The Jewish Star 12-29-2023

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Dec. 29, 2023 17 Tevet 5784 • Vayechi • Vol 22, No 41

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Suozzi visits Israel, tells Hamasloving Americans: Get educated

By Ed Weintrob When Tom Suozzi was asked what he’d tell young Americans marching in support of Hamas, he responded: “Get educated.”

Suozzi spoke on Friday to Jewish-media reporters, via Zoom during a visit to Israel.

He’s competing against Nassau Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip to fill George Santos’ 3rd Congressional District seat in a special North Shore election on Feb. 13.

“Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and other enemies of Israel have been miseducating people — especially young people — for a long time,” he said. “This is a painful, difficult process, but Israel’s got to stop Hamas and we should be supporting them unequivocally.”

“Hamas is not some random, loose coalition of desert fighters,” said the Democrat, who served three terms in Congress before giving up his seat to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in last year’s gubernatorial primary.

“They’re a sophisticated, disciplined and focused terror army that is set on the destruc-

In Israel, Tom Suozzi, a candidate for Congress in the 3rd CD, visits Orna and Ronen Neutra, originally from Plainview. Their 22-year-old son Omer was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7.

tion of Israel and the murder of Jews.”

He observed that Israelis were “very grateful to the United States and to the president, specifically, because he’s been so resolute and … I didn’t get any impression that they feel like their hands are going to be tied.”

“You know, when we had to stop al-Qaeda, and when we had stopped Osama bin Laden, and when we had to stop ISIS, we didn’t want to hear people trying to tie our hands,” he continued.

During his visit, Suozzi toured the Kfar Aza kibbutz less than two miles from the Gaza border, where on Oct. 7 around 70 Hamas terrorists murdered more than 50 residents — some burned alive, beheaded or dismembered — and took hostages.

He also met with the family of hostage Omer Neutra, a 22-year-old Plainview native who attended the Solomon Schechter School on Long Island before moving to Israel and joining the IDF when he was 18.

See Get educated! on page 2

‘Delusional’ UN exec mostly sides with Hamas

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS Critics of the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinians — and there are many — say that Francesca Albanese’s historically chronic fault-finding of Israel and repeated comments and actions deemed antisemitic make her unfit for the job.

An Italian lawyer, Albanese serves as what many supporters of Israel say is a microcosm of the UN’s hyperfocus on demonizing Israel at every turn, grounded in a disdain for the Jewish state and for Jews in general.

Albanese sat down for an extended interview with JNS (published on page 6), and several of her comments

Read exclusive interview: p. 6 and positions struck a chord with those who closely watch the United Nations and its treatment of Israel.

Asked whether Hamas was justified in crossing the Israel-Gaza delineated border and killing Israeli soldiers on Oct. 7, Albanese told JNS: “Killing soldiers is not an international crime. I mean, why is this so unbelievable? You seem to be puzzled by this. What is the right to resist for the Palestinians? No one wants to live under oppression.”

David Litman, a senior analyst at

the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a watchdog, told JNS that Hamas did not aim to kill soldiers.

“Its purpose was to brutally murder and kidnap every Jew it could get its hands on. The soldiers were just in the way,” he said. “That’s not ‘resistance.’ That’s an act of genocide.”

Albanese has “a history of whitewashing the murder of Israeli civilians,” according to Litman.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and a frequent critic of Al-

UN’s Francesca Albanese at a press conference in July. UN Human Rights Council

banese, was also taken aback by what she told JNS. “When she says that thousands of terrorists crossing the border and killing soldiers in their beds is the right of resistance, that’s absurd,” Neuer said. “It’s a crime of aggression and absolutely a violation of international law. She has a perverted morality, whereby she thinks that killing Israelis is always justified.”

Albanese said in an interview with an Australian television station that Israel’s recourse for Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks included asking the United Nations to demilitarize See ‘Delusional’ UN exec on page 2

LI aids Israel’s disabled vets From left: IFDV Co-Chair Shalom Maidenbaum; Eitan Ben Eliyah, retired IDF major general and Air Force commander; Nassau legislator Mazi Pilip, a former IDF soldier running for Congress in the 3rd CD; and wounded IDF soldier Amit Giant.

By Ed Weintrob As the number of soldiers injured in the Gaza war mounts, the call to action was an urgent one. And Friends of Israeli Disabled Veterans (FIDV), which supports the Beit Halochem rehabilitation centers, has been answering the call.

Five-hundred people turned out on short notice to a fundraiser at The Space in Westbury to salute the IDF wounded.

“Before the war, we were taking care of 52,000 wounded soldiers from all the wars. With this war, every week it’s increasing, and as of now it’s over 8,000 physically wounded from the war and over 15,000 PTSD,” Beit Halochem USA National Development Director Tzvia Wexler told The Jewish Star on Dec. 12.

The event raised both awareness and money.

President Isaac Herzog address-

ed the gathering from Israel on the hall’s giant screen.

Those serving in the Jewish state’s armed forces “never know the extent of sacrifice that may be demanded of them,” he said. For those injured, “their courage is not confined to the battlefield — because wounded veterans are asked to reach deep for courage every day of their lives.

See Disabled veterans on page 2

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Get educated!…

Continued from page 1 “I just can’t imagine what they’re going through,” Suozzi said, recounting his meeting with Omer’s parents. “You know, with my kids, if I was that helpless I don’t know how to get through the day.”

Despite the atrocities committed by Hamas, he emphasized that the war being fought by Israel “is not about retribution, not about revenge. This is about stopping Hamas.

And my support for the State of Israel is unequivocal.”

Suozzi said that people in his district are “much more concerned, as a general rule, about the cost of living and the economy and the immigration crisis. But there are some people for whom what’s going on in Israel is the number one issue. A part of my being here is to bring attention to the fact that this is important to me.”

With Long Island voters moving rightward — all county officials and members of Congress are now Republican — and with many Democrats on the national stage either openly supporting the Palestinians over Israel or at least wavering in their support of the Jewish state, why should voters concerned about Israel vote to elect a Long Island Democrat?

First, Suozzi denied the extent of the Democratic defection from Israel, then he argued

SO CLASSY &

that with Democrat support for Israel on the wane, it’s better elect a pro-Israel Democrat than one more pro-Israel Republican.

He said anti-Israel Democrats constitute “a small percentage, they just happen to get a lot of press and wreck the brand,” and that “90% or 95% support Israel.”

“Right now, another pro-Israel Republican is not going to do much for you, when you need strong, outspoken, pro-Israel Democrats that will ensure or help to ensure that support of Israel by the United States of America remains bipartisan,” he said.

“We don’t know who’s going to be in power next year, or the year after that, in five years or 10 years from now. One of the keys to the long-term future success of Israel is to continue to maintain strong bipartisan support for the State of Israel.”

Asked whether he’d be in Israel now if he wasn’t running for Congress, Suozzi acknowledged that he would not be.

“My wife wouldn’t want me to do it,” he quipped. “She didn’t want me to do this because she’s concerned with how dangerous it is. But I thought it was important, as a leader, that I send a very clear message that I’m in solidarity with Israel, as I always have been. I’ve been to Israel several times before — and I’m sure I will be again in the future.”

‘Delusional’ UN exec…

Continued from page 1 Hamas or conduct a law enforcement investigation. JNS challenged that suggestion as both nonsensical and impractical and asked the UN official several times what recourse Israel had, in her view, for the Oct. 7 massacre.

“Israel has recourse. Israel occupies the Palestinian territory illegally, continuing to colonize the land, to brutalize the people, to let its armed settlers go around and terrorize everyone,” Albanese told JNS. “So excuse me, what did the Palestinians have to do?”

“I’m not justifying what Hamas has done,” she said. “I’m just asking what they are left with.”

Litman noted that if Israel “occupies” Gaza, the Jewish state would have an obligation under international law to disarm Hamas and restore law and order in the territory.

“Albanese’s fantasy version of international law naturally skips over that bit,” the CAMERA analyst said.

In the JNS interview, Albanese took issue with a question suggesting that Hamas remains in control of Gaza “in part because the United Nations is happy to do Hamas’ work of taking care of its people and creating a UN jobs bank in Gaza while Hamas builds up its military capabilities.”

Albanese claimed there is “no evidence” for the claim, citing her previous work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

“The United Nations does the utmost to ensure peace and stability in the region, despite what the Israeli government says,” she said.

“This attack against the United Nations is abso-

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lutely disingenuous. It’s totally baseless.”

Litman called that a “standard delusional inversion” from Albanese.

“Consider that when a former UNRWA Gaza director made the mistake of admitting Israeli strikes were sophisticated and precise, he was driven out of his job — not because he was wrong, but because he did not tow the Hamas party line,” he said.

“UNRWA is a fundamentally political organization that serves only to perpetuate the conflict,” Litman added.

Neuer cited a UN Watch report documenting UNRWA teachers, principals and other staff inciting jihadi terrorism, glorifying Hitler and calling for the murder of Jews.

Albanese was defiant in the interview with JNS about charges that she hates Jews.

“I will always speak in defense of any Jews, including those who feel very strongly about the State of Israel,” she claimed. “It’s their right.

I don’t judge.”

Litman responded that Albanese is an antisemite “masquerading” as a human rights activist.

The UN official’s “invention and weaponization of imaginary standards in pursuit of her goal of destroying the Jewish state only serves to debase the very concept of human rights and to embolden terrorists and dictators,” he said.

“If Jews have to choose between preserving our right to self-defense, which Albanese would deny to us, and relying on someone who once claimed the ‘Jewish lobby’ has ‘subjugated’ the United States to speak in our defense, I’ll choose the former,” Litman added.

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Continued from page 1 “It is there in the decision to get out of bed for grueling rapid physiotherapy after another sleepless night, or a determination to boldly confront the scars of post-traumatic stress.”

Opening the event, Beit Halochem USA/ FIDV Young Leader Kayla Lahijani said that “my love for Israel along with my allegiance to the soldiers is part of my soul.”

In the spirit of the lights of Chanukah, she referred to Beit Halochem as “a beacon of

hope for Israel’s wounded soldiers.”

“These courageous individuals have played an instrumental role in defending the nation’s sovereignty, exhibiting bravery, resilience and an unbreakable spirit,” she said.

Speakers at the Westbury event included Amit Giant, a wounded solidier who’s benefited from services offered by FIDV/Beit Halochem, and retired IDF major general and Air Force commander Eitan Ben Eliyah.

To learn more or contribute, visit FIDV.org.

3 THE JEWISH STAR December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784

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Race trumps religion as Arabs enslave Blacks The world is silent as Hamas-like atrocities continue in Africa

By Charles Jacobs and Ben Poser The Oct. 7 Hamas massacre that killed at least 1,200 people in Israel is being compared to the mass murders of the Holocaust. But unlike the Nazis, who hid their crimes and perfected impersonal and mechanized slaughter, Hamas jihadists affixed GoPro cameras to their helmets so they could broadcast themselves exulting in their gory murder of Jewish families, some of whom they decapitated and burnt alive.

For those in the Christian world who know about the decades-long mass slaughter and enslavement of Black Christians in Sudan, which they call “the hidden Holocaust,” the scenes from Israel were shockingly familiar.

As part of a self-declared jihad that lasted from 1983 to 2005, northern Sudanese Arabs sought to subjugate and enslave the Black Sudanese of the mostly Christian south. The onslaught cost the lives of perhaps 2.5 million Black Sudanese and the freedom of an estimated 200,000 more. The Arab Muslim government’s jihad utilized kidnapping as its terror weapon of choice, not to mention casual gang rape and mutilation.

One little known but highly detailed report of an Arab Muslim pogrom against Black tribesmen and Christians in Africa during that period shows how eerily similar the anti-Black African jihad raids are to Hamas’ pogrom against Jews.

According to the report, just after dawn on March 28, 1987, Arabs from the Rizeigat tribe set upon their Black neighbors in the town of El-Daein, storming their village with axes, gasoline, guns, knives, spears, sticks and swords.

The night before, the raiders had attacked Black members of the Dinka tribe at the local church.

The next day, government officials and po-

lice organized a train to evacuate the Dinka people north, but like many Israeli safe rooms, the train station and the police barracks became death traps.

In Israel, Hamas burned Jewish homes to force people out of rocket shelters so they could be slaughtered. In Sudan, the terrorists set fire to the train cars and the police station, and then shot, stabbed and beat to death those who tried to escape. As Hamas terrorists did in southern Israel, Rizeigat Arabs grabbed and kidnapped their victims’ children, even toddlers.

The historical persecution of Black Africans based on skin color, ethnic identity or religion continues to this day.

Just two weeks before the Hamas massacre, jihadist gunmen on motorcycles shot their way into the Nigerian Christian communities of Magami and Kabasa and kidnapped 60 people, mostly women and children. The group Boko Haram, an ISIS affiliate, has been waging jihad for decades against largely Christian communities in Nigeria, killing adults and kidnapping children, mostly young girls.

Many Americans were first alerted to terrorist attacks on Nigerian villages in 2014 by Michelle Obama. In response to one of these raids, she briefly led and then abandoned the well-advertised #BringBackOurGirls campaign. In April of that year, 276 mostly Christian Nigerian girls were captured by jihadists who stormed the village of Chibok, where the girls were at school taking exams. The US State Department’s official estimate for the number of captives is “unknown,” though it could be “more than 2,000.”

Since Arabs first invaded Africa in the seventh century, murderous raids targeting innocent civilians have been a common feature of

the spread of Islam on the continent. Today in Mauritania, Black Mauritanians whose ancestors were taken into captivity centuries ago, and whose status as chattel has been passed down through the generations, live in bondage, serving as slaves to their Arab Berber masters. Even though indigenous Africans in Mauritania were converted to Islam after the Arab conquest, race has trumped religion, and the Arab Berber rulers have treated the Black Mauritanians as they would infidels.

Modern-day Mauritania is essentially a racist caste system ruled by the 30% Arab Berber minority, called beydanes (“whites”).

The Arab-controlled government has “banned” slavery five times since independence from France — in 1961, 1980, 1981, 2007 and 2015 — and absurdly denies that it still exists. But according to the Global Slavery Index, approximately 149,000 Black Mauritanians still live as slaves.

These slaves remain in chains. They’re bred and are known to have been horrifically tortured in ways that rival and may even surpass Hamas’s atrocities. Yet these Black Muslim slaves who are passed down like the family furniture from masters to their sons have no serious champions in the West.

Sudan’s western Darfur province is yet another scene of contemporary Arab-on-Black slaughter. Recently, a multiday militia attack left more than 800 people of the non-Arab Masalit tribe dead. In another assault, women and young girls were taken captive in chains, with widespread rapes reported. After an infamous genocide that killed as many as 400,000 nonArabs between 2003 and 2005 alone, government-backed jihadists have resumed raiding, killing and enslaving the Masalit.

Darfur is a mostly Muslim region, but — as in Mauritania — the Arab-dominated government’s keen racial animosity outweighs any kind of religious brotherhood.

Why are these horrors of real-world slavery, with women raped and men kept in chains based on the color of their skin or their religion, not better understood and publicized in the West? Because the reigning progressive ideology taught in almost all American educational institutions divides the world into “oppressors” and “oppressed,” bestowing on the latter protected status. With the Arab and Muslim communities in America having been granted this new form of immunity, casting light on the evil conduct committed by Arab colonial conquerors who enslave and murder Black Africans is simply not allowed.

Meanwhile, on account of their “intersectional” dogma — which makes Jews “white” and Muslims “oppressed” — the Western human rights industry, media and campus left activists are ideologically determined to mostly ignore some of the most hideous crimes on the planet.

This sectarian outlook can even be found in Congress. In 2021, Nigerian Americans protested in front of Somalian-born “Squad” member Ilhan Omar’s office in Minneapolis, asking her to speak out on behalf of Nigerian Christians made captive by her co-religionists. They received no response.

This is a horrific betrayal on the part of the West, including Black American leaders.

During the civil rights movement, Jews and Blacks fought together against oppression and for freedom. Many Jews now feel abandoned by the West. They should learn that they share that betrayal with today’s Black African captives.

Is So. African Jewish community in danger?

By Rolene Marks, JNS Jews have been an integral part of South Africa society since the seventeenth century when some arrived with the early Dutch settlers. However, only with the influx of Jews escaping pogroms in Lithuania and other parts of Europe, or seeking to build their fortunes after the discovery of gold in the country, would the community grow and flourish.

The Jewish community has contributed to South Africa disproportionately to its size. Many notable members of the Jewish community were involved in the struggle against apartheid and, as the country emerged from its dark past into democracy, communal leaders enjoyed good relations with the government; bilateral relations with Israel were strong.

However, since Hamas’ barbarous invasion of southwestern Israel on Oct. 7, SA has strengthened ties with the terrorist organization.

President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated solidarity with the Palestinians and Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor’s phone call to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and subsequent visit to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, sent a negative message to the Jewish community.

Jewish leaders from the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and Zionist Federation (SAZF) recently met with Ramaphosa, who set out his government’s position regarding Israel and Palestine.

He affirmed that South Africa: “1. Stands with the people of Palestine who have endured over seven decades of apartheid-type brutal oc-

cupation.

“2. Condemned the attacks carried out by Hamas on the 7th of October, 2023, on Israeli citizens, including women and children.

“3. Calls for all hostages to be returned.

“4. Condemns the genocide that is being inflicted against the people of Palestine, including women and children, through collective punishment and ongoing bombardment of Gaza.

“5. Calls for the International Criminal Court to investigate all the atrocities and war crimes committed in Israel and Palestine and to hold all those responsible to account.

“6. Calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities to allow for more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.

“7. Calls for the resumption of negotiations between Palestinians and Israel that will lead to a two-state solution along the 1967 internationally recognized borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.”

The SAZF slammed the use of the term “genocide” in reference to Israel’s actions, calling it “blatantly false and willfully misleading.” The Federation refuted the term “apartheid,” which “dilutes the meaning of apartheid that Black South Africans suffered under.

Israel is a multicultural democracy, the only one in the Middle East, and it extends full rights to all its citizens, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity.”

“While we have always known our government’s stance on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, it was deeply troubling seeing their initial response to Oct. 7, the relationship of the ruling

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Sept. 15, 2022.

Freddie Everett, State Department

ANC party with Hamas and the atrociously one-sided and biased understanding of the war. Their soft calls for the release of the hostages in contrast to the vicious aggression against Israel is appalling,” SAZF declared.

“In saying this we do recognize that the government’s security cluster has been incredibly committed to protecting SA Jewry. SA Jewry has mostly been spared the horrific violent antisemitism and attacks on Jewish installations that some of our fellow Diaspora communities have experienced in the past weeks.”

SAJBD National Director Wendy Kahn said that when her group’s leaders met with President Ramaphosa, “We were reassured by his commitment to fight, speak and act against the boycott of Israeli and Jewish businesses in South Africa and to protect the South African Jewish community against antisemitic incidents and attacks.”

“I think the community feels huge disappointment with a president and his cabinet who seem totally immune to the atrocities suffered by Israel at the hands of Hamas,” observed Union of Jewish Women National

President Bev Goldman.

“Our love of and support of Israel has never before impacted on the strong feelings of loyalty we have to this country. We have always been so proud to be South Africans, to contribute to the growth and development of this beautiful country, and to appreciate the freedom of religion and speech which is a cornerstone of this democracy.

“Now, however, our frustration, disappointment and anger — and in many cases our increasing sense of insecurity — coupled with the overt and vitriolic hostility towards Israel, which is proclaimed loudly in all governmental statements concerning the Middle East, and particularly the threat to young South African Jews serving in the IDF, seem regrettably to be loosening the ties many have with their country of birth, and turning them against it. Aliyah and emigration are more and more topics of dinnertime conversation. So sad.”

“Although many in the Jewish community knew on a rational level that the ANC cared little for them, their response to Oct. 7 made it horrifically clear,” said broadcaster and businessman Howard Feldman. “Not only was there no response or attempt to reach out to the Jewish community, but the ANC immediately donned Palestinian scarves, ensuring that the message was driven home.”

South African Jews are proudly Zionist and are extremely proud of their South African heritage. Restoring faith in the government in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas is going to be a challenge.

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‘Why is this so unbelievable? You seem to be puzzled by this. What is the right to resist?’

UN exec says Palestinians have license to kill

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, has long courted controversy among Israel supporters for her one-sided faulting of Israel for its conflict with the Palestinians and comments widely interpreted as antisemitic — including frequent comparisons of Israel to the Nazis.

In a rare extended interview earlier this month, Albanese sat down with JNS. While affirming that Hamas’ attacks on civilians on Oct. 7 did violate international law, she said that killing Israeli security forces did not.

“Why is this so unbelievable?” Albanese said. “You seem to be puzzled by this. What is the right to resist?”

She said that evangelical Christians weaponize antisemitism in order to silence her and other critics of Israel. Jews who see Israel as a state of the Jewish people have an “obligation” to ensure it “behaves according to international law,” she said.

Below is JNS’s interview with Albanese, edited for style and length.

Q: On Oct. 7, specifically, where did the Palestinian “right to resist the occupation” right start and end?

A: There is no question that people like the Palestinians, who are deprived of their right of self-determination, have the right to resist.

The UN General Assembly recognized the right of the Palestinian people in particular to resist, but in line with international law.

We have no doubt whatsoever that what Hamas did on Oct. 7 is not in line with international law, because the moment Hamas targeted civilians, by killing, by taking hostages, by brutalizing and injuring civilians — these are crimes and cannot be justified.

This is not legitimate resistance. Now, I know that many Palestinians would pick an issue with that. However, an illegitimate act of resistance doesn’t delegitimize the resistance itself.

Q: Does that extend to the soldiers that were killed on Oct. 7? Does that extend to the police forces that were killed on Oct. 7?

Does that extend to any cross border activity where — A: The limit is clear. Killing a militant, killing a soldier is a tragedy under international law, but when there is an armed conflict, like in this case, killing a soldier is not illegal. Pretty straightforward.

Q: So according to international law, and in your view, Hamas is justified in crossing the delineated border, going over to Israel’s side and killing soldiers on Israel’s side of the border?

A: Killing soldiers is not an international crime. I mean, why is this so unbelievable? You seem to be puzzled by this. What is the right to resist for the Palestinians? No one wants to live under oppression.

Q: You say that as if Gaza is occupied.

There’s been a blockade, and it magically got named an occupation.

A: You talk of the blockade as if it was a standalone entity, which it’s not. The blockade is part of a legal framework. A blockade can happen within the context of an occupation, because there is control. So already saying that there is a blockade is recognizing that the law of occupation applies.

Q: There have been blockades throughout history. Just a few years ago, there was a blockade on Qatar by Saudi Arabia by other countries. No one said for a second that Qatar was occupied. A blockade does not necessarily imply occupation, correct?

A: Even the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is very conservative, agrees that this is still an occupation.

Why? Because in order to have an occupation, the determining factor was effective control under article 42 of the Hague Regulations.

Mike Wagenheim interviews Francesca Albanese

Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, at a press briefing in the UN in New York on Oct. 27, 2022.

Lev Radin, Shutterstock

When the Hague Regulations were written, effective control was just something that could be exercised through military boots on the ground.

Israel does have effective control over the Gaza Strip, and it’s manifested by the blockade. [JNS note: The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights interprets article 42 as requiring “the unconsented-to presence of foreign forces” to determine an occupation. Israeli forces evacuated Gaza in 2005.]

Not only that, Israel determines the control of natural resources and who enters and exits Gaza. The currency is determined by Israel, and it’s forced to be the shekel, because Israel also administers the tax revenues in the Gaza Strip. [JNS note: A provision of the Oslo Accords mandates that Israel administer tax revenues.]

Do you realize what life is like for the Palestinians under occupation? You asked me a question that made me think that you really don’t see what is life under occupation.

Q: Your public statements might suggest that you’re unaware of what life has been like for Israelis. Israel has made peace with Egypt and Jordan. Israel has normalized relations with many of its Arab neighbors.

Israel has accepted peace plans that were put forth multiple times by the international community. Still, the Palestinians have turned Israel’s hand away every single time.

Yet, you seem at a loss to understand why the Israeli populace has drifted further to the right. Israel has made peace or has peaceful relations with many neighbors. Why not the Palestinians?

A: You’re talking of the Egyptians, who have their own state, you’re talking of Jordanians, who have their own state, while Israel occupies the land that belongs to the Palestinians to have their own state.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1980. Israel has occupied east Jerusalem, together with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, since 1967. … During the so-called peace process, Israel has doubled if not tripled the number of colonies [settlements].

These are the facts on the ground, Michael. I don’t care about the peace agreement with Jordanians and Egypt, because this has nothing to do with the occupied Palestinian territory.

Q: You mentioned Egypt. As you know, Israel controlled the Sinai — a huge swath of land that gave Israel a massive buffer zone vis-a-vis Egypt — after the 1967 war. Israel turned that over to Egypt for peace. Why is it so difficult to fathom that if the Palestinians offered peace to the Israelis, rather than slapping away their hand every time, that Israel would be willing again?

A: What is the peace you’re talking about? I don’t understand.

Q: Land for peace.

A: Look, Israel must withdraw its military presence from the occupied Palestinian territory, as it had to do from the Sinai and as it has to do from the Golan.

Q: It seems you think Israel should have to live with neighbors who threaten it, who are within striking distance at any time — whether it’s from Judea and Samaria, Gaza or the Golan Heights. That Israel should just have to live with that instead of creat-

ing guarantees of its security.

A: Israel has been creating the conditions for its insecurity for this generation and the next generations to come. Frankly, we are still thinking and talking in the pre-Oct. 7 mentality.

I have no idea how Israel will manage to secure itself after what it has done to the people in Gaza, because with 16,000 people killed. …

Tell me how this is going to make Israel more secure.

Q: According to you, Israel has no right to defend itself. This is what you’ve said about Oct. 7.

A: No. No. No. No. No. I didn’t say that. Israel has the right to protect itself, to protect its territory, to protect the citizens. But there are two issues. One is that I don’t think that Israel can claim the right of self-defense in the territory that it occupies, including the West Bank where it has troops on the ground.

It keeps on building colonies after colonies in east Jerusalem, which it continues to annex and Judaize to fulfill this goal of establishing a Jewish majority everywhere, which is, for me, insane. It is eliminatory of the “other.”…

So you’re telling me Israel should have this right [of self-defense], but in fact it’s the Palestinians living without rights between the river and the sea. What are you talking about?

I mean, I understand your fear, understand the Israelis’ fear, but we are talking about the people who are dying. They are being slaughtered day after day. Can we find a solution that allows everyone to live?

Q: It’s obviously more complex than that, or you wouldn’t be in the role that you’re in.

Again, you have said Israel only has a right to defend itself within its own territory. When questioned on what Israel’s proper response should have been to Oct. 7, you laid out two potential scenarios.

A: What I said is that Israel cannot claim the right of self-defense under the UN Charter, which is different from the right to protect itself. It’s a completely different question.

Israel doesn’t have the right to wage a war against the people it maintains under belligerent occupation.

Q: Article 51 of the UN Charter only deals with states versus states, and Hamas is not a state. …

A: There is an advisory opinion, based on established jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, which is the supreme judicial organ of the United Nations.

While recognizing the security threats emanating from the occupied territory, the Court of Justice said that Israel needs to operate within the framework of international law, meaning international humanitarian law, securing order, establishing and maintaining order and public life and not invoking the right to wage a war. This is the difference.

Q: You’re effectively saying that there is no recourse for Oct. 7. According to you, Israel should turn to the United Nations to somehow demilitarize Hamas. The United Nations is completely toothless.

The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon doesn’t even have any power. The United Nations can’t even condemn Hamas in the General Assembly for the atrocities on Oct. 7. Yet you suggest that one recourse is to have the United Nations go demilitarize Hamas.

Respectfully, that’s simply not reasonable. You also suggested in an interview to turn to law enforcement. Law enforcement simply doesn’t apply here. Investigators can track down every piece of information in the world. That won’t make the threat from Hamas go away. You cite international law, but in effect, in practice, in the real world — not in scholarly or legal volumes — Israel has no recourse for Oct. 7.

A: Israel has recourse. Israel occupies the See A license to kill on page 14

7 THE JEWISH STAR December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784

Suozzi was outspoken, in his time in office, about calling out colleagues over anti-Israel comments — at times he was the most outspoken non-Jewish member on the issue. And he otherwise bucked his party when he believed it wasn’t sufficiently pro-Israel. He was also a leader on pushing the administration to take a harder line on Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.

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WINE AND DINE As frost nips at our noses, it’s time for soup!

Kosher Kitchen

JoNI SchocKETT

Jewish Star columnist

I

t is 30 degrees outside and the wind is howling. It’s amazing how fast winter appears.

Sometimes I wonder why I stay in this climate. My nose is always freezing, my lips are always chapped, and I use hand cream by the gallon. I just want to hibernate until the landscape turns green again.

The cold weather changes our food choices.

We’re back to winter foods, those stick-to-yourribs dishes that people make in winter and avoid all spring, summer and fall. Although I have never figured out why anyone would want food to stick to their ribs and not travel through their digestive track, I get the idea of eating heavy foods that take longer to digest and are steaming hot.

If you are a carnivore, you eat stews and more meat in the winter. Cavemen hunted for meat in the winter, eating vegetables and grains in the summer and fall because they were available. Even though we can get all these foods year-round, we still gravitate to meat in the winter and lighter foods in the summer. Even vegetarians and vegans look for more beans and hearty veggies in the winter.

We also gravitate to soups. Their joys are countless. Soups soothe and warm, they comfort, they nourish the soul as well as the body, and they fill us with warmth. They heal as well — chicken soup is prescribed for upper respiratory infections, and vegetable soup is healthful and perfect for anyone with a virus or recovering from surgery. It is filled with healthful nutrients and is easy to digest.

Soup is the perfect diet food. Anyone on a diet knows that a bowl of light, broth-like veggie soup before dinner can decrease the number of calories consumed in the meal.

We can’t change the season. It’s grey and cold and miserable — unless you are one of those people who loves cold weather. But we can make it more tolerable with some delicious, nutritious soup to soothe that first winter cold and help you avoid winter weight gain.

Roasted Garlic, Leek and Potato Soup (Dairy or Pareve) • 2 heads garlic, or about 20 cloves • 1/2 to 2/3 cup canola oil • 2 to 3 large leeks, white and light green

parts only, thinly sliced, slices broken apart • 1-1/2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes • 3 to 4 cups vegetable broth • Salt and pepper, to taste Optional: 1 cup milk or non-dairy substitute Place the garlic cloves and oil in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. The oil should cover the cloves completely. If it does not, add more oil.

Simmer until the cloves are golden and softened, about 20 minutes or more. When done, remove from the heat and let cool.

Place 2 to 3 Tbsp. of the oil in which the garlic was cooked in a soup pot. Add the sliced leeks and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir often to break up the slices.

Strain the garlic cloves over a container. Add the cloves to the soup pot and reserve the oil for another use. (It’s great in salad dressings.) Add the potatoes to the soup pot and mix well. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until potatoes have broken down and are mushy.

Use an immersion blender to emulsify the soup until it is creamy. Add the milk or cream and mix well. Heat until steaming, but not boiling. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with snipped chives or scallions. Serves 4 to 6.

NOTE: You can add personalize this soup to your family’s tastes. Use buttermilk instead of milk for a little tang. You can also add sour cream or yogurt. Add some thyme or oregano, if you like, or add some carrots to the recipe while cooking for a bit of sweetness. You can also season with smoked salt or a bit of chili powder or tobacco sauce.

Turkish Lentil Soup (Pareve or Dairy)

• 1/3 cup olive oil • 2 large onions, diced • 4 garlic cloves, minced • 2 quarts vegetable broth • 1 lb. dried red or mixed lentils (red, brown, etc.)

• 2 to 3 fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and quartered OR • 2 carrots, peeled and diced • 2 potatoes, peeled and diced • 3 ribs celery, diced • 1-1/2 tsp. Kosher salt, to taste • 1/2 tsp. pepper Pour the olive oil into a large soup pot and add the onions and garlic. Sauté until lightly golden, about 7 minutes. In a large pot, bring the water to

a boil. Add all the ingredients and boil for 15 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 to 60 minutes more. Taste and adjust seasonings.

You can use an immersion blended and blend the soup to any consistency you like or leave the lentils and veggies whole. Makes about 4 quarts soup.

Variations: Try adding cooked rice or macaroni. Or, just before serving, you can add some freshly made large toasted croutons and/or sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over the top. You can also drizzle some mild chili oil in a design on the soup before serving, or top with toasted, chopped pistachio nuts.

White Bean and Kale Soup (Pareve or Meat) • 3 to 5 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil • 2 large onions, chopped • 6 to 10 cloves garlic, minced • 3 to 6 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced • 2 to 4 ribs celery, thinly sliced • 2 large yellow gold potatoes, peeled and diced • 2 bay leaves • 2 to 3 quarts vegetable or chicken stock • 2 to 3 cans white navy beans, rinsed and drained

• 1 large bunch kale, washed thoroughly, stemmed and cut into bite-sized pieces • 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes • salt and pepper to taste • 1/4 cup chopped, fresh parsley • Optional: 1 to 2 cans red beans, rinsed, drained • 1 large can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes with liquid Heat the oil in a heavy stockpot. Add onions and garlic and heat until translucent, 5 to 9 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, and potatoes, and cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir frequently. Add the bay leaves and mix well.

Slowly add the stock and beans and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Add the kale and simmer for another 30 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Simmer an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Garnish with minced parsley. Serves a crowd.

If you hate kale, use baby spinach leaves for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.

Variation: For an added calcium boost, add some broccoli florets to the soup during the last 5 to 8 minutes of cooking. You can add any vegetables or beans you like — I have used frozen lima beans and frozen cut green beans instead of the white beans and kale.

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Moroccan Jews on future: ‘Not country we knew’

By Amelie Botbol, JNS “This is not the Morocco we knew,” said Kobi Ifrah, co-founder of Kulna, an organization that aims to preserve and promote Jewish Moroccan heritage.

Since moving from Dimona in Israel to Marrakesh 10 years ago, Ifrah has been mapping Jewish sites across the country while leading trips for Israelis and Americans. He described the North African country as a model of coexistence, with Jews, Christians and Muslims living together largely peacefully.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews have explored Morocco over the past year, said Ifrah, but they stopped coming in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

“A lot of Israelis with Jewish roots considered Morocco to be their second home. Since the war broke out, we see at the protests here the expression of hatred for the Jews, for Israelis — and support for Hamas,” said Ifrah. “We expected basic levels of solidarity and we did not get it.”

“Morocco used to be a place where everyone could feel at home no matter who they are, where they come from and what they believe in,” he added. “It made Morocco unique. If Jews and Israelis are no longer welcome, it won’t be safe for anyone.”

Tens of thousands of Moroccans took the streets post-Oct. 7, with many chanting antisemitic slogans and holding placards reading phrases such as “Down with Zionism ” and “Palestine is Hamas.”

In December 2020, Israel and Morocco agreed to formally normalize ties under the auspices of the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords. Economic, scientific and defense ties have since been significantly bolstered. Jerusalem recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara, prompting King Mohammed VI in July to invite him to visit the country.

Raphael Trojman, 60, was born in Rabat and specializes in kosher products and kosher luxury vacations, having opened hotels in Marrakesh, Casablanca and Fes. On Oct. 7, Trojman was hosting clients at the Mazagan Beach and Golf Resort in El Jadida.

“We knew right away that it was serious, given the scope of the attack. Everyone left and we started receiving cancellation requests for our busiest period, which usually comes right after Sukkot,” Trojman told JNS. “We closed our kosher restaurants we had set up in Moroccan hotels and we stopped all our kosher discovery tours,” he added.

After Oct. 7, 12 of the 14 kosher restaurants in Marrakesh closed, with only a few having reopened in recent days. Weddings and Jewish pilgrimages (hilulot) were also canceled, according to community leaders.

Morocco has become the third most-visited destination in the world for Passover, after Israel and the United States, with some 45 organizers hosting thousands of Jews each year.

While Trojman has in the past had 100 locals on his payroll to meet demand for the holiday,

Israel’s Economy Minister Orna Barbivai with Moroccan Minister of Industry and Trade Ryad Mezzour in Rabat, Morocco, on Feb. 21, 2022.

Twitter

he told JNS that in 2024 he will instead be holding events in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

“It changed overnight. Jews must reassess their attachment to the country and their relationship with Moroccans,” he said. “Until the authorities clarify the position towards Moroccan Jews and Israelis, we will be taking our business elsewhere.”

Last week 3,000 people marched in the

capital Rabat demanding the king sever ties with Israel. The protest was led by members of Morocco’s Justice and Development Party, which like Hamas has its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood.

During the so-called Arab Spring, PDJ leader Abdelilah Benkirane was elected Morocco’s prime minister. The party governed for a decade until 2021, when it was voted out largely due to its disastrous socio-economic program.

“During the Arab Spring, Jews in Morocco were very concerned that the monarchy would be targeted. However, the king handled the situation very well. As such, I trust that the current state of affairs will be no different,” said Eric Benabou, 59, from Agadir.

“I trust that the government will manage to address the Moroccan people’s attachment to the Palestinian cause while keeping in mind the country’s Jewish heritage and the hundreds of thousands of Jews of Moroccan ancestry,” he said.

Marrakesh Jewish community leader Jackie Kadosh, who met with local police following the Oct. 7 massacre, says authorities are taking the Jewish community’s security concerns seriously.

For Kadosh, the attachment of Moroccan Jews to their traditions and their country cannot be harmed by any conflict.

“As we talk, there are about 50 Israelis attending a pilgrimage in Taroudant,” he told JNS. “They did not let anything stand in their way.”

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We stand w

with Israel

A license to kill…

have the United Nations managing the conflict, managing the humanitarian costs without taking political responsibility for it. The moment you have any UN official saying something that is vaguely critical of Israel, and so perceived as political, the criticism starts. But this attack against the United Nations is absolutely disingenuous. It’s totally baseless.

Q: The people in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria would say their governments don’t take care of them and the money is going elsewhere. They would say that their governments are corrupt, and therefore the United Nations fills the void.

A: Is this a real interview? The United Nations doesn’t work on happiness. The United Nations works based on mandates.

Each UN agency has a mandate, and UNRWA in particular has a General Assembly mandate, so it doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It follows certain rules and doesn’t fill in the gap for anyone if the government is corrupt.

Let’s have elections. Can the Palestinians have elections? Free elections? No, they can’t.

It is because of Israel. The peace and security of Israel cannot happen at the expense of all of the others, first and foremost, the Palestinians who are under their military rule.

Q: You have often said that your critics have not really talked about the facts or international law and instead they smear you directly. In a recent interview, you said there has been “a weaponization of antisemitism, which is shocking in recent years. That’s dangerous for the Palestinians. It’s also dangerous for Jewish communities, because it increases their resentment.” You went on to say, “Frankly … we have to let the dogs continue to bark at the airplane a little bit.”

What did you mean by “dogs barking at the airplane?”

A: These continuous accusations of anti-

semitism were very distressing for me, because I come from a country — I feel very strongly about my country’s antisemitic past. And I have so much respect for the Italian — and also beyond — for the Jewish communities for what they have gone through. I always denounced the fact that the Shoah wouldn’t have been possible without the centuries of discrimination.

So being accused of antisemitism, because of my views of the state of Israel — I’m not against the state of Israel. I’m against Israeli policies with the Palestinians. I remember when I was still very upset by these attacks against me, there was an Israeli friend of mine, a lawyer, who reassured me: It looks like it’s dogs barking at an airplane. Eventually you will have to deal with it, in the sense that you are the airplane.

Let them bark.

This is the thing. In every country where I go, I meet with Jewish communities — not all of them; not all Jewish communities are happy to meet with me. But those who meet with me, we are always on the same page in the sense that I stand against any form of racism against anyone.

I will always speak in defense of any Jews, including those who feel very strongly about the State of Israel. It’s their right. I don’t judge.

I totally understand what it means for a Jewish person to see the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. I don’t judge it. I don’t question it. It’s their obligation to make sure that Israel, as a partner of the international community, behaves according to international law.

That’s it. [JNS note: Albanese has compared Israelis to Nazis, among other antisemitic comments.]

Q: Who is weaponizing antisemitism?

A: The state of Israel, first and foremost. And a number of people, who are not even Jews.

Christian evangelicals in the United States, and the right — like what I see in France — are weaponizing antisemitism, or the extreme right, which is antisemitic itself.

It’s no different from my own country. It’s incredible that, in my own country, parties in

I have no idea how Israel will manage to secure itself after what it has done to the people in Gaza. the government that have been historically antisemitic, and have never regretted the antisemitic legacy of their parties, have this stance with the State of Israel, which doesn’t mean standing with Israeli people.

Q: The next time you’re in the United States, I invite you to my home borough in Brooklyn to visit some of the Jewish neighborhoods, where Jews are assaulted on a regular basis. And to some of the college campuses, including Columbia University and the City University of New York, to talk to Jewish students and get their thoughts on weaponization of antisemitism. I think they will have a very different view, and possibly an angry one, toward those accusing them of weaponizing antisemitism.

A: I accept the invitation. Next October, I will make sure that we have these plans on my agenda.

The second thing is that I’m 100% convinced that antisemitism is an issue. And I’m 100% convinced that whatever has happened as of Oct. 7 has made many less secure, more isolated, more fearful.

But this is why we need to have this dialogue, because for me, antisemitism is discriminating against Jews because they are Jews. This has nothing to do with the appraisal of Israel’s performance as a member state of the United Nations. But again, I accept your invitation and consider it done.

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Continued from page 6 Palestinian territory illegally, continuing to colonize the land, to brutalize the people, to let its armed settlers go around and terrorize everyone.

The Palestinians have no recourse to justice, because the Israeli army is not there to protect the Palestinians. It is there to protect the settlers, who are illegal.

In Gaza, Israel has established an illegal blockade. Israel has also prevented a connection with the outside world that would allow for real change, a political change. Hamas has been considered an asset by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and to the Israeli government to maintain the status quo of no war, no peace.

So excuse me, what did the Palestinians have to do? I’m not justifying what Hamas has done. I’m just asking what they are left with.

Q: Hamas has control over Gaza [yet] doesn’t need to take care of its people — because the United Nations is more than happy to go in there, take international money, have their jobs bank in Gaza and provide for the people through international contributions instead of demanding that Hamas take care of its own people.

The United Nations says, “No, don’t worry about that. You build your rockets. You build your military machines. You prepare to attack Israel. We’ll take care of your people for you.”

A: There is no evidence for that. It’s so false.

The United Nations does the utmost to ensure peace and stability in the region, despite what the Israeli government says. I know because I’ve worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and I’ve engaged with the Israeli government.

The Israeli government is very happy to

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December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

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‫כוכב של שבת‬ Jewish Star Torah columnists: •Rabbi Avi Billet of Anshei Chesed, Boynton Beach, FL, mohel and Five Towns native •Rabbi David Etengoff of Magen David Yeshivah, Brooklyn •Rabbi Binny Freedman, rosh yeshiva of Orayta, Jerusalem Contributing writers: •Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks zt”l,

former chief rabbi of United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth •Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, OU executive VP emeritus •Rabbi Raymond Apple, emeritus rabbi, Great Synagogue of Sydney •Rabbi Yossy Goldman, life rabbi emeritus, Sydenham Shul, Johannesburg and president of the South African Rabbinical Association.

Contact our columnists at: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com Five Towns Candlelighting: From the White Shul, Far Rockaway, NY

Fri Dec 29 / 17 Teves

Fri Jan 19 / 9 Shevat

Fri Jan 5 / 24 Teves

Fri Jan 26 / 16 Shevat

Fri Jan 12 / 2 Shevat

Fri Feb 2 / 23 Shevat

Vayechi Candles: 4:17 • Havdalah: 5:27

Shemos • Shabbos Mevarchim Candles: 4:24 • Havdal d 5:34

Vaera Candles: 4:31 • Havdalah: 5:41

Bo Candles: 4:39 • Havdalah: 5:49

Beshalach Candles: 4:47 • Havdalah: 5:57

Yisro •Shabbos Mevarchim Candles: 4:55 • Havdalah: s 6:06

A grandparent blesses with a full heart rabbi Sir JonaThan SaCkS zt”l

E

very Friday night we re-enact one of the most moving scenes in the book of Bereishit. Jacob, reunited with Joseph, is ill.

Joseph comes to visit him, bring bringing with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob, with deep emotion, says: I never expected to see you again, and now G-d has shown me your children as well. Gen. 48:11 He blesses Joseph. Then he places his hands on the heads of the two boys.

He blessed them that day and said, “[In the time to come] Israel will use you as a blessing.

They will say, ‘May G-d make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” Gen. 48:20 So we do to this day, with these very words.

Why this blessing above all others?

One commentator (Yalkut Yehudah) says it is because Ephraim and Manasseh were the first two Jewish children born in exile. So Jewish parents bless their children asking G-d to help them keep their identity intact despite all the temptations and distractions of Diaspora life.

The greatest gift you can give a child or a grandchild is what you empower and allow them to teach you.

I heard however a most lovely explanation, based on the Zohar, from my revered predecessor L-rd Jakobovits of blessed memory. He said that though there are many instances in Torah and Tanach in which parents bless their children, this is the only example of a grandparent blessing grandchildren.

Between parents and children, he said, there are often tensions. Parents worry about their children. Children sometimes rebel against their parents. The relationship is not always smooth. ot so with grandchildren. There the relationship is one of love untroubled by tension or anxiety. When a grandparent blesses a grandchild they do so with a full heart.

That is why this blessing by Jacob to his grandchildren became the model of blessing across the generations. Anyone who has had the privilege of having grandchildren will immediately understand the truth and depth of this explanation.

Grandparents bless their grandchildren and are blessed by them. This phenomenon is the subject of a fascinating difference of opinion between the Babylonian Talmud and the Talmud Yerushalmi. The Babylonian Talmud says the following: Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, “Whoever teaches their grandchildren Torah is regarded as if they had received the Torah from Mount Sinai, as it is said, ‘Teach your children and your children’s children.” Deut. 4:10-11; Kiddushin 30a The Talmud Yerushalmi puts it differently.

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi used to listen, every Friday, to his grandson reciting the weekly parsha. One week he entered the bathhouse, and after he had begun bathing he remembered that he had not yet heard the weekly parsha from his grandson. So he immediately got up to leave the bathhouse.

They asked him why he was leaving in the middle of his bathing, since the Mishnah

N

father always gave me the same answer, and that was the answer that changed my life. He said, “Jonathan, I didn’t have a Jewish education, so I can’t answer your questions. But one day, you will have the education that I didn’t have. And when that happens, you will teach me the answers to those questions.”

The greatest gift you can give a child or a grandchild is what you empower and allow them to teach you.

As parents, we strive to give our children everything. There’s one thing we sometimes forget to give them which is the chance for them to give something to us. And that, frankly, is the most important thing there is. ive your children and your grandchildren the space to give to you. Let them become your teachers and let them be your inspiration. In doing so you will help them become the people that they were destined to be, and you will help create the blessings G-d wants them to become.

With an exquisite sense of symmetry, just as we begin Shabbat with a grandparent’s blessing so we end it, in Maariv, with the words: May you live to see your children’s children — peace be on Israel. Psalm 128:6 What is the connection between grandchildren and peace? Surely this, that those who think about grandchildren care about the future, and those who think about the future make peace. It is those who constantly think of the past, of slights and humiliations and revenge, who make war.

Jacob lives a life fraught with conflict and troubles. He knew of revenge and war, of grudges and strife. But he died serene, and full of blessings. And before he died, he blessed his children and grandchildren.

To bless grandchildren and be blessed by them, to teach them and to be taught by them — these are the highest Jewish privilege and the serene end of Jacob’s troubled life.

G

teaches that once you have begun bathing on a Friday afternoon, you should not interrupt the process. He replied, “Is this such a small thing in your eyes? For whoever hears the parsha from his grandchild is as if he heard it directly from Mount Sinai” (Yerushalmi Shabbat 1:2). ccording to the Talmud Bavli, it is a great privilege is to teach your grandchildren Torah. According to the Talmud Yerushalmi, the greatest privilege is to have your grandchildren teach Torah to you. This is one argument about which no grandparent will have the slightest difficulty saying that both are true.

My late father, of blessed memory, had to leave school at the age of 14 to begin working to support his family, and as a result he never had the full Jewish or secular education that he would have wanted.

I remember from my childhood that — as we walked home from shul on a Shabbat morning — I would be full of questions. “Dad, why do we do this?” “Why did we do that?” My

A

From an old man, find wisdom but not the future Torah Questions

rabbi Dr. raYMonD aPPLE

O

ur parsha, Vayechi, opens by telling us an important story with universal implications.

When Jacob was on his deathbed all his children wanted to know how the future was likely to turn out, and the dying man — as a prophet — was willing to tell them what he knew. At that moment, say the rabbis, the picture of the future was taken away from the patriarch.

It’s an allegory of life. We all yearn for knowl-

edge of the future but G-d tells us it’s better that we shouldn’t know too much.

If we knew that the future would be evil, we would give up trying, because nothing would change the picture.

If we knew that things would turn out to be good, we would probably also give up trying because the picture would be good regardless of our efforts.

place Judah as the leader in due course.

Rashbam thinks it alludes to King Solomon, whose royal sway was broad and enduring (I Kings 5:4). Possibly Shiloh links to a root that means son or issue, and hence the verse means that Judah will rule as long as humanity lasts.

Ramban (Nachmanides) links the word with “kingship,” ie “as long as there exists rulership in Israel.”

Until Shiloh comes

The Scottish Machpelah

Judah will bear rule for a lengthy period (Gen. 49:10), “until Shiloh comes.”

The word Shiloh is difficult. Maybe it is geographical. Rashi says the reference to Shiloh alludes to the belief in the Mashiach, who will re-

A passage in this week’s reading, Chapter 49 of Bereshit, spells out the funeral arrangements at the burial place of the patriarchs, a holy site in or near Hebron named Machpelah. We have already (in B’reshit Chapter 23) read the story of

how the family acquired the site after the death of Sarah.

Colloquially some people tend to use the phrase “Morris and MacPelah” as if it were a Scottish or Irish phrase, but the correct words are “Me’arat Machpelah,” the Machpelah cave.

The name Machpelah means “double” (from the root “k-p-l”), perhaps because the cave had two sections (Ibn Ezra), or perhaps because the patriarchs and their wives (maybe also Adam and Eve) are buried there (Rashi on Gen. 23:2).

Rachel was not interred there since she died on a journey, but Leah was (verse 31).

Esau was not regarded as having any claim to the site (Nachmanides) though according to mystical lore his head rolled into the cave.

Rabbi DR. tzvi heRsh weinReb Orthodox Union

I

was embarrassed by her sharp rebuke. But looking back, I realize the lesson I learned from her brief criticism was more valuable than most of my other training experiences.

It happened about 40 years ago at a workshop designed to teach young mental health professionals the basic skills of the method known as psychodrama. The workshop leader was a world famous psychodramatist, expert in both the complexities of the human psyche and the art of improvisational theater.

In psychodrama, a person’s inner emotional conflicts are acted out in dramatic fashion under the direction of a skilled clinician. It is similar, but much more powerful, than what is known as role-playing.

Early on the second day of the workshop, I volunteered to play the therapist for another member of the group (let’s call him Charles) who played the patient. Charles told of the challenges he was facing with certain key persons in his life. I suggested that he act out one of these

conflicts in a particular fashion. I, of course, was convinced that my suggested strategy was brilliant and insightful — until about two or three minutes into the exercise, the workshop leader thundered: “That’s your psychodrama! That’s not Charles’ psychodrama!”

Those words of rebuke taught me a lesson to remember forever: I am different from you, and you are different from me. We are all different from each other, exquisitely and irrevocably different.

This lesson was well understood by our forefather, Jacob. In this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi, just before Jacob dies, he blesses all of his sons and two of his grandsons. He bestows these blessings upon them separately, fully aware that no one blessing fits them all.

The Torah sums up the entire deathbed drama with these words: “Their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing, he blessed them” (Genesis 49:28).

No two blessings were alike. have often thought that the greatest blessing that they each received was the message: “You are special. You are not the same as your brother. You have different personalities, different strengths, different talents, and therefore you each have a different destiny.”

When I read this week’s Torah portion, I am

I

struck with wonder by the dazzling array of metaphors which Jacob uses: “unstable as water … weapons of violence … a lion’s whelp … a colt bound to a tree … the blood of grapes … the shore of the sea … a large boned donkey … a hind let loose … a bowed shoulder … a judge … a serpent on the road … a troop upon their heel … fat bread.” Diversity, uniqueness, complexity, individuality. That’s the message.

Every parent and teacher must learn this basic lesson. They must treat each child individually and assure that each child comes to know his or her specialness.

Our sages throughout history have imparted this lesson to us.

For example, Maimonides, in his fascinating review of the early life of Abraham, writes that “he reasoned with each and every person according to that person’s intelligence, until he convinced him of the truth” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Avodah Zara, 1:3). Again, when instructing us of our duties at the Passover seder, he tells us that it is a mitzvah to relate the story of the Exodus to each child according to his or her intellectual ability. A very young child must be told stories, one with limited mental capacity must be given concrete examples, older and wiser children can be taught in a more abstract fashion.

“Everything must be done according to the

particular intelligence of the child” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Chametz U’Matza, 7:2). mong my favorite essays on the subject of education was the one by the late Rabbi Elimelech Bar Shaul, once the Rabbi of Rehovot. He wrote, “If we give more to one who is only capable of receiving less, then we have given him nothing. And if we give less to one who can receive more, we have failed our mission, and worse — the student may come to think that there is no more, or that there is no more for him.”

Giving too much to one with a lesser capacity can frustrate him irremediably. Giving too little to one with a greater capacity shortchanges him and cheats him, and worse, may alienate him forever.

Jewish mystics see human differences as but part of the Almighty’s cosmic design.

Thus, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlap, a mystic in the tradition of his master, Rav Kook, writes that “there is no duplication in the universe.”

Just as no two people are perfectly alike, so there are no two things, in all of universe, that are alike. Each person, like the grains of sand on the seashore, has a special quality and a special novelty.

Mystic or realist, appreciating our differences is our vital task as Jews, as human beings, and as residents of the Almighty’s cosmos.

A

For the Jewish people, new world began in 1492 Kosher bookworm

alan Jay GeRbeR

Jewish Star columnist

I

t is not unusual for a book’s title to include a year. 1776 and 1912 are among my favorites.

They resonate deep meaning and so does the year 1492.

“1492,” subtitled “The Year the World Began,” by Notre Dame history professor Dr. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (HarperOne, 2009), details the numerous events that occurred in the year that, according to the author, changed history forever.

Among these events were those well-known instances like Columbus’s discovery of the Americas and the Spanish Inquisition. Other occurrences, not as well known, include events in China, Japan, and Korea, as well as religious changes in Italy and Russia.

Of prime interest to most readers of this newspaper are the events in Spain that led up to the Inquisition. The author gives special treatment to this major event in both Jewish and Spanish history, in a chapter titled “No Sight More Pitiful: The Mediterranean World and the Redistribution of the Sephardim.”

The author considers the spiritual and eco-

nomic events that led to the destruction of the Spanish Jewish community, with speculation on the motivations of the Spanish monarchy and religious establishment. The events are viewed from both financial and social perspectives, both on the Jews and on Spanish society at large.

Fernandez-Armesto goes into great detail about the financial losses that the Spanish monarchy sustained in the forced evacuation of its Jews, and of the open pride they maintained in sustaining these losses in the name of their religious cause.

The author also discusses the religious motivations leading up to both the expulsion of Jews who refused to abandon their faith and the treatment of those who chose to adopt Catholicism while secretly adhering to some form of Jewish observance. The brutal handling of these Jews is given equal treatment. he author cites, citing Columbus’ journals, relates the ambitious goals that Columbus advanced to the Spanish monarchs — and this is something that should be of current interest, given events in the Middle East.

“By the 1490’s, Columbus … began to advocate encounter with and conversion of pagan peoples as part of the purpose of Atlantic exploration. And — if his recollections were right — he suggested to Ferdinand and Isabella that the profits of his proposed voyage could be di-

T

verted to the conquest of Jerusalem which, according to the Franciscans’ prophecies, would be the work of the ‘Last World Emperor’ and one of the events with which G-d would prepare the world for the apocalypse.

“The monarchs, he said, smiled when he said it. Historians have usually supposed that theirs was a smile of skepticism, but really it was a smile of pleasure.”

Even to Columbus, the issue of Jerusalem was a factor in his calculations.

In such a world, there to be no room for Jews. Thus both the inquisition and the expulsion were the only natural courses of action.

That was the real legacy of 1492.

It should be remembered that the majority of Jews over the prior century chose to opt out of the Jewish faith, thus permanently marginalizing the Sephardic religious culture among Jews worldwide.

The author concludes this fateful and sad chapter in our people’s history with the following observation.

“In one respect, for Spain, the effect of their

policy toward Jews was positive,” the author writes. “Spain derived a kind of bonus, in the form of the talents of former Jews who opted for baptism. The number of the converts exceeded those of the expelled. So much talent, so much potential has formerly enriched the Jewish community.

“Now, by effectively compelling conversions, the monarchs garnered that talent, forcing former Jews into the mainstream of Spanish life.

Scholars have a tendency to seek converso origins for almost anyone of importance in Spanish culture in the 16th and 17th centuries; but the scale of the achievements of former Jews and their descendants in letters, learning, science, and the arts was formidable — out of all proportion to their numbers.

“Converted Jews were the alchemical ingredient that made Spain’s golden age.”

Consider this last sentence and learn a hard lesson. We Jews have physically, as well as intellectually, spent ourselves in 1492 in Spain, the enlightenment in France, and Germany centuries later and here in America today, out of all proportion to the population at large. We call that assimilation.

The bottom line is that nothing has changed.

For Jews, 1492 was indeed the year that the world began. Read this book and you will find out why.

Previously published in 2009.

We trust that G-d will act toward us as we act torah

Rabbi DaviD etenGoff

Jewish Star columnist

T

he concluding pasukim of our parasha, Vayechi, present Yosef’s final words to his brothers. They contain both a reminder of Hashem’s promise to ultimately redeem the Jewish people from Egypt, and Yosef’s poignant personal request: Yosef said to his brothers, “I am going to die; G-d will surely remember you and take you up out of this land to the land that He swore to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya’akov.” And Yosef adjured the children of Israel, saying, “G-d will surely remember you, and you shall take up

my bones out of here.”

These verses reveal the depth of Yosef’s abiding faith in Hashem when he twice declares, “G-d will surely remember you.” Within this context, he placed a shavuah upon his brothers and their descendants to transport his bones with them in the course of the promised redemption and bury him in Israel, emulating his father, Ya’akov Avinu, who insisted Yosef take a shavuah stating that he would not bury him in Egypt but rather with his forebears in Israel.

A straightforward reading of our passage indicates that the obligation to transport Yosef’s bones from Egypt and bury him in Israel was incumbent upon the entire Jewish people.

When the Exodus takes place, Sefer Shemot 13:19 tells us that Moshe, as the representative of the entire Jewish people, gathered up

Yosef’s remains and began the long process of reinterring him in Israel. ur passage continues and informs us that Yosef was worthy of the greatest possible respect. As such, it was fitting that Moshe Rabbeinu would be involved in his burial in the Land of Israel: The operating principle is the well-known concept of middah k’neged middah (according to the manner in which a person acts, G-d and man will act toward him). We are fortunate that the Torah provides us with a clear metric for analyzing our actions, namely, v’halachta b’drachov (and you should walk in His path).

This commandment is elucidated in a celebrated passage in Talmud Bavli, Sotah 14a: “Just as Hashem clothed the naked [in the case of Adam and Chava] … so, too, should you clothe the naked. Just as Hashem visited the sick [in the

O

case of Avraham after his brit milah] … so, too, should you visit the sick. Just as the Holy One Blessed be He comforted the mourners [in the case of Yitzhak after Avraham’s passing] … so, too, should you comfort the mourners. Just as the Holy One Blessed be He buried the dead [in the case of Moshe] … so, too, should you bury the dead.”

Stated quite simply, our goal is to emulate the Almighty’s actions in each of our deeds.

As Rabbi Yosef B. Soloveitchik noted on many occasions, halachta b’drachov emerges as the fundamental underpinning of Judaism’s ethical structure. By emulating the actions of the Holy One, we create substantive changes in ourselves and positively impact those with whom we interact. In this sense, we become partners with Hashem in creating the world — shutfim im Hashem b’ma’aseh Bereishit.

THE JEWISH STAR December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784

We’re all different: Each of us is one of a kind

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December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

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Mostly, still not fighting DEI’s antisemitism Jonathan S. tobin

JnS Editor-in-Chief

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hey’re a little late to the party, but nevertheless still very welcome. The separate statements of Abe Foxman, former head of the Anti-Defamation League, and David Harris, former head of the American Jewish Committee, calling for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs is welcome.

They were dominant figures in the organized Jewish world for a generation and are still regarded as among the most influential voices in the community. So for both of them to come out as opponents of an ideology that has largely taken over the education system, as well as making serious inroads into the corporate world and government, is no small thing.

They join figures like journalist Bari Weiss and a host of other centrist and conservative voices who have been speaking out against the way the woke DEI catechism is both bad for America and fueling a rising tide of antisemitism.

It’s been apparent for years that so-called progressive ideologies like intersectionality and critical race theory as well as DEI have helped create an atmosphere in which Jew hatred has become acceptable behavior on the left. But in the last three months, it became impossible to ignore the cost that Jews in particular are paying for the left’s capture of leading cultural and educational institutions.

In the wake of the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, the sight of left-wing mobs chanting for the destruction of the one Jewish state on the planet (“from the river to the sea”) and in support of genocidal Islamist terrorism (“globalize the intifada”) has shocked American Jewry. Jews

It is not surprising that the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust would generate a spike in antisemitism in places like academia where DEI culture reigns supreme.

are being harassed on the streets of American cities, and the campuses of elite universities have become hostile environments for Jews.

Institutions that were quick to silence, shun and punish those who said things that “triggered” left-wingers suddenly rediscovered their support for free speech once it was the progressives who were engaging in controversial conduct. It seems that the Jews are the only minority that is not only not entitled to “safe spaces,” but even to be spared genocidal threats.

Mainstreaming Jew hatred

As the appalling show put on by the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology at a congressional hearing made clear earlier this month, the main priority of these schools was to avoid giving the impression that they were taking sides against those threatening Jews, even if meant refusing to say that “genocidal threats against Jews” violated their codes of conduct.

But the main conclusion to be drawn from that absurd spectacle was not what happened to those three administrators but why those targeting Jews have been given a free pass by those in charge, as well as much of the corporate liberal media and pop culture outlets.

Advocacy for Israel’s destruction has been mainstreamed on the opinion pages of liberal newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post. And it was not without significance that the weekend after the congressional hearing on antisemitism that the Saturday Night Live program performed a skit about the event. But rather than poking fun at the three college presidents, the show lamely attempted to lampoon Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York for having the temerity to interrogate the trio about their complacency and even encouragement of antisemitism since Oct. 7.

The reason for this has nothing to do with any coherent arguments about recent events or the history of the Middle East. It’s axiomatic that few of those screaming about creating a “free” Palestine “from the river to the sea” can identify either body of water. Nor is it likely that they or the adherents of orthodox liberal views that write and perform for SNL understand that, in contrast to Israel, such a “Palestine” wouldn’t be a safe space for gays, transgender or any other non-Islamist behavior. All they know is that their DEI mindset — a direct descendant of Marxist dialectic — has deemed the Jews to be the villains and that’s enough for them.

The political left in this country has become a lockstep cheering section for the Palestinians and even for the barbaric Hamas terrorists whose atrocities are deemed a form of “resis-

Presenting their poorly-received testimony during a House committee hearing on campus antisemitism on Dec. 5, from left: Harvard University President Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, American University Professor Pamela Nadell, and MIT President Sally Kornbluth.

tance.” The reason for this is due to the progressives’ adherence to the woke DEI and intersectional playbook that divides humanity into two distinct and immutable groups that are perpetually in conflict: white oppressors and people of color who are victims.

They believe in diversity only with respect to certain racial groups and not opinion. They have replaced “equal opportunity” with its polar opposite “equity,” which demands equal outcomes based on race and background rather than individual ability. And they seek to include only those approved minorities from which Jews are conspicuously absent.

This is a recipe for permanent racial conflict for America as the left now takes it as an article of faith that all of the remarkable progress toward racial equality made in this country since the 1960s is insignificant when compared to the “structural” and “institutional” racism that they believe is everywhere in society. Such views had been marginal until the last decade since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

The acceptance of the myth that AfricanAmericans are being hunted down and killed by the police in great numbers grew but it took off in the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd created a moral panic about racism that led to “mostly peaceful” riots throughout the country.

Though DEI and intersectionality had been gaining ground throughout society before then, especially in the education system, the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020 made it a dominant force with only a few brave conservative voices raised in dissent.

Joining a moral panic

That was bad enough for America, as it worsened race relations after decades of improvement. But as some of us pointed out at the time, this was particularly dangerous for Jews.

That’s because the BLM movement was, like the rest of the progressive intersectional mindset, hopelessly antisemitic. Their categorization of Jews as “white” and oppressors, was a permission slip for Jew hatred. As a 2021 survey of DEI college administrators showed, the woke commissars enforcing the new rules were disproportionately anti-Israel and anti-Jewish.

Yet even as it became clear how destructive a force this ideology was, it became impossible for liberals to oppose it. Even President Joe Biden, who was chosen by Democrats as the “moderate” alternative to more left-wing options, adopted the DEI catechism. He issued an executive order on his first day in office that mandated the creation of DEI plans for every government agency and department and woke commissars to ensure their enforcement.

So it is hardly surprising that the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7 would generate a spike in antisemitism in places like academia where DEI culture reigns supreme.

But one of the most discouraging aspects of this crisis is not merely the failure of legacy Jewish organizations to lead the fight against DEI but their active support for it.

Groups like the ADL and the AJC, which were both considered by many in the liberalleaning Jewish community as representing mainstream centrism rather than the left See Tobin on page 22

Global Focus

BEN COHEN

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nless you follow the news from Europe closely, it’s unlikely you’ll be aware that last week, seven alleged Hamas suspects believed to be planning attacks on Jewish targets were arrested during police raids in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

It’s not entirely clear whether these police operations were coordinated across borders, although the details that have emerged since the arrests suggest that they were.

According to a statement from the German Federal Prosecutor’s office, three of the men were arrested in Berlin while traveling back from a weapons dump allegedly set up by one of them, whose name was given by police as Abdelhamid Al A. and who reportedly arrived in Germany earlier this year on the orders of Hamas leaders based in Lebanon.

Both this suspect and the other two, named as Mohamed B. and Nazih R., were alleged to

We need to be preparing for a terror outrage aimed at Jews in a European, or even American, city.

have visited the weapons dump on several occasions since the Oct. 7 pogrom executed by Hamas terrorists in the south of Israel.

A fourth man allegedly connected to the trio in Germany was arrested in Rotterdam

by Dutch police and handed over to the Berlin authorities. All of them are said to be closely linked to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, which played a key role in planning and executing the pogrom in which 1,200 people were murdered and more than 200 seized as hostages.

Separately, Danish police announced on the same day that three people had been arrested in Copenhagen on terrorism charges.

In this case, however, the police said only that the detainees had intended to carry out an “act of terror” and didn’t specify whether there was a connection to Hamas. What they did do was advise the local Chabad rabbi to cancel a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony in the center of the Danish capital on the grounds that the event was a security risk, indicating that the authorities regard terrorist attacks on Jewish communities as a clear and present danger, and that other terror suspects yet to be detained remain at large. f it turns out that these detainees were dispatched for the purpose of carrying out terror attacks on European soil, then that would mark a major strategic departure for Hamas. The organization retains an ample presence in Europe but has restricted its activities to propaganda and fundraising — activities that European governments had attempted to clamp down before and after the Oct. 7 atrocities with varying degrees of commitment and success.

But unlike its cousins ISIS and Al-Qaeda,

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A synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, that was the scene of a deadly 2015 antisemitic terror attack.

ArDanMe, Shutterstock

Hamas has so far not engaged in violence against European targets, presumably out of concern that doing so would alienate public opinion and run afoul of law enforcement.

One can see that Hamas might be tempted to attack a specifically Jewish target rather than a general one, calculating that this would sit better with public opinion.

During the last decade in France, Islamists carried out terror operations against both Jewish targets, including the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris, and general

ones, such as the Bataclan nightclub in the French capital; public outrage and protest was typically higher following attacks on the general targets rather than the Jewish ones.

Going further back, Hamas may believe, not unreasonably, that the response of many European non-Jews to a terror attack on a synagogue or Jewish school would echo the reaction of former French Prime Minister Raymond Barre to the October 1980 Palestinian terrorist attack on the Rue Copernic See Cohen on page 22

Times laments ‘suppression’ of anti-Israel rant JEROME M. MARCUS

Kohelet Policy Forum

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espite what’s been happening, the New York Times is most concerned about the alleged suppression of pro-Palestinian speech on American campuses.

•Riotous marchers on college campuses are demanding the creation of a country called Palestine on all the territory of the UN-recognized State of Israel, entirely free of Jews.

•The presidents of three prestigious universities can’t say whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates their codes of conduct.

•Harvard Chabad is told it can’t leave its Chanukah menorah up for eight days because the university doesn’t want to be embarrassed by a photo of a vandalized menorah in Harvard Yard.

•Jewish students are barricaded behind locked doors or offered an attic to hide in due to threats from racist fellow students.

Ignoring all this, the Times offers the example of the Harvard Law Review’s rejection of a blog post written by Rabea Eghbariah (now completing a doctorate at Harvard Law School) that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The Times heavily implies the antisemitic libel that the post offended too many powerful Jewish and Israeli interests. It’s

The Harvard Law Review could not have published Eghbaria’s piece without destroying its pretensions to be a serious academic journal.

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s “Benjamins” again.

After the left-wing magazine Nation printed the “suppressed” post, so could affirm that the piece was a shoddy, poorly argued rant containing no supporting evidence and bereft of the serious legal analysis that any law review article requires.

As lawyers know, all legal arguments must be composed of two parts: the facts and the law. Eghbariah’s rant contains neither. irst, the post nowhere acknowledges that Gaza is in a state of war with Israel, declared

by Hamas with the explicitly stated goal of eliminating the Jewish state. Now, one could argue that Israel’s military operation, though justified, is disproportionate. But Eghbariah makes no such argument. Indeed, he does not even attempt to assess or disprove any conceivable justification for any military action by Israel in Gaza.

International law is clear that, in order to prove genocide, evidence of the defendant’s “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the national, ethnical, religious or linguistic group to which victims of the alleged wrongful acts belonged” is necessary.

In one of only two citations of any legal authority in the entire post — a glaring dearth of sources for a piece supposed to be published in a law review — Eghbariah cites this standard. He then claims, “Numerous statements made by top Israeli politicians affirm their intentions.” This sentence contains two links. That is the total extent of Eghbariah’s evidence.

One link quotes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling his nation’s soldiers that their actions are a response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 slaughter. He then reminds them of the biblical narrative of Amalek’s attack on the Jews as they wandered the Sinai, described in Exodus 17. As Deuteronomy 25:18 explains, this attack was directed at the weak and unarmed — just like Oct. 7.

To Eghbariah, this is evidence of genocide because of verses Netanyahu did not quote. Eghbariah invokes the Torah’s statement that, in response to this cruelty, the Jews must wipe out Amalek.

On this basis, he asserts that Netanyahu was telling the IDF to wipe out the Palestinians. But Netanyahu said no such thing.

In other cases, strategically unquoted by Egh-

F

A New York Times distribution truck.

bariah, Netanyahu has said that the IDF should wipe out Hamas. The difference is clear: It’s the difference between destroying the Nazi war machine and killing all Germans.

The only other source Eghbariah cites is a Guardian article that collates what it claims is “genocidal language.” Put aside the Guardian’s well-known loathing of Israel, and look at the sources cited. One is an American senator, one a British newspaper editor, one an Israeli journalist and one a collection of letters written by Israeli schoolchildren in 2002.

Of the two who are Israeli politicians, President Isaac Herzog is quoted saying that “an entire nation is responsible” for the Oct. 7 attack because they voted Hamas into power and didn’t protest when Hamas attacked Israel. Herzog said nothing whatsoever about killing a single Palestinian.

Moreover, exactly the same thing was said of the German people in the 1930s and 1940s.

Chameleons Eye, Shutterstock

I

t should be obvious to any thinking person that when an entire people elects a government that publicly announces that it intends to destroy its neighbor and kill all Jews, this is a serious problem. Eghbariah does not seem to agree, perhaps because he has no problem with such intentions.

The only other politician cited is an Israeli Knesset member who said he wants Israel to do again what it did in 1948. In 1948, Israel declared independence and won a war against genocidal enemies. It didn’t kill all Arabs or state any intention of doing so.

Eghbariah further claims that “Israel continues to blatantly violate international law: dropping white phosphorus from the sky, dispersing death in all directions, shedding blood, shelling neighborhoods, striking schools, hospitals, and universities, bombing churches and mosques, wiping out families, and ethnically cleansing an entire region See Marcus on page 22

THE JEWISH STAR December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784

Jewish worry: Hamas’ dark cloud over Europe

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December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784 THE JEWISH STAR

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From the ruins of established Israeli doctrine cArolIne glIck Israel Hayom

T

wo underlying assumptions guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. The first asserted that with the end of the Cold War, the era of conventional wars had ended. In the present age, brains, rather than brawn, would rule the roost.

The primary author of the “small and smart IDF” doctrine was Ehud Barak, who served as Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces when the Berlin Wall crumbled. In later years, the slogan was finessed.

A generation of IDF Chiefs of General Staff organized around the vision of a “small, technological and lethal army.”

As documented by Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Brick (retired), who served as the IDF ombudsman for ten years under the spell of Barak’s doctrine, the IDF shut down multiple reserve divisions. It cut its artillery forces by 50%. Armored brigades were shut down. The reserve force was reduced by 80% between 2003 and 2017. The non-commissioned officer corps was gutted. The bulk of the IDF budget and nearly all the US military aid were diverted to the Air Force — the strategic arm of the “small, technological and lethal” IDF. The doctrine was repeatedly exposed as a farce. But to no avail.

•The air force didn’t defeat the Palestinian terror factories in Judea and Samaria in 2002.

The ground forces did.

doctrine, Israel gutted its domestic military production capabilities. Nearly everything that it had produced domestically — from uniforms to rifles to bullets, to artillery and tank shells — was shut down. Thousands of military industry workers lost their jobs. Knowledge was lost.

The contracts moved to the United States.

Even projects developed jointly by Israeli engineers financed by America were transferred to the United States for production. So it happened that Israel’s Iron Dome missiles are solely produced in the United States.

Along with Barak, the dependence doctrine’s biggest champions were the air force generals.

Under their leadership, Israel’s air force effectively became a US asset. The air force cannot operate without US platforms, spare parts and bombs. All air force ordnance is made in America.

But even during the 1990s and 2000s, the writing was appearing on the walls telling us that things were changing in America. A generation after the United States emerged from the Cold War as the sole global superpower, it struggles to contend with the threat of China, which surpasses it in several key technologies.

Under the spell of globalization, the United States gutted its industrial base. Even if it wanted to, today it is hard-pressed to repeat the 1973 airlift in real time.

Even worse, the end of the Cold War initiated changes in American society that over the past 20 years have exploded in convulsive transformations.

Since the early 2000s, hard-core cultural Marxist progressives have seized control over the US education system at all levels. As a re-

US-made MIM-23 Hawk anti-aircraft missiles on display at a military parade in Tel Aviv in 1965.

Avraham Amir via WikiCommons

Logically flowing from these sentiments, 51% of young Americans believe that the proper end of the Palestinian-Israel conflict is the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Hamas-controlled Palestinian entity. That is, the majority of young Americans support the annihilation of the Jewish people.

Unlike the generals’ “small, smart army” doctrine, it took several weeks for the public to see the devastating consequences of their “America-dependence doctrine.”

America in a holding pattern

Israel’s multi-billion shekel smart fence was felled by bulldozers. Its automatic response system was obliterated by RPGs. Hundreds of soldiers manning these worthless technological wonders were slaughtered or kidnapped. Everything failed.

•The air force never had a response to missiles from Hezbollah to the north and Hamas to the south.

•Without regional brigades defending the borders, Israel’s “peacetime” borders with Jordan on the east and Egypt at its west became highways for weapons smugglers.

Brick’s warnings fell on deaf ears until the “small, smart army” fallacy was obliterated by Hamas invaders on Oct. 7.

Israel’s multi-billion shekel “smart fence” was felled by bulldozers. Its automatic response system was obliterated by RPGs. Hundreds of soldiers manning these worthless technological wonders were slaughtered or kidnapped.

Everything failed.

A microcosm of all things oppressive

This brings us to the second underlying assumption that guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. This assumption, also championed by Barak, asserted that Israel’s most important strategic asset was the United States.

Leaving aside the obvious fact that a strategy of dependence on an outside actor effectively gutted Israel’s national independence, on the surface, Barak’s dependence concept seemed reasonable.

The Americans rescued Israel with its weapons airlift in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In 1992, the United States was the sole global superpower. Because Israel was seen as Washington’s “mini-me,” countries worldwide lined up to be friends with Israel, which they perceived as the gateway to Washington. The vast majority of Americans supported Israel. US military aid to Israel enjoyed wide bipartisan support.

Under the spell of Barak’s US dependence

sult, young Americans are emerging from high schools and universities with values unlike anything we have ever seen.

The new American values are built around a division of humanity into two classes: oppressor and oppressed. “Oppressors,” young Americans now believe, are evil and must be punished. “Oppressed” are pure and must be empowered. The United States is the chief oppressor. Its social and economic orders must be radically transformed to expiate its sins.

Israel (America’s “mini-me”), and Jews generally, are presented as a microcosm of all things oppressive.

The implications of this progressive indoctrination present America with an existential challenge. If allowed to continue into the next generation, the United States will be destroyed.

For Jews, the threat this indoctrination poses is immediate, as a survey published last week

by Harvard-Harris demonstrated.

Harvard-Harris asked their respondents’ views on the Israel-Hamas war, and more broadly, about Jews and Jew-hatred. The answers showed that unlike their parents and grandparents, young Americans have embraced a comprehensive, internally consistent and genocidal hatred for Israel and Jews.

Two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 believe that Jews are oppressors and should be treated as such. Around 70% in that same age bracket believe that antisemitism is rising in the United States generally and on university campuses specifically. They believe that calls for genocide of Jews are hate speech and a form of harassment.

At the same time, 53% of them think this harassment and hate speech should go unpunished.

Similarly, 66% of 18- to 24-year-olds agree that Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 was genocidal. All the same, 60% believe it was justified.

In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, their faith in American support seemed to be borne out. President Joe Biden and his top advisers pledged their total support for Israel. Biden deployed US aircraft carrier groups to the Eastern Mediterranean and promised $14.3 billion in supplemental military aid to Israel to ensure that Israel has what it needs to successfully win the war.

But in recent weeks, particularly since Israel resumed its operation in Gaza at the end of November after the 10-day hostages-for-terrorists ceasefire, that assessment has changed dramatically.

The public has realized that friendliness and declarations of solidarity aside, the United States does not share — and in some areas opposes — Israel’s war aims. To win the war, Israel must eradicate Hamas in Gaza and remove the threat Hezbollah poses to northern Israel.

It must also take action to prevent the Houthis from maintaining their effective maritime blockade of the Port of Eilat.

On all of these fronts, Biden and his top aides have made clear that their goals are not the same as Israel’s. They do not seek the eradication of Hamas and the return of the hostages. They seek the end of the war and the return of the hostages. And at the end of the war, they want to rebuild Gaza. They want to use the war’s end as a means to compel Israel into a “peace process.” The goal of that process is to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza, and Judea and Samaria, led by terrorists from the Palestinian Authority which, like Hamas, seeks the annihilation of the Jewish state.

In Lebanon, the administration seeks to prevent war, even though doing so will leave Hezbollah with its capacity to invade the Galilee and destroy strategic targets all over Israel with its massive missile arsenal.

As for Yemen, the United States has demanded that Israel take no offensive action against either the Houthis or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ overlords directing Houthi operations from their spy ship in the Red Sea. Instead, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has formed a multinational task force from which Israel has been excluded. While its purpose is subject still to speculation, to many US and Israeli observers, it appears that America

intends to use its coalition to beef up its efforts to intercept Houthi missiles and drones launched against merchant vessels in the Red Sea. That is, as with Hezbollah, the US goal vis-à-vis the Houthis seems to be to end Houthi assaults on merchant ships without diminishing their capacity to carry them out.

As for military supplies, the $14.3 billion is still languishing in Congress. It won’t be considered until Congress reconvenes on Jan. 9 after the Christmas and New Year recess.

It will take years to correct the damage the generals wrought by reducing the size of the IDF and inducing its total dependence on the United States.

‘The IDF is changing its view’

But last week, the Defense Ministry let it be known that it is moving to correct the situation.

On Tuesday, Ynet reported that the Defense Ministry is initiating what it refers to as “Independence Project.”

According to the report, the Defense Ministry is launching a crash program with Israel’s military industries and major industrialists to make Israel independent in everything related to ordnance. In the initial phase, Israel will begin producing bombs for its aircraft. Jerusalem also intends to expand its production of tank and artillery shells, as well as assault rifles and bullets.

Separately, there is increased discussion regarding the establishment of a missile force as an independent arm of the IDF. The force would reduce reliance on the air force and develop more versatile, more easily defended missile launch platforms and massively expand Israel’s missile and drone arsenals.

After meeting with Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Ron Tomer, the head of Israel’s Industrialists Union, told Ynet, “The war demonstrates our need for a powerful and advanced industrial base to ensure Israel’s national strength and independent capabilities.

The IDF is changing its view of how it arms its forces, enlarging domestic production lines in order to be less dependent on ordnance from abroad. The ideal of a small high-tech military did not prove itself.”

Brick and others argue that had Hezbollah joined Hamas in invading and bombing Israel on Oct. 7, Israel may well have been destroyed that day. A combination of Hezbollah’s 10,000man Radwan Brigades perched at the border and capable of invading the Galilee, and a barrage of up to 4,000 missiles with various payloads targeting Israel’s air bases, and other strategic sites and civilian population centers every day for weeks, would have caused irreparable damage equal in force to a nuclear bomb.

Iran’s decision not to involve Hezbollah on Oct. 7 has given Israel the opportunity to reorganize its forces and prepare for the multi-front war that awaits us. We don’t have a moment to lose.

21 THE JEWISH STAR December 29, 2023 • 17 Tevet 5784

Making Jewish journalism great again.

1151137

Honest reporting.

Torah-true.

Tobin...

Continued from page 18 wing, were quick to sign on in support of BLM and DEI. And they haven’t wavered in their stands in spite of the mounting evidence that they were aiding and abetting forces that were weaponizing antisemitism, which is the polar opposite of the traditional understanding of their organizational missions.

The reason for this is twofold.

The leadership of these and other mainstream groups were primarily interested in staying in sync with their left-wing allies, especially in the African-American community, with whom they shared other positions on domestic issues. The thought of being caught opposing what liberals viewed as not merely the fashion of the moment but the new orthodoxy was intolerable, since it meant running the risk of being accused of racism, no matter how bogus most such charges have become.

It’s equally true that just as politics has replaced the role that religion once played in the lives of most Americans, Jewish groups have also become more partisan in their orientations. That’s particularly true for the AntiDefamation League, which replaced Foxman in 2015 with former Obama administration staffer Jonathan Greenblatt. While Foxman was certainly a political liberal, his priority was always the defense of the Jews. I had my share of arguments with him over the years, but I was also quick to defend him when he was lambasted in the media for being too proIsrael.

By contrast, Greenblatt has, at least until the last few months, been more interested in backing Democratic Party talking points than in carrying out the ADL’s core mission. That has been very bad news for the Jewish community. But it has enabled him to outstrip Foxman as a champion fundraiser as he’s reaped donations from individuals and groups that were not interested in backing a traditional Jewish defense organization.

On a fool’s errand

Harris was no partisan but his stewardship of the American Jewish Committee kept it reliably liberal. In 2022, he was replaced by former Democratic congressman Ted Deutsch, who was a strong supporter of Israel but also someone who never strayed far from most liberal orthodoxies.

While ADL and AJC have been outspoken in denouncing the spike in post-Oct. 7 antisemitism, they have not withdrawn their support for the DEI ideology that is its foundation. Instead, they claim they wish to “engage” with DEI administrators in order to convince them to include Jews among those who benefit from this polarizing racial and ideological movement.

That is a fool’s errand.

The DEI crowd is already convinced that Jews and Israelis are white oppressors and Palestinians are their victims who are “people of color.” That’s nonsense since Jews are the indigenous people of Israel, the Middle East

ost European politicians today would run a mile from a Barre-like reaction.

Their rhetoric, especially in Germany and France, though less so in Spain, has focused on reassuring Jewish communities that they are safe and insisting to the general population that the Jewish presence among them is both welcome and non-negotiable.

Yet law enforcement has lagged behind these good intentions, while public opinion remains ambiguous, tolerating angry mass protests in capitals and major cities every week in support of Hamas.

At the same time, media coverage of Israel’s defensive war in the Gaza Strip, which emphasizes the plight of Palestinian civilians and lays the lion’s share of blame for their ordeal at Israel’s door, bolsters public perceptions of the Jewish state as a rogue state. In the minds of more than a few, Israeli culpability makes attacks on Jews outside Israel far more understandable, if not wholly justifiable.

There is a further dimension to the problem.

Episodes like last week’s arrests encourage the view that terrorism is something imported from the outside, meticulously planned before it is executed. In many cases, of course, that is true — but not in all of them.

Arguably, European Jews have more to fear from the people living in their own neighborhoods than from terrorists flying in from the Middle East. Last week, for example, an unidentified Arab man wielding a knife entered a daycare center near Paris that caters to toddlers, many of whom are from Jewish families.

“You’re a Jew, you’re a Zionist. Five of us are going to rape you, cut you up like they did in Gaza,” the intruder told the daycare center’s terrified director before fleeing the scene. The center has now been forced to close.

Stories like these, as well as pettier but still ugly acts of anti-Jewish bigotry and discrimination, are a daily occurrence in Europe at present.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government has said that the war to eliminate Hamas is not going to end anytime soon. As terrible as it is to say so, we need to be preparing for the aftermath of a terror outrage aimed at Jews in a European, or even American, city.

We can expect the relevant governments and police agencies to be supportive and sympathetic in such an eventuality. But the jury is out on the public at large — whether their reaction will be like that of Raymond Barre, or even worse.

Cohen...

Marcus...

Continued from page 19 synagogue in Paris. Noting that four people had been killed outside the synagogue — only one of whom happened to be Jewish — Barre stated that “this odious attack was aimed at hitting Jews going to the synagogue but hit innocent French people who were crossing Rue Copernic.”

In other words, while violence and terror should be abhorred, it’s easier to rationalize such acts when Jews are killed rather than non-Jews, because Jews are less “innocent.”

Continued from page 19 in both callous and systemic manner.”

Does any of this constitute, or even stand up to, serious analysis?

It is indeed a breach of international law, for example, to bomb a hospital, unless it’s being used for military purposes. If it is, the hospital is an entirely legitimate and legal target. The Fourth Geneva Convention Article Section 19 states: “The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to

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conflict isn’t racial and the majority of Israeli Jews are themselves “people of color,” because they trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa.

Yet what these efforts to “engage” with DEI also fail to comprehend is that any system of thought that categorizes people racially in this manner is profoundly antithetical to the best interests of a Jewish community. The security and success of the Jews in America is based on the very values of equal opportunity and individual rights that DEI is seeking to destroy. As destructive as this is for American society as a whole, DEI poses a direct threat to Jews.

As with their alliances with BLM and other progressives who are committed to opposing Israel, the mainstream Jewish world’s refusal to oppose DEI is not just a mistake; it’s a betrayal of their obligations to their constituents Foxman and Harris are to be commended for not just drawing the right conclusions. It is to be hoped that many of their fellow liberal Jews who foolishly believed that opposition to DEI, critical race theory and intersectionality was nothing more than a conservative “culture war” issue will now also see the error of their ways and join the growing body of American opinion that realizes just how dangerous these toxic ideas have become.

But those who refuse to join them should not be in any doubt as to what they are doing.

Those on the left who claim that opposition to DEI is antisemitic, as a recent Vox article claimed, aren’t just trying to divert attention from the truth about woke ideology. They are trying to gaslight liberal Jews into continuing to aid those who seek their slaughter.

Those who refuse to recant their support for DEI — whether it is Biden or the ADL and AJC — may claim they care about stopping antisemitism. But their rhetorical condemnations of Jew hatred are meaningless so long as they continue to support the empowerment of a movement that intrinsically targets Jews for discrimination.

It would have been better had Foxman and Harris joined this fight years ago rather than waiting until after the danger had metastasized. But they should be welcomed nonetheless to a fight that is, whether most of the Jewish community understands it or not, the one on which their future most depends.

the enemy.”

Israel has released overwhelming evidence that Hamas uses Gaza’s hospitals as firebases, command-and-control centers, refuges for terrorists, prisons for hostages — hostage-taking is a violation of international law under any circumstances — and storehouses for weapons and ammunition. No legal argument whatsoever can justify Eghbariah’s claims without addressing this issue. He makes no attempt to address it.

Similarly, ethnic cleansing certainly violates international law. But again, Eghbariah prevents no evidence of it. In fact, he presents evidence of precisely the opposite, citing an Oct. 14 article quoting Israel’s warnings to Gazans, urging noncombatants to move from the combat zone to safety. aza is certainly blockaded — legally and for good reason. Hamas has for decades waged a genocidal war on Israel, and it imports weapons into Gaza with which to wage that war.

The blockade seeks to prevent that.

Oct. 7 was a battle in that war, using the weapons Hamas nonetheless succeeded in importing.

(Those weapons, incidentally, were financed by Iran.) Moreover, Hamas has publicly announced that it will use such weapons to repeat Oct. 7 as many times as necessary to destroy Israel and empty it of Jews.

Has Israel used the blockade or any other tactic to starve Gaza residents to death or to force them to leave? The population of Gaza has been growing steadily since 2005, when Israel withdrew from the territory, and has continued to do so under the Hamas regime — so, obviously not.

In May 1945, Berlin had been reduced to rubble.

Of its 2.8 million residents, 125,000 civilians — approximately 4.5% — had died in the battle for the city, which was fought block-by-block right up to the Reichstag. Only apologists for Nazism have claimed that this constituted a war crime, because everyone knows it was necessary to defeat the Nazis.

More recently, Mosul, Iraq had 700,000 residents when coalition forces battled ISIS for control of the city. Approximately 10,000 civilians were killed, or 1.4% of the city’s population. Only political extremists have claimed that this was a war crime.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas for propaganda purposes, approximately 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 out of a population of around 2.1 million. Even if the ministry’s casualty figures are accurate and even if all of them were civilians — which is obviously not the case — this isn’t remotely close to genocide.

Given that Hamas has entrenched itself throughout civilian areas, it is a testament to the care Israel has exercised that the civilian casualties are so few.

You can choose to agree or disagree with all of this. But you have to back up your argument with facts. If you’re making a legal argument, you must back it up with facts and law. Eghbariah does neither.

The Harvard Law Review could not possibly have published his piece without destroying its pretensions to be a serious academic journal.

Had the Review published the piece anyway, it would have become what the New York Times has become: Not an objective chronicler, but a Viewpoint Validation Service, as its sadder but wiser former editor James Bennet has now confirmed.

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