There is a well-known story of a scorpion that needs to cross a pond. But the scorpion can’t swim. The scorpion approaches a frog and asks if he can be so kind as to give him a ride across the pond.
The frog responds incredulously and says to the scorpion, “But how do I know you won’t sting me on the way?” The scorpion says back to the frog, “Now, why would I possibly want to sting you – if I do, we’ll both drown!” The frog understands the logic and agrees to give the scorpion a lift.
Halfway through the pond, the scorpion indeed stings the frog. The frog, realizing he was stung looks up to the scorpion and says, “Why did you sting me? Now we’re both going to drown together!” The scorpion responded, “I can’t help it; I’m a scorpion, and that’s what scorpions do. We sting.”
It is very disheartening and even at times depressing to realize that Jews are like the frog with the scorpion. We have been stung countless times in recent years by the liberals and the Democrats, as I have been outlining in my recent articles. Yet we keep on coming back for more. As though this time it will be different.
We went through almost a year of gehenom in Israel and in our country. You may not like Donald Trump; I get that. But he is 100 percent correct in claiming that had he been president, the Iranian-funded Hamas would not have attacked Israel on October 7. In the four years that he was president, war did not break out; peace did. Any other president would undoubtedly have received a Nobel Peace Prize for the Abraham Accords, which brought a game-changing sweeping realignment of relations between Israel and many of the Gulf States.
Barack Obama woke up one morning and was surprised to find out he won a Nobel Prize because he desired peace. Here is a man who allowed ISIS to flourish, for Russia to invade Crimea, who let Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad cross his red line and kill thousands of his own people. He infamously created the Iran Nuclear Deal, which led to Iran being on the precipice of nuclear weapons and bolstering Iran to the position of strength it is in today to cause havoc throughout the world.
Of course, Jews voted for Obama by big numbers – twice. Literally, the day after he met with a bunch of clapping seals in the White House, he stuck it to Israel in the UN. Yet, I’m sure most unaffiliated Jews look back at him with nostalgia.
Whether you like it or not, Donald Trump was the best president Israel ever had. Nikki Haley was his Ambassador to the UN and David Friedman was his Ambassador to Israel. As Haley declared in announcing the US full support for Israel: “There’s a new sherif in town!”
Now we have observed the Democratic Party pull to the left and being heavily influenced by the Israel-bashers. We witnessed the treachery of Charles Schumer and the uselessness of Gerald Nadler. We have seen President Biden, who originally stood tall and steadfast with Israel, gradually caving in to the leftist elements in his party, angering both Palestinian and Jewish supporters. Ultimately, we have seen the cannibalization of Mr. Biden by his own party because they did not like his poll numbers.
We saw how the streets and universities of our country were taken over by Muslims, radical leftists, and anti-Semites with total impunity. Thank G-d for brave Republicans like Elise Stefanik who called out the university heads. In Republican-governed states like Florida, all the campus protests were quickly quelled.
We have seen how colleges and the media from the left have become bastions of hate against Jews and Israel. We have seen how the criminal has become a folk hero in Democratic circles. We have seen weakness on every front.
We have seen the Republican convention become a love fest of Israel and the Jews. We have seen how the Republican Party is not the party of your grandmother – for the better. The Democratic Party is not the party of your grandmother – for the worse.
My father zt”l , like most Jews in his time, was a loyal Democrat. I remember there was one fine lady in the Young Israel, Mrs. Mini Feldman a”h, who was a big campaigner for Republicans back in the 1960s and ’70s. Poor Mini was considered an outcast. No one understood her. Let’s just say she proved to be ahead of her time.
In the early 1980s, with the rise of Jimmy Carter, my father began to realize that the Democrats were headed in the wrong direction, and he switched to supporting the Republicans. In 1984, he was the chosen rabbi to give the invocation at the Republican National Convention, with Ronald Reagan the candidate for president. Jews have to get off the Democratic plantation!
Does it take a genius to figure that you will not see nearly the support for Israel in the Democratic National Convention? How could it? The leftist tail will be wagging the dog. At best, you will see: “The support for Israel is ironclad and we support its right to defend itself. But we cannot ignore the suffering of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians. We call on Israel to cease operations immediately.” Exactly what Hamas wants to hear.
And they are hearing that from the current assumed Democratic nominee. Yes, she weakly condemned the violence and desecration of American institutions last week in DC. Typically, however, she concluded with: “but we understand their feelings of pain.” Message delivered. Time after time, she repeats breathlessly how we cannot ignore the suffering of the Palestinians. Much more harmful than the misquoted Trump of “There are fine people on both sides.” Score another victory for Hamas.
Can we just let pass the fact that she boycotted Netanyahu’s address to Congress? Can we forget Schumer’s awful trashing of Netanyahu, which was obviously done at the behest of Biden-Harris? Nothing was more despicable than the claim by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (the queen of mean) that Netanyahu’s speech in Congress was the “worst in history.”
Are we blind to the fact that Harris never fails to temper her condemnation of anti-Semitism with a reminder that we must fight (non-existent) Islamophobia?
Harris’ record as vice president and her failure in every area before and after her assuming office is now being sanitized and rewritten by the Democrats and the media. But Jews and Americans cannot afford to forget who supported mass illegal immigration, defunding the police, and raising bail for the BLM violent criminals. Some district attorney!
I know it’s not cool to say that the American voter is stupid. But they are. Half this country supports a vacuous candidate who shares the blame for everything that has gone wrong. And she is currently hip – and comes up with the right slogans and spoon-fed talking points. It’s all virtue signaling and nothing constructive.
If the American voter is stupid, the Jewish voter is suicidal. No other way to explain it. They would run to vote for FDR all over again, even knowing what we now know about him.
It is so troubling that Jews will largely vote for their anathema. The reason for it is that most unaffiliated Jews have replaced their lack of religion with their own religion: Liberalism. And they have complete and blind faith.
What is most heartbreaking, however, is that many Orthodox Jews will be voting for Kamala Harris, despite her awful record with Israel and common sense. For those who do, her mistreatment of Israel will be on you.
I wish someone could explain that to me. We are reliving the plague of the frogs; except now, the Jews are the self-inflicted victims.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
