He even describes nice, polite British people acquiescing to antisemitism to avoid offending Arabs across the Empire.

In the wake of October,7, this all sounds depressingly familiar, doesn’t it?

I have highlighted some great quotes from this article, but I recommend reading the whole thing if you have the time, even if its conclusion seems wrong to me.

While Orwell candidly talks about left-wing antisemitism that avoids the use of the word antisemitism making it more subtle and insidious than the blunt and barbaric right-wing antisemitism, since he’s a leftist himself, he puts most of the blame on nationalism, which we now see is not the main engine of this prejudice.

Nevertheless, this is a fascinating look into a past that’s depressingly similar to our present, and may teach us a lot about the future.

Plus, it’s always a pleasure to read the words of a great English writer.

Antisemitism in Britain

There are about 400,000 known Jews in Britain, and in addition some thousands or, at most, scores of thousands of Jewish refugees who have entered the country from 1934 onwards. The Jewish population is almost entirely concentrated in half a dozen big towns and is mostly employed in the food, clothing and furniture trades. A few of the big monopolies, such as the I.C.I., one or two leading newspapers and at least one big chain of department stores are Jewish-owned or partly Jewish-owned, but it would be very far from the truth to say that British business life is dominated by Jews. The Jews seem, on the contrary, to have failed to keep up with the modern tendency towards big amalgamations and to have remained fixed in those trades which are necessarily carried out on a small scale and by old-fashioned methods.

I start off with these background facts, which are already known to any well-informed person, in order to emphasize that there is no real Jewish ‘problem’ in England. The Jews are not numerous or powerful enough, and it is only in what are loosely called ‘intellectual circles’ that they have any noticeable influence. Yet it is generally admitted that antisemitism is on the increase, that it has been greatly exacerbated by the war, and that humane and enlightened people are not immune to it. It does not take violent forms (English people are almost invariably gentle and law-abiding), but it is ill-natured enough, and in favourable circumstances it could have political results. Here are some samples of antisemitic remarks that have been made to me during the past year or two:

I could fill pages with similar remarks, but these will do to go on with. Two facts emerge from them. One – which is very important and which I must return to in a moment – is that above a certain intellectual level people are ashamed of being antisemitic and are careful to draw a distinction between ‘antisemitism’ and ‘disliking Jews’. The other is that antisemitism is an irrational thing. The Jews are accused of specific offences (for instance, bad behaviour in food queues) which the person speaking feels strongly about, but it is obvious that these accusations merely rationalize some deep-rooted prejudice. To attempt to counter them with facts and statistics is useless, and may sometimes be worse than useless. As the last of the above-quoted remarks shows, people can remain antisemitic, or at least anti-Jewish, while being fully aware that their outlook is indefensible. If you dislike somebody, you dislike him and there is an end of it: your feelings are not made any better by a recital of his virtues.

It so happens that the war has encouraged the growth of antisemitism and even, in the eyes of many ordinary people, given some justification for it. To begin with, the Jews are one people of whom it can be said with complete certainty that they will benefit by an Allied victory. Consequently the theory that ‘this is a Jewish war’ has a certain plausibility, all the more so because the Jewish war effort seldom gets its fair share of recognition. The British Empire is a huge heterogeneous organization held together largely by mutual consent, and it is often necessary to flatter the less reliable elements at the expense of the more loyal ones. To publicize the exploits of Jewish soldiers, or even to admit the existence of a considerable Jewish army in the Middle East, rouses hostility in South Africa, the Arab countries and elsewhere: it is easier to ignore the whole subject and allow the man in the street to go on thinking that Jews are exceptionally clever at dodging military service. Then again, Jews are to be found in exactly those trades which are bound to incur unpopularity with the civilian public in war-time. Jews are mostly concerned with selling food, clothes, furniture and tobacco – exactly the commodities of which there is a chronic shortage, with consequent overcharging, black-marketing and favouritism. And again, the common charge that Jews behave in an exceptionally cowardly way during air raids was given a certain amount of colour by the big raids of 1940. As it happened, the Jewish quarter of Whitechapel was one of the first areas to be heavily blitzed, with the natural result that swarms of Jewish refugees distributed themselves all over London. If one judged merely from these war-time phenomena, it would be easy to imagine that antisemitism is a quasi-rational thing, founded on mistaken premises. And naturally the antisemite thinks of himself as a reasonable being. Whenever I have touched on this subject in a newspaper article, I have always had a considerable ‘come-back’, and invariably some of the letters are from well-balanced, middling people – doctors, for example – with no apparent economic grievance. These people always say (as Hitler says in Mein Kampf) that they started out with no anti-Jewish prejudice but were driven into their present position by mere observation of the facts. Yet one of the marks of antisemitism is an ability to believe stories that could not possibly be true. One could see a good example of this in the strange accident that occurred in London in 1942, when a crowd, frightened by a bomb-burst nearby, fled into the mouth of an Underground station, with the result that something over a hundred people were crushed to death. The very same day it was repeated all over London that ‘the Jews were responsible’. Clearly, if people will believe this kind of thing, one will not get much further by arguing with them. The only useful approach is to discover why they can swallow absurdities on one particular subject while remaining sane on others.

But now let me come back to that point I mentioned earlier – that there is widespread awareness of the prevalence of antisemitic feeling, and unwillingness to admit sharing it. Among educated people, antisemitism is held to be an unforgivable sin and in a quite different category from other kinds of racial prejudice. People will go to remarkable lengths to demonstrate that they are not antisemitic. Thus, in 1943 an intercession service on behalf of the Polish Jews was held in a synagogue in St John’s Wood. The local authorities declared themselves anxious to participate in it, and the service was attended by the mayor of the borough in his robes and chain, by representatives of all the churches, and by detachments of R.A.F., Home Guards, nurses, Boy Scouts and what-not. On the surface it was a touching demonstration of solidarity with the suffering Jews. But it was essentially a conscious effort to behave decently by people whose subjective feelings must in many cases have been very different. That quarter of London is partly Jewish, antisemitism is rife there, and, as I well knew, some of the men sitting round me in the synagogue were tinged by it. Indeed, the commander of my own platoon of Home Guards, who had been especially keen beforehand that we should ‘make a good show’ at the intercession service, was an ex-member of Mosley’s Blackshirts. While this division of feeling exists, tolerance of mass violence against Jews, or, what is more important, antisemitic legislation, are not possible in England. It is not at present possible, indeed, that antisemitism should become respectable. But this is less of an advantage than it might appear.

One effect of the persecutions in Germany has been to prevent antisemitism from being seriously studied. In England a brief inadequate survey was made by Mass Observation a year or two ago, but if there has been any other investigation of the subject, then its findings have been kept strictly secret. At the same time there has been conscious suppression, by all thoughtful people, of anything likely to wound Jewish susceptibilities. After 1934 the ‘Jew joke’ disappeared as though by magic from postcards, periodicals and the music-hall stage, and to put an unsympathetic Jewish character into a novel or short story came to be regarded as antisemitism. On the Palestine issue, too, it was de rigueur among enlightened people to accept the Jewish case as proved and avoid examining the claims of the Arabs – a decision which might be correct on its own merits, but which was adopted primarily because the Jews were in trouble and it was felt that one must not criticize them. Thanks to Hitler, therefore, you had a situation in which the press was in effect censored in favour of the Jews while in private antisemitism was on the up-grade, even, to some extent, among sensitive and intelligent people. This was particularly noticeable in 1940 at the time of the internment of the refugees. Naturally, every thinking person felt that it was his duty to protest against the wholesale locking-up of unfortunate foreigners who for the most part were only in England because they were opponents of Hitler. Privately, however, one heard very different sentiments expressed. A minority of the refugees behaved in an exceedingly tactless way, and the feeling against them necessarily had an antisemitic undercurrent, since they were largely Jews. A very eminent figure in the Labour Party – I won’t name him, but he is one of the most respected people in England – said to me quite violently: ‘We never asked these people to come to this country. If they choose to come here, let them take the consequences.’ Yet this man would as a matter of course have associated himself with any kind of petition or manifesto against the internment of aliens. This feeling that antisemitism is something sinful and disgraceful, something that a civilized person does not suffer from, is unfavourable to a scientific approach, and indeed many people will admit that they are frightened of probing too deeply into the subject. They are frightened, that is to say, of discovering not only that antisemitism is spreading, but that they themselves are infected by it.

To see this in perspective one must look back a few decades, to the days when Hitler was an out-of-work house-painter whom nobody had heard of. One would then find that though antisemitism is sufficiently in evidence now, it is probably less prevalent in England than it was thirty years ago. It is true that antisemitism as a fully thought-out racial or religious doctrine has never flourished in England. There has never been much feeling against intermarriage, or against Jews taking a prominent part in public life. Nevertheless, thirty years ago it was accepted more or less as a law of nature that a Jew was a figure of fun and – though superior in intelligence – slightly deficient in ‘character’. In theory a Jew suffered from no legal disabilities, but in effect he was debarred from certain professions. He would probably not have been accepted as an officer in the navy, for instance, nor in what is called a ‘smart’ regiment in the army. A Jewish boy at a public school almost invariably had a bad time. He could, of course, live down his Jewishness if he was exceptionally charming or athletic, but it was an initial disability comparable to a stammer or a birthmark. Wealthy Jews tended to disguise themselves under aristocratic English or Scottish names, and to the average person it seemed quite natural that they should do this, just as it seems natural for a criminal to change his identity if possible. About twenty years ago, in Rangoon, I was getting into a taxi with a friend when a small ragged boy of fair complexion rushed up to us and began a complicated story about having arrived from Colombo on a ship and wanting money to get back. His manner and appearance were difficult to ‘place’, and I said to him:

‘You speak very good English. What nationality are you?’

He answered eagerly in his chi-chi accent: ‘I am a Joo, sir!’

And I remember turning to my companion and saying, only partly in joke, ‘He admits it openly.’ All the Jews I had known till then were people who were ashamed of being Jews, or at any rate preferred not to talk about their ancestry, and if forced to do so tended to use the word ‘Hebrew’.

The working-class attitude was no better. The Jew who grew up in Whitechapel took it for granted that he would be assaulted, or at least hooted at, if he ventured into one of the Christian slums nearby, and the ‘Jew joke’ of the music halls and the comic papers was almost consistently ill-natured. There was also literary Jew-baiting, which in the hands of Belloc, Chesterton and their followers reached an almost continental level of scurrility. Non-Catholic writers were sometimes guilty of the same thing in a milder form. There has been a perceptible antisemitic strain in English literature from Chaucer onwards, and without even getting up from this table to consult a book I can think of passages which if written now would be stigmatized as antisemitism, in the works of Shakespeare, Smollett, Thackeray, Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley and various others. Offhand, the only English writers I can think of who, before the days of Hitler, made a definite effort to stick up for Jews are Dickens and Charles Reade. And however little the average intellectual may have agreed with the opinions of Belloc and Chesterton, he did not acutely disapprove of them. Chesterton’s endless tirades against Jews, which he thrust into stories and essays upon the flimsiest pretexts, never got him into trouble – indeed Chesterton was one of the most generally respected figures in English literary life. Anyone who wrote in that strain now would bring down a storm of abuse upon himself, or more probably would find it impossible to get his writings published.

If, as I suggest, prejudice against Jews has always been pretty widespread in England, there is no reason to think that Hitler has genuinely diminished it. He has merely caused a sharp division between the politically conscious person who realizes that this is not a time to throw stones at the Jews, and the unconscious person whose native antisemitism is increased by the nervous strain of the war. One can assume, therefore, that many people who would perish rather than admit to antisemitic feelings are secretly prone to them. I have already indicated that I believe antisemitism to be essentially a neurosis, but of course it has its rationalizations, which are sincerely believed in and are partly true. The rationalization put forward by the common man is that the Jew is an exploiter. The partial justification for this is that the Jew, in England, is generally a small businessman – that is to say a person whose depredations are more obvious and intelligible than those of, say, a bank or an insurance company. Higher up the intellectual scale, antisemitism is rationalized by saying that the Jew is a person who spreads disaffection and weakens national morale. Again there is some superficial justification for this. During the past twenty-five years the activities of what are called ‘intellectuals’ have been largely mischievous. I do not think it an exaggeration to say that if the ‘intellectuals’ had done their work a little more thoroughly, Britain would have surrendered in 1940. But the disaffected intelligentsia inevitably included a large number of Jews. With some plausibility it can be said that the Jews are the enemies of our native culture and our national morale. Carefully examined, the claim is seen to be nonsense, but there are always a few prominent individuals who can be cited to support it. During the past few years there has been what amounts to a counter-attack against the rather shallow Leftism which was fashionable in the previous decade and which was exemplified by such organizations as the Left Book Club. This counter-attack (see for instance such books as Arnold Lunn’s The Good Gorilla or Evelyn Waugh’s Put Out More Flags) has an antisemitic strain, and it would probably be more marked if the subject were not so obviously dangerous. It so happens that for some decades past Britain has had no nationalist intelligentsia worth bothering about. But British nationalism, i.e. nationalism of an intellectual kind, may revive, and probably will revive if Britain comes out of the present war greatly weakened. The young intellectuals of 1950 may be as naïvely patriotic as those of 1914. In that case the kind of antisemitism which flourished among the anti-Dreyfusards in France, and which Chesterton and Belloc tried to import into this country, might get a foothold.

I have no hard-and-fast theory about the origins of antisemitism. The two current explanations, that it is due to economic causes, or on the other hand, that it is a legacy from the Middle Ages, seem to me unsatisfactory, though I admit that if one combines them they can be made to cover the facts. All I would say with confidence is that antisemitism is part of the larger problem of nationalism, which has not yet been seriously examined, and that the Jew is evidently a scapegoat, though for what he is a scapegoat we do not yet know. In this essay I have relied almost entirely on my own limited experience, and perhaps every one of my conclusions would be negatived by other observers. The fact is that there are almost no data on this subject. But for what they are worth I will summarize my opinions. Boiled down, they amount to this:

There is more antisemitism in England than we care to admit, and the war has accentuated it, but it is not certain that it is on the increase if one thinks in terms of decades rather than years.

It does not at present lead to open persecution, but it has the effect of making people callous to the sufferings of Jews in other countries.

It is at bottom quite irrational and will not yield to argument.

The persecutions in Germany have caused much concealment of antisemitic feeling and thus obscured the whole picture.

The subject needs serious investigation.

Only the last point is worth expanding. To study any subject scientifically one needs a detached attitude, which is obviously harder when one’s own interests or emotions are involved. Plenty of people who are quite capable of being objective about sea urchins, say, or the square root of 2, become schizophrenic if they have to think about the sources of their own income. What vitiates nearly all that is written about antisemitism is the assumption in the writer’s mind that he himself is immune to it. ‘Since I know that antisemitism is irrational,’ he argues, ‘it follows that I do not share it.’ He thus fails to start his investigation in the one place where he could get hold of some reliable evidence – that is, in his own mind.

It seems to me a safe assumption that the disease loosely called nationalism is now almost universal. Antisemitism is only one manifestation of nationalism, and not everyone will have the disease in that particular form. A Jew, for example, would not be antisemitic: but then many Zionist Jews seem to me to be merely antisemites turned upside-down, just as many Indians and Negroes display the normal colour prejudices in an inverted form. The point is that something, some psychological vitamin, is lacking in modern civilization, and as a result we are all more or less subject to this lunacy of believing that whole races or nations are mysteriously good or mysteriously evil. I defy any modern intellectual to look closely and honestly into his own mind without coming upon nationalistic loyalties and hatreds of one kind or another. It is the fact that he can feel the emotional tug of such things, and yet see them dispassionately for what they are, that gives him his status as an intellectual. It will be seen, therefore that the starting point for any investigation of antisemitism should not be ‘Why does this obviously irrational belief appeal to other people?’ but ‘Why does antisemitism appeal to me? What is there about it that I feel to be true?’ If one asks this question one at least discovers one’s own rationalizations, and it may be possible to find out what lies beneath them. Antisemitism should be investigated – and I will not say by antisemites, but at any rate by people who know that they are not immune to that kind of emotion. When Hitler has disappeared a real enquiry into this subject will be possible, and it would probably be best to start not by debunking antisemitism, but by marshalling all the justifications for it that can be found, in one’s own mind or anybody else’s. In that way one might get some clues that would lead to its psychological roots. But that antisemitism will be definitively cured, without curing the larger disease of nationalism, I do not believe.

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10. Check history to see if you’re entitled to compensation

9. Why is decolonization only against Western Civilization?

8. A terrible beauty is born

7. No good deed goes unpunished

6. Modern Jihad

5. No good deed goes unpunished II

4. No one talks about the crimes of Hamas against Gaza

3. Hardly seems fair…

2. We are not the same.

1. 1400 years of slavery and conquest, zero apologies.

And this week’s celebrity share…

That’s it. Have fun and see you next week!

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Finally, with her kind aid, their struggle was successful!

On October 7, those residents broke through the border and came to her home. They didn’t kidnap her. They just murdered her. It took a month to identify what remained of her.

Such an ironic end to Gaza’s greatest friend in Israel. Let this be a lesson to anyone who considers walking in her path: a scorpion cannot change his nature.

Now, some people will get upset and say, “how can you mock the death of a fellow Jew?”

I do not automatically support a person just because they’re Jewish. Just like I don’t automatically oppose a person just because they’re an Arab. I judge people based on their actions. In the words of the great writer and activist Fredrick Douglass, “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

Vivian Silver helped my enemy.

The people for whom she was a huge inspiration are the people who celebrated October 7, who celebrated her horrific murder. They didn’t lament her death as a “sacrifice for peace” like the leftists used to in the ‘90s. They straight up celebrated it with Nazi glee, feeling “exhilarated” and “inspired” by the sight of the worst barbarities ever recorded on camera.

These are the people she dedicated her life to help.

She helped the people who fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians.

She helped the people who sent suicide bombers to blow up buses and youth clubs.

She helped the people who danced with the mutilated bodies of her neighbors.

She helped the people who slaughtered toddlers in their beds with kitchen knives.

She helped the people who mowed down children in schools with machine guns.

She helped the people who smashed the skulls of babies and those who celebrated them as national heroes by naming streets after them.

For some reason, many Israelis thinks I should be grateful for her “activism.”

Look, I even found a cutesy book about her in a school library.

There is a term for a person who gives aid and comfort to the enemy. It’s not a flattering one.

This is all bad enough, but Vivian didn’t just help the enemy. She actively worked to harm Israelis and non-hostile Palestinians through B’tselem. Not only does this organization hounds Israeli soldiers and tries to prevent them from defending the Jewish people, it also provided the PA with the names of Arabs willing to sell land to Israelis, something which results in murder in the PA.

Few people were greater enemies to peace and greater friends to terror than this arrogant betrayer.

Like Joseph Heller wrote, “the enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.”

Vivian Silver was my enemy.

I do not cry for enemies.

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“Beyond the furrow of the border, a sea of hatred and desire for revenge is swelling, awaiting the day when serenity will dull our path, for the day when we will heed the ambassadors of malevolent hypocrisy who call upon us to lay down our arms...

Let us not be deterred from seeing the loathing that is inflaming and filling the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who live around us. Let us not avert our eyes lest our arms weaken. This is the fate of our generation. This is our life’s choice—to be prepared and armed, strong and determined, lest the sword be stricken from our fist and our lives cut down. The young Roi who left Tel Aviv to build his home at the gates of Gaza to be a wall for us was blinded by the light in his heart and he did not see the flash of the sword. The yearning for peace deafened his ears and he did not hear the voice of murder waiting in ambush.”

Many Israelis who were deafened by the “yearning for peace” have regained their hearing since October 7. However, ironically, even as I wrote these lines, a group of deaf-mute Israelis were rescued from Nablus after going there for dinner after an invitation by a deaf-mute Palestinian. No one was hurt, yet it’s hard not to wonder “WTF?”

It is an amazing thing.

Right-wing Israelis attack the people of the Kibbutzim for employing Palestinians from Gaza and giving them access to Israel. They are not wrong. However, as I drive through Judea and Samaria I see that all the shopfronts in the Arab villages are in Hebrew. This does not come from the Arabs’ love of Zion and commitment to multiculturalism but from their love of money.

These Israelis, many of whom are “settlers” are more than happy to shop in Arab villages and hire Arabs for menial labor while badmouthing the people who did the same thing in the Gaza envelope. The only difference is that the people of the Kibbutzim did it to virtue signal. The people who shop in Judea and Samaria are just cheap bastards.

Do they not understand that every shekel they spend in an Arab village goes towards killing Israelis? Even if the guy who just cleaned their car is the nicest guy in the world, maybe his cousin or nephew are with the “resistance?” Maybe his family is peaceful but once in a blue moon, some guys from the “resistance” come over and say, “would you like to make a donation to your fighting brothers?” And he happily obliges because otherwise his store would burn down…

Ironically, the Israeli right is far more ready for peace than the Israeli left. They just don’t like the word “peace.” For the leftist, the Arab is some academic abstraction that signifies the noble savage or whatever, but for the rightist, he’s just a guy selling chicken a little cheaper.

Both end up funding their own destruction. They just wrap it around in different terminology.

The left-wing addiction to “peace” is being replaced by a right-wing addiction to “ceasefires.” Instead of “we’re talking with them while they kill us” we have “we’re lowkey bombing them while they kill us.”

Frankly, I’m not sure which is worse.

The ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran are a façade. In reality, it’s just war with rules neither side fully understands. Sort of like blind boxing where one glove is covered in cotton candy and the referee is quite drunk.

Every few weeks, we’re informed about a “painful blow” to the enemy, usually in the form of assassinating some guy with a big beard and crazy eyes, a rare commodity indeed in the Muslim world.

Here’s the thing about these “painful blows.” They look nice on camera but Israelis are still getting killed every week. A reality in which people get killed every week to achieve nothing is just as insane as the left’s “sacrifices for peace” when they allowed thousands to be murdered and mutilated in the name of a peace process that led nowhere.

Can’t you guys take a hint?

The enemy doesn’t want peace. The enemy doesn’t want a ceasefire either. The enemy wants to destroy Israel. He will not settle for anything less.

Meanwhile, it seems we’ll settle for anything that ends a war. I guess that’s why they call us settlers.

Worse, while many people console themselves with the story that this is degrading the quality of the enemy, I’m not at all sure this is true at this point.

The resources of the enemy are vast.

The military aid Lebanon and Gaza receive are far less conditional than the aid Israel receives. I don’t see Russia and Iran withholding any weapons due to the need to investigate human rights abuses. As you read these lines, Lebanon is getting new shipments of drones, Gaza is digging new tunnels, and Iran is rebuilding.

In practice, what we’re doing with this lowkey fighting is providing training for the enemy. Sure, they lose dozens of people every week but their human resources are practically unlimited and they ascribe zero value to human life. “We love death more than you love life,” as they like to say on every occasion.

They’re losing land, which really hurts them. However, they’re still sure that soon the West will pressure Israel to retreat from these lands and then their rich cousins from the Gulf states will build them even nicer homes than the ones they’ve lost. This was always the case until now. Why would it be different this time?

As long as they have this hope, their spirit will not be broken.

Meanwhile, they get to test new weapons, see what works and what doesn’t work, learn our modus operandi, find new holes in our protection, and exhaust the best Israelis with endless rounds of miluim. It’s a great deal on their part, better than an actual ceasefire.

As to assassinating their leaders, almost 80% of 3rd-century Roman emperors died violently and Rome did just fine. Any violent prick can rule a bunch of other violent pricks. Each death sows momentary discord and weakens the enemy but if you don’t follow it through with something more substantial, it’s generally as meaningless as a ‘90s “peace process.”

We paid dearly for getting addicted to a fake peace process that cost us more blood than most wars. Please, let’s not repeat the same mistake by getting addicted to fake ceasefires and “painful blows” that make us feel good but achieve very little on the ground.

At the end of the day, when drones are dropping on your head and barbarian hordes are spilling through your borders, it doesn’t matter if it’s a leftwing or a rightwing screw-up.

It only matters that it sucks.

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Have fun!

10. Meow?

9. Do You Want to Be Charlie Hebdo’d?

8. For My Next Magic Trick…

7. Helen of Destroy

6. Probably Still the Jews…

5. Priorities!

4. Israel Sucks

3. Happy Nakba Day!

2. Helen of Oh Boy!

1. The Question Musk Pondered In China

That’s it. The ten most successful tweets of last week.

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And there I was thinking that the true owner of the land never leaves it. Actually, this statement may be true, just not in the way the Arabs mean it…

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Every week, I’ll post the 10 most successful tweets of the previous week. Feel free to use them as you see fit.

So, without further ado, these were the most successful tweets of last week:

10. The Terrorist hate rag

9. Don’t Blame Me.

8. All Eyes For An Eye

7. Jew Hate Create Zionists

6. Peace Is a Lie

5. Not Just Ashkenazim

4. Actually, Iran Is Your Enemy

3. Best. Regime Change. Ever.

2. Arab Republics Are Arab

1. October 7 Was a Genocide

And a little bonus because I feel like bragging.

Look who shared one of my tweets today!

X. Senpai noticed me!

That’s it for the week.

See you next week with ten more tweets!

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Time and again, Israel does the same thing and expects different results. We don’t finish wars then pretend to be shocked when there’s no peace. It should be obvious to everyone by now that peace is the result of finishing wars rather than stopping them but somehow it isn’t.

Or maybe Israelis doesn’t expect anything at all in this point?

Maybe we’ve lost the ability to dream and just keep going through the motions like the immune system of a braindead patient. “Mowing the grass,” some politician called it. I could look up his name but towards what purpose? They’re all the same.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of endless wars and I’m tired of peace processes that end up being bloodier than the wars they’re supposed to prevent. I’m tired of my brothers and sisters dying in yet another “round” and I’m tired of hearing about “the victims of peace” on the news.

I want peace. Real peace. The kind where the only reason people serve in the military is because they’re too stupid to get a better job.

This isn’t fantasy, it’s possible. It happened. In fact, for most of history, this was the default. Nations fought until one side either surrendered or was destroyed. Often, this led to a population exchange that removed the cause for violence, such as in the case of Greece and Turkey. It’s not nice, but hey, it’s better than genocide, right?

It is a testament to the perversity of our time that the historical default sounds like a fantasy to us now. Tell this to 100 Israelis and 90 of them will tell you, “you can’t do that,” without offering any kind of rational explanation.

You can’t do it because you can’t do it.

Herzl wrote, “If you will it, it is no dream.” Less than 50 years after, there was a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.

We need to go back to this mode of thinking.

Now, let me pull the rug from under you. The reason Israel never ends wars is not because “the world won’t let it.”

If you paid attention in Bible class, surely you remember even Joshua son of Nun didn’t destroy the enemy as commanded by God. He literally had the mandate of heaven, he was a dictator who didn’t need to worry about public opinion, the UN, Biden, Trump, or the ICC, yet he didn’t finish the job.

Even our mythology acknowledges we have a flaw in our character. Can’t blame the world for that. This is what losers do. Winners look within.

Let’s look within.

In many ways Bibi is the ultimate Israeli. They say every nation has the leader it deserves and Bibi seems to be the very embodiment of the Israeli soul. Truth be told, you could do worse than this government, but I’m not here to make you feel good.

That’s what my Twitter is for.

Bibi is a brilliant manager but a terrible leader. He’s a master of neither winning nor losing wars.

The reason he always manages to snatch defeat from the Jews of victory is that he has no vision whatsoever. The only thing he’s fighting for is to restore the status quo.

However, the status quo sucks. It has always sucked.

At best, what Israel can achieve under his leadership is going back to the old suck which lead to the current suck. His goal is to prevent the Arabs from destroying Israel, but the idea of making them stop trying to destroy Israel is alien to his mode of thinking.

After all, this is the status quo.

It’s easy to blame his lack of leadership for this state of affairs, but in truth, he’s just a mirror of Israeli society. Ask a 100 Israelis what should be done about an issue and you’ll get 110 replies. How can we expect our government to be decisive if we don’t know what we want? How can we have effective propaganda if we don’t know what point we’re trying to make?

If the Arabs were less belligerent they could ask us in good faith, “what do you want from us?” and we’d have no answer. In fact, do you have an answer? An actual answer and not just, “please stop trying to kill us?”

To the Arabs, we must appear like a nation that has gone insane.

We devastate their cities, yet send them trucks full of candies. We conquer their territory, then retreat for no apparent reason. We are shooting and crying and crying and shooting.

So we end up having “rounds” and dealing “painful blows” to the enemy. We pull out brilliant operations, we assassinate their leaders in the most creative ways, we degrade their abilities, we destroy their weapons, we flatten their cities, we invent amazing new defensive technology.

However, in the end of the day, even a boy with a knife can kill a soldier.

No matter how much you “mow the grass” there will always be boys with knives.

Why does a nation with the most advanced military on the planet can’t handle a bunch of bronze age barbarians? Why can Israel rescue 100 people thousands of miles away, make pagers explode, but can’t handle a bunch of angry baboons with sharp rocks?

The first problem is Israeli arrogance.

Even after 1973, even after October 7, Israelis refuse to see the Arabs as an existential threat.

Allow me to illustrate: if you have a minor problem like a squeaky chair, you can wait for weeks or even years before you take care of it. However, if your kitchen is on fire, you must deal with this instantly. It’s a matter of life and death, not just comfort. It’s not something you can compromise on. Either your home is on fire, or it isn’t. It can’t be a little on fire.

Israelis treat Gaza like a squeaky chair, not like a burning house. They do not see it as an existential threat, merely a nuisance. Otherwise, they would not have accepted (even supported!) a Hamas statelet existing at their side, but demanded its destruction, just like they wouldn’t have accepted a fire inside their home but demanded it was put out.

The same goes for Lebanon and Iran. No matter how many speeches Israel makes at the UN, both are treated as a nuisance, not a mortal danger.

Every Israeli war can be compared to putting out 99% of the fire and then waiting for the fire to spread again before starting to put it out. Oh, and occasionally throwing some twigs to the poor little flame because it wouldn’t be fair otherwise.

The second problem is that we’ve forgotten what victory is.

The winner in a war is not whoever inflicted more damage on the enemy, but whoever managed to impose his will on the enemy. Germany inflicted a lot more damage on the Soviet Union than the other way around yet everyone agrees the Russians won the war. America killed millions of Vietnamese while losing tens of thousands itself yet no one claims America won the Vietnam war.

The enemy understands this better than most. Islamists don’t win by killing their enemy. They win by making their enemy tired of killing them.

Because we’ve forgotten what victory is, we accepted the woke mind virus demand that wars be fought with one hand tied behind our back to minimize harm to the enemy. After all, if you don’t know what you’re fighting for, you might as well cause as little damage as possible.

It’s the decent thing to do, isn’t it?

As a result, no war ever ends in victory, only “mowing the grass” and “painful blows.” There is no chance for peace, only endless rounds of war with increasingly confusing rules of engagement that fail to either usher in victory or minimize casualties.

This ends up killing more people than a war fought with no rules except “win as quickly as possible.” If in the past killing was the method by which peace was achieved, today peace is the method by which killing is achieved.

Wars have no real goal except to kill people, but never enough to actually end the killing.

This is pure insanity. This is Israel’s madness.

I am tired of this crap.

I want the same kind of peace my grandfathers had won in Europe and East Asia. They went to war, they won, and they had peace for the rest of their lives. They never wore uniform again. They had real peace, not a piece of paper.

If you will it, it is not a dream.

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None of these quotes are from “extremist” fringe figures. They are all from official sources, heads of states, and leaders of mainstream movements.

There are dozens more quotes from equally august figures in the Arab world, but I think you get the idea.

The goal of these people was and continues to be the absolute destruction of the Jewish people in Israel. There can be no compromise with them, only total victory or total defeat.

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That’s a lie.

Israel is welcoming of all Jews. It tries to protect all Jews. It never claimed to represent all Jews, nor do all Jews claim to represent Israel. Many Jewish organizations support the Israeli people, but not the Israeli government. Some are agnostic about either. Some are openly against Israel.

GASP! Nuance!

Now, back in the day, the US welcomed all people on the planet. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Remember?

According to the above logic, that would have made all humans fair targets if you had a problem with America, because they were all potential Americans, and many looked favorably at the fledgling nation of rebels and adventurers.

Attacking all people because they may become Americans is, of course, insane.

Just like assaulting Jews all over the world because of Israel.

The closest event in American history is the Japanese internment camps, and I doubt anyone in America looks back at this episode with pride.

However, as we’ve seen time and again, the world has one set of rules for Jews, and another for the rest of the human race.

In the end of the day, here is the simple truth:

People don’t attack Jews to “protest” Israel. They “protest” Israel so they could attack Jews.

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This is my small world.

A few months after October 7, I went for a walk with a friend in Tel Aviv, the heart of a megalopolis with a million diverse people. Everywhere we looked, there were posters of hostages; some official, some created by friends. There were personal messages for the dead written on walls, on streetlights, on utility poles; all in different styles and colors. There were flowers in the squares, teddy bears on benches, stickers with quotes from the slain, and poems from the victims on peeling walls.

This wasn’t some official project, just a million people expressing themselves to make sense of the horror, to turn their pain into art.

It was overwhelming, like swimming through a stormy sea after floating in a pond your whole life. It took me a few days to digest the meaning of what I saw.

You see, in the ‘90s, Israelis were obsessed with peace.

All the songs and art were about peace. We had huge peace rallies that all the cool kids attended. All the talking heads talked about how the peace process was going to save the world.

We even had a subject called “peace” in school. Can you imagine?

People who were skeptical of this euphoria were viewed as racists and fanatics. To even suggest not all societies wanted peace was vulgar and uncouth. Nice people cried for the innocent on both sides. We could forgive the Arabs for killing our children, the cliché went, but not for making us kill theirs.

This euphoria of peace was followed by decades of barbarism that eroded the pity reserves of the Israeli people. Even cultists can ignore reality so far.

This wasn’t the result of anti-Arab propaganda.

The media and intellectuals were deep in the peace cult and went out of its way to defend the Arabs after each atrocity. But the rest of us watched the celebrations in Arab towns after each massacre and asked ourselves, “What kind of a society are we expected to live side by side with?”

We’ve seen Jews torn to pieces with bare hands because they accidentally strayed into Ramallah in 2000. Kids massacred in the Dolphinarium attack of 2001, Jews slaughtered while celebrating Passover at the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002, murdered on a bus in the Beersheba suicide bombings of 2004. We saw a laughing psycho who smashed a baby’s head become an international hero after his release in 2008. We saw little girls butchered in their beds in Itamar in 2011 and the people of the killer handing out candies in the streets to celebrate this “victory.”

However, for the wise old priests of the peace cult, this was all part of the peace process. The dead were sacrifices to their false god. They even coined the term korbanot hashalom, “the sacrifices of peace.”

For these people, a peace deal was not a way to achieve security and prosperity. It was the goal itself. Everything else was secondary.

They didn’t care how many people were murdered, as long as there was a peace deal they could hold high to gain the approval of arrogant Europeans who didn’t give a shit about any of us.

Not since the Aztec empire were so many people sacrificed for an imaginary entity.

Like any other fanatical movement, the priests of the peace cult could not be moved by arguments or evidence. They didn’t care about objective reality. They had their dogmas, forged in Western universities and debated by people who’ve only seen Arabs in Disney’s Aladdin.

Even as a young boy, I got in trouble for mocking this dangerous delusion.

These people seemed insane to me. Far more messianic than any religious Zionist who talks about the third temple or building new towns in the hills of Samaria.

I grew up with stories of my grandfathers who brought peace to Europe, not by appeasing the Nazis, but by laying waste to their country until their leaders killed themselves and their nation begged for peace. What ended Nazism and Japanese imperialism wasn’t a European “peace process” but American steel and Soviet blood.

What we saw in Tel Aviv was a million people waking up from a fever dream. And it only took the worst massacre of Jews since WWII to open their eyes.

You see, I’m a “dangerous right-wing extremist.” I live and breathe war. My eyes are always seeking the stone, the knife, the rocket, the ambush. Anger, I understand. The excitement of war, the joy of seeing your enemies destroyed. Oh yes!

When Dani and I toured the south on our crazy little supply runs, everywhere I met an atmosphere of jovial madness, of crackling energy about to explode. This was my universe, except now it expanded to include most of the nation.

My “madness” has become the new sanity.

People were no longer willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters to the “peace process.” They want actual peace. The kind that followed WWII, the kind that you don’t get by talking to barbarians.

Walking the streets of Tel Aviv in 2024, I was overwhelmed with the hurt of people who were mislead to believe a different way was possible.

What I saw was lost innocence, kindness met with barbarism, optimism met with calamity.

It was people waking up.

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Solomon Bibo was born in Prussia in 1853 and left the country in 1869 due to political persecution. Along with his brothers Nathan and Simon, Solomon started a trading business in Sante Fe.

Solomon also campaigned to prevent the natives from selling land at below market prices to unscrupulous European merchants. Naturally, this made him quite unpopular among the English and Spanish of the region, who benefited greatly from the natives’ lack of business acumen.

At one point, Solomon traveled to the Acoma Indians of New Mexico with a wagon full of dry goods. He sold all his merchandise in less than a week and returned home with a wagon full of corn and pottery which his brothers sold in their stores. This became Solomon’s regular route. He was granted a regular trading post in the Acoma Pueblo and befriended chief Martin Valle. During that time, he perfected his English, learned Spanish, and gained decent command of Keres, Navajo, Laguna and Zuni.

The local Catholic priest was quite upset about a Jew setting up shop right by his church. He traveled to Sante Fe to complain to the bishop, only to learn that the majority of the funds used to construct the cathedral were donated by a wealthy Jewish family named Bibo...

In 1884, Solomon became involved in a land dispute between the Acoma people and the DOI. His letters and PR campaign helped them save their land from an underhanded attempt to grab their territory by a corrupt Indian agent. The Acoma still lost some land, but the Indian agent was removed and Solomon returned to the Acoma a hero.

This did not go unnoticed.

After chief Valle died, the people of the Pueblo elected Solomon, by now fluent in their language and culture (and married to the chief’s granddaughter) to be the new chief.

He served in the role for 13 years, during which he worked hard to bring modern education to the pueblo. This brought him into conflict with the traditionalists, who outnumbered the progressives, and felt they didn’t need no education.

Not wishing to fight the locals, Solomon quit his post but remained involved in Acoma affair. For example, he worked with the US government to remove a chief who used cruel and aggressive methods to punish younger Acoma who wished to acquire modern education.

In 1898, he and his family moved to San Francisco, where they lived as traditional Jews and ran a small chain of stores.

Not bad for a Jewish kid who just wanted to sell some dry goods!

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However, this isn’t what makes him interesting.

In June 1970, during the War of Attrition with Egypt, his plane was damaged by AA fire and he was forced to eject above enemy territory. The following day, he and his navigator were captured by Egyptian soldiers and transported to the Abassiyah prison in Cairo.

There, they shared a cell with three pilots and several other prisoners from other corps. Several months into their captivity, one of the pilots received a copy of the Hobbit that was sent by his brother and delivered by the ICRC.

The pilots loved this book about “a strange and adorable peace-loving creature looking for a good and comfortable life [but] encounters hair raising adventures in the war for a more peaceful and green life” and wanted to share it with their cellmates to distract them from their decidedly non-green and non-peaceful existence in enemy captivity.

However, the other prisoners didn’t speak English.

So the pilots decided to translate the book. I mean, it’s not like they had anything better to do.

For the next three years, working in pairs, they scribbled down the Hebrew translation in a series of tattered notebooks until finally they had the whole book panned down. For three years, this labor of translation of a fun little fantasty story was the only light in their lives.

Harpaz would later comment:

“I heard [a translator] talking about the problems of translation. With us the fun was much greater because we did not owe anyone anything. We did the translation for our own pleasure. None of us had a clue about translation... We knew there had to be consistency, but that’s it. So, as soon as we ran into problems, we simply stuck our primitive heads in them and resolved them the way we wanted.”

So yes, a group of captured warriors spent three years of torture and degradation translating a fantasy book to illuminate the life of their fellow prisoners. The fantasy genre is often called escapism, and this was escapism in its purest, most noble form. This brings to mind a wonderful quote from the titans of the genre:

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? The moneylenders, the knownothings, the authoritarians have us all in prison; if we value the freedom of the mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can.” (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1979)

In this case, the translators were literal prisoners and the Hobbit was their literal escape.

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These are not my favorite movies and shows or even the movies and shows that influenced me the most. These are the movies and shows that never leave my mind, that are mentioned in my company constantly, that remind me of themselves at random points in time.

In making this list, I’ve tried to isolate the movies that still influence me from movies who have power due to memes or nostalgia or pop culture unquietness.

The movies on this list are movies that need no outside help to live inside my brain.

Movies

1. A Clockwork Orange

2. A Woman in Berlin

3. Agora

4. Andrei Rublev

5. Apocalypto

6. Bethlehem (2013)

7. Blue Ruin

8. Children of Men

9. Chistilishche

10. Come and See

11. DMB

12. Downfall (2004)

13. DragonHeart

14. Full Metal Jacket

15. God on Trial

16. Heart of a Dog

17. Hot Shots!

18. In Bruges

19. Ink (2009)

20. Joker

21. Legend of Destruction

22. Leviathan (2014)

23. Lone Wolf and Cub

24. Lord of the Rings

25. Loveless (2017)

26. Mad Max: Fury Road

27. Naked (1993)

28. No Country for Old Men

29. Nosferatu (2025)

30. Peculiarities of the National Hunt

31. Persepolis

32. Predestination

33. Queen of the Gypsies

34. Repo: the Genetic Opera

35. Shizo

36. Shoshana

37. Sicario

38. Snatch

39. Speak No Evil (2022)

40. Starship Troopers

41. The City (2023)

42. The Death of Stalin

43. The Devil’s Double

44. The Devils

45. The Fall (2006)

46. The Great Conqueror’s Concubine

47. The Naked Gun

48. The Northman

49. The Old Man and the Sea

50. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

51. The Terminator

52. Time Crimes

53. Tropa De Elite

54. When the Wind Blows

55. White Sun of the Desert

Shows

1. Andor

2. Arcane (season 1)

3. Blackadder

4. Community

5. Elfen Lied

6. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

7. Generation Kill

8. Hammer and Bolter

9. Honorable Woman

10. Inside No. 9

11. Krovim Krovim

12. Love, Death, and Robots (season 1)

13. Masters of the Air

14. Rome

15. Scavengers Reign

16. Star Trek: the Next Generation

17. The Booth at the End

18. The Expanse

19. The Little Drummer Girl

20. The Wire

21. True Detective (season 1)

22. Yes, Minister & Yes, Prime Minister

I was about to add a little description for each movie or show, but that’s too much work. Instead, if you have any question about any of them, feel free to drop them in the comments and I’ll happily answer or elucidate as needed.

Shabbat Shalom!

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During the war, Israel and the US:

• Killed dozens of Iranian leaders and generals, including the supreme leader. The new supreme leader appears to be gay and retarded so that’s an improvement in terms of diversity and representation. Iran is getting more progressive already!

• Destroyed Iran’s navy and air force, which would make it harder for Iran to crush a potential rebellion or stop an invasion. Consider this a long-term investment.

• Devastated Iran’s rocket factories and metal and petrochemical industry, most of which was directly or indirectly owned by the IRGC. This is a severe blow to their economy. A poor enemy is better than a rich enemy.

• Destroyed dozens of bridges, train stations and airports plus several power stations. As General Sherman had said, it’s important for the people to feel the war and not just read about it on their lying news.

• Destroyed hundreds of Basij and IRGC bases and killed or injured about 10,000 of them, because fuck these people.

On the international front:

• The corrupt and degenerate world order became even more irrelevant. UN? ICC? ICJ? ICRC? Amnesty International? You didn’t even other checking what they had to say about the war, did you? Like Theoden King, we have freed ourselves from their worm tongues.

• The morally bankrupt and cowardly governments of Europe were sidelined in their path to irrelevance while Israel took a step towards the central stage. For the first time in history, the tiny Jewish state projected power in a radius of thousands of kilometers. Hell, we even bombed the Caspian sea. Did you ever imagine Israel bombing the Caspian sea? That’s amazing!

• The Arabs who supported Iran in the last two years got bombed by Iran even more than Israel. They are proud people. They will not forget this. Iran made itself even more isolated while pushing the enemies of Israel towards Israel. Talk about a self-goal!

Awesome.

Now, some people are saying, “the war has failed because the regime didn’t collapse.”

The IRGC has around 125,000 active personnel and can mobilize up to 600,000 more. I don’t see the regime falling right now unless you kill at least this many people, including lots of children, as the regime is fond of using child soldiers.

Oh, and lots of bystanders too because this is how wars work in real life. You don’t get to throw a ring into a volcano or blow up a giant space station to instantly defeat the enemy.

Instead, it’s years of slaughter.

I doubt Trump has the stomach for it. I doubt you do.

No, regime change is the business of the Iranian people. Our business is to make sure this Third World shithole remains a Third World shithole until it decides to replace its deranged ruling class.

Now let’s talk about the two things the media totally ignored.

Iran Became Israel’s Proxy

If Israel isn’t safe, it can attack Iran which then causes economic mayhem by shutting the Straits and bombing the Arabs, making oil prices skyrocket. This makes Israel’s problems everybody’s problems. The IRGC are basically Israel’s Houthis now.

Iran has established a clear equation: if Israelis are not happy, no one is happy. You no longer get to enjoy cheap gas while Israelis are dying.

Thank you, Iran.

Iran’s Promise Was Not True

Just like Hamas, Iran presented a series of demands for a ceasefire and backed from all of them them, instead accepting what Israelis call “quiet in return for quiet.”

For example, Iran demanded:

• The establishment of concrete mechanisms to ensure they are not attacked again.

• Guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war damages and reparations.

• The conclusion of the war across all fronts throughout the region.

• International recognition of Iran’s authority over the Strait of Hormuz.

In the end they got nothing.

Israel and the US just stopped bombing them. That is all.

The ceasefire has a deadline of two weeks, without any guarantees. They aren’t going to get a penny from Israel or the US. Israel is still mauling Gaza and Lebanon. The straits are open again. No buts.

Iran is exactly where it was one month ago minus their government, military, and industry, and with the added headache of soured relations with their Arab neighbors.

If you call this a win, well, I hope you really enjoy your BDSM sessions.

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Luckily, we have the Elephantine papyri and ostraca to tell us about it.

Elephantine Island sits in the Nile near modern-day Aswan.

In the 5th century BCE, it was a frontier garrison of the Persian Empire. Jewish soldiers served their along with their families and, as you may have noticed from following this account, Jews like to write. A lot.

Their letters include legal documents, wills, debates on religious matters, business correspondence… and a temple.

Now, according to Deuteronomic law, worship is supposed to be centralized in Jerusalem. One God, one city, one temple. And yet, here we have Jews in Egypt running their own temple to YHW (spelled like that in the documents), offering sacrifices, and asking foreign Jews on religious advise how to Jew correctly.

For example, one of the letters includes instructions on how to do Passover, written by a guy named Hananya to a guy named Yedanya. As someone who has to Google every time he’s invited to Sabbath or has to say a blessing, I sympathize.

The reply, written on 419 BCE reads:

“Now you have counted 14 days for Nisan, and on the 14th between the sunsets you shall celebrate Passover. And from the 15th to the 21st of Nisan you shall celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread... You shall do no work on the 15th and 21st of Nisan. You shall not drink wine and you shall not eat anything leavened, and it shall not be seen in your houses, from the 14th of Nisan at sunset until the 21st of Nisan at sunset. All leavened bread that you have in your houses you shall bring into your rooms and seal it between these days.”

Outside of the Bible, this is the oldest evidence of Jews celebrating Passover.

Interestingly, the Jews living in this remote outpost had their own temple.

There are letters sent to the high priest in Jerusalem asking for his support in re-building their temple. This seems to suggest that the priests of the Jerusalem Temple were not enforcing Deuteronomic law at that time or they would have been scandalized by the request.

Another letter was written in 407 BCE to Bagoas, the Persian governor of Judea. It also appeals for assistance in rebuilding the Jewish temple in Elephantine, which had recently been damaged by a pogrom (must have been because of the Gaza war…)

The letter includes the passage:

Now our forefathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine back in the days of the kingdom of Egypt, and when Cambyses came to Egypt he found it built. They (the Persians) knocked down all the temples of the gods of Egypt, but no one did any damage to this temple.

This implies the temple in Elephantine was older than the Persian occupation of Egypt. There is a response from the governor in which he gives the permission to rebuild the temple.

Nevertheless, by the middle of the 4th century BCE, the temple ceased to function. Perhaps this had something to do with the fall of the Persian Empire at the hands of Alexander the Great?

Reading these letters, we’re left to wonder, how many other semi-piratical Jewish temples quietly existed in the ancient world? I guess this is something for Indiana Jones to find out while hopefully not killing too many Asian sidekicks in the process.

As a Soviet Jew, I identify deeply with these people.

They’ve lived far from their ancestral land in a vast empire that managed their part of world. While they had a strong desire to remain Jewish and keep the old ways, they didn’t have access to the lore, giving rise to errors and gaps in knowledge. They knew that they didn’t know, but they didn’t know what they didn’t know. Their Jewishness was full of mystery boxes they didn’t have keys for.

This is natural.

The amazing thing is that after nearly 3,000 years of being scattered across the world, often without access to the complex texts of Judaism, the Jews remained excited about their Jewishness, often serving as archeologists of their own identity.

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On Passover 1799, he planned to proclaim a Jewish state but was defeated by the British before he had a chance to do so. The proclamation is so beautifully written that I’m going to post it here in its entirety:

“Israelites, unique nation, whom, in thousands of years, lust of conquest and tyranny have been able to be deprived of their ancestral lands, but not of name and national existence!

Attentive and impartial observers of the destinies of nations, even though not endowed with the gifts of seers like Isaiah and Joel, have long since also felt what these, with beautiful and uplifting faith, have foretold when they saw the approaching destruction of their kingdom and fatherland: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35,10)

Arise then, with gladness, ye exiled! A war unexampled In the annals of history, waged in self-defense by a nation whose hereditary lands were regarded by its enemies as plunder to be divided, arbitrarily and at their convenience, by a stroke of the pen of Cabinets, avenges its own shame and the shame of the remotest nations, long forgotten under the yoke of slavery, and also, the almost two-thousand-year-old ignominy put upon you; and, while time and circumstances would seem to be least favorable to a restatement of your claims or even to their expression ,and indeed to be compelling their complete abandonment, it offers to you at this very time, and contrary to all expectations, Israel’s patrimony!

The young army with which Providence has sent me hither, let by justice and accompanied by victory, has made Jerusalem my headquarters and will, within a few days, transfer them to Damascus, a proximity which is no longer terrifying to David’s city.

Rightful heirs of Palestine!

The great nation which does not trade in men and countries as did those which sold your ancestors unto all people (Joel 4:6) herewith calls on you not indeed to conquer your patrimony; nay, only to take over that which has been conquered and, with that nation’s warranty and support, to remain master of it to maintain it against all comers.

Arise! Show that the former overwhelming might of your oppressors has but repressed the courage of the descendants of those heroes who alliance of brothers would have done honor even to Sparta and Rome (Maccabees 12:15) but that the two thousand years of treatment as slaves have not succeeded in stifling it.

Hasten! Now is the moment, which may not return for thousands of years, to claim the restoration of civic rights among the population of the universe which had been shamefully withheld from you for thousands of years, your political existence as a nation among the nations, and the unlimited natural right to worship Jehovah in accordance with your faith, publicly and most probably forever (Joel 4:20).”

Interestingly, across the pond, sentiments were similar:

For example, in 1819, John Adams wrote:

"I really wish the Jews again in Judea, an independent nation, for, as I believe, the most enlightened men of it have participated in the amelioration of the philosophy of the age; once restored to an independent government, and no longer persecuted."

While his son, future president John Quincy Adams wrote:

“I believe in the rebuilding of Judea as an independent nation and the gathering of the Jews once more as a distinct people upon their own land.”

The Jews always faced many powerful enemies across the world, but they were never alone. Sometimes the barking of the dogs is strong enough to drown the roar of lions, but have no doubt, they are always there.

Happy Passover everyone! Happy Freedom Holiday!

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A populist ruler rises in one of the most advanced and sophisticated countries in the world. He blames the Jews for all his country’s problems. He blames them for taking unfair economic advantage of the natives, for being a fifth column with high birthrates, for being disgusting foreigners who subvert the nation’s pure ways.

He passes a series of laws that disenfranchise and dehumanize them, reducing them to slaves and criminals in their own country, in which they have lived for hundreds of years, contributing to its culture and economy.

Then he proceeds to outright genocide of the Jewish people.

However, there is a painful lesson as old as time that everyone keeps forgetting: it always starts with Jews, but it never ends with them.

The leader’s murderous ambitions lead to the intervention of a greater power that brings about the devastation of his country and the collapse of his own regime through the use of force he didn’t even imagine was possible.

Fire rains from the sky. The rivers run red with blood. Disease and deprivation stalk the land. Death is in every home.

Milton wrote:

“Abashed the devil stood and saw how awful goodness is.”

Once again, evil learns that good isn’t cute or nice. It’s awful.

Realizing they will never be safe among strangers, the Jews journey to the Promised Land, only to learn it has been occupied by their hostile cousins. However, they are no longer Jews with trembling knees, but a nation of hardened warriors and stubborn dreamers.

Against all odds, they defeat the hateful nations who hold every advantage imaginable against this army of refugees. However, they do not exterminate them, or drive them away despite being advised to do so by their greatest ally.

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.”

I wonder why?

Surely you can’t blame the UN, Biden, or the High Court for Jewish policies during the Bronze Age? Biden is old, but he’s not that old… Why do the Jews refuse to win wars the way other people do?

This failure to secure a total victory results in the locals creating endless problems for the Jews in generations to come…

And so it goes.

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And yes, there will be grades in the end.

This week marked the dubious occasion of the 900th day of the October 7 war. I don’t think anyone imagined it would get so big or take so long.

What started as an invasion of several thousand barbarians into sleepy little communities along the border has devolved into a massive brawl involving Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, The Palestinian Territories, United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Yemen.

If your country is not on the list, our sincerest apologies. We’re working on fixing that.

Despite everyone getting their share of bombs, often from two or more sides of the conflict (“the enemy of my enemy is my friend” doesn’t work in the Middle East), there are several main theaters to this war.

The war isn’t over. People were killed in each one of these locations in the past 48 hours. Nevertheless, I’d like to share some thoughts and grade Israel’s performances in each theater.

Grading a war before it’s over is a strange thing to do. Every pawn can become a queen. It’s not over until the fat lady sings. He who laughs last, laughs best. And so forth.

Furthermore, my grades don’t reflect the official goals of the war, but my goals. And remember, according to Facebook and Discord, I’m a dangerous extremist.

However, if you’re reading this article it means you’re interested in my perspective. Otherwise, you’d be listening to some lying politician lying to you about things.

Why even grade a war before it’s over?

Because there are things we’ve learned and perhaps can start applying right now to achieve better results. Besides, if we don’t speak now, then when? When it’s all over and it’s too late? Let’s leave it to the lying historians in the service of the lying politicians.

Finally, a note about victory and defeat. Jews and Arabs are prone to maximalism.

Jews view everything that's not a total victory as a defeat. Arabs view everything that's not a total defeat as a victory. In reality, very few wars have Mordor collapsing, the Death Star exploding, or Hitler shooting himself in a bunker.

The outcome of a war is a spectrum, not a binary.

Iran

Achievements:

• Countless generals, administrators, and leaders killed.

• Iran’s nuclear program and missile program set back many years.

• America joined the fight.

A lot of people define victory in Iran as the fall of the Islamic Republic. However, as I’ve been saying for years, this is wishful thinking fueled by a court jester who fancies himself a king and his band of sycophants who think their demonstrations in Europe have any effect on anything.

As the saying goes, “we shun them not for their noble dreams, but for their refusal to let such noble dreams die a noble death.”

In reality, there is no Iranian opposition.

There are millions of unhappy, angry, and brave people. Amazingly brave people. Truly, I wish every nation on the planet such courage in the face of oppression. I wish I had an ounce of their courage.

However, they have no organization, not leadership, no strategy. There is no mass movement, only a mass.

They only thing they can do is go into the streets and be massacred by religious fanatics who don’t care how many Iranians die as long as the regime remains. To quote one imam, “it doesn’t matter if you add or remove a fish from the aquarium as long as the water remains pure.”

People also forget how big Iran is.

It’s 1,648,000 km2. Just to give you a sense of scale, Israel is 22,072 km2 (allegedly). That’s almost 75 times smaller!

You can bomb it for months and only scratch the surface.

Does this mean the regime won’t fall? Not necessarily.

Just like in the Soviet Union, elements within the regime may decide they don’t need this crap and replace it with something that would allow them to go on vacations to Venice and for their wives to shop in Paris.

However, this is a huge gamble: if the war is perceived as successful, Trump and Israel will get a huge popularity boost. Never mind what the media says, people love winners. If it doesn’t pay off, Israel’s reputation will take a blow (and it’s already not great) and the Republicans will probably take a beating in the midterms.

However, the mere fact Israel is able to regularly project its power over such huge distances (we even bombed the Caspian Sea!) and is counted among the empires of the world is already no small feat.

Regardless of the outcome of the war, this is an achievement we already made. We fought beside the world’s greatest empire as equals.

Another overlooked achicement is the new equation.

By hysterically shooting in all directions, Iran has paradoxically established a new equation for the world: if Israelis are not safe, no one is safe.

And so, regardless of its outcome, this war has already elevated Israel’s importance in the world.

Thank you, Iran.

Grade: B, may become A

Lebanon

Achievements:

• South Lebanon devastated and of its people displaced.

• Hezbollah lost most of its experienced fighters and commanders.

• South Lebanon converted into a buffer zone—the enemy lost land, not just people.

• Lebanon is starting to take some measures against Iranian influence.

Hezbollah could have dealt Israel a killing blow if it invaded on October 7. However, much like his ancient compatriot Hannibal, Nasrallah hesitated and as a result was dealt a killing blow himself. Now Hezbollah is a shadow of its former self.

Their attacks are weaker than in the past. They cannot defend their villages. A single tweet sends a million Lebanese fleeing. Even the feckless Lebanese government is bullying them and their Iranian puppet masters.

And of course the exploding pagers were one of the coolest operations in military history. Nothing short of a masterpiece! Can’t wait for the movie!

Now it seems Israel is moving towards creating a security zone in South Lebanon. Not occupying it while serving as sport for the local population but depopulating and deforesting it, like a proper buffer zone should be, like in the old days.

Amazingly, while the world cries each time a Palestinian mass murderer isn’t given three hot meals and a bubble bath, when it comes to Lebanon, no one seems to care.

Good job, Hezbollah!

If Israel keeps pushing, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t, then we may have our first total victory in decades.

In the words of the helmeted guy, “this is the way.”

Grade: A+

Yemen

Achievements:

• No missiles were launched at Israel or the Red Sea in a while.

Israel is not an empire.

It cannot occupy a country thousands of miles away. NATO should have done that to defend shipping routes, but Europe hasn’t been an empire for a while, and I guess America is tired of bailing Europe’s ass in return for insults and condescension.

However, the fact Israel could regularly bomb such a distant country is again a serious boost to its international standing. Furthermore, by recognizing Somaliland and gaining a foothold in the area, Israel made its first baby step towards Empire.

The same is true for Israel’s involvement in the Suwayda conflict in Syria. For the first time in history, Israel isn’t just fending off attacks, but projecting power and acting as a local mediator, like the British Empire used to in the previous century.

I don’t know what will come out of it, but this is exciting!

Grade: B

Gaza

Achievements:

• Gaza devastated and its people displaced.

• The military tunnel network of Hamas seriously damaged.

• Hamas lost most of its experienced fighters and commanders.

• All hostages returned to Israel without Israel giving up on its principle demands.

• Half of Gaza converted into a buffer zone—the enemy lost land, not just people.

One madman named Sin+war started this whole mess from an enclave the size of Queens. On October 7, his barbarian horde invaded Israel, followed by thousands of “unarmed civilians” and engaged in every atrocity imaginable for an entire day.

They have taken 250 hostages to blackmail Israel as such activities were rewarded in the past. In fact, Sinwar himself was released as part of a deal in which over 1,000 killers and their accomplices were released in exchange for a single Israeli soldier.

October 7 was the blackest day for Israel and the Jewish people in living memory. This was the day everything changed. Every Jew on a planet has two selves: before October 7 and after October 7. Every single Jew.

Many people thought this will translate into a radical change in Israeli policies, but perhaps it was naïve to think the authors of the problem would be the ones to fix it. I have a lot to say about this as well, but here is not the place or the time.

As of today, the operation in Gaza seems like just another “round” (did you notice Israelis are the only people who use this insane term?). Despite the epic level of destruction, the goal still seems to be merely to restore the status quo ante bellum.

“Mowing the grass,” like they used to call it in the old days.

The enemy was not destroyed. Hamas still rules Gaza, albeit much diminished both in power and territory. The enemy is licking his wounds and restoring his power.

Then again, why do we talk about Hamas?

One of Israel’s biggest mistakes was framing this war as an operation against Hamas. If you’re fighting Hamas, how can you justify leveling entire cities? In the imagination of most people, Hamas is some shadowy cabal active within Gaza, not the totality of its people. However, if you’re fighting Gaza, this is justified, like the destruction of Germany and Japan were justified, even mandatory, during WWII.

As of now, I see no trend of remedying this mistake.

The problem with rounds is that each round was bloodier than the last.

In 2006, 1 Israeli was killed.

In 2008, it was 13.

In 2014, it was 73.

Since 2023, more than 2000 Israelis were killed.

We call it “mowing the grass” but it’s not grass. It’s men. Strong, fearless, and ferocious men who learn from each conflict just like we do. The idea that we can keep these rounds forever at the same cost is insane.

Wars needs to be won, not managed.

Throughout the war, the Israeli government and military engaged in the biggest treason of a nation by its own government in recent history: it supplied the enemy even as the enemy rained fire and death on the Israeli people. The statement here is simple: “you can massacre our people as much as you like, we’ll keep feeding you.”

This aberration is another result of trying to manage the conflict instead of winning the war, of trying to meddle in the Palestinians’ internal politics instead of defeating them as a unified enemy.

A lot of people are saying “there are things we don’t know” and “they’re playing 4D chess” however, I’ve been hearing this for 20 years and I’m done giving these people chances.

However, there is still a sliver of hope in my heart. While the politicians and generals are the same garbage they were before October 7, the people have changed. Once we’re freed of the useless generals and politicians who’ve imprisoned our imagination, people will start dreaming again and something amazing will happen. Of that, I’m certain.

Why? Because I’m Israeli.

We’re stupid like that.

Grade: C

Judea and Samaria

Achievements:

• Arab terrorism is the lowest it has been in over a decade.

• For the first time in my lifetime, there isn’t a single Arab with Jewish blood on his hands who isn’t dead or in jail.

• Jews are reclaiming land given to the enemy by previous governments.

What can I say? You can’t argue with results and the results are impressive.

As someone who lives in Samaria and drives there all the time, I definitely sense an improvement in security. The Israeli flags everywhere are a nice touch as well.

However, Gaza also felt safe up to the morning of October 7. Don’t forget that.

By God, never forget that!

As long as the enemy is there, the risk of the enemy pulling off another successful sucker punch is a possibility. Especially if the quiet lasts for years and people start confusing it for peace.

The Arabs of Judea and Samaria may be beaten, but they’re still Israel’s mortal enemies. How can they be anything else? Had their education changed utterly, perhaps in two generations they would have change as well.

But right now, the education is more extreme than ever. Their ability to fight has been curtailed. Their desire wasn’t. These are men who are strong, who are fearless, who are resourceful. They are back by a quarter of the world’s population. They are a mortal threat.

Also, someone else still pays for their mistakes. Lose your home? Saudi Arabia will build you a new one. Lose you meal? Spain will drop a box of expired ham on your head. Get displaced, UNRWA will take care of you and your children (especially the children…).

This must end. Until this happens, this is still managing the conflict instead of winning the war.

However, I must grudgingly admit that it’s managed very, very well. Makes me proud for having served in the IDF back in the day.

Grade: A-

Israel

Achievements:

• The Israeli people discovered a steadfastness we didn’t know we had.

• Israeli weapons are the hottest product in the market.

• The economy is booming.

Perhaps trying to tank the economy of a country whose economy is based on war by starting a giant war was not the brightest idea of the enemy.

More importantly, as I’ve said many times in the past, the war has become a waiting game and Israelis have shown remarkable patience and fortitude.

In the past, we were a culture that wanted everything here and now while the enemy had the patience to play the long game.

Now, Israelis display steadfastness while our enemies cry, “We’ve run out of patience. We’re tired.”

No matter what you throw at us, we just smile and go eat our gummy bears and watch Disney cartoons while missiles explode over our heads.

In the end, our ability to hold fast may prove to be the most important weapon of the war.

And praise be to God, turns out we have far more of it than even we have ever imagined.

What can I say? Discovering your own strength and worth is a very nice feeling.

Grade: A+

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The Jew Hate of various groups should not be discussed separately. There is only one Jew Hate. It existed for two thousand years, wore a million faces, but its core always remained.

Most people make the mistake of trying to understand Jew Hate as an opinion people formed as a result of data and experience. What about their lives made them hate Jews? What about Jews make them hateful?

They ask: why do Communists hate Jews? Why do Fascists hate Jews? Why do Muslims hate Jews?

This line of thinking is a dead end because it’s based on a false premise.

Jew Hate is not an opinion. It’s an entity. How it evolved does not matter. It lives among us now. It will never die.

It passes through the medium of humanity like a wave through water. Like Sauron, it is a spirit without a body commanding many dark forces, some huge and loud like the Nazi hordes of Europe or the Islamist hordes of Asia, some hidden and insidious, like the cabal of influencers poisoning the Western mind under the guise of noticing and asking questions.

There are times when it lies low, waiting for the right time to resurface. There are times when it unleashes its might upon the world, leaving untold death and destruction in its wake.

Yes, not just the Jews. The World.

Because here is the thing about this entity: Jews are just an appetizer. The main course is humanity.

It always starts with Jews but it never ends with them.

Every movement that was obsessed with Jews ended up killing more non-Jews than Jews. The Islamists massacre “wrong” Muslims. The Nazis killed tens of millions of Slavs. The new influencers are severing the links that hold Western civilization.

The German philosopher Oswald Spengler, no friend of the Jews, wrote:

"How much envy of the capability of other people in view of one's lack of it lies hidden in antisemitism? When one would rather destroy business and scholarship than see Jews in them, one is an ideologue, a danger for the nation."

Less than a decade after he wrote down these words, his nation was razed to the ground.

The entity is a shapeshifter.

Jew haters don’t hate Jews for something; they hate them for everything. Capitalism and communism, fanaticism and atheism, nationalism and globalism, insularity and meddling.

They pin all the sins of the world on Jews. These are the cracks through which the entity gains entrance into new mass movements.

During the Black Death, it whispered Jews were poisoning wells. In the Spanish Inquisition, it insisted there was something hidden and corrupt even in converted Jews. In enlightened France, it convinced millions Alfred Dreyfus was a traitor because treason was in his Jewish blood.

When the twentieth century arrived, the entity adopted the language of science and reason in Germany, accusing Jews of being both capitalist parasites and communist subversives, both perfectly assimilated and alien geneitcally-toxic.

In the materialist and anti-racist Soviet Union, it resurfaced as the Doctors’ Plot, where Jewish doctors were imagined as a hidden network of killers operating behind the scenes. Later, it shapeshifted again to accuse a nation smaller than most neighborhoods in Moscow of being a unique threat to world peace.

Today, the entity found a new medium.

It moves at the speed of light, carried by algorithms and disguised as debate. It speaks of globalist cabals, shadowy financial manipulators, elites with divided loyalties. It throws everything at you, knowing that something will stick.

It rarely needs to say the word “Jew.” The shapes are familiar. The outlines are etched into memory. The audience fills in the blanks.

Inside every mass movement there’s a Jew-shaped hole and the entity is eager to fill it. The stereotypes and lies are ready for use in case of emergency. Just break the glass and pull out the most relevant hate when the time is right.

Ask a 100 bigots on the street why they hate Blacks or Muslims and you’ll get more or less the same reply. Ask 100 bigots why they hate Jews and you’ll get as many replies as you the number of people you ask.

Jews are nonwhites corrupting the Western civilization with their foreign blood and ideas. They are white supremacist, imperialists and capitalists oppressing poor brown people. They are European imposters stealing the position of the true natives. They are an ancient race of monsters that killed Christ.

Bolshevism is a Jewish movement because 5% of its founders were Jews who followed a gentile. Christianity is not a Jewish movement despite 100% of its founders being Jews who followed a Jew.

The entity will do all the work for you, you just have to let it in.

It does not distinguish between Europeans and Middle Easterners, Fascists or Communists, left or right. It offers its services to every mass movement.

And it is so useful!

You see, a mass movement doesn’t have to have a God, but it must have a devil.

But why Jews? What’s so special about this small and ancient nation that’s not even 0.2% of the population of the world? That rules a nation the size of Wales with a smaller population than some Indian suburbs?

Let me give you a Jewish answer: why not?

The ideological and religious infrastructure is already there. It can be activated with a single tweet. Why waste time and energy creating a new ancient hatred when you have one lurking at home, eager to come as soon as you whistle.

The entity will eventually eat you. It always does. But that’s a problem for future you.

You will be destroyed but the entity will get one more thing to pin on the Jews, one more crack through which it can ooze into the world.

You think you’re using it, but in reality it’s using you.

Always.

Does the entity need Jews? Not really.

If Jews disappeared tomorrow, the entity would continue to exist just the same. It doesn’t need Jews. It only needs the idea of Jews.

If Jews disappeared from the Earth, it would attribute various disasters to secret Jews. Already, there is a whole class of people on the internet who link literally every bad thing that happens anywhere on the planet, from forest fires in Argentina to an Iranian attack on Qatar, on the Jews.

Their logic is simple: “A bad thing has happened, therefore the Jews have done. Why did the Jews do this bad thing?”

They do not need evidence. They have a faith. Ironically, antisemitism is the greatest conspiracy theory of them all, binding millions of disparate people in the same darkness.

Do you think their audience will care if there were no actual Jews? They can’t afford it. If they can’t hate Jews, what will they be left with? Hating themselves?

So no, Jews are absolutely not necessary for the entity to exist. Jews are just a snack. The main feast is humans—any humans, all humans—as long as there are humans, the entity will not starve.

In the words of Roman author Tertullian:

“It is credible, because it is unfitting. it is certain, because it is impossible.”

The entity doesn’t care what Jews do or don’t do. Good faith is foreign to it. Instead, it works on blind faith, which people seem to have far more than good faith these days.

It is an apatite, nothing more.

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