Tag Archives: October 7

October 7, 2025 · 8:53 pm

Follow The Money

IDROS cannot believe it has been two years. Arguably the worst two consecutive years for Jews and for humanity since any two years from 1933-1945. Maybe there is some hope now, with a nebulous offer on the table and finally some pressure placed by most of the world where it should have been for the past 731 days…on Hamas (not by the “Free Palestine” masses and celebrity racists, per se, who have been incredibly loud for most of the past 2 years, but by world leaders…most of whom have been vocally anti-Israel as well until the last week). Except while Israel accepted the deal, Hamas only sort of accepted…they “agreed” to release the hostages, but the rest of the deal remains, at least in their barbaric fantasy, an invitation to renegotiate.

We shall see. But at least there is some reason to be optimistic, and some unexpected but welcome voices joining the US and Israel in championing the deal on the table.

48 is an important number for us Jews. It represents the year Israel was reborn, the 48 prophets (of the Tanakh) and the 48 ways to accept/acquire Torah (from the Mishnah). There are many other significant gematria according to the Kabbalah. But for now, 48 represents the bodies and souls of the remaining hostages, abused, tortured and shattered for an unfathomable two years. And so, on this awful anniversary, IDROS will remain focused on the hope that those 48 will return home.

But know…even if they are returned, an immeasurable price will be paid. By Israel, and by all freedom, truth and peace-loving people of the world. Beyond the heavy price already paid: in lives, destruction, stolen years, journalistic integrity, spreading and proliferation of hatred, erosion of trust and everything else that the horrors of two years of war on eight fronts have cost all of us.

Consequences. The only way this nightmare will ever end is with real, measurable consequences. Kowtowing to terror, offering a reward of statehood, pressuring the victims, blaming the victims, forcing the side who was attacked to negotiate with terrorists…none of these ridiculous tactics or reactions by the global powers that be are acceptable, nor will they lead to peace or any semblance of a world order that any rational player in our world should desire.

Since October 7, only those warring parties or nefarious actors who have been met with overwhelming FAFO-level consequences have either surrendered completely (see Hezbollah, who was bitch-slapped with a masterclass in counter terror techniques exemplified by the exploding pagers), or have turned tail and amended their ways (see Columbia and Harvard (who allowed terrorists to basically run amok on campus for the better part of two years, harassing Jews, vandalizing campus buildings and basically turning their respective campuses into glorified homeless encampments with the added je ne se quoi of Jew Hate to make them truly unbearable and the true embodiment of an actual hate crime disguised as an institution of higher learning)…but when the current administration threatened and then actually cut off their federal funding – i.e., went after the MONEY, these Ivy League cauldrons of hate began to reform, arrest the terror sympathizers on their campuses, settle lawsuits (like the one brought by Shabbos Kestenbaum) and start to root out the Jew-hating venom that has gripped their campuses (the jury is still out on this one…IDROS fears it might take generations to ween the woke crowd off the drug of antisemitism).

But the threat to those sacred endowments, and loss of tax-exempt status and grant funding and lawsuits and court costs and oversight and bureaucratic red tape and congressional hearings, etc…that brings us right to the all-powerful…

Money.

For better or mostly worse…Jews are inextricably associated with money. And we have been for centuries. Why? To keep it simple, Jews were excluded from most professions (and most societal and community intermingling) throughout the world for millennia (even well into the 20th century). The Catholic church forbid Christians from working in the banking profession for religious reasons (which mostly centered around charging interest). Due to these circumstances. Jews, out of desperation, gravitated toward professions like money lending. As religious stigmas relaxed during the Reformation, Christians moved into banking and lending professions as well, but for many Jews, these roles were all they knew. And having worked in the industry for generations, they became quite good at it, as did their children and grandchildren. Jews got so good that they would be entrusted with large sums of money that needed to be transported from one city to another and even one country to another as payment for goods and services. But transport became dangerous, what with thieves and marauders. So, Jews innovated, and invented the first checking system, using systems of markings and designs on worthless paper to convey large sums of money over great distances. And as luck would have it…the whole world took notice, used our services when they needed them or it suited them, and badmouthed Jews for it in closed circles. And that phenomenon birthed one of the most defining derogatory associations Jews would have…and it still haunts us today.

But despite the jokes in poor taste and the racist undertones that accompany most mentions of Jews and anything money related, Jews do know money. And we know the power it holds over most in our world.

We know hate laid the foundation for October 7 and the past two years of unrelenting antisemitism. But we also know that money was the fuel used by sinister and nefarious forces to orchestrate all that has unfolded…and the flow of this money began decades before October 7, 2023.

So, let’s follow the money…

The money that was stolen by Hamas, which built terror tunnels and bought weapons (and yachts for their leaders) instead of schools and infrastructure and hospitals for the Gazan citizens.

The money that was funneled by Qatar to every university campus in the Western world over the past four decades to create an antizionist, anti-West PR campaign the likes of which have never been seen, and one which is self-fortifying and sure to grow over time because the students who are indoctrinated will eventually become future professors or attain even more dangerous positions of power and influence outside of academia.

The money that Iran spent from its vast oil reserves to build nuclear weapons, fund terror throughout the Middle East through its proxies and the rest of the world through terror-linked non-profit organizations (Iran linked organizations pay many of the keffiyeh-wearing radicals on college campuses and at protests in cities across the western world).

The money the Palestinian Authority uses for its PAY-TO-SLAY policy whereby they pay the families of terrorists who kill Jews or are “martyred” trying to kill Jews.

The money allocated by the entire world to organizations like the UN, UNRWA, the Red Cross, Amnesty, etc., which get hijacked by terrorists within the organizations, or due to bias and racism, are used in ways that lack integrity (even the World Central Kitchen was infiltrated by terrorists posing as WCK team members, which was just finally admitted and apologized for by Jose Andres and his organization, but not before irreparable libel, slander and lies were wielded as weapons to undermine and cast Israel as evil).

The money earned per click and per viewership by every mainstream media outlet, credentialed or not. This includes podcasters, influencers and rags like the Huff Post, the Guardian, the Atlantic, Haaretz, the Forward, and of Course, news outlets that should, but somehow aren’t, held to journalistic standards and integrity, such as WaPo, NYT, Reuters, the AP, the BBC, etc.

The money funneled to and earned by al Jazeera, which is funded by Qatar, to spread false information, libels and undermine Israel and all Western Democracies in more ways than most can fathom…including harboring actual militant terrorists who cloak themselves in Press jackets to allow them full access to the battlefield where they capture (read: choreograph) the money shots for the press with one hand, while firing bullets at the IDF, hostages and innocent Gazans with their other hand.

The money lining the pockets of politicians throughout the Western world, bought and paid for by Qatar and Iran to help do their bidding.

The billions if not trillions of dollars in losses caused by the Houthis in Yemen, who have continuously disrupted shipping in and around the Persian Gulf, destroying cargo ships and rerouting countless others adding exponential costs to an already supply chain-constrained global economy – not to mention the money required for the air defense systems like the Iron Dome, to shoot these missiles down, and the money to rebuild the catastrophic damages caused by the missiles that get through.

The money spent by nefarious governments like Russia, China and North Korea to sow chaos and unrest throughout the West with online libel campaigns, hackings, bot infestations and by providing weapons to terror groups and despots throughout the Middle East.

The trillions of dollars in oil money that flow to and from the Middle Eastern oil rich emirates and cartel members every year, allowing the region to influence policy worldwide, build and support terror organizations, fund supposed philanthropic efforts, etc.

We must stop these fountains of money from flowing, or at least slow them down, make those who benefit most and who facilitate the nefarious transactions feel serious pain.

IDROS recommends the following courses of action:

  1. The money stolen by Hamas from various Gazan relief efforts, including UN and UNRWA allocations as well as from philanthropic efforts from the West must be frozen, and those providing funds must be sanctioned.
  2. Any aid getting into Gaza (now and in the miracle scenario that could end this war) must be secured, and Hamas must be prevented from seizing, and then selling the aid to their own benefit. Things have been better since GHF began operations, but there is so much aid being dropped by so many parties that there is no way some of it isn’t slipping through the cracks or that gets hijacked by Hamas like it always has been.
  3. Qatar must be brought to task. IDROS doesn’t know how Qatar has skated by basically with impunity since October 7, but they are and have been the biggest reason so many lives have been lost in Gaza, Israel and throughout the diaspora. They also somehow get to mediate and broker hostage deals but are as biased a player in that role as there could be. They harbor terrorist leadership in Doha, run mass antizionist, antisemitic and anti-Israel PR campaigns through both al Jazeera and through their flooding western institutions with cash and this must stop. Israel and America (and preferably many others) must put pressure on Qatar, threaten their oil reserves, threaten their leadership and sanction them until they free the hostages (and if/after the hostages are freed, pressure them even more). Any university who has taken funds from Qatar over the past 30 years should be forced to return every penny or risk having their own assets frozen or tax- exempt status revoked, etc.
  4. Iran must pay for the chaos they have wrought on the world. Much like the Nazis after WWII, the US and Israel should pressure the mullahs with sanctions and military destruction until they surrender. Iran’s nuclear capabilities must be investigated more closely and should be hit again if there are any traces remaining of any of the materials feared prior to the stealth bomber efforts earlier this year.
  5.  Yemeni Houthis must pay for the damage and chaos they have levied upon global shipping and logistics, as well as for raining missiles at a sovereign nation. What they have done amounts to no less than a declaration of war on the entire Western world, and requisite countermeasures must be taken until the Houthis are no longer, and until Iran (and others such as North Korea) is no longer able to fund and arm them.
  6. The UN must be dismantled or drastically overhauled/amended. Much of the other “philanthropic” organizations must be carefully vetted, cleansed of terrorists and terrorist sympathizers, and the money trails for all must be audited and accounts frozen/seized as necessary.
  7. And Jews all over the world must initiate class action lawsuits against any number of offenders listed above. IDROS recommends starting with media companies who have stoked the flames of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias/hatred, and in fact, are accomplices in and the root cause of many murders, violent assaults, harassment, acts of vandalism and other criminal activity throughout the diaspora including the murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim in Washington DC, and the murder by firebombing of Karen Diamond in Boulder, CO. These class action suits should continue with colleges and universities who failed their Jewish students (their parents) and faculty miserably over the past 2 years. These suits should include civil suits against specific inciters on campus such as Mahmoud Khalil.

And there have also been ridiculous sums of money spent out of necessity by those directly and indirectly targeted by the actions listed above:

  • The money spent on defense for places like Israel and for Western military installations in the Middle East to prevent catastrophic and genocidal fallout from a constant barrage of rockets, missiles and other weaponry fired from myriad proxies and sovereign nations throughout the Middle East.
  • The money Jews in Israel and throughout the diaspora are forced to spend every year to secure synagogues, Jewish Day Schools, Jewish neighborhoods and events because just existing in our world as a Jew is among the most dangerous realities in the world.
  • The billions in taxpayer dollars spent each year on clean-up for Jew-hate related vandalism, graffiti, cemetery desecration, security (armed police, guards and even militia) for protests and rallies, rising insurance premiums etc.
  • The millions spent on hospital bills and funerals for those targeted in terror attacks, taken hostage and later released (dead or alive), beaten or attacked in the streets across the world, etc.
  • Legal fees and wasted hours by courts and courtroom professionals to navigate this circus and its fallout, much of which is yet to come.
  • And the untold billions not yet known that will be spent by the victims, their extended families and every Jew in the diaspora on PTSD, anxiety and other mental health trauma care and stress related illnesses as a result of the October 7 massacre and subsequent rise in Jew hate.

Finally, IDROS would be remis if not discussing an enormous bill that remains outstanding: The mammoth costs to rebuild Gaza. Whoever signs on to foot this bill would be crazy to write this blank check if things remain status quo. Should Hamas, or any terrorist organizations, remain in Gaza after a treaty/agreement is signed to end the war, the risk of renewed fighting and destruction will remain at 100%…it will not be an IF, but a WHEN. So, who would invest billions if not trillions in such an endeavor with such risk outstanding? And if Qatar or others are willing to move forward with such an undertaking without being absolutely certain the terror threats have been fully mitigated, it begs the question…If Qatar (and/or others) have that kind of sway with these barbarians, and trust them enough to invest billions or more into rebuilding the enclave without fearing re-escalation in the future, why couldn’t they use the same sway to get the hostages back more quickly? Or maybe these players have so much money that they just don’t care what happens? True F-YOU money. And the YOU, unfortunately, is all of us. God help us.

F anyone and everyone who celebrated this dubious anniversary in any way, shape or form. You all disgust me and deserve to burn in eternal hellfire.

As for the rest of you, IDROS send vibes of hope and optimism…for better days and years ahead; for an end to this unrelenting madness; for a return to truth and sanity; and of course, for the return of our 48. (And if you want to move on bullet 7 above, IDROS is ready).

#BringThemHomeNow

Thanks for reading,

IDROS

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May 23, 2025 · 4:54 pm

We Knew…We All Knew!

Free Palestine = Anti-Zionism = Antisemitism = Dead Jews!

We (meaning the majority of Jews worldwide) all knew this was the inevitable outcome…the writing was on the Wall (and that is why the Wall is Wailing).

It was only a matter of time before the cloaked threats of violence (Intifada) actually manifested as cold-blooded, premeditated, targeted murder of Jews (read: ordinary, could be any of us living our normal everyday Jewish lives, Jews;  NOT Israeli soldiers or politicos), outside the war zone of Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

The past 595 days have been one giant HATE CRIME!

Every day, just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse in the diaspora, a new low is achieved.

We go through the motions of life, filled with what can only be described as existential dread, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

We tiptoe through life in many cases, trying our hardest to hold onto the unfair and completely blurred lines of our own moral compasses, balancing terrifying and impossible political choices with our own sanity and senses of self-preservation.

And yet, following the nightmare of October 7, we have borne witness to:

  • Immediate blaming of the horrors of 10/7 on Israel, denial of the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust, inversion psychological terror, and mass protests against not the perpetrators, but of the victims…all before Israel had time to react and before Jews in and outside of Israel could even mourn their losses
  • A terrifying Jew hunt in Dagestan reminiscent of pogroms in 1800 and early 1900 Russia…you know, the ones our grandparents spoke about very seldomly, and with lots of pent-up venom for marauders like the Cossacks
  •  The hostile takeover of academic institutions throughout the Western World by Islamist apologists as well as, for many of us, former allies in our naïve and idealistic quest to make the world a better place (and realized, much to our horror, that these people were one and the same in most cases),
  • The birth of a new kind of soccer hooligan – the Jew-hating, lynch mob that targeted Jews in town for a sporting event and who needed to be rescued by Israeli forces in a twisted, well-coordinated operation by terrorists and rabid antisemites in the city famous for forcing a famous pre-teen Jewish girl and her family into hiding less than a century earlier
  • Repeated shootings, violence and vandalism at Jewish day schools and businesses in Montreal and across Canada and Australia
  • City council, town hall and school board meetings across the US evoking memories of the everyman (and woman) throughout Europe who joined the Nazis in blaming Jews for all of their problems as they proved the vitriol against Israel and Zionists online was NOT all AI generated, and that those sentiments were very much part of real human voices actively seeking out these local, community and grass roots forums to spew their racist ideologies, hypocritical nonsense and general hatred of the Jewish people
  • The UN, ICC and many other agencies (Amnesty, the Red Cross, etc) created to fairly keep order in our world and mete out justice, proving to be completely biased, antisemitic and in most cases, corrupt, with too many examples to recount here
  • Violence and threats of violence running rampant on the streets of most western cities, laden with hate speech and slogans that literally mean “death to Jews”
  • The first Ivy League hearings…you know, the ones where “it depends on the context” was delivered to congress as testimony to support turning a blind eye to the gathering mobs of violent harassers and hate-speakers
  • Media outlets continually slandering Israel, quoting statistics and numbers purposely provided by Terrorist organizations to paint Israel in a bad light, and most notably, printing and posting incredible lies and fabrications that have no basis in reality, but are then reposted and quoted around the globe to billions of people before any retraction, removal or apology…if that even happens, and after the damage has been done – with NO REPERCUSSIONS OR CONSEQUENCES
  • Inexplicable and unfathomable tearing down of hostage posters in cities across the western world
  • Protests at sacred places like hospitals because Jews work there or donated dollars to fund the building or one of its departments, preventing access to care and visitation
  • Conditioned aid and defensive munitions used as a threat to America’s only true ally in the Middle East, and while American citizens were being tortured and held hostage in hellish tunnels beneath Gaza
  • Watching dumbfounded as the entire world accepts and enables nefarious nations like Qatar and Egypt to broker hostage negotiations. Qatar, who welcomes, houses and protects terrorist leadership while negotiating on their behalf, and Egypt who has a larger more fortified border security wall with Gaza than Israel does, who has allowed weapons smuggling through and beneath said security wall for decades, and who has a vested interest in keeping the Palestinian people out of Egypt and in place as a thorn in Israel’s side
  • Refusal of service to Jews at restaurants and other places of business across the globe
  • Harassment of patrons in and outside of eateries and other Jewish owned businesses
  • The Bourbon Street car-ramming  
  • “Don’t” as a repeated policy by the President’s administration…which was violated again and again, and met with zero consequences
  • Kanye
  • South Africa’s effort to sue Israel in the ICC
  • A war on 8 fronts
  • Watching women’s groups and champions of women’s rights like Michelle Obama and Oprah turn a complete blind eye to the violence perpetrated against Israeli and Jewish (and other) women on October 7, and since then in captivity below Gaza – denying it, refusing to denounce it, remaining silent, and trampling on their humanity and truth
  • Disruption of global shipping by the Houthis, with little if any pushback or consequences for months – and it continues more than 15 months later causing major global economic ramifications
  • Missiles fired into Israel by Iran, not once but twice…and still no true response as Israel is hamstrung by the US and other global powers who were not directly fired upon
  • Israel being forced to negotiate with terrorists, and the normalization of trading hundreds if not thousands of convicted, murdering terrorist criminals for one innocent Jewish mother, child, elderly person or Holocaust survivor who were kidnapped from their homes or from a music festival based on the premise of peace
  • Hollywood, the Oscars, the pins, the hypocrisy, and the silence concerning the hostages
  • Coachella and the fiasco that was Kneecap
  • Palestinians being the only people in a warzone in all of modern and ancient history that are not permitted to flee the area. This phenomenon is enforced by their own Hamas leadership, who needs them in place as human shields and to use their deaths, injuries and hunger to garner sympathy from the world, and also by the rest of the Arab world who refuses to take in the Palestinian refugees and considers it a violation of the highest order if god forbid, the Palestinian People are “ethnically cleansed” by choosing to go somewhere safe instead of risking their lives in a war zone. And the world accepts this as truth, in this one and only instance
  • A US President accepting a lavish and expensive gift by the very nation who has flooded the west with billions of dollars over the past four decades in an effort to bring down the west from within and institute a global Islamic caliphate
  • The 5 million dollars and safe passage offered by the US to any Palestinian citizen who frees or helps to free a hostage, and which has unsurprisingly yielded exactly zero hostage returns
  • Eurovision, the vile hatred shown for the wonderful Israeli competitor Yuval Raphael, the petitions to remove her and Israel in general, and the topper, the actual winner recently declaring that he wished he didn’t have to compete against an Israeli and hopes Israel is banned from future events
  • Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera

And that is just a small sampling of the overwhelming nightmare that has unfolded since October 7, 2023.

And through that hellscape, we all knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time. It was a when, not an if.

And IDROS is afraid a Pandora’s Box has been opened. Yaron and Sarah, who represent all of us as Jews, attending a Jewish event in a Jewish space, as most of us do routinely…will not be the last. And we all saw and felt it coming. For 19 ½ months! We screamed from the rooftops, posted our pleas, prayed to our rabbis, and warned whomever would listen. And now that the horror we knew would manifest into something even worse has fully metastasized…we must come to grips with the fact that this was only the tip of the iceberg. The ship is too big and the momentum is billions strong.

Please…to all Democratic politicians not named Fetterman or Torres, do not let their lives be taken in vain. Please do something. Get a backbone and find your morality. Come to grips with the fact that Jews are a minority and are humans, and are being targeted for death by a growing and scary mob that you have helped create and embolden by every failure to attach consequences to actions that have no place in our country…that are glorified hate speech and hate crimes dressed up as “freedom of speech” and “freedom of assembly.”

The hypocrisy IDROS sees is glaring. Liberal Democrats are anti-gun (or at least pro-gun control), and with every school and mass shooting, they sound the alarms and shout from the rooftops about the awful Second Amendment and how it shouldn’t be interpreted so literally and was written 250 years ago when there weren’t automatic weapons and silencers and so on. IDROS knows this because he is one of those who screamed loudest! Well guess what, the First Amendment is just as archaic, and wasn’t written at a time when global politics and situations were accessible to every armchair pundit, racist and wannabe influencer with an internet connection; it never contemplated social media and a reality where lies can be sent to billions with a click, when facts don’t matter, when classrooms, curricula and entire universities can be bought by foreign actors, when media serves bank accounts and not the good of the people, when the most hallowed halls of Western education and academia can be overrun by racist and terrorist ideologies and where vandalism, library and admin building takeovers, harassment, security threats, hate speech and outright lies are protected in the name of peaceful protest and resistance of a foreign country (a country IDROS might add, that embodies all that the progressive throngs glorify and hold most sacred in their own ideologies, but somehow look beyond due to a fiction they have been fed as part of a grand scheme to radicalize the youth of the west, with the end goal being to topple western liberal democracies and replace it with Islamist Sharia Law).

May Yaron and Sarah be forever blessed and remembered as the soon-to-be engaged heroes that they are. Young, wide-eyed optimists truly out there trying to help the very people these campus idiots and “Free Palestine” masses forsake in their true quests to attack and murder Jews. A special couple whose parents were about to plan a wedding together, and instead are now planning their funerals.

IDROS weeps. For all of us.

Have a happy and healthy Memorial Day weekend. Please honor and remember those who sacrificed everything for this once great nation of ours as you do the same for two people who truly envisioned and acted to create a better world.

Thanks for reading and Shabbat Shalom,

IDROS

#BringThemHomeNow #HateCrime #Antisemitism #MurdersInDC #YaronAndSarah

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July 3, 2024 · 1:21 pm

Reflections on A Godawful 9 Months – The Nuts and Bolts of Our Collective Grief and Frustration

Pistachios. The green delicious nut that offers health benefits such as lower blood pressure and cholesterol, better gut health and improved eyesight. Moreover, the work involved in extracting the morsels from their protective shell is somehow calming. But for the past nine months, no amount of pistachio consumption could cure what ails me – my blood pressure has risen, my gut is twisted in knots and it has been extremely difficult to relax. And I am not alone.  

October 7th 2023 shattered whatever false sense of security many Jews in both Israel and the diaspora have felt for decades. And with each passing day since that horror show, our collective angst and dread has only grown stronger.

So what on god’s green earth do those yummy treats have to do with Israel, Palestine or October 7?

Stick around. IDROS will get to that shortly. But before we crack open that mystery…

To begin, IDROS is reminded of the scene in Pulp Fiction in the basement of Maynard’s pawn shop. IDROS has dissected this seminal scene before, but now we can view it from another perspective. Butch had all but escaped after dispatching the Gimp. He was home free, but his conscience weighed on him…no matter what he thought of Marcellus ‘that’s your pride talkin’ Wallace, what Zed and Maynard were doing was so heinous and unforgivable that he grabbed the samurai sword, and headed back down to rapeville, to the bowels of hell. He risked everything for a man he loathed so much he had just hit him with his car…because the others were terrorists…worse than terrorists. Butch sliced and diced Maynard, and as he went for Zed to finish the job, we hear the shotgun cock and Marcellus bellow, ‘step aside, Butch!’ Then Marcellus told Butch he could go and proceeded to ‘go medieval’ on Zed and Maynard and their families.

On October 8, America should have been Butch. But it shouldn’t have taken a crisis of conscience…Israel was a close friend and essential ally for not only America, but the entire Western world. And Israel had just been invaded and violated as horrifically as Marcellus had been. And some of the hostages taken were American citizens for crying out loud. America should have stormed down those cellar stairs, guns blazing. Sure, Israel could have nudged its buddy and said, step aside partner, we got this.

The past nine months would have gone down much differently, for Israel, Jews and the entire world if America, who has entered many conflicts for much less of a reason, jumped in on day one and made it crystal clear that Hamas would pay a heavy price if every hostage was not returned alive immediately. Noone brazenly takes American citizens hostage, nor citizens of any American allies, and gets away with it.

Ah…what could have been.

Almost two months ago, we experienced a very uncomfortable Yom HaShoah. Sacred day, almost exactly 7 months after the worst violation of Never Again imaginable. And here we were, Jews the world over embroiled in mental and physical trauma, banging our collective heads against the Wailing Wall, asking unimaginable questions to ourselves, our families, our friends, our god…again. And the world, once again, had not come to our rescue. In fact, much of the world seemed to openly mock us, spit in our faces, or torture us with ambivalence.

And now, as I try to celebrate my birthday with family, I am left to think about those who are held in dark tunnels like Maynard’s basement, experiencing god knows what…just like that 12 year old girl in Paris. I think about their families. And all the families who have endured similar trauma throughout the ages, because of a dark and sinister and preposterous hatred that has bubbled in the recesses of humanity for thousands of years.

Here are some of the maddening topics that have ruined my birthday, and prevented so many others from experiencing their next celebration, many…far too many…for good.

  • Please Stand Up – Why is nobody with any power in the entire Western World standing up for us Jews, demanding accountability and consequences, and doing more than meekly delivering  hollow and worthless soundbites like ‘I condemn hatred in all its forms?’ These same people who scream from the rooftops when the pro-gun set offers ‘thoughts and prayers’ following every horrific school shooting somehow believe their qualified condemnations and platitudes will extinguish an exponential rise of the world’s oldest and most prolific form of hatred and vitriol and allay the fears of Jews who have literally been fearing for their lives since October 7. We are grateful for politicians like Stefanik, Hawley, Fetterman and Torres, who have been vocal and champions for our plight from day 1, but let’s be honest…nobody knew any of these representatives on October 6, and none of them are in a position to truly help turn the tide.  
  • The Miseducation of Our Best and Brightest – Stealing part of this bullet title from a noted celebrity antisemite because we need to upend the indoctrination of our children by nefarious actors in the dark recesses of radical Islamic interests. Led by Qatar, Iran and Saudi Arabia, billions have flowed to the most hallowed halls of academia throughout the western world since the rise of the Ayatollah, creating Middle Eastern studies departments rife with anti-Israel and antisemitic agendas, birthing and bolstering student and faculty led campus groups like SJP who use grass roots techniques to prey on and radicalize progressive students, and aligning with key progressive causes, groups and allies that once not only embraced Jews, but in many cases were created or largely influenced by Jews. By using a model of oppressor vs. oppressed, colonizers vs colonized and white vs. non-white, defining Jews and Israel as white colonizer oppressors – despite the fact that none of these definitions are remotely true, and Palestinians as non-white oppressed and colonized, slowly turned their progressive, liberal constituents against anything remotely supportive of Israel, Zionism and Jewish causes. If I weren’t so terrified for my family, friends and future generations of Jewish life, I would marvel at the intricate genius of the long con that has been perpetrated. But for now, I grapple with the serious questions surrounding how we can possibly undo the decades of radicalization of our most brilliant, supposedly educated students and recent graduates, the desecration of our universities and institutions of higher learning, and the rot that has infiltrated our educators, faculty and administrations, which has permeated not just higher education, but secondary and even primary educational levels in some ‘progressive’ communities.   
  • Refugees – there are two distinct phenomena that fall under this heading…both are tragic and both carry double standards. First, how are generations of Palestinians awarded refugee status perpetuating and exacerbating what is a devastating situation beyond the scope of any other people in the world? Somehow, this population has its own UN Relief organization dedicated to assist Palestinian ‘refugees,’ and despite this – and more on UNRWA later – their plight has worsened and their population has multiplied exponentially. And second, why are the people displaced in every other country involved in a war allowed to move out of harm’s way and migrate away from conflict to more peaceful countries in the world…but not the Palestinians? More than 6.5 Ukrainian refugees have fled war torn Ukraine in the past couple years, and almost 6 million more fled Syria during the recent Civil War there. But for Palestinians, they must remain in Gaza, an area not even 25 miles long and six miles wide, to be used to further alienate and burden Israel for the future, so despite there being 50-plus Muslim majority countries in the world, not one will open their borders to the Palestinians. Culpability for this phenomenon lies with many parties – the majority with the Arab League, who created the conflict by attacking en masse following Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, their refusal to take in refugees since, attacking again in 1967 and 1973 and generally exacerbating tensions in the region ever since. Iran and Qatar’s role, which has jumped to the top of the list since 1979, will be explained in greater detail below. The UN and their evil stepchild UNRWA shoulder an enormous amount of the blame as well, allowing itself to be co-opted for nefarious plotting and undermining by terrorist groups and human rights offenders throughout the world. UNRWA was created to assist the Palestinians and allow them to shed their refugee status, but the group has been hijacked by terrorists and uses its entire massive budget for evil, teaching Palestinian children to hate Israel and the Jews from infancy in their ‘schools’ where they hide weapons stockpiles and terrorists. Finally, among those to blame for the crisis and conflict, we cannot forget the western democracies, led by the USA and the UK, who fund the UN, UNRWA and the terrorist groups who ‘govern’ the Palestinian citizens directly. Furthermore, it was the west, led by the UK, who spearheaded the partition plan in 1947 that led directly to this conflict, and who washed their hands of the situation after refusing to help the Jews, who found themselves mired in a regional war for their own survival against pretty much every surrounding nation as well as the Arabs who now call themselves Palestinians. Sure, Israel has some culpability in the current conflict and with the fact that there were some refugees stemming from the 1947 partition and ensuing war, but Israel DID NOT have anything to do with the UN’s partition plan map nor did Israel START the war in 1948, and Israel DID absorb hundreds of thousands of Arab Muslims and non-Jewish refugees in 1948, all of whom have been and remain full citizens of Israel today.
  • Inversion Psychology – Words matter! And weaving the playbook of anti-Zionist jargon including genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and colonialism into any and every soundbite is not only infuriating manipulation of the facts, but also are all explicitly triggering to Israelis and diaspora Jews because of our lived experiences. Every one of these words describes not Israel, but the Palestinians and their terrorist governments as well as most of the Arab League and Iran.
  • Occupation – As with most facts, the truth that Israel hasn’t occupied Gaza since 2006 doesn’t seem to matter when arguing or debating with the pro-terror set. Worse, there have really been two Palestines since then, and that fact is used against Israel across every possible nuance of the conflict…Palestine and the people of both territories are united when convenient, and two separate entities under very different leadership when convenient. Also, every loser of a major war in our world, pretty much since the dawn of time, has been ‘occupied’ by the victor, and has had borders redrawn, territories annexed/lost, and created great migrations of refugees…occupations of the losing side are especially common when said loser started the war. The US and allies still occupy Germany, Japan and Korea, decades after those wars ended and will continue their military presence there for decades to come.
  • Data Manipulation and Media Bias – nearly every major media company as well as the throngs on social media all parrot misinformation repeatedly, even long after it has been proved untrue. The George Costanza theory that ‘it’s not a lie if you believe it’ seems to have made serious inroads among antisemites and antidentites of the world. Even months after the Gazan Ministry of Health finally copped to inflating the numbers of the dead in Palestine, nearly every media outlet still quotes the inflated numbers. Worse still, trusted outlets like Wikipedia are littered with lies, omissions and manipulations of facts. And the gestapo that runs such outlets are precluding respected agencies like the ADL from helping to correct the widening morass of misinformation.
  • It can’t get worse than what happened 10/7, right? The depressing and sometimes unbearable fact that things have gotten worse each day since October 7 weighs heavily on all of us.
  • Silence is Deafening – the silence of our ‘friends’ and ‘allies’ has been a rude awakening, and continues to boggle our collective minds. With the surge of antisemitism on college campuses all around the country and world, the silence becomes magnified. We know it is risky for many of you to visibly and vocally support us Jews, and especially Israel for fear of loss of business and general safety…trust us…we are experiencing it daily. But we represent a mere rounding error in the global population, and not much more here in America, so without non-Jewish support, we are doomed. We are beyond grateful for those of you who have had our backs, but we need more support.
  • Double Standards / Consequences- this may seem like the title of a suite or a Double Shot Tuesday entry by a 70s band like Foreigner or The Guess Who…if only. We could do a hypothetical for every detail of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, dating from before the Mandate through now, and Israelis and Jews get treated differently than any other country and people would in every situation…always. The most glaring is that Jews in the diaspora are immediately and negatively associated with and pay a heavy price for Israel’s actions – which, by the way, are always REactions. Name another ethnicity or religious group that is treated similarly. If any other country in the entire world was attacked even half as savagely and barbarically as Israel was on October 7, I guarantee there would be far more devastation and a much more violent response with far more casualties. Ukraine was attacked by Russia, and more than 2 years later and far more casualties later, they are still fighting back. Israel is not allowed to win a war, and that is why for almost 80 years, after winning 3 wars it didn’t start, going for a 4th, surviving two intifadas and countless terrorist attacks including at the 1972 Olympics, we still have the situation we do, and it has gotten worse and worse to boot. There are consequences for waging war against a sovereign nation, especially when you lose…for all instigators except the Palestinians. Similarly, there are consequences for all people who commit hate crimes against a minority or protected class…unless, apparently, it is a crime against Jews…even in 2024.
  • The Legion of H, and their puppetmaster I with the funding of Q – I and Q are the masterminds behind not only the chaos in the Middle East, but also everything happening across the globe in city streets and on college/university campuses. The trio of H – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis continue to wreak havoc and do the bidding of their masters, and the rest of the globe has pretty much accepted this status quo leaving Israel to fight a war on seven fronts – Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran and the media/global public opinion.
  • DON’T – This policy by the Biden/Harris administration is a JOKE! Hezbollah has not stopped raining missiles on Israel since October 7…clearly undeterred by this misguided farce of a warning. Nearly 100,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes for nearly a year now, with no timeline or encouraging sign that they will be able to return any time soon. The Houthis similarly have continued to inflict damage on the world stage, and have caused shockwaves in the global trade economy by forcing cargo ships to reroute due to their threats and attacks. DON’T eerily reminds IDROS of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy toward Hitler and the Nazis…not sure that one worked out so well.
  • The Squad and the ‘Jewish’ Dissent – while this may sound like a dystopian Noah Baumbach film, this one stars elected members of the US Government who ooze antisemitic actions and tropes on the regular…and their token ‘Jewish’ counterparts that include our nation’s 2nd Gentleman, Bernie, Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer, Chuckie Schumer, and the worst offender, Jonny Stuart Leibowitz. These people, with large audiences and positions of power and gravitas, further alienate and marginalize, exacerbate the hateful rhetoric and lies, and, in the cases of the Jewish haters, are used as tokens to legitimize the antisemitism. We do get to hang a small win here with the recent defeat of Squad member terrorist-first-class Bowman being recently unseated, but these awful people who have attained positions of power and have millions of followers of their hateful bile continue to pull at the fabric of human decency, and make any peaceful resolution even more unattainable.
  • Never Negotiate with Terrorists – what happened to rule number one in the counter-terrorist playbook? More hypocrisy when it pertains to Israel and the Jews…do as we say, not as we do. And of course, let the financiers of terror and Jew-hatred around the world serve as the moderators and facilitators of any negotiations. How is this Israel’s only hope of a resolution? How do Israel’s chief allies, who have their own citizens in captivity, allow this as an acceptable reality?
  • The Innocence Project – Either Hamas was democratically elected – and because more than 70 percent of Palestinians support Hamas and the October 7 massacre still today, this is the likely scenario – in which case, the Palestinian citizens, tragic as it is, must face the consequences much like the German citizens under the Nazis and the Japanese citizens under Hirohito, and countless other ‘’innocent’ civilians have throughout history when their governments instigated/started a war. Or, Hamas ruthlessly came to power by force and the Palestinian citizens wanted no part of them – very unlikely – but even if this is the truth, then Israel has a duty to free the Palestinians from the terrorist group that holds them captive, and the Palestinians should support this. They don’t, nor does much of the world…because the majority of Palestinians aren’t so innocent…and because Jews don’t count. 
  • Masks – the fact that the terrorists themselves, and all in the world who have supported and continue to support them around the world, on campuses and city streets, in front of synagogues and on capitol hill, cover their faces with masks and keffiyehs, speaks volumes. Good guys and gals don’t wear masks, nor do they need to.

And last, but certainly not least,

  • Hostages – Never forget them. Any realistic protests must begin with the return of those held, and raped and tortured against their will. Bring them home NOW!

So back to pistachios. Remember back in the 70s and early 80s when pistachios were red? That dye would get all over your fingers and around your mouth. Frank Dreben, played by Leslie Neilson, in the Naked Gun was a big fan. The majority of our pistachios at the time were imported from…IRAN. And in order to hide the imperfections on the shells, which became more pronounced as a result of prolonged timeframes from harvest to point of sale due to lengthy shipping routes and port inspections, Iranians would dye the shells red. It was all a lie. The nuts aren’t really red, nor are they really nuts. Pistachios are seeds that actually grow inside a fruit. And of course the red dye is cancer-causing as most red dyes are – not that this was an issue in the 70s, when smoking on airplanes was still a thing, and farmers bathed our produce in pesticides – so the Iranians were [inadvertently] poisoning us too while deceiving consumers by covering the ugly markings on the older seed shells. Furthermore and with a bit of irony, the dye made the nuts non-kosher. But in a strange turn of events, when the Iranians took American hostages in 1979, the US embargoed all Iranian goods, and thus began the American pistachio industry in California. The red dyed nuts were swapped out for pure, natural cream-colored shells, and now most, if not all pistachios consumed in America are domestic.

These delicious delicacies well represent the Jewish people. They have been lied about, misrepresented, and the truth about them was hidden from the general public by middle easterners protecting their own self-interest. There is record of pistachios dating back thousands of years. They are referred to as ‘choice fruits,’ or botnim in the Torah. Their benefits to humanity, especially health benefits, are vast and multifaceted. But most importantly, despite political strife and a hostage situation forcing them to relocate, PISTACHIOS ARE INDIGENOUS TO THE MIDDLE EAST!

Wishing you all a happy Fourth of July. And while you are reveling in your own freedom this holiday represents, IDROS urges you to pray for the freedom of the 120 remaining hostages, several of which are fellow Americans. #BringThemHome

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December 31, 2023 · 12:19 pm

Speechless

Somewhere, in a parallel universe – Bizarro World, if you will – our octogenarian president gives our nation a new year’s address, updating Americans on everything that has befallen one of our most important allies since early October.

Good evening my fellow Americans. This is Bo Jiden. I would like to take some time to apprise you all of what is happening half a world away, vis a vis one of our nation’s most fierce and loyal friends, allies, trade partners; a nation that, like us, champions democratic and liberal values and is always quick to lend a helping hand to anyone, anywhere, that needs it.

What happened on October 7 was a massacre of such brutality and savagery, it is difficult to properly put into words. And since that time, even more gruesome details and accounts of the horrors of that day have been revealed and confirmed. I would like to reiterate our steadfast and unqualified allegiance and support of Israel, the Israeli people and to Jewish people everywhere, especially our Jewish American family. We will never allow evil like that which invaded and declared war on Israel and the Jewish people on October 7, such unspeakable terror and barbarism, to go unpunished or even find quarter or support or be enabled in any way, shape or form, anywhere in the civilized world, and especially anywhere in this great nation.

Allow me to clear up a few misconceptions and lies that have been spreading around the world. Israel is not a white colonial power. Israelis are not white, but rather make up the spectrum of skin tones that exist in our world. A vast majority of Israelis are dark-skinned Mizrahi Jews, African Jews and Muslim Arabs. And Israel has never colonized anyone or any territory. Rather, Jews are indigenous to the area, dating back thousands of years, and have themselves been colonized multiple times by nations and empires including Muslims. Furthermore, Israel is not committing, nor has it ever committed genocide. While Hamas committed genocide on October 7, Israel has never started any war, only uses aggression in retaliation to attacks and is perhaps the most careful and judicial combatant in the history of warfare. No other nation or armed forces go to the lengths Israel does to warn civilians before an attack and to use restraint and discretion in attacking civilian centers at all. That said, they are up against a terrorist organization that uses civilians as human shields, and consistently commits war crimes of hiding and storing arms and munitions among civilians, in schools and hospitals and of building underground bunkers beneath these structures. Hamas has been on record a number of times admitting that the extensive network of tunnels and bunkers it built were not to protect citizens but rather to protect its arms and Hamas itself. Protecting civilians is the UN’s problem.

Before I begin, please allow me to quickly invoke my predecessor and take care of some long overdue business in my own administration. So, to Karine Jean-Pierre…you are fired. Thank you for your service, but this administration will not stand for anything close to unqualified condemnation of antisemitism…full stop. Too many times, you chose to counterbalance the hate rhetoric and hate crimes Jews have experienced before having a second to mourn the tragedy of October 7 with whataboutisms and ‘but also’ language…sometimes even failing to address antisemitism at all with very poor word choices and by sweeping very serious and ominous antisemitic trends and tropes under the rug.

And let me be clear here…there are too many members of our American government who lend their voices to antisemitic efforts, post antisemitic nonsense, support and echo anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and antisemitic tropes, and in the case of a certain small but vocal group in my own party, consistently spew Jewish hate and spread violent anti-Jewish and anti-Israel rhetoric, propaganda and garbage. I am appalled by this behavior, and embarrassed to be associated with people with such hate and ignorance in their hearts. These people, though elected by Americans in fair, American elections according to a democratic process, do not represent America nor our great nation’s views, opinions and love for Israel and the Jewish people.  

I am calling this out. Rooting out hate and ignorance begins at the top, and today, I stand before you, the American people and assure you that our government will not allow anti-Jewish hate to exist in any form in or around the sacred halls and grounds that represent our great nation, from any sitting member of the three branches of our government, nor from any of the staff hired to support them. America will never resemble anything close to Europe in the 1930s…not under my watch and I am here to assure our Jewish citizens as well as those who give their full support and embrace to our American Jewish brothers and sisters that America is a place Jews can feel safe to live openly as Jews, to wear yarmulkes and stars of David, to have mezuzahs on their doorways, and most importantly, to safely pray at their temples and send their children to Jewish schools.

Allow me to make myself painfully clear – what I witnessed in the immediate aftermath of October 7, right here in America, was an embarrassment to western civilization and to humanity. Israel didn’t have time to identify its murdered citizens…its women and children, babies and senior citizens…Its attendees of a music festival centered around peace for crying out loud; and there were people rallying behind these savages who committed such atrocities they put all horror movies to shame. taking over our streets, blocking public forums and roads and buildings, tearing down posters of missing hostages, babies, children, mothers and grandmothers. Inciting riots, bullying jews, destroying public and private property, threatening violence, chanting refrains that invoke genocide…and on and on. In support of what/ to further the cause of what…for whom?

Hamas is the most vile incarnation of evil I have seen in my lifetime. And they don’t care about the Palestinian people at all. They have made clear what they care about…dead Jews. They said they would repeat the bloodbath of October 7 over and over again until there were no Jews left in Israel…and no Jews left on the planet. Any American who supports them is not an American and is a racist and your privilege of living in the greatest nation in the world should be rescinded. Full stop. And it should be noted by everyone in the world if it wasn’t abundantly clear even before October 7…ANTI-ZIONISM IS ANTISEMITISM. There is no nuance. There is no whataboutism. There is no exception.

Secondly, what has infested our college campuses over the past ten or twenty years is extremely problematic, and I am going to put an end to it. Jewish students and professors and educators should never feel singled out and threatened on a university campus or at any event on or off campus and even loosely affiliated with an academic institution in this country. I know billions of dollars have flowed to our universities from the Arab League, and from Qatar in particular. I will work tirelessly to make sure those dollars are sent back to where they came from, to punish any institution who refuses by revoking their favorable tax status and even fining them and their endowments, and in some cases, by revoking their accreditation to educate our students. I will be forming a congress-led task force to address this issue and will use funds traditionally earmarked for the United Nations and UNRWA in particular, to fund this new endeavor.

Which brings me to my next challenge. The UN and UNRWA. These institutions no longer have support from America. They are mere shells of what they were created to do, and the nations who have gained influence in these institutions are the most shockingly hypocritical tyrannical and inhumane governments in the world. America will not support any institution that would have Iran, Russia, North Korea or China as part of a committee related to human rights, let alone chairing such a body. And UNRWA, somehow created to only help one people in an entire world of misfortune and poverty, has been grossly mismanaged and corrupted since its inception. The billions in American tax dollars that have funded these institutions in the past will be redirected to more important and necessary challenges, including rooting out hate right here in America, but also ensuring global poverty and food insecurity is actually addressed across the world.

Social media is another area in my administration’s crosshairs. Free speech is critical to keep the values that have made America what it is today, but what we see on every social media platform today is a giant dumpster fire of misinformation, bullying and hate and none of it has a place in a civilized society. I will be working with congress and the executive leadership of all of these platforms in order to rein in the vitriol and propagation of fake news. We also have a serious problem with foreign platforms like tik tok as well as hackers and bots built by domestic and foreign terrorists which further muddy the waters and make these platforms untenable in their current forms. We will work together to build better and safer platforms so that the internet doesn’t further devolve into the bowels of hell it is currently headed for.

No less important in this entire conflict and its wake is the plight of the Palestinian people. We as Americans realize there are millions of people in Gaza and in the West Bank who are now seemingly worse off than they were a few months ago. I assure you that is not the case, and your immediate and long-term future are vital to any resolution of the current conflict.  I also want to make this crystal clear. Israel is not your enemy or problem. Corrupt leadership in the Arab league, the UN, UNRWA, and of course, among your own ranks as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, have hijacked your cause, stolen and embezzled funds meant for you, the Palestinian people and for building vital infrastructure to better your lives. Once Israel has completed its war to remove Hamas, the international community will be tasked with rebuilding Gaza and putting the Palestinian territories on a path toward statehood. This must happen, and it must happen in a manner that does not threaten the security of Israel, who is and will ALWAYS be your neighbor. You as Palestinians and whatever leadership emerges out of this conflict must acknowledge that fact and recognize Israel before any meaningful progress can be made toward reconciliation and Palestinian statehood.

Finally, to our friends and allies, the Israeli people and government. We are unable to fully communicate how devastated we were on the morning of October 7 and every day since. You are our family, and what happened to you, the Israeli people and the Jewish diaspora was not only unacceptable, but a direct attack on us as Americans and the entire civilized world as well. We stand with you, shoulder to shoulder, and will continue to do so until the scourge that is Hamas is removed as a threat to Israeli, Palestinian and global security.

We also know Iran is the puppet master behind Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and all other radical Islamic threats in the region, and we want to ensure you that we will deal with the Iranis as soon as you finish with Hamas. They will no longer be able to create such chaos in the region or the world, and we will cripple them with all our might.

Furthermore, we will not allow Hamas’ inhuman attack on October 7 in any way lead directly toward Palestinian statehood. We do not condone negotiations with Terrorists, and we certainly don’t recognize terrorist actions as appropriate bartering chips toward any national or real goals – for any people or groups. Setting such a dangerous precedent here would encourage terror organizations the world over to commit similar acts of barbarism in their quest for whatever it is their cause or supporters desire.

We will help guide the rebuilding efforts that will be required, and as I previously stated, we will put the Palestinian people on the path toward statehood, but we fully recognize that much work remains to be done along those lines. This includes rooting out the education of minors to hate Israel, the Jews and westerners…be it in homes, schools or on television programs aimed at Palestinian youth. It also includes ending the pay for slay programs and the idea of martyrdom in their society. We understand you cannot be expected to live in peace and harmony with neighboring people who are indoctrinated with such hate from a young age and rewarded for adopting such a lifestyle.

In conclusion, we love and support our Israeli allies as well as our Jewish American citizens. We apologize if at any time this love and support was not clear, but I assure you this administration is 100 percent dedicated to proving it going forward.

Thank you and good night. I wish you all a happy, healthy and meaningful 2024.

IDROS wishes the above comes true. I won’t hold my breath, but here’s hoping. Wishing you and your families and loved ones a happy, healthy and peaceful 2024.

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