Shabbat shalom!
Tip of the kippah this morning to the IDF, after this morning’s news that they have rescued four hostages from central Gaza. And, while the IDF will have some explaining to do once the war dust has settled, they continue to make advances in eradicating the Hamas monsters still holding over 130 innocent hostages, many who are suffering unspeakable conditions and many who are probably already dead. The only way this war ends is for the IDF to succeed in eliminating Hamas, or all of this death and destruction would have been for naught. Then, maybe a Palestinian partner or a Saudi led international force can emerge that will actually become a real partner for peace and finally recognize the right for Jews to exist. Otherwise, we are just kidding ourselves, and perpetuating the insanity of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. As I have written many times before, Palestinians do not now, and never have wanted a two state solution. What they want is for the Jews to disappear, from the River to the Sea.
This week begins the holiday of Shavuot, the commemorating of the giving of the Torah to the Jews at Mount Sinai. Some believe that after God created the Torah, he shopped it around to all the major religions, and most turned it down because it was too hard and had too many rules. But we Jews had faith, so we took the deal and signed up. We were chosen. Being book nerds, we jumped all over it, creating a personal connection to one of the most important books in history. We took the deal and signed up, taking on our chosen special destiny with enthusiasm. And I can’t think of anything to be more proud of as a Jew. We are the people of the book. And this is the holiday of the book.
So, on this holiday, we honor the Torah, dress it up, and run to kiss it as the procession carries it around to the excited congregants in synagogue. There is also the cheese blintz and cheesecake thing, which I frankly never understood given the proclivity for lactose intolerance in the gene pool. Hence, my Shavuot “go to” is Entenmann’s Cinnamon Swirl Buns, microwaved for 17 seconds, just the right amount of time to transform the chemistry into something warm, drizzly and orgasmic.
Perhaps it is a bit of Orwellian doublethink, that on the 75th anniversary of the publishing of Nineteen Eighty Four, one of the greatest and certainly most quoted political novels of the last century, we mark this year’s holiday of the book with the anti-semitic nonsense now pervasive in the literary and publishing world. Over the past several months, a litmus test has emerged across much of that highbrow world effectively excluding Jews from full participation unless they denounce Israel. This dreadful trend has also affected the worlds of sports, entertainment, and politics and is now festering within the realm of publishing — where Jewish Americans have made and continue to make enormous contributions.
Russian Israeli author Dina Rubina was scheduled for an event to discuss her books at Pushkin House in London in collaboration with the University of London. But, before she was “allowed” to speak, event moderator Natalia Rulyova demanded she clarify “her position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” saying other invited participants needed to “understand your position on this issue before responding”.
Here is a link to her full formal response, eloquent and factual.
She closes her response thusly:
The academic community, which was not concerned about the massacres in Syria, nor the massacre in Somalia, nor the mistreatment inflicted on the Uighurs, nor the millions of Kurds persecuted by the Turkish regime for decades, this very worried community which wears “arafatkas” [keffiyehs], the trademark of murderers, around their necks at rallies under the slogan “Liberate Palestine from the river to the sea”, which means the total destruction of Israel (and Israelis). “Academics”, as polls show, have no idea where this river is, what it is called, where certain borders are located.
And it is this same public which asks me “to express a position clear on the issue”. Are you really serious!
As you know, I have been a professional writer for over 50 years. My novels have been translated into 40 languages, including Albanian, Turkish, Chinese, Esperanto, and many more.
Now, with great pleasure, without choosing my expressions too much, I sincerely and with all the strength of my soul send to all the brainless “intellectuals” who are interested in my position to go f**k themselves.
Well said Dina.
What about the rest of the news for the Jews across the Jew S of A and the rest of the world? No doublethink on that front. Here is your skillfully selected sampling of semitic stories taken from the likes of The Forward, Haaretz, Kveller, Jewish Boston, Times of Israel, and other fine Jewy journals:
- Latest on the war …
- The military’s top general in northern Israel said Thursday the army was ready to expand its conflict with the Hezbollah terror group if need be in order to bring months of deadly cross-border hostilities to a close, a day after a reservist was killed and 10 others injured in an explosive drone attack on a northern town. What is not widely known and/or reported is that Israel has evacuated over 60,000 people from towns on the northern border. This could get ugly.
- The number of civilians killed in the Thursday strike on a U.N. school in Gaza remains unclear. The Associated Press found that the dead included at least nine children and three women. Separately, an AP analysis found that the number of women and children being killed in the war “appears to have declined sharply.”
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address a joint session of Congress on July 24. In an interview with ABC, President Joe Biden saidNetanyahu had heeded his concerns over Israel’s planned operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying Israel had planned to go “full bore, invade all of Rafah, go into the city, take it out, move, move with full force. They haven’t done that.”
- Israel declared opposition to a United Nations Security Council resolution, advanced by the U.S., that supports the Israeli ceasefire proposal Biden laid out last week; Israel’s objections include that the resolution calls for a “ceasefire” rather than a “cessation of hostilities.”
- U.S. and Israeli officials estimate that half of Hamas’ fighting forces in Gaza have been eradicated during the war.
- The United Kingdom’s Labour Party is expected to include a promise to acknowledge a Palestinian state — when peace talks reach an appropriate point — in its manifesto leading up to July elections.
- The U.S. imposed sanctions on a Palestinian militant group, Lions’ Den, amid efforts to encourage peace in the West Bank. The sanctions are the first against Palestinians active in West Bank violence; several Israeli settlers have previously been sanctioned.
- Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, once more called for Israeli settlements to be reestablished in Gaza.
- A federal judge who visited Israel as part of a delegation after Oct. 7 recusedhimself from a case brought by Palestinian rights activists aiming to block the Biden administration’s military support of Israel.
- The NFL rookie with the name Jews cannot say aloud. (Or can they?): “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain, the Ten Commandments tell us,” writes The Forward’s Louis Keene. “But what if the Lord’s name is lining up at wide receiver?” That’s the unexpected conundrum faced by Jewish fans of the Indianapolis Colts, who just signed rookie Adonai Mitchell. One rabbi’s feedback: There’s no real need to worry, because “it’s obvious” no one is referring to a wide receiver as god. Maybe they will have to rename the “Hail Mary” pass as well!
- 🙅♂️ The Hill fired the co-host of its morning talk show after she rolled her eyes during an interview with the sister of an Israeli hostage. In announcing the news, Briahna Joy Gray, formerly Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign press secretary, accused her former employers of suppressing speech “critical of the state of Israel.” (Times of Israel). Or maybe she got fired for being an asshole?
- Dallas ‘Maus’? Or are the NBA Finals making you see things? People are starting to notice that the jerseys of the Dallas Mavericks, who are in the NBA Finals which begin today, seem to say not “Mavs,” rendered in all caps, but Maus, which is the title of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust. “That’s funny,” Spiegelman told our Louis Keene. “I haven’t seen it, but I have no thoughts about sports at all. I couldn’t recite back to you what sports you were talking about. It’s anathema to me.” He added, “Is there another team with cats playing?”
- 🎭 Morons? – At first, the new Academy Museum in Los Angeles failed to highlight the roles Jews played in the history of Hollywood. Then this spring, hoping to rectify that criticism, it opened an exhibit about Hollywood’s Jewish founders. Now come complaints that the exhibit includes unflattering and antisemitic tropes.(The Wrap)
- The creators of the hit Netflix series Fauda are making a movie about Oct. 7, which will focus on the real-life story of Noam Tibon, a grandfather and retired general who gained international attention when he drove into danger and rescued his family from Hamas terrorists.
- The secret history of D-Day heroes who hid their Jewish heritage – A secret group of Jewish Austrian and German commandos made up X Troop, an elite force that deployed by Britain across Europe and played a pivotal role in D-Day. Selected for their intelligence, their German fluency and their passion to fight Hitler’s forces, the members of X Troop wanted to send a message that as the group victimized by the horrors of the Holocaust, they also had the power to fight back. Malcolm Brabant shares their stories in this Youtube clip. https://youtu.be/fJsE_hRb-gQ?si=Za4PeE23aK_qkOtR
- Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood rejects calls to cancel tour with Israeli singer –The silencing’ of artists ‘feels unprogressive to me,’ says English rocker, who is set to perform with Dudu Tassa on the European music festival circuit this summer. The performances are drawing criticism amid widespread anti-Israel sentiment in the arts and in Europe, and Greenwood has faced calls to cancel. In a statement posted to social media on Tuesday, he said he would do no such thing and added that calls to silence Israeli artists are counterproductive. Greenwood is married to an Israeli artist and they have raised their kids in the Jewish traditions.
Classic 90’s rock from Radiohead. Enjoy.
That’s a wrap for this week! Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone! Maybe read a good book! And hey, let’s avoid any doublethink and continue to be careful out there!
Brad out.
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