Wednesday, November 06, 2024

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Unapologetic Bernie Marcus
Bernie Marcus, the billionaire Home Depot founder and philanthropist who died yesterday at age 95, was in the process of giving away the majority of his fortune. But there’s a good lesson in one of his more-recent causes. In 2020, Marcus gave $20 million to launch RootOne, a program to send Jewish teenagers to Israel. He later put another $60 million into it.

The point of the program, according to Marcus: “We want young people stepping onto their college campuses with deep connections to Israel and strong Jewish identities.”

Marcus saw what Jewish students were up against and wanted them to feel a sense of pride and comfort with their Jewish faith before they entered the whirlwind of brainless anti-Zionist hostility on campus. Marcus had also given to organizations like Hillel International. The craziness of the past year has only reinforced the urgency of supporting Jews on campus.

His unapologetic Zionism was matched by his unapologetic advocacy of economic liberty and the free market. In 2019, he and grocery-chain billionaire John Catsimatidis cowrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that began, provocatively: “The two of us are quite rich. We have earned more money than we could have imagined and more than we can spend on ourselves, our children and grandchildren. These days getting rich off a profitable business is regarded as almost sinister. But we have nothing to apologize for, and we don’t think the government should have more of our profits.”

To be clear, he wrote, “We believe in a well-funded government, and we understand it is our duty to pay our fair share of taxes. And we do.”

Marcus’s parents were Russian Jewish immigrants and his dreams of becoming a doctor were dashed when was accepted to Harvard Medical School but couldn’t afford it. So he found other dreams—one of which was the concept that would become Home Depot. In 1978, he and business partner Arthur Blank teamed up with financier Ken Langone to make it a reality.

Marcus’s life story is an uncommon one, but it does carry a universal lesson: We could do with less apologizing for success—and no apologizing for Zionism.
The US must reject the Palestinian claim of a ‘right of return’
American foreign policy can be quite resistant to change. When it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, that inertia includes a perennial refusal to take a decisive position on the so-called Palestinian right of return. The result has been decades of failed peace negotiations. With renewed talk of a two-state solution, it’s important to revisit this issue as a new approach is in order.

During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, approximately 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from what is now the State of Israel. Those refugees were housed in Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip and various refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries. Except for Jordan, those countries did not offer them citizenship.

Shortly after the war, the United Nations formed the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to manage the welfare of the refugees. UNRWA’s original mandate was to resettle the refugees in their host countries. However, in the face of Palestinian opposition, UNRWA abandoned that goal and instead began to advocate for the return of the refugees to their former homes. To complicate matters, it has taken the position that the original 1948 refugees and all of their descendants are entitled to refugee status. Today, that amounts to approximately five million people who, UNRWA maintains, have a “right of return” to what is now the State of Israel. The Palestinian leadership agrees, arguing that this supposed right is non-negotiable.

But there is no such right as Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf have shown in their book, The War of Return. One study after another confirms this. Perhaps the best example is an exhaustive analysis by professor Andrew Kent, as cited by Schwartz and Wilf, in which he concludes that it is “clear that the claimed Palestinian ‘right of return’ for refugees from the 1947–49 conflict has no substantial legal basis.” Most legal scholars without a political agenda who have addressed the issue agree that 5 million Palestinian refugees are not entitled to take up residence in the State of Israel.

Nevertheless, American peace negotiators have failed to take a firm position on this crucial issue. And so, Palestinian officials have been free to claim that the conflict cannot be settled without recognition of a full right of return.

Perhaps because this issue is so contentious, the parties have largely avoided it over the history of peace negotiations. Under the Oslo Accords, questions regarding refugees were designated as a “final status” issue to be addressed at the end of peace negotiations. That set a pattern that continues to this day.

American foreign policy views the right of return as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations. For example, negotiators have suggested a symbolic right of return limited to only a few thousand refugees. However, U.S. policy has been ambiguous and noncommittal if such a right exists.
Macron’s error: The UN did not create Israel
French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron told his cabinet last month that Israel was created by a decision of the United Nations and that the Jewish state should not “disregard the decisions of the U.N.”

However, the United Nations did not create Israel. Point of fact: U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181, generally known as the Partition Plan, was never implemented. By its express terms, it was merely a recommendation. While it requested that the U.N. Security Council take measures to implement it, this never occurred.

The Partition Plan was unequivocally rejected by the Arab world, which sought, by force, to eliminate any possibility of a Jewish state in any part of Israel (then referred to as the British Mandate of Palestine). There was no real appetite by the permanent members of the Security Council to intervene militarily to effectuate the recommended Partition Plan in the face of Arab militant intransigence or to prevent the existing Arab nations from invading and overrunning the country. The Jews in Israel were left on their own to deal with the onslaught and invasion.

It is important to note that there is no reference in Resolution 181 to the so-called Palestinian people. The label was invented more than a decade and a half later. There was also no reference to a so-called West Bank. This was an artificial construct by Jordan, which illegally annexed the land to distinguish it from Jordan proper, located on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

Resolution 181 referred to the area as the hill country of Samaria and Judea. The name given to the proposed partitioned area intended to house Arab residents of Israel was the “Arab state,” not the “Palestinian state.”

At the time and historically, Arab residents in Israel were viewed—and, indeed, viewed themselves—as a part of the Arab people. As Anwar Nusseibeh, a Jordanian minister in the 1950s, explained, Arabs who resided in the areas assigned to the re-established Jewish State of Israel saw themselves as a part of the Arab nation, generally and specifically as a part of Syria. There was no concept of a separate so-called Palestinian people, nor was there any distinct identity beyond being a part of pan-Arabism.

It is critical to appreciate that the U.N. Charter explicitly provides, in Article 80, that “ … nothing in this chapter shall be construed in or of itself to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which members of the United Nations may respectively be parties.”
From Ian:

John Podhoretz: Trump the ‘colossus’ is the comeback king of American politics
We are in the midst of the greatest political comeback in American history — which follows, by eight years, the greatest political stunt in American history.

That stunt was Donald Trump’s first win, in 2016. The comeback is his extraordinary performance over the past four years following his defeat in 2020.

I am not here going to adjudicate Trump’s sins or errors, though I am so mindful of them that I did not vote for him and wrote in someone else.

No, I am here to represent hundreds of millions of slack-jawed people around the world, gaping in wonderment at the fact that Trump got to this place on Election Night 2024.

Think of it. This is a man who was impeached (for a second time) two weeks before leaving office in 2021. In the years that followed that second impeachment, he was pursued by a state attorney general, two local prosecutors and a federal special prosecutor.

He was indicted 91 times in three different criminal courts and found liable in two civil courts. He has been convicted (ludicrously, in my view) of 34 (ludicrous, again) felonies.

He has had his home raided by federal agents. He has seen his eponymous business effectively shut down by a Manhattan judge.

He has been the subject of relentless and limitless hostile press coverage that dwarfs any negative characterizations of any other human being of our time.

And yet here he is, on the cusp of becoming president of the United States for a second go-round.

His utter refusal to be bent or broken by his enemies and his critics and his determination to redeem himself by recapturing the office he lost has no parallel that I can think of — not in American history, anyway.
Seth Frantzman: Trump will not restrain Israel: the clock is now ticking for Iran and its proxies
These groups have believed over the last several years that they could keep pushing the envelope in the region. They felt there was a wind at their back as the world shifted from a US-led world order to one that is multi-polar and increasingly challenged by Russia and China. Hezbollah, for instance, threatened Israel into a maritime deal in 2022 that Israel was falsely told would bring stability and security. The Houthis assumed they could attack ships and block a major maritime route after the October 7 attacks because they believed the US and its allies in the region would appease them. The Houthis have been largely correct in this analysis. They have been appeased, suffering only minor pushback. The Biden administration talked tough but it wasn’t willing to go far enough to keep maritime trade corridors open. This was a major change from more than a century of US foreign policy that has focused on freedom of navigation, a key policy of US President Woodrow Wilson.

Iran still feels empowered. It has threatened more direct attacks on Israel. The sense in Iran and among Iranian proxies, friends and allies that time is on their side came amidst major shifts globally. Iran looked at the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and the displacement of Armenians from Nagorna-Karabakh in 2023 and assumed it could do as it pleased.

Hamas, hosted by Doha, believed that the time was ripe in 2023 for its genocidal attack on October 7. It calculated that it could massacre 1,000 people and take 250 hostage, including numerous Americans and other foreign citizens, and face zero consequences. Hamas believed it could get away with October 7 and get Doha, a key US ally, and Iran to leverage that into a deal that would leave it in power in Gaza and bring it to power in the West Bank. Hezbollah believed it could rain down rockets on Israel. Iran felt it could launch hundreds of missiles at Israel.

Donald Trump’s victory may change this sense of impunity. It could set in motion several processes in the region. First, it could accelerate plans by Iran and its proxies to continue the war and chaos they unleashed on October 7. They may think they have another two months to increase attacks before their window of opportunity closes. However, they know they are being watched in Washington by the incoming US administration. They also know that Israel will not be restrained by the US. Iran and other anti-western countries and proxies have believed over the last decade that time is on their side. Do they think that the US election has changed the clock? This is the big question they will face in the next two months.
Seth Mandel: The Birth of ‘the Jewish Vote’?
Similarly, elections in the modern era have been keeping track of the “Jewish votes.” But there was no evidence for the existence of “the Jewish vote.”

This year, that has changed. I have heard more than one person say something to effect of: “I wasn’t shocked by Oct. 7 in Israel but Oct. 8 in America.” Meaning that the horrific massacres carried out by Hamas were perfectly in character for a terrorist group that exists solely to carry out the mass murder of Jews. But many Jews here and around the world did not expect to see the streets and public squares of major American cities fill to the brim with people celebrating those atrocities. They did not expect to see U.S. campuses become, overnight, outposts of explicit Hamas and Hezbollah superfans. They were surprised that members of the U.S. Congress would make pilgrimage to the tentifadas calling for genocide against the Jews, and that a Democratic congresswoman would headline a China-backed conference whose organizers were affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization. They were unnerved by the successful campaign to prevent a Jewish governor from becoming Harris’s running mate.

Jewish Democrats did not, by and large, stop being Democrats. But they did stop being invisible—at least in Michigan and Pennsylvania. What this means for the concept of the “Jewish vote” going forward will not be apparent for some time, because it’s never clear whether one election constitutes an outlier or the beginning of a trend. Additionally, there are not many Jewish voters, at least compared to other politically prominent ethnic and racial groups, no matter how you count them—and so there will be even fewer Jewish voters who start to consistently vote on Jewish issues.

Jews don’t need to be “emancipated” from the Democratic Party—or any party. But they do need to be emancipated from their invisibility to the major parties. If that is changing, it is a change for the better.
Guiding Ambassador Ron Dermer on the March of the Living, with Professor Steven T. Katz

Dr. Elana Yael Heideman has a list of accomplishments so long it will make your jaw drop, with every last accomplishment earned in the service of her people and the Jewish homeland. Heideman, CEO and executive director of the Israel Forever Foundation, is a Jewish rights activist, historian, leading educator, author, and dynamic public speaker. Her knowledge of Jewish history and of the Holocaust is both vast and encyclopedic. If I want to find a specific Holocaust photo and have only a vague memory of what it depicts, Elana will always know which one I mean and quickly pull it up for me from her extensive personal archives. After all, this is the woman who studied for her thesis under famed Holocaust survivor, writer, and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

Since October 7, I and many others have turned to Dr. Heideman to gain clarity and understanding of just how this could have happened to us: how Hamas could have attacked us as we slept, safe in our own land, secure in the knowledge that unlike during the Holocaust, we had our own Jewish army to protect us?

Was it all a mirage?

Heideman is the right address to discuss these things: How to make sense of world indifference to the plight of the Jews, the victim-blaming, the anti-Semitic campus protests. Whether to avoid upsetting graphic photos and stories from October 7. These make it difficult to carry on with our family and professional lives, but do we even have a right to avoid these things? Don’t we have a responsibility to bear witness to what has happened for the sake of future generations?

And of course, now that the elections have drawn to their fiery close, Dr. Elana Yael Heideman will also be the right person to help us understand the implications of the hateful Nazi label rhetoric so blithely applied to President Trump by his failed opponent and her fellow Democrats. What can we do to stand up to this ugly phenomenon of Nazi name-calling in modern day politics?

 

Dr. Elana Heideman

As a people we are lucky to have Dr. Elana Heideman. Heideman, who made Aliyah in 2005, and today lives in Nes Harim with her 3 beautiful children, is a visionary. She saw long before October 7 that the global Jewish world needed the Israel Forever Foundation, “an empowerment and engagement organization that provides experiential learning opportunities to the global Jewish world to celebrate, strengthen and mobilize the personal connection and activism of Jewish People as the nation of Israel.”

Today, we need Heideman and her foundation, more than ever. She will always have something to teach us. Hopefully, this interview will give the reader a taste of Dr. Elana Heideman’s particular brand of genius.

***

Varda Epstein: You’ve been a Jewish rights activist since the time you were young. What’s your earliest memory of fighting for Jewish rights? What are some of the Jewish causes you’ve battled?

Elana Heideman: When I was very young, I encountered not only Jew-hatred in my middle school in Louisville Kentucky, but also Messianic Jews for Jesus who were out to persuade, and Holocaust deniers determined to falsify historical fact.

I can recall various instances where my identity was challenged, and where I had to think on my feet as to how to address the twisted misinformation of the people in groups I encountered. I have found that my pride and confidence as a Jew rooted in Jewish traditional life has aided my ability to counter each obstacle, including the cadre of self-hating Jews that have emerged in the past decades.  

Dr. Elana Heideman teaches children about the Holocaust

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us a bit about your family and the milieu in which you were raised? How did your family impact your Jewish identity and the trajectory your life has taken?

Elana Heideman: Activism is a part of my blood, and my part in that tradition emerged from a very young age, having watched my parents serve as prominent leaders fighting for Jewish rights, each in their own way. In a traditional home, rich with Ahavat Yisrael, I found myself active in more than one youth movement out of a desire to be involved in the many different avenues of Jewish expression. In the B'nai B’rith Youth Organization, following the legacy of leadership set by my parents who met as youth members of BBYO, I worked my way through chapter offices up to council and the International involvement. Simultaneously I was active in National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) where I was able to explore and embrace aspects of my religious and spiritual life as a leader. From a very early age I was involved in program development, something I have continued throughout my career as an educator, consultant, and transformational guide for young activists and interns.

Elana Heideman with her parents and children.

Varda Epstein: Your specific expertise is in Holocaust studies and antisemitism. What drove you to choose these specific fields of study? What is it like to be so constantly immersed in these grim subjects? How do you stay sane? And what is the impact of all this on your children?

Elana Heideman: From a very young age I was drawn to the mystery of the Holocaust. I was somewhat fascinated by the experience that each victim and survivor had to endure. I entered that world through the children's stories of Terezin, and one of my very first books I ever read at a very young age was Elie Wiesel's Night. I was immersed; I felt the lives and the pain of each person I met through his words and those of every book I read and every survivor I met throughout my life.

My life was directed toward the discovery of how these tragedies could impact those of us living so many years in its aftermath. Sometimes I wonder if I chose the topics or if they chose me, but I know that being constantly immersed in this study is indeed grim. Yet it is also so often a source of astonishment, even hope and strengthened faith, knowing that even through all of the nightmares, moment after moment, there are those who lived, breathed, and died never forsaking their part in the destiny of what it means to be a Jew. 

Sanity is relative. Sometimes I feel I live with a part of my soul in each of these worlds, but rather than allow it to overwhelm  my senses with sadness or despair, I continue, even after all of these 36-plus years, seeking out the messages of strength and empowerment that help to balance the pain that I have inevitably inherited.

I am quite blessed by the openness of my children, that together we are able to explore many relevant topics on this dark history without their feeling that such a memory is a burden. Rather, we are able to talk openly, dissect stories and fears. Especially in light of the October 7th massacre that has awakened in our entire nation a correlation to the historical Jewish experience of suffering, we have been able to balance ourselves and never take for granted any element of the courage and resilience shown during the Holocaust or any other era in history where our people have been forced to suffer such atrocity. Indeed, my children even have found themselves strong enough to join me to visit the memorial sites, including Nova, as we passed one year since the catastrophe, where together we could feel and consider its meaning in our lives.

Elana with Atir Vinikov, survivor of Nova who has been sharing his story with Israel Forever

Varda Epstein: Famed author and historian Elie Wiesel was your thesis advisor. That’s certainly something most people cannot claim. What was it like working under Professor Wiesel, himself a Holocaust survivor?

Elana Heideman: I had the great honor of being invited by Elie Wiesel to study under him for my doctoral research. He was more than just an advisor, he was my mentor, he was my Rabbi; he was my guide through the past and towards the future. It was a very powerful experience, every single encounter leaving an indelible impression on my soul, and of course, on my mind. He shared details of his own life and his own thinking that enabled me to carry his voice further as I continue to do now, even years after his passing. As one of only a handful of doctoral students who studied under his guidance, I am honored to have filled the unique role of being the only student to focus specifically on the Jewish Human Experience during the Holocaust. It was not easy for him, and we would engage in very healthy debates on the analytical interpretations of the transformation of The Jewish Human Condition in particular, which I termed “momentary survival.” I was able to engage with my esteemed master not only as my professor, famed Holocaust Survivor, writer and eloquent speaker, but also with the young Eliezer that I had met in my childhood encounter with his life experience. And to this day I am determined to protect Elie's Echo and to help others learn from his absent voice, especially now at a time when our people desperately need the guidance that he once offered to our nation.

While people can no longer hear him in person, it is essential that we continue to share his voice. I am honored to be considered his protégée and a carrier of his legacy.

Dr. Elana Heideman with Prof. Elie Wiesel, her mentor and "rabbi"

Varda Epstein: Can you describe some of the work you’ve done at/for Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum and on behalf of Holocaust education? From your perspective, why is this work so critical?

Elana Heideman: My work on behalf of Holocaust education continues every day, and it pulses through the activism work I do on behalf of our people and our country. I educate educators, I train teachers, and continue to work with students looking to explore the field for research or other methods of memory transmission.

I began my work at Yad Vashem as a student, going there for my endless research efforts and taking part in every program I could get involved with. I attended their summer courses and went on to become an educator for the International School of Holocaust Studies and have served as a private guide for 20 years, providing a most unique and personalized experience through the Historical Museum. I was a part of an initiative that brought together teams from Yad Vashem with the United States Holocaust Historical Museum on applications of academic research to the future of Holocaust memory, and I have been a mentor for many students who seek to make Holocaust research and education a part of their future career path. I continue to educate and train educators and do my very best to encourage creative methods of the transmission of memory in a purposeful and meaningful way. Most importantly, I believe the work that we do as historians is, as Elie Wiesel said, our tool in our fight for Jewish rights and freedom. Those of us who are capable of translating the messages of history into action for today and the future are essential as our history and our very existence as the Jewish Nation continues to be threatened.

October 7 presented an unexpected comparison with the events of the Holocaust and I have tried to help people contend with the (im)balance of these atrocities. I am involved in memory efforts in Israel for the future of the memory of the Simchat Torah massacre, and I am involved with helping survivors tell their stories onward. I am working with descendants of Holocaust survivors who suddenly feel their identities shift following this tragedy, and am helping those who are trying to find their voice in the process of memorialization and meaning. Along with that comes helping people find clarity in the relationship between events of the past and those of today, as well as the warning signs for the future. 

Nazism of today does not look or sound like the Nazism of yesterday, yet people are quick to leap to unrealistic comparisons and sleight of tongue in name calling. The true lessons of the Holocaust would be a recognition of the power game of its perpetrators, and the language used to demonize the Jew and anything and everyone non-Aryan. To use the terms Nazi, Hitler  and, in fact, the term genocide so loosely for political gain, as has been done about Trump and Netanyahu, and the battle for existence in the defensive wars of Israel, is irresponsible and inaccurate. We should do better to retain the integrity of the survivors and the experience of fascist tyranny, and to recognize the patterns of public manipulation that employ the same fear tactics as the Nazis before them. The closest comparison can only be found in the global jihadist movement for the extermination of Israel and the Jewish nation that has become the rallying cry of the antisemitic hate fests taking over the streets and social streams of the world. That is where energy should be directed - to stopping the trend enabling the violent vitriol that will lead whole societies into dark and trying times.

At Nova

Varda Epstein: Why did you make Aliyah? Do you see Aliyah as a Jewish imperative?

Elana Heideman: Aliyah for me felt inevitable since my very first visit to Israel at the age of 13. The experience transformed my life and my identity, my self-awareness and my motivations. I had postponed my desired Aliyah for the sake of my academic career, and was blessed with the opportunity to spend 12 years under the tutelage of Elie Wiesel, but right in the middle of our learning together I felt a change. Having guided many journeys to Poland within a short timeframe, it was that last arrival back to America where I understood this was no longer my home where I could feel at peace, where my soul was complete. I knew that in order to write the best work and to do the best teaching I could do for the sake of the future, I needed to be where I was my best and most complete self, and that was in the land of Israel. 

As we know, making Aliyah is not easy for anyone, but I found myself so enthralled by the ability to live the miracle and to learn the language of our people, that I built quite a beautiful and substantive life here where I now live on a moshav with my three children in the Judean mountains. I know that Aliyah is not for everyone, however I do wish more people would consider it so that we can carry on the pioneering dream of our people, those who lived in exile for too many years. I believe Aliyah could be a greater ideal for some Jews today, but of course as we've seen throughout history, it is not easy to pick up an entire life and face the countless challenges of the cultural, financial, social, and even religious shift that comes along with such a major move.

I do believe that it should be a Jewish imperative, and frankly I believe that every diaspora Jewish youth should be obligated to inherit their birthright as a virtual citizen of Israel, and to serve one year of either volunteer army service or community service, Sherut Leumi, or other opportunities.  Sadly, not enough of our diaspora family feels that it is worth the potential sacrifice, no matter how many years we repeat the phrase “next year in Jerusalem”, or “if I am not for myself who will be for me”, or singing the songs that remind us that we are all watchmen on the wall. Unfortunately we will continue to see Aliyah of despair, of escape from the rising Jew-hatred in every corner of the world.  

I pray that Jewish families today and those of the future will understand that Aliyah by choice is something that we can each make possible if we dream it. But the dream must be fostered by a sense of shared responsibility to our homeland, a shared destiny with the ancestors of thousands of years ago and every generation since. Only then can someone realistically envision taking on the more difficult life, the many bureaucratic and cultural obstacles. Building a meaningful life in Israel outweighs so much of the burden of the obstacles we face because we know that it is the chosen life to be a part of blossoming and living our land, and being a part of the collectivity of the nation of Israel as fulfilled in our biblical blessing. 



Varda Epstein: Tell us about the Israel Forever Foundation. What is the mission of this nonprofit of which you are the executive director, and how did it come to be?

Elana Heideman: Israel Forever was born as an organization focused on celebrating Israel's centrality in Jewish identity and her contributions to humanity and civilization. Expanded to become a home for engagement, inspiration, and empowerment, Israel Forever offers programming, resources, and consulting for our global community of members, who we recognize as Virtual Citizens of Israel. 

I developed Israel Forever to meet the continuous need of Jews from all backgrounds and places in the world to feel connected to our source as Israel and the many dimensions of what that means. This vision extends to those already involved and also for the unaffiliated and non-religious. It includes creating opportunities for informal learning to reach those who lack a community or educational connection.

We cater to the continuously growing needs of the Jewish world, for those who are unaffiliated, isolated, seeking to deepen their personal connection, to mobilize their families and friends in creative ways that help them feel like they're making a tangible difference. We serve as a partner and often a guide, creating opportunities for learning, activism, and to bring together those in the diaspora with grassroots efforts in Israel, helping to not only raise awareness but to increase compassion and connection no matter how far apart the members of our global Jewish family might be. 

We have been active for 14 years in designing content that meets the needs of educators, parents, community leaders, organizations and individuals. Since the war, we have been sponsoring Healing Hearts mosaics therapeutic activities to displaced communities, distributing messages and packages of support to bereaved, traumatized and displaced families. We have supported soldiers and soldier’s families, especially miluimnikim reservists, and we have been sharing the stories of Israel and helping to inspire those around the world to be IsraelStrong in every way possible. 

Israel Forever was built on the understanding that not all Jews would come to Israel to foster the sense of belonging. Instead, we have brought pride in Zion and Israeli identity to those around the world. Now, as our people face a war on multiple fronts and platforms, Israel Forever continues our vital role in serving as a bridge and a source of empowerment.



Varda Epstein: Can you tell us about your work on behalf of Zionist organizations, such as B’nai Brith and the World Zionist Council?

Elana Heideman: When I was growing up, Zionist was not a bad word. And it was with immense, unfettered pride that I served as a B’nai B’rith delegate of the World Zionist Council from a very young age. I was exposed to the activism and voices of elders and leaders from all over the world, and I was able to learn from their expertise.  Eyewitness to debates both civil and non, I gained greater insight and appreciation by listening deeply to the various perspectives that I encountered. I recognized and appreciated the different styles of communication and activism of Israelis, empowered by their confidence in our nation state. I learned how to navigate the intricacies of international collaborations and networking, and to find a balance between ideas and passion, and actualization and implementation. 

As the chairperson for the Young Leadership Action Network, I was able to not only meet fellow young activists but also share my ideas for potential improvements in making possible the change we all were hoping to see. Then again, as a delegate for the Global Conference for Combating Antisemitism, since its inception in 2004, I do feel as if we continue to fight the same battle that many of us were shouting about for all of these years since. The new waves of Jew-hatred we see on the streets right now were already in their inception phase, incubated by years of indifference and accusations of paranoia for anyone who was, like myself, able to see the writing on the wall and trying to be involved in every way possible to find solutions to the lack of preparation or response. 

I continue to sit in the conferences, serve as a delegate, and see how I can make an impact while wading through the organizational bureaucracies that we all know are obstacles to our ability to make change. Israel Forever, as a grassroots independent unaffiliated apolitical Jewish Rights Movement, allows us to succeed in making Israel and Jewish identity empowerment a personal goal. 

"Silly me."

Varda Epstein: What is Declaration Day, and what drove you to this initiative?

Elana Heideman: In simple terms, Declaration Day commemorates the day on which Ben Gurion declared Israel's independence as a nation state following the end of the British mandate over Palestine on May 14th, 1948. The Declaration Day initiative aims to establish this day of recognition on international calendars. While Yom HaAtzmaut is our day of celebrating our rebirth as a sovereign nation in our ancestral homeland, the international world must remain continuously aware of the facts that surround this reestablished sovereignty.

Every year the lies get worse. The Nakba lie has grown in popularity and has circumvented nearly all elements of historical truth surrounding the formal establishment and recognition of the modern Jewish state of Israel. But rather than create a reactionary campaign, we aim for Declaration Day to be a proactive affirmation of the ancestral rights that were affirmed on this historic date. With increased programming for recognition of the path to independence as a just cause for Jewish national freedom, reaffirmed again and again in international law, we can prevent the future deterioration of the facts in the minds of common people. We can educate them as to the fundamental values on which not only was Israel created, but values Israel continues to uphold in both our pursuit of peace and in our methods of war, as we are continuously forced to demonstrate.

No international body gave Israel the right to exist. Not the Balfour on November 2nd, 1917; not the League of Nations on June 24th, 1922; not the United Nations vote for the partition on November 29th, 1947. But by virtue of these recognitions of Jewish rights to the biblical and indigenous homeland of the Jewish people, Jewish life has continued to grow and blossom in a desolate land, fulfilling our ancestral destiny and the blessing bestowed upon us by God. Declaration Day allows people to stand proud for these same values and ideals. 

With a group of ambassadors at Israel Forever Foundation Declaration Day event

Varda Epstein: What is the most frustrating aspect of antisemitism and the fight against Jew-hatred?

Elana Heideman: On one hand the most frustrating aspect is how easily the masses are persuaded by the lies about Jews. On the other hand, the most frustrating aspect is how careless and callous people have become when it relates to expressions of Jew-hatred. Elie Wiesel taught that indifference is amongst the most dangerous elements of a society. And yet, people are inevitably susceptible to compassion fatigue and, in the competition for empathy, the Jews simply do not factor in. We seem as nothing but a burden; a thorn in the side of societies who just want to be able to forget that the Jews exist. To many, we represent something beyond “foreignness;” rather an entity whose existence and resistance they cannot understand, and in too many cases cannot accept as legitimate, no matter human. So I believe that our fight against Jew-hatred begins with respect for the Jew and what the Jew stands for, and it is immensely frustrating to know that we cannot achieve this respect while our people continue to have such internal divisions and public conflicts. They weaken us, they demonstrate that we are, within our own community,   indifferent to the impact of this internal division on how the external world accepts us or understands us. For years, and especially in the past year, we hear how Israel hasn't done enough to explain ourselves. But in fact the fight against antisemitism should not rest on the shoulders of Israel alone, but on those of the diaspora organizations who, sadly, have spent these last decades treating the rise of antisemitism as if it was insignificant. Now we see how such indifference to our own reality has fostered some of the inadequate response to what we are currently seeing happening everywhere around us.



Varda Epstein: Talk to us about October 7. What was your original reaction when news of the atrocities began to filter out? How have your feelings and purpose evolved over the one year since that black day?

Elana Heideman: The first siren in my community was within the first hour of the onslaught, which began at 6:29 a.m. I immediately grabbed my phone in spite of Shabbat. The videos were the first thing I saw. I felt like I had been transported in time. Like everyone else here, it was impossible for me - for anyone at that time - to understand the extent of what was happening, such as how many terrorists had infiltrated what we believed to be our safe borders, the depravity of their acts or the extent of the psychological tortures inflicted on children, elderly, and women. Where were the soldiers to protect them, was, of course, one of everyone’s first questions as I was already seeing some of the conversations that were happening in these communities as they were under attack, simply by virtue of random shared connections in my social feeds. It was everywhere, and I saw before they were taken down some of the most graphic images of the fields of Nova, the bodies of raped women, beheaded corpses, and burned babies. I found myself seeking story after story from that day and onward, knowing that my role as an atrocity memory expert might somehow be an asset in trying to comprehend and cope with the aftermath of this slaughter. I still continue to inherit these stories, and I do everything in my power to pass them along. Much as I had done with the stories of painful suffering and abuse during the Holocaust, I knew that this was a part of the blessing/curse I had inherited. I had to be able to give voice to the voiceless; I had to be able to keep people informed while alleviating their personal fears and anxieties. For each month of the one year following the slaughter, I held a virtual program on the 7th that allowed people to learn, listen, and to feel some small glimmer of solace in knowing that they were not alone and that they could have a safe and private space to feel somehow together, even with people who are far away. Another program we developed to foster this connection was our Healing Hearts mosaics project, a therapeutic craft that we provided to displaced families, and that we continue to provide for bereaved and traumatized families, individuals and communities, through the generosity of donors from around the world. At a time when we all feel helpless and yet wishing we could do more, I continue with every chance I get to create opportunities for interaction, healing, and the continued learning about what October 7th means to each one of us, especially as the months continue to pass.

I will say that my feelings have only grown more intense, and my purpose even more empowered. And my intensity grows despite the fact that everybody since October 7th is now an “expert” on anti-Semitism and the holocaust. While it is indeed difficult to wade through the new voices of influencers, whose popularity are dominating the conversations, I know that my role is perhaps even more relevant as a link between generations of knowledge and insight that I have learned and inherited. 

 


Varda Epstein: How has the focus of your work changed since October 7? What are you doing to spread awareness and fight back against misperceptions and anti-Israel sentiment?

Elana Heideman: The focus of my work has changed only in the continuous need to keep our war for Jewish rights and freedom at the forefront of people's consideration and consciousness. Alongside the necessary awareness of our hostages in captivity we must look at ways we could be fighting our fight better, such as emphasizing the full transparency of the IDF in their unprecedented care to reduce civilian casualties, and to call out the propagandists and their manipulated numbers and demonization. The focus of my work just has even more purpose now than ever because, in truth, many Jews are simply feeling lost. We must join our soldiers fighting this just war for freedom against this tyranny of terror that is taking over the world and so I will continue to seek opportunities, partnerships, and find ways to help the common person, the every Jew, so that they might feel more confident as they wade through the sea of confusion and encroaching despair. I have increased our visual presentations of information and empowerment messages, interviews with people who are involved in a grassroots level of activism, philanthropy, and community strength. We continue to reach people directly with ideas on how to channel their energy into positive ways during this most trying time. I have expanded the lessons on historical relativism, recognizing that we are indeed living through a historic time.

 

Elana and her beautiful family

Varda Epstein: What is your advice to those who want to make a difference on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, but don’t know where to begin?

Elana Heideman: This is precisely what I have been doing for years - helping people find their spark, polish their voice, and find ways to be involved with activism that meet their personal abilities, interests and availability. In our busy lives, we have to make the time - we have to commit ourselves to something in particular that helps us feel we are making a tangible difference. For some that might be advocacy, for others it could be letter-writing and call campaigns to administrations and organizations. Whether for the release of our hostages or the rights of Israel or of Jews in classrooms and communities, these individual voices are essential to keeping up momentum. Of course, finding a local group or leader works for some; but for others, they are looking for ways to fit activism into our already overstimulated and over-programmed reality. 

Anyone can take a first step - don’t be shy, and definitely reach out for help. I do private consulting for people looking for direction, and help develop skills through a hands-on internship program that has propelled many into activism or even career pursuits. Helping stay motivated is often a challenge, and feeling helpless or lonely can be obstacles to having a sense of accomplishment - especially in social media activism, which is very difficult to navigate because of the exposure to the toxicity of hate. So I believe starting small and making meaningful connections is a great first step to finding your personal niche of how you can use your time and energy.

Israel needs every voice, and we all have a potential to do more to join the efforts to go beyond just Jewish pride to be Zion-proud - deeply invested in the success of our ancestral national project. You can find connections in the most random of spaces and build creative expression in the most diverse of platforms that can all serve our collective purpose of keeping alive the legacy of the nation of Israel. 

Our unity is at the helm of our fight to overcome the hatred and danger we face today, and that unity begins with sharing what we know about the issues and what we have seen work over the years. Don’t underestimate the meaningfulness, the power and importance, of your single voice. Consider the many skills and relationships you have picked up over your life, and how they can help you to grow and strengthen your own Jewish identity and that of other Jews in your life. Be the ambassador for the Jewish fight for freedom and sovereignty with Israel Forever, or come explore with me your next path - the opportunities are yours if you want them. 

 


Varda Epstein: What’s next for Elana Heideman?

Elana Heideman: My vision for myself in 5 years is to continue to be at the helm of an organization that I believe plays a crucial part in the continuity of connection for Am Yisrael. I have channeled my passion for learning and activism into meaningful programming and content, creating engagement and empowerment opportunities and inspiration for a wide range of audiences around the world. I continue the work of Elie Wiesel in utilizing the lessons of the Jewish lived experience into our current realities, facing a new war against the Jews.  I hope the future allows me to carry Israel Forever into new levels of global awareness and programming opportunities, to continue building upon the thousands of hours taught, hundreds of articles and resources written and published on israelforever.org, to create partnerships allowing us to reach, connect and collaborate with local communities for the sake of our collective future. And above all, I hope I will still be inspiring fellow Jews in discovering their connection and destiny as a part of the nation of Israel, knowing that Israel Forever can play a historic role in protecting the integrity of one of the great civilizations of the world. 



Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Wednesday, November 06, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon



A Los Angeles Islamic preacher, speaking in English, accuses "Zionists" of everything the Nazis used to.

From MEMRI:

On September 20, 2024, Tarek Muhammad delivered a Friday sermon at the Islamic Center of South Bay-LA, which was shared on ICSB LA's YouTube channel. During his address, he labeled Zionists as "prophet killers" and accused them of attempting to seize the Al-Aqsa Mosque through “fake history” and falsehoods. Muhammad claimed that Zionists aspire to establish an international government or “superpower” that would dominate the world. He asserted that they seek to control global systems through finance, media, and the promotion of homosexuality and pornography, particularly via Hollywood. Additionally, he alleged that Zionists control the American political system by buying off politicians.

Israel, the Israelites, are different than the Jews. The religion came with who? With Moses....
Do we have any problems with the Jews? No. Do we have a problem with the Israelites? No. So what do we have a problem with then? We have a problem with a nationalist movement, they call it Zionism. They tried to build a country in our body.
...
You are rejecting the prophets, killing the prophets – [they] changed the word of Allah all the time.
....With a lie, with fake history, they tried to take the land and Al-Aqsa from our sons.

....So Israel right now – or what they call Israel right now – is taking the same position of arrogance upon the land. They are trying to be ruling the land. They are targeted at making an international government – [it will not be] America, Russia, China – no anybody, but the government of Israel. They want to be the only rulers [of the world].

....They are trying now to get the power [to become] the superpower in the land. Through the money, the wealth, the banks – arrogance upon the land. The interest system – it is arrogance upon the land and corrupting the land. Controlling the media... The media right now is the most arrogant upon the land and corrupting the land.

They want to spread homosexuality widely....Spreading pornography, sexual movies, all the stuff... Controlling Hollywood and anything...

In politics, everything right now in the United States of America, and I don’t want to say all the words... By Allah, everything has been bought, our president isn’t ashamed to say; 'I am a Zionist.'

Look at what these people are doing to us and the world. They tried to corrupt everything on every level. Every politician in the United States right now – except a few spared by Allah – they get bought by the Zionists.
The idea that Jews spread pornography is a classic trope for hundreds of years. Their supposed control of banks and governments and the media are mainstays of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  


The only two places to see these accusations against Jews today are from white supremacists and Islamists.

And this guy is spouting Nazi propaganda in Los Angeles. In English. Today.

While the MEMRI clip has been online for three weeks, I have not seen a single media outlet (besides Jihad Watch) report on this. If the Jews control Hollywood and the media, one would think that there would have been some mention in the news where Hollywood is!

If Nazism is the worst possible thing, shouldn't progressives be in the forefront of denouncing Nazi style propaganda against Jews (ridiculously referred to as "Zionists")?

If Muslims are not antisemitic, shouldn't we see Muslim organizations be speaking out and distancing themselves from this preacher and his mosque?

This is Nazi propaganda, being spread today by Muslims. Apparently, being Muslim inoculates you from being called out for antisemitism. And the world that claims to be against antisemitism is realy only against the antisemitism that can be associated with their political opponents.






Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Wednesday, November 06, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon

Le Journal du Dimanche has an expose on how Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières has turned into a pro-Hamas NGO.

Excerpts (double translated from French to Hebrew to English):

For a year Doctors Without Borders has been criticized for its biased communications in favor of Hamas. In Gaza, the organization maintains 800 local employees who provide testimony to the press, without any possibility of verifying the information. Thus, at the very beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, Doctors Without Borders spread fake news about the attack at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which became the talk of the day in the international media. The organization even claimed that it did not know that Al-Shifa Hospital was used as a base for Hamas, despite testimonies and videos on social media that showed hostages being forcibly dragged through the corridors of the building by armed men.

When asked, the organization called our investigation a "dangerous and irresponsible move" that "preserves the rhetoric of the Israeli authorities." The best defense is offense, but that answer seems weak given the severity of the accusations from former members of the organization. The first of them is Alan Destexhe, the organization's former secretary general, who published a report in which he accused the organization of collaborating with Hamas and deviating from its humanitarian mission in a political direction.

In the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche last June, a doctor in the organization confirmed to us that a part of Al-Shifa hospital was forbidden for medical teams to enter by armed men even before the start of the conflict , and he alerted his management about the situation. The management of Médecins Sans Frontières in France denied the allegations.

According to Destexhe's report, the organization has never condemned the violations of humanitarian law by Hamas in Gaza. Although Doctors Without Borders declares neutrality and impartiality, about fifty of the organization's employees praised the massacre of October 7. Some of them were even active in terrorist organizations, such as Pedi Al-Wadia, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who was killed by the IDF last June. "He was an expert in the production and use of missiles and rockets," explained IDF spokesman Olivier Rapovich. 

Other controversial figures are included in the Destexhe report, such as Dr. Hassan Abu Sita, a doctor who testified in the media (including the BBC) about the "massacre of 500 civilians at Al-Ahli Hospital" following an Israeli bombardment, while it was the failed firing of a Hamas rocket that caused the death of about 50 people. On social networks, Abu Sita called on the Palestinians to "fight and die like the Shahids."

 The organization's vice president in France, Jassen Abu Sha'ar, published a vague message on Twitter after the October 7 attack, calling to "find out facts before condemning" . 

 But what is more surprising are the connections between the organization and the activist Rima Hassan. Before being elected to the European Parliament, Hassan served as a board member of Doctors Without Borders from 2021 to 2022 and as the founder and president of a refugee camp monitoring organization. What was her role? The member of parliament from France did not want to answer our questions.

Another "human rights organization" that is antisemitic. One shouldn't be surprised, but it is still outrageous.

(h/t iTiIL972)


Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Wednesday, November 06, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Fox News exit polls are considered to be pretty reliable. They surveyed 120,000 voters as they left the polls.

Donald Trump did not gain much support among Jewish voters. In 2020, he received about 30% of the Jewish vote, while yesterday he received about 32% of their vote. He gained strongly in New York State, going from 30% in 2020 to 45% in 2024, but apparently that was mostly canceled in other states, although in California Trump went from 18% in 2020 to 21% this year.

When it comes to Israel, however, Trump voters are not just supporters but strong supporters.




71% of those who "strongly support" continuing aid to Israel during the war voted for Trump. 58% of those who somewhat or strongly oppose aid to Israel preferred Harris.

A similar question for Ukraine shows the answers completely flipped - most of those who favor continued aid were Harris voters, and most who oppose it are Trump voters:


Apparently, for Trump voters, supporting Israel outweighs their normal isolationist tendencies. For Harris voters, there is little support for Israel defeating Hamas and Hezbollah. 

The most troubling conclusion, which has already been known but is highlighted by these questions, is that for most American Jews, Israel is not a very important factor in who they vote for. The exception is for Orthodox Jews who (before the election) were shown to be overwhelmingly pro-Trump.







Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Wednesday, November 06, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
Here is a Call for Papers I found online after being alerted by Phyllis Chesler. It was written by professor Janet Gray and associate professor Leigh-Anne Francis at the College of New Jersey in Trenton.

Call for Proposals (due Dec 1)

Whiteness and Palestine

We are inspired by the existing body of scholarship that includes whiteness in its analysis of the occupation of and apartheid system in Palestine and Israeli state genocide against Palestinians. Examinations of whiteness in the literature, however, tend to be marginal and difficult to find. Our desire to center Palestinians, the Palestine Freedom Movement, and Palestine’s past and present in a critical whiteness study is at the heart of this project. We believe that such a focus will contribute to scholarly efforts to spotlight and map strategies for building cross-ethnoracial pro-Palestinian rights coalitions, particularly work that examines intersectional identities, statuses, and oppressions impacting Palestinian histories and lives.

We envision an anthology that includes chapters designed for non-experts and mainstream audiences who want to know more as well as people with substantive knowledge of the subject.
Topics of exploration include, but are not limited to:

History

● White supremacy and the roots of Zionism
● The ways in which white supremacy/white nationalism informs, is enmeshed with,
animates, and exploits Zionism
● White supremacy, Zionism, and the first Nakba
● Jewishness and racialization (e.g. who is white, who is not, racial heirarchization of
Jewishness)
● Settler colonialism as a project of whiteness 
Whiteness and Zionism, 2000–2024
● Racial/ethnoracial apartheid in Palestine
● White supremacist masculinities and Zionist violence
● White supremacy and Zionist state violence against Palestinians
● Genocide against Palestinians as a white supremacist project
● Israeli state war on Palestinian children as a component of racial genocide
● Israeli settler violence as a white supremacist settler colonial project
● Whiteness and US collaboration in Israeli state genocide against Palestinians
● Whiteness/white supremacy, Black Palestinians, Asian Palestinians and/or Asians in
Palestine
● Transnational imbrication of white supremacy in Zionism in the global north, Israel,
and/or Far West Asia
Anti-Palestinian Racism Praxis / Pro-Palestinian rights praxis
● Articulations of ethnoracial identity, collectivity, and practices in Jewish organizing for Palestinian rights
● Anti-Zionism and non-Zionism as anti-racist activism
● Palestinian Freedom Movement and resistance to white supremacy in Palestine and around the world
● Coalition and solidarity strategies among BIPOC liberation movements, including Palestinian rights activism
● Peace activism and the movement against genocide as a struggle against white supremacy

 This is not a parody. This is a mainstream way of looking at Israel from many, many academics. 

It is humorous - and it is profoundly concerning. 

Phyllis says, "Frankly, I'm amazed that [they are] not calling for an intersectional analysis of Oppressed, Palestinian Sex Workers who are POC." And she also notes that, of course, "Not a word about forced veiling, honor killing, polygamy, child marriage, sex slavery, infidel hatred, censorship, the torture/murder of dissidents and gays, terrorism, terror tunnels, Hamas's propaganda. Palestine after 10/7, there's no mention of that date, or of Iran's proxy Hamas's use of its own civilians as human shields, their sadistic barbarism, etc."

This is all true, but let's take a step back. This is essentially a book proposal where the professors will write an introduction, choose the articles, slap it together and charge $40 while pretending that this has academic merit. 

But their editing duties are not to uncover any truth, rather to find people to join their echo chamber. 

The chapter headings have already been written. There will be no surprises for anyone who buys it. If someone would submit an article that proves 100% that their premises are wrong, no matter how well written or argued, they will throw it in the trash.  

And their premises are wrong. Jews don't have "whiteness," there is no "genocide," there is no "apartheid," Israelis are not "white supremacist," Palestinians are not allies with people of color.  But the book will not argue that these lies are true - it assumes that these lies are true and then pretends to analyze them.

It is especially insidious because when people don't realize they are being manipulated. The lies are being treated as established truths, and most people do not have the ability to think that the premise is wrong to begin with. 

In short:

Beyond that, a little thought shows that this is just as antisemitic as any Nazi propaganda. Virtually all of these libels are based on assumptions that, when you trace them back, is that Jews are evil. The only way that one can make the assumption of "genocide" or "apartheid" or "ethnic cleansing" or "colonialism" is if you have the unstated assumption that Jews have the intent to murder and oppress Arabs, that they have no legitimate historic or legal or moral claims to the land.

That is antisemitism.

And of course there is the irony that it was the Palestinian leader Amin Husseini, whom they still idolize, who collaborated with the Nazis. The Palestinian propaganda is virtually identical to white supremacist propaganda - obsession with the Talmud, with denying the Holocaust, with denying Jews are a people, and claiming Jews control the world. 

Which side is more aligned with white supremacism?

 




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Tuesday, November 05, 2024

From Ian:

Revisiting Kristallnacht with rising global antisemitism
The number of antisemitic incidents occurring worldwide is staggering and growing. With all the organizations across the globe working on the issue, all of the resources directed toward eradicating the scourge, all of the government initiatives put in place with great fanfare, and the increasing number of educational programs designed and redesigned to combat hatred of Jews, the attacks just keep mounting and there is little sense that at least for the foreseeable future things are going to get better for Jews around the world.

There is some comfort in knowing that the fight against antisemitism is ongoing despite the recent violent and disheartening setbacks, that there are innovative initiatives utilizing new technologies, and many young influencers on social media are gamely attempting to break through the existing echo chambers.

But I can’t seem to find the words to comfort my 94-year-old Holocaust survivor mother as another Kristallnacht anniversary approaches. An avid consumer of news, still with all her faculties intact, including the memories of being separated from her parents, sent to live in a convent and then boarding school under an assumed name, never to see her father again as he was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz – she is disheartened in a way I have never experienced.

The US presidential election campaign has worsened her frame of mind. The Holocaust imagery invoked by the candidates and their proxies has been particularly jarring.

I try to explain that the summoning of Nazis and Hitler in this particularly ugly, contentious, and polarizing election arises from concerns about authoritarianism, nationalism, and the erosion of democratic norms; that politicians and commentators use these references to draw parallels between historical events and contemporary political movements or behaviors that they perceive as dangerous. And that using those terms and the history of the Holocaust is a strategy used to warn against the rise of extremism or to criticize opponents by framing them in a negative historical context.

But those explanations do nothing to calm her. She is certain that America and the world are entering a dangerous era that she has never witnessed since she immigrated to New York and fell in love with a country in which she felt safe and protected. No more. The constant antisemitism and especially the ever-increasing calls to destroy Israel she is witnessing is creating real angst.
‘We are no longer victims’: New York event ‘rages’ against Jew-hatred
Amid a sharp increase in Jew-hatred after the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, many elected officials and university presidents stood silent. That’s why Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center gathered Jewish groups to “find ways to start fighting back,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the Israeli nonprofit’s president, told JNS.

Shurat HaDin aimed “to retake the streets, to retake the campuses, to retake the social media, to combat antisemitism in a way that we haven’t,” Darshan-Leitner said. “We are no longer victims. We are fighting.”

The nonprofit organized an Oct. 31 “Rage Against the Hate” conference, which drew about 300 people, at the Yale Club in New York City.

The actor and comedian Michael Rapaport, who has emerged as one of the Jewish state’s most staunch supporters on social media, was one of the event speakers. He told attendees to “fight with your heart, fight with your prayers, fight with your genius, brilliant Jewish Zionist minds.”

“Fight ferociously, and do not take a step back,” he said. “We’ve done the guilty act long enough. There’s no more shame. There’s no more stuttering. There’s no stammering. There’s no trying to assimilate. Those days are over. We must stick together and we must stand by Israel.”

Rapaport told JNS that “artists who speak up about everything, and say nothing about something that’s so blatantly horrific and clear—the silence is beyond deafening.”

He added that he remains hopeful, despite all the antisemitism he sees. “I know in my heart and in my gut that we’re going to be OK,” he told JNS.

Douglas Murray, a British journalist and author who has reported extensively in Israel and Gaza and who is also one of the Jewish state’s strongest supporters, spoke in a session with Darshan-Leitner. Murray told attendees that however “old-fashioned” the idea is, he still thinks that journalists ought to be devoted to the truth.

“A cynic would say it’s a full-time job, but it has always interested me that the bigger the lie that’s being spread, the more I think you have a duty to undo the lie,” he said.
Ex-Israeli government official says antisemitism in Canada 'out of control'
As he attempted to speak with students at the University of Calgary last week, masked anti-Israel activists pounded on the doors shouting “Allahu akbar!”

That was the scene that greeted former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy on Halloween during a cross-country speaking tour that he said exposed him to the true nature of Canada’s pressure cooker of largely tolerated antisemitism and hatred against Jews.

“That crosses the line from any sort of political protest into a full-on Jihadi war cry,” Levy told the Toronto Sun of his experience in Calgary.

“Jewish students feel, I would say, a little bit betrayed because they feel that they are standing up not only for themselves and to make a safe environment for Jewish students, but for everyone else.”

Few forget the months of anti-Israel rallies on university campuses across Canada earlier this year as activists and university students established pro-Palestinian no-go zones — protest encampments largely tolerated by university administration that some said allegedly fomented harassment and discrimination against Jewish students, while barring entry to Jews and those who didn’t agree with the protesters’ views.

“Jewish students are feeling extremely intimidated and scared — I spoke with one father who said his son was considering whether he even wants to apply to the U of T this year or reconsider altogether,” Levy said.

“An atmosphere in which the entire campus yard is taken over by pro-Hamas protests is not a safe environment for Jewish students.” opening envelope

Levy’s speaking tour is facilitated by StandWithUs Canada, a non-profit dedicated to fighting antisemitism and misinformation in schools and communities.

Last year’s Hamas terror attacks in Israel sparked an explosion of antisemitism in Canada with pro-Palestinian rallies taking over city streets and university campuses and even marches through some of Toronto’s Jewish neighbourhoods.
‘October H8te’ documentary aims to understand US college alignment with Hamas
Filmmaker Wendy Sachs was visiting her daughter, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, last October 7 when the Hamas terrorist attack was taking place in Israel, unfolding a nightmarish scene of murder, atrocities, abduction and destruction.

By October 8, said Sachs, there was a concurrent explosion of antisemitism on college campuses in the US, a development that she explores in “October H8te,” a 100-minute film that premiered one year later, on October 31 in Tel Aviv’s Cinematheque.

The film takes viewers through the timeline of the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel and antisemitic protests that mushroomed on American campuses starting October 8, through the December 5 congressional hearing and testimonies from the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, and into the springtime sieges at Columbia University in New York City and other campuses.

Throughout “October H8te,” Sachs attempted to understand how this situation came to be, and why the campus social justice movements ended up aligned with Hamas, a terrorist organization.

She looked at the funding, strategy and messaging created by Hamas, and its apparent proxy on campuses, the Students for Justice in Palestine group.

On the long side for a documentary, “October H8te” attempts to answer perhaps too many questions, tackling the unfolding scenes of antisemitism while also examining how Hamas gained a foothold on college campuses.

The film looks closely at SJP but not at the role of Qatar, the tiny Middle East state that has reportedly contributed $4.7 billion to dozens of academic institutions across the United States between 2001 and 2021, according to Times of Israel reports.

Sachs said that the Qatar element was difficult to pin down in order to determine if it’s playing a role in sowing anti-Zionism on US campuses.

“It’s all a little bit gray,” said Sachs.

Sachs herself was surprised by the organization of SJP, which she had formerly thought of as just one of many student groups on college campuses.

“What’s fascinating right now to people is that this has been developing for decades,” said Sachs. “Hamas in the US was playing the long game and was figuring out 30 years ago how to make their message more palatable. The sophistication really surprised me.”

“October H8te” also looks at how antisemitism turned into anti-Zionism, the global silence around the sexual assault and rapes Hamas terrorists perpetrated against Israeli women on October 7, and includes an interview with Sheryl Sandberg, who produced “Screams Before Silence,” about the sexual atrocities of October 7.

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