By Phyllis Chesler

World War III is visibly underway.

The Jews know this in our bones. We also know that while it starts with us, it never ends with us.

In fact, Hamas has murdered or currently holds hostage civilians from 41 countries, including Israel (1,400 murdered, 203-214 taken hostage), Argentina (20 murdered, seven missing), France (22 murdered, three missing), Germany (13 murdered, six missing), Italy (four murdered, five missing), Spain (two missing), Russia (23 murdered, six missing), Thailand (15 murdered, four missing) and the United States (27 murdered, 14 missing).

Civilians from many other Western countries (Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, etc.) have also been murdered.

Some might like to see the Hamas attack as an Islamist war against the West, but civilians from non-Western countries such as Cambodia, China, Eritrea, Nepal, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the aforementioned Thailand were also murdered and are missing.

As I said, it looks like World War III might be underway.

But as yet, the U.N., founded to foster world peace, has not condemned the Hamas attack.

Navi Pillay, a quintessential Jew-hater who presided over the famously antisemitic Durban conference and is one of the “feminist” founders of Equality Now, is currently the chair of the U.N. Human Rights Council. Prof. Anne Bayefsky has pointed out that, after the Hamas atrocities, Pillay released a report that “promotes the murder of Jews.”

As Bayefsky noted, it is not a coincidence that the UNHRC is a permanent inquisition against Israel and was voted into being by the “undemocratic Islamic states in cahoots with China, Cuba, Russia and Venezuela. No Western state signed on.”

At the same time, numerous countries are seeking the release of their nationals.

Argentinean President Alberto Fernández has stated that his government has been in touch with Israeli authorities and “the Palestinian Authority, Qatar and Egypt for help in freeing Argentine hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza.” Note “militants,” rather than “terrorists.”

The families of French-Israeli citizens are urging President Emmanuel Macron “to help locate their missing relatives.” Germany has begun an investigation into Hamas, as under German law, prosecutors must investigate suspected crimes abroad if they involve German citizens.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Russia is in direct contact with Hamas. Thailand’s deputy foreign minister said, “The government is working to evacuate thousands of Thai nationals from the conflict zone” and is in touch with Israeli authorities.

I wonder who is calling for the release of the Israeli hostages. Is only Israel looking after its own?

Some of the loudest voices in America belong to Jews whom I view as suicide artists. I refer to Queers for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, J Street and If Not Now. These groups refuse to understand that in the lines to the crematoria, the Nazis/Hamas/ISIS do not separate the Jews who are pro-Nazi/Hamas/ISIS from those who are not.

There are Israeli counterparts to these groups, like Breaking the Silence, Yesh Din, Machsom Watch and HaMoked. On Oct. 18, they posted a plea to President Joe Biden referencing both Israeli and Palestinian civilians, but their focus was clearly on their “Palestinian colleagues in Gaza under bombardment of the Israeli military. … In Gaza, the civilian population must be shielded from the fighting.”

Are there any such statements being issued by Palestinian groups? Just asking.

The news isn’t all appalling, however. Hamas’s live-streamed atrocities were a wakeup call for many. There has been a spike in American and European Jewish donations to the IDF, Magen David Adom and many humanitarian causes in Israel, where hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes and countless families have been murdered or wounded, while others must bury relatives and take on the care of orphaned children.

On the other hand, there has been a slew of articles written by those whose eyes have been opened over the last decade—pre- or post-Oct. 7—and are reeling from the blowback they’ve received after standing up for Israel and telling the truth about Hamas/ISIS.

Welcome to all, say I. I have been writing about this for a quarter-century and wrestling with the issue of Jew-hatred among leftists and feminists for nearly 50 years. Yes, I’ve lost many allies and friends… enough said. But it’s not about me. That’s what I tell all those who have been calling me since Oct. 7.

A dear friend has been calling me quite a lot. She has told me about being de-friended and attacked for her clear-eyed support of Israel and Western civilization against Islamist barbarism.

I tell her: Toughen up. Get used to it. After a while, it is no longer shocking. It merely disgusts. It allows you to better focus your energies. You will find new allies, even new friends. Choose the way forward.

Israel will win this war. It has no other option. Jews have no other homeland, no other place to go. The fight may take some time. The price may be higher than we can imagine. But win it we must. And we will.

Reprinted at New English Review, Yonkers Tribune, Israel National