@2021 – Designed and Developed by Jewish TV Channel
Israel’s defense minister noted the “unique opportunity that has been created and called on remaining Hamas terrorists to cease fire and immediately release the hostages.”
(JNS)
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday night briefed his American counterpart Lloyd Austin on the successful elimination of Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip.
Gallant “stressed his commitment to ensuring that 101 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza return to Israel,” while noting “the urgency and unique opportunity that has been created” and calling on Hamas terrorists “to cease fire and immediately release the hostages,” according to a statement from his office.
Gallant described Sinwar’s demise as an “extraordinary operational achievement and strategic game-changer,” and expressed his appreciation to Austin for his congratulatory message to the IDF and the State of Israel.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday night phoned Israeli President Isaac Herzog to congratulate him on Sinwar’s elimination.
The secretary noted “that justice had been served, and the world was now a better place without a man who was responsible for the deaths of many civilians and who obstructed any peace process in the region,” according to a statement from Herzog’s office.
For his part, the president emphasized that “the issue of returning the hostages must be a top priority, and now there was an important opportunity to focus all resources and efforts on bringing the hostages back home.”
The secretary agreed that “a year after the horrific massacre, they must work together to swiftly return the hostages to their homes,” and noted that “the U.S. intended to significantly focus its efforts to achieve this goal.”
Image: Courtesy JNS article
U.S. efforts to hamper the IDF’s efforts to defeat Hezbollah and its paymasters could doom the region to more years of Tehran-sponsored terrorism.
Jonathan S. Tobin
(JNS)
The post-Oct. 7 war that Israel has been waging against Islamist terrorists that threaten its existence seems to have shifted its focus in the last month. While the fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues, it’s clear that most of Israel’s military efforts are now aimed at ensuring that Hezbollah’s forces in Lebanon do not have the power to continue to depopulate northern Israel. But one thing hasn’t changed: an American policy bent on not entirely abandoning the Jewish state while also determined to avoid a full-scale confrontation with Iran, which is behind both Hamas and Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel.
Preventing a broader war sounds reasonable. But at this point, the problem is not only the fact that Israel cannot afford to let Hamas survive in Gaza or allow Hezbollah to continue to use Lebanon as a base for attacks on its northern border communities and the rest of the country. It’s that amid the confusion caused by more than a year of fighting and the way that the conflict has already spread, Washington is still hopelessly committed to a policy of diplomatic compromise with Iran that has proven over and over again to be an abysmal failure.
Yet that hasn’t stopped the Biden/Harris administration from continuing to push for ceasefire agreements on both fronts and for what amounts to a truce with Iran that essentially grants the Islamist regime and its nuclear program immunity from Israeli attacks. That is a formula not just for Israeli defeat. It also signals a willingness to accommodate the Iranians in a way that is a disaster for American interests and dooms the region to many more years of further instability and terrorism.
Course correction is needed
What makes it even more frustrating—both for Israelis and Americans who recognize how counterproductive this addiction to Iran diplomacy has become—is that the people running America’s foreign-policy establishment seem unable to realize their errors. Years of efforts at bribing and appeasing Iran have done nothing to change the Islamic Republic’s desire to achieve regional hegemony or to dampen its enthusiasm for funding terror groups that seek to destroy Israel. Nor do U.S. policymakers seem to contemplate the kind of course correction that might at least afford a chance of obtaining different and hopefully better outcomes.
That problem is even more acute at this point in the conflict than perhaps before.
The Israel Defense Forces seem to have accomplished a great deal in its current campaign to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities in the last few weeks. It has also begun the difficult job of cleaning out areas of Southern Lebanon where not only Hezbollah stored quantities of armaments but also planned to use as a starting-off point for their own Oct. 7-style invasion of northern Israel.
Despite the great success of the exploding beepers and walkie-talkies—and their ability to take out much of Hezbollah’s leadership and command-and-control structure—the terrorist group is a long way from defeat, let alone collapse.
Rather than accept the setbacks dealt to it, the Iranian proxy group has doubled down on its attacks on northern Israel and even expanded them. The longer the fighting goes on and the IDF is free to strike its weapons supplies and forces, the less useful it will be to Iran when and if it is called upon to help Tehran fend off Israeli or Western attacks on its nuclear program. Nevertheless, Hezbollah still has vast quantities of arms and missiles at its disposal. While the Lebanese have expressed widespread dismay about how their country has been hijacked by the Shi’ite organization into fighting a war against Israel that is causing massive suffering, that fact hasn’t loosened Iran’s grip upon their nation.
This is a moment when Washington’s support for a campaign to defeat a terrorist movement that has American, as well as Israeli and Jewish, blood on its heads would be crucial. Instead, the administration is desperately signaling to its media cheerleaders and the international community that it wants no part of an ongoing conflict whose ultimate target is to defeat Iran.
Even gestures of support—such as the sending of a sophisticated THAAD missile-defense system to Israel, along with 100 American personnel to operate it—seem aimed more at restricting the Jewish state’s freedom to make a decision about retaliating against the latest direct Iranian attack. The fact that the administration has made sure to leak to the press that it wants Israel to avoid striking at Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, which is an existential threat not just to Israel but to Arab nations and the West, was a shocking indication of its ongoing devotion to the idea that Tehran and its most important assets should not be threatened.
Not a personal quarrel
The differences between Washington and Jerusalem are often portrayed as largely rooted in the bitter personal quarrel that seems to exist between the leaders of the two governments. Or at least that is the way that American officials have sought to depict in the never-ending leaks of information about their communications with Israeli officials that they pass along at regular intervals to their favorite journalists at The New York Times or The Atlantic who share their contempt for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As was the case during the Obama administration, in which most of the Biden-Harris foreign policy also served, differences are often described as a form of impertinence on the part of Netanyahu and the Israelis. Their willingness to talk back to the Americans and even ignore their advice is viewed as a sign of disrespect. For all of their focus on highlighting Netanyahu’s obnoxiousness (a character trait that few objective observers would deny is part of his complex personality), President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the rest of the Obama alumni at the National Security Council and State Department seem to have an insatiable need for gestures of deference, if not acknowledgments of weakness, from the leader of the tiny Jewish state. They also refuse to recognize that Israel’s leaders might have a better grasp of the situation than they do. They also think it wrong that they would prioritize their nation’s security over reinforcing the administration’s efforts to pretend that Biden is a strong leader.
That tends to say more about their shortcomings than those of Netanyahu. But it is also a misrepresentation of a fundamental philosophical split between Israel and the Biden-Harris team.
Their smearing of Netanyahu and nonstop attempts to humble him notwithstanding, the source of the problem remains this administration’s commitment to a realignment of the Middle East in which conflicts between the United States and Iran would be replaced by a rapprochement with the Islamists. That was the reason for former President Barack Obama’s otherwise puzzling decision to accept that Iran would become a nuclear power via a 2015 nuclear deal that guaranteed that it would eventually get a weapon. It also explained Biden’s futile efforts to woo back Tehran with billions in released frozen funds and relaxed sanctions after Trump left the pact in 2018.
That is also why the Biden-Harris team has, despite sometimes paying lip service to the goal of stopping Hamas or curbing Hezbollah, also continuously sought to bring an end to Israel’s efforts to eradicate Iran’s terrorist proxies. Above all, it wants to stop Israel from striking Iran in a way that would put an end to any hope of reviving their dreams of better relations with the tyrannical regime.
A campaign window for Israel
For the moment, the presidential election and the administration’s realization that abandoning Israel in the middle of a fight would hurt Vice President Kamala Harris’s prospects for victory in November more than it would help her with the Democratic Party’s left-wing anti-Zionist base has aided Netanyahu. It’s given him the ability to hit Hezbollah harder than anyone in Washington dreamed possible.
But no one in either Israel or the United States should be under any illusions that this is necessarily a permanent state of affairs, especially if Harris wins what is now a toss-up election. Much like the decision of Hamas to hunker down in what is left of its Gaza tunnel complex and refuse to either surrender or free the hostages, Iran and Hezbollah are counting on the West—in particular, the Americans—to bail them out of a tough spot.
Without U.S. support, any hope of Israel being able to sustain a campaign to fundamentally degrade Hezbollah’s ability to inflict suffering on the Jewish state is not likely to succeed. That’s especially true if the mullahs in Tehran and their Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah henchmen believe that either Biden or Harris will eventually pull the plug on weapons shipments to Israel or allow the U.N. Security Council to vote to mandate a ceasefire that Jerusalem couldn’t ignore.
Until that happens, Israel shouldn’t let Washington’s self-destructive addiction to pointless diplomacy with Iran stand in the way of an all-out effort to knock Hezbollah out of the war or strike a blow against Iran’s precious nuclear assets.
The stakes in this dispute couldn’t be higher and have little to do with the personal aspects of the long feud between Netanyahu and those Americans committed to appeasement of Iran.
Should Hezbollah emerge from this conflict with its ability to control Lebanon and be able to fire on northern Israel intact, it will do more than harm the Jewish state. It will ensure that Iranian proxies will be increasing their efforts to undermine every government in the region not already under Tehran’s control. And it will mean more rounds of fighting for Israel, as it will be forced to endure more terrorist attacks, regardless of who is running the government in Jerusalem.
On the other hand, if Washington were to back Israel’s efforts to topple Hezbollah and strike the sort of blow against Tehran that might shake the regime’s hold on power, it would—rather than escalating a seven-front war that has already gotten out of control—give the region hope that the mullah’s reign of terror as the Middle East’s “strong horse” is ending. Should America choose more pointless diplomacy rather than a path towards Iran’s defeat, the price will be paid in the blood of Israelis as well as Arabs. So long as he has an opening to do so, Netanyahu should not waver from seeking to avoid such a disastrous outcome.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him @jonathans_tobin.
Image: An Israel-based air-defense system fires interception missiles towards rockets fired by Hezbollah, near the border with Southern Lebanon, Oct. 13, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.
“To espouse a policy which would free the world of such a regime should be regarded as a moderate approach.”
David Isaac
(JNS)
Ever since Tehran’s ballistic-missile bombardment of Israel on Oct. 1, the hot topic has been which Iranian assets to hit in Israel’s expected retaliatory strike. Some observers say the target should be regime change.
Yoram Ettinger, head of Second Thought: A U.S.-Israel Initiative and a former Israeli ambassador, makes the case that the Islamic Republic poses such a threat to the free world that regime change is the only logical solution.
If that means killing ayatollahs, so be it.
“I don’t think it’s an extreme position. It’s extreme to allow such a rogue regime to remain in power—that’s an extreme position. To espouse a policy which would free the world of such a regime should be regarded as a moderate approach,” Ettinger told JNS on Monday.
Since the rise of the ayatollahs, Iran has become the “epicenter of instability, terrorism, drug trafficking and civil wars,” not just in the Mideast, but in large areas of the world, he said.
Some say that Iran’s nuclear sites should be targeted. Ettinger argued that Tehran has used its nuclear program to misdirect its adversaries.
“There is a misperception that it is the nuclear potential of Iran which is the clear and present danger, and that overlooks the obvious fact that without nuclear they have managed to destabilize the Middle East and beyond,” he said.
Iran’s conventional capabilities “constitute the real, immediate threat,” he said, referring to proxy militias, drug and weapons trafficking, and attempts to undermine pro-Western governments.
“Some say Iran has more than 100 sleeper cells in the United States,” Ettinger noted.
“Those conventional capabilities have to be amputated, and the only way to amputate those capabilities is by cutting off the head of the snake.”
Whether Israel is able to affect regime change on its own, Ettinger can’t say. The United States is best positioned to carry out “such a vital mission, vital to America’s interest, vital to the free world’s interest.”
Actual dismemberment
Mordechai Kedar, a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, lays out a scenario that goes beyond regime change. He speaks of the actual dismemberment of the Iranian state. Call it regime change through dissolution.
“Iran will one day collapse, like the Soviet Union,” Kedar told JNS on Monday.
“There is no Iranian nation. There are Iranian citizens, but there is no nation named ‘Iranian.’ There are many ethnic groups living in Iran side by side,” he said.
Kedar bolsters his case with a personal anecdote. After he wrote two articles on the subject in March, Iran’s minister of foreign affairs felt compelled to pen an immediate rebuttal, accusing him of knowing nothing. “Now if I was speaking nonsense, would he bother writing an article against me? I touched an open nerve in their body politic,” Kedar said.
Western governments should have long been supporting Iran’s ethnic minorities, he said. Instead, they collaborate with the regime. The reason is money. They’re heavily invested in Iran and don’t want to risk their investments.
For Ettinger, American policy is most to blame. The State Department has for 45 years, since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, rejected regime change in favor of a “diplomatic option,” he said, adding that the dismal results speak for themselves.
The Islamic Republic, not even a regional power when it started, now commands a global position producing world-class weaponry. The ayatollahs have amassed wealth to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars; established proxies that wreak havoc across the Middle East and in Africa; and attempted to destabilize every American ally.
Iran could topple “any day” the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ettinger said. Should Jordan fall, it would transform from a U.S. ally “into a major platform of anti-U.S. global terrorism.”
Iran’s tentacles now extend into Latin America. Iran collaborates with drug cartels in Mexico, Colombia and elsewhere, and maintains terror camps in the tri-border areas of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.
“Forty-five years should be a sufficient track record to audit State Department policy, reassess that policy, and reach the obvious conclusion that the diplomatic option has provided Iran with a powerful tailwind to advance its anti-American agenda,” Ettinger said.
“As much as the State Department is eager to change the ayatollahs, leopards never change their spots. They only change tactics. That has yet to penetrate the state of mind within the State Department,” he said.
As to whether a Trump or Harris administration would bring about the desired change, Ettinger looks at their records.
“[Former President Donald] Trump had a four-year track record of harsher policy towards the ayatollahs. From my point of view, it wasn’t realistic enough, because as far as I know, Trump attempted to reach a better deal,” he said.
“I’m not aware that Trump came to the conclusion that the ayatollahs are not partners for negotiation, but rather a target for regime change,” Ettinger said.
Vice President Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris has no track record per se on Iran, he said, but her National Security Advisor Philip Gordon considers the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, a “great success.”
Harris’s deputy national security advisor, Rebecca Friedman Lissner, “shares Gordon’s worldview. In addition, in one of her books she urges the U.S. to lower its international profile, to lower its international expectations, and once again, that’s quite a tailwind to any rogue element in the world,” Ettinger said.
“So I would say between the two of them, the Trump administration certainly would be less welcome by the ayatollahs. A Harris administration would be much more palatable to them,” he said.
Kedar said that the current U.S. administration not only doesn’t want to take on Iran, it doesn’t want Israel to do so either. Referring to last week’s call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden, Kedar said he “suspects” that Biden warned Netanyahu not to do anything serious in a retaliatory strike.
The THAAD anti-ballistic system sent to Israel this week may have been a carrot to entice Israel to tone down its planned attack, he said.
Image: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers an address on Oct. 19, 2022. Source: Channel 1 (Iran) via MEMRI.
“We ask to refrain from spreading rumors and the names of injured individuals, and to respect the families,” the Israeli military said.
(JNS)
The Hezbollah terror organization killed four Israeli soldiers in a drone attack on an army base near Binyamina on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said early on Monday morning.
“The IDF shares in the grief of the bereaved families and will continue to accompany them,” the Israeli military said. “We ask to refrain from spreading rumors and the names of injured individuals and to respect the families.”
The IDF added in Hebrew that seven soldiers were seriously injured in the attack.
United Hatzalah said that its volunteers were “providing initial treatment to a large number of injured (over 20).”
(JNS)
At least 20 people were wounded, including five seriously, when a Hezbollah drone struck a structure in the Wadi Ara area south of Haifa on Sunday night, the Magen David Adom medical response group said.
United Hatzalah said that its volunteers were “providing initial treatment to a large number of injured (over 20) at the scene of an incident in the Binyamina region. Some are in serious condition.”
This is a developing story.
Image: Courtesy JNS article
“This should tell you everything you need to know about our enemies,” the Israeli military said, of the terror group attacking on Yom Kippur.
(JNS)
The Hezbollah terrorist organization fired some 320 projectiles at civilians in the Jewish state on the High Holiday of Yom Kippur, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
“This should tell you everything you need to know about our enemies,” the IDF said.
Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, stated that “Hezbollah’s latest targets were elderly Jews and Holocaust survivors in a retirement home.”
“On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon fired a drone which hit the Beit Juliana Retirement Home in Herzliya—named for the late queen of the Netherlands, the grandmother of His Majesty King Willem-Alexander—and whose residents include Holocaust survivors, who came to Israel from the Netherlands,” Herzog stated.
“A symbol of dignity and resilience, the home and its residents—who thankfully were in the safe room during the attack—have covered the hole and damage caused by the drone with an Israeli flag,” the Israeli president added.
“What would the United States do if Canada or Mexico did the same over Christmas or Easter?” wrote StopAntisemitism.
The Associated Press, which frequently notes when days are the holiest on the Islamic calendar, did not report that Yom Kippur is the most sacred Jewish day.
The wire noted “a barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah into Israel Friday night and Saturday, celebrated in Israel as Yom Kippur, or the Jewish Day of Atonement.”
“The military says some of the approximately 320 projectiles were intercepted, and no injuries have been reported,” the AP reported.
Reuters did not mention that the attack occurred on Yom Kippur, let alone that it is the most sacred Jewish day. It also didn’t describe Hamas or Hezbollah as a terror group in its coverage.
The New York Times also did not note in its coverage that Saturday was Yom Kippur, nor that it is the most holy Jewish day. It has reported that Ramadan is the holiest month for Muslims when it discussed actions of Israeli police officers.
Image: An anti-missile system fires interception missiles as rockets fired from Lebanon, near the Israeli border with Lebanon, Oct. 12, 2024. Photo by Ayal Margolin/Flash90.
Thirteen-year-old Eitan Yahalomi describes abuse, hunger, and being subjected to disturbing content.
(Israel Hayom via JNS)
In a poignant interview for the “Children of October 7” social media project, 13-year-old Eitan Yahalomi from Kibbutz Nir Oz shared the harrowing details of his captivity at the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
The French-Israeli survivor, who was released in November, then aged 12, as part of a prisoner exchange deal, recounted instances of physical abuse, persistent hunger, and being forced to watch disturbing footage.
Yahalomi was kidnapped from his home during the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught. His father, Ohad, who was shot during the abduction, remains in captivity, while his mother, Batsheva, and little sister Yael managed to escape an attempted kidnapping.
“The Children of October 7”
Meet Eitan Yahalomi. He is 13 years old and was home with his family on October 7th when they were all kidnapped by terrorists, separately. His mother and sister managed to escape before entering but unfortunately Eitan and his father Ohad were… pic.twitter.com/fNHi5rK54H
— Montana Tucker (@montanatucker) October 9, 2024
“When we arrived in Gaza, many people beat us. We heard gunshots and shouting in Arabic. They were waiting for us. They were civilians,” Yahalomi said, describing his entry into Gaza.
When asked if he had felt scared, he responded candidly, “A bit, to be honest.”
Throughout his captivity, Yahalomi faced constant hunger. “My daily ration was a pita and a cucumber,” he revealed. He also spoke of being subjected to disturbing content. “They showed me videos of them killing people. They seemed happy about it.”
When asked whether he tried to avoid watching, Yahalomi explained, “No, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, he wouldn’t have allowed it. I saw even worse things. These images are constantly in my mind.”
As for his ability to sleep at night, Yahalomi added with stark honesty, “Not much. I’ve been through the worst, and that’s that.”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
Image: Hamas terrorists kidnapped Eitan Yahalomi from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Screenshot: “Children of October 7.”
Muhammad Abdullah became the local head of the terrorist group after the IDF killed his predecessor on Aug. 29.
(JNS)
An Israel Defense Forces airstrike killed the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group in the Nur Shams camp, located east of Tulkarem in western Samaria, the military announced early Friday.
Muhammad Abdullah became the local head of the Gaza-based Palestinian terrorist organization after the IDF killed his predecessor Muhamad Jabber on Aug. 29.
A second unnamed terrorist was eliminated in Thursday’s airstrike, the IDF said.
Abdullah was responsible for planning and directing “many attacks,” including targeting Israeli troops with explosives.
The slain terrorists were found in possession of M-16 rifles, which soldiers confiscated along with their vehicle, the military said.
בפעילות משותפת של צה”ל ושב”כ אמש, במהלך פעילות עם לוחמי חטיבת כפיר, כלי טיס תקף במרחב טולכרם וחיסל את מחמד עבדאללה, ראש התארגנות הטרור של הגא״פ בנור א-שמס שבטול כרם, יחד עימו חוסל מחבל נוסף>> pic.twitter.com/tl0TRbZ7z6
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 11, 2024
Last week, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in northwestern Samaria, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada of 2000-05.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed a thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that wounded civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
On Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, head of the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration, said the IDF over the past year rescued more than 200 people—civilians and soldiers—from territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority and other unsafe areas in Judea and Samaria.
Image: Terrorists attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nur Shams camp, near Tulkarem in Samaria, July 3, 2024. Photo by Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90.
“Without an Israel, every Jew in the world’s security is less stable,” the U.S. president said. “It doesn’t mean that Jewish leadership doesn’t have to be more progressive than it is, but it does mean it has to exist.”
(JNS)
Below is the transcript of U.S. President Joe Biden’s High Holidays call on Oct. 9 with Jewish faith leaders. After the call was delayed several times, the president spoke for 12 minutes, from 2:59 to 3:11 p.m. Eastern.
Well, thank you very much, rabbi, for that introduction. And before I want to be-—before I begin, I want to say, we’re prepared for another hurricane hitting Florida, and that’s what I’ve been doing and why I had to p-—push back these—this sev-—several times. And I apologize.
I directed my team to do everything we can to save lives and help communities before, during and after the hurricane—the one that has just passed and this awful one that’s about to hit.
My most important message today is for those who are in impacted areas, please, please listen to your local authorities, follow all safety in-—instructions and evacuation orders. This is serious—very serious.
But now to the events of the day. You know, as the—my friends, the— the rabbis in Delaware who I’ve become friends with over the years, have been engaged with, can tell you, I was one of those lucky Christians who was raised by a—a Christian who was—he had—he understood what was going on.
My dad was what we—you’d call “a righteous Christian.” My dad literally raised us to believe that we had to stand up for the—any community being persecuted, and he used to rage—he used to rage at dinner about why we didn’t bomb the railroad tracks in Auschwitz and why we didn’t —and this is the God’s truth, as the rabbis at home could tell you.
And he used to talk about how we wouldn’t let the—that one ship land and—and—with the Jewish refugees on it at the time, during—during the—Hitler’s era. And, you know, he—he talked about how it was important for people to know what happened and not forget.
And one of the things that it taught me was that I—every one of my children and grandchildren, when they turned the age of 14, we put them on a plane and I flew them to Dachau, because I wanted them to see—want them to see that no one could pretend it wasn’t happening.
You go through—you walk through the gate, and you’ll be liberated. Well, to stand—you see those beautiful homes along the outside of that gate, and you’ll know they had to know. They had to know what was going on. And—and I wanted them to understand. I wanted them to see where the ovens were. I wanted them to know what was going on and— because I wanted them to be aware—aware.
And I think one of the things that I’m about to talk about is—you know, the country has been sort of a—I don’t know how I could say it—has not paid nearly much attention to our hi-—the history that brought us—
But when I went over shortly after the—the second, smaller holocaust, but even more vividly seen by the whole world on the 7th, it was—it was because I wanted to let the world know where I stood and where America stood. And I saw the remnants of what had happened 10 days earlier. I saw—and the—anyway, you all know; you understand it.
But now, this event today—I want to thank you for joining this call, and I apologize for having had to reschedule it.
You know, at my direction, last week, the United States military took unprecedented action again to actively assist the successful defense of Israel. You’ve—you’ve heard me say before that I got very badly criticized as a young senator for saying, “I’m a Zionist.” You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. It’s not necessary.
And the idea—I firmly believe—without an Israel, every Jew in the world’s security is less stable. I mean that. It doesn’t mean that Jewish leadership doesn’t have to be more progressive than it is, but it does mean it has to exist, and that’s what worries me most about what’s going on now.
You’ve heard me say before that my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people and the security of Israel as the right to exist is independent—independent of that—of everything else. The Jewish state has to remain. It has to remain—the ironclad commitment to it.
In the last three years, it’s been the honor to do this High Holiday with all of you from the White House in a season of joy and a season of pain. And that’s what we’ve been going through: a season of joy and pain.
You know, you are the rock for your people. I want to thank you for all you do every single day for your congregations, for your communities, for our country.
You know, I know this year’s call is very different, and it’s a very—a difficult time for the Jewish community and for Jews around the world. In the midst of the High Holidays, two days ago, we commemorated the first anniversary of Oct. 7, the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust.
And a year later, with the trauma and the loss from that day and its aftermath, it’s still raw. It’s hard to memorialize and mourn a tragedy that’s still ongoing. Hostages still in captivity—some American Jews as well; loved ones still in harm’s way; survivors carrying wounds, seen and unseen, that never go away. The families and friends left behind will never, never be the same.
I just spoke with Pres-—Prime Minister Netanyahu for about an hour this morning and offered my condolences on this somber one-year anniversary.
Throughout this year, my wife, Jill, and I, Kamala and Doug mourned along with all of you, including after the appalling execution of the six hostages, including America’s own Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 24-year-old last week—who just turned—would have turned 24 last week.
My administration is doubling down on our work to secure the release of the remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already. And we will not rest until they’re all home.
As you saw just last week, the United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran and all its proxies—Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. We’re doing everything we can to ease the suffering of all the people from this war against Hamas and that Hamas started.
As Israel’s ambassador to Washington said at the memorial two days ago, quote, “We remember the Jewish commandment that we are all created in the image of God,” and “the loss of innocent life—Israel— Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese or others—is a tragedy.” Well, I feel the same way. Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year’s conflict.
I also want you to know that I see you, I hear you, I see your pain from the ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and, quite frankly, around the world—absolutely despicable. And I hope we h-—we learned a lesson from our parents’ generation. We have to stand up. We have to call it out. It has to be stopped.
In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right of free speech to protest peacefully. But there is no place—emphasize, no place—anywhere in America—none—for antisemitism, hate speech or threats of violence of any kind against the Jews or anyone else.
Long before Oct. 7—long before—I launched the first National Security [Strategy] to Counter Antisemitism in American history—the first time in American history. Vice President Harris and I and our entire administration are aggressively implementing that commitment.
Since we took office, we secured a record of over $800 million for the physical security of nonprofits, including synagogues, Jewish community centers, Jewish day schools all around the country.
Since Oct. 7, ‘23—in 2023, we’ve secured an additional $400 million—the largest single increase ever in funding—ever.
And we have concrete evidence that our historic assistance is making an impact and the investment matters.
The Department of Education has put our colleges on notice about something that should be obvious to everyone—that antisemitism is discrimination. Say it again: Antisemitism is discrimination and prohibited under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
And the Department of Homeland Security has proved—provided resources to train campus law enforcement, administrators on how to ensure Jewish students are safe on campus. And we’re going to keep working to ensure—ensure that Jewish students can get their education free of intimidation and harassment.
The Department of Justice is also moving swiftly to investigate and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable.
We encourage you, as members of your community, to please report incidences to local law enforcement.
My administration is calling on the social media companies to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward antisemitism and other hateful content, including the vile antisemitic attacks online that we’ve seen in recent days against public officials leading responses to recovery efforts to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
You know, it’s appalling, but we—it must end now. We have to speak and end it now.
Globally, our nation’s first ambassador to the level of special envoy and to monitor and combat antisemitism is Deb-—Debor-—Deborah Lipstadt—Lipstadt. And Deborah has mobilized more than 40 countries and international organizations to support our new guidelines for countering antisemitism around the world. And this matters, but I know there’s so much more to do.
And let me assure you as your president that you are not alone. You belong, always—always have, always will be and always must be protected.
From the inception of our nation, Jewish Americans have enriched every part of American life. Let me say that again. From our very inception as a nation, Jewish Americans have enriched every part of American life, and you’re going to continue to do so for many years to come.
Let me close with this. I think about the wisdom I’ve learned from Jewish communities in Delaware and across the country that I’ve gotten to know over the years. It seems to me there is a delicate yet profound balance between joy and pain to the High Holidays.
Rosh Hashanah is a day of celebration in the Je-—of—for the Jewish New Year. But it’s also a day of judgment.
Similarly, Yom Kippur is the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, yet Jewish scholars say it’s also the happiest day because it’s a time of—for forgiveness and for renewal.
And in two weeks, you celebrate another holiday for the singing and dancing of the—for—for the Torah. You know, I know you’ll do so with profound sorrow in your soul because, last year, that holiday was shattered by Oct. 7.
From my perspective, Jewish people have embodied this duality of pain and joy for generations. It’s your strength. The Jewish people have always chosen to find joy and happiness and light, despite centuries of suffering, persecution and pain.
That’s the ending and—of what—this—look, this is—is enduring—it’s an enduring lesson and legacy for the Jewish people and for all of America to understand.
So, thank you for continuing to find joy in the darkness and shine your light on the nation and on the world.
God bless you all. And may you have a happy New Year.
Image: U.S. President Joe Biden, pictured with Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, held a High Holidays call from the White House on Oct. 9, 2024. Credit: White House.