Thank you. I’ve been waiting too long for an article to articulate this. The far left claims that the Israeli flag is a shield, but they are using it as a shield as well. A shield to deflect all antisemitic thought and chalk up to “well actually we are just mad at Israel. Being mad at a sovereign state isn’t antisemitic”
This is a lie they tell themselves. Their judgements and biases still stem from antisemitic sentiments.
When you hear somebody cry that Israel controls all the world’s purse strings and acts as a puppet master, that’s an inherently antisemitic thought predicated on the idea that Jews are greedy manipulators that control everything. The fact is Israel does not control much at all. You can easily observe this if you simply pay attention. Like any state, Israel seeks to influence social narratives to its favor. It tries and it largely fails. That’s just self interest, a theme all sovereign states are guilty of. They would not be sovereign if they weren’t self interested…
If you’re going to pick on a single state and build a case that it’s unusually and unacceptably aggressive, your argument should not be littered with hypocrisies about every other state in existence. You should take other states into consideration in your condemnation of Israel, lest you be accused of closed-minded bigotry and stereotyping. This is the very foundation of antisemitism, double standards and punishing Jews for not behaving according to how they think a Jew should behave.
I think they're obviously related. Whether the attacker was antisemitic before this or not, I've seen no reporting on, so I said nothing about that. All I can say is I know this area well, and under normal circumstances people just go about their business without caring what other people's religious affiliation is.
Having your family killed by a bomb can set people off, even though it's not the ethical response to add to the misery by trying to kill more people. Antisemitism was already on the rise. This war was always going to make that even worse.
Yes, Sharon, antisemitism is likely to get worse. And , by the way, so is xenophobia against Muslims. This is why decent people should really think how they react to hate crimes. Would you comment about an attack on a mosque by pointing out that a terrorist had relatives killed on Sept 11, 2001 or Oct 7, 2023?
I agree with this. But I think this places a responsibility on American Jews and Muslims to make clear their disapproval of the acts in question. Maybe it isn't fair, but that's what it is.
We agree that antisemitism is on the rise. Are we absolving the Israeli government of any influence on this?
But, it's a nice way of getting to ignore what's happening in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, etc. to pretend it's totally unrelated to perception of Israel. And it's Israel and Jews like yourself who insist on the closest possible identification between Israel and Diaspora Jews, while at the same time condemning attacks on Diaspora Jews over Israeli policy. You don't get it both ways.
To take the OP's example of Newsom and Israel as running an apartheid system in the West Bank—the "refutations", like yours, are all about connecting anything bad said about Israel to historical antisemitism. Nary a one looks at conditions in the West Bank and compares them to an ordinary understanding of "apartheid".
You seem to take automatically take things as blaming Jews and bigotry when people are observing that a nation state taking extreme and ill advised actions is causing a backlash. A government is not a people or adherents of a religion. This is exactly the sort of conflation that leads people to think attacking a synagogue is OK when it clearly isn't. This problem can never be addressed until people can make the distinction enough to have an actual conversation like adults. This is precisely why I didn't choose to engage with you initially. I thought this is exactly where the conversation would go.
Look, I get people are super emotional right now. I'm worried for my neighbors, some of whom are Jewish and some Muslim. But a question that reads like it's looking for a fight is not helpful.
Attacks on any group of Americans because of religious affiliation are absolutely inexcusable. We should all be prepared to stand arm in arm in defense of our fellow Americans.
It may be worth noting that someone also woke up yesterday and decided to kill Lebanese by dropping big bombs in central Beirut.
Israel bombed Hizballah, the dominant political entity in Lebanon who constantly attacks Israel and is openly and explicitly dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and extermination of all Jews. Not at all comparable to ramming into civilians at a synagogue.
So no, it's not worth noting the bombing of Hizballah in this context.
Maybe you missed the fact that IDF aircraft dropped leaflets on Beirut today, threatening to turn Beirut into Gaza. Charming. Maybe you can rationalize that but sane people cannot.
Would you care to discuss the abominable behavior of Israeli squatters in the West Bank who have killed many more indigenous people than were killed (zero) in the synagogue in Michigan yesterday?
To be clear, I couldn’t be happier that security people in the synagogue were able to take out the attacker. Also, we are now advised that Israel killed four member’s the attacker’s family, none of whom were aligned with Hezbollah, in Lebanon last week.
Would you care to discuss how any of this is worth noting in a reply to an article about someone trying to kill Jewish civilians near a US Synagogue?
Maybe you can rationalize being duped by or intentionally spreading obvious propaganda, but sane people cannot. The leaflets had the following text (I can't properly paste the Arabic here, but you can easily look it up yourself):
> "If you want to be part of real change and contribute to the prosperity and defense of your country, we are here to listen."
> "You must disarm Hezbollah, Iran's shield."
> "Lebanon is your decision, not someone else's."
> "Unit 504 is working to secure the future of Lebanon and its people."
There was a newspaper-style leaflet with the following:
> "In light of the great success in Gaza, the New Reality newspaper arrives in Lebanon… Where is our state heading?"
The "great success" obviously referring to the dismantling of Hamas, who ruined Gaza just like Hizballah ruined Lebanon. Of course, Al-Jazeera and friends will report this as Israel "threatening" Beirut.
> Would you care to discuss the abominable behavior of Israeli squatters in the West Bank
Sure - I think most should be expelled from the West Bank, and certainly the murderers should (and do) face severe legal consequences. Again, how is this related to the article?
> Also, we are now advised that Israel killed four member’s the attacker’s family, none of whom were aligned with Hezbollah, in Lebanon last week.
Correction: according to "local officials" and the family themselves, the four members weren't aligned with Hizballah. And you believe them and spread the info without questioning it.
In any case, war is ugly and civilians get killed. That doesn't mean that Hizballah (or anyone) can wage war on Israel (or anyone) without Israel striking back.
It seems you come from a perspective that the world is divided into two groups - Jews and all others. I come from the perspective that all human life is sacred and that attacks on innocents in Lebanon are as despicable as attacks on Israel or attacks on a synagogue or church in the U.S.
I’d dare to guess that you are far more concerned about one small country, not the U.S., than about all other countries combined. Maybe you’ve been duped by obvious propaganda. About birthrights, etc. and the “great success” being the genocidal murder of almost 70,000 people with tens of thousands being infants and children. Some “great success” that is……
It is all horrible and all to be resisted and mourned.
Well, an Israeli official speaking on background to the Times of Israel mostly disagrees with you.
“The Lebanese government needs to get a grip on their country,” says the official, “or Hezbollah parts of Beirut will soon look like Gaza.”
Now, what exactly are "Hezbollah parts of Beirut", and how many non-Hezbollah civilians live there? The widespread bombing campaign was clearly not restricted to military targets. What look like shops and apartments are in ruins. As usual, civilian casualties, claimed to be "collateral damage" but looking more like "collateral benefit" to encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide. (Hezbollah used to have more arms than the official government. Don't know if that is still the case.)
But dream on. It's much nicer to re-run "Exodus" through your head than look at today's reality.
What would you be posting if Iran managed to bomb the "Likud parts of Jerusalem" in order to get the Israeli government to finally rein in Smotritch and Ben Gvir?
> `or Hezbollah parts of Beirut will soon look like Gaza`
Yes, Hizballah constantly attacks Israel, so Israel should do what it takes to stop those attacks. Some parts of where the enemy is will be destroyed. Welcome to war. Hizballah should consider not waging war. Of course, that's their only purpose, so they need to be incapacitated or they won't ever stop.
> `The widespread bombing campaign was clearly not restricted to military targets.`
Baseless claim.
> `As usual, civilian casualties, claimed to be "collateral damage" but looking more like "collateral benefit" to encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide`
This makes no sense. Lebanese civilian casualties benefit Hizballah, and hurt Israel. The central military strategy of the "Axis of Resistance" is to use casualties as propaganda to reduce support for Israel. How do civilian casualties "encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide"?
> `It's much nicer to re-run "Exodus" through your head`
You're arguing with a caricature you dreamed up. I had to look up what Exodus was, and no, that is definitely not running through my head.
> `look at today's reality.`
Yes, the reality in which Islamo-fascists are trying to wipe out the liberal democracy of Israel. I don't want that. Do you?
> `What would you be posting if Iran managed to bomb the "Likud parts of Jerusalem" in order to get the Israeli government to finally rein in Smotritch and Ben Gvir?`
Do the Likud parts of Jerusalem have military targets?
Anyway, as loathsome as Smotritch and Ben Gvir are, the Iranian Regime's (and friends) eternal goal of wiping out Israel - and their related actions - is the root cause of the conflict. So, I would not support "reining in" operations against the Iranian Regime and their proxies.
> You're arguing with a caricature you dreamed up. I had to look up what Exodus was, and no, that is definitely not running through my head.
You are correct; this was unfair.
> How do civilian casualties "encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide"?
My reading is that the Israeli government is encouraging the Lebanese government to expel or disarm Hezbollah. Three years ago, this would certainly have been impossible: Hezbollah was better armed, probably far better trained, and certainly more reliable in terms of mutiny and defections. Hezbollah is weaker now, but just as with calls for Iranian civilians to overthrow the Mullah Regime, this seems to be encouraging futile, suicidal civil war.
Israel also intentionally dropped white phosphorous bombs on Beirut against all the rules of war. If you don't know what white phosphorus does, go find some video and don't you dare look away while watching children's skin being set on fire. Oh yeah, and those bombs are provided to Israel by the US. They were used in Beirut in the 80s also, and at that time Canada reported on the attempt to remove country of origin on casings. I want no part of this barbarism. If I thought this war could remove Iran's oppressive regime I might have a slightly different view. But it won't do that. This is just some incompetent men getting their rocks off destroying people while they try to avoid the consequences of their other crimes.
Very thoughtful, well written, and excellent points, Evan, even though I personally do not agree with all of them.
Antisemitism is the world’s oldest hatred and, very sadly, scarily, and horrifically will likely increase in the United States and world in the near future partly because of the appalling conduct of the Israeli government and foolish, reckless, illegal, and immoral decision of the Trump regime to take the nation to war with Iran.
So glad to find a comment here I could support. My addition would be there is no such thing as "in-group" morality, your morality is indicated by how you treat "the other".
Pretty self serving. Start being honest and try explaining the reason for, the methodology of and the impact of influence of AIPAC et al on Congress and the country.
Well, I have Jewish friends, Jewish doctors and I have worked professionally with members of that community for the better part of 35 years. There are plenty of good people in that community. That said, there is also a component driven to obtain control and power. A person doesn’t have to look very far to find explicit examples - by them - to prove the point of concern, worry and even distress.
As has always been the case with every group or community throughout history? There always has been and there always will be people solely motivated by the pursuit of power.
But we are not dealing with history. The issue at hand, today, is, in part, as I’ve demonstrated above.
Today. What does society do about today? What happened in the past is irrelevant for the purposes of figuring out what to do about the influence and impact today.
Ie. the fighting in the Middle East. Stop the fighting and start talking. The corrupt influence on the government? Eliminate it then cleanse how govt works
Noting the two previous pictures, consider explaining this knowing the influence on the US government and the child rapist himself. Remember, he said he attacked Iran because Jared Kushner told him to. Jared, an unelected and non- government person.
As are several other parameters of 'societal health' all of which are readily obvious, e.g., the unrelenting genocide of Muslims, the white supremacy fetish of 'Christians' and the ..... and the endless greed of the few ....
The Israeli army has committed genocide on the Palestinians, killing tens of thousands of women and children. Now it is attacking Iran and Lebanon and assassinating the leaders in Iran, without any provocation. Flying an Israeli flag, means you are a part of this.
In fact, Israel had already struck Iran last year in response to Hamas' invasion of Israel. There was no recent provocation from Iran for this "double tap". Is there some divine rule that allows Israel to bomb Iran any time it wants because of a war that happened three years ago? I can see you have strong feelings about this, but can you try to keep it civil?
No divine rule, and none needed. The Iranian regime declared eternal war with the US and Israel; it's the entire basis for their existence. The Iranian regime calls it "resistance". There doesn't need to be any "rule" to "allow" attacking them.
> "Israel had already struck Iran last year in response to Hamas' invasion of Israel."
Were they? Anyway, if you view the most recent attacks on Iran as a continuation of last year's strikes, does that help you? Or maybe you can view it as a response for the attacks on Israel since last year?
> "There was no recent provocation from Iran"
Iran simply re-arming themselves and their proxies, advancing their nuclear program, continuing to attack through their proxies, and continuing with their global propaganda blitz is more than enough provocation.
Since last years bombing Iran was doing nothing overt against Israel, so I call this assassination and bombing unprovoked. Assassination of a sovereign leader is illegal under international law. Or I guess the idea, with Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu, is that laws don't matter anymore.
This is playing with words. I call the Houthis and Hizballah attacking Israel overt actions against Israel. Those groups are funded almost entirely by the Iranian regime.
The Supreme Leader commands the Iranian military. The Iranian regime is at war with and is committing acts of war against Israel, so it's not a violation of international law. And yes, Iranian proxy militias are an extension of the Iranian military. Iran can't just outsource half of their military and claim innocence because Hamas, the Houthis, Hizballah, etc. aren't "Iran".
Insane how so many countries in that area slaughter their own women and children by the hundreds of thousands. Syria, Iran .. just horrible. Somehow, I believe that if neighboring countries are fighting and they see that the countries they’re fighting are killing their own people, then life just becomes cheap to everybody. Nobody wins.
Israel is an Executive Government without properly limited terms, whereas generalized anti-semitism may be an attempt to exploit natural in Jewish culture and tradition
It totally doesn't sound like the Leningrad Cowboys nor Hazmat Modine...
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We did lose the Tuba in the end... it get's a little too Umpah YKWIM...
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NO it's not gypsy music with reindeer and seals ... [Pat the dog - stroke the cat and club the seal ].
We don't go seal clubbing ...
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What is there NOT to get ??? !!!
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INUIT KLEZMER MUSIC
W'ere still workshopping the band name... right now we're leaning towards
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The Anchorage "A" Hats...
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Dan Gelbart is on board and he shared his original recordings of Edison cylinder Klezmer recordings for extra Crypto-Sephardic* inspiration...
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The Sámi* peoples do it a little differently but it's more about being grabbed by a particular feeling in the moment and just run with the spirit of things.
^^^ Hazmat Modine on Russian (like) TV when we knew who our enemies were and then became our friends at least for a while until the next religious oil war.
Let us talk about the dark side of the Jewish faith. Is there a dark side? Yes there is and YOU as Jews have to face it and understand it because as Jesus said "HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN MUST CASTE THE FIRST STONE!" I use the word YOU and Not me even though my Jewish ancestors where murdered in cold blood solely because of the fact that they were Jews in Lithuania during World War II. Still why am I using the word YOU and not me???? Because THEY SAY I AM NOT A JEW!!! How could you not be a Jew when your ancestors were brutally murdered solely on the fact that they were Jews??? Simple not all my ancestors are Jews. On my mother's side my polish Jewish great grandfather who left Poland at the age of 16 to prevent being inducted in the Russian army (Poland was controled by Russia at the time) came the the USA and fell in love with a Romanian Christian young lady and the dye was caste. ON my father's side a man from China around the same time actually left China and believe it or not was "adopted" by a family of Jews and married one of the Patriarch's daughters, that man was my father's mother's mother's father, and my grandmother showed me a FAMLY PHOTO, about 10 people all with Jewish faces except for the Asian man who was sitting in front, my ancestor whose likeness has been down in certain members of our family including one of my son's and one of my grandson's (my other son's son). Get real, there is only one race, the human race. Elena
How about a white flag with a blue line at the top and a blue line at the bottom and then a blue hexagon in the middle...
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All the points have been removed.
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But a bit like a yelp review you can add points to your hexagon...
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Today this synagogue rates Israel and it's Jerusalem themed government four points out of six.
The little triangles have Velcro on them...
~ Often people complain about Netanyahu but there is always a more right wing and even more extreme candidate waiting in the wings. It can always be worse.
I have always believed that the state of Isreal NEEDS to exist. No you can't trust the Germans - even four thousand years from now there may not be a 'Germany" but there will for sure be Bavarians. [Ask me how I know or don't ].
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Some problems are mathematically intractable and this whole situation with Gaza and the West Bank (and now Libya) is an x raised to third power hockey stick graph to beat everyone else in the world over the head with.
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MUCH of what I witness in my own (digital) "bubble" is not real.
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To me personally I am troubled by the increasing lack of global biodiversity of supplanted mono-species trees being cut down to make cardboard boxes for Bezos.
Lots of food for thought, but the main issue, of what Israel is doing to Palestine, isn't front and center.
I am old enough to have suffered being the only Jewish child in my school system at a time when everyone hated Jews. You had to read the ads for vacation spots, where if it said, "Churches nearby," it meant no Jews allowed. As we have suffered, we've thought of ourselves as having the high ground -- until now.
I produced this wonderful animation that was finished after the attack on Jews at the music event, when It became unfashionable to sing any Jewish praises. Maybe there is something you would like to do with this largely unseen treasure?
As a guy born and raised in Brooklyn, and Queens, many of my friends growing up were — and still are — Jewish. Today, I advise every Jew I know to learn how to protect themselves, and by that, I mean buy and learn how to use a gun. CCW even here in CA is an option. If you are a Jew in America and you think you are safe from the lunatic, deranged Anti-Semites that roam the country, you are wrong.
Thank you. I’ve been waiting too long for an article to articulate this. The far left claims that the Israeli flag is a shield, but they are using it as a shield as well. A shield to deflect all antisemitic thought and chalk up to “well actually we are just mad at Israel. Being mad at a sovereign state isn’t antisemitic”
This is a lie they tell themselves. Their judgements and biases still stem from antisemitic sentiments.
When you hear somebody cry that Israel controls all the world’s purse strings and acts as a puppet master, that’s an inherently antisemitic thought predicated on the idea that Jews are greedy manipulators that control everything. The fact is Israel does not control much at all. You can easily observe this if you simply pay attention. Like any state, Israel seeks to influence social narratives to its favor. It tries and it largely fails. That’s just self interest, a theme all sovereign states are guilty of. They would not be sovereign if they weren’t self interested…
If you’re going to pick on a single state and build a case that it’s unusually and unacceptably aggressive, your argument should not be littered with hypocrisies about every other state in existence. You should take other states into consideration in your condemnation of Israel, lest you be accused of closed-minded bigotry and stereotyping. This is the very foundation of antisemitism, double standards and punishing Jews for not behaving according to how they think a Jew should behave.
The attacker in West Bloomfield yesterday had family in Lebanon that was killed by Israeli bombs.
And?
It’s ok for him to kill Jews?
No. But stop pretending these acts are independent of the death and destruction Israel visits on the Middle East as its preferred form of security.
I think they're obviously related. Whether the attacker was antisemitic before this or not, I've seen no reporting on, so I said nothing about that. All I can say is I know this area well, and under normal circumstances people just go about their business without caring what other people's religious affiliation is.
Having your family killed by a bomb can set people off, even though it's not the ethical response to add to the misery by trying to kill more people. Antisemitism was already on the rise. This war was always going to make that even worse.
Yes, Sharon, antisemitism is likely to get worse. And , by the way, so is xenophobia against Muslims. This is why decent people should really think how they react to hate crimes. Would you comment about an attack on a mosque by pointing out that a terrorist had relatives killed on Sept 11, 2001 or Oct 7, 2023?
I agree with this. But I think this places a responsibility on American Jews and Muslims to make clear their disapproval of the acts in question. Maybe it isn't fair, but that's what it is.
We agree that antisemitism is on the rise. Are we absolving the Israeli government of any influence on this?
And yet another person mentioned the same fact, but they are not being jumped on for having done so. Care to comment about that?
These acts, Andrew, is something Jews have been very familiar with for centuries way before Israel was on the map.
And the folks like you always found the way to blame them on the Jews themselves, or on other Jews.
Speaking of blaming other Jews…
But, it's a nice way of getting to ignore what's happening in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, etc. to pretend it's totally unrelated to perception of Israel. And it's Israel and Jews like yourself who insist on the closest possible identification between Israel and Diaspora Jews, while at the same time condemning attacks on Diaspora Jews over Israeli policy. You don't get it both ways.
To take the OP's example of Newsom and Israel as running an apartheid system in the West Bank—the "refutations", like yours, are all about connecting anything bad said about Israel to historical antisemitism. Nary a one looks at conditions in the West Bank and compares them to an ordinary understanding of "apartheid".
Andrew, thank you for providing a perfect illustration for the bigotry addressed by this article. This is all I have to tell to you.
You seem to take automatically take things as blaming Jews and bigotry when people are observing that a nation state taking extreme and ill advised actions is causing a backlash. A government is not a people or adherents of a religion. This is exactly the sort of conflation that leads people to think attacking a synagogue is OK when it clearly isn't. This problem can never be addressed until people can make the distinction enough to have an actual conversation like adults. This is precisely why I didn't choose to engage with you initially. I thought this is exactly where the conversation would go.
Go read shit into someone else's merely factual statement. I have things to do and you haven't a clue who I am.
True , I don’t. I can only see the comment you’ve made here. Hence the question.
Best wishes.
Look, I get people are super emotional right now. I'm worried for my neighbors, some of whom are Jewish and some Muslim. But a question that reads like it's looking for a fight is not helpful.
You’re obviously trying to insinuate something here.
Oh my, another bad psychic. Bye bye.
The fact you comment but aren’t prepared to engage with anyone that responds says everything.
If you weren’t insinuating something, please tell me the point of what you commented because I obviously missed it. I am being sincere.
Edit: Wow, you blocked me. Is this what we’ve come to? Seriously? It’s kind of embarrassing.
The attackers family was in Hezbollah dummy.
Thanks dumbass. I just read that not 30 seconds ago and came here to say so.
Attacks on any group of Americans because of religious affiliation are absolutely inexcusable. We should all be prepared to stand arm in arm in defense of our fellow Americans.
It may be worth noting that someone also woke up yesterday and decided to kill Lebanese by dropping big bombs in central Beirut.
Israel bombed Hizballah, the dominant political entity in Lebanon who constantly attacks Israel and is openly and explicitly dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and extermination of all Jews. Not at all comparable to ramming into civilians at a synagogue.
So no, it's not worth noting the bombing of Hizballah in this context.
Maybe you missed the fact that IDF aircraft dropped leaflets on Beirut today, threatening to turn Beirut into Gaza. Charming. Maybe you can rationalize that but sane people cannot.
Would you care to discuss the abominable behavior of Israeli squatters in the West Bank who have killed many more indigenous people than were killed (zero) in the synagogue in Michigan yesterday?
To be clear, I couldn’t be happier that security people in the synagogue were able to take out the attacker. Also, we are now advised that Israel killed four member’s the attacker’s family, none of whom were aligned with Hezbollah, in Lebanon last week.
Would you care to discuss how any of this is worth noting in a reply to an article about someone trying to kill Jewish civilians near a US Synagogue?
Maybe you can rationalize being duped by or intentionally spreading obvious propaganda, but sane people cannot. The leaflets had the following text (I can't properly paste the Arabic here, but you can easily look it up yourself):
> "If you want to be part of real change and contribute to the prosperity and defense of your country, we are here to listen."
> "You must disarm Hezbollah, Iran's shield."
> "Lebanon is your decision, not someone else's."
> "Unit 504 is working to secure the future of Lebanon and its people."
There was a newspaper-style leaflet with the following:
> "In light of the great success in Gaza, the New Reality newspaper arrives in Lebanon… Where is our state heading?"
The "great success" obviously referring to the dismantling of Hamas, who ruined Gaza just like Hizballah ruined Lebanon. Of course, Al-Jazeera and friends will report this as Israel "threatening" Beirut.
> Would you care to discuss the abominable behavior of Israeli squatters in the West Bank
Sure - I think most should be expelled from the West Bank, and certainly the murderers should (and do) face severe legal consequences. Again, how is this related to the article?
> Also, we are now advised that Israel killed four member’s the attacker’s family, none of whom were aligned with Hezbollah, in Lebanon last week.
Correction: according to "local officials" and the family themselves, the four members weren't aligned with Hizballah. And you believe them and spread the info without questioning it.
In any case, war is ugly and civilians get killed. That doesn't mean that Hizballah (or anyone) can wage war on Israel (or anyone) without Israel striking back.
It seems you come from a perspective that the world is divided into two groups - Jews and all others. I come from the perspective that all human life is sacred and that attacks on innocents in Lebanon are as despicable as attacks on Israel or attacks on a synagogue or church in the U.S.
I’d dare to guess that you are far more concerned about one small country, not the U.S., than about all other countries combined. Maybe you’ve been duped by obvious propaganda. About birthrights, etc. and the “great success” being the genocidal murder of almost 70,000 people with tens of thousands being infants and children. Some “great success” that is……
It is all horrible and all to be resisted and mourned.
They bombed a lot of other people, too.
It’s not clear Hezbollah is the target. The target really seems to be to lay waste to enough of the area that Israelis will feel ‘secure’.
> "They bombed a lot of other people, too"
Such as?
> "It’s not clear Hezbollah is the target."
Yes it is.
> "The target really seems to be to lay waste to enough of the area"
No it doesn't.
I’d venture to guess 20 Lebanese people not affiliated with Hezbollah have been killed for every Hezbollah member who met the same fate.
Well, an Israeli official speaking on background to the Times of Israel mostly disagrees with you.
“The Lebanese government needs to get a grip on their country,” says the official, “or Hezbollah parts of Beirut will soon look like Gaza.”
Now, what exactly are "Hezbollah parts of Beirut", and how many non-Hezbollah civilians live there? The widespread bombing campaign was clearly not restricted to military targets. What look like shops and apartments are in ruins. As usual, civilian casualties, claimed to be "collateral damage" but looking more like "collateral benefit" to encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide. (Hezbollah used to have more arms than the official government. Don't know if that is still the case.)
But dream on. It's much nicer to re-run "Exodus" through your head than look at today's reality.
What would you be posting if Iran managed to bomb the "Likud parts of Jerusalem" in order to get the Israeli government to finally rein in Smotritch and Ben Gvir?
> `or Hezbollah parts of Beirut will soon look like Gaza`
Yes, Hizballah constantly attacks Israel, so Israel should do what it takes to stop those attacks. Some parts of where the enemy is will be destroyed. Welcome to war. Hizballah should consider not waging war. Of course, that's their only purpose, so they need to be incapacitated or they won't ever stop.
> `The widespread bombing campaign was clearly not restricted to military targets.`
Baseless claim.
> `As usual, civilian casualties, claimed to be "collateral damage" but looking more like "collateral benefit" to encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide`
This makes no sense. Lebanese civilian casualties benefit Hizballah, and hurt Israel. The central military strategy of the "Axis of Resistance" is to use casualties as propaganda to reduce support for Israel. How do civilian casualties "encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide"?
> `It's much nicer to re-run "Exodus" through your head`
You're arguing with a caricature you dreamed up. I had to look up what Exodus was, and no, that is definitely not running through my head.
> `look at today's reality.`
Yes, the reality in which Islamo-fascists are trying to wipe out the liberal democracy of Israel. I don't want that. Do you?
> `What would you be posting if Iran managed to bomb the "Likud parts of Jerusalem" in order to get the Israeli government to finally rein in Smotritch and Ben Gvir?`
Do the Likud parts of Jerusalem have military targets?
Anyway, as loathsome as Smotritch and Ben Gvir are, the Iranian Regime's (and friends) eternal goal of wiping out Israel - and their related actions - is the root cause of the conflict. So, I would not support "reining in" operations against the Iranian Regime and their proxies.
> You're arguing with a caricature you dreamed up. I had to look up what Exodus was, and no, that is definitely not running through my head.
You are correct; this was unfair.
> How do civilian casualties "encourage the Lebanese government to commit suicide"?
My reading is that the Israeli government is encouraging the Lebanese government to expel or disarm Hezbollah. Three years ago, this would certainly have been impossible: Hezbollah was better armed, probably far better trained, and certainly more reliable in terms of mutiny and defections. Hezbollah is weaker now, but just as with calls for Iranian civilians to overthrow the Mullah Regime, this seems to be encouraging futile, suicidal civil war.
> `The widespread bombing campaign was clearly not restricted to military targets.` https://english.news.cn/20260313/02ba4a8b51ad43138c72905f2ea2a67d/2026031302ba4a8b51ad43138c72905f2ea2a67d_CcrbeeE000029_20260313_CBMFN0A003.JPG
Israel also intentionally dropped white phosphorous bombs on Beirut against all the rules of war. If you don't know what white phosphorus does, go find some video and don't you dare look away while watching children's skin being set on fire. Oh yeah, and those bombs are provided to Israel by the US. They were used in Beirut in the 80s also, and at that time Canada reported on the attempt to remove country of origin on casings. I want no part of this barbarism. If I thought this war could remove Iran's oppressive regime I might have a slightly different view. But it won't do that. This is just some incompetent men getting their rocks off destroying people while they try to avoid the consequences of their other crimes.
> "Israel also intentionally dropped white phosphorous bombs on Beirut"
This is made up.
Also, white phosphorus isn't banned.
The "made up", I'm not sure.
That white phosphorus is not banned is correct. I wonder how this entered the memestream.
Very thoughtful, well written, and excellent points, Evan, even though I personally do not agree with all of them.
Antisemitism is the world’s oldest hatred and, very sadly, scarily, and horrifically will likely increase in the United States and world in the near future partly because of the appalling conduct of the Israeli government and foolish, reckless, illegal, and immoral decision of the Trump regime to take the nation to war with Iran.
So glad to find a comment here I could support. My addition would be there is no such thing as "in-group" morality, your morality is indicated by how you treat "the other".
Bravo, Ricard!
Pretty self serving. Start being honest and try explaining the reason for, the methodology of and the impact of influence of AIPAC et al on Congress and the country.
Thank you for perfectly illustrating the bigotry discussed in the article
Well, I have Jewish friends, Jewish doctors and I have worked professionally with members of that community for the better part of 35 years. There are plenty of good people in that community. That said, there is also a component driven to obtain control and power. A person doesn’t have to look very far to find explicit examples - by them - to prove the point of concern, worry and even distress.
As has always been the case with every group or community throughout history? There always has been and there always will be people solely motivated by the pursuit of power.
But we are not dealing with history. The issue at hand, today, is, in part, as I’ve demonstrated above.
Today. What does society do about today? What happened in the past is irrelevant for the purposes of figuring out what to do about the influence and impact today.
Ie. the fighting in the Middle East. Stop the fighting and start talking. The corrupt influence on the government? Eliminate it then cleanse how govt works
Have v gave. This bloody app.
Thoughtless verbiage that doesn’t even come close to addressing the article.
Noting the two previous pictures, consider explaining this knowing the influence on the US government and the child rapist himself. Remember, he said he attacked Iran because Jared Kushner told him to. Jared, an unelected and non- government person.
How about this? See the sponsor on the wall behind this lunatic? Kindly note what Lindsay said.
Care to explain this, particularly the impact on 99% of society? Guess who many of the largest beneficiaries were?
The article can be summed up my the writers comment near the end - be more tolerant.
My “thoughtless verbiage” was specifically chosen to illicit a response regarding how the U.S. is controlled, why and what should be done about it.
Care to take a shot at it?
As are several other parameters of 'societal health' all of which are readily obvious, e.g., the unrelenting genocide of Muslims, the white supremacy fetish of 'Christians' and the ..... and the endless greed of the few ....
The Israeli army has committed genocide on the Palestinians, killing tens of thousands of women and children. Now it is attacking Iran and Lebanon and assassinating the leaders in Iran, without any provocation. Flying an Israeli flag, means you are a part of this.
“Without any provocation”. Literally the war in Gaza was provoked intentionally by Iran through Hamas, its proxy you fucking moron.
In fact, Israel had already struck Iran last year in response to Hamas' invasion of Israel. There was no recent provocation from Iran for this "double tap". Is there some divine rule that allows Israel to bomb Iran any time it wants because of a war that happened three years ago? I can see you have strong feelings about this, but can you try to keep it civil?
No divine rule, and none needed. The Iranian regime declared eternal war with the US and Israel; it's the entire basis for their existence. The Iranian regime calls it "resistance". There doesn't need to be any "rule" to "allow" attacking them.
> "Israel had already struck Iran last year in response to Hamas' invasion of Israel."
Were they? Anyway, if you view the most recent attacks on Iran as a continuation of last year's strikes, does that help you? Or maybe you can view it as a response for the attacks on Israel since last year?
> "There was no recent provocation from Iran"
Iran simply re-arming themselves and their proxies, advancing their nuclear program, continuing to attack through their proxies, and continuing with their global propaganda blitz is more than enough provocation.
Since last years bombing Iran was doing nothing overt against Israel, so I call this assassination and bombing unprovoked. Assassination of a sovereign leader is illegal under international law. Or I guess the idea, with Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu, is that laws don't matter anymore.
This is playing with words. I call the Houthis and Hizballah attacking Israel overt actions against Israel. Those groups are funded almost entirely by the Iranian regime.
The Supreme Leader commands the Iranian military. The Iranian regime is at war with and is committing acts of war against Israel, so it's not a violation of international law. And yes, Iranian proxy militias are an extension of the Iranian military. Iran can't just outsource half of their military and claim innocence because Hamas, the Houthis, Hizballah, etc. aren't "Iran".
Israel's response is unprovoked and disproportionate to the acts of Iran's proxies. What would you say if Iran assassinated Nenanyahu?
You just tried to justify the attempted murder of 140 children so no, I can’t keep it civil.
I didn't try to justify anything. As far as I'm aware the U.S. bombed that girls school in Iran.
Insane how so many countries in that area slaughter their own women and children by the hundreds of thousands. Syria, Iran .. just horrible. Somehow, I believe that if neighboring countries are fighting and they see that the countries they’re fighting are killing their own people, then life just becomes cheap to everybody. Nobody wins.
Thank you for perfectly illustrating the bigotry discussed in this article
What evidence do you have for bigotry in these comments?
Israel is an Executive Government without properly limited terms, whereas generalized anti-semitism may be an attempt to exploit natural in Jewish culture and tradition
Please rewrite everything after “whereas.” It makes no sense.
It has nothing to do with "Marginalization" ... It's about "Re-discovery"...
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It totally doesn't sound like the Leningrad Cowboys nor Hazmat Modine...
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We did lose the Tuba in the end... it get's a little too Umpah YKWIM...
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NO it's not gypsy music with reindeer and seals ... [Pat the dog - stroke the cat and club the seal ].
We don't go seal clubbing ...
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What is there NOT to get ??? !!!
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INUIT KLEZMER MUSIC
W'ere still workshopping the band name... right now we're leaning towards
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The Anchorage "A" Hats...
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Dan Gelbart is on board and he shared his original recordings of Edison cylinder Klezmer recordings for extra Crypto-Sephardic* inspiration...
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The Sámi* peoples do it a little differently but it's more about being grabbed by a particular feeling in the moment and just run with the spirit of things.
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______________________________________________________________________________________
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1mi_people
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1mi_people#/media/File:Sami_flag.svg
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^^^ nOW THAT'S WHAT i CALL a f*cking flag man... ^^^
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MEanwhile...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dEgWy7kbew
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^^^ Hazmat Modine on Russian (like) TV when we knew who our enemies were and then became our friends at least for a while until the next religious oil war.
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* We even had crypto-Sephardic jews in New Mexico...
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Who knew out of necessity that all this time in the wiles of the Alaskan tundra...
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Let us talk about the dark side of the Jewish faith. Is there a dark side? Yes there is and YOU as Jews have to face it and understand it because as Jesus said "HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN MUST CASTE THE FIRST STONE!" I use the word YOU and Not me even though my Jewish ancestors where murdered in cold blood solely because of the fact that they were Jews in Lithuania during World War II. Still why am I using the word YOU and not me???? Because THEY SAY I AM NOT A JEW!!! How could you not be a Jew when your ancestors were brutally murdered solely on the fact that they were Jews??? Simple not all my ancestors are Jews. On my mother's side my polish Jewish great grandfather who left Poland at the age of 16 to prevent being inducted in the Russian army (Poland was controled by Russia at the time) came the the USA and fell in love with a Romanian Christian young lady and the dye was caste. ON my father's side a man from China around the same time actually left China and believe it or not was "adopted" by a family of Jews and married one of the Patriarch's daughters, that man was my father's mother's mother's father, and my grandmother showed me a FAMLY PHOTO, about 10 people all with Jewish faces except for the Asian man who was sitting in front, my ancestor whose likeness has been down in certain members of our family including one of my son's and one of my grandson's (my other son's son). Get real, there is only one race, the human race. Elena
Jesus never existed.
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And Emperor Constantine made a fatal error.
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Paul / Peter <--- totally smoking crack.
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Biblical Archeology <--- crack.
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Respectfully.
How many Palestinians did Israel kill.
The guy in Michigan is said to have lost a dozen family members in Lebanon
Children?
It's all about inclusivity BABY !
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Fun with flags.
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How about a white flag with a blue line at the top and a blue line at the bottom and then a blue hexagon in the middle...
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All the points have been removed.
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But a bit like a yelp review you can add points to your hexagon...
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Today this synagogue rates Israel and it's Jerusalem themed government four points out of six.
The little triangles have Velcro on them...
~ Often people complain about Netanyahu but there is always a more right wing and even more extreme candidate waiting in the wings. It can always be worse.
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I have always believed that the state of Isreal NEEDS to exist. No you can't trust the Germans - even four thousand years from now there may not be a 'Germany" but there will for sure be Bavarians. [Ask me how I know or don't ].
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Some problems are mathematically intractable and this whole situation with Gaza and the West Bank (and now Libya) is an x raised to third power hockey stick graph to beat everyone else in the world over the head with.
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MUCH of what I witness in my own (digital) "bubble" is not real.
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To me personally I am troubled by the increasing lack of global biodiversity of supplanted mono-species trees being cut down to make cardboard boxes for Bezos.
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8 billion monkeys that all want boxes from Bezos.
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They keep nudging me to make an album of Inuit Klezmer music...
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They're just not stopping on that.
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Spotify has real problems - but these things they keep planting is my space is beyond unsubtle to the point where the Album practically writes itself.
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Neil Diamond gave us some of the greatest Christmas Albums ever - I seek to return the favor.
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~ Of course I start with Liszt...
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Cockney rhyming slang for Brahm's and Liszt --- > "Pissed" with the right amount of alcohol - creatively there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.
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I already have some great Bass lines and left hand groves having been thrown at me - almost non-stop.
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They won't stop until I produce.
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Noooo Mongolian throat singing sounds like this ...
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[meeeeeeeeiiiiiiiooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwooooiiiinnnngggggggggeeeeee].
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Whereas Inuit overtone singing sounds like
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[Ooooooooaaaaaahhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiioooooooooaaaaahhhhhhhhooooowwwww].
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Got it.
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.A one, a two, a one two three four...
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..
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TK TK <--- or not.
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I have A 1993 kORG -x5 If only I can find it's transformer / power convertor...
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I don't plan these things .... They just sorta happen... There are far worse things out there... my standards are too high etc. Just do it !
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Lots of food for thought, but the main issue, of what Israel is doing to Palestine, isn't front and center.
I am old enough to have suffered being the only Jewish child in my school system at a time when everyone hated Jews. You had to read the ads for vacation spots, where if it said, "Churches nearby," it meant no Jews allowed. As we have suffered, we've thought of ourselves as having the high ground -- until now.
I produced this wonderful animation that was finished after the attack on Jews at the music event, when It became unfashionable to sing any Jewish praises. Maybe there is something you would like to do with this largely unseen treasure?
"IF THERE WEREN'T ANY JEWS": https://filmfreeway.com/IfThereWerentAnyJews
https://iftherewerentanyjews.com/index.html
As a guy born and raised in Brooklyn, and Queens, many of my friends growing up were — and still are — Jewish. Today, I advise every Jew I know to learn how to protect themselves, and by that, I mean buy and learn how to use a gun. CCW even here in CA is an option. If you are a Jew in America and you think you are safe from the lunatic, deranged Anti-Semites that roam the country, you are wrong.