Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

First things first.

All of my grandparents, and one of my great-grandparents, were born in America.

My family line has been here for more than 110 years.

That makes me pretty American, by any consideration.

I’m also Jewish, on both sides, and was raised in the culture and religion.

(Though begrudgingly on the Hebrew School part, like every other smart Jewish kid in America.)

When it comes to my identity, being Jewish-American doesn’t hit the day to day that much, with respect to religion or culture, as I don’t attend synagogue, pray in Hebrew, or make Jewish food on a regular basis.

So make of that what you will.

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Being 50, the Holocaust was not-yet-30 years behind us when I was born, but my family was mostly insulated, as there were no bonds with the Old Country, and all the extended family lived in the US.

It was the defining event of Jewish life, though, having 6 million people exterminated.

But that was then.

Now, as I said, I’m 50, and the defining event of Jewish life has been the aftermath of October 7th.

Holy Shit, has this been bad for Jews everywhere.

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Chuck Schumer came out against Netanyahu a couple of weeks ago.

He said common sense things, and it’s clear Joe Biden agrees.

Regime Change.

I last wrote about the Israel Hamas War a couple of months ago, and said Bibi should stand down.

But Chuck was far more forceful than I was.

Time for everyone to get some more skin in the game, I say.

So I will.

Israel: man the fuck up and oust your War Criminal President.

Enough is enough.

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No matter what Hamas did, and it was beyond terrible, starving a powerless population to the point that aid groups are necessary is not acceptable human behavior.

(Not to mention starving them after bombing them.)

José Andrés and his World Central Kitchen are like the best people in the world.

They don’t only feed Gaza.

They go around feeding all crisis zones, and have done for years.

They had to organize food aid only because Israel is not doing it.

And yesterday/today, (depending on your time zone,) seven of their aid workers were bombed (by mistake,) by the IDF.

That crosses a red line of moral decency.

It’s not that the international lives are worth more than Gazan ones.

But when you start killing people who are trying to help the people you’re intentionally starving…

… it’s time to re-think the strategy.

Jews in the Diaspora are, and will be targeted because Israel is no longer acting rationally.

This may be just a blog post, but it’s also my voice.

My public vote.

I do not support Israel’s War in Gaza, as it is currently being fought.

If a cease-fire means that Hamas retains capability to harm, then Israel still has one more enemy.

No one, bar Putin and Xi, gets to decide when and where an enemy goes down.

(And if Trump comes back, we may have to add him to the list.)

Anyway, job done here.

Bibi out.

Israel, please stand up and do the right thing before the rest of the world hates Jews so much they start killing us again.

See you Friday.