Exploring the Israel-Palestine Conflict and Discovering Jewish Unity with Hila Oz

Pledge your ears to an engaging conversation with the brilliant Hila Oz, as we dissect the current Israel-Palestine conflict and the media's part in it. Be prepared for an unfiltered perspective as we navigate the intricate landscape, contrasting the IDF's code of ethics against Hamas's charter, and addressing the cognitive dissonance among those aligning with the historically Nazi-associated grand loft of Jerusalem.

As we pivot into the second part of our dialogue, we highlight the significance of unity and action within the Jewish community during these testing times. From acknowledging the resilience of Jewish people to the potential power of collective participation in Jewish activities, we engage in a thoughtful exploration of practical demonstrations of solidarity. We also delve into the divine nexus between the Torah, the land, and prayer, underscoring the spiritual validation of the Jewish claim to the land. As we wrap up, we extend heartfelt prayers for the safe return of hostages, recovery for the injured, and consolation for grieving families. Listen as we unravel this topical issue with Hila Oz.

Transcript

Coach Ratner: 0:00

This is the Living in Clarity podcast. I'm Coach Ruther. Today we have a special guest, hila Oz. Hila, great to have you back on the show again. Thank you so much for having me. It was a very special. It's a very uh, an easy time being here in Israel and I wanted to have you on because you are so articulate about what the situation's going on here and I've heard you again on TikTok and you're very you know you, you're full of clarity, which the show is about clarity, so I'm like who better to have than Hila Oz? Thank you so much for having me. Welcome back.

Hila Oz: 0:28

And it, you know, there's almost no words to describe what's going on in Israel right now. This is unlike any conflict, any war that we have faced. Obviously, the death toll has been higher than even the independence war, right? Uh, you know, and people are coming out and talking about this past Saturday was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and I think that that's very important to highlight, because oftentimes you hear on the anti-Zionist side that they are against, uh, the incorrect claim that Israel is committing a genocide, when it's very clear that our enemies, specifically Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, has clearly set their sights on committing a genocide and more than that. This is not a resistance movement, this is not freedom fighters. They have made no political demand. Nope, there are no political demands here. They're not telling us to do anything, they're not trying to get anything from the government. They're simply trying to murder as many Jews as possible. Uh, the last I checked the death count since, uh, saturday, and today is Wednesday, right?

Coach Ratner: 1:34

There's Wednesday.

Hila Oz: 1:36

I've been in a shelter like the whole time. Oh, time is completely you know whatever, but in those couple of days the death toll is over 1,200 civilians.

Coach Ratner: 1:48

Like even a hard number to even stab them, because when you have mass murders in America and they kill 10, 20 people, come on, that's so many people.

Coach Ratner: 1:55

You can't imagine a death toll by people. It's I don't even want to talk about that because, to the truth, it causes me a lot of anxiety, absolutely. And, um, you know, if I was single probably wouldn't be such a big deal to not have children. It's like it really it really far to even watch or hear about it. Trust is, it happened near the cotton strip. Absolutely. What I do want to and what I do want to talk about is, uh, you mentioned genocide and I know one of the things that cause. You know, we have podcasts on Jewish topics. We get a lot of things dead Jews are coming. Genocide. I'm like I don't understand the genocide. I mean, every time you hear about the IDF going in, they're going in to kill terrorists who are about to kill Jews.

Hila Oz: 2:33

Absolutely yeah, um, it's a body protection.

Coach Ratner: 2:36

But I want to say one thing that really makes me annoyed. You know, you hear all the times that Jews uh, use the blood with Palestinian babies and their matzah. By the way, there is a tour prohibition for a Jew to eat, drink blood, Absolutely, In fact, some of them. When my mom used to bring home meat, she used to put salt on it to soak out all the blood. It's against the rules for a Jews to eat blood.

Hila Oz: 3:00

Yeah, and more than that. If you look at the IDF code of ethics, I think you can understand this conflict very clearly by just seeing the policies that are enacted by both sides. So the IDF code of ethics that before you um kill a combatant, you have to fire a warning shot. You have to tell them in Arabic that you are going to shoot them. It's like you have to warn them. If you keep doing this action, it is going to have a deadly consequence, whereas the Samas charter I believe in article seven, if I'm not mistaken says clearly we want to kill all of Jews, not Zionists, not Israelis, not settlers. Kill all of Jews. So what are we supposed to? It's insane to me that the entire world sees this and decides you know what? Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Let's say, maybe kill all Jews. Doesn't mean that Like there has to be some extreme level of cognitive dissonance to see that one side has a literal call to genocide in its founding charter and think that is not the Jedi.

Coach Ratner: 4:04

They want to believe that evil exists and that to prove it.

Hila Oz: 4:07

They want to believe that evil exists. They want to believe that the Jews are evil. They want to believe that we are this eternal scapegoat. This is the same exact things that were happening. I mean, we see a holocaust going on and I don't use that term lightly, because I believe that when you use that term lightly, you are committing a form of soft holocaust in aisle. You're saying the holocaust wasn't as bad as it really was. This isn't the exact same thing that our ancestors were experiencing during the Shoah.

Hila Oz: 4:31

And people are siding with the Nazis not only signing with the Nazis, but the side that was historically sided with the Nazis. The grand lofty of Jerusalem in the 40s, hajimin Al-Wisani, was friends with Hitler, met with Hitler and spoke to him about murdering Jews in this land and applauded him on his mass genocide of Jews. This is a side that has constantly sided with Hitler, has constantly sided with these horrible human rights violators like Russia and the rest of the Arab League, and yet somehow people still want to blame the Jews. We're not going to look at where our problems are actually coming from. We're not going to look at why things are the way they are. We're not going to look at why we have tip points in the first place, why there was a blockade on Gaza which, by the way, godless year, is a border with Egypt and for some reason Egypt doesn't open its borders to them. But they had a reason to, because those are their Arab brothers and it's not in the most charter to kill all Egyptians. We have a reason to have a blockade against them. And anyone who thinks oh yeah, my neighbor thinks that and my neighbor constantly talks about how much he wants me dead, but like it's really rude of me to lock my doors, like are you insane? Are you genuinely like there has to be something missing? And it feels like the entire world is just gaslighting the Jewish population because we're doing as much as we can.

Hila Oz: 5:59

And it's not to say that the Palestinians are suffering I know they are. It's not to say that Israel is a perfect state and we have been absolutely angels in this conflict. I know we haven't been, but we have been as moral, even more moral than any other country, any other people in this situation. There is no situation where a country is facing another people coming and breaking into their borders, stealing their children. We have videos of Hamas operatives explicitly saying that they are stealing our women and children with the express purpose to rape them, or beheading babies or sending babies on fire. Who are going to old folks homes and shooting them up. Who are going into old people's houses and filming on their private Facebook accounts for their families to see how they execute them. There is no people who have faced this level of violence and are being told ceasefire. But what about? What about the civilians? What about our civilians? How many people have had to die before the world understands that Jewish blood is not cheap?

Coach Ratner: 7:06

There was a uh. We were representing the Palestinians were saying that we were complaining to Hegel 10 that Israel is not knocking on the roofs before they blow up the building. Oh, do know, I know. And of course everyone says, well, did you knock on the door before you shot people? Stop, I'm like it was ridiculous.

Hila Oz: 7:26

We didn't even get any. We were both together this past Saturday. Yes, I was there for lunch because it was a holiday at Weshawbat and um, we were both talking about. None of us knew that the sirens were going to start that morning in Jerusalem. I woke up to sirens that morning. I told myself it can't be the, the Sazekai, it can't be the red alert, because we would have known. Yes, usually our intelligence can tell us before. Yeah, because they never tell us. But all of a sudden, by surprise attack, not only on Shabbat but on Simfat Kavach and also on the 50th anniversary of the Gregorian calendar of the young Kipperwark, they decided to launch a full scale attack and wage a war against us. But who are not knocking on the the?

Hila Oz: 8:10

roof, I know, oh no, we're not being perfect little angels to the people who want us dead. But.

Coach Ratner: 8:16

Hila. What can we do now? You know we're. You know there's only so much we can do. I can't go get a gun and fight. What can I do? What can someone do to help the situation that's going on? What can they do that they can feel better about themselves, to get rid of the anxiety that helps them to help the Jewish people who are suffering?

Hila Oz: 8:29

Yeah, so, um, first of all, there are many organizations I know, specifically the Michael Levine base, are taking donations, um uh different supplies that our soldiers need, um, whether that's uh toiletries, phone chargers, etc. Etc. So if you can find a way to donate, if you are in Israel and can donate blood, that is a huge help. There are thousands upon thousands of people who are injured.

Coach Ratner: 8:50

I think they need type O. That's what I'm looking for right now.

Hila Oz: 8:52

Hyto was obviously um, universal donor, um. So if you are able to donate blood and have type O specifically, that's definitely something you can go out and do, and I think this is a word that is being fought on multiple fronts. This isn't just you know, on the ground in Israel what's happening here. It's also all over the world, the misinformation that's being spread and the people who are apologizing for terror, and it is very important that we spread truth in a world that is so full of lies. Call people out when they say oh well, you shouldn't police, uh, indigenous liberation, and how the oppressed are acting. Explain to them that no, even if they were, you know, as oppressed as they claim to be, even if we were the colonizers which we are not, even if they were under a horrible occupation, even though we pulled out of Gaza in 2005, even if all that was true, there is no, no justification for raping women. There is no justification for kidnapping innocent civilians. There is no justification for murdering babies, and once you do that, you lose the moral side of the argument.

Hila Oz: 9:56

It's very important to explain that there is no morality here. This is not, you know, champions of social justice, champions of social justice. You will not find that in Hamas, you will not find that in Palestinian, is Islamic jihad. You will not find that in the iranian backed terrorist organization that is Committed to killing as many civilians as possible. It is so important to explain that and to call people out when they are lying, when they don't know what's going on with the conflict. More than that, this is obviously acts of terrorism. They want us to be terrified, they want us to be scared, they want us to go into hiding. We need to be so clear that we are not going anywhere, because we we say every pass over and in every single Generation they rise up against us to destroy us, but a Qadish powerful god delivers us from their hands. Every single major empire on the planet has tried it and they're gone, and Hamas will be gone Very, very soon. Bezerat, this shen.

Coach Ratner: 10:58

They'll go away with the uh police teams. They'll go away with the Babylonians. They'll go away with the ancient Greeks, the ancient romans, like everybody else, has tried to kill the jews and the nazis. They're all going to disappear. The jews are still here. The jews are still thriving.

Coach Ratner: 11:11

It's one of the proofs, was one of the proofs to me that god gave the Torah to the jewish people, that the fact that we're still here we were dispersed for 2 000 years to all over the world without the phones and internet and mail, yet we all kept the same Torah for 2 000 years, while every country in the world not every, but most of them tried to kill us or and or have us into marriage or you know, whatever they tried to do to us.

Coach Ratner: 11:35

And the fact we're still here is actual a miracle in itself. It's proof to me that god gave to an additional to the jewish people, absolutely, and they have to do everything. On scolding my air, said and biden said in the speech, well to my hair when he, when she talked to build my air, she said we have a secret weapon. He said what is he goes? She said we have nowhere else to go. So in little bit right, and so like we're gonna fight to the death. I mean, it's not even close. So like we, we're gonna fight to this land, no matter what I'm, you know just as we did 2 000 years ago against the romans, who?

Hila Oz: 12:07

So we will been. So it's so important being in recognizing that, that we are so openly proud of being jewish that we do not give into terror and we do not go into hiding. If you can, where you're your Hain-Dekhles, your Khansai, your Maghendevid, wear a kippah wrap to fill in, do a mitzvah, give to charity and, specifically, I believe that this is a test from Hashem and you know obviously Especially on college campuses where there's a lot of pro-Balatnian.

Coach Ratner: 12:37

Some people call it it's gonna be age-difficult, I understand, but this is this is how, this is what you can do to fight that with some squandering situation.

Hila Oz: 12:44

So, then, that you're not afraid of them, because you have no reason to be afraid of them. You're gonna stick around. We're not going anywhere, but this is really a test in unity. This is about bringing the Jewish people together and loving your fellow Jew. Unfortunately, we saw a huge divide with the past election, with what happened on Yom Kippur, with all these, you know, very political, very emotionally charged issues. The Jewish people have turned to fighting amongst themselves and hating themselves, and that makes us weak. We are strong when we are together. It is the Qamara in Megillah that's Yiddal, I believe explains that when Aphashverosh gave his ring to Amman to sign the death decree against the Jewish people, it was more beneficial to us than every single prophet of Israel combined, and that is because it was only once we had that existential threat that we actually came together.

Coach Ratner: 13:37

We had it.

Hila Oz: 13:38

And so obviously we want that we shouldn't have to have FMS or an enemy come against us that forces us to. We want to be able to unite in times of peace, because that's who we're supposed to be. At the end of the day, we're all one family and, yeah, we don't get along in everything. We don't agree with our brothers and sisters, on everything. We believe in different government policies and different levels of religiosity, and this and that the other doesn't matter. You are my brother, you are my sister, I love you, even if I don't agree with you, and that should be just as true in times of peace as it is now in war. We have to come together. We cannot let them defy us. We need to take whatever we have and use it to support our brothers and sisters.

Coach Ratner: 14:25

My reverend says all the time, we can have unity with that uniformity, which means we don't have to be the same, we don't have to dress the same, we don't have to act the same, but we can still be unified. And unfortunately it takes a situation like this to uniform. So we want to enlist in the Jewish army. How can we enlist in the Jewish army? What can we do for living in Seattle or New York or Miami or Washington or Dallas? What can we do in Chicago? What can we do to enlist in the Jewish army? The number thing we do one, as Heela said, we can give to organizations that are helping the soldiers. One you said is the Michael Levin base loan soldiers. There's also called Friends of the IDF. There's another organization called Thank you, israeli Soldiers. It helps bring packages to all the soldiers around Israel. You can also show how proud you are of being a Jew by wearing a kebabs or wrapping to fill in or, if you want to, you know, in Shabbos light Shabbos candles go to Shul, have a Shabbat service.

Hila Oz: 15:21

Yes, there's a huge initiative going on right now, called Just One, shabbos, that hopes to bring many Jews who maybe wouldn't keep Shabbat in any way, this coming Shabbat, which is par-shab-ri-sheet, the first par-shab that we read in the entire Torah. We should all keep Shabbat in some way, so that doesn't necessarily. If you can keep the full Shabbat, that's amazing. But if, like like Co-Tratner was saying, if you could just light Shabbat candles, make Kiddish, go to Shul or even spend time with your family and just show them how much you love them and show how much you love the Jewish community, that is keeping Shabbat.

Coach Ratner: 15:55

Even if you do something small like turn off your phone for like three hours, one more night dinner, that's the big deal. Learn with a rabbi, learn with nothing. And one of the best things to do is to go find a rabbi and to go learn with and learn a little bit Halakhaz and Jewish law. It's really quite enlightening. It opens your mind, it gives you clarity in life. Like to say absolutely, you like to live in clarity, we like to live in truths, and I got to say you know a lot of things we can do. We want to be proud Jews and we want to feel like we do something to help keep it out of any anxiety that many of us have. And by showing how proud you are as a Jew, by learning Torah, by keeping parts of Shabbat, you can do that.

Hila Oz: 16:29

And I want to add, because this coming Shabbat is per se, perishit the first rashi was a medieval commentator on the Torah. The first thing rashi says in the entire Bible, which starts perishit brahlokim et tishmim vatah arit, in the beginning of creation, god made the heavens and the earth. He says why does this start? This is a book of laws. Why does it start with the creation of the universe? And he answers that it will come to pass that people will call the Jews thieves, that people will say that Jews stole this land. And in order to be a defense against that, god stirs the Torah with the creation of the universe so that we should see that the entire heavens and the earth are his. And he gave this land to us.

Hila Oz: 17:13

And so even in this week's parasha it shows people are going to call us thieves and they're going to fight against us because they think we are thieves. But at the end of the day, we know we have a righteous cause. We know we are the moral side, clearly, because we're not the side, the heading babies. I mean bare minimum, but I mean there are so many other things that are going on right now that I think are so important to speak about. I think we should all take time out of our days to pray to God, even in your own words, that he should return all of the hostages to their families safely, amen. That they are injured are fully healed and that God should grant nifama serenity and calm and comfort to the families who are currently in mourning.

Coach Ratner: 17:56

May peace come speedily in our days. May my shiaf come, amen, amen, amen. And he's taking very much to listen to this episode of the Litting and Clarity podcast.