What exactly does it take to wake up people, or if awake, supposedly, then aid them in getting their heads out of the sand. Buried deep down, perhaps as deep as the deepest tunnel of Hamas, these heads, the brains within, such as they are, have apparently lost or ceded all capability or desire to think independently. They turn - or are lead -to a hate as old as time, in an effort to place blame for the woes of the world, anywhere other than themselves.
And voila! The most recent, up to date, so chic and fashionable, inclusive panacea for the ills of the world: Model 2023-24 ... and where it ends nobody knows. Less than 2% of the world's population, this nation, these people, are denied the right to live in a land of their own, to be a people, together, an ingathering, a return to an ancient homeland where there is no antisemitism, no race hatred.
Somehow, this disturbs the world's equilibrium so off we go again. Just unwrap that carelessly discarded violence and hate, insert Israel in the place for "Hated Nation", add the corollary for all Jews of the world and there you have it.
Perhaps the worst of its ugliness is the presence of Jews who continue to rely on a fallacy disproven by history - cooperation with the enemy will not save you, merely delay the inevitable. Appearing in those roles are the Jews of public fame and roles who refuse to speak up and out, who refuse to condemn antisemitism, who deny the right of Israel to defend itself, to rescue its kidnapped, who shift the blame inherent in the actions of Hamas onto the shoulders of Israel. Worse, when they break their silence, they support those who hate them as well, who simply use them and then discard them.
Finally, though, we have Jews of the arts and sciences, politicians, who realize that silence will kill them rather than save them. That silence, beyond being cowardly, will only aid the growth of the ugliness of virulent, crazed antisemitism and its levels of ever increasing violence. Some have spoken up for many years, like Margulies and Messing, or Stephens of the NYT who should actually be the next president! Now others are joining but there remain too many sitting on the fence, reluctant to call the truth as it is, as ugly as it is. Michelle Goldberg of the NYT is approaching takeoff speed, finally, but remains still on that fence, not quite ready to fully admit that yes, Michelle, it is antisemitism. Refusing to see that, to admit that will not disappear it. Fence sitting is notoriously uncomfortable, so get off and join the growing crowd of fellow Jews and all those who recognize and differentiate between right and wrong, defend the right and help humanity move on, leaving behind the vices and failings of the before.
We little people must join in. Speak out. Write. Stand up rather than seek the corners in which to hide.
Read the words of the letter and take it to heart. Only together can we beat back this ever-recurrent evil. We must. There is no other choice.
"We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination," an open letter first reported Monday by Variety read. "Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. But Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th."
"The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history. It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood. The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film."
There was no concern for how Jewish people are going to react to a speech like that, to that applause to those red pins, when not even our hostages are being mentioned, and it’s just incredibly hurtful, incredibly painful," Gelman told Variety. "It’s truly baffling to me that people were choosing to be silent that night."
And here is another letter which must be read. ...an open letter by The Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation.
"I watched in anguish Sunday night when I heard you use the platform of the Oscars ceremony to equate Hamas's maniacal brutality against innocent Israelis with Israel's difficult but necessary self-defense in the face of Hamas's ongoing barbarity. Your comments were factually inaccurate and morally indefensible," Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA president and 94-year-old Holocaust survivor David Schaecter wrote to Glazer.
"The ‘occupation’ of which you speak has nothing to do with the Holocaust. The Jewish people's existence and right to live in the land of Israel predates the Holocaust by hundreds of years. Today's political and geographic landscape is the direct result of wars started by past Arab leaders who refused to accept Jewish people as their neighbors in our historic homeland. Now that several Arab countries are making peace with Israel because security and prosperity are better for all people, Iran and its terrorist proxies started another war, abetted by too many, who, through naïveté or malice, blame ‘the occupation.’"
"Worse is that you chose to use the Holocaust to validate your personal opinion. You made a Holocaust movie and won an Oscar. And you are Jewish. Good for you. But it is disgraceful for you to presume to speak for the six million Jews, including one and half million children, who were murdered solely because of their Jewish identity," Schaecter continued. "And it is disgraceful for you to presume to speak for those of us who personally saw the world stand silent as our mothers, father, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were murdered. We actually had nowhere to go - no possible place for refuge. No country would accept us even though world leaders knew full well that thousands of Jews were being murdered every day. There was no Jewish nation to which we could flee. You should be ashamed of yourself for using Auschwitz to criticize Israel."
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Yitzy, always know you are loved. You have no connection to these deniers of truth and self. Deniers of Jewish history and pride.
Rest easy, sweet boy.
Always and forever. Always and forever.
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