Nowadays you can’t be too sure who will turn out to be a moral idiot. Many students at elite colleges, for example, and some faculty members, too, have been out yelling “from the river to the sea/Palestine will be free” as they wave Palestinian flags. They are calling for the disappearance of the one Jewish state, to be replaced by a 23rd Arab one. You never know who will turn out to be — in comical Obamaspeak — “on the right side of history,” and who will be on the side of right, which is a different thing.
Just now many people in Hollywood — actors, screenwriters, directors, producers — have signed a letter to President Biden, affirming their concern for the 220 hostages held by Hamas, and asking him to do whatever he can to free them. Their letter, and the list, so far, of its many hundreds of signatories, can be found here.
I offer here a few caveats to the letter itself:
The letter’s praise of Biden as a stout defender of “the Jewish people” is unwarranted. Let us not forget his flouting of the Taylor Force Act, by providing the Palestinian Authority with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid even though the PA continues with its “Pay-For-Slay” program that provides generous monthly stipends to imprisoned terrorists and to the families of terrorists who died while committing their terror attacks. “Pay-For-Slay” thus rewards past, and incentivizes future, terrorism. The Taylor Force Act of 2018 was quite clear: no American aid should go to the PA as long as “Pay-For-Slay” continued. Well, it has continued, and the Bidenites have nonetheless given enormous sums in aid to the PA (and UNRWA) since the beginning of the Biden administration.
Then there is attitude of the Bidenites toward Iran. Until recently Joe Biden was promoting a deal with Iran that would supply it with tens of billions of dollars that the Islamic Republic could use for its nuclear weapons and thermonuclear ballistic missile projects. He had just freed up $6 billion that was about to be transferred to Iran, but then the war in Gaza intervened, and Republicans in Congress insisted that such a huge sum not be transferred to Iran. The Bidenites complied, and now they are scrambling to recalibrate their Iran policy. The two major Naval Battle Groups now stationed off the coast of Lebanon, where they threaten both Iran’s proxy Hezbollah, and Iran itself, are the outward and visible signs of a new understanding of the Iranian regime’s increasing threat, not just to Israel, but to American forces in the region.
The Hollywood letter also envisions a future where “Israelis and Palestinians” can “live side by side in peace.” That dream of a Peaceable Kingdom, where lions lie down with lambs, is a fantasy in the Middle East. There will never be such a “peace” between Israel and the Palestinians because the jihadist impulse will last as long as Islam itself. There is something else that might be achieved: an “absence of hostilities” that is attainable if Israel, through overwhelming military superiority, can permanently deter its enemies. The relentless destruction of Hamas now under way in Gaza should provide a salutary lesson for Hezbollah, and for Iran itself. The Hollywood letter could have called for “a future where Israelis live in safety because of their military superiority, a future where the enemies of the Jewish state are forced to reconcile themselves, however reluctantly, to its existence.”
Keeping those caveats in mind, here is that letter:
Dear President Biden,
We are heartened by Friday’s release of the two American hostages, Judith Ranaan and her daughter Natalie Ranaan and by today’s release of two Israelis, Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, whose husbands remain in captivity.
But our relief is tempered by our overwhelming concern that 220 innocent people, including 30 children, remain captive by terrorists, threatened with torture and death. They were taken by Hamas in the savage massacre of October 7, where over 1,400 Israelis were slaughtered – women raped, families burned alive, and infants beheaded.
Thank you for your unshakable moral conviction, leadership, and support for the Jewish people, who have been terrorized by Hamas since the group’s founding over 35 years ago, and for the Palestinians, who have also been terrorized, oppressed, and victimized by Hamas for the last 17 years that the group has been governing Gaza.
We all want the same thing: Freedom for Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace. Freedom from the brutal violence spread by Hamas. And most urgently, in this moment, freedom for the hostages.
We urge everyone to not rest until all hostages are released. No hostage can be left behind. Whether American, Argentinian, Australian, Azerbaijani, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Eritrean, Filipino, French, German, Indian, Israeli, Italian, Kazakh, Mexican, Panamanian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, South African, Spanish, Sri Lankan, Thai, Ukrainian, Uzbekistani or otherwise, we need to bring them home.
The many hundreds of signers can be found, as noted above, right here.
Hide says
Yes they arrive in the land of paradise , they still want to bring their faith & culture & religion with them , who will get U.K. protection first them or our 13 year old girls . As well as our young girls we give them free homes & benefits will the voter forget at next GE.
Colonialism built Africa. Modern medicine, roads railways, electricity running water. Now under black rule everyone wants to leave the place as its falling aparti
There isn’t a city or even town in the western world that’s been improved by mass immigration from the 3rd world.
Colonialism built Africa. Modern medicine, roads railways, electricity running water. Now under black rule everyone wants to leave the place as its falling aparti
There isn’t a city or even town in the western world that’s been improved by mass immigration from the 3rd world.
deze MN bee says
Hi guys,
Your letter has been sent down to us here at the Motherhood Statements Branch of the Office Of The President so your concerns are still noted and to be considered under the the general aegis or umbrella of U.S. government policy. We will do very best to deal with your petition in timely fashion.
By the way, just loved that New Feminist movie Blondie In The Pink.
Go Bollywood!
Regards,
pro The President of The United States
(illegible signature)
Westman says
Cher, Baldwin, Streep, Clooney, Legend, Gaga, Dunham, De Niro, King, Jackson, Midler, Lawrence, Gere, Reiner, Moore, Streisand, etc…
Most of the vocal Trump and MAGA haters seem to be missing?
Kathy says
Yup, the list was certainly an interesting read of who’s-who in the support of Hamas’s agenda of violent and/or lethal submission to their Islamic Death Cult. Also interesting to see who doesn’t support it – at least, for now, that is. There were admittedly some positive surprises, but in the main the reading proved extremely disappointing, so very many names missing from the roll-call. Particularly the names of some of the major stars of Hollywood. Were they just too busy making their millions to take time to notice what has been going on in the Middle East, do you think, or is it that they just quite frankly “Don’t Give A Damn”?