Dark Shabbat

No, it's not a Hebrew heavy metal band, it's the current state of things.

Shabbat Shalom, Stroock's Books Kibbutzim. It's 'spring' here in New Jersey, meaning lots of rain and sub-40 temperatures. The gout is nuked, but our left knee is sore after four days of wracking up 5 + miles on the streets of Baltimore and Washington DC. 

We awake this morning to see 53 notifications on our Substack. Wow. Let's see what this is all about then....Yeah a mixed bag of likes, compliments, and several people bashing Israel and the Jews, or der Juden, to use language with which they'd be comfortable. We're getting new followers and new free subscribers and seeing a book sales bump. We shall keep posting on Substack. 

So Joe Biden has chastened Israel, threatened 'policy changes' and called for an immediate ceasefire. Joe's betraying the Jews because World Central Kitchen owner, Jose Andres, is a major Dem doner and the admin needs to placate him and the Hamas wing of the Democrat party. Yes, there is some political grandstanding here. But this ain't good.

The Israelis have responded to Joe's demands by opening a pair of Gaza crossings, the port of Ashdod, and publicly reprimanding several officers for the deadly air strike. Actually, we think the Israelis had been saving those humanitarian moves for a moment such as this. Why else keep those crossings closed? Still, yesterday saw a horrible turn by the administration and a major diplomatic crisis for Israel. 

It seems obvious now that the Israelis were never going to attack Rafah during Ramadan. Did they wait too long? It's possible. The only thing we know is that there is much we don't know. Yaakov Katz at The Jerusalem Post has a sobering piece. Israel is losing this phase of the war.* 

Meanwhile Hamas rejects Israeli ceasefire proposals. According to MEMRI these are Hamas' demands, 'Hamas Senior Official Osama Hamdan: Our Position Is That the Aggression Must End First, IDF Must Completely Withdraw from Gaza Strip Second, Displaced People Should Return to Their Homes and Reconstruction Should Begin Third, Then Complete Swap Deal Fourth.' Okay detente lovers, what exactly are the Israelis supposed to do?

Israel waits for Iran to retaliate for the Damascus embassy attack that eliminated their commander in Syria. Actually, given Israel's political and diplomatic predicament, Iran might be wise to stay out of the way. 

A dark weekend lies ahead.

*We recall when people were talking about an Afghanistan quagmire...in 2001, and Iraq disaster...in 2003. So let's not get carried away. Events, as Prime Minister MacMillian said.