#communities that jews are relatively safe in

[determinate-negation]

its really frustrating seeing people group together actual distressing instances of antisemitism with like public figures saying they support palestine it literally makes me feel ill why can so few people see that this is horrible??

[seductivejellyfish]

Making this post against my better judgement but:

It is 100% true that decolonization does not have to include mass expulsion and/or revenge and those are scare tactics and false flags used by colonizing powers to prevent decolonization actions.

However, it is ignorant, willful or accidentally, to ignore the history of Jews as a group specifically when imagining the future for Jews in the middle east after Palestine is freed.

White people in the US, for example do not have a legitimate reason to fear that they will be expelled from their homes in the event of landback successes. That fear is manufactured and based on nothing.

Jews absolutely have reason to fear that they will be expelled from their homes in most countries in the world. That fear is more or less legitimate in various places due to a variety of factors, but it is not built on nothing, it is built on the history of Jews being expelled from nearly every country in the world, and a current state of the world that is still rife with antisemitism.

The region around Palestine is not on the whole wholly hostile to the state of Israel because of humanitarian support for the people of Palestine. That is absolutely a large part of the motivation for action for many people in the region and around the world, but on the governmental level, many of these countries are also deeply antisemitic and have eliminated the Jewish populations of their own countries.

It is reasonable and logical, not invented, for a Jew to fear expulsion from their home in the middle east without a Jewish state to protect them.

That does not mean that Palestinians want to force Jews out, kill them all, etc. Those are still false flag claims to discredit the movement.

It also does not mean that Jewish safety should ever come at the cost of Palestinian lives and safety. Palestine must be freed, and it is not on the suffering Palestinians to reassure Jews that they won't be 'taking revenge' or anything like that. It also doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any physical returning of home and lands - there absolutely must be.

But it it disingenuous to compare the situation precisely to other decolonization situations in this respect and gets in the way of communication. The Jewish fear of expulsion is not a fear built on nothingness and guilt, though those of course contribute to the fervor of that feeling among settler Israelis. Jews have real historical and current reasons to fear expulsions from governments of the world, even if they do not have immediate reasons to fear mass expulsions from a specifically Palestinian government.

And a second time, for good measure: It also does not mean that Jewish safety should ever come at the cost of Palestinian lives and safety.

[fairuzfan]

If you can't see the difference between a diaspora Jew who has seen the violence inflicted on their community throughout history and the world for their entire existence since childhood and genuinely believes they will never be safe until they have somewhere to go that is made up of mostly Jews (and thinks that place might as well be 'where they came from'), and a Christian who wants all the Jews and Muslims back where they belong so that Jesus will come back or just so that 'their country' won't have Jews or Muslims anymore, and you believe those two people deserve the same scorn and violence, and that their Zionism is virtually indistinguishable, you're not a good person. I'm sorry you're just not.

My relatives aren't evil for thinking Israel should exist, they're just scared because they know what an angry, hateful world has done and can/will do to scattered Jews. They want to believe that there is a place in the world that is safe for Jews to live. (Whether Israel actually is that is beside the point- it isn't but that's beside the point).

And I'm a Bundist (not explaining it look it up idc) but with how things have been lately (and always really) I can't say I don't see the appeal.

Obviously Israel's government in general and the Likud party in particular is steeped in genocidal intent and abhorrent racism. Obviously the discrimination, colonization and brutalization of Palestinians should end. Obviously Israel should no longer be what it is- a militaristic puppet state by which the US keeps its hands in the middle east/swana region.

But don't you dare say that the Hobby Lobby CEO and my sister have the exact same Zionism or reasons for it.

I only say any of this bc you reblogged a post essentially saying all Zionism is the same and deserves the same treatment and seeing as diaspora Jews are neither the biggest material nor political backing force behind Israel, and also our fears are completely founded, I can't let you express that belief without at least making an effort to correct it.

(Also my sister technically just believes that Jews should be able to safely visit or live in the Levant, which we're indigenous to- and if you don't believe that where tf do you think we came from bc we didn't just grow out of the ground in NYC one day holding bagels I'll tell you that but I digress- but doesn't like the Israeli gov or its actions. So that may not even be Zionism according to you but that's what she calls it.)

Ok. Right now journalists are live blogging the massacre of my people and no one is lifting a finger and in fact sending them bigger and badder weapons. You're very heartless. I don't care if you don't think I'm a good person but I'm sad that you're not one either.

[girlactionfigure]

THURSDAY HERO: Princess Alice

Amazing story! Princess Alice was an unconventional royal who prioritized helping others over wealth and privilege. She devoted her life to good deeds and spiritual growth, and was notable among European royalty for taking Jews into her home during the Holocaust.

Princess Alice stood out for another reason: she was deaf from birth.

Born in 1885 at Windsor Castle, Alice was the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She learned to lip read at a young age, and could speak several languages. Alice was widely regarded as the most beautiful princess in Europe.

At age 17, Alice fell in love with dashing Prince Andrew of Greece and they were married in 1903. Alice and Andrew had four daughters and a son. Their son Philip would later be married to Queen Elizabeth II. Alice communicated with her children mainly in sign language.

Political turmoil in Greece forced the royal family into exile. They settled in a sleepy suburb of Paris, where Alice threw herself into charitable work helping Greek refugees. Her husband left her for a life of gambling and debauchery in Monte Carlo.

Relying on the charity of wealthy relatives, Alice found strength in her Greek Orthodox faith. She became increasingly religious, and believed that she was receiving divine messages and had healing powers. She yearned to share her faith and mystical experiences with others, but instead was dismissed as mentally unhinged.

Alice had a nervous breakdown in 1930. She was committed against her will to a mental institution in Switzerland, with a dubious diagnosis of schizophrenia. Alice did not even get a chance to say goodbye to her children. Her youngest, 9 year old Philip, returned from a picnic to find his mother gone.

Alice tried desperately to leave the asylum, but was kept prisoner in Switzerland for 2 1/2 years. During that time, her beloved son Philip was sent to live with relatives, and her four daughters married German princes. Alice was not allowed to attend any of their weddings.

Finally, in 1932, Alice was released. She became a wanderer, traveling through Europe by herself, staying with relatives or at bed & breakfast inns. In 1935, Alice returned to Greece, where she lived alone in a modest two bedroom apartment and worked with the poor.

The Germans occupied Athens in April 1941. Alice devoted herself to relieving the tremendous suffering in her country. She worked for the Red Cross, organizing soup kitchens and creating shelters for orphaned children. Alice also started a nursing service to provide health care to the poorest Athenians.

In 1943, the Germans started deporting the Jews of Athens to concentration camps. Alice hid a Jewish widow, Rachel Cohen, and her children in her own apartment for over a year. Rachel’s late husband, Haimaki Cohen, was an advisor to King George I of Greece, and Alice considered it her solemn duty to save the remaining Cohen family.

Alice lived yards from Gestapo headquarters. When the Germans became suspicious of her and started asking questions, she used her deafness as an excuse not to answer them. Alice kept the Cohen family safe until Greece was liberated in 1944.

After the war, Alice founded her own religious order, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, and became a nun. She built a convent and orphanage in a poverty-stricken part of Athens. Alice dressed in a nun’s habit consisting of a drab gray robe, white wimple, cord and rosary beads – but still enjoyed smoking and playing cards.

In 1967, after a Greek military coup, Alice finally returned to Great Britain. She lived at Buckingham Palace with her son Philip and daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II.

Alice died in 1969. She owned no possessions, having given everything to the poor. Before she died, Alice expressed a desire to be buried at the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, but instead was laid to rest in the Royal Crypt in Windsor Castle.

In 1988, almost 20 years after she died, Alice’s dying wish was finally granted. Her remains were sent to Jerusalem, where she was buried on the Mount of Olives.

In 1994, Alice was honored by the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem (Yad Vashem) as Righteous Among The Nations. Her son Prince Philip said of his mother’s wartime heroism, “I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with a deep religious faith, and she would have considered it to be a perfectly natural human reaction to fellow beings in distress.”

Video

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

There's been talk about another hostage deal. I don't refer to that much, because so much of it is happening behind the scenes, is not being reported on, or is deliberately lied about to put pressure on one of the factors in the equation, I don't see a point in talking about it unless there's confirmation that there is a deal. That's what I did before, that's what I'll continue to do.

There's more than enough proof that Hamas used the hospitals in Gaza as bases for their terrorist activity, I've written about it multiple times, and yet the lie that Hamas did no such thing is SO big, and SO many people and organizations, which are considered reputable, were complicit in covering for Hamas' crimes, that every additional piece of evidence matters. Now we have the confession of a Gaza hospital director, who admits that he not only collaborated with Hamas' terrorist usage of his hospital, he actually joined Hamas, and was a member of this terrorist organization himself. He also testifies that Hamas used hospitals, because it considered them safe places (meaning, they knew the IDF is NOT going to attack there).

I mentioned in my daily post yesterday, that the Houthis' attempt at blockading Israel has become a threat to global economy. Today, the US has accordingly announced an international coalition of 10 countries so far (officially, it's reported that some countries will participate anonymously) to combat this terrorist threat from Yemen, funded by Iran. There's at least one Arab country that officially joined this coalition, Bahrain (one of the Arab countries that Israel has peace with). This reminds me once again of the First Gulf War. World order in regards to Iran is taking shape in front of our eyes. This is important stuff, with consequences much bigger and longer lasting than the war in Gaza, though very much connected to it (even if we won't feel them immediately).

Another drone from Lebanon infiltrated Israel's north today, it was intercepted by the IDF. I'll also take this opportunity for a reminder that rocket fire into Israel continues, even if I don't mention it in every update post. In the last 24 hours, many rockets were fired into Tel Aviv and central Israel.

A Hamas money launderer, in charge of transferring money from Iran and other countries to Hamas, money which fuels the organization's terrorist activities and fighting, has been killed in Gaza.

Actor Alec Baldwin was stopped by anti-Israel protesters, when he happened to pass by them in NYC. They demanded he condemn Israel, because apparently if you're a celebrity, you HAVE to have an opinion about every political subject in the world, and it's okay to harass you about it in your private time. That's not bullying if you're famous. But what's even more infuriating, is that the protesters implied Baldwin wouldn't condemn the Jewish state, because he works in Hollywood, meaning they repeated the age old antisemitic trope that Jews control the American film industry. These are the same people who make it unsafe for Jews to leave council meetings that discuss the war, without police protection. At what point do we call out this violent, bullying behavior, harming regular people, as an illegitimate form of protesting?

These are Amiram Cooper, Yoram Metzger and Chaim Perry. All of them are in their 80's.

They've been kidnapped by Hamas, which released a vid of them in captivity. The vid has not been published in Israeli media, as seems to have been the general policy when it comes to this part of Hamas' psychological warfare. I heard the familiy members (who obviously were shown the vid) of two of these kidnapped men. Both relatives said that all three men (who are from the same community) don't look like themselves, that they lost a lot of weight and seem to be in a bad shape.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[nervousbreadpuppy]

too scared to put this on any of my public accounts but i dislike israel because i am a jewish person.

barely held together stream of consciousness below.

first and foremost, genocide is wrong, no matter who commits it. there is no such thing as a justifiable genocide. this should be reason enough to not support israel.

but also, israel erases jewish culture. israel pretends it is jewish culture. which is not true.

i think most people are familiar with the fact that colonization destroys both the colonized culture and the colonizing culture, a la "white people have no culture". you claim parts of culture that are not your own, because everything is part of you. the point of colonization is to crush and absorb everything. and you distance yourself from your original culture to claim whats left.

i saw a video taken in israel, where people were asked what their favorite israeli foods were. answers ranged from israeli breakfast, to falafel, to, confusingly, empanadas. none of these answers, besides the breakfast, are israeli im origin, however the elements found in israeli breakfast are mostly typical in western culture.

the reason there is no such thing as an "israeli food" is because israel hasnt been around as a country long enough to create its own cuisine. israel had only been around for 75 years. so israeli food is mostly just food from the countries around israel. and western food.

but there is jewish food! i know this. ive grown up around this! latkes, challah, hamantaschen. even foods not exclusively jewish were made and popularized by Jewish immigrants, like brisket and fish and chips.

the insistence on "israeli" rather than jewish is based on the need to legitimize israel. which makes it even more heartbreaking that israel is seen as the end all be all of judaism.

modern hebrew was invented only at the end of the 19th century and yet it is one of the national languages of israel. yiddish is being spoken by less and less people.

jewish culture is erased by israel.

another reason is the idea of separatism that is used to justify israel.

honestly, separatism just does the oppressors work for them. "oh lets just move all the Jews to their own country so we dont have to deal with them" very progressive isnt it? especially when theres already other people living there.

simply moving somewhere else does absolutely nothing to combat antisemitism. i dont want to live in a world that isn't safe for me. i dont want to stay in one place. i want others to accept me. i want to exist wherever i want without being targeted just for existing.

the end goal should never be separation. it should be integration.

and lastly i hate the fact that jews are expected to support israel unconditionally. not even just by antisemites, but by other jews.

almost every jewish space i have access to in my real life supports israel. if i want to have any community i have to condone that. if i even say anything i am excluded from the only communities i have in real life. and that sucks.

judaism is about asking questions. its about critical thinking. so why is this the one topic we're not allowed to ask questions about? why is this the one topic we have to accept unconditionally?

i get it. we're exposed to antisemitism a lot. I've been relatively priviliged in my life. i live an area with a large jewish population and i am not very visibly jewish. i have not had to deal with a lot of antisemitism. i admit that.

but israel does not represent all jews. criticizing israel is not criticizing judaism.

anyways if you made it this far im sure you have the time to donate to one of the many palestinian fundraisers going around on this app.

also friendly reminder that i am not an expert and my opinion is not everything. i am just a person on the internet. block me about it if you need to.

[lightofraye]

Full credit of the image and text goes to the Accidental Talmudist.

Princess Alice was an unconventional royal who prioritized helping others over wealth and privilege. She devoted her life to good deeds and spiritual growth, and was notable among European royalty for taking Jews into her home during the Holocaust.

Princess Alice stood out for another reason: she was deaf from birth.

Born in 1885 at Windsor Castle, Alice was the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She learned to lip read at a young age, and could speak several languages. Alice was widely regarded as the most beautiful princess in Europe.

At age 17, Alice fell in love with dashing Prince Andrew of Greece and they were married in 1903. Alice and Andrew had four daughters and a son. Their son Philip would later be married to Queen Elizabeth II. Alice communicated with her children mainly in sign language.

Political turmoil in Greece forced the royal family into exile. They settled in a sleepy suburb of Paris, where Alice threw herself into charitable work helping Greek refugees. Her husband left her for a life of gambling and debauchery in Monte Carlo.

Relying on the charity of wealthy relatives, Alice found strength in her Greek Orthodox faith. She became increasingly religious, and believed that she was receiving divine messages and had healing powers. She yearned to share her faith and mystical experiences with others, but instead was dismissed as mentally unhinged.

Alice had a nervous breakdown in 1930. She was committed against her will to a mental institution in Switzerland, with a dubious diagnosis of schizophrenia. Alice did not even get a chance to say goodbye to her children. Her youngest, 9 year old Philip, returned from a picnic to find his mother gone.

Alice tried desperately to leave the asylum, but was kept prisoner in Switzerland for 2 1/2 years. During that time, her beloved son Philip was sent to live with relatives, and her four daughters married German princes. Alice was not allowed to attend any of their weddings.

Finally, in 1932, Alice was released. She became a wanderer, traveling through Europe by herself, staying with relatives or at bed & breakfast inns. In 1935, Alice returned to Greece, where she lived alone in a modest two bedroom apartment and worked with the poor.

The Germans occupied Athens in April 1941. Alice devoted herself to relieving the tremendous suffering in her country. She worked for the Red Cross, organizing soup kitchens and creating shelters for orphaned children. Alice also started a nursing service to provide health care to the poorest Athenians.

In 1943, the Germans started deporting the Jews of Athens to concentration camps. Alice hid a Jewish widow, Rachel Cohen, and her children in her own apartment for over a year. Rachel’s late husband, Haimaki Cohen, was an advisor to King George I of Greece, and Alice considered it her solemn duty to save the remaining Cohen family.

Alice lived yards from Gestapo headquarters. When the Germans became suspicious of her and started asking questions, she used her deafness as an excuse not to answer them. Alice kept the Cohen family safe until Greece was liberated in 1944.

After the war, Alice founded her own religious order, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, and became a nun. She built a convent and orphanage in a poverty-stricken part of Athens. Alice dressed in a nun’s habit consisting of a drab gray robe, white wimple, cord and rosary beads - but still enjoyed smoking and playing cards.

In 1967, after a Greek military coup, Alice finally returned to Great Britain. She lived at Buckingham Palace with her son Philip and daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II.

Alice died in 1969. She owned no possessions, having given everything to the poor. Before she died, Alice expressed a desire to be buried at the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, but instead was laid to rest in the Royal Crypt in Windsor Castle.

In 1988, almost 20 years after she died, Alice’s dying wish was finally granted. Her remains were sent to Jerusalem, where she was buried on the Mount of Olives.

In 1994, Alice was honored by the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem (Yad Vashem) as Righteous Among The Nations. Her son Prince Philip said of his mother’s wartime heroism, "I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with a deep religious faith, and she would have considered it to be a perfectly natural human reaction to fellow beings in distress.”

For her devotion to helping others despite her own challenges, we honor Princess Alice of Greece as this week’s Thursday Hero at Accidental Talmudist.

[gentil-minou]

So, I have this one friend who's Jewish, and pro-Israel. They're not thrilled about the civilian deaths in Gaza, but not overly bothered by them either, since according to them most of them support Hamas, and to blame Hamas for all the civilian deaths in Gaza for using Palestinian civilians as human meat shields, and that almost all humanitarian aid to Gaza is just going to go to funding Hamas. That doesn't really sound right to me, and I've tried pushing back a little, especially on the "blame Hamas for anyone the Israeli government kills in Gaza while trying to destroying Hamas" front, though honestly most of it sounds pretty off, especially with how dismissive it is of Palestinians' plight and just seems to write them off as acceptable collateral damage to get at Hamas. So I'm trying to push back on those talking points without pissing them off too much, though I don't know enough about the humanitarian aid part to counter it.

It's just really weird right now, because I know several people who are Jewish and even some with Israeli relatives, and then several who are Muslim like yourself, and I'm getting VERY different narratives from both. Though uh. The pro-Israel stuff tends to be really dismissive of Gazans caught in the crossfire to the point that I'm pretty suspicious of it. I feel bad for the Israelis impacted by Hamas's initial attack last month, they didn't deserve to have their loved ones kidnapped or killed, or to have their homes and community attacked so they don't feel safe returning. But that doesn't mean doing that to Palestinians is justified either, and that's the narrative I tend to be hearing from the pro-Israel side of things.

My advice to you is do your research. Look into what's going on, and not just what's going on now but what has been happening for the last 75 years. That's your best tool right now to figure out what you believe because this is the nature of narratives, they are in essence a story and a story is told through different perspectives.

By researching yourself and gathering information by yourself, you can form your own opinion.

Israel is banking on people sticking to the narrative that "it's too complicated" and that people will fall back on that instead of researching and learning more.

And the more you research this, the less complicated it becomes and in actuality the answer becomes really really obvious. A lot of it revolves around ugly truths about humans, but we need to see the ugly to challenge ourselves to do what's right.

I made this post a while back with some of the videos I watched at first just to get an idea of what was happening.. I want to STRESS that these are not the only things you can research for more info. There are documentaries and books and all sorts of information from people who are living through this. This is just where I started a month ago when I was like "Is it actually that complicated?" I learned within half an hour that no it really isn't.

But the one fact I keep going back to through out all of this that no narrative can deny is that this has been happening since 1948, not the October 7th Israel wants you to focus on. For me, that seals it.

Re the humanitarian aid: Israel controls the borders and crossings where humanitarian aid can go through. Israel is bombing the aid that does go through (including trucks of water this very day). If Israel were really concerned about humanitarian aid, could they not follow the trucks and deliver it themselves in their big fancy tanks? Or are they only going to use those big fancy tanks to bomb civilian vehicles that are trying to retreat?

Also important: this has never been a Muslims vs. Jews issue. There are Palestinian Jews and have been for centuries living with Muslims and Christians alike in peace. Some of the biggest protests have been organized by Jewish groups. Western Media wants you to think this is about antisemitism and they want Jews vs Muslims, but that's simply not the case. This is colonizer versus indigenous people issue. This is a US-funded and approved Israel committing genocide because of vested interests in the resources that Palestine provides issue.

I will say you questioning it at all is a good thing. Because your gut is telling you something isn't right. Listen to that gut. Let it guide you in learning for yourself rather than what they want you to believe.

And keep pushing back.

[psychotrenny]

wasn’t the Bund a prominent socialist jewish group who opposed zionism when it was first proposed on the grounds that jews deserve to feel safe wherever they are? my knowledge of jewish anti-zionist movements is not that great so i could be wrong but i was wondering what your thoughts on this were😭

Yeah that's pretty much it. The original General Jewish Labour Bund (often shortened to just "The Bund) was a Secular Jewish Socialist party formed in the Western parts of the Russian Empire in the Late 19th century; a part of the world where Jewish people faced significant legal and extra-legal oppression. It sought to create democratic socialist Russia in alliance with other DemSoc groups, with particular emphasis on ending the antisemitic oppression of Jewish people and allowing them to live in freedom as equals with other citizens. While Jewish national liberation was central to the organsation, they tended to mistrust Jewish members of the Bourgeoisie and generally rejected co-operation with conservative Jewish groups. Their enthusiasm for the use and preservation of Yiddish was also a point of direct conflict with the Zionist who favoured the use of Hebrew. A major part of their ideology was "Doikayt", a Yiddish word that effectively translates as "hereness", which was all about how Jews needed to challenge antisemitism in the countries where they currently lived, in contrast to the Zionist approach of leaving to some new homeland. This poster from the 1917 Kiev City Duma elections has been posted around a lot and summarises some key points of their ideology pretty well; with the header reading " Where we live, there is our country!" and the bottom reading "A democratic republic! Full national and political rights for Jews"

In 1917 the Polish Bundists has split from the rest of the organisation after years of German occupation in Poland (during the course of WW1) made communication with the central party unviable. By 1921 the non-Polish Bunds had decide to disband and merge with the Communist Party of the newly formed Soviet Union; many former Bundists ended up as high ranking officials in the USSR although a number of them did end up getting imprisoned, exiled or executed during the 1938 political purges. Meanwhile the Bund in Poland continued to function as a Jewish DemSoc political party, even under the pressure of a relentlessly reactionary and antisemitic regime, and formed a key part of Jewish Resistance to Nazism during the German Occupation. It persisted for a little while after the war but dissolved after the consolidation of single party rule by the PZPR. Many Bundist emigrants exiles (both before, during and after ww2) also played a significant role in Jewish Leftism in places like the USA (such as socialist New York City alderman Baruch Vladeck) and Australia (the political activist Bono Wiener). This played a part in spreading the idea of Bundism outside of the Russian Empire and is likely why they are so relatively well known and seeing a resurgence today. Indeed, many Jewish Socialists with no direct connection to original Bund will use the term "Bundism" to describe their ideology and you can find Bundist Organisations right around the world, from France to Argentina. The aftermath of WW2 saw the establishment of the International Jewish Labor Bund, a collection of various Bundist organisations either founded by former Russian Bundists or inspired by their example. The central committee (based in New York City) was dissolved in the 2000s but many of the member Bund groups persisted

So long story short the Jewish Bund was a relatively short lived but very significant Jewish Socialist party with an impact and legacy that continues to this day

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

What on earth is going on & more inside info from Colonel Douglas Macgregor

We are alive to witness this family's last horrific moments together. 💔💔💔💔💔

Hamas: (your sister) went to heaven

Girl: it is much better for her there (heaven)

Boy: I wanted her to live

Did Hamas murder Yarden? 💔💔💔

This is Shiri Bibas and her children, Ariel (4) and Kfir (9 mos.) from Kibbutz Nir Oz. They were kidnapped Saturday morning along with 100+ Israelis. This is what terrorism looks like. Pray for their safety. Bring them home.

Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, was hiding in a safe room with her husband Yarden, their nine-month-old Kfir and three-year-old Ariel when Israel was invaded by the militants on Saturday,” noted the Daily Mail.

“Armed with just a small pistol, Yarden hoped to defend his family and their home in in Kibbutz Nir Oz as villages were raided – in an attack which saw hundreds of Israelis killed and over 100 taken hostage,” it added.

“The father texted relatives ‘I love you all’ as they sheltered, with militants firing semi-automatic weapons outside their window, according to reports. Half an hour later, he ominously wrote ‘they’re coming in’, before communication ceased.”

The family has disappeared and Shiri’s parents, Yosi and Margit Silberman, have also disappeared.

Video later emerged of Shiri holding her two children before they were kidnapped.

https://x.com/IldemocracyHQ/status/1711314337405505976?s=20

A young Israeli couple was able to hide their ten-month-old twins before Hamas terrorists broke into their home and murdered them, the New York Post reported.

Itai and Hadar Berdichevsky, both 30, were attacked in their home in Kfar Gaza, a kibbutz in southern Israel located roughly three miles east of Gaza, the Post reported, citing the Israeli outlet Walla. The parents reportedly hid the infants in a bomb shelter before being murdered trying to fight off the terrorists.

“Israeli troops rescued the unharmed babies about 14 hours later and handed them to their grandmother,” according to the report.

Israeli Ambassador to Colombia Gali Dagan has hailed the parents as “heroes” who did “everything they could to save their children,” the Daily Mail reported.

“They hid their 10-month-old twin children in the shelter while terrorists infiltrated their home,” Dagan wrote on Twitter. “Itay and Hadar were brutally murdered after bravely fighting the terrorists.”

“The babies were left alone for more than 12 hours until they were rescued. Imagine the horror. Two terrified parents doing everything they can to save their children, who are now orphaned. Blessed be the memory of these heroes,” he continued.

The Palestinian terror group Hamas launched an attack early Saturday on Israel, which has thus far killed more than 900 people and wounded 2,500, according to reports. The attack occurred on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the last festival of the High Holy Day cycle.

More than 100 Israelis were also kidnapped to Gaza — including women, children, and the elderly, many of whom were abused during their abductions. In response to the attack, the Israeli Airforce has struck at least 1,000 terror targets in Gaza. Israel has also mobilized 300,000 reservists in the past 48 hours as its forces continue strikes against Hamas terror targets in Gaza.

The Palestinian terror attack against Israel has been referred to as the “worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”

The New York Post:

An Israeli family of five, including twin 6-year–old girls and their 4-year-old brother, were killed by Hamas – a short time after their mom messaged friends that they took refuge in a bomb shelter.

Tamar Kedem-Siman Tov and her husband Yonatan (Johnny) rushed into the bunker on Saturday with their daughters Shachar and Arbel and son Omer at their home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz on the outskirts of Gaza.

The 35-year-old woman sent her friends in Sydney, Australia, a WhatsApp message to let them know that they were safe amid rockets fired by the terrorists, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

“Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all going (SIC) okay,” the message sent at 2:45 p.m. local time read, according to the outlet.

But when Tamar stopped responding later, her friends Yishai and Mor Lacob began to panic.

“It started to get really scary. We’re trying to call her, message her. We were trying to speak with people there … people we might know in this area, we were harassing everyone,” Mor told the Morning Herald.

The friends Down Under eventually got the shattering news that the entire family had been wiped out in the deadliest attack on the Jewish state since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The terrorists had breached the safe room and slaughtered the family in cold blood.

CNBC:

Israel bombarded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Monday, as it continued its response to a surprise offensive by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that began Saturday morning. Israeli ministers have ordered a “complete siege” of the already blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip, cutting off supplies of food, water and electricity to its roughly two million residents.

The Hamas attack, unprecedented in scale and scope, is the deadliest offensive that Israel has experienced in 50 years.

More than 700 Israelis have been killed in what Hamas is calling Operation Al Aqsa Flood, with at least 560 Palestinians killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. The total number of deaths has surpassed 1,300, including foreign nationals.

Kyle Becker:

NEW: Hamas is now threatening to execute civilian hostages and air each execution via live television.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, issued the warning in an audio recording.

“We have decided to put an end to this… we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one of the hostages we are holding,” he said.

https://x.com/kylenabecker/status/1711435308657426434?s=20

NO WORDS: Hamas Savages Cutting Off the Heads of BABIES and Gunning Down Families In their Beds (VIDEO)

By Cullen Linebarger Oct. 10, 2023

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Hamas has committed multiple horrific atrocities, including gunning down peaceful Israelis at a dance party, raping and abducting young Israeli women, and beheading Israeli soldiers. Hamas has even desecrated the bodies of their victims.

Now we have confirmation the terrorist group has sunk even lower. i24 news correspondent Nicole Zedek reported that she spoke to Israeli soldiers, and they revealed to her that Hamas terrorists are chopping off the heads of babies and gunning down families in their homes.

Yes, Hamas is literally beheading babies.

Zedek: It’s hard to even explain just the mass casualties that happened right here. Israel military officials say they still don’t have a clear number but I am talking to some of the soldiers and what they witnessed walking through these different houses, these different communities.

Babies, with their heads cut off…families gunned down in their beds. You can see some of these soldiers comforting each other. .. many of them reserves as they left their own families behind not knowing the sheer horror they were about to come to. They say they have never experienced anything like this.

Zedek goes on to say 40 babies so far have been taken out on gurneys.

Famous conservative writer, activist, and radio host Ben Shapiro shared a horrifying picture released by an Israeli artist showing a blood-ridden crib.

The reality of evil is sickening. Look at it, understanding it, and fight it. This is a picture released by Israeli artist Tomer Peretz, from a crib in Kibbutz Be’eri.

This is what Hamas did to babies. Children.

Sunnyside Baptist Church in TN prays for their pastor and family members who are currently traveling in Israel.

[trash-and-trash-accessories]

I don't want to be an alarmist. I don't want to run around screaming "the sky is falling" all the time.

But that's who and what I am.

I'm a queer Jewish anarchist living in a red state.

And it's time to start screaming.

There WILL be another far-right coup attempt in 2024. And with 6 supreme court seats and a house speaker, it will likely succeed.

With the courts packed, no military coup is required. An electoral coup utilizing the courts can, has, and likely will happen in the US. They have been preparing for this.

If this far-right coup is successful, we are looking at a ramping up of the already in-progress genocide which begins with queer people but will likely ramp up against the Latino community specifically, Jews, and other marginalized communities.

What can we do?

Well, the things that can be done at this point I can't say online. The short answer is, a full-blown people's revolution. Which is unlikely.

Joining activist groups already working on this will help, joining or founding mutual aid networks is vital, organizing and involving yourself in your local queer community in person, not just online, and getting involved in activism that way. Fighting and involving yourself in local politics - school boards, sheriffs, city council - can help keep your city safe. If this means running, backing candidates, or showing up to every school board meeting making sure these assholes don't win their censorship fights, do it.

National elections obviously matter, but regardless of who wins this election, the far-right is in position to steal it and overthrow the government anyway. It's very likely they will at least try, and probably succeed. They spent years packing the courts for this moment.

As long as our current supreme court members are alive and in office, we are in immense danger.

In the meantime, just about everyone in our communities needs to have a plan in place to get the fuck out of AT LEAST their conservative state, IDEALLY the country.

Flee the country

It can takes months to renew a passport, if you will need to in the next few years, do it now. US passports are self-ID, make the best choice for your safety, whatever that is.

Countries that offer the longest tourist visas (temporary, but get you in fast and some can be as many as 180 days)

See if you can transfer to another country at your workplace, if that's a thing you can do.

Make sure you are fully vaccinated as required by the places you are considering fleeing. Some countries require more/different vaccines than the US.

If leaving the country will be impossible, make connections with people in blue states and try to get there, or prepare to stand your ground and defend yourself and your community. I know most of my fellow Appalachians will be standing our ground. They can pry Appalachia from our dead queer hands. They can try.

Can't leave? Hide or Fight.

Stock up on your medications. Trans femmes have an easier time with this, you can have your cis women friends get a script for spiro via a dermatologist "for hormonal acne", and older women in your circle can easily get estrogen scripts "for menopause". These are also available online more readily, but be careful. Trans mascs may need to have cis men in their lives get t scripts, or take a lower dose of what's prescribed, then when your bloodwork is low, get a higher script than what you need and stockpile. This is medication fraud, and a crime. T is a controlled substance. But do what you gotta do.

Stock up on birth control methods, plan b, and abortion pills if you need them. These will likely be banned. You can get a long-term implant now, or get an additional birth control prescription via an online pharmacy, in addition to the one you are already using to create a stockpile.

Get medical training. Stop The Bleed is available online, for everyone, for free. EMT basic is widely available and relatively affordable.

Get armed, if you can. This especially applies to people running rural queer communes, as is popular in my region. We've all read Parable of the Talents (I hope), they will come for you. Arm, train, and fortify. Develop connections outside your commune who will worry about you if you suddenly go out of contact. You're not safe because you're rural and growing your own food. When they come, you want to at least take them with you.

Save, download, stockpile queer literature, queer websites, and resources that may be destroyed. A lot of people download the entirety of wikipedia. Scrubbing queer content from society will start once the far-right have taken over. That process has already begun on a smaller scale.

Join preexisting activist groups already working against these people, regardless of whether they are specifically queer-focused or not. Building in-person, offline connections will be vital. Information control will be the norm. Online organizing may become impossible.

If necessary and possible, scrub your online information, go deep in the closet, and wait it out. This is impossible for most of us, but it was a valid strategy for a lot of queer people and other minorities during the Holocaust. A lot of people survived by pretending to be something they weren't and simply waiting it out, obfuscating and working against the fascists when they could, and surviving to tell the story. Not everyone is a revolutionary. This often involved lesbian couples marrying gay men. Temporary detransition, and simply laying low. Fascist states fall eventually.

[the-bibrarian]

« […] On Oct. 7 I spent the day waiting for news from my family in Israel. My cousin Sharon Cunio; her husband, David; their 3-year-old twins, Emma and Yuli; my cousin Danielle Alony; and her 5-year-old daughter, Amelia, were hiding together in their bomb shelter while Hamas went on a murderous rampage through their kibbutz. The last contact my family has had from them is a WhatsApp message simply saying, “Help, we’re dying.” By evening, my aunt had confirmed our fears: My six relatives were missing from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community in the south of Israel about three miles from Gaza now known as a scene of brutality and destruction.

[…] It would appear [the pro-Palestine left] believe[s] my suffering to be collateral damage in service of some universal truth they hold higher. Is it really impossible to hold these two truths at the same time — that both Israeli and Palestinian civilians are suffering at great cost? Or are they simply unwilling to express that publicly? I’m not sure which is worse.

I have felt lost watching progressive friends, women’s rights activists, influencers and celebrities I admire stumble to find the words to condemn the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians, among them six of the human beings I love most in the world. Even as I sit here thinking of my family and some 240 other Israeli hostages, I scroll through my news feed and cry for the innocent Palestinian children and lives lost in Gaza. I look at the face of Mohammed Abujayyab, a man in Los Angeles who was trying to save his grandmother in Gaza, and I see my own pain reflected in his expression.

Again and again I hear that Israel is a country of white colonizers and oppressors. So some of my bewilderment is in my very skin. My maternal grandparents, Avraham and Sara, grew up in a tiny rural village in central Yemen. Like other Jews in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemenite Jews were persecuted as second-class citizens through what are known as dhimmi laws — the denigration of non-Muslims before the law. In 1949, after pogroms against Jews in Yemen, my grandparents set out by foot and donkey on an arduous journey to the capital, Sana. From there, they were airlifted during Operation Magic Carpet to the newly formed state of Israel. As refugees fleeing oppression in their birth country, they began their lives in Israel in poverty. Slowly they built a humble but comfortable life and raised five children, among them my mother. 

[…] At the beginning of all this, I promised I would scream to the ends of the earth for my family, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Everyone in my large extended family has mobilized alongside me, demanding the safe return of our loved ones and of all the hostages. We’ve been told by the Israel Defense Forces that my family is alive in Gaza, and for now, this gives us a glimmer of hope. In Israel my aunt Riki, whose core family of 10 has been reduced to four around her Shabbat table, is trying to stay upright while bearing a mother’s anguish. People come by daily and bring food as if they were sitting shiva.

[…] Here, in my home, I no longer know to whom I can turn in my grief. »

[jewish-vents]

My entire life, I've yearned for the kind of community the Jewish community and Judaism have provided me. I found out I had Jewish ancestry when I was a kid, I looked into it more later and realized my most recent Jewish ancestor (like three-ish generations back) was almost certainly forcibly converted out, and decided to convert to like. Make amends for that I guess and also because I really vibed with the holidays and how we turn up everywhere in history bc we keep doing cool stuff despite consistently shitty circumstances.

But I digress.

I have waited my WHOLE LIFE trying to experience the joy becoming Jewish has shown me, and that gets shit on constantly.

My sister has started making a truly obscene number of Jew jokes. My mom scoffs at all the 'nonsense rules' and has said repeatedly that she thinks choosing a 'restrictive' religion is dumb and I've made a mistake. She even said it's an insult to HER parenting skills that I would seek out religion after she tried to teach me to know better.

My dad is dead but I never ever in a million years would have told him even if he were alive, and my sister thinks it's funny to threaten to 'out' me as Jewish to his relatives even though they're basically KKK-adjacent so she actually enjoys threatening mg safety at this point. (Yay family right?)

My friends have turned everything into an Israel/Palestine discussion lately and I know damn well what they're doing when they start saying truly horrible shit about Israelis and looking at me. They get mad if I try to temper their extremism so I've given up. I barely talk to them anymore and I spend more and more time with other Jews from temple and I don't want to like. Isolate myself from all non-Jews I guess bc I've always felt like that leads to weirdness and perpetuates shit about Jews being unfriendly I guess idk?

Anyway I digress again. My point is I'm really sick of constantly being expected to tolerate it when people think I shouldn't be Jewish.

Other queer people think I'm somehow compromising my queer identity by being Jewish, leftists think I hunt Palestinian children for sport now apparently, right-wingers think I traffic good Christian babies for organ harvesting or some shit idfk, my friends think that if I'm not being more vitriolic in my hatred of Israel than they already are I'm some kind of secret rabid Netanyahu fan, my family think I've been recruited into a cult apparently and the only other people who show me even an ounce of compassion or regard are other Jews and Gd knows there's like ten of us and that number is unlikely to increase.

Just. Fuck. I've put blood, sweat, tears and money into this, I invested more time and emotional commitment into this than I have into going to college or choosing a career, I love it more than anything and have only loved it more the more I learned about it, and all I get when I express this or even just let slip that I am Jewish and chose to be, I get nothing but hatred. I will never understand how a religion that has spent all 5000 years of our existence minding our business and arguing about the same book over and over can possibly have offended this many people with our existence.

Dmn anon, that is a lot you're dealing with right now. I'm so sorry you're surrounded by people who clearly don't respect you. Because yes this is a lack of basic respect, and it is antisemitic. Now I don't know how old you are and how safe you are, but if you can safely do so, set very hard boundaries. Do not tolerate this amount of disrespect towards who you are. It is hard, and many of us have had to go through similar situations, as you can read all over this blog. But I think having to spend your life surrounded by people who make you feel unsafe and disrespected is worse. I know sometimes there are situations in which people cannot safely set these boundaries, I hope it's not your case, but if it is feel free to come here to vent again.

I know you don't want to isolate yourself from goyim. Many Jewish people don't want to. Sadly, when people disrespect us like this, they're the ones isolating us. It's not your fault. Seek people who love and accept you. Sadly, a good chunk of goyim won't - I'm not saying everyone, obviously, but a portion. Having a good Jewish support network seems to be more and more important, whether it's irl or online.

I hope you can soon be in an environment that's safer and more accepting

- 🐺

[bobemajses]

I am half Sephardic & my ancestors came from the Balkan peninsula (not exactly Eastern Europe but South Eastern Europe), from Podgorica and Istanbul! I currently live in Istanbul.

I would like to say some things about the city that I live in. Here we had a large community of Jewish people. Mainly located in the European part of the city. But my family had been living in Yel Degirmeni (Anatolian side) – which is also a neighbourhood with great amount of Jewish population.

Nowadays the Jewish community have left the region although there's still a significant population in Turkey unlike other Balkan countries, most of them have migrated to Israel, USA, Spain etc.

If anyone would be interested, there's a book called Anyos munchos i buenos by Laurence Salzmann (Good Year And Many More, Turkey's Sephardim 1492-1992).

Very nice! The Jewish community of Istanbul and Turkey has such an interesting history and was earlier so diverse, being comprised of Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Romaniotes, Karaites and Georgian Jews (now Sephardim constitute 95%). In 1992 the community celebrated the 500th anniversary of its official existence in Turkey since the Spring of 1492, when a big wave of expelled Spanish Jews came to Istanbul under the reign of the sultan Beyazid II.

But Turkish Jewish history is actually much older than that. Early (Romaniote) Jewish settlements in Anatolia are mentioned by the historian Josephus Flavius (37-100) when he relates that Aristotle “met Jewish people with whom he had an exchange of views during his trip across Asia Minor.” Ancient synagogue ruins have been found in Sardis, near Izmir, dating from 220 B.C.E. The Rabbi Yitzchok Zarfati wrote in the Middle Ages a famous letter to his fellow Jews, saying, “I assure you, Turkey is a country of abundance where, if you wish, you will find rest.” Thus, a wave of Jews from Hungary came in 1360 and from France in 1394, as well as Jews from Bavaria, Georgia, Portugal, Sicily, Crimea and Salonika. In 1477, Jewish households in Istanbul numbered 1,647, or 11% of the total. Half a century later, that number had quadrupled. Most of the Sultan’s court physicians were Jews, including Hakim Yakoub, Joseph and Moshe Hamon, Daniel Fonseca, and Gabriel Buenauentura.

The Great Ashkenazi Synagogue is one Istanbul’s most famous Jewish landmarks. This synagogue which was built with the support of financial contributions made by Austro-Hungarian Jews was opened in a grand ceremony in the year 1900. The opening ceremony was marked by the attendance and  remarks of the ambassador of Austria-Hungary to the Ottoman Empire, representing the importance and significance of this synagogue for the upper echelons of Ashkenazi society in Istanbul at the time. Today, it remains resolute, standing proudly on Yüksekkaldırım street, seen and pictured on a daily basis by locals and tourists alike.

During World War II, Turkey under Ataturk was a safe passage for many Jews fleeing the Nazis. Several Turkish diplomats persevered in their efforts to save the Turkish Jews from the Holocaust and succeeded.

The present size of the Jewish community is estimated at 14,500. Since the 1980s and especially under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Jews have been the victims of violent antisemitism on multiple occasions. Turkey, a country that once welcomed Jews worldwide, is losing its Jews to emigration and assimilation. In an ironic twist, there are many Turkish Jews that emigrate to the relative safety of Spain and Portugal, reversing the historical path taken centuries earlier.

And here are some pictures from the book you mentioned:

They are so incredibly beautiful, I will make a separate post about them (Tumblr only lets me add 10 pictures to a post ;()

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I'm sorry for asking you for how to find some one. it was late at night and I wasn't thinking well. I'm sorry to put it on you. I just knew in any anthropology field people know how to look up family trees and stuff. I've just kept loosing family these past few years and my brain isn't good late at night.

I appreciate that you recognize that the way you asked your questions didn't come off quite the way you intended. My intention is for this blog to be a learning space, and so I'm going to do my best to answer your question in this response in good faith.

The summary of your questions (at least the way I read it) is: with the rise of antisemitism, I'm worried for the safety of any potentially unknown Jewish family members I might have. How can I find them through genealogical records?

I get where you're coming from in asking this question. Antisemitism is real, it is scary, and you are right to be worried. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to show your concern. If I had a non-Jew (family member or not) reach out to me in this way, my response would be something like this:

Respectfully, it's nice that you're worried for my safety, but where were you when my synagogue was the victim of three separate hate crimes during the Trump era? Where were you when there was the shooting at that synagogue in Texas? Why are you reaching out now to tell me you're worried? I know it's a problem—I've known for years. Your concern is functionally meaningless unless you act on it. What are you going to do to support your local Jewish community? What are you going to do the next time you see someone do/say something antisemitic? What are you doing to actually educate yourself on the reality of antisemitism? What can do to help me address the antisemitism in my life?

I say all of this politely, because this is a safe environment and you are learning, so please don't mistake this as hostility. It's just the blunt truth. Reaching out to a Jewish person to say you're concerned about antisemitism is like reaching out to a Black person to tell them you're worried about racism.

If you want to get in touch with this part of your family, do it because you're curious about your relations and you want to make a connection. Plenty of people find out about unknown relatives through a DNA test, and your situation isn't that unusual, especially if you're looking for connection after losing relatives. They may or may not be receptive to you making contact, and that is their decision, just like it is yours to seek them out in the first place.

Keep your worries about antisemitism to yourself unless they purposefully bring it up. In the meantime, work to educate yourself on antisemitism wherever you live—do not expect Jewish people to be your teachers.

Finally, in your original question you ask for genealogy resources that aren't ancestry because ancestry is run by Mormons. This is a popular misconception. Ancestry.com is not affiliated with the Mormon church. Here's an article that provides a rundown of the company's history. There are also ethical concerns arising about DNA and information ownership. Here's a snopes article about how Ancestry handles your data.

Honestly, I use ancestry all the time. Is it sometimes problematic? Yes, but I try to engage with it in ways that satisfy my own ethical boundaries. You can feel free to do the same, or not. It's up to you.

I think we've all said things late at night that we wince at in the light of day—I certainly have. You asked your question with good intentions, and I'm trying to honor that with my response. I'd like everyone to be kind in the replies and notes. There are no such thing as bad questions, just inappropriate times/places to ask them. This blog is a place where questions can be asked without judgement.

-Reid

[girlactionfigure]

Hero of the Forest

Their goal was survival

Tuvia Bielski was a Jewish resistance fighter who saved 1200 Jews by creating a haven for refugees deep in the Polish forest.

Born in 1906, Tuvia was one of twelve children in the only Jewish family in Stankiewicze, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire (modern-day Belarus.) His native language was Yiddish, and he also spoke Polish and German. His natural facility with languages led to Tuvia serving as a child interpreter for the German army during their occupation of Stankevich during World War I. In 1927 Tuvia was recruited into the Polish Army and became a corporal before completing his military service.

After leaving the army, Tuvia returned to his hometown, now part of the Soviet Union. He married and operated a mill and general store, living a relatively quiet life until 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Germans created a ghetto in the nearby town of Nowogrodek, and forced local Jews out of their homes and into the squalid ghetto. In the chaos, Tuvia and his younger brothers Zus and Asael managed to escape into the forest and vowed they would never be captured by the Germans. Meanwhile, in the Nowogrodek ghetto German officers were massacring Jews for sport, including Tuvia’s parents and two brothers. 

Deep in the Polish forest, Tuvia created a training base for resistance fighters which also became a safe haven for Jews fleeing from the Germans. Other Jews who’d managed to avoid or escape the ghetto joined the Bielskis in their secret forest hideout. The band of militants became known as the Bielski otriad (brigade). By the summer 1943 there were seven hundred Jews in the Naliboki forest hideout, a mix of resistance fighters and terrified refugees. 

At first the Bielski otriad conducted sabotage actions against the Germans such as burning crops so the soldiers couldn’t eat, and executing German collaborators. But as time went on, the Bielski group’s only goal became survival, for themselves and as many other Jews as they could save. Tuvia turned the humble forest haven into an organized community. All the Jews who found refuge there contributed resources and expertise in different areas. Under Tuvia’s strong leadership, the secret forest hideout grew into something resembling a tiny village, with a hospital, school, manufacturing facility, butcher shop, tailor, and even a house band featuring prominent Jewish musicians. Tuvia reached out to other partisan groups to trade food, weapons and other supplies. 

In the beginning, the forest group consisted mostly of young men, those brave enough to escape the ghetto and strong enough to engage in guerrilla warfare. By 1944, most of the Jews finding refuge in the forest were women, children, and the sick and aged. The Bielski group was perhaps the most impactful Jewish resistance effort during World War II, saving the lives of over 1200 Jews.

After the war Tuvia moved to Israel and ultimately immigrated to New York, where he operated a trucking business with two brothers who’d survived the war. He died and was buried in New York in 1987, but the next year his remains were exhumed and buried in Jerusalem, where he was given a state funeral with full military honors. 

Twenty years later, in 1988, Daniel Craig portrayed Tuvia in the film Defiance, a critical and commercial hit about the Bielski group.

For creating a community of fighters and survivors deep in the forest and saving 1200 lives, we honor Tuvia Bielski as this week’s Thursday Hero.