Humble Opinions

For some reason, there is something about this world I cannot seem to understand. I am a pretty smart guy, so I don’t think it’s due to a lack of intellect. I read a lot of news every day, and have read many books on history, so I don’t think it’s due to a lack of information. I talk with people that live within the entire range of the political spectrum, so I don’t think it’s due to narrow-mindedness. Maybe it’s because I am too involved in the situation to be able to extract an objective view. I am hoping someone can clear something up for me:

On December 27, 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against the Gaza Strip, which was a retaliatory military campaign for the daily barrage of rockets being launched into Israel from Gaza over the last 3 years. A total of 6,000 rockets had been shot into Israeli civilian territory by a radical Islamic group named Hamas.

On August 15, 2005, Israel withdrew thousands of its citizens from the Gaza Strip, destroying a total of 21 settlements, thousands of homes, office buildings, entire neighborhoods. To accomplish this, they utilized 14,000 soldiers whom they paid out of their own pocket. They paid each family that was withdrawn from Gaza cash to purchase a new home elsewhere within Israeli territory. In summary, they caused thousands of Israelis to lose their jobs, their neighbors, their synogogues, and their communities. All this was done as a token of peace to the Palestinians.

Through the UN, many millions of dollars were collected (in addition to many direct donations from Saudi Arabia and Iran) to help the Palestinians rebuild on the prior Israeli territory.  Israel continued to supply the Gaza Strip (and continues to until this day) with electricity, and water - paid for out of Israel’s pocket (no UN reimbursements for that).

Instead of building Gaza up, turning it into a vibrant economy and living space, and reciprocating Israel’s peace offering, Hamas immediately seized control of the area and spent 3 full years shooting rockets into Israel (sometimes as many as 30 a day), and digging thousands of tunnels into Egypt from Gaza for smuggling Iranian weapons in. Yet, Israel continued to supply electricity, and power.

Finally, Israel decided enough was enough. It launched a highly organized, precise military campaign to invade the Gaza Strip, in attempt to halt the Hamas rocket fire. Israel successfully destroyed literally thousands of smuggling tunnels, TONS of weapons caches, and killed hundreds of Hamas militants (many times while they were amidst launching a rocket into Israel - you can watch this on YouTube if you’d like).

Unfortunately, hundreds of innocent civilians were killed during operation Cast Lead. A large part of this was due to the fact that Hamas was launching their rockets from civilian areas, using civilian houses, schools, hospitals, and mosques as weapon storage facilities, and were shooting at IDF soldiers from within civilian crowds. Nonetheless, every innocent civilian death is a tragedy, regardless of their ethnicity, or religion.

Operation Cast Lead attracted the attention of the entire globe. Every news station in every country in the world was covering its developments, and everyone seemed to have an opinion to weigh in. Leaders from all over the world made public statements siding with, or against Israel. American officials from all professions and areas of politics were on television giving their opinions. Tens of thousands of blog posts were made about the situation. Rallies all over earth were taking place against Israel’s actions. Rallies in London, rallies in Germany, protests in Iran, even Russians had plenty to say on the matter.

In short, it was a popular topic. Many were not embarrassed to lash out at Israel. I read several editorials daily comparing Israel to the Nazi regime. Etc.

Here’s the part I do understand: There are many people in the world that believe solely in peace. They think peace comes before religion, before ethnicity, before opinions, before everything. Nobody should be killed, ever. They support all types of humanitarian aid, and oppose all action resulting in the loss of life. For them, I see how operation Cast Lead can be a disaster, and something that must be openly spoken against and condemned. I see how they can oppose Israel’s decision to invade the Gaza Strip. Seriously, I get that.

Now here’s the part I don’t understand: On January 18, 2009, Israel ended its campaign, and Hamas / Israel declared unilateral ceasefires. Shortly after, Hamas returned to its normal rocket firing into Israel (albeit they claim it’s a DIFFERENT anti-zionist, anti-israel, anti-jewish group, and they’re completely innocent, even though they control the entire Gaza Strip). Here is a list of news articles covering the rocket launches that have occurred since Hamas’ declared unilateral ceasefire with Israel:

Where are the pro-peace, anti-war rallies? Where are the leaders of countries and their public statements? Where are the protests? Where are the debates, opinions, American officials, and politicians? Where are all the fiery blog posts (aside from this one)?

Seriously, I am begging someone to explain this phenomenon to me. What is going on?!?! I don’t get it. What happened to peace? What happened to no one attacking anyone? What happened to Hamas’ unilateral ceasefire? Am I losing my mind?

I am an open-minded, reasonable person. I do my research, and I accept what appears to be true. That being said, until I see at least an equivalent outroar from all over the globe, and groups of 10s of thousands of people gathering to oppose Hamas rockets being shot at innocent Israelis, I am absolutely uninterested in anything any of you have to say, ever, for the rest of time. I’m serious.

I would be very interested to see a group of civilians in another part of the world live under daily barrages of rockets. They would all need bomb shelters built around their neighborhoods, and they would need to spend their tax money to arrange city-wide sirens that can be sounded 15 seconds before a rocket lands. They would need to know where their children are at all times, and be ready to dash them into bomb shelters at a moment’s notice. They would have to be weary of going outside the house, and they would always need a plan for cover. And last but not least, they would also have to get used to being unheard by the world, and uncared for, even by those that support peace most virulently.

I await some explanations.

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Purim is my #1 favorite Jewish holiday. It encompasses some of my greatest likes: Crazy history, great lessons about human nature, and the least expected outcome possible. However, I think Purim 2009 will have an additional element of awesomeness, considering the current Iranian nuclear crisis.

First, I will attempt to provide a medium-length synopsis of the Purim storyline from an historical perspective, and then I will proceed to accurately predict the future. Pay attention:

Prologue

In the year 586 BCE, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer captured Jerusalem, exiling 90% of her Jewish inhabitants to modern-day Iraq, and 10% to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar was a highly aggressive, totalitarian dictator that required everyone in his presence to bow to him, and who crushed any dissenting individuals. He also built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which still stands today in Iraq.

He was succeeded by his son, Belshazzar, who largely resembled his father. Belshazzar only reigned for 2 years, until the Babylonian empire was overrun. Believing the Babylonian empire was invincibly well-represented throughout most of the known civilized world, Belshazzar never considered his empire being overrun for a second. Unfortunately for him, he underestimated the rising Persian powers, and particularly a man known as Cyrus The Great.

Cyrus The Great, head of the Persian forces, had his initial military training as a member of the Babylonian army. He approached the Medes, and teamed up with Darius I, head of the Medes army, to take over the Babylonian empire. The attack went extremely well for them, and every royal and important leader of the Babylonian empire was slaughtered, leaving only a princess named Vashti, the daughter of Belshazzar, granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar.

The Babylonian foreign policy was to capture an area of land, and exile the inhabitants. Foreigners would then be imported into the area to ensure there would be no revolts. The concept was that foreigners were to an extent discombobulated, living in a brand new land, and also that they had no loyalty or history related to the geographic location. This differed from Persian foreign policy, which was to appease nations so long as they would agree to pay Persian taxes, and subjugate themselves to the Persian rule of law.

Thus, Cyrus set forth an edict allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple if they so desired. The rebuilding mission was headed by a man named Zerubbabel, however, tragically, only 42,360 Jews joined his mission (son of a!). As a result from mounting pressure from the foreigner inhabitants of the land (the Samaritans), and the poor turnout of Jews, the permission to rebuild the temple was withdrawn. Here is the actual text of Cyrus’ edict, quoted from the book of Ezra:

כֹּה אָמַר, כֹּרֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ פָּרַס–כֹּל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ, נָתַן לִי יְקוָה אֱלֹהֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם; וְהוּא-פָקַד עָלַי לִבְנוֹת-לוֹ בַיִת, בִּירוּשָׁלִַם אֲשֶׁר בִּיהוּדָה. מִי-בָכֶם מִכָּל-עַמּוֹ, יְהִי אֱלֹקיו עִמּוֹ, וְיַעַל, לִירוּשָׁלִַם אֲשֶׁר בִּיהוּדָה; וְיִבֶן, אֶת-בֵּית יְקוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל–הוּא הָאֱלֹקים, אֲשֶׁר בִּירוּשָׁלִָם.

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given me; and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of His people–his God be with him–let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel, He is the God who is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:2 - 1:3)

Enter Purim Awesomeness

Cyrus was eventually succeeded (after 1 or 2 kings) by a man named Achashverosh. Achashverosh was not of royal blood, nor was he a war hero. Thus, he took Vashti, the last of the Babylonian royal family, as a wife, in attempt to legitimize himself as a king. He also moved the Persian capital from Baghdad to Shushan (talk about dictatorial aspirations…).

To paint the picture to you, the Persian empire encompassed 127 countries, spanning from India to Ethiopia, and was essentially all of the known civilized world, minus some small Greek city-states (including Athens and Sparta), as well as a few other small groups of people. All the Jews on earth lived within the boundaries of the Persian empire.

A man named Haman the Agagite rose to 2nd-in-command in the Persian empire, and was able to enact a law requiring all inhabitants of the Persian empire to bow to him (how original). Haman was a complete maniac, and had he lived in modern times, he would likely be grouped with figures such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong.

One of the leading figures of the Jewish people at the time, Mordechai simply refused to bow to Haman. In response to this, Haman not only attempted to have Mordechai killed, but decided he would wipe every Jew off the face of earth (a fairly rational response). Through a series of shrewd political maneuvers, Haman set forth an edict stamped with the king’s seal that, in short, stated all Persians citizens would be free to kill any Jew they want, and inherit their belongings on a particular date. Here is the exact text of the edict, quoted from the Book of Esther:

וְנִשְׁלוֹחַ סְפָרִים בְּיַד הָרָצִים, אֶל-כָּל-מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ–לְהַשְׁמִיד לַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד אֶת-כָּל-הַיְּהוּדִים מִנַּעַר וְעַד-זָקֵן טַף וְנָשִׁים בְּיוֹם אֶחָד, בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים-עָשָׂר הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר; וּשְׁלָלָם, לָבוֹז.

“And letters were sent by messengers to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.” (Esther 3:13)

As you can imagine, this was a rather big pickle for the Jewish people. It was essentially Hitler’s final solution, to be carried out in a single day. Not only that, but the decree was set forth via the king’s office! Meaning, it was perfectly legal, and encouraged to partake in this event. What did the Jews get themselves into this time…

The coincidences begin

Being the modest, conservative guy that he was, Achashverosh threw a 6-month long party on tax payer dollars (or yen, or whatever they were using at the time). In a drunken haze, he requested of his wife to appear at the party wearing nothing but a crown. When she refused, he had her killed. So far, a normal Thursday night…

The next day, after realizing what he had done, and missing his wife, Achashverosh arranged a beauty pageant, with mandatory participation of all women of the Persian empire. Most women jumped at the opportunity of becoming the potential queen of the ruling empire of the world, but one modest Jewess named Esther had no interest. She was brought by force to the beauty pageant, and against all odds, won! To make the situation even crazier, Esther was Mordechai’s niece!

The next major event was that Mordechai overheard 2 individuals plotting to assassinate the king, and seize rule over the Persian empire. They were speaking in a different language, so as to not be understood, however, Jews are mad smart, and Mordechai understood all of it. He immediately sent a message to Esther, who informed the king, and had the plotters killed. Mordechai was owed a “solid” by the king.

Later on in the story, with the guidance of Mordechai, Esther fasted for 3 days, and approached the king without invitation (at the time, a capital crime warranting a death sentence). She requested that the king and his 2nd-in-command, Haman, attend a party she put together. At the party, Esther invited the king and Haman to yet another party she would organize, at which Esther revealed to the king she was Jewish, and that Haman was attempting to have her entire people slaughtered.

Shockingly, Achashverosh sided with Esther, and in a swift change of events, Haman was hanged on the gallows he had setup in hope to hang Mordechai on. Mordechai was appointed 2nd-in-command of the Persian empire, and the Jews celebrate that date ever since, dubbed Purim. Jews today wear masks on Purim, to remember the hidden hand of G-d that saved them, and eat Hamantashen to remember the 3 pointed hat Haman wore.

Here’s the best part: Achashverosh and Esther had a son named Darius II, who once again allowed the Jews to return to Israel, and rebuild their temple. However, not only did he merely “allow” them to do this, but he sent 3 brigades of the Persian army with a man named Nechemia to ensure the building would occur without interruption.

And the Jews are back in business! Pretty crazy if you ask me… The Jews went from having a set date for their complete destruction, to having a Jew as the 2nd-in-command in the Persian empire, and having 3 brigades of the Persian army enforcing the king’s allowance of the Jews to rebuild their temple and start a second commonwealth.

That kind of reminds me of the 20th century, where the Jews went being gassed and shot daily by the thousands in 1945 during the Nazi Holocaust, to just 3 years later having their own country, and successfully repelling the attack of 7 Arab armies, being outnumbered around 10 to 1.

Iranian Nuclear Crisis

The current Iranian nuclear crisis, where Iran is dashing toward the finish line to assemble a nuclear weapon, has a big throwback to the story of Purim. Iranians are Persian, and geographically, Iran is the modern day Persia. Cyrus and Darius I originally set out to conquer the Babylonian empire from modern day Iran.

Some people think Iran should be left to do as it pleases, and actually believe its claims that the uranium enrichment they are currently employing is “for peaceful purposes,” even though the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, has repeatedly made statements claiming “Israel’s demise is near.” Sounds like a peaceful guy to me.

The bottom line is this: The Jews have been around for thousands of years, and have seen, and worked in, every major empire from ancient Egypt (Joseph was the viceroy) all the way to the United States (plenty of Jews in the senate, and house of representatives). Jews have endured the worst atrocities known to human history, including everything from slavery, forced conversion, expulsion, attacks, pogroms, and the holocaust. YET, they are still around, continuing in their 3700 year old tradition, rocking the spot, and still advancing civilization by way of scientific and technological discoveries.

I would think again, Iran, if you think you have even the slightest chance of winning round II. Your fate will resemble that of the multitude of individuals and regimes that have tried, in one way or another, to destroy the Jewish people. I would reconsider if I were you.

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