Ramadan, Tet, and Fools

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and various others have been calling for a cease-fire on the part of Israel in its current war with Hamas. The war started on October 7, 2023 when Hamas fighters invaded Israel, murdered over 1200 civilians, including women, children and babies and kidnapped several hundred Israelis and citizens of other nations. The world reacted in a strange way to Hamas’ atrocities, with various of the best and brightest Ivy League “scholars” praising Hamas’ “resistance”. The Marxist Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) demonstrated in favor of Hamas in New York’s Times Square on October 8, before any Israeli response, praising Hamas and apparently overlooking so- called intersectionality of which they never stop declaring their support of. Apparently, raping of women and beheading babies is okay with the DSA and its progressive supporters. Others may interpret this as vulgar Nazi-like anti-Semitism. In any case, the DSA will have to answer for their behavior for a long time. They have exposed to all whom they really are, and it’s not a pretty picture. Members of the Congress, the so called “Squad” are DSA adherents and they too will have to answer for their behavior.

It is interesting that the Hamas attack occurred on the Jewish high holiday of Shmini Atseret. The leading lights of the progressive movement apparently couldn’t care less about Jewish holidays but Hamas selected the date quite carefully. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the War of Ramadan, known to much of the world as the Yom Kippur War. (Wars have different names to different sides, for example, the Vietnam war, as it is known to Americans is called the American War by the Viet Namese. More about that later.) The 1973 war, began on Saturday, October 6, 1973 with a surprise attack on two fronts by Syria and Egypt. The Muslim calendar on that date was 9 Ramadan. Apparently, the need for a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, namely Yom Kippur, was of sufficient importance to the aggressors that the Holy month of Ramadan could be ignored. The Muslim world never stops talking about the wonderful meaning and importance to them of the holy month of daily fasting, broken every evening by joyous family feasts. To them, yes, but the hell with others. Accordingly fools such as Biden, Harris, Cameron and various idiots who lead the European Union express great “sensitivity” in calling for a ceasefire out of respect for the holy month. Muslim behavior attacking others indicates that a cease-fire during Ramadan is certainly neither called for nor requisite, particularly on those who are victims of Muslim aggression. Peace, as war, goes both ways.

Muslims have not been shy about launching attacks and fighting during Ramadan. While they

may project an image of peace, love and tolerance to others, inter-Muslim wars have taken place without interruption despite the holy month. During the Iran-Iraq war, Shia Iran launched Operation Ramadan against Sunni Iraq as the Battle of Karbala was refought. Certain elements

of the Iranian military opposed the attack but were overruled by none other than the supreme

religious leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. For the record, Operation Ramadan

started on July 13, 1982, which was Ramadan 21, 1402 AH.

During World War I, a famous truce occurred on Christmas Day 1914 along several small sectors of the Western front. At these encounters, British and German troops came out of their trenches, shared cigarettes, took photos and played an impromptu football match. It should be noted that this happened only unofficially and both German and British officers made certain that this truce never occurred again. Additionally, the war continued along most parts of the front with the killings going on unabated. World War I finally ended in November 1918 with the killing of massive numbers of young soldiers. Almost a generation of young men was destroyed. Perhaps it was memories of the mythology of what spontaneously happened on Christmas 1914 that led President Lyndon Johnson to order bombing halts over North Viet Nam during the war of that name. There is no evidence that those halts accomplished anything except to allow the North Viet Namese and Viet Cong forces to regroup and replenish their supplies to continue the war. Most tragic was the domestic American demands on President Johnson for bombing halts. The North Viet Namese utilized bombing halts and holiday truces to their advantage. They announced that they intended to observe a Tet truce from January 27 to February 3,1968 in honor of the most important Viet Namese holiday, the Tet lunar New Year. Despite that announcement, on January 28, they began a murderous offensive that took place throughout South Viet Nam. American casualties were 16,592 killed in 1968. President Johnson responded by withdrawing from his expected bid from re-election, American domestic morale was severely shaken. Richard Nixon won the election for President in 1968 and after four years in office succeeded finally in ending the war in January 1973.

Wars of religion have been going on from time immemorial. They have been described in the Bible and have continued through the centuries to the present time. The Hamas Israel war, no matter what non-religious people may infer, is at its root, a religious war. Inter-Christian wars have been prolonged and bloody and the nature of religious wars is they are prolonged, intractable and frequently take centuries to resolve. An instance of this is the French War of religion which occurred between 1562 and 1598 and culminated in the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) by Catholics on August 24-25, 1572. With the accession of Henri of Navarre, a Protestant who converted to Catholicism, to the French throne in 1589, it seemed that the war might wind down. Henri IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598 granting privileges to Protestants. However, Henri remained a believer in his Calvinist faith though he converted to Catholicism and he was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic zealot.

As the world has become globalized, and people of all backgrounds, nationalities and faiths meet each other, it would be hoped that civilization could become more tolerant and understanding of others. Regrettably, this is still a work in progress. In the meantime, all must understand, in particular political leaders who have tremendous power, that the world has not changed as much as we would like to believe. One-sided truces and armistices unfortunately serve villains and war mongers more than peace lovers. If Hamas would like to show the value of their religious beliefs, it would behoove them to take the first step and release the innocent whom they kidnapped on October 7. On March 10, 2024, Ramadan 1, 1445 AH, it would be appropriate for the 56 Muslim nations who belong to the UN to introduce, as a first step, a resolution calling on Hamas to release all the people whom they have kidnapped. Such an act of goodwill might eventually lead to a more enduring period of non-belligerence. Alas, who believes in today’s world that that will happen.

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, NV

March 9, 2024