(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
September 21, 2022
September 13, 2022
Announcing my Second Book: For the Love of Israel
This book is about the incredible Jewish homeland of Israel. As the prophet Isaiah states (11:12), "He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth." This work is a reflection of my deep love and yearning for our Promised Land. This book is anchored in G-d's Biblical promise to the Jewish people for this amazing land, the decades of persecution culminating in the Holocaust that the Jews have endured, our miraculous national resurrection and return, the blossoming of the deserts and metamorphosis into a scientific, technological and military world power, and the hope and prayer for all us to be able to make Aliyah and for the completion of the Redemption and the coming of the Mashiach.
Announcing my Second Book: For the Love of Israel
May 15, 2022
The Tragic Comedy of the “Anti-Zionist Synagogue”
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "The Tragic Comedy of the 'Anti-Zionist Synagogue'."
"…the creation of an ethnic Jewish nation state in historic Palestine resulted in an injustice against the Palestinian people, an injustice that continues to this day."
However, the facts do not match the rhetoric. Anti-Zionism, regardless of the source is ultimately about Jew hatred.
The Tragic Comedy of the “Anti-Zionist Synagogue”
May 13, 2022
No News Is Good News
Unfortunately, most of the news these days is bad news.
- War
- Terrorism
- Global tensions
- Threats of WMD
- Political dysfunction
- Inflation
- Trade deficit
- Ballooning debt
- Sinking economy
- Global warming
- Social divisions
- Rampant crime
- Chaos at the border
- Pandemic
- Care giver shortage
Only good news is usually technology and acts of compassion, caring, personal sacrifice and sometimes true heroism! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
No News Is Good News
May 1, 2022
The Real Unthinkable Option
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Real Unthinkable Option
April 9, 2022
Terror In Israel: Time To Take Out The Trash
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called "Terror in Israel: Time To Take Out The Trash."Passover, which is the holiday of liberation and freedom, is also when we must acknowledge that hate and terror is inconsistent with faith and holiness. The terrorists impinge on our freedom to live as a free people in our own land. On Passover, we must renew ourselves with the strength, determination, and perseverance to rid ourselves of the chametz, not only as represented by food but metaphysically by those filled with haughtiness, intolerance, hate, and violence towards us.
Terror In Israel: Time To Take Out The Trash
March 20, 2022
Russia’s Aggression Proves Iran Must Be Stopped
As countries, responsible and rogue, pursue ever increasing and deadlier nuclear weapons (as well as deadly biological and chemical weapons), the chances grow for a unilateral bilateral, or multilateral exchange to take place. Whether from a brutal tyrant wanting to grow their base of corrupt power to a rampaging megalomaniac bent of world domination, a paranoid schizophrenic leader who feels that his “back is up against the wall,” or a radical theocratic crackhead convinced that G-d is on their side and wants them to kill all the infidels, we are inching ever closer to the day when nukes or other weapons of mass destruction will be out of the silo, port container, or suitcase.
It is time to finally and fully acknowledge the growing threat especially from Iran and take the necessary preemptive action to stop them before they follow Russia’s dangerous playbook to even greater global malice and consequence.
(Credit Photo: blueforce4116, https://www.flickr.com/photos/blueforce4116/1393622639/in/photolist-389)Russia’s Aggression Proves Iran Must Be Stopped
February 20, 2022
Lessons From Israel In Stopping Ransomware
Israel is a small, but powerful nation that wants to stop attacks before they get to their door, and indeed, their lives depend on that. We can learn from Israel's military doctrine of deterrence through overwhelming strength, unity, and disincentivizing the attackers to inform other security issues, such as ransomware attacks. I believe that the answer lies in a public-private security partnership financially backed by the government.First, companies voluntarily join a public-private security partnership in which they adhere to higher security standards and oversight as well as pledge not to pay ransomware. Additionally, these companies are placed on a public list and given a badge or seal of approval/logo like Brink's Home Security or ADT to display that indicates they are "fortified," and in this case, that they won't pay any ransom, and are backed by the government.
Second, the government provides an incentive for companies to participate in the public-private partnership and not to pay ransomware. The incentive provided is that the companies are backstopped (insured) by the government in the event of a ransomware attack to them. This is similar to ransomware insurance, but the difference is that the cost to companies would be a fraction of what they would otherwise have to pay. The benefit to the taxpayer is that the market for ransomware dries up with companies that have pledged not to pay. As the program become universal, there is no one left for the ransomware attackers to target.
(Source Photo: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ransomware-cyber-crime-malware-2321110/)
Lessons From Israel In Stopping Ransomware
January 23, 2022
Not Terror But Hugs
While standing up for the Torah to be brought back to the ark, a little boy comes up to me and just gives me a big hug. I learned afterwards that the boy “makes the rounds” in shul giving everyone a beautiful Shabbat embrace. This simple symbolic act of caring and loving others, mainly many older people in synagogue, by this innocent child gave people an uncommon sense of happiness and even hope in our future despite the anti-Semitism and hate of too many others outside.The love of G-d is our secret for life and for our perseverance throughout history. G-d loves us as His children, but also punishes us as His children. As children, we are always learning and growing, but as adults we have to act in a way of righteousness and holiness, so that we will merit the former, and not the latter. With G-d's mercy and blessings, hopefully, we will have peace in our synagogues and our lives, wherever we reside in the world, to worship and live as Jewish people free of bigotry, hate, and terror, once and for all.
Not Terror But Hugs
January 8, 2022
Discerning The Truth Amid Iran’s Lies
While people can easily utter falsehoods, like Iran saying that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, the documents and computer drives that Israel captured in 2016 when they courageously raided Iran’s nuclear archive shows that Iran has been pursuing a dangerous nuclear weapons program for decades.The Jewish people learned from 2,000 years in exile and persecution ending in the Holocaust that killed six million Jews that we must take verbal threats of annihilation supported by facts on the ground against us most seriously. As children of the Holocaust survivors, we must be true to our words of “Never again” and act with courage and determination to confront the enemy covertly and if necessary, with overt action to stop their genocidal pursuit from ever getting off the ground.
The world has tried to contain Iran for decades: From monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities through the IAEA, to sanctions and covert actions to deter and set back Iran’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, and the JCPOA deal to try to contain Iran’s march to nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, nothing has worked, and Iran is intent on getting the bomb.
Moreover, while the costs of a preemptive attack on Iran could be great, the doctrine from former Prime Minister, Menachem Begin that Israel cannot and will not allow countries that threaten Israel’s existence to get the means to carry it out is as true today as in 1981 when Israel took out Iraq’s nuclear reactor in Osirak.
Discerning The Truth Amid Iran’s Lies
January 1, 2022
A 2022 New Year of Eggs
Congratulations!
But I wouldn't call it "eggcellent," because there is a lot of world instability and fear looming on the horizon.
Are we looking at competition, conflict, and even possible areas of collapse or a much rosier outcome in the order of things?
- From Russia to China and Iran to North Korea.
- From Al-Qaeda to ISIS and Hamas to Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad
- From WMD to Cyber 9/11 and EMPs to Hypersonic ICBMs
- From Covid to the Economy and Inflation to National Insolvency
Like a bunch of eggs.
Will it be a year of Broken, Scrambled and Mashed or Sunny Side Up and Eggs Over Easy?
Either way, we had better hope and pray that we don't get fried and burned. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
A 2022 New Year of Eggs
September 19, 2021
Unstoppable Fear Meets Immovable Humiliation
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is really about fear vs. humiliation. The Jews are fearful of the Palestinians and the Palestinians feel humiliated by the Jews. The Jewish people collectively suffer post-traumatic stress and anxiety disorders after millennia of persecution culminating in the Holocaust and multiple Wars in Israel against far greater Arab forces. Further, this has been perpetuated by decades of terrorism and Intifadas that have left the Jews feeling vulnerable in their own land of Israel. The net effect of this Jewish history and of being surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabs, many resentful and angry, is that Jews are naturally afraid. At the same time, the Palestinians, as part of the greater Arabs, feel humiliated after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the carving up of their lands by the West and the colonialism and occupation that followed by Britain and France. More recently, the Palestinians feel humiliated by the founding of the State of Israel amidst the multitude of Arab lands of the Middle of East, as well as by the barrier wall and regular checkpoints that protects Israel from terrorist intruders, by the West Bank settlements (and actually by Jews anywhere in Israel), and by general Israeli military control over the territories.There is hope that in time and with G-d's help, the opposing forces of fear and humiliation will weaken and thereby become less oppositional. At that miraculous time, please G-d in the near future, the factors that prior resulted in a cosmic explosion of war, terror, Jihad, and Intifada will dissipate. Then instead of suicide bombers and terror tunnels and walls and checkpoints, we can have hope for the arrival of a beautiful white dove with an olive branch of peace that knows no bitter boundaries of Jew or Palestinian anymore.
Unstoppable Fear Meets Immovable Humiliation
August 17, 2021
Disastrous Politics
- 20 years of blood and treasure: $2,000,000,000,000, and 2,500 lost US military personal and G-d knows how many casualties (oh, about another 20,000)!
Now complete and utter chaos, and a turnover to terrorism.
Reminiscent of Iran's overthrow of the Shah and the U.S. hostage crisis for 444 days and when we lost Vietnam and the helicopters frantically evacuating US embassy personnel from the rooftop.
BTW, what happened to our "Red Lines" on chemical weapons in Syria?
Where are our inherent values and the dependability of who we are and what we stand for?
Now we are once again emboldening Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia.
Moreover, US Admiral says China is within 6 years of potentially taking Taiwan (guess where most of the computer chips are made and we already have a shortage)!!!
On top of this we have the Delta variant of Covid (and fears of worse coming) for this 1.5 year long pandemic with the CDC mask on again/off again non-sensical guidance.
Then we have a $1,200,000,000,000 infrastructure bill and a $3,500,000,000,000 social welfare bill in the works to put on top of the US already almost $29,000,000,0000,000 national debt.
Any ideas what that will do to the value of the US currency in the world and inflation rearing its ugly head.
I am starting to see a run on food and home stables in the stores again with items sold out.
Consumer confidence is shaking and the stock market is teetering off at a very high precipice.
Oh, don't forget the border crisis which is getting out of control again.
What the F*** is going on here? ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Disastrous Politics
August 8, 2021
No Talking To A Terrorist
The fact of the matter is that when a terrorist who hates you and wants to kill you talks, they are telling you that homicidal action is soon forthcoming. It starts with words of disdain, loathing, threats, and hostility, but make no mistake, that those words end in terror and death. Terrorists, like the radical Iranian mullahs are not someone you can sit down with for tea, have a nice conversation, and work out a meaningful or binding diplomatic agreement. Unfortunately, the only thing that a murderous, racist terrorist understands is a punch in the nose! Accordingly, no amount of talking with Iran is going to lead to them ceasing their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction to use against the Jewish State and the United States. In their own very distorted “religious” minds, the irrational Iranian mullahs hate us and want us dead, period. To them, we are the scorned infidels, and they are the holy jihadists on a mission of murder. As much as we want peace with all our neighbors, in this case, a military response is not only necessary, but required.The Jewish people have learned very well the hard and painful lessons from tyrannical madmen who have sought to destroy us over the centuries. The Holocaust is seared into our present-day consciousness like the tattooed numbers were into their victim’s flesh. We have learned to never let our guard down, to expect the unexpected, and to fight like hell when we have to. I am confident that with G-d’s help, Israel and the United States will not wait until it’s too late or stand by for a genocide to happen again! What Iran “says,” it means, but what Israel “does,” it expertly succeeds at.
No Talking To A Terrorist
July 20, 2021
Ben and Jerry's: Racism and Terror
Ben and Jerry's: Racism and Terror
July 4, 2021
A Practical Approach to Peace in the Middle East
The question then is why? What is so intractable about the Israel-Palestinian conflict that no one seems to be able to solve it and that it has become virtually the Holy Grail of world issues on which if only we could solve it then everything else would-be nirvana. The conflict has been blamed for everything from the endless Palestinian refugee situation to Soviet aggression and expansion during the Cold War, the oil embargo of 1973, the rise and proliferation of Islamic terrorism, and countless other of the world’s ills. Anyone who even contributes to Middle East Peace like Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat win the Noble Peace Prize, and that’s without there being a full and final solution!I am certain that Israel’s willingness to negotiate and even to make painful compromises for peace has been far more prevalent, far-reaching, and consistent over time—whether in Oslo, Camp David, or Taba. In the meantime, Israel and the Palestinians continue to “take the risks” and remain in a perpetual state of sometimes active and more often passive war that is fought by Israel through military control and incremental settlement expansion and by the Palestinians through terrorism and their pursuit of the demographic population time bomb. When it comes to achieving peace, perhaps the wisdom of the ages applies here: “the short road is long”—there are no shortcuts to serious negotiation and compromise—and “the long road is short”—eventually, a solution for peace will be found even if for now it tragically and painfully evades us all.
A Practical Approach to Peace in the Middle East
June 27, 2021
From Passivity To Power
Over the course of our history, the Jewish people have grown from a passive and helpless people during 2,000 years of exile to become, once again, an assertive and strong nation in the Land of Israel as we once were in the days of Joshua, King David and the Maccabees.In the end, we need to be as faithful as “Jacob” and as strong as “Israel.” As we learn in the Torah and from the rest of Jewish history: inside every Jacob, who just wants to serve G-d in peace as the “People of the Book,” there is also a determined, strong, and brave Israelite fighter and innovator who can stand up for his people and his faith.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
From Passivity To Power
May 30, 2021
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.
The UNHRC is a Bloody Joke
May 23, 2021
The Stranger and The Enemy
In summary, with regards to Israel, we must follow two important commandments that guide our relationships with the outside world. First, there is the imperative to love our neighbor and the stranger. Second is the dictum to wholly defend ourselves from our enemies who seek our destruction. While on the surface these may pose a contradiction, in reality, they do not, because if our neighbors and the strangers among us are willing to live in genuine peace with us then we gladly and actively will extend the olive branch in peace and brotherhood. But if unfortunately, our neighbors are bent on our genocide then we must fight them.Love and peace is always what we want from the bottom of our hearts, but war is a necessity that is sometimes thrust upon us by our enemies and that we must absolutely, with G-d’s help, win.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Stranger and The Enemy