Reversing regulations instituted in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act, the Department of Health and Human Services recently allowed employers to request exemptions on religious grounds from providing their employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives. While many on the left see the new rules as an assault on individual rights, Bethany Mandel argues that they are in fact a victory for religious liberty, and one that Jews in particular, whatever their personal opinions on birth control, ought to appreciate.

This “right” to free birth control, which only came into existence with Obamacare less than a decade ago, is now apparently sacrosanct to liberal Jewish groups like the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism and Bend the Arc Jewish Action, who are opposing the rollout of these new [regulations]. . . .

Jews more than anyone else should respect the sanctity of religious freedom, which is what’s behind the Trump administration’s rollback. . . . And if these Jewish organizations can’t understand why others would oppose abortion, maybe they can understand why companies shouldn’t be forced to pay for something their owners consider a violation of their religion’s core beliefs. We don’t have to agree with these beliefs in order to . . . respect them. . . .

If women choose to use birth control, nobody—neither President Trump nor their employers—can force them not to. And just as nobody should be able to dictate the healthcare choices of American women, we should not be dictating to Americans that they have to violate their religious principles in order do business.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.