“It. Always. Begins. With. Words.”

Eitan Chitayat has done it again.

If you missed his EPIC piece from a couple of weeks ago, entitled, "Shalom, motherf***er" you can catch up on that right here. Eitan is an Israeli Jew whose columns stir up a passion like few others' can.  And his most recent is no exception.  It's about the yellow star – the Star of David Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany.  You can read it at the first sourcelink, but my favorite parts are here.

The yellow star was forced on us. Rammed down our throats. It stood for dishonor and was associated with anti-semitism as you probably know. It was to be a badge of shame like Hawthorne’s Scarlet letter. But 6 million times worse.

Today? Shame, can take a hike.

Give me a yellow star.

Find one and give it to me, quick.

I want to wear a yellow star above my left breast where each and every Holocaust victim was forced to don one. I want to walk around with a yellow star on every solitary piece of clothing I own. On my American Apparel V-neck, my Nike sweatshirt, Ralph Lauren sweater, my Champion hoodie, my Diesel button-down, H&M jacket, Adidas jersey and Gap blazer. I’ll wear it at the beach on my bare chest if I have to.

And he goes on:

It’s a symbol of surviving evil. It’s heritage and knowledge. Tolerance and optimism. It’s strength and confidence in the face of the weakness and insecurity of those not being taught well enough what their good mamas should have taught them. That yellow star is courage. It’s education. Resilience. It’s right over wrong. It’s bravery and sacrifice, conviction, and it is life.

It is testament to all who tragically died wearing it, may their memories be blessed, so that their future surviving brothers and sisters know to never be afraid of who they are again. To never be silent again. Whether a Jew or an Israeli, to not apologise for surviving. Thanks to them and indeed, for them, this yellow badge ceased being a badge of shame a long time ago. 

For me, it’s a yellow F**k-You-I’m-Here-to-Stay star.

It’s a star that blinds out any other emblem that preaches hatred. It drowns out the form, shape and color of swastikas, the black flags of ISIS and Al Qaeda, and the green of Hamas or the yellow of Hezbollah.

And then Eitan gives us all a little history lesson (emphasis mine because DAMN that's an important point):

Before being herded off to the gas chambers around 70 years ago Jews wearing their yellow star were hearing ‘Kill the Jews’, ‘Heil Hitler’, ‘The only good Jew is a dead Jew’, ‘Stealing Jew!’ – and all that before being ostracized from their communities, stripped of their belongings, propery, identities, humanty and eventually, their lives. They were hearing words. It happened in many other countries too. Like my father’s country – Iraq. A country he was expelled from for being a Jew. For being a dirty Jew.

It. Always. Begins. With. Words.

The same kind of words we’re hearing now here on social media. At demonstrations. In conversations.  Words that have nothing to do with Israel. Palestine. Politics. The Middle East or anything. You might not be down with ISIS and Hamas, but if you aren’t trying to expose them 24/7 for who and what they are, then you’re not part of the solution to rid the world of them.

The world’s abuzz right now with anti israel and anti semitic words. Anti semitic words that Jews like myself are used to.

And then Eitan goes OFF on the left wing liberals who whine about Israel defending itself:

You, my left-wing liberals, are choosing the side of hate. You’re decidedly ignorant. And you suck. Saying death and war is awful and that killing should stop is as far as we’ll agree. But until you provide a solution for ISIS, Hamas, Hezballah, Al Quaeda and the other folks you seem to send your Jib Jab Christmas cards to, just do the civilised world a favor and go back to your Fascist news paper articles who seem to know how to write, but do nothing else. And don’t forget 9/11, London’s 7/7, Spain’s Madrid train bombings or the Boston Marathon while you’re at it.

Take a good hard look at my yellow star. Look at where it came from. Look what was done after we, the Jews, were forced to wear it and then ask yourselves, are we doing the same to others? Us Jews? Us Israelis?Are we hellbent on exterminating people? Is that really what we want? Or are others doing that which you think we’re doing – others you refuse to be vocal about nor condemn with a simple post or click of your Like button.

Fools, I’m not going anywhere.

Never again.
Though some might wish it, NEVER AGAIN.

For anyone else reading this from afar who might agree with what I’m saying, Jews and non-Jews alike, don’t feel sorry for me, family, my friends. Don’t feel sorry for us. We’re fine and we’re not afraid. I’d like to think you know the score and that you’re probably in this with us. Not just because you know it won’t stop with us, but because you’re sane and you’re not blind.

Don’t be afraid because I’m not intending to be a victim. None of us are. And I hope you aren’t either. My yellow star is staring extremism in the face. All of our yellow stars are staring everyone in the face. Blinding extremists with motherf*****g light in a world that’s becoming increasingly black.

Am I down with the yellow star?
You’re damn right I am.

I'm down with the yellow star. Are you?