Judith Bergman
The Hill
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Past articles by Judith:
Did Biden just endorse 'human rights with Chinese characteristics'?
Biden’s recent words suggest that he denies the universality of human rights altogether. → Read More
Giving Islamic Racism a Pass
JNS.org – “The Jews who lived in Europe would always bake a large pastry . . . mixed with the... → Read More
Do We Have to Support the Palestinian Authority?
JNS.org – It has become a platitude repeated ad nauseam by former Israeli security officials — the Palestinian Authority (PA) must not be... → Read More
Clintons honor wife of a terrorist
Last week, the Clinton Global Initiative honored Hanan al Hroub with a speaking slot at its annual meeting. She is the wife of a Palestinian Arab terrorist, Omar, who served 10 years in an Israeli prison for supplying chemicals used in a deadly bombing attack in Hebron that killed six Israelis in 1980. The attack […] → Read More
In Israel, a ‘safe space’ is where you hide from missiles
While the United States is trying to make sense of the news that the Obama administration handed billions of dollars, many of them in cash, over to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, Israel is conducting a nationwide emergency readiness exercise this week. The purpose is to test Israel’s ability to handle rocket […] → Read More
Attention Norway: Stick to Polar Bears, Disregard BDS
One of the world’s northernmost inhabited places is Longyearbyen, a small town of about 2,000 people in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Svalbard is a place of indescribable beauty, filled with an untouched arctic wilderness that will leave you in constant awe, simply grateful to be alive to witness such staggering wonders: untouched arctic… → Read More
How to Change People’s Minds on Israel
Anyone who has ever tried to persuade someone to change his mind on a contentious topic on which he holds strong views — let’s say, Israel — knows that most of the time it is a frustrating and unrewarding pursuit that frequently ends in failure. Israel advocates debate what strategies to pursue to achieve this, but the secret still appears to be as elusive as ever. No matter how many facts… → Read More
There's No Place Like Home
One of my favorite things about flying back to Israel from a long trip abroad is the first glimpse I catch of the land, seeing Israel in all its beauty from above and knowing that in a few more moments, I will be home. On my last trip back to Israel from a lengthy stay abroad, I started to get that at-home feeling at the Scandinavian airport from which I was departing. Since the flight was at… → Read More
On Islamic Terror, Europe Prefers to Remain Blind
As I was traveling to Europe this summer, it struck me what especially distinguishes Israeli from European security measures: Israeli security is about dealing with the harsh reality. European security relies largely on wishful thinking and denial. Take airports for example. Airport security has been an issue since Arab terrorists began hijacking airplanes in the 1970s. It is very far from… → Read More
What Europe Could Learn From Israel
If there is one thing at which Jews have traditionally excelled, it is adapting. Throughout history, Jews have managed to adapt to often overwhelmingly negative circumstances, while constantly maintaining and developing their culture. This ability to adapt occasionally gave way to an irresistible temptation among Jews to blend in with their surroundings and to stop actively practicing Judaism.… → Read More
Why Are Jews Not ‘Radicalized?’
According to the most popular and largely dominant theory of why Muslims become radicalized, the more they feel discriminated against, the more likely they are to engage in terrorism and join terrorist groups such as Islamic State. This theory claims to be research based. It is only fitting, therefore, to examine why it is not equally applicable to Jews, including Jews who live in Israel. After… → Read More
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Israel always plays nice. For decades, we have been allowing those who demonize and delegitimize Israel to cross our borders and do their dirty work against us on our own soil. The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become one very real symbol of this kind of “activist tourism,” where anti-Israel foreign activists gather to provoke fights with the Israel Defense Forces in order to gain propaganda… → Read More
Europe Is Not Israel
“France must live with terrorism,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after the massive terrorist attack in Nice last week. Understandably, his statement infuriated the French, who took to social media to express their opprobrium. And French President Francois Hollande, sounding almost as if he was being forced to speak, said, “We cannot deny that it was a terrorist attack.” After the… → Read More
If Israel Banned Burqas
Picture this: Israel donates millions of shekels every year to various NGOs in Europe, e.g., in Germany, France the UK and Scandinavia, on condition that they further Israeli foreign policy agendas on European soil. Now imagine the reaction if that picture were actually true: We would all go deaf from the hysterical squealing and breast-beating that would ensue about Israel being… → Read More
Do Houses Matter More Than Jews?
In the wake of the report of the Middle East Quartet, which called on Israel to cease settlement construction and expansion, the US State Department this week issued an unusually harsh statement against Israel. In it, the Obama Administration accused Israel of “systematically seizing Palestinian land,” with State Department spokesman John Kirby claiming that “settlement expansions and… → Read More
Once a Colonialist, Always a Colonialist
You can take the Europeans out of the former colonies, but you cannot take the colonialism out of the Europeans. That much is clear, at least as far as the European Union is concerned. In an interview with Israeli journalist and TV anchor Eylon Aslan-Levy, EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen was asked why the EU supports the French peace initiative when the Israeli prime minister has… → Read More
We Don’t Need the World’s Permission to Defend Ourselves
“Now there is one less of them,” a Danish Facebook user wrote gleefully after a 13-year-old Jewish girl was stabbed to death in her sleep in her bedroom by a Palestinian man. He thought that the heinous, cowardly murder of an innocent child in her sleep was simply a part of “the resistance” against the Jews. What kind of human being seeks to justify the cowardly murder of an innocent child in… → Read More
Ban Ki-Moon Does Not Deserve a Prize
Some things just do not make any sense, whichever way you look at them. Tel Aviv University’s award of the George S. Wise Medal, its highest honor, to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is one of those things. When I first heard about it, I thought someone had come up with an excellent piece of satire, because what could possibly make less sense than Israelis giving the UN chief, who presides… → Read More
The UN Makes World Peace With Yoga
Tuesday was International Yoga Day, an initiative of the United Nations. Irina Bokova, the UNESCO director general, gave a speech on the occasion to those who had been waiting in breathless anticipation. “This is a day of peace and harmony, with ourselves, with others and with the planet that is our home,” Bokova said, completely straight-faced. Nothing less. I am sure this came as a bit of a… → Read More
Is Antisemitism the New 'Normal' in Europe?
In Michel Houellebecq’s dystopian novel, Submission (2015), which takes place in an imaginary France in 2022, when the Muslim Brotherhood has won elections and rules the country in alliance with the Socialists, the non-Jewish protagonist, a professor at the Sorbonne, tells his Jewish student, who is escaping to Israel with her family, that there can be “no Israel for me.” This is one of the… → Read More