I first would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy Independence Day. We are truly blessed and fortunate to live in a country that allows us to enjoy the freedoms so many around the world do not have. As you celebrate with friends and family, please keep near your hearts the memories of those who have sacrificed so much for us to be able to enjoy the liberties of this great country as well as our allies in Israel who continue to feel our support and prayers. Today’s update is a bit longer in case you have more time over the holiday. We hope you enjoy these updates, and please feel free to share far and wide. Your feedback is always welcome.
G-d Bless America and Am Israel Chai!
Situational Update
Rescued hostage Noa Argamani’s mother died at the age of 61 after a long battle with brain cancer, per the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. Liora spent her last days with her rescued daughter, who was saved last month by the IDF in Operation Arnon.
Israeli troops carried out strikes on terror targets in Gaza after terrorists fired 20 rockets at Israel on July 1, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. The rocket fire from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the hometown of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, was the largest attack of its kind in seven months. The IDF previously carried out operations against terror networks in Khan Younis between December 2023 and April 2024. The latest Israeli strikes “took precautionary measures to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians, including by enabling civilians to evacuate from the area,” the IDF said, adding: “The Hamas terrorist organization continues to systematically violate international law while using civilian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields for its terrorist activities against Israel.”.
Per the Jewish Insider, Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Monday called for “clear, coherent, achievable plans for Gaza’s governance” once the Israel-Hamas war ends, warning that the conflict “cannot and must not end with a vacuum in Gaza.” “Vacuums tend to get filled by bad things before they get filled with good things,” said Blinken, speaking in conversation with Brookings’ Suzanne Maloney. “And we know that there are three things that are unacceptable for Gaza’s future: an Israeli occupation; Hamas perpetuating its leadership; or chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, which is what we’re seeing in big parts of Gaza today. Absent concrete plans to have an alternative to that – one of those three things is going to happen. And given all of the extraordinary suffering that we’ve seen to date, that should be unacceptable, and it’s unacceptable to us.”
Per Israeli journalist Marc Schulman, “The major news this morning in Israel involved the release of Abu Salamiya from an Israeli prison. Salamiya, who was the head of Shifa Hospital, had been detained for collaborating with Hamas by allowing the hospital to function as a command center for the group. Hamas-held hostage Noa Marciano (19) was murdered in Shifa Hospital. The release of such a high-profile prisoner, even though he was not directly involved in terrorism, sparked a firestorm in Israel
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) submitted a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, on July 1 targeting the regimes in Iran, Syria, and North Korea for enabling Hamas’s terrorist atrocities in Israel on October 7. Jointly filed with international law firm Crowell & Mooring, the suit was lodged on behalf of 130 U.S. citizens who were killed or injured on October 7 and family members of U.S. victims. The 117-page civil action asserts that the defendants “provided material support to Hamas that enabled it to commit atrocities in Israel on October 7, 2023,” the ADL said in a press release.
The victims are seeking at least $4 billion in damages for “a coordination of extrajudicial killings, hostage takings, and related horrors for which the defendants provided material support and resources.” “While nothing will ever undo the unbearable pain Hamas caused our family or the brutal losses we’ve suffered, we hope this case will bring some sense of justice,” Nahar Neta, whose mother Adrienne was among the 130 people murdered by the terrorists at Kibbutz Be’eri, stated in the ADL press release.
Defense Minister Gallant testified in the Knesset regarding the Army’s needs. Gallant stated that the IDF requires an additional 10,000 troops to compensate for those killed and wounded, as well as to meet other defense needs. Gallant reiterated that the Army has the capacity to integrate 3,000 ultra-Orthodox recruits this year, beyond the 1,200 ultra-Orthodox that typically enlist annually.
The most senior Hezbollah leader to be hit since October 7 has been killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon. Abu Nama Nasser, a military commander responsible for one of three sectors in south Lebanon, was slain in an Israeli strike on a car in the Lebanese city of Tyre.
Terror Attack: According to journalist Marc Schulman, “Shortly after 11 AM, reports emerged of a terror attack at a mall in Carmiel, located in the Galilee. An Israeli Arab from the nearby town of Nahf attacked two soldiers on the second floor of the mall. Approaching from behind, the terrorist snuck up and swiftly stabbed each of the soldiers multiple times. Despite suffering numerous stab wounds, one of the soldiers, Sergeant Aleksandr Lakiminskyi (19) from Nahariya, managed to get up, draw his gun, and fire several shots at the assailant, fatally wounding the terrorist before collapsing to the ground. Tragically, Sergeant Lakiminskyi succumbed to his injuries soon after reaching the hospital.
The Numbers
Casualties
1,619 Israelis dead, including 677 IDF soldiers (322 IDF soldiers during the ground operation in Gaza) – an increase of 9 from our last update
Sgt. Aleksandr Lakiminskyi (19) was killed defending a terror attack in Israel
Platoon commander Cpt. Roy Miller (21) was killed in battle in northern Gaza
Cpt. Elay Elisha Lugasi (21) was killed in a separate battle in northern Gaza
Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Elchanan Knoller (30) and Maj. (res.) Eyal Avnion (25) were killed patrolling the Netzarim Corridor when their armored carrier exploded
Hamas launched 20 rockets from the Khan Younis area towards the communities around Gaza, Tragically, a soldier was killed in the Rafah area by an IED explosion. The soldier was identified as Sergeant Ori Itzchak Hadad (21)
Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Elchanan Knoller, 30 and Maj. (res.) Eyal Avnion, 25, were killed during fighting in central Gaza on Monday night
Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto (22) was killed by an IED detonated under one of the IDF’s armored carriers in the West Bank
Additional Information (according to the IDF):
2,057 IDF soldiers have been injured during ground combat in Gaza, including at least 391 who have been severely injured.
4,049 IDF soldiers have been injured since the beginning of the war, including at least 600 who have been severely injured.
Note: we have always included the number of casualties in Gaza, as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry. We feel it is important to include this information with the caveat that this reporting ministry is not a trusted source of data by many. Most recently, The United Nations has begun citing a much lower death toll for women and children in Gaza, acknowledging that it has incomplete information about many of the people killed during Israel’s military offensive in the territory.
According to unverified figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, 37,925 people have been killed in Gaza, and 87,141 have been injured during the war.
We also encourage you to read this well documented piece from Tablet published in March: How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers
The Associated Press, an outlet with a demonstrated anti-Israel bias, conducted an analysis of alleged Gaza death tolls released by the Hamas-controlled "Gaza Health Ministry." The analysis found that "9,940 of the dead – 29% of its April 30 total – were not listed in the data" and that "an additional 1,699 records in the ministry’s April data were incomplete and 22 were duplicates."
Hostages (no change from Sunday)
On October 7th, a total of 261 Israelis were taken hostage.
During the ceasefire deal in November, 112 hostages were released.
A total of 7 hostages have been rescued and the remains of 19 others have been recovered. Tragically, 3 have been mistakenly killed by the IDF, and 1 was killed during an IDF attempt to rescue him.
This leaves an estimated 116 hostages still theoretically in Gaza, with somewhere between (assumed) 35-43 deceased. Thus, at most, 85 living hostages could still be in Gaza.
According to an article published in the WSJ, “Of the approximately 250 hostages taken in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, 116 continue to be held captive, including many believed to be dead. Mediators in the hostage talks and a U.S. official familiar with the latest U.S. intelligence said the number of those hostages still alive could be as low as 50.”
That assessment, based in part on Israeli intelligence, would mean 66 of those still held hostage could be dead, 25 more than Israel has publicly acknowledged.
Link: Families of Hostages in Gaza Are Desperate for News but Dread a Phone Call | WSJ
Listen
[PODCAST] School of War: John Spencer on Israel’s unprecedented war (or, Urban Warfare 101)
John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute and host of the Urban Warfare Project, joins the show to talk about urban combat and how Israel is fighting an unprecedented war against Hamas with justice and humanity.
Link: Ep 130: John Spencer on Israel’s Unprecedented War (or, Urban Warfare 101) on Spotify
Watch
The IDF posts a video of what troops have encountered in central Gaza during operations over the past few months
Over 100 structures utilized for terrorism, including: weapons storage facilities, observation posts, launch pits and underground tunnel routes which were destroyed
A 1 km long terrorist tunnel with branches used by terrorists to move between different locations underground
A booby-trapped mosque that was used as a hideout for terrorists in the area that was struck by our troops. After this strike, secondary explosions were detected, indicating that there were large quantities of weapons stored at the site.
What We Are Reading
The brutal syllogism of this war is a deathtrap for Israel: Hezbollah won’t accept a ceasefire unless Hamas does. Hamas will not agree to a ceasefire. Hence, Israel will go to war against Hezbollah. By Michael Oren in the Times of Israel
We are trapped in a deadly syllogism in which the refusal of one terrorist organization to end its war with Israel means a second terrorist organization will also refuse, pitching Israel into a regional – and potentially existential – conflict.
Despite its historic performance under conditions never before faced by a modern army, the IDF has yet to meet its primary goal of destroying Hamas. Abandoning frontal attacks for rearguard guerrilla tactics, the terrorists are embedding themselves deeper into the civilian population while exacting an almost daily toll from the IDF. Much of the world continues to rally around the Palestinian cause and to isolate and criminalize Israel. On many of America’s most preeminent campuses, Hamas is hailed as heroic. Most encouraging for Hamas, though, is the steady fraying of Israel’s initial internal unity as anti-government demonstrators once again take to the streets and block the highways. Our soldiers run low on morale and ammunition.
More emboldening still for Hamas have been the policies of the United States. From an initial position of standing four-square beside Israel in seeking the eradication of Hamas, American decision-makers later determined that Israel’s goals were unrealistic and that, in pursuing them, the IDF was wantonly killing Palestinians. The White House went so far as to delay the supply of munitions vital for Israel’s defense. These measures fueled the global demands for a permanent ceasefire and a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza – precisely what Sinwar sought.
American criticism and international pressure on Israel, the worsening plight of Palestinian civilians, deepening divisions within the Jewish State – all contribute to Sinwar’s optimism. The syllogism that fatally entraps Israel is almost complete. Missing only is the key to Hamas’s final triumph: War between Israel and Hezbollah.
Here, then, is the syllogism: Nasrallah says no ceasefire without Sinwar, Sinwar says no ceasefire, period, and Israel goes to war with Hezbollah. So a mind game for Aristotle becomes a deathtrap for Israel.
As such, the Biden administration must stop holding Israel back – and the Israeli government must cease letting itself be reined in – from destroying what remains of Hamas’s military capabilities in Gaza and rescuing the hostages. At worst, this will increase the pressure on Sinwar. At best, it will kill him.
At the same time, the United States must put teeth into ‘Don’t.’
The US Navy may nevertheless assist Israel passively, taking down Hezbollah’s rockets much as it did those fired by Iran at Israel last April. Still, no team ever won a game solely by playing defense. Iran and Hezbollah will not be deterred unless ‘Don’t’ means they will both pay a prohibitive price, exacted by the United States, for attacking Israel.
Without concluding the principal battle against Hamas, without securing a ceasefire in Gaza either by pressuring Sinwar or eliminating him, and without effectively deterring Iran and Hezbollah, Israel will remain trapped in the brutal syllogism.
Link: The brutal syllogism of this war is a deathtrap for Israel | Michael Oren
We have included another two articles from Sapir’s quarterly publication, appropriately focused on Resilience
The Courage to Be Uncool, by Noa Tishby
I have lost many friends because of this. A few years ago, one friend insisted that anti-Zionism was not the same as antisemitism, and that if I carried on publicly stating that they were the same, we could no longer be friends. That was the last I heard from him. Wielding friendship and social acceptance as a threat has little power over someone who learned early in life not to mistake other people’s views of oneself for truth. Truth does not depend on what other people think. If stating it has cost me friendships and work, neither was ever worthwhile.
After the pogrom of October 7 and the global reactions to it, our epigenetic inheritance may have been activated in our veins. As the researcher behind the study of offspring of Holocaust survivors observed, “Epigenetic changes often serve to biologically prepare offspring for an environment similar to that of the parents.”
In this respect, Jews have a built-in mechanism that gives acts of barbarism against us a certain familiarity and triggers an almost automatic response. Though the threats have come from different neighbors — Romans, Germans, Baghdadis — across time and place, they have always been similar enough to inoculate us against being truly surprised.
Trauma, inherited or direct, can have many possible impacts. At the worst end of the spectrum, if left untreated and unresolved, it becomes PTSD. This threat looms over Israel at the moment. Survivors of October 7 who witnessed unimaginable horror will need to receive extensive treatment to prevent the onset of PTSD. With hundreds of thousands of Israelis still displaced and living in temporary accommodation — and given the scale of the barbarism that decimated their communities, in a tiny country where everyone is connected to everyone else — the wounds could take decades to heal.
With the Jewish people facing greater hostility and more intense threats than we have in decades, an increasing number are responding not by lying low but by standing tall. The trauma of the past months and the subsequent (and inevitable) PTG will bring about the following realization: that the Jews who were prepared to risk being unpopular or contentious carry in their blood the millennia of turbulent Jewish history, whose legacy we inherit and whose mantle we pass on.
If you are reading this, chances are you are descended from those who were put through trials and tribulations and endured them. We are all survivors. As a people, we are used to being uncool, and we know what it’s like to be unsafe. It’s not fun, or comfortable, but we have been here before and we know what to do. Whether you know it or not, on a profound level, you are a part of this organic chain. You are here. You are alive, and you are reading these words. You were inoculated too.
Link: The Courage to Be Uncool | Sapir Journal
How Resilient Are Jewish Institutions? An interview by Felicia Herman featuring Amy Spitalnik, David Cygielman, and Aaron Katler
Spitalnick: The role of trauma feels important to unpack here, because I think it’s informing so much of how this is unfolding within and outside the Jewish community. Even before October 7, there was a lot of intergenerational trauma within the Jewish community, especially as it relates to the work we do at JCPA on countering antisemitism and hate. We are predisposed to feel alone, because we have been alone so often in our history. Jewish persecution has occurred for millennia. We need to understand the role this trauma plays in Israel and in the region, especially because no one there is post-trauma yet — the war is ongoing, hostages remain.
We need to reset our expectations of what allyship looks like. It’s not necessarily going to mean that every person puts up an Israeli flag on their social media or says that they stand with Israel or that they support every action of the IDF or the Israeli government. But we can help our partners and our neighbors understand what it means to show up for the Jewish community right now: understanding the pain and the grief we went through and what our hopes and expectations are for our allies, condemning acts of terror, calling for the hostages to be released, and — perhaps most important — speaking out against antisemitism here at home.
Cygielman: First, thankfully, we’ve been investing for years in building up a network of rabbis. They’ve been able to step in to do what rabbis do best: holding space for pain, caring for us all as part of the Jewish people.
We’re also investing more in relationships with Israelis, opening new Israeli Moishe Houses all over the world, where the residents are Israeli and, like at all Moishe Houses, they create community and experiences for their peers. We want more people to know Israelis, have them as friends.
…feeling connected to people who have gone through this before. If you have deep relationships with Israelis or European Jews, and connections to the Jewish past, then it’s harder to get locked in on how hard things are today in America. The fact is, it’s harder elsewhere, and it’s been a lot harder in the past. This builds resilience — the strength to bounce back, to keep going.
Link: How Resilient Are Jewish Institutions? | Sapir Journal
The World Is Realigning by Jonathan Raunch with The Atlantic
Like a lightning strike illuminating a dim landscape, the twin invasions of Israel and Ukraine have brought a sudden recognition: What appeared to be, until now, disparate and disorganized challenges to the United States and its allies is actually something broader, more integrated, more aggressive, and more dangerous. Over the past several years, the world has hardened into two competing blocs. One is an alliance of liberal-minded, Western-oriented countries that includes NATO as well as U.S. allies in Asia and Oceania, with the general if inconsistent cooperation of some non-liberal countries such as Saudi Arabia and Vietnam: a Liberal Alliance, for short. The other bloc is led by the authoritarian dyad of Russia and Iran, but it extends to anti-American states such as North Korea, militias such as Hezbollah, terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad, and paramilitaries such as the Wagner Group: an Axis of Resistance, as some of its members have accurately dubbed it.
The Axis of Resistance does not have a unifying ideology, but it does have the shared goal of diminishing U.S. influence, especially in the Middle East and Eurasia, and rolling back liberal democracy. Instead of a NATO-like formal structure, it relies on loose coordination and opportunistic cooperation among its member states and its network of militias, proxies, and syndicates. Militarily, it cannot match the U.S. and NATO in a direct confrontation, so it instead seeks to exhaust and demoralize the U.S. and its allies by harrying them relentlessly, much as hyenas harry and exhaust a lion.
Vladimir Putin, although once more conciliatory, today describes the Liberal Alliance as Russia’s “enemy” or “adversary,” depending on the translation. He views its geopolitical goals as fundamentally incompatible with his regime’s continued authoritarian rule. In this, Putin is correct. His incorrigibly antidemocratic and corrupt government derives legitimacy from its claim of defending Russia from foreign meddling, Western humiliation, and “LGBT propaganda.” For a time, several U.S. administrations hoped to rub along with Putinism, or outlast it, or distract it with consumer goods and McDonald’s, betting that Putin and his mafia might be content to loot billions from the economy and stash the money in foreign bank accounts and mansions. But in February 2022, Putin dashed those hopes.
Like Russia, Iran knows that it cannot win a direct confrontation with the United States; however, also like Russia, it believes that it won’t have to. The pressure of encirclement and relentless harrying will, in its view, erode Israel’s military, divide its democracy, drive away its entrepreneurs and investors, and demoralize its population. Lacking the conditions that make a modern liberal democracy viable, Israel will collapse within 25 years, Iran’s leaders believe. Meanwhile, tied down by Iran’s unpredictable and relentless proxies and reluctant to strike directly at Tehran, the United States will become exhausted and look to exit the region, which it longs to do anyway. As Israel weakens and America withdraws, the way will be clear for Tehran’s mullahs to dominate the region, and the impotence of modern liberal democracy will be exposed.
And so, Iran and its client Hamas, like Putin, believed that they had to act before they found themselves walled in. They were willing to take incalculable risks, and suffer severe losses, by lighting their regions on fire.
It's Time for Regime Change in Iran. Israel and the U.S. Should Combine Forces, a Newsweek Opinion by Marc Schulman
One of the key factors that led to the deterioration of the Oslo process was Hamas, which began suicide bombings as the peace negotiations progressed. However, Hamas was not alone; it was joined by Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose main patron has been Iran, and was responsible for the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines in Lebanon. Their shared goal has always been to stop any peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors. Hafez Assad, then President of Syria, told Dennis Ross in December 1985 that Hezbollah "not only lacked an interest in peace, they oppose it."
The common thread in these regional tensions is Iran's role, which has operated behind the scenes to maintain the state of war between Israel and its neighbors. Today, Iran no longer operates covertly, and directs a ring of fire around Israel.
Having a massive number of nuclear weapons did not save the USSR; they collapsed internally. The Iranian regime is very unpopular, and we are not doing anything to bring it down. That is what we should be working on. We should not assume that the regime is eternal; otherwise, it will be.
Abrams' comments go to the heart of the matter and highlight the path not taken. We have all been waging a losing battle to try to stop the Iranians from getting the bomb. By all accounts, the Iranian government is wildly unpopular among its people. Additionally, its actions in spreading chaos throughout the Middle East and beyond have come at the expense of its own citizens. Instead of trying to stop the bomb, it's time we shift our focus on changing the regime.
What is needed— and what should have been initiated earlier—is a coordinated, quiet campaign by Israel, the U.S., and whichever other allies are willing to undermine and ultimately bring down the regime of the Ayatollahs in Iran.
Link: It’s Time for Regime Change in Iran. Israel and the U.S. Should Combine Forces | Newsweek
Dana Polak Kanarik with the The Alma Research and Education Center: Hezbollah – Intensity and Range Analysis of Attacks Against Israel
Since Hezbollah initiated conflict against Israel on the northern border on October 8, 2023, and until July 1, 2024, there have been 2,295 attacks against Israel in the north
94.3% of the attacks against Israel were carried out within 0-5 km from the border
The data indicates that Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel are mostly limited to the area close to the border. When Hezbollah extends its attack range beyond 5 km, it usually occurs as part of its response within its ‘pain equation’ framework to IDF strikes in Lebanon.
Hezbollah preserves the equation that the more painful the Israeli strike is to it, the more intense Hezbollah’s response will be deep within Israel and against higher-quality targets.
Link: Hezbollah – Intensity and Range Analysis of Attacks Against Israel
Antisemitism
Progressive Except for Palestine, by Philip Berger with Tablet Magazine
I have been excommunicated.
I am a Jewish academic physician at the University of Toronto. Since Oct. 7, I have been cut off by over a half-dozen younger progressive colleagues who considered me a mentor, and with whom I previously had regular or periodic contact. All because I am a Zionist.
I support Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with international standards of warfare and consistent with those applied to other countries. In the minds of my anti-Zionist colleagues who yell “intifada” at protests and the dozens who have signed petitions denouncing Israel, I am therefore a Zionist. That is about all we agree on.
My non-Jewish, anti-Israel colleagues are provided moral cover by the right kind of Jews: those who denounce and vilify Israel. Seeking protection from accusations of antisemitism, these non-Jewish activists hide behind their anti-Zionist Jewish colleagues, who themselves hide behind Judaism’s universal values of justice and their family histories of persecution (“I am the child of Holocaust survivors,” say some) in their relentless attacks against the Jewish state.
To my colleagues who have stopped communicating with me, I am the wrong kind of Jew. It is impossible to say whether our connection will or can ever be reestablished. I am ready, but doubt that they are. Their accusations on the streets and in petitions are too harsh, the vitriol too unrestrained, and the attacks on Israel as a settler-colonialist state too personal.
I feel antisemitism viscerally, in my guts, in my bone marrow. My entire body reacts with fear and dread, which began as a child, whenever I anticipate or encounter antisemitism. I feel a physical apprehension. I know what is coming and have rarely been wrong; it is like radar detecting a storm. The sense of danger has stayed with me, and I remain on high alert. It has recurred again and again with the actions of my colleagues and what I see on the streets and university campuses across Canada and the United States.
The Los Angeles Synagogue Attack Wasn’t a Warning for Jews Alone, by Kyle Shideler with Tablet Magazine
A violent mob organized by a movement that sympathizes with the Marxist terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) descended on a Los Angeles synagogue on June 23, intent on intimidating worshippers. Masked and keffiyeh-clad goons maced and pepper-sprayed members of the local community while police—reportedly instructed not to intervene by city officials—looked on.
For decades, the country’s Jewish community was seen as a vulnerable minority; it enjoyed the protection of the extensive civil rights legal apparatus adapted to focus on the rights of perceived vulnerable communities. Increasingly, this is no longer the case. Jewish Americans have found themselves lumped—by academics, campus radicals, and the elites—among the oppressor rather than oppressed class.
According to the Family Research Council, between 2018 and 2022, there were 420 incidents of violence or vandalism targeting Christian churches. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops tabulate more than 333 incidents of arson, vandalism, or other destruction targeting Catholic Churches between 2020 and 2022. This does not include attacks on pro-life organizations and pregnancy resources centers, often operated as Christian ministries, which came under targeted assault by the pro-abortion anarchist group Jane’s Revenge following the Dobbs decision.
As with attacks on Jewish communities, these trends are even worse abroad; they are an unfortunate lagging indicator of where the United States is headed. In Europe, anti-Christian hate crimes, including arson and physical attacks on Christian communities, rose 44 percent in 2023. In Canada, inspired by a series of false news reports regarding the presence of “mass indigenous graves” on Canadian church properties, more than 100 arson or vandalism attacks took place.
The number of attacks targeting Christians is dwarfed by attacks on Jews in America, of course, but the point here is not to compare injuries, but to point out that both communities find themselves confronting the same or similar threats.
Link: The Los Angeles Synagogue Attack Wasn’t a Warning for Jews Alone | Tablet Magazine
Anti-Semitism and the French Elections, by Guy Sorman with City Journal
When President Emmanuel Macron called for a new election in the National Assembly—a first round June 30 and a second and final round July 7—no one thought that anti-Semitism would become a central subject of political debate. In principle, what is at stake is the reconstitution, or not, of a parliamentary majority with which Macron might govern. But in fact nothing is happening the way the president expected. Instead of two traditionally opposed camps, one for the president and the other against, we have seen the emergence, in the first round, of three blocs, each somewhat heterogeneous. On the far right, the Rassemblement national (National Rally), led by eternal presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, is now allied with a center-right party, formerly Gaullist. Le Pen advances a conservative program, but one quite distinct from the flamboyantly xenophobic, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant appeals characteristic of past campaigns of her father and founder of the party, Jean Marie Le Pen. On the left, an alliance of convenience, hastily composed, has come together that includes Communists, Trotskyites, ecologists, and social democrats, under the name New Popular Front, evoking the anti-fascist Left of the 1930s…
On top of all this, however, we find a surprising intruder: a resurgent anti-Semitism. It is true that for a number of years concern has been rising about the return of anti-Semitic language and violence, which we thought had been left behind since 1945. But this new, post-Holocaust anti-Semitism is not the traditional sort. It emanates much more from Arab-Muslim immigrant populations and from leftist intellectuals. Not unlike in the United States, the debate over Palestine has moved into the troubled French suburbs, where it is now aggravated by the fighting in Gaza.
In the present electoral campaign, each political bloc accuses the other of being anti-Semitic, which, in principle, would disqualify a candidate from majority support—or at least strip him or her of all republican legitimacy and legality: French law forbids anti-Semitic public expression. So who is in fact anti-Semitic, and who is not? From the Left’s point of view, anti-Semitism remains, as in the past, a characteristic of the nationalist Right. Le Pen, as seen from the left, is accused of hypocrisy, covering her party under a republican veneer, whereas a number of the party’s candidates have in the past expressed traditionally anti-Semitic views. It is important to remember that this traditional anti-Semitism, originally anchored in the Christian tradition, was revived more than a century ago by conspiratorial accusations, as seen in the Dreyfus affair: French Jews were held to be not quite French, but participants in what was called a “double belonging”—at once Jewish and, secondarily, French. According to this old fashioned anti-Semitism of the Right, the Jews, who made up less than 1 percent of the population, supposedly controlled the media, banking, and who knows what else.
Why I Left My Faculty Position at Rutgers. And moved to Yeshiva University by Rebecca Cypess in Tablet
The question is not whether the protester had the right to say these words, but what the response from the university administration should have been. Instead of silence and acquiescence, the administration should have adopted Associate Justice Louis D. Brandeis’ famous remedy for “falsehoods and fallacies” uttered under the protection of the First Amendment—namely, “more speech” to correct the falsehood, speech that advances the “processes of education.”
I am not running away from antisemitism, but rather running to embrace the Jewish educational principles that Yeshiva University embodies. Perhaps ironically, those principles—most important, free inquiry and respect for diverse opinions within constructive bounds—are more closely aligned with the ideals of higher education espoused by the Founders of the United States than the ones currently exhibited by public universities like Rutgers.
Among countless examples that I have witnessed is that of an Israeli professor at Rutgers who attended an anti-Israel lecture, listened respectfully, and offered, during the discussion period, to engage in dialogue with students and faculty. In response, he was heckled and subsequently denounced on social media. His attackers used the chilling, twisted logic that to protect the diversity of the university, Zionist professors should be fired.
Link: Why I Left My Position at Rutgers for Yeshiva University