.

For Israel Under Siege

Imagine that you live in fear of violent
Acts of terror daily—bombs may kill
Your friends and family—all you love grows silent
As hatred of the Jews makes more blood spill.

Imagine that you’ve tried to live in peace
With neighbors who deny your right to live.
You compromise and hope without surcease
And year by year brute loathing’s all they give.

You fight since you refuse to disappear;
You hope despite their hate and moral void.
Your presence here exceeds three-thousand years.
And though they kill, this truth can’t be destroyed.

Though Israel is a land of contradiction,
Lord God, preserve her with Your benediction.

.

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Brian Yapko is a lawyer who also writes poetry. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.


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84 Responses

  1. Margaret Coats

    Brian, you’re here–one man in force. My friends Joe and Rose Ann were taking shelter in Nazareth yesterday. I got my first passport nearly 50 years ago in hope of a visit that hasn’t happened yet. Stand with Israel!

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much for your support, Margaret. Israel needs support now. I am horrified by the support that Hamas is now getting on college campuses and other locales. I just came across this headline: “CUNY Law School Students Association has shared a tweet on how to make Molotov cocktails and declared solidarity with Hamas.” This in a context where over 1000 Jews were murdered, including 200 or so young people massacred at a music festival. Babies beheaded. A grandmother murdered with the terrorist posting it on Facebook so that her family would get to see it happen. The attacks were nothing short of barbaric. To stand with Israel is the moral and civilized thing to do.

      Reply
      • Margaret Coats

        Indeed. My first trip long ago was to have been a college tour visiting an established institution in Israel, when colleges were centers of serious learning, with human sympathy for others. It and other proposals over the years have been postponed or canceled due to war or terror. I understand well why you imply the “how long?” motif.

      • Patricia Allred

        Great write Brian! I sent you mine last week, these rabid inhumane people, are everywhere, I do not feel safe in the USA, with over 1,700 known terrorists who are in the USA, AND those Aussies shouting GAS THE Jews! The USA, rabid pro Palestinians on corners and campuses! Glad you left the D party.
        Cannot bear the Squad nor the idiot President.
        Shabbat Shalom,
        Patti.

      • Brian A. Yapko

        Hello, Patti! Thank you for this comment! I read your poem and really liked it. And I appreciate your views on the barbarism of Hamas and its supporters. I saw the video of Australians shouting “Gas the Jews” and it made my blood run cold. Is no place safe?

      • David Whippman

        I agree with you 100% Brian. Your poem says it all. In Britain, the usual suspects – mainly the far left, also vast numbers of Muslims and the BLM – are lining up with hamas. And the pro-Palestinian (ie Jew-hating) demos have wider implications: as a British Jew, what I am supposed to think when I hear a crowd of my fellow citizens chant such charming phrases as “Gas the Jews!”? No doubt similar things happen in the USA. If that’s multiculturism, they can keep it!

      • Brian A. Yapko

        David, these are terrifying times in which a savagery directed at Jews has erupted. It is festering here in the U.S. perhaps only slightly less than in Britain. So far. How do we react to the fact that a terrifyingly large part of the world is aggressively cheering for our annihilation while supposedly good people either dither and sit on the sidelines? For one thing, I suggest that you take a good look around at what people are doing, because what people are doing now is what they would have done during the 1930s. Some fought, some wrote, some did nothing whatsoever because it wasn’t their problem. And so it is now.

        For a second thing, I highly recommend reading this piece by a reporter with the Times of Israel. The time to choose sides has come and gone.

        https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dear-world-i-dont-care/?fbclid=IwAR3UTCPe6nvQeO08lFQ94IajwesrVc95pmUjqS8S0pubL0seKmoPjRS0XVk

        By the way, this information was released from Israeli intelligence. Did you know that Hamas placed live babies in the ovens of their hostage parents and baked them to death in their own homes before their parents’ horrified eyes? And Israel is supposed to negotiate with these animals? Anyone who gives barbarians like this even the slightest respect is contemptible.

    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much, Phil. Simply put, Israel needs all the support it can get in what is a clear battle between good and evil. Innocent babies beheaded while Hamas supporters hand out sweets in celebration of such murder goes beyond sick and twisted into the realm of demonic.

      Reply
  3. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Brian, the questions you pose in a poem that highlights the horror of living under the constant threat of death makes my heart ache for those experiencing such terror. Your humble and earnest prayer of a closing couplet is perfect. Let’s hope the cruel barbarism of this wicked war ceases… soon.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much, Susan. This was a hard poem to write — one in which I had no joy and only questions. But given the carnage caused by this barbaric attack by Hamas I felt I had to get this out there. I so appreciate your support and moral clarity. Evil is evil whether it’s here in the U.S. or far overseas. It must be called out.

      Reply
  4. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Brian, I applaud your own rapid response poem to a sad repetitive refrain of war in the Middle East and the abhorrent bombardment by Hamas and related groups on Israel. I have always stood by Israel and can feel your fervent prayer.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much, Roy. Your word “abhorrent” is exactly right. Given your government service and extensive knowledge of international relations, I’m sure I speak for many when I say that we are deeply grateful for your standing by our ally Israel.

      Reply
  5. Brian A. Yapko

    This is an upsetting subject that I have raised, but I felt it imperative to do so in poetry. As per the attached article, with almost 1000 Israeli Jews murdered by Hamas, this was the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

    https://www.jta.org/2023/10/08/israel/was-hamas-attack-the-bloodiest-day-for-jews-since-the-holocaust

    And where to look for responsibility? Barack Obama’s pathetic servility to Iran which Donald Trump rightly stomped out and forever Obama VP Joe Biden restored. Obama’s and Biden’s policies of appeasement of an evil regime caused this. I’m resigning my party membership. I will never vote for a Democrat again.

    Reply
    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Obama and Biden are completely to blame for this nightmare, even more than Iran. Obama’s obsessive fixation on courting the Islamic Republic and ending sanctions against it and coming to a ruinous settlement with its rulers did nothing but create the stage for what is playing out today. And Biden — being Obama’s lapdog — is now providing the finances for this Hamas mass atrocity.

      Many Israelis no longer consider the United States an ally.

      Reply
      • Brian A. Yapko

        Joe, I think you are right to lay the blame for this at Obama’s feet — he has the remarkable narcissistic quality of thinking that everyone in the world is an extension of him and that if he presses the right button or offers the right information he will remold the world in his ever-so-reasonable image. And so he believed somehow that he could make Iran act like a reasonable, coherent, civilized state when to make the attempt was actually pure delusion. Trump would never have made that mistake. And Biden’s term really is Obama’s third term. That being said –notwithstanding my official resignation from the Democratic party — I was impressed by Biden’s speech this afternoon in which he actually exhibited leadership, competence and moral clarity.

    • Paddy Raghunathan

      Brian,

      I did not know you were a registered Democrat. I am not one, rest assured. Since the mid 90s, when I came into the US, I noted that the Democrats were inconsistent hypocrites and Republicans were consistently depraved. Nothing over the years has made me change my image of either.

      But it’s your prerogative if you blame Obama and Biden and don’t want to vote for a Democrat again. Keep in mind, though, that this attack would not have occurred had Israel’s security forces not gone to sleep and been caught unawares.

      This has happened to Israel in the past when Sadat and Egypt attacked Israel in the 1970s, only to lose, and then sign a peace treaty with Israel a few years later. But Sadat and Egypt, relatively speaking, were a civilized lot, while the Hamas aren’t.

      Regardless of our political views, let us all stand with the people of Israel. Israel will come roaring back, as always.

      Paddy

      Reply
      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        “Since the mid 90s, when I came into the US, I noted that the Democrats were inconsistent hypocrites and Republicans were consistently depraved” – what neat little pigeonholes you have to wrap people up in, Paddy.

        Since 2011, when I came into the US, I noticed a nation of varied people from different backgrounds with different viewpoints and different attitudes about the ever-changing politics of the day. I’ve learned, I’ve grown, and I know everyone is different and no one should be pigeonholed. As for the word “depraved” to describe “Republicans” – that’s dangerous talk. We already have Hillary wanting to reprogram every MAGA Republican… does this not remind you of a heinous piece of history that leads to mass loss of innocent lives?

      • Paddy Raghunathan

        Sorry Susan, what I say, I believe with all my heart: whenever a Democrat says “Let’s watch out for each other,” and whenever a Republican says “Let’s police each other,” they usually mean the same thing. I honestly don’t know the difference between either, except for some reason, each can’t stand the sight of the other.

        To this day, Democrats still believe the elections in 2000, 2004 and 2016 were stolen (results I had no problems accepting regardless of who I voted for). In 2016, violence and arson broke out all over the US…but no one could prove that it was done by the Democrats. This, after stating they would respect the vote. Ergo, they are inconsistent hypocrites.

        Republicans in 2020 took it one step further. They openly stated they won’t accept the vote if it wasn’t in their favor, in turn incited a mob and sent them into the Capitol building. Republicans just didn’t have the smarts to do it in such a way that one couldn’t point fingers at them. Ergo, they are consistently depraved.

        While you may believe that American politics is ever changing, I don’t. It has remained very consistent. If you feel I am pigeon holing a group, I apologize. But it’s also my prerogative to feel that way, and can’t help the way I feel.

      • Joshua C. Frank

        Paddy, defending the scum who helped the terrorists is extremely uncalled for at a time like this. That’s as anti-Semitic as defending the scum butchering innocent Israeli civilians as we speak.

        This isn’t your first offense, either. You defend everything the Democrats do, despite what you say against them, when they’re the party of evil for a variety of reasons (not just giving money to Iran). (For the record, I’m not a Republican either, because I consider them to be cowards for not defending the people against leftists.)

        You need to read what one of our poets here said to another leftist commenter:

        “[W]hat you need is to be grateful for being here at all.

        “You deliberately try to insert some nasty anti-conservative crack wherever you can, even though you know quite well that it will antagonize the heavily conservative and rightist membership. Do you think you could do a similar thing at a left-leaning website, by throwing out cracks against Biden or Harris or Ocasio-Cortez, and not get metaphorically smacked (or worse) in response?”

      • Brian A. Yapko

        Paddy, I appreciate your views on this matter although I could not disagree more with the idea that “Republicans were consistently depraved.” What Republicans? Mitt Romney? George H.W. Bush? Ronald Reagan? John McCain? Depraved? Seriously? Actually, I know of few politicians who have shown more integrity, especially McCain whose valor was impeccable. My decision to reject the Democratic Party after being a Democrat since 1978 — yes 45 years of being a registered Democrat — is based on its delusional stance regarding too many issues, from foreign relations to the economy to pushing transgenderism, critical race theory and defunding police. Its ideology is, in my humble view, delusional.

        As for Israel’s security going to sleep — I don’t know what happened. But you could say the same thing about the U.S. and the horrendous attacks of 9/11. Should we truly blame the U.S. government for the murders of almost 3000 U.S. citizens? Should we really give a pass to the actual terrorists who flew the planes into the World Trade Center? I think to do so would be inaccurate and cruel. I see no distinction between the U.S. intelligence failure and Israel’s intelligence failure. I hope you’re not holding Israel to a double-standard here. As for Iran, it has been funding Hamas since its inception. Iran and Hamas have this in common: they want to destroy the world’s only Jewish state and they want to annihilate every Jew in the world. That Obama and Biden have been willing to pander to these terrorists disgusts me. By their fruits you shall know them and the fruits of Obama and Biden are very bitter indeed.

      • Paddy Raghunathan

        Folks…I have at no point defended Hamas. Hamas is inhuman and barbaric…period.

        But relaxing security is Israel’s fault. My hope is Israel learns from this episode and never again relaxes security.

        Best regards,

        Paddy

      • Joshua C. Frank

        Defending the Democrats and what they have done is just as bad.

        Democrats are inhuman and barbaric too (no need to rehash why I think this, everyone knows why), yet you keep on defending them against our legitimate criticism.

      • Paddy Raghunathan

        Joshua,

        Yes I saw that comment:

        “[W]hat you need is to be grateful for being here at all.

        “You deliberately try to insert some nasty anti-conservative crack wherever you can, even though you know quite well that it will antagonize the heavily conservative and rightist membership. Do you think you could do a similar thing at a left-leaning website, by throwing out cracks against Biden or Harris or Ocasio-Cortez, and not get metaphorically smacked (or worse) in response?”

        —

        From what I can tell the SCP does not endorse any views or commentaries. What it does do is give many conservative poets a chance to express their opinions freely. Which in turn is the reason why many of you flock here…SCP appears to be one of a kind. But does that make it right for that majority to conclude that only conservative poems and opinions ought to be allowed on this site?

        At no point have I asked you or anyone to stop expressing their views. Why take my views so personally? Shouldn’t I be allowed to express my voice as well?

        I don’t believe politics has ever been black and white, which is why I try to stay slap bang in the middle. Plain and simple. And yes, on other social media forums where I am allowed to, I have criticized Democrats outright, and taken them to task, so much so that they have accused me of being conservative just as you accuse me of being Democrat / leftist liberal, etc.

        But enough of that spiel. However you want to classify me, I stand with Israel. It’s entirely upto you to believe me or not to believe me.

        Best regards,

        Paddy

      • Paddy Raghunathan

        Joshua,

        Where have I defended Democrats? Voting for them (and I have also voted for Republicans) doesn’t mean I defend them.

        For me voting is an expression of my freedom, and after that I don’t care who wins or loses.

        Best regards,

        Paddy

      • Paddy Raghunathan

        Brian,

        I can see why you are troubled when you see me term Republicans “depraved.” Yes I agree it’s a strong term.

        You mentioned politicians like Reagan and the Senior Bush. I am a huge admirer of both these Presidents, and also admire both of these men as human beings. Note my statement, “Since the mid 90s, when I came into the US…” These two Presidents were done and dusted by then.

        Here is a link that’s very instructive of an issue they debated on, and which is equally resonant today:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsmgPp_nlok

        You have also mentioned Romney and McCain. These are tiny exceptions to the rule. Look at how the party and the party’s base itself thinks of them. QED.

        Best regards,

        Paddy

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      My personal opinion is that this fight has been played out. Let’s all stop, and let the whole thing just be.

      Reply
  6. Cheryl Corey

    Thank you for this strongly-written sonnet. There is no moral equivalence here. Leftist progressivism has contributed to a climate of foolish, naive complacency as to the harsh reality, the true nature of the enemy. I fear that too many in our own country are equally complacent. Who knows how many have slipped across our border with evil intent?

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much indeed, Cheryl. You are so right — there is no moral equivalence here and I heartily concur regarding your views on the severe damage caused by leftist progressivism. It is a delusional world-view which is also incredibly narcissistic. It presumes that everyone is as reasonable and peace-valuing as they are. Love them enough, throw enough money at them and everyone will live happily ever after. It utterly fails to account for those who are death-loving, dishonest, depraved and corrupt — which is an awfully big percentage of the world population. By inaccurately assuming the good in everyone — the good and the bad — leftists only end up punishing the good.

      Reply
      • Brian A. Yapko

        I realize, Josh, that I could no longer look at myself in the mirror and remain a Democrat. As you make clear, leftists have allowed the normalization of depravity and a culture of murder in multiple ways and in multiple places. As for the spread of Islam, history tells us that it was forcibly spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa at the edge of a sword — jihad. An interesting thing about Jews — there is no proselytizing tradition in Judaism. In fact, the process for converting to Judaism in exceedingly difficult. That’s one of the reasons why there are only 15,000,000 Jews in the world versus 1,800,000,000 Muslims. Jews make up 0.2 percent of the world’s population. Muslims make up 24%.

    • Brian A. Yapko

      God almighty. And there are still people who think Israel should negotiate with these depraved, corrupt, barbaric animals? I don’t have curse words strong enough.

      Reply
  8. Paddy Raghunathan

    From the days I read Leon Uris’ ‘Exodus’ to only recently reading Herman Wouk’s ‘The Glory,’ and Daniel Silva’s thrillers, I can affirm I love the Israelis.

    Brian, you capture well the plight of a people who have been living with terrorist threats all through their lives, and yet have found a way to survive against all odds.

    Israel has survived harder and more difficult trials. This too shall pass.

    We stand with Israel, as always.

    Paddy

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you for this comment, Paddy. “Exodus” is a terrific book and it made a wonderful movie with Paul Newman and Lee Remick. I appreciate your recognizing the toll of having to live with the threat of terrorism on a daily basis and Jews everywhere always seem to have a target on their backs whether it’s in Israel or New York or San Diego or London or Sydney… Thank you for standing with Israel because this beleaguered and historically misunderstood and defamed country needs this support.

      Reply
    • Paul Martin Freeman

      Sorry, Paddy. After this earlier remark of yours in which you contemptuously blame its security services for the attack, as though they share with Hamas in the moral culpability and even suggesting taking a gloating pleasure in this, I just can’t see you as a lover of Israel.

      “Keep in mind, though, that this attack would not have occurred had Israel’s security forces not gone to sleep and been caught unawares.”

      Actually, I don’t see you as a lover of anything western. You despised the late Queen Elizabeth. You have contempt in equal measure for Democrats and Republicans. You describe the latter as “depraved” – an extraordinary word to use. And you decline to distinguish between individuals. All are just as bad as each other for you, revealing you must despise pretty much the entire population of the US.

      That you spread your contempt for humanity so liberally makes it harder still to accept your protestations about your feelings for Israel, as that would make it the only thing you do love.

      It’s a harsh thing to say, but I wonder if you’re not just an ungrateful immigrant, embittered as every day you are reminded where you started out from could not have given you as good a life as that which you enjoy in your adopted country.

      Isn’t this what lies behind your supercilious contempt for all things western?

      Reply
      • Paddy Raghunathan

        Wow, Paul. What has being lax on security anything to do with moral culpability?

        Israel should never have relaxed security. I am simply stating that the attacks by Hamas occurred because there were security lapses. I don’t look at Hamas as human either, but knowing well that you have an inhuman neighbor, shouldn’t you stay on high alert always?

        Israel relaxed and the barbaric enemy attacked. Plain and simple.

        I know I stand with Israel…I can’t do anything if you don’t wish to believe me.

        Best regards,

        Paddy

        PS I do love many things western, and I do love Americans, except when they turn into Republicans or Democrats. 😉

      • Paul Martin Freeman

        “this attack would not have occurred had Israel’s security forces not gone to sleep and been caught unawares”

        This means the security forces invited the attack by being asleep. Thus they played a direct part in it without which it “would not have occurred” and hence share in the responsibility.

        No, Paddy, Hamas and whoever is behind them alone bear responsibility for the attack.

  9. Mike Bryant

    Brian, I’ve been pro Israel all my life because I think we share important values and culture. This latest Hamas/Iran outrage has me filled with outrage, not only at the lawless terrorists but at any and all who helped push this insane situation forward. Whose idea was it to send 6 billion more to Iran? Whose idea is it to disarm citizens all over the world? Who benefits from forever wars?

    One of the reasons Germany did not invade the Swiss was because almost every house contained at least one semiautomatic rifle and someone trained to use it. Of course, the one worlders have exported gun laws to Switzerland now.

    The Israelis have had tough gun laws for years and their constitution does not guarantee their right to protect themselves with firearms.

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/02/27/firearm-licensing-in-israel-how-strict-are-the-jewish-states-gun-laws/

    I am not trying to derail the discussion, however, this seems to be a no-brainer.

    Could this be a dress-rehearsal for the millions of military aged youn men that have been brought across our own border, issued government ID and put on a nice stipend of $2,200 per month?
    We don’t have oppressive gun laws everywhere in the USA YET.
    So, watch for this sort of thing happening wherever people have been disarmed by overreaching government. Be ready.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you for this comment Mike and the additional insights that you have provided. I did not actually know about the limits on the right to bear arms in Israel. The thing is these limitations which are, I would guess, intended to thwart the bad guys only end up restricting the good guys, who are left defenseless as a result. This has obvious application to the U.S. and efforts to restrict guns. Here in New Mexico, only about three weeks ago, the governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham, unconstitutionally attempted to restrict the carrying of guns. She did so by purporting to exercise extraordinary powers to combat a “health emergency.” A lawsuit was immediately filed, her “emergency” order was declared unconstitutional and she backed down. But this is what woke governance looks like. Invent an emergency so you can find ways to control the people.

      As for the decision to send $6,000,000,000 to Iran — wasn’t that Biden and the Democrats?

      Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      I fear that the guns won’t help anyway even if they remain legal. Today’s culture is so atomized that if one man tries to defend his family from the government with his gun, there’s no one else willing to risk his own life to fight for him, not even his closest friends. (Thanks to The Boniface Option by Andrew Isker for this point.)

      I think guns are legal only so people like us think we have power against the government, just as Fox News exists only so we think we have a voice. (As far as I can tell, this belief about guns is largely American, most likely due to the Second Amendment.) If guns actually gave us that kind of power, they wouldn’t be legal. I’m guessing restrictions on guns are more about sowing crime and chaos to justify greater government control.

      Or, to use a rhyming maxim:

      Amendment two will never keep you safe
      From tyrant governments that bomb and strafe.

      Reply
      • Mike Bryant

        Guns have already saved people in the USA from deadly demonstrators.

      • Joshua C. Frank

        True, they’re useful on that level. But what I’m thinking of is the idea many hold that guns alone can stop the government from becoming despotic. I think we’re already there, and guns haven’t stopped that, nor can they.

  10. Joshua C. Frank

    Brian, this is a beautiful poem! I’ve heard about the horrors going on in Israel… you and Israel have my support.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      God bless you, Josh. Thank you for this wonderful comment! Israel needs your support more than ever.

      Reply
  11. C.B. Anderson

    Amen, brother. How righteous does one have to be before the facts of the matter overcome the standard biases? And why is barbarism now the darling of the Ivy League?

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you for the amen and your support, C.B. Depravity has infested academia in a way that is frankly terrifying. Facts and evidence are swept away in the face of insupportable ideologies. The only historical corollaries I can think of are the anti-west ideologies that resulted in the Cultural Revolution in China and the racist ideologies that infected the institutions of Nazi Germany. There’s plenty of hate to go around in both the Ivy League and non-Ivey League universities. To have institutions like Harvard, Berkeley and U.C.L.A promoting antisemitism shows how morally bankrupt academia has become.

      Reply
      • Joseph S. Salemi

        The C.U.N.Y. system of colleges here in New York City is riddled with anti-Semitism posing as anti-Israeli political critique. This is especially true for the History, Political Science, Minority-Group Studies, and a good percentage of the Humanities departments. Some Jewish students have told me privately that they are afraid to speak out in some classrooms. And the higher-ups in the system’s administration have refused to address the problem at all, lest they offend the large number of activist left-liberal faculty.

      • Brian A. Yapko

        Yes, Joe, I’ve heard similar reports from a great many college campuses. The gross thing about it is if these social justice warrior college kids actually interacted with the people they are supporting they would find them to be anathema to everything they think they stand for. But they so dig having a valid excuse to hate Jews and Israel that they just run with it. As for C.U.N.Y., here’s an interesting article for you. “CUNY Law School Group Shares Pro-Palestinian Molotov Cocktail Guide As Israel-Hamas War Rages.”

        https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/10/10/light-it-cuny-law-school-group-shares-pro-palestinian-molotov-cocktail-guide-as-israel-hamas-war-rages/

        How can civilized people not be repulsed?

    • Brian A Yapko

      Mike, I can’t find this news story from the citation. Is that the only link?

      Reply
      • Mike Bryant

        That link goes to a short video on Twitter/X.
        It says it is about Trump but it reveals much more.

      • Brian A. Yapko

        Thanks for this, Mike. “Money is fungible” indeed. How profoundly stupid could the present administration be in releasing 6 BILLION dollars to a rogue regime that wants to do nothing but fund terrorism against the U.S. and Israel? It beggars the imagination.

      • Mike Bryant

        It’s either stupid, or it’s simply a continuation of the “forever war” policy. Don’t forget that Obama got the Nobel while he had two hot wars going on. War + weapons sales + propaganda = trillions for the connected. Eisenhower did warn about the Military Industrial Complex. Too bad the perfectly honed sci ops have us just where they want us… uninformed, separated and completely incapable of stopping them from using us as their cattle. Of course, that’s just my take.

    • Brian A. Yapko

      Unbelievable. Well, when people show you who they are… believe them.

      behttps://www.thefp.com/p/when-people-tell-you-who-they-are

      Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Mike, the New York Times is NOTORIOUSLY antisemitic and anti-Israel. Any Jew who is not a complete left-leaning fictionalist learned long ago to boycott them because of their toxic agenda when it comes to Jews and Israel. There is no story of Jewish suffering whether in the U.S. or at the hands of Palestinian Arabs that they will not spin into something bizarrely antisemitic. It usually suggests that Israel has earned any violence it suffers because of whatever. From my standpoint, it’s as if it were December 8, 1941 and they spin the story about how the poor beleaguered Japanese simply had no choice but to bomb Pearl Harbor. Of course Pearl Harbor was a military target and no one reveled in beheading babies and grandmothers.

      “Mostly peaceful” indeed.

      Reply
  15. Joseph S. Salemi

    One small bit of news that a close friend of mine, a Jewish woman, just now called up to tell me. She has received an e-mail from Israel, from the son of one of her oldest friends.

    He told her that his eighty-seven year-old mother had been murdered by HAMAS terrorists on Saturday. She was not ambulatory, and was living in a kibbutz. She was a Holocaust survivor, and both of her parents died in a concentration camp.

    The HAMAS terrorists beheaded her. And they did the same with several children and infants in that same kibbutz. I can just hear the Nazi officer at the camp giving directions: “Older persons and children to the left, please.”

    I predict that within a few days we will begin to hear the whining chorus of left-liberal pity — not for victims like this old woman, but for Gaza and the Palestinians and the terrorists. There will be the moralistic calls for a “cease-fire,” and “negotiations,” and “lifting the siege,” and “allowing NGO relief teams to enter,” and “opening up a corridor.” and all the other piety-laden choreographed crap that the left spouts when it is getting its ass kicked.

    IMHO, Netanyahu has made two mistakes: He is delaying the assault on Gaza for too long; and he has taken members of his left-liberal political opposition into his government. This means that the choreographed crap will now reach decibel levels, and the IDF will be hamstrung by all kinds of restraints.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Joe, this is an important comment and I can barely keep from sobbing in response. There is nothing civilized or justifiable in this kind of sadistic slaughter of innocents. The murderers who glory in this are nothing but a pack of savage animals. And those “social justice warriors” in this country who are still morally drunk enough to support them need to face some serious karmic retribution. May they reap what they sow.

      Anyone who can support Hamas after this has lost any moral compass whatsoever in the pursuit of a bankrupt ideology. There can be no “yes, but…” in the case of this type of mass murder of completely innocent civilians. Hamas didn’t even attack one single military target. They went straight for the babies, the children and the grandparents. And not even murder by a single gunshot in the head. They went for the beheadings of live people and raping women next to their dead husbands.

      I fear that you’re right regarding Netanyahu. And he’s about as strong a leader as one can look for in a Western nation these days. We should be past the days when important decisions are made by committee but in a United Nations world, committee approval — no matter how corrupt or incompetent — is now deemed essential. As for the IDF, I believe that the superior morality they have been trained with and have demonstrated over and over again, has proven to be a waste. You can’t expect barbarians to act like civilized men. And as Golda Meir said, “you can’t negotiate with people who have come to kill you.”

      Reply
      • Paul Matrin Freeman

        Hello Brian

        The reason the intelligence failed had nothing to do with the high moral values of the IDF. It was a consequence of a failure in the mindset of the IDF leadership who were taken in by a change in the rhetoric and actions of Hamas that persuaded them the terrorists were no longer interested in war.

        https://gellerreport.com/2023/10/heres-how-islamic-jew-haters-fooled-the-west-and-busted-israels-defenses.html/

        In various ways, Israel went along with this apparent development, hoping to encourage it. Relaxing its guard in the South was one consequence.

        At bottom, the IDF made the mistake of allowing themselves to believe Hamas were really just like them – people with a yearning for peace – the goal the terrorists were trying to achieve in order to lull Israel into a false sense of security.

        We should never believe people from a different culture are like us. To believe this is the characteristic fantasy of contemporary western culture. It is the fantasy that underlies multiculturalism and the logical nonsense of “Diversity is our strength”.

        All of us are prisoners of our own culture. The terrorists exploited this fantasy in Israel as they have been doing across the western world for decades. Israel paid the price this time as we shall pay it in the future.

        “War is deceit,” said Muhammad (Bukhari 52:269)

    • Paul Martin Freeman

      Joe, in fact the whining started immediately news of the massacres were reported with Channel 4’s Cathy Newman suggesting to the IDF’s representative that Israel should not respond due to the inevitability of civilian casualties in Gaza.

      As to why the IDF have not yet moved in there, please watch this interview with Major General Giora Eiland.

      Reply
      • Brian A. Yapko

        Unbelievable. Well, in my view, anything that happens to the innocent in Gaza (especially since they voted for Hamas leadership in the first place) is 100% the responsibility of Hamas. Using civilians as human shields? Spending all the money that should have been used for humanitarian and infrastructure purposes on bombs and missiles? They have lost what exceedingly limited moral stature they had in the first place. Israel has to do what is necessary to eradicate this threat once and for all, public opinion be damned.

    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thanks for this story of heroism, Mike. One can only fervently hope that there are more such heroes. And I believe there are.

      Reply
      • Mike Bryant

        The heroes are there, but will the government let them get the arms they need?

  19. Mike Bryant

    Brian, recent events… say the last three or four years, have illuminated so much. I’ve only come to the realization, that most of the world is in the grips of fascism. Before you say I’m crazy, hear me out. Here is the definition of fascism at Wordnik.

    A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

    If you look it up on Wiki they add “right wing” to the definition, which is odd since Germany, the perfecter of fascism, was styled as the National Socialist party (Nationalsozialist). They’ve made socialism work spectacularly by combining large business and government. Regulations shut down small business and create monopolies run by billionaires and their toadies in government in a devilish partnership.
    Joe Kennedy was our ambassador to Germany before the war. He told everyone who would listen that Germany’s system of government was the wave of the future. The people that mattered did listen and many Nazis were brought to the USA for rocket science, philosophy, and organization. They have now infiltrated every organization in the USA.
    We are living in the Third Reich.

    Reply
    • Mike Bryant

      Also, the New Nationalism has become Globalism. It’s only a matter of time before we all must sing the Globalist Anthem.

      Reply
    • Joseph S. Salemi

      The Third Reich with a Smiley-Face button, a Rainbow Flag, and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office.

      Reply
  20. Margaret Coats

    Brian, to get back to your sonnet amid the issues it raises, an ironic beauty is that the octet echoes John Lennon’s “Imagine.” That song asked us to imagine the poetic golden world very much worth keeping in mind, while you remind us that it rarely exists in fact. And more important, you ask that we keep our imaginative capacity open rather to long-term realities in the concrete case of Israel, understanding how past and present acts of terror shape a life in which it is practically impossible to easily “Imagine” with Lennon and his like.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much, Margaret, for returning to the poem itself! You are the only reader to note the “Imagine” connection. There is an echo of thwarted optimism in this poetic reference — will peace ever be possible? Stranger things have happened. But there is also a deep irony. Bishop Robert Barron actually did an entire Youtube video on “Imagine” in which he vigorously criticized it for its liberal fantasy of “no countries and no religion, too.” In this case, to hope for what John Lennon actually wanted would be harmful to the cause I espouse: I care deeply about a country (Israel) and a religion (Judaism.) I’ve never been quite sure if John Lennon really understood the implications of what he was saying.

      Reply
      • Margaret Coats

        You are right to be suspicious of an idealistic “peace paradise” like the Lennon song. True ideals should not be abandoned, but such talk can easily go on to present evil disguised as good, as in the “no countries and no religion” line you specify. By the time he gets there, Lennon is in fact denying the ideal of justice (in favor of peace which cannot be achieved that way). Justice means giving everyone his due. Patriotism is the giving of what is due one’s country, and religion is giving God His due. And that last one is difficult, because it is God who must say how to accomplish it. Prideful human beings decide for themselves.

        We can recall that Saint Paul had an immense love for Israel after he had become a Christian Apostle, and was on his way to becoming (with Peter) one of two Patriarchs of Rome. Still, he said that he could wish to give up his place with Christ, if only Israel could be saved. He keeps the wish as an impossible condition, because he knows God works otherwise. He does have the grace to make an inspired statement that at some future time all Israel will come in (the fabled conversion of the Jews). It is not only a hope but a promise from God that will be accomplished, but not through anything human beings imagine.

    • Mike Bryant

      The article is exactly right. It reminds me of this:

      First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
      Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
      Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
      Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
      —Martin Niemöller

      The woke, current-thing utopians have become the shock troops of the new globalist tyrants.

      Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thanks for this new link, Mike. It’s amazing that Hamas can be shown to have planned out the systematic murderers of innocent civilians, including children and the elderly, and still leftists go “meh.” If that’s not antisemitism than nothing is. That being said, I’m becoming increasingly convinced this is not about ethnicity but a class war. Leftists love to hate people who are successful and they adore anyone who’s poor and downtrodden, even if it’s because they’ve chosen a life that’s poor and downtrodden. This is a class war on top of everything else. People who actually achieve stuff are reviled.

      As for John Lennon, I like the Beatles as much as anyone. But why would anyone take political or spiritual advice about how to achieve peace from someone who was drugged out and couldn’t even make peace with the three other members of the Beatles? What would he have achieved if actually given any type of political power?

      Reply
  23. David Whippman

    Thanks for this timely poem Brian, and for the article reference. In Britain, writers such as Howard Jacobson and Nick Cohen had some useful insights into why the left and the woke are instinctive supporters of Islamic extremism. Biden’s speech was indeed heartening. I am as appalled as anyone by the horror that unfolded, but I cannot understand how the Israelis – acknowledged experts in security – could be caught so completely unawares.

    Reply
    • Brian A.Yapko

      Thank you very much, David. I remain baffled by the intelligence failure as well. It was as monumental as 9/11’s intelligence failure here in the U.S. That being said, it does not in any way undermine Hamas’s full responsibility for these inhuman criminal acts. And while on the subject of responsibility, I have one other thing to say: leftists are bemoaning the destruction Israelis are now inflicting on Gaza. Please. The United States and the United Kingdom were forced to bomb the hell out of Germany during World War II — especially towards the end when Eisenhower and Patton came in with tanks. Nobody says the U.S. and U.K, (the brutes!) did anything wrong. To the contrary, we rightly blame the Germans for having elected Hitler and the Nazi party in the first place. And if Gaza elected Hamas as its leadership — which they did — they now face the consequences of that bloody choice. They made their choice and their fate is entirely on them.

      Reply
      • David Whippman

        I agree. I do have the reservation that any action by Israel will not eradicate hamas, though it may weaken it. But I understand why Israel feels the need to act.

  24. Joseph S. Salemi

    I think the intelligence failures (of both the Americans before 9/11 and the Israelis before this Hamas attack) were the result of an overdependence on technology at the expense of human eyes and ears and brains.

    There is only so much that a machine can do, which is only programmed to respond to what its programmers tell it to notice. A single alert sentry at his post has a mind, and he can coordinate all his senses with that mind to be super-aware of threats and dangers. Give him a weapon, ammo, binoculars, and a radio, and that’s all the technology he needs.

    What you really have, in this absurd worship of technology and its concomitant contempt for ordinary human things like sentries and patrols, is another example of the hubristic attitude that thinks of human beings as insufficient and obsolescent.

    I would very much like to hear what LTC Peterson, a military intelligence officer of long experience, has to say on this subject.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      There are people who say that 9/11 was orchestrated by our own government to justify more control over the people… after what they’ve done with the COVID pandemic, I don’t consider this outside the realm of possibility.

      The book 180° by Feargus O’Connor Greenwood has detailed research about this very topic (among many other topics). The author makes the same well-researched claim about the attack on Pearl Harbor as well.

      The more I learn and the more life experience I have, the less I trust the mainstream narrative on anything.

      Reply

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