Who Are You to Threaten Israel?

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Who Are You to Threaten Israel?"

It is especially troubling to see the UK, France, and Canada—nations whose own histories are marred by unaddressed injustices—so quick to condemn the world’s only Jewish state as it struggles for survival in a region and a world that has too often been inhospitable, if not outright hostile, to Jews. These countries, whose own “glass houses” were built on the suffering of others, would do well to reflect on their own histories before casting stones at Israel, which continues to fight for its very existence.

(AI generated image via Perplexity)

Who Are You to Threaten Israel?

Free Free Free...Ukraine!

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Free, Free, Free...Ukraine!"

On college campuses across America, why do we hear "free Palestine" but not "free Ukraine" when the Ukrainian issue is so much larger and more deadly?

Russia is the largest country in the world; Israel is one of the smallest.

Russia is totalitarian and aligned with troublesome countries such as China, Iran, and North Korea; Israel is a democracy and one of the closest allies of the USA.

Russia threatens all of NATO with imperialistic expansionist goals and has the potential for escalation to WW3; Israel is fighting for its very existence.

(AI generated image via Designer)

 

Free Free Free...Ukraine!

The Incredible Chutzpah of Hamas

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "The Incredible Chutzpah of Hamas."

Surely, the Jihadist massacre in Israel by hordes of Hamas terrorists on October 7, where they perpetrated such ungodly savage acts on 1,200 Jews that should never be done to any human being, would have shown the world the true face of evil.

But no, still, the rabid antisemites of the world gleefully tear down the posters of the women and children hostages, cursing the Jews, saying Hitler was right in wanting to exterminate us, and wishing out loud that Hamas would do what they did to us on 10/7 yet again and again.

In the face of all this, O’ Lord, we thank You for setting free the first 41 hostages in the last two days, and we eagerly await the rest to come home soon by Your miraculous hand. Please give success to the Israel Defense Forces and their U.S. allies to utterly defeat the terrorists and their Iranian sponsors, and grant us the fortitude and strength to overcome all the forces of darkness in this world and reach the ultimate redemption speedily in our times.

(Source Photo: GDJ via: https://pixabay.com/vectors/human-head-person-liar-two-faced-8077902/)

The Incredible Chutzpah of Hamas

Some Shabbos Chuckles

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Some Shabbos Chuckles."

People never fail to amaze me in both their potential as well as in their idiosyncrasies. But the last number of weeks have really brought home that while we Jews share many commonalities, there are also quite a few quirky differences, and many of these are worth sharing.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Some Shabbos Chuckles

Pop Culture Just Doesn't "Get" Us

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Pop Culture Just Doesn't 'Get' Us."

Of course, when Jews are hypocrites, act holier than thou, or do bad things, they give the rest of us a bad name, and this can breed not only confusion about Jews but also, in the extreme, hate and anti-Semitism. One Chabad Rabbi said today that the Rebbe hardly ever used the word anti-Semitism or spoke of it; instead, he focused on the idea that Jews should do good and perform acts of G-dliness and righteousness in the world.

I believe we can all agree that Jews behave differently; sometimes they do good, sometimes they don't, but regardless, we're a little bit of a mystery to many non-Jews, which is sometimes shrouded in a large dose of fiction and conspiracy. For many, I put it this way: they still can't understand why the fiddler was ever playing on the roof to begin with.

(Credit Photo: ericbarns via https://pixabay.com/photos/dancing-clubbing-dancers-nightclub-206740/)

Pop Culture Just Doesn't "Get" Us

The U.N.’s Double Standard On Nukes

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "The U.N.'s Double Standard on Nukes."

As war rages or threatens in hotspots around the world, and the nations responsible are actively pursuing, building, testing, and threatening others with nuclear weapons, it appears that the United Nations is deliberately ignoring the real dangers here.

If only the United Nations would live up to its charter! Then we might truly have a world of tolerance and international peace and security.

Is the United Nations really about bringing the nations of the world together?

Or is it about casting the Jews to the wolves?

(Source Photo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-standing-near-body-of-water-2244330/)

The U.N.’s Double Standard On Nukes

The Hypocrisy of False Repentance

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "The Hypocrisy of False Repentance."

We firmly believe that there is true Divine justice by the Almighty (even if not always by our court system), and that if we don’t do good and work at perfecting our deficiencies as is our purpose in Olam Hazeh (this world), then we will suffer the consequences in the World to Come.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Hypocrisy of False Repentance

The Irreligious Religious

 
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "The Irreligious Religious."

If some “religious” people do the wrong thing, disrespect their fellow Jews, hate on them, curse them, defile their prayers, that doesn’t mean they are really religious. Rather to the contrary — they are the irreligious religious!

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Irreligious Religious

People of Ukraine

It hit me today — with all the news about Russia preparing to invade Ukraine and devastate its people, unprovoked, there is nobody talking about the people of Ukraine.

Our leaders and news media are so misguided and focused on the geopolitics of the thing, all they talk about is what the U.S. and EU will do in terms of some measly sanctions.

But they have completely forgotten the innocent people there — 44 million of them — who face death and occupation.

Where is our leadership????

Where are the speeches about the innocent people? About freedom? About democracy? About human rights?

Where is the United Nations????

They are supposed to safeguard and maintain peace and security around the globe.

Where are the outspoken liberals who call out occupation, apartheid, and human rights abuses????

Not a word from anyone.

It’s incredible how prejudiced, biased, discriminatory and corrupt all these people can be. They can be brainwashed, bribed, and bought to speak out for those when it will somehow fit their agenda or benefit them!

But when the Russian or Chinese powerful aggressors are at the doorstep of Ukraine or Hong Kong/Taiwan — where is anybody to speak out?

Last night, I imagined the people of Ukraine sitting in fear, in worry about what will happen to them, their families, their homes.

Do the world leaders care anything about the lives of real people — men, women, and children — or only about how any conflict makes them look, and how they are polling, and the next election?

Morality and conscience — is it on life support or dead in this narcissist world of the powerful and elite. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

People of Ukraine

When Hypocrisy Leads To Abuse

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "When Hypocrisy Leads to Abuse."

As many of you, I have been following the news about sexual abuse allegations against Rabbi Chaim Walder and have been horrified and disgusted that this renowned ultra-orthodox Children’s book author and therapist is now accused of abusing the same. Like community Rabbis (e.g. Rabbi Barry Freundel) or Jewish educators (e.g. Stanley Rosenfeld), this phenomenon of using a privileged position to take advantage of women and children is certainly, by this time, not new and remains a stain on the Jewish community, no different than that of the Catholic Church or the Boy Scouts for the abuse by its priest and leaders on those that trusted them and the religious values and ideals they represent.

Truly, these horrible acts of hurting, abusing, and scarring for life women and children (including boys) are regrettably all around us, whether with domestic violence, rape, sexual abuse, and human trafficking. But fortunately now they are at least “out of the closet” where rather than have the community deny the possibility that such evil exists or even circle the wagons to wholly protect the perpetrators (before fully investigating the facts), we now have greater recognition and are working towards accountability of these wrongs, and hopefully, far greater protection for people in the future.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

When Hypocrisy Leads To Abuse

Ben and Jerry's Can Drop Dead!

 

Just wanted to express my firm sentiment that:

Ben and Jerry's can drop dead!

The anti-Semites at Unilever/Ben and Jerry's decided that they would boycott selling their ice cream in the West Bank in Israel. 

Gee, why don't they boycott selling their crappy ice cream to the murderous Assad Regime in Syria or to the radical Mullahs in Iran or the terrorists organizations Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon and so many more outrageous dictators and human rights abusers in the world? Will Ben and Jerry's boycott China where they detain a million Uyghurs in "reeducation" camps or Russia for invading and annexing Crimea? But as we all know, these corrupt bureaucrats wouldn't dare! 

I am convinced deep down that we are dealing simply with hard core anti-Semitic hate-mongers playing executives at Ben and Jerry's. 

Honestly though, it is no loss what-so-ever, since Haagen-Dazs is about a million times better ice cream than Ben and Jerry's ever was or will be.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Ben and Jerry's Can Drop Dead!

The UNHRC is a Bloody Joke

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "The UNHRC is a Bloody Joke."

While the UNHRC has an incredibly important and noble mission to promote and protect human rights around the world, in reality, the UNHRC, conducts itself like its anti-Semitic parent, the United Nations (UN) which regularly condemns Israel at every turn of world events. Made up of a variety of despots, dictators, terrorists, and rotten-to-the core human rights violators, the UNHRC refuses to condemn the incessant attacks and terrorism against Israel, but rather they defend those that want to “throw the Jews into the sea” and in turn use anti-Semitic attacks on Israel to hide their own fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption at home.

Unfortunately, while the UN “Commission” on Human Rights was replaced primarily in name only by a UN Human Rights “Council,” nothing much else changed in their wanton display of corruption, anti-Semitism, and human rights violations. To this day, the leaders of these countries use Israel and the Jews as an object of hatred and for persecution to deflect and hide the repression and atrocities that they routinely and wantonly do to their very own people.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The UNHRC is a Bloody Joke

Depends On Who You Ban

So the alt-left and media are all aghast at President Trump placing a temporary travel ban from 7 muslim-majority nations for national security reasons!

That's out of more than 50 majority Muslim nations in the world or less than 14%.

And these were the countries identified by the former President Obama as the "countries of concern" because of terrorism!

See the 7 nations (out of 50+) highlighted below:

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Chad
Comoros
Djibouti
Egypt
Guinea
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Libya
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Mauritania
Mayotte
Morocco
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
The Gambia
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Western Sahara
Yemen

What is also unbelievably amazing is that 6 of these 7 Muslim nations with a temporary ban from President Trump, plus 10 more countries, for a total of 16 Muslim countries have a permanent ban placed on Israeli Jews!

Where is the alt-left and media outrage about this travel ban on Jews?

Oh, apparently for the alt-left, compassion, dignity, equality, and human rights don't apply to Jews today any more than they did during the Holocaust where 6,000,000 were left to die in a genocide at the brutal hands of the Nazi's.

To them, a permanent ban on Jews is apparently fine and national security of the United States who cares--that's what talking out of both sides of the mouth is all about.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Depends On Who You Ban

Obama, Kerry, and the UN's 6 Principles of Ultimate Hypocrisy

So how do we know that Obama, Kerry, and the UN's position and resolutions against Israel is biased, hateful, and Anti-Semitic? 

Let's briefly look at the 6 ludicrous principles--as applied to the United States and it's settling the land of the Native American Indians. 

Principle 1: Recognized International Borders for 2 People  

- For the United States that would be recognized international borders for the Native American Indians and for the the United States agreed to by both sides.

Principle 2: Two States for Two Peoples

- That would be a West America for Native American Indians and an East America for the United States (see graphic above).

Principle 3: Realistic Solution for Refugees

- The realistic solution would not involve a return of the Native American Indians to East America, but would involve compensation. 

Hmm, how much do we realistically owe the Native American Indians for half the country? 

Principle 4: Washington DC as Capital for 2 States

- That would look something like this with a West Washington D.C. as capital for Native American Indians and an East Washington D.C. as capital for the United States. 

Principle 5: Satisfy U.S. Security Needs

- This would involve "innovative approaches to creating unprecedented, multi-layered border security."  

Uh, what does that mean, especially with our estimated 11.4 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. already???

Principle 6: Normalized Relations

- For the U.S., "this must bring broader peace" with South American neighbors (including Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.) and would allow "groundbreaking" security partnerships with others like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. 

Wonder how that would all work out, huh???

The main difference between the U.S. and Israel is that actually Jews were promised the land of Israel by G-d him/herself and the Jews have actually lived and worshipped there for 4,000 years!

If Obama, Kerry, and the United Nations want to lecture on a Two State Only Solution, perhaps they need to start by contacting the Native American Indians and getting out their drawing boards. ;-)

(Source Graphics: By Andy Blumenthal adapted from here and here)

Obama, Kerry, and the UN's 6 Principles of Ultimate Hypocrisy

Temper Tantrums Don't Make Peace

The latest salvos of U.S. anger, frustration, and temper tantrums are not helpful to achieving peace in the world. 

We are not dealing with children and should not treat foreign countries and leaders "with disdain and disrespect" or with bias, hate, and underling anti-Semitism. 

Nor should we get on our soapbox high and mighty and "lecture" others, especially when we ourselves have been grossly deficient and derelict. 

Over the last 8 years:

We let 500,000 Syrians be massacred, including the very rebels that we were supposedly supporting, and allowed many to be killed with prohibited chemical weapons (violating our definitive "red line")!

We let Ukraine be attacked and Crimea be stolen!

We let Russian nuclear-capable weapons be stationed on the border of NATO.

We let millions of refugees stream across the Middle East and world homeless and helpless. 

We let the world's #1 sponsor of terrorism, Iran, become a licensed nuclear power, extend their Caliphate across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen--while swarming and buzzing our ships and taking our sailors hostage and humiliating them. 

We let North Korea advance it's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

We let China build and militarize the South China Sea and threaten freedom of navigation of the seas, and let them steal our drone in International waters. 

We let our ambassador to Libya and his associates be murdered.

We let the President of the Philippines call our President a "son of a whore."

We let ISIS rampage and murder across the globe in countless terror attacks, while we called them "workplace violence" and traffic accidents.

We let divisiveness seep into and poison our own cities, communities, people, and even against law enforcement, and politicized everything stagnating our our country and making us fall further behind in the world from education to life expectancy. 

We abandoned those seeking democracy, freedom, and human rights from the Green Revolution in Iran to the Arab Spring across the Middle East. 

And the list goes shamefully on and on.

But what's possibly even worse is that while we failed the world over, we are arrogant and nasty to others betraying our friend and allies in one-sided resolutions that ignore the scrounge of terrorism, deadly attacks, Anti-Semitism as well as with horrible deals with Iran that threaten their very existence. 

While we continue to sit in America, on land forcibly and violently taken from the Native American Indians, having brutally enslaved for hundreds of years African Americans, abused women and treated them as lessor in role, voting, and dignity, interned Japanese Americans and twice dropped the Atom Bomb on civilian cities, what right do we have to lecture anyone?

Yes, we dole out billions to nations around the world, for what we want whether in terms of allies, voting blocks, military cooperation, intelligence, or because of religious convictions, but that does not give us the right to arrogantly and bulling tell others or try to force them how to live in their neighborhoods and with the threats facing their people. 

While we did nothing, we spoke a great deal trying in vain to force our will on others, and the failures that abound are a reflection of just that leadership from behind, hypocrisy, and hubris. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Temper Tantrums Don't Make Peace

After The Election Hypocrisy

So after the election yesterday, once the results were in, the after shocks were apparent in downtown, Washington DC and across the nation.

- There were quiet spaces set up for people to "console" themselves and each other. 

- There were signs like this to change the rules and the system, and abolish the electoral college.

- There were more nasty grams between family, friends, colleagues, and strangers on Facebook and Twitter.

- There were protests and riots.

- There was American flag burning.

- There was yelling, cursing, and crying.

Of course, I understand that the election was an upset to half the population (actually, maybe over half of the popular vote).

And I certainly agree with people who are against bigotry and racism--these are things that should ALWAYS be condemned in no uncertain terms!

However, while trying to take the moral high ground, there is plenty of bigotry and hate to go around--such as branding other people as racists (even if they are not so), calling tens of millions of people "deplorables," and stating that they are unequivocally "unredeemable." 

Similarly, while attacking one candidate for his sexual banter and (possibly) conduct, the husband of the other candidate was himself impeached from the presidency for his infidelities.  

And no matter how big a feminist our beliefs, rather than falsely blaming an unjust "glass ceiling," in her concession speech yesterday, the candidate should have done a mea culpa and acknowledged perhaps a very understandable "corruption ceiling" that put the brakes on her own trust, likability and electability.

Reminiscent to condemning the violence at the Trump rallies, the hypocrisy of it all, was when it become known that the operatives of the DCN themselves, in Project Veritas, were the ones actually sparking and doing the violence.

Further, one candidate was ruthlessly denigrated for even suggesting that there was election fraud going on, even while indeed town hall questions were being passed from the media by the DNC's own chairperson to the other candidate and the prior chairperson was fired from the DNC's actions in their rigging the primary against Bernie Sanders who would have had a decent chance at actually winning "the whole enchilada."

But what happened to everyone committing to accepting the results of a free and fair election in a democracy--is that only if YOUR candidate wins?

Whether it's with hate, name-calling, violence, and sore losing...maybe there is a lot of bad behavior along with "calling the tea kettle black" going on. 

While we call for the "orderly transitions" of power in Egypt, for Britain with Brexit, and elsewhere in the world, perhaps our leaders should hold ourselves to similar standards of conduct here. 

It's time to STOP the HATE, BIGOTRY, AND VIOLENCE on all sides, and come together to do something positive for this country.

The national security and welfare of the country is at stake, but even more so, the soul of it is still mired in corruption and lies of a very ugly election. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

After The Election Hypocrisy

United Nations UNjust

Now I understand what the UN (as in United Nations) really stands for...

It's predominantly UNjust and corrupt!

The United Nations Secretary once again today called out Israel for it's "occupation that grinds into its 50th year."

This builds on the other 2,342 times that the UN General Assembly has called out this "occupation" of land that Israel acquired when it's neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, and Syria) went to war against it in 1967 (after the prior wars of annihilation against Israel in 1948 and 1956).  

And yet as of June 2015, the UN Human Rights Council has condemned Israel 61 times--more than all other nations on this planet combined!

It's not only UNjust and hypocritical, but underlying it is the core of anti-Semitism for this body that is supposed to be based on equal rights, self-determination, and universal peace.

Ultimately, it's not an occupation that the UN is trying to deal with, but a preoccupation to deflect how wholly ineffective it is in every genuine major conflict in the world.  

Here are just some examples of the gross inaction by the esteemed UN when it comes to these occupations/militarizations (again, just to name a few):

1) Russia in Georgia and Ukraine

2) China in the South China Sea

3) India in Kashmir

4) Turkey in Cyprus

Moreover, just to put all this in perspective, where is the UN (or the prior League of Nations or other world leadership) when it comes to the hosts of genocides and ethnic cleansing estimates at below: (and this list doesn't even include the horrifying death tolls from the countless unjust wars, dictatorships, political unrest, purges, repressions and slavery):

Nazi Holocaust 11.0M

Ukraine 4.6M

Cambodia 2.1M

Bangladesh 1.7M

Armenia 1.1M

Rwanda 1.2M

Indian Partition .6M

Syria .5M

Greek .5M

Brazil .4M

Croatia .4M

Darfur .3M

Cambodia .2M

Pogroms .1M

It seems like the United Nations, if in the habit of shameful occupation name-calling and prejudiced resolutions, has missed the boat on millions being slaughtered and occupied around the world. 

Maybe it's time for the UN to stop picking on the minority, Jewish people (.2% of the world's population and with the Holy Land state the size of New Jersey), and start dealing with the real big problems in this world or maybe they just can't handle that. 

(Source Photo: here with attribution to United Nations)

United Nations UNjust

Shut Up In Shul

So today, I went to synagogue for Shabbat. 

I sat by one of my friends and in between some prayers was catching up with him from the week. 

Okay, I know that I shouldn't be talking (so much) in shule, but it is an important way for me to connect with other Jewish people and community. 

Then all of a sudden, another person says to me without any warning, "Shut up!"

At first, I thought it was a joke, then he says it again with a serious face, and I was so embarrassed. 

And only partially for me, but maybe even more for him.

What type of person uses that type of language to someone and in synagogue. 

He didn't say, can you keep it down or let's focus on our prayers or something human and kind. 

Instead, he talked to me like an animal and I couldn't believe it and tonight is Tisha B'Av, when Hashem twice destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (in part it is said because of hatred of Jew against Jew). 

It reminded me of how I saw some horrible videos on Facebook this week of Chasidim from Neturei Karta and Satmar protesting against Israel and their fellow Jewish people...what a complete sickness to wish evil and destruction against your own brothers and sisters, rather than helping them to build and grow a beautiful state in service to G-d and a light unto nations. 

In synagogue today, while I was silent before this person's horrible words of rebuke, my friend said to him, "This is how you talk?  You say shut up [and in shul]!"

I appreciated that he said something, and the other guy actually apologized then.

I hope Hashem can forgive me for talking in shule and the people who treat each other badly. 

I am sad at how twisted religion has gotten to some, and know this is not the way it is supposed to be. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Shut Up In Shul

For The Love Of Animals

I read this incredible story in the Jerusalem Post about Denmark prohibiting Shechita (the Jewish kosher way to slaughter animals for food). 

What is amazing about this is:

1) Shechita is known as one of the most humane ways to slaughter animals for food. It involves a single rapid uninterrupted stroke across the throat with a super sharp knife. One of the reasons this method is used is precisely so that the animal does not feel any pain. This is unlike other common practices for slaughtering animals which include clubbing, electrifying, shooting, suffocation, and more. 

2) Denmark while prohibiting Shechita, permits bestiality/Zoophilia (human sex with animals). So bestiality, a very pagan-like practice, is legal in Denmark, even though it is prohibited under the penalty of death (for the person and the animal) in the Bible. 

So animal rape is okay in Denmark. And Judeo Christian laws and beliefs are not, especially when they actually protect the animals. Uh, something is rotten in the barn here. Or put another way:

Animals in the bedroom--Oh, no, no, no.

Animals ritually slaughtered for dinner--moo, moo, moo.  ;-)

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Ed Schipul)

For The Love Of Animals

Google Hypocrisy?

Google, which touts itself as the one that "organize[s] the world's information and make[s] it universally accessible and usable," ended its Reader product on Monday, July 1. 

The RSS reader was a terrific tool for aggregating content feeds on the Internet (and Google is a terrific company that benefits the whole world's thirst for knowledge).

With Google Reader you could subscribe to tens or hundreds of news services, blogs, and other information feeds and read it on your desktop or mobile device. 

Reader represented the Google mission itself by pulling together all this information and making it available in one reading place, simply and easily for anyone. 

While the Goolge line is that they killed Reader, because of a declining user base, I find this less then credible, since anecdotally it seems like a very popular tool that is helpful to people. Moreover, Google could've chosen to competitively enhance this product rather than just shut it down. 

So why did they end a great product that literally fits their mission perfectly?

We can only surmise that the ad clicks weren't there (and thus neither was the profit) or perhaps Google felt this product was cannibalizing attention from their other products like Google News (a limited aggregator) or from some of their paying ad sponsors or partners feeding other products like Google Glass.

We may never know the answer, but what we do know is that, in this case, Google sold out on it's core mission of organizing and providing information and abandoned their adoring userbase for Reader. 

Feedly and other more clunky readers are out there, but Google Reader is a loss for the information needy and desirous and a misstep by Google. 

RIP Reader, I think we will yet see you, in some form or fashion, yet again. ;-)

(Source Photo: here with attribution to Laurie Pink)

Google Hypocrisy?