They Changed the World of Torah Study

Rabbis Scherman and Zlotowitz, ZL

Michael Feldstein has hit the nail squarely on its head. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, his recent Times of Israel article provides an excellent review of the powerhouse publishing company, Mesorah Publications. Better known as ArtScroll. There is very little I can add. Nevertheless, I will try.

First, let me state the obvious. ArtScroll is by far the largest and most successful publishing house in the Orthodox Jewish world. Probably in the history of Jewish publishing. There is probably not a single Orthodox shul in America that does not have, as its standard Siddur, the Hebrew ArtScroll Siddur. This was preceded by their Hebrew-English Siddur, which offers a fine translation of the Hebrew text. Most shuls have both versions.

But clearly, its magnum opus is the ArtScroll Shas (Talmud Bavli). It is a translation and, more importantly, an elucidation of the complex subjects discussed therein. It includes copious footnotes to foster a clearer understanding of these difficult subjects.

What they have succeeded in doing is opening up the world of Torah study and the development of Halacha as it observed today. A study that was once largely limited to Torah scholars who spent years developing the ability to understand the Gemara and the commentaries that explain it. Now it has become available to the entire English-speaking world. They have enabled countless numbers of people to study texts they would never previously have been able to understand.

That accomplishment has created a climate in which more people are currently studying Daf Yomi—a Blatt (folio) of Gemara per day than at any time in history. People from all walks of life, from the most Charedi to most modern Orthodox to non-observant Jews. Including women, and, in some cases, even non-Jews. All of whom can now participate in this remarkable undertaking and understand the Talmud in far greater number and far greater depth than would otherwise have been possible - except for the few Talmidei Chachamim who have mastered it in the original Aramaic.

All of this can be credited in large measure to ArtScroll’s founders, Rabbis Nosson Scherman and Meir Zlotowitz of blessed memory, who turned a tiny project of publishing a new translation of Megillas Esther with an artistic cover into what it is today. A near-miraculous accomplishment. There are no words that can adequately express the contribution these two giants of Jewish publishing have made to the widespread study of Torah.

As if publishing the ArtScroll Shas in English, French, and Hebrew weren’t enough, they have published an enormous number of other classic Hebrew books with English translations. It started with the Chumash, which is now almost as ubiquitous in shuls as their siddur. There is also an excellent five-volume set of Chumash and Rashi, both translated and elucidated into English by my friend and fellow HTC alumnus, Mitch (Yisrael) Herzog. That, too, can be found in many synagogues. There are also many other volumes of this sort, all widely available in shul libraries throughout the country.

Then there are the Hashkafa books and biographies. That is where the “hiccup” lies…

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The Trump Board of Peace

Jared Kushner meets with Hamas leader in Egypt (TOI)

Sometimes I wonder just how aware those pushing Israel to make peace with Hamas are of the nature of this terrorist army. It’s almost as though they have no clue about what happened on October 7th nor about Hamas’s celebration of that event and its successful execution. It’s almost as though it never happened.

It is also perplexing that people involved in trying to end this conflict seem to be oblivious to Hamas’s charter, which specifically has as its goal the elimination of the State of Israel by any means necessary. Perplexing as well is that these people seem to have forgotten that Hamas is funded and supported by a nation dedicated not only to Israel’s destruction, but to the destruction of the United States as well.

This is why I am disappointed that there was some sort of framework of peace reached with Hamas that would remove their weapons in exchange for Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza. If the goal of Hamas is the destruction of Israel, and they are willing to carry out multiple Holocaust-level atrocities toward that goal, it is certainly safe to assume that they would lie about disarming in order to achieve it.

The current lie is that Hamas will give up its weapons if Israel withdraws from Gaza first. I have a bridge to sell you if you believe that. And they aren’t even shy about rejecting total disarmament. What they have agreed to is putting their weapons into storage. Not giving them up. You would have to be brain-dead not to realize that they want to retain the option of returning to their terrorist ways against Israel at the earliest opportunity.

And yet, the so-called Board of Peace, comprised of representatives of a number of Muslim or Muslim-friendly nations, has condemned Israel for not agreeing to that deal which Hamas already ‘agreed’ to!

If Israel were to agree to remove its troops from Gaza while Hamas gradually gives up its weapons by placing them in storage, it would be an invitation for another October 7th type attack – ‘as soon as things calm down and Israelis start living normal lives again.

The following was reported at WIN:

The foreign ministers of eight Muslim countries on Sunday condemned Israel’s rejection of a roadmap for implementing US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, accusing Israel of obstructing efforts to end the conflict as Hamas and US officials held talks in Cairo on the framework.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates said Israel’s opposition amounted to a “direct repudiation” of the peace plan that “jeopardizes its implementation, and fundamentally undermines the collective efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

“Such rejection confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza” and the rest of the Palestinian territory, the foreign ministers said in a joint statement.

Hamas has accepted the roadmap, which requires the terror group to disarm.

When is the world going to learn that you can’t make peace with people who consider it the will of God to destroy you? That any deal they make is not worth the paper it is written on? And that Hamas will never give up its ultimate goal of restoring what is now Israel to its ‘original’ Palestinian owners?

And when will the world recognize that Iran will do everything it can to ensure that Hamas and its allies have the means to pursue that goal. (Unless its regime is overthrown and replaced with a government friendly to Israel, as it was before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. And that seems as unlikely as ever right now. Things may yet change—but I wouldn’t hold my breath.)

There is no such thing as making a peace deal with Hamas. No more than there was such a thing as the United Kingdom making a lasting peace deal with Hitler. The difference is that, in the case of Hamas and the ideology behind it, there is a zealous religious determination to achieve that goal that even Nazi Germany did not have.

That Jared Kushner is in Egypt now meeting with Hamas leaders is reminiscent of the meeting British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had with Hitler, declaring that a deal had been made guaranteeing “peace for our time.”

We all now know how well that turned out…

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Jews Without Judaism

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

That antisemitic attacks are up is no secret. Since October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents have spiked to an alarming level. The latent antisemitism that existed among some Americans was released with a vengeance I never imagined still existed.

That seems to corroborate the view articulated by Rashi centuries ago: “Esav sonei l’Yaakov” - Esav hates Yaakov. So said the newspaper comic-strip character Pogo, in 1971, on Earth Day, commenting on humanity’s responsibility for climate change. Never has that observation been more applicable to the Jewish people than it is right now.

on-Jews, in other words, inherently hate Jews unless proven otherwise. While that has generally been true historically, for a variety of reasons, I have always maintained that the United States is the exception to that rule, citing many examples of why that was the case.

I still feel that way, notwithstanding the massive increase in antisemitism that has occurred since October 7, 2023. Why that happened is beyond the scope of this post. What is relevant here is that many of these antisemitic attacks are taking place in a climate of anti-Israel rhetoric that gives the latent but virulent antisemites of the world “permission” to attack Jews as supporters of the Jewish government supposedly guilty of genocide. A narrative whose chief spokesman these days is the mayor of New York.

How did such a rabid critic of Israel become the mayor of a city that hosts, by far, the largest Jewish population of any city in the United States? And how did a number of like-minded politicians come to be running for major offices in the United States?

Is it because of antisemitic voters? Sure, some of it is. But many of those voters are Jews, as noted by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman in his Mishpacha column this week.

For example, 50% of the Jewish vote on New York’s heavily Jewish Upper West Side went to Mamdani.

The more liberal the Jew, the more likely that Jew is to vote against Jewish interests. Substantially more of these Jews disapprove of Netanyahu than disapprove of Mamdani—by a margin of 5%!

How is that possible? 

Rabbi Feldman provides the obvious answer, which is something I have been talking about for quite some time now.

The Jews voting for Mamdani are ignorant of the most elementary truths about their own heritage. As Rabbi Feldman also notes, their Bible is The New York Times. Is it any wonder that they see Israel in the same negative light as their “Bible” does - and vote for a man who reflects those views?

And then there is this little statistic noted by Rabbi Feldman: Between 2000 and 2024, 146,000 more Jews permanently left Israel than entered it.

Wow! There are more Jews leaving Israel than there are Jews making Aliyah.

That is where the Pogo comment becomes relevant. He was not the first to make it. Rabbi Feldman cites Isaiah 49:17: “Thy destroyers and thy traitors emanate from thine own selves.”

The solution to this dilemma is pretty much the same as that articulated recently by Conservative Jewish rabbis... 

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A Wake Up Call

Palestinian ‘journalist’ reporting from Gaza (Ifex)

One of the most revealing movies I have ever seen about the Holocaust was The Zone of Interest. It portrayed what life was like for the family of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, whose family lived just beyond the wall enclosing the camp. 

In short, life was pretty normal for his family. Had you not known that genocide was taking place just on the other side of that wall, you would have thought this was a simple story about the peaceful and loving domestic life of a German soldier and his family.

To my great dismay, when Jonathan Glazer - the Jewish director of the film - accepted the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, he publicly condemned Israel for its conduct in the war against Hamas, comparing the Palestinians in Gaza with the Jewish inmates at Auschwitz. He received applause from an audience consisting mainly of A-list actors and other important entertainment-industry figures.

The war had only been going on for a few months at the time. To say the least, I was both shocked and disappointed.

It has been all downhill since then. What was once broad support for the Jewish state has turned into a contest over who can bash Israel the most. While there has been an increase in closet antisemites on the right who now bash Israel as a euphemism for bashing Jews, most mainstream conservative Republicans generally still support the State of Israel.

On the left, however, bashing Israel has become far more mainstream. This can be seen in the recent gains made by far-left, anti-Israel candidates for public office. And by the many mainstream Democrats who have disavowed their relationship with AIPAC. It is almost as though there is a race to see who can reject AIPAC support the most.

AIPAC’s support used to be eagerly sought after by any politician who wanted Jewish support. That mattered more in terms of campaign donations than Jewish votes, since our percentage of the population is less than 2 percent. Governor J.B. Pritzker – who is Jewish - was quick to reject their support in any way, shape, or form, as were many mainstream Jewish Democrats who apparently felt the need to prove their anti-Israel bona fides.

The mainstream media has also been guilty of contributing to this through the way it had reported the war in Gaza. It repeatedly used images of carnage and destruction without bothering to explain what they were really about - trusting the bloody screens to tell their story for them. And since it was Israel dropping bombs in Gaza, along with reports of 76,000 civilian deaths coming out of there, Israel was seen as committing genocide. Even by those who did not use the word, the implication was clear, based on those images and the narrative coming from a variety of sources that were not friendly to Israel then and never were.

Had those reports been accurate, honest, and complete, Gaza would not be seen as the second coming of Auschwitz and the Jews as Nazi-like exterminators. And yet more and more Jews are beginning to believe the worst about their own people based on unexplained images of war and the perpetual lies being forwarded and repeated by the mainstream media. A lot of Jews are being gaslighted into believing these falsehoods. The idea that repeating a lie often enough makes people think it is true has never been more evident than it is now...

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The Baruch Goldstein Brigades

Rodfim. That is what these rogue settlers are.

A rodef (plural: rodfim) is an individual who pursues another person to the point where the pursued may be killed. The Torah provides that one may kill the pursuer as a matter of self-defense in order to preserve the life of the pursued. This is, in fact, the rationale given in Jewish law for permitting an abortion when the life of the mother is threatened by a pregnancy: the fetus is considered a rodef.

I submit that those settlers who continue to harass their Palestinian neighbors - people who have done nothing to them - qualifies them in a moral sense, as rodfim.

That is how evil these people are in my eyes.

First, because it is immoral in the highest degree to inflict harassment upon innocent people simply because they resent you or because terrorism stems from among their ranks. This is not justice. It isn’t even vigilantism. It is pure evil. And if a Palestinian dies in the course of that harassment, it is murder. Plain and simple.

What makes these people rodfim is that by terrorizing innocent Palestinians, they increase by orders of magnitude the world-wide hatred of Israel and Jews. Which lends credence to antisemitic accusations that Israel is an apartheid state guilty of genocide and ought to be boycotted. Or better - even dismantled!

It increases Palestinian terrorism against all Israelis. The very terrorism these miscreants claim to be fighting - they are actually increasing!. They are, in essence, pursuers by virtue of behavior that is likely to increase death and destruction to our people. They must be stopped by any means necessary!

I believe calling them the Baruch Goldstein Brigades is apt name for them. Baruch Goldstein is likely an icon to them. An example to follow. Goldstein was a mass murderer who killed numerous Palestinian Muslim worshippers at Ma’aras HaMachpela before he was finally subdued and beaten to death by Palestinians who came to his victims’ rescue.

Goldstein has since been revered as an almost godlike figure by extremists like these and their sympathizers. Many of whom used to make pilgrimages to his gravesite – treating it like a shrine. (It has since been made illegal by the Israeli government to do that.)

Goldstein represents, for them, a model of how Jews should treat Arabs. Especially Arabs living in parts of Eretz Yisrael that consist of Palestinian villages. These extremists have an ultimate goal of eradicating these villages and re-settling them exclusively with Jews.

Not only do these people directly endanger the lives of all Israelis - they have also caused the wrath of one of our biggest supporters to descend upon Israel.

The Jewish people cannot afford to treat these people with any kind of leniency. Nor does the argument that Arabs commit violence against us exponentially more often than these settlers do have any redeeming value. These people are evil to the core. And yet they consider themselves among the holiest of Jews because they are on the front lines of settling Eretz Yisrael - risking their lives to do so.

They may think they are holy. They may even be meticulous in the observance of many Mitzvos. But to whatever degree they may be observant, it is all wiped away, in my eyes, by their despicable behavior.

I should add that anyone who tries to defend them or ‘explain’ why they might have some justification for terrorizing innocent West Bank Palestinians - are guilty of contributing to it.

And yet there are plenty of people who support these ‘Jewish terrorists to the point of worshipping at the gravesite of Baruch Goldstein, as though he were a tzaddik to be emulated. I am sure that these settlers feel exactly that way about Goldstein. Hence, the title “The Baruch Goldstein Brigade.”

What sparked my latest outrage is the following report from the Associated Press:

QUSRA, West Bank (AP) — Israeli settlers have besieged three homes in the occupied West Bank for several days, including one owned by a Palestinian American, in what the U.S. ambassador called a “horrific act of terror” on Thursday.

Mike Huckabee’s remarks on X represented an unusually sharp rebuke from the Trump administration of the latest episode in a surge of settler violence in the region.

Starting Sunday, settlers gathered around three houses in the village of Qusra, according to local officials, Palestinian American homeowner Loui Ridi, and Ridi’s brother. At times numbering dozens, the settlers threw stones, attempted to bring down a stone wall nearby, and prevented the occupants from leaving as their food and water dwindled.

Israeli troops intervened to try to restore order. On Thursday morning, Ridi’s brother, Qusai Abu Rida, who had holed up in the house with his own teenage son to defend it, said they were moved by Israel’s military to another home but still could not leave the area, which is about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the Palestinian city of Nablus.

The military said that its troops dismantled “two illegal outposts” near the homes on the outskirts of Qusra and a nearby village, and detained one Israeli. It added that additional soldiers were sent to “carry out defensive missions and patrols.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz joined Huckabee in sharply condemning these Jewish terrorists. Rightly so.

What is not “rightly so” is the continued silence of religious Zionist Roshei Yeshiva on the West Bank in response to this apparently ongoing incident. Their silence lends credence to the idea that these Jewish terrorists have, at the very least, their tacit approval!

If that is indeed the case, I have no use for them. The “Torah” they teach and the Torah they learn is worthless in my eyes…

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Mamdani and Jewish New Yorkers

It’s truly fascinating - if a bit odd - to watch Mayor Zohran Mamdani try to court Jewish support.

The New York City mayor is perhaps the most widely known member of the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization on the far left of the political spectrum that views the State of Israel as an illegitimate colonial enterprise that practices apartheid against its indigenous peoples. It advocates boycotting Israel and, ultimately, dismantling it as a Jewish state and returning the land to its supposed rightful Palestinian owners.

One of Mamdani’s first forays into politics came while he was a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he co-founded the college’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which the ADL describes as a network of anti-Zionist campus groups that promotes BDS campaigns against Israel.

His anti-Israel bona fides were established a long time ago and have continued to be part of his worldview to this day. And yet he loves to distinguish himself as a friend of Jewish New Yorkers. He says he will fight the growing antisemitism plaguing New York and promises to protect their rights and freedoms no less than those of any other New Yorker—even Jews who disagree with him. He says that disagreeing with him is their right, just as his anti-Israel views are his right.

A lot of Jews scoff at Mamdani’s comments and promises, noting that his anti-Israel rhetoric actually contributes to the increase in antisemitic attacks.

And yet, a few weeks ago, Ynet reported the following:

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a blessing to the Jewish community in the city ahead of the Tisha B’Av fast and wished residents “to reflect on the history and resilience of the Jewish people.” In a post published on X, Mamdani wrote: “May all who observe this day have a safe and meaningful fast.”

I had to laugh when I saw that. On Tisha B’Av, a “meaningful fast” is about mourning the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and hoping for it to be restored speedily in our time in our holy city, Jerusalem. That would seem to undermine his views about our rights to the land.

Underscoring the absurdity of his message is his constant anti-Israel rhetoric and openly expressed view that Israel has no right to be a Jewish state. Much less rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem on the location where one of Islam’s holiest buildings now stands.

And yet, I really think he believes that he can separate his anti-Zionist views from his sincere desire to be the mayor for all New Yorkers, Jews included.

That assumption, I’m sure, is based in part on the support he received from the many Jews who align themselves with progressive socialist policies and who see Israel in much the same negative light he does. Although some of them may not go as far as he does in denying Israel the right to exist as a Jewish state, they clearly see anything short of a socialist-style government as a betrayal of the ideals they associate with the good old days of the kibbutzim upon which Israel was built.

Kibbutzim were communes - essentially mini-communist-style enterprises in which there was little or no private ownership. Everyone worked for the common good, and everything was shared equally.

That hardly exists today. For good reason. It doesn’t work on a micro scale much better than it does on a macro scale. Which failed every time it was tried.

I don’t really doubt Mamdani’s sincerity. I’m sure he feels he can be all things to all people, including his Jewish constituents. To that end, he must be a bit perplexed by the rise in antisemitic attacks since he took office. So he assembled an eclectic group of Jewish leaders to get their input on why this is happening.

Not surprisingly, representatives of most mainstream Jewish organizations were not invited to attend. Not the ADL. Not Agudah. Not the OU. Not Chabad. And not the RCA…

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Insularity and Spiritual Purity

Belzer Chasidim at the graves of the Belzer Rebbes (YouTube)

How worthy is a way of life that rejects virtually all aspects of the general culture? And to what lengths is it legitimate to achieve success in maintaining that way of life? Does that mean total isolation from that culture except when absolutely necessary such as a hospitalization? How far must one go to achieve that level of insularity? How important is that insularity to one’s Jewish identity? And when does being insular go too far?

These are the thoughts that immediately occurred to me after reading about yet another conflict between state and religion. Only this one is in Canada, where their constitution protects freedom of worship, just as ours does.

This has been one of my pet peeves about Chasidism for as far back as I can remember. (Although, to be honest, the non-Chasidic Yeshiva world is doing its level best to catch up with them. But I digress.)

The ideology of insularity as a means of protecting oneself from influences foreign to Judaism has gone to such extremes in the Chasidic world that even the very language of the country is seen as a portal to the evils of society at large.

This is why, when you speak to members of certain Chasidic sects, you will hear them speak as though they were new immigrants. Often, they speak in grammatically incorrect ways. When it comes to writing, their spelling is about as accurate as that of a third grader. Their grammar is often no better.

They do this by choice, as a matter of distancing themselves from the surrounding culture. The more different they are from that culture, the less likely they are to participate in it and expose themselves to what they regard as its “evil” pitfalls.

Yiddish is their first language, and it is the language most often used in the home and among family and friends. English is used when necessary. All of this is a matter of communal choice.

Which brings me to what just happened in Montreal, where the languages of the land are both English and French. The following was reported in Arutz Sheva:

“Quebec provincial authorities have dealt a major blow to the Belz Hasidic education system in Montreal, announcing the sweeping cancellation of operating licenses for three major institutions—a kindergarten, a Talmud Torah, and a small yeshiva serving approximately 600 students…”

“The dramatic decision follows a lengthy series of inspections and monitoring efforts involving the institutions’ administration, some of which, according to authorities, have been ongoing since 2007…”

“Among the key deficiencies cited as leading to the drastic measure were a serious shortage of teachers qualified to teach in Quebec’s official languages, English and French; failure to provide the required number of instructional hours in core subjects; the use of unapproved educational materials; and safety concerns involving emergency exits.”

I do not wish these schools any harm. The fact that these children may be left without a school in the coming academic year would deny them any education altogether. Additionally, it places a grossly unfair burden on their parents.

But I have to ask: Why do these schools not comply with what seem like basic common-sense rules that every educational institution worthy of the name should have?

Is it really that difficult, for example, to have teachers who speak English or French properly…

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Defining Judaism by Our Own Lights

Once again, I find myself agreeing with a Conservative religious official. This time it is Steve Freedman, head of school at Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, New Jersey. (To the best of my knowledge, he is not a rabbi.)

It’s not that I agree with everything he says. But I do agree with his overall thesis, which complements the views of another Conservative religious official, Rabbi Steven Abraham, whose views I recently discussed in a similarly positive vein.

Freedman’s point is the following:

The most urgent job of Jewish education right now is not fighting antisemitism directly. It is making sure our children are not first introduced to their own history, their own people and their own homeland by those who mean them harm. It is making sure they can explain themselves to themselves before someone else does it for them.

That is the strongest case I know for Jewish day schools right now, stronger than the continuity argument, stronger than the safety argument, though both are real. Continuity is a downstream effect. Safety is a separate and urgent project. This is the existential one. Who gets to a child’s sense of self first?

The continuity data is solid on its own terms. A 2025 study of Jewish college students found that 81 percent of day school alumni said being Jewish was very important to them, compared to 35 percent of students who didn’t attend day school. But that number describes an outcome, not the mechanism. The mechanism is actually simple and direct. A child who has already engaged with the real Jewish story, in depth, from people who love them, is much harder to indoctrinate into someone else’s version of it.

How true.

Although, in my view, the most important job of a Jewish education is to teach Jews how to be Jewish by virtue of its defining characteristics: knowledge and observance of, Jewish law. The importance of Freedman’s point, however, cannot be overstated.

The lack of a Jewish education explains a lot about organizations like Jews for Justice in Palestine and other such anti-Israel organizations. Without any knowledge of their own history, their own people, and their own homeland, it becomes much easier to buy the arguments made by our enemies under the guise of anti-Zionism or anti-colonialsm.

It becomes easier to reject the idea that the Zionist pioneers who saw Israel as the Jewish homeland were justified in seeking a mass return to it; that Israel was part of our heritage as Jews; and that we had every right to encourage mass immigration to the land and develop it—all while attempting to live there as a people in peace and harmony with the indigenous Arabs who lived there at the time.

Without that essential knowledge, it becomes much easier to buy into the notion that the Jews had no connection to the land and were simply another group of Europeans interested in colonizing a foreign land and subjugating its people.

That kind of indoctrination by a left-leaning, anti-Jewish ideology becomes a lot easier when there is no Jewish education of any kind. And that helps explain the astounding statistic that 65 percent of Jews do not consider being Jewish important to them.

If Judaism doesn’t matter to you, then all you see in Israel are victims (Palestinians) and victimizers (Israelis) - who supposedly perpetuate colonialist policies through a system of brutal apartheid.

This is how you get a Bernie Sanders, whose Jewish education was probably nonexistent, becoming a man who values socialism more than Judaism by orders of magnitude…

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Now Iran Is Dictating Terms?!

The mainstream media reported the following this morning:

Iran’s state broadcaster published the statement by the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard…

The United States must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region. The U.S. must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets…

A vessel owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned ADNOC oil and gas company was attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Emirati authorities said earlier Saturday. The Foreign Ministry said Iran fired the missile as part of attacks on commercial shipping.

What a shocking development!

Iran is presenting the United States with an ultimatum—as though we are the ones who have been defeated and have no choice but to agree to its demands or suffer the consequences of its military wrath.

I cannot understand why the president is allowing Iran to get away with this.

The courage the president showed in doing what needed to be done—something previous presidents were afraid to do—was clearly justified. It is difficult to argue that Iran had not become an increasingly serious, even existential, threat to the United States and the Western world.

Forty-seven years ago, the Iranian Revolution violently overthrew a government and a society that had been moving in a decidedly Western direction and replaced it with a hardline, repressive Islamist regime. That was only the beginning.

Since then, Iran has built what amounts to an army of Islamist terrorist organizations in the region in addition to its own IRCG. It has armed and funded anti-Israel and anti-American proxies responsible for some of the worst atrocities of our time. It has attacked American cyber infrastructure. It has developed increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. And it has accelerated uranium enrichment to dangerously high levels.

Iran has also terrorized its own population, brutally suppressing and killing protesters who dared to challenge the regime - labeling THEM terrorists.

I don’t think it is seriously arguable that Iran needed to be confronted. The threat posed by a fanatical regime willing to use mass murder of its own people to achieve its objectives is real. Anyone paying attention should understand that.

And yet Iran was tolerated for decades while all of this was happening.

Eventually the United States and its European allies imposed punishing sanctions against Iran. They wanted them lifted and an agreement was reached with the US and its allies that was supposed to delay Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets. But that agreement did nothing to eliminate Iran’s other malign activities—and, as we now know, Iran continued working toward its ultimate objectives even before the current president tore up that deal.

When Trump withdrew from the agreement and restored sanctions, much of the world condemned him. The critics insisted that the agreement was working. But what kind of agreement was it if it merely allowed Iran to bide its time until it could resume its nuclear program? ,,,and because the deal was limited to Uranium enrichment - continue pursuing its terrorist objectives without fear?

The president eventually saw the writing on the wall and decided to act – after Israel weakned them with an attack of their own..

Iran’s military infrastructure was mostly devastated. But, sadly, not all of it. Iran is still able to use what remains, and it is now doing so with great bravado. Claiming to have the upper hand in the war.

Most troubling of all is the Strait of Hormuz.

By interfering with shipping through this vital artery for the world’s oil and goods, Iran has created economic pain for Americans and others around the world. And that has inevitably caused some Americans to sour on the war. Even if they continue to support its objectives.

That distinction is important…

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Is This The Greening of America 2.0?

A young supporter of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed

Back in the early 1970s, Charles Reich published The Greening of America, arguing that the country was undergoing a profound cultural transformation. According to Reich, Americans were abandoning many of the traditional values that had made the nation successful in favor of a counterculture that rejected them.

Based on the results of several recent Democratic primaries, one might wonder whether something similar is happening again.

I’m not convinced.

It may appear that way because of the growing number of victories by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates and, most recently, the Democratic primary victory of Abdul El-Sayed, who is now his party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate from Michigan. In November, he will face Republican Mike Rogers.

Who is Abdul El-Sayed? Journalist Melanie Phillips offered this description:

El-Sayed beat the moderate, pro-Israel Haley Stevens to become the Democratic candidate for Michigan’s Senate seat.

He advocates a total U.S. military embargo on Israel, which he calls an “evil,” “apartheid,” and “genocidal” state that, in his view, should not exist.

He has accused Israel of being “bloodthirsty” and has repeatedly criticized AIPAC, echoing themes that many Jews view as invoking longstanding anti-Jewish tropes.

His campaign also received strong backing from Hasan Piker, the Turkish-American influencer who has praised Hamas, said America had “what was coming to it” on 9/11, and urged followers to kill capitalists.

Despite opposing El-Sayed in the primary, leading Democrats quickly lined up behind him after his victory—including his primary opponent, Haley Stevens herself. That political parties almost always unite behind their nominees is not surprising. Especially when control of the Senate is at stake. But the degree to which they have veered away from their own values by supporting El=Sayed tells you just how power hungry they are.

It’s beyond troubling that so many prominent mainstream Democrats are willing to overlook El-Sayed’s abhorrent extremist views simply because they want to win the Senate back in November.

Does El-Sayed’s victory mean that Americans have embraced his ideology…

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