Nuts!

I just read Nicholas Kristof’s latest piece on what is happening in the Middle East (just search on his name) and I am disenchanted and disappointed.  Among other things, he is on a rant about US “complicity” in what is happening in Gaza and lamenting the lack of a ceasefire to stop the tragedy for its civilians.

Dear Nicholas, if you want the quickest route to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, why are you not calling for Hamas to release the 240 hostages and lay down their weapons?  The answer is that you know that Hamas will never lay down their weapons, will only return the hostages by forcing Israel to pay a ransom that allows Hamas to rebuild itself so it can continue killing Israeli Jews and encouraging others to kill Jews around the world.

You know that Mr. Kristof, as do many of the Democrats calling for a ceasefire, as do many of the SJP marchers on college campuses, as do the anti-Zionists everywhere. So, if you all know that, why do you all continue to push, commentate, protest, and commit violence in furtherance of that lost cause? It must be because you either do not know, in which case you are all devoid of critical thinking skills, or you don’t care – and whether purposeful or not, that is the very essence of antisemitism.

If you were in charge, Mr. Kristof, would you have asked the Allies to quit bombing Germany to avoid civilian casualties and allow the Nazis the freedom to continue their fight?  After all, like Hamas, the Nazis were voted into power and acted in the name of the German nation, just as Hamas acts for the Palestinians.

No, no one asked the Allies to cease their fire.  The Allies determined that 75 to 90 million civilian deaths were the price that had to be paid to eliminate the evil that was the Nazis.  Was that tragic, appalling, and abhorrent?  Most definitely.  But it was deemed necessary.  And the Nazis are no longer a threat to humankind.

The Nazis were determined to rule Europe, using Russia and Ukraine as Germany’s breadbasket and space for its growing population (displacing the hated Slavs), and of course, killing all the Jews.

Hamas is dedicated to eradicating the State of Israel and taking over the land for a Palestinian State and killing all the Jews.

Hamas is an existential threat to Israel and Jews everywhere, just like the Nazis were an existential threat to Jews, Slavs, Europe, North Africa and the rest of the world.

Israel is already doing what no other nation at war for its existence has ever done:  provide avenues for the civilian population to get away from the fighting, allowing humanitarian aid in the form of electricity, food, water, and other supplies to be distributed widely, enforce – as much as is possible – rules of engagement that try to minimize civilian casualties while engaging in urban warfare against an enemy using civilians and civilian infrastructure as a shield for their activities.  The Allies did not do this for Germany and Japan.  Russia did not do this for Ukraine.  It never happened in Sudan, or the Balkans, or Tibet, or Syria, or Kurdistan.  It is only demanded of, and I may add practiced by, Israel and the Israeli Defense Force.

The calls for a ceasefire prior to the destruction or capitulation of Hamas is simply a call for the status quo.  That is a situation where Hamas supporters can continue to accuse Israel of war crimes while wantonly and purposefully killing Israeli civilians and encouraging violence against Jews across the globe.  Sorry, not sorry, but that is not going to be allowed to happen. I believe that those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza either benefit from it, or have never lived through the horrors that precipitated the current actions.  Or they may be simply ignorant and oblivious.  The hypocrisy of saying the the murder, rape, and torture of innocent Israeli Jews and their visitors is “justified” and then decrying the loss of civilian lives that Hamas and its terrorist infrastructure use as human shields as “not proportionate” or a “war crime” is unconscionable.  It is a double standard. And that my friends, is the very essence of antisemitism.

So, the progressive left, including the Jews supporting IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, the Squad, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Democratic Socialists of America, and anti-Zionists and antisemites everywhere are going to be disappointed.  My response to the calls for a premature ceasefire echoes that of Anthony Clement McAuliffe (July 2, 1898 – August 10, 1975) the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division defending Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. His one-word reply to a German surrender ultimatum: “Nuts!” 

Readers, you know me.  Normally, I would consider using harsher language, but this was just too perfect.

Israel, and the Jewish people, are not going back to the status quo.  Some, all, a bit, or a large part of world may not like it, but then, when did the world ever care much about the Jewish people.  If we, as Jews, had forgotten what a lot of the world thinks and cares about us, October 7 and the aftermath are doing a great job of reminding us.