Kfir Bibas and Our Missing Children
“Israel, Israel you can’t hide, we want Jewish genocide.” This is the chant being heard on ivy league campuses, supposed bastions of American education. There has been a shocking rise in anti-Semitic events at schools such as my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and in many cities around the world. How is this? I sent an email to the President of Carnegie Mellon thinking he might respond to a concerned member of the alumni. Of course, my email went unanswered. Not surprising as Carnegie Mellon has a sister campus in Doha, Qatar – a country which harbors Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau. Interestingly enough, Ismail Haniyeh is worth approximately $4,000,000,000.00 (four billion dollars) and as you would guess, Qatar is the largest Arab nation donor to American universities, having donated almost $4,500,000,000.00 (four and one-half billion dollars) to higher education in America over the last three decades. https://www.campusreform.org/article/ivy-league-among-top-recipients-of-85-billion-arab-funding/24195. As a matter of record, the net worth of the three most senior political leaders within Hamas (Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Mashal, Abu Marzuk) totals more than $10,000,000,000.00 (ten billion dollars). When I started this journal one month ago, I wanted to focus my comments on the situation exclusively here in Israel but I cannot lie. As a member of the Jewish faith, listening to comments such as these calling for Jewish genocide are scary, painful and reminiscent of dark times in our history. There are some that believe individuals such as myself are overreacting and they insist this is a “small minority fanning the flames.” I’m not sure I see it that way. Even if one wants to debate Israel’s response to Hamas, calls for “Jewish genocide” seem a little much.
When we started this effort one month ago, we made a decision not to show images from October 7th. Unfortunately, as many periodicals such as the Yale student newspaper https://www.peopleforisrael.com/analysis-yale-student-newspaper-retracts-anti-semitic-edits-but-clarification-confirms-bias/ and even some foreign governments continue to question the validity of what happened on that day we, at People for Israel, feel compelled to tell the real story of what happened. Yes, babies were beheaded and women were raped. Children were beaten. This is the truth. The images that follow here are difficult to view and I would urge you not to watch them unless you want to see for yourself some of what happened. I can assure you these are not the worst of what you may see, but this is what we can share at this stage. The first video was taken by Hamas immediately after the concert, where 280 people were killed. The video shows the highway outside where Hamas blocked the roads and shot everyone – everyone – in site. The voices you hear are of Hamas and they are speaking Arabic: https://twitter.com/Jerusalem_Post/status/1714996786299863382?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1714996786299863382%7Ctwgr%5Ecea1a13630df1f1833bd5e41e192aa71cc812b61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Farab-israeli-conflict%2Fgaza-news%2Farticle-769236. The second video was taken by IDF (Israeli) soldiers upon finding so many dead bodies at the festival. The voices you hear are of soldiers and they are speaking Hebrew: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ubcV8VGO-Ys_I8EYsbmQXuTSEcALWHXd/view?usp=drive_link
Precisely one month ago, we awoke to an air raid siren which was the first warning of a day we will never forget. Amongst the 1,400 murdered on Saturday, October 7th was Ruth Peretz. Ruth was attending the Music Festival of Peace and Love, and she was in a wheelchair as she suffered from muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy. Unable to communicate properly, music was one of the few things that brought Ruth tremendous joy. Although the wheelchair she used was found a few days after the massacre, her body was only found yesterday. Ruth’s father, Eric, was found dead – also killed by the Hamas terrorists – on October 16th.
Kfir Bibas, nine months old, was also kidnapped and taken hostage on that Saturday. He was 9 months old. His father (Yarden), his Mother (Shiri) and his four-year-old brother (Ariel) were all taken as hostages. It is anyone’s guess if they are still together but most likely they are not. Videos of Hamas terrorists in the tunnels below the streets of Gaza confirm hostages have been separated and terrorists are wearing IDF (Israeli Defense Force) uniforms in order to maximize the chaos and confusion when the Israeli forces inevitably reach them. Of the 400 residents of Nir Oz – where Kfir lived with his family – 180 of them were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists. Shiri’s parents, Margit and Yosi were also killed on that Sabbath day. I often wonder about Baby Kfir and the 32 children and youth that were taken hostage one month ago. I can’t begin to understand how any human being can harm a child, let alone kidnap and take them as a hostage. My heart breaks for all of the children of the region, but I have to wonder when 400,000 people in Gaza celebrate the death of Jews by dancing in the streets, giving out sweets, having parades and lighting fireworks…..is it just Hamas or have the citizens of Gaza embraced this hateful ideology?
Those of us living in the more rural parts of Israel have been left to protect our own communities as so much of our population has been called up to protect our borders. Apart from being told we should not open our doors to police and army personnel (as Hamas has been dressing up in Israeli uniforms), we receive notifications from different communities where there have been infiltrations. For those that think Israelis no longer have to be concerned, there were security warnings today alone in Yiftach, Manara, Ma’ayn Baruch, Misgav Am, Iron, Bar’am, Kfar Giladi, Dafna, Malkiya, Dan, HaGoshrim, Snir, Sassa, Tziv’on and Margaliot. Most of us are scratching our heads wondering how this is still possible one month into this war, but civilian patrols are now part of the “new normal.” Last night we had an infiltration in our village. Pictured below one can see the hole cut in the barbed wire fence. Men with ski masks entered the community. Unfortunately, they were not caught but Praise the Lord, nobody was harmed. However, this feeling of living on the edge is getting old and wearing a bullet-proof vest in my village of 140 families feels very much out of place with the clean air, relaxed community feel we had when we moved here seven years ago.
At People for Israel, we now begin our second month of helping people across the Holy Land. By providing transportation to those in need, helping to enhance security in our most vulnerable communities, providing food and supplies to families in need and to those protecting this land – we are trying to do our part. With your help, it is also our intention to help rebuild those communities that have been destroyed. When a donation is received, we utilize these funds generally within 24 – 48 hours and respond to requests we have received from across the country. For those in Israel, if you can donate blood it is an imperative as there is a massive blood shortage. For those abroad, giving a donation here: https://secure.cardknox.com/peopleforisrael, or asking us to speak to your church, synagogue or civic group allows us to share what is really going on here. Signing up for our journal at www.peopleforisrael.com or liking our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/peopleforisraelorganization/?show_switched_toast=0&show_invite_to_follow=0&show_switched_tooltip=0&show_podcast_settings=0&show_community_review_changes=0&show_community_rollback=0&show_follower_visibility_disclosure=0 is a huge help and of course, we are always grateful for your prayers!
If you want to see what we are doing, this video was put together by a youth in the village I live. It is not professionally done, but it shows our efforts how we have pulled together to help those in need. This is where People for Israel started: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pzxHpVBNcAsdJ0MopwIA35Gu6DJ_qCl0/view?usp=sharing. We appreciate your efforts and could not help others without your support.
Today’s Pictures:
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David
David at People for Israel
#1.201.801.6440
david@peopleforisrael.com
www.peopleforisrael.com
