JNS
The Israeli canary in the West’s cultural coal mine
Melanie Phillips
January 5, 2022

Those scratching their heads over the way Western liberals have lost all connection with reason over issues of race, gender and Western “colonialism” might usefully look at the reaction to Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount this week. Here was a Jew walking for 15 minutes on the site that is most sacred to Judaism. He did it without fanfare or media attention, early in the morning when the compound was almost empty, and didn’t pray there or say anything to stir up trouble. Yet his visit provoked uproar with claims that it was an extremist act, that it was likely to spark a new terrorist war and even—this from a Ha’aretz columnist—that Ben-Gvir was leading Israel “on the road to hell.” READ MORE