Burn the Village, Win the War, Smoke a Cigar
With constant calls for pauses and ceasefires in the Gaza Strip, it is necessary to separate fantasy from reality. Even more important is separating symbolic gestures from meaningful actions. Jews need to adopt a strategy that can only be described as “Burn the village, win the war, smoke a cigar.”
Symbolism and platitudes do not save human lives. The recent pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC was pleasant symbolism. It was not a policy, plan or accomplishment.
From a substance standpoint, the choice of keynote speakers was curious.
Senator Chuck Schumer refused to use his power to block the Iran Deal that former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden foisted upon the civilized world. House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries has never disavowed the words of his rabidly antisemitic uncle. Professor Leonard Jeffries uses language that would make everyone except Louis Farrakhan and Ilhan Omar blush. Actress Debra Messing spoke about being pro-Israel despite constantly attacking ardent pro-Israel Republican politicians. Ideological bigotry is as toxic as antisemitism.
While the rally created an illusory appearance of Jewish unity, stark divisions remain that will affect Jews everywhere. Time will tell if politically liberal Jews have the stomach for a real fight that needs to be fought on plenty of fronts. Just as Schumer ducked and covered during the Iran Deal, plenty of liberal Jews may buckle under the pressure of taking on their fellow progressives.
The sad reality is that winning a war requires using brutal tactics within the confines of international law. General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea involved burning Atlanta to the ground. The North won the Civil War and the Union was saved. Legendary General George Patton described defeating the enemy as “going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we’re going to go through him like crap through a goose!”
Before being imprisoned, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori waged a brilliantly successful raid against leftist rebels holding hostages. Every rebel was killed and every hostage was rescued. Afterward, Fujimori released a picture of himself with his feet on his presidential desk smoking a giant stogie. The message was clear. The hostage-taking stopped.
Anti-Semitism is too global and eternal to be defeated by any one army, even one as effective as the IDF. Yet burning the village goes beyond razing Gaza hospitals used as Hamas headquarters. Burning the village means rooting out anti-Semites wherever and whenever they peer out of their sinkholes. It means playing whack-a-mole until every last zealot is removed from every Jew-hating institution.
This means removing Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and the rest of the Squad from Congress. This requires pouring massive amounts of money from Jews and other Philosemites into primary challenges against them. If they survive their primaries, liberal Jews need to vote Republican until the Squad is eliminated from having any legislative power.
Burning the village means removing every violent antisemitic professor from every university. If the universities refuse to do the right thing, then bankrupt the universities. Shut them down. Sell the buildings on eBay. At the very least, revoke their tax-exempt statuses and make their endowments taxable. Do the same with public schools continuing to push intersectionality, DEI, and other programs that harm Jews.
The rubber has met the road. Either liberal Jews be prepared to take on the teachers’ unions, or see their progressive frenemies steamroll them again.
Burning the village means everything from fumigating Hollywood and the State Department to shaking up antisemitic corporate boards. If a CEO does business with the mullahs in Iran, then Jews and our supporters should punish that CEO. One option is to sell shares of stock. Another approach is to buy stock and lead shareholder revolts that oust problematic CEOs.
Burning the village means arresting protesters who cross the line from speech to violence. This also requires removing prosecutors who treat leftist protesters with kid gloves.
It is easy for Jews to unite in wanting to defeat the Islamists. Rooting out antisemitic leftists will require a lot more from a liberal Jewish community reluctant to call out their political allies.
They are not friends. Every Jew-hater is an enemy of every Jew, regardless of political ideology. The time is past for excusing antisemites who preach tolerance of every other non-Jewish group besides Republicans.
Antisemitism has corrupted some of our institutions beyond repair. The time for a ceasefire with these institutions is over. To preserve Judaism in perpetuity, all-out war against Jew-haters is necessary. If an institution is a haven for Jew-hatred, burn the institution down with as much force as legally allowed. Legal disproportionate force is appropriate and necessary.
Burn every village. Win every front in this war. After each major victory, smoke a cigar. Then put your feet on the table and make sure the Jew-haters see you smiling in victory.
eric