Amid anti-Semitic demonstrations on American college campuses, multiple attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions, and increased violence (especially in New York City), it's a good time to remember group that was established to “combat anti-Semitism in the public and private sectors of life in the United States of America.” This organization “rejects all hate and illegality, and believes firmly in law and order, backs police forces and will work actively in the courts to strike down all discrimination.” Its motto is “Never Again,” a phrase first used by survivors of the Buchenwald concentration camp upon being liberated.
Given what is going on at college campuses around the nation, this sounds like an organization that many of us might support. Except that this is not a new organization. The above words are from the mission statement and manifesto of the Jewish Defense League in 1968. The organization was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was assassinated in 1990, and has been inactive since 2002.
The JDL has a terrible reputation in most circles, and justifiably. What started as an organization devoted to fighting anti-Semitism and defending Jews morphed over the decades into a domestic terrorist organization. Physical violence became a first response rather than a measure of last resort. At times, the JDL would be proactively violent in order to eliminate a perceived threat rather than initiate a dialogue. The FBI identified that between 1980 and 1985, there were 15 acts of terrorism that were performed by members of the JDL.
Most of us Jews who grew up in the last decades of the 20th century looked at the JDL with disdain. We saw the organization as unnecessary. We often labeled its members as far-right extremists who were not searching for peace, but sought to express violence whenever possible. We viewed them as antithetical to having good relations with non-Jewish neighbors, and opposed to integrating patriotic Jews into American society. They were seen as crazy, violent, fanatical extremists. And let’s be clear: They were.
But their original mission was neither crazy nor extremist; it was a response to the violent and virulent Jew hatred that was pervading college campuses and society in the 1960s and early '70s. A hatred that is even greater today than it was 56 years ago when Kahane formed the JDL.
Let’s be clear: I am not recommending that the JDL be reborn, or saying that violence is the answer. But we need to consider the situation we are all seeing today: College graduations being canceled, Jews being threatened and even killed (may Paul Kessler rest in peace), temples being vandalized, and a hatred of Jews that rivals anything the world has seen since Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The terrorism that ended up being the practice of the JDL by the 1980s is not the answer, but what is?
Colleges are defying constitutional law and prohibiting Jews, pro-Israel supporters, and even the media from entering their “encampments” in public areas. Michigan is filled with people (some are even politicians) who are calling for “death to Israel, death to America.” College administrators are not allowing law enforcement to arrest these perpetrators of hate; they are not even expelling all students and firing all faculty who participate in these encampments. The rule of law has been abandoned. It is unsafe for Jews and any pro-Israel supporter, and nothing is being done about it with the exception of states like Florida and Texas.
In a topsy-turvy world where this type of persecution is allowed, what can be done? How can we stop this craziness legally, safely, and without resorting to the techniques that were ultimately utilized by the JDL?
One simple way is the legal system, as challenging and time consuming as it is. Attacking institutions like Columbia and USC financially is an effective way of changing their complacent behavior. The standards are clear and high in order to do this. Anyone filing a lawsuit must be a direct stakeholder and personally affected by the actions of the college. There must be “substantial disruption.” Free speech is, thank God, protected. But when these demonstrations lead to students missing classes, having graduation ceremonies canceled, and students in fear for their safety, the acts or lack of action by the university are violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Students and their parents pay a lot of tuition to attend a college -- money that is wasted when the student is forced to have any of the above experiences. Many law firms around the nation are taking on these cases (notably Dignity Law Group in California), and when enough legitimate suits are filed against each college, the administrations will quickly change their behavior and stop these crazy encampments and dangerous demonstrations.
A different method is to take the lesson from Kahane, but not to go to the extreme of violence that the JDL became known for. As Joel Pollak of Breitbart News personally experienced, these encampments have been trained in how to treat “invaders.” They use scarves to block any video footage, and link arms in a human chain, taking steps forward to force the “invader” out of their camp. While this is unconstitutional and an invitation for violence, the response to this must be clear, legal, and safe -- and lead to the encampment being disbanded and the demonstrators being arrested. And there is a way to achieve that goal.
Gather together in a group of 10 people with clear instructions. Eight should be videotaping, and two should have their phones ready to call the police. Walk into the encampment. Do not put on a mask (they are using these to cover their identities) or even speak with them. Just walk into the encampment together and force the demonstrators to act illegally. You will be threatened by the demonstrators, and they will attempt to force you out with their linked arms. Do NOT fight back, nor engage in verbal altercation: The goal is to get them arrested while you stay safe. As soon as they link their arms sit down as a group where you are. Do not argue or fight; just sit down and wait for them to act. The moment any of these demonstrators put a hand or foot on anyone, immediately call the police. Keep the cameras running at all times so that there is a video record of what they have done for prosecution purposes. Do not threaten to call the police, and do not even speak with them. Just sit down and force them to act illegally. We have as much right to sit in a public space as they do. If they are too close to you (they will be) and try to put a hand or scarf in front of your camera, politely tell them that doing so is a form of assault, and if they do not immediately desist you will call the police. Do not give a second warning, just call law enforcement. The goal is to force them into illegal actions such as assault, and immediately have the police come. Realize that this does potentially put you in harm’s way as some of these demonstrators are bona fide crazy, which again is a reason to stay calm and have a group. Also, it may be a wise idea to bring backpacks of food in case they decide to just encircle you for hours.
The most powerful thing that can physically be done to these collegiate idiots is not to get violent, but to just sit down. They are looking for violence, but Gandhi taught us the power of calmly sitting down, being still, and forcing evil to show its true colors. And make certain that at least two people are ready to call law enforcement.
The JDL was useful at one point prior to becoming an organization of violence. Evil can be exposed and conflict can be resolved non-violently through the power of enforcing the law -- whether it is through legal actions against the universities or through sit-downs that force demonstrators to act illegally.
These demonstrations must be stopped for the welfare of the country. Four years ago almost to the day, a “pandemic” was announced, government actions were taken, and in the name of “safety” all too many elections became mail-in, leading to questionable electoral results. If these pro-Hamas demonstrations are not quickly and legally stopped, is it that outrageous to think that Biden and company will again say that the streets are not safe and elections should again all be through mailings?
This is not an attack only on Jews, it is an attack on our nation, democracy, and Western culture. It must be defeated now, before it grows even more and, God forbid, becomes a nail in the coffin of America.
Never again -- not just for Jews, but for all people dedicated to freedom and the truth. We are again threatened by “political extremism” and “racist militancy” as we were in 1968. We must respond in safe and effective ways to keep Jews, Catholics (who are now being repeatedly persecuted as well), devout Christians and all people of faith safe. The values of this country cannot be allowed to be destroyed by useful idiots on college campuses.
Never again is now. And we will only be able to keep this nation whole if we have the courage to stand up. May we all have that courage, and be safe and sane in all our actions.
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Pro-Hamas Jews are Jews for antisemitism
The presence of Jews among those demonstrating for Hamas and supporting the surge in antisemitism doesn’t vindicate the “pro-Palestine” cause.
By JONATHAN S. TOBIN
One of the standard talking points of those seeking to rationalize and even justify the efforts of those supporting the survival of Hamas and the defeat of Israel since the Oct. 7 massacres is the fact that many Jews are among the ranks of these “critics” of the Jewish state. So, when observers point to the blatant anti-Semitism that has become a feature of the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests that have proliferated on North American college campuses and elsewhere in the last six months, those backing the demonstrations simply say they can’t be against Jews because Jews are among the participants.
The fact that a small sector are either lending tacit or overt support to the cause of those who wish to destroy the one Jewish state on the planet are themselves Jewish doesn’t absolve those who support this despicable cause. A Jewish student donning a Palestinian keffiyeh and chanting against Israel in the name of “Palestine” to fit in with fashionable opinion, or the public intellectual speaking out “as a Jew” to denounce the Jewish state’s right to defend itself or even to exist can be useful for those who traffic in Jew-hatred. Individuals who want to engage in antisemitism without having to be held accountable for spewing bigotry or even endangering Jews are glad of the cover these useful idiots provide.
Jews disagree on just about everything, including their religion, history and Israeli policies. There is a vigorous debate going on in Israel about whether the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should continue in office, in addition to whether the war against Hamas is being pursued with sufficient vigor or how much the country should concede to obtain the freedom of the remaining hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza. Those arguments will ultimately be resolved, as is the case for any democracy, at the ballot box the next time the country holds an election. American Jews also differ on a host of issues.
Turning against their own
It is natural for a small people to embrace a “big tent” philosophy to include as many people as possible. But there is nothing legitimate about Jews who provide cover in one form or another for anti-Semites, and even worse, an organization like Hamas, whose purpose is Israel’s destruction and the genocide of the Jewish people. Those who act in this manner don’t have the standing to confer authenticity to a cause that has none, and which, at its core, is steeped in intolerance for Jewish rights or safety.
The phenomenon of people who turn against their own and support their enemies is hardly unique to the Jews. Whether their motivation is their loathing for their countrymen or because they have been seduced by some ideology, such betrayals are a universal theme. However, due to the small number of Jews in the world (a population currently estimated to be 15.7 million souls, a figure that is still smaller than the 16.6 million that were believed to be alive in 1939 before the mass slaughter of the Holocaust), such betrayals have a disproportionate impact and receive far greater notice in a world where anti-Semitism is still a potent force.
That is the context for any discussion about the role of Jews in the “pro-Palestine” movement.
Jewish students are certainly present among the college mobs chanting for Israel’s destruction (“from the river to the sea”), supporting terrorism against Jews around the world (“globalize the intifada”) or merely identifying with the Oct. 7 murderers (“We are all Hamas”). Some of the professors who have rushed to their defense are also apparently Jewish, such as the signatories of this letter from Columbia University faculty speaking out in favor of the pro-Hamas demonstrators on that campus.
The same is true of public figures who have been leading the effort to demonize Israel’s efforts to eradicate the Hamas terrorists. New York Times contributor Peter Beinart, who once styled himself “liberal Zionist” but now advocates for Israel’s elimination, makes much of his alleged Jewish piety. Others on the far left don’t make such claims but still cite their Jewish heritage when supporting those who oppose the Jewish state’s existence. Perennial far-left presidential candidate Jill Stein of the Green Party is someone who falls into that category. Her recent rant on X in which she said that Jews can go back to Poland, alleged that the Israeli army was attacking pro-Hamas American college students on their campuses and said that only 0.1% of Jews support Zionism illustrated both her ignorance and how untethered her views are to reality.
Nevertheless, the attention these figures get from the mainstream media, in which publications like the Times or NPR claim that the Jewish element in anti-Semitic demonstrations on campuses are as representative of the Jewish community as supporters of Israel, demonstrates how they are being used.
The assertion that Israel’s actions are so egregious that a sizable percentage of American Jews no longer support it or have altogether embraced the cause of anti-Zionism is a key talking point for those seeking to isolate and demonize the Jewish state.
Rooted in falsehoods
Part of the problem is that the premise of such arguments is rooted in falsehoods. Israel is not conducting a genocide in the Gaza Strip, and owing to the large number of children there never has. It has done more to avoid civilian casualties in its war on Hamas than any modern army has ever done in urban combat. Nor should anyone believe the fraudulent totals of Palestinian casualties put forward by Hamas.
It is equally false to allege that most American Jews no longer support Israel. While opinions may differ on Netanyahu or specific government policies, polls continue to show overwhelming support for Israel in its war on Hamas.
Opposition to Zionism from certain elements in the Jewish community has existed since the birth of the modern movement in 1897. Before 1948, many prosperous Jews opposed a Jewish state because they wrongly thought that its existence would lead to their being deprived of their rights as Americans. Adherents of Reform Judaism in the 19th century embraced a vision that essentially eschewed any sense of Jewish peoplehood. And ultra-Orthodox Jews opposed Zionism because they believed that the creation of a Jewish state must await the coming of the Messiah. The Socialist Bundist movement believed in the creation of an autonomous Yiddish-speaking Jewish existence in Europe and hoped that a Communist revolution would enable that by ending all forms of prejudice.
Those positions have been marginalized since the Holocaust and the rebirth of a Jewish state in 1948 with the creation of Israel. Once Zionism stopped being merely a proposal and became the idea associated with the existence of an actual country where Jewish refugees from the Holocaust, and the Arab and Islamic world, had found shelter, all of the arguments against it collapsed. Since 1948, anti-Zionism has become indistinguishable from antisemitism simply because reversing not just the idea but the entity would necessitate another Jewish genocide. And it would also mean depriving Jews of rights denied to no other people on the planet.
The fears of the assimilated about the success of Zionism have long been exposed as self-serving fantasies. The Reform movement shifted in the 20th century to a position of support for Israel and Zionism, as well as a more traditional view of Jewish peoplehood. The hopes of the Bundists were crushed by Soviet antisemitism and the destruction of European Jewish civilization by the Nazi war on the Jews. And though a tiny fragment of haredim still oppose Israel and show up at pro-terror demonstrations to voice their puny support for those attempting to kill fellow Jews, they are unrepresentative of the larger ultra-Orthodox world, which has made its peace with Israel and has grown exponentially because of its existence.
Today, Jewish anti-Zionism is largely the preserve of ideological extremists on the far left. Their positions mimic the toxic myths of woke ideology like critical race theory and intersectionality, which falsely claim that Israel and Jews are “white” oppressors. (Those who know the facts understand that the majority of Israelis are Mizrachi.) Others advocate what they call “Diasporism,” an ideology that glorifies Jewish weakness and homelessness, and deplores efforts of Jews to defend themselves or have what other peoples take for granted, such as the right to live in peace and security with defensible borders in their ancient homeland. Curiously, while these anti-Zionist seekers of marginality and exile think that being homeless is somehow good for the Jews, they don’t think the same is true for Palestinian Arabs. While they decry even the most liberal concepts of Jewish nationalism, they are strong supporters of “Palestinian self-determination” and statehood, despite that cause being rooted in the belief that the same right should be denied to Jews.
Such intellectual arguments are risible and clearly anchored in an attempt to revive Marxism. But just as most of the anti-Zionist talking points emanating from the left is an echo of Soviet disinformation and propaganda that was used to promote the libelous “Zionism is racism” campaign of the 1960s and 1970s, it is equally true that Diasporism is being exploited by supporters of Hamas, as well as those who engage in open anti-Semitism.
Trafficking in blood libels
That is exactly what the activist groups Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now are doing. Both groups have gained popularity on campuses and have largely stolen the thunder of liberal Zionist groups like J Street, which tried to balance their vicious opposition to Israeli policies with at least theoretical support for the existence of the Jewish state. The two groups are not only openly opposed to the existence of a nation of 7 million Jews; they also traffic in blood libels about it and its supporters. Yet they are often cited as not only representative of Jewish opinion by the mainstream media but treated as credible and even idealistic voices.
One may be sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinian Arabs as a result of their leaders’ decisions to repeatedly reject peace offers that would have given them a state since 1947. They have repeatedly waged wars that caused more suffering to themselves than to the Jews. But when sympathy with a people that is suffering because it chose war and terrorism crosses over into support for genocidal Palestinian fantasies about erasing the last 75 years of history, it ceases to be advocacy for those in need and becomes a form of enabling violence. And that is what Jewish supporters of the “free Palestine” movement are doing.
Simply put, if you advocate for the destruction of Israel and oppose the defeat of a terrorist group that committed unspeakable atrocities on Oct. 7—and continues to seek a goal of Jewish genocide—then it doesn’t matter if you claim to have Jewish heritage. Those who do so can conduct public prayers or otherwise cloak their beliefs in a veneer of Jewish practice or heritage. But if the only point of your Jewish identity is to provide cover for those who commit violence against Jews and who believe they should be denied rights denied to no one else, then you are just as much of an anti-Semite as any other supporter of such toxic causes, whether “pro-Palestine” or neo-Nazi.
In the current context when Israel and the Jewish people are under siege from a surge in anti-Semitism that was provoked by the Oct. 7 crimes committed against Israel, a Jew who embraces the anti-Zionist “pro-Palestine” position is siding with the enemies of their own people.
Throughout history, such betrayers have always afflicted the Jewish people. However, only in our current era have they done so while masquerading as defenders of Jewish ethics that somehow erase basic elements of Judaism, like love of the land of Israel or even the right of Jews to defend themselves against the murder, rape, torture and kidnapping that Hamas perpetrated on Oct. 7 and that so many college students are now defending. They lend no legitimacy or credibility to the cause of leftists and Islamists who seek the destruction of the Jewish state. Jews may disagree about the government of Israel, but those who have joined pro-Hamas demonstrations can’t hide behind their Jewish origins. They are not Jews for justice or human rights. They are Jews for anti-Semitism—and should be treated with the contempt that anyone who sides with the murderers of their own people deserves.
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