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Arthur Szyk and The Modern Maccabees
Arthur Szyk. Trumpeldor’s Defense of Tel Hai. Lodz, 1936
On this Hanukkah, entering week 10 in the war with Hamas, can we not call the men and women of Israel—who fight for the right to Jewish survival—our “modern Maccabees?” Indeed, in the context of Arab terror attacks in the land of Israel in 1920 and again in 1936, Arthur Szyk created a master artwork of heroic Jews destined to be called The Modern Maccabees.
It was one year after the 1935 Nuremberg racial laws were enacted in Germany that Szyk, in Łódź, Poland, painted Trumpeldor’s Defense of Tel Hai. This illumination encouraged Jews in 1936 Palestine to defend themselves against Arab marauders in the same spirit and with the same courage and heroism as did the Jews of the Galilean Tel Hai settlement in 1920, led by the legendary Captain Joseph Trumpeldor. The timing of this painting was simultaneously directed toward the Jews of Germany and Poland, calling upon them to respond heroically toward the antisemitic mobs and chants in their respective countries. The artwork was to be renamed The Modern Maccabees a few years later.
Today, we know what those chants and actions of Arab terror groups of the 20s and 30s have morphed into–the Hamas massacre of 10/7. We know where the seeds of German nationalism of the 20s and 30s led—to the single most traumatic event in Jewish history. It hardly seems surprising then that the Mufti of Jerusalem and Adolph Hitler would adopt each other as friends, as comrades of evil, who had Jew hatred and mass murder as their shared goal. Hatred of Jews, antisemitism, and its physical assault on the integrity of Jewish lives, now as then, has re-invaded our planet. It has forcefully spread as an ancient, medieval, and modern disease throughout our global sphere among differing cultures, peoples and lands, united in common cause. Against this backdrop, Jews and their friends worldwide can look to the modern Israeli Maccabees of our day—the Israel Defense Forces—for inspiration to act Maccabean-like in their own way. By speaking out in defense of their actions and by lending larger than life financial support to organizations that do likewise we prevent ourselves from becoming merely bystanders to history rather than active participants in shaping it.
Arthur Szyk unveiling The Modern Maccabees in the office of the Committee for a Jewish Army. New York, July 1942.
By mid-July 1942, with more than one million of his people murdered by the Nazis, and two and one-half million Jews being starved to death in ghettos while millions more awaited the German extermination camps, Arthur Szyk reinforced his themes of Jewish self-defense and heroism by symbolically renaming his Trumpeldor piece The Modern Maccabees. It coincided with the mission of the Committee for a Jewish Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews (a group that advocated the formation of a Jewish fighting force recruited from refugees of Hitler Germany and young Jews from Palestine) who would fight beside the allies of America, the United Kingdom, and free Europe. In a broader sense, Szyk’s work of art also called upon these nations directly, led by America, his adopted home, to courageously sustain their mission in defeating the Axis of Evil and thereby rescue Jewish lives.
A single enlarged blowup of this painting, in black and white, was presented to the Committee for a Jewish Army and hung in its New York offices. To mark the occasion, Szyk unveiled his call-to-arms by lifting an American flag covering it. The artist-warrior understood the symbolism, the strength of the United States, and the role it could uniquely play in defeating the enemies of the Jewish people. Today its warships standing in the Mediterranean do not go unnoticed, shedding light on America’s military standing with Israel and its people amidst the sea of raging waters in the Middle East.
In the bottom center of Szyk’s painting, he has calligraphed the Hebrew words attributed to the first century sage, Hillel: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” Surely, the soldiers of the IDF stand on the front lines of self-defense, but which nations and peoples will project moral clarity and physical strength in joining America to stand beside Israel in its fight? Who are the leaders and members of that committee today?
At this hour, the descendants of Szyk’s modern Maccabees, like those Maccabees of the first Hanukkah of old, are prepared to echo the dying words of Joseph Trumpedor: “It is good to die for our land.” To this we may well add: “It is good to live safely in our land.”
Irvin Ungar is the curator emeritus of The Arthur Szyk Society. His book, Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art, was a winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award.
The post Arthur Szyk and The Modern Maccabees first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations into Abraham Accords, Sources Say
US President Donald Trump points a finger as he delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 31, 2025. Photo: Kent Nishimura via Reuters Connect
President Donald Trump’s administration is actively discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of bringing that nation and some Central Asian allies into the Abraham Accords, hoping to deepen their existing ties with Israel, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter.
As part of the Abraham Accords, inked in 2020 and 2021 during Trump’s first term in office, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
Azerbaijan and every country in Central Asia, by contrast, already have longstanding relations with Israel, meaning that an expansion of the accords to include them would largely be symbolic, focusing on strengthening ties in areas like trade and military cooperation, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Such an expansion would reflect Trump’s openness to pacts that are less ambitious than his administration’s goal to convince regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to restore ties with Israel while war rages in Gaza.
The kingdom has repeatedly said it would not recognize Israel without steps towards Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state.
Another key sticking point is Azerbaijan’s conflict with its neighbor Armenia, since the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the two Caucasus nations as a precondition to join the Abraham Accords, three sources said.
While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centered on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious, the sources said. Two of the sources argued a deal could be reached within months or even weeks.
Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in March to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Aryeh Lightstone, a key Witkoff aide, met Aliyev later in the spring in part to discuss the Abraham Accords, three of the sources said.
As part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officials have contacted officials in Central Asian nations, including in nearby Kazakhstan, to gauge their interest in a broader Abraham Accords expansion, those sources said. It was not clear which other countries in Central Asia – which includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – were contacted.
The State Department, asked for comment, did not discuss specific countries, but said expanding the accords has been one of the key objectives of Trump. “We are working to get more countries to join,” said a US official.
The Azerbaijani government declined to comment.
The White House, the Israeli foreign ministry and the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Any new accords would not modify the previous Abraham Accords deals signed by Israel.
OBSTACLES REMAIN
The original Abraham Accords – inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – were centered on restoration of ties. The second round of expansion appears to be morphing into a broader mechanism designed to expand US and Israeli soft power.
Wedged between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, Azerbaijan occupies a critical link in trade flows between Central Asia and the West. The Caucasus and Central Asia are also rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, prompting various major powers to compete for influence in the region.
Expanding the accords to nations that already have diplomatic relations with Israel may also be a means of delivering symbolic wins to a president who is known to talk up even relatively small victories.
Two sources described the discussions involving Central Asia as embryonic – but the discussions with Azerbaijan as relatively advanced.
But challenges remain and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached, particularly with slow progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The two countries, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh – an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population – broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia.
In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict.
Primarily Christian Armenia and the US have close ties, and the Trump administration is wary of taking action that could upset authorities in Yerevan.
Still, US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself, have argued that a peace deal between those two nations is near.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan, we worked magic there,” Trump told reporters earlier in July. “And it’s pretty close.”
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Trump Reaffirms Support for Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara
A Polisario fighter sits on a rock at a forward base, on the outskirts of Tifariti, Western Sahara, Sept. 9, 2016. Photo: Reuters / Zohra Bensemra / File.
US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, saying a Moroccan autonomy plan for the territory was the sole solution to the disputed region, state news agency MAP said on Saturday.
The long-frozen conflict pits Morocco, which considers the territory as its own, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state there.
Trump at the end of his first term in office recognized the Moroccan claims to Western Sahara, which has phosphate reserves and rich fishing grounds, as part of a deal under which Morocco agreed to normalize its relations with Israel.
His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, made clear in April that support for Morocco on the issue remained US policy, but these were Trump’s first quoted remarks on the dispute during his second term.
“I also reiterate that the United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and supports Morocco’s serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute,” MAP quoted Trump as saying in a message to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
“Together we are advancing shared priorities for peace and security in the region, including by building on the Abraham Accords, combating terrorism and expanding commercial cooperation,” Trump said.
As part of the Abraham Accords signed during Trump’s first term, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
In June this year, Britain became the third permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to back an autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty for the territory after the U.S. and France.
Algeria, which has recognized the self-declared Sahrawi Republic, has refused to take part in roundtables convened by the U.N. envoy to Western Sahara and insists on holding a referendum with independence as an option.
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Israel Says Its Missions in UAE Remain Open Despite Reported Security Threats
President Isaac Herzog meets on Dec. 5, 2022, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Photo: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that its missions to the United Arab Emirates are open on Friday and representatives continue to operate at the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai in cooperation with local authorities.
This includes, the statement underlined, ensuring the protection of Israeli diplomats.
On Thursday, reports appeared in Israeli media that Israel was evacuating most of its diplomatic staff in the UAE after the National Security Council heightened its travel warning for Israelis staying in the Gulf country for fear of an Iranian or Iran-sponsored attacks.
“We are emphasizing this travel warning given our understanding that terrorist organizations (the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and Global Jihad) are increasing their efforts to harm Israel,” the NSC said in a statement.
After signing the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020, the UAE has been among the closest regional allies of the Jewish state.
Israel is concerned about its citizens and diplomats being targeted in retaliatory attacks following its 12-day war against Iran last month.
Earlier this year, the UAE sentenced three citizens of Uzbekistan to death for last year’s murder of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Cohen.