When Sinwar talks

It’s so nice when we hear from Israel’s peace partner. Yahya Sinwar doesn’t open his mouth very often, but we don’t need much to catch his drift. This man heads the peaceful Arab country we envision alongside a Jewish country?

His recent statements are classic– you’ve got to read them Sinwar thanks Hezbollah. Everything is in there–the name-calling, the call to wipe away Israel, the prayers, gratitudes and platitudes for Lebanon’s aid in the north, the vow to never stop trying to eliminate Israel. This from Gaza’s government mouthpiece.

Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, and more recently the Palestinian territories, have talked the same talk as Sinwar since the pre-dawn of modern Israel. This hyper-dramatic, infantile, and arrogant rhetoric is the fountain of truth for Arabs and Iran in the Middle East. Listen–they are saying “all for us, none for you. Only us, none of you.” This is no secret. The Hamas Charter is public information.

The Arab and Iran Manifesto is No Sharing, if you’re trying to pay attention. No sharing with Jews. No sharing with Yazidis. No sharing with Baha’i (Kurds may be getting a win in Iraq). Hamas and co. demand everything, every scrap of land, all for themselves, to do things their way. They have been waging horrible war and attacks against each other, any minority group spread throughout the region, and the one lone outpost of diversity in the Middle East (that would be Israel) for a hundred years and more.

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, encouraged by all their Arab neighbors, have turned their proud, allegedly sovereignty-worthy culture into a suicidal and homicidal death cult. Death by killing Jews is ecclesiastical salvation in the Gaza Strip. Just so Arabs don’t have to share.

There is absolutely nothing else like it on planet earth.

Toddlers handle sharing better.

Don’t criticize or shame a country for defending itself imperfectly in a David and Goliath case as this, unless you’ve also done your serious due diligence learning about and challenging the aggressor first. There are only 13-15 million Jews worldwide vs 200 million Arabs in this fight.

There is no excuse for the aggression from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and Jordan and Egypt and Lebanon and Iran, on October 7 or in 1947.

There is no excuse for any anti-Israel protest, anywhere. Anti-Israel protests are the ultimate victim-blaming head game.

I’m exhausted. I’m sure we all are. It’s so hard to keep track–of the fighting and deaths, the protests, the searing anguish felt in the hearts of Jews and Israelis worldwide.

Will the anniversary of October 7, still an unfolding tragedy, really be falling during the Days of Awe? Will we huddle together in our most earnest prayers since WWII, while the antisemitic world presses boots to our necks, demanding our penance, demanding our blood, demanding we atone for the sin of survival?

Shame on those who do, even if you think you’re being given permission by a Jew. As a Jewish person who supports Israel, one of the first push-backs I hear is “there are Jews who don’t support Israel, either.” Who are you, who would allow a Jewish friend to feel cultural shame because of the relentless hostilities of the Arab World? Who would say “yes, it’s your fault” to any friend forced into an underdog, defensive position by a violent, manipulative, narcissistic abuser? The demand from the Arab world of No Sharing is the notion to be challenged. Sinwar’s cause is the one to shut down.

It makes things so easy when Arab leaders like Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, like Queen Rania of Jordan, like Abdel Al-Sisi of Egypt, open up and speak their truth. What they say is all anyone who believes in civility, fairness, and sharing needs to know.

If only more people were doing their serious due diligence and listening.