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The Right to Exist
Peter Beinart. Photo: Joe Mabel via Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – Liberal and left-wing adversaries of Israel indulge in an abiding fantasy that one day the Jewish state, which they falsely regard as an ethnostate built upon an ideology of Jewish supremacy, will be replaced by a single state of Palestine. They fancifully believe that it will be a multiethnic democracy granting equal rights to all its citizens, regardless of religion or national origin.
As fantasies go, this one has enjoyed a good deal of mileage, surfacing every few years at times of tension in the Middle East and gripping the attention of a handful of intellectuals. More than 20 years ago, as the Second Intifada raged in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the late historian Tony Judt caused waves with a New York Review of Books essay titled, “Israel: The Alternative,” which depicted the Israeli polity as a nationalist anachronism that needed to be dismantled. This week, Peter Beinart, one of the more cloying Jewish adversaries of the Jewish state, did much the same with a New York Times piece titled “States don’t have a right to exist. People do,” treading on similar ground.
As depressing as it is to admit, it’s important to push back against these arguments—not because they hold any intrinsic worth but because they provide, at least on the surface, a framework for anti-Zionist arguments to be articulated by those who are too embarrassed to scream “Go Back to Poland!” at Jews waving Israeli flags, yet who essentially sympathize with that sentiment.
Beinart, who excels at presenting commonplace ideas as his own unique insights, argues that states have no innate worth, but that the people who live under their rule certainly do. The origins of this idea of the state lie with the thinkers of the classical liberal tradition—from Immanuel Kant to John Stuart Mill to Isaiah Berlin, who countered the emphasis on human beings as servile to the state found in the writings of thinkers like the 17th-century English philosopher Hobbes and the 19th- century German philosopher Hegel.
While the goal of a minimal, legally accountable state is a laudable one, like most ideas, it can evolve in bizarre directions unanticipated by its formative thinkers; in this case, that out of more than 200 states in the international system, the existence of only one of them—the State of Israel—is up for debate.
Beinart is vexed by the consensus among US politicians that the right of the State of Israel to exist needs to be unashamedly upheld. He cites China and Iran as examples of states whose forms of government—Communist and Islamist—are regularly attacked by Americans. If it’s legitimate to advocate for the dismantling of these regimes, then why doesn’t the same principle apply to a state run by a regime that stresses Jewishness over everything else?
The comparison is a false one.
There is a key distinction between the concept of a “state” and that of a “nation,” but the two are often conflated because the independent, sovereign state has been the most enduring aim of advocates of national self-determination. The Soviet Union disappeared, but its constituent nations did not (Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to crush Ukraine notwithstanding), while much-welcome regime change in China and Iran would not result in the elimination of those nations either. It also implies a knuckleheaded moral symmetry between a country like China, which incarcerates its Muslim Uyghur minority in concentration camps, forcing them to eat pork and drink alcohol, and Israel, where core human and civil rights are guaranteed under the law for all citizens, Jewish or not.
In the formula that Beinart recommends, however, there is no guarantee that the Jews of Israel would survive as a national group once the name “Israel,” which for Beinart and other anti-Zionists is the ultimate symbol of Jewish supremacy, was wiped from the map. Indeed, it’s far more likely that Israeli Jews would confront mass expulsion and genocide at the hands of Hamas and its allied factions than be welcome participants in a multinational “Palestine.”
Beinart fails to grasp that the Oct. 7, 2023 pogrom by Hamas, which he writes about in a creepily dissociative manner, remarking merely that “Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters killed about 1,200 people in Israel and abducted about 240 others,” is regarded by the vast majority of Israelis as a sign of what the terrorists have in store for all of them. The recent scenes in Gaza, where baying, hysterical Palestinian mobs have surrounded women hostages being released from Hamas captivity under the current ceasefire deal are a testament to that.
Beinart argues that the question of whether Israel has a right to exist is irrelevant. It is more appropriate to ask, “Does Israel, as a Jewish state, adequately protect the rights of all the individuals under its dominion?” Actually, the more pertinent question is this: Can Palestinians, nurtured on a diet of dehumanizing antisemitic hatred that expressed itself with perfect horror on Oct. 7, agree to a living arrangement with Israelis—one state, two states, a federation, some other model of governance—that is secure and sustainable? Or is some kind of deprogramming, akin to the denazification of Germany after World War II, a necessary first step?
It’s instructive that as Beinart’s essay was being published, Donald Trump raised the idea of resettling Gaza residents in other countries, a solution that right now is more palatable to Israelis than trading more land for a non-existent peace. There are, of course, an equal mix of advantages and problems associated with such a radical move, but if the Palestinians want to remove it from the table, then they need to focus on subjecting their own society to fundamental reform. Because that’s another aspect that Beinart is unable to grasp; patience is at an end, despair is rising, and measures previously beyond the pale now look feasible and, dare I say so, desirable on many levels.
As the philosopher Karl Popper—another advocate of the minimal state bound by the rule of law—put it: “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. We must therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate intolerance.”
The post The Right to Exist first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Antisemitism Spike Is Top Concern in Survey of Global Jewish Population
Israeli President Isaac Herzog looks on during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, in Washington, DC, on Oct. 25, 2022. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS
A study polling more than 10,000 Jews across the world that was released on Wednesday by Voice of the People shows that worries about rising antisemitism now dominate lists of community challenges across demographics.
Working together with the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel, the group led by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the findings of the report will inform a council of 150 Jewish leaders from around the world.
“This is not just a data set — it’s a global Jewish reality check,” Shirel Dagan-Levy, CEO of Voice of the People, said in a statement. She added that the survey shows “a community that is hurting, but also more united than ever in its desire to stand tall, protect its heritage, and shape a stronger, safer future.”
Researchers focused on identifying what Jews saw as leading problems in their communities. Top responses included rising antisemitism (76 percent agreeing), Israel-diaspora relations (56 percent), Jewish-non-Jewish relations (49 percent), polarization within the Jewish world (49 percent), and preserving Jewish culture and heritage (46 percent).
“Antisemitism surging to unprecedented levels since Oct. 7 was the top concern by a wide margin,” Voice of the People said in a press release. “Respondents cited personal experiences of hate speech, exclusion, and discrimination — particularly in schools, universities, and on social media. Many reported suppressing their Jewish identity in public out of fear. The level of concern cut across age, geography, and level of observance.”
Neta Danciger, chief marketing and product officer of Voice of the People, added that “to truly hear the voices of our global Jewish community, we had to meet them where they are — online, across continents, and across generations.” She continued, “By combining the reach of digital and social media with a rigorous, community-driven survey model, we were able to capture authentic, real-time insights that reflect not only the challenges Jews face today, but also the resilience and unity that define our future.”
On connections between Israel and diaspora Jewish communities, researchers found a mix of results, both that some younger diaspora Jews felt greater distance from Israel while others felt a surge of emotional connection.
Nearly half of Jews described greater feelings of alienation from some non-Jewish spaces, particularly those of a progressive ideological orientation, due to what Voice of the People described as “misinformation, anti-Israel rhetoric, and ignorance about Jewish history” being “key drivers of mistrust and social isolation.”
As concerned as Jews were with those outside of their community, equal numbers also saw the internal divisions among politics, ideology, and generations as a problem in need of attention.
The survey noted some of these differences according to age.
Gen Z (82 percent) and millennials (81 percent) most identified antisemitism as a top problem. “Younger respondents expressed acute distress over hostility in social and digital spaces, with many reporting a sense of betrayal from progressive allies and a struggle to safely and confidently express their Jewish identity. Campus-based antisemitism and social media harassment were cited frequently,” Voice of the People stated.
Members of Generation X in particular (78 percent) tended to hide public expressions of their Jewish identity to avoid antisemitism while Baby Boomers and Silent Generation respondents (68 each) focused their concerns on “the future of Israel, Jewish continuity, and a sense that historical cycles of persecution may be repeating,” according to Voice of the People.
Researchers also identified geographic trends.
Jews in Israel (89 percent) said they felt strong concerns for Jews in the diaspora, seeing rising antisemitism as a threat to the collective Jewish future.
In the United States, respondents (78 percent) described failures of institutions to offer support, especially in academic and professional settings, while in the United Kingdom, 81 percent said they felt a need to conceal their Jewish identity in public.
Of those living in France, 73 percent said they worried about antisemitic rhetoric, public hostility, and misinformation.
For Jews in Argentina (87 percent) and Mexico (84 percent) concerns about rising antisemitism went alongside a greater sense of pride in their Jewish identity.
Majorities in South Africa (75 percent) and in Australia (65 percent) supported education, solidarity, and local activism to counter antisemitism.
The survey also offered respondents the opportunity to provide open-ended answers to questions such as “How have recent events impacted your sense of Jewish identity and community?”
One person quoted in the report answered that “it has made me more acutely aware of antisemitism and that very few people or communities care about what happens to us except us.”
The post Antisemitism Spike Is Top Concern in Survey of Global Jewish Population first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Global Leaders Sound Alarm on Surge of Antisemitism at IHRA Conference
British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis speaking at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) conference in Jerusalem on May 27, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warned that anti-Zionism has become “the new antisemitism,” amid mounting global concern over a surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Jewish hate crimes
Speaking at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening, Mirvis asserted that anti-Zionism is increasingly being weaponized to mask anti-Jewish sentiment, disguised as legitimate political criticism of Israel.
Hosted by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, the annual IHRA conference — held last year in the United Kingdom — began with a moment of silence honoring the two Israeli embassy staffers murdered in Washington, DC last week.
IHRA is an intergovernmental organization comprising dozens of countries dedicated to combating antisemitism and promoting Holocaust research and education. In 2016, IHRA adopted a “working definition” of antisemitism which in the ensuing years has been widely accepted by Jewish groups and lawmakers across the political spectrum. It is now used by hundreds of governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and United Nations.
In his speech, Mirvis emphasized Jerusalem’s vital role as both Israel’s capital and the enduring spiritual and cultural center of Jewish identity and faith.
“For Jews, the very presence of Almighty God is manifest here in this holy city more than in any other place on earth. And God gave this city and this land to the Jewish people for all time,” Mirvis said during the two-day conference.
“Israel is not just a geopolitical reality for the Jewish people. It is far more than that. It’s the center of our Jewish religion,” the Jewish leader continued. “So therefore, if you are anti-Zionist, you are also anti-Jewish. But more than that, you’re anti-Judaism, and your animosity affects the very wellbeing of Jews right around the world.”
“Anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism”
The Chief Rabbi addresses the opening of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Conference in Jerusalem for parliamentarians and government representatives from around the world. pic.twitter.com/ecu08YlR1r
— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) May 28, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Israel activism has sparked a rise in antisemitic incidents. In this context, longstanding antisemitic stereotypes are increasingly being directed at Israel, with the term “Zionist” weaponized to mask deep-rooted antisemitic tropes under the pretense of legitimate political critique.
At the same event, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech, calling on European leaders to resist the growing demonization of the Jewish state.
Anti-Israel protesters in European countries “are basically challenging Western civilization [and] free societies as we understand them,” Netanyahu said. Many of these leaders “want to control the rampant attacks that are then directed at them for having relations with Israel, for having contact with it.”
“What you try to do is try to corral your victim when in fact, your countries are the victim. Because what is being done is an attempt to deny Israel, and in fact all free societies the ability to fight these barbarians,” the Israeli leader continued.
“Don’t succumb to the vilification, don’t succumb to this complete aversion of morality,” Netanyahu said. “I urge you to fight antisemitism not only because it’s right. I urge you to fight antisemitism because it will save you.”
During his speech, Netanyahu also warned that Israel is fighting “not merely a seven-front war [against Iran-backed proxies in the Middle East], but an eight-front war,” describing it as a broader struggle of “civilization against barbarism.”
“The most important thing you have to do in fighting antisemitism is to stand up and not be cowered,” the Israeli premier continued. “Do not be afraid to speak up. Speak up, stand up for the truth, stand up for the Jewish people, stand up for civilization.”
During the conference, Saar also delivered a speech in which he condemned international leaders and governments seeking to impose an arms embargo on Israel.
“If these initiatives will be successful, Israel will simply be eliminated,” the top Israeli diplomat said. “There will be another Holocaust – this time on the soil of the Land of Israel.”
“The ancient desire to eliminate the Jewish people has become stronger. It has become a plan of action for our enemies,” he continued.
Noting that 80 years have passed since the Holocaust, Saar emphasized IHRA’s vital role in “safeguarding and passing on the stories and lessons of the Holocaust to future generations.”
The post Global Leaders Sound Alarm on Surge of Antisemitism at IHRA Conference first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Democratic Socialists of America Defends Accused DC Jewish Museum Shooter Elias Rodriguez as ‘Political Prisoner’
Elias Rodriguez, 31, from Chicago, taken into custody by police for allegedly shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
A caucus in the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has praised Elias Rodrigez, who was charged with murdering two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, last week, and called for his release from prison.
The “Liberation Caucus,” a self-described “Marxist-Leninist-Maoist” faction of the DSA, announced on Tuesday that the organization added its name to an official statement from the far-left group Unity of Fields, which applauded the shooting of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, last Wednesday evening as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.
“Elias Rodriguez’s targeted attack on two Israeli diplomatic staff on May 21, 2025, was a legitimate act of resistance against the Zionist state and its genocidal campaign in Gaza,” Unity of Fields said in a statement. “After twenty months of non-stop apocalyptic violence wrought by the Zionist movement, inflicted upon Palestinian civilians striving for national liberation as well as on the freedom fighters advancing that national liberation; after twenty months of political and legal repression by these same Zionists against our international movement opposing their campaign of total destruction — the time has now come for real consequences.”
Rodriguez, a 31-year-old left-wing and anti-Israel activist from Chicago, was charged last Thursday in US federal court with two counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of fatally shooting Lischinsky and Milgrim, a young couple about to become engaged to be married, as they left an event for young professionals and diplomatic staff hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC). According to video of the attack and an affidavit filed by US federal authorities supporting the criminal charges, Rodriguez yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police and told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
“Elias Rodriguez’s act was fully justified, at that place where legal and moral duties meet,” United of Fields said in its statement, which was signed by several far-left and anti-Israel organizations. “It is clear that international law, which the West itself established and whose institutions are dominated by the interests of these imperialists, establishes a duty to take action to stop genocide, including the use of violence to do so.”
Unity of Fields urged its followers to lend Rodriguez moral support by sending him letters, donating funds to his prison account, supporting his legal defense, and attending his court hearings.
The DSA Liberation Caucus praised the statement as “excellent,” and called on authorities to release Rodriguez.
“Excellent statement that we are proud to add our name to. Free Elias Rodriguez and all political prisoners,” the group posted on social media.
Excellent statement that we are proud to add our name to. Free Elias Rodriguez and all political prisoners. https://t.co/z1yW0xm5xZ pic.twitter.com/6MIBhaCFKX
— DSA Liberation Caucus
☭ (@dsaliberation) May 27, 2025
DSA, one of the country’s premier leftist political advocacy organizations, has mobilized in recent years to elect anti-Israel members to the US Congress. Influential lawmakers such as US Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Greg Casar (D-TX), and Cori Bush (D-MO) are all current members of the socialist organization. Others such as Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Summer Lee (D-PA) are former members.
The organization also counts rising star and aspiring New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani among its ranks. Mamdani has made his anti-Israel activism a centerpiece of his mayoral campaign, accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and arguing that it does not offer “equal rights” to all of its citizens.
The DSA has ramped up its anti-Israel rhetoric during the Gaza war. On Oct. 7, 2023, the organization issued a statement saying that Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel that day was “a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.” The organization also encouraged its followers to attend an Oct. 8 “All Out for Palestine” event in Manhattan.
In January 2024, the DSA issued a statement calling for an “end to diplomatic and military support of Israel.” Then in April, the organization’s international committee, DSA IC, issued a missive defending Iran’s right to “self-defense” against Israel. Iranian leaders regularly call for the Jewish state’s destruction, and Tehran has long provided Hamas with weapons and funding.
The post Democratic Socialists of America Defends Accused DC Jewish Museum Shooter Elias Rodriguez as ‘Political Prisoner’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.