Anti-Israel, antisemitic — the gift that keeps on giving — NOT!

I wish I could say that it’s surprising in 2024 that Jews are still the targets of so much hate, but it’s not. It’s shocking because of the deep hatred, but not surprising. We don’t have any abhorrent beliefs in human sacrifice or anything like that, so why is it that we’ve been hated for centuries?

We believe in one God, treating your neighbor as yourself, making the world a better place, and one of our rabbis, otherwise known as Jesus, taught Jewish beliefs to his followers which developed the foundations of Christianity. So, if you concede it’s not our religious beliefs, is it cultural? We work hard and believe in education. There’s no way to look at any group as a monolith, but why are we always at the top of this reprehensible, hate-filled pile? I suppose trying to make sense out of crazy doesn’t work.

The Times of Israel reports that there are about 15 million Jews, or 0.185% (less than 1/5 of 1%) of the world’s population. Of the planet’s 8.1 billion human population, there are approximately 2.4 billion (30%) Christians, about 2 billion (25%) Muslims, about 1.2 billion (15%) Hindus, and about 500 million (6%) Buddhists.

In the United States, we are only 2.4% of the population, yet American Jews are the targets of over 60% of all religiously-motivated attacks. There are some comparisons you don’t want to win.

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After over a year, the hostages are still not home! Israel Hayom, an Israeli daily newspaper reported on Sunday that only 51 of the 101 Israeli captives currently held by the Hamas terror organization in the Gaza Strip are alive. Of the remaining 51, what is their condition, living circumstances, etc.? No one knows. Considering the heavy fighting in Gaza and the extreme conditions in which the abductees have been held for more than a year, the real number of those remaining alive may be even smaller.

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I can’t get the torment of the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin out of my mind. He was only 23 and an Israeli-American murdered by Hamas when the IDF was trying to rescue him with the other five hostages—all were shot in cold blood by Hamas.

From the beginning when he was abducted, footage showed Hersh Goldberg-Polin being marched out of the shelter—–with his hand blown off and bone protruding from his wrist – and thrown along with four others into the back of a truck. It was horrific for us to see; can you imagine being his parents?

His parents fought hard for him and the other hostages to be released. They told Anderson Cooper on CNN, that their son and the others had later been held in a tunnel 65 feet (20 meters) underground that was just 2 feet wide and 5-and-a-half feet high – too small for the 6ft tall Goldberg-Polin to stand in. They were also severely malnourished. By the time of his death, Goldberg-Polin weighed just 115 pounds (52 kilograms), his father said. Could you imagine, knowing that your child had been held under these circumstances for over a year, brutally killed, and then seeing that their precious child’s body was emaciated when he was returned to be buried?

Then there’s the rapes and gang rapes from that day. Returned hostages have told horrific stories of being repeatedly raped in captivity, or were told by other captives, that they had been raped—both women and men. Where is the outrage that this has happened again to women? Are there different laws if you are Jewish? United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was supposed to help prevent sexual and gender-based violence. After 24 years, even the United Nations’ own study admitted that women in war zones are raped with impunity. What did they expect? The UN repeatedly enacts legislation without any language that gives them the right to punish violators.

Shirel Golan. (social media)

Shirel Golan, this beautiful young survivor of the October 7th Nova music festival massacre, over a year later on her 22nd birthday committed suicide. She had struggled for over a year with P.T.S.D. and had been hospitalized twice. Her family grieves inconsolably. They tried to help her but, in the end, it was too much for her to bear.

I couldn’t find more current statistics, but as of the middle of April this year, it was reported that almost 50 others who were victims that day have also committed suicide. The statistic was assumed to have increased Guy Ben Shimon, himself a survivor from the Nova music festival, told i24 news, since now many more months have passed. May their memories be a blessing.

Now five suspects were arrested from the intelligence department in Netanyahu’s office that i24 News says could have negatively impacted the hostage negotiations. More bad news for the hostages and their families.

And the Peace negotiations, sounds hopeful until you look closer. Does the world expect a treaty to be signed given what’s been announced so far? How do you think Israel will be perceived if they refuse to sign it? Remember the definition of crazy? Doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

There’s talk of working with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) again and using Resolution 1701. You know, UNIFIL, the organization that was supposed to work with the Lebanese Army, to:

• ⁠confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon (after the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War),
• restore international peace and security, and
• assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area.

Although Israel did withdraw from Lebanon, restoring international peace and security and restoring the Lebanese Government’s authority failed miserably. Resolution 1701was never implemented. Although there are over 10,000 UNIFIL military personnel, what have they been doing since they were established in 1978?

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The Lebanese government is required to disarm all non-government organizations operating within its borders. All weapons and military capabilities would be brought under the control of the Lebanese state, and no foreign forces or weapons sales would be allowed in Lebanon without the explicit consent of the government.

What happened instead was that Hezbollah took over and controls both UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army, per Tablet Magazine. It seems Hezbollah followed the success of Hamas and used the international financial support to also build tunnels, acquire rockets, and uses UNIFIL bases as physical cover for the tunnels and as human shields. It seems as far as the IDF is concerned, UNIFIL gets in the way of Israel destroying Hezbollah. “Accusations of assisting Hezbollah in collecting intelligence have come not just from captured Hezbollah fighters but also from within UNIFIL’s own ranks.”

Hezbollah is reported to have intended to launch a bloody invasion of Israel’s Galilee. Does this tactic sound familiar too? Think October 7th. For the past year since October 7th, over 26,000 rockets, missiles, and drones have been launched at Israel from multiple fronts. The numbers included 13,200 projectiles fired from Gaza — at least 5,000 on October 7 alone — 12,400 from Lebanon, around 60 from Syria, 180 from Yemen, and 400 from Iran — the latter of which in two direct attacks on Israel on April 13 and October 1.

The figures did not include rockets—said by Israel to be at least in the hundreds — launched by Gazan terror groups that misfired and landed in the Strip, as well as those launched by Hezbollah that landed short in Lebanon.

These weapons have been fired on Israel daily, yet Israel was expected to respond with restraint. What would any other nation do if even one rocket had been fired against them?

Then there is another United Nations organization called UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. “Israel’s Defense minister said 1,500 workers for UNWRA have active ties to terror groups; states UNRWA has ‘lost legitimacy and can no longer function as a UN body.’

Among the staff who took part in the attacks are teachers who worked at UNRWA schools. Do you think these teachers are teaching the next generation to try and get along with their Israeli neighbors?

“In addition to these 12 workers, we have significant indications based on intelligence, that over 30 UNRWA workers participated in the massacre, facilitated the taking of hostages, looted and stole from Israeli communities, and more,” Gallant said in a briefing with foreign press.

According to Gallant, of the 13,000 UNRWA employees in Gaza, at least 12% are affiliated with the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups.

“1,468 workers are known to be active in Hamas and PIJ, 185 UNRWA workers are active in the military branches of Hamas and 51 are active in the PIJ military branch,” he said.

The issue regarding UNWRA gets sticky also because they are a primary organization that helps with humanitarian aid in Gaza.

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Hopefully, discussing these complexities of the conflict has helped in understanding why there just never seems to be an easy solution even when essentials like humanitarian aid are deliberated. Just imagine how the people who must rely on these organizations and governments to eat or for protection feel. Keep in mind both Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations, and employees of both UNWRA and UNIFIL have been found to have many employees who are members.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah have shown by the use of human shields and stealing the humanitarian aid supplies, not only disregard for international law, but that neither values the lives of the people amongst whom they embed. When Israel loses the element of surprise to prevent human casualties and announces when and where they are going to attack and asks the population in those areas to leave, both HAMAS and Hezbollah fire on the people trying to evacuate. They treat them as human fodder and the more killed or injured makes for better propaganda. We’ve spoken before of how HAMAS steals the humanitarian aid supplies until they have no more room to store it, while the Palestinian people starve. They use international funds for their own enjoyment. In the IDF photo below, the former head of HAMAS, Yahya Sinwar’s wife is in a tunnel on October 6th as they prepare to hide before the atrocities of October 7th are committed, sporting a $32,000 Birkin purse. How many Palestinians could have been fed with an extra $32K?

The wife of Yahya Sinwar carrying a Birkin bag (photo credit: IDF)

And the international community expects the impotent UNIFIL and Lebanese Army to play a key role in the Peace agreement between Hezbollah and Israel that recently is excitedly being discussed? Israel is expected to end the wars by negotiating with these terrorist groups HAMAS and Hezbollah by using the feckless, Resolution 1701. Absurd. If you were Israel, what would you do?

If UNWRA’s funds are discontinued and if they are not permitted into Gaza because of HAMAS having infiltrated their ranks, and over 40 are thought to have participated in the October 7th massacres, who will take over the humanitarian aid for the Gazan civilians?

Let’s hope that more reasonable solutions will be developed for implementing a just and fair Peace agreement. The Gazan and Lebanese civilians continue to suffer under grave, life-threatening circumstances. But HAMAS, Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army won’t be blamed, that’s a strait jacket that, internationally, Israel is forced to wear.

May You Live in Peace, שלום and سلام.