A War for Freedom
This war is not Israel against Hamas. Not Jews vs. radical Muslims. It is Freedom against Barbarism. Civilization against Savagery. Democracy against Totalitarianism. Good against Evil.
Before my short essay below, I want to share 3 media appearances I’ve done so far this week. The first is a 5-minute segment on National Public Radio Boston on how I first heard about Hamas’ attack, the grassroots volunteer effort on the Israeli homefront and whether I might return to America during this war. The second is an interview I did with The Daily Item of Boston’s North Shore, where I grew up, about running to the bomb shelter during Hamas’ first rocket firings and the personal toll of the massacre. The third is a conversation I recorded with Zahava Grodman on her wonderful podcast Singled Out (starting at 15:00), which took a detour this week from its usual theme, relationships, to cover how Olim in particular are stomaching the unspeakable atrocities and responding in overwhelming action. And now back to our regular programming…
What do you say when you have nothing to say? When you’ve been sickened, you’re nauseous, and your sensitive soul is trying to absorb the gruesome rapes and slaughter and mutilations with a depraved level of inhuman brutality unseen since the Holocaust?
Literally anything I write here does grave injustice to the unspeakable horror the Jewish People endured this week. No words can capture the horrific atrocities.
And yet, I try. I try to write knowing it’s a failed mission; because in the same way our soldiers are fighting with guns, those of us with platforms of influence must fight with the keyboard; in the same way taxi drivers are volunteering to drive reservists to base, and teenagers are babysitting the children of displaced families, and operations-experts are fundraising and transporting supplies, and families are adopting orphans and family-less dogs, and mothers are donating breastmilk (yes, really), and able-bodied men not serving in the military are volunteering to dig graves (yes, really) for the countless scores of murdered civilians…we too, the communicators, are soldiers on the front lines.
And so without further ado…Tel Aviv, this morning:
Wispy sunlight filtered through the scattered clouds onto empty streets and sidewalks. The able-bodied men of fighting age are gone, leaving behind their wives and fiancés and children to clean the dishes and fold the laundry. Overhead fly military choppers and jets and in the distance one hears the rumbling of bombs and muted explosions. Restaurants are becoming industrial kitchens; synagogues gathering-centers for dry-goods and supplies; hotels and hostels, homes for displaced families.
Many apartments are empty, many apartments are full; there is everyone and there is no one; one appreciates the company of anyone with whom he finds himself, and feels immediately bonded with strangers over the gut-wrenching evil and unified war effort. No one has much to say but that doesn't matter; one craves the presence of friends and family even if entire afternoons transpire in quiet. Their presence alone is enough to comfort; their unspoken understanding enough to temper the impossible task of confronting evil alone. Any political or religious differences, once—in another world—matters of substantive conflict, dissolve into complete irrelevance against the backdrop of shared agony and bulletproof resolve.
One is also hyper-sensitized to the possibility of sudden violence. Walking outside? Wear sneakers. You can’t run in flip-flops. Want to listen to something? One headphone, max, should the sirens blare. Is your apartment south or north-facing? Are you exposed to rockets? Maybe better to stay by a friend. No shelter in the apartment? Go to family.
This morning I walked by my favorite coffee shop in Tel Aviv. It was shut, dark, no scent of pastries. Instead, there was table outside with candles, a photo and a blessing. The photo was a beautiful shot of Mor, the barista, with his shaggy blonde hair and gleeful smile. I remember Mor, always taking care to look me in the eyes, conveying kindness and empathy with his eyes even within the quick transaction of ordering coffee in the morning. This week Mor was slaughtered by Hamas terrorists. He was one of more than 1,300; more than 13 times the number of Jews—kids, fathers, mothers, children, elderly people—murdered in Kristallnacht.
Now there is one thing I want you to understand: these innocent people, children, were butchered by terrorists—terrorists who love death as much as we love life.
Hamas’ glorification of death—violent murder in pursuit of a global Islamic caliphate—is so hard for us Westerners to stomach because it goes against everything we believe and want to believe. The Western operating assumption that all people seek peace and prosperity is dead wrong. Jews do. Americans do. Hamas terrorists do not. Biden said it best. Hamas said it best, in their own words in their own charter. They do not seek peace. They do not seek longevity or a higher GDP and levels of employment. They do not care about brighter futures for their children. No, they seek the annihilation of Israel. They seek the murder of Jews. They seek the death of infidels even if it means the death of their own.
But people have short memories. That’s why it is so challenging and painful for our generation born in the 90’s and later to understand Evil. It’s too hard. We want so desperately to believe everyone is good. We want so badly to believe the “if onlys”—if only we would placate them, if only they had more economic opportunity, if only they weren’t so poor…they wouldn’t attack us. They would be happy. It’s our fault, right?
No, these people are different. The era of our willful blindness to Evil due to our thin skin and emotional sensitivity is over. No more wishful thinking. When someone says they want to kill us, we must believe them and we must wake up and kill them first.
Don’t be fooled, the annihilation of Israel is not Hamas’ end game. Israel is the canary in the coal mine. After Jews they’ll come for Christians. After Israel they’ll come for America. After us they’ll come for you.
Jews are always first. The Nazis began with Jews but they didn’t end there. Along with the Jews they murdered droves of homosexuals, handicapped people, gypsies and others deemed inferior to the Aryans.
That’s what I want to tell you: my friends and family serving in the Israeli Defense Forces are not only defending the Jewish People. They are not only defending the borders of Israel against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. They are not only defending Jews against radical Muslims.
No—they are defending Freedom against Barbarism; Civilization against Savagery; Democracy against Totalitarianism; Good against Evil.
Those who are compassionate to evil come to be evil to the compassionate, says Jewish tradition, and that is why we must be crystal clear:
Hamas is ISIS. Hamas is Hitler. They are disgusting scum, the worst of humanity.
Hate evil and love good, says the prophet Amos, and awe of God is to hate evil, we read in Proverbs. The Radak, Rabbi David Kimhi (b. 1160, France), goes a step further: Everyone who loves God should hate every evil person. There should be no doubt in his heart—a bold statement of moral certainty in our era of moral confusion, equivocation, accommodation and misguided understanding of radical violent intentions.
Hamas has committed a genocide—“the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.” Nothing less.
Silence is complicity. Anyone who fails to speak against these horrendous crimes is equivalent to one who aids and abets. If you are one of those people, please know, I get it: you have social media followers, you’ve spent years building your business and “apolitical” reputation. That’s hard work. I get it. A good name is a hard thing to come by. You don’t want to lose that.
But please know, your entire life and business has been possible thanks to the immense courage of Western free nations like the UK, US and indeed Israel defending our ideals of freedom and the pursuit of prosperity against terrorist incursions and unrelenting desire of radical bloodthirsty groups to destroy our way of life and take control of the world.
Only by rejecting Evil do we retain freedom. Only by rejecting Hamas do we retain democracy and capitalism; only by rejecting the murder of innocents do we retain freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
To understand the full extent of Hamas’ depravity, you must understand they filmed their gruesome crimes: their burning of children alive, dragging soldiers bloodied bodies, raping of wives in front of their husbands and parading their bodies like trophies. Beheading of babies, babies!
With some minuscule moral fiber the Nazis were ashamed of their actions and sought to conceal them from the world. But Hamas? They are proud. With heinous and beastly pride they are proud of their horrific crimes against humanity.
The civilized world and advocates of Freedom everywhere must arise in defiance. Freedom is not free. We paid a price. We are paying a price. We will continue to pay a price. But we must stand up for ourselves, for Freedom: the right to have children and raise them in peace, to read and write and create art; to build businesses, buy, sell and transact; to educate and be educated; to light Shabbat candles or attend mass; to do scientific research, compose reports; travel, see friends, go on vacation; communicate without fear of imprisonment or death. We have no other choice.
That is what our friends, cousins, brothers, uncles and fathers standing on Israel’s borders are fighting for—Freedom. May Hashem be with them.
From a friend: It's so comforting to know that there's someone with a strong moral compass who can put what we're all feeling into words. When the world is terrifying, one needs a guide to help you make sense of things and show the big picture. Lest we lose all hope, Andrew reminds us why we're here on this path, and what the stakes are.
The narrative tries to justify the basest acts human beings are tragically capable of. This article cuts right through these acts with moral clarity as its guide. Reading this article, we feel less alone; not everyone is in denial. Andrew, if words could express my thoughts and feelings right now, they would mirror your excellent article. Thank you for honing your gift of digging in and sharing it with the world. We are all the better for it.