Wednesday, March 19, 2025

03/19 Links Pt2: The Jews, not Palestinians, were the ones who suffered ethnic cleansing; Who Are the Shadowy Figures Defending Mahmoud Khalil?

From Ian:

Lyn Julius: The Jews, not Palestinians, were the ones who suffered ethnic cleansing
Seventy-five years ago this month, the Iraqi Parliament passed a law permitting Jews to leave the country provided that they forfeited their citizenship. In March 1951, Law 5, passed in urgent session, froze the property of Iraqi Jews stripped of their citizenship.

Dozens more anti-Jewish laws were passed. Law 12 set up a Secretariat to manage confiscated Jewish property. From 1951-56, several decrees were passed, seizing, managing, disposing of and liquidating Jewish property. These decrees piled the pressure onto Jews still living in Iraq.

A recent report by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) valued the lost assets and property of Iraqi Jews at $34 billion at today’s prices.

Back in 1949, little did the Iraqi government realize that almost the entire community would register to go. The departing Jews were issued with a laissez-passer document as they boarded the airlift to Israel. It was effectively an expulsion order.

Expecting at most an exodus of 14,000 Jews, the regime did not imagine that Iraq would be emptied of them. But Jews had been so desperate to flee the country that they were risking heavy prison sentences in order to illegally cross the border into Iran. Iraq was hemorrhaging 1,000 Jews a month – and their money.

The regime had declared war on Israel, introduced draconian emergency laws against its own Jewish citizens, persecuted Zionists and communists, banned Jews from higher education, jobs and travel, and had executed Iraq’s wealthiest and best-connected non-Zionist Jew, Shafiq Ades, on trumped-up spying charges. Most worrying of all, in the febrile atmosphere of the time, the Jews feared a second Farhud, the massacre of 1941 that had claimed almost 200 Jewish lives.

President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Gazans be moved out has been greeted with a chorus of disapproval, not least from well-meaning liberal Jews. But it is forgotten that transfer is not a new idea – and that it has only ever been applied to Jews.
Don’t talk to us about Nazis
From the celebrations of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust that began before the blood of those slaughtered on October 7 had begun to dry, to the calls for a new and even worse Holocaust, to the assaults on Jews and pogroms at synagogues, Jews in America have been subject to a repeat of 1930s Germany, with a repeat of 1940s Germany constantly being threatened.

And yet the supposed enemies of Nazism and fascism, who suddenly found their voice now that the orange man is back, have either been silent in the face of the real Nazis or defended the rights of the Nazis to terrorize Jews.

-If you were silent when a class on Israel at Columbia University was forced to be held underground in what the professor teaching the course jokingly called a “bunker,” don’t talk to us about Nazis now.

-If you were silent when a Chabad campus rabbi told Jewish students to stay away from campus for their own safety, don’t talk to us about Nazis now.

-If you were silent in the face of constant calls for genocide against the Jews such as “From the River to the Sea, Palestine is Arab” or calls for the murder of 12 million Jews, twice the number murdered during the Holocaust, don’t talk to us about Nazis now.

-If you were silent when synagogues in New Jersey and California were subjected to pogroms from people who want to finish what the Nazis started, don’t talk to us about Nazis now.

-If you cheered when your leaders said that the real Nazis “have a point” or that those motivated by nothing more than murderous hatred for Jews are “showing exactly what the human emotion should be,” don’t talk to us about Nazis now.

-If you ignore the copies of Mein Kampf found in home after home after home of Hamas members in Gaza and pretend that Hamas is a mere “liberation movement,” don’t talk to us about Nazis now.

The only way anyone who supports Hamas, a genocidal, Hitler-worshipping death cult that seeks global domination for the jihadists, could be more Nazi-like is for them actually to be working in the death camps in the 1940s.

Cracking down on anti-Jewish violence, holding universities accountable for failing to protect Jewish students, and supporting Israel against those who seek to annihilate it, are the most anti-Nazi acts possible, including deporting open Hamas supporters like Mahmoud Khalil as the Trump Administration now seeks to do.

If you can’t see that, don’t talk to us about Nazis now or ever.
‘Erasive’ antisemitism
Today, to be a “Zionist” means you recognize and celebrate the Jewish people’s connection to one another—and the Jewish people’s deep-rooted tie to the land of Israel. It means you believe that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in some borders in their ancestral homeland.

To be a Zionist does not mean that you have no criticism of Israel’s policies. You can criticize the Israeli government and still be a Zionist.

At this point, I should also make clear that not all Jews are Zionists. Just as not all Jews are Sabbath observers.

Jews define their identity in many different ways.

The existence of Jews who do not observe the Sabbath, however, does not change the fact that if you were to ask a Jew who incorporates some level of Shabbat observance into their life why they do it, they would tell you that the Sabbath observance is a core component of what it means to them to be Jewish. Similarly, the fact that some Jews don’t define their identity as including Zionism does not negate the fact that for most Jews, recognition of the Jews’ history as a people indigenous to the Land of Israel is an integral component of how they define their Jewish identity.

One does not have to be a Sabbath observer, to recognize discrimination of a Sabbath observer. Similarly, one does not have to be a Zionist to recognize the discrimination of Zionists.

To demand that a Jew shed their Zionism as the price of admission is comparable to demanding that a Catholic disavow the Vatican or a Muslim shed their connection to Mecca. It’s discriminatory, biased and immoral. And yet today—on college campuses and beyond—the vilification, demonization and shunning of “Zionists” is becoming normalized.

What is worse is that at the same time, the Jewish people’s identity as a people and the Jewish people’s history in the land of Israel is being erased and denied. There is now a term for this. It’s called “Erasive Antisemitism.”

Take, for example, the “Zine” circulated by Students for Justice in Palestine last semester at Boston University. Under the title “What is Zionism” it says: “We do not accept the term ‘Jewish people’ in any form whatsoever … .” And then it goes on to say: “For us, there is only one Jew (like all Jews know there is only one GOD), and that is a religious Jew.”

Since when does SJP have the right to define Jewish identity? Since when is it acceptable to tell Jews that they must disavow their people’s history and heritage and define themselves as only a religion?

Believe it or not, this is not a new phenomenon.

It has happened before. In Europe, when Jews were offered emancipation and equal rights for the first time. In 1789, when the French National Assembly debated whether the French Declaration of the Rights of Man should apply to Jews, Count of Clermont Tonnerre said, “The Jews should be denied everything as a nation, but granted everything as individuals.” The Jews of France were told that if they did not abandon their sense of Jewish peoplehood and pledged allegiance only to France, they would be expelled. With a choice like that, many Jews complied. They announced: “France is our Zion!”

The situation was repeated seven years later in 1796 before the Dutch Parliament. There, they debated how they could give Dutch citizenship to a Jew if he felt connected to Jews in England, France or Germany. One of the Dutch parliamentarians proposed that the Jews take an oath that began: “I, so-and-so, declare that I do not belong to any other people, nor any part of a people, but solely and only to the people of the Netherlands.”

Accusing Jews of dual loyalty is another ancient antisemitic trope. Jews throughout time have proven over and over again to be patriotic, loyal citizens of the countries in which they live while still celebrating their Jewish heritage.

Indeed, the child of the couple whose wedding Benjamin Rush attended proves just that point. The son of Rachel Phillips and Michael Levy was the American naval hero Uriah Levy. He was a U.S. Navy commodore and the first Jewish person to hold that rank. He admired Thomas Jefferson and the founding father’s ideals of religious liberty, so much so that in 1834, Levy purchased Jefferson’s estate at Monticello, which had fallen into a state of disrepair. Levy spent his own money to restore and preserve Monticello. He buried his mother there and then bequeathed the estate to the American people. That is how the couple that Rush saw standing under the Jewish marriage canopy 238 years ago helped preserve an important piece of American history for future generations.

My challenge to you today is to respond to differences the way that the founder of Dickinson College, Benjamin Rush, responded to differences when he was invited to his first Jewish wedding. Embrace the difference with curiosity and positive enthusiasm. Learn not only about each other’s customs, traditions, history and heritage; spend some time learning more about your own.

Don’t shun, silence and exclude others. Instead, listen, share and engage. Be proud of who you are without putting other people down. Because if you are able to do that, you will create a community here that is truly a safe, welcoming space for all. And then, you will be able to build together the better society that our country so desperately needs.


Saul Bellow’s Israel, and Its Unchanged Enemies
In 1975, the American Jewish novelist Saul Bellow took a trip to Israel. The result was To Jerusalem and Back, his only book-length work of nonfiction. Elliot Kaufman revisits Bellow’s “deep and reflective, pragmatic and piercing,” reflections on the Jewish state:

“Here in Jerusalem,” writes Bellow, “when you shut your apartment door behind you, you fall into a gale of conversation—exposition, argument, harangue, analysis, theory, expostulation, threat, and prophecy.” Everyone is a diplomat, but no one will be diplomatic. “The subject of all this talk is, ultimately, survival,” Bellow writes, “the survival of the decent society created in Israel within a few decades. At first this is hard to grasp because the setting is so civilized.”

So fascinating are the Israeli characters we meet and so urgent are the ideas they thrash about in Bellow’s quick tableaus, that even the reflective interludes among civilizational treasures can seem almost prelapsarian and out of place. Bellow felt some of this himself: “In these days of armored attacks on Yom Kippur, of Vietnams, Watergates, Mansons, Amins, terrorist massacres at Olympic Games, what are illuminated manuscripts, what are masterpieces of wrought iron, what are holy places?”

Bellow is more comfortable letting others prosecute the case against the Arabs. Where he must speak in his own words is against their apologists in the West. The French are the worst. “Since 1973, Le Monde has openly taken the side of the Arabs in their struggle with Israel,” he writes. “It supports terrorists. It is friendlier to [Idi] Amin than to Rabin. A recent review of the autobiography of a fedayeen speaks of the Israelis as colonialist.” One is surprised again and again how little has changed in 50 years.
Herzog offers compromise to salvage controversial antisemitism conference
In an attempt to stem the tide of officials boycotting Israel’s upcoming conference on combating antisemitism over the inclusion of far-right European politicians, President Isaac Herzog has offered a compromise: a private meeting with world Jewish leaders at his home the night before the main event, without those controversial figures.

Some of the people who canceled their participation in the conference have agreed to attend this event, said a source involved with the planning.

According to the website of the conference, to be held in Jerusalem on March 26-27, the event includes guided tours and an evening gala on Wednesday night, followed by a full-day conference at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center on Thursday. The Wednesday night gala has now been reconceptualized as a private gathering for Jewish leaders only.

“The people who need to be happy are happy with this plan,” the source said.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt is the latest person to have canceled his participation in the conference, where he was originally slated to deliver a keynote address, his office said Tuesday. He is expected to join the private meeting via video conference.

Other people who have announced they will not attend the conference in Jerusalem next week include French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who had been slated to be a keynote speaker, British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, UK government adviser on antisemitism Lord John Mann, veteran academic and activist David Hirsh, German antisemitism czar Felix Klein, and German politician Volker Beck.

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff is said to be weighing his final decision on whether to attend.
Organisations quit Goldsmiths antisemitism inquiry because it ‘marginalises Palestinians’
Nine organisations have withdrawn their engagement from an independent inquiry into antisemitism at a London university, claiming it “marginalises Palestinians”.

The groups pulled out of the investigation at Goldsmiths, University of London, which was launched in May 2023 to examine allegations of antisemitism in the institution.

The inquiry was triggered after Goldsmiths’ then-student union president accused academic Dr David Hirsh, a sociologist and an expert on antisemitism, of being a “far right white supremacist” in March 2022.

The boycotting organisations include the Goldsmiths Students Union (SU), Goldsmiths University College Union (UCU) executive committee, the Muslim Association of Britain, and Forensic Architecture.

In 2023, Goldsmiths appointed senior barrister Mohinderpal Sethi KC of Littleton Chambers to lead the inquiry.

The barrister, who has previously examined sexual abuse in athletics and racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, was tasked with determining if Goldsmiths breached its duties under the Equalities Act, failed to follow its own anti-racist policies, or failed to support Jewish students and staff who have experienced antisemitism or to deal with their complaints adequately.

But on Thursday, nine organisations announced they had lost “confidence” in the inquiry, accusing it of marginalising Palestinians, adopting an approach which discriminates against them, and appearing to “target those who criticise Israeli policies and Zionism”.

In a joint statement, the groups complained of “a lack of transparency as to who and what is being investigated by the inquiry”.

The organisations accused the investigation of failing to take into account how the “social and political context where unfounded accusations of antisemitism are used to silence Palestinian voices and those who stand with them”.

The groups also complained that the inquiry had not specified whether it was adopting the “discredited” IHRA definition of antisemitism in its assessment.

“This is a crucial question because criticism of Israeli government policies and actions, and anti-Zionism are frequently weaponised and misrepresented as antisemitism,” the groups said.

Forensic Architecture, a multidisciplinary research group based at Goldsmiths, is one of the organisations which has withdrawn its engagement from the inquiry.
Josh Hammer: The Jewish–Christian Biblical Alliance To Save the West
Excerpted from Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West, out today by Josh Hammer (© 2025). Used with permission from Radius Book Group, a division of Diversion Publishing.

If the West is going to survive as a semi-concrete entity and not either be subsumed into an amorphous global neoliberal blob or be conquered by wokeism and Islamism, it is imperative that its core constituent parts all stand boldly together. Specifically, Western Jews and Christians must stand shoulder-to-shoulder like never before. Immense theological and eschatological differences that will not be bridged any time soon must be put aside in favor of a focus on Jews' and Christians' overwhelming moral and civilizational-historical overlap as the two preservers of our biblical inheritance, on the one hand, and the urgent practical necessity of forging a united front.

The Judeo-Christian tradition, which began with God's world-transforming revelation to the incipient Israelite nation at Mount Sinai, birthed Western civilization and has nourished it over the course of thousands of years. The West's manifold gifts to the world all directly or indirectly flow from this great patrimony. If Western civilization is now going to prevail as a distinct entity and resist the existential challenges posed by stifling globalism, metastasizing wokeism, and subjugating Islamism, it is going to require the West to rededicate itself to that very inherited Judeo-Christian tradition.

Both Jews and Christians have distinct and indispensable roles to play.

For Christians, adherents of the West's dominant religion, it is imperative to internalize the basic truth that the civilization they were so instrumental in building and developing is largely predicated upon values and principles derived from the Hebrew Bible. And it is not just the Hebrew Bible—and the Talmud—that has been so central to the formation of Western civilization as a unique strand of the human experience. Rather, it is also the Jews themselves—the original preservers of our biblical inheritance, who introduced monotheism to the world—who have always been foundational to the entire construct.

As Eric Hoffer, known as the "longshoreman philosopher," wrote in a 1968 essay, "I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us." Hoffer was referring to the State of Israel, writing in the aftermath of the Jewish state's miraculous victory in the Six Day War one year prior. But his sentiment holds true not only for the specific State of Israel, but also for the broader nation of Israel—the Jewish people.

Through the centuries, those who have sought to physically or intellectually conquer the West have taken a peculiar interest in targeting the Jews. There are reasons for this focus. The Jew is an enduring testimony of God's existence, His Kingdom, and His Divine Will. The Jew is a living, breathing testament to the fact that God has affirmative expectations of us, and expects us to think, act, and more generally live our lives within certain moral parameters. Jewish life—including, but hardly limited to, the perpetuation and thriving of the modern State of Israel—is thus an incessant nagging weight on the World's collective moral conscience.
Catholics and Jews Need to Stand Together against Common Threats
Last week, two Christian organizations held a conference about the need for Catholics to confront anti-Semitism. Herewith, some of Mary Eberstadt’s comments, from an interview by Simone Rizkallah:

All [young Catholics] need to know to rise to the occasion is that the refusal of the Jewish people to die has enraged their enemies throughout history. That the Jewish love of life—which is nothing less than a love of life enjoined by God Himself—binds Jews and Christians together, as no other force. As I noted at Franciscan University, “Hamas and the other enemies of the Jewish people often say, scornfully, ‘the Jews love life.’ So they do. And so do we.”

This joint love for life is a slap in the face to our common enemies: desiccated, antilife secularism; bloodthirsty Islamicism; suicidal, marriage-and-baby denialism. The same people and forces that who hate the Jews hate the Christians too—especially the Catholics. Since October 7, anti-Semitic offenses have risen almost three-fold in the United States. Since summer 2020, a record number of Catholic churches and properties have been attacked and defaced.

And not only in the United States. As Robert Royal shows in his new book, The Martyrs of the New Millenium, more Christians are in more danger of martyrdom today than at any other moment in history. As the months and years since October 7 have also shown, the desire to wipe Jews from Creation has been invigorated anew by Hamas, by other terrorist groups, and by their cold-blooded cheerleaders in American and Europe, including on certain feral campuses.
The High Points of Irish-Jewish Cultural Cross Pollination, and What Went Wrong
One Catholic-majority country where Eberstadt’s message is sorely needed is Ireland, where anti-Semitism—usually in anti-Israel guise—is widespread, and has reached terrible proportions since October 7, 2023. Yet it was not ever thus: the Irish republican journalist Michael Davitt (1846–1906) was an ardent supporter of Zionism who did much to bring information about the Kishinev pogrom to the English-speaking world. Matt Austerklein, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, recalls such better times, and discusses some of Ireland’s great cantors. He also notes the encounter between the Irish and Jewish immigrant communities in America:

Together, they built an expanded definition of what it means to be American beyond its majority Protestant heritage. Jean Schwartz and William Jerome captured the creative partnership between these two great groups of American newcomers in building a shared society in their 1912 hit—“If It Wasn’t for the Irish and the Jews.”

You can listen at the link below, and encounter some other pieces of Hiberno-Judaic music. Here is Austerklein singing an Irish sea shanty with Yiddish lyrics:
Peter Beinart, Rabbi Sharon Borus: Jews blind to their own self-destruction
As of late, there has been no shortage of self-hating Jews. From those rallying on college campuses for the destruction of Israel to the Hollywoodites who ally with enemies of their own people – one can only look on in horror and pray they realize the error of their ways.

But the circle of those who are blind to their own self-destruction seems to widen on a daily basis.

Rabbi Sharon Brous is one of the newest additions to this list. Her recent sermon focused on campus anti-Israel activism and the Trump administration’s response to it. She admonished American Jewry not to be fooled by those who have come to our aid.

“Our saviors have not arrived. Ted Cruz is not our Queen Esther,” she said. “Our trauma is being exploited to eviscerate the dream of a multiracial democracy while advancing toward the goal of a white Christian nation.”Brous focused her concerns on other civil rights attacks, that the Trump administration appears to be lodging against the trans and LGTQ+ communities. In her eyes, these actions undermine any perceived good being done at the universities.

Granted, when viewed in totality, the behavior of the Republicans seems self-contradictory. But the picture being painted of a nefarious group whose ultimate goal is an Aryan nation is quite a stretch.

What is most shocking about Rabbi Brous’s message is that since some of the administration’s actions are disagreeable, all of them must be revoked.

The protections finally being demanded for Jewish students are vital and, in some ways, are a form of salvation. For the past year and a half, many have lamented that communities the Jewish people once stood by have abandoned us in our time of need.

This is not a call for retribution. But when we finally have momentum to quash the antisemitism in our midst, halting it for philosophical reasons is tantamount to suicide.


No other purpose
One of the glories of the United States is the First Amendment, which enshrines the freedom of speech into the laws and fundamental values of the United States. After the Second World War, this guiding principle became a foundational basis of the postwar order in democratic countries, including the State of Israel.

However, there is a critical counterpoint to this concept—free speech must mean responsible speech. We are not free to libel and slander, perjure ourselves under oath or shout fire in a crowded theater.

“No Other Land,” which won the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature on March 2, falls firmly into the realm of irresponsible speech.

Consider the directors’ statement released with the movie: “We’re making this film together, a Palestinian-Israeli group of activists and filmmakers, because we want to … resist the reality of Apartheid we were born into … .” This is a calumny. The Afrikaan’s term “Apartheid” specifically refers to South Africa’s former system of racial segregation, which even banned interracial relationships. Israel, in contrast, has granted full civil, social and political rights to all its citizens, regardless of race or religion, since its founding. In their acceptance speeches, one of the directors, Palestinian Basel Adra, accused Israel of engaging in “ethnic cleansing,” while another, Israeli Yuval Abraham, accused it of “ethnic supremacy.”

These are not accurate descriptions of Israel’s society and reality; they are outrageous misrepresentations designed to incite hatred.

“No Other Land” was created purportedly to show “the destruction of the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel [Adra] and Israeli journalist Yuval [Abraham].” Adra explains the purpose of the film: to document that “Israeli settlers are raiding and burning our villages while soldiers arrest us, abuse us and demolish our homes.”

What is the truth of these inflammatory accusations? Masafer Yatta is a cluster of unauthorized Palestinian outposts within an Israeli Defense Forces training zone in the Hebron Hills in the far south of Judea and Samaria (commonly referred to as the West Bank), with a combined population of about 1,300 as of 2022. Satellite imagery shows that there was no permanent Palestinian presence in the area until the 1990s, while the IDF training zone was established in 1979.

Yet Palestinian residents claim their presence predates the IDF training zone. The issue was thoroughly litigated, and in 2022, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that “no signs of habitation can be observed in the area before 1980, certainly not permanent habitation in the entire area,” allowing the IDF to proceed with removing squatters in the area.
Hollywood loves a cause, except when the cause is Jewish
In the perfect Hollywood satire Tropic Thunder Tugg Speedman, an action star loosely modelled on Tom Cruise, played by Ben Stiller, fronts an ad campaign to save the panda, presumably because he likes its colour scheme. It's a mockery of the Hollywood fashion for spurious, self-serving, and ultimately performative political activism: later, Speedman kills a panda, and wears it as a hat.

The film is droll and knowing: it foresees the Hollywood response to #MeToo in 2019, which saw actors appear at the Academy Awards with pet activists in tow – all involved looked ridiculous – and it echoes Sacha Baron Cohen’s cry as Brüno, an early fashion influencer: “Clooney's got Darfur, Sting's got the Amazon, and Bono's got Aids!"

Nowhere does this activism extend to Jews. Long gone are the days when Paddy Chayefsky, author of Network, rebuked Vanessa Redgrave from the stage at the Academy Awards in 1978 for talking about “Zionist hoodlums (whose behaviour is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and to their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression)” with the line, ‘I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation, and a simple ‘thank you’ would have sufficed”. Hollywood, despite its posturing – I suspect its inhabitants are faintly ashamed of being rich – is home to the most conservative of all art forms, and it does not like to expose its Jewish bones. If Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas, Bing Crosby sang it.

Take the new live action Snow White from Disney, out this week. The film is called “controversial”, partly because Gal Gadot, who plays the wicked queen, is Israeli, and Rachel Zegler, who plays Snow White, is “pro” Palestine. The launch was pared down, presumably to avoid pickets and boycotts: there are rivers and seas in fairyland too.

And then there is the feature length documentary October 8.

It is from the film-maker Wendy Sachs, and it tells the story of the explosion of global antisemitism after the massacres of October 7: in the words of the writer Dan Senor, who Sachs interviews, “the outrage…directed at the Jews for refusing to be slaughtered”. October 8 details the ecstasy at Jewish murder, the terror of Diaspora Jewish students assaulted by “pro” Palestine activists, the blood libels and the firebombed synagogues, and the relative silence of the world.
How insidious Jew-hate is becoming the norm in the arts world
It would be a wild exaggeration to say that the arts were a wholly warm and welcoming place for Jews and Israelis before the October 7 massacre. But as with society in general, the situation has only deteriorated in the months since.

The creative arts are supposed to be bastions of free speech and self-expression – so it is perhaps unsurprising that today, in our topsy-turvy world where armed men in balaclavas who kidnap women and children are widely thought to be the good guys, that they are some of the most brazenly antisemitic spaces in society. From fashion to comedy, art to literature, music to film – on both sides of the Atlantic – the story is the same: Jewish creatives no longer feel safe in the communities they once called home, and the only people who seem to really care are other Jews.

“I can’t even tell you the number of Jewish and Israeli friends that just cannot be themselves in the arts world because they are too afraid of the repercussions,” a recent graduate from the Royal College of Art (RCA) tells me – before explaining that she needs to remain anonymous, as she’s already concerned that her career has been negatively impacted by speaking out against antisemitism, and in solidarity with Israel, on social media. “I’ve been advised not to be so outspoken, sadly.”

She’s not alone. Half of the people I spoke to for this article agreed to do so on the condition they could remain anonymous. “I feel like such a coward,” explains an up-and-coming London-based comedian, “but already I think I’m not being booked… I’m just telling myself: keep your head down. It’s just depressing.”

Although she says she will never hide the fact she’s Jewish – “it’s so inherent in my being. I’m ethnically 100 per cent Jewish, with my first and last breath I’ll be a Jew” – she admits that it is something she has massively downplayed over the past 15 months. “I am very reluctant about doing Jewish stuff any more. I used to do a recurring Jewish sketch on social media, but I haven’t done it for over a year because of Israel.

I’ve totally dialled down Jewish stuff in my set. I only say the word Jewish once now, and I say it very quickly. It’s tricky because you need to hear it to get the joke, but I need to say it quick enough no that nobody shouts ‘free Palestine’

“I’ve totally dialled down Jewish stuff in my live set too. I only say the word Jewish once now, and I say it very quickly. It’s tricky, because you need to hear it to get the joke, but I also need to say it quick enough so that nobody shouts ‘free Palestine’.”

It’s a similar story with the two people I speak to in the fashion world. “Right now I’m in a situation where I can’t disclose anything that I’ve experienced publicly because I rely on non-Jewish support systems in my industry,” one tells me. “As messed up as it is, the situation is that a lot of emerging Jewish creatives are unfortunately in the same boat, where we risk not being able to pay rent if we put our names on exposés, as much as we would really want to.”

Likewise, a Jewish producer who works across the music and film industries explains: “I don’t feel I can be overt about where I stand on things, especially not on social media, because I’m terrified that I’ll lose work, lose colleagues, lose even more friends that I already have. I feel like there’s definitely a fear in the air among me and my Jewish peers, that this kind of latent antisemitism that’s come out of the woodwork again… it sort of feels like, we’re just kind of a bit shocked that we’ve seen this again in our lifetimes. I feel unable to speak freely is the headline, really. Especially Israelis [can’t express who they are].”

Unsurprisingly, paranoia is rife. Even though most of the Jewish creatives I spoke to had no proof that they had been blacklisted, almost all suspected that they had lost out on work since October 7 – whether they have been open about their support for Israel, or not.
Jonathan Tobin: Chuck Schumer’s moral cowardice has enabled antisemitism
Alan Dershowitz may have written a book titled Chutzpah, but if anyone’s picture deserves to be in the dictionary alongside that idiomatic Yiddish word, it’s that of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). There is fierce competition for such a dubious honor among politicians. But when it comes to the most shameless opportunist, most disingenuous and most willing to betray the principles he never stops telling us he is dedicated to defending, the Senate Minority Leader wins the argument hands down.

Any doubt about that was erased when it was announced that he was writing a book about antisemitism, due to be released this week. But his office just canceled the senator’s book tour, which would have taken him to stops at prestigious Jewish venues in Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, as well as a few scheduled appearances in California. The reason cited was “security concerns.”

That really seals the deal. At a time when Jews are facing an unprecedented surge in hate directed against them, that a Jewish leader who is protected around the clock by Capitol Police—and who claims to be a leader of his community, as well as the self-styled shomer or “guardian” of Israel—would choose to hide rather than face his critics says all there is to know about him, his book and exactly why we don’t need to hear a word from him on the subject.

The shomer title is a piece of dishonest shtick that Schumer has been using his entire adult life, all spent in political office. It’s an attempt to cash in on the fact that his name sounds like the Hebrew word for “guardian” or “watchman.” In truth, its meaning derives from a German word that meant “shoemaker” or a good-for-nothing vagabond. That wouldn’t matter if the 74-year-old had acted as the shomer of the Jewish community or a valiant supporter of Israel during his 44 years serving in Washington, the last 26 in the Senate. When running for re-election or speaking to Jewish groups, he puts on a show whose purpose is to portray himself as an ordinary guy from Brooklyn determined to look out for other Jews and the most devoted friend of Israel in Congress.

The truth has always been different. Schumer is—like many in his profession and much of humanity—solely interested in his own interests and professional advancement. But it has become hard to miss in recent years as his quest to be the leader of the Democratic caucus in the Senate came into conflict with a sea change within his own party when it comes to Israel and the Jews.
‘Columbia didn’t do enough’ after protests, Schumer tells ‘NYT’
Columbia University failed to address Jew-hatred on campus adequately after last year’s anti-Israel protests, but withdrawing federal funding from the private school could have a lasting, negative impact, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the New York Times Magazine podcast “The Interview.”

The Jewish senator, who recently tabled a book tour citing “security concerns,” told Lulu Garcia-Navarro of the Times that he supports free speech but feels that Columbia let protests go too far, resulting in the Trump administration’s plan to withdraw $400 million in federal funding from the school.

“I believe in the right to protest,” he said. “I started my career protesting the Vietnam War, and I say to some people, ‘If I were your age, I’d be protesting something or other.’”

“But when it shades over to violence and antisemitism, the colleges had to do something and a lot of them didn’t do enough,” he told the Times. “They shrugged their shoulders, looked the other way—Columbia among them.”

A report from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in late October revealed that Schumer’s staff “recommended the ‘best strategy is to keep heads down,’ and when asked, Schumer and his staff indicated they did not believe it was necessary for the university’s leaders to meet with Republicans,” according to notes that Minouche Shafik, then the Columbia president, sent to university co-chairs and trustees on Jan. 4.

Shafik sent those text messages to fellow Columbia leaders about a meeting that she and co-chair David Greenwald had with Schumer, per the House committee. Greenwald wrote back that, “If we are keeping our head down, maybe we shouldn’t meet with Republicans,” per the report.

At the time of the report’s release, a congressman called Schumer’s comments “disgusting” and a senator said that “Jewish Americans deserve better than university leaders who ‘keep heads down’ and treat virulent antisemitism on campuses as merely a PR problem.”
The Columbia protest case is about immigration law, not free speech
While Tal Fortgang acknowledges that there are reasonable questions about whether authorities observed due process in ordering the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil—one of the leaders of the anti-Israel movement at Columbia University—he argues that freedom of speech is not at issue in this case. Khalil, a foreign national holding a green card, is not about to lose his rights because of his ideas or words, but because of his activities:

No one disputes that Khalil was the face of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an umbrella group for pro-Palestinian campus organizations opposed to “the Zionist project” during CUAD’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia in April last year. . . . CUAD does not just have an implied affinity for terrorists, it celebrates them: when Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli troops last year, CUAD published a “tribute” to this “hero of the revolution,” extolling him for organizing Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel—one of “the greatest moments of Palestinian resistance.”

CUAD’s “resistance” isn’t just rhetorical. The organization and its affiliate groups organize the mass commission of minor crimes, such as trespassing, vandalism, and disorderly conduct, with a clear aim of trying to intimidate others into capitulating to their policy demands. . . . The Columbia Spectator, a student newspaper, reported in January that “a video posted jointly on Instagram by New York City Resists with Gaza and Columbia University Apartheid Divest” showed protesters vandalizing toilets in a campus building and spray-painting walls.

Now, consider the law. The Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the deportation of noncitizens for various reasons; . . . at least three could apply to Khalil’s case. The government may deport a noncitizen who serves as “a representative, . . . an officer, official, or spokesman” of “a political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity.” Khalil has in the past unequivocally held himself out as a representative of CUAD, which explicitly endorses terrorism.
Who Are the Shadowy Figures Defending Mahmoud Khalil?
As it unfurls, the saga of Mahmoud Khalil—the Columbia agitator picked up by immigration enforcement last week—looks less like a complicated immigration-law dispute and more like something out of a John le Carré novel.

But inspect the details, and Khalil’s case gives us a glimpse a well-established network linking American universities, international progressive NGOs, and government agencies. This network places ideologues like Khalil in positions of power and influence and promoting radical policies that challenge both the will of American voters and our national-security interests.

As always in such shady tales, the simplest questions are the hardest to answer. To start: Who, exactly, is Mahmoud Khalil? According to the Guardian, he was born in Syria in 1995 to Palestinian refugees, then fled at 18 to settle in Lebanon. After his detention, however, the U.S. government reported that he was a citizen of Algeria. How did he end up there?

His professional history is equally convoluted. The Guardian claims he worked for various international NGOs, then landed a job with Britain’s Foreign Office, where he helped administer the prestigious Chevening Scholarship program. (The Telegraph, to make an intricate story even more complicated, reported that Khalil worked for the embassy, not the Foreign Office per se). Then it was on to the UN, where Khalil interned for UNRWA—the organization’s agency for Arab Palestinian refugees that, as a recent lawsuit claims, is a major source of staffing and funding for Hamas. How did a Syrian refugee end up in these positions?

Maybe the influencers who gave him these jobs are the same ones who leapt to his defense. Immediately after his arrest, Khalil’s case was taken on by no fewer than 19 lawyers.

Heading Khalil’s legal defense team is Ramzi Kassem, professor of law at the City University of New York, with a panoply of connections. Himself a Syrian immigrant, Kassem is a fellow of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, which helped fund his legal education at Columbia University. At CUNY, Kassem founded Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR), which, among other areas of interest, focused on challenging the Trump administration’s treatment of Muslims on the No Fly List. CLEAR has received major gifts from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and Jeff Bezos’s former wife, MacKenzie Scott.

Kassem’s previous clients include a few members of al Qaida, including Ahmed al-Darbi, a terrorist convicted in 2017 for bombing a French oil tanker, as well as another close associate of Osama Bin Laden’s. In 2022, the Biden administration nevertheless tapped Kassem to serve as a senior policy advisor.

How did Khalil’s predicament come to Kassem’s attention? It’s worth noting that while still a student at Columbia, Kassem was himself a leader of anti-Israeli agitation.

So was another of Khalil’s lawyers, CLEAR’s Shezza Abboushi Dallal. In a recently surfaced video of an online training of anti-Israel activists, Dallal acknowledges that statements in support of Hamas may implicate a non-citizen’s legal status—the very assertion that she and Khalil’s other lawyers are now denying—and advises her charges to remain silent rather than frame themselves.

There’s nothing inherently nefarious about hardworking and talented people, immigrants or native-born, ending up in positions of power and influence. Nor is it novel for NGOs with deep pockets to promote their worldview and their people. But the Khalil case points at a concerted, long-term effort to capture American institutions, change them from within, and push policies and ideas that lie far outside the social consensus and, arguably, the boundaries permissible by law.


Columbia anti-Israel agitator urges ‘further protests’ in fiery letter from prison, accuses Ivy League of ‘laying groundwork’ for arrest
Anti-Israel Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil has called himself a “political prisoner” — while urging students to respond with even more protests.

“My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner,” Khalil said in a fiery letter written from his Louisiana immigration detention facility.

Khalil, head of the hardline pro-Palestinian group Columbia University Apartheid Divest, called his arrest “a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

He accused Columbia’s leaders of having “laid the groundwork for the US government to target me by arbitrarily disciplining pro-Palestinian students and allowing viral doxing campaigns — based on racism and disinformation — to go unchecked.”

He called for even more protests.

“If anything, my detention is a testament to the strength of the student movement in shifting public opinion toward Palestinian liberation,” he wrote.

“In the weeks ahead, students, advocates, and elected officials must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine. At stake are not just our voices, but the fundamental civil liberties of all.”


PBS slammed for coverage of Hezbollah-sympathizing Brown University doctor
PBS is catching flak for its coverage of the deportation of a Brown University doctor after leaving out key details regarding her links to the terror group Hezbollah.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 47, from Lebanon, was deported from Boston Logan International Airport to Paris on Friday despite having a US visa and a teaching job at the Ivy League college in Rhode Island.

Border officials moved to expel Alawieh from the country after they found 'sympathetic photos and videos' of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cellphone.

The physician, who specializes in kidney transplants in addition to her teaching duties at Brown, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah while visiting Lebanon.

PBS News reported on Tuesday that the doctor was deported 'without explanation,' and it failed to update its coverage to provide additional context about the reasons why.

Social media users slammed the outlet for 'conveniently' leaving out those details.

'Wouldn't you expect a real news organization to at least mention the fact that Professor Rasha Alawieh left America to attend the funeral of the leader of a US designated terrorist organization?' one X user asked . 'Seems like an important detail to explain denying her re-entry to America.'

'PBS = liars. Tell the whole truth,' another wrote bluntly.

'There's still time to delete this,' a third added.

'You spelled terrorist sympathizer wrong,' a fourth chimed in.

'1000% PBS is omitting critical parts from this story,' yet another declared.

'It's almost like they intentionally omitted that fact to make it seem like a bad decision,' a critic added.

Others called the outlet 'pathetic' and accused it of spreading 'propaganda.'

'Without explanation?! She just attended the funeral in support of the leader of HEZBOLLAH!' an X user wrote.

'You're not telling the whole story,' another added.

Other gave PBS a new nickname: 'Propaganda Broadcasting System.'


Journalist Arrested in Jerusalem for Inciting Terror Works for Reuters, ABC News
A journalist arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of inciting and supporting terror works for Western media outlets, HonestReporting revealed on Sunday (March 17), calling into question her objectivity and her outlets’ journalistic standards.

Latifeh Abdellatif, a Jerusalem photojournalist who, according to her social media, freelances for Reuters, ABC News, and the BBC, shared a post calling for “martyrdom” along with a video of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, as well as other posts glorifying terrorists, police said in a statement.

The statement did not disclose Abdellatif’s name, which HonestReporting later revealed based on Palestinian media reports.

According to her Facebook page, Abdellatif works also for the United Nations Population Fund, and has shared a post declaring that “Al-Aqsa has always been and will always remain for Muslims alone,” deliberately denying Jewish history surrounding the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

But none of this prevented the world’s leading news organizations from letting her report on the region.

Police said Abdellatif’s suspected post about Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, showed the arch-terrorist speaking “about the greatest gift that the enemy could give him: to die and ascend to heaven before God as a martyr,” with a caption that reads in Arabic, “wants to die as a martyr.”

So it should ring alarm bells that Abdellatif was among the contributors to a profile piece about Sinwar for ABC News.

Another of Abdellatif’s posts, according to police, included a photo of the body of terrorist Hassan Qatani wrapped in a Hamas flag, with the caption, “Raise the camera on your shoulders and document the situation. You are leaving with burdens that you can no longer carry.” Qatani was one of two terrorists who killed British national Lucy Dee and two of her daughters in a 2023 drive-by shooting.

In other posts by Abdellatif, police said, videos were found featuring terrorists from the Jenin Brigades with the caption “Only God can make them drop their weapons,” and terrorists from the PFLP praising all factions fighting against the “occupier.”

But it seems her bosses in Western media either didn’t know or didn’t want to know about these posts.


US sharpens tone against PA, but funds for its security forces continue
The Trump administration has sharpened its tone against the Palestinian Authority, but continues to fund its security forces in the West Bank, a US and a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel.

On February 12, the US State Department welcomed PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s decree canceling legislation that conditioned welfare payments to Palestinian security prisoners on the length of their sentences in Israeli jails. Washington’s statement said the move by Abbas to base welfare payments to all Palestinians strictly on financial need “appears to be a positive step and a big win for the administration.”

But in an updated statement sent to The Times of Israel last week, the State Department took a much harsher line.

“This abhorrent practice needs to end now. We want to see actions — not words,” the State Department added. “We will closely monitor that the law is fully implemented and will consult with the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government on developments.”

Asked to explain the shift, a State Department spokesperson declined.

While Washington appears to be losing patience with Ramallah, the US official and Palestinian official revealed that American funding to the PA’s security forces has continued under the new administration. The funds are coming from the Central Intelligence Agency, the two officials said, while declining to disclose the sum.


AJC rips Erdoğan for saying Israel ‘feeds on blood of innocents’
The American Jewish Committee on Tuesday said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusation that Israel “feeds on the blood, lives and tears of the innocent” fuels antisemitism and “distorts reality.”

Erdoğan made the statement on Monday at a Ramadan dinner after Israel struck Hamas targets in Gaza following a 58-day ceasefire.

“Erdoğan’s ongoing advocacy for Hamas and his relentless demonization of Israel should be met with unequivocal condemnation,” The AJC statement added.

Diliman Abdulkader, a prominent activist for Kurdish rights, also condemned Erdoğan’s remarks.

“The terrorist state of Turkey literally just slaughtered an entire Kurdish family of nine, which included seven children. Turkey houses, arms and sponsors terrorism. Islamist Turkey must be booted from NATO,” wrote Abdulkader.

He was referencing reports that a Turkish drone strike had killed nine civilians from the same family in a village south of Kobani in Syria on Sunday night.

Erdoğan has a record of using what his critics decry as blood libels against Israel and Jews.
Istanbul mayor, a main Erdogan rival, arrested, internet restrictions imposed in Turkey
Turkish police arrest Istanbul’s mayor — a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — as part of an investigation into alleged corruption and terror links, media report.

The state-run Anadolu Agency says prosecutors issued warrants for some 100 other people. Authorities closed several roads around Istanbul and banned demonstrations in the city for four days in an apparent effort to prevent protests following the arrest.

Turkey is also restricting access to multiple social media platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, the Netblocks internet observatory said.

The arrest came after a search of Ekrem Imamoglu’s home, a day after a university invalidated his diploma, effectively disqualifying the popular opposition figure from running in the next presidential race. Having a university degree is a requisite for running in elections under Turkish law.

The mayor’s party — the main opposition Republican People’s Party — is to hold a primary on Sunday where Imamoglu was expected to be chosen for its candidate in future presidential elections. Turkey’s next presidential vote is scheduled for 2028, but early elections are likely.

“We are facing great tyranny, but I want you to know that I will not be discouraged,” Imamoglu says in a video message posted on social media. He accuses the government of “usurping the will” of the people.


Trump drops two-month deadline on nuclear deal with Iran
President Donald Trump's letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei includes a two-month deadline to reach a new nuclear deal, according to one US official and two sources briefed on the matter.

Two sources familiar with the details confirmed the deadline to the Jerusalem Post.

“President Trump made it clear to Ayatollah Khamenei that he wanted to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program diplomatically – and very soon – and if this were not possible, there would be other ways to resolve the dispute.” – NSC Spokesman Brian Hughes told the Jerusalem Post.

A source with knowledge also told the Jerusalem Post that the Europeans have sent a message to the Iranians as well; If there is no agreement by June-July, "a significant wave of sanctions will be imposed on Iran."

The reason: Under the nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, which was signed in 2015, a large portion of the sanctions imposed by the Security Council on Iran was lifted. Starting from October, it will no longer be possible to reimpose them.

Germany, the UK, and France, as parties to the nuclear agreement, have the ability to reinstate the sanctions that were removed through a mechanism known as SnapBack.

Therefore, this threat means: Don't drag us along. If there is no agreement by June-July, the sanctions will be reinstated.


Ye posts video with ‘white supremacist homeboy’ Nick Fuentes
In a now-deleted post, rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, recently posted a video to X with white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

“Yo, you know I’m here with my white supremacist homeboy Nick,” said Ye, who wore a large diamond swastika. “We back.” Fuentes then laughed.

Fuentes, a self-proclaimed antisemite, has a long history of Jew-hatred and Holocaust denial. Ye also has a long documented history of antisemitism and controversy.

During this year’s Super Bowl, the rapper released an ad directing people to his website, Yeezy.com, which only sold one item: a white T-shirt with a black swastika.
Winnipeg man arrested for Nazi graffiti charged for work with terrorist
A Winnipeg man who had previously been arrested and charged for a spate of antisemitic vandalism was charged on Monday for his involvement with a terrorist organization, the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Tuesday.

Nineteen-year-old Nevin Thunder Young appeared before the Winnipeg Provincial Court on Wednesday to face charges of facilitating terrorist activity, participation in terrorist group activity, and commission of an offense for a terrorist group.

The terrorist organization that Young was involved with was not named, but in February, he was referred to the RCMP Federal Policing National Security Enforcement Section Northwest Region by the Winnipeg Police Service in February after he was charged with graffiti that may have referenced the neo-fascist group Maniacs Murder Cult (MKY).

Young was arrested on January 12 and charged with 26 counts of mischief for a graffiti spree in the Charleswood neighborhood between September and the end of December, which included the defacement of structures, objects, and fences with Nazi swastikas and the acronym MKY.

According to a West Point Combating Terrorism Center September Sentinel publication, MKY is a militant accelerationist group that developed in Ukraine. The group, whose ideology is reportedly rooted in Nazi mysticism, seeks a racial war to eradicate ethnic and racial enemies. New members must commit a criminal act to be considered for membership, apparently also openly recording these crimes.
Victoria man charged with making 'villainous' antisemitic death threats
A man from Victoria, Australia was charged with antisemitic abuse and death threats against a Federal MP, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced on Tuesday.

The charges were brought by Special Operation Avalite, an AFP task force focusing on threats, violence, and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community and parliamentarians.

The AFP alleged that the man, 41, used social media to contact a Commonwealth MP multiple times between 7 January 2025 and 19 February 2025. The messages included death threats and antisemitic comments.

After receiving a search warrant, AFP seized an electronic device from the man’s home in the Melbourne suburb of Officer.

The man was charged on Tuesday with one count of using a carriage service to menace and one count of threatening to cause serious harm to a Commonwealth Public Official, the latter of which carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment. He was granted bail and is set to appear before Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on June 19.
Non-Jewish Iranian-American activist Elica Le Bon feels ‘responsibility’ to defend Israel
Elica Le Bon has lost friends and associates and seen family members’ lives put at risk because of her views. But the non-Jewish, Iranian American lawyer and activist says that she continues to defend Israel out of “a sense of responsibility.”

“If I don’t say it, who will?” she told JNS.

Le Bon quit her job as a criminal attorney in Los Angeles to spend full time in social media advocacy and to write a book exploring how hard-line “ideologies have festered in the Western world.”

The latter, she says, will help people “make sense of why the world feels so upside down.”

Born and raised in London to parents who fled the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Le Bon is best known for compassionate, level-headed and seemingly unscripted takes on Middle East news. Some half a million accounts follow her on Instagram and X, and her posts have been viewed tens of millions of times. She has also been featured widely on the news, including on Fox News and Piers Morgan’s program.

Her activism gained significant traction during the Women, Life, Freedom movement in 2022 after Jina (“Mahsa”) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, died in a Teheran hospital after the regime’s morality police arrested her for not wearing a hijab.

“It felt like we were getting through to people,” Le Bon told JNS. “It felt like people were speaking up. It felt like people became interested. It felt like people understood that this was a terrorist regime.”

She saw Israelis stand with freedom-loving Iranians, as she befriended many Israelis and learned of their common enemy with the Islamic Republic.

“As I was doing that, I was learning more about Israel. I was learning more about the Jewish experience, and I was following content creators that were just really good at this sort of explaining how the propaganda has really rewritten the story of the Jewish experiences, the Israeli experience,” she said.

The more her videos went viral, the more she began to think, “God, I really do need to keep putting myself out there. I would say it just became a responsibility at a certain point.”


Amazon hit series ‘House of David’ portrays biblical King David as an ‘underdog’ with a ‘message of resilience’
American culture these days is awash with stories of succession (the Murdoch empire), family drama (the Kennedys) and power (President Donald Trump on social media donning a kingly crown). Now comes a biblical tale to rival today’s news cycle — the coming-of-age story of King David — an “underdog” who comes to rule over the “House of David.”

The show’s creators, Christian filmmakers Jon Gunn and Jon Erwin, attribute the success of the series — which has become the No. 2 most-watched on Prime Video since the eight-episode season premiered on Feb. 27 — to the lessons King David’s story imparts to audiences about dealing with political rivalries and international conflicts.

“Story is everything. ‘House of David’ brings to life one of the most compelling, dramatic and human stories in all of history — the rise of an underdog. I think audiences connect with that,” Gunn, the show’s executive producer, co-director and co-writer, told Jewish Insider.

“David’s story is timeless. He was a warrior, a poet, a flawed leader, a man after God’s own heart — yet deeply human. His rise, his failures and his redemption all speak to the weight of power,” said Gunn, who previously collaborated with Erwin on the 2023 faith-based film “Jesus Revolution.” The duo says they were inspired by shows such as “Game of Thrones” while creating their newest series.

In an effort to ensure accuracy in the retelling of the Old Testament tale, Jewish religious consultant Jenn Levine was brought onto the production team. Costumes and sets were crafted to be historically authentic, according to Levine, who told JI that the “entire production design team was so thoughtful and detail-oriented in their research and it shows in every scene … Their respect for and appreciation of Jewish history is evident in every garment and set they created.”






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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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