Last week, the Washington Post published an in-depth article about a woman who appeared at a 2018 Halloween party—hosted by a Post columnist—wearing blackface. The subject of the article, who is not a public figure of any kind, was swiftly fired from her job. The same week, the comedian Chelsea Handler posted a video of a Louis Farrakhan speech on Instagram, subsequently shared by numerous other celebrities. Handler responded to the ensuing criticism by insisting that Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism might not be nice, but, in effect, it shouldn’t be held against him. While she eventually took down the video, she—unlike the partygoer—hasn’t been “cancelled.”

This double standard, whereby even a whiff of prejudice against some groups can lead to vicious censoriousness, whereas prejudice against Jews is given a pass, is what concerns Jonathan Marks when considering recent events at Florida State University, where the student-senate president Ahmad Daraldik appears to have created a website dedicated to the spurious and perverse claim that Israel harvests organs from Palestinians:

[A] student senate that quite recently, in an overwhelming vote, removed its [former] president over remarks he’d made in an online group chat—he’d stressed the incompatibility between his Catholicism [on the one hand] and queer and transgender politics on the other—voted to keep Daraldik in office. Perhaps they were motivated to do so by a letter, signed by numerous purportedly progressive organizations, that mentions Daraldik’s First Amendment rights, doesn’t mention the website, and pretends that Daraldik is the victim of a “smear campaign” to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel.

As a rule, I am not in favor of taking the extraordinary measure of removing someone from office over troubling remarks, even in student governments. Nor am I in favor of picking on young people who may well know better when they’re a little older. What we should object to and be concerned about is this: even in a time of heightened scrutiny of people’s utterances and actions, even in a time when admissions offers are being rescinded for racist social-media posts, anti-Semitism wins plaudits.

When it comes to anti-Semitism, the “woke” are fast asleep.

Between December 27 and January 6, terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at Israel almost every night. On Monday, one rocket struck a home in the much-bombarded town of Sderot, although no one was injured. The rocket fire had largely halted last spring, and for some time barrages were often the result of Israeli forces closing in a Hamas unit or munitions depot. But the truth—which gives credence to Ran Baratz’s argument in his January essay that the IDF is struggling to accomplish its mission—is that Hamas has been able to rebuild. Yoni Ben Menachem writes that the jihadist group has been “producing hundreds of new rockets using lathes smuggled into tunnels that remain operational in Gaza.” Moreover, it has been replenishing its ranks:

According to Israeli security officials, Hamas has recruited approximately 4,000 new fighters over the past month. This rapid expansion bolsters its fighting capabilities and complicates Israel’s efforts to apply military pressure on Hamas to expedite a hostage deal. Hamas’s military recovery has allowed it to prolong its war of attrition against the IDF and adopt tougher stances in hostage negotiations. The funds for this recruitment effort are reportedly from the sale of humanitarian-aid packages, which Hamas forcibly seizes and resells in Gaza’s markets.

In fact, Ben Menachem writes, Hamas’s rocket fire is part of the same strategy:

By firing rockets, Hamas seeks to demonstrate its resilience and operational capability despite the IDF’s prolonged offensive. This message is aimed at both Gaza’s residents and the Israeli public, underscoring that Hamas remains a significant force even after enduring heavy losses [and] that Israel cannot easily occupy this region, currently a focal point of IDF operations.