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When It Comes to Antisemitism, People Can’t Handle the Truth
Police officers gather on Pearl Street in front of the Boulder County Courthouse, the scene of an attack that injured multiple people, in Boulder, Colorado, US, June 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mark Makela
At a recent event at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, Jewish historian and Holocaust expert Deborah Lipstadt said she has had to explain to people that antisemitism is real. It’s quite ironic, considering that she had to have a court battle with Holocaust denier David Irving that was made into the film Denial.
There are many Jews in denial about antisemitism, because they think if they lie and claim it doesn’t exist, all the problems will go away. This has been proven false time and time again throughout history.
Sadly, some are in another kind of denial — they claim that antisemitic attacks are preventable by combating “misinformation.” This is simply not true.
Was the antisemitic attack in Colorado preventable by the Egyptian terrorist who was residing in the US illegally? Only if he’d been deported — or never let in to begin with. It also perhaps could have been prevented if he’d told anyone about his plans, and they reported him to police.
The sad truth is that the majority of antisemitic attacks, or violent attacks against anyone, are not preventable. But that truth doesn’t make anyone feel good. Instead, people would like to promote a false sense of security that is actually dangerous. Just as people wanted to tell Lipstadt that antisemitism wasn’t a real problem, people like Professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss of American University want to claim that the Colorado attack was preventable by equipping people against misinformation.
In her article on MSNBC.com, titled “Boulder, Colorado terror attack victims deserved better from Trump-and Biden,” Miller-Idriss conveniently neglects to mention the attacker was in the country illegally. Nor does she mention what former President Joe Biden or President Trump should have done/should do to combat misinformation. I have interviewed numerous experts on antisemitism in my more than two decades of covering the topic, and there is no magic bullet. That’s why Miller-Idriss has nothing specific that Biden or Trump should have done/do.
I don’t like the term “misinformation” because something is either true, it’s a lie, or a person is spreading information without caring if it is true or not. The term “misinformation” lets the liar get away with it.
Zionism is the right for a self-determinate Jewish State. But there are many who learn that Zionism means Jewish supremacy over any other person — because they are taught that lie by their professors, their parents, podcasters, or so many others. Those who believe antisemitic tropes are not going to simply unlearn it in 30 seconds.
But wait! According to Miller-Idriss, “There is strong evidence that people can be dissuaded from believing in harmful online propaganda and conspiracy theories in as little as 30 seconds, just by learning about the manipulative tactics of persuasive bad actors and becoming more skeptical.”
Maybe this is true of a tiny amount of people, but not in any real numbers — and certainly not someone who has decided he is ready to kill Jews. Jews need to learn self-defense and be armed as much as possible. Kumbaya idealism is suicidal. But have no fear — Miller-Idriss lays out in the article that the solution is “upstream prevention,” a nonsense term meant to pacify uncritical eyes. When schools barely teach the Holocaust and many believe Israel woke up one day in 1948 and decided to simply steal someone else’s land, authors like this professor miss the point entirely.
The author correctly writes that people blame American Jews for the actions of Israel. But why? Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked, but no American Russians fear getting attacked.
No Chinese Americans fear being attacked for what has been done to the Uyghurs.
The reason is that they aren’t Jews.
Even if it was only “misinformation” there is no way to combat it to a significant degree. It would be like trying to dry the ocean with a paper towel. It is about long-taught hatred, and not relegated to what is currently happening in the Middle East. That is simply used as the inspirational flashpoint to claim it has nothing to do with antisemitism and is anti-Zionism.
We are either serious about combating antisemitism or we are not. If we are, it involves calling out major outlets that spew antisemitic bile. If the professor wanted to criticize Biden, she should have rebuked his staff for barely responding to people who called him “Genocide Joe.” His lack of a response to this did irreparable damage to American Jews that will be felt for decades to come.
Either Biden or one of his representatives should have once a day for a week explained why Israel is not committing a genocide and rebuke professors teaching that it is.
There is no more “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and it is time to stop living in the land of make-believe.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post When It Comes to Antisemitism, People Can’t Handle the Truth first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.