I know only a few things for sure these days. I know the current crop of Republicans in the House are amoral cowards, given their passing of the “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill. We shall see about the Republican Senators, but I do not hold out much hope for a different verdict. I know, hope is not a strategy. Neither is tearing your hair out.
Another thing I know is that the progressive Left of the Democratic Party is morally bankrupt. Celebration of the murder of the two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC is all one needs to know about their moral fiber.
But to throw just a bit of gasoline on the fire, check out how many social media posts reveled in those murders. Three days ago that last line might have been an apt metaphor. Then, nine people were sent to the hospital in Colorado after being attacked by Molotov cocktails and a homemade flamethrower while attending an event in support of releasing the hostages held by Hamas.
Two young people shot in the back and killed because they were Jewish. The murderer, whom I shall never name, did not know these young people worked at the Israeli embassy. All he knew was that they were two people, presumed to be Jewish because they were leaving an event sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. Not only did the murderer shoot them in the back as they were leaving, but when the first shots only dropped the victims to the ground, the murderer reloaded and shot them again. Nine people advocating for more action dedicated to the release of hostages. All those victims between the ages of 67 to 88.
In the first instance, only one of the this past weeks’ 11 victims was Israeli, but the attackers were not there to kill Israelis, just Jews. Both attackers screamed “Free Palestine” and “End Zionism.” And let’s be honest, these phrases, shouted by thousands of demonstrators, really mean “kill the Jews.”
The social media commentary from the pro-Hamas/antisemitic crowd was that the victims deserved it because the Palestinians are being oppressed. Yes, the Palestinians are being oppressed, but the source of that oppression is the jihadists – Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, backed by Qatari money, Muslim Brotherhood exhortation, and decades of Arab/Muslim dictators fueling anti-Israel and antisemitic activities to keep their populations fixated away from the real oppressors….themselves.
The American and European vocal and gleeful support of murder, nay, genocide being spouted by the useful idiots of the progressive Left ignores the reality that the real oppressors are oppressing their own people. Do you know where in the Middle East Muslim women can drive cars, be alone out in public, choose not to wear a burkha, vote, get educated, enjoy reproductive freedom, and even dance? Same place gay people can live in peace, be married, and have families. The same place where unemployment is the lowest in the region and where governmental resources are not stolen by those in control.
Yeah, right, that would be Israel. That’s real. But this reality means little to those caught up in the big lie invented by the PLO and kept alive by the Arab dictators and terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad. That lie is that “from the river to the sea” is “Palestinian” land. It is not and has never been. From the Ottoman empire’s loss of sovereignty (since 1516) following their defeat in WWII, the land became the British Mandate. The British and French created the country of Jordan (among others) in 1946. The Mandate ended in 1948 whereupon Israel declared itself a country. In the subsequent Israeli Arab war, Jordan seized parts of Jerusalem and what was called Judea and Samaria. That was occupation. Jordan and the other Arab nations subsequently rebranded this area as the “West Bank.” Israel took over sovereignty after the 1967 war provoked by its Arab neighbors. Israel relinquished control of the “West Bank” in the 1990s as part of the Oslo Accords. Also part of the 1967 war came Gaza, which was turned over to the Palestinian Authority in 2006. The Palestinian Authority, after a short but vicious war, was kicked out of Gaza by Hamas, after winning the first, and only election ever held in Gaza. The far-Left does not want anyone to know the real history here. Along with the Arab nations, the progressive Left wants to deny indigeneity to the Jews, dismissing the overwhelming archeological evidence of Jewish inhabitants 3,000 years ago. Before Islam, or Arab nations, existed. That explains why during the Jordanian occupation of East Jerusalem the Jewish Quarter was destroyed, Jewish graves on the Mount of Olives were desecrated, and archeological artifacts from the Temple Mount were destroyed. The Jordanians, the Islamists, the European governments, and even the Obama administration tried to halt the archeological work at The City of David, which has subsequently found clear physical evidence that matches parts of the Torah (Old Testament.)
The progressive Left continues its complete and total hypocrisy regarding the Jewish State and Jews in general. Israel is the only country the progressives believe is illegitimate. Israel is the only country where defending itself is termed “genocide.” Supporters of Zionism, the simple right of the Jewish people to have a homeland, are the only minority with a desire for nationhood that is deemed illegitimate. No protests against the Turks for what they have done to the Kurds. No protests against the Chinese for what they have done to the Uighurs. No protests over Kashmir. And on and on ad nauseum.
I need to add that the progressive hysteria has enabled the violence against the Jewish diaspora. It has unleased virulent antisemitism. Irish Catholics did not kill Protestants in the US during the “Troubles” in Ireland. Muslims are not killing Hindus in this country (and vice versa) because of Kashmir. Those sympathetic to the plight of the Kurds are not killing Turkish Americans. But Jews in North America are fair game, as are their schools, synagogues, and other institutions.
Here is the news I have for the far-left progressives and their partners in crime against the West Israel is not going anywhere. The Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Hellenes, the Romans, the Medieval Church, the Russians, and the Germans have all tried to erase the Jewish people. They all failed. All the calls for “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the Intifada” i.e., the genocide of the Jews, simple serve as a clear and present reminder to why Israel must and will continue to exist. As France, Canada, and the UK (among other) raise their voices in indignation and condemnation of Jews defending themselves I think, “so, what else is new?” Those countries stood by as millions were slaughtered in the Shoah and refused to allow asylum. As did the United States for that matter. Emmanuel Macron is mealy mouthing the Hamas terror that has been a constant companion for the Israelis, he is noticeably robust in his condemnation of Israel. The Jews remember the French willingness and even assistance in turning over its Jewish population to the Nazi’s. We remember the ever-present French antisemitism as well as others.
At one time or another, Jews as a people have been expelled from England, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Greece, and Poland, among others. In modern times, the Arab Middle Eastern countries expelled or cause to flee over 90% of their Jewish populations. More than 800,000 Jews were pushed out of the Arab/Persian Middle East and North Africa. Do those progressives in the US (the squad people in particular) think their protests and antisemitic actions are going to change Israeli policy? Same question could be asked of international protestors who are new to the antisemitic parade – those in the historically antisemitic countries mentioned above and now including the U.K, Australia, and Canada. If they do, they need to think again.
The UN Security Council is putting together a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire that leaves the hostages in captivity and fails to disarm Hamas. My attitude (and I bet many of the Israelis’ as well) can be summarized in two words. No prize for getting that right. It will be interesting to see how the permanent members of the Security Council will vote. My guess is that France, China, the United Kingdom, and Russia vote yea or present while the US vetoes. The other members serving two year terms include Algeria (2025), Denmark (2026), Greece (2026), Guyana (2025), Pakistan (2026), Panama (2026), Republic of Korea (2025), Sierra Leone (2025), Slovenia (2025), and Somalia (2026). I anticipate exactly zero “nays” from those members. [Note: wrote this yesterday. The vote today was 14 yeas and 1 nay. The US did veto.]
Every protest, every murder, every act of vandalism, every rocket, every missile, every mugging, and every one-sided UN resolution simply reinforces that we are on our own. If one is paying attention and not under the thrall of the progressive world view, you could not doubt the absolute and irrevocable need for the State of Israel. If history is any teacher, it is that in most places, at some time, we Jews will need refuge. Right now, other than the US (and that seems to be less certain since October 7), Israel is the only place where Jews know they will be defended without question. Israel and North America account for 88% of the world’s Jews. Truth is, we have very few places to go except Israel if things keep deteriorating.
Jews are not flocking to emigrate to Canada or France, the UK, and Australia, countries currently representing another 6% of the world’s Jews) but also currently demonstrating remarkable pro-Hamas/antisemitic tendencies, not perhaps simply coinciding with the rise in their Islamic Jihadi population. The rest of the world represents the remaining 6% of the world’s Jews across another 94 or so countries. We are clearly not going there.
We Jews are being squeezed by both the right and the left . As an aside,
The world view driving the current anti-Israel and antisemitic activity is really anti-West. right wing antisemitism remains odious and alarming, but has always been there. Everywhere. The new antisemitism of the Left is, in my opinion, far more dangerous. At least the bigots on the right are mostly supportive of Western culture and (some) Western values. And yes, that is damning with very faint praise.
Do not doubt that the majority of anti-Israel activity is also anti-West. Those folks hate free enterprise. Their countries are either theocratic or autocratic or both. The whole support system around these current efforts is financed and directed by those actively trying to bring down Western civilization. They despise our values, envy our success, and deplore our openness. This desire to destroy the West is the driving force of Islamic Jihadists, the terrorists, and of the Russians and the Chinese.
And they won’t stop with the Jews. In other words, all of you Western Christians, Catholics, Hindus, Mormons and moderate Muslims are next on the list, including you folks who claim to be atheists or agnostics. All those folks doing the protesting of Israel, venerating Hamas, and spouting their desire to eliminate the world of Jews (as noted above) along with the Democratic Socialists of America and the pro-Hamas mouthpieces in our government are simply the useful idiots enabling our own destruction.
Time to wake up.
Adult Language Is Possible 
Well said Dan.