Tuesday, September 03, 2024

09/03 Links Pt2: Islamism's Assault on Israel Is a Crime Against All of Humanity; Time to nix 'Palestine': Terrorists aren't entitled to a state

From Ian:

Dr. Qanta A. Ahmed: Islamism's Assault on Israel Is a Crime Against All of Humanity
As a Muslim committed to Islam, and thus starkly opposed to the mendacious, totalitarian imposter of Islam that is Islamism, the underpinning of all Hamas's words, deeds, and diabolical aspirations, I and countless other Muslims around the world who saw a humble Muslim Israeli (Farhan al-Qadi) rescued by the IDF, only to witness the appalling execution of 6 Israeli hostages at the last moment of rescue, are reaffirmed in our mission to expose, disavow, reject and dismantle Islamism by all means possible.

Far from a moral stance, tolerating Hamas or even going so far as to celebrate it as in some way "defenders" of the Palestinians against Israel is, in fact, an immoral fallacy.

Hamas murders Jew after Jew while expending Palestinian lives to do so, its appetite for death boundless.

The vile murder of 6 Israeli hostages tells us who Hamas is; the heroic rescue of Bedouin captive Farhan al-Qadi tells us who Israel is.
JPost Editorial: UN, time to end your inaction and help bring home the remaining hostages
For a UN official to draw an equivalency between the hostages abducted by Hamas and Palestinian terrorists being held in Israeli jails is outrageous – and the secretary-general, António Guterres, should at the very least censure if not dismiss the Italian jurist, who should know better.

But Guterres himself has failed to condemn Hamas for murdering the six hostages. “I will never forget my meeting last October with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families,” he posted on X. “Today’s tragic news is a devastating reminder of the need for the unconditional release of all hostages and an end to the nightmare of war in Gaza.”

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, noted that Guterres refused to name the perpetrators while equating their horrible deliberate execution with Israel’s effort to release them.

“The United Nations top apparatus – its Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council – has never specifically condemned Hamas,” she told Fox News Digital. “UN denial of the right of Israeli self-defense and its promotion of violence against the people of Israel has never been more clear. No amount of UN photo-ops with hostages or their families will erase the reality of the UN’s insidious role in the nightmare of war in Israel for seven decades.”

According to the Preamble of the UN Charter signed in 1945, the purpose of the United Nations is, inter alia, “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained.”

As we mourn for the six hostages, we urge the UN to change its course, condemn Hamas, and take action immediately on behalf of the 101 hostages it is still holding.
Why Anti-Zionism Is Antisemitic
Anti-Zionism undermines the millennia-old ties between Judaism and the Land of Israel.

While preparing to leave my position as a tenured full professor and academic administrator at Rutgers University in May, I was called out for contending that calls for Israel's destruction, including the view that Israel has no right to defend itself or its citizens, are antisemitic.

Anti-Zionism - opposition to the Jewish right of self-determination in the Jewish people's historic homeland - is antisemitic because it attacks a core belief of Judaism.

Three times a day, traditional Jews pray for the rebuilding of Jerusalem as part of the Jewish homeland. Academics would be outraged if anyone tried to dictate to any other religion what its beliefs should be.


Abe Greenwald: Prepare To Be Unsettled
What exactly is this nonsensical ideology based on? Kirsch does a fine job of detailing settler-colonialism studies logic, such as it is. Its central tenet states that "Invasion is a structure, not an event." This popular quote from the field’s leading Australian scholar, Patrick Wolfe, means that once a people arrive at and settle in a land where there is an indigenous people, the entire edifice of the society is a frozen invasion and rendered illegitimate—until settler "futurity" is vanquished. This sounds comically broad because it is.

Whether the "invaders" have replaced the indigenous people, constitute a majority, or make up a minority, they need to go. And it matters not at all whether the settler-colonialists envision a shared, inclusive, multicultural society to be enjoyed by all. Such an approach is considered merely "transfer by assimilation," one of many categories of destroying indigenous people. What’s more, you are an unwelcome settler-colonialist, whether your ancestors were the invaders or were brought to the conquered land in bondage. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, African-American descendants of slaves "benefit from the settler-colonial system as it stands today," which doesn’t bode well for their futurity. As Kirsch quotes the historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, "The desire to relieve the non-European migrant or descendants of enslaved Africans from responsibility is understandable but not sustainable if the settler-colonial foundation is to be eradicated."

There’s nothing that settler-colonialist thinkers more urgently wish to eradicate than the State of Israel. The exterminationist rhetoric of the woke jihad on American campuses and streets is not to be taken metaphorically. And in defining Israel as a settler-colonial state, radical academics compound their delusion with perversion. If any people can legitimately claim indigeneity to any piece of land on this planet, it’s the Jews to Israel. The Jewish presence in the land of Israel dates back to the second millennium B.C. Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, are not descended from the Canaanites of the Bible. The Arabs didn’t conquer the Levant until the 6th century A.D., roughly 2,000 years after the Jews were first there. Settler-colonial studies argues that every land dispute should be resolved in favor of the land’s earliest known inhabitants. In Israel, that’s the Jews.

So if settler-colonialism scholars believed what they wrote and said, they’d be the most passionate Zionists on the planet. They don’t, and they’re not. But they do have a simple solution to this paradox: redefining established terms. "In the discourse of settler colonialism," Kirsch writes, "indigeneity has a meaning beyond chronology. It is a moral and spiritual status, associated with qualities such as authenticity, selflessness, and wisdom." Radicals pronounce anti-Israel and anti-Western parties to be imbued with these qualities and then anoint them indigenous.

Redefinition permeates the field. The indigenous are settlers, refugees are colonialists, and, according to Damien Short of the University of London, "It isn’t actually necessary for anyone to be killed in order for genocide to take place." To sum up this capsized reasoning: When non-indigenous people are not killed by non-colonialists, it’s still settler-colonialist genocide.

This labyrinth of incoherence raises a fraught question: Is it even profitable to take seriously, as Kirsch’s excellent book does, something so unserious? As an ideology, settler-colonialism studies cannot be invalidated in the traditional sense because its adherents are entirely comfortable with its figments and inconsistencies. A philosophy that disfigures language, history, and morality to bolster its claims is no philosophy at all. It is a religion.

As a fanatical religious movement, settler-colonialism studies can and should be exposed. Its historians are priests, its texts are scripture, and its students are parishioners. What do they worship? At the moment, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran—the purveyors of slaughter who work to hasten the rapture that academic journals call decolonization. Terrorists, unlike professors, have an answer for how to reverse history. And it doesn’t involve palaver about "denying futurity." Our Western settler-colonialism obsessives deify terrorists for picking up arms, killing the colonizers, and dismantling the West—while they, the credentialed academics, make land acknowledgments and occupy campuses to expiate their own sin of non-indigeneity. The woke jihad, too, is a structure, not an event.
Time to nix 'Palestine': Terrorists aren't entitled to a state
THE PURPOSE of the Oslo Accords, from Arafat’s perspective, was not peace, but to advance his agenda to destroy Israel. Receiving territorial, political and economic concessions, legitimacy, and recognition for the 2SS served his strategy. Many Israeli leaders ignored the risks.

Then-prime minister Ehud Barak’s offer at Camp David in July 2000 (22 years after PM Yitzhak Rabin signed the original peace accords there) to give Arafat almost everything that he wanted confirmed to the PLO leader that he was right: Israel was willing to surrender and withdraw to the 1949 Armistice lines. Despite increased terrorism, the UN and the international community prefer a quasi-Palestinian state and the 2SS.

According to former US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, who was at Camp David and wrote two books about it, the reason that Arafat rejected Barak’s offers was because the conflict itself was his identity; it is the basis of “Palestinian national consciousness.” He initiated the Second Intifada two months later in September 2000 to prevent a resolution of the conflict (Intifada 2 lasted until February 2005, six months before the beginning of the Disengagement). The 2SS and terrorism are Arafat’s real legacy to ensure that the conflict will remain.

Arafat was born in Cairo; he is therefore not a Palestinian. His identity, however, was shaped not only by the conflict, but by the narrative, especially The Nakba. Palestinianism began in 1948 with the war to annihilate Israel and its failure – it instead became the Jewish state’s War of Independence – and continued with the 1967 Six Day War.

FOR PALESTINIANS, the nascent Jewish state was a “catastrophe,” and it continues to define their identity. For them, it is similar in a way to our connecting the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. We say “Never again”; for Palestinians it is “Don’t forget The Nakba,” “the refugees,” etc. For us, the Holocaust is part of our national identity; for Palestinians, The Nakba is the definition of what Palestinianism means.

Instead of being treated as a war criminal, however, Arafat was honored as head of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. Even President George W. Bush, following the terrorist attack on 9/11, the war in Iraq and during the Second Intifada, declared his support for the 2SS.

A symbol of hatred and violence, the solution was widely accepted as “the only alternative.” Support for this mantra has undermined efforts by Israel to resolve the conflict and led to the rise of Hamas, other Islamist jihadist groups, and Iranian proxies, such as Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Support for the 2SS, therefore, prevents any rational, meaningful consideration of other, far better proposals for both Palestinians and Israelis and the entire region. For example: having them move to other Arab and Muslim countries, developing tribal/clan-based socio-political entities, or giving them Israeli citizenship conditioned on allegiance – like Arabs who live in Israel.

Although these options all have their own difficulties, they are possible alternatives. The one-dimensional, tunnel-vision demand for the 2SS is a recipe for continuing the conflict, not for resolving it.
10 key excerpts from “One Jewish State” by Ambassador David Friedman
Ambassador David Friedman’s new book, “One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” will be released this week. Order here on Amazon. The book has already been attacked by left-wing Israeli media and will surely spark controversy. However, nearly one year into Israel’s bitter war against Hamas, observers of the Middle East should put aside their preconceived notions and be open to considering Ambassador Friedman’s bold vision for peace. Israel365 News received an advance copy, and here are ten excerpts from some of the most important themes of “One Jewish State.”

1. Two-State Solution
“Can there be a Two State Solution? The answer to the question is “NO!” And I know this because we tried. In the Trump administration, we spent years crafting a Vision for Peace that we hoped might be acceptable to Israelis and Palestinians alike.” (page 105)

“Supporters of Israel on the center and the right, and virtually everyone in the Republican Party, now see the two-state solution not as a fair outcome but as a “final solution” for the Jewish state.” (page 28)

“Under no circumstances do the Palestinians merit, nor could they justify, a second Palestinian state in addition to Jordan.” (page 61)

“Resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is considered the most complex diplomatic challenge in the world. It shouldn’t be. The truth is that it’s only difficult because we make it difficult.” ( page 209)

2. Sovereignty over Judea & Samaria
“Implementing Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria will require a partnership between Israel and the United States, its most important ally. On the U.S. side, I have no difficulty in saying that the U.S. leadership must be Republican; at least for the foreseeable future, the Democratic Party remains wedded to the two-state solution. In Israel, I will not wade into the complex party politics that produces Israel’s leadership. But I will say that the biblical lessons on leadership—the critical need that Israel’s leaders be accountable, humble, and people of faith—remain as true and essential today as in biblical times. Adherence to these principles is necessary for Israeli sovereignty over its biblical homeland.” (page 188)

“With the convergence of faith and politics in the United States, this is a singular period in which God’s will can be done. Israel, as the one Jewish state with sovereignty over all its God-given territory, can usher in a period of blessings for the United States and the entire world.” (page 159)
Here's Where Biden Got It Wrong in the Middle East w/ US Ambassador David Friedman
The Middle East seemed to be moving in the right direction under President Trump. The Abraham Accords were signed and it looked like peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia was around the corner.

So what went wrong and how can the current direction be reversed? Join JNS CEO and Jerusalem bureau chief Alex Traiman in this episode of TALX with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

Friedman discusses his tenure as Washington's envoy to Jerusalem and the process of normalization that he began under President Trump.

They also discuss Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks and the ongoing war; Israel’s handling of the Gaza Strip; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington; Ambassador Friedman’s new book, “One Jewish State”; shifting from a two-state paradigm; a future Trump administration; and enduring optimism for a lasting peace.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
3:30 Becoming ambassador
8:30 Starting normalization
12:30 Oct. 7 and the Abraham Accords
15:00 The current war in Gaza
22:00 Netanyahu's last visit to Washington
27:00 Writing “One Jewish State”
34:00 Changing the two-state paradigm
42:00 A second run?
48:00 Enduring optimism




The Israeli Intelligence Community Hit a Grand Slam
In August, the Israeli intelligence community hit a grand slam by obtaining exquisite intelligence that was highly predictive in nature and likely staved off a wider war. According to media reports, the Israelis collected information that not only indicated that Hizbullah was about to launch a significant attack against northern and central Israel, but also the precise time - 5:15 a.m. local time on August 25 - when the launches would occur and the specific units that would conduct the attacks.

This noteworthy feat, presumably gleaned from a combination of Israeli signals intelligence; imagery of movement within the rocket, missile, or drone units themselves; and human sources, who could have told the Israelis the precise plans and intentions of the Hizbullah leadership. Israel has shown an ability to penetrate Hizbullah, with the July killing in Beirut of Fuad Shukr, a close confidant and military adviser to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

This intelligence collection then allowed the Israel Defense Forces to effectively preempt the Hizbullah attack, destroying up to 2/3 of the rockets and missiles that would have been launched. It seems quite clear that Israeli pilots knew the precise location of the Hizbullah rocket and missile units. This intelligence saved the lives of those Israelis who might have been hit by several hundred rockets and missiles.

Moreover, this Israeli intelligence coup almost certainly avoided a wider war since it was, in fact, de-escalatory in nature. Since there was no mass casualty event in Israel from the Hizbullah attack, a massive Israeli response was avoided.
What the Latest Hizbullah-Israel Clash Reveals about Deterrence and Escalation
On Aug. 25, Israel carried out large-scale preemptive strikes against Hizbullah targets in Lebanon, acting on intelligence that the group was preparing an imminent attack in retaliation for the killing of senior operative Fuad Shukr in the heart of Beirut. In the hours that followed, Hizbullah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, causing little damage.

Hizbullah had delayed its retaliation for nearly a month. Its main obstacle has been the dominance of Israeli intelligence, which has enabled hundreds of damaging strikes on Hizbullah assets and uncovered its attack plan with enough lead time to organize and launch preemptive action. Hizbullah leaders realized that they have not only lost the element of surprise, but also failed to deter Israel by warning it about dire retaliation.

U.S. deployments to the region have increased steadily since October and presumably deterred Hizbullah from opening a full-scale northern front when Israel's war with Hamas first erupted. Demonstrations of allied defensive power and coordination have likely boosted deterrence as well, as seen when the IDF, the U.S. military, and their partners intercepted nearly all of the missiles and drones Iran launched on April 13. Yet, if defensive responses are the only ones Washington is prepared to consider, then U.S. deterrence will inevitably erode, and Iran and its proxies will be incentivized to attack again.

Deterrence only works if one party believes the other will use offensive force. At some point, the U.S. must demonstrate its willingness to take on one of Tehran's proxies. For example, the Houthis have effectively closed the Red Sea to the bulk of international shipping for months, despite U.S.-led defensive and limited offensive operations against the group.
Gadi Taub: ISA, IDF brass are concealing the PA’s involvement in terrorism
There's no Israeli constituency to speak of for the so-called "two-state solution."

The two-state solution died with the collapse of the Oslo framework in the Second Intifada, which began in 2000.

Nor is a government ready to return to the two-state track likely to come to power anytime soon.

Dreams about it are no more than airy nostalgia and optimism verging on the delusional.

The future, alas, belongs to the pessimists, who know that for years to come, we will not be able to let down our guard.

Most Israelis feel this in their bones, and are ready for the struggles ahead.

In the IDF is a younger cadre of officers who already call themselves the Victory Generation. They are determined to win this war. As are most of us.
Israel to classify Judea, Samaria a ‘combat zone’ amid terror escalation
Recent events have reportedly triggered a major policy shift in Israel’s approach to Judea and Samaria. Designated a “secondary arena” since the onset of the war with Hamas on Oct. 7, onset, the recent increase in terror attacks in the area have convinced top officials that this stance is no longer tenable. The Israel Defense Forces now considers Judea and Samaria as the country’s most critical front after the Gaza Strip.

While this directive is still in its initial stages, with substantial changes on the ground expected to take time, a series of operations across Judea and Samaria are imminent. “The Jenin operation is just the beginning,” security officials emphasize.

In late August, the IDF launched “Operation Summer Camps” in northern Samaria, the military’s most extensive operation in the region since “Defensive Shield” in 2002. Two brigade combat teams are currently deployed in the Jenin refugee camp and Tulkarem, with the operation set to continue for the foreseeable future.

The recent spate of terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria underscores the need for comprehensive action across the entire sector. The security establishment faces a particular dilemma in the Hebron area, the origin of two recent attacks. While there’s unanimous agreement on the need to dismantle Hamas in Judea and Samaria, officials are wary of unintended consequences.

Palestinian security mechanisms in Hebron, driven by self-interest rather than goodwill toward Israel, have so far been cooperating with Israeli forces, but a heavy-handed operation risks triggering a broader escalation, which Israel seeks to avoid. However, there’s a growing consensus that aggressive action is necessary. As a result, we may see large-scale, intelligence-driven operations, coupled with encirclements of areas of Hebron, a strategy already in play elsewhere in Judea and Samaria.

Meanwhile, local authorities are calling for more decisive action, a sentiment echoed by Minister of Settlement Affairs Orit Strock. She has urged the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet to implement emergency measures, including declaring a state of war in Judea and Samaria. Strock pointed to a recent incident:

“Two weeks ago, five Hamas leaders in Hebron were released from detention. These individuals were arrested at the war’s outset as part of efforts to prevent an outbreak in Judea and Samaria. Merely two weeks after their release, a double bomb attack was carried out in Gush Etzion, with the perpetrators originating from Hebron. We narrowly averted a catastrophe.

“The war’s outbreak triggered a wave of arrests targeting key terrorist operatives in the sector. Their release is part of a series of releases that have occurred or are slated to occur soon, due to legal hurdles and a shortage of detention facilities. Neither of these reasons can justify the looming bloodshed.”
The Clear and Imminent Legal Danger Posed to Israel by the ICC
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has proven itself to be a hostile and political body that has, without any legal grounds, already invented a non-existent "State of Palestine" and, claiming the jurisdiction to do so, has attempted to set its borders.

The PLO's 2012 request for upgraded status in the UN and, after receiving such an upgrade, its subsequent accession to the ICC Statute in 2014, are fundamental breaches of the Oslo Accords. However, Israel chose to continue to implement the Accords, transferring to the PA over 107 billion shekels since 2010. The funds Israel transfers to the PA comprise 65% of its total income, thereby helping to fund the Palestinian legal assault on Israel.

Should the ICC accede to the Prosecutor's request, Israel will have no choice but to abandon its decades of blindness to the Palestinian breaches of the Oslo Accords. First and foremost, Israel must announce that an ICC decision to issue arrest warrants will result, inter alia, in the immediate suspension of all transfers of funds to the PA, a suspension of all the privileges granted to the PLO/PA and its leadership pursuant to the Oslo Accords, and will give rise to the necessity to act to dismantle and replace the PA.


Do Jews have a future in Scandinavian countries amid heavy antisemitism?
THE EXPLOSION of antisemitism in Scandinavia is linked to broader social and political factors. Antisemitic and xenophobic ideologies have gained traction on the far-Right, while on the far-Left antisemitic sentiments are often wrapped in a thin guise of anti-Zionism, blurring the line between fair criticism of Israel and bigotry against Jews.

While I was in Scandinavia this summer, everywhere I went were signs and stickers supporting the Palestinians and calling for the destruction of Israel. Anti-Israel demonstrators openly paraded through the streets, passing synagogues and Jewish schools.

The Israeli ambassador to Sweden has not been able to stay at the embassy since October 7 and holds his meetings in secret locations in Stockholm due to threats to his life. And if a Swedish Jew today wants to make aliyah, he or she has to travel to Copenhagen in neighboring Denmark to begin the process.

Several years ago, agents of the Iranian regime orchestrated a plot against the life of the chairman of the Jewish Central Council in Sweden (and former head of the Jewish Congregation in Stockholm).

More concerning even than pro-Hamas feelings among the Muslim immigrant community in Sweden is the blind support of the Palestinian cause by native Scandinavians with no true understanding of what is transpiring in the Middle East.

IN NORWAY, things are even worse than in Sweden. Norway’s government is one of the most stridently anti-Israel in the world, and this negatively impacts the lives of the country’s Jews, who are widely viewed as synonymous with Israel, turning them into targets of hatred just for being Jewish.
Consistory VP: 'Jews are beginning to lose hope for a future in France' - interview
Amidst the country’s political uncertainty, French Jews are concerned about the role of “extreme” political parties like LFI, which Cohen Tenoudji says have been brandishing anti-Zionism in their rhetoric.

Saying that LFI’s antizionism was nothing more than antisemitism, Cohen Tenoudji charged that “the far-left used its anti-Israeli hatred to create a deleterious climate in France.”

Cohen Tenoudji said that there has to be greater regulation of radicalism on social networks and work has to be done to address antisemitism spreading on university campuses.

Another political challenge for the country, which is also fostering antisemitism, is the threat of Islamic extremism.

“Evil is now anchored in our country, as in Europe, as in the world,” said Cohen Tenoudji. “It will take a lot of strength and courage to attack the roots of evil and eradicate this Islamic terrorism which is shaking the planet.”

Cohen Tenoudji said that the fight of the Jewish community is not just against antisemitism, but “also for France and the protection of all the values of the Republic in which we believe.”

With French Jewry facing these challenges, Cohen Tenoudji said that some considered departing France for Israel. He added that such a life-altering decision had to be made freely and out of a desire to live in the Jewish state, not informed by fear. “France’s greatest failure would be a departure of the Jews caused by fear.”

Following the terrorist attack, Cohen Tenoudji remained optimistic, concluding that “the Jewish people are resilient.”
Howard Horowitz, George Soros: The Jewish sponsors of Palestinian activism in the West
In a 2022 report, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) stated that WESPAC provided sponsorship to 15 groups related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – more than for any other cause. It is unclear how many groups it sponsors, overall. In 2021, the last year for which financial information is publicly available, WESPAC spent $750,000 on donations and grants; and held assets of $1.05 million. Its revenues include money that WESPAC receives through its financial sponsorships.

Doug White, a philanthropy advisor, and author of five books on nonprofit organizations, explains that financial sponsorship leaves “many legal gray areas,” as the organizations involved are not required to disclose their relationships and transactions. “There really isn’t a statutory way to track the money that ends up in the hands of these Palestinian groups,” White said. “As a result, you rely on good practices.”

ANOTHER GROUP, the “US Campaign for Palestinian Rights” (USCPR), is funded by Jewish billionaire George Soros.

Soros and his organization pay funds to radical, anti-Israel organizations that fuel hatred and encourage protests on campuses across the US. They are funded and organized by branches of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), supported by Soros and other anti-Israel organizations.

Over the past 20 years, SJP has successfully built a dense network of about 200 chapters across American academia. Comprised of local students, these operate as modern guerrilla groups to promote pro-Palestinian causes.

Another organization is Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), founded by American Jew Noam Chomsky. In an interview with journalist Ran Edelist some 10 years ago, Chomsky said, “I didn’t think Israel would become a Judeo-Nazi state, but something similar is happening now.”

His radical organization supports boycotting Israel, backs military draft refusal, calls Israel a fascist state, and views itself as advocating for peace and social justice. One of the sources of funding for terrorist organizations is advertisements on their websites, without the advertisers being aware. Algorithms developed by Internet giants direct advertisements to sites of hate and terror organizations with millions of followers.

The Jewish-Arab conflict over the Land of Israel began with the end of Ottoman occupation in 1917 and the beginning of British occupation in 1918. The Palestinian Arab National Movement began to grow, viewing the land as Arab territory. Then, as now, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is primarily ideological and religious – and it began long before the state of Israel’s establishment in 1948.

Anyone who thinks that a Palestinian state will solve the conflict is mistaken and guilty of self-deception.


Get ready for another semester of the Tentifada
Plainly put, Columbia did nothing to stop the riots in the first place. And once the rioters had been arrested and charged, it was quick to let them off with a just slap on the wrist. It hardly takes a Ph.D. to understand that these same students will now return to school emboldened to do much more, putting Jews on campus through a veritable living hell.

Thankfully, Foxx has subpoenaed the university’s interim president, as well as the leaders of its board of trustees. But Columbia is hardly alone. A slew of other institutions — here’s looking at you, Harvard, Northwestern and Penn, among others — have fallen far, far short of using their summer break to do real soul-searching and take serious measures to guarantee the safety and well-being of their Jewish students.

With the Tentifada once again upon us, it’s time to take action. But what, then, should be done? Three things come to mind.

First, lawmakers like Foxx are absolutely correct to exert pressure on university administrations, making sure that they live up to the modest measures that they already promised to take. Such robust inquiries have already pushed out the worst offenders, like the bumbling presidents of Harvard and Columbia; they should continue until academia’s Augean stables are, if not entirely clean, at least somewhat aired out.

Second, lawmakers should work assiduously to make sure we use every tool at our disposal when holding universities responsible. This includes immediately expelling all students, and deporting all foreign students, who express support for terrorism and terrorist organizations, and denying federal grants to institutions that fail to take hate crimes seriously.

Finally — and, maybe, most importantly — there’s the rest of us, which includes students, parents, alumni, donors and everyone else who has anything to do with any American institution of higher learning. Our responsibility is to make sure we continue to hold our schools accountable, and that we refuse to send them our children and our dollars until they make real commitments and follow through on them.

This, alas, is much easier said than done. Our ordeal is far from over. The marauders are back at it, and responsible adults are nowhere to be found on the quad. It is up to us to save the day.
Bill Humphrey, the Massachusetts Teachers Association and antisemitism
The Aug. 29 teachers’ association rally in Newton, Mass., in support of Bill Humphrey—and the counter-rally against him—neatly captures Newton’s and Newton Public Schools’ failure to confront antisemitism in the form of anti-Zionism. Of 24 Newton City Councilors, Humphrey was the only one who refused to sign a 2022 letter condemning the terrorizing Boston “Mapping Project,” and the Massachusetts and Newton Teachers associations (themselves embroiled in antisemitism controversies) have now thrown their financial and organizational weight behind his campaign. For Jewish residents who see record levels of anti-Jewish hatred around the country and a systematic effort by educational institutions to inculcate students with an ideological worldview that denies Israel’s right to exist, it seems that Humphrey is being rewarded for accommodating antisemitism.

The Mapping Project identified the names and addresses of about 500 Jewish organizations in Massachusetts for condemnation and attack. Among its many antisemitic elements, it expressly calls for disrupting Jewish life, noting, “We have shown physical addresses, named officers and leaders, and mapped connections. These entities exist in the physical world and can be disrupted in the physical world. We hope people will use our map to help figure out how to push back effectively.” The Boston Globe described it as “vile and sinister,” and linked it to a “larger effort by anti-Zionist groups who increasingly call for the ostracization of Zionists and Zionist organizations.” Condemnation of the project was nearly universal, even from virulent Israel critics Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both Democrats.

Every Newton City Councilor signed a letter condemning the Mapping Project, except Humphrey. He now claims that other councilors only did so to avoid being “yelled at” in public forums like his recent candidate question-and-answer panel. Even when confronted with his inability to condemn terrorism, he resorts to antisemitic tropes about Jewish pressure and influence.

The systematic exclusion of Jews and Zionists from public life seen in the United States since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel enacts the project’s goals. Jewish students hide their identities at a rate never before seen in this country, have been attacked on campus, forced to hide from marauding crowds and been physically excluded from campus life. Jewish intellectuals and entertainers have been excluded from industry organizations, ejected from their roles at publications and had appearances canceled for being Jewish. Jewish institutions of all kinds have been mobbed, vandalized and burned. Jewish leaders have had their homes picketed and protested in the middle of the night. Endorsing Hamas and Hezbollah, defending Oct. 7, repeating every anti-Israel calumny, and calling for Israel’s destruction and the ethnic cleansing of its 7 million Jews, explicitly and implicitly (“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “From the water to the water, Palestine will be Arab,” “Globalize the intifada”) have become daily occurrences.
Education Department resolves federal Jew-hatred complaint against University of Illinois
The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday that it resolved a complaint alleging “numerous incidents of antisemitism” at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, “including the recurring appearance of swastikas throughout campus, mezuzahs ripped off students’ doors and a brick being thrown through the window of a Jewish fraternity.”

The department investigates complaints under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for alleged discrimination based on “shared ancestry,” which includes antisemitism. It opened an investigation against the Illinois public school in March 2020.

Between 2015 and December 2023, the university received reports of 139 incidents that reflected alleged bias based on shared ancestry, which the department reviewed. It found that the university did not meet its Title VI obligations “to assess whether a hostile environment was created for students, faculty or staff related to any of the complaints the university received.”

Of those 139, 135 (97%) alleged Jew-hatred and four (nearly 3%) related to accused anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian or anti-Arab bias.

Robin Kaler, associate chancellor of strategic communications and marketing at the university, told JNS that the school’s “full range of cultures, beliefs, faiths and perspectives” are “our greatest strength, and we do not condone expressions of antisemitism, Islamophobia or hatred and harm against any individual or groups.”

“We remain fully committed to fostering inclusion and respect and will never tolerate hate, discrimination or violence,” Kaler said.

She added that the school is “pleased” that the federal government “determined that it was appropriate to resolve the complaint through a voluntary resolution agreement in which it makes no finding against the university.”
Boycott resolutions a non-starter
Three anti-Israel resolutions that were to have been put to a meeting of the Monash University’s students’ council this afternoon (Tuesday) did not proceed after the union failed to achieve a quorum of members.

At a planned meeting of Clayton campus members of the Monash Students Association (MSA), the Monash Student Council (MSC) proposed to pass resolutions in the MSA’s name that called for “stopping the bombing, a permanent withdrawal of Israeli troops, an end to the 18-year-long blockade, and reparations to be paid for the reconstruction of Gaza.

“MSA calls upon Monash University to reveal and cut all ties with companies and institutions involved in the development and manufacturing of weapons used by the IDF against the Palestinian people. MSA will make representations on behalf of students by bringing resolutions 1 and 2 to the attention of the Vice-Chancellor and the General Manager of Monash University.”

However, the students did not attract the minimum 500 members needed for the resolutions to be proposed.

At the time the students’ meeting was to have passed the resolutions, Monash University Jewish Students (MonJSS) held a vigil for the hostages imprisoned in Gaza and memorialised the six hostages the IDF found murdered by Hamas on Saturday.

In an earlier statement, MonJSS condemned the student council’s “blatant disregard for the atrocities committed by Hamas and its allies – particularly, the MSC’s exclusion of any reference to freeing the 101 remaining Israeli hostages who have, as of today, been held in captivity under the most inhumane conditions for 331 days”.

MonJSS said the MSA “effectively condones the actions of a prescribed “terrorist organisation”.

“MonJSS is extremely saddened and disappointed that at no point during this process did the MSA seek contact with us or offer to engage in reasonable debate on the subject. This is despite previous assurances that the MSA would always consider and seek out Jewish perspectives on matters concerning us.

“It speaks volumes about the MSA’s distorted priorities that they fail to grasp that this motion will have no impact on either the university’s actions or the outcome of the war. Rather, it will alienate the Jewish student population further and reinforce the sentiment that we are not welcome on campus.”
University of Maryland reverses decision to allow Oct. 7 anti-Israel protest on campus
Following pressure from Jewish groups at the University of Maryland, the administration reversed course on Sunday and canceled an anti-Israel rally slated for the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

But the policy reversal was met with mixed reactions from Jewish leaders on the College Park campus, who simultaneously applauded the decision while also “requesting a more complete response” from the university — especially a better understanding of “how to identify antisemitism.”

UMD initially granted the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) a permit last month to hold the Oct. 7 demonstration on the campus’s central McKeldin Mall, prompting swift backlash and calls from campus groups including Hillel and the Jewish Student Union — and from former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who’s running for the Senate — for the school to reverse course.

On Sunday, in a letter from university President Darryll Pines, the university announced it had canceled the event. Pines wrote that the decision was made following a “safety assessment,” which, he added, did not identify any threats to the campus. He did not, however, specifically address the Jewish community, which has faced unprecedented levels of antisemitism on college campuses nationwide — often related to SJP demonstrations — since Oct. 7.

“Given the overwhelming outreach, from multiple perspectives, I requested a routine targeted safety assessment for this day to understand the risks and safety measures associated with planned events,” Pines wrote. “UMPD [University of Maryland Police Department] has assured me that there is no immediate or active threat to prompt this assessment, but the assessment is a prudent and preventive measure that will assist us to keep our safety at the forefront.”

“Jointly, out of an abundance of caution, we concluded to host only university-sponsored events that promote reflection on this day,” he continued, adding that “all other expressive events” will be held prior to Oct. 7 and permitted to continue on Oct. 8.

The decision from Pines came following a letter, signed by tens of thousands of members and allies of the broader University of Maryland Jewish community, co-authored by Gilad Chen, an associate dean for research in UMD’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and a parent of a sophomore at the university. On Monday, Chen co-penned a follow-up letter, addressed to Pines and Chancellor Jay Perman, expressing several concerns regarding the statement that canceled the SJP event.

“While we were relieved to learn yesterday that UMD will not allow SJP to rally on our campus on October 7, we respectfully request a more complete response to our letter from last Friday,” Chen wrote. The letter goes on to claim that Pines’ statement shows an “apparent lack of understanding by UMD regarding Jewish identity and how to identify antisemitism.”


Hamas, Hezbollah flags flown at NYC anti-Israel march
Thousands of anti-Israel protesters, including some waving terrorist flags, marched through New York City on Monday, lighting flares and setting off smoke bombs, The New York Post reported.

The demonstrators, who police said numbered up to 7,000 at one point, stormed through Manhattan on Labor Day, a week before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, starting in the afternoon at Union Square and making their way to Washington Square Park.

Video showed NYPD officers shoved aside while attempting to stop the march. Four were arrested in clashes with police.

Protesters were documented waving Hamas flags, as well as Palestinian, Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah banners. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated foreign terrorist organizations by the United States since Oct. 8, 1997.

One flag included images of Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah. Islamic Jihad has also been a designated foreign terrorist organization since Oct. 8, 1997.

The protesters participated in violent chants of “Free Palestine!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.”

Counter-protesters were documented at Union Square, with one counter-protester seen with a combined Israeli and American flag.


Gil Hoffman: The Wall Street Journal's downfall: If you want the truth about Israel, look elsewhere
One of the questions I am asked most often at my lectures in America is “From which American media outlet should I get my news about Israel?”

My answer has always been “None of them.” Since the advent of the Internet, no one in America needs to get news about Israel from the local paper anymore.

That’s where people should get their sports news and maybe their weather reports. But when it comes to Israel, it’s just as easy to click Jpost.com as the website of any American media outlet.

In the past, the follow-up question had sometimes been “Not even The Wall Street Journal?” They asked that because the editorial line of the Journal is solidly pro-Israel, and its opinion pages are a breath of fresh air compared to other papers.

But that question has not been asked lately, as the Journal’s news coverage of Israel and its current war has become increasingly problematic. This is especially disappointing considering its positive reputation and its status as America’s top circulation newspaper, with more than three million digital subscribers and 649,000 print subscriptions.

Why did The Wall Street Journal change its coverage of Israel?

Already on Oct. 7, The Wall Street Journal joined other top media outlets with false moral equivalence between the Hamas invaders who murdered 1,200 people that day and the Israelis defending themselves, whom the paper accused of escalating the hostility.

In the background piece, “What is Hamas and why did it attack Israel?” the Journal falsely claimed that Hamas has “indicated it is willing to accept a two-state solution based on borders that existed before 1967.” In fact, Hamas’s charter and its actions clearly indicate an unabated obsession with wiping Israel off the map.

Already then, the Journal’s news coverage echoed Hamas’s talking points, focusing on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, including visits of Jews there during Sukkot and crackdowns on Palestinian violence at the site, appearing to justify the invasion.

Insiders at the Journal revealed to me that staffers who wanted to refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization were overruled, as the newspaper followed other media outlets calling it a “militant group” and Hezbollah a “militia.”

THE JOURNAL’S less sympathetic coverage of Israel has coincided with the arrival of a team of new editors led by Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker, who arrived from The Sunday Times in what staffers called their “British invasion.”

The National Review reported that when Tucker fired dozens of workers, she “cut jobs from the team responsible for editing sensitive stories and weeding out any hints of bias.” One of the issues the new bosses decided to highlight, according to the report, was “Gaza.”

Sources at the Journal told me that its reporters covering Israel are being pressured to write more “takes,” referring to analyses that are really opinion pieces published as news with click-bait headlines. One writer was even prevented from writing a nonpolitical piece about Judaism because of his pro-Israel posts after Oct. 7.


Brawl breaks out at Israeli soccer game as Arab fans disrespect anthem
Israeli police arrested 12 people on Sunday night at a professional soccer match in Beersheba, when violent clashes broke out after some fans of an Arab-Israeli club turned their backs during the playing of the national anthem.

Supporters of the home club Hapoel Beersheva became enraged when Bnei Sakhnin fans turned their backs as “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”) played before the kickoff at Turner Stadium. A brawl ensued when they stormed the pitch and beat the Bnei Sakhnin supporters with long sticks.

A dozen rioters were arrested as players and referees took shelter away from the pitch, where hundreds of people sprinted onto the turf to get involved in the brawl.

The incident was captured on video by fans in the stands and shared on social media.



Officials attempted to restart the match, but Bnei Sakhnin refused to play and the game was cancelled.

Both teams are expected to face punishments for the incident, with Bnei Sakhnin being hit with a technical loss.
UNRWA USA chief Kronenfeld denounces Israel's anti-UNRWA ad
Israel has been running a months-long online ad campaign to defund UNRWA, Wired reported last week Monday, citing testimony from UNRWA USA chief Mara Kronenfeld. Upon discovering the ads, Kronenfeld and her staff appealed to Google for help fighting what they believed to be a misinformation campaign. Despite claims that the ads spread misinformation, since the beginning of the Israeli government’s anti-UNRWA ad campaign, the United Nations has confirmed that several of the employees cited in the ads have been terminated due to their ties to Hamas and involvement in the October 7 attack.

Kronenfeld told Wired that since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, donations for their organization have skyrocketed, reaching a record-breaking $30 million in 2023. According to Kronenfeld, the Israeli campaign was an attempt to tarnish the name of and cut off donations to UNRWA USA.

Earlier in 2024, the state of Israel had accused 12 UNWRA staffers of participating in the October 7 attack, directly tying the group to Hamas terrorists.

Around the same time, the Israeli Government Advertising Agency launched an ad campaign, buying searches for “UNRWA” and “UNRWA USA” to divert those who searched the terms to a webpage full of allegations showing that the organization shouldn’t be trusted.

According to analytics provided to Wired by UNRWA USA’s Google Ads account, when users queried over 300 terms related to UNRWA between May and July, the Israeli ads came up 44% of the time that both they and UNRWA USA ads were eligible to appear. Meanwhile, UNRWA USA ads appeared in just 34% of eligible circumstances.

“There is an incredibly powerful campaign to dismantle UNRWA,” Kronenfeld said. “I want the public to know what’s happening and the insidious nature of it, especially at a time when civilian lives are under attack in Gaza.”
Report lays bare Hamas’s fear campaign to silence mentions of its Gaza combat fatalities
Throughout its war against Israel in Gaza, Hamas has refrained from publishing the names of its slain operatives, according to a report published Tuesday that delved into the terror group’s intimidation campaign aimed at barring Gazans from any mention of such fatalities.

The report, published by the Haaretz daily newspaper, stated that despite no formal ban having been implemented that would prevent Gazans from sharing the names of terror operatives killed by Israeli troops, an unwritten rule upheld in the Palestinian enclave prevents them from doing so.

Citing unnamed residents of the Gaza Strip, the report stated that the unofficial rule is implemented to such a degree that even family members of slain operatives will refrain from public mourning.

“There is fear to talk publicly about Hamas operatives, including operatives who have been killed,” one Gaza resident told Haaretz, explaining that there was fear of being branded a “traitor” or “collaborator” and of being harassed by the terror group.

The report comes in the midst of Israel’s ongoing war against the terror organization following the October 7 onslaught on southern Israel that left 1,200 dead and 251 taken hostage — and as Israel faces heavy international criticism over the level of reported civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.

The resident, identified by Haaretz under the pseudonym Issam, said that since the start of the war with Israel, the pressure from Hamas not to publish the names of its operatives has increased significantly, and to do so would be considered treasonous.

As such, news of their deaths are only passed on by word of mouth, he said.

“The prevailing assumption on the streets is that if the names of slain gunmen are published, people around the world will identify less strongly with the Gazans’ suffering, and this will give legitimacy to bombing Gaza,” a second resident, pseudonymized as Adnan, was quoted as saying. “As long as there are clips and stories about the civilian population, nobody says a thing. But if anyone dares to criticize Hamas or to mention the name of a slain fighter, they will call them a traitor and treat them as such.”

While many in Gaza disagree with Hamas’s policy of obfuscation, they don’t have any real choice but to go along with it, Adnan said.

“We’re in a state of war and the population is suffering,” he explained. “A lot of people are having a very difficult time and they need support and assistance. There is no desire to get into it with Hamas.”


Elliott Abrams: "The Houthis Have Defeated the U.S. Navy," or, What is a Navy For?
If Israelis are learning things, American leaders seem to be forgetting them. One is that the United States is prosperous because it can trade freely over the world’s waterways, and that its navy exists primarily to secure this freedom. This is the U.S. Navy’s own definition of its purpose, and has been since the 18th century. But it has done very little of consequence to stop Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels from destroying commerce through the Red Sea. Just last week, the Houthis disabled a Greek oil tanker, which since then has been on fire and likely leaking its cargo into the water. They hit two more ships yesterday. Elliott Abrams comments:

A recent article in the Telegraph newspaper in London by the former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe was titled “The Houthis Have Defeated the U.S. Navy.” If that is not correct, it is only because the U.S. Navy has been ordered not to fight.

The navy isn’t seeking to abandon that role and there are many reports that it wishes to do more to defeat the Houthi attacks that . . . have decimated Suez Canal traffic. But it has not been given a green light by the White House, which seeks to avoid what it calls “escalation,” especially (one might guess) in the pre-election period.

A thought experiment: instead of defending ships that are attacked by the Houthis, or trying to take out launch sites one by one, what if the United States told Iran that we would respond to further missile strikes by hitting targets in Iran, the supplier of the missiles? . . . What if Iran were told that for every ship sunk by the Houthis, the United States (and, one hopes, its allies) would sink an Iranian ship?

I can hear the screeches now: this is escalation, this means war, this would create instability. But the instability comes from Iran’s aggression—its delivery of weaponry to Yemen with the intent that the weapons be fired to prevent innocent maritime activity and to attack U.S. and other naval vessels. That’s an act of war.
IDF's April strike on Iran's S-300 system deters future attacks by Iran and Hezbollah, sources say
The IDF’s strike on Iran’s S-300 antiaircraft missile system on April 19 as retaliation for Tehran’s launching over 300 aerial threats against Israel days on April 13-14 significantly deterred the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah throughout August, top sources have told The Jerusalem Post.

How the deterrence worked was different for each party, the sources said.

To date, Iran has not retaliated in any dramatic military way directly against Israel for the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 while he was in Tehran, which it attributed to Jerusalem.

Sources are confident that Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei felt that the strike on the S-300 was a significant loss and that he and his armed forces were further disturbed by being unsure of how the Jewish state had pulled it off.

The significance of the strike of the S-300 was not only that it took Tehran a decade to get Russia to sell the system, or that it was a huge jump in anti-aircraft capabilities, but also that the system was located in close proximity both to Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility and a key military airport.

According to sources, Khamenei understood loud and clear that Israel could have easily destroyed those other mega-important strategic sites.


Jihadi knifeman who went on rampage in Marks & Spencer and stabbed defenceless worker in the neck because he believed the retailer 'funded Israeli persecution' of Palestine' is given indefinite hospital order
A Jihadi knifeman who slashed a defenceless M&S worker's neck during a vicious rampage in December 2020 has been given an indefinite hospital order for his crimes.

Munawar Hussain, 60, stabbed Samantha Worthington, who managed the Burnley town centre branch of M&S, in the neck before chasing her through the shop on December 2 2020

He then stabbed a customer in her arm, and tried to stab her in the back as she lay on the floor, only for the blade to snap as it got stuck in her handbag strap. He then fled the scene, but was caught by a security guard and members of the public before cops arrives.

Video footage from the time showed Hussain entering the store before chasing the women through aisles of products as they slip on their own blood.

Having lost the knife, the video shows Hussain fleeing but he was chased from the shop by a store detective who confronted and detained him nearby.

Cops found a note written in Urdu which read: 'O Israel, you are inflicting atrocities on Palestinians and Marks & Spencer helping you financially.'

After he was found guilty of attempted murder and wounding following a trial at Manchester Crown Court in March 2023, he later pleaded guilty to a further offence of attempted murder for attacking a male nurse at the secure unite he was being held in.

Today Hussain was handed an indefinite hospital order, which means he can only be discharged by the Secretary of State for Justice or the Mental Health Tribunal.


Swimmer Ami Dadaon clinches another Paralympic gold as Israeli haul rises to 7
Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon won a gold medal on Tuesday at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, his third of the Games so far and his second gold.

Dadaon, 23, clinched the win in the men’s 200m freestyle S4 disability class with a time of 2:49.26, finishing more than three seconds ahead of silver medal winner Roman Zhadanov of Russia, who is competing as a neutral athlete due to the country’s Olympic ban.

Dadaon, who was born with cerebral palsy, holds the world record in the event of 2:44.84, which he set in Tokyo three years ago.

An emotional Dadaon shouted the Israeli anthem on the podium as “Hatikvah” played in the packed Paris La Defence Arena, pumping his fist in the air at the conclusion of the music.

“It never stops being less emotional, this was even more emotional than last time, every time to give hope (tikvah) to the Israeli people, every time to sing the anthem, every time to almost cry — or to cry,” Dadaon told Israel’s Sport5 broadcaster shortly after the medal ceremony.

“When I’m on the podium, I think about our nation and everything it is going through, and I know that if I can succeed in bringing a few moments of satisfaction, I’ve already done my part,” he added. Hearing the anthem, he said, “is this moment when all of your work comes into focus, all of your dreams. The anthem is the symbol of our country, my symbol, and therefore I shouted it with everything I had.”

This is Dadaon’s third medal so far in Paris, after he earlier won gold in the 100m freestyle and silver in the 150m individual medley. The swimmer wrapped up the Tokyo Games with three medals in total, but he could surpass that in Paris with one event to go — Friday’s 50m freestyle, in which he holds both the world record and the Paralympic record.

Overall, Israel has already racked up seven medals in Paris, including four gold medals; in Tokyo the Israeli delegation took home nine medals, its best finish since Athens 2004.
March of the Living marks 80 years since liquidation of Lodz Ghetto
The International March of the Living held a joint March of Remembrance and March of the Living last week to mark 80 years since the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto, the second-largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe after Warsaw during World War II.

The event gathered 500 participants, including Polish officials and ambassadors from 12 countries, to honor the memory of those who suffered and perished during one of the darkest chapters of history.

The ceremony was held at the historic Radegast train station, where the last transport from the ghetto departed 80 years ago on Aug. 29, 1944. This transport marked the final phase of the ghetto’s liquidation, during which thousands of Jews were deported to extermination camps, including Auschwitz and Chelmno.

“We gather to remember those who suffered in the Lodz Ghetto and to share some lesser-known stories of resilience, courage and strength. Our aim at the March of the Living is to educate the young generation to learn from the tragic past of the Holocaust, in order to build a better future. We must ensure that what happened during the Holocaust is never forgotten,” said Michel Gourary, director of the European March of the Living.

Participants of the march walked the historic route that once bore witness to the suffering of the ghetto’s inhabitants. At the Radegast station, wreaths were laid and prayers offered in memory of the victims. The ceremony was followed by a march to the Monument to the Martyrdom of Children, the Monument to Poles Saving Jews in the Survivors’ Park and the Roma Forge, ending at the Monument to the Decalogue in Lodz.

A number of aging Holocaust survivors attended, including 98-year-old Leon Weintraub, who survived the ghetto, four concentration camps and a death march; and Marian Turski, who insisted on joining the ceremony and marching together with those assembled.

The Lodz Ghetto in central Poland, established in February 1940, was one of the most significant sites of Jewish suffering and resistance during the Holocaust. At its peak, it housed more than 160,000 Jews, who were forced into labor under brutal conditions. Despite the deprivation, the community maintained cultural and educational activities, a testament to their determination to preserve their humanity.

By the time the ghetto was liquidated in 1944, more than 200,000 Jews had passed through it, the vast majority of whom were sent to their deaths. The destruction of Polish Jewry was nearly complete by the end of the war, with over 90% of Poland’s pre-war Jewish population of 3.3 million perishing in the Holocaust.




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