Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community When Mrs. Porter heard a knock at the door of her Baltimore home one evening at suppertime, she...
This is the third consecutive week I am writing a column from Israel.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the war up until then for me, including guiding in Poland. Last week, I wrote about my son Matan who was injured (Baruch Hashem, he is doing much better).
Hi, all. By now you may have heard that I’m back for a brief period (heading back in for another, much quicker stint in a couple of days). Really, really relieved to be typing in this chat right now.
This is not going to be a long column.
This could even just be a short Hebrew lesson.
A New York Times investigation on Thursday, December 28, described in gruesome detail how Hamas weaponized sexual violence during its multi-pronged October 7 terror assault on Israel. Serious bodily violations were part of the methods used by Hamas, as Lahav 433, Israel’s top national police unit, collected evidence of dozens of cases of abuse. The report was conducted through many investigations with the collection of survivor testimonies of more than 150 witnesses, medical personnel, rape counselors, soldiers, and government officials. All of this was uncovered also with video footage of scans and GPS data from cell phones. Around 30 percent of Israelis killed on October 7 – some 360 out of 1,200 – had attended the Nova Music Festival on a weekend of atrocious mayhem. Many of the victims had their charred remains near the music site.
After the atrocities of October 7, all the previous terror attacks on innocent civilians in Israel were tragically pushed aside in our collective memory. While the attention obviously focused heavily on what happened in October, we should never forget the lives that were taken throughout the calendar year. When people clamor for a “Free Palestine,” remember that they cheer the death of Jews in the Land of Israel.
A package aimed at giving $17.6 billion to Israel failed to pass the House of Representatives on February 6. The bill, seen as a political ploy by many Democrats and by President Biden, had been facing a veto threat from the White House, which is pushing for Congress to consider Israel aid as part of a larger $118 billion supplemental security package. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unveiled the standalone Israel bill, known as the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, over the weekend, which was introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-California).
