Orthodox Reflections

By Nicholas – member of the Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America

Zionists have never looked more in control of the United States. Take the visit of Jewish supremacist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the U.S. in April 2025 as an example. Ben Gvir is part of a movement that has called for non-Jews to be forced out of Israel entirely, unless they are willing to submit to slavery. Gvir recently called for Israel to “bomb food and aid depots” in Gaza.  Trump warmly welcomed Gvir to Mar-a-Lago with a standing ovation. A Yale student organization invited Gvir to campus for an event. His visit to Yale did manage to provoke a round of pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide protests on campus. Yale is now looking to punish the student organizers of the anti-Gvir protests.

When a genocidal extremist such as Gvir gets a warm welcome from U.S. ruling and cultural elites, you know America has badly lost its way. Still, at least there was a protest at Yale. The student protestors had to know there would be future personal consequences, but they bravely went ahead anyway. The spirit of anti-Genocide defiance has also shown up in entertainment venues. An Irish Band displayed pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli messages during its appearance at ultra-liberal Coachella. They were not the only artists to use their time on stage to support humanity’s fight against barbarism.

The steady negative news about Gaza and the rest of the Middle East has sapped American support for Israel, which is dropping among among all segments of the American public to historic lows. The drop in support is especially severe among younger Americans. In fact, half of young Americans in an April 2025 poll even come out and said they support Hamas specifically, and not just Palestinian rights in general.

The loss of support is embarrassing for Israel, but we shouldn’t overrepresent the significance of it for the short term. The 2026 election may be approaching, but its outcome will have no effect on American foreign policy in the Middle East, regardless of who wins. Through AIPAC money, Zionists control both the Democrat and Republican Parties all the way from the primaries to the general election. Voting will not matter in the foreseeable future, anymore than it mattered in 2024. For Zionists, which party ostensibly controls the government is of no real consequence.

However, Israel is totally dependent on unconditional U.S. support for its very existence. Over some longer term time horizon, the decisive shift in American public opinion will eventually cause problems for the Zionist project’s ability to use the U.S. as its personal cash machine and military supply depot. At least for the next few elections cycles though, the danger to Zionism from the American political process is negligible.

So why are Zionists in a panic? Because they really are in a panic, even though at first glance it looks like everything is going their way. How can that be, if Zionism is electorally secure, owning both parties in a two-party system? Because while how Americans vote does not matter to them (at least right now), it matters greatly to Zionists whether or not Americans obey. Obedience in key sectors of American society is eroding rapidly, which is the real cause of current Zionist panic attacks.

Recruitment in the U.S. military is up overall while retention is reported to be meeting the Pentagon’s goals. However, American forces are still chronically understaffed after previous years of missed recruiting objectives. Given the threat of war of a costly war with Iran, it is an open question whether or not the necessary number of recruits will keep willingly enlisting to die for Israel. Among active service members and U.S. combat veterans, Israel and its genocide are extremely unpopular. Experienced officers and NCOs have resigned in disgust. Others are biding their time, hoping things get better or they at least reach retirement age. If called upon to go to war with Iran, or to ethnically cleanse Gaza, would U.S. servicemembers comply with their deployment orders? Especially if the veteran community is actively encouraging them not to, based on their own experiences in wasteful and unnecessary Middle Eastern wars?

Just one example of an anti-war veteran. He has 1.7M follows on YouTube and 190.9K on X. The American veteran community is, overall, not encouraging young men to fight in any more Middle Eastern wars.

As everyone now knows, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth successfully opposed an attack on Iran. A lifelong hawk, it is doubtful that he did so out of a new found passion for peace. It is rather more likely that his generals and admirals were able to persuade him that the U.S. military is not ready (mentally, emotionally, or logistically) to fight Iran on behalf of Bibi Netanyahu and his gang of religious extremists. For his patriotic pragmatism on this issue, Hegseth is now wearing a target on his back. If he is replaced, look for an even more extreme Zionist to take over the Department of Defense.

It’s not just the military that’s a problem. Israel’s mass slaughter of children in Gaza, and general destabilization of the Middle East, has made it deeply unpopular within the U.S. intelligence community. If the U.S. intelligence community is unreliable regarding the Zionist cause, due to sympathy for Palestine and opposition to an Iranian War, how can the government effectively “sell” the necessity for more war and genocide to the American people? How can you conduct effective military operations if your own intelligence assets are leaking information, resigning in protest, and maybe even actively opposing you behind the scenes?

The U.S. State Department is rife with support for the Palestinians and opposition to an Iranian War. Here, as in the military, there have been key resignations. The personnel who work for State are responsible for implementing U.S. policies around the world. Their opinions matter. The depth of their entrenched opposition to war and genocide is undoubtedly a huge factor in the surprise announcement from Marco Rubio of plans for sweeping changes at State. Rubio wants to eliminate 700 positions and close 132 of 734 State Department offices. Deeper cuts are envisioned. Rubio says that he is trying to get control of a bloated bureaucracy that has pursued a “Woke” agenda around the world on the backs of U.S. tax payers. That State has been guilty of shoving “Wokeness” down the worlds’ collective throat is absolutely true. Is that the primary reason for shedding personnel and closing offices in a government department known to be pro-Palestinian? It is difficult to believe in coincidences that are that convenient.

While institutional opposition in America presents a major issue for Zionists, the deteriorating situation within Israel itself is the real existential threat. Many Israelis have dual citizenship, and so are fleeing the “safety” of Israel for the dangers of “antisemitism” back home. There has been a 285% increase in Israelis just packing up and leaving over the past year. 80% of the Israelis living abroad say they have no plans to return. Over 100,000 Israeli soldiers have reportedly stopped showing up for reserve duty. That’s around 40% of Israeli troop strength that is just… missing.  Ishai Menuchin, one of the leaders of the refuser movement Yesh Gvul (“There is a Limit”), said this about the missing soldiers:

“They’re afraid to put refusers in prison, because if they do, it could bury the model of the ‘people’s army,’” he explained. “The government understands this, and therefore it doesn’t push too hard; it suffices with the army dismissing a few reservists, as if that will solve the problem.”

If you can’t convince Israelis to kill and die for Israel, how are you supposed to convince Christian Americans to? Heck, right now Netanyahu is having trouble convincing Israelis to even stay in the country, much less fight for it. The Israeli media is openly discussing a “brain drain” as essential professionals in IT, medicine, and other skill intensive fields are leaving Israel for safer pastures elsewhere. They’ve had enough of the air raid sirens, the IDF’s actions in Gaza, and more than enough of how the radical Netanyahu government repeatedly lies to its own citizens, particularly about the hostages in Gaza that are supposed to be the whole reason the genocide is ongoing. Good luck running a country when your most talented and productive citizens have all left.

If the Gazan “narrative” continues to focus on dead children, maimed children, and starving children – then Zionism can end up in deep, deep trouble. No Zionist cares what the American people and government functionaries think and feel. But, as noted earlier, Zionists very much need Americans to obey the dictates of the government they have given us. Zionists, unwilling to change course in any meaningful way, have to shut Americans up (and by extension Israeli citizens) and make them all get back in line.

So what can Zionists do to get the American situation back in hand? Based on what we are seeing, this appears to be their current playbook.

1. Put Reliable Zionists in Office to Control as Much as Possible

By now, pretty much everyone has noticed that only hard core Zionists qualify for appointments to the Trump Administration. However, as Pete Hegseth’s successful opposition to an Iran strike shows, even sincere Shabbos goy Christian Zionists may not be reliable enough. (Though who knows, they might get him back on the reservation.) In any case, to be certain even their most radical policies are implemented, Zionist Jews are taking matters into their own hands. Trump just appointed Merav Ceren to the National Security Council as Director for Israel and Iran. Ceren is a former staffer for Israel’s Ministry of Defense. She also previously worked for COGAT, the Israeli agency currently blocking aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza. Ceren also spent years at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neocon war machine agitating for Iranian regime change. There is no one better to press for an Iranian War from within the Trump Administration than an Israeli citizen and a certified member of “God’s Chosen People.” Evidently, when you want something done right, you just have to do it yourself.

Trump also recently nominated Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun to serve as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat antisemitism. This position was elevated to ambassadorial level in 2020, and has responsibilities both domestically and abroad.  Rabbi Kaploun is a “Florida” businessman who was actually born in Israel. In a 2024 interview with Mishpacha magazine he said: “Our situation is similar to that of Jews in 1930s Germany, on the eve of Kristallnacht. They, too, lived in peace and quiet until the ground shook under their feet. And in the United States, the ground is already shaking.” On naming Kaploun as U.S. Special Envoy, President Trump stated: “With antisemitism dangerously on the rise, Yehuda will be the strongest representative for Americans and Jews across the globe and promote peace.”

Wherever they are, Zionist Jews always seem to be one step away death camps. Even in the U.S., the most pro-Jewish nation that has ever existed. Kaploun is a “Chabad-Lubavitch” Rabbi, which makes him the most “ultra” of ultra Orthodox imaginable. Chabad is more like a cult than any mainstream religion with which most Americans are familiar. Kaploun is not the only Trump appointee to have such ties. At a time when America is facing the possibility of a truly disastrous war with Iran, the president of the United States is surrounding himself with the worst religious extremists imaginable.

Trump also just appointed Fox News host, uber Hawk, and passionate Jewish Zionist Mark Levin to his revamped Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). In that role, Levin will be working closely with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Levin has worked tirelessly within the MAGA movement to maintain unconditional support for Israel and its genocidal policies. He will now be on a council which, among other priorities: “Provides organizationally independent advice and recommendations to the Secretary, including the creation and implementation of critical and actionable policies for the security of the homeland.” At least Levin was born in America, though that doesn’t really seem to affect his priorities very much.

These are just a few of recent Trump personnel moves that show an effort to tighten the Zionist noose even further around the necks of the American people. We could cover more, but you should get the point by now. Expect more of the same, including possible replacements for some of the less “reliable” previous appointees. To combat antisemitism, the Trump Administration has already rolled out a range of new policies, including canceling the visas of students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, freezing federal funding to colleges and universities and monitoring the social media feeds of immigrants and even foreign tourists. The Trump Administration has put in place a team of Zionist radicals guaranteed to dial the current efforts to silence critics up to 11. Expect this list of policies to expand, and become increasingly applied to American citizens.

2. Create a Framework to Censor Dissent

At the Federal level, as well as within multiple states, there is an ongoing push for legislation and executive orders that provide a legal framework to silence and punish speech deemed antisemitic. Most of these efforts rely, explicitly or implicitly, on use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s hugely expansive definition of antisemitism. The IHRA standard, if strictly applied, would outlaw any criticism of Israel, practically any criticism of any Jewish individual or group, and could even be used to outlaw the public reading of certain New Testament verses and Christian prayers.

Kristi Noem, current Homeland Security Secretary who will be advised in the future by Mark Levin, was responsible for an antisemitism law as governor of South Dakota. The GOP-controlled Senate in Texas just passed a bill to crackdown on anti-Semitic speech in elementary schools. Even Texas cities are going after antisemitism. One made support for Israel a requirement to get disaster relief. 

It is a short distance from prohibiting speech to compelling speech. Will we all have to pledge our undying support for Israel at some point? 

As Glenn Greenwald reported, “Under new guidelines released by the National Institute of Health, any medical researchers will have all funds terminated if they support a boycott of Israel. They can support a boycott of any other country, or even other US states — just not Israel.” Somehow, between this new policy and declaring antisemitism a “mental health crisis”, an RFK Jr led HHS has managed to make American health care and research all about Zionism.

Did you know that the Department of Justice has an Antisemitism Task Force headed by Leo Terrell, former Fox contributor and ardent Zionist? In an appearance on “The Story” with Trace Gallagher, Terrill said the Trump administration’s move to slash $400 million in Columbia University’s federal grants is just the beginning. The warning to colleges is clear, either “protect” Jewish students or face more funding cuts. No wonder Yale coddles the students who invited the mass murderer Gvir to campus, while punishing the students who dared to voice opposition to genocide. Just follow the money.

By now, most people are familiar with foreign students and pro-Palestinian activists facing deportation. They are all in jail at the moment. Zionists want to expand the punishment to native-born American citizens. David Melech Friedman, attorney and the former United States Ambassador to Israel, openly called on Trump to financially ruin, jail, or even deport those like Candace Owens and Trucker Carlson who criticize Israel. He differs from the current leadership of the Trump administration only in having said the quiet part out loud. The Trump Administration is controlled by Zionist zealots who have absolutely no compunction about silencing, by any means necessary, anyone who questions Zionism or opposes policies (such as war with Iran) deemed essential to Israeli interests. The Trump people will go as far as Americans let them in enforcing the rapidly growing prohibitions against “antisemitic hate speech.”

Censorship, necessary if Zionists are to head off any potential revolt by Americans, does not have to rely only on government directives. Private entities, usually heavily infiltrated by Zionists, can be just as injurious to free speech as the government.

Among the chief censors for Israel is Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook:

A sweeping crackdown on posts on Instagram and Facebook that are critical of Israel—or even vaguely supportive of Palestinians—was directly orchestrated by the government of Israel, according to internal Meta data obtained by Drop Site News. The data show that Meta has complied with 94% of takedown requests issued by Israel since October 7, 2023. Israel is the biggest originator of takedown requests globally by far, and Meta has followed suit—widening the net of posts it automatically removes, and creating what can be called the largest mass censorship operation in modern history.

 

Government requests for takedowns generally focus on posts made by citizens inside that government’s borders, Meta insiders said. What makes Israel’s campaign unique is its success in censoring speech in many countries outside of Israel. What’s more, Israel’s censorship project will echo well into the future, insiders said, as the AI program Meta is currently training how to moderate content will base future decisions on the successful takedown of content critical of Israel’s genocide.

Israel seems to “own” Meta. A big reason for that is more than one hundred former Israeli spies and IDF soldiers work for the tech giant. Shira Anderson is the head of AI policy for Meta and the person in charge of training the AI which will reliably “disappear” inconvenient information in the future. Shira served in the IDF under an Israeli government program that allows non-Israelis to volunteer for the Israeli army.

The Meta Director of Public Policy for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, a former adviser to Netanyahu, ordered the scrubbing of content about the popular Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani. Kanafani was murdered by Israeli Mossad agents over 50 years ago. How reliable do you think “history” will be for our future generations if they are reliant on AI serving up information from heavily edited / censored data sources?

While on its face, Zionism seems to be in an extremely strong position, just note that popular movements do not have to rely on extensive censorship and propaganda. Unfortunately, knowing they are playing a weak hand only makes the Zionists more dangerous for the foreseeable future.

Scroll Down to Continue

3. Identify the Targets

Americans, sadly, have gotten used to the idea that the government is trolling their social media accounts. They have also, equally sadly, gotten used to the idea of social media companies censoring their speech online. If you want to stay out of trouble, then just keep offline with your anti-genocide opinions. Right?

Not really. Introducing what cyber experts refer to as the most effective, comprehensive, and diabolical surveillance platform in world history – Palantir co-owned by Peter Thiel, the man who created J.D. Vance and made him Vice President of the United States.

Palantir is the go-to company for what the intel industry refers to as “mining” – collating and analyzing digital data information for American and Israeli intelligence and law enforcement agencies. In the United States, police departments from southern California to Boston use Palantir to track all sorts of people. Palantir has even worked with Beijing to track Chinese citizens. Since 2024, Palantir has been working directly with the Israeli military on their campaign of so-called “targeted killings”. Palantir has been using social media information from Meta and other firms, as well as mobile phone data, to track people the IDF can then target for assassination. Experts estimate tens of thousands of people have been killed in this Palantir-enabled campaign, including innocent journalists. 

A prominent left-leaning anti-Zionist Substack publication, the Political Economist, claimed:

“over 150 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza and in numerous cases they appear to have been directly targeted [using Palantir tech]. Using social media information to murder journalists using drone strikes is already dystopic, but this is likely to just be the beginning of the evil Palantir will facilitate.”

Killing journalists makes sense, doesn’t it? How can the truth get out if no one is alive to report it?

Palantir co-founder Alex Karp often nonchalantly and publicly discusses the usefulness of his AI-driven product in facilitating the slaughter of human beings

How close is Palantir to Israel? Co-founder Alex Karp, Thiel’s partner, is first and foremost, an unabashed Zionist. Karp cites Israel, the Frankfurt School and his parent’s Judaism as the foundations of his worldview. Palantir held its first board meeting of 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel after which the company agreed to a “strategic partnership” with the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Ominously for Americans, Palantir has also created programs that locate, monitor, track and perhaps even entrap people before they commit any actual crimes. Being a traditional Catholic, an Orthodox Christian, a Second American advocate, a free speech activist, or any number of other reasons can cause you to be noticed by a government agency using Palantir’s “product”. Once they have you in the crosshairs, agencies can use astoundingly comprehensive personal information to find an existing, or trick you into committing, a “hate speech” or other made up crime to justify an arrest. Or they can just as easily use the information to blackmail you. How will it change the exercise of our Constitutional Rights knowing that “Big Brother” really is watching?

Do you trust the people really running the U.S. government with that kind of power?

4. Make the “Terrorists” Disappear

Right now, government focus is on rounding up and silencing pro-Palestinian activists, particularly those of foreign extraction. But let’s change up the scenario. The Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches have extensive property and congregations in Israel and the occupied territories. These congregations and property are under constant harassment by Israeli authorities. For example, following Pascha 2025 the Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate put out a statement concerning what it termed “egregious violations” carried out by Israeli authorities:

“In a strongly worded statement, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem “emphatically condemns the egregious violations” that occurred during the Holy Light celebration on Holy Saturday, describing them as actions that “desecrated the sanctity of Jerusalem.”

 

According to the Patriarchate, Israeli police forces turned the sacred city into a “militarized zone”, erecting barriers and “obstructing the faithful from reaching their churches,” while also committing “assaults against scouts and worshippers, both locals and pilgrims from around the world.”

In a series of altercations in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a priest was assaulted and guns were drawn on Orthodox believers. Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, the Apostolic Delegate and Vatican Ambassador to Palestine, was denied entry to the Holy Sepulcher at all. He can be seen below held up at one of the ubiquitous Israeli checkpoints.

You, as a devout Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christian, decide this is all too much. So you start protesting the treatment of Christians in the Holy Land. You criticize the government of Israel for its actions, and the indifference of the Trump Administration in the face of blatant Christian persecution. You make waves doing so. You get on someone’s radar screen – possibly a Fed agency or even a local / state police force. (Maybe military conflict with Iran has begun, so a Trump declaration of national emergency restricting criticism of the U.S. and her “allies” has furthered bolstered government assaults on free speech.) A SWAT team is dispatched to your house and you are arrested. The same way pro-Palestinian activists are being violently arrested right now.

You disappear into government custody. However, lucky for you, the right to habeas corpus is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.  Your family, as quickly as possible, hires a lawyer to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with a federal judge. The judge issues the writ, which a U.S. Marshal serves on the persons holding you in jail. The writ commands you to be brought immediately to court. At the habeas hearing, the judge orders the government to show just cause as to why you are being held. If the government can’t make a constitutionally valid and convincing case, the judge orders you to be released. You walk out of court a free man or woman.

Without habeas corpus, you have absolutely no rights. Whenever the government chooses, it could simply detain its critics until they die in prison. But the government can’t do that, right? Because the courts would intervene. Only, the courts can’t intervene if you are not actually in the United States. American courts have no jurisdiction over foreign governments such as that of El Salvador.

If the SWAT team that took you into custody immediately puts you on a plane to El Salvador as a “terrorist,” you will remain there forever being tortured in any way your captors please. There is nothing anyone can do about it. U.S. officials, President Trump included, will say that they no longer have control over you and it is no longer their affair. The president of a foreign country can ignore rulings of U.S. courts to his heart’s content.

Far-fetched? Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a plan by the Biden Administration for dealing with domestic terrorists. The June 2021 document titled “Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism”:

Identifying criminal activity through people’s speech already raises serious concerns, but the new document goes even further. It shows that officials aimed to track “concerning non-criminal behavior” – a move with no precedent in the U.S. This revelation casts the Biden administration’s actions in a very different light and redefines how the public should interpret recent revelations.

 

The Plan starts by casting a wide net in how it identifies “concerning” activities. It instructs authorities to “provide resources to state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement that cover relevant iconography, symbology, and phraseology used by many domestic terrorists.” Most disturbingly, and completely absent from the publicly released unclassified version of the Plan in June 2021, it directed the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security to target “incidents of concerning non-criminal behavior.”

 

Although the original unclassified and newly declassified versions of the Plan mention “freedom of expression” a few times, the updated version strongly suggests that censorship is necessary to protect both democracy and free speech. The language closely mirrors the European Digital Security Act, which claims to fight “disinformation” and “hate speech” in the name of safeguarding democratic values.

 

The Biden administration obliterated the line between lawful expression and criminal intent by encouraging federal agencies to monitor speech that involved no criminal activity. Once you read the declassified version of the Plan, it becomes clear that the Biden administration actions weren’t necessarily by accident. Despite repeated public denials, it followed an explicit policy of identifying people based solely on their political views.

 

In 2022, an FBI whistleblower exposed the rollout of a related document: the FBI’s “Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide” for identifying “Militia Violent Extremists” (MVEs). As Congressman Jim Jordan wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, the guide advised agents to be suspicious of symbols like “2A” and imagery referencing the Second Amendment. It also flagged historically significant emblems like the Betsy Ross Flag and Gadsden Flag as indicators of potential domestic terrorists.

Given what we know about the Trump Administration, who doubts that some version of this Biden policy is not either in effect, or at least under strong consideration? A plan like this means you could be guilty of “terrorism” by accident. Suppose Palantir flags your “non- criminal” behavior such as posting “antisemitic” Bible verses online or proclaiming “Christ is King” or “The Church is Israel” as “concerning” activities? Then someone else, maybe even an AI, decides those “concerning” activities warrant a visit from a SWAT team? Next stop, El Salvador. Combine a policy that makes practically anything terrorism, with the massive data mining capabilities of Palantir, and you have the potential for tyranny on a scale George Orwell could never have dreamed of.

An Irish band is facing a terrorism investigation for supporting Palestinians and opposing Israel at Coachella. Words projected on a screen are “terrorism.” Anything is potentially terrorism. 

Again, far fetched? Reagan-appointed judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, commenting on the Kilmar Abrego Garcia deportation case, sounded a very clear alarm. Once the executive decides to ignore the courts, there is nothing restricting the denial of due process to just “illegal immigrants” with “gang tattoos”:

No one is going to effectively stand up for anyone who is disappeared into a foreign Gulag. Many MAGA will cheer Trump’s defiance of the courts, hoping that it heralds the beginning of the mass deportation of illegals. Protestant Dispensationalists, for whom Zionism is a religious obligation, will affirm that the Trump Administration is doing God’s Work. Democrats are salivating at the prospect of using such expanded powers against their own enemies, so don’t expect much in the way of principled opposition. As for other critics of Zionist oppression, they won’t take to the streets to support the disappeared. The government doesn’t have to send thousands of critics to El Salvador. A few dozen or less would probably suffice to convince every single “antisemitic terrorist” critic to go completely silent.

If you get targeted, please rest assured God won’t abandon you, but everyone else will.

Once everyone is silent, or cheering for Trump and Israel, then the real oppression can begin. With habeas corpus and freedom of speech shredded, the Zionists are free to come after the Churches.

The crucifixion account in the Gospel of John, and other New Testament passages, have been judged by Rabbinic Jews as antisemitic. Better suppress the reading of those, or at least force Churches to issue “disclaimers” when they are read. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops already did that for the online Gospel reading for Good Friday with a disclaimer “the crimes during the Passion of Christ cannot be attributed, in either preaching or catechesis, indiscriminately to all Jews of that time, nor to Jews today.” That disclaimer is quite mild to what could easily be mandated in the future.

Perhaps Zionists come to censure Orthodox Holy Week prayers? This is another issue the Roman Catholic Church already caved on 21 March 1959, when John XXIII ordered that the word faithless (Latin: perfidis) be removed from the prayer for the conversion of the Jews. The Roman Church subsequently went to great lengths to suppress the Latin liturgy to make the Jewish ADL happy. Will this same Roman Church, which has been busy surrendering on so many fronts, be more inclined to stand up for the Deposit of the Faith when real persecution is happening?

The head of our own Orthodox Assembly of Bishops, Archbishop Elpidophoros, couldn’t close his churches fast enough during COVID, has recently described Trump as the new Constantine, and has repeatedly declared his support for the fight against “rising antisemitism.” Do you think he has the guts to risk his own neck for something so trivial as the Orthodox Catholic faith?

Unlikely. To be fair, one should expect little out of the Protestants either, as the Dispensationalist wing of the Evangelicalism will provide some of the most reliable pro-censorship advocates in history. They won’t touch porn or blasphemy, but expect Dispensationalists to go all-in on arresting you for “antisemitic hate speech.”

Conclusion

Voting is not going to save you, but there are some things that might derail this drive towards AI-fueled totalitarianism. Israel could completely collapse, rendering Zionism a defunct religion. The non-crazy wing of Israeli society might manage to dethrone the religious extremists, leading to an actual peace settlement. The U.S. could collapse economically, making it unable to support Zionism or wage war against Iran. The rest of the world might gang up on us and successfully stop our more insane policies.

Best of all, Jesus could return and we can move on to eternal life without worrying about this anymore.

Unfortunately, we can’t count on being rescued by a deus ex machina. Realistically we should prepare for two broad choices. Choice one is to go along with whatever is asked of you. Perform whatever oaths they offer, take whatever marks they require, serve as commanded. In this life, that will keep you out of trouble. How that echoes in eternity is a different matter.

Choice two is to prepare yourself for possible martyrdom. Pray, repent, fast, participate in the mysteries of the Church. It may not all come to a worst case scenario, but being spiritually prepared for eternal life is what we Orthodox do anyway. The Trump Zionist cultists in power will likely go as far in silencing us as we let them. Very few of us are in a position to effectively resist the drive towards persecution and war. Even so, we should do the best we can with what God has given us. We may not win this battle, but we can at least make a credible showing in the fight.