Hands Up, Don’t Stab

I briefly come out of retirement from blogging to discuss transportation. Specifically, buses.  More specifically, the random stabbing of Jews riding buses. Yeah, I know. Everyone is writing and posting about this. Except anyone who is not Jewish. I have addressed this before. Why are the Jews so shocked that the world and New York Times do not care? They didn’t care about the murder of 6 million Jews a mere 60 years ago. I can only imagine the Facebook rants during the Holocaust!

I don’t want to hear it anymore. It’s so whiny. Why does Israel draw 1500% more United Nations condemnations than any other country? How can the world stay silent when 250,000 Syrians are murdered but call for urgent international action when Israel builds a few new houses? Why, when two Palestinians murder an Israeli child and are then shot by police trying to escape, do we read that “Two Palestinian Youths Gunned Down By Israeli Forces?” And, why does the world sanction, to avoid “provocation,” the exclusion of Jews on the most holiest site in Judaism (and third holiest site in Islam, twice removed), but insist that Israel is an apartheid state because they built a wall to cage in the suicide bombers that were wrecking daily havoc on the streets and discos of Israel?

It’s because everyone hates us. Everyone has hated for thousands of years.

But I am not here to discuss this. (If you want a more detailed primer, please see my very first blog, THE JEWS!

I am here because this week my son was on a bus in Jerusalem with a stabber. My son is fine. The stabber, not so much. Some idiot on Facebook wanted to take this opportunity to remind us that Palestinians are people too. Here’s the thing: I don’t divide people based on race, religion, or creed (I don’t even know what creed is). This is my simple framework: If you run around stabbing innocent children, you are not a person. If you cheer the stabbing of children, you are not a person. If you hand out candy when airplanes crash into buildings, you are not human. If you shoot your celebratory guns in the air because two young parents were shot and killed in front of their four children, I hope those bullets find their way back to earth. At precisely the spot you are standing.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not outraged. I am not vengeful. I am not advocating any unfair or unjust treatment of the Palestinians. But my son is trying to enjoy the most meaningful, important year of his young life and he should not be locked down in his school, unable to leave or get pizza. Who in the world lives this way? The Jews! If you think it was ever different, at any time in history, in any country, think again.

I just bought a plane ticket to Israel. I will go and show my support. I will travel around and take Benny and his friends for pizza. I hope not to get stabbed. But, if I do, I hope the guy who stabs me is made to realize that Jews are people too and that we shouldn’t be stabbed just for our religious beliefs or common heritage. I hope he is made to realize that with prejudice.

Come to think of it, I hope he doesn’t read this blog or see this video.

When will it end? Never. Let’s not waste any more energy trying to get in with the popular crowd. They will always be out of our league and they will always give us wedgies and bully us. Let’s stop complaining that life is unfair and that the bullies seem to always win. Instead, we should continue to do what we do best. Lead the world, by far, in Nobel Prize winners per capita. Invent USB drives, cell phones, and drip irrigation. Develop most modern chemotherapy and sit back and watch Roger Waters boycott the medicine should he come down with some cancer (God Forbid).  And, of course, do the most important thing of all:  serve and protect the Jewish People.

—

Ari Weisbrot’s award-winning blog can be found at www.ariweisbrot.com