Ian is still not feeling well, so I'm pinch-hitting.
A Columbia alumnus snubbed his alma mater and anonymously donated a staggering $260 million of his fortune to one of Israel’s largest universities.Bar-Ilan, the public research university that is getting the gift, described the philanthropist as a “North American Jew and graduate of Columbia University who was active in World War II.”It said Monday that the donor sees Bar-Ilan as “best able to undertake the great task of expanding science-based technological resilience in Israel.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that US President Joe Biden had disclosed only part of the proposal aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and securing the release of Israeli hostages, and added that he had not agreed to end Israel’s military operations against Hamas.“Biden omitted one crucial detail regarding the second stage” of the deal, Netanyahu said. “Israel didn’t agree to end the war, but only to ‘discuss’ its end,” Netanyahu said, adding that such a discussion would occur after the hostages were returned and “only on our terms.”“Despite what President Biden said, the number of hostages that will be released in the first phase has not yet been agreed upon. There are many details in the deal, and the war will not end without us achieving all of our objectives. We will not give up on absolute victory,” he said.
Roughly four years ago, Mondaire Jones and Jamaal Bowman made history together. Young, left-leaning Democrats, they won hard-fought primaries in neighboring districts to become the first Black men ever to represent New York’s Westchester County in Congress.Now, they find themselves deeply at odds over the Israel-Hamas war, a break so sharp that Mr. Jones vowed on Monday to help defeat Mr. Bowman in the Democratic primary on June 25 and endorse his opponent, George Latimer.
An Iranian general has been killed in a suspected Israeli air strike near the Syrian city of Aleppo, nearly two months after the Islamic republic warned it would retaliate against attacks on its interests.Saeed Abyar, described as a military adviser, was targeted in a bombing raid on Monday morning, resulting in the death of several civilians and “material losses”, according to Syria’s official Sana news agency.
In the aftermath of the devastating October 7th massacre, a surge of anti-Israel sentiment and egregious anti-Semitism has swept across the United States. As misinformation and hate speech proliferate, a group of courageous individuals and organizations has risen to combat these dangerous trends. These intrepid defenders of justice have taken a stand against anti-Israel propaganda, Hamas propaganda, and the growing manifestations of anti-Semitism, displaying remarkable bravery and determination.These advocates face significant risks and challenges, yet they persist in their mission to protect the integrity of Israel and ensure the safety and dignity of Jewish communities. Through public advocacy, educational initiatives, legal action, and community support, they are pushing back against the tide of vociferous Jew hatred. Their efforts are not only about defending Israel but also about upholding the principles of truth, justice, and human rights in the face of growing adversity.
Leaders of European Jewish communities single out EU top diplomat Josep Borrell for criticism, accusing him in a resolution of adding to the bloc’s antisemitism problem by excessively criticizing Israel.Borrell has demonstrated “a clear and repeated anti-Israel bias that has been a significant contributory factor to the ongoing antisemitism and the vilification of the state of Israel as a whole in the European public space,” reads a resolution unanimously passed by more than 100 delegates from European Jewish communities at a conference on fighting antisemitism organized in Amsterdam by the European Jewish Association.Borrell is on record as saying that Israel is deliberately causing famine in Gaza, a claim that Israel rejects, and has said that Israel “created” Hamas, a claim that his critics, including the Portuguese security analyst João Lemos Esteves, say is fueling antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Leading rabbi warns mass exodus of Jews from Europe to Israel may be imminent
EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin opened the meeting with a stark message. "We are in a fight for the continuation of Jewish life in Europe," he said. "Jews wearing traditional clothing or displaying mezuzahs on their doors are facing relentless harassment. Jewish students are receiving threats on their lives and being excluded from university courses, while hate graffiti defaces Jewish homes, synagogues and cemeteries without any deterrent."
"Over the next two days, we will formulate plans to combat antisemitism on all fronts: political, legal, public and by enhancing community and personal security," Rabbi Margolin added. "However, this may not be enough. Therefore, Israel urgently needs to develop a practical contingency plan to welcome European Jews. Unfortunately, this is no longer a hypothetical situation but a real existential threat that European governments are either failing to address or are unwilling to tackle with the necessary determination."
For some college protesters, attacking Israel — and American support for Israel — might seem new and trendy. Yet, both the CIA and big oil were precisely doing that, decades ago, forming alliances with anti-American dictators, antisemitic war criminals, the press, Protestant groups, academics, university administrators, and fringe Jewish groups claiming to represent “what’s best” for American Jewry.
Residents and local authorities in northern Israel demanded Tuesday that the government take clear action to restore security, as bushfires sparked by Hezbollah rockets launched from Lebanon spread across large swaths of territory, with emergency services straining to control the blazes.A spokesperson for Kiryat Shmona, where fires lapped overnight at the outskirts of the evacuated border city, lamented that the government was failing to provide even the most basic level of security for residents.
This past Memorial Day, as Americans honoured their war dead, the Biden administration was running interference for an Iranian regime whose Supreme Leader has described “death to America” as his official state policy. A report in the day’s Wall Street Journal described how the US was “pressing European allies to back off plans to rebuke Iran for advances in its nuclear programme”. This followed a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that assessed Iran has increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to more than 30 times the limit set in the 2015 nuclear deal — enough to produce three to four nuclear weapons within a week, according to experts.Theoretically, the news should have troubled officials in Washington, who often still speak as if they oppose the proliferation of nuclear weapons to rogue states that vow to destroy the US-led international order. So why, then, did the US block the effort led by its allies France and England to censure Iran? For the same underlying reason that has motivated White House policy since October 7: The Biden administration sees Iran as America’s main partner in the Middle East and the lynchpin of US grand strategy.
The U.N. Watch NGO on Thursday accused the Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories of “gross violations of U.N. rules and professional ethics.”In a complaint filed to U.N. Secretary General António Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, U.N. Watch alleges that Francesca Albanese accepted honorariums and payments from activist and advocacy groups, in violation of the U.N. code of conduct.Albanese has a documented history of making antisemitic comments and justifying terrorism against Israel. Her denial that Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre was based on the terrorist group’s hatred of Jews was rebuked by the French government, which called the remarks “scandalous” and “a disgrace.” The German government called her comments “appalling.”
After backlash, Vancouver comics festival apologizes for excluding Jewish artist over IDF service
A Vancouver comics festival apologized to a Jewish artist it had banned over her past Israeli military service and a Seattle museum announced it was recommitting to an exhibit on antisemitism that prompted a staff walkout, in two reversals of arts-world sanctions connected to the Israel-Hamas war.
Both the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival and the Wing Luke Museum had faced significant backlash over the actions they took because of pro-Palestinian activism.
The Biden administration’s massive program of “environmental justice” grants appears designed to empower extremist groups.
In a remarkable work of reporting, Park MacDougald recently traced the tangled roots of organizations backing pro-jihad protests, both on and off campuses. These include Antifa and other networks of anonymous anarchists, along with “various communist and Marxist-Leninist groups, including the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the International ANSWER coalition,” MacDougald writes. Higher up the food chain, we find groups openly supported by America’s growing class of super-rich tech execs or the anti-capitalist heirs of great fortunes. For example, retired tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, who is married to Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, funds The People’s Forum, a lavish Manhattan resource center for far-left groups. As the Columbia protests intensified, the center urged members to head uptown to “support our students.” Following the money trail of other protest groups, MacDougald finds connections to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation, and—surprising no one—the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation.Of course, the current wave of anti-Israel protests also involves alliances with pro-Hamas organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine. Last November, Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies testified to the House Ways and Means Committee that SJP and similar groups have deep ties to global terrorist organizations, including Hamas.For many keffiyeh-wearing protestors, however, a recently professed concern for Palestinians is just the latest in a long list of causes they believe justify taking over streets and college quads. In Unherd, Mary Harrington dubs this medley of political beliefs the “omnicause,” writing that “all contemporary radical causes seem somehow to have been absorbed into one.” Today’s leftist activists share an interlocking worldview that sees racism, income inequality, trans intolerance, climate change, alleged police violence, and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts all as products of capitalism and “colonialism.” Therefore, the stated rationale for any individual protest is a stand-in for the real battle: attacking Western society and its institutions.
Until Hamas’ massacre against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Coastal Road terror attack was the most lethal in Israel’s history. Fatah terrorists from Lebanon hijacked a bus full of Israeli civilians on vacation and murdered 37, of whom 12 were children. Arch-terrorist Abu Jihad planned and supervised the attack, which was led by female terrorist Dalal Mughrabi.The PA has praised Abu Jihad for orchestrating the murder of at least 125 Israelis, and Palestinian Media Watch has documented how the PA has turned him into a role model for Palestinian society. Posthumously, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas awarded Abu Jihad the Star of Honor.Last week, the PA yet again cemented its view of Abu Jihad as a hero and admirable figure for Palestinians by inaugurating a hall in Ramallah named after him.
This, is really what the anti-Israel protests that erupted in the wake of the Hamas massacre of October 7, the attitude to the war, and the constant criticism Israel has faced since before the blood had a chance to dry have been about.
With his carefully coiffed hair, baritone voice, and grandiose manner of speaking, David Levy – who passed away Sunday at age 86 – made his presence felt on this country’s political stage for more than three decades.From 1969, when he first entered the Knesset as a member of the Gahal party, to 2006, when he finally left as a Likud member, Levy held numerous senior ministerial positions, including foreign minister – a post he held three separate times – and deputy prime minister.All immigrants can appreciate the difficulty and impressive nature of the following feat: Within 12 years of aliyah and without even a high school diploma, he became a Knesset member. Two decades after moving here – in 1977 – he was instrumental in forging an alliance between Mizrachi voters and the Herut party that realigned and shaped Israeli politics for generations.
CBC The Current Shares Hamas Propaganda On Rafah Tent Fires, Host Matt Galloway Asks If Canada Should Expel Israel’s Ambassador To Canada
The main theme of the 19-minute segment surrounded a May 26 Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza, targeting senior Hamas terrorists. At the same time, a large fire was recorded in a tented area, prompting Hamas to claim without evidence that Israel was responsible.Rather than examining the evidence, host Galloway accepts Hamas’ allegations, hook, line and sinker.Galloway told listeners that “an Israeli airstrike hit a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah that ignited a deadly fire and killed dozens of people,” as if it were an established fact, when it is decidedly not.
Nearly three months before her abrupt departure yesterday from @washingtonpost, I had my one encounter with Executive Editor @SallyBuzbee. That was when she personally vouched for the accuracy of an article about the tragic deaths and subsequent discovery of premature…
— Robert Satloff (@robsatloff) June 3, 2024
🚨First complaint just docketed against @UCLA, various professors, grad students, etc. alleging various torts, civil rights, committed against @cupidgeneral (Milagro Jones) for targeting him under the belief he was a Jewish/Zionist student. #uclaprotest 👇https://t.co/35lD17nGiZ
— Ronald Richards (@RonaldRichards) June 3, 2024
🚨UCI UPDATE🚨https://t.co/9uB4dgqkMx
— Aden Kosoi (@adenkosoi) June 3, 2024
This is absolute betrayal. The head of @UCIHistory Susan Morrissey has not renewed Daniel Levine’s contract but instead went on to hire two new professors who express anti-Israel views publicly. Shame on @UCIrvine.
The UN can bring fuel into Gaza every 👏 single 👏 day 👏. You chose not to.
— COGAT (@cogatonline) June 4, 2024
In the last week of May you coordinated 670,000 liters of fuel. It could have been double that amount.
Instead of pointing the finger at Israel, maybe try taking responsibility for things in your… https://t.co/OzxApoeLa1
Bibi at 28:
