Reflections at the Start of 2025

FAFO

An acronym I have been seeing a lot on the internet, and “X” in particular, is FAFO. This acronym is usually seen in videos where young (usually) men try some outrageous stunt, and then suffer the consequences of acting stupid. You can imagine a scene where a kid is videotaped skateboarding through a thicket of fire and then falls into the fire and gets badly singed, all the while his friends are laughing hysterically at his misfortune. In case you haven’t figured out yet what this acronym stands for, its Fxck Around and Find Out.

In the context of Israel’s multi-front war against the so-called Axis of Resistance, we have seen a rather stunning application of the FAFO concept. The sequence of events initially spurred by Hamas’ Sinwar’s October 7^th horrific invasion of southern Israel, has re-cast the Middle East with consequences well beyond any that Sinwar can have imagined. The decimation of Hamas (including Sinwar and other Hamas leadership) and Hezbollah (and its leadership), the defanging of Iran, the loss of Assad’s Syria and consequences yet to be played out, all originated from that fateful decision to invade Israel. FAFO, indeed.

Ireland and Norway

The two EU countries that express the most ardent anti-Israel, and, arguably, antisemitic, statements are Ireland and Norway. Ireland’s vociferous attacks on Israel were of such a magnitude that Israel elected to sever entirely its diplomatic relations with Dublin, closing their embassy there last month. In Norway, its sovereign wealth fund capitulated to the BDS movement by divesting all of their holdings in Israeli companies, specifically, Bezeq, the largest Israeli telecoms group. In July Norway joined South Africa in its ICC case against Israel, filing a submission with the Court.

A look at how these two countries acted during World War II provides some guidance as to this behavior. In the case of Ireland, it may surprise many readers to know that during World War II, Ireland was a neutral country during this conflict, providing aid and solace to the Nazis and the Axis powers. Norway, on the other hand, was occupied by the Nazis during the war and its government, led by the now infamous Vidkin Quisling, collaborated with the Nazis during such occupation. (The term “Quisling” now, of course, refers to any traitor or collaborator.)

Jesus was … What?

A continuing narrative espoused over the recently ended Holidays by the “Pro-Palestine” camp was that Jesus (together with Mary and Joseph) were Palestinians. The absurdity of this claim need not be addressed here since all of the historical evidence points to their Jewish identity. Yet, despite the outlandishness of this claim, we saw the Pope (of all people) give credence to this position by paying homage to a Nativity Scene display in the Vatican (see photo) where the baby Jesus is swathed in a keffiyeh. You can’t make this stuff up.