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A Year Since October 7: The Erasure of Zionist Jews in the Public Square
The world has become a more dangerous place since October 7.
In July, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in an airstrike in Tehran, shortly after Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a targeted airstrike in Beirut. Right before that, a Hezbollah-fired rocket had murdered 12 Druze children — part of a series of 8,000 rockets that Hezbollah has fired at Israel since October 8, 2023.
In the United States, antisemitic forces have advanced with abandon — from taking over college campuses around the country with little, if any, consequences, to assaulting visibly-religious Jews in broad daylight, as well as vandalizing American war memorials and synagogues. The US political scene has also been turbulent, and American Jews have been the victim of a record-number of antisemitic attacks.
Despite these pressing national and international dangers, one threat stands out the most as Jews around the world continue to grapple with the post-October 7th reality: the erasure of Zionist Jews within the public square, particularly within America and the West.
Zionists believe that the Jewish people have the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, Eretz Yisrael.
Around the world, Zionist Jews have been targeted with violence, murder, and exclusion from all public and private spaces.
And unlike the threat from Hamas or Hezbollah, this dangerous reality cannot be countered with a targeted airstrike.
Antisemitism and anti-Zionism have spread throughout every corner of daily and professional life, with little to no consequences. Most of the anti-Israel protestors who took over Columbia University’s Hinds Hall in April and blocked pro-Israel and Jewish students from attending class, had their charges dropped by Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg.
Israeli scientists have been shunned by numerous Western European universities and academics who refuse to engage in collaborative research.
In June, Hamas sympathizers brutally attacked Jews outside the Adas Torah shul in my hometown of Los Angeles. And in July, during Prime Minister Netanyahu’s trip to the US to speak before a joint session of Congress and advocate for Israel’s right to defend herself, a rabid, anti-Israel mob burned American and Israeli flags, vandalized war memorials, attacked police, and graffitied “Hamas is coming” on monuments.
Although some charges were brought against the most violent offenders, the vast majority of these terrorist sympathizers who committed criminal acts were let off the hook, free to commit more crimes against likely Jewish and pro-Israel targets.
These public acts of hatred against pro-Israel supporters and Zionist Jews have deeply personal and negative effects.
Visibly-religious Jews must now make a calculation whether they use public transportation in major US and European cities, lest they be accosted for being openly Jewish.
Israeli and Jewish restaurants have to worry about their stores being vandalized simply because of their heritage.
Pro-Israel students may be denied employment or future educational opportunities by having identified support for Israel on their resume, or because teachers graded them poorly based on their views.
Jewish families may think twice about having a mezuzah on their door or a menorah in their window, for fear of their home being attacked. And any Jew who attends Shabbat services at his synagogue now feels the need to look over his shoulder, or check where the exits are, in case of an active-shooter scenario. (And, of course, there are now armed guards at a large number of synagogues).
Zionist Jews — which, to be clear, are the vast majority of Jews the world over — are put in an even more challenging position when the small minority of anti-Zionist Jews attempt to speak for the Jewish people as a whole, and support those who want to eradicate Israel.
These anti-Zionist Jews have bent the knee to forces that chant genocidal phrases like “From the River to the Sea,” and celebrate Hamas — and sometimes join in the chants.
These anti-Zionist Jews, including groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, believe that they will be spared the same fate as their Zionist brothers and sisters if they provide aid and comfort to terrorist sympathizers.
But the history of the Jewish people has demonstrated time and again that such collaborators will not be spared when the perpetrators of the hate they are supporting inevitably turn on them.
Under this new reality, it is of the utmost importance for Zionist Jews and their allies to do everything in their power to remain present and vocal to prevent the erasure of their place in society.
Mezuzahs should remain on doors, and menorahs in windows. Religious Jews should continue to don their kippahs and tzitzit in public. If and when acts of violence and vandalism occur, the incident should be documented — and the press, police, and politicians should be held accountable via constant engagement and encouragement to prosecute the perpetrators.
Zionist Jews in positions of influence should use their resources to provide scholarships and funding to pro-Israel and Zionist students, so that they can begin their careers, donate to pro-Israel and Zionist political candidates, and fund organizations like mine whose sole focus is to advocate for Israel and the Jewish people.
And for those American Zionist Jews who are legally able, they should strive to meet the requirements for their respective state’s concealed carry weapons permits to become law-abiding firearm owners, in order to ensure that they are able to defend themselves, their families, and their congregations if they are ever violently attacked for being Zionist Jews.
The tide can be turned, and the antisemites and terrorist sympathizers can once again be banished from polite society, when Zionist Jews make clear that they will not be erased.
Micah Quinney Jones is a publishing Adjunct at The MirYam Institute, a US Army veteran, and a pro-Israel advocate. He is a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious Service.
The post A Year Since October 7: The Erasure of Zionist Jews in the Public Square first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Says ‘Counteroffer’ Coming as Talks Stall Over Uranium Enrichment, Sanctions
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran has denounced the latest nuclear proposal from the United States as “unprofessional and untechnical,” reaffirming the country’s right to enrich uranium and announcing plans to present a counteroffer in the coming days.
“After receiving the American proposal regarding the Iranian nuclear program, we are now preparing a counteroffer,” Ali Shamkhnai, political adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Shamkhani criticized the White House draft proposal as “not well thought out,” emphasizing its alleged failure to address sanction relief — a key demand for Tehran under any deal with Washington.
“There is no mention whatsoever of lifting sanctions in the latest American proposal, even though the issue of sanctions is a fundamental matter for Iran,” Shamkhnai said.
The Iranian official also warned that Tehran will not allow the US to dismantle its “peaceful nuclear program” or force uranium enrichment down to zero.
“Iran will never relinquish its natural rights,” Shamkhani said.
Washington’s draft proposal for a new nuclear deal was delivered by Omani officials — who have been mediating negotiations between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff — during last month’s talks in Rome.
On Wednesday, Khamenei dismissed such an offer, saying it “contradicts our nation’s belief in self-reliance” and runs counter to Iran’s key objectives.
“The proposal that the Americans have presented is 100 percent against our interests,” the Iranian leader said during a televised speech.
“The rude and arrogant leaders of America repeatedly demand that we should not have a nuclear program. Who are you to decide whether Iran should have enrichment?” Khamenei continued.
After five rounds of talks, diplomatic efforts have yet to yield results as both adversaries clash over Iran’s demand to maintain its domestic uranium enrichment program — a condition the White House has firmly rejected.
In April, Tehran and Washington held their first official nuclear negotiation since the US withdrew from a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal that had imposed temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief.
Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has sought to curtail Tehran’s potential to develop a nuclear weapon that could spark a regional arms race and pose a threat to Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran seeks to have Western sanctions on its oil-dependent economy lifted, while maintaining its nuclear enrichment program — which the country insists is solely for civilian purposes.
As part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran — which aims to cut the country’s crude exports to zero and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon — Washington has been targeting Tehran’s oil industry with mounting sanctions.
Amid the ongoing diplomatic deadlock, Israel has declared it will never allow the Islamist regime to acquire nuclear weapons, as the country views Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to uphold any agreement that prevents Tehran from enriching uranium.
“But in any case, Israel maintains the right to defend itself from a regime that is threatening to annihilate it,” Netanyahu said in a press conference last month, following reports that Jerusalem could strike Iranian nuclear sites if ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran fail.
The post Iran Rejects US Nuclear Proposal, Says ‘Counteroffer’ Coming as Talks Stall Over Uranium Enrichment, Sanctions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Day After Colorado Attack, Founder of Anti-Israel Group Chides Activists Who Are Insufficiently ‘Pro-Resistance’
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of WithinOurLifetime (WOL), leading a pro-Hamas demonstration in New York City on Aug. 14, 2024. Photo: Michael Nigro via Reuters Connect
Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of the radical anti-Israel organization Within Our Lifetime, chastised those within the pro-Palestinian movement who only support “resistance” in the abstract but not in practice following Sunday’s antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado.
“A lot of people who call themselves anti-Zionist or pro-resistance don’t actually understand what resistance is,” Kiswani posted on X/Twitter on Monday. “They support it in theory, but when it shows up in practice, they hesitate, distance themselves, or shift the conversation entirely.”
She continued, “And it makes it even harder for those of us who are principled to take public stances. We’re already marginalized, already painted as extreme or dangerous and that isolation only deepens when others in the movement won’t stand firm when it counts.”
Kiswani’s comments came the day after a man threw Molotov cocktails at a Boulder gathering where participants were rallying in support of the Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza — which resulted in 15 injuries, including some critically, in what US authorities called a targeted terrorist attack. Her tweets also came less than two weeks after a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they were leaving an at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. In both attacks, the perpetrator yelled “Free Palestine” as they targeted innocent civilians, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
After Kiswani’s social media posts sparked some backlash among pro-Israel users on X, she provided limited pushback on the idea that it was an expression of support for the prior day’s attack in Colorado.
“Zionists are freaking out in the QTs about this, insisting it’s about Colorado,” she wrote. “Newsflash: the world doesn’t revolve around you. Resistance hasn’t stopped in Gaza, look at what just happened in Jabalia [where three IDF soldiers were killed] for instance. The perpetual victimhood is getting old.”
However, Kiswani did not say her comment had no connection to the attack in Colorado, and she did not say that she opposed the firebombing.
Kiswani and her group, Within Our Lifetime (WOL), have been at the forefront of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activism since Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages during their invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a massacre that started the war in Gaza.
On Oct. 8, 2023, one day after the biggest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, WOL organized a protest to celebrate the prior day’s attack, which it described as an effort to “defend the heroic Palestinian resistance.” Kiswani notably refused to condemn Hamas and the Oct. 7 massacre following the atrocities.
Then, in Apil 2024, Kiswani refused to condemn the chant “Death to America” and organized a mass demonstration to block the “arteries of capitalism” by staging a blockade of commercial shipping ports across the world in protest of Western support for the Jewish state. That same month, she was banned from Columbia University’s campus in New York City after leading chants calling for an “intifada,” or violent uprising.
The following month, Kiswani led a demonstration in Brooklyn, New York in which she lambasted the local police department, claimed then-US President Joe Biden will soon die, and called for the destruction of Israel.
That proceeded the activist saying she does not want Zionists “anywhere” in the world while speaking in defense of a person who called for “Zionists” to leave a crowded subway car in New York City.
WOL, which planned a protest last year to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre, was also behind demonstrations at the Nova Music Festival exhibit, which commemorated the more than 300 civilians slaughtered by Hamas while at a music festival.
The latter protest prompted widespread condemnation, including from Biden and even progressive members of the US Congress who are outspoken against Israel.
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for example, posted on social media that the “callousness, dehumanization, and targeting of Jews on display at last night’s protest outside the Nova Festival exhibit was atrocious antisemitism – plain and simple.”
The post Day After Colorado Attack, Founder of Anti-Israel Group Chides Activists Who Are Insufficiently ‘Pro-Resistance’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel’s Defense Exports Hit Record $15 Billion in 2024 Despite European Pressure, Calls for Arms Embargo
Israeli troops on the ground in Gaza. Photo: IDF via Reuters
Israel reached a new all-time high in defense exports in 2024, nearing $15 billion — the fourth consecutive year of record-breaking sales — despite mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza and growing pressure from European countries to suspend arms deals.
In a press release on Wednesday, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that defense exports reached over $14.7 billion last year — a 13 percent increase from 2023 — with more than half of the deals valued at over $100 million.
According to the ministry, Israel’s military exports have more than doubled over the past five years, highlighting the industry’s rapid expansion and growing global demand.
“This tremendous achievement is a direct result of the successes of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and defense industries against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, the Ayatollah regime in Iran, and in additional arenas where we operate against Israel’s enemies,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“The world sees Israeli strength and seeks to be a partner in it. We will continue strengthening the IDF and the Israeli economy through security innovation to ensure clear superiority against any threat – anywhere and anytime,” Katz continued.
In 2024, over half of the Jewish state’s defense contracts were with European countries — up from 35 percent the previous year — as many in the region have increased their defense spending following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Despite increasing pressure and widespread anti-Israel sentiment among European governments amid the current conflict in Gaza, this latest data seems to contradict recent calls by European leaders to impose an arms embargo on the Jewish state over its defensive campaign in Gaza against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
On Wednesday, Germany reversed its earlier threat to halt arms deliveries to Israel, reaffirming its commitment to continue cooperation and maintain defense contracts with Jerusalem.
“Germany will continue to support the State of Israel, including with arms deliveries,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told lawmakers in parliament.
Last week, Berlin warned it would take unspecified measures against Israel if it continued its military campaign in Gaza, citing concerns that exported weapons were being used in violation of humanitarian law.
“Our full support for the right to exist and the security of the State of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip,” Wadephul said in a statement.
Germany would be “examining whether what is happening in the Gaza Strip is compatible with international humanitarian law,” he continued. “Further arms deliveries will be authorized based on the outcome of that review.”
Spain and Ireland are among the countries in Europe that have threatened or taken steps to limit arms deals with Israel, while others such as France have threatened unspecified harsh measures against the Jewish state.
According to the Israeli defense ministry’s report, since the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, the operational successes and proven battlefield performance of Israeli systems have fueled strong international demand for Israel’s defense technology.
Last year, the export of missiles, rockets, and air defense systems reached a new high, making up 48 percent of the total deal volume — up from 36 percent in 2023.
Similarly, satellite and space systems exports surged, accounting for 8 percent of total deals in 2024 — quadrupling their share from 2 percent in 2023.
While Europe dominated Israel’s defense export market in 2024, significant portions also went to other regions. Asia and the Pacific made up 23 percent of total sales — slightly lower than in previous years, when the region approached 30 percent.
Exports to Abraham Accords countries fell to 12 percent, down from 23 percent in 2022, while North America remained stable at around 9 percent.
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