I think most people who are intellectually curious have respect for Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt.
I was curious about the letter they sent to the New York Times on December 2, 1948, cosigned with 26 other prominent Jewish intellectuals, denouncing Menachem Begin and his newly formed Freedom Party as being "closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties."
After reading the letter, I entered this prompt into Google Gemini, "albert einstein new york times letter village of Deir Yassin Israeli Freedom Party Menachem Begin fascism" and got this response -
"In December 1948, Albert Einstein and 26 other prominent Jewish intellectuals (including Hannah Arendt and Sidney Hook) co-signed a letter to the New York Times denouncing Menachem Begin and his newly formed Freedom Party (Tnuat Haherut).
The letter was prompted by Begin's visit to the United States to seek financial and political support for his party ahead of the first Israeli elections.
Key Claims in the Letter
The signatories warned that the Freedom Party was a "latest manifestation of fascism" and should not be supported. They detailed several specific concerns:
* Fascist Parallels: The authors described the party as "closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties". They noted it preached an "admixture of ultra-nationalism, religious mysticism and racial superiority".
* The Deir Yassin Massacre: The letter highlighted the April 1948 attack on the Arab village of Deir Yassin by Begin's former militia, the Irgun (along with the Lehi). It described the killing of approximately 240 men, women, and children, and how survivors were paraded through Jerusalem as captives.
* Terrorist Methods: The signatories accused the movement of using "gangster methods" to intimidate the Jewish community in Palestine, including beatings, robberies, and the destruction of free trade unions in favor of corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model.
* A "Leader State" Goal: They asserted that the party's ultimate aim was the creation of a "Leader State" and warned that Begin's public talk of "freedom" and "democracy" was a facade to hide his group's true character.
Historical Significance
The letter serves as a significant document of early internal Jewish opposition to right-wing Revisionist Zionism. Menachem Begin eventually became the Prime Minister of Israel in 1977 as the leader of the Likud party, which was the successor to the Freedom Party."
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Menachem Begin was the founder of the right-wing Likud Party that these Jewish intellectuals stated was "closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties."
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu led the right-wing Likud party for a total of over 25 years, split into two main periods: from 1993 to 1999, and again from 2005 to the present. It's probably just a weird coincidence but the Wikipedia article about Netanyahu has this statement, "During the 1980s, Netanyahu became friends with Fred Trump, the father of future U.S. president Donald Trump."
A couple of things concern me about this topic and our society in general,
I'm afraid some segment of the population has lost the ability to feel shame. That's a huge problem for society since shame (having a conscience) is a primary way we keep each other in line. Lack of shame is also a pathology either of sociopathy or psychopathy. When you feel like society has gone "insane" it’s because some proportion of society has lost the ability to feel shame. You could also describe these people as having no conscience.
The second thing that concerns me is that for some we have become or are becoming a post-literate society. If people lose the ability to read, I think we are hosed.... maybe we already are considering just one example - the testimony of the banally evil and chronically dim-witted DOGE boys.
Of all the idiocy coming from these self-described geniuses one of the best (or worst depending how you look at it) was when the attorney representing the plaintiffs asked a DOGE boy if he had any relevant experience that would allow him to make an informed decision about eliminating government funding for a particular program? He answers, "No, but you could become informed by reading books." The attorney asks him what books he'd read? He answers, "there were no books." I've paraphrased the conversation; the exact wording is in this video. This particular genius was using ChatGPT to make decisions for him and is now fronting for an AI company that is guaranteeing to take away human jobs.
The idiocy has no bounds.... the Trunk administration used some AI chatbot to determine tariffs for their "Liberation Day" tariffs in April of 2025. This is how they ended up setting tariffs that made no practical sense including tariffs on uninhabited islands. The not so reliable narrator Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick denies this - and of course if you believe him, he has a bridge he's interested in selling you.
On the bright side people who can and do read will be invaluable in the future as more and more people become post-literate drones flipping through video shorts and depending on AI to “think’ for them.
I haven't finished watching the video below but I will. I also want to watch the BBC2 documentary "The Settlers" created by Louis Theroux, the person who also created the documentary Inside the Manosphere for Netflix. BBC2 video player is not available in the U.S. so you may need to use a VPN or check the video out on Kanopy using your local library credentials.
The book "Beautiful Souls" by Eyal Press has some interesting writing about the settler movement in Israel and how some brave Israeli soldiers refuse to just follow orders.
