Hanukkah, Jihad, and Gun Control

Tonight Hanukkah begins, in which we celebrate not just the miracle of the one night's worth of oil lasting for eight, but also the triumph of the Maccabees over their pagan Seleucid Greek oppressors.

Today, Jews in the West face a threat far more dangerous than the ancient Greeks, namely Muslim Jihad. After the events of the past few weeks -- the terrorist attacks in Paris, France and San Bernardino, California, only those Jews with their heads in the sand can feel safe from this threat.

The United States has historically been the safest place for Jews but with the Obama administration, this safety is being compromised every day. In his quest to "fundamentally transform" the US,  he is not merely failing to protect our borders, he is actively importing radical Muslims from the Middle East. As we saw with Paris and San Bernardino, it's not just fighting age males (who make up the bulk of the refugees) that we need to worry about. Indeed, many of their women are just as committed to Jihad as their men. These people are steeped in a culture in which they are taught from early childhood to hate Jews. They don't lose that by crossing a national border.

Jihad presents an existential threat to the West. Its adherents demand submission (which is indeed the meaning of "Islam") and do not differentiate between military and civilian targets. There is no compromise with a foe who believes that we must submit or die.

Although the US is not the only Western country which allows its citizens to be armed, it has the most robust gun culture. Jewish Americans should learn to embrace it. In doing so, they will find that many of its members are also staunch supporters of Israel.

I would remind you that "turn the other cheek" is not a Jewish concept. Western Jews must cast off their shtetl mentality and be willing to defend themselves with force, for Jihad may visit at any time, without warning. American Jews must get training, arm themselves, and get a license to carry so they can be armed at all times.

Jewish Americans also need to stop supporting politicians who actively work to make us more vulnerable. Even before the blood dried in California, Obama called for more gun control. His water carriers in the media, notably the New York Times, echoed this call, including for actual confiscation of those weapons most suited to home defense. Presidential candidate Martin O'Malley called for gun control via executive fiat, including confiscation. Hillary Clinton doubled down on her calls for gun control. So did Bernie Sanders (someone who I am ashamed to note comes from a Jewish background).

Thankfully, the American people have as a whole soundly rejected the idea that gun control = crime control. This past Black Friday broke all previous records for gun purchases, based on the number of background checks performed. It is past time that Jewish Americans get more in tune with their countrymen and arm themselves for defense, since it's been repeatedly demonstrated that the state cannot do it for them.

Jihad presents the greatest threat to the survival of the Jewish People since Nazi Germany. If we are serious when we say, "Never Again!," we'll need more than words to secure our survival. Jews must be armed and willing to fight for our freedom and our lives.


For my 2004 and 2010 Hanukkah posts, click here and here, respectively.