Articles by Robert Leikind

Israel is a small country. At its widest, it is only 60 miles. Missiles can easily blanket the country. Millions of Israelis are sadly accustomed to going into the safe rooms of their homes to weather missile attacks. The weekend assaults, however, introduce a new level of danger. Israel will feel compelled to act and protect its people, but also its future.

Even as hate-fueled anti-Asian rhetoric became commonplace and fear spread through Asian American communities, the danger was invisible to most Americans. Why? Two recent American Jewish Committee surveys concerning antisemitism in the United States may shed some light on this question.

Williams College has been ranked the country's top liberal arts college, but its sterling reputation was recently tarnished. The College Council, the campus student government, denied the Williams Initiative for Israel (WIFI) certification as a “registered student organization.”

Antisemitism, like other forms of bigotry, flourishes where reckless generalizations about a people are treated as truths.

Over the last decade, a number of mainline Protestant Churches, including some with a significant presence in New England, have adopted resolutions harshly critical of Israel. During the summer two more were passed by the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ.