Tags: 4 Min Read; 3 Min of Video
Cause & Effect
Over the past fifty years, observers have often commented that while Israeli leadership, over the years, has varied in quality and effectiveness, Palestinian leadership has consistently been weak beyond measure. Abba Eban's observation about the Palestinian penchant: "They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" rings as true as ever (and can be applied to Israeli leadership under Bibi).
Power abhors a vacuum. In the case of the Palestinians, violence fills the void.
I am reminded, as I wrote about weeks ago, of how the "security wall" around the West Bank is used as a propaganda tool against Israel. In that conversation, no one mentions that Israel did not want to build the wall. Resisted building the wall. And built it only because of ongoing suicide bombings in Israel originating from the West Bank. Ditto today's humanitarian tragedy in Gaza: Israel has invaded Gaza multiple times over the past 14 years. While those invasions were hard on Gaza, they were nothing like this one. It is only in the face of October 7 (and the promises since by Hamas leadership to repeat October 7 over and over) that Israel is doing what it is doing.
Seen
Aid Truck of Flour Hijacked by Hamas
South of the Gaza Strip: Hamas operatives, with weapons and an escorting vehicle, hijack an aid truck with sacks of flour. According to the residents of Gaza, the trucks are taken to the territories controlled by Hamas and the goods are not distributed to the residents themselves. (Source: Arabic language social media/Abu Ali)
Weapons Hidden in Humanitarian Aid Packaging
The IDF announces: Weapons were seized inside a school in Gaza City hidden in UNRWA sacks and USAID bags of the United Nations.
Antisemitism
You probably don’t need me to say this… Protesting an Israeli-style restaurant in Philadelphia has nothing to do with a war in Gaza. The owner of this restaurant emigrated from Israel. That’s what the protesters want, right? A Jew who left Israel and moved to Philadelphia? Instead of saying “Jews of Israel, Come to Philadelphia like this guy!” they abuse him, the “Dream Jew.”
The brownshirts would be proud. (A twist of history? In the 1920’s and 30’s it was Germans wearing brown, to the 2020’s when this harassment is often lead by Americans of brown skin.)
Read
Another Hamas Mass Surrender
Within the past 36 hours another large group (100+ it appears) of Hamas militants surrendered in the northern Gaza Strip. They handed over weapons. They were dressed as civilians. I'll spare you the photos.
Rabbi David Wolpe Resigned from Harvard's Antisemitism Committee
This has been widely reported and is probably old news to you. Further fallout from the pathetic performance of Harvard President Claudine Gay in Congress.
Rabbi Wolpe's public resignation note:
As of today, I have resigned from the antisemitism advisory committee at Harvard. Without rehashing all of the obvious reasons that have been endlessly adumbrated online, and with great respect for the members of the committee, the short explanation is that both events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped. Still, there are several points worth making. I believe Claudine Gay to be both a kind and thoughtful person. Most of the students here wish only to get an education and a job, not prosecute ideological agendas, and there are many, many honorable, thoughtful and good people at the institution. Harvard is still a repository of extraordinary minds and important research.
However, the system at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty, the ideology that works only along axes of oppression and places Jews as oppressors and therefore intrinsically evil, is itself evil. Ignoring Jewish suffering is evil. Belittling or denying the Jewish experience, including unspeakable atrocities, is a vast and continuing catastrophe. Denying Israel the self-determination as a Jewish nation accorded unthinkingly to others is endemic, and evil.
Battling that combination of ideologies is the work of more than a committee or a single university. It is not going to be changed by hiring or firing a single person, or posting on X, or yelling at people who don’t post as you wish when you wish, as though posting is the summation of one’s moral character. This is the task of educating a generation, and also a vast unlearning. Part of the problem is a simple herd mentality – people screaming slogans whose meaning and implication they know nothing of, or not wishing to be disliked by taking an unpopular position. Some of it is the desire to achieve social status by being the sole or greatest victim. Some of it is simple, old fashioned Jew hatred, that ugly arrow in the quiver of dark hearts for millenia. In this generation, outside of Israel, we are called to be Maccabees of a different order. We do not fight the actual battle but we search for the cruse of oil left behind.
Remember the oil was to last one night, but lasted eight – which means there were seven nights of miracles. But, of course, the first night was the greatest miracle – because the motivation to light the initial candle, to ensure the continuity and vitality of tradition in each generation, that is the supreme miracle. Dispute but also create. Build the institutions you value, don’t merely attack those you denigrate. We are at a moment when the toxicity of intellectual slovenliness has been laid bare for all to see. Time to kindle the first candle. Create that miracle for us and all Israel – Blessing to you and Hag Urim Sameach."
HAPPY HANUKAH!
Relief Area
Alef
Bet
Would be funny... and the poster probably believes it... That makes it ____ ?
Dalet
The first piece of humor created here on my laptop. Follow on to Installment #51. Concept credit: A.B.K.
Jerusalem was quiet for shabbat. (After a groovy, packed, sing along Kabbalat Shabbat with a harmonium.) At the moment I hear kids playing on the street outside. It’s Hannukah and the kids are out of school for the week. I just learned that some universities started a month or more ago. I got up early for a group workout in a nearby park. The workout was great. Jury is out on the wakeup time. Heading north today to take a hike tomorrow east of Haifa.
Scenes this morning from the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem (Hersh Goldberg, son of Rachel Polin Goldberg, is a local):
Stay Well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K.)