I can’t seem to watch the news anymore. No it isn’t the coverage of George Santos’ expulsion from the House. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Nor is it the funerals and obituaries of three towering Americans: Carter, Kissinger, and O’Connell. Everybody goes sometimes; these had a run longer than most. Neither is it having to live in a state where the buffoonery is hard to follow no less imagine. No, it’s THE war.
There are so many wars going on around the globe, small and large, one has to specify. It is the Israel-Hamas war. Think back about the psychologists’ warnings to parents after every mass shooting. Don’t let your children watch it on television. I’m no child, but I’m at that point as are most Jews and most Palestinians. Watching the carnage is beginning to negatively impact me.
I was shocked and sickened by the the shootings in Burlington, Vt. Three college students, in the prime of their lives, shot down like rabid animals. One likely will be paralyzed for life. And they were here to sup at the fine academic tables America offers and be able to learn in an atmosphere that Palestinian Gazans can only dream about. Shame on us, America.
Remember the Hula Hoop, the Duncan Yo-Yo contests, and pet rocks? Gone. That’s the way of America, even intellectually. Hot new things get cold and old quickly. Two things happened simultaneously after the heinous October 7 slaughter and hostage taking. The first was the war in Ukraine went from section one to section two or three in the newspapers and TV news’ block one to block two or three or four, if at all, depending on the length of the show. The second was the clock started ticking on the sinking of the October 7 massacres from the top of the news. The rapes, the murders, the killings of parents in front of their children, the killings of children in front of their parents, and the hostage taking. Imagine having a number tattooed on your arm that proves you survived the Holocaust and then being snatched up by another set of crazy animals? I don’t know whether to cry or throw up.
Make no mistake about it, what is happening in Gaza is the stuff of the most dramatic Hollywood war movies. Except in Gaza it is real. Yet day after day, the stories of the unfolding humanitarian disaster are getting twisted to blame Israel, to force Israel to “play by the rules,” to blame Israel for whatever, you name it. Less and less often do we hear about the Hamas tunnels. Less and less often do we see one of them and where it is, namely under some critical infrastructure. No longer are we reminded that the 1,200 murdered Israelis would be equal to 52,000 Americans. Almost never does someone who is not Israeli detail for us why, once a tunnel is discovered, soldiers can’t just run in re-take hostages if they are still there, and gather up intelligence. Poison gas, booby traps, steel doors blocking passage set there not only to slow the trackers but to set up a potential ambush are but some of the reasons. Yes, we hear the death count numbers that come from Hamas; no we don’t hear what that could mean in terms of veracity. Abraham argued about the numbers God would kill to wipe out the evil in Sodom and Gomorrah, the moral being even one was two many. Whatever the number of deaths in Gaza is overwhelmingly too many but shouldn’t Hamas be letting the International Red Cross and the UN be having free and unfettered access so they can do their own assessments?
The world is angry that Israel has begun bombing again. Where was the anger when Hamas broke the truce the first time by shooting rockets into Israel? Where was the outrage just the other day when Hamas took credit for another slaughter, this one on the streets of Jerusalem, one of the dead being a pregnant woman? I want to take the TV and shake it so whatever is inside today’s TVs falls out all over the floor.
And if you are an arm chair analyst, I would not bet too much money on your picking correctly the day, or month, or even year this will all end. I have proposed setting up a government in exile. It would be made up of a cross-section of non-Hamas Palestinians. It would be set up in Europe under the watchful eye of the international community. Monies that go to Hamas controlled Gaza for humanitarian aide would now go to this government with the agreement that it would go to internationally approved non-profits who would do the work of repairing what once was. Simply put, no money, no Hamas military.
The other day Ambassador Dennis Ross also proposed a government in exile. His would be on the West Bank, would govern both the West Bank and Gaza with the mission of establishing the two state solution. Considering that the president of the Palestinian Authority has over-stayed his term by four decades and presides over one of the most corrupt governments in the world, I don’t see how Ambassador Ross’ plan is going to work.
At dinner last night, I was talking to my wife about Senator Schumer’s speech from the Senate floor about anti-Semitism in America and the astounding figures that Jews are 2% of America’s population and are the target for 50% of its hate crimes. That’s worth reading again: 2%/50%. I said to her that I then heard one of the Congressional Gang of Five, moaning that Jews and anti-Semitism get so much attention that it blocks out the Palestinians’ messages. Good grief!
We didn’t turn off the TV, she and I, but we didn’t watch the news. If you are feeling anxious and angry, to revise a song line, turn the radio off. Watch carefully what your children are watching and listening to–at least from my perspective.
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For a lighter take on life, keep an eye out for Bill’s new book, “That’s Why They Call It Work.” It’s the final book in his memoir trilogy. The first two, “The War of the Itchy Balls and Other Tales From Brooklyn” and “George Washington Didn’t Sleep Here” are available electronically or in paper back at Amazon or Barnes and Noble as will “That’s Why They Call It Work.”
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