On January 20, 1942, Germans met in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to develop the “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.” The persecution of Jews was already well underway, and on that day, the Nazi regime put into place a program to push the Jews to extinction. They succeeded in wiping out nearly all of the Jews in Europe, about one-third of global Jewry.
Since the end of World War II, the Arab and Muslim world picked up the fight to “the Jewish Problem.”
The Arabs in Palestine were successful in lobbying the British in impeding Jewish immigrants desperate to leave the Holocaust in Europe with the “White Papers”, likely causing well over 100,000 Jewish deaths. The remaining Holocaust survivors landing on the shores of Palestine after World War II were very vulnerable targets. The Palestinian Arabs enlisted the help of neighboring Muslim countries to complete the genocide of the Jews, killing nearly one per cent of the region’s Jews in the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli War. The Arabs then ethnically-cleansed all Jews from the lands they seized, and forbade Jews from visiting their holiest locations in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Angry at the survival of the Jewish nation, Muslim Arab countries purged their Jews. Roughly 99% of the region’s Jews were forced out, an estimated 850,000 Jews, a total which excludes the Jews who fled Afghanistan and Iran.
Algeria 140,000
Egypt 75,000
Iraq 135,000
Lebanon 5,000
Libya 38,000
Morocco 265,000
Syria 30,000
Tunisia 105,000
Yemen 55,000
Arab countries attempted to kill all of the Jews in Israel again in 1967, though they failed spectacularly. Stinging from the loss, the Arab League adopted the Khartoum Resolution which called for “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel.” The Arabs soon launched another war against Israel – during Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur – in 1973, while pushing the noxious idea that “Zionism is a form of racism” at the United Nations under the watch of former Nazi, Kurt Waldheim, who was serving as the UN Secretary General.
Meanwhile, Christianity rethought its complicity in the European Holocaust and declared in 1965 that Jews were no more responsible for the death of Jesus than anyone else, and declared clearly that Jews should not be persecuted. Less than 25 years later, the “Iron wall” in the Soviet Union crumbled and allowed thousands of Jewish “refuseniks” to leave the country to Israel and elsewhere.
But the bile in the Arab Muslim world did not let up during this time, even as Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979.
The Palestinians declared themselves to have an independent state in 1988 on all of the land of Israel including the “West Bank” and Gaza, a move which was rejected by much of the western world. At the same time, Hamas introduced its foundational charter calling for the death of Jews and complete destruction of the Jewish State. The group (and other Palestinian terrorist groups) became immensely popular and received funding from Iran and Syria.
Iran and its proxies like Hezbollah, together with Palestinian Arabs, targeted and killed thousands of Jews around the world in the following decades. Iranian leaders have continued to hold Holocaust denial conferences, call for the destruction of Israel and pursue nuclear weapons and long range ballistic missiles.
On the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, the United Nations approved a resolution condemning Holocaust denial, with only Iran standing in opposition. The story was covered by The New York Times and other media outlets which wrote about the resolution and described today’s prevalent “right-wing” anti-Semitism and completely ignored that the vast majority of anti-Semitism stems from the Islamic world.
Not only will Muslim anti-Semitism not go away by ignoring it, but it may enable the leading state sponsor of terrorism and Holocaust denial to obtain weapons of mass destruction to carry out another genocide of the Jews.
Sabbath broke, so the phones turned on to check emails and the news of the prior 25 hours. The horrible reports coming out of Colleyville, Texas were not just disturbing but unsettling. Yet again, Jews were targeted by anti-Semites/ anti-Zionists to free other anti-Semites / anti-Zionists.
Between calls and community tehillim, I opted to find some strength in a historic hostage situation – when the Israeli army rescued passengers from an airplane hijacking at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. I had seen movies relaying the exciting rescue attempts made in the 1970s, but had not seen the newer version produced in 2018 called ‘7 Days in Entebbe,’ so watched it while my thoughts were with the Jewish hostages in Texas.
It’s a very peculiar take on the story. Rather than highlight the daring rescue operation by the Israelis, the writer/ director team of Gregory Burke and Jose Padhila took a completely different approach. They told the story of two German “revolutionaries” who joined the Palestinian hijackers; explored the Israelis through the lens of a political battle between Defense Minister Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin; and littered the story with performances by the Bat Sheva Dance Company.
The Left Wing Embrace of Palestinian Terrorism (and in a good way)
The movie opens with a distorted pro-Palestinian view of history with statements to set the background and tone of the film:
The United Nations created Israel in 1947
The Palestinians then fought to get their land back
They were backed up by left-wing groups around the world
They called themselves ‘Freedom fighters’ while the Israelis called them ‘terrorists’
Opening lines of the 2018 movie “7 Days in Entebbe“
The distortion needs multiple levels of unpacking.
The UN voted to create BOTH a Jewish State and another Arab State. The Arab world refused to accept the vote as they stood firmly against any Jewish country and wanted the entire region to rule. Israel was created through its own declaration in 1948.
The Palestinians did not have a country where they had self-determination so there was no fight for “the return of their land.” Five Arab nations waged a war against Jews who had just survived the Holocaust, to expunge the survivors from their historic homeland.
The “left-wing” groups from the 1940s, 1970s and today have morphed in mission and focus. In the telling of this story, one senses that the writers believe that “social justice” requires actions like the taking of hostages – perhaps even today if nobody listens.
This view was cemented by the concluding lines of how the “left-wing” viewed themselves as “freedom fighters” while the Israelis called them “terrorists.”
The “left-wing” which rallied to the Palestinians’ side, dominate the story’s focus. The movie is a platform to state how these new Germans were “not Nazis” who hated Jews like the prior generation, but fought for “social justice.” They were “humanitarians” who saw how wrong it was for the Palestinians to suffer, and therefore sought and fought for a “life of meaning,” sacrificing on behalf of others.
I think Senator Bernie Sanders may have consulted on the film.
Israeli Politicians Care About Politics, Not People But Rabin Knew That Palestinians Deserve Negotiations
The film took a very cynical view of Israeli politicians who simply were dueling for power. While Peres may have stated that one never negotiates with terrorists, the script made clear that Peres was a political opportunist who wanted the Prime Minister to look bad so he could gain the upper hand. Even when the movie relayed how the Israeli and Jewish hostages were separated from the other passengers reminiscent of the concentration camps, there was less emotion in the scene than when a small child needed to use the restroom on the plane moments after the hijacking.
While the Israeli public was hysterical about the hostage situation, Rabin remained calm. Even after the successful rescue operation, he shared with Peres that at some point the Israelis need to talk to the Palestinians and not just fight them. The writer/director were clearly paying more attention to the future when Rabin pushed forward the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, for which he paid with his life. But it is completely ahistorical when the action happened in 1976.
The Arabs fought two wars to annihilate the Israeli Jews, in 1948-9 and in 1967. Having lost both wars of attempted genocide, they adopted the Khartoum Resolution which declared three no’s: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel.“
The refusal to talk and make peace was a uniform Arab policy from the 1920s through that hijacking in 1976. The movie completely inverted facts and made the Israelis the party that was holding back on negotiating peace, rather than acting in a defensive capacity against neighbors determined to kill them.
Secular Israelis Have Evolved, While Traditional Jews Have Become the New Nazis as told by the Bat Sheva Dance Company
The movie opened and closed with performances by the Israeli troupe, the Bat Sheva Dance Company. Aside from being a constant break in the flow of the movie, most movie viewers likely just found the snippets annoying and bizarre. Let me offer my take on why these scenes were in the film.
The first time we see the performance, we see a semi-circle of dancers dressed seemingly like Hasidic Jews, sitting on chairs performing before an empty auditorium. They dance to a song “Who knows one?” traditionally sung at the end of the Passover seder. Each dancer jumps in his chair except one, she falls to the ground, exposing shocking red hair. We assume at first it is a mistake, that the dancer was not supposed to fall. Or perhaps we think we understand the message since we are familiar with the Entebbe story – that one Israeli soldier dies in the rescue attempt.
I think that scene is a retelling of the Holocaust. The Jews jumping on the chairs one after the other were European Jews shot before a firing line. The one who fell to the ground was the old Jew in the ghetto, a community forever vanquished. The shock of red hair is meant as an anchor for the viewer, much like the girl in the red coat in the move “Schindler’s List.” It happens before open chairs, as to one did anything to stop the genocide of the Jews.
We see the dancers in a similar scene later in the movie. However, this time the dancers – except for the one falling with red hair – remove an article of clothing after each wave of shots. At the end, they are all standing in their underwear while the one sitting is still garbed in the Hasidic attire. This is a reflection of the new Jew which has shed religion and its past, except for a lone holdout. These are the new strong Jews who come in and shoot the hijackers. The packed auditorium loves the performance. But are these killing Jews, like a Palestinian hijacker states, the “new Nazis”?
At the very end of the film, the stage is set with only two dancers remaining. In the background is the re-haired dancer running continuously and going nowhere. In the front of the stage, the stripped down modern Jew goes from a creeper-crawler to dynamic dancer. This evolved Jew commands the stage – until abruptly exiting. We are then only left with the dull and distant Hasidic Jew, forever repeating the same actions and going nowhere.
The audience in the end is only us, the viewer, left to decide what to make of Jews: the evolving, modern, beautiful and appreciated Jew who dominates the scene and then disappears, and the traditional Jew, in the background who endures.
The failure of the movie (not just from critics and Rotten Tomatoes) is the notion of choice. The allegories of the dancers interspersed throughout the film attempt to parallel the tension and options of modern and traditional Jews with the Israeli-Arab conflict, and consequently, why secular leftists attach themselves to the Arab cause for a Palestinian state.
The orientation of the film is that Israelis and Jews have a choice as to whether to be modern or traditional, and whether to make peace with Arabs or to fight them. To set such worldview (which is perhaps a worthwhile discussion today, over a coffee) in a movie about hostages in 1976 is highly offensive and illusory. The Jewish hostages had no choice. Saving them is not an option (and certainly not simply a matter of politics). It is the Arabs who have always had the option of making peace with the Jews, and opted each time to fight.
There are two sides to a conflict, and one party may view themselves as “freedom fighters” while the other views them as “terrorists.” It is clear where you and society stood on an issue by how each party was portrayed.
The end of the Texas synagogue stand-off is a cause to celebrate. Not only were the Jewish hostages saved, but all Americans came together to clearly identify with the besieged Jews. Regrettably, that is not always the case.
The western world is fracturing when it comes to other dead and persecuted Jews, such as the recent movie retelling the story of the 1976 Israeli hostages in Entebbe from the hijackers perspective, and an opera showing the 1985 Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking in a manner which highlighted the “humanity in the terrorists,” as general manager of the Met, Peter Gelb said about the performance “The Death of Klinghoffer“.
Zionism has been defined as the “Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews.” Gil Troy, a historian and author of a new book “The Zionist Ideas,” expanded upon that definition and says Zionism has three principle components: that Jews are a nation; that Jews have ties to their particular homeland in the land of Israel; and that Jews have a right to establish a state in that homeland, much like other people have rights to their own country.
That view of Zionism purely through a nationalistic lens enables many people to view Zionism as inherently racist. While Zionist advocates – like Troy – clearly articulate that Jews’ attachment to Israel does not mean that other people do not have attachments to the land as well, and that Israel welcomes the one-quarter of its population that is not Jewish with full rights, the anti-Zionists consider the core of the movement as exclusionary. The sentiment that nationalist populism inherently poses a risk “to the fundamental human rights principles of non-discrimination and equality” as stated in a 2018 United Nations report, puts Zionism in the crosshairs. The phrase “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination” as once declared in UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 of 1973, gets new air.
Zionism is more than the nationalistic movement of Jews reestablishing a thriving community in their homeland. It is a mission to combat anti-Semitism by providing a safe haven and a base from which to attack the noxious hatred.
Historic Zionism
Jews have always been Zionists. For thousands of years, Jews have prayed facing Jerusalem. Their daily prayers are replete with calls to rebuild their holy city. Jews have lived in and moved to the land of Israel throughout their history. The Jewish nation and religion are bound to the land. Jews were a majority in Jerusalem decades before the first Zionist Congress.
The connection of Jews and their Promised Land is a bedrock laid down in the bible and thousands of years of history. It naturally set the foundation for viewing the modern Jewish State through a three-part nationalist lens of people, religion and land. And it led humanitarians like Henry Dunant (1828-1910) to call for the rightful restoration of Jews to their homeland many years before Jewish Zionists articulated their vision.
But modern Zionism is more than the nationalist yearnings of thousands of years as articulated in Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah, written in 1878. It is a clarion call to fight and end Jew hatred.
The man credited with founding modern Zionism is Theodor Herzl (1860-1904). While completely assimilated and secular, Herzl saw a world which only saw him and others like him as foreign Jews.
He was horrified at the conviction of a secular Jew, Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) in France on trumped up espionage charges. The anti-Semitism on bold display in the courtroom and media convinced Herzl that Jews would never be tolerated anywhere if they could not find peace in a liberal society like France. He said:
The pogroms in Russia (Ukraine, Poland) from 1881 to 1884 as well as Kishinev in 1903 and 1905 further cemented the opinion of Herzl and many other early Zionists that Jews would never be able to live in peace where they were treated as despised foreigners. Zionism was a tool to address systemic anti-Semitism. The principle was that only in a place where Jews governed themselves could they escape persecution.
The situation for the Jews in Europe and the USSR actually got worse after Herzl. On January 20 1942, the Wannsee Conference in Berlin, Germany, developed the “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem,” calling for their extermination. Nazi Germany and its supporters killed one-third of the global Jewish population. The horrors of the European Holocaust which confirmed the radical anti-Semitism prevalent in the world, most likely encouraged many nations to support the reestablishment of the Jewish State just a few years later.
Modern Zionism Fights Anti-Semitism
Today, Israel does not simply seek to be a safe haven for Jews but actively fights anti-Semitism and anti-Semites around the world.
In 1960, years after the Holocaust, agents of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, captured former Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and brought him to Israel to stand trial for his crimes.
In 1976, after Arab terrorists hijacked an Air France plane to Uganda, Israeli commandos flew in to rescue the innocent.
In 1991, when the situation of Ethiopian Jews became dire, Israel launched Operation Solomon which air-lifted 14,325 people out of the country and resettled them in Israel.
In 1994, after Iran and Hezbollah blew up the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina killing 85 people, Israel sent a team to investigate.
In 2015, after Muslim terrorist targeted killing Jews in a kosher supermarket in Paris, France, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed French Jews and said “any Jew who chooses to come to Israel will be greeted with open arms and an open heart, it is not a foreign nation, and hopefully they and you will one day come to Israel.“
The government of Israel has a special division for world Jewry called The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. A core mission of the office is “monitoring and treating the scourge of anti-Semitism.” No other government in the world has an office dedicated to its diaspora and to fighting the terrible hatred it endures.
When Zionism only portrays itself as the rightful national aspiration of Jews to self-determination in their homeland, it opens itself up to noxious attacks. A core tenet of Zionism is the fight against anti-Semitism which should be broadcast, as it makes abundantly clear that anti-Zionism is inherently anti-Semitic.
Palestinian Arabs have a long history of instilling their hatred of Jews and Israelis into their children.
Palestinian Arabs are by far the most anti-Semitic adults, with an astounding 93% – almost every single adult – hating Jews. For years, they have been passing on their hatred by naming schools, public squares and tournaments after terrorists who kill Jews. The textbooks used in classrooms are replete with horrific depictions of Jews and Israelis. The political-terrorist group Hamas which runs the terrorist enclave of Gaza runs summer camps teaching children how to kill Israelis.
The lifeblood of Palestinian Jew-hatred has a companion, and that is the love of killing Jews.
Consider the Christmas cartoon published by a virulently anti-Zionist Socialist extremist site called Mondoweiss. They showed Santa wearing a kaffiyeh, running amidst burning tires and pelting Israeli soldiers with coal.
Mondoweiss cartoon showing Santa Claus attacking Israeli soldier
This is the message of joy for children – violence. Happiness isn’t peaceful coexistence but routing Jews.
Palestinian Arabs have long celebrated the murder of Jews by handing out candies and desserts after terrorists successfully kill Israelis. They have children stand on the street passing out the celebratory treats while the parents and children in Israel mourn for their loved ones.
But the anti-Zionist movement wants people – including children – to love the violence.
Mondoweiss, whose founders include radical Jewish socialists, is funded by tax-deductible donations. That means that your tax dollars help support the indoctrination of children to love acts of violence. Something to share with your elected officials.
While many people consider the Muslim Arab – Israeli Conflict to be a complicated matter, there are some simple facts beyond dispute: Hamas is a vile anti-Semitic terrorist group, that is very popular among the stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs). The political-terrorist group demonizes Jews, calls for Israel’s destruction and is flatly against any type of peace deal with the Jewish State.
So it is surprising that Hamas barely gets mentioned in the repeated United Nations Security Council meetings on the conflict, which are presumably about finding a peaceful solution in the region.
On December 21, 2021, the UNSC met – as it does regularly – to hear a report from Tor Wennesland, the highly-biased Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. In response to his remarks, the fifteen member countries of the council responded in an echo of condemnation against Israel for building homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria. Somehow they have been brainwashed by the SAPs’ narrative that they cannot have a viable state if there is a Jewish kindergarten nearby.
Remarkably, there was only one country – Kenya – that called out the Palestinian terrorist group for condemnation.
Gideon Kinuthia Ndung’U of Kenya condemned the “recent terror attacks and shootings that Hamas and other groups continue to laud and claim, [and] stressed that no cause can justify the deliberate targeting of civilians. These acts of terror must cease.“
It’s a simple statement that should be repeated everywhere (and is, except when the terrorists are Palestinian Arabs), but alas, Kenya was the sole voice to condemn this vile terrorist group.
Richard Mills of the United States “urged [Israeli and Palestinian] authorities to condemn violence and respond in a proportionate and reasonable manner,” but did not do so himself.
T.S. Tirumurti of India noted that “violent attacks against Palestinian and Israeli civilians, acts of destruction, provocation and incitement have continued during the reporting period. Condemning all such acts, he called upon the parties to immediately make concrete efforts to reverse these negative trends.” It was a balanced approach, but failed to called out the persistent underlying cause for violence stemming from Gaza.
Nicolas de Riviere of France didn’t offer a word about Palestinian Arab attacks and opted to use his time to condemn Jewish homes, while calling for donations to the Terrorist Enclave in Gaza.
The most appalling speaker was ISIS Azalea Maria Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines who read a script that may have been produced by the media outlets Al Manar (Hezbollah) and Al Aqsa (Hamas), spewing vitriol against Israel and defending all Palestinians, including the terrorists in Gaza.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, hold flags of their countries at State House in Nairobi, Kenya, July 5, 2016
Thank Kenya for calling out the evil and violence of Hamas at 202.387.6101, 202.796.2079 or 212.421.4744. Their email is information@kenyaembassydc.org.
The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, visited Lebanon on December 20, 2021 to show support for the country as it continued fail on multiple fronts. Already floundering due to an economic crisis, Lebanon’s falling fortunes are being exacerbated by the pandemic since March 2020, the explosion in the port that damaged much of the capital in August 2020 and infighting between various factions that make up the country’s political landscape and demographic mix.
Guterres spoke to the Lebanese cabinet in a lengthy speech that painted the people of Lebanon as particularly warm and welcoming in the face of adversity. However, various comments made – and parties unmentioned – reveal a dangerous UN bias for the future of the country and region.
Guterres called out Israel both directly and indirectly, and never favorably.
Palestinian refugees. The UNSG recalled Lebanon’s welcome of Syrian refugees and then appended “not to mention the old Palestinian community of a million.” That’s a complete lie. Lebanon welcomed several thousand Palestinian Arabs in 1948-9, and that total grew to 568,000 in 2021, half of Guterres’s figure. Further, Lebanon places severe restrictions on the professions for the stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs), forcing two-thirds of the population into poverty.
Coexistence. Guterres continued that Lebanon was an “extraordinary example of religious tolerance of the capacity to create a diverse society that was harmonious, that was prosperous and that was, I would say, the centre of the region.” Lebanon was engaged in a religious civil war from 1976 to 1990, a point completely omitted and whitewashed in the speech. It has been nearly fifty years since the country had a semblance of religious tolerance. Such tolerance at the “centre of the region” is found in Israel today, not Lebanon.
But Guterres wanted to castigate Israel in his remarks, not elevate it as an example of coexistence.
Israel’s belligerence. While noting for a just a second that Lebanon bore some responsibility for its current state of affairs, Guterres called out outside actors that hurt Lebanon, in particular “the Israeli invasion several years ago.” That invasion in 1982 was in the midst of Lebanon’s Civil War in which the country acted as a terrorist save haven for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) that repeatedly attacked Israel, forcing a response from Israel.
The unmentioned evil actors. Not only did the PLO go unmentioned in the speech, so did Hezbollah, the terrorist group that controls southern Lebanon, as well as Iran, which backs that terrorist group.
Hezbollah was directly responsible for the Beirut port blast which exacerbated the current situation. It has threatened judges investigating the case, lest the terrorist group be cast in a negative light before elections scheduled for March 2022.
Hezbollah is estimated to have well over 120,000 missiles with a range that covers all of northern Israel. The missile launch sites are nestled among 230 Shiite villages in southern Lebanon. Those rockets were purchased with funds from Iran, including the $400 million in cash sent by President Obama to seal the Iranian nuclear deal. This terrorist army was armed and missiles deployed right under the nose of the United Nations, where UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) is charged with maintaining the peace with Israel and keeping Hezbollah from rearming as part of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006).
Hezbollah is likely to become fully active over the next several months as the Lebanese economy collapses, elections happen or are canceled, and the terrorist group’s sponsors in Iran are forced to either accept de-nuclearlization or full economic sanctions. Hezbollah has already begun to test the situation, firing 19 missiles into the Jewish State in August 2021. The UN did nothing, other than voting to continue to fund UNIFIL while it berated Israel and refused to mention Hezbollah.
Which begs the question of what was being accomplished with the head of the United Nations visiting Lebanon at this time. Was it seeking an economic package from world governments? That was mentioned (as was promoting the involvement of women in government), but so was this troubling statement:
“I want to say that our mission is essentially a mission of solidarity. You can be sure that Lebanon is today in the centre of all our strategies and efforts, both at the level of the Secretariat and at the level of the different agencies that are cooperating with the Lebanese authorities, not to mention our two missions, and in particular now, UNIFIL that we want to be more and more actively cooperating with the Lebanese army as a fundamental factor of stability and security in the southern part of Lebanon.“
UNIFIL and the Lebanese army have no sway in southern Lebanon. Guterres’s refusal to call out the main troubling actor in the region that has been firing missiles at its neighbor to the south is outrageous, dangerous and ominous.
Israeli forces fire artillery from their position on the border with Lebanon after a barrage of rockets were fired from Lebanon, Friday, Aug. 6, 2021. The militant Hezbollah group said it fired rockets near Israeli positions close to the Lebanese border, calling it retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon a day earlier. (Ayal Margolin/JINIPIX via AP)
The UN Secretary General came to stand in solidarity with Lebanon and ignored the dangerous and dominant role that the terrorist group Hezbollah has in the failing state. In the likely upcoming war with the Israel, it appears that Guterres just placed his chips with the puppet state controlled by Iran.
College campuses have become extremely hostile places for Jews. The spike in anti-Semitic actions and anti-Israel vitriol spewed by both teachers and students are forcing many Jewish students and their parents to seek a course that is both safe and rewarding.
Those concerns and desire to find a blueprint forward brought fifty people to a Westchester synagogue to hear from two notable speakers.
On December 13, 2021, Tikvah’s Jewish Parents Forum presented a panel on “Raising Courageous Jews: A Guide Through the Cultural Minefield” at the Young Israel of Scarsdale. The group dedicated to “Preserving Jewish, Zionist, and American Values for the Rising Generation,” featured Jonathan Silver, Editor of Mosaic, and Liel Leibovitz, a Senior Writer for Tablet.
After Silver’s opening remarks, Leibovitz took the podium and essentially offered the audience his “Get Out” advice which he summarized in four points:
Jewish institutions won’t save you; the forces of culture are too great
Know who your friends are; it is now the moment to choose sides
‘Do’ Jewish. Membership cards are meaningless; one needs deep engagement in Jewish life
Stop going to the expensive universities which despise your values
The approach made many in the audience uneasy. Several were the products of Columbia University (like Leibovitz) and other well-regarded institutions and hoped that they would hear methods for giving their children courage to stand for their Jewish values and the Jewish State. Instead, Leibovitz asked for the parents to have the courage to buck their instincts and send their kids elsewhere – or nowhere.
Silver seemed a bit uncomfortable with the suggestion as well, but for a different reason. Tikvah is dedicated to “bringing Jewish thinking and leaders into conversation with Western political, moral, and economic thought,” not to flee from the conversation.
So let me offer some of my own thoughts here which will be expounded upon in future articles in the FirstOneThrough blog and elsewhere where the articles are openly shared.
I start with a quote from a hero of Roger Hertog, the president of Tikvah, Winston Churchill:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Success and failure come-and-go, rise-and-fall like a spinning wheel, but courage is the engine that keeps propelling people forward through the various ups-and-downs. If we want to raise courageous Jews who will not break with Jewish values and the Jewish State, we need to give them life skills that will allow them to flourish in the good times, sustain them in the difficult times and a desire to stay on the path.
Parental Modeling
Asking a child to be a proud Jew and supportive of the Jewish State begins with instilling those values from a young age. Starting the conversation in the senior year of high school or once they’ve entered university is oftentimes too late.
Children are sponges and learn behavior from watching. When they are brought up appreciating Israel and Judaism and see that their family actively engages in the great aspects of the religion and peoplehood and stands up to fight and defend Jews, Judaism and Israel, their instincts are already trained.
Belong to a synagogue and attend classes
Donate to Jewish causes
Write to government officials and the media when anti-Semitic and anti-Israel articles are posted
Talk about Israel and Judaism at the dinner table
Attend seminars both on education and political matters
Vote in elections
Visit Israel
Bring your children to protests
Be involved in Jewish activities at your children’s school
Education and Conviction
It is much easier to have courage when one has conviction about the cause.
Sending children to Jewish schools and camps is a critical way to make them appreciate their history, culture, religion and the remarkable nature of the Jewish State. Being in Israel with peers is a wonderful way to connect with Jewish history, such as made available from Birthright Israel.
Young adults on a Birthright trip to Israel
College campuses tend to be much more liberal than society at large. Liberals’ focus on empathy drives them to support those perceived as weaker and more vulnerable. Pro-Palestinian supporters have leaned into this theme to draw progressives to their cause. Young adults need to understand that Israel is the most liberal country for over 1,000 miles in any direction, as it lays the foundation for deeper engagement.
Our educational system needs a different approach for discussing Zionism, doing so via teaching critical thinking, critical listening and engaging narratives. That is a longer discussion for another article.
Recognize Audience / Be a Critical Listener
Today’s mainstream media is growing ever more hostile about Israel. The media has normalized an anti-Zionist lexicon that is also increasingly anti-Jewish. Understanding language and the forum is critical for knowing how and when to show courage.
There was a time when society at large resembled a bell curve. Most people sat in the middle on particular issues and there were fewer people on the extremes of right and left. Social media and the death of news in favor of editorials have now magnified those margins. In the beginning, it just appeared that the fringe was large as they were loud. Unfortunately, society continues to move towards a barbell shape with people and politicians in the middle lurching to more openly radical positions.
On campuses in particular, students are being asked to take sides on issues which they may or may not have any vested interest or real concern. Leaders, followers and participants now show up at rallies in calls for “allyship,” the comfort of belonging, or simply classic peer pressure. While they may look like a menacing horde, they are still individuals.
Courage requires intelligence. It does not mean taking on every situation in the same way, responding to every action or to every person in the same manner. It is important to help our young adults listen critically to their classmates and distinguish between those groups and individuals that should be engaged in conversation and those that should be confronted aggressively, both directly and indirectly.
Tacticsand Support
The anti-Semites and anti-Zionists have playbooks which are being shared in universities around the world. They include: “die-ins” and “apartheid weeks”; boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) resolutions; keeping Jews and Jewish organizations out of school clubs and student government; taking over Middle East Studies departments with anti-Zionist lecturers; anti-Israel and anti-Semitic speakers on campus; etc. These are the manifestations that make campuses feel unwelcoming to Jews which showcase the animus towards the “Chosen People” and God’s “Promised Land.”
It can be very overwhelming to young adults who are simply looking for a quality education and a nice time on campus to deal with such organized hate. Fortunately, there are groups who can help students understand that they are not alone in confronting the mob. It is easier to be courageous with company.
College groups like Students Supporting Israel are springing up on various campuses. StandWithUs gives students materials and information to stand up to misinformation and malicious activities. Fuel for Truth focuses on pro-Israel education for young adults. Club Z is helping train teens to be articulate proactive Zionist leaders. Hillel provides students a Jewish experience on campus. The Louis Brandies Center helps students understand their legal rights when confronting abuse. Students should visit these institutions on a regular basis and not be reactive to negative events on campus.
Each organization uses a variety of approaches in combatting the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel venom. An example may be handing out notices in front of the “apartheid wall” exhibit, about Neta Sorek, an Israeli teacher and feminist who was a strong supporter of making peace with Palestinian Arabs. She was slaughtered while walking in a monastery garden by two Palestinian men who slipped through that “apartheid wall.”
Of course, there’s always the excellent choice of attending Yeshiva University, a proudly Jewish and Zionist university, among the top ranked universities, where the demand to be courageous for Jewish values and the Jewish State is commonplace.
It is a sad state of affairs that one has to talk about the courage required to be Jewish and a proud Zionist on college campuses today. We must prepare our children appropriately, and support those organizations which stand with them in these critical and volatile years.
Americans are engaged in an emotional debate about the nature of American society and how it should be taught in schools. Some left-wing activists have put forward the notion that America’s basic foundation was not about equality as stated in the Declaration of Independence but about slavery and inequality which existed at the time, and continue to permeate society. These progressive activists have been effective at changing school curricula based on ‘Critical Race Theory’ (CRT), banning certain books as being insensitive and promoting others which challenge the premise that America is a welcoming multi-cultural society with a narrative that it is actually systematically racist and biased towards White people.
For example, in New York City, a school is having 7th and 8th graders engage in a two-day exercise to “undo the legacy of racism and oppression in this country that impacts our school community.” California approved a program for high school students based on CRT. The list of schools continues to grow.
It has not been without controversy.
Many Americans strongly object to teaching White children that they are inherently racist or should be embarrassed about what White people did hundreds of years ago. Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice (a Black woman) said “People are being taught the true history, but I just have to say one more thing: It goes back to how we teach the history. We teach the good and we teach the bad of history. But what we don’t do is make 7- and 10-year-olds feel that they are somehow bad people because of the color of their skin. We’ve been through that, and we don’t need to do that again for anyone.“
Over 100,000 people voiced their displeasure with the California school action. In Virginia, the Democratic hopeful for governor incorrectly repeatedly said (aka lied) that CRT was not being taught in lower schools, and lost his election bid due to the anger of the electorate. Many American parents vociferously object to a new form of racism to be taught in the classroom and are demanding a voice.
The dynamic inside of Palestinian schools is even more problematic, with deadly consequences.
Palestinian Schools Educate Youth to Murder Israeli Jews
The culture of murder starts for Palestinian youth as they approach their schools which are often named after terrorists, like Dalal al-Mughrabi, who killed 38 Israelis including 13 children. The Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School in Hebron lets students know that terrorism is a way to gain fame and glory. According to Palestinian Media Watch, there are at least 28 Palestinian schools named after terrorists and over 40 more schools with names that glorify martyrdom.
Inside of the schools, classrooms are filled with calls for violence and “martyrdom.”
In Hebron, the Wasyah Al-Rasoul elementary school for boys has classes in which teachers glorify Dalal’s attack. In Jerusalem, textbooks describe the firebombing of Israeli buses as “barbeque parties.” Social studies textbooks call for the use of “armed force” against the “Zionist Occupation.” Math textbooks use examples of the number of “martyrs” killed by “Israeli occupation against the holy sites of Islam.“
In May 2021, IMPACT-SE, a group that monitors Arab textbooks, published a report about what is being taught in Palestinian grades 1 through 12. It is an important read (to donate to IMPACT-SE click here) and can be summarized by the following excerpt:
“The latest IMPACT-se analysis of the new Palestinian curriculum found it has moved further from meeting UNESCO standards and the newly published textbooks were found to be more radical than those previously published. There is a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects. Extreme nationalism and Islamist ideologies are widespread throughout the curriculum, including science and math textbooks. The possibility of peace with Israel is rejected. Any historical Jewish presence in the modern-day territories of Israel and the Palestinian Authority is entirely omitted from the textbooks.“
The vile lesson plans were not confined to Palestinian Authority schools but were found widespread in the United Nations’ UNRWA schools as well.
The consequences of teaching violence and hatred are not surprising as seen recently by attacks by Palestinian teachers and youth.
Pictures showing the 14-year-old Palestinian terrorist with her knapsack of schoolbooks and the knife she plunged into her Jewish neighbor’s back (photos from IMPACT-SE)
Teaching violence produces violence.
US Politicians on Palestinians’ ‘Critical Jew Theory’
Some western governments have tried to stop the incitement to terror in Palestinian schools but have often found that their efforts failed due to Palestinians flatly refusing to change their stance on armed confrontation with Israeli Jews.
Belgium strongly objected to having its donations fund a school named after a terrorist and freezed funds on October 9, 2017. In response, on August 23, 2018, the Palestinian Authority changed ‘The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Elementary School’ to ‘The Belgian School’, seemingly ending the matter. Not so. Within three days, the PA named TWO schools not funded with Belgian donations after the terrorist, a spit in the face of all Belgians.
In the United States, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) re-introduced the ‘Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act’ on April 5, 2021. Jointly co-sponsored by a bipartisan group including Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), and Rep. David Trone (D-MD), the act sought to “ensure U.S. taxpayer dollars promote dignity and tolerance, and that the educational materials such schools employ do not incite hatred” in Palestinian textbooks. It seemed not remotely controversial.
But not for progressives.
In response to the proposal for peace, far-left anti-Israel politicians brought forth their own bill to “protect” Palestinian youth. On April 15, 2021, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) urged that “Congress must stop ignoring the unjust and blatantly cruel mistreatment of Palestinian children and families living under Israeli military occupation.” She was joined by a list of alt-left politicians in co-sponsoring the legislation including Bobby L. Rush (IL-01), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Andre Carson (IN-07), Marie Newman (IL-03), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Cori Bush (MO-01), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04).
These progressives seek protection for the 16- and 14-year-old Palestinians who attacked Israelis and are seemingly fine with the hateful venom taught in Palestinian schools.
For US politicians the educational battle is not confined to US schools but Palestinian ones as well, pitting the alt-left ideology against everyone, including moderate Democrats.
On November 16, just a few days before a member of the Palestinian political-terrorist group HAMAS who taught in Palestinian schools shot and killed an unarmed Israeli civilian, the Sherman proposal for teaching peace advanced in the senate. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) advanced the act, stating “The Middle East will never experience peace until Palestinians stop teaching their kids to hate Israel, and American dollars should not fund this anti-Jewish propaganda. The Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act would give us a closer look at what Palestinian schools are teaching and whether or not American money is supporting antisemitism.“
Unfortunately, Palestinian children are not only taught violence and hatred in schools funded by the misguided charitable urges of western governments, but are becoming a protected class for alt-left politicians who excuse every attempt to murder Jews.
While ‘Critical Race Theory’ is being advanced by radical progressives to besmirch all White Americans, ‘Critical Jew Theory’ continues to be instilled in Palestinian schools to attack Zionists, with the ongoing support of those same alt-left extremists.
Links to contact politicians referenced above to share your thoughts:
The Jewish holiday of Chanukah celebrates Jews rededicating their holy Temple in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago. The physical manifestations of today’s celebrations include additional prayers as well as the lighting a menorah in a slightly different form than the one that existed at the Temple, as that one had seven branches while the ones lit today have eight. The eight branches commemorate the eight days that the small jug of oil found at the Temple was able to keep the menorah lit until new batches of purified oil were made and brought to Jerusalem.
Lighting menorah on the seventh night of Chanukah at the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, December 2021 (photo: FirstOneThrough)
Modern commemorations do not focus on the many battles fought by the Jewish fighters over the Greeks. That is a mistake. It is time to use the holiday to fight the current global slander about Jewish Jerusalem. Just as the historic Jewish Maccabees fought dozens of warriors riding elephants in the fields of the land of Israel, we must confront and defeat the elephants in the room: the lies of Muslim appeasement that have been allowed to fester in discussions about the Jewish State’s capital city.
Eight Attestations On Jerusalem
Jews have an Inalienable Right to pray on Temple Mount
Banning Jews from living and praying in their holiest city is blatant anti-Semitism, as is denying Jewish history
There is no “Judaizing” Jerusalem, as Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since the 1860’s, and have devoted themselves to the city since 1000BCE
The security of Israel demands that its capital sit well within its borders
Divided capitals are a function of war, not peace. The place known as “East Jerusalem” only existed for a few years, 1949-1967
No part of Jerusalem was ever contemplated to be part of Palestine. Not only is “East Jerusalem” not an actual city, but there is no basis to call it “Occupied Palestinian Territory”
Jerusalem Arabs have been and are offered Israeli citizenship
There is no ethnic cleansing of Arabs. The Arab population in Jerusalem has grown faster than Jews since Israel reunited city
These plain facts are challenged repeatedly on the world stage to such an extent, that some of these statements appear extreme, further underscoring the importance of repeating them clearly. Everyone should write their local papers and elected officials about these facts, share the statements on social media and counter the lies loudly whenever seen.
Jews have an Inalienable Right to Pray on Temple Mount
There are a handful of basic rights that all human beings have, such as control of their persons and ability to follow a religion of their choice. It extends beyond borders and sovereignty and relates to individuals and communities as declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Whether one likes or recognizes a particular government, the right to practice and worship belongs to that person as an individual and member of a faith-based group.
So while some may think the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a terrible regime, no one would deny that Muslims should have a right to pray in their holy cities of Mecca and Medina in the KSA. A person need not be a Catholic or think that the Vatican is a legitimate government to affirm the right of Catholics to come to the St. Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City.
So it is for Jews on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Regardless of one’s opinion of the State of Israel, Jews from around the world have an inalienable right to pray at their holiest location.
Banning Jews from living and praying in their holiest city is blatant anti-Semitism, as is denying Jewish history
The United Nations has sided with the dozens of Muslim countries at the United Nations in support of banning Jews from living and praying in their holiest city. They have declared that Jews praying at the Temple Mount is a “provocation,” inverting cause-and-effect in a logic that would declare Blacks moving into a neighborhood a provocation to White Supremacists.
To defend the illogic as not anti-Semitism, Muslim Arabs have challenged the basic history of Jews that the Temple did not exist, and if it did, it was not in Jerusalem. They even go so far as to declare that Jesus was not a Jew but a Palestinian Muslim. These are not just outrageous fabrications but additional forms of vile anti-Semitism.
There is no “Judaizing” Jerusalem, as Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since the 1860’s, and have devoted themselves to the city since 1000BCE
Jews have focused their religion on Jerusalem since King David moved the capital city from Hebron to Jerusalem around 1000BCE. His son Solomon built the First Jewish Temple there, and it has been the center of Jewish prayer since that time. Regardless of where Jews lived or what foreign power controlled the Jewish holy land, Jews directed prayers and prayed about Jerusalem.
It is therefore no wonder that Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since the 1860’s. Jews moved to, lived and prayed in the city before the introduction of modern Zionism. There are over 70,000 Jews buried in eastern Jerusalem, many from hundreds of years ago. Today’s State of Israel protects (or should protect) the rights of Jews in Jerusalem, but that political entity is separate from the deep Jewish roots and connection to the holy city.
The security of Israel demands that its capital sit well within its borders
Israel is a very small and skinny country with many neighbors. Several of those neighbors do not recognize the country’s right to exist and are at an official state of war with the Jewish State.
Israel’s capital city sits roughly in the center of the country, including the Israeli territory of Area C. Theoretically, not including Area C would place Jerusalem abutting another state. No country puts its capital city at risk in such fashion, even if it were at peace with its neighbors. There is no statement – however well intentioned – that can both support the security of Israel AND suggest the capital of Jerusalem be adjacent to another country.
Chanukah lights in the Old City of Jerusalem, November 2021 (photos: FirstOneThrough)
Divided capitals are functions of war, not peace. The place known as “East Jerusalem” only existed for a few years, 1949-1967
“East Jerusalem” similarly existed during a period of war between Muslim Arab states and Israel. Its existence was merely the result of the Armistice Lines established in 1949 between Israel and Jordan, which specifically stated that the lines were not to be construed as actual borders. The city was reunified in 1967 after Jordan attacked Israel again, just as it had in 1948. The brief, unhappy nineteen years of division came to an end decades ago.
No part of Jerusalem was ever contemplated to be part of Palestine. Not only is “East Jerusalem” not an actual city, but there is no basis to call it “Occupied Palestinian Territory”
Despite historic facts, the United Nations refers to “East Jerusalem” as an actual place and describes it as “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” This is fiction twice over. Not only does East Jerusalem not exist, it was never contemplated to be part of a Palestinian State, even by the United Nations.
Jerusalem Arabs have been and are offered Israeli citizenship
Israel has continued to offer all Arabs in the eastern portion of Jerusalem Israeli citizenship since it officially annexed the area. Thousands of Arabs have taken that citizenship and thousands more have applied. These Israeli Arabs have the same rights as other Israeli citizens.
Not that you would ever learn such facts from listening to Palestinian Arabs, the United Nations or their propaganda outlets in the media.
There is no ethnic cleansing of Arabs. The Arab population in Jerusalem has grown faster than Jews since Israel reunited city
The Arab population in Jerusalem has ballooned, especially relative to the Jewish population. From 1990 to 2019, the Arab population grew 3.4 times while the Jewish population grew only 1.9 times. Over that same period, housing for Arabs in the city grew by 188% while it only grew by 64% for Jews. When Israel reunified the city in 1967, Arabs made up 26% of the city’s population while they constitute 36% today.
Smears that Jews are “ethnically cleansing” Arabs are not only patently false, but attempt to whitewash the history of Muslim Arabs ethnically-cleansing Jews from Judea and Samaria in 1949, and from various countries like Morocco, Syria and Egypt in the decades after the founding of Israel.
Menorah at the Kotel, November 2021 (photo: FirstOneThrough)
The world is being barraged by outright lies about Jerusalem, including on the rights of Jews and the actions of Israel. We must all do our part to spread the light of truth in the face of anti-Semitism that grows increasingly darker and more bold.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) laid out 30 principles which all people are afforded around the world. The United Nations often quotes it, except when it relates to Jews.
UDHR Article 2 states that all people all entitled to rights and freedoms, regardless of “race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” That clearly covers Jews – even those from Israel or from disputed territories.
UDHR Article 18 covers faith, including its practices: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” Many Muslim countries trample on the ability to change religion, banning apostasy in their constitutions, a flagrant violation of the UDHR which is never discussed at the United Nations due to Muslim Privilege.
The ability for Jews to pray as is their historic custom and right is not ignored at the UN, but countered in a ban outrageously embraced and enshrined.
The Jewish Temple Mount
The holiest location for Jews is the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been the center of Jewish focus and prayer for over 3,000 years, after King David moved the Jewish people’s capital there from Hebron, and his son, King Solomon, built the First Temple. For most of the first thousand years, Jews had a temple at different times on the site, offering animal sacrifices in accordance with the direction of the Hebrew bible. After the Second Temple was destroyed in 70CE, Jews still climbed the mount to offer silent prayer, and did so for 1,500 years.
The Ottomans came to the Jewish holy land in 1517, and Suleiman I (1494-1566) rebuilt much of Jerusalem including the iconic city walls. As part of his vast Jerusalem projects, he kicked the Jews off of the Temple Mount and afforded them a small sliver of the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount – the Western Wall or Kotel – for prayer. Jews have effectively been banned from praying on their holiest site since that time.
The Ottoman Empire ended in 1916 but the world did not consider addressing the catastrophic dangers of deeply-rooted anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia until after World War II and the Holocaust of European Jewry.
The Enabling Hands Blocking Jewish Prayer Rights
In December 1948, the world sought to put an end to wars and hatreds and drew up the UDHR in the hope that people could be respectful to others who are different. The mention of religion in the articles was a direct result of the atrocities which befell Jews at the hands of non-Jews, as described in the preamble, regarding the “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.“
Yet as the global body drafted these rights, the Jewish State was fighting for its very survival against several invading Arab armies. The invading Jordanian army ethnically-cleansed all Jews from the eastern part of the holy land, including the Old City of Jerusalem, just a few years after the Holocaust. The Jordanians went on to ban Jews from even visiting or praying in the city, including at the Kotel and Temple Mount.
The vile Muslim anti-Semitism was addressed when Jordan attacked Israel again in June 1967 and lost its illegally seized lands, enabling Jews to move into their holy city once again. However, to facilitate a ceasefire with the various Muslim countries which had tried to destroy the Jewish State, Israel allowed the Jordanian Waqf to continue to administer the Temple Mount and maintain its ban on Jewish prayer.
To this day, the United Nations demands a change in the status quo of Israel controlling the eastern part of Jerusalem including the Old City, while simultaneously demanding maintaining the anti-Semitic policy of banning Jews from praying at their holiest site. It’s practical madness, in trying to appease the dozens of Muslim UN member nations while trampling on the basic human rights of Jews.
This Chanukah, at a time when Jews around the world place their menorahs in their windows to show the world that they celebrate Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount, let’s demand that the government of the State of Israel assert with clarity that the dignity of Jews matters. Jews have an inalienable right to pray at their holiest location, the Jewish Temple Mount.
Menorah at the Kotel, beneath the holiest site for Jews where the original seven-branched menorah stood on the Temple Mount.
First One Through 
