Michael Shmerling

Our hearts are shattered. Emerging from the holy fast of Yom Kippur, British Jews are now grasping the full extent of today’s terror attack at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester. This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come. For so long we have witnessed an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred on our streets, on campuses, on social media and elsewhere – this is the tragic result. This not only an assault on the Jewish community, but an attack on the very foundations of humanity and the values of compassion, dignity and respect which we all share. I have spoken this evening to Rabbi Daniel Walker, the spiritual leader of the Heaton Park Synagogue. His courageous leadership, together with the resilience of his congregation, are an inspiration to us all. May the victims’ memories be for a blessing and may the injured be granted a swift recovery. I pray that this tragedy strengthens our collective resolve to confront antisemitism, in all its guises, once and for all.

This entire situation is completely ABSURD. Heartbreaking. Terrifying. INSANE. EVERYONE should be sickened and utterly filthy regarding the situation in Gaza - for innocent civilians AND hostages (yes - over 50 STILL HELD) But if you are directing your anger at anyone OTHER THAN HAMAS you are part of the problem. There are hundreds of loaded aid trucks sitting in Gaza - the UN refuses to distribute it because their terrorist buddies don’t want that to happen. This is when they - the TERRORISTS - are at their most powerful. When idiotic westerners pile pressure on Israel (???!!!) rather than the TERRORISTS - they are further emboldened and empowered. Images making you feel physically ill? ME TOO! So pile pressure on the terrorists to STOP killing their own people, release the hostages and lay down their arms?! It’s not that bloody complex - and the naive complicity of simpletons is only hurting and prolonging the suffering of ALL involved. THIS CAN ALL END NOW!

‼️ WHO IS HE? ‼️ This man was caught on CCTV outside the Melbourne synagogue as it was being set on fire—WITH 20 JEWS INSIDE. 👀 He doesn’t get to hide. 🔃 Repost until this coward is exposed.

Liverpool striker Diogo Jota and his brother have both passed away due to traffic accident, reports Marca. Deepest condolences, support, and thoughts are with those involved, his family and loved ones. May his soul rest in peace. 🤍🕊️

Beating NZ teams on their own turf in Semi-Finals? It's just what @gomvfc do 😏

I just realized I’ve never actually written a full post breaking down the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. I made a video about it, but not a post. So buckle up... By the late 18th century, Jewish communities were present in the land, not in overwhelming numbers, but they had maintained a continuous presence. This wasn’t some thriving Arab kingdom. It was a backwater, largely ignored by the Ottoman rulers, left to rot under inefficient governance. The land was not heavily populated, only a mix of Arabs, Jews, Christians, Druze, and others living in scattered communities with no real national identity. There were no "Palestinians." No "Lebanese." No "Syrians" in the modern sense. These identities didn’t exist yet. The Ottomans didn’t carve up their empire into neat little nation-states. They ran a sprawling empire where local tribes and sects paid taxes to Istanbul and mostly governed themselves. Then came the Zionists. Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, didn’t start this movement because of some divine mandate. His motivation wasn’t biblical, it was survival. European pogroms and antisemitism were tearing Jewish communities apart, and he saw the need for a Jewish homeland as a matter of life and death. By the late 19th century, Jews began migrating back to the land in greater numbers, legally purchasing land from absentee Ottoman landlords. They weren’t invading with weapons, they were buying property and building something out of nothing. And they didn’t just sit on that land; they transformed it. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909. Haifa’s port was developed between 1910 and 1912. Swamps were drained, fields were cultivated, cities were built. What had been a stagnant, neglected wasteland was suddenly becoming productive, vibrant. Here’s the part nobody likes to talk about: As Jewish settlements grew, so did Arab migration into those areas. Why? Because the Jews were bringing jobs, infrastructure, and healthcare. The Arabs weren’t being displaced. They were moving toward Jewish communities because life was better there. This doesn’t fit the “Zionist invaders” narrative, so you won’t hear it in most history books, but it’s the truth. Fast-forward to World War I. The Ottoman Empire collapsed, and Britain and France swooped in to divide the remains. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised a Jewish homeland, wasn’t unique. The French also backed Lebanese Christians, promising them a state. The Brits promised Iraq to Arab allies. The Europeans weren’t playing some simple “divide and rule” game, they were trying to implement their nation-state model in a region that had never operated that way. For the Jews, the British Mandate was an opportunity. They had been buying land, building cities, and now had international recognition of their efforts. They weren’t doing anything different from the Lebanese, Syrians, or Iraqis, everyone was scrambling to stake their claim in the post-Ottoman chaos. But for Muslims, this was existential. For the first time in Islamic history, there was no caliphate. The Ottoman sultan was gone. The Muslim world was lost, leaderless, humiliated. And then, to add insult to injury, a Jewish state was rising in the heart of the Middle East. Lebanon, a Christian-majority state at the time, got the same hostility. But the Christians eventually caved under pressure. The Jews didn’t. Enter the Muslim Brotherhood. They saw an opportunity and took it, using religious fury to rally Arabs against the Jews. Here’s the irony: Before the 1940s, "Palestinian" didn’t mean "Arab." It meant anyone, Jew or Arab, who lived in the British Mandate of Palestine. Jews in Tel Aviv were called Palestinians. But the Brotherhood rebranded it as an exclusively Arab identity, erasing the Jewish history tied to the land. Arab leaders started boycotting “Palestinian goods”, which meant Jewish-made goods. Meanwhile, newspapers in the region talked about "Arabs invading Palestine." Invading? From where? If this was historically an Arab homeland, why were they calling it an invasion? Because it wasn’t. The land was a mix of communities, filling up with newcomers, Arab and Jew alike. The Jews, like the Lebanese and Syrians, fought to shake off British colonial rule. They declared independence in 1948. The Arabs rejected every peace deal, starting with the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which would have given them their own state alongside a Jewish state, all the way up to Their rejection of Camp David in 2000, when Israel offered them 97% of the West Bank and Gaza. They never wanted a state. They wanted to erase Israel. That’s why every single offer was turned down. Arab leaders didn’t actually care about the Palestinians. Egypt, Jordan, and Syria all used the Palestinian cause for their own political gain. Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt flirted with recognizing Israel when he needed Western weapons. When the U.S. denied him, he turned to the Soviets and ramped up anti-Israel rhetoric. Saudi King Faisal saw Nasser as a threat and pumped money into the Muslim Brotherhood’s causes, not out of love for Palestinians, but to undermine his Arab rival. And the so-called Palestinian flag was originally used in the failed 1958 Jordan-Iraq federation, before it was repurposed as a Palestinian nationalist symbol in 1963. There was no Palestinian nation before that, just a movement searching for branding. Since its founding, Israel has been at war for its survival. It has been outnumbered, attacked from all sides, and yet, it still offered peace over and over again, only to be met with rejection. The Arabs didn’t lose their homeland in 1948. They lost a war they started to take one that was never theirs. Meanwhile, Israel didn’t just survive. It thrived. It turned desert into farmland, built one of the world’s most advanced economies, and became a global tech powerhouse. And it did all of this while under constant attack. The Truth About the Conflict This was never about land. It was never about occupation. If it were, why did Muslim-majority nations persecute Jews long before Zionism? Why were 850,000 Jews expelled from Arab lands in 1948? Why did Muhammad himself declare that “no two religions can exist in Arabia”? Because this isn’t a geopolitical dispute. It’s a religious and ideological war. The Jews built a nation from nothing, reclaimed their homeland, and refused to be erased. And that’s why this conflict rages on, because Israel exists, and for many in the Islamic world, that is an unforgivable offense.

Welcome to #ClipperNation, Patty Mills!