Yesterday, the social-media platform Parler—which has become popular among various segments of the hard right—sued Amazon for denying it access to its web-hosting services, effectively driving it off the Internet. Amazon took this action on Sunday, expressing concern that the platform had been used to incite last week’s riot at the Capitol. In November, the Simon Wiesenthal Center produced a report on anti-Semitic content found on the website:

Parler is a social-media platform launched in August 2018, . . . described by Forbes as a “barebones Twitter.” It provides users with personalized profiles, a basic news feed, and the option to follow other users. The timeline is chronological and supposedly does not use algorithms to curate the feed’s content. . . . The primary reason users are registering with Parler appears to be because of its promise to be a space for free speech, safe from ideological and political censorship. Parler states it “does not mine or sell user data, and does not censor content based on politics or ideology.” . . . Parler’s main user base appears to be politically conservative, with many supporting President Trump and the Republican party.

To date, Parler has allowed users to express anti-Semitic beliefs and conspiracies. These users frequently allege that Jewish people are responsible for many of the ills facing the world, including mass immigration, COVID-19, child trafficking, and civil unrest. These allegations are updated manifestations of old anti-Semitic conspiracies which have accused that a secret Jewish cabal controls the world for political and financial gain. Many posts feature stereotypical caricatures intended to mock and demonize Jewish people. Some indicate Jewish control or Jewish individuals by using the three parentheses (((“echo”))) to highlight particular words or names. Other posts are even more explicitly anti-Semitic, contending Jews worship at the “Synagogue of Satan” or dehumanizing Jews as parasites.

There are also multiple accounts promoting Holocaust denial on Parler. Some use Parler to share posts with their own content about the Holocaust, while others link to external sites and repositories to disseminate Holocaust-denial material. Many use the hashtag #holohoax which groups the content together. Posts promote various Holocaust-denial conspiracies, arguing that the gas chambers were a hoax and that six million Jews did not die. Some posit that the Jews invented the idea of a Holocaust for political and financial gain—a favorite [canard] of the Holocaust denying Iranian regime of Ayatollah Khamenei.

If Iran succeeds in obtaining nuclear weapons, the war in Gaza, let alone the protests on college campuses, will seem like a minor complication. Jonathan Schachter fears that this danger could be much more imminent than decisionmakers in Jerusalem and Washington believe. In his view, Israel seems to be repeating the mistake that allowed it to be taken by surprise on Simchat Torah of 2023 and Yom Kippur of 1973: putting too much faith in an intelligence concept that could be wrong.

Israel and the United States apparently believe that despite Iran’s well-documented progress in developing capabilities necessary for producing and delivering nuclear weapons, as well as its extensive and ongoing record of violating its international nuclear obligations, there is no acute crisis because building a bomb would take time, would be observable, and could be stopped by force. Taken together, these assumptions and their moderating impact on Israeli and American policy form a new Iran concept reminiscent of its 1973 namesake and of the systemic failures that preceded the October 7 massacre.

Meanwhile, most of the restrictions put in place by the 2015 nuclear deal will expire by the end of next year, rendering the question of Iran’s adherence moot. And the forces that could be taking action aren’t:

The European Union regularly issues boilerplate press releases asserting its members’ “grave concern.” American decisionmakers and spokespeople have created the unmistakable impression that their reservations about the use of force are stronger than their commitment to use force to prevent an Iranian atomic bomb. At the same time, the U.S. refuses to enforce its own sanctions comprehensively: Iranian oil exports (especially to China) and foreign-currency reserves have ballooned since January 2021, when the Biden administration took office.

Israel’s response has also been sluggish and ambiguous. Despite its oft-stated policy of never allowing a nuclear Iran, Israel’s words and deeds have sent mixed messages to allies and adversaries—perhaps inadvertently reinforcing the prevailing sense in Washington and elsewhere that Iran’s nuclear efforts do not present an exigent crisis.