Are Zionists Worse than Nazis?!

Taking a stand against the Zionist 'Nazis' (YWN)

I truly feel bad for Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, whom I consider a dear friend and someone with like-minded values. He is truly one of the good guys. A Charedi Rav who actually realizes the injustice of Charedim refusing to participate in the IDF during a time of war. That is something any decent human being should instinctively feel, regardless of how ‘frum’ they are. But as a Charedi who understands the imperative of respecting religious leadership, he is at odds with their views right now. Here is how he put it in his most recent Cross-Currents article:

As the war and the issue of Charedi service in Tzahal both drag on, I’ve grown increasingly frustrated. It is harder each day to maintain silence about the main — and ancillary — issues. I’ve become more and more vocal, while trying so hard to maintain proper kevod talmidei chachamim while doing so. It is not easy.

I’m sure that considering his impassioned views, saying ‘It’s not easy’ is an understatement.

In some ways, I have similar issues. I fully admit that I am nowhere near these leaders in Torah knowledge or in the ability to give advice based on that. But at the same time, I have other leaders whom I respect just as much, who vehemently disagree with these Charedi leaders. Both on this issue and on others.

And I could not disagree with the Charedi leadership more on the issue of drafting Charedim into the IDF.

As I have said many times, their views are often expressed in hyperbolic exaggerations, if not outright falsehoods (which they might actually believe) about what the government is trying to do.  

There might be some truth to what they say in isolated cases, where certain anti-religious politicians or members of the IDF brass are guilty of what they’re accused of. But the reality is that the majority are only interested in ensuring there are enough citizen-soldiers to fight in this existential war. They also want to relieve the burden of those who have already gone far beyond the call of duty by serving extra-long tours of duty.

I have to wonder whether these leaders are as clueless as they seem about this. Based on their rhetoric, they appear to be. But their rhetoric is so outlandish, so egregiously wrong, and so clearly designed to incite anger in their followers, that I have to believe their “cluelessness” is intentional.

Their constant harangue against the government, using hyperbole usually associated with Palestinian protestors or Neturei Karta, has fueled grassroots protests by Charedi youth determined to dodge the draft at all costs. These leaders have even called the draft a ‘war against the Torah’ more often than I can count.

As noted by YWN:

Thousands of Bnei Torah converged Thursday night outside the Beit Lid military prison, protesting the continued imprisonment of yeshiva bochurim who refused to bow to the government’s renewed draft decrees.

The demonstration, called for and attended by HaRav Dov Landau shlit”a, came at the climax of a week of demonstrations against the army’s escalating campaign to drag bochurim away from the daled amos shel halacha and into the barracks. Rav Landau had personally visited two of the imprisoned bochurim last week, telling them, “The entire olam haTorah stands behind you. Be strong, and hold firm.”

Groups from Peleg Yerushalmi, Slonim Chassidim, and other kehillos broke through police barricades before being pushed back by riot units. Some burned and tore up draft orders, while others sang and danced while shouting cries of “Gevalt!” and “We won’t give up even one bochur!”

Banners and shouts from the crowd made clear the protest’s purpose: “No quotas, no sanctions!” and “Free the hostages!” — a reference not to captives in Gaza, but to the imprisoned bochurim.

I only hope that this ‘war’ against Charedim does not cause any of these young people to lose life or limb, suffer PTSD, or lose their family’s source of income. I hope their families don’t spend sleepless nights wondering if they will ever see them alive again.

After all, we are talking — according to some rabbinic leaders — about a Zionist army that is akin to Nazi Germany. As noted by RabbiNatan Slifkin:

Rabbi Yigal Rosen declares that the Zionists are worse than the Nazis, and claims that they would readily massacre Charedim in gas chambers!

Does that mean that religious Zionists are like religious Nazis?

Hmmm. Maybe the Charedim have a point.

What say you, Rabbi Adlerstein?

The Left's Increasing Antisemitism

I’m sorry, but I think it has now been made abundantly clear that antisemitism’s new home is on the left. I say this knowing full well that most Jews tend to be politically liberal — which is on the left side of the political divide. The only Jews that tend to lean conservative are Orthodox Jews.

The irony is that it was the left that had always championed our cause. They were in the forefront of fighting antisemitism. They were the ones clamoring the loudest about defeating Hitler before US entry into the war. Conservatives tended to want to leave Hitler alone, saying that he knew what he was doing and that his antisemitism was just rhetoric — that he would never actually implement anything drastic.

As I have said many times, that is the way of the left. They see an injustice being done and they react to it immediately. Jews were being rounded up and systematically killed in Nazi occupied Europe. There were massive rallies in the US by the left (which included the Communist party) advocating entry into the war and defeating Hitler. 

It is that same attitude - appropriate in World War II - that has caused the left to support what they are certain is the injustice caused by Israel to Palestinians. Not just during the war in Gaza, but ever since Israel stopped being seen as the victim and were transformed into the victimizer after their amazing military victory in 67. Now, it is the Palestinians that are seen as suffering the injustice of their Zionist ‘occupiers’ whose military strength vastly outmatches anything the Palestinian people can muster in resistance.

The left will always take the side of the underdog regardless of the issues that bring about perceived injustice. They will always vilify a mighty army governing weaker, occupied people who are suffering hardships - no matter the reason. They do not see terrorist attacks as evil; they see them as legitimate forms of resistance. Measures taken by an occupying force are, by definition, seen as evil attempts to put down ‘legitimate’ protests, leaving those wishing to resist no alternative but to do so with violence. Even terrorism – for lack of any other means to achieve their ‘justifiable’ ends.

While it’s true that not all liberal Jews see things this way, the further to the left one goes, the more likely they are to see it that way. Once that line is crossed, Palestinians are viewed as refugees whose fighters are martyring themselves for the sake of freeing their brethren from the ‘slavery’ of Israel’s draconian occupation, and getting ‘their’ land back.

Any Jewish claim to the land -  whether religious or historic -  is dismissed as an ancient fantasy and rejected by the tenets of Islam adhered to by the devout Muslims that make up the vast majority of Palestinians. Espeically in Gaza. The left doesn’t care about that. They see injustice and want to ‘solve’ it by defeating the fascist occupiers of ‘Palestine’.

It is rather well-established that most of Western Europe and Canada reside on the left side of the political divide, at least as far as their leadership is concerned. The same is true of the Democratic party. Once the champions of the Jewish people and Israel, they are increasingly joining calls to condemn Israel. The latest example just happened in Minneapolis, whose current mayor, Jacob Frey — a Jew — is seeking a fourth term. The state’s Democratic party has not endorsed him. Instead, they endorsed Omar Fateh. As noted in Jewish Insider:

Two political activists closely affiliated with Omar Fateh, a far-left Minnesota state senator now running for mayor of Minneapolis, have expressed a range of extreme views on the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, endorsing the violence as a justified act of resistance and accusing Israel of initiating the war in Gaza… Fateh, a 35-year-old democratic socialist, has been a staunch critic of Israel, calling its conduct in Gaza a genocide and pushing for a ceasefire 10 days after Hamas’ attack.

This follows New York Democrats choosing someone just as abhorrent to be their next mayor.

As is well known by now, France, the UK, and Canada have decided that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to give the Palestinians their own state. All three intend to officially recognize the ‘State of Palestine’ at the UN annual meeting in October. They, of course, ‘know’ far better what’s good for Israel than Israelis and their political leaders (on both the right and the left) do. (And I’ve got a bridge to sell you.)

What they fail to understand is that a Palestinian state is a prescription for more massacres like that of October 7^th. But those three countries aren’t worried about a little detail like that because they are placing ‘conditions’ on that recognition. Such as recognizing Israel’s right to exist. The promise by Palestinians to do that will ‘surely prevent’ any further terrorist attack against Israel! (And I have another bridge to sell you.) These leaders are so blinded to reality that they can’t recognize the absurdity of their views. Blinded by the milk of antisemitism they suckled from their mothers’ breast (to paraphrase the late prime minster of Israel Ytzhak Shamir).

Then there is the left-wing entertainment community. One would think that Toronto would be fair and open-minded about the atrocities of October 7^th. But one would be wrong. As noted in a JTA article:

The head of the Toronto International Film Festival says he is still open to screening an Israeli documentary about Oct. 7 that had been yanked over concerns about disruption and, allegedly, about whether the filmmakers had the right to use footage created by Hamas terrorists as they attacked Israel. Cameron Bailey denied that the film had been rejected over censorship and apologized “for any pain this situation has caused.”

That non-apology just about made me throw up. What disgusts me most is that Bailey, in his infinite stupidity, doesn’t even realize how offensive pulling this film from the festival was. A stupidity surely based on his leftist view of Israel as the aggressor.

I do not accept that any of this is really NOT about Israel, that it is really all about Netanyahu. And that it isn’t only the left.

I concede that there are plenty of antisemites on the right. some of them MAGA supporters like Marjorie Taylor Greene. But their numbers are minuscule compared to the antisemites of the left - whose antisemitism is ‘hidden’ by the fig leaf of anti-Zionism.

Netanyahu is an easy target. He has a lot of flaws and gets a lot of blame from his own people (most of it from the left) and from political colleagues he’s double-crossed on the right, left, and center. He is hated by Charedim because he couldn’t pull the trigger on promises to exempt them from the IDF, and by right wing extremists like Ben Gvir and Smotrich because he did not agree to their war goals of resettling Gaza.

But I do not blame Netanyahu for the anti-Israel sentiment of the left. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that Israel would have gone to war in Gaza after October 7^th regardless of who the prime minister was. And that there would have been the same massive civilian casualties at the outset of the war that generated all the pro-Palestinian protests. Bringing the same wrath upon Israel. One can argue about the longevity of the conflict, or the fate of Netanyahu’s strategies and tactics on the hostages. But to say that another prime minister would not have caused anti-Israel protests by the left is to misunderstand the nature of leftist politics.

I was once a liberal. But I have done Teshuva.

Feminism Versus Tradition

Orthodox Women in Medicine (TOI)

When it comes to the Charedi world (especially in this country), one of the most important developments of the 20th century is the advent of feminism.

This may sound counterintuitive, but the truth is that the lifestyle of full-time Torah study by Charedi men could not have been sustained without it. The feminist push for equal rights for women enabled women to pursue lucrative careers - earning enough to relieve their husbands of the responsibility to support the family. In most cases, Charedi women have become the breadwinners. Feminism opened the door to careers that were formerly closed to women.

This, of course, has turned traditional Jewish values on their head. In Judaism, the roles for men and women are traditionally very structured: men are supposed to support their families, while women are meant to take care of the home, raise the children, and nurture them. In my view, the children are often getting short shrift in this arrangement. There is simply not enough time for a mother to devote to her children if she is, for example, a cardiothoracic surgeon whose life-saving services are in constant demand and cannot be delayed.

The point is that a win for feminism (the byproduct of which is a win for the Kollel lifestyle) is not necessarily a win for the family. This is not to say it is impossible to ‘chew gum and walk’. But rather that sometimes great success comes with collateral damage. In this case the casualty of feminism’s victories is that many women who choose demanding careers delay having children, sometimes well into their 40s. While women in their forties can still have children, the chances for a healthy child decrease with age. The solution for many is to freeze their eggs while still in their 20s, when fertility is highest and the likelihood of healthy births is greater. Those eggs are then fertilized and implanted much later in life. The problem is, this doesn’t always work for various reasons. In more than a few cases those women are not even married and use donor sperm.  And if the pregnancy takes (which is not always the case - they become single mothers. Depriving their child of the full family experience that includes having a father.

Ironically, what was once predicted in the 1960s to be an unmanageable ‘population explosion’ many decades hence - has gone in the opposite direction. The U.S. population is shrinking. We are not replacing ourselves at the current rate of 1.6 children per family.

As an aside this negatively affects the financial stability of a large and aging population (baby boomers like me), whose social security benefits are funded by a shrinking workforce. In other words - the math doesn’t work.

What feminism has done, in my view, is erode the traditional roles of men and women and contribute to a decline in U.S. birth rates. Many women no longer place high enough value on their primary roles as mothers and homemakers to make them the central priority of their lives. Careers take precedence over family, even if that means delaying motherhood and freezing their eggs to become mothers later - once their careers are in high gear.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I think it’s wonderful that women now have the opportunity to excel in careers that were once the exclusive domain of men. There is no reason a woman cannot become the top neurosurgeon in the world. Intellect, talent, and determination are not gender-specific. And I could not feel a greater sense of pride in my people when something like that happens. 

But still, something very valuable has been lost in the process. I have to wonder whether subordinating motherhood to career goals is worth the price.

I’m sure some will see my thoughts as sexist. I can’t control how people react. But I remain a strong believer in equal pay for equal work and in equal opportunity for men and women in any career they choose. That said, it cannot be denied - at least in my mind - that something major has been lost. The freedom to choose a lifestyle that precludes the primary role Judaism assigns to women of being an Akeres Habayis (the anchor of the home) and a 24/7 nurturing mother - may not be something to celebrate quite so uncritically.

Interestingly, out of concern for the declining birth rate, there is now a natalist movement in the U.S. that advocates for higher birth rates, prioritizes family formation, and de-emphasizes women’s careers. I don’t know how large this movement is, but if the U.S. wants to reverse the population decline, this would be a good place to start.

That, however, is not a problem the Charedi world faces. They are far ahead of the game in this regard. The only question is: what is a high-paying, time-consuming, family-supporting career doing to their children?

It would be interesting to get input from Kollel wives who have these kinds of careers. Anyone like that reading this -  I would love to hear from you.

When Good People Start Condemning Israel

U2 frontman and noted humanitarian, Bono (JTA)

I admit to being depressed. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that Israel would no longer be seen as a light unto the nations - especially given how it succeeded at such monumental levels economically, ethically, and militarily over the course of its 77 year history.

The apex of those feelings came in the immediate aftermath of the Six-Day War, when Israel reclaimed all of Eretz Yisroel and began settling it. The feeling then was that it was great to be a Jew. Israelis were truly admired for the miracle of winning a war against enemy nations far greater in number and military might (supposedly). U.S. military experts could not say enough about the genius of Israel’s strategies and tactics.

Since then, Israel’s economy has boomed — becoming a powerhouse of economic development, especially in the field of technology. There were also innovations in agriculture (even before the Six-Day War), as well as scientific research and medicine, recognized worldwide by experts in those fields. Excellence in the arts was also recognized, with many international awards granted to achievers in those areas. Israel was seen worldwide as the only democracy in the region. All this was achieved under the most adverse of conditions, challenged constantly by wars and relentless terrorism.

Today, Israel is no longer seen as a light in the darkness. It is seen as darkness itself. A nation that, over the last two years, has been accused of committing genocide: killing innocent civilians with bullets, bombs, or starvation; destroying the majority of homes in Gaza, making it uninhabitable; and in general making life miserable for every Palestinian living there. And the person blamed for all of this misery is its elected leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Whose resolve to destroy every last member of Hamas has, according to his critics, brought all this tragedy upon innocent Palestinians. His recent announcement to take control of all of Gaza will, they say, surely cause even more death and destruction. While hostages have languished for nearly two years under the most inhumane conditions imaginable at the hands of their Hamas captors.

Many believe Netanyahu has cost his country far too much blood and treasure -  and his new initiative will only add to that toll. Condemnations are being made against Israel all over the world, and recognition of the non-existent State of Palestine is catching on among the nations like wildfire.

Individual condemnation is increasing as well. From celebrities and other prominent figures, many of them Jews, and many of them Israelis who have been increasingly protesting the war. Hostage families are worried that the captives are being endangered by Netanyahu’s stubborn insistence on carrying on a war that they feel has no good purpose. In short, Netanyahu’s conduct of the war has - in the eyes of his critics -  has ruined Israel’s reputation, perhaps even irretrievably.

So yes, it was depressing to read of yet another prominent person condemning Israel today. Especially someone recognized for his humanitarianism. U2 frontman, Bono, was quoted today condemning Israel - using two prominent Jews as his moral guides in making that condemnation (Mandy Patinkin and Rabbi Sharon Brous). As noted by JTA:

U2 frontman Bono stood out in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel for dedicating a song to the hundreds of “beautiful kids” murdered at the Nova music festival.

I’m not much of a U2 fan. But Bono cannot be classified as any kind of antisemite. And when celebrities like this start condemning Israel, that’s pretty depressing.

But as depressing as this ‘change of heart’ by what seems like the entire world may be -from seeing Israel as a light unto the nations to seeing it as darkness  - I cannot lose sight of the fact that almost all of this criticism is based on Hamas propaganda – aided and abetted by the UN and other ani Israel ‘humanitarian’ organizations in Gaza, re the only news sources being used by the mainstream media (by their own admission), When the only people talking about the Jews are Nazi like terrorists and their enablers, what can one expect other than completely negative reporting?

This is not to say that all the images are fake - although many of them are. There is no doubt in my mind that Palestinians are suffering. The only questions are: why, whose fault is it, and to what extent?

The answers can be found among those of us willing to dig for the facts. Facts that seem to elude the mainstream media, which simply regurgitates what it is being fed by Israel’s enemies. And then pretending to be providing hard evidence when in reality the ‘facts’ are often made up or grossly exaggerated.

I hate to keep repeating this, but there are individuals - civilized people - who have gone to the trouble of finding out the truth and have reported it to both the mainstream liberal. media and conservative media. But the mainstream media generally doesn’t believe them, preferring to rely on sources in Gaza that are dripping with anti-Israel bias. Bias that existed long before October 7^th, and that has since used the war as an excuse to capitalize on that bias as if it were irrefutable fact.

The truth? The ‘truth’ is their truth which is what mainstream media shows you every night on TV and blame only on Israel.

That is why the world now sees Israel as spreading darkness rather than light. They see bombs being dropped by Israel killing civilians. They believe the lie that the IDF is preventing Palestinians from being fed. They accuse Israel of killing anyone who tries to get food from U.S.-backed GHF. They believe the lie that the IDF kills Palestinians that are simply trying to get food from them for their families. They believe the lie that GHF aid isn’t enough - repeating the demand by Hamas that GHF operations cease, despite having already delivered hundreds of thousands of food packages to hungry Palestinians. They ignore the fact that Hamas has controlled the food supply from day one, and blames Israel for using starvation as a weapon — a lie perpetuated by the media to this day!

Fortunately, there are still good people who know the truth: the president, his foreign policy team (thank you Ambassador Huckabee - see below), most Evangelical Christians, most conservative Republicans and a few Democrats in Congress, and the conservative media. For this, I am grateful.

But the fact is so many good people who were once supportive have been duped by media coverage into becoming extremely critical of Israel.

I therefore remain depressed. Good people are assuming the worst, when – in my opinion - all Israel is trying to do is protect its people from future attacks like the one on October 7^th. And there is not a damn thing I can do about it.

Rabbis Yechiel Eckstein, Dov Landau, and Smartphones

Mike Huckabee and Rav Dov Landau

Is honoring an Evangelical Christian ministers for his friendship to the Jewish people an appropriate thing for an Orthodox rabbi to do? Recent events show that it depends on which rabbis are doing it.

The late founder of The Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, was one of the earliest Orthodox rabbis to do that. When he was discovered engaging in such outreach, he was immediately ostracized by much of the Charedi world. He was asked not to return to the daily Daf Yomi shiur at the Chicago Community Kollel (Lakewood), which he had been attending regularly for quite some time. He tried to find other Daf Yomi shiurim and was rebuffed there too. Until he found ours, which at the time was led by Rabbi Yosef Bechoffer. It was with us that he finished Shas for the first time.

But Daf Yomi shiurim were not the only places from which he was ostracized. He was seen as a pariah by many Charedi Avreichim, and if he showed up at one of their minyanim, quite a few of them walked out. The opinion of most Charedi rabbinic leaders at the time was that he was violating the spirit of Jewish law if not the law itself by honoring Evangelical preachers. And that he was facilitating missionary activity to the Jewish people. He wasn’t.

Instead, he built an organization that raised millions of Christian dollars for Jewish causes, money willingly donated by Evangelicals—no strings attached. Out of their sincere Bible-based belief that helping the Jewish people was a religious requirement for their own benefit.

Charedi religious leaders considered that money ‘tainted’ and told their institutions not to accept any donations from the IFCJ. (Interestingly, the head of one yeshiva - desperate for funds in order to stay open - approached Rabbi Eckstein, who agreed to give him the needed funds if he would publicly acknowledge where they came from. He refused and did not get the money.)

Fast forward to today. A couple of weeks ago, an Evangelical preacher met with one of the Charedi world’s Gedolei HaDor, who proceeded to call him one of the ‘righteous gentiles of the nations’ -  U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. So, like I said, it depends on who’s doing the honoring.

I often talk about the commonality of values between religious Christians and Orthodox Jews. (I think it is fair to say that, with respect to Protestant America, there are no more truly religious Christians than Evangelicals. They are the ones totally focused on biblical teachings, and that is what governs their values and lives.)

Which is why I often say that Orthodox Jews who do the same (focus on biblical teachings that govern our values and lives) and Evangelical Christians have shared values. When I say that, I almost immediately get pushback from some of my co-religionists, who argue that Judaism and Christianity are two separate religions and should not be lumped together in any way.

But that is pure nonsense. There is a huge difference between theology and values. At the theological level they are correct. The two faith traditions are incompatible with each other. But the values that are learned from a common Bible are the same. I would argue very strongly that in the arena of values, religious Christians and Orthodox Jews have more in common than Orthodox Jews do with heterodox and secular Jews.

A recent article in a Christian publication made this point very clear. Consider the following comment made by the author, Rick Platerer:

The Christian message… is that the meaning of life is love, and therefore duty first to God, and then to neighbor. It is first of all the duty of Christians to fulfill those duties…

The message of Judaism is the same. Duty first to God. Religious people understand that religion is about obligations, not rights. Rights - whether your own or your neighbor’s - come second.

This article demonstrates more similarities. In particular the concern about the damage smartphones are causing to young people and the fact that the culture in which we live is no longer supportive of religious values, and in some cases hostile to them. (Where have I heard THAT before?!)

Platerer discusses the views of Clare Morell, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and director of its Technology and Human Flourishing Project. She believes that smartphones are so damaging that they need to be removed entirely from use among children and teenagers.

The many ways in which smartphones can damage a child’s mind and life are discussed in that article and can be read there. Suffice it to say that her views are identical to those of across the board rabbinic leadership. One Chasidic group just issued a ban against smartphone use for children,  because of the serious damage that includes messaging on social media platforms that is in direct opposition to religious values. The influence and addictive power of social media on the young mind cannot be overstated. Nor can the damage done by it.

If I’m honest, I have to admit that I don’t entirely get it. I do not particularly care about social media platforms and use some of them (like WhatsApp) strictly for communications with friends and family. I rarely respond to a message right away unless it’s of vital importance. In other words, I just don’t get the addiction. I use a smartphone the way it was intended to be used. As a tool for an improved quality of life (such as Waze or my banking app).

But I guess the mind of a teenager works differently, and addiction to social media is both rampant and destructive among the young. I have to take the word of the experts on this one. So, in theory, I suppose the optimal solution is to remove smartphones entirely from anyone under 18.

But the genie is out of the bottle. It is a practical impossibility to do that. We cannot move the clock back. Bans only tend to make matters worse. Forbidden fruit and all that.

How to solve this increasingly damaging problem is a subject way beyond my pay grade. But it helps to know that Orthodox rabbinic leaders are not the only ones who feel this way. It’s good to know that the entire world of religious people in both Christianity and Judaism, are on the same page.

Maybe we ought to work together to fix this thing.

When Bias Outweighs Truth...

Reps. Gottheimer, Crawford, and Jackson meet with families of hostages... 

Representative Josh Gottheimer recently co-led a bipartisan House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence delegation trip to Israel that concluded on August 6, 2025.

It was a fact-finding visit, the details of which can be found on his website. It is important to note his concluding comment, which in part said the following:

“Since October 7, I have been clear: we must bring home every hostage, surge humanitarian aid to innocent civilians, and end Hamas’ reign of terror in Gaza. My trip to Israel was vital to understanding exactly what needs to be done to accomplish these goals and to protect America and our allies from terror.

Given the situation, it was extremely important to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials, Ambassador Huckabee, and family members of hostages still in Gaza. It was also critical to visit an aid staging location at the Kerem Shalom border crossing and a GHF coordination site, which gave me a better understanding of efforts to surge aid into Gaza. We must ensure aid is able to swiftly reach Gazans in need, not Hamas terrorists, who continue to steal food from innocent Palestinians. With so much misinformation, there is no better way to understand the situation than to see it firsthand.

How unusual. Unlike most of his fellow Democrats, Gottheimer is a Democrat who cares enough about the facts to go see them for himself. And like those of us who are not fooled by the increasingly misleading media reports blaming Israel for starving Palestinians, he saw firsthand that this was not the case. The mainstream media draw their own erroneous conclusions based on lies fed to them by Hamas and their willing collaborators in the UN and ‘humanitarian’ organizations with a long history of anti-Israel bias.

Meanwhile Europeans, with an even longer history of anti-Jewish bias, have quickly bought into those lies and were just as quick to act on them. Two of the biggest, France and the UK will be recognizing a Palestinian state at the UN this fall. Germany will be ceasing to supply Israel with weapons to fight its war against Hamas.

One of the more egregious false reports currently circulating in the media is the claim that Israel plans to occupy all of Gaza. Strongly implying that this will be a permanent occupation. That is a lie.  Netanyahu unambiguously said that it is a temporary occupation for purposes of securing the safety of his people as well as the safety of Palestinians in Gaza. After which Israel will transfer control to responsible Arab nations.

This temporary occupation is being treated as though it was going to be permanent anyway and has been condemned by all Arab and European nations - and Canada. Thankfully, the president has made the right call here: Netanyahu is doing what he believes is right for his country, and it is not the businessof the US government to tell him how to conduct his war against people whose stated and published goal is to annihilate the Jewish people.

The world’s reaction underscores my view that Europe is antisemitic at the core. And it doesn’t take much to bring it to the surface. The supposed (and very tepid) support Europe gave to Israel after the Holocaust was based entirely on guilt. Sure, they felt bad about the massacre of six million Jews. But not that bad. Now that they have found the fig leaf of Palestinian suffering to blame on Israel, they can safely return to their anti-Jewish bigotry without actually being accused of it.

While the media do not have a centuries-long history of antisemitism, their left-wing bias has pushed them in that direction, nonetheless. Just as it has in Canada and much of the Democratic Party. Instead of relying on facts, they respond to images of hunger, death, and destruction, which they blame on Israel’s tactics in pursuing the most vile of terrorists. If they mention Hamas’s direct responsibility for civilian deaths at all, it is in passing. Ignoring the fact that Hamas embeds itself among sensitive civilian locations (hospitals, schools, etc.) and includes its fighters in the count of ‘innocent civilians’ when they are successfully targeted by the IDF. And the media buy this narrative wholesale.

The media focuses relentlessly on Palestinians in Gaza crying over their plight while blaming Netanyahu for it all. Without a word of contradiction - indicating tacit agreement! Does it not occur to a single Palestinian that it is Hamas that brought this tragedy upon them? Surely it must. They must know that if Hamas hadn’t attacked Israel on October 7^th, none of this would have happened. They must know that if Hamas returned the hostages, admitted defeat, and laid down their arms, their misery would end. I’ll bet it does occur to them. But they will never say so  for two reasons.

One -  because of their fervent belief that Palestine—all of it—belongs to Islam. A Jewish state in what has once been inhabited by Muslims is an affront to their theology, and they would rather suffer than blame Hamas, who after all share their goal of restoring all the Holy Land to Islamic hands.

This is why so many Gazans cheered when Hamas dragged the hostages through their streets on October 7^th. They saw it as a victory toward that goal. While they now know they were badly mistaken, that hasn’t changed their resolve to eradicate the Jewish state.

The second reason is more mundane Any public blame assigned to Hamas by a Palestinian in Gaza can be a death sentence.

Even so, there are huge protests in Israel against Netanyahu for continuing the war. Even from former supporters. Some fear that the hostages will be killed if Israel proceeds to control all of Gaza. Many are simply tired of war and want to see it end. Israel’s citizen-soldiers have been stretched to their limits, serving multiple tours over the past two years. They have given more for their country than should be asked of any human being. The question many Israelis now ask is: how much more can they take, and to what end?

I understand that sentiment, and on one level I agree with it. But at the same time, I am not going to second-guess the most consequential prime minister in Israel’s history.

Netanyahu’s failure to protect his people on October 7^th was his last failure. Since then, under his leadership, he has changed the face of the Middle East. He has defanged Hamas, destroyed Hezbollah… leading to the coup against Syria’s Bashar Assad… thereby ending Assad’s alliance with Iran. He has eliminated many of Iran’s top military leaders and nuclear scientists, and taken out key missile launching sites and uranium enrichment facilities… thereby enabling the U.S. to finish the job. He has shown that any missile attack against Israel by Iran will fail to achieve their goal of wiping Israel off the map. You don’t hear Iran talking about destroying Israel much these days; they are more interested in preserving control at home.

Meanwhile, under Netanyahu’s leadership, Arab nations have become more open to alliances with Israel for both security and economic purposes. That is what the Abraham Accords are all about. The recent declaration by the Arab League urging Hamas to release all the hostages and leave Gaza is a direct result of Netanyahu’s post-October 7^th  achievements. Despite their recent condemnation over Israel occupying Gaza. As noted Netanyahu has made it absolutely clear that he has no intention—zero—of permanently occupying it. His purpose is to rid Gaza of Hamas and then hand over control to responsible Arab nations, who can help Palestinians govern themselves without a terrorist organization over their heads.

Netanyahu is a great leader—not because I say so, but because of what he has accomplished. None of his predecessors (with the possible exception of Ben-Gurion) could have dreamed of such achievements.

To those who wish to see him gone, for whatever reasons, I have one message: be careful for what you wish. Yes, he has flaws. A lot of them. But they are far outweighed by his achievements since October 7^th. I see no one else with the determination or ability to succeed in his goals for the people of Israel as Netanyahu has done. Under the most difficult of conditions.

Consider all the pressure he is under that would break a lesser man. He is being tried for corruption. He has disappointed both Charedi politicians and those to his right. He has alienated many in his own Likud party. Most of the Knesset despises him. He has been indicted for war crimes by the ICC and threatened with arrest by several European countries and Canada. He has been accused of genocide and of starving innocent civilians - and yet, under these circumstances, he has accomplished all of the above and is poised to do more.

That is why I cannot second-guess his decision to occupy all of Gaza - temporarily. I just hope his instincts now are as right as they have been in nearly all of his decisions since October 7^th that have brought us to this point.

What Is Antisemitism Really about?

It’s easy to say that all the current anti-Israel rhetoric is the result of deep-rooted antisemitism. But is that really true?

One might be inclined to say that it is. But I think we need to pause and consider what antisemitism actually is. Here are my thoughts.

While I support the widely recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition - which describes antisemitism as ‘a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews’ and can manifest as rhetoric or physical actions directed at Jews or Jewish institutions (including comparisons of Israeli policies to those of the Nazis) - I do not agree that these perceptions are rooted in our genealogy. We are not hated because of some sort of ‘Jewish gene’!

Leaving out religious hatred (in the past from Christians. And currently from our Arab cousins)  I believe antisemitism in western culture is rooted in hatred for the biblical morality we ‘foisted’ upon the world, starting with the events at Sinai. In other words, it is ultimately a hatred of the God of the Bible. A Bible we gave to the world. A Bible that impedes human liberty in ways many do not understand and certainly do not wish to honor.

Viewed this way, one can better understand the commonality between the antisemitism of Nazi Germany and that of today’s progressive left. Both promote their own moral frameworks and reject the Bible - viewing it not as a source of light, but as the root of the world’s problems.

(Before I continue, I want to make absolutely clear that I do not in any way equate progressives to Nazis. Nazi Germany was pure unadulterated evil. Progressives are not evil. Just misguided. I am only comparing one very important element which is common to both.)

The first thing Nazi occupiers did when they entered Jewish communities in Europe was to burn every Sefer Torah they could find, along with volumes of the Talmud and other sacred Jewish books. They humiliated and tortured rabbis in front of their communities. It wasn’t just Jews they hated - it was Judaism itself.

Nazi ideology held that the only way to rid the world of Judaism was to eliminate the people who had perpetuated Jewish morals and values for over two millennia — and who would continue to do so unless they were eradicated.

What about Christianity and the Catholic Church? The Nazis believed it would be far easier to dismantle a faith that focused on worship only one day a week — in contrast to the Jews, who lived their faith 24/7/365 for thousands of years. Jews couldn’t be changed. Once the ‘source’ of biblical values was gone, they reasoned, their own Nazi utopia could rise above and replace any spiritual benefit the Church offered.

In our day, progressivism is the dominant philosophy rejecting biblical morality. The more progressive the society, the more likely it is to view Judaism - not just Jews - unfavorably. The values of the Bible are anathema to progressives. The more a Jew adheres to the Bible’s values, the more animosity he will receive from the progressive world.

This helps explain why so many Jews today are antagonistic toward the Jewish state. That antagonism stems from their alignment with progressive values. Their idea of a ‘Jewish’ state has nothing to do with Torah values. Instead, they look to cultural icons like Beyoncé, Lizzo, and Dua Lipa as role models — rather than to Sarah, Rivkah, and Rachel.

To such Jews, only a progressive Jewish state can be considered truly Jewish. That’s why they were so supportive of Israel in its early days - when the state’s founding leaders were socialists with progressive ideals. But as Israel has moved away from socialism, progressives have become increasingly critical. Israel no longer reflects their values, making it a much easier target for criticism. Buying into the Palestinian narrative aligns naturally with their disillusionment toward a government they see as abandoning progressive ideals in favor of more traditional ones.

Claims that Israel is deliberately starving innocent Palestinians, that its prime minister is a warmonger, or that Israel is committing genocide are just small steps away from a broader resentment of a country that no longer shares their values.

Many Jewish celebrities are unified in their condemnation of Israel. They are insulated from being labeled antisemitic — after all, they are Jews themselves. But the truth is, they are antisemitic. Nebach! Sadly, they don’t even realize it.

To paraphrase what R’ Chaim Soloveitchik once said about a person indoctrinated from childhood to be an atheist: ‘Nebach an apikores is still an apikores.’ Likewise, Nebach an antisemite is still an antisemite. These Jews have rejected the values of the Torah - which is what ultimately defines us as a people.

The more progressive the Jew, the more likely they are to have an anti-Torah agenda — even as they believe they are pursuing the one part of the Torah they still identify with: social justice.

If one sees antisemitism as opposition to Torah values, this goes a long way toward explaining why so many Jews have been as harshly critical of Israel as some of its worst enemies. With Bernie Sanders leading the charge. Based on this understanding, Sanders is an antisemite - despite being born and still identifying as a Jew.

Jews like this are quick to criticize the Israeli government. Especially now that it has long since rejected progressive ideals in favor of conservative ones. They are also quick to believe and spread unverified or outright false reports from Gaza about IDF ‘atrocities, which the media has been pushing since October 7^th.

Take one recent glaring example: the UN recently reported that 94% of all food delivered into Gaza was either stolen by Hamas or taken by mobs who stormed the food trucks. In other words, Israel is not deliberately starving Palestinians. It’s Hamas, along with local gangs and desperate crowds, that are preventing equitable distribution of food — leaving the elderly and infirm with almost nothing.

And yet, even this morning, I heard a CBS reporter accuse Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war — repeating a lie that’s been echoed again and again in the media. A lie swallowed by world leaders, politicians, and celebrities - spread with fervor and repetition. But missing from their rhetoric is one essential truth about who is responsible for all of it: Hamas.

When confronted with that fact, their response is often something like: “We know Hamas is evil. But Israel is still to blame for the starvation.”

You never hear them mention who started the war. Or Israel’s undeniable right to defend itself.

What you do hear - constantly - is the claim that there must be a Palestinian state. As if that would somehow change the hearts and minds of Palestinians who believe we stole their land and would commit genocide against us if given the chance.

Meanwhile, American public opinion has turned sharply against Israel since the war in Gaza began.

Who can blame them, when they’re being fed a steady diet of anti-Israel propaganda by a progressive media, progressive celebrities, and world leaders that insist on blaming Israel for Hamas’s crimes?

Such Chutzpah! ...and They Don’t Even Realize It!

The Charedi call to war (YWN)

Who says that Charedi leadership is oblivious to the war?! On the contrary  - they are about to be at the forefront of fighting it. The line has been crossed. They cannot countenance the fact that Jews are being attacked by people with nefarious motives, and they have called upon their public to fight this war with everything they have.

That might sound shocking to those who are aware of the Charedi attitude toward the State of Israel in general, and the IDF in particular. But it shouldn’t be. Not because of the IDF’s newly formed Charedi brigades known as Chashmonaim. Which they overwhelmingly oppose  despite the fact that this brigade fully accommodates Charedi needs. It isn’t shocking because they are not talking about the existential war against a mortal enemy being fought by the rest of the Israeli people. They are talking about what they consider a war against the Torah!

The vast majority of eligible young people from every other Jewish demographic in Israel is involved in prosecuting that war, either directly on the battlefield; through vital ancillary services; or because their families that can’t sleep at night worrying whether they will ever see their loved ones alive again! Every demographic - except the Charedi world, whose attitude toward the IDF is that it should be avoided like the plague. So opposed are they to IDF service that they even oppose joining the Chashmonaim brigades - considering it a weakening of their communal dedication to full-time Torah study.

The war they are fighting is much bigger in their eyes than the war in Gaza. It is a war against their young men being drafted. To them, this is the existential threat. This is the war they are fighting. As noted on YWN:

“Roshei Yeshivah, Rabbanim, and public figures in Eretz Yisrael and the Diaspora harshly condemn these escalatory steps as the crossing of a red line in the persecution of the Olam HaTorah. These reckless actions by the State of Israel are liable to severely harm its legitimacy to serve as a representative of the Jewish people.”

That their coreligionists across the full demographic spectrum - from observant to secular -  are risking their lives for the sake of all Jews (including Charedim) is irrelevant in the face of the perceived onslaught that IDF service brings to their Torah world.

And now that a couple of their students who refused to honor their draft notices have been arrested, all hell is about to break loose.

That life and limb have been lost by so many… That countless soldiers are returning from lengthy tours of duty with PTSD… That families have been torn apart after losing loved ones in combat… All of that barely registers as a ‘blip’ on the Charedi radar screen. As long as they can wake up in the morning, daven with a minyan, have breakfast, spend the day in the safety of their study halls, go home, eat supper, and sleep in comfortable beds - only to repeat the cycle the next day - all is well in their world.

But let one of them get arrested for shirking their duty as a citizen of a nation at war, and suddenly it’s a crisis of historic proportions.

It is already well established how deeply resented the Charedi community is by the rest of Israel. Including 65% of all non-Charedi Orthodox Jews, according to a recent poll. I can only imagine the disruption these protests will cause to the lives of people already suffering far more than the protesting Charedim ever have, as a group.

If this community thinks they will get any sympathy for their cause from any other segment of Israeli society, they are making what may be the saddest mistake of their entire 77-year existence as a separate demographic in Israel.

If Israelis were angry before, I would not be surprised if the coming protests increase that anger so dramatically that today's resentment will look like a lovefest by comparison. This includes non Charedi Orthodox Israelis. I am beginning to feel the same way. And see nothing good coming out of these protests. If anything, they are bound to backfire. Big time.

Is Adversity the Key to Greater Observance?

Anti-Israel protest at University of Toronto (Arutz Sheva)

Loyalty.

That is the one thing that desired by the One in whom we put all our trust — or at least the One in whom we should put all our trust.

No… I’m not talking about the president of the United States. I’m talking about God. God wants loyalty from us. His treasured people. The Jewish people.

God wants us to be loyal to His laws and statutes. All of them. That includes not only matters affecting our fellow human beings (Bein Adam L’chaveiro), but also those that pertain strictly to our relationship with God (Bein Adam L’Makom).

The Jewish people as a whole tend to do pretty well with the former. But aside from the observant community, the latter is generally ignored by American Jewry.

The problem with observing only Bein Adam L’chaveiro is that you don’t have to be Jewish to be kind to your fellow man. Most decent people behave that way, regardless of their faith tradition. Which is why Jewish identity doesn’t seem to matter so much to secular or heterodox Jews who define their Judaism in terms of Tikun Olam (Bein Adam L’chaveiro).

It’s why so much of American Jewish youth has abandoned their Jewish identity. And why there’s an intermarriage rate of over 70% among non-Orthodox Jews.

God is not pleased with those statistics. This is not the first time in history where many Jews have abandoned observance. It has happened many times in the past. So periodically, throughout Jewish history, God has acted to reverse that trend.

I like to use a phrase popularized by World War II journalist Ernie Pyle to describe this phenomenon: There are no atheists in foxholes.

When one is under attack by a mortal enemy, all doubts about the existence of God tend to disappear - and people begin to pray for survival.

God’s demand for loyalty is therefore sometimes accompanied by a ‘heavenly nudge’  of adversity among His people.

In the case of North American Jewry, that nudge has come in the form of a substantial increase in antisemitism - both here in the U.S. and in Canada. And it’s had God’s desired effect, as reported by Moshe Levi in Arutz Sheva:

“Faced with a world where they are being turned on from all angles, young people are finding their Judaism again. Campuses across much of the world have erupted with antisemitic frenzies. Many channels of media are thick with hatred for Jews and Israel.

This outside pressure has squeezed a diamond-hard resolve into many students, who are weathering this storm by holding fast to their Jewish identity and community.”

I should add that this has happened in Israel as well. Ever since the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th, there’s been a surge in observance by Jews who were, at most, Masorati - traditional but not particularly observant of Halacha.

This was true even among some of the most secular hostages and their families. Many secular IDF soldiers have begun observing Mitzvos.  As Levi noted:

“In Israel, many chiloni (secular) young men have begun wrapping tefillin daily. Rabbi Yosef Aharonov of Chabad declared, ‘This is an awakening the likes of which we have not seen for years.’

Precisely because of enemies trying to wipe out the nation that keeps the mitzvah of tefillin, more and more youth in Israel are now putting on tefillin. ‘From bitterness,’ he said, ‘we received sweetness.’”

This reinvigorated attachment to tefillin even caused a stir in a school in Ramat Gan, after a student was suspended for distracting others by wearing tefillin during school hours.

Levi goes on to cite additional examples of this phenomenon.

It’s hard to feel bad about a renaissance in observant Judaism. On the contrary. It’s something to celebrate.  And yet, I can’t help but focus on why this is happening.

All of this was brought about by the massacre of 1,200 Jews on October 7^th. And the subsequent, ongoing wave of antisemitism that followed.

Did we really need so many people to die in order for this renaissance to occur? Did we really need so many soldiers to be killed or permanently injured in battle? And so many families left to grieve?

The idea that the perpetuation of Judaism can only come through tragedy is a frightening thought.

While I’m quite happy that so many Jews are returning to their heritage, the idea that it only happens through tragedy does not sit well with me.

Because that doesn’t bode well for our future physical and mental welfare.

I’d hate to think that antisemitism is the only thing keeping us together as a people. But that seems to be the case.

And if that’s true and the only way God will achieve loyalty from His people, we can expect a lot more of it.

Resenting Charedim, Evyatar David, and Occupying Gaza

Evyatar David

To say that the Charedi leadership in Israel is tone-deaf may very well be the understatement of the century. Yeshiva World News reports the following:

A new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute has found that a large majority of Israeli Jews — including many traditional and even some Orthodox respondents — support imposing sanctions on Charedim who do not enlist in the IDF.

According to the survey, 85% of non-Charedi Jews support measures that would penalize draft evasion. This includes a striking 98.5% of secular Israelis, 86% of traditional non-Orthodox Jews, and 65% of Orthodox Jews.

I don’t know how many everyday Charedim are aware of just how much the rest of Israeli society  - including most non-Charedi Orthodox Jews -  resents them. But I can’t imagine they don’t at least suspect it, especially knowing there is a war going on from which they are exempt, while everyone else is not — and in most cases, has had their lives dramatically altered because of it.

Not that this awareness is likely to change anything. They will continue to cling to the notion promoted by their leadership: that their intensive Torah study contributes more to the war effort than any soldier ever could.

What makes this more significant now is the possibility that Israel’s goal in Gaza may be expanded to include the complete occupation of Gaza. All of it - including areas where hostages are still being held. That would entail mobilizing more reserves to carry out combat operations, which sadly means the likelihood of more IDF soldiers being killed.

To once again be asked to put yourself in harm’s way - after already having served numerous and extended tours of duty - is to demand sacrifices that I believe go beyond human endurance. And yet the most obvious pool of potential soldiers who could help relieve this burden - with a few notable exceptions - continues to be unwilling to step up.

I’ve said all this before. But it bears repeating. 

No one wants the war to end more than I do. I don’t want to see one additional soldier die or be injured. 

Enough!

From my admittedly limited perspective, I don’t know what expanding the war will accomplish. It may even endanger the lives of the remaining hostages, whose savage captors would likely not hesitate to ‘finish them off’ in a final act of ‘martyrdom’.

At the same time, I am not prepared to say that the Prime Minister is so evil that he is willing to prolong the war, risk losing the hostages, and let more soldiers die or be maimed -  all for the purpose of staying in power.

There are many Israelis who believe that their prime minister is THAT evil. Many supporters of Israel in the US feel that way too. But I am not one of them.

He would have to be a monster of the highest order for that to be his sole motive. I’ll grant that he wishes to remain in power and might do almost anything to achieve that. But to deliberately abandon the hostages and let more soldiers die solely to remain in office is, in my view, not the case. Like him or not - a lifetime of service to his country says otherwise.

I believe that he is sincere in his stated goal of eliminating Hamas in order to secure his people. His recent declaration to occupy all of Gaza was prompted by one of the most horrific hostage videos to date. As reported by CNN:

“What I’m doing now is digging my own grave,” says Evyatar David, as his fragile figure, weak with hunger, scrapes at the dirt with a shovel in a cramped Gaza tunnel.

“Every day, my body becomes weaker and weaker,” the 24-year-old hostage adds, “and time is running out.”

This is just one of the horrifying scenes since October 7^th. The latest were released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, each showing a surviving Israeli hostage - kidnapped on October 7, 2023 - sharply deteriorating in captivity. Evyatar David looked like he was literally a skeleton covered with a thin layer of skin.

When I saw the images of Evyatar David, I admit I reacted with visceral anger. Especially at how the media chose to handle it. As the Wall Street Journal aptly put it:

“Hamas Starves Jews and Palestinians, and Israel Gets Blamed.”

Yes, the media did express outrage at those images. But they simultaneously maintained their overriding narrative that Palestinian suffering is the bigger problem. Suffering they continue to blame on Israel , without fail. This, despite the fact that their reporting relies heavily on Palestinian journalists in Gaza and their collaborators in the UN and so-called humanitarian agencies.

Just yesterday, for example, I saw an interviews with the head of one of these agencies - one that is apparently highly regarded by the mainstream media - speak about the starvation and ‘genocide’ happening in Gaza, without being challenged or corrected.

Are Palestinians starving? Not if they’re members of Hamas. To the extent that there might be hunger Hamas is entirely responsible.

Are they actually starving? The U.S. president seemed to think so. Until he sent his chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, to find out. Here’s what the Jerusalem Post reported:

Witkoff told the families that he came to personally assess the situation in Gaza and to ensure that humanitarian aid is being provided.

He said that while there is hardship and food shortages, there is no starvation in Gaza.

That puts him at odds with all the ‘humanitarian’ groups claiming otherwise . And with the images Hamas is providing to the media. Images repeated daily by a media that prioritizes narrative over accuracy, and which continues to trust humanitarian organizations with a long and well-documented history of anti-Israel bias.

As for Netanyahu’s plan to occupy all of Gaza… is he mad? Or does this have something to do with the new policy recently articulated by both the U.S. President and his envoy?

Witkoff said the U.S. was planning an all-or-nothing approach to end the Israel-Hamas war and bring the hostages home - calling it President Trump’s top priority.

The only way I can understand all or nothing is this: Either Hamas surrenders, releases all the hostages, and exits Gaza permanently - or Israel will make sure that happens by force.

Netanyahu’s plan may very well be coordinated with the U.S.

And I have a feeling that the 22 Arab nations who are members of the Arab League -  which recently issued a call for Hamas to release the hostages lay down arms, and leave Gaza  - may be in on this plan too.

I have no idea if any of this is true. But I sure hope that whatever Israel does next, it is done in close coordination with the U.S. and that the Arab League is on board with it. And that, one way or another, it leads to freeing the hostages, expelling Hamas from Gaza, and finally ending this war with the victory Netanyahu has been seeking all along.