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Assad and Esav Will Be Forgotten — Only the Righteous Will Be Remembered
A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org.
It’s a sight that the world has seen time and again — but somehow, it is a shock each time it happens. A vicious tyrant brought low, his carefully constructed empire crumbling and collapsing under the weight of its own brutality. This week, it happened — and it unfolded before our eyes in real-time.
Bashar al-Assad, the once-dominant ruler of Syria — and son of a father who was the dominant ruler of Syria — appeared untouchable. Despite 13 years of civil war, Assad held onto power, aided and abetted in his authoritarian rule by Iran and Russia, always there to ensure the rebels never seized control.
But history is merciless to those who rule through fear alone.
Like so many despots before him, Assad’s spectacular fall was both inevitable and cautionary, echoing the collapse of countless oppressive regimes in recent history: Ceausescu in Romania, Gaddafi in Libya, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
But Assad’s fate not only echoes these modern fallen tyrants; it also follows a far older script. One could compare him to Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the infamous Fatimid Caliph of Egypt, whose erratic and oppressive rule alienated his people and plunged his reign into chaos, and earned him the title, the “Mad Caliph.”
Ascending the throne in 996 at the tender age of 11, Al-Hakim initially showed promise but quickly descended into a pattern of bizarre and despotic behavior — not unlike Bashar al-Assad, the seemingly gentle and refined ophthalmologist from London who, in 2000, succeeded his father Hafez amid widespread international hope that he would usher in a softer, more progressive era for Syria, only to perpetuate and even amplify his father’s oppressive rule.
Just like Assad, Al-Hakim enforced laws that bewildered and terrorized his subjects. Religious minorities, particularly Christians and Jews, but also Muslims, faced fierce persecution and vicious pogroms, which included the destruction of their places of worship.
Even his own advisors and allies began questioning his sanity as he declared himself a divine figure. In 1021, Al-Hakim mysteriously disappeared, and many believe that he was assassinated by those closest to him.
And what about Al-Musta’sim, the last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, whose complacency in the face of danger ended in the catastrophic Mongol destruction of his capital and his own humiliating death in 1258?
Al-Musta’sim presided over a city once the jewel of the Islamic world. But by his time, the Abbasid Caliphate had been reduced to little more than a shadow of its former glory. The caliph, known for his indecisiveness and weak leadership, grossly underestimated the threat posed by the marauding Mongols, led by Hulagu Khan, who were systematically conquering the surrounding regions.
And the similarities to Assad don’t end there. Despite repeated warnings and opportunities to prepare for an inevitable attack, Al-Musta’sim faltered, failing to muster an adequate defense or seek effective alliances. His arrogance and misplaced confidence in Baghdad’s reputation as an invincible cultural and religious hub left the city exposed.
When the Mongols finally laid siege to Baghdad, they met little resistance, and the ensuing massacre was one of the most devastating and violent in medieval history. Hundreds of thousands of residents were slaughtered, the city’s famed libraries — including the House of Wisdom — were burned, and Baghdad was left in ruins.
As for Al-Musta’sim himself, he was captured by Hulagu, who rolled him up in a carpet and had him trampled to death by horses. His demise marked not only the end of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad but was also a powerful demonstration of the brutal consequences of leadership defined by complacency and miscalculation — not dissimilar to what we saw this week.
But perhaps most evocative of all, in light of what we saw this week, is the story of Boabdil — Abu Abdallah Muhammad XII, the last Muslim Sultan of Granada, who surrendered his kingdom to Spain’s Catholic Monarchs in 1492.
As Boabdil fled into exile, he reportedly stopped on a hillside to look back at his lost realm. Overcome with grief, he began to weep, prompting his mother’s scornful rebuke: “You weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man.”
One wonders if anyone whispered those words or something similar to Assad as he hightailed it to Moscow this week, leaving his country in tatters. Like Boabdil, Assad’s reign ends not with dignity or resolution, but in disgrace, as he leaves Syria shattered and divided, with much of its territory in the hands of Islamic fanatics whose brutality rivals his own.
History’s judgment of Assad will be as unforgiving as that of Boabdil: a ruler whose failures were both inevitable and avoidable and whose legacy is one of ruin.
And yet, as we reflect on the dramatic fall of Assad and the forgotten legacies of tyrants and losers like Al-Hakim, Al-Musta’sim, and Boabdil, we are reminded of a striking passage in the Torah that provides timeless insight into the nature of power and legacy. In Parshat Vayishlach, the Torah lists the names of Esav’s descendants — one “Aluf” after another (Gen. 36:15-43): “Aluf Teiman, Aluf Omar, Aluf Zepho, Aluf Kenaz…”
The Aluf titles imply chieftains, leaders, mighty figures in their time. But the question is inescapable: Why does the Torah dedicate precious space to these forgotten, seemingly irrelevant people? What purpose does this passage serve, recounting a lineage that has no lasting significance?
The answer lies in the Torah’s subtle but profound message about the nature of power. These were individuals who, in their day, seemed mighty and important, wielding authority and commanding respect. People lived or died at their whim. Armies marched, land was conquered, lives were impacted.
And yet their power was fleeting and shallow, rooted purely in conquest and temporal strength. They left behind no meaningful legacy, no enduring contribution to humanity, and no ethical framework by which the world might remember them. Their names survive only as worthless reminders of how empty their power truly was, and how history has erased them from any narrative of significance.
Contrast this with Jacob and his descendants, whose legacy transcends physical power or political dominance. Jacob’s strength — and the enduring legacy of the Jewish people — lies in the covenant with God, the divine ethical rule they uphold, and the moral compass they provide to the world.
While the Alufim of Esav’s lineage have faded into obscurity, their power nothing more than a historical footnote, Jacob’s descendants continue to endure and thrive, making their positive mark wherever they are. Their influence is not measured in fleeting military victories or in their ability to kill or torture those they control, but in the eternal values they represent.
The juxtaposition is striking and deliberate. Bashar al-Assad, like Esav and his descendants, may have controlled territory and wielded the power to kill hundreds of thousands of people, but in the end — he was and is nothing, and his legacy is nothing.
The power of the Esavs and the Assads, no matter how overwhelming it may be in their day, is hollow when measured against the enduring values of justice, compassion, and faith. Ultimately, it is not the Alufim of the world who are remembered, but those who commit themselves to something far greater than themselves. Such people are recalled forever, and their deeds are remembered and valued for eternity.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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Kosher Restaurant in Madrid Targeted in Arson Attempt
People demonstrate in the city of Santander, Spain, under the motto ‘Let’s stop the genocide in Gaza,’ on Jan. 20, 2024. Photo: Joaquin Gomez Sastre/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
A kosher restaurant in central Madrid was targeted in an attempted arson attack, prompting a police investigation, as Spain continues to face a rise in antisemitic incidents since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023.
On Tuesday night, an unknown individual entered the Rimmon Kosher restaurant in the Spanish capital and “sprayed a liquid with a strong gasoline smell on the entrance, intending to set fire and burn down the premises,” according to a joint statement from the Jewish Community of Madrid (CJM) and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE).
Before the police arrived, the attacker fled the scene. However, the restaurant staff’s quick response prevented the fire from being lit.
In a press release on Wednesday, CJM and FCJE condemned the foiled attack as “an antisemitic act aimed at causing harm, targeting public spaces frequented by the Jewish community, and terrorizing its members.”
“This is an act driven by hatred, with a vile and brutal intent, that threatens coexistence, freedom, and tolerance — values that have always defined the citizens of Madrid,” the statement continued.
Comunicado de la Comunidad Judía de Madrid ante el intento de incendio del restaurante Rimmon Kosher de Madrid. pic.twitter.com/SESEm9J8ay
— Comunidad Judía de Madrid (@cjm_es) March 5, 2025
As of now, a police investigation is underway, with authorities focused on tracking down the perpetrator and determining the motive behind their actions.
“We hope the perpetrator’s identity will be determined soon and that this person will be arrested quickly,” CJM and FCJE addedt. “In the meantime, we are ready to cooperate with the authorities and the restaurant owners in any way needed.”
The Israeli Embassy in Spain also condemned Tuesday’s attack on the kosher restaurant, near the main synagogue, and expressed full support for the staff, owners, and customers of the establishment, as well as solidarity with the Jewish community of Madrid.
“We are facing yet another case that shows how hate-inciting rhetoric leads to violence,” the embassy posted on X/Twitter. “We fully trust that the authorities will act decisively to prevent violent and antisemitic incidents from recurring in Spain.”
La Embajada de Israel en España condena enérgicamente el ataque perpetrado contra un restaurante casher en Madrid, próximo a la sinagoga principal.
Expresamos nuestro total apoyo al personal, propietarios y clientes del establecimiento, así como nuestra solidaridad con la… pic.twitter.com/4jTqZLq6CH
— Israel en España
(@IsraelinSpain) March 5, 2025
Since Hamas started the Gaza war with its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Spain has been a fierce critic of the Jewish state.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, Spain halted arms shipments from its own defense companies to Israel and launched a diplomatic campaign to curb the country’s military response. At the same time, several Spanish ministers in the country’s left-wing coalition government issued pro-Hamas statements and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with some falsely accusing Israel of “genocide.”
More recently, Spanish officials said they would not allow ships carrying arms for Israel to stop at its ports. In response, the US Federal Maritime Commission opened an investigation into whether Spain, a NATO ally, has been denying port entry to cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Jerusalem.
Additionally, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged other members of the European Union to suspend the bloc’s free trade agreement with Israel over its military campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In May, Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state, claiming the move was accelerated by the Israel-Hamas war and would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli officials described the decision as a “reward for terrorism.”
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‘Failure’: Larry Summers Slams Harvard University’s Response to Campus Antisemitism
Demonstrators take part in an “Emergency Rally: Stand With Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza,” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, Oct. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Former Harvard University president Larry Summers said on Monday that the administration’s response to campus antisemitism remains unsatisfactory, echoing the concerns of Jewish civil rights activists who continue to demand progress from the Ivy League institution.
“Harvard continues its failure to effectively address antisemitism,” Summers posted on the X/Twitter social media platform. “Despite [current Harvard president Alan Garber’s] clear and strong personal moral commitment, he has lacked the will and/or leverage to effect the necessary large-scale change, and the Corporation has been ineffectual.”
The Harvard Corporation is the university’s highest governing body.
Summers went on to list several outrages to which Harvard has subjected its Jewish and pro-Israel students and faculty during this academic year — including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) holding a panel on Israel’s military actions against terrorist groups in Lebanon in which antisemitic tropes were promoted, Dean Marla Frederick’s denouncing Israel’s founding as the nakba, and the university’s antisemitism task force keeping a professor who has downplayed the severity of Jew-hatred on campus as one of its members.
Summers noted as well that Harvard’s antisemitism task force, which a US federal lawmaker accused of being a farce contrived to manipulate the public’s opinion of the university, has not yet issued a final report containing its findings or recommendations for new policies for dealing with the issue despite having convened over a year ago.
“It is by the way shocking, and I think outrageous, that months after Harvard’s abject failures after Oct. 7, the task force hasn’t even reached a conclusion,” Summers continued. “Nor is there yet a basis for confidence that disruptions will be met with disciplinary consequences, especially in a number of professional schools that are redoubts of the far left.”
Harvard continues its failure to effectively address antisemitism.
Despite President Garber’s clear and strong personal moral commitment, he has lacked the will and/or leverage to effect the necessary large scale change, and the Corporation has been ineffectual.
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) March 4, 2025
Summers’ statements come amid a challenging moment in the history of Harvard University, America’s oldest and arguably most prestigous institution of higher education. Since Hamas’s invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Harvard has seen its law school student government issue a resolution which falsely accused Israel of genocide; its students quote terrorists during an “Apartheid Week” event held in April; and dozens of its students and faculty participated in an illegal pro-Hamas encampment attended by members of a group that had shared an antisemitic cartoon. Additionally, many Harvard students openly cheered Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, which included sexual assault and child abduction, and a mob led by the president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review followed, surrounded, and intimidated a Jewish student, screaming “Shame! Shame! Shame!” into his ears.
After these incidents and more, Harvard fought tooth and nail to discredit lawsuits which alleged that its response to campus antisemitism amounted to the enabling of discriminatory behavior which violates federal civil rights law. Harvard eventually settled multiple complaints out of court, but at least one plaintiff, Harvard alumnus Shabbos Kestenbaum, refused to be a party to the agreements, arguing that they allowed the university to evade accountability for its alleged inaction.
Summers and Kestenbaum aren’t Harvard’s only critics in the Jewish community. On Monday, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a “Campus Report Card” in which Harvard’s antisemitism policies were given a “C” grade. ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement accompanying the report that every school assessed by the organization should have received an “A.”
“I said it last year, and I’ll say it again: every single campus should get an ‘A.’ This isn’t a high bar — this should be standard,” Greenblatt explained. “While many campuses have improved in ways that are encouraging and commendable, Jewish students still do not feel safe or included on too many campuses. The progress we’ve seen is evidence that change is possible — all university leaders should focus on addressing these very real challenges with real action.”
US President Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to crack down on campus antisemitism and pro-Hamas activity across the US.
In January, he issued a highly anticipated executive order aimed at combating campus antisemitism and holding pro-terror extremists accountable for the harassment of Jewish students, fulfilling a promise he made while campaigning for a second term in office.
Continuing work started during his first administration — when Trump issued Executive Order 13899 to ensure that civil rights law apply equally Jews — the “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism” calls for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.” The order also requires each government agency to write a report explaining how it can be of help in carrying out its enforcement.
Additionally, it initiates a full review of the explosion of campus antisemitism on US colleges across the country after Oct. 7, 2023, a convulsive moment in American history to which the previous presidential administration struggled to respond during the final year and a half of its tenure.
On Tuesday, Trump vowed to suspend federal funding to any educational institution that refuses to quell riotous demonstrations, a punitive measure which would fulfill his administration’s pledge to crack down on campus antisemitism and the pro-Hamas activists fostering it.
“All federal funding will stop for any college, school, or university that allows illegal protests,” Trump said in a statement posted on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded in 2022. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested.”
He continued, “No masks! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Second Australian Nurse Charged Over Viral Video Threatening to Kill Israeli Patients
Members of the Jewish community and supporters gather for a protest rally against rising antisemitism at Martin Place in Sydney, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: AAP Image/Steven Saphore via Reuters Connect
An Australian nurse working in a Sydney hospital has been arrested and charged after a viral video captured him making threats, stating he would refuse to treat Israeli patients and instead kill them.
This latest legal step comes as law enforcement works to combat a surge in antisemitic incidents across Australia, which the country’s spy chief has called his agency’s top priority.
After the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, several Jewish sites in Australia have been relentlessly targeted with vandalism and even arson, especially in the past few months. In response, a New South Wales (NSW) police task force, Strike Force Pearl, was established to address the wave of hate crimes and rising antisemitism.
On Tuesday night, 27-year-old Ahmed Rashid Nadir was arrested and charged with federal offenses, including using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offense, as well as possession of a prohibited drug, NSW Police said in a statement.
The arrest follows an incident at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney, in which Nadir and his fellow nurse, Sarah Abu Lebdeh, were seen in an online video posing as doctors and making inflammatory statements during a night-shift discussion with Israeli influencer Max Veifer.
The footage, which circulated widely, showed Lebdeh stating she would refuse to treat an Israeli patient and instead kill them, while Nadir used a throat-slitting gesture and claimed to have already killed many.
“It’s Palestine’s country, not your country, you piece of s—t,” Lebdeh told Veifer.
“One day your time will come, and you will die the most disgusting death,” she added in a sentence riddled with obscenities.
Last week, 26-year-old Lebdeh was arrested and charged with similar federal offenses, including threatening violence against a group and using a carriage service to threaten, menace, and harass, with a conviction potentially leading to up to 22 years in prison.
After reviewing patient records, the hospital found no evidence that Lebdeh or Nadir had harmed patients.
NSW’s Health Minister Ryan Park confirmed that both nurses had been suspended and would be permanently barred from employment within the state’s health system.
According to the NSW Police statement, both Lebdeh and Nadir were released on bail and are set to appear in court on March 19. Lebdeh has been prohibited from leaving Australia and using social media while her case proceeds.
The incident is one of the latest in a surge of antisemitic acts across Australia since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October 2023, with Jewish institutions targeted in arson attacks and businesses defaced.
Law enforcement in Sydney and Melbourne, home to the majority of Australia’s Jewish population, is actively investigating hate crimes, including the recent discovery of a trailer containing explosives and a list of potential Jewish targets.
Since the formation of Strike Force Pearl, the task force to combat antisemitism, in December, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb reported that 15 people have been arrested, and 78 charges have been filed.
“I must commend the work Strike Force Pearl detectives are doing to investigate, charge, and put these individuals before the courts,” Webb said in a statement. “There is a tremendous amount of dedication and hard work going into all these investigations.”
Last month, dozens of Australia’s leading Muslim groups and individuals defended the two nurses, accusing their critics of “hypocrisy” and “double standards and moral manipulation” in an open letter.
“This statement is not about defending inappropriate remarks. It is about pushing back against the double standards and moral manipulation at play while the mass killing of our brothers and sisters in Gaza is met with silence, dismissal, or complicity,” the letter said.
In response to the ongoing spike in antisemitism, Australia passed a new slate of hate crime laws last month which would, among other measures, imprison those who make terror threats or perform Nazi salutes.
In a Senate committee hearing last week, Mike Burgess, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), the country’s domestic intelligence agency, said that antisemitism is now the agency’s top priority.
“In terms of threats to life, [antisemitism is] my agency’s number one priority because of the weight of incidents we’re seeing play out in this country,” Burgess told the Senate. “Antisemitism and significant antisemitism acts are prominent in our investigation caseload at this point in time.”
In a recent 2025 threat assessment declassified by ASIO, Burgess warned that the surge in antisemitic attacks across Australia could escalate, as extremists are increasingly self-radicalizing and “choose their own adventure” toward potential terrorist activity.
“Threats transitioned from harassment and intimidation to specific targeting of Jewish communities, places of worship, and prominent figures,” he said. “I am concerned these attacks have not yet plateaued.”
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