The Washington Post asks if Jews belong in the United States. The answer is Yes.
+ Where is Noah's Ark? (in-person event) + More!
Where is Noah’s Ark? See Jew Oughta Know in person at the East Bay JCC’s Shavuot Day of Learning THIS SUNDAY, June 1, at 3:00pm.
Where do Jews belong?
After the terrible murders — executions — of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, for the crime of attending a Jewish conference in the capital of the United States of America, The Washington Post ran a trite article purporting to examine Jews’ range of emotions. The killings, ran the headline, “amplifies the confusion…about where Jews belong.”
Hey, Washington Post: the answer is “everywhere they live.”
On Wednesday, May 21, the young couple (slated to get engaged in Jerusalem this week) exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, where they were shot point-blank by a lone gunman. He allegedly claimed he “did it for Gaza,” and shouted, “free, free Palestine!” as he was arrested. The media continues to play up the fact that Lischinsky and Milgrim both worked at the Israeli Embassy, suggesting they were targeted for this reason. It’s a none-too-subtle hint that their murder should be viewed solely within the broader context of the war in Gaza, that is, specific to Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. In other words, it was justifiable, or at least excusable, or, at best, understandable.
But what the media fails to acknowledge is that the shooter didn’t know they worked at the Israeli Embassy. He didn’t even know they were Jewish. He didn’t know who they were. He just wanted to shoot people he assumed were Jews because, you know, “free Palestine.”
The Washington Post is correct that Jews are feeling all the emotions: sadness, isolation, fear, resolve, pride, and rage. The dominant emotion I’m seeing and hearing from friends is that last one: deep anger at the “pro-Palestinian” movement and all the people who buy into it. We’re beyond fed up.
This is a movement that has nothing positive to say about the Palestinians and everything to say about excluding Jews from American society “by any means necessary,” including their murder. It’s not pro-Palestinian, it’s anti-Jewish, the KKK of the social justice Left; adopted, lauded, and perpetuated by a long list of politicians, professors, celebrities, university administrators, “human rights” activists, and many others who insist their irrational loathing is actually righteous, or, just as bad, politically expedient. People who know absolutely nothing about Jews, Judaism, Israel, the Palestinians, or the Middle East, are yet confident that the Jews deserve every act of violence against them. Or they do know the history and have chosen the side of Islamic fundamentalism in its battle to destroy Western civilization.
It’s an anger reflected in the fact that not a single Palestinian will be “free” because Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot to death on the sidewalk. These murders only harden extremist positions on all sides.
It’s an anger directed, too, at the media for intentionally spreading lies about Israel and the Jews (like that Israel was going to murder 14,000 Gazan babies by starvation in the next 48 hours). The “context” isn’t Lischinsky and Milgram’s place of work, it’s the barrage of demonization that has convinced way too many people that shooting Jews in the street is a legitimate protest against genocide.
The Post doesn’t dig into any of this. Instead the article leads with a quote from a DC-area rabbi who asks, “‘Where do we as a people belong? Where do I belong?’ And if Jews belong in America, ‘why are people shooting us in broad daylight?’”
I don’t begrudge the rabbi her stream-of-consciousness. But surely she knows the answers. They are shooting us because they hate us. And where we belong as a people is right here, exactly where we are, lest we be driven yet again from yet another home because of the racists and murderers who believe the lies told about us.
Whether The Post’s journalists intend it or not, it’s hard not to see the age-old historical pattern here. The notion that Jews are always outsiders who don’t fully belong, always “the other” who can’t or won’t integrate, has been taken to its logical extreme through expulsions and massacres. It’s why we end up with Zionism in the late 19th century. The realization that Jews would only be safe and free in an independent state gave rise to the national movement for self-determination. The only place then available was their ancient homeland in the Land of Israel.
But American Jews insisted that, actually, the United States was the “Golden Medina” — the Golden Land, where Jews were already living safe and free, and would continue to forever. American Jews have flourished in this country, grateful for the freedoms that liberal democracy provides, and offered our best efforts in return. We didn’t arrive here yesterday, but have been here since the very beginning, even long before 1776. We belong here as thoroughly as anyone else.
Yet two Jews get murdered and The Post’s first question is about Jewish belonging. Why is that the immediate go-to? Does The Post question whether Black Americans belong in the United States when a white nationalist commits murder? Who, exactly, does The Post think is “confused” about where Jews belong? The journalists don’t say.
If there is anyone in this story who “doesn’t belong”, surely it’s the murderer and not his victims. And if there is any thing that doesn’t belong, surely it’s his detestable “pro-Palestinian” ideology that stands in total opposition to the fundamental tenets of American democracy — to which Jews have been devoted practitioners for centuries. Jewish Americans are as thoroughly American as anyone else.
If The Post wants to wring its hands about “belonging,” then why not question how this lamentable anti-Jewish hatred has been allowed to seep so deeply into our body politic. Rather than a weak exploration of whether Jews “belong” in the United States, perhaps The Post should consider whether “Globalize the Intifada” does. Only then will we get to the heart of the hatred, and see the long road ahead to fulfilling America’s promise of happiness, liberty, and, of course, the right to life itself.
Jew Oughta Know event: “Where is Noah’s Ark?” at the East Bay JCC on Sunday, June 1, at 3:00pm PST
Come see me in-person at the 37th Annual East Bay Tikkun — A Day of Learning in Honor of Shavuot. Shavuot is a spring festival marking the moment when the Israelites received the Jewish law at Mt. Sinai. It is often celebrated by devoting the entire day to learning.
JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley, CA
Sunday, June 1, 2–8pm (my session will run 3:00-3:50pm in the Library)
Where is Noah’s Ark? Myth, Mystery, and Meaning. Recent headlines proclaim the extraordinary: a “boat-like” structure has been found near Mt. Ararat, where the Book of Genesis says Noah’s Ark came to rest at the end of the Flood. We’ll dive into this claim in a fun and fascinating adventure that includes ancient cuneiform, Armenian saints, the Hebrew Bible, and, naturally, the CIA. What does the search for Noah’s Ark tell us about ourselves?
Jew Oughta Know in The Economist
I’ve been a devoted reader of The Economist for nearly 25 years, and have finally achieved a life goal: getting in the paper! The Economist published my Letter to the Editor regarding the Jewish connection to Israel in the April 19, 2025 edition (both print and online).
If you can’t get past the paywall, here’s a PDF:
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Picture of the Day
Tel Aviv settles in for another beautiful evening. Taken from the Giv’atayim above the Savidor train station.
Photo: Jason Harris
