The following is an excerpt from the new book “The Battle For The Jewish State: How Israel — And America — Can Win,” by Victoria Coates (December 17, 2024, Encounter Books). * * * The Dreyfus Affair While the Holocaust executed by Nazi Germany may be the most sensational example of antisemitism in Europe, hatred of Jews has been a perennial and insidious evil on the Continent since antiquity, gaining strength through the medieval period and persisting into our own time. Despised as an “inferior race,” the Jews became Europe’s routine outsider scapegoats. One of the most infamous instances of such scapegoating, the Dreyfus Affair in late-nineteenth-century France, was a harbinger of horrors to come—horrors that would necessitate the establishment of a Jewish state that would, in time, become a critical ally to the United States. During the Third Republic, Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish army officer, was accused of selling military secrets to the Germans, including cutting-edge French weapon designs.(1) A document allegedly in Dreyfus’s handwriting seemed to prove his guilt, and in January 1895 he was convicted of treason by a closed court martial. In a humiliating ceremony formally expelling him from the French army, Dreyfus’s medals and insignia of rank were torn from his uniform and his sword broken, and he was paraded in front of the assembled officers, who jeered him as a traitor and a Jew. He was shipped off to Devil’s Island, the notorious penal colony off the coast of French Guiana, where the mortality rate was so high that it was known as the “dry guillotine.” Alfred Dreyfus, an artillery captain in the French Army accused of anonymously sending secret documents to the German embassy in Paris, is tried for treason before a court-martial at Rennes. (Photo by Henry Guttmann Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) That should have been the end of Dreyfus, but the lack of substantial evidence remained troubling to some observers, as did the growing impression that he had been targeted primarily because he was a Jew. Eventually it was revealed that it would have been logistically impossible for Dreyfus to have had dealings with the Germans in question. Another suspect emerged, one whose handwriting more closely matched the incriminating document than Dreyfus’s. The case that had once seemed open and shut began to look like a set-up. The Dreyfus Affair was hotly debated between the traditionalists, who saw the controversy as a Jewish plot to undermine traditional French military culture, and progressives, who believed the persecution of Dreyfus was a shameful manifestation of antisemitism masked by the anti-German sentiment of that period following the Franco-Prussian War. The new French President Félix Faure, who had inherited the scandal, became the de facto leader of the traditionalists, while the journalist and future prime minister Georges Clemenceau spearheaded the effort to clear Dreyfus. On January 13, 1898, the front page of Clemenceau’s newspaper L’Aurore screamed “J’Accuse … !” Distilling the concerns and misgivings about the Dreyfus Affair into one resonant phrase, the headline introduced an open letter to President Faure by the critic and author Émile Zola. It was the most detailed account of the injustices done to Dreyfus and a warning to the president that the scandal threatened to engulf his administration. Acknowledging that his letter potentially violated the law as libel, Zola defiantly declared, “My fiery protest is the cry of my very soul.”(2) Zola was duly convicted of libel and fled to England, but the case against Dreyfus began to fall apart. A second court martial convicted him again but commuted his sentence, and ten days later he was pardoned by a new president. Acceptance of the pardon required an admission of guilt, but Dreyfus was fully exonerated in 1906. While justice had finally been done for Dreyfus, Jews sensed a growing threat. Many believed that they could no longer depend on assimilating into European culture, as had been the hope, but needed to establish their own state to protect themselves. The Dreyfus Affair inspired the pioneering Zionist Theodor Herzl to write The Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution to the Jewish Problem in 1896, laying out the case for reestablishing a Jewish nation in the Holy Land. The concept was hardly new, as Jews had been living in the region for millennia and had governed it as far back as the time of King David. But for the Austro-Hungarian Herzl, the pogroms of isolation and marginalization of the nineteenth century made the project immediate and urgent. As a young man he had hoped that enlightenment would lead to the end of antisemitism. However, he came to believe that hatred of Jews in Europe was so entrenched that the only real solution was a state for Jews in their ancestral homeland, where they could live and worship in peace and security. Herzl pressed his case with everyone from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The organizations that would eventually provide the foundation of the Israeli government, notably the Zionist Congress and the Jewish Agency, were formed. Herzl’s proposition was controversial, but it was also powerful, and modern Zionism gained steam after his death in 1904. Had his vision of a safe haven for Jews been realized in the early twentieth century, one of the greatest evils in history might have been avoided. But it was not yet to be. The gathering antisemitism he identified in European society spread into the mainstream in Germany in the 1920s, feeding on the general discontent following Germany’s humiliating loss in World War I. * * * CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE * * * Victoria Coates is the Vice President of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Coates previously served as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy and Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa on the NSC, both for President Donald J. Trump, as well as the National Security Advisor for Senator Ted Cruz. Coates holds a B.A. from Trinity College, a M.A. from Williams College, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, all in art history. This excerpt is published by permission from Encounter Books. “The Battle For The Jewish State: How Israel — And America — Can Win,” by Victoria Coates (December 17, 2024, Encounter Books). © 2024 by The Heritage Foundation Foreword © 2024 Ted Cruz.  The views expressed in this book excerpt do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire. * * * NOTES: CHAPTER TWO: WHY ISRAEL? AMERICA AND THE JEWISH STATE Victoria C. Gardner Coates, David’s Sling: A History of Democracy in Ten Works of Art (New York: Encounter Books, 2016), 240–42. Émile Zola, “J’Accuse . . . !,” L’Aurore, January 13, 1898.

As President Joe Biden publicly swore he wouldn’t pardon his son, Hunter, he was reportedly discussing that very pardon behind the scenes. Hunter was convicted in June on three felony counts of lying on paperwork to purchase a gun and owning the firearm as a drug addict, The Daily Wire reported at the time. Before Hunter’s conviction, President Biden publicly announced that he would not pardon his son if he were convicted on the federal charges. Biden reaffirmed this position after Hunter was convicted. But according to a Sunday report from NBC News, during this same period, Joe Biden had private discussions about pardoning his son. “The president has discussed pardoning his son with some of his closest aides at least since Hunter Biden’s conviction in June, said two people with direct knowledge of the discussions about the matter. They said it was decided at the time that he would publicly say he would not pardon his son even though doing so remained on the table,” the outlet reported. On Sunday, Biden did, in fact, issue a sweeping pardon for his son, absolving him for any crimes “he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions).” CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE In 2014, Joe Biden was vice president of the United States, and Hunter, without any experience or credentials, was appointed to the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Hunter’s status on that board has led to accusations of Biden family corruption – and the president’s involvement in his son’s business practices. In 2016, while still vice president, the elder Biden successfully pressured Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating a company with ties to Hunter, Burisma Holdings. Biden would go on to brag about the prosecutor’s firing without mentioning the investigation involving his son. Following up on this reporting, The New York Times reported in 2019 that Hunter “lacked any experience in Ukraine and just months earlier had been discharged from the Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine” and that Burisma Holdings paid him “as much as $50,000 per month in some months for his work for the company.” Hunter’s dealings in China also brought scrutiny. An uncovered email showed that in May 2017, in a message about receiving a 10% stake in a deal with CEFC China Energy, Hunter wrote, “held by H for the big guy.” “The big guy” was long believed to be Hunter’s father, Joe, and earlier this year, he confirmed that to be the case, The Daily Wire reported.

Comedian Eddie Murphy is going to become family with his friend and co-star, fellow comedic actor Martin Lawrence. Murphy’s son, Eric Murphy, proposed to Martin’s daughter, Jasmin Lawrence, last week, the happy couple announced in a video shared on Instagram over the weekend. The video includes the song “Spend My Life with You” by Eric Benét playing in the background. It shows a room decorated with candles and roses, and a floor covered in flower petals. The video then cuts to Jasmin walking into the room to see the setup. Eric got down on one knee and held out the ring box, to which Jasmine said, “It’s beautiful. Oh my gosh,” and then, “Yes!” Eric and Jasmin celebrated their engagement with a kiss at the end.   “We’re engaged!! God truly blessed us with a love that feels like destiny,” the Instagram post caption says.  “We couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter,” it continues. “Special thank you to everyone who made this moment so beautiful!!”   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Jasmin Page Lawrence (@jasmin_lawrence) Jasmin discussed how the pair met during a conversation with InTouch Weekly in 2022. “It wasn’t even our dads, and they’ve done two movies together, they’re friends,” she said at the time, adding that her uncle was responsible for making the match. CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE “We became really good friends because we bonded on a lot of things,” she continued. “And over time, it just, you know, became more.” Lawrence joked about the couple during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in 2022, saying they were going to have “a comedy super-baby” in the future, per People.  “We haven’t talked about it,” Lawrence said at the time about his and Murphy’s reaction to the couple. “We kind of just stay out of their business and let them do their own thing, and respect their thing.” “I’m gonna try to get Eddie to pay for it,” he quipped about the potential of a wedding. Murphy responded publicly, telling Canadian outlet Etalk, “That’s not how it goes.” “My daughter [Bria] just got married, and I had to pay — really had to pay,” the comedian said. “You have to do the same, Martin.” “Don’t try to switch it up — don’t try to change no sh**, do no Hollywood switch,” Murphy went on. “You’re paying for the wedding. If it goes down, Martin is paying. And the wedding better be wonderful.”

Student government leaders at the University of California, Los Angeles have been accused of discriminating against Jews and Zionists in hiring practices, according to a complaint filed this week. A petition of consideration filed to UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) Judicial Board last week alleges that USAC Cultural Affairs Commissioner (CAC) Alicia Verdugo directed her staff to discriminate against Zionists when reviewing job applications. A screenshot of a group message from Verdugo included in the petition shows her alerting her staff that Zionists were applying, and asking them to vet applicants. “PSA lots of zionists are applying — please do your research when you look at applicants and I will also share a doc of no hire list during [the] retreat,” Verdugo wrote in a group chat.  The complaint, filed by Bella Brannon, Editor-In-Chief of Ha’Am, UCLA’s student-run Jewish magazine, focused on the hiring process for approximately 25 paid positions, which include staff to help support their events. A CAC document also cited in the complaint categorizes Zionism alongside hateful ideologies, stating that any staff member can be removed from their position if they’re found to exhibit “antiBlackness, colorism, racism, white supremacy, zionism, xenophobia, transphobia, sexism, misogyny, ableism, or any/all other hateful bigoted ideologies.” UCLA has been a hotbed of anti-Semitism following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israeli civilians, including rowdy anti-Israel protests and encampments. In August, a federal court issued an injunction against the university to cease permitting or supporting activities by anti-Semitic agitators who have obstructed Jewish students from accessing portions of the campus. The petition alleges that any student who identified themselves as Jewish were rejected in the hiring process, even if their applications did not mention Zionism, Israel, or the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. “Verdugo’s direct instruction to exclude Zionist applicants and the implied directive to be on the lookout for Jewish applicants, resulted in systemic discrimination against candidates who expressed any attachment to Judaism,” the petition states. According to Ha’Am, the application asked students: “What is an issue (social, political, etc.) that is relevant to you, and how would you like to address that through CAC?” Two rejected applicants reportedly responded to this question mentioning that they were Jewish, the first stating they care about the right to express identity and the other stating that they observe Jewish Sabbath laws. None of the students hired by the CAC discussed Judaism in their applications, according to the petition, which accuses the CAC of violating state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on religion or ethnicity. “By rejecting Jewish applicants and citing Zionism as a disqualifying factor, despite the applicants never explicitly referencing Zionism or their relationship to the State of Israel in their applications, Alicia Verdugo demonstrates their conflation of Judaism with Zionism,” the petition states. “In doing so, they have intentionally created a correlation between Jewish and Zionist identities to systematically discriminate against Jews, a correlation they imposed, even though many Jewish individuals naturally consider Zionism an intrinsic part of their identity.” Brannon told The Daily Wire that Verdugo and the CAC have had several troubling controversies since the October 7 terrorist attack.  “Verdugo is an unapologetic anti-Semite who has exploited her student fee-funded position to promote hatred against Jews long before her discriminatory hiring practices went viral,” Brannon said. “I am personally aware of dozens of complaints filed against CACs conduct with the university by students, parents, and even faculty.” The CAC released a statement, signed by Verdugo, two days after the October 7 attack, stating that they “honor the Palestinians on the frontlines taking their land and sovereignty back!”  In June, the CAC posted to their Instagram account, encouraging students to join their anti-Israel encampment, adding that they will “HONOR OUR MARTYRS FOREVER.” In another post, the CAC shared a statement about how they were “honored to” be part of the encampment. “We fully support ALL forms of protest and condemn the media for continuing to criminalize students, politicize a genocide, protect Zionists and police, and platform the bullshit that this university pushes out,” it read. According to Ha’Am, the CAC is accused of denying Jewish students access to an “open mic night” titled, “F*** your bans” to complain about UCLA restricting anti-Israel encampments. The CAC also reportedly blocked a Jewish student from its UCLA-affiliated X account. Ha’Am also reported that Verdugo, in 2023, told Jewish a student: “you simply don’t have the will or empathy to look inside yourself and understand that your parents are liars. They are white, and benefit from white supremacy regardless of religious affiliation.” Brannon said UCLA’s administration has failed to take action despite being alerted to the statements and actions of CAC and Verdugo.  “UCLA’s useless DEI bureaucracies and an administration supposedly tasked with protecting us have consistently failed to take meaningful action, given that her anti-Israel posts on university-affiliated channels haven’t stopped for a second since the deadliest day for Jews since the Shoah (Holocaust),” Brannon said. “By failing to hold Verdugo accountable, the university effectively emboldened her, culminating in her blatant violations of the university code and federal law through discriminatory employment practices.” Hillel at UCLA director Dan Gold said he was “appalled that the UCLA leaders would once again openly discriminate against Jewish students.”  Gold added that Hillel has been sounding the alarm for months and reported the text messages to the administration. “[T]hese text messages, if validated as real, illustrate just how brazenly anti-Jewish hate is expressed unchecked at UCLA,” Gold said. “This must end – students and faculty must be held accountable for their hateful and discriminatory actions against Jewish Bruins.” CAC and UCLA did not respond to a request for comment.

'This is a bad precedent'

'There were three juveniles on the scene when the stabbing occurred'

'The security posture'

An image shared on Instagram claims U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen abruptly resigned from her position on Nov. 24.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Ryan Robbins (@ryandrobbins) Verdict: False The claim is false. Neither the U.S. Treasury Department nor Yellen has publicly commented on the claim, and there is […]