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The Vast Majority of US Jews Support Israel. Let’s Act on That Knowledge.
Members of extreme anti-Zionist group “Jewish Voice for Peace.” Photo: NGO Monitor.
JNS.org – Reading the results of a poll of American Jews demonstrating that a strong majority of the community believes that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, frowning harshly upon the tiny minority of their number associated with the global movement expressing solidarity with Hamas, it struck me that the only reason we pay attention to anti-Zionist Jews is because there are anti-Zionist non-Jews.
The poll, commissioned by a newly formed advocacy organization called the Jewish Majority, reveals that a full 70% of American Jews regard anti-Zionism as antisemitic by definition. An even greater number, 76%, said that the various campus demonstrations and protests in support of Hamas and its Oct. 7, 2023 pogrom in Israel were antisemitic. Asked whether Hamas wanted to commit genocide against Jews and Israelis, 85% answered yes. Between 73% and 79% said they were either members or supporters of mainstream Jewish organizations like the Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish National Fund.
Surveys in other countries where there is both a sizable Jewish community and a coruscating wave of antisemitism have delivered similar results. Hamas and its international cheerleaders are widely detested, and Israel is regarded supportively and affectionately, while tempered, proportionate criticism of Israeli policy—sadly, almost invisible these days—is seen as entirely acceptable and not deserving of the label “antisemitic.” Additionally, these surveys show that many Jews in America and abroad are feeling scared and rejected to the point of hiding their identities, and again, they blame Hamas and its supporters for this wretched situation.
So why do Jews who oppose the overwhelming majority get so much attention? Why can’t we just—as the survey data indicates we should—ignore them?
The answer is that the anti-Zionist non-Jews won’t let us. Even though, as I argued recently, the use value of Jewish anti-Zionism is dramatically declining, and even though antisemitic barbs are far more acceptable now on the anti-Zionist left than they used to be, Jewish anti-Zionists can still provide cover for Hamas advocates when they want to push back against the Jewish community’s concerns. For example, the weekly hate marches mounted by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in the United Kingdom usually feature a tiny section of demonstrators who call themselves the “Jewish Bloc” (incidentally, so as not to indulge Jewish “privilege,” the Jewish Bloc has now been joined by a Christian Bloc!)
When the PSC tried to organize a demonstration last month in central London on a Saturday—planning to gather in a location two minutes from a synagogue where Shabbat services would be in full flow—the Jewish Bloc was wheeled out as evidence to counter the protests of Jewish leaders that such an assembly risked intimidating those attending the synagogue and even degenerating into antisemitic violence.
The presence of these Jews also helps to enable antisemitism by diverting the wider public from perceiving the myriad connections between obsessive hatred of Israel and the classical antisemitism many of them learned about in school. Pro-Hamas marches invariably feature signs and placards—invocations of the Holocaust, accusations of Jewish media and financial control—that make the slogan “From the River to the Sea” seem mild by comparison. But if you have a photo of a handful of Jews standing alongside looking unperturbed, then where’s the problem?
By the same token, if someone unschooled in these issues sees the name “Jewish Voice for Peace” above a graphic declaring that “death to Israel” is a “moral imperative,” and adding, “may the entire colony burn to the ground for good” (as posted by that organization’s University of Michigan chapter last year) will they grasp that the message is antisemitic and genocidal? And when these groupings refuse to condemn the antisemitism of a Kanye West or a Yahya Sinwar—but not Elon Musk, and only then because he sits at Donald Trump’s right hand—then isn’t it reasonable to assume that their silence equates to acceptance?
Jewish anti-Zionists like to say that the “Jewish establishment”—i.e. anyone who doesn’t share their toxic opinions about Israel—doesn’t represent Jews. It’s past time for the rest of us to retort, “You don’t represent us,” and reflect that sentiment in the manner in which we run our communities.
Every synagogue, every community center, every charitable foundation, every college Jewish association and every communal representative body should declare that Jewish anti-Zionists are no longer considered part of our community. They should do so on the basis of a definition of anti-Zionism: an ideology that prescribes the elimination through violence of the State of Israel; that traffics in antisemitic messages and imagery in pushing its case; and that willfully distorts the meaning of the term “Zionism” beyond recognition, which is why I prefer to write the term “antizionism” without the hyphen.
Some Jews will bristle at this suggestion because we are a people who enjoy debate and disagreement. But there is debate, and there is incitement. Jewish anti-Zionists actively assist our mortal enemies in the most underhand and insidious way. They are the modern equivalent of the Yevsektsiya, the Jewish department of the Soviet Communist Party, whose role was essentially to crush all expressions of Judaism and Zionism alike. If we don’t banish them from our ranks, they will continue, despite their small number, to dangerously undermine our community and confuse non-Jews who might otherwise be sympathetic.
I should be clear that I am not speaking here of excommunication, which is a religious matter. I am addressing the problem in civic terms, arguing that one of the conditions for participation in privately funded, communally run Jewish institutions should be agreement with the proposition that Israel is a central and valued component of Jewish life after the Holocaust.
Eighteen months after the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust by Islamists who murdered and raped and kidnapped in the name of destroying the “Zionist entity,” that shouldn’t be controversial. By publicly disowning and dissociating from those Jews who have joined the enemy camp, we will send a signal to the pro-Hamas movement—overwhelmingly composed, after all, of non-Jews—that their cover is blown, and that we see them for what they are: not critics of Israel, not even merely as “anti-Zionists,” but as die-hard, uncompromising Jew-haters with whom we will never be at peace.
The post The Vast Majority of US Jews Support Israel. Let’s Act on That Knowledge. first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Clamps Sanctions on Israel-bashing UN Rights Monitor Albanese
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The Trump administration has imposed sweeping sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, citing the UN official’s lengthy record of singling out Israel for condemnation.
In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions under a February executive order targeting those who “prompt International Criminal Court (ICC) action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.” He accused Albanese of waging “political and economic warfare” against both nations and asserted that “such efforts will no longer be tolerated.”
“Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives,” Rubio announced on X/Twitter.
“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” declared the Trump administration’s top foreign affairs official. “We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.”
Rubio concluded: “The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies.”
The decision to impose sanctions on Albanese marks an escalation in the ongoing feud between the White House and the United Nations over Israel. The Trump administration has repeatedly accused the UN and Albanese of unfairly targeting Israel and mischaracterizing the Jewish state’s conduct in Gaza.
Albanese, an Italian lawyer and academic, has held the position of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories since 2022. The position authorizes her to monitor and report on alleged “human rights violations” by Israel against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Last week, Albanese issued a scathing report accusing companies of helping Israel maintain a so-called “genocide economy.” She called on the companies to cut off economic ties with Israel and warned that they might be guilty of “complicity” in the so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
Critics of Albanese have long accused her of exhibiting an excessive anti-Israel bias, calling into question her fairness and neutrality.
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state.
In the months following the Palestinian terrorist group’s atrocities across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Albanese accused the Jewish state of perpetrating a “genocide” against the Palestinian people in revenge for the attacks and circulated a widely derided and heavily disputed report alleging that 186,000 people had been killed in the Gaza war as a result of Israeli actions.
The action comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington, where he has received a warm reception from the Trump administration. Netanyahu has been meeting with US officials to discuss next steps in the ongoing Gaza military operation.
Gideon Sa’ar, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Israel, commended the Rubio announcement with his own post on X/Twitter, exclaiming: “A clear message. Time for the UN to pay attention!”
The post US Clamps Sanctions on Israel-bashing UN Rights Monitor Albanese first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hardball: Trump Administration Reports Harvard to Accreditor Over Antisemitism Allegations
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
The Trump administration escalated its showdown against Harvard University on Wednesday, reporting the institution to its accreditor for alleged civil rights violations resulting from its weak response to reports of antisemitic bullying, discrimination, and harassment following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 massacre across southern Israel.
The US Department of Education (DOE) announced the action on Wednesday. Citing Harvard’s admitted failure to treat antisemitism as seriously as it treated others forms of hatred in the past, the DOE called on the New England Commission of Higher Education to review and, potentially, revoke its accreditation — a designation which qualifies Harvard for federal funding and attests to the quality of the educational services its provides.
“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth seeking and learning,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding by federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students. By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
The DOE, McMahon added, “expects the New England Commission of Higher Education to enforce its policies and practices, and to keep the Department fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Harvard’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism has acknowledged that the university administration’s handling of campus antisemitism fell well below its obligations under both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its own nondiscrimination policies.
In a 300-plus-page report, the task force compiled a comprehensive record of antisemitic incidents on Harvard’s campus in recent years — from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee’s endorsement of the Oct. 7 terrorist atrocities to an anti-Zionist faculty group’s sharing an antisemitic cartoon depicting Jews as murderers of people of color. The report identified Harvard’s past refusal to afford Jews the same protections against discrimination enjoyed by other minority groups as a key source of its problem.
Coming several weeks after President Donald Trump ordered the freeze of $2.26 billion in federal research grants and contracts for Harvard, the task force report found it was “clear” that antisemitism and anti-Israel bias have been fomented, practiced, and tolerated not only at Harvard but also within academia more widely.”
The university is now suing the federal government over the funding halt.
President Trump has spoken scathingly of Harvard, calling it, for example, an “Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institute … with students being accepted from all over the world that want to rip our Country apart” in an April post to his Truth Social platform.
In recent weeks, however, both Trump and McMahon had commended Harvard’s constructive response in negotiations over reforms the administration has asked it to implement as a precondition for restoring federal funds. The requested reforms include hiring more conservative faculty, shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] programs, and slashing the size of administrative offices tangential to the university’s central educational mission.
The administration has since changed its tone in the wake of a report by The Harvard Crimson that interim Harvard President Alan Garber has said “behind closed doors” that he has no intention of doing anything that would make Harvard more palatable to conservatives.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism issued Harvard a formal “notice of violation” of civil rights law. Charging that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a flood of racist and antisemitic abuse both in and outside of the classroom, it threatened to strip whatever remains of Harvard’s federal funding.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” wrote the federal officials comprising the multiagency Task Force. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
In Wednesday’s announcement, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Harvard’s conduct “forfeits the legitimacy that accreditation is designed to uphold.”
“HHS and Department of Education will actively hold Harvard accountable through sustained oversight until it restores public trust and ensures a campus free of discrimination,” he said.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Hardball: Trump Administration Reports Harvard to Accreditor Over Antisemitism Allegations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Strikes Hezbollah Sites in South Lebanon as Terror Group Pushes to Rebuild Amid US Disarmament Talks
IDF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
Israeli forces uncovered and destroyed Hezbollah weapons caches in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as a new report indicated that despite ongoing U.S.-led efforts to secure a disarmament deal, the Iran-backed group is making repeated, largely concealed attempts to rebuild its military presence in the area.
Troops carried out several operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning, destroying weapons depots, explosives and multibarrel launchers concealed in forested terrain, the IDF said, in violation of the November ceasefire, which requires Hezbollah to withdraw its forces 20 miles from the Israeli border.
A new report released this week by the Alma Research and Education Center found that Hezbollah is focused on rebuilding in three areas: operational deployment, weapons acquisition, and financial recovery.
“Hezbollah didn’t give up its resistance narrative and motivation,” Alma’s director, Lt. Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, told The Algemeiner.
“It wants to rebuild its capabilities and infrastructures, whether it’s the villages that will be used as human shields or the military infrastructure in South Lebanon and in Lebanon in general.”
According to Zehavi, Hezbollah is attempting to return Radwan fighters to positions south of the Litani River as part of a wider plan to restore its elite forces to operational readiness. The IDF on Monday killed Radwan commander Ali Abd al-Hassan Haidar in a targeted strike. The action came hours after US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut to discuss a long-term deal that would include an Israeli withdrawal and complete disarmament of Hezbollah.
Barrack described the Lebanese response to the proposal as positive. Later, he issued a blunt warning to Hezbollah in response to a vow by the terror group’s leader, Naim Qassem, not to lay down its arms. “If they mess with us anywhere in the world, they will have a serious problem with us,” Barrack said in an interview with Lebanese news network LBCI. “They don’t want that.”
Zehavi said it was premature to predict the outcome of the diplomatic efforts. She warned that the challenge of disarming Hezbollah remains enormous and emphasized that the Lebanese Armed Forces have not demonstrated the capability or willingness to confront the group.
“It’s too soon to be optimistic or pessimistic,” she said, noting that no firm commitments have emerged from the Beirut talks.
Hezbollah’s efforts to smuggle and manufacture weapons have been complicated by both Israeli strikes and the regional realignment over recent months. While Israeli strikes have disrupted many supply routes, according to Zehavi, Syrian authorities have intercepted far more Hezbollah-bound weapons than the Lebanese Army, which claims to have uncovered 500 arms caches but has provided no evidence.
The financial front marks the third aspect of Hezbollah’s rebuilding effort. Last week, the group halted cash payments to Shiite civilians whose homes were damaged in the war, citing liquidity problems. Zehavi attributed the shortfall to disruptions in Iran’s funding networks — an outcome of the 12-day war against the regime in Tehran — and said the constraints would likely hamper Hezbollah’s ability to compensate its base and sustain operations.
“I hope they will continue to have problems with the cash flow, that way it will be very difficult for them to recover,” she said.
The post IDF Strikes Hezbollah Sites in South Lebanon as Terror Group Pushes to Rebuild Amid US Disarmament Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.