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Don’t Take Any Guff From These Swine …
Supporters of Israel gather in solidarity with Israel and protest against antisemitism, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas, during a rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC, Nov. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
JNS.org – “Don’t take any guff from these swine,” Hunter S. Thompson used to say, and not without reason. The legendary gonzo journalist found himself constantly confronted with the appalling. The savage heart of the American dream prompted him to “make a beast of himself to escape the pain of being a man.” If only out of instinctual defiance, he refused to take guff from anyone.
American Jews need not make beasts of themselves, but it is time for them to heed Thompson’s advice. They should no longer take any guff from these swine. I refer, of course, to the swine who have infested many of America’s most unjustly revered institutions of higher learning. There, Sus scrofa domesticus have constructed a filth-ridden sty from which they spew antisemitism; advocate genocide; render normal university life impossible; force other students to study online; and abuse, bully and physically assault Jews and anyone else who dares dissent from their fetid ideology.
The swine want, of course, the consummation of the world’s oldest hatred: What Louis-Ferdinand Céline charmingly referred to as “a pile of a million dead stinking Yids.”
Céline also asserted that this stinking pile was “not worth the life of a single Aryan.” The adults in the room appear to agree. Those who should and almost certainly do know better have been remarkably sanguine about having their institutions infested with Scrofa domesticus. Even President Joe Biden, in whom so many Jews put their trust and their vote, seemed content to channel his predecessor’s famous “very fine people on both sides” admonition on the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. For Biden and most of his Democratic colleagues, it appears, some Nazis are more condemnable than others.
As for the high rollers of academia, who suddenly find themselves presiding over a sty rather than a school, even this small measure of equivocation is out of fashion. Faculty happily jump into the wallow while administrators either collaborate or—as is common in catamites—bend the knee and simply look away. That everything the swine are doing violates these institutions’ alleged codes of conduct as well as numerous laws is irrelevant to those who know better. That they could end the scatologic orgy tomorrow through mass arrests and expulsions is unthinkable. They are too sympathetic with or too terrified of the sows.
To what quarter, then, may American Jews turn? The obvious answer would be to their communal leadership. Unfortunately, as I know from the many who have contacted me, this only evokes a sense of total despair—and quite rightfully so. The warning signs that the swine were gathering have been there for a quarter-century. The red flags were so plentiful that only the willfully blind could fail to see them. But the American Jewish leadership chose to be blind. They either did nothing or were so ineffective they might as well have done nothing. They had a chance to contain the thing before it became impossible to contain, but they chose not to.
The reasons for this dereliction are legion and will be fully understood only in the light of history. Certainly, the nepotistic gerontocracy that rules the major Jewish organizations was woefully unprepared to deal with a grassroots neo-Nazism arising from the political left and the Muslim community. These leaders often enjoyed seven-figure salaries and flattering political connections they did not wish to jeopardize by rocking the boat. Many are graduates of the very institutions from which the swine have now come wriggling forth. Perhaps it was a simple failure of nerve. They lacked the strength necessary to face unpleasant facts.
Right now, however, the failure of American Jewish leaders is clearly manifest. That failure squeals and snorts and wallows right before our eyes. American Jews should have no illusions about what this means: They are more or less on their own, abandoned by many of their political allies, bereft of effective leadership, and lacking the means for basic communal self-defense. And it is only a matter of time before the swine burst forth from the campuses into the broader Jewish community, wreaking bloody mayhem wherever they can.
Some I have spoken to believe that the answer lies in the formation of a new organization or organizations dedicated to active self-defense of the Jewish community and a more militant and radical resistance to antisemitism. This is a fine idea, but such organizations will take time to build and the problem is immediate. American Jews must use the tools they have.
The major organizations are there and still have enormous political, financial and organizational resources to draw on. Overnight, they could organize an effective counter-protest movement and a nationwide Jewish self-defense force. They could hold the relevant institutions’ feet to the political, cultural and financial fire. They have chosen not to. The imperative of the moment is to force them to do so.
This will only happen if the American Jewish community demands it. The major organizations should be deluged with emails and phone calls. Donors should threaten to withhold their money. Denunciations should be issued from the pulpit, in the media, and even in quotidian personal interactions.
In all of them, there should be not just recrimination but an absolute and irrevocable demand: Don’t take any guff from these swine. Stop indulging Scrofa domesticus with the excuse of free speech and assembly, when neither of those rights protects organized violence, genocidal incitement and systematic lawbreaking. Stop pussyfooting around your treasured political allies and threaten them with a total cessation of Jewish support if they don’t take effective action. Stop indulging in nostalgia for your alma mater and admit that these institutions willfully permitted their swine to micturate on everything you believe in.
Above all, end your silence. Speak up, speak out, denounce, demand. Be angry, be uncompromising, make it plain, make them listen. Don’t take any guff from these swine. You still have the power to do so, though you will not have it for long if the swine get their way. If American Jewish life becomes impossible, it will be as bad for you as for the rest of your beleaguered community. Act.
You have a chance now, perhaps for the last time, to redeem yourselves. Take it. If you cannot or will not do so, please step aside to make way for those who will.
The post Don’t Take Any Guff From These Swine … first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Half of Americans Can’t Name a Single Nazi Concentration Camp, New Survey on Holocaust Knowledge Finds
The sign “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work makes you free”) is pictured at the main gate of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Photo: Reuters/Pawel Ulatowski
Basic knowledge of the Holocaust is lacking in eight countries surveyed by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), but a majority of respondents believe a similar genocide could happen again.
The Claims Conference, a nonprofit organization that secures material compensation for Holocaust survivors and their heirs around the world, on Thursday released the results of an eight-country survey investigating Holocaust knowledge across the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Romania.
Researchers found large gaps in education about the Nazis’ mass murder of 6 million Jews during World War II, including among young people. They also discovered significant concerns that an event like the Holocaust could happen again, with 76 percent of respondents in the United States saying a similar genocide could occur today. These numbers dropped to 69 percent in the UK, 63 percent in France, 62 percent in Austria, 61 percent in Germany, 54 percent in Poland, 52 percent in Hungary, and 44 percent in Romania.
In the United States, 48 percent of those surveyed could not name a single concentration camp used by the Nazi regime to imprison and murder Jews during World War II — including Auschwitz, the largest and most infamous of the Nazi camps. This figure fell to about 25 percent of those answering in the UK, France, and Romania. In Germany and Hungary, this level of ignorance reached 18 percent, while in Austria it hit 10 percent and in Poland it stood at 7 percent.
The survey also found that many respondents did not know that the Nazis murdered 6 million Jews. The number of people believing that 2 million or fewer Jews died reached 28 percent in Romania, 27 percent in Hungary, 24 percent in Poland, 20 percent in the UK and 18 percent in Germany. In France, the US, and Austria, 21 percent of respondents expressed ignorance about the total death count.
Among those aged 18-29, the survey found disbelief in the official number of Jews murdered. Among Romanian youth, 53 percent agreed that the Holocaust happened but that the numbers killed have been greatly exaggerated. Researchers found lower numbers in the other countries: 22 percent in Hungary, 33 percent in France, 14 percent in Poland, 21 percent in Austria, 13 percent in Germany, 15 percent in the US, and 11 percent in the UK.
A significant number of young adults in the same age range said they had not heard of the Holocaust. The figures stood at 46 percent in France, 15 percent in Romania, 14 percent in Austria, and 12 percent in Germany. A striking 20 percent of French adults overall said that they had not heard or weren’t sure if they had heard of the Holocaust prior to taking the survey.
Many respondents regardless of age also reported seeing Holocaust denial or saying that such sentiments proliferated in their countries. Hungarians (45 percent) and Americans (44 percent) were those most likely to report that Holocaust denial was common in their countries, while 38 percent of French, 34 percent of Germans, 27 percent of Austrians, 24 percent in the UK, 24 percent of Romanians, and 20 percent of Poles agreed.
Large numbers also described encountering Holocaust denial or distortion on social media, with the highest levels in Poland, where 47 percent of respondents answered “yes.” The number dropped in Austria (38 percent), Hungary (38 percent), Germany (37 percent), the US (33 percent), Romania (25 percent), the UK (23 percent), and France (20 percent).
“The alarming gaps in knowledge, particularly among younger generations, highlight an urgent need for more effective Holocaust education. The fact that a significant number of adults cannot identify basic facts — such as the 6 million Jews who perished — is deeply concerning,” Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, said in a statement. “Equally troubling is the widespread belief that something like the Holocaust could happen again, underscoring the critical importance of educating people about the consequences of unchecked hatred and bigotry.”
Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference, warned that “with the Holocaust survivor population rapidly declining, we are at a critical and irreversible crossroads. Survivors, our most powerful educators, will not be with us much longer — and this Index is a stark warning that without urgent and sustained action, the history and lessons of the Holocaust risk slipping into obscurity.”
The study showed that support for Holocaust education remained high, with 90 percent or more saying it was important: 96 percent in the US and Poland, 94 percent in the UK and Germany, 93 percent in France and Romania, 91 percent in Hungary, and 90 percent in Austria.
Respondents also broadly supported Holocaust education in schools, with the US coming in highest at 95 percent. Numbers dropped in the European countries surveyed. Support for teaching students about the Holocaust stood at 93 percent in Poland, 92 percent in the UK, 91 percent in France, 88 percent in Hungary, 87 percent in Germany, 84 percent in Austria, and 78 percent in Romania.
“As we continue to delve into these surveys and understand better where Holocaust education is working and where it requires attention, it is powerful to see that a majority of all people polled across all countries in this index not only agree that Holocaust education is important, but want to continue teaching the Holocaust in schools,” said Matthew Bronfman, who led the Index Taskforce. “Now our task is clear; we must take this mandate and make it happen.”
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New York Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime for Antisemitic Vandalism in Front of Jewish Center
Illustrative: “Free Palestine” graffiti on display in downtown Chicago, Oct. 21, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Alexandra Buxbaum
A man from Long Island, New York pleaded guilty on Thursday to Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree as a Hate Crime, a felony, for spray-painting antisemitic phrases on fences and in front of a local Jewish center earlier this year.
In April, Sebastian Patino Caceres, 23, spray-painted “Free Palestine” on the sidewalk in front of the East Meadow Beth-El Jewish Center in East Meadow, New York, according to LongIsland.com, which reported the guilty plea. He also spray-painted “Zionism is Nazism,” “Stop the Genocide,” “Free Palestine,” and “F—k Israel” on fences in front of homes.
Caceres’s plea deal will require him to undergo six months of anti-bias training, 100 community service hours, and a guided tour of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove, New York. If he does so then his sentence will be reduced to three years of probation and a misdemeanor. A failure to do so would result in the felony charge remaining and five years of probation.
“My prosecutors held this defendant responsible for his offensive actions with this plea to a felony hate crime today, but with the understanding that punitive measures alone will not stop this intolerant behavior,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. “It is through education and awareness that we can teach defendants about the gravity of their words and actions, change minds, promote kindness and compassion, and heal communities. This defendant has been given the opportunity to learn and grow from this criminal conduct.”
The post New York Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime for Antisemitic Vandalism in Front of Jewish Center first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Re-Designates Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen as Foreign Terrorist Organization
A Houthi fighter mans a machine gun mounted on a truck during a parade for people who attended Houthi military training as part of a mobilization campaign, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday re-designating the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as an official foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
“The Houthis’ activities threaten the security of American civilians and personnel in the Middle East, the safety of our closest regional partners, and the stability of global maritime trade,” the executive order read.
The order also calls for the destruction of the Houthis’ military capabilities, thereby ending the group’s ability to attack American and allied targets, and for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to inspect all of their partners and programs in Yemen to ensure funds are not inadvertently handed over to the Houthis.
The directive also mandates USAID to cut relations with organizations that have helped fund Houthi operations or have combated international efforts to dismantle the terrorist group. In addition, the order directs Rubio to submit a report to the president after 30 days regarding the designation and “take all appropriate action” concerning the designation within another 15 days.
In January 2021, during the final days of the first Trump administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated the Houthis as an FTO. The next month, however, during the initial weeks of the Biden administration, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken reversed the designation of the Houthis as an FTO, citing a desire to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Yemen.
The official FTO designation legally prohibits American individuals and organizations from lending “material support” to the Houthis, which some critics argue could worsen humanitarian conditions in Yemen. The Biden administration’s decision to de-list the Houthis as a terrorist group drew condemnation from Republicans in the US Congress
On Tuesday, US Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the “Standing Against Houthi Aggression Act” to reclassify the Houthis as an FTO, reversing official policies of the Biden administration.
“Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Houthis have attacked US allies more than 100 times,” he said in a statement. “With the start of the Trump administration, it’s time to get serious about counterterrorism again and send a message to the Iranian regime that the US stands with Israel and will not tolerate our allies being attacked and shipping routes in the Middle East being disrupted. Designating the Houthis as an FTO will enable the Trump administration to bring the full weight of US sanctions in order to restore peace and order in the Middle East.”
Beyond banning individuals or organizations in the United States from giving “material support or resources” to the Houthis, placing the Yemeni rebels on the FTO list would also make non-citizen members and representatives of the Houthis eligible for deportation. The designation would further mandate any US financial institution with ties to the Houthis to alert the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury.
Several countries — including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel — currently designate the Houthis as terrorists.
Trump’s executive order followed repeated attacks by the Houthis against Israel since October 2023, including the launch of over 200 missiles and 170 attack drones.
Last month, for example, a ballistic missile launched by the Iran-backed group struck a playground in Tel Aviv, injuring at least 16 people and causing damage to nearby homes.
The Houthis have been waging an insurgency in Yemen for two decades in a bid to overthrow the Yemeni government. They have controlled a significant portion of the country’s land in the north and along the Red Sea since 2014, when they captured it in the midst of a civil war.
The Yemeni terrorist group began disrupting global trade in a major way with their attacks on shipping in the busy Red Sea corridor after the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, arguing their aggression was a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza.
The Houthi rebels — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — have said they will target all ships heading to Israeli ports, even if they do not pass through the Red Sea.
Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza, Houthi terrorists in Yemen have also routinely launched missiles toward Israel.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a report in July revealing how Iran has been “smuggling weapons and weapons components to the Houthis.” The report noted that the Houthis used Iranian-supplied ballistic and cruise missiles to conduct over 100 land attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and within Yemen, as well as dozens of attacks on merchant shipping.
While the Houthis have increasingly targeted Israeli soil in recent months, they have primarily attacked ships in the Red Sea, a key trade route, raising the cost of shipping and insurance. Shipping firms have been forced in many cases to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa to avoid passing near Yemen, having a major global economic impact.
Beyond Israeli targets, the Houthis have threatened and in some cases actually attacked US and British ships, leading the two Western allies to launch retaliatory strikes multiple times against Houthi targets in Yemen.
As a result of the Houthis’ aggression, the Biden administration in January 2024 placed the group on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list.
Though the SDGT designation allows for sanctions, it is considered less severe than placement on the FTO list. The Biden administration opted against reimposing the FTO designation on the Houthis, citing concerns over worsening the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
“A foreign terrorist organization designation ran the risk of having a deterrent effect on some of those aid groups continuing to provide aid — worrying that they might be charged as providing material support to a terrorist organization,” former State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at th tim.
Following the recently brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to halt fighting in Gaza, the Houthis have announced they will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel–linked ships provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.
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