Historic times in the world after October 7th. Oh, how the world has changed. Hostages? Judea & Samaria? Hezbollah? Iran? Taiwan? In November (a lifetime away) is it Trump’s America or Biden’s America?
Here in Israel, there is preparation for a long war on many fronts – from Gaza to the North to the West Bank. From the active and real losses being faced on a daily basis in the IDF to PTSD to economic hardship, the situation is very serious in Israel. Israelis today see ourselves as isolated from the world but with the reality that we have nowhere else to go, and in the end we will win. We trust and believe.
The U.S. government makes a lot of noise about “settlers” – very few Zionists these days believe there is a difference for our neighbors between Hebron and Tel Aviv? Kibbutz Nir Oz or Maaleh Adomi? The Nazis didn’t discriminate nor does Hamas. They want all Jews dead.
And along with these realities are the facts that a 2-State solution is irrelevant, and any Israeli government must remain loyal to Israel’s national security interests, as the US does the same. They aren’t always the same, which means the U.S. government is openly interfering in Israel’s democracy. It won’t work. PM Netanyahu will remain throughout 2024 and Ben-Gvir is strengthened by outside interference. Post-Oct 7th it’s just irrelevant to discuss a 2-state solution and the whole concept of right/left has changed.
A permanent ceasefire, all of these ideas are simply out of touch with Israeli popular opinion and Israeli real life not a real possibility for anyone serious in Israel to consider (Although clearly for everyone involved in this scenario, the concept of not negotiating with Nazi terrorists is off the table).
Throughout the Diaspora, Jews are facing the darkest days since the Holocaust. There are serious and real issues facing American Jews. Universities are fundamentally unsafe and hostile environments.
Joel Borgen was beaten by five Arab men in 2021 in Times Square while en route to a pro-Israel rally – Finally this week two and a half years later all five of the men who attacked him were sentenced. Yet as Borgen told me this week, Jews are afraid in New York City to go out with yarmulkas with their families, and for many NYC is an unsafe environment for law abiding citizens.
Borgen who was beaten and needed surgery sees a city where four migrants were released without bail after beating two NYPD cops and is vocally outspoken that Jews need to be protected in NYC before something worse happens.
Like many others he shares fear for Jews in the United States. Many of us do.
As Brooke Goldstein executive director of The Lawfare Project said, “New York City is no safer for Jews today than it was in 2021. The same aggressive, hate-filled, pro-Hamas group—WOL Palestine—whose supporters attacked Joey, is still running riot on our streets. We are seeing a wholesale failure on the part of law enforcement and the criminal justice system to protect the civil rights of the Jewish people, who feel unsafe, unsupported, and violated by the naked aggression of Jew-hatred experienced day after day, without respite. And we see no end in sight.
We cannot wait another three years for law enforcement to address what we’re seeing now on our city streets.”
History often repeats itself. It’s scary times across the whole world.
On June 22, 1982, Joe Biden a Senator from Delaware confronted then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony, threatening to cut off aid to Israel. Begin forcefully responded, “Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”
Israel does not wish to walk alone, we hope the world stands with us and stands by us, but we remember the lessons of the world. The only difference between today and the Holocaust is the fact that there is a Jewish state.
