Scott Hayes, of Framingham, Mass., was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Newton District Court on Friday and released on $5,000 bond, after the 47-year-old was arrested the night before at a pro-Israel rally in Newton, Mass.

Video footage, which the Daily Wire obtained, appeared to show a young man, who accused pro-Israel ralliers of committing “genocide,” run across a busy street in Newton, Mass., on Thursday and tackle one of the ralliers. At some point, the latter seemed to shoot the assailant.

At a press conference on Thursday night, Marian Ryan, the district attorney of Middlesex County, which includes the City of Newton, said that Hayes was charged with “assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury.” The latter charge was apparently dropped on Friday.

“He looked terrible but he stood tall. They treated him like a criminal and kept referring to the ‘alleged victim,”” a source at the court room told Kassy Akiva, of Daily Wire, who first obtained and released the footage of the incident. (Akiva is a former JNS editor.)

“Regrettably, the answer to most of the questions you’re going to have is, ‘We are working on that,’” the county district attorney said at the Thursday evening press conference.

“What we do know at this point is that at approximately 6:40 tonight, the Newton Police responded to calls at Washington and Harvard Street, just a short distance from the station,” Ryan said. “There was a small group of individuals—pro-Israeli demonstrators, who were demonstrating on one side of the street. There was an individual, apparently completely randomly walking down the other side of the street. Words were exchanged back and forth across the street.”

The man across the street “at some point began crossing the street. Appears to have gone back to his side of the street. Ultimately came across and jumped upon one of the demonstrators,” the district attorney said. “A scuffle ensued. During that scuffle, the individual who had come across the street was shot by a member of the demonstrating group.”

The man who crossed the street “has sustained life-threatening injuries and is being treated at a local hospital,” she added.

In response to a question, she said that the attacker came “very rapidly” across the street and “tackled” the other man. “It’s our understanding that that was his gun and that he legally possessed that gun,” she said, of Hayes.

Asked to characterize the man—who had reportedly called the pro-Israel ralliers “sick” and accused them of “genocide”—as either “anti-Israel” or “pro-Palestinian,” the district attorney said, “I think it’s too soon to to get into that.”

George McMains, acting chief of the Newton Police, said that the department “will be providing extra patrols at the houses of worship over the next several days as well as beyond if we feel that’s appropriate or necessary.”

Ruthanne Fuller, the Newton mayor, called the incident “frightening.”

“The Newton Police Department acted quickly and immediately took a person into custody,” she said. “I have two asks. First, let the Newton Police do their work and get the facts straight. Second, I ask everyone to remain calm.”

The New England branch of the Anti-Defamation League stated that police appeared to act too “immediately.”

“ADL is aware that an anti-Israel protester was shot after charging across traffic and violently tackling a pro-Israel demonstrator to the ground,” the ADL wrote. “Reports that charges were immediately filed prior to completion of the investigation are concerning.”

“We encourage Newton Police and the Middlesex district attorney to conduct a thorough investigation of the entire incident,” the ADL added. “We are concerned about escalating tensions and remain in contact with law enforcement and community officials.”

Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, told JNS that there is no question that the man who crossed the street and tackled the pro-Israel rallier committed a crime.

“I think the first thing that’s clear is that the person who assaulted the veteran should be arrested as well,” Dershowitz said. “The fact that he hasn’t been arrested raises some serious questions.”

The legal scholar told JNS that the question whether the shooter acted in self-defense “will be determined based on all the evidence.”

“The shooting raises questions that require a deep investigation as to precisely when the shot was fired, what the circumstances were, what the feelings and beliefs of the person who shot were,” he said. “That requires an extensive investigation.”

Dershowitz told JNS that he is concerned that the alleged shooter was charged before the investigation was complete.

“It seemed to me that the first person to be arrested should have been the person who did the initial assault, because there’s no doubt about that. That’s on videotape. You can see it,” he said. “So the fact that the person was not arrested, charges were not filed against the person making the original charges, raises serious questions about the fairness of the entire process.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston stated on Friday that “last night, at a small demonstration in support of the Oct. 7 hostages in Newton, Mass., there was a violent altercation and an individual was hospitalized.”

“While the details of what happened are still being investigated, there should be no question that violence of any kind in our democratic society is abhorrent,” the JCRC said. “People’s right to gather in civil, non-violent public demonstrations must be sacrosanct.”

“We take this moment to note that over the last 11 months, across our region there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of standouts for the hostages taken on Oct. 7. These rallies, demonstrations, runs and walks for the victims, a ‘hostage tunnel’ exhibit at Boston City Hall Plaza, and other ways in which our community and allies have come together to demand the return of the hostages to their families have all been peaceful and without incident,” the JCRC said.

“Regardless of motive or his role in the initiation of the violence, we pray for the full recovery of the individual who was injured last night,” it said.

The Combined Jewish Philanthropies stated on Friday that there was an “altercation” that “turned violent.”

“We denounce and condemn all forms of violence and support the right to assemble in ways that are peaceful and uphold our values as a people and as a community,” the CJP said.

At press time, a fundraising page for Hayes—which called him “an American Iraq war veteran” and said that he is not Jewish—had raised more than $120,000 from some 1,600 donations.

After the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, both political parties and their leaders—Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Trump—have been advocating for unity among Americans. Unity is always a positive message to send to a nation after it has faced a challenging situation.

In Israel, calls for unity reverberated throughout the nation after the Simchat Torah massacre on Oct. 7. For the year-and-a-half leading up to the attacks, Israel was divided over the issues of judicial reform and between religious and secular communities. For months, Israelis have set aside their differences, pulled together and supported the war effort. Political disagreements were set aside, and uniting to defend the homeland and rescue the hostages became Israel’s mantra.

What does unity look like in today’s times?

No one expects Republicans and Democrats to set aside their issues or Israelis to forget their differences in the effort to focus on unity in trying national times. Americans and Israelis are strong-willed people who have long thought through their positions and feel they are right for their people. Unity doesn’t mean giving up on your values and compromising your principles.

Unity requires divided people to come together while still disagreeing about fundamental issues. Unity requires political opponents to deal civilly with each other and talk to each other with respect. It requires the recognition that those on the “other side” are fellow citizens and neighbors, not the enemy. Most importantly, it requires a tampering down of inflammatory rhetoric in favor of dignified dialogue.

In America and Israel, the rhetoric about the “other side” has veered towards the extreme. In America, Republicans say that Biden has been the worst president in America’s history and Democrats are destroying America. Democrats call Trump Hitleresque and say Republicans want to repress America back to the 1800s. In Israel, the right claims that the left is weak and willing to let Israel’s enemies defeat the Israel Defense Forces. The left claims that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a dictator and that the right wants to end Israel as a democratic state.

The rhetoric in both countries is extreme and uncivil. It bolsters division and creates a dangerous environment that fosters violence. Both America and Israel have seen how extreme rhetoric can lead to political violence with disastrous consequences. The violent consequence of extreme discourse is the ultimate problem of division in a nation.

Yet even without the fear of violence, extreme characterizations of political advocates towards their opponents in America and Israel reflect partisanship more than truth. The two countries are both strong democracies that can withstand political contentiousness.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln once said, “At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.” Many have summarized Lincoln by saying, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we lose our freedoms, it will be because we have destroyed ourselves from within.”

Lincoln’s idea of America only being at risk by tyrannical and anti-democratic forces from fellow Americans has been used by those perpetuating divisive language on both sides to support their idea that their political opponents are not just rivals but actual enemies of the state. Their defeat, they argue, must be had at almost all costs.

Using Lincoln as a cudgel against political opponents is as cheap as it is easy. Anyone can be branded anti-democratic and therefore painted as an enemy of the state whose extreme views must be defeated. Also, using Lincoln doesn’t require either side to address the issues. Instead of explaining their positions and their opposition to the other side’s positions, they look for the cheap punch.

Unity is essential in a democracy that hopes to be a well-functioning society. Done correctly, disagreements are healthy and can lead to a larger discussion of diverse ideas that allow the best ideas to rise to the top and improve the nation. Those ideas can only be shared when opposing parties are willing to listen to their opponents with an open mind while not disqualifying good ideas solely through a partisan lens. True national unity is when people of diverging views place the nation’s improvement as the top priority, especially above partisan interests.

The first step towards national unity is addressing individual issues and not individual personas. Political opponents need to highlight the advantages of their policy ideas and the flaws in their opponent’s ideas. They need to demonstrate how the country would be better off with them at the governing helm of the country, and how the country would regress if their opponent’s policy ideas were implemented. Most of all, they must address their opponent with respect and admiration for their willingness to serve their nation.

To unite the citizens of America and Israel, both parties need to begin utilizing more respectful language towards each other. Extreme rhetoric plays more to fear than intellect and must be set aside in favor of addressing problems by highlighting their flaws. Respectful dialogue will bring unity between opposing sides in America and Israel.

On May 13, the Deborah Project, a public-interest law firm, filed a lawsuit under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act accusing Haverford College in Pennsylvania of creating a hostile environment for Jews. Five days later, at the highly-ranked private liberal arts school’s graduation ceremony, Haverford gave awards to multiple people accused in the complaint of Jew-hatred.

The Deborah Project filed an amended, 278-page complaint on Sept. 9 before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in which the firm accuses Haverford of “doubling down on every policy at issue in this case,” as well as making a “mockery” of and leveling a “calculated insult” at the Jews who told the administration repeatedly that they are unsafe at the school.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, legal director of the Deborah Project, told JNS that the college not only decided to go forward with the awards five days after the complaint was filed, but it knew for months that Jews were feeling unsafe and neglected on campus. Students had complained since October, for example, about social posts by a professor Tarik Aougab.

“There were many, many, many complaints about his callousness and repeated all kinds of things that he did throughout the year that were insulting to Jews, so it’s not like it happened when we filed our complaint,” Lowenthal Marcus told JNS. “The people who are being insulted here are the Jews who complained all year bitterly.”

“Absolutely, they knew of everything. Repeatedly. Well-documented. Absolutely no surprises,” she said of the Haverford administration. “That’s why it’s deliberate indifference.”

The amended complaint that the firm filed relates to alleged Jew-hatred on campus that occurred since the initial complaint, and things about which the firm didn’t know when it filed the first complaint, according to Lowenthal Marcus.

“They’re completely emboldened,” she said, of the school administration. “That’s the issue. There’s no concern what it’s doing to the Jewish population at the school.”

“What’s different at Haverford—there’s more of an informed support for allowing what we’re complaining about at the school. It’s very much about free speech, except at the same time, microaggressions are policed carefully. It’s really truly a double standard,” she said. “The Jews are the compliant model students, customers, fill-in-the-blank. They complain quietly and write letters to the editor, while the other side screams and yells and breaks things. The louder you are, the more compliant the administration or institution is.”

The Haverford administration also has “the sense of the smug superiority of being social-justice warriors, and right now it’s in vogue to believe that the Jews are evil and the Jewish state is evil,” Lowenthal Marcus added. “They’re feeling like they’re on the side of justice.”

Chris Mills, associate vice president for college communications at Haverford, told JNS that the school doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

JNS sought further comment from Mills about whether the college was aware of the complaint and to what degree Jewish faculty, staff and students are safe on campus.

‘Carefully choreographed ballet’

Haverford made it “crystal clear” to pro-Israel students and families at its graduation that their safety and comfort didn’t matter when the school gave awards to the student Harrison Lennertz (“greatest contribution to on-campus performing arts”) and Aougab (upholding “the qualities intrinsic to a Haverford education”), who were named in the initial complaint, per the Sept. 9 complaint.

The awards were “intended as a direct insult to the plaintiffs in this case and the Jewish community at Haverford” and made “a mockery of the Jews’ concern,” it states. The complaint notes that students decided whom to award, but states that Haverford’s president or other administrators could have overruled the decision “if any believed its grant would be improper for any reason.”

The amended complaint also alleges that Haverford’s chief equity officer Nikki Young told Philadelphia Jewish communal representatives on April 16 at the college that “at Haverford in the past, black and gay students had to hide their commitments to their people, so Jews must now disavow ‘genocide.’”

“Young means that Jews must disavow Israel’s defense against Hamas’s publicly stated intention to murder all Jewish Israelis who refuse to live ‘under the wing of Islam,’” per the amended complaint.

The complaint also states that Haverford hasn’t disciplined associate religion professor, Guantian Ha, who said of people in “my little world” who are silent about “genocide” that, “I know their names and I know their faces. Never forgive. No reconciliation.”

“Although he is an associate professor of religion at Haverford College and presumes to speak on the subject including about the content of Judaism, Ha is completely ignorant about Jewish texts, Jewish history, Jewish culture, Jewish belief and Jewish thought,” per the complaint. On Aug. 22, Ha wrote—in a still-live post—that “Zionism is fundamentally a modern racist ideology that has next to nothing to do with Judaism as an ancient religion.”

“Haverford has seen no reason to say anything about any of these posts, which intentionally insult and demean each of the plaintiffs and all members of Jews at Haverford,” per the complaint, “even though Haverford has clothed Ha with the authority to speak as an expert about religion, including the religion of the plaintiffs and members of Jews at Haverford.”

The complaint also notes the “carefully choreographed ballet” at graduation, during which Haverford president Wendy Raymond “politely paused” during the ceremony each time a student unfurled an anti-Israel banner. Some 30% of graduates handed Palestinian flags to Raymond, who gave them to John McKnight, vice president and dean of the college, before giving the students their diplomas, the complaint states.

“If a student had ascended the podium with a Confederate flag, or with the symbol of any political movement with which she disagreed, Raymond would not have cheerfully and politely accepted it,” per the complaint. “But the fact that, in the eyes of the committed Jews who were attending the ceremony, the Palestinian flag represented a threat to them was of absolutely no moment or interest to Raymond.”

In its motion to dismiss the original complaint, Haverford suggested that the “plaintiffs themselves don’t get to define their Jewish identity,” per the Sept. 9 complaint. 

“Haverford decides what it means to be Jewish, and according to Haverford, Zionism and Israel aren’t part of it,” it adds. “Israel and Zionism are, according to Haverford, merely ‘political’ issues and so those committed to it are not entitled to protection or even respect from the college.”

“Haverford therefore sees itself as entitled to be officially hostile to any Jew to whom Israel and Zionism are central to their identity,” it adds. “Jews—but only Jews—don’t have the right to define their identity for themselves.”

‘I was treated as a Jew from Israel’

“I am absolutely not sure that we are safe. I am absolutely sure that the administration doesn’t have our best interests in mind,” Barak Mendelsohn, a political science professor at Haverford who is Israeli, told JNS.

An expert in Israeli security, Mendelsohn—who is mentioned nine times in the amended complaint—is in his 18th year teaching at Haverford. The college investigated him last year for telling a student that she “should be more respectful of people who disagree with her and that she should learn more about Israel and Zionism before attacking people who are committed to either,” per the amended complaint.

“I did not have concerns about antisemitism before. I experienced boycotts because I came from Israel and served in the IDF,” he said. “I sort of accepted that this is the price of doing business here.”

“What has happened since, in the last year, is completely different in scale,” he said. “The antisemitism that we are seeing is not just a product of misguided or antisemitic students. It’s also the result of a framework that sees the DEI project from an ideological perspective.” (The acronym refers to diversity, equity and inclusion.)

“It divides us to oppressed and oppressors, and the Jews for them under the oppressors. Jews are white. Jews are oppressors. Therefore Jews cannot be treated as a minority that requires respect,” he told JNS. “Everything that can be said against them is suddenly protected by freedom of speech.”  

Mendelsohn told JNS that he has been the most vocal, but that he has discussed Jew-hatred on campus with other concerned faculty members. Some 18 to 20 Jewish staff and professors at Haverford and nearby Bryn Mawr College established a group called Club Chai to address concerns, he said. He has also been blind copied on “so many” emails to the school administration from students, parents and alumni, he told JNS. 

“The school knew everything,” he said. “It is just refusing to accept that they did anything wrong, and then doubling down. They have excuses all the time.”

The Haverford administration did not contact Mendelsohn after Oct. 7 to draw upon his expertise as not only a scholar on Israeli security but also on terrorism. “My institution did not treat me as a resource,” he said, “but just treated me as the Jew from Israel, when I thought that I am the scholar and educator. I was treated as a Jew from Israel.”

“I am a full professor, which allows me to speak up,” he told JNS, but noted he still worries about repercussions to what he says publicly. He added that he is seen as far-left in Israel, and that he is “supposed” to be the kind of faculty member that students would seek out about their concerns, not to be the target of antisemitism.

‘Sucking the air’

Mendelsohn told JNS that it’s important for the public to understand the antisemitism that Jews face at smaller schools, which don’t make the headlines regularly, as major educational institutions have when they face Jew-hatred.

“UPenn is sucking the air from all the other places in Pennsylvania,” he said of the University of Pennsylvania, whose embattled president Liz Magill resigned in December after testifying before a House committee that it would depend on the context whether calling for genocide against all Jews would violate the school’s policies.

“It makes sense that the media pays attention mostly to the Ivy League or big schools,” he said. “But they are missing the very unique dynamics of antisemitism in small liberal arts colleges. Sometimes, it might be less direct but not less painful or devastating and impactful, because the nature of social pressure in small schools is much more effective and much more devastating to the Jewish students than what they face in the big schools.” 

In bigger schools, it’s easier to avoid or otherwise reduce exposure to antisemitism, he said. “In small liberal arts colleges, you just can’t do that.”

In early August, Mendelsohn posted an email from an incoming student who decided not to study at Haverford due to Jew-hatred on campus. “I doubt the college cares. Not sure they won’t be happier with fewer Jews,” Mendelsohn wrote on social media, in a thread that received hundreds of thousands of views.

“This is a very tough decision for me, as I truly thought Haverford would be the place for me to thrive academically and socially. I thought that everything would pass over the summer and I’d be able to fight the last parts of antisemitism on campus when I got to Haverford,” the unnamed student wrote. “But it doesn’t seem that way.”

The student reported after “great conversations” with fellow students, “when they hear that I went to Jewish day school and am Jew, I get asked almost immediately if I support Israel and if I’m Zionist, I either get blocked or ridiculed by other Haverford students who I barely even know.”

“It sounds crazy but I feel safer in Israel in a war zone that is about to be attacked by Iran and its proxies then I do in America, and I fear that this feeling will be what I feel like everyday at Haverford—scared to be a Jew in what was supposed to be my second home,” the student added.

Mendelsohn told JNS it was particularly difficult to receive that note from a student who was slated to study with him.

The result of the school’s decisions, according to Mendelsohn, will be that donors will opt to avoid association with the college, and due to the “stupid game,” antisemitic students “are going to be the reason why there will be a generation of first-generation students that will not get scholarships to come to Haverford.”

Mendelsohn shared a copy of a letter, which Haverford shared with him, with 613 signatures denouncing him. Number 316 was “Joseph Mengele, Haverford ’20.”

“My college, as they are trying to investigate me, sent me an antisemitic document,” he said. “I suffered both the investigation and antisemitism that the college transmitted to me.”

Speaking up

Haverford has 30 days to respond to the amended complaint, according to Lowenthal Marcus, who expects the school to file a motion to dismiss.

Lowenthal Marcus added that the suit is a Title VI case but not one filed before the U.S. Department of Education. 

“The courts have judges. They are bound by law. The Department of Education is a part of the executive branch. It’s an administrative agency. They’re goal is to find a resolution. They are the fact finder and the judge, and so, the plaintiff doesn’t have an active advocate pushing hard on righting a wrong that has been done to the plaintiff,” she told JNS. “It’s like depositing in a box, and it goes into this big black hole.”

She told JNS that she doesn’t blame victims and doesn’t advocate violence or abuse to correct wrongs done to Jews. She hopes that Jews will be more vocal and comfortable being named publicly in demanding action against antisemitism.

“That would help,” she said. “This is a tool that we have, and it’s hard to wield it when so many Jews are so frightened to speak out about it.”

David Rubenstein, the Jewish co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group and owner of the Baltimore Orioles, has committed to donate $1.5 million to the Jewish Museum of Maryland, the cultural institution, which is part of the Baltimore Jewish Federation, announced on Thursday.

“Happy to support the Jewish Museum of Maryland,” Rubenstein wrote on social media. “Through modern and compelling exhibits, more people will learn from and be inspired by Maryland’s Jewish history.”

The museum stated that the new David M. Rubenstein Exhibition Arcade will form “the epicenter of the museum’s front of house, a central public space that branches out into galleries, an audio/video production studio and a library.”

The gift “will ensure the museum’s architecture and technologies support the museum’s evolution as a cultural institution delivering a dynamic range of ways the public can engage with Maryland’s Jewish history and culture,” stated Sol Davis, the museum’s executive director.

EXCLUSIVE—The Republic of Paraguay will open its embassy in Jerusalem by the end of 2024, in a sign of support for Israel in Latin America, Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano said on Thursday.

The embassy move, which had been planned before the start of the war against Hamas in Gaza, is a diplomatic boon for Israel at a time when it has faced international opprobrium over the 11-month-old war triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña will travel to Israel for the inauguration of the embassy in Israel’s capital, Ramírez Lezcano said in an interview with JNS.

“It is the government’s intention to open the embassy in Jerusalem before the end of the year,” Ramírez Lezcano told JNS. “Work is being done on the logistical aspects for the opening.”

He added that preparations were underway for a state visit by the president this fall for the opening of the embassy.

“The upcoming embassy move shows that the relationship between Paraguay and Israel is entering a new era of unprecedented bilateral cooperation and growth," said Leopoldo Martinez, Latin America director of the Washington-based-Israel Allies Foundation.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana is scheduled to travel to both Paraguay and Argentina next week, where he will meet the presidents of the two countries, both staunch Israel allies who have pledged to relocate their embassies to Jerusalem.

Back and forth

Paraguay first moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, following then-President Donald Trump’s lead and becoming the third country to do so after the United States and Guatemala.

However, months later, the embassy was returned to Tel Aviv, setting off a diplomatic crisis with Israel. The surprise decision led Israel to shutter its embassy in Asunción, citing harm the Paraguayan move had caused to bilateral relations.

Election pledge

During his election campaign last year, Peña pledged that he would return the embassy to Jerusalem.

“The State of Israel recognizes Jerusalem as its capital,” he said. “The seat of the parliament is in Jerusalem, the president is in Jerusalem. So who are we to question where they establish their own capital?”

Landlocked Paraguay has a long history of friendship with Israel, dating back to its vote for the creation of the Jewish state at the United Nations in 1947.

Five countries currently have their embassies in Israel’s capital: the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo and Papua New Guinea.

All of the other countries that have ties with Israel maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv or in Tel Aviv suburbs due to the political sensitivities over the holy city.

Trump’s landmark decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 set the stage for other countries to follow suit in the following years, with additional nations expected to make similar announcements after a delay caused by the war against Hamas.

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund is allocating 225 million shekels (more than $60 million) in emergency aid to local authorities in northern and southern Israel as the conflict along the country’s borders continues into its 11th month.

Distribution will be based on factors such as population size, distance from the border, socio-economic status and the percentage of evacuated residents. Most of the funding—160 million shekels (nearly $43 million)—will go to communities in the south.

Projects focus on land preparation for housing and agriculture; the development of security and agricultural roads; the construction of public buildings; the creation of green spaces; educational programs; infrastructure development; reforestation; and critical support for the rehabilitation and recovery of affected residents.

Also planned is an investment of up to 30 million shekels ($8 million) in upgrading the Evron Reservoir to help divert water from the Ga’aton River, significantly reducing the risk of flooding in Nahariya, which has previously suffered severe damage. The reservoir will also provide water for agriculture in the Ma’ale Yosef and Mateh Asher regional councils.

Ifat Ovadia-Luski , chairwoman of KKL-JNF, said the organization “stands firmly with the residents of northern and southern Israel. We are committed to ensuring the continued survival and prosperity of these frontier communities. The assistance we provide is part of our broader efforts to restore vital infrastructure, support local agriculture and strengthen community resilience.”

She added, “We are driven by a deep sense of national responsibility, working to maintain rehabilitation projects, ensure food security and support agricultural efforts.”

In a development that could reshape the narrative of one of the most infamous espionage cases of the Cold War, a recently declassified memo from a top U.S. government codebreaker suggests that Ethel Rosenberg may not have been directly involved in spying for the Soviet Union.

The document, obtained by Rosenberg's sons through a Freedom of Information Act request, has reignited debate about the atomic espionage case that led to the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in 1953.

The memo, written by Meredith Gardner, who was a linguist and codebreaker for what later became the National Security Agency, states that while Ethel Rosenberg knew about her husband's espionage activities, she "did not engage in the work herself" due to ill health, the Associated Press reported.

This assessment, made days after Rosenberg's arrest in August 1950, contradicts the prosecution's portrayal of her as an active participant in her husband's spy network.

Robert and Michael Meeropol, the Rosenbergs' sons, view the memo as a "smoking gun" that proves their mother's innocence.

"This puts it on both sides of the Atlantic—in other words, both the KGB and the NSA ended up agreeing that Ethel was not a spy," Robert said. The brothers are now urging President Joe Biden to issue a formal proclamation exonerating their mother.

The Rosenberg case has long been a subject of historical debate and controversy. While Julius Rosenberg is widely accepted to have been a Soviet spy, questions about Ethel's role have persisted for decades. The newly released memo adds weight to arguments that Ethel may have been unfairly convicted and executed.

However, some historians maintain that there is still evidence of Ethel's involvement in supporting her husband's activities. Harvey Klehr, a retired Emory University historian, argues that while she may not have directly passed on classified information, she was "an active participant in her husband's spy network."

The memo's release comes after years of efforts by the Meeropols to clear their mother's name. In 2015, grand jury testimony from Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, was unsealed, revealing that he had not implicated his sister in espionage activities, contrary to his damaging trial testimony that helped secure her conviction.

The Meeropols believe that the Gardner memo would have been available to FBI and Justice Department officials during the investigation and prosecution of their parents. This raises questions about why Ethel was put on trial and ultimately executed despite the codebreaker's assessment.

The case continues to resonate with many in the Jewish community, highlighting issues of antisemitism and the climate of fear during the McCarthy era.

Robert Meeropol, now 77, had a very delayed bar mitzvah celebration six years ago at a Rohr Jewish Learning Institute retreat, where he put on tefillin for the first time and spoke openly about his experiences as the "Cold War's most famous orphan."

As the debate over Ethel Rosenberg's role in the espionage case carries on, the full implications of this new evidence remain to be seen. As his efforts to clear his mother’s name continue, Robert Meeropol noted, "I'm incredibly relieved to have this out while I'm still alive."

Palestinian rioters targeted Neve Tzuf (also known as Halamish) in the Binyamin region of Samaria on Thursday, throwing Molotov cocktails at the village.

The attack resulted in a rapidly spreading fire, forcing the evacuation of residents in the first few houses near the edge of the community.

It took two firefighting planes and several firefighting teams to bring the blaze under control. The terrorists responsible for the attack fled towards the nearby village of Deir Nidham.

Deputy Commander Ido Peretz of the Binyamin Regional Fire Station detailed the response: "Due to our knowledge of the area and understanding of the threats, numerous teams were dispatched from the Binyamin Regional Fire Station, as well as assistance from neighboring stations in the Judea and Samaria district and inter-district support."

He added, "This is a forest located within the town, and at this time, the fire is moving with the help of the winds. A pair of firefighting planes from the Elad squadron are on their way to the location to assist in extinguishing the fire."

By Thursday afternoon, there was no longer any danger to residents, but the nearby forest was badly damaged and there was tremendous damage to ecological systems and wildlife.

The Neve Tzuf leadership appealed for immediate action, urging the army to "immediately close Route 450, which cuts through the neighborhoods of the town, to Palestinian traffic and prevent another disaster."

The town's statement concluded: "We support the IDF and security forces in their fight against terrorism and in defending the residents."

This is not the first time that Neve Tzuf has been targeted. In 2016, another Palestinian arson attack struck the town, destroying 23 homes and causing severe damage to several others.

A statement from Neve Tzuf administration back then highlighted the ongoing threat: "The light punishment given to the terrorists who carried out the attack serves as inspiration for every copycat terrorist. With the simple means of a Molotov cocktail, they cause immense damage that takes many years to repair, if it can be repaired at all."

Thursday's attack was yet another incident in the escalation of violence perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria.

Following the murder of three Israelis at the Allenby border crossing this past Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for a significant policy shift.

"The war we are in is not only against Gaza and Hezbollah [in Lebanon], it is also in Judea and Samaria," Ben-Gvir said. "Just last week, I asked the prime minister to also include victory in Judea and Samaria among the goals of the war. I will continue to fight for this to happen."

The situation has become increasingly dire, with more than 3,200 attacks in the region during the first six months of 2024. Last week, the Yesha Council held a series of protests by Jewish residents demanding enhanced security measures and a cracking down on terrorists.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said, "This fight is a fight for our very existence here. It is inconceivable that while half of the residents of Judea and Samaria are mobilized in the north and south [against Hezbollah and Hamas, respectively], the security of their families will be abandoned."

The Israel Defense Forces has initiated a policy shift. Judea and Samaria is now classified as a "combat zone," elevating it to the country's most critical front after the Gaza Strip.

This reclassification has led to intensified military operations. In late August, the IDF launched "Operation Summer Camps" in northern Samaria, marking the most extensive military action in the region since "Defensive Shield" during the Second Intifada in 2002. The operation involved the deployment of two brigade combat teams in the Jenin camp and Tulkarem for an extended period.

Aysenur Eygi, an American-Turkish dual national, was shot and killed during a demonstration in Samaria on Sept. 6. Palestinian, Turkish and human rights organizations allege that the Israeli Defense Forces shot her intentionally while she was protesting "Israeli land grabs."

To this day, 22 years after her death, Rachel Corrie’s parents and anti-Israel activists claim an Israeli bulldozer ran her over intentionally. She was protesting in Rafah, Gaza, where the IDF was destroying Hamas tunnels.

In 2010, art student Emily Henochowicz joined friends at a Palestinian demonstration in Jerusalem to protest the Israeli Navy stopping the Turkish flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Israeli border police blocked the demonstration.

Henochowicz was hit in her head by a tear gas grenade and lost an eye. She and demonstration organizers claimed the police intentionally fired the grenade directly at her.

What did the three women also have in common? They were recruits to the radical, anarchist, anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement. They were passionate and careless newbies to real-life Palestinian demonstrations (not the U.S. campus camping experience), and they were unwitting cast members used by the ISM agitprop “producers” present at all three incidents.

ISM productions and producers

When Corrie was severely injured after carelessly “playing chicken” with a bulldozer, one of the ISM members did not rush to her aid. Ghoulishly, he fluttered around, taking pictures.

Without realizing it, in an interview, “Joe Smith” detailed the role of ISM’s producers. His real name: Joseph Carr, a self-proclaimed anarchist and an agitprop specialist who had all of the press contacts and numbers readily at hand to launch a press campaign just 30 minutes after her death. Here is an excerpt from an affidavit that appeared on The Electronic Intifada site:

I was doing interviews non-stop, starting 30 minutes after [Corrie’s] death, all the way until midnight, and then starting again at 6 am and continuing all day today. I literally would never hang up the phone, just switch to an incoming call on call waiting. When I did finally get a second to breathe, I’d have like 30 missed calls. Anyway, it was a bit therapeutic I think, telling the story over and over, and interviews make me feel [as if I was doing something] important [in the aftermath]. All this thing is a media event now, so we must continue a campaign as hard as possible before the new and bigger tragedy, the Iraq war, begins. The few hours I had off last night between midnight and 4 am was spent organizing today’s events, press conferences, live TV/radio interviews, a demonstration, and the beginnings of the traditional Palestinian 3-day ceremony…

(By the way, I took the pictures you may have seen of her standing with the megaphone in front of the bulldozer and the ones of her friends helping her.)

Mr. Smith/Carr was an anti-Israel propagandist producer par excellence. Could anyone top his act today?

Yes, Jonathan Pollak, a founder of the direct-action group Anarchists Against the Wall, a frequent participant in anti-Israel protests and a “trainer” for ISM who ensures the volunteers get into trouble, sometimes fatally.

Who Is Jonathan Pollak?

Pollak was perhaps the most quoted witness to the death of Eygi, providing interviews to many newspapers and broadcast networks. Incredibly, Pollak is also on the staff of the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.

The ISM production team immediately went into action, volunteering interviews, posting a Wikipedia page dedicated to Eygi, providing a graduation photo of her wearing a keffiyeh and releasing videos of her dying moments. The ISM staff followed the Rachel Corrie playbook.

Pollak claimed, “What happened today [Eygi’s death] is no accident. … The shot was taken to kill. … It was an intentional killing … because she was an American citizen.”

President Biden, Vice President Harris and the secretaries of state and defense echoed the ISM’s charge against Israel.

The anarchist admitted that Eygi had arrived in Israel several days earlier and that it was the first protest the inexperienced woman had joined. CBS reporter Elizabeth Palmer asked Pollak, “Essentially, you are asking [volunteers] to be human shields.” Pollak responded firmly, “No! They are participating in the struggle for human liberation.”

Pollak put the shooting in the context of Israel’s “genocide.” He told his own paper, Haaretz, that the soldier who shot the activist "did it because he knows he can get away with it. The context is the escalating violence and genocide in Gaza."

Pollak is true to his agitprop. In 2010, he also charged that he witnessed Israeli border police firing a tear-gas grenade directly at 21-year-old American student Emily Henochowicz. Unfortunately for him, a video showed that the projectile ricocheted off of a cement barrier before hitting her.

Moreover, Henochowicz suggested in an interview in 2010 that Pollak may have been the catalyst for the border police shooting tear gas at the protesters:

DEMOCRACY NOW: What happened just in the period before the Israeli soldiers began firing their tear-gas canisters?

HENOCHOWICZ: Well, Jonathan Pollak climbed up on this fence and put a Palestinian and Turkish flag up at the checkpoint.

Why ISM is dangerous to volunteers and other living things

The International Solidarity Movement depends on “internationals” serving as human shields. As Pollak told CBS News, “They are not human shields; they are participants in the struggle for human liberation.” (It sounds like something I once saw on a Viet Cong poster.)

Most ISM “volunteers” are in the territories for only several weeks. They are quickly thrown into the front lines, where, as human shields, they become PR assets. They cannot learn the basics of language, the legal rules of civil disobedience, history or the essentials of living in political and military minefields.

The following are ISM’s recommendations to volunteers on how much time to spend “volunteering for peace.” Finding oneself in a West Bank donnybrook is a prescription for trouble.

“Two weeks is the minimum time commitment; longer is much better to ensure consistency, relationship-building, and skills honed and passed on to new volunteers. We suggest a minimum of a three-week stay to better integrate into the work, help with relationship-building, and ensure consistency across our volunteer group, although two weeks is acceptable if necessary.”

Ask Emily, Rachel or Eygi. American citizenship, good intentions and parents’ credit card are no guarantees that you won’t be “pimped out” as a shaheeda martyr.