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We Will Remember Each Israeli Soldier; Their Story Continues Our Journey

Israeli cabinet minister and former military chief Gadi Eizenkot is consoled by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as he attends the funeral of his son Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, an Israeli solider, who was killed in northern Gaza during the ongoing ground operation by Israel’s military in the Gaza Strip, in Herzliya, Israel, Dec. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

On October 7th, 19-year-old Corporal Naama Boni was serving in the 77th Armored Corps Battalion of the IDF. It was 7:00 am, and she was standing guard at the entrance of the Zikim military base just north of Gaza, soon after it had come under intense rocket fire.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, dozens of Hamas fighters arrived at the base, on motorcycles, trucks, and tractors, armed with high-caliber rifles and RPGs. Minutes earlier these terrorists had broken through the Gaza-Israel barrier and raced toward the base, intending to take it over and murder all the soldiers stationed there.

Naama called for reinforcements and was quickly joined by three soldiers who rushed to the gate without their uniforms on, and also by a member of the 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade who had been stationed at the rear of the base. In the fierce exchange of fire that followed, Naama was wounded, as was her Golani colleague, and they both sought cover.

It was at this point that Naama messaged her family. “I care deeply for all of you,” she texted. “I have a head injury, and a terrorist nearby might start shooting at me. I am now with an injured soldier from the Golani Brigade, and no reinforcements are available.”

Soon afterward, she texted again: “There is a terrorist here who won’t go away. I can hear someone screaming, and it looks like someone has been killed.” That was her last text. Naama’s body was discovered later that day, when the invading terrorists were all finally killed.

Naama’s text messages — which went viral after being shared by her family a few days after she was killed — struck a chord in Israel and around the world, giving human depth and background to Naama’s photo and name that initially appeared in the media after her death was announced.

Since then, dozens of other similar stories have emerged. On December 3rd, 22-year-old Major General Ben Zussman, entered a building in Gaza with his unit. Inside they encountered Hamas terrorists, who began firing their weapons. In the ensuing gun battle, Ben lost his life, along with four of his comrades. The following week, Ben’s parents revealed a letter he had written to them, to be opened only if he became a casualty of war.

“I am writing this message to you on the way to the base,” his letter began. “If you are reading this, something must have happened to me.” What followed was both poignant and heartbreaking. “As you know, there is probably no one happier than me right now. I had the privilege of fulfilling my dream and vocation and you can be sure that I am looking down on you and smiling. I will probably sit next to Grandpa.” Finally, he added that if “God forbid” his family had to sit shiva for him, “make sure it is a week of friends, family and fun.”

Adi Leon, an IDF Staff Sergeant of 20, also left a letter for his family. They received it after he was killed in a gun battle on October 31st, the first day of the ground incursion into Gaza. “I go out to fight this war with the knowledge that I am not certain I will return, but I believe with a full heart in what I am doing. We do not have another land, and now it is my turn to protect it and to avenge all the civilians and soldiers, the children, the elderly, and all the women who were defenseless in the face of the onslaught by Hamas. This is the education that my parents gave me. In this I believe. I hope I will be remembered. Adi.”

The letter gained widespread attention and was quoted by President Isaac Herzog. That same week, Adi’s aunt shared his favorite chocolate cake recipe, and that went viral too; people everywhere are now baking Adi’s cherished cake, with some even sending them to soldiers on the front-lines as a tribute to his memory.

In the opening verses of Shemot, the Torah mentions the names of all 12 sons of Jacob, then telling us that they had died, along with their entire generation. The commentaries puzzle over this introduction; the sons of Jacob are seemingly irrelevant to the unfolding narrative of the Israelite’s enslavement by the Egyptians, and the ultimate redemption of the Exodus story. Additionally, the Torah is well known to be sparing with its text — so why are we presented with this unconnected genealogical information?

The answer is simple: The opening verses of Shemot are not meant to be seen as a genealogical recounting, but rather they act as a meaningful link between the closing chapters of Bereishit and the story of Israel in Egypt. The names of Jacob’s sons are invoked to remind us that although these superlative individuals were no longer present, their legacies endured, and were shaping the destiny of the nascent nation. This continuous thread of identity and purpose bound the trials of our patriarchal founders to the tribulations and aspirations of the Jewish people in their subsequent servitude and liberation.

The stories of Naama, Ben, and Adi, as recorded in the communications with their families — and the stories of all the many young soldiers whose lives have been sacrificed during this horrible war — are modern echoes of this unbroken chain of legacy.

The values instilled by our patriarchs and the dreams nurtured through centuries of perseverance find their expression in the courage and sacrifice of these young guardians of Israel. Their letters, filled with echoes of love for family and nation, are a testament to the enduring influence of those who came before them. They are a powerful affirmation that the spirit of our founding fathers, their fortitude, and their faith, live on in the hearts of their descendants.

To be clear — mentioning the tribes at the beginning of Shemot is not just about using their names as a literary device to connect the end of Bereishit with Shemot. It is about reaffirming a promise — the promise that each generation will carry forward the sacred legacy bequeathed to them by the generation that preceded them.

The tribulations in Egypt and the subsequent exodus were not just formative events, but were chapters in a larger narrative of a people that was inexorably linked to their past, as they lived out the dreams and ideals of their forebears. So too today. Each act of bravery, every letter sent home, is testimony to a legacy of resilience and hope that stretches back to the dawn of Jewish history, and which will continue until the end of days.

The post We Will Remember Each Israeli Soldier; Their Story Continues Our Journey 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.

“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 (Source: Youtube/Shawn Ryan Show)

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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