come around, we hope.

Friends and acquaintances abroad understandably have many questions and concerns regarding the war or, as some American politicians prefer to label it, operation or action.  Secret: It is a war.

Mamdani and those little town blues

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

 “I stand by Italian-Americans.  I stand against anti-Italian-American statements and actions.  Italian-Americans will serve in my Administration.  I support the elimination of Italy.”

“I stand by Mexican-Americans.  I stand against anti-Mexican-American statements and actions. Mexican Americans will serve in my Administration. I am for the destruction of Mexico.”

“I stand by Nigerians.  I stand against anti-Nigerian-American statements and actions.  Nigerian-Americans will serve in my Administration.  I don’t think Nigerians have a right to their homeland.”

Pretty ludicrous statements.  They make no sense.  But this is exactly what the Mayor-elect of New York City,  Zohran Mamdani, says when it comes to Jewish Americans and their homeland.

“But,” many will say in his defense, “Zionism is not the same as Judaism.  You can be against Zionism and not be against Jews.”

Right on the first sentence.  Wrong on the second sentence.  For all but some outliers on the periphery, Zionism, the belief in  the existence of a Jewish nation in the Jews ancestral homeland, is an integral part of their Jewish identity.

When your position is that you are against the existence of the only Jewish-majority nation in the world; when you are for the destruction of the home of half of the 15 million Jews in the world; when you support denying Jews self-determination in the land in which they are an indigenous people; when you oppose the Jewish National Liberation Movement, it is impossible to “stand with the Jews,” to “stand against anti-Jewish American statements and actions.”

When you take that position, you are anti-Jew.  You are a Jew-hater.

War and peace

 (Originally published in The Times of Israel)

I spent the morning with hundreds of others at the hostage tent on Aza Street near the Prime Minister’s house watching on a large screen as the live hostages were released. It was two and a half hours of anxiousness, relief, and elation. I then sat at a coffee house patio where everyone was in a celebratory mood. Right next to it is a storefront synagogue from which you could hear the sounds of prayers and songs of Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh and last day of Sukkot.

Adding to the poignancy of the moment, tonight is Erev Simchat Torah.  It was on Simchat Torah two years ago that Hamas invaded, raped, tortured, and kidnapped innocent civilians in what their delusional leaders and supporters thought would be the beginning of the destruction of Israel and the genocide of its inhabitants.

Next: the return of the bodies of 28 innocent hostages murdered in captivity. This will be very tough emotionally on the entire country, made even more so by the fact that  Hamas has already violated parts of the deal regarding this process. After that should be the disarming of Hamas, who are already reasserting their control in areas where Israel withdrew.

They are  brutally murdering anyone they label “collaborators” and anyone else they perceive as a potential threat to their rule.  Hamas is intentionally sending a message to Gazans: we’re still the power. Defy us and you and your family are dead.

If Hamas is not disarmed and completely taken out of the picture as envisioned by President Trump’s plan, and if the Palestinians do not give up the dream of destroying Israel, all of the flowery words about hope and a different future will be for naught. We will see more violence directed against Israel and, consequently, more misery and suffering for the Palestinians.

Today we celebrate. But there remains many difficult challenges ahead.

While diplomacy played a key role in getting the hostages released and the 20-step process endorsed by several key Arab nations, it is clear that we would not have reached this point without firm military action taken by Israel, often condemned by much of the world.

The key: the bombing of a building in Doha, Qatar, targeting Hamas leadership. While it failed to take out the leadership, it sent a clear message to the Arab world:  You are vulnerable, and we will target you if you harbor terrorists.

The deal and its prospects

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

My reaction to the Trump-Witkoff-Blair-Kushner Gaza peace plan:  A huge feeling of relief and hope that our hostages may be released and the war may come to an end.  And an equally huge feeling of skepticism that it will actually happen.

The plan finally gives some hope for a better future after almost two years of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness.  At the end of a very long and windy road, it holds out a possibility of Gazans and ultimately Palestinians in general living in peace with Israel.  But it is fraught with possible pitfalls, both immediate and longer term.

Just a few of the major challenges:

--Hamas must release the hostages within 72 hours and must agree to disarm.  The hostages are their lifeline and bearing and using arms to kill Jews and to destroy Israel is their only purpose in life.  It is hard to see them abandoning that.

--Deradicalization of Gaza, which necessarily includes the giving up of deep-seeded and ingrained grievance, recognition of Israel's permanent position as a Jewish nation in the Middle East, and the abandonment of the dream of a Palestinian state "from the river to the sea and of a "return" to a place most, if any, have never been.

This is a major, if not the defining, part of the Palestinian identity.  To give it up is a very tall order.  Many students of the Middle East and of Palestinian society would say it is near impossible.

--Netanyahu's politics:  After decades in public life and 18 years as prime minister (continuous since 2009 except for 18 months), is there anyone who knows exactly what Netanyahu's bottom-line position is on Israel and the Palestinians?  What we do know is that he will say and do just about anything to stay in power and out of prison.

Ironically, Netanyahu's desperation may now be helpful in getting him to stick to his end of the bargain.  His future political survival is now so dependent on President Trump he could be forced to adhere to Trump's plan even at the risk of alienating the extremists in his coalition.

Blame and responsibility and what to do

 (Originally published in The Times of Israel)

It seems appropriate to be writing this on Tisha B’Av.  We are not at a point equivalent to the destruction of temples, but the problems facing Israel are formidable, and the mood here is depressed. 

Our government is incompetent at best. We are fighting a war nobody except the extremes is certain about.  We are in conflict, and many of us are internally conflicted:  we want a deal to get the hostages out, to stop the killing of our soldiers, and to stop the suffering in Gaza.  But we know that if Hamas is left intact in almost any form, it will be considered a victory for them and eventually we will very likely be subjected to missiles and terrorism again. 

We have some loudmouth politicians who, while not having any sway over policy, make some of the most condemnable, outrageous statements.  We have a Prime Minister whose primary if not exclusive objective is to stay in office and out of jail.  

He has given real power to some irresponsible, extremist ministers, and has acquiesced as they drive us toward destructive policies that undermine our standing in the world and threaten the democratic nature of the country.  

As David Horovitz recently wrote, our government’s actions and inactions have ended up with Israel holding the bag for the current situation in Gaza, whether justified or not. The extremists driving many of these policies would have us encourage the “voluntary” exodus of Gazans and permanently occupy Gaza, an outcome that would repulse the world and that the great majority of Israelis oppose.  

The world seems to have forgotten who started the war and that it would end immediately if Hamas were to release the hostages and lay down its arms. A recent survey shows that half of the American population does not even know that there are still hostages being held.  

The world is dumping on us, sometimes with justification, often with little or none.  Many of our “friends and allies” have turned on us, some reluctantly, many others with apparent glee and enthusiasm.  It is like they were just waiting for an excuse to pile on, regardless of whether the excuse is based in fact or not.

The world, including our “friends and allies,” seemed very quick to accept the fact that there is a famine in Gaza.  After all, many had predicted it almost since October 7.  And they seemed equally quick to blame it on Israel.  Some of Israel’s policies, and some of its loud-mouth politicians, gave them enough reason to lay the blame on us.

Genocide?

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

 I wrote this on January 22, 2024:

‘Jew-haters aiming to eliminate Israel very deliberately decided to falsely attach the word “Apartheid” to Israel in the early 2000’s. With constant repetition, the lie has stuck.

Now, those Jew-hating Hamas sympathizers and their useful idiots are intensively working on attaching the libels “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide.” The libels are patently false.

But, just as with “Zionism is Racism” and “Apartheid,” one can expect that 20 years from now, it will be accepted wisdom amongst many in the chattering classes, those whose bigotry or ideology predisposes them to believe libels against Jews, and the just plain stupid that Israel is guilty of ethnic cleansing and genocide.’ https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-the-world-upside-down/

I was off by eighteen and a half years.  It took 18 months, not 20 years.

All over social media, on college campuses, at demonstrations protesting just about any perceived injustice in the world, charges of Israel’s alleged genocide in Gaza are made and accepted as truth.

It is one thing if some malicious individual or useful idiot wants to forget that it was Hamas, supported by many Gazans, who started the war on October 7, 2023 by breaking a truce and engaging in a murderous attack on civilians.

And if they want to forget that Hamas could immediately end the war and the suffering of Gazans by releasing the hostages and laying down its arms.

And if they want to forget that Hamas deliberately buries itself amongst civilians to achieve its explicitly stated goal of having as many Gazans as possible killed so that it can delegitimize Israel in the world’s eyes and gain the sympathy of ill-informed and morally confused people, many of whom are more than willing to cooperate in condemning Jews and the only Jewish-majority nation in the world.

And if they want to ignore real experts like John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, co-director of the Urban Warfare Project, and a founding member of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare, who has repeatedly stated that Israel takes more measures to avoid harm to noncombatants than any other army in the world, including the American army.

Democrats, Trump, and the bomb

 (Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Predictably, and sadly, partisan posturing did not abate even when it came to something as serious as the United States’ bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

With a few notable exceptions such as Senator John Fetterman and Congress Member Ritchie Torres, Democratic officials could not bring themselves to unequivocally declare that partially or completely destroying the nuclear capabilities of a fanatical regime that has promised to destroy Israel and that considers the U.S. a mortal enemy was a good thing.

The bombing of the nuclear facilities was a historic act for the good of the world. The Democrats should have supported it wholeheartedly.  Then they could have expressed their misgivings about the War Powers Act, and then they could have emphasized what a disaster they believe Trump is in all other respects.

That would have been the right position on policy, and the right position morally.  There is a very good possibility that it would have eventually proven to be the right position politically. 

Instead, ignoring the fact that presidents of both parties have not sought Congressional approval for military action on many occasions when they deemed it unnecessary or inconvenient, they harped on the Trump Administration’s failure to seek Congress’ consent. 

President Trump, being true to form, did not help matters by not briefing the Democratic members of the “Big Eight,” the group of senior members of Congress who traditionally receive briefings when the government is about to engage in military action. 

Within hours of the bombings, many Democratic legislators, with virtually no concrete evidence yet at hand, quickly pronounced it a failure because, they alleged, it only set Iran’s nuclear bomb development by two months.

Again, it did not help matters when President Trump, also long before receiving conclusive evidence, claimed the bombing “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Stating the obvious

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

Given many of the reactions from politicians, commentators, and other members of the media to Israel’s war to rid Iran of its nuclear capabilities, it seems necessary to state the obvious:

A nation that is developing non-bomb nuclear capabilities does not bury them deep within mountains.

A nation that is intent on using nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes does not repeatedly threaten to wipe another nation off the map and rid the world of Jews.

If a nation is not trying to hide the development of nuclear weapons, it does not take years to negotiate an agreement.  The nation simply agrees that it will not develop a nuclear weapon and it opens all of its facilities for inspection.  It does not play cat-and-mouse games for decades.

If a nation is not developing nuclear weapons, it does not enrich uranium to 60%.

The day before Israel acted, the International Atomic Energy Agency, an agency entirely invested in negotiations that often deceives itself into thinking that Iran is negotiating in good faith and is not intent on developing a nuclear weapon, adopted a resolution declaring that Iran was in non-compliance.  Rather than agreeing to comply, Iran stepped up its activities aimed at producing a bomb.

As David Horovitz explains, Iran was very close to a nuclear weapon, and the development of a nuclear weapon was part of a broader plan to invade and destroy Israel. Israel's response has been well planned and thoughtful, and its execution has been exemplary.

If anyone seriously believes that Israel undermined potentially productive negotiations and that the U.S. and Iran were on the verge of a satisfactory agreement, I would dearly like to show them a bridge I have for sale.

From both President Trump's statements and the fact that the U.S. moved non-essential personnel and family members out of harm's way, it appears very likely that the Trump Administration knew about the attack in advance.  Indeed, it appears that President Trump played a major part in convincing the Iranians that an attack was not about to happen.

Will fear prevail?

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

American Jews have adapted to—pretty much to the point of resignation and acting like its “normal”—the fact that to do almost anything connected with being Jewish—go to synagogue, drop a child at day school or pre-school, work out at a Jewish community center, look around a Jewish museum, go to a meeting of any kind, go to a music or art show, in short, just about anything Jewish—they are going to face one sort of security measure or another, or several.

Jews know that to be a connected Jew in the U.S. today means being beeped in, showing identification, putting in a code, going through a metal detector, signing in, reserving prior to being told the location, and/ or being swept by a wand.

It is part of being a Jew in America in the 21^st century.  Jews do it without a second thought.  Few if anyone, Jew or non-Jew says “Hey, wait a minute.  This isn’t normal.  This is not the way it is supposed to be.  This is unacceptable.”  Because they’ve essentially accepted it.

Jews have also accepted the fact that there are streets and neighborhoods and many campuses across America where it is dangerous to publicly identify as a Jew.  There are places where Jews are afraid to wear a kippah (head covering), to speak Hebrew, to wear a Jewish star.

And displaying an Israeli flag or a sign expressing support for Israel, or putting a pro-Israel sticker on your car, or putting a pro-Israel button on your jacket, or putting a picture of a hostage on your lawn or in your window—the types of behavior that should be, and are for most people in America, accepted as just what you can do in a free country—they are very often considered ill-advised if not downright stupid. There has been no debate over it for quite a few years.

Then came the arson attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion.  Then the murder of two young diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C.  And then the Molotov cocktails at the Boulder walk for the hostages that caused 12 injuries, some severe.

Now Jews are wondering if it is even safe for them to gather in public spaces—to protest, or to walk, or to sing, or to pray, or simply to talk.  Many Jewish institutions and organizations—who already spend inordinate resources and time on security—are “reevaluating” their security measures.

Double standards

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

To all the folks who near-constantly ask me what I think of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, or constantly post about how Israel is unnecessarily killing “innocent civilians” in Gaza, or constantly ask why is Israel “punishing Gazans” for what “Hamas is doing:”

Now that Jews have again been targeted in Washington, D.C., with two beautiful young people murdered, I ask where are you?  I have not heard or seen you. Not one word. Not one post. Not one question.  Silence.

Three times in the last 10 days I was asked how do I feel about, or how can I approve, or why don’t I and my fellow Israeli citizens do something about the alleged “starvation” of Gazans.

None of the people asking the question mentioned the hostages or Hamas, who started the war, who explicitly adopted a strategy of embedding within and below civilians to produce as many Palestinian deaths as possible, and who continue the war by refusing to release the hostages and disarm.  The only issue apparently on the mind of these folks is why Israel was intentionally starving “innocent” Gazans.

My response:  Of course, I hate to see people, particularly children, suffering, but I think the question, along with much of the thinking of much of the Western World, betrays a moral system that is upside down at best.

When the Allies bombed the hell out of Dresden and much of the rest of Germany, did the world ask Americans how they felt about burning much of Germany to the ground, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, and blowing innocent kids to smithereens?

When the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, did anyone ask Americans how they felt about incinerating hundreds of thousands of innocent kids, women, and men, young and old, and causing generations of deformed babies?

When the Allies fought the Axis powers, did the Allies supply food and other materials to the Germans and Italians during the middle of the war?  Did the Americans allow food and supplies to reach Japan during the war?  Did anyone expect them to or ask why they did not do so?

One could ask the same questions about any number of wars:  Iran-Iraq; Pakistan-India; the French and all their dirty little wars in Africa; and on and on.

A country cries out

(Originally published in The Times of Israel)

These are difficult, complex, challenging, tense, and often depressing days in the Land of Israel.  The 88 year-old former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, probably Israel’s most respected jurist, expressed his fear that the country could be heading toward a civil war.

The Israel Business Forum, which represents 200 of Israel’s largest companies, has threatened to “shut down the Israeli economy” if the government defies the High Court of Justice’s temporary injunction against the firing of the head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency.

The head of the Histadrut Labor Federation asserted that the country was on the verge of anarchy and that a failure of the government to comply with the ruling of the Court would be “a final red line that cannot be crossed.” He promised that the Federation would not “sit silently and watch them take apart the State of Israel.”

Several universities have threatened to go out on strike if Bar is fired.  Forty regional council and municipal heads signed a letter calling on the Prime Minister to publicly pledge that he would comply with the court’s decision.

Bar’s dismissal would be the first time in the history of the country that the head of the Shin Bet has been fired.  Netanyahu claims that this unprecedented step is necessary because he and Bar have lost "mutual trust." Bar was planning to resign within months, but apparently the Prime Minister feels the lack of trust is so compelling that he must move the date up, even at the risk of a constitutional crisis.

Many others suspect that the real reason for the hasty sacking, against the admonitions of the Attorney General and possibly in defiance of the High Court, is more likely due to the fact that the Shin Bet under Bar’s leadership is investigating allegations that some of Netanyahu's closest aides were in the employ of Qatar, an enemy country that harbors terrorists and supports terrorism and that purports to be a good-faith mediator of hostage negotiations.

Many fear that firing Bar and installing a Shin Bet chief more likely to toe the line could result in the suppression of the investigation of this incredibly serious conduct. And, of course, this alleged scandal was quickly given the moniker of “Qatargate.”

As if this were not enough, there is this:

We have a renewed war whose timing, need, and impact on the lives of the hostages are in dispute, and the motivation for which by the Prime Minister is suspicious and political in the view of many.

Israel refused to negotiate about and proceed to Phase 2 of the agreement with Hamas.  If the breaking of the agreement advances Israel’s security, helps defeat Hamas, and/or keeps hostages alive and brings them home sooner, no reasonable person should have any qualms about Israel’s breach.

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.