500 Days

500 days.

What would you do if you were held hostage for 500 days with little food, no light, stifling conditions, and no information about the outside world? I’m pretty upbeat, but I can tell you that my optimism would be tested. What if you were also tortured during that time? How would you hold up then? Let’s add to that dismal picture the memories of your loved ones being murdered and/or kidnapped in front of you as you were taken into captivity. Those memories would haunt you in the tunnels and holding cells.

The Hostage Nightmare

The stories coming from the released hostages are not surprising. Most of them were subjected to horrifying conditions. Some of them were injured on October 7th or during their captivity and received no medical care. They had no information about their family or friends, so they sat for the better part of 500 days wondering if they were safe…wondering if they were alive. Some of them are still wondering, waiting for word that their wives, children, parents, siblings, and friends are still alive and are coming home. This has been heart-wrenching to watch and excruciating for the hostages and their families.

We have watched for 500 days as Israel has stood with the most tenuous support from only a few of its allies. The United States has been their foremost supporter, but that title is relative. While we did park our most sophisticated aircraft carrier off the coast early in the conflict and provided artillery and other supplies, our leaders did so slowly and reluctantly. Israel has had to endure the worst slanders that can be said of another human being, charges that should rightly be laid at the feet of Hamas and its supporters. It is an ironic injustice to refer to Israel as genocidal maniacs or apartheid oppressors, yet so many journalists and international leaders have spoken those words without hesitation or shame. Many of the most educated people in our world today have stood silent or, worse, spoken without consideration of the history of modern Israel…or ancient Israel, for that matter.

The American Nightmare

We in the United States have watched from afar, working hard on our side of things to bring about change. We were embarrassed by the UN votes or silence offered by an absentee commander-in-chief. We were horrified at the slow response to immediate needs. We were offended by the statements made by our congresspeople and bureaucrats that victim-blamed Israel for October 7th, painted to be apartheid colonizers waging a genocidal famine against Gaza. We were mortified as the government sat on its hands and looked away while the youth of our nation were taught that you can terrorize Jewish people without resistance or consequence. Our nation was quickly descending into hate-filled chaos.

The Winds of Change

The past month has seen an about-face to the antisemitic rhetoric supported by the White House. Our weapons shipments to our war-weary friend have started again. Our new (again) president is responsive to the situation and has committed our resources to ending this war. He has joined forces with the Israel-supporting voices in Congress who had been calling for strong support of the Jewish people. President Trump recognizes the clear and present danger that Hamas and its allies represent. Regardless of your thoughts about Trump, we are finally seeing changes in the world that are positive and encouraging.

Those of us who have stood beside Israel over the past 500 days (or longer) welcome this change. With a strong leader supporting Israel, many other nations and international organizations are stepping up to support them too. The antisemitic rhetoric that has spilled over the media and out into the world has slowly quieted. It feels like the tide has finally turned. But it hasn’t. We cannot yet rest. There is so much more to do.

How Did We Get Here

The reason that we found ourselves in a bizarre antisemitic echo chamber for the past 500 days is that so many thought that this ideology was ebbing from the world. So many had convinced themselves that Jew-hatred was held by the Islamic world and some ideologues stuffed into small offices at huge universities. Some believed that if this way of thinking ever crawled out of the darkness and into mainstream America, it would be summarily dismissed and thrown onto the trash heap of history. How could educated and reasonable people attack someone for being of a particular ethnicity? How could a society repeat libel that had been used to try to destroy a scattered minority for the past two thousand years?

I didn’t think of myself as one of those people. I knew the truth of what had been done to the Jewish people for thousands of years. The hatred. The persecution. The destruction. I spoke up for the Jewish people. I pointed others to their contributions. I walked people through their history, both ancient and modern. I collapsed the slanders, false narratives, and faulty charges of people who had no grasp of history and only spoke to those who supported their fallacies. In 1996 I watched my university “give equal time” to the PLO because a Jewish rabbi had been asked to speak. Over the years I had heard church members sneer as they spoke of the Jewish people and the Jewish foundation of our faith. I knew what darkness hid in the hearts of men. I knew how close we were to repeating the chants that rang out in the streets of Berlin, Rome, and Babylon.

Shocking Antisemitism

Even so, I was shocked as pure antisemitism burst out from its hiding places and flooded our streets. I was surprised by the violence. I was surprised that it spread like it was flowing right out of the sewers of every city in America. It was everywhere all at once. What was even more unsettling to me was that people like me were surprised. Why was I surprised?

The antisemitism was relentless. Colleges and universities were taken over by vile thugs who attacked Jewish students in front of the faculty and administration without repercussions. They stayed for months camped out in the quads. Synagogues were vandalized throughout the United States (and the world). Jewish prayer vigils were antagonized and protested. There were crowds of mindless followers who didn’t care what they shouted as long as they got to hold a megaphone. They chanted “from the river to the sea” without understanding what the words meant (or worse, not caring). Most of those crowds were young people in their teens and twenties. Think about that. The majority of the mindless crowds that were encouraging hate and assaulting Jewish people verbally and physically were OUR CHILDREN. That is not only a scathing rebuke of our society but it is a nightmarish vision of our future. That is the United States that is coming into being.

A Clear and Present Danger

If you think that nightmare is over because the megaphones have gotten quieter, you would be really surprised if you saw a vision of the US in about twenty years. Maybe those crowds will come raging over the wall in four years. Maybe it will take eight years. Maybe it will be a slow flood that will quietly seep in around our feet, then our shins, then our knees…you get the picture. The problem hasn’t gone away. It is still teaching our children in elementary schools and high schools and colleges. It is still mocking truth and respect in our media. It is still eroding decency and respect in our city halls and churches (yes, churches).

Our work is not yet done. Not by a long shot. It is an important work. It is a work that will save our children. It is a work that will save our society. Because, you see, coming to the aid and support of the Jewish people is the only way that we will save the world. It is the foundation of what is true and right. Douglas Murray was spot on when he said that “Western civilization could not survive the destruction of the Jewish state.”

I've covered a lot of conflicts involving a lot of people. But it's, it's conceivable that at some point, 15 million Christians could be killed. It would be a disaster, a tragedy. It is conceivable that at some point, Burma, India, somewhere 15 million Muslims could be killed. It would be a disaster. It would be a tragedy of an unimaginable scale of 20th, mid 20th century scale. But if 15 million Jews were killed, that's the end of the story. That's it. Now what does that mean for the Jewish people? It's, it's the end that the people who saw off everyone from Pharaoh to Hitler disappeared in the 21st century. Everyone else, in my view, wouldn't survive either. Western civilization could not survive the destruction of the Jewish state because it would be among much else, the cutting away of the whole tree that we're on and Western civilization would die. So I regard the existential threat against the Jewish people, to not just be about the Jewish people. It matters deeply to me that it is about the Jewish people, but it also matters to me because it's about America. Could America survive if the Jewish people were no more on its watch or everybody was forcibly deported from the holy land?

Douglas Murray (The Ben Shapiro Show)

It's Time for Grassroots Activism

Those words should be ringing in our ears. Murray’s warning is timely and chilling. Such a small group of people have had such an impact on our world. It is imperative that we recognize the danger and answer it. We must fight this scourge of evil on every battlefield: every relationship, every church, every city hall, every school board…everywhere. The next question on your lips is how. Let me tell you ...

Over the next several weeks we will explore what we in the United States can do to fight antisemitism and support the State of Israel. We will cover a separate area each week. We will also highlight resources that will help you to better understand the issues.