Saturday, September 07, 2024

09/07 Links: Water Is Wet, Sky Is Blue, Hamas Is Evil; Erdogan calls for an “Islamic alliance” against Israel; When Students Become Terrorists

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Water Is Wet, Sky Is Blue, Hamas Is Evil
The German newspaper Bild has a story today based on a Hamas intelligence document it claims was discovered on a computer in Gaza. The document appears to have been approved by Yahya Sinwar directly, according to the article.

The document lays out a strategy of tormenting hostages, manipulating their families and supporters, and drawing out negotiations for a ceasefire-and-hostage deal with the goal of attaining not a deal itself but international recriminations against Israel as the talks dragged on.

What’s most interesting about the document is that it describes what is obviously happening. I have not seen a reason to doubt the document’s authenticity nor have I seen proof of its origins, but it is as if someone claimed to have retrieved a document from Sinwar’s hard drive that argued, in detail, that water is wet.

And that helps explain some of the frustration of watching coverage of this conflict. Blaming Israel for the lack of a ceasefire deal, and for the longevity of the conflict in general, requires one to believe or pretend to believe the most irrational explanations for everything.

Some snippets from the purported document:
“Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners, both now and during the first phase (of the ceasefire), so that public pressure on the enemy government increases.”

“Israel’s stubbornness” should be “held responsible for the failure of an agreement.” To accomplish this, the document suggests media manipulation.

“Arab forces be stationed along the eastern and northern borders” should be the only peacekeeping troops, so that they can “serve as a buffer to prevent the enemy from entering Gaza after the war ends until they (Hamas, ed.) have reorganized their ranks and military capabilities.”

In other words, until Hamas is ready for the next war.
Douglas Murray: Family of American hostage in Gaza shocked by antisemitism of New York
There are plenty of bad things happening in Kathy Hochul’s New York. But one thing that has become increasingly clear is how willing Hochul is to allow racism and bigotry to thrive in this city.

Last weekend the terrible news came through that another American citizen has been murdered by Hamas.

California-born Hersh Goldberg-Polin was held hostage in Gaza for almost a year. He was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in Israel on October 7th.

Last week, as the Israeli Defense Forces moved in to save him, Hamas executed Hersh and five other hostages.

A day after this news broke there was a huge pro-Hamas protest in New York. A bunch of sick keffiyeh-wearing psychos, banging drums and chanting, marched through the center of New York waving the Hamas flag.

The main flag-wavers all covered their faces of course. It seems in Hochul’s New York you can openly praise a designated terrorist group that just murdered an American.

Jewish New Yorkers have had to put up with a year of this. They have had to put up with routine intimidation, with anti-Jewish graffiti going up calling for the murder of Jews, and for posters of the hostages being ripped down wherever they are put up.

Then on Tuesday things moved to their next stage, as Jewish students from CUNY’s City College got barricaded into a Jewish deli on Broadway.

A group of racists from “Students for Justice in Palestine” and other hate-groups screamed abuse at the Jewish students.
Too little, too late: Why the US delayed charging Hamas for decades
This raises troubling questions about the priorities of past administrations.

The answer likely lies in a combination of geopolitics, diplomacy, and shifting foreign policy agendas. For decades, US administrations have tried to balance their approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with broader Middle Eastern strategies, sometimes prioritizing diplomatic efforts over direct legal action against groups like Hamas. It is possible that prosecuting Hamas was seen as politically risky, with concerns that it could derail peace negotiations or provoke further conflict.

Yet this delay has sent a damaging message. To the families of American victims, it says that their loved ones’ deaths were not a priority, since justice was deferred for too long, even when the blood of US citizens was spilled.

For decades, Hamas’s violent actions have carried little immediate consequence from the world’s most powerful nation. The terror organization’s leaders have operated with relative impunity, emboldened by the lack of direct action.

Now, with charges finally being brought, the US government is attempting to right a wrong – but the impact of this move is severely diminished. Many of the Hamas leaders responsible are either dead, in hiding, or living in territories beyond the reach of US law. Extraditing key figures is a long shot, at best. The passage of time has only made the path to justice more complicated and less likely to yield meaningful results. Even if prosecutions were to happen, they would be more of a symbolic victory than a tangible one.

Justice delayed is justice denied. The right time to pursue these charges was when the murders first occurred, when the trail was fresh, and when bringing those responsible to account could have had a real deterrent effect. By waiting this long, the Justice Department’s actions, though commendable, feel like a hollow gesture. They offer little consolation to grieving families.

Bringing charges against Hamas now is not without merit – it signals that the US does not forget its murdered citizens. But it is impossible to overlook how much more powerful and effective this action would have been if it had come years, or even decades, earlier.

The families deserved better.


Jake Wallis Simons: How Israel learned to fight Hamas deep under ground
When politicians have allowed the Israel Defence Force to operate, it has swept through Gaza like a whirlwind.

About 50 per cent of Hamas terrorists have been killed, according to Israel, and as the anniversary of the war approaches, the remainder are only able to fight a guerrilla insurgency.

It has been anything but easy. The secret of the IDF’s success? Combat in the darkness underground.

Initially bamboozled by an elusive enemy moving like ghosts, Israeli forces came to realise the tunnels were Hamas’s centre of gravity.

A new doctrine was developed to deal with them. This involved co-ordinating air support, special forces, regular infantry, armour and naval assets on the surface and in the tunnels.

“If you want to understand how to manoeuvre in Gaza, think from underground up and manoeuvre your forces simultaneously on the surface and in the tunnels,” one general told me.

These ambitious military tactics had never been attempted before. Maintaining effective communication between such a range of forces so that they worked seamlessly, without firing on each other, was a challenge.

But the approach is bearing fruit. At the start of the war, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) was able to clear up to 100 feet of territory a day and did not dare enter the tunnels. Today, its troops can manoeuvre faster underground than on the surface.

Israel’s initial approach
Before the new tactics were developed, the approach was simple. A “technological blanket” was placed over Gaza, allowing commanders in the field to call in an air strike on any position within three minutes.

Troops would evacuate civilians from an area, clear it of the enemy and bomb any shafts they found. Then they would advance to the next patch.

But rockets would soon be launched from the very place they had just cleared. With so many shafts to choose from, terrorists were simply slipping away underground and returning when the IDF moved on.

The Israelis realised they had underestimated the catacombs. Hamas was able to travel the entire length of Gaza underground, in a single network of remarkable proportions. Although Gaza is just 25 miles long, this labyrinth spanned 300 miles, bigger than the London Underground.

The terrorists’ tactics were as infuriating as they were deadly. The tunnels, which had been under construction since 2006, allowed them to materialise and dematerialise at will, exposing themselves only fleetingly.

They would appear alarmingly close to Israeli forces, attack, then vanish again. Their weapon of choice was the new Al-Yassin 105 rocket-propelled grenade, a homemade flying explosive.

Although it has an effective range of just 250 feet, its dual-charge payload has the capacity to penetrate the reactive armour of Israeli Merkava tanks then explode inside them. Shafts ‘in every building’

Nothing is sacred in Gaza. According to IDF commanders, there is “not one mosque, school or hospital that does not contain a Hamas shaft”, with openings even discovered inside graves.

Israeli soldiers recuperating in vacated homes in Gaza discovered tunnels under their feet that could be opened via a mechanism in the floor tiles.

Troops declared houses safe, only to be attacked at close quarters without warning. That was why so much of the Strip’s infrastructure had to be destroyed, the IDF said.

The shallowest part of the tunnel network resembled an asymmetrical candelabra. Several vertical shafts led to one horizontal tunnel serviced by a main artery, from which branched other horizontal tunnels and shafts.

A few yards from the surface, there were defensive doors to block pursuers and protect against explosions.

This system connected to larger subterranean highways running the length of Gaza, which led to atria containing offices, guard rooms and living quarters, sometimes complete with barred cells for the Israeli captives.
Shooting like a girl: Meet the IDF's exceptional female combat soldiers
The heroism of the IDF’s female soldiers on October 7 surprised many who didn’t expect that women would be able to handle combat situations.

Female tankers fought Hamas terrorists who had infiltrated the country, women fought Hamas terrorists as they infiltrated bases, and female light infantry soldiers responded to incidents all over the South – all with a cool head and professionalism that some have argued female soldiers are not capable of.

Since October 7, women IDF soldiers have continued to prove that they are capable and professional soldiers in wartime fighting.

Women have been serving in Israel’s North and South, as well as in Gaza, continuing to refute the idea that they are incapable of serving as combat soldiers, whether because of physiological or psychological reasons.

Ofri, the only female combat soldier in her battalion, always wanted to serve in combat. As a paramedic, she does everything alongside the male fighters in her unit.

“I am really part of the [soldiers]; this means that I got out to [make] arrests with them,” she said, adding that she also completes missions with them.

When she first got to her unit, the other soldiers there didn’t think that she would take a real combat role alongside them, Ofri said.

During a training exercise in the Golan Heights, when Ofri hiked the entire 120 km. alongside her unit with her gear – around 30 kg. worth – on her back, her unit understood that she was with them all the way.

When her unit was sent into Gaza, it was obvious to Ofri that she was going with them, but some of the soldiers with her were surprised, not knowing that women were ever sent across borders.

“It kind of made me laugh,” she said. “I explained to them, ‘Why do I do everything I do if not for this?’”

Many were happy to hear that Ofri would be with them, and her friends in the unit pulled her aside to tell her so.

In Gaza, Ofri continued to be an integral part of her combat unit, fighting alongside the male soldiers. She was in the leading company in her battalion.

“I was with them in everything,” she said. “Whether clearing houses, guarding with [the company], throwing grenades and shooting, [I did] everything just like they do.

“I proved to them and to myself that there is no difference [between her and the male soldiers]. I carried the same bag, and even more [weight] than some others, and did exactly what they did,” she said.
Another shot at ceasefire? US to unveil new text on Gaza hostage deal gaps, Israel pessimistic
US negotiators have been more vocal regarding their criticism of Hamas, particularly in the aftermath of the terror group’s execution of six hostages over a week ago, some four of whom were likely to have been freed in Phase 1.

This included 23-year-old Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Hamas in the aftermath of that execution stiffened its demands relating to the hostage-prisoner swap, a high-level US official told reporters last week.

Burns said that Hamas should want to make a deal, particularly since it would improve humanitarian conditions for Palestinians on the ground in Gaza.

The lead negotiator said that the Egyptians, the Qataris, and “anyone with any influence over Hamas has to push hard” to agree to a deal. “They should not want to be the obstacle in the path of… the possibility of genuinely improving what are horrific conditions in Gaza,” he stressed.

“I cannot tell you how close we are right now. It is a fact that if you look at the written text [of Phase 1], 90% of the paragraphs have been agreed to. But in any negotiation, I’ve been involved in, the last 10% is the last 10% for a reason because it’s the hardest part to do,” Burns stated.

He promised that the US and the mediators planned to continue to work on finalizing Phase 1 of the deal.

“We will continue to work as hard as we can with the other mediators on this because there’s no good alternative to getting to that ceasefire and the release of hostages,” he said.

“There’s a lot at stake” especially “for the hostages who are still alive, who are living in hellish conditions and tunnels beneath Gaza,” Burns explained.

“We have to all remember that despite all of that work that needs to be done, this is ultimately a question of political will,” he said as he called on both Israeli and Hamas leaders “to make some hard choices and difficult compromises.”

Burns also called for a day-after plan for Gaza, explaining that while Hamas’s “military capabilities over the last 11 months have been severely degraded, the group also represented an idea and a movement that was difficult to eliminate.

“In my experience, the only way you kill an idea is with a better idea,” Burns said as he pushed the two-state resolution to the conflict as the best way to move the situation forward once there was a Gaza ceasefire.

Head of the UK Secretary Intelligence Service Richard Moore said that such a Gaza ceasefire deal would allow for a diplomatic solution along Israel’s northern border. The IDF and Hezbollah have engaged in a cross-border war since October 8.

“If you could get the ceasefire in Gaza, you have a chance to reverse momentum; you have a chance to open up the potential for a deal over the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon. You have a chance to address the disruption to international shipping in the Red Sea,” Moore said.

He added that, at present, there still remains the risk of an Iranian retaliatory attack against Israel in the aftermath of the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran over the summer.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for that attack but is widely presumed to have killed Haniyeh.

“I suspect they will try [to attack] and we won’t be able to let our guard down,” Moore said. “The Iranians have a whole destabilizing playbook around the region.”
Cairo's two faces: 'Egypt has no interest in Israel defeating Hamas'
Lt. Col. Eli Dekel, a former intelligence officer who specializes in the study of Egypt, spoke with Maariv, he was asked if Egypt is interested in weakening Hamas?

"In my opinion, Egypt, since 1956, since the Suez Crisis, has had a huge interest in bleeding Israel continuously," Dekel said.

"Since we retreated from Sinai in the Suez Crisis under enormous pressure from the Americans, yes. Even then, the Americans were involved. The Egyptians, in return, pledged not to harm us from the Israel-Egypt border, and indeed, they stood by it," he said.

"There were no attacks from the Suez War until the Six-Day War. But, what we did do, and it's clear that we did, is that they immediately went and established the so-called Gaza Fedayeen."

"They sent an officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel to the Gaza Strip, who will believe and bankroll terrorist acts against Israel. Even then, they were interested in spilling our blood, although not from their border, but through the Gazans."

"Not only did they found the Fedayeen, but Egypt also had a hand in establishing the Fatah movement, and even much more than a hand. They trained Fatah, they helped establish it, and the Fatah movement sent their brigade to fight against us on Egyptian soil in the Yom Kippur War.

"They have a long-standing interest for many years to spill our blood and exhaust us through the Gazan fighters. Therefore, they have an interest from the day the peace agreement was signed until now to do the same thing, which the peace agreement does not allow them to harm us directly. So the Gazans do their job.

"Only there is a problem here, which is that the Gazans began to be inclined toward the Muslim Brotherhood - a movement that opposes the Egyptian government - which is a different type of Islam. The roles flipped."


CIA, MI6 chiefs urge truce-hostage deal; Burns calls for ‘hard political compromises’
The heads of the American and British foreign intelligence agencies said Saturday they are “working ceaselessly” for a ceasefire in Gaza, using a rare joint public statement to press for an end to the conflict.

CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore said their agencies had “exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation.”

Later Saturday, Burns said a new hostage-ceasefire proposal was being finalized, and would likely be presented within days, but stressed that ending the conflict would require “some hard choices and some political compromises” from both Israel and Hamas.

In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, the two spymasters said a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war “could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement.”

Burns has been heavily involved in efforts to broker an end to the fighting, traveling to Egypt in August for high-level talks aimed at bringing about a hostage deal and at least a temporary halt to the conflict.

So far there has been no agreement, though United States officials insist a deal is close. US President Joe Biden said recently that “just a couple more issues” remain unresolved. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has said reports of a breakthrough are inaccurate, that no deal is close, and that Hamas has “rejected everything.”

The war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.

The US and the United Kingdom are both staunch allies of Israel and have both supported the war, though London diverged from Washington on Monday by suspending some arms exports to Israel due to risk that they could be used to break international law.

At a Financial Times event in London alongside Moore on Saturday, Burns said that a more detailed proposal for a deal would be made in the coming days but would require both sides to make some tough decisions.

Burns said he was working very hard on “texts and creative formulas” with mediators Qatar and Egypt to secure a ceasefire, by finding a proposal which satisfies both parties. We will make this more detailed proposal, I hope in the next several days, and then we’ll see,” Burns stated.
Turkey's Erdogan: Islamic countries should form alliance against 'Israel's growing expansionism'
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called "the growing threat of expansionism" from Israel.

He made the comment after describing what Palestinian and Turkish officials said was the killing by Israeli troops of a Turkish-American woman taking part in a protest on Friday against settlement expansion in the West Bank.

"The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries," Erdogan said at an Islamic schools' association event near Istanbul.

Turkey improving ties with other Middle Eastern countries
He said recent steps that Turkey has taken to improve ties with Egypt and Syria are aimed at "forming a line of solidarity against the growing threat of expansionism," which he said also threatened Lebanon and Syria.

Erdogan hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Ankara this week and they discussed the Gaza war and ways to further repair their long-frozen ties during what was the first such presidential visit in 12 years.

Ties between them started thawing in 2020 when Turkey began diplomatic efforts to ease tensions with estranged regional rivals, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Erdogan said in July that Turkey would extend an invitation to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "any time" for possible talks to restore relations between the two neighbors, who severed ties in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.


At UN workshop, envoys warn of ‘tsunami of antisemitism’ since Oct. 7
Surging antisemitism since the Hamas terror group’s October 7 attack sparked the war in Gaza recalls the run-up to World War II, with fear spreading through Jewish communities worldwide, top European and US envoys warned this week.

“We have seen a tsunami of antisemitism really rolling across Europe and the globe,” said Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission’s coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life.

“We are seeing a situation that we had hoped we would never see again,” she told AFP in Geneva after a closed-door workshop at the United Nations on Wednesday on how to address the threat.

She pointed to the firebombing of synagogues, Stars of David spray-painted onto houses where Jews live and Jewish students attacked on university campuses.

“I think we are now in a situation that really reminds us of the darkest days of Europe.”

During Wednesday’s event, hosted by the United States, speakers highlighted a dramatic surge in antisemitic attacks since October 7 last year. A man enters a building whose facade was covered with Stars of David painted during the night, in the Alesia district of Paris, on October 31, 2023. (Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP)

In France, statistics show the number of antisemitic incidents exploded four-fold last year to 1,676.

And in Denmark, 121 antisemitic incidents were registered in 2023 — up 1,244 percent from the nine incidents recorded a year earlier.

“We see these spikes everywhere,” von Schnurbein said.

On October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas, return the hostages, and prevent any security threat from the enclave going forward.

Amid the devastating war, protests have roiled a long line of university campuses in the US and elsewhere, with demonstrators in many cases expressing open support for Hamas and other terror groups.
BBC ‘breached guidelines 1,500 times’ over Israel-Hamas war
The BBC breached its own editorial guidelines more than 1,500 times during the height of the Israel-Hamas war, a damning report has found.

The report revealed a “deeply worrying pattern of bias” against Israel, according to its authors who analysed four months of the BBC’s output across television, radio, online news, podcasts and social media.

The research, led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, also found that Israel was associated with genocide more than 14 times more than Hamas in the corporation’s coverage of the conflict.

On Saturday, Danny Cohen, a former BBC executive, warned that there was now an “institutional crisis” at the national broadcaster and called for an independent inquiry into its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

Two leading Jewish groups, the Campaign Against Antisemitism and the National Jewish Assembly, added their voices to calls for an independent review, while Lord Austin, a former Labour minister, accused the BBC of “high-handed arrogance” for continually dismissing questions over its impartiality.

The Asserson report analysed the BBC’s coverage during a four-month period beginning Oct 7, 2023 – the day Hamas carried out a brutal massacre in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 251 into Gaza as hostages.

A team of around 20 lawyers and 20 data scientists contributed to the research, which used artificial intelligence to analyse nine million words of BBC output.

Researchers identified a total of 1,553 breaches of the BBC’s editorial guidelines, which included impartiality, accuracy, editorial values and public interest.

“The findings reveal a deeply worrying pattern of bias and multiple breaches by the BBC of its own editorial guidelines on impartiality, fairness and establishing the truth,” the report said.

Downplayed terrorism
It also found that the BBC repeatedly downplayed Hamas terrorism while presenting Israel as a militaristic and aggressive nation.

It claimed that some journalists used by the BBC in its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict have previously shown sympathy for Hamas and even celebrated its acts of terror.

Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international editor, is accused of excusing Hamas’s terrorist activities and comparing Israel to Putin’s Russia, while Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, is also cited for allegedly “downplaying” the October 7 attacks on Israel.

The report singles out the BBC’s Arabic channel, saying that it is one of the most biased of all global media outlets in its treatment of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

It identifies 11 cases where it claims the BBC Arabic’s coverage of the war has featured reporters who have previously made public statements in support of terrorism and specifically Hamas, without viewers being informed of this.

Researchers analysed the BBC coverage over the four-month period to assess the portrayal of war crimes.
Justice Department says Russian disinformation campaign targeted Israel and US Jews
A Russian disinformation campaign targeted Israel and American Jews in a bid to weaken support for Ukraine, including by creating a fake version of a Jewish newspaper, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced.

The sites and accounts aimed at Jews were part of a broader Russian propaganda effort that involved 32 internet domains and stretched into Mexico and Germany as well as the United States and Israel. According to a Justice Department statement, the campaign had the “aim of reducing international support for Ukraine, bolstering pro-Russian policies and interests, and influencing voters in U.S. and foreign elections, including the U.S. 2024 Presidential Election.”

The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office is investigating this case, which the Justice Department announced on Thursday as part of a broad effort to head off potential Russian influence in the U.S. election in November. U.S. intelligence officials have assessed that the Russians want Republican Donald Trump to win.

According to an affidavit by an anonymous FBI field agent, the campaign included instructions for a plan called “The Comprehensive Information Outreach Project in Israel (and also Jewish Community Outreach in the US).”

Those plans, according to the field agent, disseminated Russian propaganda across multiple web domains, including some that mimicked genuine news websites, such as the Washington Post and the Forward, a Jewish publication (and syndication client of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency).

The campaign included “Work with Israeli influencers,” activity across online platforms and “an operation involving the widespread posting of social media comments impersonating Israelis,” according to the affidavit.

An attached five-page memo said that Israel’s deep political polarization, primarily over the right-wing government’s proposed judicial overhaul last year, made the country especially susceptible to Russian influence operations. The goal, the memo said, was to “rip Israel out of the general Western anti-Russian agenda,” in part by portraying Ukraine’s government and its Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as neo-Nazis — an allegation Russia has peddled since invading Ukraine in 2022. “Under current circumstances, these goals could be achieved in a relatively short term, relying on forces that in fact exist within the country as well as in the Jewish diaspora in the United States,” the memo said. “Based on this, the key indicator of the effectiveness of the project will be an increase in the number of Israeli citizens supporting Russia in the fight against Nazism.”
Pakistani man charged with planning terror attack against NY Jews on Oct. 7 or Yom Kippur
A Pakistani national, whom Canadian authorities arrested on Wednesday, planned to carry out an ISIS-styled, mass shooting terror attack against Jews in New York, the U.S. Justice Department alleged on Friday.

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, who also answers to Shahzeb Jadoon, “attempted to travel from Canada to New York City, where he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, N.Y.,” per the complaint.

Khan allegedly distributed ISIS videos and literature and expressed support for ISIS on social media and via encrypted messages. Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham is a U.S.-designated terror organization.

The defendant allegedly wrote that he wanted to target “Israeli Jewish Chabads … scattered all around,” per the 19-page complaint.

The Justice Department alleges that Khan “conveyed that he hoped to carry out this attack on or around Oct. 7, 2024—which Khan recognized as the one year anniversary of the brutal terrorist attacks in Israel by Hamas, a designated foreign terror organization, which, on Oct. 7, 2023, launched a wave of violent, large-scale terrorist attacks in Israel that resulted in the deaths and hostage taking of hundreds of civilians, including American citizens.”

Khan allegedly told undercover officers that he wanted to “go for Oct. 7 or Oct 11, Yom kippur, a major festival for the Jews,” per the complaint. “Khan emphasized that ‘Oct. 7 and Oct. 11 are the best days for targeting the Jews,’ because ‘Oct. 7 they will surely have some protests and Oct. 11 is Yom Kippur,’ and ‘they don’t have any other major festival then till next summer.’”

“In selecting New York City as his target location, Khan told the undercover law enforcement officers that ‘New York is perfect to target jews’ because it has the ‘largest Jewish population In America,’ and, as such, ‘even if we don’t attack a event, we could rack up easily a lot of Jews,” the complaint adds.

The defendant told the undercover officers that “he intended to kill as many Jewish civilians as possible, proclaiming that ‘we are going to New York City to slaughter them,'” per the complaint, which added that Khan allegedly sent a photograph “of the specific area” where he planned to attack to the undercover officers.

Per the complaint, Khan also allegedly told the undercover officers not to wear beards, so they wouldn’t attract attention, and that “you guys will even have to attend some synagogue or Chabad sessions” to “check the insides of the buildings.” He told them it was necessary to identify emergency exits in buildings, “so we can trap them and kill them inside,” per the complaint.

“In addition, Khan also explained that they should not record their ISIS allegiance video, or ‘bayah,’ until later because it would run the risk of them being caught by law enforcement prior to the planned attack,” the complaint alleges.
Urban warfare expert debunks lies about Israel, explains how it shows restraint in Gaza
John Spencer is one of the world’s preeminent experts on urban warfare. He’s been inside Gaza three times since December, embedded with the Israel Defense Forces, analyzing the war against Hamas from multiple angles. He interviewed the prime minister, the IDF chief of staff, division commanders, brigade commanders, battalion commanders, “all the way down to soldiers in the field.”

He knows Israel’s critics accuse the Jewish state of conducting the war on Hamas with disproportionate casualties, excessive force, indiscriminate bombing and an alleged campaign to starve the people of Gaza.

That’s not what Spencer saw in Gaza. He saw the IDF doing “harm mitigation at a level that nobody’s ever tried.”

Throughout his Gaza investigations, he observed clear and consistent following of legal requirements, and what is militarily referred to as “civilian harm mitigation steps.” Among these, were evacuating civilians from certain areas by handing out maps of safe areas, real time population tracking methods and warning shots on roofs.

“Of course, militaries have soldiers that do things that are wrong,” but as in other democracies, Israel has a system to hold those accountable, and investigate problems.

“If Israel was trying to conduct civilian harm there, nothing shows that. Not my on-hand research, or the numbers. Very few people have the understanding of everything that’s come before every large-scale military operation, against a defending urban enemy,” Spencer said.

Other military investigations, including those led by British Col. Richard Kemp and British Maj. Andrew Fox, have come to identical conclusions, he said. If Israel wasn’t following the rules of war, Gaza “would look a lot worse than it does now.”

Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, will speak in Winnipeg on Sept. 11 and Toronto on Sept. 12, organized by the Tafsik organization.

With over 25 years of service in the U.S. Army, he served two tours in Iraq, as infantry platoon leader and company commander. Today he serves as a colonel in the California State Guard as director of urban warfare training. There, he co-created and instructs the only existing course designed to improve the ability of commanders and staff to coordinate large-scale urban operations. He’s written several books on his expertise, and advised four-star generals and Pentagon officials.

“I believe in not just looking at the data everybody else has, but I have a research methodology of walking the ground, observing, asking the hard questions,” said Spencer, who is also the chair of urban warfare studies at the Madison Policy Forum think tank.

“You really don’t understand the complexity of what the IDF had to face, until you see the dense urban terrain. You’re walking on top of hundreds of miles of tunnel. You have a war of this scale, in a context that no military has faced in modern history.”
John Spencer | Urban Warfare Expert | The Doron Keidar Podcast #11
John W. Spencer is a retired United States Army officer, researcher of urban warfare, and author. He currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point. John also hosts the Urban Warfare Project Podcast, at West Point.

His research, spanning over a decade, focuses on military operations in dense urban areas, megacities, urban and subterranean warfare and includes cutting-edge field research into ongoing or recently concluded wars and battles from Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine, Israel, to Gaza.


What I Learned in 10 Months of War in Israel | The Doron Keidar Podcast #13
After spending over 10 months in harsh combat and risking my life daily with my team in Gaza and coming home to hear the media and other political pundits and social media whores try to paint us as the villains, here's what I have to say about it, as one who was actually there.




IDF to change its combat tactics in Gaza tunnels to prevent murder of hostages
The IDF will change its combat tactics in the Gaza tunnels following the murder of the six hostages, KAN News reported Friday, citing military sources.

The IDF has become more concerned that as troops enter and operate within the tunnels, any hostages held within will be killed.

The IDF will assume that in any area where the IDF has not yet operated, there are hostages. “The murder of the hostages is a direct operational message from Hamas – 'stop operating underground,’” military officials told KAN.

KAN reported that according to the military sources, fighting has become more difficult and complex due to the message that was sent with the murder of the hostages that, if the IDF continues to operate underground, more hostages will be killed. “The IDF will continue to reach the hostages without endangering them,” the military source said.

After the rescue operation of Noa Argamani (25), Almog Meir (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40) in Operation Arnon, Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida said that Hamas ordered its hostage guards to kill the hostages as soon as they received reports that the IDF was getting close to them.

IDF investigation of the murder of the six hostages
An initial IDF investigation revealed that the lookouts stationed outside the tunnel spotted IDF soldiers approaching them, which most likely prompted them to kill the hostages and leave the scene.

The IDF retrieved the bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Ori Danino on Sunday, later revealing that the bodies sustained gunshot wounds.

The IDF found signs that Hamas lookouts had been monitoring IDF soldiers after locating the bodies. The IDF attempted to make sure to avoid locations where there was intelligence about living hostages, which is information constantly provided to soldiers as they operate in Gaza.
IAF kills Islamic Jihad commanders, Hamas terrorists embedded in civilian areas
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Deir al-Balah Battalion commanders Abdallah Khatib and Hatem Abu Aljidian were killed on Saturday during a day of Israel Air Force (IAF) strikes on PIJ and Hamas terrorists embedded in a humanitarian area and schools in the Gaza Strip, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced.

The statement noted that the Israel Air Force strike was precise, targeted an immediate threat in the area, and was conducted to neutralize the danger posed by the terrorists.

Khatib reportedly commanded the battalion’s terrorist activity during the October 7 massacre in southern Israel. Aljidian, was the commander of the Islamic Jihad’s Eastern Deir al-Balah Battalion.

IAF strikes Hamas terror command center embedded in northern Gaza school

Earlier, IAF aircraft conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists operating from within a command and control center embedded in a structure that had previously served as a school building, according to the IDF and Shin Bet.

Hamas reportedly used the Amr Ibn al-As School in northern Gaza to plan and launch attacks on Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip and on Israeli territory.

Early Saturday morning, the IDF reported that during the previous night, the IAF struck a Hamas terrorist command and control center embedded within the Halima al-Sa’diyya school in northern Gaza. The terrorists had also been using the command center to plan terror attacks, according to reports.

Reuters, citing local medics, reported that the strike on the Halima al-Sa’diyya school killed at least eight people and wounded 15.

According to the news agency, displaced people have been using the school compound in Jabalya as a shelter.

Steps taken to reduce civilian harm
In the announcements of all the strikes mentioned, the IDF and Shin Bet stated that Israel had taken numerous steps to mitigate risk to civilians located near the targets.

They also noted that IAF strikes had used precise ammunition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence to mitigate risk further.

Hamas frequently exploits current or past civilian infrastructure to shelter its activities.
‘Terrorist eliminated': IDF documents close-quarters elimination of terrorists in Gaza
The military reported that it had succeeded in killing dozens of terrorists and raiding terrorist infrastructure in the area in a Saturday evening operational update on IDF activities in Tel Al-Sultan, a city in Gaza’s Rafah Governate.

The IDF’s activities come as part of ongoing “precise, intelligence-based targeted operations” in southern Gaza, the military added.

In one of the 932nd Battalion’s raids on terror infrastructure in the Tel Al-Sultan area, a terrorist reportedly threw a grenade at the Israeli forces, who responded with fire.

A close-quarters encounter
The terrorists present were killed in the ensuing close-quarters encounter, the military said.

“The platoon took over a location that from the ground floor a grenade was thrown from one of the rooms towards the troops,” recounted 1st Lieutenant Y, a platoon commander in the 932nd Battalion. “The platoon took cover, and we started returning fire. We threw three grenades toward the terrorists and started engaging in close-quarters combat. We eliminated the terrorists, and on them, we found two AK-47s, three grenades, a gun, and a bag containing intelligence documents.”

In an audio recording published by the military of the IDF’s encounter with the terrorists, a soldier is heard reporting what was occurring over the radio.

In response to a question regarding the status of a terrorist that had been engaged by the forces at the scene, the soldier responded, “Terrorist eliminated.”


Hizballah Tries to Sell Its Foiled Attack on Israel as a Great Victory
On August 25, in the wee hours of the morning, the IDF carried out a wave of airstrikes on Hizballah positions, preventing the massive rocket and drone attack the Iran-backed terrorist group had planned. Aviram Bellaishe argues that the attack wasn’t only intended to avenge the killing of the Hizballah commander Fuad Shukr, but also that of the Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on the same day. Iran had ostentatiously vowed revenge for the second, but Bellaishe believes it is happy to outsource the job:
Tehran shifted the responsibility for revenge against Israel to Hizballah. This could also be inferred from statements by the Iranian chief of staff indicating that the Iranian revenge attack might be carried out either by Iran itself or the resistance axis, [i.e., Iranian proxies]. It is clear that the regime was preparing for victory celebrations, and aimed for a symbolic achievement.

But since the attack was foiled, will Hizballah try again? Unlikely, argues Bellaishe. Hizballah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech in the evening after the thwarted attacked and simply lied about what happened, claiming that Israel was “concealing the damage” done by his rockets and that “Israel had failed to hit its rocket launchers because they had been successfully evacuated.” As for the pro-Iran press:
This failure clearly prompted rapid and uncoordinated reactions by Iranian propagandists in an attempt to cover for the failed attack. [Iran’s] Kayhan newspaper featured on its front page Hizballah’s claim that the Israeli preemptive strike was fake news, while the Jam-e Jam newspaper, published by the state broadcasting authority, reported that the Israeli preemptive strike had “failed” to prevent Hizballah’s retaliation. . . . The image of victory for Hizballah’s operation was sorely needed, and since it did not materialize, it had to be fabricated.

Iranian efforts to attribute a military achievement and victory to Hizballah’s attack on Israel were clearly unsuccessful. Instead, these efforts were greeted with mockery from the Lebanese and the Iranian public.
Dozens of rockets fired at north as Israeli jets hit Hezbollah launchers in Lebanon
Dozens of rockets were fired at northern Israel on Saturday, with some reaching areas near the city of Safed, as Israeli airstrikes took out Hezbollah launchers throughout southern Lebanon.

In a morning barrage, the Israel Defense Forces said around 30 projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward the Meron area. All of the rockets impacted open areas, the military said.

Later on Saturday, a barrage of rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee. Some of the rockets were intercepted by air defenses, according to the IDF.

Others struck the community of Shlomi, causing damage to a home, and some struck open areas near Liman, sparking a fire.

Another barrage of five rockets was later fired from Lebanon at the Safed area, striking open areas, the military said.

There were no casualties in Saturday’s attacks.

In the evening, the IDF said it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Aynata used in the attack on Safed.

In addition, infrastructure and a launcher were targeted in southern Lebanon’s Qabrikha that were used to fire rockets at Israel on Saturday.

Separately, several drones were launched from Lebanon Saturday evening at the Upper Galilee. The IDF said they impacted in northern Israel, causing no injuries.

Earlier in the day, the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group took responsibility for a string of attacks on Israeli troops and positions near the border, including with Katyusha rockets, some in stated response to “Israeli enemy attacks” on south Lebanon.


Freed hostage says she was forced to read lines, pose with food for propaganda clips
Released Hamas hostage Aviva Siegel on Saturday described the pressures of being forced to make propaganda videos for the terror group while being held in dire conditions in the Gaza Strip, including being coerced to repeat lines and pretend that adequate food was being given to her in captivity.

Siegel told The Wall Street Journal she struggled to remember the lines given by her captors as she was held with limited food and water, and inside tunnels where it was difficult to breathe. Her videos have not been released by the terror group.

“‘You didn’t say that you’re 62.’ ‘You didn’t say that you’re from Kfar Aza.’ ‘You didn’t say that Bibi needs to bring you back,’” Siegel recounted her captors telling her during filming, adding she would always forget what she needed to say.

Siegel, 62, was abducted along with her husband Keith from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Aviva was released on November 26 as part of a temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel. Keith remains in captive.

Hamas has issued several videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is psychological warfare. Israeli authorities and human rights groups, and several freed hostages, have said that captives are coerced into making their remarks in such videos.

Israeli media outlets generally publish them only if their families request that they do so. Families have increasingly given their permission for the footage to be aired in an attempt to keep their struggle for their loved ones’ release in the public eye.

Siegal was forced to speak to cameras and her captors’ production crew three times during her 51 days in Gaza, The Journal reported.

“So I had to say it again and again and again,” she said.

On two occasions, the terrorists took footage of her eating, in an apparent attempt to portray her captors as adequately taking care of her.

“They used to make food and put it on the table,” she told The Journal. “We had to sit next to them and smile and say everything is okay, just for the picture.”


The Free Press: Six Israeli Hostages Murdered—What Comes Next?
This week on The Free Press Live: Trump backtracks on “stop the steal,” Brazil suspends X, what comes next in Israel following the murder of six hostages in Gaza & Russian operatives funnel money into conservative U.S. media.

Join Michael Moynihan, Batya Ungar-Sargon, Walter Kirn & Eli Lake to help you make sense of this election year from hell.


From Trotskyism to Praising Hamas
In the 1920s, Joseph Stalin drove his fellow Bolshevik Leon Trotsky out of the inner circle of the Soviet government and then expelled him from the country, eventually having him assassinated in 1940. While Trotsky and Stalin did have genuine ideological disagreements, they agreed that the USSR should be autocratic, brutal, and ruthless toward dissenters. A myth nonetheless grew up that Trotsky embodied a more humane and democratic version of Communism—true only insofar as it’s difficult to be less humane than Stalin—and an energetic Trotskyite movement persisted in the West into the 1950s.

Alan Johnson follows what happened to Trotskyism in the years since and finds an ugly story of people eager to embrace with gusto any brutal dictatorship they could classify as “proletarian” or “anti-imperialist.” The Trotskyite impulse, as one writer described it, was to “act as attorney for some of the vilest regimes in the world.” To Johnson, there is a direct line from that attitude to those leftists today who don’t just defend Hamas, but enthusiastically celebrate the October 7 attacks:
So while the song may remain the same, a lot more people are singing it today. Just as in an earlier era, when the Trotskyists said palpably barbaric anti-working-class tyrannies were really “workers’ states” to be defended unconditionally against “imperialism”; just as when a wider revolutionary New Left said vicious reactionary sub-imperialist predators had really been “anti-imperialists” to be cheered on to victory; so today an even broader “left” is responding to the worst anti-Semitic pogrom since the Holocaust with calls for two, three, many October 7s, which they fantasize will be a global “intifada-revolution.”
Honestly with Bari Weiss: When Students Become Terrorists
Last year, at colleges across America, students etched themselves into history, or infamy, with the most dramatic campus protests in a generation.

In preparation for the fall semester, some major universities—from NYU to UCLA—have implemented new rules and decided to enforce old ones to protect Jewish students from activists who had declared sections of campus no-go zones for Zionists. Universities that turn a blind eye to the Tentifada phenomenon now risk violating federal statute.

Nonetheless, the chaos appears to be returning. At Temple University, protesters marched in solidarity with Palestinian “resistance against their colonizers.” Last week, a man attacked a group of Jewish students with a glass bottle on the University of Pittsburgh campus outside the school’s “Cathedral of Learning.” Meanwhile at the University of Michigan, four agitators were arrested during a “die-in.”

So clearly the danger is not yet over entirely for campuses, even though some of the steam may be leaving the movement. The Democratic National Convention, for example, was supposed to be the exclamation mark of rage, but the protests barely registered as a tussle.

But history teaches us that it takes only a few student true believers to make quite a mess once they decide that boycotts and sit-ins aren’t making a difference.

To understand this moment and the risk these student protesters pose, Free Press columnist Eli Lake looks at America’s history with Ivy League domestic terrorists. More than 50 years ago, campus unrest also spilled into the streets and moved off the grid as a small and lethal group of radicals called the Weather Underground took the plunge from protest to resistance. But the Weather Underground railed against the establishment. Today’s campus protesters are supported by it. Call them. . . the Weather Overground.


Senator Tom Cotton & Douglas Murray's full fireside chat at the RJC Annual Leadership Summit



IDF probing allegation troops killed dual US-Turkish citizen in Samaria
The Israel Defense Forces was probing allegations that troops shot and killed a dual U.S.-Turkish citizen during a protest near Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria on Friday.

According to the military, during operations adjacent to the Palestinian town of Beita soldiers opened fire at a “main instigator” who had “posed a threat” by throwing stones at them.

The fatality was named as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, an activist with the anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

“A claim that a foreign citizen was killed by gunfire is being probed. The details of the incident and the circumstances of her being struck are under investigation,” the IDF added.

“We deplore this tragic loss,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, while offering his “deepest condolences” to Eygi’s family.

“First things first—let’s find out exactly what happened, and we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that. When we have more info, we will share it, make it available and, as necessary, we’ll act on it,” he said.

Ankara described the incident as a “murder committed by the Netanyahu government,” with a Foreign Ministry statement adding: “Israel is trying to intimidate all those who come to the aid of the Palestinian people and who fight peacefully against the genocide. This policy of violence will not work.”


How deep-blue cities are prosecuting — or not —law-breaking anti-Israel activists
It was a tale of two freeways.

In April, protesters on U.S. 101 in San Francisco shut down the Golden Gate Bridge and I-880 in nearby Oakland to protest Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, blocking traffic for hours. Protesters in Oakland chained themselves to cement-filled barrels to avoid being forced to leave. On the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the anti-Israel activists used a heavy chain to connect several cars at the front of the logjam.

The story of the two simultaneous protests diverges when it comes to the consequences the protesters on each highway are now facing. In August, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins charged 26 people with false imprisonment, trespassing and other charges, alleging that they forcibly kept drivers on the Golden Gate Bridge for more than four hours. Meanwhile, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price has not filed charges against any of the protesters who shut down I-880 in Oakland.

The two district attorneys’ strikingly disparate handlings of similar incidents reflect their different approaches to prosecuting crime — and offers a window into how different law enforcement officials have dealt with rising antisemitism since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks last year and anti-Israel protests that have at times veered into unlawfulness.

Price was elected in 2022 as a staunch progressive who ran on a platform of reducing sentences and limiting incarceration. She now faces a recall in November from community members worried she isn’t doing enough to stem rising crime in Oakland. Jenkins, meanwhile, was appointed San Francisco DA in 2022 after her progressive predecessor, Chesa Boudin, was successfully recalled in a campaign similar to the one seeking to oust Price.

Images of illicit encampments, disruptive protests and videos of activists chanting hateful slogans about Israel and Jews outside kosher restaurants are often met with what seems like a simple demand from Jewish Americans concerned about rising antisemitism: Why isn’t more being done about this?

“People have a right to protest. People have a right to go out and hate as much as you want. This is America. You don’t have to like me,” said Hermann Walz, a former prosecutor in Queens and an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “What you’re not allowed to do is trespass, deface property, harass other people, those kinds of things.”

But even when protesters break the law, such as on the Golden Gate Bridge and I-880 in Oakland, what happens to them next — and what consequences they might face for their actions — can vary widely. Prosecutors have discretion in deciding when to bring charges and how severe the charges will be. Just because a person is arrested on the scene of a protest does not mean they will face charges; The New York Times reported in July that more than 3,000 people were arrested at campus protests last spring, the majority of them have not faced any charges or have since had charges dropped.
Protester blocks West Gate exit by locking herself to car on Melbourne's Montague Street in protest against military expo
A woman protesting an upcoming military expo has chained herself to a car on Melbourne’s Montague Street on Saturday afternoon, with West Gate Freeway delays expected for some time.

The protester, a 27-year-old woman from Kensington, dumped the dramatically embellished car on the Montague Street exit ramp around 1.50pm on Saturday, before locking her arm inside a box affixed to the boot.

Lining the street alongside the freeway exit were fellow protesters, filming the woman and her interactions with Victoria Police, who were inspecting the car.

Protesters were chanting the usual slogans, including "From the River to the Sea" but were namely protesting against the upcoming Land Forces Expo, scheduled to take place in Melbourne from September 11 - 13, which will host some of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers.

The group held signs up calling for a weapons embargo, chanting "Stop arming Israel" while police worked to free the woman from the car.

The Kensington woman was arrested about 3.50pm and is being interviewed by police.

Victoria Police confirmed a second woman, in her 20s, was also arrested at the scene in relation to aiding and abetting the woman protesting.

She is currently in custody and will be interviewed in relation to the incident.

"Police are working to remove the 27-year-old Kensington woman from the car and vehicle from the road as soon as possible," Victoria Police said in a statement.

Police are expecting delays for some time as the protest continues.


Columbia U. protester who begged for ‘humanitarian aid’ now teaching at university
A pro-Palestinian protester who famously requested “humanitarian aid” for those at the Columbia University encampments is now teaching at the university she once occupied, the New York Post reported on Friday.

Johannah King-Slutzky, a doctoral student at Columbia, is teaching a compulsory module titled ‘Contemporary Western Civilization,’ according to the Post.

King-Slutzky, acting as a spokesperson for the encampment, had previously said, “Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill, even if they disagree with you? If the answer is ‘no,’ then you should allow basic … I mean, it’s crazy to say because we’re on an Ivy League campus, but this is, like, basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for… Like, could people please have a glass of water?”

Despite issuing King-Slutzky a teaching role at the university, Columbia had previously threatened to suspend protesters involved in the encampment.

It is unknown if King-Slutzky abandoned the encampment or was among those suspended.
Philadelphia teacher ‘reassigned offsite’ while public school district investigates alleged Jew-hatred
A Philadelphia public school teacher with a history of anti-Israel statements made online threats against parents of Jewish students, according to a complaint that the Deborah Project filed, on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, with the School District of Philadelphia.

Keziah Ridgeway, who teaches at Northeast High School, is accused of naming previously-anonymous School District of Philadelphia Jewish Family Association leaders on social media and “fulminating that they had disobeyed her demand that they cease protesting against her antisemitism,” per the Deborah Project.

Omar Crowder, principal of Northeast High, sent an email to families on Friday stating that an unnamed staff member “will be reassigned offsite” while an investigation is conducted into a complaint about a “Northeast High School staff member,” who “made statements on social media that may violate school district policy,” per a copy of the email that a source shared with JNS.

JNS sought comment from the School District of Philadelphia, which has an enrollment of nearly 200,000 across 330 schools, and from Northeast High, which is part of the district.

“The school district is committed to creating a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment for all students, staff and families,” Crowder added in the email. “We have a plan in place to ensure that the academic needs of affected classes are met.”

“The plan for additional support, for both students and staff, is forthcoming,” he wrote. “Given the ongoing investigation and personal considerations, we cannot provide additional details at this time.”

Ridgeway is accused of “goading the Jewish parents with, ‘Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the,’” and then inserting “an emoji for a human face with finger on lips—making clear that she was talking about a ‘gun,’” according to the Deborah Project, a public interest law firm.

The teacher reportedly also asked in a post if there were black-owned gun shops “in or near Philly? Asking for a friend.”


Jewish NY barber stabbed with own scissors by ‘boozed up’ patron after angry debate over Israel: ‘I want to kill you’
A Jewish barber was stabbed with his own scissors after a customer raged over the Gaza war – allegedly shouting “I want to kill you, you f–king Jew,” the victim said.

Allegedly boozed-up Ahmed al Jabali, 34, was getting his long beard cut by Yonkers barber Slava Shushakova on Aug. 29 when he lashed out against Israel — and the trim descended into bloody violence, according to the victim and city officials.

“He cut me one time, and I asked him to stop and [leave] my store,” Shushakova, who’s seen al Jabali around the neighborhood for years, told The Post. “He didn’t. And he said, ‘No, I have to finish [you], and after I’ll go. That’s what he wanted.

“He told me, ‘This is right to do, and he’s right, and he has a right as a Muslim to punish Jews,'” Shushakova said, adding that al Jabali also said he wanted to burn the Yonkers Avenue shop down.

“This is what he tried to do, if I gave him the chance.”

Before the outburst, Al Jabali had been talking about the ongoing Israel offensive in Gaza during the trimming in the Yonkers Avenue shop, Shushakova told The Post.

The barber tried to get Al Jabali to change the subject, but it didn’t work, according to the criminal complaint — and in a flash, the customer grabbed a pair of Jaguar scissors from the counter and lunged at the 51-year-old stylist shouting the vile antisemitic threat.

Shushakova told al Jabali the cut was serious, and that he’d go to jail for it. But that didn’t matter to the crazed assailant, who said he didn’t care about jail and wasn’t afraid to die, according to the barber.
Muslim woman is arrested after entering London church screaming 'I am here to kill the God of the Jews'
A Muslim woman screamed 'Allahu Akbar' inside a church and said she was 'here to kill the God of the Jews' shortly before a Sunday morning service.

Pastor Regan King had been preparing for worship at the evangelical Angel Church in Islington, North London, with his Jewish wife Rachel and young children.

But the crazed woman entered at about 10am, allegedly shouting Islamic calls to prayer in Arabic before directly addressing and reaching out to the youngsters.

Mr King then moved his family to safety before demanding that the woman leave the building, but she was instead said to have became more aggressive.

Metropolitan Police officers were then called before the woman began shouting anti-Semitic abuse and screamed: 'I am here to kill the God of the Jews'.

The woman repeatedly shouted through the church's sound system 'Allahu Akbar' – before two police cars and a van were said to have arrived ten minutes later.

As she was arrested on suspicion of a religiously-aggravated public order offence, the woman allegedly tried to appeal to one of the officers who she believed was a Muslim.

She was said to have referred to him as 'brother', spoke in Arabic and repeatedly said to him: 'Remember Allah.'

However, the officer told her that he did not speak Arabic and that she should speak in English.


On anniversary of 1970 Black September hijacking, six survivors on life after captivity
What can a hostage crisis dating back over five decades teach about the present Gaza hostage ordeal? Six survivors of one of the “Black September” hijackings carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in September of 1970 spoke with The Times of Israel in recent months about their experiences being held captive by terrorists.

These six survivors were on board TWA Flight 741 from Lod bound for John F. Kennedy Airport on September 6, 1970, when it was hijacked after stopping off in Frankfurt. It was one of four planes commandeered by the PFLP between September 6 and September 9.

The hijacked survivors’ testimonies shed light on the potential after-effects of captivity as Hamas continues to hold 97 of the 251 hostages who were kidnapped during its October 7 terror onslaught on southern Israel, which also saw 1,200 people brutally murdered. At least 33 of the remaining hostages have been confirmed dead by Israel.

Jerry Berkowitz, 84, a resident of Buffalo, New York, recalled how decades after their plane was hijacked, his wife Rivke suffered panic attacks on the few occasions when they flew.

“We were on the way back from my father’s funeral — on a plane about to leave La Guardia — and my wife was standing frozen with her finger pointing out the plane door which was open,” Berkowitz said. “I wanted to know what in the world she is looking at. It was clear she was not seeing the tarmac, she was seeing the Jordanian desert where our hijacked plane landed.”

Rivke, who died eight years ago, was pregnant at the time of the hijacking and flying with her two-year-old daughter Talia. Towards the end of her life Rivke made a point of staying away from airports, though in her professional and family life she was completely functional, said Berkowitz.

Three of the hijacked planes, carrying slightly more than 300 passengers, were forcibly landed in Zarqa, Jordan, at the Dawson Field, a stretch of land used as a makeshift runway because of its flat, packed-dirt surface and triangular shape.

Dawson Field was renamed “Revolution Airport” by the PFLP.

The PFLP attempted to use the hostages as bargaining chips to pressure Israel, Germany, Switzerland and England to release jailed Palestinian terrorists. They warned that at the end of a 72-hour deadline, the hostages would be murdered.

Most of the hostages — Germans, Swiss, British, Dutch and American, as well as some of the 78 Jewish Americans — were released within the first week, with 107 non-Jewish females and children released after the first day.

Of all the captives, only three — a woman named Nava Goren and her two small children — were Israelis. Fourteen more had dual Israeli-US citizenship, of whom only two were adults. The terrorists searched for, and singled out, the Jews, holding them in captivity longer than non-Jews with a similar age and gender profile.

Fifty-six captives — Jews, government and military officials and airplane crew — were held for three weeks.

The PFLP would later demand the release of 56 Palestinian, Algerian and Lebanese terrorists.

Germany and Switzerland would cave in to their demands and release six terrorists. Britain violated an extradition agreement with Israel and released the female terrorist Leila Khaled.

The US and Israel would refuse the PFLP’s demands.




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