On June 10, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a video in which the prime minister—after pouring himself a glass of water from a pitcher—addresses the Iranian people, expresses concern about the worsening drought plaguing their country, and offers to share Israeli knowhow in the art of water-conservation; the video concludes with a reference to “the respect and friendship between our two peoples.” In both Washington and Jerusalem, conventional wisdom has long held that such overtures to Muslim peoples from American, and all the more so Israeli, politicians are counterproductive. Sohrab Ahmari, however, in a discussion of the ongoing unrest in Iran and the regime’s crisis of legitimacy, argues that this and other, similar moves by Netanyahu are “absolutely brilliant.” (Interview by Jonathan Silver. Audio, 20 minutes. Options for download and streaming are available at the link below.)

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The Biden administration’s apparent abandonment of Israel is matched by the White House’s feckless handling of rising anti-Semitism. Seth Mandel explains:

On Thursday, May 2, Biden made public remarks condemning the campus pro-Hamas protests. The very next day, major Jewish groups pulled out of a White House meeting on anti-Semitism with [the domestic policy adviser Neera] Tanden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. The reason? Jewish activists who have spent their careers opposing Israel, attacking the Jewish community, and now supporting the very anti-Semitic demonstrations [the meeting was called to address] were added to the meeting after the mainstream groups had already accepted.

When Joe Biden speaks about anti-Semitism, he usually says the right words. But in charge of his deeds, he has put political incompetents manifestly unqualified for this responsibility. He should fix that immediately, because his speeches won’t much matter without a way to implement the ideas animating them.