How much has the world learned since Islamist terrorists murdered Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002?
According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, there was a consensus that Islamist terrorism was beyond the pale. But the surge of support for the destruction of the Jewish state after the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, demonstrates that many Americans have forgotten that basic lesson.
He’s joined in this week’s episode of “Think Twice” by Daniel Pearl’s father, UCLA computer scientist Judea Pearl, who became a leading voice for Israel and Jewish identity in the years since his son’s death. He is the author of the recently published Coexistence and Other Fighting Words: Selected Writings of Judea Pearl 2002-2025.
Pearl says that in the last 24 years, he’s “wised up” about the prospects for peace in the Middle East. A longtime advocate for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, he now believes that any agreement to end the conflict is currently impossible. That’s because even most “moderate” Arabs and Muslims are committed to the eradication of Israel. He says this unalterable demand should not be confused with traditional ideas about antisemitism. Instead, he labels this hatred of Jews and their state as “Zionphobia.”
Zionism is, he says, “a Jewish quest for normalcy” in their own homeland. But in the aftermath of the surge of hatred for Jews rooted in intolerance for Jewish self-determination since Oct. 7, the West has not internalized this basic truth. According to Pearl, denial that Jews are the indigenous people of the land of Israel isn’t just wrong, but rooted in the myths of settler-colonialism theory. And it is enabling what he calls “Zionophobia” and an atmosphere of hate against all Jews who will not betray their own people. Denying Jewish history is the short path to erasing Jewish rights.
He says that Jews, such as those who advocate against Israel or voted for a rabid anti-Zionist like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, seek to gain acceptance in society at a time of great animosity toward the Jewish people. What American Jews need is leadership that is strong enough to ostracize that sector.
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