Interview with Josh Neal on the new edition of The Culture of Critique, etc.
Dr. Kevin MacDonald, “Culture of Critique”
Celebrating the release of the third edition, by Antelope Hill Publishing
Featured Articles
Another Canadian Antisemite
As a small break from the tedium of the Charlie Kirk fiasco, here’s a little news item from Canada that didn’t quite make its way into the broader MSM. On Monday September 15, CBC Radio broadcast a French-language television program Sur le Terrain (‘On the Ground’), hosted by Christian Latreille, that covered Marco Rubio’s latest visit to Israel. Their correspondent in Washington was a female reporter, Elisa Serret, who has served as a national correspondent for the CBC for over 10 years. By all accounts, she is an experienced and well-respected journalist.
At one point in the program, Latreille asked Serret why Americans “have such difficulty distancing themselves from Israel, even in the most difficult moments”—such as in the midst of an ongoing genocide. She replied:
My understanding, and that of multiple analysts here in the United States, is that it is the Israelis, the Jews, that heavily finance American politics. There is a big machine behind them, making it very difficult for Americans to detach themselves from Israel’s positions. It is really the money here in the United States. The big cities are run by Jews. Hollywood is run by Jews.
Well. What impudence: to speak some truth, live, to a national television audience. Predictably, the Canadian Jewish Lobby jumped all over this incident. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) declared that “antisemitism is absolutely unacceptable” and called for “immediate and unequivocal condemnation from all relevant [Canadian] leaders.” In an online statement, the group said that “Antisemitism is corroding the fabric of society”; they demanded that the CBC “take concrete steps to ensure that neither such comments—nor the systemic issues that enabled them to be aired—are ever allowed again on Canadian airwaves.” The B’nai Brith of Canada said it was “deeply irresponsible and dangerous,” calling her remarks “textbook antisemitic conspiracy theories.” They demanded an on-air retraction stating that the comments were “false, hateful, and unacceptable.”
Also predictably, Canadian authorities immediately caved in to pressure. Writing on X, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said “The words used last night were pernicious antisemitic tropes and have absolutely no place on Canadian airwaves.” A few hours later, the CBC released a statement saying that Serret’s analysis “led to stereotypical, antisemitic, false, and harmful allegations against Jewish communities.” Conservative deputy leader and Jewish lesbian Melissa Lantsman called for her to be fired. Serret was, of course, promptly “relieved of her duties until further notice.” The Canadian Jewish Lobby, it seems, has nearly as much power internally as the US Jewish Lobby has here.
We can understand the Lobby’s reaction—it definitely makes things look bad for the Jews. “Antisemitic” (yes, thankfully), “harmful” (yes), “hurtful” (yes)…but “false”? That is, was she wrong? Did Serret speak some actual truth, or was it all just “trope”? Let’s walk through each of her assertions.
First: “Israelis/Jews heavily finance American politics.” This is undeniably true. According to a 2020 report by Jewish researcher Gil Troy, American Jews provide a huge proportion of political donations: around 25% for Republicans and 50% or more for Democrats. Indeed, the Democrats are particularly captive to Jewish money; other sources claim that their Jewish share runs “as much as 60%,” “over 60%,” up to 70% of “large contributions,” and perhaps as high as 80-90% for certain elections.[1] Such figures are surely underestimates, given how much dark money and laundered donations make their way into politicians’ pockets.
But Republicans are obviously not free from such influence. Trump received considerable funding from wealthy Jews, including the likes of Bernie Marcus (deceased), Miriam Adelson (Sheldon Adelson’s wife; Adelson is deceased), Carl Icahn, Paul Singer, Robert Kraft, Steve Witkoff, Howard Lutnik, Jacob Helberg, Bill Ackman, Ron Lauder, and Marc Rowan. Most notably, in the latter phases of last year’s election, Miriam Adelson made good on her pledge of $100 million to Trump’s campaign.
Let there be no doubt: Jews are the dominant donors in American politics for both parties, and this is a key factor underlying the subservient compliance of our elected officials.
Second: “a big machine.” The US Jewish Lobby is indeed a big machine, centered on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. AIPAC has its own political action committee (the “AIPAC PAC”) to make donations, and its own super-PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP); jointly, these two components spent at least $125 million in the last election cycle. AIPAC has minders or staff members in the offices of nearly every Congressman, and it works to defeat unfriendly legislators—most recently, Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. Other influential Jewish groups include the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Council of Presidents (COP), the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the Orthodox Union (OU), and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). Other groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) receive considerable Jewish funding and thus work to serve Jewish interests. Additionally, we have “liberal” Jewish organizations like Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) and J-Street that work to advance Jewish aims. A big machine indeed.
Third: “very difficult for Americans to detach.” Most Americans, especially the young, are increasingly moving toward anti-Israel and even anti-Jewish views. US approval for Israeli actions in Gaza recently hit a new low of 32%, down from 50% early in the conflict. Only 9% of those 18-34 approve of the actions, showing a notable “detachment” among American youth. A recent poll showed that 30% of Americans believe that “Jews have too much power.” And perhaps most notoriously, a 2023 survey found that 20% of American youth believe that the Holocaust was “a myth.” The American people, especially the youth, do not find it very hard to detach from the Israeli megalith.
American politicians, however, are another story. Having been heavily funded, and even pre-selected, to be pro-Israel and pro-Jewish, Congressmen routinely vote 80%, 90%, even 100% in favor of Jewish interests. Apart from a few renegades in the US House, like Thomas Massie and Rashida Tlaib, Congress is thoroughly unable to detach from Jewish interests. The two major parties, who disagree on nearly every other point, readily find common ground when it comes to Jewish and Israeli concerns.
The only real “detachment” problem in the US today is the one from Jewish money in politics. Excluding such money would be obvious in any rational governmental system. Unfortunately today in the US, we are governed by an irrational system, one in which the process of change is corrupted and blocked by the same money that creates the problem in the first place. In other words, wealthy Jews, who now effectively control Congress and the Executive branch, will naturally stop any efforts to reform the system in such a way that might decrease their power. They control both the system and the means to change the system; this is political corruption beyond belief, and it suggests that only governmental collapse or civil war will improve things.
Fourth: “it is really the money.” Yes, as noted above. American Jews own or control as much as 50% of the $175 trillion in total personal wealth in this country. They comprise half or more of the richest Americans, including the new #1, Larry Ellison, who recently clocked in at $390 billion[2] and is now buying up media. If the 6 million or so Jewish-Americans own or control, say, $90 trillion, this yields a staggering average of $15 million in assets for every Jewish man, woman, and child. The average Jewish family of four thus holds about $60 million in wealth. Little wonder that they can afford such hefty political donations.
Fifth: “the big cities are run by Jews.” Serret has overreached here a bit. Of the 50 largest cities in the US, only three have Jewish mayors: San Francisco (Daniel Lurie), Louisville (Craig Greenberg), and Minneapolis (Jacob Frey). But several other large cities have significant Jewish populations and thus are certainly run in accord with their interests, including New York (10.8% Jewish, for the larger metropolitan area), Miami (8.7%), Philadelphia (6.8%), Boston (5.2%), Los Angeles (4.7%), Washington DC (4.7%), and Baltimore (4.1%). (I would note that, based on empirical and anecdotal evidence, for any demographic unit in which Jews exceed even 1%, they certainly dominate political and economic activities.) Additionally, there are a number of Jewish governors, and they clearly have influence over the major cities in their respective states: Jared Polis (Colorado); J. B. Pritzker (Illinois); Josh Green (Hawaii); Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania); Josh Stein (North Carolina); and Matt Meyer (Delaware). On the other hand, there are large cities with relatively few Jews, including Indianapolis, Memphis, and Austin. Thus, it is something of a mixed bag, but Jewish interests unquestionably dominate in New York, LA, Miami, DC, Philly, San Francisco, and Boston.
Sixth: “Hollywood is run by Jews.” Nothing more need be said. Actually, it would have been better if Serret had said, “American media is run by Jews”; we can infer that this is what she meant. One need only look at the largest media conglomerates: Disney/ABC, run by Bob Iger, Alan Horn, and Alan Braverman; Warner Discovery, run by David Zaslav; NBC/Universal, run by Mark Lazarus, Bonnie Hammer, and via Comcast, Brian Roberts; and Paramount, run by Shari Redstone. Furthermore, the new Skydance/Paramount corporation will be run by billionaire Larry Ellison’s son, David, and his new management team includes Jeff Shell, Josh Greenstein, and Dana Goldberg. Case closed. This lock on American media, which includes news and entertainment, explains why most Americans are utterly unaware of the situational dominance by Jews. Very little truth slips out; and when it does, as in this case, the censors and “editors” step in to squelch the story and contain the damage.
Elisa Serret is a heroine. We owe her much gratitude for her few seconds of truth-telling on a national media stage. For now, the Jews have black-bagged her, but we can only hope that she reemerges stronger than before—perhaps as a new media star in North America, perhaps as a new, strong voice in defense of truth, honesty, and justice.
David Skrbina, PhD, is a retired professor of philosophy. For more on his work and writings, see www.davidskrbina.com
[1] Cited in Washington Post (13 Mar 2003, p. A1); Jewish Power in America (2008) by R. Feingold, p. 4; The Hill (30 Mar 2004, p. 1); Passionate Attachment (1992) by Ball and Ball, p. 218—respectively.
[2] Ellison regularly swaps places with Elon Musk, depending on the vagaries of the stock market. If one man owns nearly half a trillion dollars, we can easily see how 6 million Jews might own $80 or $90 trillion.
Kevin DeAnna on Arktos: The European Civil War Starts Again
The European Civil War Starts Again
Kevin DeAnna pays tribute to Charlie Kirk, Iryna Zarutska, and Liana Kassai, arguing that their killings inaugurate a new age of martyrdom and struggle for the future of European peoples.
Historically, Western Civilization has existed as a unity. From the Greek alliance against the Persians, to Rome, to the Crusades, the West has found its highest expression when it fights as one. Since the rise of the nation-state, such expressions have been few. In many ways, the entire twentieth century was one great European Civil War, with the global right and left warring over the destiny of Western Man. The victor was not the Communists nor the traditional Right but the extra-European, American creed of individual liberation and international capitalism. In the eyes of critics like Julius Evola, this was a foreign conquest as dangerous as that of Soviet Communism.
Yet, while it is rational for Europeans to oppose American interference on the Continent, it does not change the reality. Despite repeated boasts of European “strategic autonomy” from figures like Emmanuel Macron, the EU has failed to chart a course separate from Washington, and in many ways seems more committed to center-left transatlantic institutions than America itself. The more traditionalist and arguably authentic European Right remains submerged and politically marginalized, while Donald Trump, despite his failures, provides a rallying point for Western patriots worldwide. We can mourn that America has become the Metropole of the West, but what happens in the United States affects everything that happens in Europe.
“The past European conflicts over borders, language, and empires fade to insignificance as we see the war raging within each of our countries.”
The killings of Iryna Zarutska, Liana Kassai, and Charlie Kirk could provide an unexpected spur to united action. The murder of Zarutska is almost overdone in its scripted poignancy – a beautiful Ukrainian refugee, practically a poster child for the sympathetic victim that the neoliberal establishment has been championing. She received shelter in America, exactly the kind of case that the liberal media would use as a club against the Trump Administration’s anti-immigration and arguably anti-Ukrainian policies. She got a job and begins making her way in the big city, almost a walking advertisement for progressives who want a living rebuttal to nativism, patriarchy, and Putinism.
All this was annihilated overnight as she was butchered before the uncaring denizens of Chicago by a career felon who was already arrested more than a dozen times. Decarlos Brown Jr. was released by a magistrate on the basis of a “written promise” he would show up for court, despite numerous past offenses and wild rantings to police that materials in his body were controlling his action. Despite his supposed insanity, he somehow managed to expertly ambush the one white girl within his car from behind, avoiding potentially more dangerous targets. Audio after the event suggests that he muttered “got that white girl” to himself as Zarutska bled out on the dirty floor, fodder for cell phone footage by gawking spectators. Needless to say, the murderer has already been referred to mental health counseling, and we await the inevitable ruling that he cannot be held criminally responsible.
The manner of Zarutska’s end also made her immortal. In shock from the sudden stabbing, she curls in a fetal position and looks up fearfully, almost childlike in appearance. As life drains from her, she sobs while the other passengers on the train ignore her. She then slides off the seat, dead within seconds. There is no gore or fountain of blood, but a combination of vulnerability and beauty that can’t help but inspire rage and a frustrated desire to protect her in every white man that viewed it. Her final moment is iconic, and it compels and yet sickens one to look upon it.
In her, we also see the countless other victims of terrorism and crime, mostly committed by non-whites throughout Europe. It’s impossible not to think of Liana Kassai, another Ukrainian refugee killed at a train station in August, this time in Germany. She was reportedly killed by an Iraqi refugee who had been denied asylum. German authorities initially suspected suicide, though the victim’s family immediately objected. In this case too, we are told the alleged murderer is schizophrenic. Despite his asylum request being denied, the alleged killer remained in the country for years.
Angela Merkel’s boast of “Wir schaffen das” appears doubly tragic, as the Fatherland’s inability to assimilate millions of resentful Muslims now compromises its ability to shelter its European kinsmen fleeing from war. The bright promises of European unity and even the German rearmament supposedly needed to guard the Continent against Russian aggression are especially hollow when refugees are in danger from non-European migrants admitted by Berlin itself. History is rebuking Mutti Merkel, with reality showing Europeans that no, we cannot do this, we cannot admit unlimited numbers of migrants from the Third World and remain who we are.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk is the capstone to this trifecta of tragedy. Kirk was a singular figure on the American Right. Only 31, no one in recent political history has filled so many roles. The founder and lead organizer of the most powerful campus conservative organization, he was also a talk show host, a political organizer who helped win the last presidential election, a close ally and advisor of the White House, a campus speaker, and an online fixture. No one else was simultaneously pushing the margins of political debate while remaining relevant within the mainstream, advocating realistic policies from within the corridors of power while simultaneously widening the Overton Window.
For the extremely online Dissident Right, Charlie Kirk and TPUSA were something of a joke years ago, famously confronted during the first “Groyper War” by activists pressuring him on immigration, anti-white discrimination, Israel, and other issues. Recently, however, Kirk had shifted his rhetoric away from Conservatism Inc. bromides. He proclaimed that there was undeniably a war on whites. He told whites to be proud of who they were. He called for ending the “H1B visa scam.” His final post on X read: “If we want things to change, it’s 100% necessary to politicize the senseless murder of Iryna Zarutska because it was politics that allowed a savage monster with 14 priors to be free on the streets to kill her.” The hard right did not appreciate Kirk until he was martyred, and many of us found to our shock that his opinions were not so different from ours after all.
Despite a deeply dishonest effort by media to muddy the waters, it appears the killer is exactly what most people expected: a progressive radicalized by the violent cults of “antifascism” and transgenderism. Though he was raised in a conservative family, it appears Tyler Robinson converted to the clichés of the modern egalitarian religion and felt he had not just the right but the duty to kill Kirk because he was a “hater.” Perhaps more than the killing itself, it is the reaction to the murder that has radicalized the Right. Soldiers, nurses, teachers, government workers, emergency dispatchers, and others in positions that Americans depend on in their most vulnerable moments have revealed themselves as reveling in the public execution of one of mainstream conservatism’s most beloved figures, one whose entire approach was characterized by a dedication to open debate with even his most militant opponents.
Yet what is most remarkable about the assassination of Kirk is how it has echoed around the world. In England, his name, along with that of Iryna and Liana, was cited by activists at the Unite the Kingdom rally. In Vienna and Leipzig, impromptu monuments to Iryna and Kirk were created, and then promptly targeted and destroyed by antifa. In Poland, Dariusz Matecki held up a picture of Iryna on the floor of the Sejm while proclaiming “White Lives Matter.” The names of our martyrs are known throughout the West.
“This struggle is forging a new civilizational identity, if for no other reason than that we face the same enemy pursuing the same goal of the Great Replacement.”
The past European conflicts over borders, language, and empires fade to insignificance as we see the war raging within each of our countries. While whites cling to post-racial illusions, non-whites within our countries put race first in both political and personal disputes. Unlike in the last European Civil War, leftists do not fight in the name of class justice, but in solidarity with non-whites to defeat “hate” and “racism.” Whatever local issues confront us, the essentials of mass immigration, crime, anti-white discrimination, and the repression of right-wing figures are common to Europeans worldwide. This struggle is forging a new civilizational identity, if for no other reason than that we face the same enemy pursuing the same goal of the Great Replacement.
Few of those on the authentic Right can have any illusions that American-style “conservatism” offers a way out of the death spiral of the West. Yet that is secondary. What matters is the forging of a constituency and ultimately a people that is aware it is under deadly, existential threat. The assassination of Kirk and the butchery of Iryna and Liana have brought that home to millions. “Our fellow citizens” mean nothing compared to those of kindred blood who have felt the pain of these losses and rallied against them. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church – and the Faith is Europe, and Europe is the Faith.
Kevin DeAnna, popularly known under the pen name James Kirkpatrick, is the author of Conservatism Inc., available from Arktos.
THE CHARLOTTESVILLE LEGAL STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
As many of you are aware, I have been in bankruptcy court fighting the multi-million dollar debt incurred from the absurd Sines v. Kessler ruling. While I will continue to call bullshit on the conspiracy allegations to the day I die, for legal purposes the arguments in bankruptcy court are of a different nature. Currently, the plaintiffs have been claiming that the debt incurred is not dischargeable, despite a clause in the law itself specifically stating that those found liable on a conspiracy allegation can discharge their debt so long as they themselves did not cause the actual damages.
The bankruptcy exception under 11 U.S. Code 523(6) states:
The critical language is “for… injury by the debtor”
The so-called “injuries” in the Sines v Kessler case were all alleged to have been caused by the actions of other individuals. Not myself. In fact, I was not even present when a single one of these injuries occurred!
Despite my attorney pointing this out in his argument, Judge Ronald Sargis ignored the law and sided with the plaintiffs bizarre argument which conflates two legal concepts from entirely different jurisdictions and areas of law.
He observed that, in Virginia civil suits, an individual or business entity can, in some cases, be legally liable for the actions of another person via respondent superior (aka vicarious liability). An example of this is if an employee of a company negligently or wantonly injures a customer, the customer can sue the company itself, and it is legally responsible.
Then he applied that logic to federal bankruptcy law (which is an entirely independent area of law) and concluded that, because VA civil liability acknowledges vicarious liability, then the federal exception statute for bankruptcy (which states that “the debtor” must physically harm someone or some property) should also be subject to vicarious liability.
This is an entirely malicious interpretation of the law based on a genocidal hatred of of White people. This ruling is ultimately not about me. It is about sending a message that any White man who publicly rejects the ethnic cleansing of our people will be dragged through the system for years on end.
Despite this, I have not given up hope. Legally, the ruling is so absurd that there is a good chance a higher court will overturn it or risk setting an entirely new precedent that would overthrow long-standing bankruptcy law. While I have already filed a notice of appeal, the process will require raising another $3,000 for the fees involved that I cannot afford. If you would like to contribute to my my legal fight against this judicial corruption, click on the link below to the Free Expression Foundation (FEF) and make a donation. Please ensure to write in the notes that the donation is to go to my appeal, as I am not the only individual being represented by the FEF.
As always, anything donated to the Free Expression Foundation that is not needed for my case will go to the defense of others. Thank you for your support. I could not continue without all of you.
Revisiting The Culture of Critique: Kevin MacDonald on Jewish influence and the future of the West.
El Niño Speaks 178: Revisiting The Culture of Critique
Kevin MacDonald on Jewish influence and the future of the West.
In this episode of El Niño Speaks, José Niño sat down with Dr. Kevin MacDonald, evolutionary psychologist and author of The Culture of Critique, for an in-depth conversation on one of the most controversial and enduring analyses of Jewish influence in modern history.
We discuss the origins of his thesis, how Jewish-led intellectual and political movements reshaped Western societies in the twentieth century, the updates in the new third edition, and why The Culture of Critique remains more relevant than ever in today’s polarized political climate.
Follow Dr. MacDonald’s work:
Substack: kmacd33.substack.com
Twitter: @RealKevinMacD33
Website: The Occidental Observer
Israeli Cybersecurity Official’s Case Exposes Israel’s Reputation as a Haven for Sex Offenders
When Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, a top Israeli cybersecurity official, was arrested last month in Las Vegas for allegedly attempting to have sex with an undercover officer posing as a minor, few anticipated the diplomatic and political firestorm his swift release would ignite.
Alexandrovich, the Executive Director for Defense at Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, was initially arrested in Las Vegas after an undercover operation ensnared him with evidence of cyber-luring a supposed 15-year-old for sex, a felony carrying up to 10 years in prison. He was one of eight men caught in a joint task force sting carried out by the FBI and Nevada authorities, involving explicit chats on apps such as WhatsApp and Pure and arrangements to meet in person. The arrest report chillingly details that Alexandrovich brought a condom and planned to take the teenage decoy to a Cirque du Soleil show.
Upon his detention on August 6, 2025, Alexandrovich seemed “shocked” and quickly asked police about the status of his booked international flight home—stressing his family situation in Israel and only worrying about travel logistics, not the charges. He waived his Miranda rights and stated he believed the person was 18, despite the evidence proving otherwise.
Despite the severity of the crime, Alexandrovich was released on only $10,000 bail, given no monitoring or passport seizure, and allowed to leave the country within two days—prior to his initial court date. Other defendants in the same sting remained jailed, faced higher bail, or wore electronic monitors. Criminal defense experts described the release highly irregular and suspicious, noting it broke standard protocol for flight risks in serious felony cases.
Alexandrovich missed his court date on August 27, after his lawyers attempted to claim a back-room deal exempted him from appearing. Judge Barbara Schifalacqua swiftly denied this claim, further highlighting the exceptional treatment he received. The federal government, under President Donald Trump, immediately denied any intervention in Alexandrovich’s release. In an August 19 statement, the State Department insisted, “Any claims that the US government intervened are false,” declaring Alexandrovich did not invoke diplomatic immunity and that his release was a state—not federal—judicial decision.
However, Acting U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah, an Israeli-born Trump appointee for the District of Nevada, decided not to pursue federal charges, a key decision that prevented leveraging stronger extradition tools. On August 18, Chattah publicly criticized state officials for failing to seize Alexandrovich’s passport and demanded his return. Chattah clarified that “the Clark County District Attorney’s office — not federal authorities — is handling the prosecution” of the Israeli officials.
Moments later, she took to social media, blasting local authorities: “A liberal district attorney and state court judge in Nevada FAILED TO REQUIRE AN ALLEGED CHILD MOLESTER TO SURRENDER HIS PASSPORT, which allowed him to flee our country.”
Chattah also asserted that Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are “outraged” by the incident. Under heavy fire for her silence on the Alexandrovich case, Chattah bowed to pressure and deleted her personal social media accounts amid the backlash.
This case produced a notable rift in the MAGA movement, long considered fervently pro-Israel. Prominent Republicans and digital influencers aligned with President Donald Trump expressed fury at the double standard and perceived subservience to Israel. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sounded off on X, “How did America become so subservient to Israel that we immediately release a CHILD SEX PREDATOR after arrest, with a 100% locked up case with evidence, and let him off to fly back home to Israel?? Would we do that with a Mexican child sex predator?”
Other MAGA figures also piled on. Former Navy intelligence officer and MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec stated, “DOJ should file federal charges and demand immediate extradition,” while popular conservative personality Tucker Carlson questioned, “What is going on here? Why would the United States allow a foreign government official charged with a child sex crime to avoid prosecution?” Candace Owens, a conservative influencer who has taken a surprising anti-Israel turn since October 7, 2023, attributed Alexandrovich’s release to Chattah’s Israeli heritage. “The US attorney general who released him is Israeli-born Sigal Chattah. Makes sense now!,” Owens remarked.
The state of Israel initially appeared to deny the gravity of the arrest. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed Alexandrovich “was questioned by American authorities during his visit” and “returned to Israel as planned,” omitting any mention of official criminal charges. The National Cyber Directorate only admitted Alexandrovich was placed on leave pending further developments.
This scandal must be understood against the backdrop of Israel’s reputation as a haven for sex offenders and traffickers. Over the past two decades, Israel’s standing in the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Reports has fluctuated dramatically. In 2001, Israel was ranked the lowest possible (Tier 3), deemed by the U.S. government as “a destination country for trafficked persons, primarily women.”
While the Jewish state’s standing was later upgraded, in 2021 the country was downgraded to Tier 2 amidst criticisms that Israel made “woefully inadequate efforts to prevent human trafficking” and that key populations, including children, remained extremely vulnerable.
A persistent feature driving headlines has been Israel’s Law of Return, which allows Jews worldwide to acquire instant citizenship regardless of their criminal background. On paper, an amendment added to the law in 1954 prohibits “a person with a criminal past, likely to endanger public welfare,” yet campaigners argue that sex offenders continue to slip through.
Israel is becoming a safe haven for paedophiles due to the unique opportunity available to all Jews from anywhere in the world to immigrate there,” explained Manny Waks, a child abuse survivor and founder of the advocacy group Kol V’Oz, in remarks to The Independent.
This provides a relatively efficient and effective way to evade justice from other countries. It also provides a sanctuary to those who have already been convicted.
It’s important to note that while there are some criminal background checks as part of the immigration process, there are multiple ways to overcome this requirement.”
Shana Aaronson, director of Magen, an organization which works on cases of sexual abuse in Israel’s Orthodox Jewish community, also had choice words about the Jewish state’s lax policies toward sex offenders. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Israel is a safe haven for Jewish sexual offenders,” Aaronson stated. She emphasized that many have found protection through Orthodox networks and legal loopholes.
Thanks to this permissive environment, as many as 100 accused or convicted pedophiles—including notorious figures like Malka Leifer, Jimmy Julius Karow, and Mordechai Yomtov—have sought refuge in Israel over the past two decades. Each of these cases is deeply disturbing.
Jimmy Julius Karow
In 2000, Jimmy Julius Karow was accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl in Oregon. Before U.S. authorities could apprehend him, Karow fled to Israel. Once there, he took advantage of Israel’s Law of Return to gain citizenship, adopting the name Yosef Chaim Karow to establish his new identity.
Karow did not escape legal trouble entirely. In 2002, he was convicted in Israel on separate sexual assault charges and served a five-year prison sentence. Years later, in 2017, he faced further accusations involving two young Israeli sisters, ages 3 and 7, whom he allegedly raped and sexually assaulted between 1999 and 2001. The charges included rape, sodomy, and indecent assault.
In 2021, Karow signed a plea agreement where he will spend over a decade in prison. Despite his conviction in Israel, it remains unlikely that he will ever be extradited to face the original charges in the United States. Meanwhile, an active Interpol Red Notice continues to list him as a fugitive wanted by U.S. authorities.
Malka Leifer
Malka Leifer served as principal of the Adass Israel School, an ultra-Orthodox girls’ school in Melbourne, Australia, from 2001 to 2008. During that time, she faced allegations of sexually abusing multiple students. Ultimately, she was charged with 74 counts of child sexual abuse and convicted on 18 counts, including rape and sexual assault, primarily involving two sisters, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper, between 2003 and 2007.
When the allegations first surfaced in 2008, Leifer fled to Israel. What followed was a prolonged 13-year legal battle, with more than 70 court hearings as she fought extradition. She initially avoided being sent back to Australia by claiming mental illness, but in 2020 Israeli psychiatrists concluded that she had been faking her condition to escape justice. Surprisingly, Leifer would face justice in Australia after being extradited there in January 2021. In August 2023, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with eligibility for parole beginning in June 2029.
Mordechai Yomtov
Mordechai Yomtov worked as a Hebrew teacher at Cheder Menachem, an all-boys Orthodox yeshiva in Hollywood that served 185 students. In December 2001, he was arrested on 10 felony counts of committing lewd acts with three boys, ages 8 to 10.
Two months later, in February 2002, Yomtov reached a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to two counts of continuous sexual abuse and one count of lewd conduct. He was sentenced to one year in county jail and five years of probation. However, Yomtov violated the terms of his probation when he fled the United States. Using a fake passport, he traveled through Mexico before making his way to Israel, where he continues to reside illegally.
When confronted by investigators, Yomtov admitted to violating his probation and offered a general apology to his victims. Yet his escape denied his victims the justice they sought. For at least one former student, Mendy Hauck, the trauma lingered for years. Hauck only came forward in 2016 after being encouraged by another victim who had spoken out.
* * *
The Alexandrovich affair is not an isolated scandal but a microcosm of the deeper, abusive relationship between the United States and Israel. Time and again, Israeli officials and fugitives exploit America’s indulgence, slipping past basic standards of law and morality that most of the world still respects. Israel’s outsized influence over Washington ensures that even the most egregious violations, including crimes against children, are shielded from real accountability.
Meanwhile, Israel’s status as a refuge for sex offenders continues to mock U.S. sovereignty, exposing the hollowness of its justice system. Until America breaks free from this humiliating dynamic, cases like Alexandrovich’s will not only persist but proliferate, serving as recurring reminders of the degradation inflicted on a superpower by its supposed “ally.”
Why are some people responding to the assassination of Charlie Kirk with the phrase “Nothing ever happens”?
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the very same people who now tweet “Nothing ever happens” in response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, will be tweeting that they always knew there’d be a civil war if one actually does break out. As the cliché has it, nothing ever happens . . . until it does.
A not uncommon response among right-wing “very online” people to the vicious assassination of Charlie Kirk has been three simple words: “Nothing ever happens.” On the one hand, this is, perhaps, an attempt to be a contrarian and seem deep and edgy accordingly. Many conservatives are reacting with understandable fury to the murder of the 31-year-old Trump ally and are arguing that this is a “turning point” and even that it is the first shot fired in some kind of civil of war.
But on the other, “Nothing ever happens” appears to reflect a common, evolved psychological bias. As a rule, our psychological biases evolved, in essence, on the Savannah, when we were still living in our evolutionary match. Now that we live in a very different environment — one where we regularly interact with strangers and even with people of different races — this bias may be more of hindrance than a help.
As Pascal Boyer pointed out in his book Religion Explained, we have many evolved cognitive biases. We over-detect causation. Show people dots moving at random on a screen and they will insist that they are moving in some kind of pattern and even that there is a process of causation behind this pattern, such as claiming that the blue dot starts it off, for example. It is adaptive to find patterns in the world such that we can better make sense of and control the world. If we over-detect patterns, then we won’t miss a pattern when there is one. This leads to a bias towards seeing everything as interconnected and, of course, towards conspiracy theories.
Similarly, we are evolved to over-detect agency. If we are in the primeval forest and we hear a sound then, if we wrongly believe it to be a wolf, we have lost nothing. But if we incorrectly assume it to be the wind, when it is in fact a wolf, we may have lost everything. So, it makes sense, it is adaptive, to assume that there is an agent behind events. This is why, when people are under stress and thus highly instinctive, the whole world may feel like an agent and the whole world may suddenly all appear interconnected and to make sense. And this leads us to certain kinds of religious experiences.
The “Nothing ever happens” response is likely to be a similar kind of adaptive bias. If you are right-wing, in the insane Clown World in which we find ourselves, it may be adaptive to be pessimistic in order to manage your own feelings — such can be the crushing nature of disappointment. According to the study “Defensive Mechanism: Harnessing Anxiety as Motivation,” an optimum level of pessimism motivates people to prepare and reduces anxiety about an uncertain world. It results in better academic performance; being able to think more logically.
Another study, “Pessimism, optimism and depressive symptoms,” found that mildly depressed individuals with pessimistic outlooks were better at assessing risks and avoiding unrealistic optimism (and thus crushing disappointment), aiding decision-making in uncertain environments. But, of course, the fact that you feel pessimistic does not mean that your predictions about the future are correct, as they have nothing to do with the nature of the evidence. You may be examining that evidence in a slightly more logical manner than the optimist, but this does not make your gut reaction inherently right. Your reaction, to use internet parlance, is a “cope.”
A second, broader, explanation behind the insistence that “Nothing ever happens” may well be Nomalcy Bias, which is that we tend to disbelieve or minimize warnings of serious threats. Let’s be clear, there will be nothing pleasant about a civil war, except, possibly, in the very long term, if the side we are on wins it. Telling yourself, in such a context, that “Nothing ever happens” will reduce immediate stress. Also, in pre-history, it may have been true that nothing much ever does happen, at least nothing out-of-the-ordinary. Accordingly, this cognitive bias means that we don’t waste energy thinking about or reacting to threats that are probably nothing to really worry about.
Naturally, this cognitive bias can have very serious consequences when something seriously out-of-the-ordinary actually does happen. In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the city of Pompei and most of its inhabitants. The townsfolk ignored the signs, such as intense earthquakes in the build up to the eruption. People continued to bake bread and renovate their homes even as ash began to fall on the city. This is why so many of them were found buried in their houses, having made no attempt to escape. To give a more recent example, in summer 2022, there was a terrible heat wave in the UK. Many people downplayed its seriousness and ignored government warnings (possibly understandable, considering the lies recently told during Covid). The result was houses catching fire and 3000 excess deaths due to heat stroke and related issues.
The cry of “Nothing ever happens” may well, in part, reflect this cognitive bias, a bias which has been adaptive for most of our history. The bias likely explains why sudden changes — such as the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and of the Soviet Union — generally seem to take us by surprise. All of the signs of collapse are there but our reassuring normalcy bias means that we are adapted to not notice them and to not think about them. Then, when it does happen, another cognitive bias hits in, “hindsight bias,” where, in order to feel that your world makes sense and that you are perceptive, you tell yourself that it was all inevitable and even that you knew it was going to happen all along.
We vary in the degree to which we are instinctive. Intelligent people are better able to rise above their cognitive biases, meaning that they are less instinctive. Neurotic people, subject to constant anxiety, are less able to do so, so they may be more instinctive. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the very same people who now tweet “Nothing ever happens” in response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, will be tweeting that they always knew there’d be a civil war if one actually does break out. As the cliché has it, nothing ever happens . . . until it does.
Also available at Barnes & Noble
Also available at Barnes & Noble
