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Some Jews are taking down their mezuzahs due to antisemitism. Some non-Jews are putting them up.
(JTA) – When a man broke into the home of a Jewish family in Studio City, California, last week yelling antisemitic language and “Free Palestine,” neighbors quickly honed in on a key detail: The assailant had allegedly previously questioned the family about the mezuzah on their door.
This caused some fear among secular Jews on their block, said Menachem Silverstein, an Orthodox comedian and rabbi who is close friends with the victims. He said an Israeli neighbor told him that he was considering taking his family’s mezuzah down.
But the response from Silverstein’s non-Jewish neighbors, he said, “gave me goosebumps”: They proposed putting up their own.
“I’m tearing up. I’m like, this is the most beautiful thing anybody has ever said to me,” Silverstein recalled to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It was the inspiration I needed, personally.”
The neighbors ultimately decided that the break-in was a one-time incident and held off on following through with their offer. Still, Silverstein said, the mere gesture that they might be willing to support Jews in this way stuck with him at a time when so many Jews say they are feeling alone and unsupported by the non-Jews they know.
He compared the moment to the “I am Spartacus” scene in the 1960 movie, in which the hero’s countrymen all identify as him in order to protect his identity. It also calls to mind the myth that the king of Denmark wore a yellow Star of David to shield the country’s Jews under Nazi rule.
“If everyone has a mezuzah, no one has to take it down and you can’t identify the Jews who have a mezuzah,” he said.
And to Silverstein, the gesture invoked something even more gut-wrenching. “To me it felt like the precursor to ‘We’ll hide you when you’re in our attic.’”
Silverstein’s reaction taps into a broader conversation taking place in Jewish homes and communities around the world. As antisemitic sentiment has risen across the world in the wake of Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis in a terrorist attack on Oct. 7, Jews are questioning whether their mezuzahs — small boxes containing a passage from the Torah commanding Jews to inscribe the words on the doorposts of their homes — make them vulnerable to attacks by identifying their homes as Jewish.
A man walks along a building whose facade is covered with Stars of David in the Alesia district of Paris, Oct. 31, 2023. (Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images)
In some places, as in Studio City, it seems that the fears have been justified. In Canada, an Ontario couple says they believe their mezuzah was a giveaway to vandals who spray-painted antisemitic graffiti on their garage. Jews in Paris and Berlin who have expressed concern about Jewish stars being painted on their buildings wonder whether it was their mezuzahs that tipped the vandals off.
Some are seeking ways to keep their mezuzahs up while making them inconspicuous. In Europe, some Jews have been buying up Camozuzah, a mezuzah disguised to look like a home alarm, originally developed by a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi in Ireland in 2021 for Jewish university students concerned about antisemitism there.
Others may be removing their mezuzahs altogether. Jews in London and Berlin say they’ve taken their mezuzahs down as a safeguard against unrest. Levi Wolff, the rabbi at the Modern Orthodox Central Synagogue in Sydney, Australia, posted on Instagram this week that an anonymous person had left a mezuzah at his house, which he took to mean that “someone in our community has removed his/her mezuzah and is returning it to me, out of fear of their home being recognized as a Jewish home.”
Wolff, who is affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, then implored Jews to keep their mezuzahs up and to not be afraid in the face of antisemitism, such as a pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney where participants recently chanted “Gas the Jews.” Other Chabad rabbis have emphasized that now is an ideal time to put up mezuzahs, an act that they counteracts darkness in the world, and many have taken steps to distribute mezuzahs in their communities.
The Camozuzah is designed to look like a security system but instead obscures a mezuzah that meets the requirements of Jewish law. (Camozuzah.com)
Other spiritual leaders have struck a more cautious tone. Marc Katz, a rabbi at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey, posted on Facebook Tuesday that, in light of Halloween, Jews should consider being extra cautious with how many visible signs of Jewish identity they display on their houses.
“It’s OK to take down your outward signs of support for Israel or even your outward signs of Jewish identity (like your mezuzah) if you are truly worried for your safety,” Katz wrote, in a post also shared by his synagogue. “At times that are unsafe, Jews are allowed to do the imperfect to protect themselves and their resources.”
The rabbi cautioned his congregants that they should be prepared to return to normal “when the threat goes away.”
Elsewhere, other non-Jews looking to stand in solidarity with Jews and Israel also shared plans to put up their own mezuzahs. One non-Jewish woman in Toronto went viral on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, for sharing her own mezuzah affixed to the door of her apartment building. She says she procured it inexpensively from a Judaica shop after consulting with Jewish friends who told her that it wouldn’t be insensitive.
“Some of our Toronto neighbours are facing harassment — just for being Jewish,” wrote the woman, who identified herself as Susie Movat. “As a non Jew, I’m putting a mezuzah on my door to stand in solidarity with my friends who deserve to live without fear. Never again.”
Some of our Toronto neighbours are facing harassment – just for being Jewish. As a non Jew, I’m putting a mezuzah on my door to stand in solidarity with my friends who deserve to live without fear. Never again. pic.twitter.com/grZ4lTqzqj
— susie movat (@MovatSusie) October 27, 2023
Some Jewish users applauded her. “While current events have seen so many of our neighbours rip off masks to show us the deep rot of systemic antisemitism, it has also blessed Jews by shining spotlights on those non-Jews in our midst who like Susie passed this “would you have hid Jews during the Holocaust” test,” wrote Yoni Freedhoff, an Ottawa physician who tweets frequently on Canadian Jewish issues. The British Jewish historian Simon Schama, author of “The Story of the Jews,” joined in the appreciation.
But others said they thought the gesture represented cultural appropriation, in the vein of Christian Passover seders, and questioned whether it was the strongest show of allyship. “You can donate to a synagogue’s security fund (yeah, we have those, because we have to) or education fund,” one representative user tweeted. “Appropriation is NOT the way.”
Silverstein, who comes from a Chabad family, said he didn’t interpret his neighbors’ gesture as appropriative. Instead, he said, “It was such a beautiful thing to see non-Jews acknowledge the importance of a mezuzah.”
As for whether Jews everywhere should consider taking their own down for protection, Silverstein advised, “Consult your local rabbi.” But he noted Jewish tradition teaches that the mezuzah itself is historically its own form of protection.
“Our mezuzah is the security system. Our mezuzah has the Shema in it,” he said. “Having that mezuzah up, as scary as it may seem, I truly feel that God will protect you.”
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The post Some Jews are taking down their mezuzahs due to antisemitism. Some non-Jews are putting them up. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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US Senators Urge Secretary of Homeland Security to Secure Northern Border From Gaza Refugees
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Six US senators sent a letter to US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas this week requesting that he increase security measures along the northern border in response to Canada accepting an influx of refugees from Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by the terrorist group Hamas.
The six Republican lawmakers — Sens. Marco Rubio (FL), Ted Cruz (TX), Joni Ernst (IA), Tom Cotton (AK), Mike Braun (IN), and Josh Hawley (MO) — said they were “deeply concerned” that refugees from Gaza could sneak into the United States. The senators warned that allowing unvetted Palestinian refugees to cross the border poses a serious national security threat.
“On May 27, 2024, the Government of Canada announced its intent to increase the number of Gazans who will be allowed into their country under temporary special measures,” the senators wrote. “We are deeply concerned and request heightened scrutiny by the US Department of Homeland Security should any of them attempt to enter the United States at ports of entry as well as between ports of entry.”
After arriving in Canada, the Palestinian refugees will be given a “Refugee Travel Document,” which serves as a valid form of identification, the letter claimed, adding that US Citizenship and Immigration Services recognizes these documents as a valid substitute for a passport. The senators warned that “individuals with ties to terrorist groups” could potentially enter into the United States.
The letter argued that the US should maintain “common-sense terrorist screening and vetting” for any individual attempting to enter its borders from a foreign country. The lawmakers lamented that the Biden administration’s “”ax border enforcement” has rendered the country vulnerable to potential terrorist attacks. From April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations intercepted over 233 suspected terrorists at the northern border, according to the letter.
“[T]he possibility of terrorists crossing the US-Canada border is deeply concerning given the deep penetration of Gazan society by Hamas,” the senators wrote. “It would be irresponsible for the US to not take necessary heightened precautions when foreigners attempt to enter the United States.”
On Oct. 7, Hamas launched the ongoing war in Gaza with its Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre of 1,200 people across southern Israel. The Palestinian terrorist group also kidnapped over 250 hostages.
In response, Israel launched defensive military operations in Gaza with the aim of freeing the hostages and permanently dislodging Hamas from the neighboring enclave.
The vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the West Bank, still support Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel that started the ongoing war, and they would prefer a “day after” scenario in which Hamas remains in control of Gaza rather than the Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, or other Arab countries, according to recent Palestinian polling. The same polling found that, when asked about support for Palestinian political parties and movements, a plurality chose Hamas.
US lawmakers are split along party lines as to whether the United States should accept refugees from Gaza. Republicans are largely opposed to importing refugees from Gaza, arguing that individuals from the war-torn enclave present “a national security risk” to the United States.” In May, Ernst and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sent US President Joe Biden a letter, urging him not to accept any refugees from Gaza.
In June, however, a group of 70 Democratic lawmakers sent Mayorkas a letter, requesting he create “pathways” for more refugees of the Israel-Hamas war to resettle in America.
The post US Senators Urge Secretary of Homeland Security to Secure Northern Border From Gaza Refugees first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Video of Masked Man Vowing ‘Rivers of Blood’ at Paris Olympics Over Israel Support Appears to Be Fake, of Russia Origin
Screenshot of a widely circulated video published on social media showing a masked man vowing that “rivers of blood will flow” at the 2024 Paris Olympics due to France’s support for Israel. According to reports, the video appears to be fake and of Russian origin.
A widely circulated video published on social media this week showing a masked man vowing that “rivers of blood will flow” at the 2024 Paris Olympics due to France’s support for Israel appears to be fake and of Russian origin, according to reports.
The video — published on Tuesday on social media networks including X/Twitter and Telegram — featured a keffiyeh-clad man with his face covered, delivering an Arabic-language address threatening France with violence due to the country’s alleged support for Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
Addressing “the people of France” and “French President [Emmanuel] Macron,” the masked individual said, “You supported the Zionist regime in its criminal war against the people of Palestine. You provided Zionists with weapons; you helped murder our brothers and sisters, our children.”
“You invited the Zionists to the Olympic games. You will pay for what you have done!” continued the man, who wore a shirt adorned with a Palestinian flag. “Rivers of blood will flow through the streets of Paris. This day is approaching, God willing. Allah is the greatest.”
The video, published on X/Twitter by the account @endzionism24 and retweeted by Palestinian activist Ihab Hassan, ended with the speaker holding a prop severed head complete with fake blood up for the camera.
He is not a Palestinian:
A video clip has surfaced showing an individual wearing a keffiyeh and a Palestinian flag badge, threatening France with a “river of blood” at the Olympic Games.
It is glaringly obvious to any Arabic speaker that this person is not Arab; his dialect… pic.twitter.com/rwWGkkbiAi
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) July 23, 2024
Hassan and other social media users immediately noted that the man speaking was clearly not a native Arabic speaker, citing his reasonably fluent but awkward and occasionally incorrect pronunciation.
Many social media users aware of the mispronunciations seemed to blame Israel for the video, implying the clip was a false flag meant to fearmonger and demonize Palestinians and Muslims. They did not address the fact that Israel has access to hundreds of thousands of native Palestinian Arabic speakers who would sound far more convincing than the man in the video.
On Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that “French secret services and their partners have not been able to authenticate the veracity of this video.”
According to researchers at Microsoft, however, the video appears to be part of a Russian-linked disinformation campaign meant to disrupt the Olympics, which began with the opening ceremony on Friday.
The researchers from Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center told NBC News that the clip appears to have come from a Russian disinformation group known as Storm-1516, an outgrowth of Russia’s Internet Research Agency.
The latest clip was linked to a similar disinformation video falsely alleging that Ukraine had sent arms to Hamas — a claim for which there is no evidence. According to the researchers, the more recent video appears to be part of a Russian scare campaign meant to disrupt the Olympics.
The video came just days before France’s rail infrastructure was hit on Friday, ahead of the start of the Olympics, with widespread acts of vandalism including arson attacks, paralyzing travel to Paris from the rest of France and Europe just hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics. French authorities described the acts as “criminal” and “malicious.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the sabotage of France’s high-speed rail network was directed by Iran, which Western intelligence agencies have for years labeled as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.
“The sabotage of railway infrastructure across France ahead of the Olympics was planned and executed under the influence of Iran’s axis of evil and radical Islam,” Katz wrote on X/Twitter. “As I warned my French counterpart [Stéphane Séjourné] this week, based on information held by Israel, Iranians are planning terrorist attacks against the Israeli delegation and all Olympic participants. Increased preventive measures must be taken to thwart their plot. The free world must stop Iran now — before it’s too late.”
Katz was referring to a letter he sent on Thursday to Séjourné raising alarm bells about what he described as a plan by Iran to attack Israel’s Olympic delegation.
Darmanin and French National Police both announced previously that they are taking increased security measures to ensure the safety of Israel’s Olympic delegation while they are in Paris amid mounting threats. These measures include providing them with round the clock security from French police. The Israeli delegation will also receive additional security details from Israel’s Shin Bet security agency during the Olympics.
The post Video of Masked Man Vowing ‘Rivers of Blood’ at Paris Olympics Over Israel Support Appears to Be Fake, of Russia Origin first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Top St. Louis Newspaper Endorses US Rep. Cori Bush’s Opponent, Argues Incumbent’s Israel Stance Is ‘Disqualifying’
US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters/Allison Bailey
The editorial board of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the largest daily newspaper in Missouri, has endorsed the opponent of US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), pointing to the incumbent congresswoman’s lack of legislative accomplishments and stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
The Post-Dispatch argued that Bush’s position on Israel and the Gaza war should be “disqualifying” for any elected representative. The outlet took umbrage with Bush for equating a close democratic ally of the US with a genocidal terrorist organization.
“Israel’s conduct of the war has been far from perfect, but it remains a democracy fighting for survival against an evil terrorist organization. Bush’s tendency to equate both sides — and even to side with the terrorists, as when she cast one of just two House votes against a resolution to bar Hamas members from the US — should in itself be disqualifying for re-election,” the editorial board wrote.
Bush has established herself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel in the US Congress. Only nine days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, Bush called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. As the war dragged on, Bush’s rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “apartheid” in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza without providing evidence.
Bush seems more interested in pandering to the far-left fringes of the progressive movement than serving her constituents, the Post-Dispatch argued. Bush’s membership in “The Squad” — a clique of far-left progressive, anti-establishment lawmakers in the House of Representatives — has rendered her completely incapable of “accomplishing anything” in the halls of Congress, according to the newspaper.
The editorial board urged its readers to vote for Wesley Bell, pointing to his moderated approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example of his pragmatism and moral clarity.
“On Israel, Bell offers an appropriately measured stance, acknowledging the need to protect Gazan civilians and work toward a two-state solution, while supporting America’s closest ally in the Middle East,” the outlet wrote.
In contrast to Bush, Bell has expressed more sympathy to Israel’s military operations in Gaza, emphatically rejecting the notion that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute “genocide” or “ethnic cleansing.”
Moreover, Bell has strengthened his ties with the Jewish community over the course of his campaign. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, donated a reported $5 million to Bell’s campaign through its United Democracy Project super PAC. A group of 30 St. Louis-area rabbis penned a letter endorsing Bell, accusing Bush of a “lack of decency, disregard for history, and for intentionally fueling antisemitism and hatred.” Bell also brought about an official “director of Jewish outreach” to increase turnout among the Jewish community.
A poll commissioned by McLaughlin & Associates and sponsored by the CCA Action Fund, a pro-Bell super PAC, showed Bell with a commanding 56 percent to 33 percent lead over Bush.
Supporters of Israel see the primary race as a prime opportunity to oust another opponent of the Jewish state from the halls of Congress. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), a progressive lawmaker, lost his primary race to a pro-Israel challenger on June 25. Over the course of his reelection campaign, Bowman accused Israel of committing “genocide” and enacting “apartheid” against Palestinians. Bowman’s comments incensed Jewish constituents in the leafy suburbs of Westchester County, New York.
Furthermore, observers are looking to the race as a potential indicator of the Democratic electorate’s position on Israel. Opinions of the Jewish state among Democrats have soured in the months following Oct. 7, calling into question whether anti-Israel views are still a liability with American liberals.
The post Top St. Louis Newspaper Endorses US Rep. Cori Bush’s Opponent, Argues Incumbent’s Israel Stance Is ‘Disqualifying’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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