Warren Buffett  once asked a friend, a survivor of Auschwitz, how she defined friendship and he spoke about her in a Meaning of Life YouTube presentation. Her reply was to ask: “Would you hide me ?” 

It’s surreal that I feel the need to write an article on this topic,  as we live in Canada which is relatively safe. But I don’t want to be naive and not fathom the possibility that antisemitism is very much alive and how its fever is rising daily. 

The invasion by Hamas on October 7th, left us speechless. The atrocities committed to innocent civilians at Kfar Aza, Be'eri, Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Yated, Kissufim and Urim were committed with merriment and rejoicing. 

As well hundreds  panicked at the Supernova  music festival near Gaza. They were gunned down, raped and kidnapped. It was a festival, known as Nova, marking the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and touted as an event celebrating unity and love.

Now the counter attack has begun and we feel not just sentiment devoid of empathy from those around the world,  but a sense of massacre denial and justifications for the onslaughts.

In Sydney, outside the opera house protesters were shouting: “ Gas the Jews !” 

In Winnipeg, Paris and elsewhere the slogan:” From the river to the sea” gets chanted with the implicit meaning to eradicate Israel and all its Jews.

And  in Winnipeg, someone shot through a window in a River Heights home with a gun. 

In New York at Columbia university, the Jewish students had to hide and were locked inside the Hillel building with raging pro Palestinian antisemitic protests outside. 

So we are not far from the kibbutzim or the music festival are we ? 

Feels like a bad dream doesn’t it ? We told our kids: “Never Again !” and we meant it. We’ve known all along that there were fragments of society who were antisemitic, but it’s overwhelming to witness how nothing has been learned during history.

Today you can find descendants of the Holocaust, espousing pro Palestinian dogma. These are Jewish kids who know that women were raped, babies beheaded, families burned and hostages taken. Yet they feel comfortable using phrases like Apartheid, colonialism to describe Israel, questioning whether the holy land is indeed indigenous to the Jews?  

Hamas took control over Gaza in 2007. They have never held another election. They are known for using civilians as human shields and hiding their missiles under hospitals and other places occupied by Gazans. 

Israel did not provoke this war. Israel does not take hostages nor do they rape or behead and torture civilians. They value life. 

One only has to look at the Hamas charter which states its mandate to kill Jews. 

Anti-Semitic incitement:

The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him." (Article 7)

It’s clear they do not treasure human life. The pogrom of October 7th, spoke volumes to the world. Not only can the inhumanities be labeled as barbaric but the filming of the horrors by Hamas itself,  as if trophies of war, released to the world of their onslaught reflects their intentions to annihilate.  

Which other Arab state will welcome the Palestinian civilians? Not a one. Is the world questioning why ? They refuse to open their gates as they can not vet them and do not want Hamas to gain entry. 

The Hebrew interpretation of the word Hamas is violence. An understatement if there ever was one. The brutality is unspeakable. There are no words. 

We are in shock. We are worried about the hostages and pray for their safe return. Indeed we need to speak to the heavens, to not only restore peace in Israel but to end the madness of heightened antisemitism worldwide. 

I am mostly alarmed at Jews who believe that Palestine as they call it belongs to the Arabs and that this empire was stolen from them. 

No one wants to see innocent civilians killed as collateral damage in Israel’s right to defend itself. But blame Hamas not Israel. These people are warned before bombing occurred. They were told to flee. 

It’s an outrageous thought to expect Israel to not respond to the inhumanity it experienced on October 7, 2023. Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been slaughtered in one day. 

We must stand by our Jewish homeland. This violation against the only democracy in the Middle East stands for a war against humanity itself. 

Dare yourself to hear the survivors, listen to the brave soldiers ready to defend the country. How can this be happening yet again? 

If born a Jew, you know the danger is real. Even those who aren’t Jews feel the anxiety of what is happening and treasure the sanctity of life. 

So I’m sorry to say the thought of asking: “ Would you hide me ?” may become a reality if this dire situation isn’t resolved. 

Am Israel Chai !