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As Certain as Death and Taxes: The Unyielding Persistence of Antisemitism
In November 1789, as he neared the end of his life, Benjamin Franklin penned a letter to the French scientist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy; Franklin was concerned after not hearing from him since the start of the French Revolution just a few months earlier.
Le Roy, known for his work in physics and as a pioneer in the field of electricity, was an esteemed member of the French Academy of Sciences, and a significant Enlightenment-era figure.
Franklin, writing in French, inquired about Le Roy’s health and the situation in Paris over the previous year. He then provided a brief update on the major developments in the United States, mentioning the recent ratification of the US Constitution and the formation of a new government. “Our new Constitution is now established,” he wrote, “[and] everything seems to promise it will be durable.” Although, as he noted wryly, “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
As was often the case with Franklin’s pithy one-liners later attributed exclusively to him — his “death and taxes” observation was not original. It first appeared in The Cobbler of Preston, a 1716 comedy play by English playwright Christopher Bullock, with the main character, Toby Guzzle, uttering the immortal line: “’tis impossible to be sure of anything but death and taxes.”
In any event, it is Franklin’s adaptation of Bullock’s quote that stood the test of time, and the quote has become synonymous with his name. Nevertheless, it has often struck me that what is missing in both Bullock’s original and Franklin’s reiteration is the one other certainty in the world — no less persistent and undoubtedly as permanent as death and taxes — namely, antisemitism.
Antisemitism has permeated societies for centuries. It has transcended geographical boundaries and historical epochs. From medieval Europe to the modern world, from the dusty provinces of the Ottoman Empire to the incendiary pages of Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent periodical, from the evil rhetoric of Adolf Hitler to the paranoid theories of Josef Stalin, antisemitism has proven incredibly resilient and pervasive, and it has cast a long shadow evident to this day.
The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote and spoke frequently about antisemitism. As he explained: “Antisemitism is not a unitary phenomenon, a coherent belief or ideology. Jews have been hated because they were rich and because they were poor; because they were capitalists and because they were communists; because they believed in tradition and because they were rootless cosmopolitans; because they kept to themselves and because they penetrated everywhere. Antisemitism is not a belief but a virus. The human body has an immensely sophisticated immune system which develops defenses against viruses. It is penetrated, however, because viruses mutate. Antisemitism mutates.”
But as Rabbi Sacks observed, antisemitism has adapted and evolved over time, morphing into many different forms, even as it always retained its destructive core.
In its latest mutation, the cause of antisemitism is the Jewish people’s unshakeable love for and devotion to Israel, the sovereign country of the Jews, established after almost two millennia of bitter exile in their ancestral homeland — the land cited in the hallowed pages of the Hebrew Scriptures as God’s bequest to the Jewish people.
Today, criticism of Israel has become the primary vehicle for antisemitism. And while the right to critique any nation’s policies is fundamental to democratic principles, it has become clear that anti-Israel sentiment and activism has veered, or more likely been deliberately directed, into the dangerous territory of bigoted, unbridled Jew-hatred. In polite company, no one will ever admit to hating Jews; instead, antisemites freely admit to hating Israel and Zionists, and indeed anyone who refuses to condemn Israel and call for its downfall (in other words, the vast majority of the world’s Jews).
Over the past few days, this façade was fully exposed for what it is in Los Angeles, at UCLA. After an illegal pro-Palestinian encampment was set up on the campus last Thursday, Eli Tsives, a 19-year-old theater and film major, attempted to attend a class. He was immediately obstructed by several students wearing keffiyehs and face masks. Despite showing his student ID and requesting access, Tsives, who was wearing a Star of David necklace, found his path firmly blocked by the group. Tsives is not Israeli, nor is the Star of David an exclusively Israeli symbol. Rather, it is a universally recognized Jewish symbol. This was enough for Tsives to be denied access to his class.
Jewish UCLA students have told me that they are frightened to walk around with yarmulkes and with their tzitzit visible. Last Sunday, in a big show of support for UCLA students, the LA community came out in force to show solidarity with Israel on the UCLA campus. The pro-Palestinian rabble — all of them cloaked in the keffiyehs that have become the mark of this latest manifestation of Jew-hatred — looked uncomfortable with the Jewish community’s unashamed, unadulterated love for Israel. And over the past couple of days, after confrontations between the illegal protesters and pro-Israel counter-protesters predictably descended into violence, the Los Angeles police finally came on campus to dismantle the unlawful encampment and to arrest the agitators who set it up and refused to leave.
The challenge ahead for American Jews is formidable, particularly in the post-October 7th landscape. The response to this crisis will not only shape the future of Jewish community life in America, but it will also reflect the moral integrity of our nation. The fight against antisemitism is a fight for the soul of America. All Americans must stand in solidarity with Jews against hate, and champion the values of understanding and tolerance.
This Shabbat, Jews across the world will read the Torah portion of Acharei Mot, which includes the detailed rituals for the Yom Kippur service. The Day of Atonement is a profound opportunity for introspection and self-reflection, calling upon individuals and communities to recognize their shortcomings and seek forgiveness. In the spirit of Yom Kippur, American Jews must reflect on the complacency that has allowed us to believe antisemitism was no longer a significant threat. Recent events have shattered that illusion, revealing a disturbing resurgence of bigotry that demands a collective response.
Yet, we are not alone. Many of our fellow Americans are horrified by recent developments and will stand with us. As Rabbi Sacks so tellingly declared: “Jews cannot fight antisemitism alone. The victim cannot cure the crime, and the hated cannot cure the hate.” He added: “Antisemitism begins with Jews, but it never ends with them. A world without room for Jews is one that has no room for difference. And a world that lacks space for difference lacks space for humanity itself.”
And while the scourge of antisemitism may be as certain as death and taxes, this doesn’t excuse us from fighting back. We stave off death by staying healthy, and our accountants work hard to ensure we only pay the taxes we owe, and no more. It is time for us to stand up to antisemitism, to call it out for what it is, and to fight it with all our might.
The United States was the first country in human history to treat Jews as equals, allowing them to practice their faith without hindrance. It is time for our country to reclaim this glorious legacy, and to ensure that the tendrils of hate do not overwhelm the very essence of what made this country the greatest nation on earth.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post As Certain as Death and Taxes: The Unyielding Persistence of Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Lawmakers React to Murder of Israeli Embassy Employees in Washington
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a press conference in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, April 23, 2024. Photo: Annabelle Gordon / CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
In the aftermath of the murders of two Israeli embassy employees, US lawmakers have rushed to issue statements condemning the shooting and offering condolences to the families of the victims.
Two Israeli embassy workers were brutally slain Wednesday night in Washington, DC, in what authorities are investigating as a targeted attack. The victims — Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim — were shot while exiting an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) at the Capital Jewish Museum. Lischinsky and Milgrim were also a couple, and Lischinsky planned to propose marriage to Milgrim soon, according to Israeli officials. The suspected murderer, Elias Rodriguez, was recorded screaming “free, free Palestine” as he was taken into custody by officers.
Lawmakers from across the ideological spectrum immediately condemned the murder of Lischinsky and Milgrim.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), one of the most strident supporters of Israel in Congress, repudiated the attacks and argued that pro-Hamas protesters that utter phrases such as “globalize the intifada” embolden acts of terror against Jews.
“When you repeat slogans like ‘globalize the intifada,’ you are inciting violence against Jews in the United States and around the world,” Torres said.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) posted on social media that the shooting is “unbelievable and appears to be a targeted, antisemitic attack.”
“My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of those who died or were injured in this senseless violence,” Fetterman continued.
Leo Terrell — head of the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a newly formed unit within the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — wrote that the shooting “reflects a systemic crisis of antisemitism — seen in the shooter’s hatred, the failure to enforce hate crime statutes, the institutions that helped shape him, and the media narratives that normalize or excuse antisemitism.”
Rep. Pramilla Jayapal (D-WA), a progressive and vocal critic of Israel, wrote that the murders of the Israeli embassy employees represent “senseless, unacceptable violence.”
“I condemn it absolutely. Antisemitism is wrong. Full stop. My heart goes out to all those affected,” Jayapal wrote.
Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), shared a picture of Milgrim and revealed that he met her two weeks before her assassination.
“I just met Sarah two weeks ago in my office at EPA HQ. She struck me as a young woman filled with life and positivity. Heartbroken to learn she was one of two tragically murdered last night by a Jew-hating radical screaming ‘Free Palestine.’” Zeldin wrote.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Democratic Senate leader, argued that the shooting reflects the rising surge of antisemitism across the country.
“This sickening shooting seems to be another horrific instance of antisemitism which as we know is all too rampant in our society,” Schumer said. “I’m praying for those who were killed, all those affected, and their families.”
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) wrote that she will “continue to work to push back against antisemitism, and we must all disavow these violent, hateful, antisemitic murders.”
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) added that “this attack must be strongly condemned.”
“Having worked in diplomacy and in embassies abroad before, I am further disgusted by the targeting of embassy personnel on American soil. My heart goes out to the families of the victims, the Israeli embassy staff, the American Jewish Committee who hosted the event, and others who were present,” Kim said.
Some of the most strident critics of Israel in the US Congress expressed sympathy for the victims and condemned their murder.
“The murder of two Israeli embassy staff outside an [American Jewish Committee] event in DC is unconscionable and unacceptable. Our freedoms and our destinies are truly tied. I’m praying for the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) wrote.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), another vocal critic of Israel, said she was “appalled” by the Wednesday night murders.
“I am appalled by the deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum last night,” she said. “Holding the victims, their families, and loved ones in my thoughts and prayers. Violence should have no place in our country.”
Omar has come under immense criticism for her anti-Israel rhetoric. The lawmaker has called for an arms embargo to be placed on Israel and declared the Jewish state’s defensive military operations in Gaza a “genocide.” She has also claimed that Jewish colleges students who support Israel are “pro-genocide.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a lawmaker who has condemned the ongoing war in Gaza, wrote that he is “appalled by the vile attack on those attending an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, that has taken the lives of 2 Israeli Embassy aides. I’m praying for them & their loved ones.”
“This is a horrific act of violence and antisemitism & the perpetrator must be brought to justice,” Van Hollen continued.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that “absolutely nothing justifies the murder of innocents.”
“I am devastated by the killing of two people outside an [American Jewish Committee] event here in Washington. Our prayers are with the victims, families, and loved ones of all impacted,” she added.
Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most prominent progressives in Congress, has sharpened her criticisms of Israel in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. She condemned Israel’s response as “genocide” and has called for an arms embargo to be placed on the Jewish state.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian American in Congress, also said her “heart breaks” for the two victims of the shooting.
“My heart breaks for the loved ones of the victims of last night’s attack in DC. Nobody deserves such terrible violence. Everyone in our communities deserves to live in safety and in peace,” Tlaib wrote.
Tlaib’s conduct in the months following the Hamas-led massacre throughout Israel has incensed Jewish communities across the country. The progressive firebrand was slow to condemn the Oct. 7 massacre. However, she was among the first lawmakers to condemn Israel’s response and declare their military operations a “genocide.” She has called for sanctions and a full arms embargo to be placed on the Jewish state. Moreover, she has served as a distinguished guest and speaker at multiple conferences that hosted members of terrorist groups.
The post US Lawmakers React to Murder of Israeli Embassy Employees in Washington first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Threatens to Relocate Nuclear Material, Blame US for Potential Israeli Strike Ahead of Rome Talks
USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, Sept. 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Iran on Thursday warned it would hold the United States responsible for any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities, following reports that Israel could strike Iranian nuclear sites if ongoing negotiations between Washington and the Islamic regime fail.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the United Nations threatening to relocate Iran’s nuclear material to undisclosed sites to safeguard it from a possible Israeli military strike.
“Iran strongly warns against any adventurism by the Israeli Zionist regime and will respond decisively to any threats or unlawful actions by this regime,” the letter read.
“We also believe that if any attack is carried out against the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Israeli regime, the US government will be complicit and bear legal responsibility,” the top Iranian diplomat wrote.
In a letter to the UN SG & UNSC, Iran’s Foreign Minister warned of catastrophic consequences after alarming reports emerged quoting U.S. sources that the Zionist regime of Israel is preparing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities and sites. He urged an urgent, decisive response & a… pic.twitter.com/SEo1BEJwgw
— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) May 22, 2025
If Tehran moves its nuclear material to undisclosed locations, it could derail ongoing negotiations by denying the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — which has sought to maintain access to monitor the country’s nuclear program — the ability to conduct crucial inspections.
Araghchi’s latest remarks came amid escalating tensions ahead of this week’s renewed negotiations between the US and Iran in Europe.
This week, CNN and Axios reported that Israel is preparing for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities if talks between Washington and Tehran collapse in the coming weeks.
In a statement on X, Araghchi warned that if the international community fails to take “preventive measures” against Israel, Iran would be compelled to take “special measures in defense of [the country’s] nuclear facilities and materials.”
Threats from the rogue Israeli regime are nothing new. But the recent leak citing US officials as divulging Israeli plans for an unlawful attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities is alarming and warrants immediate and serious condemnation from the UN Security Council and the…
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) May 22, 2025
After concluding their fourth round of nuclear talks in Oman last weekend, Araghchi and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff are set to hold a fifth round of negotiations in Rome on Friday, with Oman’s foreign minister serving as mediator.
So far, diplomatic efforts have stalled over Iran’s demand to maintain its domestic uranium enrichment program — a condition the White House has firmly rejected.
“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability,” Witkoff said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected US demands to halt uranium enrichment as “excessive and outrageous,” warning that the talks are unlikely to yield results.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Tehran has no viable “Plan B” should the current nuclear negotiations fail, according to a senior Iranian official.
While the Iranian diplomat said the country’s strategy would include strengthening ties with allies like Russia and China, neither Beijing nor Moscow can be counted on as fully reliable partners, given Beijing’s trade war with Washington and Russia’s focus on the war in Ukraine.
Ahead of Friday’s talks in Rome, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to uphold any agreement that prevents Iran from enriching uranium and obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“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.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, described negotiations with the White House as “difficult,” accusing Washington of not adhering to any “conventional diplomatic norms” and contradictory actions.
“Imposing sanctions while claiming to pursue a diplomatic path with the Islamic Republic of Iran is itself evidence of their lack of seriousness and goodwill,” the Iranian diplomat said in a statement.
“This reality proves that American policymakers maintain a hostile attitude toward the Iranian people, and their claims of commitment to dialogue and diplomacy should not be taken seriously,” Baghaei continued.
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.
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.
The post Iran Threatens to Relocate Nuclear Material, Blame US for Potential Israeli Strike Ahead of Rome Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Globalize the Intifada’: Scholars Link DC Murder of Israeli Embassy Aides to Campus Antisemitism, Incitement
Members of the group Misaskim clean blood off the ground where two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, May 22, 2025. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein via Reuters Connect.
Rampant antisemitism and anti-Israel activism on university campuses helped lay the groundwork for Wednesday night’s fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers leaving a Jewish event in Washington, DC, according to experts who spoke with The Algemeiner.
Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, a couple about to become engaged, were murdered as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum for young professionals and diplomatic staff hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old left-wing and anti-Israel activist from Chicago, was charged on Thursday in US federal court with murdering the Israeli embassy aides. According to witnesses and federal agents, he chanted, “Free, Free Palestine” — a war cry that has been a staple of the pro-Hamas movement on campuses across the US. An affidavit filed by federal authorities in support of the criminal complaint charging Rodriguez revealed that he also said at the scene of the shooting, “I did it for Palestine; I did it for Gaza.”
On Thursday, a Middle East scholar and the executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Asaf Romirowsky, who is Jewish, told The Algemeiner that Rodriguez’s alleged crimes can be linked to higher education’s normalizing of antisemitism.
“Last night’s heinous acts by Elias Rodriguez once again show how normalized antisemitism has become, being tolerated and institutionalized in our universities and media for decades,” Romirowsky explained. “Words have meaning and consequences and there is a reason why slogans used on campus calling for ‘resistance,’ ‘globalize the intifada,’ and ‘Free Palestine,’ are actionable Islamist terroristic commands synonymous to how the perpetrators of 10/7 [Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel] acted.”
He added, “There is no surprise that within hours after the murders he received praise from Moustafa Bayram, a member of Hezbollah.”
Esteemed Jewish scholar Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, founder and executive director of antisemitism watchdog AMCHA Initiative, noted that in the days leading up to the shooting, pro-Hamas campus groups called on their supporters to “escalate” their conduct.
“They give us no choice,” a campus group which calls itself Columbia University Apartheid Divesthttps://www.algemeiner.com/2025/04/01/meta-boots-anti-zionist-columbia-university-group-instagram/ wrote in a Substack email blast shared on Wednesday morning, some 12 hours before the murders. “We will continue to disrupt the imperialist system that thrives on bloodshed and exploitation … We can disrupt and bring these rotten institutions to their graves.”
CUAD was preceded by other activists whose rhetoric portrayed Israel and the Jews who live there as evil.
On Saturday, a graduating George Washington University senior, Cecilia Culver, accused Israel of targeting Palestinians “simply for [their] remaining in the country of their ancestors” and said that GW students are passive contributors to the “imperialist system.” An economics and statistics major, Culver went on to charge that the university has “blood on its hands.”
Similar remarks were uttered during New York University’s commencement ceremony for the Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
“I want to say that the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been live streamed to our phones for the past 18 months,” said Logan Rozos, who presented administrators with a false draft of his speech, leaving them unaware of his intention to promote notions frequently trafficked by neo-Nazis and jihadist terror groups. “I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide.”
The connection between the incidents is undeniable, Rossman-Benjamin told The Algemeiner.
“The missing link between the commencement speeches and the shooter’s action is the CUAD bulletin, and its call to ‘escalate,’ which the commencement speakers and shooter each did in their own way,” she said. “What we also understand is that the shooter apparently claimed, ‘The action [killing] would have been morally justified taken 11 years ago.’” Around 11 years ago is when he would be 19 years old, around the time he was at UIC [the University of Illinois Chicago]. It could be where he became radicalized.”
Domestic terrorism may be the end game for the over 150 pro-Hamas groups operating on colleges campuses and elsewhere across the US to foster anti-Israel demonstrations, according to a September 2024 report published by the Capital Research Center (CRC) think tank.
“The movement contains militant elements pushing it toward a wider, more severe campaign focused on property destruction and violence properly described as domestic terrorism,” researcher Ryan Mauro wrote in the report, titled “Marching Toward Violence: The Domestic Anti-Israeli Protest Movement.” “It demands the ‘dismantlement’ of America’s ‘colonialist,’ ‘imperialist,’ or ‘capitalist,’ system, often calling for the US to be abolished as a country.”
He continued, “These revolutionary goals are held by the two different factions of the anti-Israel extremist groups. The first faction combines Islamists, communists/Marxists, and anarchists. The second faction consists of groups with white supremacist/nationalist ideologies. They share Jew-hatred, anti-Americanism, and the goal of sparking a revolutionary uprising.”
The group most responsible for the anti-Israel protest movement is Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), according to the report.
Drawing on statements issued and actions taken by SJP and their collaborators, Mauro made the case that toolkits published by SJP herald Hamas for perpetrating mass casualties of civilians; SJP has endorsed Iran’s attacks on Israel as well as its stated intention to overturn the US-led world order; and other groups under its umbrella have called on followers to “Bring the Intifada Home.” Such activities, the report explained, accelerated after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, which pro-Hamas groups perceived as an inflection point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an opportunity. By flooding the internet and college campuses with agitprop and staging activities — protests or vandalisms — they hoped to manufacture a critical mass of youth support for their ideas, thus creating an army of revolutionaries willing to adopt Hamas’s aims as their own.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Globalize the Intifada’: Scholars Link DC Murder of Israeli Embassy Aides to Campus Antisemitism, Incitement first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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