Are we seeing the decline of Western values?

By Rolene Marks

Sometimes I think that I have stepped into some kind of time machine that has whisked me back to a time in our history, where rhetoric demonizing the Jewish people was the precursor to the darkest chapter in our history. I feel like I have been transported back to Germany in the 1930’s, when Jews were routinely demonized and excluded from society before the Nuremberg laws and eventually the Holocaust would result in the wholesale slaughter of over six million European Jews. Our numbers have never recovered to pre-World War II statistics.

I know that for many people, I may sound alarmist and others may feel I am overreacting but it does feel like there is an ominous cloud that sits like a sword of Damocles over the Jewish people. The number one target for vitriol is the symbol of our nationhood – Israel.  Jews in diaspora communities are seen as fair game because they are seen as de facto representative of the Jewish state.

You can tell a society is in moral decay by the way it treats its Jews. Jews are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine – and what starts with us, never ends with us. Since time immemorial, this has been the cycle. Rinse and repeat.

Since the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7^th, before the bodies were cold, crowds gathered in cities around the world to celebrate the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. From the streets of the London to Times Square in New York and the Sydney Opera House and places in between, the gleeful cheering of the mass slaughter, rape and kidnapping was celebrated. Defiant chants of “gas the Jews” were heard on the steps of Australia’s great cultural landmark and similar rhetoric travelled around the world – including chants of “from the river to the sea” which calls for the eradication of the Jewish state.

The IDF were still clearing the communities of the south of terrorist infiltrators, and ZAKA had only started to collect the remains of our dead. The most bizarre phenomenon surfaced that Black Sabbath – the ability of many to both deny the atrocities – and celebrate them at the same time.

The years since the gruesome attacks of 7 October 2023 have seen an exponential rise in Jew hatred in its most current iteration – antizionism.

Zionism in its most simple definition is the belief in the right of the Jewish people to their nation state in their historical, ancestral homeland, Israel. It is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, a belief in our inalienable civil rights and the right of the modern State of Israel to exist. Determining that out of all the nations in the world, ONLY the Jewish people have no right to this basic civil right, is both racists and a denial of history, both biblical and antiquity.

Everything old is new again – albeit wearing more updated clothing and messaging. There really is nothing new under the sun. The genie out the bottle.

Sometimes it feels that wherever we turn, this ancient and irrational hatred is ubiquitous. Nobody is saying that Israel cannot be criticized. Criticism of government policies is the national sport of the Jewish state – and Israelis have a variety of robust views; but holding every citizen as well as diaspora Jews responsible for political decisions that you don’t like, is a sign of something a lot more nefarious.

Expecting Jews to take an ideological litmus or purity test by denouncing the Jewish state in order to be considered socially acceptable, has crossed the line between legitimate criticism and demonization. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the accusations of genocide, apartheid, mass starvation and colonization persist. As someone once said, antisemites or Jew haters know the Jew is not guilty – but they enjoy the process of watching him turn his pockets inside out to prove his innocence. History rhymes. We are not your collective Alfred Dreyfus, your cause celebre to be falsely accused and humiliated in the process.

We don’t need world leaders posing with Holocaust survivors or making their annual pilgrimage to Auschwitz or remembrance ceremonies looking suitably solemn for the obligatory photo op, while piously declaring Never Again. Never Again is now. We don’t need you making vows to dead Jews. We need you taking action against the threats posed to living Jews. The Jews who are rapidly ostracized from society. The Jews terrified to seek medical help because of growing antisemitism in healthcare. The stories that have already been told are terrifying. The Jewish businesses, more often than not restaurants and bakeries facing threats and intimidation until they are forced to close. The Jews, many of them Israeli, routinely humiliated and threatened at vacation spots. The rabid pandering to sectarian politics which necessitates the routine demonization of the Jewish state for political expediency. The unwillingness of the media to report events that are related to Israel with balance – and the blatant refusal to correct misinformation and malinformation. The hate marches on the streets of capitals calling for the extermination of the Jewish state. The fear of Jewish students to go to university or school because of the growing climate of hate. Jewish employees reporting hate in the work place. The stars of stage, screen and new media like podcasters with their vile conspiracy theories, Holocaust revisions and demonization of Jews and the Jewish state. The political backbenchers and leaders currying votes because pandering to ideological whims pays more than maintaining a strong, moral centre. The abandonment of organisations whose Jews marched proudly with in their fights for civil rights, who have turned their backs on us in our hour of need.

We don’t need your platitudes. We don’t need your words of condemnation. We don’t need your photo opportunities. We need action!

Suicidal empathy is costing us our lives. Trust in institutions has eroded. Jews have lost trust and faith in many  institutions including law enforcement, judicial systems, local and state government and many civic organisations for their failure to enforce the law or to prosecute the truth and for their growing inability to not bow to the mob baying for our blood.

Are the halcyon days for Jews in many western countries over? This is not the first time in our history that we have endured this type of gross discrimination. It is not the first time in our history where we are steadily eroded from publishing, the arts, sports and other industries. It is the first time in our history we have a nation state of our own. Israel. It is also very important to remember that we are NOT powerless. Jews have been part of the fabric of society that have built their countries. We need to remember we still have the law on our side and use it as an instrument to fight back against hate. We must expose the haters, let them know that there are consequences for their actions. Educate the next generation and set an example for them about what it looks like to be proud, knowledgeable and strong. This is a fight where we are all called up to be foot soldiers, we cannot abdicate responsibility. Think about how you can use your own unique skills to organize, educate and fight back against the hatred When future generations ask how did you fight back, how did you show up in the post 7 October Jewish world, what will your answer be? There are so many ways to express our pride in our identity while sending a resounding

We can defend ourselves in a myriad of ways, the big question is whether or not the West is prepared to fight for its values amid constant assaults by those who would see them destroyed. We are the mirror of the western value system. When our values and identities are attacked, you have to ask yourself, who is next?

The question is, are you up for the fight to defend them?

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).

Arnold Roth’s 25-Year fight for justice for his daughter’s murder and accountability for a Hamas terrorist.

By Jonathan Feldstein

This week is the 25^th anniversary of one of the most horrific terror attacks in Israel during what is referred to as the Second Intifada. During the period from late 2000 through the first half of 2005, more than 1000 Israelis were killed and several thousand wounded as a result of countless Palestinian Arab suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, and more. While hardly a week went by without some such terror attack, the August 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in central Jerusalem remains one of the most vivid and vulgar, still today. 

Among the dozens killed and injured, 15-year-old Malki Roth was one of the victims for whom justice has yet to be served. Since then, her father, Arnold Roth, has worked tirelessly to bring the mastermind of his daughter’s murder to justice. Roth discussed this in a powerful and emotionally charged conversation on “Inspiration from Zion,” marking the anniversary of his daughter’s murder, and his continued efforts to bring the terrorist mastermind to justice. The conversation reveals not only the enduring pain of a grieving father but also a scathing critique of:

– international inaction

– Jordanian defiance, and

–  American reluctance to enforce its own laws.

On August 9, 2001, Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, then a 21-year-old Jordanian journalism student, deliberately targeted the Sbarro pizzeria because it was filled with Jewish children. Tamimi was not the bomber, but the one who selected the site and guided the Hamas suicide bomber there carrying a guitar case filled with explosives and shrapnel to maximize the carnage. Fifteen people were killed immediately, including Malki, an American-Israeli citizen. 130 were wounded. Roth described the period leading up to the attack as tense but not yet at the peak of the Second Intifada violence. “Had we known that Malki and her best friend… were going … into the center of town to take a quick lunch,” he said, his wife Frimet “would have said, don’t go.”

Tamimi was arrested, and tried in an Israeli military court, where she proudly confessed to the crime. Roth noted chillingly:

 “She admitted joyously, with a smile on her face that chilled the three judges.”

Yet in 2011, as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, Israel released 1,027 terrorists including Tamimi. The Roths were only informed of her impending release by a phone call from an Israeli official the morning after the deal was announced.

Since her release, Tamimi has lived openly in Jordan as a celebrity, hosting a television program that glorified terrorism and incited violence against Jews. Roth described her transformation:

“She became a phenomenal performer for the promotion of the redemptive value of killing Jews… This is a compelling story.”

Other than the unthinkable loss of his daughter, the core of Roth’s frustration lies in the failure of the United States to secure Tamimi’s extradition and bring her to justice. Malki was an American citizen, and the U.S. has both an extradition treaty with Jordan and domestic law allowing prosecution of terrorists who murder Americans abroad. Charges were filed against Tamimi in 2013 and unsealed in 2017. Despite this, Jordan has refused to comply, citing a technicality in the treaty that Roth and legal experts dismiss as a self-invented loophole. The U.S. has failed to insist of Jordan’s compliance.

Roth expressed deep disillusionment with the U.S. response. In a recent letter from a senior U.S. official, he was told the administration was doing more than any other to bring Tamimi to justice. His reaction was blunt: “I’m flabbergasted… They’re telling me things that I know that I tell them.” He added, “No Attorney General, no senior figure… has ever responded to us… The United States has betrayed its own values.”

Roth emphasized that the issue transcends personal grief. “If we fail to act in the face of grotesquely open and provocative actions by individuals and countries who twist terrorism… then we’re all lost.” He rejected pity as a motivator, instead calling for a defense of core principles: “Hug your children… remember what we can do… We’re different, and if we’re different, we’ve got to guard that difference.”

The conversation also addressed media complicity. Roth criticized BBC Arabic for platforming Tamimi and promoting narratives that glorify her actions. He has worked with media watchdog CAMERA to expose these issues and highlight the broadcaster’s willful failures if not compliance.

At the 25th anniversary of Malki’s murder, the Roths have launched a petition urging the U.S. Secretary of State to enforce the extradition treaty and bring Tamimi to justice in America. Roth stressed: “This is really an effort by my wife and me… We need as many [signatures] as we can get.”

Roth’s message is both personal and universal. The failure to extradite Tamimi represents more than bureaucratic inertia. It signals a troubling willingness to subordinate justice to political convenience. For Roth, this is not merely about one terrorist or one family. It is about whether the United States and the international community will uphold the values of accountability, truth, and the protection of innocent life.

The 25^th anniversary of the Sbarro bombing and Malki Roth’s murder come a month before the 25^th anniversary of the September 11 terror attack on U.S. soil killing 3000. The attacks took place thousands of miles apart, but the same Islamic terrorist ideology is the perpetrator. For justice and in memory of the victims, we cannot sit by and allow those who carried out these acts to walk free, especially where there is law in place to bring them to justice.

As Israel and the Jewish world prepare to commemorate the anniversary of the Sbarro attack on August 9, there have been hopeful developments, but Roth knows better than to get his hopes up too much after all these years of justice denied. But it’s not just about Israel and the Jewish world. Bringing terrorists who murder Americans to justice is a global issue.

Roth’s words serve as a sobering reminder:

true justice remains elusive, but the fight for it must continue. He refuses to let his daughter’s memory be erased or her murderer celebrated. Their call is clear: sign the petition, demand action, and reject the normalization of terror. (Follow the full conversation with Arnold Roth on Inspiration from Zion by video or by audio.)

About the writer:

Jonathan Feldstein ­­­­- President of the US based non-profit Genesis123 Foundation whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians – is a freelance writer whose articles appear in The Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Algemeiner Journal, The Jewish Press, major Christian websites and more.

While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves.  LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).