Hint? Okay. The number has to do with things that fly through the air. Aha! The light bulb begins to light up in the minds of some. Yes, finally, someone got it right. It is just too bad that the connection is overlooked, or worse, discounted. That number, 4,369 is the number of rockets sent over by Hamas to Israel in ten days time, all aimed purposely into civilian areas. The fatigue? That comes from the frustration, the energy expended, the breath wasted as I try to explain how and why this is extremely pertinent to the whole discussion. Then one must try to explain to others that no, this is not an intellectual discussion meant to be solved in bull sessions in dorm rooms or in what purports to be the national legislature of this country.
Some more numbers. 1,500 rockets that survive malfunctions, empty fields, and landings on their own people in Gaza, headed to populated areas in Israel, to long suffering cities and villages like Ashdod, the kibbutzim of the Negev, Ashkelon and now the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Millions of people. Millions of Jews. Millions of Arabs. Thousands of refugees from other countries such as the Sudan. What to do with this number?
Well, ask yourself this question: If Mexico or Cuba, or any nearby country were to send over 4,369 rockets into civilian areas within the United States, what would the reaction be? Well, the people would scream for relief and aid. Then they would push and shout for return rocket fire, to flatten the capacity of the enemy to do this again. Would these calls for action speak of 'disproportionate' reaction? Or of moderating the defenses so, okay, more Americans will be killed, but is that not the 'fair' way!! Would people advocate for a one on one death as equivocally satisfactory? Who do you think would volunteer for that? Certainly not those advocating that approach.
So why is it okay to demand that Israel should, a tiny little country that literally pulled itself out of the ocean of centuries of blood and hatred, took in battered, dazed survivors of genocide. And yes, AOC, they were most definitely suffering from PTSD! Alone, no surviving families, and now add in Jewish refugees from Arab lands, oppressed, threatened, jailed and killed, airlifted, several times, the Black Jews from Ethiopia, took in the Asian Jews of Myanmar and India, and accepted those Jews of Sephardic descent, lost through the centuries as they fled from the long and bloody tentacles of the Inquisition.
Anyway, back to the numbers. Of those estimated 1,500 rockets, about 90% were shot down by the Iron Dome defense of Israel leaving the others to carry out their planned damage - to destroy property, to kill, to rain terror upon the people living in Israel. And sorry to inform you, bigots and anti-Semites of the world, yes, Jews are people too. No, they are not pseudo 'white' nor mud people, nor subhuman, nor spare scapegoats for the having and the slaughter. Shakespeare's Shylock said it all in a plaintive attempt to explain his motivations. No one heard. No one listened. No one cared. All took the wrong interpretation and approach, all the way down the years in all the countries of the world. The Church, be it Catholic or of Protestant origin played a great deal in fostering this anti Jewish attitude, taking revenge on these stubborn people who refused to give up their religion, who refused to die out, no matter the restrictions placed upon them.
So yes, "only" 12 died throughout the shelling but thousands were wounded, many grievously. Property damage was immense. The toll on the sanity, the lives of Israelis, is enormous, but discounted by the rest of the world, as 'only' 12 died as opposed to the 200 plus people in Gaza, ignoring the fact that of that figure, 200 were terrorists - not militants - terrorists, calling a name by its true name. Israel, the country that has given the world so much, including leadership in fighting COVID, use of cell phones, and on and on, dared to survive yet another attack on its life. How rude of them!
So, back to the fatigue. I am tired of trying to explain this over and over again, particularly to those who are battered by the biased news media, by those who give weak statements re anti-Semitism, and then immediately swing over to Islamophobia or Black Lives Matter, or the latest fad, anti-Asian sentiment. Well, so do the lives of Jews matter and yes, this is what it is all about.
Jews are not hated because of Israel and truthfully speaking why should there be any hatred of that, for are Italians hated for their return to the home country, or Irish hated for checking their ancestors in County Cork? So why Jews for Israel? The answer is to turn around the components of that equation. Israel is hated because it is Jewish. Plain and simple.
The attacks on the street are accompanied by shouts of "Kill the Jews", not "Kill the Israeli or Kill Israel supporters". No, it is the other way around and it is time the world accepted this flaw that has run through most of them throughout the ages. Numbers carry significance. The numbers are repeated in Rent. The numbers are repeated in Pajama Game. The numbers that have meaning and carry truth are also to be repeated here. Include, the billions of Moslems, the overwhelming number of Arab states. The territorial size of Israel, surrounded as it is by hostile countries.
While you are at it, type in Newsweek article by Gregg Roman and anti Semitism. Or the article by Tiana Lowe from the Washington Examiner. Or the speeches of those who actually dare to speak the truth, but again, please, Hawley, Cruz, Greene - go away. We do not need the politicizing of this critical life and death issue usurped by people who speak of hate at other times.
Must we hear more numbers of Jews dead and then cry crocodile tears as tsk, tsk, who allowed another Holocaust to occur. Not me, each will say, but oh, yes, you, is the truth, the damning truth.
For everyone's sake, as I have long stated, hatred spreads, is always hungry for more bodies and blood, more agony. Heed the words that ALL Lives Matter. It is not an attempt to downgrade the troubles of some, but is instead an attempt to remind us all that prejudice affects us all, damages all, and it needs to stop! Now!!!
And then explain to me how it is that people who speak in derogatory terms re Blacks, or Native Americans, etc. are fired, but when a Brooklyn principal uses the school's email to send out a mass mailing reeking of her hate towards Jews, of what needs to be done to push against them and Israel, why does she remain in position even if she did send out a grudging forced weak apology. Those apologies are meaningless. She needs to go -as do all haters.
Any more questions as to why I have such fatigue?!
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