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What Sodom and Gomorrah Teach Us About Hamas and Hezbollah
A Torah scroll. Photo: RabbiSacks.org.
There are times when mercy and compassion are essential, the very qualities that can help resolve difficult situations. But sometimes, kindness backfires — becoming not just unhelpful, but downright dangerous and counterproductive. The trick is knowing when compassion is misplaced.
One person who understood this very well was Sir Winston Churchill. Faced with the overwhelming belligerence of Nazi Germany’s advance in 1940, he stood before the House of Commons in his first speech as Prime Minister and declared, “You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth.”
His strategy was clear: there had to be total, unrelenting resistance if Hitler and his thuggish violence were to be overcome. What Churchill recognized was that compassion for Germans and Germany in the fight against Hitler would be a dreadful mistake, and that the future of the free world hung in the balance.
General William Tecumseh Sherman shared this same insight, as his infamous “scorched earth” march through the South during the American Civil War vividly demonstrated. A pragmatic but devoted unionist, Sherman knew that anything less than decisive, overwhelming action — targeting both military and civilian resources — would likely fail to break the Confederacy’s resolve, prolonging the horrific conflict and deepening the Nation’s rift.
So, he took the hard road, leading a campaign so relentless it crushed the Confederate spirit and ultimately paved the way for the country to reunify.
While Sherman’s methods might seem extreme to modern sensibilities, his choices were grounded in a harsh reality: had he left room for the Confederacy to regroup, rearm, and resist, that would have meant decades of war and suffering that would have been far worse.
As brutal as it was, Sherman’s march was calculated to bring the suffering to a quicker end, because rebuilding could only happen after those intent on destroying peace were decisively defeated.
Similarly, Churchill understood that any attempt to negotiate with Nazi Germany would only prolong the threat, which was why he insisted that peace could only be secured by confronting the enemy head-on, often with military tactics that left devastation in its wake.
The Allied forces targeted strategic cities like Dresden, Rotterdam, and Berlin in overwhelming bombing campaigns that were aimed at breaking Germany’s ability to continue the war. As Churchill put it, there had to be “Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be — for without victory, there is no survival.”
In Europe, victory required the calculated use of brutal force to dismantle the infrastructure that supported tyranny, paving the way for a postwar rebuilding grounded in true peace.
Now, let’s fast-forward to the present. The tragic events of last October 7th in Israel showed the world the cruelty that groups like Hamas are willing to inflict on innocent civilians without provocation or any attempt to try peaceful resolution first.
But even as Israel began its justified — and unquestionably harsh — military response, most international leaders could only bring themselves to offer cautious, watered-down support, and very quickly began to call for a ceasefire. The “support” offered was accompanied by the kinds of conditions that would inevitably blunt the effectiveness of what Israel was trying to do — namely, root out Hamas once and for all. Israel’s right to defend itself was affirmed with one breath and curbed with the next.
How can pure evil be defeated if misdirected compassion is continually used to tie the hands of those fighting it? By insisting on half-measures and quick returns to “stability,” the international community has only prolonged the suffering, allowing groups like Hamas to regroup and continue their cycle of terror. True peace demands the courage to confront and dismantle the forces of destruction—not giving them breathing room under the guise of compassion.
One can’t help but wonder how things might look today if, years ago, Israel had acted with Churchillian resolve in the face of Hamas, or had they, like Sherman, decided that the only path to peace was one that left no room for enemies to regroup. Instead, we’ve seen decades of half-measures, ceasefires, and so-called negotiations that have served only to buy time for Hamas to rearm and double down.
And it’s not just Israel. And it’s not just Hamas. For years, the Western world has danced around Iran, tolerating its proxy terrorism through Hezbollah in Lebanon, militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and its entrenched role in supporting Hamas — and that’s before you consider their attempts to become a nuclear military power.
Iran’s regime is the most outstanding contemporary example of what happens when the world treats an existential threat with kid gloves. Imagine if decisive action had been taken against Iran when its terror network was still in its infancy. Imagine if the West had backed Israel, not with words, but solid, uncompromising support. Wouldn’t the Middle East be a very different place?
Which brings me to Parshat Vayeira, where we find Abraham pleading with God to spare the city of Sodom, bargaining with Him in the hope that even a small cluster of righteous people might justify saving the entire city. I have always struggled with this story. What is the point of the bible remembering Abraham’s abject failure to negotiate a reprieve for this doomed city?
But perhaps his failure is precisely the point. While Abraham’s compassion is admirable, and his willingness to challenge God heroic, ultimately, God is telling him that Sodom’s sins are so extreme, so corrosive, and so reprehensible that redemption is no longer an option.
God’s response is swift, and the angels sent to dispatch Sodom do what has to be done: they rescue Lot and his family and destroy the city until no trace of it is left.
That is the essential lesson here. Compassion has limits. God’s response to Abraham wasn’t dismissive or cruel. Instead, it was a recognition that certain evils cannot be redeemed, and therefore, no attempt should be made to try and redeem them.
Of course, God allowed Abraham to advocate, to hope, and to express compassion — we are always expected to explore compassion as an option. But in the end, Sodom’s fate was sealed. The destruction of Sodom didn’t mean Abraham had failed; even kindly Abraham had to learn that mercy, too, has boundaries.
As we look at the situation in Israel and the Middle East today, the parallels to Sodom and Gomorrah are impossible to ignore. Groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and, in particular, their Iranian puppet masters, don’t just oppose Israel; they undermine regional and international stability and twist their own people into tools for a vile nihilistic agenda.
They have proven themselves beyond redemption, operating with methods that prioritize terror over any semblance of peace. And, just as Abraham learned, we too must realize that there are times when standing firm against such forces is not only necessary — it’s moral.
The incoming US administration’s cabinet and diplomatic appointments this week show that this message has finally made it to the highest levels, and the self-destructive mercy of those who advocate for a ceasefire might finally be overruled by those who have the greater good and a strategic vision at the center of their focus.
In Parshat Vayeira, we see that not every plea for mercy is good, nor every act of destruction bad. There is a place for compassion, and there is a place for resolve. And in a world where Sodom still thrives, knowing when to draw the line may be the key to safeguarding what we truly value.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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No Diploma for NYU Senior After Unauthorized Anti-Israel Commencement Speech
Students and professors attend the New York University (NYU) graduation ceremony at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City, US, May 15, 2025. Photo: Eduardo Munoz via Reuters Connect.
New York University is withholding the diploma of a senior student at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study who lied to the administration about the content of his commencement speech to conceal its claim of a genocide taking place in Gaza, an anti-Israel falsehood propagated by neo-Nazi groups and jihadist terror organizations.
“My moral and political commitments guide me to say that the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine” the student, Logan Rozos, said, delivering the unauthorized remarks to a din of acclamation from the audience. “I want to say that the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been live streamed to our phones for the past 18 months.”
He continued, “I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide.”
Rozos drew a trenchant rebuke from a university that has enacted a slew of policies to reduce antisemitic discrimination on its campuses. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, a bloody invasion that started the war in Gaza, NYU has issued policies which acknowledge the “coded” subtleties of antisemitic speech and its use in discriminatory conduct that targets Jewish students and faculty.
“NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today — one of over 20 school graduation ceremonies across our campus — to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views,” university spokesman John Beckman said in a statement. “He lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules. The university is withholding his diploma while we pursue disciplinary actions.”
He continued, “NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him.”
Jewish civil rights groups rebuked Rozos as well, with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) saying he uttered “divisive and false comments about the current Israel/Hamas war.” The group added, “We are thankful to the NYU administration for their strong condemnation and rather pursuit of disciplinary action.”
End Jew Hatred (EJH), writing to The Algemeiner, called on NYU to impose the severest disciplinary measure possible on Rozos: withholding his diploma in perpetuity as punishment for using so high an honor to spread lies that have been used to justify antisemitic violence and discrimination.
“It was right to denounce his deception and abuse of the platform, and it was essential to affirm that hate speech masquerading as political commentary has no place at a graduation ceremony,” the group said. “But that cannot be where it ends. The diploma must be permanently withheld. The full process — from Rozos’s selection to speech approval to mic control — demands transparency. And NYU must do more than punish a student; it must confront the climate that made this outburst possible.”
The conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year has seen other attempts to place anti-Zionism at the center of the public’s attention.
A group of pro-Hamas students at Yale University recently vowed to starve themselves inside an administrative building until such time as officials agree to their demands that the university’s endowment be divested of any ties to Israel as well as companies that do business with it. However, Yale officials are refusing to even meet with the students, who have been told that their demonstration, held in Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, is “in violation of university policy.”
At the University of Washington, in Seattle, over 30 members of a pro-Hamas student group calling itself “Super UW” were arrested for commandeering the university’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB) to protest and demand the termination of the institution’s partnerships with The Boeing Company, whose armaments manufacturing they identified as a resource aiding Israel’s war to eradicate Hamas from Gaza.
The illegal demonstration involved students establishing blockades near the building using “bike rack[s] and chairs,” burning trash — while setting off sizable fires — that they then left unattended, and calling for violence against the police. Law enforcement officers eventually entered the building equipped with riot gear, including helmets and batons.
University officials’ tolerance for such disruptions is depleting.
Earlier this month, George Washington University suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter until Spring 2026, punishing the group for a series of unauthorized demonstrations it held on school property last month. The move marked one of the severest disciplinary sanctions SJP has provoked from the GW administration since it began violating rules on peaceful expression and assembly, as well as targeting school officials for harassment, following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Until next May, SJP is barred from advertising and may only convene to “complete sanctions or consult with their advisor,” according to a report by The GW Hatchet.
SJP will be placed on probation for one year after its suspension is lifted, the paper continued, during which it must request and acquire prior approval for any expressive activity. Additionally, members will be required to attend “teach-ins on university policy” for “ten consecutive semesters.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post No Diploma for NYU Senior After Unauthorized Anti-Israel Commencement Speech first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Announces $200 Billion in Deals During UAE Visit, AI Agreement Signed
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Yousif Al Obaidli, director of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, as he tours the mosque grounds in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged to strengthen US ties to the United Arab Emirates and announced deals with the Gulf state totaling over $200 billion and the two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence.
After Trump’s meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the White House said he announced deals that included a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 Boeing 787 and 777x aircraft powered by engines made by GE Aerospace.
The US Commerce Department said the two countries also agreed to establish a “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership” framework and Trump and Sheikh Mohamed attended the unveiling of a new 5GW AI campus, which would be the largest outside the United States.
Sources have said the agreements will give the Gulf country expanded access to advanced artificial intelligence chips from the US after previously facing restrictions over Washington’s concerns that China could access the technology.
Trump began a visit to the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of wealthy Gulf states after hailing plans by Doha to invest $10 billion in a US military facility during a trip to Qatar.
“I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better,” Trump said in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion,” Trump said, referring to a UAE pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in the US over 10 years.
Trump was referring to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohamed’s brother and the UAE’s national security adviser and chairman of two of Abu Dhabi’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds.
The US president was met at the airport in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mohamed, and they visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, its white minarets and domes, impressive in the late-afternoon light.
“It is so beautiful,” Trump told reporters inside the mosque, which he said had been closed for the day.
“First time they closed it. It’s in honor of the United States. Better than in honor of me. Let’s give it to the country. That’s a great tribute.”
$200 BILLION IN NEW DEALS
A White House fact sheet said Trump had secured $200 billion in new US-UAE deals and accelerated the previously committed $1.4 trillion.
It said Emirates Global Aluminum would invest to develop a $4 billion primary aluminum smelter project in Oklahoma, while ExxonMobil Corp, Occidental Petroleum, and EOG Resources were partnering with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in expanded oil and natural gas production valued at $60 billion.
Sheikh Mohamed told Trump the UAE was “keen to continue and strengthen this friendship for the benefit of the two countries and peoples,” adding to Trump: “your presence here today, your excellency, the president, confirms that this keenness is mutual.”
Before his departure for the UAE, Trump said in a speech to US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha that defense purchases signed by Qatar on Wednesday were worth $42 billion.
UAE has been seeking US help to make the wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in artificial intelligence.
The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The deal would boost the UAE’s construction of data centers vital to developing AI models, although the agreement has provoked national security concerns among sectors of the US government.
The AI agreement “includes the UAE committing to invest in, build, or finance US data centers that are at least as large and as powerful as those in the UAE,” the White House said.
“The agreement also contains historic commitments by the UAE to further align their national security regulations with the United States, including strong protections to prevent the diversion of US-origin technology.”
Former US President Joe Biden’s administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. Among Biden’s fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China and buttress its military strength.
At the UAE presidential palace, Trump and Sheikh Mohamed could be seen in TV footage in conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Trump said he would probably return to Washington on Friday after a regional trip that began on Tuesday, although he said it was “almost destination unknown.” Trump had hinted he could stop in Istanbul for talks on Ukraine.
DEALS, DIPLOMACY
Other big business agreements have been signed during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region, including a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody jets, a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the kingdom.
The trip has also brought a flurry of diplomacy.
Trump said in Qatar that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.
He also announced on Tuesday the US would remove longstanding sanctions on Syria and subsequently met with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
He urged Sharaa to establish ties with Syria’s longtime foe Israel.
Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration. If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power center in global AI competition after the United States and China.
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Australian Police Announce Major Breakthrough in Hunt for Melbourne Synagogue Arsonists
Arsonists heavily damaged the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on Dec. 6, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
Five months after the arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue, Australian law enforcement announced a major breakthrough that could lead to the identification and arrest of those responsible for the assault that shook the local Jewish community.
The attack took place on Dec. 5, 2024, at approximately 4.30 am. At the time, two worshippers attending morning prayers spotted the flames and quickly alerted emergency services and firefighters, helping to prevent casualties and more extensive damage.
Thanks to the swift response of local authorities, the fire was contained to one section of the synagogue. While the neighboring area was heavily filled with smoke, it remained unharmed. No injuries were reported during the attack, though two people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
Following the incident, local authorities established a Joint Counter Terrorism Team, including Victorian state police and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), to lead the investigation into the assault and address the rising wave of antisemitic incidents targeting Jewish communities nationwide.
On Thursday, the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) released footage of the attack, which they believe has provided a crucial breakthrough in the case, and urged anyone with information to come forward.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, an intiative between Victoria Police, @AusFedPolice and @ASIOGovAu has released footage of those believed to responsible for an arson attack on a Synagogue in Ripponlea last year.
https://t.co/YF7sIp063s pic.twitter.com/ZkmxskJ20K— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) May 15, 2025
Based on the footage, authorities have identified a blue 2020 Volkswagen Golf sedan as the getaway car used in the attack, where two masked men set fire to the synagogue established by Holocaust survivors.
According to police records, the car is a stolen vehicle linked to several crimes around the same period, including an arson and shooting in a Melbourne suburb on the night of the synagogue attack, as well as a nightclub fire in November 2024.
As of now, authorities have arrested two suspects connected to the nightclub arson, both linked to the stolen vehicle. Although there is no evidence connecting them to the synagogue fire, investigators say they are closing in on those responsible.
“We believe several offenders are directly and indirectly connected to the synagogue arson, and our terrorism investigation is ongoing,” police said in a statement. “We remind those involved that terrorism carries a life sentence.”
“It is only a matter of time before the police knock on your door. It is in your interest to come forward now,” authorities warned those involved in the crime.
Tess Walsh, deputy commander of Victoria Police’s counter-terrorism unit, said investigators have worked “tirelessly over the past five months” to determine not only who carried out the attack, but also who planned it and why.” Authorities have appealed to the public for assistance, stressing that any detail may be crucial.
Stephen Nutt, AFP Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism and Special Investigations Command, stated there was “no indication” of neo-Nazi or other extremist group involvement but emphasized that the task force continues to investigate the incident as a “politically motivated attack on the Jewish community.”
“The JCTT is leaving no stone unturned in this investigation, and I want to thank the Jewish community for their patience and support,” Nutt said during a press conference.
Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the torching of the synagogue, arguing the “abhorrent act of antisemitism” was linked to what he described as the Australian government’s “extreme anti-Israeli position.”
Antisemitism spiked to record levels in Australia — especially in Sydney and Melbourne, which are home to some 85 percent of the country’s Jewish population — following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s bloody invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.
According to a report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the country’s Jewish community experienced over 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, a significant increase from 495 in the prior 12 months.
Following Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, the number of antisemitic physical assaults in Australia rose from 11 in 2023 to 65 in 2024. The level of antisemitism for the past year was six times the average of the preceding 10 years.
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