Israel’s Growing Dilemma
Contributed by Brett Ahern
Hello. This month I published a site, TheAtheistDilemma.com. It shows God uses prophecy to bring people to terms with His existence. Our series on Antisemitism is also rooted in prophecy, a movement prophesied over 1,000 years before Antisemitism began.
Last month I mentioned you can freely subscribe to www.dailyalert.org for weekly reports about Israel’s news. This month I’m posting a few of these reports to show the relevance to our efforts to maintain a peace-based atmosphere, while Antisemitism grows to violence in our nation.
To clarify, October 7th was not a Palestinian vs Israel war. It is the ongoing Jew vs Antisemitism battle. If Hamas disappeared tomorrow, the Palestinians would continue in the hatred that extremist Islamism festers. They would continue the quest to annihilate Israel and Jews, as they have stated; just as Germany did during WWII. History shows us extremist Islamism is Nazi Germany 2.0.
During WWII, when Antisemitism engulfed Europe, a few nations resisted. You can read about them on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_Jews_during_the_Holocaust and the Holocaust Encyclopedia at https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/question/which-organizations-and-individuals-aided-and-protected-jews-from-persecution-between-1933-and-1945.
I believe Alaskans can live out the heroism of these WWII nations. Sadly, the USA is about to be more invested in the Middle East debate than in any of our recent political debates. Since our debates are meshing more with the culture wars, I expect the Middle East debate to get bloody. Here’s the reports about Israel. These reports do not contain graphic violence.
The UN Is Working to Create Permanent War in Gaza - Nicole Lampert
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is the only UN group dedicated to one conflict. It ignores the millions of Syrian refugees, the hundreds of thousands who fled Afghanistan and Ukraine. Someone whose great-grandfather fled the Middle East to the UK, where their grandparents and parents laid down roots, is still counted as a Palestinian "refugee."
In Gaza and the West Bank, high-rise apartment blocks are called "refugee camps," though their residents are living in a Palestinian-ruled area. They are called refugees to maintain the idea that they have somewhere to go "back" to. UNWRA partly destroyed the Oslo Peace Process and has torpedoed every attempt at a peace deal.
In UNRWA schools, UN watchdogs report that children are taught math by looking at the angles of rockets and adding up numbers of "martyrs" killed, while reading exercises celebrate firebomb attacks on Jews. They are taught that Jerusalem is "theirs" and that Jews stole the land and need to die. Commander IDF Col. Elad Shushan said, "There is not an UNRWA site, school, mosque, or kindergarten in which we didn't find weapons. None. 100%." (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
How to Fight the Rise in Antisemitism in America - Joe Lieberman (Fox News)
The writer, chairman of United Against Nuclear Iran, was a Jewish U.S. senator from 1989-2013. In my public and personal life, I have faced no antisemitism. That is why the recent outbursts of hatred of Jews have shocked me. During the 40 years the people of Connecticut elected me to state and federal offices, our state's Jewish population was never much more than 2%. The great majority of votes I received in all those elections came from people who were not Jewish. There was never even a hint of antisemitism being used against me in any of my campaigns.
In 2000, I was honored to be selected by Al Gore to be his running mate, the first Jewish-American to run on a major party national ticket. Again, I faced no antisemitism. The ticket on which there was a Jewish candidate received 545,000 more votes than the other ticket in a great affirmation of the fairness of America's voters.
The rise in antisemitism in America in recent years means that something serious has changed. Since the war in Gaza began, public expressions of hatred of Jews has reached a fevered pitch.
The likely cause is the erosion of our previous national consensus against such hatred and the general loss of civility in speech and behavior in our country, where undisciplined and uncivilized behavior has reached a peak in recent years.
Fixing this cause of hatred cannot be done by laws alone. It will take personal decisions to discipline our speech and behavior to stop the hatred that is dividing and weakening our country.
The Jewish-American community cannot defeat antisemitism without help from the rest of America. It will take the broadest possible coalition of Americans coming together to fight hatred.
Israel's Arab Citizens Feel Lucky - Bassam Tawil
A study conducted by Nimrod Nir of the Adam Institute and Dr. Mohammed Khalaily among the Arab public shows most Israeli- Arabs support Israel's right to defend itself and even expressed a willingness to volunteer to help civilians who were harmed during the Hamas attack. The study showed that almost 80% of Israeli Arabs opposed the Hamas attack and 85% opposed the kidnapping of civilians.
The Palestinians living under the corrupt Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas terrorist in Gaza can only envy Israeli-Arab citizens for living in Israel, where they enjoy democracy, freedom of expression, access to superb healthcare, educational institutions, careers, as well as a thriving economy; all of which they can freely participate in. (Gatestone Institute)
U.S. Poll: 2/3rds Support Gaza Ceasefire only after Release of Hostages and Removal of Hamas from Power - (Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll) The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, conducted on Jan. 17-18, 2024, found that 52% were favorable to Israel and 28% were unfavorable. 12% were favorable to Hamas and 67% were unfavorable. 67% are paying attention to the Israel-Hamas war and 83% think the recent attack on Israel was a terrorist attack. 74% think the attacks on Jews were genocidal. 75% think the Hamas massacre cannot be justified by the grievances of Palestinians. 69% think Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties in its war against Hamas. 67% think any ceasefire should happen only after the release of all hostages and after Hamas is removed from power.
1,200 UNRWA Staff - Not Just 12 - Have Links to Hamas or Islamic Jihad - Carrie Keller-Lynn
An Israeli intelligence dossier said 23% of UNRWA's male employees had ties to Hamas, a higher percentage than the average of 15% for adult males in Gaza, indicating a higher politicization of the agency than the population at large. (Wall Street Journal)