Jews must become Maccabees again

Time to remember the real meaning of Hanukkah

There is a grim, sickening pattern repeating itself across the world. Jews are being attacked in the streets. Brutalized on public transport. Murdered in their homes. Massacred at Hanukkah celebrations.

Jews are being targeted not for what we have done, not for what we believe politically, not for any crime or provocation, but for the ancient and apparently unpardonable sin of being Jewish.

The disgusting morons out there who are claiming that the murder of children — like the latest attack we witnessed in Australia — is rooted in some sort of anti-Zionist protest? Frankly, they can go **** themselves.

As this happens, as news of attacks come in every single day from across the world, we are told to keep our heads down. To stay quiet. To avoid “provoking” hatred. To dim our visibility in the hope that those who despise us will somehow grow bored and move on.

Hide that yarmulke. Hide that Star of David. Hide that Jewishness. If you’re one of those Orthodox Jews with the beard and the hat, then I guess you shouldn’t go out at all…

History tells us exactly how this bullshit ends.

The fact that the terrorist attack in Bondi Beach, Sydney, took place during Hanukkah is deeply relevant, and as we face the aftermath, it’s worth reminding ourselves what this holiday actually commemorates.

It’s not jelly donuts, or Christmas-style gift-giving, or the vague platitudes about “light” offered by apparent lovers of Judaism like Kamala Harris — with her husband’s Jewishness confirmed by his love of brisket.

Hanukkah is not a Hallmark card. It’s a tale of military victory of the Maccabees against the invading Greeks.

Hanukkah is about power. It is about resistance. It is about a tyrannical force that sought not merely to rule over the Jewish people, but to erase them. To outlaw our faith, defile our place of worship, and enforce religious assimilation at sword-point.

Sound familiar?

The Maccabees — our ancient ancestors who fought to exist — were not diplomats. They did not issue statements condemning violence “on all sides.” They didn’t wring their hands about the threat of anti-Greek hatred as Greeks cut them down in the streets. They did not appeal to Greek-controlled international bodies or hope that their persecutors would suddenly develop a conscience.

They defended themselves, they fought, and they won.

The Maccabees by Wojciech Korneli Stattler

This is the part of the story modern society finds deeply uncomfortable. Why? Because, as my friend Yehuda Lapian put it, they hate seeing a Jew in an F-35.

Today, our enemies wear different clothes and speak a different language, wrapping the same ancient hatred in the Islamist language of “anti-Zionism,” “decolonization,” or “social justice.” They march under banners that claim moral righteousness while excusing — or outright celebrating — the rape, burning alive, torture, kidnapping, mutilation, and murder of Jews. But whether we’re talking about ancient Greeks or modern-day radical Islamists, the goal is the same: intimidate Jews into silence, isolate them from allies, and make Jewish existence itself feel like a provocation, all to justify the destruction of the Jewish people.

Too many Jews, exhausted by centuries of persecution and eager to be accepted, have internalized the lie that survival depends on invisibility. We’ve placed ourselves in social ghettos, where safety is supposedly provided by being quieter, smaller, less Jewish.

Somehow, they believe that if we apologize enough for existing, and parrot their own talking points back to them, the mob will spare us.

It will never work.