The hocus-pocus of modern society.
Some people are blessed with the gift of the gab, while others have the knack for the keyboard. Long before I wrote a word for Townhall, I wrote an Amazon book of short Sherlock Holmes stories. I have always loved the world of Sherlock Holmes, in written or video format. And as such, I like detective mysteries. So it caught my eye when an article appeared recently in the local press about a “pharmacy student” who was arrested for his plans to create explosives and poisons for delivery to security officials and citizens. I tried to use Holmes’ reasoning in the case. What, pray tell, could be his name? Bob? Jerry? No, we’re in Israel. Moshe? Aaron? Well, I finally found a more detailed article and lo and behold, his name was Mohammed Shalabi. How come I never thought of Mohammed? Because it is forbidden.
Israel has applied reverse discrimination practices for decades with its Arab sector. A local friend of mine was a Rutgers-trained pharmacist when I first arrived here 34 years ago. For the last 5 years, I have had only Arab pharmacists, both men and women. Their Hebrew is excellent, though the accent gives away the game. They seem professional and knowledgeable. As to doctors, the situation is similar. My wife was looking for an orthopedist. The first 11 names in our HMO’s guide were Mohammed, Ibrahim, Fatima, etc. The twelfth and final fellow was Jewish. On the one hand, I don’t care who provides me services as long as he or she is honest and professional. On the other hand, a single jihadi pilot or pharmacist can ruin your whole day and life.
We live in an age where people don’t want to know the Truth. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. wrote one of the most eloquent and honest assessments of the situation surrounding anti-Israel agitation. After a short time and 500,000 views, he deleted it, no doubt after Qatar complained about being fingered, along with its Muslim Brotherhood, as the source of anti-Jewish activity in the US and Europe. The French refuse to identify the names and backgrounds of those burning the country down; it’s always “the youth”. There is an expression in Hebrew for someone who does not hold back his thoughts: there is no bone in the tongue. Well, one of the appeals of Donald Trump is that he has no bone in the tongue. He says it like it is. He can tell a reporter that she is lousy at her job or say that a certain statesman is a fool. It is refreshing to hear the truth now and again, since for much of our public discussion such is verboten.
Pointing out that the attempted terrorist with the test tubes was an Arab from the town of Beit Hanina might be considered “Islamophobic”. Saying that the Omani suicide maniac wanted to crash the plane to kill Jews could get one labeled a racist. But all of those terms are used to shut us up and prevent us from noticing. US police departments have made a side hobby of turning dark brown and black men into “whites” and “Caucasians” to skew crime statistics towards the lily-white members of their communities. Much of the crime in cities is committed by blacks, many of whom have more arrests than fingers, toes, ears and nose. We never know these facts until the last act of violence, and then when the dead body is being hauled off to the morgue, we learn that the perpetrator had 45 previous arrests, half for violent crimes. The prosecutors felt that fresh air would be the best tonic, and judges could only nod in agreement. The families of the harmed and deceased can only take their pain and quietly live their lives without their loved ones.
The more one moves away from truth, the greater the likelihood of catastrophic outcomes. Before the first Gulf War, Saddam was crowing about another Vietnam and thousands of dead American GI’s. The Americans, from General Schwarzkopf and down, spoke more professionally and noted the size of the Iraqi Army and the sophistication of the local air defenses. Saddam, high on his own supply, was crushed while the Americans destroyed every aspect of the Iraqi armed forces. I remember the “highway of death” near Basra. Thousands of destroyed and abandoned trucks, armor, and other vehicles. Saddam lived in a fantasy world, while the US knew the exact capabilities of its forces and equipment.
So what does the West do about jihadi pilots and pharmacists? One option would be to try to exclude Muslims from the workforce. That would be a logical approach and therefore will never be applied. The other is the current one: let’s hope that we stop the bad guy first. It seems like a really dumb idea, but when one factors in hypersensitivities about race and religion, what options really exist? Picture a NY Times screaming headline: Israel bans all Arab doctors, cites risks to patients. The UN would be on it. Medical associations — the few that have not banned Israelis after October 7th — would ban Israelis. Israel would get a black eye, but its citizens — Jewish, Muslim, and Christian — might be safer. I know from working in my dad’s medicinal chemistry lab that pharmacy students have access to many organic chemicals that could be used as either poisons or explosives. I was told in Madison of a lab technician whose boyfriend died of arsenic poisoning. The lab where she worked had an arsenic salt, but it was impossible to determine if she had taken any of the material, as it was a common chemical accessed by many others. She was free until the police found a receipt for her own bottle of arsenic, which she had purchased from a local chemical supplier.
Truth oftentimes is unpleasant, and we do have social conventions that suggest that we keep some things to ourselves. If a woman spends a fortune and hours getting dressed up for a big gala and she looks like Dracula’s niece, one is advised to tell her that she looks marvelous and then run away when she is not looking. Harvard’s president, Derek Bok, I recall that his wife, Sissela, actually taught a course on lying — when it was acceptable and not. The problem we have today is that we are not allowed to express facts that are critical for the continued success and health of our societies. Who could forget Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (MN-5) “Some people did something” papering over of the 9/11 mass murder of American civilians? Language can be extremely dangerous, as its misuse prevents us from taking corrective actions. If 80 percent of Charleston’s criminals are black but the police force says it's really on 20 percent, who will make an effort to address issues and problems in the black community? If we can’t point out that Muslim pilots might go jihadi with 200 people in the back, how can we address the risk of another pilot, as we had recently in the Flydubai near-disaster?
One outcome from the past three years has been Jews turning to each other and their religion. With so much hatred from so many corners, lots of Jews have realized that running from their faith will not help them. There is more observance of commandments, and it seems like there are more kosher restaurants and facilities for Sabbath-observant Jews. There are reports of heightened religiosity, from the Gaza hostages themselves to the endless thousands who prayed for their release. The recent visit of 2 million total visitors to the area in front of the Western Wall during the month before Rosh Hashanah is reflective of this Jewish revival. The genocide lie has redirected Jews to Judaism.