(Note. It may be a little bit early to start my Year End Reflections. But we have two major stories this year. One is the attack on Israel and on Jews everywhere. The other, of course, is the return of Donald Trump to the White House. There are other major stories, such as the war between Russia and Ukraine. But the rising Jew hatred and antisemitism, along with the reelection of Donald Trump, are the major stories affecting our country.)
There are so many disturbing stories, it is difficult to know where to start. This may be hard to believe, but while Israel has been in a fight for its survival since October 7, 2023, self-hating Jewish Senator Bernard Sanders introduced resolutions seeking to cut off military aid to Israel. Now maybe you might think that with our close ally Israel at war for over a year (against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Syria, Iraq and Iran) and with 100,000 Israelis being displaced from their homes in the north and south, with Hamas promising another October 7 style attack "over and over and over again," with Hezbollah having fired 8000 rockets and missiles into Israel since last October 7, with Iran launching hundreds of missiles into Israel, (anyway you get the picture) that Sanders would not be able to get more than a handful of Senators to go along with his Israel-hating resolutions. You would be wrong.
Currently, the Senate consists of 49 Republicans, 47 Democrats and 4 Independents. As the Independents caucus with the Democrats, the Democrats control the Senate. Not a single Republican voted for these resolutions. But 17 Democrats and 2 Independents did. Imagine that. That amounts to over 37% of the Democratic caucus voting against aid to Israel. I think it's important to name these Senators. Independents: Sanders (Vt), and Angus King (Maine). The Democrats: Durbin (Ill), Heinrich (NM), Hirono (Hawaii), Kaine (Va), Lujan (NM), Markey (Mass), Merkley (Ore), Murphy (Conn), Ossoff (Ga), Schatz (Hawaii), Shaheen (NH), Smith (Minn), Van Hollen (Md), Warnock (Ga), Warren (Mass), Welch (Vt), and Helmy (NJ). Baldwin (Wis) voted "present.."
You may have heard about the violence in Montreal committed by a pro-Hamas crowd. It was organized by a group called "Divest for Palestine." This group smashed store windows, lit cars on fire, and generally engaged in antisemitic violence. (Yes, they also opposed NATO.) And where was Prime Minister Trudeau at the time? Dancing at a Taylor Swift concert. More on Trudeau in a minute.
The Toronto Sun editorial of November 23 had this title: "Jew hatred is now a national emergency." The Sun: "...some demonstrators have gone beyond calling for the destruction of Israel to advocate for the extermination of Jews in Canada and around the world." Jews are less than 1% of the population in Canada, and .001875% of the world's population. According to the paper, police report a skyrocketing of "hate crimes against Jews." And this sad commentary: "Jews have been targeted and threatened in the communities where they live, work, worship and go to school - both at the elementary and university levels."
At a recent soccer match in Amsterdam between the Dutch team, Ajax, and the Israeli team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, things did not end peacefully. Ajax apparently has both Arab Muslim and Jewish fans in the Netherlands. There were claims that Maccabi fans yelled insults at the Arabs. But there were violent attacks against Israelis at the game. Some described it as nothing short of a pogrom against the Jews. It was so bad that Israel sent 6 EL AL planes to rescue the Jews from Amsterdam. What? Jews had to be rescued from Europe? That sounds appallingly familiar. Yet, Jews were also attacked at a soccer game in Berlin.
Last week, the the ICC (International Criminal Court) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Of course, this is all related to Israel's ongoing war with Hamas and others. The ICC has jurisdiction over signatories to its establishment. The US and Israel are not signatories. And the Court made up a Palestinian state in Gaza, in order to justify the warrants. As the Democratic Party-Mainstream Media frequently reports, the ICC asserts too many civilian deaths in Gaza and insufficient humanitarian aid/intentional starvation of the civilian population of Gaza.
But, as the Wall Street Journal has reported: the Israeli "military may have achieved the lowest ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths in the history of urban warfare." That's because Israel warns civilians to leave a building or an area before they attack. But Hamas does not want them to leave. They know that the more civilian deaths there are, the more the fools in the Western world will side with Hamas. The Journal also says that the claim of starvation is "absurd." "Israel has facilitated the transfer of more than 57,000 aid trucks and 1.1 million tons of aid, even though Hamas's rampant theft means Israel is provisioning its battlefield enemy, something the law can't require."
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