There’s a saying that has seen numerous variations spanning decades. The basic premise common to all its countless incarnations is that only an insane person would do the same thing over and over again, but expect a different result. It’s a fairly sound principle when you think about it, and one that few people would challenge. Yet, here we are, another mindless slaughter of innocent lives. This time in Australia, December 14th, 2025. The first day of Hanukkah. As I sat down to write, my fingers felt heavy. Each keystroke a struggle, each thought a tangled ball of string whose beginning and end eluded me. The wind at my back wished to blow me in the direction of an inconsolable rant about the senseless attack on my Jewish brothers and sisters, far away from the place I call home. Futility washes over me, as if the very act of expressing one’s feelings is immediately redundant. The narrative and psychoanalysis by political leaders, not only in Australia but globally, will feel and sound identical to every speech given on a similar occasion so many times before. “We stand with (fill in the blank), and we will do everything in our power to make sure this never happens again”. Their proclamations are often accompanied by some tweaked version of “That’s not who we are”. Nothing meaningful will happen. The memorial flowers soon wilt, the crowds of distraught citizens become smaller, and the world moves on until the inevitable next time, leaving only the shattered lives of those directly involved. THIS IS EXACTLY WHO WE ARE Who is this mythical human species? Where can I find this version of humanity that does not hate one group or another as being the cause of everything wrong in their lives? Who is this version of humanity that sits across from those with whom they disagree to seek out a compromise without resorting to bloodshed? In what century did a version of humanity emerge that rejoiced in their differences instead of hating the “other” because they didn’t look, sound, or behave the same as them? I asked an AI this precise question: “In the last one thousand years, has there ever been a five-year period where two or more countries weren’t at war?” Here’s the verbatim response: “No, historians and researchers generally agree that there has never been a five-year period in the last one thousand years where the world was entirely free of war”. To have even the slightest chance of reducing senseless violence, we must first accept who we are I used to be a strong proponent of global disarmament; clearly, I was wrong. Because there will always be a Putin waiting in the wings, so-called “peaceful” nations must now arm to the teeth to make war too big a price to pay for the perpetrator. Pray that we’re not already too late on that one.
Adopt strong gun ownership laws (Forget the United States, you sold your soul to the gun lobby years ago, and, I’m sorry to say, you’re a lost cause) Japan has among the world’s strongest gun laws, and most years, its gun-related homicides are in the single digits. The Manchester attack was awful and very upsetting; he killed one person with a knife; sadly, the other person was accidentally killed by an armed police officer (which was avoidable in my opinion). Had that asshole been armed with a rifle, there would be ten or twenty fatalities. Adopt a zero-tolerance policy and MEAN IT. No more “we stand with you” speeches, DO SOMETHING Antisemitism is the canary in the coalmine; it has become fashionable, and look where we are. Any school-age child above a common-sense age (I’m not proposing coming down hard on a six-year-old) who engages in any form of hate speech gets suspended. If it’s repetitive or severe enough, a longer suspension or even expulsion. College-age students engaging in hate speech, intimidation, violence, etc., immediate expulsion, no ifs ands or buts, goodbye, you’re gone, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Employees, same deal, fired, no second chances. I know, pretty damn harsh, right? Let me state the obvious: Of course, any event has to be scrutinized, and all sides need to be heard by an unbiased arbitrator, but as I write this, Jewish kids and college students are being terrorized, and it’s outrageous that it’s being tolerated. If you are one of those folks who believe humanity can and will change, well then, bless your cotton socks. From the perspective of this 70-year-old, it seems to be getting worse, not better. The haters of this world are not going away anytime soon; we’ve done a spectacularly good job of making it very easy for them to flourish. All we can do now is to mitigate the damage. And, it will be a miracle if we even do that. A Medium publication, ‘Judean People’s Front’, which I used to write for, is calling it quits because they got burned out fielding all the antisemitic garbage that came flooding in. Even I, after my first publication with them, realized I couldn’t allow comments because of the sheer volume of trolls. I’m very sad that they’ve let the haters win. I wish they’d find another way to stay in the game while protecting themselves. Nonetheless, I understand and wish them well. To any non-Jewish person who might read this and think to themselves, “antisemitism isn’t good, but frankly, it doesn’t affect me”. Oh yes, it does. Once the hate button is pressed, there is no safe place to hide. To you, social media addicts out there who may have or might in the future be on the receiving end of something hateful, do you actually believe a platform can implement an anti-hate policy that says, “no hate speech, unless it’s against Jews. In which case, do so with our blessing”. I wish I didn’t have to write articles like this. I also wish I had a full head of hair and looked like Brad Pitt. Neither of which is going to happen. As always, because of the aforementioned trolls and other single-cell organisms out there, I won’t allow comments. If the piece spoke to you, please feel free to clap, follow, subscribe or share the piece with five thousand of your closest friends.
Peter Simons
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