When sports fans targeted Israeli-born soccer player Dor Turgeman, 22, with “Death to Israel!” chants during a game in Montreal on August 2, Turgeman, the center-forward of the New England Revolution team, responded suitably by scoring a key goal against CF Montréal.
The same day, it was widely reported that the appeals court of Zweibrücken, Germany, had ruled that using Nazi imagery to criticize Israel’s actions is protected political expression, not a criminal offense. In a lower court ruling, the accused had been convicted of posting illegal swastika symbols onto Israeli flags on her online Instagram account.
Originally from nearby Frankfurt, my friend Kurt, 95, is a retired salesman. He escaped the Holocaust and first moved to Chicago, but immigrated to Israel decades ago. When I attend the weekly Friday night Shabbat service here in Jerusalem, he always saves me a seat next to him.
Every few weeks the worshippers wish him a congratulatory and enthusiastic mazal tov when he announces the birth of another great-grandchild. He has 41 of them, all living in Israel, along with 32 grandchildren and just four children.
What’s the connection between these three stories? Resilience. In a world where, after 85 years, Canadian sports officials and German courts are still blessing instead of silencing antisemitic slanders, the Jewish response is to carry on, trusting in God’s promises of protection and blessing.
Athletes and salesmen, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of them are living testimonies of Jewish faith in the Bible and belief in the future.
So yes, the Iranian regime is led by masters of deceit and deception. Their negotiating chess moves are legendary. US President Trump is facing a weak but wicked and wily foe. The outcome is in limbo, uncertain.
And yes, Israel knows the Board of Peace Agreement on Gaza will not disarm terrorists. Talks in Lebanon won’t muzzle Hizbullah. Yemen and Iran remain perilous powder-kegs. Terrorists in Judea and Samaria are 24/7 threats.
For Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, however, Israel’s safety is primary and even if many nations fume, he cannot compromise his course.