Wednesday, January 24, 2024

01/24 Links Pt2: This War Is Different; Shylock at the U.N.; UN Agency Floats Funding For Orgs That ‘Diverted’ Aid To Hamas; Hollywood stars join new campaign against Jew-hatred

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: This War Is Different
Normally this set of conditions, in which only one side is subjected to any real pressure because the other side’s leaders cannot be made to value life, would whittle down governmental resistance until it reached its breaking point and agreed, like a game of musical chairs, to the best available deal on the table when the music stopped. Indeed, it is no longer just Netanyahu in the crosshairs of public opinion: The most recent polling shows a majority of Israelis are dissatisfied with the war council’s handling of the conflict. There is almost no conceivable development in which the cabinet’s numbers would improve.

In a normal conflict, then, this would be the moment the government would begin to collapse, and the war’s days would be numbered because the public’s will was nearly sapped.

But this isn’t a normal conflict. And what’s more, the families of the remaining hostages know it.

One exchange in a recent meeting between Netanyahu and the hostage families, included in the Times of Israel report, caught my attention: “Netanyahu was reportedly asked during the meeting why Israel could not simply agree to end the war in order to secure the release of the remaining hostages and then restart the fighting once the abductees have been returned.”

In other words, the hostage families—sleep-deprived, tortured by psychic pain—know the fighting must go on and Hamas must be defeated. They are desperate, as would be any human in their situation, for some way to bend reality enough to end their suffering. But they will not relinquish that sense of reality, even in this state. Just lie to the Americans.

Netanyahu then proceeded to explain to the Israelis gathered that, no, we cannot deceive the Americans. Israel would have to give its word and keep its word.

And that is part of what makes the weight on Israel’s shoulders so heavy. There is no pretending to end this war, because this war is different.
Shylock at the U.N.
It seems obvious that neither diplomat would ever have thought of urging restraint upon Islamic nationalists, or an understanding of a broader context to Palestinians, who are implicitly granted a freedom of action that comes from being outside of a Judeo-Christian cultural imaginary (though often enrolled in a different one—I’m looking at you Caliban.). Indeed, one searches in vain for similar calls by European and U.N. leaders for anger management to Assad in Syria or Erdogan in Turkey. But, in the case of Israel, a Jewish demand for justice (or retribution) in the here and now is an inevitable, and perhaps even pleasurable, occasion for hardened diplomats to open up the possibility of an ultimate or final justice that will transcend justice, in the process of which the Jew will be inducted into the ways of mercy.

A similar dynamic can be seen at play in President Biden’s account of a recent conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu:
It was pointed out to me — I’m being very blunt with you all — it was pointed out to me , by Bibi, that ‘Well, you carpet-bombed Germany. You dropped the atom bomb. A lot of civilians died,’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why all these institutions were set up after World War Two to see to it that it didn’t happen again — it didn’t happen again. Don’t make the same mistakes we made at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to be in a war in Afghanistan at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to do some of the things we did.

In Biden’s gaff- prone way, he admits that these institutions of international law set up after World War II and intended to prevent massive civilian casualties were ignored again and again by the United States, most recently during the Afghanistan war, thereby contradicting his statement that “It didn’t happen again.” He’s also implicitly urging Netanyahu to set a better example than the United States has. The quality of mercy is not strained and becomes the throned monarch better than his crown.

In the way that, according to James Shapiro, The Merchant is not about Jews but rather a projection onto Jews of another people’s anxieties, so is the ongoing drama of Israel-Palestine. Biden turns a dialogue about Israeli national security and how that country should respond to terrorism – not being a global terrorism expert, I personally don’t know! - into a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy full of belated and uneasy American guilt and doubt about its own response to terrorism and insurgency, in parts of the world that are certainly much farther away from U.S. borders than Gaza is from Israel’s.

The Biden-Netanyahu conversation also shows the first tendency of Shylockism running headlong into the second. That is, Jews claiming the right to be as bad as gentiles, because they can imagine no other recourse. We don’t know if Bibi said exactly what Biden said he did: Biden may have been hearing Israel’s leader through the same distorting field that is audible in the rest of his account. Yet much of the historical rhetoric of Zionism as well as the State of Israel’s own messaging amounts to a kind of “honesty in vice” that attempts to justify actions seen as excessive through appeals to a tarnished self-image of “Western Civilization” from which Jews were historically excluded and “Western nations” no longer want to defend.

What remains exceptional about Jews and the Jewish state is a wish to exit a state in which Jews must be exceptional, either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. But this desire to be like others is also an old wish that runs through the heart of modern Jewish experience, going at least as far back to the time of Shylock and Rodrigo Lopes, and is inextricable from the searing prejudices that provoked it, at times becoming their obverse.

In a remarkable interpretation of The Merchant of Venice that turns on the question of what it meant to be a human being and a man in 16th century Europe, the critic Marc Shell suggests that much of Shylock’s behavior is “out of character for a Jew.” Specifically, Shell notes Shylock’s contract with Antonio as being inherently goyish. As he writes, “The apparent commensurability between persons and purses which this enactment reveals turns out to be more typical of Christian law, which allows human beings to be purchased for money, than Jewish “justice” and practice, which disallow it.”

Shylock is not afraid to say or do in broad daylight—transact with human flesh—what the Venetian nobles are themselves ashamed of. Shylock’s mention of slavery is the first time slaves appear in the play, although one might wonder what cargo Antonio is indeed trading to and from Mexico and the Indies. The play’s response to this is to invoke something beyond the law: Portia’s merciless mercy dressed up in judicial robes. It is through the invocation of mercy that Shylock inherently lacks that the crimes of the nobles of Venice are made to disappear from view. Without Jewish guilt, there can be no Christian innocence. I don’t like it.
NGO Monitor: Concerns about NGOs listed in UN OCHA-oPt’s “Flash Appeal” on “Hostilities in Gaza and Israel”
On October 12, 2023, UN OCHA-oPt launched the “OPT Flash Appeal,” seeking $294 million “to address the most urgent needs of 1,260,000 people in the Gaza Strip (Gaza) and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for three months.” On November 3, the target amount was raised to $1.2 billion.

The money will go to “13 UN Agencies, 29 International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and 38 National NGOs (NNGOs).” UNRWA was the only one of the 80 to be named in the October 12 document as an intended recipient. However, NGO Monitor researchers note that in January 2023, OCHA-oPt published a list of 78 partners that were projected to work within its “Humanitarian Response Plan” (HRP) in 2023. By cross-referencing grants listed in OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service database, NGO Monitor was able to identify, with a high level of confidence, the other two partners. (See Appendix 1.)

As of January 24, 2023, $697 million had been received as part of the Flash Appeal – by 9 UN Agencies, 22 international NGOs, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. (See Appendix 4), and an additional $250 million had been pledged.

NGO Monitor raises the following concerns regarding this appeal:
Many of these same UN agencies and NGOs were responsible for the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Hamas systematically diverted for terror purposes – including for rockets and tunnels. Some of the recipients actively lobbied the US and European governments to significantly relax vetting standards meant to prevent this theft of aid. It would be irresponsible to continue funding these groups in the absence of significant changes in oversight and prevention.
At least two of the NGO partners have been sanctioned after working with terror groups:
In 2016, Mohammad El-Halabi, World Vision’s manager of operations in Gaza, was arrested by Israeli authorities, accused of diverting approximately $50 million (60% of the World Vision’s Gaza budget) to Hamas for tunnels and to fund other terrorist activity. In June 2022, the Be’er Sheva District Court convicted El-Halabi of taking “an active and significant part in the activities of Hamas and assisted Hamas over the years in a variety of ways, including transferring monies and equipment that he knew would be used to fund terrorism and assisting terrorists…marking exit points for tunnel openings on the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing…”
In January 2023, the Jerusalem District Court approved a request from the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits to disband the World Vision’s Israel branch, due to concerns of terror financing and financial mismanagement.
According to the US Department of Justice, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) provided “material support” to Iran, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
During the current fighting, as with the past 16 years of Hamas control, the terror group has exploited humanitarian arrangements. There is no evidence to support a conclusion that the UN agencies and NGOs have will and security capabilities to prevent further large-scale abuse by Hamas and other brutal terror actors in Gaza.
A number of recipients are listed as “International NGOs (Confidential)” and “National NGOs (Confidential)” (emphasis added). The lack of transparency and the possibility that the grantees are problematic actors are concerning.
UN Agency Floats Funding For Orgs That ‘Diverted’ Aid To Hamas And Worked With ‘Terror Groups,’ Report Says
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (UN OCHA-oPt) coordinates humanitarian action within Gaza and the West Bank, and is currently requesting a $1.2 billion total appeal for roughly 80 partners, which includes non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and sister agencies at the UN, to deliver aid to the region. In some cases, aid handled by UN OCHA-oPt’s partner NGOs has ended up being “diverted” to Hamas for “terror purposes,” according to a report from NGO Monitor obtained by the DCNF.

“Many of these same UN agencies and NGOs were responsible for the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Hamas systematically diverted for terror purposes – including for rockets and tunnels,” according to the NGO Monitor report. Some of these partners lobbied the U.S. and Europe to loosen regulations and standards surrounding the delivery of aid, thereby making it directly easier for it to be stolen.

“There is no evidence to support a conclusion that the UN agencies and NGOs have will and security capabilities to prevent further large-scale abuse by Hamas and other brutal terror actors in Gaza,” the NGO Monitor report reads. “The lack of transparency and the possibility that the grantees are problematic actors are concerning.”

“At least two of the NGO partners” were previously sanctioned for ties to terrorism; World Vision’s location in Israel was approved for disbandment by an Israeli court in 2023 over terrorism financing, one year after the organization’s Gaza manager, Mohammad El-Halabi, was convicted for his “active and significant part in the activities of Hamas,” according to the report. The second, Norwegian People’s Aid, reached a settlement in 2018 after being civilly accused of providing “material support” to Iran, Hamas and other Islamic terror organizations, according to the Department of Justice.


The War That Mattered
On October 8 in Times Square, Islamists and leftists celebrated the Hamas massacre that had taken place the day before. As documented by journalist Douglas Murray, for whom I work, one keffiyeh-wearing woman proudly hoisted a sign reading “Zionist Nightmares / 10/06/73 Egyptians / 10/07/23 Palestinians.”

Few outside Israel even realized that October 6 had marked the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War. Uri Kaufman’s Eighteen Days in October, published little more than a month before the war’s semicentennial, provides a welcome lesson about that supposed “Zionist nightmare.” It wasn’t.

Eighteen Days in October is a blow-by-blow account of the war, including its lead-up and aftermath. Kaufman describes the state of affairs following Israel’s resounding victory in the June 1967 Six-Day War, when it took the Golan Heights, West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula from its Arab foes, and what led Egypt and Syria to attack six years later. He also takes us behind the scenes of the diplomacy that led to a lasting postwar Arab–Israeli settlement.

Kaufman argues that the Yom Kippur War was the seminal event in modern Middle Eastern history. His book is a response to those who see the Six-Day War as more consequential. Its subtitle is an allusion to Michael Oren’s Six Days of War (2002), whose own subtitle is “June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East.” His argument is persuasive. Israel’s triumph in 1967 left much unresolved. Instead of reaching a modus vivendi with its enemies, the Jewish state watched the Soviet-allied Arabs persist in trying to destroy it. But they had little to show for their efforts against a seemingly omnipotent foe. During the War of Attrition, Israel sent warplanes from the Sinai Peninsula deep into Egyptian territory while Cairo could do little to threaten Israeli cities.

That all changed at 2 p.m. on October 6, 1973, when the Egyptians and Syrians attacked simultaneously. Israel’s sense of invincibility cratered. Only after suffering heavy losses in the war’s first few days did the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) turn the tide, in no small part because of a military resupply from the United States. After the war, Cairo and to a lesser extent Damascus showed some willingness to make peace with Israel. This diplomacy culminated in the Camp David Accords of 1978, which were followed by the Israel–Egypt peace treaty the next year. Israel’s strongest enemy was out of the fight. Thereafter the conventional state-on-state wars Israel had been fighting since its inception gave way to irregular wars against non-state actors like Hezbollah and Hamas.

Some of the book’s characters—Prime Minister Golda Meir, President Anwar Sadat, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, and General Ariel Sharon—are familiar. Others not so much, such as IDF Chief of Staff David “Dado” Elazar—who, despite exceptional battlefield decision-making, took the fall for the IDF’s initial setbacks by resigning after the war. Kaufman also sheds light on Egyptian spy Ashraf Marwan, dubbed “the Angel” by his Israeli handlers, who provided Jerusalem with a treasure trove of state secrets before October 6.
Palestinian ‘Resistance’ Groups Don’t Just Target Israelis
Hamas is the enemy of both Israel and the US. While Israel fights the military battle to destroy our common enemy, the least Americans can do is fight the propaganda battle at home.

With their chants and banners, anti-Israel protesters minimize Hamas atrocities by claiming it is a “resistance group” engaged in a “liberation struggle.”

The National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) released a “Day of Resistance Toolkit” one day after the October 7 pogrom, praising the “historic win for the Palestinian resistance” and urging campus chapters to participate in a “national day of resistance.” It advised them to “ground our campuses and communities in a narrative which centers the legitimacy of resistance,” and to frame the massacre of civilians as a “natural and justified response to decades of oppression.”

But Hamas is not a resistance group. Legitimate resistance groups don’t butcher infants, abduct grandmothers, or brand children. They don’t send storm troopers to prey on children and elderly civilians. They don’t use rape as a tactic to desecrate their victims and satisfy their violent sexual desires. They don’t defile corpses or kill family pets. Any group that does so crosses the line from “resistance” to “terrorism.” Hamas’s feral humans did these things, bragged about doing so, to their mothers even, and made videos of themselves doing so. And they promise to do it again.

According to International law, non-state “resistance” groups must “ensure respect for the [Geneva] Convention in all circumstances.” To be considered a legitimate “resistance” group, they must always be “in compliance with the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict.” But Hamas defies all the rules of war, as do all the other Palestinian organizations that hide behind the “resistance” label.

Hamas is a terrorist group and is designated so by many countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, Paraguay, Japan, the European Union (comprising 27 nations), and of course Israel.

Jordan banned Hamas in 1999. In 2017, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, rejected Hamas’ claim to the term “resistance” and called it a “terrorist organization.” Not only has the United Arab Emirates designated Hamas a terrorist organization, but, in 2021, it chastised all nations that have not done so. The UAE’s foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, called it “unfortunate that some countries do not act more clearly in classifying … Hamas, Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood” as terrorist organizations.

Another false claim is that the “Palestinian resistance” targets Israel only. The Americans killed on October 7 and those taken hostage back to Gaza, so goes the argument, weren’t targeted as Americans per se, but were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time and were mistaken for Israelis. Noura Erakat, an associate professor at Rutgers University who calls Hamas “a nascent sovereign of the Palestinian people,” also claims that it “has only targeted Israel.”

Does anyone believe that the 32 Americans murdered on October 7 didn’t identify themselves as Americans to their executioners? And if the Americans kidnapped by Palestinians and held hostage in Gaza were initially mistaken for Israelis, Hamas soon learned that they were American and yet continued to hold them.

Various members and factions of the “Palestinian resistance” have been deliberately targeting Americans for decades, long before Hamas was founded. In 1968, Palestinian nationalist Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Robert F. Kennedy because of his support for Israel. In 1973, Yasser Arafat of the PLO — the allegedly secular half of the “Palestinian resistance” — ordered the execution of US ambassador to Sudan Cleo Noel and Chargé d’Affaires George Moore, after they were taken captive at a party in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum, Sudan.
We Must Implement the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism
The White House released the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism last May in response to a dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents. No one could have foreseen that the strategy would be tested so soon by the response to the horrors of October 7.

In the wake of Hamas’ brutal attack, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, already surging rates of antisemitic incidents tripled nationwide.

According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, as of December 5, 2023, there had been a 60% year-over-year increase in reported hate crimes for the period after October 7. Most of that increase was driven by crimes against Jews.

The Secure Community Network (SCN) reported a 112% year-over-year increase in North American antisemitic incidents in 2023, the highest increase it has ever recorded. There was a record number of monthly antisemitic incidents in December 2023.

This is exactly the kind of situation that the National Strategy was designed to mitigate — but how is it being employed?

In August 2023, AJC created a Task Force to spearhead the implementation of the National Strategy. Since October 7, AJC has been in nearly weekly meetings with the White House or with the secretaries of Federal agencies. In every encounter, these officials speak about the National Strategy and the important tools it has afforded them in this dark moment.

This summer, AJC began working with the Small Business Administration (SBA), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other agencies to implement the National Strategy, signing a Strategic Alliance Memorandum with SBA. Reflective of this work, Federal agencies issued rapid statements of support and solidarity shortly after the October 7 attacks. The USDA even helped organize groups of American farmers and volunteers to travel to Israel to harvest crops that otherwise would have withered.
Stop exploiting the Holocaust as a weapon against Israel
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be observed Saturday, is about remembering the past. But this year it is hard not to think more about the present. The massacre perpetrated by Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups in southern Israel on Oct. 7 was the most brutal attack against Jews since the Holocaust, and a painful reminder that genocidal hatred of the Jews persists.

There is also another, more direct connection that deserves attention — the ever-expanding use of Holocaust terminology to delegitimize Israel. Shockingly, this disturbing phenomenon has been propelled by groups that claim to promote universal human rights.

Since October, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have distorted the memory of the Holocaust to wage political and economic war on Israel, thereby diminishing the scale and severity of the atrocities that were carried out by Nazi Germany. They have labeled Israelis as Nazis, transformed the Star of David into a swastika and held posters at protests in New York and other cities across the globe that read, “Well done Israel. Hitler would be proud.”

For instance, on Nov. 14, U.S.-based NGO American Muslims for Palestine posted on X, formerly Twitter, “Gaza is most literally a concentration camp. Every single Gazan, whether a baby, a child, or a mother, is viewed as vermin that must be exterminated. #GazaGenocide.” Conjuring distorted Holocaust imagery and resorting to grossly simplified analogies to demonize Israel disgraces the victims of the Holocaust and dilutes its gravity and singularity.

On Oct. 11, an official of the U.S.-based organization IfNotNow tweeted that “to compare Israelis to holocaust victims during this moment in time is to ignore the ghettos the Israeli government has put Palestinians in.” By portraying Israel as a perpetrator of a holocaust, IfNotNow is using rhetoric as part of its quest to deny Israeli victimhood and lays the foundation for Israel’s moral delegitimization.

Jalal Abukhater, advocacy manager of Israel-based NGO 7amleh, has repeatedly used Nazi imagery in reference to Israel. He shared a video clip of a BBC comedy show featuring a Nazi doubting if the Nazis are the “baddies,” tweeting, “I wonder how many Israelis are having an ‘Are we the baddies?’ moment.” He also tweeted, “One would think Israelis are well-versed with the consequences for those who commit genocide.. The Nuremberg trials, the Eichmann trial, etc … They act as if they are immune to similar consequence? As if genocide by some is wrong, but by others is okay? Genocide is Genocide.”
Joe Lieberman: Jew-hatred at ‘fevered pitch’
Antisemitism has soared due to “erosion of our previous national consensus against such hatred” amid “hate-filled dark places” online and a “general loss of civility,” former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman wrote in a Fox News op-ed.

“In my public and personal life, I have faced no antisemitism. That is why the recent outbursts of hatred of Jews have shocked me and made me wonder whether the dreams of freedom that drew my grandparents to America will be real for my descendants here,” Lieberman wrote.

The former vice presidential nominee, whose public service spanned four decades, wrote that there “was never even a hint of antisemitism being used against me in any of my campaigns.” But something has changed since the times when Lieberman observed a “strong national ethic” that rejected Jew-hatred, pressuring such haters to stay quiet.

“Since the war in Gaza began, public expressions of hatred of Jews has reached a fevered pitch,” Lieberman wrote. He thinks that it is more likely that the problem is “the erosion of our previous national consensus against such hatred,” due to “the emergence of hate-filled dark places on the internet and the general loss of civility in speech and behavior in our country,” rather than an overall increase in antisemites.

Lieberman advises social media companies—perhaps with congressional pressure if necessary—to clamp down on Jew-hatred, and returning to a kind of unity and consensus that he saw growing up, based on “the Judeo-Christian ethic,” specifically “the Golden Rule against doing anything to, or saying anything about, someone else that we would not want to be done to or said about ourselves.”
US State Department warns of Jew-hatred emerging from Asia
A U.S. State Department official warned that China is increasingly promoting antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.

Delivering a keynote address to the American Bar Association on Monday, Aaron Keyak, deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, said China is trying to undermine the United States by claiming that Jews control the country.

“I have particular concern that since [the] Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, there’s been an increase in the People’s Republic of China’s state media and online discourse of antisemitic tropes that Jews control the United States through deep U.S.-Israel ties, as well as control over banks, the media and that they have influence over government leaders,” he said.

Keyak cited the example of an October 2023 program on “uncovering the Israel elements of U.S. elections in history,” during which the national Chinese broadcaster alleged that “Jews who represent 3% of the U.S. population control 70% of its wealth.”

“Conjecture that Jews control the U.S. government and U.S. wealth is an antisemitic falsehood intended to degrade trust in the United States, our democratic institutions, and ultimately, democracy around the globe,” he added.

Since Oct. 7, U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern that Chinese-owned media outlets and social-media platforms, including TikTok, have promoted anti-Israel and even pro-Hamas propaganda.
Republican Jewish Coalition to Biden: Stop Pressuring Israel on Palestinian State
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) issued a statement Tuesday rebuking President Joe Biden for trying to pressure Israel into accepting a Palestinian state as an outcome of the war started by Hamas, saying that would reward the terrorist organization.

Support for a Palestinian state has collapsed among Israelis — from 61% in favor in 2012 to 65% opposed today. The reason: given a chance to govern Gaza after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005, Palestinians instead used it to launch attacks on Israel.

Palestinian leaders, at home and abroad, have done almost nothing to prepare for statehood, but have instead diverted funds and resources into terrorism and anti-Israel propaganda. Yet the Biden administration continues to push for Palestinian statehood.

There is little evidence that Palestinians themselves want a Palestinian state, except as a stepping stone to destroy and replace Israel “from the river to the sea” and to kill its Jewish population. Nor is it clear what kind of state a Palestinian state would be.


Gadi Taub: The Israeli Left’s New Military Messiah
The Israeli mainstream media is full of disheartening stories that say we are losing the war: They say that it’s unwinnable, that the economy is on the verge of a downturn, that reservists are torn between state and family, that students are losing the academic year and couples are breaking up, that we should Bring Them Home, Now!—not to mention the horror stories about the fate of the hostages, and the constant display, front and center, of the terrible predicament of the families.

Read the Israeli papers, watch mainstream TV and you may arrive at the conclusion that all this is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fault, not Yahya Sinwar’s: Netanyahu is extending the war for his own political survival, Netanyahu kept Hamas alive with Qatari money, Netanyahu tore Israel apart over the judicial reform, Netanyahu is sidelining the generals—Benny Gantz, Yoav Gallant, and Gadi Eisenkot—in his own war cabinet, Netanyahu will ruin our relations with the U.S., Netanyahu puts his own career over Israel’s vital interests, and so on. These talking points run parallel to Washington’s messaging campaign against Netanyahu, as the Biden administration looks to impose its agenda on Israel, with help from its local clients.

The Israeli press, clearly, does not behave as though we are in the midst of a war for survival. Press conferences have become competitions between journalists, attempting to impress each other by asking the nastiest questions. Last week Netanyahu went off script on one such occasion to answer one particularly bizarre monologue disguised as a question by Channel 13’s Sefi Ovadia.

Ovadia “asked” the following: “A personal question with your permission. The public wants to be exposed to the personal side of its leaders. When you retire to your bed [at night] do you tell yourself about, or regret, certain mistakes that you would like to share with the public about things that happened before Oct. 7, shortly before or long before, or are you of the opinion, even in the privacy of your own thoughts, that you are mistake-free, and that it is the rest of the leadership that is responsible for the situation in which we find ourselves. If you’d like to share this with the public, I think it can be interesting.” This, mind you, was in a press conference where the prime minister was informing the public about the state of the war.

Netanyahu’s reply was quoted all over Israel’s social media: “I’ll keep fighting Hamas, and you’ll keep fighting me. That’s the division of labor.”
Israel’s Parliament Celebrates Its 75th Birthday as War Rages
Israel’s Knesset celebrated its 75th year anniversary in a special session at Israel’s parliament building in Jerusalem, with politicians vowing victory while also trading punches.

“We will continue to strive with determination to defeat the enemy that stands before us and in doing so we will fulfill the wishes of our dear sons,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added that “the image of the IDF destroying the parliament building in Gaza is a strong and important image of victory, and the establishment of the Knesset on this day is also a victory. Every democracy, big or small, is put to the test during the war and even in the current test we will stand together and win. Every day we prove to our enemies that they were very wrong. We suffered a very hard blow on October 7, but we got back on our feet very quickly.”

Israel’s Knesset, meaning “gathering” in English, first convened on February 14, 1949, also the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, which begins Wednesday evening. As is the case with most holidays in Israel, the dates are marked according to the Hebrew calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar.

President Isaac Herzog spoke, telling those gathered “On the birthday of the Knesset of Israel, the temple of our democracy, it is important for me to emphasize that unity is not uniformity, unity is not gagging, unity is not the cessation of discussion and debate on matters that concern the core of the state’s existence. The legislators are the temple of Israeli debate and discussion, and the space for making the decisions that have the most impact on our lives. That’s how it was, and that’s how it will be.”
Yehuda Glick denied taxi, abused by driver whose cousin tried to kill him
"See? Not only will I not take you, no one will," said a taxi driver who refused to provide service to Human rights activist and former MK Yehuda Glick on Wednesday, according to a statement released by human rights organization B'tsalmo, whose CEO is Glick's son.

According to the statement, Glick ordered a taxi from a well-known company in order to get a ride from the Israel Museum to his office. When the taxi arrived, the driver asked him, "Are you Yehuda Glick?" When he said yes, the driver responded by saying, "I'm not taking you."

After about 10 minutes had passed, the driver reportedly returned and berated him a second time, saying, "See? Not only will I not take you, no one will." Glick has a history with the driver's family

After this interaction, Glick checked the name of the driver. According to the statement, the driver in question is Magdi Hejazi. He is believed to be the cousin of Moataz Hejazi, a terrorist who tried to assassinate Glick nine years ago. Moataz severely injured Glick before he was killed.

Following this, B'tsalmo made a demand to the Transportation Ministry to have Magdi Hejazi's license revoked.

"This is a very serious offense, and the taxi driver should lose his driver's license forever," the letter from CEO of B'tsalmo Shai Glick states. "It is not possible for a person to deny service to service to a customer solely on the basis of his political views, his hatred of Jews, or anything similar. The man should be in prison, but at least take away his license."
IDF returns tractor stolen to Gaza on October 7th



MEMRI: MEMRI TV COMPILATION OF CALIFORNIA IMAMS IN SUPPORT OF OCTOBER 7 HAMAS ATTACK: Claiming Attack Defeated Israel, Calling For Annihilating Israel, Claiming Israel Created Hollywood-Type Videos Of Hamas Atrocities, Saying The U.S. Lied About Hamas Beheading Babies And Raping Women, Calling To Make Zionists On Campuses 'Very Uncomfortable' And For Jews To Hang From The Rope Allah Gave Them

Almost one third of British adults believe Israel treats Palestinians like Nazis treated Jews, according to new poll
A recent YouGov poll by King’s College London has revealed almost one third of British adults believe that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews, rising to more than 50 per cent among 18–24-year-olds.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) commissioned KCL to survey British adults’ attitudes towards Jews by analysing their responses to 12 statements related to antisemitism and anti-Zionism. A total of 2,084 adults were surveyed online between 8-11 December 2023, and the responses revealed a high rate of anti-Jewish prejudice particularly among the youngest demographic.

The results reveal that almost one fifth of the British public believes in antisemitic conspiracy theories such as the belief that Israel can get away with anything because its supporters control the media; more than a quarter of 18-24-year-olds believe this. Compared to the general population of British adults (one in 20), double the proportion of 18-24-year-olds (almost one in 10) do not believe that Jewish people are as loyal to Britain as other Brits.

While almost one fifth of the British public believes that Israel and its supporters are a bad influence on our democracy, that rises to over one quarter of 18–24-year-olds.

7 per cent of British adults do not believe that Israel has a right to defend itself against those who want to destroy it, and that figure doubles to 14 per cent among the youngest demographic. 14 percent of Britons said they are not comfortable spending time with people who openly support Israel and, among 18-24 year olds, that figure rises to 21% – more than one fifth of the young population.

A CAA spokesperson said: “The rhetoric that we are seeing online, on television and on our streets is radicalising the British public, but it is the rates of antisemitism that we have discovered among 18–24-year-olds that are most frightening.
Elise Stefanik Slams Harvard’s Appointment of Anti-Israel Prof to Anti-Semitism Task Force

Yale, ASU, Northwestern latest colleges under Title VI investigation
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced five new investigations “for discrimination involving shared ancestry” on Monday and Tuesday.

Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) Arizona State University (Tempe), Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.), Ann Arbor Public Schools (Michigan) and Abraham Lincoln University (Los Angeles) are currently under investigation under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

There are currently 102 open such investigations. The department has been announcing new probes on a weekly basis.

In December, some 1,500 parents, alumni and faculty sent a letter to Yale’s president and provost calling on the administration to more adequately combat antisemitism on campus.

Abraham Lincoln University is a private, online for-profit school with a controversial history and record.

As for Northwestern, in December, an advertisement that aired during the Las Vegas Bowl accused the Midwestern university of being soft on Jew-hatred. On Tuesday, the same day that the investigation was announced, the school happened to name the members of its President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate.


Academic Association’s ‘Emergency Motion’ on Pro-Palestinian Speech Draws Rebuke from Leading Academic Nonprofit
The Academic Engagement Network (AEN), a higher education nonprofit, on Monday issued a searing letter denouncing the Modern Language Association’s (MLA) passing of an “emergency motion” that endorsed pro-Palestinian speech on college campuses, arguing that the omission of pro-Israel speech is indicative of anti-Israeli bias.

“The motion that the [MLA] has now endorsed fails to preserve campuses as welcoming learning environments where academic freedom and free expression are guaranteed for all,” AEN’s letter said. “The motion also establishes a virulently anti-Israel orthodoxy, despite the fact that disagreements and debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have a long history in English and foreign language departments.”

Founded in 1883, the MLA is a professional association of linguistics and literature scholars comprising, according to self-reported figures, 25,000 members across the world. Voting for the motion referenced in AEN’s letter took place at the organization’s annual convention earlier this month. 140 present members (out of 279) of the Delegate Assembly, who are elected to their positions, could have voted in favor of another motion affirming the right of free speech for all, AEN noted, one that regarded both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict equally, but chose the latter instead and voted against the former by a “wide margin,” according to reporting by Inside Higher Ed.

In addition to favoring pro-Palestinian speech, the motion specifically endorsed the notion that anti-Zionism is not antisemitic, contrary to the beliefs of the majority of the Jewish community, as well as condemnations of US support for Israel and Israel’s military response to Hamas’ atrocities — which included some 1,200 murders, mostly of civilians, rapes of Israeli women, and the taking of 240 hostages, many of which were children or elderly. The alternative motion called for defending from “threats, harassment, and violence all faculty members, students and staff regardless of their position on the conflict in the Middle East,” even though much “pro-Palestinian” speech has been pro-Hamas, defending and rationalizing Hamas’ crimes.

“But politics and policy were not only at stake in the choice,” AEN’s letter continued. “The identities of Jewish and Palestinian students, faculty, and staff, along with their allies, were on the table for judgement. In endorsing a divisive and exclusionary motion, the DA found one identity worthy of the MLA’s action and the other lacking. Such a denigration of the beliefs and experiences of a core MLA constituency is intolerable.”


Dennis Prager: 19 Years Ago, the Los Angeles Times Published a Column on Antisemitism on American Campuses
Antisemitism on American college campuses is not new. College presidents and professors didn’t begin tolerating or teaching antisemitism last Oct. 8. Students marching on behalf of the annihilation of the Jewish state, student activists tearing down posters of kidnapped Jewish children, locking Jewish students in a library at Cooper Union and “70% of Jewish college students feeling forced to hide their Jewish identities” are the result of decades of anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish rhetoric.

One example I recently came across is a column titled “When Young Jews Major in Antisemitism,” published in 2005 in the Los Angeles Times. When I looked to see who wrote the column, I saw — to my surprise — that I did. I did not recall writing the piece. But it is very much worth reading today.

“American Jewry is experiencing a cognitive dissonance the likes of which it has never known. To illustrate, consider my recent lecture in Virginia Beach, Va.: ‘Antisemitism at the Universities: What Can We Do About It?’

“It is very significant that a mainstream (i.e., largely secular and liberal) Jewish organization (the Jewish Community Center) would fly a speaker from across the country to speak on anti-Semitism at universities…

“Universities have become society’s primary breeding ground for hatred of Israel. This hatred is often so intense that the college campus has become a haven for people who use anti-Zionism to mask their anti-Semitism. Moreover, anti-Zionism itself is a form of antisemitism, even if some Jews share it. Why? Because anti-Zionism is not simply criticism of Israel, which is as legitimate as criticism of any country. Anti-Zionism means that Israel as a Jewish state has no right to exist. And when a person argues that only one country in the world is unworthy of existence — and that happens to be the one Jewish country in the world — one is engaged in antisemitism, whether personally antisemitic or not.
Swastika projected on University of Wisconsin-Whitewater dorm by group 'chanting racist words'
A group of at least 22 Jewish staff members at the BBC have submitted formal complaints about the cooperation’s coverage of the Middle East, its workplace culture and its social media practices.

Jewish staff said they are “fighting fires all over the place”. Several employees said they are unhappy, and one warned “so many Jews believe they [the BBC] are antisemitic, and so many Jewish staff are unhappy”.

They have accused BBC management of meeting their concerns with “indifference.”

Jewish staff also condemned the corporation's poor handling of public comments made by Gary Lineker on social media. According to The Telegraph, some said their unhappiness related to the BBC’s continued defence of Lineker in the face of criticism from the Jewish community.

In recent weeks, the Match of the Day presenter has sparked outrage, including an incident when he shared a tweet by an anti-Israel account which called for the Jewish state to be banned from international football tournaments.

Lineker claimed he did not understand the post he shared with his 8.9 million followers and misread it as a statement that the ban on Israel had already happened.

The former director of television at the BBC, Danny Cohen, said Lineker had “breached the BBC’s impartially guidelines” and the BBC's response to Lineker’s comments proved they were “willfully blind to issues of bias and antisemitism within the corporation.”

Lineker also used X (Twitter) to share a video of Guardian columnist Owen Jones interviewing Raz Segal, in which Segal claimed Israel was engaged in “genocidal killing.”


Cornell University Instructor Cancels Class for 'Global Strike for Palestine'

UPenn Honors Radical Professor Who Accused Israel of ‘Genocide’

At least 22 Jewish employees make formal complaint against BBC Israel coverage

The limits of BBC reporting on Hamas financing

Guardian peddles propaganda about jailed Palestinian 'journalists'

Sky News Airs Embarrassingly Simplistic Analysis Of Journalist Who Dismissed Houthi Threat As ‘A Couple Of Guys In Dinghies’

CAMERA Op-Ed The Washington Post Parrots Hamas

Toronto Star Columnists Accuse Israel of Genocide In Gaza

Toronto Star Columnist Says Anti-Israel Activists Are The Real Victims

Toronto Star Columnist Shree Paradkar Accuses Israel Of “Scholasticide” In Latest Anti-Israel Column

PMW: PA- Hamas unity: PA already doing propaganda for Hamas
Even before the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have formalized a unification that both sides are calling for but will certainly take time, the Palestinian Authority is already acting as a propaganda arm for Hamas, by demonizing Israel, defending Hamas’ actions as self-defense, and presenting Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists as a war of “genocide” against innocent civilians.

One prime example are the PA’s regular casualty announcements which are precise down to the single individual when it comes to PA/Hamas claims of civilian casualties, but according to the PA’s official announcements none of those killed by Israel were Hamas terrorists.

For example, on Monday the PA released a detailed list with 34 categories including killed, wounded, sick, and missing etc. The details are striking: 32,295 martyred and missing, of which 25,295 were martyrs who reached the hospitals, 11,000 child martyrs, 7,500 female martyrs, 337 medical staff martyrs, 119 journalist martyrs, and in all 34 categories with precise details. However, the PA does not list even one Hamas terrorist or even a member of Hamas among the killed, injured or captured. For the PA, they are all innocent martyrs.

This is consistent with the PA defense of Hamas since the start of the war, when on the very first day Mahmoud Abbas already declared the attack as justified attack of self-defense. Abbas’ advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash said it more precisely: the war was justified because of the 7 decades of “occupation,” meaning since Israel was created.

The united front with Hamas that the PA has adopted during the war, will be helpful in establishing the PA-Hamas unity. Another call for unity came this week, by Fahmi Al-Za'arir - Secretary of the Palestinian National Council:
“Unity is the necessary transition to victory, and it is the law of victory for every revolution in the world. And any revolution in the world that has internal disputes during the stage of national liberation, its path is delayed… The Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad have not objected to being under the framework of the PLO since 1989 and not only now."

[Official PA TV, Jan. 2, 2024]
MEMRI: Hamas Official On Al-Jazeera Website: October 7 Was Scaled-Down Model Of Palestine's Final War Of Liberation; Palestinians Have Proved 'With Blood And Bodies' That Their Only Option Is To Resist Until Liberation And Return Are Achieved; There Will Be No Security Or Stability In Region Or Beyond Until Palestinians Receive Their Authentic Rights

Seth Frantzman: Does Iran really believe Israel wants all-out war in the Middle East?
The messaging above examines the chances for a wider regional war. Iran calls its proxies the “axis of resistance” and this describes Iranian-backed militias in Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as the Houthis and militias. One of the pro-Iran militias in Iraq claimed they had tried to target Israel with a drone on January 22.

Iran is trying to push all these groups to confront Israel on various fronts and in various arenas. Israel’s leadership has mentioned these escalations. For instance, Israel’s Defense Minister has discussed the need to deter Hezbollah from further attacks in the north.

The question is now whether Iran truly believes that a regional war could happen when it is usually cautious in this respect. It wants to present Israel and the US with many challenges and carry out small attacks but is generally not willing to risk the destruction of any of its proxies.

Iran is deeply focused on Syria now and also several members of the IRGC who were killed in Damascus. Iranian media included other articles on this issue on January 23.

One claimed that Israel is now acting out of “desperation.” Another article highlighted the 24 IDF soldiers killed this week in Gaza and called this a major setback for Israel. In other reports, the Iranian regime said it had added new strategic “drones” to its arsenal and also the Iranian Supreme Leader threatened Israel.


Iran, its proxies, and the prospects for achieving peace in the region
CIA veteran Norman Roule and Major (Ret.) Shadi Khalloul, a former Security Zone Officer in South Lebanon discuss in-depth




Google pledges $4 million for Israeli AI start-ups as war in Gaza rages
In response to the economic challenges that Israel’s hi-tech industry is facing due to tensions emanating from the Israel-Hamas war, Google has pledged a $4 million support fund for AI startup companies in Israel. The announcement was made today as part of Google’s ongoing commitment to support the innovation ecosystem in the region.

The $4 million grant will be provided as complementary support to the Israeli Innovation Authority’s emergency fund, which established a fast-track grant channel to assist companies with a short runway, particularly those facing financial strain brought on by the war.

Approximately 20 startups specializing in AI solutions and services have been selected to receive immediate funding from Google.

To maximize the potential success of these startups, Google will not only offer financial assistance but also provide mentorship and support. The selected companies will gain access to Google’s experts in various fields, including development, strategy, marketing, and more.

The distribution of the grant will be influenced by the budgets requested by the startups themselves. These companies are required to present matching funding in relation to the grant from the Innovation Authority. The $4 million grant will be given as a capital grant with no demands in return.

The move comes as a response to the challenging conditions the Israeli hi-tech industry was met with in 2023. The global recession and local instability, compounded by the impact of the Israel-Hamas war, led to a significant decrease of about 60% in venture capital investments in Israel, compared to the previous year, totaling $7.3 billion.
Billionaire Investor Bill Ackman and Wife Buy 4.9% Stake in Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman and his Israel-born wife Neri Oxman purchased 4.9% of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with an investment of $17 million. The deal comes as the flagship Israeli exchange announced a sale of 18.5% of the exchange to a consortium of foreign and domestic investors.

The shares sold were previously held by three of the major Israeli banks, Hapoalim, First International, and Mizrahi, and according to the exchange will help with liquidity and technology infrastructure.

Ackman’s purchase is an immediate profit for the Jewish hedge fund manager of Pershing Square Capital Management with a net worth of $4.9 billion. Due to an agreement made in 2017 when the exchange first expressed openness to selling some shares to private investors, they agreed to sell at a price of NIS 5.08 per share. However, the current price is four times that – 20.60 NIS – so Ackman and the other investors immediately quadrupled their investment.

Ackman has figured prominently on social media since the war’s outbreak on October 7, when Hamas terrorists raided southern Israel, massacring more than 1,200 Israeli and taking captive over 240 to the Gaza Strip. Since then, he has defended Israel and even led a campaign against his former university Harvard, and their disgraced former president Claudine Gay after she refused to condemn calls for genocide against Jews.

His wife is a renowned designer who grew up in Haifa and has a Ph.D. from MIT. The couple married in 2019 and have since been working together on Ackman’s firm’s philanthropic arm, Pershing Square Foundation.

The purchase of shares of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is Ackman’s first investment in the country since the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7.
Hollywood stars join new campaign against Jew-hatred
In the wake of the global rise of antisemitism, a new campaign against Jew-hatred launched Tuesday with the participation of influential Jewish and non-Jewish celebrities, athletes and opinion makers.

The project, named “New Year, New Voices,” which has already launched several videos on social media, includes model Cindy Crawford, actresses Connie Britton, Ginnifer Goodwin, Debra Messing, Jennifer Morrison, Jaimie Alexander, Rebecca Gayheart and Emmanuelle Chriqui, singers Lance Bass and Montana Tucker, actors David Arquette, Brett Gelman and Kevin Weisman, TV personality Colton Underwood, actor and singer Bryan Greenberg; gymnast Nia Dennis, former basketball player Zach Randolph, entrepreneur Scooter Braun, DJ Caroline D’Amore and others.

In a video posted on Instagram, uploaded with the description “We have a powerful flow of new influential voices joining us in solidarity,” the celebrities say, “It’s a new year with new voices joining us every day” to stand against antisemitism.

Campaign founder Samantha Ettus told CNN, “We have to stop antisemitism in its tracks and the only way to do that is to show people that it’s not just the same Jewish influencers over and over again; We’re not the only ones speaking out.

“Propaganda has made people think that standing up to antisemitism is political—and it’s not. It is just as acceptable to stand up against antisemitism as it is any form of hate towards any ethnic group. There is a lack of comfort or advocacy in the Hollywood community for the Jews. We have become this population that people are afraid to stand up for, and this campaign is trying to change that.”

In October, hundreds of Hollywood celebrities called on President Joe Biden to “not rest” until all the Israeli hostages held by the Hamas terrorist organization are free.

The signatories include Madonna, Chris Rock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gal Gadot, Jack Black, Isla Fisher, Jerry Seinfeld, Bradley Cooper, Tyler Perry, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Courtney Cox, Jessica Biel, Orlando Bloom, Tiffany Haddish, Will Ferrell, Brooke Shields and Chelsea Handler.
A 35-foot challah in NYC aims to beat Guinness World Record
A 35-foot-long challah loaf unveiled in New York City on Friday is in the running to break a Guinness World Record.

Upper West Side Congregation Rodeph Sholom organised the gargantuan bake in collaboration with the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Orthodox Union, aiming to beat the current world record for longest challah: a 32-foot loaf baked by Grandma Moses Bakery and the Jewish National Fund chapter in New South Wales, Australia in 2019.

The challah, which measured 35 feet, 2 inches and weighed over 200 pounds raw, was braided at Strauss Bakery in Brooklyn and then loaded onto a truck to be baked in a kosher commercial kitchen in New Jersey, the only one in the New York area with an oven that could fit such a lengthy loaf. From there, it was transported back to Manhattan, where dozens of volunteers were required to help unload it.

Sarah Eisenman, chief officer of community and Jewish life at JFNA, spearheaded the endeavour as part of a JFNA initiative called Shabbat of Love, for which over 250 organisations partnered to help Jews organise and host thousands of Shabbat dinners across North America on 19 January.

“We came up with the idea of doing the Shabbat of Love to uplift people and to communicate the idea that you’re loved for who you are and you’re loved for being Jewish, as opposed to a lot of the messages that I think people are absorbing right now from social media,” Eisenman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Christian leader: Rally for Israel in streets, stop political correctness
“Christians, not countries, stand with Israel,” said Knesset Christian Allies director Josh Reinstein on Tuesday.

Speaking during the 20th-anniversary event of his organization, which was held at the Knesset, he said that “our anniversary event highlights the incredible political, diplomatic, and financial support for Israel from Bible-believing Christians, and the power of faith-based diplomacy, particularly during wartime.”

The caucus held the event in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on Israeli troops since the October 7 massacre, which claimed the lives of over 20 soldiers.

Many Christians have been arriving in Israel, making generous contributions to support the country’s war efforts. On the same day, Samaritan’s Purse, led by Franklin Graham, made a significant contribution by donating 14 ambulances to Magen David Adom.

The history of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
Established in 2004 by the late Knesset members Yuri Shtern and Benny Elon, when many Israelis were apprehensive of Christians, the caucus has evolved to be part of a global network comprising of more than 50 caucuses and 1,500 legislators. Reinstein oversees this network as the president of the Israel Allies Foundation.

The caucus is currently chaired by MKs Yuli Edelstein (Likud) and Sharren Haskel (National Unity). It includes 18 Knesset members from five different political parties.
Franklin Graham dedicates ambulances to fallen Magen David Adom medics
The Christian humanitarian-aid organization run by the son of the late Southern Baptist minister, Billy Graham, donated 14 ambulances to Magen David Adom (MDA) on Tuesday.

The ambulances replaced the same number destroyed on October 7 during the Hamas massacre.

“MDA has to have the right equipment to do its work to save lives here in Israel,” said Franklin Graham, the president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse.

“I believe in this organization. You risk your life to save life, and I felt that these ambulances needed to be replaced immediately,” Graham added. “We pray that these ambulances will bring comfort to the people of Israel, knowing that someone can respond to any crisis, so we thank God, and we thank God for MDA.”

Graham first announced that Samaritan’s Purse would donate the ambulances in November during a visit to the country. He had toured Kibbutz Be’eri, where 100 people were murdered, and witnessed the devastation there. He also learned on that trip how the terrorists purposely targeted responders and ambulances.

The dedication was held at the National Library of Israel plaza, where the ambulances were parked. The ceremony also commemorated the four MDA medics who were murdered while actively treating patients or were en route to the attack area on October 7, as well as another 15 MDA medics who have subsequently been killed in the war, mostly serving as IDF medics.
Hostage solidarity tags hung in powerful airport display
A new display at Ben-Gurion International Airport reminds anyone leaving or entering Israel that more than 130 people remain in captivity in Gaza since October 7.

Eight hundred “freedom tags” hanging against a glass wall are imprinted on the top half with “Halev shelanu shavui b’Aza” (“Our heart is captive in Gaza”). The lower half says “Bring them home – now!”

Tamir Raicher, 48, the prop-tech executive behind this idea, said he struggled to express in a few words “the whole range of abductees: toddlers, babies and children, women and men, young and grandparents and, of course, soldiers.

“What they all have in common is that until the abductees all return home, the heart of the families and the relatives remains captive in Gaza — theirs and ours as a country.”

There are hostages
On October 6, Raicher moved to a new house in Hod Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv.

“I woke up at 6:30 the next morning to sirens and I thought it was a mistake,” he tells ISRAEL21c.

Within the hour, he realized that something terrible was happening in the Gaza border communities.

Raicher messaged people with whom he had been protesting Israel’s proposed judicial overhaul, urging them to join him in organizing rescues or evacuations in the affected areas.

He and his brother-in-law Ami Daniel, CEO of maritime intelligence company Windward, set up a “war room” – a kind of operational headquarters – in Raicher’s new living room.

“Within an hour and a half, my phone was swamped with calls,” says Raicher.




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