Israel is rebuking Pope Francis for committing a “genocide blood libel against the Jewish state” and reminding the pontiff of the Vatican’s silence during the Nazi Holocaust amid an escalating diplomatic row between the Holy See and Israel.

 

Israel Accuses Pope Francis of ‘Genocide Blood Libel Against the Jewish State’

 

Pontiff gets a robust history lesson on the Jewishness of Jesus.

 

December 30, 2024 by Jules Gomes 15 Comments

Israel is rebuking Pope Francis for committing a “genocide blood libel against the Jewish state” and reminding the pontiff of the Vatican’s silence during the Nazi Holocaust amid an escalating diplomatic row between the Holy See and Israel.

In a strongly worded letter to the pontiff dated December 18, Amichai Chikli, minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, reprimands Francis for his part in a recent display portraying Jesus as a Palestinian Arab and schools the pope on the Jewishness of Jesus.

“There is no other way to understand the decision to present his image in a cradle, wrapped in a keffiyeh,” Chikli stresses. “Had this been a one-time matter, I would not have written. However, just a few weeks before this strange and false homage, in a more severe expression, you echoed the new blood libel, insinuating that the State of Israel ‘might be’ committing genocide in Gaza.

“It is a well-known fact that Jesus was born to a Jewish mother, lived as a Jew, and died as a Jew,” Chikli writes in his three-page missive. He cites Matthew’s gospel, reminding Francis of the “well-known fact” that “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.”

Lessons in Jewish and Roman History

Chikli quotes other biblical texts reiterating to Francis the significance of “Bethlehem” and “Judah” in Jewish history. He notes that Bethlehem is both the city of Rachel’s death and David’s birth, explaining that Rachel is Israel’s matriach and David is Israel’s archetypal king.

“It is also a well-known fact that the term ‘Jew’ originates from Judah, the fourth son of Leah, from whom the Tribe of Judah descended,” the minister points out.

Chikli proceeds to give the pope a lesson in Roman history and the empire’s attempts “to eradicate the connection between the Jews and Judah; one of the most prominent of these was Emperor Hadrian.” He records details of Titus’s destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar Kokhba Revolt, which resulted in the massacre of 580,000 Jews.

“Hadrian was not satisfied with the physical destruction of the Jewish settlement; he anticipated the future, to the day when the Jews would seek to return to Judea. Therefore, he renamed the province of Judea ‘Syria Palestina,’ after the Philistines, the arch-enemy of Israel,” he writes, explaining the origin of the name “Palestine.”

In a dig at Francis, Chikli also notes that the pope can verify the evidence for himself by driving just “13 minutes by car from St. Peter’s Basilica” and examining the Arch of Titus with its depiction of Israel’s conquest and humiliation by the Romans.

Papal Rewriting of History

Referring to the pope’s recent comments calling for an investigation into the alleged genocide in Gaza, reported by The Stream, the minister contends: “This is a desperate and disgusting attempt to rewrite history.”

“As a nation that lost six million of its sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are especially sensitive to the trivialization of the term ‘genocide’ — a trivialization that is dangerously close to Holocaust denial,” he notes.

Chikli details how the term “genocide” can be aptly applied to Nazi Germany, which “for the first time in the history of nations, set as its ultimate goal the complete annihilation of an unarmed people with whom it had no conflict, and most of whom were not even living in its territory.

“Let us recall that between the Jews, who made up less than 1% of the population of Germany in the 1930s, and the Germans, there had been no prior violent, territorial, religious, or political conflict,” he notes.Recalling the “sickening strategy” of the “Final Solution,” the minister cites as one example the Treblinka death camp, where 845,000 Jews from Poland, including children and elderly people, were murdered in gas chambers and then dumped into execution pits, concluding: “This is what genocide looks like.”

Vatican Silent During the Holocaust

“The Vatican’s silence during those dark days of the Shoah is still deafening,” he writes, asking Francis to “clarify your stand regarding the genocide blood libel against the Jewish state,” a “new blood libel” recently promoted against Israel by the human rights organization Amnesty.

Chikli concludes by drawing Francis’s attention to the the 60th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate Declaration from the Second Vatican Council, which will be celebrated in 2025. The declaration marked a “significant milestone in the relationship between the Jewish people and Christianity,” he maintains, noting that Francis is known to be “a close friend of the Jewish people.”

The Vatican has maintained a diplomatic silence on the minister’s letter, with neither Vatican News nor Avvenire, the Italian bishops’ media, reporting on it.

In response, the pope has doubled down on Israel since Chikli’s letter, twice in public remarks last weekend accusing the Jewish state of massacring children in Gaza.

Francis Falsely Claims Cardinal Banned from Gaza

On Saturday, in his annual Christmas greetings to the Roman curia, Francis claimed that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa “was not allowed into Gaza, as had been promised.”

“Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to tell you this because it touches my heart,” the pope told members of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Citing the monk Dorotheus of Gaza, Francis added: “Yes, Gaza, the very place that is presently synonymous with death and destruction, is a quite ancient city, where monasteries and outstanding saints and teachers flourished in the first centuries of Christianity.”

However, a day later Vatican News confirmed that Pizzaballa had visited Gaza and presided at Mass as well as administered the sacrament of confirmation to several young people. The pope’s media did not refer to the Israeli ban on the cardinal’s visit to Gaza.

Instead, it acknowledged that “this is the second time that Cardinal Pizzaballa has managed to enter Gaza and visit the community led by the parish priest Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, following his visit on 16 May last.

“To ensure maximum security on the route, news of the visit was only given after arrival in the community,” Vatican News explained, hinting at the possibility that the pontiff may have been misinformed about Pizzaballa’s visit to Gaza.

The Holy Shmendrik mouthpiece also confirmed that the Latin Patriarch “will make his solemn entry into Bethlehem, where he will be welcomed by another suffering community and where he will celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in St. Catherine’s Church,” debunking rumors that Israel was restricting Pizzaballa’s visits to his Catholic flock in Judea and Samaria or the Gaza strip.

Undaunted, in his Angelus address at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Francis attacked Israel again, stating: “And with sorrow I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty; of the children machine-gunned, the bombing of schools and hospitals… So much cruelty!”

Severing Jesus from His Jewish Roots

Commentators previously slammed the de-Judaization of Jesus under the Francis pontificate.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen), a holocaust denier and terrorism sponsor whom Francis warmly welcomed to the Vatican on December 12 as The Stream reported, has redefined Jesus as “a Palestinian messenger” of hope in his 2023 Christmas address. Palestinian officials have also described Jesus as “the first Palestinian martyr,” and as a Palestinian jihadist.

“In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat activist and politician, posted on social media on Christmas 2023.

“Rewriting history that Jesus wasn’t a Jewish resident of the Jewish country of Judea but rather a Palestinian man who was persecuted by Jews is gaining ground around the world, including in the Vatican,” international relations expert Dr. Yvette Alt Miller wrote in response to the Vatican featuring Jesus on a keffiyeh.

“Jesus was a Jew. If he were alive today, the world’s elites would be clamoring for him to be thrown out of Judea as a settler,” wrote British columnist Melanie Phillips in 2015, after the Vatican agreed to recognize Palestine as a state. “And Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis, would be amongst them.”

Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral. This article was cross-posted with the author’s permission from The Stream.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/israel-accuses-pope-francis-of-genocide-blood-libel-against-the-jewish-state/?

Achrei Mot-Kedoshim (After Death-Holy Ones) ---- אַחֲרֵי מוֹת־קְדשִׁים

Carter descended into a dark obsession with Israel, casting it as the source of all Middle Eastern instability and a world-leading violator of human rights. His 2004 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, though based on half-truths and outright lies, effectively legitimized Israel’s delegitimization.

 

 

 CARTER WASN’T satisfied with merely libeling Israel. His final decades were devoted to whitewashing Hamas and presenting it as an organization opposed to terror and dedicated to peace.

 

Ismail Haniyeh (L), meets with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (R) June 16, 2009 in Gaza City

Dark obsession with Israel

That was the message he conveyed on the op-ed pages of The New York Times and in public appearances worldwide. While shunning meetings with Israeli leaders, he embraced Khaled Mashaal, Ismail Haniyeh, and other terror chiefs.

He supported the Goldstone Report that condemned Israel for committing war crimes during the 2008-09 conflict with Gaza and accused Israel of systematically starving Gaza’s civilian population. The terrorists’ attempts to bore under Israel’s border were, in Carter’s telling, “defensive tunnel[s] being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza.” CLICK: https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/a-hrc-12-48.pdf

In his 2007 forward to the book “The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control,” written by then-ADL director Abe Foxman, former Secretary of State George Shultz slammed former President Jimmy Carter for “damaging the well-being and security of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.”

Schultz’s assessment was on the money. Many Jews will remember former President Jimmy Carter who died on Sunday at age 100 at his home in Plains, Ga for his occasional use of antisemitic stereotypes, as Deborah Lipstadt, Special State Department Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism put it. But the damage Carter inflicted on the State of Israel and consequently on world Jewry is only now fully coming to light.

The reality of the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023, mushrooming into a global campaign of rabid antisemitism can be traced back to the Camp David Accords, which President Jimmy Carter forced with all the power of an American president on the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin in September 1978, established the framework for a treaty under which a US-armed Egypt is now in a position to join forces with the US-armed Turkey to deliver a devastating blow to Israel.

The Camp David discussions also covered the future of Israeli settlements, and the most challenging issues were Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. The Israeli and Egyptian delegations were particularly divided on whether United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 should apply to a long-term agreement in these territories and on the status of Israeli settlements during the anticipated negotiations on Palestinian autonomy following a peace treaty.

That was the beginning of the end. The Carter team attempted to force Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai in favor of Egypt, and the other liberated territories in favor of a Palestinian state. Egypt insisted on an Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 borders in exchange for security arrangements and minor border modifications. Israel rejected Egypt’s insistence on withdrawal, especially from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

The Begin team argued instead for a Palestinian autonomy during a five-year interim period followed by the possibility of sovereignty after the interim period expired.

Ultimately, the Summit “Framework” documents outlined the principles for a bilateral peace treaty and proposed a framework for Palestinian self-governance in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria.

On Dec. 18, 1978, the immortal William Safire wrote in the Times:

“The blame‐the‐Jews orchestration from the Carter men will continue while the President himself refrains, Kissinger‐style, from saying so publicly. Joel Sherman, the U.S. spokesman most despised by the Israelis, is expected to let it be known on background that Mr. Begin is a liar; White House aide Ed Sanders will dutifully bring in groups of Jewish leaders to be told that Jimmy knows best about the survival of Israel; and news manager Gerry Rafshoon will arrange for foreign policy announcements — like the accommodation of China’s wish for us to terminate our Taiwan defense agreement — to distract attention from the failure of the last big stunt.”

GEORGIA NO PEACE I FIND

The mainstream media are flooding the airwaves this morning with hails to the US president who succeeded in establishing peace between the old enemies Israel and Egypt. But in reality, there is no peace between the two countries, there are no cultural ties, no common endeavors, it all remains on paper. And when President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, won the election in 2012, that peace treaty was on its way to being torn up and dumped in the garbage if not for the coup that reinstated military rule.

Israel has won nothing from the Camp David Accords, not even militarily. For the past 50-some years, Egypt has been encouraging arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip, bolstering daily attacks on Israel. Egypt has also fostered one of the biggest armies in the region, some of it with Israeli support. Meanwhile, Syria, which didn’t sign anything and didn’t take back any land, has been subdued by the IDF to the point where today it does not pose a threat – at least for the foreseeable years.

Since October 7, we’ve been confronting the Iranian “Ring of Fire” strategy of surrounding Israel with armed proxy militias that would combine to incinerate the Jewish State. The groundwork for that strategy was established in Camp David by Jimmy Carter. The next Democratic administration, under President Bill Clinton, moved to develop Palestinian self-governance into a detailed schedule for establishing a Palestinian State that would choke Israel from the east and from the west.

It took one selfish, idiotic move on the part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to clear all Israeli presence from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria to usher in Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. It took a blind and deaf––but oh, so chatty––IDF leadership to dwarf Israel’s security into a complacent mechanism of containment while the plan to destroy the country which was hatched in 1978 raged on.

Former Secretary Shultz attacked Jimmy Carter’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” with prophetic zeal:

“Under sharp reactive criticism, President Carter has disavowed his choice of words, but the tendency of mind that lies behind such repulsive analogies remains and is reinforced by the former president’s views, spread across his book, which come down on the anti-Israel side of every case.”

“Once false analogies start, it is only a short step to the cartoons in the Arab press and European media which portray Israelis as contemporary versions of Nazi stormtroopers.”

AL HET

In late 2009, just before Christmas, Jimmy Carter publicly sought forgiveness from the Jewish community for any harm or negative perceptions he may have caused toward Israel through his past statements or actions.

“As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.”

By “Al Het” (“for the sin”) Carter was referring to the string of confessions Jews utter on Yom Kippur while clapping their chests. There were probably enough Jews in his administration to prepare him for his bar mitzvah.

Abe Foxman responded, “As far as I’m concerned, there is no Al het.” Foxman was reacting to a March 18, 2010 Carter speech at a conference on US-Arab relations in Atlanta, in which the former president accused the Obama administration of being “much more attuned to the sensitivities of the Israelis” and of having “yielded excessively to the circumstances in the Holy Land as Israel has confiscated several lands within Palestine.”

Even Barack Obama was too pro-Zionist for the one-term peanut farmer who lost his presidency to Ronald Reagan by a margin of 44 to 6. He called Obama’s treatment of Israel “feeble.”

On March 25, Foxman wrote Carter, “I do not believe further discussions between us will be fruitful. I continue to hope the day will come when you have truly repented of your insensitive views of Israel and the Jewish people.”

Sounds like a proper eulogy.

 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/obituaries/jimmy-carter-dead-at-100-damaged-the-security-of-the-jews-and-israel/2024/12/30/

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-835379

The former Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef recently issued a religious prohibition against serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), even if the alternative is complete idleness on the part of those registered yeshiva students who have no real interest in full-time Torah study. Rabbi Yosef is too late.

 It is time for the Haredi leadership to come to its senses and recognize the moral and national importance of meaningful military service by its followers, and to reach a compromise that will benefit the entire population of Israel and provide opportunities for those young Haredim who are not natural Torah scholars and who thus find themselves without a promising spiritual or material future. 

 

Don’t Let Haredi leadership block the way of Haredim who want to enlist 

 

More than a few ultra-Orthodox young men feel pangs of conscience pushing them to help shoulder Israel's defense burden - they need encouragement 

 

 

Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Air Force technicians are seen at the IAF's technical school in Haifa, upon completing their training, December 3, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

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The former Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef recently issued a religious prohibition (PULLED OUT OF HIS YASHVAN יַשְׁבָן) PM - against serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), even if the alternative is complete idleness on the part of those registered yeshiva students who have no real interest in full-time Torah study. His announcement seeks to protect young Sephardic Haredim from secularization, as some claim would occur when exposed to the diversity of the IDF. It may be, however, that in practice, Rabbi Yosef is too late.

CLICK: יַשְׁבָן

https://context.reverso.net/translation/hebrew-english/%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%9F

At a grassroots level, a sea change is already underway among young Haredim in terms of motivation and desire to perform meaningful military service. Even if Rabbi Yosef’s concerns relate to the drafting of Sephardic yeshiva students in place of their Lithuanian and Hasidic counterparts, a sober and cautious examination of developments, along with growing testimonies from the field, indicate that the traumatic events of the last year deeply shook parts of the Haredi public, and especially the Sephardi public.

Many young men from the more modern and integrationist elements of Haredi society have experienced considerable pangs of conscience and doubts about their lack of participation in shouldering the country’s defense burden, and about the price in blood and fear paid by the Israeli public who do serve in the military.

Some of these young Haredim — most of them married fathers, long past the age of exemption from military service (26) — have volunteered to serve in the IDF and pay their part in the collective effort. These are mostly men on the margins of the isolationist Haredi community, in which the majority of the rabbinical and political leadership consistently and stubbornly opposes any move to draft yeshiva students.

Almost 1,150 have volunteered for “Stage 2” service, which involves a rapid two-week military training course, followed by reserve duty as medics or ambulance drivers, in IDF Home Front units responsible for identifying bodies and more. In addition, hundreds of younger Haredi men, aged 18–24, have signed up for combat and combat-support roles, including in specially tailored Haredi service tracks.

There is no doubt that, in the current painful and entirely unequal circumstances, this number of enlistees is a drop in the ocean compared to the more-than-60,000 Haredi men who still avoid any kind of military service by remaining under the aegis of their yeshivas. The public and political anger at this frustrating situation is entirely justified. Despite that, we should all pay attention to those sections of Haredi society that are largely hidden from public view. That is where there have been major shifts recently, and in which there are now cautious and hesitant relations with mainstream Israeli society, including some turning to serve in the military. Indeed, these are the sections of the Haredi world from which Rabbi Yosef wants to protect his flock, lest they stray and (heaven forbid) enlist in the IDF, enter higher education, or gain an occupation outside the world of Torah.

Despite Rabbi Yosef’s pronouncement, there are various Haredi organizations, entrepreneurs, and leading public figures who are well aware of the historic nature of the current hour. They are advancing unique new initiatives and investing every effort along every possible avenue of activity, in order to identify and assist Haredi men who wish to undertake high-quality and meaningful military service. These include a Haredi youth movement, special pre-military academies for Haredi young men, Haredi yeshivot hesder (combining military service with high-level Torah study), and programs to prepare mentally for combat service.

Some of these initiatives are meeting with growing interest and success among young Haredim, while others have experienced challenges related to lack of motivation, cultural and social fears, lack of community legitimacy, and organizational and budgetary difficulties. Over the last year, various civil society organizations have also joined this effort, preparing work plans and guidelines to help the IDF improve its mechanisms for enlisting and integrating Haredim.

Needless to say, these activities have aroused fierce opposition from the Haredi leadership and the majority of the Haredi public. Those working to advance military service are seen as undermining the traditional Haredi ethos, and are often subjected to being denounced and condemned by the broader community.

The strongest oppositional forces against these changes are to be found, of course, among the Haredi religious and political leadership, with Rabbi Yosef as just one example. These leaders are making every effort to fend off a political and public compromise that will result in Haredi 18-year-olds — who now constitute 18 percent of the military draft year cohort — fulfilling their moral and ethical social duty. Unfortunately, these Haredi leaders are being backed by the government of Israel, which is prepared to have the general public pay the price of endless reserve duty, while simultaneously erecting bureaucratic and budgetary hurdles against Haredi initiatives promoting military service. Thus, the government is providing de facto support for the line taken by the Haredi leadership, which runs counter to the public interest, and, some would say, counter to Torah values too.

It is time for the Haredi leadership to come to its senses and recognize the moral and national importance of meaningful military service by its followers, and to reach a compromise that will benefit the entire population of Israel and provide opportunities for those young Haredim who are not natural Torah scholars and who thus find themselves without a promising spiritual or material future.

Only a combination of balanced, fair, top-down primary legislation with bottom-up grassroots initiatives can resolve one of the most painful issues that is harming Israeli solidarity at a time when it is so desperately needed. After all the pain and loss endured, we can only hope that this time, the representatives of the Haredi public will rise above the familiar petty politics and take brave and honorable decisions. The Haredi street is already prepared for the next step. 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dont-let-haredi-leadership-block-the-way-of-haredim-who-want-to-enlist/

Just like our ancestors, the mighty Maccabees, armed with a Torah in one hand and an Iron Dome missile interception battery in the other, the Israeli people are defending the only true morality. Our brave spokespeople are fighting every attempt by global fascists to conquer the weak minded with their compelling but false narratives.

 This generation of Israeli youth deserves the same respect as our archetypal warriors the Maccabees. For those that have fallen in battle, their families should know that their lights have not been extinguished. Their lights shine on in every Jewish home as we light millions of Chanukah candles around the globe. May we soon see an end to the fighting, the return of the hostages, and a return to the one true morality speedily in our days. 

 

Defenders of the Jewish People

 

The IDF Rabbinate emphasized: “The unit’s rabbis are providing immediate responses to all soldiers and providing menorahs to every corner of the theater of operations so that our soldiers can celebrate Chanukah with great joy. We are filled with hope that light will triumph over darkness soon in our days!”

My father frequently told me about his favorite Shabbat drasha that he heard from his rabbi, Morris Untermann, in his youth during the “Swinging ’60s.” He especially remembered the opening line, which was: “Why the new morality is just the old immorality.”

Amusingly, when I finally had the honor of meeting Rabbi Untermann, then in his eighties, and I mentioned this drasha, his response was, “Did I say that?” Oh well!

In any case, October 7 returned humanity to the time of the “old immorality.”

We all learned in kindergarten that a small band of Jewish fighters, the Maccabees, rose up against the mighty Greek army and rededicated the Temple. However, the true picture was not quite that simple. The “Greeks” we learned about may have consisted predominantly of Jews who wished to adopt the Hellenist way of life.

The Maccabees were fighting to combat this new wave of assimilation. If we analyze one of the biggest differences between Greek and Jewish culture at that time, we can see that their dispute was focused on aesthetics. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains, “Beauty has traditionally been counted among the ultimate values… and a primary theme among ancient Greek philosophers.” While Jews are predominantly concerned about what is within us (our mind, thoughts and intentions), classical Greek morality was more focused on “how things look on the outside.” Jewish family values stood in direct opposition to Greek immorality, and the Jewish concept of an invisible Higher Power that commands complete loyalty stood in direct opposition to the totalitarian ideology of complete subservience to a Greek emperor.

Fast-forward over two thousand years and here we are again. Waging war on our enemies is deemed to be “genocide” by popularist academics on campuses around the world. If it looks like genocide, because Hamas terrorists in Gaza are hiding beneath hospitals and schools, then it must be genocide. No deeper thought or assessment is required according to the “new morality.” Show us a few pictures of suffering children and we will immediately jump to the (wrong) conclusion. Voices of opposition will be shouted down in the interests of free speech. If a situation looks superficially like “genocide” then that must be what it is. The “new morality” very much resembles the “old immorality.”

The danger of this philosophy is clear. It is well known that public opinion is easily swayed by a few choice photographs from popular influencers on social media. Terror groups and rogue nations around the globe have become experts at manipulating these influencers to side with their causes. This pathology in human “herd mentality” has been successfully exploited by Russian Communists, German Nazis and Arab Islamists over the past century, and has led to disastrous results, not least for the inhabitants of those nations. Standing diametrically opposed to this superficial populism is the Jewish people.

Just like our ancestors, the mighty Maccabees, armed with a Torah in one hand and an Iron Dome missile interception battery in the other, the Israeli people are defending the only true morality. Our brave spokespeople are fighting every attempt by global fascists to conquer the weak minded with their compelling but false narratives.

This generation of Israeli youth deserves the same respect as our archetypal warriors the Maccabees. For those that have fallen in battle, their families should know that their lights have not been extinguished. Their lights shine on in every Jewish home as we light millions of Chanukah candles around the globe. May we soon see an end to the fighting, the return of the hostages, and a return to the one true morality speedily in our days. Chanukah sameach!

https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/when-the-new-morality-is-just-the-old-immorality/2024/12/25/

*

  IDSF Daily War Briefing In today's briefing, Brigadier General Res. Amir Avivi shares a story about a miraculous operation that he led on the Egypt border of Israel entailing the capture of a terrorist cell plotting to kidnap Israeli soldiers. The General also reviews the current state of the war in Israel with particular attention to the nature of a hostage deal with Hamas.

CLICK:

https://youtu.be/yiuAHuYnZhg?si=E22FMRcr4ZsSKHz9

Freed Syrian prisoners describe the horrors they faced under Assad --- Not One Word About Syria From This Miserable Jew-Hating Pope!

The Assad legacy is one of horror with hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced or in exile. Perhaps nothing illustrates the depths of the depravity more than the archipelago of prisons and torture centers where tens of thousands were killed by the regime. Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen takes us inside some of these now-liberated facilities as Syrians search for answers.

Pope: Think of ‘the machine-gunned children, the bombs on schools or hospitals’ 

 

Francis has been increasingly critical of Israel.

 

Pope Francis inaugurates the Catholic Church's 2025 Jubilee Year with the opening of the  Door at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on Dec. 24, 2024

 

 

Pope Francis used his Christmas Eve mass to urge Christians to think “of the wars, of the machine-gunned children, of the bombs on schools or hospitals,” reinforcing his overt and covert criticism of Israel’s 15-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza.

In his Christmas address the following day in front of thousands gathered outside of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the 88-year-old pontiff denounced what he described as the “extremely grave” humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“I think of the Christian communities in Israel and Palestine, particularly in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave. May there be a ceasefire, may the hostages be released and aid be given to the people worn out by hunger and by war,” the pope said. He also calling for “arms to be silenced” around the world.

The remarks come days after the leader of the Catholic Church twice denounced what he called the “cruelty” of Israeli strikes, which prompted criticism from Israeli officials who said he ignored the cruelty of the Palestinian terrorist group and applied a double standard that singled out Jews.

The somber Tuesday night mass held at the Vatican came as relations between the pontiff and Israel plunged this month after his increasingly harsh criticism of the war.

“In his continued attitude towards Israel, the Pope is undermining 80 years of rebuilding relations between Roman Catholics and Jews since the Holocaust when the Vatican protected Nazis,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel wrote on X this weekend.

Earlier this month, a nativity scene displayed in Vatican City featured the infant Jesus clad in a keffiyeh. It was removed following backlash from Christian and Jewish organizations.

 

https://www.jns.org/pope-think-of-the-machine-gunned-children-the-bombs-on-schools-or-hospitals/?

SCAM ALERT! Gedolei HaDor Offer Special Tefilla for Donors of ‘Vaad HaRabbanim’ During Chanukah Candle Lighting

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How Israel's Mossad tricked Hezbollah into buying explosive pagers | 60 Minutes - "From The Liver To The Knee" --- Who Needs An Army Or A Spy Agency When You Have 65,000 Full-Time Bench Kvetchers With 25,000 "Retirees" Who Do Nothing But Collect Government Checks?

1929: A Harbinger of October 7th ---- For Self-Hating Jews - "Elite" Jews At The Universities - And All Other Twisted Jews Who Never Bothered to Learn Our History!

A large and diverse majority of IDF reservists agree that Israel cannot continue to offer military service exemption to its ultra-Orthodox population, a recent survey revealed.

 

Over three-quarters of IDF reservists say Israel can no longer exempt ultra-Orthodox from service

 

The survey polled 800 reservists who fought in the Israel-Hamas War.

 

(100% of Agudath Israel Convention Attendees Agreed Israel Needs Prayers and Full-Time Bench Kvetchers, Not Soldiers, According To A UOJ Pollster at The Agudah Convention Buffet)

 

14 Different Hashgachas

BELIEVE IN WHAT?

IDF SOLDIERS pray during a break in a haredi unit’s training exercise. 

 

A large and diverse majority of IDF reservists agree that Israel cannot continue to offer military service exemption to its ultra-Orthodox population, a recent survey revealed. 

The survey, which polled 800 reservists who fought in the Israel-Hamas War, was commissioned by the “Shoulder to Shoulder” organization and conducted by the Dialogue Institute.

A total of 77% of respondents agreed that, following the events of October 7, the State of Israel can no longer afford to continue exempting the ultra-Orthodox from military service.

The survey reveals cross-political agreement. A total of 65% of religious respondents and 76% of right-wing respondents support drafting the ultra-Orthodox. 

Furthermore, 73% of reservists believe that any law that does not lead to significant recruitment of ultra-Orthodox youth is un-Zionist and harms those currently serving.

 

Another finding of the survey indicated that only 18% of respondents supported an agreed-upon law with ultra-Orthodox leadership that would exempt the majority of the ultra-Orthodox community. 

Conversely, 71% oppose such a law. Opposition is also significant among religious (60%) and right-wing (64%) respondents.

The survey's implications could be substantial for the political system. 

Three-fifths of respondents stated they would consider not voting for a party that supports an exemption law, including 35% of religious and 48% of right-wing respondents.

Jonathan Shilo, one of the founders of “Shoulder to Shoulder,” emphasized the central message of the study’s findings. 

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“The world for all of us changed on October 7,” Shilo said. “We are fighting shoulder to shoulder for the state.” 

He added that the most painful statistic is that nearly half of the reservists said they might not report for reserve duty if the ultra-Orthodox are not drafted.

Bennett on the rise among reservists polled 

An additional notable finding in the survey was the marked support the reservists expressed for former prime minister Naftali Bennett. 

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One in five reservists intended to vote for his party, in contrast to the sharp decline of Otzma Yehudit, which dropped to just 7% support. 

Another statistic showed that 45% of reservists stated that an exemption law for the ultra-Orthodox would harm their motivation to report for reserve duty in the future. 

“The exemption law for the ultra-Orthodox harms state security and creates a genuine fracture in Israeli society,” Shilo added. 

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-834100?

Those who fall for the city of Jerusalem are not called fallen. . . . There are no fallen . . . only those who cleave to Hashem.

 

"We are living in a generation in which responsibility for the security of the State of Israel and her citizens is a supreme value . . . We are writing the most meaningful moments in the history of our people and the whole world."

 

Defenders of the Jewish People: Remembering Israel’s Fallen Soldiers

Family and friends of Master Sergeant Tzvika Lavi honored the fallen soldier at his funeral

Twenty-four-year-old Amichai Yisrael Yehoshua Oster was in Salt Lake City, Utah, when he received his “Tzav 8” (emergency call-up notice) from the IDF. Having completed his required IDF service, he was to report for duty as a reservist. However, when he contacted his commander, he was told they had “over 100 percent affirmative answers.”  His commander told him: “You do not have to come back right now.” Nevertheless, Amichai flew back to Israel as quickly as he could, found a different unit that needed a soldier with his skills, and was sent to the Gaza border. 

“He joined the thousands of young men who rushed back to Israel to fight for their country and for all of us,” says his mother, Marcy.  

Sergeant First Class Amichai Oster was killed in Gaza last January while fighting to defend the Jewish State. Courtesy of the Oster family

 

This past January, Sergeant First Class Amichai from Karnei Shomron, of the 5th Brigade’s 7020th Battalion, was killed fighting in Gaza. “He did exactly what he wanted to do, and he died doing it. Now he will be frozen in our memories as a brave, caring, beautiful young man . . . a quiet hero,” says Marcy.  

Since the advent of the war in Gaza, bereaved families are tragically becoming a growing sector of Israeli society, a sector intimately connected to one another through pain and loss. And yet at the same time, many of these families, like the sons they sacrificed, are imbued with a strong sense of spiritual mission. Even while grieving, these mothers, fathers, siblings and wives take comfort in knowing their loved ones sacrificed their lives for a sacred cause: serving G-d and the Jewish people by defending the Jewish State.  

“Amichai loved this land—all of it. He was determined to serve his country,” says Marcy.  

She recalls that when her son returned home to join the war, “I told him I felt responsible for the fact that he was fighting in this war. He didn’t make the decision to come on aliyah. I made it for him. [The Osters had made aliyah from Cleveland when Amichai was a toddler.] He said, ‘What makes you think that had you not made aliyah I would not have come here to fight for this country?’  

“He was strong in his religious beliefs and firm in his connection to the State of Israel,” says Marcy.  

The Osters have four other children, including a daughter who recently got married. “It hasn’t been an easy time,” says Marcy, a journalist working for Ynetnews. “We have been strengthened by the most amazing support from the community of Karnei Shomron, by Amichai’s friends, by the IDF, by complete strangers from all over Israel who have given to us and helped us in every way. . . . The tremendous amount of care shown us has been overwhelming.” 

After high school, Amichai decided to attend Yeshiva Shavei Hevron, where he spent two and a half years in a program of advanced Torah learning. Afterward, he enlisted in the IDF, where he served for three years.  

 

Sergeant First Class Amichai Oster davening with tefillin just hours before he was killed. Courtesy of the Oster family

 

Upon completing his army service, Amichai wanted to pursue his interest in travel. “He enjoyed exploring the length and breadth of Israel,” says Marcy. His dream was to travel to the Far East, which he did. While Amichai was in Vietnam, the Osters received an email from an Israeli friend of a businessman who had met Amichai during his travels. “We were proud to hear Amichai had the same ideals and practices in the Far East as he had in Israel,” says Marcy. “We were told he was a ‘walking kiddush Hashem.’ He put on tefillin each morning, davened, ate kosher and kept Shabbat. When the group he traveled with told him they would like to continue hiking on Shabbat, he would tell them to go ahead and he would catch up with them. Inevitably, the group would decide to find a Chabad and spend the Shabbat together. Amichai’s quiet, dedicated example set the tone for others to follow.” 

 

A Spiritual Mission 

Yeshivat Bnei David, in the settlement of Eli, has lost a disproportionate number of students since the Swords of Iron War began. A religious pre-army mechinah, renowned for its high number of graduates who enlist in combat units in the IDF, Bnei David lost twenty-three of its alumni. As of this writing, since October 7, Israel lost more than 787 soldiers, officers and reservists. 

Regarded as “a West Point for Religious Zionists,” Bnei David, with about 1,200 students currently enrolled in its programs, is said to “build your soul,” giving soldiers not only physical training but more importantly, a sense of spiritual mission.  

 

Rabbi Eli Sadan, rosh yeshivah of the Bnei David mechinah (army preparatory academy), looking at the photos of his students who have sacrificed their lives defending Am Yisrael.

“Being a Jew means you are willing to give up your life,” says Rabbi Eli Sadan, the venerated rosh yeshivah of Bnei David, in a video entitled “In Your Blood You Shall Live: Emunah and Remembrance,” co-produced by Bnei David and the OU (https://www.ou.org/yom-hazikaron-2024/). In 2016, Rabbi Sadan, who founded the yeshivah in 1988, was awarded one of Israel’s highest honors, the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the State. Like his rebbeim at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and Rabbi Zvi Thau, Rabbi Sadan firmly believes that the founding of the State of Israel marks the beginning of Redemption. Consequently, defending the state is a mitzvah, a historic and religious mission.  

This echoes the ideas expressed by Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, who wrote (“The Ideology of Hesder,” Tradition 19:3 [fall 1981]):  

We advocate [young men joining hesder] because we are convinced that, given our circumstances—would that they were better—military service is a mitsvah, and a most important one at that. Without impugning the patriotism or ethical posture of those who think otherwise, we feel that for the overwhelming majority of b’nei torah, defense is a moral imperative. 

“We are living in a generation in which responsibility for the security of the State of Israel and her citizens is a supreme value,” said Rabbi Sadan in an interview posted on the Bnei David website. “We are writing the most meaningful moments in the history of our people and the whole world.”  

 

Tzvika Lavi 

One of the alumni of Bnei David who lost his life in the Gaza war this year was Master Sergeant Tzvika Lavi. 

A resident of the Binyamin region town of Eli, Tzvika was thirty-one years old when he was badly injured in one of the ongoing battles in Gaza on November 20, 2023; he succumbed to his injuries on Chanukah. He left behind parents, four siblings, his wife Talia and three children under the age of five.  

“Physically, he left, but spiritually he remains with us,” says Talia.   

Those who fall for the city of Jerusalem are not called fallen.

. . . There are no fallen . . . only those who cleave to Hashem. 

Tzvika was a social worker working in a hostel in Rosh HaAyin for individuals with mental health problems and addictions. Working there for two and a half years, he touched the hearts of so many patients and colleagues that after he was killed, the facility was renamed in his honor and is now called “Beit Lavi Hostel.” 

“Family was important to him,” says Talia, “and before Shabbat candle-lighting in our home, Tzvika made sure to have quiet time to spend with our children. His goal was to be a better person every day, and we try to follow in his footsteps.” 

“You should not worry about me,” Tzvika told his mother, Miriam, in her last conversation with him. “It’s not about me; it’s about our country. We will get through this.” 

After he was injured, he was transferred to the Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod, where he was sedated and ventilated for three weeks until Chanukah, when he passed away. “After he was injured, we prayed and felt the comfort of prayers for his recovery from people all over the world,” says Talia. “However, on Chanukah [the doctors told us], we needed to say goodbye. As our family stood around Tzvika, we sang the songs from seudah shelishit that he loved. I had the zechut to say Shema in his last moments.” Talia feels a deep sense of gratitude to Hashem that she had time to say goodbye, giving her a sense of closure. 

  

Talia, the wife of Tzvika Lavi, says her late husband used to make sure to have quiet time before Shabbat candle-lighting to spend with his children. Seen here, Talia holding one of her and Tzvika’s three children.

 

“At first, when he was injured and lying in the hospital, I envisioned his recovery and told myself he would be okay. Once he died, I realized that the ‘okay’ would be a different sort of okay. Yet I knew it would be good,” she says.  

Talia says their community is building a synagogue in Tzvika’s memory.  

The eldest of four siblings, Tzvika was born after his parents went through many years of fertility treatments. The Puah Institute, which is based in Israel and helps couples with fertility problems, is naming a new psychology program in Tzvika’s honor for those going through treatments.  

“There are no fallen soldiers” 

Like Amichai and Tzvika, many young Religious Zionists who serve in the IDF are infused with a love of Torah, the Land of Israel and the Jewish people. In fact, a significant number of them go on to become career officers who devote many years of their lives to exemplary military service. “Approximately fifty percent of our alumni have served as IDF officers in fighting units and elite commando units,” says Lior Shtul, CEO, Bnei David. Many distinguished fallen soldiers are among Bnei David alumni, including Emmanuel Moreno, a member of Sayeret Matkal, an elite IDF unit, who was killed in the 2006 Lebanon War and has been compared to Bar Kochba. 

How does the yeshivah view the enormous sacrifice—more than twenty precious alumni since October 7? This is the price we have to pay, they maintain. “The Land of Israel is acquired through tribulations,” explains Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, one of the founders and co-directors of Bnei David, in a video on the yeshivah website. “This tribulation [the latest war] is of love, not punishment. This is a process of growth. We grow from adversity.” 

In the Religious Zionist worldview, soldiers who die al kiddush Hashem are not just viewed as military heroes—they are spiritual heroes.  

Friends and fellow soldiers mourn the loss of Master Sergeant Tzvika Lavi, one of Israel’s fallen defenders.

 

When we talk about soldiers who give their lives, we use the word “nofel,” one who has fallen. But, says Rabbi Levenstein, this is incorrect. Those who put their lives on the line for the Jewish people are elevated to the highest levels. “Those who fall for the city of Jerusalem are not called fallen. Those who fight for Jerusalem are cleaving to Hashem. There are no fallen . . . only those who cleave to Hashem.”  

Captain Ori Shani 

Hundreds of bereaved families in Israel feel strongly about the need to attain victory in the current war and eliminate Hamas. They feel their loved ones went to battle with a goal, and they want that goal fulfilled.  

One of the major voices representing these families is the HaGevurah Forum, which represents bereaved families of soldiers, led by Rabbi Yehoshua Shani of Kiryat Arba, chairman of the Forum and himself a bereaved parent, father of Captain Ori Shani. 

A platoon commander in the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade, Captain Shani, twenty-two years old, was killed in a battle near Kibbutz Kissufim on October 7. “His men embodied the best and he loved them,” remembers Rabbi Shani. “He worked them very hard so they would develop their bodies, their minds and their skills. They were ready for war and fought valiantly.” 

We are living in a generation in which responsibility for the security of the State of Israel and her citizens is a supreme value . . . We are writing the most meaningful moments in the history of our people and the whole world. 

He and his team were heralded for their incredible bravery, and they are credited with saving the lives of many and neutralizing more than thirty-five terrorists in the aftermath of the Simchat Torah attack. They fought relentlessly until they were surrounded; they were running out of ammunition and were nearly without water.  

“After three hours of fighting, the men were exhausted. To boost their spirits, even with terrorists still around, Ori took a selfie with his soldiers,” says his father. After they killed numerous terrorists, he led his soldiers into the Kissufim base to replenish their ammunition, when he was fatally struck by shrapnel. Posthumously, he was promoted from the rank of lieutenant to captain. 

As an officer in an elite unit, Ori had a goal not only to bring his men to the highest level of training, but also to help deepen their understanding of Zionism, their faith and their love of Eretz Yisrael. He used to spend Friday afternoons with his wife Miriam and young son traveling all across Israel before Shabbat to the homes of the men in his unit to establish a deep personal connection with them.  

After his death, Miriam brought his parents a folder in which Ori would write down his goals, dreams and views on the national situation. “His writings help us cope and give us strength,” says Rabbi Shani.  

Ori had been a lover of books and was especially interested in military history. In his memory, Rabbi Shani and his wife, Shulamit, are establishing a children’s library at Nof Harim elementary school in Modi’in, which their grandchildren attend.  

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook once wrote: “Great wars quicken the footsteps of Mashiach and advance the redemption of Israel. Because uprooting tyrants and the triumph of good over evil prepare the world for the great light of Israel.” 

This belief continues to give many bereaved families the strength to carry on.  

“We paid a big price,” says Rabbi Shani. “We lost our youngest son. But because of our son and the other soldiers fighting evil, we will have a better world.” 

 https://jewishaction.com/jewish-world/israel/defenders-of-the-jewish-people-remembering-israels-fallen-soldiers/?