Shabbat shalom! A quick shout out of sympathy for the victims and their families of the horrendous terrorist attack in Moscow. More proof, unfortunately, that jihadism is a global threat to the civilized world.
And a tip of the kippah this week to Eon Productions, producers of the James Bond movie franchise. They have offered Jewish actor, Aaron Taylor-Johnson the role of the iconic 007 super spy in the next Bond film which starts filming in 2025. “The names Bond, Schlomo Bond”.
And Happy Purim to one and all! Purim is a much bigger deal in Israel, akin to Halloween here in the USA, but this year many of the Purim celebrations were scaled back or cancelled due to the war and the overall dour mood of Israelis.
And who could blame them. They are still suffering from the worst attack on the Jewish people since the holocaust, their people savagely raped, murdered and mutilated beyond recognition, hundreds taken hostage, including babies, that are still being tortured by their inhuman captors who do not even value the lives of their own citizens beyond using them as bait and human shields. Hence, I am not surprised that celebrating Purim, a contrived holiday to begin with, is going to be the same this year in Israel.
Last week I mentioned how difficult it has become to continue supporting Israel, given the lame stream media serving up images daily of the death and destruction in Gaza, and the appalling hubris of Bibi Netanyahu in his decisions that seem more self serving than in the best interests of the country. Bibi will be gone in due time, Israelis will make sure of that, as soon as either the next election or a call of “no confidence” occurs within the Knesset. The latter is technically complicated, but could happen. Schumer’s speech last week did not help, and if anything, it helped boost Bibi’s position within Israel since many were not happy with Schumer weighing in on internal Israeli matters. Let’s hope Bibi does not take up Speaker Johnson’s invitation to speak to the US Congress, as that would only further politicize our relationship with Israel and only muck up matters worse than they already are.
Meanwhile, the war council will continue making all major decisions regarding the conduct of the war, and they, as well as the IDF, have the confidence of a majority of Israelis. But, as the IDF continues to make progress and prepares for an assault on Rafah, Israel has lost the social media war bigly, and already, according to the latest Pew Research, a majority of young people in this country, who have only grown up with Bibi and are fed a daily diet of TikTok rubbish, support Palestinians over Israel! Yikes! Red alert! So, what does Bibi do? He fires Elon Levy, one of the better PR guys in Israel, then complains that there aren’t any Israelis that know how to put more than two english words together in a sentence! Incredible. It doesn’t take a genius to understand Israel now has a huge PR problem. Just check out the cover of this week’s Economist:
Such a sad headline. It kills me to watch this great nation, the home of our people, “start up nation”, winner of 13 Nobel prizes, become so isolated in a world that was already reeling from a new wave of anti-semitism even before October 7. Part of the challenge for Israel on the PR front is that Hamas and the Palestinians have artfully turned lies and propaganda into the lame stream media narrative. And they have used “inversion strategy”, (a la the orange turd) telling lies that are the precise opposite of what is true. Here is a list of those from Nachum Kaplan’s “The Hamas PR machine” post:
Israel is using starvation as a weapon. Israel has placed no restrictions on the amount of aid allowed into Gaza. More food trucks enter Gaza daily now than before the war, 126 a day versus 70 a day, according to the UN. More than 9,500 trucks carrying 200,000-plus tons of food have been delivered since October 7. This makes Israel the only country in history to provide aid to its enemy during a war, and to one holding Israelis hostages at that. Food security is a serious issue because Hamas is hijacking and hoarding aid and selling it for an easy profit. Hamas has threatened to kill any Gazan who helps Israel secure incoming foreign aid.
Israel is a colonialist state: Israel’s re-creation was decolonialization. The Jews are the indigenous people of Israel. It was Jewish insurgents that drove the British out of Palestine. The British were the last in a long line of colonizers that includes the Arabs.
Israel is imperialist: Israel is small. It is only 470 kilometers (290 miles) north to south, and 135 kilometers (85 miles) east to West. It is surrounded in all directions by large Arab and non-Arab Muslim states. The tiny spec on the map is not an empire. That is absurd.
Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing. The Jews are the victims of ethnic cleansing, from Europe and the Arab world. About 21% of Israelis are Arabs, and another five million Palestinians live in what was British Mandatory Palestine. By contrast, there are no Jews in Palestinian territories because they were ethically cleansed.
Israel is committing genocide: The Jews were the victims of the worst genocide in history in the Holocaust, and on October 7 were the victim of a genocidal attack from Hamas. The US Census Bureau International Database shows that the Palestinian population of Gaza was 265,800 in 1960, 342,700 in 1970, 431,600 in 1980, 645,100 in 1990, 1.1 million in 2000, 1.5 million in 2010, and 2.1 million in 2023. This is the opposite of what would happen if there was genocide.
Israel is bombing Gaza indiscriminately. Israel is targeting Hamas terrorists who are using civilians as human shields. Despite this, it has achieved the lowest civilian-to-combatant ratio in the history of warfare. It has achieved this by warning of attacks, creating civilian passages and safe zones, and by using precision-guided weaponry. Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, by contrast, targeted civilians.
Israel is an apartheid state: All Israeli citizens have full rights whether they are Jews, Arabs, Druze, Circassians, or anything else. Citizens in the Arab states and the Palestinian territories, by contrast, have no democratic or political rights.
Israel is built on stolen land: Israel is the only country in the world built partly on purchased land. This is the myth of stolen Arab land.
Israelis are white European Jews: This fiction is perverse as it legitimizes racism against white people. In any case, there are Jews of every skin color. Only 30% of Israelis are Ashkenazi (European) Jews. Almost 45% are indigenous Mizrahi Jews. There are many others, such as Maghrebi Jews and Ethiopian Jews.
Israel is attacking civilians: Hamas uses civilians to defend its soldiers, while Israel uses its soldiers to defend its civilians.
Israel does not want peace: Israel has offered the Palestinians a state on at leastsix occasions (1937 Peel Commission, 1947 (UN partition of Palestine), 1967 (end of Six-Day War), 2000 (Oslo Peace Accords), 2005 (Israel’s unilateral pullout from Gaza), and2008 (improved version of Oslo Accords). On each occasion the Palestinians rejected peace.
Israel is an occupying force: Israel has not been in Gaza since 2003, when it unilaterally pulled out. Hamas then gained power and built a terror state.
Hate to admit it, but the Palestinians are great liars. And I urge all of you to hang tough with Israel. For those interested in a deeper dive answering some of the tough questions, here is a link to a transcript of Sam Harris’s podcast, “5 Myths About Israel and the War in Gaza”.
Moving on, what about other news of the Jews this week? Without further ajieu, here then is this week’s generous selection of Jewie journalistic gems, culled and carefully curated, and copied and pasted from the likes of The Forward, JTA, The Times of Israel, Kveller, Jewish Boston, Haaretz, and other Jewish journals:
Israel/Gaza updates:
Ceasefire Resolution Vetoed: Russia and China vetoed a US-proposed ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council. The resolution called for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza “in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.” Eleven member states supported the resolution. Algeria, the sole Arab state currently on the Security Council, also voted against the measure, and Guyana abstained. Russia said the proposal was “exceedingly politicized” and China said the proposal did not sufficiently condemn a potential Rafah assault. The US pointed out that the vetoing nations still have not condemned Hamas or the 10/7 massacre and objected to this resolution because it acknowledged the importance of releasing hostages.
Blinken and Bibi: Meanwhile in Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israeli PM Netanyahu against invading Rafah, saying such an attack “risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long term security and standing.” Netanyahu insisted an assault on Rafah is critical to destroying Hamas, and that while he’d prefer to have US support, “if we have to, we will do it alone.” According to Axios, Blinken also warned Israeli leaders to develop a plan for a postwar transition – or risk a forever-insurgency and occupation.
Seven Israelis were wounded in a Friday morning shooting in the West Bank. The suspect in the shooting was killed after a standoff with Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said he would welcome Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, days after calling for new Israeli elections and saying Netanyahu’s leadership is an “obstacle to peace.”
Israel’s Supreme Court temporarily blocked the planned deportation of 20 Palestinians receiving cancer treatment in Israel to Gaza, requesting that the government hold off on action until it has time to review a petition by the patients and a number of human rights organizations.
The IDF is investigating after a reservist shot and killed a Palestinian who had converted to Judaism in the West Bank
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, currently on a tour of the Middle East, said progress is being made toward normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia despite tensions raised by the war. Blinken is in Israel today, meeting with Netanyahu, the war cabinet and the families of hostages.
Jerusalem’s mayor agreed to changes to the city’s first Purim parade in 42 years after meeting with representatives of the families of hostages, after objections over the appropriateness of a raucous celebration in wartime.
Antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Congressional push to force a sale of TikTok are proliferating, with one antisemitic influencer writing that the “Jewish lobby” is behind the effort, with aims to gain “complete control over narratives and information.” (ADL)
Malmö, the Swedish city hosting this year’s Eurovision competition, is preparing for possible unrest related to Israel’s controversial participation in the beloved song contest. “There is currently, according to the information we have from our partners, no direct threat to Eurovision,” the city’s safety director said on Thursday, but “given the situation, things could change.” (Reuters)
Good luck finding them - Israel is quietly developing a plan to put anti-Hamas Palestinians in charge of distributing aid in Gaza, and eventually creating a Palestinian-led government there.
Take that Jonathan Glazer! A group representing more than 1,000 American rabbis across denominations released a statement Wednesday opposing a ceasefire in Gaza and rejecting the conditioning of U.S. military aid to Israel.
Told you so: The IDF says troops have so far killed more than 90 Hamas gunmen during its ongoing raid at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, and detained more than 160.
Et Tu Canada, eh? Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, praised Canada’s decision to stop selling weapons to Israel, adding that “the U.S. should not provide another nickel for Netanyahu’s war machine.” In further Canadian news, a Jewish film festival in Ontario scheduled for April was abruptly postponed after security concerns arose.
Dayenu. That should do it for the week. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone, and hey, let’s remember to be careful out there.
Brad out.