Israel Hayom is a media organization founded on the belief that the Israeli public deserves better journalism—more balanced, more accurate, and more reliable. Journalism that speaks rather than shouts. Journalism that is trustworthy, objective, and matter-of-fact. A different kind of journalism, offered free of charge. The first print edition was published on July 30, 2007, and in 2010 Israel Hayom became the Israeli newspaper with the highest weekday readership. The newspaper’s publisher is Dr. Miriam Adelson. Its Editor-in-Chief is Omar Lachmanovitch, and its founding editor is Amos Regev. Israel Hayom’s Hebrew and English websites, as well as its Android and iOS applications, provide around-the-clock news coverage, exclusive content, breaking news and updates, analysis and commentary, video, podcasts, and live broadcasts. The digital platforms of Israel Hayom include news and opinion channels covering culture and entertainment, lifestyle, technology, sports, business and consumer affairs, health, military affairs, food, Judaism, tourism, and automobiles. In 2021, a new Hebrew-language website and mobile application were launched to provide users with a fast, up-to-date, secure, and convenient experience. The content of the newspaper’s print edition is also available online through a daily digital edition and can be received via newsletter. “The Israel Hayom Clique,” the publication’s exclusive benefits club, offers website users discounts and special promotions on products and services. Israel Hayom welcomes feedback, criticism, and suggestions for improvement from its readers. You can contact the organization by email at hayom@israelhayom.co.il

Dror Eydar

Dror Eydar is the former Israeli ambassador to Italy.

Eliminate the exile or it will eliminate you

Like the pogroms of centuries past, the massacre on the first night of Hanukkah teaches a grim lesson: there is no future for Jews in Australia anymore, not in Britain, and certainly not in France, Belgium or Canada. Our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, your place is here, even now.

To watch in rage as Muslim murderers stood on the bridge, shooting for long, agonizing minutes at Jews, children, women and elderly people who had come to celebrate Hanukkah, without any response from Australian security forces. What a disgrace, and what a desecration of God's name.

It is not only Australia that has changed; almost the entire West has changed. Western civilization is being slowly conquered by Islam, with no response from the Christian world. The more common reaction is criticism of Israel, as if that will save those being overrun. Caught in between, in this clash of civilizations, are the Jews, still clinging to the altar horns of democratic states, hoping someone will wake up and come to their senses.

Fifteen people were killed and 38 wounded in the massacre at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach. Photo: AFP

It will not happen. Progressive governments are captive to their Muslim voters and to wealthy Muslim organizations, and they prefer them over the future of their own countries. The government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make some notion of noise and issue foolish statements, but for the Jews who were murdered, it no longer matters. There is no future for Jews in Australia, not in Britain, and certainly not in France, Belgium or Canada.

The Australian government did not fight terrorism or antisemitism; it encouraged it through its actions and statements. The government in Canberra did little when synagogues were burned, did not arrest anyone when, at the foot of the Sydney Opera House, a frenzied mob chanted "Gas the Jews." Muslims waving Hezbollah and Hamas flags, along with those of other terrorist organizations, demonstrated freely. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong was apparently the only minister to visit Israel during the war, yet did not find the time to visit the site of the massacre.

Where was Australian intelligence? After all, they expelled the Iranian ambassador. Did they monitor incitement in mosques or examine bank accounts for the transfer of terror funds? The terrorists knew that this was the easiest place to carry out attacks. So, they did almost nothing, yet knew how to accuse Israel with lies, put obstacles in the wheels of the war on terror, and above all, the Australian government went so far as to declare recognition of a Palestinian terror state. What does it care? Now it is getting a terror state within its own borders.

If abandoning the Jews is the sin, the punishment will fall on all of Australia. Jews are the litmus test of a society. Pogroms against them are the prelude to attacks on other minorities and ultimately to the collapse of society. Prime Minister Albanese has abandoned Australia's Jews to their fate. He will not protect them.

Rest for a generation only to be uprooted again

About 20 years ago, I visited Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. Only a few Jews remain there. In the early 1980s, when dictator Robert Mugabe rose to power, most of them fled to Australia. Jews arrived in Rhodesia at the end of the 19th century from Rhodes. Those who did not migrate to Africa and remained in Rhodes were sent to Auschwitz during World War II. Where did the Jews of Rhodes come from? From Sicily, at the end of the 15th century, after they were expelled by order of the Spanish crown along with the rest of Spanish Jewry.

And so, the Jews wandered from Sicily to Rhodes, from there to Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe, from which they fled to Australia, resting for a generation or two, only to be uprooted again. And now where to? Has the time not come to understand the verdict of history?

Dear Jews, our brothers and sisters, what are you waiting for? You have no future in the Diaspora. Come home. Make Aliyah. This is your place.

Related Posts

The new "witch hunt"

A crisis of confidence is taking hold throughout Israel. More seriously, mistrust is also growing between the head of government,...