How many did you kill in Gaza yesterday you racist yankee?

I've always loved when the teacher asked me a question and I knew the answer. I've always loved when my parents asked us something and I was the first to respond. And when the answer is obvious, even to the greatest of fools among us? Oh, how fun to respond.

Yet another cowardly commentator (I have dubbed this one #667) asks me a question:

How many did you kill in Gaza yesterday you racist yankee?

The facets of this question are fascinating. You can ask someone, "How often" or "How many times" did you do something? But phrased that way, the question presupposes the action and is only asking for you to quantify how many times you did it. 

The first question in the faceless dialog I am being asked to conduct should have been, if we were to focus primarily on proper formation as opposed to absurd allegations: 

DID you kill in Gaza yesterday you racist yankee?

Thus, I would then be called upon to respond with a YES or a NO. In reality, I wasn't in Gaza yesterday. The last time I was in Gaza was in mid-2005, days after Israel had unilaterally destroyed the homes of 10,000 Israelis and desecrated the sacred bond between government and citizen. And days after Israel completed the horrific decision that resulted in homeless people ranging in age from newborns to great-grandparents. It was supposed to "bring peace," though we warned the government and nation that from the rubble of these communities, only rockets would come. 

In truth, we were wrong about that claim to some extent. At the time, we assumed the worst they could do to us was the firing of more rockets and launching of more terror attacks such as the horrific murder of Tali Hatuel (z"l) and her beautiful children (z"l). Horrific attacks that left a family or small group of people devastated and a nation demoralized. In those days, we had no idea that October 7, 2023 would be the most horrible outcome of Ariel Sharon's betrayal.

But I digress... 

Back to #667. Aside from the grammar and English mistakes in your sentence (Yankee should be capitalized and certainly there should be a comma between the words "yesterday" and "you"), you incorrectly assumed that I had killed in Gaza yesterday and were thus focused only on the numbers. Can I assume (since you are assuming so much), that perhaps there is a number you would find acceptable and a number above which you might be angry?

So, if I admitted to killing 5, in a place I have not been in 20 years, would that be acceptable, but if I said 6, you'd throw a hissy fit? When you ask "How many," it assumes the answer would have an acceptable and a non-acceptable zone. I'd love to hear how many dead people could be found in your acceptable zone.

Of course, we should discuss the "racist yankee" comment. You have no evidence that I am either of those things. While I do have American citizenship, you don't know where I am from, where I was born. In general, Yankees were from the northern States as opposed to the southern States. Alternatively, you could be implying that I was a member of the New York Yankees baseball team. In point of fact, I was not.

As for racist, it would be impolite to point out that for formative years, my best friend was a beautiful Black girl named Sherrie. On one occasion, someone called her a name and she started to cry. I took her by the arm and walked away with her. She stopped crying, and I said to her, "Are you Black?" and she told me she was. I then responded, "Oh, I didn't know. I'm Jewish." And that was the end of the conversation. She lived with her Black family; I lived with my Jewish family and we were the best of friends until her parents devastated our lives by moving away a few years later.

I do not hate people based on their color, religion, gender. I do "hate" people who murder my people and/or those who support those who hate and harm. And to be fair, I do hate people who say they didn't study at all and get 100 on a test. But since some of my children fall into that category, I have learned to tone down that emotion substantially.

But I digress...

Here, #667, is the answer to your absurd question:

I killed no one in Gaza yesterday or the day before or for 710 days before yesterday, or for the last 20 years or even much longer. But, you knew that, didn't you?. After all, how many Israeli grandmothers are fighting in this war? 

Then again, perhaps we are fighting. We are fighting the lies you and others spread, the hatred and ignorance that abounds in all that you write. We do not fight with guns, but with truth.

So the truth, #667, is that your attempt to dehumanize me, my people, my country, will fail. It will fail because the truth is there, obvious to those with half a brain. That might exclude you, your people, your country, but it does not exclude most of the world.

Around the world, people are waking up - in the UK, in the US, in France, even in Ireland.