There was a time when elite institutions successfully hawked their wares in an effort to stuff more cash into their bloated pockets. Universities like Harvard, Columbia and Cornell would shill like snake oil salesmen that thousands of dollars ponied up for pieces of paper with their embossed emblems would lead to greater riches, so a worthwhile investment.
Harvard’s online course on “leadership”
But the fragrance has left the rose and all that remains are prickly thorns from these former institutions of higher knowledge.
The weeks of October 2023 will be remembered for when the world blanched at the horrific comments stemming from the institutions’ leadership, professors and students, either endorsing or excusing the maiming and butchering of over 1,000 people in Israel.
At Cornell, professor Russell Rickford called the Hamas atrocity “exhilarating” and “energizing” before a crowd. Jewish students at the school were threatened with violence in a number of online posts.
Somehow, the school thinks that people still believe that the institution has a shred of morality to offer a course on the “psychology of leadership.”
Cornell University offering a course on “leadership” pitching that it “leads with empathy”
Columbia University professor Joseph Massad thought Hamas’s burning families alive was “awesome.” This is the same university that INVITED Malaysian Prime Minster Mahathir Mohamad to speak on campus, even though he is a known Holocaust denier and “proud antisemite.” It also INVITED Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who threatened to wipe Israel off the map.
No worry. For several thousands of dollars you can get a paper from the school attesting to your skills at “communication,” because maybe you can find an employer stupid enough to believe that the certificate you bought from a formerly elite university is worth something.
Columbia hawking a communications degree for anyone willing to pay
Harvard is producing so many quality students that gleefully stand in support of Hamas that the school’s paper will now be known as the Bloody Crimson. Clearly everyone should purchase a “leadership” piece of paper from a school that produces such evil creatures.
America’s universities have become cesspools of radical socialism and jihadism, and the world has taken notice. People will no longer pay for worthless pieces of paper from morally bankrupt institutions which funnel proceeds to classes labeling Zionism a form of “European settler colonialism.” Employers are now shunning the schools, and people are removing any mention of them from their LinkedIn profiles.
Ivy League universities are churning out monsters. Finally, Americans are recognizing the rot and seeking to quarantine them before they destroy what was once the land of the free.
The Tikvah Fund hosts an annual event in New York City with great speakers discussing Jewish thought, Zionism and Western Philosophy. Hundreds of people attend, mostly from the tri-state area but also Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada and even Brazil.
The first roundtable discussion after an incredible speech by Ruth Wisse featured: Dore Feith (Columbia), Zach Kessel (Northwestern), Alexandra Orbuch (Princeton), Josh Blustein (University of Chicago), Tal Fortgang (New York University). Each student discussed their experience on campus, ranging from antisemitic groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), to terrible administrations which could not bear to clearly condemn the barbarity of Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7.
Student panel at the Jewish Leadership Conference, October 29, 2023
Tal Fortgang concluded the discussion by making four observations about the state of academia in the United States today.
1. University presidents today do not stand by Jews, as evidenced by the amount of time and statement revisions issued to condemn the heinous Hamas attacks. The fifth attempt at condemnation reads like a hostage note written by lawyers.
2. Socialists and foreign entities have colonized the elite institutions. Dore Feith shared that the de-colonialist worldview has infiltrated every department in universities and is now part of the core curriculum at Columbia. Every student is fed a charged philosophy, including that Israel is a European Colonial settlement. There is no room left to debate this hallowed dogma at the Ivy League institutions.
3. There is a dire need to reexamine the admission policy at schools. While schools manage to be highly selective about GPAs and standardized test scores, somehow they manage to “accept 25% of students who are genocidal maniacs.” Based on recent videos of SJP on campus, it’s not an exaggeration.
4. Everyone must do their utmost to “drain the residual prestige which remains for these institutions.” They no longer teach people how to think but what to think, and the modern tenets are immoral by any measure other than a lens of radical socialism. The effort to drain those schools means no longer sending money or children to the school. It may also mean no longer recruiting students for jobs from those institutions.
A letter was shared at a New Jersey Jewish high school which said it would no longer allow some universities to present on site unless they attest that the schools are safe.
Letter from the Torah Academy of Bergen County, NY
Jewish institutions, parents and students are taking a new look at Jewish life at America’s leading universities and are not pleased with what they see. Perhaps not coincidentally, Yeshiva University, America’s flagship Jewish university, had admissions jump by 25% over the past three years. It is likely to see a continued surge in the coming years.
ACTION ITEM
Write to your alma mater’s administration, office of the president and alumni affairs “I am appalled at the antisemitism rampant on your campus. I will no longer send donations nor encourage family members to attend your institution. I will pressure high schools to not allow your school to present on campus, and ask my place of employment to stop recruiting from your school.”
Columbia University- alumni affairs caaalumnirelations@columbia.edu UPenn- alumni affairs alumni@ben.dev.upenn.edu Cooper Union- alumni@cooper.edu
World leaders denounced Hamas as being the latest incarnation of ISIS, due to the brutal savagery it committed on October 7. Both radical Islamic groups decapitated people and burned them alive, filming the atrocities to gain support for their jihadi terror.
In selecting ISIS, leaders like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden hoped to gather world support in eliminating Hamas as occurred with ISIS. Netanyahu said “President Biden was absolutely correct in calling this ‘sheer evil.’ Hamas is ISIS, and just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed. And Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated.”
Unfortunately, Hamas is not like ISIS. It is the Palestinian army, much like the Wehrmacht was the army of Nazi Germany.
ISIS was a rogue terrorist group operating in ungoverned land in Iraq and Syria. It did not hold elections or sit in government. It was manned by foreign fighters, especially from Jordan, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kurdish regions.
This stands in sharp contrast to Hamas, which is a Palestinian political party holding 58% of the Palestinian parliament. If elections were held today, the leader of Hamas would win the presidency. It is very much like Nazi Germany in the 1930s that came to power democratically.
Much like the Nazis who sought to invade and annex neighboring countries, the popular Palestinian army of Hamas hopes to destroy Israel and bring millions of Arabs into the Jewish State.
The only major difference is that Nazi Germany had a very powerful army which effectively invaded neighboring countries, while Hamas’s weaponry is crude, making its October 7 invasion and attack on Israel last for only one day.
Hamas, the Palestinian army, is still fighting the 1948 war against the existence of Israel.
Queen Rania of Jordan, herself of Palestinian descent, said as much: “this conflict did not begin on October 7th…This is a 75 year old story.” She added that “this is a fight for freedom and for justice.”
During the 1948 war, five Arab armies invaded Israel to destroy the Jewish State, and after they lost, the Arab and Muslim world expelled nearly 1 million Jews.
Palestinians are not helpless as portrayed by their sponsors and supporters but simply have a weaker army.
The latest incarnation of Israel’s war of independence is still raging, and the world wonders whether the Islamic Republic of Iran and its various proxies including Hezbollah in Lebanon will join Palestinians in their fight against the Jewish State. Watching intently from the sides, diaspora Jewry fears whether socialist and jihadi groups will attack them, as Jews pray for Israel to defeat the Nazi army next door.
As of October 7, 2023, Hamas became the official poster child of evil in the civilized world. The death toll of 1,400 people was appalling in itself, but the butchery of civilians, ripped from their homes and burned alive will be scorched in the minds of this generation.
So imagine being a Palestinian on global television and asked about Hamas and the events of October 7.
If one wanted to distance oneself from the savagery, one could clearly condemn the group and the actions unequivocally. Say that the group is disgusting and doesn’t speak on behalf of Palestinians.
Queen Rania of Jordan, a descendant of Palestinians, took a different course. She took ownership of Hamas as part-and-parcel of the Palestinian people, essentially the rag-tag army against a powerful Israeli military. She said that while Hamas shouldn’t have killed civilians, Israel has killed many more and sees the Western press buying into Israel’s “right to defend itself” as a form of Islamophobia which may result in the Muslim world coming for them next.
Watch her entire interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Since Amanpour loves the queen, she was loathe to interrupt and correct her lies. When Amanpour asked her pointedly about Hamas and October 7, Rania pivoted the discussion to suffering in Gaza from Israel’s air strikes.
Jordan’s Queen Rania was given almost 20 minutes to air her grievances on CNN with Christiane Amanpour, October 2023
Some lowlights from Rania’s talk to consider before you watch the interview:
To start, Rania discussed the difficult situation in Gaza for Palestinian mothers but said nothing about Israeli mothers who had their children ripped from their arms and shot intentionally before them.
At 1:30, Rania noted that “October 7th happened”, in passive language borrowed from the pages of Rep. Ilhan Omar who described the attacks on 9/11 as “some people did something.” She distanced the Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas from the deliberate unprovoked slaughter.
At 2:20, Rania made a veiled warning (or threat) to the western world for backing Israel in defending itself after the Hamas massacre, saying that the west was “complicit” and was “aiding and abetting” Israeli attacks against Gaza.
Amanpour, after giving Rania nearly three minutes to rant freely, asked a pointed question: “what did you feel on October 7th?” The response was a bland “we condemn the killing of any civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli.” Rania then described the views of Islam, arguing that it had an ethical code when fighting war which prohibits the killing of children, women and elderly. Amanpour never asked about Islam. She asked the queen a personal question about how she felt, but Rania offered a bland ALL lives matter, coupled with a defense of Islam. Perhaps the queen’s deflection was understandable, as Hamas is a devout Islamist group which clearly doesn’t have religious views which dovetail with Rania’s version.
At 4:15, Rania moved the conversation that “this conflict did not begin on October 7th.” This was the crux of Rania’s interview. After implying that the militant Islamist group Hamas doesn’t represent Islam, she implied that it very much represents the Palestinian people. Rania said that for Palestinians “war has never left. This is a 75 year old story,” meaning from the founding of Israel. At 7:30 she leaned in completely saying “this is a fight for freedom and for justice,” which Hamas launched on October 7.
After Amanpour failed to get Rania to offer any emotion about Hamas’s butchery, she asked the question differently, as to whether Hamas’s barbaric attacks hurt the Palestinian cause. Rania offered the same responses as before, that she does not favor the killing of civilians but that “this is a story of violence that has been going on now for so long.” She somehow conflated Jews building homes in Judea and Samaria with Palestinians yanking people out of their homes and raping them, then dragging them through the streets; Israelis building a security wall to stop Palestinian terrorists with Hamas decapitating babies in front of their parents; Jews visiting the Jewish Temple Mount with Arabs burning families alive.
Rania then moved her comments to the situation in Gaza, again refusing to clearly condemn and distance herself – and Palestinian Arabs generally – from Hamas.
She said the Israel is engaged in war crimes and is targeting hospitals and mosques. She didn’t seem to mind that the hospital bombing was proven to be from Palestinian terrorists and the mosque had a weapons cache stored beneath it when leveled by Israel.
At 9:40, Rania asked “why is it that whenever Israel commits these atrocities it comes under the banner of ‘self-defense’ but when there’s violence by Palestinians it is immediately called ‘terrorism?’ Is the word ‘terrorism’ only reserved for Muslims and Arabs?” Quite a but of political trickery, in calling Hamas’s massacre “violence by Palestinians” while Israel commits “atrocities.” She followed that with smearing anyone who called out the barbarity of Hamas as an Islamophobe.
By 10:10, Rania attempted to reframe the entire situation: “These are not two equal people in the conflict. One is an occupier and one is the occupied. One has a military, one of the mightiest in the world, and the other doesn’t have a military at all.” Well, not quite. In saying that Hamas speaks for the Palestinians she offered that it is the Palestinian military at this moment in time.
At 11:00, she summed up her feelings that the current situation should be focused on Israeli “violations” and “not this hyper-fixation on Hamas.” Somehow Rania missed the point that the West has a “hyper-fixation on Hamas” to distance the massacre from Palestinian Arabs to show there is a pathway to peace. The west will never push Israel into compromising with genocidal maniacs.
Rania’s anger bubbled and her voice quivered but the interview was not quite over.
At 12:20, Rania expressed how upset she was that the October 7 massacre was described in the press as “savagery, barbaric, blood-thirsty, cold-blooded, but we’re not seeing that terminology describing that situation [in Gaza]” She questioned media bias against Palestinians and the unwarranted defense of Israel, in light of many more Palestinians being killed since October 7.
Again, she refused the opportunity to distance herself and Palestinians from the massacre.
At 16:40 Rania added that she was angry that Arabs are asked to show their “humanity bona fides” in condemning the October 7 massacres but Israelis are not asked about the current campaign against Hamas. She bemoaned that western leaders don’t say that “Palestinians have a right to defend themselves.” She added that western countries should allow people to protest “for Palestine” without being called “terrorist sympathizers and antisemites.” Perhaps the queen is unfamiliar with the chants at those “protests” of ‘Globalize the intifada’, ‘from the river to the sea’ and ‘gas the Jews‘. But I doubt it
Towards the end of the interview at 18:10, Rania said that even if Israel kills every member of Hamas, it will just “create a new generation of resistance that is fiercer and more violent.” Rania’s comment embraced Hamas as a “resistance” movement against Israel. Somehow, even after October 7, she thinks the next generation of Palestinians can have even more evil intent.
So what do we learn from the Palestinian queen who rules in Jordan? A woman who is more polished after decades of interviews than the man-on-the-street, perched on a pedestal at news media which adores her.
Asked to comment on Hamas and its attack on October 7, Rania did the opposite of disowning the group. She let it be known that:
Hamas is Palestinian. It is the military arm of Palestinians who are still fighting the 75-year old war of Israel’s creation.
Hamas’s brutality is understandable and the Palestinian people will not distance themselves from the group nor the actions, but offer “all” civilian lives matter statements.
The Arab world considers the condemnation of Hamas’s actions to be a sign of Islamophobia, even though they admit that Hamas’s actions are against Islam.
The Arab street is judging the western world now, not just Israel. Terrorist attacks may spread as part of the ‘globalize jihad’ and ‘globalize intifada’ movements.
The Palestinian war against Israel is 75 years and counting and will not end until every Jew gets out of the West Bank and a new Palestinian State can have full autonomy, including a proper military to “defend itself” against Israel, ensuring much more bloody wars in the future.
It’s the same message from Turkish President Recep Erdogan who said “Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a battle to protect its lands and people.”
The Muslim and pro-Palestinian narrative is the opposite of that held by western politicians who are attempting to demonize Hamas and its Iranian-sponsors, so as to enable the notion of peaceful and moderate Palestinian Arabs on the whole, who will be willing to live side-by-side in peace with the Jewish State. If Hamas is essentially the Palestinian military, backed and supported by everyday Palestinians, how could such a people be enabled to have an independent country with a full blown army living next to Israel?
The West NEEDS to demonize Hamas to advance a two-state solution, deaf to the comments of Palestinians and their supporters, who make clear that Hamas is their military “resisting” Jews living in their land. Palestinians hope that the West will feel so committed to “two states for two people” like the United Nations, that the West will be compelled to adopt the Palestinian narrative inverting cause-and-effect of October 7, and place the 100 years of modern Zionism in the crosshairs for attack.
The Godfather is a classic in American cinema. The 1972 film won numerous awards including in the Best Picture category. The penultimate scene cemented the script in daring story-telling, as the leading figure, Michael Corleone, set himself as head of the new order.
While Corleone stood in church to be the godfather of a young child being baptised, his hitmen took out the heads of the competing crime families. In doing so, Corleone positioned himself to control the region without challenge.
Perhaps the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia will consider doing something similar to the warlords backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, including the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Each group has caused death and destruction, dismantling any chance for a civilized life for residents and neighbors.
Now, as Iran attempts to stop Saudi Arabia from getting nuclear power from the United States, and establishing an alliance with Israel, it has released its dogs of war to inflict brutality and carnage.
To avert mass destruction and set a better course for the Middle East, the troika of US, Israel and Saudi Arabia could take out the leadership of Hamas in Qatar, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Houthis in Yemen. It would send a clear message to Iran that the US has not left the world to a Russia-China-Iran axis, and avert the deaths of many thousands of civilians throughout the region.
In ‘The Godfather,’ it took a “massacre” to get the families to stop killing each other, and ultimately the heads of the crime syndicates paid the price. As the Middle East prepares for a large scale war, the United States may want to send a clear and unmistakable message to Iran that the period of terrorism in the Middle East is over.
Over the past week, several resolutions were put forward at the United Nations Security Council to advance a ceasefire in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War. Each failed, regardless of whether the resolution was written by Brazil, Russia or the United States.
The first failure was because the text did not explicitly call out Hamas as being a terrorist group, deserving of complete condemnation for the gruesome butchery it committed against people in Israel on October 7. Not all countries label Hamas a terrorist group (appallingly) but some wordsmithing allowed parties to just condemn the actions of October 7 without calling the group terrorists.
A more difficult pickle exists for the members of the UNSC about stating that Israel – like every other country – has a right to defend itself. The UN has adopted Palestinians as their perennial wards and is loathe to state the obvious, which will result in death and injury in Gaza.
Time and again, the UN has excused and ignored Palestinian terrorism. Over and again it has demanded that Israel use ‘utmost restraint’ after heinous Palestinian terrorism, while it tells every other country to bring ‘perpetrators to justice.’
Will the UNSC finally say that the Jewish State has the right to defend itself and bring the 1,500 Hamas terrorists and its leadership to justice? Will the carrot of a ceasefire be enough to say a basic truth aloud?
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Members of the UN have condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as a form of collective punishment against all Gazans while they ignore the collective punishment of terrorism. Israel has an obligation to root out the terrorists and bring the hostages home. A UN failure to acknowledge those simple facts will brand the agency forever as an antisemitic cesspool and gateway for global anarchy.
ACTION ITEM
Email White House “Support Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself against the horrible Palestinian terrorist groups pulling people out of their homes for torture and death”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16), representing one of the most Jewish districts in the country, has a running tab of antisemitic and anti-Zionist actions:
Would not sign letter to Department of Education to fight antisemitism at colleges (February 4, 2022)
Original sponsor of resolution calling the founding of Israel a “catastrophe” (May 17, 2022)
Does not recognize discrimination against Jews (March 9, 2023)
Authored letter to President Biden to condition aid to Israel (April 23, 2023)
Voted against the Abraham Accords (April 25, 2023)
Voted against condemning antisemitism, and that Israel isn’t a racist state (July 18, 2023)
Boycotted speech by the Israeli president to a joint session of Congress (July 19, 2023)
Office called Republicans “Nazis” to distract from Bowman pulling fire alarm (October 2, 2023)
Called for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza without any mention of, or attempt at freeing hostages and bringing Hamas terrorists to justice, nor that Israel has a right to defend itself (October 16, 2023)
Voted against resolution condemning Hamas and supporting Israel (October 25, 2023)
Car in White Plains (NY congressional district 16) on October 25 as vigil for Israeli hostages held a block awayRep. Jamaal Bowman , representing White Plains, voting on October 25 to not stand by Israel
“Present” voters included Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), another member of the far left-wing of the party. Other left-wing extremists who have been critical of Israel like Betty McCollum (D-IL) did vote in favor of the resolution. One Republican, Thomas Massie (R-KY), also voted against the bill, who was not coincidentally the only Republican to not support funding the defensive Iron Dome system for Israel.
The votes of the socialists is not surprising. It is a movement that is trying to dismantle the west and its approach of capitalism, “imperialism” and “colonialism”, wanting to bring back the good old days of the Russian revolution.
In the immediate aftermath of the gruesome Hamas butchery, The World Wide Socialist Website, posted a quote by Leon Trotsky from 1938 on the eve of the Holocaust, “A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains–let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!“
That is the view of socialists. Barbarism is a rightful act by the Palestinians because they fought a war to destroy Jewish “invaders” in 1948 and lost. They support Palestinians taking over Israel, and if it be by blood, rape, fire, beheadings, or other acts of evil, so be it.
The socialist site discussed its disgust at the United States supporting Israel, stating “The World Socialist Web Site condemns the vicious and obscenely hypocritical statements of President Joe Biden and leaders of the European Union denouncing the Palestinian resistance as “terrorism”…. As always, the sympathies of the imperialist powers are with the oppressors. Any manifestation of resistance by the oppressed is greeted with frenzied denunciations. The media ignores the fact that the Israeli government is led by a criminal, whose coalition is dominated by fascistic racists and is engaged in efforts to suppress the constitution.”
It would go on to compare Gazans to Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, and Israelis to Nazis. Blatant antisemitism.
A toxic mix of rabid antisemitism and socialism have penetrated American universities and congress. It is coming for the Jewish State and soon diaspora Jewry. In the end, it will come for the West.
In the weeks following the brutal slaughter of 1,400 people in Israel, Israel has been actively trying to bring over 200 hostages home, bring the Hamas perpetrators to justice, and ensure that peace can prevail. In its efforts to minimize civilian casualties, Israel asked Gazans living in the northern part of the strip to move south. It continues to give the civilians additional time as requested by the United States, before it begins a ground incursion.
This is all too much for the United Nations Secretary General.
On October 24, UNSG Antonio Guterres lambasted Israel saying “Protecting civilians can never mean using them as human shields. Protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than 1 million people to evacuate to the south, where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine and no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself.” He seemingly doesn’t want Israel to bring the Hamas terrorists to justice in ensuring that civilians stay in the north and act as human shields for the Satans of Gaza.
In his comments, Guterres finally made it clear why he excuses Hamas. He does not believe that Hamas is like ISIS, a genocidal jihadi group hell-bent on killing infidels. He believe they are part-and-parcel of the Palestinian mainstream.
In his remarks yesterday, Guterres said: “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”
There was no separation between Hamas and Palestinians. Guterres tied the terrorists’ actions directly to Palestinians’ complaints and demands. While Guterres said “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians,” he immediately went on a long list rationalizing the Arab brutality.
For the United Nations, Hamas and the Palestinian people are one and the same. Bringing Hamas terrorists to justice is an anathema, as it would mean inflicting harm on the United Nations favorite adopted wards, Palestinian Arabs.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at Cairo Peace Summit, October 2023
On June 28, 2016, Ban Ki Moon, Guterres’s predecessor as Secretary General, visited Gaza and told the audience: “I stand with the people of Gaza to say that the United Nations will always be with you.”
He wasn’t lying.
The United Nations has kept its promise of always standing with the people of Gaza, even the evil terrorists who hack children to death, rape women and burn families alive.
ACTION ITEM
Write US Ambassador to United Nations “The Secretary General cannot say there’s no excuse for terrorism… and then give excuses for terrorism. If Hamas indeed represents the will of Gazans as the UNSG states, then their hopes for killing Jews and destroying Israel must be vanquished as well as the terrorists who commit atrocities.”
Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official state-run news agency, has once again tried to incite 1.8 billion Muslims to fight Jews and the Jewish State.
The Temple Mount has regular visiting hours and Jews have always used it to visit their holiest site. That angers Jordanian and Palestinian Arabs that Jews claim to have rights to the location which Arabs falsely assert is a purely Islamic holy place.
The Wafa article was horrific from its headline to its last sentence:
“JERUSALEM, Wednesday, October 25, 2023 (WAFA) – Dozens of Israeli settlers Wednesday morning stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, under protection from Israeli occupation police, according to local sources.
Witnesses said scores of settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in separate groups, where they conducted provocative tours through the courtyards of the mosque, received explanations about the alleged “Jewish Temple,” and performed Talmudic rituals near the Dome of the Rock.
This latest incident adds to the ongoing tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most revered site in Islam. The entry of settlers into the compound, backed by Israeli security forces, is often met with condemnation from Palestinian officials and religious authorities.
The Islamic Waqf, the Jordan-run authority in charge of the holy site, has repeatedly called for international intervention to prevent these incursions, which are seen as a direct challenge to the status quo of the holy site and an affront to the sentiments of Muslims worldwide.
Since 2003, the Israeli occupation authorities have been allowing Israeli Jewish settlers into the compound almost on a daily basis, with the exclusion of Friday, the Muslim day of rest and worship.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the Six-Day War in 1967 in a move never recognized by the international community.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is subjected to almost daily incursions by Israeli settlers, except on Saturday and Sunday, which are done under the heavy guard of the Israeli police in an attempt to divide the mosque spatially and temporally between Muslims and Jews.“
Jews visit their holiest location during regular visiting hours and need protection of police to keep Muslims at the site from attacking them. Jews go because it is the location of two Jewish Temples and the physical center of Judaism. The fact that Muslims get upset does not make it a “provocation” but goes to the antisemitism of those Muslims.
The Palestinian Authority is attempting to get 1.8 billion Muslims riled up against Jews at this most dangerous time. It must be condemned clearly and quickly and forced to stop promoting lies and incitement.
ACTION ITEM
Email White House “Get the Palestinian Authority to stop claiming that Jews are desecrating the Al Aqsa Mosque in an attempt to incite 1.8 billion Muslims around the world to attack Jews.
In the Westchester County, New York capital of White Plains, a front for Palestinian terrorism collects funds and promotes a jihad against American Jews and the Jewish state.
WESPAC Foundation describes itself as the “leading force for progressive social change in Westchester County, New York, since 1974. We have been educating, agitating and organizing for a more just and peaceful world, an end to militarism and racism and a more fair economy.”
Its version of “progressive social change” and “a more just and peaceful world” is attacking Jews and the destruction of Israel.
With donations to WESPAC, people affix posters in public spaces of Palestinian Arabs killed in confrontations with Israeli forces with a statement “Glory to our martyrs” over a map of all of Israel. PYM states “We used creative protest to honor our martyrs and uplift their legacies.”
Palestinian Youth Movement
The Palestinian Youth Movement gets funding from WESPAC. Its support for violent jihad can be found throughout its website and statements.
Some statements are subtle, like its recap of 2022 actions in which the group “commemorate[d] our martyrs, condemn[ed] Zionist violence, and affirm[ed] our peoples’ right to resist,” being unclear as to whether it supports terrorism.
The hatred for Jews is clear. PYM strongly supports the “Mapping Project out of Boston” which has been roundly condemned as horrifically antisemitic in laying out the various synagogues and Jewish institutions throughout Massachusetts. The Boston Globe printed that the “BDS-promoted mapping project is anti-Semitic and must be condemned” and that the “targeting of Jewish organizations and individuals harks back to the virulent conspiracy theories of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
Reaction to Hamas’s October 7 Massacre
After the gruesome butchery committed by the Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas of over 1,400 people in Israel and abduction of over 200, WESPAC released a statement “The attack from Gaza has a context. It follows months and years and decades of constant violence, pogroms, expulsions and other manifestations of apartheid inflicted on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
WESPAC defended Hamas’s grotesque terrorism of beheadings, rapes and burning people alive.
It continued “we refuse to be labeled as anti-Semitic for opposing Israel’s apartheid policies of supremacy and separation. The only solution, as it has always been, is to bring an end of apartheid, occupation, and siege, and promote a future based on justice, equality and human dignity for all. We call for a change from unconditional US support for Israel to equitable support for both Palestinians and Israelis in their struggle for peace with justice.”
On Your Dime
According to the ADL, “WESPAC uses its tax-exempt status as an NGO to provide financial support to groups and initiatives that actively denigrate, disparage and attempt to ostracize pro-Israel and Jewish communities, at times using blatant antisemitic language. As a fiscal sponsor, WESPAC receives and administers donations on behalf of groups such as National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP). WESPAC then keeps a percentage of the donation and gives the rest to the groups/projects that it fiscally sponsors. Groups the organization fiscally sponsors that engage in antisemitic anti-Israel activity are Adalah NY, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Palestinian Youth Movement, US Palestinian Community Network, and Within Our Lifetime. WESPAC occasionally will sponsor and participate in Israel Apartheid Weeks.“
The State of New York, home to roughly 2.2 million Jews, is also home to a vile group which is “honor[ing] our martyrs and uplift[ing] their legacies” of Hamas butchers who slaughtered innocent people. Its headquarters is in the NY-16 congressional district, which has the eighth most Jews of any district in the country, headed by Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who has repeatedly demonized Israel.
That is the state of diaspora Jews today. Watching the architects of a jihadi inferno operate openly under cover of democracy.
ACTION ITEM
Write NY Governor Kathy Hochul “Investigate the incitement to terror of WESPAC which funnels money to antisemitic groups”
FirstOneThrough 