91传媒

As many expect Maine Democratic Senate Graham Platner to withdraw from the race after a rape accusation by Jenny Raciot, many Jews are wondering: Why wasn鈥檛 his Nazi tattoo (that he had changed after nearly 20 years) enough for people to not want him to win, in looking at not only Maine residents but Democrats at-large?

Are they all antisemites?

No.

Whether you think President Donald Trump is the messiah, a maniac or anything in between, throw that out the window. Enter the mind of a Democrat in Maine who voted for him in the primary.

Imagine if you waited for a movie to come out for many years. The hero, (Hillary Clinton) was surely going to win at the end, and everything leading up to the climax were obstacles she鈥檇 overcome, with the toughest one being the e-mail scandal. Surely, Trump, the villain, could not win.

But he did. Many cried. It would have been like if Darth Vader was the last standing in 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� or The Night King took the Iron Throne at the end of 鈥淕ame of Thrones.鈥�

But, have no fear, there would be a sequel!

And the good guy (President Joe Biden) won. All鈥檚 well, that ends well.

This won鈥檛 be a trilogy. Right? There is no way the nomination will go to a felon, and someone who was found liable for sexual assault in a civil case involving defamation, as well as other court cases, right?

Ok, so he鈥檚 the nominee, but this will have a happy ending with our heroine, Kamala Harris making history and sending Trump home, right? Surely after January 6, there would be no way he could win, right?

So, the nightmare has returned, and he somehow did win! How could it be? How could voters have done this? Then you are told ICE is the new Gestapo. When two citizens who are protestors die at the hands of ICE/CBP, there is no formal investigation shown or criminal charges against law enforcement.

You need revenge.

You need justice.

You need a fourth movie.

And that one involves Trump getting impeached and thrown out or at least impeached to where he is weakened to make sure a Democrat wins the White House in 2028.

For you to be eating that popcorn and smiling, you were told you needed Platner to win, because Republican incumbent Susan Collins would protect Trump. Forget that she was one of seven Republicans to vote to impeach him. Why let a fact like that get in the way?

Collins is pro-Israel! Well, even though you don鈥檛 know much about Israel, if Trump is a friend of a country, you must be an enemy of it and vice versa! You never heard of AIPAC before, but you see some candidates win after bashing it, so why not do what works? You don鈥檛 know much about the war in Iran, but if Trump is going to battle, he must be wrong and a tyrant. Nuclear weapons? We should wait until Iran has them full made and ready to fire! No imminent threat yet.

But you were also told Ukraine鈥檚 freedom was important. We sent a crazy amount of tax dollars there for Ukraine win, and now they are finally winning! You鈥檙e jumping for joy, right? No, because you never actually cared and it was all performative.

Focus–fourth movie–make Trump pay!

What鈥檚 that? What鈥檚 my opinion on 40-50,000 Iranians slaughtered by their own government? Can鈥檛 be bothered! 20,000 Ukrainian children kidnapped? Can鈥檛 be bothered.

What鈥檚 that? Platner asked why Black people don鈥檛 leave tips? He鈥檚 not racist-just edgy. Come on, nobody is perfect.

He was accused by a woman of ill-treatment that was aggressive. She must be a Republican, and I wouldn鈥檛 trust a Republican or vote for one if Hell froze over.

And well, Platner might be bad, but Trump is worse. We need victory! Nobody stopped him!

THIS is the mindset of many who were cool with Platner. There is logic to it, whether you agree or disagree. And that is that politics are war. All that matters is winning. Whatever or whoever you have to throw under the bus, that鈥檚 fine, as long as you are on the bus and the driver is not Trump.

I asked someone online the following question: If you were a kindergarten teacher and a student did something bad and dangerous, and when you went to rebuke the child, the student pointed to another who did the same thing and got away with it, would you tell them then what they did was okay?

I got no answer because no teacher in their right mind would say this as it would be a terrible example.

But in a zero-sum game, where people are brainwashed to believe Trump is Hitler, what鈥檚 so bad about teaming up with Stalin?

Of course, neither Trump nor Platner ordered any mass-executions, but the analogy holds–in life, we often want the lesser of two evils.

The difference here, though, is there was a choice to not allow Platner to be picked and stories that he was not properly vetted seem highly dubious and unreliable. Both political parties need to learn that in looking at candidates, if we don鈥檛 want the American flag to be stomped on, we shouldn鈥檛 ignore red flags.

The harrowing truth is that antisemitism and antizionism have become more and more acceptable.

And those who follow politics understand that neither party is usually involved in morality policing.

Top Democrats like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were willing to ignore Platner鈥檚 many faults because they thought he could win, and that was that mattered.

Once they believed he could no longer win, Platner didn鈥檛 matter.

He is expected to formally withdraw by July 13. He will then likely go on the podcasts of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and become rich, as a podcaster bashing Israel, until he perhaps runs again. In Florida, anti-Isreal Republican James Fishback and antisemite Dan Bilzerian (who will call himself Republican to run against a prominent Jew) have no chance to win, but their goal is to gain notoriety on the 鈥渘o Jews, no news,鈥� platform.

Jews in America should no longer say there is a gathering storm.

The storm is here and we are searching for an umbrella that is strong enough. We haven鈥檛 found one yet.

US-European tensions at the Ankara NATO summit highlight the tectonic changes in the US global posture. America First may be the most misunderstood doctrine in modern American foreign policy. A lot of people, including plenty of Republicans, hear it as isolationism, a signal that the United States plans to pull back from the world. Democrats often read it as something worse: an abandonment of alliances that hands rivals an opening and leaves old partners exposed. Both readings may be missing the actual logic. The doctrine is narrower and more transactional than either side admits. Wealthy allies should carry more of the load. American commitments should pay measurable returns. And the United States should stop taking on jobs that others can do for themselves.

Apply that test to the relationship between Europe and Israel, and the case for strengthening it almost makes itself. A closer partnership lightens America鈥檚 own defense burden, keeps critical technology inside the Western bloc, feeds the intelligence that protects the homeland, and heads off the kind of regional collapse Washington would otherwise have to clean up. None of it asks for more American money or attention. Most of it asks for less.

Take the economics first. The EU is Israel鈥檚 largest trading partner, a relationship worth nearly 50 billion dollars a year, and the headline number understates how tangled the two economies have become. Israeli pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and precision machinery sit deep inside European supply chains. European capital, in turn, funds a good share of Israel鈥檚 tech sector.

The defense side matters even more. Israeli systems are already built into European arsenals. Germany鈥檚 Arrow 3, the interceptor at the center of the European Sky Shield air-defense plan, is an Israeli design. More than a dozen European militaries field Rafael鈥檚 Spike missiles. As Europe scrambles to rearm, Israeli radar, drones, and electronic-warfare gear are filling gaps that European industry cannot close fast enough. And because much of this hardware shares American components and joint development, the money flowing into it strengthens the U.S. defense base rather than competing with it. The more Israel helps Europe defend itself, the less Washington has to and the more it earns in revenues.

The quietest argument may be the strongest one. A tight Europe-Israel relationship keeps a great deal of valuable technology out of China鈥檚 hands, and that is not a hypothetical worry. Some of America鈥檚 oldest allies are already hedging against Washington, trimming F-35 orders and pulling U.S. software out of sensitive systems because they no longer fully trust the supplier. Israel, meanwhile, has been on Beijing鈥檚 wish list for years. If the European relationship sours, additional allies, including regional and European countries, have reasons to look east for trade and technology, and the capabilities the West can least afford to lose would go with them. A strong Europe-Israel-U.S. triangle does the reverse. It anchors cyber, drones, missile defense, AI, and semiconductors inside the Western ecosystem, which is exactly what the administration says it wants, at no extra cost to America.

Then there is intelligence. On Iran, on jihadist networks, on Hezbollah, Israel is among the best collectors in the world. Europe is often where those threats surface first, in its cities, its ports, its migration routes. When Europe and Israel share what they know, problems get intercepted there, before they reach American soil or an American target abroad. It is hard to find a better deal anywhere in the security budget: a real layer of protection that costs Washington close to nothing, paid for by allies doing the watching themselves.

The last point is the one that should focus minds in Washington. If the Europe-Israel relationship breaks down, the region grows more dangerous, and the United States is left with two bad options. It can step back in directly, which defeats the whole purpose of America First. Or it can walk away and let Russia, China and Iran move into the space. Retreat carries a price too, and it tends to show up later as a bigger bill: more instability, less influence, real damage to American interests, until staying out costs more than staying in ever would. Keeping Europe and Israel close is the cheapest insurance against that outcome.

None of this means taking sides in Europe鈥檚 bitter internal fight over Gaza, the West Bank, or the legal arguments around the Association Agreement. Those debates will play out on their own. But pressing Israel over policy is one thing, and cutting the strategic, economic, and technological cords that tie a capable ally to the West is another. The first is 鈥榥ormal鈥� politics. The second would be a self-inflicted wound, and America would help pay for it.

So, Washington has a job here, even if it is a quiet one. Spend more diplomatic capital to keep the current disputes from hardening into a permanent break. Push for continued joint defense and economic ties instead of decoupling. And say plainly, to both partners, that driving two of the West鈥檚 most capable players apart does no one any good except Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran. For a doctrine built on asking less of America, this is about as good as it gets: a payoff that costs almost nothing, as long as someone bothers to protect it.

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David Siegel is the President of ELNET-US; he served as Consul General to the Pacific Southwest US and Chief of Staff to three Israeli Ambassadors to the U.S. Lawrence Muscant is a geopolitical & economic analyst, former Senior VP at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and adviser to the NAGEN Project.

Hasan Piker has doubled down on his affirmation that 鈥淗amas is a thousand times better than [Israel]鈥�. Piker is 鈥渙ne of the most followed political voices in the country鈥� on the left, according to Rethan Salam, President of the Manhattan Institute. An assessment of his claim will show that Piker鈥檚 toxic narrative about Israel is totally untethered from reality, which has not stopped it from circulating almost unchecked. Through such distortions, the Palestinians鈥� allies have led them to the dark side of their national aspirations 鈥� destroying Israel rather than building their own potential state.

Compare: In Israel there is freedom of religion. It is far from perfect, but Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Druze and other minority religions are recognized and given a modicum of government support. Personal status cases, weddings and divorce are given over to the pertinent religious courts to decide. While there are cases of discrimination and unequal government support, freedom of religion is so vibrant in Israel that it has the only Christian community in the Middle East that is growing in population. In every other Muslim country, the Christian community is under such pressure that it is declining or even disappearing.

There is no freedom of religion in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Hamas not only rejects alternative religions, but reserves the right to treat Muslims who differ from its religious beliefs as Kaffir (unbelievers) who can be suppressed 鈥� even killed. Muslims who convert to another religion can be executed for blasphemy.

Israel has freedom of speech. Press and media channels include unrestricted criticism of the government and of the state. Under Hamas, there is no freedom of speech. Individuals or outlets that criticize Hamas or its policies are subject to violent suppression and termination with extreme prejudice.

In Israel there is political freedom, a robust opposition, and the constant creation of new parties, giving political outlets to those who oppose the government. Arab political parties consistently place 10-15 MK鈥檚 in the Knesset. In 2021, an Arab party even joined the ruling coalition for the first time. Arab jurists serve in various levels of Israel鈥檚 justice system. This includes Khaled Kabub, a Supreme Court Justice since 2022.

Hamas seized control of Gaza by a violent takeover (after its victory in the 2006 Palestinian election was suppressed). Fatah officials were either fired, exiled, or killed to intimidate and suppress opposition. No opposition parties or non-terrorist militias were allowed in Gaza. No Jews are allowed to live, let alone function politically in Gaza. The last time a Jew lived in Gaza was as a hostage in an underground tunnel.

No Jews are allowed to live, let alone function politically in Gaza. The last time a Jew lived in Gaza was as a hostage in an underground tunnel.

The U.N. office of the High Commission for Human Rights reports that Hamas took advantage of the Gaza war to beat, maim and publicly execute dozens of Palestinians. These extrajudicial punishments included 鈥渆xecutions, kneecapping, bone-breaking with metal pipes or cement bricks and beatings.鈥� They were framed as punishments for alleged 鈥渃ollusion with Israel, looting humanitarian aid, drug related offense or affiliations with internal rivals.鈥� Hamas鈥� actions were publicized during and afterward to instill fear in the population and eliminate political dissent.

In Israel, women practice in every profession and workplace. By law, sex discrimination is prohibited and political parties are required to include women in their electoral lists. (The Haredi parties are violating these requirements and have been condemned by the Supreme Court for doing so.)

Under Hamas rule, women are coerced to stay in the home, to wear hijabs when they go out, and are not permitted any public or political leadership. Honor killings are carried out against women who are perceived as socially too free or living on their own away from family.

In Israel, homosexuals are protected by law from discrimination. There is a flourishing gay culture and night life. Palestinians have been known to cross over to Israel to be able to live as LGBTQs. Tel Aviv has been voted the most gay-friendly city in the Middle East. The Speaker of the Knesset is openly gay and his life partner attends public functions alongside him.

Tel Aviv has been voted the most gay-friendly city in the Middle East. Under Hamas, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death.

Under Hamas, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. Several years ago, a commander in Hamas鈥� military wing 鈥� married with children 鈥� was outed as a homosexual. He was removed from his post, tried and eventually condemned to death for his 鈥渄eviant鈥� behavior.

In Israel, there is a flourishing start-up/high tech ecosystem 鈥� one of the best in the world. Israel leads the world in health sciences and cybersecurity. Israeli scientists have won Nobel Prizes and other international awards recognizing their contribution to the advance of science and medicine.

Under Hamas, the education system is fundamentalist and anti-science. By supporting Hamas 鈥� instead of encouraging the highly-educated Palestinians to focus on building their society and economy 鈥� the net outcome is that the Palestinian universities have not yet yielded a single Nobel prize winner or world class savant. They have produced terrorists 鈥� including among faculty. They have also served as cover for Hamas infrastructure and terror cells.

By supporting Hamas 鈥� instead of encouraging the highly-educated Palestinians to focus on building their society and economy 鈥� the net outcome is that the Palestinian universities have not yet yielded a single Nobel prize winner or world class savant. They have produced terrorists 鈥� including among faculty.

Israel鈥檚 founding Declaration of Independence proclaimed that the state would be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel. It pledged 鈥渃omplete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or status.鈥� It appealed for peace with the Arabs and invited their partnership in the upbuilding of the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship.

Hamas鈥� founding charter set as its goal the destruction of the state of Israel. 鈥淚srael will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it as it obliterated others before it.鈥� 聽It proclaims that the land of Palestine is exclusively Muslim and calls for jihad to eliminate the invaders, i.e., all Israelis. It also speaks of an eschatological final battle in which all the Jews in the world will be wiped out.

The Jews are the only indigenous people that was exiled and/or decimated by its conquerors yet came back, rebuilt its homeland, and regained sovereignty (unlike the American Indians, the Canadian Inuit Peoples and the Australian Aborigines).聽 Hamas and Hasan Piker聽dismiss the Jews鈥� return to their homeland and pass a death sentence on Israel as a 鈥渟ettler colonialist鈥� state 鈥� instead of working for two states living peacefully side by side.

This extended comparison of Israel and Hamas raises two questions. One is, what are Hasan Piker鈥檚 values in asserting that Hamas is a thousand times better than Israel? Does he believe that executing and kneecapping political opponents is a thousand times better than democratic politics? Relatedly, why is he accepted as an ultra-progressive Democrat? What is ultra-progressive about honor killings? Or condemning gays to death?

The second question is: what does it say about the takeover of the Democratic Party in places like Michigan鈥檚 Senate primary or New Jersey鈥檚 12th Congressional district that a leading candidate invited Hasan Piker to campaign alongside him and agreed with his claims that Hamas was a thousand times better than Israel?

Piker and other allies continue to push the Palestinians to follow a death cult rather than strengthen the groups that want to build a prosperous economy, a university and civic welfare network 鈥� as the Palestinians in Gaza did from 1967 until the Oslo accords. That path paved the way for a potential Palestinian national fulfillment and was supported by a majority of Israelis.

Those who focus on destroying Israel have convinced 80% of Israelis that a Palestinian state will never live in peace with the 91传媒 state. True, they have successfully demonized Israel for the moment, but they have doomed a two-state solution. The only hope for a better future is to turn the Palestinians away from Hamas and back on the path of building their economy and a democratic society that conceivably could regain the trust of Israelis.

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Rabbi Irving Greenberg is a Senior Scholar in residence at the Hadar Institute of New York and Jerusalem. He served as chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum from 2000-2002. The views expressed in this piece are personal, not of the institutional affiliations.

While the United States and Israel attempt to civilize the uncivilized portion of the Middle East there remains particularly three main groups that present a challenge.聽 All three are funded and armed by Iran and those groups need to be disarmed or there will be no peace.聽 The question remains who will do the job?

Israel has had an on again, off again running battle for decades with two of these groups.聽 Hezbollah and Hamas are funded principally by a regime whose primary purpose other than self-survival is the destruction of Israel, which is Iran.

Since President Trump began his second term, he has set out to solve the puzzle of Iran and its surrogates.聽 He first stepped into the Israel-Gaza mess.聽 He wants to end the destruction of Gaza brought on by Hamas鈥� barbarous attack of October 7^th.聽聽 In the aftermath, Trump negotiated a 20-point Gaza Peace Plan in September 2025.聽 The first phase moved along fine, but the second phase stalled.

The second phase includes deployment of an International Peace Force and disarming Hamas.聽 This is where there is a stalemate because Hamas doesn鈥檛 want to disarm and as of this time no country wants to place their troops into this madhouse.聽 Hamas has a history of using civilians as shields then complaining about it when those civilians are murdered especially children.聽 The international force would have to be prepared to go toe-to-toe with Hamas which has given every indication they are willing to fight to the death.聽 None of these forces are trained in urban warfare. The best choice is Egypt, but their forces are only trained for desert fighting not rooting people out of tunnels.

Which country would be willing to assume this task especially when there is a legion of people in Europe and America willing to make them international pariahs for cleaning the place out of Hamas with the commensurate civilian casualties which by international analysis would all be innocent women and children.聽聽 Only Israel is willing and able to take on the task of disarming Hamas.

From the time President Trump buried Iran鈥檚 nuclear assets deeply under a pile of rubble there was a question of the next move to deter the leading promulgator of terrorism in the world.聽 The mass murder of thousands of Iranian protesters led to the annihilation of the Ayatollah and many of his top leadership brought discussions surrounding the possibility of change occurring.聽 It was believed the regime was ripe to fall.

We are still here four months later without a change in government.聽 It is believed by some President Trump should pursue a more aggressive military policy.聽 Some believe the Iranian regime is on the way to military, economic and political collapse.聽 That may seem so, but there is the challenge of what to do about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that number between 150,000 and 190,000.聽 They are a radical military group exhibiting greater control than the current lay leadership and the military in Iran.聽 It is clear that these fanatics are for the most part willing to fight to the death especially someone else鈥檚.聽 They are the major stumbling block to peace and a change of government.聽 President Trump is criticized for not finishing the job, but who is going to take on this huge force which most likely needs to be killed.聽 The U.S. is not going to. If it were anyone it would be Israel.

Hezbollah is a special case as it operates as a separate militia within a country which has a duly elected parliament, a president and a prime minister.聽 They hide amongst a civilian population and revel in the times when innocent people are killed when Israel counters the brutal attacks across their border intently aimed at their civilian populations.

Even though they are largely funded by Iran, Hezbollah has created their own source of revenue, the international drug trade and money laundering.聽 Though they deny it, their involvement has been well-documented not only by U.S. sources by European sources also.

Iran has such a high interest in protecting this murderous group it asserts that Israel counterattacking Hezbollah to protect its sovereignty is an elemental aspect of peace negotiations with the U.S.聽 Iran has asserted heavy pressure on the Trump Administration to link any negotiations between the two countries despite Lebanon having their own leaders.聽 This came at a time where some Israeli leaders like Defense Minister Israel Katz believed that Hezbollah was on the verge of collapse as its funds and armaments were running on empty due to the pressure the U.S. had asserted on Iran.

Hezbollah has exhibited that their leaders and members are willing to fight Israel to their death because of their single-minded mission of destroying Israel. There appears to be only one means of resolving the Hezbollah issue and only source to accomplish that 鈥� Israel.

Experts, real and armchair, are making claims against President Trump for not finishing the job.聽 There appears to be only one solution to dealing with these messianic armed forces and one possible source to do that.聽 No one else is willing to pay the price except Israel which understands its survival depends on it.

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Bruce L. Bialosky is a former presidential appointee to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.