“Looking into the Abyss”

Although the war ended with a grand historical victory for Israel and permanently changed the situation in the Middle East, a special commission was established after its conclusion to investigate the errors of the army, intelligence, and government, led by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Shimon Agranat. Six people were held accountable, including the chiefs of the general staff and military intelligence. The “Judgment Day” war is widely reflected in historical literature, and the recently released film “Golda,” which captured global attention, depicted the tragedy and triumph of the Jewish state.

A Harsh Awakening

It would seem that these events should have served as a lesson, providing a clear understanding of who Israel has to deal with, maintaining vigilance and readiness for any turn of events. But 50 years later, the tragedy repeated itself. On October 7, thousands of Palestinian terrorists effortlessly infiltrated Israeli territory by land, water, and air.

To be frank, it is incomprehensible how this could have happened, regardless of the explanations offered. A commission will again be established to investigate the circumstances of the tragedy and determine those responsible. However, in the current atmosphere, there is little hope that the findings will convince both the international community and Israeli society. It became known that intelligence and the army had long been aware of Hamas’s preparations for the attack. The field for conspiracy theories is wide. To this day, Arab taxi drivers tell passengers how Jews orchestrated “September 11” in America. And today, the atmosphere for fueling mass psychosis is even more prepared.

The picture of what happened is known to the entire world. Hamas demonstrated not only a desire to annihilate every Jew regardless of age, gender, or beliefs, but also chose a war tactic aimed at maximum destruction and loss of Palestinian lives. However, most countries and international organizations today condemn Israel. How any other state would react in similar circumstances, whether there are other, more effective, and sparing ways to end terrorism, are not considered. Even in Western Europe and America, they have forgotten their own experience of fighting radical Islam, terrorist organizations, where military actions were accompanied by millions of casualties and total destructions. But for Israel, there are special conditions and demands.

The war exposed a peculiarity of our times – anti-Semitism has become a global phenomenon. Even those figures, organizations, governments that express sympathy for Israel inevitably include a “but…” in their statements, equating the victim and the aggressor and unambiguously indicating that if Israel does not follow their assessments and advice, it may lose support.

The current situation cannot be explained only by another war of Israel; it has globally exposed the prejudice and hatred towards Jews. The “Jewish question” has never disappeared from the agenda of political and academic discussions, but the history of anti-Semitism, the lessons of the Holocaust, the vast literature on the topic, conferences, and resolutions have not provided an answer on how to change the situation.

Israel and the entire Jewish world must be ready to reassess values and priorities. It is necessary to evaluate the role the internal crisis in Israel, the party struggle, the fierce relations between religious communities and secular citizens played in distracting attention and efforts from the existential threat.

Today, much is said about the unity of Jews, but internal contradictions have in many ways even intensified. Jewish pacifists have learned nothing, liberals defend their right to criticize Israel, as if the Jewish state lacks critics apart from its useful idiots. It is hard to imagine, but in these fateful days in Israel, the judicial investigation of accusations against Prime Minister Netanyahu was resumed, imprudently accepting a gift from a long-time acquaintance.

Jews around the world have no other destiny than that of Israel, and the threats to them are no less, even if they separate themselves from the Jewish state or show solidarity with its enemies.

In Europe, attempts at social and cultural adaptation of immigrants have not affected their anti-Semitic attitudes and behavior. Their communities are increasingly strengthening their positions demographically and politically and express their worldview and demands more aggressively. The accompanying nationalist, Nazi sentiments of many Europeans are another growing threat to Jews.

Bankruptcy and Betrayal

The reaction in the country and the world to Hamas’s attack on Israel had a shocking impact on American Jews. The moment of truth showed how few friends they have ready to stop the explosion of anti-Semitism. Hatred towards Jews today finds expression in the most open and disgusting forms.

For liberal Jews, Jewish organizations, and Reform synagogues, the awakening was particularly harsh. They voted for the Democrats, fought against Trump, fully supported the “progressives,” racial and sexual minorities, the influx of immigrants, criticized and taught Israel how to live and fight, relied on charity and enlightenment… The result: only 45% of Democrats support Israel (Republicans 79%), the Democratic government sets conditions and restrains Israel, those whom Jews cared about in the first place, participate in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and condemn Israel.

Politically correct interns trained at the best universities in the White House, for the first time in the history of state administration, issue an ultimatum to the government: “We… will not remain silent during the genocide of the Palestinian people” – and remain in their jobs.

Jewish organizations and politicians speak and write, but are powerless to stop the anti-Semitic bacchanalia. There is neither a strategy nor a tactic to deal with the growing threat. The decisive criterion for the success of their activities was fundraising, which was spent on schools, universities, hospitals, cultural institutions. Today, these are centers cultivating hostility to the Jewish state and Zionism.

The book “Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership” by Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser was recently published. Perhaps “betrayal” is too harshly said, but shortsightedness, moral and intellectual bankruptcy are obvious.

The leader of the Democrats, Senator Charles Schumer, who himself contributed significantly to the creation of a liberal Jewish dystopia, now admits that “Jews, facing virulent anti-Semitism, have been abandoned… Those they helped support the enemies of the Jews.”

One of the most influential religious leaders, Rabbi Amitel Hersh, says: “We are losing the spiritual world of the Reform movement… The process of alienation from Israel has been intensifying for a long time… Being against Israel, uniting with our ideological opponents and political enemies in whipping Zionism is evidence of a Jewish disease.” But the majority of Jewish liberals and the Reform movement have not changed their position and have even intensified criticism of Israel for the “disproportionate” retaliation against terrorists.

American Jews, their organizations, and religious institutions remain divided, their demonstrations and petitions inferior to their opponents in attracting supporters and influencing power and media. Although ethnic and regional wars and conflicts with hundreds of thousands of victims and millions of refugees continuously occur in the world, public attention is focused on the suffering of Palestinians, the vast majority of whom support Hamas. In public consciousness, the image of Israel as a state of occupation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and racism dominates.

Here’s a comparison of the numbers of Jews and Arabs at the creation of the Jewish state and now. Jews: Egypt – 63,000/3; Syria – 40,000/0; Iran – 100,000/8,500; Iraq – 150,000/4; Lebanon – 20,000/29; Morocco – 265,000/2,100; Yemen – 55,000/1; Algeria – 40,000/200; Libya – 38,000/0; Tunisia – 105,000/100. At the same time, in 1948 there were 156,000 Arabs in Israel, now there are 2.1 million. In Gaza, there were 80,000 Arabs, now there are 2 million. It is naive to hope that this statistic will convince a street anti-Semite or a UN expert.

Do Not Miss the Opportunity

Judging by public opinion polls, without going out on the street, not knowing the daily news, and believing that the majority’s opinion in a democratic society is decisive, the picture does not seem so alarming: 61% of Americans support Israel, 30% support the Palestinians, 69% hold Hamas responsible, 15% blame Israel, and 70% believe supporting Israel is in the interest of the USA. But these days, the fatal problem of democracies is clearly manifested: they are powerless before the tyranny of the minority.

The great Henry Kissinger now consults in the heavenly chancellery, but he left many important pieces of advice for those ready to look at the world realistically, without illusions and fantasies. He saw in Germany where anti-Semitic demagoguery and the power of an intoxicated crowd lead and considered law and order, ensuring civil stability, a basic condition for preserving democracy. He saw not only the advantages of a free society but also its self-destructive tendencies.

Today, these tendencies are not a hypothesis but a dominant force. The state is afraid to use the right to violence provided by the social contract and law; a wild crowd, feeling impunity, dictates its demands and conditions. Authorities cannot ensure the safety of Jews – they are only 2% of the population, but more than 60% of hate crimes are committed against them, and anti-Semitic acts have increased by hundreds of percent.

In the meantime, people of good will stay aside, allowing anti-Semites to take over the streets and social networks. Even when pogrom-like actions affect non-Jews – disruptions of Halloween parades, Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, transportation stoppages, authorities do not react adequately, thereby encouraging the escalation of obscurantism.

However, despite all the problems and mistakes, America remains the safest place for Jews. A great fortune for Jews is the election of Michael Johnson as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He is a right-wing conservative, a convinced supporter of Christian values. Recently, I listened to his speech in New York at the annual meeting of the Zionist Organization of America – the most decisive and consistent Jewish organization in the fight for Israel’s right to exist and self-defense, against anti-Semitism in the country and the world.

Speaker Johnson unequivocally supports the strategic alliance between the USA and Israel, uncompromising struggle against Palestinian terrorists, full and unconditional military and financial aid to Israel in the face of existential threats from Iran, its satellites, and global Islamo-fascism. He is decisively against lifting sanctions on Iran and subsidizing Hamas at the expense of American taxpayers. Johnson considers calls for a ceasefire “outrageous… Israel will stop the offensive when Hamas is no longer a threat to the Jewish state.” He harshly condemned “members of Congress who constantly use the genocidal rhetoric of terrorists, providing them with legitimacy.”

There is hope that the presidential elections will change the situation, that the government will show determination in fighting the ancient evil, chaos, and civil division. One of the important conditions for such changes is if Jews realize that today they have no more important issue than supporting a candidate who can actually ensure their safety and rights.

“The streets of our cities are a hotbed of violent crime… Americans live in the most dangerous time in the country’s history”; “2024 is the final battle. Either they win, or we do. And if they win, we will not have a country.” (Donald Trump.)

These words apply first of all to the Jews of America.