Tuesday, July 02, 2024

07/02 Links Pt1: Why Does the UN Coddle Iran?; Noa Argamani's mother, Liora, passes away from cancer; LA Deputy DAs allege antisemitism under Gascon

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: Why Does the UN Coddle Iran?
Threats to annihilate Israel emanate daily from the Iranian political and military leadership. The Charter of the United Nations in its preambular paragraphs calls on all its members "to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors." Above all, member states commit to "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."

But UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shamefully ignores Iran's blatant violations of the UN Charter. While Guterres and his staff regularly demonstrate alarming alacrity, enthusiasm, and efficiency in rushing to condemn Israel, even by relying on false, inaccurate, and questionable data provided by UN bodies openly hostile to Israel, as well as on slanted media reporting, they turn a blind eye to Iran's behavior in openly abusing the UN Charter.

Is it not high time that serious world powers rethink the entire concept of a world organization, in light of the fact that the UN has been utterly hijacked and taken hostage by those bent on destroying the international community rather than enhancing its effectiveness? Is that what the founding fathers of the UN intended?
Israel’s Two Big Lies
Last week, Amit Segal, one of Israel’s finest journalists, revealed that the military prosecutor’s office has instructed the IDF not to target Gazan civilians who actively participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, including those who reportedly kidnapped the Bibas babies and their parents. The IDF’s legal eagles, members of the country’s caste of empowered jurists, argued that because the international laws of warfare permit targeting only individuals who belong to a fighting force, the thousands of Palestinians who reportedly executed, raped, and kidnapped Israelis but do not officially belong to Hamas or Islamic Jihad are considered civilians and are therefore out of bounds.

“This direction was given even though, after October 7, the government promised that Israel will hold accountable anyone who participated in the massacre,” Segal said on Channel 12 News. “Despite this fact, if the IDF or the Shin Bet learn of the location of Gazan individuals who murdered, pillaged, raped, or kidnapped Israelis, there will be no legal authorization to target them.”

Israelis barely had a moment to digest this absurdity when a second one hit even harder: Earlier this week, Israel released 50 Palestinian terrorists, including Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director general of Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital. At the time of his arrest, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit released a statement saying that it had concrete evidence that Abu Salmiya assisted the terror group in using hospital resources to maintain a vast network of tunnels underneath Al-Shifa and to use the hospital as its headquarters. It’s unclear why Israel would release Abu Salmiya, especially as Hamas continues to flaunt basic humanitarian codes of conduct and refuses to allow the Red Cross access to the civilian hostages it still holds.

The decision to release Abu Salmiya unconditionally is, alas, a perfect embodiment of the second big lie Israeli elites tell their charges: namely that they’re doing everything they can to win this war. Because while a democratic and law-abiding nation is beholden to a host of rules even—or especially—when fighting a war, it also has a duty to assure its own survival and the well-being of its citizens.

To argue that the Bibas’ kidnappers deserve a pass because their particular group, the grimly named Lords of the Wilderness, was not considered a terror organization at war with Israel prior to Oct. 7 is a bit of maddening sophistry. To allow such intellectual self-pleasuring to dictate military strategies when a five-year-old and a one-year-old are held captive is nothing short of national suicide. Ditto for releasing terrorist masterminds mid-war with no conditions and no returns.

Again, truth must be told: Even under the strict ethical constraints it rightly imposed on itself while fighting a genocidal enemy hell-bent on its destruction, Israel is still failing to understand precisely which war it is fighting and how it must fight if it has any chance of winning. What we’re seeing in Gaza and, increasingly, on the Lebanese border, isn’t merely the latest skirmish in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it’s the first battle of the Israeli-Iranian war, one likely to last years, if not decades, and have significant, even existential, outcomes.

And while Israel has registered some undeniably impressive tactical achievements since October, its leaders seem remarkably confused, if not outright dishonest, about the long-term strategic shifts this realization requires. The idea that the United States, for example, is Israel’s ally despite the Biden administration’s adherence to Obama’s disastrous and Tehran-centric realignment policy; the idea that one can achieve anything of any worth by negotiating with Hamas; the idea that Israel must refrain from seizing and holding on to territories it clearly needs to maintain the safety and security of its citizens; the idea that the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens from their homes due to terrorism is a painful but ultimately acceptable price to pay—these are all lies. All must be abandoned and replaced, posthaste, with a renewed commitment to the reality of the region, one in which we win nothing and lose everything by futzing around with preening, one-sided humanitarian gestures.
Israel’s new judge in ICJ case is a law professor who blasted UN court as manipulative
Israel has decided to appoint Prof. Ron Shapira as Israel’s ad hoc judge in South Africa’s International Court of Justice case, accusing the country of genocide in Gaza, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.

Shapira will replace former chief justice Aharon Barak, who had been a member of the 15-judge panel at the top UN court until he stepped down last month, citing “personal family reasons.”

Shapira, an attorney, is the rector of the Peres Academic Center in Rehovot and a lecturer on law at Bar-Ilan University and Tel Aviv University, though his judicial credentials are nowhere near those of Barak.

In January, when Barak was announced as the judge, Shapira wrote on Facebook that the former Supreme Court chief was being sent to “a body that almost all residents of Israel think is unworthy of any level of trust.

“The consensus in Israel is that this entity embodies and takes to the extreme all the flaws of legal discourse in existence: intellectual dishonesty, manipulative use of ambiguous definitions, overly cumbersome tools for fact-checking and lie-debunking, and concealment of ulterior motives of the judges themselves via wording that falsely poses as neutral,” he wrote.

While expressing respect for Barak, Shapira concluded that post by stressing that sending such an esteemed legal expert “does not stem from respect we have for such decision-making.”


Over 80% of American Jews reject US arms suspensions, identify as Zionist
A significant majority of American Jews voiced strong opposition to the US administration’s consideration of suspending arms shipments to Israel as a means of diplomatic pressure. The Jewish Voice Index survey, conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) in early June 2024, revealed that 80% of respondents rejected this measure, viewing it as illegitimate.

The survey, conducted against rising tensions between the American and Israeli governments, highlighted substantial differences in opinion based on political affiliation. While 92% of staunch Biden supporters perceived the president as “pro-Israel,” only 7% of staunch Trump supporters agreed. Conversely, 97% of staunch Trump supporters viewed Trump as “pro-Israel,” compared to just 20% of staunch Biden supporters.

The survey also provided insights into voting intentions for the upcoming November presidential election: Among strong liberals, 87% intended to vote for Joe Biden. 72% of liberals planned to vote for Biden, with 12% likely voting for him and 2% likely voting for Trump. Of centrists, 30% planned to vote for Biden, 13% likely for Biden, 13% definitely for Trump, and 11% likely for Trump.

Among conservative-leaning individuals, 28% likely intended to vote for Trump, 38% definitely for Trump, but 5% planned to vote for Biden.

For strong conservatives, 75% intended to vote for Trump and 11% likely for him, with only 3% likely voting for Biden.
US government routes millions to foreign NGOs behind anti-Israel boycott campaigns
The U.S. government has granted tens of millions of dollars to foreign groups behind campaigns pressuring American defense contractors to boycott supplying Israel with arms and jet fuel, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of funding records.

Those records show the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department have issued the taxpayer-backed awards to the entities as far back as 2008 and as recently as this year. The recipients of the largesse, including the Netherlands-based Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, Norwegian People’s Aid in Norway, and Ireland-based Catholic Church agency Trocaire, have long joined pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigns against Israel and published reports recently calling on the United States to choke off key Israeli aid.

The vast funding to the non-governmental organizations underscores how federal dollars are often allocated to anti-Israel activist hubs overseas despite stated U.S. policy of being an ally of the sole democracy in the Middle East, including after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year. USAID declined to comment on the funding. A State Department spokesperson said the agency’s grants through its Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor to two of the BDS-linked groups were not “for any activities related to Israel or Gaza.”

“The United States will continue to fully respect and safeguard freedom of speech, and to be a strong partner in opposing efforts to delegitimize Israel,” the State Department spokesperson said.

But the fact that the U.S. would prop up the foreign nongovernmental organizations at all is of concern to several lawmakers who spoke with the Washington Examiner and are now looking into the funding. To Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who said the awards “absolutely cannot be tolerated,” USAID and the State Department “are undermining our ally and our own national security.” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said taxpayers “should not be forced to line the pockets of radical, anti-Israel groups who do not have our nation’s interests at heart.”

The bulk of the funding traced by the Washington Examiner through federal spending records went to Norwegian People’s Aid, which has been awarded a staggering $300 million from the U.S. since 2008. The group formed in 1939 “as the labor movement’s humanitarian solidarity organization” and works on issues related to humanitarian aid and international law, NPA says on its website. U.S. cash to NPA has been for various work in Cambodia, Iraq, Vietnam, and other countries, spending records show.
IRS Under Pressure To Pull Tax-Exempt Status for Pro-Hamas Groups Fomenting Unrest
The IRS is under renewed congressional pressure to pull the tax-exempt status for several key U.S.-based nonprofits that are fomenting pro-Hamas protests across the country just years after they played a leading role in the anti-police riots that erupted as part of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.

Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) alerted the IRS to "a network of donors, activists and media outlets that had helped organize many of the violent anti-police riots during the summer of 2020, and that, more recently, have organized many of the ongoing anti-Israel protests and encampments on college campuses," according to a letter sent last week and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Banks names the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) and the Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC) as two of the main groups bankrolling a vast network of anti-Israel activists and campus organizations with alleged ties to Palestinian terror groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Banks is asking the IRS "to immediately begin an audit of these organizations'' and determine if they should have their tax-exempt status revoked as a result of their "ties to foreign terrorist groups."

The letter is a sign of mounting frustration with the Biden administration’s failure to stem an explosion of anti-Semitic violence across the country that has endangered Jewish students on college campuses and seen pro-Hamas mobs target American Jews in major cities. Groups like AFGJ and WESPAC are providing millions in funding to many of Hamas’s top supporters, including National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) and its parent group, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), both of which are at the heart of the campus anti-Israel movement.

NSJP and AMP are being sued by Israeli terrorism victims for serving "as collaborators and propagandists for Hamas." That lawsuit, the Free Beacon reported in May, names WESPAC as NSJP’s "official ‘fiscal sponsor.’"

Similarly, AFGJ funds "Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a cutout for the designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)," according to information provided to the IRS by Banks.
UN's Albanese under scrutiny for alleged payments for speaking events
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese is under scrutiny by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services over alleged payments for speaking events and honorarium for a fake lecture set up by an Internet prankster, UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said on Tuesday.

Neuer announced on social media that an OIOS case file had been opened on alleged impropriety by Albanese, and the UN Watch’s report on the issue, which had triggered the review, had been shared with the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.

“We are filing papers today to terminate her mandate,” Neuer said on X.

The UN Watch head had on June 3 called for an investigation into Albanese for “illegally requesting payments for work done in her official UN capacity.”

The OHCHR Code of Conduct holds that special procedure mandate holders should “refrain from using their office or knowledge gained from their functions for private gain, financial or otherwise, or for the gain and/or detriment of any family member, close associate, or third party” and “not accept any honor, decoration, favor, gift or remuneration from any governmental or nongovernmental source for activities carried out in pursuit of his/her mandate.”

In an April correspondence provided to The Jerusalem Post by the anti-Zionist parody persona known as Rabbi Linda Goldstein, Albanese’s research assistant discussed a sum for her research institute in exchange for a keynote address to a fake Columbia University protest encampment webinar on the “morality of intifada.”
UN Watch: UN opens investigation into allegations its Palestine monitor took funds from pro-Hamas lobby groups
The United Nations has opened an investigation into allegations that Francesca Albanese, the controversial UN monitor tasked with investigating “Israel’s violations,” illegally accepted funding from pro-Hamas groups to fund an estimated $20,000 trip to Australia and New Zealand, in which she lobbied a major pension fund to divest from Israel.

The investigations division of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services recently announced that it has opened a case into allegations of financial improprieties by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur asked with monitoring “Israel’s violations” in the Palestinian territories.

A former lawyer with UNRWA who co-founded a global network to lobby against Israel, Albanese recently became the first UN human rights rapporteur in the history of the United Nations to be condemned by France and Germany for antisemitism.

She was also censured in 2022 by the US Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, after it was revealed she had published a fundraising appeal for UNRWA claiming that “America is subjugated by the Jewish lobby.” In 2023, a bipartisan group of 18 lawmakers condemned her refusal to denounce terrorism against Israelis.

The new UN investigation, which OIOS said would be conducted by High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, was sparked by a complaint filed in June by United Nations Watch, an independent non-governmental organization based in Geneva.

UN Watch Today Files Proceedings to Remove Francesca Albanese, Terminating Her Mandate In wake of the investigation, UN Watch announced that today it has filed proceedings with the United Nations to remove Albanese.

In a draft resolution submitted to the President of the Human Rights Council (see text below), executive director Hillel Neuer called on the 47-nation body to terminate Albanese’s mandate on account of her financial improprieties, as well as her repeated statements inciting antisemitism and justifying Hamas terrorism.

Neuer wrote today to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to support the resolution. “The US was one of several democracies that, despite our appeals, inexplicably failed to object when Albanese’s appointment was brought to the Council floor on April 1, 2022, and so we trust that, after having condemned her repeatedly for inciting Hamas terrorism and antisemitism, the US will do the right thing and present the resolution to finally remove her.”

“Francesca Albanese abuses her UN position to incessantly spew antisemitism and Hamas propaganda, on social media, on TV, and in her reports. Every day that she remains in office casts a shadow upon the human rights council and the United Nations as a whole,” said Neuer.


Knesset committee discusses trio of bills targeting UNRWA shutdown
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is considering merging three bills aimed at significantly curtailing the activities of UNRWA amid a wave of popular anger against the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in the wake of October 7.

The first bill, proposed by Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, would ban the organization from operating on Israeli territory and would effectively erase its presence in Jerusalem.

The second, promoted by Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, would brand UNRWA a terrorist organization and require Israel to cut ties with it.

“UNRWA should not exist at all,” Malinovsky tells the committee, calling it a “branch of Hamas” and stating that it is “a terrorist organization for all intents and purposes.”

The third proposal, by Yesh Atid MK Ron Katz, would strip UNRWA personnel of the legal immunities and privileges afforded to United Nations staff in Israel, such as exemptions from property taxes.

National Security Council legal advisor Adam Wolfson says the Ministerial Committee for Legislation requested that Malinovsky and Katz’s proposals be merged with Bismuth’s.

The legislation should continue to advance with the agreement of relevant ministries so long as they do “not harm Israel’s international obligations or humanitarian aid,” he says.


IDF denies NYT claim generals pressing gov’t for ceasefire
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday denied a New York Times report that the military leadership is pressing for a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, even if this keeps the terror group in power for the time being.

“The IDF is determined to continue fighting to achieve the goals of the war,” the army said in a statement, listing the destruction of Hamas’s military and governmental powers, freeing the hostages and the return of Israeli civilians to towns near the southern and northern borders.

“So far, significant achievements have been made as part of the fighting in Gaza,” the statement continued. “The IDF will continue to fight Hamas everywhere in Gaza, along with the continued advancement of military readiness in the north and defensive efforts on all borders.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also released a statement on Tuesday afternoon, vowing not to “succumb to defeatist spirits, neither at The New York Times nor anywhere else.”

“I don’t know who these unnamed sources are, but I’m here to make it unequivocally clear: It won’t happen. We will end the war only after we have achieved all of its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our hostages,” continued the premier.

“The political echelon has defined these goals for the IDF, and the IDF has all the means to achieve them,” the statement added.

The New York Times report, citing six current and former Israeli security officials, had claimed that the country’s top generals believe a truce deal would be the best way of freeing the some 120 Israelis still held in Gaza.

Generals also think forces need to prepare for all-out war with Hezbollah, the report said, claiming that the army is “underequipped for further fighting after Israel’s longest war in decades.”

A truce could make it easier to reach an agreement with the Iran-backed terror group in Lebanon, according to the sources, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.


Netanyahu: IDF nearing ‘end stage’ against Hamas terror army
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces is on the verge of destroying Hamas’s terror army, a key goal of the nearly nine-month-old war.

“I returned yesterday from a visit to the Gaza Division. I saw very considerable achievements in the fighting being carried [out] in Rafah. We are advancing to the end of the stage of eliminating the Hamas terrorist army; we will continue striking its remnants,” said Netanyahu during a meeting with Israel National Defense College cadets.

“I was very impressed by the achievements above ground and below ground, and by the commanders’ fighting spirit. With this spirit we will achieve our objectives: Returning our hostages, eliminating Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, ensuring that Gaza will not constitute a threat and also returning our residents securely to their homes in both the south and the north,” added the premier.

Also present were cadets from the militaries of Germany, Singapore, Japan, Italy, the Czech Republic and South Korea.

On Sunday, Netanyahu expressed condolences to the families of soldiers killed in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, insisting that Israel’s war goals will be achieved.

“To whoever doubts the achieving of these goals, I reiterate: There is no substitute for victory,” he said.
Report: Israel’s postwar Gaza strategy to create ‘bubbles’ of control
The Israeli army is set to launch a contentious pilot program for governing post-war Gaza, The Financial Times reported on Monday.

The project involves creating a number of humanitarian “enclaves” or “bubbles” free of Hamas control, but has reportedly been met with widespread skepticism by those briefed on the details.

The experimental model is slated to be implemented soon in the northern Gaza neighborhoods of Al-Atatra, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, according to the Financial Times, citing six sources familiar with the plan.

As part of the scheme, the Israeli military would channel aid from the nearby Erez Crossing to vetted locals, who would distribute it and gradually assume civilian governance responsibilities. Israeli forces would initially ensure security in these areas.

However, the plan is said to face significant challenges. One source described it to the Financial Times as a “fantasy” project, citing violent opposition from Hamas, infighting within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and a lack of support from Arab states.

The initiative comes after months of international pressure on Jerusalem to formulate a viable alternative for the “day after” Hamas. However, two individuals briefed on the plan told the Financial Times that the proposal appears to be a rehash of previous unsuccessful attempts.

“We already tried this in three different parts of central and north Gaza, including with local clans. They were all either beaten up or killed by Hamas,” said a former Israeli official familiar with postwar planning.
Iran knows the weaknesses of Western powers and continues to exploit them
After Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah made a clear and direct threat against Cyprus, one would have expected that either the European Union, Great Britain – which has military installations on the island – or the United States, which has strengthened relations with Nicosia in recent years, would have made a well-publicized declaration at the highest levels that threats to the island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea will not be tolerated.

One would have thought that one or all of these parties would have warned Nasrallah and his patrons in Tehran, in the strongest terms, that any direct attack on a European ally would be met with a swift and significant response in kind.

Instead, a low-level spokesman for the EU put out a muted response to Nasrallah’s threats in the form of a short statement to the effect that a threat against one union member state is a threat against all.

A strong statement of support for the Cypriots was registered though – from the Greek foreign minister. The Greek response took on further significance after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan backed up Hezbollah claims and asserted that Cyprus is turning itself into a target for the Shi’ite jihadist group.

This lack of a worthy response by Western nations is another example of how the “West” at large continues to mishandle the provocative words and actions directed at it by the regime in Tehran and its imperial underlings across the Middle East.

This mishandling serves to reinforce Iran’s strategic thinking on how to deal with these Western powers and their interests, which can be summed up as follows:

The United States, European powers, and their allies will do almost anything to avoid a confrontation with Iran and its proxies.

These same Western powers can have their interests in the Middle East and Mediterranean basin threatened, and as such can be extorted and blackmailed, including being made to exert various sorts of diplomatic pressure on Israel. Even if this pressure proves to be ineffective, for Iran it is still worthwhile as it corrodes Israel’s relations with Western countries and diverts global attention.


Top Iranian general: Next attack on Israel will lead to ‘complete victory’
A senior Iranian general on Monday told family members of Hamas terrorists killed in Gaza that the Islamic Republic was prepared to launch another attack on the Jewish state, similar to its massive missile and drone strike in April.

“We await an opportunity for ‘True Promise II’ … in which I do not know how many missiles will be fired,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace forces commander Brig.-Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh told the family members, who were visiting Iran.

Iran’s next attack, said Hajizadeh, “will lead to a complete victory for the Palestinian people.”

“True Promise” is the Islamic Republic’s name for its unprecedented April 13 attack on Israel, comprising more than 300 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones.

According to Tehran, the attack was retaliation for the assassination of Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria and Lebanon, by Israel on April 1.

Hajizadeh’s statement came a few days after the Islamic Republic threatened to destroy Israel if the country embarks on a full-scale war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Albeit Iran deems as psychological warfare the Zionist regime’s propaganda about intending to attack Lebanon, should it embark on full-scale military aggression, an obliterating war will ensue. All options, incl. the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table,” their mission to the United Nations wrote on X.


Hezbollah and the weakness of the West
Ironically, this cowardice violates the very international law the West claims to revere. After the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations approved Resolution 1701. It demanded that Hezbollah withdraw from the Israeli border area to the Litani River. Hezbollah’s odious presence was to be replaced by the Lebanese army and the peacekeeping force UNIFIL.

Needless to say, the cowering before the bullies began immediately. Hezbollah ignored the resolution and the world did nothing. The border continued to be the epicenter of the Hezbollah threat to Israel. Underground there are dense networks of tunnels. Missile launchers have been placed in numerous civilian areas. All in total violation of international law.

Yet the world is interested in its own laws only when they can be used to defame the Jewish state and exploited to “restrain” Israel’s military response to existential threats.

It is difficult to predict what will happen now. What is certain is that Israel cannot continue to tolerate the current situation. There are hundreds of thousands of evacuees. Cities like Kiryat Shmonah have been abandoned. Kibbutzim and numerous villages stand empty. So do houses, schools, offices, research centers and medical clinics. Local agriculture is in ruins.

Unlike Hezbollah, Israel values human life. The world does not understand that when Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says that Israel is ready for war and Lebanon will face terrible suffering if it happens, he does not do so lightly. But he also cannot do otherwise. If he does not, Israel is in existential danger from a monster far worse than Hamas.

This is the situation. Hezbollah has created it. It is a battle of life and death, us or them. Is this not enough to finally awaken a sleeping West?
German intelligence official meets with Hezbollah's number two
German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) Deputy Director Ole Diehl met with Hezbollah's second-in-command, Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, on Saturday evening, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese news organization Al Akhkbar reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The meeting in Beirut was the second time the two officials met, as in January, the two met to discuss the Iranian proxy's attacks on the Jewish state.

According to the sources, “the session's atmosphere was positive.”

The discussion reportedly centered on the rising tensions between the Lebanese terror organization and Israel and how a full-scale war could be avoided.
Arab League denies softening stance on Hezbollah terror label
The Arab League appears to have walked back statements over the weekend that indicated it had softened its stance on Hezbollah. Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki said statements he made were taken out of context, UAE-based Al Ain news site reported.

The Arab League had shifted its stance on Hezbollah and no longer considers it a terrorist group, according to reports.

In 2016, the Arab League said Hezbollah was a terrorist group. The region is changing, however, and the Arab League has welcomed Syria back after years of Syrian civil war and giving it the cold shoulder. The Syrian regime is supported by Hezbollah and Iran.

Nevertheless, the Arab League’s comments about Hezbollah come at a sensitive time for the region because of Israel-Hezbollah tensions. Iran is threatening Israel not to launch a military operation in Lebanon. The Arab League appears to also want to reduce tensions. It is seeking a political solution in Lebanon through electing a new president.

After Zaki had traveled to Lebanon and met with representatives of political parties, including Hezbollah, it was reported that the Arab League had shifted its stance on Hezbollah. Zaki says his views were taken out of context.

The previous statements do not mean “in any way the disappearance of the many reservations and objections to Hezbollah’s behavior, policies, actions and positions, not only internally but also regionally,” the Arab League said in a statement.
Restoring Israel's sovereignty in the North shouldn't be tied to the war in Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken framed what is happening in the North in jarring terms on Monday.

"You have 60,000 or so Israelis who have been forced from their homes in northern Israel," he said at Washington's Brookings Institute. "Israel effectively lost sovereignty in the northern quadrant of the country because people don't feel safe going to their homes."

The reason this was so jarring is because the last nine months of war -- both in Gaza and a low-intensity war on the northern border -- have habituated Israelis to certain realities, one of them being that towns, moshavim and kibbutzim along the Lebanese border are deserted.

The public hears the numbers of residents forced to flee their homes, hears them relate their hardships in the media, feels horrible about the situation and commiserates and empathizes with the residents but -- for the most part -- chalks it up as yet another casualty of October 7 and the war that followed. What's truly at stake is not necessarily considered.

But the way Blinken framed the situation was stark: Israel has lost sovereignty over a strip of its territory. No less. If a country's residents cannot live in their homes in a particular region of the country because of security threats, then that country has lost its sovereignty -- defined as supreme power or authority over a territory -- over that territory.

And that is very significant.


IDF chief tallies 900 terror operatives killed in Rafah
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says troops have killed at least 900 terror operatives in southern Gaza’s Rafah amid the ongoing operation there.

“We count in [Hamas’s] Rafah Brigade, what we saw with our eyes… over 900 dead terrorists, including commanders, at least one battalion commander, many company commanders and many operatives,” Halevi says to troops during a visit to a forward logistics base in the southern Gaza Strip.

He says the military will continue to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in Rafah, including its tunnels. “It takes time, so this campaign is long because we do not want to leave Rafah with the infrastructure,” Halevi says.
The IDF's "Ghost" Unit Strikes Terrorists Deep Inside Gaza
The IDF's Multidimensional Unit, also known as the "Ghost" unit, was formed in 2019 to locate and strike terrorists deep inside combat zones using advanced technology tools. It includes troops from infantry, air force, intelligence, engineering, armored and canine units. The unit has been in combat in Gaza since Oct. 7, operating with robots, drones, advanced surveillance equipment and other, mostly classified, tools. Its detection capabilities are among the most advanced in the ground forces.

"Our advantage is that we can create a very broad picture of the situation for ourselves and other forces in the area and strike the enemy far from where we are operating," said the unit's deputy commander, Maj. A. The unit's previous commander, Col. Roey Levy, was killed in a battle with terrorists in Re'im on Oct. 7.
'I face life-or-death decisions every day': IDF medic talks to 'Post'
For the past eight months, Maj. Eitan Mord has been fighting on unfamiliar ground. As a steadfast figure in the 271st Battalion combat team, a crucial part of the Givati Brigade, he bears the toll of navigating military operations in Gaza and his family.

Upon making aliyah from New York in 2010, Mord enlisted as a combat medic approximately three months after arriving. In his reserve duty, his role involves monitoring medical operations for the combat team, with real-time reports from the field. Mord’s service was not limited to his initial enlistment period; he was recently called up twice for reserve duty, on October 7.

“Since the outbreak of the conflict, I have not returned to New York,” he told the Post. “My connections in New York primarily come from the Modern Orthodox community, where there is generally strong support for Israel.”

The war has had a challenging impact on maintaining relationships with loved ones. Mord not only carries the weight of the war but also the safety of his family. "I face life-or-death situations every day," Mord told the Post.

“My family’s reaction has been really supportive. Obviously, they are also nervous. But they know what’s important to me and my country.” He adds, “I have three children. My oldest one understands some of what’s going on, but not fully. We share information that’s important for him to know.”

Reflecting on his recent call-up to reserve duty on October 7, Mord recounts the anticipation that preceded his deployment. “They let us know there was a good chance we’d be called,” he explains. “I kept my phone on during Shabbat, expecting the call. By Saturday night we were told to report the next morning.”
Israeli Doctor Uses Metal Detector to Find Shrapnel in Wounded Soldiers
With the beep of a metal detector bought online, Dr. Eyal Sela of the Galilee Medical Center is now able to locate bullets and metal fragments lodged inside patients’ bodies within minutes of reaching the operating room.

The director of the Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Department said that the idea of using a metal detector during surgery came to him in March “out of frustration,” Sela told The Times of Israel.

Sela had been struggling for more than an hour to locate a bullet lodged in the base of the skull of a soldier wounded by Hezbollah fire on the northern border, amid daily skirmishes on the northern border with the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group, which has resulted in scores of soldiers and civilians wounded.

The bullet had gone through the soldier’s face and stuck “deep in the base of his skull.”

When a bullet goes through human tissue, “it’s a high-velocity wound that burns the tissue,” Sela said.

Shrapnel fragments in the hand or leg are easier to locate, he said. When they’re in the head or neck area, it’s “much more challenging.”

“The areas are complex and sensitive,” he said. “Even slight movements during surgery can cause paralysis due to the proximity to nerves and blood vessels.”

After using X-rays and CT scans, Sela was able to locate the bullet, but it took him more than an hour. He needed a way to locate the metal fragment faster — and to have something in real time to guide him.

“If I had a metal detector, I’d find it immediately,” Sela thought.

He went home and ordered a simple metal detector on AliExpress.
Two IDF soldiers killed battling terrorists in central Gaza
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in action in central Gaza on Monday night, the military announced on Tuesday.

The soldiers were identified as Master Sgt. (res.) Nadav Elchanan Knoller, 30, from Jerusalem, and Maj. (res.) Eyal Avnion, 25, from Hod Hasharon.

Both served in the 8th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 121st Battalion.

The IDF was probing the circumstances of their deaths.

On Monday, the military announced the death of Sgt. Ori Itzchak Hadad, 21, from Beersheva, who served as a combat soldier in the Nahal Infantry Brigade’s 931st Battalion. The force had been conducting targeted counterterrorism raids on Hamas hideouts in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah in recent days.

Also on Monday, an IDF soldier was killed and another seriously wounded by Palestinian terrorists in the Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarem in Samaria.

The casualty was identified as Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto, 22, from Pardes Hanna-Karkur near Haifa.

According to an initial IDF probe, the two soldiers were inside a Panther APC, which was being driven by Geto, when terrorists activated a powerful explosive charge, killing him and disabling the vehicle.

The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27 now stands at 320, and at 674 on all fronts since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, according to official military data.


In Israel, Attending Funerals of Fallen Soldiers You Do Not Know
A good portion of the 2,000 mourners who crammed around the fresh grave of Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21, on Mount Herzl's northern slope in Jerusalem one recent day and stood for nearly two hours in the 90-degree heat had no connection to Zimbalist, nor to the young man buried next to him right afterward, nor to the other two fallen soldiers whose funerals took place in the same row later that day and night, who had been killed the day before fighting in Gaza.

Angela Stauber, 67, is one of scores or perhaps hundreds of Israelis who have made a practice of showing up to burials at military cemeteries throughout the country for the past nine months. She explained, "It is our country, our army, our soldiers, and this soldier died for me, which makes him anything but a stranger."

Some see it as a civic duty, others catharsis, finding connection in a country wounded by months of war.

David Shire, 64, a landscape gardener in Neve Daniel, started going to the funerals as a proxy for his youngest son, who lost friends on Oct. 7 and in the early weeks of the war, but could not attend himself because he was on active duty. "It's not like in Britain or America where I imagine most Jewish people wouldn't know a soldier - here, everybody has a kid, a cousin, a friend who's in the army," said Shire, who moved to Israel from Scotland in 1983. "They're all our kids."


FDD: Palestinian Islamic Jihad Claims Responsibility for Fatal West Bank Bombing
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization claimed responsibility for a deadly roadside bomb attack in the West Bank on July 1 in which one Israeli officer was killed and another was seriously wounded. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto, 22, was participating in a counterterrorism operation in the Nur Shams camp near the city of Tulkarem. An initial IDF investigation revealed that a Panther armored personnel carrier (APC) had been at a staging point, where improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were not initially believed to have been planted. However, after soldiers had exited from the vehicle, leaving two members of the unit inside, an IED detonated, severely damaging the carrier, killing Geto, and wounding a commando from the IDF’s Duvdevan unit, which carries out undercover operations in urban areas.

The bombing was the second recent attack by one of Islamic Jihad’s West Bank branches that resulted in an IDF fatality. On June 27, IDF sniper team commander, Capt. Alon Sagciu, 22, was killed and 16 troops were wounded in an Islamic Jihad roadside bombing in the West Bank city of Jenin.

That attack occurred during an overnight IDF raid in Jenin aimed at flushing out or killing Hamas terrorists in the city.

Expert Analysis
“The death of an Israeli soldier in a roadside bomb attack on an IDF vehicle in the Nur Shams refugee camp represents a dangerous new escalation by terrorist groups in the West Bank. Terrorist groups are increasingly seeking to exploit the power vacuum in the northern West Bank and areas such as Nur Shams in the city of Tulkarem. This terrorist entrenchment threatens to expand unless the IDF is able to contain and eliminate it.” — Seth J. Frantzman, FDD Adjunct Fellow

“It’s time to acknowledge that West Bank Palestinian terrorist groups are growing more sophisticated in their attacks and have become a persistent threat to Israeli troops and civilians. Furthermore, IEDs have become a significant problem as the know-how to build them and their manufacturing capacity have increased. Given the current situation, Israel’s existing strategy is not resolving the violence. Alternative tactics are required to reverse the downward trajectory of the West Bank.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

Islamic Jihad Commander Eliminated in Nur Shams
On June 30, the Israeli military carried out an airstrike in Nur Shams, killing Saeed Jaber, an Islamic Jihad commander belonging to the organization’s West Bank Tulkarem branch. The IDF and Shin Bet said Jaber was responsible for numerous attacks on Israeli troops and civilians. An IDF source told The Times of Israel that Jaber was second in command of PIJ’s Tulkarem branch.

The site targeted by the Israeli military was a home used by Jaber and two other Islamic Jihad terrorists responsible for carrying out shooting attacks on the West Bank barrier and the Israeli community of Bat Hefer. The pair are also linked to the murder of Amnon Muchtar, a 67-year-old Israeli civilian from Petach Tikva, in the West Bank city of Qalqilya on June 20.


Israeli wounded in Samaria terror shooting
An Israeli man was moderately wounded on Tuesday afternoon when Palestinian terrorists fired on the Mitzpe Yosef outpost on Mount Gerizim near Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria, according to reports.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops made their way to the scene.

The Hatzalah Judea and Samaria rescue group announced that it had received a call from a group of civilians who had been visiting Mitzpe Yosef, an ultra-Orthodox outpost near the community of Har Bracha.

“One of them reported feeling an injury to his stomach, apparently from a bullet fired from a distance,” Hatzalah Judea and Samaria stated.

The Kan News public broadcaster identified the victim as a 38-year-old man who was part of a group from the city of Ra’anana, north of Tel Aviv, and had come to the area to visit a scenic lookout point with a view of Nablus.

The victim received medical attention on the spot before being evacuated to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba for further treatment.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that he suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder but was conscious. Security forces were said to be investigating the possibility that the shot was fired by a sniper from the direction of Nablus, according to the report.


New Gaza famine report reveals grim March predictions were vastly exaggerated
A report released last week by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) organization, which found that there is not currently a famine in Gaza, has confirmed doubts that were raised earlier this year about claims of mass starvation, due to the absence of evidence.

A close examination of the report reveals discrepancies not only between what has been claimed by UN agencies and humanitarian officials about the situation in Gaza, but between the rhetorical assertions of the IPC itself and the data in its own report.

The data also demonstrates that the IPC’s projection in March that some 1.1 million Gazans would be suffering from the highest level of food insecurity possible by some time in July was wildly wrong according to its new study: It was more than three times higher than the actual number of people in that category as of June 15.

These deficiencies have led some experts to question the basis of the IPC’s new projections, which again predict an increase in famine in the Gaza Strip.

Prof. Aron Troen of Hebrew University’s School of Nutrition Science said that the “limited transparency” of the study and the “slanted projections” included in it were undermining “faith in the report and in the neutrality and impartiality” of the IPC and its institutions.

The IPC did not respond to a request for comment by The Times of Israel, and has refused multiple requests for interviews and information over the last two months.


Israel connects Gaza to its electricity, provides water to civilians
Work began Tuesday to connect a water facility in Gaza to Israel’s electric grid to provide water on a medium- to longer-term basis for Gazans at a rate of up to 20,000 liters per day.

Immediately upon the news being leaked to the media, several nationalistic figures from the opposition and the government criticized the development.

The new policy is a critical aspect of maintaining Israel’s global legitimacy to enable it to continue the war against Hamas, IDF sources said.

Since the International Court of Justice issued a ruling several months ago that could be interpreted as an order to end the war, the IDF and Israel have been under increasing pressure to go beyond minimal assistance to Palestinian civilians and to facilitate humanitarian aid that meets the world’s higher expectations.

Evacuating Palestinian civilians
Furthermore, IDF sources said the world had been stunned by Israel’s success in evacuating 1.4 Palestinian civilians from Rafah, without a humanitarian disaster, in early May.

A large part of that success was long-term planning to anticipate Palestinian civilians’ water and food needs, the IDF sources said. With the summer hitting record temperatures in the area, if the water facility in question does not attain optimal capacity, there could be dire humanitarian consequences, they said.

Most of the 1.4 million evacuated Palestinians are in al-Muwasi on the Gaza coast, western Khan Yunis, or Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, the IDF sources said. This facility would enable them to maintain their water needs, and this was part of the reason the US did not heavily oppose the Rafah invasion and ongoing military operations, they said.


'Thank you for holding on': Mother of former hostage Noa Argamani passes away
Hundreds arrived in Beersheba on Tuesday at the funeral of Liora Argamani, mother of Noa Argamani, who was rescued from captivity in Gaza. Liora passed away Monday night after a long battle with cancer. She was 61

"My mother is the best friend there is, the most beautiful and strong person I have ever known in my life," Noa paid tribute at her funeral. "I stand here today and still have a hard time digesting. Against all odds I was privileged to be with you in the last moments and to hear the last words. Thank you for being strong and holding on so that I could see you at least one more time and so that father would not be left alone.

"Thank you for the 26 years that I had the privilege of being by your side ", she continued. "I learned a lot from you. You took me to travel with you around the world. You made me a strong man. The tools you gave me are tools I could not purchase anywhere else. Every time it was difficult, you pushed me forward. I promise you that I will continue to follow your path. I promise you I'll take care of Dad. I promise you that I will be just as strong as you. Mom, you will always be with me, no matter where I go and who I meet. And like you taught me when I was a little girl, I love you to the sky and back."

Liora Argamani’s death was announced by Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

“The family has requested that its privacy be respected during these difficult times,” the hospital said.

Liora spent her last days with her rescued daughter, who was saved last month by the IDF in Operation Arnon.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forums expressed its condolences, “[We] mourn deeply the passing of Liora Argamani, the mother of the released captive Noa Argamani.” Never giving up hope

Since her daughter’s kidnapping, Liora Argamani continually advocated for the safe return of Argamani and the other hostages. She did this while suffering from brain cancer, which is often accompanied by headaches, seizures, persistent nausea, and drowsiness, as well as cognitive symptoms such as possible mental degradation and progressive weakness or paralysis on at least one side of the body, according to the British National Health Service.

Liora’s constant “wish” during her daughter’s captivity was “for the chance to see my Noa, at home,” and she beseeched US President Joe Biden to help in her daughter’s safe return.

In a video, Liora addressed Argamani while she was still in captivity, telling her, “If I don’t get to see you, please know that I love you so much. Please know we did everything we could to get you released. The whole world loves you.”


NY State Bar Association hosts webinar on Hamas's use of sexual violence
More than 220 people attended a webinar hosted by the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) and moderated by its immediate past President of NYSBA, Richard Lewis; featuring guest speaker Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, Chair of the Civil Commission on Oct. 7 Crimes, recipient of the 2024 Israel Prize, Sophie Davis Post-Doctoral Fellow at Hebrew University’s Leonard Davis Institute’s program on Gender, Conflict Resolution, and Senior Fellow at the Hartman Institute.

The event, titled Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War with a Focus on October 7, was co-sponsored by Women in Law Section, the International Section and the Committee on Continuing Legal Education as NYSBA. The Jerusalem Post reached out to Lewis and Elkayam-Levy to hear more about the event. Please tell us about the initiative and the background for the event.

Lewis: “The New York State Bar Association has been involved in a number of initiatives having to do with Israel and Antisemitism We initially, on June 1, 2023, put together a task force to talk about Antisemitism and Anti-Asian hate throughout the United States. Of course, this project grew after the events of October 7.

“It was not long after October 7 that the New York State Bar Association became involved in an initiative to provide a portal that would give access to attorneys by residents of Israel. This was done in cooperation with the Israel Bar Association, and was intended to give assistance to displaced Israelis and Israelis who had run into various issues involving benefits, family matters, and more. Through our cooperative efforts, that portal has been initiated and is active today.

“Soon after that, we hosted members of the Israel Bar Association, including: Hon. Yoram Danziger, former Judge of the Israel Supreme Court, Hon. Avichai Mandelblit, immediate past Attorney General of the State of Israel, Amit Becher, President of the Israel Bar Association, and others. These members traveled around New York City to meet with some of the largest law firms in the country and meet with the administrations of various major universities including NYU and Columbia where there was a great deal of turmoil. After that, we continued to have contact with the Israel Bar and as a result, a significant number of members of the Israel Bar joined the New York State Bar as well.”

Elkayam-Levy: “Ever since the October 7 attack I’ve been involved in efforts to collect evidence, document and record testimonies regarding the atrocities committed by Hamas. These were compiled, analyzed and filed as part of an independent initiative we named the Civil Commission on Oct. 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children.”

“On this backdrop I was honored to have been invited to speak at the NYSBA event in front of a distinguished audience to try to describe the horrors which took place in Israel from a legal perspective. Many people contact us and are interested in hearing about the accounts of October 7 and it is not at all possible to tend to each request, so I was blessed to have taken part in this important event.”


Oct. 7 ‘deeply personal,’ says US actor Michael Rapaport
American-Jewish actor Michael Rapaport said on Monday that the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, and the wave of antisemitism that it triggered across the United States, were deeply personal for him and enhanced his connection with Judaism.

The comedian has emerged as a leading voice for Israel in Hollywood, at a time when many of his Jewish colleagues in the film industry have remained silent or exhibited politically correct neutrality.

“How could I not take it [Oct. 7] personal?” he responded in an interview with JNS. “How could you not take it personal that, you know, immediately after that people were celebrating it? How could you not take it personally immediately after the celebrations that people were ripping down posters of the hostages?”

He continued, “How could you not take it personally that there are five Americans still being held? How could you not take it personally that any Jew of any category, any denomination, if they were here on Oct. 7 and in the line of fire, something bad could have happened to them? How could you not take it personally that, immediately after, people were celebrating it?”

As a native New Yorker, he was offended by the response of some in the Big Apple which, along with Los Angeles, has seen some of the most violent antisemitic protests, beginning on campuses but quickly spreading out across the city, he said.

He noted that pictures of the missing after the 9/11 attacks were never taken down in New York, nor were there overt protests in support of terrorists.

“They stayed up until nature took ’em down. You never would’ve seen them ripped down—ever,” recalled Rapaport, adding that if someone had celebrated the 9/11 terrorists back then, “they would get killed, they literally would get beaten to death if they did that in New York.”

“So all those things, you know, build up in me and resonate with me,” he said. “It pushed me to a different place spiritually, emotionally and in regards to my Jewish identity.”


The Israel Guys: Iran Threatens to ‘OBLITERATE’ ISRAEL if They Attack Lebanon
Sirens sounded in Israeli towns on the Gaza border this morning sending a stark reminder that Hamas is far from “finished” in Gaza, and anyone who is pushing for a ceasefire is giving Hamas the ability to live on and attack Israel again, and again, and again.

Meanwhile, boosted by the weakness shown by American President Joe Biden, Iran is now threatening to obliterate Israel, should they launch a full attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The problem is that Israel has no choice but to attack given the constant attacks on Israel by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.




Jewish prosecutors in blue city blow whistle on alleged antisemitism in DA's office
A growing number of deputy district attorneys in Los Angeles says they have concerns about antisemitism in the office after months of silence on the issue from their boss, which culminated in clashes between anti-Israel agitators and counterprotesters outside a synagogue in a heavily Jewish neighborhood in the city.

Violence erupted outside the Adas Torah synagogue on Pico Boulevard last week, prompting condemnations from a range of prominent Democrats, including President Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

But according to a number of Los Angeles prosecutors, there was notable silence from the district attorney tasked with prosecuting criminal acts in connection to the clashes: George Gascon.

"I hate going to work and entering a building where I feel like my boss will treat me differently simply because I'm Jewish, and that’s how I feel and many others feel," said Brian Schirn, a veteran prosecutor helming the DA's narcotics division.

Key issues Schirn and other deputy district attorneys brought up were Gascon's slow response to Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel; his endorsements from local political groups accused of antisemitism, including the People's City Council, a group dubbed "blatantly antisemitic" by the American Jewish Council's Los Angeles chapter; and the fact that between a third and half of the nearly two dozen whistleblower retaliation lawsuits filed by fellow deputy district attorneys come from Jewish plaintiffs.

They say he took an aggressive posture after pro-Israel counterprotesters joined the Adas Torah clashes, but not against the antisemitic mob that kicked things off. They say Jewish prosecutors have been passed over for more than a dozen promotions to prominent head deputy positions. And they say Gascon only addressed Hamas' bloody Oct. 7 rampage in Israel after a letter from more than 130 employees asked him to do so.

In his response to the petition, he did not mention Hamas or use the term "antisemitism," but in a statement to Fox News Digital, Gascon's office condemned antisemitism by name and "all forms of hatred."

"The District Attorney’s Office condemns all forms of hatred, including antisemitism and takes allegations of discrimination seriously," a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Any suggestion that the DA’s Office is sympathetic to organizations that promote hatred, discrimination, violence, or terrorism is unfounded. Our approach to prosecuting demonstrations and counterprotests is driven solely by the principles of law and justice, without any bias toward any group."
Anti-Israel activists carry out pre-dawn protest, try to wake Jewish Illinois governor
Anti-Israel activists protested outside the homes of Illinois Gov. Jay Robert Pritzker and Congressman Brad Schneider in weekend predawn demonstrations designed to interrupt their sleep, according to pro-Palestinian organizations.

Activists associated with the US Palestinian Community Network, American Muslims for Palestine Chicago, and Students for Justice in Palestine Chicago banged drums, sounded sirens, and chanted with bullhorns on Saturday and Sunday.

The activists accused Schneider of supporting a genocide in Gaza and called for the reinstatement of US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East while cutting aid to Israel.

Schneider was accountable for starvation and death in Gaza, according to the anti-Israel groups, because he had voted to cut UNRWA funding and in favor of additional military aid to the IDF.

“We must hold him accountable for the deaths of over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza,” Direct Actions for Palestine wrote on Instagram. “Gaza doesn’t get justice, then you don’t get no sleep. This is just the beginning.”

At the Sunday protests against Pritzker, activists called him a war criminal and decried him for associations with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The activists demanded that Pritzker divest Illinois from Israel and not invest millions into prisons.

Money for housing and education, not for genocide and incarceration!” The activists said on Instagram.

As with Schneider, the protesters said the Pritzker demonstration was just the beginning.
Cancer-stricken elderly man, 2 others allegedly beaten by anti-Israel mob at library’s ‘anarchist bookfair’ event
A cancer-stricken elderly man and two others were allegedly beaten by an angry anti-Israel mob after they started livestreaming an “anarchist bookfair” event at a North Carolina library.

Monica Buckley, David Moritz and Bob Campbell claim they were physically attacked by roughly two dozen people after sitting in on a “Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance” seminar at the West Asheville Public Library in Asheville on Saturday, WPDE reported.

The trio allege the crowd suddenly turned on them when an attendee noticed the talk — organized by the “Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair” — was being filmed and streamed on social media.

Footage posted online shows the moment those in the audience started surrounding the group in an apparent bid to block them from filming after someone accused them of being “Zionists.”

“I was just sitting there recording the people who were surrounding us, and a woman grabbed the phone and started running towards the door. I jumped on her to get my phone back,” Buckley, who is Jewish, alleged.

“There was a swarm of dozens of people that attacked me — and then and Bob and David came to try to help me — and then they were swarmed and attacked also,” she continued.

“They were hitting me, punching me, punching my wrists, stomping on my ankles. Somebody choked me with something.”

Campbell, an 80-year-old Navy veteran who has cancer, said someone pushed him to the floor when he tried to step in.

“I went behind her and then he grabbed me from the back and pushed me down on the floor so that’s when I told him, I said, ‘You know I got cancer and I’m 80, you don’t have to do much, but he wouldn’t stop’,” he said.

Moritz, who is also Jewish, recalled kicking some people as he was allegedly being pummeled.

“Bob and I both got up to defend her, but it was just such a mob of people, they just started punching me,” he said. “I had bruises on my head, I was fighting back, I kicked some people.”

The trio insisted they only attended the event to learn what was being taught in their community — and not to “provoke anything.”


One Arrested in Connection With Attack on Jews, Elderly Veteran at North Carolina Library
Monica Buckley, one of the victims: “The only reason the police knew what was happening was because of the livestream that I had on — and people who were watching the live stream are who called the police. The library didn’t call the police, not a single person there called the police while we were being beaten by a mob.”

Zarkin faces two counts of resisting, delay, and obstruct.

Monica Buckley uploaded a video of the attack on her, David Moritz, and Bob Campbell.

Campbell is 80-years-old and has cancer.

Buckley and Moritz, both Jewish, attended the “Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance” to learn what is “being taught in their community.”

Buckley live streamed the event on Instagram “because she feared for her safety.”


Unseen new footage shows millionaire banker Jonathan Kaye being attacked by group hurling anti-Semitic slurs - as he TURNS HIMSELF in to police for punching woman during the scuffle
Dramatic new footage has revealed the moment New York investment banker Jonathan Kaye was attacked by a group of revelers hurling anti-Semitic slurs at him - for the first time since he was accused of punching a woman during the altercation last month.

Kaye, 52, the now former managing director at Moelis & Company, made headlines in early June after viral video showed him throwing a vicious punch at a female reveler at the Brooklyn Pride Parade on June 8.

The millionaire banker was reported to have resigned from his high-paying role last week after being placed on leave as his firm investigated the incident.

Now, DailyMail.com can reveal Kaye was arrested on Monday morning after he willingly turned himself in to police in Brooklyn, where he has been booked on second and third degree assault charges.

It comes after sources close to the financier came forward with his side of the story in the wake of the controversy last month, claiming the fracas had unfolded after a group of four female 'Queers for Palestine' supporters allegedly started taunting the Jewish financier and throwing liquids at him as he left a nearby restaurant that night.

Now, unseen footage obtained by DailyMail.com offers new insight into the events leading up to scuffle, showing the moment the two parties cross paths on the street in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, before getting into a heated physical confrontation.


Terrifying moment mob of 'Middle Eastern' men brutally beat lesbian couple celebrating a birthday after the women objected to their homophobic slurs
A lesbian couple was beaten by group of men who they accuse of first making rude comments about their sexuality while they were out celebrating their birthdays.

Terrifying scenes captured on video show the couple surrounded by nearly a dozen men, with one woman lying on the floor while another appears to be held back by one of the alleged attackers.

The assault came after one of the men allegedly made a rude comment about Emma MacLean as she was walking in downtown Halifax, Canada, with her girlfriend Tori Hogan after visiting a few bars to celebrate Emma's birthday on June 22.

McClean described the men as 'Middle Eastern', and said they are 'believed to be from Syria'.

Tori, upset about the slur, stood up for Emma and said: 'Hey, watch your mouth, that's my girlfriend,' as she followed the men to confront them, Saltwire reports.

But then the group of about 10 men allegedly started beating Tori around 1.30am.

'I see Tori being pushed on the stairs right in front of the BMO Centre, and they are cement stairs, and she's on her back - that's when all the men started punching and kicking them,' Emma told CTV News.

At first, Emma said she yelled at the men to stop, but they ignored her and continued their assault on her girlfriend to the point Tori was 'basically flying through the air' as she was getting pushed.

'All at once they all just swarmed her and started punching and kicking her in the ribs. Then I kind of got into my fight or flight,' Emma told Saltwire.

She explained that she tried to protect Tori, saying she 'basically jumped on one of their backs and put them in a chokehold - trying to restrain them.'

But video shows some of the men in the group kicking at one of the women, who was lying on the ground - while the other struggled to break free from another man's clutches.

Eventually, a bystander alerted police patrolling the area nearby - but by the time the officers arrived, the fight had already ended, according to Emma.




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