Jewish Insider

15/12/2025

When he arrived at a Buchenwald subcamp in April 1945, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was appalled by what he saw. The first to be liberated by U.S. troops, the camp was strewn with the decomposing remains of hundreds of prisoners murdered by the SS.

Three days later, Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, wrote to U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall saying, “I made the visit deliberately in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”

Eighty years later, Eisenhower’s great-grandson, Merrill Eisenhower, the CEO of People to People International, is carrying the torch for Holocaust remembrance, as he seeks to ensure the world never forgets.

“When my great-grandfather arrived at his first camp, he said directly to my grandfather: ‘Make sure you document this, take photos. Bring Congress, bring the press. One day there’s going to be some bastard that says this never happened.’”

Sadly those words proved prophetic.

Holocaust denial and distortion are surging around the world, including in the U.S. The haunting images are part of what motivates Eisenhower.

“Those photos that he [his grandfather] was taking, some of those still sit in my house and some are in the National Archives and some are in the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Kansas,” he said.

Full story: https://ji.news/4iicw

14/12/2025

Earlier this year, in the heavily saturated world of commentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a new name started to appear everywhere, though it seemed to come out of nowhere: Adam Louis-Klein (.klein.7399), an anthropology Ph.D. student at McGill University.

Until this past spring, he had hardly said anything about Israel publicly. He was too busy studying a remote Amazonian tribe.

But then Louis-Klein, 32, built a platform and started writing. Anywhere he could, Louis-Klein was making the bold claim that American Jews need to stop arguing about when anti-Zionism crosses a line into antisemitism.

In fact, he thinks they need to give up on their efforts to convince people that anti-Zionism is an antisemitic movement.

Louis-Klein’s thesis — the idea he is trying to get out into the world everyday, alternating between attention-catching social media graphics designed to go viral and lengthy posts using the dense academic jargon of anthropology — is that anti-Zionism should be considered a hate movement, something that is worthy of condemnation on its own, regardless of whether it is deemed antisemitic or not.

“When someone’s marked as a Zionist, anti-Zionists treat those Zionists differently. They treat them in unequal ways. They advocate for violence, or they advocate for discriminating or boycotting them, or excluding them or purging them. Anti-Zionists stigmatize Zionists. They spread libels about Zionists. They call Zionists slurs,” Louis-Klein told Jewish Insisder in an interview.

“It’s its own way of discriminating, and it’s hiding in plain sight. It’s there for everyone to see.”

Full story: https://ji.news/4ihkv

14/12/2025

U.S. officials and lawmakers across the political spectrum are condemning the terrorist attack at a Chabad Hanukkah celebration Sunday outside Sydney, Australia, tying the murder of 12 attendees to the rise of antisemitism across the world.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the United States “strongly condemns” the attack and that “antisemitism has no place in this world.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said he is “in touch with our counterparts in Australia” regarding the attack and is “providing the requested assistance,” while Attorney General Pam Bondi called it “heartbreaking news.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement he was “horrified by the attack” and that it is “our collective responsibility to aggressively eradicate the poison of antisemitism whenever and wherever it is found.”

“Today, as the Jewish community throughout America gathers with their loved ones to celebrate Hanukkah, the New York Police Department and law enforcement resources across the country must be vigorously deployed to keep everyone safe. It is my sincere hope that the story of Hanukkah and the candles that will shine on windowsills in homes around the world will bring needed light and resolve that the powerful resilience of the Jewish people that has existed for millennia will continue to endure always and forever,” Jeffries wrote.

Full story: https://ji.news/4ih8k

14/12/2025

At least 11 people were killed on Sunday in an attack at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia, in what authorities described as a targeted terror attack on the Jewish community.

The event was hosted by Chabad of Bondi, a neighborhood with a major Jewish community in Sydney.

Two gunmen opened fire with long rifles from outside the gated-off event, killing at least 11, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the Chabad emissary to Bondi, and injuring 29, including at least one child. One gunman was killed, as well. Police also found unexploded bombs in the area, near Sydney’s most popular beach.

Kobi Farkash, an Israeli tourist in Sydney and an eyewitness to the attack, told Jewish Insider that he went to the beach and happened upon the Chabad event.

“It was surrounded by a simple fence. There were four or five Jewish security guards without weapons, and maybe two police officers there before the attack,” he recalled. “There were activities for kids, like at any community event.”

Prominent pro-Israel activist Arsen Ostrovsky, who recently moved back to Australia after living in Israel for 13 years to head the advocacy group Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, was injured by a bullet that grazed his head during the attack. His wife and two daughters also attended the event, but were not injured.

“I was here with my family, it was a Hanukkah event, there were hundreds of people, there were children, families, elderly, enjoying themselves,” Ostrovsky told Australia’s News 9. “All of a sudden, there’s absolute chaos, there’s gunfire, people ducking. … I saw blood gush in front of me, I saw people hit. … My only concern was where are my kids? Where is my wife?"

Full story: https://ji.news/4igvq

14/12/2025

ANALYSIS | Last week, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore stood before a crowded room of Jewish attendees just outside the nation’s capital, and proclaimed: “Today, I want to be loud and clear, that Maryland stands with the Israeli people and we support their right to exist in the region with the same sense of safety and security that we all want,” Moore told attendees at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s annual “Lox and Legislators” event.

The nuance in Moore’s statement was telling — an expression of support not for Israel specifically, but for the Israeli people. It’s a clear distinction — and a potential shift in messaging for mainstream Democrats seeking to put daylight between themselves and the Israeli government, while not, as they see it, throwing Israelis under the bus.

But it’s also the kind of language reserved for rogue and oppressive regimes. Few politicians mention “the South African people” when speaking about disagreements with Pretoria. Same with “the people of Brazil” or “the people of Poland” when disagreements between Washington and those countries arise.

Read the full analysis by Melissa Weiss: https://ji.news/4ifyy

12/12/2025

The House Education and Workforce Committee announced it’s opening an investigation into antisemitism in the American Psychological Association, a move that follows mounting reports of antisemitism and unaddressed discrimination inside the organization, which represents more than 170,000 individuals in the psychology field and is responsible for the accreditation of psychology professionals.

The professional organization has faced accusations of being non-responsive to members’ complaints of antisemitism for months, including in a previous letter by Rep. Ritchie Torres

12/12/2025

Iran is still plotting assassination attempts against officials from the first Trump administration involved in the killing of Quds Force head Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a senior FBI official cautioned.

The warning came from FBI operations director Michael Glasheen, who testified before the House Homeland Security Committee during a hearing on “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland.” Glasheen was appearing before the panel on behalf of FBI Director Kash Patel, who was unable to attend the hearing.

“Iran continues to plot attacks against former government officials in retaliation for the January 2020 death Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, Commander Qassem Soleimani,” Glasheen said. “They also have continued to provide support to their proxies and terrorist organizations throughout the world, such as Lebanese Hezbollah.”

Full story: https://ji.news/4ic3y

12/12/2025

Sebastian Gorka, the National Security Council’s senior director for counterterrorism, defended the Trump administration’s executive order mandating the assessment of certain branches of the Muslim Brotherhood for designation as foreign terrorist organizations, which some critics have argued does not go far enough.

Gorka, speaking at a Hudson Institute conference on antisemitism, said that the administration is following the procedures and limitations laid out in federal law relating to terrorism designations, and said that the administration fully intends to target further branches of the Muslim Brotherhood with the ultimate goal of destroying the entire organization.

Sebastian Gorka said the administration intends to target other branches with the goal of destroying the entire Muslim Brotherhood

12/12/2025

A senior State Department official told lawmakers the U.S. believes there are “no good actors” in the brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the East African nation, and said the U.S.’ focus is on cutting off external support to both parties and achieving a temporary ceasefire.

“From our perspective, there are no good actors in this conflict,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Vincent Spera said during a House Foreign Affairs Africa subcommittee hearing. “The administration unequivocally condemns the atrocities committed by both parties. Members of the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanitry and ethnic cleansing, and members of the SAF have also committed war crimes, including in May when the United States announced the government of Sudan used chemical weapons in 2024.”

Spera said that the administration is “committed to helping end these atrocities in Sudan,” and that “external support to the warring parties must stop.”

Full story: https://ji.news/4ibj6

12/12/2025

It has been nearly three months since Trump unveiled his 20-point peace proposal for Gaza, but officials have yet to explain how key aspects would function in practice or how Hamas’ entrenched presence in the enclave will be addressed.

As Trump focuses on handpicking members for his ideal Palestinian governing body, experts told Jewish Insider that the administration has offered little clarity on how this layered structure would actually govern Gaza — or, more consequentially, how it can operate while armed Hamas terrorists remain in control of much of the enclave.

Elliott Abrams, who served as Iran envoy during Trump’s first term, told Jewish Insider that the White House has yet to “seriously address the question of who would maintain security in Gaza and prevent a Hamas recovery.”

Full story: https://ji.news/4ia22

12/12/2025

EXCLUSIVE | Sens. Dave McCormick and Jacky Rosen are pushing for additional sanctions on the Houthis in response to the group’s violations of human rights and hostage-taking in a new bill set to be introduced.

The Houthi Human Rights Accountability Act would require the administration to assess whether members of the Houthis have committed gross violations of human rights, obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid or have been involved in taking American hostages or supporting hostage-taking, qualifying them for sanctions under U.S. law.

The bill also declares that it is the sense of Congress that “Houthi efforts to indoctrinate Yemenis into a violent, anti-Semitic, and extremist worldview are a threat to a Yemeni-led peace process and to regional stability” and that “it is counter to United States policy to provide support to the Houthis in Yemen.”

Full story: https://ji.news/4iaik

12/12/2025

Read today's Daily Kickoff:

🚧 The problems plaguing Gaza's day-after plan

Full briefing ⬇️

Plus, the shifting politics of being pro-Israel