By Phyllis Chesler
Well, dear readers:
Thank you one and all for your responses.
I see that so many of you enjoy “engagement” and so, thus far, I’ve received 47 comments.
Only twelve of you said I should keep my subscription. Twenty-two, almost double that number, said I should cancel. Thirteen comments did not address my question.
It would be so much easier on me if I stopped paying the NYT even a kopek, or a prutah and stopped aggravating myself by reading this lying rag pretty much every day, cover to cover.
But taking the easy way is not in my DNA. But asking you this question made me better understand why I continue to troll through this schmutz, and why I need the hardcopy to do so. Online versions do not have the same psychological effect. It is not as effective as the hardcopy propaganda.
Remember the IDF women who were guarding Israel’s southern perimeter right up against the border with Gaza? Remember that they were monitoring Hamas’ movements, looking out for incoming trouble? We do not yet fully understand why their superior officers did not listen to them. Yes, we know that some were asleep, had turned off their cellphones, had been sent home, along with the entire IDF, for both Shabbat and Simchat Torah. We understand that their superiors apparently had no advance intelligence and for many possible reasons. We’ve also been told that PM Netanyahu had not been fully informed of any possible trouble gaining traction. If this turns out to be true, will we be looking at another similar case, that which involved PM Golda being fed disinformation by Moshe Dayan right before the 1973 Yom Kippur War? Is this even conceivable?
I do not know anything. I was not in the room–as they say. What really happened remains to be explored. Was part of the problem that it was always impossible for even the best Israeli spies to live in Gaza for more than an hour without being discovered, kidnapped, or murdered? Gaza is a small strip. Or was it the absolutely arrogant belief that the long-term Israeli strategy of paying off Qatar and Hamas was succeeding? (This strategy is known as “mowing the grass.”)
My point: In a very small and humble way, I am like those front-line observers of the fence between southern Israel and Gaza. Their warnings were not heeded. Nor have those of mine and others of my cohort. We’ve been at it a far longer time than these young warriors but, for many reasons, both Jewish organizations and Israeli organizations did not think that our warnings were as important as nobly donating to hospitals and medical services, and the IDF; less nobly to left-wing NGOS,? left-wing political candidates, etc.
Point taken. And yet, allow me to assure everyone that while Israel absolutely needs to be able to militarily defend itself in any way it deems necessary, defensively, preemptively, and offensively, so, too, do both Israel and the Jews need to do so in terms of the massive and monstrous disinformation campaign that has been successfully launched against us.
Some serious scholars now suggest that Israel had better cut its losses and make the best deal it can–but that’s in part due to the success of Israel’s global demonization. Both Israel itself and its global reputation need to be well defended. The missiles of misinformation are even greater than the actual missiles and rockets that have been launched into Israel by Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and by all the forces of Islamism, including the Palestinian Authority et al., and their killer/suicide attacks, stabbings, the car rammings, bus bombings, etc.
For this second reason, Israel had to erect a security fence, which was, of course, demonized, as well as the brilliant Iron Dome against the missile and rocket attacks–which was also demonized. Jews are not “supposed” to defend themselves.
To again repeat myself: I’ve been calling for an Iron Dome against the filthy propaganda for a long time now. To date, that call has gone unheeded. The lies are the major reason for the physical attacks against Jews globally, as well as the boycotts, sanctions, the rise of Islamist candidates around the world, and the subsequent increasing isolation of Israel.
Long ago, much earlier in the 21st century, one exceptionally arrogant Jewish American official publicly mocked me as a “Jewish Cassandra.” (I asked him if he wished her fate upon me–did he even know her fate?) More recently, one of my pro-Israel editors said I was “a Jeremiah for our times.” That silenced me completely. However, a revered and legendary rabbi, upon reading The New Antisemitism (2003), sent me a letter in which he wrote that my book “was a prophecy.”
No! No! No! I do not want to walk in either Cassandra’s or Jeremiah’s tragic paths; get to see what they got to see. I do not want to see Israel in exile, pogroms everywhere, anywhere. Not me. Please don’t call upon me…
My prayer has been answered. Mercifully, I now cannot see into our future in any way beyond that as seen by all the others who’ve also been reading the writing on the sky–or on the wall if you will. It is as clear as day.
“Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin” is a phrase in Aramaic that is contained in Book Five of the prophet Daniel. These are the mysterious words that appeared on the wall of King Belshazzar’s feast. Daniel later translated it as: “numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided.” And then he dared to interpret it as: “In other words, God has numbered the King’s days and his kingdom will be divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.” Or the King has been weighed and found wanting…by God. (Oh! Discussions galore exist about this phrase that are far above my pay grade.)
I am not sure if I am ready to give up monitoring evil–but I’m sure thinking about it.
First published in Phyllis’ Newsletter
One Response
We know where “Santa” is and we know the whereabouts of Santa’s little helpers. So what’s keeping us from solving the propaganda problem?