Pre Rosh Hashana is a busy time. There’s the shopping and the big discussions of who will eat with who, first night , second night. Will go to that Shul or that Shul, shall we invite the neighbours , is the second fridge working, but the biggest and most important part of the holiday is to search our hearts and to send greetings and messages to family and friends.
It starts perhaps a week before , when people start to say Shana Tova and Chag Sameach and the closer we get to the holiday the more messages we send and receive even to random strangers standing in line in the supermarket- everyone is wishing everyone a sweet new year as they start to think about those they have wronged and to make amends for any bad deeds.
This time of the year we know who our friends are as they are sending us messages.
Israel is facing a torrid time as those who she thought were her friends openly show they are no longer friends, as they send messages of support to Israel’s enemies who have vowed to repeat October 7th.
They have conveniently forgotten that in 2005 Israel vacated Gaza and took the living by force, and raised the dead, so the Palestinians could have self determination in an area that had no Jews with no occupation, as a blue print for a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel . There was no blockade, and a vibrant agricultural and flower industry was left intact to give them a head start in this exciting new project.
With bitter tears and sadness we all know how badly that enterprise has ended ! Decades of rockets fired indiscriminately into Israel, suicide bombers who planted themselves among children and civilians.
Israel initiated a blockade to try to stop Hamas importing more weapons. Hamas proudly told us how they would rip out our hearts and eat them, and openly advertised their solid commitment to destroy the state of Israel.
For seven hours on October 7th, they rampaged through the Gaza envelope communities carrying out their threats, cutting, burning and raping the old and young alike . Broadcasting their atrocities with pride while kidnapped over 200 people, 59 returned in boxes and 48 still unaccounted for.
The cowardly leader of the UK , once a staunch ally of Israel has sent a Rosh Hashana message loud and clear, placing conditions only on Israel to bring about a ceasefire, not mentioning the hostages and granting Hamas legitimacy by his upcoming recognition of a Palestinian State. A State led by an internationally prescribed terrorist group, with no borders, no currency and frankly no future as its birth is an abortion of any road to peace.
Starmer like many world leaders has thrown away morality, and has made a decision only to try to cling to his faltering power by appeasing the extremists and Muslim voters. Shame on him, many people expected better and thought he was a man of principles. Britain tried appeasement once before and that didn’t work out too well.
No one expected better of Macron, as he is a clear anti semite and his actions and words show just how much he despises Israel. France has long run into the embrace of the devil, raising its while flag to the forces of evil. Spain led the world in antisemitism with the inquisition standing side by side in history with the Holocaust .
Much of the world has changed since those days, and now though blood, sweat and tears , the Jews have a State.
Israel has an army, an airforce and a navy which are all the envy of the world. Israel has a super thriving economy and a tech and scientific community that gives so much to the world, so the threats from those countries while extremely uncomfortable and upsetting cannot force Israel to hand a Palestinian terror state on her borders to the likes of Hamas.
Everyone is sick and tired of the war. Bibi is unpopular as no one really knows for sure if he continues in this war for the good of the country or to avoid an election which he likely will lose, but as no country has come up with a “day after” plan that guarantees Israel’s future security, the war continues.
Egypt has built the highest wall in the world as a border, as they are so terrified that their brethren may try to enter their land. Only Israel allows safe passage for the Gazan sick to third countries for treatment. The Arab world that screams and shouts about the Palestinians offers them nothing but empty words. Qatar enables the war to continue by giving shelter and hospitality to the very leaders who refuse to surrender or return the hostages : The only road to a ceasefire.
The people in Gaza are suffering terribly, but if they really want freedom, they must recognise who are their jailers. It is Hamas and not Israel. Israel only wants to protect and defend herself, but Hamas wants absolute power and control and the people have a responsibility to themselves to rise up against Hamas.
There are millions of Gazans, but they only seem prepared to fight the IDF and they have died in their thousand when attacking the IDF. Why are they not prepared to die in their thousands attacking Hamas who are using them as human shields, brought complete disaster on their heads, and have imprisoned them in this perpetual hell ?
So we enter another year in a war that caused the death of so many and brought only anguish and suffering to both sides.
A war started by Hamas, a conflict started and perpetrated for years by Hamas, supported by the UN who poured so much money into the strip that they built an alternative country underground and armed themselves to such an extent that even nearly two years later, they can still send a rocket to Ashdod today!
In their support the Houthi in Yemen fire drones and ballistic missiles at Israel virtually daily, but the world is silent while we have little children running for their lives as these drones literally pass before our very eyes in Eilat, buzzing like a large black metal bee packed with explosives to kill us.
It sounds like some weird and evil horror film, where the goodies have been ravaged by zombies and they are now the baddies. Sadly, it is real and evolving still.
Until the world is prepared to put down its hatred of Israel and stand firm against the evil, the evil can only grow and will eventually swallow up the likes of Starmer and Macron.
So while we still live in hope and light candles to bring light into the world and wish everyone Shana Tova, we have trepidation in our hearts and fear in our eyes for those fighting in Gaza.
The sorrow we feel for the hostages and their families cannot be expressed in words . We pray for their release as we set empty places at our tables this Rosh HaShana.
May this year only usher in peace and sweetness.
Kind Regards
Carolyne Davis