RSS
Nepotism or Normal?
The Titanic at the docks of Southampton. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – Isn’t it ironic that in our own advanced, enlightened and progressive generation, more murder and mayhem is going on around the world than in ancient and primitive times? Chaos and anarchy reign while wars and terror hotspots dot the global landscape. Are sophisticated moderns really more vicious and violent than the cavemen of old? That’s for another discussion, but it is a sad irony indeed.
Alas, Cowboys and Indians and war movies have nothing on the TV news we watch on our screens daily. Just the other day, 38-year-old Gidon Peri was murdered by a Palestinian who attacked him with a hammer to his head.
Beyond the immediate danger zones lies the risk that we who may be somewhat removed from the battlefields may well become desensitized by the non-stop feed of terror, stabbings and massacres. Our brains are bombarded continuously with wars, murder and violence. There is a very real concern that the constancy of it may well leave us unmoved, inured and almost immunized to bloodshed. We see so much of it regularly that it becomes commonplace and “normal”; our feelings of compassion and sensitivity may be weakening.
We need to reaffirm our abhorrence of violence. We remain a peace-loving people, despite the IDF’s military prowess and our heroic soldiers’ courageous tenacity and commitment to protecting our land and its people.
Over 3,000 years ago, the Jews taught the world about the sanctity of human life. The Ten Commandments and our moral code formed the basis and culture of numerous societies. But there are still too many who deny the sanctity of life and worship death. We taught the value of life to the world, and they have become a death cult, glorifying the ghastly. Is it conceivable in our wildest imaginations that IDF soldiers, or any Jews, would or could have perpetrated a bloodthirsty massacre like Oct. 7? The grisly savagery was so mind-boggling that I struggle to look at the photos.
It is therefore paramount that we, the moral community, exercise the utmost vigilance to maintain our own sensitivity in the face of the visual onslaughts we are exposed to daily.
This brings me to the cynical accusations leveled against us that we Jews do not feel compassion for others. They say we “only care for our own” and do not actually extend our compassion to other people. We don’t care about the innocent men, women and children in Gaza. We only care for our own.
Well, this is but one of the many Big Lies that Jews have had to contend with over the ages. Like all of them, it is wrong, unjustified and utterly absurd. In fact, I can quite easily argue and demonstrate that Jews care more for others than those “others” care for their own. Golda Meir’s famous line comes to mind immediately: “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours.” How true this remains to this day. Hamas gleefully trains children to become suicide bombers. Little children with machine guns and suicide vests are pictured regularly in their propaganda. This is their “nachas.”
As for Jewish tradition, the Talmud teaches: “We support the non-Jewish poor together with the Jewish poor.” Indeed, we have done so forever. Any objective observer will see it empirically, too.
I remember some years ago meeting the head of the United Jewish Communities of New York when he was here on a visit to South Africa. He told me how proud he was that he managed to persuade a Jewish donor in Manhattan to donate $1 million to Israel. But his pride was shattered when the next morning he read in the New York Times that the very same fellow had just donated $9 million to Columbia University (we won’t discuss Colombia University’s behavior after Oct. 7).
How many American universities, hospitals and other community centers have been supported with massive donations, sponsorships and endowments by Jewish donors? The list is endless.
Then there’s the other guilt-inducing practice that when we hear a tragedy has occurred, G-d forbid, we ask, “Were any Jews involved?” Do we only care about our own? Is it morally correct to even ask that question?
So, please allow me to assuage your guilt.
Let’s imagine you were on the Titanic. You managed to get into a lifeboat and there are people’s heads bobbing up in the water. You can’t possibly save them all from drowning. Then you see your own brother in the water. Would you say it was immoral to offer your brother your outstretched hand first before saving a stranger? Or is that, in fact, the morally correct thing to do?
Is there a moral dilemma here? In my humble opinion: no, not at all.
Charity begins at home. True, we mustn’t only give to our family. We are expected to extend our charity beyond our family to our community, in ever-widening circles if we can. But family does come first. That is a completely correct and appropriate moral duty and obligation.
We Jews are all family. We are sons and daughters of our founding patriarchs and matriarchs, and brothers and sisters literally, traditionally and emotionally. We help the world big time. But we need make no apologies whatsoever for helping our family first.
We fully accept responsibility to help causes beyond our own, but our first obligation is surely to our own brothers and sisters. For this, we have no regrets and no explanations should be necessary.
I am not at all impressed by the world agencies whose job it is to help countries and communities in need. They who claim to be “equal” in their distribution of charity and care to the needy seem to be rather discriminating when it comes to Israel and Jews. When you care “equally” about everyone, it seems you may well end up caring about no one.
So we, Israel and the Jewish people, will continue to be the most moral nation on earth. We shall carry on looking after our own and the rest of the world too.
The post Nepotism or Normal? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
On Yom HaShoah, Three New Holocaust Films Are Worth Watching
The entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
As we mark Yom HaShoah this year, three Holocaust films stand out.
The first is a gripping drama about the first Jewish escape from a death camp. The World Will Tremble is directed by Lior Geller and features excellent acting by Oliver-Jackson Cohen, who plays Solomon, a Jew who makes an unlikely escape from Chelmno. The cast of Jews and Germans is all stellar but Geller, who wrote and directed the film, is the real star. Geller crafted a gripping film that soaks you in a bath of horror and despair only to embrace you with a towel of freedom and hope. It is an impressive movie that is full of heart, and tells a story that is not well known.
UnBroken is a documentary that shares the seemingly implausible story of seven Jewish siblings who survived the Holocaust, largely due to gentile farmers who chose to hide them. It is directed with deft and passion by Beth Lane, who goes to Germany to see the places where her family, including her mother, hid.
Unbroken explains how Lane’s grandmother was extremely daring, and when she loved a Christian man, she got him to convert. There is some unexpected humor toward the beginning of the film, and at a time when few survivors are alive, it is a blessing to see a film in which some appear and are completely cogent. The film is also based on the writings of Alfons, one of the seven siblings who survived. Was that result due to luck, kindness of farmers, or the work of God? The film is not overly preachy and allows the viewer to come to their own conclusions.
Lane’s film is an exquisite look at how the morality of two people can impact more than 70 lives, as the siblings have children and grandchildren. At one point, Lane asks if young people today would risk their lives to hide her. We can never really know what one would really do, but I suspect that few would risk their lives to save strangers.
Both The World Will Tremble and UnBroken would be excellent choices to show high school or college classes.
And if you want to learn about something you most certainly haven’t heard of, none other than the iconic Martin Scorsese has done an episode of his series The Saints that involves an unexpected hero of the Holocaust. Available on Fox Nation, the episode tells of Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest who started the first Christian radio station in Poland. Interestingly, Kolbe at one time preached antisemitism, believing that the sick conspiracy book The Protocols of The Elders of Zion was actually true.
But that did not stop him from doing something unthinkable when the Gestapo sent him to Auschwitz. When one Jew escaped, a Nazi decided 10 would have to die. When Kolbe heard that one Jewish man cried that he had a wife and child, Kolbe asked the Nazi if he could be killed instead. He agreed. And a Jewish man named Franciszek Gajowniczek was saved, and lived until 1995 and attended the canonization of Kolbe.
There is not much dialogue, but the acting of Milivoje Obradovic is strong as Kolbe, who isn’t dramatic, doesn’t yell and chooses his fate to die for a Jew as if it is a totally normal request, even though the Nazi seems dumbfounded.
It is unclear whether or not he realized The Protocols of The Elders of Zion was a lie, or he simply realized that the barbarity of the Holocaust was an affront to God. Earlier in the episode, as a child, he says he wants to be pure and a martyr and may have been affected by his father’s death.
At a time when some people think they know all of the Holocaust stories already out there, here are three new ones — and all are worth telling.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post On Yom HaShoah, Three New Holocaust Films Are Worth Watching first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
UK Lifts Sanctions Against Syria’s Defense Ministry, Intelligence Agencies
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, March 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Britain on Thursday lifted assets freezes on Syria’s defense and interior ministries, and a range of intelligence agencies, reversing sanctions imposed during Bashar al-Assad’s presidency.
The West is rethinking its approach to Syria after insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ousted Assad as president in December after more than 13 years of civil war.
A notice posted online by the British finance ministry said the Syrian Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense, and General Intelligence Directorate were among 12 entities no longer subject to an asset freeze.
The notice did not set out reasons for the de-listing.
In March, the government unfroze the assets of Syria’s central bank and 23 other entities including banks and oil companies.
The British government has previously stressed that sanctions on members of the Assad regime would remain in place.
The post UK Lifts Sanctions Against Syria’s Defense Ministry, Intelligence Agencies first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Finding Peace in the Middle East
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-US President Donald Trump, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed display their copies of signed agreements as they participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Middle East neighbors, in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, US, September 15, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Tom Brenner/
President Donald Trump is planning a trip to the Gulf States in May. According to the White House, he will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In anticipation, others are shifting gears, raising the question. “Are we getting closer to, or farther from, a peaceful region?”
Jordan just banned the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The country’s Interior Minister said all MB activities would be banned in the country, and anyone promoting the group’s ideology will be held accountable by law. He added that the ban includes publishing, and requires “closure and confiscation” of all MB offices and property.
This, along with the Kingdom’s ban on Al Jazeera, puts Jordan in line with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Israel and Bahrain also ban Al Jazeera, as does the Palestinian Authority (see below). All these entities understand that the Qatari government-owned media outlet magnifies and encourages radical MB ideology, promotes Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and attacks conservative Arab governments.
Jordan’s actions garnered praise from a prominent UAE entrepreneur posting on X: “The UAE was among the first to ban the Muslim Brotherhood and warn the world about its ideology … This is not Islamophobia! This is about national security, public safety, and peace.”
This is a step forward.
Lebanon
While Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun agrees that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) should be the only armed force in the country, he is hedging over what happens to the remaining Iran-supported Hezbollah forces and weapons. “Any divisive issue should not be approached through the media or social platforms, but rather through quiet and responsible communication with the concerned parties.”
Hezbollah wouldn’t agree “to give up its arms de facto out of principle,” Karim Safieddine, a Lebanese political writer and doctoral student in sociology at Pittsburgh University, told Al Jazeera. Instead, they could disarm “in exchange for big benefits.”
Now, that is a bit of bravado, as Saudi reports indicate that more than 200 of the remaining Hezbollah commanders have left Lebanon for South America, where the organization has a well-entrenched drug and arms smuggling network.
Apparently, the commanders fear they could be targeted if more of its infrastructure is dismantled — though whether it would be targeted by the IDF or by unhappy Lebanese citizens is unclear. In any case, there are still tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters in the country, and Lebanon still permits the airing of Al Jazeera.
But, an Israeli military source told Ynet, “In large areas, the Lebanese army is taking action against Hezbollah to a much greater extent than we expected.” Israel’s decimation of Hezbollah offers Lebanon its best chance for stability and prosperity in decades. If they can take it. It is a maybe.
The Palestinian Authority
It almost sounded as if Mahmoud Abbas, the corrupt dictator of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in the 20 year of his single, elected 4-year term, had come to grips with the monstrosity of Hamas behavior. Abbas called on Hamas to “release the hostages.” And, indeed, he did call Hamas “sons of b****es,” a huge insult.
But this is not about peace. Abbas opposes the continued holding of hostages by Hamas because he, Abbas, is paying a price. And Israel is winning. He told an audience:
They don’t want to hand over the American hostage. You sons of b****es — hand over what you have and get us out of this. Don’t give Israel an excuse. Don’t give them an excuse. Hamas has given the criminal occupation excuses to commit its crimes in the Gaza Strip, the most prominent being the holding of hostages. Why have they taken them hostage? I am the one paying the price. Our people are paying the price, not Israel … My brother, just hand them over. [emphasis added]
The banning of Al Jazeera by Abbas should be seen in this context. Al Jazeera, and the Government of Qatar, support Hamas over the PA and incite violence against both the PA and Israel. While the latter is acceptable to him, the former is not.
And Abbas isn’t too keen on Americans, either. He told his audience: “They [the Americans] said: Normalize, or something like that. You know the Americans; the Americans are like this. May their father be cursed [Laughter and applause]. I am not a great Arab leader. I am a dwarf, this small. Thirty-three times I told them, ‘No!’”
This is not a man seeking a resolution of the conflict either with Israel or the United States. This one is a no.
Finding Peace
The Abraham Accords of 2020 split the region. There remain those like Lebanese Sunni Islamic scholar Aboubaker Zahabi, who, during a protest in Beirut, declared: “To the sons of Zion, our religion is the religion of jihad. We will come to you and slaughter you.”
But there is also Khalifa, who marked Holocaust Memorial Day: “Standing here today as an Emirati and a believer in tolerance, coexistence and peace, I honor the memory of Holocaust victims and pay tribute to their memory by working to create a world where dignity is upheld and diversity is cherished.”
And Mohamed Albahraini of Bahrain, who wrote: “#Holocaust Remembrance Day. Asking God for the victims of our #JEWISH brothers and sisters mercy and forgiveness. May their souls rest in peace forever.”
As the President prepares for his trip, more Khalifas and Mohameds — and fewer Aboubakers — means more possibility that the region’s upheaval will ultimately result in peace. Good luck, President Trump.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly magazine.
The post Finding Peace in the Middle East first appeared on Algemeiner.com.