What if Iran plans to shoot hundreds of missiles at Israel on Tisha BeAv?

First, what it doesn’t mean

It doesn’t mean that Tehran decided to respect the Jewish calendar.

Rather, it has the misconception that when we mourn and cry and fast, we’ll be weak. Just like they think that when we cry at funerals and are not angry, we’re collapsing. Because at funerals, they rage and shout revenge.

Not at all. We’re not week on Tisha BeAv. We just make space for sadness.

And concerning the fast. If there’s any chance that Iran really plans this, no doubt, all rabbis will order us this year to eat well on Tisha BeAv. As Rabbi Salanter said: The first Commandment is not to be stupid.

The Sages tell us that in the End (of Days), Tisha BeAv will transform into a festival that’ll pale in comparison to all other Festivals. Are we ready?

This is not because we Jews love war. We say Shalom all day for a reason. We prefer Jew-haters to repent. But in lieu of that, a war to end the Iran junta is inevitable. The sooner the better, we learned from Gaza.

And it will be great to do it with our United Allies courtesy of Joe Biden.

Let’s echo a recent Harris battle cries to Iran, ‘Bring it on.’

Talking about Harris. If her VP choice is Shapiro, do I have a slogan for him. His detractors say: No genocide Josh! He should counter by saying, ‘I take great pride in that my fiercest opponents call me a no-genocide Josh.’

Prepare for the Worst, Hope and Pray for the Best

Worst case scenario, which fronts will open up against Israel and Jews?

Is closing. We mostly need to keep them from rearming.
West Bank. Terrorists are trying for 10 months now to kill as many Jews as possible. Check posts stop most of it. Staggering number of dead young attackers. Just like after the second Intifada, at some point they’re going to conclude it’s not worth it.
New: There are signals that terrorist groups are trying to have Israeli-Arab criminal gangs do their bidding. They have much firepower, but they don’t seem to feel for becoming martyrs. Some time ago, extreme right-wing Ben Gevir made this claim baselessly. Now the extreme left-wing leaning security top comes with this.
Thinks to do a better job than Chamas. Has 150.000 missiles and rockets plus drones and tanks. But Israel has a much better intelligence gathering there than it had in Gaza.
Iran and the Chuthis have weapons but are far away. Until they reach us, they should be intercepted, curtesy our cooperation with the United Allies under the leadership of Biden.
Turkey would want to but the NATO will stop it.
Syria is too pathetic to hurt us.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be happy to let others get dirty hands.
All over the world, extremist Muslims, Neo-Nazis, and Antifa will band together to try and hurt Jews everywhere.

Advantages still:

While Biden leads the Allies, he has no time to bicker with Netanyahu.

It becomes clearer which countries are (or at least pretend to be) our friends: the US, UK, Canada, Europe, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, some Latin American and African countries, Taiwan, and the Philippines, and who our enemies are: the UN, Amnesty, the Red Cross, Russia, China, North Korea, South Africa, etc. (The latter group may attack the former.)

This might be a chance to end Iran’s nuclear ambition and Chezbollah’s mortal weapon stock in one sweep.

The more dictators are removed, the more Peoples get free to befriend us.

Anything less bad or bloody is G^d’s blessing.

The Jewish custom is to try to survive and flourish until Redemption.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1