We Must Find Light Within the Darkness
Despite these dark times, we can always find the light within HaShem.
Paul Kessler was 69 years old. The same age as my father. He, along with his wife were in Westlake, California flying Israeli flags, standing up for Israel. Paul was attacked by a Free Palestine marcher. He was beat on his head with a megaphone. He eventually bled to death. May his memory be a blessing.
Somehow the person who murdered this man is standing up for peace. Somehow, they are a voice of pacifism, calling for a ceasefire. Somehow this is the right side of the moral fence to stand on. Somehow, you can advocate for peace while killing civilians.
I guess that’s the Palestinian way.
And yet somehow, antisemitism has never ceased to exist from this world. It has only grown like a cancer, festering its roots through the ground of the Earth sprouting many different branches. But those branches are all from the same tree. The same antisemitic tree that simultaneously says that Jews aren’t victims, that we are white supremacist colonizers all the while being globally gaslit.
I’m feeling disappointed and alienated lately, seeing people on the left who I thought shared my same values; fighting for what is right, whether it being LGBT rights or rights of indigenous people. I guess only indigenous people matter as long as they’re not Jewish. It’s disheartening to see how many people have been drinking the Hamas Kool-Aide, falling for extreme Muslim propaganda. It just goes to show you how deeply-ingrained the Nazi’s tactics are still embedded within our society.
Last week in a Russian airport, hundreds of people stormed in airport to incite an antisemitic riot, seeking passengers arriving from Tel Aviv, attempting the form a lynch mob. Russian news reports said the crowd surrounded the airliner, which belonged to Russian carrier Red Wings. Authorities closed the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region and police converged on the facility. Dagestan's Ministry of Health said more than 20 people were injured, with two in critical condition. It said the injured included police officers and civilians.
On October 20, 100,000 people in London held in pro-Palestinian protest, demanding ceasefire that blocked traffic. Just three days ago, tens of thousands of protesters stormed DC, calling for ceasefire while chanting “Allahu akbar”, and “F–k Joe Biden.”
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” the crowd dotted with Palestinian flags and signs cried at the start of the event, which drew attendees from across the country. The chant is growing increasingly popular in the wake of Hamas’ deadly incursion into southern Israel last month and Israel’s subsequent retaliatory attacks on Gaza is antisemitic because it implies the elimination of the State of Israel and its people. Others chanted, “Long live the Intifada,” an Arabic word used to refer to Palestinian uprising, specifically to conflicts that ran from 1987 and 1993 and from 2000 to about 2005 that left thousands dead. One man was arrested for destruction of property around 5:30 p.m., according to DC police.
As the protesters began marching down the roadways of DC, many stopped outside the White House to yell for Biden to call for a ceasefire. Biden was at his Rehoboth Beach, vacation home in Delaware.
Around 6:30 p.m., protesters were smearing red paint on the gates of the White House and chanting: “Allahu akbar,” “Fuck Joe Biden, according to the NY Post. Protesters shattered the windows of a nearby McDonald’s, which was already peppered with pro-Palestinian stickers and spray paint.
“Biden, Biden you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” one MC yelled into the microphone, drawing cheers from the attendees.
Right-wing Neo Nazi blog The Daily Stormer has gloated about this riot, calling it the “largest anti-Jewish rally since the Nuremberg rallies”, referring to the celebratory rallies organized by the Nazi Party during their reign. Last week, hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters stormed the Capital, making it the largest protest the building has seen since January 6.
France has since banned pro-Palestinian protests and vowed to protect Jews from resurgent antisemitism. President Emmanuel Macron urged French people not to allow the war in the Mideast erupt into tensions at home.
Soon before Macron spoke in a televised address to the nation about the Mideast conflict, Paris police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who had defied a ban and demonstrated Thursday against the Israeli government.
’’Let us not bring ideological adventures here by imitation or by projection. Let us not add national fractures ... to international fractures,″ Macron pleaded. ’’Let us stay united.″
Macron said that 13 French citizens in Israel have been killed in the current fighting, with 17 people missing, many believed held hostage by Hamas. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation Thursday into the killings and suspected kidnappings.
The French government has reported 24 arrests for more than 100 antisemitic acts in France since Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, including verbal abuse, people caught with knives near Jewish schools and synagogues and a drone equipped with a camera spotted over a Jewish cultural center. More than 2,000 cases of antisemitic speech have been reported to an online watchdog force.
Let’s get one thing clear: it is not inherently antisemitic to criticize the Israeli government, as long as it is fair and true. But in this case, Israel has been accused of blood libel—an antisemitic trope that has existed since the ancient Roman times. The accusations of Israelis being white supremacist colonizers (we were murdered by white supremacists last time I checked my notes) who are murdering Palestinians echoes the age-old accusation that Jews killed Jesus Christ and that they murder Christians in order to use their blood in their religious rituals.
The facts are that Jews are indigenous to Israel. Hamas, who controls the Gaza Strip, are an evil Jew-hating terrorist organization. Founded in 1987, Hamas’ intent to commit genocide against Jews has never been a secret. It is part of their covenant to rid the world of Jews. I refuse to type such evil words, but you can read it here.
In 2005, 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip were dismantled. Both Israeli settlers and the army evacuated from inside the Gaza Strip. The disengagement was proposed in 2003 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government in June 2004, and approved by the Knesset in February 2005 as the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law, which was implemented in August 2005 and completed in September 2005. The settlers who refused to accept government compensation packages and voluntarily vacate their homes prior to the August 15, 2005, deadline were evicted by Israeli security forces over a period of several days. The eviction of all residents, demolition of the residential buildings and evacuation of associated security personnel from the Gaza Strip was completed by September 12, 2005. The eviction and dismantlement of the four settlements in the northern West Bank was completed ten days later. Eight thousand Jewish settlers from the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip were relocated. The settlers received an average of more than US$200,000 in compensation per family.
If there’s one thing Judaism has taught me, it is light. Studying Torah is light. Praying is light. Lighting Shabbat candles is not only light, but defiance against hate. Despite these dark times, we can always find the light within HaShem, within ourselves and within each other. It has never been more crucial for Jews to stand up to hate. We must not assimilate, we must be unapologetically Jewish in these times.
Am Yisrael Chai.
-Aurora