Blowin’ in the wind
Readers of a certain vintage will remember this popular song released in 1963 and top of the hit parade for some time.
Michael Kuttner
One definition I came across explained that “blowing in the wind” means “to be thought about and discussed but not decided upon or resolved.”
This succinctly sums up the current state of chaos and indecisive action on the part of most democracies as they face an increasing onslaught on their freedom, liberties and human rights.
Even more explicit are these lyrics taken from the song:
“How many times can a man turn his head?
Pretending that he just doesn’t see.
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind…….”
If you want to know exactly how vacillating political leaders and their advisers are, just take note of the multitude of examples. The spectacle of commentators, experts and those elected to lead turning their heads and pretending not to see the looming threats is enough to make any sane individual despair.
In Iran, the followers of Baha’i are being singled out again for persecution, incarceration, torture and death. This is not a new phenomenon, yet the silence of religious and lay leaders alike is deafening.
Salman Rushdie is stabbed by someone with ties to Iran yet the Biden Administration and the EU turn their heads. The height of hypocrisy is issuing meaningless “slap on the wrist” expressions of outrage while hurtling full speed toward an agreement that will guarantee Iran’s acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. Yet this is precisely the scenario being enacted in front of our very eyes by those who prefer to turn their heads. Presumably, when Iran has extracted the maximum number of concessions from those peddling appeasements of terror regimes, Israel will be expected to fall into line.
Taiwan officials have declared that the Communist Chinese armed forces are practising for an eventual invasion. Pentagon experts stated in response that this is “fantasy.” This deliberate denial of reality is an eerie resemblance to American slogans that they will not let Iran acquire nuclear capability when the Iranians themselves have already boasted that they can assemble an atomic bomb.
The Chinese Ambassador to Australia is reported by news media to have stated that “the anticipated Taiwan action will be a takeover and not an invasion. It will be a reunification and a coming back to the motherland.” Can their intentions be any clearer?
The reactions of the democracies are as clueless as their responses to the agenda of the PA and all their terror-supporting friends. In the face of Abbas in Ramallah praising the murder of Israelis and paying stipends and pensions to the murderers, Israel is urged to agree to the establishment of a terror State in the heart of our country. The expressions of fake sympathy gushing forth when pregnant Israeli mothers and their children are murdered are negated by their silence in the face of any democracy or respect for human rights in the PA and Hamas-controlled Gaza.
It is no wonder, therefore, that most sane Israelis shake their heads in amazement when the UN Ambassador for Middle East “peace” burbles that “cycles of violence will only stop when an independent Palestinian State lives side by side with Israel”.
This week marks the anniversary of the 1929 mass massacre by Arabs of Jews in Hebron, Jerusalem and Safed. To commemorate this act of terror, the Palestinian Authority lauded and honoured the memory of the perpetrators, calling them heroes. What further proof of the futility and insanity of embracing these people as peace partners can be provided? Yet, despite all the evidence, the UN and all our fellow leftist lemmings persist in turning their heads and ignoring the foul stench blowing in the wind.
In Germany of all places, Abbas stood alongside the German Chancellor and not only refused to apologise for the PLO massacre of Israeli Olympic sportspeople fifty years ago but brazenly accused Israel of having perpetrated numerous “holocausts” against Palestinian Arabs since 1947. The German Chancellor grimaced but did not walk out or immediately denounce this blatant lie. He instead shook the liar’s hands. Only when uproar ensued did he try to wriggle out of his non-reaction. As for Abbas, the firestorm of condemnation obviously caught him on the back foot but his subsequent weasel words merely highlighted his hypocrisy.
The continuing embrace of this “leader” is a perfect example of not wanting to face real truths.
Years of weak appeasement have resulted in North Korea now menacing its neighbours with impunity. The warm embrace of this rogue regime by Russia, China, Iran and the “peace-loving” PA in Ramallah illustrates the dismal failure to confront terror and points to a disastrous calamity facing us.
The ex-Al-Jazeera chief tweeted that the “same killer is behind the deaths of Jesus and Palestinians.” He quickly deleted this tweet once it was exposed but one wonders where the uproar over this blatant Jew hate was. It’s obviously another case of ignoring noxious odours carried in the wind.
The fastest growing “religion” these days, especially in the USA, is the climate change denomination. Among its most fanatic followers are supporters of the Democratic Party, and as over 70% of American Jews vote for them, they are overwhelmingly represented among this new secular faith. There is nothing wrong, of course, with being concerned about protecting the environment but somehow the proponents of climate change have turned it into some sort of obsessive compulsion which is taking over people’s lives. Every disaster, whether natural or man-made, is now attributed to climate change and the apocalyptic prophecies multiply by the day.
Lost in all this hysteria is the fact that ever since humanity inhabited planet earth, there have been climatic dramas. The flood at the time of Noah plus subsequent cycles of ice ages and heat waves all occurred before fossil fuel became the bogeyman it has become today.
Protecting this planet of ours is, without doubt, an important mitzvah of Judaism but it does not trump our obligation to survive as Jews. That is why when reading a report sourced from JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) it occurred to me that somehow American Jewry, or at least large parts of it, has been hijacked by climate change hysteria to the exclusion of anything else.
This report summary stated that “American Jews rank climate change above all other problems.” It seems from previous surveys that a far bigger percentage of American Jews believe climate change is a concern than any other group of Americans.
One would think that concerns about Israel, Judeophobia and increasing assimilation would be of equal if not greater concern. Unfortunately, this is not the case among non-Orthodox affiliated Jews. A study published by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) found that only one-third of Jewish people under the age of 30 in the USA find it very important for their grandchildren to be Jewish as well. Among young Jewish Democrats, support for Israel falls to only 48%. According to the policy think tank, many young American Jews lack a religious or national bond to Judaism and only view it from a cultural perspective.
Tikkun Olam has superseded most other mitzvot for progressive American Jews and is inexorably leading to a Jewish change far more dramatic and long lasting than climate change.
“How many times can we turn our heads
Pretending that we just don’t want to see?
The answers my friends, are blowing in the wind…”
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
