A Chat with Ayman Al-Zawahiri April 3, 2008

The Washington Post today reposted the transcript of a webchat with Ayman Al-Zawahiri, one of the world’s most media-exposed terrorists, known for his being in cahoots with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda affiliates in Iraq and elsewhere.

In his chat session, al-Zawahiri is challenged by one person, who says he “challenges [al-Qaeda] to do that in Tel Aviv”, referring to the bombings in Algiers, which claimed the lives of up to 60 people. The organization blamed for the attack was the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which according to the BBC is “now known as al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb.”

Exasperated at the implication that “al-Qaeda has to do everything”, Mr. al-Zawahiri’s replied to his challenger by saying:

“Hasn’t the questioner heard that [al-Qaeda] struck the Jews in Jerba, Tunisia, and struck the Israeli tourists in Mombasa, Kenya, in their hotel, then fired two missiles at the El Al airliner carrying a number of them?”

The rest of the session is also notable, but this particular quote shows — to this man, killing Israeli tourists in their hotels in Kenya is a noble act. How are Israeli tourists “enemies of Islam”?

Unless he, of course, means to imply that all Jews are enemies of Islam — a case which, given the Qur’an’s speaking of “appointed festivals” for varying peoples of the world, seems to be textually flawed at best — in which case, he has effectively said the same thing as Hezbollah’s Nasrallah: every kippa-covered head is a target around the world.

Al-Zawahiri ends his chat by saying that even if Osama bin Laden is not ill as media has reported, he one day “must die”, but “All-h’s religion will remain until All-h inherits the earth.”

My main question is: why, to these people, is mass murder what All-h wants?

Jewish-Muslim Unity… in Kuwait’s Al-Watan! March 11, 2008

It’s about damn time. Baruch Hashem and AlhamduliLl-h for Abdallah Al-Hadlaq.

Writing for the Kuwaiti Al-Watan newspaper, Mr. Al-Hadlaq wrote a scathing opinion piece (Arabic) condemning the “terrorism” of Hamas and Hezbollah in last week’s massacre at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem. Mr. Al-Hadlaq, among other things, calls the attack “a barbaric murder of eight children who were engaged in religious study” and says that the “odious and inhuman terror attack exemplifies the extremist and inhuman path of the terror organizations Hamas and Hizbullah.”

Indeed, as the Jerusalem Post notes:

The writer goes on to assert that “the terror attack must prompt the free world to comprehend the magnitude of terrorism and its threats and to realize that a clear and unequivocal stance must be assumed against it. There can be no negotiations with terrorism that indiscriminately aims itself at students, women and babies without any consideration for the means and the targets.”

Contrasting the terror attack with the IDF’s operations in the Gaza Strip, the writer explains that “there is no link between a murderous terrorist act and the inadvertent killing of civilians in response to the firing of rockets by Hamas.”

The piece presented a stark contrast to the main current in the Arab press, which presented almost sweeping praise for the “heroic operation.”

The Google-translated version (which I’m sure does not do the original Arabic piece justice) shows Mr. Al-Hadlaq referring numerous times to Hamas as a terrorist organization, and speaking of the incident as ” الهجوم الارهابي /al’hajoum al’irhabi” — the terrorist attack carried out by the “evil Alliance” of Hamas and Hezbollah.

(On the other hand, here’s a contrasting opinion on Hamas from a local chapter of an American organization.)

Scathing criticism of Hamas — هجمات الارهابي (hajmaat al’irhabi), the terrorist organization — and calling terrorism for what it is — in defense of murdered innocent Jews engaged in the service of G-d. At least one person is standing up for human life — indiscriminately — in the face of a pro-Hamas media deluge.

A brilliant display of unity. Well done, Mr. Al-Hadlaq, and well done, Al-Watan. Kudos. May the anti-terrorist voices only multiply exponentially throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and the world as a whole.

“The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood” March 7, 2008

Only the most accomplished linguist could properly strike a phrase to accurately describe the carnage which occurred in Jerusalem’s Merkaz HaRav yeshiva today. Two Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists from the “Galilee Freedom Battalion” dressed as charedi Orthodox Jews, entered the yeshiva and one opened fire, showering the library with 500-600 bullets.
“The whole building looked like a slaughterhouse. The floor was covered in blood. The students were in class at the time of the attack…”
“The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood.”
– Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, ZAK”A rescue service
When it was over, 8 yeshiva students would be dead, another minyan of ten injured, and the two terrorists dead at the hands of a well-prepared yeshiva student, Yitzchak Dadon, armed with nothing but a rifle and a good vantage point.

Here’s why this story is so particularly disturbing to me — to the point of hysteria — a murder in a place of Torah scholarship says something more horrifying than anything which could happen on a bus.

It is written in Jewish tradition that the Melaveh Malkah meal, eaten by observant Jews at the conclusion of Shabbat, is done in honor of King David, who died on Saturday night, Jewish tradition teaches. It is written that King David knew that he had been decreed to have a short life span (only 70 years, borrowed from Adam’s life, who was supposed to live 1000 years), and that he would die at the conclusion of Shabbat, and it was for this reason that every Saturday night he would celebrate G-d’s keeping him alive by honoring the Shabbat one last time.

However, during the Shabbat, he would still take his own spiritual precautions just to be safe. He would engage exclusively in the study of Torah — because he knew the Torah would protect him from Death. Once, the angel sent to take King David’s soul was exasperated — he knew that he could do nothing while King David was engaged in the study of Torah — and decided to make a noise outside to catch King David off guard. The interruption of study was long enough for him to be able to take King David’s soul, and it was then that he died.

Torah is supposed to protect people. People aren’t supposed to die while holding their volumes of Talmud in their hands. “Holy books covered in blood”? How does this happen? Why isn’t the Torah protecting us?

Stories like this shake me to my core — things like this are supposed to be metaphysical impossibilities. In yeshiva they would tell us stories of how during Gulf War I, one of the most righteous heads of yeshivas would sit on the roof of the yeshiva and learn Torah continuously in hopes that the merit of their learning would protect the students, and those students would be proudly telling these stories, alive at Shabbos tables all over Brooklyn.

Forget the security — metaphysically, how could a terrorist walk into a room full of volumes and volumes of Torah and shoot down 8 people who dedicated a year of their lives to learning them? On the spiritual plane, what breach in our collective soul’s “security fence” was exploited to facilitate such death?

Israel is not Canada, is not Switzerland, is not Taiwan. Its security is not solely in the hands of its military and paramilitary forces, as it is written in Deuteronomy 11, Israel is “a land which the L-rd, your G-d, looks after; His eyes are upon it continually”. When something like this happens in a place of Torah scholarship in the holy city of Jerusalem, when yeshiva guys dedicated to Torah learning spill their lifeblood over the text of Gemara they were just learning, when a room full of prayers requesting life go so pungently replied to with a sharp “no” (on the physical plane) — then one who believes in G-d takes pause.

Hezbollah can not be the only reason this happened — though their murderous evil will be paid back to them by G-d eventually (Mishnah). We must put our minds, hearts, and souls into the spiritual reconnaissance mission we have been called upon — to find out where our “security breach” is, repair it, and come back united in tikkun, because apparently we are in dire straits.

“The Torah, Israel, and the Holy One, Blessed be He are One.” If the Torah is not protecting members of the nation of Israel IN Israel, what does that say?

We must ask ourselves “how did this happen” and prevent, both physically and spiritually, such carnage from ever happening again.

“Just Send Your Children to Die” February 13, 2008

This video of Mahmoud al-Mutawak just defies comment. It’s an excerpt of his pre-suicide bombing video, a video he did with his mother.

Her instructions to mothers throughout the Palestinian Authority? If you want honor, just send your children to die. Teach them “to love martyrdom”.

And this is what All-h wants?

Video: Dimona Suicide Bombers February 12, 2008

In the usual terrorist MO, the “martyrdom” video from the Dimona terror operation, was released on YouTube — apparently either by Hamas or under Hamas auspices — over the weekend. The suicide bombing claimed the life of one 73-year old woman, theoretical physicist Lyubov Razdolskaya, as well as injuring as many as 38 others.

Muhammad Hirbawi and Shadi Z’ghayar entered into the busy Dimona shopping center on that fateful Monday morning, had a coffee at Revital’s World Class Pizza (obviously patronizing Israeli businesses, a clear violation of the Israel boycott, but whatever), and detonated themselves using “improvised” explosives, an “explanation for the small number of casualties”, according to Ha’aretz.

So below is the “martyrdom” video. How is killing a 73-year old scientist heroic? How is it an undying show of solidarity with Palestinians, when his last action before detonating was to give money to an Israeli business?

These people are not involved in anything holy.

Anti-Muslim Propaganda at George Wash U October 9, 2007

Thankfully, one doesn’t see things this ridiculous on a daily basis.

This was the poster many George Washington University students woke up to this morning, according to the student-run Hatchet newspaper. The posters, describing the “typical” Muslim’s features as including “venom from mouth,” “suicide vest,” and “peg-leg for smuggling children and heroin,” were signed “the Young America Foundation” and mention Islamo-Fascism Awareness week, being held by YAF beginning October 19, which features several lectures on counterterrorism.When you advertise any event dedicated to exploring “Islamo-fascism” you’re not going to end up with the most diverse-minded people in the world backing your event. The murder of innocent civilians is effectively termed “terrorism” or perhaps “fascism”: attaching “Islam” to it only serves to foment the racism already too rampant in our society against Muslims. One can not call a blatant violations of the tenets of a religion the “upholding” of that religion. There is simply nothing Islamic about fascism.Nor is there anything American about this “young American” posting up this racist propaganda.

The University is presently gearing up for Iftar, an interfaith event later this week that to celebrate Ramadan - an event which “speaks to our university’s commitment to global cultural understanding and respect” according to the University President.

Some people just can’t stand understanding and respect. And so they do things like this.

These racists should be found and penalized harshly — but they should also have to attend Iftar. Hatred like this can only be counteracted through intelligent discourse, and since these racists are so incapable of such discourse now, perhaps they can be educated and enlightened…by speaking to intelligent Muslims.

About the Ahmadinejad Interviews… September 21, 2007

I dropped my opinion on the upcoming Ahmadinejad interview at Columbia University over at the Life Of Rubin blog. Mr. Rubin said that he was disappointed in Columbia for honoring an enemy of America with a keynote speaking engagement.

As an academic, I couldn’t say that I was bothered by Ahmadinejad’s speaking per se; in and of itself having a controversial (or even tyrannical) speaker give his viewpoint at an academic institution is not necessarily a bad thing. This is something I learned from my 11th grade English teacher. However, while I’m quite left — and, dare I say, “liberal” — I couldn’t quite stomach the air that the Iranian President assumed during his interview with 60 Minutes, in which he stated that he couldn’t understand why some Americans might consider his planned visit to Ground Zero insulting (and couldn’t believe some Americans believe Iran to be terrorist):

I disagree with you on the Columbia count. Columbia is not a place where political issues are supposed to come into play, it’s supposed to be an institution of higher education. IMO, Ahmadinejad, to academia, represents “the opposing viewpoint”. It’s “the other side of” the Bush policy regarding terrorist states, esp. Iran & Syria.

When I was in high school, my (Jewish) high school English teacher made us read a portion of the Communist Manifesto by Marx/Engels and was going to have us read a piece of Mein Kampf. We DID get the handouts of the Manifesto (though we never did a unit on it). The teacher almost got fired over Mein Kampf.

His defense was that he wanted us to see “all the viewpoints” and to hear the “story from every point of view”. He got to keep his job, but got a stern warning. IMO it is important to hear all sides of a story.

That being said, Ahmadinejad’s COMING to speak isn’t the issue. It’s the TIMING. Which plays into his colossal denial in the second piece. Forget the “not knowing it would be insulting” part. That might be a genuine naivete/apathy. He might not actually realize.

But to not even have an inkling that at least SOME Americans consider your country a terrorist nation? I mean COME ON. Does he not have contact with anyone with ACCESS to a TV? Does he not realize: Iran’s not on anyone’s A-list and hasn’t been for quite some time? Shouldn’t he have put 2 and 2 together after all those summits and meetings? Why did he put together 130+ countries to form a “non-aligned movement”? He doesn’t even think a FEW ppl in America might not like IRAN? AFTER the Holocaust conference and AFTER “wipe Israel off the map”?

WTF, President Ahmadinejad. WTF.

Hate News: Bigotry Roundup September 17, 2007

From this week’s Former Soviet Union Bigotry Monitor:

ROMA FAMILY SHOT DEAD. On September 10, a group of masked men burst into the home of a Roma family named Lyalikov in the town of Ordzhonikidze, Ingushetia, demanded money, and then shot to death a middle-aged couple, their two adult sons, and an unspecified number of children, according to a report by the Russian news web site Gazeta.ru. Police investigators told the press that ethnic hatred motivated the crime.

Other recent murders that have taken place in Ordzhonikidze include ethnic Russian and Korean families. Observers suggest that the killings are intended to discourage the return of ethnic Russians who fled the violence of the two Chechen wars.

PASTOR’S SON BEATEN FOR NOT PARTICIPATING IN ORTHODOX PRAYER. The son of a Protestant pastor was attacked in school by classmates following his non-participation in a Russian Orthodox prayer held on the first day of school, according to a September 6 report by the Slavic Law and Justice Center, which monitors religious freedom issues in Russia.

Pastor Aleksey Perov of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints Church (an offshoot of Mormonism) in the village of Gribanovsky told the Center that on the first day of school, a Russian Orthodox priest visited the first grade classroom that his son David attends and led the children in a prayer. Some of the other children noticed that David did not participate in the prayer, and they beat him up twice during recesses. Perov, who heads a small congregation of about 20 members, told the Center that many of his fellow village residents view his church with suspicion, calling him a “sect member” and a “traitor” because he is not Orthodox. He added that the public school will soon add Orthodox theology courses to its curriculum, a policy that has been implemented in five other regions of the country….

RACISTS ATTACK MIXED-RACE BOYS. A group of youths attacked two mixed-race boys in Ryazan while screaming “Sieg Heil!” according to a September 6 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. The previously unreported attack took place on May 22. The older victim lost consciousness after one of the youths shattered a bottle on his head. The attack ended when a woman passing by screamed for help and the youths fled. The victims were not robbed, increasing the likelihood that the assault was a hate crime. The victims alleged that a local hospital refused to treat them. They later reported the incident to the police. There have been no arrests…

ANTISEMITIC MESSAGES SCRAWLED ON JEWISH SCHOOL. Vandals scrawled antisemitic messages on a Jewish school in Ukraine, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported on September 10. Students at the ORT Aleph Jewish Gymnasium in Zaporozhe returned to school last week to find “Jews, get out” and “Death to Jews” spray-painted on the building. The incident was reported to the police. About 20,000 Jews live among Zaporozhe’s 800,000 residents. The ORT school has some 300 students.

To subscribe to the Bigotry Monitor, published weekly by the UCSJ (Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union), email bigotrymonitor@ucsj.com with the word “subscribe” as the subject of the message.

Domestic Spying 2.0 August 20, 2007

One Ohio resident calls it the beginnings of a police state.

Civil libertarians are disturbed, and privacy advocates are asking questions.

The Washington Post reported this past Thursday about the expanding use of spy satellites. The domestic use of spy satellites and surveillance materials is set to expand, says the Post, and includes some of the most advanced military technology:

The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers.

A program approved by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security will allow broader domestic use of secret overhead imagery beginning as early as this fall, with the expectation that state and local law enforcement officials will eventually be able to tap into technology once largely restricted to foreign surveillance…

But the program, described yesterday by the Wall Street Journal, quickly provoked opposition from civil liberties advocates, who said the government is crossing a well-established line against the use of military assets in domestic law enforcement.

Although the federal government has long permitted the use of spy-satellite imagery for certain scientific functions — such as creating topographic maps or monitoring volcanic activity — the administration’s decision would provide domestic authorities with unprecedented access to high-resolution, real-time satellite photos.

Among other things deemed necessary by state and local law enforcement, spy satellites will be called in — granted, not until 2008 — to help with border security and disaster recovery.

The Washington Post ran a story on August 1st entitled “NSA Spying Part of Broader Effort”, drawing attention to the fact that “the warrantless surveillance of e-mails and phone calls that Bush confirmed in December 2005″ was actually only the publicly revealed part of a larger program:

In a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), [Intelligence Chief Mike] McConnell wrote that the executive order following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks included “a number of . . . intelligence activities” and that a name routinely used by the administration — the Terrorist Surveillance Program — applied only to “one particular aspect of these activities, and nothing more.”

“This is the only aspect of the NSA activities that can be discussed publicly, because it is the only aspect of those various activities whose existence has been officially acknowledged,” McConnell said.

The Seattle Times gives a practical example of what new domestic spying legislation could mean for an average American:

New surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond eavesdropping to include — without court approval — certain types of physical searches of U.S. citizens and the collection of their business records, Democratic congressional officials and other experts said…

The updated legislation, signed by President Bush on Aug. 5, gives the government leeway to intercept, without warrants or court oversight, communications between foreigners that are routed through equipment in the U.S., provided that “foreign-intelligence information” is at stake…

Several legal experts said that by redefining “electronic surveillance,” the new law…indirectly giv[es] the government the power to use intelligence-collection methods far beyond eavesdropping that previously required court approval if conducted inside the United States. These new powers include the collection of business records, physical searches and “trap-and-trace” operations, analyzing specific calling patterns.

For instance, the legislation would allow the government, under certain circumstances, to search the business records of an American in Chicago without a warrant if it asserts that the search concerns its surveillance of a person who is in Paris, Democratic congressional aides and experts said.

National Intelligence Director McConnell insisted that “all foreign intelligence targets in touch with Americans…should be subjected to surveillance without warrants” and that even makes the ever-videotaped British fear US surveillance.

Americans are accepting and embracing more and more surveillance, more and more of those ever-so-slight infractions in privacy and civil liberties, in exchange for roughly the same amount of security. We don’t even know the full extent of the domestic surveillance program currently in effect. What was it that was said about the people who give up freedom for temporary security?

Oh yeah….

Former White House Official Warns of “Another 9/11″ August 16, 2007

I received via email today a link to 911blogger, a website dedicated to the ongoing investigation of events surrounding 9/11. The 911blogger piece, entitled “Russian News Agency: ‘White House preparing to stage new September 11 - Reagan official’” links to a Russian news article, originally posted on RIA Novosti on July 20th.Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under former president Reagan, blasted an Executive Order released by the White House on July 17 on a Thom Hartmann radio program as being a move toward unchecked power on the part of the President. To quote the piece, the Executive Order “allow[s] the White House to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies and giv[es] the government expanded police powers to exercise control in the country.”

The Raw Story, a progressive news blog, tells how Thom Hartmann began that week’s show:

Thom Hartmann began his program on Thursday by reading from a new Executive Order which allows the government to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies.

He then introduced old-line conservative Paul Craig Roberts — a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan who has recently become known for his strong opposition to the Bush administration and the Iraq War — by quoting the “strong words” which open Roberts’ latest column: “Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.”

In the referenced Counterpunch.org column, Roberts notes:

Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of “executive orders” that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency. Recent statements by Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, former Republican senator Rick Santorum and others suggest that Americans might expect a series of staged, or false flag, “terrorist” events in the near future….

William Norman Grigg recently wrote that the GOP is “praying for a terrorist strike” to save the party from electoral wipeout in 2008….If the Bush administration wants to continue its wars in the Middle East and to entrench the “unitary executive” at home, it will have to conduct some false flag operations that will both frighten and anger the American people and make them accept Bush’s declaration of “national emergency” and the return of the draft.

(Granted, Chertoff clarified his statement saying that he wasn’t reacting to specific intelligence. But there’s still that ‘gut feeling’.) Calling the creation of a police state in America was “in the works”, Roberts also said:

“The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists … are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events,” Roberts continued. “Chertoff has predicted them. … The National Intelligence Estimate is saying that al Qaeda has regrouped. … You have to count on the fact that if al Qaeda’s not going to do it, it’s going to be orchestrated.“

The full audio to the Thom Hartmann radio program is available here.

These statements, which did not receive coverage in most mainstream news outlets in America or Western Europe, was run not only in the Russian RIA, but also in Kazakhstan’s news outlet Kazinform.

In a lengthy op-ed piece in the Baltimore Chronicle, columnist Ted Lang speaks of Executive Branch power as being that which the Founding Fathers would have considered among their worst nightmares, and opines:

There is absolutely no other way of dealing with this American domestic and massive international crime wave than by the immediate and total impeachment of both Vice President Richard Cheney and President George Bush. For nothing that is political can escape the massive totalitarian ruination that Cheney-Bush has brought forth.

Similar sentiments were voiced in the Valley Advocate.

While staging a terrorist attack on American soil would not be out of the realm of possibility for the present right-wing cabal, one can only hope that humanity (and respect for the thousands of American lives which would be lost in such a “staged” event) would override power and politics.

One can only hope. May G-d help us.

Neo-Nazi Execution Video Surfaces in Russia August 14, 2007

From the British Telegraph.co.uk:

A previously unknown Russian nationalist group has posted a video on the internet showing the execution of two Muslim men, prompting fears that neo-Nazis are beginning to ape the techniques used by Islamic extremists in Iraq.

The footage surfaced on the Russian version of the popular social networking website LiveJournal over the weekend. It was quickly taken down.

The three-minute video, titled “Execution of a Tajik and a Dagestani”, begins with two men kneeling before a masked extremist in combat fatigues. Apparently unprompted, they mumble that they have been taken hostage by “Russian Nationalist Socialists”.

The masked man then uses a knife to decapitate one of his prisoners in a grim sequence lasting 90 seconds.

WTF. And the disgusting thing is that this is not happening in a vacuum. Anti-Semitism is also on the rise in Russia. What’s next, beheaded Jews (G-d forbid)?

The Telegraph also notes that “ethnic minorities in Russia have risen dramatically in recent years.” This is a disturbing trend, and is exacerbated by often lenient criminal policies when it comes to neo-Nazis. Few perpetrators have been brought to justice.

We could very well be seeing the beginning of a serious problem in Eastern Europe when it comes to racism. Very serious. But were a genocidal worst-case scenario to erupt right now, the US would be sorely strapped militarily and possibly, Heaven forbid, logistically unable to act.

Words from my Rav on the Iraq Study Group December 8, 2006

So my rabbi, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Etzion, which I continually laud for its integrated approach to Torah and life, sent me a number of emails. My rabbi I consider to be the “voice of Torah” on most issues, and I take his opinion quite seriously.

However, he is also a Republican. Many times we disagree quite fundamentally, and on some things, though I struggle, I find myself virtually unable to defer to his generally wiser point of view.

On this, my rav is completely correct — far more correct than I could have even imagined — and I apologize to him and G-d for not having taken the words of my teachers more seriously.

My rav sent me in an email:

One of the recommendations of the Baker report is the right of the Palestinians to return -in other words the destruction of Israel.

did any of you call or email or both (much better) to any of the right wing radio shows ? probably no !

did any of you email or call or both (much better) your Senators? probably no !

did any of you email or call or both (much better) your Statesmen? probably no !

did any of you email or call or both (much better) your Friends and family about this ? probably no !

DO YOU CARE? DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE JEWISH STATE? DO YOU CARE ABOUT JEWS? DO YOU EVER WANT TO GO TO VISIT ISRAEL? DO YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO GO TO THE KOTEL? DO YOU WANT TO CARY A YELLOW BADGE ? DO YOU ALWAYS SAY “I DON’T KNOW HOW COULD THEY ………….DURING THE SHOAH? OR IS IT ALL ABOUT YOU AND ABOUT THE NOW! CAN’T YOU SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL (OR AS IT SEEMS FROM BAKER’S REPORT) ? IT IS WRITTEN WITH ……..YOUR BLOOD ! WAKE UP

When your rosh yeshiva sends you something like this, you click.

And what I began to find, I find increasingly disturbing.
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