Intifada

And, um, a, an, uh, an action like this coming 25 years almost to the day of the attacks on the United States, I think is an indication of, uh, the shifting geopolitical realities, uh, in the Middle East between September 11th and now.

Uh, the Israel was engaged in 2001 in, in, in a, in a, I wouldn't call it an existential battle, but I would call it a, uh, day-to-day life disruptive battle, uh, with the Palestinians, uh, under, uh, Yasser Arafat's charge in the form of the street war called the Second Intifada, in which 1,000 Israelis died, and the purpose of which was to make Israeli daily life almost unendurable because of the surprise nature of the attacks that the, um, Palestinian Authority and others were, were making on, uh, ordinary sites in Israel, shopping malls, streets, restaurants, uh, s- markets.

Um, and, uh, so that was the story of 2001, which was when Al-Qaeda hit the United States.

The initial thought was, well, obviously, this is just part and parcel of the general, uh, conflict in the Middle East that stems from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was just yet another iteration of that.

That is a conspiracy theory.

But there were so many connections within the wider sort of Saudi elite in terms of raising money for these Al-Qaeda fronts.

There was, uh, you know, right before 9/11, there was an infamous, uh, you know, open on Saudi television, kind of like a telethon to raise money for the martyrs of the Second Intifada.

It was a very different-- Saudi Arabia was in a very different place.

They must know what happened to us in England and France and Spain and Russia and North America.

They must know the ins and outs of '48 and '67 and the fall of the Shah and the Farhud and the Intifadas and every other pivotal moment in Israeli history from all angles.

If all we're teaching them is holidays, songs, and tikkun olam, we can't be surprised when the only things they know about being Jewish are holidays, songs, and tikkun olam.

We can fix this.