Not by Words Alone

After October 7, massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been taking place almost daily, with riots on university campuses taking center stage in the news roundup. Actions in support of Israel are not so frequent and not so numerous.

Alone.

I have been to many protests and counter-protests, listened to many speeches, and seen the mood and reactions of the participants. The impression, for the most part, ranges from repulsive to depressing. Against this background, a rally in Times Square in Manhattan organized by the World Values Network and the Zionist Organization of America left a strong but contradictory impression.

The speakers are well-known, I have known them for a long time, listened to them many times, and I think they are the most brilliant speakers in America today – intellectuals of immense erudition and moral conviction, virtuosos of words and emotional impact, yet firm realists with no illusions about the state of the world and its prospects.

Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, America’s most famous lawyer, spoke of the absurd demagoguery of Biden and Blinkin trying to convince that stopping arms shipments to Israel and military action in Gaza will reduce civilian casualties. There is only one condition for the safety of civilians – the destruction of Hamas, and if America denies precision weapons, Israel will have to use other available means.

Hamas’ goal is as many civilian casualties as possible, this is its main weapon, and the US leadership supports it in this. The American government does not pass on to Israel, its steadfast ally, information about the whereabouts of terrorist leaders when American citizens are among the hostages. This is not the politics of the civilized world in the days of Roosevelt and Churchill; it is pandering to terror and hatred.

“I spent 70 years in universities, I know their life like no one else, I have taught over 10,000 students, but today I see the saturation of the curricula with Nazi ideas and the fear of the administration and authorities to confront Nazism,” said Alan Dershowitz.

Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, reminded that Hamas does not hide its intentions to destroy Israel and rejected all possibilities of peaceful coexistence, violated all agreements, never stopped terrorist activities. At the same time, the U.S. government has been funding Hamas for years and allowing Iran to supply terrorists with weapons.

90% of Palestinians support Hamas, they celebrated on October 7, they are not innocent victims of a military conflict, but participants in it. Palestinian casualties are many fewer than in America’s war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

Terrorist supporters at universities should be expelled and foreigners deported in accordance with American laws and the norms of a democratic society.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteh held a ceremony to honor Israeli civilians, victims of terrorists, and soldiers killed in the current war.

Hamas supporters also came to the rally, with a group of pro-Palestinian activists gathered on the left with slogans of “Freedom for Palestine.” Rabbi Shmuley endorsed the slogan in common sense norms, “Freedom for Palestine from Hamas.”

On the right, as always at pro- and anti-Israel rallies, a group of Hasidim stood and displayed slogans for the elimination of Israel. Rabbi Shmuley called them clowns dressed for Purim (a carnival Jewish holiday), but there is little funny here.

It is incomprehensible, but this group has for many years opposed the Jewish state and solidarized with the Palestinians. This branch of Hasidism emerged in 1930. Most of the group’s members live in Israel and in America. They believe that the expulsion of Jews from Israel, the difficulties of life in the Diaspora, even the Holocaust are punishment for sins, apostasy from the Torah. (This view is not shared by most orthodox and Hasidic Jews.)

The group’s leaders regularly meet on an official level with the leaders of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. These Hasidim burn Israeli flags, participate in anti-Israel demonstrations, support riots on university campuses, speak of Palestinian genocide, deny two states – all Israeli land should be Palestinian. Wide PR is always provided for them.

They are not confused by curses and insults, and associate the solution to all problems with the coming of Moshiach, who will recreate the true Israel and establish peace and understanding. Any discussion with this group is out of the question.

The rally ended with a concert and dancing, but there was little joy. Compared to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, few people showed up, the brilliant speakers didn’t get much mainstream media attention. But given the state of public consciousness, if the voice of reason and conscience were to reach the widest possible audience, there is little hope for a change of heart.A lone Israeli woman waved an Israeli flag and shouted “Bring them home.” To whom was she addressing? To Heaven? K Biden and Blinkin? K Hamas?

A voice crying out in the wilderness

I’ve spent many years teaching and journalism, and I confess, when attending public events and listening to speakers with whom I share positions, I often think I could have said things better and more convincingly. But the speakers at the Times Square rally were at the height of real understanding of the circumstances, logic and oratory.

Alan Dershowitz, at 28, became Harvard University’s youngest law professor. When he was a student, elite universities maintained quotas for admitting Jewish students and appointing faculty. Alan grew up in an orthodox Jewish family in a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn. At the university, he immediately became involved in the fight against anti-Semitism, and it was largely due to his efforts that the administration backed down.

In addition to teaching, Dershowitz became famous for his participation as a lawyer in sensational criminal trials, in which he usually came out victorious. They include the acquittals in court of O.J. Simpson, Klaus von Below, Michael Tyson, Donald Trump, and Harvey Weinstein. (Dershowitz did not participate in the recent trial that convicted Weinstein.) He was also a consultant to the defense team of Julian Assange, Leonid Kuchma, and many other high-profile foreign clients.

Perhaps the most difficult episode of his career was when he had to defend himself. Once Jeffrey Epstein, whose house was frequented by top politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities, asked his birthday guests to invite the smartest person they knew to his house in lieu of a gift. So Dershowitz, unaware of the atmosphere in the house, found himself one of the defendants 15 years later. It took three years of hard and expensive work to prove his innocence. Truly, woe betide the mind.

For many years, Dershowitz was an active member of the Democratic Party, but when it became apparent that it was becoming increasingly hostile to Israel and promoting anti-Semites in politics, he switched to an independent position. He warned early on about legislation becoming a political tool, and when it became fully manifest against Trump, he came to his defense.

As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict worsened and anti-Semitism grew in the world, Dershowitz paid more and more attention to these issues. He participated in many debates, defending the Jewish state and denouncing its enemies. He believes that in the age of terrorism, the understanding of civilians must be redefined. In academic and legal discussions, he opposes Israel’s accusations of genocide, apartheid, and discrimination against Palestinians.

For years he was the most popular teacher and lecturer on legal issues, but his position has changed attitudes, invitations are canceled, speeches are disrupted. When it comes to defending Jews, there is no question of free speech.

The press, left and right, friendly and hostile, calls Shmuley Boteach “America’s Rabbi,” “The most famous rabbi in America,” “A Jewish TV star,” “One of the world’s most famous Jews.” His presence guarantees an explosion of passions of approval and protest. Friends and foes alike recognize his inimitable polemical talent, oratorical skill, and the power of his arguments.

Usually religious figures are persuasive only to their coreligionists, but he knows how to speak to supporters of other religious beliefs and to secular audiences. His interlocutors can be atheists, people of “alternative sexual orientations” and even open anti-Semites and opponents of the Jewish state.

His popularity also finds expression in the fact that no participant in the struggle between Israel’s defenders and terrorist collaborators receives as many messages of hatred and threats to him and his family as Shmuley Boteach.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe Mendel Schneerson had a decisive influence on the formation of Shmuley’s personality and beliefs. On the recommendation of the Rebbe, he became rabbi of Oxford University and spent 11 years in that role. He established the Lechaim Society at the university, which included more than 5,000 non-Jews. Speakers at the organization’s events have included presidents and prime ministers, leading politicians, science, art and sports celebrities, among them Mikhail Gorbachev, Stephen Hawkins and Diego Maradona. For many years, Shmuley was Michael Jackson’s friend and spiritual mentor.

In orthodox circles he was condemned for including non-Jews and gays in society, but Shmuley rejected these ideas as contrary to the essence of the Rebbe’s teachings. A sharp controversy arose when he invited Israeli Prime Minister Isaac Rabin, a supporter of signing a peace agreement with the Palestinians, to speak. There was a storm of outrage among Jewish liberals over the rabbi’s support of Donald Trump.Shmuley is the creator and director of the World Values Network, an organization that promotes the spiritual and moral concepts of Judaism and Zionism.

He is the author of 36 books, including Judaism for Everyone, A Man of Faith, Hating Women, The Overthrown American Man, The Israeli Warrior, Kosher Sex, and Passion for Love. He is a regular on television and radio programs, an interviewer for prominent journalists, and is equally well known on both CNN and FOX News.

Shmuley has nine children, all of whom served in the Israeli army, two sons in military service today. 

He has had disputes and disagreements with many Jewish leaders, including Alan Dershowitz and Mort Klein, but today he is doing his best in the name of unity of forces against barbarism and hatred.

Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, is an uncompromising defender of the Jewish state, a fighter against anti-Semitism in the country in the world, a harsh critic of appeasement of terrorists and recognition of their claims.

He is the son of Holocaust survivors, born in post-war Germany. When he was 4 years old, the family moved to America. His father was a Satmar rabbi, but because of the community’s stance on the re-establishment of Israel, he severed ties with it and became a defender of the Jewish state. Klein’s family experienced firsthand the conditions of the Nazi regime, and the illusions of American Jewish liberals were alien to them.

Mort Klein had a successful career as an economist and statistician in the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations, but after the signing of the Oslo Accords, which he considers disastrous, he concentrated his efforts on his activities in the JSA.

Unlike most Jewish organizations that remain committed to the Democratic Party, SOA is sharply critical of the current government’s Middle East policy and the anti-Semitic positions of progressives in Congress, universities, and the media. SOA sees the Biden administration’s position as a continuation of Obama’s anti-Israel policy aimed at saving the regimes of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, condemns the consistent anti-Israel policy of the UN, calls on American Jews to understand who are their friends and who are their enemies, to abandon illusions and fantasies, to realize the measure of danger comparable to the situation in Nazi Germany on the eve of the war.

Alan Dershowitz, Shmuley Boteach, Mort Klein will emerge victorious in any debate, but events are not going their way. That would not stop them; prophets have never enjoyed understanding and mass support. In the words of the Bible, “They will refuse to listen to you because they won’t listen to me…, but you should tell them about it anyway.” (Ezekiel 3:7-11.)

What to do and what not to do

Obviously, the most convincing arguments and oratorical skills are not enough to radically change the global course of events. Today the attitude towards Israel is worse than in its entire new history, anti-Semitism is already unmasked and has taken on global proportions. 70% of UN members have recognized a Palestinian state. The number of UN resolutions condemning Israel is twice as many as all other countries combined. Hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths in the wars of the last decade, tens of millions of refugees, all these are only statistics on the periphery of public attention, governments, international organizations and the media, while at the center of the universe is the denunciation of Israel, accused of genocide and war crimes.

References to the Balfour Declaration and sensible UN decisions of many years ago have long been overridden by its current position hostile to Israel. The arguments related to the war against fascism and the methods used by the Allies to achieve victory – carpet and atomic bombing of cities where there were no armed forces, after the war Germany lost significant territories from which millions of Germans were expelled forever, Allied troops stayed in the country for decades to prevent the revival of Nazism – are more convincing to contemporaries. But that won’t convince the majority either.

Mass ignorance is intertwined with manipulation, propaganda and political interests of forces not interested in stabilizing the Middle East. And if there are no forces and resources to change the situation, we should at least imagine the real situation without illusions and not rely on groundless assurances and promises, no matter who they come from.

The “Never Again” mantra was refuted definitively on October 7. Only Israel’s armed forces can protect Israel from a tragedy of greater magnitude. In the Western world, democratic institutions have weakened, liberal ideologies are destroying notions of laws, norms and justice. Demographic and political processes are not working in favor of the Jews.

Today America stands at a crossroads, and the presidential election will largely determine its historical destiny. One can argue endlessly about the virtues and vices of Democrats and Republicans and their leaders, but one thing is certain – the Democratic Party is no longer a friend of the Jews. Jews are a small fraction of the world’s population, a mere 2% of voters in America, but with the current balance of political power, a million Jewish votes could decide the outcome of an election. Knowing and accepting the support of the majority of Jews as guaranteed, the Biden government can focus on winning the support of other groups while ignoring Jewish interests. 

The priorities of the efforts of most American Jews have been to take care of minorities of color, illegal immigrants, gays, and to promote liberal ideology and progressives. Today, the beneficiaries of Jewish concerns are on the side of Israel’s adversaries, least concerned with the safety and rights of their benefactors. Will most Jewish organizations and Reform synagogues reconsider their positions? The answer to this question provides a glimpse of what lies ahead for Jews in America in the coming years.

Today, Congress and American institutions, though weakened by leftist and liberal pressures, still largely function according to the Constitution and legal norms. But the example of Europe, where the fate of Jews is sealed by immigration and the rise of neo-Nazism, points to the dynamics at play. The time is not far off when the progressives Omar, Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Bush, Lee, Ramirez, and their associates in the media, universities, and schools will receive powerful reinforcements. The displacement of Jews from politics, media, teaching, and finance is predictable by demographics and the public atmosphere. Jewish liberals have contributed much to this process.

It is time to give up fantasies about the beneficial role of education and economic uplift. All this is a good cause but has little to do with overcoming anti-Semitism, elite universities are the latest evidence of this. Holocaust museums are not the solution either. Jew-haters have successfully used the phraseology of genocide to their advantage.

Illusory thinking is not unique to liberals. Many of the basic arguments of Israel’s supporters, the fighters against anti-Semitism, are not only unconvincing to the outside world, but also to many Jews. Citing biblical sources and archaeology to explain Israel’s territorial rights convinces only religious Jews and evangelical Christians.

Today, secularists often turn to religious leaders to explain what is happening. The answers they get, for a non-believer and sometimes even a believer, do not stand up to logical and moral criticism. “Truth will prevail,” “Justice is on our side,” “We are united,” “We must,” and parables from thousands of years ago are not convincing to most of our contemporaries.  Questions inevitably arise about thousands of years of persecution, the Holocaust, October 7, the ineradicability of anti-Zionism, and what one hears does not provide an acceptable answer.

A rich history, great achievements, the number of Nobel laureates and the highest IQ may be a source of national pride, but the destiny of a nation is determined first and foremost by its ability to recognize reality and defend its interests.