Defeating Haman’s Big Ten Sons and Modern Antisemitism

Posted on March 10, 2020 by First.One.Through

The Book of Esther has a protagonist and antagonist with clear pedigrees. The protagonist, Mordecai is introduced in chapter 2, verse 5 as:

“In the fortress Shushan lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite.”

The antagonist of the story, Haman, similarly has his legacy laid out in chapter 3, verse 1:

“Some time afterward, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite; he advanced him and seated him higher than any of his fellow officials.”

Each person is tied back to their father and further to show the essence of the person and family. Mordecai’s roots are in the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe abutting the Jewish holy capital city of Jerusalem. It is the tribe whose descendants came from Jacob’s (Israel’s) favorite son.

For his part, Haman is a descendant of the King Agag, the king of Amalek (Samuel 1, Chapter 15). Some generations before the story of Esther, a fellow member of Mordecai’s tribe of Benjamin, King Saul, failed to kill King Agag as directed by the Samuel the Prophet. The Amalekites were deemed forever evil, as the nation which attacked the Jewish people as they walked in the desert hundreds of years earlier, between slavery in Egypt and freedom in their promised land in Israel (Exodus 17).

The lineages of Mordecai and Haman are an essential part of the story. Two nations in Exodus faced off, with a powerful Amalek nation attacking a weaker Jewish one, followed by two kings in Samuel 1 where the stronger Jewish king failed to kill the king of Amalek. This current story is yet a further rung down ladder, with important laymen facing off. At this time, a respected Jew without real power confronts an anti-Semite with power due to his proximity to the king.

In this third chapter, the descendants of Benjamin and the Children of Israel thoroughly defeat the descendants of Agag and Amalek with the help of the Persian king.

But is there a fourth chapter to the saga? Is the Book of Esther the conclusion of the generational battles between Israel and Amalek with the killing of Haman?

The Jewish scribes give us a clue.

The megillah, the Book of Ether, is uniquely read twice a year. It is the the only one of the five megillot that is read from a parchment like the Torah itself, and has a blessing recited before it is read. As such, the physical writing instructs the listener as much as the words.

Esther chapter 9, reveals how the ten sons of Haman are murdered after their father is killed. Scribes write the names of the murdered progeny in a unique manner:

The name of each son is written with extra large letters and each name is distinct and separated from all other words on the page. It is the only time in the story that their names are even mentioned, and after they are, the text resumes its regular style print stating

“the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the foe of the Jews. But they did not lay hands on the spoil.”

The ten sons of Haman are not tied to royalty, the King Agag, as was their father; they are simply tied to the legacy of a notorious anti-Semite. That is the summation of what defines them.

These ten Jew haters were killed by the local Jews themselves (Esther 9:5) and not by royal edict as was the case for their father Haman. While they once appeared larger-than-life for the once weak Jews, the common Jews gathered strength to defeat not royalty, but mere Jew-haters.

The battles between the Children of Israel and Amalek had four chapters: between nations, between kings, between powerful laymen and ultimately between regular people. The Book of Esther tells the story of chapters three and four, and is read twice to make sure we internalize the message of defeating antisemitism: recognize that it is neither supreme or legal by royal decree. It is just Jew-hatred which comes in various sizes and shapes, all of which must be vanquished.

Related First One Through articles:

Taking the Active Steps Towards Salvation

When Power Talks the Truth

Purim 2020, Jewish Haikus

Purim 2019, The Progressive Megillah

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Purim 2020, Jewish Haikus

Posted on March 9, 2020 by First.One.Through

While the format of a traditional haiku is seventeen syllables in a 5/7/5 format, for this Purim, I have decided to use the Jewish chai’ku which has 18 syllables in an escalating 5/6/7 format, with some license.

I don my costume
The latest from Disney.
Rabbi’s grandson wears the same.

Her name Hadassah
Later called Queen Esther
First of Her Name, Breaker of Chains.

We all hear “Haman”
The groggers fall silent
My stomach growls, loudly.

The good guys triumph!
How unusual. Ah,
Not written in Israel.

Megillah two times
Yet Chanukah has none!
Al Ha’nissim inequality.

Diaspora Purim
Large meal and much drinking
Why only a single day?

Mishloah Manot
Only need two items
But don’t want label “cheap friend.”

Stale Hamantashen
Clearly weak store-bought fare
I rummage to find homemade.

Yes, I like muhn
A single day a year
A sweeter poppy bagel.

Two weeks trapped inside
Called for “Calm” Purim shpiel.
What day is Purim Sheni?

Related First One Through articles:

Purim 2019, The Progressive Megillah

Purim 5776/ 2016 Poem

Israel Stands Out Regarding Equality for Women

Posted on March 9, 2020 by First.One.Through

March 8, 2020 was celebrated as the International Day of Women. To mark the occasion, the United Nations produced a study which tracked how women are doing regarding equality around the world. It was called “The 2019 Human Development Report” and it was produced by The Human Development Report Office (HDRO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The study took into account a number of factors including violence against women, economic power, ability to obtain an education and political power. It tracked the results by country and region and tried to assess why certain “social norms” existed in certain societies. It did this focusing strictly on the statistical data for most of the report, but the introductory comments spoke generally about how certain societies viewed women:

“Social norms cover several aspects of an individual’s identity—age, gender, ability, ethnicity, religion and so on—that are heterogeneous and multidimensional. Discriminatory social norms and stereotypes reinforce gendered identities and determine power relations that constrain women’s and men’s behaviour in ways that lead to inequality. Norms influence expectations for masculine and feminine behaviour considered socially acceptable or looked down on. So they directly affect individuals’ choices, freedoms and capabilities.

Social norms also reflect regularities among groups of individuals. Rules of behaviour are set according to standards of behaviour or ideals attached to a group’s sense of identity. Individuals have multiple social identities and behave according to identity-related ideals; they also expect others sharing a common identity to behave according to these ideals. Norms of behaviour related to these ideals affect people’s perception of themselves and others, thus engendering a sense of belonging to particular identity groups. The beliefs people hold about appropriate behaviour often determine the range of choices and preferences that they exercise—in that context norms can determine autonomy and freedom, and beliefs about social censure and reproach create barriers for individuals who transgress. For gender roles these beliefs can be particularly important in determining the freedoms and power relations with other identities—compounded when overlapping and intersecting with those of age, race and class hierarchies.”

The study states that societies have certain normative behaviors and gender is very integral to that configuration. A break from accepted patterns risks a rupture in the community to which one belongs. As such, a seemingly small break from community norms like young Pakistani woman Malala Yousafzai insisting on going to school, got her shot.

Reviewing the study from a country and regional standpoint highlights certain trends in what are considered “societal norms.”

The leading countries in gender equality are from western Europe, North America and Australia. The worst performing countries are from sub-Saharan Africa. The Arab States and South Asia were right behind sub-Saharan Africa.

It was a curious label to see “Arab States” as a category under “Region,” (Table 1) as it is not a region the way “South Asia” and “Latin America” are. One would have expected the report to call the region “Middle East and North Africa (MENA)” the way the United Nations usually refers to that part of the world.

But it could not because of an anomaly in the MENA region in its treatment of women which broke statistically from all of the Arab and Muslim countries: Israel.

As seen in the chart above, Israel is statistically much more like the leading western countries in the world in its treatment of women and not like its neighbors in the Arab world. The western countries in the chart above include Norway; Germany; Australia; Netherlands; Canada; United Kingdom the United States… and Israel. The Arab states include The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Qatar; Iran (not actually Arab but Muslim), Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Palestinian Authority, Iraq and Syria.

The differences in every category are striking:

Maternal Mortality. The West is 7.4 and Arabs 35.4, while Israel is 5 deaths per 100,000 births
Adolescent Birth Rate. The West is 10.0 and Arabs 35.0, while Israel is 9.6 births among women 15-19 years old per 1,000
Per cent Seats in Parliament. The West is 31.6% and Arabs 13.2%, while Israel is 27.5%
Per cent of Women with Secondary Education. The West is 91.9% and Arabs 60.1%. Israel is 87.8%
Per cent of Women in Labor Force. The West is 58.3% and Arabs 22.5%. Israel is 59.2%

Israel is not only an outlier in the Middle East in being the only Jewish state in the middle of Muslim states, it is an outlier in its progressive treatment of women as well.

The UN’s Antisemitic Host

Posted on March 6, 2020 by First.One.Through

The United Nations held a two day conference on February 28 and 29, 2020 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia called the “International Conference on the Question of Palestine.” It was organized by the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in partnership with the Government of Malaysia and the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

The keynote remarks were given by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The Prime Minister used the forum to talk of the Israeli government as the “Tel Aviv regime,” refusing to acknowledge Israel’s capital in any part of Jerusalem. He called the United States “dishonest” and its peace plan a “mockery.”

Malaysian prime minister, 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad

He went on to discuss the Holocaust and the “Nakba.” As covered by the United Nations media:

“Recalling that Israel came into being in 1948 by seizing land from Palestinians, he pointed out that the Holocaust lasted six years and the Nakba has been going on for more than 70 years. The Holocaust was committed by others, he noted, asking why Palestinian have to pay the price. The pro-Israel nations were quick to hold a tribunal at Nuremberg to try Nazi war criminals, but no tribunal has been established for Palestinian victims. Malaysia’s foreign policy towards Palestine has remained unchanged, he said, recalling that when the State of Palestine was proclaimed in 1988, Malaysia promptly acknowledged it. Malaysia stands by its position that the creation of an independent State of Palestine through a two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders, and with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, is acceptable. He went on to express hope that the International Criminal Court will take note of that blatant case of injustice of the century and institute proceedings against Israel.”

Over and again, the host for the United Nations conference compared Israel to Nazi Germany. He said the Nakba is actually worse than the Holocaust, as the latter only went on for six years while the former is running over 70 years. Even more, the world made the Nazis pay for their actions and he is waiting for the world to similarly punish the Jewish State “war criminals.”

The revolting sentiment comparing the deliberate slaughter of millions of innocent civilians to a civil war over land is abhorrent. But the United Nations proudly posted about both days of the conference, entitling the coverage of the Prime Minister’s remarks as “Unilateral Peace Plan Is ‘Mockery’ of Global Efforts to End Israel-Palestine Conflict, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tells International Conference.” The UN clearly believes that this is a man of “peace” seeking to end a “conflict” in a respected “international conference.”

The Prime Minister of Malaysia’s history of anti-Semitic remarks such as calling Jews “hooked nose” and that they “rule the world by proxy” – comments he defended in the name of free speech – was not the least bit troubling to the United Nations which let him host and have the keynote address at a UN-sponsored forum about the Israeli-Arab Conflict.

The UN is making clear every day that it is not just a forum for anti-Zionists but anti-Semites as well.

Related First One. Through articles:

The Holocaust and the Nakba

Time to Dissolve Key Principles of the “Inalienable Rights of Palestinians”

Is Columbia University Promoting Violence Against Israel and Jews?

The United Nations Can Hear the Songs of Gazans, but Cannot See Their Rockets

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Rumor Contagion on Coronavirus in Congress

Posted on March 5, 2020 by First.One.Through

Yes, it’s me.

Like many news articles, there are facts, assumed facts, projections and innuendo to sell papers and serve as click-bait. Because coronavirus has captured people’s imaginations, it has become a wonderful vehicle to instill fear and capture headlines.

A friend of mine – who has mostly been kept anonymous by media outlets to protect the family’s privacy – has tested positive for coronavirus. The news media is correct that he lives in New Rochelle, is a lawyer and is in the hospital. His wife and son have also tested positive but are home and feel relatively fine as does the neighbor (lives on the same street, a number of homes away) who drove them to the hospital. Only the 50-year old lawyer is in the hospital as he had some prior medical issues which made him much more vulnerable to the strain.

It is also true that he attended the Modern Orthodox synagogue, the Young Israel of New Rochelle, on Shabbat February 22 and a funeral and bat mitzvah on Sunday February 23rd. It was there that he came into contact with many people who would later attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C. the following week. Some of those people at the conference went on to lobby members of Congress, so AIPAC sent a warning memo to members of Congress.

This was done as an act of major precaution, and there is virtually no reason to fear.

The synagogue in New Rochelle is a large one. Many of the people who are now self-quarantined – myself included – were just in the same building or same room as the infected man. The term “contact” is sometimes used very broadly as it has been now to be the most cautious, but 99% of the people who attended services on February 22 and 23 were not within ten feet of the man and feel perfectly fine.

I attended the funeral at YINR on the 23rd, for a parent of a friend from elementary school and high school. I did not see the infected man at that time but was merely in the same 50 foot-by-50 foot room with him for an hour, as were my parents.

On Saturday February 29th, I decided last minute to go down to AIPAC when I learned of three guys from my shul in a different community in Westchester county driving down to D.C. with an empty seat. During the car ride I reached out broadly to see how I could register for the conference and find a place to stay. Coincidentally, the victim’s wife responded to me that she had cancelled her trip to AIPAC as her spouse was feeling sick; she suggested I try to book their Marriott hotel room. I was unable to get into that hotel which was adjacent to the convention center but found one a few blocks away.

No news about coronavirus in Westchester had broken at that time. I hugged, shook hands and conversed with several hundred people at AIPAC on Sunday and Monday, some of whom went to lobby in Congress. I did not lobby, and returned home Monday afternoon in the car with the same three men with whom I drove down. We got back to Westchester at 8:30pm.

Vice President Mike Pence (head of coronavirus task force) addressing AIPAC March 2, 2020 (photo: First One Through)

Initial news of the virus in the community broke the following morning just before 7:00am as my son was getting ready to head on the bus to school. Additional information would flow throughout the day about who had gotten sick and the need to self-quarantine.

I have remained at home, as have my sons who attend two of the schools which were closed because of the virus. None of us has shown any signs of illness, but we are following the guidelines of the health commissioner as a matter of best practices.

Of course, I am not the only one who attended Young Israel of New Rochelle over the weekend of February 22/23 who then went on to AIPAC but I’m sure my story is fairly common: the “contact” we had with the sick man was neither close nor direct. That is true for my interactions with most of the 18,000 people at AIPAC and, in turn, the people at AIPAC with members of Congress.

But stoking fear and the urge for ad revenue seems too great for most. Don’t fall for it.

Please pray for the people who are indeed sick, including Eliezer Yitzchok ben Shifra.

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Bernie Sanders’ Antisemitic and Anti-Zionist Friends

Posted on March 4, 2020 by First.One.Through

It is worrying when terrible people appreciate you and the things you say. It forces a moment to pause and reflect on your language and message, but, it is possible that the vile audience may be outliers who misinterpret you.

President Donald Trump disavowed the endorsement of anti-Semite David Duke but many liberals still believe that the basic fact that Duke was drawn to Trump’s rhetoric was enough of a signal that Trump traded in hate.

So how can anyone who claims to not be an anti-Semite or be pro-Israel go anywhere near Senator Bernie Sanders who WELCOMES, ENDORSES and CELEBRATES ANTISEMITES and ANTI-ZIONISTS.

Here is a selection of some of Sanders’ buddies and surrogates.

Linda Sarsour

Muslim Women’s March organizer is a proud anti-Zionist and slams anyone who takes issues with her tirades of hate. Here is a selection of some of her remarks:

“Nothing is creepier than Zionism. Challenge racism”
“We need to dismantle the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and that requires us to dismantle AIPAC too.”
“peace in the Middle East does not mean that we have to support right wing racist governments that currently exist in Israel”
“If you’re on the side of the oppressor [Israel], or you’re defending the oppressor, or you’re actually trying to humanize the oppressor”
“any visible Palestinian-American woman who is at the forefront of any social-justice movement is an immediate target of the right wing and right-wing Zionists”
“Israeli apartheid regime”
“Israel is Built on the Idea That Jews are Supreme to Everyone Else”
“Jesus was a Palestinian of Nazareth.” —– a lie, like everything else she said.

Fear not. The hater of Israel does a soft side to her. For Bernie Sanders:

“I love Bernie Sanders and want him to be the President of the United States.”

Cong. Ilan Omar

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has attacked Israel, pro-Israeli Americans and AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee:

“Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” meaning AIPAC
“a lot of our Jewish constituents, a lot of our allies, go to thinking that everything we say about Israel, to be anti-Semitic, because we are Muslim.” (inverting cause-and-effect that it’s not her antisemitism, but Jewish hatred of Muslims at the root of her dislike – a double insult)
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country [Israel]”

Regarding Sanders, Omar said “Proud to endorse @SenSanders for President, glad that @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are on board too”

Bernie Sanders said that Omar was “one of the greatest people I know.”

Sanders is not alone. That same racist that expressed support for Donald Trump did the same for Omar. David Duke said “By defiance to Z.O.G. [Zionist Occupation Government] Ilhan Omar is NOW the most important Member of the US Congress!”

Former British MP George Galloway

George Galloway cozies up to terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas the way a newborn cub cleaves to its mother. His various forms of Holocaust denial and overall vitriol made it difficult to stay in government.

“Nazism and Zionism were two sides of the same coin.”
“the Zionist movement and the newspapers and news media which are controlled by Zionism“
“I glorify the Hezbollah national resistance movement, and I glorify the leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah”
“the Palestinian people in Gaza are the new Warsaw Ghetto, and those who are murdering them are the equivalent of those who murdered the Jews in Warsaw in 1943,” equating Jews with Nazis

In regards to Bernie Sanders, he offered the following tweet:

“@SenSanders represents the best hope for the people of the USA and the world”

Former British Head of Labour Jeremy Corbyn

The antisemitism that took root in the Labour Party under Corbyn was horrific. An estimated 87 per cent of British Jews consider Corbyn to be an antisemite and many Jewish members of Parliament resigned because of him. The former Chief Rabbi of Britain, Lord Jonathan Sachs said that Corbyn gives “support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate, who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map,” and uses “the language of classic prewar European antisemitism.” Some of Corbyn’s comments:

“you saw apartheid being introduced all over the West Bank of Palestine.”
“I suspect the hand of Israel in this whole process of destabilization [of Egypt].”
“The West Bank [is] under occupation of the very sort that is recognizable by many people in Europe who suffered occupation during the Second World War,” comparing the Jewish State to Nazi Germany
“I think the boycott campaign, divestment campaign, is part and parcel of a legal process that has to be adopted.”

Sanders loves the man. He offered the following comments about Corbyn:

“what Corbyn has tried to do with the Labour Party is not dissimilar to what some of us are trying to do to the Democratic Party.”
“I have been very impressed by the work that Corbyn has done and the campaign he is running and I wish him the very best.”

Cong. Rashida Tlaib

Tlaib is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives who gained fame for cursing out President Donald Trump as soon as she was sworn into office. Her comments about Jews and Israel have had a similar streak of invective:

“the right to boycott the racist policies of the government and state of Israel.”
“there is continued dehumanization and racist policies by the State of Israel”
“KIDNAPPED & EXECUTED 7 year old #Palestinian child Qusai was kidnapped by a Herd of violent #Israeli settlers” was a re-tweet of a false news story about a boy who accidentally drowned. She made no apology for the post.
“it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports… I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews.” A complete denial and inversion of facts when her ancestors fought to keep the Jews out of Palestine and conspired with the Nazis.

Regarding Sanders, Tlaib tweeted “I am endorsing Amo Bernie Sanders because he’s not gonna sell us out.”

Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison had been a Congressman before moving to a senior position at the Democratic National Committee.

“Whether one supports or opposes the establishment of Israel in Palestine and Israel’s present policies, Zionism, the ideological undergirding of Israel, is a debatable political philosophy.”
“Political Zionism is off-limits no matter what dubious circumstances Israel was founded under; no matter what the Zionists do to the Palestinians; and no matter what wicked regimes Israel allies itself with – like South Africa. This position is untenable.”
“The United States’ foreign policy in the Middle East is governed by what is good or bad through a country of seven million people [Israel]. A region of 350 million all turns on a country of 7 million. Does that make sense? Is that logic?”

Noted Democratic donor and Israeli-American Haim Saban said the following of Ellison:

“If you go back to his positions, his [Ellison’s] statements, his speeches, the ways he voted, he’s clearly an antisemite and anti-Israel individual.”

Cornel West

Sanders turned to Princeton University professor Cornel West in 2016 to help him draft the official policies of the Democratic Party. He was proud to list him as a supporter in 2016 and again in this election cycle. Here are some choice words from West on Israel:

“for too long, the Democratic Party has been beholden to AIPAC”
“the only option a desperate Palestinian counter-violent struggle against the structural and military violence of the occupying Israeli state”
“the suffering of precious Palestinians under a vicious Israeli occupation is a crime against humanity”
“settler-colonial enterprise”
“Gaza is not just a “kind of” concentration camp, it is the hood on steroids.”
“The rockets of Hamas indeed are morally wrong and politically ineffective – but these crimes pale in the face of the U.S. supported Israeli slaughters of innocent civilians”
“heroic Palestinian tradition of critique and resistance”
“‘Shame the Congressional Black Caucus’ 4 not denouncing #Israeliapartheid”
“Israeli state terrorism in action and its Jewish racism in motion.”

His long screed of attacks on Israel never made Sanders pause about embracing the man.

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is a linguist and a proud progressive who trashes Israel frequently.

Israel’s “escalating policy of apartheid,”
“for decades, Israel has been kidnapping and killing civilians,”
“Israel is virtually a US military base, an offshoot of the US military system”
“It [Israel] carried out oppressive, brutal often murderous policies – mainly the usual imperial techniques: humiliation, degradation”
“you can be both an anti-Semitic Christian fundamentalist and a strong supporter of Israeli oppression and atrocities.”
“Jews in the US are the most privileged and influential part of the population. You find occasional instances of anti-Semitism but they are marginal. There’s plenty of racism, but it’s directed against Blacks, Latinos, Arabs are targets of enormous racism.” Note: Jews are statistically more likely to suffer hate crimes than any other group by a wide margin.
“In the Occupied Territories, what Israel is doing is much worse than apartheid. To call it apartheid is a gift to Israel, at least if by ‘apartheid’ you mean South African-style apartheid. What is happening in the Occupied Territories is much worse. There is a crucial difference. The South African Nationalists needed the black population. That was their workforce…The Israeli relationship to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is totally different. They just do not want them. They want them out, or at least in prison.”

Regarding Bernie Sanders, Chomsky said “If I were voting in the primary, I would vote for him.”

Other Notable Endorsements

The Sanders campaign proudly lists many other people who endorse the Democratic Socialist.

British MP Richard Burgon makes the list. He once said “The enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists, and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people.”
Scottish MP Ross Greer proudly endorses Bernie. He also says “Israel is not a beacon of democracy and decency. It is a colonial occupier, an apartheid state and an abuser of children.”
Canadian MP Niki Ashton is a supporter of the BDS movement against Israel and attended a rally supporting Palestinian terrorists saying she “was honoured to stand with many in remembering the Nakba”
Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant felt it appropriate to weigh in on Israel and pushed to have all members of the city council sign a letter saying “We also call for an immediate end to all U.S. government military aid for the Israel.”
Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner weighed in on the 2016 Democratic platform and tweeted “It’s heavy in here right now #DemPlatform debate over ending occupation and illegal settlements Israel-Palestine…heavy!!!”

The list of anti-Israel Bernie supporters goes on.

In the other direction, Bernie Sanders has endorsed some alt-leftists in their own search for political gold. Sanders endorsed Cenk Uygur saying “Cenk has been a longtime fighter against the corrupt forces in our politics and he’s inspired people all across the country.” This is the same Cenk who said “Israel is a brutal, fascist ethnostate posing as a Democracy.” Sanders must find such statements inspiring.

Bernie Sanders is very proud of his anti-Zionist surrogates who peddle in antisemitic tropes and celebrate the murderers of Jews. Are you just as proud of Bernie?

Related First One Through articles:

Bernie Sanders is the Worst U.S. Presidential Candidate for Israel Ever

An Open Letter to Non-Anti-Semitic Sanders Supporters

#NeverGillibrand #NeverSanders #NeverHarris #NeverDeBlasio

Bernie Sanders Supports America’s Targeted Killings While Banning Israel’s

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Ever-Elections, Never-Elections and Controlling Elections

Posted on March 3, 2020 by First.One.Through

On March 1, 2020, the Israeli public went to the voting polls – again. It was the third time in just a year in which the Jewish State sought to establish a government. While the final results are not in, it looks like Israeli Prime Minister’s Likud Party won 36 seats while the Blue and White Party won 32 seats. Overall, the Right-Religious block appears to have secured 59 seats, short of a 61 seat majority.

Israeli elections again?

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority continues to do nothing. The PA last held elections for Parliament in 2006, in which the Hamas, a U.S., a designated terrorist organization, won 58 percent of the seats, an over-whelming majority. In 2005, the Palestinians voted for president and elected Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah to a four-year term. That term expired in January 2009, over eleven years ago, but Abbas refuses to relinquish power or hold elections.

The Palestinians have divided their areas of control with Hamas ruling in Gaza and Fatah administering Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The two parties cannot reconcile between themselves to form a unity government and refuse to let the people hold new elections as a way out of the impasse, as each party fears losing the little control it does wield.

And in the United States, the presidential contest is set like clockwork, moving towards a November vote, as it does every four years. This year, the Democratic establishment is so fearful of the leading position of Socialist Bernie Sanders, that it effectively pushed two moderates – Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg – off of the Super Tuesday ballots and to endorse Vice President Joe Biden for president, in the hopes of giving the moderates of the party a chance to coalesce behind a single person to defeat the extremist Bernie Sanders. The leaders of the Democratic Party know that a brokered convention will tear their party apart – either in blocking Bernie Sanders and making the progressive wing of the party go to war, or by giving the ticket to Bernie and watching all of the Democratic candidates around the country go down to defeat.

Such is the state of elections today: Israel forever holding elections, Palestinians never having elections and the United States attempting to control the election outcome. It brings to mind a quote by Winston Churchill, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

Related First.One.Through articles:

Naked Democracy

Liberal’s Protest Bubble Harms Democracy

The U.S. is Stealing Real Choices from the Voters

A Country Divided

John McCain 2008 / 2018

Let’s Make America VOTE Again

Michael Bloomberg Talks to America about Marrying a Prostitute

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At AIPAC, Joe Biden Waves His Finger While Bernie Sanders Flips the Bird

Posted on March 2, 2020 by First.One.Through

The annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gathering kicked off in Washington, D.C. on March 1, 2020 during the highly unusual backdrop of both an election in Israel (March 2nd) and the thick of the presidential campaign in the United States (March 3rd). It was an highly opportune time for politicians and candidates to feed red meat to the pro-Israel crowd.

The politicians with some sanity understood that.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) addressed the audience in an unambiguous style that Israel is a strongly bi-partisan matter for Republicans and Democrats alike. He said that a strong Israel is vital for American interests and that he would always stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the strong American ally and oppose any notion of boycotting the Jewish State. Unfortunately, his time slot was right before dinner so much of the crowd was already out the door and didn’t hear it.

In the morning, Senator Amy Klobuchar who is running for president spoke to the crowd via a pre-recorded message. With the U.S. Capital placed on the green screen behind her, she spoke of her long, strong support for Israel and her desire to see peace emerge in the Middle East.

Foreign leaders took the stage to address the 18,000 people, including from Serbia and Congo, who spoke of their strong affinity for the Jewish people. The president of Serbia recalled how his country was quick to back the Balfour Declaration and has always been proud of its relationship of the Jewish community and stated his desire to deepen the connections to the Jewish State. The leader of the Congo quoted scriptures and spoke of his country’s expanding ties with Jerusalem.

President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, addressing AIPAC in Washington, D.C., March 1, 2020 (photo: First On Through)

President of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, saying he will appoint an ambassador to Israel during the AIPAC conference on March 1, 2020 (photo: First One Through)

And then there was former Vice President Joe Biden. He spoke to the audience via a pre-recorded message that looked like he stepped out of a tour bus into an alleyway to quickly say something to a crowd of people he really preferred not to address. While he said he was pro-Israel, he was not convincing, as he sternly warned the crowd that actions by the Israeli government to approve Jewish housing east of the Green Line risked making Israel a wedge issue in American politics. His meaning was clear: only Republicans would give Israelis unconditional support and the green light to live in Judea and Samaria; a Biden administration would come down hard on Israel.

Vice President Joe Biden addressing AIPAC in a pre-recorded message

The Biden video went off with a thud. Whereas the president of Serbia received a standing ovation, the audience was puzzled why Biden would opt to give a speech that was seemingly crafted by staffers from Code Pink and the New Israel Fund.

The thinning Democratic herd just lost Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer, and the leaders of AIPAC were faced with the realization that despite their repeated assertions that the group works closely with both Democrats and Republicans, the two front runners of the remaining Democrats were either hostile or ambivalent about Israel and the US-Israel relationship: Bernie Sanders called AIPAC a racist “platform for bigotry,” and Joe Biden said that real friends told friends when they were drunk and took away their car keys.

The new president of AIPAC, Betsy Berns Korn sounded the alarm bell. The emergence of politicians against the U.S.-Israel relationship is not limited to a few fringe freshmen members of Congress. It is working its way through the entire political power structure.

In November 2015, Vice President Biden addressed a progressive Jewish crowd and stabbed a finger at Israel, admonishing the entire Jewish State for something a private Israeli citizen had once said about Obama. In March 2020, Biden continued to admonish the Jewish State with a wave of his finger that the American-Israeli bond was very, very conditional, while Senator Bernie Sanders flipped AIPAC the bird. Will the pro-Israel community raise their hands in surrender or take a fighting stance?

Related First One Through articles:

While Joe Biden Passionately Defends Israel, He Ignores Jewish Rights and the History of the Jewish State

The Invisible Anti-Semitism in Obama’s 2016 State of the Union

Mike Bloomberg, Where #NeverTrump Meets #NeverBernie

The New York Times’ Select Defense of a Civilian

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Background Checks, a Palestinian Military and Israeli “Military Occupation”

Posted on February 28, 2020 by First.One.Through

Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic Socialist and candidate for United States president, has been vocally against the Israeli government which he has called “racist,” and against Israel’s “military occupation” of Palestinian land which denies the Palestinians “dignity.”

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the notions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being a racist, or whether there is a “military occupation,” it requires a certain twisted logic for Sanders to condemn Israel and advocate for Palestinians, while simultaneously advocating for strong background checks in regard to gun safety.

Liberals may note that Sanders spent twenty years opposing any gun control including background checks as a senator from a rural state but he has taken to aggressive background checks now that he is running for president. His campaign specifically calls out:

“support [for] “red flag” laws and legislation to ensure we keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and stalkers”

Under current federal law, those convicted of domestic abuse can lose their guns if they are currently or formerly married to their victim, live with the victim, have a child together or are a victim’s parent or guardian. Sanders supported a 2019 amendment expanding the law to stalkers and current or former dating partners. His current campaign pledge of “red flag” laws would further extend those laws to enable law enforcement to seize guns from people who are accused of being a potential threat, even if they have not been convicted of anything.

So Sanders believes that the second amendment of the United States, “to keep and bear Arms,” is not really a right but a privilege, and one which can not only be taken away once convicted by a court, but even with a mere accusation.

Advocates like Sanders argue that such legislation is required to address gun violence – against women in particular – even if it may mean that some Americans are able to own guns while others are not.

Which brings us back to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Sanders objections to Israel.

For decades, the working assumption of a two-state solution included the proviso that a new Palestinian state would be demilitarized, meaning that it would have no standing army. The Trump peace plan advocates for the same, specifically calling for Israel to have full control of border crossings and control of the air. Objectors have stated that such ruling denies Palestinians their dignity and leaves them under Israeli military control. These objectors claim that a Palestinian state without an army is no country at all.

Curiously, many of these detractors in the United States are also progressives who support strict gun control to protect victims and curb violence. However, they excuse the wars, intifadas, stabbings, rockets and bombings of Palestinian Arabs against Israelis. They ignore the incitement to violence and the demonization of Jews from the Arab media and leadership. They discount the antisemitic laws which call for the death penalty for any Arab selling land to Jews. They scoff at polls which show that 93 per cent of Palestinian are antisemitic. For them, the Palestinian Arabs are the victims and any law or aggression they take are purely defensive in nature. It is a “resistance.”

Members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip [File: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

But the reality is clear: Jews are the most persecuted people in history. Arabs have attacked them since they began coming back to the land of Israel in the 1920’s. To this day, the Palestinian Arabs continue to pay people who kill Jews and voted Hamas to 58% of parliament with the most antisemitic charter in the history of the world.

So the future of a possible two-state solution will have Israel controlling Palestine militarily. It may not meet Bernie Sanders’ ideal of Palestinian “dignity,” but there has never been a group which failed a background test so fantastically.

Related First One Through articles:

Losing Rights

Time to Dissolve Key Principles of the “Inalienable Rights of Palestinians”

International-Domestic Abuse: Obama and Netanyahu

Israel and Wars

The Parameters of Palestinian Dignity

Half Standards: Gun Control and the Iranian Nuclear Weapons Deal

Empowering Women… To Murder

The New York Times Excuses Palestinian “Localized Expressions of Impatience.” I Mean Rockets.

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Bernie Sanders’ New Book: Nazi Germany Had Clean Streets

Posted on February 26, 2020 by First.One.Through

A satire.

In response to the attacks on him about comments he made about Cuba’s Fidel Castro overseeing a great educational system, Senator Bernie Sanders opted to double down with a short book about his top dozen favorite leaders. It is called “Nazi Germany Had Clean Streets.” The Table of Contents is below.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi Eradicated Evil Large Multinational Corporations
Iraq’s Saddam Hussein Significantly Reduced the Size of His Standing Army More Than any Leader in Modern History
Uganda’s Idi Amin Had a Free Public Transportation System, Especially for Jews Entering the Country
Korea’s Kim Jong II Oversaw the Single Largest Decrease in any Country’s Carbon Footprint
Vladimir Lenin Was Efficient at Separating Church and State
China’s Mao Zedong Instituted the Greatest Redistribution of Wealth Over the Past Century
Chile’s Augusto Pinochet Provided Free Child Care
Pol Pot Provided Free Burial Services to Everyone
Hitler Introduced Taxidermy as an After-School Program
Joseph Stalin Had More White People Than Blacks in Prison
Syria’s Bashar al Assad Leveled the Housing Market for Everyone
Finally, My Hero: The Architect of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre, was at the Vanguard of Grass Roots Socialism

When asked by reporters why he didn’t include Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu in the book, he responded “I cannot find a single positive thing to say about that racist.”