Trump’s Cabinet Picks: Good or Bad for the Jews? (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

When Donald Trump won the election, there was great relief in Israel, something like a collective sigh. There was also anxiety. It’s a long time until January, and we don’t know how much longer the hostages can hang on. But there was, and is, a further cause for anxiety, and that concerns Trump’s cabinet picks, which here in Israel we can’t help but think: are these anointed ones good or bad for the Jews and for Israel?

Matt Gaetz

We might as well begin our examination with Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general, a bad choice by all accounts. Gaetz has what we call in Hebrew, “panim doresh steerot,” a face that needs slapping. There is a lot of noise about his sexual peccadilloes, corruption, and illicit drug use. We remember how Gaetz forced Kevin McCarthy out of his role as House speaker. It’s not as if Gaetz didn’t have plenty of support for the ousting of McCarthy. Nonethless, McCarthy insisted that Gaetz had led the charge against him specifically to wiggle out of an ethics investigation:

“I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker. Because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old, an ethics complaint that started before I ever became speaker. And that’s illegal and I’m not gonna get in the middle of it.

“Now, did he do it or not? I don’t know. But ethics was looking at it. There’s other people in jail because of it. And he wanted me to influence it.”

Indeed there are plenty of reasons to dislike Gaetz, but from the standpoint of the Jewish people, the main issue should be his horrid antisemitsm. Gaetz voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act, saying that International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism would hold the bible itself as antisemitic because, Gaetz claimed, Christian scripture dictates that the Jews are responsible for Jesus’s death.

Um no. That would be the Romans. Which makes Gaetz a horrible person for pinning this death on the Jews. It’s that kind of slander that leads and has always led, to the letting of Jewish blood. There can be no benign reason for an educated person to say such things. Matt Gaetz hates Jews.

“This evening, I will vote AGAINST the ridiculous hate speech bill called the ‘Antisemitism Awareness Act,’” said Gaetz prior to the vote. “Antisemitism is wrong, but this legislation is written without regard for the Constitution, common sense, or even the common understanding of the meaning of words. The Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!”

Matt Gaetz, in addition to blaming the Jews for what the Romans did, invited Charles Johnson, a Holocaust denier and white nationalist, to be his guest at a 2018 State of the Union address. Gaetz claimed he hadn’t know these things about Johnson, then subsequently defended him, and denied the accusations. Johnson, said Gaetz, is “not a Holocaust denier. He’s not a white supremacist.” But Johnson is both.

When crazy Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene compared COVID public safety measures to the Holocaust, Gaetz defended her. “[Greene] defends Israel and attacks Democrats. Media falsely slams [Greene] as antisemitic. Some Republicans take the bait, sadly,” said Gaetz.

Our attorney general-to-be has been known to hire staff members who hang with white nationalists, and say white nationalist things. He called the ADL “racist” when that body called for Tucker Carlson to be fired from Fox News on account of Carlson pushing the Great Replacement theory. Matt Gaetz said that Carlson is “CORRECT about Replacement Theory.”

The Great Replacement theory, as described by the ADL, “claims there is an intentional effort, led by Jews, to promote mass non-white immigration, inter-racial marriage, and other efforts that would lead to the ‘extinction of whites.’”

RFK Jr.

Moving along, we come to RFK Jr., Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr. is another one for conspiracy theories. While dining with journalists, Bobby Kennedy Jr. aired a nutty conspiracy theory positing that COVID was designed to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

“COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately. COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.

“We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,” said Kennedy, who also claimed that vaccine mandates made people less free than Anne Frank under Nazi rule.

VIDEO:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims coronavirus was an "ethnically targeted" bioweapon designed to be more deadly for caucasians and blacks — and spare Jews and Chinese https://t.co/xfAdovs0sY pic.twitter.com/og4xHdKs7x

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) July 15, 2023

After the footage was leaked, Kennedy went into damage control mode, claiming that he never EVER suggested the virus was designed to spare Jews.

“I have never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews,” wrote Kennedy. “I accurately pointed out — during an off-the-record conversation — that the US and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons and that a 2021 study of the COVID-19 virus shows that COVID-19 appears to disproportionately affect certain races since the furin cleave docking site is most compatible with Blacks and Caucasians and least compatible with ethnic Chinese, Finns and Ashkenazi Jews.”

RFK Jr.’s friendship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was cemented through just such views as these. Bobby Jr. in fact, called Farrakhan a “truly great partner” for helping him spread the idea that vaccines cause autism. Andrew Wakefield, now disgraced, concocted this “theory” in 1998 and was subsequently exposed as a fraud. When COVID hit, Farrakhan urged his congregants to "follow Robert Kennedy," claiming that scientists developed the coronavirus vaccine in order to "depopulate the Earth."

If RFK Jr. and Farrakhan agree on these nutty conspiracy theories, what other views might they share in common?

Of course, RFK Jr. was wise to quickly disavow his affinity for Farrakhan the antisemite at the outset of his presidential campaign. When asked about the relationship between during his campaign, Kennedy said he is an “opponent” of Farrakhan and "never endorsed anything that Louis Farrakhan has said," which of course, is a lie.

Should Jews look the other way on RFK Jr.? Perhaps. Bobby Jr., speaking to Reuters, expressed support for Israel’s fight against Hamas in Gaza, and for the return of the hostages. Asked if he was in favor of a temporary Gaza ceasefire, Kennedy said, "I don't even know what that means right now," commenting that every previous ceasefire was “used by Hamas to rearm, to rebuild and then launch another surprise attack. So what would be different this time?

"Any other nation that was adjacent to a neighboring nation that was bombing it with rockets, sending commandos over to murder its citizens, pledging itself to murder every person in that nation and annihilate it, would go and level it with aerial bombardment," said Kennedy.

"But Israel is a moral nation. So it didn't do that. Instead, it built an iron dome to protect itself so it would not have to go into Gaza," he added.

Nutty conspiracy theories notwithstanding, so far Bobby Jr. sounds okay on Israel. Perhaps he inherited his views from his father? Bobby Sr. spent time in Pre-State Israel, reporting for the Boston Post and was kindly disposed toward the Jews, and supported their efforts at statehood. Unfortunately, he was murdered because of this support.

Tulsi Gabbard

We come next to Tulsi Gabbard, who is to be national intelligence secretary. It’s hard to dislike Gabbard. She’s a serious person, and is unafraid to change her mind when changing her mind is called for. But she backed the Iran deal, and that’s a huge problem. Gabbard also voted against a House resolution to condemn the U.N. Security Council resolution regarding Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria, saying, "While I remain concerned about aspects of the U.N. resolution, I share the Obama administration's reservation about the harmful impact Israeli settlement activity has on the prospects for peace."

Seriously?? Jews building homes has a harmful impact on “prospects for peace?” That’s just reprehensibly antisemitic, and I don’t care how popular it has become to repeat the canard that Jewish families building homes, threaten peace. It’s a disgusting and stupid thing to say no matter how many people say it and no matter how often it is said. It’s just, pardon my French, total crap.

I hope that Gabbard will now be able to take a step back and examine the issue from a more commonsense position with good people to take her through it. Maybe now, as part of the Trump cabinet, she’ll educate herself on Israel. In her past, however, she has taken some problematic positions.

Gabbard defended Ilhan Omar, for example, when Omar tweeted that US support for Israel is “all about the Benjamins.” Speaking to CNN, Gabbard said, "There are people who have expressed their offense at these statements. I think that what Congresswoman Omar was trying to get at was a deeper issue related to our foreign policy, and I think there's an important discussion that we have to be able to have openly, even though we may end up disagreeing at the end of it, but we've got to have that openness to have the conversation."

Gabbard also voted for House Resolution 246, which expressed House opposition to the BDS movement and affirmed support for a two-state solution. When asked to explain her vote, Gabbard said she supported "a two-state solution that provides for the rights of both Israel and Palestine to exist, and for their people to live in peace, with security, in their homes. I don't believe the BDS movement is the only or best way to accomplish that. However, I will continue to defend those who choose to exercise their right to free speech without threat of legal action."

The two-state solution is a naïve and unworkable concept, and always was. Neither of the parties want it. So why do pols continue to push the two-state solution down the throats of people who do not want it, and do not see it as the solution it is touted to be? Why does Tulsi Gabbard, who is clearly a clear-thinking person, think the two-state solution makes any sense at all?

There can only be two reasons for supporting the two-state solution: 1) Anti-Jewish prejudice, that is to say, a desire to take land away from the Jews and give it to the people who want to kill them, and 2) Ignorance on the part of people who have never actually studied the matter. “Two-state solution” is just something people say. Endlessly. Meaninglessly. One would hope that Tulsi would know better.

But we have all watched Tulsi Gabbard evolve in her politics. We watched her leave the Democratic Party, become an Independent, and finally, become a staunch, pro-Trump Republican. Perhaps Tulsi’s views will evolve on Israel and antisemitism.

There is reason to be optimistic about Gabbard. Tulsi Gabbard criticized Biden and Harris for not joining a solidarity March for Israel as the Jewish State fights the war forced on it by Hamas. She is clear in that she supports a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. When Gabbard was still a Democrat, in 2015, unlike 58 other Dems, she did not boycott Netanyahu’s address to Congress, stating that “It’s unfortunate that an issue as important as preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons has been muddled by partisan politics. This is an extremely serious issue, at a critical juncture, that should not be used as a political football.”

Gabbard also said that it was important to “rise above the political fray, as America continues to stand with Israel as her strongest ally.”

Nice words and a real show of support for Israel.

Mike Huckabee and Pete Hegseth

Now we come to Mike Huckabee and Pete Hegseth. I know what you’re going to say. Why are they included in this list of potentially problematic Trump candidate members? Both are staunch friends of Israel. They don’t fall prey to propaganda, don’t use terms like “Palestinian” or “West Bank.” They don’t have a problem with Jewish sovereignty, or Jews building homes in their indigenous territory.

Take for example Mike Huckabee, who is slated to become the next ambassador to Israel. Asked whether he would stop using the terms “Judea and Samaria” to describe what most of the world now calls the “West Bank,” Huckabee said, “I can’t be what I’m not. I can’t say something I don’t believe. As you well know, I’ve never been willing to use the term ‘West Bank’. There is no such thing. I speak of Judea and Samaria. I tell people there is no ‘occupation.’ It is a land that is ‘occupied’ by the people who have had a rightful deed to the place for 3,500 years, since the time of Abraham.

“A lot of the terms that maybe the media would use, even the people who are against Israel would use, are not terms that I employ, because I want to use terms that live from time immemorial, and those are the terms like ‘Promised Land’ and ‘Judea and Samaria’. These are biblical terms, and those are important to me, and so I will continue to follow that nomenclature unless I’m instructed otherwise, but I don’t think that’ll happen.”

Huckabee has also said plainly that there is “no such thing as a ‘Palestinian.’” Being that there was never an Arab state called “Palestine,” that makes perfect sense. As Huckabee rightly stated during his 2008 failed presidential campaign, the assertion of the existence of a “Palestinian” identity, is only “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”

So far, there is not one thing here with which this writer disagrees.

Of the moronic idea known as the “two-state solution,” Huckabee commented in a 2015 interview on Israeli TV, that it is “irrational and unworkable,” and also said that “there’s plenty of land” outside of Israel in the “rest of the world” for a Palestinian state.

All true.

Pete Hegseth, picked for secretary of defense, says all the right things when it comes to Israel. At a 2018 Israel National News conference Hegseth spoke of the right of the Jewish people to claim their indigenous territory for themselves, and themselves alone.

"I, and others, had a chance to go see the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall Tunnels, and so much of the Old City," said Hegseth. "When you stand there, you cannot help but behold the miracle before you."

"It got me thinking about another miracle I hope all of you don't see as too far away. 1917 was a miracle, 1948 was a miracle, 1967 was a miracle, 2017, the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was a miracle, and there's no reason why the miracle of the reestablishment of the Temple on the Temple Mount is not possible. I don't know how it would happen, you don't know how it would happen, but I know that it could happen, that's all I know," he said.

"A step in that process is the recognition that facts and activities on the ground truly matter. That's why going to visit Judea and Samaria, understanding that the very sovereignty over Israeli soil, cities, locations, is a critical next step to showing the world that this is the land for Jews, and the land of Israel," concluded Hegseth.

So why are Mike Huckabee and Pete Hegseth included in an article on Trump cabinet picks who might not be good for the Jews/Israel? Both men are respectful of Jewish beliefs and rights. That respect springs out of their Christian faith, which is fine. What would not be fine is if either the two men or Israeli officials began to speak about “shared values” or “Judeo-Christian values,” as if that were a thing.

Judaism stands alone. We Jews have our own faith, our own laws, and a religious narrative we do not share with Christians or those of other faiths. We should not want Christians telling us they are like us, and we should not want Israeli leaders to do so, either. That should be and must be a red line that is respected on both sides.

We can see the good in these two men without searching for nonexistent religious common ground. It is hoped that Huckabee and Hegseth understand these sensitivities and will remain as respectful to the Jewish people as ever. On the other hand, will official Israel be able to control itself—to refrain from slobbering over these men? It’s a problem.

It is so rare for Israel to have staunch friends, people who understand us, and believe in our right to our rights. Their sincere friendship makes us Jews feel like we actually belong to the family of man—at last there is someone who sees us.

Within this warm circle of cozy coexistence lies a temptation—the temptation to assert that we are alike. But we are not, and it is wrong to say otherwise. Hegseth, despite the allegations against him in the media, seems like a nice person. Huckabee, too. And that’s where the similarities start and end.

---

---

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

Read More

Agreeing to Disagree: Israeli Americans Wrestle with Complicated Family Feelings after Election (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Trump trounced Harris and the next morning, she conceded. Now, all that was left was for Dems to do grieve. Except for the small matter of sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with their Trump-happy relatives in just a little over 3 weeks—less at the time of this writing. Should Harris voters be expected to sit across the table from their cretinous MAGA cousins?

Not at all, explained Yale-affiliated psychiatrist Dr. Amanda Calhoun to MSNBC’s Joy Reid. “If you are going to a situation where you have family members, where you have close friends who you know have voted in ways that are against you . . . against your livelihood . . . it's completely fine to not be around those people and to tell them why.”

Calhoun’s advice, I’d venture to say, runs contrary to what most of us were taught by our mothers; namely that is courteous to set aside political differences at the holiday table for the sake of preserving family harmony. We can agree to disagree, because presidents come and go but family is family until death do you part. We spend time with family at the holidays not because they are entitled to our presence, but because it’s a tradition we value and cherish as a society.

In Israel, of course, there is no such November 28th conundrum to worry about. For one thing, most of those celebrating Thanksgiving in Israel are expat Americans. They left their families behind to make Aliyah, so there’s no one to argue with at table.

Then again, Thanksgiving is something expat Americans mostly celebrate for the sake of the food: turkey, stuffing, yams, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pie. And guess what? Sitting down to eat that meal will be pure pleasure not only because of the food and the lack of argumentative relatives, but because Donald J. Trump won—which means that this year, the only arguing around Israeli Thanksgiving tables will be over who gets the wishbone.

With our stateside cousins of course, it is a different story. We spend time with them only virtually in fits and starts. That makes it a little easier to avoid tense subjects. And if ever there was a tense subject it was this election, with most American Jews wildly at odds with their Israeli counterparts.

Our cousins care about the hostages, but not as much as they care about domestic issues, for example reproductive rights. They care about Iran, but they care about abortion more; they have been told that Donald J. Trump will take away their rights to their own bodies. Kamala Harris told them so.

Joy Reid told them so.

In Israel, we understand our Jewish cousins in America have domestic priorities. But we have trouble understanding how they feel about geopolitics. We don’t like to think that they are ignorant, but do they know they voted for a woman who helped fund October 7 and all that has happened in its wake?

Israelis are hyper-aware of these geopolitics. So much so that in the run up to the election, all of us were tense. I was tense. My neighbors were tense. We all knew that Israel’s enemies were watching and waiting to see who would win the election. My personal fear was that if Harris won, Hamas would take it as a green light to shoot all the remaining living hostages dead.

I did not dare tempt evil by voicing my fears, but now, in retrospect, I can talk about it because it didn’t happen—Harris lost. But it was rough. In the run-up to the election I could literally see those executions playing out in my mind’s eye. Over and over again.  It was hard to hold down food. Hard to breathe.

I don’t know if I was alone in experiencing these visions—but I know my feelings of dread and terror were not exclusive to me. Everyone around me felt the same way and we were all quietly speaking about it to each other. The election was the Sword of Damocles hanging over not just the hostages’ heads, but all our heads. This was something more than politics.

And it is that “something more” that makes it so difficult to be polite as we were taught, and set aside differences for the sake of family.

I know what you’re thinking. What’s the difference, Harris lost. But you see, it’s the vote that counts. It’s the vote that hurt and cut so deeply.

It’s hard to square it in our heads, how “family” could vote for Harris, someone who sends money to Iran and ties Israel’s hands. Someone who bears responsibility for the fact that the Jewish people are no longer safe anywhere in the world.

Many of us have a very hard time with this. We think of what happened on October 7, of the hostages and of the hundreds of soldiers who have been killed since, beautiful young people, older reservists with wives and children, and we can’t bring ourselves to agree to disagree and move on. It’s just too hard. We can’t look the other way and call it “only politics.”

I myself think back to certain lovely childhood memories from back when I was a toddler, and I don’t know what to do. We are family and yet this "family" prioritizes something other than me, my family here, and our people. They prioritized something other than the hundreds of Israeli soldiers who died defending our people—something other than the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who can’t go home to their homes in the north. 

How can I look the other way?

They put us all at risk.

---

---

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

Read More

Dr. Elana Heideman: Our fight against Jew-hatred begins with respect for the Jew (Judean Rose)

Guiding Ambassador Ron Dermer on the March of the Living, with Professor Steven T. Katz

Dr. Elana Yael Heideman has a list of accomplishments so long it will make your jaw drop, with every last accomplishment earned in the service of her people and the Jewish homeland. Heideman, CEO and executive director of the Israel Forever Foundation, is a Jewish rights activist, historian, leading educator, author, and dynamic public speaker. Her knowledge of Jewish history and of the Holocaust is both vast and encyclopedic. If I want to find a specific Holocaust photo and have only a vague memory of what it depicts, Elana will always know which one I mean and quickly pull it up for me from her extensive personal archives. After all, this is the woman who studied for her thesis under famed Holocaust survivor, writer, and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

Since October 7, I and many others have turned to Dr. Heideman to gain clarity and understanding of just how this could have happened to us: how Hamas could have attacked us as we slept, safe in our own land, secure in the knowledge that unlike during the Holocaust, we had our own Jewish army to protect us?

Was it all a mirage?

Heideman is the right address to discuss these things: How to make sense of world indifference to the plight of the Jews, the victim-blaming, the antisemitic campus protests. Whether to avoid upsetting graphic photos and stories from October 7. These make it difficult to carry on with our family and professional lives, but do we even have a right to avoid these things? Don’t we have a responsibility to bear witness to what has happened for the sake of future generations?

And of course, now that the elections have drawn to their fiery close, Dr. Elana Yael Heideman will also be the right person to help us understand the implications of the hateful Nazi label rhetoric so blithely applied to President Trump by his failed opponent and her fellow Democrats. What can we do to stand up to this ugly phenomenon of Nazi name-calling in modern day politics?

 

Dr. Elana Heideman

As a people we are lucky to have Dr. Elana Heideman. Heideman, who made Aliyah in 2005, and today lives in Nes Harim with her 3 beautiful children, is a visionary. She saw long before October 7 that the global Jewish world needed the Israel Forever Foundation, “an empowerment and engagement organization that provides experiential learning opportunities to the global Jewish world to celebrate, strengthen and mobilize the personal connection and activism of Jewish People as the nation of Israel.”

Today, we need Heideman and her foundation more than ever. She will always have something to teach us. Hopefully, this interview will give the reader a taste of Dr. Elana Heideman’s particular brand of genius.

***

Varda Epstein: You’ve been a Jewish rights activist since the time you were young. What’s your earliest memory of fighting for Jewish rights? What are some of the Jewish causes you’ve battled?

Elana Heideman: When I was very young, I encountered not only Jew-hatred in my middle school in Louisville Kentucky, but also Messianic Jews for Jesus who were out to persuade, and Holocaust deniers determined to falsify historical fact.

I can recall various instances where my identity was challenged, and where I had to think on my feet as to how to address the twisted misinformation of the people in groups I encountered. I have found that my pride and confidence as a Jew rooted in Jewish traditional life has aided my ability to counter each obstacle, including the cadre of self-hating Jews that have emerged in the past decades.  

Dr. Elana Heideman teaches children about the Holocaust

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us a bit about your family and the milieu in which you were raised? How did your family impact your Jewish identity and the trajectory your life has taken?

Elana Heideman: Activism is a part of my blood, and my part in that tradition emerged from a very young age, having watched my parents serve as prominent leaders fighting for Jewish rights, each in their own way. In a traditional home, rich with Ahavat Yisrael, I found myself active in more than one youth movement out of a desire to be involved in the many different avenues of Jewish expression. In the B'nai B’rith Youth Organization, following the legacy of leadership set by my parents who met as youth members of BBYO, I worked my way through chapter offices up to council and the International involvement. Simultaneously I was active in National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) where I was able to explore and embrace aspects of my religious and spiritual life as a leader. From a very early age I was involved in program development, something I have continued throughout my career as an educator, consultant, and transformational guide for young activists and interns.

Elana Heideman with her parents and children.

Varda Epstein: Your specific expertise is in Holocaust studies and antisemitism. What drove you to choose these specific fields of study? What is it like to be so constantly immersed in these grim subjects? How do you stay sane? And what is the impact of all this on your children?

Elana Heideman: From a very young age I was drawn to the mystery of the Holocaust. I was somewhat fascinated by the experience that each victim and survivor had to endure. I entered that world through the children's stories of Terezin, and one of my very first books I ever read at a very young age was Elie Wiesel's Night. I was immersed; I felt the lives and the pain of each person I met through his words and those of every book I read and every survivor I met throughout my life.

My life was directed toward the discovery of how these tragedies could impact those of us living so many years in its aftermath. Sometimes I wonder if I chose the topics or if they chose me, but I know that being constantly immersed in this study is indeed grim. Yet it is also so often a source of astonishment, even hope and strengthened faith, knowing that even through all of the nightmares, moment after moment, there are those who lived, breathed, and died never forsaking their part in the destiny of what it means to be a Jew. 

Sanity is relative. Sometimes I feel I live with a part of my soul in each of these worlds, but rather than allow it to overwhelm  my senses with sadness or despair, I continue, even after all of these 36-plus years, seeking out the messages of strength and empowerment that help to balance the pain that I have inevitably inherited.

I am quite blessed by the openness of my children, that together we are able to explore many relevant topics on this dark history without their feeling that such a memory is a burden. Rather, we are able to talk openly, dissect stories and fears. Especially in light of the October 7th massacre that has awakened in our entire nation a correlation to the historical Jewish experience of suffering, we have been able to balance ourselves and never take for granted any element of the courage and resilience shown during the Holocaust or any other era in history where our people have been forced to suffer such atrocity. Indeed, my children even have found themselves strong enough to join me to visit the memorial sites, including Nova, as we passed one year since the catastrophe, where together we could feel and consider its meaning in our lives.

Elana with Atir Vinikov, survivor of Nova who has been sharing his story with Israel Forever

Varda Epstein: Famed author and historian Elie Wiesel was your thesis advisor. That’s certainly something most people cannot claim. What was it like working under Professor Wiesel, himself a Holocaust survivor?

Elana Heideman: I had the great honor of being invited by Elie Wiesel to study under him for my doctoral research. He was more than just an advisor, he was my mentor, he was my Rabbi; he was my guide through the past and towards the future. It was a very powerful experience, every single encounter leaving an indelible impression on my soul, and of course, on my mind. He shared details of his own life and his own thinking that enabled me to carry his voice further as I continue to do now, even years after his passing. As one of only a handful of doctoral students who studied under his guidance, I am honored to have filled the unique role of being the only student to focus specifically on the Jewish Human Experience during the Holocaust. It was not easy for him, and we would engage in very healthy debates on the analytical interpretations of the transformation of The Jewish Human Condition in particular, which I termed “momentary survival.” I was able to engage with my esteemed master not only as my professor, famed Holocaust Survivor, writer and eloquent speaker, but also with the young Eliezer that I had met in my childhood encounter with his life experience. And to this day I am determined to protect Elie's Echo and to help others learn from his absent voice, especially now at a time when our people desperately need the guidance that he once offered to our nation.

While people can no longer hear him in person, it is essential that we continue to share his voice. I am honored to be considered his protégée and a carrier of his legacy.

Dr. Elana Heideman with Prof. Elie Wiesel, her mentor and "rabbi"

Varda Epstein: Can you describe some of the work you’ve done at/for Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum and on behalf of Holocaust education? From your perspective, why is this work so critical?

Elana Heideman: My work on behalf of Holocaust education continues every day, and it pulses through the activism work I do on behalf of our people and our country. I educate educators, I train teachers, and continue to work with students looking to explore the field for research or other methods of memory transmission.

I began my work at Yad Vashem as a student, going there for my endless research efforts and taking part in every program I could get involved with. I attended their summer courses and went on to become an educator for the International School of Holocaust Studies and have served as a private guide for 20 years, providing a most unique and personalized experience through the Historical Museum. I was a part of an initiative that brought together teams from Yad Vashem with the United States Holocaust Historical Museum on applications of academic research to the future of Holocaust memory, and I have been a mentor for many students who seek to make Holocaust research and education a part of their future career path. I continue to educate and train educators and do my very best to encourage creative methods of the transmission of memory in a purposeful and meaningful way. Most importantly, I believe the work that we do as historians is, as Elie Wiesel said, our tool in our fight for Jewish rights and freedom. Those of us who are capable of translating the messages of history into action for today and the future are essential as our history and our very existence as the Jewish Nation continues to be threatened.

October 7 presented an unexpected comparison with the events of the Holocaust and I have tried to help people contend with the (im)balance of these atrocities. I am involved in memory efforts in Israel for the future of the memory of the Simchat Torah massacre, and I am involved with helping survivors tell their stories onward. I am working with descendants of Holocaust survivors who suddenly feel their identities shift following this tragedy, and am helping those who are trying to find their voice in the process of memorialization and meaning. Along with that comes helping people find clarity in the relationship between events of the past and those of today, as well as the warning signs for the future. 

Nazism of today does not look or sound like the Nazism of yesterday, yet people are quick to leap to unrealistic comparisons and sleight of tongue in name calling. The true lessons of the Holocaust would be a recognition of the power game of its perpetrators, and the language used to demonize the Jew and anything and everyone non-Aryan. To use the terms Nazi, Hitler  and, in fact, the term genocide so loosely for political gain, as has been done about Trump and Netanyahu, and the battle for existence in the defensive wars of Israel, is irresponsible and inaccurate. We should do better to retain the integrity of the survivors and the experience of fascist tyranny, and to recognize the patterns of public manipulation that employ the same fear tactics as the Nazis before them. The closest comparison can only be found in the global jihadist movement for the extermination of Israel and the Jewish nation that has become the rallying cry of the antisemitic hate fests taking over the streets and social streams of the world. That is where energy should be directed - to stopping the trend enabling the violent vitriol that will lead whole societies into dark and trying times.

At Nova

Varda Epstein: Why did you make Aliyah? Do you see Aliyah as a Jewish imperative?

Elana Heideman: Aliyah for me felt inevitable since my very first visit to Israel at the age of 13. The experience transformed my life and my identity, my self-awareness and my motivations. I had postponed my desired Aliyah for the sake of my academic career, and was blessed with the opportunity to spend 12 years under the tutelage of Elie Wiesel, but right in the middle of our learning together I felt a change. Having guided many journeys to Poland within a short timeframe, it was that last arrival back to America where I understood this was no longer my home where I could feel at peace, where my soul was complete. I knew that in order to write the best work and to do the best teaching I could do for the sake of the future, I needed to be where I was my best and most complete self, and that was in the land of Israel. 

As we know, making Aliyah is not easy for anyone, but I found myself so enthralled by the ability to live the miracle and to learn the language of our people, that I built quite a beautiful and substantive life here where I now live on a moshav with my three children in the Judean mountains. I know that Aliyah is not for everyone, however I do wish more people would consider it so that we can carry on the pioneering dream of our people, those who lived in exile for too many years. I believe Aliyah could be a greater ideal for some Jews today, but of course as we've seen throughout history, it is not easy to pick up an entire life and face the countless challenges of the cultural, financial, social, and even religious shift that comes along with such a major move.

I do believe that it should be a Jewish imperative, and frankly I believe that every diaspora Jewish youth should be obligated to inherit their birthright as a virtual citizen of Israel, and to serve one year of either volunteer army service or community service, Sherut Leumi, or other opportunities.  Sadly, not enough of our diaspora family feels that it is worth the potential sacrifice, no matter how many years we repeat the phrase “next year in Jerusalem”, or “if I am not for myself who will be for me”, or singing the songs that remind us that we are all watchmen on the wall. Unfortunately we will continue to see Aliyah of despair, of escape from the rising Jew-hatred in every corner of the world.  

I pray that Jewish families today and those of the future will understand that Aliyah by choice is something that we can each make possible if we dream it. But the dream must be fostered by a sense of shared responsibility to our homeland, a shared destiny with the ancestors of thousands of years ago and every generation since. Only then can someone realistically envision taking on the more difficult life, the many bureaucratic and cultural obstacles. Building a meaningful life in Israel outweighs so much of the burden of the obstacles we face because we know that it is the chosen life to be a part of blossoming and living our land, and being a part of the collectivity of the nation of Israel as fulfilled in our biblical blessing. 

Varda Epstein: Tell us about the Israel Forever Foundation. What is the mission of this nonprofit of which you are the executive director, and how did it come to be?

Elana Heideman: Israel Forever was born as an organization focused on celebrating Israel's centrality in Jewish identity and her contributions to humanity and civilization. Expanded to become a home for engagement, inspiration, and empowerment, Israel Forever offers programming, resources, and consulting for our global community of members, who we recognize as Virtual Citizens of Israel. 

I developed Israel Forever to meet the continuous need of Jews from all backgrounds and places in the world to feel connected to our source as Israel and the many dimensions of what that means. This vision extends to those already involved and also for the unaffiliated and non-religious. It includes creating opportunities for informal learning to reach those who lack a community or educational connection.

We cater to the continuously growing needs of the Jewish world, for those who are unaffiliated, isolated, seeking to deepen their personal connection, to mobilize their families and friends in creative ways that help them feel like they're making a tangible difference. We serve as a partner and often a guide, creating opportunities for learning, activism, and to bring together those in the diaspora with grassroots efforts in Israel, helping to not only raise awareness but to increase compassion and connection no matter how far apart the members of our global Jewish family might be. 

We have been active for 14 years in designing content that meets the needs of educators, parents, community leaders, organizations and individuals. Since the war, we have been sponsoring Healing Hearts mosaics therapeutic activities to displaced communities, distributing messages and packages of support to bereaved, traumatized and displaced families. We have supported soldiers and soldier’s families, especially miluimnikim reservists, and we have been sharing the stories of Israel and helping to inspire those around the world to be IsraelStrong in every way possible. 

Israel Forever was built on the understanding that not all Jews would come to Israel to foster the sense of belonging. Instead, we have brought pride in Zion and Israeli identity to those around the world. Now, as our people face a war on multiple fronts and platforms, Israel Forever continues our vital role in serving as a bridge and a source of empowerment.

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us about your work on behalf of Zionist organizations, such as B’nai Brith and the World Zionist Council?

Elana Heideman: When I was growing up, Zionist was not a bad word. And it was with immense, unfettered pride that I served as a B’nai B’rith delegate of the World Zionist Council from a very young age. I was exposed to the activism and voices of elders and leaders from all over the world, and I was able to learn from their expertise.  Eyewitness to debates both civil and non, I gained greater insight and appreciation by listening deeply to the various perspectives that I encountered. I recognized and appreciated the different styles of communication and activism of Israelis, empowered by their confidence in our nation state. I learned how to navigate the intricacies of international collaborations and networking, and to find a balance between ideas and passion, and actualization and implementation. 

As the chairperson for the Young Leadership Action Network, I was able to not only meet fellow young activists but also share my ideas for potential improvements in making possible the change we all were hoping to see. Then again, as a delegate for the Global Conference for Combating Antisemitism, since its inception in 2004, I do feel as if we continue to fight the same battle that many of us were shouting about for all of these years since. The new waves of Jew-hatred we see on the streets right now were already in their inception phase, incubated by years of indifference and accusations of paranoia for anyone who was, like myself, able to see the writing on the wall and trying to be involved in every way possible to find solutions to the lack of preparation or response. 

I continue to sit in the conferences, serve as a delegate, and see how I can make an impact while wading through the organizational bureaucracies that we all know are obstacles to our ability to make change. Israel Forever, as a grassroots independent unaffiliated apolitical Jewish Rights Movement, allows us to succeed in making Israel and Jewish identity empowerment a personal goal. 

"Silly me."

Varda Epstein: What is Declaration Day, and what drove you to this initiative?

Elana Heideman: In simple terms, Declaration Day commemorates the day on which Ben Gurion declared Israel's independence as a nation state following the end of the British mandate over Palestine on May 14th, 1948. The Declaration Day initiative aims to establish this day of recognition on international calendars. While Yom HaAtzmaut is our day of celebrating our rebirth as a sovereign nation in our ancestral homeland, the international world must remain continuously aware of the facts that surround this reestablished sovereignty.

Every year the lies get worse. The Nakba lie has grown in popularity and has circumvented nearly all elements of historical truth surrounding the formal establishment and recognition of the modern Jewish state of Israel. But rather than create a reactionary campaign, we aim for Declaration Day to be a proactive affirmation of the ancestral rights that were affirmed on this historic date. With increased programming for recognition of the path to independence as a just cause for Jewish national freedom, reaffirmed again and again in international law, we can prevent the future deterioration of the facts in the minds of common people. We can educate them as to the fundamental values on which not only was Israel created, but values Israel continues to uphold in both our pursuit of peace and in our methods of war, as we are continuously forced to demonstrate.

No international body gave Israel the right to exist. Not the Balfour on November 2nd, 1917; not the League of Nations on June 24th, 1922; not the United Nations vote for the partition on November 29th, 1947. But by virtue of these recognitions of Jewish rights to the biblical and indigenous homeland of the Jewish people, Jewish life has continued to grow and blossom in a desolate land, fulfilling our ancestral destiny and the blessing bestowed upon us by God. Declaration Day allows people to stand proud for these same values and ideals. 

With a group of ambassadors at Israel Forever Foundation Declaration Day event

Varda Epstein: What is the most frustrating aspect of antisemitism and the fight against Jew-hatred?

Elana Heideman: On one hand the most frustrating aspect is how easily the masses are persuaded by the lies about Jews. On the other hand, the most frustrating aspect is how careless and callous people have become when it relates to expressions of Jew-hatred. Elie Wiesel taught that indifference is amongst the most dangerous elements of a society. And yet, people are inevitably susceptible to compassion fatigue and, in the competition for empathy, the Jews simply do not factor in. We seem as nothing but a burden; a thorn in the side of societies who just want to be able to forget that the Jews exist. To many, we represent something beyond “foreignness;” rather an entity whose existence and resistance they cannot understand, and in too many cases cannot accept as legitimate, no matter human. So I believe that our fight against Jew-hatred begins with respect for the Jew and what the Jew stands for, and it is immensely frustrating to know that we cannot achieve this respect while our people continue to have such internal divisions and public conflicts. They weaken us, they demonstrate that we are, within our own community,   indifferent to the impact of this internal division on how the external world accepts us or understands us. For years, and especially in the past year, we hear how Israel hasn't done enough to explain ourselves. But in fact the fight against antisemitism should not rest on the shoulders of Israel alone, but on those of the diaspora organizations who, sadly, have spent these last decades treating the rise of antisemitism as if it was insignificant. Now we see how such indifference to our own reality has fostered some of the inadequate response to what we are currently seeing happening everywhere around us.

Varda Epstein: Talk to us about October 7. What was your original reaction when news of the atrocities began to filter out? How have your feelings and purpose evolved over the one year since that black day?

Elana Heideman: The first siren in my community was within the first hour of the onslaught, which began at 6:29 a.m. I immediately grabbed my phone in spite of Shabbat. The videos were the first thing I saw. I felt like I had been transported in time. Like everyone else here, it was impossible for me - for anyone at that time - to understand the extent of what was happening, such as how many terrorists had infiltrated what we believed to be our safe borders, the depravity of their acts or the extent of the psychological tortures inflicted on children, elderly, and women. Where were the soldiers to protect them, was, of course, one of everyone’s first questions as I was already seeing some of the conversations that were happening in these communities as they were under attack, simply by virtue of random shared connections in my social feeds. It was everywhere, and I saw before they were taken down some of the most graphic images of the fields of Nova, the bodies of raped women, beheaded corpses, and burned babies. I found myself seeking story after story from that day and onward, knowing that my role as an atrocity memory expert might somehow be an asset in trying to comprehend and cope with the aftermath of this slaughter. I still continue to inherit these stories, and I do everything in my power to pass them along. Much as I had done with the stories of painful suffering and abuse during the Holocaust, I knew that this was a part of the blessing/curse I had inherited. I had to be able to give voice to the voiceless; I had to be able to keep people informed while alleviating their personal fears and anxieties. For each month of the one year following the slaughter, I held a virtual program on the 7th that allowed people to learn, listen, and to feel some small glimmer of solace in knowing that they were not alone and that they could have a safe and private space to feel somehow together, even with people who are far away. Another program we developed to foster this connection was our Healing Hearts mosaics project, a therapeutic craft that we provided to displaced families, and that we continue to provide for bereaved and traumatized families, individuals and communities, through the generosity of donors from around the world. At a time when we all feel helpless and yet wishing we could do more, I continue with every chance I get to create opportunities for interaction, healing, and the continued learning about what October 7th means to each one of us, especially as the months continue to pass.

I will say that my feelings have only grown more intense, and my purpose even more empowered. And my intensity grows despite the fact that everybody since October 7th is now an “expert” on anti-Semitism and the holocaust. While it is indeed difficult to wade through the new voices of influencers, whose popularity are dominating the conversations, I know that my role is perhaps even more relevant as a link between generations of knowledge and insight that I have learned and inherited. 

 

Varda Epstein: How has the focus of your work changed since October 7? What are you doing to spread awareness and fight back against misperceptions and anti-Israel sentiment?

Elana Heideman: The focus of my work has changed only in the continuous need to keep our war for Jewish rights and freedom at the forefront of people's consideration and consciousness. Alongside the necessary awareness of our hostages in captivity we must look at ways we could be fighting our fight better, such as emphasizing the full transparency of the IDF in their unprecedented care to reduce civilian casualties, and to call out the propagandists and their manipulated numbers and demonization. The focus of my work just has even more purpose now than ever because, in truth, many Jews are simply feeling lost. We must join our soldiers fighting this just war for freedom against this tyranny of terror that is taking over the world and so I will continue to seek opportunities, partnerships, and find ways to help the common person, the every Jew, so that they might feel more confident as they wade through the sea of confusion and encroaching despair. I have increased our visual presentations of information and empowerment messages, interviews with people who are involved in a grassroots level of activism, philanthropy, and community strength. We continue to reach people directly with ideas on how to channel their energy into positive ways during this most trying time. I have expanded the lessons on historical relativism, recognizing that we are indeed living through a historic time.

 

Elana and her beautiful family

Varda Epstein: What is your advice to those who want to make a difference on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, but don’t know where to begin?

Elana Heideman: This is precisely what I have been doing for years - helping people find their spark, polish their voice, and find ways to be involved with activism that meet their personal abilities, interests and availability. In our busy lives, we have to make the time - we have to commit ourselves to something in particular that helps us feel we are making a tangible difference. For some that might be advocacy, for others it could be letter-writing and call campaigns to administrations and organizations. Whether for the release of our hostages or the rights of Israel or of Jews in classrooms and communities, these individual voices are essential to keeping up momentum. Of course, finding a local group or leader works for some; but for others, they are looking for ways to fit activism into our already overstimulated and over-programmed reality. 

Anyone can take a first step - don’t be shy, and definitely reach out for help. I do private consulting for people looking for direction, and help develop skills through a hands-on internship program that has propelled many into activism or even career pursuits. Helping stay motivated is often a challenge, and feeling helpless or lonely can be obstacles to having a sense of accomplishment - especially in social media activism, which is very difficult to navigate because of the exposure to the toxicity of hate. So I believe starting small and making meaningful connections is a great first step to finding your personal niche of how you can use your time and energy.

Israel needs every voice, and we all have a potential to do more to join the efforts to go beyond just Jewish pride to be Zion-proud - deeply invested in the success of our ancestral national project. You can find connections in the most random of spaces and build creative expression in the most diverse of platforms that can all serve our collective purpose of keeping alive the legacy of the nation of Israel. 

Our unity is at the helm of our fight to overcome the hatred and danger we face today, and that unity begins with sharing what we know about the issues and what we have seen work over the years. Don’t underestimate the meaningfulness, the power and importance, of your single voice. Consider the many skills and relationships you have picked up over your life, and how they can help you to grow and strengthen your own Jewish identity and that of other Jews in your life. Be the ambassador for the Jewish fight for freedom and sovereignty with Israel Forever, or come explore with me your next path - the opportunities are yours if you want them. 

 

Varda Epstein: What’s next for Elana Heideman?

Elana Heideman: My vision for myself in 5 years is to continue to be at the helm of an organization that I believe plays a crucial part in the continuity of connection for Am Yisrael. I have channeled my passion for learning and activism into meaningful programming and content, creating engagement and empowerment opportunities and inspiration for a wide range of audiences around the world. I continue the work of Elie Wiesel in utilizing the lessons of the Jewish lived experience into our current realities, facing a new war against the Jews.  I hope the future allows me to carry Israel Forever into new levels of global awareness and programming opportunities, to continue building upon the thousands of hours taught, hundreds of articles and resources written and published on israelforever.org, to create partnerships allowing us to reach, connect and collaborate with local communities for the sake of our collective future. And above all, I hope I will still be inspiring fellow Jews in discovering their connection and destiny as a part of the nation of Israel, knowing that Israel Forever can play a historic role in protecting the integrity of one of the great civilizations of the world. 

---

---

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

Read More

Kamala Harris Invokes Godwin's Law; Walz Jumps Right In (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Kamala Harris didn’t actually call Trump a Nazi, but she might as well have. Echoing allegations by disgruntled Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, she declared that Donald Trump wants a military that will be "loyal to him personally" and "obey his orders even when he tells them to break the law or abandon their oath to the constitution of the United States."

Vice President Kamala Harris continued on, saying, "It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans. All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is."

And there it is, Godwin’s Law. The longer the election dragged on, the more inevitable it had been that someone would bring in the Holocaust. Not in the sort of, “We must never forget the Holocaust,” kind of way, but in the sort of, “He’s the author of the Final Solution, Adolf Hitler himself,” kind of way.

Harris running mate Tim Walz was happy to run with it, remarking that Trump’s alleged comment regarding Hitler’s generals “makes me sick as hell.”

“Folks, the guardrails are gone. Trump is descending into this madness — a former president of the United States and the candidate for president of the United States says he wants generals like Adolf Hitler had,” said Walz, who has lied about his military service.

Walz said he was a retired command sergeant major, but he wasn’t. He claimed he carried weapons “in war,” but never saw combat. In truth, he skipped out on his battalion only months before they were deployed to Iraq. J.D. Vance, among many others, condemned these falsehoods as “stolen valor.”

This is something to keep in mind when weighing the credibility of those Walz “orange Hitler”-style slurs. But it gets worse with Walz. Much worse, in this Jewish writer’s opinion.

From The Hill:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, compared former President Trump’s Sunday rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden in to a 1939 pro-Nazi event.

“Donald Trump’s got this big rally going at Madison Square Garden,” Walz said at an event in Henderson, Nev. “There’s a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid-1930s at Madison Square Garden.”

An American Nazi Party held a rally at Madison Square Garden in February 1939 that lured 20,000 supporters to the iconic New York City landmark.

“And don’t think that he doesn’t know for one second exactly what they’re doing there,” Walz said.

When Walz speaks, he draws a picture. We can see that pro-Hitler rally in our minds. It hits you right in the kishkes.

Up next is Hillary Clinton. The former (failed) 2016 presidential candidate picked off where Walz left off, continuing on with the same “Trump is a Nazi” narrative, claiming that Trump with this rally was reenacting the infamous Nazi rally, held in that very same space. “Trump [is] actually re-enacting the Madison Square Garden rally in 1939,” said Clinton to CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.

“President Franklin Roosevelt was appalled that neo-Nazis, fascists in America were lining up to essentially pledge their support for the kind of government that they were seeing in Germany,” said Former President Clinton’s wife never-to-be-president Clinton.

"It is clear from John Kelly's words that Donald Trump is someone who I quote 'certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.' Who in fact, vowed to be a dictator on day one, and vowed to use the military as his personal militia to carry out his personal and political vendetta,'" said Clinton.

Harris, meanwhile, is not better than Walz or Clinton, only more boring—she doesn't believe her own rhetoric but is determined to get to the top with her gleaming eyes and maniacal laugh. She’s not even original. In fact, she’s a yawn. And frankly, unintelligent. 

“I invite you to listen and go online to listen to John Kelly … who has told us Donald Trump said, why — essentially, ‘Why aren’t my generals like those of Hitler’s, like Hitler.'

 “The American people deserve to have a president who encourages healthy debate … and certainly not comparing oneself in a clearly admiring way to Hitler.

“This is a serious, serious issue. And we know who he is. He admires dictators.

“The American people deserve to have a president who encourages healthy debate, works across the aisle, not afraid of good ideas wherever they come from, but also maintains certain standards about how we think about the role and the responsibility, and certainly not comparing oneself in a clearly admiring way to Hitler.”

Asked if Trump were a fascist, Harris' bluffed right on through. “Yes, I do,” she said. “Yes, I do.”

There was something in her smile. Something sly in it for that tiny split second.

Well, what else could Kamala Harris, famous for her word salads, do to win at this point but smear her opponent? She wants to be president, but has done so little to articulate her policies. Or rather, she’s articulated many words that go good with Thousand Island dressing.

As November 5 draws nearer, Harris seems to have stopped even trying to outline what it is she intends to do if elected president. Instead, she has begun this slow crescendo of hateful tropes, each day ranting and raving about Donald Trump ever more vigorously, insistently and repeatedly telling us that Trump is a very bad person.

There is a name for this. It’s called negative campaigning. Whether or not smearing one’s opponent is an effective strategy is up for debate, but it certainly seems the coward’s way out of articulating an actual policy. Something Harris can’t and hasn’t done.

We have seen Kamala Harris a lot these past weeks, Tim Walz, less so. I think they hide him. He’s scary. He has crazy eyes. And I did not like the look of hatred that flashed on his face, that downturn of the mouth when Walz was asked by a reporter about the hostages in Gaza—it was so quick I had to watch the exchange a few times to confirm it. Then the mask came down and Walz was Mister Friendly Guy once more—all smiley like he didn’t hear the reporter’s question. But we all saw it. I saw it. I saw Mr. Evil Man rear his ugly head for that little almost undetectable blip in time.

I dread the thought of Walz in a position of influence. Kamala is a power-hungry puppet who will not be kind to Israel should she win, but she is too stupid to craft or carry out policy, and that’s where others come in.

Will Walz distinguish himself as an advisor? Will he have a voice? More likely Walz is a signal to Israel-hating voters: Here is someone in Kamala’s corner.

Someone who hates the Jews.

---

---

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!

 

Read More

Biden Calls October 7th a “dark day for the Palestinian people” (Judean Rose)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Joe Biden could not have chosen to end his statement commemorating the first anniversary of October 7 in a more inappropriate manner. “I believe that history will also remember October 7th as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day.”

A dark day for the Palestinian people? Really Joe? Really??

Of all the things to say on a day marking pogroms against the Jewish people so depraved and vicious it is an obscenity to describe them. October 7^th didn’t happen to just any people and it certainly didn’t happen to the “Palestinian” people. The events that took place on October 7^th happened to the Jews.* It was arguably the single darkest day in Jewish history, the darkest day the Jewish people have ever known.

But it seems Jewish tragedy is fair game for a crooked hack like Joe Biden to exploit for his own gain and/or nefarious pleasure. Because one thing cannot be in doubt. If we know the facts, Joe Biden knows them too.

And the facts are this: On that “dark day,” regular “Palestinian people” stormed the fence and came flooding into Israel just like the “real” terrorists, killing, raping, maiming, and burning Jews alive.

 

The Free Beacon’s Andrew Tobin wrote of this massive civilian assist to the terrorists on October 24, 17 days after that “dark day for the Palestinian people” occurred (emphasis added):

As Hamas terrorists carried out a highly choreographed massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, they received a source of support that amplified the horror that took place that day. A mob of ordinary Palestinians spontaneously joined in what became the deadliest pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust, according to videos, eyewitness accounts, and the Israel Defense Forces.

Whereas the Hamas terrorists wore uniforms and carried military-grade weapons, the Gazans who followed them into the Jewish state were dressed as civilians and mostly unarmed, two officials from Israel's devastated Gaza border region said. Young men with knives, overweight dads, and at least one elderly man on crutches were among those who exploited Hamas's rampage to create a second wave of carnage that rivaled the barbarism of the professional terrorists.

The IDF declined to provide details about non-Hamas Gazans’s involvement in the Oct. 7 attack. But IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that large numbers of Gazans who were not members of any terrorist group entered Israel and participated in the atrocities.

"They did what you say they did," Conricus said.

Gadi Yarkoni, mayor of the Eshkol Regional Council, which serves most of the Gaza border communities, told Tobin that there was no difference between the Gaza civilians who raped, burned, and murdered Jews and their Hamas “terrorist” counterparts (emphasis added):

"The second wave of Arabs who came into the country were just as cruel as the terrorists of the first wave. We saw that it was not only Hamas who came to slaughter us. It was all the residents of Gaza, including people who worked in our kibbutzim.

"I saw a scene where a Gazan civilian chopped off a man's head. It took him several attempts to detach the head from the body," said Yarkoni.

There is ample footage of these “ordinary” Gazans looting, killing, and assisting the “terrorists” in kidnapping Israeli civilians including women and children.

Security footage from 7/10 shows ordinary Gaza citizens entering Be'eri and mass looting the Kibbutz. pic.twitter.com/lvgaC05uxJ

— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) October 16, 2023

These “not terrorist” Gazans, including their “not terrorist” children, cheered, jeered, and praised Allah as Jews were brutalized and defiled in ways not seen before. They, the “not terrorists,” burned Jewish homes. “Not terrorists” kicked the dead bodies of the murdered Jews, and “not terrorists” spat on Jewish hostages as they were driven through the streets of Gaza.

If you can stomach it, take a look. (This is actually milder than much of what is out there.)

Tobin also spoke with an eye witness to the bestial acts of “Palestinian people” that day. (emphasis added):

Raz Cohen, a 24-year-old former Israeli commando, saw both Hamas terrorists and ordinary Gazans kill and rape revelers at the Supernova music festival in Re'im, where at least 260 people were slaughtered. After escaping the Hamas terrorists, Cohen hid in a bush with a group of friends for almost seven hours. He watched as a gang of Gazan civilians—men wearing Adidas and armed only with knives and axes—raped and murdered a young Jewish woman.

"While they were raping and killing, they always laughed. I can't forget how they laughed," Cohen told the Free Beacon.

Several members of Cohen's group later ran from the bush and were caught by the same gang of Gazans. He said he heard his friends' screams as they were tortured and stabbed to death.

"You know when you hear the screams of someone who is dying," said Cohen, who was eventually rescued by Israeli soldiers.

We’ve looked at the first part of Joe Biden’s appalling reference to October 7 as a tragedy shared by Jews and “Palestinians.” Now let us examine the rest. Here is the “dark day” comment again, this time with the emphasis on the second part of the sentence:

“I believe that history will also remember October 7th as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day.”

Joe calls the natural response to what happened that day as a “conflict,” as if there were parity between Israeli Jews and Hamas terrorists, Israeli Jews and Gazans. But the IDF is not targeting the “Palestinian” people. The IDF is not doing to the “Palestinian” people what the “Palestinians” did to the Jews on October 7th. Jews and “Palestinians” are not two kids in the sandbox who won’t stop fighting, and who share equal blame for the death and destruction. The Jews are not the aggressors, here.

Joes tries to distract from these facts, by using the word “unleashed.” Translated, Biden blames Israel for making Gaza pay for what Hamas started. It was Hamas that unleashed the violence.

But that’s not true, is it? The horrors unleashed on October 7 were unleashed on Jews by Hamas terrorists and ordinary Gazans alike. To compare the suffering of Jewish Israelis to the subsequent suffering of Gazans is therefore nauseating. The Gazan people support Hamas. They elected Hamas. They raped Jews and burned babies with and alongside Hamas on October 7. They are culpable.

Anyone who wanted to could and did take part in the barbaric cruelty of the “dark day” that was October 7 and that is exactly what the “Palestinian” people did, relishing every dark evil moment.

This is how Biden gives license to a Jew-hating world to hold the Jews responsible for Gazan suffering; to believe that it is somehow unfair for the Gazan people to be forced to bear the onus for the October 7 atrocities.

This is neither a fair nor true characterization of events as Biden well knows. No matter. His comments are all now nicely recorded for posterity.

On the one-year anniversary of October 7, and in the waning days of his demented presidency, Joe Biden still has enough cussed meanness in him to call October 7^th, a “dark day” for the “Palestinian people,” though the ordinary citizens of Gaza stood shoulder to shoulder with the terrorists and attacked the Jews with gusto.

Which leaves us with the question: Who is a terrorist if everyone is a terrorist?

From a moral standpoint, the answer is obvious. It makes no difference if the attackers are Hamas operatives or just plain old, regular “Palestinians.” Terror is terror. And the “Palestinian” people are now reaping the natural consequences of what they sowed on that very dark day for the Jewish people.

*As we know, there are a significant number of migrant workers who were also savaged and or kidnapped on October 7^th. Perhaps in the frenzy, the October 7^th rapists and killers got to a point where they didn’t care who they brutalized. Or perhaps these workers were considered tainted by association with Jews. None of this changes the fact that this day belongs squarely within the confines of Jewish history, alone.

Read More