We Jews are about to celebrate a new year again. We have been at this for 5,769 years, which is quite a long time considering that everyone else we once knew, (the Hittes, Jebusites, Phlishtim–even the ancient pre-Islamic Egyptians), have come and gone. As they say: “We’re still here,” a little worn and a little weary. Even as we miraculously inhabit our Biblical homeland once again, our right to it remains under profound and existential siege and our people, our precious youth, generation after generation, must continue to risk death in order to defend our right to be there.
We have entered an economic recession at a moment when the world has been practicing blaming the Jews for at least a decade. Things are moving very fast now. Pro-Palestine and anti-Israel conferences are being funded and are taking place in universities all over the Western world. The United Nations continues their pathologically deadly game against us. Iran threatens the nuclear annihilation of Israel–and Larry King interviews The Dinner Jacket. Many of Israel’s leaders have proved to be corrupt, timid, and flat out wrong, as have many of the leaders of major Jewish organizations outside of Israel.
Somehow, individual Jews are still managing to flourish. Israelis are inventing amazing things, discovering all kinds of health cures, potentially leading the world in the race for the electric car. Grassroots efforts to document the lethal cultural war against Israel have been undertaken by brilliant and persistent anti-propagandists: Camera, Honest Reporting, Memri, Palestinian Media Watch, Daniel Pipes’ Campus Watch and Middle East Forum, Steve Emerson’s Investigate Project, Robert Spencer’s Jihadwatch. The great Bat Yeor’s work on the history of dhimmi peoples under Islam and the reality that Europe has rapidly become “Eurabia,” the title of her latest book, has finally been taken seriously, not only by readers but by governments.
Bloggers are playing an increasingly major role in the various anti-disinformation campaigns. Let me note all the bloggers associated with my LiberalHawks listserv group and the doggedly brilliant bloggers who publish at PajamasMedia (MyPetJawa, Fausta’s Blog, Gesher) and the independents, such as AtlasShrugs and Gates of Vienna. (If I’ve made any mistakes here, please point them out and if I’ve left anyone out, do tell me).
My friend and colleague, Philippe Karsenty has, with a little help from some American funders, almost single handedly exposed the Al-Dura myth as the French-Palestinian blood libel that it surely is. My friend and colleague Rachel Ehrenfeld has not only gotten the New York State Legislature to pass what is now known as “Rachel’s Bill” against libel tourism and for the right of American writers to publish the truth, as well as their opinion, on any subject–beginning with that of Islam and the funding of jihad and terrorism by certain Saudi Princes. My friend and colleague, Dr. Andy Bostom has published his massive and major work about Islamic anti-Semitism. My colleague and friend, Anne Bayefsky, continues her must-read reports on the dangerous doings at the UN vis a vis Israel as part of her “Eye on the UN” enterprise.
We are also developing some new friends and allies: My friend and colleague, Nonie Darwish, the author of the brave and bracing work “Now They Call me Infidel,” is about to publish a new book about Sharia Law (”Cruel and Usual Punishment”) which is absolutely required reading. And, my dear friend, Ibn Warraq has royally taken down Edward Said in his latest book “Defending the West.” Funny, but his name is not listed among the speakers at the upcoming November conference at Columbia University which seeks to embellish Said’s reputation still further. Also funny: Columbia University has not invited Darwish to speak at their upcoming November conference about Sharia Law.
Yes, many Jews have done well in America but America is now undergoing a serious financial crisis and the world is experiencing global terrorism as never before. In the past, when people started losing their homes and jobs they also started looking for scapegoats to blame and, as I said above: The Jews are still here.
Let me wish my co-religionists a sweet, safe, healthy, and productive New Year–and the same to all our friends and supporters.
May God and the Israeli leadership successfully negotiate the return of all our prisoners, beginning with Gilad Shalit (why is he still in captivity?) and Jonathan Pollard, who has been imprisoned, usually in isolation, for an inhumane period of time. May we have the strength to continue resisting the imposition of Sharia Law. And, may we remember to thank God for all our amazing blessings.
L’Shana Tova U-Metukah! A good and sweet year to us all.
PJM Home
Woman's Inhumanity to Woman
The Death of Feminism: What’s Next in the Struggle for Women’s Freedom
Women and Madness
The New Anti-Semitism: The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It
Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism’s Holy Site
Letters to a Young Feminist
With Child: A Diary of Motherhood
Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health
Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness
Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M
Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody
About Men
Women, Money & Power
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
9 Comments
1. Louis Santacroce:and L’Shana Tova U-Metukah to you as well, Phyllis, with grateful thanks for your work and friendship these many years.
Sep 29, 2008 - 6:58 am 2. Nicolas Krebs:“brilliant and persistent anti-propagandists”
Do not forget Filip Dewinter.
“has finally been taken seriously, not only by readers but by governments”
Which governments?
Sep 30, 2008 - 2:48 am 3. American Girl:While I appreciate the sentimentality, I don’t see how it justifies what the Israel state is doing to the Palestinian people. It is not holy, and could not be classified as even humane.
Israel’s reputation proceeds you across the world as ‘baby killers’. Why do you think every one of your citizens is required to be in the military? Because you’re an active occupying force!
Yes, people are finding out about the Zionist agenda. Thank God. The more people hear about it the less secure Israel will be, because let me tell you what we know:
You need America, and America will bow out.
On other fronts, I appreciate the work you’ve done about feminism and the dynamic between men and women. Really. I wish you would apply yourself with the same rigor to understanding the wrongness of genocide.
Peace be onto all people of this world. May those who truly connect with God work for the betterment of all of humanity, not just their own.
Sep 30, 2008 - 3:13 am 4. J.J. Sefton:To you as well Phyllis. As for American Girl, you’re about as American as Father Coughlin, Lord Haw-Haw and Pat Buchanan. Keep ‘em flying and vayr gehargit.
Sep 30, 2008 - 1:56 pm 5. Lawrence Kohn:Israel for all its faults is far ahead of Palestinian society in concern ethical values because of 15 years decade of hate education and the control of the PA by terrorists. Further the cause of Palestinian misery in the main has been the refusal of Arab leaders to recognize Jewish sovereignty in any part of the land of Israel. Jordan holds 75 per cent of Mandatory Palestine since its independence in 1946; the division of the remaining 25 per cent into another Arab state and a Jewish state was answered by a Palestinian Arab and Arab state war; the offer to return territories taken by Israel in a war of self defense in 1967 was rejected by the Arab states. The offer to negotiate autonomy with local Palestinian Arabs during the Sadat-Begin negotiations in 1977-78 resulted in the PLO murdering leading Palestinians supportive of Sadat. The Oslo agreement removing Israeli troops from day to day control of 98 per cent of the Palestinian Arab population led to record levels of terrorism against Israelis and the removal of Israeli settlements from Gaza led not to the use of green houses for production but their destruction by Palestinians and record level rocket attacks on pre 67 Israel. Amen to Phyllis. But Phyllis please note that Jewish tradition citing 5769 reflects an ancient view of the date of Creation not of the Jewish people which is still old but only 4.000 max.
Sep 30, 2008 - 6:52 pm 6. bbloom:L’Shana Tovah !
Sep 30, 2008 - 7:36 pm 7. Nicolas Krebs:One day perhaps we can meet and I can attempt to explain how special your work has been to me personally. May HaShem shower you with blessings this year and grant you a long life that you may continue to help others.
On a less encouraging note, visit
http://www.thegreatschlep.com
“Which governments?”
No answer, of course. Nobody belive the fanciful Bat Ye’or’s thesis except conspiracy theorists.
Oct 2, 2008 - 3:16 pm 8. Marion L:L’Shana Tova, Dr. Chesler – A Sweet New Year.
All Jews are responsible for one another – whether or not we always agree.
Marion L.
Oct 2, 2008 - 5:00 pm 9. Dr S McCosker:Dear Dr Chesler – L’shana Tova.
I am praying for you and for all those on the front line – specially for Mr Spencer and Mr Bostom.
May the Holy One surround Israel – and all the House of Israel – with a wall of fire and may He be the glory in your midst. May the winter rains this year fill the Kinneret to overflowing. And may the upcoming ‘Facing Jihad’ conference in Jerusalem be a resounding success and a turning point in this worldwide war against jihad and sharia.
You, O house of Israel, are the burning bush and – to borrow a phrase from J K Rowling, whose humble hero ‘The Boy Who Lived’ has been (most appropriately) played on the silver screen by …a Jewish boy, Daniel Radcliffe – you are the Order of the Phoenix. You are the People Who Lived when everyone wanted you dead.
I have just read Bostom’s ‘Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism’ and am preparing a review of it, for my [Anglican] Parish Magazine. It might shock a few people out of the warm and fuzzy misconceptions that they have, regarding ‘Abrahamic faiths’ and all that.
If all trainee rabbis and all trainee Christian clergy were made to read that book (the Christians could also, with profit, read Malcolm Hay’s ‘Europe and the Jews’, James Parkes’ ‘The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue’, and Tom Cahill’s ‘The Gifts of the Jews’) our clergy would perhaps be more cautious and hard-headed, and less embarrassingly naive, in their dealings with Muslims.
Bostom’s latest book should also be required reading for all journalists and diplomats and politicians who are even thinking of covering, or meddling in, ‘the Middle East situation’. It’s a sort of Rosetta Stone as regards the origin and nature of the relentless jihad against the Jewish state of Israel. It also explains exactly why the Jews in eretz Israel had to go all the way and claim independence as a self-defending sovereign state; for it shows that so long as they remained a despised minority within any mostly-Muslim polity, their human rights and their right to be treated as human beings, with dignity, security of property and equality before the law, would not have been secure.
Shalom.
Oct 13, 2008 - 3:18 am