The quarterly Palestinian poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) came out in December 2023 and primarily focused on the October 7 Hamas attack and Israeli response. The findings echoed the poll results of the Arab World For Research and Development which found that West Bank Arabs were even more supportive of the Hamas attacks than Gazans (82% to 57%) with three-quarters overall approving the attack. Hamas’s popularity similarly rises in the hearts and minds of Palestinian Arabs.
The PCPSR poll also asked about terrorism as it relates to Jewish “settlers.” The October 7 Hamas attack was referred to as “armed struggle” six times in the poll, while “terrorism” was mentioned eight times, each connected to Jewish “settlers.”
That is the essence of Palestinian Arabs and their supporters today. They believe that ending the “occupation” and presence of “settlers” is a just cause, and the most effective way to achieve that goal is through armed combat. In the West Bank, 68% of Arabs now believe that “armed struggle” is the best means of “ending the occupation and building an independent state.” That figure is 56% in Gaza, where Palestinian Arabs already have self-determination.
This is a continuation of a trend that gained momentum one year ago, as West Bankers have “a greater confidence in the efficacy of armed struggle,” as described in a December 2022 PCPSR poll, and believe that Israel will soon cease to exist.
Curiously, few believe that ending “occupation” was the goal of the October 7 massacre. Most believe it was in response to “settler attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque and West Bank residents, and for the release of Palestinian prisoners.” Perhaps they marked the aims with more modest goals to prove the attack to ultimately be a success.
#FakeNews #JihadiFakeNews of Jews “storming” the Temple Mount
Hamas named the sadistic October 7 massacre the “al Aqsa Flood” as they attempt to purge Jews from the Temple Mount and Israel. They view the basic presence of Jews as a violation of the “sanctity” of Islamic holy places, both in Jerusalem and the entirety of the land.
For Palestinian Arabs, all Israeli Jews are “settlers,” both inside and outside the 1948 lines. The presence of Jews is “terrorism,” whether committing acts of violence or not. To address the matter, Muslims are engaged in jihad, an “armed struggle” to purge the land of the infidels.
According to PCPSR, “The overwhelming majority of [Palestinian Arab] respondents say that they have not seen videos from international or social media showing atrocities committed by Hamas members against Israeli civilians that day, such as the killing of women and children in their homes. Indeed, more than 90% believe that Hamas fighters did not commit the atrocities contained in these videos.“
If they did, would it matter? Would they imagine that it was Israeli and western propaganda made with artificial intelligence? Would they ascribe the actions to a handful of individuals and say that they do not speak for Islam? They believe their cause is just and will support (or ignore) any actions to achieve those aims.
There are two important take-aways from this: 1) some causes are manufactured (Jews storming al Aqsa) and the propaganda around it produces violence; and 2) the danger in believing that violence pays rewards is real.
Some quick thoughts on addressing these.
Combatting Jihadist Propaganda Around Al Aqsa
United Nations confirms that people of all faiths – including Jews – have a right to peacefully visit the Temple Mount / al Aqsa Compound in the Old City of Jerusalem
Israel’s Muslim allies, including Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and UAE, should visit the Temple Mount together with Israeli leaders in a show of solidarity and openness for each other
Ending Notion In The Efficacy of Violence
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres must clearly state and demand that Hamas perpetrators be brought to justice, something he has repeatedly failed to do, including after the October 7 massacre
Global support for Israel eliminating Hamas, a genocidal group with the most antisemitic foundational charter ever written, which has widespread Palestinian support. Palestinians must be redirected towards coexistence, not war
UNSG Guterres, Saudi Arabia and Israel’s Arab allies should state clearly that there is no “right of return” for Palestinian Arabs to Israel. Any future settlement will be in a new Palestinian State, hopefully finally ending the Arab quest to destroy the Jewish State
Palestinians refuse to acknowledge their own terrorism, regardless of its barbarity, and manufacture violence by Jews even when none exists. Ending the current fighting is a near-term goal which must include the foundation for ending future violence, or the current events will certainly be repeated.
On June 4, 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech to the House of Commons after the successful evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk, France. It is famous for its ending lines “we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,” as shown remarkably in the movie Darkest Hour (2017). It is remembered as a call to arms and a pivotal turn for the people of England to shift from a demoralized retreat to a unifying rally to defeat the Nazis.
But there is more to Churchill’s famous speech, and potential lessons for Israel in the wake of the horrific attack by Palestinian Arab terrorists on October 7. It covered the narrative of the battle; rallying the home front for war; moving the battle from defensive to offensive; addressing a ‘fifth column’; preparing for a long war; and an appeal to other allies.
Churchill flashing a “V” for victory sign, 5 June 1943
The speech was around 3,800 words which dealt primarily with the battle in Europe and the evacuation of British soldiers who were surrounded by German troops. Churchill leaned into the situation with lots of detail, as in the era before the Internet, cellphones and Go Pros, Churchill was able to control the narrative to his countrymen.
He particularly focused on the air battle, even though the evacuation was by sea: “The enemy attacked on all sides with great strength and fierceness, and their main power, the power of their far more numerous Air Force, was thrown into the battle or else concentrated upon Dunkirk and the beaches.” He continued to lay out the picture of the skies above before the massive evacuation effort. “Meanwhile, the Royal Navy, with the willing help of countless merchant seamen, strained every nerve to embark the British and Allied troops; 220 light warships and 650 other vessels were engaged,” using statistics to give a sense of scale.
Roughly half-way through Churchill’s recounting of the battle, he began to debunk a counter-narrative he feared would be shared by those who assisted in the evacuation. “Many of our soldiers coming back have not seen the Air Force at work; they saw only the bombers which escaped its protective attack. They underrate its achievements. I have heard much talk of this; that is why I go out of my way to say this. I will tell you about it.” Churchill’s goal was to boost morale and give the British confidence in the nation’s ability to fight the Germans. “When we consider how much greater would be our advantage in defending the air above this Island against an overseas attack, I must say that I find in these facts a sure basis upon which practical and reassuring thoughts may rest. I will pay my tribute to these young airmen.”
After admitting to the losses incurred in the fight, Churchill directed his attention to the war effort at home: “How long it will be, how long it will last, depends upon the exertions which we make in this Island. An effort the like of which has never been seen in our records is now being made. Work is proceeding everywhere, night and day, Sundays and weekdays. Capital and Labor have cast aside their interests, rights, and customs and put them into the common stock,” reviewing the unity in fighting the terrible foreign foe.
Churchill would go on to discuss rumors of a German invasion of England and said “The whole question of home defense against invasion is, of course, powerfully affected by the fact that we have for the time being in this Island incomparably more powerful military forces than we have ever had at any moment in this war or the last. But this will not continue. We shall not be content with a defensive war. We have our duty to our Ally,” which was France’s battle against the common German foe.
Churchill then directed attention to German sympathizers. “We have found it necessary to take measures of increasing stringency, not only against enemy aliens and suspicious characters of other nationalities, but also against British subjects who may become a danger or a nuisance should the war be transported to the United Kingdom. I know there are a great many people affected by the orders which we have made who are the passionate enemies of Nazi Germany. I am very sorry for them, but we cannot, at the present time and under the present stress, draw all the distinctions which we should like to do. If parachute landings were attempted and fierce fighting attendant upon them followed, these unfortunate people would be far better out of the way, for their own sakes as well as for ours. There is, however, another class, for which I feel not the slightest sympathy. Parliament has given us the powers to put down Fifth Column activities with a strong hand, and we shall use those powers subject to the supervision and correction of the House, without the slightest hesitation until we are satisfied, and more than satisfied, that this malignancy in our midst has been effectively stamped out.”
While Churchill understood that Britain’s setting up internment camps for Germans in the UK – including many Jews who had escaped the Nazi regime – was an unfortunate matter which the pressure of war necessitated, he intended on using “a strong hand” against “this malignancy in our midst,” those in the UK who were effectively German agents.
Churchill concluded his speech that the UK should have the means to defend itself as well as come to the aid of its ally. “I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.” He noted that should the government and army fail in its war effort, it would hope that allies in the New World – the United States – would come to its aid. “we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old,” that is, the United States coming to the aid of England.
Churchill brilliantly readied his nation for war against an evil enemy.
Winston Churchill (right) and Herbert Samuel walking to the site of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, March 1921 (photo: Central Zionist Archives)
Over one year later, as Churchill learned the extent of the barbarity of the enemy, regarding Nazi atrocities against Jews. He called for finding justice for individuals: “It is quite clear that all concerned in this crime who may fall into our hands, including the people who only obeyed orders by carrying out the butcheries, should be put to death after their association with the murders has been proved.”
Churchill’s words echo in 2023 for the Jewish State.
Israel Post-October 7
Israel was terribly unprepared when its people were sadistically butchered on October 7 by Palestinian Arab terrorists. Not only were 1,200 people massacred and 240 taken hostage, it took the army a long time to respond to the attack. The powerful army failed miserably and needed to unite to fight back.
Israel had been bitterly divided for months before the attack regarding judicial reform which pit “Capital and Labor” against each other. The horrific 10/7 carnage brought everyone together to fight the common foe, as a speech by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu was not needed, as everyone saw the images and heard the news on phones in their pockets.
The Jewish State slowly formed a broad government to include military leaders to help prosecute the war against Hamas in Gaza, as well as prepare for possible other fronts, including against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the north, various terrorist groups in the east in Area A of the West Bank, towards the southeast from the Houthis in Yemen, and the main sponsor of all of them, the Islamic Republic of Iran in the northeast, which is on the verge of nuclear weapons capabilities.
The threats surrounding Israel are large and existential.
Despite the threats, Israel has not taken the course of the UK above nor of the United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, of setting up internment camps for people “who may become a danger or a nuisance,” such as 26% of the country which is non-Jewish. Fortunately, Israeli Arabs have not repeated their attacks on Israeli Jews as they did in May 2021. Hopefully that spectacle will never be necessary and there will be no need to confront “Fifth Column activities” inside Israel.
Churchill knew the enormity of the battle, as does Israel.
Immediately after the October 7, 2023 Massacre, Israel assembled a force of 350,000 troops to respond to Hamas, determined to destroy it. The Jewish State received support from its key ally, the United States, which quickly sent a strong naval presence off the coast of Lebanon in an effort to limit the Israeli battles to a single front in Gaza.
It appeared that Israel would not be left to fight its enemies alone.
But the United States has a deep rot, a “malignancy in our midst” to quote Churchill, of allies of Hamas who celebrated the rape of Israeli women and burning families alive under the banner of “any means necessary.” The Insidious Jihad in America is pressuring the Biden Administration in an election year to cave to the wave of Jew hatred, to leave Israel to fight Iran and its proxies alone.
Natan Sharansky, a famous Zionist Jew imprisoned in the Soviet Union who ultimately was freed, spoke (16:30) in Washington DC at a 300,000-person November 14 rally against antisemitism, for Israel and for a release of the hostages. He did not reserve his condemnation solely for Hamas but also American universities which celebrated the “liberation” of Gaza and slaughter of innocent Jews. He channeled Winston Churchill’s famous remarks and said (22:15) “We, together, will fight against those who try to give legitimacy to Hamas. We will fight for Israel. We will fight for every Jew. We will fight against antisemitism. We will fight for the values and against corruption of those values which are at the center of our Jewish identity and American identity.”
It was a speech by a man without portfolio, without an army. He called on the Jewish people to fight Hamas’s Willing Executioners in the halls of Congress, in university lecture halls and those storming the streets.
Natan Sharansky talking at November 14, 2023 DC rally against antisemitism (photo:FirstOneThrough)
A month later, President Biden gave Israel until the end of the year to end the war, even if Hamas remains functional and able to carry out the October 7 massacre again as it has promised to do, and even if hostages are still trapped in Gaza. It will test Israel’s resolve to continue to fight against the evil on its borders, “if necessary for years, if necessary alone.” It remains to be seen if the American government will similarly leave diaspora Jews alone in their fight against antisemitism, or put it down aggressively whether coming from the alt-right or the alt-left, the radical jihadists or Black antisemites.
The war against the existence of Israel in the Middle East has reared its head again, just like 1947, and against global Jewry as it did in the preceding decade. The prosecution of the war for the Jewish State is being led by the Israeli government. Who will lead the fight against global antisemitism remains frighteningly uncertain.
College is the first time that many young people live away from home. Young adults find new friends and community to experience learning and fun for several important formative years.
Alas, it is not always simple for Jews at universities.
Campus antisemitism has been a growing issue, and after the October 7 Hamas massacre, it has escalated and made Jewish students fear for their basic safety. Threats against students at Cornell, Cooper Union, New York University, Columbia and Hunter College are seemingly mentioned daily.
And that’s just in New York, home to the largest population of Jews outside of Israel.
As the current Gaza War is likely to go on for some time, it is likely that the tepid reaction of universities will enable more antisemitism on campuses, so this article is meant as a guide for how to ingest the latest incidents.
First Framework: 98% and 2% of Campuses with Jews
In the United States, there are roughly 5,300 colleges. Of those, roughly 100 have a Jewish presence of note, whether by number of Jewish students, percentage of Jews or those with a visibly Orthodox presence. That means that 98% of American colleges might have antisemitic incidents that do not actively harm Jews at that moment in time. While the toxicity of antisemitism spreading should not be overlooked, the antisemitism may go unnoticed and unreported.
The figures may hold true for other countries with large Jewish populations including Canada, United Kingdom and France. While there are many fewer universities there, it is likely that 90%-plus percentage of them have under-reported antisemitic occurrences.
Second Framework: The Three Groups of Antisemitic Actors
Antisemitism at universities have three principle actors: the alt-right, jihadists and the alt-left.
The alt-right and neo-Nazis were historically viewed as the classic antisemites. While the alt-right continues to taunt and attack Jews, they have a quiet presence thus far at the two percent of universities where most Jews attend. They have greater voices in the other 98% of campuses so that antisemitism is often unreported.
When White Supremacists marched at the University of Virginia in 2017, the world took notice. There wasn’t a need for the Hillel, which claims there are 1,000 Jews at UVA, to alert the press as everyone was shocked by the scale of the provocative march meant to intimidate the relatively small Jewish population and other minorities.
The jihadists have been gaining significant ground since the turn of the century. Led by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the pro-Hamas group has roughly 250 chapters around the United States, including almost all of the 2% schools which Jews attend including the large state universities (Florida, Michigan, Maryland, Indiana, Wisconsin), the City of New York/ State of New York and University of California school systems, as well as the Ivy League schools. Their presence on campus directly correlates to more antisemitic actions on campuses as shown by work done by the AMCHA Initiative.
In the current environment after the October 7 Hamas attack, they are a leading cause of anti-Jewish hostility on campus, and Jews are directly feeling the brunt of their extremism and hatred.
The third category of antisemites comes from the alt-left, such as groups associated with the Democratic Socialists of America. They are profoundly anti-Zionist, and have falsely labeled Israel as a “settler colonial state”, denying Jews their history and heritage in the holy land. Since the 2014/15 Black Lives Matter protests, socialists have bonded with the jihadists in coming for Jews and Zionists. Like the jihadists, they are found in almost school where Jews are located.
The cumulative effect is that one doesn’t hear much about campus antisemitism from the alt-right, especially during conflicts in the Middle East. If one hears about it at all, it will be from something major like the “United the Right” UVA march which included many people from outside the university.
In contrast, jihadists feel uncomfortably close with their daily confrontations with Jews and the spectacle is frightening.
The alt-left socialists feel even closer for progressive Jews. They belong to the same clubs and advocated for many of the same causes. To see them celebrating the murder and butchering of Jews is deeply hurtful and shocking.
Third Framework: The Three Levels at Universities
The third way to consider antisemitism is understanding the three tiers of a university: the institution, the teachers and the students.
Groups like SJP are made up of students and tend to be the most vocal actors on campuses. They stage die-ins, put on Israel Apartheid Weeks and are the ones generally responsible for vandalism. The university has little sway over them, other than the ability to not officially recognize them or allow them to hold events on campus grounds, or expel them if they go against rules of conduct.
Teachers are directly employed by the university so the institution has much greater influence on them. However, once a teacher gets tenure, it becomes very difficult to discipline them unless they do something egregious.
The institutions are businesses, whether they are not-for-profit or for-profit, public or private universities. They need funding, students, professors, accreditation, real estate and many other things to operate. As such, it is possible to impact their direction by donors and federal mandates.
Using these three lenses about universities, one can better evaluate the impact of campus antisemitism.
Examining Donors Via The Frameworks
Many wealthy Jewish university benefactors lashed out about the state of antisemitism on campuses. Marc Rowan, Bill Ackman, Leon Cooperman, David Magerman and others stated that they will no longer send universities millions of dollars as they have in the past.
It matters much less than they think. Not only do the universities have billions of dollars already in endowments, but the monies those benefactors spent were on hospitals and center for the arts and to put their names on buildings. The Jews gave money at the institutional level.
That is in sharp contrast to the Gulf states including Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Foreign forces gave over $10 billion to American universities at every level including the student and professor levels. At the institutional level, they spent money opening up campuses in their kingdoms to legitimize their autocratic regimes.
At the student level, the governments sent tens of thousands of students onto American campuses, changing the nature of the schools. The universities appreciate the fully-funded tuitions and the ability to appear diverse and international. In the 2015/6 school year, over 61,000 Saudi students attended American schools. That represented 0.2% of the entire population of Saudi Arabia to a single country. By way of comparison, the ENTIRE American students abroad cohort all over the world is around 162,000, or 0.05% of the U.S. population. Imagine 650,000 American college students all going to Brazil for college, and you get the absurdity of what transpired on American campuses with petrodollars.
The Gulf money also funded professors and chairs of departments. In July 2000, the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, donated $2.5 million to the Harvard Divinity School to endow the Sheik Zayed Al Nahyan Professorship in Islamic Religious Studies. Within a short period of time, the Zayed Center became a noxious fountain of anti-Semitic screed complete with Holocaust denials and blood libels. It took the non-profit group The David Project and a student at the Harvard Divinity School, Rachel Fish, to loudly protest the donation and Center itself.
But the damage is often already done. With an application of two students and approval of a professor, a new SJP chapter comes to campus. The AMCHA Initiative has shown that campuses with five or more professors who support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israel and has an anti-Zionist group like SJP on campus, is over seven times more likely to have antisemitic incidents.
These professors actively push the antisemitic narrative to Decolonize Palestine, framing Jews as interlopers and the Jewish State as a European Colonial State. It is inherently antisemitic, as it negates Jewish heritage and history. The professors claim that it is worthy of debate and administrations remain silent.
Ramifications
Historically, Jews focused on choosing schools with a good Jewish campus life. If there was a Hillel, AEPi Jewish fraternity, Chabad or OU-JLIC couple on campus, students and parents felt comfortable with a supportive environment. Walking through campus and seeing Jewish names on buildings like Stern and Lauder gave people comfort that they would not confront antisemitism.
That is simply not the case.
The correct questions are whether the university has an SJP or Jewish Voice for Peace on campus. Does the university take millions of dollars from Gulf states? Are there tenured professors with a history of antisemitic remarks like Columbia’s Joseph Massad? Does it promote the antisemitic libel that Jews have no history in the holy land and that it is noble to “normalize and globalize Hamas” the way Brown University suggests?
Action Items
The jihadists have focused on American universities for twenty years, and the alt-left has long had a hold on campus life but only bonded with the jihadists since 2014/5. It will take time to undo the damage that has been done.
But there are several things which can be effectuated to start the change. For those who don’t want or cannot wait, consider Yeshiva University or Touro which are Jewish institutions with no jihadist groups and very few members of the alt-left.
Get universities to stop taking money from toxic regimes. Qatar openly supports the terrorist group Hamas. Saudi Arabia beheads minors. There must be some human rights bright lines which should block universities from taking money. At a minimum, there should be a cap of say $5 million over any five year period for any foreign government or agency to pour money into American schools.
Label SJP a hate group and kick them off campus. With seven times more antisemitic incidents with their presence, the groups should be blocked from school recognition.
Place a morality clause in all contracts. If misgendering someone can be cause for dismissal, then certainly celebrating the slaughter of babies and raping of women should result in immediate firings.
Get the Biden Administration to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism as it relates to Title VI for universities. The administration already approved it as the best working definition of antisemitism but has not applied it to Title VI which would pull government funding to universities that allow rampant anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
Expel foreign students involved in hate crimes. Universities like MIT have been loathe to suspend foreign students as it would result in their deportation. American Jews should not be forced to endure visiting students’ antisemitism because the university wants to keep the foreign nation’s tuition funnel flowing.
Support Jewish and Israel groups. OU-JLIC, Hillel and other groups need active support, as do external groups which help out university students like StandWithUs and Students Supporting Israel. The infrastructure must be continuously enhanced for a strong Jewish campus life.
Get benefactors to fund Jewish scholarships and Jewish and Israel studies departments. Just like the Gulf states, Jewish benefactors should fund scholarships for Jews to their alma maters as well as professors focused on Jewish studies.
Write about the problem. Penning letters to the school administrators, posting on social media, and telling members of congress and governors about the horrific situation on campuses will help drive change. Write letters to the media that they must cover campus antisemitism more regularly and honestly.
Campus antisemitism is at alarming levels. You can help.
The riders of the sugar storm went to Brooklyn again this year, focused on Flatbush. We started at Schreiber’s which is usually at the end of the trip, because we picked up an important taster who had just flown in from Israel into JFK Airport after ten days of volunteering after the horrible October 7 massacre. We hoped the sugar would alleviate the jet lag and stress.
All of the bakeries we tried were good, as this was our fifth year going to Brooklyn, and have eliminated those bakeries which did not score at least a “6” in the overall ranking in the past. We were sugared out after five locations, so did not make it to some favorites like Ostrovitsky’s.
Schreiber’s Homestyle Bakery, 3008 Avenue M
Per tradition, we immediately picked up Schreiber’s lace cookies which are amazing. We grabbed dairy cheese sufganiyot from the back of the store to bring to a niece who said they were amazing. We sampled the pareve selection which were just mediocre. The pistachio one only had pistachios on the outside but no pistachio flavor inside. The dough was too heavy without a lot of flavor. Overall a 6.
Pistachio donut from Schreiber’s
As we debated our scores outside of the bakery (note the filling flavor started as a ‘3’ and settled on a ‘5’ after everyone’s input), a local came over and asked our thoughts on the top bakeries in the neighborhood. It seems that other people are also doing the crawl.
Schreiber’s bakery kicked off the scoring for Hanukkah 2023
Kaff Bakery 1906 Avenue M
Kaff was a new addition to the crawl. We were impressed that several sefaradi people were picking up jelly donuts, as their bakeries do not have a tradition of making the holiday treats. Each one said that Kaff was a favorite but we were disappointed. While the lotus donut was packed with filling, it was not smooth and creamy, and was overly sweet (for me). Fellow travelers loved them which gave a more balanced overall score of ‘7’.
Kaff Bakery had a nice selection of donuts
Presser’s Kosher Bagels and Bakery, 1720 Ave. M
Presser’s donuts candidly did not look at all appetizing and we didn’t purchase any. Instead we tried the chocolate horn which had tasty chocolate but the dough was not as flaky as Weiss’s bakery.
Patis Bakery, 1716 Ave. M
Patis was almost completely sold out by the time we arrived around 11:00am. They had one variety – almond hazelnut – which was fantastic. Very buttery soft dough, good hazelnut filling and tasty toasted almonds on top. An ‘8.5’.
Almond hazelnut donut from Patis, Hanukkah 2023
Taste of Israel, 1322 Avenue M
Taste of Israel requires a pre-order some days in advance at (347) 554-8133. We highly recommend it. It was a new addition to the crawl and tied for top marks with Sesame. The dough is actually better than Sesame in terms of fluffiness and flavor, which is not always easy because it needs to contain the heavy filling. TOI mastered it. While the presentation is not as pretty as some of the other bakeries, the overall taste was terrific even when we ate them later at night. We went for Oreo and Halva; they also have lotus, caramel, custard, jelly and rosemary. A ‘9’.
Taste of Israel donuts ranked highest for dough, and also good flavor
Sesame – Flatbush, 1540 Coney Island Ave
Sesame did not disappoint. Unfortunately, the store has developed a reputation for excellence so is a bit packed but perhaps that’s sharing the joy of the holiday. We heard that the dairy varieties (marked with blue labels) were out of this world but mostly purchased pareve to bring to people for dinner. The pareve (marked with green labels) peanut butter was outstanding – a 10. White chocolate, which I do not usually like was very tasty. Pistachio, as always, was terrific as was the lemon. Sesame puts flavor into the fondant on top of the donut for a doubly amazing experience. We bought dozens to bring back to share with people. A solid ‘9’.
Sesame bakery donuts, Hanukkah 2023
Below is the overall scorecard for each bakery. We hope you enjoy them and Happy Chanuka!
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been very vocal and negative about the Jewish State of Israel since its founding. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has written that “key CAIR leaders often traffic in antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.” The ADL specifically called out Zahra Billoo, CAIR’s San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director, who called Jewish Zionist institutions in America “enemies”, as well as Nihad Awad, CAIR’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, who claims that “Zionist organizations” are “enemies of the Muslim community” and that “Zionist organizations make up the core of the Islamophobia network in the United States.”
On October 7, well before Israel responded to the sadistic massacre by the Palestinian Arab political-terrorist groups in Israel, Awad took to X/Twitter and defended the savagery.
He first wrote that “Palestinians have been experiencing ethnic cleansing by Israel for 75 years [from the founding of Israel in 1948],” seemingly calling for Palestinians to return the favor to ethnically cleanse Jews from the land.
He followed that tweet with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr “A riot is the language of the unheard,” minimizing the atrocity of killing 1,200 people – mostly civilians – as a “riot” under the name of a peaceful activist.
CAIR was originally part of President Biden’s May 2023 National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. It took until yesterday, December 7, for the Biden Administration to remove the organization, as Awad has continued to argue that Palestinians have a right to “self defense” and that he was “happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land.” It is also possible that Israel found evidence of ties between CAIR and HAMAS in materials the IDF captured in Gaza.
The US government may have also read the October 2023 George Washington University’s Program on Extremism paper about the Hamas Networks in America. CAIR was featured prominently.
CAIR and Students for Justice in Palestine are two groups pushing Muslim antisemitism into the United States’ mainstream. They must be combatted with the same vigor as other antisemitic groups.
Jew-hatred was the leading form of hatred in the United States, even before the horrible spike post-October 7. Yet it was actively minimized by politicians and the mainstream media in favor of Victims of Preference, the majority-minority groups of Blacks, Hispanics and members of the LGBT+ community.
When Jew-hatred was tied to Israel, powers in government, media and universities deliberately did their utmost to claim that anti-Zionism wasn’t antisemitism, even as they promoted anti-Semitic laws and narratives.
There are a few primary antisemitic laws and narratives which have become so normalized, many fail to acknowledge their profound Jew-hatred:
Denying Jews their history and heritage
Banning Jews from living somewhere
Banning Jews from praying at their holiest site
Denying Jews Their History and Heritage
Jews have a unique religion. At its core, Jews are a small tribe tied to a specific piece of land, the holy land of Israel. While other religions were idealized as universalistic and therefore pushed to convert masses wherever they went, Jews had no such mantra. Whether they live in Israel or the diaspora (everywhere other than Israel) they pray facing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and try to visit Jerusalem at least three times each year, and did not scour the globe in search of new recruits.
Yet university professors say that Israel is a product of “European settler colonialism,” denying Jews their history and heritage, and these professors get tenure and continue to espouse their Jew-hatred to the next generation.
Banning Jews From Living Somewhere
Would anyone consider it legal to pass a law that Black people cannot live somewhere? Has Amnesty International blessed Iran’s policy of banning gay people and hanging them in public, and suggested the law be spread to more countries?
Yet the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions in the 1970s and the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 in 2016 making it illegal for Jews to live in the “West Bank” and eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City of Jerusalem where Judaism’s holiest sites are located. According to international law, an Israeli Arab from Jaffa can relocate to the Old City of Jerusalem but a neighboring Israeli Jew in Jaffa would be called an illegal settler if he did a similar move.
It reeks of Jew-hatred, blessed by the United Nations.
Banning Jews From Praying At Their Holiest Site
Jews, and only Jews, are denied their right to pray at their holiest location. The world brands people who demand such basic human right as “extremists,” rather than the jihadists who insist on such law, threatening Jews with violence.
Israel has continued the antisemitic ban to calm the Muslim world. Palestinian Arabs are not satisfied and want Jews to stop even walking around the Temple Mount during regular visiting hours as they consider such visits “provocative.” The United Nations supports that Jew-hatred, and claims that the Jewish Temple Mount is a purely Islamic holy site.
United Nations map showing the Jewish Temple Mount as only holy to Muslims
All of these things have to do with Jews, not Israelis nor the Israeli government. These are laws that insult any Jew as it relates to their permissible activities in their homeland regardless of whether Israel is run by a right-wing or left-wing government, or even if Israel was a country.
There are also laws in other countries which are infused with Jew-hatred like banning the ritual slaughter of animals for kosher meat, bans on Jewish circumcision or wearing a kippah in public to make it difficult for Jews to live in those countries. Some ban Jews from being able to become the leader of the country. Those countries wrap their animus with misdirection about protecting animal and minor rights, or protecting the civil nature or culture of their societies for passing such edicts.
It is a transparent fig leaf when they extend their hatred for Jews far from their shores.
On a small strip of land far away from their own, countries still press laws infused with Jew-hatred, either because they want to appeal to 1.8 billion Muslims and over 50 Muslim-majority countries, or they simply hate Jews. Either way, these laws helped set the stage for the October 7 massacre, as they normalized Jew-hatred in the Jewish homeland.
The vile REACTIONS to the October 7 massacre did not happen in a vacuum. The UN, media and universities have normalized Jew-hatred for years, and it is well past time to strike the antisemitic laws at the UN and remove the classes and professors at universities.
The weekly parshas read from the Torah normally begin at the start of a chapter and conclude at the end of another chapter. It is extremely rare for any parsha to both start and end in the middle of chapters, which happens for the weekly reading of Vayetze (Genesis 28:10 – 32:3).
The reason for doing so has very much to do with the story told in Vayetze, as well as the stories which the rabbis wanted to separate at the start of Genesis chapter 28:1-9 in Parshat Toldot, and the story told afterward in Parshat Vayishlach, chapter 32:4-33.
Vayetze relays the story of Jacob leaving the land of Canaan to find a wife at Lavan, his mother’s brother’s house. When embarking, Jacob dreamt of a ladder going to the heavens with angels going up and coming down. God informed Jacob that he will be blessed with many children and that God would protect Jacob on his journey and bring him safely back to his land. At the end of the parsha, Jacob headed back to the land of Canaan with wives and eleven children, and met angels once again (Genesis 32:2-3). Angels are bookends of Vayetze, telling the story of Jacob marrying, and having many children and accumulating much cattle in his uncle’s house.
If one were to read Genesis straight through the chapters instead of with the breaks of the weekly portions, that story is less clear.
At the beginning of Genesis chapter 28 (1-5), Isaac instructed Jacob to not marry a local woman from Canaan and to visit his uncle’s house, seemingly consistent with the overall theme of Vayetze. However, 28:6-9 describes Esav’s overhearing Isaac’s command who subsequently embarked to marry his father’s brother’s daughter. Esav’s actions interrupted the focus on Jacob.
At the end of the parsha, the narrative also breaks around Esav. While Vayetze’s Genesis 32:2-3 has Jacob encountering angels and naming the location due to the holiness of the event as he did after his ladder dream, Vayishlach’s Genesis 32:4-7 has Jacob sending the angels off as mere messengers to scout out Esav’s intentions as he journeyed to return to Canaan. In one sentence, from 32:3 to 32:4, Jacob treated the malachim as holy people and then errand boys, which does not happen with the weekly parsha pause separating the sentences.
The neat angel bookends of Vayetze act as separators from Esav. While Jacob got married and returned with eleven children and a large flock, the difficult years were none-the-less realized as blessings. However, the stress of the world he left and to which he returned made the blessings harder to recognize, and maybe even finite.
Esav married Ishmael’s daughter and came to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men (32:7). While Jacob had been promised by God that his progeny would be numerous as he left Canaan, his brother Esav seemed to become even greater over that same time.
Upon learning of the large gap in power with his brother, Jacob became very frightened and prayed to God (32:8-13) seemingly thinking that his heavenly protection had ended. When Jacob next sends out messengers to meet Esav, they are no longer described as malachim, angels, but avadim, servants (32:17).
Jacob lost the ability to recognize angels as he approached his brother. When Jacob was next alone at night, he didn’t dream of angels on a ladder but wrestled with an ish, a man who is described by biblical commentators as an angel who renamed Jacob ‘Israel’ for prevailing in his fight with man and God. While Jacob should not have been scared of Esav as he had angels with him, he could no longer recognize them and fought them.
Jews today see their homes like Jacob as Vayetze Jews. Even in the face of family difficulties, a home is nevertheless a sanctuary in which we count our blessings and feel protected. It is when we compare ourselves to others and see their wealth and fear what they might do to us that we forget those blessings. We no longer see the angels and blessings they provide. So we demand that they serve our needs, and fight them thinking that they are strangers meant to do us harm.
And then we question the blessings we once enjoyed. Esav had no angels and yet prospered even more than Jacob. An unblessed life seemingly yielded greater rewards if one focuses purely on numbers.
Jacob produced a family which became a holy nation while Esav’s actions netted a massive army. During peace, it is easy to understand why Jacob’s descendants reach heights of thought and purity but in times of conflict, Esav’s army appears ready to conquer those achievements.
In a pre-October 7 world, Vayetze Jews imagined themselves blessed and protected in their home of homes, in their houses in Israel. The neat angel bookends of the parsha were the protective layer of building a home and family, and Vayetze Jews felt God’s blessings.
In the aftermath of the October 7 slaughter in which Arabs killed Jews in their homes in Israel, the Vayetze Jews were vanquished. We became Vayishlach Jews ready to fight man and God for the inhumanity inflicted on us.
Gustave Doré, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1855)
Is that our fate? Can the Jewish community become more?
Jews must internalize the text in the chapters and not just the parshas.
Esav DOES interfere with the story-telling of Jacob finding a wife. Esav does continue to build a family and army outside of Jacob’s Vayetze bubble. Jacob and the Vayetze Jew fail to internalize the outside world as they were self-absorbed which led to complacency. Jacob only saw angels’ blessings as partners for his activities in his home but did not use the gift for the fight to come outside.
We are both the Children of Jacob (Vayetze Jews) and the Children of Israel (Vayishlach Jews), and need to live lives focused internally and externally. Partnering with angels must extend beyond the bounds of angelic bookends and touch activities in everything we do. That is the pathway to true blessing and success inside and outside of our home and communities.
Palestinians conducted a poll about reactions to Gaza’s October 7 massacre that killed 1,200 people in Israel, injured thousands and took 240 hostages. The results showed West Bank Arabs (83.1%) much more in favor of the butchering of Jews than Gazans (63.6%). The popularity of Hamas was much higher in the West Bank (87.7%) than in Gaza (59.6%).
It also showed that West Bank Arabs being more committed to destroying Israel and retaking all of “historical Palestine.”
This poll was conducted specifically about the massacre, and before a single Arab prisoner had been released from Israeli jails.
The New York Times decided to sanitize the Palestinian Arabs’ celebration of the raping of women and deliberate mutilation and killing of children and the elderly. It ran a headline that West Bank Arabs prefer Hamas over Fatah which runs the Palestinian Authority because the political-terrorist groups was able to free prisoners. #AlternativeFacts with a sick #AlternativeNarrative.
New York Times article with headline that lies about motivation of West Bank Arabs joy about the murder of Jews (November 29, 2023)
Since late 2021, several new West Bank terrorist groups emerged which have killed dozens in Israel and Area C of the West Bank, the Lions’ Den and Jenin Brigades being the two most popular. Many have members affiliated with Hamas who may have been planning a similar October 7 attack in the densely populated areas in Israel which could have killed 10,000 people. Israel’s raids to capture and kill these cells over the past 18 months likely averted an even worse massacre.
Over the past two years, West Bank Arab attacks have been more numerous and more lethal than attacks from Jews, even according to United Nations reports. In the recent reporting period before October 7, West Bank Arabs killed five times as many Jews (10) than West Bank Arabs killed by Jews (2).
But that narrative of fact was dead-and-buried in the Times. In their article whitewashing Arab violence in the West Bank, it wrote about two young Arabs who threw stones at Israeli soldiers who were freed from prison.
The New York Times is trying to paint West Bank Arabs as peaceful people “resisting” the Israeli army, “resorting” to violent groups like Hamas because they successfully free Arabs unjustly incarcerated. It is the language of socialists and anti-colonialists, meant to inflame hatred for the Jewish State as a falsely-labeled “European colonial state,” as preached in universities. It is a script and rallying cry of the alt-left, which wants to “normalize and globalize Hamas” to “globalize the intifada” in order to destroy other countries like the United States and Australia.
Over the past two years, West Bank Arabs launched several new terrorist groups, attacked and murdered Jews at a pace which dwarves attacks by Israeli “settlers”, and just now celebrated the heinous slaughter of civilians in Israel on October 7. The West Bankers have come to have “a greater confidence in the efficacy of armed struggle,” as described in a December 2022 poll, and believe that Israel will soon cease to exist.
Those plain truths are at odds with the socialist Times which prefers to paint West Bank Arabs as a small biblical David to Israel’s Goliath, scrapping by throwing stones at soldiers, rather than reveal the sickening bloodlust.
On June 27, 2023, months before the October 7 massacre, James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute spoke to the United Nations Security Council and said “that a recent poll shows a majority of Palestinians rejecting moderate leadership, despairing of peaceful change and now favoring armed struggle. That tragic deformity in Palestinian political culture is the result of the continued brutality of the occupation.” That sentiment came from a staunchly pro-Palestinian pollster BEFORE October 7 to the jaundiced United Nations, where rarely a criticism of Palestinians can be heard.
There is a deep “tragic deformity” in Palestinian society that celebrates the mutilation and slaughter of Jews, and a vile deformity in socialist media which sanitizes Palestinian Arabs’ violence to prop them as ready for a state. It may be a symptom of a post-factual world which prefers narratives about underdogs or simply outright antisemitism. Perhaps both.
Either way, it is definitely coming for the Jewish State and diaspora Jews.
Three young men of Palestinian descent were shot on the streets of Burlington, VT on their way to a dinner. They survived the attack which has been described as a hate crime.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the lone member of Congress from Palestinian Arab descent, condemned the attack on X and demanded that the FBI “hold the person responsible accountable.”
It is an obvious call to seek justice for people who were attacked for simply walking on the streets by a madman driven by hate.
Alas, Tlaib has refused to condemn the over thousand members of Hamas and other terrorists group and for them to be held accountable for their savage butchery and massacre of 1,200 people in Israel on October 7. Instead, Tlaib offered excuses for Hamas in a prepared statement on October 8 where she blamed Israel for the slaughter of its own people, supported by the United States. She predicted a future where Hamas will continue such heinous attacks “as long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the [Israeli] apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.”
A classic case of absolution via inversion of victim and attacker.
It is not enough to simply point out Tlaib’s lies and hypocrisy in selectively calling for certain attackers of innocent people to be brought to justice. She must be pursued as a supporter of terrorists.
The United Nations has a counterterrorism strategy which reminds “all States of their obligation to ensure that any person who participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts is brought to justice.” Tlaib supports terrorism, as she believes a toxic narrative about Israel.
That same UN report notes “that terrorists may craft distorted narratives that are based on the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of religion to justify violence, which are utilized to recruit supporters and foreign terrorist fighters, mobilize resources and garner support from sympathizers, in particular by exploiting the Internet and other information and communications technologies, including social media platforms, and also notes in this regard the urgent need for the international community to globally counter such activities.” The UN suggests “countering narratives used by terrorists and their supporters, and also stresses that counter-narratives should aim not only to rebut terrorists’ messages but also to amplify positive narratives, provide credible alternatives and address issues of concern to vulnerable audiences who are subject to terrorist narratives.”
Those ideas may be part of a long-term solution but so is loudly condemning and sidelining a powerful sitting member of Congress with over 1 million X followers.
Tlaib is an antisemite. A liar and hypocrite. A supporter and apologist for terrorists. She should not be allowed to serve in Congress.
The media and anti-Israel activists have been pounding Israel on the high civilian death toll in Gaza from Israel’s response to the October 7 massacre. Critics claim that Israel is committing a “genocide” of Palestinian Arabs and are trying to “ethnically cleanse” Gaza of any Muslims. The incendiary comments fly in the face of Israel’s concerted efforts to minimize civilian casualties as it tries to eliminate Hamas terrorists.
The New York Times blamed Israel’s use of large bombs in dense urban neighborhoods, when normally lighter weapons are used. It contrasted the high percentage of Gaza civilian deaths relative to past Israeli wars with Hamas as well as America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
There are many other factors which Israel’s critics and the media fail to mention or highlight.
Subterranean battlefield. As opposed to America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Hamas’s fighters are almost all below ground. The firepower needed to penetrate both buildings and dirt requires much heavier armaments. The collateral damage to civilians is consequently greater.
High percentage of youth. Almost half of Gazans are under 18 years old, with roughly 39.75% under 14 years old. By way of comparison, only 13.2% of Germans are under 14 years old, 15.43% of Ukrainians, 17.47% in the United Kingdom and 17.96% in the USA. That means that all things being equal, it should be expected that young Gazans will unfortunately die in bombing campaigns at two to three times the level of other wars like in Russia-Ukraine now.
Refusal to move away from battle. While Israel has urged civilians to move away from battleground areas, Gazans have been reluctant to do so. The leaders of Hamas have urged them to stay put, while the Palestinian Authority claimed that Israel’s humanitarian pause to allow civilians to leave the battlefield was a form of “ethnic cleansing”. The United Nations Secretary General uttered much the same. The combined result was too many civilians declined opportunities to flee the war zone, resulting in many deaths.
Israel doesn’t have luxury of time. Israel does not have the luxury of time to battle jihadists the way the United States did in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
Israel is facing existential threats. While the United States wanted to defeat terrorism, it was not an existential threat to the homeland. The small bands of jihadists were thousands of miles from America’s shores and the integrity of the US was never at risk. That is in sharp contrast to Israel which is fighting: Hamas terrorists on its immediate border on the west; Hezbollah, also sworn to its destruction in the north; Syria and Iran to the northeast which is on the verge of nuclear weapons capability; and various other jihadi terrorist groups to the east in the West Bank. Israel’s basic existence is at risk and putting down one front quickly is required should it need to fight on another front.
Hostages. No other modern war has seen the ripping of hundreds of civilians from their homes to be taken hostage into underground tunnels. Israel needs to mobilize quickly to save those civilians, a dynamic without comparison in the Russia-Ukraine war or other battles.
Extraordinary volume of reservists. In light of the existential crisis and hostage situation, Israel activated almost the entire country’s reservists. These people are not the 18 to 22 year-olds regularly serving in the army but people working throughout the economy. Pulling 300,000 people from their jobs can only be maintained for a short period of time before the country’s economy gets crushed.
Global pressure. Whether Israel killed 2,000 or 20,000 civilians in Gaza, it was going to face enormous global pressure to cease operations. Global powerhouses like Russia, China and the United States can ignore that pressure due to the scale of their economies, the strength of the military capabilities, and having permanent seats at the United Nations Security Council which protect them from draconian resolutions. Israel is very small with few allies and therefore needs to conclude its military operations as quickly as possible.
The security needs of the small Jewish State have no comparable to any country in the world. Israel’s immediate goals of eliminating Hamas and saving the hostages must have global unambiguous support. The tragic loss of life among Gaza civilians – even though they support Hamas’s terrorism – should be mitigated by the world pressing Hamas (not Israel) to release hostages, encourage civilians to leave the fighting area, and get Hamas to surrender.
First One Through 