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A Modern Lesson From the Torah: Stand Up, Be Proud, and Be Counted
University of California, Davis. Photo: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons.
Tucked into the flatlands of Northern California, somewhere between the political corridors of Sacramento and the tech utopia of San Francisco and the Bay Area, lies Davis. It’s not the kind of place you stumble into by accident. If you’re in Davis, it’s always on purpose — and that purpose is UC Davis.
Originally a sleepy agricultural outpost, Davis was transformed in the early 20th century when the University of California decided it needed a dedicated “Farm School.” That modest institution eventually grew into UC Davis — now a world-class research university with over 40,000 students, renowned for its cutting-edge work in agriculture, environmental science, and veterinary medicine.
But despite its academic pedigree, Davis has never lost its off-the-beaten-path charm. It’s quirky, a little rustic, and proudly so. Downtown boasts the Davis Food Co-op — a community-owned grocery store on G Street — and on any given Saturday, the most heated debate will likely be about compost bins or whether it will rain.
It’s the kind of place where you expect friendly farmers markets, earnest book clubs, and maybe a spirited debate over heirloom tomatoes. What you don’t expect are flag-waving fanatics calling for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state.
So why am I telling you all this? Because earlier this week I hopped on a plane to Sacramento and made my way to Davis at the invitation of Dr. Amir Kol — a gentle soul and Israeli expat who teaches at the world-renowned UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to teaching, Amir does groundbreaking stem cell research that could one day help cure life-threatening diseases.
Or at least, that’s how I see him. But to a growing chorus of campus agitators, Amir Kol isn’t a mild-mannered scientist. Oh no — he’s a war criminal. A former IDF soldier. A baby-killer. A genocide supporter. A full-blown villain in their warped worldview.
Before October 7th, Amir lived a quiet, unassuming life. Like most of us, he was aware that antisemitism existed, but it didn’t touch his day-to-day. He wasn’t political. He wasn’t an activist.
But after Hamas’s horrific October 7th massacre — and the grotesque reaction on campus that followed, with Jewish students harassed, Israeli flags torn down, and Hamas banners waved — Amir realized he could no longer stay silent. He began to organize Jewish get-togethers and to advocate to the administration for the pro-Israel community on campus.
Without meaning to, Amir soon became a lighthouse — a source of light for others who felt isolated and afraid. And believe me, many Jews at UC Davis feel exactly that. According to the campus Chabad shliach, Rabbi Mendel Greenberg, there are an estimated 2,000 Jewish students on campus.
Fewer than 20 showed up to hear me speak. I asked where the rest were. The answer came back in three categories: indifferent, intimidated, or — and this is the most disturbing — absorbed into the very protest movements that vilify Jews and demonize Israel.
It’s in this surreal context that I was introduced to something called the MAPA Report. No, it’s not a new brand of hummus. MAPA stands for Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, and Allies — an acronym I’d never encountered before, now proudly formalized by the City of Davis Human Relations Commission in a 60-page document that makes George Orwell’s 1984 look like an optimistic fairy tale.
This “report” — and I use that term loosely — is built entirely on subjective anecdotes, unverified stories, and the worst kind of identity politics. It paints Davis — yes, sleepy, bike-friendly, compost-loving Davis — as a bubbling cauldron of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bigotry.
Seriously? Not only is there no verifiable data in the report, there’s no methodology. It’s just raw feelings, haphazardly compiled and amateurishly packaged as “findings” in a slickly designed deck.
Amir Kol sits on the Commission and was at the meeting where this nonsense was presented for adoption. He offered a sane, balanced critique. Public comment was no less scathing. But common sense didn’t stand a chance — the other six commissioners rubber-stamped the report anyway.
Meanwhile, over on campus, Chancellor Gary May and his administration are completely enthralled by the protesters. They call it “de-escalation.” But let’s be honest — it’s not de-escalation. It’s appeasement. UC Davis allowed protesters to set up illegal encampments for months — intimidating students, defacing property, glorifying Hamas — while the administration shrugged and claimed their hands were tied.
The US Department of Education didn’t buy it. After investigating multiple complaints of discrimination and harassment from UC students, they concluded that the UC hierarchy had failed to respond promptly or adequately to antisemitic incidents during the protests.
But Chancellor May thinks he deserves a medal. In his version of events, UC Davis achieved a monumental victory: “There were no protests at graduation.” That’s what he’s proud of. That’s what counts as success. Of course there were no protests — the protesters had already won. The administration was on their side.
In Parshat Bamidbar, God commands Moses to count the Israelites — not as a faceless crowd, but individually, by name. This wasn’t merely a census — it was an act of recognition. Each tribe, each family, each person was counted, acknowledged, and affirmed.
The message is unmistakable: in a vast and hostile wilderness, survival begins with identity. There is no other way to make it through. You need to know who you are, stand proudly in your place, and be counted as part of something greater.
What’s happening in Davis — and on campuses across America — is the exact inverse. Jews aren’t being counted — they’re being erased. Jewish identity isn’t recognized, it’s condemned. Jews are being recast as villains in someone else’s twisted narrative. Instead of being considered, they’re being canceled.
Instead of being allowed pride in their national heritage — a right now sacrosanct for every other group in every sphere of society — Jews are being told to sit down, stay silent – or worse, to join enthusiastically in their own erasure.
But Bamidbar won’t let us do that. The Torah says: Stand up. Be counted. Know your name, your tribe, your people. Don’t hide. And never — ever — apologize for existing. That’s what brave Amir Kol is doing. And that’s what those who showed up to hear me speak at UC Davis this week are trying to do, even if we were just a handful.
Because yes, it may be true that you don’t end up in Davis by accident. But if you’re Jewish — or unapologetically pro-Israel — you certainly won’t survive there, or anywhere, if you’re invisible.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post A Modern Lesson From the Torah: Stand Up, Be Proud, and Be Counted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Harvard President Denies Looming $500 Million Deal With Trump to Restore Federal Funding: Report
Harvard University President Alan Garber speaks during the 374th Commencement exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 29, 2025. Photo: Reuters Connect via Brian Snyder
Harvard University President Alan Garber has told faculty that he will not settle the institution’s dispute with the Trump administration by shelling out $500 million, the Harvard Crimson reported on Monday, contradicting a New York Times article which claimed that the move is impending.
Rather, Harvard has resolve to continue on fighting the federal government in court, the Crimson said, even as it faces a $1 billion shortfall caused by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the confiscation of $3 billion in taxpayer-funded research grants and contracts previously awarded to the university. Amid this cash crunch Harvard has resorted to leveraging its immense wealth to borrow exorbitant sums of money.
In March it issued over $450 million in bonds as “part of an ongoing contingency planning for a range of financial circumstances.” It offered another $750 million in bonds to investors in April, a sale that is being managed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
According to the Crimson, Garber insists that the Times report is erroneous.
“In a conversation with one faculty member, [he] said that the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is ‘false’ and claimed that the figure was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials,” the Crimson said, noting that the Times believes its reporting is on the mark. “In any discussions, Garber reportedly said, the university is treating academic freedom as nonnegotiable.”
Garber’s apparent assurances to faculty that the university will not concede to Trump for financial relief comes as it takes conciliatory steps that seem aimed at reversing an impression that it is doctrinally far left, as well as anti-Zionist. In July, it announced new partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and shuttered its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, transferring their staff to other sections of the university. These moves came after it “paused” a partnership in March with a higher education institution located in the West Bank. Some reports, according to the Crimson, suggest that Harvard may even found a “new conservative research institute” in any deal with the Trump administration.
Other Ivy League schools have made similar steps while resolving their funding disputes with the US federal government.
On Wednesday, Brown University announced that it agreed to pay $50 million and enact a series of reforms put forth by the Trump administration to settle claims involving alleged sex discrimination and antisemitism. The government is rewarding Brown’s propitiating by restoring access to $510 million in federal research grants and contracts it impounded.
Per the agreement, shared by university president Christina Paxson, Brown will provide women athletes locker rooms based on sex, not one’s self-chosen gender identity — a monumental concession by a university that is reputed as one of the most progressive in the country — and adopt the Trump administration’s definition of “male” and “female,” as articulated in a January 2025 executive order issued by Trump. Additionally, Brown has agreed not to “perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child’s appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex.”
Regarding campus antisemitism, the agreement calls for Brown University to reduce anti-Jewish bias on campus by forging ties with local Jewish Day Schools, launching “renewed partnerships with Israeli academics and national Jewish organizations,” and boosting support for its Judaic Studies program. Brown must also conduct a “climate survey” of Jewish students to collect raw data of their campus experiences.
Only days ago, Columbia University agreed to pay over $200 million to settle claims that it exposed Jewish students, faculty, and staff to antisemitic discrimination and harassment — a deal which secures the release of billions of dollars the Trump administration impounded to pressure the institution to address the issue.
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon commented on the resolution, saying it is a “seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”
Claiming a generational achievement for the conservative movement, which has argued for years that progressive bias in higher education is the cause of anti-Zionist antisemitism on college campuses, she added that Columbia has agreed to “discipline student offenders for severe disruptions of campus operations” and “eliminate race preferences from their hiring and mission practicers, and DEI programs that distribute benefits and advantages based on race.”
“Columbia’s reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to retain the confidence of the American public by renting their commitment to truth-seeking, merit, and civil debate,” McMahon continued. “I believe they will ripple across the higher education sector and change the course of campus culture for years to come.”
As Harvard debates its future, it continues to be a theater of an unrelenting debate on the Israel-Hamas war and the US-Israel relationship. On Saturday, pro-Hamas protesters instigated their arrests by local law enforcement during an unauthorized demonstration at Harvard Square.
“At least three protesters were pushed to the ground and handcuffed by police officers,” the Harvard Crimson reported on Sunday. “Several protesters were seen pouring water on their eyes, which were red and apparently irritated by a chemical agent.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Athens Mayor Accuses Israel of Genocide After Criticism of Greek City’s Antisemitic Graffiti
A man waves a Palestinian flag as pro-Hamas demonstrators protest next to the Greek parliament, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Athens, Greece, May 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
Haris Doukas, the mayor of the Greek capital city Athens, on Sunday responded to criticism from Israel’s chief diplomat to the country, Ambassador Noam Katz, with charges of genocide against the Jewish state.
In an interview with Greece’s Kathimerini newspaper, Katz said that antisemitic vandalism in Athens had generated concerns among Israeli tourists. He charged that Doukas, a member of the Socialist PASOK party, had failed to counter the “organized” groups responsible for the hateful graffiti. In one example, on July 12, six individuals entered an Israeli restaurant in Athens and sprayed black paint on walls and tables in addition to dropping pamphlets. They spray-painted graffiti with slogans such as “No Zionist is safe here” and posted a sign on one of the restaurant’s windows that read, “All IDF soldiers are war criminals — we don’t want you here,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
Doukas pushed back on the accusation, lashing out against Israel.
“We do not accept lessons in democracy from those who kill civilians,” he wrote in Greek on X. “Athens, the capital of a democratic country, fully respects its visitors and supports the right of free expression of its citizens.”
Doukas asserted that “as the city’s municipal authority, we have proven our active opposition to violence and racism and we do not accept lessons in democracy from those who kill civilians and children in food lines, from those who lead dozens of people to death every day in Gaza, from bombs, hunger and thirst.”
The mayor rejected Katz’s charge of tolerating antisemitic crimes.
“It is appalling that Mr. Ambassador focuses only on graffiti (which is apparently being erased), while an unprecedented genocide is taking place in Gaza,” Doukas wrote. “I should also inform Mr. Ambassador that in the last year the number of Israelis granted Greek Golden Visas has increased by over 90%.”
The mayor’s comments came days after the coach of Israel’s national soccer team, Ran Ben Shimon, was physically assaulted by a pro-Palestinian activist who also shouted “Free Palestine” at him in Athens last month before a match between Hapoel Be’er Sheva and their Greek rivals AEK Athens. During the match, anti-Israel soccer fans throughout the stadium loudly chanted “F–k you Israel. Viva [Free] Palestine,” as seen in multiple videos from the scene that were later shared on social media. AEK Athens fans also raised numerous Palestinian flags in the stadium.
Then last week, anti-Israel protesters clashed with Greek riot police on the island of Rhodes as they attempted to block an Israeli cruise ship — the MS Crown Iris, owned by Israeli cruise line Mano Maritime — from docking at the island’s main port. The incident came one week after protesters prevented hundreds of Israeli passengers from disembarking the same cruise ship near the island of Syros.
In June, an Israeli tourist was attacked by a group of pro-Palestinian activists after they overheard him using Google Maps in Hebrew while navigating through Athens. When the attackers realized the victim was speaking Hebrew, they began physically assaulting him while shouting antisemitic slurs.
Last year, a mob of pro-Hamas demonstrators attempted to break into a hotel where Israeli tourists were staying in Athens, leading Greek police to deploy gas grenades to disperse the crowd and restore order.
“We reiterate that criticism of the government of Israel, no matter how severe, does not constitute antisemitic behavior,” the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece said in a statement on June 19. “However, the sweeping, ahistorical, and categorical characterizations of Israeli citizens as murderers, Nazis, and unwelcome in Greece is a vulgar and unacceptable hate-filled rhetoric that threatens the well-being of Greek Jewish citizens and endangers the safety of foreign citizens of Jewish faith who, for any reason, reside in or visit our country.”
The Jewish communal group called upon “the State, regional, and municipal authorities to condemn these phenomena and take all necessary measures to protect the lives of Greek citizens of Jewish faith as well as the Jewish visitors. It is imperative that a clear message of zero tolerance be sent against the rising tide of Judeophobia in our country, which unquestionably leads to antisemitism. History teaches us that antisemitism may begin by targeting the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews. It undermines the values of freedom and culture of the entire society.”
Greece features both one of the lowest Jewish populations in Europe —5,000, mostly based in Athens —and one of the continent’s highest levels of antisemitism.
According to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) update released in January to its annual Global 100 survey of antisemitism levels by country, 50 percent of adults — 4.3 million people — embrace at least six antisemitic stereotypes, what the longtime watchdog group defines as possessing “antisemitic attitudes.” This ranks Greece at 74 out of 103 countries in levels of antisemitism, with lower numbers indicating lower levels of hate against Jews. The ADL’s data shows elevated levels of antisemitism among those 35-49 (56 percent) and over 50 (55 percent) while individuals 18-34 reached 34 percent.
In comparison, Greece’s northeast neighbor Bulgaria reached a 45-percent rate with 2.6 million of its citizens embracing antisemitic attitudes, while nearby Italy (a roughly two-hour flight from Athens to Rome) reached a 26-percent level, or 13.1 million people. The Institute for Jewish Policy Research reports a “core” Jewish population in Italy of 26,800 and a “Law of Return” Jewish population of 48,910. This indicates that while Italy includes a higher Jewish population, its per capita rate of Jews to the broader population (approximately 59 million people) is lower.
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Gazan Student Expelled From Top French University Over Antisemitic Posts Leaves France Amid Criminal Probe
Youths take part in the occupation of a street in front of the building of the Sciences Po University in support of Palestinians in Gaza, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Paris, France, April 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The Palestinian student who was recently expelled from the prestigious Sciences Po Lille over antisemitic social media posts has left France shortly after being placed under investigation for praising Adolf Hitler and inciting violence against Jews online.
On Sunday, French authorities confirmed that 25-year-old Nour Atallah, a Palestinian student from Gaza, has departed France for Qatar to continue her education.
“The Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noel Barrot, stressed the unacceptable nature of the comments made by Ms. Nour Atallah, a Gazan student, before she entered French territory,” the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“Given the seriousness of the situation, Ms. Atallah was unable to remain in France. She left France today to go to Qatar to continue her studies,” the statement read.
Atallah’s lawyer explained that she “made the decision … to continue her studies in another country as a gesture of conciliation and to ensure her safety,” while firmly denying all accusations against her.
“The reported incidents are mainly based on retweeted posts, detached from any context,” he said, according to French media.
Atallah arrived in northern France in early July to begin her master’s in law and communications at the Institute of Political Science in Lille after being awarded a scholarship to support her studies.
Last week, the university announced it had revoked Atallah’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 the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct.7, 2023, called for the execution of Israeli hostages and the killing of Jews, and expressed support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
She is now facing a criminal investigation, as the public prosecutor in Lille confirmed the case was opened for “apology of terrorism, apology of crimes against humanity using an online public communication service.”
The incident drew widespread condemnation and public outrage, prompting French ministers to demand answers and call for an investigation into how the Gazan student was allowed into the country in the first place.
On Friday, Barrot announced the suspension of all further evacuations from Gaza to France pending a comprehensive review of the backgrounds of those already evacuated, including the student under investigation.
Atallah is one of 292 Gazans admitted to the country following a court ruling that opened the door for Gazans to seek refugee status based on their nationality.
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 southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
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.
The total number of antisemitic outrages in 2024 — 1,570 — was a slight dip from 2023’s record total of 1,676, but it marked a striking increase from the 436 antisemitic acts recorded in 2022, according to a report by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), the main representative body of French Jews,
In late May and early June of last year, antisemitic acts rose by more than 140 percent, far surpassing the weekly average of slightly more than 30 incidents.
The report also found that 65.2 percent of antisemitic acts last year targeted individuals, with more than 10 percent of these offenses involving physical violence.
Recently, three synagogues and a Jewish restaurant in Paris were vandalized with green paint, and the city’s Holocaust memorial was defaced twice. In Lyon, swastikas and hateful slogans were found on the walls of a primary school, which was also set on fire.