Time to Speak Out

Indeed it is time to speak out. While I regularly post on Facebook, I have not written a blog post in (literally) months. It is not for lack of desire. The problem has been that with so much going on, there was too much (is too much) to write about, and I was having a hard time focusing on one topic or theme.

Well, I think I can speak out about a couple of issues in one post, so here goes!

ANTISEMITISM 

Not more than a few minutes need to transpire before yet another incident of antisemitism is reported in the news. It can be a Jewish youth being beaten up on the streets of New York,. Other cases include a cemetery (or two or three) being defaced in France. It can be a parade in Belgium with floats projecting Jewish WWII-era images.

Or, it can be a duly-elected member of Congress spewing her venom.

Yes, the Congressional representative from the great state of Minnesota, Ilhan Omar,  has certainly made it clear how she feels about Israel and Jews. She hates Jews. She can tweet and delete all the tweets she wants, but her rabid Jew-hatred is clear for all to see. After cowering and watering down a House Resolution that was to exclusively condemn antisemitism, the new and improved version was hailed by Omar as a victory. Why? Because it was “the first anti-Islamophobia” resolution to have been passed in Congress. She is now a hero. Omar is being praised. Instead she needs to be vilified.

But wait, there is (much) more! There is more antisemitism in the world—overt antisemitism–than since before WWII. It has become so common place, that one can find it in nearly all segments of the world, with Jews being blamed for everything from acne to banks collapsing.

I, for one, am sick and tired of this. I can not stand seeing my People being beaten, kicked, taunted, paraded in streets in the guise of floats in parades, etc. It sickens me and makes me sad. How did this surge in global antisemitism come about? I am not the one to answer that. That requires people who have a much better grasp on things than I do. But what I do know is that historically, before it has gotten better for the Jews, it has gotten worse–much worse.

I find the words of the Torah very comforting, though: “Those who bless you I will bless and those who curse you I will curse.”

ISRAEL 

No, not the politics. No, the last thing I will do is write about the elections and the insanity that is the electoral system. That deserves its own post under that category of “Humor” or perhaps “Sports.”

I refer to Israel being “different.” Yes, we are different. We are both a problem and a solution, in the eyes of the world. The “problem,” they will all tell you, is that we are (take your pick): murdering baby palestinians; blockading Gaza, harvesting organs, encouraging an apartheid country, blah, blah, blah. All this is the reason for the ills around not only the Middle East but, in fact, all of the the ills around the world. Whether it is “settlements” or any other perceived issue, millions around the world will tell you, with great authority, that if someone is gunned down in Ferguson, or any other terribly violent act–it can all be blamed on Israel.

Israel is at fault for everything it seems.

And I am sick and tired of hearing this foolishness. It is not only anti-Israel venom, it is also antisemitic (see above). No, I do not for one minute believe that proper criticism of Israel is de facto antisemitism (if it were, I would be branded as such as well!). When Israel deserves criticism, it deserves it. But, in the vast majority of times, Israel is the world’s whipping boy and or scapegoat. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

And the funny thing is that we are also the “solution.” We have solved and continue to solve many (most?) of the world’s problems or provide solutions for so many issues, on a daily basis. Imagine the world without Waze, cell phones, micro-irrigation, Mobile Eye and Disk-on-Key, just to name a few items that Israel has given the world JUST in the area of technology!

The BDS lemmings are not only antisemitic but are ALL hypocrites, every last one of them. They use Israeli technology on a daily basis and denounce Israel in the same breath.

Bottom line on both of these (and other) issues is the same: We would be more than happy to continue being a Light Unto the Nations. We would be happy to continue to bring change and growth to the world. We would be happy to continue to do what we do best. Just do us a favor: stay out of our way and let us do these things!

Keep your lousy BDS, antisemitic. anti-Israel, hateful intersectionality ethos the hell away from us. Let us do what we do best as Jews and Israelis: make a true difference in the world–a positive difference–on a daily basis.