Grateful for All I Have Learned Since October 7th

Part One

Wednesday, February 7th, 2024

What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. When I was younger, I didn’t quite get this. Now I do. There are many truths embedded within this saying, but the most basic applies directly to the unspeakable events of October 7th.

When something can kill you. When, in fact, it kills a lot of people, and you somehow survive? You learn something. Maybe it’s caution. Or gratitude. Maybe your priorities change? You make decisions you were previously too scared to make. You become more brave, more aware, more knowledgeable, and more empowered to prepare for a second coming of that particular threat. You become, in a word: stronger.

Today is the 4th month anniversary of October 7th.

And, in case you’ve been busy with other equally important matters, be they personal, local or international, let me take a minute to share with you my “ah-ha” moments since that terrible day. Each one of these is part of a pair. What I thought was true versus what is actually true.

I’m not the only person experiencing whiplash, as expectations are violently replaced by shocking reality. And, I have a theory for why it’s happening.

Social Media. Unlike the past wars of aggression against Israel, this one occurred at the height of the age of the internet, when everyone and their baby brother has a super computer in their back pocket.

There’s a brutal symmetry here. Since October 7th, the world has received a crash course in the myths and truths surrounding the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. In a similar way, four months ago, to the day — broken, murderous, violent, intolerant, bigoted, hate-filled, vengeance seeking, and fundamentally grotesque human beings expertly used social media to terrorize every single Jewish/Israeli person on Earth.

Wherever a Jewish or Israeli person lived, the chances were extremely high he or she would know someone who knew someone who was tortured to death on October 7th.

Rubbing rock salt into horrific wounds, Hamas did everything it could to make sure every Jewish/Israeli person on Earth personally experienced the violence of that day, by sharing death videos to the social media communities of their victims.

I am thankful to have been spared images that will haunt committed journalists for the rest of their lives. Thank goodness, I was spared the memories that will torment the survivors of October 7th. I feel appreciation, on a daily basis, that I and my children are not living through the life-shattering Hell that parents, siblings, grandparents, children and spouses are enduring right now, as they wonder if they will ever see their loved ones again?

But, I am impacted. I am deeply troubled. I am alarmed.

And, therefore — I care enough. To remain engaged. Pay attention. Listen, learn and do my own research. I am open to the results of evaluation, analysis, and new information, which is — changing my mind.

Join me today, as I brainstorm some of what I’ve learned, and note how it differs from what I (and many people like me) have long believed to be true. You may find your own thoughts here, in my list. You may learn things that are new to you, like I’ve been doing every day since October 7th. Or you may see gaps in my growing base of knowledge and choose to share with me, and my readers, in the comment section. If you do, I’d like to thank you in advance. Because, together — we can.

Since October 7th, I have learned…

• Anti-semitism is back, with a vengeance.

  • I long believed anti-semitism was an abhorrent concept that most people knew, in their bones, to be deeply wrong and shameful. I was wrong. Antisemitism is raging across the globe, and young people with absolutely no reason to be antisemitic seem to be particularly vulnerable to its allure.

    

• The Palestinian People are not merely victims of Hamas, the PLO, or even Israel. The Palestinian People are not stuck in an “Open Air Prison” with no voice, no allies, no power and no reach. The Palestinian People showed their hand, following October 7th, and we need to pay attention.

• Here’s what I’ve been amazed to learn, because I had no clue — even though, none of this is a secret. I now realize I had unconsciously absorbed the “American Narrative” about Israel and the Palestinians, which is not accurate.

  • The Leaders of Hamas are billionaires, living in Qatar.

  • Gaza has a wealth class, who enjoy lovely beach side resorts and entertainment venues along the coast, while also living in high class neighborhoods. In his documentary, Unreported World: Gaza’s property ladder, television presenter Seyi Rhodes shared his shock, upon traveling to Gaza, saying he found ‘a growing wealth gap’, with ordinary families struggling even to pay rent but new flats being sold for up to $3 million to wealthy Palestinians with money from abroad or from jobs with the Hamas government. He went on to say, as a left-wing student, I was given one view of Gaza/Palestine, but I realise now that many of those representations were entirely politically motivated. Read more here.

  • Hamas prioritizes war over the basic needs of poorer Gazans. They know these children will be easier to convert into bloodthirsty, violent, hate-filled and murderous “young adult male” soldiers. You know, rapists and the like. See photo below.

  • Israelis living in the south, especially in Kibbutsim, volunteered their time, energy and money — driving Gazans in need of medical care from the Gaza border to Israeli hospitals, sometimes for an emergency, other times for ongoing treatment, such as chemotherapy or physical therapy, etc. These same volunteers were wantonly and gleefully slaughtered on October 7th.

    

    Future Hamas Jew-Haters “in training” — Yes, we should “Stop the Victimization" of Gazan Children” by their Parents, Teachers, and Hamas.

• The Palestinians have alienated most Muslim Nations in the Middle East. There is a reason why.

  • An article written December 31st, 2023, by the MiddleEastEye, goes into detail about the past and the present. The article begins: “Earlier this month, the Hamas movement in Lebanon urged Palestinian youth in the country to join a newly created group: Vanguards of the Al-Aqsa Flood.” What, you might ask, is the “Al-Aqsa Flood?” That’s what Hamas called the October 7th slaughter of innocents throughout southern Israel and the ongoing torture of civilian hostages. Lebanese leaders immediately criticized Hamas for inciting violence amongst its Palestinian residents. Hamas reply? “We have no intention to found a new military body, rather a "popular framework" to mobilize Palestinian youth.”

  • “Mobilize Palestinian youth.” In Hamas’ own words, they admit without chagrin or shame, to intentionally soliciting young men/older boys into their militarized ranks. Child soldiers, we call them. Martyrs, Hamas calls them.

  • If you live in the West, your children are being targeted. I hope you’ve been as shocked as I am to see rich, privileged, entitled and foolish University students demonstrating violently, expressing extreme antisemitism, behaving in antisocial and hostile ways toward complete strangers, all while displaying zero empathy for obvious victims of sexual violence and terrorism. We need to understand they are being used by organized Palestinian Advocacy groups who were also directed by Hamas to create a “popular framework” with which to “mobilize Palestinian and ignorant non-Palestinian youth.”

  • The boys in the “top photo” below are the fathers and grandfathers of the children of Gaza who are dying today by the thousands. These Palestinian boys, pictured below, were the “mobilized Palestinian youth” living in Lebanon during the 1980s. Ask yourself, “who is to blame for the endless dispute between the Palestinians and the Israelis? Is it really a one sided story?” Even more importantly, do you think the children of Gaza stand a chance, when so many Palestinian adult males alive today are some version of a “brainwashed child soldier” — all grown up?

    

    Palestinian boys living in Lebanon, October 25th, 1986

    

    Palestinian boys (and girls) living in Western Countries, mobilized by Hamas, following the Al-Aqsa Flood (slaughter of Israelis on October 7th).

• Jordanian Refugee Policy — this is amazing. Please give it a read.

  • Palestinians artificially inflate their “refugee” numbers. Although many Palestinians in Jordan (2.1 million) are naturalized, they continue to keep their refugee status, allowing them to remain under the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Jordanian Palestinians are well integrated in Jordan, forming a cross-section of Jordanian society with regard to their socio-economic situation.

  • Jordan is complicit in this manipulation. It’s a strategy. In order to preserve the Palestinian “right to return,” Jordan refuses to permanently settle Palestinian refugees in Jordan. Instead, the Kingdom demands that the international community must take responsibility to support UNRWA which is considered as a candle of hope for the Palestinian refugees to achieve their rights of returning home, and the permanence of UNRWA is regarded as a symbol for the survival of the Palestinian refugees issue.

• UNRWA Matters — as we are discovering in real time today, UNRWA was complicit in Hamas’ Al-Aqsa Flood (October 7th) with Hamas’ communication center and intelligence hub being discovered directly underneath UNRWA’s headquarters.

  • The Jerusalem Post: “In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general, said, “Our employees are part of the social fabric in Gaza and its ecosystem. And as part of the social fabric in Gaza, you also have Hamas,” alluding to the organizations' connections to terror group Hamas. This interview occurred against the backdrop of the exposure of UNRWA’s Hamas ties after the October 7 massacre and the Hamas tunnels revealed underneath the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza. 

  • Before you blame UNRWA 100%, remember who the Palestinians of Gaza elected into power: The Times revealed that ten years ago when a senior UN legal officer in Gaza began investigating whether several of its employees were members of Hamas, he began receiving death threats, culminating in a live grenade sent to his office. This officer was evacuated from the region. Several of these instances occurred and remained unreported.

  • BUT, it appears likely that UNRWA was intentionally complicit, not merely bullied. The tunnels were close enough for the sound of their construction to have been impossible to not hear, and there are even wires running from a room in UNRWA’s headquarters down into the tunnels. The truth is unraveling before our eyes, as I type.

  • Here’s a brutal, painful, and ugly truth. Hamas’ planned the October 7th Al-Aqsa Flood without being detected by Israeli Intelligence. How? They used landlines to communicate. Zero internet or cell phone technology, for two years, ensuring that their plans would not be leaked.

  • Now, ask yourself this: “If their communication hub was directly below UNRWA, and there were wires running from a room in UNRWA headquarters down into the tunnel system, and UNRWA also had landlines, what are the chances that October 7th was successfully planned thanks to the use of landlines provided by UNRWA?”

IN CONCLUSION…

Since October 7th, there’s one thing I’ve noticed that is not a detailed fact or piece of data. It’s a feeling I get every time I listen to or read a piece of Palestinian/Hamas Propaganda. There is a lack of sophistication in most messaging. It’s so bad that sometimes I think I must have read it wrong, and I go back and read it again. But no. I read it right. Then, I almost feel embarrassed for whoever wrote such obviously manipulative garbage, until I remember — it’s working.

Hamas looks at the world through the lens of violence, hatred and war. This means they are constantly looking for soldiers, and their messaging betrays this goal. The people most likely to take up violence against Israel/Jews around the world are not well-educated, patient, reasonable, rational, or demanding of sound logic. Such people are generally successful in life, meaning they have something to live for and that makes them less willing to throw it all away. No. The terrorist organization known as Hamas is all about “grooming,” and their messaging is perfectly situated, worded, and presented in a way that will appeal to young people (especially males) who are easily triggered by simplistic messaging. To do so is evil, and effective.

This is why I support Israel’s decision to thoroughly and completely destroy the Hamas terrorist infrastructure embedded in the Gaza Strip.

To not do so, after October 7th — and especially after Hamas doubled down, demanding that Palestinians and Muslims around the world foment localized violence against Jews and Israelis — would be inconceivably stupid.

There is a movie my generation grew up with, called Old Yeller. It’s about a dog named Old Yeller, and it’s extremely painful to watch, with a deeply tragic ending. However, it’s also valuable, because life is sometimes horrible, awful and inescapably sad, and that’s the lesson of Old Yeller. Sometimes, we have to do something that breaks our heart.

Old Yeller, who became rabid, had to be killed. Hamas, which is a rabid, terrorist organization, also has to be destroyed. And just like Old Yeller — who would have attacked the boy, his family, and their livestock if he could have — Hamas has chosen to intentionally “martyr” as many innocent Palestinians as it can. This is a form of blackmail that the entire world recognizes as grotesque, immoral and unfathomably evil. Yet — Hamas is rabid, so what do we expect?

To leave Hamas alive, because they’ll kill their own if we come after them, is illogical — because such an organization is 100% guaranteed to cause more harm, death and tragedy in the future. The Israeli people, in the wake of October 7th, came to a clear understanding of the true danger presented by a Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas, and they made the hard decision to eliminate the threat.

Remember. If the Palestinian People (and Hamas) had invested the billions being funneled their way (from the international world) into the economy, infrastructure, architectural development, tourism industry, fishing, art, education, culture and avenues of trade available to them thanks to their long coastline, Gaza would be a thriving, growing, pleasant place to live with opportunities and future prospects for most of its residents. The people of Gaza had a choice.

Monies Given to UNRWA, to be used on behalf of Palestinian Refugees, PER YEAR.

This article explains A LOT about UNRWA. Here are a few highlights:

• UNRWA was formally established in 1949 by U.N. resolution and tasked with carrying out direct relief to 700,000 Palestinians who were displaced by the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

• For over 70 years, the U.N. General Assembly has continued to renew UNRWA's mandate, instructing the agency to provide health care, housing and financial assistance to Palestinian refugees throughout Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

• UNRWA's services are available to those who are registered as a Palestinian refugee, which the agency defines as a person whose "normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict."

• WAIT, WAIT, you say? Almost all of those people have passed away by now? Yes, you’re correct. But…the descendants of male Palestinian refugees, including adopted children, are also eligible.

• Which is why, after 70 years of “welfare manipulation” by “UNRWA employees on behalf of refugees” who (as explained above) are often living great lives in other countries with full citizenship or legal residency — we’ve jumped from 700,000 displaced Palestinians to 5.9 million people claiming “Palestinian Refugee” status, including roughly two-thirds of the estimated 2.3 million people living in Gaza.

End of Part One.