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David and Goliath Reconsidered
A Torah scroll. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
In our ever-expanding world of technology and innovation, a relentless battle persists between the Goliaths of the tech industry and their David-like rivals, each determined to carve out their niche in this lucrative marketplace. The competition is always cutthroat and ruthless, with both sides intent on outsmarting one another to gain an advantage.
But here’s the crux: while the Goliaths aim to obliterate the Davids, the Davids seek merely to survive and flourish. This is why Goliaths often insist that they are, in fact, Davids, even when the evidence suggests they are poised to obliterate their challengers and cast them into oblivion.
In the ancient biblical story from the Book of Samuel (1 Sam. 17), the Philistine giant Goliath’s death at the hands of David did not rid Israel of the Philistines. Contrary to being weakened, the Philistines remained a formidable force in the region.
Goliath’s fall did not spell the end for the Philistines; they continued to be a significant enemy to the Israelites for centuries. David’s victory was a moment of triumph, but the Philistine threat lingered, a persistent barbed thorn in Israel’s side.
So it is in the technology world. Google, with its vast empire of data and digital dominance, stands out as the quintessential Goliath. Yet, in its confrontations with various technological Davids, Google portrays itself as the disadvantaged David, vulnerable to the hostilities of competitors.
To some extent, they are right, not because their dominance is at risk, but because their refusal to allow smaller operators room to maneuver generates tactical disadvantages for Google. After all, if Google is aiming to destroy you, what have you got to lose by going all in?
British-Canadian journalist and author, Malcolm Gladwell, once noted that “Giants are not what we think they are – the same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.”
A prime example of this dynamic is the prolonged conflict between Google and Qwant, a privacy-focused European search engine that champions user privacy. This battle, seemingly lopsided, highlights the paradox. Qwant is perceived as ethical and agile, and is unburdened by bureaucratic layers, which initially positioned Google, the search engine behemoth, as the underdog in the fight, struggling against a tide of privacy-conscious Davids. However, this perception was a carefully crafted illusion by Google’s PR machinery.
And this dynamic of the perceived underdog versus the ostensible giant is not exclusive to the digital realm. A similar paradox is evident on the global stage, most notably in the enduring conflict between Israel and those who wish to see it destroyed.
Israel is a true David – a tiny country smaller than the state of New Jersey, founded in 1948 by indigenous Jews whose one common denominator was abject poverty, along with traumatized Holocaust survivors and immigrant refugees who had been summarily expelled from countries in the Middles East and North Africa.
Since its inception Israel has been surrounded and hounded by relentless adversaries, both local and international, with the vast majority of countries taking endless glee in condemning Israel at the United Nations, making Israel the most vilified country at the UN – exponentially more than North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria, China, and Myanmar, whose human rights abuses are all off the charts.
And yet, Israel is invariably cast in the role of Goliath by its enemies – seemingly because it is determined to win the battles against those who proudly proclaim that they wish to see Israel wiped off the face of the earth. And while David may win the day, the evil Goliath Israel-haters remain in place, ready to pounce anytime they sense a vulnerability or opening.
Just as Google’s dominance in the tech sphere belies the vulnerabilities it claims in facing upstarts like Qwant, so too does the depiction of Israel as an overpowering Goliath mask its inherent David-like challenges. Despite its technological advancements and military capabilities, Israel remains susceptible to being overrun and overwhelmed, which is why Israel is constantly seeking peace and security in a region that is marked by volatility and hostility.
Israel’s achievements in innovation, defense, and democracy are evidence of its resilience and determination to thrive against the odds, much like the smaller tech companies striving for a foothold in markets dominated by giants. But in the end, Israel is a plucky survivor living on the edge – a David with a meager sling rather than a mighty Goliath with every possible advantage.
The international narrative sympathizes with the Palestinian cause, framing it as a struggle of a persecuted David pitted against the Israeli Goliath. But truthfully, this oversimplified narrative ignores the complex reality of widespread support for the Palestinian position from numerous countries and international bodies, effectively reversing the roles in the battle of hearts and minds. The situation is further complicated by the tactics employed, where the perception of power does not always align with the reality of geopolitical dynamics and the historical context of the region.
In the final analysis, whether it is in the sphere of technology or international relations, the true nature of Davids and Goliaths is often obscured by narratives that oversimplify complex subtleties. The story of Israel is one of defying the odds, leveraging ingenuity and resilience in the face of challenges that belie size or capabilities.
During the darkest days of World War II, Winston Churchill, the indomitable British Prime Minister, traveled to Ottawa, Canada, to address its Parliament. It was December 30, 1941, a time when the outcome of the war was far from certain, and Britain stood defiantly against the Axis powers, almost entirely alone.
In his speech, Churchill referenced a dismissive remark made by French generals in the early days of the war, suggesting that Britain would have its “neck wrung like a chicken” within three weeks of fighting alone against the Nazis.
Churchill’s response to this prediction was both defiant and humorous – smiling, he told the Canadian lawmakers: “Some chicken! Some neck!” His retort not only mocked the underestimation of Britain’s resilience, but also rallied diminished spirits by highlighting Britain’s unexpected strength and tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds. Britain may be a David, but no Goliath was going to take them down.
The Haftarah for Parashat Ki Tisa focuses on the Jewish prophet Elijah, and his determination to disprove the power and existence of the false gods, Baal and Asherah. It is a David and Goliath story. Elijah faces down the overwhelming might of the prophets of Baal, who were backed by the formidable King Ahab.
This narrative, set on the dramatic stage of Mount Carmel, sees Elijah undeterred by the numerical and political dominance of his adversaries, challenging them to a divine test. And despite the odds stacked against him, Elijah’s unwavering belief in the power of God becomes his sling and stone against the Goliath-like force of his opponents. The subsequent miraculous fire from heaven, consuming Elijah’s water-drenched offering, unequivocally demonstrates the supremacy of God, echoing the triumph of faith and divine justice over might and numbers.
So too Israel, in its ongoing struggle amidst the international currents favoring the Palestinian cause, reflects the enduring spirit of Elijah. Facing a world that unquestioningly supports the Palestinians, even after the horrors of October 7th and the overwhelming evidence of the monstrous use of tunnels and human shields by Hamas, Israel’s situation mirrors Elijah’s solitary stand against the prophets of Baal – relying not on might, but on the justice of its cause and a profound faith in divine guidance.
Israel’s journey, much like Elijah’s, highlights the strength found in conviction and the pursuit of peace, and the profound impact of standing for what is just and true, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable opposition.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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Anti-Zionists Are Excluding LGBTQ+ Jews From Pride Spaces, New Report Says
Jews of Pride members are seen marching in the Pride parade 2025, part of LGBTQ+ community’s Midsumma Festival. Photo: Alexander Bogatyrev / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect.
Anti-Israel activists in the LGBTQ+ community are subjecting Zionist Jews to extreme levels of discrimination, including expulsions from major progressive groups and even physical assault, according to a new report by the nonprofit A Wider Bridge.
The release of the report — titled “Unsafe Spaces: Addressing Antisemitism Against LGBTQ+ Jews and Ensuring Pride Safety” — comes as LGBTQ community members across the Western world observe Pride Month, a period of festivities which celebrate the expansion of social and legal rights that have allowed gays to live more freely and authentically than ever in human history. For pro-Israel Jews, however, Pride Month 2025 is a challenging moment, as anti-Zionism has creeped into and crowded out many queer spaces which once welcomed them with open arms.
From online forums to the streets, the maltreatment and “erasure” of Jewish queer identity is severe, the report explains. Eighty-two percent of LGBTQ Jews have reported being expelled from social media channels or harassed on them, A Wider Bridge noted.
Earlier this year, NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occurring in Gaza. Last year, the NYC Dyke March came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to mass killings occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan.
Also in 2024, the Dyke March Committee formally barred “Zionists” from participating in the Pride March, and during the event Jews were attacked and heckled after being seen wearing the Star of David on their clothing. That same year, an LGBTQ-friendly bar in the Brooklyn borough of New York City refused to hold a screening party for the Eurovision talent competition due to the participation of an Israeli contestant.
Forced, mass exiles are taking place in response to this new reality, the report added. Forty-three percent of queer Jews say they are leaving online forums; 40 percent abstain from participating in LGBTQ social events; and 30 percent said their decision was driven by precipitous deterioration of the manner in which they are treated. The only conclusion to draw, the report said, is that the Pride movement is “no longer universally safe or inclusive.”
“What we have found since Oct. 7 and what the report points to is that the explosion of antisemitism that the whole Jewish community has experienced has in some ways grown even more exponentially in the LGBTQ community,” Rabbi Denise Eger, interim executive director of A Wider Bridge and former president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, told The Algemeiner during an interview on Friday. “What we’re seeing around now as Pride marches and organizations put on their celebration s is institutional discrimination and outright boycotts.”
Eger went on to note that antisemitism in LGBTQ communities is all the more distressing due to the outsized contributions, legal and political, which Jewish gays and lesbians have made towards fostering a society that is more inclusive of non-heteronormative identities and relationships.
“Look at who were the early leaders of the LGBTQ civil rights movement — Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US, was a Jewish man. Edith Windsor, who brought one of the first marriage equality cases that we won at the Supreme Court, and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan, who won it — these are LGBTQ heroes, not just LGBTQ ‘Jewish’ heroes and heroines,” Eger continued. “So, for LGBTQ Jews to be continually shut out of these spaces is paralyzing, shocking, and horrifying, and LGBTQ Jews are asking where is their home.”
She added, “These are difficult times, but together, the whole Jewish community, including the LGBTQ part of the Jewish community, can stand strong and be resilient in the face of all this, just as the Jewish people have done throughout our history. We have the tools within our tradition to keep us strong and to help us educate. And yes, I believe so much, as a rabbi, that we can and must help change the world for the better. That’s what we are called to do as the Jewish people.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, recorded incidents of antisemitism in the US continue to increase year over year, breaking all previous annual records.
In 2024, as reported by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) annual audit, there were 9,354 antisemitic incidents — an average of 25.6 a day — across the US, creating an atmosphere of hate not experienced in the nearly thirty years since the ADL began tracking such data in 1979. Incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault all increased by double digits, and for the first time ever a majority of outrages — 58 percent — were related to the existence of Israel as the world’s only Jewish state.
The Algemeiner parsed the ADL’s data, finding dramatic rises in incidents on college campuses, which saw the largest growth in 2024. The 1,694 incidents tallied by the ADL amounted to an 84 percent increase over the previous year. Additionally, antisemites were emboldened to commit more offenses in public in 2024 than they did in 2023, perpetrating 19 percent more attacks on Jewish people, pro-Israel demonstrators, and businesses perceived as being Jewish-owned or affiliated with Jews.
“Hatred toward Israel was a driving force behind antisemitism across the US, with more than half of all antisemitic incidents referencing Israel or Zionism,” said Oren Segal, ADL senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence. “These incidents, along with all those documented in the audit, serve as a clear reminder that silence is not an option. Good people must stand up, push back, and confront antisemitism wherever it appears. And that starts with understanding what fuels it and learning to recognize it in all its forms.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Two UK Men Convicted, Jailed Following November Antisemitic Harassment
Illustrative: A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
A court in the United Kingdom on Thursday sentenced Hussein Altamimi, 22, and Ali Alanzi, 30, to prison sentences of eight months and seven months respectively, for charges stemming from an incident at London’s Western Marble Arch Synagogue in November 2024, according to British media.
The two men received convictions for yelling at four Jewish worshipers such phrases as “Jews aren’t welcome here,” “you don’t belong here,” and “f—king Jew.” They also repeatedly screamed “free Palestine.”
The incident grew violent when Altamimi hit one victim’s arm to try and prevent her from filming the abuse. Alanzi also hurled liquid from an alcoholic drink toward one person. When police arrived to arrest the pair, he assaulted one of the officers.
The court convicted both men of four counts of religiously aggravated public order offenses and religiously aggravated assault. Alanzi also received a conviction for attacking the officer and will endure an additional 12 weeks’ incarceration due to a previous suspended sentence.
On Friday, the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) described its reaction to the hate crime prosecutions on X in one word: “Vindicated.”
Altamimi also faced additional charges and guilty verdicts related to a July 2023 incident which included racial abuse and striking a police officer.
“The CPS is working closely with the police to tackle hate crime, making sure that perpetrators who target victims because of their religion, race, sexuality, gender identity, or disability are brought to justice,” Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyer Anna Hindmarsh said following the trial. “We know that hate crimes have a significant impact on victims and the wider community, and we will continue to support victims and witnesses who come forward to report any examples of hate crime they have experienced.”
The convictions against Altamimi and Alanzi are part of a historic surge in antisemitic acts in the United Kingdom.
The UK experienced its second-worst year for antisemitism in 2024, despite recording an 18 percent drop in antisemitic incidents from the previous year’s all-time high, according to a report released in February.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, released data showing it recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, a drop of 18 percent from the 4,296 in 2023. These numbers compare to 1,662 antisemitic incidents in 2022, 2,261 in 2021, and 1,684 in 2020.
In the 12 months following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, CST counted 5,583 antisemitic incidents in the UK, an increase from 204 percent from the same period the previous year.
Many of the incidents involved violence targeting the Jewish community.
Last month, On May 26, a group of six or seven men attacked three Jewish boys at the Hampstead Underground Station in North London, requiring hospitalization for one. CAA said that “this report is yet another stark reminder of the growing threat facing Jewish communities, including children.”
Another antisemitic assault occurred in Manchester in February, when an unidentified individual hit a Jewish man with what was believed to be a bottle, shattering the victim’s glasses.
The heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Stamford Hill in Hackney saw an antisemitic act last week when vandals targeted a Jewish-owned investment firm, smashing its windows and splashing red paint. The group Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the crime, as it had done previously for similar acts at the University of Cambridge’s endowment fund headquarters and the BBC’s New Broadcasting House.
“This should be treated as [an] antisemitic incident without any doubt. [The owners] are visibly Jewish people; the people who run the business and this business itself have nothing to do with Israel,” said Rabbi Herschel Gluck, president of Jewish security service Shomrim’s branch in Stamford Hill.
Days earlier, residents of Brighton in southeastern England discovered antisemitic vandalism at a memorial created to honor the victims of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks.
“There have been over 40 attacks on the site including vandalism, theft, and graffiti. The abuse has been relentless,” Heidi Bachram, who volunteers to maintain the memorial, told The Jewish Chronicle at the time. “It’s shocking that grief for innocents is met with such violence. The hate won’t stop us, and every night, a different victim’s story will be told [at the memorial]. We will never let them be forgotten.”
In April, according to prosecutors, Abdullah Sabah Albadri, 33, attempted to climb a wall outside of the Israeli embassy in London while carrying a “martyrdom note.”
Prosecutor Kristel Pous said that Albadri told police that he wanted to “do something to send a message to the Israeli government to stop the war.”
The Israeli embassy stated in response to the foiled attack that “we thank the British security forces for their immediate response and ongoing efforts to secure the embassy.” It vowed that “the embassy of Israel will not be deterred by any terror threat and will continue to represent Israel with pride in the UK.”
The post Two UK Men Convicted, Jailed Following November Antisemitic Harassment first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Large Pro-Israel Event in Texas ‘Indefinitely Postponed’ Due to Threats of Terrorism
A protester holds a sign that reads, ”From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” during a pro-Palestinian emergency demonstration outside the Consulate General of Israel in Houston, Texas, on March 19, 2025. Photo: Reginald Mathalone via Reuters Connect
The 2025 Israel Summit in Dallas, Texas has been indefinitely postponed in response to what organizers described as intensifying threats of terrorism.
Prior to the cancellation, the event was expecting over 1,000 attendees. The Israel Summit had already undergone a last-minute venue change due to mounting safety concerns. The gathering, scheduled for June 9–11, was set to feature prominent voices from both the Jewish and Christian pro-Israel communities.
Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who had been scheduled to speak at the event, commented on the cancellation on social media: “This is what America looks like in 2025. A peaceful pro-Israel gathering with more than a thousand participants had to be scrapped because of threats from violent extremists.”
Ten days prior to this year’s event, local police and intelligence officials in Dallas alerted organizers that the gathering had been upgraded to a “high-threat event.”
According to Josiah Hilton, host of the Israel Guys show, which was scheduled to co-host the event with HaYovel, the organizers had to produce “a mandatory security plan with a substantial budget estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The organizers then moved the Israel Summit to a facility in an isolated area of Kenneth, Texas. However, the event was forced to cancel after the Palestinian Youth Movement Dallas and Jewish Voice for Peace, a pair of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas organizations, revealed its location to their followers.
“[T]he Genocide Summit had to change plans last minute in desperation due to them claiming to be ‘under attack.’ The reality is they understand DFW’s commitment to confronting the extremist ideology that is Zionism,” Palestinian Youth Movement Dallas wrote on Instagram.
However, the organizers stated that they are going to hold the pro-Israel event “in the near future,” and vowed to “come back bigger and stronger, with more people.”
Hilton said that the cancellation reflects “the growing normalization of antisemitic threats and anti-Israel extremists, which are fueling intimidation and silencing voices of support for Israel across the United States.”
The cancellation of the Israel Summit also reflects growing concern regarding potential violence against supporters of the Jewish state. Last month, two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lipschinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were murdered while exiting an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. Then this past Sunday, an assailant firebombed a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, injuring 15 people and a dog.
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