Thursday, November 9, 2023

To try to shut up that guy who kept writing to me last week on social media about Israel’s crimes, I (stupidly!) sent him a compelling video of a Palestinian speaking in support of Israel, someone who went in to work in Israel every day.  In response (what was I thinking? Did I really think that would do anything?!), he wrote, “Big deal. I can send you hundreds of videos of Jews who say that Israel is an Apartheid State.”

Unfortunately, he is absolutely right. I just now saw yet another video of a pro-Palestinian protest.  This was here in Toronto, in Union Station this morning, where the chant was “War Criminals! Shame!”  The ones holding up the signs were “Jews 4 a Free Palestine.”  Any Jew who is chanting that Israel is committing war crimes or that Israel is an Apartheid State, is doing so because of ignorance (as opposed to those who are merely anti-Semites conveniently taking advantage of a wave). 

I’m a broken record, so here I go again, trying desperately to fight dangerous ignorance. Unless we’re in the IDF physically defending Israel, the way that we defend our Homeland is to defend its name. And to do so, we have got to know the truth. Here are the FACTS to show how Israel is absolutely, positively, definitively NOT an Apartheid State:

FACT #1. There are Arab policemen in Israel.
FACT #2. There are Arab doctors and nurses in Israel.
FACT #3. There are Arab members of the Israeli Parliament.
FACT #4. There are Arab members of the Israel Defense Forces.
FACT #5. Almost 1/3 of Israeli citizens are not Jews.  They all have full legal rights under the law.
FACT #6. Israel is the ONLY country in the Middle East that guarantees freedom of religion, and guarantees freedom of access to religious sites to all groups.
FACT #7. Israeli hospitals treat Arab, Jewish, and Christian citizens equally. Not only that, but Israeli forces pick up civilians who can’t get the medical aid they need in the surrounding Arab countries. These Arab civilians walk along the Israeli border hoping to be picked up and brought to Israeli hospitals, where they are treated for free and then taken back to where they can get back to their own homes in their home countries. (By the way, one of the Israeli women volunteers who helped take sick Palestinians from the Gaza border to the Israeli hospital and back is now one of the kidnapped in Gaza.)

Oh, and while we’re at it: Over the decades over 800,000 Jews have been EXPELLED from surrounding Arab countries, countries where they not only are not allowed to live, but are not allowed to visit. Sounds to me like ethnic cleansing of Jews from those countries.

THESE ARE FACTS. Not opinions. FACTS. Learn them. Remember them. Share them. It’s getting worse out there. Don’t let the ignorance take over!

Am Yisrael Chai!