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Wednesday, July 24, 2024

07/24 Links Pt2: The Olympian Self-Deception of Anti-Zionists; Britain’s UNRWA disgrace; IDF troops recover bodies of hostages

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Olympian Self-Deception of Anti-Zionists
Mohamed Hadid tends to explain away his racism and anti-Semitism as the anger and passion of a Palestinian still seeking vengeance for Israel’s victory in 1948. But one aspect of Hadid’s back story is illuminating here. He was born in 1948 in Nazareth, which a few months earlier had gone from British to Israeli stewardship. In the Hadid family’s own telling, his father then took the family to Syria because he refused “to live under the Israeli occupation.”

As Hadid’s careful choice of words hints, Nazareth was not cleared of its Arab population by Israeli troops. Today it is a mostly Arab town of nearly 80,000. According to Hadid, his relatives remained there after the war. The “occupation” Hadid speaks of, then, is actually just Israeli sovereignty. This is helpful to know, because to Hadid all of Israel is illegitimate, as is Jewish self-determination. If the problem is Israel’s existence, what’s the solution?

In fact, the “Nazareth problem”—by which I mean the increasingly popular belief that Israel and Palestine both exist simultaneously, and one can go back and forth between these two planes of reality—has become a major obstacle preventing coexistence. The Nazareth problem is, in its own way, a solution. It just happens to be a solution that erases Jewish self-determination.

According to this mindset, the battle for Palestine rages until the Jews are defeated, and therefore Israel exists only as a figment of Jewish imagination. Thus we have the trend of media describing all Israeli Arabs as “Palestinians in Israel” or “Palestinian Israelis,” the latter a particularly nonsensical formulation for Arabs who have only ever lived in the state of Israel, to say nothing of Bedouin or Druze Arabs.

The more insidious version: ’48 Palestinians, or ’48 Arabs. You’ll find the term not just in Al Jazeera but in the Columbia Journalism Review and in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy magazine. The logical next step—simply referring to Israel as ’48—follows closely behind. The point of such semantic acrobatics is to erase the term Israel from the lexicon.

And so it becomes utterly ridiculous to describe the Hadids and others like them as “critical of the Israeli government,” or some similar wording. This war is between Israel and Hamas, and Hamas isn’t fighting for the Galilee; it’s fighting for Tehran. The Arabs in Nazareth vote in Israeli elections. They are not under occupation, they are citizens of a state—no matter how much anti-Zionist influencers wish they weren’t.
Melanie Phillips: Britain’s UNRWA disgrace
In response to the discovery of the 12 UNWRA pogromists, 18 top donor states to UNRWA suspended their funding. After Israel provided the agency with information alleging that several of its employees had participated in the Hamas pogrom, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini fired them.

In February the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, responded to the revelations by announcing the appointment of an “independent review” into UNRWA by Catherine Colonna, the former French Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This, though, was a fix. UN Watch detailed Colonna’s conflicts of interest and bias in favour of UNRWRA; it pointed out that her aim was not to get to the bottom of the allegations but, in her own words, to “enable donors, the largest among them, but in fact everyone, to regain confidence, when they have lost it or when they have doubts, in the way UNRWA operates”.

In other words, this was a cynical snow job. Nevertheless, when UNRWA opened its latest fundraising campaign at the United Nations in New York, delegates from around the world signed a proclamation that the agency’s work was “indispensable” for Gaza, and many countries undertook to provide hundreds of millions more in funding. Now Britain has followed suit.

This morning’s Times of London (£) carries an article by Neta Heiman Mina — a member of Israel’s “peace movement” — whose 84 year-old mother, Ditza, was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 pogrom and taken into Gaza. After she was released in the last hostage deal, Ditza revealed that her Hamas abductors had handed her over to a middle-aged Gaza resident called Abed. Mina writes:
Abed had kept my mother locked in a dark room of his home, with little food and no access to medication for almost two months. He told my mother that he was a teacher at a school run by UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees)…

It emerged that my mother was not the only hostage who had been kidnapped or held captive by UNRWA employees, but the ties between UNRWA and Hamas go much deeper than kidnappings alone…

Beyond the weapons, rocket launchers, tunnels, dead hostages and server farms found in and underneath their facilities, and octogenarians held captive by their employees, UNRWA has been funnelling significant sums of cash straight from donors to Hamas for years.

The money laundering works like this: UNRWA insists on distributing cash aid to Gazans in US dollars, a currency they have to convert to shekels in order to use locally. In the West Bank, Jordan and other countries, UNRWA distributes cash aid in the local currency. Hamas, controlling the only licensed money changers in Gaza, charges Gazans a 10 to 20 per cent commission to convert their dollars to shekels. For more than a decade, over a billion dollars in cash from donations has been diverted into Hamas’s coffers.

In New York, diplomats and world leaders like Secretary General António Guterres only decried the delegitimisation of UNRWA as a partner to Hamas, and urged further donations with no end in sight. There was no attempt to counter the money laundering. No path to countering Hamas’s systematic desecration of UNRWA’s neutrality. No resolution to have UNRWA work to promote a sustainable peace between Palestinians and Israelis. By funding UNRWA as it is, we will only meet the same problems in the next generation.

At the start of the next school year, Abed will go back to teaching in his UNRWA classroom while Hamas restocks its storage cupboards with guns. Printed with the UN seal, the textbooks he will teach from contain tasks like writing out the sentence “I will nourish the homeland with my blood”, and learning early mathematics by counting martyrs from past wars.
‘Poisonous Tree’: There are alternatives to UNRWA
IMPACT-se, the Israeli Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, the only NGO invited twice to testify before the U.N. panel investigating UNRWA, recently presented evidence on UNRWA’s education program to chair Catherine Colonna and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Following the testimony, Colonna reached out to IMPACT-se requesting further information, and IMPACT-se provided a 245-page dossier on hate teaching and antisemitism in UNRWA schools and educational materials.

Despite this, the final report ignored the extensive dossier, which analyzed thousands of pages of teaching materials, showing institutionally created violent and antisemitic teaching materials self-produced by UNRWA’s education departments and bearing the agency’s logo, and including the names of schools and lists of contributing UNRWA administrative staff. These include school principals, educational experts and content supervisors involved in drafting, supervising, approving, printing and distributing hateful content to students.

Examples presented to the review panel include material celebrating a Palestinian firebombing of a Jewish bus as a “barbecue party”; glorifying as a role model Dalal Mughrabi, responsible for murdering 38 Israeli civilians; and maps displayed in UNRWA classrooms that erase the existence of Israel and mark cities in pre-1967 Israel as Palestinian.

IMPACT-se also shared a November 2023 report which documents links between UNRWA’s education program and the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas.

The report uncovers over 100 UNRWA graduates who are Hamas members responsible for murdering Israeli civilians, and evidence of links between textbooks teaching violent content in UNRWA schools and the Oct. 7 massacre.

It also reveals UNRWA school events celebrating the massacre, and UNRWA teachers and staff applauding the attack on social media.

But despite the evidence provided by IMPACT-se, the U.N. panel’s report described the existence of hate teaching as “marginal” and as a “small fraction.”

The report described UNRWA’s education policies that allegedly mitigate hate as “robust and fit for purpose,” and claimed UNRWA had initiated a range of initiatives to ensure the neutrality of its teaching material.

“No evidence was cited to demonstrate that this is the case,” according to IMPACT-se.

The problem of replacing UNRWA is not as simple as it sounds, and the United Nations itself will never agree to do so. Dismantling UNRWA or changing its mandate requires a vote at the UNGA, which is unlikely.

According to May, “the key to replacing UNRWA is drying up its funding.”

“UNRWA can functionally be dismantled by severing its money supply,” added May. “Dismantling UNRWA is part of a process of ridding the United Nations of its systematic anti-Israel bias.”


‘See no tunnels, hear no tunnels, speak no tunnels’: On Human Rights Watch’s latest Gaza Report
Nine months after the 7 October atrocities, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has published what the NGO’s leaders, PR team and allies hailed as a ‘landmark’ report detailing Hamas brutality and Israeli victims. This 245-page document consists of text, photos, and forensic analysis – including images of watches on the arms of victims that displayed the exact moment of their decapitation, rape, kidnapping and murder by the Palestinian terrorists. In addition to the documentation, most of which reiterated information known for many months, HRW included pages of solemn recommendations to the leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, the United Nations, and Israel.

However, in contrast to the hype in the press releases, social media posts and headlines praising HRW, described as ‘a harsh critic of Israel,’ for also documenting the war crimes of 7 October, a closer examination demonstrates that the publication is another in the organisation’s long history of human rights hypocrisy. Far from the comprehensive research methodology claimed by HRW, the study adds to the organisation’s previous transparent exercises in highly selective and distorted reporting. The details of the attacks that were included were already well-known and systematically ignored while HRW issued nine reports and hundreds of statements couched in the language of international law that whitewashed Hamas and its allies, vilified Israel and contributed directly to virulent antisemitism.

Where have the tunnels gone?
One core dimension of the conflict is entirely and conspicuously absent from the report – the hundreds of kilometers of concrete terror tunnels constructed deep underground. In the past twenty years, concealed entrances were built into buildings, hospitals, UNRWA schools, UNICEF clinics, mosques, sports fields and everywhere else. But for the numerous authors of this ‘comprehensive’ report, they do not exist.

The command centers of Hamas and its various terror allies (Islamic Jihad, etc.) are located in this massive interconnected underground highway and terror complex, constructed from stolen humanitarian aid. Without the expendable Palestinian human shields above ground in Gaza to protect this terror complex, and the belief that Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and other Hamas commanders were safe from counterstrikes, they could not have triggered the war against Israel. The tunnels that, in some cases, extended under the border into Israel to facilitate attacks and kidnappings, were also used to hide many of the Israelis who survived the brutality and were kidnapped on 7 October, as well as the bodies of the mutilated victims.

The tunnels were far from a secret – for years, everyone in Gaza, including hundreds of UN officials, humanitarian aid workers and doctors with Médecins Sans Frontières, journalists and activists who came to express solidarity, including from HRW, knew of their existence and importance. After 7 October, many open-source independently verifiable platforms with numerous videos have documented the Gaza underground infrastructure, estimated to include 500 kilometers. The New York Times featured a lengthy and detailed analysis, headlined ‘How Hamas Is Fighting in Gaza: Tunnels, Traps and Ambushes‘ (13 July 2024). In contrast, HRW’s top researchers, analysts and experts conspicuously excised all mention of this central part of the Hamas war crimes strategy and preparations.

This is not merely a small detail – it is a fundamental omission. Indeed, in this loud silence, as well as in many other respects, HRW’s July 2024 ‘comprehensive’ report is a charade and continuation of the obfuscations and distortions that have characterised the organisation’s numerous publications, statements, social media posts and advocacy campaigns related to Israel. As documented below, in the past 20 years, HRW devoted hundreds of pages to assisting Hamas in protecting the tunnels, at first by belittling their extent and significance, and then by ignoring and erasing them, while condemning every Israeli move to uncover and destroy the underground terror infrastructure.

On this, as on many other aspects of the conflict, as well as in labeling Israel as illegitimate via the ‘apartheid’ campaign, HRW plays a key role in shaping the narrative in UN bodies (particularly the UN Human Rights Council, where the NGO has a network of former employees, staffers, and allies), media platforms and academic frameworks that focus on international law and human rights. With an annual budget of approximately $100 million and a large public relations and media staff, HRW’s Gaza narrative and accusations against Israel are highlighted and amplified in these venues. This cynical effort has been successful and reflected in the catastrophic results of death and destruction, not only on 7 October, but long before, and is likely to continue.
IDF troops recover body of hostage Maya Goren, 56, from Gaza
Israel Defense Forces troops located and recovered the body of Maya Goren, 56, from the Gaza Strip, her kibbutz announced on Wednesday.

“Tonight, we were informed that the body of the late Maya Goren was recovered during a military rescue operation. After more than nine months, she was brought home for burial,” Kibbutz Nir Oz stated.

“The family was informed about the operation in recent hours. The community will continue its struggle to bring back all the hostages, the living to rehabilitation and the dead for burial,” the statement added.

Goren, a kindergarten teacher, was taken from her home by Hamas terrorists after thousands of operatives infiltrated the border on Oct. 7 and subsequently murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 to the Gaza Strip. Her husband, Avner Goren, was murdered that day; his body is still being held by Hamas.

The Israeli military confirmed on Dec. 1 that Maya was killed in Hamas captivity, without providing details on the circumstances of her death.

The couple is survived by their four children—Assif, 25; Bar, 23; Gal, 21; and Dekel, 18. Bar and Dekel were in Kibbutz Nir Oz when Hamas attacked but survived, while Asif and Gal were staying elsewhere.

Maya Goren was the teacher of 1-year-old Kfir Bibas, the youngest Israeli hostage, who has been in Hamas captivity for almost 300 days.
Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak says body of hostage Oren Goldin recovered from Gaza
Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak announces that the body of hostage Oren Goldin has been recovered from Gaza in a military operation.

Earlier, Kibbutz Nir Oz announced that the body of Maya Goren had also been recovered.

Goldin was a member of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak’s civilian defense team and was killed on the morning of October 7.

For more than a month, Goldin was considered missing, and he was thought to be held captive in Gaza. Then on November 9, his family was informed that his death had been confirmed.

“For almost 10 months, we have called and wished for the return of his body to Israel so that he could be buried in the home he loved so much,” the kibbutz says.

He is survived by his wife, Oshrit Masala, and their two-year-old twins, Aviv and Ilay, as well as his parents Adi and Yair and siblings Rani and Shai.

Goldin, a native of the kibbutz, ran its mechanic shop.
Body of soldier killed in October 7 battle recovered from Gaza
The body of Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, 20 has been recovered from Gaza and brought to Israel in a military operation, the head of the local council in his hometown of Lehavim says.

Ahimas was killed along with other soldiers in the forward command team of Col. Asaf Hamami, the commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, as they battled Hamas terrorists near Kibbutz Nirim on October 7.

The remains of Ahimas and two other slain soldiers were abducted into Gaza during the fighting.

The announcement marks the third body announced recovered on Wednesday. Earlier, Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak announced that the body of hostage Oren Goldin was recovered, and Kibbutz Nir Oz announced that the body of Maya Goren had also been brought back to Israel.

Ahimas will be buried in Lehavim on Thursday evening. A funeral was held for him on November 29, 54 days after he was killed. He is survived by his parents, Moshe and Anat, and his siblings Maya, Gil, Eyal, and his twin brother Amir, as well as his girlfriend Shay-li Hen.
NGO Monitor: Mapping the anti-Israel NGO Network in the US
The anti-Israeli hate network is a sophisticated and interconnected system. With substantial funding and strategic partnerships, the NGOs involved operate in a coordinated manner to advance their agenda of isolating Israel and attacking the Jewish State’s supporters.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the months since the horrific October 7th atrocities, when Jews across the United States (and indeed around the world) have faced an unprecedented surge in antisemitic violence and intimidation.

In this mapping, NGO Monitor identifies 168 groups that are part of a network of NGOs, partnerships, and funding – responsible for anti-Israel advocacy and antisemitism in the United States in the aftermath of October 7th.

The nearly 3,000 connections displayed in the mapping, representing joint activity and donor-grantee relationships, demonstrate a structured network with collaborations and shared objectives, not a collection of random and isolated activists.

A significant finding of NGO Monitor’s research relates to the varied levels of funding transparency among the NGO network. While some of the donors enabling the anti-Israel and antisemitic activities can be identified, many NGOs within this network are entirely non-transparent or provide minimal information about their funding sources. This poses challenges in attempting to fully understand the funding flows and exact nature of relationships within the network.

NGO Monitor divided the groups in the network into eight distinct categories: Funders, Legal, Lobbying, Campus, Advocacy, Research, Aid, and Bandwagon. These classifications help make sense of the complex landscape, as well as dissect the roles and influences of individual NGOs within the broader network.

- Funders are the financial backbone of the network, providing the resources for NGO capabilities and reach, and enabling their anti-Israel and antisemitic activities.
- Legal NGOs focus on legal advocacy, provide legal services to anti-Israeli activists, and exploit courts other legal forums to attack policies and practices they perceive as pro-Israel (“lawfare”).
- Lobbying NGOs engage with policymakers in attempts to influence legislation and public policy in favor of the network’s agenda and interests.
- Campus NGOs operate primarily within academic institutions, mobilizing students and faculty members to support radical activities in the campuses, such as illegal encampments, harassing Jewish and Israeli students, and blocking their freedom of movement.
- Advocacy NGOs focus on raising awareness and generating public support for the Palestinian issue. Their activities often consist of media campaigns, public demonstrations, and other forms of outreach.
- Research NGOs publishing reports and analyses, contributing propaganda to support the arguments and strategies employed by the network.
- Aid NGOs are primarily involved in providing humanitarian assistance.
- Bandwagon NGOs do not have the Palestinian issue as their primary focus. Rather, in the current political environment, they choose to align with the more “hardcore” NGOs, adding visibility, resources, or ideological support. In many respects, this also represents a form of “hitching,” where an NGO adopts the anti-Israel cause to amplify their reach and impact.

NGO Monitor presents this mapping in the hope it will serve as a valuable tool for researchers and decision-makers. By understanding the structure and dynamics of this NGO network – its organization, funding, and partnerships – stakeholders can better comprehend the phenomena at play and make informed decisions.


Nonprofits being used to fund ‘explosion’ of Jew-hatred on campus
A subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on Tuesday about the foreign and domestic funding of antisemitic protest groups and their exploitation of non-profit tax status and other legal maneuvers intended to avoid public oversight.

Witnesses told the Oversight Subcommittee about the vast tax-exempt network of interconnected nonprofits, which have been at the forefront of organizing anti-Israel protests across the country since Oct. 7.

Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told congressmen that the government was falling behind the private sector in scrutinizing groups with potential links to Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations.

“Samidoun, a designated terrorist organization in Israel, which has already been banned in Germany, has expressed explicit support for those who have been convicted of terrorism and acts related to terrorism,” Segal said. “We need to make it very clear that if you engage or support antisemitism, you should not be able to benefit from tax exempt status.”

Segal added that other institutions and industries are “responding to this, frankly, faster” than the government is.

“The credit card Discover has stopped enabling them to use their services,” he said, of Samidoun. “PayPal has stopped them from being able to use those services. So here you have private companies that are able to take quick action. It would not be unreasonable that the IRS investigate this more closely.”

Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), the committee chair, slammed Democrats on the subcommittee for not attending an event on Jew-hatred.

“I apologize to the witnesses that not one of the Democrats have showed up today,” Smith said. “To think not one Democrat feels like it’s important enough to sit on that side to look at the 501(c)(3) tax exempt status and how money is flowing to terrorist organizations and to the Chinese is appalling and unacceptable.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) was the only Democratic congressman to speak at the hearing.


Inflation Reduction Act to fund $100 million for anti-Israel, anti-US activists
A report issued by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) reveals how a Biden administration law aimed at reducing inflation plans to provide millions in taxpayer dollars to radical nonprofit entities.

“Investment in Radical Activists: A Case Study on the NDN Collective Supported by the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act,” which was released on Tuesday, shows that the far-left group NDN Collective would receive $100 million through the Environmental Protection Agency as part of Democrats’ $1.6 trillion Inflation Reduction Act.

The research points to statements from the organization indicating its extremist views. These include calls to defund the U.S. police and military. NDN Collective also expresses alignment with the slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which refers to the elimination of Israel.

The ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, Capito said that “in our oversight of the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve found over and over again that the law is quietly bankrolling extremist groups like the NDN Collective that openly advocate for anti-American, anti-police and antisemitic causes, which have nothing to do with protecting the environment.”

Other organizations Capito has spotlighted include the Climate Justice Alliance, the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice and the New York Immigration Coalition.

“The American people deserve to know the truth about how the Biden administration is spending their money, and we will continue to follow where that money goes, exposing the indefensible positions held by the groups that are benefiting along the way,” she said.
65% of Israeli Jews oppose two-state solution post-Oct. 7
The attitudes of the Israeli Jewish public have changed since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip, a poll the New York-based Council for a Secure America (CSA) released on Tuesday finds.

Sixty-five percent of Israeli Jewish likely voters now oppose a two-state solution that would see the creation of a Palestinian state.

Of those, nearly half (44%) moved toward opposing a two-state solution as a direct result of Oct. 7.

“The October 7 massacre and the war against Hamas have had significant impacts on the lives of everyday Israelis,” said Jennifer Sutton, executive director of CSA. “While October 7 has moved Israelis strongly away from a two-state solution, they remain optimistic about their relations in the broader Middle East.”

For instance, 77% of respondents support the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

Fifty-eight percent of respondents said that Iran is the puppet master directing attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

“Israelis also clearly see that Iran is the real culprit here, orchestrating these attacks through their proxies in the region,” Sutton said.

The survey found near unanimous agreement among Jewish voters of the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Majority of Israelis want hostage deal over defeat of Hamas - poll
Public support for prioritizing a hostage deal over destroying Hamas climbed to 72% in July, after being at 67% in June and 46% in May, the Hostage Family Forum announced Wednesday, citing a survey from Midgam Research and Consulting.

“We remind the prime minister that bringing home the hostages is a moral, security, national imperative of the first order,” the forum said.

In July, just 21% of Israelis supported prioritizing toppling Hamas over bringing the hostages home, when asked what Israel’s government should do now.

In June, 27% of Israelis supported toppling Hamas as the government’s first priority.

The forum has called upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open his speech to the US Congress with the simple words “There is a deal,” it announced Wednesday, immediately prior to the speech.

Views on PM, hostage deal
In May, over half (51%) of Center-Right and right-wing voters supported the signing of a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas – even at the risk of disbanding the coalition and going to elections – according to a poll published by the Berl Katznelson Foundation and Midgam Research and Consulting.

The same poll, from May, found that 57% of Israelis believe that Netanyahu’s conduct is delaying efforts to reach a hostage deal – with 38% of Center-Right and right-wing voters holding the same view.

In contrast, another 38% of Center-Right and right-wing voters believe that Netanyahu’s conduct is helping, not harming, efforts to reach a hostage deal.
FDD: U.S., Israel, and UAE in Talks on Postwar Gaza Governance
Latest Developments
Representatives from the United States, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) met in Abu Dhabi last week to discuss plans for postwar Gaza, Axios reported on July 23. Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayid reportedly hosted the meeting, with White House Middle East Advisor Brett McGurk, State Department counselor Tom Sullivan, and Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in attendance.

One day before the trilateral meeting, bin Zayid’s special envoy and the UAE’s Ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, published an op-ed in the Financial Times outlining Abu Dhabi’s vision for postwar Gaza. She called for a “temporary international mission that responds to the humanitarian crisis, establish[es] law and order, lays the groundwork for governance, and paves the way” for uniting Gaza and the West Bank under a single governance structure, led by a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA). She said that the mission should work in concert with the United Nations and “will need the full and steadfast backing of all relevant stakeholders that are committed to peace.”

In that spirit, Nusseibeh told the Financial Times in a separate report that Abu Dhabi is willing to contribute troops to the mission, with several conditions: the United States must assume a leadership role in postwar efforts, the PA must undertake reforms and formally invite the international mission into Gaza, and the Israeli government must allow the PA to assume a governing role in Gaza and “agree to a political process based on the two-state solution,” Axios said.

Expert Analysis
“Having the UAE and not Qatar in a leading role for post-Hamas Gaza planning is a positive direction. Using the Palestinian Authority as the starting point for a successful strategy, not so much. We need more information on what if any PA reforms we will see upfront, who is participating in any peacekeeping force, and whether we finally move away from UNRWA.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“Of all the experiments in Palestinian self-rule, the one connected to the UAE and usually associated with the tenure of former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad between 2007 and 2013 has been, by far, the best for Palestinians, their economy, and their standard of living. A repeat in Gaza, without PA distortions and with regional and global support, might go even further and would certainly be much better than what Palestinians have experienced over the past 25 years.” — Hussain Abdul-Hussain, FDD Research Fellow

Visions for Postwar Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the security cabinet with a plan for post-war Gaza in February. The plan envisions the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) retaining security control of Gaza after the war with “local officials” who are unaffiliated with terrorist groups administering civil affairs. The plan also involves replacing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — the UN agency dedicated to the descendants of Palestinian refugees that has been accused by Israel of collaborating with Hamas — with “responsible international aid organizations.”

In March, senior U.S. officials told Politico that the Biden administration was deliberating options for postwar architecture. In one scenario, the Pentagon would help fund a multinational peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops. U.S. funding would go towards “reconstruction, infrastructure, humanitarian assistance, and other needs” and would “supplement contributions from other countries,” Politico reported, citing U.S. officials.

Failures of the PA
Since the war began in October with the Hamas atrocities in Israel, Washington has repeatedly said that a “revitalized” PA should govern post-war Gaza. But concerns remain over the PA’s ability to govern an independent Palestinian state. PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who is in the 20th year of a four-year term, has presided over a corrupt and ineffective government that has lost legitimacy among the Palestinian people. The PA also continues to provide controversial welfare payments for Palestinian terrorists or their surviving families and allows Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups to operate in the West Bank without significant restrictions. Netanyahu previously ruled out the PA retaking control of Gaza, stating during a November press conference that “there isn’t going to be in Gaza a civilian authority that teaches its children to hate Israel and to destroy Israel.”
Anti-Hamas Gazans Ask Western Powers to Back Self-Rule
Over the past 11 weeks, Gazan activists aspiring to forge non-Hamas self-rule have spoken with members of parliament in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Canada, in addition to Members of the U.S. Congress. Lawmakers responded by proposing financial support for Gazan anti-Hamas “free zones,” a goal which has gained currency among Israeli government divisions and Gazan dissidents alike.

The speakers, including organizers of Gaza’s 2019 anti-Hamas street demonstrations, are seeking international support to establish a governing body within the coastal enclave that would be free of Hamas interference, protected by Israeli or other troops, and internally patrolled and administered by Palestinians. They propose to establish this body in the near future, regardless of when and how the present war ends.

Unable to participate in person due to travel restrictions, the Palestinian participants communicated via video conference facilitated by the Center for Peace Communications. Speakers’ names were shared with lawmakers on condition of non-public disclosure, affording them a measure of safety in an environment still dominated by Hamas enforcers.

The Western participants crossed party lines, ranging from Germany’s governing Green party on the left to the Spanish opposition People’s Party on the right. Their discussions garnered national coverage in German, Spanish, Italian, and Canadian media.

Franck Muller-Rosentritt, a Christian Democratic Union MP in Berlin who held talks with the group in May, publicly relayed some of the information that the activists shared with him on the call. “I learned from the calls that Hamas uses Al-Jazeera, Al-Aqsa TV, and a propaganda effort enforced by fear to fool outsiders into thinking all Gazans support them,” he said. “In fact, I understand how the vast majority of Gazans are disgusted by Hamas, blame it for a generation of suffering, and fear an outcome to the present war that leaves Hamas in power.”

“They’re asking for something very practical,” Muller-Rosentritt observed. “Cordon off an area where they can forge a decent, rules-based system, then let the population judge where it would rather live.”
PMW: The Palestinian Authority's dream comes true – unity with terror!
Yesterday, 13 Palestinian factions signed a “unity declaration,” agreeing to “unify the Palestinian position within the framework of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).” Among the factions were PA Chairman Abbas’ Fatah Movement and terror organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Judging from the many calls by PA leaders for unity with Hamas, the new agreement seems like a dream come true for the PA. On the one hand, the PA and Fatah have celebrated and universally defended the October 7 attack and its outcome. On the other, the PA is critical of Hamas because of the results of the war and Hamas bringing “hell” on the Gaza Strip. Another reason for the PA’s anger is that Iran-backed Hamas acted alone, launching October 7 without consulting with the PA, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch.

But at the same time, the PA realizes that Hamas is still far more popular among Palestinians and therefore has repeatedly called for unity. The PA needs Hamas to partner with it to survive politically and not act against it as a rival.
US opposes Hamas-Fatah agreement: ‘No role for terrorists’
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday rejected the idea of a Hamas-Fatah unity government in the Gaza Strip, following the announcement of a Palestinian Arab unity deal in Beijing.

“Hamas has long been a terrorist organization. They have the blood of innocent civilians—both Israeli and Palestinian—on their hands,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “There can’t be a role for a terrorist organization.”

The “Beijing declaration” was signed by 14 Palestinian factions that took part in negotiations hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Today, we sign an agreement, and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity, and we call for it,” said senior Hamas terrorist Musa Abu Marzouk.

Fatah, based in Ramallah, and Hamas have been split since 2007 following the latter’s violent takeover of Gaza. There have been many failed attempts to bring the two factions together.

Miller said on Tuesday that the United States wants the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority to rule, but without Hamas. “We want to see the Palestinian Authority governing a unified Gaza and the West Bank. But no, we do not support a role for Hamas,” he said in response to a reporter’s query during a press briefing.

The United States has urged the creation of a P.A.-ruled Palestinian state in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria even after Oct. 7 and despite Israeli opposition. To underscore the across-the-board nature of Israel’s disapproval, the Knesset last week voted overwhelmingly (68 to 9) to reject the establishment of such a state.

The Netanyahu government has also reiterated its position that Fatah is also a terrorist organization.

“I will not allow us to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan, that we replace Khan Younis with Jenin,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in December after meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.


Ruthie Blum: Fatah fraud
Former U.S. President Donald Trump took the opportunity of his announcement on Tuesday that he was “looking forward to seeing Bibi Netanyahu on Friday, and even more forward to achieving peace in the Middle East,” to share with his Truth Social followers a letter he had received nine days earlier from Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.

“It is with grave concern that I have received news and later on watched footage of your attempted assassination,” wrote Abbas. “Acts of violence must not have a place in a world of law and order. Respect for the other with tolerance and valuing of human life is what must prevail.”

Anyone who stopped reading at this point due to a fit of laughter missed out on the rest of the comedy routine—and chutzpah.

“Despicable acts of attempted or successful assassinations are acts of weakness with failed understanding of peaceful measures to resolve conflicts,” Abbas continued. “Differences must be resolved through communication with freedom of expression.”

Ramallah’s chief terrorist-in-a-tie concluded, “Our thoughts are also with the families of those who lost their life and were injured.”

Referring to himself as the “president” of the “State of Palestine”—an entity that exists solely in the fantasies of Israel-haters—he signed off by bidding Trump “strength and safety.”

As Trump frequently does when responding to someone else’s printed words, he replied to Abbas with a handwritten note in the margins of a copy of the original page.

“Mahmoud,” he penned with a Sharpie, adding his signature at the end. “So nice. Thank you. Everything will be good. Best Wishes.”

That he headlined the July 14 exchange with a cheerful reference to his upcoming meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly purposeful. The comment about “peace in the Middle East” kind of gave that away.

And Trump knows something about the art of the peace deal, as he illustrated through the Abraham Accords that he brokered between Israel and four Muslim countries in the region. Nor could he possibly be fooled by Abbas, who snubbed him for treating Israel like the true U.S. ally it is.


Hague shmague
The pronouncement issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that Israel violates international law by ruling Judea and Samaria lacks logical, just and moral foundations. It does not supersede God’s promise as recorded in the Bible and substantiated throughout history.

After thousands of years of exile, the people of Israel returned to their homeland. The history of the Jewish people was etched and seared into the landscapes of Judea and Samaria. The ancestors of the Jewish people are buried in Hebron, the Tabernacle stood in Shiloh and the Temples were built in Jerusalem. In the mountains of Judea and Samaria, the prophets of Israel, its kings and judges prophesied, acted and rendered judgment.

On the strength of Jewish history and the biblical promise, international law, as determined in the San Remo decisions and the Balfour Declaration, made a clear and decisive determination: The Jewish people and they alone have the right to build their national home in the entire Land of Israel. A nation cannot be an occupier of its own land.

Arab clans and tribes migrated to Israel from the Arab expanse. This migration does not grant them national rights in the land of the people of Israel, just as no other minority immigration grants national rights. This is the case for African and Muslim immigration to European countries, as well as for Eritrean and Sudanese immigration to Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.

After all, it is inconceivable that in 50 years the Eritreans will demand independence in south Tel Aviv and the court in The Hague will grant it to them.

The ICJ’s false, baseless and unethical decision was made under pressure from the terror-supporting Palestinian Authority, which seeks to destroy Israel and establish a state on its ruins. This is the same P.A. in which an overwhelming majority supports the horrific massacres and rapes of Oct. 7.
The ICC’s bogus arrest warrants
Reports predict that within two weeks, the International Criminal Court (ICC) will issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant based on trumped-up charges of “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population.”

This action would be perhaps the most outrageous miscarriage of justice in the history of international law.

The ICC is expected to simultaneously issue warrants for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, shamefully implying a moral equivalence between the leaders of Israel (a democratic country exercising the right to defend itself) and the leaders of Hamas (a genocidal terrorist group responsible for the worst atrocities against the Jewish people since the Holocaust).

The ICC lacks any legitimacy to make these accusations against Israel. According to the Court’s own charter, it has no authority to adjudicate issues against a nation like Israel that is governed by its own rule of law. In addition, some of the world’s most influential nations, including Israel and the United States, are not signatories to the ICC.

Above all, the charges against the two Israeli leaders are baseless and reek of flagrant bias against the Jewish state. Neither Israel nor its leaders are guilty of intentionally starving Gazans. Israel has allowed unprecedented amounts of aid into Gaza and all the rumors of famine have been proven wrong. If Gazans are hungry, it’s because Hamas steals most of the aid meant for them. Hamas is guilty of intentionally starving Gazans, not Israel.

Furthermore, under no circumstances does Israel intentionally target civilians. In fact, Israel takes precautions to protect civilians that go above and beyond what any other military in the world does to protect innocents. In contrast, Hamas tries to maximize civilian casualties by purposely placing themselves and their military infrastructure among civilians.

As one of America’s strongest allies and one of the most stalwart defenders of Western democratic values, Israel deserves the support of the U.S. and other Western powers in opposing, repudiating and refusing to enforce the forthcoming ICC warrants.

The ICC is a body with no authority of its own, and one that clearly lacks support from the “international community.” The Court was established in 2002 to hold those responsible for war crimes accountable. But acceptance of the Court is not universal. The U.S., Russia, China, India and many other countries, including Israel, are not party to the ICC. Thus, any warrants the Court issues against Israel’s leaders are invalid.
Leading NGOs to challenge ICC warrants for arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant
On 22 July 2024 the International Criminal Court accepted a request by four leading NGOs to file a challenge to the court’s jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), The International Legal Forum (ILF), B’nai B’rith (BBUK) and the Jerusalem Initiative (JI), will now be able to challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction to issue warrants for the arrest of the two Israeli Ministers, sought by the ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan KC, for alleged war crimes in Israel’s response to the Hamas massacre of October 7th.

The decision follows the Court’s grant of leave to the UK government on 27 June 2024, to provide a submission on whether the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where ‘Palestine’ cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals pursuant to the Oslo Accords.

The NGOs support the UK’s position that under the Oslo Accords, ‘Palestine’ does not have criminal jurisdiction over Israeli citizens that can be delegated to the ICC. They also assert that the Court lacks jurisdiction on the basis that ‘Palestine’ cannot be considered a state under international law. Furthermore, the NGOs argue that the Prosecutor failed to properly take into account one of the most foundational principles upon which the Court is governed, that of complementarity, given that Israel has a widely respected, independent and robust national legal system.

The NGOs also refer to documents showing that the ICC’s previous ruling was based on incorrect information that the UN Secretary General had circulated the Palestinian request to join the ICC to existing members of the ICC for comment before accepting it.

The Court also accepted a separate request by these NGOs together with the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) to submit written observations regarding serious factual inaccuracies and the omission of highly relevant information and evidence contradicting the allegations in the Prosecutor’s Applications for arrest warrants of the Israeli leaders.

However, the Court ordered that all these observations must be made in a single 10-page document.
Eugene Kontorovich | Lawfare Against Israel and the West | NatCon 4
Eugene Kontorovich's address at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, DC on July 9, 2024




Cassidy, Ernst unveil legislation forcing universities to quickly respond to religious discrimination complaints
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) will introduce legislation today forcing universities and the Department of Education to immediately act on Title VI complaints amid a surge in cases of antisemitism on college campuses — or else face a fine of $1 million.

The Restoring Civility on Campus Act, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by Jewish Insider, would require the DOE and universities to immediately open an investigation when a civil rights complaint is filed alleging “discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics on or after October 7, 2023.”

The bill is meant to build on bipartisan legislation Cassidy introduced earlier this year instructing the DOE to produce a public awareness campaign about students’ rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and requiring schools that receive federal funds to deliver an annual report to the DOE’s inspector general on instances of and responses to discrimination.

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have co-sponsored the new legislation, which would make the department’s Office for Civil Rights “initiate an immediate investigation” into complaints based on one’s heritage.

“The threats and violence against Jewish students demand action. No student should be afraid to walk around campus because of who they are. Universities and the Department of Education have failed to meet their legal obligation to protect Jewish students from harm. This bill forces accountability and ensures discrimination is never ignored,” Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said in a statement on the bill.

“I have been demanding answers from this administration about what they are doing to combat the abhorrent and un-American spike in antisemitism on college campuses, and their inaction speaks volumes,” Ernst said.

“Jewish students should not be forced to risk their safety in pursuit of an education. The Restoring Civility on Campus Act will force the Department of Education to stop sitting on its hands and comply with the law to protect students from the hate and violence that have exploded across the country,” the Iowa senator added.
Empowering Encampments: NYT Article Sugarcoats Campus Antisemitism
Summer is not over yet, but somehow the New York Times can’t remember what truly happened on college campuses this past spring.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that many charges against college campus protestors have been dropped. The article minimizes the causes of the arrests, actively dismissing the underlying violence and antisemitism at the recent demonstrations.

The article terms the encampments as “pro-Palestinian,” neglecting to acknowledge the pro-terror sentiment that was often present. Students at Stanford protests were seen wearing green headbands with Hamas symbols. At Princeton, Hezbollah flags were waved at a “Gaza solidarity encampment”. Across the country, protestors chanted “Globalize the Intifada” — an international call for targeted terror attacks and violence against Israelis and Jews.

By ignoring these facts, the Times is complicit in downplaying the dangerous antisemitic and anti-Zionist ideologies that were present.

The article first quotes Delia Garza, a prosecutor who dropped charges against more than 100 students arrested at the University of Texas at Austin. She claimed the arrests were for “minor and non-violent offenses,” and that “students protesting on their own campus were simply exercising First Amendment rights.”

In reality, these protests were laden with hateful antisemitic speech and rhetoric. These were not peaceful expressions of free speech but aggressive campaigns to instill fear and hatred in Jewish students.

At UCLA, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) erected a deeply antisemitic papier-mâché caricature of a pig holding a bag of money in front of an Israeli flag to protest a Board of Regents meeting.

CBS News Gaza Producer Praised Palestinian Terror Group and Its ‘Path of Struggle and Martyrdom,' Watchdog Reveals
A CBS News producer who has worked for the network for more than two decades spoke at an official Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) event, where he praised the terror group and its "path of struggle and martyrdom," according to a media watchdog group.

Marwan al-Ghoul, a CBS producer based in the Gaza Strip, has also served as a public official in the Hamas-controlled territory, a job that has brought him into contact with known terrorists, according to an investigation published Wednesday by Honest Reporting. In 2018, he spoke at an official PFLP event, honoring one of the designated terror group's leaders, who was related to al-Ghoul.

"Al-Ghoul spoke on behalf of the family, which ‘expressed their gratitude to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and their esteemed comrades everywhere in the Palestinian land … for their … commitment to continue the struggle,’" according to Honest Reporting's investigation, which was assembled from Arabic language reports and social media postings.

Al-Ghoul went on to emphasize his family's dedication to "‘maintaining the noble national values established by the leading martyrs, such as Al-Hakim, Abu Ali Mustafa, and Wadie Haddad, and those who followed their path of struggle and martyrdom,’" the report states.

Al-Ghoul is the latest Gaza-based journalist to be accused of working alongside Hamas and harboring bias against Israel. A CNN contributor was found earlier this month to have "served in a Hamas-run body" and snapped pictures alongside Hamas’s leaders.

American media outlets like CBS News, CNN, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and others have come under intense scrutiny for their coverage of the Hamas-Israel war, with critics describing their reportage as error-ridden and slanted against the Jewish state. The Post in particular has filled its foreign desk with staffers who previously wrote for Al Jazeera, the Doha-based news outlet bankrolled in part by Qatar's Hamas-friendly government.

CBS mentioned al-Ghoul in a July 12 report detailing "the latest Israeli assault" in Gaza City. "CBS News' Gaza producer Marwan al-Ghoul said there were near constant explosions thundering across the Palestinian territory from 11 p.m. Thursday night until 5 a.m. Friday," wrote CBS senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams. In January, meanwhile, CBS published an interview with al-Ghoul titled, "100 ‘Miserable’ Days: CBS News Gaza Producer Marwan al-Ghoul Shares His Perspective on the War."
The Terror Ties of CBS News Journalist in Gaza
A CBS News journalist in Gaza praised terrorists at an official event of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and had contacts with terrorists as a member of the Gaza City municipality council, an HonestReporting investigation revealed.

Marwan al-Ghoul has been working as a CBS News producer in Gaza for more than two decades, and his affiliation with a proscribed terror group, as well as his official public role in the Hamas-ruled Strip, raise alarming questions regarding the network’s journalistic standards.

Here are the details of what HonestReporting has discovered, based on Arabic media reports and Al-Ghoul’s Facebook page. It is the latest in a series of exposes unmasking Gaza’s biased reporters. PFLP Links

In 2018, Al-Ghoul was among the speakers at an official PFLP event commemorating one of the prominent members of the terror group who was also Al-Ghoul’s relative.

According to the PFLP website, Al-Ghoul spoke on behalf of the family, which “expressed their gratitude to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and their esteemed comrades everywhere in the Palestinian land . . . for their . . . commitment to continue the struggle.”

Al-Ghoul praised the group’s terrorists, emphasizing his relative’s dedication to “maintaining the noble national values established by the leading martyrs, such as Al-Hakim, Abu Ali Mustafa, and Wadie Haddad, and those who followed their path of struggle and martyrdom.”

The PFLP is a proscribed terror group whose members were involved in deadly attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, stabbings and shootings.

The fact that Al-Ghoul was invited to address an official event of the group suggests his (and his family’s) affiliation with it is deep. The effect such an affiliation might have on his “journalistic” work cannot be underestimated.

Official Role
Al-Ghoul also cozied up with the terror group’s officials as a member of the Gaza City municipality council.

In 2022, a news report showed him smiling next to Gaza City mayor Yahya Sarraj as they hosted a PFLP delegation to discuss “issues of concern to citizens and ways of cooperating.”

What could possibly be discussed in such a meeting? How to better embed terrorists amid the civilian population?

That would not be far-fetched to assume, considering that back in 2022, the IDF revealed that an Islamic Jihad rocket was launched from a location owned by the Gaza City municipality. It misfired and killed two Palestinians.

Referring to the Gaza City mayor, the IDF spokesperson’s unit said at the time that “Sarraj chose to take care of the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad more than the residents of the city he heads, and he abused public space that belongs to the residents of the city for terror. This is how he harmed his citizens directly.”


3,000 Academics Denounce Boycotts of Israel in New Letter
Nearly 3,000 scholars have signed an open letter which condemns academic boycotts of Israel and calls on university officials to protect the academy from the caprices of politics.

Circulated by several higher education nonprofits, the letter comes amid anti-Zionist students and faculty clamoring for universities to sever ties with Israel and adopt the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS), a demand that was at the center of an explosion of “encampment” protests which roiled campuses across the country at the end of spring semester.

Formally launched in 2005, the BDS campaign opposes Zionism — a movement supporting the Jewish people’s right to self-determination — and rejects Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish nation-state. It seeks to isolate the country comprehensively with economic, political, and cultural boycotts as the first step toward its eventual elimination.

Official guidelines issued for the campaign’s academic boycott state that “projects with all Israeli academic institutions should come to an end,” and delineate specific restrictions that adherents should abide by — for instance, denying letters of recommendation to students who seek to study in Israel..

An overwhelming majority of Middle East scholars support boycotting Israel, according to a survey published in November 2022, which found that 91 percent of 500 responding experts from the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and the American Political Science Association (APSA) “support at least some boycotts” of Israel.

The new letter says such an action would sanction discrimination against Israelis and undermine the university’s mission to foster viewpoint diversity.

“Pressure from anti-Israel protests and the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement has already led to pervasive exclusion of Israeli scientists and students,” it says. “Recently, over 60 Israeli academics from various disciplines have testified to an ‘unprecedented global boycott,’ including canceled invitations to lectures, rejections of scientific papers on political grounds, the freezing of collaborative research projects, disrupted guest lectures, withdrawn co-authorships, and more.”

It continues, “We urge faculty-facing organizations in our countries, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), the National Conference of University Professors (NCUP), the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (DHV), and other groups committed to an open academic community, to assist us in this effort and to forcefully denounce pernicious trends that are undermining the bedrock principles of the academy.”

The letter has been signed by professors from several prominent universities, including Yale University, Columbia University, University of Maryland, Stanford University, and Northwestern University.
‘Severe, persistent harassment’ of Jews in Philadelphia school district, ADL says
Since Oct. 7, Philadelphia has been a city of brotherly Jew-hatred, according to a complaint that the Anti-Defamation League filed against the city’s school district with the U.S. Department of Education under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

“Philadelphia schools have a long history of providing a safe and welcoming environment for students of all identities” stated Andrew Goretsky, the ADL’s regional director. “However, in the recent past—and especially in the aftermath of Oct. 7—we’ve seen a stark rise in incidents and attitudes that alienate Jewish students, faculty and families.”

An eighth grader was bullied so severely with neo-Nazi taunts that he left the district, a fourth grader was harassed with demands that she say “free Palestine” and there have been multiple swastika vandalisms in the school district, per the complaint.

The complaint also details “the erasure of Israel from a map handed out in a geography class at Baldi Middle School” and lectures hosted in the district “in which ‘Zionists’ were referred to as ‘exterminators.’”

The district “fostered a toxic environment that has allowed antisemitism against Jewish students to metastasize and fester without repercussions,” added James Pasch, the ADL’s senior director of national litigation.
How Extremism is Being Exported from Ramallah to American Campuses
Birzeit University, a Palestinian institution based near Ramallah, has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. Five of its students, all members of the student council, were arrested for planning a “significant terror attack” at the behest of Hamas. They were caught with an assault rifle and thousands of dollars provided to them by the terrorist organization.

Several days earlier, members of Congress expressed alarm over the terrorist hotbed masquerading as a university. “We find Harvard’s relationship with Birzeit University…to be extremely concerning,” reads a July 15 letter sent by nearly thirty members of Congress to Harvard University’s Interim President Alan Garber. Of concern to them: a “student government [that] openly supports Hamas” and “names buildings after convicted terrorists”; a “policy of barring Israeli Jews from campus”; and the university’s praise for the October 7 massacre, posting “Glory for martyrs, recovery for wounded ones, and freedom for the captives.”

Wait until Congress hears about Birzeit’s relationship with another Ivy League institution, Brown University.

Last year, a CAMERA report exposed the antisemitism and extremism emanating from Brown University’s Center for Middle East Studies. The founding director of the center was a man by the name of Beshara Doumani, who led it for several years before moving on to advance a number of “Palestinian studies” programs within the center. As extensively detailed in the report, students in these programs are being fed horrific messages. Professors openly spread antisemitic blood libels. Terrorist organizations are legitimized. Historical massacres of Jews are normalized simply as Arabs “rising up.” The Brown Undergraduate Journal of Middle East Studies even openly declares it is opposed to only one form of self-determination: Jewish self-determination.

But here’s where Birzeit University comes into the picture. For a two-year period, from 2021-2023, Doumani served as president of Birzeit University. While Birzeit had long been known as a hotbed of extremism, under Doumani’s tenure, it reached new heights.

Hamas’s student faction, the Islamic Bloc, won stunning landslide victories. This gave Hamas material benefits, from university funds to opportunities for recruitment and propaganda on campus. The Islamic Bloc, along with the other student factions of terrorist organizations, repeatedly held military-style parades on campus where, for example, students: dressed as terrorists and carried a replica of a bomb that killed a 17-year-old Israeli girl on a hike; “saluted the ‘body parts scattered’” by suicide bombings; and chanted for members of another terrorist organization to “Blow up the settler’s head.” This all occurred under Doumani’s watch even though the university had previously banned “activity of a military nature” on campus.


Nine arrested during London protest demanding ban on weapons sales to Israel
British police on Wednesday arrested nine people during a protest against arms exports to Israel that briefly blocked the street outside the foreign ministry, highlighting pressure on the new Labour government over its stance on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Anti-Israel protesters in Britain have been campaigning for a government ban on arms sales to the country in light of its war against Hamas in Gaza, which broke out with the terror group’s invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7.

Last week new Foreign Minister David Lammy, who has said he wants a balanced position on Israel and Gaza, said a blanket ban on arms exports to Israel would not be right, but he would follow a quasi-judicial process in assessing whether sales of offensive weapons that could be used in Gaza could proceed.

London’s Metropolitan Police said protesters arrived outside Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and blocked pedestrian and vehicle access. Police then said the protest could only continue if it left the central arch of the street clear.

“When the group failed to comply with the conditions, officers intervened and made nine arrests, quickly restoring access,” a Met Police spokesperson said.


Germany bans group accused of Iran links and Hezbollah support, raids properties
Germany on Wednesday banned the Hamburg Islamic Centre, known as IZH, a Muslim religious association that has been under investigation for several months over its alleged support for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.

The IZH “promotes an Islamist-extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany,” while it and its sub-organizations “also support the terrorists of Hezbollah and spread aggressive antisemitism,” said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in a statement.

The interior ministry said that 53 of the organization’s premises had been searched by authorities in eight German states early on Wednesday, acting on a court order.

Evidence from an earlier search of 55 properties conducted in November provided the basis for Wednesday’s ban of the IZH, said the ministry.

In addition to the Hamburg-based IZH — which includes one of the oldest mosques in Germany, known for its turquoise exterior — its subgroups in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin were also banned.

The ministry said that because of the ban, four Shiite mosques in Germany will be closed. The IZH’s assets are also being confiscated. Police officers stage outside the Islamic Center Hamburg with the Imam Ali Mosque during a raid Wednesday, July 24, 2024, Hamburg, Germany. (Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa via AP)

Germany considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization and in 2020 banned the group from carrying out activities on its soil.

Faeser alleged that “as the direct representative of Iran’s ‘Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution,'” the IZH disseminates “the ideology of the Islamic Revolution in an aggressive and militant way and seeks to bring about such a revolution in the Federal Republic of Germany.”

“This Islamist ideology is opposed to human dignity, women’s rights, an independent judiciary and our democratic government,” Faeser said. She added that she wanted to make it clear that “this ban absolutely does not apply to the peaceful practice of the Shiite religion.”


Anti-Semitic violence is out of control in Canada
Some high-profile Canadian Jews are speaking up about the surge in anti-Jew violence since 7 October. Last month, Hillel Neuer, executive director of United Nations Watch, wrote on X:

‘They shot at the Montreal synagogue where I had my Bar Mitzvah. They shot at my brothers’ Hebrew school. They’re attacking Jewish community institutions from Toronto to Vancouver. Hard to believe: my native Canada is now one of the most dangerous countries for Jews in the free world.’

Universities have not been spared by this wave, either. Earlier this year, the heads of McGill University and Concordia University acknowledged that anti-Semitism is a ‘significant problem’ on their campuses, while giving evidence to a government hearing. Students at both universities told reporters that they were forced to hide their Jewish identities, fearing for their safety amid rising anti-Semitism on campus.

Sadly, these fears are more than justified. Since 7 October, ‘pro-Palestine’ protesters on Canadian campuses have been heard singing a variety of anti-Semitic chants, from ‘Go back to Poland’ to ‘Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want no Zionist here’. Others bellowed: ‘Intifada, revolution – from the river to the sea’ – a genocidal slogan aimed directly at Israeli Jews. Members of one of Concordia’s Jewish clubs even reported that masked pro-Palestinian protesters banged on their walls chanting: ‘All Zionists are racists, all Zionists are terrorists.’

After months of incidents like this, a heavy deployment of police cleared out a pro-Palestine camp at McGill University earlier this month. McGill president Deep Saini described the camp as ‘a heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence, organised largely by individuals who are not part of our university community’.

Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter who exactly is organising these displays of anti-Jewish intimidation. The fact is that Canadian Jews feel increasingly unwelcome in their own country. Dr Gad Saad, professor of marketing at Concordia University, left me with a sobering thought about the future of Canadian Jewry:

‘I left Lebanon in 1975 as it became impossible to be Jewish in my homeland. It is becoming increasingly clear that Montreal is becoming inhospitable to Jews. And as such we might need to find a new home elsewhere.’

The rise of anti-Semitism in Canada is nothing less than shameful.


How AFP Is Disrupting the World of Information
Embracing ICC’s Israel is the main obstacle line, AFP fails to disclose that Hamas is a designated terror organization committed to the destruction of Israel which has carried out the most deadly and barbaric mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas’ character, some would say, is the primary obstacle precluding the terror organization from becoming a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, but AFP conceals this fact.

As State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller stated in yesterday’s press briefing when asked about the Beijing proposal:
So we have not yet reviewed the text of the so-called Beijing declaration. Of course, we will do that. But as we have made clear for months, Hamas is a terrorist organization – something that we obviously made clear before October 7th. But when it comes to governance of Gaza at the end of the conflict, there can’t be a role for a terrorist organization. Hamas has long been a terrorist organization. They have the blood of innocent civilians – both Israeli and Palestinian – on their hands. And so when you look at the post-conflict governance of Gaza, we do see – as we have made clear, we want to see the Palestinian Authority governing a unified Gaza and the West Bank. But no, we do not support a role for Hamas.

When pressed further about a possible future role for Hamas in the Palestine Liberation Organization, Miller added that Hamas has
not announced that they accept the principles of the PLO. That is an important point that you make. Hamas has not renounced terrorism; it has not renounced the use of violence to achieve its political aims; it has not renounced the destruction of the state of Israel – something the PLO has done. It remains a terrorist organization. It remains committed to killing civilians. It remains committed to bringing about the destruction of the state of Israel. So no, we do not see an organization that believes in those tactics and believes in carrying out terrorism as a suitable organization to govern the Palestinian people.

In response to a reporter who insisted that some Hamas spokespeople had indicated that they would accept PLO principles, Miller continued:
They have not in any way committed to a two-state solution. And I – let’s just to make clear, they could have, in the context of this declaration today, signed onto the principles of the PLO, and they did not. …

So maybe a spokesman makes statements from time to time, but Hamas as an organization has not renounced its support for violence, its support for terrorism, or its commitment to the destruction of the state of Israel, and that’s an important point.

It’s an important point indeed, and yet it’s one that AFP egregiously failed to make. Indeed, the Hamas charter calling for Israel’s destruction is still very much in place.

As for AFP’s charter calls for “accurate, balanced and impartial coverage,” it too is still officially in place. Unlike Hamas, though, AFP journalists lack fealty to their stated mission.
CBC Claims Hamas-Israel War Simply “Broke Out”, Erasing Hamas’ Genocidal Crimes Entirely
For years, CBC News has frequently told the public that the Gaza Strip is an “open-air prison,” spreading dystopian images of the coastal enclave and depicting Israel as the merciless warden holding the key.

But now that it has become convenient to do so, CBC has shifted positions, describing Gaza before Hamas’ genocidal October 7 massacres in glowing terms, saying the territory had 12 universities, where 90,000 students were enrolled in higher education.

A July 21 article for CBC News entitled: “Amid rubble and airstrikes, university students in Gaza resume classes online,” written by student intern Joseph Ryan, exemplified this bias well.

The article began with Ryan writing that “the Israel-Hamas war broke out last October,” as if Hamas terrorists and Israeli soldiers started spontaneously firing at each other. In reality, on that morning – the Jewish Sabbath and a Jewish holiday – thousands of Hamas terrorists, with countless ‘civilians’ from Gaza in tow, invaded southern Israel in a wanton rampage of rape, torture, and destruction, murdering 1,200 innocent people and kidnapping some 250 others.

Hamas Started The War With A Genocidal Massacre On October 7
In fact, the reference to “the Israel-Hamas war” is the only instance in the entire article that Ryan even refers to the Islamic terrorist group, effectively making it a non-player, despite having provoked the war and continuing to perpetuate it.

Taking Hamas propaganda at face value, the CBC News article continued by writing that “according to Palestinian official data, all 12 of Gaza’s higher education institutions have been destroyed or damaged, and more than 350 teachers and academics have been killed.”

No context is given as to the veracity of this claim and as to how many of these 350 teachers & academics were also combatants with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) or other terrorist groups. Before October 7, Hamas alone had roughly 40,000 fighters, roughly equal to one in every 15 adult men, and that does not include other Hamas operatives, combatants for other terrorist groups, so-called civilians helping to guard Israeli hostages, and many others who can reasonably be called legitimate combatants in war.

Instead, the impression given to readers is that 350 innocent teachers & academics fell victim to Israel, without offering even a semblance of context into how Hamas operates in urban residential neighbourhoods throughout Gaza, using schools and school teachers as human shields.

Ryan repeated an unfounded claim by a literal handful of staff at the United Nations, including fanatical anti-Israel activist Francesca Albanese, who alleged that “famine has spread throughout the Gaza Strip.”


IDF probing killing of armed PA police officer by troops in West Bank
A Palestinian Authority customs police officer was shot dead by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Tubas on Wednesday morning, in an incident that the Israel Defense Forces said was under investigation.

According to the IDF, troops detained two wanted Palestinians over their suspected involvement in terror activity during a raid in Tubas overnight.

In the morning hours, during the operation, troops encountered several gunmen, the army said.

“An armed Palestinian who served as a customs officer of the Palestinian Authority was killed during the clashes,” the IDF said, adding that “the circumstances of the incident are being investigated.”

The officer was named by Palestinian media as Abdel Nasser Sarhan. Footage posted to social media shows the moment Israeli troops shot him dead.

The soldiers are seen driving up to a corner of a road in Tubas in a white van, before getting out and opening fire upon spotting the armed man.

One IDF soldier was lightly hurt during the operation, the military said.

Meanwhile, overnight, the IDF said it demolished the home of Muhammad Manasra, a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a deadly shooting attack at a gas station near the West Bank settlement of Eli, killing two Israelis.

In the attack on February 29, Manasra shot dead Rabbi Yitzhak Zeiger, 57, and Uria Hartum, 16, before being killed by the owner of a nearby hummus restaurant.

The IDF said troops operated in the West Bank village of Qalandiya overnight to demolish the home.


Biden-Harris Admin Fails To Produce Congressionally Mandated Report on Iranian Human Rights Abuses
The Biden-Harris administration failed to produce a congressionally mandated report on the Iranian regime’s mass human rights abuses and possible avenues for fresh sanctions, fueling accusations the United States is unwilling and afraid to confront Tehran at a time when its terrorist enterprise is in overdrive.

President Joe Biden was obligated under law to produce a report Wednesday assessing the Islamic Republic’s ongoing human rights crimes and prescribing new sanctions on regime officials complicit in them.

The report was mandated under the MAHSA Act, a bipartisan law passed after Iran’s morality police murdered a 22-year-old woman who was improperly wearing her head covering. The 2022 killing sparked mass demonstrations across Iran—threatening the hardline regime’s stability—and resulted in the arrest, torture, and killing of many protesters. The legislation was widely backed by leading Iranian reformists and advocacy groups opposed to the hardline regime.

Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), one of the bill’s lead authors, said the administration’s failure to produce the report is just the latest indication that it has no appetite to confront Iran, even as the country sponsors terror attacks across the Middle East and builds out its nuclear infrastructure to within inches of an atomic weapon. The issue is generating attention among foreign policy observers ahead of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Wednesday address to Congress, in which he is expected to raise concerns about America's failure to confront Iran.

"President Biden has shown he’s unable to execute the laws that Congress has enacted and the timing of today’s joint address from Prime Minister Netanyahu further underscores the consequences of a leaderless administration," Banks told the Washington Free Beacon. "The Biden-Harris administration’s continued failure will leave Israel more vulnerable to further attacks from Hamas and its biggest booster, Iran."

"I am calling on the White House to comply with the law, enforce the MAHSA Act and hold Iran accountable," Banks added. "This administration isn’t just incompetent, it is the most anti-Israel White House in American history. Vice President Harris has shamefully refused to preside over today’s historic joint address, which is Netanyahu’s first since Hamas’s horrific Oct. 7 killing spree."


Mercer Island city council adopts IHRA definition of Jew-hatred
The city council of Mercer Island, Wash., approved by a vote of 6-1 a resolution adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

“This puts us in line with over 30 states, 1,200 cities, three different U.S. administrations,” Deputy Mayor David Rosenbaum said at the July 16 meeting where the vote was taken.

Referencing those who had spoken out against the measure, Rosenbaum called himself “very concerned about and cognizant of what folks have said tonight.”

He said “this is obviously an ongoing conversation, and we’re not gonna solve anything here tonight, but I do think that this is a step forward, and I encourage my colleagues to support it.”

One advocate of the definition at the meeting, Deanne Etsekson, called the IHRA “the globally recognized, unambiguous gold-standard definition of antisemitism, supported by the effective entirety of the global organized Jewish community.”
Detroit Jews ‘filled with sadness’ after split verdict in trial of synagogue president’s alleged murderer
The split verdict last week in the trial of the man accused of murdering Samantha Woll, a Detroit Jewish leader and Democratic operative, has left Jews in the area feeling unresolved, local Jewish leaders told JNS.

Jurors found Michael Jackson-Bolanos innocent of first-degree murder but were deadlocked on charges of felony murder and of home invasion, and found the defendant guilty of lying to police officers, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“Everyone is thinking of Sam’s family. Everyone is filled with love and sadness and is sad this has not been resolved,” Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, told JNS.

“I know that if humans cannot do it, God will make sure justice is done for the precious memory of Sam, of blessed memory,” added the Orthodox rabbi and former executive director of the Jewish Community Relations council of Detroit. “The entire Jewish community is committed to continuing to follow Sam’s ways and her legacy.”

The Woll family told the Free Press that it is “stunned and deeply saddened by the outcome of this trial, as there is overwhelming evidence that Michael Jackson-Bolanos took our beloved Samantha’s life.”

“Samantha spent much of her life working toward justice, and it pains us that justice for Samantha has not yet been served,” the family added. “We will not rest in our pursuit of justice on her behalf.”

Rabbi Jason Miller, who knew Woll since childhood, told JNS that “Sam’s unimaginable and tragic loss continues to resonate deeply within the Detroit Jewish community.”

“She was a talented leader with strong convictions and a passion for improving our fractured world,” the Conservative rabbi said. “We can only imagine the legendary impact she would have continued to make.”
Indiana man sentenced to two years for sending death threats to ADL
Andrezj Boryga, 67, was sentenced to two years in jail, and two subsequent years of supervised release, on Tuesday after pleading guilty to leaving voice messages with death threats at Anti-Defamation League offices in Colorado, Nevada, New York and Texas between July 9 and Dec. 14, 2022, the U.S. Justice Department stated.

“This defendant made heinous, repeated violent threats targeting Jewish people and organizations. His actions were not just heinous, they were unlawful,” stated Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general.

“This case represents the latest effort by the Justice Department to combat the disturbing increase in threats against Jews and Jewish institutions across the United States that we have seen in the wake of Oct. 7,” Garland added. “We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute threats and acts of violence motivated by antisemitism and by hatred of any kind.”
Netanyahu eulogizes Joe Lieberman at DC memorial
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu eulogized Joe Lieberman as one of the Jewish people’s “most noble sons,” speaking during a memorial service for the Connecticut senator at the Washington Hebrew Congregation synagogue in the American capital on Wednesday.

“It was important for me to be here today to express my deepest affection and respect for our beloved Joe Lieberman. I’m sure that, like all of you here, I miss Joe terribly,” Netanyahu told attendees.

“He left an indelible mark on me, just as he did on everyone who had the good fortune to know him. Joe was exceptional in so many ways: He was unfaltering in his integrity, his decency, his loyalty. He was an exemplary leader who combined clear and forceful convictions with a pragmatic approach to solving problems and to solving conflict,” the premier said.

He described Lieberman as “an American patriot, a proud Jew, who steadfastly stood with the Jewish people, especially during trying times.

“It is precisely during these trying times that I miss him even more,” Netanyahu continued. “I valued his unflagging friendship, in good times and in bad. He was unwavering in defending Israel and expressed his support literally up until the end of his life—literally up ’till the end of his days.”

Netanyahu noted that in the final hours of his life, Lieberman was working on the final draft of a pro-Israel statement that he had co-authored with U.S. attorney and professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz.

“His last written words, I believe, were the following: ‘We believe that Israel must be allowed to achieve its legitimate goal of disabling Hamas,'” the prime minister said, adding that Lieberman “understood what was at stake in this war was the survival of the Jewish state, and hence, the Jewish people.”
In Washington, American and Israeli statesmen remember Sen. Joe Lieberman
Hundreds of people attended the memorial service, which took place four months after Lieberman’s death. His funeral in Stamford, Conn., in March also drew a large crowd.

One section of the synagogue was symbolically reserved for the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, with posters of their names and faces on the seats. About a block away from the memorial, a handful of protesters gathered, chanting “Intifada revolution” and holding signs with messages like “1st stop Hague, 2nd stop hell.” But inside the synagogue, Democratic and Republican speakers — along with Lieberman’s family members — spoke of a big-hearted man who was willing to cross party lines to solve problems. They also were willing to take an occasional well-meaning jab.

“I learned today that his middle name was Isadore. His passing saved him a lot of grief,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Lieberman’s closest friends in the Senate, to laughs from the audience. “The common bond — why are we all here? We loved Joe, right, and he loved us, and to be loved by Joe Lieberman is an experience you will never ever forget.”

Former Vice President Al Gore, who chose Lieberman as his running mate in the 2000 presidential election, paid tribute to him as a man with a “remarkably faith-filled life.” Gore’s selection of Lieberman was the first time a Jewish American had ever appeared on a major party’s presidential ticket.

Gore quoted from Lieberman’s writing about being raised an observant Jew and the value of “tikkun olam,” which Lieberman said “presumes the inherent but unfulfilled goodness of people and requires action for the benefit of the community… We as individuals and our society are constantly in the process of improving and becoming complete.”

The former vice president talked about becoming Lieberman’s “Shabbos goy” when they were both senators and the Senate would go late on a Friday, “turning lights on and turning lights off for him.”

”I learned some Yiddish,” Gore said. “I was already familiar with the word mensch, but I didn’t know what it really meant until I met Joe Lieberman.”

Among those in attendance at the memorial were former Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (I-WV), Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY), U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, pollster Frank Luntz, Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Executive Vice Chairman Emeritus Malcolm Hoenlein and the group’s CEO, William Daroff. Netanyahu brought Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and other senior members of his delegation to Washington.
The same antisemitism: Israeli athletes face 2024 Paris Olympics under threat
The 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre was a moment in history that evokes profound devastation and Jewish trauma. With the recent targeting, threats, and harassment of Israeli athletes leading up to the Paris Olympics, it is evident that in 2024, nothing has changed since those horrific games.

The Munich Olympics were nicknamed die Heiteren Spiele, “the Happy Games,” attempting to overcome the specter of Germany’s previous Olympic Games held in Berlin in 1936. Instead, Jewish people around the world witnessed the murder of their athletes on live television while 900 million viewers watched and did nothing. The world failed us, Germany failed us, and Palestinian terrorists slaughtered eleven Israeli athletes and coaches.

Much like October 7, the Munich massacre demonstrated that cruelty and inhumanity toward Jewish people knows no bounds. Even more disheartening is that this atrocity did not affect the rest of the Olympics; it was business as usual. Despite knowing that Palestinian terrorists were holding Israeli athletes hostage and slaughtering them, Avery Brundage, the president of the Olympic Committee, declared that the games must go on. The parallels between this and October 7 are uncanny.

The Olympic Committee’s indifference was further highlighted in 2012 when they flatly rejected an Israeli call for a minute’s silence at the London Games to mark the 40th anniversary of the massacre. Instead of sending a clear message that this barbaric act should never have happened at a sporting event, the Olympic Committee treated the massacre as an internal Israeli matter.

It wasn’t until 2021, at the Tokyo Olympic Games, that a moment of silence was held at an opening ceremony in memory of the Israeli athletes and coaches murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

Now, in 2024, the Paris Olympics are forcing Jews and Israelis to hide, once again, by hosting the memorial ceremony for the 1972 Israeli victims in secret. Due to concerns of heightened antisemitism, the ceremony, initially supposed to be held at Paris City Hall, was canceled. Instead, a smaller ceremony with fewer attendees will take place at the Olympic Village in a secret location. While the organizers publicly deny this and blame the cancellation on a logistical issue, it is clear that they fear that a larger, more public ceremony will become a target for violence.
Israel will compete in Olympic soccer today for the first time in 48 years
On Wednesday, for the first time since 1976, Israel will return to Olympic soccer as it takes on Mali in its first match at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Israel earned its spot in the 16-team Olympic tournament at last summer’s UEFA European U-21 Championship, where the country made it to the semifinals.

The under-21 team’s success in July 2023 followed a strong showing by Israel’s under-20 team, which had a third-place Cinderella finish at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina the month prior.

“Soccer in Israel is improving, we have a good generation, and the people understand what we can do,” midfielder El Yam Kancepolsky told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency during the U-20 World Cup.

Israel has competed in Europe’s umbrella soccer association since the 1990s because it was previously kicked out of the Asian Football Confederation after a campaign by Middle Eastern states. Now, the Palestinian Football Association is trying to get Israel kicked out of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, altogether.

The Olympics are a blow of sorts to that effort. Israel previously competed in the 1968 and 1976 Olympics, reaching the quarterfinals in both Games. Israel has an all-time Olympic soccer record of two wins, two losses and four draws, with 13 goals scored.

This year, the Olympic soccer tournament begins as a round-robin competition, with the 16 participating countries divided into four groups. Each country plays the others in its group, with the top two from each advancing to a knockout stage that begins Aug. 2.
Israeli anthem, players jeered as soccer team kicks off Olympic Games amid high security
Israel’s national anthem is loudly jeered before its soccer team kicked off play at the Paris Olympics against Mali tonight.

The game began with a massive security presence outside the stadium amid an increasingly strained international climate that has Paris’ safety efforts squarely in the spotlight.

The Israel team arrived under a heavy police escort, with motorbike riders at the front and around a dozen riot police vans following behind. Armed police officers patrolled the Parc des Princes stadium, one with a rifle resting on his shoulder.

The atmosphere outside the venue is calm. Fans from both countries mingled, holding up flags and posing for photos.

Mali fans sang proudly when their anthem was played first. When it came to Israel’s anthem, boos and whistles immediately rang out. The stadium speaker system playing the anthems then got notably louder in what seemed like an effort to drown out the jeers.

Once play began, Israeli players were booed each time they touched the ball.




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