Beautifully written. Yes, Oct 7 was the worst thing to happen in my lifetime; and I witnessed the Balkan wars of the 1990s first hand. Hamas‘s pogrom was evil of another kind.
I have written so much about it over at Café Américain mag, and especially the reaction to it (which you and Brandon and others have emphasized as well), a reaction which made the pogrom so much harder to process, so much more difficult to digest, even for an outsider. „The reaction to Oct 7 on University campuses and in the media was about torturing the victims - the Jews - with their own pain.“
I find it often difficult to believe in people, but you are among those who shine a light into the darkness.
I heartily endorse your comments regarding Laura shining a light in the darkness. Thank you to you and to Laura for speaking the truth so eloquently. I can hardly believe the reality we have lived through in recent times and we need every glimmer of light that shines into the darkness.
Standing with you, Laura, on Team Israel. I would go to church but the recent appointment at the head of the C of E is symptomatic of why the churches are empty.
Are they in a bubble? Do they not look at the emptying pews and think hmm, maybe it's us not them? Have they no humility? Is it all Pride and then fall? Maybe they should try reading the Bible instead of Marx.
I am stunned that politicians and so called respectable journalists did not push back against Hamas propaganda. Instead, falsehoods were allowed to proliferate.
Israel is the only non-apartheid state among the Muslim countries that surround it with Muslim Arabs in the Knesset, IDF, and judiciary. There are no Jews in the surrounding states. MPs should have given speeches explaining ths, and explaining again and again. Articles in the media should have highlighted how Isreal is a multi-ethnic democracy. and highlighted it again until the prevailing narrative bore some resemblance to the truth.
There is no genocide. There are some 2 million Arabs in Gaza of which, by the no doubt exaggerated figure of Hamas, at most 3% have been killed in a two year war. Civilian casualties are in part, probably large part, due to Hamas wanting civilians to be killed for their twisted propaganda purposes. Where are the speeches in Parliament, the news items, explaining this and exposing Hamas propaganda?
British Army personnel who have visited the war zone report how extraordinary are the efforts the IDF make to spare civilians the best they can, more than any other war in history and more than the Allies did when eradicating the Nazis (30,000 civilians killed from D-Day). Where are MP speeches pointing this out?
Israel has suffered attack after attack from the day it was formed. They have had enough. We should be fully supporting by all means necessary. As Golda Meir said, if the Arabs put down their weapons there would be no more war. If Israel does there would be no more Israel.
As Natasha Hausdorff put it, you can debate whether there should be an abortion right up to term, but after the birth that debate ceases.
Hamas kidnapped and killed babies. They were evil incarnate, but no speeches in Parliament saying Israel is right to remove such evil.
Politicians and the media are culpable in what happened in Manchester.
The government's own quietly published paper accepts there is no genocide. The 'experts' are self-appointed and argued for the conclusion they wanted irrespective of facts that belie that conclusion. Propaganda works it seems.
no, they aren't self appointed. they are academics studying genocide. What the UK government says is completely irrelevant. They are bought and paid for, all of them being 'friends of Israel'.
The report is by the Foreign Office long time Arabists. Not sure who you think has bought and paid the Foreign Office staff. If you think academics are impartial then I have a bridge to sell you.
Your words encompass what so many of us feel, and thank you for saying it.
I am so sick and tired of the lies, BS, and sheer malign stupidity of so many, including friends, as you so perfectly state.
It is just so soul destroying, but I, and those of my friends who agree with me, are determined to be on the right side of history, even it if means having to find whole new circles of acquaintances and friends.
The screaming western handmaidens of Hamas, of which there are many, must not destroy our souls, as hard as they try.
I am with you Laura as is my husband , we are speechless at the glorification of evil and the hatred spewed on our streets by people who have obviously been radicalised and in my humble opinion have lost their hearts , minds and humanity . I will be praying for all who are suffering and have suffered as a result of the continuing violence and I also pray for the deliverance from evil for those under the spell of Hamas and radical Islam . Thank you for all you do 🙏
'...it began with the evil that humans are capable of.'
As a Christian, I have to offer a religious viewpoint (that most 'modern thinkers' would ridicule, but...):
I do believe there is a battle between Good and Evil/God and Satan is real. How else can such a visceral hatred for one nation and people - throughout the Whole of History - be explained?
Other nations fall in and out of favour, over time. However, they never seemed to experience continuously being vilified in the way that Israel has been, throughout history; this is not just caused by historical events. Ultimately, I see this as starting from a spiritual cause.
It saddened me to hear a Jewish mother, a member of the synagogue in Manchester, when interviewed describe how her children now felt so afraid that they wanted to leave the UK. They do not feel safe here in the UK. Effectively, they would be refugees fleeing persecution in the UK. Does this Labour Government not understand how bad this looks. What has the UK become...
Agree with most of what you say apart from point 1. The Jewish people have been in the land for millennia as evidenced by the archaeology of the region and even the accounts in the Bible. The modern state of Israel was not 'carved out of other people's land', it was always their homeland but occupied by others for centuries. The Romans, the Ottomans etc. Palestine as a country is an invention from the 1960's - it did not previously exist. The name derived from 'British Mandatory Palestine' which referred to the area administered by Britain for a period. Arabs do not like the people today called Palestinians because they were not pure Arabs rooted in any particular area but were nomadic gypsy tribes who drifted about the region - they did not own any land.
I find it interesting to hear about your conversion to RC. I am a RC, but ever since Covid I have found it very difficult to find myself one with the church. They shut the church doors when people most needed it and followed all the rules. No pushback against the inhumanity of it all.
I pray to God this evening that those hostages left alive will be freed this week and returned to their loved ones after 2 years of torture, starvation and darkness. I often think of their suffering.
I pray that Hamas and the other jihadis still fighting will spare their own people more suffering and death, lay down their weapons this week and go into exile.
I pray especially for the peace of Israel and that their Arab neighbours near and far would begin at last to live in peace with Israel.
Thank you Laura. I woke up today feeling so sad that there are still hostages in Gaza. The way our leaders have treated Israel and the Jews is a source of shame and sorrow.
God has a plan for his people. The Jewish people and Christian’s have been linked and the coming in of The Jewish people points to the end of time.
Thanks. I have to say that I think Israel/Palestine is one of the few issues that is morally difficult (another major one being abortion) for the following reasons (and I hold no hostility to Jews or Israel itself):
1 Why did Zionist Jews get a land given to them carved out of other people's land? Sure the Jews owned it millennia ago but if we go down that line.....
2 Judaism is a religion not a ethnicity. If it was an ethnicity then you would not be able to become a Jew. So why does 1 religion get to have its own country (and yes I know lots of Israelis are Arabs and there are Moslem and Christian countries).
3 Edwin Montagu was the only Jewish member of the British Cabinet during the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917. He served as Secretary of State for India and was a prominent opponent of the declaration, arguing that it was inherently anti-Semitic and would serve as a rallying point for anti-Semites worldwide. He said that he did not want people to see him as a Jew but as British as that was how he felt. Creating Israel would immediately lead, as it did, to people wondering where Jews' loyalty lay.
4 Israel has undoubtedly done many internationally illegal, immoral and often plain disgusting things eg the attack on USS Liberty, funding Hamas etc. Sure Hamas are even more evil and want to kill all Jews and then move on to the Christians but just because Hamas are evil does not make Israel a paragon of virtue.
5 There are plenty of extremist Zionists who want a greater Israel, the extermination/expulsion of the current population in those areas. Some of them may even want to, if they ever get strong enough, take out the Christians.
6 I do not condemn Israel or Zionist Jews at all for this, quite the opposite in fact, but it is clear that there are a lot of powerful Jews around the world who collaborate with the Israeli Govt in its aims. Even if they are not Israeli themselves. This causes concerns in other countries and reminds us of point 3 above.
I do believe that Israel is fighting a war of survival and that even if Palestine is created in a reasonable way that most of Hamas etc will carry on to try to kill all Jews and then expand their Jihad. So Israel is definitely acting as a buffer against these Islamist extremists and for that they get my thanks and appreciation but, again, that does not make them moral, good or virtuous. Sure I would rather live surrounded by your normal Israelis than Hamas supporters (and I am not even gay) but we need to leave the Moslems in their countries and get them out of ours; failure to do so will inevitably lead to us having to fight our own war of survival against them.
So as I said not a simple issue and to a degree "A plague on both their houses" and let us concentrate on saving ours.
at the time of the Balfour Declaration less than ten percent of the people in the territory now known as Israel were jewish. they were Arab. thanks to zionism there was a huge influx of jews over the next twenty years, who were mostly welcomed by the Arab populace as they were refugees fleeing persecution. then in 48 they threw everyone out, and have caused blue murder there for them and their neighbours for the next 80 years. the War on Terror, that was all at `Israel's behest. If you find yourself on the side of a genocidal apartheid state, you really have taken a wrong turn. It's not surprising though, the propaganda has been relentless. Rather than this nonsense about Hamas being brilliant at propaganda, I think we all know deep down that that is nonsense, and that it is the zionists of Hollywood who hold that advantage. And we haven't even got to Edward Bernays.
Agree in so far as how would we feel if loads of foreigners were pushed/allowed in by more powerful foreign countries and then took political charge. Oh, yes, we are finding out! Will British people start fighting back soon. Many seem to think so. If we do then we had better do it before they get more numerous and/or politically powerful.
However it is understandable how Israel threw so many (not all at all and not from Israel itself) out after 1948. They had just had a war where they massively outnumbering enemies wanted to wipe them out and their country was in a terrible strategic position. Sure maybe Israel should not have been set up but it was and you can't blame the Israelis for defending themselves and being very paranoid. After all, everyone was out to get them.
Hamas must have been brilliant at propaganda though as people seem to forget that they want to wipe out Israel AND then the Christians. So it is most definitely not just about "getting their land back".
As I said they have both done bad things (then again so has Britain eg the Karen in Burma, the Tasmanian Aboriginals etc and overall we were definitely one of the most benign empires) and neither of them should we support as the 'good guy'.
you can certainly expect people to stand up for themselves, and the. Israelis certainly do that. I do not sympathise with their position, I think they have engaged in some truly dreadful behaviour, and as a nation their capacity to tell bare faced lies is something to behold. the declaration of the Arabs that they want to see the end of `Israel I understand with. That does not mean they want to wipe out the jews, just that the apartheid state has to go. And some form of government imposed on both groups allowing both to exist, (as was the case prior to the nakba.
The only way they can both exist is if the Arab/Moslem countries only support Hamas financially and make it clear that war/armed struggle is not an option. Then Israel will have no excuse to keep fighting.
Beautifully written. Yes, Oct 7 was the worst thing to happen in my lifetime; and I witnessed the Balkan wars of the 1990s first hand. Hamas‘s pogrom was evil of another kind.
I have written so much about it over at Café Américain mag, and especially the reaction to it (which you and Brandon and others have emphasized as well), a reaction which made the pogrom so much harder to process, so much more difficult to digest, even for an outsider. „The reaction to Oct 7 on University campuses and in the media was about torturing the victims - the Jews - with their own pain.“
I find it often difficult to believe in people, but you are among those who shine a light into the darkness.
Thank you Elena, that's a very kind thing to say.
I heartily endorse your comments regarding Laura shining a light in the darkness. Thank you to you and to Laura for speaking the truth so eloquently. I can hardly believe the reality we have lived through in recent times and we need every glimmer of light that shines into the darkness.
Standing with you, Laura, on Team Israel. I would go to church but the recent appointment at the head of the C of E is symptomatic of why the churches are empty.
The new Arch Bish of Cant will split the Anglican world right down the middle. What were they thinking...?
Are they in a bubble? Do they not look at the emptying pews and think hmm, maybe it's us not them? Have they no humility? Is it all Pride and then fall? Maybe they should try reading the Bible instead of Marx.
I am stunned that politicians and so called respectable journalists did not push back against Hamas propaganda. Instead, falsehoods were allowed to proliferate.
Israel is the only non-apartheid state among the Muslim countries that surround it with Muslim Arabs in the Knesset, IDF, and judiciary. There are no Jews in the surrounding states. MPs should have given speeches explaining ths, and explaining again and again. Articles in the media should have highlighted how Isreal is a multi-ethnic democracy. and highlighted it again until the prevailing narrative bore some resemblance to the truth.
There is no genocide. There are some 2 million Arabs in Gaza of which, by the no doubt exaggerated figure of Hamas, at most 3% have been killed in a two year war. Civilian casualties are in part, probably large part, due to Hamas wanting civilians to be killed for their twisted propaganda purposes. Where are the speeches in Parliament, the news items, explaining this and exposing Hamas propaganda?
British Army personnel who have visited the war zone report how extraordinary are the efforts the IDF make to spare civilians the best they can, more than any other war in history and more than the Allies did when eradicating the Nazis (30,000 civilians killed from D-Day). Where are MP speeches pointing this out?
Israel has suffered attack after attack from the day it was formed. They have had enough. We should be fully supporting by all means necessary. As Golda Meir said, if the Arabs put down their weapons there would be no more war. If Israel does there would be no more Israel.
As Natasha Hausdorff put it, you can debate whether there should be an abortion right up to term, but after the birth that debate ceases.
Hamas kidnapped and killed babies. They were evil incarnate, but no speeches in Parliament saying Israel is right to remove such evil.
Politicians and the media are culpable in what happened in Manchester.
the experts have weighed in. It's a genocide. You saying it's not isn't going to change that.
The government's own quietly published paper accepts there is no genocide. The 'experts' are self-appointed and argued for the conclusion they wanted irrespective of facts that belie that conclusion. Propaganda works it seems.
no, they aren't self appointed. they are academics studying genocide. What the UK government says is completely irrelevant. They are bought and paid for, all of them being 'friends of Israel'.
The report is by the Foreign Office long time Arabists. Not sure who you think has bought and paid the Foreign Office staff. If you think academics are impartial then I have a bridge to sell you.
Israel are the only democratic state actually pushing back against Islamism, with the help of the USA.
The dull spineless husks of humans purportedly acting as our leaders in the West are buying the Hamas created propaganda fed to the media.
These people are evil incarnate and have no qualms about re-enacting the atrocities of October 7th time and time again, not just in Israel but
in the UK too, just look at Southport and Manchester. Do we really want that here ?
I stand by Israel 🇮🇱!
Stand with Israel. The only other option is to stand with evil.
Laura,
Your words encompass what so many of us feel, and thank you for saying it.
I am so sick and tired of the lies, BS, and sheer malign stupidity of so many, including friends, as you so perfectly state.
It is just so soul destroying, but I, and those of my friends who agree with me, are determined to be on the right side of history, even it if means having to find whole new circles of acquaintances and friends.
The screaming western handmaidens of Hamas, of which there are many, must not destroy our souls, as hard as they try.
I am with you Laura as is my husband , we are speechless at the glorification of evil and the hatred spewed on our streets by people who have obviously been radicalised and in my humble opinion have lost their hearts , minds and humanity . I will be praying for all who are suffering and have suffered as a result of the continuing violence and I also pray for the deliverance from evil for those under the spell of Hamas and radical Islam . Thank you for all you do 🙏
'...it began with the evil that humans are capable of.'
As a Christian, I have to offer a religious viewpoint (that most 'modern thinkers' would ridicule, but...):
I do believe there is a battle between Good and Evil/God and Satan is real. How else can such a visceral hatred for one nation and people - throughout the Whole of History - be explained?
Other nations fall in and out of favour, over time. However, they never seemed to experience continuously being vilified in the way that Israel has been, throughout history; this is not just caused by historical events. Ultimately, I see this as starting from a spiritual cause.
It saddened me to hear a Jewish mother, a member of the synagogue in Manchester, when interviewed describe how her children now felt so afraid that they wanted to leave the UK. They do not feel safe here in the UK. Effectively, they would be refugees fleeing persecution in the UK. Does this Labour Government not understand how bad this looks. What has the UK become...
Agree with most of what you say apart from point 1. The Jewish people have been in the land for millennia as evidenced by the archaeology of the region and even the accounts in the Bible. The modern state of Israel was not 'carved out of other people's land', it was always their homeland but occupied by others for centuries. The Romans, the Ottomans etc. Palestine as a country is an invention from the 1960's - it did not previously exist. The name derived from 'British Mandatory Palestine' which referred to the area administered by Britain for a period. Arabs do not like the people today called Palestinians because they were not pure Arabs rooted in any particular area but were nomadic gypsy tribes who drifted about the region - they did not own any land.
I find it interesting to hear about your conversion to RC. I am a RC, but ever since Covid I have found it very difficult to find myself one with the church. They shut the church doors when people most needed it and followed all the rules. No pushback against the inhumanity of it all.
This is true.
Wonderful Laura.
I pray to God this evening that those hostages left alive will be freed this week and returned to their loved ones after 2 years of torture, starvation and darkness. I often think of their suffering.
I pray that Hamas and the other jihadis still fighting will spare their own people more suffering and death, lay down their weapons this week and go into exile.
I pray especially for the peace of Israel and that their Arab neighbours near and far would begin at last to live in peace with Israel.
Jewish people URGENTLY need to learn how to master media and propaganda 1000 times better than Hamas.
Thank you Laura. I woke up today feeling so sad that there are still hostages in Gaza. The way our leaders have treated Israel and the Jews is a source of shame and sorrow.
God has a plan for his people. The Jewish people and Christian’s have been linked and the coming in of The Jewish people points to the end of time.
God bless you Laura as you take these steps.
Good on you for considering Roman Catholicism! I mean, if you’re going to be a Christian you might as well be a proper one.
Thanks. I have to say that I think Israel/Palestine is one of the few issues that is morally difficult (another major one being abortion) for the following reasons (and I hold no hostility to Jews or Israel itself):
1 Why did Zionist Jews get a land given to them carved out of other people's land? Sure the Jews owned it millennia ago but if we go down that line.....
2 Judaism is a religion not a ethnicity. If it was an ethnicity then you would not be able to become a Jew. So why does 1 religion get to have its own country (and yes I know lots of Israelis are Arabs and there are Moslem and Christian countries).
3 Edwin Montagu was the only Jewish member of the British Cabinet during the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917. He served as Secretary of State for India and was a prominent opponent of the declaration, arguing that it was inherently anti-Semitic and would serve as a rallying point for anti-Semites worldwide. He said that he did not want people to see him as a Jew but as British as that was how he felt. Creating Israel would immediately lead, as it did, to people wondering where Jews' loyalty lay.
4 Israel has undoubtedly done many internationally illegal, immoral and often plain disgusting things eg the attack on USS Liberty, funding Hamas etc. Sure Hamas are even more evil and want to kill all Jews and then move on to the Christians but just because Hamas are evil does not make Israel a paragon of virtue.
5 There are plenty of extremist Zionists who want a greater Israel, the extermination/expulsion of the current population in those areas. Some of them may even want to, if they ever get strong enough, take out the Christians.
6 I do not condemn Israel or Zionist Jews at all for this, quite the opposite in fact, but it is clear that there are a lot of powerful Jews around the world who collaborate with the Israeli Govt in its aims. Even if they are not Israeli themselves. This causes concerns in other countries and reminds us of point 3 above.
I do believe that Israel is fighting a war of survival and that even if Palestine is created in a reasonable way that most of Hamas etc will carry on to try to kill all Jews and then expand their Jihad. So Israel is definitely acting as a buffer against these Islamist extremists and for that they get my thanks and appreciation but, again, that does not make them moral, good or virtuous. Sure I would rather live surrounded by your normal Israelis than Hamas supporters (and I am not even gay) but we need to leave the Moslems in their countries and get them out of ours; failure to do so will inevitably lead to us having to fight our own war of survival against them.
So as I said not a simple issue and to a degree "A plague on both their houses" and let us concentrate on saving ours.
All you have done and continue to do is very much appreciated.
at the time of the Balfour Declaration less than ten percent of the people in the territory now known as Israel were jewish. they were Arab. thanks to zionism there was a huge influx of jews over the next twenty years, who were mostly welcomed by the Arab populace as they were refugees fleeing persecution. then in 48 they threw everyone out, and have caused blue murder there for them and their neighbours for the next 80 years. the War on Terror, that was all at `Israel's behest. If you find yourself on the side of a genocidal apartheid state, you really have taken a wrong turn. It's not surprising though, the propaganda has been relentless. Rather than this nonsense about Hamas being brilliant at propaganda, I think we all know deep down that that is nonsense, and that it is the zionists of Hollywood who hold that advantage. And we haven't even got to Edward Bernays.
Agree in so far as how would we feel if loads of foreigners were pushed/allowed in by more powerful foreign countries and then took political charge. Oh, yes, we are finding out! Will British people start fighting back soon. Many seem to think so. If we do then we had better do it before they get more numerous and/or politically powerful.
However it is understandable how Israel threw so many (not all at all and not from Israel itself) out after 1948. They had just had a war where they massively outnumbering enemies wanted to wipe them out and their country was in a terrible strategic position. Sure maybe Israel should not have been set up but it was and you can't blame the Israelis for defending themselves and being very paranoid. After all, everyone was out to get them.
Hamas must have been brilliant at propaganda though as people seem to forget that they want to wipe out Israel AND then the Christians. So it is most definitely not just about "getting their land back".
As I said they have both done bad things (then again so has Britain eg the Karen in Burma, the Tasmanian Aboriginals etc and overall we were definitely one of the most benign empires) and neither of them should we support as the 'good guy'.
you can certainly expect people to stand up for themselves, and the. Israelis certainly do that. I do not sympathise with their position, I think they have engaged in some truly dreadful behaviour, and as a nation their capacity to tell bare faced lies is something to behold. the declaration of the Arabs that they want to see the end of `Israel I understand with. That does not mean they want to wipe out the jews, just that the apartheid state has to go. And some form of government imposed on both groups allowing both to exist, (as was the case prior to the nakba.
I think you should read https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/880818.htm the 1988 Hamas Charter and the 2017 revision
https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/hamas-2017.pdf. The latter is clearly written for a different audience and it is clear that many Hamas adherents still believe the 1988 Charter.
The only way they can both exist is if the Arab/Moslem countries only support Hamas financially and make it clear that war/armed struggle is not an option. Then Israel will have no excuse to keep fighting.
Hamas is an Israeli creation, designed for exactly this purpose.
I think you are giving voice to legitimate concerns about deeply important, nuanced, complicated and troubling problems: Israel... and Islam.