"I wish Netanyahu would let those hostages go!"

More weird things uninformed people say in the most annoying of contexts

A friend of mine and I have been going on almost weekly walks together for coming up on five years now. We discuss a wide range of topics. She knows where I stand on Israel, and sensible people would just leave the subject alone. Yet somehow it comes up.

“I wish Netanyahu would let those hostages go,” she said to me. It’s not the first time she’s said this. My reply was also not the first time I’d said, “You know, it’s not Netanyahu who has the hostages. Hamas has the hostages. Hamas took the hostages, started the war. “

“Well it doesn’t sound like he’s trying that hard to get them back,” she replied. I think she’s said this before too.

“I’m pretty sure he’s trying to win the war so that there will not be infinite numbers more hostages taken in the future,” I said.

Everyone I know disagrees with everyone else I know about some finer point of Mr. Netanyahu’s handling of the war and everything else. But at least most people I talk with on a regular basis are aware that Netanyahu is not the one who actually is holding the hostages.

It was interesting to me that this “I wish Netanyahu would free the hostages” thing came up twice within maybe a three month period. She lives in our absurd super-leftist neighborhood and as far as I know gets her news from NPR and the mainstream liberal media. She is probably a relatively accurate reflection of the generalized sentiments going around here.

It is ever so fashionable to blame Netanyahu, Trump, or the combination thereof for all the world’s ills. I was just reading my friend Mark Judge’s piece about The Washington Post, in which he quoted Post editor Sally Quinn being one of those “The world is ending people” I wrote about last post.

This was the quote from a New York Times piece by Quinn:

This spring Washington is a city in crisis. Physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. It’s as if the fragrant air were permeated with an invisible poison, as if we were silently choking on carbon monoxide. The emotion all around—palpable in the streets, the shops, the restaurants, in business offices, at dinner tables—is fear. People have gone from greeting each other with a grimace of anguish as they spout about the outrage of the day to a laugh to despair. It’s all so unbelievable that it’s hard to process, and it doesn’t stop.

Nobody feels safe. Nobody feels protected. This is a city where people seek and, if it all goes well for them, wield power. But today in Washington, those who hold—or once held—the most power are often the most scared. It is not something they are used to feeling. I lived through the paranoia and vengefulness of Watergate. This time in Washington, it’s different. Nobody knows how this will end and what will happen to the country. What might happen to each of us.

Those who used to hold power are scared. As Mark writes, he has felt real fear as reporters stalked him, his friends relatives and ex-girlfriends, went through his car, chased him out of town, and he lost all his jobs and many of his “friends.” I have felt real fear too, in circumstances that need not be described, as well as just not knowing how I would be able to pay the rent. Stuff that rich people don’t get. During the times when Mark had to live in fear, the elites of Washington were the cause of that fear, happy to sacrifice him to their cause. We’ve both had to struggle to survive, and I suspect that makes us both better writers and less likely to feel sorry for those who call for “defund the police” but live in nice neighborhoods far from actual urban violence.

When I first became friends with Mark, I thought of it as an example of how two people can disagree strongly on some things, yet agree on others, and still be friends. Outside of my family and very closest long-standing friends, no one has done more for me than Mark. And funnily enough, we now find ourselves on the same side more often than not.

Those of us who support Israel and oppose antisemitism find ourselves in a spot that feels awkward. It felt awkward to me at first, but it gets less awkward as more time passes, I see more that confirms what I suspected, and I make new friends. I do not like many of the things that Trump is doing, but I am very, very glad that he made the tough decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Liberals and isolationist conservatives can say he shouldn’t have done that from the apparent safety of their suburban homes, far from the missiles that were raining on Israel and the terror of wacko anti-Israel fanatics here.

The time since October 7 has been a terrible awakening for many. The period of relative safety is over for Jews worldwide. Those of us who aren’t Jewish but have the decency or sanity to stand up to what’s happening aren’t safe either. I wonder if those who were born Jewish but now loudly speak against the tiny only Jewish state in the world really think they will be safe behind their loud denunciations of their fellow Jews? What must it be like to be the special pet of the far Left?

[For the cynical who are wondering if I get anything for advocating for Israel, I can tell you no, I do not. I get lots of love from new friends, but this don’t pay. I still have to work at jobs that most of you would not even imagine doing to pay the bills and feed my cat. BUT! I am not owned by any corporation, university, political party or otherwise. I have the one thing so many of my well-off friends do not: freedom. That being said, if the IDF were to air-lift me a whole lot of Purina NF Early Kidney disease prevention dry cat food and some cat litter - generic is great - I’d be ever so grateful.]

It is annoying, however, to try to talk sensibly with people who seem to be persistently, intentionally ignorant of what is going on. At least I had a good laugh about it with a new friend who is better informed about Israel and the Middle East than anyone else I’ve met in person.

Onward I go… work on this, work on that, try to get the car air conditioner fixed, try to write even though stress eats away at my creativity. Loviefluffy had a vet appointment today and we will get her six month blood work results in a few days. She’s gained a pound, which is fine given that the fear would be if she lost weight. She’s a beautiful happy panther. Some neighbors were just admiring her through the kitchen window.

Now if only Netanyahu would send me some cat food… he is the one holding the cat food, right?

Look Mr. Prime Minister! This cat is one of the strongest supporters of Israel in North America! Check her out on this Israeli blue scarf!