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Why It Is So Important for Jews to Follow the Rule of Law
Remains of a 2000-year-old building recently excavated near the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Photo: Yaniv Berman / Israel Antiquities Authority
This week’s Torah reading of Eikev, follows the pattern of the previous three weeks.
Moses continues his review of the history of the previous 40 years. He retells certain events, such as smashing the Tablets of Stone and making a second set, and repeating the theme of the importance of following our Divinely-inspired way of life.
This week, we read the second chapter of the Shema, in which it says, “If you really listen to the commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve with all your heart and all your soul, then I will give the rains at the right time, the first rain and the latter rain and you will gather your corn and your wine and your oil and there will be grass in the fields for your animals to eat and be satisfied” (Chapter 11, verse 13).
This raises one of the controversial issues of the Torah, and indeed all religions — reward and punishment. It implies that in physical terms, the rains come and go based on how we behave, and that God’s relationship to us is dependent on our relationship to God. Yet, if we are rational and look at history, we can see that it doesn’t always appear to be the case. The whole issue of why good people suffer, and bad people seem to thrive, has always presented a major theological challenge to every religion.
One way of dealing with this challenge is to say this is not about each one of us individually and what we go through in life, but it’s about the nation and whether the nation survives or not. There is no guarantee that there won’t be warfare. After all, the invasion of Canaan was warfare. But we have been and are engaged in an existential struggle for survival. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. But even in this existential struggle for survival, we are still bound by the laws of the Torah.
I have always tried to balance different moral positions both as a Jew and as a citizen of the world. I’ve accepted the principle of “doing as you would be done by,” and always making sure that whatever I do is ethical and can be justified by halacha. One of the biggest problems we have had morally, both in the Torah and to this very day, is the question of zealotry. When can you break laws? And indeed, there is much debate and confusion over retaliation and conflicting religious positions, absolute and moderate.
With all the pain and suffering that Israel has gone through this past year, we have prided ourselves on the fact that our war record is far superior to any other example of a country facing an existential threat and invasion. If there are non-combatant casualties or human shields, these are the painful and reluctant result of the way our enemies have fought us.
Once upon a time, Israel was united in rejecting the extremism of Kahanaism. In recent years, that ideology has made a frightening comeback as attacks on civilians have increased by Arab nationalists. So, it was with great relief this week that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, came out forcefully condemning the attitude of those outwardly religious young men who rampage through Arab villages killing people.
Even so, that’s a matter of shame to me — that people calling themselves religious Jews, act in a way that I cannot morally accept. Thank God they are a minority. Of course, the world press wants to make them out to be the majority, but that’s the perversity and bias of most of the world’s press.
But I don’t want to be associated with people who act outside of the law. The issue of how prisoners are treated is not for mob justice or mob violence, but the law. As the Torah and the Talmud tell us, God cares about all God’s creatures. We all came from the same source, and should be treated as such. If we ignore the Torah, we suffer the consequences.
Jews have been lynched by mob justice. And so, I repeat, do as you would be done by.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
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Jewish Communities in France, Germany, UK Form New ‘JE3’ Alliance Amid Surge in Antisemitism
From left to right: President Phil Rosenberg of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Josef Schuster of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and Yonathan Arfi of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). Photo: Screenshot
The leading representative bodies of Jewish communities in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have formed a new alliance to amplify Jewish perspectives in international debates, amid a troubling rise in antisemitism across all three countries.
On Monday, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), and the Central Council of Jews in Germany announced the formation of the new “JE3” alliance during a conference of the Anti-Defamation League’s J7 Task Force — the largest international initiative against antisemitism — held in Berlin.
This new alliance, inspired by the E3 diplomatic format that unites France, Germany, and the UK to coordinate on key geopolitical issues such as nuclear negotiations with Iran and peace in the Middle East, aims to provide a united Jewish communal voice on these and other pressing international matters.
The newly formed group also seeks to strengthen existing umbrella organizations, such as the World Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress, and the J7 initiative — a coalition of Jewish organizations in Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the United States.
“It is our hope that the JE3 will become a powerful voice for our communities on issues that we care about together,” Josef Schuster of the Central Council, Phil Rosenberg of the Board of Deputies, and Yonathan Arfi of CRIF said in a joint statement.
“It is particularly significant that we brought together the new grouping in Berlin, 80 years after the end of the Holocaust,” the statement continued. “This is a show of intent by our three flourishing communities that we are committed to boosting Jewish life in our respective countries, cooperating in the fight against antisemitism, and enhancing bilateral and multilateral relations between our countries and Israel.”
Berlin: The largest representative organisations of European Jewish communities in France, Germany, and the UK have today launched a new ‘JE3‘ alliance. @Le_CRIF @ZentralratJuden pic.twitter.com/hXotcz6RDb
— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) May 12, 2025
This new JE3 initiative comes as France, Germany, and the UK, as well as other countries across Europe and around the world, have reported record spikes in antisemitic activity in recent years, largely fueled by a wave of anti-Jewish sentiment following Hamas’s launch of its war against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Last week, the J7 Task Force released its first Annual Report on Antisemitism, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, when Nazi Germany formally surrendered to Allied forces on May 8, marking the end of World War II and the Holocaust.
The report, which echoes findings from recent studies, revealed a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents between 2021 and 2023. These increases include 11 percent in Australia, 23 percent in Argentina, 75 percent in Germany, 82 percent in the UK, 83 percent in Canada, 185 percent in France, and 227 percent in the US. Those numbers continued to spike to record levels in the aftermath of the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
Additionally, the data showed a concerning rise on a per-capita basis, with Germany reporting over 38 incidents per 1,000 Jews, and the UK seeing 13 per 1,000.
The seven communities identified several common trends, including a surge in violent incidents, recurring attacks on Jewish institutions, a rise in online hate speech, and growing fear among Jews, which has led many to conceal their Jewish identity.
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Brazilian Jews Rebuke President Lula for ‘Antisemitic Libel’ Condemning Israel’s Fight to Defeat Hamas
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool
Jewish leadership in Brazil has accused President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of pushing “antisemitic libel” against Israel during a speech in Moscow on Saturday.
Lula accused Israel of “attacking women and children under the pretext of killing terrorists,” described its war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas as “a genocide,” and claimed the Jewish state struck hospitals which did not contain Hamas members.
The Brazilian Israelite Confederation (CONIB), the country’s leading Jewish organization, denounced Lula for his claims.
“It is regrettable and disturbing that the president of our country continues to promote this antisemitic libel throughout the world,” CONIB President Claudio Lottenberg said in a statement. “Brazil is a country where the Jewish community lives in peace and security, but President Lula, with his antisemitic statements, seems to want to create problems for our community by promoting antisemitism among his supporters, in an irresponsible and destructive attitude.”
Lottenberg added that “Hamas started this terrible war and is hiding behind the civilian population and Israeli hostages to promote its genocidal vision of exterminating Israel and the Jews.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists launched the current conflict with their Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths in its military response to try and avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
In February, Lula also received pushback for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and the war in Gaza to the Holocaust — a comparison described as an example of anti-Jewish hate under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people does not exist at any other historical moment … In fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” Lula said at the time.
“Brazil is a country of peace, with a historical message of coexistence and balance. President Lula’s deplorable comparison between Israel’s just war against Hamas with the truly genocidal crimes of Hitler and the Nazis against the Jews during the Holocaust is rejected by the vast majority of the Brazilian population,” Dr. Ariel Gelblung, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Director for Latin America, said in response. “What is worse, he denies the antisemitic nature of his statements, hiding behind Brazil’s IHRA observer status. However, his national administration does not adopt the definition or present plans to become a full member.”
In May 2024, Lula recalled Brazil’s ambassador from Israel, resulting in a persona non grata status according to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
In January, an unnamed Israeli tourist fled Brazil when a court started an investigation into his time as a soldier fighting in Gaza.
“I am embarrassed for Brazil and its government, who surrendered to the pro-Palestinian legal terrorism,” Yuli Edelstein, chair of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said in response.
According to the World Jewish Congress, 92,000 Jews call Brazil home, which ranks as 10th largest globally and second in Latin America after Argentina. The group says that “Brazilian Jews usually enjoy comfort, security, and wealth in a country known for its amicable coexistence of various ethnicities.”
Brazil saw a 961 percent spike in antisemitic incidents during October 2023 in comparison to the same time in 2022. Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs reported that in 2024 from January through October, complaints of antisemitism rose 70 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
The Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University released a report on 2024 antisemitic incidents globally, drawing from data collected by CONIB which showed 1,788 incidents in Brazil in 2024 compared to 1,410 in 2023 and 432 in 2022.
In January, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released the findings of its newest Global 100 Survey of antisemitic attitudes by country. Researchers found that about a percent of the country’s population — 41.2 million people — expressed “elevated levels of antisemitic attitudes.” These numbers rank Brazil as the 21st least antisemitic country out of 103 and third lowest in the region.
On March 10, the ADL and CONIB announced plans to partner and increase efforts to counter domestic antisemitism.
“With antisemitism and anti-Zionism on the rise worldwide, partnerships like this are key to ensuring that Jewish communities in Latin America and other regions have the tools to protect themselves,” said Marina Rosenberg, the ADL’s senior vice president for International Affairs. “By collaborating with CONIB, we are strengthening the fight against extremism in Brazil and expanding the global reach of ADL in monitoring and combating antisemitism and hatred.”
Lottenberg added that “by joining forces with such a prominent organization, our goal is to strengthen the fight against growing antisemitism in Brazil, promoting the security and well-being of the Brazilian Jewish community.”
The post-Oct. 7, 2023, surge of antisemitism in the South American state inspired the city government of Rio de Janeiro to adopt the IHRA antisemitism definition.
“The IHRA definition has proven to be the most effective tool to identify and counter antisemitism, and we encourage other governmental bodies at all levels, throughout Latin America and worldwide, to follow Rio de Janeiro’s lead and join the distinguished club that has made an impact in the collective effort against antisemitism by taking this vital step,” said Shay Salamon, director of Hispanic outreach for the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
Two Brazilian states — Goiás and São Paulo — adopted the IHRA definition in 2024.
Goiás Governor Ronaldo Caiado said at the signing ceremony that “President Lula’s statements do not represent the people of Brazil. Today we begin to rebuild the respect that he made us lose.”
The post Brazilian Jews Rebuke President Lula for ‘Antisemitic Libel’ Condemning Israel’s Fight to Defeat Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Norwegian Hotel Refuses Israeli Traveler Amid Boycott Against Israel
A demonstration of the group Europe Palestine to demand the boycott of Israel, in Paris, France on May 15, 2022. Photo: Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
A Norwegian hotel has refused to accommodate an Israeli traveler, citing a nationwide boycott against the Jewish state launched last week by the country’s powerful trade union, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO).
Upon receiving the request, the hotel — located in the village of Geiranger in western Norway, one of Scandinavia’s top tourist destinations — indicated it would need to consult with the trade union to determine whether hosting the Israeli traveler would be permitted under the new boycott guidelines.
“The Norwegian Labor Organization (LO) will soon enforce a boycott that will affect Israeli tourists and Israeli goods due to the catastrophic situation in Gaza,” read the response to the Israeli traveler’s booking request.
“We need to inform you that our staff is organized in LO unions, and they will not break the boycott. I will need to consult with the employers’ organization as I see this as a force majeure situation,” the hotel told the Israeli traveler.
BREAKING:
Norwegian hotels to boycott Israeli tourists.Source: @StoppNRK
See: https://t.co/0tr55jwvFl pic.twitter.com/Mhy2pICn1n— On Elpeleg
(@onelpeleg) May 12, 2025
According to the hotel management, the organization’s boycott qualifies as a “force majeure” event, an unforeseen circumstance that prevents parties from meeting their contractual obligations and shields them from liability when exceptional situations disrupt normal expectations.
The hotel’s response was shared in a Facebook group, sparking outrage and widespread condemnation among its members.
“As a Jew who has been fighting antisemitism for 40 years, I have never experienced something so shocking. It’s like traveling back in time 85 years to 1940, to the period when Norway sent its Jews to Auschwitz,” one of the group’s members wrote in a comment.
“I am simply in shock – Norway was the last country in Europe to allow Jews to enter, and now it’s closing its doors again,” he continued.
Last week, Norway’s LO trade union voted in favor of a full economic boycott of Israel, while also urging the government to direct the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) to divest from Israeli companies, similar to how it mandated the divestment from Russian companies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The GPFG, also known as the Norwegian Oil Fund, is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Norwegian government and managed by its central bank, created to manage surplus revenue from oil and gas exports, with investments in a diverse array of global assets and companies.
Despite its close ties to the LO union, Norway’s Labour-led government said it would not push for divestment from Israeli companies, arguing that it is best to allow the fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, to operate in accordance with the ethical guidelines approved by parliament.
“We don’t plan to change our strategy,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told Reuters on Friday after the LO vote.
“But I hope Israel is reading that this [the boycott] is an expression of a significant part of public opinion,” the Norwegian leader said.
Based on government guidelines, the GPFG follows an ethical investment strategy that includes avoiding companies involved in human rights violations, environmental harm, or other unethical practices, and has the authority to divest from such companies or sectors when necessary.
The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas praised the LO’s decision to boycott “the Zionist occupation and ban trade and investment with its companies,” calling the move “a courageous step that embodies a clear alignment with truth and justice, and advocates for the rights of the Palestinian people.”
On Sunday, the GPFG — which is one of the largest funds in the world — announced that it had divested from Israel’s Paz Oil Company, citing its ownership and operation of infrastructure that supplies fuel to “Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”
“By operating infrastructure for the supply of fuel to the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Paz is contributing to their perpetuation,” the fund’s Council on Ethics watchdog said in its recommendation to divest. “The settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their perpetuation constitutes an ongoing violation thereof.”
This is the latest move by a European financial entity to sever ties with Israeli companies, amid growing pressure in Norway for the GPFG to fully divest from Israeli businesses following the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Overall, the Council on Ethics reviewed approximately 65 companies in the fund’s holdings across sectors such as energy supply, infrastructure, travel and tourism, and banking, but has not yet disclosed whether it made additional recommendations for divestment.
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