Yom Ha’Atzmaut, I think this year I’ll do a little media round-up for ya’ll for Yom Ha’Atzmautיום העצמאות. I spent the day making balls and frying falafel for an impending big party that night. As I fried I had a plenty of time to reflect on the miracle of the nation state that was born from the ashes in a day.

A day when an ancient people, the Israelites declared to the world “We’re Home”. Thanks to the work of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda the Hebrew language had been revived. Some words were borrowed, especially technical terms, but many are pretty much the same. Modern Hebrew really caught on during the Second Aliyah, from 1904-1914.

So what had gone on before the Nation State reappeared?

Well, the Allies knew about the concentration camps far earlier than has been thought.

The Allied Powers were aware of the scale of the Jewish Holocaust two-and-a-half years earlier than is generally assumed, and had even prepared war crimes indictments against Adolf Hitler and his top Nazi commanders.

Newly accessed material from the United Nations – not seen for around 70 years – shows that as early as December 1942, the US, UK and Soviet governments were aware that at least two million Jews had been murdered and a further five million were at risk of being killed, and were preparing charges. Despite this, the Allied Powers did very little to try and rescue or provide sanctuary to those in mortal danger.

But they weren’t the only ones who more or less sat on their thumbs. One of my favorite writers, Jack Engelhard points out that while 400 Rabbis marched to Washington to talk to FDR about helping the Jews, the majority of American Jews sat on their thumbs. FDR by the way, couldn’t be bothered to meet with the Rabbis, he went golfing.

Eventually the war was won, and the camps were discovered and the prisoners were freed. Ohrdruf was the first camp freed by the Americans. Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton and Omar Bradley were there. The entire army present was shocked and appalled at what they found, what the reality was. If there had been any question in their minds as to why they were fighting, it was gone.

This is part of a cable he sent to George C. Marshall, the part in bold, I bolded.

… the most interesting—although horrible—sight that I encountered during the trip was a visit to a German internment camp near Gotha. The things I saw beggar description. While I was touring the camp I encountered three men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’

He then made the townspeople come view the camp, and help assist in burying the bodies. The townspeople all claimed they had no idea what had been going on, despite the smell that had been noted in the town. He also ordered many photos be taken of the camp to prevent people from being able to try to deny what had taken place. Doesn’t seem to have stopped them though, does it?

I would say the hope of Israel was beating in prisoner’s hearts. This is a recording made IN Bergan-Belsen after it was liberated. The BBC was there, and the prisoners knew they were being recorded. They asked to be allowed to sing on the recording. They are singing Hatikva, the national anthem of Israel, it means “The Hope”.

And so Jews then began making their way to Israel, they were going home. They began to work the land which had been let go into desolation and turn it in to a vibrant living land again.

This is a song I learned in school, my teacher says they sang it in the Kibbutzim, it’s called Boker Boker http://www.zemereshet.co.il/song.asp?id=337 it’s an actual recording and they are singing about different times of the day, but it all involves going to work. And she explained that they were just so happy to have a home and land to work, that they woke up happy to work the land and have their own, new lives. Something I should remind myself a few times. But it’s a very happy song.

And then in 1948, Independence was declared after the United Nations voted to partition the land. A scheme known today as the “Two State Solution”. It was rejected by the arabs, and they were much more honest about their motives then. They said they would drench the land in blood, and no compromise.

The Declaration, and I’ve been in this very room when they played a recording of the speech. I could not help it as I felt my eyes fill with tears. I have a copy of the Declaration in Hebrew. I’m such a baby I can’t quite read it without the vowel points though.

The Aftermath

Here’s some rare combat footage

Israellycool has some excellent old photos like this one.

But it’s all different now, isn’t it?

Turning once again to Jack Engelhard, I see that the German ambassador was in Israel recently. To meet with Bibi? No, he chose to meet with Israel’s enemies. Jack has informed Mrs. Merkel that today Germany’s actions will not be buried on the back pages of the paper, they are front page.

These days Israel celebrates the 69th Anniversary of its Independence. The Jewish State is not to be trifled, as were the Jews in the good old days.

Back then when you kicked us around you managed to get the cooperation of The New York Times and others to hide your dirty work.

The papers – led by the Times – let you off the hook as you rounded up, shot and gassed millions of our people.

They buried the news on the back pages.

Speaking of everyone’s favorite puppy pee pad, the New York Slimes, all the news that’s fit to lie about, they have changed so much! They recently ran a op-ed from Marwan Barghouti, a convicted terrorist guilty of murder, serving five life sentences. The Slimes didn’t find this information relevant as they ran his op-ed about why he was on a hunger strike in an Israeli prison. They listed him as a “Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian.” You can make this stuff up, but in the case, I’m not. Remember, we’re talking about the Slimes. After the outcry, it was added why he was in the slammer. Honestly, I’m kind of shocked there was an outcry. I didn’t realize anyone actually read the Slimes, I thought they just bought it when they were teaching puppies to piddle in a certain spot. So no, the Slimes is still/always evil.

To put things in perspective, Israellycool did a similar column from Charles Manson, yes, that one. He is listed as a “Singer-Songwriter”. And it is well worth the read. Actually, if you’re only going to read one of the columns, make it this one. You’ll know what Barghouti wrote and Israellycool does a good job of showing both.

And today, do all American Jews stand up for their kin in Israel? Um, not so much. Alan Dershowitz supported hillary, who would have continued obama’s anti-Israel policies. He recently talked with Moshe Feiglin about the future of Israel, as a Jewish state. The two had very different ideas. To Alan, Jews living in the Biblical heartland is a problem, and it being a Jewish state is kind of a problem.

If any nation ever was a living breathing symbol of “fastening upon the minds of the American people the belief, that ‘the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.’”~~ author Thomas Charlton it would be Israel.

I look at Israel, her people, the land, and the miracles that have happened there and it really makes me think about something I heard on one of my favorite radio shows recently. On Temple Talk they were discussing Pharaoh’s army chasing the fleeing Hebrews across a large strip of land that only a few hours earlier had been a sea. There are a couple walls of water on either side, your country has had frogs, locust, hail, darkness, boils, wild animals and all ya’lls first born is dead. The G-d of Israel said “Let them go”, you didn’t so you got all that and more. Now you think it’s a good idea to chase them across the strip of land in between two walls of water? Good idea had nothing to do with it. It was a deep hatred of the Jews. And it drives the enemies of Israel to do very stupid things, that oft times leads to their own demise. Germany has replaced six million Jews with how many muslims? And how’s that working out for them?

But, we’ve had Yom Ha’Atzmaut, and Am Ysrael Chai עם ישראל חי

The People of Israel LIVE!!!

Thank you G-d, for all your miracles and your love.