Jay Zeidman –

Situational Update

• Israeli jets struck the hideout of Hamas terrorist mastermind Muhammed Deif in the Gaza Strip humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi on July 13. The Israeli military’s surprise air strike on al-Mawasi, a largely barren area of southern Gaza where Israel has enabled Palestinians displaced by the war to shelter in safety, killed dozens of people, local officials claimed. According to the IDF, Deif and his deputy Rafa’a Salameh were targeted with “large munitions above ground while in a low building between the al-Mawasi area and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and not in a tunnel,” The Times of Israel reported. It was not clear in the immediate aftermath of the strike whether Deif, a veteran military leader of the Iran-backed terrorist organization and a key architect of the October 7 atrocities had been eliminated. The IDF and Shin Bet on Sunday confirmed that Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, was killed
• A survey of nearly 8,000 self-identified Jews from 13 European countries has found that 96% of respondents said they had encountered antisemitism in their daily lives even before the ongoing war in Gaza, the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency said on Thursday. Jews are ‘more frightened than ever’ since Oct. 7 after its third antisemitism survey finds most respondents feel less safe, especially in France
• On several occasions, Iranian officials have revealed that the Iranian regime was involved in the planning and execution of Hamas’s “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” the October 7, 2023 invasion and massacres in southern Israel, according to MEMRI
• Over the last nine months of war in Gaza, Hamas has heavily relied on embedding itself into the enclave’s civilian population as both a method of survival and way to ambush Israeli troops, according to an in-depth analysis of the terror group’s strategy. In an investigation published Saturday, The New York Times spoke to Hamas members and Israeli soldiers returning from Gaza to piece together an image of the methods employed by the terror group. The strategy, according to the report, is mainly based on evading Israeli troops while waiting for them to fall into carefully laid traps, and Hamas’s use of the vulnerable civilian population for its own advantage.

The Numbers

Casualties

• 1,629 Israelis dead, including 682 IDF soldiers (326 IDF soldiers during the ground operation in Gaza) – an increase of 1 from our last update
  • Master Sergeant (res.) Valeri Chefonov (33), a reservist, was killed in a drone attack on Thursday
• Additional Information (according to the IDF):
  • 2,127 IDF soldiers have been injured during ground combat in Gaza, including at least 402 who have been severely injured.
  • 4,167 IDF soldiers have been injured since the beginning of the war, including at least 618 who have been severely injured.
• Note: we have always included the number of casualties in Gaza, as reported by the Gaza Health Ministry. We feel it is important to include this information with the caveat that this reporting ministry is not a trusted source of data by many. Most recently, The United Nations has begun citing a much lower death toll for women and children in Gaza, acknowledging that it has incomplete information about many of the people killed during Israel’s military offensive in the territory.
  • According to unverified figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, 38,584 people have been killed in Gaza, and 88,881 have been injured during the war.
  • We also encourage you to read this well documented piece from Tablet published in March: How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers
  • The Associated Press, an outlet with a demonstrated anti-Israel bias, conducted an analysis of alleged Gaza death tolls released by the Hamas-controlled “Gaza Health Ministry.” The analysis found that “9,940 of the dead – 29% of its April 30 total – were not listed in the data” and that “an additional 1,699 records in the ministry’s April data were incomplete and 22 were duplicates.”

Hostages (no change from Wednesday)

• On October 7^th, a total of 261 Israelis were taken hostage.
• During the ceasefire deal in November, 112 hostages were released.
• A total of 7 hostages have been rescued and the remains of 19 others have been recovered. Tragically, 3 have been mistakenly killed by the IDF, and 1 was killed during an IDF attempt to rescue him.
• This leaves an estimated 116 hostages still theoretically in Gaza, with somewhere between (assumed) 35-43 deceased. Thus, at most, 85 living hostages could still be in Gaza.
  • According to an article published in the WSJ, “Of the approximately 250 hostages taken in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, 116 continue to be held captive, including many believed to be dead. Mediators in the hostage talks and a U.S. official familiar with the latest U.S. intelligence said the number of those hostages still alive could be as low as 50.”
  • That assessment, based in part on Israeli intelligence, would mean 66 of those still held hostage could be dead, 25 more than Israel has publicly acknowledged.
  • Link: Families of Hostages in Gaza Are Desperate for News but Dread a Phone Call | WSJ

(Sources: JINSA, FDD, IDF, AIPAC, The Paul Singer Foundation, The Institute for National Security Studies, the Alma Research and Education Center, Yediot, Jerusalem Post, and the Times of Israel)

Listen

[PODCAST] Call Me Back with Dan Senor: Naftali Bennett, (former) Prime Minister

• Today we sit down with one of the most interesting figures in Israeli public life, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who served as Israel’s 13th Prime Minister (2021-22), and previously, in a Netanyahu-led government as Defense Minister (2019-20), and earlier on as Economy Minister.
• When he himself was prime minister, Naftali Bennett’s government was comprised of 8 political parties from across the ideological spectrum – from his own Yamina Party and the New Hope party on the Right, through Yair Lapid’s party in the center, to the Labor and Meretz parties on the Left. And then – for the first time in an Israeli Government – there was the Arab Muslim party, Ra’am. In his business career, Prime Minister Bennett was a successful start-up entrepreneur. And he served in Israel’s elite Sayeret Matkal special forces. In this long-form interview, we try to better understand Naftali Bennett’s worldview on a range of issues in Israel’s post-10/07 reality – its strategic situation as it faces multiple war fronts or possible war fronts, and we wanted to better understand his vision for addressing the growing internal Israeli tensions – within the Israeli public..
• Link: Naftali Bennett, (former) Prime Minister on Apple Podcasts

Watch

[VIDEO] Safety first on campus. Except for Jews: This week, Columbia University failed to take meaningful action against four administrators caught sending blatantly antisemitic text messages, reports by The Free Press’s Sulkin Maya on the latest higher ed hypocrisy.

• Link: Safety first on campus. Except for Jews | @TheFP

[VIDEO] The Egoz Boys: Talking to one of the IDF’s elite commando units about Gaza, avoiding civilian casualties, and trying not to worry their moms from Tablet

• Link: The Egoz Boys

What We Are Reading

[FEATURED POST] Israel is losing the north, Michael Oren in The Times of Israel writes. “A zero-tolerance policy for Hezbollah rockets is the first step to saving the country – and its borders – as we know it.”

• Fearing an October 7-like attack by Hezbollah’s Radwan terrorists and a repeat of the mass flight of Israelis from the north during the 2006 Lebanon War, the government ordered the evacuation of civilians living within five kilometers of the border. Firing well beyond that line, however, Hezbollah has driven many others from their homes. The once vibrant city of Kiryat Shmona is now a ghost town and much of Metula lies in ruin. Some 80,000 Israelis have been displaced or, more accurately, uprooted from their workplaces, their schools, and communities. Levels of family violence, substance abuse, and divorce have soared.
• And the world will once again blame Israel. The international media has almost totally ignored Hezbollah’s aggression or, as in the case of The New York Times, cast it as retaliation for Israeli attacks. Israel, meanwhile, has done little to lay the diplomatic groundwork for large scale military action. When I brought the first-ever delegation of uprooted Israelis to Washington last month, most of the Congressional and federal officials we met were utterly uninformed about the north.
• Israel is losing the north, but the loss will not be of land alone. Endangered, too, is the state’s commitment to defend all of our citizens irrespective of their place of residence, to preserve our precious human and natural resources, and to deter our enemies. Nor will that fate be confined to the north but, along with Hezbollah’s southward-creeping rocket fire, it will eventually afflict the center. A new northern border running from Haifa to Kfar Saba is not unimaginable, or even from Ra’anana to Netanya.
• Such disastrous outcomes can still be averted, though. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has said he will accept a ceasefire if Hamas does. Israel must exhaust all diplomatic and military means to pressure Hamas to accept the hostage-for-ceasefire deal currently on the table. At the same time, Israel must urge President Biden to reaffirm his October warning of “Don’t” to Iran and Hezbollah and put teeth into it. Any attempt to destroy Israel, the statement must say, will be met by a punishing US counterstrike.
• Finally, and most crucially, Israel must take immediate and substantive steps to demonstrate its commitment to the north. The IDF must adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks and cease broadcasting fear to the region. If French and American mediators fail to persuade the terrorists to comply with UN Resolution 1701 and withdraw beyond the Litani River, then Israel must push them back by all means necessary. Israel must make clear that the status quo ante of October 6, with Hezbollah deployed right up to the border, is not revivable. As in Gaza, where the newly-forged buffer zone has helped to restore the confidence of Israelis to return to their former homes in the Gaza Envelope, so must the enforcement of a similar zone in the north convince northerners that Hezbollah terrorists cannot merely cut through the fence and slaughter their families.
• Link:  Israel is losing the north | The Times of Israel

Former Israeli Major General Warns of Perils of Hezbollah War: Peter Green with the Cipher Brief interviewed Giora Eiland a retired major general who served as planning and operations chief of the IDF and later as national security adviser to the late prime minister, Ariel Sharon.

• Eiland takes a dim view of Israel’s chances of defeating Hezbollah in a full-on military confrontation. Instead, he says, Israel must make clear to Lebanon – and the world — that continuing to allow Hezbollah to operate with impunity means Lebanon is responsible for the attacks on Israel.
• There is significant change in the situation along the northern border, and it is not only reflected in the way that things are happening on the ground. There is a shift in the policy of Hezbollah. In the very first days (after) October 7, Hezbollah opened fire against Israel as a symbolic political act, to show the Palestinians in Gaza they have some support from Hezbollah. So despite the hatred between Shia and Sunnis, as long as Israel is concerned, they are actually brothers, and they can help each other.
• Now, we understand that if such a war breaks out, there is a good chance that Iran will attack Israel directly. That gives Hezbollah much more confidence that Israel is actually deterred [by the threat of Iranian involvement]. And the more deterred Israel is, the more aggressive Hezbollah can be. So we are in a very delicate situation.
• The United States is actually telling Israel not to open total war in Lebanon, that we, the United States, are not only against it, but actually, we do not believe that you will be successful.
• The only real way to win a war in Lebanon is to fight against the state of Lebanon and not against Hezbollah. 
• The only potential leverage over Hezbollah is the simple fact that Hezbollah is an official part of the Lebanese government, it has ministers, and representatives in Lebanon’s parliament. And that’s why the only real worry of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is a scenario in which Israel will attack the infrastructure of the state of Lebanon: energy, communication, transportation, everything. And if the condition of [Lebanon’s] roads will look like the condition of Gaza, then Hezbollah understands that many Lebanese including from [Hezbollah’s] own Shia community will come to them complaining.
• To be successful in Lebanon, we must begin with a diplomatic dialogue, and we have to explain this point. Otherwise, we will be in a terrible situation again. We are not fighting terrorist organizations. Not more than 10% of the countries of the world have an arsenal more impressive than the arsenal of Hezbollah. The Houthis in Yemen can launch precise ballistic missiles to the range of 2,000 kilometers. We are speaking about Iranian armies deployed around Israel or in many other places in the Middle East.
• Link: Former Israeli Major General Warns of Perils of Hezbollah War

Official Report from the IDF: Probe finds controversial commander largely acted properly in fight for Kibbutz Be’eri

• Inquiry of the Battle at Kibbutz Be’eri: The presentation of the operational inquiry regarding the battle at Kibbutz Be’eri was completed July 11. The findings were presented to the members of the Be’eri community, the families of the hostages abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri, and the bereaved families. The inquiry was summarized by the Chief of the General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi and was subsequently presented to the Minister of Defense, Mr. Yoav Gallant.
• The inquiry team determined that the IDF failed in its mission to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri; the bravery of the Be’eri residents and the members of the kibbutz’s civilian rapid response team is commendable and was crucial in stabilizing the defensive line during the first hours of combat, preventing the attack from spreading to other parts of the kibbutz.
• In the attack on the kibbutz, 101 civilians were killed, and 30 hostages from Kibbutz Be’eri and two additional hostages were abducted and taken into Gaza, 11 of whom are still being held in Gaza. The security forces who fought in the area operated with great bravery and heroism. During the battle, 31 security personnel fell, including 23 IDF soldiers and members of the civilian rapid response team and eight officers of the Israel Police. Many soldiers and civilians were also injured.
• The findings reveal that approximately 340 terrorists infiltrated the kibbutz, including about 100 Nukhba terrorist operatives of Hamas, who carried out murderous massacres, abductions of hostages, looting, and other brutal crimes. According to updated estimates from the inquiry team, about 100 terrorists were eliminated within the kibbutz. The houses in the kibbutz sustained heavy damage, and the recovery process for the kibbutz is expected to take a long time.
• LTG Herzi Halevi made some of the following conclusions:
  • A. The IDF did not fulfill its mission to defend the residents in the most grave manner and failed in its mission.
  • B. The fighting of the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, led by the members of the civilian rapid response team, was conducted with determination and courage. Their bravery, defending the kibbutz and its residents with their bodies, should be highly commended. This combat prevented the total capture of the kibbutz and saved many lives.
  • C. The actions of the forces- Many members of the security forces fought bravely in Kibbutz Be’eri and performed acts of heroism. However, severe mistakes and errors were made, and it is our duty to learn, strengthen, and make corrections for the future.
  • F. Prioritizing Civilian Protection over Protection of Security Forces- In some cases, security forces fought to defend a position and evacuate and treat wounded soldiers before doing so for civilians. The inquiry found that these instances were due to difficulties in forming a complete situational assessment, leading forces under attack to act in self-defense. It is imperative to reinforce the directive to prioritize civilian protection as the highest-priority mission before doing anything else. Soldiers must always give priority to assisting civilians in evacuation, defense and any other need that arises in a combat zone.
  • The Hostage Event at the Home of Pessi Cohen z”l – The Chief of the General Staff determined that this was a unique event in its characteristics, involving a hostage situation in an active combat zone. In such events, the commander on the ground must make difficult decisions with the goal of saving as many civilians as possible. The inquiry revealed that this value guided the decision-making of the commanders on the ground during this event.
• Link: Inquiry of the Battle at Kibbutz Be’eri | IDF

Israel shouldn’t attack Hezbollah until after US elections – opinion, by Farhad Rezaei with The Jerusalem Post

• Hezbollah’s escalating conflict against Israel through continuous rocket attacks demands a decisive military response. However, initiating a full-scale conflict now would be perilous. With Israel embroiled in conflict on multiple fronts and the US distracted by elections, Iran could exploit the chaos to advance its nuclear ambitions and potentially develop a nuclear weapon.
• Though it might seem inevitable, a full-scale war against Hezbollah now could be counterproductive. This would put the Jewish state in another war of attrition with a group much larger and stronger than Hamas. Kamal Kharrazi, foreign affairs adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said if Israel launches an all-out offensive against Hezbollah, it will risk triggering a regional war in which Tehran and the “axis of resistance” would support the Lebanese -based terrorist group with “all means.”
• According to the latest assessment by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran now possesses enough weapons-grade uranium to produce several nuclear weapons within a month. An Iranian bomb could trigger a nuclear race in the Middle East and hasten a US withdrawal from the region, a strategic disadvantage for Israel. Iran’s nuclear advancements should give Israel a compelling reason to prioritize countering the greater threat it poses over striking Hezbollah at this moment.
• That Israel must respond to Hezbollah’s aggressive approach to restore security in the North is essential. Israel can continue with diplomatic efforts along with low-scale counterattacks against the terror group and its decapitation campaign targeting Hezbollah senior commanders.
• Link: Israel shouldn’t attack Hezbollah until after US elections – opinion | The Jerusalem Post

In Search of Complementarity: Israel’s Possible Responses to ICC Arrest Warrants, written by Prof. Yuval Shany, Prof. Amichai Cohen with The Israel Democracy Institute. If properly structured, both a commission of inquiry and a preliminary examination by the Israeli police could arguably meet existing complementarity standards.

• On May 20, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, announced his decision to file requests for arrest warrants to the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber. The requests call for the arrest of three senior Hamas leaders—Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh—and two senior Israeli leaders—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. With respect to the Israeli suspects, the ICC prosecutor claimed that Netanyahu and Gallant formed a common plan to starve the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, or at least knew that the siege they decided to impose on the Gaza Strip would inevitably cause starvation and other forms of severe harm to the civilian population. These charges have received a mixture of acclamation and criticism.
• Another option would be for Netanyahu and Gallant to request to voluntarily appear before the ICC and contest the allegations leveled against them, as Kenyan leaders did in the past when confronting charges. Given Israel’s deep mistrust toward the ICC in general, especially now toward the current prosecutor, it is highly unlikely that the Israel leadership would actually take this route. (Given news reports alleging attempts by Israeli officials to interfere with the ICC preliminary examination and investigation, such deep mistrust is probably mutual.)
• By way of elimination, then, complementarity is the preferred option for Israel and for the court. Under the assumption that Israel indeed chooses this route, we discuss what investigation mechanisms could generate the desired outcome: That is, what does Israel need to do to achieve genuine domestic accountability that will also result in international complementarity?
• In April, the Office of the Prosecutor published a Policy on Complementarity and Cooperation. The main thrust of this policy, which is a new iteration of the policy of positive complementarity, is a vision according to which “complementarity and cooperation, operating together, express the combined resolve of State Parties to guarantee lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice.” This would be achieved through “a two-track approach, in which the Office will seek to engage in partnership with States to promote cooperation and complementary action wherever possible, while remaining vigilant of its mandate to independently and impartially investigate and prosecute Rome Statute crimes.” The policy also emphasizes that “[t]he cooperative effort of a plurality of actors working in concert to address atrocity crimes gives expression to the concept of unity in diversity.” Hence, the guiding principle of complementarity should be positive efforts toward the utilization of national proceedings in the enforcement of international criminal law.
• First, in order for the investigation to be considered not “for the purpose of shielding,” it should be effective in nature. That is, the investigating authority should have the professional skills to conduct an investigation and should take all reasonable steps to secure evidence. The conclusion of the investigation should be based on a thorough and objective analysis of all the relevant elements. (See, for example, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgment in Nachova v. Bulgaria (2005).)
• Second, the length of the domestic investigation should be reasonable. Clearly, reasonableness here depends on the specific context. Still, an extended duration of time not justified by the complexity of the case would constitute, as a rule, an unjustified delay (see ECtHR W. v. Slovenia (2014)). It should be noted, however, that ICC prosecutors have been flexible in applying the reasonable time test. For example, in the Columbia situation, the preliminary examination was opened in 2004 and lasted for 17 years; only in 2017 were “Special Jurisdiction for Peace” courts established (following the 2016 peace agreement) to try the suspects of crimes also examined by the ICC.
• Third, the domestic investigating body should be independent and impartial in its operation. The ECtHR has interpreted this to mean that “the investigating body must have a sufficient degree of independence from the authorities that are subject to investigation. This implies that the question of independence will have to be considered in the light of the relation between the State agents/authorities allegedly responsible for the events and those who carry out the investigations.”
• In the past, Israel’s independent judicial system and the willingness of its courts to apply key provisions of international law were sufficient to shield Israelis from criminal prosecutions based on violations of international criminal law. In addition, over the years, Israel has reformed its investigative mechanisms within the IDF to strengthen its ability to maintain complementarity with regard to Israeli soldiers. The recent requests for arrest warrants at the ICC create, however, a new challenge for Israel. This time, the question at hand is not the independence of Israel’s civilian or military justice system or the military system, but whether specific high-ranking officials have been or will be actively investigated with respect to specific suspicions. The internal IDF investigation mechanism was clearly not designed to deal with allegations against such civilian officials; and the current administrative law proceedings before the ISC relating to the legality of war-related humanitarian aid policies are not designed to impose criminal liability (although they may indirectly lead to that).
• Link: In Search of Complementarity: Israel’s Possible Responses to ICC Arrest Warrants

Antisemitism

• The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) publishes weekly information from over 300 million online data sources including public social media, traditional media, websites, blogs, forums, and more. The bigger the phrase on the above image, the more total mentions it had in the time period.

Jewish leaders: Harvard’s reversal of protester suspensions will lead to more antisemitism: The Ivy League school diluted the punishment for anti-Israel activists who broke campus rules by Haley Cohen for the Jewish Insider

• Harvard’s decision on Tuesday to reverse the suspensions of five students for participating in the illegal anti-Israel encampments earlier this year on the Cambridge, Mass., campus was met with “disappointment” by two leaders of Harvard’s Jewish community.
• “I’m disappointed in this action. I’ve heard the phrase ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ but it seems in this case that no good deed goes unreversed,” Rabbi David Wolpe, a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Divinity School who stepped down from Harvard’s antisemitism advisory committee after a short stint, told Jewish Insider. “Punishment is a lesson — reversing it is a permission.”
• The suspensions and other disciplinary charges — which included the withholding of degrees for 13 seniors because of their involvement in the encampment — were initially announced in late May ahead of graduation. Hundreds of students and faculty members walked out of Harvard’s commencement ceremony in solidarity with the punished students.
• According to the Harvard Crimson, the university informed students on Tuesday of their updated disciplinary charges, which saw the suspensions downgraded to probations of varying lengths and came as a result of the Faculty Council’s criticism of how the Harvard College Administrative Board dealt with the cases.
• The most severe probation charge will last for just one semester, a drastic change from the initial punishments that required at least one student to withdraw from Harvard for three semesters. Some students who were initially placed on probation in May also had the length of their probations shortened.
• Link: Jewish leaders: Harvard’s reversal of protester suspensions will lead to more antisemitism

Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam defaced ‘for Gaza’ in The Jewish Chronicle

• A vandal painted “Gaza” on a statue of Anne Frank, located near the famed Holocaust diarist’s first home in Amsterdam, a local antisemitism watchdog said on Tuesday.
• Last year, the Centre for Information and Documentation Israel recorded a 245 per cent rise in antisemitic incidents compared to 2023. While there was a sharp rise in the number of incidents following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, the total number of incidents before the massacre was already nearing the 2022 total, according to the CIDI.
• Link: Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam defaced ‘for Gaza’

‘The Time to Stay Silent Was Over’ by Maria Muñoz, a current fellow at Maccabee Task Force, a pro-Israel group fighting misinformation and antisemitism on college campuses writes for Tablet Magazine

• I am a Native American, originally from Colombia, and a practicing Christian. I’m also a fierce defender of Israel—even though speaking up has cost me friends.
• I had a feeling that as soon as I made the decision to cross into Israeli territory to force people to bear witness to the horror through my social media, I would probably lose everyone around me. I was right—I lost my friend group, was isolated from college organizations, and received hateful messages online. I have absolutely no regrets.
• My reluctance to be an advocate vanished when I was brought back to Kfar Aza. The bright, flourishing community I once knew was now in ruins. Seeing the burned rubble of family homes was the first time I fully understood the fate of the kibbutz residents. Their voices had been stolen by the self-proclaimed activists of social media who were telling the world that the stories of Israeli victims did not deserve to be heard because their deaths were “justified.” I never was an activist myself, but I knew this sentiment was wrong. People who were antiwar were now openly celebrating the deaths of innocent civilians.
• It made me realize people were not using this movement to stand up for human rights. They were using it to ignite hate against Jews—again.
• The existence of Native Americans and the Jewish people is a testament to our survival through the trials. Today, we still live under powerful systems that seek to dehumanize us. Yet we must stay strong because our ancestors before overcame these trials.
• Link: ‘The Time to Stay Silent Was Over’

Can a Federal Court Stop Antisemitism at Columbia? by Michael Gross in the WSJ

• After I attended a vigil last fall for the victims, many fellow students stopped talking to me. I was routinely called a murderer, and even a Nazi, as I walked to class. I received an anonymous death threat on social media. I usually remained in my off-campus apartment, skipping class because I would have had to walk past—or through—groups of students advocating violence against Jews. I canceled a job interview on campus because I feared for my safety. For much of the fall semester, I stayed away from New York City and took classes virtually.
• When I returned for the spring semester, things got worse. While the media has fixated on the encampments and the student takeover of Hamilton Hall, the hatred hasn’t been limited to those areas. There have been constant “teach-ins” where students and outside organizers rail against Israel while praising Hamas. One teach-in, titled “Contextualizing the Humanitarian Collapse in Palestine,” denied that terrorism is a crime and described suicide bombings as “direct-action protests.” Twice a month there is a “glory to our martyrs vigil” on the medical campus.
• No wonder the situation at Columbia has deteriorated. Passive and morally confused leaders have tacitly encouraged the threats of violence against Jewish students. By failing to oppose antisemitism from the outset, they’ve fostered the creation of a de facto no-go zone for Jews. The 2023-24 school year is over, but antisemitism remains rampant in the summer semester, and I expect it to become worse in the fall. If students are setting up encampments when the campus is less busy, they are unlikely to back down when it is bustling.
• Columbia’s leaders can’t be trusted to do the right thing. Their decision to break up the first encampment and recapture Hamilton Hall was too little, too late. Our lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and monetary damages for violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The courts should compel Columbia to enforce its policies and protect Jewish students—far beyond merely punishing antisemites after the fact. If the federal courts don’t intervene, then antisemitism will continue to control Columbia and endanger Jewish students.
• Link: Can A Federal Court Stop Antisemitism at Columbia? | Wall Street Journal