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Ron Jager
Ron grew up in the South Bronx of New York, making Aliyah in 1980. Served for 25 years in the IDF as a Mental Health Field Officer in operational units. Prior to retiring was Commander of the Central Psychiatric Clinic for Reserve Solders at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring has been involved in strategic consultancy to NGO's and communities in the Gaza Envelope on resiliency projects to assist first responders and communities. Ron has written numerous articles for outlets in Israel and abroad focusing on Israel and the Jewish world.
Insanity and incitement are the new norm
Any psychiatric examination must answer basic questions concerning a patient's mental capacity. Can the patient differentiate between what is real and what is imaginary, differentiate between right and wrong, differentiate between acceptable behavior and forbidden behavior, legal versus illegal, and differentiate between good and bad?
Those Israelis protesting since the barbaric murders of the six hostages, who were on the verge of being rescued by IDF soldiers, seem to have lost that ability. Given the background of the national emergency due to the current war, ongoing since the Nazi inspired massacre by Hamas on Oct 7th of last year, one would expect that those that oppose Israel’s democratically elected government to focus their discontent on issues and policies that go against the grain of what they believe to be the proper course of action. Instead, we have witnessed an endless string of road blockings, bonfires on highways, deliberate clashes with the police, limited free movement for all Israelis, sieges on the Knesset and homes of the Prime Minister and other elected officials. These actions have all become the Left's new norm.
Inciting against Netanyahu, calling him a murderer and publically demanding that he be shot, hanged, or disposed of in any manner whatsoever have also become their new norm. The Cabinet has been falsely labeled a “death cabinet” that cares only about its own political survival, despite the successful release of tens of hostages in a deal, and heroic rescue operations authorized by the cabinet and elimination of Hamas leaders.
The demonstrators choosing the path of lunacy and incitement have, however, lost the support of the majority of the nation. They have become wilder and more violent, unable to present a convincing fact-based argument, while crossing the lines of acceptable behavior. They have knowingly adopted the use of terminology that reeks of incitement and blind hatred. Their actions clearly do not differentiate between good and bad or right and wrong. They have publicly labeled Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s No. 1 “enemy of the state”. They have absolved Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and the one responsible for the Oct 7th massacre, of any semblance of accountability for his murderous actions.
Hiding behind the poster pictures of the hostages, the demonstrators have done everything in their power to facilitate the collapse of public order, all for the sake of bringing on early elections. Despite these actions, most of the general public has remained united, understanding the impossible conditions and pressures being brought upon Israel’s government; domestically as well as internationally.
The political parties heading the opposition, the progressive mainstream media, and the judicial system, have all lined up behind these forces of insanity and blindly supported this attempt to tear the country apart. These efforts to normalize insanity and incitement have unequivocally failed, let there be no doubt. The forces of surrender, appeasement, and insurrection can boast one major success although they have lost the trust of the general public. They have paved the way for fanatical thinking to rule the streets, social web and airwaves.
American Jewry in WWII
Many have described the enormity of the Oct 7th massacre as the single most murderous attack on Jews since the era of the Holocaust. This association has raised questions about the behavior of American Jews towards President Roosevelt and the heads of the US Army after they rejected demands to save innocent Jewish men, women, and children taken captive, tortured, and murdered by the Nazis. President Roosevelt refused to bomb the Auschwitz concentration camp, the gas chambers, or even the railroad tracks transporting millions of Jews to their deaths during World War II. Such desperate requests to bomb Auschwitz increased significantly in the spring of 1944.
At that time, circumstances combined to make bombing the Auschwitz death machinery and the railways leading to it from Hungary critically important and militarily possible. In mid-April, the Nazis began concentrating the 760,000 Jews of Hungary for deportation to the killing center at Auschwitz. Yet, despite the calls to prevent the expected genocide by destroying Auschwitz, FDR refused, and the majority of Hungarian Jewry were annihilated in the crematoria of Auschwitz. The refusal to authorize bombing missions made the German killing effort possible and much easier.
Yet, despite President Roosevelt’s refusal to bomb Auschwitz and save many of the Jewish victims in the final year of the Holocaust, there is no historical record of demands to have President Roosevelt shot, forcibly removed, or burnt in effigy. No calls from Jews or anyone else demanded early elections or the replacement of the President in the midst of a war. No one blamed Roosevelt for the deaths of the 6 million Jews, that blame was placed solely on Hitler and the German nation. In today’s Israel, it’s the very opposite; blame the Prime Minister, blame the government, blame the victims.
The Oct 7th massacre has brought together and unified the rest of the people of Israel. Although you would not know it from the mainstream media, most Israelis understand that the continuing war of terror launched by Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and additional proxy terror organizations poses an existential threat for the State of Israel; Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. Leaving Hamas standing on its feet in the present will exact a heavy price for Israel in the future and must be rejected as an option. Our enemies in Iran and Hezbollah are watching, unsure if Israel will surrender to the forces of appeasement from within.
Prior to October 7th, Israel showed restraint, believing that our neighbors preferred peace to war. The October 7th massacre changed the perception of most Israelis, that majority which would pass the psychiatric test at the beginning of this article. Despite the raucous voices of lunacy and incitement, there seems to be a general realization that Israel must stop empowering the genocidal appetite of Hamas and destroy once and for all the instigators of the ongoing war of terror from Hamas in the Gaza Strip, from Judea and Samaria (aka 'West Bank'), and from Hezbollah in the north.
American voters in Israel can make the difference
The Biden-Harris Presidency has allowed anti-Semitism in America to reach unprecedented levels forcing American Jews to live as if they are under siege. Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the upcoming 2024 elections has refrained from unequivocally disavowing blatant anti-Israel and anti-Jew voices among the Democratic ranks. Jews who share the almost-universal Jewish connection to the land of Israel face insult, threat, ostracism, and outright violence. The safety and security of Jews in America are under threat like never before. Over the past four years of a Democratic run White House, anti-Semitism in America has gotten out of control. This is the true legacy of today’s Democratic Party.
Many among the ranks of supporters of Kamala Harris who have organized tens of thousands of demonstrations on the campuses and streets of America against Israel and American Jews have demanded that Harris disavow support for Israel and consider an arms embargo on Israel immediately. Kamala Harris has not unequivocally condemned the anti-Semitic posters or slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, or the rationalizing of the October 7th massacre by Hamas. Pro-Hamas hysteria has become part and parcel of the Democratic Party’s base. Rather than disavow or condemn these demands, Kamala Harris in a recent speech in Detroit, a hotbed of anti-Jew and anti-Israel supporters responded "If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that”.
The 2024 election is critical if we want America to be a safe Jewish home for our children and grandchildren. Jews need to vote as if their lives were at stake - because they are. American Jews living in Israel, all 500,000 of them must get involved in the coming Presidential elections. The American Jewish vote in Israel can make the difference between four more years of Jew hatred on the streets of America or an America of peace and prosperity for all Americans. American Jews living in Israel alongside the American Jewish vote in America can be a critical voting bloc in the re-election of Donald Trump to be the next President. American Jews who live in Israel can cast their votes here in Israel while their vote will be tallied according to the state that they were registered as voters.
In the 2020 elections in which Donald Trump lost the tallied votes in a number of critical states, the Jewish population of those states tell the whole story.
State | Jewish Population in | Trump lost the vote in |
2022 | 2020 | |
Arizona | 123,725 | 10,457 |
Georgia | 141,020 | 11,779 |
Pennsylvania | 434,165 | 81,660 |
The indisputable fact that 40% of registered Jews in the State of Florida voted for Donald Trump in 2020 played a critical part to help clinch his win in that state.
During the Trump Presidency, Donald Trump proved his reliability and trustworthiness for the American Jewish community and for the State of Israel. President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, supported the democratically elected government of Israel and pulled the United States out of the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. His national policy of putting America at the forefront of the free Democratic world helped broker the Abraham Accords which enabled the establishment of bilateral relations between Israel and Arab states. President Trump signed the Taylor Force Act which prohibited U.S. payments to the Palestinian Authority as long as the Palestinian Authority supported and paid salaries to Palestinian terrorists convicted of murdering Jews and American citizens living or visiting Israel.
To stand up and be counted, now is the time to act. If you have family or friends that live in Israel, you can help to re-elect President Donald Trump. You can help them contact organizations such as Republicans overseas Israel.com or JewschooseTrump.com to get assistance and guidance to go through the process of registering overseas for the November Presidential elections. The goal of these organizations is to register more than 500,000 eligible American-Israeli voters, residing in Israel, to vote in the coming general elections for the office of the President of the United States, the Senate and the House of Representatives. With just over three months from Election Day, November 5, 2024, Republicans Overseas Israel are launching their campaign to elect former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. The more than 500,000 American citizens residing in Israel who are eligible to vote can influence the Electoral College outcome in the “Swing States” and thereby determine who will be the next President of the United States.
Today Israel needs a true friend in the White House on whom she can depend, more than ever, especially at this time of crisis. In the past the Republican Party has viewed the welfare of the State of Israel as being a top priority and an American interest and will continue to do so in the future. To make sure this happens, we must work to elect the Party’s candidate, President Donald Trump, who stood at Israel’s side throughout his Presidency and proved that he was a loyal friend to the State of Israel.
Below is contact information for Republicans overseas Israel, an organization that can help and facilitate the process of registering in Israel for the November 4 elections
Republicans overseas Israel: www.Republicans overseas Israel.com
Director, Maayan Yacov: + 972 50-444-6944 Office: + 972-2-6336300 email:
JewschooseTrump- an organization dedicated to helping Donald Trump get re-elected. Follow them on Facebook at Jews Choose Donald Trump:
https://www.facebook.com/JewsChooseTrump and on Twitter @jewschoosetrump.
Strong Together – Vote Trump 5785
The strategic significance of Haniyeh’s justified assassination
Israel is bracing and preparing for the expected response by the Middle East’s axis of evil; Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iraqi militias, and the Houthis of Yemen. Over the past 48 hours Israel eliminated Fuad Shukr- the Chief of Staff of Hezbollah, Ismail Haniyeh – a top leader of Hamas, and earlier in the month Mohammed Deif, the Chief of Staff of Hamas. All of the targeted assassinations where executed with precise intelligence within the heart of Beirut, Teheran, and Gaza. All of these terror leaders where personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of Israeli’s over the years, and they all were sworn enemies not only of the State of Israel but of all Jews throughout the world.
Preceding the assassination of these three terror leaders, let’s not dismiss the event that occurred on May 19th. On this day a helicopter carrying Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, crashed in the north-western province of East Azerbaijan. Raisi, was killed, along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Little if any information has been publicized concerning the causes of the helicopter crash, but in light of the recent events, it wouldn’t be surprising to discover that the crash was not the result of bad weather or pilot error.
The decision to carry out the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau in Tehran was precisely because Haniyeh was under Iranian patronage and security responsibility. The precision and intelligence behind the operation point to extraordinary capabilities. The intelligence and operational capabilities of Israel have sent a clear and direct message to the leaders of terror in the Middle East. All terror leaders, all terrorists, and any enemy of Israel cannot feel safe and secure from the State of Israel should a decision be taken to eliminate them. No distance, no subterranean bunker, and no Iranian security responsibility will be able to prevent Israel from overcoming these operational challenges and eliminate with pinpoint accuracy anyone of the leaders who have attacked Israel or carry responsibility for attacking Israel since Oct 7th.
Haniyeh could have been eliminated in any number of locations: whether in Qatar where he has set up shop, or Beirut where he frequently visits to meet other terror leaders, but Israel chose Teheran, why is that? The choice to assassinate Haniyeh in the heart of Teheran, within a security complex of the Iranian government has exposed not only the centrality of Iranian involvement in Islamic terror, but mainly in Iranian military impotency and outdated technological capabilities that seem very impressive in military parades conducted throughout the year for public consumption, but operationally have no value in preventing Israel from reaching anyone deemed an enemy. Over the past three months, Iranian leaders have begun to internalize the understanding that has resonated in every capital of the Middle East that anyone who attacks the State of Israel, should fear for his own fate as well.
Israel’s “outstretched arm” have successfully shown operational capabilities in attacking targets within ranges of upwards of 2000 kilometers. Fighter planes that fly at such an extended range need to receive refueling, control, intelligence and a high level of readiness by support forces and the Israeli navy. The ability to synchronize all of these complimentary forces has forced Iranian and other terror leaders to question many of their assumptions concerning the ability of their military forces to protect them.
What remains to be seen is what effect the targeted assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in the heart of Teheran will achieve? - Will it restrain the Iranians and their proxies, or will it lead to a coordinated attack on all fronts against the State of Israel. It is important to remember that three months ago, Iranian forces launched a coordinated attack of over 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and UAV’s/drones against the territory of the State of Israel. Despite this unprecedented Iranian attack using the latest and most lethal capabilities at the disposal of the Iranian military forces; 99 percent of the missiles and drones were either shot down by Israeli forces or landed within Iranian territory. Some of Israel’s newer air defense systems: Arrow 3 and David’s Sling were successfully battle tested. Iranian leaders know that only a small portion of Israel’s capabilities had been used during the attack.
As Israel braces for retaliation from Hezbollah and Iran for the deaths of terror chiefs in the coming days, let’s not ignore the fact that Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah opted to address his followers at the funeral of Fuad Shukr, his second in command, thru a closed circuit television address from an undisclosed location in Lebanon, Nasrallah obviously fears for his life and was not taking any chances. His inability to speak freely and publicly might very well give an inclination of what we can expect in the coming days. On top of that, should the Iranian Islamic Republic decide to restore their “national honor” or attempt to reassert their deterrence and enter into a full-scale confrontation with Israel, they may very well endanger their strategic goal of nuclear capability with its nuclear project bearing the brunt of an Israeli pre-emptive reprisal. This possibility might very well force the Iranians to reconsider their response to Israel.
In the coming days, much of the threatening hype surrounding the Iranians and Hezbollah will fizzle out and what we can expect is more of the same. Sporadic attacks by Hezbollah ground forces from Lebanon and Iraqi militias from Syrian territory, against the northern border of Israel. These largely indiscriminate attacks on border homes and military posts make headlines however have no strategic significance. These attacks will be accompanied by attempts to fire drones and/or missiles, again; tall previous attempts have been largely ineffective in entering Israeli airspace or territory. What might very well surprise us is that the Haniyeh assassination might facilitate the hostage agreement proposed by Israel which will include a temporary lull of the IDF’s advancement in the Gaza Strip enabling Iran and Hezbollah to claim victory and end their current round of aggression against Israel.
The Farhoud Pogrom remembered – June 1-2, 1941
A vast Jewish Diaspora underwent a process of communal annihilation prior to Israel’s establishment and continued during Israel’s formative years, yet we Israelis rarely talk about or commemorate these historic events. On the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel, at least 800,000 Jews lived in Arab countries. Today, those ancient Jewish Diaspora numbers only a few thousand at best. These numbers alone should give us pause: Emigration of more than 99 percent of the Jewish population in such a short time is unparalleled in modern Jewish history. Even the Jewish communities of Europe, which experienced the most extreme suffering of anti-Semitic violence, did not vanish entirely, or so abruptly. The story of the Jews from Arab lands is a saga that extends over hundreds of years and over a vast geographic region.
More than 800,000 Jews lived in the countries of the Arab world at the time of Israel’s founding. Virtually all of them fled or were forced out of their homes and communities after Israel’s establishment with more than three-quarters of these Jewish refugees moving to Israel. The once-thriving communities they had established in places such as Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Tunisia shrunk and, in some cases, virtually disappeared. The Jews of these Arab nations were forced to leave behind most if not all of their property and businesses with no compensation other than being allowed to remain alive to flee.
Thousands of pages of testimony have been collecting dust in various government offices in Israel since the 1950s. Under the bureaucratic heading “Registry of the Claims of Jews from Arab Lands,” they tell of lives cut short, of individuals and entire families who found themselves suddenly homeless, persecuted, humiliated. Together they relate a tragic chapter in the history of modern Jewry, a chain of traumatic events that signaled the end of a once-glorious Jewish Diaspora. Yet for all its historical import, this chapter has been largely repressed, scarcely leaving a mark on Israel’s collective memory, largely ignored by the mainstream printed and broadcasted media. The issue of Jewish refugees from Arab nations has not been on the agenda of the academic world always in tune to remain politically correct, proactively refraining from endangering the accepted false narrative of Arab refugees central to Palestinian Arab propaganda.
On the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, June 1-2, 1941; 83 years ago, the Muslim residents of Baghdad carried out a savage pogrom against their Jewish neighbors. In this pogrom, known by its Arabic name al-Farhoud, the pogrom of "violent dispossession" was carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad. Over 180 Jews were murdered and mutilated and thousands wounded; Jews were killed randomly, women and children were raped in front of their relatives, and babies crushed. Jewish property was plundered; homes, business, places of worship, communal institutions were looted, set ablaze and destroyed. Historians have referred to the Farhoud as being a pogrom associated with the Holocaust. The Farhoud has also been called the beginning of the end of the Jewish community of Iraq, propagating the mass migration of Iraqi Jews out of the country, of which the majority made Aliyah in masse to the newly established State of Israel.
The linking of the Farhoud to the Holocaust is based on historical record and involved Muslim leaders who fully identified with the Nazi regime and played an active role in promoting the annihilation of Jewry of the Middle East. At the time, under the auspices of the British Mandate representatives, a governmental commission of inquiry was established concerning the Farhoud, and determined that the Nazi propaganda of Radio Berlin had been one of the massacre’s foremost instigators. The first Arab-language Nazi radio station was launched in Berlin prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, broadcasting anti-British, anti-American, anti-Soviet, and particularly anti-Semitic propaganda. It thus helped spread radical anti-Semitism in the Middle East. The messages in the propaganda broadcasts were designed to achieve certain goals, such as winning the Arab population’s sympathy for the Nazis and the Führer, stoking Arab national sentiments, incitement against the Jews, and blaming the Jews for being behind all the Arab world’s calamities and failures. The commission’s report also identified the main individuals who had impelled the assault. It pointed to the extensive activity of Dr. Fritz Grobba, the German ambassador to Baghdad, and to the activity of the former mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin Husseini, who had fled to Iraq from Mandatory Palestine in October 1939 and begun inciting against the Iraqi Jews. The mufti had also worked with Iraqi subversive elements, including Rashid Ali, to overthrow Iraq’s ruling Hashemite monarchy and install a pro-Nazi regime.
For those interested in further exploring the rich history of Iraqi Jewry, and learning more about the Farhoud, I highly recommend visiting The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, located in the central Israeli town of Or Yehuda. The Center was established in 1973 to preserve the history of the Jewish community in Iraq and to ensure that it remains part of the future narrative of the Jewish nation. The Center fosters research, preservation and publication of the culture and folklore of Iraqi Jewry. Adjacent to the Center is the Museum of Babylonian Jewry, opened to the public in 1988 and exhibiting chapters from the history of Babylonian Jewry throughout the generations over the course of more than 2,600 years.
As we in Israel and throughout the Jewish world everywhere process the tragic and painful consequences of the May 7th massacre in Southern Israel, we should always remember that this infamous date will join a long line of dates and events such as the Faroud on June 1-2, 1941 when Jews were murdered for no other reason than being Jews. It is our imperative to give meaning to their deaths by not only commemorating but ensuring that we learn from the past and never forget.