I am almost at a loss for words.
It's been a long night. I write this post now, not for my Jewish brothers and sisters, but for the non-Jewish readers out there who may need to hear more about the human aspect of this. I have laid up all night speaking to or messaging loved ones in Israel, and exchanging messages with people I've never met who just need to talk, to share, to send more information about what is happening in the hope that it might make a difference. I have seen images of war in my private messages that are unnatural. Images of butchered Jews. People just like me, you, and everyone we know.
I am an excessively proud Jew. I know where I come from. I keep the laws of my people as much as I can. It's the most sacred thing to me to display my Jewishness proudly on my chest, to limit my palette, to observe the holiest days of the year. Not because of a fear of God, but due to a fundamental urge to survive. My Jewishness is my people's proof that we will not be eradicated by the types of people who have such a lust for annihilating and humiliating us as the Palestinian brigades who are currently posting video after video of the most deplorable acts of violence I have ever witnessed.
My friends in Israel are scared. I have actually never heard them like this. Israelis are a resilient people, in case you have never met them. You may find sometimes that they are a little blunt. But eventually you will learn to be charmed by it.
It has been said already by many that this is the most devastating day in Israeli history, and I think that may be true. I think the prediction that things will never be the same again after this day may also be true. Only time will tell. When Israel was taken by surprise fifty years ago on this day in 1973, the attacks did not reach the home front. But here we have a proud display of incessant war crimes, crimes that will - you’d hope – not stand up against the Geneva Convention. Crimes that have been calculated with one purpose in mind: to terrorize innocent civilians, to destroy everything in sight.
I am shaking writing this. I don't know what this week has in store. But I have never lost faith in Israel. Never. To lose faith in Israel is not an option. But here is what I want to say to the non-Jews among you.
Palestinian terrorists are boasting a barbaric lust for killing and humiliating Jews, but there is a progressive sickness in our midst that insists that this is justified. And all the usual suspects are coming forth now and will be doing so ad infinitum this week on their own social media soap boxes to give their “takes”, fuelled by mass mainstream media bias on a scale that truly no other country in the world experiences.
Well let’s start here. Let me ask you to consider how you would feel if your country was attacked in this way, and what you think would be a proportionate response. Let me ask you whether you think there's a justification for torturing the innocent in any other state in the world. One commentator on Twitter likened this to Israel's Pearl Harbor. While I don't advocate for sensational historic analogies like that, I do find it effective in perhaps waking up some of the resolutely asleep as to the total shock and awe of this day.
You will see it in the media even this morning. The instant grand minimizing of events.
“Militants”?
Reader, if this is you, still contemplating that perhaps there is a world in which these monsters are somehow exonerating themselves in a “militant” freedom fighting way that should be celebrated by human rights advocates, let me explain something to you. You are not The Resistance here. You are not Truth Defenders. You are enablers of terror. If you cannot stand up for Jews and our human rights today, you never will. If you cannot understand now that antizionism is, in fact, antisemitism, you are completely delusional. If you are excited about armed terrorists forcing their way into people’s homes, massacring them in their sleep, abducting their children and grandmothers across the Gaza border, then you are just as demonic as the perpetrators of this antisemitic brutality, and there is a special place in hell for you.
These “militants” filmed themselves bombing Israel's ambulances.
That is a war crime.
Today will go down in history as one in which you either stood for or against Jewish survival. Today is a day when the world shows us what it’s about. On a personal level, it is one of those days in which we discover who our real friends are. Who in our lives believe that Jewish survival is non-negotiable. Who will stand by us when we are being murdered by savages who wish NOT to create a Palestinian state, but to eradicate Jewish life.
To my non-Jewish friends who immediately contacted me, thank you. I feel safe with you. I feel seen by you. You make me feel human. I will remember it. It matters. We do not beg for allyship. We know our history. But still, it’s nice to know you don’t agree that this is what we deserve.
My friends in Israel, you are in my thoughts. I wish there was more I could do.
Israel commonly uses a very measured response; in this instance, the terrorists and those that support them should be eviscerated to the last criminal! Targeting civilian populations and medical facilities justifies an overwhelming armed response! I have been, as a Gentile, offended by Hamas and the like visiting terror on the Israeli people - it is time to respond with such fury that it will not happen again...
Very good point in contrasting this invasion with the 1973 attack in terms of widespread terrorist violence in Israel and purposefully against civilians. Today, I feel a greater, more powerful sense of my Jewish heritage.