10 | JULY 15 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued from page 8

path of danger? Does the 
reality of imminent attacks 
on Israel frighten you so 
much you would never visit 
Israel, never mind sending 
your children?
Last month, when the 
locations popped up on the 
Red Alert app, it was evident 
that Hamas was no longer 
targeting only the usual pop-
ulations adjacent to Gaza. 
This time they had the capa-
bility and were intentionally 
aiming for the heartland of 
Israel — Jerusalem, the met-
ropolitan city of Tel Aviv, and 
smaller densely populated 
cities such as Ra’anana and 
Hod HaSharon, the location 
of the AMHSI campus. 
There were countless vid-
eos from Israel: Israeli Arabs 
rioting and burning the 
Israeli flag, burning down 
synagogues, burning buses, 
Arabs trying to lynch Jews, 
fires on top of the Temple 
Mount, gaping holes in 
apartment buildings because 
the Iron Dome missed. And 
you know what? As the noti-
fications were constantly 
dinging, as I watched these 
videos with tears in my eyes, 
I wasn’t scared; I was angry. 
Anger is a great motivator. 
I became more determined, 
not only to go to Israel 
myself, but to send both my 
children as planned. I don’t 
fear the enemy. They want 
fear. Fear is weakness allow-
ing for an easier attack. It’s 
only with unity, strength and 
never backing down that we 
will defeat evil.

PAY ATTENTION
So, my dear American Jewish 
moms, who love your chil-

dren more than life itself, pay 
attention to what’s happen-
ing in Israel because Israelis 
are not just another people 
living in the Middle East. 
They are Jews; our brothers 
and sisters — our sons and 
daughters. Our people living 
in our ancestral homeland. 
Any attack on Israel is no 
different than an attack on 
a Jew in Poway, Pittsburgh 
or anywhere in the world. 
The same outrage and deep 
pain in your soul that you 
felt then, you should feel 
every single time your phone 
dings. 
You should want to help 
and to unite with Am Yisrael 
because the terrorist’s moti-
vation is simple: Jew hatred. 
These attacks are not over 
land disputes, rent disputes 
or any other propaganda that 
they try to use to manipulate 
the world for their corrup-
tion and power. It’s pure Jew 
hatred, and they want to 
divide us to make us weak, to 
eliminate us.
Dear American Jewish 
mom, it’s your obligation 
to learn about, teach and 
show your children the truth 
of our people. Teach your 
children about our history, 
and I don’t mean just the 
Holocaust. I mean our ances-
tral history in the Land of 
Israel. Start by teaching them 

that Israel is our ancestral 
home. Don’t blindly parrot 
what you read/hear in the 
media. It’s propaganda.
When you teach your chil-
dren the truth, you give them 
an invaluable gift; you ensure 
your children are links in our 
long chain of rich history. 
Don’t be the generation that 
breaks our chain. The way 
to strengthen our chain is to 
actively connect with Israel. 
Don’t fear the land; embrace 
it, honor it, love it.
Assuming you’ve down-
loaded the Red Alert app, 
your phone will ding with 
notifications at the same 
time as Jews from all over 
the world who have also 
downloaded it. You’ve just 
taken an important step in 
connecting yourself with Am 
Yisrael.
Now that you’re connect-
ed, we must stand in unity 
against evil, so book a flight 
to Israel with your children. 
Who knows, you may fall in 
love with the Land and make 
aliyah. 
Or at the very least, you’ll 
understand why I am even 
more determined than ever 
to send both my children to 
Israel as planned. 

Lisa Koenig is northeast director of 

Herut North America’s U.S. division. 

Herut is an international movement 

for Zionist pride and education. 

“ANY ATTACK ON ISRAEL IS NO 
DIFFERENT THAN AN ATTACK ON 
A JEW IN POWAY, PITTSBURGH OR 

ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.”

— LISA KOENIG

letters

The Power of 
Friendship

The heartwarming article 
by Shoshana Lavan, “Israeli 
Arabs, Jews Refuse to Be 
Enemies” [July 1, page 6] 
inevitably reminded me of 
two events in my life having 
to do with relations between 
Israeli Arabs and Jews.
The first occurred in one 
of my summer visits to my 
native Israel. 
I visited the Arab-Jewish 
village Neve Shalom, an 
example of how it should be 
and can be with good will on 
both sides. 
The other one was some 
years later when I visited 
an Arab-Catholic village at 
the Upper Galilee near the 
Lebanese border. 
That unforgettable visit 
was the result of a meeting 
my late husband and I had 
in Rome with an Arab family 
who was part of a delegation 
who came to see the pope. 
Members of the family, 
which included the mayor 
of the village, came to my 
parents’ home in Bat Yam to 
take me to an unforgettable 
weekend which included an 
Arab wedding.
These two experiences 
show that friendship 
between Arabs and Jews is 
possible and actually exists 
and should be encouraged 
— as it would greatly benefit 
the two peoples who inhabit 
and love the State of Israel.

— Rachel Kapen

West Bloomfield

