Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 14, 2025

04/14 Links: A Tale of Two Abrahams; Gov. Shapiro’s home was targeted in an arson attack; Murray, Rogan and the limits of ‘edgelordism’; ‘Dry Bones’ cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen dies at 87

REVIEW: 'Abraham: The First Jew'
Julius retells the idol-smashing midrash and the canonical biblical Abrahamic narrative with bold creative license—Terah "was a manufacturer, a retailer, and a trader, the owner of shops in Ur and elsewhere, a person of substantial means and well-connected to the ruling circles in the city." He has a teenage Abraham arguing against the mighty pagan king Nimrod who sought to punish the boy for his stunt defending himself in language no teen would ever use—"Adolescence is an underrated period in a person's life!" the unbowed Abraham shouts. "You by contrast are nothing more than a geriatric dictator. Indeed, you are immobilized in that role, without creativity or prospects for growth or change." When three angels appear before Abraham in the guise of men in an episode described in Genesis's 18th chapter, Julius rewrites the opening scene meditatively: "He saw three men. They were not ordinary men. Perhaps they were not men at all. Perhaps there were not three but only one. Perhaps it was not one but the One."

Amid the action, Abraham the first argues with the second. "In your fidelity to faith, your meta-faithfulness, you imprison yourself in the logic of others—of the Other," the former flings at the latter. "You have no piety," Abraham the second replies. "You think humanity is nothing but an indifferent accident on the surface of being."

Unlike the two seemingly disparate accounts of the first human's origin, there is no indication in the biblical text that there are two sides to Abraham's persona. He receives revelation from God at the start of his journey to the Promised Land (the Bible offers no details about his youth) as well as decades later. He demonstrates commitment to the covenant with God despite challenges, from fleeing to Egypt during a famine to arguing for the sparing of Sodom to mourning the death of his beloved wife Sarah.

"Every Jewish life is two lives, the lives of the two Abrahams," Julius insists.

Julius's Abraham is, of course, a stand-in for the author's wrestling with his own spirituality. In analyzing the near-sacrifice of Isaac, known as the Akedah, or Binding of Isaac, he cites the author Wendy Zierler's complaint that "the Akedah seems to fail as a recipe for passing on religious convictions to living children who we love." "I respond, yes of course it does," says Julius. "That is its purpose, or at least part of its purpose. Its 'failure' is its triumph. It makes Judaism difficult." To Julius, the Akedah asks readers to wonder: "Is sacrifice truly the highest spiritual value? Can God truly be trusted? Should we truly elevate religion above ethics? These questions are Judaism's challenge to itself."

The coda of the book presents the reader with a brief summary of perspectives on Abraham by various faith communities and seminal modern thinkers, including pre-rabbinic Judaism, the Talmud, Christianity, Freud, Hegel, and Kafka.

A quip about the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides seems apt. He has been so used and misused by subsequent scholars in support of their personal beliefs that there is My-monides and Your-monides. Julius has offered us his Abraham. The reader may choose to sacrifice it on the altar.

Ukraine and Israel are fighting two fronts in the same war — the West must support both

Domestic politics play a role in this positioning. Canada’s large Ukrainian diaspora — one of the biggest in the world — ensures that support for Kyiv is a near-universal political consensus. By contrast, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deeply polarizing, with large segments of the Liberal electorate critical of Israeli policy. To avoid alienating key voter blocs, Carney has opted for a middle ground that lacks strategic coherence or vision.

But if Israel faces another escalation from Iran or Hezbollah, or if Washington pressures allies to align more closely with its pro-Israel position, Canada may be forced to choose between diplomatic neutrality and its alliance with the U.S. A failure to support Israel could deepen divisions within the western alliance.

Ultimately, the U.S. and Canada’s opposing priorities are self-defeating. The same adversaries are behind both conflicts. Tehran supplies Moscow with drones and other advanced military equipment to sustain its war against Ukraine, while Russia has provided Iran with military aircraft, intelligence and assistance in bypassing sanctions.

In addition, both countries seek to undermine the West by draining its resources, eroding its unity and proving that democracies lack the will to fight. If the West cannot recognize this interconnected challenge, it will remain a step behind its adversaries.

This division also fuels cynicism among allies. In eastern Europe, there is growing frustration that the U.S. prioritizes Israel over Ukraine. In the Middle East, there is anger that western countries that rush to defend Ukraine show hesitation when Israel is attacked. These perceptions matter. They shape alliances and determine how willing nations will be to stand with the West in future crises.

Moreover, failing to support both Ukraine and Israel weakens deterrence elsewhere. Nowhere is this clearer than in Taiwan. China watches how the U.S. and its allies handle these conflicts. A western failure to sustain Ukraine would reinforce Beijing’s belief that the U.S. will not intervene forcefully if Taiwan is attacked. Taiwan is now more vulnerable than ever.

All told, the West does not have the luxury of picking its battles. The U.S. should not allow domestic politics to weaken Ukraine’s war effort, and Canada must overcome its reluctance to fully support Israel — its strongest and oldest regional ally.

Instead of reacting to crises as they arise, the West must proactively strengthen deterrence against authoritarian actors. This means permanent military aid for Ukraine and Israel, enhanced NATO co-ordination in eastern Europe and a clearer containment strategy for Iran.

If the West cannot muster the will to defend Ukraine and Israel simultaneously, it will lose more than two wars — it will lose its credibility, its deterrence and, ultimately, its global leadership.

‘Dry Bones’ cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen dies at 87

Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, whose iconic daily cartoons were published by JNS for the last several years, died at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba on Monday after a lengthy illness, aged 87.

After making aliyah in 1971, the Brooklyn-born Kirschen began sketching his trademark “Dry Bones” cartoons in 1973. The cartoon was internationally syndicated and published in The Jerusalem Post for 50 years, after which Kirschen moved to JNS.

The name of Kirschen’s comic strip referred to the biblical vision of the “Valley of Dry Bones,” with its main character named Shuldig, which is Yiddish for guilty or blame.

“The cartoon started on January 1, 1973,” he once explained. “I named it Dry Bones, thinking that everyone would immediately connect the name with the ‘dry bones’ that will rise again, from the Book of Ezekiel. But the question that I get asked most often is ‘Where does the name ‘Dry Bones’ come from?’ So what I thought would be most obvious was not obvious at all.”

A member of the U.S. National Cartoonists Society and the Israeli Cartoonists Society, Kirschen won several awards and was considered a “national treasure of the Jewish people.” Among the prizes he received were the Israeli Museum of Caricature and Comics’ Golden Pencil Award and the 2014 Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize for his contribution to Israeli culture and the arts.

He is survived by his artist wife, Sali Ariel, three daughters, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

04/11 Links Pt2: Meir Soloveichik: America and the Exodus; Lee Smith: The Edgelords; Douglas Murray To Joe Rogan: Stop ‘Just Asking Questions’

From Ian:

Meir Soloveichik: America and the Exodus

In every generation, one is obligated to see himself as if he had left Egypt.
—The Haggadah

In 1956, millions of Americans flooded cinemas to see the Exodus story brought to life in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments. Among those moviegoers were American Jews, who could not help but feel that the film spoke to them, personally and profoundly. When Charlton Heston’s Moses is asked whether he is ashamed upon learning he is not a prince of Egypt but rather a son of slaves, he responds: “If there is no shame in me, how can there be shame for the woman who bore me, or the race that bred me?”

In his book America’s Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America, Bruce Feiler recounts how, in the 1950s, DeMille had pleaded with Paramount Pictures to make a film about Moses but received only resistance, until its CEO, Adolph Zukor, an assimilated Hungarian Jew, rebuked his Jewish colleagues: “We should get down on our knees and say thank you that he wants to make a picture on the life of Moses.” At a time when “many Jews still struggled with assimilation,” Feiler notes, “Moses’ open embrace of his faith was a powerful statement of self-confidence.” (DeMille was himself of Jewish descent; his mother, Matilda Beatrice Samuel, was a cousin of 1st Viscount Herbert Samuel, the first commissioner of British Mandate Palestine. But he was himself raised in the faith of his Christian father.)

For many Orthodox Jewish immigrants, recently arrived on American shores, such assimilation was out of the question. Yet many of them also went to see the film, in the knowledge that there was a deep connection between their own faith and the culture of the American society that they had just joined. This belief was reinforced in the film’s prologue, in which DeMille himself appeared on-screen and addressed the audience. “Ladies and gentlemen, this may seem an unusual procedure, speaking to you before the picture begins,” DeMille said. “The theme of this picture is whether men ought to be ruled by God’s law or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Ramses. Are men the property of the state, or are they free souls under God? The same battle continues throughout the world today.”

To these religious Jews, recently arrived in America, this message was remarkable: One of the screen’s legendary directors, the man who helped found Hollywood itself by making a film there in 1913, was telling them that America owed its greatness to the Jewish Passover story.

DeMille was right.

In his important book The Hebrew Republic, Harvard’s Eric Nelson writes that while it is assumed the achievements of modernity, such as democracy and religious freedom, were the result of progressive secularization, the reverse was the case. The Renaissance, Nelson notes, reflected the pagan inheritance of antiquity and generated an approach to politics that was secular in character, whereas following the Reformation, “Christians began to regard the Hebrew Bible as a political constitution, designed by God himself for the children of Israel.” Liberty, Nelson argues, took root in the political Hebraism of the English-speaking world.

It is therefore significant that Ben Franklin made this proposal for a seal for the United States: “Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his Hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity. Motto, Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”

Franklin’s suggestion reminds us that the Haggadah’s central exhortation—that we must see ourselves as if we had been slaves in Egypt and had been guided out by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm—is not only a religious idea but also one with political and moral implications. The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has noted that modernity was formed by four revolutions: the British (in 1688) and American on the one hand, and the French and Russian on the other. In Britain and America, one source of inspiration was the Hebrew Bible. Secular philosophy guided the French and Russian revolutions. The former led to free societies, while French and Russian utopian revolutions ended in tyranny.

Nicole Lampert: I never felt part of the Jewish community. Since October 7 that’s all changed

Being among big groups of Jews used to terrify me. Even when I went to look around a Jewish school with my eldest son a few years ago, I had those familiar and perhaps contradictory feelings of both claustrophobia and being left out.

Everyone seemed to know each other. I was too busy hiding from those I did recall. My kids don’t go to Jewish school.

I grew up in north London, the bosom of British Jewish life, but never completely felt part of it. My family was intensely secular – although officially we were members of a shul, which we occasionally visited on Yom Kippur. We had challah on a Friday night but also a big Christmas tree and prawns in the fridge. I was a shy child and never joined a Jewish youth movement. Occasionally I would go to Carmelli’s on a Saturday night with a Jewish school friend – as Jewish kids did in those days – and we would feel like outsiders looking in at the air kisses.

And then October 7 happened. It happened to Israel but it happened to each of us in the diaspora too.

There are few British Jews who haven’t lost friends since Israel was attacked by a terrorist organisation – when we found ourselves being attacked too for sympathising with other Jews. I was accused of “drinking the Kool Aid” when I berated one acquaintance for parroting Hamas propaganda. Mostly I noticed the silence even as I was spending every day interviewing victims of the attacks, families of hostages and documenting the rise of antisemitism.

Writing about antisemitism for a national newspaper drew lots of amazing comments from strangers on social media platforms, who told me “we are with you”, but often nothing from those who were my closest friends. That silence was deafening.

But now I have some wonderful new friends, and have grown closer to old ones. And suddenly, I am part not just of one Jewish community but dozens. And I surprise myself by feeling totally at home.

October 7 and the world’s reaction to it – those parties on the streets – made us feel isolated as well as bereft. But it has also given us something special too. Our community is stronger for it.

04/11 Links Pt1: Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported, Judge Rules; The Profound Wisdom of ‘Don’t Start a War with Israel’; A Passover lesson for Jews who oppose Trump more than antisemitism

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Profound Wisdom of ‘Don’t Start a War with Israel’

Brett McGurk gave a deceptively simple answer when the Times of Israel asked him what the lessons of Oct. 7, 2023 and the ensuing conflict were.

“Don’t start a war with Israel,” the former National Security Council official said.

One is tempted to say that that’s an obvious statement, but folks keep starting wars with Israel anyway, and will continue to do so. And that is why there is something more profound behind McGurk’s statement: You can learn a lot about an entity by examining why it has started a war with Israel.

McGurk’s plain meaning was that Israel can be a devastating military opponent. “Ask Sinwar, Nasrallah or Khamenei how they’re doing today compared to October 6,” he added, suggesting that Israel, like the Mounties, always gets its man.

That, however, only works as a deterrent to those who don’t want to lose.

Case in point: Egypt. Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 arguably made the case that Egypt should stop going to war with the Jewish state, that Israel had convincingly displayed its permanence. But there was no doubt after the Yom Kippur War of 1973. After all, that was the war in which Egypt, not Israel, had the element of surprise. And yet afterwards Egypt still had to negotiate to get its land back.

Egypt’s decision to bow out of the “destroy Israel or die trying” party meant Syria would be at a steep disadvantage if it ever decided to invade Israel again in the future. So even though there wasn’t a peace deal between Israel and Syria (as there was between Israel and Egypt), Damascus and Jerusalem have since avoided all-out war. That doesn’t mean the now-deposed Assad family had accepted Israel’s legitimacy. It means the Assads knew their window of opportunity to defeat Israel in war had long gone by.

Jordan was never all that enthusiastic about fighting Israel after the 1948 War of Independence, so the Hashemite Kingdom arguably didn’t even need to learn its lesson firsthand. Amman has found it quite easy to abide by the principle of “don’t start a war with Israel.”

Lebanon is a basket case but its only elements that start wars with Israel answer to Iran. Tehran’s proxy, Hezbollah, knows you don’t start a war with Israel unless you’re prepared to lose. But Hezbollah isn’t concerned about what happens to Lebanon, because it is an agent of Iran.

And herein lies the lesson: The entities that still start wars with Israel know the devastation that is headed their way from the start. The devastation is the point. Hezbollah wants to see death and destruction come to Lebanon, because “Lebanon” as a concept is meaningless to it. Hezbollah is engaged in the practice of human sacrifice.

Jonathan Tobin: A Passover lesson for Jews who oppose Trump more than antisemitism

The question American Jews must ask when they sit down at their seder tables is: What matters most to them? Do they care about Israelis who were murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped by the people all those the campus mobs are cheering for? Are they indifferent to the prospect of more Oct. 7 massacres of Israelis? Are they willing to delegitimize the heroic actions of the Israel Defense Forces in fighting the terrorists? Or are their relationships with liberal and left-wing erstwhile political allies who side with the victimizers of those Jews the only thing that is meaningful to them?

Passover is an exercise in atavism in which we are asked not merely to identify with our ancestors but to imagine that we were actually there in Egypt, suffering in slavery and then liberated by the strong hand of God that led the Israelites to freedom and the land of Israel. That normally requires a leap of imagination and faith that can prove to be difficult when we are living in times of peace and security.

Yet now, when antisemitism is on the rise, is it really so hard to think back on Jewish history, and all the moments when Jews spoke of liberation and “Next Year in Jerusalem,” even when those who sought their deaths were at their doorsteps?

As our liturgy teaches us, many Jews who fled Egypt longed for it and felt uncomfortable when presented with the dilemmas and responsibilities of freedom. Call it “Stockholm Syndrome” avant-la-lettre, but Jews have been identifying with their oppressors and in a state of denial about reality since the Exodus. At every point in history, there have been Jews who preferred to look away when danger was near or to rationalize, excuse or dismiss the peril that threatened them.

That many Jews would take this point of view is unsurprising when you consider how many rewritten Haggadahs omit key parts of the traditional seder that refer to the perennial threat to Jewish life, such as the key line that teaches that: “For not only one enemy has risen up against us to destroy us, but in every generation, they rise up to destroy us. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, delivers us.” Similarly, many leave out the admonition of the traditional service that speaks of resisting those who seek Jewish genocide by asking God to “pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know You and on regimes that have not called upon Your name.” By leaving this out, Jewish self-defense and even the help of allies are delegitimized in the name of a universalism that seeks justice for all except the Jews.

Trump is neither Moses nor Pharaoh, but by seeking to fundamentally reform American higher education by fighting the left-wing antisemitism that is normative there, he is providing leadership that much of organized Jewry has failed to provide. Opposing him on this issue is not a defense of American liberty or the Jews or Jewish values. It is a betrayal of all of them.

The lessons of history
This year, as it has so many times throughout Jewish history, Passover provides a lesson about standing together and supporting the cause of the Jewish people as they continue to fight for their survival. It teaches us that an abstract belief in freedom stripped of the moral values of faith and tradition is a path that leads toward oppression. Those who find excuses to stand apart from the plight of their fellow Jews—and against efforts to defend them—are identifying with the proverbial “wicked son” that the Haggadah speaks of, who asks what the ritual “means to you,” thereby excluding himself from the community.

If there is anything that Jewish history teaches us, it is that those who take such stands will be condemned by their posterity as having sided with the oppressors of their time. For the rest of us, the seder is the reminder that we must find the courage and faith to carry on just as previous generations have done.

We should do so with confidence that we are not alone. We have many friends in the Christian community, as well as faith in the power and strength of the Jewish state—the only true memorial to the Holocaust.

For us, the closing refrain of “Next year in Jerusalem” should not be dismissed as symbolism or an ancient and outdated tradition. It must be a clarion call to arms to defend Israel and the Jewish people and to refuse to let this generation’s enemies triumph. Just as past generations of Jews took heart from the promise of liberation inherent in the seder, so, too, must we do the same.

Wishing all of JNS’ readers, listeners and viewers a very happy, healthy and inspired Passover. Chag Pesach Sameach!

Chag Kosher v'Sameach!

One of the small pleasures of visiting Israel is being constantly surprised at seeing Jewish themes in everyday secular life. Graffiti that says "Am Yisrael Chai," or Scriptural verses on the sides of delivery trucks - and one of my favorites, buses that wish you a kosher and happy Passover. (Picture from 2013, h/t the Shmiklers.)

Israelis may be blasé about how embedded Judaism is in their everyday lives, but things like this are not small at all. The are what makes Israel feel like home for Jews, even the first time you visit.

Wishing you a chag kosher v'sameach!

If you still need a Haggadah, my Elder of Ziyon Haggadah is still available for download.

Being stuck in the Disapora, I will not be blogging or tweeting between Friday evening and at least Monday night.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

From Palestinian Sada News:

Israeli occupation police handed Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Muhammad Salim an order banning him from entering the mosque for a week, with the possibility of renewal. The order was issued after he was summoned for interrogation upon leaving Al-Aqsa.

The forces summoned Sheikh Salim for investigation after Friday prayers.

The Jerusalem Governorate reported that the occupation forces summoned Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, Mohammed Salim, for investigation by its intelligence services after he prayed for the people of the Gaza Strip during his Friday sermon. The governorate noted that Israeli police detained Salim after he left the mosque and handed him the summons.

I cannot yet find his sermon online, but I can guarantee one thing: he wasn't merely "praying for the people of the Gaza Strip" unless those prayers included the fervent wish that they murder more Jews.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Here's the latest absurdity from the "human rights" community: Military dogs whose only purpose is to save lives are illegal when the lives saved are Jewish.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is one of the many NGOs that have been created purely to delegitimize Israel under the false pretense of human rights abuses.

Today, they released a report (Arabic only so far) saying that the Netherlands sends trained dogs to the IDF and this is a violation of humanitarian law, somehow:

Geneva - The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor holds the Dutch government directly legally responsible for complicity in the crimes committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in the Gaza Strip, due to its continued direct and indirect support for the Israeli war machine.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a press release that the Netherlands continues to export military dogs to the Israeli occupation army and other Israeli security services, despite their use as a tool for systematic torture and intimidation of Palestinians, as part of the Israeli system based on imposing comprehensive domination over them, stripping them of their human dignity, and completely destroying their existence.

The IDF uses dogs for various purposes, none of which are torture and all of which save human lives:

Explosive Detection: Dogs are used to sniff out hidden explosives, such as improvised explosive devices, in urban and rural environments. Their acute sense of smell helps identify dangerous materials that could threaten soldiers or civilians.
Search and Rescue: They assist in locating survivors or remains in collapsed structures or disaster zones, leveraging their ability to navigate debris and detect human scent.
Attack and Neutralization: Some dogs are trained to engage threats directly, subduing suspects or protecting handlers in combat situations. They can operate in both open areas and confined spaces like tunnels.
Tracking and Pursuit: Dogs track individuals or groups, such as during manhunts or border security operations, following scent trails to locate targets.
Tunnel Operations: In regions like Gaza, dogs are trained for underground warfare, entering tunnels to detect traps, explosives, or hidden fighters, often equipped with cameras to provide real-time intelligence.

I cannot find any credible evidence that the dogs are used in torture, and it seems highly unlikely that Dutch or any other companies would train the dogs for such a purpose. The IDF Oketz unit that uses dogs has strict guidelines on how they are used and treated. Independent military experts have praised how well the IDF uses their canine units. There are scattered reports of Palestinians accusing the IDF of using the dogs aggressively, but the only cases that have any corroboration are those that the IDF itself investigated.

A 2014 incident where a soldier was disciplined itself proves how moral the IDF use of dogs is. During a confrontation in Beit Umar, a 16-year-old Palestinian, Hamza Abu Hashem, was attacked by an Oketz dog after throwing stones at soldiers. The IDF investigated and found the soldiers’ actions “professionally unacceptable” and “morally mistaken,” as the dog was unleashed against orders. The West Bank Division commander suspended K-9 operations temporarily, ordered retraining, and restricted dog use to brigade commander approval. Disciplinary actions were taken.

This was against a stone thrower, not an innocent boy. Yet the incident was considered so grave that the entire unit was suspended.

So the idea that dogs are used to wantonly attack Palestinians is utterly unfounded.

The canine units exist for one reason only: to save lives. And the "Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor" cannot stomach saving the lives of Jews.

(Note: the bullet list of how dogs are used and the summary of the 2014 case were generated by AI,)

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

04/10 Links Pt2: Sharansky: Why Are Israelis So Happy?; Trump is helping terrorized Jewish students; Trump dedicates April 9 as ‘Education Day’ in honor of Chabad Rebbe

From Ian:

Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy: Why Are Israelis So Happy?

Despite constantly facing vicious enemies and enduring a year and a half of sustained fighting and funerals, Israel ranks in the top 10 countries with the highest levels of happiness, according to the 2025 World Happiness Report. In the final months of 2024, Israel witnessed a 10% increase in births. How come?

On April 12, 96% of Israeli Jews will participate in the oldest ongoing ritual in the Western world: the Passover Seder, celebrating the exodus from Egypt three millennia ago. Seders are often hours long, ritualized re-creations of the flight from Egypt, a reflection of how Jews live inside their history. Prayers, songs, food, and other rituals invite Jews to see themselves as having been personally redeemed.

Most optimists are mission-driven. Feeling a sense of belonging, they progress confidently toward worthy goals. As the best-selling British historian Paul Johnson observed, "No people has ever insisted more firmly than the Jews that history has a purpose and humanity a destiny." Cherishing family, community, country, and history shapes their faith in the future.

Israelis feel they are part of Israel's story and the Jewish story, that of a proud people trying to do better in the world while also bettering it. Israeli schools repeatedly assign students shorashim, "roots," projects. These family-tree explorations, even in high school, usually culminate in evenings celebrating parents' or grandparents' differing ethnic origins, cuisines, and Zionist journeys, propelling everyone forward together.

With so much to live for, Israelis know what they are willing to die for, too. On the eve of battle, many soldiers write goodbye letters to be read in case they die. Having buried more than 1,000 soldiers since Oct. 7, Israelis have cherished these messages by fallen soldiers affirming their motivation to fight and their willingness to sacrifice everything for this country that imbued them, as individuals, with a particular identity - past, present, and future. In the heartbreaking letters, the soldiers, including reservists, who volunteered for combat duty, affirm their mission to defend Israel and the world against Hamas, Hizbullah, and the terrorist scourge.

In the Gulag, prisoners with robust identities, national and/or religious, were the strongest partners in the daily struggle against Soviet jailers. Those connected to communities awaiting them back home felt accountable and saw their actions as part of a historical chain. Group identity doesn't compromise our freedom; it enhances our journey, filling our free lives with the sounds of others, inspired by the ideas of our ancestors.

A healthy commitment to community, connectedness, and history anchors us. It motivates us to defend ourselves when necessary, while inspiring us always to build a better world. That's the essence of most Israelis' Zionism, which many just call patriotism. And that's the essence of the Passover Seder message, too.

Seth Mandel: The Jews of Hollywood Are Finding Their Voice

Hollywood has a consistent modern track record of ignoring Jewish concerns unless those concerns are expressed publicly and with some force.

To take one recent example: There was a notable lack of activist pins at last month’s Oscars despite the post-Oct. 7 trend of film and television stars wearing an intifada-inspired anti-Zionist pin at award ceremonies. Those same stars freed their lapels this time. The reason: Many of their Jewish colleagues and peers in Hollywood properly called them out.

The Brigade, a group of about 700 Hollywood creatives, wrote a scathing letter to Artists4Ceasefire, the organization that took as its emblem a bloody red hand signifying a moment during the Second Intifada when a Palestinian man murdered an Israeli Jew, defiled his body, and held up his bloody hands to a cheering crowd of pogromists.

“That pin is no symbol of peace,” the Brigade wrote. “It is the emblem of Jewish bloodshed.

“In 2000, Palestinian terrorists in Ramallah lynched two innocent Israelis, ripped them apart limb by limb, and held up their blood-soaked hands to a cheering mob. That infamous image is now your ‘ceasefire’ badge.

“And on the very day it was discovered that the Bibas babies—innocent Jewish children—were strangled to death by the terrorist’s bare hands, you asked Hollywood to wear it with pride.”

There was never any possible “peaceful” excuse for wearing the pin, nor could anyone claim ignorance. The red right hand is among the oldest symbols on earth, always used to symbolize bloody vengeance. The actors who wore the pin represent a morally bleak cross-section of humanity, and the fact that it took their Jewish peers’ public objection for them to stop parading around in an artistic rendering of Jewish blood further confirms the need for Jews to speak at full volume.

American Jews have to make some noise if they want to be heard. And as a bonus, they create great art when they do so.

Isabel Oakeshott: What my stupid accident in Tel Aviv reveals about truly world class healthcare

I had come to Israel to learn more about war, and how it might eventually end. The plan was to talk to the IDF, listen to intelligence sources and hear the latest from the defence industry. I was also due to visit Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology – a world class seat of learning and innovation. Linked to Albert Einstein, it has a central role in national life, training 80 per cent of Israeli engineers. From creating a microscopic Bible (the entire Old Testament on a chip the size of a grain of sand) to developing cancer cures and artificial meat, it is behind some of the most wondrous innovations on Earth.

Happily, I was still able to do all this, but the accident shifted my focus onto Israel’s widely admired healthcare system. The contrast with the NHS was too glaring to ignore.

Seemingly in no hurry (another novelty), my Polish surgeon talked of the benefits of dedicated emergency hospitals. (Our own acute facilities deal with both accidents and planned cases under one roof, a set-up that means backlogs in one area immediately affect the other.) Separate “hot” and “cold” sites might have saved much misery during the pandemic.

Based on mandatory health insurance with not-for-profit providers, Israel’s health system is means-tested but universal, ensuring even the poorest citizens are covered. By both efficiency and outcome, it ranks among the best in the world – as I can attest. By 10pm I was back in my hotel room, shocked, sore and feeling very stupid. I had been at the hospital for less than two hours. (In the UK, some 5,700 patients a day are forced to wait more than 12 hours to be seen at A&E).

The Sourasky uses all manner of time- and life-saving devices and AI wizardry to get patients through and out fast. For example, those who can are encouraged to speed up the initial admissions process by using simple self-service devices to provide their vital signs. Robots buzz around providing directions and other helpful information. In quiet moments, staff amuse themselves testing the AI: seeing if it understands slang (it does) and can tell the difference between male and female voices (it can).

Granted, Israel is a fraction of the size of the UK, with very different demographics. All the same, the NHS could learn lessons from this. So, of course, could I. A month after the debacle, my bruises have finally gone and I’m back on e-scooters. These days though, I’m considerably less cocky – and never wear hats that might fly off.

04/10 Links Pt1: Palestinian billionaire resigns from Harvard role after suit alleging he abetted Oct. 7; The insane campaign to decriminalise Hamas; Douglas Murray vs. Dave Smith

From Ian:

JCPA: Why Israel Should Embrace Its Role as a Regional Power

It is time to embrace a bold reality: Israel can, and should, begin to act not merely as a state defending its survival, but as a proactive regional power shaping the future of the Middle East. Israel's recent military performance has underscored its unmatched capabilities in the region. The decimation of Hizbullah's infrastructure, the crippling of Hamas's command structures in Gaza, and the calculated response to Iranian provocations, culminating in significant operational successes, all point to an overwhelming tactical edge.

Iran, long the most aggressive challenger for regional dominance, has found its proxies weakened, its economy strangled, and its influence diminishing amid internal unrest and international scrutiny. The fall of the Assad regime in Syria further dismantles Tehran's axis of influence.

Yet one existential threat remains unaddressed: Iran's nuclear program. Israel must lead a coalition - diplomatic or military - to either dismantle Iran's nuclear capability by agreement, by force, or both.

For Israel to lead regionally, strategic normalization with moderate Sunni states is essential. The Abraham Accords were just the beginning. Deepening relationships with nations like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Morocco, and even re-engaging Jordan and Egypt with renewed respect and incentives is vital.

Seth Mandel: Treat Syria’s Chemical Weapons Like the USSR’s Nukes

The Times notes that the number of such sites has been “a mystery” since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led a rebel coalition that chased Bashar al-Assad out of Syria last year. In truth, it is still a mystery, but the OPCW’s number is certainly possible, and it is always better to err on the side of caution in such situations.

Meanwhile, the echoes of 1991 get louder. “Experts are cautiously optimistic about the government’s sincerity,” reports the Times. “The current government allowed a team from the watchdog to enter the country this year to begin work documenting the sites, according to people with knowledge of the trip.”

Yet the current chaos in Syria makes any such optimism foolish. As Cheney said back in 1991, even if the government was sincere in its efforts and quite competent in carrying out the weapons purge, a threat would almost certainly remain. Plus, the new Syrian government doesn’t quite have full control over all its territory—and there isn’t time to wait for it to consolidate its control.

Another parallel to 1991 is the fact that these loose chemical weapons are relics of a failing empire. Iran had stretched its influence all the way to the Mediterranean, and Assad was a satrap of Tehran. Israel’s military gains against two of Iran’s proxies—Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon—combined with Assad’s overthrow caused the Iranian wave to recede for the time being.

The new Syrian government would like U.S. sanctions on it lifted, and it would also like Israel to give up its extended buffer zone sooner than later. None of that should be considered until there is a plan in place, preferably with U.S. and European involvement, to clean up every one of those chemical weapons sites.

Palestinian-American billionaire resigns from Harvard role after suit alleging he abetted Oct. 7

A Palestinian-American billionaire has resigned from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Dean’s Council after families of Oct. 7 victims filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that he had aided and abetted Hamas, the New York Post reported on Thursday.

Harvard confirmed to the Post that Masri resigned from the council, which according to the school’s website provides “financial support and practical advice” to “advance positive change at the local, state, national and international levels so people can live in societies that are more safe, free, just and sustainably prosperous.”

“The lawsuit raises serious allegations that should be vetted and addressed through the legal process,” a spokesperson for the school said.

More than 200 American family members of Oct. 7 victims filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday, alleging that Masri and his companies knowingly worked with Hamas in developing business properties in Gaza that concealed and provided electricity to the terror group’s elaborate, militarized tunnel network.

The plaintiffs include Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, whose son Moshe was killed in action in the Gaza Strip in November 2023, and the family of Omer Neutra, who died in Gaza on the day of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, after being taken hostage by Hamas, which continues to hold his body.

Masri was also reportedly a close advisor to Adam Boehler, a Trump administration special envoy who conducted unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas in March, and provided Boehler with private jet travel to Qatar for the talks, per Israeli media reports.

The office of the Palestinian-American business mogul denied the allegations against him and his companies in a statement to JNS on Monday and said that he would seek their dismissal in court.

“Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy,” Masri’s office stated.

Palestinians See Tel Aviv Real Estate Prices, Drop 'Right Of Return' Demand (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Ramallah, April 10 - A central sticking point of the Arab-Israeli conflict may well disappear, observers say, because one side had realized the insurmountable financial hurdle its fulfillment would present: property values in Israel's commercial and financial capital have reached such heights that any aspiration of "reclaiming" it for the descendants of 1948 Arab refugees will prove beyond the means of even the wealthiest ones.

Reviews of Tel Aviv real estate prices have sent Palestinians reeling, witnesses report, as the data hit them with the sobering realization that they will never, even in another four generations, be able to afford to live there.

"The Right of Return is the Holy of Holies," declared Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "It's just that... well, it seems impractical, given the information now available to us. Tel Aviv is the most desirable land to seize from the Zionist usurper, of course. What we must also take into account, however, is the day after that seizure, what that means for a sustainable way to live..."

"What I'm saying is, never mind about that Right of Return," he continued. "Let's talk about our other demands."

Hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled British Mandate Palestine in late 1947 and early 1948 as Jews and Arabs fought for control of population centers and farmland. Governments of the surrounding Arab countries urged their brethren to move out of the way to enable a swift Arab victory over the poorly-equipped, outnumbered, besieged Jews of the territory, after which the Arab residents could loot their fill, and many complied. Several cases of Jewish fighters chasing out Arabs occurred in strategic areas where those villages controlled access to Jewish communities, but the vast majority of the 1947-48 Arab refugees never saw a Jewish fighter. Israel declared statehood in May 1948 and mounted a successful war of survival, holding on to significant territorial gains and preventing the Arab refugees from returning.

The international community has kept those refugees and their descendants in perpetuity in a state of stateless limbo, unlike all other refugee populations that are resettled in new countries within years of displacement - thus nurturing the hope of reversing the shameful defeat in 1948 at the hands of the lowly Jews. The promise of that return has long sat at the very core of Palestinian demands for any final-status agreement with Israel.

But one gander at real estate prices in Tel Aviv put the kibosh on that.

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More on Hamas blocking aid into Gaza

Hamas media is filled with articles about how desperate Gazans are for food, how that are forced to eat expired food.

Yet as I reported yesterday, Hamas is urging NGOs not to accept a food distribution system that Israel is proposing.

The COGAT X account gives a few, but not many details about the plan - and it shows the reason Hamas is so against it:

There are many international organizations and UN agencies operating in the Gaza Strip.

To assure organizations' operations stay neutral and impartial, it is essential to implement a structured monitoring and aid entry mechanism to prevent Hamas from seizing humanitarian supplies. The mechanism is designed to support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas.

In accordance, COGAT held meetings this week with UN agencies and international organizations operating in Gaza.

During the meetings, the mechanism was introduced, as well as the difference from the current method, along with the adoption of aid entry mechanisms and oversight. The exploitation of aid by Hamas was also discussed.

No wonder Hamas wants agencies to reject it - because it would lose its gravy train.

And isn't it interesting that COGAT shows the meetings but the media isn't reporting on this at all?

Even more interesting is that Israel has to pixelate the photos of the NGO members participating in a meeting to facilitate aid into Gaza? What are they afraid if?

Obviously, Hamas.

(h/t Irene)

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Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said "a foolish consistency [is] the hobgoblin of little minds."

Is it?

Judaism takes a very different view. It demands consistency—not for its own sake, but because consistency is the foundation of integrity. The Talmud has lots of opinions and lots of arguments - each of them is respected. But it spends what appears to be an inordinate amount of time to ensure that a sage's opinion, and even the implications of that opinion, are consistent with the implications of his other opinions in wildly different contexts. A rabbi who rules one way in one context and the opposite in another, without reconciling the contradiction, loses credibility. The system allows for disagreement, even celebrates it, but only when it's intellectually and morally coherent.

Consistency, in this view, isn't rigidity. It's respect—for truth, for others, and for oneself.

In today’s world, much of political discourse is framed around Left and Right, liberal and conservative. Things are so polarized that positions that were once associated with one side can become anathema, and the other side that used to oppose that opinion now embraces it.

Are those categories truly opposites—or just competing instincts?

When you strip away the noise, here are the fundamental positions of each side:

Liberalism, in its pure form, it prioritizes individual freedom, progress, and equality. It believes human beings flourish when liberated from oppressive structures.
Conservatism values stability, tradition, and moral restraint. It sees inherited wisdom as a safeguard against chaos and hubris.

These aren't inherently opposed. In fact, Jewish thought reflects both instincts. The Torah emphasizes ideas like the obligation to give charity, welcoming the stranger, helping orphans and widows, that align with liberal ideals. At the same time, its respect for tradition, hierarchy, and moral order reflects conservative ones.

It’s not the values that are the problem - it’s the partisanship that makes people betray them.

And the reason for that is that there is an unspoken, real consistency among the Left and the Right, between Republicans and Democrats alike.

The principles don't matter. Power does.

The pursuit of political power has become the overriding goal—often at the expense of the very principles each side claims to hold dear. Liberals who once championed free speech now tolerate censorship in the name of "safety." Conservatives who once decried moral relativism now excuse the personal failings and immorality of their political heroes. Budget hawks forget about deficits once their party is in power. Anti-war activists go silent when their side controls the drones.

These are not mere hypocrisies. They point to a deeper truth: power has become the supreme value. And that, more than anything, explains the wild inconsistencies of modern politics. Today's partisanship ensures that most people don't speak out against these inconsistencies on their own side.

Judaism, by contrast, is highly suspicious of power. It does not glorify power—it limits it.

The Torah permits kingship reluctantly, and only under strict conditions. A king must not amass wealth, horses, or wives, and must carry a Torah scroll to remind him that he, too, is bound by the law.

Prophets do not flatter kings; they confront them. Nathan rebukes David. Elijah challenges Ahab.

The story of Korach is perhaps the best example of the Torah denigrating politicians who want power above all. Korach pretends to be a populist, he pretends to be righteous, he attracts followers in his challenge to Moses' authority. But it is clear that all he wants is political power and he is using the pretext of principles to reach his goal, His ending shows how Judaism feels about using political deception to obtain power.

Power is tolerated, not celebrated. Authority is legitimate only when restrained by law, tradition, and ethical accountability.

Judaism offers more than an ethical code—it offers a different framework for thinking about public life. It doesn’t ask whether an idea is liberal or conservative. It asks whether it is moral, just, consistent, and rooted in truth. As in the Talmud, where debate is sacred but inconsistency is disqualifying, this framework holds ideas - and people - to a higher standard.

Jewish ethics does not try to convert you. It doesn't demand that everyone agree. But it does demand that people apply the same standards to themselves as they do to their opponents.

This is why partisan politics are so corrosive: they encourage people to abandon principle for the sake of the team. But Jewish moral reasoning encourages something more difficult—and more enduring: consistency, integrity, and the humility to admit when your side is wrong.

In a world where so many are loyal to Left or Right, Judaism remains loyal to something deeper.

And that is where its enduring power lies - not in domination, but in moral clarity.

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