Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

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Remember Haman? The book of Esther tells the story of this horrible man in the king’s court who planned to kill all the Jews in the Persian/Medes kingdom — a kingdom that stretched from India to Ethiopia. Haman gave 10,000 talents of silver to the king and asked to be able to destroy all the Jews in the land. The king took the money and then gave it for the use of the genocide of the Jews.

Of course, we know the rest of the story, Esther called for a fast and then went to the king and revealed Haman’s plan. Haman was hung and the Jewish people were allowed to defend themselves, thwarting a genocide.

Ironically, according to the Free Beacon (“Biden Unlocks Fresh Funds to Iran Totaling Billions,” by Adam Kredo, Free Beacon, Nov. 13, 2023), Biden/Blinken just approved $10 billion dollars in sanction relief for Iran (incidently, it’s the same country where the Persian/Medes kingdom was.)

The head of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, Gen. Hossein Salami, has warned Israel to expect more atrocities like those unleashed by Hamas during the Oct. 7 pogrom. And from where is Iran getting the money to fund this?

Remember Hitler? This horrible man, like Haman, wanted to kill all the Jews in Europe. He managed to murder 6 million before he was put out of commission by military forces from the United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and China. The U.S. didn’t enter the war against Germany until December 1941 — three years after Jews were already being systematically killed. I don’t think we entered the war to save the Jews though. I think we entered the war to stop Germany from establishing the Third Reich over Europe.

Remember Herzl? Theodor Herzl desired a Jewish state. In 1897, he convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, with the help of Rev. William Hechler — an English Restorationist Anglican clergyman; crusader against antisemitism; promoter of Zionism; and Herzl’s friend. Fifty years later, after the 1947-1948 civil war, Herzl’s dream came true. Jews could immigrate to their own homeland once again.

Still, the Jewish people are not free from wars. At first, the wars were for land Israel purchased or won “fair and square” (the 6-day war for example). But now the people of Israel are fighting for their lives once again, this time in their homeland.

Hamas has made it very clear. “From the [Jordan]river to the [Mediterranean] sea…” is Hamas’ mantra. Don’t let anyone fool you, it means genocide of the Jews. And their plan is to continue throughout the world — annihilate all the Jews and this time include the Christians.

What is different today with this war? During Haman’s and Hitler’s quests, I don’t know of any Jews who stood with Haman and his men. I don’t know of any Jews who stood with Hitler and the Nazis. Do you?

And yet today, there are Jewish organizations that want a ceasefire or a “pause” (have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous?) in order to fortify Israel’s enemy. Do these Jewish organizations not understand just how dangerous Israel’s enemies are?

Mordecai told Esther that just because she hid her Jewish identity and she was the king’s wife, she would be exempt from the genocide. There were a lot of Jewish people in Europe during WWII that thought they were exempt from death because they were secular Jews or married a Gentile or helped the Nazis. It doesn’t matter to those who want to annihilate all the Jews of the world if you are a Jew by race or by religion.

You can’t be “pro-Palestinian” and “pro-Israel.” To stand with Israel is to stand with the Jewish people worldwide against those who want to be rid of all Jews.

Am Yisrael Chai.