In Viktor Frankl’s classic Man’s Search for Meaning he writes that “there are only two races – the decent and the indecent.” 

No more proof is needed when one considers the events of October 7 and the ongoing animus of much of the world toward Israel.

The bestiality of the Islamic Jihadists continues unabated.  The rabid hatred is truly difficult to fathom.  The indifference to life, to creativity, and to progress defies the imagination.

But it is not a new story. In teaching about the evolution of the ancient Israelites, sacred writings emphasized that the ancient Canaanites were more brutal than any other people in the region.  Prominent in Canaanite religious ritual was child sacrifice.  In Deuteronomy 12:30-31, it states “Do not ask about their gods — burning their sons and daughters in sacrifice to their gods.”  In essence, the Canaanites believed and taught others that their gods wanted and enjoyed cruelty toward human beings.  In fact, the ancient Israelites were warned not to assimilate to the Canaanite ways but instead retain their differences and follow the Ten Commandments.   

Jewish people believed that they owed G-d a debt for the miracles He had performed for the early Israelites. Consequently, they became a people devoted to morality and justice as taught by the Torah.  In essence, Torah-loving people seek to do tzedakah u-mishpat -– righteousness and justice. 

Fast forward to today when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is faced with an implacable foe coupled with a media that creates a myriad of lies about the IDF’s actions. Nonetheless, according to FrontPage magazine:

What does Israel do in Gaza? Does the IDF deliberately rape, torture, and murder Palestinian civilians, as Hamas did to the Israelis at the dance party and in the kibbutzim? Does the IDF take delight in killing, in as sadistic a way as possible, as many Gazan civilians as it can? No, of course not. The IDF tries instead, to minimize civilian casualties. It has no desire to harm the truly innocent. Unfortunately, Hamas wants to maximize those civilian casualties, and to exploit that result to undermine Israel’s standing in the world.

Whenever it can, the IDF warns civilians away from areas about to be targeted. These warnings are enormous undertakings. When the IDF had concluded that it was first going to concentrate its war-making in northern Gaza, it dropped 1.5 [sic] leaflets on that area, urging inhabitants to move south of the Wadi Gaza, so as to avoid the most intense fighting that was about to begin in the north. 900,000 Gazans ultimately heeded the warning, and headed south on the north-south corridor of Salah al-Din Street. Hamas fired on, and killed, some of the Gazans trying to move south, in order to keep their civilian shields trapped in the north. Later, when the IDF began to attack Hamas in the south, it dropped both leaflets, and sent emails, with maps included, that showed Gazans the precise areas in the south, in and around Khan Yunis, where the IDF would not be attacking, and that, therefore, they should move to for safety’s sake. It was the same with buildings — schools, apartment buildings, mosques — where the IDF was about to attack. The IDF messaged, emailed, telephoned, and used the ‘knock-on-the-roof’ technique to warn civilians living in or near those buildings soon to be targeted to leave them. Furthermore, Israeli pilots will call off an airstrike if they detect too many civilians near the target.

It is no wonder that British Colonel Richard Kemp has called the IDF ‘the most moral army in the world.’

Even as Israel grapples with the trauma that affects children and adults alike coupled with the loss of her soldiers — many in the prime of their lives – their youth are not taught to hate. 

On the other hand, Arab children are continually taught to despise Jews.  For years at the Palestinian Media Watch (PAL), founder Itamar Marcus has been documenting the schooling that Arab boys and girls receive and the indifference of the Western powers.  See here and here.  This video shows young Arab students shouting their vitriol.  The teaching of contempt begins early in the indoctrination of loathing in which Arab children marinate.

Are they the lineal descendants of the Canaanites? 

Contrast this Israeli mother who is willing to sacrifice herself to save the babies with this Arab family who is thrilled with their son’s phone conversation that he killed ten Israelis.

At the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the UNRWA’s involvement in terrorist activities, in collaboration with Hamas is highlighted.  Created in 1949, UNRWA actually keeps suspected terrorists on its payroll.  In fact, the Israeli ambassador says that the “UN should be on trial as an accomplice to ‘hatred and murder.’”

‘The proceedings in The Hague demonstrate how the U.N. and its institutions have become weapons in service of terrorist organizations,’

‘The use of the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide against the Jewish state and in service of the Nazis of our time, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, proves that there is no moral low that the U.N. has not descended to.’

As chronicled by Melanie Phillips,

Now we know that the agenda of Hamas and of Iran is very clear genocide; to destroy Israel, wipe out Jews, and from then, wipe out Christians and all unbelievers. We know that because they say so. But what’s been revealed by what’s happened is something much broader and much more concerning. It is, in short, a civilizational crisis. The depravity that we have seen in Israel at the hands of Hezbollah, of Hamas and beyond them, Iran. That depravity has put down roots in Britain, in Europe, in America, in Australia, [and] throughout the West.

In fact, Israel uncovered Hamas terror networks planning attacks in Europe.

In our own country, we see Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken scold Israel for defending herself. 

But it is no wonder because “[d]uring Barack Obama’s presidency, relations between the United States and Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East, reached an all-time low. Obama appeased Israel’s mortal enemy Iran, allowed a one-sided, anti-Israel United Nations Security Council resolution to pass in the waning days of his administration, and released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority in his administration’s last hours. This was on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the Obama administration had previously bestowed on the Palestinians, which the Palestinian leaders largely used to fund terror and line their own pockets rather than for the benefit of their own people.” 

Imam Alhajie Jallow, an imam in Wisconsin has posted that the Muslim brothers in Gaza are heroes. Jallow asserts that “By Allah, all of [the Jews] will be killed by Muslims.  This is a promise from Allah and it is going to happen.  They will all be killed, and on that day, the believers will rejoice in Allah’s victory.”

Caroline Glick exposes how “Israel Faces the International Lynch Mob.”  No stranger to the horror of global antisemitism, she highlights the deplorable state of South Africa under the African National Congress (ANC) as it claims that Israel has committed genocide! 

Even sports are not safe from the stench of antisemitism as the International Ice Hockey Federation has barred Israel from competing in its world championship events.

In fact, Matti Friedman demonstrates how the West has allowed itself to be “psychologically manipulated” as it absolutely refuses to terminate the cognitive war against itself and the Jewish people. 

Of course, Muslim abhorrence of the Jews is inextricably linked to leftwing/communist beliefs as well as woke and DEI ideology. They are bedfellows, so it is no surprise that “Chinese state-controlled media outlets have been promoting pro-Hamas propaganda accusing Israel of targeting civilians, hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid, killing children, and being an occupying force in the region.”  These are, however, all blatant lies.

Martin Luther King stated that “in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Knowing that the evil-doers have the West in their sights as well, every freedom loving individual must not be silent when it comes to Israel’s existential battle.   Consider donating money, checking out other sites that aid Israel, speaking up, and publicizing the facts about the actions of the IDF.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com

Image: Wikimedia Commons, via Picryl // public domain