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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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George Washington University Apologizes After Graduation Speaker Attacks Israel
Pro-Hamas George Washington University graduates walk out during President Ellen Granberg’s commencement address on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on May 18, 2025. Photo: Probal Rashid via Reuters Connect.
George Washington University (GW) has apologized to its campus community over an incident in which a student delivering a graduation speech attacked Israel.
During the speech, a student 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.”
The student, an economics and statistics major, deceived administrators who selected her to address the Columbian College of the Arts and Sciences ceremony, the university said in a statement issued after the remark circulated on social media.
“The student speaker chose to stray from their prepared remarks, which were materially different when previously reviewed by school leadership,” the university said in a statement. “We are also aware that some students unfurled signs brought under their graduation gowns, despite clear guidance to the contrary. The students’ remarks and signs do not reflect the views of the university.”
It continued, “We apologize to the graduates and families in attendance that their time of special celebration was disrupted. We are investigating this matter immediately, including whether event protocols were followed property and whether the students’ actions violated the Code of Conduct.”
“I am ashamed to know my tuition is being used to fund genocide,” the student said during the speech. “Every year, the cost of attending this university increases without a corresponding improvement in the facilities and resources provided to students, staff, and faculty. Instead, our money is put into the pockets of those who unequivocally prove time and time again they do not care about the students and faculty that [sic] create this university’s prestigious university [sic].”
During the remarks, the master of ceremonies, gender and sexuality professor Dr. Kavita Daiya, appeared elated and thanked the student, Cecilia Culver, for “sharing your words and your views.”
GW student Sabrina Soffer, who also walked with her peers on Saturday to celebrate the completion of undergraduate study, told The Algemeiner on Monday that the graduation speaker should be sanctioned by the university for spreading antisemitic viewpoints that were once relegated to the darkest corners of the internet but have since become respectable in higher education.
“She spoke the rhetoric of a true antisemite, warranting the withholding of her degree as happened at [New York University], which unambiguously refused to confer a degree to a student who pulled a similar stunt,” Soffer said during an interview. “She should be forced to make a public apology as a condition of receiver her diploma.”
Soffer, who has spent the last four years leading the pro-Israel movement on GW’s campus, added that she believes the commencement incident is emblematic of a larger issue on campus.
“I’ve personally been trying to help the university address its antisemitism problem since I became a student here, and I’ve received much lip service and kind words that never translated into action. This was an example of that — a complete lack of accountability effectiveness in the enactment of policy.”
End Jew Hatred (EJH), a Jewish civil rights group based in New York City, added: “Culver’s speech devalues the diploma she and her classmates earned, giving the public reason to question whether George Washington’s degrees are worth the paper they are printed on, in light of its abject failure to teach basic facts and correct such blatantly false statements. It’s not just Culver, it’s the people who applauded her performance instead of condemning it. George Washington’s failure to educate, let alone enforce its policies, is enough to give both employers and prospective students pause.”
The conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year has seen other attempts to place anti-Zionism at the center of the public’s attention.
On Wednesday, a New York University senior delivered a commencement speech teeming with antisemitic tropes after lying to the administration about its content, prompting it to withhold his degree and issue an apology.
“NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today — one of over 20 school graduation ceremonies across our campus — to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views,” university spokesman John Beckman said in a statement. “He lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules. The university is withholding his diploma while we pursue disciplinary actions.”
He continued, “NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him.”
A group of pro-Hamas students at Yale University recently vowed to starve themselves inside an administrative building until such time as officials agree to their demands that the university’s endowment be divested of any ties to Israel as well as companies that do business with it. However, Yale officials are refusing to meet with the students, who have been told that their demonstration is “in violation of university policy.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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‘Total B.S.’: US Lawmaker Brian Mast Rips Rumors of Trump-Netanyahu ‘Rift’
US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, US, April 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
US Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) asserted Monday that there was “no rift” between US President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Total BS,” Mast said, “There’s no rift. We’re having serious conversations to bring the world to a different place than where it’s been before.”
Mast continued, arguing that the current negotiations to include Syria—a country which Israel has long had negative relations with—in the Abraham accords exemplifies the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting Israel.
Former President Donald Trump has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the ongoing war in Gaza, adding tension to a once-close relationship. Reports say Trump has privately criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict, expressing concern that the prolonged military campaign is damaging Israel’s global image and endangering the lives of the remaining hostages. .Trump, who has long prided himself on his strong support for Israel, is said to view the war as an unnecessary political liability, and has been privately urginging Netanyahu to cut a ceasefire and hostage deal with the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.
Rumors of faltering relations between Israel and the US intensified after the White House declined to visit the Jewish state during Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East. Furthernore,, the Trump administration brokered an agreement with the Houthi terrorist group, bypassing Israel entirely. The move, aimed at de-escalating regional tensions and protecting Red Sea shipping lanes, has raised eyebrows among U.S. allies, with some viewing it as a sign of Trump’s growing impatience with Israeli leadership amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Mast also dismissed notions that Israel has experienced a significant amount of support among conservatives, gesturing to the successful passage of an International Criminal Court (ICC) sanctions bill through the House of Representatives, touting “unanimous” support among Republicans. The bill ultimately failed on the Senate floor due to a lack of support from Democratic lawmakers.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), one of the most strident supporters of Israel in Congress, also praised Trump’s support of Israel while in office.
“I don’t know if there’s a more pro-Israel president ever,” Scott said.
However, Scott expressed frustration over the president’s seeming embrace of Qatar—a Gulf state with an extensive history of supporting Jihadist terrorism.
“I think it’s despicable that they host Hamas leaders,” Scott said of Qatar.
The Congressman said that he believes Middle Eastern countries will eventually normalize relations with Israel, arguing that the benefits of enhanced economic ties with the United States will outweigh historical grievances.
“I think [Middle Eastern countries] are going to trade with us, and they’re going to be partners with Israel,” Scott said.
However, Scott cautioned supporters of Israel that growing isolationist sentiments within the Republican Party could weaken the bond between the US and the Jewish state. Scott urged Israel advocates to be much more clear with how the America-Israel relationship benefits America.
“Clearly we have to support Israel,” but it is “incumbent upon all of us” to be “clear about what we are doing. If you want to support Israel, be very vocal about why and how it benefits America.”
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US Rejects Uranium Enrichment in Iran Deal as Tehran Vows to Continue Nuclear Activities
USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, Sept. 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The United States insists it will not accept any deal with Tehran that allows uranium enrichment, while Iran asserts it will continue its enrichment activities under the country’s civilian nuclear program, with or without an agreement with Washington.
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Iran’s rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are “crystal clear,” adding that “there is no scenario in which Iranians will allow any deviation from that.”
“Mastering enrichment technology is a hard-earned and homegrown scientific achievement; an outcome of great sacrifice of both blood and treasure,” the Iranian top diplomat said in a post on X, as nuclear negotiations between the two countries continue.
“If the US is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome. Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal,” Araghchi continued.
In addressing the talks regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, our U.S. interlocutors are naturally free to publicly state whatever they deem fit to ward off Special Interest groups; malign actors which set the agendas of at least previous Administrations.
Iran can only…
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) May 18, 2025
His comments came after US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, affirmed that Washington will not accept uranium enrichment under any agreement with the Islamic regime.
“We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability,” Witkoff said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
He emphasized that, from US President Donald Trump’s perspective, this condition is essential for any deal with Iran, warning that “enrichment enables weaponization.”
Araghchi dismissed Witkoff’s latest remarks, accusing Washington of contradictory actions amid their ongoing nuclear negotiations.
“Iran can only control what we Iranians do, and that is to avoid negotiating in public — particularly given the current dissonance we are seeing between what our US interlocutors say in public and in private, and from one week to the other,” the Iranian top diplomat said.
After concluding their fourth round of nuclear talks in Oman last weekend, US and Iranian officials will resume negotiations this week in Europe.
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.”
“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.
On Sunday, US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said that even if Iran agrees to a nuclear deal, it cannot be trusted to uphold it, claiming the regime hasn’t kept its word on anything since coming to power more than four decades ago.
Despite Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes rather than weapons development, Western states have said there is no “credible civilian justification” for the country’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”
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