#5 in my series of links I’ve spent the past week curating and vetting to ensure you can read, watch and algorithm-maintain some fair info about Israel, to counter the rampant hatred that abounds.
In doing so, I will provide links to Facebook, Instagram, and X (the artist formerly known as Twitter). However I will continue to avoid touching TikTok, which has been proven to actively remove pro-Israel content, far worse than typical algorithm bias, and thus I will not touch the app (unless this is corrected).
In honor of our 10th wedding anniversary, I’m choosing this photo of myself with Adi during our 2019 Israel trip. This is the historic Roman Hippodrome of Caesarea, a gorgeous seaside town where my lovely relative Judie Pearl Fattal lives.
ARTICLES + THREADS:
1. Thanks in large part to David Suissa, the Jewish Journal has been providing great coverage on Israel and Jew Hatred. I’ll start by sharing a bunch of their great recent work…
I adore this piece, it’s from the invaluable perspective of someone who USED to join these marches against Israel, and explains the mindset of so many of those who now chant for the destruction of Zionism. A great read:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/why-they-dont-condemn-hamas/
2. “They focus on people, while we focus on ideas.” This piece gets into why our social media strategy has been far less effective than the ones who hate us:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/10-reasons-hamas-is…/
3. I’m proud to call Marcus J Freed an old friend of mine, and he took a break from his witty column to sincerely ask where his Non-Jewish friends have been, when he and we need our allies the most:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/serious-semite-dear-non…/
4. Inna Faliks spoke up about her experience at UCLA, where her pleas for help with antisemitism on campus fell on mostly deaf ears:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/ucla-response-to…/
5a. “It’s Jihadi Marxism: empower the rich, pampered, and privileged while their people starve and are used as human shields. Stalin would certainly have approved.” That quote comes from this clever piece from Karen Lehrman Bloch:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/colu…/365317/jihadi-marxism/
5b. The same journalist also writes one in which she realized that although much of Generation Z appears radically mobilized against Zionism, that same age group has motivated Jews to take greater pride for their Jewish and Zionist identity than in the past:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/fighting-hate-with-pride…/
6. My friend David Nimmer read the disgusting piece from the LA Times Editorial Board, and when they ignored his letter that carefully poked holes throughout their logic, the JJ published it instead. Bravo:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/a-response-to-the-los…/
7. This one gets into the infamously popular “From the River to the Sea” chant:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/the-debate-on-from-the…/
8. “Today, every prestigious university has become a Gazan hospital. Our top students and scholars have all become human shields.” An interesting read by David Hazony:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/some-ideas-are-worth…/
9. Dan Schnur does a great job week after week of being as critical of the right and the left, and here he spotlights weaknesses in both parties at the moment:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/israels-bipartisan-challenge/
10. I’ll finish off the Jewish Journal article recommendations by slipping in my own JJ piece that explains why I do these weekly posts in the first place:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/how-social-media-poisons…/
11. This article cleared up many things that have confused me for years, drawing a clear distinction between the Israel policy roadmap of Presidents Biden and Obama. It’s clear from recent events that the 2 Democratic Presidents are not at all on the same page, and this puts those pieces together more clearly than ever:
https://www.nbcnews.com/…/biden-obama-divide-closely…
12. I first saw this powerful article thanks to Mayim Bialik, and for that I’m grateful. This piece is about the deafening silence from the vast majority of organizations that speak up for women and against sexual assault. Where are they when it happens to Israelis, please read but beware there is language within that is easily triggering:
https://slate.com/…/israeli-women-victims-sexual…
13. Margaret Hodge is a member of the British Parliament’s Labour Party, and has spoken up in England about antisemitism:
https://www.politico.com/…/margaret-hodge-left-wing…
14. Thank you to Indigenous Bridges for making this extremely powerful statement in support of the existence of Israel:
https://indigenousbridges.com/official-statement-about…/
15. Where do we go from here when we reach post-war Gaza? According to anonymous sources in the Arab world, they have lost faith in Mahmoud Abbas and his so-called leadership:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/pas-abbas-a-liability-in…/
16. To finish with a very current event, thank you to those who have actually made it clear that Israel was NOT the one to resume violence, including US Secretary Antony Blinken :
https://twitter.com/Yair…/status/1730646280127250436
NEWSLETTERS:
1. Fern Reiss has been writing blogs from Israel that range from heartbreaking to darkly witty, and I’ve really appreciated the chance to get this sort of insight from the POV of someone living there. Strong recommendation to “follow”, all of which you can “continue reading” for free if prompted. Here are some recent great examples:
1a. The torturous wait for the first hostages to be released:
https://fernmusing.substack.com/…/war-day-49-how-long…
1b. Finding out the process of getting the hostages, and what they were going through:
https://fernmusing.substack.com/…/war-day-54-hostage-up…
1c. Speculating about the Palestinian Authority taking over Gaza when this war ends:
https://fernmusing.substack.com/…/war-day-55…
1d. The sort of piece I’m jealous I didn’t write. Incredibly witty, dark satire:
https://fernmusing.substack.com/…/war-day-56-welcome-to…
2. Lt-Colonel Richard Hecht is the spokesman for the IDF, and he has been writing updates that include video footage almost every day. I appreciate reading these news updates, and didn’t even realize until I heard him speak that he’s originally from Scotland! Here are some great recent examples of what you can have emailed to you for free:
2a. Details about what they knew and found at Shifa Hospital, along with video footage:
https://idfspokesperson.substack.com/…/nothing-left-to…
2b. Insight into the actual return of the first hostages:
https://idfspokesperson.substack.com/p/home
2c. I love this one, it’s all about the dogs who help them locate bombs and weapons, and even pays tribute to the ones who were killed on duty:
https://idfspokesperson.substack.com/p/the-dogs-of-war
2d. “We’re at War with Hamas. Here’s how we’re facilitating aid to Gazan civilians.” No need to further clarify this one:
https://idfspokesperson.substack.com/…/were-not-at-war…
VIDEOS:
1. This was such an atrociously biased question to ask Eylon Levy, you have to do mental gymnastics to even legitimize it as a question. His resulting reaction has become a viral meme:
https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/1727647670716518677
2. Assita Kanko is a European Parliament member, who I very much appreciate saying these words:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyPe-6vrq1g
3. I’m reluctant to share people who might be a gut-reaction turnoff, and Bill Maher definitely can be to many, but to be intellectually honest, he has over the years equal parts offended the left and the right, and that’s why I respect his candor even the times he annoys me. This clip from early November was not seen widely enough:
https://twitter.com/billmaher/status/1720656399414473213
4. The story of a brave Muslim Arab whose wife was murdered by Hamas on October 7, our hearts are with you Hamid Abu Ar’ar:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0AWZrJrnYq/
5. Wow, having had our honeymoon in New Zealand, and falling in love with the country and the indigenous Māori population, their support of Israel is personally heartwarming, and awesome. This video takes place in Australia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFwLHY5gKBc
6. This was a nifty little clip that didn’t shock me, but was a nice way of showing the differences between the Pro-Israel and so-called Pro-Palestinian rallies:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0CXNZPL8GU/
7. What I’ve always appreciated about my friend Toby Ganger is that whether we have been on the same page about a topic or not, we’ve always managed to have really interesting and fun discourse – something that’s not easy in today’s age of turning arguments into bitter divisions. And I’m so impressed at him taking the time during the promotion of his new music, to turn his interview into a platform that educates about Israel. Thank you Toby:
https://youtu.be/o9fGh4x74RI?si=SQMMxM9i48xFciN_&t=2151
8. Fania Oz-Salzberger (notable for many reasons the least of which was her father being Amos Oz) shares this short interview between Wolf Blitzer and the head of an Arab party within Israel’s Parliament Mansour Abbas (please do not confuse him with the corrupt, Holocaust-denying Head of the PA Mahmoud Abbas!). In it, he says something historic, a call for Palestinian factions to throw down their weapons in the struggle. Mansour Abbas has since softened his words, no doubt under heavy pressure and pushback, but just saying them publicly in the first place could be a spark for a better future:
https://twitter.com/faniaoz/status/1730701211479773245
9. Not a video but a podcast, this is a must-listen between Julianna Margulies and Andy Ostroy. She’s taken a lot of heat from speaking as freely as I’m grateful she did. (To jump to the Jewish subject matter, it’s at the 3:22 mark):
https://the-back-room-with-andy-ostroy.podcast.radiofreer…
SPOTLIGHT:
Past celebrity accounts I’ve highlighted were Amy Schumer, Debra Messing, Jessica Seinfeld, and Jon Lovitz. All have posted dozens of posts that are risking their careers by taking a stance, but it has not deterred them from helping use their influence to support Israel and Jews. This week I will spotlight Julianna Margulies, who deserves our support right now as her podcast (linked earlier) is getting her “canceled” in many circles, to the point where she deactivated her Twitter/X account. So let’s “follow” her on Instagram and show her some love.
https://www.instagram.com/juliannamargulies
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Please consider donating to Maayan Zin, whose husband was murdered on October 7, and thankfully got her daughters back after almost 2 months of being taken hostage:
https://twitter.com/ZinMaayan1007/status/1729772708269854828
ON A LIGHTER NOTE:
1. I love me some dark, ironic humor, courtesy of the Babylon Bee:
https://babylonbee.com/…/hamas-awarded-nobel-peace…
2. Daniel-Ryan Spaulding is always a breath of fresh air:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/899569228192030
Boaz Hepner works as a Registered Nurse in Saint John’s Health Center, and provides health education to the community at large. He grew up in LA in Pico/Robertson and lives here with his wife Adi, daughter Natalia, and son Liam. He helped clean up the neighborhood by adding the dozens of trash cans that can still be seen from Roxbury to La Cienega. He can be found with his family enjoying his passions: his multitude of friends, movies, poker and traveling.
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