Liberal Jews abandoned by the left (image credit: Adam Milstein)

As the world celebrated the start of 2024, Jews and Israelis were still mourning the lives lost on October 7^th and anxiously awaiting the return of over 100 hostages. We have changed forever, morphing into the “October 8^th Jew”, trying to navigate life as usual while struggling through the constant negativity, blatant antisemitism, and dark daily news about another fallen Israeli soldier as a cost of fighting the war with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah - proxies of Iran.

At the same time, many American Jews realized they have been abandoned by the political left and are now standing alone, forced to navigate through a reality where all facets of the political extremes chant for our demise.

In our most recent article, Liberal Jews Feel Abandoned by the Left – What’s Next?, published this month, we highlight the rejection experienced by left-leaning American Jews as they witness how numerous civil, educational, and social rights organizations abandoned the Jewish community during their darkest hour. Islamo-Leftist groups were able to push their radical agendas, silencing and diminishing our pain by ignoring or celebrating the rape, torture, kidnapping, and beheading of Jews, while we were the ones standing accused of “genocide” and “war crimes”. We conclude by providing practical insight for the new “October 8^th Jew”, to become a politically sovereign American who no longer votes blindly for any party, nor supports leftist organizations that refuse to condemn the rape and slaughter by Hamas.

In a previously published article, The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Policies: A Danger to Jews and All Americans, we highlighted similar issues, discussing how the goal of DEI has been deployed by extremist Islamo-Leftist groups to advance a radical agenda that threatens the Jewish community and undermines fundamental American values. We elaborated that the root cause for the far-left hatred of the Jewish people stems from the oppressor/oppressed limited reality of DEI in which all conflicts are packaged in a binary framework. Even before October 7^th, DEI used Israel as a façade talking point to hide their true anti-American agenda. But the silence of many DEI officials to rape, torture, and murder of Jews, and their support for Hamas as a legitimate freedom movement says it all.

If you are in Los Angeles, we invite you to attend the Impact Forum in-person event on February 1^st, 2024, at 6:00 pm. This philanthropic gathering will focus on standing with Israel and the Jewish people by raising and providing financial support to vetted organizations working relentlessly to support IDF soldiers and organizations using lawfare to fight campus antisemitism. Please confirm your attendance here.

If you're interested in partnering with us to fight antisemitism, support the State of Israel, and protect American democracy, we would love to hear from you.

Lastly, we invite you to learn about Zachor Legal Institute, a legal think tank and advocacy organization that is taking the lead in creating a framework to wage a legal battle against anti-Israel and antisemitic movements in America.

Wishing you all the best,

Gila and Adam Milstein

Would You Like to Join the L.A. Impact Forum?

The Impact Forum is an exclusive network of philanthropists based in Los Angeles. Its mission is to connect, empower, and mobilize like-minded donors with exceptional nonprofit organizations that fight antisemitism, strengthen American Democracy, and support the State of Israel.

Our next Impact Forum dinner on Thursday, February 1st, will feature a panel of experts discussing their work to fight antisemitism on campus using lawfare, and a keynote speech by former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.

The goal of the Impact Forum events is to raise and provide financial support to innovative and effective nonprofits.

As Liberal Jews Feel abandoned by the Left — What’s next?

This article was originally published in the Jerusalem Post on January 10th, 2024.

"After the October 7th terrorist attack, prior to Israel’s ground operation in Gaza, the true sentiment of the left towards Jews was exposed. Protests on college campuses, airports, freeways, bridges, outside synagogues, and Holocaust museums forced Jewish Americans to face a stark reality. Leftist and their Muslim allies were exposed not only as anti-Israel but as plainly anti-Jewish groups. Mobilizing under a guise of liberation (“From the River to the Sea”), and civil rights (“justice” in Palestine), one thing became increasingly clear – for a large coalition of leftists and Muslims in America, Jews have no right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland and deserve no safety anywhere."

Stand By Me with Gila Milstein

"With a warm heart and open arms, Stand By Me is the extended family in support of its brothers and sisters on their road to recovery."

Gila Milstein

President

Stand by Me is a nonprofit organization led by Gila Milstein since 2009. Its mission is to provide daily support to Israeli-American cancer patients and their families living in Los Angeles.

Please consider donating to ensure that Stand by Me can continue to fulfill its mission to make sure no one faces cancer alone in our community.

Watch this heartwarming video here to learn more about Stand By Me

Stand By Me is in need of psychologists and therapists who can donate their time to provide emotional support and assistance to our members and their families.

If you would like to join our family of volunteers, please fill out this form or call our office at (818) 664-4100.

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."

For more information, please visit our website at www.StandByMeLA.org

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Policies: A Danger to Jews and All Americans

This article was originally published in the Jerusalem Post on July 5th, 2022.

"It is deeply troubling that DEI personnel and programming, which is ostensibly committed to combatting bias and hate, is actively contributing to antisemitism in the American education system. As I have repeatedly warned , though, antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem – it is an American problem. DEI policies may disproportionately target and harm Jewish students, but the DEI agenda ultimately seeks to undermine and replace fundamental American values and replace it with its own radical vision. As we’ve seen before, what starts with elites quickly spreads to society as a whole. We must combat these ethically corrupted DEI efforts before they do more harm to Jewish students and ultimately all Americans."

Spotlight Organization

Zachor Legal Institute is a nonprofit organization that uses lawfare to combat antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel.

Zachor creates precedents via legal scholarship and activism that are regularly referenced in legal environments. Their projects include support for anti-BDS state laws (including submitting amicus briefs to defend legislation), highlighting the connections between the BDS movement and terrorist organizations, filing Title VI complaints and providing legal support to Jewish students, and investigating Middle Eastern foreign funding of U.S. universities.

Since October 7^th, Zachor has been extremely focused on fighting the wave of Jew-hatred that has swept the country. Notably, Zachor’s efforts were instrumental in shutting down Palestinian terror financing using PayPal and Stripe, pushing back against K-12 Ethnic Studies that delegitimizes Israel, creating a legal framework using existing U.S. civil rights laws to demand that the Department of Justice prosecute universities and anti-Israel activist groups for depriving Jewish students of the right to speech as well as to university education, and supporting other pro-Israel organizations and individuals with legal advice on specific matters that have arisen as a result of the war.

Please join the Milstein Family Foundation in supporting Zachor Legal Institute by making a tax deductible donation here.

MFF is proud to support Zachor Legal Institute

Let's Connect!