On Wednesday, a neo-Nazi attempting to attack Jews at prayer in the German city of Halle with a gun and explosives found the entrance locked but killed two and wounded others outside. In Berlin a few days earlier, a knife-wielding Syrian refugee attempted to enter another synagogue while yelling “Allahu Akbar” and “F— Israel” before being stopped by security guards. The police released him from custody the next day. Eldad Beck comments:

Germany is once again a dangerous place for Jews. . . . Barely a week passes without violent assaults on Jews in the country. In Berlin alone, over 400 anti-Semitic attacks were reported in the first half of 2019. We can assume the actual figure is higher since not every attack is reported.

The attack in Halle is the result of the failure of German authorities; it is the result of the incomprehensible forgiveness that the country’s law enforcement chooses to show the perpetrators of attacks against Jews, which in recent years have been largely carried out by members of Arab and Muslim immigrant communities. Although the perpetrator of the Halle attack was a member of the radical right, the day-to-day physical threat to Jewish security in Germany is sacrificed at the altar of Germany’s policy of appeasement toward Arab-Muslim anti-Semitism. When they are able to attack Jews as they please, other radicals get the sense that the spilling of blood is permissible so long as the targets are Jews.

Before exploding electronics in Lebanon seized the attention of the Israeli public, debate there had focused on the Philadelphi Corridor—the strip of land between Gaza and Egypt—and whether the IDF can afford to withdraw from it. Egypt has opposed Israeli control of the corridor, which is crucial to Hamas’s supply lines, and Egyptian objections likely prevented Israel from seizing it earlier in the war. Yet, argues Mariam Wahba, Egypt in the long run only stands to lose by letting Hamas use the corridor, and has proved incapable of effectively sealing it off:

Ultimately, this moment presents an opportunity for the United States to hold Egypt’s feet to the fire.

To press Cairo, the United States should consider conditioning future aid on Cairo’s willingness to cooperate. This should include a demand for greater transparency and independent oversight to verify Egyptian claims about the tunnels. Congress ought to hold hearings to understand better Egypt’s role and its compliance as a U.S. ally. Despite Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s nine trips to the Middle East since the start of the war, there has been little clarity on how Egypt intends to fulfill its role as a mediator.

By refusing to acknowledge Israel’s legitimate security concerns, Egypt is undermining its own interests, prolonging the war in Gaza, and further destabilizing its relationship with Jerusalem. It is time for Egyptian leaders either to admit their inability to secure the border and seek help from Israel and America, or to risk being perceived as enablers of Hamas and its terrorist campaign.