The Court’s decision was prompted by a petition filed by The Movement for Quality Government, the Brothers and Sisters in Arms and 240 other Israeli citizens. They object to exempting thousands of ultra-Orthodox draft-eligible people from military service. The government instructed the IDF not to draft the yeshiva students in June 2023, though the exemption had expired. The petitioners responded saying, “It’s very saddening that instead of understanding that something illegal is being done here – a government decision in violation of the law – the attorney general is enabling the continuation of the illegal situation and allowing the sinner to benefit. In fact, she is defending an illegal situation in court.”

In a gross act of hubris-chutzpah, Bibi promised his ultra-Orthodox parties that the legislation they want for extending exemptions will be passed. This would not be the first time Bibi has made promises to allies he doesn’t have the standing to keep, without cooperation from other parties unlikely to go along. He’s become well-accustomed to sacrificing Israel’s immediate and long-term interests for his own political survival, not unlike Donald Trump. And any such bill that might pass the Knesset will not pass the Supreme Court, judging by their recent actions.

 The exemption of yeshiva and rabbinical students from military service dates to the founding of Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Most of the European and global rabbinate, libraries and scholarship history had been wiped out by the Nazis. The exemption was necessary to rebuild 20^th Century Judaism from the ground up to re-stock the synagogues, universities and yeshivas. By most accounts, that was amply accomplished by the 1973 War. The original exemption applied to only 400 yeshiva students, at a time when the comprised a small segment of the population. Ironically, the Haredim were some of the original anti-Zionist, who opposed the creation of the Jewish State, which they viewed as an impediment to the return of the Messiah. So in 1948, their opting out of military service was not significant to security.  Now they comprise roughly 14% of the Israeli population, as noted above, and is the fastest growing demographic, creating a drag on the economy and military. They remained exempt from the conscription pool when the nation has never been more embattled with wars on multiple fronts.

In 1998, the Court dispensed with the exemption, as a violation of equal protection law. Since then, a series of short-term agreements through the Courts and Knesset kept it in place. The most recent one in 2018 expired on March 31, after which, Bibi tried and failed to negotiate with the Court to extend the deadline; and pass a law to permanently enshrine it in Israeli law.

The Court’s ruling validated what many exemption objectors argued all along, that the government could not subsidize the yeshiva students, while exempting them from the conscription requirements of all other Israeli citizens. This was an application of the American “equal protection” concept, enshrined in the 14^th Constitutional Amendment. Israel had no such law until 2021.    

“How military exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox divide Israel” | REUTERS Video

This Court decision has fractured the Israeli government, which has been a delicate balance of ultra-Orthodox leaders and far-right secular groups promoting illegal settlements in Palestinian territory. If PM Benjamin Netanyahu does not defy his own Court (again), the Haredim might leave the government prompting new elections. But if the decision is not honored, some secular politicians might prompt the collapse. The Likud government is dependent on two ultra-Orthodox parties to keep the government in power, Shas and United Torah Judaism.

Haredim or Haredi are the most observant Jews adhering to every one of the 613 laws in the Torah, Talmud, the Midrash and other formal commentaries. Unlike the Chassidic Chabad Lubavichers, the Haredim are rigidly exclusionary towards other Jews, and self-segregating; while Chabad engages in secular outreach and is accepting of Jews who are not as observant. The self-exclusionary nature of Haredi is fueled by the fact that, “They teach their children to despise secular Jews. They do not recognize the state, they are anti-Zionist; to them, we are simply a cash register that must be robbed,” according to Haaretz columnist Nehemia Shtrassler.

The Court had given the government the April 1 deadline to submit a new bill and until June 30 to pass it, when it ruled the exemption to be a violation of “equal protection,” and thus discriminatory. The war cabinet consists of Bibi, along with Ministers Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz. The latter two argue that Bibi’s proposal does not go far enough to meet the manpower needs of the IDF, and they want more Haredi men in the troops.  Most of the 287,000 reservists called up on October 7 have since been released, but will return to active duty soon. Many reservists resent being compelled to serve longer active terms, and want the Haredi men drafted.

The drama was elevated when Gantz, the former general, opposition leader and war cabinet member;  called out this untenable situation, and demanded new elections in September. Gantz suggested that early elections would provide Israel with international legitimacy, a direct reference to public comments by the US and other allies, over the growing objections to Bibi’s leadership, and the self-destructive nature of the far-right government. He said, “I believe Israeli society needs to renew its contract with its leadership, and I think the only way to do it and still maintain the national effort in fighting Hamas… is by having an agreed election date. ”  His comments elicited a harsh reaction from the Likud, dismissing the call as “petty politics,” claiming it would lead to paralysis, divisiveness and an impediment to freeing the hostages; as if they’re on track to accomplish any of this, and actually care about the hostages more than causing famine in Gaza. Bibi claimed that new elections would “paralyze the country,” as if he hasn’t already accomplished that. He follows the same double-speak playbook as Trump with the media.

But Gantz’s position also brought parallel, but different objections from fellow Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who insisted that Gantz’s centrist position does not go far enough. Lapid said, “Israel cannot wait another six months until the worst, most dangerous and failed government in the country’s history goes home. As long as we are a democracy, there is a tool that changes reality. It is called elections. Election now!” This places Israeli opposition leaders in alliance with Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. His dramatic Senate Floor speech last month called for new Israeli elections; and also called out Bibi for focusing more on his political survival than the security of his nation, or minimizing civilian casualties in Gaza. But it’s President Joe Biden’s move now to halt US aid to the Israeli war machine, to dignify Schumer’s rhetoric and legitimize his own.

The Bibi government is like to fall soon, a consequence of political over-reach for an untenable situation, and his own brand of hubris-chutzpah. After a series of inconsequential elections and back room bargaining, which yielded no majority; he managed to cobble a fractured government, composed of ministers with competing and conflicting agendas and interests. It was destined to fail from the beginning, and now they face a dilemma certain to bring it down. It’s a matter of time. Benny Gantz of the National Unity Party has declared that if new elections aren’t held by September, his party will leave the government.

Schumer said in his speech, “Palestinian civilians do not deserve to suffer for the acts of Hamas. The US has an obligation to do better to get aid to the people who need it.” Few other US political leaders have dared to express that sentiment so boldly, but it is remarkable to see Schumer saying things on this issue that are so close to the stance of his fellow Senator Bernie Sanders. Schumer comes from a family of Holocaust survivors, and his name in Hebrew means “guardians of the faith.” Schumer prefaced his comments saying, “Oct. 7 was pure & pre-meditated evil. The widespread antisemitic expressions by many Americans have awakened the deepest fears of the Jewish people that our annihilation remains a possibility.”

With that family background and context, Schumer called out Israel as no other high-ranking US politician with such ranking ever has, other than President Barack Obama. President Joe Biden has also expressed growing objections and public differences with Bibi, as have other Members of Congress, many of them Jewish.

Bibi and his Gaza campaign are endangering Biden’s chances of re-election, as many Americans are horrified by images and stories in Gaza, and blame Biden for supporting the Israeli war machine. The traditional American blank check for Israeli military operations has become a huge political liability. Never has American largesse been so badly abused by an ally or client state. Americans have reacted forcefully and viscerally to Israel’s actions, which has given life to a new form of antisemitism.

The Guardian News Video: “Israeli PM Netanyahu ‘obstacle to peace’ in Gaza, says US Senate majority leader”

American Democratic leaders are doing what Israelis are afraid to do, and demand the end to Bibi’s leadership. He’s used the PM position to shield himself from criminal charges, and as with Donald Trump, intends to “fix” the Courts and legislature to absolve himself of all past and future crimes.

Despite widespread condemnation of Bibi in Israel, many Israelis are reluctant to address the obvious need to depose him. When I’ve quizzed some deeply religious Israeli friends about the viability of Bibi’s continued leadership the answer is, “That’s not for me to decide.” Those wedded to the myth of Biblical prophecy sometimes shut themselves off from political realities, and are reluctant to think beyond their comfort zone. Schumer and Biden have challenged that.

The American blank check for Israel is about to have a finite dollar amount and expiration date. Ha’aretz columnist Yossi Vetter noted that with the airlift to Gaza, “The U.S. has effectively broken the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has been in place since June 2007. Another achievement by the fully right-wing government.” Biden has promised that no American soldiers would serve in Gaza, however some “contractors” must be employed to build the pier and makeshift port. What’s notable is the US building new infrastructure in Gaza to provide aid. With that, the US is expressing its disapproval of Israel by tacitly violating its sovereignty. But Israel is cooperating by providing security in the perimeter of the operation.

Bibi has been taunting Democrats and the US since before his speech to Congress, while he did not visit the Obama White House in 2015, and was not invited. But he colluded with House Speaker John Boehner and Republicans to show up the President.

The US move to break the blockade is a challenge to Israel on the order of President Dwight Eisenhower’s leadership during the 1956 Suez crisis. . Ike was facing re-election just weeks away when Israel invaded the Suez with support from the UK and France. An inconvenient coincidence was the Soviet invasion of Hungary three days before. General Ike essentially said in salty terms, “If you don’t pull back from the Suez, I can’t stand up to Khrushchev in Hungary.” That was the point in history when US supplanted the UK and France as Israel’s primary sponsors.

Biden and Schumer are sending strong leadership messages, as no US president has since then. Hopefully, this will address and counter the popularity of “uncommitted” votes in some recent Democratic primaries. That illustrates how the Democrats’ unconditional defense of Israel’s actions in Gaza has hurt them politically. Many Americans across age and ethnic spectrums are horrified by Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, and expressed themselves in the primaries by casting protest votes, confident Biden would prevail.

However, anyone even thinking about a protest vote to express themselves in the November election must remember the alternative: Donald Trump could become president again, and inflict way more domestic and global damage than Biden could possibly do. Trump would let Israel “do whatever the hell they want,” just as he said he would encourage Putin’s new USSR in Ukraine. Also important is that a vote for Biden or Trump is a vote for their teams, ideas, policies and goals; not the men themselves. So they’re both old. Biden is manageable, and tended by lucid advisers. Trump is not.

Biden is still Israel’s patron, but is attempting to restrain it from its worst instincts under Bibi. Trump fueled and empowered Bibi’s worst instincts during his presidency. Schumer gets credit for his candor and cojones for stating the obvious: It’s time for Bibi to go. It may be too late for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine, but that Schumer seems genuinely to want one at this juncture is significant. It matters that Schumer is a descendant of Holocaust survivors, an observant Jew, a Zionist and highest ranking Jewish-American elected official in history.

Having seen every Super Bowl since 1966, this is the first one where media focus is divided between the game and America’s favorite power couple.  Republicans have abdicated ownership of the manliest game in America to the Snowflake Collective. They’re having an apoplectic fit at Fox-MAGA world for many reasons; mainly the romance of Swift and Kelce.  

Let’s connect the dots: Swift is part of the deep state conspiracy to rig the election in favor of Joe Biden. She’s a psyop (psychological operative) within the Pentagon and a tool of the deep state, who endorsed Democratic candidates in Tennessee. Swift also expressed regret over not speaking out sooner against Donald Trump, and they just hate it when globally famous female superstars diss on them. They also can’t figure out why Young Republican men have trouble finding dates.

Her steady Kelce was one of the few white players to take the kneeldown in honor of the BLM movement. He’s been a pro-vax spokesman for Pfizer and other progressive causes.

In MAGA world, the Super Bowl is a deep fix orchestrated by the Deep Left of the Deep State to sew up the 2024 Election on Super Bowl night. The Chief’s will win, and America’s new power couple will announce their endorsement of Joe Biden. I’m already collecting my popcorn for the big reveal. The fix is so deep that all other AFC playoff teams (Dolphins, Bills and Ravens) willingly rolled over for the Chiefs to set this plot afoot.

Why do Republicans hate Swift? SF Chronicle’s Ann Killion noted, “She sets up voter registration tables at her concerts and has encouraged millions of young people to register. She treats her employees great, handing out $55 million in bonuses to her roadies and staff. Her charitable contributions include food banks, survivors of sexual assault, cancer organizations, public schools, animal groups and disaster relief. She’s a force — for good and for girls. Now, all that power is benefiting the NFL.” Killion summarized, ““The entertainment star has done the seemingly impossible: Swift has made the NFL even bigger. It’s no wonder that so many men are acting like third-grade boys afraid of cooties.”

With her fan base, Swift is lining up her constituency of teenage girls to get out the vote for Biden. I hope she covers Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” so we can hear her say, “I’d like to help you girl, but you’re too young to vote.”

Video: “MAGA media targets Taylor Swift with conspiracy theories” | NBC4 Washington

Swifties are naturally offended by the GOP, especially after that Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile the Fox News Cheer Team (their female newscasters), are especially bug-eyed with their mouth-breathing assessments. Other choice panic attacks have been expressed by other MAGA supplicants:

Jack Posobiec: “They’re gearing up for an operation to use Taylor Swift in the election against everything: against Trump, for Biden, they’re gonna get her and all you know they call them the Swifties they’re going to turn those into voters, you watch.” OK.

Laura Loomer said, “The Democrats’ Taylor Swift election interference psyop is happening in the open . . . It’s not a coincidence that current and former Biden admin officials are propping up Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. They are going to use Taylor Swift as the poster child for their pro-abortion GOTV Campaign.” Fine.

Jack Lombardi warned, this conspiracy, “. . . has one purpose, to capture and manipulate the feelings of American women.” They know Trump can’t beat the Legion of Swifties, so they’re forfeiting the 2024 Election in advance, to hasten the riots they’ve wanted since January 6.

SF Chronicle’s Scott Ostler reminds us that Taylor has all the qualifications for president that Trump does: “A president who is a preening pop celebrity who spends hours a day on their makeup and hair, whose only qualification for office is the power to draw crowds of adoring, hypnotized followers. Let’s not get sucked into that kind of silliness.” THAT’S what they’re afraid of.

For all those worried about Western Civilization and Democracy, fear not. The Fox-MAGA echo chamber is half the size of the echo chamber for the mostly civilized world. The only thing I’m betting on is that no hearts and minds will be changed between the final gun of the Super Bowl and the 2024 Election. Echo, echo, echo . . . and get out the vote!

Bibi’s war crimes have fueled an explosion in global Antisemitism on the Left, while Donald Trump stokes it from the right. Most of the world, including many Jews; don’t distinguish between Zionism as a mutated political philosophy from Judaism, the religion. Now the American material and financial support of the Israeli war machine is deeply hurting President Joe Biden’s re-election bid. The US has enabled Israel since it supplanted Great Britain and France as Israel’s protectors after the failed 1956 Suez invasion. The unwillingness of the US to divorce itself from Israel, and many Jews to divorce Judaism from Zionism, is strengthening Antisemitism. It is also inadvertently helping Trump’s bid to re-take the presidency.

Antisemitism has been a social disease for about 2,024 years, if not longer. In the wake of Trump’s presidency and metastasizing political movement, it is globally stronger and more visible than any time since WWII. His leadership has empowered not only Fascists in the US, but authoritarian dictators and movement globally. Most destructive is how Trump and Bibi have cross-promoted one another’s quest for fascist dictatorships.

At the same time, Jewish Americans have been subjected to the “Great Replacement” Conspiracy Theory. Some on the MAGA far right have adopted it. At Charlottesville, pro-Trump Neo-Nazis chanted “Jews will not Replace us.”

As Juan Cole wrote recently, “In 2021, [Rep. Elise] Stefanik began taking up the talking points of the Great Replacement Theory. It holds that wealthy Jewish businessmen are bringing in immigrants from the Global South to replace white workers, since the immigrants will work more cheaply. Stefanik perhaps did not utter the phrase, but she appealed to all the dog whistles of this odious theory. Marianna Sotomayor noted last year at the Washington Post that Stefanik put out campaign ads saying, “Radical Democrats are planning their most aggressive move yet: a PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION . . . Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.” Guess who the “radical Democrats” might be, to which she refers? Could they possibly be people such as, oh, I don’t know, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and other Jewish American legislators who have worked for immigration reform?”

Antisemitism has also become a 3^rd Rail in American politics, with many elected officials intimidated from weighing in either way. That’s the case in the City of Oakland, where I live. The Mayor’s Office, City Administrator, HR Division and City Council members have all ignored a week’s worth of inquiries, requesting to discuss the visible rise of Antisemitism in City government and the Oakland Unified School District. Dozens of Jewish families have withdrawn their children in response to hostility. Some people on the fringe left, including public employees in Oakland are arguing that, “the October 7 attack was a ‘false flag’ staged by Israel – likely with help from the Americans — to justify genocide in Gaza.” This is a gross characterization born out of willful ignorance.

The new Antisemitism from the left may actually be more dangerous than the traditional, garden-variety brand, embraced by the far-far right. October 7 denial is more dangerous than Holocaust denial, which has fueled Antisemitism on the extreme right for decades. Cyber-Well, a non-profit devoted to countering Antisemitism online cautioned, “Whereas Holocaust denial at its height was limited to fringe academic circles and extremist hate groups who gained a limited following through traditional media, conferences, and papers, today social media platforms provide an algorithmically enhanced stage to disseminate the Antisemitic narrative of October 7 denial directly into the mainstream from a select few influential accounts.” The denialist POV is ignorant about some very important things: 1.) Hamas is NOT Islam and indeed committed atrocious war crimes that violate Islam’s Shari’a code. 2.) Zionism is NOT Judaism, but a mutant ideology that strayed far from its secular, agrarian ideals under a series of corrupt politicians. The Gaza War crimes are afoul of Halacha (Jewish law), as Hamas is of Shari’a.

Democracy Now! “New Film Examines American Jews’ Growing Rejection of Israel’s Occupation”

Counterintuitively, the compulsion for unquestioned American support for Israel is now driven more by US Evangelicals than Jews, as more Jews turn away from Zionism. To many Jews, the Temple Sunday School myth that Israel MUST be a central focus of Judaism is invalid. Since October 7, more Jews than ever have stopped supporting Israel. Anti-zionism, as the concept has evolved, does not mean dismantling the State of Israel, but demanding a Palestinian State alongside it. Zionism began as a non-nationalist, secular agrarian movement, without any rhetoric about Jewish Nationalism or fulfilling Biblical prophecy.

October 7 denialism is not so different from January 6 denialism. One promotes and advocates violence against the US government, and the other violently marginalizes a vital sector of the American population – Jews in this case. The ugliness of this false narrative resulted in an atmosphere of unfettered anti-Jewish sentiments, clothed in objections to Israel.

I’ve openly taken Israel to task for its gross war crimes since the late 1970’s, and I have formally dissociated myself from Zionism. So I am making this critique from a progressive POV.

Reasonable objectors were shouted down and verbally abused at a recent City Council meeting.

The “false flag” promoted by leftists denies some very obvious war crimes, which have been well-documented in Hamas and Israeli videos, plus independent media outlets. As for validating the horrors inflicted on Israeli women, it’s been well documented, but is somehow ignored even by groups devoted to protecting women. Oakland and all municipalities in the Bay Area make it a priority to protect women, promote women’s safety and services. We can expect city employees to show the same concern for Jewish lives. Decrying the atrocities of the Gaza campaign and standing for Palestinian rights are worthy causes that are cheapened by denying the basic facts of the horrific terrorist attack launched by Hamas militants on October 7.

A recent Haaretz editorial begins, “War and emergencies provide fertile ground for curbing individual rights, even to the point of disposing of them while expanding the state’s rights to surveil and control its citizens, ostensibly for reasons of ‘state security.’ As in Iran and Russia, Israel is “putting a chokehold on dissent.” A companion threat arises from Communications Minister Shlomo Khari, who has proposed dissolving the Cable and Satellite Council as well as the Second Authority of Television and Radio, and consolidating all that media power into his hands with Bibi’s approval and supervision. As Bibi faces criminal indictments on three fronts, he’s desperately using any state mechanisms available to shut out information that reveals the depth of his crimes, as he prosecutes greater war crimes to stoke the state of emergency and remain in power.

*Since October 7, civil liberties for Israeli Arabs living in Israel and the West Bank have been destroyed: Young men and women who voiced support for their families enduring the siege of Gaza have lost jobs, been kicked out of schools, and had their lives and livelihoods destroyed by the Shin Bet. Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Belezel Smotrich have given unconditional approval for far-right Israeli settlers to carry out violent attacks on law-abiding Palestinians, in an effort to drive them out. Bibi’s goals in Gaza and Israel is to make Palestinian lives so miserable, they will willingly go anywhere else, though they have no place to go.

Aljazeera English Video: “Occupied West Bank arrests: Palestinians held without charge by Israel”

Meanwhile Bibi is betraying the Israeli hostages in Gaza, and appears to be willingly sacrificing them for his war effort to remain in power. By doubling down on his demands, Bibi is knowingly squeezing the lives of the hostages and non-combatants in Gaza. For Bibi, destroying Palestinian lives is more important than saving Israeli ones. To the callous and insensitive mindset of Bibi’s Zionism, this Faustian bargain is not a “moral quandary,” but rather a “strategic bind,” as characterized by the NYT.

As a Jew, I grieve over the fate of the Israeli hostages, and the 10’s of 1000’s of Palestinian victims of Bibi’s war crime massacres. The hostages have all suffered horrible fates, and we can’t know how many are still alive. I especially grieve over the fates of the innocent Israeli women subjected to the most horrible sex crimes imaginable, the innocent children whose lives have been reduced to war pawn status, the elderly and disabled who likely perished without the intensive care and medication they need, and all the innocent people on both sides who suffered horrible deaths as non-combatants. We can’t know if there are living hostages to be bargained for. Regardless, their lives don’t matter to Bibi; he’s already shown he’s willing to sacrifice them, leaving him free to prosecute further war crimes against the Palestinians. Then consider that the goal of wiping out Hamas will bring an opportunity cost of even more Israeli lives.

Thoughtful war-tested Israeli generals do not believe the hostages can be rescued by military operations; that leaves diplomacy and hard bargaining-sacrifices as the only option. A tragic dialectic is occurring in Israel with, “Right-wing politicians … urging the military to act more aggressively in Gaza, even while Israel is contending with outrage across the globe over the carnage and decimation of so much of the territory. At the same time, the families of hostages are urging concessions to secure their return.”

As badly as Bibi disrespected President Barack Obama with his address to Congress in 2016 after he refused the President’s White House invitation, Bibi’s disrespect is becoming even more costly to President Joe Biden. Biden is sacrificing great political capital, in a futile effort to be a good ally to Israel. The US de facto position now is that there MUST be an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, governed by moderate forces of the Palestinian Authority. Bibi made his own deathly Faustian bargain when he shunned a willing negotiating partner in the PA, leaving Hamas with all the power, but a fatal intent to destroy Israel. The PA was willing to bargain acceptance of Israel’s existence. Hamas won’t negotiate anything, and neither will Bibi. That’s a recipe for protracted war, which has already lit fuses along the Lebanese border, the Red Sea, Yemen and now the Irani-Pakistani border. Without a change in Israeli leadership, we are on the path to WWIII (G-d forbid).

Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, has clearly said that, “Only a deal with Hamas would secure the release of the hostages,” he said, adding that Israel had so far failed in its stated aim of destroying Hamas. This keen recognition fuels the movement to oust Bibi, which had been gaining momentum until October 7, and is again gaining force. Bibi’s self-serving, dysfunctional leadership has brought more fractures to Israeli society from within, while stoking greater external threats at the same time. Joe Biden needs to get forceful to demanding Bibi’s resignation. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken needs to get make good on threats to withhold aid to the Israeli war crimes machine. Not doing so could cost Biden the 2024 Election.

Colonial Uganda, H/t British Online Archives

Bibi’s empowerment of “Israeli Proud Boys” such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Belezel Smotrich, gives him the chutzpah and hubris to openly discuss a “forced” migration, couched in Orwellian doublespeak to call it a “voluntary” migration.

The notion to resettle Gazan war refugees in the Congo came from Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, though some Israeli officials deny it is being seriously considered. This very proposal illustrates the deeply corrupt ideology that Zionism has become under Bibi: A movement that began to save Jews from the Holocaust has mutated into a murderous government, devoted to war crimes against other people, and to expel them from their own historical homeland.

Under Bibi’s leadership, Zionism has become a driving force in global anti-Semitism. It was already at an all-time high since WWII because of Donald Trump’s enabling and promotion of American and European Nazi movements. Anti-Semitism has been a scourge of so-called Western civilization for centuries. In the 21^st Century it has been escalated by ignorance on both ends of the political spectrum for different reasons. Right-wingers have always hated Jews, and Evangelicals want to round us all up and send all the Jews to Israel so they can solve the “Jewish problem,” with their own forced migration. It’s the pre-requisite for their long-awaited Apocalypse. Anti-Semitism has escalated on the left in recent years out of the willful failure to distinguish Zionism as a political movement, from Judaism the religion. Republican Jews in the US are also fueling anti-Semitism, AND our own demise at the same time, with their “self-hating” loyalty to Trump.

Zionism began as a movement for survival, in reaction to centuries of brutal pogroms in Europe, culminating with the Holocaust, when six million Jews were brutally murdered en masse, along with gays, gypsies (Roma), dark-skinned people, and the mentally and physically disabled. Zionism began as a secular agrarian movement in the latter third of the 19^th Century. The Jewish presence in Palestine began to slowly increase as Jews left Europe and slowly migrated to Palestine, where they lived harmoniously through the early 20^th Century, with organic migration among the native Palestinians, Arabs and Druze populations who never left. As political Zionism gained momentum and the pace of immigration increased beyond absorption capacity, that’s when conflicts began.

When the 1^st Zionist Congress was led by Theodore Herzl in 1897 in Basle, Switzerland, the goals were simple:

1. The promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, tradesmen and manufacturers in Palestine.
2. The organization and uniting of all Jews by means of appropriate local and international institutions, in accordance with the laws of the various countries.
3. The strengthening and fostering of Jewish national sentiment and national consciousness.
4. Preparatory steps toward obtaining the consent of governments, where necessary, to achieve the Zionist purpose

It contained no expression of Jewish nationalism, per se; nor a religious obligation to fulfill a Biblical prophecy. Zionism began as a secular, agrarian movement. At the 1905 7^th Zionist Congress, they rejected the “Uganda project” proposed two years earlier, and agreed to focus on creating agricultural and industrial settlements in Palestine. However, numerous Jewish leaders opposed any formation of a Jewish State in Palestine, as an impediment to the arrival of the Messiah. They felt the creation of an artificial political state would disrupt the spiritual return.

Bibi’s goal of wiping out Hamas is only a cover for his real agenda of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, according to Prof. Juan Cole. Bibi’s notion of “voluntary immigration,” is a fiction intended to euphemize his own war crimes, as he prosecutes a gratuitous war to avoid the consequences of his crimes against Israel.

Democracy Now! “Israel’s Push to Expel Residents of Gaza”

Now Israel has bombed the last hospital in central Gaza, forcing Doctors Without Border and relief agencies to abandon their patients for their own lives. They have bombed people out of their homes, destroyed all infrastructure, killed 22,500 people and injured 57,000. They even killed three Israeli hostages who survived 49 days in captivity, escaped and were trying to surrender. Bibi doesn’t care if his campaign of Palestinian genocide kills a few Israelis in the process. This is not an act of Judaism, but gross political murder.

Clearly, forced immigration of Palestinians is Israeli policy now. Of the proposal to deport 1.1 million destitute war refugees, Ben-Gvir said, “On the subject of voluntary emigration… I think it’s the right solution.” But he also conflated American political rivals as being in a fictional alliance. When asked about possible objections from the Biden administration, Ben-Gvir said, “Nikki Haley supports it, it is voluntary.” Haley hopes to run against Biden and can’t speak for his agenda. Ben-Gvir revealed that strategy all along has been to inflict so much misery on Gaza’s Palestinians, that they will want to go anywhere but their bombed out homes as he said, “hundreds of thousands will leave now” if given the option.

Haley has already become invested in the mass deportation of Palestinians. The Times of Israel reports she said, “They should go to pro-Hamas countries — Qatar, Iran, Turkey… send them there… Those are pro-Hamas countries. Haley told ABC News, “They should be going to the Rafah gate and [have] Egypt take them.” That’s a non-starter as Egypt can’t absorb them, and it gives Israel cover for war crimes from an American politician. But Haley lacks the standing tell any country to accept immigrants, given her position on US immigration. She also lacks any understanding of historical and political realities, namely that Turkey is part of NATO.

The Hamas massacres put a quick freeze on the regular, massive demonstrations in Israeli cities challenging Bibi’s legitimacy. It was an Israeli point of pride that 1000’s of protesters and military objectors suddenly closed ranks to defend the nation. But now that the patriotic responses have led to more Israeli deaths, including hostages killed by “friendly fire,” the movement to oust Bibi has quickly escalated. As with Trump, Bibi is now running on belligerence and fear alone. A chat page on Ha’aretz illustrates the growing opposition to Bibi’s efforts to remain in power, with Israeli commenters saying:

“Get Netanyahu out now. Urgently. He is a destroyer of the dreams of Israel’s founders, and a clear and present danger.” 

“An IDF/Shin Bet coup supported by the public.is the only way. ASAP.”

“If Bibi goes, so goes the war. So goes the premiership. So goes the coalition. So goes the war on democracy.”

Some Israeli leaders deny that the Congo proposal is the agenda, and others object; this proposal will hopefully go nowhere, especially with US State Department’s expressed disapproval, calling it “inflammatory and irresponsible.” The global focus now is to strengthen efforts by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to heal, nurture and heal as many refugees as possible, and whatever can be done to mitigate Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.

            Seeing videos of hundreds of innocent, peaceful Israelis brutally murdered, kidnapped and worse at a music festival was horrifying. Knowing that Hamas committed similar crimes against humanity at 21 other sites that day is beyond infuriating and heartbreaking. It makes anybody want to fight back hard. But political capital can be gained by some measure of restraint, and Bibi knows no such thing. It’s no less maddening and infuriating to see Bibi’s government retaliate with ten times the force, committing mass murders from 20,000 feet of ten times the number of women, children and noncombatant men killed by armed thugs on October 7. Seeing hundreds of thousands of destitute people trudging through the streets of Gaza with no place to go makes me weep. Knowing that their suffering is caused by a gross and sanctimonious perversion of Jewish ideals makes it all the more maddening.

            It’s also maddening to realize the gross hubris and arrogance of the Israeli intelligence and Army, which dispensed with sentry border guards in favor of an electronic system, which was so easily destroyed by Hamas while they were sleeping. I was shocked to learn there were no actual eyes, ears and guns at those entry points, after my experiences traveling throughout a heavily militarized Middle East and Israel many years ago. Though I’m an American Jew, I had to establish my bona fides not only before entering Israel at the notorious Rafah gate, but also before entering some places I expected a more cordial welcome. My two days at a conference in 1980 (right after Camp David) in Nazareth elicited noticeable security monitoring to make me feel watched. The security officials seem to have monitored tourists more efficiently forty years ago than the Netanyahu government monitored Gaza’s main gates last October. It appears that it had sent some forces to help squatters on the West Bank, over-confident that Hamas in Gaza was content to play Israel’s policeman on the Strip.

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WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 13: U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at a news conference calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the U.S. Capitol building on November 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. House Democrats held the news conference alongside rabbis with the activist group Jewish Voices for Peace. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images).

The UN and much of the global public square have not always been a friendly place for Israel, but not because most of the world hates Jews. After all, we earned a lot of global affection and support for surviving the Holocaust. Critics of this rain of death from the skies don’t hate Jews. They hate what Israel has been doing to innocent Palestinian civilians since 1948, and more recently the juggernaut of bombardments in Gaza. Is there a more profane definition of “overkill” than ensuring that ten or twenty Palestinians die for every Israel Jew who is killed?

Zionism is not Judaism and any assertion to the contrary by Israeli propagandists only tars Jews with the brush of the Likud-led government’s war crimes. Most American Jews of the younger generation are uncomfortable with what Zionism has become. Whatever the original virtues of Zionism as a way for persecuted Jews of the Pale to assert their self-worth, it has now mutated into a quest to humiliate and dominate another people. Zionism became increasingly cruel under the Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin, more so under Ariel Sharon, and more even destructively radical under Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi). Yes, Zionism was always exclusionary to encourage Jewish immigration (aliyah), but extremists have transformed it into a sick, cruel ideology that impelled the arrogant, imperial atrocities committed by Israeli governments led by those three. It’s as though Bibi and Donald Trump both fulfill their parties’ ultimate fantasies for a cruel, dystopian, Fascist agenda. The devolution quickly escalated under Bibi, just as the Republican Party has quickly devolved under Trump.

They hate the predations of the far-far right wing Israeli settlers who embrace Biblical myth as a valid historical record, as if it carries the weight of modern diplomacy and valid treaties. Modern Middle Eastern diplomacy began after WWI at the 1920 Sam Remo Conference in Italy, and the law of occupation is enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, not in ancient texts. That’s how most of the world sees it. Recent Israeli governments have empowered the illegal squatters to commit even more atrocities against Palestinian people, property, schools, farms, and water and food supplies.

I consider myself to be a good, UN-Orthodox Jew, and see no need to change. I accept my lifelong unpopularity with Republican Jews where I’ve lived, who tend to dominate the synagogues and social agencies of many American cities. They were the class seduced by Reaganomics, and they see no need to change either. (Familiarity breeds contempt at times.)  Still, a great majority of Jewish Americans are fiercely progressive, forcefully calling out the sins of the Israeli military and Republican Party. We oppose the self-annihilating tendencies of Jewish Republicans who abandoned the progressive agenda and moved increasingly to the far-far right under the Bush boys,  and Donald Trump, who realizes all the dystopian elements of the Republican fantasy model after the Bush’s and Reagan just weren’t mean enough.

PIX 11 News from 2 weeks ago: “Jewish peace activists hold sit-in protest at Grand Central to demand ceasefire in Israel-Hamas conf”

            No one cannibalizes their own like Republicans and especially Jewish Republicans. Before and during the founding of Israel, many deeply observant Orthodox Jews fiercely opposed the creation of Israel, and some still do. They view the creation of a political entity in the Biblical homeland as a disruption to the arrival of the Messiah. They too are anti-Zionist, but out of different motivation. We are not a monolith.

            Despite what I am about to say, I don’t argue for abandoning the medical and humanitarian needs of people living in Israel in a time of war. The majority of them hate their government, as most Americans hate Trump. These atrocities are not in their name either. I argue for a more thoughtful Israeli government, invested in a solution that will solve Palestinian statelessness and thereby provide security for Jews. That outcome is unlikely to be achieved by the lawless and authoritarian Netanyahu government, which is wedded to destroying the courts to remain in power.

Through more than 40 years of my commitment to academic study of Israel and Palestine, I avoided calling myself an “anti-Zionist.” Given the discrimination, pogroms and ultimately the Holocaust that Jews faced at the hands of European white nationalism of the Fascist era, it was hard not to thrill at the realization of a long-held dream of Jews to return to the “Promised Land.” This began as a formal political movement with the 1^st Zionist Congress in Basle in 1896. It became a quadrennial conference, and Jewish immigration to Palestine began in increasingly larger waves. Many Jews like me styled themselves Zionists, who nevertheless objected to the notorious Israeli “military excesses.” (A euphemism for cold-blooded, systemic murder and piracy.) But as a Jew, I’ve never been more opposed to what Zionism has become. The massive overkill and atrocities in Gaza led by Bibi since October 7 and the relentless attacks on Palestinian people and properties in Occupied Palestine of the West Bank by right-wing settlers have driven me firmly to the anti-Zionist camp.

Zionism has had exclusionary elements since the beginning of Israel in 1948. But the evolution to a fully systemic apartheid system was codified under Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) over the course of his reign since 2007. Two predecessors Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon also contributed to this narrative by further dignifying and empowering extreme right-wing, racist elements with cabinet and ministerial positions.

Israel got stuck with Hamas as their negotiating partner, because they refused to deal in good faith with the more moderate Palestine Authority (PA-Fatah). That would have been a preliminary acquiescence to a two-state solution. Many Israelis and other Jews are deeply wedded to the notion that Jews have a biblical commandment to settle the entire Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), and not allow any other political entity to reign on any part of the territory. Hamas, meanwhile is dedicated to the full destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. Bibi and Israel made the choice to empower Hamas as the representative for all Palestinians, by refusing to dignify the PA (Fatah) and working towards a two-state solution.

When Israel occupied parts of Palestine in the 1967 War, Israeli President Abba Eban and General Moshe Dayan both said they didn’t envision a long occupation, and intended to use those territories as bargaining chips for security. But alas, things have gone badly wrong on both ends. Though some question whether they actually held those positions, I believe they did, as I recall both expressing a reluctance to govern unwilling and hostile subjects, as a conflict with their vision of a “Jewish State.”  Regardless, with war crimes occurring in Gaza and West Bank, often prosecuted by far-far right settlers rather than the IDF, the disease of racism is now systemic in the Netanyahu government.

Now for the elephant in the room: Israel is now giving Jews a bad name, and has elicited more acts of anti-Semitic violence than any time since WWII. It is not fair to tar all Jews with the brush of this extremist government, of course. But the rightwing Zionists’ claim that Zionism and Judaism are indistinguishable contributes to the confusion, and unfairness. As noted by Samuel Lejoyeux, the president of the Union of Jewish Students of France, “What strikes me is there is a wave of antisemitism in the world when 1,300 Jews were massacred a few days ago.” We are no longer sympathetic characters, as a result of Bibi’s military brutalities against Palestinians, and political brutalities against his people and Democracy, abetted by Trump.

The bombing of the Jabaliya refugee camp by IDF forces is an unqualified atrocity. IDF Spokesman Hecht’s statement that, “We gave them fair warning to leave the area,” is ludicrous in this context: Where are they supposed to go? Where CAN they go?  It is now time to take a hard look at how Israeli military excesses have led to a global rise in violent expressions of anti-Semitism, especially on US college campuses.

Meanwhile US Republicans have nurtured a duel-headed social monster by escalating both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Trump has fueled both with his incendiary statements and self-serving political agenda to promote Christian Nationalism at the expense of our Constitutional democracy. To most US Republicans, both Jews and Muslims are “the other,” to be shunned, managed and marginalized. Republican support for Israel is based in apocalyptic visions of a world without Jews, yet Israel embraces Evangelical tourism, as Jewish tourism has declined.

Events on October 7 and since then have since fueled more anger, and pushed people into more radical, unforgiving positions on both sides. As a result, Jewish AND Palestinian students are being harassed and threatened on US college campuses, driven by the vapid failure to recognize the distinctions between Zionism and Judaism. What is the boundary between free speech and supporting terrorism? How does political activism mutate into anti-Semitism or Islamophobia?” The answer is complex and circles us back to how Republicans have tried to hijack the concepts of the Free Speech Movement, while suppressing views they don’t like at the same time.

No one capitalizes on a tragedy for political gain as do Republicans. Packaging the Israel-Palestine tragedy with other unrelated, explosive political issues to fuel the fire is a raw and offensive brand of grandstanding, when they have no positive substance to run on. How unconscionable for Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) is to say of the Israel-Gaza tragedy, “There are a number of American Jews who went to bed on Oct. 6 as progressives, and they woke up as conservatives.”  While it’s true that 1000’s of progressive Israelis took up arms to defend their nation, after spending the last 9 months packing the streets in passionate demonstrations against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi), it is not true that 1000’s of American Jews had a political metamorphosis, and started supporting Donald Trump’s brand of “conservatism.” We have a horrible, inflammatory confluence of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on college campuses. And Republicans are using this crisis to grandstand, and falsely claim all American Jews are suddenly Republican war hawks now because Hamas attacked Israel.

Kustoff and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) have used the tragedy of Israel-Palestine as a grandstanding opportunity to advocate for more guns in America, especially in schools. And to cut off aid to Ukraine, which only Trump and Putin worshippers really want to do. Along with most Republican Congressional reps, they have amply illustrated the cruelty of their ideology, exemplified by Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s tweet: “There should not be one more aid truck that enters the Gaza Strip until Hamas is eradicated.” They are also using this as an occasion to further suppress free speech on US college campuses, as she opines, “Amid the rise in antisemitism and violence against Jewish students in the U.S, @SenJackyRosen and I passed a resolution condemning these hateful actions & calling on colleges to take action.”

Kustoff, Lee and Blackburn illustrate the symbiosis of US Republicans with the far-far right fringes of Israeli politics, as represented by the unholy alliance between Donald Trump and Bibi. They’ll do anything they can to spin and sensationalize issues, in efforts to push moderate voters to the far-far right. This includes cutting the IRS budget as a condition of financing t Israel’s defense, and cutting off aid to Ukraine as part of the deal. This was the first consequential action of new Speaker Mike Johnson, who became Speaker only with Trump’s approval.

Forbes: “‘We Can’t Be Importing Problems’: DeSantis Says No To Gaza Refugees After Hamas Attack On Israel”

For context, consider Bibi’s choices as his campaign “running mates” in Israel. For different demographics, Bibi had separate campaign ads with both Trump and Putin. In his efforts to play them off of one another, as proxies for the East-West dialectic; Bibi compromised Israel’s strategic capabilities and standing, while failing to accomplish the positioning he was aiming for with either. Ultimately, his preoccupation with efforts to cripple the Israeli Justice system in order to remain in office, badly compromised Israel’s defenses and political morale, and set the stage for the tragedies of October 7.

This is beginning to feel apocalyptic. The horrors that Hamas committed against innocent Israelis were a death sentence for the people of Gaza. Hamas leaders in their comfortable Cairo and Doha offices had to know that. How did they think the Israeli government, which is notoriously trigger-happy even in the best of circumstances, would respond to a brutal slaughter of over 1400 innocent civilians, and kidnapping over 200 whose fates have only fearful projections?  

Writer Karen Attiah clarifies the current dilemma thusly, “Many of us were horrified at the initial attack and hostage-taking by Hamas, while also feeling as though we are currently watching the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in real time. Palestinian casualties skyrocket, while President Biden and Black members of his administration have said yes to more weapons and no to cease-fires.”

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SDEROT, ISRAEL – OCTOBER 29: Smoke rises after Israeli attacks as tanks of Israeli forces are deployed on agricultural lands near the town of Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza Strip in Sderot, Israel on October 29, 2023. Israel’s attacks on Gaza, where approximately 2.3 million Palestinians live, continue on its 23rd day. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

 At the core of this complexity is a history of blind American support for Israel, and a failure to recognize political realities. Other than Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama; no US president has recognized how the realities of Middle Eastern history going back to WWI impact the present moment.

The the victims on October 7 were for the most part innocent noncombatants, who met a horrifying fate at the hands of Hamas. Prof. Juan Cole eloquently pointed out how the Palestinian brutalities of that day violate Shari’a (Islamic Law). Israel’s historic brutalities against Palestinians since 1948, however, also violate Halacha (Jewish Law) in more ways than I can enumerate. Over objections of some of my thoughtful Israeli friends, I argue that Zionism is not Judaism, just as Hamas is not Islam. How tragic is it that Zionism morphed from a movement dedicated to saving and protecting Jews, into one that persecutes another group of people, and ghettoizes them?

We cannot understand our present moment in a historical vacuum. The context is 75 years of brutal occupation, oppression and illegal government acts. Great Britain made two separate agreements with both the Jews and Arabs over the same piece of real estate. The 1917 Balfour Declaration proclaimed their support for a Jewish home in Palestine, one year after Foreign Secretary Henry McMahon had formalized a series of agreements with Hussain ibn Ali, of Mecca, the “Guardian of the Islamic Holy Sites. The Hussain-McMahon correspondence had created an alliance with the Arab nations to defeat the German-Ottoman alliance of WWI, and guaranteed Hussain an Arab state in what is now Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Syria. Before 1956, Israel had been a client state of Great Britain and France. After their failed tri-partite invasion of the Suez Canal that year, the US supplanted their European allies as the “guardian of the Straits of the Suez Canal.”

Amanpour and Company: “How the Israel-Hamas War Could Impact the 2024 U.S. Elections | Amanpour and Company”

 In my view, the world was humming along nicely until the late 1970s and early 1980s when Israel elected Menachem Begin as PM, the US elected Ronald Reagan, and Great Britain chose Margaret Thatcher. All three quickly and forcefully steered their nations to the far- right wing fringes of their political spectrums. As a long-term consequent of this rightward turn, today, the democracies of the US and Israel are more fragile than ever. The far, far right has never been stronger throughout the world, despite periods of dormancy. The Trumpian Effect on US politics has empowered unprecedented growth of Fascist organizations in the US, with a corresponding rise in hate crimes aimed primarily at people of color, Jews and other minorities.

Zionism did not begin as an apartheid style ideology. Exclusionary in favor of Jewish settlement, yes. But it not begin as a brutal collective of persecution of another group of people; who by the way, have also claimed Palestine as their home for thousands of years. It’s important to examine the present in the entire historical context, and not the most recent atrocity. In 1981 I had the occasion at a conference to pose a question to American Indian leader Russell Means: “How do you compare the plight of the American Indians with the Palestinians?” He answered, “We are the Palestinians of America, and Palestinians are the Indians of the Middle East.”

Things got worse this year. Netanyahu’s appointment of the Israeli equivalent of American Proud Boys to key cabinet positions, and efforts to cripple the power of their Justice system, to avoid criminal charges turned most of the nation against him. This elicited political demonstrations against him, unprecedented in size and scope. But now progressive Israelis have united behind the war effort, and no one of consequence has demanded that the prime minister resign, despite a widespread conviction that Netanyahu’s miscalculations exposed Israel to the worst act of terrorism it has ever experienced.

The utter cruelty of Bibi’s Gaza policy is exemplified by his ordering people to evacuate when they have no place to go.  Hundreds of thousands of people have been trapped in a massive open-air ghetto, not unlike what Jews experienced in Warsaw! This cruel policy has been part of the Zionist narrative, which took on an increasingly imperial character beginning under Begin, and accelerated under Netanyahu’s governments.

Though Palestinians have often been brutalized by collective punishment meted by Israel, the siege of Gaza rises to an unprecedented level of war crimes. While the Western media continues to slant reporting, the rest of the world is witnessing a cold disregard for civilian lives, since it doesn’t view these atrocities through the lens of CNN, ABC and Fox News. The US foreign policy establishment and media don’t recognize that 75 years of Israeli persecution made Gaza into a ticking time bomb that exploded on October 7. They’re still parroting the primitive Temple Sunday School myth says that Israel and Jews are blameless, and that Israel has been under siege since 1948.

How tragic is it that Zionism morphed from a movement dedicated to saving and protecting Jews, into one that persecutes another group of people, and tries to erase their rightful heritage to their land? While the original ideal of Zionism remains the focus of Judaism for Israeli Jews and many the world over, its political evolution has become toxic for themselves and the world.

As for the United States, disaffection with Biden’s full backing of the assault on Gaza’s children (half the population of the Strip) is growing at a time when American democracy is more fragile than ever. Biden can ill afford to lose any consequential demographic, as Republicans bask in their own dysfunction, driven by their adulation and fear of Trump. Any votes siphoned away from Biden by his hypocritical disregard of the laws of war when it comes to Israel-Palestine strengthen the chances of another Republican president in the mold of Donald Trump, if not Trump himself. We may be living in the worst of all political moments.