I remember Todd Beamer. Do you?

When America was attacked on 9/11 Israelis felt we were under attack. Considering what has happened since makes me very concerned about both America and Israel.

The words I wrote on Sept 11, 2014, chart a clear path from 9/11 to where we are post-October 7th and before the Trump-Harris elections in America. The world is at a crossroads and America again has an opportunity to choose.

The question is, does the spirit of Todd Beamer live in the American people? Will enough people recognize the danger? Or will the majority again choose to roll over and go back to sleep, assuming that their comfort will last forever and that it is ok to let other people make decisions about the future and their freedom?

I am concerned because as America goes, so goes the world. If the light of America goes dark, Israel will have a very hard time surviving.

This is what I wrote in 2014:

On 9.11.2001 America learned there is an enemy. They didn’t understand who the enemy was or why they were being attacked. They did understand that someone wanted to bring the great US of A to her knees and most Americans resolutely declared they would not let that happen. America would stand proud as she had always done, America is good, and good prevails.

Todd Beamer and the other passengers on flight 93 didn’t know who the enemy was. They did know that they had been hijacked, that other planes had been hijacked and slammed in to the Twin Towers. Together they made a swift choice, deciding that it was better to go down in flames than to be used as a killing machine to murder and terrorize other Americans. Those who could, called their loved ones to say goodbye. Todd Beamer rallied other passengers around him. They recited the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm and then Beamer led the way, saying: “Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.” The passengers stormed the cockpit, bringing the plane down in an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Al Qaeda attacked America and almost 3000 Americans died.

On 9.11.2012 the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by terrorists who murdered the Ambassador as well as Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. The American people did not know who the enemy was. The government announced that the attack came as a result of Muslims being offended by a video disparaging the Prophet Mohammed. Slowly the truth has come out. The Ambassador could have been saved. The operatives that rushed to the rescue had received a stand down command. Americans had been abandoned by their government, murdered and the public was told lie after lie to make them forget.

On September 10, 2012, at least 18 hours before the attack in Benghazi, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called for attacks on Americans in Libya.

Again, Al-Qaeda.

Despite the betrayal, the American people re-elected the same government. The people did not notice (or maybe did not care) that all American fundamental values had been thrown out the window.  The idea of “leave no man behind” no longer mattered. America denied protection to her own Ambassador but what difference does it make? Doubt seeped in… maybe America isn’t so good, maybe it’s America’s fault that so many people around the world hate her. Maybe America has mistreated Muslims and should apologize…

On 9.11.2014 the Islamic State looms large.

Americans took little notice of the organization as it massacred Iraqis, Christians, Shiite Moslems and Yazidis. The massacre of Syrians was dismissed as an internal civil war and mostly blamed on Bashar Assad. It was only when two American journalists were beheaded by a Muslim with a British accent that Americans really began to realize the enormity of the problem and demand Mr. Obama define US policy to deal with it.

Mr. Obama has explained that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam. He has spoken about terror as a method but he has made no mention of Jihad, terror leveraged to achieve a religious-political goal i.e. submission to Islam. Mr. Obama has explained that America will fight the organization from the air and by supporting “moderates” who will do the fighting on the ground.

Who are the moderates?

One year ago, when Mr. Obama was talking about the evils of the Assad dictatorship the “moderates” were the “Syrian rebels”. America, Britain and France provided them support and weapons. In a very short time it became clear that the term “rebels” or “opposition” included secular groups that want to overthrow the Syrian government as well as the Syrian version of Al-Qaeda (=Al-Nusra) and ISIS.

Now ISIS has grown and become the Islamic State. They have captured American weapons in Iraq and were given weapons as well. Mr. Obama is proposing to fight the Islamic State by arming the “moderates” which, in his dictionary, seems to mean anyone who will fight IS. This includes Hezbollah and the Syrian version of Al-Qaeda.

The enemy of your enemy is not your friend. The moderates are not moderate at all. Nothing has changed.

Or maybe one thing has changed – America. The sleeping giant has been kicked in the side repeatedly but it only made her mumble, roll over and go back to sleep. The spirit of “Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.” has been forgotten. The memory of the victims, of the heroes and everyone who strived to make America the great country she once was, is being dishonored.

Apathy is just as dangerous as any terror threat. America can only be beaten if she allows herself to be defeated.

America began as an idea that provided hope to the world. The Islamic State also began as an idea and its flames are swiftly spreading across the globe. The idea of a global Caliphate has existed for centuries, America for only a few hundred years. Both ideas are very powerful, both provide hope and the opportunity to belong to something larger than the individual. Which will win?

There is hope for the free world but first the sleeping giant must wake up. The enemy must be named.  Action must be taken.

“Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.”

Now it is September 2024. After the Hamas invasion and their successful slaughter of Jewish mothers, fathers, and children, after they captured land and held it (it took the IDF three days to regain control over the invaded territory), the Islamists of the world are full of hope and ready for violence. Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood (the parent of Hamas) and yes, ISIS too - across the Middle East, inside Israel, and in the streets of Europe and America they are calling for death to Jews, death to Israel and death to America and the West.

And by their actions, they have proven that they mean what they say.

In America, Obama’s style and policies are reincarnated in Kamala Harris. He was the one who promised Hope and Change - and delivered - it’s just that all his admirers didn’t ask what he was hoping for or what America was going to become after his change.

The America I grew up on was the America of Todd Beamer and people like him. Good people, who when necessity called, would stand up and do whatever it took to protect their family and way of life. To stand up and fight.

I remember Todd Beamer. I am afraid that most Americans don’t.