In recent years—and especially since the events of October 7, 2023—a growing sense has emerged that the Jewish community in the United States is facing a historic challenge. The rise in antisemitism, anti-Israel activism on university campuses, and major shifts within the American political landscape have sparked intense debate about how American Jews should understand their place in American society and their relationship with the country’s political movements. Victimhood and the American Experience One argument increasingly heard in these discussions is that many American Jews have come to view themselves primarily through the lens of victimhood, placing their experience alongside that of groups that suffered systematic oppression in American history. Critics of this view argue that such an interpretation overlooks the unique nature of the Jewish experience in the United States. Unlike Europe, where Jews often endured centuries of exclusion, persecution, and discrimination, American Jews generally enjoyed the rights and protections of citizenship from the earliest stages of the nation’s development. While antisemitism certainly existed—and at times manifested itself through social barriers, quotas, and prejudice—the American state itself was rarely an instrument of anti-Jewish oppression. According to this perspective, Jews were not merely tolerated guests in America; they were active partners in building the nation and contributing to its success. Why Jews Aligned with the Political Left For much of the twentieth century, the strong affinity between American Jews and the Democratic Party appeared both natural and logical. Several factors contributed to this alignment: - Support for labor rights and economic opportunity. - Opposition to forms of antisemitism that were frequently associated with elements of the political right. - Active participation in the civil rights movement. - Commitment to ideals of equality, justice, and social advancement. Jewish Americans played prominent roles in labor organizing, progressive reform movements, and the struggle for civil rights. For many, liberalism represented the values that had enabled both their personal success and the flourishing of Jewish life in America.

تداوم بلاتکلیفی بهزاد یزدانی، شهروند بهایی محبوس در زندان عادل‌آباد شیراز با گذشت نزدیک به ۴ ماه از بازداشت بهزاد یزدانی، شهروند بهایی ساکن شیراز، وی همچنان بدون تعیین تکلیف قضایی در زندان عادل‌آباد این شهر نگهداری می‌شود. همسر او، رومینا خزعلی، پس از تحمل نزدیک به ۴ ماه بازداشت، با سپردن وثیقه از زندان آزاد شده است. بنا بر اطلاعات دریافتی، با وجود مراجعات و پیگیری‌های مستمر خانواده، مقام‌های مسئول تاکنون پاسخ شفافی درباره روند رسیدگی به پرونده ارائه نکرده‌اند. همچنین، هیچ تصمیم رسمی درباره ادامه بازداشت این شهروند بهایی به خانواده یا وکیل او ابلاغ نشده است. گزارش‌ها همچنین از نامناسب بودن شرایط نگهداری بهزاد یزدانی در زندان حکایت دارد. او در طول دوران بازداشت با مشکلات جسمانی از جمله کمردرد مواجه شده، اما همچنان از دسترسی کافی به خدمات و مراقبت‌های درمانی محروم مانده است. بهزاد یزدانی و رومینا خزعلی در فروردین‌ماه ۱۴۰۴ و در پی ورود ماموران امنیتی به منزلشان در شیراز بازداشت شدند. این پرونده در ادامه برخوردهای مستمر با شهروندان بهایی در ایران ارزیابی می‌شود؛ جامعه‌ای که سال‌ها با محدودیت‌ها و تبعیض‌های گسترده در زمینه حقوق شهروندی روبه‌رو بوده است. دادبان تاکید می‌کند، تداوم بازداشت موقت بدون رسیدگی موثر و تعیین تکلیف پرونده، با الزامات قانون آیین دادرسی کیفری و اصول دادرسی عادلانه سازگار نیست. همچنین، محرومیت زندانی از دسترسی به خدمات درمانی مناسب و نگهداری طولانی‌مدت در وضعیت بلاتکلیف، حق آزادی، حق سلامت و سایر حقوق بنیادین اشخاص را با مخاطره مواجه می‌کند. #بهزاد_یزدانی #دادبان The Uncertainty Continues for Behzad Yazdani, a Baha’i Citizen Held in Shiraz’s Adel-Abad Prison After nearly 4 months of his arrest, Behzad Yazdani, a Baha’i citizen living in Shiraz, is still being held in the city’s Adel-Abad Prison without a judicial determination. His wife, Romina Khazali, has been released from prison on bail after enduring nearly 4 months of detention. According to information received, despite the family’s continuous appeals and follow-ups, the authorities have not yet provided a clear response regarding the process of handling the case. Furthermore, no official decision has been communicated to the family or his lawyer regarding the continued detention of this Baha’i citizen.

I am not claiming that there was ballot box tampering or election fraud. I am arguing something else entirely, which in my eyes is far more fundamental The Likud primaries may have looked like a democratic election, but in practice, they failed to allow every registered member to exercise their power equally. And it all begins on election day. Likud members are working people. Most of them are at their jobs during the day, so naturally, many can only reach the polling stations after working hours. But when the polls close while members still wish to arrive and vote, a systemic distortion is created. The one who suffers is the independent voter—the individual who works all day, belongs to no political apparatus, and is not organized within any group. Conversely, the ones who benefit are precisely those who are organized in advance: Labor unions. Coordinated factions. Political machinery. People who possess the capacity to coordinate, transport, and mobilize hundreds of voters simultaneously. This creates an inherent advantage. The lone voter has a single voice. The political machine, however, has the power to bring hundreds of people to the ballot box to vote in a coordinated manner. This is no longer a level playing field among candidates. And here is the crucial point! I do not even need to prove that a "deal" was made. I do not need to show that anyone sat in a backroom and closed a transaction. If the voting conditions themselves grant an advantage to whoever controls a political machine, the outcome is inherently unequal. Which forces us to ask the real question: Who truly chose the list? Was it the free, independent members? Or was it those with a labor union? Those with an apparatus? Those who know how to mobilize people to the polls? Those who know how to organize them and dictate their vote? When you add to this all the other phenomena—deals, organized factions, voting blocs, reserved spots, candidates reaching top spots without any visible, significant support from free voters, alongside targeted efforts to undermine other candidates—a picture emerges that is impossible to ignore.