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This Is Not 1938
The UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – The International Court of Justice has delivered its interim judgment on the South African government’s “genocide” charge against Israel. Even a political body appointed by the U.N. General Assembly whose members are mainly non-democratic states couldn’t bring itself to order Israel to accept a ceasefire in its war against Hamas. But we should not be grateful for that. The ICJ had no moral right to the power to order Israel to cease its just war of self-defense in the first place.
What these so-called judges should have done is express the gratitude of the international community of civilized nations for the bravery and sacrifice of Israel’s young soldiers, who are going door-to-door to fight the forces of barbarism in the Middle East. They are doing this so that many of you reading this column, who live in the free world, will not have to do it yourselves in your own cities to protect your own children and grandchildren.
This is not 1938. It is 2024. The Jewish people do not have to go on their knees to beg for the right to defend themselves against those who seek to exterminate us.
With God’s blessing, we have a sovereign Jewish state for the first time in almost 2,000 years, protected by a powerful army that ensures Jewish blood is not spilled with impunity. The Oct. 7 attacks were the bloodiest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. But we are not living in Holocaust times. The IDF is defending Jewish lives and making sure such an attack can never be repeated. In time, the vicious jihadi terror group that perpetrated this massacre will be defeated, disarmed and removed from power.
God has given us another blessing. While around half the Jewish world lives in the sovereign State of Israel, around 95% of the other half lives in free democracies, where we have built strong, proud, vibrant Jewish communities.
Enjoying full political and civil rights, we are flourishing as contributing members of our societies, wielding influence and power, and playing vital roles in changing society for the better. We have the right, the resources and the capacity to support and defend the interests of the State of Israel and the Jewish people in this just war of self-defense.
And unlike 1938, we are not alone. We have allies around the world: Fair-minded, decent citizens and free democratic governments who are fully behind Israel and the Jewish people at this moment of crisis. Our allies can see clearly the justice of Israel’s cause. Unlike the ICJ, they know who are the real genocidal forces.
They support us because it’s the right thing to do. Justice demands it. But also because they realize that this is not just a war against the Jews. This is a war against the most cherished values of the free world: human dignity, freedom, tolerance, the rule of law and basic human rights. Around the free world, there are many who are grateful to the IDF for fighting terrorists in Gaza so they will not have to fight them in the U.S. or Europe.
We have seen this support manifest itself in many different ways. There is rock-solid support from the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and Indian governments, as well as from African countries including Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia. Other democracies around the world have joined them. Germany heroically pledged to stand by Israel in the dock at the ICJ proceedings. Moreover, the historic Abraham Accords with important Arab countries have weathered the storm of the Gaza war. Except for a handful of signatories, not one Arab nation sanctioned or joined the ICJ proceedings.
The countries that support South Africa’s ICJ application are almost exclusively dictatorships that feel threatened by free democracies. But we also have opponents within democratic countries. Like the African National Congress Party and its government in South Africa, there are forces within the U.K. Labour Party and the U.S. Democratic Party, among others, who are enemies of Israel.
But the forces of good are achieving significant victories, such as prompting the resignation of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania after they failed to unequivocally condemn calls for the genocide of Jews.
There was also the recent publication of a bipartisan letter by more than 200 members of the U.S. Congress expressing their disgust at South Africa’s ICJ filing, saying that it “perpetuates false and dangerous allegations against the Jewish state” and encouraging “allies to join us in speaking out against this unfounded attack on Israel, particularly at the United Nations and in other intergovernmental organizations.”
The Jewish world is strong and we have allies in the fight against genocidal movements, who threaten not only us but the civilized world, exactly as the Nazis did.
We are not the Jews of 1938, the Roman expulsion or the Spanish Inquisition. We are not the Jews who were massacred in the pogroms of Europe. When confronted with fearsome enemies, Jews of previous generations had no choice but to take flight. This generation can and will fight. We will fight back with every measure possible—with dignity, strength, self-belief and a sense of justice for our cause.
But we have to be aware of our strength, our purpose and our dignity. We have to go forward with confidence and conviction. In 1938, vulnerable and fearful, with nowhere to run and no allies in the world, we were sent to our slaughter. Today, with God’s blessings, we have risen from the ashes of the Holocaust.
We are a proud, great people with a long history that began when we were born at the foot of Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago. We have a presence stretching across the globe with an independent Jewish state in our biblical homeland, incredible resources and loyal allies.
God has blessed us. We need to believe in ourselves and send the message to all of our enemies that we will not be cowed, we will not be pushed around, we will not be slaughtered with impunity. This is a moral charge. We will defend the survival of our people and, indeed, the free world from the forces of barbarism.
The post This Is Not 1938 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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One-Third of US Jewish College Students Feel Faculty Promote Antisemitism, Hostile Learning Environment: Survey
Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
College professors across the US are promoting antisemitism and fostering hostile learning environments, according to Jewish students who responded to a newly released survey.
Roughly one-third of students, 32 percent, hold such feelings, according to the American Jewish Committee’s “State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report,” which contains copious data on the Jewish experience in the US.
As part of the report, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) partnered with Hillel International to document Jewish students’ experiences during their time on US college and university campuses.
Of those who responded, 35 percent said they had personal encounters with antisemitism, 20 percent of whom did so more than once. Meanwhile, 32 percent reported feeling uncomfortable on campus, and 34 percent found ways to conceal that they are Jewish. forty-three percent refuse to discuss Israel and the conflict with the Palestinians for fear of being identified as a Zionist.
Additionally, 22 percent of Jewish students reported feeling that groups and campus events have excluded them because of anti-Jewish animus.
“How are Jewish students supposed to show up and engage in class or have trust in their educators if they feel that their professors are creating a hostile environment for Jews on campus?” AJC chief executive officer Ted Deutch said in a statement. “If students feel that they need to just keep their head down and earn their grade, they are not fully participating in the educational experience that they have a right to and deserve.”
He continued, “Educators and administrators need to take action to ensure that their classrooms and campuses are places free from hate, bigotry, and harassment so that all students — including Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist students — have the opportunity to grow and thrive.”
Hillel International chief executive officer Adam Lehman added, “As Jewish teens and their families make decisions about where they will spend their college years, it is crucial that they know they will be safe and able to fully express their Jewish identities. Jewish students should feel safe to express their Jewish identities no matter where they are on campus — whether at Hillel or in the dorms, the library, or the classroom.”
AJC’s survey also explored student attitudes regarding the “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” which emerged on college campuses across the US during the 2023-2024 academic year and caused incidents of violence and even the cancellation of Columbia University’s main commencement ceremony. Fifty-one percent said the demonstrations “made them feel unsafe on campus.”
The connection between anti-Zionist professors, many of whom are members of Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), has been explored before.
In a study published in Sept. 2024, antisemitism watchdog AMCHA Initiative was able to establish a correlation between a school’s hosting a Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapter and anti-Zionist and antisemitic activity. For example, the researchers found that the presence of FJP on a college campus increased by seven times “the likelihood of physical assaults and Jewish students” and increased by three times the chance that a Jewish student would be subject to threats of violence and death.
FJP also “prolonged” the duration of encampment protests on college campuses, and such demonstrations lasted over four and a half times longer where FJP faculty were free to influence and provide logistic and material support to students. Professors at FJP schools also spent 9.5 more days protesting than those at non-FJP schools.
AMCHA added that FJP facilitated the proposal and success of student government resolutions demanding adoption of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — which aims to isolate Israel culturally, financially, and diplomatically as the first steps towards its destruction. Wherever FJP was, BDS was “4.9 times likely to pass” and “nearly 11 times more likely to be included in student demands,” showing, AMCHA concluded, that FJP plays a role in radicalizing university students at the 103 schools — including Harvard University, Brown University, Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and Yale University — where it is active.
Citing its own latest data, AJC Center for Education Advocacy director Dr. Laura Shaw called on colleges and universities to reconcile anti-discrimination policies with intellectual and academic freedom.
“Academic freedom is foundational to higher education,” Shaw said. “However, academic discourse and debate can and must take place in an environment that is free from bias and discrimination. Our data, and work with students across the country, unfortunately show that American Jewish college students are feeling a pervasive lack of trust in their institutions and professors to maintain an atmosphere that is not biased against them. And we know that students who feel threatened cannot learn.”
The administration of US President Donald Trump has made moves to combat campus antisemitism, fulfilling a campaign promise which helped to elect him to a rare, second non-consecutive term in office.
Last month, Trump issued a highly anticipated executive order aimed at combating campus antisemitism and holding pro-terror extremists accountable for the harassment of Jewish students. Continuing work started during his first administration — when Trump issued Executive Order 13899 to ensure that civil rights law apply equally Jews — the “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism” calls for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”
“It shall be the policy of the United States to combat antisemitism vigorously, using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence,” Trump said in the order, which denounced the previous administration’s handling of campus antisemitism as a “failure.”
No sooner had the executive order been issued than the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to create a “multi-agency” Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, the aim of which is to “root out antisemitic harassment schools and on college campuses.”
“Antisemitism in any environment is repugnant to this nation’s ideals,” Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights who has been appointed to lead the initiative, said in a statement announcing the task force. “The department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found. The Task Force to Combat Antisemitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump’s renewed commitment to ending antisemitism in our schools.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post One-Third of US Jewish College Students Feel Faculty Promote Antisemitism, Hostile Learning Environment: Survey first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Defense Chief Vows to Act ‘At Full Strength’ Against Hezbollah Amid Lebanon Withdrawal
Israeli soldiers gesture from an Israeli military vehicle, after a ceasefire was agreed to by Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, near Israel’s border with Lebanon in northern Israel, Nov. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday vowed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will continue to act against the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, as the Jewish state reportedly completed its military withdrawal from most of southern Lebanon.
“The IDF’s enforcement activity against Hezbollah will continue at full strength,” Katz said in a Hebrew-language post on X.
החל מהיום יישאר צה”ל ברצועת חיץ בלבנון בחמישה מוצבים שולטים לאורך קו הגבול, כדי להבטיח את ההגנה על יישובי הצפון.
פעילות האכיפה של צה”ל מול החיזבאללה תימשך במלוא העוצמה.
לא נאפשר חזרה למציאות של ה-7 באוקטובר.
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) February 18, 2025
“We will not allow a return to the reality of Oct. 7,” he added, referring to the 2023 Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel. The Oct. 7 onslaught not only started the war in Gaza to Israel’s south but also prompted Hezbollah, which wields political and military influence across Lebanon, to begin firing barrages of missiles, rockets, and drones at northern Israel on a daily basis..
In his statement, Katz reiterated that the IDF “will remain in the buffer zone in Lebanon at five control posts along the border line, to ensure the protection of the northern communities.”
On Monday, Israel said it would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the Feb. 18 ceasefire deadline for their withdrawal, as Israeli leaders sought to reassure northern residents that they can return home safely.
“We need to remain at those points at the moment to defend Israeli citizens, to make sure this process is complete and eventually hand it over to the Lebanese armed forces,” military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told a briefing with reporters, adding that the move was in accordance with the mechanism of the ceasefire agreement.
According to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan News, Israel completed its withdrawal from southern Lebanon ahead of the midnight deadline. IDF officials told the outlet that “the challenge is to preserve the [military] achievements and prevent Hezbollah from returning.”
On Sunday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem threatened Israel with consequences if it failed to comply with the Tuesday deadline to withdraw its forces, saying, “We will know how to deal with it.”
“Israel must fully withdraw on Feb. 18, it has no excuse [not to do so],” the top terrorist leader said in a televised speech cited by the France 24 news outlet.
Shortly after Israel’s withdrawal, the Lebanese army announced that its forces were deployed to several areas throughout southern Lebanon, with engineering units surveying the areas, reopening roads, and removing unexploded ordnance left behind during the war.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah. Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
In late January, Israel’s withdrawal, originally set for Jan. 26 under the ceasefire deal, was postponed and extended until Feb. 18.
Tens of thousands of residents in northern Israel were forced to evacuate their homes last year and in late 2023 amid the unrelenting attacks from Hezbollah, which expressed solidarity with Hamas amid the Gaza war.
Last fall, Israel decimated much of Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, which ended with the ceasefire.
The post Israeli Defense Chief Vows to Act ‘At Full Strength’ Against Hezbollah Amid Lebanon Withdrawal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Tech Entrepreneur Palmer Luckey Calls Himself a ‘Radical Zionist’ While Defending Israel’s Right to Exist
Palmer Luckey on the “Shawn Ryan Show.” Photo: Screenshot
Prominent tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey referred to himself as a “radical Zionist” while vigorously defending Israel’s right to existence during a new interview on the podcast the “Shawn Ryan Show.”
During the sit-down, Luckey reminisced about his 2017 firing from Facebook, allegedly over his support for US President Donald Trump. Luckey, founder of the defense tech company Anduril Industries, rejected the “lockstep narrative” presented by the media that he is “racist” or “sexist,” pointing toward his strong support for Israel as an example of his support for minority groups.
“I’m actually a radical Zionist,” Luckey said.
When asked by Ryan to elaborate on what he meant, Luckey explained that Jews have the right to maintain a state for their own self-defense. He argued that the Holocaust proved the need for a Jewish state, and without it Jews are at risk of facing violence.
“I strongly believe in the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. People are like, That’s so problematic, though. It’s so ethnostate adjacent.’ I said, ‘I don’t care,’” Luckey said. “After what happened to them in World War II, they deserve a place where they can do their own thing and protect their own people without getting wrecked by everybody else who hates them.”
Luckey also dismissed the “slippery slope” argument that validating Israel’s existence could lead to a surge in the formation of ethno-states for other groups, calling such hypothetical scenarios “absurd” reasons to oppose the Jewish state. He argued that it is “very reasonable for the Jews to have their own state” and that the potential formation of a Palestinian state should be treated as “a separate political issue.”
All minority groups in Israel, including the Arabs who comprise about 20 percent of the Israeli population, enjoy the full and equal rights of the country’s democratic system, including the ability to serve in parliament and the judiciary.
Meanwhile, Jews and other minority groups, including Christians among others, have faced intense discrimination in other parts of the Middle East. In the Palestinian-governed West Bank, for example, Palestinians are prohibited from selling land directly to Jewish Israelis.
Luckey has stated his support for Israel several times. Following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the tech entrepreneur lambasted prominent American individuals and institutions for not standing behind the Jewish state.
“Israel has my [and our] unqualified support,” Luckey said at the Wall Street Journal‘s Tech Live Conference in October of 2023.
“What’s happening in Israel is just another instance of the same type of evil that’s been going on for a very long time,” he added. “And I think it reflects very poorly on our billionaire class that you’re not seeing a whole-of-country effort to become involved and to speak up about these issues, hedging on condemnation of Hamas for fear of saying the wrong thing, either in the court of public opinion or because it hurts their business interests.”
The post Tech Entrepreneur Palmer Luckey Calls Himself a ‘Radical Zionist’ While Defending Israel’s Right to Exist first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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