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Why Benjamin Netanyahu Must Go to Poland
People with Israeli flags attend the International March of the Living at the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp, in Brzezinka near Oswiecim, Poland, May 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Imagine the scene: dignitaries from around the globe gather at the site of Auschwitz Concentration Camp to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation. It’s a solemn event marking the end of one of history’s darkest chapters. Yet, conspicuously absent is the Prime Minister of Israel, the nation born from the ashes of the Holocaust.
Sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s precisely what will happen on January 27, 2025, if Poland gets its way. On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — the most notorious killing ground of the Holocaust — the Prime Minister of Israel, leader of the nation resurrected from the ashes of that genocide, will be absent.
Not because he refuses to attend but because Poland has threatened to arrest him under a grotesque and politically motivated International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant. So, while Netanyahu — the democratically elected of the world’s only Jewish state — is deliberately sidelined, leaders from countries that gladly collaborated with the Nazis, or turned away Jewish refugees, or stood idly by as millions were slaughtered, will gather to wring their hands, pose for photos, and make pious speeches. It’s not just surreal; it’s obscene.
Think about it. The leader of Israel — whose very existence is a defiant rebuke to the forces that tried to erase the Jewish people — barred from entering the gates of Auschwitz to honor the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, diplomats from nations complicit in the Holocaust, and others whose modern policies enable rising antisemitism, will sit comfortably in the front rows. And the Jewish state? Silenced and snubbed. This isn’t just absurd — it’s an insult to history, to the victims of the Holocaust, and to every Jew alive today.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, this is not just an affront to you personally — it’s an affront to all Jews, past and present. It is a grotesque humiliation aimed at undermining Israel’s legitimacy and moral authority. It is a slap in the face of every Holocaust survivor who rebuilt their lives in the Jewish state and every descendant of those who perished, whose very existence today stands as a defiant testament to Jewish resilience. Don’t let them get away with it.
The ancient Greeks didn’t get away with it. At the time of the Chanukah story, Antiochus IV Epiphanes — a ruthless tyrant whose family inherited a province of the Greek empire from Alexander the Great — stormed into Jerusalem with military force and desecrated the Holy Temple. He erected idols, installed Greek gods, and ordered the Jews to bow and sacrifice to them. Some Jews complied, hoping that submission might preserve peace.
But Matityahu the High Priest and his sons, led by Judah Maccabee, refused to surrender. They wouldn’t allow humiliation to become the new normal. Outnumbered and outmatched, they stood tall, fought back, and prevailed. Their first act upon reclaiming the Temple was to light the menorah. That flame has burned ever since — a testimony that Jews will not be cowed. Not then. Not now.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, you must be Judah Maccabee — strong, proud, and unafraid. Go to Poland. Stand where millions of our people perished and declare, without hesitation, that the Jewish people are still here, still standing, and will never be silenced again. Dare them to arrest you — dare them to drag the Prime Minister of Israel, the representative of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, into custody, on the very soil that drank their blood.
Let the cameras roll and let the world see the true face of modern antisemitism — the kind that hides behind international law and hollow platitudes. And if they try? Let them face the global outrage that will follow, the fury of Jews and non-Jews alike who still have a moral conscience. Go to Auschwitz, Prime Minister Netanyahu, not just as a leader but as a symbol. Show them that we are no longer victims, no longer voiceless. Show them that we are the Maccabees, and we do not bow.
And to those in Washington, D.C., who still understand right from wrong: remember that Israel is not just your closest ally in the Middle East — it’s the only democracy in the region, standing firm and holding the line in an increasingly unstable world.
Every enemy of the West has tried to bring Israel down, but Israel has done what others were too afraid to do. Hamas is crippled. Hezbollah is reeling. Assad’s Syria has collapsed into irrelevance. And the Houthis, along with their Iranian backers, are next. Israel is fighting the battles the West refuses to fight, defending not just itself but the values and security of the free world.
The United States has long opposed the ICC’s outrageous overreach and its obsession with targeting Israel. That opposition must not waver now. This is not just an attack on Israel — it is an attack on the moral foundations of America’s closest ally and, by extension, on America itself.
To allow Benjamin Netanyahu — the elected leader of the Jewish state — to be barred from a Holocaust memorial is to embolden those who seek to delegitimize Israel and the West. Now is the time to act. Diplomatic channels must be mobilized immediately to ensure Netanyahu can attend this memorial unimpeded and unmolested. To do anything less is to send a message that antisemitic agendas dressed up as international law can go unchallenged — and that message must never be sent.
If Netanyahu does not attend, history will record a disgraceful spectacle — the leader of the Jewish state, the only Jewish country in the world, absent from Auschwitz while nations that turned their backs on the Jews, or worse, actively aided their murder, take center stage with sanctimonious speeches and hollow gestures. The optics are not just nauseating — they are a betrayal of memory and truth.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, ignore the threats. Defy the antisemitism masquerading as justice. Show the world that Jews will never again be humiliated — not by violence, not by persecution, and certainly not by the hypocrisy of international institutions hiding behind the veil of legality. Let your presence at Auschwitz declare that the Jewish people have endured, they have survived, they have rebuilt — and they will never be erased.
Light the menorah. Be Judah Maccabee — bold, unyielding, and fearless. The Jewish people — and history — demand nothing less.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The post Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.