Berl Falbaum
Chanukah will never be the same again.
The Holiday of Lights will, from now on, be filled with sadness, and I will ask my children and grandchildren to never forget Bondi Beach in their future commemorations of the holiday.
My family will light a ninth candle — a special one for Bondi Beach — this year.
Underneath our grief are many questions. Why? How can this happen? What are the causes?
These are difficult questions filled with many complexities. I am not a scholar, psychiatrist or historian but some answers, for me at least, are obvious. I’ll deal with just a few of them.
First and perhaps foremost is the media’s relentless assault on Israel for its role in the war against Hamas. As I have written in many columns on the slanted coverage, hardly a day went by when there was not one story castigating the Jewish state whether it involved criticism from a world leader or emotional videos on TV news stations of Palestinian suffering.
And it was not subtle. Israel was the villain throughout the world.
Meanwhile, the terrorist organization’s charter calls for, not a two-state solution, but for killing every Jew hiding behind a tree or under a rock. That has been embraced by the world, if not overtly, then by its silence and holding Hamas basically blameless for the war.
Let us not forget about the United Nations (U.N.) which was always considered a neutral party by the media when they wrote about the conflict. Neutral? According to U.N. Watch, a monitoring organization, since 2006, the U.N. Human Rights Council has adopted 112 resolutions condemning Israel while it turned its sights on Syria 45 times and Iran 16 times.
By the end of 2025, the General Assembly will have considered 17 anti-Israel resolutions but only 11 for the rest of the world. That’s close to 200 countries.
This “neutral” international organization dedicated to world peace did not even condemn the hideous, murderous October 7 massacre; instead, the U.N. called for a ceasefire.
Now, let’s turn the focus on our home turf and examine some other possible contributing factors.
We have a president, Donald Trump — the supposed leader of the free world — who has trafficked in antisemitism for 10 years. In case some have forgotten:
• He distributed antisemitic campaign materials in his first campaign. A leaflet featured a sketch of Hillary Clinton set against a background of $100 bills with the headline, “History Made.” Her image was set over the Star of David with a caption, “Most corrupt candidate ever!”
• He called Jewish real estate businessmen “brutal killers…not very nice people,” but said they would vote for him because they wanted to protect their wealth. (When I read that, I did not believe it, but I found the text of the speech on the White House website.)
• He said the only people he wanted counting his money were those wearing yarmulkes every day.
• He often referred to “Shylock” when talking about money leaders.
• He feted antisemites at Mar-a-Lago, including the rapper, Ye, and the white supremacist, Nicholas Fuentes.
• He maintained that protestors in Charlottesville who vowed that “Jews will not replace us” included some very nice people.
• He embraced the Proud Boys, telling them to “Stand Back and Stand By,” and aligned himself also with the Oath Keepers. Both organizations have antisemitic leanings.
• His has appointed several people who have histories with antisemitism to his two administrations.
• He is close to Baptist pastors, John Hagee and Robert Jeffress, who believe Jews will go to hell for their beliefs. He invited both to deliver prayers at the ceremonies when the U.S. embassy was moved from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.
• He supports Israel not because it is a Jewish state but because Evangelicals, who make up much of his base, believe Israel will be the site of the second coming of Christ.
Jonathan Weisman in his book, “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump” (St. Martin’s Press, 2018) wrote that Trump ran the most antisemitic presidential campaign in modern U.S. history.
Now, to New York which has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. The mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, has a long record of antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric, going back to his college years.
In his campaign, Mamdani refused to support Israel as a Jewish state. He would not condemn the slogan, “globalize the intifada,” and, as the New York Times political columnist Bret Stephens pointed out, the Bondi Beach terrorists were, indeed, “globalizing the intifada.”
“…[T]hey (the terrorists) were taking to heart slogans like ‘resistance is justified’ and ‘by any means necessary’ which have become ubiquitous at anti-Israel rallies the world over,” Stephens wrote.
Surely, there are other causes for Bondi Beach, but when you have such powerful forces like the leader of the free world and the mayor of one of the world’s most politically potent cities, infecting our political discourse with anti-Jewish hate, it can lead to a Bondi Beach. And the media’s negative and distorted coverage of Israel gave them and others the cover they coveted.
And, sadly, both Trump and Mamdani, received substantial support from the Jewish electorate. Trump received 20-30 percent of the Jewish vote in the two presidential elections, and Mamdani’s total was even higher in the New York primary and general elections.
Finally, to emphasize: This has nothing to do with the many complex issues surrounding the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict. Disagreement — even vehement disagreement — is to be expected and can and should be dealt with civility.
This is about hate, bile, malice, prejudice, distain, hostility. And the world has failed to differentiate between the two. Enough of the pretentious “intellectual” arguments that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.”
So, our family will light the candles, admittedly with trembling hands and some tears, but like the Maccabees, we will celebrate. We will do so with heavy hearts but, while shaken and worried about the future of the Jewish people in the world, we will not surrender or lose hope.
My wife and I will pray that the light will continue to shine over the Jews not just for eight days, but for our great-great-great…
The Holiday of Lights will, from now on, be filled with sadness, and I will ask my children and grandchildren to never forget Bondi Beach in their future commemorations of the holiday.
My family will light a ninth candle — a special one for Bondi Beach — this year.
Underneath our grief are many questions. Why? How can this happen? What are the causes?
These are difficult questions filled with many complexities. I am not a scholar, psychiatrist or historian but some answers, for me at least, are obvious. I’ll deal with just a few of them.
First and perhaps foremost is the media’s relentless assault on Israel for its role in the war against Hamas. As I have written in many columns on the slanted coverage, hardly a day went by when there was not one story castigating the Jewish state whether it involved criticism from a world leader or emotional videos on TV news stations of Palestinian suffering.
And it was not subtle. Israel was the villain throughout the world.
Meanwhile, the terrorist organization’s charter calls for, not a two-state solution, but for killing every Jew hiding behind a tree or under a rock. That has been embraced by the world, if not overtly, then by its silence and holding Hamas basically blameless for the war.
Let us not forget about the United Nations (U.N.) which was always considered a neutral party by the media when they wrote about the conflict. Neutral? According to U.N. Watch, a monitoring organization, since 2006, the U.N. Human Rights Council has adopted 112 resolutions condemning Israel while it turned its sights on Syria 45 times and Iran 16 times.
By the end of 2025, the General Assembly will have considered 17 anti-Israel resolutions but only 11 for the rest of the world. That’s close to 200 countries.
This “neutral” international organization dedicated to world peace did not even condemn the hideous, murderous October 7 massacre; instead, the U.N. called for a ceasefire.
Now, let’s turn the focus on our home turf and examine some other possible contributing factors.
We have a president, Donald Trump — the supposed leader of the free world — who has trafficked in antisemitism for 10 years. In case some have forgotten:
• He distributed antisemitic campaign materials in his first campaign. A leaflet featured a sketch of Hillary Clinton set against a background of $100 bills with the headline, “History Made.” Her image was set over the Star of David with a caption, “Most corrupt candidate ever!”
• He called Jewish real estate businessmen “brutal killers…not very nice people,” but said they would vote for him because they wanted to protect their wealth. (When I read that, I did not believe it, but I found the text of the speech on the White House website.)
• He said the only people he wanted counting his money were those wearing yarmulkes every day.
• He often referred to “Shylock” when talking about money leaders.
• He feted antisemites at Mar-a-Lago, including the rapper, Ye, and the white supremacist, Nicholas Fuentes.
• He maintained that protestors in Charlottesville who vowed that “Jews will not replace us” included some very nice people.
• He embraced the Proud Boys, telling them to “Stand Back and Stand By,” and aligned himself also with the Oath Keepers. Both organizations have antisemitic leanings.
• His has appointed several people who have histories with antisemitism to his two administrations.
• He is close to Baptist pastors, John Hagee and Robert Jeffress, who believe Jews will go to hell for their beliefs. He invited both to deliver prayers at the ceremonies when the U.S. embassy was moved from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.
• He supports Israel not because it is a Jewish state but because Evangelicals, who make up much of his base, believe Israel will be the site of the second coming of Christ.
Jonathan Weisman in his book, “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump” (St. Martin’s Press, 2018) wrote that Trump ran the most antisemitic presidential campaign in modern U.S. history.
Now, to New York which has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. The mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, has a long record of antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric, going back to his college years.
In his campaign, Mamdani refused to support Israel as a Jewish state. He would not condemn the slogan, “globalize the intifada,” and, as the New York Times political columnist Bret Stephens pointed out, the Bondi Beach terrorists were, indeed, “globalizing the intifada.”
“…[T]hey (the terrorists) were taking to heart slogans like ‘resistance is justified’ and ‘by any means necessary’ which have become ubiquitous at anti-Israel rallies the world over,” Stephens wrote.
Surely, there are other causes for Bondi Beach, but when you have such powerful forces like the leader of the free world and the mayor of one of the world’s most politically potent cities, infecting our political discourse with anti-Jewish hate, it can lead to a Bondi Beach. And the media’s negative and distorted coverage of Israel gave them and others the cover they coveted.
And, sadly, both Trump and Mamdani, received substantial support from the Jewish electorate. Trump received 20-30 percent of the Jewish vote in the two presidential elections, and Mamdani’s total was even higher in the New York primary and general elections.
Finally, to emphasize: This has nothing to do with the many complex issues surrounding the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict. Disagreement — even vehement disagreement — is to be expected and can and should be dealt with civility.
This is about hate, bile, malice, prejudice, distain, hostility. And the world has failed to differentiate between the two. Enough of the pretentious “intellectual” arguments that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.”
So, our family will light the candles, admittedly with trembling hands and some tears, but like the Maccabees, we will celebrate. We will do so with heavy hearts but, while shaken and worried about the future of the Jewish people in the world, we will not surrender or lose hope.
My wife and I will pray that the light will continue to shine over the Jews not just for eight days, but for our great-great-great…
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