Yuval Nemirovsky
It has been 24 years since September 11, 2001 — the day the world changed forever. It wasn’t just an attack on the United States; it was a direct assault on the values of the Western world. Today, more than two decades later, we remain under threat — not only from radical Islamism but also from its ideological allies in the West: the hollow progressive populism disguised as social justice, but with authoritarian undertones and a dangerous proximity to communist rhetoric.
Just look at Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or Gaza to understand how these regimes or groups act with hatred, antisemitism, and brutal oppression of women and minorities. However, what’s most alarming is not just what happens there — it’s how supposedly enlightened sectors of the West — universities, NGOs, the media — have fallen into the trap of their propaganda.
Millions of dollars from countries like Qatar fund academic centers that end up becoming loudspeakers for an ideology that denies even the most basic rights. And the so-called “intellectuals” — the useful idiots of the 21st century — repeat the narratives of these regimes without question, under the mask of inclusion and diversity.
What we now see in Europe is a direct result of this blindness: burned churches, entire neighborhoods governed by religious law, fear of expressing ideas due to the threat of retaliation. The United States, if it doesn’t react, is heading down the same path.
This ideological disease has infected all levels of society. Educated people — even close friends — justify the unjustifiable in order to maintain their place in “woke” or progressive social circles. They defend causes that, in reality, represent the most brutal oppression of women, homosexuals, and Jews — and they do it in the name of social justice, without seeing the contradiction.
It’s time to wake up. To stop projecting our values — freedom, equality, human rights — onto cultures or groups that do not share them and, in many cases, openly despise them. The West’s gravest mistake has been expecting moral reciprocity from those who only offer manipulation and double standards.
You cannot negotiate with those who do not believe in freedom. And we must stop justifying the unjustifiable in the name of tolerance.
