The Call Is Coming from Inside the House

Hamas's terror is horrific. What's worse is its local support.

As reports trickled in of the terror attack on Israelis last Shabbat, I found one spark of hope arising from the smoldering tragedy: at least now the world will see what Hamas really is. The apologists and sympathizers and both-siders will wake up to the long history of radical Arab brutality toward Jewish civilians and stand up to the toxic sympathy and moral relativism that have infected the most promising parts of our society.

To give credit where it is due: thank you to everyone who has come out in support of Jewish communities the world over. From Biden to Zelenskyy to childhood friends and colleagues who checked in, thank you for seeing this for what it is.

The same cannot be said for everyone.

With the bodies of burned-alive children still warm, on Sunday afternoon supporters of the Gaza “resistance” had already demonstrated right here in Kirkland, Washington.

Kirkland is not where I expected to see this. Rated the third best place to live in America by Money Magazine in 2022, this is where condos overlooking Lake Washington go for millions. Boutiques sell overpriced clothing, houseplants, and wineglasses with snarky messages geared toward tired, drunk moms. I work in an office here once a week, and it makes me understand the appeal of Eastside life.

Here in this same Kirkland we saw the first local demonstration of solidarity with Hamas. Samidoun, which supports freeing Palestinian prisoners, and Falastinyat, a feminist (!) organization, organized the protest, which was met with opposition by Israelis who still did not know the extent of the atrocity or who among their friends and family may be dead or called up to fight.

In an act of moral gymnastics, in this video shared by Samidoun, the Israeli protestors are accused of attacking their pro-terrorism rally.

samidounseattle

A post shared by @samidounseattle

Soon, more news and videos emerged of demonstrations, including one from Sydney, Australia, where attendees were recorded chanting “gas the Jews.” A shop in London, presumed to be owned by Jews, had its windows smashed. Ivy League college organizations put out statements in support of the Palestinian struggle. Black Lives Matter Chicago tweeted support. Thursday was designated a “Day of Resistance” for universities by National Students for Justice in Palestine, including at UW.

According to a National Students for Justice in Palestine “toolkit,” “today we witness an historic win for the Palestinian resistance: across land, air, and sea, our people have broken down the artificial barriers of the Zionist entity…As the Palestinian student movement, we have an unshakable responsibility to join the call for mass mobilization.” The paraglider, the mode of transport hundreds of terrorists coasted into Israel on before massacring young adults at a music festival, became an artistic symbol of the so-called resistance.

As of this writing, a Global Day of Jihad has been called for and a French school has been attacked, with one teacher dead after allegedly having his throat slit. Parents worldwide debated whether to send their kids to school, and this is why.

Supporters of Palestinian “resistance” didn’t even wait for the blood to dry. The swiftness of justification was, to me, even more surprising than the attack.

Support for terror is due to many things, but I want to focus on one aspect in particular: the way we have been gaslit into believing lies because some of the smartest people among us have convinced us that words we know have different meanings. They have rearranged reality and we, hoping to stay at the cool kids’ table, have gone along with this stupidity.

Look how quickly race became a power construct and Jews became white. Distinct identities became lumped together as “people of color.” “White” went from meaning basic European ancestry to a concept of “whiteness” that involves feelings and behaviors and ideology. Did you notice? Did you support that change? Do you see where it will lead us now?

I have reported extensively on liberated ethnic studies and its attempts to erase Jews from discussions around racism. These so-called educators say that because Jews have white privilege, they can’t participate in discussions on systemic discrimination because they strangle the voices of “authentic” people of color. This gives cover to people to attack Jews, but when Jews speak up, they are told they are controlling the narrative (an extension of the anti-Semitic trope of controlling the media). It’s a loop.

Referring to Jews obliquely as “Zionists” gives them even more cover. What busy teacher or principal or news reporter has time to parse out the nuance? And what’s the point, when trying to clarify or push back will just result in you being told to stop silencing the “real” people of color?

We learned this week that “decolonization”—the raison d’etre of ethnic studies and central to progressive ideology—means the abduction, rape, decapitation, burning, shooting, and stabbing of anyone in the way of taking “back” a land. (Israel, a scrappy liberation movement that threw off the yoke of the British, isn’t really a colonizer, but activists need it to be, so they found a new term to describe it: settler-colonialism.)

Men who laugh and praise God while raping a woman and burning her alive are not terrorists or monsters, but rather “militants” and “gunmen.” And terrorism, of course, is just “resistance.” That’s why Rashida Tlaib, when followed by a reporter asking her if she supports decapitating babies, couldn’t answer. That’s why activists, when asked if they support killing children, stare off into middle distance or at their phones. It’s hard to admit that resistance and terrorism are the same thing. No one was supposed to notice that when they changed the word they forgot to change the meaning.

This is how a literal pogrom gets cleaned up as a legitimate struggle. So you can run all the anti-bullying programs you want and bus as many school groups to the Holocaust museum as you can afford but when evil is redefined as good and a violent religious crusade is rebranded as a struggle for freedom then your efforts are in vain.

We, the Jews, have been tortured, stabbed, gunned down, suffocated and burned alive. Many times. This may seem like the bad part. The actual bad part is the support, the relativism, the justifications, the gas lighting, the word games, the slow erosion of reality and moral clarity.

The tracks to Auschwitz were laid with the same materials. But death isn’t the hardest part. Waiting for the train is. Will we be able to stop it this time around?

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The Shortest Prayer

By Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg, as shared at the Temple De Hirsch Sinai solidarity event on October 10

My little brother, now 6 feet
Is Oni Yair
Was named for a sweet and kind
IDF solider, a friend of the family, a neighbor, who was lost in the Yom Kippur war. Oni Yair will be 50 years old next year.

My eldest son is Ozi Shalom
Born on Rosh Hashanah 2000.
The day after the start of the second Intifada. We named him a prayer for strength through peace. In honor of my father who was a rabbi and peace activist.

And our little one, Erez Amichai. Born in Olympia. Named for the 19-year-old IDF soilder Erez Tourgeman, who was our neighbor in Jerusalem when we lived there in 2000. Killed at a roadside.

And future generations of our people will be named for those murdered this week, those killed for being Jews, those killed in service to the Jewish people: giborim

The names
Oren Stern, from Netiv HaAsara
Shlomi and Ayelet Molcho, from Netiv HaAsara
Havik Segal, from Netiv HaAsara
Gil Ta’asa, from Netiv HaAsara
Adi Baharav, from Netiv HaAsara
Tal Keren, from Netiv HaAsara
Ruti, Aryeh and Or Akuni, from Netiv HaAsara
Nurit Berger, from Netiv HaAsara

Their names will be carried forward and their memories will be a blessing. They will not be forgotten. They are now ancestors.

What do we say when we see such horror? How do we respond?

When the news of the terrorist attacks first came to me Shabbat morning on the way to synagogue, the voice of my mother, z"l, came to me.

My mother Alice would say: Elohim Yishmor

When there are no words, she would say the shortest of prayers: Elohim Yishmor.

150 of our siblings held as captives.

Elohim Yishmor

Young people cut down at their prime.

Elohim Yishmor

Thousands of reservists called up.

Elohim Yishmor

A short prayer, almost with each breath: God protect us.

The voices of my ancestors have been moving through me this week: goalyenu, redeem us, free our captives, protect us.

And yet my parents also taught me: the Jewish people redeem and free and protect each other. So that some day we will only name for those who lived for Israel all their days, to never have to name for our fallen again.

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Community Announcements

Check out the Seattle Jewish community calendar and the virtual calendar.

Candlelighting in Seattle is at 6:07 p.m. The parasha is Breishit.

Shabbat of Solidarity, Saturday October 14 at Ezra Bessaroth. Services at 9, program at 10:30, kiddush to follow.

Shoutouts

May the families of Hayim Katsman of Seattle and Ben Mizrachi of Vancouver, BC, be comforted among the mourners of Zion.

Solidarity with Israel and support for the unity government. Welcome back, Benny Gantz. —Peter Bacho

Seattle Sephardic Network Stands With Israel! —Cynthia Flash

I pray the end result of this war is a lasting peace worth the inevitable cost. —Greg Scruggs

Thoughts, love, and solidarity with everyone in Israel. —Claudia Hartley

As difficult as this is to articulate, I am at a loss to imagine a lasting solution that will provide peace to Israel and the other nations in the region. As long as the leaders of Iran convince the masses of people over whom they hold sway, the fear of pain and death is seen as a glorious martyrdom. The Iranian belief system calls to mind the Klingon empire of Star Trek. I don't mean to view this as petty or unreal, nor am I suggesting that there is a connection between the two. Certainly, there is a vast difference between fiction and reality. It seems to me that Israel continues to face enmity from many parts of the Arab world, and I see no clear path to a permanent peace. All we can do is to continue our support to the Jewish state and hope for a better future, no matter how long it will take. —Jerry Barrish

I pray for the survival and successful rescue of all the hostages, as well as for the swift victory of the IDF and the complete annihilation of HAMAS and all its collaborationists. I also pray for a new form of governance for the Palestinians, which is guided by reason and the desire for the best and peaceful resolution of the long conflict. The latter may be utopian thinking, but we could wish for anything and see if it can be manifested. I also pray for all the extreme and for the no-so-extreme but indifferent to the destiny of the Jewish people, elements in our country to see the light and stop the vilification of Israel in all its forms. I also pray for all the mainstream media outlets to become more loyal to the truth and less supportive of the current narrative that attracts millions of those who can't think for themselves. —Irina Masinovsky

Special shoutout to members of the Community Security Service in Seattle and beyond who have been preparing our community and others for times like these. https://thecss.org —Dina Levitan

The WSJHS stands with Israel. We are horrified by the situation and sending our prayers to all Israelis and family. —Lisa Kranseler

—Lisa Colton