How am I doing? Simple question, complicated answers

My wife and I feel safe.  We live in a beautiful apartment, with a gorgeous view of the wheatfield to my south, the sheep pasture beyond that, and the neighborhoods across the valley. We have enough to eat. We have a safe room (my office) in the apartment, where we have been sleeping these past few nights. My wife has a bright, airy office, where she produces artwork that gives her joy.  Current projects: a banner embroidered with a dragon and with the name of our youngest great-grandson, and a fleece (from the sheep in the valley) that she is processing into usable yarn. She plans to construct a display of all the steps that go from sheep to shirt.

We enjoy frequent visits from our son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Nearly all of our immediate relatives in the military serve in intelligence, in relatively safe posts; one grandson-in-law has a more direct service.

The frequent missiles from Iran, and the occasional missiles from the Houthis in Yemen, used to disturb our sleep.  Now that we sleep in the safe room, when we get a siren, that does not have to disrupt our rest.  Daytime sirens do disrupt our activities a little, but not all that much.  The odds that one of these explosions will get any particular individual approach infinitesimal.

The war with Iran seemed inevitable. Thirteen years ago, speaking at Cambridge University, Douglas Murray predicted that Iran would continue its march towards getting nuclear bombs, that the European countries would negotiate with Iran to try to forestall that development, that the European countries would fail, and than, at the last minute, when Iran was about to build its first bomb, Israel would destroy the nuclear superstructure.  Murray further predicted that the countries of Europe, and of the Arab world, would roundly condemn Israel in public for this act, and then, in private, would say, “Thank God for what Israel did.”

Whether Israel can really destroy the nuclear infrastructure, or whether the Iranians can overthrow their regime, remains to be seen.

Iran launches missiles at Israel, as I have already mentioned, seeking military targets, but also landing in the middle of residential areas of no military significance. Iran also promotes the slogan, “Death to Israel, death to America.”  So it seems that Iran contravenes international laws of war.  Our progressive friends (you and I count as progressives, most of the time, no?), who glibly charge Israel with “disproportionate violence” and “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” and “indiscriminate bombing” and “ethnic cleansing,” those progressive friends have more or less nothing to say about Iran. This reveals that the accusations against Israel have everything to do with “against Israel” and hardly anything to do with “the facts.”

The ugly war in Gaza drags on. The people of Gaza suffer under terrifying conditions.  Hamas and its useful idiots have made much of those terrifying conditions, which, of course, they blame entirely on Israel.  The Democratic Socialists of America already blamed Israel on October 7.  International observers condemn Israel for any and every specific technique used in fighting against Hamas, without ever explaining how Israel should fight against Hamas in a humane way.

Much of the Israeli public believes that Israel should end the war, and grant whatever conditions Hamas wants in order to get the remaining hostages freed.  I do not concur.  “Whatever conditions Hamas wants” leaves Hamas, with its weapons, in power in Gaza. It also means freeing hundreds or thousands of convicted criminals, including murderers, to heroes’ welcome in Palestinian society.  It rewards hostage taking as a legitimate tactic. It puts Hamas back in charge of the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.  And it sets the stage for the next Hamas attack on Israel, if not soon, then as soon as Hamas can rebuild enough power.

My neighbors are all doing fine. They have been going about their business with typical Israeli gusto, at least, until everything shut down for security reasons three days ago. But they all know that at any moment they could get, God forbid, the worst possible news about their loved ones in the military.  They also know that Pro-Palestinian enthusiasts on the left have joined neo- and paleo- Nazis on the right in celebrating random heroic acts of violence against the kosher butcher store in Brookline, MA, or some guy walking home from shul in Los Angeles.  Many people know how university administrators treat antisemitic demonstrations on campus with smug complacency, “it depends on context.”  Some may know the opinions about Israel expressed by the otherwise admirable progressive candidate for US Senate in Michigan, or by the progressive candidate for mayor in New York City, both candidates who could conceivably get elected to represent us as ably as Rashida Tlaib represents me in Southfield.

Next question: How do I feel about a situation in which the instruments of democracy in the old country get dismantled by politicians who seem to want to build an authoritarian or fascist one-party government? But I presume that you know the answer to that question already.

Thank you so much for asking.  It does my heart good to know that I have a friend who cares about how I am doing.

How are you doing?

Shalom,

Louis