This week’s letter from Israel – November 10, 2023

November 10, 2023

My dearest friends,

This past week produced some memorable family highlights for us.

On Monday evening, we saw Ariel for the first time since his injury. He is recovering nicely. Watching our 15-month-old great-granddaughter reunite and bond with her father was an emotional experience for Phyllis and I.

Ori, our eldest grandson, is stationed near the Lebanese border. He is a reservist paratrooper so if things escalate on that front, he will certainly see action. Ori’s wife is expecting their second child in around 4 weeks from now. Being away from home at this time, can’t be easy for either of them. We’re able to text each other and this helps alleviate some of our concerns for his safety.

On Tuesday evening, we were rewarded with a call from Omer who is currently in the thick of things with his infantry unit in Gaza. We hadn’t spoken for around four weeks so being able to talk with him in person was manna from heaven.

Like all good things, the call came to an end. And with it, the tension and anxiety returned.

Omer is scheduled to get married in three weeks time. My heart goes out to him and his fiancé that they are not able to share this special time together. So sad to say, but, at this time, he has much bigger things on his plate.

Our television screens are saturated with footage of the destruction and damage in Gaza. They’re still going on about the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza despite the fact that missiles with a range of 200 kilometers fired from Gaza continue to rain down on Israeli cities.

Every day, more than 100 trucks enter Gaza with supplies of humanitarian aid including food, water and medical supplies. Israel has created a secure passage for civilians to move southwards to specifically designated safe havens.

The IDF scattered 1,524,000 pamphlets in Gaza, made 19.734 personal phone calls, processed 5,998,382 pre-recorded calls and sent 4,369.399 text messages to the residents of Gaza encouraging them to move to these safe havens. Needless to say, Hamas is doing its utmost to prevent this by setting up roadblocks and murdering those refusing to comply. They need this cannon fodder to serve as human shields.

Hamas complains it doesn’t have sufficient fuel to operate its hospitals. Yet their leaders continue to steal fuel from the hospitals to conduct their military operations from the safety of their air-conditioned bunkers.

It really bothers me that the diplomats at the UN and the news commentators don’t question and investigate these issues before condemning Israel’s conduct. The fake news and the deliberate lies put out by the Palestinian propaganda machine are accepted without question. On the other hand, information put out by the IDF has to be corroborated and investigated by independent sources.

The wave of antisemitism currently engulfing the world concerns me even more than the military might of the Iranian, Hezbollah and Hamas war machines. I fear for the safety of aging and dwindling Jewish communities around the world. Israel has a strong military and can defend herself. But Jewish communities in the Diaspora are soft and vulnerable targets for the empowered antisemitic thugs who rule the streets and occupy too many places of influence.

It’s not only the huge numbers of those demonstrating their support for Hamas and their genocidal fantasies that concern me. What concerns me more is that these demonstrations are taking place in major cities in Europe and North America. They’re happening on the campuses of the world’s most prestigious universities and they’re being fueled by large sections of the international media.

Those purporting to be enlightened Liberals are anything but that. Those purporting to be enlightened Progressives are anything but that. Their claim to being the guardians of human rights is without foundation.

So who’s financing this fascist propaganda machine? Who’s providing the platform for this barrage of hate speech? Who’s coining the slogans? Spontaneity doesn’t have the resources.

Around 240 hostages remain in captivity under the most terrible conditions. Amongst them is Kfir Bibas. At the time of his being taken hostage, he was 9 months old. Kfir is now 10 months old. Who’s taking care of him? Please spare a thought for him and pray for his safety.

The International Red Cross claims to be an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict.

So where exactly is the Red Cross? Is this the vacuum the Secretary-General of the United Nations was referring to?

Angela Davis is an Afro-American who rose to fame in the US civil rights movement around 60 years ago. Her Wikipedia bio describes her as a Communist and a Marxist. I’m neither of those. But I do agree with what she said. “I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”

I’m left with no choice. Israel is left with no choice.

My condolences to those mourning their nearest and dearest. My wishes for a complete and speedy recovery to the injured. My prayers for those being held in captivity for the past 35 days and for their immediate and unconditional release. May God protect our brave soldiers.

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and better times ahead.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Harris Zvi Green.