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The Rebbe’s Radical Approach to Anti-Israel Jews? More Love
Menachem Mendel Schneerson — the Lubavitcher Rebbe — at the Lag BaOmer parade in Brooklyn, New York, May 17, 1987. Photo: Mordecai Baron via Wikicommons.
JNS.org – In the heavily Orthodox neighborhood of Borough Park on Feb. 18, a shockingly violent event took place. Scores of anti-Israel protesters marched through the streets, banging on drums, chanting slogans such as “There is only one solution. Intifada revolution!” and “How many kids did you kill today?” After physical assaults against Jews ensued, the police were called, and arrests were promptly made. Videos flooded the Internet late into the night capturing the melee.
The marching protesters claimed to represent an effort to “Free Palestine,” but after 16 months of watching similarly hateful gatherings around the world, it is abundantly clear that the only cause they are promoting is antisemitism. For local residents of Borough Park and Jews around the world, this outpouring of venom was especially painful as earlier in the day, news circulated about the murders of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her two young children, Ariel and Kfir, at the hands of Hamas.
On Oct. 7, the Bibas mother and babies were kidnapped not by Hamas but by Palestinian civilians, the very ones that the mindless protesters wish to “free.” Additionally, the keffiyeh-clad activists seem to have missed the obscene Hamas ceremonies of the last few weeks when freed hostages were paraded on a stage, given certificates and goody-bags and perversely made to thank their captors.
Adding shock to horror is the fact that the “Free Palestine” cause has attracted a non-insignificant amount of Jews—from college campuses to staff at the White House. Whether it has been Jewish students at Columbia University holding a “liberation seder” at the pro-Palestinian encampment or progressive rabbis draped in tallitot protesting against Israel in the Capitol, our collective heart sinks to see such a basic betrayal of Am Yisrael. And reality.
After nearly a year and a half since the world turned upside down on Oct. 7, I wish to propose a radically new approach based on this week’s Torah portion and the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson.
We need to pour love, not hate, towards the members of our community who have chosen the path of the meshumad, a Jew who has strayed from the Jewish tradition. Instead of the justified rage and pain that they evoke in us by promoting terrorism against Israel and Jews, we need to understand that they are indeed victims—victims of suicidal self-hate, of disinformation, propaganda and simplistic binary thinking.
Our collective shock and horror naturally have caused many of us to shun, ignore or perhaps engage in counter-protest against these individuals. However, this has not helped bring any of them closer to understanding the truth or defending the Jewish people. I suggest that it is time for a radical reset. The Rebbe taught that for wayward, self-hating or uninformed Jews, we must bring them closer with love, instead of driving them away with hate.
The Rebbe drew inspiration from previous Jewish sages who preached reaching out with open hearts and inclusion, such as the Rambam (Maimonides), the 12th-century codifier of Jewish law, and Saadia Gaon, the great ninth-century Jewish philosopher and theologian. The Rambam advised that the only effective way to bring wayward Jews back to Judaism was through non-judgmental love and acceptance (Mishna Torah, Mamrim, 3:3). Saadia Gaon was similarly quoted as saying that rebellious Jews are considered “kidnapped,” or Tinok Shenishba, literally children captured from our Jewish community and raised in captivity (Chezkuni on Exodus 2:15).
It is incumbent upon us to treat anti-Israel Jews the same way as previous Jewish generations treated the Tinok Shenishba or the meshumad.
If a child is tragically kidnapped or goes off the path, we should love that child and desire to bring them back because they are part of us; they are family members who should be redeemed. We need to adapt this approach to those Jews who harbor distorted and dangerous beliefs, even as they inflict pain upon themselves and our people.
Another way to look at it is that Jewish anti-Israel activism is a manifestation of Jewish anxiety over antisemitism. Our Hamas-supporting brothers and sisters are acutely aware of the threat of antisemitism; however, by siding with our enemies, they hope to escape being targeted. Sadly, they haven’t learned the lesson that history teaches us: Just as the Nazis killed Jews indiscriminately, anti-Israel Jews are targets as surely are Israel-loving ones.
This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, meaning “statutes” or “laws,” also provides fresh guidance for our present crisis for “lost Jews.”
Mishpatim discussed the various commandments related to interpersonal human relations, especially the relationships between parents and children.
Interestingly, from Chapter 21, verses 15-17, the laws about dealing with one who kidnaps another individual are sandwiched between laws for children who insult or strike their parents. The Saadia Gaon comments on this curious juxtaposition.
He posits that for a child to turn their back on their parents, they must have been kidnapped—not necessarily in a physical sense but in a spiritual, psychological or emotional sense. There is simply no way that a normal child would inflict harm on their parents under normal circumstances; a child who strikes or defames a parent is because they were absent in the formation of their Jewish identity, as if the child were kidnapped.
These are strong words, perhaps even harsh. But we must consider their value.
Few among us have the inner fortitude to engage in a debate with Jewish haters of Israel. Many will understandably regard them as a lost cause or see their behavior as akin to Hamas, but we must have compassion for them, for our sages tell us that they are akin to one who was kidnapped. Our love for them must transcend any of their suicidal and misguided rhetoric.
Is this easy? Absolutely not! The sight of Jews, including those who wear the garb of the ultra-Orthodox, shouting for Israel’s destruction is stomach-churning. The only way to heal the rupture in our people is to see anti-Israel Jews as being held in captivity, held in a proverbial “Gaza of the mind,” themselves victims of kidnapping, broken in mind, body and soul.
The approach of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement would be to put on tefillin with them or invite them for Shabbat dinner, but that’s not the only way. The next time you encounter an anti-Israel Jew, try to let kindness and civility inform your interactions with them, despite how difficult or excruciating this may be. The timeless words of “love your neighbor as yourself” ring true.
In this fraught environment, let us bond together as one people. Let us love one another even when it feels impossible, and from that unity, miracles will happen.
The post The Rebbe’s Radical Approach to Anti-Israel Jews? More Love first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Harvard Launches New Academic Partnerships With Israel Amid Trump Funding Fight
Harvard University president Alan Garber attending the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Harvard University has announced new partnerships with Israeli academic institutions, a move which appears aimed at reversing an impression that the institution is ideologically anti-Zionist and content with antisemitic discrimination being an allegedly daily occurrence on its campus.
As first reported by The Harvard Crimson, Harvard will hold a study abroad program, in partnership with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for undergraduate students and a postdoctoral fellowship in which Harvard Medical School faculty will mentor and train newly credentialed Israeli scientists in biomedical research as preparation for the next stages of their careers. The campus paper — which in 2022 endorsed the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel — said the programs constitute a “dramatic expansion of the university’s academic and institutional ties to Israel.”
Speaking to the Crimson, Harvard vice provost for international affairs Mark Elliot trumpeted the announcement as a positive development and, notably, as a continuation, not a beginning, of Harvard’s “engagement with institutions of higher education across Israel.” Elliot also said Harvard is planning “increased academic collaboration across the region in the coming years.”
The new partnerships with Israel come only months after Harvard paused its relationship with a higher education institution located in the West Bank. They also coincide with the university’s titanic legal fight against the federal government to reclaim over $3 billion worth of taxpayer-funded research grants and contracts the Trump administration impounded to pressure school officials into a process of rehabilitation and reform that will see it discontinue a slew of practices conservatives have cited as causing campus antisemitism, as well as the hollowing out of American values.
Since that first step, the Trump administration has continued backing Harvard into a corner.
In June, the Trump administration issued it a “notice of violation” of civil rights law following an investigation which examined how it responded to dozens of antisemitic incidents reported by Jewish students since the 2023-2024 academic year.
Sent by the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, it charged that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a deluge of racist and antisemitic abuse following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, which precipitated a surge in anti-Zionist activity on the campus. It concluded with a threat to cancel all federal funding for Harvard.
Amid this policy offensive, interim Harvard president Alan Garber held a phone call with major donors in which he “confirmed in response to a question from [Harvard Corporation Fellow David Rubenstein] that talks had resumed” but “declined to share specifics of how Harvard expected to settle with the White House.”
Garber “did not discuss how close a deal could be,” the Crimson reported, “and said instead that Harvard had focused on laying out the steps it was already taking to address issues that are common ground for the university and the Trump administration. Areas of shared concern that have been discussed with the White House included ‘viewpoint diversity’ and antisemitism.”
In a new conciliatory move reported by the Crimson, Harvard closed its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, packing up the staff and transferring them to what will become, the Crimson said, a “new Office of Culture and Community.” It added that Harvard has “worked to strip all references to DEI … from their websites and official titles.”
Harvard will continue dealing with the fallout of its campus antisemitism problem for the foreseeable future.
Earlier this month, it was sued by a Jewish student who claims that he was exposed to antisemitic abuse because the university refused to intervene and correct a hostile environment even as his bullies’ misconduct escalated to include violence.
The mammoth complaint, totaling 124 pages, lays out the case that the university miscarried justice in the aftermath of two students’ public assault on recent Harvard Business School graduate Yoav Segev during the fall semester of the 2023-2024 academic year — just weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre — by refusing to discipline them and even rewarding them the university’s highest honors.
Segev endured a mobbing of pro-Hamas activists led by Ibrahim Bharmal and Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, who stalked him across Harvard Yard before encircling him and screaming “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as he struggled to break free from the mass of bodies which surrounded him. Video of the incident, widely viewed online at the time, showed the crush of people shoving keffiyehs — traditional headdresses worn by men in the Middle East that in some circles have come to symbolize Palestinian nationalism — in the face of the student, whom they had identified as Jewish.
“This malicious, violent, and antisemitic conduct violated several university policies — such as its anti-discrimination and anti-bullying policies — and it prompted criminal charges,” the complaint says. “No one doubts for a second that Harvard would have taken swift, aggressive, and public actions to enforce its policies had the victim been one of Harvard’s ‘favored’ minorities … Harvard’s antisemitic discrimination against Mr. Segev is far more sinister than inaction and indifference. Harvard did everything it could to defend, protect, and reward the assailants; to impede the criminal investigation; and to prevent Mr. Segev from obtaining administrative relief from the university.”
It continues, “Harvard’s antisemitic intent is obvious. Several of its faculty publicly supported the attacker and tried to blame the victim (because, the faculty said, his Jewish presence was ‘threatening’ to other students). And, of course, hundreds of rabidly anti-Israel students disrupting campus life pressured the Harvard administration. Ultimately, and shamefully, the university kowtowed to the antisemitic mob it had allowed to take over its campus.”
Alleging violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, breach of contract, and conspiracy to deny civil rights, the suit demands all relevant recompense, including damages and the reimbursement of attorneys’ fees.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Hezbollah Chief Rejects Disarmament Amid US and Lebanese Pressure, Accuses Washington of Aiding Israel
Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech from an unknown location, Nov. 20, 2024, in this still image from video. Photo: REUTERS TV/Al Manar TV via REUTERS.
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has once again rejected calls for the Lebanon-based terrorist group to disarm, saying such demands only serve Israel’s interests amid mounting pressure from the United States and the Lebanese government.
“Those who call for us to surrender our weapons are practically asking us to hand them over to Israel. We will not submit to Israel,” Qassem said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
“The US is destroying Lebanon in order to help the Zionist enemy [Israel],” he continued.
Washington and Beirut have engaged in multiple rounds of negotiations in recent weeks over a US proposal to fully disarm the Iran-backed terrorist group, which for years as held significant political power in Lebanon.
The latest proposal calls for Hezbollah to be fully disarmed within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from its five occupied posts in southern Lebanon.
“The US wants to use Lebanon as a tool to implement its own greater Middle East scheme,” Qassem said during his speech.
“The US is complicit in Israel’s violations of the ceasefire and is fueling tensions among Lebanese factions,” the terrorist leader continued.
Washington’s proposal initially called for the Lebanese government to pass a cabinet decision committing to Hezbollah’s disarmament — a step the US is now actively pushing for before resuming talks on ending Israeli military operations.
Despite growing diplomatic pressure, the Lebanese terrorist group has repeatedly rejected demands to surrender its weapons.
“Resistance in Lebanon has proved to be one of the pillars of state construction. Hezbollah’s weapons will be used to protect Lebanon against the Zionist enemy,” Qassem said. “All those who demand Hezbollah’s disarmament are serving the Israeli plot. The resistance will never agree to hand over its weapons to the Zionist enemy.”
Qassem also argued that increasing demands for Hezbollah’s disarmament are driven by Israel’s fear of the Islamist group and accused US special envoy Thomas Barrack of protecting Israeli interests at the expense of Lebanon’s security.
“Israel will not be able to defeat us, and it will not be able to take Lebanon hostage,” he said.
Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, following the group’s attacks on northern Israel — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas amid the war in Gaza.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.
Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers — decrying “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
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France Demands Probe Into Refugee Vetting Process as Gazan Expelled by Top University Over Antisemitic Posts
A flag is flown during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, outside the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, Nov. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
A Palestinian from Gaza studying at the prestigious Sciences Po Lille has been expelled after French authorities discovered hundreds of antisemitic social media posts, including praise for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and calls for the murder of Jews.
The episode has led ministers in the French government to demand answers and push for an investigation into the vetting process that allowed the Gazan student to enter France in the first place.
After receiving a scholarship, 25-year-old Nour Atalla arrived in France earlier this year, planning to begin her law and communications studies at the Institute of Political Science in Lille, northern France.
She is one of 292 Gazans admitted to the country with support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following a court ruling that opened the door for Gazans to seek refugee status based on their nationality.
On Wednesday, the university announced it had revoked Atalla’s enrollment after hundreds of her past antisemitic and violent social media posts went viral, sparking widespread condemnation from political leaders and members of the local Jewish community.
In several of these posts, she glorified Hitler, praised Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, called for the execution of Israeli hostages and the killing of Jews, and expressed support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
“The content of these posts directly contradicts the core values of Sciences Po Lille, which actively opposes all forms of racism, antisemitism, and discrimination, as well as any incitement to hatred toward any group,” the university said in a post on X.
Le contenu de ces publications entre en contradiction frontale avec les valeurs portées par Sciences Po Lille, qui lutte contre toute forme de racisme, antisémitisme et discrimination, ainsi que contre tout type d’appel à la haine, contre quelque population que ce soit.
— Sciences Po Lille (@ScPoLille) July 30, 2025
In one post, Atalla shared a video of Hitler giving a speech about Jews, writing. “Kill their young and their old. Show them no mercy … And kill them everywhere.”
In another post shared on Oct. 7, 2023, she wrote, “We must do everything we can to match the bloodshed — as much as possible.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, kidnapped 251 hostages, and perpetrated widespread sexual violence during their Oct. 7 onslaught, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
After the posts went viral, French politician Matthias Renault of the far-right National Rally party condemned Atalla’s antisemitic views and called on Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to revoke her asylum status.
“These repeated views pose a serious threat to French society,” Renault said.
In a statement on X, Retailleau announced that he had ordered legal action to be taken against Atalla and “immediately requested the closure of this hateful account.”
“A Palestinian student, admitted to our country through a procedure beyond our Ministry’s authority, made statements that are entirely unacceptable and deeply concerning,” the French official posted.
“There is no place for Hamas sympathizers in our country,” he continued.
Présente sur notre territoire, en raison d’une procédure d’entrée pour laquelle notre ministère n’est pas compétent, une étudiante palestinienne a tenu des propos inacceptables et inquiétants.
J’ai immédiatement demandé de faire fermer ce compte haineux, et donné instruction au… https://t.co/uONrjoEekl
— Bruno Retailleau (@BrunoRetailleau) July 30, 2025
Philippe Baptiste, the French minister responsible for higher education and research, expressed similar outrage, noting he referred to the matter to law enforcement for potential prosecution.
“France does not have to welcome international students who advocate for terrorism, crimes against humanity, and antisemitism,” he said on X. “Whether they come from Gaza or elsewhere, international students holding or relaying such statements have no place in our country. Nor on our territory. Within the government, we will take the necessary steps to ensure that the case of the Palestinian student welcomed at Sciences-Po Lille, who relayed statements of extreme gravity on social networks, is handled with the utmost firmness. I have already referred the matter to the Public Prosecutor under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.”
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called for an investigation into the screening process that allowed Atalla to enter the country.
“A Gazan student making antisemitic remarks has no place in France,” he posted. “The screenings carried out by the competent services of the relevant ministries have clearly not worked. I have requested that an internal investigation be conducted to ensure this cannot happen again under any circumstances.”
Like many countries around the world, France has seen an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The growing wave of anti-Jewish hatred is fueled in part by a rapidly expanding Muslim population from the Middle East and North Africa — a result of ongoing migration trends in France.
The local Jewish community in France has consistently called on authorities to take swift action against the rising wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes they continue to face.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that the country will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September — part of its “commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East” — and is now urging other nations to join this initiative.
Israeli officials have condemned such a move, calling it a “reward for terrorism.”
The decision came after Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia officially recognized a Palestinian state last year, claiming that such a move would contribute to fostering a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and promote lasting peace in the region.
Following France’s announcement, Germany said it was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term, and Italy argued that recognition must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity.
However, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his cabinet on Tuesday that Britain will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza.