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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

January 2, 2024

Chosen Links – December 30, 2023

Chosen Links by Boaz, Community /

A few weeks ago, I was walking to shul with Adi, Natalia and Liam, and from the corner of my eye I noticed the same lawn sign that I’ve seen countless times. You know the one, “In this house, we believe…” and then it lists a slew of causes that it wants us to all agree with. But ask any proud Jew the last few years, and we would tell you, “where are we in that list of marginalized communities and statements?”

As I’ve discussed many times before (E.g. https://jewishjournal.com/…/336832/who-will-speak-for-us/), sure I believe in feminism, sure black lives are important to my family, sure LGBTQ+ rights are of concern, and the list goes on; but the groups that use those slogans are overwhelmingly the same ones that have been chanting for Israel’s demise, and ignore the safety of my religion. (BLM is a gross example of an organization that literally had chapters making posters celebrating the atrocities of October 7). I cannot support any organization that hates my people, (or is ok with us “as long as we aren’t Zionists”) even if I would otherwise support the cause. I would also like people to care about my own rights as a Jew, and my own rights to self-determination with a Jewish country – especially when that country is surrounded by much larger Muslim countries that at best tolerate them, and at worst wish and attempt genocide upon them.

This is why I was so excited to notice a difference in this particular sign. It was on the front lawn of Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, and when I looked closer, it actually represented us! This one included the following two lines among the others:

  1. “Antisemitism is Racism”
  2. “Zionism is Self-Determination”

I got in touch with Rabbi Artson, found the wonderful nonprofit that creates it (Artists 4 Israel), and we now have it up on our lawn, photographed here, and I’ll provide more info about the organization in my “Spotlight” section later on. But let’s try to “take back” those signs with these much better ones!

Time to present my latest week of “Chosen Links by Boaz”. Please, if you are intimidated by the sheer number of things I find, realize you do NOT have to read and watch them all. The point is to give you a resource so you don’t need to wade through the din of flawed info out there. Read my post itself; I give short intros of commentary about each link. That alone should prove helpful, and from there you can decide which ones you have the time and energy to read, watch or even skim.

Without further ado…

ARTICLES/THREADS:

1. A good op-ed in The Jerusalem Post describing just how effective Hamas has been at becoming popular around the world; even more than the Nazis ever achieved. “It is particularly effective on university campuses, where the student targets lack intellectual maturity, experience, and depth of knowledge.” Richard Kemp explains:

https://m.jpost.com/opinion/article-779122

2. “Iran’s decision not to involve Hezbollah on Oct. 7 has given Israel the opportunity to reorganize its forces and prepare for the multi-front war that awaits us.” Caroline Glick gives a detailed analysis at the doctrines over the decades that led to where Israel is today. Included in this is Israel’s reliance on America. It is imperative they don’t just get out of the war as the world pushes, but actually destroys Hamas:

https://carolineglick.com/rising-from-the-ruins-of-a…/

3a. Sarah Tuttle-Singer is someone great to follow. She is previously from LA, liberal, with a deep love for Israel, and she uses her talent of writing to express her feelings on life over there on a daily basis. Posts like this are necessary to have the finger on the pulse of so many who live there, and are discontent with the right-wing government. Oh yeah, she’s also extremely witty:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C07YZHEtdwy/

3b. Check out this older post from her about how she might be light skinned, but she certainly isn’t “white”; none of us Jews are:

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/i-am-a-light-skinned-jew…/

4. Oh, snap! President Isaac Herzog claps back at the UN with some sharp, and IMO well deserved words:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/…/herzog-three-times-as…/

5. Sharp thread supposedly from an Arab blogger, about all of the things they are shocked to learn that Gaza is given that is BETTER than the rest of the Muslim world. Interesting, though it would help if I knew more about this person:

https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1739068328285454441

6. Karen Pollock writes a great piece for The Guardian about how anything at all that’s written not even about Israel, but just merely about Jews, or honoring the survivors or the Holocaust, is immediately given the most antisemitic responses she’s ever seen. A sad but important piece:

https://www.theguardian.com/…/antisemitism-holocaust…

7. Hillel Fuld goes on a rant against the hypocrisy of those protesting against Israel:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Q8GaQN1cz/

8. I don’t know who put this together, but these are a slideshow of Israeli hostages who were released, with their quotes highlighting some of the horror show that they survived:

https://docsend.com/view/kn78sscmprkfenga

9. Yair Lapid with a harsh comparison of Bibi to Neville Chamberlain, saying he needs to step down immediately. “Netanyahu has become the Israeli Chamberlain,” he said. “We need our Churchill.”:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-if-october-7-had…/

10. Shaun King has been removed from Instagram, after consistently lying about many things over the years; even claiming he helped release hostages from Hamas:

https://nypost.com/…/blm-activist-shaun-kings…/

11. Lt Colonel Richard Hecht giving in-depth explanations of what they are finding north at the Indonesian hospital.

https://idfspokesperson.substack.com/p/its-not-just-shifa

12. A call was recorded by a civilian in Gaza, where he complains that the UNRWA are working hand in hand with Hamas. “The situation is terrible because the humanitarian people, those responsible for the humanitarian aid, are thieves,” the frustrated Gaza resident said in the recording.:

https://nypost.com/…/hamas-in-control-of-unrwa-aid…/

13. A beautiful story about Noor, an Arab Israeli Druze restaurant in Northern Israel, that went through the process of becoming kosher to help show their support to the IDF:

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-779574

14. The star of My Unorthodox Life is another celebrity to visit Israel recently. This article explains what Julia Haart is seeing on her tour, including visiting communities full of Jews, Muslims and Christians, as well as women and LGBTQ+ people, all banding together in their love for the country:

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-779493

15. An amazing article, where French Catholic priest Father Patrick Desbois takes his decades of Holocaust research, and analyzes what he sees happening today. He’s particularly annoyed by the recent claims that Jesus was a Palestinian, and Israel would attack him today. “If he had lived in 1942, Jesus would have been deported to Auschwitz, and if he had been born today, he would be the target of missiles or be a hostage in Gaza,” not a long read but a worthwhile one:

https://www.algemeiner.com/…/jesus-would-be-hostage…/

16. This is a great thread written by Dr. Einat Wilf, who’s written a book called “The War of Return”. She analyzes the nomenclature of calling millions of Palestinians refugees, and breaks down why that is a complete misnomer, perpetuated in large part by the UNRWA:

https://x.com/EinatWilf/status/1719719168172237295

17. Many in Egypt still hate Israel, but they have accepted the reality that it will exist. This is the difference this thread gets into – how the Palestinians just refuse to accept the reality since 1948:

https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1739906684795924721

18a. Fern Reiss tells the story of a family of Israeli hostages who were held together, and given some “friendly” advice from their kidnappers that’s quite telling:

https://fernmusing.substack.com/…/war-day-82-more…

18b. “For contrast, there were 900,000 Jews who fled and were expelled from Muslim countries since 1948. There is no UN organization responsible for their refugee status, nor were they supported by UNRWA now or at any point.” Fern does my favorite type of journalism here, giving links for each fact she states along the way. This one is about the crucial topic of the UN and UNRWA:

https://fernmusing.substack.com/…/war-day-83-does-unwra…

19. Former head of the Mossad’s Economic Warfare Division, Dr. Udi Levy, explains just how crucial stopping the money to Hamas is. Fighting them physically is important, but as long as they have tons of money coming in, something that Israel itself was facilitating for years, they will continue to be dangerous. “He reveals that substantial funds are still accessible to the group in Turkish banks and that humanitarian aid intended for Gaza is being diverted to the organization.”:

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-779675

20. A reminder of one of the countless biased actions by the UN against Israel. Remember Resolution 1701 about Israel and Lebanon in 2006? Here’s a reminder of what it was, and where the position it puts Israel in today:

https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1739824868630147269

21. “My experience as an Israeli-Arab (some would call it Palestinian), is that we’re being taught to hate Israel from young age. This is fueled by three factors:

1-Ignorance, 2-Obsession, 3-Antisemitism.” I found this short thread by political activist Ali Adi illuminating:

https://twitter.com/AliAdiOK/status/1739909692946567633

22. Investigative Journalist David Collier does a truly impressive job of showing how the BBC frequently ignores any and all context, when it reports on Israel. “There is Israel that traps innocent Palestinians and kills journalists deliberately – there is Hamas who ‘the UK considers to be a terrorist organisation’ – and then all these poor Palestinians being killed by Israel in the middle.” He then researches a recent story of people killed in Gaza, and actually provides context with evidence, something that was never even attempted by the BBC:

https://david-collier.com/bbc-news-missing-context/

23. They say no press is bad press, so congratulations Hamas Senior Leader Ismail Haniyeh, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, and supermodel Gigi Hadid, you’re the finalists for this prestigious award! I hope they get Billy Crystal to come out of retirement to host the ceremony:

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-779774

24. Remember the tragedy in China about the Uyghur Muslims? Most of the organizations that love to denounce Israel frequently, including the UN certainly don’t seem to, as they rarely bring it up much if at all:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1aSpKOP4um/

25a. There’s no such thing as a “less awful” rape. The very word oozes a visceral reaction from countless people around the globe, who have experienced the worst kind of theft – where one was stripped of their sense of self, personal safety, self-worth, and autonomy. Many never recover from such a thing, never fully trust again, never can enjoy or experience the act of sexual pleasure the same way if at all, nor intimacy. It is not surprising that Judaism punishes the act as severely as murder. But yet, the way these October 7 rapes were performed against Israeli women and children, went to an even more barbaric and heinous level.

Thank you to the The New York Times for covering this brutal story that the world needs to know. Most of humanity that speaks up about sex crimes has remained silent, or woefully inadequate on the matter. The article itself has a paywall so I will share excerpts of it here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1awPfeujyA/

25b. It’s important enough of an exposé that I’ll share it here, for those who can access it:

https://www.nytimes.com/…/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel…

26. This is the detailed investigation into the tragedy where the IDF mistakenly killed 3 Israeli hostages. Clearly there were many reasons to see why the soldiers would have thought it was a trap, and the deaths were a tragedy in the fog of war. However, even as such, Israel’s Chief of Staff concludes that this was and is unacceptable, and they need to do better. Not every country’s army has this much transparency:

https://www.idf.il/167560

27. “I, on my own behalf and that of many Africans, am coming to Israel to express my solidarity with the Jewish people of Israel, who suffered on Oct. 7 an assault that is almost exactly what happened to Africans in Sudan, has happened to African villages for centuries, and is happening now by Boko Haram in Nigeria and by jihadists in Darfur, Western Sudan.” That’s Simon Deng, a former Sudanese slave, who traveled to Israel to express his support to a country that he says was the only one to help his people in their time of need:

https://www.jns.org/…/former-african-slave-leads…/

28. Excellent piece by Rabbi Wolpe for The Harvard Crimson. “People hate Jews because they are communists, capitalists, foreigners, residents, immigrants, elitists, have strange ways, are unassimilated, too assimilated, bankroll the left (like George Soros) or bankroll the right (like Sheldon Adelson). ” If you ever want a relatively easy-to-follow, but intellectually honest tutorial on antisemitism, plus its overlap with antizionism, this would be a great one: https://www.thecrimson.com/…/2023/12/29/wolpe-hatred-jews/

29. Another great piece in the Harvard Crimson is written by student Eric Kalimi, a member of the paper’s Editorial Board. Among other things, he says that it’s pretty offensive how they cherry picked who would write these op-eds on antisemitism. And from what I can tell, only the two I’ve just shared are worthy of the topic. It’s as if they went out of their way to find people to disagree with the Jewish community’s consensus on antisemitism, as if it is a topic necessary for dissent.

Imagine if you asked for views on racism, would that necessitate asking for ones that include those who are pro-slavery? Some things don’t require a cross-section of objectively incorrect or offensive beliefs. And for the record, this student does include empathy toward the Palestinians, and a distinctive voice from his own beliefs, but at least they are within the reason of what most Jews are feeling today:

https://www.thecrimson.com/…/kalimi-mansell-jewish-grief/

30. This is right up my alley. An independent think tank analyzed many reports covering Israel, by the NY Times, Washington Post and CNN. It then provides piece-by-piece evidence and detail, how they were misreporting the facts. This includes the death toll numbers that I’ve often brought up, but also facts about the bombs being used, and many other things being incorrectly reported against Israel:

https://jcpa.org/…/a-coordinated-media-attack-on…/

31. This uses the case of hostage Mia Schem, and demonstrates how anti Israel propaganda completely changes the narrative of her reality. One thing I’ll correct though, is that he says her arm was “blown off”, but later corrects that it was shot and required surgery; she still has her arm thank goodness:

https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1740710454870311326

VIDEOS:

1. I read the transcript last week, but seeing this actually spoken, and aired in England for Christmas…. THANK YOU Stephen Fry:

https://x.com/RachelRileyRR/status/1739452765967908869

2. The farms close to the Gaza border account for almost half of the produce in Israel. This is where they were attacked and many Thai workers were killed and taken hostage. CNN does a good story, showing how most don’t want to work there anymore for safety reasons; and although people are volunteering to help, that will only last so long:

https://www.cnn.com/…/exp-israel-farm-workers-robertson…

3. Julia Haart, the star of My Unorthodox Life, visited Israel and met with this Arab Druze man in the IDF who talked to her about why he proudly joined: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1F0HV4uhv2/

4. This is kind of milk-toast news coverage of the Hamas tunnels, with a safe and boring lack of any stance. However, I share it because I’m glad NBC is at least covering it, and it’s good to see what the tunnels actually look like: https://www.nbcnews.com/…/nbc-news-gets-first-hand-look…

5. French tattoo artist Mia Schem was kidnapped from the music festival, and gave an interview about her experiences being held in Gaza by a so-called civilian family. Here is the full interview in Hebrew, highlights written out in English, and in the post just below there’s a summarized version of the video with English subtitles:

https://twitter.com/AdamAlbilya/status/1740822874506625060

6a. Yes CNN, your Spidey Senses are working; the timing of the so-called apology of Ye (who you so unwokely dead-name as Kanye West) is highly suspicious timing. The mentally-ill, genius rapper did not suddenly become less antisemitic overnight:

https://www.cnn.com/…/kanye-west-apology-jewish…

6b. Want a reminder of how Ye is both clearly mentally-ill, and prone to going on “I’m the victim in this Jew-controlling world” type rants? How about this wacky stream of consciousness by him just mid-December:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1735689178141339880

7. Ashriel Moore, who describes himself as a “Proud Hebrew Israelite”, explains why Hamas trying to gain common ground with the Black community due to their skin color, flies in direct contrast to their atrocities against everyone, including the black men and women in Israel:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1XM-P2Ipyw/

8a. Piers Morgan has been a great voice throughout. He will certainly condemn what he dislikes on the Israel side; all the while he is unwavering in his support of Israel defending itself, and Hamas being an evil entity that needs to go. That may seem obvious to many of us, but if those two basic facts were true of all journalists, we would have exponentially less of a media bias against Israel. In this clip he interviews extremist group leader Wahid Asif Shaida, who is literally denying what Hamas proudly bragged about:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C06-1ewAt5X/

8b. Here is the full interview if you wish to have full context, as I generally do:

https://youtu.be/HzcxF5johQU

SPOTLIGHT:

This week’s celebrity/influencer I would like to spotlight is David Schwimmer. If you look at his posts from this year, he doesn’t post often. What’s happening in the world of Israel and antisemitism has clearly motivated him. Over the last 3 months, his last 5 posts on Instagram have been about:

-The horrific acts of October 7.

-Memorializing friend Matthew Perry.

-Decrying the shameful testimony of Harvard, MIT and UPenn.

-Promoting his work on PBS.

-Sharing the exposé by the NY Times about the horrific sexual violence.

Thank you Mr. Schwimmer for caring so much; follow him here:

https://www.instagram.com/_schwim_

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:

1. A list of hundreds of businesses owned by reserve IDF soldiers; each could use financial and emotional support. These tens of thousands of reserves are men and women who had to leave their families and jobs, and the least we can do is try to ensure that they can pay the bills when they get back:

https://www.hanochdaum.com/tzav8biz

2. As previously mentioned, this is the organization that created the yard sign that we now have up proudly on our front lawn. As per my discussion with the nonprofit, “Artists 4 Israel prevents the spread of anti-Israel and antisemitic behavior into influential artistic subcultures, and helps heal communities affected by hate. In response to the conflict, we have been specifically focused on our Healing Arts Kits, an art therapy tool that slows or stops the onset of new cases of PTSD in Israel’s children. We are asking people to sponsor Kits and host a packing event in their community.”

For info about those Kits, to get the lawn sign, or more, see below:

https://www.artists4israel.org/

https://www.artists4israel.org/emergencyresources (Healing Art Kits)

https://www.artists4israel.org/boutique (Lawn signs + shirts)

ON A LIGHTER NOTE:

1. Eylon Levy plays into the classic scene from “Love, Actually”, and I totally dig it:

https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/1738980787465142562

2. Brett Gelman does silly sketch comedy mocking the revisionist idea that Jesus was born in Israel thousands of years ago, so therefore he must not have been Jewish:

https://twitter.com/brettgelman/status/1739790532258197975

3. Westside Gravy, proud Black Jewish Israeli, sings about proudly wearing his “chain”, aka his Star of David:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1HoBTrt-cd/

4. Can never go wrong sharing Daniel-Ryan Spaulding. Recently he started a series of videos where he explains basic Israel facts to his favorite clueless foil, “Purple Hair Girl”. This one is all about the history of Jews and blood libels:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1163966311153076

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

I wrote an article this week! And I think it’s a damn good one, but that’s definitely media bias for you! Judge for yourself, and read my guide to how I recommend finding accurate info from inaccurate. You too should be able to KNOW YOUR SOURCES:

https://jewishjournal.com/…/366646/know-your-sources/

In front of the yard sign

Boaz Hepner works as a Registered Nurse in Saint John’s Health Center, and provides health education to the community at large. He grew up in LA in Pico/Robertson and lives here with his wife Adi, daughter Natalia, and son Liam. He helped clean up the neighborhood by adding the dozens of trash cans that can still be seen from Roxbury to La Cienega. He can be found with his family enjoying his passions: his multitude of friends, movies, poker and traveling.

Chosen Links – December 30, 2023 Read More »

Exploring “Zero Tolerance” as a Campus Policy to Combat Antisemitism

Commentary, Opinion /

The presidents of three of America’s most elite universities — Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania — were the subject of glaring national attention while appearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, under pointed questioning by Representative Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), all three failed to articulate simply whether advocating genocide against Jews would constitute a violation of their campus conduct codes.  The need for responding with moral clarity, combined with the absence of any concrete policy in place that any of them could mention, created the proverbial perfect storm. Already, both Harvard’s President Claudine Gay and Penn’s President Elizabeth Magill have resigned in its wake.

But that event also presents a larger opportunity to discuss what reasonable measures could be adopted by higher education institutions writ large as they confront the reality of combating the alarming rise of antisemitism and growing threats to Jewish students and faculty. Alas, the path forward may not be found in the hallowed halls of ivy, but rather in the sagebrush of Killeen, Texas. That’s where Central Texas College (CTC) is located, and where discussing the possibilities of a “zero tolerance policy” for universities should begin.

The path forward may not be found in the hallowed halls of ivy, but rather in the sagebrush of Killeen, Texas.

There, the concern is more about consequences than context. As part of its “zero tolerance policy,” CTC has in place procedures for “appropriate disciplinary action for every weapon, threat, incident of hazing, stalking, harassment or discrimination, sexual misconduct, and/or violent act that is reasonably substantiated through investigation.”

The entire campus community has been put on notice; the text of the policy puts it in plain language. “A zero tolerance policy is one which requires an appropriate penalty be imposed based on the individual circumstances. It is, as it states, intolerant of the prohibited behavior.”.

Further, CTC has indicated that it “may also take disciplinary action for certain violations reported off campus to the extent these violations may have an impact on the campus. This includes, but is not limited to violations that pose an ongoing danger to students or may cause harm to the campus community, including violent crimes, hate crimes, disturbing or threatening actions, and illegal conduct.”

Among the inappropriate behaviors CTC  notes are “verbal, written, or acts of harassment/discrimination to include sexual harassment/ discrimination, stalking, and bullying; acts or actions which can be interpreted as physical assault; hazing or dangerous initiations; threats or actions to harm someone or endanger the safety of others; behaviors or actions interpreted by a reasonable person as having potential for violence and/or acts of aggression; and threats to destroy or the actual destruction of property.”

What would happen if academic leaders around the country began to consider adopting a comparable zero tolerance policy on campus to concretely address how they would respond to the next calls for genocide against Jews?  And beyond that, what if they were prepared to back up their words with the actions CTC expressed it is willing to take? “Violators will be subject to appropriate discipline up to and including termination, expulsion, and arrest.”

Considering such an approach would help the clouds to clear and rays of light to begin shining through once again. As 2024 looms ahead, the new year should bring with it new thinking to directly confront the antisemitic dangers that are so apparent now on college campuses nationwide. Zero tolerance is a useful way to start the conversation about what needs to be done — not in theory, but in practice.

 

Stuart N. Brotman is the former Chairman of the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation.

Exploring “Zero Tolerance” as a Campus Policy to Combat Antisemitism Read More »

Nearly 100 Jewish Sites Across California Receive Bomb Threats; Law Enforcement Deem Threats “Hoax”

California, News /

More than 90 Jewish sites across the state received emailed bomb threats on Jan. 2, although law enforcement determined shortly thereafter the threats were a “hoax.”

“The latest update is law enforcement believe the emails are a hoax,” Larry Mead, vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ Community Security Initiative (CSI), told the Journal Tuesday afternoon. “However, they are continuing their investigations to determine the origins of the emails.”

While the Journal was not immediately able to identify all the Los Angeles sites that were targeted with the emails, it was able to confirm Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) was among the local synagogues that were evacuated on Tuesday after receiving a bomb threat.

In a message sent to the TIOH community the morning of Jan. 2, TIOH leadership said it had received an email claiming explosives had been hidden on the synagogue’s campus. In response, the synagogue “evacuated the building per our emergency protocols, and everyone is safe.”

“[We] evacuated the building per our emergency protocols, and everyone is safe …  LAPD conducted a search of our campus and declared us safe and cleared of any threat.”— Temple Israel of Hollywood

Several hours later, TIOH sent another email saying, “LAPD conducted a search of our campus and declared us safe and cleared of any threat.”

According to CSI, several law enforcement agencies, including Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center, were notified about the threats. In response, LAPD dispatched personnel to several synagogues in the area, including two synagogues on Pico boulevard and one on Sepulveda boulevard, Mead said.

A representative of Leo Baeck Temple, located on Sepulveda Boulevard, declined to say whether it had received a threat, although the individual confirmed there was “an email that went around to congregations.”

Mead, the CSI representative, described the threats as “abhorrent.”

CSI is an initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles that provides a single point of contact in the event of a security situation facing schools, synagogues, camps and other Jewish organizations.

Nearly 100 Jewish Sites Across California Receive Bomb Threats; Law Enforcement Deem Threats “Hoax” Read More »

When that Other Ball Drops

Commentary, Opinion /

It was in 1908 when New York City began the annual tradition of ushering in the New Year with the celebratory dropping of the ball in Times Square. It is estimated that over one billion people from around the world count down along with the hundreds of thousands standing below the ball — braving all that cold and claustrophobia.

This year another element was added: The possibility of a terrorist attack kicking off 2024 in grand Islamist style.

Not a fanciful fear, at all. In 2023, a Muslim brandishing a machete and screaming “jihad!” attacked three police officers: And that was without a war in Gaza that has sparked 1,000 protests in New York City since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. 

Indeed, from the earliest days after such brazen barbarism, New Yorkers witnessed protests that were far from peaceful — and rooting for the terrorists! There were arrests at various iconic New York landmarks: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center; the disruption of pre-Christmas shopping in Midtown; and obstructing the busiest days of travel at Kennedy International Airport and Grand Central Terminal.

The Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges were blocked and became impassable. Even religious observances went un-spared: Demonstrators marched in front of churches chanting, “No Christmas as Usual!” Others coopted the story of Jesus, a Jew, and converted him into a Palestinian — violating strictly enforced rules against cultural misappropriation, when committed against a person of color.

The afternoon before New Year’s Eve, a pro-Hamas rally took place at Columbus Circle in Manhattan called, “Shut it Down! For Palestine.” A smoke bomb went off inside the flagship Macy’s in Herald Square. 

The ball wasn’t alone in the sky this year. It had plenty of company with hovering drones, scanning the masses, searching for revelers drunk on antisemitism.

This year, all eyes were not on the ball. Savvy New Yorkers — and anxious Jews — were keeping an eye out for Muslims wearing keffiyeh masks. Such threatening spectacles have been all too common as of late — whether on college campuses or in cities where pro-Hamas protests assailed the streets, ripping down posters of kidnapped Israeli infants, and defacing synagogues, Jewish schools, and Jewish-owned businesses. 

Given the state of chaos that seems to be everywhere — most notably in blue states — everyone is nervously waiting for that other ball to drop.

We are living through a very dangerous era of generalized, normalized lawlessness.

We are living through a very dangerous era of generalized, normalized lawlessness. The only person being prosecuted anymore, seemingly, is Donald Trump. If not for him, we could seriously defund many of the District and United States Attorneys’ offices — at least in New York, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Francisco. 

The police are, to some extent, properly making arrests. But with the abolishment of bail and nearly all crimes lessened to misdemeanors, criminals aren’t required to spend even a night in jail. Instead, they are released—joyfully rejoining the ranks of repeat offenders.

But even those arrests are becoming rare. Anti-Israel protestors in New York are immunizing themselves from police interference by invoking a settlement agreement, reached this past September, emanating from the Black Lives Matter mayhem in which the police were accused of blocking crowd movement.

Anarchy is the new ethic. Violent actions are justified as “resistance.” Falling into the “oppressor” camp opens up a wide variety of allowances — especially if you’re Jewish. Complaining about violence is dismissed as the pouting of “white privilege.” Calls for enforcing the law — immigration or criminal — are categorically “racist.”

Whether it is a southern border that exists only on maps, with its asylum-seeking bingo, the smash-and-grab looting and menace of vandals, or the fist-pumping marches to the tune of “Defund the Police” or “From the River to the Sea,” our laws don’t seem to apply anymore. Mobs form easily and act recklessly like shoppers on a limitless spending spree. 

But we’re not permitted to have a national conversation on just how bad things have gotten because doing so risks the social ostracism of stepping in a woke minefield.

Israel’s war in Gaza is especially fraught with the peril of identity politics. Support for Hamas has revealed a scourge of antisemitism not seen since the 1930s.

And not unlike the German universities that idealized Hitler, today’s brand of antisemitism is equally respectable. Ivy League propogandists have infected intellectual life. Jew-hatred will soon be its own academic major. Calling for Jewish genocide will come with extra credit; screaming “intifada!” into the faces of Jewish students may not be magnanimous, but it just might earn magna at graduation. 

The more times “Gas the Jews!” is repeated, the capacity for shock disappears, and once dormant antisemitic impulses begin to feel invincible. 

As overt antisemitism becomes more unapologetically mainstream, the faces behind those keffiyeh masks will become revealed. And it will become clear that the most strident protestors are young Muslims. Pink-haired progressives don’t bother with headscarves and have nothing to hide other than unfinished dissertations.

The Arab Street is another matter, however. It migrated to Europe and glorified Sharia in the great western cities. Now Gaza provided a detour to America. The first generation of Muslim immigrants simply wanted to belong and become citizens. Their children have more in common with their co-religionists in Ramallah, Damascus, and Kabul.

The Pew Research Center reports that of the 3.5 million Muslims in the United States, three-quarters are immigrants or children of immigrants — 35% between the ages 18-29. It is this demographic that is mostly responsible for shutting down our streets with anti-Israel animus. 

Muslim and progressive bedfellows deserve one another. Muslims may not be woke on homosexuality, transgender rights, or even race. But they are all-in when it comes to hating Jews. The perfect alignment of an ancient jealousy with a shared disgust of white colonialists, Jews, and infidels. Black Lives Matter emboldened a new generation of Muslims to believe that Jewish Lives Don’t Matter.

The immigration crisis plays into this, too. Antisemitic reinforcements may be on the way, if they are not already here.

Latin Americans are no longer the only ones breaching nonexistent borders. Those from the Middle East have undertaken longer, more inscrutable journeys. Some may be on “no-fly lists,” yet inexcusably entering America with the ease of paragliders.

The culture war is no longer just ideological, or discreet. It is resembling an actual war. If you’re Jewish, combat fatigue has probably already set in. If you happen to live where streets have surrendered to an occupational army of woke overlords, Happy New Year, Good Luck, and send postcards of your city under siege.

Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is the legal analyst for CBS News Radio. His most recent book is titled “Saving Free Speech … From Itself.” 

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Harvard’s President’s Resignation Will Not End Antisemitism

Commentary, Opinion /

With the news of Harvard’s president, Dr. Claudine Gay, resigning, I’ve been left in an awkward position. While many of my Jewish friends are celebrating, this “victory” feels hollow to me, if one can even call it a victory.

I first learned about Dr. Gay in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7th attack. It was one of the darkest days of my life, and learning that student groups at Harvard had released a letter condemning Israel and claiming that the murders and rapes were entirely Israel’s fault was like putting salt in the wound. Many American Jews reached out to me at that time, terrified that colleges were no longer safe for their children or that they didn’t feel safe on campuses. Dr. Gay’s inaction most certainly fed into this fear, and I was far from the only person who had issues with how she handled things.

The backlash to her inaction prompted Congress to hold a hearing where they questioned Dr. Gay and other college presidents about how they were handling antisemitism on campus. This hearing resulted in Dr. Gay famously saying that calls for the genocide of Jewish people did not automatically violate Harvard’s code of conduct and that “It depends on the context.” She issued an apology for these remarks, but the damage was already done.

Her job was to protect all of her students, and she failed at every turn to stand up for her Jewish ones. One would assume that I, an outspoken voice for Jewish civil rights, would be thrilled that she lost her job. Yet, here I am, writing out my complicated feelings in an effort to work through them.

I think that, at my core, I’m simply too much of an idealist to be happy with this result. Dr. Gay was more than her opinions on the conflict or the way that she dealt with the incredible tensions that mounted afterward. She is Harvard’s first black president and the second female president in the college’s extensive history.

Even though I obviously disagreed with a lot of what Dr. Gay did, I didn’t want her to lose her job over her reaction to antisemitism. I wanted her to start a dialogue with the Jewish community and find a way to make Jewish students feel safe without stepping on anyone’s right to free speech. I wanted her to understand the pain of her students and make changes to ease that pain. I honestly believe she would have been happy with that too. Unfortunately, that’s not a possibility anymore.

At the core of this fiasco, however, there is one fact we cannot overlook— the main motivation behind the resignation has nothing to do with antisemitism, but plagiarism.

Meaning, her statements and lack of real effort to support Jewish students and understand the fears of our community, were not enough for Harvard to take real disciplinary actions. It had to be an academic misconduct. Can you imagine this happening with any other minority in this country?

Yet, the news story is writing itself; a prominent Black leader was forced to leave her job because of the Jewish community. This plays directly into antisemitic tropes which many Neo-Nazis and other Jew haters have tried to spread, which even some progressives fall for.

Our community cannot respond with celebration, because there is really nothing to celebrate about this story. Dr. Gay will go on with her life and the Jewish community will have another story stigmatizing us as oppressors, for asking for a little bit of justice.

The only conclusion I can come to is that holding on to anger for mistakes or wrongdoings is ultimately worthless. I don’t want Dr. Gay punished, I want her to learn about antisemitism and the Jewish community, I want her to understand why we responded the way we did and how to avoid it in the future. I don’t want her to continue holding prejudice towards us.

Holding on to hate and prioritizing retribution over anything else, does not lead to justice. Would we be in this mess in the first place, if it weren’t for those very things? When I see Jews cheering at Dr. Gay’s resignation, I get it. I really do. But I also see a missed opportunity. We stand at a crossroads where choosing education and understanding over mere retribution could lead us toward a more inclusive future. The Jewish community should lead by example in advocating for dialogue and education. Our response to this situation can set a precedent for how minority communities address grievances and seek change.

In an ideal world, Dr. Gay’s resignation would have been a moment of introspection, an opportunity for Harvard and other institutions to deeply examine their policies and attitudes towards antisemitism and other forms of bigotry. It would have sparked conversations, not just about the rights of Jewish students, but about how we create environments that are truly inclusive and respectful of all.

Thus, while Dr. Gay’s departure from Harvard is laden with complexity, it should not be the end of the conversation. Rather, it ought to be a catalyst for us to advocate for constructive change and understanding, not only within Harvard but in educational institutions worldwide. It’s a call for us, and indeed all communities, to rise above the fray and be the harbingers of the empathy and understanding we so dearly need.

Hen Mazzig is an author, and the co-founder of The Tel Aviv Institute.

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Harvard President’s Downfall is the Tip of the DEI Iceberg

Editor's Note, Featured /

“It has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate,” Harvard President Claudine Gay wrote this week in her resignation letter.

That doubt, however, was justified, at least when it comes to Jews. When confronted in her congressional testimony about protestors who intimidate Jewish students with hateful “calls for the genocide of the Jewish people,” she cited her respect for “free speech,” suggesting this was grounds for allowing antisemitic protests on campus.

But when the victims are not Jews, that respect for free speech is nowhere to be seen.

Indeed, Harvard got the worst possible score in the nation this year in FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings, coming in dead last with an 0.00 out of a possible 100.00.

In other words, when Jews aren’t involved, Harvard has consistently come down hard on speech it has found offensive or hateful. Among the examples cited in the FIRE report:

No wonder Gay took so much heat for claiming “free speech” when defending menacing hate speech against Jews. That double standard is not just blatant but shameful. As I’ve written before, colleges go out of their way to find safe spaces for groups that are faced with microaggressions, but can’t seem to find any safe spaces when Jews are faced with hateful macroaggressions.

In her letter, Gay also found it distressing that any doubt was cast on her “commitment to uphold academic rigor,” a “bedrock value” that is “fundamental to who I am.”

Again, that doubt was certainly justified. How does Gay reconcile her commitment to “academic rigor” with nearly 50 allegations of plagiarism?

In a Dec. 23 op-ed in the Harvard Crimson titled, before Gay resigned, “I Vote on Plagiarism Cases at Harvard College. Gay’s Getting Off Easy,” an undergraduate member of the Honor Council lamented the special treatment afforded to Gay:

“What is striking about the allegations of plagiarism against President Gay is that the improprieties are routine and pervasive,” the student writes. “Omitting quotation marks, citing sources incompletely, or not citing sources at all constitutes plagiarism according to Harvard’s definitions.”

And yet, it took weeks of a rising firestorm for Gay to finally pay consequences, as any Harvard student would have. As Professor Ilya Shapiro posted on X, Gay’s resignation “doesn’t end the school’s trouble. Indeed, it doesn’t even end the plagiarism scandal, because the board has to answer for sweeping the allegations under the rug and hiring a law form to threaten journalists who had the scoop.”

Gay made sure to include in her letter that she has been subjected to “personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.” Given that she has been a longtime champion of DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), it should surprise no one that she couldn’t resist the urge to bring up race, which had nothing to do with the allegations against her.

The part of the letter I found most disingenuous, however, was when Gay spoke glowingly of Harvard’s “enduring commitment to open inquiry and free expression in the pursuit of truth.” This is when I concluded she hasn’t learned anything from her ordeal.

The DEI culture Gay has consistently promoted at Harvard runs directly counter to “open inquiry and free expression in the pursuit of truth.”

Anything that would bring back those cherished ideals would be good for the Jews. In the long run, the pursuit of truth is our greatest protector.

She must know that in her own college, Professor Steven Pinker was compelled to confront the stifling atmosphere of DEI to create a Council on Academic Freedom. “By putting it in the open, and rounding up a posse of defenders, we hope to break the ‘spiral of silence’ at Harvard, and, we hope, other institutions will be inspired by our model,” Pinker told Karen Lehrman Bloch last year in a Journal cover story on “The Unraveling of Academia.”

“Universities are repressing differences of opinion, like the inquisitions and purges of centuries past,” Pinker wrote in announcing the council.

How does Gay square this vigorous internal dissent with a so-called “enduring commitment to open inquiry and free expression?” She can’t. She didn’t even try. Maybe she hoped she would put us to sleep with her arsenal of academic cliches.

There’s a growing sense across academia that DEI is no longer this untouchable sacred cow. A recent op-ed in the Washington Examiner, “DEI is on the Run,” argued that DEI was “deceptively sold as a set of policies designed to promote ‘the fair treatment and full participation of all people,’ but “have proved to be epicenters of division and ideological conformity, stirring hostilities and imposing an intolerant monoculture.”

Universities nationwide, the op-ed added, “use mandatory diversity statements to enforce ideological conformity in disciplines as varied as physics, history, and psychology. Junking these loyalty oaths is a key step to diversifying thought on campuses.”

If the truth about DEI continues to be exposed and American universities return to the timeless academic ideals of excellence, diversity of views, open inquiry and the fearless pursuit of truth, the downfall of Claudine Gay may turn out to be a historic inflection point.

Anything that would bring back those cherished ideals would be good for the Jews. In the long run, the pursuit of truth is our greatest protector.

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