Tea at Trianon: Hanukkah Under Fire: Global ‘Intifada’ Brings Terror to Jewish Families From Sydney to D.C.

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, December 15, 2025

Hanukkah Under Fire: Global ‘Intifada’ Brings Terror to Jewish Families From Sydney to D.C.

From Overton News:

On December 14, 2025, during a community Hanukkah event called “Chanukah by the Sea” at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, two gunmen opened fire on a gathering celebrating the first night of the holiday. At least 12 people were killed, and nearly 30 were wounded, including police officers, as families and children enjoyed the festival. Authorities quickly classified the massacre as a terrorist attack deliberately targeting Sydney’s Jewish community. Australian leaders denounced the violence as an “act of evil antisemitism.” ABC News
This was not random violence. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the shooting was designed to target Jews on the first night of Hanukkah, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it an evil act against Jewish Australians. ABC News The attack shattered the sense of security that Jews in Australia had long taken for granted, even as antisemitic incidents had been rising there in recent years amid heightened tensions tied to the Middle East. Reuters
The brutality of the Bondi Beach massacre, where even a well-loved rabbi was among the dead, should force all of us to confront a painful truth: antisemitism is surging globally, and it is spilling over from rhetoric into deadly action. The echoes of this tragedy reach far beyond Australia.
Earlier in 2025, another horrific act shook the Jewish world at its core. On May 21 in Washington, D.C., two **Israeli Embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum after attending a Jewish community event. The alleged shooter, identified as Elias Rodriguez, reportedly declared “Free, free Palestine” and expressed ideological motives tied to the Gaza war. AP News Investigators and prosecutors have charged Rodriguez with hate crime and murder, stressing the antisemitic motivation behind the attack. Department of Justice
This attack in the U.S. capital where Jewish life and American political life intersect sent shockwaves through both Jewish and broader communities. Law enforcement authorities called it terror and hate-motivated violence, and leaders across the political spectrum expressed horror. The Guardian For many American Jews, it was a grim reminder that hatred long fought against abroad can find fertile ground at home.
These events in Australia and the United States are not isolated. Jewish communities in Europe, Canada, and beyond have reported spikes in antisemitic graffiti, assault, and harassment, especially since the October 2023 conflict in Gaza reignited old hatreds and unleashed new ones. Antisemitic rhetoric on social media and at protests has normalized language once considered fringe. What was once coded hostility has, in some circles, transformed into explicit calls for violence against Jews.
As we light the menorah this Hanukkah, we do so in a world where Jewish existence is again under threat not only in distant war zones but in our neighborhoods, our streets, and our places of worship and celebration. The lit candles symbolize hope and endurance, but they also remind us that light alone cannot safeguard us from the darkness of hate. True protection requires vigilance, political will, and moral clarity. (Read more.)