Opinion

Every year, following the Passover holiday, Israel enters a somber period culminating in Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut). Eight days earlier, Holocaust Day (Yom HaShoah) is observed with memorials throughout the country. Stories from the ever-decreasing contingent of survivors are shared on television, in schools, and even in one’s living room: Zikaron BaSalon (remembrance in the living room). Poignant accounts of both loss and survival reawaken us to the Jewish past and, at a time of festering antisemitism, alert us to the dangers of apathy.

New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino is no stranger to having partisan attacks lobbied at her. Her public political persona began with a viral video of her as a citizen confronting then Mayor Bill DeBlasio on the street. She then turned a defunct corner of Queens into the Republican hotspot in New York City, winning a council seat (and the admiration of New York Republicans statewide) for her efforts. The Democrats view her as public enemy #1, so they are using their governmental power to file ethics complaints in an attempt to bring her down.

Last week’s observance of Israeli independence was customarily observed by Modern Orthodox yeshivahs with the expected simulations of a shuk, where tables displayed falafel, shawarma, and Bissli, with flavors of Prigat to wash down these fast-food dishes. Israeli pop music played to set the mood.

85% percent of Democrats back blocking Israel arms,
underscoring party’s surrender to fringe

Last week, the Department of Justice dropped a political bombshell: A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on 11 criminal counts. These include six counts of wire fraud, four counts of false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. According to the indictment, between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals associated with some of the most notorious violent extremist groups in America, including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and the National Socialist Party of America. The very organization that built a nine-figure empire by positioning itself as the nation’s premier watchdog against “hate” is now accused of paying the haters themselves.

Zohran Mamdani assumed office as mayor of New York City amid high expectations from his democratic socialist base and rock-bottom expectations from everyone else. Behind his smarmy smile and his social-media presence is an empty suit whose socialist goals are getting a bucket of cold water dumped on them, alongside a series of appointments and decisions that have left residents either scratching their heads or running for their lives.