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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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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.