Another Squaddie is squashed Hamas-loving, Jew-baiting Bush is ‘Bowmaned’ in Missouri
By The Jewish Star
St. Louis voters “Bowmaned” Rep. Cori Bush, one of Israel’s nastiest critics on Capitol Hill, ousting her 51.2% to 45.6%, with an estimated 96.7% of the votes counted, according to an unofficial tally as of 11:20 pm on Tuesday.
She was the second member of the left-wing anti-Israel “Squad” to fall, following the defeat in June of BronxWestchester Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
As the new Democratic nominee in Missouri’s heavily blue 1st CD, Wesley Bell, a progressive with more moder-
ate views on the Israel-Hamas war, is favored to win the November election.
Since taking office in 2021, Bush staked out a position on the antiIsrael fringe of her party. That year she was one of only eight Democrats to oppose US funding for Israel’s Iron Dome. Soon after Oct. 7, she called Israeli retaliation an “ethnic cleansing campaign” and “a war crime.”
In January, she was one of only two Democrats to vote against a resolution to bar from the US anyone who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.
AIPAC’s super PAC spent nearly $9 million in the contest, and Bush faced criticism on a variety of issues beyond those involving Israel and Jews.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Monday, Bush drew a parallel between Israel and Hamas, saying: “Have they hurt people? Absolutely. Has the Israeli military hurt people? Absolutely.” Remaining Squad members are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Greg Casar, Summer Lee, and Delia Ramirez.
Sinat chinam? Take a deep breath, love your fellow Jew
As we approach the 9th of Av, we recall the tragedies throughout history that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which, according to the Sages, were brought about as a result of sinat chinam, baseless hatred and discord between individual Jews and within the Jewish people.
Jews are an argumentative people. We say “The L-rd is my shepherd” but no Jew was ever a sheep. I remember once having a dialogue with the late and great Israeli novelist Amos Oz who began by saying, “I’m not sure I’m going to agree with Rabbi Sacks on everything, but then, on most things, I don’t agree with myself.”
Ours is the only civilization I know
We must distinguish between legitimate anger towards those who threaten our existence (Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and so on) and unwarranted hatred — sinat chinam — directed at fellow Jews whose opinions differ from our own. Our Sages instructed, and we’re reminded on Tisha B’Av, that such sinat chinam leads to disastrous consequences. Even in our religiously observant and Zionist communities, with a broad
consensus on current issues, there are individuals who hold alternative views. We should acknowledge and respect this diversity and remember that only Hashem has infallible insight; as certain as we are in the correctness of our views, both we and our dissident neighbors may be wrong.
Last week’s Jewish Star ran a front-page banner promising a “100% Trump and Harris free” edition, with the goal of enjoying a “presidential-
I do not need you to agree with me, just to care about me.
whose canonical texts are anthologies of arguments. The prophets argued with G-d; the rabbis argued with one another.
We are a people with strong views — it is part of who we are. Our ability to argue, our sheer diversity, culturally, religiously and in every other way, is not a weakness but a strength. However when it causes us to split apart, it becomes terribly dangerous because while no empire on earth has ever been able to defeat us, we have, on occasions, been able to defeat ourselves.
It happened three times.
•The first was in the days of Joseph and
See Sacks on page 2
politics-free Shabbat.” Trump and Harris are back in this week’s paper, but if you want to discuss one of our articles during Shabbat, consider one of the d’var Torahs by Rabbis Sacks, Billet, Etengoff or Freedman, or Kosher Bookworm by Alan Gerber. While advocating for a preferred candidate is our civic duty — as Americans, as Jews, and as Zionists — we must avoid letting political discussions turn so contentious that they fracture the bonds of
community. Excluding neighbors with differing views is equally problematic. Neither is in the spirit of Shabbat shalom. If turning down the heat is too great a challenge right now, consider displaying a “STOP” sign (found on page 21) to maintain a politics-free Shabbat table. Let’s strive to promote a harmonious atmosphere where love of our eternal Torah and klal Yisrael takes precedence over scoring fleeting political points. —Ed Weintrob, Editor
Midwestern sensibilities echoed Westchester wisdom as Missouri voters dumped antisemitic Rep. Cori Bush, just as New Yorkers earlier unseated Jamaal Bowman.
Continued from page 1
his brothers when the Torah says, “They could no longer speak peaceably together.” The brothers sold Joseph as a slave and yet eventually they all, as well as their grandchildren, ended up in slavery.
•The second followed the completion of the first Temple. Solomon dies, his son takes over, the kingdom splits in two. That was the beginning of the end of both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms.
•The third was during the Roman siege of Jerusalem when the Jews besieged inside were more focused on fighting one another than the enemy outside. Those three splits within the Jewish people caused the three great exiles of the Jewish people.
How then do we contain that diversity within a single people, bound together in fate and in destiny? I think there are seven principles.
PRINCIPLE 1: Keep talking. Remember what the Torah says about Joseph and his brothers: “Lo yachlu dabro leshalom”. “They couldn’t speak to him in peace.” In other words, Reb Yonason Eybeschutz says, had they kept speaking, eventually they would have made peace. So, keep talking to one another.
PRINCIPLE 2: Listen to one another. There is good news about the Jewish people and bad news. The good news is we are amongst the greatest speakers in the world. The bad news is we are among the world’s worst listeners. “Shema Yisrael” calls on us to listen to one another in a way that we can actually hear what our opponent is saying. If we do this, we discover it is not just a powerful way to avoid conflict, but profoundly therapeutic as well.
PRINCIPLE 3: Work to understand those with whom you disagree. Remember why the law follows Hillel and not Shammai. According to the Talmud, Hillel was humble and modest; he taught the views of his opponents even before his own. He labored to understand the point of view with which he disagreed.
PRINCIPLE 4: Never seek victory. Never ever seek to inflict defeat on your opponents. If you seek to inflict defeat on your opponent, they must, by human psychology, seek to retaliate and inflict defeat on you. The end result is though you win today, you lose tomorrow and in the end everyone loses. Do not think in terms of victory or defeat. Think in terms of the good of the Jewish people.
PRINCIPLE 5: If you seek respect, give respect. Remember the principle of the Book of Proverbs: “As water reflects face to face, so does the heart of man to man.” As you behave to others, they will behave to you. If you show contempt for other Jews, they will show contempt to you. If you respect other Jews, they will show respect to you.
PRINCIPLE 6: You can disagree, but still care. Jews will never agree on everything, but we remain one extended family. If you disagree with a friend, tomorrow they may no longer be your friend. But if you disagree with your family, tomorrow they are still your family. In the end, family is what keeps us together, and that is expressed best in the principle “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh” (All Jews are responsible for one another).” Ultimately, I do not need you to agree with me, I just need you to care about me.
PRINCIPLE 7: Remember that G-d chose us as a people. G-d did not choose only the righteous, He chose all of us. We stand before G-d as a people, and it is as a people that we stand before the world. The world does not make distinctions. Antisemites do not make distinctions. We are still united by a covenant of shared memory, of shared identity, of shared fate, even if we do not share the exact same faith.
So the next time you are tempted to criticize another Jew, or walk away from a group of Jews that you think have offended you, make that extra effort to stay together, to forgive, to listen, to try and unite, because if G-d loves each of us, can we try to do anything less?
Seeking G-d’s aid in mitigating our hatred, whether or not
We’re instrtucted that the destruction of the Temple was the result of sinat chinam (baseless hatred). The remedy for this, the Sages teach, is “ahavat chinam (baseless love),” kindness and generosity that we express to one another for no apparent reason.
Regarding this idea, there is the beautiful and inspiring story of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak when he first became the Rav of the town of Berditchev. Though he was quickly embraced by the community, there was one man who was fiercely against him and intent on proving his unworthiness. On the afternoon before Yom Kippur, the man came to the rabbi’s home and apologized to him profusely for his virulent opposition.
The rabbi accepted his apology, and the man suggested they have a drink together to celebrate their reconciliation. He had brought with him a bottle of very strong alcohol, and he poured a cup for the rabbi and himself. The rabbi drank his, and the man secretly threw his aside. He poured them both a second, and then a third, each time casting his own aside as the rabbi drank his in celebration of their new friendship.
The man eventually left, laughing on his way to synagogue with the assumption that the rabbi would pass out from the powerful drink and be unable to attend that evening’s Kol Nidre services. Finally, the entire community would see that the rabbi was not as holy as they believed him to be, and they would expel him from his position.
But much to the man’s surprise, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak arrived on time and led the services. Afterwards, he led the congregation in the recital of Psalms.
When he reached Psalm 41, he recited verse 12 aloud three times: B’zos yadati ki chafatzta bi ki lo yaria oyvi alai. The simple translation of the verse is: “With this, I will know that You
(Hashem) favor me, that you won’t allow my foe to do bad unto me.”
But after he recited the verse in Hebrew, he translated it with his own spin: “With this, I will know that You (Hashem) favor me, that you won’t do bad unto my foe because of me.”
Not only was the rabbi not interested in revenge for the evil the man had tried to do to him, but he prayed to Hashem to not harm the man on his behalf.
Hearing this, the man broke down in tears and finally realized that the rabbi was indeed as holy as the other townspeople believed him to be. He fell at the Berditchiver’s feet and begged for his forgiveness.
In contrast to the baseless hatred that the man felt for the rabbi, it is the Berditchever’s selfless and unconditional love that will precipitate the rebuilding of the Temple.
Yet as powerful and elucidating as this story is, something is troubling about telling it at this moment.
As Jews are currently besieged by maniacal enemies in Israel and indeed around the world, it is somewhat difficult to fully internalize this message of such forbearance and forgiveness. While we can certainly aspire to this type of selfless virtue in our interpersonal relationships, is it reasonable to demonstrate such care for our foes, particularly those who are savagely intent on our complete obliteration?
Is it not reasonable for us to ask G-d to destroy our enemies? Should we be so naive as to believe that if we simply demonstrated to them our refinement, they would drop their weapons and embrace us in the way that the Berditchever’s erstwhile antagonist eventually reconciled with him?
Of course, there is an obvious difference in the cases. While Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s foe was intent on destroying his career and thus his livelihood, he was not attempting to kill him.
It is explicitly clear in Torah law that regarding a rodef — one who pursues a person in order to take his life — the person is obligated to kill the rodef before he is killed himself. Certainly, there is no question of Torah law when it comes to our military response to Hamas and those who intend to destroy
it’s
baseless
us. It is our duty to fight them with all of our strength and resources and to eliminate the threat to our lives and to our kin.
Yet we might find a lesson in the Berditchever’s translation of the verse that is relevant even to our dire circumstances today.
In his prayer that G-d would “do no bad unto my foe because of me,” Rabbi Levi Yitzchak requests that no harm should befall his enemy. Yet it can alternatively be read that while harm might come to the enemy, he requests that it should not be “because of me.” In other words, the enemy’s demise may be necessary — as is the case with the rodef — but it is not because I wish him evil. Rather, it is because the threat that he imposes needs to be eliminated.
Even in the case where we must kill or be killed, we do not act for vengeance but for the defense of our loved ones, and the values of life and liberty G-d has enshrined in His Torah.
In this sense, we might follow the Berditchever’s lead and take the verse from Psalms one step further. The second half of the phrase, ki lo yaria oyvi alai, can also be translated “that you won’t allow my foe to MAKE ME BAD.”
Perhaps what the verse is expressing is that G-d’s favor is reflected in his protection of us so that we are not negatively influenced by our enemies to act as they do. Our prayer is not only that we will be unharmed by our foes and not only that our foes’ harm will not be through us, but that we will not become hateful or vengeful like they are. G-d’s favor should enable us to emulate the virtue of our Sages like Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev.
As we work to rectify the errors that resulted in the destruction of the Temple — and this long and challenging exile — we must certainly treat our own people with more respect, forgiveness and generosity. And as we continue to battle those intent on our eradication, we ask for G-d’s protection and deliverance, and we pray for the ability to maintain the humanity and humility that our tradition inculcates and sanctifies.
Pinny Arnon is the author of “Pnei Hashem,” an introduction to the depths of human experience based on the esoteric teaching of Torah.
Famous Tisha B’Av painting by Francesco Hayez that depicts the Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
Pinny Arnon
ADI invites you to
community-wide event
Major Or Maatuk
An IDF hero critically wounded while battling Hamas
Introduction by Dr. Shilo Kramer
Director of Orthopedic Rehabilitation at ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran’s Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center
Wednesday
August 14, 2024 8:00 PM Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst 8 Spruce Street, Cedarhurst
JOIN US in saluting local rehabilitation professionals who volunteered at ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran, assisting in the recovery of war-wounded civilians and IDF soldiers:
Mr. Daniel Aryeh PT, Woodmere
Dr. Moshe Richmond PT, Lawrence
In partnership with: featuring
Mr. Jesse Vogel OT, Far Rockaway
Mrs. Sarah Yastrab OT, Woodmere
Mr. Robert Weinberg PT, Woodmere
Scan here to RSVP Refreshments will be served
• Bais Medrash of Harborview
• Congregation Aish Kodesh
• Congregation Bais Ephraim Yitzchok
• Congregation Bais Tefilah
• Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi of Cedarhurst
• Congregation Beth Shalom
• Young Israel of LawrenceCedarhurst
• Young Israel of Long Beach
• Young Israel of Woodmere
• The White Shul
Are students prepared for a fall of discontent?
What will Jewish students do when they return to campus this fall?
Allow me to suggest 50 ideas for how Jewish students can fight antisemitism and proudly identify as Jews and supporters of Israel.
1. Adopt the slogan, “Not on Our Campus,” and demand the administration show zero tolerance for antisemitism.
2. After a brick was thrown through the window of a 6-year-old boy who had displayed a menorah in Billings, Mont., 10,000 people put menorahs in their windows. Non-Jews should stand up for their classmates without being asked, but they didn’t last semester. So Jewish students should seek support from non-Jews, Greeks, College Democrats and Republicans. Ask them to walk through campus with you wearing yarmulkes or carrying Israeli flags.
3. Hold vigils for the hostages. Tie yellow ribbons around the campus and remind peers that six Americans are among the captives.
4. Set up an Israel encampment with Israeli flags and hostage posters.
5. Build a BDS deposit box. Ask students who want to boycott Israel to deposit their cell phones, laptops and other possessions that depend on Israeli technology.
6. Create drum circles to drown out antisemitic chants.
7. Teach Israeli dancing on the campus green or quad.
8. Become involved in a social-justice or
Jews founded many of the most well-known.
10. Set up a display like the one at the site of the Nova music festival massacre with posters of the slain.
11. Hold sit-ins to demand action against antisemitism.
12. Occupy an administration building and see if you are treated the same way as the antisemites.
13. Run slates for student government to prevent their takeover by antisemites.
14. Join the staff of campus newspapers; write op-eds about your experiences with antisemitism on campus, your time in Israel and facts about the conflict.
15. Draw a chalk line or put down tape in the middle of campus or on the edge of an anti-Israel encampment or protest. Write on one side: “Supporters of peace” and on the other, “Supporters of Hamas.”
16. Create T-shirts: “Zionist and Proud”; “[Fill in your major] Majors Love Israel”; “Antisemites Off My Campus.”
17. Put up signs pointing to encampments: “Welcome Antisemites.”
18. Make posters SJP=Hamas, SJP=KKK, Antisemitic Cowards Take Off Your Hoods, Only Klansman Hide Their Faces.”
19. Wear a blue-and-white keffiyeh (I’ve seen them sold online).
20. Put signs on the doors of professors engaging in academic malpractice that say “Propagandist” and document their bias on “Rate My Professors.”
21. Create signs that say, “Queers for Palestine who go to Palestine never return” or “Queers in Palestine = Dead Palestinians.”
22. Carry signs outside encampments that say, “Free speech for antisemites.”
inform the administration and insist on security.
25. Create and share brochures, fliers and pamphlets that provide balanced information about Israel.
26. Show documentaries and films about Israel that highlight its diverse perspectives and contributions.
27. Display art and photography that showcase Israeli culture and history.
28. Hold an Israeli cultural festival with music, dance and food.
29. Use social media to share positive stories and information about Israel.
30. Fight antisemites with humor: Post comedian Bill Maher’s commentaries.
31. Organize Israel awareness and peace weeks.
32. Organize fundraising events for Israeli charities or causes.
Organize interfaith events to build bridges between different religious communi-
Create or join pro-Israel clubs and organizations.
35. Get involved in pro-Israel volunteer opportunities on campus.
36. Invite allies for solidarity Shabbat meals and uninvolved students to non-political Shabbat dinners.
37. Take courses related to the Middle East. Educate yourself and your fellow Jews. Research the issues by visiting the Jewish Virtual Library and reading Myths and Facts.
38. Form defense groups to escort students who feel threatened.
39. Seek legal advice. Various organizations will provide pro bono assistance and help file lawsuits and complaints regarding violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Code, which prohibits discrimination against Jews.
40. Become a student representative for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to ensure Jews are recognized as a protected group.
41. Learn the complaint procedures on your campus for reporting harassment and faculty abuses. Keep records of everything. Make recordings and take photos. If you do not get a positive response, seek outside help from Jewish organizations.
42. Seek support from friends and peers.
43. Apply to go on a Birthright Israel or other trip to Israel.
44. Visit Israel on your own.
45. Apply to study abroad in Israel.
46. Sign up for a volunteer or internship program in Israel.
47. Meet fellow Jews at Chabad and Hillel.
48. Join the AEPi fraternity, SAEPi sorority or another Greek organization with Jewish members and values.
49. Get to know and work with the Israeli shlichim (“emissaries”) on campus.
50. Start or join a Jewish student organization. Create an Israel Action Committee if none exists.
Pro-Israel rally-goers outside Columbia University on April 25. Evan Schneider
Making a rock-solid case for the Golan Heights
By Matthew Schultz, Jewish Journal
The Golan Heights came under global scrutiny when Hezbollah bombed a soccer field in the Druze village of Madjal Shams, killing 12 children.
This is an unspeakable tragedy. It is also a reminder of the terrible and worsening condition of Israel’s north, which has been under attack since Oct. 8. In January, a mother and son were crushed to death when Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile into their home. In early July, a married couple were killed by a direct hit, leaving their three children parentless. And now this — 12 innocent lives stolen.
There is an ongoing media campaign to obscure the nature of this conflict. T he New York Times, reporting on the Majdal Shams strike, explained the context like this:
“Since October, both sides have fired thousands of missiles across the Israel-Lebanon border, wrecking towns, killing hundreds, displacing hundreds of thousands and leading both to threaten to invade the other.”
This clumsy sentence is engineered to make it seem as though there is no clear aggressor here — just rockets flying in both directions — when in fact, everything that is happening in Israel’s north is a result of Hezbollah’s unprovoked attacks on Israel which started on Oct. 8 and continue through today.
For anti-Zionist activists, this attack is extremely problematic. For one, it paints Israel not as Goliath, but as a small David being sniped at by three Iranian proxy armies as well as Iran itself. In addition to this, activists who have branded themselves as defenders of innocent children are now being put in the uncomfortable position of having to justify Hezbollah’s horrific attack on children. Complicating this further, the victims weren’t even Jewish, so they can’t be smeared as colonizers who deserve their fate.
The solution to this pickle has been to reframe the story — focusing on the Golan Heights as “occupied territory.”
In 1967, when Israel was attacked by Egypt, Syria and Jordan for the second time in its short history, Israel managed to capture territory from all three. Israel traded the vast majority of this land in exchange for peace treaties, but Syria — adamant about not recognizing Israel — refused to negotiate any possible land-for-peace arrangement over the Golan Heights.
Eventually, Israel annexed the territory, a move that the international community condemned and continues to contest.
According to the BBC, Hezbollah’s rocket landed not in Israel, but in the “Israeli-occupied
Golan Heights.” CNN echoed this language while the New York Times softened it somewhat, calling the area “Israeli-controlled” rather than “Israelioccupied.”
The choice of American news outlets to describe the Golan in this way is somewhat baffling. America officially recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019 — a Trump policy which President Biden has not reversed.
That said, as far as most of the world is concerned, including all major international bodies, the Golan Heights is indeed occupied. To say otherwise would be to compromise the rules-based
international order according to which land is not to be acquired through force.
A nice sentiment, but unfortunately, Israel’s neighbors — who have spent nearly a century attempting to wipe the Jewish state off the map — don’t hold by it.
This prim insistence on respecting sovereign borders only works when you are surrounded by countries that respect your sovereign borders. Israel is not.
One of the more depressing revelations of the current war is the extent to which the international community has been hijacked by actors who have no intention of playing by its rules.
Hamas, which violates every rule of war as a matter of principle, has played the international community like a fiddle. They steal humanitarian aid; endanger civilians by not wearing uniforms; hide rockets in mosques, schools, and U.N. installations; and park whole battalions of fighters in humanitarian areas — all the while racking up diplomatic wins from the United Nations and the European Union. The Hamas takeover of UNRWA, the UN agency tasked with providing services to Palestinian refugees, provides a particularly literal case-in-point.
It is time for a radical change of course. Were Israel to somehow be persuaded to give up the Golan, it would be a terrible outcome on three levels. One, it would be suicidal for Israelis, who would have given an avowed enemy a diplomatic win and a nice launching pad. Two, it would be bad for the Druze, who would suddenly find themselves subject to a murderous dictator. Three, it would be bad for the rules-based international order, as it would constitute a reward for the illiberal, terrorist axis of resistance. If the international community actually wants to defend the lofty ideas of “human rights” and “international law,” they should instead join America in recognizing the Golan, sending a message to those who continue to violate Israel’s borders that they will no longer get a free pass.
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The funeral of children who were killed at a soccer field by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on July 28. Jamal Awad, Flash90
Israel again shows a long arm of retribution
The killing of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 is just another in a long line of anti-terror activities that take place outside the borders of Israel. For a country that struggles to manage mail delivery within its borders, delivering a concealed bomb to a hotel 1,000 miles away in Tehran didn’t seem to be a problem.
Haniyeh’s and other recent assassinations are not one-off events, as Israel’s long arm of retribution for harm against its citizens has been seen before.
Following the massacre of 11 members of the Israeli athletic team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir authorized the Mossad to undertake “Operation Wrath of G-d,” which targeted individuals associated with the Palestinian Black September movement and operatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization for assassination. While the precise number of targets remains unknown, it is reported to have included 20 to 35 individuals. The operation spanned two decades, emphasizing the global scale and extended duration of the Jewish state’s response to the violent tragedy in Germany.
More recently, as Palestinian terrorists murdered and maimed Israelis in the 1990s following
the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel again acted. For instance, in October 1995, Fathi Shaqaqi, leader of Palestine Islamic Jihad, stepped out of a hotel on the Mediterranean island of Malta. Two men on a motorcycle stopped opposite him and shot him at point-blank range. While no one took credit for the attack, it was attributed to the Mossad as payback for PIJ carrying out an April 9, 1995 terror attack near Kfar Darom that took the lives of eight people, including my daughter Alisa.
January 1996 saw the assassination of Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash, known as “The Engineer,” who was responsible for rigging bomb vests and designing other deadly terror tools. His cell phone was returned to him after a “repair,” and when he answered a call, an explosion did what it was intended to — remove a potent member of the Hamas terror team.
Yet it’s disheartening to realize how little the US government has done in similar cases and how muddled the American reply has been to attacks against American citizens in Israel and elsewhere.
You may recall then-President Bill Clinton’s 1996 promise to the family of Nachshon Wachsman — a US citizen kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in 1994 — that he would bring Mohammed Deif, the mastermind of the kidnapping, to justice. Safe under the protection of the PLO and then Hamas, polite requests from Washington to PLO chief Yasser Arafat for Deif to be handed over to it were met with silence. While it took almost 30 years, Deif did meet his
Candace Owens launched into a rant on her YouTube show last week, claiming that the Star of David is tied to child sacrifice and black magic. She “explained” that King Solomon, builder of the Holy Temple, had a ring that he used to command demons. All of this, she said, shocked her “to the core” — but if it’s on Wikipedia, it’s gotta be true.
This was not the first time Owens based one of her wilder conspiracy theories on the ubiquitous online resource. Endorsing Wikipedia fits neatly into Owens’s new position as a leading promoter of antisemitism. After all, Wikipedia’s antisemitism is practically ubiquitous across the website.
Wikipedia features an extensive article accusing Israel of “war crimes,” “indiscriminate attacks” and “genocide” in its fight to eliminate the Hamas terror organization.
Regarding Hamas itself, Wikipedia merely says that “authors have characterized” the Hamas charter as genocidal. Of course, it wasn’t the “au-
end last month, courtesy of Israel. Going further back, on Aug. 11, 1976, terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked the El Al Terminal in the Istanbul airport. Four people were killed and dozens injured. Two of the wounded were American women. One of those killed was Harold W. Rosenthal, 29, of Philadelphia, who had been a staff member for several Democratic members of Congress.
The PFLP is the second-largest faction of the PLO. The PLO is headed by Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, which receives $500 million a year from the United States. Yet no US administration has ever demanded that Abbas expel the PFLP from the PLO.
While the US reaction to the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, eventually brought about the killing of mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and the arrests of some of Al-Qaeda’s most notorious villains who are now imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, the absence of any American response to the murder and kidnappings of Americans by Hamas on Oct. 7 is discouraging.
It’s not that the United States can’t act; it certainly does when it wants to. Al-Qaeda was the target of “Operation Enduring Freedom” initiated
Wikipedia
thors” who gave Hamas its designation; Hamas leaders themselves have repeatedly declare that genocide against the Jewish nation is the group’s very purpose and mission. Instead, Wikipedia claims that the Hamas position regarding Israel has “evolved” from seeking its destruction to seeking its annihilation.
Readers of Wikipedia “learn” on multiple redundant pages that the wholesale expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from Israel is an uncontested fact. Never mind that Robert F. Kennedy documented the pride that Zionists took in Arab immigration, the genocidal intent of the Arab League when it attacked Israel in 1948, and that local Arabs were advised to voluntarily leave their homes until the Jews were exterminated. Yet according to Wikipedia, the real aggressors were unquestionably the Jews.
According to Wikipedia, an “apartheid” state is a Middle Eastern country in which both Jews and Arabs have civil rights, “Palestine” is a country that actually exists and Arabs are natives of the region. Wikipedia also has a long piece celebrating the propagation of this sort of bigotry via “Israel Apartheid Week” with “criticism” of its antisemitic hate relegated to the end. Wikipedia’s co-founder Larry Sanger abandoned the organization in 2002. As documented
in 2001 to dismantle the terror group and remove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. This operation involved extensive military action, including airstrikes and ground operations.
US laws allow for the prosecution in the United States of crimes against Americans that are committed overseas. Other laws address the deaths of Americans overseas as a result of state-sponsored terrorism as well as hostage-taking.
The US Code has a section dealing with hostages. It applies to “whoever … seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another … in order to compel … a governmental organization to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the person detained, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life and, if the death of any person results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.”
This law clearly applies today, as at least nine American citizens are being held captive in the Gaza Strip. The “whoever” cited in the statute are those members of Hamas who not only participated in the attacks but “conspired” — namely, the Hamas leadership. With Haniyeh out of the way, Hamas senior leader Yahya Sinwar is a ripe candidate for indictment and US action to bring him to justice.
America has the tools to join in the fight against Hamas. So, why hasn’t it? The hostages and the memories of those murdered on Oct. 7 deserve at least that much.
on Wikipedia itself, Sanger notedthat the site is dominated not by experts with actual, relevant knowledge, but by those who edit most frequently and insistently, not to mention the “trolls.” This is why major universities dismiss Wikipedia as an unreliable source that is unacceptable for academic work.
In June, Wikipedia took its bias to a new level, unironically stating that it considers the ADL an “unreliable” source on the Israel-Hamas War. The statistically impossible casualty counts provided by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, on the other hand, are cited as if they were credible.
The connection between Wikipedia and Big Tech is easy to establish. Though Wikipedia likes to beg regular users for money, its Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) features a who’s who of Big Tech donors: Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe, Salesforce and more. Besides direct grants from these firms, woke programmers, engineers and other staff at companies like Apple and Google, as well as LinkedIn, Intel and Netflix have used matching gift programs to multiply their contributions.
The truth is that WMF, together with the Wikimedia Endowment, holds over $350 million in assets. This means that with no further donations
or investments, Wikipedia can continue operating comfortably for over a century. Yet its relationship with Big Tech has only deepened and diversified. In 2021, Wikimedia launched Wikimedia Enterprise, providing paid services for companies and organizations that reuse Wikipedia content on a large scale. A routine search using Google, Alexa or Siri often brings you a highlighted result drawn from Wikipedia like the Google “Knowledge Panel” at the top of search results. This is, in part, why a Google search for “apartheid” features recurring instances of antisemitic fiction on its first page of results.
Besides Big Tech, there is one more Wikipedia donor to consider: the Soros-funded Tides Foundation. Tides has also given millions of dollars to groups that instigated and supported the antisemitic protests across America since Oct. 7. This is the company Wikimedia keeps.
Through direct links, integration with Wikimedia Enterprise and generous donations, Big Tech is enabling the spread of antisemitic hatred via the trolls of Wikipedia. Only the same Big Tech firms are positioned to compel Wikipedia to improve its contribution, editing and review processes to demonstrate the commitment to fairness and accuracy that should be the hallmark of any true source of knowledge.
5 Towns honors 5 therapists who volunteered
By Melissa Berman, LI Herald
With The Jewish Star
Five volunteers from the Five Towns and Far Rockaway will be recognized next Wednesday, Aug. 14, for their work at ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran, a 40-acre state-of-theart rehabilitation village in southern Israel. The facility empowers those living with and touched by disability, helping war-wounded civilians and IDF soldiers reclaim their lives, providing physical rehabilitation and emotional recovery services.
“We are taking care of everyone, and providing the help that they need,” said Elie Klein, director of development. The villages provides more than 50,000 outpatient treatments each year for those affected by everything from heart attacks and strokes to terror-related trauma, she said.
“As soon as the war began, now 300 days ago, we were very, very short-staffed when it came to physical and occupational therapists,” Klein said. The regular staff was evacuated because of the war and has not yet returned.
“We are caring for many of the civilian and IDF heroes of Oct. 7 and we’re understaffed, so we needed a lot of help,” Klein said, “and about a half-dozen PT and OT volunteers from the Five Towns made their way to Israel. It was a life-changing experience.”
Sarah Yastrab, an occupational therapist from Woodmere, volunteered for two weeks in May, and was given a caseload the day she arrived. She worked with neurological and orthopedic patients.
“After Oct. 7, everybody wanted to do something,” Yastrab said, “and some people knew what to do, and others, it took a while to figure out. Some people raised money, sent equipment or paid visits. This is something I could do. I have a license to practice occupational therapy, I’ve been doing it for over 30 years. This was a need that they had, and it’s something I could do.”
“They were very appreciative of having volunteers mostly from America to come and fill some of the gaps,” she said.
In Yastrab’s experience, the human body is miraculous in its capacity to heal physically, when provided with adequate treatment.
“But the assault to one’s dignity that accompanies the loss of independence following an illness or injury can leave a much deeper scar,” she explained. “That’s where ADI Negev thrives.”
“Patients arrive at ADI Negev having lost the ability to walk, talk or care for their most personal needs, and the professional staff, all gifted in their respective fields, expertly provide their services with an extra dose of dignity,” she said. “An atmosphere of love and care pervades the rehabilitation village, and it restores hope and dignity to those who feel they have lost it. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before.”
In addition to Yastrab, those being honored at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, 8 Spruce St., at 8 pm, are physical therapists Daniel Aryeh and Robert Weinberg, of Woodmere, and Dr. Moshe Richmond, of
Lawrence; and occupational therapist Jesse Vogel, of Far Rockaway.
She urged her friends who are therapists as well as Five Towns community members to come to the YILC event to hear about experiences. [RSVP at adi-rehab.org/5t-event/.]
Vogel, who also volunteered in May for two weeks, brought not only his experience as an occupational therapist, but also his specialty: neuromuscular taping, which uses a special tape that stimulates the muscles, nerves and lymphatic system to increase circulation, reduce pain and inflammation, and promote movement.
Vogel taught patients new techniques with the neuromuscular taping, and helped them relieve pain. He volunteered by day at ADI Negev, and at night he traveled to army bases to tape up IDF soldiers.
“It was fantastic being able to help them get back into the fight after an injury,” he said.
Major Or Maatuk, an IDF soldier who was critically wounded in the war with Hamas, will recount his life story at the YI of Lawrence-Cedarhurst. He will be introduced by Dr. Shilo Kramer, director of orthopedic rehabilitation at ADI Negev’s Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center.
“Whether you were born into disability or touched by disability at some point at life, this 40-acre village has all kinds of resources,” said Klein. Its offerings include art, music, physical and occupational therapy, a therapeutic horse farm, and a safari petting zoo for residents, patients and special-education students.
For two weeks, Occupational Therapist Sarah Yastrab left her family and patients behind in Woodmere to help the staff at the Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center at ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran care for war-wounded civilians and IDF soldiers from the hardest hit communities in Israel’s south. Courtesy Elie Klein
Mount Sinai South Nassau Recognized for Excellence in Emergency Nursing Mount
Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Emergency Department has been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Emergency Nurses Association’s 2024 Lantern Award for outstanding patient care and reducing wait times, and for excellence in nurse retention, achieving a zero vacancy rate and one percent turnover rate.
The Lantern Award also recognizes nursing sta commitment to ongoing education and training and fostering an environment of learning and professional growth.
We congratulate Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Emergency Department nursing sta for their commitment to patient care, quality, safety and a healthy work environment.
Learn more at mountsinai.org/southnassau 877-SOUTH-NASSAU.
Making a delicious summer out of lemons
Kosher Kitchen
JoNI SchocKEtt Jewish Star columnist
There is something about bright, tart lemons and hot, humid days that seem to go together perfectly. Remember that lemonade stand you had as a child? I once earned 35 cents and thought I was the richest person on my street!
I magnanimously said I would buy my parents ice cream cones, so we walked to the local ice cream store and I gave the man my 35 cents and got 4 ice cream cones (I was so proud of myself!). The next summer, having learned enough math at 7 to know that 35 cents cannot possibly buy 4 ice cream cones, I increased my lemonade prices to 10 cents a cup.
Lemons, which are harvested year-round, are believed to have existed as early as eight-million years ago in the southern Himalayan region. The small tree made its way to the area of Israel and Persia and there developed as thick-skinned Citron which then bred with a thinner skinned bitter orange and became the more modern Etrog that we know today. Thousands of years later, it evolved into the lemons we know today, branching off from the Citron forever.
There are basically three types of lemons commonly found in grocery stores today.
•Myer lemons are a hybrid of a lemon and a mandarin orange. They have very thin, soft, skins and a short harvest time. They are great for desserts and drinks but are often too sweet for savory dishes. The more common lemons are Eureka and Lisbon.
•Eureka lemons often have a more rounded shape, thinner rinds, and fewer seeds.
•Lisbon lemons have larger knobs at the end of the fruit, the rind appears more dimpled, they are often lighter in color, and firmer to the touch. They often grow larger, but their thicker rind means the amount of juice is often the same as in smaller, Eureka Lemons.
I always look for Eureka, if I can scope them out, as they are easier to juice because of the thinner, more flexible rind. Bags of lemons are often Eureka lemons because they are smaller.
Lemons are indelibly linked to summer; icy lemonade is an iconic summer drink found everywhere from children’s lemonade stands to movies, from the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup to Laurence of Arbia, Men in Black and many more. There are also even movies with Lemonade in the title.
Lemons are versatile and can be used in any
recipe from an appetizer to a main dish to a delectable dessert. Always use fresh lemon juice in any lemon recipe; bottled juice has a preservative, sodium benzoate, that many people (me included) can taste which gives lemon an off flavor. Lemons keep for weeks in the refrigerator and the difference in taste between fresh juice and processed juice is very noticeable.
LEMON HINTS:
•Store lemons in the refrigerator in an airtight bag or container. I, however, often have a bowl of lemons on my dining room table. The aroma is fresh and delicious, and I use them so often, that I rarely have any spoil.
•Lemons produce more juice at room temperature. Remove them from the refrigerator 30 minutes before using or microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.
•Roll the lemons on the counter for a few seconds before squeezing. This helps break some of the little juice sacks and, therefore, helps produce more juice.
•Buy a lemon reamer. These handy little gadgets really get all the juice out. They come in plastic, wood, and stainless steel. OR use your favorite juicer. My dad bought me an electric one in 1982. I still use it when I have many lemons to juice. Otherwise, I use my stainless reamer all the time.
Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette (Pareve)
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp. grated or minced garlic
• Pinch sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• OPTIONAL: Up to 2 Tbsp. cold water to cut the strength of the lemon juice and to allow for less oil.
Mix all ingredients together and mix well. Use on salad, tuna fish, or as a marinade for chicken or fish. Makes about 1 cup.
NOTE: For a milder dressing, use one whole head of roasted garlic. Squeeze out the cloves of cooled garlic and blend in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Delicious.
chicken with olives and Lemons
(Meat)
Delicious hot or the next day cold with a salad.
• 1 chicken cut into eighths or 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 4 Tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
• 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 stick, pareve, trans-fat-free margarine
• 1 onion finely minced
• 2 to 3 shallots, finely minced
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, finely minced, or grated
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock or broth
• 1 cup green olives, as many olives as you like, any kids you like
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves, finely minced
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely minced
• Garnish: One lemon thinly sliced
Place the flour, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a zipper plastic bag. Add the chicken pieces a few at a time and shake to coat. Place on a plate. Heat a large Dutch oven or deep skillet and
add the olive oil and pareve margarine. Add the onions and shallots and cook until translucent and softened. Add the garlic and mix for 30 seconds, until fragrant. If you want a bit of heat, add the red pepper flakes to the oil mixture and mix well. Add the flour coated chicken pieces to the skillet and cook 2 to 4 minutes per side, just until lightly browned and each piece releases easily from the pan.
When the chicken is all browned and remove to the plate, add the wine, stock, and olives, and mix. NOTE: Some people like to gently flatten each olive with the flat side of knife to help release the oils and flavor before adding them to the pot. You can if you like. Add the lemon juice and mix well.
Add the chicken pieces back to the pan. Partially cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tarragon and parsley and mix well. Cook, partially covered, until the chicken is cooked through to 165 degrees, 20 to 30 more minutes for cut up chicken, less for boneless breasts. Taste and adjust seasonings, as desired. Place the chicken on a serving platter and garnish with lemon slices, more parsley, and some olives and sauce. Pour the rest of the olives and sauce into a gravy boat and serve with the chicken. Serves 4.
Grilled Lemon and Garlic Grilled Fish (Pareve or Dairy)
This works with any thick fish such as cod, haddock, halibut, red snapper or even salmon. Use a good fish grill cage or a grill basket for the fish.
• 4 thick fish fillets (5 to 7 oz. each)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 to 12 cloves garlic, grated, to taste
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 to 3 lemons cut in half crosswise, between the ends
• OPTIONAL: Smoked Paprika, sumac seasoning
Heat a grill to high and oil the grates thoroughly.
Mix the garlic, oil, salt and pepper together and set aside.
Using tongs, place the lemons, cut side down, on the grill and leave, undisturbed for 3 to 4 min-
See Lemons bring out on page 14
Grilled salmon fillets with lemon herbs and spices.
Lemons bring out summer’s deliciousness…
Continued from page 12
utes, until grill marks form. Turn the lemon 90 degrees and grill an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to a plate to cool.
Pour half the oil mixture into a small bowl and reserve. Brush the remaining half of the oil on both sides of the fish filets and place them in the grill basket or fish grill. Place on the grill. Cook until cooked through, turning once only if using a special fish grill basket that locks the fish in place. Otherwise, do not flip the fish.
Squeeze one half of a lemon into the remaining oil mixture and brush on the fish once more. Cook until opaque and 145 degrees in the center of the thickest part of the fish. Remove the fish to a platter and squeeze more lemon over the fish. Garnish with fresh chives and a sprinkle of smoked paprika and sumac. Use any remaining lemon juice and oil mixture to make a vinaigrette for salads. The grilled lemon has a sweetened and smoky flavor that is delicious. Serves 4.
Simple Lemon Caper Sauce for Chicken or for Fish (Pareve or Dairy)
This is a delicious sauce for either fish or chicken. To use with chicken, remove the chicken from the pan in which it was cooked and use some of the pan drippings and some of the browned bits in the sauce.
• 2 small shallots minced
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
• Juice from one large lemon, about 1/4 cup, more to taste
• 2 to 3 Tbsp. small capers, drained and rinsed
• 3 Tbsp. butter or pareve margarine (unsalted) cold
• OPTIONAL: Fresh snipped chives or parsley.
Heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the shallots and cook until lightly golden. Add the stock, lemon juice and capers, and simmer until the liquid reduces by about half.
Remove from heat and add the cold butter, for fish, or margarine for chicken. Stir until melted and the sauce is a bit thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add a spoon of fresh chives or parsley. Spoon over fish or chicken. Makes about 1/2 cup.
Easy Blender Lemon Cheese Pie (Dairy)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbsp. salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 graham cracker crust or for a GF pie, use al-
mond crust or GF graham crackers
Place the cream cheese and the butter in the blender. Puree until smooth. Add the sugar and the egg and blend until well mixed. Add the flour and then the milk. Blend until smooth. Add the lemon juice and grated zest and blend until smooth.
Pour into an 8- or 9-inch graham cracker crust and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool and chill until cold. Garnish with fresh mint, berries, and/or thin candied lemon slices. Serves 8 to 10.
Perfect Lemonade with Raspberries or Watermelon (Pareve)
• 2 cups Simple Syrup*
• 2-1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 pint fresh raspberries
• Watermelon to equal 1-2/3 cups cubed
• Water to taste (4 to 6 cups)
*To make Simple Syrup, place two cups sugar and two cups water in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil until all the sugar is dissolved, brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet brush, about 2 to 3 minutes. Allow to cool. Pour into a Tupperware-style container and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Add the syrup to the lemon juice and stir. Add water to taste. Puree the raspberries in a blender and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Discard seeds. Add to the lemonade. For watermelon lemonade, remove all seeds, puree the watermelon in the blender, and add the puree to the lemonade. For a real treat. Wet the rim of a glass and swirl it in a bowl of sugar. Freeze the glass for about 15 minutes, fill with ice and lemonade and garnish with lemon slices or fresh mint. Makes about 10 cups.
Cool, Melt-In-Your-Mouth, Lemon Bars (Dairy)
• 1-3/4 cups unbleached flour
• 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tsp. Cornstarch
• 1-1/2 sticks well chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
Coat a glass or ceramic 9x13 dish with butter and line with waxed paper or parchment, leaving long ends (about 2 inches) on either side. Butter the surface of the paper that is within the pan.
Place the flour, sugar and cornstarch in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add the lemon zest and pulse once or twice to mix.
Pour the crust mixture into the pan and press evenly along the bottom and slightly up the sides.
Refrigerate for 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. While the crust is baking, make the filling.
FILLING:
• 4 extra-large (large are fine) eggs
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 2 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 3/4 cup (generous) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/3 cup half and half
Whisk the eggs and add the rest of the ingredients.
Remove the crust from the oven, reduce the heat to 325 degrees, and allow the crust to cool for about 10 minutes. Whisk the filling again and pour gently into the crust. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the filling looks set and feels set when touched.
Remove from the oven and cool. Before serving, sift confectioner’s sugar over the top and garnish with sugared lemon slices.* Run a knife around the lemon squares and remove, using a spatula under the paper. Place on a serving tray and then cut, rinsing the knife in hot water between cuts. For less formal eating, cut while in the pan and remove individual squares. Refrigerate after cutting the squares.
(*To make sugared lemon slices, mix one cup of sugar and 1/2-cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cut a lemon into very thin slices and cut the slices in half. Add the slices to the pan and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Don’t stir but lift the bottom slices up from the pan to avoid sticking. Stirring will break up the slices and they won’t look pretty. Watch the water level carefully and add more as needed. Refrigerate and use for garnish.)
Gluten-Free, Non-Dairy Lemon Almond Squares or Tart (Pareve, GF)
Several friends are GF these days, so here is a recipe suitable for them that is equally as delicious and refreshing as lemon squares made with
regular flour. You can make these as squares or as a lemon pie in a 10-inch pie plate. Top the pie with thin, candied lemon slices for a beautiful presentation.
CRUST:
• 2-1/2 to 3 cups almond flour (3 cups for 9x13 pan, 2-1/2 cups for 10-inch pie plate)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• 4 Tbsp. tapioca starch
• 1/3 tsp. salt
• 1 stick cold pareve margarine, cut into small pieces
FILLING:
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3-1/2 Tbsp. tapioca starch
• GF Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
• OPTIONAL: 2 tsp. lemon zest
Lightly grease a 9X13 pan or 10 to inch pie plate and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Juice the lemons and set aside.
Place the almond flour, sugar, lemon zest, tapioca starch, salt and margarine in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.
Press into the prepared pan and up the sides about one-half inch.
Place in the oven and bake until golden, about 10 to 14 minutes.
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Place the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and zest, and tapioca starch in a medium bowl. Make sure there are no lumps of the starch. Whisk thoroughly and pour over the hot crust. Place back in the oven for 15 to 25 minutes until the top cracks just a bit and looks completely set.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Dust the top with confectioners’ sugar and cut into squares. Makes 12 to 24 squares.
Lemon blueberry creamy cheesecake topped with lemon zest and fresh blueberries. Adobe Freshly baked lemon bars. Adobe
Annette & Daniel Kasle
jewish star torah columnists:
•Rabbi Avi Billet of Anshei Chesed, Boynton Beach, FL, mohel and Five Towns native •Rabbi David Etengoff of Magen David Yeshivah, Brooklyn
•Rabbi Binny Freedman, rosh yeshiva of Orayta, Jerusalem
contributing writers:
•Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks zt”l,
former chief rabbi of United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth •Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh
Weinreb, OU executive VP emeritus •Rabbi Raymond Apple, emeritus rabbi, Great Synagogue of Sydney •Rabbi Yossy Goldman, life rabbi emeritus, Sydenham Shul, Johannesburg and president of the South African Rabbinical Association.
Five towns candlelighting: From the White Shul, Far Rockaway, NY
תבש לש בכוכ
Fri Aug 10 / Av 5
Devarim
Candles: 7:41 • Havdalah: 8:49
Mon Aug 12 / Av 8
Tisha B’Av begins tonight
Fri Aug 16 / Tamuz 12
Vaeschanan
Candles: 7:32 • Havdalah: 8:39
Fri Aug 23 / Av 19
EIKEV
Candles: 7:22 • Havdalah: 8:29
Fri Aug 30 / Av 26
Re’eh
Candles: 7:11 • Havdalah: 8:18
Fri Sept 6 / Elul 3
Shoftim
Candles: 6:59 • Havdalah: 8:07
Followership: The people make their leader
rabbi
sir jonathan sacks zt”l
In the last month of his life, Moses gathered the people. He instructed them about the laws they were to keep and reminded them of their history since the Exodus. That is the substance of the book of Devarim.
Early in this process, he recalled the episode of the spies — the reason the people’s parents were denied the opportunity to enter the land. He wanted the next generation to learn the lesson of that episode and carry it with them always.
But the story of the spies as he tells it here is very different from the version in Shelach Lecha, which describes the events as they happened at the time, almost 39 years earlier. The discrepancies are glaring and numerous. Here I want to focus only on two.
First: who proposed sending the spies? In Shelach, it was G-d who told Moses to do so; in our parsha, it was the people who requested it. Who was it: G-d or the people? This makes a massive difference to how we understand the episode.
Second: what was their mission? In our parsha, the people said, “Let us send men to spy out [veyachperu] the land for us” (Deut. 1:22). The 12 men “made for the hill country, came to the wadi Eshcol, and spied it out [vayeraglu]” (Deut. 1:24). In other words, our parsha uses two Hebrew verbs, lachpor and leragel, that mean to spy.
But as I pointed out for in writing about Shlach Lecha, the account there conspicuously does not mention spying. Instead, 13 times, it uses the verb latur (to tour, explore, travel, inspect). Even in our parsha, when Moses is talking, not about the spies but about G-d, he says He “goes before you on your journeys — to seek out (latur) the place where you are to encamp” (Deut. 1:33).
According to Malbim, latur means to seek out what is good about a place. Lachpor and leragel mean to seek out what is weak, vulnerable, exposed, defenseless. Touring and spying are completely different activities, so why does the account in our parsha present what happened as a spying mission, which the account in Shelach emphatically does not?
These two questions combine with a third, prompted by an extraordinary statement of Moses in our parsha. Having said that the spies and the people were punished by not living to enter
When people are unwilling to follow, even the greatest leader cannot lead.
the promised land, he then says: Because of you, the L-rd was incensed with me also, and He said: you shall not enter it either. Joshua son of Nun, who attends you, he shall enter it. Strengthen him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. (Deut. 1:37-38)
This is very strange indeed. It is not like Moses to blame others for what seems to be his own failing. Besides which, it contradicts the testimony of the Torah itself, which tells us that Moses and Aaron were punished by not being permitted to enter the land because of what happened at Kadesh when the people complained about the lack of water.
What they did wrong is debated by the commentators. Was it that Moses hit the rock? Or that he lost his temper? Or some other reason? Whichever it was, that was when G-d said: “Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them” (Num. 20:12). This was some 39 years after the episode of the spies.
As to the discrepancy between the two accounts of the spies, R. David Zvi Hoffman argued that the account in Shelach tells us what happened. The account in our parsha, a generation later, was meant not to inform but to warn. Shelach is a historical narrative; our parsha is a sermon. These are different literary genres with different purposes.
As to Moses’ remark, “Because of you, the L-rd was incensed with me,” Ramban suggests that he was simply saying that like the spies and the people, he too was condemned to die in the wilderness. Alternatively, he was hinting that no one should be able to say that Moses avoided the fate of the generation he led.
However, Abarbanel offers a fascinating alternative. Perhaps the reason Moses and Aaron were not permitted to enter the land was not because of the episode of water and the rock at Kadesh. That is intended to distract attention from their real sins. Aaron’s real sin was the Golden Calf. Moses’ real sin was the episode of the spies. The hint that this was so is in Moses’ words here, “Because of you, the L-rd was incensed with me also.”
How though could the episode of the spies have been Moses fault? It wasn’t he who proposed sending them, it was either G-d or the people. He did not go on the mission. He did not bring back a report. He did not demoralize the people. Where then was Moses at fault? Why was G-d angry with him?
The answer lies in the first two questions: who proposed sending the spies? And why is there a difference in the verbs between here and Shelach?
Following Rashi, the two accounts, here and in Shelach, are not two different versions of the same event. They are the same version of the same event, but split in two, half told there, half here. It was the people who requested spies (as stated here). Moses took their request to G-d. G-d acceded to the request, but as
a concession, not a command: “You may send,” not “You must send” (as stated in Shelach). However, in granting permission, G-d made a specific provision. The people had asked for spies: “Let us send men ahead to spy out [veyachperu] the land for us.” G-d did not give Moses permission to send spies. He specifically used the verb latur, meaning, He gave permission for the men to tour the land, come back and testify that it is a good and fertile land, flowing with milk and honey.
The people did not need spies. As Moses said, throughout the wilderness years G-d has been going “ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go” (Deut. 1:33). They did however need eyewitness testimony of the beauty and fruitfulness of the land to which they had been travelling and for which they would have to fight.
Moses, however, did not make this distinction clear. He told the 12 men: “See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?” This sounds dangerously like instructions for a spying mission.
When ten of the men came back with a demoralizing report and the people panicked, at least part of the blame lay with Moses. The people had asked for spies. He should have made it clear that the men he was sending were not to act as spies.
How did Moses come to make such a mistake? Rashi suggests an answer. Our parsha says: “Then all of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us’.” The English does not convey the sense of menace in the original.
They came, says Rashi, “in a crowd,” without respect, protocol or order. They were a mob, and they were potentially dangerous. This mirrors the people’s behavior at the beginning of the story of the Golden Calf: “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered against Aaron and said to him.”
Faced with an angry mob, a leader is not always in control of the situation. True leadership is impossible in the face of the madness of crowds. Moses’ mistake, if the analysis here is correct, was a very subtle one, the difference between a spying mission and a morale-boosting eyewitness account of the land. Even so, it must have been almost inevitable given the mood of the people. That is what Moses meant when he said, “because of you the L-rd was incensed with me too.” He meant that G-d was angry with me for not showing stronger leadership, but it was you — or rather, your parents — who made that leadership impossible.
This suggests a fundamental, counterintuitive truth. A fine TED talk about leadership asks, “What makes a leader?” It answers: “The first follower.”
There is a famous saying of the Sages: “Make for yourself a teacher and acquire for yourself a friend.” The order of the verbs seems wrong. You don’t make a teacher, you acquire one. You don’t acquire a friend, you make one. In fact, though, the statement is precisely right.
You make a teacher by being willing to learn. You make a leader by being willing to follow. When people are unwilling to follow, even the greatest leader cannot lead. That is what happened to Aaron at the time of the Calf, and in a far more subtle way to Moses at the time of the spies.
That, I would argue, is one reason why Joshua was chosen to be Moses’ successor. There were other distinguished candidates, including Pinchas and Caleb. But Joshua, serving Moses throughout the wilderness years, was a rolemodel of what it is to be a follower. That, the Israelites needed to learn.
I believe that followership is the great neglected art. Followers and leaders form a partnership of mutual challenge and respect. To be a follower in Judaism is not to be submissive, uncritical, blindly accepting.
Questioning and arguing are a part of the relationship. Too often, though, we decry a lack of leadership when we are really suffering from a lack of followership.
Reproof a sinner only out of love for the sinner
This week’s parsha, Devarim, finds Moshe beginning his farewell speech to the Jewish people:
Eileh Ha’Devarim Asher Diber Moshe El Kol Yisrael Be’Ever Ha’Yarden. (These are the words which Moshe spoke to the entire Jewish people on the other side of the Jordan.) Devarim 1:1
Forty years after leaving Egypt, the Jewish people, gathered together on the East bank of the Jordan River, are finally ready to enter the land of Israel. But Moshe will not be going with them and it was time for him to say goodbye.
So what do you say when this is the last op-
portunity to teach the second generation of Jews, who for the most part did not grow up under the whips of Egyptian servitude?
…and so Moshe explained this Torah saying: Hashem our G-d spoke to us at Chorev (Sinai) saying… (1:5-6) Apparently, Moshe is about to review the point of it all — the commandments given at Sinai. Except that he doesn’t.
In fact, Moshe begins a random review of extremely unpleasant incidents which don’t seem to be all that significant, and doesn’t mention any of the commandments, or even the purpose of entering the land itself.
Moshe launches into a lengthy description of where the Jewish people were when Moshe spoke to them. Why was it so important to know exactly where this speech took place — especially because the place described could not possibly have existed! …In the desert (the midbar), in the Arava, op-
posite Suf, between Paran and Tofel and Lavan, Chatzeirot and Di’ Zahav…. If they were in the Arava, the wilderness south of the Jordan valley, they were not opposite Suf, the Red Sea. Indeed, Rashi quotes Rav Yochanan (in the Midrash Sifri) who points out: “We have searched the entire Torah and know of no place called Tofel and Lavan.”
Tradition teaches that all these names were allusions to events that occurred in the 40 years of the Jews’ sojourn in the desert.
The Midrash connects these unknown names with some of the painful episodes which occurred to the Jews in the desert. Di-Zahav (zahav is the Hebrew word for gold) alludes to the golden calf; Tofel Ve’Lavan refers to the Jews’ denigration of the manna, which was white (lavan), etc.
Moshe here has an enormous opportunity. Why is he squandering this moment by telling the Jewish people off?
Rashi points out that the words “Eileh Ha’Devarim” (“These are the words”) refer to words of rebuke, making this the opening theme of the entire book of Devarim. Why? What is reproof (tochachah) really all about? There is actually a mitzvah in the Torah to tell someone off, given the right circumstances — “Hocheach Tochiach Et Amitecha (And you shall rebuke your colleague [or friend].” (VaYikra 19) If you see someone doing something which is a violation of Jewish tradition, there is a mitzvah to rebuke that person. This mitzvah, called tochachah, is challenging to say the least. What of “live and let live”? Does telling someone off, for what I may perceive to be misguided behavior, really cause him or her to mend the error of his or her ways?
Maimonides makes a fascinating point in his Hilchot De’ot (Laws of Character Traits): When a person errs against his fellow, he
Blindness is for justice, not for self-reflection
Amajor ill of our times is our inability to accept people for who they are. We often judge people based on exteriors or a onetime encounter.
In describing the first of the two commandments that appear in this week’s parshat, Devarim, the Sefer HaChinukh makes a seemingly obvious statement. Based on 1:17, he writes: The great Bet Din is charged not to appoint a judge who has not demonstrated proficiency in the wisdom of the Torah, and understanding its just and righteous laws. Even if blessed with fine qualities, if
he is not an expert in Torah law, he is not worthy to be appointed judge. (Commandment 414)
Do we really need the Sefer Hachinukh to tell us that a judge must be an expert in the law? The problem is exacerbated when we consider an inconsistency — Moshe claims he told this to the people when he first appointed judges: I selected wise and well known men … and appointed them as your leaders. … I then gave your judges instructions, saying, “Listen [to every dispute] among your brethren, and judge honestly between each man and his brother, [even] where a [ger is concerned]. Do not give anyone special consideration when rendering judgment. Listen to the great and small alike, and do not be impressed by any man, since judgment belongs to G-d. If any case is too difficult, bring it to me, and I will hear it.” (Devarim 1:15-18)
While the Sefer HaChinukh derives the afore-
mentioned commandment from the format in which the phrase “not to give special consideration” is written, is it not strange that the Torah leaves out the need for the judge to be an expert in the law?
In Shmot 18:22-26, we learn that “Moshe took his father-in-law’s advice, and did all that he said. He chose capable men from all Israel, and he appointed them as administrators over the people, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. They administered justice on a regular basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses, and judging the simple cases by themselves.”
Shmot 18 includes rules surrounding numbers of judges, and that difficult judgments were to be brought to Moshe. But the judges were not warned about taking bribes, nor about the importance of being extra sensitive to maintaining
impartiality, nor about how to choose when appointing judges themselves.
Then Shmot 23:7-9 warns judges against taking bribes, and to be sure to treat the convert or stranger appropriately.
While it seems that in Devarim, Moshe is rolling the two Shmot accounts into one, he is still not painting the entire picture. The remaining details appear in Parshat Shoftim, and the last time we hear rules for appointing judges is in Devarim 16:18-19:
Appoint yourselves judges and police for your tribes in all your settlements that G-d your Lord is giving you, and make sure that they administer honest judgment for the people. Do not bend justice and do not give special consideration [to anyone]. Do not take bribes, since bribery makes the wise blind and perverts the words of the righteous.
Billet on page 22
Time of reconciliation and a new Beit HaMikdash
We know the pasuk: “Hashiveinu Hashem alecha v’nashuvah, chadeish yameinu k’kedem (Cause us to return to you Hashem and we will return, renew our days as in days of old).”
The Targum Ketuvim suggests it refers to teshuvah: “Renew our days to be good, once again, as they were in the good times of the past [and] we will return to You in complete teshuvah.” In contrast, the Ibn Ezra interprets hashiveinu in a physical sense, as a plea to Hashem to return
us to Yerushalayim. As such, v’nashuvah is an appeal to Hashem to enable us to worship Him in the rebuilt Beit HaMikdash.
These very different analyses led the contemporary Israeli scholar Dr. Yael Ziegler to opine: “Whatever its precise meaning, this verse features striking mutuality between G-d and Israel. Though the community petitions G-d to initiate reconciliation (“return us to You”), it continues with a promise to mirror G-d’s action (“and we will return”). Without G-d’s initiative, reconciliation seems impossible, but Israel assumes its share of responsibility for the reestablishment of the relationship.” (Lamentations: Faith in a Turbulent World, page 465)
Ziegler opines that the first part of our pasuk gives voice to the “striking mutuality between
G-d and Israel,” our overture to Hashem to “initiate reconciliation” and our willingness to share in the “responsibility for the reestablishment of the relationship.”
These crucial themes bespeak the depth of loneliness we endure when we feel divorced from the Almighty and our consequent longing to bridge the gaping chasm between us. In her general observations on the second part of our verse, Ziegler notes that it summarizes the way we have always viewed history: “The request [for reconciliation] simultaneously looks forward and backward, encapsulating a timeless Jewish perception of history. Steeped in an unbearable present, the beleaguered community yearns for a glorious past (kedem), anticipating the reinstatement of that glory in a revitalized future.”
What historical moment is being referenced by the term, kedem?
Midrash Eichah Rabbati on our pasuk suggests its meaning parallels that which we find in Sefer Malachi 3:14: “kimei olam uchshanim kadmoniot (as in past days and former years),” namely, “like the years of Shlomo HaMelech.”
In his commentary on Megillat Eichah, Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein zatzal describes the years of Shlomo HaMelech in this manner: “The glory of Hashem filled the Beit HaMikdash, Yehudah and Yisrael were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and every man sat under his grapevine and fig tree.”
With Hashem’s help, may the realization of this vision, come soon, and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.
An old find: Some Tisha b’Av reading for adults
The upcoming fast of Tisha b’Av gives us an opportunity to re-learn and relive past tragedies of our people in a depth of scholarship that would benefit all. Learning from past error and tragedy serves to help prevent repetition of same, or so we hope and pray.
This essay is devoted to a brief summary of “Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust in the Light of Hasidic Thought” (Ktav, 1990) by Rabbi Pesach Schindler, one of Israel’s premier historians of the Holocaust.
This unique volume deftly brings together the theology, sociology, and history of the Hasidic world and thought to help the reader better appreciate the horrible sacrifice that East European chasidus sustained during the Holocaust experience.
Schindler accurately demonstrates how, for the most part, the chasidic response thwarted the de-humanizing of these Jews by the Nazis, and further explains the actions many took in a spiritual realm to resist Nazi blandishments under the cruelest conditions.
Detailed herein are chasidic doctrine, the
concept of evil in Jewish theology, and chasidic hashkafah, kiddush Hashem and kiddush hachayim, the relationships between the tzadik and the chasid and chasidic concepts related to resistance. Rabbi Schindler demonstrates great respect for his reader. This book is written in a dignified and scholarly manner, and is fully footnoted and annotated for future reference by the reader.
Most intriguing to me was the chapter dealing with exile and redemption, especially with the teachings of Rav Teichthal and the Piazesner Rebbe, both of martyred and
blessed memory, Hy’d. This particular chapter is a must-read by everyone if they, we, are to better understand current events both here in our relationships with the regime in Washington, and with events as they unfold on the streets of Jerusalem.
These two martyred rabbis, through the teachings that survived them, have a lot to teach us so as to better appreciate the great sacrifices of our brothers and sisters in Israel. In addition, their example, taken together with the many other Jewish leaders of that time who gave of their last full measure, “al Kiddush Hashem,” aptly serve as role models for our contemporary Jewish leadership here on these blessed shores to emulate in the face of the adversary in our nation’s capital.
A version of this column was published in 2009.
See
Parsha of the Week
See Freedman on page 22
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This
Praise for the targeted killings of terrorists
JONATHAN
S.
TObiN JNS Editor-in-Chief
It was a bad week for terrorists. The deaths of Hezbollah chief of staff Fuad Shukr in the group’s stronghold in Beirut and then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during a visit to Tehran were shocking blows to both terror groups. In one way or another, these two men have rivers of blood on their hands.
Their goals and that of the organizations they lead are to destroy Israel and accomplish the genocide of its people. Yet whenever the forces of the Jewish state are able to kill such people, the official reaction of most of the international community, the Western foreign-policy establishment and the chattering classes is to shake their heads in disapproval.
Headlines about the deaths of Shukr and Haniyeh in America’s leading newspapers all emphasized the potential negative repercussions for Jerusalem. The assumptions of headline writers, and the reporters and editors who provided the stories to go with them, is that the strikes will accomplish nothing.
Sure, they grudgingly acknowledge, Hezbollah and Hamas have done some bad things to Israelis. But each of these leaders can and will be replaced. As the Washington Post pointed out, Israel has a long history of carrying out targeted assassinations and with many of them being carried out across international borders.
Such killings tend to be viewed in two different ways.
History of targeted killings
On the one hand, they have contributed to the image of Israel’s intelligence services and its armed forces as being unmatched in skill and courage, and able to carry out astonishing acts of daring-do.
On the other, they are often seen as ultimately pointless in terms of their impact on the conflict
Targeted killings of leaders of terrorist groups make sense because that is what you do in a war against existential foes.
between Israel and its enemies. After all, no matter how many terrorists the Israelis kill, there always seems to be more to take their place.
That was the theme of a major history of Israel’s intelligence efforts by current New York Times Magazine writer Ronen Bergman. His 2018 book, “Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations,” was widely praised by the literary world and won the National Jewish Book Award in history that year.
Relying largely on extensive interviews with ex-Mossad, Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces veterans (many with axes to grind, both political and personal), it painted a grim picture of a long cruel war being waged by Israel that hasn’t accomplished much in the way of providing security.
While the tales he recounts often paint a picture of heroism and ingenuity, the ultimate conclusion is that the killings — whether of Palestinian terrorists or of scientists working on weapons of mass destruction aimed at Israel were at best only tactical triumphs.
Bergman, as avid a supporter of the peace process as he is a chronicler of Israeli secret operatives, treats almost all of the targeted killings — the famous successes and the infamous failures — as strategic defeats since they could not bring about an end to the conflict with the Palestinians or their supporters and abettors, especially those in Iran.
That attitude is being echoed in the coverage of the killings of Shukr, and especially, Haniyeh.
Myth of Hamas ‘civilians’
Bizarrely, that led to a headline in the Wall Street Journal in which Haniyeh was eulogized in an article as “Hamas’s Leading Advocate for a Gaza Cease-Fire,” though it was subsequently toned down to read as merely the terrorist group’s ‘chief negotiator’.”
There are a number of problems with this approach, not the least of which is the notion of the “political” and “military” wings of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah being as starkly different as say the difference between active serving military officers in Western armies and the civilians who hold elected offices and give them their orders.
Haniyeh may have had different day-to-day responsibilities within Hamas than Yahya Sinwar, the group’s senior leader in Gaza who reportedly heads its military formations. But they are merely two sides of the same coin with the same ideology and purpose.
More important is the assumption that underlies much of the criticisms of Israel’s actions — that Israeli attacks on terrorists are pointless since the conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah must be solved by political means and not by bloodshed.
That sounds reasonable to Western minds, as well as to Israelis who prefer magical thinking about their nation’s security dilemmas to confronting reality. But it is profoundly mistaken because,
as they continue to tell us over and over again, the members of Hamas and Hezbollah — and their funders and manipulators in Iran — aren’t interested in peace on any terms with Israel.
Targeted killings of leaders of terrorist groups make sense because that is what you do in a war against existential foes. It’s true that even the most important of these leaders can, at least in theory, be replaced.
Still, disrupting their activities and causing them to operate with far more caution — even in places where they think they might be secure from Israeli attacks, such as in the heart of enemy capitals like Beirut and Tehran — may well save the lives of innocents that might have been lost had if the killers were able to go about their business unmolested.
Then there is the moral aspect of the equation.
Murderers of Jews must pay
For two millennia, Jews were killed with impunity by any and all foes wherever they lived in the world. Zionism meant a cultural and political revival of the Jewish people and the Jews returned to live in sovereignty in their ancient homeland.
However, the rebirth of Israel as a state also meant that Jews had attained the means of selfdefense and the ability to ensure that those who shed Jewish blood would not go unpunished. If those who murder Jewish men, women and children are allowed to escape retribution and can go about as if their actions are accepted by the civilized world, then no Jew is safe.
That’s not the only reason why murderers
like Shukr and Haniyeh must die. They should be pursued because the goal of Israel in this conflict should be to win it, rather than to merely survive another day while holding onto the vain hope that gentle reason, international mediation or concessions by Jerusalem will achieve peace. Peace may one day be possible but only after their complete and utter defeat.
And that is something that the same people who are clucking away about the supposedly reckless and pointless actions of the Israeli strikes reject as impossible. Hamas is an “idea,” they tell us, and cannot be defeated. So, too, presumably is the Iranian commitment to wiping Israel off the map and for which it has armed not just Hamas, but its Hezbollah auxiliaries and Houthi allies in Yemen to the teeth. The idea that the existence of the one Jewish state on the planet is but a passing phase that Arabs and Muslims will outlast is an idea. But it can be defeated in the same manner that the Nazi idea that the Jews can be exterminated was vanquished: by the utter destruction of those forces that supported and killed for it.
Argument for victory
As scholar Daniel Pipes writes in an important new book, “Israel Victory: How Zionists Win Acceptance and Palestinians Get Liberated,” the only way out of the impasse isn’t by pressuring Israel into surrendering land, which only empowers the terrorists and gives them the ability to kill more Jews. It is only by eradicating the terrorists that Palestinians will be forced to conclude that
Iranians wave Palestinian flags and hold portraits of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at a protest denouncing his killing, in Tehran’s Palestine square on July 31. AFP via Getty Images
Creating identity crises amid reality of fluidity
THANE ROSENBAUM Distinguished University Professor Touro College
Let’s revisit identity politics again, shall we?
America’s melting pot long ago stopped simmering. The menu of what constitutes Americana now features a dizzying array of à la carte options, with national cohesion no longer being the favored meal.
Celebrating identity inspires even less agreement than our usual politics. It is no less a bareknuckle sport. Personal offense is quickly taken. Redemption rarely granted. And yet inconsistencies abound because no one bothered to broker the rules.
Misgender someone who identifies as trans or binary, botch the culturally preapproved list of pronouns, suggest that a woman might prefer to raise a family rather than smash every glass ceiling in sight, wonder about the strong attachment Islamists seem to have with terrorism … and good luck maintaining an existence on social media or joining a sorority, receiving tenure or climbing the ladder at corporations where woke is more valued than work.
If you’re running for president, best to stay clear of the identity of your opponent — especially if she is a female and a person of color. No good can come of it. Donald Trump took a news cycle hit when he questioned the identity-fluidity
Identity politics doesn’t welcome everyone. It plays favorites.
of Kamala Harris, his opponent for the White House. She has an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. She identifies as an African-American woman, but Trump suggested that earlier in her career, she opted for South Asian. So what? People deploy their backgrounds to their advantage all the time, whether it be geographic, religious, educational or professional. It doesn’t necessarily make them phony. Harris went to Howard Law School in Atlanta and, when campaigning in Georgia, her accent sounds like she’s ordering soul food in the Bayou.
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both maintained alternating personas that could be showcased depending upon the crowd and moment.
Clinton was from Arkansas but he was also a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. When speaking to farmers, he played up his Southern roots and small-town proclivities, which he knew quite well.
Obama’s mother was from Kansas and his father from Kenya, and he grew up as “Barry” in Hawaii. His “Hope and Change” came in different flavors.
Donald Trump improbably appeals to America’s heartland — with its country music, NASCAR, Friday night high school football games, megachurches, pick-up trucks and populist playlists — as if he is Williams Jenning Bryan or Huey Long. But actually, he descends from a New York City real estate family, attended an elite university, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and, as an adult, sat on a toilet seat made of gold. There are all sorts of special sensitivities today. In the era of Black Lives Matter, most biracial people self-identify as black. And there is a strong undercurrent of concealing or denying one’s white ancestry.
Former ESPN star anchor Sage Steele damaged her relationship with her employer when she publicly stated that she would never downplay the role her white mother played in her life.
She was responding to a comment that Obama apparently made about the centrality of his blackness. He must have forgotten that his father abandoned him and returned to Africa, while his white mother and grandmother set him on a path that led to the White House. In both presidential elections in which he was victorious, a majority of white Americans chose him over uber-white guys like John McCain and Mitt Romney. He shouldn’t casually disown the white side of his family.
Or maybe he has a point. After all, despite all the hoopla over differences, this is also a time of disfavored identities. Identity politics doesn’t welcome everyone. It plays favorites.
Two identities, in particular, are being unceremoniously told that there’s no room at the inn — those who are either white or Jewish. Some (those who are biracial and Jewish) are fortunate enough to be able to hide both. Nowadays, Lenny Kravitz, Drake, Lisa Bonet, Tracee Ellis Ross and Tiffany Haddish have some career decisions to make. It’s a good thing Sammy Davis Jr. is dead. He was pretty uncompromising about his tribal commitments.
For everyone who is white and Jewish, it’s too late. They have long since been outed.
Take Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. He has discovered the consequences of once having had
See Rosenbaum on page 22
NATO must suspend cooperation with Turkey
Idon’t know the word for chutzpah in Turkish, but whatever it is, it applies in spades to recent comments from Fatih Ceylan, Turkey’s former Ambassador to NATO.
Speaking to Al-Monitor about the security implications of Turkey’s full-throated support for Hamas, Ceylan poured cold water on the proposition that Israel might carry out targeted killings of Hamas and allied terrorists based there, as it has done with spectacular success in Lebanon and Iran over the last week.
After dismissing the likelihood of similar operations on Turkish soil, Ceylan added that were one to happen, “[I]n such a case, Turkey will certainly take this move to NATO.” When it comes to NATO, Turkey — under the brutally authoritarian rule of its diehard Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — has stood out as the alliance’s greatest liability. Indeed, had Turkey not joined NATO in 1952, when it was ruled by a secular, Western-oriented government, there’s no question that it would even be a candidate for membership in the present day. What Erdoğan has done is to leverage Turkey’s membership to undermine the alliance from within, functioning almost as a fifth column.
In Syria, for example, Turkish forces have carried out strikes against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are, in turn, backed by the United States — Ankara’s ostensible ally and the most powerful of NATO’s 32 members. In October 2023, the situation was so bad that the United States was compelled to shoot down a Turkish drone — one NATO member taking military action against another.
Erdoğan’s relationship with Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia is just as disturbing. Ankara was booted out of the U.S. F-35 fighter jet program in 2019 after it purchased S-400 missiles from the Russians. In the wake of Putin’s aggression against democratic Ukraine, Turkey has actively participated in busting the international sanctions on Moscow and aided corrupt Russian oligarchs in moving funds through Turkish banks.
Turkey has also been actively hostile to other NATO members, especially Greece. Half of the island of Cyprus has been illegally occupied by the Turks since 1974; earlier this year, Erdoğan showed up there to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that invasion. It has tried to stem NATO’s expansion, holding up Sweden’s application for membership, which was finally approved only last March. As my colleague at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Sinan Ciddi, memorably put it: “Pick your theater of vital security interests for the NATO alliance, and you’ll discover a Turkish connection that actively undermines it.”
So when Ceylan breezily says that Turkey will raise any Israeli operations on its territory with NATO — hoping, no doubt, that doing so will trigger Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which enshrines the principle that an attack on one member is an attack on all — one might reasonably expect, given this woeful record, that the other NATO members will proffer a middle finger in Ankara’s direction.
Right now, the Middle East is in the most febrile state arguably since the State of Israel’s creation in 1948. As we sit on the cusp of a regional war that would pose an unmistakable existential threat to Israel, Turkey is doing everything it can to stoke the flames.
Erdoğan is already known for his vicious rhetorical attacks on the Jewish state, laced with the crudest antisemitism. Since Hamas’s pogrom of Oct. 7, that has only gotten worse, with Erdoğan claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “worse than Hitler” and depicting Israel as a reincarnation of the Third Reich. Additional-
ly, the Turkish president has taken special delight in feting the rapists of Hamas on his home turf, among them the late, unlamented Ismail Haniyeh, who was eliminated on July 31 with wonderful symbolism in Tehran.
Haniyeh’s assassination unleashed another foul Erdoğan tirade, along with an announcement of a national day of mourning over the loss of his “brother.” To cap it all, he even threatened at the end of July to invade Israel, boasting: “Just as we entered Nagorno-Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we might do the same to them. There is nothing we can’t do.”
As a result, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz aptly compared Erdoğan to the late Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein as he called on NATO to boot Turkey from its ranks. The problem with that pro-
posal, however, is that there is no procedure within the alliance to expel a member — even when, as in Turkey’s case, said member makes an active mockery of NATO’s commitment to democratic values and the defense of open societies.
Thus, NATO has to think honestly, bravely and creatively about Turkey’s future status.
•Honestly, because it is now painfully clear that Turkey’s stance undermines and contradicts NATO’s core purpose, and that needs to be said out loud.
•Bravely, because one or more states need to summon the guts to publicly question Turkey’s value to the alliance and get the United States on board — something that might be easier to achieve with a Republican, rather than a Democratic, administration.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO 75th anniversary summit in Washington on July 11. Roberto Schmidt, AFP via Getty Images
Jews in America getting Tikkun Olam all wrong
Tikkun Olam, a Hebrew term that roughly translates to “repairing the world,” has a long history in Judaism, originating in classical rabbinic literature and 16th-century Kabbalistic thought.
Historically, the phrase referred to a form of “repair” achieved through performing religious acts, thereby separating what is holy from the physical realm and leading to higher transcendence.
The term has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, particularly among the American-Jewish left. In fact, it is so commonly used in liberal circles that it has become something of a punchline. In one joke, an American Jew visiting Israel asks her tour guide, “How do you say tikkun olam in Hebrew?”
But this contemporary usage has little to nothing to do with the term’s spiritual origins. Rather, activist-minded Jewish liberals treat Tikkun Olam as a synonym for “social justice,” referring to acts of civic responsibility meant to “repair” the political and social ills of the world.
Tikkun Olam has come to refer to things like “allyship,” “supporting marginalized communities,” “championing diverse voices” or simply just adopting progressive politics, all in the name of some alleged ancient Jewish commitment to fighting injustice and uplifting the oppressed. Some Jews seem to interpret Tikkun Olam as simply “voting for the Democratic party.”
This modern usage is a bastardization of a term with spiritual roots that calls for acts of prayer, religious ritual and meditation. It also misunderstands the originally intended scope of the term, which was meant to refer to highly specific individual instances and adjustments to how existing rules were applied within Jewish society, not to a broad expansion of what Jews must do to “repair the world.”
But much more importantly, the prevalence of this contemporary usage has advanced a silly mainstream Jewish perspective, according to which the needs and self-interest of our community are overlooked in favor of an unquestioned commitment to politics that do not serve and in many cases actively reject us.
Over the past four years, Tikkun Olam has been used to encourage Jews to support Black Lives Matter, Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow,
Over the past month, Israel eliminated several of its top enemies, sending strong messages to its remaining enemies, its allies and its own citizens.
Israel’s enemies now understand that even with all the precautions these leading terrorists took to protect the secrecy of their location, Israeli intelligence services were able to locate them and security forces were able to kill them.
Israel’s allies understand that, as much as they might try to restrain Israel from actions they consider provocations or escalations, Israel is going to stick to its promise to eliminate anyone involved in the Oct. 7 attack or poses a threat to Israel.
Israel also sent a message to its own citizens that while Oct. 7 shook the nations’ confidence in Israel’s military and its prowess, they can be confident that Israel is still the power in the region.
Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif,
along with Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr, were eliminated in these daring operations. Other top officials in Iran’s military and its proxies’ leadership are suspected of having been eliminated as well.
These leading terrorists were responsible for thousands of innocent people’s deaths and the culture of violence and murder that subsumes a large part of the Palestinian community. Their elimination has made Israel and arguably the world a safer place. Israel’s ability to reach across the globe and neutralize these threats reflects its success in the Gaza war and the achievement of its goal of weakening its enemy’s ability to harm it.
More than just relief at the elimination of a threat, many Israeli social media posts reflected a celebratory attitude towards the operations that killed Israel’s enemies.
The happiness many Israelis felt at the elimination of the terrorist leaders caused many to quote King Solomon, who wrote, “If your enemy falls, do not rejoice. If he trips, let your heart not celebrate.”
A well-known teaching of our Sages in a Midrash echoed King Solomon’s warning and explained that we don’t recite the joyous Hallel prayer on the last day of Passover because that was
and countless other activist-minded organizations that call on “privileged” people to devote their time and resources to unlearning their own biases and helping oppressed groups like African-Americans and the Palestinians. Countless American
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is demanding that Israel immediately give up sovereignty over the eastern part of its capital Jerusalem and remove more than half a million Israelis who live in the disputed territory of Judea and Samaria, which Israel controls by virtue of international law and treaties.
The ICJ opinion, though non-binding, follows on the heels of trumped-up arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court earlier in July. Both actions are part of efforts to isolate Israel using condemnations with a false veneer of legitimacy through “international law.”
Indeed, the ICJ itself is a travesty. It is not an actual judicial body but a kangaroo court whose members are accountable not to international law but to the political dictates of their respec-
tive countries, many of which flagrantly embrace anti-Israel policies.
The ICJ, which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, ruled that “Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful” and “Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
In fact, the ICJ’s opinion contravenes international law. Judea and Samaria were never legally part of another country, nor were they ever under Palestinian sovereignty — therefore no occupation exists. The settlement of Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria is also perfectly legal since it constitutes the ancient and continuous Jewish homeland, and Israel legally controls the territory.
Finally, by calling for an end to Israel’s “occupation” of Judea and Samaria, the ICJ is trying to nullify international agreements and UN resolutions that call for a negotiated settlement to the status of the territory. This includes the Oslo Accords, by which Israel and the Palestinians agreed to settle all issues pertaining to Judea and Samaria through negotiations.
Jews lumped themselves in with the “privileged” and heeded these calls — but what do they have to show for all their allyship and donations?
Days after Hamas ruthlessly slaughtered 1,200
See Nazarian on page 22
A marcher on the Brooklyn Bridge in support of the No Hate No Fear Jewish Solidarity March on Jan. 1, 2020.
“The Egyptians Drown in the Sea” by Gustave Doré, 1886. WikiCommons
on
STOP
NO PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS AT OUR SHABBOS TABLE
Freedman...
from page 17
[the person who was wronged] should not be silent. … Rather, it is a mitzvah to let him know (Le’Hodioh’) and tell him: “Why did you do such and such a thing to me”…
If one sees his friend erring [transgressing] or pursuing a path which is not good, it is a mitzvah to return him to goodness [a good path] and to let him know [Le’Hodioh’] that he is transgressing against himself with his wicked ways, as it says: “Hocheach Tochiach Et Amitecha (And you shall rebuke [or give reproof to] your colleague).” (Maimonides De’ot 6:6-7)
Maimonides is describing two types of rebuke: one where a person does something wrong to me, and the second, where a person does something wrong to himself.
Incredibly, the motivation for telling someone else off has to be love for that other person. If it is all about me, and what he has done to me, then there is no point to it.
Maimonides is suggesting that the goal of tochachah is not to rehabilitate someone so that they will be able to function in our community or society, but to teach me how much this other person is already a part of our community. In fact, the Hebrew word tochachah comes from the same root as hochacha, or proof. When I care enough about the mistakes that I perceive a friend to be making that I take the time and the effort to involve myself in them, what I am really doing is re-proving just how much I care about them.
But it is much more than that.
The first time we find mention of Da’at in relationship to human behavior is in the fourth chapter of Bereishit:
Va’Yeidah Ha’Adam Et Chavah Ishto’, Va’Tahar, Va’Teled Ben. (And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son.) (Genesis 4:1)
Adam had relations with Eve. Da’at is also about relationships. The laws of De’ot then, are the laws of relationships. And tochachah is all about healthy relationships
If my wife tells me I am doing something wrong, what that really means is how much she cares about me, because if I were some stranger, she wouldn’t bother.
Perhaps this, then, is what is going on here in the book of Devarim. As the Jews are about to enter the land of Israel, Moshe is expressing to the next generation how much he really cares about them and wants to see them make it. He wants them to learn from past mistakes, and wants them to know that it all starts with relationships.
This is not to say tochachah is simple. The Talmud and other sources make it clear that there has to be a reasonable assumption that the person you are speaking to will actually listen, and that if words of tochachah will lead to enmity, one is not permitted to speak out.
The tradition is replete with examples of how reprove must come from love and care for my fellow and that he or she must see that, and indeed Maimonides makes clear that this process occurs when one sees one’s friend (chaveiro) doing something. There is an assumption that the person you are speaking to is your friend, and that they know it is coming from a good place. In fact, it is not at all clear that most people today are even capable, much less allowed, to give tochachah
Perhaps what Moshe was saying to the Jewish people was, “I believe in you, and you can do this. You are a part of something incredible, and you have the power to do something here that will still be meaningful thousands of years from now.” And Moshe was right, because here we are. In Israel, there has been a lot of back and forth by Jews regarding what other Jews, in their perception, are doing wrong. Perhaps we all need to work harder to make sure that this comes from a place of love and caring.
And maybe this is why we read Parshat Devarim just prior to the fast of Tisha’ Be’Av, when the Talmud tells us the Temple was destroyed due to baseless hatred.
May Hashem bless us to rediscover the things we share in common, and to tap in to how much we really care about each other, so that soon, instead of mourning what was lost, we may rejoice in what has been rebuilt.
from page 17
There are two kinds of blindness a judge can follow. Lady Justice wears a blindfold because justice is to be meted out objectively, impartially. The other blindness is the kind a judge who has been bribed exhibits towards the other side.
Blindness is relative. Approaching anything with a bias is also a form of blindness, no matter how wide open you think your eyes may be.
In these days leading up to Tisha B’Av in particular, we must check ourselves and stop judging people. Sometimes we are blind to our own biases, especially those of us who see no wrong in the things we ourselves do.
Tobin...
their century-old war against Israel cannot succeed and that they must try something else.
If, as Pipes writes in the Wall Street Journal, the killings of Shukr and Haniyeh represent a sign that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is returning to the goal of a “total victory” over Hamas and its Iranian backers, then it is not merely just but an essential step towards the only possible hope for peace.
Throughout its history, many such brilliant operations like the ones carried out last week were not followed up on by Israeli leaders who sometimes feared the admittedly troubling consequences of international disfavor more than the prospect of terrorists surviving to kill again.
The slaughter on Oct. 7 should have been an end to that sort of hesitation, as well as to the last vestiges of support for a “two-state solution.” It was peace processing and territorial retreats, such as those still favored by Israel’s critics and that allowed Gaza to become an independent Palestinian terrorist state in all but name, which led to that infamous day.
Supporters of Israel and moral people everywhere should celebrate the demise of mass killers like Shukr and Haniyeh. They should do so not only because it is justice but because anything that leads to total victory over terrorists is a step towards peace, not more problems for Israel.
Rosenbaum
from page 19
a bar mitzvah. He is immensely popular in his home state, which happens to be a battleground state. Polling shows that his presence on the ticket would benefit her the most. But her progressive base vomited at the prospect of such a selection.
What about recognizing and respecting different identities?
Well, putting ordinary antisemitism aside for a moment, Shapiro openly supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Worse still, he shattered the First Amendment presumptions of all those pro-Hamas encampments. He wondered whether progressives would tolerate mobs of KKK sympathizers singing genocidal songs about ridding the south of African-Americans “From Key West to the Mason-Dixon Line.”
The politics of identity suggest she might have to tweak the First Family a bit. As the first female African-American, South Asian president of the United States, her first order of business might have to be pardoning the First Husband of his identity that knows no name.
Cohen...
from page 19
•Creatively, because the absence of an expulsion mechanism means that member states need to figure out another way to get Turkey out of NATO. That could mean refusing to take part in military exercises with Turkey; ending intelligence sharing with Ankara’s security services; shunning meetings with Turkish military officers; and pro-
viding usable intelligence to Israel about Turkey’s support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
Erdoğan should also be challenged for his hypocrisy in not exiting NATO voluntarily. If he is the great Islamic leader that he claims to be, if he is aligning himself more and more with Iranian interests, if the murderers and marauders in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Yemen, Syria and Iraq are his new best friends, then what on earth is he doing in NATO?
Turkish NATO membership doesn’t serve his goals. Neither does it serve ours.
NATO has faced a few external tests since its formation, but Turkey is the biggest internal one since French President Charles de Gaulle withdrew from NATO’s command structure in 1966. It is also more dangerous since de Gaulle’s objections to US domination of NATO didn’t drive France into the hands of the Soviets.
To protect themselves and what the alliance stands for, NATO members have only one option: suspend cooperation with Turkey and do all they can to secure Turkey’s departure from an alliance that it only disgraces.
Nazarian...
Israelis on Oct. 7, Black Lives Matter put out a statement in solidarity with the “Palestinian resistance,” saying they stand “unwaveringly on the side of the oppressed.” Jewish Voice for Peace and its counterparts have shown themselves to be fronts for a radical progressive ideology that elevates terrorists like Rasmea Odeh, finances its activities with dark money and treats a few token Jews as front pieces while calling for policies that heighten antisemitism and harm Jewish interests.
It’s easy for a Reform Jew from the Upper West Side who has never dealt with antisemitism of any kind to minimize the issue of antisemitism. But there are many Jews in our broader family from all over the globe who carry the hard lessons and traumas of history close to our hearts and see the rising Jew-hate as an existential threat to be battled, not a minor gripe to be shrugged aside.
It doesn’t matter whether you voted for Trump or spent months championing BLM; in the eyes of our enemies, you’re still a Jew, a member of a socalled “privileged” group whose successes are unearned and need to be eradicated. These enemies are no longer abstract concepts; they are powerful forces that wield real cultural and political influence in America and show absolutely no sign of stopping.
Opposing these threats should be the way Jews choose to “repair the world” this year, not by devoting our energy to organizations and people who pay us no mind.
Sheila Nazarian is an Iranian-American plastic surgeon and television personality.
Pilichowski Billet...
the day the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea and G-d declared that when G-d’s creations drown it isn’t a time to rejoice. Yet at the time the Egyptians drowned the Jews did rejoice, reciting a praise that Jews repeat in their daily morning prayers today.
The Talmud relates that during the Purim story, when King Ahasuerus ordered Haman to escort Mordechai around on the king’s royal horse, Mordechai, who had been fasting and was weak, needed help mounting the horse. Mordechai demanded Haman get down on all fours so he could use his body as a stepping stool. As Mordechai stepped on Haman, the Talmud taught, Mordechai kicked him. Haman objected and reminded Mordechai that is prohibited to rejoice at your enemy’s downfall. Mordechai replied that this teaching referred to a Jew’s downfall, but there’s nothing wrong with rejoicing at a non-Jewish enemy’s downfall.
It seems that Jewish scholarly works send conflicting messages about the proper reaction to the death of an enemy.
When an enemy of the Jewish people is eliminated, Jews experience salvation and witness justice being carried out against those who harmed the Jewish people. But there is also a failure of human potential, as Israel’s enemies chose to vi-
olently attack the Jews instead of making peace and partnering with them. Jews can celebrate their salvation and the carrying out of justice but shouldn’t rejoice at the failure of humanity represented by the death of one of G-d’s creations.
Zionists were never interested in their enemies’ downfall. They sought peace with their Arab neighbors and residents inside and outside the Land of Israel. When Zionists celebrated, they rejoiced over their victories and achievements, not the downfall of their enemies.
The phrase “We don’t need to spike the football” is borrowed from American football and is used as caution against an arrogant celebration over an opponent’s downfall. The phrase was famously used by President Barack Obama to explain why he wasn’t going to release pictures of Osama bin Laden’s body. Before Obama used it, King Solomon wrote the lesson in Proverbs and it exists as an everlasting lesson for Jews and Zionists today.
Israel will eliminate its enemies but its Zionist philosophy encourages humility over showboating. We don’t need to spike the football.
Sinkinson...
The ICJ is a political forum masquerading as a court of international law. The Court consists of 15 judges appointed by UN member states. They are not impartial jurists accountable to international law; rather, they follow the directives of the governments that appoint them and their own proclivities. The current Court includes judges from countries that have traditionally sided with the Palestinians against Israel, such as China, Somalia, South Africa and Lebanon.
•Nawaf Salam, the current president of the ICJ, once served as Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN. During his term, he voted 210 times to condemn Israel. He has accused Israel of crimes against humanity and apartheid, and functions as a pawn of Iran’s Islamist dictatorship. In fact, he opposed all 11 General Assembly resolutions condemning Iran’s violations of the rights of its own citizens.
•The ICJ’s opinion that Israel “occupies” Judea and Samaria is baseless. Under international law, an occupation exists when one country seizes control of another country’s territory. Judea and Samaria were never legally part of another country. Jordan seized control of the territory in the 1948 war. Rather than give the Palestinians a state in the territory, the Jordanians illegally annexed it. Yet the ICJ never demanded an end to Jordan’s unlawful occupation.
•Israel expelled Jordan after the Six-Day War in 1967 and Jordan later signed a treaty with Israel relinquishing all control of the territory. Since Judea and Samaria were never legally part of Jordan, nor part of a Palestinian state or any other country, Israel’s control of the territory is 100% legal.
•Furthermore, international law mandates that a country inherits the borders of a former entity. Thus, Israel would have inherited the borders of the preceding entity — the British Mandate for Palestine, which included Judea and Samaria.
•Finally, Israel, as the nation-state of the Jewish people, has an inherent right to sovereignty over Judea and Samaria because it is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. This is supported by endless evidence, including archeological findings and historical records stretching back thousands of years.
The ICJ opinion completely contradicts the existing international law that it is supposed to uphold. Israel’s control of Judea and Samaria is completely legal, as is the residence of Israeli citizens in the territory. No ICJ “opinion” changes this reality.
Nevertheless, Israel’s enemies will surely use the ICJ’s opinion as an excuse to further isolate Israel and make it a pariah state — a status more befitting tyrannical dictatorships like Iran and North Korea, not the sole outpost of freedom and democracy in the Middle East.
All nations that respect international law — especially the US and Israel’s other Western allies — should reject the ICJ’s opinion and oppose all such illegitimate measures to further isolate the Jewish state.
We are Zionists.
The 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av (Mon. night and Tues., Aug. 12-13) is the saddest in Jewish history, commemorating the destruction of our Temples on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (now occupied by the Dome of the Rock). The Kotel (the Temple’s remnant, its Western retaining Wall), is the holiest place accessible to Jews today.
Through the millennia, Jews have recited Psalm 137: ‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither; let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you, if I do not keep Jerusalem (Zion) in memory even at my happiest hour.’
We are not ‘settler colonial’ interlopers in the Land of Israel; we are the indigenous nation of the Land, having returned home to the Jewish state of Israel and to Zion (Jerusalem). Even as we pray for the ultimate Redemption after nearly 2,000 years of exile, we thank G-d for bringing us home to Zion.
