The Good News, the Bad News, the Uncertainty

How are you? We ask each other. That seems to be the question these days. A neutral, polite query, not weighted in any direction, not revealing of any prejudice. We smile at each other a little uneasily, and inquire out of a range of interest that meanders from politeness to absolute sincere concern: How Are You?

And what, I ask myself, is the real answer, devoid of ulterior motives, of sympathetic concern for the comfort of others? The only true answer, it seems to me is: I’m fine now. But I’m waiting. Because in another hour, another day, another week, there might be quite a different answer.

Abandoned by morality and sanity, most of the world has taken leave of its senses. Israel’s one true friend, the United States of America and its leaders, are in the firing line of home grown Fascists who want to usurp power through violent, murderous revolution, proven by another murderous attempt on America’s elected officials.

Should anything happen to President Trump, and the people working with him to restore a free world from the ravages of a Third World onslaught and homegrown Communist revolutionaries, not only is Israel lost; the world is lost.

I am reading Montefiore’s remarkable book In the Court of the Red Tzar. It’s about Stalin and how he and his barely literate boorish henchmen unleashed a wave of murderous terror on the very people the entire Bolshevik revolution was supposed to be helping: the “Proletariat.” How the peasants, the kulaks, who refused to give up their hard earned wheat crop to collectivization were starved into cannibalism, dying in the millions. And how the people who murdered them then turned on each other at their Supreme Leader’s behest, arresting and shooting thousands of Stalin’s closest friends.

Right now, I am glad that my country, and the country of our greatest ally, is still under the rule of law; that the “idealists” are not in charge and unable to institute their nightmarish ideas. But with the mid-terms in America, and very soon an Israeli election, we are holding our breath, hoping the voting public will have a fair election and will not be swayed by vicious propaganda designed to blind them to their real interests. 

In the meantime, there are many hopeful signs in Israel we can take comfort in. Within two days, huge ships and a cargo plane deposited 6,500 tons of military equipment in the ports of Haifa and Ashdod, including thousands of rockets, armored vehicles, and other military hardware. Minister of Defense Katz has declared: “We are ready for any eventuality.”

Yes, we are ready. But the young soldiers who will be sending out these rockets, riding in these vehicles, and using this equipment are our sons and daughters; our fathers and brothers. In my case, my granddaughter’s boyfriend. Please G-d, I want to dance at her wedding. Watch out for him and all of our precious children.

The “ceasefire” with Lebanon is a fiction. Israel has had no choice but to return fire to the hundreds of Hezbollah violations. The Lebanese government seems helpless, although now a coalition of Sunni and Christian parliament members seem at the beginning of a working relationship that might isolate the foreign invaders of Hezbollah who have taken over their country, bringing death and destruction.

The IDF is using the “Gaza” model in dealing with Hezbollah, destroying the an unbelievable number of extensive terror tunnels on our northern Borders and blowing up the rockets and military equipment. In response, Hezbollah is using weapons-laden drones that have killed several of our precious soldiers. On Thursday, Sgt. Liem Ben-Hamo, 19, from Herzliya, was killed, and an additional soldier was wounded in the same incident and subsequently evacuated for medical treatment in moderate condition. In another incident, twelve IDF soldiers were also wounded on Thursday after a drone struck an armored military vehicle near the northern community of Shomera. Considering how many Hezbollah drones have landed adjacent to our troops, we realize in our sorrow how much worse it could have been.

Villages over our northern border used by Hezbollah have been evacuated and wiped off the map. But the work is not done yet. They had decades to dig in and accept IRGC supplies. Thank God we found these weapons and tunnels before they carried out another October 7.

I already hear the moaning of the Left as Israel boards “flotilla” boats aimed at the shores of Gaza, sending the silly participants back where they came from. The “humanitarian supplies” photographed on these boats seem to be condoms, which would probably have been used up before they reached the Gazans anyway.

Two members of these selfie boats have been identified as Hamas terrorists: Tiago Abelha and Saif Abu Qasha. They were both brought to Israel and interrogated and are now sitting in an Israeli prison, even as Amnesty International tries to drum up support for their release. Listen, they didn’t have to get on those boats. So now they are with their colleagues. Be happy for them.

There is no end to Muslim ingenuity. Thousands of Iranians on motorcycles with jerrycans full of subsidized fuel are trying to make a living by smuggling fuel from Iran to sell in Pakistan, given the blockade and widespread unemployment in Iran. Ha! Poor things. With the successful U.S. blockade of the Straits of Hormuz and new sanctions by the U.S. Department of Treasury, the pace at which Iranian currency is falling is accelerating rapidly. After trading yesterday at 1.69 million rials to the dollar, this morning Iran’s currency is trading at over 1.8 million rials, an all-time low.

Trump responded to the silly new Iranian “offer,” one that bypasses entirely the nuclear material question, by rejecting it, suggesting that we are better off with no deal at all. But deep down we all know this can’t go on. Perhaps that is why this weekend, 120,000 Israelis filled the beaches, Lake Kinneret, and national parks, enjoying the fragile peace for however long it lasts.

We all know that something has got to give. The bombing will begin again. The shelters will be filled, their iron doors locked as we wait inside for this nightmare to be over, not for a week , or a month, or ten years. But over for good, so that Neta, the little baby that we celebrated this week as the newest member of our clan, will only know that room in the house as a play room where he stores his toys.

And I’ll end with the latest miracle, quoted from CNBC, not a friend of Israel:

“The IMF estimates that Israel’s economy will grow by 3.5% this year, compared to 2.3% for the United States and 1.3% for the EU. It also means Israel’s GDP is forecast to outperform all G7 countries in 2026. Next year, Israel is forecast by the IMF to see economic growth of 4.4%, continuing to outperform many major developed economies.”

Hallelujah!

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