Monday, November 13, 2023
Oh, yes, it's here.
By now you’ve heard about the attacks on Jewish places in Montreal. Molotov cocktails in a shul, gunshots at a yeshiva – twice in four days. In local media reports, one Jewish community leader was quoted as saying, “These things have to stop. This has no place here in Quebec, in Canada or Montreal, it’s not who we are. There’s a conflict going on thousands of miles away, don’t bring it here.”
He actually said, “Don’t bring it here.” If only it were so simple. News flash: The conflict is absolutely going on here. The conflict at this point is not about Gaza and Israel, or Hamas and Israel, or Palestinians and Israel. The conflict is here and it is about good old-fashioned anti-Semitism, although there’s nothing good about it. The people who have hated Jews all along, either blatantly, secretly, or somewhere in between, are now empowered to express their hate, to parade their hate through the streets, surrounded by and protected by like-minded throngs.
What is astounding to me is how, in all the cries of these raucous, angry, pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas rallies, all the shouting about Genocide and War Crimes that they attribute to Israel (textbook “DARVO” – see my message of last Wednesday), all of the chanting about destroying Israel, no one mentions the hostages. On the contrary. These zealots are tearing down posters of kidnapped women, men, children, and babies. Who does that?!
Sorry, it’s too late to say, “Don’t bring it here.” It’s here. It’s here in force. They have the Jews jumping. We’re scared, we’re intimidated, we’re all those things that they want us to be. But one thing that we are not — we are not divided. Another thing that we are not — we are not distracted. Every one of us knows and remembers, every minute of every day, that the priority is to bring home the hostages. We will stay strong. We must stay strong. We will stay united. We must stay united. We will keep our focus. We must keep our focus. And, with G-d’s help (and that of the IDF), we will bring them home.
Am Yisrael Chai!