Whiplash

When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon on July 21, 1969, the enormous event seemed to be encapsulated in a gilded frame. Time stopped for a bit – even as the Vietnam war waged, gay rights emerged to the forefront after Stonewall, and Woodstock was a drumbeat away from becoming the most famous musical milestone in memory. Each of these historical footnotes stood on its own merit, long enough for us to sigh, bear witness, and emotionally record just where we were when [fill in the blank] happened.

On the morning of October 7, 2023 in Israel, twelve hundred innocent men, women and children were ferociously butchered while sleeping, dancing, jogging or praying, by murderous savages who had been long-preparing – and were well-prepared – for carnage. Two-hundred and fifty more of these innocents were rapidly shuttled into a once beautiful, now-a-cesspool called Gaza, attaining the moniker “Hostages.” At the time of this writing, many are known dead, several have been released, and the remaining prisoners languish in unimaginable conditions.

Stunned, near-broken and bleeding, Israel retaliated. Aroused from comfortable somnolence, this Lion of Judah unleashed a powerful force against those who wish us dead by establishing impenetrable and secure buffer zones. We aim to deter future massacres with an iron-fist, meting out swift punishment for perpetrators and – front and center – retrieve our stolen people. Am I confused in believing that there is no room for argument against such a master-plan?

The whirlwind of support-versus-condemnation didn’t stop. Each day the news brought myriad tales of rabid protests on college campuses, synagogue attacks, and shocking brutality foisted upon Jews at both sporting events and on the streets where they reside. And instead of receiving international support for our righteous efforts to stay alive – all the while protecting non-combatants behind enemy lines – Israel is besmirched and castigated. Unprecedented. Why? I suppose we’d have to query the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and/or the International Criminal Court and hopefully receive an answer that doesn’t drip with sanctimonious spume.

We don’t have the luxury of a 1969 pace. Enemy assaults on Jews and Jewish interests offer no respite, no time-out in which to catch one’s breath.

We didn’t start the fire but murderous vermin named Ibrahim Aqil, Fuad Shukr, Muhammad Nasser, Muhammad Deif, Ismail Haniyeh, Saleh al-Arouri and Yahya Sinwar twisted the narrative. We became the bad guys but they could have avoided their fates. They should have been lights unto their people. They would have elevated the lives of those who were starving for leadership.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. They didn’t, and fifteen months into this seismic conflict, the Heavens rumble from the paralysis of Iran, the near-disintegration of Hamas and Hezbollah, birth-pangs of a new Syrian government after the middle-of-the-night escape of Bashar al-Assad, Putin’s humiliation, and incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s relentless saber-rattling.

Almost overnight, there is a new world order on the horizon but, for the holy nation of Israel, the price has been astronomical. We will never heal from the sheer-numbers of dead soldiers who were destined for greatness but, like young saplings, were cut down before their time. Baruch Dayan Emett. Blessed is the True Judge.

Still, there is a buzz in the air coming from Arabia that Israel might not be the problem but, in fact, the solution. Each day the government receives hints of Arab interest in partnering toward a healthy Middle East with Israel as the guide post for better developing their own tribal communities. The outpouring of queries from Druze, Bedouins and Kurds from southern Syria alone has been alarming.

As we limp into the Gregorian year of 2025, let’s refrain from believing we have a handle on tomorrow. The past fifteen months have taught us that miracles pass through the “eye of a needle” and we are not the ones in charge.

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(Reprinted with permission of San Diego Jewish Journal, January, 2025)