BHL’s “Israel Alone”

I wrote about BHL’s new book on my Substack a while back – I read it in French and I wanted to let those who are interested know it is now available in English. Strongly recommend, if you care about the survival of the Jewish people, of Israel – as I do – and if you are disgusted – as I am – with the hatred of Jews and Israel and the absolute morally bankrupt madness that we have seen since October 7th.

A Quote Worth Thought

Your life is your life. Don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. Be on the watch. There are ways out. There is light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness. Be on the watch. The gods will offer you chances. Know them. Take them. You can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. And the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be. Your life is your life. Know it while you have it. You are marvelous. The gods wait to delight in you. – Charles Bukowski

Handful O’Links

Duelling ideas about what a hostage deal would bring: one here in which Bret Stephens argues it could be, in the long run, an incredibly bad idea, causing more deaths in future; over at Foreign Affairs, Graham Allison and Amos Yadlin make a different case. All three of these thinkers are pro-Israel, so it is a good idea to read both. That said, the latter piece was written prior to the execution of the six hostages. I wonder whether that crime changed the authors’ views.

In France, Emmanuel Macron finally picked a new prime minister – a moderate conservative voice, Michel Barnier. I absolutely love that he did this – it is a poke in the eye to the fans of Hamas who were elected during the French parliamentary elections in July. (Of course, massive protests ensued.) I wrote about the election results previously, on my Substack.

James Earl Jones

Wonderful, underrated – or maybe “under known” – actor. I don’t mean people don’t know his work, but they know Star Wars and CNN, above all. One movie I strongly recommend is Claudine, just a great, gritty, ’70s romance, as only the ’70s seemed to produce. (See my Substack for more about that era in movies.) He had a great sense of humour about himself, too – his appearances on Will and Grace and also The Big Bang Theory were delightful.