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World News Standing with Zionism Is Standing with Liberty and Justice
Theodor Herzl, considered the father of modern-day Zionism, leans over the balcony of the Hotel Les Trois Rois (Three King’s Hotel/Hotel drei Könige) in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – Understanding a two-sided conflict requires nuance. In almost all disputes, both sides have merit to their arguments; simultaneously, flaws can also be found in their position.
There are rare conflicts that require no nuance to understand them. These conflicts pit good against evil. One side is so obviously moral and the other so vile that even trying to understand the vile side doesn’t help a person understand the topic of dispute, but rather, runs the risk of demonstrating empathy for a position so objectionable that it deserves no space in a moral society. One doesn’t need to (and shouldn’t) study Nazi thought to understand why antisemitism and murder are wrong. The same is true of racism and rape. There aren’t many conflicts that are so obvious, but when they occur, it’s important to relate to them properly and not treat them as normal conversation.
Zionism is a modern political movement based on a 4,000-year-old ideology that maintains there is an intrinsic connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. The modern political Zionist movement started in the middle of the 1800s and advocated for the rights of the Jewish people to self-determination in their historic homeland, the Land of Israel. Its founder is generally recognized as Theodor Herzl, but hundreds of Zionists came before him. The Zionist movement experienced success in its mission with the establishment of the modern-day State of Israel in 1948. Since its founding, the nation has remained loyal to its purpose of ensuring the Jewish people determine their destiny on their land.
Zionism was the modern age’s greatest liberation movement. For 2,000 years, almost every country the Jews settled in eventually turned on them, persecuted them and expelled them. The Jew was known as a wanderer—always a stranger in a strange land. The Jewish nightmare reached its lowest point when Nazi Germany, aided by antisemites throughout Eastern and Western Europe, murdered 6 million men, women and children. This evil was so singularly unique that it was given its own name: the Holocaust. Many opposed to Zionism or who had yet to understand its merits understood the need for Jewish self-determination and a Jewish state after witnessing the evils perpetrated against the Jews when they didn’t have their own nation to defend them and provide refuge to their persecuted. Zionism stands as an outline for every liberation movement that came after it.
On the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah on Oct. 7, the Jewish people, Israelis and the international community were given a harsh reminder of the violent plots antisemites plan for the Jews. Palestinians by the thousands stormed across the Gaza-Israel border and committed acts equally as heinous as the Nazis perpetrated against the Jews of Europe and North Africa. The barbarians who killed, kidnapped, raped, burned, beheaded and tortured innocent Jews that day targeted civilians. The atrocities weren’t acts of resistance but evil savagery. The acts that day were premeditated and committed out of antisemitism.
In the year since, antisemites around the world have felt emboldened to express their Jew-hatred in ways not seen since Nazi rallies. These rallies aren’t about a free Palestine, justice or human rights. In the past few decades, Palestinians were massacred by the tens of thousands in Syria, uprooted from their homes in Egypt and discriminated against in Lebanon. Not one rally was held anywhere in the world for these genuine atrocities committed against Palestinians in Arab countries. It was antisemitism that awakened the masses to scream vile hate-filled slogans like “Kill the Jews” in cities spanning from San Francisco to London to Sydney. The people at these rallies looked at a conflict that pitted the freedom movement of Zionism against the hate of antisemitism and chose to rally for evil. For shame.
The conflict that has sprung up since the Simchat Torah massacre pits the Jewish state against terrorists who wish for the demise of the one nation that protects the Jewish people. It doesn’t aim to win freedom or rights for the Palestinian people but to reverse global progress that achieved liberation for the Jewish people. The side of the conflict that waves flags of terrorist organizations intends to put the Jewish people back at risk of the extermination they faced throughout the Crusades, during pogroms and the Holocaust.
This two-sided conflict isn’t a normal conflict that requires nuance to understand it. This conflict pits good vs. evil. Israel’s enemies and their supporters use emotion instead of facts, demonization instead of history and victimhood instead of responsibility to trick society into confusing weakness for virtue and strength for misconduct, leading the public to support evil instead of standing up for a liberal and democratic state.
All great justice movements fought for the liberty and rights of their people. These movements weren’t built around fighting against others. They advocated for their people’s rights and used violence to achieve their goals when they were left with no other choice. Zionism followed the American Revolution, among other movements, to earn its liberty. Israel’s enemies have consistently chosen to leave the negotiating table or never join it in the first place and use violence as their first option.
A year after the Simchat Torah massacre, the world has become a more confused place. People who stand for justice are standing on the wrong side of a conflict between the liberation movement of Zionism and violent antisemites who march with terrorist flags, following people being paid by terrorists to disrupt Western, liberal and free societies. There must be a moral reckoning directed by global leaders who don’t try to kowtow to both sides and appease the most evil actors in today’s world. The world must choose—and declare Zionism and Israel just and its opponents the enemies of liberty, democracy and justice.
The post World News Standing with Zionism Is Standing with Liberty and Justice first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Pounds Gaza City Suburbs, Vows to Press on with Offensive

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, August 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Israeli planes and tanks pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City overnight Saturday to Sunday, destroying buildings and homes, residents said, as Israeli leaders vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.
Witnesses reported the sound of explosions non-stop overnight in the areas of Zeitoun and Shejaia, while tanks shelled houses and roads in the nearby Sabra neighborhood and several buildings were blown up in the northern town of Jabalia.
Fire lit the skies from the direction of the explosions, causing panic, prompting some families to stream out of the city. Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its forces have returned to combat in the Jabalia area in recent days, to dismantle militant tunnels and strengthen control of the area.
It added that the operation there “enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas terrorists from returning to operate in these areas.”
Israel approved a plan this month to seize control of Gaza City, describing it as the last bastion of Hamas. It is not expected to begin for a few weeks, leaving room for mediators Egypt and Qatar to try and resume ceasefire talks.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday vowed to press on with the offensive on the city where famine has been declared, which has raised alarm abroad and objections at home. Katz has said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas agrees to end the war on Israel’s terms and release all hostages.
Hamas said in a statement on Sunday that Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City showed it wasn’t serious about a ceasefire.
It said a ceasefire agreement was “the only way to return the hostages,” holding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for their lives.
The proposal on the table calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages held in Gaza and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Once a temporary ceasefire begins, the proposal is for Hamas and Israel to begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire that would include the return of the remaining hostages.
On Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel would immediately resume negotiations for the release of all 50 hostages – of whom Israel believes around 20 are still living – and an end to the nearly two-year-old war but on terms acceptable to Israel.
‘HUNGRY AND AFRAID’
Around half of the enclave’s two million people currently live in Gaza City. A few thousand have already left, carrying their belongings on vehicles and rickshaws.
“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” said Mohammad, 40, via a chat app. “No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”
Others said they will not leave, no matter what.
“We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home,” said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn’t afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation, even if they did try to leave. “We are hungry, afraid and don’t have money.”
A global hunger monitor said on Friday that Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread. Israel has rejected the assessment and says it ignores steps it has taken since late July to increase aid.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
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Iran Signals Willingness to Scale Back Uranium Enrichment to Ease Tensions

Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iran may be prepared to significantly reduce its uranium enrichment levels in a bid to stave off renewed UN sanctions and limit the risk of further strikes by Israel and the United States, according to a report published Sunday in The Telegraph.
Citing Iranian sources, the paper said Tehran is considering lowering enrichment from 60% to 20%.
The move is reportedly being championed by Ali Larijani, the newly appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who is holding talks with regime leaders.
“Larijani is trying to convince the system to reduce the level of enrichment in order to avoid further war,” a senior Iranian official told the paper.
The proposal, however, faces stiff resistance from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has long opposed concessions on the nuclear program. Still, the report suggests Iran’s leadership may be open to greater flexibility, including the possibility of reviving engagement with Western powers.
Last month, i24NEWS reported exclusively that a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to travel to Iran. The team of technical experts would seek to resume monitoring of nuclear sites, inspections that have been heavily restricted in recent years.
The development comes amid mounting regional tensions and could represent a critical turning point in the long-running nuclear standoff.
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Major Brush Fire Erupts Near Jerusalem, Evacuations Underway

A view of the new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem fast train seen over the HaArazim Valley (“Valley of Cedars”) just outside of Jerusalem, Sept. 25, 2018. Photo: Yossi Zamir/Flash90.
i24 News – A large brush fire broke out Sunday in the Cedars Valley area, near Route 1 and the Motza interchange, prompting an emergency response from Jerusalem district fire services. Several water-bombing planes were dispatched, and authorities have declared a “fire emergency.”
As a precaution, residents of Mevaseret Zion are being evacuated. Access to the town from Route 1 has already been blocked, and officials are weighing a full closure of the major highway.
Fire crews from the Ha’uma station are on site working to contain the flames, while motorists in the area are urged to heed traffic updates and follow instructions from emergency services.
Eight firefighting aircraft are currently operating above the blaze in support of ground teams. The fire comes amid one of the hottest, driest summers on record, with conditions fueling a series of destructive wildfires across the country.
Officials warn the situation remains critical, as the blaze threatens a vital transportation corridor leading into Jerusalem.