There are academic anti-Zionists far more poisonous than Shaul Magid, and this newsletter will continue to cover their activities. But it’s also worth considering how often universities have been a welcoming place to American Jewry, something Michelle Margolis considers in her investigation into the history of Jews at Columbia:

The [school’s] 1784 charter had an interesting requirement, that there should be regents from among the clergy representing all “respective religious denominations in this State.” Chosen to represent the Jewish religion was Gershom Mendes Seixas of Shearith Israel Congregation, the oldest Jewish congregation in New York. Seixas remained on as a trustee when Columbia received its own board of trustees in 1787, and would continue serving as a trustee until he resigned in 1814 due to “infirmities.”

Jonathan Nathan received his A.B. in 1826 and his Master in Chancery (a kind of law degree) from 1840–1845. He maintained a close relationship with his college classmate, Hamilton Fish, Sr., [later the governor of New York], and the library has a collection of letters written from 1843–1857 to his school friend. One particularly interesting letter in the collection addresses his Jewish practice: “I am anxious to come up now as our Passover commences on Wednesday when our system of dietetics will keep me home for a week.”

Last Tuesday, the Houthis—the faction now ruling much of Yemen—said that they intend to renew attacks on international shipping through the Red and Arabian Seas. They had for the most part paused their attacks following the January 19 Israel-Hamas cease-fire, but their presence has continued to scare away maritime traffic near the Yemeni coast, with terrible consequences for the global economy.

The U.S. responded on Saturday by initiating strikes on Houthi missile depots, command-and-control centers, and propaganda outlets, and has promised that the attacks will continue for days, if not weeks. The Houthis responded by launching drones, and possibly missiles, at American naval ships, apparently without result. Another missile fired from Yemen struck the Sinai, but was likely aimed at Israel. As Ari Heistein has written in Mosaic, it may take a sustained and concerted effort to stop the Houthis, who have high tolerance for casualties—but this is a start. Ron Ben-Yishai provides some context:

The goal is to punish the Houthis for directly targeting Western naval vessels in the Red Sea while also exerting indirect pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. . . . While the Biden administration did conduct airstrikes against the Houthis, it refrained from a proactive military campaign, fearing a wider regional war. However, following the collapse of Iran’s axis—including Hizballah’s heavy losses in Lebanon and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria—the Trump administration appears unafraid of such an escalation.

Iran, the thinking goes, will also get the message that the U.S. isn’t afraid to use force, or risk the consequences of retaliation—and will keep this in mind as it considers negotiations over its nuclear program. Tamir Hayman adds:

The Houthis are the last proxy of the Shiite axis that have neither reassessed their actions nor restrained their weapons. Throughout the campaign against the Yemenite terrorist organization, the U.S.-led coalition has made operational mistakes: Houthi regime infrastructure was not targeted; the organization’s leaders were not eliminated; no sustained operational continuity was maintained—only actions to remove immediate threats; no ground operations took place, not even special-forces missions; and Iran has not paid a price for its proxy’s actions.

But if this does not stop the Houthis, it will project weakness—not just toward Hamas but primarily toward Iran—and Trump’s power diplomacy will be seen as hollow. The true test is one of output, not input. The only question that matters is not how many strikes the U.S. carries out, but whether the Red Sea reopens to all vessels. We will wait and see—for now, things look brighter than they did before.