American Jewry on the Defensive

Jan. 31 2024

After examining the current situation in Israel, John Podhoretz turns to the increasing threats to the Jews of the United States, so many of which seem to have been incubated in the universities:

Many of us developed real concern about college activism against Israel in the 2010s—in part because there was a youth-movement president who was hostile to Israel and it seemed like he and his young acolytes might actually come together to dig a moat between the Jewish state and the only country on earth that was its reliable ally.

First, and least noted, was that the powers-that-be in higher ed were following the unwritten rule in place since the assaults on them during the 1960s—which is that you’re supposed to humor, cater to, and pat the heads of leftist agitators when they do their thing, whatever that thing is. To be sure, many of these people are in agreement with the agitators, since that’s what they once were, too, back in the day.

The very fact that the [college] presidents who sat before Congress felt so little pressure internally or emotionally to say something when Israel and Jews came under attack after October 7, and showed themselves to be unsympathetic at best and heartless at worst when they did speak, is testimony to how unimportant the feelings or concerns of Jews are within the sociological landscapes they tend.

Read more at Commentary

More about: American Jewry, Anti-Semitism, Israel on campus, University

Israel Strikes a Blow for Freedom

June 18 2025

To Mathias Döpfner, a German and the publisher of the online magazine Politico, the war between Israel and Iran

is a central front in a global contest in which the forces of tyranny and violence in recent years have been gaining ground against the forces of freedom, which too often are demoralized and divided. In a world full of bad actors, Iran is the most aggressive and dangerous totalitarian force of our time.

But Israel is only the first target. Once Israel falls, Europe and America will be the focus. . . . It is therefore surprising that Israel is not being celebrated worldwide for its historic, extremely precise, and necessary strike against Iranian nuclear-weapons facilities and for the targeted killing of leading terrorists, but that the public response is dominated by anti-Israel propaganda. The intelligence and precision of Israel’s actions are not admired but are instead used here and there to perpetuate blatantly anti-Semitic stereotypes.

If Israel does not achieve its goals—destruction of the nuclear facilities, maximum weakening of the terrorist regime, and, ideally, the removal of the mullahs—the world will quickly look very different. China will seize this historic opportunity to annex Taiwan sooner than expected. Largely without resistance. . . . That is why America and Europe, in their own interests alone, must stand united with Israel and do everything in their power to ensure that this historic liberation is achieved.

Read more at Politico

More about: Europe, Iran, Iran nuclear program, U.S. Foreign policy