My simple but impossible manifesto

We all have our wish lists…mine is impossible. If I ever ran for politics (which I never would) my manifesto would be jeered and decried as unrealistic, but it remains my wish list and I have hope that enough people out there believe in something similar.

It is four things:

1. We bring back our captured loved ones to their families. Their shocking nightmare must end…period.
2. We end the ability of those who seek our annihilation and who deny our right to exist…period.
3. We continue to do so whilst maintaining our moral integrity – not for the benefit of the world at large and international courts – but because it is who we are as Jews and need to continue to be….we mustn’t sink to even a millionth of the level of our enemy who showed us and the world their true colors on 7th October (and who brought calamity to their own people deliberately).
4. We stay united as a people, bound by a common bond deeper than Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. This requires leaders who believe first and foremost in the same thing, and people at all points of the political spectrum to put past grievances behind them and park narrow ideological objectives (however important they think they are) aside seeking consensus/the common good first. We have many supporters around the world who care and feel deeply for us – as I/we do for them – and their support is critical, and for it I am eternally grateful, but we must solve this puzzle ourselves.

On the Passover seder night, we have a fifth cup, which is for Elijah. It is our hopes and dreams, and for me that fifth cup is a true peace with our brothers and sisters in the Middle East. I truly hope it comes one day but it is unfortunately aspirational at this point whilst such a majority overwhelmingly deny our right to exist, even though I thought it was coming through the Abraham Accords process which Hamas sought to unwind.

I know this is probably an unrealistic set of objectives, especially number 4, and I won’t win friends for saying it, but it is still my dream. I am after all a starry eyed Oleh who 17 years on still believes deeply in the dream and reality of Israel.