Strange world we live in

13% of black americans think that the holocaust was a myth and the number is near identical with hispanics. - https://www.theroot.com/experts-say-theres-more-to-black-holocaust-denial-poll-1851112995

One in five young americans think the holocaust was a myth, according to a recent YouGov poll. https://www.timesofisrael.com/one-in-five-young-americans-believes-the-holocaust-is-a-myth-poll-finds/

One-fifth of US citizens between the ages of 18 and 29 believe that the Holocaust is a myth, according to a new poll from the Economist/YouGov.

The poll was conducted between December 2 and December 5, and among other issues, examined the beliefs held by US citizens on Israel, Jewish people and the Holocaust.

In response to the statement “The Holocaust is a myth,” 20 percent of participants between the ages of 18 and 29 said that they agreed with it, and an additional 30% said that they did not agree or disagree.

In comparison, 8% of people between the ages of 30-44 agreed with the statement, as did 2% of people aged 45-64. However, of those over the age of 65 who were surveyed, 0% agreed with the statement and just 2% said that they neither agreed nor disagreed.

Overall, 7% of Americans believe that the Holocaust is a myth.

Two thirds of Americans 18 to 24 believe that jews are oppressors. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/two-thirds-of-americans-18-24-believe-that-jews-are-oppressors/

Checkout the table from the recent Harvard Harris poll:

67% of the 18-24 year old bracket think that jews as a class are oppressors and that judaism is a false ideology. 31% of this age bracket believe that Israel has no right to exist.

This is disturbing to me. I do not consider myself an oppressor nor are the majority of the tribal members that I fraternize with. On the contrary. But somehow young people are convinced otherwise. I was reading recently where young progressives thought that Hamas had every right to kill babies and young Israelis at a rock concert because they were rightfully resisting an occupation. Even Greta Thunberg is on board. Jews are evil oppressors.

I don't know how you fight this sort of feeling among the youth and I am not quite so sure where it originates from although it is tempting to think that it might be a general brainwashing at colleges today from ultra progressive professors.

But if people hate you and think you are oppressive there's not a hell of a lot you can do about it. As always, try to treat people fairly and be the best person you can be but as that famous jew Jesus once said; resist not evil. It really does you no good, it is a battle you can not win and you sink to their level, like wrestling with a pig.

The holocaust denial is another matter. Thank god for the Shoah Foundation and the people that knew they had to start documenting the horror before the people started saying it never happened. Having lost a good chunk of family myself, this denial really hurts.

Are the schools no longer teaching history? Has the advent of fake news and discordian social media overwhelmed an honest accounting of history? 

I don't have any answers to any of this but I have a lot of questions. I can't tell you how many Jews I know have experienced overt anti semitic acts of late, I heard a hair raising story about comments made recently, and this was at a rich people party in Brentwood. Nobody is a racist until they are behind closed doors or in a comfortable space or at least that is how it used to be. Now people feel free to let the hate spew.

I could write a book on the subject, some of the crap I have heard. But I won't waste my time.

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A liberal Jewish friend sort of accosted me at Long Beach, said I had been suspiciously silent on Israel lately. I don't think that is true, my record has been pretty consistent for the last 14 years of writing this blog.

I said the acts of October 7th were entirely predictable and they were. I have said Netanyahu was an asshole and that he created Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority and needs to take responsibility for their treachery. I still believe that. I have said that neither Israelis or Palestinians look at each other and see human beings and I still believe that. I have repeatedly stated that Netanyahu was duplicitous and that his prior agreement to pursue a two state solution was bogus. And he just admitted it. I have said that the right wing religious settlers in Judea and Samaria were an unnecessary provocation. I still believe that.

God has no interest in being a real estate agent. Yahweh, Allah, Jehovah, Buddha, the idea of a spiritual dispensation or land grant is ludicrous to me. I hate the idea of living in a religious state, whether it be Jewish, Christian or Muslim.

Israel is in a precarious position and it is getting more precarious. Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are committed to their utter destruction. 

They lost 1200 people in an unprovoked attack and had hundreds that were held and remain hostage. And they struck back with a vengeance that snubbed its nose at any sense of proportionality and wiped out thousands of innocent people that had nothing to do with the attack, many of whom also hate Hamas.

When is enough, enough? When you turn the entire locale of Gaza into a parking lot, as Bibi recently suggested? That is the kind of inflammatory hatred that will make Israel's conundrum even more difficult, if that is at all possible. Genocidal. And the hamas fighter who facetimed killing ten jews and then bragging to his mother on the phone like they were potatoes and carrots, even more nauseating. "Mommy, I killed ten jews!" But that is how they are taught in Gaza. The present status quo of Israel/ Gaza is certainly unsustainable. No wonder it blew up. How could it not?

And the people that called for an immediate cease fire and a cessation of any revenge short of granting the Palestinians a state and not requiring them to give up the hostages, well the Israelis have a word for that too. Da fuq.

Crazy.

You don't reward people for acts of infamy and treachery either. We've all heard it. "The Israelis have a right to strike back, but..."

It is an interesting place to be. I am a Jew and a Zionist. Why am I a Zionist? Because after the diaspora, inquisition and holocaust, there was simply no where else to go.  As I have stated repeatedly, my grandmother had ten brothers and sisters in Wyszkove. One sister made it out, the other died a little while later from shrapnel wounds to the head. The rest were exterminated. 

We paid for the land of Israel, first with money and then with blood. But its creation did not exist in a vacuum.

The Arabs rejected numerous two state solutions, instead preferring to fight for everything. They lost. Historical fact.

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When I came back from Israel in 1976 I met an Israeli ex colonel who was working at a men's shop in Carlsbad. I had many Palestinian friends in Israel and was open with him about my disdain for their treatment.

And he told me that one must never say anything bad about Israel no matter what. And I, the son of a sabra whose grandfather is buried in Israel, still reject that.

Leslie and I met a nutcase Israeli at Long Beach who was born about the time I was living in the country. He told me that Yahweh had granted him secret powers and he spouted all sorts of crap about the illuminati and spiritual warfare (you know, my god can beat your god) and then told me that Donald Trump was Israel's messiah. 

I instantly tuned him out and shut him down. Every human being on this earth is precious and equally important, regardless of creed or color. I think that American Jews maybe get this better than Israeli Jews.

But the Israeli Jews are also fighting for their very life and existence. Unfortunately they have spurned, through their great hubris, some solutions that might have worked for all parties involved.

This week former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk slammed Netanyahu, called him a “clear and present danger” to the country, and called on him to resign “before he does even more damage to Israel.” Indyk is a jew. Dennis Ross, another yid, says much the same.

Biden is the only friend Israel has right now and Netanyahu treats him like shit. Soon they won't have a friend in the world. Except for their great savior, the orange messiah.

Crazy fucked up world.