Meanwhile, at Harvard: “Instead of discipline, the students behind an attack that went viral got a fellowship, accolades—and a commencement spotlight”

Posted on May 28, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FREE PRESS
Attacking Jews at Harvard Doesn’t Just Go Unpunished. It Gets Rewarded.
Johanna Berkman
May 21, 2025

In the year and a half since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, there have been so many alarming incidents on college campuses aimed at Jews. Many stick out for their grotesque imagery, for their outrageous slanders, and for their Soviet-style tactics. But the incident that I remember most vividly is the one that took place at Harvard University less than two weeks after Hamas invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 more. No one was physically injured that day. But the fact remained that the incident was wildly beyond the pale: a group of Harvard students surrounding another student, an Israeli named Yoav Segev, repeatedly screaming “Shame!” in his face, blocking his path, and forcing him to leave a part of campus that he was entitled to be in just as much as they were. READ MORE

JNS Student speaker accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ at MIT graduation Clad in a red keffiyeh, Megha Vemuri, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s class of 2025, addressed graduates at the school’s commencement on Thursday. “You showed the world that MIT wants a free Palestine,” she said.

JPOST Two Harvard students who assaulted Jewish peer receive honors, $65,000 fellowship One of two Harvard students who assaulted a Jewish classmate during an anti-Israel protest in October 2023 has been appointed as class marshal by Harvard Divinity School at the upcoming graduation ceremony. This comes just three weeks after the other assailant was awarded a $65,000 Harvard Law School fellowship to work at the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The Harvard Law Review website says its $65,000 fellowship goes to recent Harvard Law School graduates “with a demonstrated interest in serving the public interest through their work and scholarship.”

Posted in Israel & Middle East | Leave a comment

European governments and broadcasters tried to turn a song contest into a show trial. The public voted for Israel anyway.

Posted on May 28, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
The Crowd Knew Better
Itxu Díaz
May 27, 2025

The Eurovision Song Contest just wrapped up one of its most controversial editions, which revealed a stark disconnect between European audiences and their governments. For the third year in a row, Israel received more popular votes than those awarded by the national juries. While viewers this year voted overwhelmingly for Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, European bureaucrats went to comical lengths to exclude and efface the Israeli contestant, resulting in her second-place finish. The now-familiar Eurovision vitriol toward Israel began even before the contest, when public broadcasters from six participating countries pushed to exclude Israel from the event, comparing it to Russia as an aggressor state. Then, after Raphael’s song, “New Day Will Rise,” received the most votes from audiences, the Spanish Broadcasting Authority (RTVE) demanded a reassessment of the voting system. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Free 30-minute film about the forced 1493 deportation of Jewish children from Portugal a reminder of how Europe has often treated their Jews

Posted on May 25, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
‘The 2,000 Kidnapped Jewish Children’ connects hostages across time
May 25, 2025

…The film tells the story of Jewish children—aged eight and under—who were seized in 1493 by order of King João II of Portugal. Their families, who had fled Spain following the 1492 expulsion of Jews, were unable to pay the exorbitant ransom demanded by the Portuguese crown. As punishment, the children were forcibly taken from their parents and deported to the remote and uninhabited island of São Tomé, some 7,500 kilometers from their homes. “When we hear European leaders rewarding terrorism and encouraging the killing of Jews and Israelis everywhere, it becomes imperative to remember what European Jewish life has been like for centuries,” said Gabriel Senderowicz, president of the Oporto Jewish community. READ MORE

TO VIEW 2000 Kidnapped Jewish Children CLICK HERE

Posted in Jewish, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“Today’s war dresses itself in “progressive” language, legal briefs, and diplomatic forums — but which remains, at its core, a war against the Jews”

Posted on May 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FUTURE OF JEWISH
What Hitler saw in Évian, Hamas sees in Paris.
Bob Goldberg
May 24, 2025

In January 1942, some 15 Nazi bureaucrats met at a lakeside villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. There were no slogans, no shouting — just clipped speech, memoranda, and a logistical blueprint for the Final Solution. The annihilation of the Jewish People wasn’t argued. It was scheduled. Eighty-three years later, the same cold, clinical mindset has returned — not in Berlin, but in Paris and New York, under the banners of “diplomacy” and “humanitarian” concern. In June 2025, two back-to-back international conferences— one in Paris (June 11th to 13th), and another chaired by France and Saudi Arabia at the United Nations in New York (June 16th to June 18) — will set a new administrative order in motion. Their shared goal? To engineer the dismantling of the Jewish state through law, public relations, and process. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mandelbaum: “America is short of weaponry, evidence of which is the difficulty it has experienced in equipping Ukraine with the rockets and artillery shells it needs to stave off the Russian onslaught. The American military also has too few ships and planes, and many of those it has are decades old”

Posted on May 24, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM STRATEGIC TRIBUNE
Where is the Military-Industrial Complex Now That We Really Need It?
Michael Mandelbaum
May 2025

…The term “military-industrial complex” entered the American political lexicon as a danger, as Eisenhower intended, but also, to some, as an established fact of American public life that led to self-perpetuating and unduly high expenditures on defense. The end of the Cold War demonstrated that a permanent and powerful military-industrial complex did not, in fact, exist. The share of US gross domestic product devoted to defense fell by half, from six percent in the 1980s to three percent in the late 1990s. In the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States faced no aggressive, well-armed adversary and thus had no need of a defense establishment of Cold-War dimensions. Now, however, it does. READ MORE

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Politics | Leave a comment

INVITE OpenDor Media Chicago event

Posted on May 23, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

OpenDor Media invites you…
When: Sunday June 8, 7pm
Where: North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie IL

You are invited to join OpenDor Media for our first-ever LIVE Unpacking Israeli History show with Noam Weissman. For this event, Noam is welcoming special guest, Dr. Michael Oren, bestselling author, historian, and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., who also served as a Member of Knesset and Deputy Minister for Diplomacy, to unpack some of the most pressing questions around Israeli history, identity, and the future.

We’ve seen firsthand how equipping people with the truth of our shared history sparks positive change and fosters open, meaningful conversation. Partner with us to inspire the next generation by joining us for this event and our exclusive VIP pre-show reception.

Click here for more information

Click here for tickets
Click “unlock” and use code “UIHCHI” before selecting your seats for 20% off tickets

Click here to donate to OpenDor Media

YOUTUBE Welcome to Unpacked!

At Unpacked, we make content that explores big questions and dissect complex topics. You’ll get all the information you need to easily navigate through these complicated issues and develop informed opinions about Israel and Judaism.

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Yaron Lischinsky was murdered Wednesday night in Washington, D.C., by an anti-Israel militant. I knew him. Let me tell you who he was.

Posted on May 22, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FDD
My Friend Yaron
Mariam Wahba
May 22, 2025

I first met Yaron Lischinsky almost two years ago, at McCormick & Schmick’s steakhouse on K Street in Washington, D.C. I was new to the city and looking for new friends when we connected on X. I ordered a gin and tonic. He got nothing. In typical Washington intro-meetings fashion, we began that awkward dance of “So what do you do?” I launched into the usual spiel about my work covering the Middle East for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. But soon enough, the conversation veered, sharply and inevitably, toward my favorite subject: Christians in the Middle East, a community we were both members of…We often talked about how strange and wonderful it must be to live in Jerusalem as a Christian, something he knew intimately and I still dream of. READ MORE

FREE PRESS Bari Weiss: Welcome to the Global Intifada Sarah Milgrim was a Jew raised in Kansas who began working at the embassy in November 2023—a month after the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. She had two master’s degrees—one in international studies from American University, and a second in natural resources and sustainable Development from the United Nations University for Peace. Sarah was an idealist: she volunteered with Tech2Peace, which supports entrepreneurship between young Palestinians and Israelis...That Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim happened to be at an event about delivering  humanitarian relief across the region, including to Palestinians in Gaza, was of no concern to the alleged murderer. He was there to “free Palestine”—the slogan he shouted after he executed them.

ISRAEL HAYOM DC shooter manifesto revealed An American blogger on Thursday published the final letter written by Elias Rodriguez, a far-left activist who carried out the deadly shooting at the Jewish Museum in Washington, killing two employees of the Israeli Embassy. The blogger, Ken Klippenstein, claims that the signature and timestamp on the document indicate its authenticity. Other experts who chose to share the excerpt also believe it to be an original document. In a lengthy, impassioned, and ideologically charged text, Rodriguez, a radical leftist from Chicago, claimed that Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip, and in particular, American support for Israeli operations, had driven him to commit the terrorist attack…In the letter’s closing paragraph, Rodriguez justified his actions, writing: “Those of us against the genocide take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity

JNS Jonathan Tobin: Domestic terror is the inevitable next step for Hamas sympathizers For the past 19 months, angry mobs have taken over college campuses and the streets of major American cities. These demonstrations, tent encampments and building takeovers have not just been expressions of opposition to Israel’s efforts to eradicate the Hamas terrorists who led the Palestinian Arab assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. They have also often been indicative of the protesters’ support for Hamas and the embrace of terrorist goals, as well as their antisemitism—something that was made obvious by the way they have targeted Jews during the course of their “activism.” Yet rather than being isolated and widely condemned, these pro-Hamas activists and demonstrators have been cheered by many in the media and even rationalized by former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as their party’s left-wing leaders, who spoke of them as idealists who “deserved to be heard” and validated…

NEW YORK POST DC Jewish Museum suspected terrorist Elias Rodriguez fired nearly 2 dozen shots as gunned-down victim tried to crawl away The suspected terrorist who opened fire on two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, DC, unleashed nearly two dozen rounds at the soon-to-be-engaged couple — with victim Sarah Milgrim attempting to crawl away after collapsing to the ground, according to sources and court documents…The Chicago native leaned over the bullet-riddled couple and continued firing, then followed Milgrim as she made a desperate attempt to escape, shooting her again.

Posted in Chicago, Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Israel is not the side that made child death a war strategy. We are the ones trying to stop it, while the world ties our hands and lectures us on the perversion of “morality.”

Posted on May 21, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

FUTURE OF JEWISH
No, Israel doesn’t enjoy killing children — and you should be ashamed for saying it.
Joshua Hoffman
May 21, 2025

On Monday, Far-Left politician Yair Golan — a new entrant into Israeli politics, perhaps desperate for political points from his miniscule, deranged, extremist base — accused Israel of killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby.” Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (who was convicted in 2014 for bribery, obstruction of justice, and breach of trust, and served nearly 17 months in prison) then claimed that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza is very close to a war crime.” And United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC this week that “14,000 babies in Gaza could die within the next two days unless aid can reach them.”1 (The UN since walked back this assessment.) These are three of the out-of-touch, extreme Left-wing individuals feeding antisemites across the world their favorite meal: the grotesque lie that Israelis pride themselves in killing Palestinian children. READ MORE

ZOA ZOA Condemns Extremist Yair Golan’s “Blood Libel” as a Grotesque Lie Against Israel, Who is World’s Leader in Protecting Enemy Civilians During War The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has issued a scathing rebuke of extremist Yair Golan, head of a radical left-wing party in Israel and former IDF deputy chief of staff, after Golan accused Israel of “killing babies in Gaza as a hobby.” ZOA National President Morton A. Klein condemned Golan’s remarks as “absurd” and “dangerous,” and a grotesque lie, warning that such slander only fuels the global surge in antisemitism and hands ammunition to Israel’s enemies.

COMMENTARY Seth Mandel: Walk a Few Miles in An Israeli’s Shoes The Israeli Foreign Ministry has ordered its diplomats around the world to refrain from participating in public events until further notice, according to a leading Israeli broadcaster. The cautionary note comes after last night’s murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington outside the Capital Jewish Museum. These are, of course, government officials with government-level security. I don’t think most people have the faintest idea of what it’s like for Israelis traveling abroad these days on their own. So here’s a peek at the experience of being an Israeli in the world, via a few stories that demonstrate the point.

Posted in Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Dershowitz to Trump: “We urge you to use your incredible negotiating skills to achieve the goal that you have set out: namely a 100% certainty that Iran will never get a nuclear bomb”

Posted on May 21, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Open Letter to President Trump Urging Him to Prevent an Iranian Nuclear Arsenal
Alan Dershowitz and Andrew Stein
May 20, 2025

Dear Mr. President,

You are about to make a decision for which you will be remembered by history. Your legacy will either be as a world leader who saved, or failed to save, many lives. The decision concerns Iran’s intention to develop a nuclear arsenal. There can be no reasonable doubt that Iran’s mullahs are determined to obtain nuclear weapons, despite their assurances to the contrary. Nor can Israel, which is the intended target of an Iranian bomb, be expected to rely on deterrence or containment. Iran must be prevented from achieving their dangerous goal. Obviously it would be better if the mullahs could be stopped by negotiation rather than military action…Nearly a century ago, the British and French governments faced a similar decision with Germany, and they failed, costing tens of millions of lives. READ MORE

GATESTONE Iran Is Using North Korea’s Playbook — And the US Is Falling for It Again There has been not even been a firm timeline. President Donald Trump’s original ultimatum to Iran of “two months” from March 7, 2025, is long gone. This statement, intended to show strength and resolution, is the second ultimatum Trump has blown through since taking office in January 2025. The first was that Hamas had to release all the Israeli hostages it holds in Gaza by a certain date, “or all hell is going to break out.” Well, one hostage was released — the American one — while leaving the other hostages with Hamas, but no hell broke out. That makes strike two. So much for America’s credibility. As the late renowned Middle East historian Bernard Lewis is credited as having said, “America is harmless as an enemy but treacherous as a friend.”

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“American medicine has an antisemitism problem, driven by foreign-trained doctors importing the Jew-hatred of their native countries”

Posted on May 20, 2025 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Ask Your Doctor if Jihad Is Right for You
Jay P. Greene and Ian Kingsbury
May 18, 2025

…The fact that Jew-hatred has found a perch among highly educated doctors and other health professionals runs counter to the conventional explanations for antisemitism. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other legacy Jewish organizations, antisemitism is born of ignorance which must be fought through education. As ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt frames the issue, antisemitism intersects with “ignorance and conspiratorial thinking … Ultimately, any strategy for protecting the Jewish community must include education at its core—we can’t fight hate without changing hearts and minds.” Both the past and present put the lie to Greenblatt’s hypothesis. Campus Hamasniks at Columbia and Harvard are radical and morally depraved, but they aren’t uneducated. Nor were the architects of the Holocaust, inheritors of a German cultural tradition that was arguably unmatched in its yearning for modernity. READ MORE

Posted in Islam, Israel & Middle East, Jewish, Politics | Leave a comment