1.
Many of Israel's European critics are confused. On the one hand, they despise Israel and hope for its downfall. On the other, they watch helplessly as radical Islam steadily takes over city after city, with shattered shop windows as evidence. Ireland is advancing legislation to ban imports from Judea and Samaria; France is ablaze while its president pushes recognition of a Palestinian state; leaders in Spain, the UK and elsewhere harshly condemn Israel and contemplate sanctions. Antisemitism, a virulent disease, blinds its carriers to the threats against their own security.
As in the past century, Europe is asleep at the wheel of its own civilization. Rather than confront the threat, it clings to a familiar tradition: sacrifice the Jews to save yourselves, hoping radical Islam will let you be. It will not. History has shown that a society's treatment of Jews is a litmus test for its health. With few Jews left in Europe, the shortsightedness and hypocrisy of its leaders endangers democracy, liberalism, and humanity's progress.
Israel, unlike Europe, recognizes its threats and fights back on multiple fronts. The threat is the same: radical Islam. Israel is fighting for the entire free world, holding a mirror to Europe's impotence. While we fight, they condemn. We declare some values are worth dying for; they plan their summer holidays. Meanwhile, a large number of European citizens yearn to hear Israel's voice. For now, we've abandoned the global narrative battlefield.
2.
Four researchers recently published a critical review of the "genocide" accusations against Israel during Operation Iron Swords. The research was published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. The authors are military historians Prof. Danny Orbach and Dr. Yagil Henkin, quantitative research expert Dr. Yonatan Boksman, and international law scholar Jonathan Braverman.
The October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians was a textbook act of genocide. The graphic scenes and open declarations from the attackers badly damaged the global Palestinian narrative, especially in Western academia. To counter this, the "Gaza genocide" lie was disseminated. Even the previous pope bought into it. The aim: to shift attention from the Palestinian raison d'être, Israel's destruction and the murder of Jews, onto Israel. And so, Palestinians and their allies face virtually no resistance in the information war.
3.
Rather than delve into legal definitions, the study focuses on factual analysis through statistical comparison with historical military events. The researchers found that claims of Israeli-induced starvation in Gaza are based on flawed data and poor source verification. In fact, the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza during the war was, on average, higher than before the war. Accusations ignore Hamas' combat tactics, using civilians as human shields and civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
The study reveals manipulations by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, including classifying combatants as "innocent civilians" and hiding natural death figures. Internal Hamas documents from as early as 2014 show orders to label killed fighters as civilians. There is no evidence of a systematic Israeli policy targeting civilians. The Israel Defense Forces took extensive precautions to minimize collateral damage, and there is no credible evidence of mass civilian massacres.
The study details recurring methodological failures by UN agencies and human rights groups in previous conflicts, often due to unreliable sources and humanitarian (and if I may add, also political) bias.
4.
The researchers also warn of the degradation of the term "genocide." Its indiscriminate use for political attacks could weaken the world's ability to respond to actual genocides. Of the hundreds of bloody conflicts globally, none receives as much media coverage as Israel's. As so many have quipped: no Jews, no news.
The report should be widely read. Its summary must be translated into 70 or 700 languages, with accompanying visuals and videos. It should be shared worldwide, with policymakers, journalists, and influencers receiving personal briefings. How long will we neglect this critical arena?
5.
An unpleasant but telling anecdote about the study's impact: the researchers were viciously attacked by elements of Israel's academic world, many of whom accept any anti-Israel lie and believe every Palestinian invention. Even before the report was published, leftist ideologues began hurling rhetorical stones. Prof. Orbach described a "toxic, relentless assault" by radical academics and activists, who flooded the researchers with smug slurs, curses, and intellectual venom.
As in western universities, much of Israeli academia no longer aims to cultivate scholars but indoctrinates students with a narrow ideological lens. They mostly hear from lecturers with one political viewpoint and attend academic events dominated by a single, totalitarian worldview. Years ago, I asked a well-known professor whether he was comfortable with the lack of faculty diversity at his new university, a place meant to promote intellectual freedom over the old guard's stagnation. Yet it too fell to the same dreary professional clique.
6.
Just before his death, Moses asked God to appoint a successor: "May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint someone over this community … so the Lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd" (Numbers 27:16-17). According to our sages, the rare description "God of the spirits" here signals a deep lesson: a leader must accommodate every spirit, every view and idea among the people.
This insight remains vital. The Jewish people thrived in science, philosophy, and free thought because of a rich educational ethos. The traditional Beit Midrash encouraged debate for the sake of heaven and cherished dissenting opinions. Towards the end opf the second Century AD, when Rabbi Judah the Prince decided to compile the oral traditions of the Torah, he created an unprecedented six-volume legal codex. The great innovation of the Mishnah lies in presenting differing opinions alongside the accepted halacha (Jewish law). a revolutionary move. There is no other legal code quite like it. . It is how excellence is cultivated.
Now, thought-policing totalitarians in academia attack these four outstanding researchers for their serious, factual work, which exposes the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of those who demonize Israel. Go read it.
