Not since I got drunk on too much tequila in college have I slept in my clothes, but I did last night! Let me paint the picture for you.
I was in my hotel room in Tel Aviv, with one eye on the TV for the latest news reports of the Iranian attack on Israel and with one eye closed, trying to get some sleep. I was ready to dash into a shelter if the air raid sirens started to squeal, signaling the approach of the Iranian drones and missiles launched by the terror pimps of Tehran.
Thankfully, the hours passed without the activation of the Israeli air defense systems to protect room 342 at the Tel Aviv Hilton. Thankfully, Israel, the United States, France, the UK and even Jordan were able to knock down most of the projectiles, the first-ever direct attack by Iran on Israel. Many of them were heading for civilian population centers, and several struck an Israeli airbase in the Negev desert, allegedly leaving minor damage.
If I seem a bit nonchalant, it’s because I have quickly adopted the zeitgeist amongst the Tel Avivians around me. The cafes are packed. The beaches are filled. Life goes on. This was no repeat of 10/7. The Israeli military was prepared.
And I’ll say to Israel, take it as a win.
The mullahs came out of the woodwork. They didn’t use proxies to do their dirty work, and they barely scratched the Zionist entity.
The United States not only supported Israel, it actively participated in its defense. The weeks of tension and disagreement between the two allies, were put aside.
Israel and the good guys won. As much as it may run counter to its reflexive instincts, it’s not wise to launch a counter-strike on Iran right now, with some of the world’s support for Israel being restored, with more than 100 hostages still in the hands of Hamas, with Gaza still a cauldron of woe.
I say hold off. Bibi, bide your time. Let some of the diplomacy play out. Iran will still be there next month, in two months, in six months, and so will Israel.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, April 15, Israel showed the world, its enemies and its friends, that it still has what it takes. Iranian drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, fizzled.
Saudi Arabia saw how Israeli and American anti-missile technology can protect them. So did the rest of the Middle East that fears Iran. Let that sink in for a bit and maybe it will provide Israel with an even bigger win than what an overt retaliatory attack will provide.
Israel knows very well how to hurt Iran without provoking a regional war.
I plan to be in Israel for close to two weeks. I want to try to gauge the mood of the people, at war for more than six months with Hamas and Hezbollah and now facing down an Iranian attack.
More on all that in next week’s edition of Friend Without Benefits.
Regrettably, I just missed a visit by a huge new Israeli celebrity. He’s a 36-year old New Yorker. A gay Afro-Latino, who was raised by a single mother in a city public housing project.
He doesn’t sing, he doesn’t perform on stage. He doesn’t speak Hebrew.
Enough hints?
His name is Ritchie Torres and he’s the congressman for the 15th CD, encompassing most of the South Bronx.
He just wrapped up a three day visit to Israel where he was treated like a rock star.
Why do Israelis come up to him and ask for his autograph? Because on the issue of Israel, Torres is smart, clear-thinking and has guts.
After winning his election in 2020, he announced he would not join the so-called Squad, because of its blatantly anti-Israel positions, especially its support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as BDS.
After 10/7, Torres turbo-charged his support for Israel, bucking his weak-in-the-knees Democrat colleagues and even President Joe Biden.
Torres categorically rejects the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and puts the suffering of the Palestinians squarely in the lap of Hamas, where it rightly should be.
As members of his party desert Israel (can you say Nancy Pelosi?), Ritchie Torres has stood tall, doubling down on his support. Follow him on X and you’ll see.
The escalation in intimidation and incitement against Members of Congress feels like it is heading in a dangerous direction, Torres posted on X. I, for one, will not be intimidated, he said.
Torres says the world is suffering from amnesia about the butchery of October 7th and admits he gets more hate, harassment and death threats on his support for Israel than on any other issue.
That says a ton about Torres’ political courage. Sadly, it also says a ton about the organized anti-Israel haters.
As a reward for his staunch support for Israel, Torres is one of the biggest recipients of money from AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, commonly know in DC as the Israel lobby. Coming from the poorest congressional district in the nation, and one of the smallest, that money is very important for Congressman Torres for his present and future political ambitions.
So what’s next for this progressive anomaly? He can certainly bide his time and build his cred. After all, this is only his second term on the Hill.
Some say he’s aiming to be the Mayor of New York City. I don’t know why he would want that thankless, increasingly powerless, dead end job. I think he has his eyes set on Chuck Schumer’s US Senate seat.
There’s a pretty good chance the Republicans will take control of the Senate after this year’s election, so Schumer will lose his status as Majority Leader. And by the time his current term is up in 2029, he’ll be pushing 80 years old.
I have little doubt Torres would have to pry Schumer’s seat out of Chuck’s cold, clammy hands, but Schumer has been a mentor to Torres, so maybe it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
For sure, Torres will have lots of primary competition from his New York Democrat rivals such as Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
But for now, along with John Fetterman in the senate, Ritchie Torres is an unlikely progressive profile in courage when it comes to US-Israel relations.
One other thing to keep an eye on for next week.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik will testify on April 17th before the same congressional committee that grilled the presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT. We all know how that fiasco ended up.
Shafik was out of the country for that hearing, so now’s her chance to tell congress what she’s doing to stop the open intimidation of Jewish students on her campus by anti-Israel groups and anti-Israel professors.
Full disclosure, I am co-vice chairman of the media committee for the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, and our group has been inundated with examples of Jew hatred at Columbia. The situation for Jewish students on Morningside Heights in Manhattan is dire.
So stay tuned. President Shafik has a lot to answer for.
Here’s an idea. Maybe she should attend a lecture by Ritchie Torres where she might learn a thing or two about how to grow a pair and stand up for truth and justice.