Today is my birthday.
A couple of days ago my wife asked me what I would like to get for my birthday. I could not say. These days, since the brutal attack on us in Israel, I feel a lot of emptiness.
I know we have to make sure life goes on, but I am bogged down with thoughts about the horrific events of October 7, about the abducted people: the young girls and boys, even babies, elderly people, and all the young women and man. Not to mention the frequent funerals of the fallen soldiers who went fighting to bring the kidnapped home. Today we'll have another one in our city.
I, just as many others in Israel, frequently cry.
I wish they came home!
That's it - on my birthday I wish the people who were kidnapped on October 7 and those who were already held captive would come home safely!
I wish this war would end, I wish no more of our soldiers would die, and I wish some sanity would return to the world as well.
I wish there was real peace.
Who can grant me my wishes?
I thought I'll write about it.
Then I realized the readers of my blog and my newsletters cannot give me any of these.
I don't think there is anyone on the other side who would negotiate in good faith. How could I believe in any good faith by people who sent in their "freedom fighters" (as they and some in the West call them) to rape women and behead children?
We need the IDF (the Israel Defense Forces) and our other security services to bring the hostages back and to eliminate the threats from our borders.
What can you do?
However, I also realized my readers actually can help, even if just a bit.
You can invest some more time in understanding the root of the conflict, and then you can help spread it further. Maybe, just maybe there will be enough forces around the world to make this happen.
First, I assume you believe that the Jewish nation, just as every other nation, the French, the Turks, the Armenians, the Kurds, and yes the Palestinians have the right for self-determination and for the creation of their independent and sovereign state. I know this might be a bit alien to some, especially those who live in the USA, as theirs is one of the few countries that is not a nation-state, but then again they, too, understand the importance of having an independent and sovereign state.
If you do, then you will see that the root cause of the conflict that has lasted for more than 100 years already is the almost universal Arab / Muslim refusal to accept such a state for the Jewish people on any part of the land.
Don't take my word for it. Instead I'd like to ask you, as a birthday present for me, that you read the book The War of Return by Dr. Einat Wilf and Adi Schwarts.
I found that book as probably the best explanation so far and started to read it again.
A much quicker alternative would be to watch the presentation that Einat gave on November 1. The whole video is 1:30 hours long, but her presentation is only 25 minutes and then there was a QA session.
Ideally you would do both.
Then, once you did those, I would love to know what you thought and I'd love to read ideas how you think you could share this with others.