Repent ye…

I am grieved, disgusted, and enraged by the murder of two—of two more—young Israelis, as I am by all the evils going unchecked in this day: the assailing of Israel and of the Jewish people not least, whom the Almighty shall doubtless vindicate and avenge in accordance with His ancient promises and which wickedness we are all of us called to combat.

More broadly, the illiberal Left and the un-American Right must accept responsibility for creating the current crisis, the celebration of violence and murder, the disdain for the Courts and the rule of law. THIS. MUST. CEASE. Now: at once.

Bluntly and (intentionally) crudely put, the Left must abandon its longstanding—or kneeling—eagerness to fellate assassins whom it approves, from Sacco and Vanzetti to Mangione and Rodriguez, and must cease and renounce its devoted praise (it’s not merely excusing and palliating this: it is positive celebration) of political violence; and the alleged, Euro-style, ‘blood-and-soil’ so-called ‘Right’ absolutely must stop spreading its legs for any and every authoritarian and brittle ‘strong man’ it sees, from the Kingfish of old to Trump, Putin, Orbán, Xi, and Erdoğan—and must, having turned from that sin, go forth and sin no more. Both, and all, and everyone, absolutely must renounce and repent of that ancient recurrent evil, Jew-hatred. The commandment and promise in Ps. cxxii, Laetatus sum, vv. 6-8, O pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls : and plenteousness within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes : I will wish thee prosperity, equally sets out by implication that those who set themselves against Jerusalem and its peace, and against the Jewish people, shall not prosper.

Someone is sure to whine, here, ‘You can’t kill an idea’… That may—may—be so. But we can and ought to ‘kill’, politically, socially, economically, so many of those holding it that the irreconcilable, scattered, handful remnant who cling to evil notions are frightened even to whisper their wicked beliefs, to gather to plot together in a phonebooth which should comfortably hold them, and to act upon their base desires. Read them out of both parties; let them say what they like to the very limits of free speech and then confront them and destroy their arguments, humiliating them utterly; cut out the illiberal Left from every major Left of Center party and the statist, kleptocratic ‘Right’ from every major Right of Center party; harry them, denounce them, and give them no houseroom; render them irrelevant; cull the herd. Abandon this ‘no enemies on the Left’ and ‘no enemies on the Right’ horseshit, then see how the little bastards fare. Defend those with whom you have no common view or interest or skin color or religion from those who will them harm. Stand for liberty as in the olden times, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.

It is generally conceded that the Blessèd Margaret of Grantham, the Rt Hon. Margaret, The Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, LG, OM, DStJ, PC, FRS, HonFRSC, is my distant cousin in consequence of her mother’s having been the natural daughter of that predatory sod my twelfth cousin six times removed Harry Cust (who also fathered Diana, Viscountess Norwich, my eight cousin thrice removed, amongst others). Let me then advert you to Cousin Maggie’s words from 1991:

Americans and Europeans alike sometimes forget how unique is the United States of America. No other nation has been created so swiftly and successfully. No other nation has been built upon an idea—the idea of liberty. No other nation has so successfully combined people of different races and nations within a single culture. Both the founding fathers of the United States and successive waves of immigrants to your country were determined to create a new identity. Whether in flight from persecution or from poverty, the huddled masses have, with few exceptions, welcomed American values, the American way of life, and American opportunities. And America herself has bound them to her with powerful bonds of patriotism and pride. The European nations are not and can never be like this. They are the product of history and not of philosophy. You can construct a nation on an idea; but you cannot reconstruct a nation on the basis of one.

What Jewish Americans need to know, and what Gentile Americans need to demonstrate, is that even when we disagree on a position, they are not alone.

When my ninth cousin eight times removed George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island:

All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy:

he meant it, and the United States pledged itself, its fidelity and its full faith and credit, to his words: and the keeping of that pledge is a national interest of the United States of America.

What Jewish Americans need to know, and what Gentile Americans must and have a duty to demonstrate, is that even when we disagree on a position, they are not alone.

It’s past time we stood beside them on the parapets, as family, and endured the sting of battle with them.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished…

—Isaiah xl. 2.

Now let’s get cracking and clean this place up.