Not Fun At All: IMPORTANT UPDATE
War with Iran Day 18
War
Missile Damage in Holon, Central Israel
By Sunday March 15th nearly 20 salvos, both from Hezbollah in the north and Iran hit Israel. Experts say these salvos were coordinated strikes. And the bombardment continues, both from these two sources but also on them.
According to the Times of Israel, on Sunday March 15th, at least eight were injured in missile attacks as cluster munitions cause widespread damage. Also, the IRGC (Iranian Republican Guard Corps) threatened to ‘pursue and kill’ Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Experts say these salvos were coordinated strikes. And the bombardment continues, both from these two countries but also on them.
On March 16th Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that Iran had threatened to use “limited” nuclear weapons, only that it possesses highly enriched uranium that could produce bombs.
Pundits took Araghchi’s denial as a veiled admission of Iran’s threat. Speculation that if Iran launched even ‘limited’ nuclear strikes Israel could respond with a nuclear strike of their own with what is assumed is a large stockpile of nuclear tipped missiles.
The results of these strikes and counter-strikes could then escalate. The end result could draw in Russia and China and other countries with nuclear capabilities. One analyst said that if the fanatic Islamic Iranian regime saw it was at the end of their road they might take these drastic steps and pull Israel with it ignoring the damage to the rest of the world.
Rocket Damage in Bnai Brak
Meanwhile, in Bnai Brak, a man in his 60s was moderately hurt after a suspected cluster bomb munition struck an apartment building. In Ramat Gan, a man in his 70s was lightly hurt by a blast following another impact, and two women, aged 46 and 18, were lightly hurt in Petah Tikvah, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. And in the early morning, two people were lightly injured in Holon, in central Israel.
Part of an Iranian Missile that landed in a field
On Thursday March 12th, according to the Times of Israel, six salvos of Iranian missiles targeted Israel, from Eilat in the south to Kiryat Shmona in the north, sending millions of Israels into bomb shelters.
Two people were lightly injured in an earlier attack shortly before noon.
Israel has launched nearly non-stop attacks against Iran and Hezbollah.
However, neither seems deterred. According to Ynetnews, the IDF has hit 9,300 targets in Iran, 59 leaders killed, nearly 1,500 killed.
Veteran war correspondent Ron Ben Yishai thought the war was not being managed properly by Israel. Writing in Yideot Achranot, Ben Yishai said that Israel’s storied ‘national resilience’ has been damaged and blames the government and the army. This resilience means “…meaning the public’s ability to withstand difficulties and bear them with an understanding that it is necessary, and also with a sense of public competence. “
There are cracks in this resilience, writes Ben Yishai because, “We are not given factual reports on the state of the war, but are bombarded with clichés that create unrealistic expectations, the protection for a third of the population is inadequate, and politicians are exploiting us for survival purposes. So is it any wonder that we have lost trust?”
Ben Yishai wrote that those broadcasters, reporters and citizens posting on social media say that what Israel is hearing are “…all empty slogans, and in reality, the enemy facing us is holding its ground and cannot be overcome, and in fact all this war and the suffering we are enduring are unnecessary.
“…30% of the population does not have protected areas, that the reconstruction of the north is being carried out lazily while billions of shekels, coalition funds, are directly or indirectly financing (Ultra-Orthodox IDF draft) evasion. The real war is actually being fought on the home front and success or failure depends largely on the protection of civilians. When this is lacking, many people feel that we are helpless, which leads to frustration and resentment.”
Another reason for the emerging deep lack of trust in the civlian government and the IDF , according to Ben Yishai, ” …are the hollow, hollow, baseless declarations, especially by politicians. For example, when we hear the Prime Minister talking about “total victory,” or about eliminating the threat “for generations,” or the explosive and provocative declarations of the Minister of Defense, Katz, whose connection to reality is often weak to nonexistent…
“…all of these create expectations in the public, and these expectations, when they are not realized, deepen the uncertainty, the disappointment, and the desperate feeling that what was will remain unchanged… they usually do not tell us the truth about the state of the war.
“…Success in 21st century wars is measured by achievements that can only be seen many months and years after it ends.”
Ben Yishai thinks, “… It will probably take another week or two that will put the national resilience, which, as mentioned, is not at its peak, to a difficult test.”
Meanwhile, veteran political correspondent Nachum Barnea asks in Ynetnews that “… Is it possible that Trump doesn’t know for sure why he attacked?
“Did they forget to tell him that in our region it is easy to start wars but difficult to end them? The war began with a brilliant military operation, but without an exit strategy. Even today, Trump has no exit strategy.”
In an off-the-cuff line while boarding Air Force One Trump was asked when the war would end. “When I feel it (the time to end the war) in my bones,” he answered.
Like the blitz
Londoners Seeking Shelter In The Underground During the Blitz
The war with Iran has turned Israel into a version of London during the Blitz. But there are huge differences. According to Wikipedia the Blitz (English: ‘lightning’) was a bombing campaign by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy against the United Kingdom during the second world war. The Blitz lasted for eight months, from September 7,1940 to May 11,1941.The name is a shortened form of Blitzkrieg, a term used in the popular press to describe a German style of surprise attack used during the war.
At the beginning London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 days and nights. After October 1940 the Blitz became a night bombing campaign.
More than 40,000 civilians were killed by the Luftwaffe bombing during the war, where more than two million houses were damaged or destroyed almost half in London.
One Oxford educated professor who was a boy in London during the Blitz told the story of rushing with the family from their apartment to the London underground, used as bomb shelter.
The retired professor remembers the raid took place over Hannukah, and his grandfather worried he’d not extinguished the Hannukah candles in the apartment and left the underground to return to the apartment and put out the candles. Booms were heard in the shelter and the ground trembled. By the time the all clear had sounded the boy’s grandfather had still not returned. When the family emerged into the open air they saw why, the building had been demolished by a Luftwaffe bomb.
According to historic-uk.com, the total number of bombs dropped across the UK during the nine-month campaign is estimated to be around 25,000 in the Docklands area of London alone, with over 100 tons of explosives dropped on 16 British cities during the Blitz
In total, the Luftwaffe dropped approximately 100,000 tons of bombs on Britain during the war, though the bulk of this was concentrated during the Blitz period.
Israelis seek shelter in the underground
By contrast, according to Ynetnews, Israel experienced 50,719 sirens with over 450 missiles fired from Iran and over 650 from Lebanon. 3,400 residents have been uprooted around the country. 18 have been killed and 2,745 Israelis have been wounded.
List of Rockets fired from Iran. 2nd list from right top is number of sirens
Frequency of sirens by region
Chart showing frequency of rockets starting on left
The most frequent attacks took place between 10am to 16:00 pm. 30,000 of the sirens were in the Dan region.
And, according to Ynetnews, Israel has attacked 9,300 targets in Iran, killing 14 Iranian leaders, another 45 killed at various times, and killing a total of 1348 Iranians.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Motajba Khamenei
Britain’s Daily Mail reported that the new Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Motajba Khamenei was seriously injured during a bombing raid on the first day of the war. The Daily Mail reports Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah x Khamenei, and his appointed successor, had at least one leg amputated, suffered damage to his spleen, and was in a coma.
According to the Times of Israel, US President Trump said it is unclear if Khamenei is alive or dead. A new report states that a leaked audio file by a top Iranian official says Motajba Khamenei had just stepped out of the meeting in his father’s compound when missiles destroyed the building. Reportedly Motajba Khamenei was injured in the blast that killed his father, his wife and his son.
Ali Larijani
On Tuesday March 17th Ynetnews reported that Israel killed Iran’s de facto leader Ali Larijani in a safe house in Tehran. “Larijani is dead,” said Israel’s Defense Minister Yisrael Katz. Analysts say Larijani’s death is a major blow to the Iranian regime.
Ali Larijani, 67, was the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, and a brilliant strategist reportedly responsible for the order to kill 32,000 protesters. Larijani had been in the inner circle of Iranian leadership since 1981.
According to the New York Times, before the war broke out, Khamenei ordered Larijani and a handful of his political and military cronies to ensure that the Islamic Republic would survive not only American and Israeli bombings, but also the elimination of the entire senior leadership, including Khamenei himself.
Nasser Imani, a conservative commentator close to the regime, said at the time that Khamenei had a long and close relationship with Larijani. “The Supreme Leader trusts Larijani completely,” he said. “He believes that Larijani is the right man for this sensitive moment, because of his political record, his sharp mind and his knowledge. He relies on him for situational reports and pragmatic advice. Larijani’s role will be very prominent in a time of war.”
According to the Times of Israel, the defense establishment says that “Larijani may be perceived in the West as a nice and moderate man, but he is the opposite. He is a regime figure who ordered the killing of people and the attack on Israel. He is an arch-terrorist, and his elimination constitutes significant progress.”
Gholamreza Soleimani, the Basij commander and his deputy Kasam Kureshai were also killed. According to experts the Basij is an armed idealogical militia that is mobilized to defend the Islamic regime against its own citizens and that are trained use violence against their own people and to kill.
According to NBC News, Basij units operated alongside police and plainclothes agents, using motorbikes, live fire, and mass arrests to quell dissent. Human rights groups documented shootings to the head and torso, hospital raids, and internet shutdowns, with the Basij implicated in mass killings, particularly during the deadliest days of January 8–9, 2026
Last week, an underground compound was bombed where Jihad’s number two Akram Ajouri and senior figure Muhammad al-Hindi were staying. The senior figures who were targeted - and the Chief of Staff’s announcementIsrael targeted top Iranian official Ali Larijani in an airstrike in Iran overnight, according to Israeli officials. Larijani, a brilliant mathematician and philosophy professor, is reportedly nor running the country. The Larijani family is considered one of the most influential in Iran.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir during an assessment on March 17th that “significant elimination achievements were also recorded overnight, with the potential to impact the campaign’s achievements and the IDF’s missions” — in an apparent reference to the strike targeting Larijani.
According to defense sources.Zamir also said that recent Israeli airstrikes in Iran targeted Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Akram al-Ajouri and other top officials in the terror group.
Zamir also said that “senior operatives involved in terrorist activity from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria (West Bank)” were hiding in a safe house in Tehran when they were struck.
According to analysts, while President Trump says that negotiations are ongoing to end the conflict, these analysts wonder who the negotiators are talking to. Most of the leadership had been wiped out on the first day of the war and other leaders have slowly been eliminated. It is unclear, said one analyst, who there is left to make decisions.
Earlier, according to the Times of Israel, on Friday March 13th Israel said it had destroyed over 250 Iranian drones and dozens of launchers. This while the US said that US forces have hit 6000 targets since the start of the war.
Also, according to the Times of Israel, the US military said that it had hit abound 60 ships and 30 minelayers in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Central Command.
One analyst points out that during World War II, civilians were killed on both sides of the conflict. Berlin was subject to 363 air raids during the Allied bombing with 1.7 million (@40%) of the population fleeing the city. An estimated 120,000 Germans were killed during bombing raids in WWII.
And in Japan when the atom bomb essentially ended world war II, an estimated 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki. It is estimated that 38,000 were children. In the years following, many survivors developed leukemia, cancer or other side effects from the radiation.
But the bombings did end the war saving thousands of lives of soldiers and civilians in Europe and Asia.
Observers say that there is collateral damage in every battle and every war. As cold as this sounds, that is the cost of war. Israel is being bombarded by Iranian and Hezbollah missiles and almost always it is civilians who are killed or injured. This is not collateral damage, these civilians are the targets.
According to the Times of Israel, an Israeli military official says the IDF is not short of interceptor missiles and was prepared for a long conflict. This disputes reports in the US news site Senator that said Israel was running “critically low” on ballistic missile interceptors.
Meanwhile, Israel’s IDF chief of staff Gen. Eyal Zamir says the war with Iran can go on for several more weeks.
However, the war with Iran is now complicated by the Hezbollah terror group, an Iranian puppet, entering the fray by launching missiles and drones at Israel. This opens up a serious second front in the war draining resources from the fight with Iran.
Media reports are circulating that president Trump may end the war at any time.
According to Nachum Barnea, “Trump’s plan was to end the war in two days. He believed that the assassination of Khamenei and the security elite would lead to the collapse of the regime. The war began on Saturday: on Monday morning he would celebrate victory. That did not happen and will not happen soon. The Iranians understand that Trump is in a hurry to end it: time is on their side. To convince them that they are wrong, Trump is now talking about four weeks of war.”
North
Damage from missile blast
On Friday March 13th, a woman was moderately wounded by shrapnel and dozens lightly injured, in the Druze town of Zarzir in the Galilee, when an Iranian missile landed near her house.
Israel has responded with air attacks not only against Iran but now at targets in Lebanon. According to Channel 12TV Arab affairs correspondent Ohad Hemo the Lebanese government has so far been ineffective in preventing Hezbollah from attacking Israel.
Before Israel started attacking Hezbollah the IDF issued warnings to the Lebanese residents near the targeted towns and cities to evacuate the area. According to AP, in just 10 days, more than 800,000 Lebanese left their homes for safer territory. That’s one in seven people in that small country.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Yisrael Katz has threatened to take action against the Lebanese infrastructure if the government does not step up and stop Hezbollah.
Map of the northern border with Lebanon
Analysts say that Hezbollah has as many as 25,000 rockets and thousands of drones at their disposal. And that Hezbollah is not concerned that an Israeli strike may deprive most Lebanese of electricity.
Experts believe that defeating Hezbollah from the air is not feasible. Israel must put boots on the ground. As such, Israel has begun to put commandos on the ground in south Lebanon to push the Hezbollah Radwan forces back 9 km from the border to the Litani river.
However, Channel 12TV military correspondent Nir Dvori says that pushing the Radwan forces back to the Litani will not stop the missiles fired from inside Lebanon that are situation much farther than 9km from the border.
Tanks and APCs assembling on the border with Lebanon
As of now, the rockets arrive in seconds with no warning without time to seek shelter. Experts believe that sooner or later Israel will have to put boots on the ground in Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah. That is unless the Lebanese government doesn’t go after Hezbollah themselves.
Hezbollah is no longer seen as the savior of Lebanon, according to some pundits, but rather is now an albatross around Lebanon’s neck. However, according to Arab affairs correspondent for Channel 12TV Ohad Hemo there is a surprising number of Lebanese who support Hezbollah. Perhaps that is one reason that getting the Lebanese army to face Hezbollah has not yet born fruit.
On Thursday, March 12th, Israel announced they had destroyed a bridge over the Litani river that was used to move Hezbollah troops into Southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, reserve soldiers have been called up, again. And tanks and APCs (armored personal carriers) are lined up along the border. The 5,000 residents who stayed in the north are hoping that this time the IDF will end the Hezbollah threat once and for all, however experts doubt that is possible.
On March 16th the IDF sent two battalions into S. Lebanon to confront the Hezbollah forces and push them back beyond the Litani river, with the intent of creating a buffer zone from the river to the Israeli border. So far one Israeli soldier has been killed in the fighting.
Gaza
Tent near rubble in Gaza
Attention has shifted from headlines focused on fighting in Gaza, dismantling Hamas’ infrastructure, tunnel network, and munitions store room, to the fighting in Iran and Lebanon.
According to the Times of Israel, On March 15, 2026, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) engaged and killed a Hamas terrorist who emerged from a tunnel near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to recent reports, Israeli forces have been actively dismantling Hamas’s extensive tunnel network in Rafah, part of continued efforts to neutralize threats following repeated ceasefire violations.
According to Britain’s The Guardian “…The US-brokered Gaza ceasefire, which aims to demilitarize the territory, formally entered its second phase in January, but progress had stalled even before the joint US-Israeli offensive against Iran, and the spiraling conflict it has triggered.
Meanwhile sporadic fighting goes on. According to The Guardian, much of the fighting is now done by Israeli-backed militias.
Hamas, which controls most of the coastal strip where almost all the 2.3 million population of Gaza now live, is reluctant to fully disarm and Israel appears unwilling to relinquish its control over more than half of the territory.
According to The Guardian, pro-Israel Palestinian militia have launched repeated raids, clandestine assassination and abduction operations deep inside parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas in recent months, with new operations launched recently despite the outbreak of conflict with Iran.
The militia, which are all based in eastern parts of Gaza that are under Israeli control after a ceasefire came into effect in October, have received significant logistic support from Israel since last year but appear to have increased their firepower, allowing new and more aggressive attacks in recent weeks.
Israeli strikes in Gaza, which had averaged around 10 a day across the devastated territory over the last five months, have continued even as Israeli jets carry out bombing campaigns in Iran and Lebanon.
According to Ynetnews, IDF forces operated this week east of the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip and eliminated 20 terrorists who violated the ceasefire agreement. One of the eliminated terrorists was the deputy commander of the Nukhba force in Beit Lahiya who participated in the October 7 massacre and planned a sniper attack on soldiers during the ceasefire.
In addition, the Gaza Division located a rocket production site belonging to Islamic Jihad in Khan Younis, and an offensive underground tunnel route was destroyed in the Rafah area.
As part of the Southern Command’s activities in the past week, forces from the 80th Division also intercepted a drone that crossed from the east into Israeli territory in an attempt to smuggle nine handguns.
West Bank
Soldiers patrol in West Bank
More reports of Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers attacking Palestinians have made it into the news. According to the Times of Israel, on Saturday night, March 14th, Israeli security forces entered the West Bank town of Tammun to arrest suspected terrorists. A Palestinian couple and two of their young children were killed when security forces opened fire on their car. The Israeli forces claim the car had sped towards the troops.
Ynetnews reported that during the operation Israeli forces arrested three people. The security forces were seeking suspects who had thrown explosives at IDF troops.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in October 2023. During the same period 65 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight security forces were killed during raids.
During the same period, a major surge too place in Jewish settler extremists’ attacks on Palestinians. The IDF recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025. The total for 2024 was 682 incidents.
Red Sea
Red Sea Ship on Fire
On March 11th, according to the Times of Israel, Iran set at least 3 cargo ships on fire in the Persian Gulf shipping lanes. Iran has threatened to burn ships in the Persian Gulf and curtail the flow of oil to the world.
On March 12th, Iranian missiles hit 6 ships within two days. According to the Times of Israel on March 13th the Saudis intercepted drones targeting an oil rig.
On March 13th, two people were killed in an Iranian drone strike in Sohar, Oman. Another drone fell in an open area.
On March 14th, according to Ynetnews, four drones were fired at Saudi Arabia, four missiles at Qatar and some drones.
Meanwhile the US has ordered the evacuation of personnel from bases in Oman, and Iraq.
This while Iran has also begun rocket and drone attacks on neighboring Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Iraq.
According to the Times of Israel, on Sunday March 15th, the United Arab Emirates intercepted four ballistic missiles and six drones fired by Iran today, according to the Emirati defense ministry.
Since the beginning of the war on February 28, the UAE has shot down 298 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,606 drones, says the country’s defense ministry.
Six people have died in the attacks, and 142 have been injured.
On March 17th, according to Reuters, many of the Gulf Arab states, who were initially against the US war with Iran, are now urging the US not to stop the war until Iran is defeated. According to analysts, the Gulf states think that unless completely defeated the Islamic Republic would be left as a ‘wounded lion’ out to seek revenge.
The Gulf states are worried that Iran will still be able to threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it.
Antisemitism
Parents rush with children from Temple Israel
A horrific attempted attack occurred on March 12 in West Bloomfield, Michigan, when Ayman Mohamed Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel front door where children were attending school.
The car also caught fire after “something ignited” inside the vehicle. According to NBC News, Ayman exchanged gunfire with a security guard. The security guard was injured. Ayman died during the incident.
According to NBC News Ayman committed suicide after the attack.
The attack that took place at 12:19 pm was carried out by rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
According to the Jerusalem Post Ayman was seeking revenge for family members killed by Israel in a bombing raid in Lebanon.
Also, according to the New York Times, an explosion rocked a Jewish school in Amsterdam and a synagogue in Rotterdam was attacked.
And in Canada, gunfire hit two synagogues in Toronto’s Thornhill and North York neighborhoods.
Additional attacks took place in San Jose, California when two Jewish men were attacked for speaking Hebrew. And a neo-Nazi dumped a roasted pig outside a kosher restaurant in New York.
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) reported 136 global antisemitic incidents in one week, with 19.7% linked to the Iran conflict.
Politics
Judicial reform is alive and well. Despite the war, sirens, missiles and thuds of rockets landing, the stalwarts of the Judicial Reform are still pushing their agenda.
According to the Times of Israel, Simcha Rothman, chair of Israel’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee and a key architect of the country’s judicial reforms, continued to advance major changes to the judiciary into March 2026.
Meanwhile, a new poll by Channel 12TV shows that neither Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party - Led coalition, nor an opposition led by former Prime Minister Neftali Bennett garner enough votes to form a government.
According to the poll, Netanyahu’s Likud party would get 26 seats with former PM Bennett at 21 seats. However in a count of which parties can join which group the Likud-led coalition, that garnered 68 seats in the last election would this time only get 51 seats. This while the opposition would get 59 seats. Thus, neither would get the required 61 seats needed to form a government.
And there are those who are still seething over US President Trump calling Israel’s president Herzog ‘weak and pathetic’ and a ‘disgrace’ for not granting Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu a pardon even before this trial is finished for three felonies.
Editorial
Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor drew the US into the war the US public didn’t want. Similar to the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023 that killed 1200 people, wounded thousands and took 251 hostages. If Iran attacks the US, then that action will draw the US into a ground war hardly anyone wants.
The voices today against the war with Iran bring to mind Canadian/American Catholic priest Father Charles Edward Coughlin who had a pulpit near Detroit.
According to the New York Times, like some professional antisemites today like Nick Fuentes and Hunter Carlson who make a fortune as antisemites, Coughlin defended Nazi violence after Kristalnacht in November 1938 claiming it was justified retaliation for alleged Christian persecution by “atheistic Jews and Gentiles” and Soviet Communism.
Father Coughlin published the fictitious Protocols of the Elders of Zion in his weekly magazine Social Justice, a vehicle he used to spread virulent antisemitic rhetoric. Rhetoric that included conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the media, finance and the government. Father Coughlin also openly praised fascist regimes in Germany and Italy.
According to slate.com, Father Coughlin went to far. His influence declined due to anti-Nazi backlash, radio stations canceled his broadcasts, and in 1942 the Catholic Church and the Roosevelt administration forced him to stop non-religious broadcasts. Father Coughlin’s Legacy remains a stark example of how hate speech, amplified by emerging mass media, can gain widespread traction during times of crises.
Father Coughlin could serve as an example of how radical voices lead to extremism, dragging well-meaning progressives into a condemnation of Israel and the Jewish people. Some call the Jewish progressives ‘Self-hating Jews.’ But that is too simplistic.
Israel has shaken off the image of the passive, submissive, embarrassed Jews that made up the Jewish community in Eastern Europe and much of America. Israel became a symbol of fighting back. This attitude did not and does not go well with those Jews striving to assimilate into their host cultures. The attitude was, and probably is, don’t make too many waves. Don’t be too obvious. Act like a WASP and try to fit in.
Today, there are Jews who are quick to hide their identity out of fear or out of that desire to fit in. There are also Jewish people who join in the condemnation of other Jews as a means to fit in the host society, even if they don’t realize that’s their goal.
Where are the well-meaning liberals when issues of human rights come up that are not Israel based? Will the pendulum swing from harsh criticism and conspiracy theories, like those propagated by Father Coughlin, back to the realization that not only was he wrong, but on the wrong side.
How much of today’s antisemitism springs from misinformation and prejudice? Jews around the world are now hunkering down, hiding, some even cowering. Is that the way of the future? Have the Hunter Carlsons and Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes’ of the world tapped a source of gold that reaps them great rewards in public recognition simply by denigrating the Jews?
Has the virulent antisemitic statements made by people like them caused an outbreak of antisemitic attacks around the world? Or, as the facts show, are the attacks mostly carried out by Islamic fundamentalists or those with a grudge against some Jewish person that is the cause of that attack.
The recent attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan combines both of those elements. Ayman Mohamed Ghazali was an Islamic fundamentalist who lived in a large Moslem community in Michigan. He was also of Lebanese extraction and had recently lost family members in an IDF raid in Lebanon.
Coincidently, Father Coughlin, who retired in 1966, and led a quiet life writing an occasional pamphlet against communism, is buried near the same town as the attack on Temple Israel: Bloomfield, Michigan.
According to the news reports, the attack on Temple Israel was the fifth attack against Jewish religious sites in a month. In Father Coughlin’s time, Nazism was on the rise. Attacks against Jews was becoming more common. Like today. Coughlin encouraged a wave of antsemitism. But that wave eventually petered out. The sea grew calm again once the US declared the Nazis an existential threat.
Today, Jewish progressives are fighting the good fight. Gaza was a tragedy for the Jewish people when Islamic fundamentalists crashed through the border into Israel slaughtering 1200 Israelis and injuring thousands. But Gaza was also a tragedy for Gaza. A tragedy that by design was meant to destroy the Hamas terrorists and send a message that Israel would extract a heavy payment for anyone attacking the Jewish State.
The same is true of the Iran war. The war is justified. Iran is an existential threat. Should the Iranian regime succeed in making weapon’s grade uranium and putting it in a warhead of a ballistic missile Iran could accomplish what Hitler and the Nazis tried to do for years and do it with the push of a button. According to experts Iran has enough uranium to produce a dozen nuclear missiles. If they succeed, not only would Israel be destroyed with its 10 million citizens, but Iran would then also put Europe and even the USA at risk.
Denigrating the Iranian existential threat because of the bellicose boasts of both Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Trump do not lessen the severity of the Iranian regime’s intent, made public more than once, to annihilate Israel and then the Jewish people around the world. That these Jewish people live among Gentiles does not discourage Iran from pursuing their hate-filled goal. Nor does any collateral damage bother Iran.
The Jewish population in those host countries around the world are now dodging antisemitism by criticizing Israel and by joining in the progressive movements. Is their fear justified? Yes. Are their actions justified? Yes. Is there a solution? Yes. Remove the threat. Remove the enemy out to kill them.