I continue to fly the Israeli flag. I am Roman Catholic and believe this: all lives matter. Human decency appears to have partially disappeared. But not in this house. Every single life is important and precious. Including the life of our rescue Labrador. Maybe we need a group that proclaims all lives matter. I think we might be called humanists. But I also think we are legion.
I don't know why the Nova massacre in particular is so especially wrenching to me. It's all horrific, but there's something unbelievably poignant about these confused young people sneaking off to their rebellious little rave like sheep to the slaughter.
Douglas' quote at the end is particularly poignant in light of what I hear Matt Walsh say so dispicably this week, that those who support Israel at this point should "really do some soul searching". He went on and on like this, essentially saying the old line that "if people hate you, maybe you did something to deserve it." Shame on him. Does he, someone in his position, not stop to think that maybe it's not that Israel has a PR problem, but that the entire culture has (once again) been captivated by the demonic spirit of Jew hatred, which always promises and never delivers? Smack-my-ever-lovin'-head.
Douglas: "It seems to be in the nature of many who support the Jewish state to imagine that if we refine our arguments, find a better way of explaining the history, or counter each piece of misinformation, we will be able to change hearts and minds.
But at some stage you have to admit that this tactic has largely failed. We may have the facts on our side, but the facts have become meaningless to so many."
Those of us who have done deep work about the Holocaust know that at a certain point, the question "why" (like the question of "why does no one seem to care about the facts) must cease, and one simply puts their hand over one's mouth in the face of the 1.5 million murdered children of Auschwitz. The same could be said for the lost boys and girls of October 7.
Thanks for this. Tragedy knows no boundaries--so I share the other side of this bloody story, lest we forget. (Source note at the end.)
The Story of Hind Rajab
On January 29, 2024, Hind Rajab was fleeing with her family from Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood when Israeli forces opened fire on their car near a gas station, killing her aunt, uncle, and three young cousins.
Hind survived the initial attack and spent three harrowing hours on the phone with Palestine Red Crescent Society dispatchers, trapped in the bullet-riddled car surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives, pleading for someone to rescue her as Israeli tanks rumbled closer. Her 15-year-old cousin Layan was alive initially and told dispatchers "They are shooting at us. The tank is next to us" before a burst of gunfire ended the call and killed her.
When little Hind came back on the line, she told the dispatchers she was drifting in and out of consciousness. "I'm so scared, please come," she cried. According to her mother Wissam Hamadah, before the war Hind had dreamed of becoming a dentist and loved the sea. After hours of coordination with Israeli military authorities for safe passage, the Red Crescent dispatched paramedics Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun to rescue her. Shortly after arriving at the scene, sounds of gunfire rang out and contact was lost with the ambulance crew.
Twelve days later, on February 10, 2024, when Israeli forces withdrew from the area, Hind's family found her body still in the car. Just meters away, the ambulance had been destroyed—apparently run over by a tank—with the bodies of the two paramedics inside.
Hind's mother, holding her daughter's notebook, pencil, and paper crown, said: "This is the most difficult feeling, to lose your daughter. This occupation did not have mercy on her."
The impact of Hind's story has been profound, inspiring songs, protest movements, and a film titled "The Voice of Hind Rajab" by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania that premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize.
This is just one story among more than 14,500 children reported killed in Gaza, with nearly 70 percent of verified deaths being women and children. > Source: "How 6-year-old Hind Rajab and two paramedics were killed in Gaza," The Washington Post, April 16, 2024. This Washington Post investigation provides extensive documentation of the incident, including timeline verification through satellite imagery and recorded calls with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Except for scale and the viciousness of the attackers—and a few details—Israel's decision to prosecute a war against Hamas is not different from Alexian Lien's decision in 2013 to drive his black Land Rover through those bikers. The bikers were probably "laughing" as they taunted Alexian and his family, but THAT cannot compare to the evil-joy the savages of October 7 selfied. While, as sad an event this may be for her and her family, Hind Rajab's story is unfortunate, it's a distraction. Hamas owns this, and all the other tragedies in Gaza after its egregious attack. October 7th was and remains the more significant testament to evil.
The point is simple: a six-year-old trapped with corpses, begging for three hours while medics—who coordinated safe passage with Israeli forces—were destroyed trying to reach her. This isn't a 'distraction,' it's documentation. October 7th was evil. So is shooting children and the paramedics sent to rescue them. Both can be true. Dismissing 14,500+ dead children as collateral to someone else's crime erases the humanity you rightly demand for Israeli victims. If we can't mourn all innocent dead without scorecards, we've lost the moral clarity needed to end this.
Your poor taste in sharing this, in a comment to this particular story, is like sharing an anecdote about what happened to the Germans at the Battle of Berlin after someone writes an article on what they found at Auschwitz. Truly, shame on you. This is not a "both sides" issue.
What you call “poor taste” is moral refusal to look away. The story of one child amid rubble does not desecrate the memory of others—it honors it by refusing selective empathy. To say otherwise is to mistake conscience for comparison. We don’t restore the meaning of Auschwitz by silencing Gaza; we deepen it by insisting that no human being is ever expendable. No wonder bloodshed and conflict are so impenetrable today. Because too many would rather defend innocence than recognize it.
You're completely missing my point. I'm not looking to "restore the meaning of Auschwitz." I'm pointing out that your sharing this one anecdote is the worst kind of "whataboutism". It does nothing to open the heart to the other; it only shows your morality to be equivocating. Respectfully, go have a long think. https://substack.com/@matthewnouriel/note/c-165096762
Israel shares endless “anecdotes,” burnished with self-righteous lustre, as much as Hamas or the Palestinians—though your link shows Israel the master of that game here.
Calling a child’s death “whataboutism” is not moral clarity; it’s permission to treat some lives as expendable. Equivalence says the crimes are the same. Universality says every victim counts.
If a documented rescue attempt “does nothing to open the heart,” that indicts the heart, not the evidence. Moral attention is not a zero-sum good. Demanding silence about one atrocity to honor another is how atrocities repeat.
Auschwitz is not honored by a gag order on Gaza. Memory that can’t bear another’s grief becomes a shield for power. The rule is simple: no exceptions.- Respectfully, go have another think, longer this time.
I continue to fly the Israeli flag. I am Roman Catholic and believe this: all lives matter. Human decency appears to have partially disappeared. But not in this house. Every single life is important and precious. Including the life of our rescue Labrador. Maybe we need a group that proclaims all lives matter. I think we might be called humanists. But I also think we are legion.
Isle of Palmso
I don't know why the Nova massacre in particular is so especially wrenching to me. It's all horrific, but there's something unbelievably poignant about these confused young people sneaking off to their rebellious little rave like sheep to the slaughter.
Douglas' quote at the end is particularly poignant in light of what I hear Matt Walsh say so dispicably this week, that those who support Israel at this point should "really do some soul searching". He went on and on like this, essentially saying the old line that "if people hate you, maybe you did something to deserve it." Shame on him. Does he, someone in his position, not stop to think that maybe it's not that Israel has a PR problem, but that the entire culture has (once again) been captivated by the demonic spirit of Jew hatred, which always promises and never delivers? Smack-my-ever-lovin'-head.
Douglas: "It seems to be in the nature of many who support the Jewish state to imagine that if we refine our arguments, find a better way of explaining the history, or counter each piece of misinformation, we will be able to change hearts and minds.
But at some stage you have to admit that this tactic has largely failed. We may have the facts on our side, but the facts have become meaningless to so many."
Those of us who have done deep work about the Holocaust know that at a certain point, the question "why" (like the question of "why does no one seem to care about the facts) must cease, and one simply puts their hand over one's mouth in the face of the 1.5 million murdered children of Auschwitz. The same could be said for the lost boys and girls of October 7.
Gosh, I didn’t know Matt had an episode saying that. Disappointing.
😢
Thanks for this. Tragedy knows no boundaries--so I share the other side of this bloody story, lest we forget. (Source note at the end.)
The Story of Hind Rajab
On January 29, 2024, Hind Rajab was fleeing with her family from Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood when Israeli forces opened fire on their car near a gas station, killing her aunt, uncle, and three young cousins.
Hind survived the initial attack and spent three harrowing hours on the phone with Palestine Red Crescent Society dispatchers, trapped in the bullet-riddled car surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives, pleading for someone to rescue her as Israeli tanks rumbled closer. Her 15-year-old cousin Layan was alive initially and told dispatchers "They are shooting at us. The tank is next to us" before a burst of gunfire ended the call and killed her.
When little Hind came back on the line, she told the dispatchers she was drifting in and out of consciousness. "I'm so scared, please come," she cried. According to her mother Wissam Hamadah, before the war Hind had dreamed of becoming a dentist and loved the sea. After hours of coordination with Israeli military authorities for safe passage, the Red Crescent dispatched paramedics Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun to rescue her. Shortly after arriving at the scene, sounds of gunfire rang out and contact was lost with the ambulance crew.
Twelve days later, on February 10, 2024, when Israeli forces withdrew from the area, Hind's family found her body still in the car. Just meters away, the ambulance had been destroyed—apparently run over by a tank—with the bodies of the two paramedics inside.
Hind's mother, holding her daughter's notebook, pencil, and paper crown, said: "This is the most difficult feeling, to lose your daughter. This occupation did not have mercy on her."
The impact of Hind's story has been profound, inspiring songs, protest movements, and a film titled "The Voice of Hind Rajab" by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania that premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize.
This is just one story among more than 14,500 children reported killed in Gaza, with nearly 70 percent of verified deaths being women and children. > Source: "How 6-year-old Hind Rajab and two paramedics were killed in Gaza," The Washington Post, April 16, 2024. This Washington Post investigation provides extensive documentation of the incident, including timeline verification through satellite imagery and recorded calls with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
and the point you are trying to make is . . . ?
Except for scale and the viciousness of the attackers—and a few details—Israel's decision to prosecute a war against Hamas is not different from Alexian Lien's decision in 2013 to drive his black Land Rover through those bikers. The bikers were probably "laughing" as they taunted Alexian and his family, but THAT cannot compare to the evil-joy the savages of October 7 selfied. While, as sad an event this may be for her and her family, Hind Rajab's story is unfortunate, it's a distraction. Hamas owns this, and all the other tragedies in Gaza after its egregious attack. October 7th was and remains the more significant testament to evil.
The point is simple: a six-year-old trapped with corpses, begging for three hours while medics—who coordinated safe passage with Israeli forces—were destroyed trying to reach her. This isn't a 'distraction,' it's documentation. October 7th was evil. So is shooting children and the paramedics sent to rescue them. Both can be true. Dismissing 14,500+ dead children as collateral to someone else's crime erases the humanity you rightly demand for Israeli victims. If we can't mourn all innocent dead without scorecards, we've lost the moral clarity needed to end this.
War has few winners, save the arms merchants.
Your poor taste in sharing this, in a comment to this particular story, is like sharing an anecdote about what happened to the Germans at the Battle of Berlin after someone writes an article on what they found at Auschwitz. Truly, shame on you. This is not a "both sides" issue.
What you call “poor taste” is moral refusal to look away. The story of one child amid rubble does not desecrate the memory of others—it honors it by refusing selective empathy. To say otherwise is to mistake conscience for comparison. We don’t restore the meaning of Auschwitz by silencing Gaza; we deepen it by insisting that no human being is ever expendable. No wonder bloodshed and conflict are so impenetrable today. Because too many would rather defend innocence than recognize it.
You're completely missing my point. I'm not looking to "restore the meaning of Auschwitz." I'm pointing out that your sharing this one anecdote is the worst kind of "whataboutism". It does nothing to open the heart to the other; it only shows your morality to be equivocating. Respectfully, go have a long think. https://substack.com/@matthewnouriel/note/c-165096762
Israel shares endless “anecdotes,” burnished with self-righteous lustre, as much as Hamas or the Palestinians—though your link shows Israel the master of that game here.
Calling a child’s death “whataboutism” is not moral clarity; it’s permission to treat some lives as expendable. Equivalence says the crimes are the same. Universality says every victim counts.
If a documented rescue attempt “does nothing to open the heart,” that indicts the heart, not the evidence. Moral attention is not a zero-sum good. Demanding silence about one atrocity to honor another is how atrocities repeat.
Auschwitz is not honored by a gag order on Gaza. Memory that can’t bear another’s grief becomes a shield for power. The rule is simple: no exceptions.- Respectfully, go have another think, longer this time.