The Israeli Future
Here in Israel, thinking on such matters is generally clearer due to the proximity of the country to its mortal enemies. For all that the Palestinians and Gaza occupy the moral imagination of the international left, they are at best a secondary, and probably more accurately a tertiary concern in the hierarchy of Israel’s security issues. The prospect of an Iranian nuclear bomb looms over everything here, and with it the threat of a new holocaust.Congress passes resolution denouncing use of human shields
Even if Iran were to get the bomb but not use it preemptively, the outcome—a regionally hegemonic neo-Persian Empire—would still be unacceptable to Israel, not to say most Arabs. So Israel will have to act, if the United States and the international order will not. The consequences of such a campaign are unclear—perhaps, yet another broad regional war caused by the recent weakness of the international order.
Such a prediction may seem panicky and fevered to those in the United States, where it is harder to picture the severity of the threats to the Western model of governance and civilization, because those threats are relatively distant. Israel is effectively our front line. Europe is embarrassed by the legacy of the West—with its whiteness and colonialism and capitalism—and probably would be happy to see Israel disappear or change its character in such a way that the Jewishness of the Jewish state is certain to disappear.
But Europe itself is faltering. At an event I attended this week, Natan Sharansky–the former Soviet dissident and Israeli author and politician–made the following observation in response to a query about resurgent anti-Semitism: “People always ask me, is there a future for Jews in Europe? But I’m more worried about the question, Is there a future for Europeans in Europe?”
He concluded: “But of course they can come here. There will always be a future for Europe in Israel.”
Congress passed a resolution denouncing the use of civilians as human shields by terrorist groups, calling it a violation of international humanitarian law.Douglas Murray: Why are we abandoning the Middle East's Christians to Isis
The resolution was passed by both houses of Congress without objection on Wednesday.
“The United States Congress stood resolved in condemnation of the despicable actions of the terrorist group, Hamas, and its use of children, women and men as human shields. While Israel went to extraordinary lengths this summer in Gaza to protect innocent civilian lives, Hamas placed the Palestinian people directly in harm’s way by using them as human shields and placing its rockets near densely populated areas and near schools, hospitals and mosques,” according to a joint statement from Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Ted Deutch (R-Fla.)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who cosponsored the resolution on the Senate side, said in a statement: “The Senate has sent a united signal that we denounce Hamas’ barbaric tactics and unequivocally support Israel’s right to self-defense.”
The resolution calls on the international community to condemn Hamas’ use of human shields and places responsibility for the rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel on Hamas and other terrorist organizations. It also condemns the United Nations Human Rights Council’s biased resolution establishing a commission of inquiry into Israel’s Gaza operation.
All the congregation I spoke to agreed on several things. One is that although the situation has been bad for years and has peaked before, there has never been a year as bad as this. A year, as the Archbishop tells me, that Iraq’s Christian’s faced a genocide.
They do not understand why the world is ignoring them, nor why a historically Christian country like Britain has been so unmoved by the near-complete eradication of Christianity in the continent that gave it birth. As one points out, the Yazidis lived with them for hundreds of years. They were their neighbours and friends. So why was the world spurred to action by the effort to commit genocide against the Yazidis and not the genocide against the Christians?
Their families cannot go to Syria and they are not allowed into Turkey. The lucky ones are living in tents in the Kurdish areas. The luckiest — like the lady who took the call from Isis — had a family member in the UK and a visa which was still valid. All of which naturally brings up the issue of asylum. Alongside the amazement at the world’s indifference comes a question: why can’t Iraq’s Christians all get sanctuary in the West? If most EU countries took in 10,000 Iraqi Christians, they could all live in safety.
Is this not self-defeating, I ask them? Would this not simply speed up the end of this ancient church and ancient community? A woman looks at me straight and says simply, ‘It is the end anyway.’
In Europe They Are Anxious to Get Rid of Israel
Israel's points of view, Israeli reasoning, are disappearing from Europe's frontpage newspapers. Every war is getting worse. Europe's diplomatic echelons, political officials, intellectuals, writers, journalists, heads of churches and labor unions, are all asking Israel to commit suicide, to become a Jewish ghetto in an Arab sea relying on the guarantees of secularism, democracy and respect for minorities that is offered by the PLO, the Iranian mullahs and the Syrian generals.'US Should Fund Jewish Construction in Judea-Samaria, Not Gaza'
Under a thirst for oil, demagoguery and cowardly solidarity with the Third World governments, the European civilized countries accept that Israel is being pushed to the margins of the international consortium. A scandal that the European phalanges of the "progressives" accept in silence and complacency.
There is something shameful in the speed with which Europe, which expelled all the Jews and almost choked off its holy seed, now turns against Israel.
There is something perverse in the way that Europe has discovered with joy that the former Jewish victims, in the pursuit of their collective salvation, had to struggle with other peoples and kill them to defend themselves. The Jews have become less innocent to them.
Too quickly in Europe and in the West the mood has turned over, so perhaps it betrayed a conscious or unconscious desire to shake off past wrongs. Europe easily "forgot" that the Israelis are Jews. And endangered Jews.
In Europe today there is a kind of anxiety focused on how to get rid of Israel. What else can explain the barbaric joy showed by these people who go to the supermarket at the corner, grab the Israeli goods off the shelves and burn them on the ground?
In a stirring speech delivered at the annual Bet El Institutions dinner earlier this week, former Arkansas Governor and US Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee said that the United States should immediately cease its funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and allocate the same amount to housing for Jews in Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank).Kerry 'defusing' tension over possible UN resolutions to end conflict
Huckabee, who led three groups to Israel this year alone, said that he always brings tourists to a random Palestinian shop to ask to see Israel on the maps sold in the store. The shopkeeper inevitably looks confused because Israel doesn’t appear on their maps, he explained.
Turning to the group, Huckabee then said:
“The Palestinians have refused to acknowledge the existence of Israel, and continue to teach in their schools that the Jews are targets for murder. This should be so unacceptable that the United States should send a simple message: Until the Palestinians are willing to acknowledge not only the right of Israel to exist, but until it tears every page of every textbook that has that kind of anti-Semitic, hateful, unacceptable, violent language within the textbooks for children - then not only will the US not support any type of negotiation, but the US will cease immediately to send another dime of support to the PA or to Gaza. And the money that would have been given will now go to send concrete to Israel so they can build new apartment buildings and neighborhoods throughout Judea and Samaria...”
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday the United States was seeking to defuse tensions over proposed UN resolutions to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during talks in Europe next week.Lawmakers Demand Treasury Take “All Necessary Measures” Against Hamas Supporters Qatar, Turkey
Kerry will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Rome on Monday and senior European officials to discuss possible resolutions, which would require a vote in the UN Security Council where the United States holds a veto.
"We're trying to figure out a way to help defuse the tensions and reduce the potential for more conflict and we're exploring various possibilities to that end," Kerry told reporters in Bogota when asked whether there is a resolution the US could support.
Jordan has circulated a Palestinian resolution to the 15-member council calling for Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory to end by November 2016. Western diplomats have said the proposal is "unbalanced." France, Britain and Germany are in the process of drafting a proposal.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday urged the Treasury Department take additional measures to sanction individuals and groups – including countries – providing financial and material support to Hamas. In a letter addressed to Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen, 24 of the 29 members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and its Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade blasted regional players – including Iran, Qatar, and Turkey – for supporting the Palestinian terror group and called on the Treasury Department to take “all necessary measures” against the offending countries.Chemical Terror Victim Describes Attack [video]
Both Qatar and Turkey have since the beginning of the year found themselves engulfed by scandals linked to their consolidation – along with Sunni extremist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Al Qaeda, and ISIS – into one of three regional blocs. Doha was widely blamed over the summer for backing intransigent elements inside Hamas, deliberately extending the summer’s conflict between the Palestinian terror group and Israel. Tuesday’s letter demanded that Treasury produce a report detailing the level of support within Qatar for terrorist groups, including Hamas. The letter cited lawmakers’ concerns over continuing Turkish support for the Palestinian terror group, including “serv[ing] as the headquarters for Saleh al-Arouri, who is believed to head Hamas’ terrorist operations in the West Bank.”
An interview, in Hebrew, with Moshe Claud Kamon, who was attacked in Gush Etzion, near the El Hadr junction by a terrorist who threw a chemical in his face.IDF arrests two Palestinians near Nablus armed with knives
The terrorist also attacked a family, and threw a chemical on 3 children and their mother in a car.
IDF soldiers on Saturday arrested two Palestinian men who approached them suspiciously near the village of Burin, south of the West Bank city of Nablus.Palestinian man slams car into concrete barrier near military post
The two suspects were both armed with knives, and were detained on suspicion of attempting to stab the soldiers, Israel Radio reported. They were taken in for interrogation by Israeli security forces.
A Palestinian driver slammed his car Saturday into a concrete barrier at a hitchhiking post popular with IDF soldiers near a military post in the southern West Bank.Far-left Greek group suspected in Israeli Embassy attack
None of the soldiers standing at the spot was hurt but the Palestinian man suffered moderate injuries, Israel Radio reported, without specifying the exact location. It was not immediately clear if the incident was an accident or an attempted attack.
Greek police on Friday said a far-left local group was likely responsible for the Thursday attack on the Israeli Embassy in Athens that saw the building sprayed with extensive gunfire but no one hurt.Trial Date Set for Determination of Terror Victims’ Compensation from Arab Bank
Two Kalashnikov assault rifles used in the attack had been used in a similar attack on the residence of the German ambassador last December by the People’s Fighter Group, a police source said.
A gunman riding on the back of a motorcycle raked the embassy with at least 54 rounds from a Kalashnikov rifle, police said, as it passed the embassy, which sits on the corner of a busy road in the affluent northern suburbs of the Greek capital.
Television footage showed bullet holes on the side of the embassy building.
A New York judge has set the date for a trial that will decide how much the Jordan-based Arab Bank is liable to pay in damages to American victims of terrorist attacks committed by Hamas.UN Security Council urges probe into death of PA official
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan on Wednesday scheduled jury selection to begin on May 18 for a damages trial involving claims by 17 of the 310 Americans who were victims or related to victims of the terror attacks, Reuters reported.
In September, a New York jury found Arab Bank, which has $46 billion in assets, liable on 24 counts of supporting specific terrorist acts in and around Israel during the Second Palestinian Intifada by transferring funds to Hamas.
The landmark decision was the first terrorism financing civil case to reach a trial in the U.S. The American victims of Hamas terror attacks said that the bank violated the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act.
In a statement released Friday night, the 15-member body “expressed [its] sorrow at the death” and “condolences to the family of Minister Ziad Abu Ein, the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority.”Blast damages French Cultural Center in Gaza
The incident has triggered protests and clashes in the West Bank, as the Palestinian leadership has blamed Israel for “killing” the 55-year-old official. Pathologists disagree on the main cause of his death, with Palestinian doctors saying the 55-year-old cabinet minister died from a blow to the body and Israeli doctors saying he had a heart attack.
Israel has proposed a joint investigation which the Security Council said it acknowledged.
“Council members took note of the willingness of the Government of Israel to conduct a joint investigation into the incident,” the statement read.
A bomb attack slightly damaged the shuttered French Cultural Center in Gaza City Friday night without causing casualties, two months after a fire forced its closure, police and an AFP photographer said.Israeli Natural Gas to Save Jordan $1.5 Billion a Year
Police spokesman Ayman Betjeni said “this was a cowardly attack and unfortunately the second incident of this sort in… two months.
“It seems as if there are elements who want to disturb Gaza’s security and are targeting foreigners to intimidate them and give a bad image of Gaza.”
He said all streets leading from the scene had been closed off and that “investigators were on the scene trying to identify the perpetrators”.
Importing Israeli gas will save Jordan $1.5 billion a year according to a report published yesterday on the Israeli financial website Globes.Divest This!: Infiltration
Last September, Jordanian power company Nepco signed a letter of intent with Noble Energy, which operates the Leviathan reservoir. The agreement is for 15 years, during which the partners in Leviathan will supply 3-4 BCM annually, amounting to 45 BCM over the contract period. The value of the deal is estimated at $15 billion.
From a technical standpoint, exporting gas to Jordan is the cheapest and quickest option, because the land-based gas pipeline that must be constructed for it is only a few kilometers long. The deal is also economically worthwhile for both sides. Jordan currently imports 97% of its energy, paying at least double what it would pay for Israeli gas. Estimates are that the Jordanian economy will save $1.5 billion a year by switching the purchase of Israeli gas. For their part, the Israeli gas partners will receive a higher price for the gas than they would have received in Israel.
Reading Bicerano’s piece over with this history in mind, it is clear that what she calls anti-normalization activity within Open Hillel (“anti-normalization” refers to a policy which says all pro-Palestinian organizations should reject dialog with any Jewish group that does not accept their pro-BDS stance and opinions on the Middle East in advance) is really just another example of the infiltration of a group formed with one agenda (Open Hillel – which allegedly wants to up dialog on campus) by another group (anti-normalization activists who want to shut such dialog down). And as the former Campus Co-Coordinator for Open Hillel discovered, when such infiltrators want in, they are ready to do whatever is necessary to get their way.In Wake of UAW 2865 BDS Vote, California Assemblyman Demands Assurance That ‘Anti-Israel Propaganda’ is Prohibited from UC Classrooms
As I mentioned earlier, it will be interesting to see if her experience with Open Hillel opens Bicerano’s mind to what others suffer when BDS infects this or that civic society group. But for the rest of us, the lesson to learn is that, left on their own, anti-Israel groups (including Students for Justice in Palestine) contain the seeds of their own destruction in the form of their allies rather than their adversaries.
In a way, this situation is analogous to what we see in the Middle East where an Israel which focuses on staying strong and tending to the needs of its own people (including the need to protect them from harm) can grow and prosper, even as more numerous, wealthy and politically powerful adversaries fall to pieces as they contend with the contradictions built into their own societies and historical choices.
As much as BDS has been in the news this year (and as important as it is to continue to fight it), Israel’s supporters abroad also need to be ready to play a long game which will never involve total victory but will hopefully involve more wins than losses stretched over enough time to let Open Hillel and SJP join their predecessors in the cemetery of anti-Israel organizations whose names have long been forgotten.
A leading California Assembly Member has urged University of California President Janet Napolitano to ensure that members of the university’s faculty do not use their classroom sessions to promote the agenda of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, following the vote by a campus-wide labor union representing graduate student workers to endorse the BDS campaign.US academics urge sanctions against Israeli ‘annexationists’
Richard Bloom, Assembly Member for California’s 50th District, sent a letter to Napolitano and the members of the UC Board of Regents expressing concern at the unrepresentative vote by members of UAW 2865. As The Algemeiner reported yesterday, only 2,189 votes were cast in a ballot in which more than 52,000 union members were eligible to vote. Activists countering the BDS proposal claimed that they were not given the equal opportunity to present their case and that BDS supporters harassed their opponents near polling stations, in flagrant violations of the union’s own rules.
“The UAW 2865 vote is consistent with a dramatic spike in anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity on campuses in California and across the country,” Bloom wrote. “Promotion of BDS by faculty has been behind much of the problem.”
Bloom reminded Napolitano that university policy already prohibits graduate teachers “from promoting BDS and anti-Israel propaganda in the classroom.” The issue now, he said, was to establish whether that same policy applies to UC faculty.
“The classroom must be a place where all views are welcomed and all students feel like they can have a voice,” Bloom said.
A group of Americans academics issued a call for the US and Europe to impose personal sanctions on Israeli politicians who promote the Israeli annexation of the West Bank and further settlement activity.Iranian Democracy Activist Assails British MP George Galloway as ‘Voice for Dictators’ After London Man is Sentenced for Assault
Scholars for Israel and Palestine (SIP) published a call, on the website of the anti-BDS organization, The Third Narrative, for punitive measures “on a cluster of Israeli political leaders and public figures who lead efforts to insure [sic] permanent Israeli occupation of the West Bank and to annex all or parts of it unilaterally in violation of international law.”
SIP points to four prominent Israeli figures who fit this description: Economy Minister and head of the Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett, Minister of Construction and Housing Uri Ariel from Jewish Home, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, and the head of the settler movement of Gush Emunin “Amana” and former Jewish Underground member, Zeev (Zambish) Hever.
The four are singled out by SIP for pursuing “unjust, unlawful, and destructive policies in their most extreme and dangerous form.”
In sentencing Neil Masterson, a 39 year-old care worker who assaulted the MP as he posed for pictures in west London at the end of August, Judge Aidan Marron QC sympathetically described Galloway as still suffering “from real physical consequences” as a result of the attack.Rosie O’Donnell Peddles Anti-Israel Artwork, Mistakes Israel for Syria
But Saba Farzan, a German-Iranian journalist and the Executive Director of the Foreign Policy Circle, a Berlin-based think-tank, told The Algemeiner that Galloway’s support for tyrannical regimes, like the reigning mullahs in Iran, should never be forgotten.
“Mr. Galloway is now going through what so many innocent prisoners suffer from on a daily basis – from Tehran to Moscow to Caracas, democrats are abused, tortured, raped and even killed,” Farzan said.
Several of Farzan’s relatives and close friends have been incarcerated by the Iranian regime in Tehran’s Evin prison, where inmates are routinely beaten, tortured, starved, and subjected to psychological humiliation.
“George Galloway has always been a voice for dictators around the world who oppress their citizens viciously and with impunity,” Farzan said. “Maybe for once – though sadly through a terrible personal attack on himself – Mr. Galloway can find the courage and human decency to abandon his admiration for evil human rights abusers and start honestly defending democracy activists around the globe.”
The design features an image of a man carrying a child, with the face of a boy on one side of the print and the Disney character Queen Elsa with what could be described as a look of concern in the corner of the other side of the image.Pete Hegseth: Islamic State ‘Modern-Day Nazis’
But according to a report from the website Israellycool, the photo O’Donnell uses did not take place in Gaza, but is actually a Getty Images picture of “an emergency response volunteer” carrying a child wounded during a Syrian government attack on its own people in northern Syria.
O’Donnell does not offer any comments on her website about the senseless murder of civilians in Syria or atrocities committed against Christians and Muslims by ISIS in various areas of the Middle East. She does not address the use of Palestinian civilians by Hamas as human shields during the Israel/Hamas war.
The Jewish State is her only target.
Following reports that the Islamic State (IS, ISIS or ISIL) had beheaded four Christian children for refusing to convert to Islam, Concerned Veterans for America CEO Pete Hegseth called the terrorist group “modern-day Nazis.”Caliphate Cubs: ISIS Releases Video, Photos of Children Training Camp in Syria
“It is a level of brutality we cannot relate to. These are modern-day Nazis. These are ideologues who feed on the blood, on the violence,” Hegseth told Fox’s Gretchen Carlson on Friday.
“The radicalization takes them to a place where violence begets more violence.”
Commenting on a Fox News poll indicating 81 percent of Americans believe IS will attempt to attack the United States, Hegseth said Americans are right to believe that IS is focused on America and the southern border, but the group’s capability to do so remains in question.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISISL) has released a new video showcasing a children's training camp around Damascus, Syria, in which children are seen practicing combat on each other and being beaten.Self-Proclaimed American University Professor Jamal Al-Din Ibrahim: John McCain Established ISIS
The training in this video was more brutal than previous tutorials. YouTube removed the video due to violation of terms and services, but the video is available at The Daily Mail.
The boys are dressed in black and the Islamic State flag is displayed to make sure the viewer always sees it. From Newsweek:
The video features footage of boys around the age of ten lined up to receive “training” from their instructor who delivers a series of punches and kicks to each pupil, as well as breaking sticks over their heads, forcing them to assume the press up position and kicking them in the stomach.
One boy is chosen to be the victim as other boys attack him. He takes down each one with moves taught to him by the man who beat him at the beginning of the video. Then after the training is finished, the boys form a circle with their hands behind their head and a man beats them. The boys are led outside with AK-47s. Each one takes part in a military exercise in a grassy field. The end of the video shows the teachers lined up while the boys shake their hands. Each teacher hugs and kisses the child.
In a November 19 Egyptian TV interview, Jamal Al-Din Ibrahim, who in the past claimed to be a University of California professor, said that ISIS was an acronym for "Israeli Secret Intelligence Service" and had been established by John McCain, as part of a conspiracy to drag the Arab world into a quagmire. According to Ibrahim, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was in fact a Jew called Simon Elliot, who had been trained by the Mossad.
Mali confirms AQIM militants swapped for French hostage
Four militants belonging to al Qaeda’s North African branch were handed over in exchange for the release of French hostage Serge Lazarevic (pictured), Malian Justice Minister Mohamed Ali Bathily confirmed to FRANCE 24 Friday.AQAP claims it hit an airbase in Yemen where American advisers are located.
“Yes we did it and we've done it for Malians before too,” Bathily told FRANCE 24.
“Here it concerned a citizen who comes from a country that came to help us, when our country was in a critical situation,” he continued, referring to France’s 2013 military intervention against insurgents in northern Mali.
“The authorities of his country were fighting to release the hostages, Mali for its reputation and honour could only help to save the life of the hostage.”
Lazarevic was snatched by armed men in Mali on November 24, 2011, while on a business trip with fellow Frenchman Philippe Verdon in a kidnapping claimed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed that it took revenge on America and shelled a joint U.S.-European airbase in the Lahij province of Yemen, the Long War Journal reports.From Jerusalem shall come forth digital health tech
Ansar al-Sharia, the front group for AQAP, claimed that this attack against U.S. interest was in retaliation for the rescue attempt in which the U.S. sought to release several AQAP hostages, including 33-year-old American journalist Luke Somers. That operation failed and Somers died, along with several AQAP terrorists. AQAP named Friday’s attack “Taking revenge for Our Martyrs.”
The attack was announced through an AQAP-controlled Twitter account. According to that account, the rocket attack took place 2:10 a.m. AQAP’s Hamdi al Tha’alabi Brigades launched six Grad rockets at the “American division at the al Annad base.
Tel Aviv has tech start-ups, but Jerusalem, already a center of life-science technology, is the perfect place to develop a digital health infrastructure, according to Ori Choshen, CEO of VLX Ventures.Israeli Film ‘Gett’ Nominated for Golden Globe Award
“Digital health applications is a growing field, and there is not yet a national or even world center for an ecosystem to develop those apps. Jerusalem has a strong medical and academic research community, so we think this is the right place to build that ecosystem.”
Part of that ecosystem-in-formation will be on display next week at the second annual mHealth Israel Conference, the biggest digital and mobile health-tech event in the country. Entrepreneurs, experts, academics, and industry representatives will gather to discuss topics such as how pharmaceutical firms are using digital health apps, regulatory issues, health trends, digital health tech and wearable technology, and more.
The Israeli film “Gett: the Trial of Viviane Ansallem” has been selected as one of the top five nominees for best foreign film at America’s Golden Globes Awards.Learning to Sew at Auschwitz
“Gett” will be competing with “Leviathan” from Russia, “Force Majeure” from Sweden, “Ida” from Poland, and “Tangerines” from Estonia. “Gett” tells the story of Viviane Ansallem, a woman whose husband refuses to give her a divorce. Ansallem faces the Israeli divorce process, which is controlled by Jewish law, and encounters the obstacles posed by the rabbinical court. The film, produced in conjunction with partners in Germany and France, is considered one of the most significant Israeli co-productions to date.
As a young man, Martin Greenfield was sent with his family to the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. He survived the Holocaust and went on to be one of the most successful tailors in America, making suits for Presidents Eisenhower, Clinton, and Obama, among many others. The following is excerpted from his new memoir, ‘Measure of a Man.’
Because my father was a ghetto leader, our family was put on the very last transport from Mukačevo to Auschwitz. We were not told where we were headed. I remember standing still and quiet inside the cattle car, my brother’s small hand wrapped tight inside mine. We arrived in Auschwitz at night. The train creaked to a slow stop. We waited for the door to fling open, but it didn’t. People inside our cattle car craned to look through the opening in the car. Hours passed. Left overnight, the occupants were forced to relieve themselves inside the cattle car. My family huddled together to stay warm and calm.
The next morning, rays from the sun pierced our car and warmed our bodies. Sunlight flooded our cattle car as the door unlatched and opened. I remember thinking at that moment that nothing bad could happen on a day as beautiful as this. My youthful optimism was unprepared for the reality we were about to step into.