Americans have a moral imperative to prevent Donald Trump and maga Republicans from normalizing evil behaviors

Echo opinion letter published in the the Louisiana Times-Picyune NOLA newspaper: 

The term “the banality of evil” is a philosophical concept coined by Hannah Arendt*, a Jewish philosopher, after attending the trial of Adolf Eichmann, who sent millions of Jews to their deaths during the Holocaust during World War II.

Arendt concluded that individuals can commit hideous acts due to a failure to engage in independent thought and moral reasoning.

I am bothered that in today’s America, we have normalized and desensitized individuals to acts of evil. When cruelties are rooted in everyday routines and policies, they may be perceived as "normal" or even necessary, diminishing individual responsibility and moral awareness.

We expect evil to have a tail, horns and a pitchfork, appear in red or slither on the ground. It’s far more likely that it will look like your favorite uncle or your sweet grandmother. It just might cover itself in platitudes like “equality,” “social justice” and the “common good.” It could even be a prominent member of your church or in government.

The lesson is that ordinary people can do the wrong thing if they don’t step up to the moral imperative of reflective thinking.

This makes this process as much of a spiritual process as it is a political one. Questions that need to be asked are:

• Is there a willingness to challenge authority or question the status quo if it is believed to be leading to unethical outcomes?
• Are injustice and harmful behaviors being spoken out against, or is one choosing to remain silent, thereby allowing them to persist?
• Are the consequences of actions for others considered, or is the focus primarily on what I am told?
• Is a "deep and compassionate fighting spirit" being nurtured to keep goodness alive, or is one becoming complacent in the face of injustice?

You need to think for yourself in order to describe the reality you find yourself in, so that you can then resist it.

From Sister Beth Mouch in New Orleans

*From Nazi-Occupied France to New York

While in France, Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)worked for the organization Youth Aliyah, which rescued Jewish youth. There she met the man who would become her second husband, Heinrich Blücher. 

Arendt was imprisoned in a detention camp in Gurs in southwest France. After escaping, she and Blücher fled Nazi Europe, and in 1941, they arrived in New York. Through the 1940s, Arendt wrote essays on anti-Semitism, refugees, and the need for a Jewish army for Aufbau and other German émigré journals. She worked as an editor for Schocken Books and served as Executive Director of The Jewish Cultural Reconstruction organization. She and Blücher lived on Riverside Drive in NYC and in Kingston, NY near Bard College where Blücher taught for 17 years.

 

A Memorial Day meditation about Pope Leo XIV's message call for peace to the world

Bridge Builders In A Broken World
By Maria Shriver
May 24, 2025
I've Been Thinking...

Pope Leo XIV building bridges in a troubled world

Pope Leo XIV has had me thinking ever since I attended his inaugural mass last Sunday. I haven’t been able to shake him since I got home.

There were no shortage of other stories competing for my attention this week. Some of them provoked outrage (like the news of the young Jewish couple shot outside the Israeli embassy or that people continue to starve in Gaza). Other stories stirred disbelief (like the president’s commercialization of the office to advance his personal wealth, or his confrontational meeting this week with the South African president)...

But thankfully, Pope Leo helped me rise above the noise and heartbreak of the week. My experience seeing him in Rome didn’t just stay in my head. It settled in my heart.

I saw his gentle gaze and smiling eyes up close. I watched him look down at his papal ring and stare for just a moment too long, as if to fully grapple with the enormity of his new role. I could tell he was moved and, at the same time, totally comfortable in his own skin.

Since attending his inaugural mass, I’ve been listening, learning, and absorbing. I listened to his thoughts on the need for critical thinking skills in today’s world. I loved that. I listened to his teachings about building bridges through dialogue and connection, joining together as one people, united in peace. I listened to him express his fears about becoming pope, which I found refreshing. And I took note when he announced that, under his direction, the Vatican would host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The bridge builder—this man of peace—is off to a remarkable start.

On this Memorial Day, a day to honor those who gave their lives serving in wars for our country, I am grateful to Pope Leo for stressing the importance of peace. So many have died fighting for our freedom, and so many are still losing their lives due to war. I’m hopeful that peace can be achieved in all places where war still rages. I’m grateful for the pope’s words on this subject and for his behind-the-scenes maneuvering with those who attended his inaugural mass or watched from beyond.

All of us need someone who has spent their life preparing for this kind of moment. Someone who has prepared in every way to stand strongly in this moment. 

When I look at Pope Leo and reflect on all he went through to get to this place, I’m reminded of the value of preparation.

Here is a man who has been preparing his whole life for this moment.

A man who thinks deeply, reflects daily, and prays constantly. He’s well-read, well-educated, and well-traveled. He seems to have emotional intelligence in addition to intellectual intelligence. Those are all important qualities for leadership, especially in times like these.

Our world is complicated. The issues we face are complex. There are no easy answers to the problems that sit on any leader’s table.

I imagine your kitchen table might hold its own complex issues—financial challenges, family and caregiving concerns, mental health struggles, demands on time, and other wants, needs, and desires. No doubt that each of us has had to think and discern about how to juggle both the ordinary and complex. I know I have—and that I still do.

Times such as this require calm. They require centered, confident responses to the issues that come up every minute of every day.

When I think ahead, at times the future can feel daunting. I find myself thinking about things today that I never thought about as a young girl or as a young mother. I listen to my adult children discuss their fears about climate change, about artificial intelligence, and about bringing kids into such a fragile world. Their view of politics and politicians is ugly, divisive, and uninspired. That breaks my heart.

There were no shortage of other stories competing for my attention this week. Some of them provoked outrage (like the news of the young Jewish couple shot outside the Israeli embassy or that people continue to starve in Gaza). Other stories stirred disbelief (like the president’s commercialization of the office to advance his personal wealth, or his confrontational meeting this week with the South African president)...

But thankfully, Pope Leo helped me rise above the noise and heartbreak of the week. My experience seeing him in Rome didn’t just stay in my head. It settled in my heart.

I saw his gentle gaze and smiling eyes up close. I watched him look down at his papal ring and stare for just a moment too long, as if to fully grapple with the enormity of his new role. I could tell he was moved and, at the same time, totally comfortable in his own skin.

Since attending his inaugural mass, I’ve been listening, learning, andabsorbing. I listened to his thoughts on the need for critical thinking skills in today’s world. I loved that. I listened to his teachings about building bridges through dialogue and connection, joining together as one people, united in peace. I listened to him express his fears about becoming pope, which I found refreshing. And I took note when he announced that, under his direction, the Vatican would host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The bridge builder—this man of peace—is off to a remarkable start.

On this Memorial Day, a day to honor those who gave their lives serving in wars for our country, I am grateful to Pope Leo for stressing the importance of peace. So many have died fighting for our freedom, and so many are still losing their lives due to war. I’m hopeful that peace can be achieved in all places where war still rages. I’m grateful for the pope’s words on this subject and for his behind-the-scenes maneuvering with those who attended his inaugural mass or watched from beyond.

All of us need someone who has spent their life preparing for this kind of moment. Someone who has prepared in every way to stand strongly in this moment. When I look at Pope Leo and reflect on all he went through to get to this place, I’m reminded of the value of preparation.

Here is a man who has been preparing his whole life for this moment.

A man who thinks deeply, reflects daily, and prays constantly. He’s well-read, well-educated, and well-traveled. He seems to have emotional intelligence in addition to intellectual intelligence. Those are all important qualities for leadership, especially in times like these.

Our world is complicated. The issues we face are complex. There are no easy answers to the problems that sit on any leader’s table.

I imagine your kitchen table might hold its own complex issues—financial challenges, family and caregiving concerns, mental health struggles, demands on time, and other wants, needs, and desires. 

No doubt that each of us has had to think and discern about how to juggle both the ordinary and complex. I know I have—and that I still do.

Times such as this require calm. They require centered, confident responses to the issues that come up every minute of every day.

When I think ahead, at times the future can feel daunting. I find myself thinking about things today that I never thought about as a young girl or as a young mother. I listen to my adult children discuss their fears about climate change, about artificial intelligence, and about bringing kids into such a fragile world. Their view of politics and politicians is ugly, divisive, and uninspired. That breaks my heart.

It’s so different from the image I had growing up. Back then, politics was where people went to work if they wanted to change the world.

The political leaders of my time were well-educated and inspiring.

They had served their country. They were well-respected and well-mannered. Sure, they disagreed, but they did so with respect. They gave you hope. They gave you a sense that it wasn’t their first rodeo, and that they understood the country, the American people, and the world at large. To me, as a young girl, they seemed prepared for the job at hand.

I’ve thought a lot over the years about the importance of preparation and working your way up the ladder, so that when your moment comes, you’re ready. Of course, none of us ever feels fully ready when stepping into a new leadership role—whether it’s as a mother, a father, a caregiver, or a boss.

I remember when I was thrust into the role of First Lady of California.

Every day, I thanked God for the experience I had in journalism and politics—for the fact that I understood the push and pull of the job before I ever set foot in the Capitol. The same was true when I became an anchorwoman. I was terrified, but grateful I had spent years in the field—writing, producing, reporting. I had years under my belt, so to speak.

I say all this to honor the years of preparation so many put in across various professions. Before they operate on someone. Before they lead a state. Before they assume a high-level job—or a complex one that, as the pope said, requires critical thinking, reflection, and discernment.

It’s so different from the image I had growing up. Back then, politics was where people went to work if they wanted to change the world.

The political leaders of my time were well-educated and inspiring.

They had served their country. They were well-respected and well-mannered. Sure, they disagreed, but they did so with respect. They gave you hope. They gave you a sense that it wasn’t their first rodeo, and that they understood the country, the American people, and the world at large. To me, as a young girl, they seemed prepared for the job at hand.

I’ve thought a lot over the years about the importance of preparation and working your way up the ladder so that when your moment comes, you’re ready. Of course, none of us ever feels fully ready when stepping into a new leadership role—whether it’s as a mother, a father, a caregiver, or a boss.

I remember when I was thrust into the role of First Lady of California.

Every day, I thanked God for the experience I had in journalism and politics—for the fact that I understood the push and pull of the job before I ever set foot in the Capitol. 

In fact, the same was true when I became an anchorwoman. I was terrified, but grateful I had spent years in the field—writing, producing, reporting. I had years under my belt, so to speak.

I say all this to honor the years of preparation so many put in across various professions. Before they operate on someone. Before they lead a state. Before they assume a high-level job—or a complex one that, as the pope said, requires critical thinking, reflection, and discernment.

Memorial Day. ⭐ It’s also the unofficial start of summer—traditionally a time when some take amomentary step off the hamster wheel. Some get married. Some travel. Some take breaks to rest or to visit with family. As for me, this weekend I find myself in a place of deep contemplation and exploration.

My book tour is now behind me. It was a busy several weeks, but it was an inspiring, moving, and thought-provoking experience. It was as if I’d been preparing for this moment my whole life.

And speaking of preparation, I wish you all could have been at the WAM Forum with me this past week.

To be in the room with people who have dedicated their lives to curing disease—to solving the health challenges that plague millions, especially those of us who are aging—was awe-inspiring.

They are thinking deeply about Alzheimer’s, about aging, about women’s health, about caregiving, science, research, and how to support the most vulnerable among us. You would have left feeling hopeful. I know I did.

So as I head into this holiday weekend, I’m prepared to spend some time thinking about my “yeses.” As I wrote last week, I’m prepared to think about what it means to be a bridge builder and a uniter like Pope Leo. We can’t leave that job to one person. We all have roles to play.

I also want to reflect on the role of this publication, in particular. I want to ask myself where it’s going, if it’s serving a purpose, and if it’s necessary in a time like this. I want it to be, so I have to drill down and ask whether it’s helping people build their meaning lives and whether it’s bringing hope and meaning to those who need it. I’m well aware that there are now thousands of publications vying for your time, attention, and resources. That’s why one has to be excellent and necessary and prepared to meet the moment at hand.

I’m also prepared to think about the unimaginable. What haven’t I thought about? What might surface if I give my mind the freedom to roam? It’s a good time to put it all on the table and ask: Do I still want what’s here? Is what’s on my table serving me? Is it serving others—those I care about and love?

It’s as good a time as any to think about your one meaningful life—how precious it is, how fragile it is.

Reading about the hopes of the young Jewish couple struck down this week in Washington DC simply because they were Jewish should send a chill down all of our spines. They were planning to be engaged, now their families are planning funerals. We are all vulnerable in this moment. Therefore, shouldn’t we all want to come together in this moment to protect one another, care for one another, support one another, build bridges towards one another?

I hope so because the alternative leaves us all alone, unprotected, unsafe. We can come together and we must.

Happy Memorial Day, my friends. I hope you smile this weekend. 

I hope you laugh. I hope you talk to someone who inspires you. And I hope you take a moment to think about your own role in bringing about peace—for yourself, your family, and the world.

Antisemitism in Michigan

An echo opinion letter published in The Michigan Daily , aka,"The Daily" newspaper by an annonomous contributor. The Michigan Daily is an independent, student-run newspaper serving the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor communities since 1890.

It has been a tumultuous year for both Jewish and Palestinian residents in the state, including at the University of Michigan.

Letter to the Editor: Hamas’ antisemitism cannot be glossed over.Content warning: This article contains mentions of violence.

I have always been proud to be Jewish ✡️— proud of the culture, values and resilience of the Jewish people. 🕎

But now, more than anything, I am afraid: afraid of the rise of antisemitism across the world, afraid of the surge of antisemitic tropes here on campus and afraid of the antisemitic ideology perpetuated by The Michigan Daily by publications such as: “Breaking walls, building solidarity: Unveiling the apartheid struggle in Palestine.”

I want to begin by saying that just because I am Jewish does not mean that I support all the actions of the Israeli government, the same way that being American does not mean I support all the policies enacted by the former and now President-elect Donald Trump 😟😩. Since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and the displacement of many Palestinian people, there is no doubt that Israeli governmental policy has inflicted harm on those residing in the West Bank and Gaza. I understand and empathize with the hurt and frustration of the Palestinians living in these territories who are not granted full rights under the Israeli government.

There is a very important distinction to be made between being pro-Palestine and supporting Hamas. Hamas is an openly extremist group, designated by the U.S. Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization, and internationally recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Japan, Egypt and Canada as well. The original charter of Hamas calls for not only the “obliteration” of the state of Israel, but the genocide of all Jews worldwide. Witnessing the amount of support that people on this campus have pledged toward the recent actions taken by Hamas has been incredibly upsetting for those of us that still bear the generational scars of the last genocide of Jews.

The article published by The Daily completely justifies Hamas’s recent attack on Israel. While it mentions deaths of some Israeli soldiers, it conveniently leaves out the more than 1000 innocent civilians, including young children, who were kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas. The author cites openly biased and anti-Israel sources, such as the Jewish Voice for Peace, cherry-picking evidence to fit their one-sided narrative.

But, most dangerous is the author’s propagation of false information. Upon an in-depth review of the article, I found multiple of the author’s claims to be completely unfounded:

The author claims that “the United Nations has explicitly stated that ‘the (Israeli barrier) wall is a tool for ethnic cleansing.’ ” This was not a position taken by the United Nations as an entity, but rather a sentiment expressed by the Saudi Arabian Delegate, Al Anazi, in December 2006, during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

The author accuses The New York Times, Fox News and the Times of Israel of fabrication, simply for “presenting this recent act of resistance as an act of terrorism.”

The inflammatory one-sided narrative perpetuated by the author, along with the blatant distribution of misinformation, has huge implications for the University of Michigan’s Jewish community. The deaths of our people are not, and should not, ever be justified.

Violence between Israel and Palestine is one of the most nuanced and complicated conflicts in modern history, and one which I don’t pretend to be an expert on, but the facts are the facts: Hamas is a terrorist group, openly supporting Nazi ideology and determined to destroy both the state of Israel and the Jewish people. Mutilating bodies, raping women and burning innocent civilians alive is never justifiable. 

As a Jewish woman I cannot stay silent and let my peers accept these falsities as truths. Being a Jew on campus these past weeks, I have not only felt terrible sadness, I have also felt unsafe and uncomfortable. Personally witnessing protesters holding up signs with various antisemitic sentiments has been a 💀scary and disheartening experience 😟.

Everyone has the right to their own opinion; but before forming an opinion, I urge you to consider the facts beyond those cited in this one-sided article. I am not in support of suppressing anyone’s voice — I only aim to lift up the voices of my Jewish peers. We are scared💀, but we will never be silenced.

This contributor has asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, The Daily granted this request.

Remembering the horror of Kristallnackht 1938, "The Night of Broken Glass" in Germany

On November 9–10, 1938, Nazi leaders unleashed a series of pogroms against the Jewish population in Germany and recently incorporated territories. This event came to be called Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) because of the shattered glass that littered the streets after the vandalism and destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues, and homes. 

Kristallnacht owes its name to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets in the wake of the pogrom—broken glass from the windows of synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses plundered and destroyed during the violence.

Echo report published in Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
On the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht—the pogroms against Jews carried out by Nazis in Germany and Austria. For Jewish Telegraphic Agency, scholar Michael Berenbaum describes why attacks on synagogues in particular were so horrific: “By attacking the synagogue, the Nazis were attacking not only the heart and soul of the Jewish community, but they were also attacking the institution that was responding to the unfolding catastrophe.

Under Nazism and the imposition of increasingly stringent laws excluding Jews from institutions of everyday life, the synagogue became the replacement for those now-verboten institutions. On Monday it might become a theater because Jewish actors could not perform on the German stage. 

On Tuesday it became a symphony hall as Jewish musicians were dismissed from German orchestras. On Wednesday it became an opera house, because opera singers needed a place to earn a living.

During the day, the synagogue served as a school for Jewish children expelled from German schools. Their teachers were often professors, writers and artists struggling to survive in a new world. The art teacher might be a world class artist, the music instructor, a concert pianist. The Jewish school was the safest place for a Jewish child; yet the most dangerous part of the student’s day was walking to and from school. Harassment was routine, bullying was accepted, violence was sanctioned. Teachers turned their backs even when they did not overly encourage the violence.”

Maine Writer post script:  For what it is worth in retrospect,  following Kristallnacht, Pope Pius XI, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church at the time, publicly condemned the pogrom, joining Western leaders in voicing criticism against the Nazi violence against Jews; this condemnation marked a significant public stance against the Nazi regime's actions. Nevertheless, as a Roman Catholic woman, I am unaware of any widespread formal effort to combat an expansion of Hitler's antisemitism campaign.  

Freedom of speech means tolerance against dangerous bigotry

Maine Writer opinion: Students who are demonstrating in support of the Palastinians are not providing equal free speech forums for a Jewish response.

NYTimes opinion.....the sad fact of campus life today is that speech and behavior that would be considered scandalous if aimed at other minorities are treated as understandable or even commendable when directed at Jews. The calling card of antisemitism has always been the double standard. How would the Yale administration have reacted if Crispe and Tartak had been Black students who said they were taunted, harassed and assaulted (whatever the ostensible political motive) by a mob of their white peers?

Columnist David French opinion in the New York Times:

On Monday, March 11, roughly 200 Jewish students and supporters marched through the campus at the University of California, Berkeley, but what was newsworthy is that they were not attacked. Local news hailed that they were able to, as one headline noted, “successfully march without confrontation.”

The march came two weeks after violent protests forced the cancellation of an event that was to feature an Israeli speaker and was organized by Jewish students. The event — which had already been moved from another location because of safety concerns — was canceled, and the building evacuated by police, after protesters broke through doors and reportedly assaulted Jewish students. There was no way to ensure safety, universityadministrators explained, “given the size of the crowd and the threat of violence.”

At the time that I read accounts about the violence at Berkeley, I was also reading two legal complaints against Harvard and the other against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Both complaints make for horrifying reading, detailing a cascading series of antisemitic incidents, including acts of violence and physical intimidation. 

The moral and legal injury is compounded by blatant double standards on the part of the universities. As the complaint filed against Harvard states, “Harvard permits students and faculty to advocate, without consequence, the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, the only Jewish country in the world. 

Meanwhile, Harvard requires students to take a training class that warns that they will be disciplined if they engage in sizeism (discrimination on the grounds of a person's size), fatphobia, racism, transphobia, or other disfavored behavior.”

My entire legal career has defended free speech💬  on campus, including the free speech of Muslim students and staff members. 

I’ve also walked through metal detectors at a tense and volatile Columbia University to defend the academic freedom of Jewish students challenging antisemitic statements made by university professors.

And during those decades of litigation and my subsequent years in journalism, I have never seen such comprehensive abuse directed against a vulnerable campus minority group as I’ve seen directed at Jewish students and faculty, since Hamas’s terror attack on October 7, 2023.

Obviously antisemitism isn’t the only hatred afoot in America. Since October 7, there have also been horrifying incidents of anti-Muslim violence. Shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel, the chancellor of the state university system of Florida ordered the deactivation of chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine based on the absurd idea that its written materials provided “material support” for a designated terrorist entity in violation of federal law. (The order has not been enforced.) But what’s happening to Jewish students and faculty at several elite campuses is so comprehensive and all-consuming that it can only be described as systemic antisemitism.

Which brings me to the complaints against M.I.T. and Harvard. 

One should always use caution when evaluating such documents. They represent the allegations of one side. There are times when litigation ultimately proves the accuracy of a complaint’s claims and times when the allegations fall apart under scrutiny. (There are also times when the case grows stronger as the plaintiffs obtain discovery, read internal communications and depose witnesses under oath.) 

Complaints against M.I.T. and Harvard, however, don’t simply ask us to trust them. Time and again they provide screenshots, quotes from emails and photographs that offer visual evidence of their claims.  And make no mistake, the claims are dreadful. At M.I.T., for example, the plaintiffs claim not only that the university allowed pro-Palestinian protesters to hold protests that violated university rules, but, also, that those protests were so threatening that Jewish students were afraid to get near them. M.I.T. Hillel warned students to “not directly engage protesters for your physical safety and well-being” and ideally to avoid the area. This resulted in parts of campus being effectively closed to Jewish students.

The complaint also charges protesters with literally putting a bounty on a Jewish student who had engaged in a physical altercation at a protest, promising an $800 award for identifying the student. According to the complaint, “The student stayed locked up in their dorms for weeks with their friends bringing food, check-ins from the police, and their family terrified for their safety.”

The plaintiffs also claimed that protesters engaged in “targeted protests outside the offices of Jewish professors and the office of M.I.T.’s Israel internship program,” a part of the university’s global experiences program known as MISTI. The complaint quotes a professor who said, “They insistently rattled the door handles of offices that were closed with staff inside …. Their chants included:‘From the river to the sea…’, ‘MISTI, MISTI, you can’t hide,’ and others associating MISTI with genocide.” 

Maine Writer opinion here- It is the Hamas terrorists in Gaza that intends to eliminate the Jews! 

Blood libel*❓ ❗also makes its dreadful appearance.😡💀 The complaint quotes an M.I.T. postdoctoral student (as the complaint notes, postdocs are both students and employees of the university) posting on X, “Zionists not only steal our lands, food, and culture, but our dead bodies as well for organ harvesting.”

*blood libel- the accusation that Jewish people used blood from Christians in rituals....

These incidents represent only a fraction of the claims against M.I.T. The complaint against Harvard likewise details protests that shut down parts of campus, physical assaults against Jewish students and disruptions of classroom instruction so frightening that one caused “Jewish students to flee for their safety, with some removing identifying garb to avoid attack.”

Pervasive fear is a theme of the Harvard complaint. It details an incident at Harvard Law School where campus police allegedly observed passively as a mob of protesters “stormed Harvard Law’s main building, marched down the length of the building’s primary first-floor hallway, and blocked the hallway outside the study room where [Students Against Anti-Semitism and a visiting speaker] were hiding. Fearing a violent attack, students in the study room removed indicia of their Jewishness, such as kippot, or hid under desks.”

Pause and think about that for a moment. In the year 2024, at one of the most prestigious and powerful academic institutions in the world, the plaintiffs claim that Jewish students felt the need to hide under their desks for their physical safety.

Just after I finished reading the complaints against Harvard and M.I.T., I read Franklin Foer’s gut-punch cover story in The Atlantic. Titled “The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending,” it begins like this: “Stacey Zolt Hara was in her office in downtown San Francisco when a text from her 16-year-old daughter arrived: ‘I’m scared,’ she wrote.” In the days following October 7, her classmates were staging a walkout to protest Israel, and the atmosphere was tense. “Parents were texting one another ideas about where in the school their children could hide,” Foer wrote. “Zolt Hara placed a call to the dean of students. By her own admission, she was hysterical. She says the dean hung up on her.”

I urge you to read Foer’s entire story, just as I urge you to read both of the legal complaints I’ve described. If you do, you’ll see that there is a certain dreadful sameness to all these stories: Universities and schools demonstrate far greater tolerance for antisemitic speech and behavior than for virtually any other kind of offensive speech or behavior. They bend or break the rules to accommodate pro-Palestinian protests. Jewish students then face intimidation and even assaults.

To defeat systemic antisemitism, universities don’t have to stifle free speech. They simply need to uphold their legal obligations to Jewish students. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires universities that receive public funding to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and discrimination, and a leading indicator of discrimination is blatantly disparate treatment. If you permit protesters who target Jewish students to break university rules, you’re asking for a lawsuit. If you’ve permitted the campus environment to deteriorate to such a degree that Jewish students reportedly hide under their desks for safety, then you should face catastrophic monetary penalties.

Moreover, no one should excuse the targeting of Jewish students in America as mere “anti-Zionism.” When American Muslims are targeted or persecuted because of the actions of Muslims overseas, we rightly see that as pure, undistilled Islamophobia. The same principle applies to American Jews✡️. When you see the radical left target Jews and then claim they’re merely anti-Zionist, they give the game away — to them, Judaism is Zionism.

I’ve focused on the radical campus left in this newsletter. I know full well that antisemitism is bursting out on the right as well. Foer’s concerns that the hard right and hard left are rendering America less safe for Jews are very well founded. And that should grieve us all.

The story of American Judaism is inseparable from the American story. I think often of the famous exchange between George Washington and the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, R.I. 

We know the soaring promises of the Declaration of Independence, but we also know that the early American republic did not live up to those ideals. Our nation’s slow progress toward fulfilling its promise began in part with that exchange in Newport.

The congregation wrote Washington with both a clear text and a clear subtext. Here is the key sentence: “Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events) behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People — a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance — but generously affording to All liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship.”

George Washington's text was written in 1790, in response to a letter from the Jews in Newport Rhode Island. The letter conveys a deep gratitude for the opportunity to live in a free nation. But, the subtext is equally clear. It’s a question: Do these high values apply to us, your Jewish neighbors? Washington’s response was clear and unequivocal: “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham,” he wrote, “who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

This letter was an indispensable early step in the long and painful process of extending the blessings of liberty to America’s most marginalized and persecuted communities. It would be a grim irony indeed if breaking Washington’s promise to American Jews signaled the beginning of a different kind of American migration, back into the darkness of ancient bigotries.

There is no excuse for hypocrisy. There is no excuse for harassment. It seems clear that M.I.T., Harvard and other campuses have failed to uphold their moral and legal responsibilities. Now it falls upon the engine of American justice to impose its consequences and to prove — to this generation and the ones that follow — that this truly is a government “which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

David French is an Opinion columnist, writing about law, culture, religion and armed conflict. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a former constitutional litigator. His most recent book is “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.” You can follow him on Threads (@davidfrenchjag).

America cannot let antisemitism prevent giving Isreal the right to exist

Echo editorial published in The Boston Globe:

US must stand with Israel in face of barbaric war crimes✡️

The Biden administration is doing the right thing in sending military aid to Israel. If congressional authorization is needed for additional aid, Congress needs to find a way to pass that legislation, regardless of its internal disarray.

October 25 attack occurred on a Jewish Holiday

Indiscriminately massacring civilians — including young adults dancing at a rave — is a war crime. Kidnapping civilians — including elderly adults and young children — is a war crime.

The horrors perpetrated in Israel on Saturday — when Hamas launched a surprise attack from Gaza on the Jewish state on Simhat Torah, one of Judaism’s most joyous religious holidays — must be wholeheartedly condemned.

Hamas is a terrorist organization that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, and the United States should be unequivocal in supporting Israel in its war against the group. Israeli officials said they would avenge the attacks and cripple Hamas’s capabilities. Meanwhile, all nations should join the United States in demanding the return of all hostages.

“This was an act of sheer evil,” President Biden said Tuesday. If such an attack happened against the United States, he said, “our response would be swift, decisive, and overwhelming.”

Indeed, the human tragedies shock the conscience. 

The Boston Globe reported about how the daughter and son-in-law of Brandeis University professor Ilan Troen were shot dead by Hamas while shielding their teenage son with their bodies. The son was shot but survived after hiding under his parents’ bodies. An all-night rave filled with dancing young adults was turned into a killing field where at least 260 bodies were found, The Washington Post reported. There were grandmothers, children, babies, and whole families kidnapped from their homes and taken hostage. Hamas also rained rockets down on Israel, low-accuracy projectiles with no purpose but to terrorize.

There can be no excuse for Hamas’s actions. On Saturday, more civilian Jews were killed than in any single day since the end of the Holocaust. As of Tuesday, more than 900 Israelis — and some foreign nationals — had been killed and 2,800 people in Israel wounded, with approximately 150 people taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. At least 14 American citizens have been killed in Israel and others are missing, according to President Biden.

Israeli attack kills Hamas intelligence deputy head

One of those presumed missing is Adrienne Neta, 66, a dual US-Israeli citizen who grew up in California and moved to Israel in 1981 after marrying an Israeli man. Neta retired last year from a decades-long career in nursing and was relishing her role as grandmother of seven. She lived in kibbutz Be’eri, a community near Gaza that was one of the first infiltrated by militants. According to her son Nahar Neta, a California resident who works with agricultural technology startups, Nahar and two of his siblings got on a conference call with their mother when the bombardment started.

“She started telling us she’s hearing gunfire outside the house, shouting in Arabic,” Nahar Neta told the Globe via Zoom from Israel. She went into a secure room in her house and shut the door. When things seemed to calm down, Nahar Neta got off the call to put his children to sleep. Minutes later, his brother called. The siblings had heard terrorists barge into the room, then screaming. That was the last communication they had with their mother. Adrienne Neta is not on the kibbutz’s list of those confirmed dead, so her family assumes she has been taken hostage.

Her family is trying to hold up and is speaking publicly to encourage the Biden administration to play a role in bringing their mother home. “We want her to have the feeling that we’re holding on and we’re strong for her,” Nahar Neta said.

Hamas’s attacks have caused innocent suffering on both sides. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 770 Palestinians have been killed and 4,000 wounded by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, as Israel retaliates and seeks to topple Hamas.

The Israeli military has also said it killed 1,500 Hamas militants who crossed into Israel.

The Biden administration is doing the right thing in sending military aid to Israel. If congressional authorization is needed for additional aid, Congress needs to find a way to pass that legislation, regardless of its internal disarray. The US Senate should quickly confirm a US ambassador to Israel.

The United States should support Israel in taking actions needed to secure its borders and free those kidnapped. While civilian casualties are inevitable in the densely populated Gaza Strip, Israel should do its best to minimize them and avoid unnecessary casualties or indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

The United States and world communities should also pressure Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia based in Lebanon, to refrain from getting involved to avoid expanding the conflagration to Israel’s northern border.

There will be time to discuss the future of Gaza, the resumption of Saudi-Israeli peace negotiations, and other important questions raised by the war’s outbreak. There may be a time for the United States to call for a cease-fire or a de-escalation of violence. There will be time for discussions of Israeli policies toward the Palestinian people. That time is not now. (Maine Writer- Although I very seldom disagree with The Boston Globe editors, I think "That time is not now," was hastily written to meet a deadline.  In fact, the reason this editorial has relevance is because the Israeli policies toward the Palestinians failed. In my opinion, Benjamin Netanyahu became too obsessed about holding on to his grab for political power to notice what Hamas, across the border, was doing.)

For now, America must show solidarity with Israel and with all those who are mourning their dead and praying for their loved ones’ safe return.

Alert NYPD stop at least two men planning antisemitism attacks

Thank you New York Police Department!

But the threats are ongoing.

Echo report published in the Combat Antisemitism news:

New York City Mayor says the antisemitism threats are real.

Breaking - NYPD arrest Matthew Mahrer, age 22 and Christopher Brown, age 21 at Penn Station after the men made threats to New York Synagogues. The men, one wearing a swastika armband, were in possession of firearm, 30 rounds of ammunition, and a hunting knife. (Maine Writer: It is impossible to understand how any 22 year old, and 21 year old and (scroll) 18 year old could develop such unjustified aggressive feelings against a group of innocent people who almost certainly never did them any harm.)

Stop Antisemitism

Law enforcement authorities in New York City detected and thwarted a “developing threat to the Jewish community” over the weekend.

According to a CNN report, threats began appearing on a Twitter account on Nov. 12 and were traced on Friday to a computer at a veterinary clinic where one of the suspects worked.

“By early Saturday, the NYPD’s exhaustive intelligence-gathering led to the arrest by sharp-eyed MTA police officers of two individuals entering Penn Station, in Manhattan, and the seizures of a large hunting knife, an illegal Glock 17 firearm and 30-round magazine, and several other items,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated.

“As a joint investigation now continues to establish a strong prosecution, Police Department commanders are strategically deploying assets at sensitive locations throughout New York City,” she added.

The arrested men were identified as Christopher Brown, 21, of Aquebogue, New York, and Matthew Mahrer, 22, of Manhattan.

Brown is being charged with making a terroristic threat, aggravated harassment, and criminal possession of a weapon, and Mahrer faces a single charge of criminal possession of a weapon.

Last week, an 18-year-old New Jersey man, Omar Alkattoul, was arrested in connection with the publication of an online manifesto containing threats to attack a synagogue and Jews.

Found in echo opinion stacks- Antisemitism has evil tentacles

This opinion echo by Karen Gardner was found while searching for blogs to feature on Maine Writer. If I had the ability to give "blogger echo awards", this would be one of the finalists.

By the way, this Maine Writer blog has achieved over 401,000 views. I'm blogging and proud to echo!

My Turn: Lessons from history by Karen Gardner published in the Greenfield Recorder newspaper, in Massachusetts.

Ms. Gardner wrote: In case you don’t know, I’m Jewish. 

And I don’t classify myself that way because I attend synagogue or participate in religious ritual, since I do not.

I’m Jewish because my parents were Jewish and so it’s in my blood. I was born right after World War II, during which 6 million Jewish people were murdered for no other reason than that they were Jewish. Over 1 million of them were shot to death, while the rest were systematically rounded up, sent to camps, gassed, and burned in ovens by the Nazi regime in Germany and the countries it had invaded.

And when I say systematically, just imagine the huge mechanism that must have been devised to accomplish such a heinous act of hatred and inhumanity. 

And then try to imagine the enormous participation — in one way or another — of thousands, maybe millions of people in that endeavor, for it couldn’t have happened without them.

How could so many people be so convinced that the mass killing of Jews was the right and necessary thing to do? With lies, of course, through the endless cycle of lies, conspiracy theories, and misinformation repeated over and over again until the lies became “facts.” A political party used those lies to win elections to govern the country, bringing Adolf Hitler, an insane, anti-Semitic, but terribly shrewd man, to power. The result? A previously democratic nation, though a relatively new one, became an authoritarian one, bringing another world war and the murder of millions of innocents.

This hatred of Jews has been around for centuries. We have been accused of everything from kidnapping and eating children, to being the shadowy financial support behind every bad thing that happens anywhere in the world. And these beliefs continue today, of course. The fear and hatred of Jews is just one of many conspiracy theories that when repeated often enough end up converting once rational people into believers, no matter how crazy the theory may be.

So, I was not surprised to read the story in this newspaper (Greenfield Recorder) about a recent virtual Board of Health meeting to discuss a proposed vaccination mandate in Northampton, Mass. 

(Unbelievably!) Some online participants made anti-Semitic comments, one of which referred to the five-member all-volunteer health board members as “unelected, rich Jewish doctors.” One participant had that very popular neo-Nazi epithet “Jews Will Not Replace Us” as his Zoom name. And, of course, there were swastikas displayed as well.

I may not have been surprised to read about this horrible incident, but I was frightened. How could I not be? And I’m not just frightened for the Jews in this country; I’m frightened for all minority and marginalized people as well. I have often been told that what happened in the past could not possibly happen here, but I’m sorry to say that I no longer believe that.

There is a fairly large segment of our population who believe the constant and continuing lies that the 2020, election was stolen, despite formidable evidence proving its legitimacy. The lies that we cannot trust our leaders to provide for free and fair elections just keep coming and the people keep believing.

We have passed a one-year anniversary of the January 6th  insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; and since that horrifying event we have witnessed the disintegration of the Republican Party.

Republican elected officials have descended into a spineless group of sycophants who will do whatever it takes, lawful or not, to stay in power and in the good graces of the former president, a wannabe autocrat, and of his base of true believers.

Sabbath Peace 

This leaves us with only one real political party, the Democratic Party, that continues to be engaged in the difficult task of governing this country for the benefit of its people. The Republicans have ceased any efforts to make the lives of their supporters, or anyone else, better during this very difficult time of COVID and economic hardship. They are now interested only in winning elections, no matter the method involved. And if they do win in the November midterm elections and take control of either the House of Representatives or the Senate, or both, we will be looking at the end of our democracy. This is how it happens, just like it did so many years ago in Germany.

It can happen here.
Karen Gardner, of Haydenville, can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.

P.S. In Maine Writer's opinion, in the tentacles of history, evil antisemitism has endured the cruelty of eons of oppression, and persecution and pogroms against a group of humans who, truth be told, are the source of all Christendom. This cannot be tolerated.

Warnings continue to stop antisemitism- Holocaust history must be remembered

"...historian Richard J. Evans, 'The Oppermanns was 'the first great masterpiece of anti-fascist literature'. Set in the aftermath of Hitler’s rise to power, the novel revolves around the Oppermann brothers: Gustav, a literary critic and the book’s central character; Edgar, a prominent surgeon; and Martin, the manager of the family’s furniture company."

Echo Editorial opinion published in the San Antonio Express-News: 

SAN ANTONIO — In his 1933, novel “The Oppermanns,” Lion Feuchtwanger did what all great writers do: He captured the specific to reveal the universal.

First published in 1934, but fully imagining the future of Germany over the ensuing years, The Oppermanns tells the compelling story of a remarkable German Jewish family confronted by Hitler's rise to power.

"The Oppermanns", represents a dual tragedy, fictional and real, for the author is eerily prescient in his depiction of a Jewish family in Germany. It is a hard read because we know what will happen in the world beyond the fiction. A nation will succumb to hate, and millions of people will perish as a result.

In fact, "The Oppermanns" can be seen, in retrospect, as a warning, a siren alerting the country — and the world — to the evil in their midst. Some listened, but many more did not. The death camps emerged, and the victims multiplied: men, women and children, their bodies stacked in the fields outside Auschwitz and Belzec and Treblinka and …

America is not Nazi Germany, and a second Holocaust is not looming. But the rhetoric of 2022, bears a chilling resemblance to the rhetoric of 1934. Vile words lead to vile deeds. Antisemitic attacks are on the rise — and must be condemned at every turn.

We have heard vile words recently. When celebrities utter these comments, it adds poison to an already toxic environment. It corrodes our national spirit, legitimizing in the minds of some attitudes that have no legitimacy in a just and caring society.

Kanye West, the rapper who calls himself Ye, may be a gifted artist, but talent is no shield against the malignance that can rot a person’s soul. Ye, who sported a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at a recent fashion show, tweeted he would go “death con 3” on Jewish people — an ugly comment that sparked a rally in which white supremacists hung a banner from a freeway overpass in Los Angeles: “Kanye is right about the Jews.”

The Road To Hell: Berlin, 1933:
Lion Feuchtwanger’s “The Oppermanns.”

Unlike the response in 1933, Germany, the reaction here has been swift, just and decisive, especially among the business community. Companies associated with West — Adidas, Balenciaga, CAA and MRC — cut him loose, although we would say it took too long. West claimed he lost $2 billion in one day.

“We cannot support any content that amplifies his platform,” CAA and MRC executives wrote in a joint memo.

Before West unleashed his tirade against Jews, former President Donald Trump said American Jews “better get their act together,” a comment critics decried as condescending and antisemitic.

“No President has done more for Israel than I have,” Trump, who has a daughter who converted to Judaism and Jewish grandchildren, posted on his media platform, Truth Social. “Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.”

In another incident, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving promoted “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America,” an antisemitic movie based on the book of the same title.

“The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech,” the team tweeted.

Each incident has occurred against the backdrop of rising antisemitism. The Anti-Defamation League reported 2,717 antisemitic incidents in 2021, three years after 11 people were killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue; the figure represents a 34 percent increase over the previous year.

“You had Jews being beaten and brutalized in broad daylight, say, in the middle of Times Square or Los Angeles or the Strip in Las Vegas, where people who were simply identified as Jewish came under assault and attack,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, told PBS. “That was new.”

When antisemitic incidents arise, the entire community must respond in full force.

In a 1933 review of “The Oppermanns,” the New York Times said it was aimed at both Germany and “the world outside.”

“It is … bearing the message, ‘Wake up! The barbarians are upon us!’”

Almost 90 years later, Joshua Cohen expressed a similar sentiment in the New York Times.

“His (Feuchtwanger’s) example shows that art can challenge power, as it were, ‘powerfully,’ and yet have no political effect,” he wrote.

Antisemitism does not sprout from a single seed; it is sown and nurtured across communities and across nations.

Yes, 2022, is not 1933. But the real-life tragedy of “The Oppermanns” is that it may be as relevant now as it was then.