Think Twice with Jonathan Tobin

JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin wants to know what’s the bigger problem? Is it the global surge of antisemitism? Or is it the passivity of some Jews who recoil from active defense against their attackers or the willingness of others to actively collaborate with those who seek their destruction?   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Tablet magazine editor-at-large Liel Leibovitz who answered by speaking of his outrage at the reaction of American and European Jews to efforts to harm them. He was particularly incensed by the fact that when a deranged man entered a New York City synagogue and disrupted services and attacked a congregant, not a single person present attempted to restrain him or defend the person who was assaulted. Instead, they simply sat back and waited for security to rush in and save them.   He believes this is symptomatic of Diaspora Jewry’s inadequate response to their current dilemma. “If that's all you've got, then what you have isn't a congregation. What you have is a hospice.”   “If Zionism taught us anything, and indeed if Judaism taught us anything,” he continued. “It’s that our expectation should never ever be to be safe. Our expectation should always be to be free. Free people have the door wide open. Free people welcome everyone that wants to come in. Free people are armed and trained and ready to defend themselves against their haters. This is a very normal state of being, applicable everywhere, it seems, except for the mainstream American Jewish community, which still harps on about risk management. Well, you know, that way lies doom.”   Leibovitz discussed Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s advice to Jews that they should prioritize the interests of the Democratic Party over their own safety and even the existence of Israel by supporting an antisemite like the party’s U.S. Senate candidate, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. She was, he asserts, “speaking the quiet part out loud.” That is something, he says, that most of the leadership of American Jewry has failed to do.   According to Leibovitz, “the inconvenient truth is that by deed, if not by word, every single one of our so-called communal leaders practice the same exact thought process” as Nessel. He says that when it comes to “the most pressing issues that actually affect the well-being of Jews today”—such as supporting the Trump administration’s effort to root out DEI policies that enable antisemitism in academia, immigration and the threat from Islamists—they are acting like Nessel. They are prioritizing liberal partisan political stands, not the interests or even the defense of the community.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

The Oct. 27 Israeli election will be a referendum on the record of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But according to JNS contributing editor Ruthie Blum, the voters will also be registering their verdict on whether they believe the promises of his opponents. Blum joins JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin on this week’s episode of Think Twice to analyze the upcoming vote.   According to Blum, many Israelis may be tired of the prime minister, who has now served for 15 out of the last 17 years as his country’s premier and for 18 years in total. But the campaign will also test the appeal of the apparent new leader of the opposition bloc, former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot. The general has mainstream appeal and has the sympathy of the nation after losing his son during the war in Gaza.   As Blum notes, Eisenkot is trying to sound as much like Netanyahu as possible when it comes to issues like the war against Iran and its terrorist proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah while still blaming the prime minister for Oct. 7. Yet the military establishment he embodies just as, if not more responsible for Israel being surprised by Hamas. More than that, his record as chief of staff shows that he is clearly on the left though not trying to sound like it. And contrary to the promises that have been made, the opposition may well hope to bring in the Muslim Brotherhood-connected United Arab List to help them form a government now that it has one Jewish member on its list of candidates.   Israelis are, she says, exhausted by the war and sick of the divisiveness that it engendered. But a key factor in determining the outcome will depend on which of the various smaller parties (38 different lists registered before the deadline) will be able to garner the necessary 3.5% of the vote in order to make it into the Knesset. If the right, left or Arab splinters and votes are “wasted” by being cast for parties that don’t qualify, that may make the difference in whether Netanyahu or Eisenkot will be able to form a government.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Antisemitism in American education isn’t merely a matter of elite universities. It’s being tolerated and encouraged at colleges large and small across the country by woke administrators and faculty. But according to JNS Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tobin, it’s also happening in K-12 schools, something that is being facilitated by teachers’ unions. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Deborah Project Legal Director Lori Lowenthal Marcus, whose cases involve suing school districts and institutions of higher learning where Jews are being targeted and suffering discrimination. Marcus recently won a significant victory by forcing Haverford College, where administrators and faculty were tolerating anti-Zionist and antisemitic behavior, to adopt new standards that will, if enforced, force them to fundamentally change their approach to Israel and the treatment of Jewish students. What made the difference in the Haverford case was the fact that investigations by Congress and the federal government pressured the school into conceding to the demands of Jewish students. Without that pressure, Marcus says, the school would have stood its ground. The Deborah Project has also been defending students in Philadelphia whose families were forced to move to enable them to go to school without suffering antisemitic targeting. The incident involved a public high school that established a “prayer room” that was a de facto mosque, where Jewish students were falsely accused of assaulting other students. According to Marcus, part of the problem in fighting back against antisemitism in education is the way the entire profession of teaching, at both the K-12 and college levels, has been captured by people indoctrinated in toxic theories. They don’t consider antisemitism to be a problem because Jews don’t qualify as victims in the intersectional mindset, in which only racial minorities deserve help. The other problem is that many Jews are either too intimidated to take action in defense of themselves or their children. Many are also partisans and so prejudiced against President Donald Trump and the Republicans that they oppose their efforts to combat antisemitism even when it is to their benefit.

The global surge of antisemitism that followed the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror attacks on Israel was no spontaneous outburst of hate. According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, it’s clear that it was not only the product of years of preparation by ideologues recycling Soviet-era propaganda aimed at delegitimizing Israel and Jewish rights. It was also the direct result of funding and planning carried out by Islamists in Qatar and other Middle sources as well as UN agencies, NGOs, non-profits, and charities who were behind this effort.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Canadian political consultant Warren Kinsella, author of the new book, The Hidden Hand: The Information War and the Rise of Antisemitic Propaganda. Kinsella asserts that the best way to understand the insidious effort to rationalize and/or defend Hamas and demonize the Jewish state and its supporters is to think of it as the moral equivalent of a political campaign. He argues that this is a story that the mainstream media has ignored as it became the willing stenographer for antisemitic terrorists.   Kinsella points out that this plot to destroy Israel is a highly sophisticated plan that relies heavily on social media algorithms aimed especially at influencing young people. The author, who isn’t Jewish, believes it's imperative to recognize the threat Islamist hate poses to the West, not just Israel.   He worries that despite the fact that it has a great story to tell and has the truth on its side, the state of Israel is failing to get its message across to those being indoctrinated in the antisemitic narrative in the West. He believes it is imperative for Jerusalem to start taking this threat seriously. Just as important, he thinks all people of goodwill must push back against the blood libels being spread about Jews in the media. Kinsella believes what's at stake is not just Israel and the Jewish people, it's democracy and civilization itself.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

What should we be asking about what happened on Oct. 7, 2023, and its aftermath? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the key issue is not only learning and understanding the truth about the horrific crimes that occurred on that day. Rather, it is how so much of the world reacted to it by siding with the perpetrators and against the victims. He’s joined on this week’s episode of “Think Twice” by documentary filmmaker Gloria Greenfield, the producer, director and writer of the new film, “A Collective Descent Into Evil: The Lethal Obsession with Jews and the Jewish State.” It gives voice to a broad array of scholars, writers and commentators on the subject, and isn’t only about the barbarism and atrocities that occurred during the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror attacks on communities in southern Israel. It is, she says, an exploration of the motivations, ideologies and strategies of those involved, as well as their apologists and enablers. The problem is not just the terrorists and a population that supported and participated in the horrors of Oct. 7. Greenfield explains that her film seeks to broaden our understanding of the subject by pointing out that what happened was the product of decades of indoctrination into hatred for Israel, the Jews and the West. The same is true of the mobs on college campuses and in the streets of American cities who turned out in support of Oct. 7 and to defend its perpetrators. The goal wasn’t, says Greenfield, merely “destroying the Jewish people and destroying Israel. It’s also about destroying the free world and destroying people that don’t subscribe to Islamist ideologies.” Greenfield, a feminist publisher who grew disillusioned with the movement because of its tolerance for antisemitism, points out that the “epidemic” of tolerance for Jew-hatred is rooted in the success of Marxist and radical ideologies in their “long march” through American institutions. The film is available for streaming via the Roku Channel and Doc Emet Productions, as well as by request for community screenings. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.