This post is not about Israeli politics. I mean that in the most literal way possible. A bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria was blown up, and according to Ha’aretz, at least seven people have been killed. There is some dispute at this point as to whether this sub-human act was carried out by a suicide bomber or a planted explosive device, but that doesn’t really matter since the purpose of killing Jews was accomplished either way. The attack comes 18 years to the day that Hizballah terrorists blew up a Jewish community center in Argentina, which certainly will not escape the notice of Israeli defense and intelligence officials.
This post is not about Israeli politics. I mean that in a figurative sense as well, since do not for even one second think that the massacring of Israeli tourists has anything at all to do with Israeli politics, Israeli policy in the West Bank, Israeli treatment of Palestinians, or anything else that Israel does. There is simply no excuse under the sun to blow up civilians, and the victims of the terrorist attack on that bus were not targeted because they are Israelis or because some deranged lunatic thinks that Bibi Netanyahu is not serious about establishing an independent Palestinian state. The innocents on that bus were murdered in cold blood for being Jews, plain and simple. Anyone who suggests otherwise needs to not only be dismissed outright, but to be shouted down, publicly shamed, and made to feel foolish for wallowing in abject ignorance. The word “Israel” should only enter this conversation for the purpose of identifying the citizenship of the people who were killed.
This post is not about Israeli politics. Today’s terrorist attack should serve as a reminder that when people use Israel as an excuse to kill Jews for who they are, it obliterates the line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. I think that distinction does in some cases actually exist, but unless the people who constantly remind us that the two are not the same call this out as forcefully as I am right now, then their argument should be permanently consigned to the dustbin of history and they should be rightly dubbed as frauds. Do I call out Israeli misbehavior all the time when I think it is warranted? I sure do. Just look at my previous post for an example. Does anything that Israel ever does justify what happened today under the banner of anti-Zionism? Not for anyone who isn’t barbaric. It’s as simple as that, completely black and white. Anyone who doesn’t get that needs to seriously rethink their world view and place as a human being.
Ottomans and Zionists 
Thank you for being an articulate strong voice about this insanity.
Thank you for saying this. It’s one that too many people still need to hear and understand.
Webster’s now defines criticism of Israel as “anti-semitism,” a patently absurd proposition. Such is the power of zionism in America, even at a time when American Jerwry is turning away from their unqualified support for Israel.
qqduckus: Yes, the zionists have even got at the lexicographers. Nice compassion you showed for those jewish kids, by the way… they may as well have been cockroaches, given how you’d rather drone on about “zionist power” than even spend a moment acknowledging a horrific act.
Many times after such horrible events, it is hard to make sense, or find meaning in such evil. I can mourn with my people, I can pray for their families, but we must ask, how can I learn, if I can learn, from these events.
Rabbi S.R.Hirsch tells us to study the environment around us to learn the most about ourselves. To pay attention to the seasons, birds, animals and sea creatures, because from nature Man learns of his/her own essence. Our relationship to the soil is irreversible. It is not only for the sake of transportation and food but also the sole ingredient that formed us. As the verse states: “And HaShem formed the Man from the dust of the ground,” from our very beginning we are reminded that we too are a form of G-d’s expression through the medium of nature, without escape all go to the same place; all originate from dust and all return to dust.
So indeed, those who died today, more than a great Rabbi or victims of a Bus explosion, more than heart attacks and car accidents. people everywhere returned to the dust today…but you havent. You are here, You can sing, laugh, cry, plead, dream, long, desire, and impress. You are from dust, but you have yet to return… Live for those who no longer can. Blessed Be the True Judge.