Thomas Friedman’s latest New York Times column paints a chilling picture: Israel as a global pariah, Diaspora Jews under siege, and Israeli democracy hanging by a thread.
But in his rush to sound the alarm over Israel’s war in Gaza, he overlooks a deeper truth: the global campaign to demonize Israel and endanger Jews did not begin with the IDF’s response to October 7. It didn’t even start with the rallies held that very day – while Jews were still bleeding. This hatred has been building for decades.
On October 7, as over 1,200 Jews were raped, tortured burned alive, and butchered in their homes, the streets of Western cities erupted – not in grief, but in celebration. “Free Palestine” signs, Hamas flags, and chants of “from the river to the sea” appeared as bodies were still being counted. Protesters didn’t wait for Israel’s retaliation. They didn’t rally in sorrow. They rallied in support of terror.
Friedman ignores this grotesque reality. Why?
Because acknowledging it would mean confronting a dangerous ideological convergence he refuses to see: the red-green alliance.
Why is the world ignoring what Israel sees?
This alliance – the fusion of radical leftist (“red”) movements and Islamist (“green”) ideologies – has long sought to destabilize the West, erase Jewish history, and destroy Israel (red and green are also the two main colors of the Palestinian flag – coincidence?).
Its efforts are no conspiracy theory. They are well documented: from the Muslim Brotherhood’s 1991 internal memorandum outlining a plan to “destroy Western civilization from within,” to recent boasts by Hezbollah officials about using Western activists to foment unrest:
“We’re currently investing in protests and demonstrations in Western countries. We already have agitators on the ground, but it’s the Westerners themselves who will destabilize their own countries.”
These forces did not awaken in response to Israeli policies. They have been in motion for decades, and they leapt into action when they saw Jews being slaughtered. The protests didn’t erupt because Israel retaliated. They erupted because Israel exists.
That’s why mobs from New York to London to Sydney shouted “glory to the martyrs!” as Jewish civilians lay dead. That’s why keffiyehs appear at anti-ICE protests, and why chants like “globalize the intifada” are heard from Gaza to Mexico. The issue isn’t Gaza – it’s a campaign to hijack civilization, exploit guilt, and erase the Jewish state.
FRIEDMAN IS right to say this war has consequences for how the world views Israel. But he has it backward. The war didn’t ignite the hatred – it exposed it.
October 7 wasn’t a trigger. It was a reveal. A mirror held up to the world, showing us how quickly antisemitism erupts, masked as activism, cloaked in academic respectability.
Instead of acknowledging this, Friedman criticizes Israel’s morality in wartime, quoting retired pilots voicing ethical concerns. But morality without context becomes moral confusion. And morality without courage becomes surrender.
He claims Hamas is no longer an existential threat and urges Israel to retreat and hand Gaza to international actors. But Israel doesn’t fight wars to earn favorable headlines: We fight to ensure our children aren’t burned alive in their beds. Hamas is still holding hostages, still launching rockets, and still promising future massacres. The war is far from over.
Friedman warns that continued fighting will provoke antisemitism. But the harsher truth is this: if Jews cannot defend themselves, the world will not love us more. The international community will not embrace passive Jews. It will only pity us, use us, or forget us.
The only Jews respected today are those who stand up. That is why Israel exists.
The way to combat rising antisemitism is not by appeasing those who hate us. It is by standing tall against the red-green alliance. Thankfully, Israel is doing just that.
Friedman is right about one thing: this is a moment of reckoning. But not just for Israel. It’s a reckoning for every Diaspora Jew, every Western democracy, and every honest person who believes in freedom. The question is not whether Israel is moral. The question is: who has the moral clarity to support Israel as it fights evil – and who will continue to give cover to the mobs that cheered as Jews were slaughtered?
History will remember who stood with the Jewish people when we were under attack. And it will not be kind to those who offered excuses for those who celebrated our pain – even if they did so with the best of intentions.
The Jewish people will not apologize for surviving. We will not go quietly into the gas chambers of history.
And we will never let October 7 happen again.
The writer is the host of the Pulse of Israel daily video/podcast and the CEO of 12Tribe Films Foundation.
He is hosting the 3rd Annual Pulse of Israel Conference in Jerusalem and on livestream on Tuesday, June 17.