Ben Lorber

We want justice for Palestinians because we are morally outraged and care deeply about the Palestinians we know and love, for sure. But we also feel in our kishkes that the whole setup is disastrous for Jewish safety, and I think we should keep naming that

And it’s funny because there’s a strand of identity politics that will strenuously insist Jewish allies aren’t supposed to have any self-interest. I think that’s unrealistic and not how solidarity is actually built

It’s not the whole reason of course. But I think it’s healthy to acknowledge that self-interest plays some role. A similar case can be made for Jews opposing the weaponization of antisemitism, the ‘Palestine exception’ etc in the US

If Israel achieves a just peace with the Palestinians, it will likely lead to a reduction of antisemitism in the Middle East. I think this is a commonsense truth that partly motivates many Jews to speak out against Israel’s crimes

One hot take I keep close to my chest: Jewish Left anti-Zionism is in part an anti-antisemitism strategy. Far from being naive about antisemitism in the Middle East, we know that winning justice for Palestinians is an essential prerequisite to moving beyond it

I wonder if Epstein ever made it to this dinner at Bill Ackman’s house, at the invitation of Marty Peretz, with interventionist intellectuals Michael Walzer & Fouad Ajami

Marty Peretz seems to have reached out to Jeffrey Epstein a few times over the years, often obsequiously seeking donations to YIVO, a Yiddish cultural institution, where Peretz served on the board (Epstein did donate)

Jeffrey Epstein relays to Ehud Barak a private question from Noam Chomsky— “how long and how far will Israel proceed on the course to self-destruction”

All Eyes on Minneapolis: Lessons on Resisting Authoritarianism In this bonus episode, PRA researchers discuss the deadly ICE crackdown in Minneapolis and the powerful resistance we’ve seen on the streets. ICE continues to kidnap thousands with impunity, and the b...

We explored the decades-long rise of the anti-immigrant movement; how MAGA uses intimidation & fear to consolidate authoritarianism; why solidarity is the antidote; what we expect moving forward, & more

https://politicalresearch.org/2026/02/03/all-eyes-minneapolis-lessons-resisting-authoritarianism

New bonus episode from the @praeyesright.bsky.social podcast, Inform Your Resistance.

Last Friday I spoke with my colleagues about ICE’s crackdown in Minneapolis, & what we can learn from the resistance on the ground

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4JJYn7biDDBawy3FLxmMu1?si=8ZAOJmUHTFS7JXrcZxNYTA

The former director of Project 2025 has positioned himself squarely in lockstep with the Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes wing of MAGA. A sign of the times

The former director of Project 2025 has positioned himself squarely in lockstep with the Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes wing of MAGA. A sign of the times

Consider subscribing to Last Born in the Wilderness, you’ll be glad you did!

The Groypers Ascendant / Ben Lorber The Anti-Israel Wing of the America First Movement

Last week I talked with Patrick over at Last Born in the Wilderness about antisemitism and anti-Zionism on the MAGA Right. He always approaches these conversations with clarity and care
https://lastborninthewilderness.substack.com/p/the-groypers-ascendant-ben-lorber

Returning to Epstein, the sick thing is that, as posts like the ones I shared above show, the online Right can now point to Epstein as ‘proof’ that their conspiratorial ideas about Jews are true. A cursed reactionary feedback loop

their European benefactors that ‘the Jews’ possessed world-shaping political & economic power, because they (correctly) thought it would help them build support for a Western-aligned Jewish colonization project in Palestine.

The same thing happened with early Zionist leaders. Men like Herzl & Max Nordau shared Europe’s antisemitic assumption that ‘the Jews’ were foreign parasites on the continent & needed to regenerate themselves as brutal musclemen in the Middle East. And they courted the idea with

from the doors of elite country clubs, Epstein & a few associates can pantomime those ideas inside. Epstein didn’t control the world but in a vertigo-inducing twist of history, he was in a position to relish the thought that he did & laugh about it with the alt-right.

Epstein’s ideas about Jews reflect his class position. A glimpse into 19th & 20th century history shows most Western business & political elites viewed Jews as clannish all-powerful puppet-masters. Today, in an era when the ‘no Jews allowed’ signs have slipped somewhat

It’s not so surprising that Epstein seems to have internalized & privately promoted many alt-right antisemitic ideas. Reactionaries of different stripes all see the world in basically the same way, as zero-sum competition between antagonistic racial/religious groups

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The ADL’s legitimacy has long been eroding— not only on the Left but increasingly in the Jewish & liberal mainstream

Senior ADL antisemitism researcher leaves to lead competing effort at watchdog Nexus - Jewish Telegraphic Agency Aryeh Tuchman will direct a new Nexus research center focused on improving data, definitions and public understanding of antisemitism.

Another top ADL antisemitism researcher is jumping ship & joining a much more credible organization, the @nexusproject.bsky.social
https://www.jta.org/2026/01/29/united-states/senior-adl-antisemitism-researcher-leaves-to-lead-competing-effort-at-watchdog-nexus

“An immediate de-escalation on all sides”???

Imagine telling Jews to de-escalate during the Holocaust, or African Americans to de-escalate during Jim Crow.

Every Jewish institution must look at itself and ask what they are doing to end fascism.

There were those who called the Nazi persecution of Jews “fatal encounters with law enforcement” while it was happening. Today we call them what they were— collaborators.

There were once plenty of regime loyalists who described the Nazi Gestapo’s targeting of Jews, Roma, dissidents, queer folks & more as so many ‘fatal encounters with law enforcement’. That’s how the head of the ADL just described the ICE murder of Renée Good & Alex Pretti

https://religiondispatches.org/2026/01/26/right-shocked-anti-ice-organizing

“Indeed, there’s always been a not-so-subtle thread of envy running through the history of conservatism.”

It’s the ‘solely’ that I was criticizing. What does that mean exactly?