Destroy. Rebuild. Repeat.

Good morning, Thriends, Threadheads, and all in between. Hot coffee. Lots.

I make an exception for not using “good” on my morning opening line because it is a good morning today. Agam Berger, Arbel Yahud and Gadi Moses are going home. Since the beginning of these trade offs between hostages and terrorists the images of their release proved a few things we already knew.

It is undeniable that Gaza suffered a great deal since the war began. The level of destruction is well documented and obvious. It is also not up for debate that thousands of people in Gaza were killed in this war; among them many children. War is hell under any circumstances, especially for the side that faces overwhelming power. History has shown us this, time and again.

During the last years of WW2, the allied forces pounded German cities to dust. They had started a war impossible to win in the long run and when that run began to end the German population suffered immensely under the overwhelming power they dared to awake. The images from Gaza remind me of that level of destruction; brought upon them by themselves. That’s what war is. And yet…

Since October 8, 2023, the narrative of those who more or less openly oppose the right of Israel to defend herself has been depicting the military campaign in Gaza as “genocidal”. They also conveniently “forget” who started this war, along with the fact there were hostages involved, of which close to 90 remain captive today. Could the level of destruction inflicted upon Gaza be less? Yes. Could the war strategy be better? Yes. But the suffering would be inevitable.

It would be inevitable not because of the might of the IDF but for the reason their enemy is a terror organization deeply embedded in Gaza: in its schools, its hospitals, and its people’s very homes. A terror organization that is also responsible for Gaza’s government. Hamas has no conventional army, not even the resemblance of one (like Hezbollah did before it was recently all but destroyed). There would never be a “conventional war” in Gaza.

The only reason Hamas chose to start this war the way it did, on October 7, was their perfect understanding of this reality and the certain knowledge of what would happen next. Gaza was starting to look too good before that day. Take a good look at it before the war. Compare the images of Gaza prior to 10/7 to the images of Auschwitz in 1944. Because the narrative of the pro-Palestine crowd is Gaza was a “concentration camp”. Really.

Let’s think of the accusations made against Israel during this war. Every one of them can be immediately traced back to the true responsible for all of them: Hamas. From the original spark of 10/7 to the way they act since then. Now that the images of the hostages being released flood our news we can see what Gaza is like today, devastated as it is. And it doesn’t fit the narrative, does it.

We can see Hamas terrorists in spanking clean uniforms, armed with new weapons, displaying new SUV’s impeccably customized with Hamas paraphernalia, parading the hostages dressed in matching uniforms, holding neatly matching gift bags and framed brand new “certificates”, as if they just finished a cruise in the Mediterranean. And all around this production, thousands of people looking well fed and dressed, shouting how great their God is and supporting Hamas.

Where are the Gazans who oppose Hamas? They are being shot like dogs in the streets. Where is all the famine we were told they are enduring and the food they were given? Controlled by Hamas and their storage of stolen aid. Where is the complete destruction of Gaza and its ability to survive? In the hands of Hamas, who even under these conditions has the ability to dress up for parades and have a working merchandise and weapons machine. Hardly Hamburg in 1945.

By 1945, one of the most industrialized and organized countries in the world couldn’t even afford or maintain the appearance of it. The last elements of the German army looked like rags and the population could barely appear healthy or well fed. They were ruined in a country in ruins. Now compare the size of Germany with Gaza and ask yourselves how is it possible for the images we are seeing now to even exist.

The answer is obvious: none of the lies in the pro-Palestine narrative are true. The Palestinians are far from starving or wiped out, Hamas is far from destroyed or taken out of commission. The only truth is how they, Hamas, managed to destroy the Gaza shown in the images before 10/7. They are no longer living in a beautiful place with lovely beaches, bustling markets and good places to live and work. That’s all gone. The West can go back to the “concentration camp” story.

Right now we focus on the hostages being released and are allowed to rejoice in their deliverance, but the war will go on soon enough. Not because Israel is determined to do so, regardless of the sinister intentions of the extreme Israeli government, but because Hamas will make sure they have no choice. Unless they are removed from Gaza altogether, rebuilding Gaza will be useless for the semblance of peace will not last long.

The more beautiful, peaceful and bursting with life Gaza looks the worse it is for Hamas. They will never allow it. And whatever funds are placed at the disposal of Gaza for that purpose will be used to rebuild tunnels and buy more weapons. And above all, the reconstructed schools will resume the radicalization of their children, raised to be killers of Jews AND all Westerners. Until Hamas makes sure they are destroyed again.

UNRWA has been denied work in Israel and by extension in Palestine. What appears to be a cruel measure that will make the life of Palestinians much harder is in reality the rightful punishment for the role played by the United Nations in the maintenance and improvement of the terrorist organization that rules them. For many years. If you are looking for a responsible party in all this madness look no further than the UN. No UN, no Hamas. It’s that simple.

Perhaps there is a future for a Jewish State living side by side with a Palestinian State, but as long as the UN keeps funding Hamas and treating them as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people there will be no future for them. Just an endless cycle of destruction and rebuilding meant to justify the terror inflicted upon Israel and victimize those who suffer the retaliation themselves provoked.

It’s a good morning today.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Am Israel Chai.

Of Bananas and Dildos.

Morning, Threaders, Threadeheads, and all in between. Must have fucking coffee.

Coming out of yesterday’s HaShoah remembrance I am still on edge after a good number of hours pounding pro-Palestinian simps reacting to my reply to a @guy_fawkes_news post about AOC. And did you notice the no bullshit first paragraph I just wrote? Try not to unfollow me until you read some more. It’s gonna be great. Where’s my fucking coffee…?

Let me start by saying the original post’s case was something along the lines of “AOC should be leading the House Dems” ‘cause she’s talking a big game now, and I was like: yeah, huh… No. Not being the anti-Semite she revealed herself to be. O. M. G. The fuck was I thinking. The first two replies to my statement asked for “proof”. No surprise there. I know I am not the dumbfuck whisperer but they were polite, kinda, so I put together a very small list of sources: 2 posts long.

That really worked well! It’s been a while since I blocked so many accounts over a single post. Like I said: not the dumbfuck whisperer and still out of fucks. But that whole situation and the absolute ignorant fuckery of those I ended up blocking on what seemed like a 12 hour pound-a-thon worked me up. Especially being Yom HaShoah. So let’s go over a few things regarding Israel and Palestine and fucking AOC (yeah, you).

The first time I became aware of AOC I was ecstatic. I mean, what was there not to like? That was the future, right there. She was the personification of all I ever dreamed the Democratic Party could be: young, smart, progressive, a woman, courageous… That’s what I’ve been talking about; fuck Bernie. And then a few things happened. I don’t presume to know a lot, or give advice, but trust me on this one: choose your heroes among the dead. Or at least not for more than one day.

I have lived enough to know what’s too good to be true usually isn’t. Way before 10/7 AOC was defining Israel as an “apartheid state” and signaling, despite her young age, she had read the KGB memo on the Middle East. Then she went on to NOT vote for the Iron Dome, blindly support every regressive pro-pal house democrat, standing with Students for Justice in Palestine, referring to Israel as a colonial power, smile and wave at “Intifada” chants, and a whole lot of similar shit. Ouch.

If you sit at a table with (insert any kind of douchebag) you’re one of them. You want proof AOC is antisemitic? There’s your proof. It works for Nazi rally goers just the same, no exceptions. But that’s not the worst part about her. The worst part is, and this is beautiful, Within Our Lifetime (the terrorist organization maskerading as human rights ngo) hates her guts with passion. They can’t stand her. To them she is “genocide Alex”. Kinda neat, huh?

So AOC, for lack of a stiffer spine, finds herself cornered between the right wing nut jobs and the pro-Hamas dumbfucks. No, she’s definitely NOT what we need. One must navigate strange waters in politics but when you just go with the flow you’re not navigating anymore; you’re just drifting. On top of it all, the cherry is AOC has demonstrated she picks and chooses her fundamentalists. She declares she will fight Nazis to the death while holding a Hezbolah flag. No thanks.

Back to the dumbfuck pounding. As usually, between the usual “stfu” and “one of those”, with a sprinkle of “boomers strike again”, the replies to my AOC assessment included the prescribed usage of “genocide”, “holocaust”, “colonialism”, “dead children” (the “right” ones, of course), and all the tropes the pro-pal simps are so fond of. Oh, and the “permanent ceasefire”, coupled with shout outs to “globalize the intifada”. No surprise there.

These people are so full of themselves and their self loathing they can’t tell a banana from a dildo anymore. I was born and grew up in a colonial country that colonized half the known world in the XIV and XV centuries and only let go of its empire in 1974, when I was 11 years old, you fucks. You don’t have a fucking clue what colonialism is. Also, the Holocaust is a unique phenomenon that applies to the Jewish people alone, stop using it to embellish a war started by Arab terrorists.

And stop saying “so you can’t criticize the Israeli government?” like you just pushed a golden egg out of your asses. Millions of Israelis are criticizing their government right now while Arab rockets explode all around them, which you fuckers will never endure in your cool keffiyehs. Supporting a one state solution is no solution and that applies to both Israel and Palestine but TODAY, and for the foreseeable future, the two state solution will NOT work. So there’s that, you idiots.

To make my day better, around 6 am today, UNICEF posted a pathetic video showing James Elder, the organization’s spokesperson, pandering “the five things” the children of Gaza need right now. What a pitiful exercise of willful ignorance coming from one of the few sections that still made sense in the more and more over all useless and ever hypocritical United Nations. It’s like a Hamas fundraising video, I shit you not, exploiting the suffering of children. Disgusting.

Forget about PowerPoint five bullet pages with failed policies and delusional goals, dear UNICEF. What should be number one on your wishlist for the children of Gaza is the same that should have been on top of your mother org, the pathetic United Nations: the complete and absolute removal of all Hamas presence in Gaza. That is the ONE thing the children of Gaza need to have a shot at ever being happy and have a future, you fucking spineless hypocrites.

Now that we have our own fascist wannabe at the head of our government we should pause for a minute and appreciate what the Israelis have been going through with Bibi at the wheel. It’s not the exact same shitshow but, hey, it’s still a fucking shitshow. I take no pleasure in FAFOs or “told you sos” because millions of innocent people are being screwed as I write these words and empathy is not a sin, and if it was I would be a sinner. We must wake the fuck up to reality.

The reality that is right here and now cloaked in the perception of Nazism, for perception is the cloak of reality. It doesn’t take strict and conscious adherence to the NSDAP doctrines to be a Nazi; all it takes is holding a swastika blood flag. Or performing a hitlergruß. And just like that you got yourself a bonafide Nazi. Same goes for all the intifada wishing fools. Reality is a self sustaining bitch and it doesn’t read minds. Remember that when choosing who you sit with.

To rest my case I have a message for an ordinary audience that keeps finding its way to my posts: if you are a Netanyahu boot licker or a globalize the intifada self loathing fuck you can go fuck yourself up the next go fuck yourself hill, roll down the go fuck yourself slope on the other side and keep fucking yourself until the next go fuck yourself sign. Fuck you and your horse.

You can unfollow me now.

Peace out. 🟦

Shadow Boxing.

Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Coffee.

It’s too much.

That’s the point. It’s unsurprising and expected. It is supposed to overwhelm us and numb us. A case made by @itsjenniferwalter you can find at the end of this string. That's a good starting point to recognize where we are and what we can do. But there's more. We do have people in Congress. What should they do?

The truth is the Democrats in Congress look as useless, ineffective, and deceptive as their worthless posts in SM. Occasionally blocking a bill, here and there, is not enough. And it's not worthy of publicizing as if it's a big deal. It's not. Soon the Republicans will do away with the 60 vote procedure and the filibuster. Obstructing will turn to delaying and I see no movement towards the delay tactics that, in the end, it's all we have. Obstruct and delay.

Throw everything you can into the court system, use every obscure Congress rule to drag each GOP legislative effort for as long as possible, delay the delay procedures within themselves so an obstacle becomes two or three and a week becomes a month. Then do it again. Bring Congress to a legislative halt. Obstructing and delaying is a negative action, so we need a positive counter for it: shadow governing.

Democrats in Congress need to couple obstruction and delay with actions that show the country what they would do if they had power. Stop working on comedy laws, like regulating men's erections or ejaculations. That's useless and this is no time for jokes. Start working on actual legislation that we need with very serious work groups and legal work and do it without any Republicans. Set the stage for tomorrow.

Stop telling us the SCOTUS is corrupt. We know. Tell us how you're going to fix it, but not by listing good intentions. Do the actual work that will fix it right now. Create legislation to reform the Judicial system that is real and ready to go as soon as we have enough votes to do it. Yes, in 2026. Never mind the orange turd will veto it. It will be signed in 2028. Do the work now. Same goes for Women's Rights, Voting Rights (those are done, keep working on them), and so on.

Do all the necessary work that will allow the next Democratic President to sign into law dozens of executive orders regarding those bills 30 minutes after the inauguration and vote them in Congress without discussion, straight up and down, that same day so the president can sign them into law the next day. But do the work NOW. Pretend there are no Republicans. Legislate the crap out of everything we need. Have it ready to go. Show us what we want to see done being done.

It's not a waste of time, it's getting ahead while showing the country what life could be like under Democratic rule. Waste of time is trying to "work across the aisle" (barf) or spending weeks drafting comical bills to score some memes on SM. Stop wasting time like that. We don't need comic relief from elected officials; we can handle that ourselves. Every single issue that matters to us, every setback this administration creates, everything needs to be addressed with action.

Don't allow the Republicans to drive the agenda, create a shadow one that is as real as can be and will be good to go the minute they lose power. Galvanize the electorate with real laws that improve our lives. It doesn't matter they will never pass until 2026 or that they will never be signed before 2028. Do the work as if they had a chance now so they are ready when they actually are guaranteed to pass and be signed. Show us.

That should be the Democratic project for the 2026 campaign and the 2028 campaign. Show us everything we need as good to go laws, not "intentions". Don't use a fucking wish list as platform for next elections, use actual legislative work done and ongoing in Congress - without Republican participation - ready to be passed and signed on day one. Make us believe in you through your deeds, not just words.

In a nutshell, while obstructing and delaying everything the GOP has to offer, Democrats need to work as if there were no Republicans in Congress and they could make things happen. And if the MSM calls them fools double down and make them keep talking about what they are doing. Show us. They have four years; four years to work on all the legislation we need to be signed into law by the next Democratic President. That's the job.

This is why I had enough of the Schumers and Klobuchars. They are doing nothing but wait. Pointing fingers isn't legislative work; we can do that ourselves. We need to see work being done. Real work. I am discouraged by what I see in Congress but it's our responsibility to demand much more from our elected officials. We should. And we should reward them accordingly.

We have four long years ahead and I, for one, want to see more from Democrats than sitting around waiting, making worthless speeches about how outraged they are, or spending time making sarcastic jokes about reproductive rights. This country will be unrecognizable in four years. That cannot be the Democratic platform in 26 or 28. The solution must be the platform, and they need to start working on it. Right now.

Resist!

Click here for Jennifer Walter’s post.

Facing the truth.

Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between.

Coffee in the snow.

My self imposed time out has lasted longer than usual. We all need to step back, from time to time, to keep our sanity but I guess the weight of last November, the craziness since and a few personal life problems hit me harder than usual. Yesterday a post by @lisaaronowatelier about the role of the Israeli government in the hostage crisis made me snap out of it.

A Times of Israel article exposed the hard core right wing of the Israeli government, not limited to but personified by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, respectively National Security Minister and Finance Minister, of being responsible for shutting down multiple hostage negotiations with Hamas. I have mentioned this before but it helps when Ben Gvir proudly admits it in his own words. It’s bad enough when you have to negotiate with a terrorist organization. The hostages deserve better.

As soon as the Israeli intelligence reports prior to October 7 came out it was obvious that disaster could have been minimized if not avoided completely. There were enough reliable reports to at the very least have stopped the Nova Festival to have taken place. That alone would have saved many lives and prevent many people from being taken as hostages. It became clear that, at the very least, there was criminal negligence on the part of the Israeli government. That was 2023.

Since then, as Benjamin reminds us often (holylandspeaks), it was only during a brief ceasefire that a considerable number of hostages was released. No other effort to negotiate another ceasefire with the same purpose ever succeeded since. The IDF intervention in Gaza was as inevitable as it was necessary but the strategy guiding it has always been questionable, especially its main objective, that should have been rescuing the hostages all along. It wasn’t.

The main goal of the military campaign in Gaza has been to eliminate Hamas from day one. It is a perfectly sound objective on its own, though you can debate its feasibility, but it is also the wrong way to build a military strategy when there were hundreds of hostages to consider. Their release should have been the main purpose of the campaign and yet it quickly became an afterthought.

The IDF achieved important tactical gains and managed to place Hamas in unsustainable positions many times since October 7 and yet only once was this tactical advantage used to secure the release of hostages. Every other time military action made possible for an exchange to take place, taking advantage of its success, the deals never happened. Hamas has refused every deal since November of 2023 and that can not be ignored but we are now certain they were not the only obstacle.

Bibi’s government has a lion’s share in the responsibility for all the botched deals as I’ve always suspected and now Ben Gvir openly admits. The strategy of eliminating Hamas behind the military intervention in Gaza included not reaching a ceasefire to release more hostages. In fact, it largely depended on their existence to justify the continuing offensive under the pretense of rescuing them. The hostages have been nothing but expendable pawns on the board. Now we can be certain.

The war in Israel has revealed other objectives, locally and globally, with both sides of the conflict using it for political purposes to interfere with elections and exacerbate existing tensions worldwide. It was, and remains, very visible and palpable in the US. As it happens in Israel, where the real effects of terrorism provide cover for sinister intentions, we witness how antisemitism became a tool in the authoritarian box right here.

On one hand you have the propal simps yelling for global intifada, fueling antisemitism in our streets and campuses which in turn provides a great cover for the likes of Charlie Kirk and Pete Hegseth to become “champions for Israel”, often quoted as “very wise and thoughtful allies”. The conflict was used as a weapon in our recent elections, with Netanyahu openly siding with TFG to the point where it was thought any ceasefire would not take place on Biden’s watch.

Now that TFG will become president it is safe to assume any ceasefire and hostage recovery will only happen after January 20. On cue. Right wing sectors of the Jewish community who support Netanyahu have always denigrated Biden’s approach to this crisis for obvious reasons. We now watch them insert TFG in the mix as they point out the current negotiations are the closest we’ve been to release more hostages, quoting his words on the matter. Expect full credits to be given TFG for this.

As sure as the sun coming out tomorrow, the election of the orange turd will be praised as the one factor that made the release of the next group of hostages possible. Count on it. Last year I mentioned Israelis were fighting the same fight we were fighting with the difference their authoritarians were already in government while we were trying to prevent that from happening. There’s no difference now.

The objective of Christian Nationalists and Religious Zionists is pretty much the same and our very own radical evangelists have been unlikely allies of Israel for a very long time. In a world of deception and sinister interests we have to be able to cut through the BS and identify the wolves in sheep’s clothing. There are plenty. Their words sound sweet and their motives appear to be honest but beware of what it is they represent.

Now that Ben Gvir exposed his objectives and the extreme religious Zionist parties are assuming a more active role in the Israeli government at the same time we are entering one of the darkest periods in our country’s History is a good time to identify these people and acknowledge the kind of threat they pose to us: those of us who believe in peace still and who oppose any kind of religious fundamentalism: Christian, Muslim or Jewish.

Right now all I wish for is the possibility of more hostages to go home to come true. It’s all that matters and all it should have ever mattered. How many could have been alive still we’ll never know but it is certain some would. Now that we know why that didn’t happen we must keep our eyes open and realize, once and for all, what it is we are truly fighting against. Perhaps now the fight in Israel and in the US is the same that will be easier.

Get the hostages home. Now. 🎗️

Same as it ever was.

Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between.

Fresh coffee. Black.

2025.

Here we are. Still. What changes we want will not happen. What changes we started will not hold. What changes we’ll see will not be good even if some may look good. It’s coming and there’s no stopping it now. Yet it must be stopped, somehow.

I am so glad the algorithm sent so many of Jewish Threads beautiful Hanukkah menorahs during the last eight days. Their light will shine in the days ahead as a reminder to us all that it can, even through the darkest of nights. It wasn’t random. They showed up on my timeline because I pay attention to the Jewish voices among us and listen to them. I would like to think also because I lend my voice to their cause, little voice it may be. I will not be silent.

I have been wanting to watch Schindler’s List again for a while now and yesterday I noticed it is back on Netflix. So I watched it once more. It’s not the kind of movie you watch again and again, rather one that needs to be revisited from time to time. It’s a dark poem, an ode to the suffering of the Jewish people, driven by artistic license and painted with broad and thin strokes of black and white in a landscape of grays.

Amon Goeth was much worse than that and Oskar Schindler was not as good as that. A lot more Jews were killed by the former in much more horrible ways and the latter was not as involved in the making of the List as it seems, yet Jews were murdered and Jews were saved and the truth emerges through the black and white images in stark contrasts of gray. For me, it is not until color floods the screen at the end that the truth hits deep.

The little girl in the red coat who carries in her the souls of six million slain is replaced by the bright colors of life made possible by those who survived the horror. And everything becomes real without poetic license. The Warsaw ghetto, the children, the war effort, the monsters… The Holocaust. The worn out steps that need to be used again and again so we remember those who stepped on them. Those who made it out alive and those who perished as they climbed them.

Perhaps the incredible scene of the Soviet officer on horseback telling the Schindlerjuden gathered in Czechoslovakia there was no path for them either East or West becomes the more accurate representation of the post war reality for the millions of Jews who survived the Holocaust. The only true path to freedom was the one leading to Israel, as many of them would soon find out. Zionism was the answer. I believe it was then as it is now.

We find ourselves in a time when Israel is once again becoming the answer it turned out to be after the war was over in Europe. Once again it is its very existence that provides hope and keeps the light alive in the darkness. Zionism was always the answer. Israel lives so the Jewish people may live, no matter where they are. The fact so many think about making Aliyah today is a sign of the times we live in.

From Ireland to Canada, from Germany to Australia, and here, in the United States, Jews are planning for the eventual move to Israel if all else fails. Their lives are being upended much faster than gentile eyes can perceive and so are our own, those of us who are not Jewish, in ways even harder to comprehend but in an inexorably painful reality we won’t escape for long.

The writing remains on the wall for all to see. Most of us, including a few Jews themselves, don’t want to believe in it. “It can’t be that bad” or “they would never do that” return as dreadful echoes from Krakow. Looking away is making a comeback too. Everything old is new again. The brown shirts are replaced by keffiyehs but the hate is just the same. The tragedy is today some place on those brown shirts the hope they will crush the keffiyeh masked hatred.

They probably will, too. And ourselves along with it. Be very careful what you wish for. Already the reach of measures supposed to counter the existing antisemitism from Islamic fundamentalists are proving to be far more than that. They are telling us who they are. Believe them. They will crush every stepping stone we place for them in our foolishness and no matter what we believe in we will be crushed unless we accept them and that’s not even a way out.

Acceptance and obedience mean nothing to those who are consumed by hatred. They will only despise you more for it and will crush you in the end. Another incredible metaphor from Schindler’s List is the water hosing of the rail cars filled with Jews, allowed as it looked like a cruel joke: giving them hope when hope was already lost. The cruelty has always been the point and it will remain so. Accept it at your own peril.

I know we will soon face many terrible things in our lives but I can not and will not stop talking about one we face already and is becoming a breeding ground for a lot of others: antisemitism. I use it as my compass to guide me through the myriad of hatred ahead and identify those who are enablers of it, regardless of who they seem to be or how “nice” they look. It cuts both ways into the motives of some who are seemingly “on the right side”. Beware.

I will not be silent. I will keep the candles lit during this Hanukkah burning inside me, and thank you to those who courageously posted them on their threads. You are not alone. I just wish more would not only see them but know what they mean and what pain lies in each of them, behind the beauty of the smiles they bring and in every hopeful wish they represent. May they light our way in the dark days ahead.

Shabbat shalom.

Am Israel Chai 🟦