Israel has been playing defense too long.

 Israel's critics love to portray the Palestinians as victims, and Israelis as occupiers and colonialists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Israel, under PM Ariel Sharon, pulled 9,000 Israeli settlers out of 25 settlements in Gaza - in an effort to give the PA the authority total control over the area. Within days, the Palestinians were shooting missiles at Israel. Because of continued missile attacks, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) had to seal off smuggling routes whether by sea or land - leaving the Rafah border with Egypt as the only open access in and out of Gaza. 

Despite Israel's attempts to prevent Hamas from acquiring rockets, the wholesale firing of missiles - from civilian areas in Gaza continued. Israel fought limited wars in Gaza in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021. The only reason I used the term "limited wars" is because Israel kept the wars on Gaza turf, and the Israelis had learned to live with missiles being fired from Gaza. Israel spent decades building bomb shelters, and sophisticated missile defense systems like the Arrow-2, Arrow-3, David's sling, and Iron Dome that could knock incoming missiles out of the sky before they hit a populated area. Over 20,000 missiles were fired at Israel between 2005 and 2022.

                  Photo of Iron Dome intercepting Palestinian rockets aimed at Tel Aviv

Since the "Black Sabbath" of October 7th, 2023, over 12,000 missiles have been fired into Israel. Aside from the 1,200 civilians (women, children and the elderly) who were brutally slaughtered that fateful day, over 50 Israelis civilians have been killed by Palestinian rockets and hundreds injured. If Israel did not have bomb shelters and missile defense systems, there would have been thousands of Israelis killed, and tens of thousands injured.

Bomb shelters and missile defense systems, however, did not save the close to 2000 Israelis who have died since 10/7/23. 10/7/23 changed the previous Israeli military doctrine of "containment" of the festering problem with Gaza. Israel can not survive as a country if her borders and civilians are constantly under threat. There is no country in the world that would tolerate this type of aggression. Israel has to change the calculus on a number of levels. First and foremost, Israel has to absolutely defeat and humiliate her enemies in Gaza and Lebanon. If the outcome is that Israel determines that they need a "buffer zone" on enemy soil, then that is what it will take - and the U.N. troops will NEVER again police a buffer between Israel and her enemies. The U.N. forces in Lebanon were ineffective at best, at worst - they were colluding with Hezbollah. Five wars are four too many. Israel should be allowed to win the war against her enemies.

I am sure the press will continue to show pictures of war from a Palestinian perspective, and that people who get their news from TikTok will continue to rail on Israel with nonsensical slogans about apartheid and colonialism. Israel would like to be loved, but they like living better. This war between Israel and the Palestinians illustrates why the Jews need a country - so that they can protect themselves - by themselves.

 

This war with Hamas isn't about the confiscation of Muslim homes in Jerusalem

 The fighting this week has nothing to do with Israelis confiscating Palestinian homes in the old city of Jerusalem. The Palestinians riot every year at this time, to celebrate Ramadan - and to protest the Israeli “Jerusalem day” celebration. The homes in question were owned by Jews for hundreds of years prior to the 1948 war. At the start of the 1948 war, Jews were massacred in Jerusalem by their Muslim neighbors, and the Jews had to flee their homes with only the clothes on their backs. Just like in Poland after WW2, Muslims squatted in the abandoned Jewish homes. After the 1948 war ended, Jerusalem was divided into Jewish and Muslim sections, and the Muslims squatters were allowed to continue living in these Jewish homes for the next 19 years because they were now in the Muslim controlled side of Jerusalem. When Israel won the 1967 war, they unified Jerusalem and allowed the Muslims to stay in the Jewish homes that they stole during the 1948 war because the Israeli government was under intense international political pressure. 

 

Lawsuits were filed shortly after the 1967 war against both the illegal Muslim squatters AND the Israeli government by the descendants of the Jewish families who still possessed legal deeds to the “Jewish homes” that were now in the Muslim quarter. The Israeli court system acknowledged the Jewish family’s claim early on, but resisted enforcing their legitimate claims because of intense international pressure. 

 

The Israeli court system settled on allowing the original 1948 Muslim squatter families to continue to live in these Jewish homes, while paying below market rent to the Jewish owners and their descendants. The Muslim families held no title to the homes, and their property rights were not inheritable. The intent was that these families would “age out” of the homes and they would revert back to Jewish ownership.

 

The original 1948 Muslim squatters have long since “aged out”, and their descendants continued to live illegally in the homes – against the original intent of the Israeli court decisions that enshrined this special arrangement. The Jewish descendants had filed numerous lawsuits over decades, and the appeals by representatives of the Muslim squatters continued for years – until it recently reached the Israeli Supreme Court, which decided in favor of the Jewish owners. Even with the Israeli Supreme Court decision on their side, the Israeli government delayed and obstructed implementation of the inevitable eviction of the Muslim families in an effort to avoid inflaming the “Muslim Street”.

 

There is nothing easy about the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, and the seamline between the Muslims and Jews in the old city of Jerusalem is at the very center of the conflict. With that said, Israel is a country of laws, and the Israeli government is duty bound to enforce those laws. This isn’t about Israeli confiscation of Muslim property. It is about reclaiming Jewish property that was stolen during wartime, much like Jewish property that was stolen from Jews during WW2 and was reclaimed through the European Courts over the past 70 years.

The Day I Met Colonel Sanders

In 1964, when I was just 10 years old, I would spend my Saturdays “working” at my father’s business, S. Fargotstein & Sons on the 10^th floor of the Shrine Building in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. His company, at the time, mostly sold watch parts and jewelry to Jewelry stores all over the South. On Saturdays, the glass see-thru doors to the office were locked, as my father was mostly dictating into a “Dictaphone” machine - so that his secretary could type it out during the following week. Communications in those days was a lot slower than today!

On this particular Saturday, around 1pm, after I had made all the morning deliveries to the downtown jewelry stores and pawn shops on Beale Street, someone pushed the buzzer in the hallway. Usually it was the mailman, so it wasn’t a surprise. My father said “Shep, go open the front door and let him in”. I walked up to the front counters, walked into the customer lobby area and looked through the glass doors and there stood Colonel Sanders in his full white suit, white hair and goatee - and his famous western bow tie! He looked 10 feet tall as I looked through the glass – in total shock.

I screamed “IT’S COLONEL SANDERS”!

I opened the door, the Colonel walked in, patted me on the head, looked over at my father and said “hi Max!” as he walked past the counters towards where my father was standing near his desk. They sat and talked for a while. My father knew I was impressed, as he saw me staring at the Colonel from afar. He called me over and formally introduced me and I shook his hand.  After they were done talking my father handed the Colonel a small bag, rang up the order on the ornate brass national cash register, gave the Colonel change and the Colonel walked out. I stood there in awe.

I asked my father why Colonel Sanders was at the office and he said that he had known Colonel Sanders for decades (before he became famous) because he had always been a hobbyist pocket watch collector, and liked to fix them himself. He always wore a pocket watch (on a gold chain) with his white suit. They were such good friends that the Colonel made my father an official “Kentucky Colonel” and gave him a framed certificate to hang in his office.

As it turned out, that very year (at age 73), the Colonel sold his business for $2 million ($17 million today), but he continued to drive all over the South promoting the Kentucky Fried Chicken stores.

2020 Presidential Election could see a significant rise in American Jews silently voting for Trump

Or...."Don’t tell anyone, but I voted for Trump”

As the President and Founder of the 8-year-old, 600 member Memphis Jewish Republican Coalition (join us on Facebook), I would like to respond to your recently published – and misleading - article entitled “New survey indicates Jewish Americans will vote for ANY Democrat – including Sanders – over Trump”.

While I do not dispute the overall premise that a majority of American Jews have voted in the past for any Democratic Presidential candidate, there are no hard, reliable statistics on how Jews vote in each Presidential election. An electronic, blind e-poll of all-American Jews is possible to run at a reasonable cost, but has not been done, why? Because the results probably would not line up with the Jewish, liberal, Democratic power brokers who make a living speaking on behalf of “ALL” American Jews – be it the URJ, AJC, ADL, AIPAC, J-Street, etc...

Trends matter: The Jewish Virtual Library states that Jews, starting in 2000, have increasingly voted Republican: 2000/19% (Bush)-2004/24% (Bush) -2008/22% (McCain) – 2012/30% (Romney) – 2016/24% (Trump). The 2016 figure is suspected of being understated - and actually in the 35-40% range because many Jews would not admit they pulled the lever for Trump (for personal and business reasons). Most importantly, 6% more Jews voted Republican against Obama in his second term run in 2012, indicating Obama’s policies toward the economy and Israel were disaffecting middle of the road Jewish Democrats. Estimates from Jewish Republican sources indicate that 50% of American Jews are expected to vote for President Trump in 2020, which is more representative of the general non-Jewish population.

It is obvious President Trump has personality flaws (like all of us), that many find annoying, or uncouth. I can’t think of one president in the last 50 years who didn’t have a negative personal trait or two. Clinton and Kennedy weren’t exactly choir boys. With that said, President Trump has had tremendous measurable success with his policies. No one cares if a firefighter is a narcissist - if he is doing a good job at putting out your house fire. President Trump made the Tea party irrelevant, and moved the Republican party towards the center of the American mainstream. Bill Clinton’s policies of yesterday would make him a Trump Republican today.

More American Jews will vote Republican because they are more affluent - and as a consequence value President Trump’s successful economic and foreign policies

 (deregulation, trade policy, border security, etc.). Most American Jews see America’s capitalist, merit based economic system as a value where hard work is justly rewarded. They will think twice before voting for Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden, because their socialistic leanings threaten the American value system. Most American Jews are not socialists.

Response to Temple Israel Rabbi Micah Greenstein's 12/13/19 article in the CA

As President and founder of the 7-year old, 500+ member Memphis Jewish Republican Coalition, I feel it is important to respond to the opinion piece in the CA dated 12/13/19 written by both Dr. Marjorie Hass of Rhodes and Rabbi Micah Greenstein of Temple Israel. Why respond? Their article, in my opinion, does not accurately analyze the wording of POTUS Trump’s Executive Order (EO) regarding anti-Semitism, nor does it put it into context of why it is necessary - and also why other countries have implemented the same basic laws against anti-Semitism. Micah and Ms. Hass claim this EO assigns an Israeli “nationality” or “race” to American Jews, which could be construed as making American Jews “less than American” – and then equates it to the official state policy of Nazi Germany. The Executive order says no such thing.

POTUS Trump’s EO specifically mentions that Title VI law is flawed because while it DOES serve to protect against discrimination based on race, color or national origin, it provides NO PROTECTIION to those who are discriminated against because of their religion. There is a long history of Jewish (and Christian) students being harassed and discriminated against by both school faculties, school administrations, as well as hostile elements of various student bodies. Why? Because Jewish students want to express their Judaism and Pro-Israel sentiment freely on campuses. The long list of abuse that Jewish students have had to take from Pro-Muslim, BDS Groups, far right-wing and far left-wing anti-Semites is well documented and there is no shortage of YouTube video to prove it.

College Deans like Ms. Hass may not like the EO because it complicates their jobs by adding a layer of supervision – and financial penalties if they are not in compliance. The Department of Education has just release a preliminary study that indicates that American Universities have failed to report over $1.3 BILLION in funding originating from China, Russia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and a more extensive study is now being conducted. It is suspected that some of that funding is being used to fund anti-Jewish scholars, support anti-Israel/anti-Jewish groups on campus, and possibly radicalize students while they are in college.

There is no ambiguity in this EO, and attempts to mislead the general public with outrageous interpretations, misstatements and wild conclusions – all of which reflect poorly on POTUS Trump are more about politics than reason. He is simply trying to protect American Jewish students under the name of religion instead of just “race, color and national origin”. The fact that POTUS Trump went out of his way to define anti-Semitism using the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance should indicate that the majority of the broad American Jewish Community accepts his definition - and it has nothing to do with nationality.

Europe and Germany deal with anti-Semitism under the umbrella of “hate crimes”, and is revising the laws to reflect the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish bias of the huge wave of illegal Muslim immigrants, some of which have committed the majority of barbaric terrorist acts against Jewish targets and institutions on the European mainland in recent years.

Unfortunately, America is divided among party lines, and the Jewish community, much like the Christian community - is equally as divided as the rest of the country. It is estimated that in 2016 between 35-40% of American Jews voted for President Trump, which is close to the national average of 50/50.

Shep Fargotstein is a 3^rd generation Memphian, is the head of Shepard Wealth Management of Raymond James, and is President and Founder of the Memphis Jewish Republican Coalition (MJRC). Anyone can join the MJRC via FaceBook.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-anti-semitism/

Mass Murders by Guns Vs. Opioid deaths

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That’s right, every year we lose 50% more young Americans to opioids than we lost in the entire Vietnam War. Opioids kill 64% more Americans per year than either car accidents or death by guns in general.

My heart goes out to the families of the innocent victims of the 2 mass murders that happened the weekend of August 3rd in Texas and Ohio. The media coverage, and the politicians have offered up their usual and customary lines about gun control, and it angers me because they see it as an opportunity to profit politically from this tragedy.

In all of 2019 there were 227 people killed in mass shootings in the USA – including the August, 2019 shootings. There is debate about what is considered a “mass killing”, but for the sake of this argument, let’s accept Wikipedia’s mass killing statistic. In 2017, 110,749 people either died of opioid overdoses or committed suicide because of opioids. That is up from 41,364 opioid “related” deaths in 2000 according to Healy Psychiatry, a well-known and respected psychiatric source. If you pro-rate this statistic to make a full year the mass murder “by guns” for 2019 would be 302 gun deaths (vs. 110,749 Opioid deaths).

Ponder that for a moment: 110,749 people died from opioids in 2007 and 302 died from gun inflicted mass murder.  We can assume that 2019 number would come in far higher than 110K deaths because of the unlimited fentanyl that is coming through the border. There is no grieving in the media and no righteous politicians vowing to fix the issue of opioids.

There is no debate that when people are gunned down in a mass shooting that they are completely innocent.  Unfortunately, when it comes to Opioids, there is plenty of debate as to whether opioid addiction is brought on by a weak character flaw or mental illness and it profoundly offends the grieving families and survivors of “the Opioid crisis”. No one plans to get addicted to opioids and die. There are no “mass overdoses” to attract the news cycle either. These young people die one at a time, alone, with no fanfare and no media caring. All it takes is one prescription to Opioids for a painful injury to get some people hooked. An ancillary issue with Opioid addiction is the costly peripheral problems: Families go broke trying to treat their addict in their family. Crime to feed the addiction, homelessness, mental illness and broken families that come with untreated Opioid addiction.

These 110,749 opioid deaths are all innocent victims. Victims of a drug industry that abused them for profit. Victims of a government that allowed the drug companies to sell these drugs via salespeople who gave doctors incentives to write more and more prescriptions. Victims of a medical profession that refused to acknowledge their complicity and police their own members. Victims of a media that preferred to ignore the problem rather than shine a light on national tragedy. The media of late has put itself on a pedestal as the guiding light of our democracy. It seems their bulb went out.

58,220 American soldiers are listed as having died in Vietnam. 130 Americans die every day from opioid overdose alone - not including suicide.  Over 70,000 young Americans have died so far this year (as of August 5^th, 2019) of Opioid overdose. That’s right, every year we lose 50% more young Americans to opioids than we lost in the entire Vietnam War.

The national discussion over gun control is a worthy discussion to have, and I support limited gun control laws that are strictly enforced. But it is important to remember that outlawing AK-15s will not stop innocent lives from being lost. A habitual criminal with numerous gun violations procured an AK-15 on the black market perpetrated in the recent police shooting in Philadelphia.

If we are serious about saving lives, we need to prioritize our efforts - and the opioid epidemic should be front and center. What is the remedy? Safer pain meds that are non-addictive. Free detox and rehab centers. Strict mandatory laws on drug dealers who peddle this poison. A change in the laws that currently prevent an unwilling addict from being forced into rehab. Free and readily available mental health therapy meant to keep addicts clean. This is the long and costly solution. The alternate is the “Switzerland method”. Making the addictive drugs readily available so that the addicts have a safe, doseable supply. This has proven to produce a population of functioning and semi-functioning drug addicts, without the crime and stigma of the addiction. Either way, we need to do something because we are losing too many young people to this horrible, man-made disease.

Written by Shep Fargotstein, Memphis, TN. - Mr. Fargotstein’s 35-year-old son, David, committed suicide on 07/05/2017 due to Opioid addiction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2019

https://www.healio.com/psychiatry/suicide/news/online/%7B0bffe859-64e4-4ce7-a68e-1fb03b0d1b66%7D/opioids-largely-fuel-increase-in-deaths-by-suicide-overdose-in-us

https://www.nsc.org/road-safety/safety-topics/fatality-estimates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

What I Miss About You (David)

I Miss:

Our lunches at Soulfish

Your happiness when I bought the house on South Cox

Your excitement when I bought you a whole house full of furniture at IKEA

Your hugs

Having you at family dinners

Having you at family holidays

Your happiness to see me when I visited you when you lived out of town

Having my arms around my 2 sons at the same time

Seeing you and Sam and Molly together laughing and joking each other 

Hearing you and Sam and Molly talking about all the good times at Shady Fern Cove

You and Sam arguing and needling each other in the back seat of the car when you were little

Seeing you in the kitchen talking to Margaret at my house when I come home

Helping you set up your new life on South Cox

Miss canoeing with you and Sam

Miss us vacationing on the cruise

Miss celebrating your birthday in New Orleans

Seeing you happy

You when you were a little baby because you were so cute

Baby Dave sleeping in my arms

You loving on your little brother Sam.

Your annoying tapping on the table

Your odor of Marlboros and sweat

Seeing you and Molly late at night in the living room watching TV and talking

Buying you half gallon jars of hot sauce

Buying your favorite foods at Costco 

Seeing you cut the grass and planting trees around the house 

Your drawings

Having hope that you will one day you will give up your resistance to being conventional and will settle down in a job and get into a healthy relationship

Having hope that you will kick you addiction to drugs

I Wish:

I could have realized how desperate you really were in your life

You could have been honest with yourself

You could have been honest with me

You could have been honest with your mother

You could have been honest with Sam and Molly

You could have realized that you could have made it through the rehab

You could have believed in yourself

I had gotten to your house 5 minutes earlier

Lena had called me 10 minutes earlier and warned me about her concerns for you

I could have delivered you to Cumberland Heights the next day

I did not have to carry the pain of losing you to suicide

I did not have to carry the anger about this final, stupid act of yours

I did not have to see the pain in your mother, Sam and Molly

I wish I could un-remember the sheer panic when Margaret and I drove 100 MPH to your house while calling the EMTs.

I could un-see your body hanging on the door

I could un-see your body falling to the ground when I cut you down

I could un-hear the thud of your body hitting the ground when I cut you down.

I could permanently replace my anger with the empathy I have for you - when I think it all through

I could take back some of the things I said to you about the timetable to return home after rehab because I feel I may have overwhelmed you when you were mentally weak.

I would have picked up on some of your blank stares and – in hindsight – telling responses to my questions (David, where are your survival skills?) that should have clued me in on the possibility that you were suicidal.

I Hope:

That you are no longer in mental agony and in a peaceful place if there is an afterlife

That if there is a Heaven, you are with Aunt Gayle, Suva and Papa Max

That I can learn to live with the pain of your suicide knowing it will never go away.

That Kay can live a happy life with the pain of her first son committing suicide

That Molly and Sam will always remember you as a good big brother 

That Molly and Sam have a happy life, despite the loss of their big brother.

That if there is a heaven and you can hear me, know that I love you and forgive you.

That if you can hear me, know that I always was proud that you were my son. I may have seemed at time to be annoyed that you weren’t even trying to make it – but I was always proud that you were my son…..big keychain and all dangling from your pants.

I love you David, 

Dad