shani fruchter

Newly minted HPB surgeon navigating life in and out of the OR. tweets are my own

[Emily Damari @EmilyDamari1]

Dear Members of the @PulitzerPrizes board,

My name is Emily Damari. I was held hostage in Gaza for over 500 days.

On the morning of October 7, I was at home in my small studio apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas terrorists burst in, shot me and dragged me across the border into Gaza. I was one of 251 men, women, children, and elderly people kidnapped that day from their beds, their homes, and a music festival.

For almost 500 days I lived in terror. I was starved, abused, and treated like I was less than human. I watched friends suffer. I watched hope dim. And even now, after returning home, I carry that darkness with me - because my best friends, Gali and Ziv Berman are still being held in the Hamas terror tunnels.

So imagine my shock and pain when I saw that you awarded a Pulitzer Prize to Mosab Abu Toha.

This is a man who, in January, questioned the very fact of my captivity. He posted about me on Facebook and asked, “How on earth is this girl called a hostage?” He has denied the murder of the Bibas family. He has questioned whether Agam Berger was truly a hostage. These are not word games - they are outright denials of documented atrocities.

You claim to honor journalism that upholds truth, democracy, and human dignity. And yet you have chosen to elevate a voice that denies truth, erases victims, and desecrates the memory of the murdered.

Do you not see what this means? Mosab Abu Toha is not a courageous writer. He is the modern-day equivalent of a Holocaust denier. And by honoring him, you have joined him in the shadows of denial.

This is not a question of politics. This is a question of humanity. And today, you have failed it.

[Zach Sage Fox @zachsagefox]

Columbia University has CAVED ‼️

TO REGAIN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR IT’S FAILURE TO PROTECT JEWISH STUDENTS UNDER TITLE 6 SINCE 10/7 THE SCHOOL WILL — Ban masks at protests (w/ documented medical exemptions), increase security on campus, adopt a stronger definition of antisemtism, put its pro-terror Middle East department under review, and add more diversity of thought to staff — IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT PARTY YOU VOTE FOR. THIS IS OBJECTIVELY AMAZING AND SHOULD BE TRUELY CELBRATED. THE TIDE IS TURNING 🌊 JEWISH CIVIL RIGHTS ARE FINALLY BEING RESTORED IN AMERICA🇺🇸👊✡️

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

You will never understand this conflict without understanding that on October 4, 2023, women from Kibbutz Be’eri attended a peace conference for Israeli and Palestinian women. And on October 7, Hamas reportedly used an attendee list to hunt down these women and murder them.

Shaked Haran explained this in an interview how Hamas deliberately targeted peace activists on Kibbutz Be'eri during their attack.

There is no hopeful future for Israelis and Palestinians if Hamas is in it. Their terror must end.

[Tafsik Organization @Tafsikorg]

Hayim Katsman volunteered for the filming of “No Other Land”, and the tragic events of October 7th occurred while production was still underway. Hayim was tragically killed by the very individuals @yuval_abraham was defending in the film. To make matters worse, Yuval didn’t even acknowledge his name in his speech. Do you know why? Because mentioning that Hayim was murdered by Palestinians would undermine Yuval’s entire worldview and force him to confront the reality of the massacre, which he chose to ignore in order to complete his film.

Yuval’s actions are disgraceful. A filthy dog.

[נועה מגיד | Noa magid @NoaMagid]

This man in a suit does not represent us in Israel - he is part of a radical minority. I grew up alongside exploding buses. In the small grocery store near my home in Jerusalem, Arabs and Jews worked together. Since I was a little girl, I watched them - living among us. Even those who didn't work received social benefits, paid by Israeli taxpayers. I never understood why they couldn't simply live - without anyone having to die.

They never really needed a reason to murder us - they always chose the path of blood, the path that led us to October 7th.

In a reality where they stab and run us over in the streets every single day - while my brothers and sisters are freezing, starving, and suffering in the tunnels - he stands there in his suit and lies.

Indeed, there is no other land, and this is The Promised Land, our land, the Land of Israel.

In a just world, he would be expelled from my country - the country where my brothers and sisters were slaughtered, raped, butchered, and kidnapped. The land where we buried innocent children, stolen from their homes and brutally murdered in captivity.

I am ashamed of this man. He is not my brother - and he never will be.

[Kosher @koshercockney]

Dear Hollywood,

Here’s a trailer of a movie for you.

It’s a real life Documentary ✅
It was shot in Gaza on October 7th ✅
It’s by Palestinian film makers ✅
Starring Palestinians and a kidnapped Jew ✅

It’s called:

“Palestinians beat a Jew through the streets of Gaza”

[Zach Sage Fox @zachsagefox]

Oscar Thoughts 💭

- Kieran Culkin won an Oscar for a Holocaust movie and literally didn't say a fucking thing about Jew hate or the Holocaust. Disgusting 🖕

- A Palestinian propaganda movie that has been thoroughly debunked won best documentary and the director demanded a stop to "ethic cleansing" in Gaza when
LITERALLY THAT'S H@MAS' #1 STATED GOAL AGAINST JEWS, WHICH IS HOW THIS STARTED!
Everyone clapped like sheep. Half these people didn't finish HS so🖕

- Adrian Brody won Best Actor for a Holocaust film and made it about all hate being bad. Mid 🫠

IM SO SICK OF STARS USING THE HOLOCAUST TO WIN AWARDS AND THEN NOT EVEN MENTION JEWS WHEN THEY DO. OUR PAIN IS NOT YOUR PRODUCT. IT'S CLEAR YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT JEWS BECAUSE YOUR CHEERING ON A MOVIE INVERTING REALITY TO HIDE THE FACT THAT MOST GAZANS WANT TO HOLCAUST THE JEWS AT THIS VERY MOMENT. ITS GROSS AND YOU ALL HAVE NO MORALS.

[MichaelRapaport @MichaelRapaport]

This literally took my breath away.
This is diabolical!!!!

Hamas brought additional hostages to the release location today, compelling them to witness their fellow captives being freed while they pleaded to return home. Among those hostages were Evyatar David and Guy Dalal Gilboa. They subsequently filmed a propaganda video in which they begged for help.
Fucking Animals!!!

[Hillel Fuld @HilzFuld]

Since day one, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that since 10/7, we’ve witnessed so many miracles, it’s hard to count.

Some of these miracles are easy to recognize, like how well the beeper operation went down or how successful we were at intercepting or detonating those hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles fired at us from Iran. Twice.

Other miracles were harder to recognize.

And then we have last night.

Last night was a miracle the caliber of the splitting of the sea.

I am talking an open miracle that could and should have ended very differently.

Do not ask me for my source and if that means you don’t believe what I’m about to say, so be it. You can keep scrolling. But if you know my work, you know I’m very careful with what I share so if I’m sharing this, trust me, it’s based on a reliable source.

Last night, a young lady noticed a suspicious object on a bus in the center of Israel. She reported it to the driver who pulled into a station, got everyone off the bus, at which point, the bus blew up and was completely destroyed.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Not even close.

Over the hours that followed, an additional four bombs were discovered on busses, some of them exploded, others were taken apart before exploding. Some malfunctioned.

According to my source, and this was news to me, a whopping 15 busses were supposed to explode this morning. According to reports, the terrorist set the timer for 9 PM instead of 9 AM.

So is that the worst of it? Not even close.

In addition to the 15 busses, 5 suicide bombers were set to detonate bombs on the lightrail at the same time, all in the center of Israel.

So is that the worst? Nope. That’s the good part.

Where did this attack originate? Gaza? Nope. Judea and Samaria. In other words, these terrorists came from within Israel.

And here’s the kicker, and again, I am not telling you where I heard this, all of the above was intended to be nothing more than the distraction, much like the incoming rockets on 10/7. Just a distraction for the real invasion.

My source says that as those busses and terrorists blew up, massive security and emergency forces were supposed to rush to the scene at which point, there would be a massive breach of the security fence and many terrorists from Judea and Samaria would invade Israel and carry out a 10/7 2.0. Only this time it wouldn’t be from Gaza so it would be an invasion into basically every major city in Israel.

For the third time, this is not information that is publicly available. I can’t share a link and I won’t share a source. Believe me or don’t. Up to you.

It is worth pointing out that for decades, we did not have any bus explosions in Israel. We do this deal and release terrorists, some of whom were the architects behind the bus bombings during the intifada, and all of a sudden, we’re back to busses blowing up.

I can’t imagine anyone believing that that’s a coincidence.

All of this was supposed to go down during rush hour and would have caused hundreds, maybe thousands of Israelis deaths.

Even if the rest isn’t true, multiple busses blowing up like this bus during rush hour? Can’t even imagine.

Yesterday morning was one of the hardest days in Israel’s history. Perhaps the hardest. We all felt hopeless, every last one of us.

When we are in pain, God is in pain with us.

I don’t know about you, but yesterday morning, as I saw the coffins of the Bibas angels, I looked up to Hashem and asked why. Why would he cause us so much pain or allow Hamas to do this to us??

I told myself that we’ll be ok but wasn’t sure if that was true. Was God even watching over us any more? Has He abandoned us? Did He turn His back on us?

Then, as the hostages were being delivered, a beautiful rainbow appeared in the Israeli skies, a sign from the times of Noah, that God won’t ever destroy the world or let it be destroyed. A rainbow, according to Jewish scripture, is God’s way of telling us, “Don’t worry. I got your back.”

Still, though, I was just so sad and so angry.

And then the news started to hit my feeds.

A bus exploded. No injuries.

Hmm, “How does that happen?” I asked myself.

Then another bus exploded. No injuries. And a third. No injuries.

I already felt God’s presence again. I could breathe again.

And the news kept coming in. More bombs discovered. More intel. This was supposed to be the biggest attack since 10/7, maybe even bigger.

Totally thwarted.

By who? The IDF? Nope.

Shabak? Nope.

Mossad? Nope.

This was a massive attack prevented 100% by God Himself. And a very vigilant young lady who noticed the suspicious object.

Whatever Hamas planned or didn’t plan for this morning, I would not be writing these words if their plan had come to fruition. But God had other plans and after all the pain God’s children endured yesterday, He felt we needed to be reminded of His presence. He felt we needed to be reminded that He has our back, now and always. He was right. We did need it.

This event might go down in history as one of the biggest miracles the Jewish people experienced since biblical times.

“There are two ways to live life. One is that nothing is a miracle. The other is that everything is a miracle.”

Some will explain how the Iron Dome works and therefore conclude that it’s not a miracle. The same for David’s Sling and the Arrow system.

Some will explain how all of those rockets and drones not intercepted by Israel fell in empty spaces. They might not believe that that too was a miracle.

The beepers? The walkie talkies? Getting Nasrallah? Haniyeh? Deif? They’ll attribute all of that to Israel’s intelligence.

But this? What happened last night? Israel had nothing to do with it. If you don’t see this event as a miracle, there is only one explanation. You don’t want to see it as a miracle.

Open your eyes. Clean your lenses. Hashem is here with us in our pain and each day that passes, we are one day closer to Him finally revealing Himself to us, explaining why any of this had to happen, and ultimately bringing mashiach.

For now, I just wanted to recognize Hashem’s greatness and on behalf of the hundreds, maybe thousands of Israelis who should be dead right now, just say thank you.

הודו לה השם כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו

Give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַגּוֹמֵל לְחַיָּבִים טוֹבוֹת, שֶׁגְּמָלַנִי כָּל טוּב

Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who rewards good deeds, who rewards me for every good thing

We say that blessing when we are saved from tragedy. Today, the Jewish nation was saved from tragedy.

Thank you, Hashem.

(This was the real bus but the rainbow was generated using AI. $100 someone asks me in the comments if this is a real image because they refused to read till the end before commenting.)

[Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @NYCMayor]

I am absolutely devastated to learn about the barbaric and senseless murder of Chabad Shaliach Rabbi Zvi Kogan. Our hearts and prayers are with his wife — a native New Yorker — his entire family, and the Jewish community who is grieving right now. This is yet another jarring reminder of how it is dangerous to simply be Jewish in many parts of the world — New York City will never be one of those places.

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

I just received a troubling report from a NYC voter: “While waiting in line to do early voting (at the Met), I was told by a poll worker that my bring them home necklace is a political symbol and needs to be put away.”

Question for @BOENYC: Since when is it “political”—let alone electioneering prohibited by law—to wear a necklace calling for the hostages to be brought home?

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

Dear the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Proxies:

If you do not attack Israel, you will not be attacked. If you do attack Israel, you will be attacked. If you do not wage war, there will be no war. If you do wage war, there will be war. The logic of the Middle East is as simple as that. Only ivory-towered intellectuals and astroturf activists—immune to moral common sense—would overcomplicate the uncomplicated causal relationship between Anti-Israel aggression and Israeli self-defense.

Sincerely,

Moral Common Sense

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

Six hostages, including an American, were murdered by Hamas.

Despite the murder of innocence, including one of our own, there are too many in America who embrace a warped worldview that reserves more empathy for the murderers than for the murdered— that portrays the murderers not as terrorists and war criminals but as “decolonizers” and “liberators” and “resisters.”

Those who rationalize and romanticize the barbarism and terrorism of Hamas have blood on their hands.

[Ben Shapiro @benshapiro]

He is both a literal imbecile and a moral imbecile.

[Collin Rugg @CollinRugg]

REPORT: Kamala Harris' staff turnover rate is 92% since she took office in January of 2021, making many people question if her "Joy!" campaign is completely fake.

Out of Harris' 47 hires from her first year as VP, only 4 remain.

Harris reportedly used to force her staff to stand every morning when she entered the office as Attorney General and would force them to call her 'General.'

"Good Morning General," they were forced to say according to Terry McAteer, the father of a former intern.

His son, Gregory, wasn't allowed to look Harris in the eye because that "privilege was only allowed to senior staff members."

"Gregory was also given instructions to never address Harris nor look her in the eye as that privilege was only allowed to senior staff members."

Holy sh*t.

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

In the Candace Owens fictional account of WWII, the real victims were not the Jews but the Germans; the real villains, not the Axis but the Allies.

She downplays the Holocaust while accusing the US and its allies of “ethnically cleansing Germans.”

Those harboring hate in their heart can be either ignorant or malevolent. Candace Owens is both ignorant and malevolent, both stupid and sinister.

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

College administrators dripping with contempt for their own Jewish students cannot be trusted to combat antisemitism on college campuses.

Columbia University: Fire them.

[David M Friedman @DavidM_Friedman]

To those lamenting the loss of life in Israel’s miraculous rescue of four Israeli hostages, ask yourselves this question: why did the rescue team come under an intense barrage of fire, both inside the buildings housing the hostages and as they were trying to escape, if this was a “civilian” location? Perhaps that word doesn’t mean what you think it means (to quote Inigo Montoya).

[Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres]

If the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism is claiming you’re on the right side of history, it means you’re a useful idiot on the wrong side of history.

[Hillel Fuld @HilzFuld]

An incredible letter written by a non-Jewish Scottish professor to his students who voted to boycott Israel

It's a response from Dr. Denis MacEoin to the motion put forward by The Edinburgh Student's Association to boycott all things Israeli, in which they claim Israel is under an apartheid regime.

Denis is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and was a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly. Here's his letter to the students.

TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.

May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain 's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.

I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel .

That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel . I'm speaking of a hatred that
permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is
this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel , precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.

It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of.

Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.

That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).

In Iran , the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why
aren't your members boycotting Iran ? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa . They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa .

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.

On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid.

Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran , where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the
Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel . I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.

Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya , Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Yemen , and Iran . They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that
protects the Bahai's.... Need I go on?

The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side.

Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and
that is to protect them from one-sided argument.

They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence.

It's up to you to find out more.

Yours sincerely,

Denis MacEoin