I don’t think I have ever reposted something on this Blog. But this needs to be said and read and reread and remembered and told time and time again. The attack on Israel yesterday is not business as usual. The attempt to blame a failure of Israeli intelligence may be fair but it is premature. The explanation that Hamas is using a perceived weakness in the fabric of Israeli society because of the demonstrations against the current government may be true but it is irrelevant. The pontification that this attack 50 years after the Yom Kippur war is linked to the nascent Saudi – Israel “deal” is speculation. We all want to make sense of the senseless. This is what is true. Hamas wants to destroy Israel. And that means kill Jews.
So I am reposting an article by Bari Weiss. This is from “The Free Press”, described by Bari herself as “A new media company built on the ideals that were once the bedrock of American journalism.” It is described by others as conservative and progressive, controversial and incendiary. It always gives you something to think about. I am a paid subscriber – just so you know where I am coming from.
An aside: On Friday night I was at Temple Israel. The Rabbis were unrolling the Torah Scroll in the Social Hall and we were all standing in a circle as the parchment reached around the room and came into our white gloved hands. We were celebrating the Torah’s unending gift of ancient stories and moral truths, poetry, exhortations, unpleasant facts, history and ritual that some call God’s truth. I was joking with the person next to me that we were going to run out of Torah or that here I am standing on the outside of the Scroll. We thought that either of these were good Blog titles.
And the next morning we woke up. And our enemies (yes – our) reminded us of one of the oldest truths. But not now – now – read this and know:
ISRAEL AT WAR.
“You are about to withstand a barrage of lies about the war that broke out today in Israel.
Some of those lies will be explicit. Some of them will be lies of omission. Others will be lies of obfuscation. Or lies of minimization. Lies told by people who are simply too afraid to look at such an ugly, barbarous reality. And lies told by people whose true beliefs are too ugly to quite say aloud. Turn on cable news and you can hear some of them right now.
So let’s get some facts straight.
Israel was attacked last night. It was attacked by Hamas terrorists who streamed over the border from Gaza. They came on foot and on motorbikes. They came by truck and by car and by paraglider. They came to Israel to murder and maim and mutilate anyone they could find. And that is what they did.
It is impossible to know the numbers of the dead or the missing or the injured.
The official numbers as of this writing: 300 Israelis dead; 1,590 wounded. And dozens—maybe many more—taken hostage into Gaza. They include women, elders, and children.
But none of those words or numbers capture the evil of what unfolded today.
Young festival-goers running for their lives. Teenage girls dragged by their hair by terrorists. An old woman forced to pose with a Hamas rifle. A mother—a hostage—cradling two redheaded babies in her arms.
I have friends in Israel. Each one of them has a story of someone they know who is missing. Or injured. Or killed. This was not a tit-for-tat. This was not a justifiable military response, or just another day in a cycle of violence. This was the slaughter of innocent civilians.
New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America today announced a protest in honor of the attacks. It’s called All Out for Palestine: “In solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid.” The anti-Zionist group IfNotNow explained the attacks as Israel’s fault and said of the dead Jews: “Their blood is on the hands of the Israeli government.”
You will see a lot like this in the coming days. Ancient lies told in new language whose end is always, strangely, the same: a justification for genocide.
Think about 9/11 and the kind of shock and terror we felt. That is what Israelis feel today. That is the level of devastation Israel is now experiencing.
We are left with so many questions:
How did this happen?
Who is to blame for this catastrophic security failure?
How will Israel respond? How will the country save the hostages in Gaza?
What was the extent of Iran’s involvement in this sophisticated operation?
Will this change the Biden administration’s policy toward the Islamic Republic?
And so many more.
Those are the questions that require answers. But for today, while others offer mealy-mouthed pablum, we want to do something simple: to tell the truth—plainly—about a catastrophic day.
rabbiunplugged 
Amen
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I am one of a group of 24 people from my denomination, the United Church of Canada, who were scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem a week today. We would have also spent time in the West Bank, to learn about how it is to live on either side of the checkpoints, and about faith-based efforts towards reconciliation and actual peace for all. In the months leading up to our trip, I have tried to learn more about the history of the region. These words in the post struck me: “You are about to withstand a barrage of lies about the war that broke out today in Israel. Some of those lies will be explicit. Some of them will be lies of omission.” I cannot claim to know the history or the current situation well enough to know when I am being lied to- especially the lies of omission. It does seem to me that people on all “sides” will do this- work the story, and only include the elements that align with their rage and sorrow. It is good to be reminded that there is always more to know, and that we have to filter what we are told with the awareness of the natural biases of those telling the stories.
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I’m sorry you will most likely not be going to Israel next week. I have been a supporter of many of the organizations and grass root groups who try to bring the “sides” together to see each other as people and not just the “other”. I hope there will come a time when you can be in their presence. The war Hamas opened this weekend is not about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. It is about destroying Israel. It is about taking civilians hostages for bargaining. It is about murdering young people at a song fest. We don’t even know the extent of it all yet. I appreciate your comments and I am grateful that you continue to read the blog. Hoping for better days, Howard
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I have made my peace with not going to Israel this month. I can’t justify asking our local hosts to worry themselves about our comfort and safety. I do continue to pray for those who live there, and those who are most impacted by not only the violence, but the contagious rhetoric, and the inability to see beyond biased preconceptions of the “other”. I am saying in the places where I have a voice, not every person who is pro-Israel condones structural and literal violence against Palestinians, and not every person who advocates for the the Palestinian people supports violence against Israelis. I was in a Zoom call yesterday with our local contact, who encouaged us to speak out against violence of any kind, no matter who is wielding that tool.
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I look to the Torah for direction. Read Deuteronomy 20 verses 10-20.
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Thank you, Rabbi. After an initial spurt of support for Israel, the tide is already turning toward victim-blaming. We must steel ourselves for a long, costly, heartbreaking immediate future. Am Yisrael Chai.
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A hamas celebration of the unfreezing of iranian funds
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