The images of the slaughtered or captured families, children, old people, some holocaust survivors… on Facebook they are just two dimensional faces in little boxes. And only the “before” version.
But they were all real people, going about their business. The engaged couple planning a wedding. The little girl playing outside. The mother and father with their infant son and two small daughters. All of them real people with relatives, friends, and colleagues (or playmates).
We see the “before” images. Posted to show the world or by families seeking information. The “after” pictures, if you are a human being, would make you vomit.
But the reason that all Jews are in shock and mourning over this is deeper.
We say, of the holocaust, “never again”. But we all know that is just whistling in the dark. Incidents of blatant anti-Semitic acts are on the rise worldwide.
These last few days have seen more Jews murdered than any time since the holocaust.
This has happened before, over and over again, every few generations. The memory of ancestral trauma is real.
The response by Netanyahu, heavy bombing of Gaza, is also horrific. No thinking person is in favor of war. But the choice to go to war is in the hands of the aggressor. This is a war of choice for Hamas. They were COUNTING on this response. In fact it may have been a secondary reason for the atrocities of October 7.
Why? Because Israel’s response would turn the world against the Jews, Israeli or not. Mission accomplished.
Hamas does not represent all of the Palestinian citizens any more than Israel’s right wing government represents the average Israeli. Hamas is using innocents as human shields.
It is a terrorist organization with the stated purpose of killing all Jews. There are powerful players with a vested interest in continued conflict in Israel.
Seeing the response of the far left here in America has been shocking and demoralizing.
Many think this is simply a religious battle.
But being a Jew is not only a religion. It is an ethnicity. We could say race but that became an issue after the holocaust, as if changing a word would protect us.
I am an agnostic. My spiritual beliefs run toward Earth-Based. And I am still a Jew.
There are 16 million ethnic Jews.
And there may be as many as 40 million half-Jews. You can’t be a half-Christian.
My lack of religion won’t protect me if the type of anti-Semitism of the Middle-Ages or of Nazi Germany catches fire again.
Both the Jews and the Palestinians are Semites. We are cousins. And that just makes all of this more horrendous.
Thinking that it is OK to slaughter Jews in Israel because of the actions of Netanyahu in Palestine is just as crazy as saying it would be OK for a Central American terrorist organization to slaughter Americans because Trump put Central American children in cages at the southern border.
It’s the same reasoning. And it is just plain wrong.
Good analogy, and good explanation. I'm optimistic that the world is beginning to wake up, but I also won't hold my breath.