Israel Attacked by Hamas 2023/5784, War Musings #15 If The WW2 Allies Had Fought Morally, Nazis and Japanese Would have Won..

 If The WW2 Allies Had Fought Morally, The Nazis and Japanese Would have Won The War

Graves in Shiloh Cemetery, not of soldiers killed in
Hamas-Gaza War  5784

Our Soldiers Shouldn't Die in Vain!

There's a major disconnect between our IDF soldiers on the ground, doing the fighting, and the upper echelons making policy, the government and top officers.

Our IDF soldiers are the best in the world. First of all, most are civilians now serving in the reserves. They've left their families, studies, jobs, businesses, and too many have lost their lives. Their successes in battle are future books and movies.

There's only one problem. The government is weak, groveling to foreign countries and worse. With all the rumors of a "break in fighting," as if it's half time in a football game, releasing terrorists, lots and lots of terrorists from Israeli jails to free a few hostages. 

The State of Israel is also giving fuel, food and other supplies to Gaza. That makes them stronger and more confident fighting against us.

Even more incomprehensible, the State of Israel is warning Gazans before destroying buildings, so "innocent civilians" won't be injured. Now, do you really think the terrorists stay in the buildings to die? A bigger question is: Are there any innocent civilians? They voted in Hamas. They were part of the attack on Israel's south, raping, murdering, stealing valuables. Remember that they were instrumental in giving Hamas all the important information which made the attack so easy. These "innocent civilians" pretended to be friends with the gullible, peace-loving Israelis. Remember that terrorists don't wear uniforms. They look like regular civilians.

Some Israelis, including top army officers and government ministers are proudly bragging that "there was never an army more moral than the IDF."

Moral? 

• What's moral about endangering our soldiers? 
• Wasting our ammunition? 
• Feeding our enemies while battles are still raging? 
• Giving the enemy time to rearm? 

Yes, no other country has ever done such a thing! But it's bad! It's dangerous! Not only does it endanger our soldiers and civilians, it makes it impossible to win the war. Yes, I've said it!!!

Look at history. Can you imagine if during World War Two the allies had warned the Nazis before bombing? Thrown food packages, rather than bombs on Japan? I know know what would have happened. Today we'd be speaking German and Japanese, because they would have won the war.

Don't let our soldiers die in vain and don't cause the defeat of the State of Israel. The United States wants to rule here, which was their plan in 1973. Yes, it's the truth. I suspected it then and over the years learned that my gut was right. It has been confirmed by a few sources, among them Deceit of an Ally by Bruce Brill. 

US President Biden has been very up front about saying that the USA plans on sponsoring/supporting/establishing a "Palestinian State" in the middle of Israel when the war ends. All the "aid" we get is payment/bribery for this. It's a way of controlling the State of Israel. And if you've been following what's happening in the world you know that "from the river to the sea..." is a popular slogan. People all over the world unabashedly demand that Israel cease to exist! 

The Davidka, Israeli made weapon from our War of Independence 75 years ago

Over the years, Israel gave up the attempt to be self-suffiecnt in producing military equipment arms. Even our own inventions, things we still produce need certain parts from the USA, and we have to follow their rules/policies to buy them. We can't even sell those weapons to a foreign country without American approval. 

Bit by bit we've been giving up our sovereignty. We were stronger when we had no allies. That's how/why Gd joined us in 1967 in the super miraculous, legendary Six Days War!!!

Let's fight to win!

Tell Biden and others to butt out. That's the only way we'll really survive! I have no doubt that when foreign countries see us strong and ignoring them, they will give up. That's the only way we'll win and survive. We have no choice. Right now the terrorists and our other enemies are laughing at us, because we're trying to be nice, instead of fighting to win.

Gd willing our Israeli Government will get WISDOM, STRENGTH and that's how we'll win. 

Guest Post: A Self-Destructive Jewish Majority (Parshat Beshalah) by By JJ Gross

A self-destructive Jewish majority (Parshat Beshalah) 

by By JJ Gross

It was recently discovered that a Brooklyn public school, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Qatari government, has – for 12 years ­– been featuring a map of the Middle East on which Israel does not exist. The map, which was provided by the Qataris, shows only a country called Palestine. The map was a teaching tool in an “Arab arts class” that is taught by an Arab woman named Rita Lahoud

One can wonder why a New York City public elementary school would have an Arab Arts class in the first place. But then, there is no limit to the extent of the Qatari infiltration of American education. Entire universities have been effectively taken over by Qatari-funded “Near Eastern Studies” departments in a barely disguised, and hugely successful, effort to occupy the minds and agendas of vulnerable college students.

In recent weeks, we have witnessed the result of this Qatari investment, as America’s most prestigious campuses have emerged as hotbeds of virulent antisemitism and vociferous support for Hamas and its murderous rampage of October 7^th.

But what is perhaps most horrifying – but hardly surprising – about this ongoing call for Jewish blood and the dismemberment of the Jewish State, is the significant leadership presence of activists who are not only Jewish, but who claim to be acting against Israel BECAUSE they are Jewish.

Indeed there are entire Jewish organizations – all of them well funded by Jewish donors like George Soros – whose sole raison d’etre is to wage war against Israel. These organizations come replete with their own ordained rabbis, men and women who are members in good standing of liberal Jewish synagogue organizations. These include Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Truah and Bend the Arc – representing tens of thousands of Jews who truly hate Israel and seek its total annihilation.

The cancer of Jewish self-destruction is hardly limited to the college campus and Gens X and Z.

In the case of Public School 261 in Brooklyn, according to the New York Times:

“ ‘It would be devastating if the (Arab Arts) program were cut,’ Lauren Katzman, the mother of a first grader said. Last week, a broad group of parents, teachers and staff members issued a statement calling for protection of a program that honors the “diversity and Arab heritage of the Boerum Hill neighborhood.” More than 240 people had signed it. Ms. Katzman was among 16 Jewish parents who drafted a separate letter a few days later in a similar vein …”

Yes, it was Jewish mothers and fathers who were loudest in the call to protect Arab studies at their children’s public school. Rest assured there is no parallel Jewish studies program in that school, nor any call for one.

What does all this have to do with Parshat Beshalah? Actually everything. Because the situation in Egypt at the time of the Exodus some 3,000 years ago was very much the same as it is today in the western Diaspora.

It is abundantly clear from the text of all the parshiyot from Vayehi through Beshalah, that the idea of Jewish national redemption was anathema to most, if not all, Israelites living in Egypt.

When the Bnei Israel traveled en masse for the burial of Yaakov in Eretz Israel, they returned to Egypt en masse as well. Despite the fact that the famine had ended, and that Yosef’s status was diminishing rapidly, it occurred to none of them to remain in their ancestral home. Egypt was where they wanted to be.

Now, 210 years later, the idea of national redemption had gained little, if any, traction. Even the midrash – and I rarely reference midrash – tells how only 20% of the Israelites followed Moshe, while the rest – 80% of Bnei Israel – chose to remain behind.

One can readily surmise that the 20% who did leave Mitzrayim were hardly the more successful strata of Egyptian-Israelite society. They were not the corporate lawyers, Wall Street executives, successful surgeons, and movie and media elites of Egypt.

And even the lowest rungs of the social ladder needed the manifestation of miracles and plagues to convince them to leave, so thoroughly Egyptianized were they.

I would take it one step further. Not only did the overwhelming majority of Bnei Israel refuse to leave Egypt, they did everything in their power to prevent, persecute and pursue the small minority who did choose to go. The Israelite majority were not merely indifferent to Redemption and national resurgence, they were actively hostile to it – much as so many American Jewish elitists are today.

The Torah says

וְאָמַ֤ר פַּרְעֹה֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל נְבֻכִ֥ים הֵ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ סָגַ֥ר עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם הַמִּדְבָּֽר
And Pharaoh  said to the Bnei Israel, they are lost in the land,
the desert has closed them in
(Shemot 14:3)

I believe Pharaoh was literally speaking TO the majority of Bnei Israel who stayed behind and were goading him against their own people (and not, as Rashi tries to explain, that the ל in לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל  mean  “of" rather than "to".) And, no doubt, the most rabid pursuers of the Israelites who were camped at the edge of the Red Sea were the the Israelite majority -- who were so in love with Egyptian culture, so patriotic, and so hostile to their own identity.

As the prophet Yeshayahu famously says:

מִֽהֲר֖וּ בָּנָ֑יִךְ מְהָֽרְסַ֥יִךְ וּמַֽחֲרִיבַ֖יִךְ מִמֵּ֥ךְ יֵצֵֽא
Your children rush; your destroyers and those who lay waste to you will come from you.
(Yeshayahu 49:17)

We have seen this over and over again throughout our history. As the famous cartoon character Pogo says, “ We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

provided by JJ Gross

It is time to wake up and realize that our most dangerous enemy is not Iran, or Hamas, or Hizbullah or the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. It is our own people who have become so alienated from themselves, so ignorant and indifferent to the lessons of Jewish history, so addicted to diaspora culture – Egyptian then, American and British, and French today – that they not only choose to disappear, but they insist on harming the rest of us even as they hasten to demographic oblivion.

JJ Gross- New York born and Jerusalem based,  JJ Gross is a veteran blogger at Times of Israel which refuses to publish this posting.  His focus is primarily, but not exclusively, on the parsha. 

Letter to Jerusalem Post -Close, but no Cigar- "Five Words for When the War Ends"

In last week's Jerusalem Post, there was an article, Five words for when the war ends, that almost hit the nail on the head, but the writer wanted the head to also hit the nail. That's why the writer, Sherwin Pomerantz doesn't get "the cigar."

On one hand he admits that he and his fellow "dreamers" should admit that they made mistakes in supporting dangerous policies, like Disengagement, trusting the PA to govern properly and the Oslo Accords. Yes, Pomerantz admits that they should say those "five words:" 

"I'm sorry, you were right."

Unfortunately, after that he wants us to say those words, too, for... honestly, I can't figure out what we did wrong. The latest government coalition finally began to act against the judicial dictatorship proposing judicial reform. Pomerantz blames us for causing the demonstrations against the reform, even though he admits in his article that the judicial needed to be reined in:

"On this same subject, the leadership of Israel’s Supreme Court in the years prior to 2022 also needs to say to all of us, “I’m sorry, you were right!” Their arrogating power to themselves to regularly override the prerogative of the elected representatives of the people to make laws was, in itself, a festering wound that culminated in the push by the Right last year to “take the country” back at they liked to say."

Pomerantz claims that the pro Judicial Reform demonstrations made Israel look weak and vulnerable which caused the Hamas terrorists to attack on October 7. He totally ignores that his friends, the "dreamers," had been calling for reservists, pilots and ordinary soldiers to refuse their army duty. That gave the terrorists the confidence to attack. He and his "dreamer" friends caused us to experience a nightmare that isn't over yet after over 100 days!

Why did the Jerusalem Post publish such a piece?

Here's the letter I wrote to the Jerusalem Post. So far it hasn't been published, and I don't know if it will be. I probably should have saved and edited it the next day to make it clearer and reread the article another few times:

Sherwin Pomerantz almost gets it, OK let's say partially gets it. I have a decade more than him here in Israel, which I'm mentioning, since he made a point saying that he's here forty years in the blurb identifying who he is and why he considers himself qualified to voice these opinions. 

Pomerantz starts off very well admitting that he and his fellow travelers erred in supporting Disengagement, trusted the PA to develop a Singapore in Gaza and thought the Oslo Accords something wonderful should say to those of us who disagreed:

"I'm sorry, you were right."

But then he shows that he still doesn't get it. He can't get a handle the importance of Judicial Reform on the unjust justice system here where, as we just saw in the recent high court action, eight unelected "justices" claim the right to overrule/veto the votes of millions of Israelis, because of politics-- OK they used a euphemism "reasonableness," meaning they just don't agree with the ideology. He's blaming brave Yariv Levin and other coalition MKs who were sent by Prime Minister Netanyahu to Reform the Judicial System, without the backup of Bibi's legendary oratory skills and hasbara. (My guess is that they had been sent to fail, but that would be the topic of a longer letter or an op-ed or whatever.)

It's unreasonable and unrealistic to think that those who control our Department of Justice will voluntarily agree to follow the law, the rule of the Knesset.

The anti-reform demonstrations were funded and led by the same --follow the money-- as those who funded the "crime minister" anti-Bibi demonstrations a few years before. It was the anti-reform and anti-religious demonstrators that were tearing the country apart, like they ripped the prayer books on Yom Kippur. This was not the fault of the government.

And I hate to break it to Pomerantz, but our President Herzog's job is not to be the "national leader." It's more like an American Vice President for formal things and meeting ambassadors. When Biden gave great honors to Herzog during his visit, while pointedly refusing to invite Bibi, it was a diplomatic insult to our PM, actually interfering with internal Israeli affairs. 

Just to clarify, I'm not a Bibiist and didn't vote Likud. I think that his time to retire has long passed. There are many talented potential national leaders in the coalition.

 

 

Israel Attacked by Hamas 2023/5784, War Musings #14 Read & Follow The Bible Tanach

This is basically a quick continuation of my previous War Musing, War Musings #13 We're All Hostages of Hamas, Dangerous Faux Morality & Pressures.

First I'd like to remind everyone that not a single solitary country, besides Israel follows the "war morality" that protects its enemies at the expense/endangerment of its soldiers and civilians. Honestly, I don't mind our being unique or first in some things, but being the one and only in this category is stupidly suicidal, not moral. The Nazis and Japanese would have won World War Two if the Allies had followed such rules.

Considering that Hamas attacked when Israeli society had been severely weakened by dissention, internal problems, makes it most similar the the Biblical Amalek. Amalek attacked the rear, the weak, like the terrorist Hamas. 

Israel's weakest border is/was the southern one with small communities populated by "peaceniks" who were so trusting of their Gazan neighbors that many didn't even have armed local self-defense staff. Many residents trusted their friends on the other side of the border. Afterwards, these friends were recognized in the security films of the surprise attack...

Biblical King Saul, the first Jewish king was ordered by Gd to kill of a Amalek, men, women and children, plus to destroy all of their animals. Saul lost the kingship, because he didn't obey those orders.

Earlier in the biblical narrative we hear Abraham debating with Gd about the destruction of two evil cities. Abraham, like many modern Israelis, worried about the "innocent civilians" who'd be harmed. Gd challenged Abraham to find a number of innocents, my version here, so they could be saved. In the end, not even a minimum amount of innocents were found, and the cities were destroyed. The only survivors were Abraham's relative Lot, plus Lot's wife and two daughters. When the wife looked back, she, too, was killed by Gd.

End of Bereishit Genesis Chapter 18

I Samuel 15

To me, these two stories should be taken very seriously as Gd's instructions today.