Thursday, May 09, 2024

05/09 Links Pt2: I've Read Student Protesters' Manifestos. This Is Ugly Stuff. Clueless, Too; At 76, Israel’s population stands at 9.9 million

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Amichai Chikli’s rescue remedy
The current pandemic of vicious antisemitism targeting both Israel and Diaspora Jews has prompted many to wonder what can be done to tackle a deranged prejudice that is frighteningly out of control.

It has also prompted many to wonder yet again why Israel is so ineffective at putting its case across.

I raised this a few days ago with Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli. A combative member of the Likud Party, Chikli has socially conservative views that have caused Diaspora hackles to rise. This reaction is myopic. His thinking is sharp, coherent and insightful.

What did he make of the antisemitism and incitement in the anti-Israel encampments on campuses in America and Britain and at the massive street demonstrations over the Gaza war?

While acknowledging the involvement of the hard-left and several revolutionary anti-West and pro-Palestinian funders, Chikli stressed the role played by Islamic radicals.

Unlike Muslims who don’t have imperialist aspirations, Islamists treat Islam as a political movement whose aim is to impose Islamic rule across the world. This is the philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood, which developed in the early decades of the last century and in the late 1980s spawned Hamas.

For Chikli, this is the link not just between Gaza and the demonstrations and encampments but with the progressive Islamization of the West.

The Brotherhood, he said, is a diffused, decentralized movement. It’s not controlled by one body. It operates through mosques, community centers, charities and welfare services. Its subversive agenda is therefore difficult to pin down. But it certainly exists.

Documents from Israel’s civil command of Gaza in the late 1980s, said Chikli, observed that the greatest threat came from these Brotherhood groups, but they were small and difficult to erase because they were spreading throughout society. Today, the Brotherhood links Gaza to Minnesota and Michigan, London and Leeds.

We learn this, said Chikli, from their identical language, ideology and texts. The spiritual guru of Hamas, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, was based in Qatar, which today remains Hamas’s patron and funder. It was Qaradawi who said Muslims don’t need to fight to dominate Europe because Sharia law would come to dominate British society in any case.
Seth Mandel: The Post-Biden Flood Is Already Here
It’s true that Biden is the last Democrat of his kind and therefore this moment always seemed close at hand. But every political battle that Biden won against his party had a measurable effect on the power balance between the radicals and the moderates. To abandon that fight is to surrender to the barbarians at the gate, ensuring the post-Biden transition is not only imminent and irreversible (in the near term, at least) but chaotic, authoritarian, and baldly anti-Semitic.

Even if you believe the battle to be all but lost you still go down fighting. The alternative is to live as a cog or a figurehead without honor. Exhaustion is not a crime. But surrender is a choice.

One of the few beliefs shared across the partisan divide is this: après Biden, le deluge. After Biden, the radicals prophesied and the moderates feared, comes the flood. It is both bitterly appropriate and bone-chilling that this moment would come at a time when the “flood” metaphor is the animating call-to-arms of America’s domestic extremists.

Al-Aqsa Flood was the name of the pogrom that started all this, when Hamas murdered and raped and tortured its way through more than a thousand innocents, including children and the elderly, and then took hundreds hostage.

It was this barbarism that lit a fire under progressive and Islamist demonstrators in the West. Left-wing protest culture had never been so inspired as it was when witnessing the most depraved human behavior possible. Cosplaying trust-fund radicals got high from seeing civilization at its low. The post-October 7 protest movement that sprang forth from hell named itself after the Hamas operation: “Flood [x] For Gaza” became the template for the months of protests, in major cities and across college campuses, in celebration of the Hamas attacks. The conscious decision to name themselves after a campaign of child murder and sexual torture was the first but by no means the last indication that what we were seeing was not an antiwar movement but the wildfire spread of homegrown extremism.

And this is who Biden has surrendered his policy to. The argument in Biden’s favor was always that as long as he was in office, at least, he could stem the tide. But now the difference between Biden being president and some other Democrat being president is negligible. We are, functionally, after Biden. And the flood is here.
Bret Stephens: A Thank-You Note to the Campus Protesters
Dear anti-Israel campus protesters: Supporters of Israel like me have reasons to give thanks to militant anti-Zionists like you, who demonized anyone who supports Israel's right to exist - which includes a vast majority of Jews - as modern-day Nazis?

For every student who became ardently pro-Palestinian during the protests, another one, perhaps a Jewish student with previously indifferent feelings about Israel, finally saw the connection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. For every professor who lent support, you've lost a fair-minded liberal with your Maoist-style sloganeering and your arrogant disdain for the genuine fears of some of your Jewish peers.

And for every commencement ceremony whose cancellation you've effectively forced, or which you intend to spoil, thousands of apolitical students have taken an intense and permanent distaste to you and everything you stand for. In short, the game you're playing is paying bigger dividends for my side than it is for yours.

I am a Zionist for the most personal of reasons: because I see Israel as an insurance policy for every Jewish family, including mine, which has endured persecution and exile in the past and understands that we may not be safe forever in our host countries. That kind of insurance is one Jews can't afford to lose. What happened on Oct. 8 - the moment your protests began - gave me a glimpse into what America might yet become for Jews if people like you were to gain real power.

I get that many if not most of you see yourselves as dedicated idealists who want to end suffering for Palestinians. There are ways you could do that without making common cause with people who hate Jews, want to kill us and often do. You are my daily reminder of what my Zionism is for, about and against.


After Gaza
Israel had barely begun its military operation in Gaza, after Hamas slaughtered 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 more, when the Biden administration began talking about what would need to happen the day after the war was over. “There has to be a vision of what comes next,” President Biden said on Oct. 25, 2023.

Subsequently, the term “the Day After” was everywhere. In part, it was a device used to cast doubt on the Israeli military operation altogether, presenting it as an emotional response born of trauma and driven by a desire for vengeance—base instincts that can be tolerated only for so long. Sure, smashing things might bring immediate, short-term gratification, but what’s the plan for “the Day After”?

Administration officials leaked how they were “frustrated by Netanyahu’s unwillingness to seriously discuss plans for the day after.” What comes next, the president said on Oct. 25, “has to be a two-state solution.” That is, once Israel got its quest for blood out of its system, it needed to sit down and get with the plan—the underlying assumption being that Israel is responsible for (or at least capable of meaningfully shaping) Palestinian behavior. Clearly, the problem with Israel’s pre-Oct. 7 policy toward Gaza was that Benjamin Netanyahu needed to let more Qatari money and Iranian weapons into the Strip. Only by granting Hamas a state with full control over its borders and diplomatic relations with the European Union could future large terror attacks be prevented.

Needless to say, there is something completely insane about holding the victims of a horrific large-scale murder rampage responsible for the future happiness of their attackers. On the other hand, surely you don’t want this to happen again, do you?

To flesh out what could or should come next for Israel and the Palestinians, I have asked a group of accomplished colleagues to weigh in on some questions. Each one of these experts brings important perspectives. I think you’ll find their views, as well as their disagreements, illuminating.

Elliott Abrams, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the chairman of the Vandenberg Coalition
Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder and president of J Street
Amiad Cohen, CEO of Herut Center and publisher of the Hebrew-language intellectual journal Hashiloach
Michael Doran, director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East and senior fellow at Hudson Institute
Jon Greenwald, former vice president of the International Crisis Group who also served for 30 years as an American diplomat
Lee Smith, author and regular Tablet contributor
Eugene Kontorovich: If the United Nations grants Palestine ‘statehood status’ a future prez could cut off funding to UN
UNESCO, a UN agency, made the mistake of giving the Palestinians “member state” status in 2011; since then, the Palestinians have hijacked UNESCO’s agenda to pass resolutions denying the Jewish connection to biblical sites like Jerusalem, Jericho and Hebron.

President Barack Obama was forced to stop US funding to UNESCO because of the laws on the books.

Now the PA is aiming for a bigger prize: the privileges of membership in the UN’s principal body, the General Assembly, and in all its associated bodies and committees.

Yet under the UN charter, the Security Council must authorize any new UN member-states, and it vetoed the PA’s membership bid again just a few weeks ago.

Knowing it has automatic support from the undemocratic majority at the General Assembly, the PA has come up with an end-run: a resolution that gives it privileges on “an equal footing with Member States.”

Even this bureaucratic sleight-of-hand could trigger the US defunding statute. So this week the PA came up with a new draft: Instead of saying “the State of Palestine” will have the privileges of member states, it simply enumerates the privileges that go along with membership, and grants them all to the PA.

It’s a transparent attempt to paper over the practical effect of the resolution to avoid the loss of US funding.

Congress anticipated such tricks: The statutory defunding criteria specifically uses the words “same standing” as a member state, rather than actual membership, so giving the PA the general benefits of membership without calling it membership should be enough to end funding.

But if the resolution passes, it means the Biden administration has signaled that it will go along with the ruse and not move to defund, even though the law would allow it to.

It would mean Biden would rather help the PA win diplomatic battles, even as the Jewish state fights for its existence, than enforce US law.

The president set the stage for the move last year by persuading Congress to temporarily waive the UNESCO defunding, on condition that the PA stop trying to gain statehood status at the world body.

The PA took that as an invitation to push harder. At the very least, an affirmative vote this week will give Congress every reason to not renew the UNESCO waiver when it expires next year.

And if the PA’s new gambit succeeds, it gives any future president an extraordinary opportunity.

The United Nations is a corrupt, failed organization fundamentally tainted by its coddling dictatorships and chronic antisemitism, but broad efforts at defunding it have failed in Congress; now a future White House would have firm grounds to stop sending the checks.

Perhaps the UN apparatchiks are confident Biden will be reelected. But are they really willing to bet the farm for this vile terror regime?
Yisrel Medad: Could a ‘Free Palestine’ truly be free?
PHILOSOPHICALLY, an Arab Palestine will not be free because it is based on the principle of excluding Jewish national identity and sentiment. It is predicated on a negativism, an outlook of denial. It recalls its historical conquest and occupation and seeks to continue its unjustness, keeping the Jews as an oppressed minority as Jews have been and still are all across the Middle East, with very few exceptions.

Politically, an Arab Palestine will not be free. Neither Fatah nor Hamas are democratic – certainly not the Iranian proxy group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has not held legislative council elections since January 2006 and was himself last elected on January 9, 2005.

The results in any case were rigged and Hamas altered the situation in Gaza by conducting a coup. With Hamas the more powerful force, the first bloodbath to happen in a Free Palestine will be one of an internal civil war.

Socially, the current framework of the Palestinian National Council is one of human rights violations and repression against its own residents. Economically and financially it is an unsustainable polity. Its policies direct all possible funds to terror activities. Reports of embezzlement abound.

Morally, it is based on the false narrative that Jews do not possess any national identity. As a result, Palestinianism is an eliminationist movement that denies Jews any rights other than being a religious group of humans. It engages in genocidal operations, has continuously violated agreements, truces and ceasefires, and will continue to do so.

Can a free Palestine ever be truly free? The answer should be obvious.


"Both Sides" and "Innocent Civilians": The Psychological Effect of Language in the Gaza War
The "both sides" mantra fails to assign responsibility and has permeated public discourse to create an ugly reversal of reality, where Israel is accused of genocide and Israelis and Jews are harassed and attacked openly on the road to what the Palestinian world has long sought and openly demands in Arabic: The elimination of Israel. The appeal of "both sides" is a psychological mechanism people use to assume an air of fairness. It is a delicately articulate "cop-out" cloaked in false righteousness and misplaced assumptions regarding "innocent civilians."

Palestinian culture educates children to hate Jews, to glorify violence, to aspire to displace their neighbors and "return" to places they claim rightfully belong exclusively to them. Like most Palestinians, residents of Gazan overwhelmingly supported and even joined the massacre of Oct. 7. International political leaders decry the violence of Oct. 7 but then express sympathy for the people who still support the atrocities perpetrated by the Palestinians' heroes.

Are there two sides? Israel is the side supplying humanitarian aid to an enemy population while the other is illegally holding hostages incommunicado. Barely a day passes in Israel that does not have another Palestinian civilian terror attempt, sometimes successfully, to shoot, stab, or run over Israelis. The hatred that fuels these actions has been part of the Gazan/Palestinian culture for years.

The evidence to date shows that for most Palestinians, Hamas is something to be admired. Organized civilian opposition to Hamas and its ideological twin, the Palestinian Authority, does not exist. The amount of weaponry, hateful antisemitic literature, and escape tunnels found by IDF soldiers in the homes of "ordinary civilians" in Gaza belies the notion of benign innocence on the part of many Gazans. They are by no means without responsibility for their plight.
Israel: Top EU diplomat legitimizes Hamas terror
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday blasted comments by E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in which he panned Israel for rejecting Hamas’s proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Borrell’s remarks at a press briefing in Brussels on Tuesday were a “dangerous mix of ignorance, hostility and the legitimization of terrorism,” spokesperson Oren Marmorstein charged in a post on X.

Commenting on Israel’s military operation against Hamas in eastern Rafah, which started on Monday night, Borrell told reporters that “Hamas accepted, Israel rejected and the land offensive against Rafah has started again, in spite of all the requests of the international community.

“In spite of these warnings and these requests, the attack started yesterday night. I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties, whatever they say,” said Borrell.

On Wednesday, an E.U. spokesperson, speaking to The Wall Street Journal, downplayed Borrell’s remarks as a “side comment on a particular piece of information that was available at that particular time.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry noted on Tuesday that, “in the midst of the negotiations for the release of the 132 hostages and to achieve humanitarian relief,” the terrorist group chose to launch mortars towards the area of the Kerem Shalom Crossing, killing four Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

“The organization that fires at the humanitarian crossing in attempts to kill the deal for the release of the hostages and humanitarian relief is the Hamas terrorist organization,” tweeted Marmorstein, adding that “accepting Hamas’s media manipulations encourages terrorism.”
Israel, Ukraine fighting against the same ‘axis of evil,’ ambassador says
Israel and Ukraine are fighting off the same enemies and need U.S. support to continue, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk told Jewish Insider on Wednesday.

“What unites us is that we are against the axis of evil,” Korniychuk said, describing “a trilateral coalition of Iran, Russia and North Korea, presumably backed by China – you see that in the transfer of technology.”

“If the rest of the democratic world stops Russia now, they will save their future and the future of their children,” he added. “It’s not just about Ukraine. Russia basically assumes they’re fighting the U.S. in the territory of Ukraine; that’s what they are telling their public.”

Korniychuk said the message often heard from American politicians — “we will not allow Ukraine to lose, we will not allow Russia to prevail” — is insufficient.

“They need to help Ukraine win and Russia lose. That is a clear message,” he emphasized.

At the same time, Korniychuk said that “Ukraine already won this war, because what Russia had in mind was to destroy the legitimately elected Ukrainian government and change it to pro-Russian leadership. We held our independent state and the majority of our territories. About 20% is unfortunately temporarily occupied, but we are not willing to surrender.”

“We do wake up in the morning and say thank you every day for what [the U.S. is] doing for us, but unfortunately, it’s not enough… Our people are dying on the front lines every single day,” the ambassador said.

Ukraine took notice when Israel, the U.S., U.K., France and Jordan acted together to thwart Iran’s missile and drone attack.
Israeli FM Katz ridicules Erdoğan after trade ban reversal
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz ridiculed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday after the Turkish president temporarily reversed part of a trade export ban imposed on the Jewish state.

“Erdoğan backed down and canceled many of the trade restrictions. The lesson is clear: Don’t give in to the threats of a dictator, enable alternatives, and don’t be dependent on a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood who can stop everything at a moment’s notice,” he tweeted.

In response, Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said Israeli claims of Ankara easing the trade ban are “absolutely fictional and have nothing to do with reality.”

Turkey’s trade war will continue until Jerusalem agrees to “a permanent ceasefire and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid to our Palestinian brothers in Gaza,” the minister said in a post on X.

Turkey’s Trade Ministry sent letters to factories in the construction industry that have already worked with Israel, informing them that they can temporarily resume supplies to the country, the Globes business daily reported on Thursday.

The move was made after a meeting in Ankara on Wednesday between senior officials from the Trade Ministry and the Turkey-Israel Chamber of Commerce.

Erdoğan’s government, which openly supports Hamas in its war against Israel, announced export restrictions a month ago, saying that they would apply to 54 categories of goods and last until a ceasefire is declared in Gaza.
Seth Mandel: What Is Neera Tanden Doing?
In May, to great fanfare, the Biden administration released its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. It was billed as a whole-of-government, all-hands-on-deck approach to stamping out the oldest hatred. Because it is the first White House document to have the name National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, President Biden acted as though he’d been the first to land on the moon. At the very least, it was supposed to inoculate the president from accusations that he wasn’t taking anti-Semitism seriously. It was also an insinuated critique of his political opponents, who after all had never authored a document called the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.

And then five months later, after Hamas’s brutal attacks and the wave of Jew-hatred they released all over American cities and campuses, Joe Biden decided he needed to actually do something about it. So he issued a new executive order to build on President Trump’s expansion of civil-rights protections for Jews.

It is hard to describe just how much of an implicit criticism of his National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism it was that when a crisis broke out, the president realized his great and mighty whole-of-government plan was useless. The problem is that since no one in the White House will admit that the document was a dud, no lessons will be learned.

And that brings us to Neera Tanden.

Soon after the release of the anti-Semitism plan, domestic policy adviser Susan Rice left the administration and was replaced by Tanden, the former Clintonite and head of an influential liberal think tank during the Obama years. During Rice’s tenure, one of the mistakes made in drafting the plan seemed minor to some, but it has now been repeated by Tanden under much more consequential circumstances.
Fetterman calls situation in Gaza ‘heartbreaking,’ defends his support of Israel
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) described the humanitarian situation as “heartbreaking,” while arguing only Hamas is able to end the war with Israel.

Fetterman, a steadfast supporter of Israel, told USA Today in an interview published Wednesday that the situation in Gaza is “worse than horrible, it’s heartbreaking” and said the responsibility lies on Hamas to surrender and return the hostages.

“They started this,” Fetterman said, in reference to Hamas. “They have designed this to maximize the kinds of destruction and death. They hide behind places like hospitals and civilians and schools and refugee camps. That’s how it’s been designed.”

The Pennsylvania Democrat was responding to criticism accusing him of lacking empathy for the people of Gaza, where more than 34,700 Palestinians have been killed since early October, according to local health officials.

His comments come days after Hamas said it accepted a temporary cease-fire deal that would pause fighting in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. Israel said the group’s terms fell short of its core demands.

Fetterman, who is serving his first term in the Senate, has been a steadfast supporter of Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, often breaking with liberal Democrats over Israel’s handling of the war.

Speaking with USA Today, Fetterman continued his criticism of the pro-Palestinian protests at colleges across the country, pointing to fears from Jewish students.

“And now it must be incredibly unnerving and terrifying if you are a Jewish student, when you have all of these things,” he said. “I’m sure they might feel like — why don’t they have our back?”
Why President Biden Is Correct to Denounce Campus Antisemitism The problem is not physical violence.
The crisis, instead, is the intensification of a long-standing phenomenon. For many years, it has been common for deep criticism of Israel to be a litmus test for participation in left-wing activist spaces. Most American Jews are liberal, and most support Israel’s existence. This litmus test essentially forces many young Jewish people seeking to participate in progressive life to choose between their cultural heritage and full acceptance in a broader community.

The fact that anti-Zionist groups not only allow but encourage and celebrate membership of Jewish students is not a refutation of this problem. It is a description of the problem.

While students are often attracted to the anti-Israel groups out of admirable sympathy for the plight of Palestinians, the beliefs of the organizations behind the protests are murderous and horrifying. They support Hamas and the indiscriminate slaughter and rape of Jewish civilians.

As Jill Filipovic points out, the Columbia encampment’s list of mandatory principles one must align with to join includes support for the right to resist “by all available means.” The demands of the protest coalition at the University of Michigan, which has the support of 81 campus progressive groups, call for “power to our freedom fighters, glory to our martyrs. All eyes on Gaza, the Thawabit is our compass.” (Thawabit is a list of Palestinian political principles, including “the right to resistance in all forms.”)

Media accounts have often described these protests as antiwar, but this is flatly inaccurate. They support one party to the war and call for its victory. Likewise, news accounts have inaccurately depicted the protests as arising in response to Israel’s counterattack (i.e., the Washington Post: “Campus rallies and vigils for victims of the war in Gaza have disrupted colleges since October”). But the groups in fact mobilized in response to, and in support of, Hamas’s attack, and were preparing demonstrations to support what they anticipated would be a war to destroy Israel. (“This action of resistance shatters the illusion of Israel as an impenetrable, indestructible entity. The zionist entity is fragile, and Palestinian resistance is alive. The iOF are still in disarray and the resistance fighters are still launching new attacks into 48,” wrote Students for Justice in Palestine’s central organization in the plans for a “Day of Action” in the United States in the immediate wake of October 7.
I'm warning you, Jewish antisemites
One of the most shocking observations of our post-October 7 world is that a small but very vocal minority of Jews have chosen to act as defenders for the murderers and kidnappers of our people.

Groups such as IfNotNow and Jewish Voices for Peace encourage further attacks on Israel by justifying and defending Palestinian terrorists and vilifying supporters of Israel.

They collaborate with our enemies in the most deceitful and harmful way possible by using their Judaism as a banner to support their anti-Israel stance. These people display external symbols of Judaism, such as wearing a kippah or a tallit. They proclaim their Jewish names and perversely use narratives of their own families’ persecution to defend the current-day persecutors of the Jews.

A story of misplaced loyalty
Sadly, they have a precedent in Jewish history, and examining one of their predecessors provides insight into their inevitable downfall.

Grigory Zinoviev, born Hirsh Apfelbaum (1883-1936), was one of the top three members of the Communist Party. Although he is not as well known as his contemporary Leon Trotsky, he was a major power player in the Communist movement. He was one of Vladimir Lenin’s closest associates, and used his talents as an orator to support the revolution within the Soviet Union and abroad.

In fact, when Lenin was unwell at the end of his life and could not deliver the Central Committee’s reports to the 12th and 13th Party Congresses (the equivalent of the US State of the Union Address), Zinoviev was appointed to speak in his place.

During Lenin’s final illness, Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and Joseph Stalin formed the Troika, taking over the rulership of the Communist Party. According to Trotsky, Stalin’s appointment as Lenin’s successor was due to Zinoviev’s initial recommendation.

As far as his fellow Jews, Zinoviev did not use his influence to help them at all. He spent his life building the regime that would utterly destroy the Soviet Jewish community.

Yet, for all of his devotion to the cause and his role in giving Stalin the leadership position, his idealism would reveal itself to be naive. At the end of the day, as far as the enemies of the Jews were concerned, a Jew is a Jew. Member of Troika, Lenin’s confidante orator of the Communist movement – it was all irrelevant when he was no longer needed.
Why Jewish Schools Must Have A Class On The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The majority of Jewish high schoolers will not go to Yeshiva University. And many will go to Ivy League schools, despite the recent protests, as well as to other schools where professors have been indoctrinating students to believe that Israel is a white colonizer.

Douglas Murray, Ben Shapiro and Hillel Fuld all articulate cogent messages about Israel but I don’t know that all Jewish high school students are aware of them.

Jewish schools teach the kashrut question of batel b’shishim. If, for example, a drop of milk fell into a pot of chicken soup, if the drop is not greater than 1/60th of the soup, it may still be deemed kosher.

It’s a good idea to teach that. It’s also a fine idea to teach the same students important facts about Israel so that when they hear slander, they don’t feel like 1/60th of a Jew.

We now live in a reality where people, especially younger people, are inundated with message from TikTok and other social media that are anti-Israel. From watching TV and podcasts alone, I must have seen it said that Israel is committing a genocide at least 500 times, mostly with nobody disputing it.

Two great examples of someone speaking against it were Coleman Hughes, an author and speaker who was the guest on American’s top podcast, “The Joe Rogan experience.” The other was a man named Steven Borrelli, who goes by the moniker of Destiny, who was on a show called Breaking Points, debating Omar Baddar.

Hughes told Rogan (who by his own admission is not knowledgeable on the topic) that if including estimates of those in Hamas who were killed the ratio of combatant to civilian is similar to when American soldiers fought in Mosul, and that if Israel did not go into Rafah, that would create a blueprint for any future group to jump over the border and kill civilians, then go back and hide among civilians with impunity. Rogan had no counterpoint.

Destiny explained the same thing regarding the ratio, and in this and other debates he asked why only Israel is accused of genocide, but America was not for Iraq or Afghanistan, or World War II, and explained that there is a double standard.
Israel Undiplomatic w/ Ruthie Blum & Mark Regev: Are the Hostages Doomed After Rafah?
The Premiere is Here! To be diplomatic or not to be diplomatic? That is the question as JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Ambassador Mark Regev, former advisers at the Prime Minister’s Office, dissect—and duke out—the issues that Israel grapples with internally and faces internationally. Blum and Regev illustrate that even a shared worldview can produce very different perspectives. As the proverb goes, “The devil is in the details.”

JNS Senior Contributing Editor and Ambassador Mark Regev launch their podcast with a debate about the IDF’s Rafah operation, negotiations for the release of the 132 remaining hostages in brutal Hamas captivity and to what extent Israel should succumb to international pressure on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"I hope we blitz the crap out of Ra 'afah and every place else in Gaza and rescue our hostages." Ruthie Blum


I've Read Student Protesters' Manifestos. This Is Ugly Stuff. Clueless, Too.
Today's pro-Palestinian protesters are their own worst enemies. The students are not succeeding in forcing universities to divest from Israel, and even if they were, it wouldn't have much impact on Israel's economy. Mainstream figures in both parties are right to denounce the demonstrators' anti-Israel and even anti-Jewish bias and their disruptions of campus life.

The protesters are usually described as being opposed to the war in Gaza and in favor of Palestinian rights. In truth, the groups organizing these protests are opposed to the very existence of what they call the "Zionist project." A manifesto from Columbia University Apartheid Divest, endorsed by 94 student groups, makes no mention of all the violence perpetrated against Israel, including the horrifying Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and the Iranian drone and missile strike on April 13.

While denouncing alleged Israeli atrocities, the manifesto has not one word of censure for Hamas or its brutal tactics, which include seizing hostages and perpetrating sexual violence, in addition to committing wholesale murder. Even though the protesters claim to care about Palestinian lives, they do not denounce Hamas for stealing international aid to build its tunnels and missiles or for using civilians as human shields. They call for Israel to stop fighting but not for Hamas to release its hostages.

The protest movement's ideologues see Israel as merely an "imperial outpost in the Arab world," even though Jews have lived in the area since antiquity. The National Students for Justice in Palestine website denounces "bourgeois democracy" and showers praise on the fundamentalist Houthis ("Yemeni comrades stopping commerce in the Red Sea").

Although the students are failing to achieve their ostensible goals, they are getting to enjoy the thrill - and the media attention that comes with it - of revolutionary performance art. They have managed to shift attention from what's going on in Gaza to what's going on on U.S. college campuses. That's a victory for self-regarding student radicals - not for Palestinians.
Northwestern Administrators Sign Resolution Calling for Boycott of 'Terror' State Israel
Northwestern University administration officials and faculty members signed a resolution demanding that the school cut ties with Israel, calling the Jewish country a "terror" state and accusing it of "one of the most atrocious and monstrous sieges in modern history."

The resolution—which also defended the eliminationist slogan "From the River to the Sea" and criticized the administration for creating a task force to combat anti-Semitism—was signed by over 1,000 students, alumni, and faculty members, as well as officials from Northwestern's admissions and civil rights compliance offices.

"After months of tightening what has—for the last 76 years—been a brutal and insufferable occupation, Israel is leading a multifront war on the people of Palestine that can only be described as ethnic cleansing and genocide," said the resolution.

"Despite the immense loss of life and all that sustains it, US diplomatic, military, and top academic institutions have chosen to stand firmly on the side of terror," the statement went on. "Northwestern is no exception."

The resolution criticized the university for creating an "Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism" and a "Committee on Free Expression" to address anti-Semitism on campus.

"Between establishing bodies to police our tone, arresting students for exercising their rights, and openly calling for the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices, it is clear that our institution's singular response has been one of censorship of any and all voices deemed uncomfortable or challenging to the status quo," said the signatories.

The statement also called on Northwestern president Michael Schill to end "collaborations with Israeli institutions" and divest from "all companies that support Israeli apartheid."
Biden Civil Rights Chief Plans To Give Columbia Law Commencement Speech As University Cancels Main Ceremony
The Biden administration’s civil rights chief Kristen Clarke is still planning to give the keynote speech at the Columbia Law School graduation next week, after Columbia canceled its main commencement ceremony amid attacks on Jewish students on campus, a Columbia spokeswoman confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.

The news comes one day after House Republicans said Clarke’s "history of association with known anti-Semites" makes her unfit to prosecute anti-Semitism at Columbia and other universities. It also comes as Columbia Law School is facing heightened scrutiny this week, as over a dozen federal judges said they would not hire its graduates due to the "virulent spread of antisemitism" at the school.

Clarke, the head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, has been petitioned by pro-Israel leaders to investigate the surge in anti-Semitism on college campuses.

She is also facing questions from a group of five Republicans, led by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), who wrote to Clarke on Tuesday that they were "deeply concerned that your history of association with known anti-Semites hinders your ability to impartially support an investigation into violations of Title VI at Columbia University," according to the New York Post.

The letter noted that Clarke, while attending Harvard University in the 1990s, invited an anti-Semitic speaker who wrote a book claiming there was a Jewish conspiracy to subjugate black people. Clarke also defended former Women’s March leader Tamika Mallory against criticism of Mallory’s relationship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Anti-Semitism watchdogs told the Free Beacon last week they are concerned Clarke’s attendance at the Columbia Law School graduation ceremony will "tacitly endorse" the anti-Jewish atmosphere at the school.

The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
A Yale Professor Wrote an Op-Ed About Anti-Semitism on Campus. The University Spent Over a Year Investigating Him.
Yale University spent more than a year investigating a Jewish professor for six words of an op-ed he published in a pro-Israel newspaper, raising questions about the school’s approach to anti-Semitism and free speech as the campus continues to cope with the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war.

Evan Morris, a professor of biomedical engineering at Yale School of Medicine, penned the 2022 op-ed in the Algemeiner along with 14 other professors. They described a pattern of anti-Semitism in the Yale Postdoctoral Association, a group that runs social and academic events for researchers.

The authors listed several examples of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias. In one aside, they claimed that a researcher at the medical school, Azmi Ahmad, had "blocked an Israeli postdoc from speaking" at an October 2021 screening of a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Those six words triggered a marathon investigation by the medical school’s Office of Academic and Professional Development—a body responsible for disciplining professors for "unprofessional behavior"—that began in February 2023, over six months after the op-ed was published, and concluded in April 2024.

The office told Morris that it had been "tasked with assessing the accuracy" of the six-word statement, according to an email reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. It did not tell him who filed the complaint, what policy he had allegedly violated, or what the consequences of that violation could be but said the review was likely to be completed by June 2023.

Instead, it dragged on without updates for over a year, according to Morris and emails reviewed by the Free Beacon. During that time—including in the post-October 7 era—Yale repeatedly declined to sanction students and professors for vicious anti-Israel speech, citing the importance of free expression.
Bernie Sanders Blocks Resolution Condemning Campus Anti-Semitism
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) on Tuesday blocked a resolution that sought to condemn campus anti-Semitism amid tumultuous anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the United States.

Sanders, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, on Tuesday blocked a resolution introduced by Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) that aimed to condemn "the rise of antisemitism on campuses of institutions of higher education across the United States" and "administrators of institutions of higher education who have enabled ongoing antisemitism on their campuses."

Sanders justified his objection to the resolution on the Senate floor, saying he would prefer a resolution that upholds "freedom of speech and dissent" and denounces all forms of discrimination.

He later wrote on X, "Today I offer a simple resolution: NO to antisemitism. NO to Islamophobia. NO to racism and bigotry in all its forms. YES to free speech and protest under the 1st Amendment, whether on a college campus or across our nation."

Scott in response to Sanders’s objection accused the self-declared democratic socialist of trying to mischaracterize the recent campus protests nationwide.

"The two-thousand-plus arrests on college campuses weren’t because of violence against black folks or violence against Muslims or violence against Hispanics or violence against Asians," Scott said. "It was violence against Jewish students."

"An objection to my resolution is an objection to the reality that, today, our Jewish students are facing disgusting environments on college campuses and the administrators sit back with their hands under their butts," the South Carolina Republican added.

Sanders’s blocking of the resolution continued his pattern of stalling congressional action on campus anti-Semitism, according to National Review. The Senate committee under Sanders’s leadership has not held a hearing on anti-Semitism, despite repeated requests by the committee’s ranking member Bill Cassidy (R., La.).
Inside the Campus Playbook To Build a Nationwide ‘Unity Intifada’ in Support of Hamas
Just a day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 rampage through Israel, the nation’s largest anti-Israel campus group snapped into action, issuing a call for "unity intifada" at colleges across the country and mobilizing its network of pro-Palestinian agitators for a "national day of resistance" that would "normalize" terrorism against Israel, according to a strategy document reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The materials provide insight into National Students for Justice in Palestine’s (NSJP) campus playbook and suggest the anti-Israel umbrella group anticipated a conflict in the Middle East and was prepared to unleash its army of adherents on college campuses across America.

"National liberation is near—glory to our resistance, to our martyrs, and to our steadfast people," the document states. It includes a series of directions and guides to help students learn the "how-tos for the protest day of action and troubleshoot any support needed." NSJP also ran "how to organize a protest" workshops and "highly encouraged" its network to organize "a sit-in, disruption, or educational event." At every step in the process, NSJP was prepared to help its campus protesters foment anti-Israel unrest and "normalize the resistance," according to the planning materials.

The organization makes it clear that students are part of a global "unity intifada," stating: "We as Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement."

The toolkit was cited as evidence in a landmark court case filed last week against NSJP by Israeli victims of Hamas’s terror attack. The case—which also named American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a parent group for NSJP branches across the country—alleges that both organizations are providing material support to Hamas through their campus protests. The toolkit is cited as evidence the groups serve as chief "collaborators and propagandists for Hamas."

"On October 8, the day after Hamas’s terrorist attack, AMP and NSJP were prepared and responded to Hamas’s ‘call for mass mobilization’ by disseminating a manifesto and plan of attack which includes materials that appear to have been created before the attack," the lawsuit states.
NGO Monitor: PFLP and Samidoun on American College Campuses
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)1 – which participated in the October 7th atrocities and is designated as a terrorist group by the US, Canada, the EU, and Israel – has had a strong presence at encampments, demonstrations, and riots on American college campuses. Students have been documented while carrying PFLP posters, flying the PFLP flag, hosting PFLP-linked speakers, and reading PFLP publications.

On April 23, 2024, the PFLP posted a statement in support of American students: “We in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, along with all our people, the honorable of our nation and the world, confirm our steadfast support for the struggle of the students youth movements, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) at universities such as Columbia, Rutgers, Yale, Stanford, among others. We call for enhancing the unity of students and their struggle to divest American universities from the zionist entity and cut all forms of relations with it.”

In addition, Samidoun, an NGO designated by Israel as a terrorist group and a “subsidiary” of the PFLP, is part of the NGO network responsible for antisemitic and pro-terror incitement on campuses. Samidoun’s logo can be seen on posters promoting the PFLP, and its officials have preached “resistance” (code for terrorism) at campus events. Samidoun – for which the Alliance for Global Justice, a charity registered with the IRS, collects tax deductible donations in the US – does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.
Hundreds of Jewish Columbia students express pride for Israel and their Jewish faith in open letter
Hundreds of Jewish Columbia University students signed on to an open letter to the university community on Wednesday, declaring that they are “proud to be Zionists” while speaking out against the anti-Israel protesters that have engulfed the Ivy League campus since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

The letter, titled “In Our Name,” was authored by four students — Eliana Goldin ‘25; Elisha Baker ‘26; Eden Yadegar ‘25 and Rivka Yellin, Barnard College ‘26. By Wednesday night, it garnered more than 400 signatures.

“Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name,” the letter opens. “We are here, writing to you as Jewish students at Columbia University, who are connected to our community and deeply engaged with our culture and history. We would like to speak in our name.”

“Most of us did not choose to be political activists,” the students wrote. “We do not bang on drums and chant catchy slogans. We are average students, just trying to make it through finals much like the rest of you.”

“If the last six months on campus have taught us anything, it is that a large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and subsequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People,” the letter continued. “Yet despite the fact that we have been calling out the antisemitism we’ve been experiencing for months, our concerns have been brushed off and invalidated.”

The letter goes on to reference several incidents that have occurred on campus.: “We sounded the alarm on October 12 when many protested against Israel while our friends’ and families’ dead bodies were still warm. We recoiled when people screamed ‘resist by any means necessary,’ telling us we are “all inbred” and that we ‘have no culture.’ We shuddered when an ‘activist’ held up a sign telling Jewish students they were Hamas’s next targets… We ultimately were not surprised when a leader of the CUAD [Columbia University Against Apartheid] encampment said publicly and proudly that ‘Zionists don’t deserve to live’ and that we’re lucky they are ‘not just going out and murdering Zionists.’ We felt helpless when we watched students and faculty physically block Jewish students from entering parts of the campus we share, or even when they turned their faces away in silence. This silence is familiar. We will never forget.”


Rishi Sunak tells university leaders to take a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to antisemitism
Jewish student leaders have told university vice-chancellors they must enforce “red lines” on campus anti-Israel protests at an emergency Downing Street summit convened by Rishi Sunak.

The prime minister declared last night that he would take a “zero-tolerance” approach to antisemitism and tackle demonstrators singing “genocidal chants”.

Higher education bosses were summoned to Number 10 on Thursday after pro-Palestine encampments spread to campuses across Britain.

Student protestors have demanded that their universities divest from Israel and enforce an academic boycott of the Jewish state.

Speaking to vice-chancellors at the summit, Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students, said that while the right to protest must be respected, “where there are instances of criminality universities must draw upon their relations with police to ensure students see the consequences of their actions.”

Isaacs claimed: “To call to ‘globalise the intifada’ is not a meaningless political statement.

"It is a direct call to spread the sort of violence seen in Israel in the late 1990s and early 2000s which saw random acts of terror against civilians at innocuous locations. Universities have to make this red line clear.”
Israeli lawmaker confronts protesters at Oxford amid the rise of antisemitism around the world



GWU protesters called for beheadings of school administrators: ‘Guillotine, guillotine!’
A group of George Washington University students protesting the Hamas–Israel war stirred controversy when a social media video showed them calling for putting university administrators on the “gallows” and a “guillotine.”

In a viral May 3 social media post recorded on Instagram, students are heard chanting, “Bracey, Bracey, we see you. You assault students, too. Off to the motherf***ing gallows with you.”

The students were referring to Christopher Bracey, the African American provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at GWU, in their remarks.

“To the guillotine,” a student can also be heard shouting.

The demonstrators held a “People’s Tribunal,” which put university administrators symbolically on trial while chanting threatening remarks. The mock court was targeted at giving punishments to GWU’s board of trustees, provost, and president, Ellen Grandberg, for having a “vested interest in the genocide of Palestinian people.”

“Board of Trustees, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!” the group chanted.

“When will @GWtweets finally do something? If the students hurt any of these people in any way, the university will be completely at fault,” a social media user said when posting the video on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Insane,” X executive Elon Musk said, reacting to the post.

“Sounds extremely peaceful. I don’t see the problem at all,” a woman quipped on social media.

“These people are too old to be cosplaying Lord of the Flies. It’s so cringe and embarrassing,” another person said.

“We’ve seen antisemitic signs, chants & harassment near the @GWtweets encampment. Now we’ve witnessed what appears to be calls to violence. If chanting ‘Guillotine, Guillotine, Guillotine…’ or ‘Off to the motherf***ing gallows’ doesn’t raise serious alarm bells then what does?” the Anti-Defamation League of Washington, D.C. said.


Harvard, Brown, IUP took $10M from foundations, donors in the ‘State of Palestine’: report
Several Ivy League schools, including Harvard University, have accepted millions of dollars in donations from foundations and donors located in the “State of Palestine,” often to fund the education of Palestinian students at American colleges, according to a new report.

The elite schools took $10 million from 2017 to 2023 from entities within the “State of Palestine,” according to the analysis by Open the Books, a Republican-owned nonprofit dedicated to revealing government spending.

Brown University, Harvard University and non-Ivy Indiana University of Pennsylvania are among the schools to accept funding from donors located in the nation that technically doesn’t exist, at least by UN standards.

The “State of Palestine” is not a recognized entity by the United Nations or the US — though some 140 countries do officially recognize it.

Brown University in February 2020 received a $643,000 gift from a foundation located within the “State of Palestine” to create a professorship in Palestinian Studies as part of the college’s Middle East Studies program, according to federal disclosures reviewed by Open the Books.

Though the financial filing does not disclose the donor’s name, Brown previously said the money was gifted by the Munib and Angela Masri Foundation based in the West Bank.

Nine different donors — including multiple Brown alumni and the foundation — came together to fund the “Mahmoud Darwish Professorship in Palestinian Studies,” according to a 2020 press release.

Meanwhile, Harvard took in $1.6 million from donors within the “State of Palestine” and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania received $6.4 million from entities within the “State of Palestine” and another $900,000 from a donor from “Palestinian Territory, Occupied,” according to the review of the financial disclosure documents.

The donors are not identified in the filings. Harvard previously said that monies it received from Palestinian donors in 2017, 2018 and 2019 did not come from the Palestinian Authority, though the Ivy League would not disclose the donor names in a 2020 news report.
Peter Thiel was trapped inside Cambridge University debate hall by anti-Israel protesters
Peter Thiel was reportedly trapped inside a debate hall at Cambridge University in the UK on Wednesday as a crowd of anti-Israel supporters refused to let him leave for about an hour after he was accused of facilitating “genocide” in Gaza.

Thiel, the 56-year-old co-founder and chairman of Palantir, a software company that counts among its clients the Israeli military, was a keynote speaker at an event held at Cambridge Union, the famed debating society, on Wednesday afternoon.

According to reports, Thiel, who made his fortune as an early angel investor in Facebook and co-founder of PayPal, had to arrive three hours before the event in order to avoid the large crowd.

During his talk, he was interrupted by at least two students who gave monologues accusing him of helping Israel commit “genocide” against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Photos and videos circulating online show several of the demonstrators being escorted out of the event after they disrupted Thiel’s talk.

“Since October 7th, 14,000 children in Palestine have been murdered, and Palantir is complicit in that. Your actions are complicit in the genocide of thousands of people,”one protester could be heard telling Thiel in a video that was posted on X.
UCLA protesters equipped with heavy tools, planned to occupy building, police say
A group of 44 protesters who were arrested on UCLA's campus early Monday were equipped with bolt cutters, super glue, padlocks and other items that indicated they intended to vandalize and occupy a building on campus, police said Wednesday.

The stunning new details were brought to light in a UCLA police statement which indicated the group was also carrying printed materials such as "The Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide" even as social media posts were calling for occupation of the school's Moore Hall.

The 44 people who were arrested included 35 UCLA students and nine people not affiliated with the school. Forty-two of them were arrested for conspiracy to commit a crime and two for obstructing a peace officer. Four members of the group had also been previously arrested for failing to disperse when authorities cleared the encampments on May 2.

The police statement does not indicate what cause the group was supporting but there have been ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus, and at least one night of clashes involving counter-protest groups.

'Violence and vandalism'

The arrests - and two related incidents nearby - unfolded just before 6 a.m. Monday.

Police were notified of a large group of people at the school's Parking Structure 2. When campus police showed up, they found a group of about 40 people who were wearing masks and carrying metal pipes.

After detaining the group with zip ties, officers discovered they were in possession of various tools, including heavy-duty metal pipes, bolt cutters, epoxy adhesive, super glue, padlocks, heavy-duty chains and "documentation encouraging violence and vandalism."

Police say the group had formed a plan to break into and occupy Moore Hall.

As the group was being detained, there was another group of about 30 people already inside Moore Hall and police discovered that a UCLA student group was calling for people to occupy the building. Police repeatedly announced the building was closed and everyone inside had to leave and eventually, roughly 60 people exited the building.

It is believed the same group then marched to Dodd Hall later that morning and created a disturbance that interrupted midterm exams. More protesters were outside and eventually they all marched to Bruin Plaza and eventually scattered.
Man convicted of manslaughter among Syracuse University anti-Israel protesters
The 49-year-old is unaffiliated with the upstate New York university, but several photos obtained by Jewish Insider show him protesting and sleeping alongside students since the “Gaza solidarity encampment” overtook Syracuse’s campus on April 29. (On Tuesday, the encampment was directed by the administration to relocate off of the central quad to make room for graduation ceremonies; it was not shut down).

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick confirmed to JI that Warren is the person photographed at the encampment. “I can confirm it is absolutely the same person. I have looked up his mugshot just to be sure,” Fitzpatrick said. Of the encampment, Fitzpatrick added, “Syracuse administration has decided to handle it ‘internally’… my position is that [all of the protesters] are breaking the law [and] should be removed and arrested.”

A spokesperson for Syracuse University did not respond to multiple inquiries from JI asking whether the school is aware of Warren.

Warren’s troubling history came to light after a vocally pro-Israel female student alleged that, on several occasions, he photographed her and a friend passing by the encampment. “We were creeped out,” the student, who requested to remain anonymous to speak about a sensitive topic, told JI. “It wasn’t hard to find his name because he follows Syracuse’s Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace Instagram pages. Then we did a quick Google search and found out he’s a criminal,” she said.

The student, who is active in the school’s pro-Israel group, said that last Sunday she reported Warren to the Syracuse Department of Public Safety, which encouraged her to fill out a bias report. She submitted the report on Tuesday, rather than going to the police. Also on Tuesday, Warren was photographed at the encampment, dressed in Syracuse gear to blend in with student protesters.

By Thursday, the student hadn’t heard a response from the school.

“It’s difficult, [especially] when the encampments were in the middle of campus because you couldn’t avoid it,” she said, noting that “intimidating” slogans have been tossed around by the protesters, “including calling for the intifada and ‘from the river to the sea Palestine will be free.’”


NUS stops attempt by anti-Zionist activists to force vote on breaking link with UJS
The National Union of Students has scuppered an attempt to force a vote on the main floor of its conference calling into question the role of the Union of Jewish Students over its support for Israel.

Jewish News has learned that several student volunteers holding anti-Zionist views attempted to force the questioning of the legitimacy of UJS to represent all Jewish student voices in a break-out session meeting outside the main conference arena.

Claims that the vote was carried overwhelmingly at the NUS conference in Blackpool last month are wide of the mark.

When one of volunteers attending last month’s conference asked for a show of hands in favour of the anti-UJS motion, they did receive majority backing from those in the break-out session at what was described as a “temperature check” to test support.

But after interventions from NUS officials the motion was not submitted and did not go to a formal vote at the conference. The volunteers were also made to issue a formal apology for their actions.

In a statement, NUS said: “We are setting a boundary at conference. And that boundary is – the position of UJS, and its role representing Jewish students within NUS: these are conversations for a different space.

“We wanted to make sure everyone understood why: it is important that we all do, so this is why it’s out of bounds.The Union of Jewish Students is the representative body of Jewish students on our campuses, with a history older than NUS, and is recognised by NUS as an associate member.

“If Jewish students don’t agree with the political positions of UJS, that’s a conversation for Jewish students to have within UJS.

“How Jewish students are represented is not a question for this conference. NUS conference is an open conference, and questioning UJS’ place here is at odds with our policies, our values and our proud 100 year history at the forefront of liberation that a room at our national conference should have a discussion like that.”
Dublin campus protest ends as college vows to divest from Israeli settlements
Students at Ireland’s prestigious Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on Wednesday ended a five-day-long protest against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza after they said their demands were met by the university leadership.

In a statement posted on its website, the university said that “an agreement was reached” after “successful talks between the university’s senior management and the protestors.”

Laszlo Molnarfi, president of the institution’s student union, said TCD’s statement was a “testament to grassroots student-staff power.”

The camp would be brought to an end Wednesday evening, he told public broadcaster RTE.

TCD said that the university “will complete a divestment from investments in Israeli companies that have activities in the occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN blacklist in this regard.”

Student activists began the protest on Friday as a “solidarity encampment with Palestine” echoing similar protests on US campuses.


Guardian corrects erroneous characterisation of ICJ ruling
A Guardian op-ed by Miqdaad Versi, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, included a false characterisation of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling on the situation in Gaza – one which contradicts a recent statement by the ICJ’s President.

The op-ed (“There is a way for Starmer’s Labour to fix the big rift with Muslim voters – if it has the will”, May 6), includes this:

It’s true that Labour claimed its position had been misinterpreted, and its stance on Gaza did eventually move, albeit after Israel had killed well over 25,000 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children, and after the international court of justice considered Israel to be plausibly committing genocide.

We complained to Guardian editors, noting this BBC interview with Joan O’Donoghue, the ICJ President, where she dispelled this widely disseminated false claim.

Our complaint was upheld, and the following addendum added:
BBC Radio 2 platforms ‘go back to Israel’ and ‘Jewish power’ trope
The May 7th edition of BBC Radio Two’s Jeremy Vine show included items relating to “protests at UK universities over Gaza”.

Jeremy Vine began that part of the programme (from 04:14 here) by misleading listeners with the statement that “Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar but Israel then rejected it”. Listeners then heard a report form the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Yolande Knell which similarly failed to fully inform on the details of that Hamas public relations exercise.

Listeners then heard from two British university students, one of whom twice touted the ‘genocide’ trope with no meaningful challenge from Vine.


‘Squad’ Rep. Jamaal Bowman had secret YouTube page subscribed to channels that shared antisemitic, flat Earth and Illuminati conspiracy videos: report
“Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman allegedly maintained a personal YouTube account that subscribed to users pushing outrageous conspiracy theories — many with roots in antisemitism.

As recently as last month, the Bronx and Westchester Democrat was creating playlists of videos using the screen name Inner Peace, according to the Daily Beast.

The outlet reported that the Bowman channel followed troves of accounts peddling bonkers claims about aliens, flat Earth theory, UFOs and the Illuminati.

The Post could not locate the Inner Peace account Thursday, and it was unclear whether it had been taken down. The Daily Beast reported that Inner Peace included images and footage from the Bronx middle school that Bowman founded and where he served as principal for 10 years.

Some of the channels purportedly followed by Bowman, such as BreakThrough News, have been known to disseminate Chinese and Russian propaganda.

“The American Takeover: How 2 Years of War Made Ukraine a US Colony,” one video from that channel is titled.

BreakThrough News is also rife with anti-Israel content, much of which appears to be in keeping with Bowman’s views of the Jewish state’s war against Hamas.

Other channels, including DiEM25, Free Will, PoliticsJOE, and Real News Network, have featured interviews with pro-terror professor Norman Finkelstein, whom Bowman lauded at a panel discussion on the Israel-Hamas war this past January.

Still another channel reportedly embraced by Bowman, Afripost, repeatedly shares speeches by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has referred to Jews as “termites” and “the synagogue of Satan.”

A recent Farrakhan video is titled “BLACKS ARE THE TRUE J£WS [sic],” referring to an antisemitic conspiracy theory pushed by the fringe Black Hebrew Israelite sect.


IDF: 150,000 Palestinians have left Rafah; raid uncovers 10 tunnel shafts
Amid the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing operation in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, some 50 gunmen have been killed by troops, while some 150,000 Palestinians have evacuated the area so far, according to estimates by the military on Thursday.

Another 10 tunnel shafts have been found in the Rafah operation, launched late Monday, and they were being prepared for demolition.

In one incident Thursday, three soldiers were moderately wounded as a result of a blast in a booby-trapped tunnel shaft in the Rafah area, the military said. The troops were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The IDF currently does not plan to expand the evacuation order to other areas of Rafah, as the ongoing operation remains relatively limited in scope amid hostage negotiations with Hamas.

The IDF also launched a new pinpoint raid in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood early Thursday. The operation was being carried out by the 99th Division and aims at “the continued dismantling of terror infrastructure and eliminating terrorists in the area,” the military said.

Troops of the Nahal, Yiftah, and Carmeli brigades entered the suburb to clear it of Hamas infrastructure.

Prior to their entry, the Israeli Air Force struck some 25 sites in the area, including buildings used by terror groups, attack tunnels, observation posts, sniper positions and other infrastructure, the IDF said.
PMW: PA celebrates antisemitic campus hate fests
Anti-Israel illegal encampments, initiated on campuses across the United States, have now been spreading all around the world. In many cases, they have featured intimidation and attacks that have placed Jews and supporters of Israel in physical danger, with some even hospitalized. The situation has deteriorated so much to the point that Columbia University and the University of Southern California have canceled graduation ceremonies. Overall, many Jewish students have reported feeling extremely unsafe.

It comes as no surprise that the PA gives these hate fests its overwhelming support as it is the source of the talking points for the anti-Israel movement.

A recurring libel serving to delegitimize Israel at these demonstrations has been the fundamental message of PA ideology, which is that the State of Israel is a colonialist implant and therefore has no right to exist.

Fatah’s youth movement, Shabiba, in its statement of thanks to students in the United States and at Columbia University in particular, called the conflict with Israel a “war of occupation” that “has been continuing for more than 75 years,” meaning since the establishment of the modern State of Israel.

“The Fatah Shabiba [Youth] Movement expressed its appreciation for the student protest movement at the American universities supporting the Palestinian cause… [At] a time when our Palestinian people is dealing wherever it is with a policy of discrimination and apartheid and with the war of occupation, which has been continuing for more than 75 years (i.e., since the establishment of modern Israel), this important, historic, and unprecedented student protest movement comes to support the Palestinian cause…”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, April 27, 2024]

The statement of thanks, which was published by the PA’s official news agency, has a picture of a protestor at Columbia University waving a Palestinian flag covered by the Fatah Shabiba Youth Movement logo.

Besides thanking the students, Shabiba also leveled fierce criticism at any attempt by the authorities to finally restore a semblance of order to campus. It totally disregarded the antisemitism so prevalent at these protests by passing them off as “false accusations...on the pretext of antisemitism…in a manner that contradicts democratic principles and values:”
Hamas urges halt to aid airdrops after two killed in north Gaza parachute failure
Hamas on Thursday called for an end to airdrops of aid after two Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza when an aid pallet crashed into a warehouse after its parachute failed to open.

Several countries, including the United States, Britain, Jordan and France, have resorted to regular aid airdrops in northern Gaza, where humanitarian agencies have warned of a looming famine amid the ongoing war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Two people were killed on Tuesday when an aid parachute fell on the roof of a warehouse where residents had gathered to collect relief supplies, taking the total of people killed when airdrops of aid have gone wrong to at least 21, according to unverified figures from Hamas authorities in Gaza.

“We reiterate that airdrops pose a real danger to the lives of citizens and do not provide a real solution to alleviate the food crisis plaguing northern Gaza,” the head of the Hamas government’s media office in Gaza, Salama Marouf, said in a statement.

“We call for an immediate halt to the delivery of aid in this ineffective and erroneous manner, and we call for the full activation of the land crossings to deliver humanitarian aid to northern Gaza.”


MEMRI: Egyptian Journalist And Senate Member Abd Al-Mun'im Sa'id: A Coalition Of Arab Countries Must Be Formed To Act Against Iran And Its Militias
In an article in the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm, senior journalist Abd Al-Mun'im Sa'id, who was appointed to the Egyptian Senate by President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, warned that the wars caused by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and especially the current war in Gaza, threaten Egypt's security and stability and require formulating a "balanced" strategy to safeguard Egypt's interests. As part of this strategy, he said, a state of emergency must be declared in Egypt in order to prevent radical elements within it from using the Gaza war to destabilize the country. At the same time a coalition of countries must be formed, comprising Egypt itself, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other like-minded countries, in order to meet the threat posed by Iran and its militias, such as Hamas in Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon and Syria, the Houthis in Yemen and Al-Hashd Al-Sha'bi in Iraq.

As for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Sa'id called to promote the two-state solution, which is internationally agreed-upon, instead of trying to turn back the clock and eliminate the state of Israel.

The following are translated excerpts of his article: [1]
"…The Egyptians are doomed not only to be close to the [Palestinian] issue, because of [Palestine's] geographical location, but to be part of it… The history of the Palestinian issue begins in 1897, with the holding of the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, at which Theodor Hertzl presented the ideas set out in his book The Jewish State. The gist of these ideas was that the Jews constitute an 'international problem,' due to the hidden antisemitism in European societies, and that, since the Jews are clearly a national group, the problem of antisemitism can be solved by founding a Jewish state in Palestine, where Jewish historical heritage [has its roots].

"The history of the Palestinian cause, which began back then, has continued for about 120 years. There were successive waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine during the Ottoman rule and later under the British Mandate, until the state of Israel was established in 1948. Then the Arab-Israeli conflict began, expressed in the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. This continued as the 'Palestinian-Israeli conflict,' which took the form of 'Palestinian resistance' against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967. Theoretically, the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO ushered in a new era in which conflict and peace between the two sides are intertwined.

"Today, 'strategy' does not mean turning back the wheel of time and correcting the historical [fact of] Israel's establishment, but working to actualize the two-state solution that stems from the Oslo Accords and is the goal agreed upon by the main players in the international arena. [But], despite this agreement, this [solution] does not seem to be quickly attainable, and the strategy of [pursuing] it must take into account Egypt's direct interests that stem from threats associated with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This conflict gave rise to an ongoing series of wars between the two sides that were waged in Gaza and the West Bank, all of which produced direct threats to Egypt, whether geopolitical or geo-economic.

"In the last ten years, Egypt has focused on internal construction and achieved positive growth despite the troubling problems of terror, the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the great crises in the region – in Gaza, Sudan, Libya and Yemen – while managing to avoid becoming embroiled in external conflicts…

"During the current Gaza crisis, Egypt's wise management produced a serious achievement by preventing the forced emigration of Palestinians to Sinai and by convening the peace conference during the war that produced a statement by nine Arab states: the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. These countries have three things in common. First, they are countries that have chosen the path of reform and [economic] growth as the strategic path to progress. Second, as part of this reform, these countries strive to attain regional stability that will provide suitable conditions for investments and tourism and [allow them to] profit from their geopolitical situation. Third, six of these countries have signed peace agreements with Israel or seek to normalize relations with it, openly (Saudi Arabia) or indirectly (Qatar and Oman). The statement issued by the nine countries constitutes the first comprehensive [effort to] address the crisis, and later developed into a broad Egyptian initiative that formed the basis for almost all the [subsequent] diplomatic initiatives, whether American or European.


JNS: Libs of TikTok Founder: I Am Afraid For My Personal Safety | Top Story
The long march of progressives through our institutions has made "woke" ideology the new orthodoxy in American society. But, as JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin points out, this stems from the fact that few people were paying attention to efforts of the radical left in universities and on social media. But if there is one person who has been on a mission to shine a light on these radicals it’s Chaya Raichik.

Chaya Raichik, also known as Libs of TikTok, discusses her journey from being a regular person to becoming a prominent conservative influencer on social media. Despite receiving threats, being called slurs and being banned on social media. Raichik vows to continue to expose the radicalism - and the antisemitism of the left.

"It's so easy to see it when you just share their own words and what they themselves are saying."


Eurovision 2024: Israel's Eden Golan advances to Eurovision final Large protests against Israeli participation took place outside the auditorium where the final was held on Thursday.
Despite protests outside the arena and boos inside, Israel’s Eurovision representative, Eden Golan, kept her head held high and her eyes on the prize as she performed the song “Hurricane” in the second semi-final at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest on Thursday night in Malmo, Sweden, and fans from around the world voted her into the Grand Final.

The haters in the audience seemed to give Golan energy, and she gave a polished, dramatic performance.

Golan and her dancers were also booed in a dress rehearsal on Wednesday.

Golan will go on to compete in the final on Saturday against the 19 other acts that made it into the finals, along with the automatic qualifiers, the “Big Five” -- France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Spain – and Sweden, the host country which won last year, will also take part on Saturday.

Golan won’t be the only Israeli performing in the final, because Jerusalem-born Tali Golergant, who is representing Luxembourg, won a place after she performed her song, “Fighter,” in the first semi-final on Tuesday night. An Israeli who has lived all over the world, she has been a professional singer for seven years already, even though she is only 23.

Golan, who has also had a long career as a professional singer even though she is only 20 and who spent much of her youth in Russia due to her father’s career, is currently in eighth place in the Eurovision betting tables out of 37 countries. Due to Israel's involvement in the war against Hamas in Gaza, many artists have called for Israel to be barred from competing, but the European Broadcasting Union, the body that oversees Eurovision, has not heeded these calls.


Israel’s Eurovision contestant booed during dress rehearsal ahead of Thursday’s semi-final
Israel’s Eurovision contestant says she remains undeterred after getting booed during a dress rehearsal on Wednesday.

Eden Golan was performing her song Hurricane ahead of the singing competition’s semi-final in Malmo, Sweden on Thursday.

Videos emerged on social media of noisy disapproving audience members who filmed themselves booing the 20-year-old singer while she was on stage.

In a statement following the incident, Golan said she was “proud” to represent Israel, “particularly this year” adding “I am receiving support and love and I am determined to give my best performance tomorrow in the semi-finals and nothing will deter me from that goal!”

Israel’s Kan broadcaster, which coordinates the country’s participation in the contest, said: “[The crowd] did not silence her and they will not silence us. See you tomorrow.”

On Thursday, Kan wrote to the European Broadcasting Union and SVT, Sweden’s public broadcaster, to request they work to prevent a repeat of the incident and ensure they allow Israel to compete fairly in tonight’s semi-final.




Thousands of anti-Israel protesters march in Malmo ahead of Eurovision semifinal
Thousands of people gathered in Malmo, Sweden on Thursday evening to protest against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, hours before Eden Golan was set to appear on stage in the second semifinal, while a much smaller group of mostly local Jews counterprotested nearby.

The anti-Israel protesters amassed in the historic Stortorget square near Malmo’s 16th-century town hall, and began marching toward a park about an hour away by foot.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and set off colored smoke flares, amid chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Israel is a terror state.” Police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people took part. Among those in the crowd was Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

The event marked the first of two large rallies against Israel organized by Stop Israel, a loosely built network of about 60 political groups on the far left, including the Left Party, which holds seats in the Swedish Parliament, as well as Fridays for Future, the Swedish climate movement spearheaded by Thunberg.

“Young people are leading the way and showing the world how we should react to this,” Thunberg, 21, said, wrapped in a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf that has become a symbol of support for Palestinians.

Both Stop Israel and Fridays for Future declined interview requests from The Times of Israel.


Greta Thunberg joins pro-Palestinian protests ahead of second Eurovision semi-final
Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Eurovision 2024 host city Malmo on Thursday to protest Israel's participation in the song contest ahead of this year's second semi-final.

Some 100,000 visitors have gathered in the southern Swedish city for the annual kitsch-fest, which is taking place amid protests and boycotts over the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Thunberg joins the protests
"Young people are leading the way and showing the world how we should react to this," Thunberg, 21, said, wrapped in a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf that has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.

Metal barricades and large concrete blocks have been put up around Malmo Arena, which is hosting the competition.

Police are guarding the venue, and visitors need to pass through metal detectors before entering the arena. Bags are being checked, and visitors are only allowed to bring small purses.


Macklemore Leads ‘Free Palestine’ Chant After Performing New Anti-Israel Song in New Zealand
Macklemore performed his new anti-Israel song live for the first time on Wednesday night during a concert in Wellington, New Zealand, where he also led the sold-out crowd in chanting, “Free, free Palestine.”

The Seattle-based rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, performed Hind’s Hall at his first of two Wellington shows in the TSB Arena.

In the song, which was released a day earlier, the Grammy winner expresses solidarity with anti-Israel activists demonstrating at colleges and universities across the US, criticizes US support for Israel, and denounces the Jewish state’s military actions in its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists controlling the Gaza Strip. The war was launched in response to the deadly Hamas attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Images of the Palestinian flag were projected across the stadium in Wellington as Macklemore performed Hind’s Hall. Later in the concert, the rapper allegedly called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, The Guardian reported. The music video for Hind’s Hall also played on a screen behind the stage while Macklemore rapped the track’s lyrics on Wednesday night.
At 76, Israel’s population stands at 9.9 million
Israel’s population has reached 9.9 million, an increase of 189,000 (1.9%) over 2023, according to data the Central Bureau of Statistics released ahead of the country’s 76th Independence Day.

The population will hit the 10-million mark by the end of the year.

Some 7.427 million Israelis are Jewish (73.2%), 2.089 million are Arab (21.1%) and the remaining 564,000 (5.7%) are categorized as “other.” About 80% of Jewish Israelis were born in the Jewish state.

Since last year, some 196,000 babies were born in Israel, 60,000 people died and 37,000 immigrated to the country.

Twenty-eight percent of Israelis are aged 0-14, while 12% are 65 and over.

At the time of the state’s establishment, Israel’s population numbered 806,000.

By 2030, the population is expected to reach 11.1 million, and by 2040 13.2 million. In the state’s centenary year of 2048, the population is predicted to hit 15.2 million.

Since its rebirth in 1948, more than 3.3 million people made aliyah to Israel, of whom about 1.6 million (47.1%) arrived as of 1990.

The Jewish state will begin marking Memorial Day on Sunday night, and then 24 hours later immediately usher in its 76th Independence Day.
A dark year: 760 soldiers, 834 civilians killed since last Memorial Day
One thousand five hundred and ninety-four soldiers and civilians were killed in combat or by terror since Israel’s last Memorial Day, according to figures released by authorities on Thursday, marking the deadliest year for the country’s security forces and civilians in five decades, and bringing the total tally of casualties to 30,134.

According to the Defense Ministry, 760 soldiers were killed while serving in the military during the past year. Another 61 disabled veterans died due to complications from injuries sustained during their service in previous years, the ministry said.

The numbers brought the total to 25,034 of those who have died during service to the country since 1860, the year from which Israel, and before it the Jewish community in the region, began counting its fallen soldiers.

The annual figures include all soldiers, police officers, Shin Bet agents, and civilian security officers who died in the past year, whether in the line of duty, or as a result of an accident, illness, or suicide.

Amid the ongoing war which began on October 7 with the Hamas terror group’s onslaught in southern Israel, 711 soldiers and members of security forces have been killed. They include 598 IDF soldiers, 39 local security officers, 68 police officers, and six Shin Bet members.

The vast majority of the deaths came amid the terror onslaught and during Israel’s ongoing ground offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Nova party escapees reunite with Holocaust survivor who sheltered them
As the horrors of October 7 unfolded in southern Israel, the five young people who sought shelter from rampaging terrorists at the home of Sara Jackson in Kibbutz Sa’ad lacked the emotional bandwidth to listen to her Holocaust survival story and takeaways from her many near-death experiences.

Escapees from the Supernova rave party in Re’im where Hamas terrorists killed more than 300 revelers, the traumatized visitors informed Jackson of the onslaught, armed themselves with the biggest knives they could find in her kitchen, and holed up with her for hours in her bomb shelter as the kibbutz’s defenders held the murderous invaders at bay.

“They were terribly distraught. At a certain point, I tried to tell them my story, how I had survived, but they didn’t listen and I let them be,” Jackson, an 88-year-old mother of seven who survived the Holocaust in hiding in her native Poland, told the Ynet news outlets in a recent article (Hebrew).

Jackson and the five survivors from Supernova — also referred to as the Nova festival — reunited last week during an encounter between several Nova escapees and three women who survived the Holocaust.

The encounter, held on May 2 at a park in Tel Aviv under the auspices of the Zikaron BaSalon Holocaust commemoration initiative, was an opportunity for the party survivors to draw on the experience of the three women in processing trauma.

It was also a symbolic moment that encapsulated the Jewish People’s capacity for surmounting tragedy.
Israeli Go-Kart Driver Ditches Championship Trophy at Podium for Picture of Sister Kidnapped by Hamas
An Israeli go-kart driver won an international championship race in Slovakia recently, but instead of raising his trophy at the podium after his win, he held up a photo of his sister, who is still being held hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel.

Guy Albag, 15, secured first place at the CEE Championship in Slovakia on Sunday and dedicated his win to his older sister, Liri, 19, who remains in Hamas captivity. Fellow Israeli driver Yam Pinto, who won third place in the same race, also ditched his trophy to instead hold up a photo of Albag’s sister on the podium.

After his win, Albag took to Instagram and wrote a heartfelt post addressed to Liri.

“My sister I miss you so much just waiting for that day when you come to us with your smile and laughs miss your voice,” he wrote. “They told me you said you didn’t want me to stop racing I hope you come back as soon as possible and see me win.”
Nova survivor dedicates gold medal to murdered friend
Standing on the podium with the Israeli national anthem blasting out after winning gold at the the Ju-Jitsu International Federation Grand Prix Open in Paris, Nova survivor Yarin Shriki felt both proud and defiant; just a few days earlier the Israeli team had been told to hide where they were from.

Israeli national champion Shriki, 22, dedicated the win to his best friend, Yohai Ben Zechariah, one of five friends murdered at the Nova festival on October 7. This was a rare moment of triumph amid months of heartache.

“This victory was for everybody in Israel because of everything that has happened,” Shriki told the JC. “I wanted to commemorate what happened to my friend but also because there is so much antisemitism in the world it was so important to hear the Hatikvah being played; it was much more important to win than if it had been in Israel.”

Competing in the adult male under 69kg Gi category, he beat two competitors from France and one from Ukraine to win the gold in what felt to him like a hostile atmosphere.

“We had 24/7 security with us, both local and from Israel from the moment we got to Paris,” he said. “We were told not to show our flags or even any sign that we were Jewish. No one from any other country had to keep where they were from quiet. So to go on the podium and have our flag and our anthem playing, it felt like ‘in your face’.

“I think we could all feel hostility around us; I certainly did from the rivals I was competing with. A lot of them were pro-Palestine and didn’t want me to win. I could sense the hatred. So to beat them was particularly meaningful and it showed them, we are Israeli, we are Jewish and you can’t make us hide any more.
Tel Aviv mayor cancels city’s pride parade ‘out of respect’ to hostages
The annual gay pride parade in Tel Aviv has been cancelled by Mayor Ron Huldai due to concerns for Israeli hostages held in Gaza

Instead of the usual march, Huldai said that the city and LGBTQ+ organisations would host a rally for “pride, hope and freedom.”

Making the announcement on Wednesday, the mayor said that the parade was cancelled because of the continued plight of the hostages in Gaza.

“This isn’t the time for celebrations,” Huldai wrote on X, adding: “132 of our sons and daughters are still hostages in Gaza, the bereavement circles keep widening, and every day we are in one of the most difficult periods of the State of Israel.”

The annual parade is normally considered a highlight of the city’s calendar, drawing in a crowd of tens of thousands of locals and visitors from all over the world. For the last 25 years, the street festivities have celebrated Israel’s LGBTQ+ community.

“Tel Aviv is the home of the LGBTQ+ community. It always has been and always will be,” Huldai said.

“This year we decided to divert part of the budget intended for the production of the pride parade, in favour of the activities of the "Pride Center" in Tel Aviv-Yafo.”
Anu museum displays Israeli artists' vision of October 7



Israel: State of a Nation with Eylon Levy: In Living Memory - Dr. Arnold Clevs Recounts His Unforgettable Story of Surviving The Holocaust
This Yom HaShoah bears a special significance in the history of the Jewish people. In the wake of the single deadliest day for Jews since the Shoah, October 7th looms as an ominous reminder that Jews must remember their past to ensure it does not repeat.

Thanks to @zikaronbasalon - In this Remembrance Day special episode of State of a Nation, we are fortunate enough to hear the living testimony of man who experienced first-hand the depths of human depravity.

Dr Arnold Clevs recounts the harrowing details of his numerous brushes with death, and miraculous survival, as a child navigating the unimaginable horrors of 11 Nazi concentration camps, and how ultimately, at the age of 87, he was able to make aliyah to join his people, who, like him, survived near annihilation and went on to thrive in their homeland, Israel.

This is story of survival and tenacity, a testimony of kinship of the Jewish people even in their darkest of hours.

This Yom HaShoah it is more critical than ever that the stories of those survivors that are still with us be recorded for posterity for all time, lest we forget the lessons of the past and be doomed to repeat them.




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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