The Broke-n Generation

Posted on December 18, 2024 by First.One.Through

Today’s youth are a sorry lot.

In the aftermath of the targeted killing of a healthcare insurance executive, more 18-29 year olds thought that the assassination was justified than thought it unjustified (41% to 40%) according to a DailyMail poll. The Gen Z generation was an outlier compared to every other age group, with those over 50 years old having 10% or fewer believing that the killing was justified.

The peculiar morality of 18-29 year olds is not limited to their view of the insurance industry. In the aftermath of the Hamas slaughter of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, a Harvard poll showed that 60% of 18 to 24 year old thought that the attack was justified. Half of that age group supported Hamas (compared to 4% for people over 65) and 51% said they thought Israel should be liquidated and handed to Hamas.

Why is there such depravity and celebration of violence amongst today’s youth?

According to a Yale poll conducted in the fall of 2024, the majority (52.5%) of Americans under 30 years old consider themselves liberal. Only one-quarter are conservative, and those that are, are only “somewhat conservative.”

These under 30 liberals are not typically perceived as violent. According to Pew Research, they have the lowest gun ownership in America. According to a PBS poll, it is Republicans that are more likely to resort to violence “get the country back on track,” not the left (which should not be surprising as the poll was taken under a Democratic presidency; should the poll be conducted again under a Trump administration, it would be curious to see the results).

Further, according to a McCourtney poll in January 2024, Gen Z youth are the least angry age group in the U.S. They also tend to feel the most pride for certain things.

The various polls seem incongruous. On one hand, Gen Z youth applaud murder but are generally not as angry or prone to violence according to polls.

One observation made by the Brookings Institute is that today’s youth is much more diverse racially and ethnically than older generations, as well as compared to youth of prior generations. It means that current polling data may be wrong depending on the sample set selected, and it means that age may be only one determinant of how young people view the world.

*Brookings Institute warns of polling data for today’s youth*

Another factor is perhaps social.

Gen Z was more impacted by the pandemic and its lockdowns than other generations, forced to spend high school and college at home and behind masks. They grew up and went through puberty with social media and texting on their cellphones as the main methods of engagement rather than physically interacting with peers and society.

Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, said that Gen Z is suffering from a serious mental health crisis. He views this generation as more depressed and susceptible to self-harm. His analysis highlights correlation rather than causation, as there are very few Gen Z without social media to compare. The podcast linked above considers that maybe more anxious youth spend more time on social media than less anxious people, so the correlation may be from the self-selected initiators rather than from platform engagement.

Polls have looked at Gen Z’s attitudes regarding societal values. According to a 2022 Gallup poll, those aged 18-29 were much more likely to believe that companies should be more focused on long-term benefits of society than profitability. They are much more likely than older Americans to leave a position at a firm if they disagreed with the company’s values.

Those opinions are seemingly not limited to corporate America. Harvard’s December 2021 poll showed that young Americans were very unhappy with President Biden and Congress and “over a third think they may see a second U.S. civil war within their lifetimes.” While Gen Z may not be carrying guns, they believe that society is broken and war is coming.

Beyond society being broken, they personally feel broke. According to a 2024 NBC poll, the most pressing matter for Gen Z by far was inflation and the cost of living (31%), ahead of “threats to democracy” at 11%. Crime, immigration, foreign affairs and other matters were all far behind.

*NBC poll of Gen Z before 2024 presidential election*

None of the polls are perfect but the assembly of all this data leads to some disturbing conclusions about Gen Z today:

they are distressed – emotionally and financially – disconnected from society because of masks and technology
they do not see a secure future, whether because of personal financial stress or because they believe the system is rigged against them
they have no faith in institutions – whether government or corporations – to look out for them and society
while they may not be inclined or able to commit violence themselves, they empathize with those who do

It sounds like the backdrop for the movie Joker, with a society ready to venerate murder as a pathway for validation and justice. It’s Gen Z’s desire to rip down the establishment in a brewing civil war which more closely resembles the French Revolution than the 19th century war between the states.

While the fictional Joker character was understood to be deeply troubled, Hamas and Luigi Mangione, the killer of the United Healthcare CEO, are being portrayed as deeply righteous. Professors at universities are praising the killers, and pointing to “wealthy Jews” as operating “behind the curtain” (to quote Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)) to entrench a corrupt system for selfish goals. The media echoes the “powerful Jew” and corrupt Republican/”White supremacy”/patriarchy themes to incite the masses. They make playing cards of other insurance executives to target.

The youth are marching with chants to “Globalize the Intifada“, to bring the October 7 massacres to every corner of the world. They are picking infidels in each town and industry to target for their rage.

Gen Z’s embrace of anarchy is being encouraged by liberal media, the education system, radical left wing organizations and America’s foreign foes. Each is influencing and validating “the anxious generation,” seeking TikTok moments to clone the next Joker, attempting to destroy the United States from within.

Jews Know

Posted on November 17, 2024 by First.One.Through

The People of The Book know history. They read and analyze their own texts and consider what others write and say. They:

know Muslim Arab Antisemitism. They reviewed the various ADL surveys which showed Muslims are two to five times more antisemitic than Christians in European countries. They now watch Muslim mobs engaged in ‘Jew hunts‘ in those same places.

know the Genocidal Jihadists in the Middle East. They read Hamas’s 1988 Foundational charter which calls for killing Jews everywhere as an Islamic obligation. They saw local Palestinian Arabs vote Hamas to 58% of their parliament.

are seared by the October 7 Palestinian Massacre. EVERYONE in the small country knows someone who was killed, injured or abducted on that horrible day. They’ve watched the videos that Hamas took of themselves slaughtering women, babies and the elderly, and movies reviewing the rapes of Israelis by thousands of Gazans. They listened to the calls of Palestinians bragging to their parents how they killed Jews with their bare hands.

*Hamas terrorist shooting civilians in their homes*

know about the broad Palestinian support for the heinous crimes against humanity. They watched videos of dozens of Gazans hitting and spitting on a dead Israel woman being hauled into Gaza, who was later found beheaded. They’ve read the polls of overwhelming Palestinian support for the gruesome massacre.

*Hamas hauls the body of woman into Gaza where crowds cheer as they beat and spit on her corpse*

know Palestinian Arabs want to continue to kill as many Jews as possible. They watched leaders on news programs say they intend to repeat the mass atrocities “again and again.”

*Hamas leaders say they are committed to “pay the price” to commit the October 7 “again and again”*

know the United Nations supports those Palestinian goals. They have read the global organization’s condemnations of terrorism everywhere else in the world and demands for justice, but never in Israel where it immediately called for “maximum restraint.“

know the need for Justice includes accounting for every Gazan who participated in the October 7 slaughter and for bringing hostages home. They know the only way to live in peace is to be alive, at home, with enemies unable to act upon their evil aims.

know the war in Gaza taking place, intimately. Israel has a citizen army and they or members of their family have either been fighting in Gaza or participating in the war effort. They are consumed with the news from Gaza because they not only get firsthand accounts, but attacks emanating from there have not stopped, and over 100 hostages remain in captivity.

*Image released by the Israel Defense Forces on Oct 29, 2023 shows its ground operation in the Gaza Strip*

know the anti-Israel media bias. They read how newspapers constantly refer to the Israeli government as “right-wing” yet never label Hamas a “designated terrorist group by the US and many other countries.” They read opinion pieces that refer to Hamas supporters as “decent Palestinians”, “many Muslims” and “human beings,” while vilifying Israelis as cold, heartless and clueless with “heads in the sand” and “lacking sensitivity.”

Article by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times stating that Israelis have their heads in the sand about Gaza, arguing that Palestinians are decent human beings with no agency

know the desire to protect certain people – other people – involves inverting actual cause-and-effect. They read absurd claims that Palestinians are “resorting” to violence and that Muslim gangs are “reacting” to the situation in Gaza, while they know basic facts that the SAPs launched their premeditated genocidal jihad.

know the International Criminal Court has wrongly accused them of a “genocide.” They are actively engaged in a defensive war they didn’t start, don’t want, and would end immediately if the hostages were released and the terrorists would surrender. They know the steps they take to minimize civilian casualties as they prosecute a war against an enemy intent on maximizing civilian casualties, with the lowest civilian-to-combatant ratio in urban warfare.

know they are a beleaguered minority-minority with centuries of ingrained scars at the hands of wide range of attackers. They have Holocaust survivors in their families and truncated branches of the family trees due to the Holocaust and various pogroms.

The People of The Book know history. They are writing new chapters about their attackers and abetters. The testaments will act as a guide for future generations and the testimonies will beg Gd to pass judgment on the wicked and save the Jewish people today.

Hamas’s Willing Executioners (July 2021)

J Street And NIF Will Not Stand Together With Zionists

Posted on November 14, 2024 by First.One.Through

Jewish organizations once again rallied people to Washington, D.C. for a “Stand Together” event. The Jewish Federations of North America invited many groups to attend, a spectrum of religious leaders and those with diverse political views to assemble and stand with fellow Jews and the Jewish State of Israel, including Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Gov.Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). The speakers included Blacks and native Americans, soldiers and children.

They had a variety of backgrounds and beliefs but were united in being pro-Israel and for fighting antisemitism.

But there were a number of left-wing radical groups which refused to join the unity event. J Street published a joint statement that a number of groups in its orbit including Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Agenda, Partners for Progressive Israel and T’ruah had joined it in boycotting the event.

*Joint statement by far left-wing groups to boycott an event in Washington DC which included a wide range of pro-Israel organizations*

This cohort didn’t simply decide to quietly not show up for the event but banded together and issued a joint statement denouncing unity at moment when it is sorely needed. [Note that Ameinu and Americans for Peace Now merged in February 2024, although they are still listed separately by the Conference of Presidents.]

Instead, J Street took to the soapbox to demand the U.S. withhold weapons to Israel as the Jewish state engages in a multifront war. It slammed President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

And it is urging the U.S. Congress – and perhaps the Biden Administration at the United Nations – to use its remaining months in office to severely punish Israel. This same pro-Palestinian (marketed as “pro-Israel”) group has never once suggested harming the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs).

At the end of President Barack Obama’s term in 2016, J Street effectively lobbied the administration to allow UN Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass, making it illegal for Jews to live east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL), including in the Old City of Jerusalem. It publicly thanked Obama and disgraced Secretary of State John Kerry for their efforts to make Jerusalem Jew-free as a “moral” matter.

Full page J Street ad in The New York Times in January 2017 quoting Secretary of State John Kerry after the Obama administration allowed UN Security Council 2334 to pass, making it illegal for Jews to live in Jerusalem and the “West Bank.”

Many Jewish groups are assessing whether to allow radical groups that harm Israel and the Jewish people to remain in the same tent. These umbrella groups should make plain that if these groups lobby the U.S. administration to punish Israel in the lame duck session, they will be kicked out of the community, much like they removed themselves from Standing Together in Washington.

ACTION ITEM

Write the various umbrella groups to warn J Street, New Israel Fund and others that lobbying Congress to punish Israel will result in their exclusion and/or expulsion.

J Street Youth Urges US Government To Pressure Israel Not Arabs (October 2024)

Rethinking Jewish and Israeli Charities (September 2024)

HIAS Seeks Donations For Gaza (July 2024)

J Street Pushes US To Stop Protecting Israel At The United Nations (December 2023)

J Street Signals “Open Warfare” On Jewish And Pro-Israel Communities, Urging The United States To Take Action AGAINST Israel (December 2022)

J Street’s Ben Ami Smears Moderate Jews As Racists (July 2022)

Students For Justice in Palestine Says J Street Is The Gateway For Jewish Anti-Zionists (March 2022)

Will You Finally Show J Street and Its Backers the Door? (July 2021)

J Street is Only Considered “Pro-Israel” in Progressive Circles (November 2019)

Unity – not Unanimity – in the Pro-Israel Tent (November 2017)

The Fault in Our Tent: The Limit of Acceptable Speech (July 2015)

Powerful Democrats Tell Leaders To Wait Out The Jews

Posted on November 3, 2024 by First.One.Through

It has now been revealed that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the administration of Columbia University to “keep heads down” and ride out the controversy of antisemitism on campus. He said that issue of rampant Jew hatred were “political problems are really only among Republicans,” and that Jews and the country would soon move on.

To unpack those statements, the most powerful Democratic politician outside of the Executive branch dismissed the Jew-hatred at Columbia despite one of the rabbis on campus telling Jewish students to go home, “no one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school.” He encouraged the university to do nothing to assist the beleaguered Jews, and that once Democrats took over the House of Representatives, university presidents would no longer be dragged to Washington.

Others also believe that only Republicans cared about the systemic Jew hatred at American universities. Rep. Virginia Foxx, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said that Democrats would drop investigating Jew hatred at universities should they win the House in the November 2024 election.

Schumer’s suggestion that leaders wait out setbacks in attacking Jews has precedent.

During Donald Trump’s term in office, former Secretary of State John Kerry under Democratic President Barack Obama passed a message to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority “that he should stay strong in his spirit and play for time, that he will not break and will not yield to President [Donald] Trump’s demands.” Kerry predicted that Trump would last a single term and then a Democratic Administration would go easy on the PA, and apply hard pressure on Israel.

*Sen. Chuck Schumer and Secretary of State John Kerry discuss the Iranian nuclear deal in 2015*

Democrats know that Jews are a minority-minority, a very small and forgiving people. The old guard Democratic leaders like Schumer and Kerry believe that Jews’ ongoing quest for “tikkun olam / repairing the world” would include self-annihilation, if so required. They believe they know history that Jews (non-Orthodox at least) will look past any insult and cleave to the Democratic Party regardless of actions. Jews will give up land, rights and dignity just as they handed over the Judaism’s holiest site of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, if peace so dictated.

The new generation of Democratic leaders is less convinced. It is waging a war to strip Jews of power, position, wealth and property in a broad redistribution to majority-minority groups like Blacks, as chanted by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, and their sponsor at Justice Democrats.

The cleft in the Democratic Party between the old and new guards is a tactical decision whether to wait for Jews to hang themselves or to give clearance to rob, rape and murder them immediately. Regrettably – no, frighteningly – the party’s view of Jews has been buried under an avalanche of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) that elevates Victims of Preference, even when those groups are directly coming for Jews.

Jews Are Still Living, Hiding and Dying In The Dark Shadow Of Obama’s Second Term (October 2024)

Senator Schumer Is No ‘Shomer’ (October 2024)

Socialist-Jihadi Alliance Attempts To Make Israel A Wedge Issue For Jews (August 2024)

DSA Goes Full Antisemite (July 2024)

Congressional Socialists Won’t Support Israel After Hamas Massacre (October 2023)

The Most Antisemitic Thing (August 2023)

As Democrats Become More Liberal And Anti-Israel, DMFI Sticks Fingers In The Dike (July 2022)

Politicians In Their Own Words: Why We Don’t Support Defending Jews (January 2022)

I See Dead People (July 2019)

This July 4, I am Leaving the Democratic Party that Left Me Long Ago (July 2018)

The Democratic Party is Tacking to the Far Left-Wing Anti-Semitic Fringe (January 2017)

John Kerry: The Declaration and Observations of a Failure (December 2016)

I Did Not Vote For Trump in 2016 or 2020. I am Voting For Him Now.

Posted on November 1, 2024 by First.One.Through

Like many Jewish Americans, I am a registered Democrat. Unlike many, I have no party loyalty and vote for the person I think is best suited for the job.

My friends were shocked when I voted for the libertarian candidate for president in 2016. They rattled off the many offenses of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and that I was wasting my vote. I did not disagree. But I could not vote for Trump or Clinton. Not only had Clinton proven herself to be awful but Trump was a vulgarian wildcard. I believed Trump was such a “deal guy” that he had no sense of the compromises that are needed to run a country of 330 million. He would be bad for America, Israel and the whole world.

I ended up being quite wrong about Trump on Israel. Surrounded by a strong team of advisers, he understood what was required for an ENDURING PEACE in the Middle East, not just the paper to get to a peace agreement. He delivered an amazing array of achievements for America and the Middle East over his term, including the fewest deaths of Arabs and Jews over any four year stretch in modern history.

Yet I remained worried. America was deeply divided and I could not imagine Trump being the solution to bring the country together. Four years on I looked for an alternative.

I cast my lot initially with Mike Bloomberg as a centrist, who had pushed aggressively for Hillary over Trump in 2016 under the premise that she was basically like a prostitute who is deeply unloved but gets the job done. Bloomberg was my version of #NeverTrump meets #NeverBernie Sanders. But he was eliminated early on.

I settled on Biden as the “centrist” to help address the “Mason-Dixon Plaid” that pitted neighbor against neighbor. I wanted to stop the brewing civil war, and too many people hated Trump for him to be the solution. I similarly voted for centrists in Congress, rejecting mainstream media’s endorsement of far left-wing radicals like Jamaal Bowman. I picked a winner at the top of the ticket but saw extremist radicals taking over Congress.

Those radical members of Congress had no need to compromise the way a president must. They incited their base, and brought antisemitism to deplorable levels after the October 7, 2023 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel. Fading Biden had no idea or desire to stem the vicious tide.

Jewish members of Congress like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) turned on Israel and refused to combat the wave of antisemitism. Young Democrats and liberal universities revealed themselves to be deeply hostile to Israel and Jews.

The divide in America now felt more personal. It was no longer about Republicans versus Democrats, but more immediately, radical antisemitic extremists which had metastasized inside the Democratic party and liberal institutions against American Jewry. The general tension in the country is no longer my priority, but the specific targeting of minority-minority Jews which made even leading Jewish politicians hide in fear.

Pundits like Bret Stephens may argue that Trump continues to be a danger, and I was a NeverTrumper just like him. Many friends who are devout liberal Jews continue to believe that the antisemitism is really just a minor issue which will subside when the Iranian proxy war against Israel ends.

I disagree. Things have become so dire for American Jewry that Jews like me are prioritizing Jews over everything else. The alt-left will easily take over a Kamala Harris administration.

Sen. Bernie Sanders explaining that Kamala Harris will side with the alt-left when she is not bound by Biden’s preferences as it relates to Israel

Israel is laying the groundwork for an enduring peace in the Middle East by ridding the region of jihadi extremists who intend on annihilating local Jewry. It is tragic and ugly but essential. Americans – DEMOCRATS – need to similarly take actions which may seem displeasing, including voting for Trump, to end the toxic antisemitism drowning Jews today.

Be A Proud DINO And Expunge Extremists (February 2024)

The DSA Is Systematically Coming For Zionist Jews (August 2023)

Anti-Israel and Jew-Ambivalent in Congress (December 2022)

Politicians In Their Own Words: Why We Don’t Support Defending Jews (January 2022)

Eyes Wide Shut (November 2016)

The “Wings Of Islam” Sail On The Alt-Left “Jewish Currents”

Posted on October 27, 2024 by First.One.Through

Alt-left anti-Zionist Jews were once again given a major platform on the anti-Israel Amanpour & Co. on PBS. This week, it was Arielle Angel, Editor-in-Chief of Jewish Currents, a magazine devoted to progressive causes and more increasingly, the destruction of the only Jewish State.

Michelle Martin acted as a fair interviewer and gave Angel numerous attempts to criticize Hamas and rampant antisemitism (6:05). Angel would not take the bait and instead responded (6:55) that “30% of the Jewish community holds views that are consistent with non- or anti-Zionism, and that number rises to 40% for those under 44 [years old].” Angel did not provide any source for her figures. When she went for a source, she quoted deeply antisemitic and anti-Zionist Brown University which claimed that there are close to 100,000 Gazans killed by Israel, a figure which is more than two times quoted by Hamas.

At 8:30, Martin asks Angel to define Zionism. Angel didn’t answer and instead simply insisted that Zionism and Judaism are completely distinct, “there was a Judaism before Zionism and there will be one after. (9:15)”

Pressed by Martin again at 10:00 to define anti-Zionism, the core of Angel’s narrative, Angel was flummoxed. She offered that Zionism is “hazy” as “a marker of belonging without a firm definition.” She then answered that anti-Zionism for her now means understanding the Palestinian point of view, meaning “apartheid,” “being killed or massacred at will,” and “ethnic cleansing and mass murder.”

Angel went on to say that she is against an “ethnocentrist state” and that millions of Stateless Arabs from Palestine (“SAPs” or “Palestinian Refugees”) should be allowed to move into Israel regardless of what the government of Israel wants. She argued that the world must stop Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza which feels like the silent world which allowed the Holocaust of Jews to transpire in the 1940s.

Martin asked Angel to explain how Israel could allow itself to become a multi-ethnic society when it is completely surrounded by ethno-states, which have also repeatedly gone to war against Israel. Angel replied that Israel isn’t safe now anyway and incorrectly said that Hamas has accepted “1967 borders,” but it’s the Israeli government that wants all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

It would appear that extremist left-wing Jews have deeply internalized the 1988 foundational charter of Hamas which stated in Article 31, “Peace and quiet would not be possible except under the wing of Islam… It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region… The Zionist Nazi activities against our people will not last for long.”

Anti-Zionist left-wing Jews have become the spokespeople for Hamas, advancing narratives and policies to facilitate the destruction of the Jewish State. They wish for Jews to become dhimmis once again, living under the wing of jihadists. It’s a small price for Israeli Jews to pay for the mental health of progressive diaspora Jews.

ACTION ITEM

Write Jewish Currents and educate them about what Zionism actually is and that Gazans actually want dead Jews.

It’s Jewish: Kosher, Bris, Menorah, Mikvah, Land of Israel (April 2024)

The Zone Of Jew Hatred Interest (March 2024)

Missing Items In IHRA Antisemitism Definition Related To Israel (May 2023)

Anti-Semites Don’t Ride In Cattle Cars (September 2022)

A Core Tenet of Zionism Is Combatting Anti-Semitism (January 2022)

The Epicenters, Diameter and Echoes of 9/11 (September 2021)

Peter Beinart is an Apologist for Anti-Semites (December 2020)

Jizyah for Jews in Jerusalem (September 2019)

Christiane Amanpour is More Anti-Semitic Than Ilhan Omar (January 2019)

The Hebron Narratives: Is it the Presence of Jews or the Israeli Military (January 2018)

The Parameters of Palestinian Dignity (August 2016)

The Fault in Our Tent: The Limit of Acceptable Speech (July 2015)

Vote ‘No’ On New York’s Proposition 1

Posted on October 22, 2024 by First.One.Through

New York State is putting forward a proposal on the November ballot to change the state’s constitution. Specifically, it adds categories of “protected classes” and enables judges to override them if they feel that a situation is warranted.

The text reads:

Concurrent Resolution of the Senate and Assembly proposing an amendment to section 11 of article 1 of the constitution, in relation to equal protection

Section 1. Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That section 11 of article 1 of the constitution be amended to read as follows:

§ 11. a. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws of this state or any subdivision thereof. No person shall, because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed [or], religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy, be subjected to any discrimination in [his or her] their civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state, pursuant to law.

b. Nothing in this section shall invalidate or prevent the adoption of any law, regulation, program, or practice that is designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination on the basis of a characteristic listed in this section, nor shall any characteristic listed in this section be interpreted to interfere with, limit, or deny the civil rights of any person based upon any other characteristic identified in this section.

§ 2. Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That the foregoing amendment be submitted to the people for approval at the general election to be held in the year 2024 in accordance with the provisions of the election law.

Explanation – Matter in underscored is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted.

New York State is a Democratic super-majority trifecta: The Democratic Party controls the office of governor and both chambers of the state legislature, of Assembly (100 to 48) and Senate (42-21). Democrats are using their muscle to push forward a controversial proposal which sounds benign but gives judges wide latitude to advance preferred classes of people over others.

Advocates for the constitutional amendment like Governor Hochul argue that its about abortion rights. Yet many have written articles suggesting that such argument is absurd as New York already amended the constitution to permit an abortion until the moment of birth for any reason. Asian New Yorkers see the proposition as “reverse racism” which will kick qualified Asian students out of better schools in favor of preferred minorities. Others argue that this is a “pernicious” attempt to “throw out the New York human rights act,” in favor of pushing DEI everywhere (diversity, equity and inclusion).

Religious institutions are alarmed by the proposition and urging voters to vote ‘no.’

The president of Houghton University, a 141-year-old Christian university, said “the proposed amendments to the state constitution would adversely affect our institution, our students and our employees. The most significant of those adverse effects are related to parental rights, women’s athletics and religious liberty…. Proposal 1 and other similar inclusion measures overstep constitutional religious liberty protections when they prevent people of faith from freely exercising their religion. It is not inclusive to force people of faith to believe or behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their religious beliefs, to force them to raise their children in a manner that contradicts their religious beliefs, or for the state to attempt to raise their children in a manner that contradicts their religious beliefs while hiding state actions from their parents.”

Jewish institutions are similarly against the proposition, with Agudath Israel releasing a statement on October 15 urging everyone to reject the amendment to the constitution.

The Empire Center produced a detailed and balanced analysis of equal rights laws and the ramification of Prop 1. It concluded that the language in this proposition is so vague that it will pit one class of protected persons against another, spur constant litigation and give judges tremendous leeway to create policy of their personal preferences. It suggested that New Yorkers vote ‘no’ and “hold out for an equal rights amendment that solves more problems than it creates.”

The Deep Blue super-majority trifecta of New York State government is attempting to upend protections that have existed since 1938 to enforce DEI mandates in every aspect of New Yorker’s day-to-day lives. Vote ‘no’ to Proposition 1 and send a clear message that New Yorkers reject the government pitting citizens against each other.

‘Tis The Season To Vote And Donate Jewish (April 2024)

Vote To Sanctify The Separation Of Powers (November 2022)

Vote Purple (October 2020)

Please Don’t Vote for a Democratic Socialist (November 2018)

For The Sins of 5784…

Posted on October 11, 2024 by First.One.Through

For the sin of donating to my antisemitic alma mater;

For the sin of laughing hysterically at the Hezbollah pagers explosions;

For the sin of not doing enough to get rid of antisemitic members of Congress;

For the sin of not doing all I could to get rid of an antisemitic “charity” in my backyard;

For the sin of not lobbying my government to label Hamas a terrorist group;

For the sin of not lobbying my government to defund the United Nations;

For the sin of failing to educate children that the oppressor/oppressed narrative does not excuse people to act immorally;

For the sin of allowing myself to get pulled by the empathy swamp regarding Gaza to condemn Israel’s defensive war;

For the sin of not clearly calling out ‘woke’ profound antisemitism;

For the sin of not signing petitions to defund and abolish UNRWA;

For the sin of allowing ‘Intifada’ to be normalized;

For the sin of not calling out the antisemitic genocidal intent of Gazans;

For the sin of rewriting history;

For the sin of not demanding the firing of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres;

For the sin of watching Israel slowly get demonized and isolated without doing anything;

For the sin of not reporting antisemitic incidents;

For the sin of not believing people’s comments about Jews;

For the sin of pretending that Palestinian leadership does not want the destruction of Israel;

For the sin of excusing chants against Jews in ways I would never excuse similar chants against other groups;

For the sin of believing the whataboutery and red herrings of allies and preferred media;

For the sin of believing in the decency of my neighbors too much; for believing in them too little;

For the sin of seeking too few allies; for seeking too many allies;

For the sin of pardoning my government for not fighting enough for the Jewish people;

For the sin of talking about Israel at work too little; for talking about it too much;

For these things related to the Jewish world, please pardon us

For the sin of waiting for someone else to say Psalm 119 in Tehillim chat groups;

For the sin of doubling up my recitation of the same Tehillim chapter on different WhatsApp groups;

For the sin of taking two handfuls of mints at restaurants;

For the sin of not mentoring enough young people;

For the sin of not putting ‘AsAJew’ people who put Jews directly in harms way in herem;

For the sin of not defending AIPAC from ridiculous slander;

For the sin of claiming anti-Zionism is not antisemitism;

For the sin of dressing up extremist and divisive positions as merely “progressive”;

For the sin of believing that the Biden-Harris administration has been effective at controlling the nation’s borders;

For the sin of believing in Kamala Harris the moment she became the presidential nominee when I had believed her utterly incompetent for three and one-half years;

For the sin of not believing that Donald Trump is a megalomaniac;

For the sin of wasting time debating Trump-Harris for hours, when I live in a deeply blue or red state;

For the sin of not speaking to as many Holocaust survivors as possible;

For the sin of thinking about Israel too much; for thinking about it too little;

For the sin of not volunteering for community security service;

For the sin of not fighting to neuter harmful “Jewish” charities;

For the sin of obsessing about peace in a time of war;

For the sin of not thinking about the hostages in Gaza every day;

For these sins related to community, please pardon us

For the sin of giving away the Wordle answer to someone who hasn’t completed it;

For the sin of watching Instagram videos of dogs while in bed instead of paying attention to my spouse;

For the sin of using ChatGPT to make R-rated content;

For the sin of not writing to the media when they print something full of antisemitic lies;

For the sin of believing The New York Times;

For the sin of reading The New York Times and not writing to them about every article related to Israel;

For the sin of not contacting Marvel to ensure that antisemitism and anti-Israel narratives don’t flood the screen;

For these sins related to media and social media, please pardon us

For the sin of playing the lottery weekly without my spouse’s knowledge;

For the sin of letting dishes soak when it’s my turn to clean up;

For the sin of “borrowing” a Netflix account;

For the sin of believing in my children too little; for believing in them too much;

For the sin of not visiting parents enough;

For these sins related to family, please pardon us

For the sin of blogging instead of exercising;

For the sin of reading emails while driving;

For the sin of sneaking desserts at 5AM;

For these sins related to health, please pardon us

For the sin of not subscribing to blogs I enjoy;

For all these things, please pardon us

For The Sins Of 5783…

For The Sins Of 5782…

For the Sins of 5780…

For the Sins of 5777 of…

October 7 And A Year

Posted on October 8, 2024 by First.One.Through

It has been 366 days since the largest and most savage massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. A year since 1,200 people were slaughtered, beheaded and burned alive. A year since a large scale mass sexual assault of women in Israel by invading jihadists. 366 days, and counting, of 101 people remaining as hostages in Gaza, of the 251 who were abducted on October 7, 2023.

It is a time to memorialize the dead. To remember their lives, dreams and aspirations which were cut short.

It is a time to recount the bravery of those who fought off the barbaric invaders to protect the innocent.

It is a time to call out the mass sexual assault committed by Palestinian Arabs, a vile crime against humanity.

It is a time to pray for the hostages, cut off from light, food, family, friends and a normal life.

And it has been that time, every day, for a year.

Over the past year, people attended public events at the United Nations, the National Mall in Washington and Times Square as well as private events at synagogues and community centers.

People have done ‘Run For Their Lives’, heard from survivors and politicians and watched countless videos and movies about the atrocities committed by Palestinian Arabs. They’ve donated to Israeli causes and volunteered sending goods to Israel. They put signs on their lawns and ribbons on the trees and lapels.

They’ve wept at concerts of Israeli singers, as they remembered their crew who was killed at the Nova Music Festival, and seeing Israeli soldiers reunited with their loved ones.

And they’ve gone to Israel. Packing items for soldiers and their families, donating blood, serving soldiers on their way in and out of the terrorist enclave of Gaza.

While praying and fighting for Israel, they’ve done the same in combating antisemitism in the diaspora. They’ve attended protests, provided support for students on hostile campuses, attended lectures and rallied to expel toxic politicians from office.

Manhattan Jewish experience discussing antisemitism on college campuses

People have written to the anti-Israel media and cancelled subscriptions, emailed politicians and switched political parties. They’ve stopped giving money to their alma maters and started donating to Jewish and Israeli causes they never considered – let alone prioritized – before.

New York Times referring to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as seeking equality for all religions

The trauma of the brutality continues past the year anniversary. Hostages remain. The Iranian Proxies War continues. The PTSD of raped women does not fade, nor for those who witnessed their family and friends killed.

Antisemites continue to rage on diaspora streets. Anti-Israel protestors rant on college campuses to burn Tel Aviv to the ground and to “Globalize the Intifada by any means necessary.” Politicians and university presidents appear unable or unwilling to stem the tidal wave of hate.

The world advocates to give peace prizes to those that torment Jews rather than those that normalize relations with the Jewish State. Politicians blame any real or potential personal misfortune on Jews. Leading Jewish politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Jerry Nadler lead the charge to vilify the Israeli government, paving the way for non-Jews to comfortably condemn Israel’s just defensive war.

There have been no great speeches by Israeli or Jewish political leaders. Jews have turned to podcasts for wisdom and to young Jewish men and women testifying before Congress to gain moral courage.

we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, June 4, 1940

A year since the savage Palestinian Arab massacre of Israelis, the bitter chill of isolation has set upon Jews in Israel and the diaspora. Exhausted, they will continue to fight the menace for their basic human rights, ideally with allies, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

Rethinking Jewish and Israeli Charities (September 2024)

The Anti-Israel And Anti-American Woke Grows (July 2024)

A Visit To A Nation Held Hostage (July 2024)

Antisemitic Wind Chill, Now In Westchester (January 2024)

Sharansky on Churchill’s “We Shall Fight Them On The Beaches” Speech For Jews Today (December 2023)

The March of Silent Feet (January 2020)

The Holocaust Will Not Be Colorized. The Holocaust Will Be Live. (May 2019)

A 2024 Nobel Peace Prize Shortlist Mocks The Death Of Jews

Posted on October 7, 2024 by First.One.Through

On October 3, 2024, the Director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Henrik Urdal, announced his updated list today for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. While PRIO is not associated with the Nobel committee, its views are considered influential. The list included:

OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms
UNRWA and Philippe Lazzarini
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
UNESCO and the Council of Europe

In selecting UNRWA, PRIO stated “The UN agency has faced a massive funding crisis for years, which has been exasperated by the war itself, and increasingly by the impact of US withdrawing funding following allegations by Israel that 12 participants of the 7 October attacks were Hamas militants, employed by UNRWA. The UN agency took the allegations seriously, by launching both an internal investigation and an external review of its procedures. UNRWA has extensive control mechanisms in place, with a zero tolerance, but not zero risk policy. They therefore terminated the employment of individuals where there was any indication that they might have had ties to militant groups. Throughout the war UNRWA itself has been heavily targeted by Israeli attacks, and by the end of September, 224 of its staff had been killed in Gaza, and 190 UNRWA installations had been damaged. UNRWA’s operation is absolutely fundamental to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. A Nobel Peace Prize to the agency and its Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini would send a strong message about its role in supporting the lives of millions of Palestinian women, men and children.”

Nowhere was it noted that UNRWA teaches its students to despise Israeli Jews. Nowhere was it mentioned that UNRWA has promised 6 million Palestinian Arabs – 42% of whom already live in historic region of Palestine – that their future is inside of Israel, whether Israel likes it or not.

In short-listing the ICJ, PRIO wrote “While a Nobel Peace Prize to the ICJ would largely be seen as uncontroversial, the Court acted boldly in January this year ordering Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip. In addition, it acted early in March 2022 by ordering Russia to ‘immediately suspend the military operations’ in Ukraine.”

The anti-Israel actions were not an accident or related to the current war.

In 2021, PRIO did not recommend Jared Kushner who helped engineer the Abraham Accords which formed normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab and Muslim countries, a feat which was once considered impossible. Instead it nominated B’Tselem & the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) for “contributing to raising awareness in Israel and elsewhere of the need for the Israeli regime to change course if the conflict is to have any chance of reaching a peaceful and just resolution.”

In short, the recommendations for a peace prize in the shadow of the brutal slaughter of Jews was to send a political message that Jews deserve neither peace nor justice; they should have neither until the Palestinian victims of preference achieve all of their goals.

ACTION ITEM

Contact PRIO at urdal@prio.org and +47 92 04 78 41 that the barbaric slaughter of Jews should be condemned clearly and the murderers brought to justice, and their protectors should not be celebrated on the global stage, a mockery to both living and dead Jews.

Israel at 75 (April 2023)

Will a Jailed Terrorist or a Terrorist Group Run the Palestinian Authority? (April 2021)

Jared Kushner’s Parents Donate $20 million to the First Hospital Likely to Win the Nobel Peace Prize (December 2016)

New York Times Grants Nobel Prize-in Waiting to Palestinian Arab Terrorist (February 2016)

First One Through

Israel Analysis. We primaried Bowman!

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For The Sins of 5784…

October 7 And A Year

A 2024 Nobel Peace Prize Shortlist Mocks The Death Of Jews

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