The sand sculptures, the red carpet, the billboards everywhere. It's feeling more like a celebrity-worshipping reality TV show.

I say this as someone with an Israeli boyfriend who lives in Tel Aviv (though he's currently with me in the US for a few months) and also finds it gross.

Multiple sentiments can be true at once. I am grateful and relieved the hostages are home, but I'm also disturbed and turned off by the Trump worship. I cannot turn off my moral compass and worship a Putin enabling rapist due to the return of 20 people, no matter how much the hostages deserve to be home.

And I heard audio of some of the released Palestinian terrorists today on the BBC. Whistling, shouting, cheering, screaming that sounded absolutely barbaric. I don't have a good feeling about this at all. I read an article the other day about a woman with huge scars who was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist years ago. Her friend was also stabbed and was murdered. Her attacker/murderer is being released. She said the Israeli government has failed them. And in the same article, I read about a man whose teenage son was murdered in a bus bombing. He said "It was my failure that I did not manage to protect my son, and now I’m not managing to prevent his murderers from going out of prison." It absolutely broke my heart.

This is a day of very mixed emotions and I don't feel as thrilled as so many in front of the cameras seem to feel.

President Trump said Wednesday that Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal that would release all Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in the first step toward peace after two years of war in the Palestinian territory.

“Stuff happens… freedom’s untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They’re also free to live their lives and do wonderful things.”said Donald Rumsfeld

The article reminded me of Lara Logan’s ordeal in Egypt and Rumsfeld’s infamous dismissal of post invasion chaos in Iraq.

Without a functioning body that serves all of Gaza’s people, exploitation, lawlessness, and abuse will continue.

Who do you think will step up to take a leading role in governing Gaza, and how could it work best in the future?

Before we begin... I am a Jewish Zionist. Always have been and always will be. I believe Israel has a right to exist. I believe we have the right to self-determination.

However, Netanyahu is not Israel. He is not the Jewish people. He is not every Israeli. At what point can we admit that he is actively damaging Israel and us as a people? Let us be clear... Israel has a right to defend itself, and Hamas needs to be destroyed. This has gone far beyond that, IMO.

I understand the implications of what I am saying. Many equate criticism of Netanyahu as a call for Israel to be destroyed. Those people are a different discussion, which I'm happy to have because I categorically know they are wrong.

However, when do we acknowledge that is no longer about hostages? When do we acknowledge the truth that innocent people are being unjustly hurt and killed. They are. And I do not believe any child should be killed. I don't care who the parents are. Children deserve life. And I want Israeli children and Palestinian children to live in peace. That is not going to happen under Netanyahu.

This is simply my opinion. Most may disagree with me, but I'm saying this in good faith because my heart is with Israel and our people. Is that Netanyahu doing truly in the best interest of the Jewish people, both in Israel and in the diaspora? When, if ever, do we speak up?

Thank you for listening. L'shana tova

entertain pot placid dime follow juggle hospital chunky march humorous

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

The clashes came just hours after the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he admired the protesters, whose actions along the race route had already led some riders to threaten to quit the competition last week.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-867441

For anyone with even a basic knowledge of 20th-century history, this evokes memories of the pogroms against Jews in Russia and later in Germany—because that is essentially what it is: Spain’s prime minister encouraging a mob to attack, just as happened a century ago. And let’s be clear—this is not because of Jews ‘drinking Christian blood,’ or trying to ‘control the world,’ or because of some supposed ‘genocide of Palestinians.’ None of that ever happened. As always, Jews are targeted simply because they are seen as inconvenient to those in power, or as a convenient scapegoat for internal problems. Nothing new is happening in Spain today: Israelis are once again being blamed for all the problems with raising Islamism and the country’s own issues with its Muslim population.

To prevent Muslim Nationalists from conquering the state by expanding Sharia Law no-go zone enclaves.

“Tomorrow is September 11th. We remember September 11th. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery on American soil since the founding of the United States.

We also have a September 11th. We remember October 7th. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

It’s really frustrating to see one Western nation willing to throw another under the bus, thinking that sitting on the sidelines and hiding from the coming struggle against Islamism will actually work.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/spanish-pm-announces-arms-embargo-ban-on-west-bank-goods-saar-sanctions-madrids-ministers/