We have institutionalized evil to the point that good is bad and oftentimes illegal.
Are you old enough to remember Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine? I can now feel for Costello as he becomes completely confused and frustrated. We live in an age where a guy can be called “Woman of the Year,” a completely lost and befuddled president can be sold as sharp as a tack, and a dangerously engineered virus is peddled to us as something natural. The Democrats call President Trump a fascist but act in a fascistic manner by choosing their candidates behind closed doors. J6 was called an attempted coup, but giving illegal aliens social security numbers and voting privileges was a genuine coup against the American people.
My son sent me a picture of two Palestinian terrorists celebrating one another. The older criminal is now No. 2 in the Palestinian Authority, while the younger fellow just got out of jail as part of Hamas’ bonanza for killing and kidnapping Jews. I sent a letter to the new U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, on the matter. If there is any positive response, I will duly report the same in these pages.
The picture in question shows Hussein Al-Sheikh giving a framed “good citizen” award to Nassir Shawish. The former provided weapons and money in the attack in which my son and I were wounded. The latter was the co-head of the terror cell that organized the attack in which three people were killed and over 80 wounded. For Palestinians, that is a good citizen.
When I attended the last day of our trial against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the PLO in Manhattan, I saw a piece of evidence that I had never seen previously. It was a letter sent by a senior intelligence officer and was addressed to Yasir Arafat, the unquestioned head of both defendants. The PA police had arrested a PA policeman who had planned to perform a suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Ra’anana. The PA was holding the wannabe bomber in a Ramallah jail, and the intelligence officer asked the boss what to do with him. While our lawyers could not find Arafat’s official answer, the fellow blew up behind us on King George Street two weeks later. Arafat, like Hitler, knew how to get Jews killed while keeping his fingerprints hidden.
So, I look at this picture. One terrorist who has been anointed to be the next leader when Mahmud Abbas joins Joe Biden for that great ice cream in the sky is giving another terrorist the kind of document that is normally given to a good citizen who has contributed to his hometown. By the Palestinians—and not just Hamas—everything is upside down. They did horrific things on October 7, 2023, and afterwards, yet they are celebrated throughout the West. The Israelis can painstakingly try to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza and are labeled war criminals from the Hague and beyond. As we live in a value-free age, anyone can decide what is good and right and what is wrong and deplorable. The most disgusting and distasteful people are elevated and give one another awards and prizes. Tony Fauci helped create the Covid virus and was elevated by many to being an unquestionable oracle on the virus he helped to secretly create. The heads of Hamas are worth single-digit billions of dollars for killing and maiming other people, and gullible westerners continue to send them money. In England, jihadists march in the street while some lonely pensioner is arrested for an email against jihad.
The Israeli-American hostage, Edan Alexander, has been reunited with his family. I am happy for them and I am glad that the U.S. took care of one of its own, 20 years after it blew us and many like us off. One American terror victim told the story of embassy staff coming to visit after her daughter was murdered boarding a bus in Jerusalem. As they came to comfort, they said to the family, “If this should happen again, please call the number on this card.” They were summarily thrown out of the house.
Qatar is Iran with a smile but it is now being elevated into a great and benevolent diplomatic power. It pretends to broker hostage release talks while hosting the Hamas leadership. One has to recall that Hamas would not exist if not for Qatar’s money. The violent protests on campus and in the streets of the West would not exist if not for Qatar’s money. Qatar apparently leaned on Hamas to release Alexander; as others have pointed out, it also made no effort to push the terror group to release other hostages. Qatar likes the current situation as it keeps the country indispensable. It is a terrible country that wants Israel destroyed and the West to become an Islamic caliphate. People will figure out too late how evil Qatar is.
Israelis are obviously happy with the return of Alexander but wonder out loud why the Americans could get their hostage out but Israel cannot do the same. We now know via the Israelis that the U.S. promised to push Israel for a 70-90 day ceasefire for 10 hostages—something that Israel never accepted. President Trump is a good friend of Israel, but his first concerns will always be with the U.S.—even if it means eventually running over Israeli interests. Israel keeps threatening a major offensive that would drive the Gazans to the south and lead to the full conquest of the Gaza Strip. People used to say about Germanium replacing Silicon for semiconductors: “It’s the future. Always has been and always will.” Maybe the bold attack to end the war will always be some time in the future and never reach the present.
If the Palestinian Authority can give a good citizenship citation to an unrepentant terrorist, then you have all you need to know about what their society is like. There is no Palestine and giving them a state would simply allow for another pogrom against the Jews in Israel. The Palestinians do not want a state; they simply do not want the Jews to have one either. Playing to win and playing not to lose are not the same thing. Wanting a state in order to grow and wanting your enemy to be miserable are not the same thing. The wanton murder and destruction of October 7, 2023, tell you their intentions for statehood.
We live in an upside down world. May God have mercy and give all of us moral clarity.