Lior 🪬

People scream about the money the U.S. gives Israel, but cannot tell you what America gets back. Israel is one of the United States’ strongest allies in the Middle East. They provide intelligence sharing, counterterrorism cooperation, cybersecurity technology, missile defense development, military testing, and a strategic foothold in one of the most unstable regions on earth. The current 10-year agreement is about $38 billion over ten years, roughly $3.8 billion annually, about 0.06% of the annual budget, and the majority of it is military aid that must largely be spent on American-made weapons and defense systems. That means the money largely cycles right back into U.S. companies, factories, research, and jobs. A large portion goes toward systems like Iron Dome, missile defense, aircraft, ammunition, and joint military technology. The U.S. and Israel also jointly develop defense systems that America itself benefits from. For perspective, the U.S. federal budget is over $6 trillion annually. The U.S. spends far more every year on things people rarely question: • Hundreds of billions on interest payments alone • Over $800 billion on the overall defense budget • Tens of billions in foreign aid worldwide • Billions lost yearly to fraud and waste in government programs • Massive disaster relief packages • Hundreds of billions sent to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began • Trillions added to the national debt through omnibus spending bills over decades People act like Israel is draining America dry, when in reality it is a very small fraction of U.S. spending tied to a strategic military alliance that also benefits American defense industries and intelligence operations. Debate it honestly if you want, but at least keep the numbers in perspective.

“Free Palestine.” I grew up on those words. In Lebanon, most people around me wanted a free Palestine for a very practical reason — to send the Palestinian refugees back. The civil war that tore my country apart was ignited in no small part by the Palestinian armed factions who turned Lebanon into their launching pad. “Free Palestine” meant: free us from them. In Damascus, where my father’s family lived, the sentiment was different but equally self-serving. Palestine must be returned to the Arabs, its righteous owners. No one asked follow-up questions. No one was expected to. Palestine was central to Islam, most Arabs are Muslim, therefore supporting the Palestinian cause was reflexive. A non-brainer in the most literal sense — no brain engaged at all. Nobody stopped to point out that Palestine is not an Arabic word. Nobody found it strange that Jerusalem, the supposedly third holiest city in Islam, is not mentioned once in the Quran. Not once. Nor is Palestine. The entire theological and political architecture of this cause rests on a foundation that their own scripture doesn’t bother to acknowledge. What was actually happening was indoctrination. A systematic, generational rejection of Jewish sovereignty — and frankly, of any minority sovereignty. Jews, Christians, Druze, Kurds, Assyrians, Yazidis — the Arab world has been remarkably consistent in how it treats people who are different. We just don’t talk about that. Instead, in the West, we talk about Palestine. In the West, a civilization that has elevated human rights to its highest moral currency, the Palestinian cause has become the one exception to every rule. In the queue of human suffering, Palestinians cut the line every time. Homosexuals executed in Gaza and hanged from cranes in Iran? Palestine first. Women imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for campaigning for the right to drive — a right they were denied until 2018 — girls sold into marriage in Afghanistan, women erased from public life entirely under the Taliban? After Palestine. Political dissidents ground into dust in Syrian and Egyptian prisons, journalists disappeared in Libya, children starving in Yemen while their rulers wage proxy wars, entire populations hollowed out by hunger in Sudan? All of it waits. Christians ethnically cleansed from Iraq and Syria, the Arab world methodically emptied of every Jewish community it once held — a demographic erasure carried out across a century with surgical patience and near-total Western silence? Palestine is still first. So let’s end where we started. Free Palestine. Which Palestine, exactly? The Roman invention? The British administrative line? The British Mandate covered the entire territory of what is today Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and Jordan. In 1921, 78% of that mandate was handed to the Hashemite family — a dynasty imported from Hijaz in present-day Saudi Arabia — and became the Kingdom of Jordan, which it remains to this day. A foreign royal family, on the majority of historic Palestine, ruling it as a monarchy. Nobody protests that. No flags, no chants, no encampments. The remaining 22% was designated for the Jews, became Israel, and is the only part that any pro-Palestinian activist has ever had a problem with. So when you say Free Palestine, you mean that 22%. You mean the Jews. And free it from whom? From a people with a three-thousand-year-old documented presence in that land, to restore the glory of a name coined by Roman colonizers, a name lifted from the Torah, a name that has no roots in Arabic, no mention in the Quran, and no history as a sovereign state? You are not chanting for liberation. You are chanting for colonialism — the Roman kind, repackaged for social media. Free Palestine is not a cause. It is a colonial term, coined by invaders, recycled by the indoctrinated. The least you can do is have the intelligence to understand it and the decency to reflect on your position. 📍#Israel

@Wpg_Jets79584 Yes!

@ChaiLife613 3 minhagim

One people. Three worlds. 🕍✨ Did you know that Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jews don't just eat different foods or sing different melodies — they actually pray in entirely different sacred spaces, shaped by centuries of distinct history, geography, and culture? In an Ashkenazi synagogue, the ark stands at the front and the congregation faces it in rows, a layout shaped by centuries of life in Eastern Europe. In a Sephardic synagogue, the central bimah is surrounded by the community on all sides, a tradition rooted in ancient Iberian and Mediterranean practice. In a Mizrahi synagogue, Persian tilework, silk embroidery, and painted Torah cases reflect the deep artistic heritage of Jewish communities from Iraq, Iran, and Yemen. Same Torah. Same prayers. Three breathtaking expressions of devotion. 🙏

@haivri I think “worlds” is a bit strong. Cultures would’ve been sufficient.

@ChaiLife613 In what way are they "different worlds"?

@SchlomoReplae Omg, yes!!! I couldn’t remember his name.

@ChaiLife613 Wow...Patton Oswalt has really let himself go.

Not touching this one. Woosah. 🧘‍♀️

@BMGoldstein @HenshiG I’m so sorry. 💙

@HenshiG @ChaiLife613 My family was there.

In the quiet forests of southern Lithuania, near holiday homes in Varena, stands a solemn memorial at a mass grave. On September 10, 1941, 831 innocent Jewish souls — 541 men, 141 women, and 149 children — were murdered and buried here in a single day of horror. Just 7 kilometers from where people rest, laugh, and make memories, this earth holds the unimaginable. Over 20 managed to flee the killing site, but only 8 survived the war. Eight. This is just one of countless such sites across Lithuania, silent witnesses to the catastrophe that swept through Europe more than 80 years ago. Standing there, the weight of it is crushing — the laughter of children stolen, families torn apart, entire communities erased in the name of hatred. We must never forget. Not just the numbers, but the lives. The dreams. The humanity that was deliberately destroyed. May their memory be a blessing, and may we carry the responsibility to speak their names and ensure “never again” is more than words. Rest in peace. 🕯️

@IsraelIDFend Nice way of putting it.

"I don't hate Jews, I hate Zionists." Translation: "I hate Jews, but I lack the courage to just say it. I’m a coward."

@YeshuasPresence @LaithLKC This ⬆️

@LaithLKC @ChaiLife613 And today’s Israeli population comes from the descendants of Jacob who were scattered multiple times, but were preserved and brought back by G-D. And He kept them as a people for so long through Torah. If they weren’t supposed to be in the land, then G-D wouldn’t have allowed it.

@ChaiLife613 😂 now a full laugh 😂

@IsraelIDFend Shhhh…..

@ChaiLife613 Ya kinda did by posting it 😂

@IsraelIDFend My pleasure!

@ChaiLife613 First chuckle of the day lol. Thank you. 😊

I’ve been closely following Israeli and American statements after Hezbollah sent in drones to northern Israeli civilians areas, one of which killed an IDF soldier. Here’s what I know so far:

TRUMP JUST PUBLISHED THE EXACT LIST OF COUNTRIES REQUIRED TO JOIN THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS AS THE PRICE OF ANY IRAN PEACE DEAL Not a suggestion. Not a request. MANDATORY. SIMULTANEOUS. NAMED NATIONS. Country by country. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia → sign Abraham Accords → normalize with Israel → or Iran deal collapses 🇶🇦 Qatar → sign Abraham Accords → the country hosting US Central Command headquarters 🇵🇰 Pakistan → sign Abraham Accords → a nuclear power with 240 million Muslims 🇹🇷 Türkiye → sign Abraham Accords → NATO ally whose president called Israel a "terrorist state" 🇪🇬 Egypt → sign Abraham Accords → 100 million people, spiritual capital of the Arab world 🇯🇴 Jordan → sign Abraham Accords → already has a peace treaty, but this demands public normalization 🇦🇪 UAE → already a Member → required to anchor the new expanded coalition 🇧🇭 Bahrain → already a Member → required to stand alongside every new signatory 🇮🇷 Iran → offered an "Honor" to join → meaning: recognize Israel or stay at war 💀 9 named nations 💀 1 condition: all sign simultaneously or the deal dies 💀 ZERO exceptions — Trump's words: "mandatory" 💀 $11,300,000,000,000 in market cap added since March 30 bottom — that's what peace is worth Every nation on this list has official state policy refusing recognition of Israel. Some for decades. Some since 1948. Trump's post is live. The calls to leaders have already happened. The list is published. These are the signatures required. Right now. I'll keep you updated. Turn on notifications. 🚨

@Liberty5315 💯💯💯

@ChaiLife613 Pour it on 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 Enough of this sham ceasefire

The U.S. reportedly carried out limited defensive strikes on Iranian military targets in southern Iran today.

@Average_NY_Guy @dreamweaverpub @netanyahu Jewish Americans are not in favor of this deal.

Saudi Arabia expecting Israel to give up sovereignty over half the country in exchange for “normalization” can go fly a kite. If adding Saudi Arabia and Qatar to the Abraham Accords requires Israel to cut itself into pieces and make concessions that endanger its own existence, then maybe Israel should stop chasing these deals altogether. Israel survived 77 years without Riyadh’s approval. It will survive without it for another 77. Woof. The audacity of demanding concessions from Israel as if Israel owes them something in the first place is mind-blowing.

@lewit_alan Someone should tell them.

@ChaiLife613 Palestinians already have a state. It's called Jordan.

BREAKING 💥 Following calls from 🇺🇸 u.s president Trump for more Arab nations to join the Abraham Accords with Israel, Saudi Arabia stated that normalization with Israel would depend on a clear and irreversible path toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. The issue remains central to ongoing regional diplomacy and future Middle East negotiations. @POTUS Saudi has been clear about their position since 10/7. NO TWO STATE SOLUTION. If they want a Palestinian state, they can give up part of their land. #Israel #SaudiArabia #Trump #AbrahamAccords #MiddleEast

Millions of people around the world identify as Jewish, but don't set foot in a synagogue. 🕎 They light Hanukkah candles out of memory, not obligation. They feel something ancient stir when they hear Yiddish, taste brisket, or read about the Warsaw Ghetto. And yet, they're sometimes told they're "not really Jewish." Who gets to define Jewish identity? Is it halacha, the religious law that says you need a Jewish mother or a formal conversion? Is it culture, language, food, and shared history? Or is it something harder to name — a sense of belonging to a people that has survived everything? This question is one of the most debated in modern Jewish life, and there's no single answer. But one thing is clear: the Jewish world is far bigger than any one definition can hold. 🌍 My thoughts; We do expect you to speak up against Jew-hatred and stand with your Jewish community. ✡️