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The Justice System’s Disgusting Indifference to Murder and Attacks on Jews
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
Two weeks after the October 7 Hamas terrorist massacre in Israel, Samantha Woll, a 40-year-old Jewish woman, was found murdered outside her Detroit home with multiple stab wounds.
The man charged with the brutal slaying, Michael Jackson-Bolanos, was acquitted of first-degree murder in July. Weeks later, a deadlocked jury failed to convict Jackson-Bolanos on a similar count of felony murder. Instead, the suspect, whose attorney claimed he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” will spend 18 months in prison after the jury only convicted him on one count of lying to law enforcement.
Detroit police continue to claim there is no evidence that Woll’s murder was motivated by antisemitism.
At the time of her killing, Woll was serving as President of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, and was active in Democratic politics. Incidentally, her murder occurred in Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)’s district, where, just days prior to Woll’s body being discovered, the antisemitic lawmaker launched into another anti-Israel diatribe and falsely accused Israel of a deadly strike on a Gaza hospital that she said killed over 500 people (this was proven to be a complete lie on every account).
In November, Tlaib spoke about her “dear friend” on the House floor, calling Woll a deeply loved member of the “social justice community.”
Tlaib’s performative sorrow does little to deflect from acknowledging the Congresswoman’s outsize role in fomenting antisemitism. Moreover, the dearth of media noise and the judicial dismissiveness attached to Woll’s murder case comes against a backdrop of rising violence targeting Jews nationwide. In New York, hundreds of miles from Michigan, Orthodox Jews are routinely subjected to assault, harassment, and intimidation by criminals engaging in antisemitic thuggery.
Last Spring, a group of religious Jewish children were playing in front of a Brooklyn building when they were knocked down and punched by a Citi bike rider. To date, police have yet to find the attacker.
Just last week, 22-year-old Vincent Sumpter was charged with stabbing Yeshiva student Yechiel Michael Dabrowskin near Chabad’s headquarters, while shouting antisemitic screeds at the cohort of Jews gathered before fleeing the scene.
These are just a fraction of the violent attacks that have occurred against Jews in New York and nationwide. And while this latest incident resulted in an arrest, anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York often occur without the perpetrators facing any criminal consequences.
On its surface, the murder case involving interfaith advocate Samantha Woll shares little in common with the repeated attacks on New York’s Hasidic community. Yet, public apathy and judicial indifference over whether Woll’s killer will face any consequences for his brutality is tied to a similar disengagement in prosecuting crimes concerning the targeting of observant Jews.
For all her work with the Muslim community, it’s hard to believe that Woll’s murder would have been treated the same if she had been a part of any other racial or ethnic group besides Jews.
For Jewish Americans to retain faith in our Nation’s criminal justice system, those tasked with preserving the integrity of our judicial order must illustrate their willingness to treat felonies committed against Jews with the same degree of seriousness that is exercised for other minority communities.
The intimidating and hate-fueled pro-Hamas rallies unfolding across American campuses and in cities have inevitably contributed to the alarming spike in antisemitic incidents, which, according to the Anti-Defamation League, reached an all-time high last year.
While liberal lawmakers in places such as New York are quick to condemn these anti-Jewish episodes, their lofty language is seldom met with robust repercussions for the antisemitic agitators. And sometimes, their incitement against the Jewish State is actually what helps contribute to the sense that violence against Jews (and especially pro-Israel Jews) will be tolerated.
Indeed, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dropped charges for most of the pro-Palestinian Columbia University students who participated in seizing a campus building earlier this year and destroying university property.
Unsurprisingly, as Jews are cast as an oppressor class within the intersectional paradigm that guides the agenda of many officials and residents in liberal-run cities, US Jews of varying ideological persuasions must confront the reality that prosecutors, the policy, and government officials will often fail to take the necessary action to punish perpetrators if the victims are Jewish.
A grievance-based approach in many areas of the country to policy helps explain the distinction attributed to the swift but appropriate punishment given to criminals guilty of attacking people of other faiths, including members of the Black and Muslim communities, but not to Jews.
Back in 2021, not far from where Woll’s body was found, a white Michigan resident was sentenced to five years in prison for beating a Black teenager with a bicycle lock. Yet Woll has received absolutely no justice — and we must also question if her faith played a role in the jury being deadlocked.
In June, Manhattan DA Bragg announced that 40-year-old Gino Sozio would be serving nine years in prison for his role in a 2022 anti-Muslim hate crime. At that time, Sozio pulled out a knife and slashed the torso of a 22-year-old Muslim-American man, who required stitches and surgery following the despicable assault.
The growth of progressive protest movements over the last decade suggests that some of the same people participating in such leftist endeavors may serve as the next juror or judge to decide the fate of a suspect charged with committing a crime against a Jew.
It’s a troubling trend that has already touched Europe. The societal shifts consuming France likely contributed to Sarah Halimi’s killer, Kobili Traore, being excused from a criminal trial after he tortured the Jewish woman for hours in her own home before killing her in 2017.
To political ideologues, it matters little if one adheres to the Samantha Woll or Yechiel Michael Dabrowskin branch of Judaism. To them, crimes encompassing members of the Jewish community are telegraphed through an intersectional prism where Jews will always remain unremarkable figures outside of the ideological sanctum.
Irit Tratt is an American and pro-Israel advocate residing in New York. Follow her on X @Irit_Tratt
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China and Egypt Launch Joint Military Drills Near Israeli Border Amid Rising Regional Tensions
China and Egypt have launched their first-ever joint air force drill, “Eagles of Civilization 2025,” at an Egyptian airbase. Photo: Screenshot
China and Egypt launched a large-scale joint military exercise this week near the Israeli border, described by Chinese media as a “historic” first of its kind, aimed at deepening military cooperation amid rising regional tensions.
The joint drills — dubbed “Eagles of Civilization 2025” — began Sunday at an Egyptian Air Force base about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the Gulf of Suez and are expected to run through mid-May.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, the drill features Chinese J-10C fighter jets, refueling planes, and KJ-500 early warning aircraft, along with Russian-made MiG-29s flown by Egypt.
This exercise “is the first joint training between the Chinese and Egyptian militaries, which is of great significance to promoting pragmatic cooperation and enhancing mutual trust and friendship between the two militaries,” the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
Egyptian officials said the joint drills, aimed at strengthening military ties, will combine theoretical and practical training to enhance combat doctrines.
“The training will also involve joint aerial sorties, planning exercises, and simulated air combat management operations to exchange expertise and enhance the skills of the participating forces,” an Egyptian armed forces spokesperson said in a statement on social media.
Some experts view Beijing’s growing relationship with Cairo as the country’s latest move to expand its military presence in the Middle East and Africa, challenging the United States as its influence in the region stalls. This move could also help China strengthen ties with regional partners as the country faces mounting economic sanctions from Washington.
While details about Egypt’s military buildup remain unclear, “satellite images have shown the movement of tanks and battalions that exceed the limits set by the Camp David Accords,” Mariam Wahba, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told The Algemeiner.
Under the peace treaty, Egypt can request permission from Israel to deploy more than the 47 battalions allowed. However, some estimates suggest that there are currently camps for 180 battalions.
“The Camp David Accords have long been a pillar of peace and stability in the Middle East,” Wahba explained. “A breakdown of the agreement would have serious implications, not just for Israel and Egypt but for the broader region.”
“It could embolden actors like Iran and its proxies to exploit tensions and could lead to increased militarization along Israel’s southern border,” Wahba told The Algemeiner.
Egypt’s military buildup, reportedly in response to Israel’s presence at the Philadelphi Corridor and concerns over a potential mass Palestinian exodus into the country, along with Jerusalem’s control of the corridor, could both breach the 1979 peace treaty.
Last month, China, Russia, and Iran held a three-day naval drill in the Gulf of Oman, conducting joint operations in Iranian territorial waters, strengthening their defense cooperation and bolstering their presence in the region.
China’s growing ties with Egypt come at a time when Egyptian relations with Washington are strained, following US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip — potentially to Egypt and other Arab countries — during reconstruction efforts after the war, a plan Cairo has strongly opposed.
“This is a reminder that our partners have options,” Former US CENTCOM Commander Gen. Joseph Votel told The War Zone. “China is positioning itself as a viable military supplier and strategic partner” in the region.
In a rapidly shifting Middle East marked by rising tensions and competing regional power blocs, China and Egypt’s deepening cooperation could reshape regional power dynamics, challenging American influence and diminishing Israel’s strategic flexibility.
Israeli defense officials have previously expressed growing concern over Cairo’s military buildup and armed presence in the Sinai Peninsula.
These concerns come amid escalating tensions between Jerusalem and Cairo since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, particularly over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, where Egypt has demanded Israel withdraw its forces.
Earlier this year, Jerusalem accused Egypt of violating their decades-old peace treaty, while also raising concerns about Cairo’s expanding defense capabilities.
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Pro-Palestine Demonstrators Blast Sanders as ‘Genocide Denier’
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to the media following a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, US, July 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has been targeted by left-wing protesters over his supposedly insufficient support for Gaza.
Pro-Palestine activists crashed one of Sanders’s “The Fighting Oligarchy” rallies in Bakersfield, California last week to grill the senator about his position on the Israel-Hamas war. During Sanders’s speech, activists associated with United Liberation Front for Palestine (ULFP) berated Sanders for his reluctance in accusing Israel of committing so-called “genocide” against the civilians of Gaza.
“Are you going to call it a genocide, when it’s a genocide?” the activist bellowed.
“And you defend Israel when Palestinians are being killed every single day and all you do is criticize Netanyahu! Israel does not have a right to exist or fight while Palestinians are dying,” she continued.
Other protesters then interrupted Sanders’s speech, condemning the progressive lawmaker as a “liberal Zionist,” accusing him of being “complicit with ICE,” and castigating him for voting in favor of the confirmation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Bernie, why don’t you let your fans know that you’re a settler, that you occupy Palestinian land?” the activist said.
Sanders does not possess dual citizenship with Israel. However, rumors about Sanders, who is Jewish, possessing Israeli citizenship have circulated around the internet since his 2015 presidential campaign.
In recent weeks, anti-Israel protesters have grown increasingly critical of Sanders over his refusal to adopt more adversarial rhetoric against the Jewish state. Last week, Sanders incensed progressives after authorities removed an activist which unfurled a flag reading “free Palestine” during a tour stop in Idaho.
During that rally, Sanders said, “Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself from terrorism, but it does not have the right to wage all out war against the Palestinian people” and “not one more nickel to Netanyahu,” triggering more outrage among his leftist supporters.
Sanders, who is among the most vocal critics of the Israel-Hamas war in the federal government, spearheaded a number of failed efforts to implement a partial arms embargo on the Jewish state, citing supposed “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza. However, progressive activists have grown increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with Sanders’s position on Israel, complaining that the senator has isolated his criticisms to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has refused to repudiate Israel’s existence.
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Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Massive Cuts Amid Campus Antisemitism Crisis
US President Donald Trump, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attend a cabinet meeting at the White House. Photo: Nathan Howard via Reuters Connect.
Harvard University filed suit against the Trump administration on Monday to request an injunction that would halt the government’s impounding of $2.26 billion of its federal grants and contracts and an additional $1 billion that, reportedly, will be confiscated in the coming days.
In the complaint, shared by interim university president Alan Garber, Harvard says the administration bypassed key procedural steps it must, by law, take before sequestering any federal funds. It also charges that the Trump administration does not aim, as it has publicly pledged, to combat campus antisemitism at Harvard but to impose “viewpoint-based conditions on Harvard’s funding.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the administration has proposed that Harvard reform in ways that conservatives have long argued will make higher education more meritocratic and less welcoming to anti-Zionists and far-left extremists. Its “demands,” contained in a letter the administration sent to Garber — who subsequently released it to the public — called for “viewpoint diversity in hiring and admissions,” the “discontinuation of [diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives],” and “reducing forms of governance bloat.” They also implore Harvard to begin “reforming programs with egregious records of antisemitism” and to recalibrate its approach to “student discipline.”
Harvard rejects the administration’s coupling of campus antisemitism with longstanding grievances regarding elite higher education’s “wokeness,” elitism, and overwhelming bias against conservative ideast. Republican lawmakers, for their part, have maintained that it is futile to address campus antisemitism while ignoring the context in which it emerged.
Speaking for the university, Harvard’s legal team — which includes attorneys with links to US President Donald Trump’s inner circle — denounced any larger reform effort as intrusive.
“The First Amendment does not permit the Government to ‘interfere with private actors’ speech to advance its own vision of ideological balance,” they wrote in the complaint, which names several members and agencies of the administration but not Trump as a defendant. “Nor may the government ‘rely on the ‘threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion … to achieve the suppression of disfavored speech.’ The government’s attempt to coerce and control Harvard disregards these fundamental First Amendment principles, which safeguard Harvard’s ‘academic freedom.’”
The complaint continued, arguing that the impounding of funds “flout not just the First Amendment, but also federal laws and regulations” and says that Harvard should have been investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to determine whether it failed to stop and, later, prevent antisemitism in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — a finding that would have warranted punitive measures. Rather, it charges, the Trump administration imposed a “sweeping freeze of funding” that, it contends, “has nothing at all to do with antisemitism and Title VI compliance.”
Garber followed up the complaint with an exaltation of limited government and the liberal values which further academia’s educational mission — values Harvard has been accused of failing to uphold for decades.
“We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion,” Garber said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “That is how we achieve academic excellence, safeguard open inquiry and freedom of speech, and conduct pioneering research — and how we advance the boundless exploration that propels our nation and its people into a better future.”
For some, Harvard’s allegations against the Trump administration are hollow.
“Claiming that the entire institution is exempt from any oversight or intervention is extraordinary,” Alex Joffe, anthropologist and editor of BDS Monitor for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “It would seem to claim, at least by extension, that the government cannot enforce laws regarding equal protection for individuals — namely students in minority groups — and other legal and regulatory frameworks because they jeopardize the institution’s academic freedom.”
He continued, “Moreover, the idea that cutting voluntary government funding is de facto denial of free speech also sounds exaggerated if not absurd. If an institution doesn’t want to be subjected to certain requirements in a relationship entered into voluntarily with the government, they shouldn’t take the money. Modifying a contract after the fact, however, might be another issue … At one level the Trump administration is simply doing what Obama and Biden did with far less controversy, issuing directives and threatening lawsuits and funding. But the substance of the proposed oversight, especially the intrusiveness with respect to curricular affairs, has obviously touched a nerve.”
Harvard’s fight with the federal government is backed by its immense wealth, and the school has been drawing on its vast financial resources to build a war chest for withstanding Trump’s budget cuts since March, when it issued over $450 million in bonds as “part of ongoing contingency planning for a range of financial circumstances.” Another $750 million in bonds was offered to investors in April, according to The Harvard Crimson, a sale that is being managed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
A generous subsidy protects Harvard from paying exorbitant interest on the new debt, as investors can sell most bonds issued by educational institutions without being required to pay federal income tax.
Other universities have resorted to borrowing as well, issuing what was reportedly a record $12.4 billion municipal bonds, some of which are taxable, during the first quarter of 2025. Among those which chose to take on debt are Northwestern University, which was defunded to the tune of $790 million on April 8. It issued $500 million in bonds in March. Princeton University, recently dispossessed of $210 in federal grants, is preparing an offering of $320 million, according to Forbes.
“If Harvard is willing to mortgage it’s real estate or use it as collateral, it can borrow money for a very long time,” National Association of Scholars president Peter Wood told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “But it could destroy itself that way.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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