‘Never Again’ 2.0 part 1

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October 7^th, 2023, a day whose cruel infamy eclipses that of even Dec 7^th, 1941, shows that the Jewish People and the world have failed in their commitment to “Never Again.”  In Hawaii on Dec 7^th, 1941 a devastating surprise war was waged on tragically unprepared military targets. America waged this war until its enemies unconditionally surrendered, gave up their weapons, allowed their war criminals to be punished, and built peaceful democratic societies.

October 7^th, 2023 was an unequivocal barbaric war crime. It deliberately clearly targeted non-combatants including infants and the elderly. It also included acts of rape and torture. In addition to these most heinous war crimes, it was an act of genocide. https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-actions-are-war-crimes-could-constitute-genocide-international-law-experts. Despite all the recitations of “Never Again” it has happened again that 1400 Jews were butchered in a single day.

It is outrageous that there are those who seek to justify these war crimes and Genocide. Saying “Black Lives Matter Grassroots stands in solidarity with our Palestinian family” and “their resistance must not be condemned” https://www.newsweek.com/black-lives-matter-praises-hamas-sparks-backlash-1833630. How would the Black Lives Matter movement respond if the KKK lynched a family with three children and claimed as justification that he was driving a car without a valid title? I pray that no judge would allow this argument near a courtroom and know that BLM would hold major riots if they did. Would any member for the House of Representative “Squad” ever tolerate anyone attempting to “understand” the motivations of a rapists who was not a Hamas member.

I was born in the USA and could barely talk when 60 years ago Martin Luther King Jr. eloquently articulated his dream. He envisioned peacefully building a world in which people would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. My teachers and parents imparted in me a love for that dream. I studied electrical engineering and went to work for the iconic R&D laboratory that invented much of electrical engineering. I was privileged to enjoy working with people of all racial, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Those of us who were not white Christians, all had in common that no matter how skilled they were, when our fathers started their careers, they would never have been hired by the  corporation we worked for. US society even came to recognize that undoing some of the hangover of historical racism required affirmative action instead of the purity of non-discrimination. I greatly came to admire the characters of colleagues of all colors (including white Christians).

All lives matter to me including Palestinian lives, Black lives, public servants in law enforcement, and Jewish lives. I find myself completely revolted by the “content of the character” of people of any color that seek to find justification for rapists, murderers, torturers, and war criminals because they attack Jews in Israel and not their own in America. This complete lack of moral clarity threatens to completely obliterate from consciousness Dr. King’s 60-year-old dream and condemn its perpetrators along with the rest of us to life that is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’  [Thomas Hobbs 1660]

In my next post I hope to explore the lessons physics can teach us about flames, vacuums, and the deplorable statements of  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

This is the beginning of a blog in which I hope we can collaboratively explore chapter by chapter how to realistically rebuild “Never Again” and a dream that our grandchildren will “sit under their own vine and fig tree, with no one to disturb them. [Micha 4:4 also quoted by George Washington]

Input and offers to collaborate on building a vision for the future and how to get there are welcome.