Is it betrayal if they're in a different world?

We all know the script and we can shout out the lines like we’re in costume at the Rocky Horror Picture Show. There’s a new scene this time, but it’s one that’s playing out only for Jews.

The script is pretty obvious, at least in the beginning. As soon as Hamas attacked Israel, killing over a thousand civilians and kidnapping hundreds, burning families alive and decapitating babies, they retreated back into Gaza, hiding within the civilian population and daring Israel to come and get them. They know any incursion will lead to civilian deaths and that’s a feature, not a bug. Civilian shields and hostages are always part of the script.

Right on cue, the International Red Cross and other agencies called for an end to the violence, a tit with no tat, and argued that a war begun by targeting civilians should not include civilians, at least on one side of the battle. Protesters took to the streets to denounce Israel and call for its eradication. On college campuses, the people concerned with women’s rights, gay rights, and trans rights took the side of the people who persecute these groups against those who show support.

Terrorist leadership encouraged followers around the world to add to the carnage by killing Jews, anywhere and everywhere, on a specific date, and the media decided to be balanced by referring to Hamas as militants instead of terrorists. Social media exploded with whatabouts, claims of moral equivalence and fake videos, making Truth the predictable first casualty of war. As always, everyone talked past each other, almost invariably by focusing on just one facet of an impossibly complex challenge.

Also on cue, many Arab leaders—although not as many as in the past—made statements in support of Palestinians, but they will predictably fail to do anything to actually help their suffering comrades. And, let’s face it, OPEC nations could have rebuilt Gaza into a paradise on the Mediterranean after the Israelis left almost two decades ago, but…crickets. Like Israel, Egypt closed its border with Gaza.

Too be fair, many nations have sent aid to Gaza, but Hamas has spent those $billions on rockets and bombs, reinforced tunnels, and luxury apartments for their leaders, while the average Palestinian has been left with no opportunity, no freedom, and no future. Also, very little water or electricity or food, because Hamas has provided essentially zero and left their people dependent on Israel for most of the basics.

There are so few surprises here that we could have shared this post, almost verbatim, at least a dozen times over the years. This time, though, there’s a major difference, because so many Jews feel betrayed by their friends. As shaken as Jews were by the Hamas invasion, they were shocked at the silence of friends who didn’t seem to care about their trauma.

Western governments responded to the terror attacks with unequivocal support for Israel, posting Israeli colors on icons like the Eiffel Tower and the Brandenburg Gate. At home, though, people who had rallied around other minorities in crisis looked for similar support and heard no echo, received no texts, saw no changes to profile pictures. 

It was as if they had died and nobody came to the funeral.

There are only two degrees of separation in the Jewish world, so most Jews know someone personally affected by the invasion. That means they’ve all had a death in the family, or a rape, or a kidnapping, and they’re wondering why none of their friends has paid a condolence call. Maybe the friends don't recognize the pain, or maybe they think it's fine.

Either way, many people are rethinking their support for groups that responded to their trauma by demanding more of it, and many people are reconsidering the connections they thought of as friendship, once.

It wasn’t part of the script before, but it’s a key part of the story now.
 
We’ll get back to being funny one of these days, but the world hasn’t been all that amusing lately. Subscribe anyway, because we’ll be back to humor eventually.

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