Ronn Torossian, Vice Chairman of Betar Worldwide, and Chairman of Betar US, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News about the situation of antisemitism in the US and around the world.
Torossian says, “I think that we are living in very dark days for the Jewish people both here in Israel and throughout the world. I think that those who say that we're living in the darkest days since World War II would be telling the truth. I think that this is a world battle and a world war that I still see getting worse for the Jewish people throughout the world. There are certain places that I frankly don't know how they can recover; from the Soros influence to the Qatar influence to the amount of money and time and hours and dollars and blood and bodies that have been invested into various places in the world by our enemies, I think we're still in for very dark days.”
“As Jews we have to give credit where credit is due,” he continues. “I think that President Trump has done things that we only dreamed and hoped that the Biden administration would do. On the other hand, in any major city in the US that you walk through, you don't see five or ten or twenty or fifty Hamas or Hezbollah supporters. You see thousands of them. At the beginning of the war, in October 2023, when people went out in the streets, at first there were sites that were shaming people. For the last few months when you go out on the streets, they're shaming us. They're saying ‘You're a baby killer. You're from a genocidal nation. You should hide your face.’"
Torossian thinks that “the Trump administration is taking good steps, but I think that there is a very, very, very long path to go. Both Trump and Elon Musk yesterday put out a tweet that said when the borders were open everybody came in huge numbers and now one by one you're going to have to fight in a court case. I think these are very difficult things. Entire administrations have been corrupted.”
Torossian stated, “Our philosophy for fighting antisemitism at Betar is two things; fight or flight. As a Betar member, as a Jabotinsky follower, ultimately the Jewish people will only be safe here in Israel. I say that to you both physically and spiritually. I say to Jews in the Diaspora, especially those of us who are not yet Orthodox, who will your children marry. Zionism has become a bad word, if you're a Zionist, your lifestyle has changed. Your friend choice might have changed, who you can date certainly changed, so if you're not Orthodox, who are you going to marry, if you are in Toronto or Paris or Germany. So, number one - Aliyah is the first thing that we can do.”
He added, “The second thing I would do is to say that if you were living in dark days in the 1930s in Europe you would have wanted to join Ze'ev Jabotinsky’s movement. Today the right path is to join Betar, to fight back. We're currently doing a wide variety of different things. On October 7th everybody can acknowledge that from the IDF to the State of Israel, to the Prime Minister, to many people out there, there is blame to be laid. On October 8th we blame the entire Jewish world. Where were the Jewish Federations, the ADL, all of these organizations who have told us forever 'we're managing antisemitism, support for Israel'. This is the complete collapse of the safety of Jews throughout the world. On October 8th the world is to blame.”
“Betar has long been a worldwide ideological movement that does many different things. We believe in forcefully standing up to hate, not hiding from it. We have absolutely proudly built lists of people that we believe are a grave danger to the national security of the US, that we believe are a grave danger to Europe, to many other people. They talk about freedom of speech. Well, we also have freedom of speech. To say that you can stand on the street saying ‘Sinwar is a martyr,’ well we have the right to stand up throughout the world and say people who talk like you - you not belong in a country where Hamas is illegal’” Torossian says adamantly.
“We believe that we have had success. The media certainly reports that we have had success. Betar is very much on the front lines. There are many people that we have helped to identify, that have been detained by the Trump administration and in other places throughout the world.”
Torossian firmly believes that “Israel should prevent entrance of specific activists. This happens in Europe, in Latin America. There are organizations in the US, like JVP and other terrible, awful people, who stand up and say, ‘I'm Jewish and this isn't genocide. This is anti-Zionism.’ If you are an anti-Zionist that makes life hell for Jews in your home country, you have no place coming to the Jewish state. We have met with government representatives and we will continue to do all we can to ensure that those that do not believe that there should be a Jewish state have any place visiting here.”
Torossian admits, “I am a proud member of Betar since age 11. I first took the vow of Betar at age 12. Betar is an ideological movement. Many people today sadly don't know about the great work of Ze’ev Jabotinsky. There are several museums devoted to his achievements. There are more streets named after Jabotinsky than anybody else in Israel. Jabotinsky might be the most notable Zionist that there's ever been besides Herzl. Jabotinsky was the first one to say the Jews don't just need a state, but that they have to fight for that state. There is no state without an army. There is no state without the ability to fight. Jabotinsky was the first one to say that not only Judea and Samaria is ours, the entire land is ours, but we must know the entire background of how we live, of how we approach life. Those of us who grew up in the Betar movement and there are many of us, in this government, in the army, in business, in security all over the world, we all believe in a certain way of life that we're raised on, about what it means to be a Betar member.”
After ADL defined Betar as a radical hate group, Torossian says, “It's almost laughable. Betar is mainstream Zionism. To call Betar extremist, which I guess one can do, would require one to call the ruling Israeli government extremists. For the New York-based ADL to name Betar extremists, that means they are calling Danny Danon, who is the current Israeli ambassador to the UN, and they are calling out Ofer Akunis, who is Israel’s current Consul General in New York, both of whom are proud members of Betar. So I assume the ADL will be boycotting Akunis, Danon and Netanyahu and many others. Sadly the ADL supports open borders, supports Jews not having guns, supports the radical idea of a two-state solution.”
Torossian admits, “We are one of the few Jewish organizations that stands with the democratically elected government of the state of Israel and we stand with the democratically elected government in the US. Sadly it's not easy for the mass majority of the Jewish community. Today it is very easy for a Zionist organization to stand up to the President of the US and say, ‘Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for what you've done’. But there are a lot of people all over the world that give us hate even within the Zionist community, for standing up, for example, for this government. As one who is active worldwide, is a shame that any minister from this government can travel and not be hosted in a shul, or in a community, in any of these places. As I say to my more liberal brethren in the world Jewish community, those who live in Ofakim or Netivot, do their votes not count if they're voting for somebody that the American Jews or the British Jews might not like?"
“There is a democracy here in the state of Israel. The role of World Betar is to support the government of Israel and the great work that they do. For now at least to support the Trump administration and all the work that they're doing. But our sole belief system is based on Zionism and what's good for the Jews,” Torossian concludes.