Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

My beloved Today Show,

We had such a beautiful relationship. For many years, every single morning, I’d cozy up with you and my cup of coffee and settle in for hours. I’d often push back plans with other friends, preferring your company to start off my day. You brought me great joy. I even met you in person after our long remote relationship. It was thrilling. Everything I’d imagined it would be. I envisioned us growing old together. But, after enduring sixteen long months of near-constant abuse from you, I’m breaking up with you.

Since October 8, 2023, I have listened in agony as you have sided with, and even promoted, those who wish me dead and seek the destruction of my home. I have watched in tears as you have minimized my pain, choosing instead to sympathize with my brutal tormentors. Not only have you dismissed my suffering, but you have alarmingly painted me as the aggressor. I have watched in disbelief as you have amplified a false narrative of my family and history, fueling the flame of those who wish to wipe me off the face of the earth. You toss dangerous words around, like genocide, oppressor, famine and apartheid, as if you have no understanding of their meaning and feel no responsibility for the lies you are promulgating. You puppet headlines and statistics fed to you by my killers instead of believing what my brothers and sisters have been telling you. It’s become blindingly clear actual facts are of no import to you when it comes to me. You will parrot anyone who aims to slander me.

I have screamed and raged at you, begged and pleaded with you, and waited and hoped for you to come around. But to no avail; you have given me no reason to believe you will ever change and stand beside me. (Savannah, you even wrote a book about God and love and religion. Yet, you spout “facts” handed to you by terrorists at worst, and antisemites at best. The sheer hypocrisy is staggering.) Today, you obviously prefer to maintain your relationship with those who seek disruption, anarchy and ultimately, terror. You have broken my heart over and over again.

I have given you the benefit of the doubt so many times, countless second chances to make amends. Last August, I was certain you’d admit your error and beg my forgiveness. And if you weren’t willing to go that far, that you might at least apologize for your lack of awareness. But no, you barely mentioned Hersh, his execution a mere afterthought for you. Your calculated insensitivity was a dagger to my heart. Then again, just a month ago, I waited with bated breath for you to disavow, and disassociate from, the pure evil that would throw a macabre parade and dance around the coffins of our two murdered redheaded babies. But again, you devastated me by refusing to take my hand and stand beside me. You failed to celebrate our heroic rescue of Noa Argamani, instead blaming us for killing her inhumane captors in their homes where they’d enslaved her. You lamented over the number of days two astronauts were stranded in space, but still refuse to comment on how many days Eden has been held deep underground in terror tunnels, without food, air or sunlight. Your deliberate bias has tormented me almost on a daily basis for well over 500 days. And sadly, I’ve allowed you to do it by staying in this relationship too long.

But, enough is enough. While you may have battered and bruised me, you have not broken me. I have endured your reckless reporting and I will thrive in spite of it. You will have a day of reckoning and I will know I stood on the side of moral clarity all along. Your behavior has actually made me stronger, forced me to search for new partners who will treat me with respect and dignity, vital components for any healthy relationship. Media outlets and individuals who will do me the basic decency of fact-checking before spreading blatant propaganda. Who will self-educate before they misspeak. Who will treat me and my family just as they would anyone else. I’m not asking for preferential treatment, only fair treatment. In that, you have failed miserably.

AM. YISRAEL. CHAI.