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The World Needs a ‘Day After’ Plan — for the West Bank

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appoints Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in Ramallah, in the West Bank March 14, 2024 in this handout image. Photo: Palestinian president office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Discussions of the “day after” in Gaza overlook the equally important issue of the day after in the West Bank (referred to by Israel as Judea and Samaria). The Palestinian government in the West Bank is headed for upheaval.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was elected in 2005 to serve a four-year term but still clings to power 20 years later without authority. This longstanding disregard of democracy has undermined the PA’s legitimacy in two respects. First, the PA cannot credibly claim to represent the Palestinian people. Second, the refusal to hold elections violates the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords of 1993, which created the PA as an interim Palestinian body that would end Palestinian terrorism and promote Palestinian human development in areas such as health, education, and policing.

The unelected PA — along with its controlling Fatah party — are widely regarded by Palestinians as corrupt, inept, and oblivious. Disturbingly, it is Fatah’s rival, the Hamas terrorist organization, that is more respected among Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza.

Although Hamas ignores the demands of human development in favor of its ongoing war of terror against Israel, Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of Israel has only driven the terror group’s popularity to new heights. In 2006, the last time the PA held elections, Hamas won a majority of seats in the legislature, but Fatah ignored the outcome. The next year, Hamas violently ousted the PA’s Fatah representatives from Gaza. As a result, the PA has no control over Gaza — and has evidenced no intention of holding elections in the West Bank, likely because the vote would favor Hamas.

Hamas also enjoys a military edge over Fatah, thanks in part to a torrent of weapons that has been smuggled into the West Bank, where the terror group has many operatives, from Iran at an accelerated pace. The weapons not only help Hamas and related terror groups defy the PA but also enable them to wage vastly more terrorist attacks on Israelis. Terror cells in the West Bank and Jerusalem attempted fewer than 400 terror attacks in 2021 and fewer than 500 in 2022 but over 1,000 in 2023 and over 1,000 again in 2024. Meanwhile, pursuant to the recent Hamas-Israel ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Israel has begun to free what could ultimately be thousands of convicted Palestinian terrorists, some of whom are Hamas loyalists returning to the West Bank.

The PA has tried to combat the West Bank terror cells without obstructing their attacks on Israel, but the strategy has failed.

Compounding the PA’s predicament, Abbas is 89 years old and in poor health. His supposed successor is considered a mere placeholder with no political backing.

Given these circumstances, Hamas could launch an insurrection in the West Bank similar to the violence it inflicted to evict the PA from Gaza. Even without a PA regime change, the ongoing escalation in West Bank-originated terror attacks could well culminate in another Oct. 7-style invasion, as Hamas itself has already warned.

Until this year, Israel has propped up the PA to preserve the scaffolding of the Oslo Accords and avoid the rise of more extreme West Bank Palestinian elements. Now it appears the extremist nightmare is coming true.

Faced with this existential threat, Israel’s options are limited. It cannot force Palestinians to elect a new PA, renounce terrorism, or prioritize their Oslo-enshrined human development tasks. Nor can it afford to wait and see if Abbas is replaced by someone better. Israel is struggling to survive a prolonged seven-front war with unpredictable support from the US and opposition from world bodies such as the UN.

Fortunately, Israel benefits from two sources of lawful self-defense. One is Article 51 of the UN Charter. Under Article 51, Israel may use military force in Gaza and the West Bank to repel armed attacks against Israelis within the Green Line such as occurred on Oct. 7, 2023. In addition, a section of the Oslo Accords titled Arrangements for Security and Public Order authorizes Israel to use “all the powers … necessary” to protect the 500,000 Israelis living in the West Bank.

The above provisions clearly validate Israel’s plan to build a security barrier along its border with Jordan to help prevent weapons smuggling. These provisions also permit the new strategy of deterrence Israel has unveiled in the West Bank town of Jenin. In the Jenin mission, called Operation Iron Wall, the Israel Defense Force aims to eliminate a terrorist stronghold rather than merely reduce the number and lethality of its terror attacks. Operation Iron Wall is characterized by larger contingents of IDF troops, deeper incursions into enemy territory, longer lasting surgical raids, and more intensive firepower, including air strikes and tank rounds.

By neglecting the Oslo Accords, the PA has deprived its people of a legitimate leadership committed to disarming terrorists and serving Palestinian needs. An all-out war between Hamas and Fatah, which appears increasingly likely, may expose Palestinian civilians to terrorist attacks by Hamas and to harm from Israel’s legitimate responsive efforts to thwart those attacks. Whether or not Hamas overpowers the PA, if the militants batter Israel with another Oct. 7 attack, the West Bank may be left looking like Gaza.

The international community, and in particular moderate Arab states, should intervene to stop the Palestinian train wreck before it’s too late.

Joel M. Margolis is the Legal Commentator, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, US Affiliate of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists. His 2001 book, The Israeli-Palestinian Legal War, analyzed the major legal issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previously he worked as a telecommunications lawyer in both the public and private sectors.

The post The World Needs a ‘Day After’ Plan — for the West Bank first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Two Israeli Embassy Staffers Shot Dead in Downtown Washington, Lone Suspect Held

Police officers work at the site where two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, US May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Two Israeli embassy staffers, committed to Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and about to get engaged, were killed by a lone gunman in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night and a suspect who chanted pro-Palestinian slogans was in custody, officials said.

The two were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, about 1.3 miles (2 km) from the White House.

Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said a man shot at a group of four people with a handgun, hitting both the victims. He was seen pacing outside the museum prior to the shooting.

The victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were locally employed staff, the Israeli foreign ministry said. They were trying to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, separate advocacy groups each belonged to said.

Smith said the single suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, chanted “Free Palestine, Free Palestine,” after being taken into custody by event security having entered the museum.

“Once in handcuffs, the suspect identified where he discarded the weapon, and that weapon has been recovered, and he implied that he committed the offense,” she said, adding that he had had no previous contact with police.

Witness Katie Kalisher, 29, said she was among people in the museum who were chatting to a man who entered looking very scared after gunshots were heard outside when he suddenly pulled out a keffiyeh scarf.

“He says, ‘I did it. I did it for Gaza, free, free Palestine.’ And he’s chanting this. And then suddenly the police come in and they arrest him,” said Kalisher, a jewelry designer.

“But he didn’t even have the Palestinian keffiyeh. He had the Jordanian keffiyeh. So, I think he’s a really confused person,” she said.

Yechiel Leiter, Israel‘s ambassador to the US, told reporters the young man killed had “purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem.”

POLITICAL BACKDROP

President Donald Trump condemned the shooting. “These horrible DC killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” he said in a message on Truth Social. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his heart ached for the families of the victims, “whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent antisemitic murderer.”

“We are witness to the terrible cost of the antisemitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel,” he said on X, adding that both “must be fought to the utmost.”

Security would be stepped up at Israeli embassies around the world, he said.

The shootings are likely to fuel polarization in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Deputy FBI Director Don Bongino said the suspect was being interviewed by the police and the FBI, saying on X it appeared to be an act of targeted violence.

“We will get you answers as soon as we can, without compromising additional leads,” he said.

The event at the Capital Jewish Museum was held by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that supports Israel and confronts antisemitism, according to its website.

Called the Young Diplomats Reception, an online invitation described it as bringing together Jewish professionals and the Washington diplomatic community.

The German-Israeli Society said Lischinsky had grown up in Bavaria and spoke fluent German.

“We remember him as an open-minded, intelligent and deeply committed person whose interest in German-Israeli relations and ways to achieve peaceful coexistence in the Middle East brightened the environment around him,” said the society’s president, Volker Beck.

Tech2Peace, an advocacy group training young Palestinians and Israelis and promoting dialogue between them, said Milgrim was an active volunteer who “brought people together with empathy and purpose”.

“Her dedication to building a better future was evident in everything she did,” it said. “Her voice and spirit will be profoundly missed.”

‘WE STAND STRONG’

Hours after the shooting, several people gathered at the scene, in the area of 3rd and F Streets.

Aaron Shemtov, who is studying at a rabbinical college in California, said he came to show support.

“When a member of the community gets murdered and gets killed for who he is, we stand proud, we stand strong, and we never give up,” Shemtov said.

Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who was also at the scene, said the couple had attended his Washington synagogue occasionally.

“It’s very sad to see that instead of these people coming to the ultimate celebration of their life – they were about to get engaged – they get shot dead in the street just because of who they are,” said the rabbi.

The head of the American Jewish Committee, Ted Deutch, told CNN the Jewish community around the world felt under threat. Some Israelis said the shooting made them afraid to go abroad.

Rights advocates have noted both rising antisemitism and anti-Arab hate in the US since then.

Such incidents have included an unsuccessful plot to attack a New York Jewish center, an arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence, and attacks on Florida businesses perceived as pro-Israel.

The post Two Israeli Embassy Staffers Shot Dead in Downtown Washington, Lone Suspect Held first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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German Intelligence Labels BDS ‘Hostile to Constitution’ Amid Alarming Rise in Antisemitism in Berlin

Anti-Israel demonstration supporting the BDS movement, Paris France, June 8, 2024. Photo: Claire Serie / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

A German intelligence service has condemned the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as “hostile to the constitution” as a newly released report highlighted a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across the capital city of Berlin.

On Tuesday, the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution — the agency responsible for monitoring extremist groups and reporting to the German Interior Ministry — released its annual report on threats to Germany’s democratic system and national security.

For the first time, Berlin’s BDS chapter was designated a “proven extremist endeavor hostile to the constitution.” According to the report, the campaign’s “anti-constitutional ideology, which denies Israel’s right to exist,” plays a central role within the city’s anti-Israel movement.

The study said that BDS supporters in Berlin glorified the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were murdered and 251 taken hostages, portraying it as a “liberation struggle against settler colonialism” or an escape from the “open-air prison” of Gaza.

The report also found that multiple BDS protests across the city featured signs with stereotypical antisemitic imagery, fueling anti-Jewish hatred and even calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.

In 2019, Germany became the first European country to officially declare the BDS movement as antisemitic.

Last year, Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency, classified BDS as a “suspected extremist case.” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser issued a report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which found that the movement has links to “secular Palestinian extremism.” The intelligence agency also said there were “sufficiently strong factual indications” that BDS “violates the idea of international understanding” by challenging Israel’s right to exist.

BDS seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination. Leaders of the movement have repeatedly stated their goal is to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.

This week, the country’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) released its annual report documenting antisemitic incidents in Berlin 2024, revealing an alarming increase in anti-Jewish hatred.

RIAS recorded 2,521 antisemitic incidents in Berlin last year, marking a staggering 98.5 percent increase over 2023 in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.

According to the study, anti-Jewish hate crimes averaged 210 per month in 2024 — around seven per day — with nearly 44 percent directly linked to the Oct. 7 attacks and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war.

There has also been a sharp rise in attacks against individuals, reaching the highest levels since RIAS began documenting such incidents — often triggered by visible Jewish symbols or the use of Hebrew in public spaces.

In Berlin, public demonstrations have become one of the most visible manifestations of antisemitism. The study argues that these protests go beyond political expression, serving instead as platforms for antisemitic rhetoric, the glorification of terrorism, and acts of violence.

RIAS has documented a significant rise in open calls for violence, Holocaust trivialization, and the justification of Hamas terror attacks permeating mainstream discourse and public spaces, both online and offline.

According to the report, anti-Israel activism was the leading identifiable background for antisemitic incidents for the second consecutive year, with classic antisemitic stereotypes being redirected toward Israel and the term “Zionist” used as a coded way to reintroduce long-standing antisemitic tropes under the guise of legitimate political criticism.

The post German Intelligence Labels BDS ‘Hostile to Constitution’ Amid Alarming Rise in Antisemitism in Berlin first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Antisemitism in K-12 Private Schools a Major Challenge Across the US, New ADL Report Finds

Pro-Hamas activists calling themselves the United Front for Liberation lead march through Valley Plaza Mall. The ‘Ceasefire’ rally began at Wilson Park in Bakersfield, California, on Dec. 16, 2023. Photo: Jacob Lee Green via REUTERS CONNECT

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has launched a new initiative to reduce antisemitism in K-12 schools, a growing problem that has, since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, prompted a slew of lawsuits and federal civil rights complaints.

Announced on Wednesday, the effort has its roots in new ADL research — produced by its Ratings & Assessment Institute and the Center to Combat Antisemitism in Education — showing a surge of antisemitic incidents on K-12 campuses in recent years. As mentioned in the organization’s annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, 1,162 such incidents occurred in 2023 and 860 occurred in 2024. Since 2020, antisemitic outrages at K-12 schools have increased by 434 percent.

As parts of its research, the ADL conducted surveys and focus groups to get a better sense of the problem in K-12 private/independent schools, which are the main focus of the civil rights group’s new initiative because they “operate outside of the direct oversight of public education systems, meaning they typically have greater autonomy in shaping their curricula, policies, and disciplinary procedures, which can lead to inconsistent responses to antisemitism.”

Among surveyed school parents, 25.2 percent said their children had experienced or witnessed antisemitic symbols in school since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the ADL’s newly unveiled findings. Perhaps more striking, 45.3 percent of surveyed parents reported that their children had experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, and 31.7 percent said their children had “experienced or witnessed problematic school curricula or classroom content related to Jews or Israel.”

Parents are displeased with schools’ handling of the issue, the ADL said. Focus groups told its experts that schools decline to denounce antisemitism or resort to denying altogether that it is fostering a negative learning environment which causes student discomfort and precipitous declines in academic performance. In a poll, over a third of parents have said their local school’s response “was either somewhat or very inadequate.”

Moreover, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which were purportedly meant to improve race relations, abstain from recognizing antisemitism as a form of hatred meriting a focused response from administrators. The Algemeiner has previously reported that many of those programs also ignore antisemitism because they actively contribute to spreading it. Due to this, schools lack authority figures who understand antisemitism, its subtle and overt variations, leaving Jewish students with no recourse when they become victims of hate.

The ADL said on Wednesday that it will address K-12 antisemitism by expanding its offering of “parent advocacy resources,” which include forging networks of advocacy the ADL calls Jewish Leaders in Schools (JLS), counseling parents on methods for combating antisemitism in their home districts, and even providing them free legal counsel through the K-12 Antisemitism Legal Line.

“These independent schools are failing to support Jewish families. By tolerating — or in some cases, propagating — antisemitism in their classrooms, too many independent schools in cities across the country are sending a message that Jewish students are not welcome. It’s wrong. It’s hateful. And it must stop,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “ADL is partnering with parents to demand change.”

ADL vice president of advocacy, Shira Goodman, added: “School administrators and faculty have a duty to ensure safe, inclusive environments for all. ADL will fully invest in bolstering the families who are demanding that their schools meet this obligation.”

Antisemitism in K-12 schools is receiving increased attention, notably in California, after years of falling under the radar.

In April, a civil rights complaint filed by StandWithUs and the Bay Area Jewish Coalition alleged that the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) in California allows Jewish students to be subjected to unconscionable levels of antisemitic bullying in and outside of the classroom.

The 27-page complaint, filed with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), describes a slew of incidents that allegedly fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel set off a wave of anti-Jewish hatred across the US. SCUSD students, it says, graffitied antisemitic hate speech in the bathrooms, vandalized Jewish-themed posters displayed in schools, and distributed stickers which said, “F—k Zionism.” All the while, district officials enabled the behavior by refusing to investigate it and blaming victims who came forward to report their experiences, according to the complaint.

“SCUSD has allowed an egregiously hostile environment to fester for its Jewish and Israeli students in violation of its federal obligations and ethnical responsibility to create a safe educational space for all students,” Jenna Statfeld Harris, senior counsel and K-12 specialist at StandWithUs Saidoff Legal, said in a statement at the time. “SCUSD leadership repeatedly disregards the rights of their Jewish and Israeli students. We implore the Office for Civil Rights to step in and uphold the right of these students to an inclusive education free from hostility toward their protected identity.”

In March, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a civil rights complaint which recounted the experience of a 12-year-old Jewish girl who was allegedly assaulted on grounds of the Etiwanda School District in San Bernardino California — being beaten with a stick — told to “shut your Jewish ass up,” and teased with jokes about Hitler. According to the court filings, one student admitted that the behavior was motivated by the victim’s being Jewish. Despite receiving several complaints about the treatment, a substantial amount of which occurred in the classroom, school officials allegedly declined to punish her tormentors.

“While an increasing number of schools recognize that their Jewish students are being targeted both for their religious beliefs and due to their ancestral connection to Israel, and are taking necessary steps to address both classic and contemporary forms of antisemitism, some shamefully continue to turn a blind eye,” Brandeis Center founder and chairman Kenneth Marcus said in a statement at the time of the filing.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Antisemitism in K-12 Private Schools a Major Challenge Across the US, New ADL Report Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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