A Painful, Revealing Week

But Much of it I Already Knew

A dreadful, heartbreaking week, culminating in Friday’s Jihadi Day of Rage (but isn’t that every day?) or whatever their psychotic supporters called it, and, coincidentally, in my personal day of “f*** you, Hamas apologists and antisemites.” I shouldn’t joke about that, as a school in France was attacked on Friday, resulting in the death of one and injury to three others.

When I wrote about my exchange with my pastor last week, I did not have the full measure of the horrors that had unfolded. Now I do - or I am beginning to - and it makes my response to him seem far too genteel. It also makes me question whether his response would be any different or would he just dig in his moral equivalency heels on the matter. Would anything make him able to choke the words “we pray for Israelis” out of his mouth? Would the fact that among the hostages are a little girl with cerebral palsy and another with autism? Would he give pause to his “cycle of violence” inanity, realizing that even the Nazis did not gleefully broadcast their crimes, knowing the world would be sickened? Not only are many not sickened, many are rejoicing, and/or denying what happened. Even more repulsively, some are parsing, as in, “But did they really behead the babies? I heard they just burned them alive. And there weren’t 40! Only 27!” Useful idiots abound.

Think about the state of play: Playboy magazine has a stronger grasp on world events and a better moral compass than many of our alleged intelligentsia. Life has changed. My spouse said that these events represent a demarcation line. As Bari Weiss wrote, when people tell you who they are, believe them. But some of this we have already known. Are we really surprised that college campuses, including here in Canada, are awash in hatred? We, justifiably, worry about right-wing racism and antisemitism. But when the noxious left has more than a foothold in the culture wars, some make excuses for left-wing antisemitism. They indulge it. And some people are simply vile. How often have I heard, Oh, they’re just upset about the settlements. Our beloved CBC, the morning of October 7th, featured an “expert” blathering about “the settlements.” (Gotta say, I always liked Stephen Harper, but one thing I won’t forgive him for is that when he had a majority, he didn’t pull the public funding on our state broadcaster.) No, they’re not upset about the settlements. They are upset - enraged - that there is a Jewish state. And they long have been. I have a relative who has been relentlessly posting pro-Hamas content on his social media - he went so far as to gleefully write, “Bravo Hamas” - and has called for the eradication of Israel. This is someone that mutual friends and family have assured me was not antisemitic. Oh no! He’s just critical of Israel. (I’ll say.) He’s not antisemitic, he’s anti-Zionist. (Manifestly the same thing, y’all.) I’m waiting for one of his defenders - folks who are all over my social media if I make a slightly mocking comment about Greta Thunberg - to step up and challenge him. And also to send me a note and say, “Hey, you were right!” Won’t be holding my breath on either count.

I am glad to see push-back from some quarters - tragic that it took literal atrocities to bring that about. CNN, for example, has been impressive. A dear friend of mine, who works in academia and who usually peppers all political talk with words like “colonial” and “privilege,” has told me she is shaken to the core by the “both sides” comments of many of her colleagues, by their unwillingness to recognize and denounce evil. It has been satisfying to see formerly reliably silly celebrities be forced awake from their slumber: Amy Schumer and Sarah Silverman (I would love to know what she now thinks of her beloved Squad), for starters. TMZ, not exactly a media organization that one would associate with intelligent commentary is providing just that and likely losing fans in the process (but maybe gaining new, saner ones). And, of course, some of us discovered this brilliant guy, who gave me some smiles this week, not an easy task:

[A little light in the darkness. What gets cut off at the end is “Free Palestine from Hamas.”]

What Spaulding captures so well is not merely the hypocrisy in the pro-Hamas “arguments” but also the fact that there are principles that are meant to matter in a Western liberal democracy. And yet, certain citizens of such democracies are twisting themselves into pretzels (I used to call this “PBT” or pretzel-brain-twisting) to defend the indefensible. The barbarians are inside the gates, the rot is within, we have seen the enemy and it is us - choose your cliche. They are all appropriate. Soon Israel will get criticized for not being “proportionate” - actually, I believe that is already happening. Any student of history knows that proportionate warfare does not exist. But also, would “proportionate” be better? Would it better if the Israelis selected 40 babies to decapitate? Would it be better if they waited for some Palestinian youth festival and then randomly slaughtered teenagers who were just trying to have fun? Douglas Murray, always worth one’s time, offers thoughts here.

Back to my church, they sent out an email to parishioners earlier today announcing a “peace vigil” and “prayers for peace” later this week. That seems nice, on the surface, but as my spouse said, “that’s code for, ‘we don’t want Israel to fight back and if they do we will condemn them.’” (He’s a smart guy, other than when he pledged his troth to me.) So many Western leaders - Biden, Sunak, Macron, Trudeau - have made perfect statements of support for Israel and appear to understand what Israel must do in response. I hope it lasts. Because asking Israel to negotiate for peace now would bring to mind the recent Babylon Bee story, Emperor Hirohito Calls for Ceasefire After Bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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A note about this terrible story in Illinois, where a Palestinian-American child was stabbed to death in a hate crime. If that doesn’t make you sad enough, if it isn’t harrowing enough, contemplate this: the mother was also attacked and was not able to attend her son’s funeral. May there be full justice for that darling boy.