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Peter Beinart Bends Truth in New York Times Essay Accusing American Jews of Idolatry
Peter Beinart, a prominent anti-Israel writer, being interviewed in January 2025. Photo: Screenshot
Israel has no right to exist, New York Times “contributing opinion writer” Peter Beinart writes in a new opinion article accusing “mainstream American Jewish life” of being idolatrous.
The article appears under a general-purpose headline: “States Don’t Have a Right to Exist. People Do.” Yet after a bit of throat-clearing and hypothetical speculation about Scotland, Britain, Iran, and China, Beinart gets down to making his case for eliminating Israel, or, as he delicately puts it, “rethinking the character of the state” by replacing Israel with something else.
The one country that Beinart is really determined to rethink just happens to be the only one with a Jewish majority. The URL or web address that the Times team gives the article also exposes the game, “https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/opinion/israel-state-jewish.html.”
This isn’t some sort of abstract political theory philosophy project — it’s an effort by Beinart, platformed by the New York Times, to wipe the Jewish state off the map. At this point, it’s predictable and tired. Beinart had already announced in the New York Times back in 2020, “I no longer believe in a Jewish state,” part of what earned him the status of the New York Times‘ most favorite Jew.
So what, if anything, is new in this latest Beinart screed? Beinart has a new book to publicize, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning. It is issued by publisher Knopf, whose parent company, Bertelsmann AG, collaborated with the Nazis during World War II and subsequently covered it up.
As is often the case with hatred of Israel, Beinart’s article is marred by factual errors. He claims that “roughly half the people under Israeli control are Palestinian.” That’s simply false; Israel’s population is about 9.8 million, of which about 7.2 million, or 73 percent, are Jewish, according to Israel’s central bureau of statistics. Beinart’s math depends on defining people in Palestinian Authority-controlled Ramallah and Jenin, or in Hamas-controlled Gaza, as being “under Israeli control,” which is not accurate.
Beinart also falsely claims, “Even the minority of Palestinians under Israeli control who hold Israeli citizenship — sometimes called ‘Israeli Arabs’ — lack legal equality.” Just because a group suffers from discrimination or has lower achievement doesn’t mean it lacks legal equality. Israel’s Declaration of Independence states, “It will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture.” Israel’s Supreme Court has enforced that promise of equality. Israeli Arabs have the right to vote and serve in the Parliament. An Israeli Arab politician, Mansour Abbas, even recently served as a minister in an Israeli government.
Beinart also complains that “this form of idolatry — worship of the state — seems to suffuse mainstream American Jewish life.” That’s not true. Yes, most mainstream American Jews — unlike Beinart and, apparently, his New York Times editors — care deeply about Israel and oppose the enemies that hope to eradicate it. Yet the comparison to idolatry is inaccurate. It’s also inconsistent with Beinart’s previous claims. Already in his 2012 book The Crisis of Zionism, or even before that in his 2010 article “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment” Beinart was predicting that American Jews would abandon Israel as it became, he claimed, more illiberal and right wing and undemocratic. Now, more than a decade later, he’s accusing American Jews not of abandoning Israel but of worshiping it. At least with his reference to “mainstream Jewish life” Beinart is defining himself clearly outside that. Given that, one wonders why the New York Times has chosen to rely so heavily for analysis of American Jewry and Israel on such an extremist, fringe figure.
I offered a couple of theories last year, including that “some portion of the Times online readership — alienated graduate students and other young, college educated liberals, along with increasing numbers of non-Americans — are looking for someone to give them a pass to hate Israel, basically to excuse their antisemitism. Beinart serves that function.”
In that regard, a Times colleague of Beinart’s offers some useful analysis. In a 2012 review for Tablet of a Beinart book, Bret Stephens, then still at the Wall Street Journal, paraphrased Leon Wieseltier’s observation “that characterizing antisemitic acts as a response to something Jews did doesn’t explain antisemitism. It reproduces it.”
From Beinart’s latest New York Times piece: “When you deny people basic rights, you subject them to tremendous violence. And, sooner or later, that violence endangers everyone. In 1956, a 3-year-old named Ziyad al-Nakhalah saw Israeli soldiers murder his father in the Gazan city of Khan Younis. Almost 70 years later, he heads Hamas’s smaller but equally militant rival, Islamic Jihad … The failure to protect the lives of Palestinians in Gaza ultimately endangers Jews. In this war, Israel has already killed more than one hundred times as many Palestinians in Gaza as it did in the massacre that took the life of Mr. al-Nakhalah’s father. How many 3-year-olds will still be seeking revenge seven decades from now?”
It’s amazing that Beinart blames “Israeli soldiers” for the “murder” of Ziyad al-Nakhalah’s father in 1956 in Khan Younis. In 1956, Egypt, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, controlled Gaza. A Jerusalem Post article describes it more accurately: “Nakhalah’s father, Rushdi, was killed during the joint Israeli-British-French attack on Egypt in response to the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1956. The Gaza Strip back then was under Egyptian control.”
The New York Times itself provides useful historical context: A dispatch from Gaza on Nov. 2, 1956 reported that “at the roadside weary Israeli soldiers sat beside their weapons waiting for vehicles to remove them to points in the Gaza Strip where diehard commandos were offering resistance … Talking through interpreters to correspondents, residents of the Strip in the outskirts of Gaza said life as stateless displaced persons under the Egyptian government in the last eight years had not been happy. Although they had been allowed to vote in Egyptian elections this year, they said they had had none of the rights that had been given Egyptians on the other side of the Suez Canal zone.”
Another Times dispatch from Gaza, on Nov. 6, 1956, reported, “Israeli army units were cleaning out the last pockets of fedayeen (commando) squads … All along the road were wrecked and burned out Egyptian military vehicles and mobile weapons … Israeli troops expressed surprise at the joyous welcome they had received from Palestinian Arabs who had spent eight years under Egyptian control. There was no fear shown by the people, who seemed thankful that the Israelis had taken over the territory.”
Ira Stoll was managing editor of The Forward and North American editor of The Jerusalem Post. His media critique, a regular Algemeiner feature, can be found here.
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‘Deplorable’: Anti-Zionist Activists Pour Concrete Into Toilets at Columbia University
A student protester parades a Palestinian flag outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: Mary Altaffer/Pool via REUTERS
Columbia University was a victim of infrastructural sabotage on Wednesday when an extremist anti-Zionist group flooded the toilets of an academic building with concrete to mark the anniversary of an alleged killing of a Palestinian child.
“Restroom facilities at the School of International and Public Affairs were vandalized with graffiti that included disturbing, personal attacks,” the university said in a statement issued after the attack. “Acts of vandalism of university buildings and property and attempts to harass and intimidate members of our community are unacceptable and abhorrent and will not be tolerated at Columbia.”
Stating that an investigation to identify the culprits — widely believed to be members of the anti-Israel group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) — has been launched, the university continued, “Our buildings and our classrooms are spaces for teaching and learning and we cannot permit them to be disrupted and defaced. We are acting swiftly to address this misconduct and will update the community as we have more information.”
The targeted bathrooms are located on several floors of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), according to Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of the school, who addressed the matter. She called the behavior “deplorable, disruptive, and deeply unsettling, as our campus is a space we cherish for learning teaching, and working, and it will not be tolerated.”
Numerous reports indicate the attack may be the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious and subversive acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia on Wednesday were shared with students.
Columbia University told the Free Beacon that it has notified law enforcement of the event, saying, “We immediately launched an investigation which is ongoing.”
CUAD has proven to be one of the most disruptive pro-Hamas student groups in the country since last academic year, when Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel set off an explosion of anti-Zionist activity.
In April, its members commandeered a section of campus and, after declaring it a “liberated zone,” lit flares and chanted pro-Hamas and anti-American slogans, according to reports. When the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrived to disperse the unauthorized gathering, hundreds of students reportedly amassed around them to prevent the restoration of order.
“Yes, we’re all Hamas, pig!” one protester was filmed screaming during the fracas, which saw some verbal skirmishes between pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist partisans. “Long live Hamas!” said others who filmed themselves dancing and praising the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization. “Kill another soldier!” they also shouted.
In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, CUAD distributed literature calling on students to join the Palestinian terrorist group’s movement to destroy Israel.
“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” said a pamphlet distributed by CUAD, a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”
Other sections of the pamphlet were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose was to build an army of Muslims worldwide.
After almost two years of being accused of cravenly ignoring unlawful and discriminatory behavior, Columbia University has recently made steps towards holding lawbreakers accountable. Earlier this month, it banned from its campus multiple, and suspended another, masked individuals who disrupted an active class last week and proceeded to utter pro-Hamas statements while distributing antisemitic literature.
The agitators had stormed into Professor Avi Shilon’s course, titled “History of Modern Israel,” on the first day of classes of the new semester last Tuesday. Clad in keffiyehs, which were wrapped on their faces to conceal their identities, they read prepared remarks which described the course as “Zionist and imperialist” and a “normalization of genocide.”As part of their performance, which they appeared to film, they dropped flyers, one of which contained an illustration of a lifted boot preparing to trample a Star of David. Next to the drawing was a message that said, “Crush Zionism.”
Columbia University’s handling of campus antisemitism and political extremism will continue to be scrutinized, as it is now legally bound, via civil settlement, to protect the civil rights of Jewish students. In June 2024, it settled a lawsuit in which it was accused by a student of neglecting its obligation to foster a safe learning environment amid riotous pro-Hamas protests that were held at the school throughout the final weeks of the academic year.
The resolution of the case called for Columbia to hire a “Safe Passage Liaison” who will monitor protests and “walking escorts” who will accompany students whose safety is threatened around the campus. Other details of the settlement include “accommodations” for students whose academic lives are disrupted by protests and new security policies for controlling access to school property.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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UFC Head Dana White, Israeli Fighter Natan Levy Respond to Fighter Calling Hitler ‘Good Guy,’ Jews ‘Greedy’
Natan Levy steps on the scale for the official weigh-in at the UFC Apex for UFC Fight Night – Font vs Vera on April 29, 2022 in LAS VEGAS, United States. Photo: Sports Press Photo via Reuters Connect
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White and Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy slammed American featherweight Bryce Mitchell for “dumb” and “disgusting” comments he made this week, which included praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and denying the Holocaust ever happened.
“I’ve heard a lot of dumb, ignorant s—t in my day, but this one’s probably the worst,” White said during a press conference. “Hitler is one of the most disgusting and evil human beings to ever walk the face of the earth, and anyone who even tries to take an opposing position is a moron. That’s the problem with the internet and social media — you provide a platform for a lot of dumb, ignorant people.” He added that the UFC reached out to Mitchell regarding his comments and said the company is “beyond disgusted.”
Mitchell made a series of antisemitic and shocking comments during the first episode of his new podcast “ArkanSanity,” which he co-hosts with fellow Arkansas native Roli Delgado. The two were discussing Elon Musk’s speech at Capital One Arena after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month, and how Musk stretched his hand out to salute in a pose that many observers said was reminiscent of the Nazi salute.
“I honestly think that Hitler was a good guy based upon my own research, not my public education indoctrination,” Mitchell then said during the podcast episode, which aired on Saturday. “I really do think, before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy to go fishing with. He fought for his country. He wanted to purify it by kicking out the greedy Jews out that were destroying his country … when he got on meth and turned on Russia, I believe that’s when he [Hitler] got full nutty.”
“W[as] Hitler perfect? No. But he was fighting for his people and he wanted a pure nation,” he added. “These Jews were controlling his country … and now that [Hitler] lost the war, he’s the bad guy.” Mitchell then went on to state, “I’m not a Nazi, I don’t love Nazis, I’m just saying they were in a bad spot and Hitler come to power.”
Levy responded to Mitchell’s comments in a series of posts on X/Twitter on Thursday. “Crazy how a guy blessed by God with so much success and opportunity chooses to pay it forward by spreading hate and division every time he gets a mic,” Levy wrote in one post. “Anyway, next time you see me, you’re welcome to have a real conversation and actually learn about Judaism our history and culture, firsthand. Or, if you’d rather, you can call me a greedy Jew to my face, and we’ll see what’s up.”
He additionally offered to take his UFC rival to a Holocaust museum, to educate him about World War II, or even on a trip to Israel. Levy said he wants Mitchell to learn that “[Israel is] a beautiful land with people just like him, we don’t have horns, we don’t all conspire to take over the world, we just trying to live our lives and enjoy the sun.”
“I’ll make it simple for everyone, Keep my people’s name out your f—king mouth,” he added in another post on X. Levy said that for those defending Mitchell’s freedom of speech, his response was: “Yeah! every idiot is free to speak and I am free to tell them to shut the f—k up.”
During the podcast episode on Saturday, Delgado argued that Hitler was wrong for persecuting Jews, such as forcing them into Nazi concentration camps. In his response, Mitchell denied the Holocaust. “That’s what your public education will tell you, Roli. Because you believe your public education. Because you haven’t done your own research,” Mitchell insisted. “When you realize there is no possible way they could have burned and cremated six million bodies, you’re gonna realize the Holocaust ain’t real.”
“History is HIS-story. History is written by the victor. Hitler lost so you didn’t get to hear his side of the war, you didn’t get to hear how the Jews took his country over,” he suggested. “Do I believe that he tortured Jews to death and killed them and all this stuff for fun? No. I believe they were work camps and they starved to death because [Hitler’s] very army were starving to death … I don’t believe he’s that bad of a guy … Hitler — he was for freedom. Hitler just wanted to free his people. But we can’t talk about the Holocaust like it was a real thing because I don’t believe it. I don’t believe the bulls—t that they try to tell you at the public school.”
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University of Michigan Suspends Anti-Zionist Group for Two Years
A person carrying an American flag cuts into a pro-Palestinian march through the University of Michigan on Oct. 7, 2024, marking the first anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
The University of Michigan has suspended an anti-Zionist group responsible for several infractions of school rules for a maximum period of two years, ending on its own terms a dispute with the group which started after Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Dean of Students Laura Blake Jones decided to suspend and revoke recognition of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) following an investigation of the group’s conduct that lasted several months, according to The Michigan Daily, the campus newspaper. The university’s intention to discipline the group was first announced in November, with reports that an internal office had filed a complaint against it which, according to SAFE, alleged that a Nov. 17 sit-in violated school policies on peaceful assembly.
“Protests are welcome at U-M, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, significantly disrupt university events or operations, violate policies, or threaten the safety of the community,” the university told The Daily in a statement which explained its decision. “The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity, and that we will hold individuals and student organizations accountable for their actions in order to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all.”
However, Jones issued glowing statements about SAFE in a letter which notified the group of its suspension, describing it as “instrumental” and having “a history on campus and impact as a legacy organization supporting Palestinian students.” Jones also offered the group a chance to end its suspension early by agreeing to “work in good faith to complete the education and restorative measures outlined in this decision,” an opportunity of which SAFE can avail itself as soon as the winter of 2026.
In a statement, SAFE rejected any notion that the university offered grace and a chance to correct its behavior.
“While admin [sic] continued to attempt to repress and silence Palestine on campus, we know that the movement for liberation only grows stronger under attack,” it said, writing on Instagram. “This ploy to isolate SAFE from the campus community will prove unsuccessful because admin fails to understand, yet again, that the demands for divestment and Palestinian liberation are part of a popular, mass movement.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, SAFE has long been a source of anti-Israel activity on campus. In 2023, its members staged an anti-government protest against the former US presidential administration, represented by then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who appeared at the school to discuss climate change. They chanted “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide” and called for mass casualty events inspired by Islamist terrorism, screaming “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution” while waving Palestinian flags. The student who appeared to be leading the demonstration condemned the Biden administration for approving aid to Israel, which she referred to as “the Zionist entity.”
In 2022, during observance of the Jewish New Year, SAFE erected an “apartheid wall” on campus and led an anti-Israel protest in front of it. Some University of Michigan students approached the protesters and urged them to become fully apprised of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Michigan Daily reported at the time. Standing atop a nearby structure, they made a “thumbs-down” gesture when they perceived the protesters’ remarks as offensive or lacking nuance.
SAFE was also one of many anti-Zionist student groups which commandeered school property during the conclusion of the 2023-2024 academic school year and refused to surrender it unless the university agreed to boycott and divest from Israel. It was nearly a month before the university cleared the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” erected on the occupied school grounds, during which both students and non-students destroyed school property, disrupted university business, and amassed outside the homes of school officials.
University officials are not the only ones resisting extreme anti-Zionism.
Last semester, members of the Central Student Government impeached and convicted former president Alifa Chowdhury — the controversial leader of the Anti-Zionist “Shut It Down” (SID) party who led a failed and unpopular effort to freeze funding for student clubs until school officials enacted a boycott of Israel — resulting in her removal from office. Chowdhury had faced three charges in total: incitement to violence, defamation, and dereliction of duty, the last of which she was found guilty of on Dec. 23, according to a statement issued by the Central Student Judiciary (CSJ). Her vice president, Elias Atkinson, was convicted of the same offense.
Chowdhury’s anti-Zionist zealotry led her to allegedly commit several disqualifying acts which blighted her office and shocked her CSG representatives. In the articles of impeachment filed by Rep. Margaret Peterman, the now-former president was described as having “gravely endangered” students — for example, by participating in a protest of CSG which led to threats and an assault by spitting — as well as the “integrity of the democratic system.” She also failed to perform key functions of the presidency, including submitting reports, preparing committee members for their roles, and convening meetings with CSG’s executive council — a pattern of neglect which led to her conviction for dereliction of duty.
The takeover of CSG by Chowdhury’s party, SID, in March led to a historically dysfunctional administration, prompting the involvement of school officials at key moments when its brinksmanship threatened to derail core functions of the university. In August, the administration resolved to fund student clubs over Chowdhury and SID’s objections, effectively stripping the new government of the power of the purse. Explaining the intervention to The Algemeiner at the time, university spokesperson Colleen Mastony said it was prompted by Chowdhury’s “senior” colleagues in the CSG Assembly.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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