Concerning the war in Israel, a few observations:

1. The word “unprecedented” has been thrown around a lot describing Hamas’ barbaric attack, and this time at least the word is being used (mostly) correctly. At least two, perhaps three generations now have grown up with reports of Middle East violence, particularly those centered on Israel, being as commonplace as crime stories or hurricanes. But this one was indeed different, if only in the scale of the barbarity. This time Israel’s ultimate nightmare unfolded; it’s kibbutzim, it’s civilians, its children, directly targeted and engulfed in the onslaught of marauding bands of a brutal enemy whose sole intent is the physical annihilation of Israel and the Jews. It is not mere hyperbole to state that last Saturday signaled a paradigmatical change in the region. This is war, Israel’s first real, declared one since 1973. Israel is a proud, tough country born from the ashes of the Holocaust, and was caught fatally unready; they are not going to let that slide.

That’s because in another sense, this was not “unprecedented” at all. Israel has faced similar crises; in the Yom Kippur war, the 50th anniversary of which was chosen for the assault, they faced a similar situation. Soviet-equipped Syrian and Egyptian armored columns poured into the Sinai and the Golan Heights, the Israeli air force effectively neutralized, and the myth of Israeli invulnerability was (temporarily) shattered. Then as now, that near disaster was the result of an enormous intelligence failure. Concerning which, recriminations for that failure are somewhat on hold while the more urgent military matters are dealt with, but they will come.

Perhaps more important psychologically, is the fact the Jewish people have been here before. Direct survivors of the Holocaust are still among us. Today some of them are again in the hands of people who want to finish what Hitler started. Amongst the coverage on BBC that day, was the accounting of an Israeli official, I forget his name or role, who told of being on the phone with family members hiding in one of the small villages near the Gaza border, desperately trying to keep their young baby from crying so as not to betray their hiding place to the terrorists roaming about outside, hunting for Jewish families to kill, or worse. The scene was viscerally reminiscent of the stories one reads of occupied Europe in the 1940s.

2. It was predictable, but no less abhorrent, that there would be celebration and repugnant displays of “solidarity” with the terrorists. The far-left’s ideological hatred for Israel was on full display at rallies – like that attended by freshly appointed State Rep. Tim Hernandez – which, for all the milquetoast “clarifications” issued after the public registered their general disgust, were nothing short of full-on celebrations of what they universally and repulsively characterized as the brave Palestinian “freedom fighters” struggling for liberation from the Zionist oppressor – one infant, grandmother, or 20-year-old festival-goer at a time. Such is the distorted view that conveniently twists the situation in Israel into an ideological mold that countenances no allowance for reality.

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But it did not take very long before some of these miscreants realized how badly they misjudged, and that even our modern liberal toleration of foolishness still has some moral limits. A Chicago law firm rescinded an employment offer to the NYU School of Law Bar Association president after her whole-hearted support of Palestinian “resistance” over the weekend. A good chunk of Harvard University’s faculty wrote a scathing letter condemning pro-Hamas students and the weak equivocation of the university administration. Even Playboy magazine discovered moral indignation and fired one of its models for the same unconscionable behavior.

And it needs to be said that moderate and mainstream Democrats across the nation – including Colorado – have issued strong and noble statements supporting Israel and condemning Hamas and the violence and terror they sowed. Still, the party will need to come to terms with the entrenched anti-Israel dogma of their far-left factions.

3. Indeed, the condemnation of Hamas, and the support for Israel, is nearly universal. But one wonders how long that will last. The United Nations is already starting to wring its hands and equivocate. The pressure from the international left to condemn not the terrorists, but Israel, will bide its time and then metastasize, especially as Israel pursues the aggressive course of self defense that it must.

4. There is no use pretending we don’t know who funded, trained and organized the monsters responsible for Saturday’s horrors. Israel is in a proxy war with Iran. Biden’s decision to release to the Iranians $6 billion in seized oil revenues cannot be seen now as anything other than a tragically consequential error. Yes, the money is earmarked for humanitarian purposes, but it freed up an equivalent amount of resource to be diverted to Hamas’ death machine. It is not clear if the U.S has any legal mechanism to reclaim that money, but $6 billion would go a long way to helping Israel mount its defense.

 5. Setting that aside, Biden, for his part, made a surprisingly admirable statement, saying many of the right things. And at that level, rhetoric is important. But it also needs to be backed up, and not just for a fortnight or two. Israel needs the resources, space and moral support to do what it must. The West, led by the U.S., needs to rediscover the moral fortitude that has become so unfashionable in recent years. This will require both Democrats to stand up to the left, and Republicans to stand up to their own flower-child neo-isolationist wing.

Every so often, we still gaze in horror at the images and testimonies of the Holocaust and tell ourselves “never again.” We are now at the point where we need to decide if we mean it or not.

Kelly Sloan is a political and public affairs consultant and a recovering journalist based in Denver.