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Thursday, August 22, 2024

08/22 Links Pt2: A Jewish Leftist, Hoist on His Own Petard; Doctors Without Borders crosses the line; Parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin give DNC address

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: A Jewish Leftist, Hoist on His Own Petard
Perhaps the phrase “a teaching moment” is overused, but there is no better way to describe what happened Tuesday night in Brooklyn. Progressive Jewish writer Joshua Leifer was due to give a talk about his new book, which is about the challenges facing liberal Judaism, at PowerHouse Books in the chichi Dumbo neighborhood. The event, which was to be moderated by local former pulpit Rabbi Andy Bachman, was canceled at the last minute because, according to Leifer, PowerHouse was “unwilling to host the conversation with Andy because they would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”

Progressive Jews professed to be stunned. “I was expecting to be heckled but this was utterly shocking,” said Bachman, who told Jewish Insider that he has actually officiated weddings in that building. “This is completely ridiculous,” objected Jill Jacobs, who runs a leftist organization called Tru’ah. “It is antisemitic to demand that Jews disavow Israel before being allowed into your space.” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found the whole thing “utterly outrageous.”

Indeed it is. A specific employee is being blamed for this act of overt anti-Semitism and is reportedly being fired. But I bet this ex-employee simply cannot understand what she did wrong, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she considered her actions to be a tribute to the very people she banned from the premises. Indeed, she might have been following Leifer’s own dictates!

In 2023, writing in Jewish Currents just before the Hamas attacks, where he was a contributing editor, he portrayed Zionists as violent ethnic cleansers. The article he published before that one described the Zionist project as a lie that perpetuates other lies. In the article before that, Zionists were “authoritarian.” The one before that painted them as permanent warmongers. Zionists appeared lawless in the one before that.

How to teach the Zionists a lesson? Well, Leifer suggested that Americans drop their opposition to boycotts. He’s been consistent about this. He once passionately posted: “Boycotts, divestment, and sanctions are peaceful strategies of resistance to oppression. It’s depressing to see Jewish groups that ostensibly deal with social justice signing onto a resolution that deems these illegitimate.”
A Reality Check for Woke Jews
Joshua Leifer—a leader of the anti-Zionist organization IfNotNow and author of the new book Tablets Shattered, about how American Jewish life has gone down the tubes—was denied entry to his own book launch at an indie bookstore in Brooklyn. Why? Because the rabbi who was supposed to interview him is a Zionist, and, according to Leifer, “they would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”

I don’t think a more perfect metaphor exists for woke Jews in the year 2024.

“My biggest worry was about synagogues not wanting to host me,” Leifer posted on X about the ordeal. “I didn’t think it would be bookstores in Brooklyn that would be closing their doors.”

He didn’t?

I guess life comes at you fast when you spend your career making dizzying academic arguments against the existence of a Jewish state, only to be told, “Nice words, Jewboy, leave the store immediately.” (The bookstore owner came out and blamed a lower level staffer.)

Leifer’s real-time mugging by reality must sting. Antisemites, to Leifer and his ilk, carry tiki torches and have shaved heads. They don’t live in Brooklyn and have pronoun pins and tiny tattoos.
Doctors Without Borders crosses the line
In other words, they have no answer. They give no reason why they aren’t criticizing Hamas for its role in delaying or stealing aid, attacking Israel and prolonging the war, holding hostages and hiding behind civilians. They simply reiterate how bad things are.

The next question asks: “Why is MSF calling for a ceasefire? Aren’t you a non-partisan organization?”

They answer: “We are calling for a sustained ceasefire because widespread and indiscriminate attacks on civilians—including attacks on health care—have made it impossible to deliver the humanitarian aid needed in Gaza.”

Let’s overlook the gratuitous repetition of the accusation that Israel’s attacks are indiscriminate and grant that MSF may be right that the current situation makes it difficult if not impossible to distribute adequate aid. Isn’t it difficult or impossible to distribute adequate aid in nearly every war zone? All wars cause death, destruction, and mass suffering.

I would completely understand if MSF said it is a humanitarian imperative to call for an end to warfare. Don’t we all feel that way? But in other war zones, they merely call for civilians to be protected without passing judgment on the reasons for the fighting. Why do they feel entitled to demand a ceasefire in this case?

Personally, I am very sympathetic to MSF’s mission of providing humanitarian medical assistance to all. They are the type of group I’d like to support. Unfortunately, by betraying their own principles of impartiality and neutrality to join the global campaign to vilify Israel, they weaken themselves. Not only do they lose potential supporters like me but they forfeit the vital credibility they need to wade into conflict zones to fulfill their mission.

I wondered how MSF volunteers working in Israel might feel about this. Maybe they could be an avenue to address the group’s leadership?

On MSF’s “How We’re Responding to the War in Gaza” page, they admit that despite all of Israel’s wounded and suffering, along with hundreds of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes, they aren’t offering any medical programs in Israel at all.

Maybe that tells us everything we need to know about MSF.


The Left and Islamism: Antisemitism and Antikurdism
Solidarity or Antisemitic?
Germany, it became clear to me after a while that the left, despite its assurances of solidarity with the oppressed, is selective in its support. As a Kurd, I experienced this very personally early on. I was often told that one could only support the Kurds on the condition that they did not form alliances with the United States, the EU, or Israel. When it came to Palestine, however, leftists argued for unconditional support for the Palestinian movement, including Hamas and all Islamist groups.

Why does the European left unconditionally support the Palestinian Islamist movement, but much less the Kurds, even though the Kurdish movement is secular, left-wing, liberal, feminist, and social democratic, and shows the least influence of Islamism? It took me a while to understand the answer: the left’s selectivity and antisemitism are inextricably linked.

The anti-Western rhetoric is also represented by some leftists from the Middle East. This supposedly left-wing attitude is particularly evident in the Middle East context, where writers and scholars such as Edward W. Said, Tariq Ali, and the Iranian-born Hamid Dabashi have sided with the Palestinians in the fight against the United States and Israel, but have rarely addressed the political concerns of the large Kurdish population in the Middle East, which repeatedly experiences ethnic discrimination, language oppression, and forced cultural assimilation.

Dabashi, for example, compares the Kurds to the Jews and sees the establishment of an independent Kurdistan as a “second settler-colonial Israel.” He argues that “the creation of an independent Kurdistan would be catastrophic for all peoples of the region, including the Kurds themselves,” and that this process would mean an “Israelization of the Arab and Muslim world” by Kurdistan.13 Antisemitism and chauvinism are thus found not only in the political right but in parts of the political left.

The attitude of the Iranian, Turkish, and Arab left toward the Kurds is certainly shaped by nationalism and their respective imperial ideas. Both the Iranian and Turkish nationalist left have been influenced by the European left. Paradoxically, Dabashi, who sees the establishment of an independent Kurdistan as a catastrophe for the Middle East, sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and the dissolution of Israel as the path to peace. A fundamental insight follows from this: the antisemitism that was once represented by the political right in Europe is now finding a home in parts of the political left. The Jews, according to the Islamist theorist Sayyid Qutb, are recruiting Westernized Muslims or “Jewish-influenced Muslims” to undermine Islam and the fighting spirit of the Muslims.14

Since the 1960s, anti-Zionism and antisemitism have been embedded in a broader ideological framework that includes anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, and a strong distrust of U.S. policy. In the eyes of many people in the developing world, Jews became a symbol of the West and thus a target of hatred. One’s position on the “Jewish question,” while not of paramount importance in itself, became an indicator of affiliation with a larger political movement, political beliefs, and general cultural choices.

In the past, Jews were blamed by European antisemites for the emergence of capitalism and the destruction of the supposedly organic societies of the feudal era. Later, antisemitic Europeans accused Jews of acting as anti-capitalists and undermining bourgeois civilization. Sometimes they were blamed for wars, sometimes for peace, since as “money people” they needed peace to run their economies.

Today it is not the least leftists who blame Jews for every disaster in the Middle East. They demonize Jews as white colonizers and denigrate all those who recognize Israel’s right to exist. None of them dare to denounce Hamas’s terrorist attacks on civilians, the kidnapping of people, or the rape of women. They claim that all the problems in the Middle East only began in 1948, and they propose eliminating the State of Israel as the solution. Antisemitism is currently, even if this is not immutable, nearly a core part of the left-wing worldview or at least an accompanying feature of left-wing political movements.

I once thought that I could speak openly in left-wing spaces, imagining them to be the most democratic and free. For the first three years in Berlin, I had no idea, since I could not yet communicate in German and could not understand the reactions to my ideas. It took me a while to realize what was going on. Whenever I wanted to talk about philosophy, society, or literature, I felt like I was not being taken seriously. Some friends were less reserved: I should say what they wanted to hear, not what I wanted to say. I still believe that left-wing spaces need to be saved because they are important. But above all, they need to be democratized.
Pro-Hamas protesters are heirs to decades’ worth of anti-West propaganda
Although the anti-Israel protests surrounding the Democratic National Convention have been smaller and better contained than expected, they have still brought out thousands of people—people who burned an American flag, charged police officers, and engaged in other mayhem. Ruth R. Wisse describes the “all-purpose ideology of grievance and blame” that motivates these hooligans, and that motivated the persecution of Jews in the 20th century:

Anti-Semitic coalitions powered the rise of Nazism. For the past half century, anti-Zionism has done even better, forging Pan-Arab-Islamist coalitions in the Middle East, at the UN, and within the Western democracies themselves. This ideological war against the Jews and Israel differentiates it from other current conflicts, like the equally evil Russian invasion of Ukraine: little Israel is the proxy for mightier America. No intersectional campus coalitions celebrate Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine; no Russian thugs pursue Jews in Brooklyn, or burn Ukrainian flags with America’s. That’s because anti-Zionism is the ideological arm of the civilizational struggle against what is left of the free world, with the United States as its ultimate target.
Yisrael Medad: Challenging the "Settler-Colonialism" Argument
The call to be Zionists did not start with Theodor Herzl (1860-1894) or even Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874) and Rabbi Yehuda ben Shlomo Alkalai (1798-1878).

Throughout the centuries of exile, the fervent commitment "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem" was never forgotten.

Jews always returned to the land in every century, such as the sages of Babylon, the rabbis of Paris and London in the 13th century, the kabbalists exiled from Spain to Safed in the 15th century, the 18th-century Hassidim, and the pupils of the Vilna Gaon in the 19th century.

The Muslim Arabs became a permanent presence after their invasion of Jerusalem in 638 CE.

Given that the Arab Muslim presence resulted from the 7th-century wars of Muslim expansionism and conquest, why are they not considered settler-colonialists?

Israel is the victory over Arab-Muslim colonization.
The British state ‘Blob’ has declared war on Israel
The powerful UK network of woke, unelected civil servants and officials known as ‘the Blob’ has become notorious for trying to subvert democracy at home, defying the previous Tory government on everything from Brexit to immigration policy.

Now the Blob is spreading its anti-democratic tentacles internationally, pressing its allies in the Labour government to abandon Israel, which is fighting against Islamist terrorists for its survival as the only democracy in the Middle East. The Blob is so blinded by its loathing of Western-style democracy that it seems prepared, effectively, to declare war on Israel.

A UK Foreign Office official has just made news headlines by resigning over British arms sales to Israel. Mark Smith, who worked in counter-terrorism at the British Embassy in Dublin, reportedly sent an email to top civil servants and government advisers declaring it was his ‘duty as a public servant’ to protest against alleged Foreign Office complicity in Israeli ‘war crimes’ in Gaza.

‘Each day we witness clear and unquestionable examples of war crimes and breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza perpetrated by the state of Israel’, he wrote. Smith said he had told ministers and officials to stop British arms sales, but they had refused to follow his advice, so he had to resign.

The political arrogance of this obscure embassy official, in demanding that the elected UK government must do as a supposed ‘public servant’ says, is matched by the wilful ignorance of his view on the war in Gaza. The one ‘clear and unquestionable’ fact that should be evident through the fog of war is that Israel is fighting an existential battle against the genocidal, Jew-hating death cult of Hamas, which has vowed to repeat the pogrom of 7 October ‘again and again’ if it gets the chance.

A ban on UK arms sales might not make much material difference to the war effort. But it would signal a further Western retreat from defending Israel (already evident in the US and the EU), and leave the world’s only Jewish state even more isolated internationally.

Smith’s decision to flounce out of the Foreign Office and take his civil-service pension with him might make him look like a lone protester. In truth, the Blob has been working to stop Britain aiding Israel since the war began – and the Labour government appears to be taking its orders.
Canadian revenue body accused of ‘hit job’ for revoking JNF Canada’s charity status
An Aug. 10 email from the Canada Revenue Agency “blindsided” Lance Davis, CEO of the Jewish National Fund of Canada. The country’s equivalent of the IRS informed, without prior warning, that it revoked the JNF’s charity status.

The note felt like it was “some sort of mistake,” Davis told JNS.

In a publicly available notice, the CRA alleged that JNF was guilty of “failure to meet the parts of the Income Tax Act.” (It alleged in the notice that the pro-Israel group Ne’eman Foundation had done the same. JNS sought comment from the foundation.)

JNF received no advance notice of an investigation, and Davis told JNS that there was reason to suggest that the government agency’s action was influenced by pressure from anti-Israel groups.

“Is the CRA antisemitic? No. Was there bias? We believe yes,” he said.

The revocation notice came after months of unrest in Canada, with communal leaders and politicians commenting publicly on rising Jew-hatred in the country, and police data indicating that antisemitic hate crimes were up 70% in the country in 2023 compared to 2022. The scholar Gad Saad recently told JNS that he can sense a “tipping point” when Jews will need to flee Canada, and there have been efforts to curb kosher slaughtering in the country.

On Wednesday, more than 100 Canadian synagogues and Jewish organizations received bomb threats, which ultimately proved to be hoaxes.

Set up as an independent Canadian charity in 1968, per its website, JNF Canada uses Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund “as its agent to advance its charitable objectives.” More recently, it “expanded its partnerships beyond KKL to a variety of Israeli charities that demonstrated real impact,” it adds.
Jewish professionals doxxed by pro-Palestinian supporters mull lawsuit against NY Times over leak
Around two dozen Jewish professionals who said they were doxxed and harassed by anti-Israel activists after a New York Times journalist leaked contents of a private WhatsApp group are mulling a lawsuit against the newspaper.

Jeremy Leibler, who heads the Zionist Federation of Australia and is also a partner at the law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, told Guardian Australia he was considering a class-action lawsuit on behalf of more than 25 people who were among the 600 WhatsApp group members whose identities were made public.

“In light of the revelations that have now emerged and the serious impact that the doxing of Jewish creatives has had on many people’s employment and mental health, all legal avenues are being explored,” Leibler told Guardian Australia.

Earlier this week, Leibler demanded that the Times fire Natasha Frost, the Melbourne-based reporter who acknowledged leaking the contents of the WhatsApp group to a third party, though she denied knowing that it would lead to doxxing and harassment.

The Times said it took “appropriate action” against Frost, who remains employed by the newspaper.

When asked if Frost should lose her job, Leibler told Guardian Australia: “Yes, I think that this is fundamentally a very egregious breach of trust that resulted in very, very serious harm and damage to many, many people.”

“The stories that have come out publicly about some of these people are the ones that are prepared to speak publicly, but we were acting for more than 25 people that were doxed.”

Law enforcement officials in Australia are investigating the alleged harassment, though Frost is not under investigation since she is not suspected of any criminal offenses, according to Guardian Australia.

The Wall Street Journal last week revealed that the Times took disciplinary action against Frost, who gained access to the WhatsApp group last fall — just weeks after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas that left nearly 1,200 Israeli soldiers and civilians dead.

Frost was also working on a news story about Antoinette Lattouf, an Australian journalist of Lebanese descent who was removed from her part-time radio host position after social media posts that were highly critical of Israel came to light.

Lattouf’s hiring sparked outrage among supporters of Israel — prompting several of the WhatsApp group members to mobilize as part of a campaign urging the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to dump her.

The Times published a story co-bylined by Frost titled “A Post on Gaza Leads to Turmoil at Australia’s Public Broadcaster.”

At around the time the story was published, several members of the WhatsApp group said they were beginning to be subjected to both in-person and online harassment from anti-Israel sympathizers.

Jewish business owners reported that their shops were vandalized while others said they received death threats.
Parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin give prime-time DNC address
When Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin stepped onto the stage Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, where they planned to speak about their son Hersh, an American-Israeli hostage in Gaza, they were nervous about how the crowd would react.

After organizers of the DNC approached them about speaking, the couple were asked to keep the invitation quiet due to security concerns. Their appearance on the schedule was not publicly confirmed until Wednesday afternoon.

“Everything has been so quiet, I think, as part of the precaution, of the anticipation that we were not going to be well received, and so for our own safety and protection, they were telling us not to do certain things. We were very prepared to come out to a neutral to negative environment,” Rachel told Jewish Insider after the speech.

Before walking out, Rachel took a moment to breathe. “First, I kept saying, for a minute or so, ‘I love you, stay strong and survive. I love you, stay strong and survive,’ to Hersh,” said Rachel, who was wearing a piece of tape that said “320,” marking the number of days since 23-year-old Hersh was wounded and kidnapped at the Nova music festival in southern Israel. “Then I started to just say, Adoshem li v’lo ira” — God is with me and I am not afraid.

Then they walked onstage, and their fears were proven wrong. Tens of thousands of Democrats in the United Center greeted Jon and Rachel with a standing ovation and an organic “Bring them home” chant, which so moved Rachel that she put her head down on the lectern and sobbed.

“It was just very emotional, and I felt like I was in shock. I just wasn’t prepared emotionally for love or for support or for humanity or for empathy,” said Rachel.

The war in Gaza has been hanging over the Democratic convention all week, but until Wednesday night it had been given limited billing. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and President Joe Biden all addressed the war, but their remarks were brief and did not specifically touch on Israel or the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7. A few moments before the Goldberg-Polins, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Vice President Kamala Harris is “listening” when she says “we need a ceasefire and an end to the loss of innocent lives in Gaza.”

During Jon and Rachel’s speech, the room was at full attention — silent and rapt at their words of tribute to their son and to all the people affected by the aftermath of Hamas’ actions.

“There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. In a competition of pain, there are no winners,” Jon said on stage.

“In the Jewish tradition, we say ‘Kol adam olam u’mlo’oh.’ Every person is an entire universe. We must save all these universes,” he added. “We know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region: a deal that brings this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza.”
The Most Powerful Moment of the DNC
On Wednesday evening, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin came to the Democratic convention, and for eight minutes and forty-four seconds, the politics stopped.

“This is a political convention, but needing our only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue,” Jon Polin, Hersh’s father, declared, eliciting sustained applause.

Both Polin and his wife, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, had attached a strip of masking tape to their shirts with the number 320 on it—indicating that the hostages have been in captivity for 320 days.

“We’re heartened that both Democratic and Republican leaders demonstrate their bipartisan support for our hostages being released,” Jon Polin said.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin talked about the “109 treasured human beings” being held hostage, adding, “They are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. They are from twenty-three different countries.”

Delegates wept and nodded along and murmured, “Oh, my God,” and “That poor, poor boy,” as images of Hersh, 23, appeared on the jumbo screen behind his parents—smiling and suntanned. In between bursts of applause, they chanted, “Bring them home! Bring them home!” Almost all of the tens of thousands of people crammed into the United Center stood silent.

There were no boos, no one waving any Palestinian flags. No one talked about “cease-fires.” If the left has been consumed by a mystifying moral relativism over the past few decades, there was none of that on Wednesday. There was just a tearful couple onstage doing what parents everywhere, anywhere, would do.


Ruthie Blum: From Charlottesville to Chicago
As pro-Hamas anarchists were throwing antisemitic tantrums and burning American flags outside the United Center arena, the lame duck leader said, “Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”

Hmmm.

What he failed to mention was Israel. Hearing shouts of “Genocide Joe” for not turning completely against the Jewish state after it suffered the worst atrocities since the Holocaust clearly made him uneasy.

Unlike Trump’s, Biden’s “both sides” remark was not taken out of context. This is evident in the sentiments he expressed right before uttering it.

“We’ll keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East,” he said, omitting the identity of the captives and the terrorists who kidnapped them on Oct. 7.

Then he made a peculiar assertion.

“As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza,” he said. “A few days ago, I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we’ve done since Oct. 7.”

Huh? Was this ad libbed or did a speech writer put that in there on purpose?

Either way, it would have been laughable if it weren’t such a grave slip. As if by way of explanation, he added, “We’re working around the clock, my Secretary of State, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now, to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war.”

And that’s when he acknowledged that the mob outside had “a point.” You know, because “a lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”

This wasn’t merely an example of creating moral equivalence where it doesn’t exist. It gave credence to the idea that the nameless “hostages” and the crimes committed against them and all Israelis by the savages who rule Gaza and their fellow travelers are all victims of some pointless war that has to be stopped.

It was ironic, then, that the “ceasefire now” sloganeers didn’t buy it. They were too busy hurling tired “tentifada” epithets.

The world isn’t likely to hear much more from Biden now that his party and fair-weather friends have put him out to pasture. In case he’s schlepped out for a last hurrah, however, he’d do well to refrain from invoking Charlottesville with Chicago so fresh in everybody’s minds.
JNS poll: Israelis like Harris less than they liked Joe Biden
In a JNS/Direct Polls survey of Israelis conducted on Aug. 19 regarding their view of the presidential race that pits Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump, Harris enjoys the support of a 28% of Israelis to Trump’s 64%, with 9% of Israelis professing to have no opinion.

In a JNS/Direct Polls survey of Israelis carried out on July 9, 34% of respondents supported Biden to 55% for Donald Trump and 11% had no opinion.

In this week’s poll, Harris has virtually no support among Israelis aged 18-29; 93% support Trump compared to a 7% for the vice president. All age groups support Trump against Harris by well over 50 points except seniors. Israelis 65 and over are tied with 43% supporting each candidate and 14% undecided.

With the U.S. pushing Israel to avoid taking action against Iran or Hezbollah in Lebanon that risks intensifying the regional war, JNS/Direct Polls asked Israelis a series of questions about how they assess the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to Israel’s security and how they feel about defying the administration’s wishes on a series of pressing issues.

When asked to what extent they believed Biden and Harris when they declare their commitment to Israel’s security, 38% of respondents said that they have great faith in the U.S. leaders’ commitments to Israel’s security. Twenty-one percent said they somewhat believed them, 22% said they had little faith in their commitment, and 19% said they have no faith in the U.S. leaders’ commitment to Israel’s security.

On the other hand, only 34% of Israelis believe that Biden and Harris are committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Sixty percent do not believe them. And 6% have no opinion.

Fifty percent of Israelis believe that following the events of Oct. 7, Israel should give less consideration to the U.S. administration’s positions on foreign affairs and national security issues. Twenty-three percent believed that Israel’s position should be unchanged from what it was on Oct. 6, and 22% said Israel should give greater consideration to the U.S. position.

These numbers were reflected in answers to specific questions.


Daniel Greenfield: Kamala Harris Picks Terror Supporter as "Liaison" to American Jews
A member of John Kerry's team under President Barack Obama, whose biased attacks on Israel and support for Iran and Islamic terrorists in Israel helped lead to the current regional crisis, [Ilan] Goldenberg had spent the years leading up to October 7, 2023 doing everything possible to make the Hamas attack happen.

He had urged that more money should go into the Hamas territory and argued that Israel should allow in workers from Gaza. "You used to have 25,000, 100,000 Gazans working inside Israel. That needs to happen again." That led to Oct 7.

Harris's new Jewish "liaison" opposed every single pro-Israel move by both Republicans and Democrats, whether it was moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, or even cutting off aid to the "pay-for-slay" program of the Palestinian Authority. Instead, he urged anti-Israel moves, including a unilateral recognition of a "Palestinian" state on Israel's territory.

Goldenberg had been a vocal proponent of the Iran nuclear deal, and attended an event by National Iranian American Council (NIAC): the Iran lobby. He had argued that, "In the aftermath of a successful nuclear deal, U.S. relations with Iran should shift from that of an adversary to that of a competitor."

And Goldenberg had been part of the team that was responsible for and had defended the Obama administration's opposition to Israel at the UN.

Previous Jewish liaisons were usually involved with Jewish communal life and could speak to a variety of issues. Goldenberg is simply an anti-Israel activist whose only issues are empowering Iran and Hamas.

Instead of selecting someone from the Jewish community or any of her political aides, Harris chose someone whose sole function will be to justify her anti-Israel policies to the Jewish community, and who will filter any efforts by the Jewish community to push back against them.

During the 2021 battles with Hamas, Goldenberg explained why Biden was only pretending to support Israel.
Daniel Greenfield: Pastor of Kamala and Doug’s Church Opposes Israel
Doug Emhoff, who had broken up his previous marriage by cheating on his wife, who did not raise his children from that marriage as Jewish and who does not belong to a synagogue, took to the stage to describe his relationship with Vice President Harris.

“She comes to synagogue with me for High Holiday services, and I go to church with her for Easter,” Emhoff claimed.

It’s unknown which synagogue Emhoff goes to, but the closest clergyperson he appears to be associated with is Sharon Brous, an anti-Israel activist with a long history of defending antisemites.

Like Obama, Kamala also found it convenient to cultivate a black nationalist pastor to build credibility for her standing in the black community despite a non-Christian and non-black background.

What sort of church does Emhoff attend with Kamala?
“In February, Harris held an interfaith meeting at her ceremonial office in the White House during which religious leaders discussed the war in Gaza. Harris’s pastor, Amos Brown III, took her hand and implored her to do something to help the Palestinians and speak up on their behalf. Their struggle is our struggle as people of color who have been oppressed, Brown told her. Harris appeared moved by his plea, according to a person familiar with the meeting.”

Amos appeared most impressed by the myth that the Arab Muslims who had sold black people into slavery were also oppressed people of color. And the Jews, by extension, are white.

As Richard Landes had noted, Amos Brown ‘s racism and hatred for America had a lot in common with Obama’s own ‘God Damn America’ pastor.
'Jews have to meet in secret at DNC', says Holocaust survivor, ex-ADL head Foxman
Holocaust survivor and former Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman expressed concern on Wednesday that the situation for Jews in the US had deteriorated to the point that they had to meet in secret at events like the Democratic Party National Convention.

Foxman’s concern came after a Tuesday Agudath Israel of America DNC event on rising antisemitism against Orthodox Jews was disrupted by anti-Israel activists.

“Brick by brick, wall by wall, Zionism will fall,” the activists chanted in a video published by Agudath Israel.

Foxman, who survived the Holocaust by being hidden and raised by his Catholic Polish nanny, said on X that he knew in his heart that “in the future it will be better, for Jews in America then it is today. But I fear it will never be the same. After 50 years fighting antisemitism in America, I could not have imagined a time Jews would have to meet in secret locations in Chicago at DNC.”

The ADL noted that the event was not about Zionism, and that Agudath Israel had been targeted for being “visibly Jewish.”

“Targeting a group of people simply for the offense of being visibly Jewish is antisemitic,” Foxman’s successor Jonathan Greenblatt said on X. “Protesting an event about protecting the Jewish community is antisemitic.

Collectively holding all Jews responsible for something that you don’t like in the Middle East is antisemitic.”

Atlantic writer Yair Rosenberg reported on Tuesday that Jewish events at the DNC had to be held at undisclosed locations under heavy security.

Foxman on Wednesday denounced the anti-Israel activists that had been marching and protesting in Chicago since the beginning of the DNC as being supporters of Hamas and antisemitism, and that they should not be presented otherwise.


A Tale of Two Protests: Pro-Israel Demonstrators Rally Peacefully Where Their Anti-Israel Counterparts Destroy a Secret Service Fence
Dozens of pro-Israel demonstrators gathered peacefully Wednesday in the same park where two days earlier anti-Israel agitators broke portions of a Secret Service security fence surrounding the Democratic National Convention.

The demonstrators—bearing Israeli and American flags—included members of the Jewish, Hindu, Assyrian, and Christian communities who joined together to "stand united against forces of hatred and division," an advertisement for the "Unity Against Terrorism" event said. The night before, anti-Israel radicals burned flags from both nations during an illegal protest in front of the Israeli consulate. More than 60 of those agitators were arrested.





Chicago Jewish Alliance co-founder Josh Weiner said his group organized the Wednesday event, held in Union Park, after a Bangladeshi Hindu reached out saying their community wanted to stand in solidarity with the Jews against Islamic extremism.

"We stand strong with freedom because freedom is the best protection for the Jewish people and all people that could possibly be provided by a system of government," Weiner told the Washington Free Beacon. Anti-Israel protesters’ message "is one of binary, of oppression that ignores nuance and calls for the tearing down of our free democratic, liberal systems."

"They deride these systems that actually I think provide them the privilege to be able to say we want to be able to take them down," he added.
DNC speaker tied to Farrakhan tells Dems to 'act right' until election, then can 'go back to acting crazy'
A speaker at the Democratic National Convention’s Black Caucus event Wednesday told his audience they need to "act right," at least until the election.

Rev. Mark Thompson, the host of the "Make it Plain" podcast, hosted the Black Caucus panel on Day 3 of the DNC in Chicago.

He told his compatriots that they must hold themselves in check until the election is won.

"We got 70 days to act right, y'all. Now, after 70 days, we can go back to acting crazy, right?" he said.

When somebody off camera appeared to paraphrase the DNC chant "We’re not going back," Thompson replied, "I hope not, but for those who got to, just wait 70 days to go back, please. Be good."

Thompson has been pictured on multiple occasions with notorious antisemite and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has called Jewish people "termites," praised Hitler and has become one of the most controversial religious figures in the United States due to his derogatory comments about Israel.

"Thank you for allowing me to serve our ppl alongside you," Thompson said in a 2015 tweet responding to a Farrakhan tweet thanking Thompson for inviting him on his show.

At the event on Wednesday, Thompson spoke about the importance of "Black men staying and being woke."

"We know we are the most targeted on social media for disinformation and misinformation. A lot of confusion, and there's a thing going on deliberately to pit Black men against Black women and vice versa," he said, adding, "We gotta combat that."


American hostage father tells 'Post' about photo with AOC: I'm glad she put politics aside
On Tuesday morning as an event for New York City delegates wrapped up before the second day of the Democratic National Convention, Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old Israeli-American Itay Chen whose remains were taken into Gaza after being killed on October 7, approached Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ocasio-Cortez's criticism of Israel and calls for a ceasefire have been frequent since October 7, drawing ire from the American right.

On the far left, the Democratic Socialists of America dropped its endorsement of Ocaso-Cortez after she hosted a panel discussion on antisemitism.

On Monday, leftwing bashing of Ocasio-Cortez intensified when addressed the DNC and said Harris was “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home.”

On Tuesday, politics aside, the Brooklyn-born Chen approached Ocasio-Cortez as a fellow New Yorker.

"What I know from 9/11, we New Yorkers, we stand together," Chen told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night, speaking from inside the convention hall of the DNC. "And I asked her, 'Are you standing with me on this? And she immediately was very positive towards the dialog that we had."


Muslim Women For Harris-Walz Pulls Endorsement After DNC Denied Uncommitted Delegates a Speaker Slot
The group Muslim Women for Harris-Walz announced Thursday that it is disbanding and withdrawing its support for the campaign in response to Vice President Kamala Harris's team denying anti-Israel uncommitted delegates a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention.

"We cannot in good conscience continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in light of this new information from the Uncommitted Movement, that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC," the group said in a statement released Thursday.

The Uncommitted Movement for months has been pressuring Democratic leaders to impose an arms embargo on Israel and seek a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The movement, which emerged and gained traction during this year's Democratic primaries, called on Democrats to vote "uncommitted" in protest of President Joe Biden's failure to end the war in Gaza.

On Wednesday evening, dozens of delegates from the Uncommitted Movement and several congressional members of the left-wing "Squad" staged a sit-in outside the convention, vowing to remain until the Harris campaign agreed to allow a Palestinian-American speaker on stage.

Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in its Thursday statement, slammed Harris and the DNC for showing less empathy toward Palestinian Americans and Palestinians than the Israeli hostages’ family members on stage, two of whom called for an end to "the suffering of the innocent people in Gaza."

"This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have the right to speak about Palestine," the group added. "We pray that the DNC and VP Harris’s team makes the right decision before this convention is over. For the sake of each of us."


Seth Mandel: The Fight Over Having a Palestinian Speaker at the DNC
After the parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin were given a gracious reception at the Democratic National Convention last night, demands that a Palestinian-American speaker be added to the program went into overdrive. The Uncommitted movement—which has been pushing voters to punish the Democrats for being too friendly toward Israel—is especially agitated, though it remains unclear why they think they should be rewarded by a party for trying to sabotage that party.

Chutzpah and hypocrisy aside, though, there’s a very clear reason such a speech hasn’t happened: The Democrats don’t cultivate relationships with Palestinians whom they trust to handle a prime-time convention speech.

This gets at one of the more harmful but least-understood facets of progressive identity politics: the concept of “authenticity.”

Take, for example, the most recent illustration of this. Kamala Harris designated one of her political advisers to be the campaign’s official liaison to Muslim and Arab voters, and another of her advisers to lead outreach to Jewish voters. In so doing, the campaign made a statement about who it sees as an authentic Muslim/Arab American and who it considers an authentic Jewish American.

The authentic Jewish American, to the Harris campaign, was someone who carefully toed the line of Democratic Party ideology and sided against Jewish Americans on topics such as Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem. The authentic Arab/Muslim American, to the Harris campaign, was someone who has defended the anti-Semitic group Students for Justice in Palestine in the legal and NGO worlds and who embodies the ethos of the “tentifada” campus protests.

Is a staunch defender of anti-Zionist, pro-Hamas street violence an accurate representation of most Arab/Muslim Americans? I am not Muslim nor am I Arab-American, so it’s not exactly my place to say. But I doubt it.

This is typical of what can be called the “Jewish exception” to identity politics. In the left-wing world of representative factionalism, “authentic” usually means “maximalist” if not, at the very least, “strident.” The only meek representative in progressive activism will be the Jewish one. This is why vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s relationship with a Hitler-promoting, Hamas-praising imam—whom Walz refers to as a “master teacher”—has barely caused a ripple in the campaign. At the same time, Walz’s status as the veep nominee is due in part to the fact that his Jewish rival for that position volunteered in Israel as a teenager, and this was deemed scandalous and probably disqualifying.

This mangling of the concept of authenticity explains the impasse between the Harris campaign and the Uncommitted organizers over a Palestinian convention speech.

Last week, a Gaza-born American named Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib posted on Twitter/X about his own experience with this kind of gatekeeping. For background: Alkhatib has lost family in the current war. His parents were raised in a refugee camp in Rafah. He has not shied away from piercing criticism of Israel’s prosecution of this war when he feels that criticism is justified. But neither has he ever let Hamas off the hook; on the contrary, Alkhatib has gained a platform during this war precisely because he is unsparing in his judgment of Hamas and its strategy of violence and terrorism.


Farrakhan-Tied AG Keith Ellison Assures Uncommitted Voters: Kamala and Tim Hear You
Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison, who had a decade-long involvement with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam, reassured uncommitted anti-Israel voters that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz "hear you" in a speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.

"Kamala and Tim, they fight for the people, and they also listen. And when [people] say, ‘We need a cease fire, and an end to the loss of innocent lives in Gaza, and to bring hostages home,' they're listening friends. They agree with us," Ellison said.

Ellison’s comments could placate progressive activists connected to the "uncommitted" movement, which has sought to pressure the Biden administration into cutting off support for Israel. The movement gained some traction in Michigan last February, when anti-Israel activists voted "uncommitted" instead of backing President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary.

"There are people watching tonight, and maybe even here tonight, who aren't sure yet about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. If you want to know where they stand on some of the most urgent issues facing our country and the world, let me assure you, Kamala and Tim hear you," Ellison added.

Ellison was connected to the Nation of Islam for at least a decade and repeatedly defended its leader, Louis Farrakhan, against charges of anti-Semitism, CNN’s KFile reported in 2016.

In a 1995 op-ed for Insight News, Ellison called Farrakhan a "role model for black youth" and said the Nation of Islam leader was "not an anti-Semite."

'Squad' Members Rally Around Uncommitted Delegates Staging DNC Sit-In Over Lack of Speaker Slot
The stand-off emphasized the divide between the Democratic Party's establishment and progressive wings. Earlier in the week, anti-Israel activists at an official DNC panel called on delegates to join the "uncommitted" movement, which pulled hundreds of thousands of primary votes from President Joe Biden earlier this year.

"To those of you who are delegates: join us, the uncommitted movement, in growing our movement demanding that we have a policy change that saves Palestinian lives," said Layla Elabed, the co-chairwoman of the Uncommitted National Movement and sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.).

Elabed said Harris could unite the party if she endorsed an arms embargo on Israel.

"If we stand up and demand action—an arms embargo, a ceasefire, an end to war—we may have an opportunity to restore the soul of the Democratic Party and unite us under a big tent," Elabed said. "Listen to Michigan and the uncommitted movement."

Elabed pressed Harris to endorse an arms embargo during a recent rally in Detroit and said the vice president responded positively. Harris's national security adviser, Phil Gordon, issued a statement the following day saying Harris "does not support an arms embargo in Israel."

Update, 9:10 a.m.: The uncommitted delegates remained outside the United Center as of 6:30 a.m. Eastern.


The ugly conversion of Candace Owens The alt-Right promised her power and devotion
When Lord Farmer took to X to “put my own views on antisemitism and Israel’s current military campaign on public record” after “public comments from a high-profile member of my family”, I felt the same thrill as if I’d discovered that an indie band I’d followed for years was getting airplay on Radio 2. My niche interest had crossed into the mainstream — the niche interest in this case being Candace Owens, celebrity of the American ultra-Right and daughter-in-law to Lord Farmer.

For Farmer, this association has become a problem. He is the Christian deputy chairman of the Council for Christians and Jews. Meanwhile, his son’s wife is blaming Israel for the assassination of JFK; calling historical accounts of the Holocaust “bizarre propaganda”; and indulging in outright blood libel. (In a video, she claimed that “Catholics and Christians were going missing on Passover, then they would find bodies across Europe and they were able to trace them back to Jews.”)

Owens’s rhetoric is not new, but it has escalated since March, when she departed conservative outlet the Daily Wire after months of friction (and public spats with her Jewish co-host Ben Shapiro) over her alleged endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories. Not that the Daily Wire deserves much credit here: long before it hired her in 2021, her views were clear. At a 2018 event, Owens responded to a question about nationalism by saying: “Whenever we say nationalism, the first thing people think about, at least in America, is Hitler… If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK, fine.” She later claimed the quote was taken out of context, though it’s striking she didn’t bother to mention the Holocaust.

All this is revealing in its own right. But if, like me, you’ve been aware of Owens since her emergence into public life eight years ago, it’s also shocking because of how far she’s come: a one-time doctrinaire progressive turned radical rightist. A decade ago, Owens was an obscure figure who ran a liberal political blog in the punchy, snarky style of Gawker as-was or the Daily Show. In a 2015 blog, she had celebrated the “good news” that the “Republican Tea Party… will eventually die off”. Another article (not by her) vaunted a mock investigation into Donald Trump’s penis size.

None of this had won her much attention, though. Her first stint in the headlines came in 2016, aged 26, as the founder of an anti-online-bullying initiative called Social Autopsy. Like most such projects, this was broadly Left-coded. Anonymous abuse was associated with racism and misogyny, with the hate mills of anonymous image board 4chan and Gamergate (the broad collective of accounts that claimed to be mobilising for “ethics in games journalism”, but were in fact heavily focused on berating individual women in the games industry). It made sense that Owens — a black woman who had received a $37,500 settlement in 2008 over racist abuse she suffered as a high-schooler — would advocate against it.
Jewish groups demand extremist influencer Candace Owens’ visa be cancelled
Jewish groups are demanding the government bar extremist US provocateur Candace Owens from holding a speaking tour across Australia because of her conspiracy-tinged attacks on Jews and trans people.

Owens rose to prominence as a Donald Trump-aligned influencer and has claimed that Israel was founded by a “cult”, “secret Jewish gangs” operate in Hollywood and minimised Nazi atrocities. She told her 18 million online followers she is selling tickets to “electrifying evenings” in Australia in November.

After questions from this masthead, the government said it could block her entry to Australia.

Owens, who recently said Trump was too moderate, has also made claims about a range of minority groups including trans people who she falsely said suffered “clinical insanity” and suggested could be responsible for a rise in mass shootings.

“There is no place in Australia for Candace Owens and her vile, divisive, and dangerous conspiracy theories,” wrote Zionist Federation of Australia leaders Jeremy Leibler and Alon Cassuto in a letter to Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Tony Burke seen by this masthead.

“Your government has rightfully expressed concern about the increasing embrace of extreme ideologies by Australians. Extremism, racism, bigotry, and antisemitism are unacceptable in any form, regardless of whether they originate from the far left or right.”


MEMRI: In Interview With UK-Based Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG), PFLP Gaza Media Official Abu Kan'an Stresses The Organization's Post-October 7 Outreach To Students And Young People In The West: We 'Participated In The 7 October Operation' And 'Use All Available Tools' To Promote 'The Global Student Intifada, Which Is 'An Important Shift... Among Younger Generations And Students And Represents An Important Victory For The Palestinian Narrative'; We Were 'Actually Accused Of Directly Supporting Or Inciting' – And 'This Is An Honor'
In an interview conducted in late June 2024 with the UK-based Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG), "Abu Kan'an," identified by the website as "a comrade with media responsibilities in the Gaza branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)," discussed the importance the organization attributes to its outreach to and activity with university students in the West.

Noting that "continuing efforts are being made" by the organization to "urge the free people of the world and those in solidarity to continue rising up for Gaza," he said that the PFLP was "one of the first Palestinian forces to issue a clear position on the global student intifada" and that "there has become an awareness among students and youth around the world that there is no solution except through a clear strategy, and that the slogan 'Palestine, from the river to the sea' is the only realistic solution to fully achieve Palestinian rights."

He also discussed PFLP's ongoing role in the "battle of Al-Aqsa Flood" – i.e. the Israel-Gaza war. Stating that it "was one of the factions that participated in the 7 October operation" – the attack itself – he reiterated that his organization seeks "the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state on the entire national territory" to be achieved only by "defeating and removing the Zionist entity from our land." He also dismissed the recognition of a Palestinian state by "a group of European countries" as "symbolic" and linked to elections in those countries.

Below are some excerpts of Abu Kan'an's statements in the interview:
"The PFLP Uses All Available Tools... To Communicate Its Positions"; "Continuing Efforts Are Being Made... To Urge The Free People Of The World And Those In Solidarity To Continue Rising Up For Gaza"

"...The PFLP uses all available tools creatively, including special means of communication and investing in alternative media and digital platforms to communicate its positions, political movement and military performance. Its efforts have also been clear in communicating the picture of the situation directly to the entire world with clarity and honesty.

"Continuing efforts are being made to attract the support required to continue the struggle and expose the occupation everywhere, and to urge the free people of the world and those in solidarity to continue rising up for Gaza. This approach, which the PFLP has taken since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood, reflects the Front's determination to confront the harshness of Gaza's conditions and confront all the occupation's plans, based on the vision that steadfastness, will and resistance are the only way to defeat aggression and achieve the goals of our people..."

"The PFLP Was One Of The Factions That Participated In The 7 October Operation"; "It Remains Present On The Battlefield In All Areas Of The Gaza Strip"

"The role of the PFLP and [its military arm] the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood is vital and prominent, being one of the main factions now waging a battle to defend the Palestinian presence and confront Zionist aggression in the Gaza Strip, alongside the Al-Qassam Brigades [Hamas's military arm] and other resistance factions. The PFLP was one of the factions that participated in the 7 October operation and is still performing well in the battle. It remains present on the battlefield in all areas of the Gaza Strip and has brought to this battle its foremost leaders, fighters and cadres, carving the path to Jerusalem, liberation and return. This presence is consistent with the Front's vision and strategy of confronting the occupation.

"The Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades play a vital role in ongoing operations, and cooperate closely with the rest of the Palestinian factions participating in the battle of al-Aqsa Flood. ...This strategy is ongoing and will continue... . The resistance factions will intensify their process of exhausting the Zionist enemy in all locations in the Gaza Strip, especially in the Netzarim axis in central Gaza, and the Philadelphia axis in the south. The enemy must expect many surprises, strikes and ambushes from the resistance factions..."
SUNY Purchase accused of overlooking Jew-hatred, defiling of religious items
A complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education says the student government association (PSGA) at SUNY Purchase College, part of the State University of New York system, engaged in a campaign of harassment against the campus Hillel chapter, encouraged by administrators.

The StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department filed a federal Title VI complaint on Tuesday, stating that the school in Westchester County, N.Y., failed to fix a hostile campus environment by ignoring Jewish students’ concerns, refusing to enforce its policies and engaging in unequal treatment compared to other groups.

Current students and recent graduates joined in the complaint.

The filing details how PSGA allegedly shared an image with a student government leader wearing the pro-Palestinian watermelon symbol, attacking Hillel as an “illegitimate club” and engaging in efforts to remove Hillel from campus through selectively applying rules and creating arbitrary new rules.

The complaint also charges that PSGA engaged in the damage and desecration of sacred items by throwing them from a storage locker onto the floor in an attempt to get Hillel to move. The items reportedly included prayer books, candles, kiddush cups and menorahs.

The plaintiffs say SUNY Purchase administrators knew about these intimidations and chose not to take action.

Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, told JNS that contrary to previous Title VI complaints that focused on incidents targeting a variety of groups and individuals on campus, this one “highlights a campaign leveled squarely at Hillel—the single center of Jewish life at Purchase—because of its Jewish-Zionist identity.”


Al Jazeera Promotes Inflammatory Documentary Claiming an IDF War on Gaza Hospitals
There’s a destructive rumor that Israel and the IDF are committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Qatari-owned propaganda machine Al Jazeera has only perpetuated this false narrative. Time and time again, it ignores evidence, employs questionable “journalists” on the ground in Gaza and leaves out important context when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Al Jazeera’s “Gaza: The War on Hospitals” has garnered upwards of 175,000 views on YouTube since it was published on June 1, 2024. The main narrative it claims, is that Israel is deliberately “targeting and bombing” health facilities and killing health workers in order to a) collapse the health infrastructure in the Strip, and b) expel Palestinian civilians from the northern Gaza Strip, even if that means many of them are killed along the way.

Coincidentally, Qatar has hosted Hamas leaders and has been a financier for Hamas activities in the Strip, so Al Jazeera and Hamas are interconnected in a strange web of funds and agendas.

Here are several points out of many which must be debunked.

1. Al Jazeera claim: Today’s “expulsion” of Gazans from the northern Gaza Strip and anywhere else in Gaza over the last 10 months by the IDF is a “Nakba” repeat.
Why it’s false: The IDF’s intent is not to “expel” Gaza civilians or to massacre them. Hamas plant themselves in civilian areas purposely. IDF warning civilians to leave for their own safety is not a “threat” or a method of “ethnic cleansing,” it is for their own benefit. By doing so, the IDF also loses its element of surprise and puts its soldiers in more danger. In every ceasefire-hostage deal discussed, there was never a question whether Gazans would remain in Gaza. This is just a temporary maneuver because just as in each area the IDF has fought in, getting civilians out of a war zone is crucial to minimizing deaths.

2. Al Jazeera claim: Bombing and targeting hospitals is a “major war strategy” of the IDF.
Why it’s false: This is insinuating a strategy by the IDF to target civilians for some sort of purpose. Throughout the film, there is a major emphasis on Israel bombarding residential areas and medical facilities without any context or mention of the fact that hostages were being held inside hospitals, and nearly no mention of a Hamas presence. But as previously stated, Hamas operates in hospitals, schools, mosques and within residential areas. This is exactly the reason why the IDF warned civilians to evacuate the area.
CAMERA yields its most corrections at once from wire story, after ‘AP’ emends Gazan death toll
When the Associated Press published an article about top presidential race issues upon which U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are “worlds apart” on Aug. 18, the more than 175-year-old wire service stated that “the civilian death toll has now exceeded 40,000” in Gaza.

The following day, the AP amended the piece “to correct the reference to the civilian death toll from the war in Gaza, which is unknown.”

“The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, but it does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count,” the wire stated.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, which contacted the AP about the statistic, stated that the 83 subsequent corrections to the story—which it said ran in outlets including Seattle Times, Yahoo, MSN and many CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox affiliates—are “the most that CAMERA has prompted at once from a single wire service story.”

It calls the AP decision “a rare correction.”

The media watchdog “pointed out to AP editors that not even Hamas has alleged that more than 40,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been killed in the war between Israel and the terror organization,” it stated.

“While the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported over 40,000 total deaths among Gaza’s residents, its data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants,” it added. “Israeli sources, meanwhile, estimate that over 17,000 of those killed are Hamas combatants.”

“AP’s grossly inflated and unfounded civilian casualty figure fuels pernicious false narratives accusing Israel of genocide, further inflaming the conflict,” stated Tamar Sternthal, the media watchdog’s Israel office director.


Daily Mail corrects 'Jews storming the mosque' libel
Last week, we complained to Daily Mail editors regarding dishonest, incendiary rhetoric in two pieces describing an Israeli minister’s controversial visit to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.

Though the visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the extreme-right National Security Minister, on the Jewish fast day which mourns the destruction of the Temples at the site, was widely criticised for his encouragement of prayer at the Mount, which he falsely claimed was in line with Israeli policy, the Mail article and video report employed the ‘Jews storming the mosque’ libel.

We explained to the Mail that words like “stormed” are widely used by PA officials, PA-run ‘news’ sites, pro-Hamas extremists, as well as Qatari and Turkish state media outlets, to describe any peaceful visit by Jews to the Temple Mount. It’s also the term of choice for those who want to incite antisemitic violence. Moreover, the Jewish visitors on the day in question visited the Temple Mount Compound (described by some as the al-Aqsa Mosque compound), not the mosque itself.

While it’s forbidden for Jews to pray at the site, it’s legal, and consistent with the current status quo, for Jews to peacefully visit their holy site.
Guardian erases Marwan Barghouti's terror convictions
A Guardian ‘Explainer’ by their Jerusalem correspondent Bethan McKernan erroneously suggested that imprisoned Palestinian Marwan Barghouti is merely a “political leader”, and has NOT been convicted of a violent, terror-related crime.

The piece, (“Will the latest talks between Hamas and Israel lead to a ceasefire in Gaza?”, Aug. 19), includes this:
Since the beginning of the conflict, the identities and numbers of hostages and prisoners to be exchanged have been in contention. Israel does not want to release senior political leaders such as Marwan Barghouti, or people convicted of violent crimes.

Barghouti was in fact the leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades terror group, which between September 2000 – April 2002 carried out thousands of terror attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings, and was convicted on five counts of murder for ordering deadly attacks. The Guardian itself reported his 2004 conviction.

Crimes orchestrated by Barghouti include: The murder of Greek monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus in Jerusalem on June 12, 2001; the murder of Yoela Hen in Jerusalem on January 15, 2002; and the murder of Eli Dahan, Yosef Habi, and Salim Barakat in Tel Aviv on March 5, 2002.

We complained to Guardian editors, requesting a correction.


Palestinian sources: Tel Aviv terrorist was from Nablus
According to unconfirmed Palestinian reports, the terrorist responsible for the failed suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv on Sunday night was Jaafar Mona, a resident of Nablus (Shechem) in central Samaria.

The reports claimed that Israeli authorities notified Mona’s family.

The 17-pound backpack explosive detonated prematurely, killing only the bomber and wounding one Israeli.

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups accepted responsibility for the bombing and vowed to carry out additional suicide attacks.

However, Israel security officials have yet to officially attribute the attack to Hamas and Islamic Jihad and are investigating whether another party might have dispatched the terrorist, according to Ynet.

As the investigation continues, Israeli security officials said that Iran or Hezbollah may have directed the attacker.

“There is an Iranian effort to activate people here,” Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, told JNS. “This was apparently done with Iranian direction.”

In a statement on Monday, Tel Aviv District Commander Peretz Amar said that the terrorist had no prior criminal record and that the explosive device was likely homemade and faulty, Ynet reported.


Israeli doctor who cared for wounded IDF soldiers pledges allegiance to ISIS
A doctor at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba who pledged allegiance to ISIS has been arrested, and an indictment was filed against him, the Israel Police reported Thursday.

In a joint operation, the Israel Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) arrested Beersheba resident Muhammad Azzam, 34, originally from Nazareth, the police said in a statement.

The Shin Bet detained Azzam, an Israeli citizen, for questioning in July on suspicion of engaging in activities inspired by ISIS.

“The hospital administration takes the allegations very seriously and is shocked by them,” Soroka Medical Center said in a statement, according to Maariv. “The case is being investigated and handled by the relevant legal authorities, and we are confident in their handling of the matter.”

Azzam joined ISIS and pledged allegiance to it, the police said.

The investigation found that he had been reading ISIS-affiliated extreme online content since 2014, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

Following the investigation, the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against Azzam on August 8.
East Jerusalem teen attempts to recruit classmates to ISIS
An East Jerusalem 16-year-old high school student attempted to recruit his classmates to join ISIS and was arrested by the Israel Police, the Shin Bet and the Israel Police reported Thursday afternoon.

The Jerusalem District Central Unit began investigating the student in late July, following suspicions that a student at a school in Beit Hanina was involved in terrorist activities.

The suspect was originally from the north of Israel and moved to live with his parents in the French Hill neighborhood in Jerusalem. He was studying physics and electronics at school.

The investigation by the Jerusalem Central Unit revealed that the suspect attempted to spread Islamic State ideology among his classmates at the school. His social media alias was named after one of the former leaders of the terrorist organization.

In his phone, police discovered ISIS content, including a video on how to make explosive devices. They also found files, which included formulas for making explosive devices and instructions on purchasing materials for those explosives.
Hackers knock Aish.com offline in what group calls ‘delegitimization tactics’
A “denial of service” attack hit Aish.com on Tuesday, knocking it offline for five to 10 minutes.

Hackers launched their effort at 10:45 a.m. Israeli time and continued for six hours, generating 219 million requests in what Aish described in a release as “unprecedented” in the site’s history.

No information was lost or stolen, it said.

The website was previously hit with smaller cyber attacks since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7. In May, the organization significantly boosted its security, which helped get it back this time.

Rabbi Steven Burg, the group’s CEO, said that such “attacks are part of the delegitimization tactics used by our enemies to harm any attempts at Jews standing up for themselves or strengthening one another.”

He added that Aish would continue to “spread Jewish wisdom, speak up for the Jewish people and strengthen all Jews around the world, no matter who or where they are.”
MEMRI: Member Of Qatar-Backed International Union Of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) Says Gaza War Can Be Used To Teach Children Important Lessons: 'This War Is Pure Jihad'; Children 'Should Be Raised On Love Of Jihad'; The War Is Religious And Ideological, Not A Dispute Over Borders
In a two-part article published in March 2024, Dr. Wasfi Ashour Abu Zeid, a member of the Qatar-backed International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), considered how the Al-Aqsa Flood – namely Hamas' deadly October 7, 2023 attack, in which over 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 200 were kidnapped, and the ensuing war in Gaza – can be used in education, i.e., as a tool to instill correct values in children and to shape their personality. Writing in the magazine Al-Mujtama, the mouthpiece of the Social Reform Association, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Abu Zeid states that "this great event, the like of which has not been experienced by our nation for long decades," can be utilized in different kinds of education and serve to teach children many important principles and aspects of Islam.

For example, Abu Zeid notes that the Al-Aqsa Flood is an effective means of teaching children the values of jihad, because the Gaza war "is pure jihad, not contaminated by anything else." Stressing that jihad is "the pinnacle of Islam" and the source of the Muslims' glory, he states that children must be "raised on love of jihad, a yearning for it and [constant] contemplation of it," and that "today more than ever before, we desperately need to spread the culture of jihad." This, he explains, includes not only jihad in the sense of combat but also "financial jihad, media jihad, jihad of words… [and] jihad against evil scholars, hypocrites and the infidels."

Abu Zeid also addresses the relevance of the war to many other kinds of education, including religious, political, moral and intellectual education, among other kinds. Regarding religious education, he notes that the war is highly relevant to this domain since it is replete with religious significance. This is because the enemy is motivated by religious creed and beliefs, and so are the resistance fighters: the latter seek to protect what is sacred, liberate the land, defend their honor and please Allah – and this is what drives them "to seek martyrdom as eagerly as the aggressive enemy strives to preserve his life." The religious aspect is also reflected in the reaction of the martyrs' families when they are killed: they display "steadfastness and certainty, persistence and continuity, defiance and survival, faith and anticipation" of Allah’s reward.

In the context of moral education, Abu Zeid states that the war exemplifies the superior morality of the jihad fighters, which is reflected in their treatment of the "prisoners" – i.e., the Israelis kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, among whom were civilians, including children and infants. Ignoring the brutality of the kidnappings and the dire conditions in which the hostages are kept, evident in many videos and testimonies, Abu Zeid claims that the treatment they received from their kidnappers was so good that it caused embarrassment to the Israelis and their government and also persuaded many non-Muslims around the world to embrace Islam. Fathers and mothers should explain all this to their children, he says,
PMW: Palestinian Authority’s manipulation of children: Martyrs marry the Virgins in Paradise
The Palestinian Authority’s death message to Palestinian kids doesn’t get any clearer than this.

The above picture of a Palestinian boy with the PA map of “Palestine” painted on his face was posted by the PA’s Presidential Guard with the following text: “I will sacrifice my life for you, O my homeland” [PA Presidential Guard, Facebook page, Aug. 6, 2024].

Smiling and making a “V” for “victory” with his fingers, the boy seems unaware of the future the PA wants for him as a “Martyr.” Or, perhaps, he is already so deeply affected by the PA’s brainwashing that he actually believes he will be rewarded with 72 virgins in Paradise, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented.

The following are recent examples:

Dead teen terrorist wished for Martyrdom, wanted to marry “women from the world to come”



Intisar Nafea, aunt of terrorist Ashraf Nafea: “The women of the neighborhood wouldn’t agree to not have Martyr [children]. Praise Allah, [teen Martyr] Ashraf [Nafea] raises our heads up high. On Aug. 1, [2024,] he was supposed to turn 18 years old. I wanted to do a birthday for him. He said: “Get me married.” I said: “[You will have] 72 [Virgins] like your uncle.” He said: “Right. I don’t want to marry women from this world, I want to marry [women] from the world to come.”

[Official PA TV, July 23, 2024]


Rabbi arrested in Ireland over ‘illegal’ circumcision granted bail
A British rabbi detained in Ireland and accused of performing illegal circumcisions has been granted bail and permission to return to the UK.

Rabbi Jonathan Abraham, 47, was arrested late last month when police officers found him scalpel in hand at a property in Dublin.

He was charged with performing a surgical procedure, a circumcision on a male child, without being a registered medical practitioner.

The Golders Green rabbi’s bail has now been set at €60,000 with €50,000 set to be put up by his solicitor and the remaining €10,000 by the chief rabbi of Ireland, Yoni Wieder.

Rabbi Abraham is a member of the Initiation Society, an Anglo-Jewish organisation which is associated with the London Beth Din and regulates brit milah in the UK.

He is also a registered mohel, and has been performing the religious procedure for the last 13 years.

Were Rabbi Abraham to be convicted of breaching the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, he could face a maximum fine of €130,000 and five years’ imprisonment.

Adressing a Dublin court following Rabbi Abraham’s arrest, Det Garda Megan Furey said police had entered a property in Dublin just after one pm on Tuesday to see him, “dressed in a white robe, a doctor-style coat, with blue gloves and a scalpel in his hand.”

A table in the room had scissors, a changing pad, and other medical equipment on it, she said.
Maryland police taking ‘every investigative step’ after antisemitic school vandalism
Four public schools in Montgomery County, Md., were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti on Aug. 19, WJLA-TV reported.

Marc Yamada, chief of the Montgomery County Police Department, stated on Wednesday that “the recent acts of antisemitic and anti-Israel vandalism at our schools and places of worship are unacceptable” and that the department “is taking every investigative step possible to close these cases by arrest.”

“These incidents are not only crimes. They are hateful actions that seek to divide our community and instill fear in our residents,” Yamada stated. “Let me be clear: every person, faith, culture and religion has the right to feel safe and respected in Montgomery County. These acts of bias and hate will not be tolerated.”

The department “is taking these incidents seriously” and is “committed to conducting thorough investigations to identify and arrest those responsible,” it said.

Guila Franklin Siegel, chief operating officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said on Monday that county school buildings had been vandalized for the second consecutive week “by individuals with vitriolic, ill-informed comments directed towards the state of Israel, as well as other antisemitic images.” (Antisemitic graffiti was discovered the prior week at a school in Bethesda.)

“It is no accident that the perpetrators of these incidents have defaced schools that are located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of Jewish residents and have significant numbers of Jewish students and faculty members,” Siegel said. “These schools are also blocks away from multiple synagogues.”

“This pattern of behavior—in impact and almost certainly in design—targets Montgomery County’s Jews,” she added. “In doing so, it causes tremendous harm not only to Israelis and Jews but to our entire shared community.”


Moptu: Algorithm-free social media creating an online safe space for Jews
Moptu, the brainchild of American Jewish tech entrepreneurs Josh Namm and Charles Haspel, has been disrupting the world of social media and news sharing long before Oct. 7.

Yet as antisemitism has skyrocketed in the past nine months, with deadly misinformation being spread all over social media platforms, Moptu’s unique approach to social media could potentially change how we consume news.

First and foremost, this is because they’re entirely algorithm-free.

How it works:
“Moptu is the only platform designed entirely for sharing articles,” Namm explains. A user can post articles freely from anywhere online about whatever they like, without getting blocked by algorithms, or without having their post filtered to the bottom of other users’ feeds due to content, number of likes, or number of followers.”

“Our other big innovation is that on the user’s page, they can organize their posts by topic, but after that it’s all chronological,” Haspel adds. “If someone searches the topic that you posted about [and you only have a few followers], your post will still show up right next to the posts of our biggest users. There’s no filter, it’s pure information sharing.”

“Our other big innovation is that on the user’s page, they can organize their posts by topic,” Haspel adds. “Our format is completely unique. Because it is articles only, they get the attention on our site that they deserve. Free of the other distractions of social media, it’s pure information sharing.”

That means that what you see in your feed is entirely based on who you follow and what subjects you search. This approach, Haspel and Namm emphasize, frees users from the dangerous effects of other social media platforms, which have algorithms that slowly create trap users in echo chambers, exposing them only to certain biased perspectives while simultaneously harvesting their data and preferences to sell to advertisers.
Israeli tech community honored at NYSE as entrepreneurs ring opening bell
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) celebrated the achievements of Israeli Mapped in NY Monday by inviting representatives to ring the Opening Bell, marking a significant moment for Israeli innovation in New York’s technology ecosystem.

Israeli Mapped in NY and its founder, Guy Franklin, were joined by 12 leading Israeli entrepreneurs at the NYSE podium. This group included founders of companies at the forefront of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, fintech, and media.

Their participation in the event underscored the deep connections between Israel and New York, highlighting the impact of over 450 Israeli startups operating in the city.

Franklin received a special acknowledgment from NYSE President Lynn Martin in recognition of their contributions. Franklin expressed his pride in the Israeli tech community's resilience and continued success at the event. "The growth of the tech ecosystem in New York has been extraordinary, with Israeli founders playing a pivotal role in driving innovation and economic success. Since October 7th, Israeli tech has continued to deliver despite immense challenges, demonstrating resilience and commitment to excellence," he said.

The Israeli entrepreneurs included Dean Sysman, co-founder and CEO of Axonius; Yotam Segev, co-founder, and CEO of Cyera; Nadav Shoval, co-founder and CEO of Openweb; Sanaz Yashar, co-founder and CEO of Zafran Security; Amir Elichai, co-founder and CEO of Carbyne; Amiram Shachar, co-founder, and CEO of Upwind, Ben Reuveni, co-founder and CEO of Gloat, Oded Hareven, co-founder and CEO of Akeyless, Galina Antova, Co-founder and CBO, Claroty, Michael Shoulov, Co-founder & CEO Fireblocks and Saar Yoskovitz, Co-founder & CEO Augury.

The ringing of the Opening Bell symbolizes the ongoing collaboration between Israeli tech leaders and New York, further solidifying the city’s status as a global tech hub. Israeli Mapped in NY, established by Franklin, was created to help Israeli entrepreneurs expanding to New York connect with the industry and showcase Israeli success. The platform features an interactive map of Manhattan, highlighting the Israeli startups operating in the city.
Two Israeli startups showcase the future of sustainable farming
As record-breaking temperatures hit Israel this summer, climate change alters the reality on the ground through extreme weather events and depleting resources that force farms and growers to adapt – ultimately fueling a worldwide rise in food insecurity.

Food insecurity isn’t only on the upswing thanks to climate change. Farm-related factors such as labor shortages – often caused by wars, political instability, and pandemics – also exacerbate food insecurity.

Food waste is another complex contributor to this phenomenon, and it isn’t just the result of throwing away leftovers from the dinner table. In fact, more than 15% of food is lost before ever leaving the farm, according to 2021 data from the World Wildlife Fund.

Each year, $290 billion worth of crops are lost to diseases and pests globally as rising temperatures and unpredictable weather fuel an eruption in pests and diseases.

To help address the growing threat of pests and disease sustainably, a new partnership between Fermata and agRE.tech demonstrates an effective model powered by AI and advanced robotics to curb these issues while also accounting for labor shortages.

These two Israeli agritech companies present a new standard for sustainable agriculture, highlighting the growing influence of AI, Big Data, and other technologies in making agriculture more efficient.

The impact of the partnership
As part of the collaboration, Fermata has integrated its core product, Croptimus, with agRE.tech’s solar-powered autonomous robotic system, which fully automates the crop management process.

Croptimus functions by leveraging high-quality data, machine learning, and an advanced computer-vision system to mitigate crop threats efficiently. Its partner agRE.tech is a pioneer in the emerging space of agri-photovoltaics, or the dual use of land for agriculture and solar-power generation, where it has introduced a groundbreaking, patent-pending operating system to manage all robotic operations from start to finish.
Meet Magen David Adom's Advanced Rescue Vehicles
Israel's national emergency service Magen David Adom maintains a fleet of special vehicles, funded by donations.

MDA operates 2,000 ambulances, including 400 yellow intensive care ambulances, and 40 bulletproof ones.

It has 3 Unimogs - a four-wheel-drive truck capable of transporting four patients lying down along with two crew members, a driver and a medical aide.

In addition, MDA has 25 mass-casualty event vehicles, 20 jeeps, 16 ATVs, and an especially narrow ambulance used in Jerusalem's Old City.

MDA also maintains 250 small Picanto cars, 50 electric vehicles, and 600 motorcycles.

Moran Abu-Shakra, 24, from the Christian Arab village Eilabun in the Galilee, who has been volunteering with MDA since he was 15, said his motorcycle "is equipped with very specific, life-saving gear like an EpiPen for allergies, tourniquets, a defibrillator and more, which allows us to save someone's life until the ambulance team arrives. Additionally, we can also reach off-road areas and get to any injured person using the motorcycles."

MDA Director-General Eli Bin said, "MDA's advanced fleet, which includes vehicles capable of operating in complex terrains and weather conditions, brings our teams one step closer to providing rapid and professional care to patients and the injured."
Israel to see largest influx of immigrants since Oct. 7, most from North America
Five Aliyah flights landed in Israel from North America on Thursday, amounting to the most olim arriving in Israel in a single day this year and the most arriving in a week since October 7.

Including Thursday’s new immigrants, more than 600 people are expected to make arrive on 14 flights between August 22-28 with the help of Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, the Jewish Agency, Keren Kayemet Le’Israel, and the Jewish National Fund-US.

A statement from the groups said that some 2,000 new immigrants will arrive this summer. Israel’s newest citizens hail from a variety of US states and provinces in Canada and will settle down across Israel.

“We are in the midst of a blessed month, of witnessing an impressive increase in aliyah from around the world, despite this complex period of conflict in the north and south. I extend my heartfelt wishes to all the new olim who arrived today and over the last week from North America, driven by a strong desire to become an integral part of the Zionist story,” said Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer.

“As we witness and celebrate the hundreds of olim arriving on flight after flight this summer, undeterred by the current situation, we see the exquisite expression of hope, optimism, solidarity and faith,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Immigration to Israel has increased despite the trauma of October 7, when Hamas terrorists launched an assault on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The ensuing war has seen thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes in southern and northern Israel, where the Hezbollah terror group has been launching attacks since October 8.

In part, the immigration has been driven by growing antisemitism in North America and Europe.




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