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In hopeless times, we need to the courage to speak up — and to listen
This story was originally published on My Jewish Learning.
(JTA) — Over a recent dinner with a diverse group of college friends, we identified a common source of angst, a first for our 15 years of friendship: saying what we think.
From the privileged place we sat that evening in New York City, we absorbed the tragic reality of the war in Israel and Gaza. The hearing of the House Committee on Education, in which the presidents of three leading universities issued halting responses to the question of whether calling for the genocide of Jews constituted harassment, had transpired several weeks earlier. Some of us had experienced direct antisemitism in the wake of the attacks of Oct. 7 and were sharply aware of how the politics of the moment put Jews in danger. Others felt that, given the United States’ direct funding relationship with Israel, the moment presented a unique chance to take grassroots action on matters of foreign policy.
At the dinner table, we spoke openly about our feelings even as we agreed that making any sort of public comment was risky. We each knew people who had articulated opinions in a public forum and had lost friends, work and respect as a consequence. We were losing our courage to speak up.
The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote: “What is the source of our first suffering? It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak. It was born in the moments when we accumulated silent things within us.”
I first came across this profound quote in an essay by Torah scholar Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg in her brilliant work “The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus.” Zornberg connects Bachelard’s concept of accumulated silence to the speechlessness of Moses, whose struggle with speech we encounter in this week’s Torah portion, Vaera. At this point in the story, God has appeared to Moses and asked him to assume leadership of the enslaved Israelites and request their liberation from Pharaoh. But Moses has so far failed in this, resulting in rage from the Egyptians and general apathy from the Jews.
Typically, when we think about Moses’ speech difficulties, we presume them to result from a physical disability. Arel s’fatayim is the phrase Moses uses in protesting God’s charge to speak to Pharoah. Often translated as “tongue-tied,” the commentator Rashi says it means “obstructed.” And a famous Midrash teaches that Moses’ struggles stem from a burning of the tongue he suffered in childhood in the Pharaoh’s palace. But in Zornberg’s assessment, “Moses’ own experience of speechlessness is a mirror of the deafness around him.” In other words, Moses’ inability to speak is a reflection of those around him — especially his Israelite peers who, overcome by the crushing weight, physical and spiritual, of their bondage, are unable to hear him. In their miserable condition, they cannot listen to someone suggesting that a change is possible. Moses’ speech problems are spiritual in origin, not physical.
I empathize with Moses. If I can barely work up the courage to write the text for an Instagram post, how could I possibly judge Moses, whose audience is as tormented and despaired as they come? But in today’s world of muting and blocking, I also find myself wondering: What came first — the speechlessness or the deafness? For the Jews in Egypt, an oppressive reality obscured their hearing. For Moses, self-doubt obstructs his ability to speak. To argue about which came first is a chicken-or-egg problem: Both speaking and listening required going strongly against the grain.
What is striking about Moses’ humble rise to leadership is that it’s also a story about the beginnings of courage. Supported by his brother Aaron and God’s supernatural interventions in the Egyptian court, Moses seems to develop greater confidence with the passing of each plague. As the second plague unfolds, Moses begins clever negotiations with Pharaoh. Around the third plague, God makes a point of telling Moses that the Israelite encampment will be spared the effects of the plagues, thereby helping Moses build goodwill among his people. And by the time the fourth plague hits, Moses is having a full conversation with Pharaoh, advocating for the Israelites’ right to worship outside the land of Egypt. The man who began as a hesitant spokesperson fearing the rage and apathy of his audience has emerged as a leader and liberator.
Perhaps the courage to believe in change is the toughest kind of courage to cultivate — more difficult even than the courage to speak, to hear, or to lead. Yet it’s the courage to believe in the possibility of change that ultimately sets the Jews on the path to freedom. Gradually, they overcome both speechlessness and deafness as they witness real changes to the status quo, changes they believed were impossible.
Will we today regain the courage to say what we think, to hear what we don’t want to hear? To set ourselves on this path, it’s worth learning from the early days of Moses’ leadership. Courage is not necessarily born to us, but it is something we can build. And the first step is to believe, in some small way, that the impossible can change. Sometimes all it takes to fuel that belief is an intimate dinner with old friends to remind us that we’re not alone.
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The post In hopeless times, we need to the courage to speak up — and to listen appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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EU Foreign Policy Chief Says ‘Main Objective’ to Prevent Iran From Acquiring Nuclear Weapons
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas speaks to the media on the day of the European Union Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
The European Union’s foreign policy chief has warned of Iran’s destabilizing role in the Middle East, emphasizing in a new interview that the bloc’s “main objective” in the region is to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
During her first official trip to Israel this week, Kaja Kallas told the Israeli news outlet Ynet that the EU thinks there is a “window of opportunity” to mitigate the threat from Iran, whose regime she considers to be weaker than it has been in the past.
“Our main objective is that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon,” the top EU official said. “We clearly see what they are doing – not only in the Middle East, but also in helping Russia and conducting hybrid attacks against European countries. Our policies must be stronger.”
After a year of strained EU-Israel relations, Kallas visited the Jewish state on Monday, marking the first trip by an EU foreign minister to the country in more than a year.
During her visit, Kallas met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, as well as with families of hostages held in Gaza.
“We want to have good relations with Israel,” Kallas told Ynet. “I hope this visit is a milestone in that direction.”
During the interview, the EU official admitted that efforts to officially designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization are currently stalled due to a lack of consensus among member states.
“The discussions are ongoing, but EU foreign and security policy decisions require unanimity,” she said.
Iran is Hamas’s chief international backer, providing the Palestinian terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training.
According to Ynet, Kallas also referred to the Arab-led plan for Gaza reconstruction as “a good starting point,” but expressed concerns about funding.
“Right now, the European Union provides the bulk of aid to the Palestinians,” she said, urging Middle Eastern countries to take on a greater financial responsibility.
Kallas rejected US President Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” Gaza and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere, saying the EU doesn’t “support the involuntary displacement of populations.”
Trump said earlier this month that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” from the enclave, seemingly suggesting that any resettlement outside of Gaza would be voluntary.
“The reconstruction plan is better because it allows people to stay in Gaza while it’s being rebuilt,” Kallas said. “It’s important that Palestinians can remain where they are and that no one is forced to leave their home.”
She reiterated the EU’s commitment to the two-state solution, saying it is the only viable outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, Kallas also emphasized that “Hamas should have no role in the governance of Gaza,” highlighting it as a security issue for Israel that must be addressed.
“The Palestinian Authority is the best-suited entity to govern,” she told Ynet. “They need reforms, especially to root out corruption, and we are pressing them to do that. But alongside Israel’s security, the rights of Palestinians must be respected.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the war in Gaza when they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during their invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
“Who will ensure that terrorism doesn’t return to Gaza? We need to avoid another Oct. 7,” Kallas said.
Last week, Egypt made a new proposal aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, following an escalation in violence after Israel resumed air and ground operations against the Palestinian terrorist group, effectively ending a two-month period of relative peace.
Israel says it resumed its military operations to force Hamas to release the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza, adding that the terrorist group refused to agree to US proposals to extend the ceasefire.
During her interview, Kallas also reassured Jerusalem that there are no EU initiatives to sanction Israel.
“There are proposals to impose sanctions on violent settlers, but no one is talking about sanctioning Israel itself,” she said. “There have been calls to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, but there is no consensus for that.”
The post EU Foreign Policy Chief Says ‘Main Objective’ to Prevent Iran From Acquiring Nuclear Weapons first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Mike Huckabee Says Hamas Should Have ‘No Future in Gaza’ During Confirmation Hearing for Israel Ambassador
Mike Huckabee looks on as Donald Trump reacts during a campaign event at the Drexelbrook Catering and Event Center, in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, US, Oct. 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Mike Huckabee vowed to help ensure the complete eradication of Hamas in Gaza during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday to become the next US ambassador to Israel, lambasting the Palestinian terrorist group for carrying out its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of the Jewish state.
Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, said that if he is confirmed, “Hamas will have no future in Gaza.” He went on to say that the terrorist group massacred Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, “in a way that was most physically painful and in a way that was most personally humiliating.” The former governor of Arkansas called for “accountability for what was done to Jewish people” during the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
In addition, Huckabee praised US President Donald Trump’s “historic” brokering of the Abraham Accords during his first term in office from 2017-2021. He indicated that he would help build upon them, arguing that the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries provide the Middle East with “hope” for a more peaceful future.
During Trump’s first term in office, his administration also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria, and moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing the city as the Jewish state’s capital.
Huckabee heaped praise on Israel, saying that he feels “grateful” for the opportunity to serve as the US ambassador to the Jewish state. He recounted the “approximately 100” trips that he has taken to Israel over the course of his life, adding that the Jewish state has left a profound “impact” upon him. Huckabee stressed the importance of appointing a strong ambassador to Israel, stressing the urgency of freeing the remaining hostages in Gaza and defeating Hamas.
Huckabee’s opening statement was intermittently interrupted by protesters, who accused him of attempting to use his Christian faith to launder Israel’s reputation and justify a so-called “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” in Gaza. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) repudiated one of the agitators as a “Code Pink lunatic” and accused the far-left activist organization of being “funded by communist China.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a vocal critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, pressed Huckabee about his views on Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Israel potentially annexing the territory. Huckabee evaded the question, stating that it would be inappropriate to weigh in on potential policy proposals by Israeli officials.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) asked Huckabee to explain the significance of the US-Israel relationship. In response, Huckabee warned that Iran, which US intelligence agencies have long called the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, perceives the destruction of Israel as the first step to the ultimate dismantling of the United States.
“Israel is the appetizer, and [the United States] is the entree,” Huckabee said, adding that Iran wishes to acquire a nuclear weapon to destroy Israel as part of its eventual goal of toppling Western civilization.
“This is not just about Israel. It is about us, and if we don’t stand with them, they stand alone. And if they fall alone, we fall next,” Huckabee said.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), pressed Huckabee on whether he believes the Trump administration’s alleged “pivot to Russia” has made US allies, including Israel, hesitant to share sensitive intelligence information. Booker pointed out that during the first Trump administration in 2017, Trump “shared intelligence about an Islamic State threat with specifics that came from a spy embedded in the terrorist group on behalf of Israel.” The senator said that Trump’s leak “placed that person’s life at risk and cut off Israel from his intel.” Huckabee responded that if confirmed he would “work diligently” to ensure that sensitive information is handled “with integrity.”
Huckabee has long been a stalwart ally of the Jewish state. He has repudiated the anti-Israel protests that erupted in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and criticized former US President Joe Biden for sympathizing with the protesters during his speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC). The former governor also lambasted the anti-Israel encampments at elite universities, stating that there should be “outrage” over the targeting and mistreatment of Jewish college students.
Huckabee has defended Israel’s right to build settlements in the West Bank, acknowledging the Jewish people’s ties to the land dating back to the ancient world.
“There is no such thing as the West Bank — it’s Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee has said, referring to the biblical names for the area preferred by Israel. “There is no such thing as settlements — they’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There is no such thing as an occupation.”
The post Mike Huckabee Says Hamas Should Have ‘No Future in Gaza’ During Confirmation Hearing for Israel Ambassador first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Columbia University President Denies Deceiving Trump Administration Over Antisemitism Policies
Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong on Tuesday strongly denied a Wall Street Journal report which said that she privately told faculty that school officials misled the Trump administration to believe that they had accepted its conditions for restoring $400 million in federal funding canceled by Education Secretary Linda McMahon earlier this month to punish the school’s alleged failure to quell “antisemitic violence and harassment” on its campus.
On Friday, the university issued a memo announcing that it acceded to key demands put forth by the Trump administration as a precondition for releasing the funds — including a review of undergraduate admissions practices that allegedly discriminate against qualified Jewish applicants, the enforcement of an “anti-mask” policy that protesters have violated to avoid being identified by law enforcement, and enhancements to the university’s security protocols that would facilitate the restoration of order when the campus is disturbed by unauthorized demonstrations.
The news prompted high praise from Trump administration officials, including McMahon and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy. However, according to a report published by the Journal on Monday, Armstrong told faculty behind closed doors over the weekend that the memo was issued to buy the university time in which to explore other, potentially legal, options that could result in the school’s reclaiming the canceled grants.
During a mutinous meeting with angry faculty, Armstrong said, among other things, that the anti-mask ban — a policy that is widely supported by the Jewish community for achieving the same end as federal anti-Ku-Klux-Klan laws — will not be enacted, according to the Journal. In response, the paper added, some professors denounced what they perceive as a duplicitous public relations strategy in which Columbia makes commitments it does not intend to honor.
On Tuesday, Armstrong disputed the WSJ‘s account of her conversation with faculty, maintaining in a statement published on the university’s website that she will proceed with the policies enumerated in Friday’s memo.
“Implementation of these measures is fundamental to sustaining our academic mission without disruption and ensuring the safety of Columbia’s students and campuses. Let there be no confusion: I commit to seeing these changes implemented, with the full support of Columbia’s senior leadership team and the Board of Trustees,” Armstrong said. “We need to continue to restore the public’s faith of the fundamental value of higher education for the nation and the longstanding partnership between ground-breaking universities like Columbia and the federal government.”
She continued, “Any suggestion that these measures are illusory, or lack my personal support is unequivocally false. These changes are real, and they are right for Columbia.”
The statement came one day after anti-Israel students staged an unauthorized protest replete with keffiyehs, face masks, and demands that Columbia become a sanctuary campus for illegal immigrants. Demonstrators also hung a large “Free Palestine” sign from a building and reportedly chanted so loudly that they could be heard inside nearby buildings in which active classes were being held. Armstrong took no action against them.
The Trump administration has not yet commented on the Wall Street Journal‘s report or the latest unauthorized protest, which came after Columbia’s Hillel International chapter told The Algemeiner on Friday that Columbia’s agreement to combat antisemitism in higher education is “promising” and expressed hope that it “further moves us in the right direction.”
McMahon similarly praised the university.
“Columbia is demonstrating appropriate cooperation with the Trump administration’s requirements, and we look forward to a lasting resolution,” she said in a statement as part of a press release issued on Monday by an inter-agency task force on antisemitism. “I have been in communication with Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong over the last few weeks and appreciate her leadership and commitment to advance truly meaningful reforms on campus.”
Monday’s release also contained a statement by Kennedy, who said the institution is beginning to “restore itself as a garden of tolerance, reason, compassion, and respect.”
Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), an office which assists the federal government’s purchasing of goods and services, said, “Columbia’s early steps are a positive sign.” He added, however, that school officials in the Armstrong administration “must continue to show that they are serious in their resolve to end antisemitism.”
Columbia University has produced some of the most indelible examples of campus antisemitism since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel — among them a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself, brutal gang-assaults on Jewish students, and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting. However, it is not the first Ivy League institution to allegedly pantomime a commitment to addressing antisemitism to repel public scrutiny and government action.
According to a May 2024 report by the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Harvard University allegedly conspired to achieve similar aims during a tumultuous 2023-2024 academic year which saw its students quote terrorists during an “Apartheid Week” event and its professors share an antisemitic cartoon. The report claimed that Harvard formed an Antisemitism Advisory Group (AAG) largely for show, refusing to consult it at key moments during an explosion of antisemitic incidents on campus. It also said that Harvard never took meaningful action to address antisemitic hatred and the flouting of school rules against harassment and discrimination, a policy failure that allegedly contributed to the eruption of a nearly three-week-long demonstration in which a group calling itself Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) commandeered Harvard Yard and refused to leave unless the administration agreed to divest from and boycott Israel
Writing to The Algemeiner on Tuesday, Middle East expert and executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East Asaf Romirowsky said that Columbia’s apparent playing both ends against the middle is a cause of eroding trust in the higher education system, which he says tramples on the true purpose of a liberal arts education in order to promote a far-left political agenda.
“There is a collapsing of public faith in the politics and costs of universities like Columbia, all necessitating immediate reform,” Romirowsky said. “Armstrong needs to understand that successfully rehabilitating its image requires a sincere, top-down driven approach that can serve as a model of reform for all university leaders. A conception of the liberal arts and sciences should be promoted in which the primary goal of learning is individual growth and exploration and the goal of research is the conservation and expansion of knowledge and thought.”
He continued, “Scholar-activism in the sense of politically aligned teaching and research or social justice in the sense of remaking society through undemocratic means cannot be goals, nor should they be publicly funded.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Columbia University President Denies Deceiving Trump Administration Over Antisemitism Policies first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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