My father survived the Holocaust but most of my family did not. One of the greatest mistakes humanity ever made was a failure to recognize the danger of fascism early enough and tackle it head on. The Jewish people paid the price for that with the murder of six million of our people. We cannot let history repeat itself. I have every confidence that President Obama and President-elect Trump oppose this abhorrent phenomenon, now is the time to translate that opposition into unequivocal condemnation and swift action.

**To hear more on the position and hear MK Ofer Shelah in person, join us for "Politics in the Pub" with MK Ofer Shelah on Sunday, December 4 at 19:00, Kanta Bar, 71 Ibn Gabirol Street (Roof of Gan Ha'ir Mall), Tel Aviv

To register:
http://ww2.yeshatid.org.il/shelahpub_tlv

Questions? english@yeshatid.org.il**

The enemy lingered at the entrance of the airplane for just a moment, smiled, and ceased to be the enemy all at once. In an instant.

The moment was incredibly powerful precisely because it was not part of any historical process. It created history, in direct contrast to the course of historical events. There was no advance preparation (in fact, up until the very last second the IDF Chief of Staff at the time was certain it was a hoax). The visit flew in the face of everything that we knew or thought only a week beforehand. Everything was flipped upside down because two people decided that it was time to make a decision.

It is this very conviction that drives “HaShomer HaChadash” activists. Young Israeli men and women who have returned to the very foundations of Zionism-working the land.

These young people could travel to South America or work in the high-tech sector, but they would rather wake up at dawn, take the cattle out to pasture, pick olives, and go out on long patrols in order to stop the thefts which plague Israeli farmers.

Meeting these men and women is the best answer to those who claim that agriculture is merely an economic matter. It is part of our core values. Part of the notion of a nation returning to its homeland. It is our answer to the well-known Arab notion of “Sumud” or steadfastness: If someone tries to steal your calf, you do what farmers of all generations have done-chase the thief until you get back what is yours-by force if necessary.

"HaShomer HaChadash" was not founded because these young people want to take the law into their own hands. It was founded because the State of Israel has given up. It can no longer enforce the laws which it passes. You meet with these young men and women, and the stories keep on flowing: 25 calves stolen from Kibbutz Ramat HaShofet. A hay loft set on fire in Metula. Sheep disappearing from their pen. The Wild East.

We need to rebuild the law enforcement system in Israel from the ground up (Yesh Atid’s “7- Point Plan” discusses precisely how this can be done), but more than that we need more people like these activists. People who are committed. Who are caring. Who understand that Zionism is an ongoing project that has only just begun.

And all of us, together, are responsible for its success.

A thin, slender Jew - as thin as the paper in a book of poetry - in an impeccably tailored suit (his father was a tailor after all), who sang about our lives as if he knew us.

Cohen's song “Who By Fire” was inspired by Unetanneh Tokef, a piyyut (Jewish liturgical poem), composed by the 11th-century sage Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, that has been a part of the Yom Kippur liturgy for centuries.

See the first comment for a link to an exquisite rendition of this haunting song.

Who By Fire/ Leonard Cohen
And who by fire, who by water,
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
Who in your merry merry month of may,
Who by very slow decay,
And who shall I say is calling?

And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
Who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
And who by avalanche, who by powder,
Who for his greed, who for his hunger,
And who shall I say is calling?

And who by brave assent, who by accident,
Who in solitude, who in this mirror,
Who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,
Who in mortal chains, who in power,
And who shall I say is calling?

Read the full column below.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/anti-semitism-in-britain-dire…/

At Yesh Atid we’re doing exactly that, and time and again it becomes clear that you can change people’s minds, but you have to communicate with them the right way. Just this week we took a large group of ambassadors from across the world to a Hamas terror tunnel in the Gaza border region to show them how much effort the other side is willing to put into murdering Jews.

'I’ve been asking for permission to see the inside of a tunnel for a year and a half' the Australian Ambassador, Dave Sharma, told me, 'and nothing happened.'

It’s true that there will always be anti-semites. It’s true that fundamentalist Islam is trying to destroy us. It’s true that ignorance reigns and that the radical left in Europe is working with those who seek to delegitimize Israel. So what? So we give up? Since when do Israelis give up when things are hard? It only means we have to work harder until we win this battle as well.

That isn’t happening today. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been torn apart; there are five ministers who think they are the ones responsible for public diplomacy. There is a crisis with the United States and Europe (We should always stand up for ourselves but embarrassing public disputes with friends are not foreign policy). But crucially, there is no-one doing the work.

Yesterday, for example, we tried to find out why Russia voted against Israel at UNESCO. We spoke to a senior Russian diplomat who knows the situation well. 'Maybe we would have voted differently,' he said, 'if someone from your side had bothered to speak to us before the vote.'

'No-one spoke to you?'

'No-one.'"

This was the first time that many of them were this close to the Gaza Strip.

Before I asked them my question, we took them into one of the Hamas terror tunnels - 30 meters of cement under the ground, and reminded them that the money their countries are sending to Gaza is being used to fund terrorism.

We then brought them to the closest possible lookout to the border and I asked my question:

"If there was a siren right now, just like there was yesterday, you would have 15 seconds to escape. Where would you run to? Look around you and think - would you have enough time to escape or not? And would you be able to escape if you had a baby in your hands? Is 15 seconds enough for an 80-year-old to escape? Do you think it is acceptable that people have to live this way?"