Over the past 3 weeks I have been trying very hard to put my thoughts and feelings into words, but I have struggled to do so. In my head I have started and stopped writing this a thousand times and have been unable to hone in on what has been consuming me.
But just as much as my thoughts have been consuming me, so has my silence — so today I will attempt to share what has been churning in my mind and keeping me awake since October 7th, 2023.
Forgive me if what you end up reading is a bit of a brain dump.
On October 7th there was a vicious and unprovoked attack on Israel. As you’ve probably already heard, hundreds of Israelis were brutally tortured, burned, mutilated, raped, beheaded, and murdered while attending a music festival. Over 200 innocent civilians, including children and the elderly were beaten and taken hostage. The footage of these atrocities plays in my mind repeatedly — I cannot erase or un-see the sick and sadistic brutality that occurred that day. There are a few specific stories that I cannot clear from my mind … 1 — The pregnant young woman who was sliced open so that the terrorists could murder her and her unborn child, 2 — The two children who were tied up together — the terrorists chopped off the little boy’s fingers and amputated the little girl’s foot while witnessing the terrorists butcher their father’s eye — after which the Hamas terrorists sat down at the table to feast on breakfast in their home, 3 — The stories of the women who were gang raped and then killed on the ground right next to the dead bodies of their friends. There are more — but this gives you a good idea of the pictures that are playing and replaying in my mind. How can this be allowed?
Each one of these examples is not only horrifying but were captured on video by the terrorists to flaunt as victories. In fact, some of these murders were captured with the victims’ own phones and posted on their own Facebook walls for their families to see. One of the videos showed a Hamas Terrorist calling his father to boast that he victoriously killed 10 Jews. His father congratulated him and told him how proud he was while his mother begged him to come home.
If this were not enough to trigger devastation, it has been compounded by the celebrations that are being held world-wide for “resistance against Israeli occupation of Gaza”. Celebrations. In the streets of New York, Detroit, Montreal, and Toronto, my hometown, among many others. People walking around, wearing keffiyehs (black and white scarves representing Palestinian resistance), holding signs saying “Death to the Jews.” Or “From the River to the Sea” (signifying the collective desire to eliminate all Jewish people from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea — in other words, wipe any Jewish presence in Israel off the map). This is happening in the United States, in Canada, and worst of all, on some of the most prestigious university campuses. These celebrations erupted the minute that the massacre took place — before Israel even had a chance to respond. The hatred and antisemitism that is prevalent in North America is astounding — and very frightening. My daughter, who is in the process of completing her PhD, does not feel safe on campus. My daughter, who is known to be super social, gathering friends from every possible nationality, has decided that the safest course of action is to lay low and minimize her time on campus.
There is a call to liberate Palestinians. Yes — they should be liberated. Unfortunately, protesters are sadly missing the mark regarding who they should be liberated from. It’s valuable to understand a little bit of history here. Without going too far back, after Israeli war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967, Israel fought for survival and won control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza. However, wanting peace, Israel gave the Sinai back to Egypt, in exchange for official recognition as a sovereign state and peace that has lasted since then. Gaza was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 2005. Israel forcibly removed ALL Israeli citizens from Gaza and handed over the keys to the Palestinian Authority. At the time this region was well developed with green houses, vegetation, schools, running water, housing, and established communities for families. The Palestinians tore it all down claiming that they did not want to inherit anything from the ‘Dirty Jews’. They also received billions of dollars in foreign aid, including aid from Israel, to build up a region that would allow Palestinians to thrive. Shortly thereafter, in 2007, Hamas stepped in and took control of the area. What we have since learned is that instead of using these funds to help Palestinians, Hamas used the money to build a robust terrorist organization. They started by writing a charter with a very clear mission statement — To Eliminate All Jews Worldwide. Those words, or very similar ones, are written into their Charter. This is common knowledge. They purchased rockets, guns, and all kinds of ammunition. They used concrete to build an underground tunnel system that would bring them into Israel undetected. They built training camps for young men and published manuals teaching them how to torture civilians upon attack. They did not use the funds to provide clean running water, fuel, or electricity for its citizens — they depended on Israel for that — and Israel supplied it — naively hoping for peace with its neighbour.
It was not long before Hamas started sending suicide bombers to Israel successfully killing over 1000 Israeli civilians and tourists over several years. Palestinian suicide bombers would show up in coffee shops, on buses, in restaurants, and even at weddings — and blow themselves up and kill anyone in the vicinity. Those that chose to be martyrs for the cause were promised to go to heaven and be greeted with a harem of wives and live forever in Allah’s Kingdom. Their families would be rewarded handsomely for this act of heroism as it is common knowledge that every family of a Palestinian ‘martyr’ receives a cash reward for their sacrifice. It was a noble way to die — so recruitment wasn’t so difficult.
In an attempt to protect its citizens, Israel tightened up its border security protocols and implemented check points along the border to ensure that nobody was walking into Israel with bombs strapped to their waist or that Palestinians were walking back into Gaza with arms. Israel created barriers designed to protect Israelis from this kind of violence. Palestinians call that ‘Occupation’. Palestinians blame Israel for blocking access to Gaza from Israel thereby negatively impacting their economy, leaving people to suffer in Gaza. There are other entry points — like Egypt for example, but still Israel is to blame. Palestinians object to being ‘checked’ by Israeli soldiers at the border — I get it — but as a Canadian, this is exactly what happens every time I enter the United States. So what exactly are Palestinians resisting when they walk the streets in protest? They not only seem to be resisting Israel’s right to defend itself, but Palestinians are also resisting Israel’s right to exist. Or more specifically, a Jewish person’s right to life.
Over the years, Israel has been called an “Apartheid State”. Let’s explore this a little further… what does “Apartheid” even mean? It literally means “separating, setting apart” — and politically it refers to a policy that is founded on the idea of separating people based on racial or ethnic criteria. Based on this definition IS Israel an Apartheid State? Let’s see…
Israel is the ONLY democratic country in all of the Middle East.
Israel allows Muslims and Christians to pray at their holy sites in Jerusalem.
Israel employs over 500,000 Arabs and Palestinians in their businesses, paying them healthy living wages.
Israel provides healthcare to its Arab Israeli citizens — even if they are terrorists killing Israelis.
Arabs and Muslims are permitted to hold political seats in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), and currently some do.
However…
Jewish people are not permitted to pray in any of the other Middle Eastern Countries.
In fact, there are no Jews who live in any of the Arab Countries let alone work there.
Furthermore…
Jewish people have been pushed out of their homes for centuries — including my parents who were pushed out of Egypt in 1958, my in-laws who were both Holocaust survivors and were not welcome in their former homes in Poland and what is now Ukraine after the war, and my ex-husband whose family was persecuted and pushed out of Russia for being Jewish.
So… Israel is called an Apartheid State? Seriously?
The propaganda machine is extraordinary. So much so that rational, caring, clear-minded human beings have bought into the rhetoric that Israel is the aggressor, the antagonist, the oppressor, the terrorist. I just want to scream “WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!”
I mentioned before that Palestinians need to be freed. Yes — from Hamas. Hamas has committed heinous crimes in Israel — but the truth is that the crimes they have committed in Gaza are far worse. They have starved, muzzled, tortured, and killed their citizens and continue to do so. They point the finger at Israel for the plight of innocent Palestinian citizens, but the absolute truth is that Hamas is fully responsible for the condition of Gaza. Gaza has no water and no electricity — but Hamas certainly has no shortage of rockets to fire into Israel. Even now as aid trickles in to help the Palestinian people, there are reports of Hamas grabbing the fuel and the supplies for their terrorist mission.
How did this happen? Hamas pays significant wages for young people to join their movement. These young people are seen as heroes — able to feed and provide for their families. All others have been left in a state of desperation and despair. Those who do not tow the line are brutalized and murdered just as violently as the Israeli families that were butchered on October 7th. No wonder there are no Palestinians speaking out. No wonder they are blaming Israel — they do not get killed when they do that. The citizens of Gaza are trapped, and they have nowhere to go. Egypt will not take them in. Jordan will not take them in. Syria will not take them in. Not even Iran, who has given birth to and nurtured Hamas, will take them in. Their Arab ‘brothers’ have abandoned them. And still Israel is being blamed — expected to respond proportionately. The ‘woke’ world thinks that Israel deserved the attack and is celebrating the ‘resistance’.
There is no response severe enough to combat the evil that Hamas has inflicted on its own citizens as well as on Israelis. What the world needs to understand is that Israel is standing on the frontlines to defend a world where human rights are respected at the most basic level. Where citizens are not living in constant fear of terrorist attack and brutality. Where people have food and water and shelter and work. Where women can wear what they want without being beaten up. Where they can have jobs, drive cars, move about the city freely and vote. Where homosexuals are not brutalized and tied at the ankles and dragged through the streets naked. Israel is defending democracy and the free world we live in. The Israeli army is not only fighting for the Jewish people of Israel. The Israeli Army is fighting for you and for me and are stepping up as the guarantors of the life we currently live.
This is not just an Israeli war. It’s OUR war.
Please, please, please take the time to truly learn what is happening in the world and use your voice to stand with Israel.
