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Order Jamie Glazov’s new book, ‘United in Hate: The Left’s Romance with Tyranny, Terror, and Hamas‘: HERE.
On March 1, an Iranian rocket smashed into the synagogue at Beit Shemesh, a town in Israel located in the Jerusalem District, approximately 15 miles west of Jerusalem in the Judean foothills. The synagogue was completely destroyed, and nine Israelis were killed, seven of them as they were running to the bomb shelter. On March 18, the ambassadors of 15 European countries paid a visit to Beit Shemesh to see for themselves what Israelis, who must constantly run many times a day into their bomb shelters when the sirens sound, endure when the bombs land, and how resilient the people of Israel are, how determined to carry on no matter what. Given how many European countries have been distancing themselves from Israel ever since Israel began its counterattack on Hamas on October 7, 2023, with some even recognizing a state of “Palestine,” this visit, prompted by both sympathy and curiosity, was a morale booster for Israelis, and not just for those who live in Beit Shemesh.
More on the visit can be found here: “‘We’re here’: European ambassadors stand in solidarity after deadly Beit Shemesh strike,” by Mathilda Heller, Jerusalem Post, March 18, 2026:
“We are here. We stand in solidarity with the people,” Marriët Schuurman, Dutch ambassador to Israel, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday at the site of the fatal missile impact in Beit Shemesh.
Schuurman was part of a delegation of 15 European ambassadors visiting the location where, on March 1, a 500 kg. Iranian warhead hit a synagogue, killing nine people, seven of whom were running to the bomb shelter.
The delegation included ambassadors from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovenia, Ireland, and the Czech Republic, as well as the ambassador and head of the European Union Delegation to Israel.
“It’s very impressive to see it and to meet the people from the community who survived and the community leaders who helped them to hear their stories,” Schuurman told the Post. “You can read it in the news, and I think, when that hit came it was a big shock to everybody, but it’s always different to see in real life and also see how many people got saved by being in the miklat (shelter).”
“It’s all very well to be in Brussels watching wars going on, but when you’re hearing sirens and running to your shelter, it’s totally different,” Michael Mann, the EU’s ambassador, told the Post….
During the last two-and-a-half years, the people of Israel have been subjected to every sort of calumny about the IDF supposedly committing “war crimes” and “genocide,” and except for about a week or two following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, the Israelis have been shown little sympathy or understanding in Europe for what Israelis suffered and why the IDF ‘s response was fully justified. It has been especially shocking and demoralizing for Israelis to see how many European states have distanced themselves from their country, and how many Europeans have even denounced the Jewish state for trying to defend itself against those — Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran — who if they could, would destroy both the state and its people in their tiny homeland. This visit to Beit Shemesh by the fifteen European ambassadors meant a great deal to Israelis, and not just to the inhabitants of the town.
But there is one disturbing fact that requires an explanation. The German ambassador was not among the group of fifteen, because on March 10, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, had visited Beit Shemesh in the company of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. But why were the ambassadors of the U.K., France, and Italy not present? The forces of Islam have placed Western civilization under assault. Many Muslims hate Israel because it refuses to surrender its tiny homeland, built on territory that was once possessed by Muslims and thus, in their eyes,, must forever remain Muslim.. The countries of the West should take every opportunity to express solidarity with the Jewish state. On March 18, fifteen of them did so on a visit to Beit Shemesh. Many others should have.
Photo credit: Bukvoed, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Even being resilient becomes wearying over time and managing the elevated stressors has a longterm impact and it’s called PTSD.
As our Jewish people are about to share Passover, we are reminded of freedom and how important it is for every human being. We have a collective memory of generations of our people held captive in slavery and the reality we face down in every generation because of baseless hatred.
I find the willingness of the world to so easily capitulate to Islam’s clearly stated, evil methodologies and their by-any-means-necessary goals of subjugating the entire world’s people under this violent ideology, horrifying.
What is it about being part of this ideological malignancy that so many find appealing?
Israel and our Jewish people simply want to live peacefully with our neighbors yet the more violent our neighborhood becomes, the more the world insists we have no right to defend our land and our people.
Islam, conveniently attributes ownership to lands previously conquered and no one around the globe counters this with the reality that land has been fought over and won then lost through millennia.
Our Jewish people have weathered many of these conquests and unlike others who have permanently perished from the earth, we returned to our ancient and now current homeland.
Sadly, those nations that have and continue placating this entrenched evil ideology called Islam are witnessing their countries crumbling beneath them and their histories being dissolved before them.
Those who came to Beit Shemesh and saw the tragedy before their eyes, felt in their hearts the deaths of innocent people, can now understand that there is an indescribable difference between viewing a violent tragedy through media and being there.
Since the deposition of the Shah, Iran has remained an Islamic tyranny to the people of Iran and a violent theocracy seeking to make the world a totalitarian prison for humanity under its authoritarian rule!
Israel may be a very small parcel of land but we, the Jewish people, are the world’s David to Islam’s Goliath and humanity would do well to support us. If not, as we have so many times before, we will sit together at our Passover Seders around the globe, remember our enslavement from the past and continue to marshal within ourselves the courage, tenacity and commitment to defend ourselves and to be a beacon of hope to those still yearning to be free.
Chag Pesach Sameach!
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“Visit of sympathy” or not won’t make any difference concerning the anti-israeli attitude of the European countries, and the Israelis know it. In fact, the Europeans are currently showing their support of the mollahs regime simply because the current events over there disturb the ‘status quo’ they so want to protect. The only thing they really care about is being left alone to continue to sit iin front of their TV at night.