This weekend we remember the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which thrust the United States into a world war that would ultimately result in the deaths of many Americans and change the face of the world forever.  The attack on Pearl Harbor caused many young Americans to volunteer to fight for their country and usher in an era of patriotism and sacrifice that we have not seen since.  The freedom they fought to preserve and the prosperity their hard work upon returning home is still a foundation we benefit from 83 years later.  Most of those heroes are gone; only a few remain, but they should never be forgotten.

This week has been a sad week for me personally upon hearing the news that Omer Neutra, taken hostage by the savages of Hamas October 7 of 2023 was confirmed dead.  It hit me personally because on a trip to Israel not too long after the attack on Jewish communities near Gaza, I met the parents of Omer aboard the flight to Tel Aviv.  They gave me a dog tag with Omer’s information and I continued to wear it as a reminder that Hamas was still holding hostages—several of them American citizens.  Omer was one of them.  There are still 6 Americans unaccounted for.  Omer’s parents live in New York, where Omer was raised.  I had in fact corresponded with his father just 12 hours before it was announced that Omer had been confirmed dead.  He was probably actually killed on October 7 on the very day of the attack, but the butchers of Hamas allowed his parents, family and friends to suffer for over 400 days hoping he was alive.  

For most of these 400 days, the administration of Joe Biden has said very little about the hostages, and most tellingly, almost nothing about the fact that several were American citizens.  In fact, Biden and his team put far more pressure on Israel to have a cease fire than they did on Hamas and their evil funders from Iran to let the hostages go before there would be ANY talk of a cease fire.  It has never made sense to put more pressure on the victims than the criminals to do right thing.  It’s upside down.  

But this week, soon to be again President Trump issued the kind of statement we’ve needed to hear since the massacre of Jewish civilians all these many days ago.  He told Hamas and their sugar daddies from Teheran that if they didn’t release and account for every hostage before he took office again on January 20, they would have “Hell to Pay!”  He went on to warn that failure to let the hostages go or account for them would unleash a level of fury the Middle East has never seen.  When he released that statement, I shouted, “THAT is MY President!  And the world will know that on Jan 20, we are trading Barney Fife for Wyatt Earp!”   As you know, if I’m confirmed by the Senate, I will moving to Jerusalem to become the US Ambassador to Israel and what a privilege it will be to serve my country and my President in policies that will never forget or forsake our alliance with Israel and even more importantly will never leave Americans held hostage without using the full force and power of our nation to demand their release and to hold accountable those who would test the resolve of the United States of America.  

One final note about this past week—after months of forcefully stating that he would allow the judicial system to work and under no circumstances would he pardon his son Hunter, Joe Biden squeaked out a full pardon, not just for the felonies for which he had been convicted by a jury in his home state of Delaware, but for any crimes he MIGHT have committed going back 11 years.  This after Democrats crowing that “no one is above the law!”  Well, I guess some people are…if their last name is Biden.  The President certainly has the power to do it, and any father can understand that he might use his power to let his soon off the hook, but it’s the long-standing lying about it and then the arrogant and outrageous justification for it by claiming that Hunter was treated unfairly.  Really?  Tell THAT to the thousands of Americans NOT blessed with the last name Biden who currently sit in federal prison and away from their families for doing crimes far less consequential than those of the President’s son.  One more reason that I say that January 20th can’t come a day too soon!