Tonight will begin the fifth day of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. It is a very special time that celebrates God’s provision for His people during the time of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the second century B.C. For those of you whose Hanukkah knowledge might be limited to what you learned years ago in an Adam Sandler song, I’d encourage you to watch “The True Meaning of Hanukkah,” an eight-minute video in which I give the history of the celebration and its importance to my people.
On Sunday, celebrators of Hanukkah gathered on Sydney’s beautiful Bondi Beach. Suddenly, gunfire broke out and people began dying. Those who could, scrambled to flee the area in a scene reminiscent of the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas at the Nova Music Festival in Israel. Others just dropped to the ground praying that they wouldn’t be the next to get hit. Fifteen victims lost their lives at the beach, and another 39 were wounded. The oldest victim was an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. Ten-year-old Matilda was the youngest to be slaughtered.
The two animals behind the scopes of the hunting rifles were father and son. They were experienced; they were trained. Each victim, even little Matilda, could be clearly seen through the high-powered optics on their long rifles before they pulled the trigger. Because of the seemingly lackadaisical, or possibly cowardly, response of some of the police, the two hunters had free reign over their prey for an insanely long time. Their only interruptions came from brave bystanders who attempted to stop them, at least two of whom lost their own lives in the process. When the police finally did step in, the Pakistani-born father was killed, and his son was wounded. Now, the son faces 59 counts, including murder and terrorism.
Sadly, this is the consequence of a government and a culture that has let antisemitism run amok. Violent anti-Jewish protests are not rare in Australia, and law enforcement does little to stop it. Jew-haters are emboldened to strike out, even to the point of protesting at a memorial for the victims of the Bondi Beach attack. Antisemitism has been normalized in Australia, and I don’t believe the government has the will or the backbone to counter it. That is why I am calling on all Jews who live in Australia to come to your ancestral home in Israel. You will be welcomed with open arms, and you will finally feel safe once again.
Global Antisemitism Skyrocketing
Attacks on Jews are not limited to Australia. In fact, in the past decade, acts of antisemitism have increased by 893%. Just this past year, there were 9500 documented incidents. In the United States on Saturday, a mass shooting took place in a Brown University class being taught by Rachel Friedberg, a Jewish professor who leads the school’s Judaic Studies program. Two people were killed and nine others wounded. Two days later, Professor Nuno Loureiro, a Jewish nuclear scientist from MIT who had a sign supporting Israel in his window, was gunned down in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. One day later in New York City’s Crown Heights neighborhood, a man began yelling antisemitic slurs at a person before stabbing him and running away. On the West Coast of the United States, a house with Hanukkah decorations received 20 gunshots while the shooters yelled “Free Palestine”.
As I talked about last week, Europe is also facing a slew of antisemitic and anti-Christian threats and attacks. Violent Palestinian protesters disrupted a peaceful Hanukkah celebration in Amsterdam. Islamic terrorist plots on Christmas markets were foiled in Poland and Germany. Paris has canceled its New Year’s Eve celebrations because of the terrorist threat level, while Canada has announced to its people that an attack in their country is a realistic possibility. Back in California, the FBI in Los Angeles said that they thwarted a New Year’s Eve attack by pro-Palestinians who planned on planting five bombs around the city.
What is the common denominator in every one of these incidents and at Bondi Beach? It is the anti-God hatred of Jews and, more recently, of Christians. As I have often said, once they deal with the Saturday people, they’ll move on to the Sunday ones. While many are leftist idealogues, the vast majority belong to Islam, the “religion of peace.” Governments worldwide bought into the pacifistic lie and threw open their doors to Muslim immigration, allowing into their countries a patient army willing to bide their time before they struck. What we are seeing now is that the time has become ripe for the silent soldiers to find their voice and their weapons. Unfortunately, this is going to get far worse in Europe and America before there is any hope of it getting better.
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