Many people are comparing the mass Hamas-led attack on Israel last week to the infamous 9/11 Al-Qaeda attacks on America. Others are saying it is like the vicious pogrom-massacres our people have faced in Europe and elsewhere over the many years of our exile and dispersion.

I’d like to push back on those analogies a bit.

It would possibly be just like 9/11 if 49,000 Americans were killed by the terrorists on that dark day. That’s the equivalent percentage of victims by population.

It would possibly be just like 9/11 if the Al-Qaeda terrorists went to the homes of the 3,000 American victims in order to kill them in front of their spouses and children.

It would possibly be just like 9/11 if the Al-Qaeda terrorists beheaded children in front of their parents on the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers.

Read More: here

H/T @scartale-an-undertale-au

A Letter to Non-Jews re: Israel

Jonathan Jaffe

22h

·

A Letter to My Non-Jewish Friends,

Dear Friends,

Please forgive me as I act so boldly as to speak for our collective Jewish community. I am writing in the fear that you may not know what your Jewish friends are currently going through. Surely you have heard the news of violence in Israel and some of you have even been so kind as to express your condolences. In this very lonely time, I cannot thank you enough.

Your Jewish friends and neighbors have spent the weekend in shock, misery and mourning. We are traumatized. Our families are under attack; some are missing and feared dead. Saturday morning began in dread and from there cascaded into frantic WhatsApp texts, panicked calls and constant scrolling through social media. We are not Ok.

If you are accustomed to receiving your news through the heavily sanitized Western media, please know that you are not living in the same world that we currently inhabit. You are not seeing what we are seeing: kidnapped children, naked bodies massacred and dragged through streets, parents murdered in front of their children, the elderly dumped into the back of pickup trucks; pages and pages of images of missing young adults, feared dead or taken hostage in Gaza to be tortured and paraded in the streets. Many young adults were attending a “nature party” music festival, as if Coachella was suddenly infiltrated by dozens of masked gunmen, arriving on machine-gun laden trucks, motorcycles and descending in hang gliders, thirsty for blood. Parents are posting pictures of their children, asking if anyone has seen them to please call them. There are dozens and dozens of such posts. You have not seen the video of the frightened Jewish young boy, mocked, abused and taunted for fun by his terrorist captors. You have not seen people dancing in the streets and handing out candy to celebrate the news of Jewish blood. You missed the Tik Tok videos and live streams of armed gunmen slaughtering parents in front of their children. You don’t know about the houses set afire to burn alive the families huddled within their safe rooms. We have seen all of it. And we know those who filmed it wanted us to see it and shared it with glee. And there is a world in which these videos are distributed in joyful celebration.

Moreover, you might not understand the historical lens with which we receive these images, a history of mutilated Jewish bodies and killing Jews for sport. To say that Saturday was Israel’s Pearl Harbor underestimates the sorrow and rage of the moment. At least the Japanese attackers had the dignity to focus upon military targets. They did not celebrate the animalistic torture of children and families. Candy was not passed out on the streets of Tokyo when the news of dead Americans was received. To see these images of tortured Jews invokes ghosts passed down from our great grandparents and beyond. We bear both the guilt and shame that it has happened again.

Our friends in Israel grieve. I can say without a doubt that there is not a single Jew in Israel who is not connected somehow to someone who was murdered over the weekend. The same goes for many Jews here in the US. Our Israeli contemporaries have been called into reserve duty, to put their life on the line once again. I received a picture from a friend of mine, a 50 year old father of four, with a sheepish look as he once again donned his military fatigues. My nephew is currently sitting on the border, somewhere under a bush, waiting for the enemy to come. Our family is heading into war. We pray for their safe return.

Here in America, your Jewish friends are under siege. Many of us spent the High Holy Days dealing with bomb threats. Did you know that many synagogues had to be evacuated last month? And that this happens to us all the time? Did you know that Anti-Semitic attacks are soaring by double digits each year, with a 36% increase just last year? Do you perform regular bomb sweeps of your preschools? We do. Are you forced to employ professional security teams to protect you around the clock? We do. And each time we do, we need to find the resources or cut from our programming to find the proper funding. Sometimes, it's not enough and we have to call in the police as well. When violence erupts between Russia and Ukraine, neither Russian nor Ukrainian churches must solicit professional protection for fear of attack. But we do. We are threatened by the far left and the far right, those who hearken to Hamas’ call for the destruction of world Jewry and those who march alongside the Proud Boys. We have seen our synagogues attacked and our congregants killed. We do not feel safe.

Today in New York City, those demonstrating in support of Israel were met with a fierce counterprotest of those celebrating Jewish murder. This happened today, in 2023, in our country. Nazi signs were held aloft. Last week, a speaker was invited on to my child’s high school campus, to spout Anti-Semitic tropes of Jews killing Palestinian babies and perpetrating genocide. Many of our political representatives offer infuriating words of moral equivocation in defense of murdering Jews. We hear the whataboutisms and the disinterested shrugs for a region inconveniently stained with blood. But worst of all, so many of our representatives remain utterly silent. Surely a raucous outcry will come when Israel inevitably defends itself. But when Jews are murdered for simply being Jews, and when we American Jews are targeted for the same, the silence is deafening. There are certainly those who have spoken out with empathy and clear denouncement of such cruelty. We are thankful for the light they provide in this time of darkness.

I wish I was in the mood for peace - but I am not. How can one talk peace as children are murdered over Tik Tok? In this moment, we are reminded that unlike our ancestors, we live in a time in which Jews have gained the ability to defend themselves. This power was not given to us but was won through blood. We no longer need to beseech the local feudal lord nor prove our worth to the ruling monarch. We will do it ourselves. On Saturday morning, the UN neatly packed up its tanks and vacated the northern border, lest they come under untidy fire from Hezbollah.

The Jewish state is now beginning to surely, unapologetically defend itself. Vanished is the false security that a racist, ruthless threat can be endured through the occasional skirmish. You cannot make peace with those who distribute candy to children in celebration that yours have been murdered. And now, Israel will act like any other country would if it was invaded by a blood thirsty neighbor and its citizens murdered, tortured, kidnapped and mutilated. It will do whatever it needs to make sure this can never happen again. And when the world inevitably protests the Jewish use of force, we won’t care. We will sadly disappoint those who long for the centuries of meek, defenseless Jews. We are no longer looking for the world’s approval and a condescending pat on the head.

If you want to demonstrate your support, you can simply ask us how we are doing. And if we don’t feel like speaking at the moment, you can sit with us in silence and we will know that you are here. Just know that we are experiencing trauma and that the sights we have witnessed will never be forgotten. We pray that all is done so that such things are never seen again.

On behalf of a mournful Jewish people,

Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe

Please listen to this phone call & share. The results of decades of indoctrination by Hamas: Jubilant phone conversation bw young Hamas terrorist & his family.

The terrorists are rewarded with cash gifts and apartments for every kill. 😢

"Hezbollah Threatens America As It Prepares To Defend Israel"

Breaking this down sentence by sentence, this is going to take a bit.

"The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has warned that it will kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel’s military bombs civilian targets in the Gaza Strip without warning." (tbh I think RogueRocket just took his sentence from this news report, I'll be real with you)

"Two French citizens have been confirmed dead in the fighting, the French Foreign Ministry said Monday, without elaborating. Several others (or dual citizens) are unaccounted for believed missing or held hostage."

"The U.S. State Department said Monday that at least nine American citizens have been killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel, raising the toll from four."

"The State Department says an undetermined number of American citizens remain missing and unaccounted for. It is not clear whether the missing had been taken hostage, were killed or are in hiding."

Associated Press, "Live updates: The latest on the Israel-Hamas war – day 3", PBS, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/live-updates-israel-hamas-conflict-day-3, published October 9th, 2023 (accessed October 9th, 2023)

"Hamas on Monday threatened to execute Israeli hostages if Israel continues to bombard civilian homes in Gaza without warning. “From this hour on, we announce that any targeting of civilian homes without advanced warning will be met regrettably with the execution of one of the enemy civilian hostages we hold, and we will be forced to broadcast this,” said Abu Obaida, the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, in remarks broadcast on pan-Arab channel Al Jazeera."

Jared Malsin and Anas Baba, "Hamas Threatens to Execute Israelis in Response to Bombing of Gaza", The Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-gaza-rockets-attack-palestinians/card/hamas-threatens-to-execute-israelis-in-response-to-bombing-of-gaza-jpKdb6ox1uOA4qqqAmXy, published October 9th, 2023 (accessed October 9th, 2023)

"Abu Ubaida—a spokesperson for Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades—told Al Jazeera in a statement Monday that Hamas will execute hostages if any innocent civilians in Gaza are targeted without warning, adding the group would be “forced to broadcast this execution.”"

Ty Roush, "Hamas Threatens To Execute Israeli Civilian Hostages For Attacks On Gaza ‘Without Prior Warning’", Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/10/09/hamas-threatens-to-execute-israeli-civilian-hostages-for-unprompted-attacks-on-gaza/?sh=33f4217b417e, published October 9th, 2023 (accessed October 9th, 2023)

you are spouting blood libel with the names scraped off. be better

shame on u for spouting lies out of the shadows! don't u dare call "libel" a holocaust and genocide the world still is silent about!

the only word i've censored was the curse. and if u want names, i can bury u in them.

Eli Be'er from the victim recognition team:

Ghazi Hamad "justifying" the eradication of the State of Israel:

Khalil al-Hayya on Hamas' indifference to the people of Gaza:

plus, if u believe in the lies u spread, why aren't u better urself?! why r u on anon?! i won't even consider ur next anonymous hate, lies and antisemitism. i'll only pay attention if u dare stand with ur name.

Thousand

One thousand people

Dead

In only two days

And all I can do

Is hope

Cry

Write

Peace activist Vivian Silver killed in Hamas massacre on 7 October

The Israeli-Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver was killed in the attack on Israel by the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas on 7 October.

Peace activist Vivian Silver is dead.

Whoever murders the allies of the Palestinian civil society in Gaza is not the friend of the Palestinian people!

The 74-year-old's body has been found, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem announced. Silver was at times thought to be among the hostages taken to the Gaza Strip. She last lived in Kibbutz Beeri. The German ambassador to Israel, Mr Seibert, called the news of Silver's death "devastating".

Silver campaigned for peace with the Palestinians and was honoured with numerous awards for her work. She launched aid programmes for residents of the Gaza Strip and helped them to receive medical treatment in Israel. In 2014, she was involved in the founding of the peace movement "Women Wage Peace", which now has more than 45,000 members.

Her friends, family, and supporters all agree that Israel's current attack on Gaza is not what Silver would want. 

Hatred is only the road to destruction.

Always remember not to confuse cause and effect..... whoever sows wind will reap storm.

Hamas is the enemy of Palestinian civil society in Gaza and of the Palestinian people.

Hamas has challenged Israel, what did you think would happen afterwards?

I don't really like what's happening but it's all caused in the name of what Hamas did.

But I am not playing a role here, time will judge what is happening, but what happened on 7th October has no room for interpretation, it is a crime against humanity in the name of Hamas. An atrocity equal to any war crime in the history of mankind.

Best of all, it has been very well documented by the hate-filled ideologically entrenched crimes of hamas and their helpers in their self-absorption. Welcome to the prosecution cell if you're lucky.

mod

Billy Crone - The Israel War Prophecy Update 2

He also goes over the antisemitism in the church.

View On WordPress

Palestinian activists get their message across on Londons iconic Tower Bridge landmark- one of the cities most historic buildings. We need a ceasefire now.

Update on 2 precious families:

Both families desire to have their traumatic stories seen and heard by the world. Please hold them up in prayer.

When we last saw Gali and Tzachi Idan, their 18 yo daughter, Maayan, had been murdered and the distraught son cried out "but I wanted her to live." Young Yael courageously tried to explain to the terrorists that her sister died. 💔

Yael Idan had been very brave in the face of the terrorists who murdered her sister. I still don't understand how they escaped. Gali stretched out her body over her children to protect them from gunfire.

Another beautiful family. How did the terrorists choose who to kill and who to drag into Gaza?

The 2 girls were taken to Gaza, perhaps with their father who is also missing.

The girls were last seen on Facebook Live with stepmother, her son and their father.

The girl's mother spoke to media after receiving 2 hostage photos from Gaza.

Hananya Naftali is sharing their stories.

(coughs awkwardly in the background)

For further information:

Information accessed October 19th, 2023

Also, I'd appreciate it if nobody says that the U.S. reaps what it sows and that this was a long time coming. Sure, but I'd just rather not debate that tonight.

people are calling what happened today in gaza “the flour massacre”

the flour massacre

these people just wanted to get food for their families, something as basic as flour, one of the things that the very core of humanity is built on, and israel used it as a trap to murder them in cold blood

evil is not enough of a word. there is not a word to describe what they are doing to palestine. they are bleeding her out, they are torturing her and crushing her and hoping that nothing is left to remember her by when they are done. how can anyone stand and watch what is being done with indifference? how can you watch this level of human suffering, this crime against life and feel nothing, do nothing