I’m proud to announce that these compilations I’m creating weekly on my personal feed are now featured on the Jewish Journal website, thanks to David Suissa and my digital editor Jonathan Fong. I will do my utmost to finish curating the links from Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube and more and post them each weekend, and I hope you’ll help me get the word out by sharing!
Please enjoy “Chosen Links From Boaz” – Issue #6, 12/9/23:
ARTICLES/THREADS:
1. Incredible article about the painful lengths Israel goes to avoid hurting civilians, and losing the military element of surprise in the process.
https://nypost.com/…/how-israeli-forces-take-big-risks…/
2. Really promising statistics showing that Israelis are banding together, and it’s about all of them, Arabs and Jews together identifying as Israel, fighting off Hamas. Not at all Jews versus Palestinians.
https://twitter.com/YosephH…/status/1731364792701424089…
3. A really interesting background on the educational goals and habits of Jews in America, and how those trends been affected by the anti-semitism of the time. Written by my friend Shai Grabie:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/an-appeal-for-jewish…/
4. An update about how many of hamas have been stopped, and the pros and cons of the idea of flooding the tunnels with sea water.
https://www.jpost.com/israel…/defense-news/article-776679
5. An amazing analysis showing how the numbers given by Hamas of daily deaths that the world reports, are mathetmatically impossible to be true. Using basic arithmetic of their own published numbers, it really illuminates the fabricated stats to gain world sympathy:
https://x.com/Aizenberg55/status/1731753062622982386
6. Asra Nomani, a proud Muslim journalist who was close friends with BBC journalist Daniel Pearl who was beheaded decades ago, takes Rashida Tlaib to task for yet another condemnation of violence against Palestinians without legitimizing Israel:
https://twitter.com/AsraNomani/status/1731078584444305843
7. The world claims there isn’t sufficient evidence to the mass rapes? Really?!! Well here it is literally archived and gathered and handed to whomever needs it on a silver platter. Disgusting that this is necessary:
https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1732017043971375326
8. Seth Frantzman is Middle East analyst for J Post among other qualifications, and explains the sick, symbiotic relationship between organizations such as Hamas, and the international organizations within Gaza.
https://x.com/sfrantzman/status/1732715087398338876
9. David Makovsky, authority in Arab and Israeli relations, in a quick tweet gives a timeline of things changing in a few weeks in the war against Hamas:
https://x.com/DavidMakovsky/status/1732689785641222491
10. Fern Reiss, whose newsletter I recently recommended, writes a piece that not only takes the time to include every Israel-related UN Women tweet since October 7, but includes a timely piece of wisdom that ties it to the present holiday of Chanukah:
https://fernmusing.substack.com/…/war-day-62-what-cant…
11. Lt. Colonel Richard Hecht, whose newsletter I recently also recommended, gives a lesson about the rockets fired regularly at Israel, past and present:
https://idfspokesperson.substack.com/…/rockets-at…
12. This tweet speaks to me and so many Jews out there. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, if you defend any aspect of Israel or the Jewish community, or condemn any part of the communities that threaten us (including but not limited to Hamas), Jew-hating comments ensue. There’s never a safe space:
https://twitter.com/Joe_Roberts01/status/1732591059861971442
13. Rabbi David Wolpe explaining why he is resigning from the Harvard Antisemitism Committee, and what he thinks is needed to make actual change:
https://twitter.com/RabbiWolpe/status/1732847411175796747
14. Rabbi Mickey Katzburg is not only an old friend of mine from my college days when his family lived in LA, but he wrote this INCREDIBLE accounting of October 7, and the family response to the call to action. A must read:
https://jewishjournal.com/com…/366157/war-diary-homefront/
15. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg very helpfully explains what painstaking (and often strategically counterproductive) measures Israel and the IDF have taken over the years to try to minimize civilian casualties. It’s far beyond any other country on record:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/civilian-casualties-and…/
16. Gary Wexler captivated me with his story about a friend who turned her back on him thanks to her politics against Israel. This hits EXTREMELY close to home for so many of us, and is a must-read play-by-play:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/answering-a-friend-who…/
17. This goes more into depth than I’ve ever seen before, in the understanding of the sick tactic Hamas uses known as human shields:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/the-truth-about-human-shields/
18. The amazing Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy join up to write this piece about the small sects of Jews who eat up so much media coverage, those who join our enemies in hating Israel and Zionism:
https://jewishjournal.com/…/the-un-jews-two-years…/
VIDEOS:
1. UNRWA not even answering the question about one of their own staff reportedly holding a hostage for Hamas:
https://x.com/HonestReporting/status/1731975641145208854
2. In a similar vein, this interview is so insulting that it belongs somewhere between my Videos and Humor categories. Look at the accusation of nobody having power in Gaza, and what happens when the response contradicts that notion:
https://twitter.com/DoronSpielman/status/1731083081111441709
3. For over 40 minutes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke about the history and present reality of antisemitism, and I so appreciate every one of those minutes:
4. John Kirby (National Security Council Spokesman), under heavy second-guessing by the interviewer, explains that Israel is “telegraphing” their moves to limit civilian casualties; something few if any other countries would do:
5. Elise Stefanik questioning the Dean of Harvard about how unprotected the Jews on her campus are during the calls for their genocide:
6. The deans of Harvard, Penn and MIT all being asked to say yes, calling for the genocide of Jews violates the school code of conduct. A depressing must-watch (and the full hearing is linked within the thread so you don’t need to just watch the viral bit):
https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1732179418787783089
7. MIT student Talia Khan has a Jewish mother and Muslim father from Afghanistan, and she was invited to speak about the Jewish experience at MIT. Awful what she and so many have had to endure:
https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1732248539235786874
8. Bravo to Bianna Golodryga for picking up on the hypocrisy of womens’ groups for not condemning Hamas. In this excellent CNN interview, they even bring up footage of past weaksauce interviewees she met with, and of note, Jake Tapper points out that the UN does not deserve credit for finally holding the summit where the women gave their testimony – that was actually organized by Israel itself:
https://twitter.com/biannagolo…/status/1732878088747257896
9. Bianna Golodryga also interviews the Head of Palestinian Studies at Tel Aviv University Michael Milshtein. He gives insight into the sick strategy of the heads of Hamas, as well as how hard it will be to affect change in the general population:
https://x.com/biannagolodryga/status/1732883135061201327
10. Joshua Malina is not only an acclaimed actor, and fortunately a friend, but he wears his Jewish pride on his sleeve to the point where his Twitter profile literally has the word JEW in huge letters. Recently he added his voice to the ranks of the “Bring Them Home” campaign, with him speaking for an 8 year old child. Bravo to those like Joshua who are brave enough to do what’s right over what their publicist would likely prefer:
https://www.facebook.com/joshua…/videos/894786092220632
SPOTLIGHT:
In my first 5 of these posts, I have given the spotlight to Amy Schumer, Debra Messing, Jessica Seinfeld, Jon Lovitz, and Julianna Margulies. This time I award special mention to a controversial and super obnoxious one, but boy do I love having his incessant support. I’m talking about loudmouth actor Michael Rapaport, who supports the hell out of us!
https://www.instagram.com/michaelrapaport/
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Here are 2 artists this week who released extremely personal and heartbreaking songs that are both amazing, and worth supporting:
1. It’s incredibly hard to imagine how Noam Cohen was able to take the time and emotional energy, after surviving the horrors of October 7, to create a beautifully tragic music video about his experience. A must watch:
2. Westside Gravy, real name Noah Shufutinsky, comes from Black and Russian parents, and sings about the hypocrisy of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which leaves him behind as a Black Jew:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRE6sP63xW4
ON A LIGHTER NOTE:
1. The more things change the more they stay the same…. Here’s a funny clip from a decade ago of Joan Rivers being hounded by TMZ, and giving a brutally honest answer about Israel defending itself. Don’t miss her funny, sarcastic quips at the end:
2. This is bad sketch comedy, but the satire of needing to pull teeth to get the world to care about raping Israeli women is on point:
https://x.com/LeviYonit/status/1732145678447497680
Today’s image is of a really fun spot in Israel, the top of Har Bental, in the Golan Heights. It’s where Israel won a battle against the Syrians during the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago, and now houses a cafe punnily called Coffee Annan, at the highest elevation in the country. Interesting and fun visit!
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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