The world has entered a very challenging period due to various factors that enhance pre-existent undercurrents and allow them to boil over.

The perceived weakness of the current United States government on the global stage has allowed rogue nations to push their agendas without fear. The botched execution of the U.S. military disengagement from Afghanistan, the compromised security on its southern border, local inflation and economic instability, a self-inflicted dependence on foreign oil and social unrest are all factors in the rise of international instability due to the absence of a strong United States.

The Iranian regime, which sponsors terror, continues to threaten the free world. It exploits the weakness of Western governments and international dependence on oil and gas in order to negotiate a nuclear deal in bad faith. A deal that will allow it to become a nuclear power with sophisticated long-range delivery systems. The insanity of the “Iran deal” became even more evident when it was revealed that the primary negotiators on behalf of the U.S. are the Russians, who have a conflict of interest, given that they will directly benefit from helping the Iranians build a $10 billion nuclear reactor.

The Iranians are also involved in the destabilization of Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Venezuela and the Gulf states. As these societies become more and more aggressive, and involve themselves in war and terror, a great many people will suffer—among them, those who support the Iranian regime. At the same time, any domestic opposition to the Iranian regime is crushed without mercy.

In a move that exploited European dependence on Russian oil and the perceived weakness of the international community, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to expand his control over additional territories in Europe and invaded Ukraine. Putin’s actions were encouraged by the lack of international condemnation that followed the Russian invasions of Chechnya, Georgia and Crimea, and the buildup of the Russian presence in Syria.

The current wave of anti-Semitism is only getting more powerful—for several reasons. One of the main reasons is the relentless propaganda efforts that are pushed by malicious operatives from the radical right, radical left and radical Islam.

Theoretically, a well-financed propaganda effort that is based on deception and misinformation should be relatively easy to expose and, hopefully, defeat. Unfortunately, too many good people around the world are busy with their own priorities and are not paying attention to this malicious wave of anti-Semitism, which may cause even them a lot of trouble, along with the entire free world.

We know from several previous studies that relentless and repetitive propaganda can be very effective in influencing public opinion, and these efforts are even more dangerous when they are directed at brainwashing vulnerable children and young adults.

There are multiple honorable organizations, like StandWithUs, The Lawfare Project, Brandeis Center, OpenDor Media and many others, which pay a lot of attention to this problem and offer some practical solutions. Unfortunately, there are other institutions, like the the Jerusalem-based Yad Vashem, which until recently were focused only on the Holocaust from World War II and practically ignored the creeping wave of the current rise in anti-Semitism.

The Holocaust did not arise out of thin air. It followed a massive wave of anti-Semitism that escalated gradually from verbal abuse to economic restrictions, to educational limitations, to physical marginalization in designated ghettoes, to enslavement and finally to extermination. Unfortunately, this wicked escalation of evil was facilitated by the deafening silence of the media, academia, civic organizations, politicians and even many Jews who hoped that if they did not sound the alarm, they might be saved from that horrible wave of evil.

It is obvious today that we are facing the early stages of a very similar wave of rise in anti-Semitism, which is also caused by the ongoing demonization of the Jewish people and the State of Israel by the three main radical groups and many other oblivious people. Looking at the current situation with open eyes, we can see too many similarities to the anti-Semitic wave that happened before and during WWII. The results of this hatred brought upon the free world a major disaster that included the loss of many lives, the destruction of property and the shaking of the political stability of many nations.

Today, we also notice the silence of too many in the media, in academia, in politics, in the general population and even within some Jewish groups. In addition, there is an ongoing effort by some of them to hurt Jews and the State of Israel, both economically and politically.

So far, these efforts have not been very successful, as there are many honorable people who recognize the just cause of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and who understand that if evil is rewarded and prevails, all good people will become its victims.

Following the Holocaust, some institutions dedicated themselves to teaching what happened during those dark days of history, hoping that if people knew about the horrors of the past, they would be more inclined to prevent it from happening again. Unfortunately, as Jonathan Tobin has opined, there are too many people who readily cry over dead Jews, but simultaneously continue their blind hatred of the living Jews and the Jewish State of Israel.

This can be partially attributed to the ongoing anti-Jewish incitement and the total ignorance of current and historical facts about the just cause of the Jewish people and their absolute legal right to live in their ancestral homeland in the land of Israel.

I am delighted that Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, which is dedicated to the study and education of the Holocaust, has received several major donations from many donors, from the State of Israel and from the wonderful and philanthropic Dr. Miriam Adelson and her family, which have enabled it also to launch an academy to train future leaders in Holocaust awareness.

Additionally, Yad Vashem recently appointed a new chairman, Ambassador Dani Dayan, who joined the leadership of the institution with a fresh vision. As was reported in JNS, he urged the leadership of the Christian world to improve its ways combating anti-Semitism, and to observe International Holocaust Memorial Day as a day of reflection and fight against modern-day anti-Semitism.

The spirit of this statement was very significant, as it set up the wise policy of helping the organization remember the Holocaust, while at the same time seriously addressing seriously current events and related modern anti-Semitism, with the stated goal of preventing the atrocities of the past from happening again. This message will have to be implemented throughout the organization and included in its various programs.

In addition to sharing important and relevant information about the horrors of the Holocaust, and about the just historical cause of the Jewish people and the honorable modern State of Israel, we must also include information about the following three points, to put the big picture into the correct perspective:

The enemies of the Jewish people and the State of Israel are relentlessly using deception and misinformation to promote their malicious propaganda.

When we investigate what these enemies of freedom and liberty stand for, we find that many of them are corrupt, support terror, abuse children, abuse women, etc. All these issues should be despised by the many people whom, unknowingly, support their malicious agenda. Once properly informed and educated, many of these oblivious people will likely discontinue their support of bad operatives.

People must know that these bad operatives will not unconditionally respect those who supported them in the past. Should evil prevail, all good people will become their victims. Therefore, giving evil financial support and political power will only make them bolder and more aggressive enemies of all good people, and not only of the Jews.

The more that people are educated and informed, the better it will be for the entire free world.

Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary and raised in Israel. He served as an IDF officer in the Six-Day War and gained extensive trauma experience during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He is double-boarded in surgery, a fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society and of the American College of Surgeons and other medical societies, and is on the board of many pro-Israel organizations.

For several problematic reasons, the State of Israel and the Jewish people have become the punching bag of many entities across the globe.

Among these reasons is the malice of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel dictatorships that depend on the 56-state bloc of Muslim countries in the United Nations—for oil, investment and protection. In their eyes, these benefits outweigh the values promoted by the honorable and democratic State of Israel, as well as its scientific contributions to the world.

These days, too, self-absorbed individuals and political leaders have a need to convince themselves that they are doing good by bashing Israel and the Jewish people. Unfortunately, there are too many oblivious Jewish leaders, students and others in this category. It seems that these individuals—even the well-connected and influential ones—are intimidated by the aggressive promoters of anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish agendas, and justifying their positions with irrational claims.

Perhaps they believe that if they stand against their own people, they will earn some benefit or respect from vicious Jew-haters. They probably hope that in the case of a confrontation, they will be able to weather the storm.

Honorable people should look at the overall situation with open eyes, check the facts independently and put them into the correct context. This will allow them to stand up for what is right, and defend themselves and their communities proudly against evil.

Any objective observer will see that in general, the Jews, like many other peoples of the world, are good. In addition, it is clear that those Jews living in the State of Israel have the absolute legal right to do so, for many reasons. Including the fact that it is their continuously inhabited ancestral homeland; they are not illegally occupying any foreign country.

The sooner critics of Israel realize that by bashing it and the Jewish people they are supporting the agendas of corrupt, self-serving actors, who stand for everything that they oppose, the better it will be for the free world. It is not difficult to see that these corrupt, self-serving actors support terrorism and do not care about human rights, equal rights, women’s freedom or even their own innocent children.

Unfortunately, many, if not most, of those who support these bad actors will end up becoming their victims, as we are seeing across the globe. Examples of this have been well-documented—some became human shields to protect dictators, others lost their personal freedom due to becoming accomplices to terrorists.

Once one understands the ways many of these bad actors think, it becomes obvious that they cannot be appeased, accommodated, or converted into peace-loving individuals. For the radical Muslims, even if Israel made the most generous concessions, including committing national suicide and closing down the country, the march to conquer the rest of the free world would continue.

Nor would Israel’s disappearance halt the radical left’s quest for absolute power and totalitarian domination, as we are seeing currently in China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea.

As for the radical right, the key to reversing their extensive brainwashing is education. Any rehabilitation program would have to start at an early age, and include the adults, too.

Providing any of these groups with financial support and political recognition and connections will only make them better-financed and better-connected malicious actors. It will not make our world a better or more peaceful place.

To achieve a better future for all good people, we must wake up and unite, we must educate as many people as possible with truthful facts and honorable values, and we must expose and marginalize the bad actors.

Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary and raised in Israel. He served as an IDF officer in the Six-Day War and gained extensive trauma experience during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He is double-boarded in surgery, a fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society and of the American College of Surgeons and other medical societies, and is on the board of many pro-Israel organizations.

The major instigators of antisemitism today come from the radical right, radical left and radical Islam. Even though these three major groups despise each other, and would like to destroy each other, they are united in their irrational hate of the Jewish people.

These haters of Israel and Jews, are distorting and manipulating the important concepts of advancing human rights, fighting foreign occupations, pursuing peace and equality, in order to make them fit into a new narrative of “intersectionality.” Meaning, antisemites and antizionists are “hijacking solidarity” by joining other minority groups, in order to use them to amplify their hate towards Israel.

Many books have been written about this phenomenon, but it seems that the most recent wave of antisemitism has gained momentum due to a deceptive, multimillion-dollar, “influence machine” that is targeting and supporting the pernicious denial of the well documented right of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland in the land of Israel. The overwhelming majority of Jews are considered to be supporters of Israel, and therefore all Jews are being targeted. 

This “influence machine”, is working overtime to paint the Arab-Palestinian Authority and Hamas terror group as being the underdogs, instead of being called out for what they really are. Entities that brainwash children and adults with a hatred of Jews, pay salaries to terrorists, all while Hamas continues to build a terror infrastructure designed to kill Israeli civilians and destroy the State of Israel. 

The reach of this “influence machine” extends to universities, print and online media outlets, and the Western public at large, without being challenged in an adequate manner. To make the war on this misinformation even worse, there are many oblivious and naïve Jewish students and adults, who think that if they stand against their Jewish sisters and brothers and against the only Jewish State, that they will be respected by these antizionists groups. They are so wrong.

Exposing and dispelling the lies and deception in an effective way will require a massive international effort, which will have to include cooperation between the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. The world needs to wake up and understand that if we allow this dangerous brain washing to continue, the future of all humanity is in jeopardy, and it doesn’t differentiate between Jews and non-Jews.  

A classic example can be found in the way that Nazi Germany started off by exterminating innocent Jews, but eventually ended up destroyed the lives of millions of people who weren’t Jewish. The same can be said for terrorists who have attacked targets around the world, in New York, Pittsburg, Oklahoma, London, Paris, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Gaza. They don’t care who the actual victims are and don’t differentiate between their political beliefs or religion.  

So, how can we fight this growing, dangerous trend of like-minded people who are being brainwashed by this “influence machine” to become anti-Israel? 

Firstly, education is key. People from different religions should learn more about Jewish history and the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, especially to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, which have become focal points in the Israeli-Palestinian discourse. Secondly, we need to expose the main players and the money trail behind this multimillion-dollar “influence machine”, it uses social media, international media, education institutions, NGOs and more, to undermine Israel’s right to exist as Jewish-Democratic state. Finally, we need to work harder, to show non-Jewish people and non-Zionists in the West, that standing for Israel and fighting hate against Jews is in their interest. If the Jews and the Jewish State get weaker, the West and liberal values will also get weaker. If the Jews and the democratic State of Israel flourish, the future of free Western societies will flourish as well. 

Dr. Shmuel Katz is a Zionist-American leader, speaker and philanthropist. This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. 

The conflict in the Middle East between some Arab states and the State of Israel did not start yesterday. Unfortunately, people who are not familiar with the reality on the ground may think that there are easy solutions to the conflict.

One of the superficial ideas that was offered to solve the problem was to create two states for two peoples. Drawing such a line in the sand did not solve the problems, however. In fact, this solution had already failed in the past because it did not address the core problems that are at the heart of the conflict. They did not address seriously, for example, radical Islamic fanaticism, self-serving power trips, financial corruption or fearful self-preservation of evil leaders.

The Ottoman Empire, which controlled the Middle East for about 400 years, crumbled during World War I, and the League of Nations created the British and the French mandates, which oversaw the transfer of the land in the Middle East to their rightful owners.

The territory that came under the British Mandate included the land of Israel (including Judea and Samaria), the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, which had been renamed “Palestina” by Roman invaders about 2,000 years earlier.

The 1917 Balfour Declaration, and the legally binding ruling by the international community at the 1920 San Remo conference, recognized the historical connection of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland; there was a recommendation to help the Jewish people settle in their ancestral homeland, and at the same time to respect the human rights of all local inhabitants in the land of Israel.

Due to pressure on the British government, the British violated their mandate in 1922 and created a brand-new Arab state—the Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan—on about 80 percent of the British Mandate for Palestine, which was supposed to have become a part of the Jewish homeland. This was an attempt to practically solve some of the local disputes in the region via a two-state solution, but it did not solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Various attempts to reach two-state solutions were made by the British in the years following the 1937 Peel Commission report, and again with the 1947 Partition Plan after United Nations Resolution 181, but all were rejected by the Arabs who continued with their war against the Jews.

Upon the termination of the British Mandate to Palestine, the British left the land of Israel, and the Jews declared their national independence on May 14, 1948, based Resolution 181, but the surrounding Arab countries invaded the State of Israel the very next day, with the intention of destroying it.

The aggressive attempt to destroy the State of Israel repeated itself in the 1967 and 1973 wars. Luckily, the State of Israel managed to prevail on all these occasions.

Despite these conflicts, the State of Israel reached peace agreements with Egypt in 1979, with Jordan in 1994 and with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in 2020, but the Palestinian Arabs refused any reasonable compromise to settle their dispute with Israel. Even worse, the Palestinian Arabs declared that their solution to the conflict is going to be the destruction of the State of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and to replace it with a brand-new Arab state by the name of Palestine, where Jews will not be welcome.

Because of the Palestinian Arabs’ radical stance, all of the very generous two-state proposals that have been submitted by Israel and supported by the international community were rejected by the Palestinian Arabs in the following years: 1967, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2008 and 2009-2014. In 2005, Israel even withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip, hoping to move closer to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, but in return, Israel has since received from Hamas barrages of rocket attacks and floating firebombs into its civilian populated areas, including its capital city Jerusalem and the highly populated city Tel Aviv.

Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority, which controls Judea and Samaria, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, continue with malicious deceptive brainwashing of their own populations and that of their oblivious international supporters. In addition to destroying the wellbeing of their own people, these self-serving corrupt leaders use a big part of the financial resources that are provided to them by the international community to support terrorists and their families and to build a strong terror infrastructure that will attack anybody who stands in their way—be they Muslims, Christians or Jews—to gain even more power and personal wealth.

Some politicians and others around the world are known to be vicious anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish operatives for whatever irrational reasons, but it is very difficult to understand why any honorable and good politician would join them in bringing any anti-Israeli resolutions to the table.

We must help the good people understand that forcing Israelis to give up their security, or accept any preconditions to future negotiations, will cause serious damage to the international community and the State of Israel. Israel is known to provide the international community with serious life-saving military intelligence and major benefits from advanced research and development in many essential fields.

Undermining the stability and safety of the only reliable democracy in the Middle East will deprive the free world of the benefits of the Israeli experience, and will empower the enemies of good to solidify their grip on their own people and on their oblivious international supporters, to limit the freedom of women under their domain, and to continue the abuse of their children. It will definitively not bring peace to the region.

It has been said in the past that for evil to prevail good people only need to do nothing, and appeasing evil will bring destruction to the oblivious who did not have the wisdom to correctly assess the situation. We can see classic examples of this dynamic in the early British support of Nazi Germany and in the unopposed and out-of-control ascent of Iran’s puppets (Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen).

The free hand that was given to Iran, the biggest supporter of international terrorism, did not bring peace to the region, and the irresponsible disengagement from Afghanistan, which allowed the powerful reemergence of the radical Muslim Taliban and ISIS, created a time bomb, the eventual consequences of which are still being studied by the intelligence agencies.

It is important to remind the wise that appeasing the bad operatives with financial or political support will not convert them into peace-loving altruistic angels. On the contrary, it will only embolden them to stay their evil course to the detriment of all honorable peace-loving individuals across the globe.

Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary and raised in Israel. He served as an IDF officer in the Six-Day War and gained extensive trauma experience during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He is double-boarded in surgery, a fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society and of the American College of Surgeons and other medical societies, and is on the board of many pro-Israel organizations.

The state of Israel is facing major challenges these days from multiple sources. We have a building pressure from the outside and from the inside.

Unfortunately, too many people in the international community are being steadily brainwashed against preserving the interest and the integrity of the state of Israel and that of the Jewish people, by well-funded anti-Israeli operatives like the BDS movement, the Radical pro-Palestinian organizations and by state sponsors of terrorism like Iran. At the same time, there are also some oblivious good-willed people and states, who think that there are easy solutions to the complicated problems in the Middle East.

Within the state of Israel, where the decisions and the directives of the ministry of education are so important, we see inadequate attention to the education of students from all walks of life about the historic and current just cause of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

If we look at what the Arab sector students are learning from their teachers and from their self-serving clergy, we will realize that the problem is even more challenging. In recent times it would have been unimaginable to have Arab youth riot in pogroms against their own Jewish neighbors within the state of Israel. Surprisingly, this happened very recently, for example, in Jerusalem, in Haifa, in Lod and in Akko.

In addition, when we look at the out of control building constructions and agricultural expansions in the territories of Judea and Samaria, the Negev and elsewhere, some of it sponsored by the EU, some by Muslim countries and by others, one can see a strategic plan to weaken the state of Israel and eventually to remove it from the Middle East all together.

On top of that, we have just seen an Arab member of the Knesset, who joined the newly created Israeli government, who served as the substitute chairperson of the Knesset, challenging a speaking member of the Knesset and ordering him to be removed by security, due to the fact that he did not address him specifically, in a way of his choice.

This Arab member of the Knesset and the newly formed Israeli government, stated recently that the Jews should not have the right to visit the Temple Mount, despite the fact that he is well aware of the fact that it is the holiest site for the Jewish people, even from before the times of the establishment of Islam as a religion.

One of the biggest challenges that. most probably, the state of Israel will have to face, is the pressure to relinquish a part of its ancestral homeland to the Palestinian Authority, despite the fact that the PA is not recognizing the right of the Jewish people to any part of the state of Israel, and is actively engaged in the attempt to liquidate the state of Israel in stages.

Therefore, the state of Israel must pay special attention to the proper education of Jewish and Arab students in the schools in Israel. In addition, special attention must be dedicated to educate the population at large, within the state of Israel and across the globe, exposing the malicious anti-Israeli propaganda. In addition, the state of Israel will have to share widely the truthful information about the just cause of the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

Jews should be allowed to build their future within their ancestral homeland, should it be in the Galilee, in the Negev or in Judea and Samaria. The state of Israel should block illegal land grabs by squatters, even if they are financed by the EU.

Should peace negotiations move forward, the state of Israel, should not relinquish anything in any irreversible step to the Palestinian Authority, unless they change dramatically from where they stand today. The reason is very simple. So far, the PA has demonstrated their intentions to destroy the state of Israel very clearly. They refused multiple very generous negotiated peace offers, they continue incitement to terror in their schools and through their public media. They thrive on a well-planned and well financed deception across the world, and they will not take any relevant steps to recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state or educate their people for peace.

In the year 2005, Ariel Sharon thought that by removing all the Jewish inhabitants and by giving the Arab Palestinians a nice piece of land in Gaza without Jews, they would show the world that they can run a responsible government, and build a beautiful resort on the seashore of the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately, we have received a terror state in Gaza, run by Hamas, and supported internationally by too many corrupt or oblivious countries and individuals.

As we have no alternatives, we must fortify and expand our educational system in Israel and across the world, and protect our territorial integrity, if we want to preserve the state of Israel in the Land of Israel, for the future generations of our people, and for those who want to live in peace with us.

Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary, raised in Israel. served as an officer in the 6 Day War, gaining extensive trauma experience during the Yom Kippur War. He is double-boarded in Surgery, a Fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society and of the American College of Surgeons and other medical societies. He serves on the board of many pro-Israel organizations.

It is a very troubling trend that good people support ideologies or causes that go against their interests and values due to heavily financed deception and misinformation about historical and current events.

This misinformation and deception also driving an alarming increase in anti-Semitism that is affecting our society in numerous ways. We can see a upsurge in violence, an increase in economic challenges, and a deterioration in the objectivity of reporting by individuals and organizations tasked with maintaining a certain level of objectivity.

A few recent examples are Amnesty International’s totally distorted report on Israel, the US government considering removing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one of the most dangerous terror organizations, from the list of the internationally recognized terror organizations, and respectable American universities buckling to pressure by malicious BDS operatives and are implementing anti-Israel and anti-Jewish policies.

One of the most troubling outcomes of this anti-Semitic pressure and deception is the fact that some uninformed and misinformed Jews are turning away from their traditional support of Israel and their Jewish peers. These individuals are falling prey to the relentless wave of deception which is promoted by the enemies of the Jewish people against the State of Israel and the free society that we cherish.

Unfortunately, recent statistical studies show that oblivious Jews are more likely to support the Palestinians than the only Jewish State. This is probably because they have no clue about the real destructive agenda of a well-financed deceptive effort by anti-Israel operatives who hide their true and viciously anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, and anti-free world agenda.

When Iran claims that Israel is the “Little Satan” and the U.S. the “Big Satan,” they do not distinguish between Zionist Jews and anti-Zionists or pro-Israel Americans and all the others. When the Iranian proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, work towards accomplishing their stated goal of exterminating all the Jews and non-Jews living in the free and democratic State of Israel, launching rockets into Israeli civilian areas, they don’t distinguishing between “good” and “bad” Israelis. In an identical way, when the Russians shell the civilian Ukrainian population, they do not distinguish between Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking civilians. They are just trying to terrorize a country and follow their self-serving agenda.

In order to combat this scary trend, Jews need to stand together against anti-Semitism organizations like the BDS and discredit them, because just as they’d like to dismantle the only Jewish and democratic state in the Middle East, they also support terror organizations who not only want to destroy Israel and kill Jews, but also want to dismantle the free, democratic values of the Western world.

Even if Jews disagree with some of the policies of the Israeli government, they should not fall for anti-Israel operatives that tell them they want to “change Israeli policy” while not accepting Israel’s right to exist in the first place.

All responsible parents, adults, community leaders and educators must focus their attention on the younger Jewish generation, providing them with the tools to see the big picture and the facts about Israel as a haven for Jews around the world. Even if it’s not perfect, we must support it and work together to make it better. However, we should never abandon it or worse – work against it.

As Ukrainian Jews are realizing now, a strong, thriving, democratic and Jewish state is the core interest of Jews around the world. Those who undermine it and try to lure young Jews to hating Israel should be challenged sooner rather than later.

Dr. Shmuel Katz is a Zionist-American leader, speaker and philanthropist. This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight anti-Semitism across the world.

There is ongoing incitement by radical Muslims and their supporters against Israel, using lies and deception to implement the concept of jihad—against “infidels” in general and the Jews in particular.

Recently, there has been a confluence of several factors that gave state sponsor of terror Iran and its proxy, Hamas, the miscalculated incentive to rally their oblivious supporters to try to liquidate the state of Israel and gain power.

The initial excuse for the Arab confrontation in Jerusalem involves two big lies:

“The Jews decided to evict innocent Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem.” The fact is that this dispute, surrounding the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, is related to a long-standing refusal of four Arab squatter families to pay rent to their Jewish landlords. This case was deliberated in the Israeli courts for many years, and now it seems that the courts, which had already ruled in the past to recognize the Jews’ ownership of the houses in question, clarified that the Arab tenants’ refusal to pay rent is against the law. There is a pending Supreme Court decision on whether the squatters should be removed,

“The Israel Police decided to attack peaceful Muslim worshipers on Temple Mount.” The fact is that following violence by some radical Muslims and by a few radical Jews, Arab-Palestinian agitators and Hamas-supporters amassed firebombs, firecrackers and rocks on the Temple Mount and in the Al-Aqsa mosque, and used them to attack the Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall Plaza, about 70 feet below them. The police had to enter the Temple Mount complex in order to stop these terror attacks and riots, which spilled over into other locations in Jerusalem and other cities around the country.

Hamas gave an ultimatum to Israel on May 10 to leave the Temple Mount and Sheikh Jarrah, and release by 6 p.m. all Arab rioters who were caught and arrested. Israel ignored this insane ultimatum, and Hamas started a massive assault on Jerusalem and other Israeli locations, launching multiple rockets from within its own civilian population at Israeli population centers.

The terrorist organization that rules Gaza was hoping to involve even more of the brainwashed Arab citizens of Israel and many of their international supporters. Unfortunately, even many media outlets fell prey to these maliciously calculated terror waves.

Civilian casualties are horrible, but they’re even worse when caused by the malicious calculations of a terror organization that planned to create this human disaster. Some of the casualties were incurred despite Israel’s defensive efforts to destroy Hamas’s rocket launchers and other terrorist infrastructure. In addition, many Palestinian casualties were caused by misfired rockets aimed at Israeli civilians.

Encouraged, incited and financed by Iran, Qatar, Turkey and others, Hamas was also emboldened by the following:

The complications surrounding the formation of a coalition in the wake of the March 23 Knesset elections led to the assumption that the Israeli government was weak and that it can be exploited.

The right- and left-leaning Israeli parties tried to enlist one of the anti-Zionist Arab parties in the effort to form a coalition. This empowered some in the Arab sector who were hoping eventually to be able to control the Israeli government the way that Hezbollah controls Lebanon. Others wanted to prevent any collaboration between Jews and Arabs, as they were hoping to continue to exploit the hostility for their nefarious agendas.

The new American administration, which unfortunately includes some vicious anti-Israel and anti-Semitic politicians, appeared to be very weak, as it gave in to Arab-Palestinian demands, allowing the reopening of the PLO offices in Washington and the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars, without making either conditional on stopping incitement in schools and the media; ceasing payments to terrorists and their families; and dismantling their terror infrastructure. In addition, the U.S. has allowed the transfer of billions of dollars to Iran, as it is trying to return to the irrational nuclear deal. This despite the fact that Tehran didn’t live up to any of its previous agreements; continued efforts to build nuclear weapons; and continues to support terrorism all over the world, and in the Middle East in particular. The combination of these political moves gave the impression to Hamas and the Palestinian Authority that the new U.S. administration would be less willing to support American’s long-standing loyal ally: Israel.

Hamas was very upset with the P.A. over leader Mahmoud Abbas’s cancelation of the legislative elections that were supposed to take place at the end of May. The self-serving, corrupt Abbas and his cronies, who were elected to serve for four years, are still in power after more than 15. They were afraid that if they went for elections, Hamas would emerge victorious, the way that they did in 2006 in Gaza. The unrest that the group incited in Israel was an opportunity to show the residents of the P.A. that Hamas is their true leader.

As of today, even after launching well more than 4,000 rockets at Israeli civilians, Hamas (as well as the Arab-Israeli rioters) are miscalculating Israel’s resolve to stop terrorism and restore law and order in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people for the benefit of all its citizens.

Hopefully, Hamas, the rioters and their supporters will realize that their violence will not enable them to destroy Israel. Once they realize this, hopefully, peaceful coexistence can be achieved among Jews, Arabs and all other peace-loving individuals.

Dr. Shmuel Katz was born in Hungary, raised in Israel. served as an officer in the Six-Day War, gained extensive trauma experience during the Yom Kippur War, is double-boarded in surgery, a fellow of the Israeli Surgical Society and of the American College of Surgeons and other medical societies. He is on the board of many pro-Israel organizations.

There is ongoing incitement by the Radical Muslims and their supporters against Israel using lies and deception. These actions are preparing their supporters to use and implement the concept of Jihad, to act against the Infidel in general, and against the Jews in particular.

Recently, there has been a confluence of several factors which gave the terror-supporting Iran and their proxy Hamas the miscalculated incentive to rally their oblivious supporters, and try to liquidate the state of Israel and gain power.

The initial excuse for the Arab confrontation in Jerusalem, was associated with two big lies:

1. “The Jews decide to evict innocent Palestinians from their homes in Jerusalem” – This is a lie. The fact is that this dispute is related to a long-standing refusal of four Arab squatter Families to pay rent to their Jewish landlords. This case was deliberated in the Israeli courts for many years and now it seems that the courts, that have already ruled to recognize the ownership of the Jews of these houses in the past, clarified that the Arab tenants refusal to pay rent is against the law. There is a pending Supreme Court decision which may decide that the squatters should be removed from these houses, which do not belong to them.

2. “The Israeli police decided to attack peaceful Muslim worshipers on Temple Mount” – This too is a lie. The fact is that following violence by some Radical Muslims and by a few Radical Jews, Arab Palestinian agitators and Hamas supporters piled up fire bombs, firecrackers and rocks on the Temple Mount and in the Al Aqsa Mosque, and used them to attack the Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall Plaza, about 70 feet below them. The police had to go into the involved areas on Temple Mount, in order to stop these terror attacks and riots which spilled over also into other locations in Jerusalem and into other cities in Israel.

Hamas gave an ultimatum to Israel on May the 10th to leave the Temple Mount and the Sheikh Jarrah areas, and release by 6:00 pm all the Arab rioters that were caught and arrested by the Israeli police. Israel ignored this insane ultimatum, and Hamas started a massive assault on Jerusalem and other Israeli locations, launching multiple rockets from within their own civilian population, into the Israeli civilian population, in order to initiate and support a wider Jihad against Israel. They were hoping that it would involve even more of the brainwashed Israeli Arab Citizens and many of their international supporters around the world. Unfortunately, even many Media outlets fell prey for these maliciously calculated terror waves. Seeing civilian casualties is horrible, but when the casualties are caused by malicious calculation of a terror organization which planned to create this human disaster, it makes it even worse. Some of these casualties came despite the careful defensive Israeli efforts to stop the Hamas rocket launchers and the attempt to destroy the Hamas infrastructure which supported this terror effort. In addition, many Palestinian casualties were caused by the misfired rockets which were launched by Hamas, which were aimed at Israeli civilians, but hit their own population.

Encouraged, incited and financed by Iran, Qatar, Turkey and others, the Hamas Terror organization was emboldened also by the following additional contributing factors:

1. It seemed that the formation of the Israeli Government is complicated due to a variety of personal agendas of some of the people within the recently elected members to the Knesset. The assumption was that the Israeli Government is weak and that it can be exploited.

2. The Right and the Left leaning Israeli parties tried to negotiate a joint political venture with one of the anti Israeli Arab parties, a possibility of their participation in the creation the new Israeli Government coalition. This empowered some in the Arab rioters who were hoping to be able to eventually control the Israeli Government the way that the Hezbollah is controlling the Government of Lebanon. Others wanted to prevent any collaboration between Jews and Arabs, as they were hoping to continue to exploit the hostility between the Jews and the Arabs to their nefarious agendas.

3. The new American administration, which unfortunately includes some vicious anti-Israeli and anti- Jewish politicians, appeared to be very weak, as it gave in to the Arab Palestinians demands and allowed them to open their offices in Washington and sent them hundreds of millions of dollars, without conditioning this move on stopping incitement in their schools and all other communication outlets, stopping payments to terrorists and to their families, and dismantling their terror infrastructure.

In addition, the Americans have allowed transfer of billions of dollars to the Iranians, as they are trying to return to the irrational Iran Nuclear Deal. This move is despite the fact that Iran did not live up to any previous agreements, continued their effort to build nuclear weapons and continues to support terrorism all over the world and in particular in the Middle East.

The combination of these political moves gave the impression to Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, that the new American administration is less willing to support their long standing loyal ally, the state of Israel.

4. Hamas was very upset with the Palestinian Authority due to the fact that under the presidency of Abbas, they have canceled the recent elections. The self-serving corrupt Abbas and his cronies, who were elected to serve for four years, are still in office after more than 15 years. They were afraid that if they go for elections, Hamas would take over the leadership of the Palestinians and destroy the current Palestinian leadership, the way that they did in 2008 after the past elections in Gaza.

This opportunity is allowing the terror organization Hamas and its allies to try and show to their people that they are the real leaders of the Palestinians, and therefore, they should be the group in charge.

As of today, even after launching about 3500 rockets at Israeli civilians, Hamas and the Arab Israeli Rioters are miscalculating the resolve of the state of Israel to defend its citizens, to stop this wave of terrorism and to restore law and order, in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, to the benefit of all its citizens.

Hopefully, Hamas, the rioters and their supporters, will realize that their futile round of violence will not allow them to destroy Israel. Once they will realize that, hopefully, peaceful coexistence can be implemented, after stopping incitement and dismantling terror infrastructure, to the benefit of Jews, Arabs and all other peace-loving individuals.

There were too many reports about Courts ignoring or overruling legitimate Knesset laws, which affected a variety of citizens, should they be in Southern Tel Aviv or in any other place in the country. There were too many reports of exploitation of the selective rulings by the courts and the respective enforcement agencies, which resulted in the invasion of state land, as reported by Regavim and by others.

We got to this point due to irrational negligence by too many well-meaning operatives. Our enemies and their supporters, like Adalah and the New Israel Fund, are working overtime to take us down, and we cannot afford to let them succeed.

One of the biggest problems that we have is that most people do not care about broadly educating the current and the next generation with true values, historical facts and patriotism. Some are hooked on the absurdity of some of the underlying disturbing factors as they relate to a distorted concept of “politically correctness” which became a tool used by the enemies of Israel and the enemies of the free world. On the other hand we have those who are busy in dealing with their own little circles of interest, but do not care about other people nor about the big picture. This problem is true about the religious and the secular communities alike.

With only very limited effort to address and stop the malicious infiltration into the educational system, the situation will deteriorate. Therefore, it is imperative that we address this problem in a serious manner. I am sure that many people noticed, that one of the ministerial offices that some of the “Israeli left” demanded to get in the current negotiations towards the creation of the new unity government, is the Ministry of Justice!! Their aim is to continue and support the absurdity of the abuse of power by the current Supreme Court of Israel. Having an activist, self appointed court may undermine all citizens, should they be from the right, from 

Once the courts believe in their supreme power, they may legislate from the bench, ignoring the laws of the land, which were voted for in the Knesset by the elected officials. In addition, they may ignore the fundamental national interests of state just to push forward their self serving agendas.

the left or from the center. Once the courts believe in their supreme power, they may legislate from the bench, ignoring the laws of the land, which were voted for in the Knesset by the elected officials. In addition, they may ignore the fundamental national interests of state just to push forward their self serving agendas.

Without the vastly implemented proper and responsible education, the next generation will not care about this and many other issues, including the safety and stability of their own country. And as a consequence, there will not be a serious large grassroots response of responsible citizens, that will clearly share their opinions with their leaders in a responsible way. We need to have experienced and courageous leaders that will be able to make a difference for the better to the benefit of all the citizens. with a broad popular support of knowledgeable and responsible people.

Putting money only into costly legal litigations where the ideology driven courts are opposing your point of view, without addressing the proper education of the population at large at all levels of the educational systems, is like throwing away resources into lost causes.

About 40% of the population did not even bother to go to vote, and now they are wondering why they did not get a working majority in the Knesset which believes in a solid Jewish state?

It seems that many people will have to bear some personal serious consequences before they understand that they have a real problem that will affect them personally, before they wake up. They are currently too comfortable keeping their heads in the sand assuming, very naively, that everything will be OK. 

We have to work with what we have, but we should never let the random events derail us from being focused on trying to make the future better for the Jewish people and for all other people of good will, from all walks of life. 

Maybe this problem will be addressed once the new Israeli government is established, but I will not hold my breath until I see it resolved. At the same time, I do not want to give up.

I hope that the new government will wake up, smell the roses and do the correct thing to support a better education to the children and to the population at large, in order to create a bright future to the benefit of all of us.

Should we ignore the proper education of the entire population and that of the next generation, we may be one generation away from losing our liberty!