A wise man once said, “Battles do not stay won, and points do not stay made.”

While Israel has won every physical battle for her existence, her enemies continue to come back to try to destroy her. The battle for Israel’s existence and that of the Jewish people must be re-won with every generation. The celebration and story of Passover, which concluded this week, reminds all of us that the challenges of today have an historical precedent, to say the least.

And so, Jerusalem, it seems, must relitigate the Jewish state’s right to exist with each generation. We are witnessing that phenomenon in real-time at Columbia University and allegedly elite institutions of higher education across the country.

The Domestic Intifada 

Though the Jewish right to self-determination in their indigenous homeland is a point that has been made and accepted repeatedly, the syndicate of Hamas supporters at college campus occupations clearly do not believe the Jewish state has a right to exist nor that Jewish students, much less pro-Israel ones, have a place on campus.

Nonetheless, they will all claim that they are simply anti-Israel, not antisemitic. But through their vile actions, many of which are criminal, they remind us that antizionism is antisemitism. They hate the state of the Jews and those who live there and certainly any person whose personal Judaism includes a love of Israel (so… that’s a lot of people).

To address this alleged lack of awareness about antisemitism, we have supported the Antisemitism Awareness Act since 2016. In its current iteration, which will be voted upon in the House this week, the bill will largely codify the 2019 Executive Order Combatting Antisemitism – which was signed by President Trump and sustained by President Biden.

This legislation is long overdue, but especially in this time of rampant antisemitism across the country, we should seek to combat that scourge however we can. And the first step to defeating something is being courageous enough to honestly define it.

There are some who will argue this bill stifles free speech (it doesn’t). There are others who will argue it outlaws antisemitism (it doesn’t do that either). What it does is lay bare for all to see that those shouting from the river to the sea are not pro-Palestinian; they just hate Jews.

The Devil’s Advocates 

Unsurprisingly, American college campuses are hardly the only “elite” institutions where Jew-hatred runs rampant. Don’t worry, we won’t beat up on the UN (directly) again. In this week’s edition of how autocrats use institutions to advance hatred, our focus is the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Sounds like a good idea, right? An international body to try war criminals similar to the Nuremberg Trials. But that’s not what’s happened. Like everything else ultimately controlled by amoral elitists, the ICC will bend over backward to satisfy the world’s leading tyrants (especially when it comes to hurting Israel).

In a nutshell, three years ago, the ICC opened an investigation into Israel’s conduct in the 2014 Gaza war. Despite claims to the contrary, this was, of course, typical anti-Israel demagoguery and had largely passed from the discourse. But (magically) just as Israel is on the precipice of destroying Hamas, rumors begin to circulate that the ICC is going to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and other Israeli officials.

Thankfully, the U.S. and other Western nations have joined Israel in making clear that such action by the ICC would derail any efforts to restore calm to the region. Speaker Johnson, the White House, and Majority Leader Schumer are not always on the same page when it comes to messaging, but in the past week we have seen all deliver the message that the ICC is heading down a wrong and dangerous path. And as Schumer made clear, “The ICC has been biased against Israel for decades.”

Further, The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel. No matter what the ICC does, Israel will engage in self-defense as it deems necessary. For conscientious people, an attack on Israel by the ICC (and that’s what the warrant(s) would be), will be a commentary not on the leaders of the only Jewish state, but on the decrepit state of a once promising institution.

We Fought Back and Won!

Believe it or not, we’re finally able to again end with some good news. As we previously reported, following CUFI’s emergency fly-in two weeks ago, the House finally advanced the long-awaited and vitally needed Israel emergency war supplemental. Since then, the Senate has done the same, and the President has signed the bill into law.

At long last, Israel has the tangible support she needs to vanquish Hamas and return the hostages home. This said, our work is far from done. We must ensure duplicitous Washington maneuvers do not hinder Israel’s ability to effectively prosecute this war.

And when we gather in Washington for the annual CUFI Summit in just a few short months, that’s exactly what we will do. Hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team