Hi everyone and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links: hostages home edition.
It's been quite an astonishing and amazing week. A lot of you hopefully had a chance to experience the hostage release day and President Trump's whirlwind and incredible visit to Israel with me and the folks here at Steyn HQ as I live blogged the happenings.
It was only last week that I was feeling pretty bummed out as I listened to Mark's passionate description of the state of the Jew-hatred in the world in the Live Q&A "The New Normal". I remember shortly after October 7, Mark talked about how this massacre in many ways was worse than the Nazi Holocaust, and the Jew-hatred was even more pathological and barbaric because the Nazis (at least) hid their intentions. The big plans were secret. But in the October 7 slaughter, the Islamic Palestinian Nazis bragged about their savagery, they recorded it on Go Pros in real time, they talked about it in family chats on WhatsApp and uploaded the bloodlust to the internet in real time. And then there were hostages, and there was war. And then there were the events of this week. Watching the hostages come home, watching President Trump, Israeli PM Netanyahu and listening to all the speeches very carefully, I knew that I was watching Jewish history and world history playing out right in front of my very eyes. I am not surprised of course, that the American press did not cover it the way it was covered in the Israeli and Jewish media. I can't really capture the right words to describe the sensation of the split screens, and the words spoken were majestic and inspiring.
Does all this mean it's "fluffy bunny" time-to borrow a phrase from Mark? No. Absolutely not. Hamas is already playing games with the bodies of the murdered hostages because they are barbaric, sick savages of course. Will the terrorists that got out of jail go back to attacking, maiming and killing Jews. Yes, they will. And that's why the next policy move in Israel has to be the adoption of capital punishment for terrorists, or at the very least, capital punishment for any terrorist involved in kidnapping. Immediate. There should be no jails full of Palestinians with blood on their hands. The deal that was made was definitely the best that Israel could hope for, and there is hope for the Palestinians, too but I'm not optimistic that they will change. A change in Palestinian "culture" will require a de-Nazification a million, gazillion, billion times larger than what was achieved by America in Germany after WW2. And, as per Mark's observations on the Q&A and lately at SteynOnline, the de-Nazification clearly needs to happen in the West as well, if it is to survive. And by that I mean re-migration and ideological de-Nazification. Because whatever the new thing will be (all those people marching against genocide are pretty mute right now, aren't they), or if it's still going to be Gaza, we have our work cut out for us.
There's going to be lots to talk about regarding this deal, and the feeling in Israel and the Jewish world right now is right now to enjoy the freedom of the hostages coming home, to remember the sacrifices made by the soldiers of the IDF, the courage and the bravery shown by so many, and never forgetting the lives that were lost in the defense of the Jewish homeland and the allyship between America and Israel. We've witnessed so many miracles and I believe there are more to come.
But for now, I'll steal ("liberate") this great line and temporarily adopt an optimistic viewpoint. Credit to Eylon Levy and I'll sign off now as I absolutely bask in the sentiment: "We're going to be fine".
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North America:
VDH: About the Jews. I rarely disagree with VDH, but I do on the expression "No Jews, no news." It's an expression that I use frequently myself. What I think it means is that if there are no Jews in the story to blame, it's not news. I don't see that as antisemitic - the opposite. If someone uses the expression to say that nobody is interested in anything that doesn't have Jews in it, at the expense of - or compared to other stories - then I guess there is a question. The real question one has to ask is why Jews take up so much space rent-free in people's heads. Don't people have anything else to do?
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Israel and Jews:
Sukkot prayers at Hostage Square. This is particularly significant because two years ago, there was terrible conflict between secular and religious Jews in Tel Aviv about prayer and public prayer. It was quite awful and I believe that this biblical level hatred was in fact, one of the things that led up to October 7. The massacre of October 7 and the war in Gaza has made Jews more Jewish - I guess this is the the law of unintended consequences upon our enemies. There are sights that are so beautiful to behold, like dancing with the Torah at Sheba hospital where some of the hostages are being treated.
Spiked: Trump has dealt a devastating blow to Israelophobia.
"It never was about Gaza, about the real people suffering in a terrible war, even if the activists managed to convince themselves that's what they were marching for. Here we are at the end, and they are silent. It was only ever a campaign for Hamas's religious forever war to destroy my people. There was only one genocide being advocated over the past two years. And it wasn't for Gaza."
"Every time you cancel me I get stronger. And when you cancel something you make it punk." Azaleia Bank's X feed is absolutely wild. My new girl crush. WILD.
Can the ADL be saved? (My opinion: NO NO NO NO NO, NEVER EVAH EVAH EVAH.)
The great Caroline Glick - advisor to Israeli PM Netanyahu - on what the future holds. Pay close attention.
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Islam:
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The Formerly Great Britain:
Man with Down Syndrome: "I don't want to die." NHS: Too bad for you.
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Europe:
Another October battle. The more things change, etc...
"The Afghan asylum seeker and caregiver Ali Hassan Zada has been sentenced for raping an 80-year-old woman with severe dementia living at a nursing home in Årjäng, Sweden. This case emerged amid a broader "elder rape scandal" in Sweden, where multiple assaults by migrant caregivers were underreported due to institutional failures. Ali Hassan Zada arrived in Sweden from Afghanistan in 2017 and had been granted Swedish citizenship just weeks before the attack, making it impossible for the judge to order his deportation after serving the sentence."
Queers for Palestine: WE LOOOOOOVE YOU.
Palestine to Queers: We're just not into you.
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Misc Tech/Social Media Stuff:
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Human and Canine Grace:
Three years of therapy in a minute, Part 2.
Making the bucket list happen.
This is PERFECTION. I've watched it about a dozen times already.
I'm usually a cynic about "following your dreams" but I have to eat my hat on this one.
And they said it couldn't be done.
It's open thread time! Log into SteynOnline and let Laura know what you think of these stories or other happenings from the 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.
