“This is Really About Justice” An Interview with Natan Epstein

I had the pleasure and privilege to interview Natan Epstein, founder of Uncensored. Natan is one of the most dedicated guys I know and it is not a surprise that his Facebook page and Telegram channel are taking off and changing the way people viewing Israel. We have a serious challenge here in Israel getting the news out to the most of the populace let alone the world. Natan brings the news into your lap and is able to shift perceptions that would have otherwise remained frozen.

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Ishmael’s World of Chaos

A darkness has descended upon the World.  We have been here before. Mayhem, destruction, and terror are all too familiar to us. The War has spread now from the frontlines in Israel to the entire World.  There is fear in New York and trauma in Paris.  Yet, when Jews are killed in their homeland the World is silent. There are no rallies for us. No country waving the Israeli flag. No vociferous politician wearing a Je Suis Yaakov shirt.

We are alone.

The truth is we have always been alone. Now we have realized it.  Our blood is too cheap to defend. We have become a burden to the World.

What is this burden?

We remind the World that within everyone there is a divine spark and that this spark must be protected and nurtured.

This is why we are losing this war. Our enemies do not look at the World the way we do. Ishmael thrives and wins through bringing chaos to the World. Rules are changeable as necessary for victory. Women can be targets, lies can be spun, and children brainwashed as long as it draws victory closer.

So how do we overcome this darkness and walk in the light of a new era promised to the Kingdom of Israel? We must realize that our fate is not the fate of the West. We are not caught off from the root source of our own history since we are the root itself. We are source of the ethics and morals the West drew its strength from.

Ishmael’s chaos is set to engulf the World to the point of its breaking. Through the collapse of the West more Jews are dying as sacrifices to our collective desire to hold onto the last visage of our National Exile.  The stormwinds will eventually end.  From chaos there will be order. The destruction though does not have to be complete we can harness our collective divine energy and rise through this.

And how do we do this?

King David gives us the answer in Psalm 125:

“Those who Trust in God are like Mount Zion that cannot be moved, enduring forever. Jerusalem hills enfold it, and God enfolds His people now and forever.”

We will not lose no matter how dark it seems. All we need is to trust the One Above.  That is the secret weapon of the Nation of Israel.  In the midst of Ishmael’s chaos a new order is being born.  We are the ancient Kingdom of Israel, which has returned to its Land after sojourning in exile for the last 2,000 years.  Our roots are still strong.  The stump still protrudes from the ground even after all these years. Now it is set to shoot forth, bringing order to a World on the verge of destruction.

The Army of Jihad Has Arrived

Since the attacks in Paris, much of the Western World has begun to realize that a great war has been underway and they were sleeping through it. This war between the Liberal West and Radical Islam is like no other war the World has experienced. It is not fought on traditional battlefields between armies, but rather the Army of Jihad fights everywhere. When in areas that are majority Muslim they fight with soldiers, but outside of their direct sphere of influence the Army of Jihad fights through the guise of Radical Islam. In places like Paris, where a burgeoning Muslim population exists, terror is the main weapon of choice. In these scenarios everyone is a combatant. For the Army of Jihad the woman and child of the infidel is an enemy combatant and in return their own soldiers are made up of women, children, and the old.

The West cannot understand why it is they are losing this war. They classify the heinous acts in Paris as “Terror,” which they are, but the leaders of the West fail to go deeper. Terror is really just a weapon that one army chooses to harness in a war. At the end of the day the Army of Jihad (whether that is ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qeida, etc.) employs any weapon that works to defeat the enemy. The West still believes this war is about uplifting the masses of Muslims from abject poverty and then they will pacify. Well that has not happened.

To understand what the Army of Jihad wants we must understand the concepts within Islam of Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb (Abode of Islam and Abode of War). Dar al-Islam refers to areas of the world under the rule of Islam , literally, “the home of Islam” or “the home of submission.” Many Muslims also attach past conquests to this abode as well. That would include Spain and much of Hungary and Southeast Europe. These areas must be reconquered.

Dar al-Harb refers to the Abode of War. The inhabitants of the Dar al-Harb are called harbi as opposed to dhimmi or kufr (non-believers, pagans). These areas must be cleansed by war and reassigned under Dar al-Islam. Pay attention, Christians and Jews can live if they accept second-class citizenship. This does not refer to the West where Islam is not in control. The West, Far East, and Africa are all under Dar al-Harb because Muslims are not in control of these places.

According to Prof. Muhammad Ishaq Zahid, “Dar al-Harb (Domain of War) refers to the territory under the hegemony of unbelievers, which is on terms of active or potential belligerency with the Domain of Islam, and presumably hostile to the Muslims living in its domain.”

The above is key to understanding why the Army of Jihad, through its ideology of Radical Islam, wages war on all levels with the West in particular and the rest of the World in general.

The Army of Jihad sees the West as broken down into Dar al-Harb (after all these countries are potentially belligerent towards the lands of Dar al-Islam and where non-Muslims are in control of Muslims) and Dar al-Islam including areas under former Islamic rule like Spain, Israel, Nigeria, Hungary, the Balkans, and Bulgaria.

So why terror? Why is that a weapon so often used by the Army of Jihad? Simply put, all means must be put in the Army’s disposal to win. By enabling the attackers to see all non-combatants as really combatants there are no limits to who can be killed. Of course since Radical Islam as an ideology espouses a war where everyone of the enemy’s citizens are culpable because they strengthen the hold over Dar al-Harb and parts of Dar al-Islam they are no longer non-combatants.

Two terror attacks occurred on Friday, one in Paris and the other in Hebron Hills near Otniel. The press focused on Paris, but has failed to understand that its root really begins here in Israel. It is noted that a Red Crescent Ambulance failed to administer first aid to the victims of the terror attack in Israel. Why? Well after all these “settlers” are no longer deemed non-combatants, but rather part of the army of the “Occupation.” Men, women, and children are fair game in that case and so naturally why treat an enemy combatant in the middle of war. Furthermore, the medical crew inside the ambulance saw itself as a combatant (and after its actions it is) and by nature lent itself to helping the cause against the “Occupation.” Let me be clear here, the occupation has nothing to with Israel and politics, but rather occupation of Dar al-Islam. In that war, everything is fair game.

The faster the West understands what Israel has had to contend with for much of the last 100 years, the greater chance it has to change course and defeat the Army of Jihad. If not, Americans and Europeans will be wondering why ambulances are not stopping for their sick and wounded. By that time there is not much to be done as the Army of Jihad will have won.

“And Yaakov Left…”

I have been searching the words to write this piece much of last night.  I still have not found them, but I promised myself I would write something. And yet how could one be expected to make sense of a father and son murdered on the way to a Shabbat Chatan days before his daughter’s/sister’s wedding. How does one make sense of two beloved residents of Kiryat Arba, Father, husband, and teacher and his son, a Magen David Adom volunteer, looking forward to accomplishing so much in his life, both gunned down in front of their family?

I could try to reiterate that these murders are due to the fact that the government deals lightly with an enemy population squatting in our midst.  I can point out that many of these terror cells drive freely throughout Judea and Samaria.  The government seems far more interested in being perceived as “moral” rather than protecting its citizens. Despite the veracity of the above points they do little to connect us to the events that have transpired.

For me the most recent murders are far more personal, too personal now to draw in the necessary government rebuke.  That is for another article.

You see Rav Yaakov was our first grader’s Rebbe.  He was the first person he and his friends saw when they got to school. Everyday since the start of the year, Rav Yaakov has been there. He was their first Rebbe. He was their first teacher of Torah.

Recently I went to a school event and when my son saw his Rav, his face beamed and made sure to bring me over to him.  Rav Yaakov shook my hand, said hello, and gave me a smile that stayed with me. His smile was filled with that simple joy, which is timeless.  It was that joy of Torah and Mitzvot that he transmitted to his students.

So how do you tell your son that he will never see his Rebbe again? How do you tell your 1st grader that arab murderers gunned his Rabbi and son down for no other reason than because they are Jewish?  

Our son heard the news from us last night and processed it. In many ways kids are more resilient than we are.  “Who is going to be there tomorrow?” he asked my wife. Our older son seemed to wonder the same thing. Rav Yaakov taught him two classes a week as well. The three of us decided to learn together.  That was what Rav Yaakov would want us to do. We picked this week’s Torah portion to learn.

“And Yaakov left Beer Sheva…,”  it began. Yaakov left. Rashi tells us that when a tzaddik leaves a place the people feel his absence.

Rav Yaakov Litman; father, husband, and yes Rebbe to countless students has left us, but despite his leaving his presence will remain with us forever.

Originally Published on HaKol HaYehudi