To say this was a tough week is like calling the Hezbollah war a border skirmish. The latest ballistic missile barrage against Israel exposed Iran’s regime’s evil to an increasingly somnolent world.
The renewed attacks produced one minor miracle: Israelis Left and Right united, still appreciating America’s cooperation while dumbstruck by President Donald Trump’s new fear of confronting this enemy with the firepower the regime’s pathological behavior invites.
Meanwhile, in my old haunt, Montreal, anti-Zionists expressed their built-in Jew-hatred – again – by firebombing Temple Emanuel-El-Beth Sholom on Sherbrooke Street – Montreal’s Fifth Avenue.
Anti-Zionist bigots also reflected their disdain for Canadian values, liberal democracy, and basic civility – again – by disrupting McGill’s convocation, what Canadians call commencement.
Curious how this university I long cherished repudiated these hooligans, I clicked onto McGill’s Website. Predictably, the university ignored the disturbance, guaranteeing future repeats.
There’s no need to worry, however. The homepage, spewing modern academic psychobabble, calls McGill: “A community that puts well-being front and centre.” They should add: “unless you’re Jewish or believe in the sanctity of ceremonies honoring our graduates and their families.”
Fortunately, Prime Minister Mark Carney rushed to the rescue. True, his speech denouncing antisemitism had “no mention of Israel and no acknowledgment that, for Jews, Israel is part of the Jewish people’s covenantal reality,” former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler noted. But no matter, Carney created a paper-tiger commission to playact at fighting antisemitism, featuring at least one Jihadi apologist.
New York – the Big Apple – is equally rotten. There, T’ruah, an organization of 2,300 rabbis claiming to be for “human rights” and “pro-Israel,” warmly welcomed the obsessively anti-Zionist Mayor Zohran Mamadni while granting its Raphael Lemkin Human Rights Award to an activist who accuses Israel of “apartheid” and “genocide.”
Having defined the term, Lemkin knew that countries must demonstrate a comprehensive, lethal intent to be guilty of “genocide.” That makes the award as preposterous as granting an Elie Wiesel anti-Nazi award or a Betty Friedan feminist award to Maine’s senatorial hopeful Graham Platner, sporting an SS Totenkopf tattoo and a history of abusing girlfriends.
Supreme Court justice's house vandalized in Israel
Alas, in Israel, goons also roamed. Over 60 haredi (ultra-Orthodox) thugs somehow bypassed Alon Shvut’s security gate to vandalize the house and car of Justice Noam Solberg. They singled out Solberg, but his opinion, demanding that jail evaders be arrested, even if they’re haredi, was unanimous.
Why didn’t neighbors in this tight-knit community mobilize to protect Solberg’s wife and grandchildren? And why does Israel keep failing to punish rioters, Left, Right, and haredi, effectively – meaning equally and harshly?
The Knesset needs a civility caucus, drafting tougher legislation while compelling police and prosecutors to implement the law aggressively but evenhandedly.
It shouldn’t matter if you’re a bullying Bibist, a crazed Kapalanist or a depraved draft-dodger. Criminal behavior – not speech – must be prosecuted relentlessly. Then, everyone involved in these conspiracies against democracy – including the bus drivers – should receive bankruptcy-inducing civil penalties too.
The Hooligans’ Veto is hijacking Israeli politics. Unless the state cracks down, the next elections’ sore losers will block traffic, menace police, and harass political rivals and their families at home.
All this barbarism encourages despair. But that’s only if you live Israel and Jewish life through headlines and hostility – a central structural problem afflicting both Diaspora Zionists and increasingly disaffiliated Diaspora Jews.
My non-Israeli friends marvel at the Jerusalem Troys’ calendar overflowing with weddings and life-cycle events. And the blessing of ongoing contact with IGG – Israel’s Greatest Generation – our reservists and soldiers – is our own personalized defibrillator, jolting me with hope, again and again.
Last Friday, our kids who are working in Montreal with Jewish students visited and hosted a party for their friends. They picked the perfect spot for a Friday brunch, Piccolino, a Jerusalem landmark. It’s famous for delicious Italian food and its owners’ legendary generosity, offering free Friday buffets to dozens of lone soldiers for thirteen years now.
Twelve couples under 30 attended. At least one spouse of each couple has defended Israel for hundreds of days since October 7.
They’ve served as army doctors, infantry warriors, paramedics, homefront commanders, tank commanders, logistics officers, sailors, and commandos. But they generated a stroller traffic jam.
Nine of the women have given birth to some of the world’s cutest babies since October 7 – contributing to Israel’s wartime baby boom.
The kids’ names created a symphony of values – generating wellsprings of optimism. Amichai, the Jewish people live. Ariel – the lion of God – symbolizing Jerusalem, where both parents were born, as well as the eternal hope for redemption. Chaya – life! – celebrated a beloved grandmother.
Eliyah – our Lord is God – with the parents explaining that “Especially in this world of uncertainty, following October 7, with the antisemitism worldwide and all the death and destruction we have experienced – we put our faith and our lives in God’s hands.”
Hannah – “honoring a great-grandmother whose kindness, generosity, and love left a lasting impact on her family.” Lavi – young lion – saluted last June’s war against Iran. Nili– a Hebrew acronym for The Jewish People Will Forever Endure.
T’chelet – evoking the azure blue of a tallit reflecting the purity of holiness. Yedidia, God’s beloved friend. The kids were named after Holocaust survivors, Israelis, Americans, and, inevitably, some of the fallen since October 7.
Barack Obama once warned: “You get the politicians you deserve.” In Israel, we don’t deserve the politicians we’ve got. But they don’t define us. These happy warriors – their actions, values, aspirations – saved Israel from destruction, and will save it from self-destruction, while continuing to inspire the rest of us.
The writer is an American presidential historian and a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem. Last year he published To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream and The Essential Guide to Zionism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism and Jew-hatred, available on the JPPI website. Next month, he will publish The Essential Guide to the U.S-Israel Partnership, the 250th Edition.