Pleasing Your Enemies

Hello again and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links. It's finally summer here in southern Ontario and the sunshine is warming my bones. It's June, it's about time!

There are a lot of things on my radar to remember and commemorate during the first week of June, like D-Day, the Six Day War, the Tiananmen Square massacre and the death of the Ayatollah Khomeni among other things.

One other thing I want you to remember is that Mark Steyn will very shortly be in court, in England this time, once again fighting on behalf of all us on the free speech and liberty front. Please keep Mark and his health in your prayers as he heads into this fight with more battle scars, physical and emotional trauma and expenses than anyone in an allegedly free society should ever have to suffer at the hands of the government. Godspeed, Mark Steyn, we are with you in prayer and spirit!

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Earlier this week, we learned that four more Israeli hostages were officially declared dead by the IDF after having been murdered by Hamas (their bodies are still being held in Gaza). May G-d avenge their murders, and may they rest in peace.

Chaim Peri was a peace activist and took sick Gazan children into Israel for medical treatment as a volunteer with the Road to Recovery organization. This is something that we need to talk about more because trying to please your enemies and being kind to the cruel is not a good or honourable thing. And bragging about feeding and supplying your enemies is nothing to brag about, YES I AM TALKING TO YOU ISRAEL AND THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT.

It's stupid and reckless, weak and craven and simply inexcusable. Being merciful to your enemies only brings more death, rivers of blood and destruction. There is simply no excuse for being an October 6th Jew, not in real life, not online and certainly nowhere within the Israeli government, IDF or any other part of any Israeli security services.

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Meanwhile, at Columbia University, 500 Jewish students have penned a letter which is worth reading. And even more so, Natan Sharansky's excellent essay at Tablet Magazine about the letter and the current wave of antisemitism in the world and how it relates to the totalitarian system he survived.

It's a must read, and a very clear warning about where we are at and where we are headed:

Totalitarian societies survive by relying on a core of true believers to frighten even those who don't buy the ideological party line into becoming "doublethinkers"—people who adhere to the party line in public regardless of their private thoughts—rather than outright dissidents. In the normal course of events, the percentage of doublethinkers is always on the rise, as more and more people grow disillusioned with the false promises of the regime yet continue to pledge allegiance to it out of fear instead of faith. The regime controls them not through their own convictions but through the power its institutions hold over their lives, livelihoods, and safety. In other words, it controls them by frightening them into censoring themselves on the regime's behalf.

Sharansky continues:

When I was a dissident in the USSR, my friends and I knew well that a revolution can only start when a critical mass of doublethinkers stops being afraid and crosses the line into open dissent. Only when the masses lose their fear and drop the mask of pretense, can they lead their society into a different future. It was true in the USSR, and it is true today: The ideological regime of antisemitism that has entrenched itself in America's universities for decades will only collapse when enough Jews stop being afraid. It will only collapse if they stop unwillingly aiding it by hiding and self-censoring, and instead speak their truths openly and loudly.

(Of course, the evil and demonic lies upon lies and abject permanent and irreversible mutilation of children by adults under the guise of "trans" is one such example where the collapse can only occur, as Sharansky says, by speaking the truth openly and loudly.

There are lots of people still sounding warning bells, but not enough people are stepping up to the plate. There are still not enough people "sharing the risk" as Mark frequently quotes Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A lot more courage is needed. BUCK. UP.

I truly fear for America. See more on that here.

To conclude:

Stop doublethinking.

Speak truth openly and loudly.

Live free and with boundless gratitude.

Love grandly and unconditionally.

And please continue to pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.

See you in the comments.

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North America:

We may never know the motive. It's a real mystery.

Michele Bachmann, dear friend of Mark and cruiser extraordinaire, discusses Obama's third term and Israel with Steve Bannon.

I think these kinds of episodes are not accidents, they are just trial balloons.

RELATED.

Flirting is now canceled. What a pity.

This is so good. Can't both sides lose??? I love this.

Seems nice. Again, this is not just about Jews. It's about having a malignant population in your country that will literally poison and transform the entire body politic.

Nothing to see here.

Can we call it an invasion yet?

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The Great Walkbackening, Reckoning and Accounting :

Oh you know, nothing to see here. And that demonic, narcissistic midget Fauci needs to go to prison for the rest of his life.

They are telling us they are going to do it again, and worse, and we are sitting on our thumbs, whistling.

PROOF!!!

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Jews and Israel:

Rafah reminds us of the evil of Hamas.

How two women survived the Nova festival.

Mark Steyn Show contributor Professor Norman Fenton discussing the new antisemitism of the freedom movement with Kate Wand.

Luckily, anti-Israel jackasses are some of the dumbest people on the planet. I really do hate it when I have to root for drag queens, but here we are.

BASED.

My Idiot People.

YES.

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The Formerly Great Britain:

Meanwhile, in jolly old England...

Honestly, what the heck, Ireland?!?!

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Europe:

OMG I really, really REALLY hate it when I have to root for Sweden. Stop making me root for Swedes.

The "missing" mezuzot of Paris.

While Europe sleeps.

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Kooks:

The only difference between the Oregon curriculum and the Gaza curriculum, it seems, is that one is in English and one is in Arabic. THIS DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR AMERICA.

AS SHE SAYS.

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Anti-Kooks:

FINALLY

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Human Grace:

I wept.

A profoundly moving and delightful interview by Bari Weiss of Jerry Seinfeld (minus the moderate TDS of course).

Mazel Tov, granny!

"France is preparing for an extraordinary week..."

Have more kids!

I just want my friend at my wedding.

It's open thread time! Log into SteynOnline and let Laura know what you think of these stories or other happenings from week that was. Commenting privileges are among the many perks of membership in The Mark Steyn Club. While going off topic is permitted on Laura's Links, do stick to the other rules as you engage: no URLs, no profanity, and no ad hominem attacks.