UNSTOPPABLE NEWS FORCE: HomeOpinionCommentary Trump moves to counter hatred of Christians and Jews Left claims it doesn't exist Hatred of Christians and Jews illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times Hatred of Christians and Jews illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times more > Print Commentary By Don Feder - Sunday, February 16, 2025 OPINION: President Trump believes the hand of God saved him from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania. Now Mr. Trump is extending his hand to persecuted Christians and Jews — not in Africa or the Middle East but right here in America. At the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 6, the president announced a task force to combat anti-Christian bias headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, a passionate defender of First Amendment freedom of religion. “While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government and in the public square,” Mr. Trump proclaimed. You Might Also Like PAID Berries for Breakfast? Doctor Says These are Aging Seniors (Avoid At All Costs) (thehealthyfat.com) Female Athletes Who Are Dominating 2024PAID Female Athletes Who Are Dominating 2024 (sportsbrief.com) This drew the predictable response from the left. USA Today columnist Chris Brennan insisted, “There is no bias” against Christians. If he went to a circus, he’d miss the elephants. Americans United for Separation of Church and State squawked that the task force would “misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry and discrimination.” Fighting bigotry and discrimination justifies bigotry and discrimination? The group should change its name to Americans United for the Separation of Rhetoric and Reason. TIMESMYView all Trump’s record-breaking start rattles Washington, rankles rivals, but earns raves from voters Editorial Confirm Kash Patel as FBI chief Trump starting task force to combat anti-Christian actions; AG Bondi to lead it In a 2023 survey, 60% of White evangelicals said they faced a lot of discrimination. From May 2020 through November 2024, there were 366 attacks on Catholic churches in 43 states, including arson, vandalism and desecration. The Justice Department’s civil rights division prosecuted more than 50 pro-life activists involved in sidewalk counseling, while 96 violent attacks on pregnancy resource centers and pro-life offices were largely ignored. The FBI’s office in Richmond, Virginia, produced an 11-page memo that suggested a link between traditional Catholics and domestic terrorism. After the bizarre document was leaked, it was hastily withdrawn. Still, it reflected the mindset of federal law enforcement under President Biden. Comparing Mr. Trump and his predecessor, CatholicVote charges: “Our second Catholic President facilitated the persecution and prosecution of Christians who disagreed with his anti-Christian agenda, while the current president stands strong for the safety and religious freedom of Christians everywhere.” While the president moved to counter Christophobia, he also joined the fight against antisemitism. The Department of Justice announced a task force to combat antisemitism in schools and colleges, explaining, “Jewish students have faced an unprecedented barrage of discrimination,” including assault, harassment and intimidation. In testimony before Congress in 2023, the presidents of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania equivocated on whether calls for genocide violate their codes of conduct on harassment. Claudine Gay, then president of Harvard, absurdly declared, “When speech crosses into conduct, we take action.” In other words, until the pro-Hamas mob begins setting up gas chambers on the quad, Ivy League schools will take a wait-and-see approach. Rep. Elise Stefanik, Mr. Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said the testimony was “pathetic and morally bankrupt.” The president has promised to revoke the visas of foreign students engaged in anti-Jewish demonstrations. Antisemitism has reached epidemic proportions. In the three months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities in Israel, there were four times the number of attacks on Jews as in the same period the year before. Jews are 2% of the U.S. population but accounted for 68% of all religion-based hate crimes reported in 2023. I wonder whether moving against this evil constitutes a “misuse of religious freedom to justify bigotry and discrimination.” Better check with the Orwellian Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Crimes against Christians and Jews should not be viewed in isolation but as part of a far-ranging war against faith and religious values. Anti-Christian animus is driven by the awareness that committed Christians uphold biblical values, including normative sexual morality, putting them at odds with abortion on demand, transgenderism and the LGBTQ agenda. Most American Jews aren’t that religious. But those who are the most visibly Jewish — Orthodox Jews and Hasidim — have borne the brunt of antisemitic attacks driven by the left and radical Islam. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, observes that the worst antisemites are on the left. “They are well-educated and occupy elite seats in our institutions,” Mr. Donohue said. Like Harvard and MIT? At the National Prayer Breakfast, Mr. Trump confessed: “I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. Let’s bring religion back; let’s bring God back into our lives.” For the left, those are fighting words, which is why its response to Mr. Trump’s efforts to fight religious discrimination is borderline hysterical. • Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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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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