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Everyone is complaining that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani boycotted the Israel Day Parade. The problem, however, is that Mamdani did exactly what 95 percent of Jews in the New York Metropolitan Area did: stayed away from the parade! How many Jews living in Boro Park, Williamsburg, Monsey, Far Rockaway, Flatbush, Lakewood, and Passaic attended the parade? Actually, there’s no need to even go to those neighborhoods. How many people from what are known as the Zionistic towns went to the parade? Outside of the parents who went to see their kids marching, how many Jews went to Fifth Avenue from Kew Gardens Hills, the Five Towns, New Rochelle, West Hempstead, Teaneck, and Englewood? Why do we insist on pointing the finger at Mamdani when Goldberg, Cohen, Shamilov, Sharabi, and Dweck stayed away?

The issue of the chareidi draft has, once again, risen to the top of Israel’s “to-do list.” Politicians from all sides of the spectrum are banging their fists on the table – some demanding that it must happen, while others are vowing that it will never happen. Regular citizens have begun taking this fight to the streets with protests, both pro and con, and Israel’s media has been more than happy to stir the pot of Jew vs. Jew. Recently, Lt. General Eyal Zamir, the newly appointed Chief of Staff of the IDF, made his position known with the clearest statement possible: “Everyone will serve…and when I say Everyone, I mean Everyone.”

We all love a good story, so let me jump right in with a few that should put a smile on your face. These all took place in various bomb shelters (“miklatim”) across Eretz Yisrael in the recent war with Iran.

Within a month after the beginning of the war in Gaza, many voices around the world started screaming that there was no food for the people in Gaza. Hypocritical liberals begged Israel to send food and supplies as part of humanitarian assistance so “innocent” civilians wouldn’t die of starvation. The government of Israel held strong for a few days but quickly buckled and succumbed to world pressure. Food was sent in by the truckload. Most of the food, however, did not reach the people. It was seized by Hamas for their personal use or sold on the black market for loads of cash, so the starvation continued, and so did the world pressure, as if it was Israel’s fault that Hamas was letting its own people starve.

Make no mistake about it: This is not your “regular” war. Iran is the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic world, and for decades, they have financially supported terror regimes across the Middle East. They have just one goal in mind: to bring their ancestor Haman’s dream to fruition. Over 2,500 years ago, the King of Persia (modern-day Iran) approved his minister’s plan to “destroy, kill, and exterminate all of the Jews, from young to old, children and women.” And while - Baruch Hashem - that plan failed, today’s modern-day Haman is convinced he can be the one to complete the job.

I told everyone I knew living in the United States to vote for Trump, and I’m very happy he won. I believe that he will be good for America as well as a strong ally for Israel. His Cabinet picks have been amazing, and there’s no need to explain how pleased we are with his choice of Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel. That said, and contrary to the feelings of many of my fellow Israelis, the Mashiach will not been riding into Washington on January 20.