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We Can Fight Evil in Our Time
An aerial view shows vehicles on fire as rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
I’ve always believed that truth has the power to change hearts and reshape worldviews. This week, I came across the story of Dr. Nikos Sotirakopoulos. It is a perfect illustration of this belief.
Nikos grew up in Greece, a country where antisemitism has always bubbled just below the surface — and often, it’s right there, out in the open. On the political right, Jews are vilified as “Christ-killers.” On the left, Israel is caricatured as a colonial oppressor, and obviously (for them), all Jews are to blame for Israel.
Even ordinary Greeks – non-political, regular people – casually repeat anti-Jewish tropes around the dinner table. This was the air Nikos breathed as a child, and he absorbed these childhood influences uncritically.
By his twenties, Nikos wasn’t just vaguely prejudiced — he was actively consumed by antisemitism. He eagerly read The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and drank in its vile prejudices against Jews as if it was gospel truth.
His Facebook profile featured grotesque cartoons of Israel strangling its neighbors. He turned up at anti-Israel protests without knowing any real facts about the conflict between Israel and its enemies. But that didn’t matter. In his worldview, Israel was always the villain, and Jews were always to blame.
Now, 15 years later, Nikos is one of Israel’s most unlikely defenders. What happened to him during that time is what makes his story so compelling, and so important. After moving to the UK for graduate studies in his late twenties, Nikos decided to do a deep dive into Israel and its hostile neighbors. He began reading seriously — deliberately choosing books from both sides of the conflict.
In the end, it was Benjamin Netanyahu’s A Durable Peace that forced the first real break in his thinking. On the very first page, a map of Israel leapt out at him: a sliver of land, just a few miles wide, “roughly 500 times smaller” than the surrounding Arab states. For the first time in his life, he understood how precarious Israel’s existence really was. One successful invasion, and the country would be gone.
From that moment on, Nikos was on a voyage of discovery. He discovered that in 1948, five Arab armies had invaded Israel on the very day it declared independence. He read about 1967 and 1973, when Israel was attacked by Arab armies determined to wipe it off the map.
He realized that the land referred to by the world as the West Bank, which Israel is accused of “stealing,” had actually been under Arab control between 1948 and 1967 — but no Palestinian state was created, or demanded, by its inhabitants. He learnt that both peace and land had been offered time and again, but rejected by those who want to see Israel destroyed at any cost.
As the endless lies and warped narratives unraveled, Nikos saw something more profound. Israel isn’t merely fighting to survive — it is building a society devoted to life. Israel is an amazing country – a place where people raise families, innovate, debate politics with passion, write poetry, make music, and dream about a better future for all.
By contrast, Israel’s enemies seem consumed by the cult of death — glorifying martyrdom over living, silencing dissent, and crushing anyone who dares to imagine a different path.
For Nikos, this realization was the actual turning point. Israel stopped being the faceless villain of his youth and became, in his words, “a land of modern heroes.” He was stirred by stories like the Entebbe rescue, when Israeli commandos risked everything to save hostages thousands of miles from home.
The penny dropped: Israel is not some kind of imperial aberration, but a nation determined to safeguard life, and to offer hope and optimism even in the face of relentless hostility.
His journey reached its most emotional moment after October 7th, when Israeli families who lost loved ones in the massacre presented him with a medallion in gratitude for his transformation from hater to ally. For someone who once trafficked in the ugliest antisemitic conspiracy theories, it was nothing less than a moment of profound redemption.
Nikos’ story teaches us something profound: no one is doomed to remain on a bad path forever. And it is this very idea that explains why the Talmud dismisses one of the laws in Parshat Ki Teitzei as rhetorical fantasy.
The Torah describes a phenomenon known as ‘ben sorer umoreh’ — a rebellious son who is gluttonous, drunk, disobedient, and seemingly on an inevitable path to a life of crime. His parents are told to bring him before the authorities, and the punishment — if the boy is found guilty — is death.
Shockingly, the rabbis of the Talmud reject this entire scenario out of hand. They insist that no case of ‘ben sorer umoreh’ ever happened in Jewish history, and none ever will. The law exists only as a theoretical construct, a cautionary tale.
But how could they be so sure? Simple. Because Judaism refuses to accept permanent moral determinism. However dark the path you’re on, however entrenched the negativity, change is always possible. And Nikos Sotirakopoulos’s story is living proof. He was barreling down a road of hatred with no exit ramp in sight — and then he turned himself around.
Parshat Ki Teitzei ends with a very different lesson: the mitzvah to remember Amalek. This was the vicious warrior tribe that attacked Israel in the wilderness, hoping to wipe out the Jewish people before they had even found their footing. The Torah commands us to erase Amalek from the world and to show them no mercy.
But the rabbis ask the obvious question: why does this mitzvah remain if the nation of Amalek has long since vanished from history? Their answer is that Amalek is not only an external enemy — it is also the Amalek within us: the baseless hatred, the corrosive cynicism, the prejudice we harbor in our hearts. Think of those Jews who can only ever see Israel in a negative light. That hatred for Israel is their Amalek — and it must be mercilessly rooted out and destroyed.
Seen together, these two passages form a profound existential truth: evil exists, but it does not have to stay that way. People like Nikos prove that even the ugliest bigotry can be unlearned. Nikos is not the only example — history offers other remarkable stories of transformation.
Governor George Wallace, once the most notorious face of segregationist racism in America, spent years spewing venom and using every tool of power to hold back the Black community. But in later life, Wallace publicly repented, sought forgiveness from those he had wronged, and was even embraced by many of the very people he had once tried to exclude.
More recently, there is the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, better known as the “Green Prince.” The son of a founder of Hamas, he was raised to hate Jews and groomed to inherit his father’s jihadist mantle. But he broke with Hamas, rejected its cult of death, and devoted himself to exposing its lies.
Together, Wallace and Yousef demonstrate that even the deepest hatred can be unlearned — and that even those most consumed by poisonous ideas can still find their way to truth.
All these stories remind us that hatred and evil are not an inevitable destiny. Jewish tradition insists that no one is beyond redemption — and it also warns us never to tolerate the Amalek within. If even the most entrenched haters can change course, then there is hope for a world drowning in extremism and lies.
But hope alone is not enough. Change requires truth, courage, and the willingness to confront falsehood head-on. Evil exists — but here’s the key: it doesn’t have to stay that way.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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Lebanon Cabinet Welcomes Army Plan to Disarm Hezbollah, No Timeline Given
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and members of the Lebanese cabinet meet to discuss efforts to bring all weapons in the country under the control of the state, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
Lebanon’s cabinet on Friday welcomed a plan by the army that would disarm Hezbollah and said the military would begin executing it, without setting a timeframe for implementation and cautioning that the army had limited capabilities.
A national divide over Hezbollah’s disarmament has taken center stage in Lebanon since last year’s devastating war with Israel, which upended a power balance long dominated by the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim terrorist group.
The US and Saudi Arabia, along with Hezbollah’s primarily Christian and Sunni opponents in Lebanon, have ramped up calls for the group to give up arms.
But Hezbollah has pushed back, saying it would be a serious misstep to even discuss disarmament while Israel continues its air strikes on Lebanon and occupies swathes of territory in the south. Four people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday.
On Friday, Lebanon’s cabinet met for three hours, which included the plan’s presentation by army commander Rodolphe Haykal.
All five Shi’ite cabinet ministers left the session in protest once Haykal entered the room.
Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos told reporters after the session that the government welcomed the plan but stopped short of saying the cabinet had formally passed it.
He said the army would begin implementing the plan according to its logistical, material and personnel capabilities, which might require “additional time [and’ additional effort.”
Morcos said the plan’s details would remain secret.
Hezbollah-aligned Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar told local media before the cabinet’s session had concluded that any decision taken in the absence of Shi’ite ministers would be null and void as it would be considered in contravention of Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system.
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UK Museum Criticized for Postponing Jewish Heritage Exhibit Due to Concerns of ‘Incidences of Hate Crime’
The front of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth, Dorset. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
An art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England, has been accused of cowering to threats from an “antisemitic mob” following its decision to postpone an exhibition on Jewish heritage.
The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum was scheduled to host an exhibit from Nov. 25-March 15, 2026, about the history of the city’s Jewish community as part of a project funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and researched by the Jewish Communities in Bournemouth, according to the BBC.
The museum recently announced that it will reschedule the exhibit for a later, unconfirmed date because of the “potential risks at a sensitive time.”
“Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum is an important heritage asset housing culturally significant art,” a spokesperson for the museum said in a statement cited by The Telegraph. “In planning all exhibitions, we carefully assess any potential risks. We recognize this is a sensitive time and due to requirements related to this event, the museum has decided to postpone the exhibition and is working with the organizers to reschedule it for a later date.”
In a statement, the museum also referred to concerns it has regarding unspecified “incidences of hate crime” in the area, according to the BBC.
In Bournemouth’s East Cliff area last month, a Jewish man was shot with an air rifle and there were several reports of swastika graffiti, including one painted on the side of a house owned by a rabbi.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a British charity, called the museum’s decision to postpone the exhibit “utterly shameful” and accused the institution of choosing to “extinguish Jewish culture in the face of threats from an antisemitic mob.”
“At a time when British Jews are facing unprecedented levels of antisemitism and families are hiding their identity for fear of abuse or even violence, British institutions should be standing firm in support of Jewish life, not silencing it,” the organization said.
Britain has experienced a historic surge in antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. Last month, the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, published a report showing there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.
In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism and an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.
“When British Jews cannot celebrate and share their history in peace, what does that say about Britain today?” CAA added. “When British institutions cower to threats from a mob over the rights of law-abiding communities to share their stories and celebrate their positive contribution to British life, what has happened to British values?”
The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment about CAA’s accusations and the museum’s decision to postpone the exhibit.
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Another College President Falls With Resignation of Michael Schill From Northwestern University
Former Northwestern University president Michael Schill on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades via Reuters Connect
Northwestern University president Michael Schill resigned on Thursday, just days before the start of fall semester, following nearly two years of a surge in antisemitic discrimination and extreme anti-Zionism on the Evanston, Illinois, campus, as well as blistering criticism of his response to it.
“I have decided, in consultation with the leadership of the Board of Trustees, that I will step down as president,” Schill said in a statement announcing the decision. “I will remain in my role until an interim president is in place, and I will assist in his or her transition. After a brief sabbatical, I will return to Northwestern Pritzker School of Law to teach and conduct research, my first and enduring passion.”
He added, “I appreciate our students, who I am confident will go on to change the world for the better.”
The embattled executive testified last May before the US House Committee on Education and Workforce, where he faced a firing line of conservative lawmakers, such as Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Burgess Owens (R-UT), who placed him in their crosshairs after identifying him as one of the dozens of college presidents who allegedly did far too little to combat the nationwide surge in campus antisemitism following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
Schill’s gravest transgression, lawmakers charged, was the Deering Meadow Agreement, reached after a pro-Hamas group commandeered a section of campus and established what they called the “Northwestern Liberated Zone” on April 25, 2024. For five days, over 1,000 students, professors, and non-Northwestern-affiliated persons fulminated against the world’s lone Jewish state, trafficked antisemitic tropes, and intimidated Jewish students.
By the morning of April 29, Schill and the group finalized the infamous deal — a first of its kind accord which became a model for 42 other schools who emulated it. It committed Northwestern University to establishing a scholarship for Palestinian undergraduates, contacting potential employers of students who caused recent campus disruptions to insist on their being hired, hiring two Palestinian professors, and creating a segregated dormitory hall to be occupied exclusively by Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim students. The university — after days of hearing the activists shout phrases such as “Kill the Jews!” — also agreed to form a new investment committee in which anti-Zionist students and faculty wield an outsized voice.
In February of this year, the nascent second Trump administration’s newly staffed US Department of Education named Northwestern as one five schools to be investigated by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for antisemitism and evidence that school officials violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Then in April, US President Donald Trump, riding a wave of populist antagonism against higher education, froze $790 million in federal research grants and contracts previously appropriated to Northwestern. The move came days after the university issued a report on its enactment of a checklist of policies it said meaningfully addressed campus antisemitism, which, by that time, had exploded into a full-blown crisis.
“The university administration took this criticism to heart and spent much of last summer revising our rules and policies to make our university safe for all of our students, regardless of their religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, or political viewpoint,” the university said. “Among the updated policies is our Demonstration Policy, which includes new requirements and guidance on how, when, and where members of the community may protest or otherwise engage in expressive activity.”
The university added that it had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
Parents of students attending Northwestern University rejected the report as an attempt to manufacture positive headlines and mislead the public, most of all the Jewish community.
“The problems at Northwestern are deep. Deep and institutional,” Lisa Fields, founder of Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN), told The Algemeiner during an interview in May.
On Friday, she said Schill’s resignation should be the first of major changes at the university.
“As both a parent and CAAN’s national chair, I know the fear and frustration Jewish families have felt watching Northwestern fail to protect its students,” Fields said. “President Schill’s resignation is a necessary first step, but it cannot be the last. The board’s catastrophic governance shows how far Northwestern has drifted. Chair Barris should step aside, and the board must be restructured. Only sustained federal oversight, dedicated civil rights enforcement, structural reform, and a president with integrity and vision will restore accountability and integrity at Northwestern.”
She added, “CAAN will continue pressing, and partnering, until Jewish students are safe, the university is in full compliance with Title VI, and Northwestern again reflects the accountability and integrity its community, and the nation, deserve.”
CAAN member Geri Cohen, another Northwestern parent, told The Algemeiner that Schill should not be rewarded with another job at the university, arguing that his allowing the maltreatment of Jewish students, not conservative politics, was the primary reason for the disintegration of his administration.
“New leadership is absolutely a step in the right direction of accountability and true leadership at Northwestern,” Cohen said. “However, I’m disappointed in his transition to his faculty position at the law school. I’m also alarmed but not surprised at the media’s response and portrayal that this is due to Trump, the Republicans, and not at all to his epic failure of protecting Jewish students.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.