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The Lost Cause: Anti-Zionism, Oct. 7, and How Revisionist Movements Can Distort History

Pro-Hamas activists gather in Washington Square Park for a rally following a protest march held in response to an NYPD sweep of an anti-Israel encampment at New York University in Manhattan, May 3, 2024. Photo: Matthew Rodier/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Every January, I study aspects of the American civil rights movement and pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. for bending the arc of our world toward justice. Since last year, I have been revisiting Lost Cause literature. Much to my surprise, the Lost Cause movement was popularized by universities and influencers in ways that are eerily similar to today’s resurgent antisemitism.

The Lost Cause is a popular revisionist movement that reframes the Confederate States in the US South as the victims of Northern aggression and Confederates as righteous and heroic actors of the United States Civil War. While the Civil War ended in 1865, many secessionists and Confederate sympathizers were determined to bring victory out of battlefield defeat through terrorism and a revisionist counter-narrative of the Civil War.  The tactics changed but the struggle for White Supremacy remained the same. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded in 1865 by former Confederate soldiers to realize the goals of the Lost Cause. As Charles Aycock, the former governor of North Carolina, later proclaimed, “From the mountains to the sea … we must disenfranchise the Negro.”

WEB Du Bois eloquently wrote in Black Reconstruction in America that the Lost Cause and its revisionist narrative was propelled for decades by elite American universities: “The real frontal attack on Reconstruction, as interpreted by the leaders of national thought in 1870 and for some time thereafter, came from the universities and particularly Columbia [University].” Du Bois further states: “The Columbia school of historians … has issued … sixteen studies of Reconstruction … all based on the same thesis, and all done according to the same method: first, endless sympathy with the white South; second, ridicule, contempt or silence for the Negro [italics added for emphasis].” As Du Bois concludes in his seminal book: “A nation-wide university attitude has arisen by which propaganda against the Negro has been carried on unquestioned.”

In addition to universities, influencers helped to mainstream the Lost Cause by disproportionately emphasizing the sins committed by Northerners and Southern blacks during and after the Civil War. From Birth of a Nation to Gone with the Wind to The Dukes of Hazard, the popular Lost Cause narrative celebrated Southern white culture and defiance of “outsider” meddling while downplaying the horrors of slavery and injustices of Black Codes and segregation. The occupying Union soldiers and administrators were labeled “the carpet bagger regime” and the Reconstruction “occupation” was viewed primarily as folly and oppressive.

Similar to the Lost Cause phenomenon, anti-Zionism is a popular revisionist movement that reframes the founding of Israel as a colonial enterprise and the Palestinians/Arabs as righteous and heroic actors of the ongoing conflict.  The reality is most Jews were forcibly expelled from what is modern day Israel into the diaspora by the Babylonians and the Romans, yearning for centuries to return to their sacred ancestral homeland, while many Jews remained in the area for millennia. Throughout the early to mid-1900s, Arab anti-immigrant activists in the Middle East pressured the British to restrict Jewish refugees in the British Mandate of Palestine, enabling millions of Jewish deaths in the Holocaust including 80 members of my family. Nevertheless, when the colonial British Mandate in Palestine ended, the Jewish Agency supported the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan to establish a Jewish and a Palestinian state.

Palestinian leaders and surrounding Arab countries refused to compromise and almost immediately attacked Israel in 1948.  The goal of the 1948 war against Israeli independence was, as clearly stated at the time, “to eliminate the Jews of Palestine, and to completely cleanse the country of them.”

Most neighboring countries are still determined to eliminate Israel as an independent nation, only tolerating a weak token Jewish presence in their midst. As Bobby Kennedy foresaw in 1948 after visiting the region, “They are determined that a separate Jewish state will be attacked and attacked until it is finally cut out like an unhealthy abscess.” Around 30 countries currently do not recognize Israel’s right to exist. A number of these countries openly support terrorism and exhibit a singular hatred of the Jewish state. Malaysia inscribes on its passports: “This passport is valid for all countries except Israel.” The Iranian president said he would “try to have friendly relations with all countries except Israel.” The Qatari government has given Hamas $1.5 billion over the past 10 years, and systemic antisemitism is woven into their country’s educational curricula.  Yet, Israel is widely vilified by the international community.

Much like at the height of Lost Cause influence, antisemitic and anti-Zionist sentiment today is being fueled by elite universities. University presidents refused to unequivocally declare that on-campus advocacy of genocide against Jews violates school codes of conduct. A Columbia University professor who declared Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel “resistance” has been rewarded rather than reprimanded: the anti-Zionist professor is scheduled to “teach” a course on Zionism! Professors and university-supported student organizations at places such as Harvard astonishingly blamed Israel for the horrors of Oct. 7, even before Israel’s military response, despite the government of Gaza explicitly declaring its desire to eliminate Israel through more such attacks.

It’s an upside-down time, where the party that seeks to commit genocide flips the script by labeling the party it wants to kill as evil and genocidal.

The anti-Zionist hostility on college campuses is palpable, as I observed during visits with my college-bound son. Numerous banners promote “the intifada” and decry “the Gaza genocide,” with no “free the hostages” or “free Gaza from Hamas/Iran” signs anywhere to be found.

Well-intentioned people usually gravitate to “the underdog” and social justice rhetoric. But what if the perceived underdog’s values or viewpoints are dangerous? And, what if the social justice slogans are misleading or nefarious? As Bob Dylan forewarns in Man of Peace, “sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.” (A red flag for the well-intended: university professors and students echo former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who participates in anti-Israel protests and claims the Jews are committing “genocide” against the Palestinians.)

Also similar to the Lost Cause, influencers today are legitimizing antisemitism and indifference to Jewish suffering. Eric Clapton’s recent claim that “Israel is running the world, Israel is running the show” epitomizes this perspective.  Throughout the world, musicians abandoned their hippie comrades in Israel. There has been no “We are the World” coalition to commemorate the Nova festival massacre or demand a return of the hostages taken from the peaceful music venue — even though Oct. 7, 2023, was the largest and most violent atrocity in music history.

A deliberate effort is underway to separate Jewish identity from Zionism, while branding Zionism as evil. Anti-Zionists hypocritically celebrate longstanding place-based connections of every identity group, except the Jewish Tribe.

Jews and the State of Israel are far from perfect. But Israeli efforts — along with shameful instances of egregious abuse, mistakes, and bigotry — should be viewed within the “bigger picture” context and without double standards. For instance, journalists and anti-Israel activists emphasize the number of deaths “on both sides,” implying moral equivalency or that a higher death toll on one side in and of itself shows the other side is wrong.

Yet, no reasonable journalist or human rights organization suggests that the Americans and English were the bad actors of World War II, even though the American military was segregated at the time, during “D-Day” the Allies bombed Nazi-controlled French villages and cities inadvertently killing over 20,000 French civilians, and an estimated 40,000 German civilians were killed by the American and English bombings of Hamburg. During and after the US Civil War, some white Union soldiers engaged in horrific behavior including instances of rape and pillaging of white southern communities. However inexcusable (and deserving condemnation), such misdeeds are no longer disproportionately emphasized or given equal footing with the perpetuation of slavery due to the waning influence of Lost Cause advocates.

Zionism is a Jewish liberation and self-determination movement that should be widely celebrated but instead is being quieted by antisemitic narratives and supersessionist religious theologies that erase Jewish indigenousness in the land of Israel. Historical documents and archeological findings undeniably prove a sustained Jewish presence in the land of Israel for thousands of years. Denying historical Jewish connections to the land of Israel is, as Yossi Klein Halevi states, part of an ongoing “war against the Jewish story” and should be viewed as a threat to indigenous people everywhere.

Zionists need to do a better job communicating the beauty of Zionism and history of the Jewish people, while not hardening our own hearts and minds in the face of adversity. Rising extremism within our own midst requires unequivocal condemnation and marginalization, including against Jewish-settler terrorism in the West Bank. We must cherish strength and security but continuously strive for peace and compromise, despite the long history of intolerance toward Jews and ongoing hostilities to Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land.

Studying the Lost Cause offers opportunities to understand how harmful human beliefs and behaviors can become widely accepted. Long after the Civil War, American blacks and their allies were lynched, harassed, and intimidated to suppress black liberation. Universities and influencers for decades fueled anti-black hatred and oppression, while claiming to champion social justice. On the other hand, the abolition and civil rights movements show the difficult and ongoing efforts required to push back against slavery and Lost Cause themes. While the US Lost Cause and civil rights movements are unique experiences, Jews and our allies would be wise to learn from them to overcome our struggles for freedom and liberty.

David Neil is a real estate executive in New York City. He also writes about Israel, Zionism, and issues concerning the Jewish community.

The post The Lost Cause: Anti-Zionism, Oct. 7, and How Revisionist Movements Can Distort History first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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The BBC Documentary That Paints Every Israeli as an Extremist

The Jewish community of Beit El in Judea and Samaria. Photo: Yaakov via Wikimedia Commons.

Louis Theroux first visited the West Bank in 2011 to film a documentary titled Louis and the Ultra-Zionists, part of his long-running series for the BBC. Back then, he at least seemed to possess a trace of journalistic curiosity. Even the title signaled a degree of editorial caution — framing his subjects as a small, ideological fringe rather than representative of Israeli society as a whole.

At the time, Theroux made an effort to clarify that he was profiling a narrow segment of Israelis. He showed legally purchased Jewish homes (sold by Arab landowners, no less) and acknowledged the regular — and at times deadly — terror attacks faced by Israeli civilians living in the area, often requiring military protection. There was condescension, certainly. But there was also context.

Fast-forward to 2024, and the curiosity is gone — though the bemused, slightly smug expression remains. His new BBC documentary, Louis and the Settlers, drops even the soft qualifiers. No “ultra.” No nuance. Just “settlers.” And with that, Theroux makes it clear: half a million Israelis living in the West Bank are one and the same — extremists who, we’re told, want every last Palestinian removed from the land.

This time, the documentary doesn’t begin with questions. It begins with conclusions. And Theroux uses a brief, unrepresentative snapshot of life in the West Bank to draw sweeping indictments of the entire Israeli state.

The message is unmistakable: Israel is the problem. Settlers are the villains. And Palestinians are passive, blameless victims of a colonial project.

Within the opening minutes, Theroux plants his ideological flag. He refers to the West Bank as “Palestinian territory” and describes every Israeli community within it as illegal under international law — a sharp departure from his more qualified approach 14 years earlier.

And while his personal views seep in throughout the film, they become crystal clear during one exchange at a checkpoint, where an Israeli soldier casually refers to their location as “Israel.” Theroux shoots back: “We’re not in Israel, are we?”

And just like that, the BBC and Louis Theroux have redrawn Israel’s borders. No Knesset debate needed.

Erasing History to Blame the Massacre

The timing of this return trip is no accident. The film comes in the shadow of the October 7 Hamas massacres — the day 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered, families were burned alive in their homes, and children were dragged into Gaza. And yet, Theroux barely mentions it.

The few passing references to October 7 serve not to inform the audience — but to imply that Israel may be exploiting its own dead to justify further expansion. It’s not an investigation. It’s an accusation. And it allows him to skip over thousands of years of Jewish history in order to frame the current war in Gaza as a convenient cover story for Israeli “aggression.”

Take Hebron, for example. Theroux tells viewers that “in 1968, the year after [the West Bank] was occupied by Israel, a community of Jewish settlers moved in illegally. They now number some 700.” He fails to mention that in 1895 — decades before the modern state of Israel existed — Hebron had a Jewish population of 1,429.

Jews have lived in Hebron since antiquity — it’s where, according to Jewish tradition, Abraham purchased the Cave of the Patriarchs. Modern records date the community back centuries, despite discrimination under Ottoman rule and bans on Jewish prayer at holy sites. In 1929, Arab rioters carried out a massacre, wiping out Hebron’s Jewish population. Dozens were murdered; the rest were expelled. Under Jordanian rule from 1948 to 1967, Jews were banned from the city entirely. When they returned after the Six-Day War — not as colonists, but as a displaced community coming home — Theroux picks up the story there and calls it “illegal.”

On the Six-Day War itself, Theroux offers no context. No mention of the Arab armies preparing to destroy Israel. No mention of Israel’s preemptive strike against an existential threat.

According to The Settlers, Israel simply “occupied” — full stop.

Palestinian Terrorism? Not Even a Footnote.

Theroux visits Evyatar, a small Jewish community near the Palestinian town of Beita, and uses it as a stand-in for the entire West Bank. Beita is depicted as a symbol of peaceful resistance: a proud, ancient Palestinian village standing firm against violent settlers backed by IDF soldiers.

It’s a neat story. Too neat. Because missing from the story are years of organized, violent riots from Beita — complete with Molotov cocktails, burning Stars of David, and Nazi swastikas. All carefully omitted to preserve the narrative: Palestinians peaceful, settlers aggressive. Facts that don’t fit? Left on the cutting room floor.

Meanwhile, Israeli nationalism is treated as something sinister and unsettling — a moral aberration to be examined. The notion that Jews might want sovereignty or security is met with thinly veiled suspicion. Yet Hamas’ goal of a Jew-free Palestine, explicitly laid out in its charter, is never mentioned. Nor is the Palestinian Authority’s “pay-for-slay” policy, which literally incentivizes terrorism by rewarding those who murder Israelis — including women and children.

These aren’t fringe details. They’re central to understanding the region. And Theroux knows it. He just doesn’t care.

The BBC’s Complicity

That The Settlers aired on the BBC — a publicly funded broadcaster once seen as a gold standard of global journalism — says plenty. Not just about Louis Theroux’s agenda, but about the institutional direction of the BBC itself. This wasn’t a rogue filmmaker sneaking bias past the editors. This was bias built into the foundation — signed off, packaged, and broadcast under the banner of credibility.

There is, of course, no problem with scrutinizing Israeli policy, and no issue with questioning the settlement enterprise or highlighting the tensions in the West Bank. But journalism — real journalism — demands context. It demands precision. It demands at least a passing familiarity with the full scope of the story.

Theroux offers none of that. He arrives with a predetermined script and casts his roles accordingly: Hero. Villain. Victim. Oppressor. And when reality refuses to cooperate? It’s left out.

Louis Theroux didn’t return to Israel to understand it. He returned to flatten it. To reduce its complexity to a morality play — and to ensure everyone knows the antagonist is.

The Settlers isn’t a documentary. It’s a hit piece. And the BBC handed him the camera — then applauded the performance.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

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Indian Army Kills Islamist Terrorist Linked to 2002 Murder of Jewish-American Journalist Daniel Pearl

Jewish-American Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by Islamist terrorists in Pakistan in 2002. Photo: Screenshot

The Indian government announced on Thursday that its military forces had killed “Pakistan’s most wanted terrorist,” who was connected to the 2002 murder of Jewish-American Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl.

On Wednesday, India launched “Operation Sindoor,” which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claims is targeted at dismantling “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The operation came after Pakistani terrorists killed 26 Hindu tourists in Kashmir last month amid escalating tensions between the two countries.

In a post on X, the BJP confirmed that during this week’s operation, the Indian army killed Islamist terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar, who was involved in numerous terrorism plots, including the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight, the 2001 terror attack on the Indian Parliament, and the 2016 Pathankot Air Force base attack.

Azhar’s involvement in the 1999 hijacking led to the release of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British-born al-Qaeda member with close ties to Pakistan’s intelligence services, who later was involved in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of 38-year-old Pearl, who was covering the war on terror as a journalist when he was abducted.

In a statement on X, Pearl’s father, Judea, addressed initial reports regarding Azhar’s death and his connection to his son’s murder.

“I want to clarify: Azhar was a Pakistani extremist and leader of the terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed. While his group was not directly involved in the plot to abduct Danny, it was indirectly responsible. Azhar orchestrated the hijacking that led to the release of Omar Sheikh — the man who lured Danny into captivity,” he said.

In 2002, the Jewish-American journalist was abducted and killed by a group of Islamist terrorists connected to Azhar’s militant network, which had ties to al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terror group aiming to separate Kashmir from India and incorporate it into Pakistan.

On Jan. 27, 2002, an email was sent to several Pakistani and US media organizations, which included several photos, stating that Pearl was being held in “inhumane” conditions to protest the US treatment of Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners in Cuba. Photo: Screenshot

Originally stationed in New Delhi as the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, Pearl later moved to Pakistan to investigate terrorism following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.

After kidnapping Pearl at a restaurant in Karachi, southern Pakistan, the Islamist terrorists, who identified themselves as the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, accused him of being an Israeli spy and sent the United States a list of demands for his release.

However, Washington did not meet their demands, and Pearl was ultimately executed after being held captive for five weeks.

His wife, Mariane Pearl, gave birth to a baby boy, Adam D. Pearl, in Paris later that year. On the Daniel Pearl Foundation website, she said, “Adam’s birth rekindles the joy, love, and humanity that Danny radiated wherever he went.”

The post Indian Army Kills Islamist Terrorist Linked to 2002 Murder of Jewish-American Journalist Daniel Pearl first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Jewish Jewelry Shop Owners Brutally Assaulted in Tunisia Days Before Annual Pilgrimage

A Jewish jewelry shop owner in Djerba, Tunisia, was brutally attacked by a man wielding a machete. Photo: Screenshot

A Jewish jewelry shop owner in Djerba, Tunisia, was brutally attacked by a man wielding a machete just days before the Tunisian island was set to host its annual Jewish pilgrimage, which is expected to draw thousands of visitors.

On Wednesday morning, two Jewish men — owners of a jewelry shop in the center of the island, located off Tunisia’s southeast coast — were physically assaulted by a man carrying a large knife.

Although the attack was halted when one of them screamed — alerting members of the local Jewish community who subdued the assailant — one of them was left severely injured.

According to local media reports, the attacker had surveyed the island the day before, visiting several stores to identify those owned by Jews. Local police arrested him shortly following the assault.

After the attack, one of the owners was admitted to the hospital with severe injuries. The 50-year-old Jewish man had his fingers severed during the assault and underwent surgery to reattach them.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the attack and expressed his wishes for a swift recovery to the victims.

“This attack comes two years after the previous deadly assault that claimed Jewish lives and the lives of security personnel during the Lag BaOmer celebration,” the top Israeli diplomat wrote in a post on X.

“I call on the Tunisian authorities to take all necessary measures to protect the Jewish community,” Saar continued.

Djerba is home to the majority of Tunisia’s Jewish community, numbering about 2,000 people, and is also where the renowned El Ghriba Synagogue, one of North Africa’s oldest synagogues, is located.

The attack comes just a week before Jewish pilgrims are expected to arrive on the island for the Lag B’Omer holiday, when thousands gather annually for three days of festivities. The annual pilgrimage to El Ghriba Synagogue, scheduled for May 15 and 16 this year, draws visitors from around the world.

The synagogue has been targeted in multiple terrorist attacks over the years, including in 1985, 2002, and 2023.

Two years ago, a shooting at the synagogue claimed the lives of two Jewish cousins and three police officers. Aviel Hadad, a 30-year-old Israeli goldsmith, and Ben Hadad, a 42-year-old Frenchman who had traveled to join the festivities, were among the victims.

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