Science and alt religion has been brutal to Christianity and Judaism. Japanese cardinal supports efforts to aid Gaza, but questions plans to bring injured to Japan Sign In John Allen Jr. Staff Categories Videos / Podcast Support Us About Us Contact Us Vance says Trump administration will continue to prioritize religious liberty John Lavenburg By John Lavenburg Feb 6, 2025 | National Correspondent Share Vance says Trump administration will continue to prioritize religious liberty Vice President JD Vance speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (Credit: Alex Brandon/AP.) Listen NEW YORK – In touting the accomplishments of the first Trump administration, Vice President JD Vance assured a room full of advocates that the second Trump administration will continue to prioritize advancing religious freedom both domestically and abroad. “You shouldn’t have to leave your faith at the door of your people’s government, and under President Trump’s leadership you won’t have to,” Vance said Feb. 5, noting that the administration “is intent on not just restoring but expanding the achievements of the first four years and certainly of the last two weeks.” Vance, a Catholic, highlighted that in his first term President Donald Trump advanced religious freedom through his foreign policy with China, across Europe, and throughout Africa and the Middle East, including by rescuing persecuted pastors, and bringing relief to faith groups terrorized by ISIS. Domestically, the vice president said that Trump’s first term was “a new high water mark for religious Americans,” with decisive actions to defend religious liberty, combat anti-Semitism, preserve the conscience rights of hospital workers and faith-based ministries as they provided care, and remove barriers for religious organizations and businesses to work with the federal government. As for the current Trump administration, Vance said it has already made important progress through executive orders “to end the weaponization of the federal government against religious Americans,” citing the pardoning of several pro-life protesters who were arrested for blockading abortion entrances, and through an executive order that prevents federal censorship. “Now, our administration believes we must stand for religious freedom not just as a legal principle – as important as that is –but as a lived reality both within our own borders and especially outside of them,” Vance said in a roughly 12 minute long address at the International Religious Freedom Summit, held Feb. 4 and 5 in Washington, D.C. Vance then added that part of protecting religious freedom initiatives means recognizing in foreign policy the difference between the regimes that respect religious freedom and those that do not, which he said the administration stands ready to do. “Both at home and abroad we have much more to do to more fully secure religious liberty for all people of faith,” the vice president concluded. Earlier, Vance spoke about faith as a bedrock of the nation’s culture, noting that it “calls us to treat one another with dignity, to lift up those in need, and to build nations grounded in moral principle.” He also said religious liberty isn’t just about the legal safeguards, but “fostering a culture in which faith can thrive so that men and women can fully appreciate the God given rights of their fellow citizens.” “Church was a place, and still is, where people of different races, different backgrounds, different walks of life came together in commitment to their shared communities, and of course in commitment to their God,” the vice president explained. “It was a place where the CEO of a company and the worker of a company stood equal before their worship of God. It was a place where people united not just in the pews but in acts of service on mission trips, charity drives, and in rallying around one another in times of sickness, or grief, or, of course, in celebration of new life.” “Are these not the kinds of bonds and virtues that lawmakers today should strive to cultivate?” Vance asked. “Well, I’m pleased to say that they certainly were in the first Trump administration, and they will be even more so in the second Trump administration.”
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AntisemitismCanada In 2026, Tulsa And Panama Are Courting Canadian Jews As Antisemitism Redefines The Cost Of Staying As antisemitism reaches unprecedented levels across Canada, Jewish families and professionals are quietly reassessing their futures, and some are being actively courted elsewhere. Ron East By: Ron East December 31, 2025 SHARE A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options A growing number of Canadian Jews are exploring relocation options as antisemitism intensifies and confidence in public protection erodes. (Image: Illustration.) TORONTO — For generations, Canada sold itself as a country where Jews could thrive without constantly looking over their shoulders. That assumption no longer holds for a growing number of Canadian Jews, particularly in the aftermath of October 7 and the months that followed. What has changed is not only the number of antisemitic incidents. It is the atmosphere. Public hostility has been normalized. Jewish schools, synagogues, and community centres operate under permanent security protocols. Anti-Jewish intimidation is increasingly framed as political expression. Enforcement is inconsistent. Accountability is rare. When Jewish life requires constant risk assessment, mobility stops being a luxury. It becomes a rational act of self-preservation. That reality helps explain why, in 2026, two very different destinations, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Panama, are appearing with growing frequency in serious conversations among Canadian Jews who have the means and flexibility to move. This is not a panic migration. It is a strategic recalculation. Canada’s new warning lights Jewish Canadians represent a small fraction of the population, yet account for a vastly disproportionate share of reported hate crimes. This is not a perception problem. It is a documented pattern. More troubling than the statistics themselves is the message many Jews hear in response: concern, sympathy, and context, but little deterrence. Protests that spill into harassment are tolerated. Jewish institutions are targeted repeatedly. Antisemitism disguised as antizionism is parsed endlessly rather than confronted directly. The result is a slow erosion of confidence in the state’s willingness or ability to enforce equal protection. When a community moves from assuming it belongs to hoping nothing happens today, the social contract has already been fractured. It is within this context that Tulsa and Panama are not merely attracting attention but actively courting. Lech Le’Tulsa and intentional Jewish welcome Tulsa is not presenting itself as a refuge city. It is presenting itself as a place that wants Jewish life to grow. In 2026, that effort has taken concrete form through Lech Le’Tulsa, a Jewish-focused relocation initiative designed to attract Jewish families, professionals, and entrepreneurs to the Tulsa area. The program combines relocation assistance with intentional community building and access to Jewish infrastructure. The name is deliberate. Lech Lecha, the biblical call to go forth and build a future, is not branding by accident. It speaks directly to a Jewish historical instinct that understands movement not as retreat, but as agency. Lech Le’Tulsa offers what many Canadian Jews increasingly feel is missing at home: A clear signal that Jewish presence is welcomed, not merely accommodated Immediate access to synagogues, schools, and Jewish communal life A civic environment where Jewish identity is not treated as a liability The financial incentives matter, but the social architecture matters more. Tulsa is offering a landing ramp. It is saying, we are prepared for you to arrive. That clarity stands in stark contrast to the ambiguity Canadian Jews experience when their safety concerns are acknowledged but endlessly deferred. Panama and the appeal of optionality Panama represents a different but equally rational response to insecurity. For Canadian Jews with international mobility, Panama offers residency pathways tied to investment, business activity, or long-term economic contribution. It also offers something increasingly valuable: optionality. Panama has an established Jewish community, a comparatively lower cost of living, and an immigration framework that openly courts skilled and capital-carrying residents. For some, it is a permanent relocation. For others, it is a second base, a contingency plan, or a future passport pathway. What matters is not the destination itself, but the logic behind the choice. When Jews seek second options, they are not rejecting diaspora life. They are applying historical lessons. Jewish continuity has always depended on redundancy, resilience, and the ability to move before crisis becomes catastrophe. The Zionist lens Canadians prefer to ignore Zionism does not deny the legitimacy of diaspora life. It insists that Jews must never be dependent on the goodwill of others for safety or equality. That lesson was written in blood long before the modern State of Israel existed. Israel institutionalized it at a national level. Individual Jews apply it on a personal level. When Canadian Jews explore Tulsa or Panama, they are not abandoning Canada in anger. They are responding rationally to warning signs. They are building leverage. They are ensuring their children have options. This is what Zionist consciousness looks like outside Israel. It is quiet, pragmatic, and unsentimental. An indictment Canada should take seriously Tulsa and Panama are not superior societies. They are intentional ones. Tulsa is saying, we want contributors, and we are prepared to integrate them. Panama is saying, we want residents and investment, and we have clear legal pathways. Canada, too often, is saying something else entirely: we are sorry you feel unsafe, but the politics are complicated. A serious country does not treat antisemitism as a public relations challenge. It treats it as a threat to civic order. That requires enforcement, deterrence, and moral clarity, including the willingness to name antisemitism even when it hides behind fashionable political language. Until that happens, Canada should not be surprised when Jews quietly explore exit ramps. The bottom line In 2026, the fact that Tulsa and Panama can plausibly court Canadian Jews is not an oddity. It is a warning. When antisemitism reaches levels that fundamentally alter how Jews calculate their futures, movement becomes strategy. History teaches Jews to act before apologies arrive too late. Canada still has time to reverse this trajectory. But time matters. And Jews, having learned this lesson repeatedly, are no longer inclined to wait.
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