Bob Schwartz

Tag: Israel

Trump says Jews who don’t vote for him should have their head examined. Should we? Should he?

“Chuck Schumer is Hamas all the way. I don’t know what the hell happened to him. If you support him, you’re crazy.”

“But they do love me in Israel. Everybody loves me. I could run for Prime Minister.”

Trump recently addressed the Israeli-American Council. In his 45-minute incoherent diatribe he explained why American Jews must vote for him.

Some unforgettable moments:


And, sadly, and I have to say this, and it hurts me to say it, you’re going to still vote for Democrats, and it doesn’t make sense. I say all the time that any Jewish person that votes for her, especially now, her or the Democrat Party, should have their head examined. It’s true.


With all I have done for Israel, I received only 24 percent of the Jewish vote. Now, think of this. I really haven’t been treated very well, but that’s the story of my life. It’s true. Think of it. But I understood that because I wasn’t really tested, I wasn’t a politician, and I won. But I understood that. And then I became President and was the best President ever for the people of Israel and for Jewish people. The best President ever.

And I did more for them than any President has and probably any President can do or will do, other than the current situation that’s coming up, because I have a feeling that maybe that’s going to be more than anything that was even done in the past, if you want to know the truth, because I think Israel is in big trouble.

And still, in 2020 — so remember, I got 24, 25 percent. Now I did all of these things, and I got 29 percent. Think of it. So I wasn’t treated right. But it’s not me that’s been treated badly. It’s Israel. Because you can make a big difference in the vote. You’re going to be a big factor in the vote.

I will say, places like Miami and different places were great. But honestly, I went from 25 to 29. And based on what I did, and based on my love of the same love that you have, I should be at 100. I should be at 100. But — But let me give you the bad news. A poll — I just told you how good the polls are, but we need every vote we can get.

The current polling has me with Jewish citizens, Jewish people — people that are supposed to love Israel. After having done all of that, having been the best President, the greatest President, by far — by far — a poll just came out. I’m at 40 percent. That means you got 60 percent voting for somebody that hates Israel. And I say it, it’s going to happen.

It’s only because of the Democrat hold or curse on you. You can’t let this happen. Forty percent is not acceptable because we have an election to win. So after all of this, I went from 29 to 40 percent.

And people that are smart said to me — a friend of mine, Jewish friend of mine, loves Israel, loves everything about your religion and about your country, your place. He said, “I can’t believe it’s happening. It’s sad.” And he started to cry, actually. He started to cry. With all of this — and he’s a tough cookie. I don’t think he cried for — since he was a little tiny baby. Maybe then I don’t think he cried.


And I only want to be — so I’m not going to call this as a prediction, but, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40 percent. If I’m at — if I think of it, that means 60 percent of voting for Kamala, who, in particular, is a bad Democrat.

The Democrats are bad to Israel. Very bad. They’ll never change because they have a section of their party now which has become amazingly and quickly very powerful, votes-wise. I mean, Chuck Schumer is a Palestinian. Who would have thought that was going to happen? What the hell happened to him? I saw him the other day. He was dressed in one of their robes, you know. That’ll be next. No, Chuck Schumer is Hamas all the way. I don’t know what the hell happened to him. If you support him, you’re crazy.


I’m at 40 percent. And when I heard that number today — it just came out today — when I heard that number today, I think it was insulting to our country. It was insulting to Israel. You know, it’s very interesting. They did a poll in Israel. I’m, like, at 99 percent favorable. I could run for — right now, I could run for any office in Israel. I’m at — in Israel, they love me. Here, not so much.

But they do love me in Israel. Everybody loves me. I could run for Prime Minister. Would you like me as your Prime Minister? But I have to learn your language. That’s a tough language to learn. I have to learn it in about three months. I have to learn it very quickly. But, no, I’m very — most popular person in Israel. But here, it doesn’t translate. It’s a — it’s a strange thing.


Bibi’s Gaza bonus: Make Biden look bad to help elect Trump

The primary reasons for Netenyahu pursuing his Gaza war, whatever the actual success of the strategies, are to eliminate Hamas, hide his failure in preventing October 7, stay in power, avoid going to jail, and others.

There is a secondary reason, a bonus. Bibi has made Biden look weak and ineffectual. Biden’s rhetoric has been equivocal, leaning towards Israel. His actions have been less equivocal, since his arming of Israel remains intact, whatever he says.

This is exactly what Bibi and right-wingers in his cabinet want. They want Trump. Bibi, an agile politician if not a world-class statesman, can see that all this is costing Biden support and votes, increasing the chance of a Trump victory in what will be a close election. When Trump is back in office, they believe, whatever they want, whatever they ask for, he will be on their side. Unlike Biden, who seems to be having trouble holding steady in the political winds.

So while there are reasons that Bibi has remained stubborn and needlessly brutal in Gaza, helping elect Trump would be another good outcome for him. A bonus.

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

“No power on Earth will stop Israel,” says Israeli spokesperson. But what about God?

After the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered a halt to the Israeli offensive in Rafah, Israeli spokesperson Avi Hyman said, “No power on Earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza.”

I have no two-way channel with God. Whether or not the age of prophets and prophecy is past or present, whether there are those who had or have revelations, I am not one. This has not stopped me from wondering what God would say or do when faced with the precise way Israel is going about its protection of citizens and its pursuit of Hamas.

It seems that Netenyahu and his war cabinet, and their supporters, believe that everything they are doing is exactly what God wants them to do. Whether that comes from direct communication or is derived from their interpretation of the tradition they haven’t said.

If they asked me how I interpret the tradition, that is, what I think God wants, I don’t think it is this. Again, I’m not a prophet, and they would never ask me anyway.

I imagine God being pretty harsh with these Israeli leaders. I imagine God would tell them that as strategists they are the worst. The word “idiots” might be used, if that is how God talks. I imagine that Israeli lack of mercy and compassion would come up. God might remind them that in biblical times, Israelites who strayed so far from basic moral principles could expect to be smitten.

Maybe this is what the spokesperson is hinting at. Yes, he might be saying, “No power on earth will stop us. But if God intervenes, that’s a whole different story.”

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

Macklemore releases Hind’s Hall, a track to end the war in Gaza. Millions are listening.

Hind Rajab, age six, senior kindergarten graduation, killed by tank fire in Gaza

The rapper Macklemore just released the new track Hind’s Hall, about the war in Gaza and the protests.

Macklemore is a hugely popular artist. On Spotify, he has 32 million monthly listeners, making him 128th in the world. His tracks have been streamed 13 billion times.

Eleven years ago, his track Same Love celebrated the right of relationships between all people, at a time when same-sex marriage was not yet fully allowed or protected in America. It was a hit and has become an anthem.

His new track about the Gaza war is another powerful statement.

Hamilton Hall/Hind’s Hall, Columbia University

Artists in various media have taken on the war in Gaza. Slowly, tentatively, because many are concerned about being dropped or rejected. Musical artists have been the slowest. Macklemore, who has built a career independent of record labels, laments:


Yet the music industry’s quiet, complicit in their platform of silence
What happened to the artist? What do you got to say?
If I was on a label, you could drop me today
I’d be fine with it ’cause the heart fed my page


Macklemore isn’t a hater, except of thoughtless war and repression. The millions who will stream this track (all streaming proceeds going to UNRWA) are not haters, except of thoughtless war and repression. It is notable that Spotify, in today’s New Music Friday playlist, doesn’t include Hind’s Hall.

Thank you Macklemore. Thank you all artists—writers, filmmakers, musicians—who have stood up and those who haven’t yet but will.

In case you have forgotten what civil disobedience looks like

Above is a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. being arrested in Atlanta for taking part in a sit-in. Below is an excerpt from Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, where he was being imprisoned for taking part in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation.

You will not hear much mention of Dr. King from those cracking down on campus protests these days. It is inconvenient, because they would then have to make some fine distinctions between demonstrating for civil rights and demonstrating for human rights. Silence combined with force is easier.

It should not be necessary to explain the role of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience in American and world history. But apparently, the current thinking is that protesting this way proves that your cause is unworthy and wrongheaded. It is implied that if protestors don’t remove their campus encampments by a deadline, they are obviously illegitimate. Just as the civil rights movement was unworthy, wrongheaded and illegitimate to some.


From Letter from a Birmingham Jail

In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.


Passover message: “No stranger shall you oppress, for you know the stranger’s heart, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”

גֵ֖ר לֹ֣א תִלְחָ֑ץ וְאַתֶּ֗ם יְדַעְתֶּם֙ אֶת־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַגֵּ֔ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
Exodus 23:9

One line from the Book of Exodus crystallizes our moment.

As with all biblical Hebrew, the translation is challenging and varied.


Exodus 23:9

You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt. (NJPS)

You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (NRSV)

No sojourner shall you oppress, for you know the sojourner’s heart, since you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (Robert Alter)


Alter addresses one of the translation challenges, the Hebrew word nefesh/נֶ֣פֶשׁ:

“The Hebrew is nefesh, “heart”, “life,” “inner nature,” “essential being,” “breath.””

Another word needing expansion is the Hebrew ger/גֵּ֔ר. Scholars Mark Allen Powell and Dennis R. Bratcher explain in the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary:


alien (ger): In the Bible, one who is not a member of a particular social group. Accordingly, Abraham was an alien (NRSV: “stranger”) among the Hittites at Hebron (Gen. 23:4), as were Moses in Midian (Exod. 2:22) and the Israelites in Egypt (Deut. 23:7; cf. Ruth 1:1). The Hebrew word is ger, and it has often been translated “sojourner” in English Bibles. The NRSV is inconsistent, translating it “alien” in some instances and “stranger” in others. After the settlement in Canaan, the term not only designated a temporary guest but also acquired the more specialized meaning of “resident alien,” one who lived permanently within Israel (Exod. 22:21; 23:9). No doubt because the Israelites were keenly aware of their own heritage as aliens without rights in a foreign land, they developed specific laws governing the treatment of aliens. Strangers or aliens were to be treated with kindness and generosity (Lev. 19:10, 33–34; 23:22; Deut. 14:29). The basic principle was, “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:19). And, again, “You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Lev. 19:34)….

“Alien” or “stranger” also appears in a figurative sense, usually in appealing to the generosity and mercy of God in dealing with undeserving people (Pss. 39:12; 119:19; 1 Chron. 29:15). The idea of dwelling in a land owned by someone else is also applied theologically to the relationship of the Israelites to the land; it belonged to God and they were the strangers in it (Lev. 25:23). (emphasis added)


This Passover, we give a thought to the nefesh—heart, life, inner nature, essential being, breath—of the ger—stranger, sojourner, resident alien. As the Bible reminds us, we were strangers too.

Hag Pesach sameach.

This Passover donate to the International Rescue Committee

Passover begins on the evening of April 22, 2024.

Some people, Jews and others, believe that the Israeli strategy in Gaza is justified and that the deaths and suffering of innocent people are unfortunate collateral damage of an important goal. Some people, Jews and others, disagree.

One thing we all can agree on is that when people, especially children, suffer, justifiably or not, it is our duty to help relieve that suffering in any way we can. People of all religious traditions or none can agree on this.

The International Rescue Committee is one of the most respectable and responsible organizations in the world working on this:


The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people affected by humanitarian crises—including the climate crisis—to survive, recover and rebuild their lives.

Founded at the call of Albert Einstein in 1933, the IRC is now at work in over 50 crisis-affected countries as well as communities throughout Europe and the Americas.


As Jews, on Passover we recall how our storied ancestors suffered—under the hand of a wicked ruler, wandering in a desolate desert. As we have suffered and suffer still, how can we deny the suffering of others and fail to relieve it?

When the Israelites were starving in the desert, we are told that God provided manna:


In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. (Exodus 16:2-4)


We cannot wait for manna. It is up to you.

Please donate to International Rescue Committee. Chag Pesach sameach.

This

This

You say this is what God wants
God told you
Or told someone who heard
And told you
Told someone
Who wrote it down
Figured out
That this is what God wants.
I am no more than Moses or others
But no less.
Here is what I read and heard
And write.
Bereshit bara elohim et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz. V’ha’aretz hatah tohu v’bohu.”*
In the beginning was tohu and bohu, a formless wasteland.
All the rest is commentary
For us not God to write create destroy.
Write we did
Create we did
Destroy we did
And do.
This is what we want.

*Genesis 1:1-2

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

Gaza is more and more Biden’s Vietnam

Rhetoric doesn’t end war and save lives. Whatever the rhetoric he and his administration announce, Biden continues to arm a nation pursuing a questionable war strategy that is killing thousands. Reported just yesterday:


US reportedly approves transfer to Israel of bombs and jets worth billions
Sources say weapons package authorized even as Washington expresses public concern over anticipated offensive in Rafah
Friday, March 29, 2024

The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.


Whether you lived through the Vietnam War or know it only as history, this is seeming oppressively and depressingly familiar, not just as an unnecessary tragedy, but as a political nightmare.

LBJ accomplished a lot of important things for America, but his stubborn support of the war in Vietnam doomed his reelection in 1968, leading him to drop out of the race, and leading to the horrors of the Nixon White House.

Biden has also accomplished a lot of important things for America. But he already goes into the 2024 election with widespread questions about his age. Now added to that is his stubborn support, despite his rhetoric, for a war that is already tragic and a situation that will not look better by the time of the election.

The analogy isn’t perfect. But as the saying goes, history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. This is looking a lot like Biden’s Vietnam. And as terrible as the Nixon presidency was, the Trump regime would be more evil and dangerous. Is there still time for Biden to do more than talk, to stand up and use American military support as leverage? Even if he does, is it too late to make a difference in what is almost certainly a toss-up election, with Biden in the eyes of some voters—especially some Democratic voters—a villain?

© 2024 by Bob Schwartz

Haman in Gaza (Purim 5784)


“There is a certain people. They do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them. Let a decree be issued for their destruction.”
Esther 3:8

Haman is in Gaza
God is not
in Esther