A Time To Scream

In 1995, a fine text on the principles of combatting terrorist groups was published, entitled Fighting Terrorism. Not a perfect work, mind you. The author was reticent to get at the politically incorrect root of Islam, and frequently used such parve phrases like “militant Islam”; but despite certain faults, the book was excellent. It was such a sound read that, after 9/11, they came out with a revised edition with a new introduction.

The author was a bonafide expert on the subject, having served in the Israeli special forces as a soldier, authored a previous work on combatting terror, and had the distinction of being one of the founders of an anti-terror institute. The following statement from Fighting Terrorism addresses Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 1994, and subsequent arming of the PLO:

“If one needs a textbook case on how not to fight terrorism, Gaza is it. For if hitherto Israel had shown the world how terrorism could be fought, now it showed how terrorism could be facilitated. From 1993 on, the Israeli government committed many of the same mistakes that a state could committ in the war against terror. It's most fundamental mistake, of course, was to capitulate to the terrorists' political demands.” (Page 110)

Clearly written by a man who understands the mindset of terrorists. Who wrote this wonderful text? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Therein lies the problem.

I don't like to bash Netanyahu. I attack his policies, not the man. Bibi is not like Obama who deserves all the defamation (and more) that we send his way. Obama is a reprehensible anti-semite. I don't doubt for a moment Bibi's committment to the Jewish people and Israel. Certainly, there is much to respect from his early career. But that is where it ends. Love and commitment are insufficient when the dagger is at our throat. (And with ISIS on the horizon, it will be the Arabian scimitar!) Certainly not while occupying the office of the Prime Minister of Israel, whose primary responsibility is to protect Israel.

Netanyahu fought the PLO as an elite soldier, and lost his legendary older brother Yonatan (May G-d avenge his blood!) to the PLO, while acting as commander during Operation Entebbe in 1976. Netanyahu understands terrorism. He knows all about Hamas and their intentions. So giving them a breath of life is insane. Agreeing to any ceasefire, real or otherwise, is riduculous. You destroy nazis today so that you won't have to fight them tommorow. It's not like Israel doesn't have a mess on her hands anyway. We have to start taking these terror networks out today, one by one, because things will get worse.

Netanyahu's Blunder

Since taking office (the first time around) Netanyahu rejected the philosophical principles of his beloved Likud, and abrogated virtually every one of the “don'ts” one must avoid when combatting terror. These sensible, obvious, “don'ts” resonate throughout his written work, and most of his public discourses (when not in office):

Several Examples From Bibi's “Don't List”

• Don't defer the mission of combatting terrorism to some other group. Certainly not to some other terrorist group!

• Don't release jailed terrorists who inevitably return to murder and terrorise Jews.

• Don't prevent the security forces from destroying terrorists, by restricting their ability to deal harsh blows.

• Don't arm terrorists!

Throughout his tenure as Prime Minister, Bibi has repeatedly abrogated every one of his rules.

In 1996, Netanyahu became Prime Minister for his first term. Instead of ending the illegal, treasonous Oslo Accords, he shook Yaser Arafat's hand and handed the holy city of Hebron to the PLO. Netanyahu knew it to be national suicide. He has consistently noted in his written works that Arafat was the epitomy of evil, and that the Oslo Accords were part of the PLO's stated phased plan to destroy Israel.

Since 2009, his leadership has been just as egregious. Here are some prominent examples:

• His infamous Bar Ilan speech gave full credence to the mythos of a palestinian people, and lent support to the creation of an unarmed palestinian state. (They were already armed!)

• Halting construction (“freezing”, if you will) in the liberated Judea and Samaria for a year.

• Freeing untold numbers of Arab murderers, many of whom returned to murder more Jews.

• Arming Abbas and his PLO henchmen.

• The Mavi Marmara Flotilla Fiasco: A hair-brained PG-13 scheme to take over a terror boat with paintball guns, which exposed Israel's elite soldiers to a near lynching. The boat should have been blown out of the water. It was only a miracle that the soldiers weren't slaughtered.

• Netanyahu's subsequent apology to Turkey's rabid Recep Erdogan made Israel look weak in the eyes of the Arab/Islamic world.

• Operation Protective Edge

I have already presented my assessment of Operation Protective Edge and I will not belabor the point. It was a disaster. Netanyahu prematurely pulled the IDF out of Gaza, giving Hamas a victory and the ability to resume firing rockets at us, which they have done for several days now. Hamas is mocking the State of Israel, the IDF, and by association, the G-d of Israel Himself.

I condemn Bibi for his mishandling of the war because Am Yiroel and Eretz Yisroel are in danger. To shirk my duty is to sit silently while Jews bleed to death. I don't like to do it. I would love to see the intelligent, articulate Netanyahu standing up and silencing the Jew haters of the world, with a message that will send shivers up our spines. I want to see the fearless combat soldier who risked his life to fight the Arabs. Hell, I want to see the Benjamin Netanyahu who dissects the enemies of Israel with such eloquent clarity and precision on “The Sean Hannity Show”, when he's not in office.

In the meantime, Hamas is firing rockets again. The ones who suffer most are the ones who've lived with this nightmare of a PLO-Hamas armed Gaza on their doorstep for 14 years. Fourteen years? The normal mind would crack in four weeks. How long would the merkaz put up with this, before there were riots in the streets?

“Who is wise, he who can see the future” (Pirkei Avot-Ethics of the Forefathers).

• ISIS is heading our way. Barbarians from the darkest period of history. Crucifying people. Mass burnings. They are actually beheading children!

• We are sorrounded by Arab/Islamic enemies. There are no friends or moderates in our neighborhood and the sham peace treaties belong in the trashcan; there is only self-interest. Jordan and Egypt would war with us tommorow if they weren't drowning in their own problems. Listen to the “King” of occupied Jordan. He can barely contain his jew-hatred as he spits his bile at Israel. He is cut from the same cloth as his father who, before being rehabiliarted as a “moderate,” once called upon the Arab world to "kill Jews wherever you find them; kill them with your hands, with your nails and teeth."

• The Israeli-Arab fifth column is a demographic nightmare and an impending internal intifada that threatens to blow up at any moment. Reportedly, ISIS flags have already been seen in “Israeli Arab” villages up north.

• Hezbollah is waiting in the north, Fatah terrorises the center, and Hamas occupies our southern coastline with the ability to fire rockets at 70% of the country.

Islam sorrounds us. Those with strong stomaches (other than pregnant woman and children) should force themselves to look at the recent horrific pictures of beheaded children, courtesy of the ISIS butchers that are inching towards us. Any Jew who thinks that the modern day ranks of Amalek are not found within ISIS, Fatah, Hamas, and Hezbollah isn't paying attention. They epitomize evil. And they are waiting for the day when they can swarm into Israel with their swords and behead Jewish children (G-d help us!).

If Netanyahu won't destroy Hamas, in defiance of an evil world that equates our self defense (weak as it is) as an act of genocide, then he must step aside. Because we are fighting those who wage war under the banner of Amalek. It has nothing to do with zionism. They want to exterminate Jews. And Heaven Forbid they will do so, when they are strong enough.

There is a time for peace (halachic peace) and a time for war. And a time to scream.

A season for everything. Now is the time to scream.

Published first in the Jewish Press: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/a-time-to-scream/2014/08/13/

Operation Protective Edge-The Ugly Truth!

We won! Victory is ours! We accomplished our goals!

The internet was abuzz. Facebook celebrations. Twitter propoganda. The stench of the spin doctor. If only it were so.

Netanyahu and his crew are spitting out lies faster than they can print them. The copious declarations of our victory in Gaza. Military experts explaining to us how badly Operation Protective Edge damaged Hamas. (Funny how these same experts also maintain that a protracted campaign would require five years and cost us the lives of unknown numbers of Jewish soldiers. If this is the case, then they merely made a tiny dent into an absolute monster of a terror network.) Naturally these carefully well crafted statements were to be expected, yet they are still terrible to read. Military minds using pseudo-babble to argue a ridiculous assertion. The same kinds of expert voices that swore to us that Gaza would never become a place where rockets could reach Israel. The illusion of victory.

What victory?

The truth is painful. We lost. We are reeling as a nation, while Hamas gloats. Fatah is watching, and so is Hezbolla. And you better believe that Iran is taking notes. Don't think for a moment that the image of the IDF pulling out of Gaza doesn't embolden them.

Politicians can twist the story, but the facts say otherwise. When one looks at what Hamas accomplished and where Israel stands today, there can be no discussion. Hamas defeated Israel. They don't need to demolish us or invade the country to seize a victory. During this long dry summer season, we had plenty of rain in Israel. Deadly storms. A month of qassams and death raining non-stop upon the country. A tiny country where, by the IDF's own estimates, at least 70% of the populace are within the rocket range.

While Hamas fought like hordes of blood crazed jinn, Netanyahu undermined the war effort by appeasing Obama and Kerry and allowing world diplomacy to take over. Weeks of government spokesmen whining about “our rights.” Countless lectures and TV interviews extolling Israel's code of “moral warfare” from right out of the pages of the Mapai manual. This is Israel's policy of skewed mercy, which Nachmanides rightly called “the mercy of fools.” One unilateral nonexistent ceasefire followed by another, and then another. What was the end result? Vulnerable Jewish soldiers waiting around while Hamas slaughtered them. Many soldiers died, not in combat, but rather while waiting around to resume combat during Bibi's sham ceasefires.

Hamas Accomplishments: The Facts

• Infrastructure and Leadership Largely Intact: The Hamas leadership is breathing and smiling. Operation Protective Edge didn't reach them for the most part. Hamas retains an unknown labyrinth of fortified tunnels. We have no idea how many tunnels remain, because the IDF was focused on the ones that crossed our border. And while we are on the discussion of tunnels, how was such a complex network which required years to build constucted right under our noses? Did our leaders know about them and remain quiet? Or is Israel's security so severely compromised in the 21^st century? Edge: Hamas

• Arsenal: Hamas retains a huge arsenal of rockets and they easily can replenish what they lost. It won't be long before they start firing at us again. This will be alright with Bibi until they start aiming at Central Israel. The double standard of the western Negev is intolerable and repugnant, and it is indicative of the discrimination of the Israeli elite. Translation: The primitives of the South can endure rockets. Wars are fought when Tel Aviv leftists are in the crosshairs. Edge: Hamas

• Psychological Terror: 1)The communities of the extreme western Negev (adjacent to Gaza) do not want to return to their communities. Unlike many unfortunate impoverished people in places like Sderot, some of these agricultural communities actually have the economic means of picking up and leaving the region for a while. The desire to do so is certainly normal. They are terrified by the prospect of hidden tunnels beneath their homes. They don't want Arabs with hatchets popping out of the floors in their kids' bedrooms.

2) The country as a whole was placed under siege for more than a month. Children spent the summer in/near bomb shelters. Most of Israel endured weeks of sirens and long days and nights of terror. Now they will have to cope with the psychological effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The populace most vulnerable to rockets feels betrayed and frightened. They wanted to see Hamas destroyed so that they could continue their lives. They wanted this more than anything. Operation Protective Edge failed to bring them this peace of mind. Edge: Hamas

• Economic Terror: Hamas succesfully shut down the Israeli economy. Summer tourism was brought to a halt. Hamas has no industry nor do they care to develop one. Every cent that they receive either lines the pockets of Hamas leaders or is used to murder Jews. Edge: Hamas

• Deaths: Hamas killed many Jews, both soldiers and civilans. They maimed and mutilated.

And what about the injuries which always get lost in the equation?

What about young people in the prime of their lives who will now have to live with missing limbs or worse? What about those who are so disfigured that they wish they were dead?

Even the morally bankrupt leaders of Israel don't want to see murdered Jews. Hamas deliberately puts their populace in harm's way to increase the body count. The lives of their own people are like ants to them. Edge: Hamas

• Military Morale: By playing the kinds of games we expect from those without souls, Hamas fought the IDF to a standstill. Human shields, terror institutons built on top of “civilian” infrastructures, all of these played into their hands. They knew that Israel would be reticent to respond with collateral damage, and that the world would scream for Jewish blood if they did so. We can hear and read grumblings of frustration from military commanders and soldiers. The prestige and morale of the IDF took a hit despite the capability of the soldiers. There is no one to blame but Bibi and his Likud constituency. He had a mandate to fight, and he chose diplomacy. Hamas doesn't need to defeat us to claim a victory. Fighting Israel to a draw and forcing them to back out is an absolute victory. Edge: Hamas

A Thin Ray Of Light

I will not spin the negative angle, yet Am Yisroel can glean some positive signs from this terrible period.

• The IDF is comprised of strong committed soldiers who can destroy Hamas and the other enemies of Klal Yisroel if given the chance. They are capable.

• From a national persective we saw unprecedented unity. Wonderful to behold after the season of Tisha Baav, since tradition cites unbridled hatred and rifts among Jews as a contributing factor behind the destruction of the Second Temple. The chesed that Jews displayed in Israel and abroad was remarkable.

But wars are fought to be won. And Jewish wars of Milchemet Mitzvah have one purpose. Destroy the enemies of Israel to protect the Jewish people and the land of Israel. Wars must be judged solely on their outcome. So let's not candy-coat the poison pill. There was no victory. Hamas won. Even a temporary cessation of terror is a ruse. We had an opportunity to destroy Hamas, and we squandered it. Milchemet Mitzvah has no use for diplomacy, ceasefires, non-Jewish notions of humanitarian aid. When the time comes to raise the Jewish weapon of violence, war is a sacred duty and it must be fought properly and without compromise. We had an opportunity and an obligation to destroy Hamas. Netanyahu ignored the moment.

We fast on Tisha Baav to mourn the destruction of the Temple, and countless other tragedies throughout Jewish history. We cannot proceed on the path to redemption if we avoid the halachic requirements that we must fulfill in our times. There are many other wars to wage. Hamas is just one of many Arab/Islamic enemies. Fatah equals Hamas.

In order for Moshiach to come, we need to build up the degraded Jewish psyche, long before we rebuild the actual Beit Hakmikdah. It is essential to learn the Halachot of animal sacrifice, the laws of purity and impurity, and the structural dimensions of the Temple. But it is not enough. Just look at the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque atop Har Habayit. Islam dominates and defiles our most sacred site. Sometimes the Arabs riot and throw boulders upon the heads of praying Jews.

We cannot build the Beit HaMikdash if we cannot see the grotesque travesty and chillul Hashem of Arab/Muslim domination in Eretz Yisroel. A sick soul that cannot see the degradation of the Jew in Eretz Yisroel can never attend to the preservation of the Jewish body.

While we mourn our dead in Israel, Hamas celebrates their victory in Gaza. The “civilians” of Gaza who collectively voted for Hamas will dance like cannibals at a feast, as they hand out sweets, and revel in Am Yisroel's collective pain.

This is the portrait of Amalek. And so, in accordance with the tenets of their bloodthirsty ideology and their eternal war with The Almighty, it won't be long before the sirens start to scream again.

Featured in the Jewish Press: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/operation-protective-edge-the-ugly-truth/2014/

A Minyan For The Dead

Ten Jewish soldiers were killed yesterday. They didn't have to die. They died because our leaders are so desperate to show the world that we aren't bloodsuckers. How did that experiment go? Are ten dead Jews enough? Now the Jewish death toll has climbed to 53.

CNN will still report that we are ghouls. The BBC will portray us as baby killers. The European blood libel in 2014.

While families across Israel spend their remaining summer days and nights in bomb shelters (if they have them), Netanyahu sends humanitarian aid to Gaza. Ceasefires? How about mini ceasefires while Hamas fires rockets at us? Bibi's new policy would certainly make Ghandi proud. (Gandhi thought it moral to sit passively while someone stomps on your skull.) We were told that the IDF would only return fire. I wondered how many Jews would have to die to provoke a response.

We are witnessing the premature end of Operation Protective Edge, even in the event that Israel resumes the offensive. Netanyahu's cabinet rejected the ceasefire, but Bibi (on his own) instituted what amounts to a ceasefire. For all practical purposes the war is over. And yet each time Netanyahu decides to end the war, Hamas forces his hand for awhile. Until Kerry's next trip or Obama's next angry phone call. I don't know about you, but were I Prime Minister, I'd slam the receiver so hard he'd be bleeding from the ears.

Obama will not mourn these ten murdered Jews. He will enjoy his after-Ramadan feast, and cozy up with his Islamic brothers. Ten dead Jews means nothing to Obama. But he will sit shiva for Hamas.

Normal countries study sophisticated philosophies of warfare. “The Art of War” by Sun Szu. The theories and tactics of classical battles throughout history. Netanyahu uses the war strategy of Chelm.

• Only Chelm would repeatedly warn the enemy in advance. Tell them precisely when and where they intend to attack.
• Only in the land of the lost, would they feed, cloth, and treat the enemy's wounded.
• Only screwballs would pay for their electricity and keep their water running

• Only those with a lesion in the brain would grant the enemy time to regroup and refortify.

Despite clever pilpulistic attempts to spin the tale, Hamas is still very strong. Morale is high on their side. They don't need to destroy the IDF or Israel, Heaven Forbid, in order to garner a victory. Anything short of their destruction is a victory for them. They have put the entire country under siege. Our economy is suffering, and tourism has been bled dry. And they have murdered Jews. They only need to make us bleed. In the meantime, untold numbers of rockets remain in their possession, along with a network of tunnels that probably haven't even been identified. The Hamas leadership is alive and well inside their fortified hideouts. Laughing at us, as we bury the dead.

World approval. As if the Jewish people ever experienced such a miracle. Naked Jew-hatred parades the international stage. Obama has sanitized Hamas. The U.N. shrieks when Jews defend themselves. The world wants us to die. Nothing more needs to be said. More speeches from Netanyahu using the cliche of the olive branch in one hand and the sword of David in the other. What a joke. Wonderful. We know Bibi can speak well. But the image is flawed. If only we had a King David to wield the sword. Judaism doesn't offer the olive branch to those who march under the banner of Amalek.

And what sort of peace is it that Netanyahu proposes to those who show us the sword? The typical liberal Jewish notion of peace. We give up territory, they collect it. We send them money, water, and technology. They print more copies of The Protocols. They send us death, either directly or indirectly. This isn't the Torah's definition of peace. (A topic I will address in the future.) This is the demented peace of Shalom Achshav.

Ten more dead Jews. Sacrificed on Bibi's altar of appeasement and capitulation.The U.N. isn't impressed. Not enough of a body count.

Much like his repeated failures to deal a terminal blow to Oslo, Netanyahu lacks courage to rectify Sharon's sin and set the country straight. A ceasefire not only gives Hamas a victory, it will destroy the morale of the IDF and the country at large. Remember, Israel has not secured a true victory since The Yom Kippur War. (Despite Golda Meir's insane refusal to preemptively strike.) And even that saw the prestige of the IDF take a battering.

In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Forefathers), we are told, “who is wise, he who can foresee the future.” If Hamas is not destroyed, many more Jews will die the next time around. At first Hamas could only hit the southern periphery. Then came Beersheba and her environs. Now the entire country can be hit. The next war will be unimagible.

I read a heartbreaking account yesterday, (they are all heart-breaking) of the funeral of Chief Warrant Rami Chalon, age 39 (May G-d avenge his blood) who fell in battle. A description of his 16 year old boy Yosiel kneeling on his Abba's grave, bawling like a baby. “Aba, I am still crying.” One whose Jewish heart doesn't bleed at this image should check his lineage.

And now we have a new minyan of the dead. Ten Jewish soldiers died because Bibi wanted to show the world that we tried another ceasefire. Bibi is unfit to lead. He better step aside. There's a war going on, dammit. And I'm sick and tired of seeing my Jewish brothers lowered into the ground.

“Aba, I am still crying.” Ribono Shel Olam.

Never forget these words. Let Gaza burn until yovel (jubilee).

http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/guest-blog/a-minyan-of-the-dead/2014/07/29/

Listen To Them Howl!

Listen to them howl, the Jew-haters of the world. Listen carefully as they condemn us for living.

Thousands of bloodthirsty Muslims and Europeans congregating in the streets, screaming for Jewish blood, and these are the people Israel wants approval from. The hell with the European Union! The hell with Obama and his band of anti-Semites! They would see us drown in our blood.

While our troops are on the ground, (may G-d protect them!) I will try to refrain from attacking the government.

But I have demands of my own.

• I demand that our soldiers be given every bit of protection and cover during the operation.
• I demand that Netanyahu stop valuing the lives of beasts more than our brothers and sisters. And G-d willing,
• I demand that when the battle is over, we retake Gaza and throw them out because if they remain, they will murder us; this much is clear.

These are my demands because the Torah requires it.

 The full force of the IDF must be unleashed. I mean this in every sense of the word. If ever there was a savage enemy that warranted no mercy, Gaza certainly is one place he can be found. The barbarism of the Arab world cannot be fathomed and it is on full display in Gaza. Those who use their own children as human shields have clearly thrown away their souls. They lack something that is most basic in the brutal world of the animal kingdom. Watch how a mother bear protects her cubs and then compare this to the inhuman behavior of Hamas.

Gaza, where the murder of three Jews warrants a holiday with treats for the kids and music in the streets; where parents send their sons and daughters to detonate themselves in a crowd of Jews, and then celebrate with ghoulish smiles and adoration for the last act of their accursed shaheed. Gaza, where a “civilian” populace allows tunnels to be drilled in their own homes and schools, because they know that the Jew will be hesitant to fire on his home, but he is willing to risk it, if the possibility exists that Jews will be murdered there.

Most of the Israel is now experiencing a modicum of what the Jews of the westernmost Negev have endured for years, the consequence of Sharon’s perfidious expulsion of the Jews of Gaza and hisappeasement of Hamas. That is to say, they are experiencing the terror of the unknown, the “W” questions: When will that awful wailing siren begin its terrible cry? Where will the kids be? Will we have time to get to the shelter? Will Netanyahu allow our noble soldiers to “finish the job” in Gaza? The sense of hopelessness when a government refuses to do what the social contract mandates, cripples the body politic.

The double standard of what Jews have to put up with is nauseating to any Jew with self-respect. If terrorists fired a rocket in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, and hit a rural lake that only the most ambitious campers have ever seen, this group of terrorists would be destroyed, without a doubt. Perhaps not today under Obama, but virtually any previous U.S. President from the right to the left of the spectrum would have acted likewise. Why? Because the people would demand it. Why must Jews accept the unacceptable and live the unlivable?

(As an aside, I ask the reader to consider the long-term affects of people in these regions. Places like Sderot, and other rural communities. Several years ago a study reported that approximately 45% of people were suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Foolishness. I would double the number and tack on a few points. No one can endure such long term madness without succumbing. The most battle-tested soldiers would become psychic casualties. That’s why combat soldiers are given leave after extensive time in the field. Today, military minds understand what they didn’t thirty five years ago. So I worry about the long term effects, particularly of children who are terrified, anxious, and whose parents cannot tell them that everything will be okay. Such people cannot grow up without lashing out in frustration for things out of their control.)

But I digress. Israel’s leaders constantly speak of the need for hasbara (public relations). Doctor, heal thyself first, I say. If Israel wants to articulate our moral divine right to the country and our right to preserve our lives at whatever cost, they have to first believe it themselves. They have to stop begging the world for approval. Righteous gentiles know wha’ts going on. The handful or so of genuine U.S. politicians on our side don’t need to be told what’s happening. Their speeches are stronger than those of our own leaders, who are given praise for stating the sanitized obvious truth, ‘that we have the right to defend ourselves.’

Dignified Hasbara…V’Zehu. Not asking the world for the right to defend ourselves. Such a right is obvious to anyone with a spine. Not begging or spouting wimpy phrases. You don’t have to keep saying it. Those who would deny us this right are anti-Semites and we shouldn’t even be talking to them. We need to forcefully, and without compromising anything, state our position. Once. Not as a means of obtaining their permission to act. Then backing it up in the military field with the full arm of Jewish might. The righteous indignation of our position, our willingness to enforce it, and the guaranteed divine providence of The Almighty to those who fulfill His Will are enough.

 Perhaps never before in history were we so fortunate to merit a powerful army that was capable of destroying the enemy, and been so unwilling to use it. It exposes a genuine weakness in the Jewish condition. It highlights that although the Jewish body has largely been rehabilitated after two thousand years of death and despair, the soul of the shtetl still resides within too many Jews. In his classic collection of articles, “Battletruth,” the great Irgun leader/historian Shmuel Katz recalls a speech he gave at Kibbutz Hashomer Hatzair in 1967 to a group of non-Jewish British volunteers. While detailing the brutality of the British Mandatory regime that the Jewish Underground endured, he noted that the British republic would have reacted similarly under such conditions. To which one of the students started to reply, but then turned shamefaced and became silent. Evidently, he had caught himself, but the damage was done. “But you Jews are accustomed” (hence the title of the essay)…. this fool began before stopping short. That is to say, you Jews are accustomed to beatings, lynchings, pogroms, etc.

Heed the words of this young Brit of yesterday who imbibed such toxic views from his upbringing. It’s very tragic that polite anti-Semites would justify their Jewish double standard by creating a false moral standard for the Jew. But even more tragic are the untold numbers of Jews who believe it themselves, and adopt it as a Jewish value. Judaism says otherwise. It is a mitzvah to live, and not to die. And although there are things for which the Jew is obligated to give his life for, (idolatry, murder, forbidden sexual practices, and the all-encompassing Milchemet Mitzvah), the underlying principle is that even such measures are intrisically tied to the preservation of the most Jewish principles and values. They are tantamount to ensuring that the Jewish soul lives.

 And so I say, dignified hasbara… v’zehu.

Let them howl. We will live.

 May Hakadosh Baruch Hu protect Am Yisroel.

Featured in the Jewish Press: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/guest-blog/listen-to-them-howl/2014/07/20/

Wars Were Wars, and Men Were Men

As many of us suspected, Israel is fighting the latest war with Hamas under the reprehensable doctrines or “tohar haneshek”, "pure rifles", and “havlaga” , self-restraint. Tragic, since these Ghandian principles are antithetical to true Jewish values, denying the most basic morality of self-preservation. Unfortunately, havlaga has long become Likud's platform on such matters, even if the ideology itself was spawned by the left. Save for a few economic principles, the Likud of today differs little from its Labor counterpart. Both parties are inundated with those who see appeasement and self-restraint as virtues to be cultivated and displayed to an uncaring world. I think differently. I'm a Jew, not a quaker. It's in the Torah. “If one comes to slay you, slay them first.”

Netanyahu cares what the anti-Semitic world thinks, even as he continues to send our soldiers to battle a ruthless, inhuman enemy. The script has become cliche. We can see the same spineless leadership. The same precise surgical strikes on empty warehouses and buildings. The same cow-tailing to the European Union and the U.S. Groveling and debasement before Obama. The same display of Jewish weakness. All in the face of unrelenting Arab terror and warfare on an entire nation. This is not the way to fight a war. Not according to the sanity of a moral western nation, and certainly not according to the Halacha. Hamas only understands death. Instead of making them feel the wrath of collective punishment as required by Jewish law, Israel sends food and medical supplies. Something is indeed wrong with us. Our country needs a national couch.

What does the Torah state about Jewish war? Naturally one turns to the Tanach, and the classical commentaries.

Deuteronomy 20:1- "When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, thou shalt not be afraid of them; for the L-rd thy G-d is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

What is meant by your enemies? Said the Holy One, Blessed be He: Go against them as enemies, just as they do not have mercy upon you, have no mercy on them.”-(Midrash Tanhuma, Shoftim 15.)

What is the reality we face? Consider the reality of an entire country on fire. Every region has been hit by rockets. The only normal response to such an existential threat is destroying the enemy. As I type these words, Obama is working behind the scenes with the nefarious Egyptians to stop Israel from defending herself. Remember Operation Cast Lead? It seems like yesterday. What a dramatic failure. "Operation Cast Lead" started off well, all things considered. Hardly an example of biblical warfare, but nevertheless, an impressive display of Jewish might. (No thanks to the politicians in power, who only went to war after years of allowing Hamas to rain rockets on S'derot and the adjoining towns of the extreme Western Negev.) The credit for fighting went solely to the men and women of the IDF, not the politicians who played games with their lives. Unfortunately, the impressive fireworks in the beginning were all smoke and mirrors. True, there was destruction, but not nearly enough. As they fought, Israel did an astonishing thing that no normal people would ever consider. Every single day, they endangered Jewish lives by sending humanitarian aid to Gaza. Madness from Chelm.

Despite such political madness, the IDF and IAF fought heroically. They made their way into Gaza. And then out of nowhere came the ceasefire. That infamous bit of diplomacy. The world hadn't seen such lunacy since Neville Chamberlain handed his dignity to Hitler. Hamas abrogated the "ceasefire" from the start. Hours after agreeing to it, they bombarded the Negev with a barrage of rockets. Just to test the ceasefire, of course, to make sure it was legit. Then came the mortar and sniper attacks on the IDF, and attempts to smuggle weapons into Gaza.

Jewish warfare is premised on the idea that evil must be destroyed if the innocent are to survive. Of course Halachic definitions and standards of war (which are the most moral in the world!) are unrealistic in a state where appeasement is a guiding principle, and the desire to show the world that we are more moral in battle. And that's why the rockets are falling again with greater frequency. Hamas smells Jewish fear which in turn triggers their craving for Jewish blood. Netanyahu is afraid of upsetting a world that resents the notion of Jews defending themselves.

Israel needs to re-enter Gaza and destroy Hamas. They should open up the Tanach and read how Jewish wars are supposed to be fought. Rule # 1, faith in The Almighty. Rule # 2, No politicians. No international diplomacy. No one-sided "temporary lulls in fighting" for humanitarian aid trucks carrying aid to the enemy. No restraint to prevent civilian casualties. No endangering of Jewish soldiers so that the U.N. can be spared the image of dead terrorists. There are no civilians in a society that elects Hamas, and gives out candy and sweet meats when Jews are blown to bits. Clean up the mess, and welcome the Jews of Azza home.

No doubt many Jews have instinctively asked the age old question of the nebbish Jew, What will the world think? Who cares? The world will think what it thinks, what it has always thought. They will think that we killed Jesus and poisoned their wells. They will think that we drink gentile blood and rape christian girls. We Jews have The Almighty. And thank G-d, we have a strong military that has the capability to defeat this most savage of enemies, if our leaders had the will. If we follow His Will the world will see a different Jew. Let us follow the laws of Jewish war and kill the enemy before he kills us. This isn't racism or extremism. This is sanity and the law of survival.

Once upon a time, wars were wars and men were men. And good moral men understood that in order to defeat evil, you had to destroy it. That doesn't make you just like the bad guys. That keeps you alive. Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Dresden. The lessons of history and prime examples of strong men who understood national survival. Yet somehow Israel is different, and must endure the double standard of having to put up with death and despair. Nursed on the national doctrine of tohar haneshek, Israel follows the liberal belief that sees alll violence as a negative, even the supremely moral violence of self-preservation. Until this malignant philosophy is extricated from the Jewish conscience, we will continue to bleed and die at the hands of Arab terrorists.

May Hakadosh Baruch Hu protect Am Yisroel. And may true leadership arise that has the fortitude and wisdom to protect the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

Featured in the Jewish Press: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/guest-blog/when-wars-were-wars-and-men-were-men/2014/07/14/