I have been trying to keep myself upbeat, but to tell you the truth, it’s getting harder and harder. We are living in a terrible time, when inhumanity, savagery, antisemitism, and the breakdown of all moral codes is washing over civilization like a tsunami. Western governments, who invited the barbarians at the gates inside as if they were honored guests, are now finding it hard to deal with the consequences. The universities seem to have been the incubators for the worst kind of ignorance and intolerance and barbarism.

I remember when I was researching my latest book on the Holocaust in Lithuania – a place where 94 percent of the Jewish community was murdered by their neighbors – thrown into killing pits and shot – mothers, children, the young, the old, over a period of weeks, that the murderous antisemitism began in the universities. Nazism took hold in German universities first, and from there it spread.

There is something about institutions of higher learning that serve as petri dishes for the worst kind of lethal bacteria. Perhaps because freedom of thought is necessary in order to learn and to teach. And this freedom, like all freedoms, is taken advantage of by the most evil people to spread their poison.

Sometimes, when I’m down, I think: we, the Jewish people, having been going through this crap for centuries. We should really, by all rational accounts, be extinct by now. And then I think about what the world would look like if the Jewish people were extinct, from G-d’s point of view. There wouldn’t be any turmoil, any world-wide protests discussing what is good and what is evil. Islamic wars would continue, the savagery unchecked. Other groups would be targeted: Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists. And when the Muslims finally took over the entire world, it would be calm and united, exactly like North Korea.

I guess this is not G-d’s will.

Israeli universities issue a call to scholars to join them in Israel:

“We, the Heads of the research universities in Israel, express our growing concern over the violence, anti-Semitism, and anti-Israeli protests that are plaguing the campuses of leading US universities, with the backing of Palestinian groups, among them terrorist organizations. We strongly condemn the current state in which Israeli and Jewish faculty members and students no longer feel safe to attend campuses or identify as Jewish out of fear for their safety.

“We do not doubt that the heads of these universities are doing everything in their power to fight these sights, and we understand that dealing with radicalized, violent, hate-driven groups is complicated, difficult, and at times requires tools outside of the administration’s toolbox.

“The freedom of expression and the right to protest are cornerstones of democracy, and academic life in particular, and we continue to acknowledge their importance even through these difficult times. However, freedom of expression and protest do not include the right to intimidate and use violence against any community or group and do not include the freedom to incite and call for the destruction of the State of Israel.

“We wish to strengthen Jewish and Israeli students and faculty members in these hard times. We will assist Jewish and Israeli scientists and students who are interested in integrating into Israeli universities and finding a new personal and academic home here in Israel.

(Signed [residents of Israeli universities])

I could bring you blah-blah from Hamas spokesmen, but it’s a waste of time. They simply repeat their demands. But it is notable that they keep repeating that they “don’t regret what they did on October 7, despite the destruction in Gaza” (AP interview with Khalil Al Hayya, a Sinwar deputy). They want a Palestinian state. They want the right of return (millions of jihadis flooding into the country). They want their (convicted mass murderer) prisoners released. And they have no idea how many of our people whom they abducted are still alive.

I have a dream and it looks like this: the IDF going into Rafah, destroying it, rescuing our live remaining hostages and finding out what happened to the rest, finding Sinwar and his family and the rest of the Hamas barbarians and barbequing them. All the Israeli protests for the release of hostages have only hardened Hamas’ stand, as they revel in the discord and civil strife in Israel. Only ten hostage families have participated in these events, the rest clearly understanding that they only serve the enemy and push rescue attempts farther off.

Now I hear that threats against individuals by the ICJ are giving Netanyahu weak knees. Is that true? I don’t know. My granddaughter serves in the nerve center of the IDF. She gets all the news in real time, and of course is not allowed to share anything. But she did tell me that much of the time what we hear through our news channels is not accurate, and sometimes completely inaccurate. We live in a fog of uncertainty, fear and disinformation; but also in the hope and faith that the Jewish people are important, are central, are serving a vital role in world history, now as ever.

This present horror shall pass. This is my hope and my faith.

Happy Passover.

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