What Makes a Couple of Normal Days in Israel?

 

These are simply a few randomly chosen acts of hate filled violence spread across two days, five stories with three telling of attacks in Israel including one on the Temple Mount from an unexpected source; one story from Wellington, Florida in the United States; and then lastly the reality that Israelis make remarkable recoveries and the situation that was arranged probably from Above that all from the horrific scene and terror attack were together again and shared the joy for one family nearly a year later. All of these stories likely would never even reach the average Israeli, especially if they get all of their news from the standard mainstream media even here in Israel; so we obviously cannot fault the world for not reporting that which is ignored by much of our own media. Partly the blame goes to the fact that one could pick any day or so and find these same examples to choose from a number of other events as these were not by far the sole attacks.

 

There exist stretches of roadways and even secondary highways where those traveling know full well they need to be on guard to look for ambushes where rocks and bricks will be thrown at their vehicle and thus they must prepare to hit the gas and speed to safety on the other end once the rocks stop striking the vehicle and they can return to normal speed, breathe a sigh of relief that they survived the gauntlet once again and bless Hashem for their successful passage and surviving in relative safety only He can provide. The stories of woe are those which catch a motorist by surprise as they did not normally drive this heightened area full of perilous threats along this stretch of road and they mistakenly try to turn and escape and are set upon mercilessly and become sitting ducks stuck on the roadway. Then we have a tragedy which may or may not make the news depending on the news volume that day and maybe the next. This is especially true if there was no loss of life and either they escaped on their own with a valuable lesson learned or they were saved and the lesson imparted and hopefully heeded.

 

The unfortunate reality in Israel is that the daily onslaught has certain levels which have become so commonplace as to be considered acceptable as long as it remains within certain limits. It is as if we in Israel, at least as far as reporting on terrorist events, have adopted what then Senator John Kerry as the Democrat candidate running against George W. Bush for the Presidency where Kerry claimed, “We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they’re a nuisance.” President Bush criticized Senator Kerry stating, “Just this weekend, Senator Kerry talked of reducing terrorism to, quote – ‘nuisance’ – end quote, and compared it to prostitution and illegal gambling.” We could add to this point, Gentlemen, welcome to our reality, our world.

 

Our first story was related by twenty-six-year-old Yehuda who survived his attack and related his experience as he lie recovering in a hospital. These events occurred Monday morning and took place at the gas station on Highway 443 located northwest of Jerusalem. There exist points of travel along Highway 443 where attacks occur regularly and are usually barrages of rocks upon the passing cars. These attacks usually occur when traffic is lightest and thus the attackers consider themselves safe as they would easily outnumber the occupants of a single vehicle or even two vehicles. This event was different and far more dangerous as Yehuda was stabbed in the back and shoulder while filling up his car at the gas station. Yehuda related his harrowing terrorist assault which easily could have resulted in worse wounds or even have murdered him as, according to the recounting on Army Radio:

“I was on the way to Jerusalem from my home, and he (the terrorist) took advantage of the opportunity when I got out of the car and he stabbed me. He came at me from behind, I felt suddenly that I was stabbed, and I ran, I fled from him. I ran, I fell, and got up and ran again, and again I fell. He of course chased after me, and stabbed me again at every opportunity.” Yehuda recounted how he fled and the reaction of the few onlookers who were probably there to assist the terrorist in making an escape. Yehuda continued, “I shouted ‘help me, help me.’ I ran to my car while still bleeding and just drove off. They watched (a group of Arabs standing and viewing the events from a short distance obviously amused) and chuckled and didn’t come to help. Even after I was stabbed. He just didn’t stop until I managed to escape with the car.”

 

The terrorist was eventually neutralized, according to reports and whatever neutralized may mean. Was he arrested or killed as he continued his attacks possibly turning and attempting to strike the police? While the threat was still looming another almost victim managed to escape injury and took refuge in his vehicle locking the doors and then had the presence of mind to video-record the terrorist attacker lurking outside while brandishing the knife. You can play the Video while below is picture from the video clearly showing the knife in his hand.

 

 

Knife wielding terrorist was outside vehicle at petrol station threatening driver with a knife, circled. Terrorist had already stabbed one motorist multiple times before the victim was able to escape. This is getting to be a daily news event from somewhere, either in Judea or Samaria, often Jerusalem and has even struck in Tel Aviv and the Galilee.

 

 

Our next report concerns a married couple from the southern Mount Hevron area who were attacked Monday morning while out jogging by a large group of Arabs and European anarchists. The presence of European anarchists is not uncommon where there are possibilities that Israelis might actually defend themselves which will provide them with filmed shots of Israeli aggression and the futile attempt by the unfortunate wretch unable to ward off the unprovoked assault by the Israelis. The Europeans shot their film and got nothing to sell to media, usually television and cable news networks who pay handsomely for such films, especially if they have been edited to emphasize the desired line of out of control Israelis and poor defenseless Arabs trying in vain to escape unscathed from the incident. Never mind that this couple was set upon by the mob with rock throwing and beatings with long and sturdy sticks.

 

Miri Madan told news services of their ordeal stating, “We went on a morning jog toward the neighboring community of Maon. Before Maon, I felt bad. It was hot. We wanted to cut toward the main road.” This required the couple take a dirt road that bypasses a small Arab village. Once the couple was spotted by one villager he whistled and others relayed the call and before you knew it there was a small hoard ready to attack. Roughly twenty Arabs escorted by a group of European anarchists who were armed with cameras as the hoard encircled the couple. Miri Madan continued the recounting stating, “They approached us. I wanted to go back but they called an Arab vehicle that threatened us from behind, so that we couldn’t escape from them. We tried to talk to them and to explain that we are just on a morning jog, that we only want to reach the road, that we do not mean to pass through [their village] and that I don’t feel good, but it didn’t help and they continued to threaten us that they’d kill us and slaughter us and threw rocks at us. When we saw that we had nothing to do, we went in the direction of the rocks and luckily we emerged with injuries that are not serious. They did hit us though, and they kept throwing rocks and sticks at us from behind as we emerged.”

 

These types of attacks often are brought upon joggers as well as hikers. The story seldom changes much as it is often around twenty actual attackers setting upon two and rarely even three victims who are blocked from turning back or are set upon so quickly and ferociously that there is not opportunity to flee. Initially the only times Israelis ran into such ambushes was when the attackers were accompanied by Europeans to film the events looking for an Israeli defending themselves which allows them to turn the story around. After a while these attacks became more commonplace with an Arab filming the events with the same goal, getting a video or single pictures depicting Israeli on Arab violence to sell to the media. Now these ambushes occur almost daily somewhere where a gang of Arab youths can catch an unsuspecting Israeli or two and assault them. After the victim has escaped the attackers disperse before the police arrive, the timing of such they have down to a science in order to escape arrest. A report such as this one can be viewed daily on many of the small district news which covers such news events as they have proven so common as to no longer be newsworthy. There will be no reporting live at five with our intrepid a reporter standing with security and possibly IDF soldiers off camera telling of the dangers joggers and hikers face at this specific spot which the assault took place that morning. Now such reports are buried inside deep in the local news section or if there was somebody clinging doggedly to life, it might get bumped to lead the local news or, dare we say it, make it into section A. This couple barely made the news, which is another way of relaying that they will be just fine and survived their ordeal. That only leaves us with questions; Who will be next? Where will the next attack occur? Will it merit coverage? Where can we find actual video? And what made this attack coverable? Most of the answers to the questions will likely be in the negative as they gave no promises.

 

Our next story made the news as it was noteworthy to make a record of an official WAQF officer who assaulted Israeli Border Police and was arrested for his efforts. Here is the video of the events and the arrest of the perpetrator WAQF monitor being subdued. There were apparently a number of people who received a measure of the pepper-spray utilized by the security officers making the arrest. This was a form of man bites dog and the Islamic WAQF officials are assigned to enforce the rule of law for the Jordanian force left in place as an offer of friendship and tolerance which has backfired greatly. I doubt General Moshe Dayan would have done as he did in June of 1967 and permitted Jordan to continue their control over the Temple Mount knowing what that would bring in the future. Perhaps this event could be the perfect time to extradite the members of the WAQF who actually work for the Jordanian leadership as agents of a foreign power who have out-lived their usefulness and Israel will now take over providing security and order to the Temple Mount and assume responsibility for the holy sites upon the Temple Mount. Such a move is long overdue and the time is ripe for such a move. A member of the WAQF acting in such an unholy manner brings down shame on them, the WAQF and the Jordanian who are responsible for all the actions committed by these guardians. Recalling the WAQF to Jordan in order to save face is an offer that should be made and made now in response to this irreconcilable behavior. Access for all peoples and permission for all people of all faiths the freedom to pray as they please thus opening the Temple Mount a place holy to three major faiths and respected by many people of all faiths.

 

The fourth story comes from Wellington, Florida in the United States where we have mentioned a number of times have started to see increasing anti-Semitism. The attacks have mostly been random events of hatred committed by sole individuals but the undercurrent makes it appear to have more interconnectivity. We have suggested that when one has been arrested for an offense against a Jewish target or any hate crime, their computers should be searched and see what such material they have and check their activity logs and any videos linked to in their computers. A warrant should not be overtly difficult if the person has been arrested for actions which raise the suspicions for the basis of hate crimes having been perpetrated. The actions of the person caught on camera leave little doubt as to the hate-filled anger. The question is against whom as the perpetrator in addition to vandalizing Temple Beth Torah also vandalized seventeen vehicles on nearby streets which might tend to make one believe that perhaps the entire criminal action was truly random. Below are the captured video and a news report from Wellington.

 

 

 

Our final story is one of recovery and joy. First though we need go back to October 22 of last year and recall the terror attack on the Jerusalem light rail by a terrorist where he rammed his vehicle through the Givat Hatachmoshet (Ammunition Hill) Light Rail stop injuring eight people and murdering Chaya Zisel Braun who was merely three months old, far too short a life for her. Ziyad Dawiat, a veteran Magen David Adom paramedic and ambulance driver, remembered having transported little Chaya Zisel Braun that fateful night. That was then and this is now. Ziyad Dawiat, our intrepid veteran Magen David Adom paramedic and ambulance driver, received a call to assist a woman in labor and giving birth at home. He thought nothing about it and headed off to perform whatever duties were required. He had been on a number of such calls and was probably happy for bringing a life into the world which has to be the favorite call they need make as too often they meet people leaving this domain, not entering it. Shmuel Braun met Ziyad Dawiat, our fated veteran Magen David Adom paramedic and ambulance driver, and was immediately overcome with excitement and was exuberantly happy at seeing the number twelve Ambulance and began jumping and waving and pointing and repeating “twelve, number twelve” and continued his zealous happy dance.

 

According to Ziyad Dawiat, our fated, bemused veteran Magen David Adom paramedic and ambulance driver, described the event, “He was very emotional and I didn’t know why. Meanwhile I could see a woman who was about to give birth. I went into the house and helped her, and after helping her to recover, the story came out.” The Brauns recounted the account of the night of October 22, 2014 and how Ziyad Dawiat, our fated, bemused, astounded veteran Magen David Adom paramedic and ambulance driver, had been the one who had attempted to treat initially and transported little Chaya Zisel Braun to the hospital and they thanked him for all he had done then and now. After the retelling, Ziyad Dawiat, our fated, bemused, astounded, at a loss for words, veteran Magen David Adom paramedic and ambulance driver, recounted, “After the parents, with great emotion, told me the story, I remembered who they were. Shmuel told me that whenever he sees the number 12, he remembers his daughter, and prays that he will be spared further suffering. I didn’t know how to respond, to congratulate him on his new baby or commiserate with him for his loss.” After transporting mother and her baby daughter to the hospital for a quick routine checkup Ziyad Dawiat, our fated, bemused, astounded, at a loss for words, exhilarated thanking Hashem for completion of a hole now closed making him whole again, veteran Magen David Adom paramedic and ambulance driver, exclaimed, “I never dreamed that I would be able to close a circle in this manner with the Brauns. But it’s a small world. I intend to keep in touch with them.” So the Braun’s now have their new baby daughter. May she bring them much joy and, as it did for Ziyad Dawiat, by now simply our friend and ambulance driving hero, may it close much of the hole and make their family whole again; Baruch Hashem.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

How to Spell Hypocrite, US or UN?

 

When it comes to the subject of Israel both United States and United Nations are first class Hypocrites. Let us start with the United Nations where Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated in a written complaint to the Security Council stating, “I deplore the fact that at least forty-four Palestinians were killed as a result of Israeli actions and at least two-hundred-twenty-seven injured at United Nations premises being used as emergency shelters.” There were a few rather significant details which were probably missed in this one-sided complaint such as the fact that rockets were fired from locations adjacent to or on top of UNRWA facilities or that during Operation Protective Edge three separate schools were found to have caches of rockets that the UNRWA staff allowed Hamas or Islamic Jihad to remove them instead of having them destroyed or turned over to neutral observers in order to allow for them to be removed from storage under the inspection and safe passage added by UNRWA personnel observing such removals. Such actions as permitting the storage of these weapons and then granting their removal to the hostile force which had stored them illegally in these UNRWA schools made UNRWA complicit in this criminal use of their facilities. The fact that one UNRWA health clinic was itself simply nothing more than a trap set with eighty kilograms of explosives which were built into the walls and otherwise it having served as a tunnel entrance was yet another piece of damning evidence of UNRWA complicity. Beneath the clinic were found intersecting tunnels accessible from within but the real criminal act was the detonation of those explosives set into the clinic’s walls during its construction, a construction dome under United Nations supervision where UNRWA provided their trusted employees to oversee the construction who also permitted the instillation of explosives knowing the intent was to kill Israelis in any conflict where they could be drawn to enter the clinic. This was done during Operation Protective Edge when very likely combatants were observed entering the clinic implying tunnel access or other related activity within the clinic. Upon IDF troops entry of the clinic to investigate the explosives were detonated murdering in an UNRWA complicit ambush in conjunction with Hamas of three IDF soldiers; Sergeant First Class Matan Gottlieb, 21, from Rishon LeZion, hy”d; Sergeant First Class Omar Chai, 21, from Savion, hy”d; and Sergeant First Class Guy Algranati, 20, of Tel Aviv, hy”d.

 

In related information omitted from the Secretary General’s letter of condemnation was that the deaths of over a dozen innocent Arab residents of Gaza who were being shielded in the United Nations built Shifa Hospital which everyone were so quick to place the blame on Israel proved to have been a misfired Hamas Fajr-5 Iranian-made 100 kg warhead missile which was targeted at Israel which caused the destruction, but that little fact was not considered important to note as the Shifa Hospital is also run by UNRWA. Of course the United States refused to be left out of this story as well as the United Nations during the course of the Israeli operation it was Israel that was criticized by both the United Nations and the United States for attacking UNRWA facilities. After Israeli returned fire using data from targeting given by counter artillery/rocket/missile radar system to provide targeting resolution of the launch sites, which resulted in these schools being within the blast radius of the return fire of targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the same expectations of the United Nations and the United States Department of State in condemning Israel for targeting UNRWA schools when in fact Israel was targeting active launch sites which were aimed specifically at Israeli civilian targets. See picture below which illustrates the Radar Trajectory of the barrage launched from within Gaza by either Hamas or Islamic Jihad or other allied with them depicting the strike points for four rockets, including the short round strike on the Shifa Hospital which Israel was blamed by Hamas and Media accepted Hamas talking point unchecked, one falling in the Mediterranean Sea, another short round striking the Shati Refugee Camp and lastly, one running true targeting Ashkelon which was intercepted by the IDF Iron Dome system.

 

 

Radar Trajectory of barrage launched from within Gaza depicting strike points including the short round strike on the Shifa Hospital which Israel blamed by Hamas and Media accepted Hamas talking point unchecked

 

 

Speaking for the United States Department of State, Jennifer Psaki stated, “The United States is appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA school in Rafah sheltering some three-thousand displaced persons, in which at least ten more Palestinian civilians were tragically killed. We once again stress that Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties.” According to Agency France Press (AFP), an IDF spokesperson confirmed it had fired on a target “in the vicinity” of the school. Additionally, the IDF pressed the importance this is being given and the review is ongoing stating, “The IDF targeted three PIJ (Islamic Jihad) terrorists on board a motorcycle in the vicinity of an UNRWA school in Raffia. The IDF is reviewing the consequences of this strike.” According to Ms. Psaki, “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians. We call for a full and prompt investigation of this incident as well as the recent shelling of other UNRWA schools.” So as not to allow the United Nations be left out and the United States have all the apparent glee in condemning Israel for defending her citizen and valuing their safety primarily while conducting on a war footing, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated, “This madness must stop.” He also demanded that these actions by Israel constitute “yet another gross violation of international humanitarian law.” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon continued his assault on Israel demanding, “This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act.”

 

But now comes the United Nations report which looked into these seven attacks on United Nations schools in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, the same UNRWA schools in the above situation and every other single shell of artillery or other munitions utilized by Israel in their previously determined criminal act which must not be considered an act of self-defense but a blatant attack which has been established and assumed by this report. The report has been disclosed to Hamas, possibly searching for more damning information be it fabricated or potentially supported by supposition of Israeli intent outside self-defense despite evidence to the contrary. Hamas’s warm acceptance of the report is sufficiently telling and it being a United Nations report which relied heavily on UNRWA supplied information on these strikes. There is one question which will never be asked nor will it be answered or included in any reference to UNRWA provided information, namely, was the UNRWA official in any manner or form also a member of Hamas, Islamic Jihad or other related organization or group? I am aware that even thinking such might be relevant makes me unqualified to comment on anything compiled by the United Nations because I am obviously one of those Zionist stooges who actually believes that facts matter as do Jewish lives. Since these strikes were counter-radar-tracking electronic aiming which permits the placing of return fire to within a ten meter area centered on the launch site, a three round return of fire should neutralize that firing position, but if I have my information right, the IDF often uses a single round depending on a minimalist return strike in order to minimize damage to structures near to these launch sites which are almost always next to or on the roof of United Nations structures such as UNRWA schools (or dare I refer to them as rocket storage facilities), clinics (or dare I claim these are nothing but explosive rigged walls over tunnel access simply waiting for IDF soldiers to enter before being detonated), hospitals (or do we dare mention the Hamas command and control main facility sits in the basement of the largest hospital in Gaza technically making it a valid target yet it remains standing for some reason, potentially Israeli compassions and restraint?) and other such United Nations sites such as the soccer field which hid a number of underground rocket launching locations which flip open the roof, fire, close roof and return to looking like a soccer field.

 

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stated, emphasis or translation added in parenthesis, “We call on the world to send the murderous occupation (Israel) leaders to international courts, and we call on the (Arab Palestinian) Authority to investigate this report and to persecute (persecute was actually the way it was presented from the source) the occupation (Israel) in international courts.” I guess the best way to end this report is with another United States threat and what we feel would be the best answer to the American hypocrisy. United States Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman demanded, referring to presumed next Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that she has chosen to have “raised questions about his commitment to the two-state solution.” Undersecretary of State Sherman expressed further misgivings about Benyamin Netanyahu’s changing positions on the formation of a Palestinian state during his time as head of the government. This caused her pause and great consternations which were deeply troubling. One might even feel pity for this woman who is so troubled by Israel but then she expressed such things as her claim that the State Department and Obama administration will be watching very closely to see what happens on this [Palestinian] issue after the new government is formed. Just as I thought that perhaps her concerns and expressing the willingness to wait and discern the position of the government after such was formed and then she has to go and state, “If the new Israeli government is seen to be stepping back from its commitment to a two-state solution that will make our job in the international arena much tougher… it will be harder for us to prevent internationalizing the conflict.”

 

The threat of not being able to prevent the internationalizing the conflict is so beyond troubling that it reaches well past damning as it is actually quite childish. The United States can simply state in the Security Council the same promise they tell their Jewish minions at the New York Times, namely that ‘the United States backs Israel in determining their own fate through direct negotiations and the United States will veto any resolution that unfairly targets solely Israel and is not balanced.’ Meanwhile, at a White House meet and greet the President spoke with the heads of Jewish organizations across the spectrum of Jewish organizations to assure them that all is well between Israel and the United States. The President also implied that there is a lot more concern in having the Jewish organizations be on board with the Iran deal should one be signed and presented to Congress and the President expressed wishes that they give the agreement a chance. This acute attention to the Iran nuclear weapons deal and the thinly veiled threats to throw Israel as red meat to the whims of the international attempts at forcing their idea of a solution on Israel while making no demands of the Arab Palestinian Authority leadership would be awarding Abbas and Hamas a recognized state with the maximalist borders pushing Israel back to the same starting gates which brought on only war and this time would only be different in that even should the Arab Palestinians shoot rockets onto the runways of Ben Gurion International Airport bringing all flights in and out of Israel basically to a standstill, and aim other rockets, larger rockets, at downtown Tel Aviv striking a number of the tallest skyscrapers and force three or four to collapse, would the world permit an assault to prevent further carnage or would Israel be locked from such actions.

 

It is understood that should the United Nations, in their furtive imaginations, force their idea of a solution that a number of factors would very soon thereafter come to fruition. The initial firing of a couple of thousand rockets, Grad and Katyusha short range rockets which do minimal damage but are still quite lethal, start fires and will destroy a small house or even apartment building killing numerous Israelis. The entirety of Israel made vulnerable to such rocket fire from the Judean Hills is beyond the capacity of just nine or even a dozen Iron Dome systems, it would require tens of such systems possibly even over a hundred to cover the entire region efficiently and effectively. Even so armed, there would be those which would get through and strike within the most densely populated areas in Israel. Just as the sparsity of population bordering Gaza near guarantees most unguided munitions will not hit anything vital nor would it kill anybody with minimal protections such as shelters, the area around Tel Aviv and overseen by the Judean Hills is as densely populated as the Gaza area was sparse, thus any rocket fired is likely to do harm and cause serious damage, the probabilities are diametrically opposites. After a week of such rocket fire Israel would have no choice but to strike into Judea and Samaria and destroy whatever rockets and rocket supplies and machines for producing them. That would be but a temporary fix and Israel would be brought before the General Assembly, perhaps the Security Council, and be reprimanded for their invasion of a United Nations member state and not simply bringing the problem to the attention of the United Nations and allow them to get right on it in a couple of months after it had been completely validated that Israel has actually been attacked by the actual forces of the Arab state of Palestine or had it been terrorists for which Palestine must not be burdened with responsibility of preventing every terror attack and it will be determined they are doing everything that can be expected from them. Eventually the United Nations will respond to the Arab state of Palestine requesting international peacekeepers be placed on their border with Israel to protect the innocent Arabs from those horrific warmongering Israelis (Jews). The international peacekeepers will serve their purpose of preventing Israel incursions into the Arab nation of Palestine but will also be true to their mission statement which will not instruct them to intercede or interdict with the firing of rockets, missiles, artillery or other projectiles from within that Arab state onto Israelis and their properties. Eventually Israel will be faced with the choice of no longer existing as a nation or to retake all of Judea and Samaria and forcing every known terrorist or operative, officer, representative or anybody inferred to have any connection to terrorism or the launching of projectiles into Israel completely out of Judea and Samaria annexing every inch of the lands by right of international law implementing the San Remo Conference and its results and the United Nations guarantees of enforcing the terms of the Mandates set up by that treaty which was enacted with the unanimous agreement of the member states of the League of Nations and the United States signed as well in a treaty with the British and confirmed by Article 80 in the United Nations Charter. The residents under the areas under Israeli rule have the guarantee to individual rights, property rights, religious rights but are not guaranteed political rights so such may be withheld and permitted as per the necessities as determined to be in the best interests of Israel. Such would likely mean that with time these Arabs would be granted either some form of autonomy or granted political rights within Israel. The granting of an Arab state without any Arab recognition of Israeli right to exist would be a disaster simply waiting to happen and such would be triggered by the first election of the forced takeover by Hamas. But why worry about the future, that has never seemed to be the concern of the United Nations in anything they have attempted from day two, we will grant them that ratifying their Charter may have been a step in the right direction, but that apparently went directly to their heads and they have never moved in a similar sensible direction since, so why start now.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Never Seen the Problem so Plainly Stated

 

Often we hear about how people are surprised when an obviously conservative candidate wins an election where nobody has ever remembered reading a pro-conservative editorialist or especially a news columnist. Nobody knows of any conservatives where they work, at their country club or social club, nor are there any in their union, bowling league, classic car club etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I found the problem which stands behind this situation described by Rabbi Professor Dov Fischer titled Conservative “Marranos” and the Absurd Charge of Racism. Below is the last part of the first paragraph which left me in shock and feeling a sharp pinch of sadness and emptiness as one might hope that such a respected Rabbi could hold conservative positions, especially on many social issues where Torah and the laws of Judaism would give him the backing and freedom to at least express such views with impunity and free from the affects others of us have suffered when speaking our minds similarly.

Throughout the West, we conservatives must be careful when we speak, toe political lines that are drawn for us, hide our true political beliefs and voting preferences, and basically live the life of political Marranos or Conversos. We must join unions that we do not wish to join, must advocate programs and leisure activities that we do not wish to advocate, and we must hide furtively until, once every two or four years, we can vote in secrecy.

 

Once my initial shock and sadness passed, I was left with a sense of anger as, oddly enough, I have always had the exact opposite reaction when presented with false boundaries and leftist expectations that, under peer pressures, all will wilt and obey the societal bounds and act as those self-labelled all-compassionate expect and enforce, lest one transgresses at risk of ostracization. I decided to read the remainder of Rabbi Fischer’s article where he described the reactions in the United States and especially in the great White House and around the world where Israel has become the great apartheid state replacing South Africa who having defeated the real apartheid now leads the anointing of Israel as the new enforcer of apartheid politics, after all did not the Bibi again win against the great reformers who accept the European credo and would blindly obey and follow their betters down the path to oblivion. The meat of the article went to explain how politics is a different animal in Israel than it is in the United States, Europe and other citadels of freedom of the Western world. There is the explanation that in Israel we allow a political party whose defined aim in their declarations of principles is to dissolve the Jewishness of Israel and expel or subjugate the Jews and put in place the very Palestinian Arab state which is at its very core not far distant from the same madness that engulfed the continent of Europe and almost the world in the last great conflagration. When at the end of a brilliant description explaining that the phrase Bibi utilized to rally any last vestiges of support from the Zionist, nationalist and right wing voting blocks to get out and vote as a measured grass roots effort financed and manned by leaders from outside of Israel were attempting to hijack the elections and seize power and influence in order to command Israeli obedience to their desires which would in short time mean the end of Israel as the one and only Jewish state, the last refuge the Jewish people have for a safe place, a refuge and blessed haven to which they will be able to escape as the world once again turns mad with red shot eyes and an inner rage for Jewish blood and from there who knows the next victim of the coming madness, perhaps religious Christians who remain dedicated to ancient and outdated parchments and even still believe that the Constitution and the Bible were written in stone and not living, breathing documents whose interpretations depend on the end desire to redefine all norms to fit their unholy societal demands. The article explains that there is a force in the darkness which does desire to squelch all opposition and extinguish the flames of freedom and compassion in the world and install in the place of liberating doctrines a religiously enforced straightjacket which will break the will and end the dreams of the millions who lead the assaults on the battlements of Israeli society as that is the identified instigator that has unsettled an old, dormant, expellent force which seeks dominance over all societal norms and the final implementation of their holy order, though which form is still being debated, by force of arms. The point was made that none of these paragons of all that is fare and knowledgeable were to expound their doctrines in any of the societies such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran or many others of similar ilk that they would soon be meted out their just rewards for thinking beyond their canonical precepts meant to place all societies under its order. Then he relates how after expressing our honest desires we will again have returned to our basements and reassumed our placid facades we use in our daily excursions in the public eye.

 

It has always been my experience that it is best to exhibit those exact traits which best and most deeply depict standing on what is defined as the right wing, conservative or sometimes even Neanderthal behavior and risk the immediate recoil as if close proximity might cause them to be infected as if your political and societal beliefs are akin to a disease which one must quarantine for the health of their society. Does such an initial reaction make existence somewhat difficult initially, of course it does and must be expected. Once you have exhibited that you are quite comfortable existing within their space though an orbital radius is placed around you into which none initially and eventually only the brave dare be seen entering, let alone such trivialities as conversing or even sharing a joke or relating an anecdotal experience from the weekend as such interactions risk contamination. This cannot last indefinitely and slowly but inexorably your societal peers will find that you are not a monster and will not cause them contamination or other afflictions but that you actually share many of the beliefs they themselves accept as we are all raised in the same society which has rules which are universal, it is just that such rules are mostly about conduct and politeness which makes society possible. With extended exposure your fellow travelers will inevitably realize that what you consider right and just is very similar to those things they once believed but have since slid down that slippery slope which you have often warned about and upon realizing this some may even attempt to climb back from their proximity further down the slippery slope which actually will eventually be the death of their society as at the bottom of that slope nothing is worth defending and complete surrender to the great call of empty nothingness where every act no matter how perverse, iniquitous or reprehensible can be condemned lest you be condemned for the bottom of the slope is a society with no standards and nothing is enforced as being beyond acceptance. No society so defined can continue to exist as it becomes a society completely enthralled with self-indulgence to such an extent that even the idea of sacrifice of the self to raise the next generation becomes too burdensome that the idea that it takes a society to raise a child finally becomes simply the society must raise the child and children are given over to specially trained teams who know the best manner for raising the child and every child is molded or forced to obey the rules of inclusiveness and to abhor those who claim that some actions are beyond acceptable behavior as the self-indulgent new define morals and conduct such that nothing is too much or against acceptance except maybe having expectations that all have self-respect and a code of conduct which does limit behavior and set standards, real standards and not an anything goes unbounded limitless standards-free society. Those who are right wing are simply the morals which are necessary to restrain society from swinging so far from center that any hope of a return to those basic beliefs which once produced a society which was productive and functional believing in itself and the ideals which were worth extending to the next generation and knowing that it was the greatest of all accomplishments to raise children instilled with values which guided them to exceed the accomplishments you attained and built a better and more compassionate society which had structure worthy and even beyond what you might have hoped for. There is nothing more honorable than raising a child who exceeds your accomplishments and is making a better parent than you were when raising your child as they took those things that were right and true and took a different path avoiding many of the errors you committed and you realize they are in fact committed to doing what you had strove to do, be a better parent than your own parents and by producing a greater grandchild that they too can be proud and feel they too contributed to that wondrous hope for the future. Does such a society go off the rails, of course that is a possibility which is why as parents we never stop teaching and hopefully we never stop learning for learning is the first step to teaching.

 

The truth of being a right wing, religious and attempting to lead a righteous life is something which it is never too late to start. Many of us who are on the right were leaders of the charge down that slippery slope but had an epiphany and realized that the bottom of that slope was a waiting disaster and where we should be headed is back to the top of the hill. Of course we who have taken this path realize that the top of that hill awaits the fact that it is but a foothill and beyond is another slightly higher foothill and in the distance is a mountain that so very few of us ever even reach the bottom of its craggy and high cliffs which are seemingly impossible to scale. I am hopeful but unfortunately uncertain that there are those still alive today who are somewhere upon those stratospheric heights holding fast to those principles which all too many of us have little knowledge or understanding of such thoughts. The truth we do know is that to have such thoughts must be wondrous and fulfilling. It is that knowledge which guides those who hold conservative standards and believe in that higher truth which we have realized is atop the hill and not at the bottom of that grassy, wet, slippery slope no matter what the promises of ecstasy and unlimited freedom for even freedom must be limited by boundaries, even if the only boundary one recognizes is that their freedom stops at the next person’s nose. One can punch the air, punch the heavy bag, punch the light bag, but one may not punch the person next to them as that infringes on their freedom. Thomas Jefferson once stated about a neighbor’s religious beliefs but can be more generally applied very simple truism, “If it doesn’t break my arm or pick my pocket I don’t care which religion a person pursues.” If only everyone today could apply that to political beliefs instead of initially treating any conservative as a leper, a societal pariah, as for the most part it is all we would ask or expect as decent behavior of a group of people who pride themselves with their so-called acceptance of others with different beliefs for is that not exactly what a conservative is, a person who believes differently, or is it that we arise in you a twinge of conscience, a pang of guilt of something dear that is now misplaced or a hunger to be able to return to your lost values; whatever it may be, listen to that call and find a direction which leads more efficiently to that fulfilling satisfaction that you have a craving but have become lost in the direction to best for which to find it.

 

Beyond the Cusp