October 7, 2023 will be marked in Israeli and Jewish history as one of the most horrible days in modern times. Not since the Holocaust had such Jews experienced such savagery.
It would be hard to understand that from looking at pictures in The New York Times coverage of the Hamas massacre.
The attack was featured on the front page as well as in two other pages with many color pictures.
Front page of NY Times on October 8, 2023
Four pictures were featured under the headline “Palestinian Militants Stage Attack On Israel.” The four pictures included two of Palestinians attacking Israel, one with rockets and another with a bulldozer ripping down a fence. The other had an Israeli soldier walking past “bodies of Israelis killed by militants in the city of Sderot,” which gave no clarity as to whether the Israelis were soldiers, like the one standing in the picture, or civilians. The last picture had people in Gaza carrying “the body of a slain militant.”
From the pictures on the cover, one would imagine a battle between armed opponents, Palestinian militants and the Israeli army.
Page 12 would build on this theme.
Page 12 of The New York Times on October 8, 2023
Three small pictures on the top of the page show missile strikes and debris. One shows an Israeli town being hit and two pictures show Gaza being struck. The large picture in the center of the page has an Israeli woman, shown from the back, running for cover from a “rocket siren”, and the bottom picture has young Palestinian Arabs looking up at the sky from the “sound of airstrikes.”
The picture coverage started to move to civilians, with the war being a battle from the skies.
Page 13 of NY Times on October 8, 2023
The final page of coverage continued with the theme of rocket fire, with a large picture on top showing a strike in Gaza, then a small picture of a house in Israel with damage. Below the fold was an Israeli family running from “a site that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.”
This pictorial narrative is utterly and completely disgraceful.
Well over 1,000 Palestinian terrorists stormed into Israel and slaughtered over 1,000 people. They set fire to homes and burned people alive. They shot up people in the streets and in their beds. The raped women and dragged them through the streets. The Arabs chopped the heads off babies and soldiers.
It was a vicious slaughter committed by people in close proximity, mostly of armed Hamas terrorists against civilians.
All unprovoked, in an attack on the Jewish Sabbath and holiday of Simchat Torah.
The New York Times attempt at showing a similar number of pictures of damage from rockets in both Israel and Gaza right after the massacre distorts the entire narrative of the grotesque slaughter of Jewish families and young people, to warrant being called antisemitic and libelous.
Wennesland posted two statements right before and immediately after the gruesome October 7 slaughter of over 1,000 Israelis. A comparison is illustrative.
After Israelis in the West Bank attacked the city of Huwwara where Palestinian Arabs have killed many Israelis, he condemned the “attack by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property,” adding that he was “outraged by the continued incitement, provocations and lack of accountability for these violent crimes.” With one Palestinian dead, Wennesland demanded that “Israel must ensure that the [Palestinian Arab] civilian population is protected, and the [Israeli] perpetrators are held to account.”
Some hours later, over 1,000 Palestinian Arabs invaded Israel and butchered over 1,000 Israelis in a grisly unprovoked attack. Wennesland’s short statement said so much and so little.
“I vehemently condemn this morning’s multi-front assault against Israeli towns and cities near the Gaza Strip, and barrage of rockets reaching across central Israel by Hamas militants.
“These events have resulted in horrific scenes of violence and many Israeli fatalities and injuries, with many believed to be kidnapped inside the Strip. These are heinous attacks targeting civilians and must stop immediately.
“I am deeply concerned for the well-being of all civilians. I am in close contact with all concerned to urge maximum restraint and call on all sides to protect civilians.
This is a dangerous precipice and I appeal to all to pull back from the brink.“
Matter
1 Palestinians killed in response to attack
1,000+ Israelis killed in unprovoked massacre
Condemnation
“condemn”
“vehemently condemn”
Attack
“Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property”
“horrific scenes of violence… heinous attacks targeting civilians and must stop immediately”
Outrage
“continued incitement, provocations, and lack of accountability for these violent crimes“
N/A
Concern
“[Palestinian] civilians”
“all civilians”
Action urged
“hold perpetrators accountable“
“maximum restraint“
Comparing the two incidents is like comparing a parking ticket to a multi-vehicle crash, facts which were clearly known to Wennesland. Yet he could not call out the “continued incitement, provocations and lack of accountability” for Palestinian Arabs who butchered people. He voiced his concern about Palestinians when one Arab was killed but was suddenly concerned for “all civilians” when hundreds upon hundreds of Israelis were tortured.
Most tellingly, the United Nations Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace only called for Israelis to be held accountable, but urged Israel to show “maximum restraint” and not pursue an entire Palestinian terrorist infrastructure that launched a war.
The United Nations has never been concerned about Middle East Peace, only the formation of a Palestinian State – even at the very moment when Palestinian Arabs clearly demonstrated to the world that they most definitely do not deserve one.
ACTION ITEM
Write US Ambassador to United Nations “Demand all Israeli hostages be returned and members of Hamas hand themselves over to Israel for prosecution for their heinous attack on over 1,000 civilians.”
It is difficult for people to comprehend the trauma felt in Israel. It goes beyond numbers as reviewed here.
The 9/11 Comparison
The Murdered. On September 11, 2001, 2,977 American civilians were killed by radical jihadists affiliated with the al Qaeda terrorist group. By comparison, on October 7, 2023, an estimated 900 people were killed in Israel. Relative to each population, roughly 1 out of 100,000 Americans were killed on 9/11 while 9.6 out of 100,000 Israelis were killed.
After 9/11, there were basically no further casualties on American soil. In Israel, several hundred additional people have been killed, with each day almost the equivalent of a 9/11. The total scale of the massacre of Israelis easily surpasses 10 times 9/11.
The Killers. There were 19 hijackers of four airplanes on 9/11, a relatively small number. The massacre in Israel involved an estimated 1,500 Palestinian Arab terrorists, about 80 times as many bent on killing civilians.
The Methodology. The 9/11 operation was clinically cold: the hijackers crashed planes into buildings. In the 10/7 atrocities, 1,500 Hamas terrorists went town-to-town hacking and shooting families to death. They raped women and dragged them through the street by their hair. They burned people alive. The butchers decapitated dozens of babies. For hours, they scoured the horizon for Jews to slaughter by hand.
Broad Local Support. The al Qaeda terrorists were a band of radical jihadists in 2001. They weren’t elected to any office. Not so for Hamas, which was elected to 58% of Palestinian parliament in 2006 with the most antisemitic charter ever written. They continue to hold that majority of the government, and according to polls, Hamas would win presidential elections if held now.
Location. The horde of al Qaeda terrorists were on the other side of the globe for the U.S.A. Hamas is literally next door to Israel – with the majority in Gaza but many in the West Bank. These Palestinian terrorists could carry out attacks against Israel from their backyards whenever they want.
The Aftermath. All 19 hijackers on 9/11 were killed in the suicide operation. They took no prisoners. However, well over 1,000 of the Arab terrorists survived and returned to their safe haven in Gaza, taking roughly 150 hostages with them. The Palestinian jihadists continue to fight on, now surrounded by 25,000 fellow jihadi terrorists, ensconced among civilians.
International Support. Al Qaeda became public enemy number one around the world after 9/11. America enlisted many countries in a fight against global terror which focused on America’s enemy. Yet now, in the immediate aftermath of the sickening slaughter in Israel, people and countries call the terrorism “resistance” and the massacre a cause for “celebration.” Israel will have a very difficult time gathering and maintaining global support to finally terminate this noxious evil.
Existential Threat. At the end of the day, while the 9/11 attacks were evil, the United States did not suddenly become really vulnerable; it was not going to disappear. But Israel is surrounded by many parties who refuse to accept its existence since its founding. The Islamic Republic of Iran, now at the cusp of nuclear weapons capability, has threatened to wipe it off the map and is actively sponsoring terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah on Israel’s borders. Israel is highly vulnerable.
As people watch the news or consider the “pro-Palestinian resistance” protests taking place in cities and campuses, it is critical that they understand the current fear of Jews and Israelis: the collective post traumatic stress disorder which echoes the wails of parents and grandparents from the Holocaust and pogroms, has emerged again as the Satan of Gaza.
Even the most persecuted people in the world can be shocked by the barbarity of antisemites, and by the people who abandon them in their time of need.
The Jewish State and Jews around the world have woken up to the fact that they are in a war, hated for who they are, where they are and what they do. It took a monstrous massacre for the reality to awaken people to the situation, and having reached this point, it’s important to know more about the haters and their intents.
The article “The Center of Intersectionality looks a lot like Adolf Hitler” listed many vile antisemites including: the Democratic Socialists of America, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ilhan Omar, New York City Council member Shahana Hanif, Linda Sarsour and Zahra Billoo of the Council of American-Islamic Relations. There are many others like the Mapping Project in Massachusetts which is part of the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment (BDS) movement, which wants to make it easier to target Jewish organizations throughout the state, and so listed them and their addresses. Organizations included those that promote “normalization” and peace, as well as synagogues.
After the brutal massacre of hundreds of Israelis on October 7, 2023, one would imagine that even everyday antisemites would distance themselves from the carnage and attempt to not appear as Nazis bent on Jewish blood.
Alas, the bilestorm is upon us, and those celebrating the murder of Jews are out in the open. Jews should take note and be prepared in both the near- and intermediate-term.
Immediately after the atrocities became public, The United States Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) threw its full weight behind Palestinian Arabs. It published a statement about the “recent unprovoked and continuous attacks by Israel on Palestinian towns, cities, and refugee camps have resulted in tragic loss of Palestinian lives. We condemn Israel’s targeted and indiscriminate killing of civilians, including innocent children, women, and the elderly, and we denounce the inhumane siege imposed on the nearly 2 million inhabitants of Gaza, a clear violation of international law and an implied declaration of open war on the Palestinians which oblige them to be in constant self-defense.” Members of USCMO are:
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). They have a convention in Chicago November 23-5
Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) which vigorously backed Billoo’s antisemitic rant that all Jews are enemies of Muslims
Al-Awda – The Palestinian Right to Return Coalition
Within Our Lifetime
Samidoun
CUNY School of Law Students for Justice in Palestine
Decolonize This Place
Existence Is Resistance
CUNY for Palestine
Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America
Yalies for Palestine
Semilla Collective
Greater New Haven Peace Council
Wesleyan Students for Justice in Palestine
Party for Socialism and Liberation
Witness Palestine Rochester
ANSWER Coalition
Bard College SJP
Students for Justice in Palestine – Butler University
Jewish Voice for Peace – Indiana
Party for Socialism and Liberation – Indianapolis
SJP @ UC Davis
AMP Chicago
… and many more
The Democratic Socialists of America and Students for Justice In Palestine were in full force around the country backing the wanton killing of Jews. AMCHA Initiative has long tracked how the presence of SJP on college campuses results in antisemitic incidents jumping by five times.
The head of NYU Law Student Bar Association sent out a broad email about “my unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinian in their resistance against oppression toward liberation and self-determination.” Ryna went on to say Israel’s blockade of the terrorist enclave “made resistance necessary. I will not condemn resistance.” That such a person can be a lawyer and approve of the wanton slaughter of non-combatants en masse is terrifying. This person, Ryna Workman, should be rejected from all employment.
Ryna has company. Harvard University posted a letter signed by 30 groups supporting Hamas’s butchery. After billionaire investor Bill Ackman, an alum of the school, asked that the school release the names of the individuals behind the letter, someone posted their names.
Columbia University’s Student for Justice in Palestine produced a vile antisemite named Naye Idriss who gave a speech in Times Square in New York City the day after the massacre of Jews and called for more massacres to a reception of cheers.
Idriss was likely fueled in her hatred of the Jewish State from Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi who said that Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Arabs “will necessarily, inevitably bring a violent reaction (51:40). Another professor, Joseph Massad mocked how Jews fled on foot from their “colonies” (since he views all of Israel as an illegal colony) in the massacre. He didn’t mention a single slaughtered Jew but went on to lament Arab dead, which he hoped would be the “start of the Palestinian War of Liberation.”
Of course, this generation’s Nazis is the popular Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas which carried out the slaughter. Its 1988 foundational charter is replete with antisemitism and the call to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish State, seemingly to the joy of Palestinian Arabs who voted the party into 58% of parliament in 2006. Its leadership calls on Muslims around the world to engage in a global intifada to support their annihilation of Israel.
Turkey, another Islamic, non-Arab country provides Hamas political support
Qatar hosts Hamas’s leadership and funnels money to it
Eugene Puryear, part of the Party for Socialism and Liberation organized rallies for Hamas and said “Palestinians are right to stand up against occupation.”
ADL has tracked many of the recent pro-Hamas protests which backed the massacre and called for the destruction of Israel. Chants included “Zionism has got to go!” and “Zionism is genocide!”, “You need to stop being apologetic about Palestinian liberation“, “Resistance is not terrorism.” Regarding the massacre of Jews, speakers said “make no mistake, we are in celebration.”
While Jews grieve and pray, they seemingly have not internalized that the pro-Palestinian community does not view this as a battle like 2008, 2012, 2014 or 2021. They don’t think it’s like the Second Intifada in which they rejected two states for two people.
Your enemies believe the war to end the Jewish State has begun. It’s 1948 Redux.
And they have called for the world to join them in their efforts to end Israel and prosecute its supporters in a “global intifada.”
Israel’s fight in Gaza is not about the terrorist group Hamas; it is about terminating Hamas’s jihadi dream of destroying the Jewish State.
Almost every Palestinian Arab is already an antisemite and this war will not make them hate Jews any less. However, it must teach them that Israel is here to stay.
Social media sites like Facebook have enabled features for people to post whether they are safe when a particular crisis hits. It is meant as a quick tool to alert friends and families in real-time that one has escaped tragedy.
When war strikes Israel – especially on a holiday – Jews around the world await the pain of loss.
The popular Palestinian Arab political-terrorist group Hamas launched a massive attack against Israel while Jews celebrated the end of their holidays celebrating the Torah. This year, the two-day religious observance of Shemini Azeret/ Simchat Torah in the diaspora outside of Israel, coincided with the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hamas deployed thousands of missiles and militants into Israel to mark the day in a new war.
As horrible news leaked into synagogues about the war in Israel over the holiday, many Orthodox Jews had to wait until Sunday night to learn about the status of friends and family inside the Jewish holy land, as they do not use any electronic devices over the holiday.
A friend’s son serving in the army killed.
A friend’s cousin taken hostage.
A friend’s best friend killed.
A friend’s child’s roommate killed.
Each frantic call and review of social media was one of trauma.
There are few Jews in the world. While there are 8 billion people who are at most six degrees of separation from any other person, the 15 million Jews are at most two degrees of separation for one another. When hundreds of Jews are murdered, everyone is touched. Everyone mourns.
The Hamas website, which operated openly for years proclaiming its war against the Jewish State, was blocked as it posted videos of its grisly operation killing and kidnapping civilians. Its effort to let Jews know that they are never safe was viewed as too cruel to be given air at this time.
Palestinians pose with the Palestinian flag on an Israeli tank that was destroyed in an attack launched by Hamas on October 7. Behind the tank, the fence separating Gaza from Israel can be seen as destroyed, allowing more inflitrations. Photo: Hani Alsahaer/Anadolu Agency)
But information slowly dribbles in. And it continues to be horrific.
In addition to the over 700 dead are over 100 who have been taken captive, spread throughout the terrorist enclave of Gaza. Children as young as three. Wheelchair-bound Holocaust survivors.
The scale of the loss of life is difficult to comprehend. The number of hostages taken means that the current dangerous situation will be present for a long time.
There is no hashtag for Jews to mark themselves safe, nor an emoji to relay the deep pain at the loss of life and trauma felt for friends trapped at the center of evil.
As Jews around the world wait for bad news, they assess the actions each can take to seize the day from the implacable foe.
ACTION ITEM
Write White House “Support Israel. Cut all funding to Palestinians immediately.”
Tor Wennesland, the Arab puppet who works under the title United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, gave his highly biased remarks to the UN Security Council on September 27. It showcased his protection of the increasingly dangerous Palestinian terrorist society.
During the reporting period June 15 to September 19, Palestinian Arabs in the “West Bank” killed ten Israelis, while Israeli “settlers” in the region killed two Palestinians. The whopping FIVE TIMES more murders by Arabs did not seem to register, as Wennesland voiced “I am disturbed by the high levels of settler-related violence,” but never specifically called out the more frequent and lethal Arab violence.
As alarming, for the seventh time this year, Palestinians in the West Bank launched rockets at Israelis, with the latest one towards the Israeli town of Ram On located near the 1949 Armistice Lines. Wennesland grossly minimized the attack saying Palestinians “attempted and failed to launch an improvised rocket”, making the grotesque attempt at mass murder sound like a harmless childish prank.
The rocket attacks were launched by yet another new Palestinian terror group called al-Ayyash, joining the Lion’s Den and Jenin Battalion which formed over the past two years. The number of guns and advanced weaponry now being deployed by the various terrorist groups is making 2023 the most deadly year for Israelis in several years.
Still, the UN did not condemn Palestinian actions nor call for a crack down on incitement and terror. Instead, it asked countries for donations to send to these same Palestinians, and urged for evictions of all Jewish civilians from their homes in the West Bank.
It’s working.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said “the sharp rise in violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians is also deeply alarming,” but didn’t similarly call out the greater number of Palestinian Arab murderers. She then added that the United States supports the antisemitic policies and desires of the Palestinian Authority to ban Jews from living in the “West Bank” and from praying at their holiest location on the Jewish Temple Mount. For good measure, she added that the U.S. is “pleased to announce nearly $73 million in additional contributions to UNRWA.”
If the UN’s vision of a peace process absolves Arabs of crimes against humanity while endorsing the ethnic cleansing of half a million Jews from their biblical homeland, the entire global body is clearly morally defective. It should be stripped of all funding and shuttered outright, not just its specialized projects for Palestinians.
The latest quarterly Palestinian poll came out on September 13, 2023, which repeated commonly heard Palestinian attitudes about their disgust with their leadership and wanting to kill Jews. A deeper look at the trends related to an open-ended question reveals a disturbing reality.
When asked about the most important issue for Palestinians to address, the goal of “ending the occupation and establishing a new Palestinian state” was always the number one choice. The second most important issue has consistently been getting the “right of return” to move into towns in Israel.
A look at the trendline since 2011 shows a significant erosion of those seeking to form a new Palestinian State. In September 2011, 59% of Palestinian Arabs said that ending Israeli rule in the “West Bank” and Gaza was the top priority with only 24% considering a right of return to Israel as the main goal. That 35% gap shrunk by nearly half to 18% by September 2015 and by nearly half again in September 2018 when there was a 10% difference. Now the gap stands at a mere 7%.
The decline is virtually completely from a drop in enthusiasm for a new Palestinian State. The desire for a “right to return” to Israel has stayed virtually constant.
Not surprisingly based on the above, the opposition to a two state solution now stands at 67%.Opposition reached these elevated levels in early 2021, after a more modest opposition of 26% of Gazans and 40% of West Bank Arabs in December 2020.
It should not come as a surprise that Palestinians have come to oppose this Palestinian State. They view the leadership as terribly corrupt, with 78% wanting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to reign. The man has refused to hold elections and will soon start the 19th year of his four year-term.
This latest poll also asked about the Oslo Accords, now reaching its 30th anniversary. Today, 68% of Palestinian think Oslo harmed Palestinian interests and 71% think it was a mistake to sign them. A majority of 63% wants the PA to now abandon the accords completely.
These various responses reflect a new reality: Palestinians are done pursuing a peace agreement with Israel in search of a new corrupt Palestinian State. They have begun to prioritize the goal of moving to Israel, and taking over the Jewish State. It’s why Palestinian leaders are no longer shy condemning the ‘Judaization’ of Israel itself, and not just Jerusalem. They have called the entirety of the Jewish State a “painful settlement” in what they perceive of as purely “Arab land.”
The spike in Palestinian Arab violence since the beginning of 2021 is no longer about “resisting the occupation” and establishing an Arab State in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians are launching a war for Israel itself, as it considers the Nakba a living reality and not a moment in history in 1948. They have convinced themselves that Israel will soon cease to exist, and have set their sites on the bigger prize – from the river to the sea.
Different formulas for striking a resolution to the Arab-Israeli Conflict have been advanced for decades. One sticking point seems banal on its surface, with ambiguous language which whitewashes the implausibility of implementation.
“A” Two State Solution Versus “The” Two State Solution
The United States has called for “A” two state solution, which is “two states for two peoples,” as President Biden has often said. One country is the Jewish State of Israel and the other country will become an Arab State of Palestine.
This is very different from the similarly named Arab-preferred “The” two state solution, which is the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. That plan calls for an Arab State of Palestine and a bi-national state of Israel. That is not a formula for “two states for two people” but “one purely Arab state of Palestine and one state where Jews are allowed to live in Israel.”
The Arab two state plan calls for a “Right of Return” of 14 million Arabs who have some roots in Palestine to enter either Israel or Palestine, depending where ancestors had lived. Israel now has roughly 7.2 million Jews, so the clear goal is to end Jewish sovereignty in their homeland.
The difference is stark and both Republicans and Democrats in the United States fully understand the nature of the Arab claim for a “right of return” to end the Jewish state.
In a April 14, 2004 letter from U.S. President George W. Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Bush wrote “It seems clear that an agreed, just, fair, and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final status agreement will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.”
The Democrats had an almost identical clause in its platform (until President Barak Obama removed it) which stated “the creation of a Palestinian state through final status negotiations, together with an international compensation mechanism, should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel.“
A return for refugees would end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.
BDS Leader, Omar Barghouti
The principle of “Two states for two people” and an Arab “Right of return” are mutually exclusive, and must be stated clearly by those pretending to advance an end to the conflict.
September 16 and 17, 2023 were celebrated by Jews around the world as the start of the new year. Together with Yom Kippur next week, they mark the holiest days in Judaism.
The United States embassy to Israel did not mark the occasion with any wishes to the Jews in Israel or around the world. This stood in sharp contrast to commemorating holidays for other religions.
Yet the embassy did not post about Jewish Heritage Month in May. It did not post Passover wishes which coincided with Ramadan in 2023. It has not wished any Jews greetings over their high holy days in September.
The embassy is well aware of the holidays. It chose to warn Jews to not travel to Uman, Ukraine over Rosh Hashana. President Biden wished Jews a happy holiday but the embassy staff in Israel did think it important to share, even as it does so for Muslim holidays.
The current staff of the U.S. embassy to Israel is seemingly going out of its way to belittle Jews and Judaism, and court Arabs and Muslims.
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres is concerned when armed parties might use lethal force. He has frequently urged that ‘utmost restraint’ be exercised by two warring parties like Lebanon and Israel (2021), and when a government confronts unarmed civilians, such as Iran confronting demonstrators (2022) and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan (2021).
In only one situation has the UNSG urged ‘utmost restraint’ when fighting terrorists: Israel fighting Palestinian Arab terrorism, as he did after an Arab terrorist killed seven Jews outside of a synagogue on a Sabbath in Jerusalem (2023).
Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue (photo: FirstOneThrough)
The Palestinian leadership expressed outrage and asked the UN to intervene. U.S. members of Congress Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said that “more guns lead to more deaths,” with Bowman adding that he would urge the United States to restrict military aid to Israel if armed guards located at synagogues resulted in any Arab deaths over the Jewish holy days.
Josh Earnest, spokesperson for former President Obama noted that Jews in Jerusalem “provoke tensions“, while The New York Times referred to those Jews as “right-wing settlers.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decried the entire situation of Israel trying to “Judaize” Jerusalem with “Talmudic rituals.”
Meanwhile, though Israel limited access for Jews to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during Islamic holidays even when it overlapped with Jewish holidays, the Jewish State has not announced any restrictions on Arab movement in Jerusalem during the Jewish holiday season which have no Islamic holidays. Amnesty International declared Israel to be an ‘apartheid‘ regime privileging Jews anyway.
The UN’s Gutteres issued a statement in time for the holidays telling Israel to “exercise restraint and use only proportional force and the duty to minimize damage and injury and respect and preserve human life,” when confronting potential jihadi terrorists at synagogues. That includes only fighting Arab assailants with knives and meat cleavers if those are the weapons the terrorists choose.
The Israeli government opted to quote former Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin over the global concern and threats over Israel defending Jews praying in synagogues during the holidays: “A Jew must learn to defend himself. He must forever be prepared for whenever threat looms…. The world may not necessarily like the fighting Jew, but the world will have to take account of him.”
First One Through 