Shabbat shalom!
And a tip of the kipah this week to that bastion of intelligence, fortitude, courage, and statesmanship, The US House of Representatives, who finally displayed a sliver of integrity by expelling George Santos from that esteemed body. While it may have taken too much time for such an obvious conclusion, Santos will be missed for his late night talk show entertainment value. After packing up his office (including his Oscars and Super Bowl rings), according to Santos, we will be seeing him soon as the next judge on the Great British Baking Show!
On a more serious matter, the pause in the Israeli war in Gaza has ended and bombings on both sides have resumed. It was a roller coaster of emotions in Israel and around the world this last week, as we got to see videos of hostages re-united with family members. Some of the hostages have started speaking publicly about their captivity, and of course it wasn’t pretty. And just this morning, Netanyahu instructed the Israeli negotiating team in Doha to return home “due to the dead end in negotiations. The Hamas terror group did not fulfill its obligations under the agreement that included releasing all the women and children that were on the list provided to Hamas that had authorized it,” the statement from Netanyahu’s office read.
So, we are back to war and eradicating Hamas while trying to free the remaining hostages. Still held hostage by Gaza terror groups when the truce collapsed were 136 people — 114 men, 20 women and two children — government spokesperson Eylon Levy said. Ten of the hostages are 75 and older. The vast majority of the hostages, 125, are Israeli. Eleven are foreign nationals, including eight from Thailand. My heart bleeds for the hostages and their families, but they need to face facts and remember who we are dealing with. Hamas would have given the other women back if they were in good enough shape to be presented publicly. They aren’t. They are either dead or brutalized so badly Hamas cannot allow them to be seen. It would truly be a miracle if any of them ever return or are rescued alive.
Israel, for its part of the negotiations, released 240 Palestinian prisoners. Around half of them had been arrested for violent crimes including 10 for attempted murder, 19 for making, planting or planning bombings, and 7 for shootings. Very few were detained for “administrative” reasons, a security tactic employed by Israel which has come under sharp criticism by many international groups. And in yet another example of incredibly stupid reporting by the lame stream media, check out this exchange between Britain’s Sky News anchor Kay Burley and Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy on the topic:
In the midst of this hostage diplomacy, one of the most important diplomats of our time, Henry Kissinger, passed away at the ripe old age of 100. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, and the first Jewish Secretary of State in the US, he certainly left an indelible mark on global affairs with his administration of Realpolitik diplomacy. I was never a big fan of Kissinger, given his association with Tricky Dick Nixon, and later, his secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos, but I learned something about him in one of the many obituaries which I find very relevant to the situation in Israel today.
According to foreign policy expert Robert Kaplan, one of the tenets of Kissinger’s Realpolitik was that “the fundamental issue in international and domestic affairs is not the control of wickedness, but the limitation of self-righteousness. For it is self-righteousness that often leads to war and the most extreme forms of repression, both at home and abroad.” I paused on that thought, and immediately connected it to a lot of the issues facing Israel today.
While I believe to my core that Israel is more righteous and has moral superiority in this current conflict, I cannot help but share the feelings of Rami Elhanan, who lost his 14 year old daughter to a Hamas suicide bombing 26 years ago, and now co-directs a group called The Parent’s Circle, a group of Palestinian and Israeli parents that have lost children in the many conflicts.
We are in a circle of blood for the last 75 years. And this is just another round. Nobody expected the viciousness and cruelty of this round, but it was expected. You cannot put two million people in a box, close the cover, and expect nothing will happen. It will not stop unless we talk. You cannot annihilate Hamas. You cannot ignore six million Palestinians living here in the holy land. And you cannot expect them to go away. They will not go away. We will not go away. We are doomed to live here together and we have to choose — whether to share this land or to share the graveyard under it.
Amen.
Now, what about all the other news of the Jews across the globe and the Jew S of A? Well, your wait is over. Here is this week’s roundup from the likes of The Forward, Times of Israel, Haaretz, Kveller, Future of Jewish, JTA and other respectable Jewy journals:
- Opinion | It’s time for Israel’s far right to go. Yes, a majority of American Jews back the war with Hamas. But they do not support the goals of Israeli nationalists calling for “an ethnic cleansing of Gaza and a reestablishment of settlements on land that, from biblical times to our own, does not belong to the Jewish people,” writes Forward columnist Jay Michaelson. As some members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet have argued for those ends, it’s time for American politicians to take a stronger line in pushing for their ouster. Read his essay ➤
- 🤨 A Maine town removed a Star of David from its holiday lights display after a local Arab American organization reportedly called it “offensive.” The mayor said local Jewish groups agreed it should be taken down, and that it would be replaced with depictions of dreidels. (JTA)
- Henry Kissinger wasn’t bad for Israel — he helped save it: “A deep historical review of thousands of declassified documents,” wrote Martin Indyk, the author of a book about Kissinger and Middle East diplomacy, “reveal that, rather than undermining the nascent Jewish state, he did much to ensure its survival and well-being.” Read the story ➤
- 🤦 More Musk Madness – Elon Musk, fresh off his trip to Israel on Monday, lashed into advertisers who are boycotting his social media platform after he endorsed an antisemitic post. In an expletive-laden appearance at a business conference Wednesday in New York City, Musk expressed regret, called himself “philosemitic” … and also seemed to suggest that some Jewish organizations have funded Hamas-affiliated groups. (JTA)
- There’s a new Jewish Caucus in US Congress, but its mission is still unclear – More than a dozen Jewish members of Congress gathered on Friday for the first meeting of the US House of Representatives Jewish Caucus. But following the meeting, held in the offices of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an influential Jewish Democrat from Florida, it remains unclear what the caucus will stand for as the chamber’s Jews are deeply divided over the Israel-Hamas war and other issues. A statement from Wasserman Schultz’s office suggested the caucus was still finding its feet. (Times of Israel)
- 🕎 The grinch who stole Hanukkah? A borough in London decided not to allow a giant menorah to be erected outside its town hall “in light of escalating tensions from the conflict in the Middle East.” (Jewish News)
- “Me Too Unless you’re a Jew” – Opinion | The women’s movement has a double standard when sexual violence happens to Jews: “For those of us who work to end domestic and sexual violence, there are two key tenets: Believe women. And never blame the victim,” writes Meredith Jacobs, the CEO of Jewish Women International. “And yet here we were. The brutal rapes, bodily mutilations and sadistic murder of women and children on Oct. 7 is being dismissed as lies and Zionist propaganda.” Read her essay ➤
On a lighter note, and with Chanukah around the corner, I thought I would end this week with the original version of Adam Sandler’s Chanukah song. Enjoy! And as usual, be very careful out there.
Brad out.
Jew News Review 