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Why Israel’s Existence Is Under Fire, But Jordan’s Is Not
French President Emmanuel Macron stands by the Western Wall, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Jan. 22, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ammar Awad.
In today’s political climate, no country faces more existential scrutiny than Israel. News outlets, social media commentators, and international organizations repeatedly question its legitimacy. But here’s the paradox: No one seems to ask whether Jordan has the right to exist, even though both Israel and Jordan were born from the same colonial mandate.
So why the double standard?
The uncomfortable answer is a toxic mix of modern antisemitism, historical revisionism, and global hypocrisy.
The British Mandate for Palestine, established after World War I, covered an area that included present-day Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. The land had been part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries before the British took control.
Here’s the relevant history:
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In 1922, Britain arbitrarily cut off 78% of the Mandate to create Transjordan, today’s Jordan, installing the Hashemite monarchy.
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In 1946, Jordan gained full independence with minimal resistance or international drama.
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But when Israel declared independence in 1948, it was instantly attacked by five Arab nations and plunged into decades of conflict and global condemnation.
No one called Jordan’s birth a catastrophe. But Israel’s creation sparked endless accusations, wars, and a global campaign to undermine its legitimacy.
There are 22 Arab states, and approximately 50 Muslim-majority countries. There are countless Christian nations. No one disputes their right to exist based on religious or cultural identity.
But Israel? The only Jewish state in the world? That’s “controversial.”
The term “anti-Zionism” is often used to mask deep-rooted antisemitism. Critics say it’s not about Jews, just about Israel’s policies. Yet they don’t apply the same standard to countries with far worse records on democracy, human rights, or warfare.
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China occupies Tibet and jails Uyghur Muslims in camps. Silence.
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Turkey occupies northern Cyprus. Barely a peep.
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Pakistan was created on religious lines and has fueled decades of regional instability. No “right to exist” debate there.
Only Israel, a thriving democracy with equal rights for Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and more, is constantly forced to justify its existence.
Jordan and the Palestinians
Let’s get honest: The Palestinian narrative is heavily politicized.
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Jordan was carved out of historic “Palestine” and has a Palestinian-majority population.
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From 1948 to 1967, Jordan occupied the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem; no one called for a Palestinian state then.
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Jordan expelled thousands of Palestinians during Black September in 1970. No UN inquiries. No global protests.
So why does the world obsess only over Israel when it comes to Palestinians? The answer is not justice, it’s targeted bias.
The “Nakba” and Its Weaponization
Every war creates refugees. Millions of Europeans were displaced after World War II. Millions of Hindus and Muslims fled during the partition of India and Pakistan. Jewish communities were ethnically cleansed from Arab countries after 1948, and nearly 850,000 lost their homes.
Yet only one refugee narrative, the Nakba — the “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation — has been turned into a political bludgeon used to delegitimize a nation’s very existence.
The Nakba isn’t just about land, it’s about denying Jewish nationhood. It’s about saying Israel’s creation was not just a tragedy, but a crime.
For centuries, Jews were persecuted, expelled, and slaughtered, always the victims. The world grew used to powerless Jews.
But the birth of Israel changed that.
Israel represents Jewish survival, sovereignty, and strength. That offends many, especially those who are more comfortable seeing Jews as victims rather than as a powerful, independent people.
When Israel defends itself, it’s accused of aggression. When other nations do the same, it’s called self-defense. That’s not diplomacy, that’s prejudice.
Israel’s Right to Exist Is Not a Debate
Israel is not a colonial project. It is not a foreign implant. It is the re-establishment of Jewish independence in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland, a land where Jewish identity, culture, and presence has remained continuously for over 3,000 years. There have always been Jews in this land.
The Jewish people have:
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A historical claim
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A legal claim (via the Balfour Declaration, League of Nations, and the UN)
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A moral claim, especially after surviving the Holocaust and centuries of exile.
Israel does not need permission to exist. Its right to life is self-evident.
Jordan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were all created in the 20th century under controversial, religiously influenced conditions. Yet none face daily challenges to their legitimacy.
Only Israel does.
That says less about Israel and more about the international community, a community that too often tolerates antisemitism disguised as activism.
It’s time to stop holding Israel to impossible standards. Time to stop treating Jewish self-determination as an offense. And time to demand fairness, not favoritism, in international diplomacy.
Because the question isn’t, “Does Israel have the right to exist?”
The real question is, “why do so many people still believe it doesn’t?”
Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.
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German Soccer Team Honors Anniversary of Murdered Hamas Hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s Death
A flag drawing awareness to Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin displayed outside the home stadium of Werder Bremen on July 4, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
The German professional soccer team SV Werder Bremen paid tribute to murdered American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin in a social media post on the first anniversary of his death while in Hamas captivity.
On Tuesday, the German team shared on Instagram a photo of two tifos displayed by German soccer fans during a match last year that said “Shalom, Salam, Peace” and “May Your Memory Be A Revolution, Achi!” The Hebrew word for “brother” is “achi.” Soccer fans in the stands also raised a giant photo of 23-year-old Goldberg-Polin, who was a big fan of the German club.
In the Instagram post, SV Werder Bremen wrote in German: “SV Werder remembers Hersh Goldberg-Polin. This is the first anniversary of the Jewish death of Hersh, who Hamas murdered along with five other hostages after eleven months of captivity. You remain in our hearts, achi!”
Goldberg-Polin was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, while at the Nova Music Festival in Re’im, Israel. He and five additional hostages – Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Carmel Gat, 40, Almog Sarusi, 27, Alexander Lobanov, 32, and Sergeant Ori Danino, 25 – were murdered in a Hamas terror tunnel in the Gaza Strip after 328 days in captivity. Their bodies were found by the Israel Defense Forces in a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in August 2024. Autopsies showed that they faced torture and starvation, according to reports. Hamas-led terrorists abducted 251 people during their deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Irish Author Sally Rooney Vows to Donate Proceeds of Work to UK Terror Group Palestine Action
Author Sally Rooney in an interview with “PBS NewsHour.” Photo: Screenshot.
Award-winning Irish author Sally Rooney said on Saturday that she will give proceeds from her books, as well as two BBC adaptations of them, to support Palestine Action, an anti-Israel group that was proscribed as a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom last month.
The writer, who is a longtime supporter of boycotts against Israel, made the announcement in an opinion piece for The Irish Times, in which she proclaimed clear support for the designated terror group. “Like the hundreds of protesters arrested last weekend — I too support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it,” she wrote.
“My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets. In recent years the UK’s state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels [‘Normal People’ and ‘Conversations With Friends’] and therefore regularly pays me residual fees,” she added. “I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.”
Being a member of Palestine Action or expressing support for the group is a criminal offense in the UK under the Terrorism Act, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The group was proscribed in early July after admitting that its activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in southern England, spray-painted two jets with red paint, and damaged the jets with crowbars. The vandalism, done in protest of Britain’s support for Israel, resulted in roughly $9.5 million worth of damage, police said. Many of the group’s supporters were recently arrested at a pro-Palestine Action protest on Aug. 9 in Parliament Square, London.
Palestine Action has also claimed responsibility for other incidents targeting companies in the UK that have ties to Israel. The group accuses the British government of being complicit in alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
In the piece published on Saturday, Rooney – the best-selling author of Beautiful World, Where Are You and most recently Intermezzo – further said about Palestine Action: “We owe their courageous activists our gratitude and solidarity. And by now, almost two years into a live-streamed genocide, we owe the people of Palestine more than mere words.” She said she would gladly publish her support for Palestine Action in a UK newspaper, “but that would now be illegal.”
Rooney also claimed the British government “has willingly stripped its own citizens of basic rights and freedoms, including the right to express and read dissenting opinions, in order to protect its relationship with Israel.” She added, “The ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the UK … are and will be profound.”
In 2021, Rooney refused to sell the Hebrew translation rights of Beautiful World, Where Are You? to an Israeli publisher because of her support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. In 2024, she was one of more than 1,000 authors who vowed to boycott Israeli publishers and institutions. She was also among the many celebrities who called for a ceasefire to end the Israel-Hamas war weeks after the latter’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Trump Administration Imposes New Sanctions on Four ICC Judges, Prosecutors
A general view of the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
President Donald Trump‘s administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, as Washington ramped up its pressure on the war tribunal over its targeting of Israeli leaders and a past decision to investigate US officials.
In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the court “a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare” against the United States and Israel.
Washington designated Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, and Kimberly Prost of Canada, according to the US Treasury and State Department. All officials have been involved in cases linked to Israel and the United States.
“United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC’s politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach,” Rubio said.
The second round of sanctions comes less than three months after the administration took the unprecedented step of slapping sanctions on four separate ICC judges. It represents a serious escalation that will likely impede the functioning of the court and the prosecutor’s office as they deal with major cases, including war crime allegations against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The ICC, which had slammed the move in June as an attempt to undermine the independence of the judicial institution, and the office of the prosecutor, did not have immediate comment.
ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict. Israeli officials have adamantly denied the allegations, noting they’re targeting terrorists who attacked Israel first and embed their military infrastructure among civilian areas.
In March 2020, prosecutors opened an investigation in Afghanistan that included looking into possible crimes by US troops, but since 2021, it has deprioritized the role of the US and focused on alleged crimes committed by the Afghan government and the Taliban forces.
The ICC, which was established in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the U.N. Security Council.
Although the ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in its 125 member countries, some nations, including the US, China, Russia, and Israel, do not recognize its authority.
It has high-profile war crimes investigations under way into the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as in Sudan, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Venezuela.
The sanctions freeze any US assets the individuals may have and essentially cut them off from the US financial system.
Guillou is an ICC judge who presided over a pre-trial panel that issued the arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Khan and Niang are the court’s two deputy prosecutors.
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement welcoming the US sanctions.
Canadian Judge Kimberly Prost served on an ICC appeals chamber that, in March 2020, unanimously authorized the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan since 2003, including examining the role of US service members.
Global Affairs Canada and the office of Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ICC sanctions, including against Prost.
The Trump administration‘s dislike of the court goes back to his first term. In 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides over the court’s work on Afghanistan.