The mythological figure of Cassandra may not loom as large as others, such as Achilles or Odysseus, in Homer’s ancient Greek epics, but Cassandra’s role in these timeless stories resonates deeply in our present society. Although blessed with the gift of prophecy, Cassandra was also cursed by the god Apollo to utter true prophecies that were never believed. When she warned her fellow Trojans that the Greek army would sack Troy and burn it to the ground, she was written off as hysterical. The Trojans were confident the Greeks would never breach the city walls.
Cassandra’s prophecy was right in the end, and Troy did burn to the ground, as the epic goes. Her story is one the world should from learn from, especially in the context of today’s geopolitics. A few brave souls in the Jewish community have, for years, been sounding the alarm about the growing alliance between radical Muslim regimes in the Middle East and so-called progressives in the West, and the danger it poses not just to Jews and Israel, but to America and the West at large. Many of these figures’ warnings were ignored or downplayed. What resulted was a near-total shock of the American Jewish community at the vile antisemitic reactions of many liberals to the barbaric October 7th attack on Israel by the terror group Hamas.
One such Cassandra-esque figure is Adam Milstein, an American of Israeli descent and prominent “venture philanthropist” based in LA. He and his wife Gila founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation in 2000 with a mission to strengthen American values, support the U.S.-Israel alliance and combat hatred and bigotry in all forms. Several organizations his foundation supports are dedicated to fighting left-wing antisemitism, especially on college campuses where this ideology festers and spreads. Milstein has been on the frontlines of the fight against this growing threat for years, and so he writes clearly and urgently on what needs to be done.
In a recent article for The Jerusalem Post, Milstein says emphatically: “For two decades, I have written about the threat the Islamo-left alliance posed not only to Jews, but to all Americans. I spoke about it to whoever would listen. I wish I was wrong. I wish I had been crying wolf.” And like Cassandra, his warnings were proven tragically right when a “wave of Jew-hatred propelled by radical Muslims and far-left movements” swept the country following the October 7th attacks. But for those who have been paying attention and taking seriously the warnings of Milstein and others, the attacks, as well as the subsequent antisemitic backlash, should have been no surprise at all.
“September 11th exposed America to the threats of radical Islam,” Milstein writes, but complacency quickly set in. “Islamists have not adjusted their aims or intent” since 2001, “but now enjoy full support by many factions of the far left” in the U.S. and Europe. He argues that leftists in the West have long fooled themselves into thinking that the radical, jihadist Islam of terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah somehow aligns with liberal values. Leftists have simplistically placed all Muslims into the category of oppressed peoples suffering under the privileged boot of Israeli or Western oppressors. It is an ideological framework that comes straight out of a flawed Marxist worldview.
Milstein writes that “universities are breeding grounds for radical ideologies” like this. For months on end, “young people in Keffiyehs have filled the streets, threatening Jews, carrying signs that call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state.” This is a more visible representation of what has been going on at college campuses for decades. This anti-imperialist point of view spurs these young people to also call for the destruction of what they see as a U.S. “empire” which oppresses dark-skinned third world peoples with its white capitalist sensibilities. The American Jewish community is finally wise to this problem, and non-Jews are waking up to it as well.
However, Jews and non-Jews alike should hold world leaders accountable for allowing the Islamist regimes that call for violence to continue spreading hate. Milstein believes that the international community is too heavily influenced by the far-left and thus has been giving radical Muslims a pass for too long. That the West chooses “diplomacy and appeasement over moral clarity” is a huge problem in his view. They are too willing to “engage with regimes and organizations that openly call for the destruction of Israel and the West,” and it has “predictably led to disaster.” All the more worrying is that western governments, institutions and NGOs “legitimize Islamist groups, parrot their views and embrace their rhetoric” in their own dealings. The explicitly genocidal Hamas is “regularly portrayed as a political movement fighting for Palestinian liberation.”
So what can be done to quell the fire now that Troy is burning? Milstein makes a call for moral clarity when it comes to both radical Islam and far-left antisemitism. “Evil cannot be reasoned with or moderated, it can only be defeated.” He describes Israel as the “floodgate,” the front line, but argues that the fight to defend Israel is synonymous with the fight to defend western values. The “appeasement and moral ambiguity” we have seen from world leaders will only breed more hatred and violence. “The West must confront its enemies within and stand with Israel against the enemies on its border.” This is vital not just for the survival of the Jewish state and Jewish people, but to preserve freedom and democracy worldwide.
