One Syrian source maintained that there was an uprising of anti-Assad Alawites in Latakia, and that HTS rebels had not entered the city. Other reports suggested that Alawites who had for years been oppressed and bilked by Alawite Baath officers were staging reprisals on them. Informed Comment cannot independently verify these allegations.

The fall of Latakia is significant for several reasons. Latakia is Syria’s major port and the new government cannot hope to run Syria without it. It is near to Tartus, the site of a Russian naval base. Apparently several thousand Russian troops are still stuck in Syria and will have to negotiate safe passage out.

Latakia’s naval and military significance led Israel to bomb some of its facilities on Monday, as well as to damage some of the war ships in the harbor. These strikes on Latakia came as part of a flurry of 250 such air attacks by Israel on Syrian military storehouses and facilities, in an attempt by the Netanyahu government to cripple the new government’s military capabilities during this transitional phase, when it is weak.

Then, the majority of the region’s inhabitants are Alawite Shiites, whereas the HTS is hard line Sunni fundamentalists. The heads of the Baath Party in Syria from 1970 had been the al-Assads, who hailed from an Alawite background, and they engaged in a great deal of nepotism. The best jobs went to Alawites, even though they were only 14% of the population. During the civil war in the past nearly 14 years, Alawite officers, infantry and militias (the Shabiha) put down the rebellion, with great loss of life.

In short, there are all the ingredients for sectarian reprisals and massacres. On Arabic social media, there are many calls for revenge on the Alawites now that the al-Assad regime has fallen. We saw this phenomenon in Iraq, which was a mirror image of Syria demographically and politically. There, the Shiites are a majority but were repressed by a Sunni-led Baath Party. When George W. Bush invaded and occupied Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein, the Shiites came to power in elections that they forced on Bush. In 2006-2007, and again in 2014-2018, there were numerous Sunni-Shiite sectarian clashes. The ISIL terrorist group, from which elements of the Syrian HTS hived off, committed numerous massacres of Shiites.

I can only imagine that the Alawite officers in the now-defunct Syrian Arab Army have disguised themselves and are trying to get out of the country any way they can. Some reports suggest they have fled to Lebanon.

On the other hand, I wonder if the threat of Israeli aggression will cause Syrians to pull together?

Al-Quds al-`Arabi reports that the elders (sheikhs) of the Alawite community called for “turning over a new page.” They met with representatives of the HTS at the former provincial residence of al-Assad, in a town called Qardaha in the hills overlooking Latakia. The elders issued a statement in which they called for a “general amnesty” and the safe return of everyone who had fled their homes “in the recent period,” and for an end to the carrying of guns except in accordance with the law.

The Alawite branch of Shiite Islam is an esoteric folk religion in which many of the verities are cultivated by the sheikhs, and the laity may not be steeped in them. They do not have formal seminary-trained clergymen or mosque worship. They are very different from the Twelver Shiites in Iraq and Iran.

After the meeting, the military operations HQ of the HTS issued a “general amnesty” for all conscripted troops of the former Syrian Arab Army, granting them security of property and person and forbidding attacks on them.

Since most people in the army had been conscripts, this amnesty would affect a lot of people. But it excludes those who volunteered for the military or who entered the officer corps through a military academy.

HTS-controlled state television broadcast images of captured Syrian soldiers in Damascus, Homs and Hama being pardoned. Of the 300,000 men in the Syrian Arab Army, probably 200,000 or more had gone AWOL or defected during the civil war. The remaining 50,000 to 100,000 were disproportionately drawn from the Alawite population. So, implicitly, this pardon of the grunts in the army has a sectarian dimension, and is an attempt to avoid sectarian tensions.

On the other hand, the military operations HQ said that military figures guilty of atrocities against civilians in recent years would be tried in the courts. If they can get hold of the officer corps, it appears that the HTS will execute large numbers of them.

—–

Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

Israel Conducts Air and Ground Offensive In Syria As Assad Regime Falls | India Today

Killing an entire world is the ultimate act of villainy in science fiction. The most memorable such fictional atrocity occurs in George Lucas’s Star Wars (1977), when the Galactic Empire’s imperial officer Grand Moff Tarkin fires a fatal beam from the newly constructed Death Star at the planet Alderaan, “the bright center of the universe,” to demonstrate its awful power to captive rebel leader Princess Leia Organa. Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi, in transit to Alderaan aboard the Millennium Falcon, senses the enormity of this casual murder of two billion individuals. He remarks, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” The Empire had committed what we might term cosmocide, or the extermination of an entire world. Although it may risk trivializing the massive atrocities our world has witnessed in the past century to evoke them through a Hollywood fantasy, we should also acknowledge that the pulverizing of Leia’s (and Luke Skywalker’s) home world has shaken millions of filmgoers sheltered by selective media journalism from exposure to the real thing.

Lamentably, cosmocide in the full sense of the destruction of a whole planet became a possibility and not merely the stuff of speculative fiction on July 16, 1945, when the first nuclear device was detonated. On that day, as physicist (and Sanskritist) Robert J. Oppenheimer witnessed the first successful test of the atomic bomb he had fathered, he famously quoted the Bhagavad Gita, verse 11:12 (referring to Krishna): “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once in the sky, that would be the splendor of the mighty One.” He further recalled in this connection verse 11:32, translating it as, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Today, a massive exchange of thermonuclear weapons could plunge the earth into long-term darkness, killing most life. Even short of such a planetary slaughter, nuclear-armed states, and even those with extremely powerful conventional weapons, can wipe out “worlds,” in the sense of entire cities or regions. We have beheld such orgies of desolation in wars in the Middle East in the twenty-first century that have leveled cities in Syria, Sudan, Gaza, and Israel.

They bought it because he said of Kamala Harris, “If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now,  . . .” They didn’t consider the source, and his brazen history of pathological lies. It was a simplification they wanted to believe, because many of them are not deep thinkers, despite their vast wealth and accomplishment. Not all bright people are willing to mine past what they already know, especially those who earn or inherit financial security early in life. Some “conservative” Jewish leaders were insulted by the notion that Israel’s survival depended on one man. But they supported him because of his mythical “pro-Israel record.” But while Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama restrained Bibi’s worst instincts, Trump promoted them.

Trump is tapping super-wealthy Jews to staff some of his cabinet and agency positions, but also to provide cover for his deeply un-Jewish agenda. His supporting cast of enabling Jews have entered the “grey zone” as defined by Philosopher Primo Levi, which “blurred the lines between collaborator, perpetrator and victim.” The wealthy Jews invested in Trump are more concerned about using Trump to grow their fortunes, than safeguarding Democracy or Judaism in America. They embrace the Evangelical “love” for Israel, ignoring the fundamentalist Christians’ apocalyptic vision of a world without Jews.

They are high-class, willing stooges, enabling an anti-Semitic president, contributing to the moral decline of American Judaism, and abetting the eventual deportations and punishment of minorities other than themselves. Forget about the Biblical commandments to “welcome the stranger into the tent.” (Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Deuteronomy 24:19-22). This group is about erecting barriers and fences around the country club estate.

The most prominent Jewish members of Trump’s close advisers include:

-Miriam Adelson, widow of Sheldon, who continues his legacy, of having financed numerous illegal settlements, and founded Yisrael Hayom, a sensational daily newspaper with even less credibility than Fox News. As with Elon Musk, she contributed $100M to Trump’s campaign, a move made possible by the notorious SCOTUS Citizens United decision in 2010.

-Lee Zeldin served as a New York Congressional Representative from 2015-2022, and voted against almost every environmental regulation before Congress. He is Trump’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, portending an even greater hostility toward any environmental agenda than Ronald Reagan anti-environment EPA head, Ann Gorsuch Burford; mother of SCOTUS Associate Neal Gorsuch.

-Daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, author of the disastrous Abraham Accords will return in an advisory capacity. “Kushner runs a multi-billion dollar investment firm tied to Arab states in the Gulf, raising ethical concerns about overlapping with government affairs,” as noted in The Times of Israel.

– Former US-Israeli Ambassador David Friedman remains part of Trump’s inner circle despite his objections to Trump’s embrace of anti-Semitic figures such as Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. Friedman is still pushing hard for a total annexation of all occupied Palestinian territories, and is delighted with Trump’s selection of Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, who will promote the same agenda.

-Steve Witkoff is Trump’s new Middle East envoy, despite having no diplomatic experience. His qualifications? He’s a golf buddy and made a sycophantic speech at the Republican convention.

-Howard Lutnik is being considered for Secretary of Treasury, though he has no government experience, yet has been tapped to chair Trump’s transition team. A billionaire and finance chair of the Cantor-Fitzgerald investment firm, Lutnik literally ran interference for Trump when visited the gravesite of Hasidic Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, which evokes memories of when Trump’s presence was a desecration of the Western Wall of the 2^nd Temple (Wailing Wall.)

-Stephen Miller, author of the diabolical family separation policy at the Mexican border, and ban on travelers from Islamic countries, is the new Deputy Chief-of-Staff. He was a prominent speaker at Trump’s Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden last month, and founded the America First Legal Foundation to counter the work of the ACLU. Miller is unwelcome among all 12 Tribes, but has a seat at the table in Trump’s big tent of sycophants.

Some of these figures contributed to the FC PAC, which placed the Kamala Harris pro-Israel billboards in Dearborn, MI, and the pro-Palestinian billboards in Jewish enclaves of New York and Pennsylvania. They created ads allegedly on behalf of the Harris campaign, which was a brazen legal violation, but so what?  Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to entertain any form of ceasefire or truce in Gaza was a brutal form of election interference in the US, since he knew that any progress would reflect well on Biden and Harris. Now with Trump back in power, Bibi has successfully inverted the US-Israeli benefactor-client state relationship, and is comfortable dictating his agenda for Trump to follow, as Vladimir Putin does.

 Each of Trump’s picks to head Cabinet and agency positions has been calculated to inflict maximum chaos, including appointing Evangelical Zionist Mike Huckabee as US Ambassador to Israel. This discussion inevitably circles back to the question of why far-right Jews so desperately embrace Evangelical Zionism, when its ultimate intent is to erase Jews from planet Earth, either by conversion or eternal damnation. But the rich Jews such as Ms. Adelson and Kushner and company ignore that pesky inconvenience. Now for the wild card:

For many, the struggle to reconcile political beliefs with our Jewish faith is complex. As we navigate the current political landscape, it is important to abide by the teachings of our sacred scrolls and faith. This means applying what we’ve learned from those sources every day; rather than mouthing prayers and rituals without one’s heart involved. It means living our Jewish values, “walking the walk,” and standing firm against today’s political forces, which seek to undermine democracy, justice, and the rights of marginalized and oppressed people. Trump’s dark vision and agenda, and the wealthy Jews enabling his cruel and dangerous policies; bring a perilous dilemma for American Jews. We must be vigilant, and resist complicity, to safeguard and act out the values that define us as a people. We often think of ourselves as special people with a special victimhood. When we become involved in a primitive gang mentality that hurts other people, we cede any “high ground” that comes along form our victimhood. Israel as a nation under Likud’s leadership has ceded that high ground. American Jews must resist the seduction by Trump and his wealthy Jewish enablers to go along. Some of America’s Jewish leaders are supporting America’s transition away from Liberal Democracy, toward Christian Nationalism with a deeply Fascist twist. We’re supposed to be better than that.

—

Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

The Economic Times: “From Ivanka’s husband to Howard Lutnick, how key Jewish leaders are shaping Trump’s inner circle”

The Pope mentions Gaza on several occasions in the book. At one point he expresses concern about migration crises around the world, colored as they are by “violence and hardship,” in the Sahara, the Mexican-US border, and the Mediterranean, “which has become a large cemetery in the past decade.” He adds, “also in the Middle East,” because of the “humanitarian tragedy” in Gaza.

Pope Francis says that Christians must feel the pain of migrants forced to leave their homes, noting that for many it is easier to empathize with the hopes of an entrepreneur who emigrates to found a business or a retiree who goes abroad to make their pension stretch further than with the hopes of refugees forced abroad by violence or famine, seeking a more peaceful existence.

He makes an interesting point here. I wonder if the difference is agency. We see ourselves in persons who take decisive steps to achieve a goal, but are alienated from those who are forced to do something against their will. Those with agency are admirable to us, are self, while those deprived of it are lesser and Other. I tell my students that they think of becoming a refugee as something that happens to others, but it can happen to anyone. I was trying to study in Beirut in my youth when war broke out and I had to flee to Jordan. My money was frozen in the bank because the banks all closed when war broke out. A kind man, at the American University of Beirut, Dean Robert Najemy, arranged for my parents to wire me airfare. He was later killed by a gunman. Of course, I wasn’t a refugee the way the Palestinians are — I still had my homeland and could ultimately return there. But I gained sympathy regarding those who suddenly have to abandon their domiciles. I don’t think of them as lacking agency or being Other, which I hope comes through in my new book on Gaza.

The Catholic leader laments that so many Ukrainians have been forced to flee, and praises countries that took them in, such as Poland. He then turns to the Middle East, where, he says, we have seen something similar. He praises the way Jordan and Lebanon welcomed refugees. He was obviously writing before mid-September, when Lebanon got caught up in the Israel-Hezbollah feud. Some 1.5 million Syrians had taken refuge in Lebanon from the Syrian civil war. Ironically, hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Lebanese have fled this fall to Syria. Jordan took in so many Palestinian families that a majority of Jordanians today have Palestinian ancestry. Jordan also took in hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Syrians.

Francis said he was thinking especially of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has hit the Strip. We think about 100,000 Palestinians from Gaza managed to flee to Egypt before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu occupied the Rafah crossing with Israeli troops.

Then Pope Francis dropped his bombshell. According to some experts, he wrote, “what has been happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”

He insisted that a painstaking investigation be carried out to determine whether the situation fits the technical definition formulated by jurists and international organizations. He is likely referring to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Genocide Convention of 1948, on the basis of which the International Court of Justice is deliberating on whether what the Israelis are doing in Gaza is a genocide.

Although he appeals to international law in this passage, he is pessimistic that war is ever compatible with it. Elsewhere in the book he points out that no war avoids indiscriminately killing civilians. He recalls the images we have all seen coming out of Ukraine and Gaza. “We cannot,” he says, “allow the killing of defenseless civilians.” These are war crimes. Inflicting wounds on these innocents to the point where they have to have limbs amputated or their natural environment is destroyed cannot be dismissed, he says, as mere “collateral damage.” “They are,” he asserts, “victims whose innocent blood cries out to heaven and begs for an end to all war.”

“Pietà,” Digital, Midjourney / Clip2Comic, 2024

His last mention of Gaza comes in a passage where he recalls a photograph of a Palestinian grandmother in Gaza, her face not visible, holding in her arms the lifeless body of her five-year-old granddaughter, who had just been killed in an Israeli bombing, along with other family members. He notes that the image has been called “The Pieta of Gaza.”

The Encyclopedia Britannica explains, “Pietà, as a theme in Christian art, depiction of the Virgin Mary supporting the body of the dead Christ. . . . the great majority show only Mary and her Son. The Pietà was widely represented in both painting and sculpture, being one of the most poignant visual expressions of popular concern with the emotional aspects of the lives of Christ and the Virgin.”

Michaelangelo, “Pietà,” Public Domain.

He says that the photo, taken in a hospital morgue, conveys strength, sorrow and the unimaginable pain inflicted by war. He ends by again insisting that innocents must be protected even in the midst of warfare, a principle, he says, that is engraved on the hearts of all people.

The consequence of the Pope’s comments throughout is a humanization of the Palestinians — a humanization of which US and British media outlets have largely proved themselves incapable. The only way they can be all right with over 17,000 dead children in Israel’s campaign against Gaza is that they do not see them as truly human. Otherwise, even the death of one little granddaughter would have us all weeping uncontrollably.

Not only does the Pope humanize Palestinian suffering, refusing to lose his empathy in the face of the magnitude of the slaughter and the sheer number of children in burial shrouds, but in a sense he even divinizes Palestinian suffering. The dead little girl in her grandma’s arms is a Christ-like figure — Christ-like in her innocence, which did not prevent her from being brutally killed. And the heart-wrenching mourning of her grandmother is like the grief of the Mother Mary over her crucified son, himself the incarnation on earth of the divine.

The two guards were tasked with securing the area ahead of a scheduled visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. This move reflects Israel’s insistence on continuing its actions that violate the historical and legal status quo in occupied Jerusalem, stressing that Israel has no sovereignty over it.

The official spokesperson for the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sufyan Qudah, stressed in a statement the Kingdom’s absolute rejection of all Israeli measures aimed at changing the identity and character of East Jerusalem, including the Old City, and changing the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.

He also reiterated the Kingdom’s support for France and its position against the attacks of the Israeli occupation forces.

Via Middle East Monitor

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Bonus Video added by Informed Comment:

WION: “French FM Refuses To Enter Holy Site In Jerusalem In Protest | World News | WION”

Al-Dayah begins by quoting an unnamed Hamas leader who condemned critics of the organization’s attack on Israel.

The politician castigated as “fools” those who argued that it would have been safer to avoid armed conflict rather than losing tens of thousands of lives. The politician denounced such persons as a fifth column for Israel, aiming to weaken “this nation and its determination.” The Hamas leader alleged that Israel killed 500 Palestinians at West Bank checkpoints in 2022, even though the Palestinians were not engaged in violent struggle that year. He implied that Israel would kill Palestinians even if they were passive. The price for being occupied was being paid then, but, he said, “you have to choose whether to pay it freely as a fighter and a victor, God willing, or to pay it in humiliation, disappointment, and loss.”

Al-Dayah refutes this militant, reminding him that struggling in the way of God is not a straightforward, simplistic duty, but is predicated on conditions, purposes and principles. It is necessary to consider matters such as the character of one’s leaders and soldiers, the terrain, the weaponry available, and the character of the opponent (whom he calls “the aggressor,” suggesting he believes this warfare is defensive).

[The issue of “terrain” is an important one. I quote Mao Zedong in my new book, Gaza Yet Stands, to the effect that having rugged terrain that affords hiding places is essential to a guerrilla movement. Otherwise, Mao said, the insurgents are just roving peasant rebels, doomed to fail. Gaza is not a promising place from which to fight a guerrilla struggle.]

Al-Dayah repeats that “aggression against religion” is one of the grounds for launching such a military struggle, as are “life, honor, family, land or property.”

Since it is a religious struggle, it has to be predicated on faith and sincerity, the righteousness of the individuals involved, and their cohesiveness and preparation, as well as logistical matters.

But there are, al-Dayah says, also counter-indications that might weigh against launching such a struggle. If the prerequisites listed above are lacking or defective, it cannot be undertaken.

Most important, you can’t launch a struggle for the faith if it seems likely that it will fail: “it is essential to avoid it if it is likely to bring harm to religion, life, honor, family, or property.”

He points out that the Qur’an, the Muslim scripture, promises that pious Muslims can prevail when the odds are 1 to 2 (Q. 8:66). The conclusion we may draw from the verse is that the believers cannot win against just any odds. If they are overwhelmed 3 to 1, they should avoid entering the fray. He quotes the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, Ibn Abbas, as having said: “If a man retreats from two, he has fled, but if he retreats from three, he has not fled.”

His implication is that the Israeli armed forces are far superior in numbers, training, and equipment to the 30,000 members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the paramilitary of Hamas. Given this reality, it is “permissible to refrain from initiating combat.”

He also repudiated the Hamas leader for his harsh accusations against suffering Palestinians mourning the gravity of the disaster that has befallen them. They don’t, he insisted, deserve to be called agents or cowards for wishing it could have been avoided.

He points out, “These are the sentiments of the majority of people, whose homes are gone, their loved ones have perished, and they endure all forms of suffering.”

He concludes, “I ask God Almighty to return us to the right path and hasten relief. Amen.”

Prof. Dr. Salman bin Nasr Al-Dayah

The legal opinion has six sections, with this having been the first. In subsequent broadsides, he went on to elaborate his arguments. For instance, he quotes a saying of the Prophet that “it is not for the believer to humiliate himself” by undertaking a campaign clearly doomed to failure. I think, however, we get the point.

Al-Dayah rejects secular states and even the fundamentalist governance of Hamas, arguing for a restored Muslim caliphate or theocracy. However, he belongs to the quietist branch of Salafism or revivalism, since he generally rejects violence as a path to his aspirations, especially if the violence is stupid. Al-Dayah has refused to leave North Gaza, even though the Israeli authorities are attempting to ethnically cleanse it.

Similar debates were conducted between quietist Salafis in Jordan and the proponents of ISIL (ISIS, Daesh), the so-called “Islamic state” group.

Before the 2006 election, nearly half of the voters in Gaza supported the secular, nationalist Palestine Liberation Organization, and it is not clear that 18 years of Hamas rule will have altered this proportion. Indeed, the evidence from countries that have a state religion is that it tends to drive people away from religion or make them apathetic toward it. Al-Dayah as a quietist Salafi may not represent a very large proportion of Palestinians in Gaza. His discontents with Hamas, however, are likely widely shared.

The Arabic text of the fatwa was posted to Facebook.

Alex Galbraith at Salon reports that disgraced former New York mayor, Rudi Giuliani, went out of his way to bash Palestinians. Giuliani has been ordered to turn over most of his wealth to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, African-American election workers whom he defamed with hate speech and false allegations. He has been disbarred for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

Giuliani alleged that Hamas trains Palestinian toddlers at two years old to hate Americans: “The Palestinians are taught to kill us at two-years old.”

In his fact-free universe, he alleged that Kamala Harris is attempting to bring Palestinian refugees to the US, saying, “She wants to bring them to you.” He added, “They may have good people. I’m sorry I don’t take a risk with people who are taught to kill Americans at two.”

Since Giuliani’s own children are embarrassed by his descent into whatever that is, he may not be much in touch with them or remember much about them. But my recollection is that when you tell two-year-olds to do something, they typically reply “No!” Actually I think that is their standard response to most assertions, though they will say “yes” if you ask them if they want to go to a toy store or go see a cartoon at the movies.

I actually know something about Palestinians and their history. See my new book, Gaza Yet Stands.

Let’s just recall who Giuliani is talking about when he talks about Palestinians in America, who are listed at Wikipedia. John H. Sununu, who served both as governor of New Hampshire (1983–89) and as George H. W. Bush’s chief of staff in the White House, had a Greek-Palestinian ancestor from Jerusalem. His son, John E. Sununu, served as a senator for New Hampshire. The Sununus are Republicans.

Gibran Hamdan played in the NFL for the Washington Redskins. Tarek Saleh also played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns.

We have Hashem El Serag, a renowned medical researcher on liver cancer who chairs the Medicine Department at Baylor University. I don’t know about you, but I want Dr. El Serag here and working on treatments for liver cancer and other diseases. He’s a million times more useful to America than a scoundrel like Giuliani.

Then there is retired Col. Peter Mansoor, a professor of history at the Ohio State University, who served in Iraq and was part of General David Petraeus’s brain trust there. He is half Palestinian.

Justin Amash represented Michigan’s Third Congressional District from 2011 to 2021. Amash was a Republican but became a Libertarian to protest Trumpism. That is, this Palestinian American is a more loyal and patriotic American than Giuliani can ever dream of being.

Or DJ Khaled, who responded to Trump’s visa ban and wall-building this way, “Bless up 🙏 I am a Muslim American love is the 🔑 love is the answer. It’s so amazing to see so many people come together in love ! I pray for everyone I pray we all love and live in peace .. #NoBanNoWall 🙏.”

DJ Khaled once took his family on a trip across America, visiting numerous cities, out of love for his country. He raps peace and love, and said that the lack of love in Trump is what repelled him.

DJ Khaled, “God Did”

Then we have Dean Obeidallah, an actually funny American comedian and savvy political commentator whose father hailed from the British Mandate of Palestine.

Or take Bella Hadid, the Palestinian-American supermodel who loves America so much that she moved to Texas and adopted a cowboy lifestyle.

Or her sister Gigi, also a supermodel, and an activist in encouraging voting. Tommy Hilfiger went so far as to suggest that Gigi Hadid could help create a love between the US and the Middle East.

While you wouldn’t want to underestimate the influence of a dynamic supermodel, that hope may be unrealistic. Still, no one thinks Rudi Giuliani has the potential to create peace between anyone and anyone else. It is Gigi Hadid who is the real American, Palestinian heritage and all.

Dear President Harring, Provost Furge and Professor Dowd:

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the announcement by Muhlenberg College that it intends to terminate Dr. Maura Finkelstein, a tenured member of the college’s faculty, because of an Instagram post that she had reposted. Even if some people may find the post objectionable, we believe that Professor Finkelstein’s reposting is protected by the First Amendment and by the principles of academic freedom. It cannot reasonably be construed as a violation of Muhlenberg College’s equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policy or justify her termination.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

Dr. Finkelstein is a cultural anthropologist whose research has addressed multiple geographies and theoretical realms. Her first book, The Archive of Loss: Lively Ruination in Mill Land Mumbai, charted the experiences of textile mill workers in the city of Mumbai. She is currently at work on a second book about equine-assisted therapy. Her scholarship and pedagogy have also engaged a range of issues relating to Palestine/Israel; her teaching includes a course on Palestine and she has published peer-reviewed work on her experiences teaching this material.

In the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 assault on Israel, Professor Finkelstein was subjected to intense attacks as a result of the criticism of Israel and of Zionism that she expressed in published work, academic forums and social media posts. Among other things, a number of donors to and alumni of Muhlenberg College circulated a petition demanding her removal from her tenured position. In January 2024 Professor Finkelstein was placed on administrative leave after reposting someone else’s Instagram post which was critical of Zionism and Zionists. The Muhlenberg College administration subsequently claimed that Professor Finkelstein’s reposting had violated its equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policy.

An outside firm hired by the college to investigate the case determined that Professor Finkelstein’s Instagram post had not constituted a violation of college policy. However, an ad hoc committee appointed by Muhlenberg’s Title IX office subsequently reversed this determination, without specifying the grounds for its decision. In late May 2024 Professor Finkelstein was informed that the college intended to terminate her for cause, because her Instagram post allegedly “met the standard for online discrimination and harassment involving hateful speech. It was severe and objectively offensive, and it denies or limits the ability to participate in the College’s programs.” She has appealed and is awaiting the decision of the college’s Faculty, Personnel and Policies Committee.

We note that Muhlenberg College has declared that it “endorses the robust, stimulating and thought-provoking exchange of ideas, which requires in-depth and complex educational experiences as well as the space for divergent perspectives.” We further note that neither college policy nor federal law defines those who adhere to or advocate for particular political ideologies (such as Zionism) as members of legally protected classes. As we have pointed out elsewhere, critiques of Israeli policies or of Zionism must not be conflated with antisemitism, nor should expressions of political opinion be sanctioned.

In these fraught times, college and university leaders have a heightened responsibility to protect the freedom of speech and academic freedom of all members of their communities. This country’s institutions of higher education should be places in which a broad range of perspectives can be expressed, debated and criticized without fear of defamation, harassment or termination. As MESA’s Board of Directors put it in a statement dated 18 December 2023: “We call on university leaders and administrations to affirmatively assert and protect the rights to academic freedom and freedom of speech on their campuses. We reaffirm that there can be no compromise of the right and ability of students, faculty, and staff at universities across North America (and elsewhere) to express their viewpoints free of harassment, intimidation, and threats to their livelihoods and safety.”

We therefore call on you to immediately reverse the decision to terminate Professor Finkelstein and to publicly declare her exonerated of the charges brought against her. We further call on you to vigorously reaffirm your commitment to uphold academic freedom and freedom of speech at Muhlenberg and to actively foster an atmosphere of free academic inquiry and discussion, including the unhindered right of faculty and other members of the campus community to express their political opinions in the public realm.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Aslı Ü. Bâli
MESA President
Professor, Yale Law School

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

The driving force behind Trump’s alleged “love” for Israel is to strengthen his hold on the Evangelical community; not the Jewish one. That has driven what Republican support there is for Israel since Christian Zionists took over the party beginning in the 1980s. Trump argues that Jews have an obligation to support him because he’s been Israel’s “best friend;” when in reality, he has abetted and enabled Israel’s political-economic suicide by granting PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s (Bibi) entire wish list. This includes appointing David Friedman as ambassador to Israel, whose understanding of Israel-Palestine history is limited to Temple Sunday School myths, which ignores and whitewashes the Palestinian Nakba (Holocaust). It includes Trump and Bibi’s evil political alliance, all but positioning them as running mates on the same ticket. 

Trump earned his popularity among wealthy, Republican Jews by pandering. Except when he said, “You have to support me because you’re all brutal killers.” But they forgave that because they believe his con about “loving Israel,” and also buy the myth that he’s been good for the investment economy. There can be destructive ignorance among intelligent people, as not all bright and successful people are deep thinkers.

Many progressive Jews have abandoned support of Israel over the genocide in Gaza and fascist elements of Bibi’s government. The alliance between Bibi and Trump is as destructive as the alliance between Elon Musk and Trump. It’s become a Fascist Axis among very wealthy entrepreneurs and deeply corrupt politicians, more interested in their wealth and political survival, rather than the health, wealth and security of the countries and corporations they govern. Or in Trump’s case, want to govern again from a purely statist, Fascist standpoint.

Trump is already forecasting his upcoming electoral defeat, and pro-actively placing blame on outside agents, including Jews who don’t vote for him and even Taylor Swift. While he whines about “all he has done for Israel,” the reality is that his policies have severely weakened Israel by granting impunity to its most self-destructive elements, and thus helped turn it into a global pariah by pledging support for the genocide in Gaza, and promising to grant Bibi his wish list of being free to terrorize and murder innocent Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. It was Trump who initiated the move of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in violation of International Law. Jerusalem is just as much a Muslim and Orthodox Christian city as it is a Jewish one. (There, I said it!)

“Demagoguery,” Digital, Dream / Dreamland v3 / Clip2Comic, 2024

The alliance of Trump and Musk has dragged American political discourse to an all-time low. Trump has brought the Republican Party to an unprecedented low of dysfunction, abetted by Musk buying Twitter/X. As Trump has marginalized the Republican Party into a clownish state of lurid sensationalism, Musk has turned Twitter/X into a platform for unfettered defamation, hate, racism and divisiveness. Musk is allied with Trump to better secure his wealth, and is investing $45M per month in his campaign.

Why is Musk so deeply invested in Trump’s return to the presidency? Because like Russia in Ukraine, Trump will let Musk “do whatever the hell he wants.” Trump will let Russia take over Ukraine and bully other European countries. He’ll let the Israeli Likud Party continue its reign of terror over Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; thereby placing more kindling and gasoline onto an already-explosive situation. And he’ll let the Supreme Court continue to undo many generations worth of protective and progressive judicial rulings.

Trump’s campaign strategy is to tell so many lies so fast and furiously, that it’s hard to keep up, and impossible to address and debunk each one in the time allowed for rebuttal? As Hannah Arendt wrote, “If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer,” enabling totalitarianism. Part of Trump’s strategy is also to undermine the free press, and depict journalists as “the enemy of the people.” That’s the dynamic of gaslighting. Or is it an effort to befuddle and flummox the mases to the point that people don’t know what to believe and stop caring?