Jonathan S. Tobin

Israel’s foes influence its elections more than its friends

Trump’s endorsement of Netanyahu, like Clinton, Obama and Biden’s efforts to defeat him, is less important than the role of the Palestinian Arabs and Iran in keeping him in office. Opinion.

The vacation from Jewish History is over for Americans

The erasure of Jews and treating them as villains cannot be ignored. The post-Oct. 7 surge of antisemitism is not a misunderstanding that will fade whether Netanyahu wins the election or not. Opinion.

Decoding the settler violence narrative for Americans

When Israelis ask Washington to take action against Jews in Judea and Samaria, followed by Bret Stephens and the WSJ, they are ignoring the context of Arab terrorism and attempting an end run around democracy for political reasons. Opinion.

Jonathan S. Tobin:

The lies behind Mamdani’s Netanyahu stunt are the real threat

New York’s mayor isn’t able to arrest Israel’s prime minister. But the widespread belief in the “genocide" blood libel illustrates how toxic ideologies, AI and social media are defeating facts. Opinion.

Jonathan S. Tobin:

Ro Khanna; The weaponization of anti-Zionism in American politics

The California congressman’s Judean misadventure was an attempt to boost his long-shot presidential hopes and move on from his sponsorship of the disastrous Graham Platner. It’s clear that the congressman didn’t tell the truth about what happened.Opinion.

Jonathan Tobin:

The Israel they hate is imaginary

The younger generation’s opposition to a “genocidal" Jewish state has become one of the organizing principles of U.S. politics. But these toxic beliefs have nothing to do with the actual State of Israel. Anyone who visits sees that immediately. Opinion.

The "deal":

Trump’s chaos and incoherence have led to failure on Iran

The damage that Israel and the United States did to the Islamist terror regime was undone by an agreement that rewards Tehran and vindicates former President Barack Obama. Opinion.

Who should speak for Israel? The case for Caroline Glick

Pearl-clutching about the veteran journalist possibly being sent to the New York consulate misses the point. The Jewish state needs bold advocates more than traditional diplomats.

From libertarian extremist to liberal hero:

How antisemitism transformed Thomas Massie

The anti-Trump congressman from Kentucky is blaming his primary woes on Israel and Zionist billionaires. And the liberal press and Jew-haters everywhere are cheering for him. Opinion.

The Mamdani victimhood narrative and the American future

The embrace of terror supporters by the mayor and his wife, coupled with the media’s efforts to confuse the public about an Islamist terror attack at a protest in front of Gracie Mansion, is a tipping point in American society. Op-ed.

No Jews, no news:

Why do they march for Gaza, but not Iran?

The movement that turned out en masse to demonize the State of Israel for defending itself is uninterested in the slaughter of Iranians. Maybe it’s because they can’t blame it on the Jews. Opinion.

Jonathan S. Tobin:

Who has the right to judge Netanyahu for the events of Oct. 7?

The government can’t be trusted to investigate itself, but neither can institutions that are biased against it. History will render its verdict; in the meantime, it should be left to Israel’s voters. Opinion.

Like the left:

The conservative big tent won’t exclude antisemites

Vice President JD Vance had an opportunity to establish some boundaries at the Turning Point USA AmericaFest. He specifically chose not to. Opinion.

Netanyahu trial:

Israel needs an end to lawfare, not a presidential pardon

There are reasons to oppose the push to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that originated with President Donald Trump. But his farcical 'trial' should still end. Opinion.

Trump's conflict of interest:

Can’t fight the Muslim Brotherhood while groveling to Qatar

The Trump administration’s move toward designating the Islamist group as terrorists is long overdue. But it makes no sense to treat the Brotherhood’s sponsor as an ally. Opinion.

What would a Mayor Mamdani mean for American Jews?

If efforts to unite opponents against an antisemitic Democratic Socialist fail, what will be the consequences for Jewish life in New York City or the rest of the country? Opinion.

Jonathan S. Tobin.

Mr. President: Hamas is not listening to your threats

The terrorists' brazen post-ceasefire crackdown on rivals and dissidents mocks Trump’s promise to disarm them and shows they believe that they’re not going anywhere. Opinion.

Trump needs to stop trying to win a Nobel Peace Prize

The president’s instincts on the United Nations and “Palestine” are correct. But his Gaza plan, cooked up by Jared Kushner and Tony Blair, is as misguided as other schemes. Opinion.

America’s unreliable Middle East ‘ally’ is Qatar, not Israel

The foreign-policy establishment’s outrage about the strike on Hamas leaders is sheer hypocrisy. The real scandal is that the men who direct Hamas operations and represent it to the world have been allowed to live openly in peace and apparent security in the Gulf state. Opinion.

What's worse? Worldwide diplomatic isolation or more dead Jews?

Israel’s foes seem surprised that the Jewish state’s people prefer the defeat of existential threats over applause from antisemites and an indifferent world. Opinion.

Jonathan S. Tobin:

Israel owes Trump, but that can’t mean Hamas’s survival

The president wants an end to the war in Gaza so he can make more deals in the region. As much as Jerusalem must defer to him, there must be limits to that gratitude. Opinion.

Can liberal Jews admit Trump is right about woke antisemitism?

The Boulder attack is more proof that a cause chanting for the genocide of Israelis is inextricably linked to violence against American Jews. Opinion.

Campus Antisemitism:

Harvard’s ‘resistance’ to Trump isn’t about academic freedom

The school would rather lose $9 billion in federal funding than offend the left and give up woke indoctrination policies that enable and encourage antisemitism. Opinion.

Jonathan S. Tobin:

Netanyahu is right about Israel’s ‘deep state’

Like the anti-Trump “resistance,” the country’s leftist liberal establishment is waging a war against the prime minister as a bid to hold on to power, not an effort to save democracy. The existence of a “deep state” in Israel, like that in the United States, is not really debatable. Opinion.

Don’t reject allies who oppose the red-green antisemitic alliance

Leaders who plan to boycott a conference on antisemitism because of the presence of right-wingers show they aren’t serious about fighting Jew-hatred.

Jonathan S. Tobin:

Betrayal: Lipstadt's silence about Biden failure on antisemitism

The historian and former State Department envoy didn’t speak out when it mattered. Her partisanship and unwillingness to address the root cause of campus antisemitism is a tragic failure. Opinion.

Travesty:

The Hamas baby killers and a broken global moral compass

Fashionable antisemitism has caused leftist myths about Israeli “oppressors” to dismiss justified grief about the fate of the Bibas kids and fury at the savages who killed them.

Trump plan puts an end to the Palestinian state fantasy

Moving Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip may not happen so easily, but at least, there will be a four-year respite from pressure to achieve the unachievable. Opinion.

Democrats betrayed Israel and US interests on the ICC

They effectively blocked sanctions on an antisemitic International Criminal Court because it impacted those who enable it. Then they blamed the GOP. Schumer was too cowardly to act the way principled Dem. Senator Fetterman did. Op-ed.

Trump should trust his instincts and ignore the Syria ‘experts’

Bashar Assad’s fall is not an opportunity for the United States to return to nation-building or foolish interventions in wars where, as opposed to Israel's war against Hamas and Hezbollah, there are no good guys. Opinion.

Ceasefire with Lebanon:

A necessary though imperfect deal caps Netanyahu’s finest hour

The ceasefire with Hezbollah won’t as yet ensure the safety of northern Israel. But could anyone else have resisted U.S. heat for so long and achieved as much? Opinion.

ANALYSIS:

Israel-bashers lose votes but gain ground among Democrats

An election post-mortem should mean confronting rather than appeasing progressive antisemites.

Where Jews fit in America’s realigned parties

It seems that most Jews, although less than before, still voted for the party that represents the credentialed elites. That they did so while claiming to support social justice doesn’t make sense.

Jewish anti-Zionists can’t be part of our ‘big tent’ community

Those Jews who seek Israel’s elimination aren’t “criticizing” Israel. They have joined forces with genocidal Islamists who justify Oct. 7 and the murder of Jews.

Why the reactions to Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah matter

The criticism of the tactics and the laughs that it inspired from besieged Israelis speak volumes about the moral sickness afflicting many Western liberals. The anger directed at Israel is because they are prepared to try to make killers pay for their crimes. Op-ed.

Why is Hamas so confident that it’s winning?

Despite heavy losses, the terror group knows that it will be the victor if it's still standing on its feet when the war it started on Oct. 7 ends. And it’s staking its future on American help to do that. Opinion.

Year two of the siege on Jewish students begins

The start of the semester means a renewed surge of delegitimization of Zionism and open antisemitism. Merely denouncing outrageous examples of hate won’t be enough. Op-ed.

Were Americans listening to Netanyahu’s message?

The contrast between the pro-Hamas mob outside the Capitol building and the prime minister’s address illustrated the stakes involved in the debate about Israel. Opinion.

Understanding the importance of J.D. Vance

What makes Vance both interesting and dangerous to the D.C. establishment is that he provides the intellectual muscle for a new conservative vision for the country. Opinion.

Time to unmask the pro-Hamas thugs

The revival of anti-masking laws is necessary to curb the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism. But will Democratic-controlled legislatures pass them? Will they muster the will not to tolerate pro-Hamas thuggery? Op-ed.

Why Israel can say ‘no’ to American diktats

There’s no alternative to the alliance with the United States. But support from ordinary Americans and the GOP means Israel doesn’t have to sacrifice its security to please Biden. Opinion.

Biden’s double game on Hamas should fool no one

A presidential speech condemned past and present antisemitism. However, it contradicted policies aimed at letting the terrorists win and appeasing pro-Hamas voters.

Biden shouldn’t get away with granting a victory to Hamas

U.S. threats have given genocidal terrorists a respite as the media continues to demonize Israel and enable antisemitism. It’s now apparent that the United States—Israel’s main ally, and principal source of the arms and ammunition —does not want Hamas to be defeated. But the war isn’t over yet. Opinion.

Israel’s isolation is caused by antisemitism, not bad policies

The answer to the Jewish state’s diplomatic dilemma is victory. Heeding the world’s demands to stop the war and let Hamas win will only make it worse. Opinion.

In memoriam:

A politician who was also a role model

Joe Lieberman was almost U.S. vice president. But his real distinction was as a politician who stuck to his principles and showed how to be a faithful Jew in the public square.

Biden's moral failure

Biden’s State of the Union address and his subsequent pronouncements have harsh words for Israel, not Hamas, and not a word on surging antisemitism in the US. No real friend of Israel speaks this way. Opinion.

Why the left must lie about Hamas and rape

Journalists and social media deny the atrocities of Oct. 7 because of the false narrative about Israel being a “settler-colonial” state. No person with a shred of decency could support Hamas or oppose Israel’s efforts to eradicate it after reading about Hamas crimes. Opinion.

Intersectional myths ended the black-Jewish alliance

Black pastors are pressuring President Joe Biden to save Hamas because they identify with “oppressed” Palestinian Arabs who launched a genocidal war, not a drive for civil rights. Don't they know that? That is a morally bankrupt position. Op-ed.

Fight for MLK Jr.’s ideas and defeat DEI

The tragedy of the holiday is that it, like the civil-rights leader’s legacy, has been hijacked by woke ideologues who threaten American liberty and spread antisemitism. Op-ed.

Israel’s skeptics just don’t want it to win

Those who say it’s impossible to eliminate Hamas overestimate the terrorists and fail to understand the existential nature of this war.Op-ed

The problem is bigger than three college presidents

The woke ideologies that govern academia enable antisemitism that the heads of Harvard, Penn and MIT refuse to say breaks rules.Op-ed.

Hamas atrocities explode the two-state myth

The US may finally be prepared to let Israel defeat the Islamist terror group. But we will not allow a Palestinian state after that. Op-ed.

The dark side of Israel’s ‘democracy’ debate is out in the open

The disruption of a public Orthodox prayer service in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur cannot be excused. Op-ed.

Is it racist to prioritize freedom from terror?

The U.S. State Department condemned recent comments by Itamar Ben-Gvir. But that is not the real problem. Op-ed.

A monolithic media, essential to the left, imperils democracy

As in the US, Israel’s mainstream media favor the left, so they’re trying to crush pro-Netnayahu Channel 14. Op-ed.

US Jewry’s dangerous intervention in an Israeli culture war

U.S. organizations opposition to judicial reform isn’t defending democracy, but showing contempt for Israel's Jewish majority. Op-ed.

Who are the real modern-day Zealots?

The battle over Israeli judicial reform can’t be settled by faux piety about unity. Politicized Tisha B’Av sermons won’t save Israel. Op-ed.

Herzog’s duty is to stand with Israel’s elected government

If on his Washington visit, Herzog publicly distances himself from Netanyahu, it will be a bebetrayal of his office. Op-ed.

Netanyahu’s still in charge. Can Biden say the same?

The president’s latest shot at the Israeli government as “extreme” is hypocritical and inaccurate. Op-ed.

Op-ed:

America is still worth fighting for

The civilizational struggle in which the left has cast the US as an irredeemably racist nation holds important stakes for the Jews. Op-ed.