Thursday, September 12, 2024

09/12 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The media war against Israel; Pro-Palestinian faculty band together to politicize academia; Andreas Malm and the green antisemitism

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The media war against Israel
The media’s effect on public attitudes towards Israel, however, is very different indeed. That’s because the Western public, by and large, knows virtually nothing about Israel, the Middle East or Jewish history. On Israel, the public mind is therefore a blank page on which can be imprinted whatever picture the media wishes to paint.

And the picture of Israel that’s been painted over the last few decades—and even more intensely since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led pogrom against southern Israel communities—is a vicious and wildly distorted caricature.

Last week, a high-ranking delegation of former NATO military officers was in Israel on a fact-finding mission to assess the conduct of the Israeli Defense Forces in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Members of the group subsequently expressed admiration for the way the IDF has been conducting the war in an unprecedentedly challenging combat environment.

Gen. Sir John McColl, the British former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, said: “I came away from the trip satisfied that the IDF’s operations and rules of engagement were rigorous compared to the British Army and our Western allies … Israeli soldiers are fighting in conditions of extraordinary complexity and risk.”

This was a sharp if tacit rebuke to Britain’s Starmer administration, which has announced a partial arms embargo against Israel on the grounds that such weapons “might” be used in a “serious violation” of humanitarian law and that there had been “credible” claims about the mistreatment of detainees.

But what was particularly striking about McColl’s remarks was that he had apparently arrived in Israel predisposed to believe the allegations made against it. He said: “Basing my views about the Israel-Hamas war on U.K. media coverage, I arrived in Israel critical and skeptical of their military operations. … There is balance missing in the reporting of events in Gaza.”

The impression given by the British media for the past 11 months of this war has been that Israel is willfully killing huge numbers of Gaza’s women and children, recklessly bombing hospitals and schools full of displaced people, and preventing humanitarian aid from getting to civilians.

Those claims are the reverse of the truth. Yet a very senior military figure seems to have believed them because this media narrative is omnipresent. Even in newspapers whose editorial line is broadly sympathetic to Israel, the reporting is massively distorted by the promulgation of Hamas propaganda as news reports.

The most egregious serial offender is the BBC, whose global reach and reputation for integrity and trustworthiness make it the most influential media outlet in the world. For decades, it has sanitized Palestinian Arab terrorism and painted Israel falsely as the aggressor in the region. And during the current war in Gaza, its coverage has been overwhelmingly malevolent.

A major study published this week by Trevor Asserson, a British lawyer based in Tel Aviv, laid bare the staggering scale of this betrayal of BBC and journalistic standards.

A dedicated team he set up used AI to crunch four months of war coverage. It identified 1,553 breaches of the BBC’s own guidelines on impartiality and accuracy. It also revealed moderate or strong pro-Palestinian/anti-Israeli sentiment in more than 90% of broadcasts on the network’s flagship shows.

Israel was associated with war crimes in BBC reporting 592 times but Hamas (whose entire campaign from Oct. 7 onwards has consisted of war crimes against both Israeli and Gaza civilians) only 98 times.

Worse still—because far more explosive—was the distorted coverage on the BBC Arabic service whose output displayed 90% bias. Most shocking of all, across all its output the network repeatedly used journalists who had shown hostility to Israel, sympathy for Hamas or outright Jew-hatred.
Jonathan Tobin: Democracy suffers when the media can’t be trusted
Journalists fueling antisemitism
The ability of the left to dominate the national conversation undermines the long-held belief that journalists play a key role in the democratic process, by which the policies of any government can be held up to scrutiny and candidates can similarly expect to be held accountable. If mainstream journalists are only doing this to one side of the political divide while giving a pass to the other, especially when already in power, the public is given the impression that what we have is not a free press but a state media that can be expected to toe the party line in the same manner as authoritarian or totalitarian regimes.

The same process applies to the coverage of Israel and antisemitism. It is almost universally expected now that the Jewish state’s efforts to defend itself—even against the barbaric tactics of a genocidal Islamist terrorist group like Hamas and its tyrannical Iranian backers—will always be covered unfairly. In the past, most media bias against Israel was rooted in ignorance, sloppiness and the natural inclination of journalists to always tell a story from the side of the perceived underdog, which, despite the size and power of the forces arrayed against the one small Jewish nation on the planet, is the way the world views the Palestinian Arabs who seek to destroy it.

In recent years, it’s become clear that the problem with the coverage of Israel is more a matter of ideology than a lack of knowledge about the history of the conflict in the Middle East. Just as the left’s stranglehold on college faculties and administrations has created an atmosphere in which most professors and students believe the intersectional lie that Israel is an illegitimate “settler/colonial” state of “white” oppressors, the same is now true of the liberal media, most of whose personnel have already received the same indoctrination.
Andreas Malm and the green antisemitism
“The first thing we said in these early hours consisted not so much of words as of cries of jubilation. Those of us who have lived our lives with and through the question of Palestine could not react in any other way to the scenes of the resistance storming the Erez checkpoint: this maze of concrete towers and pens and surveillance systems, this consummate installation of guns and scans and cameras – certainly the most monstruous monument to the domination of another people I have ever been inside – all of a sudden in the hands of Palestinian fighters who had overpowered the occupation soldiers and torn down their flag. How could we not scream with astonishment and joy? Same with the scenes of Palestinians breaking through the fence and the wall and streaming into the lands from which they had been expelled[1]”.

These words, celebrating the destructive act of Hamas on October 7, 2023, are those of Andreas Malm, a researcher in human ecology at Lund University (Sweden). Andreas Malm, a Swedish citizen, is a favorite author of eco-Marxism and one of the most influential thinkers in political ecology. Let’s be clear: for anyone interested in environmental issues, Malm has become a must-read over the past decade. Malm is a rigorous researcher, one of the most visionary on climate change, one of the most creative, one of those who inspire the younger generation of activists, but also the not-so-young, often Marxist or revolutionary. In particular, he has helped to transform ecological thinking considerably because of his metahistorical and foundational approach to the global fossil economy; this sheds light on the economic responsibility of industries and empires in the destruction of environments[2]. Only, Malm, and a new generation of eco-activists with him, place “Israel”, in a dubious critical gesture, at the heart of climate science and environmentalist critique. In his books, and especially in his public statements after the October 7 massacre, Malm repeatedly describes Palestinians as double victims of the Hebrew state: on the one hand because of the occupation, on the other because of Israel’s role in the climate crisis. Why such sweeping generalizations from an otherwise fastidious researcher?

That the author, a Marxian, belongs to the camp of anti-Zionism whose affects are well identified[3], seems obvious, since the critique of Israel is part of the critique of the hegemony of the global North. But by linking “Zionism” and “the environment” and making Palestine the laboratory of climate resistance, a new field emerges: that of what we might call green anti-Zionism. What was the discursive modality behind this evolution? Here, we look at the argumentation behind it, while wondering whether a certain activist-oriented movement in political ecology isn’t in the process of acclimatizing to the prevailing anti-Israelism. Indeed, we need to grasp the content of Israel’s inclusion within the environmental question, for far from being an isolated event, it is indicative of the powerful extension movements of “anti-Zionism” and its updated form based on renewed paths.


Israel Plays an Outsized Role in the Western World's Defense
Israel devotes a larger proportion of its GDP to arms and security exports than any other country on Earth, and more than 80% supports the world's democracies.

By acting as these democracies' armory and their intelligence shield, Israel plays an outsized role in the Western world's defense.

Israel stands out because of its small size - all other major arms exporters have populations many times that of the Jewish state's 9.9 million.

Almost half of Israel's arms exports support Asian countries that are threatened by China, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India.

The U.S., the world's second-largest democracy and until recently the largest purchaser of Israeli arms, also relies on Israeli innovations to improve the performance of its F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.

The European democracies, which account for 35% of Israel's arms exports, want an Iron Dome missile defense system of their own. To date, 21 countries have joined their European Sky Shield Initiative, ESSI, which has at its heart Israel's Arrow 3 air-defense system.

Finland just purchased the David's Sling defense system and the Baltic countries seek the Iron Dome.

In the Middle East, Israel's military and its intelligence services work with America and other Western allies to neutralize threats from Iran and its proxies.

Israel provided the U.S. with the intelligence needed to target Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force.

Israeli intelligence is credited with saving the lives of hundreds of American servicemen stationed in Iraq and Syria in 2020 and 2021 from Iranian attack.

The late Sen. Daniel Inouye, a former chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said, "Israel's contribution to U.S. military intelligence is greater than all NATO countries combined."

When Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Syria under Bashar Assad came close to acquiring nuclear weapons, and the U.S. refused to act against them, Israel destroyed their nuclear facilities.

While the U.S. does more than any other country to support democracies, in proportion to the size of its economy, Israel contributes five times as much, with little fanfare and less recognition of its large role in thwarting the world's tyrannies.
US agency targeting Israeli brass company for political reasons, CEO says
The U.S. International Trade Commission decided on Monday that the Israeli company Finkelstein Metals “materially injured” a U.S. industry by importing brass rod subsidized by the Israeli government and undercutting American competitors by selling it at “less than fair value.”

Following the commission’s 3-1 decision—with the chair voting in the affirmative and the lone Republican in the negative—the U.S. Commerce Department “will issue antidumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of this product from Israel,” the commission stated.

Eitan Finkelstein, the CEO of Finkelstein Metals, told JNS that nothing like the commission’s “terrible decision” has ever been leveraged against an Israeli company.

“The three Democratic people over there fought against our company,” he said. “It’s against Israel. I think it was a political decision, and not because they brought evidence that showed that we are doing something wrong for the market. Because we are so small.” (JNS sought comment from the commission.)

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Finkelstein told JNS. “It could be that we will close in the future because we have to build a new market.”

But the company would face an uphill battle exploring markets outside the United States, according to Finkelstein. “At the moment, with the situation in Israel, to find a new market, it’s not easy,” he said.

Down to brass tacks
Finkelstein Metals is a small Afula-based alloy producer, which employs some 80 people. The sole Israeli producer of brass, bronze and copper alloy products, its U.S. exports represent less than 3% of the total U.S. market but account for 75% of the company’s total sales, with American customers buying brass by the ton.

The company does business in Israel with the defense industry, where it is reportedly a key cog, and with mom-and-pop businesses, which buy by the kilogram. (The company declined to comment on its role within the Israeli defense industry. JNS sought comment from the Israeli embassy in Washington.)

Finkelstein has imported metals into the United States since 1989. It opened a warehouse in Chicago in 2017, according to the company’s CEO, who told JNS that it will no longer be able to afford to export its brass products to the United States.

The federal commission that voted against the company is supposed to be split evenly along party lines, but U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had yet to nominate candidates to fill two vacancies at the obscure but powerful agency, which enforces trade laws, until recently.
Hen Mazzig: Don’t bring Francesca Albanese to Brown University!
Her comments were so egregious that major European leaders, who generally provide strong support to U.N. officials, condemned her. The French government responded: “The Oct. 7 massacre is the largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century. Disputing it is a mistake. Seeming to justify it, by including the name of the United Nations, is a shame. These comments are all the more scandalous since the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the founding of the U.N.” Similarly, the German Foreign Office wrote: “To justify the horrific terror attacks of [Oct. 7] and deny their antisemitic nature is appalling. Making such statements in a U.N. capacity is a disgrace … .”

Even before Oct. 7, on June 9, 2022, Albanese asserted, “[Israeli] occupation requires violence and generates violence … Palestinians have no other room for dissent than violence.” Albanese has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid,” “genocide” and “war crimes,” and has even equated Israel to Nazi Germany. Speaking at a conference in Gaza in November 2022, she told an audience that included Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials: “You have the right to resist this occupation.”

Albanese’s embrace of bigoted rhetoric runs deep. In a fundraising letter for the U.N. Relief Works Administration, Albanese wrote that “America is subjugated by the Jewish lobby.” When she was presented with recorded evidence of a terrorist boasting about murdering 10 Jews and telling his father and mother on the phone “Your son killed Jews!” Albanese defended the butcher by suggesting that it is common in Palestinian Arabic to refer to Israelis as Jews, so his words were political, not antisemitic.

Inviting Albanese to present at Brown University endangers the safety of Jewish students. Brown students suffered several alleged incidences of serious harm, including an incident when students pointed at a Jewish classmate’s Star of David jewelry and yelled “Zionist pig Jew.” The Anti-Defamation League gave Brown a D rating for antisemitism on campus.

These allegations even prompted an investigation of Brown by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which led to a resolution agreement committing the university to “Protecting the safety of its community, in particular supporting the needs and safety of its students, faculty, and staff who are Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish, have ties to the region, and are feeling impacted by current events … . Taking the strongest possible stance against any form of discrimination and harassment including, but not limited to, antisemitism.” Brown is failing to uphold the spirit of this commitment by hosting Albanese.

Furthermore, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) is similarly failing students with its biased unit about Israel in the Choices Program. This social-studies curriculum for high-schoolers, whose resources are used by more than 1 million students, teaches that Jews are settler-colonialists who took over “native Palestinian land.” It also claims that the idea of the Jewish homeland and ancient Israel was a “myth” and “legend.”

Over the last year, American campuses have seen the consequences of enabling extremist voices and those sympathetic to Hamas. Considering Albanese’s history of bigoted rhetoric against Jews and her justification of Hamas’ crimes, it would only add to Brown’s failure to protect Jewish students by allowing her to speak. Brown’s community deserves better.
The New UK Government's Anti-Israel Policy Is a Disgrace
The pretence that the UK's new Labour government has moved away from the blatant anti-Semitism that was rife under its former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been brutally exposed by the actions of David Lammy, the party's new Foreign Secretary.

It was during Corbyn's stint as Labour leader that his party faced constant accusations of anti-Semitism. A damning report produced by the Jewish Labour Movement in 2019 said the party harboured "endemic, institutional anti-Semitism" and that there was "overwhelming evidence that anti-Semitic conduct is pervasive at all levels of the party."

Having been a close political ally of two prominent Labour politicians accused of anti-Semitism, it is hardly surprising therefore that two of Lammy's first initiatives since his appointment as Labour's new foreign secretary in July have been aimed at discrediting Israel.

His first act was to withdraw the British government's official objection to attempts to persuade the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on war crimes charges.

At the same time, Lammy confirmed that the UK was to restore its funding to UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for supporting Palestinian refugees, after support for the organisation was withdrawn by a number of countries -- including the US -- over claims its staffers were directly involved in the October 7 attacks carried out by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists against Israel.

Lammy has now added to his anti-Israel stance by suspending a number of UK arms contracts to Israel, a decision that was announced on the same day that Israel buried the latest group of hostages to be murdered by Hamas terrorists, a decision that was denounced by Netanyahu as "shameful".

As a junior minister in Tony Blair's government in 2006, for example, the Harvard-educated Lammy called for the British media to provide a platform for them to air their "poisonous" views.

His appeal came shortly after a cell of al-Qaeda terrorists had carried out their worst terrorist attack against the UK with the London bombings in July 2005, murdering 72 innocent commuters and wounding more than 700.

While Lammy's anti-Israel policies will undoubtedly appeal to the Labour's Party's hard-Left, they are also likely to place Starmer's government on a collision course with Washington, which has concluded there are no grounds for suspending arms deals with Israel, and that the creation of Palestinian state, as agreed in the Oslo Accords, is contingent on successful peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Lammy's blatant anti-Israel agenda will also place the UK's long-standing strategic alliance with Israel under intense strain. Having worked closely on a number of vital security issues, such as Iran's nuclear programme and the threat posed by Islamist terrorists, the Israeli government will be disinclined to maintain cooperation with the UK's new Labour government so long as Lammy remains foreign secretary.
Suella Braverman: Labour is about to hand a grotesque new victory to Hamas terrorists
As we approach the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, pain and tragedy have become the norm. The Israelis have fought to defend themselves against the death cult of Hamas and have significantly degraded the terrorists. But while the military strategy is paying off, Israel is battling against militant misinformation and anti-Semitism.

Israel is literally in a fight for its survival, and yet is depicted as the oppressor thanks to institutional capture and the moral cowardice of some of our leaders. Yes, I’m talking about our government. This Labour Government has prevaricated at best and been hostile at worst towards Israel in the past 11 months. Too weak and scared to stand up to the extremists and militants in his party, Keir Starmer has taken the easy way out: appeasement.

This can be the only conclusion after the pattern of abandonment since Labour came to power. First, it wasted no time in restoring funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). In doing so, David Lammy ignored the evidence of UNRWA-run schools spreading anti-Semitism and violence, its workers being complicit in the October 7 attacks, and its facilities being used by Hamas. Of course we should support more aid in Gaza, but not if UK taxpayer cash is fuelling terrorism.

Second, Labour dropped the Conservatives’ plan to challenge the International Criminal Court’s application for arrest warrants for Israeli ministers. International fora are being politicised against Israel and this government is facilitating this perversion of the rule of law. This latest example of lawfare against Israel is vexatious and unfounded. But Starmer has turned a blind eye to the facts. All for an easy life with his sectarian supporters.

Lastly, Lammy abandoned Israel at a crucial juncture by suspending certain arms export licences. Spun as a legal obligation but in truth a political choice, this Labour government has seriously harmed our relationship with an ally on which we depend for crucial intelligence and support.

Of course we hear the sentiments of regret from the Labour frontbench. But actions speak louder than words. We should prepare ourselves for the next step in Labour’s anti-Israel policy: recognition of Palestine. This is a manifesto commitment and far-Left Labour MPs have called for it urgently.

Just like the useful idiots in the Irish, Norwegian and Spanish governments, I fear that our pathetic leaders here will follow suit. Doing so any time before hostages are released and Israel’s security can be guaranteed would be a victory for terrorism.
Under Starmer, the poison roots of Labour antisemitism are growing more than ever
Antisemitism in the Labour Party was supposed to be a thing of the past, cleared and resolved by its new leader, now our prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer. He confidently assured British Jewry that he would rid his party, once and for all, of the harmful elements of antisemitism, which, by the party’s own 2016 admission and as exposed by an independent public inquiry three years later, were deeply embedded within it. Starmer claimed that he made tackling antisemitism within Labour’s ranks a key mission from the day he became that party’s leader, promising in his acceptance speech, that he would finally “tear out this poison by its roots.”

On Oct. 10 of last year, just two days after the horrific Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, Starmer attended a Labour Friends of Israel reception and declared that “Labour stands with Israel.” He affirmed how “Labour stands firmly in support of Israel’s right to defend itself, rescue hostages and protect its citizens.” David Lammy, the foreign secretary, also spoke in support of the Jewish state. At the time, Starmer also reflected on feeling a “deep sense of shock” at the rise in antisemitism in the United Kingdom, adding that “we stand by Jewish communities here, and we stand by Israel internationally.” He also criticized the BBC for refusing to call Hamas terrorists.

Many leaders and activists within the Jewish community were won over by his words, his reassurances and his promises. Starmer’s “test for change” seemed to be confirmed when, in February last year, Luciana Berger, rightly appalled and aggrieved by the party’s previous antisemitism, rejoined it.

Yet in truth, the poisonous roots of antisemitism remain deeply embedded within the party, perhaps sprouting and thriving in more insidious ways than ever. Labour has adopted a wholly biased approach towards Israel, revealing a pulsating atmosphere of antisemitism. For example, in a poll shared with Sky News this February, a year after Berger rejoined, more than 40% of the public considered Labour to be rife with antisemitism.

In the run-up to July’s general election, Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, demanded to know whether legal advice indicated a “clear risk that U.K.-licensed items could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law” regarding arms exports to Israel. He was questioning Britain’s support of Israel in its fight against Hamas terror in its Gaza enclave. The party was also vocal about reversing the Conservatives’ suspension of grants to UNRWA, announcing that, should they be elected, they would reinstate it. After their election win, Lammy indeed overturned the suspension, channelling millions of taxpayers’ money back into an organization whose members and resources have been closely linked to Hamas, the heinous crimes of Oct. 7, and the subsequent illegal and brutal captivity of Israeli and other citizens. At the start of September, as the newly appointed foreign secretary, Lammy then enacted a partial suspension on arms exports to Israel. The Labour Party’s stance on antisemitism is riddled with glaring inconsistencies.
Rashida Tlaib targets Facebook ads to Qatari-funded outlet fans, data show
Tlaib’s campaign has spent over $81,000 on ads in the last 90 days, largely to draw attention to her anti-Israel positions and fundraise for her fellow progressive Squad members in the House, according to data from Facebook’s ad database. The Michigan Democrat has used detailed targeting to gear her content mostly to users interested in Al Jazeera, followed by “Palestine,” the “Gaza Strip,” and the “top 10% of ZIP codes” in the United States ordered by household income, data show.

It’s no surprise Tlaib targets readers of Al Jazeera, according to Republican Jewish Coalition spokesman Sam Markstein, who said Tlaib is “hell-bent” on opposing Israel. Al Jazeera was banned in Israel this year over national security concerns and frequently promotes pro-Hamas propaganda. The website is funded by Qatar, a gas-rich country that has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip since 2007.

“It would be out of character for Tlaib not to,” Markstein told the Washington Examiner.

Tlaib’s ad targeting is a window into the types of supporters she seeks to court as the Democrat accuses Israel of genocide and apartheid for retaliating against Hamas over its Oct. 7 attack last year. Tlaib has notably been part of a secret Facebook group whose users have expressed support for Hamas after Oct. 7 — which saw 1,200 Israelis murdered in the Jewish state. Tlaib also co-founded an anti-Israel group called Black for Palestine that pledged “solidarity” in 2016 with Palestinian terrorists, the Washington Examiner reported.

Al Jazeera, the readers of which Tlaib targets through ads, was reportedly required by the Justice Department in 2020 to register as a foreign agent over its Qatari ties. Tlaib’s active ads, launched in August on Facebook, include one calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “genocidal” and others asking for a ceasefire in the Middle East.

In recent years, Republicans on Capitol Hill have demanded answers from the DOJ due to its failure to enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act, including for Al Jazeera and other foreign-linked entities.
Ottawa cancels arms-export licenses to Israel
Canada has canceled around 30 existing permits for arms shipments to Israel, including a deal with the Canadian division of a U.S. defense contractor, Ottawa’s foreign minister told reporters on Tuesday.

“As for the question regarding General Dynamics, our policy is clear,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said, speaking with journalists on the sidelines of a caucus retreat of her governing Liberal Party.

Last month, the United States announced a $61.1 million deal to supply the Israel Defense Forces with 120mm high explosive mortar cartridges and related equipment produced in Quebec by Virginia-based General Dynamics.

Joly said, “We will not have any form of arms, or parts of arms, be sent to Gaza. Period. How they’re being sent and where they’re being sent is irrelevant. And so therefore my position is clear, the position of the government is clear, and we’re in contact with General Dynamics.”

Canada’s top diplomat on Tuesday revealed that, over the summer, the government revoked around 30 export permits issued before January, when Ottawa announced a ban on new sales of arms that could be used by the Israel Defense Forces in the war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

In March, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after he said he would honor a motion in the House of Commons and halt all arms exports to Jerusalem.

“It’s regrettable that the Canadian government is taking a step that undermines Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas terrorists, who have committed terrible crimes against humanity and against innocent Israeli civilians, including the elderly, women and children,” said Katz.

Canadian military exports to Israel amounted to more than $15.4 million in 2022, according to official figures. (The largest non-American export destination was Saudi Arabia, which received about $1.15 billion, or about 54% of the total value of all non-U.S. Canadian military exports.)


Andreas Koureas: Debunking Tucker Carlson’s Darryl Cooper Interview
According to Cooper, part of Churchill’s reasoning for fighting the Second World War was that he wanted redemption for his humiliating “performance in the First World War,” a reference to Churchill’s role in the failure of the Gallipoli campaign.

This reasoning is flawed given that Churchill’s Great War record is not confined to Gallipoli. In January 1916, Churchill enlisted as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front and heroically crossed no-man’s-land thirty times. Subsequently, Churchill re-entered office in July 1917 as minister of munitions.

Nevertheless, Cooper goes on to call Churchill a “psychopath.” Though obviously intended to provoke, the psychiatric term is difficult to square with Churchill’s highly expressive and empathetic personality, which was at odds with the prevailing stoic ideal of the Victorian aristocrat. He was a romantic and wore his heart on his sleeve. He would often get emotional, be it when observing the actions of RAF Fighter Command in the Operations Room or openly bursting into tears while reporting wartime casualties to the House of Commons.

This romantic character certainly played a part in Churchill’s brilliant oratory, which was so effective in encouraging the British public to continue the war effort, much to the dismay of the Nazis. As Hitler wrote in February 1941, “The least effect of all (as far as we can see) has been made upon the morale and will to resist of the English people.”

Cooper then asserts that Churchill was a “drunk:” “I’ve often said that a good ‘litmus test’ on whether someone has researched Churchill is the question, ‘Was he a drunk?” Though often perceived to be, he was not. Churchill had a titanic tolerance for alcohol and was rarely drunk.

As Dr. Allister Vale (Consultant Clinical Pharmacologist and Toxicologist) and Dr. John Scadding (Neurologist and former Academic Dean of the Royal Society of Medicine) concluded, on the subject of Alcohol Use Disorder, “to use the familiar lay term, [Churchill] was not an alcoholic.”

Cooper also challenges Churchill’s Zionism, using the typical antisemitic tropes of Churchill being “bankrupt” and “getting bailed out by Zionists.” Though Churchill often overspent lavishly and was in constant need of money, he was never bankrupt. I’ve covered Sir Winston Churchill’s lifelong friendship with the Jewish People in a previous piece for The National Interest. A read of that should hopefully put to bed these ludicrous antisemitic conspiracies.

Winston Churchill, of course, like any human, had flaws and blunders. Be it Gallipoli, fudging the gold standard, the abdication crisis, or the India Act. However, his actions in the Second World War forever saved civilization from Nazi and fascist tyranny. Regardless of charlatans like Cooper, this truth will always shine through in the history of mankind.
The Spectator: Andrew Roberts hits back at Churchill revisionist Darryl Cooper from the Tucker Carlson show
The historian Darrly Cooper appeared on the Tucker Carlson show last week to reveal why he thinks Churchill was the 'chief villain' of the Second World War and why Churchill, not Hitler was behind mass murder, terror and war crimes. Historian Andrew Roberts joins the Spectator's editor Fraser Nelson to unpack each accusation and explain why they are baseless.


YouTube suspends Candace Owens for antisemitic trope
YouTube, the Google-owned video platform, suspended podcaster Candace Owens earlier this week for antisemitic content, the former Daily Wire staffer wrote on social media.

Owens shared a message from YouTube explaining its reaction after it said that her video claimed “that Jewish people control the media,” a longtime antisemitic trope.

“There will be no show today, or at all this week. That’s because YouTube has issued me a strike and a one-week suspension for my sit-down with Kanye. They also removed the interview as ‘hate speech,’ as it was mass reported by Zionists,” she wrote. “Their tactics never change.”

The interview in question was with musician Kanye West, who goes by Ye and has his own history of Jew-hatred.

“All who watched that podcast know that Ye was calm, and filled with love—speaking about the world coming together to defeat evil,” Owens stated.

She added that 2.5 million people watched her debate the week before with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. “The world knows why I am being targeted and frankly, I have never felt more confident that I am the right person for this to happen,” she wrote.

A YouTube spokesman told the New York Post that the company has also demonetized Owens, and she would have to apply again in 90 days if she wants to profit from ad revenue on the platform again.
Candace Owens Just Destroyed Her Career Is Candace Owens right? We watched 72 hours of her podcast and read several books to debunk her wildest lies.



Senate Judiciary Committee announces first post-Oct. 7 hearing on hate crimes
The Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Tuesday that it will hold a hearing on hate crimes on Sept. 17, the first such hearing that it has held since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and ensuing proliferation of antisemitic incidents across the United States.

The committee, led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), first announced in May that it would hold a hearing on hate crimes, with a focus on the “rise in hate incidents across the country, particularly targeting the Jewish, Arab, and Muslim communities” since Oct. 7. No Senate committee has held a hearing specifically about antisemitism since the Hamas attack.

“During this upcoming hearing, we will consider the rise in hate crimes against Jewish, Arab, and Muslim Americans alongside the equally troubling rise in hate crimes against members of other vulnerable communities,” Durbin said in the May statement. “And we will learn about what we can do to better support survivors of hate crimes and the members of law enforcement who respond to them.”

Tuesday’s announcement makes no mention of antisemitism. The hearing is titled, “A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America.” The witnesses for the hearing have not yet been announced, but a source familiar told Jewish Insider that Democrats will have two while Republicans will have one.


Pro-Palestinian faculty band together to politicize academia
Students get all the attention because of their theatrics, but it is the anti-Israel and antisemitic faculty who have done the most grievous harm behind the protected doors of their classrooms and the shield of academic freedom. Now, however, thousands of professors have revealed their biases, and administrators appear helpless to prevent them from committing academic malpractice, politicizing the campus, demonizing Israel and intimidating Jewish students. It is not only students who suffer; parents are paying exorbitant tuition, and taxpayers are subsidizing a kind of Nazification of what we thought were educational institutions.

You are probably familiar with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the student group that acknowledged it is a part of Hamas. Now we have Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapters at some 120 campuses, including at the University of California system and Ivy League schools (Hamasvard’s has more than 100 members) and growing. The movement has expanded so widely that an FJP network was created to “further the cause of Palestinian liberation through education, advocacy and action.” It seeks to reshape academia into a platform for their political agenda rather than a place for balanced scholarly inquiry by endorsing the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, drawing attention to the history of Palestinian resistance (i.e., terrorism), and protecting and defending faculty and staff in the “pervasively anti-Palestinian campus environment.”

These faculty members are not merely expressing their opinions; they are actively shaping the academic environment to be hostile to both Jewish students and Israel while doing everything possible to prevent universities from taking measures to stem the surge of antisemitism. They insist that nothing they say or do can be construed as antisemitic while their behavior betrays their convictions.

Hamasvard’s FJP and two student groups apologized after reposting a 1967 cartoon that depicted a hand branded with the Star of David with a dollar sign at the center of the star holding a noose that circles the necks of two men who appear to be Muhammad Ali and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. That prompted The Harvard Crimson to publish a satire: “If you think about it really, really, really hard, it actually reflects rather well on our organization that we didn’t even think about the possible antisemitic connotations associated with dollar signs and lynching ropes. We just love Jews so much that we would never associate them with money, global domination, or — which other caricatures did the post play into … Do not, under any circumstances, allow the post to influence your perception of our coalition, my friends and me, or the anti-Zionist movement writ large.”

Do you think disciplinary measures were taken against the FJP, which includes the chairman of Harvard’s history department? Think again.
Columbia Distances Itself From New Faculty Group That Hosted Pro-Terrorist Surgeon
Columbia University is distancing itself from a new faculty group that hosted an anti-Israel doctor who has praised terrorists, including a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) cofounder who helped plan an Israeli airplane hijacking and a Hamas leader suspected of masterminding a rabbi's murder.

The doctor, British-Palestinian surgeon and University of Glasgow rector Ghassan Abu-Sittah, spoke Tuesday evening at Columbia University Health Sciences for Palestine's (CUHSP) inaugural event "Gaza: Public Health in Crisis." The group is composed of Columbia University Irving Medical Center faculty and staff working to "bring attention to health justice in Palestine."

CUHSP's advertisement for the online panel included Columbia's logo and noted that it was cosponsored by "SPIRIT Initiative and the Certificate Program in Global Health, Mailman School of Public Health, [and] Columbia University Medical Center."

A Columbia spokeswoman, however, denied that the anti-Israel group was affiliated with the university.

"Columbia University Health Sciences for Palestine is not a recognized Columbia group and is not authorized to hold an event using University resources," she told the Washington Free Beacon. "The group has been reminded of this and told to remove any Columbia logos from their materials."

She added that the certificate program has since removed its affiliation and that the flyer has been updated. But CUHSP's original advertisement was still active on social media as of Wednesday evening.

The spokeswoman didn't respond when asked if CUHSP's members or the initial cosponsors would face consequences.

Regardless, CUHSP proceeded with its event.

During the online panel, which more than 200 people attended, Abu-Sittah accused Israel of intentionally creating a famine in Gaza. He called the Jewish state the "tip of the genocidal iceberg" and said the United States, Britain, and Germany were part of the "genocidal project" for supplying Israel with arms, intelligence, and "boots on the ground." None of those nations have deployed troops to Gaza.

Abu-Sittah, who volunteered in Gaza hospitals, said "Israel was unable to provide a shred of evidence" that Hamas leaders operated in tunnels underneath hospitals. But U.S. and Israeli intelligence dispute that claim. Intelligence also shows that the terror group used Al-Shifa Hospital for cover, weapons storage, and hostage detention and destroyed electronics and documents while evacuating.

Abu-Sittah has long sided with anti-Israel terrorists. He attended the 2019 funeral of Maher Al-Yamani, a PFLP cofounder who helped plan the 1968 hijacking of an El Al plane, which resulted in a dozen Israeli passengers being taken hostage for 40 days. Al-Yamani was sentenced to 31 years for his role, though he was released early as part of a separate hostage exchange. Abu-Sittah's lawyers described the doctor and Al-Yamani as friends, according to the Jewish Chronicle.


Demand the College Board Correct Inaccuracies About Israel in AP World History Curriculum
The curriculum of the College Board’s AP World History course -- a popular elective among university-bound US and Canadian high school students -- features disturbing inaccuracies about the history of the Jewish people and State of Israel that, if left uncorrected, could fuel antisemitism, which is on the rise across the globe.

In the course’s Topic 8.6, titled “Newly Independent States,” several unfounded claims are presented as facts, raising questions about the intent of the curriculum’s authors and casting doubt on the credibility of the course as a whole.

For example, the course material says, “Jews occupied Palestine during the Roman Empire” -- a false assertion that perverts the real history of the region, which is that Jews lived in what was then called Judea (from which the word “Jew” is derived) long before the Romans invaded in the 1st century BCE.

It also says, “The establishment of Israel in 1948 created resentment in Palestine and other nearby Arab countries. These religious tensions led to wars and terrorism.”

This statement vastly distorts and oversimplifies the Arab-Israeli conflict and ignores the extensive history of Arab violence against Jews in the area that would become the State of Israel decades before 1948, including, but not limited to, the riots of 1929 and the general revolt of 1936-1939.

Furthermore, the course material says the wars of 1948 and 1967 “both resulted in Israel taking over more territory” -- without mentioning the circumstances of these wars, each of which were defensive in nature for Israel.

The material also defines Zionism as “a movement to return Jews to Palestine.” However, Jews originated in Judea, not “Palestine.” Zionism describes the national liberation movement rooted in the Jewish right to self-determination.

Anti-Zionism is a contemporary form of antisemitism, which has been made clear by the global outburst of Jew-hatred that accompanied the latest Israel-Gaza violence. According to a new Anti-Defamation League (ADL) survey, 77% of Jews in the US are more fearful of antisemitism following the recent surge.
NYC museum fires three employees for wearing keffiyehs
A New York City museum has fired three employees for wearing keffiyehs in solidarity with Palestinians—a violation of a new dress code instituted last month against “political messages, slogans or symbols.”

The Noguchi Museum, located in Queens, said: “While we understand that the intention behind wearing this garment was to express personal views, we recognize that such expressions can unintentionally alienate segments of our diverse visitorship.”

The statement added: “Within the museum, our responsibility is to foster a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment for all staff and visitors. To maintain this environment, we have made the decision to remove political statements from our workplace.”

A fourth employee, the director of visitor services, was also fired, The New York Times reported.

Founded by and dedicated to the preservation of the works of Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, the museum features his sculptures, architectural models, drawings and stage and furniture designs.

Natalie Cappellini, one of the three fired gallery attendants, posted to Instagram, “I think the word ‘political’ is being weaponized to censor Palestinian culture and existence. The politicization of the keffiyeh is imposed by leadership.”

She said that the keffiyeh was “a cultural garment and we are wearing it for cultural reasons.”

Several days after the museum changed its dress code, 50 staff members, some two-thirds of the staff, signed a petition protesting the decision.

“The museum has not made any public statement surrounding the ongoing war in Gaza, but by changing the dress code to ban the keffiyeh it is taking a public stance,” the petition said.
A shocking display of antisemitism in Portland
As a parent who is considering sending their child to college in Maine, I am shocked by the Portland City Council’s antisemitic resolution on divestment from Israel. The council has been swayed by radical groups that call for the destruction of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East; they have been promoting divestment for years.

The vast majority of Jews support Israel’s right to exist. The council has never voted to divest from any other country, only Israel – the single Jewish state in the world and the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.

The council did not seek a resolution condemning the terrorist organization Hamas after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7, 2023, including infants, children and the elderly, which has been called “Israel’s 9/11.” The council’s divestment resolution also ignores the dozens of Israeli hostages (including several Americans) still held by Hamas.

Peace in the region depends upon Jews and Palestinians coming together, not on people driving them apart and supporting one over the other. The resolution should be repealed, and the entire council should attend antisemitism training approved by the local Jewish Community Alliance. The action of the council has made me wonder, why has Portland chosen to abandon its Jewish citizens? And would Maine be a safe place for my child to live?


Circumstantial Evidence & Unreliable Witnesses: The Washington Post’s Investigation Into American Activist’s Killing Leaves More Questions Than Answers
Less than a week after Aysenur Eygi was killed while attending a demonstration outside the Palestinian town of Beita in the West Bank, The Washington Post has published what it deems to be an exclusive investigation into the Turkish-American activist’s death. Based on witness testimony and video evidence, the Post has called into question the IDF’s preliminary finding that it is “highly likely that [Eygi] was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot.”

However, rather than prove its case, the Post’s investigation leaves open questions regarding both the events of the day in question and the newspaper’s investigatory process.

The Washington Post headlined its investigation “New video, witnesses challenge Israel’s account of US activist’s killing,” centering its case around witness testimony and video evidence. Yet, despite the impression left by this headline, there is no new video evidence that dramatically upends the IDF’s claims. Rather, it appears to be the lack of video evidence which the Post finds to be the most relevant proof to help make its case.

In its investigation, the Post reviewed more than 50 videos and photos provided by the International Solidarity Movement and Faz3a, both pro-Palestinian activist groups that are active in the West Bank. Yet, of all the visual evidence published in this investigatory piece, there’s no “new video” or smoking gun that can be said to really “challenge Israel’s account.” Rather, readers are exposed to a variety of video snippets and images of the lead-up to the protest as well as the clashes that ensued between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators and their allies. In addition, one video clip shows a brief moment of chaos after the moment that Eygi was shot.

To support its claim that there was no rioting happening at the time that Eygi was shot and, thus, no “key instigator” for the IDF to have targeted, the Post points to the fact that there is no video of the moment of the shooting. According to the activists and local Palestinians who were interviewed for this investigative piece, since nothing was happening, it’s natural that there’s no visual evidence of the fatal moment in question.

However, to claim that no evidence is somehow proof for the inaccuracy of the IDF’s claims is purely speculative and in no way definitively proves the assertion that the Israeli claim is wrong and there was no violence happening at the time that Aysenur Eygi was killed.

Another key element of the Post’s “challenging” of Israel’s narrative regarding the death of Eygi is its reliance on 13 “eyewitnesses and Beita residents” who were in the vicinity at the time that she was killed.

The key flaw in this aspect of the investigation is that all these “eyewitnesses” are not unbiased observers but are active members of organizations that are ideologically opposed to the activities of Israel and the IDF in the area. Yet, at no point, does the Post inform its readers that these witness statements might be tinged by bias, instead presenting them as reliable and unimpeachable sources.

The questionable reliability of these activists is made even more clear in light of the fact that a report by the Tazpit Press Service (TPS) found that foreign activists are told to deceive Israeli authorities about their intentions when they arrive in the country so as not to raise any red flags with the Israeli immigration authorities. For an organization that encourages deception on behalf of a political goal, it’s not absurd to suggest they also might not be totally honest in their witness accounts in order to muddy the waters and besmirch the IDF’s reputation.


Israel cancels ‘Al Jazeera’s press passes after gov’t bans Qatari channel
Israel will revoke the press passes of Al Jazeera reporters working in the Jewish state, it was announced on Thursday, some four months after the Cabinet voted unanimously to close down operations of the broadcaster, which Jerusalem has accused of aiding the Hamas terrorist organization.

The Cabinet acted in accordance with a law the Knesset passed in April.

“The Government Press Office is revoking the GPO cards of Al Jazeera journalists working in Israel, following the unanimous government decision in May to shut down the channel in Israel and prohibit its broadcasts,” the government body announced in a statement.

The action “will be subject to a hearing and will include Al Jazeera journalists and broadcasters in Hebrew and Arabic, but will not include the channel’s producers and photographers,” according to the GPO.

Reporters for the channel will be barred from reapplying for press passes as long as the Knesset ban on Al Jazeera remains in force, the GPO said.

Qatar’s Al Jazeera “is a media outlet that disseminates false content, which includes incitement against Israelis and Jews and constitutes a threat to IDF soldiers,” GPO Director Nitzan Chen noted.

“The use of GPO cards in the course of the journalists’ work could in itself jeopardize state security at this time of military emergency,” Chen added.
Jewish Chronicle investigating journalist accused of publishing disinformation about Gaza war
The British Jewish newspaper the Jewish Chronicle says it is investigating one of its freelance writers amid allegations that he fabricated claims regarding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Earlier this month, the outlet published an article by writer Elon Perry in which he alleged that a document had been uncovered in Gaza proving that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to smuggle himself and some of the remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7, out of Gaza via the Philadelphi Corridor and from there to Iran.

However, the IDF said it was unaware of any such document actually existing, and as the claim was similar to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent talking points, some have speculated that false information was being distributed as part of a disinformation campaign.

In a statement, the Jewish Chronicle says it is “aware of allegations concerning a freelance journalist, which we take very seriously.”

‘The Jewish Chronicle is the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world and has always maintained the highest standards of reporting and integrity. An investigation is underway and there will be an update in due course,” it adds.
Queen Rania and the hypocrisy of ‘anti-Palestinian racism’
Could there be a better spokesperson for the craven, hypocritical refrain of “anti-Palestinian racism” than Queen Rania of Jordan?

Anti-Palestinian racism is the idea that any ‘erasure’ of the Palestinian narrative or identity is racist. According to the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, which first brought the term, denying the Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe), denying the right of return of Palestinians to Israel, or legitimizing violence against Palestinians, are all examples of anti-Palestinian racism. To advocate for the Israeli view in the Israeli-Palestinian narrative, to celebrate or even recognize Jewish indigeneity in Israel, to defend the IDF, could be deemed anti-Palestinian racism. That is, to not fall foul of anti-Palestinian racism, one has to reject, deny, minimize, and delegitimize the Israeli “narrative’ of the conflict.

Speaking at an economic conference in Italy, Queen Rania parrotted debunked Hamas talking points including that Israel is obstructing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and that “over 20,000 children are estimated to be lost, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves” before ultimately saying: “Is the world saying that Israel’s security is more important than anyone else’s and, therefore, nothing is off-limits in its pursuit? That no level of Palestinian suffering is too high a price to pay? This devaluation of life must be called out for what it is: anti-Palestinian racism. This failure cannot stand.”

In other words: Sure, terrorists came into the homes of your innocent civilians, going from family to family, and burned them alive, raped them, beheaded them, kidnapped, tortured and executed them. But enough is enough, fellas. Surely you’ve exceeded the correct level of suffering in this conflict. Your suffering has been sufficiently taken into account now. It’s just not sporting to continue.

In other words, why should a country prize the safety of its citizens and its borders over the safety or quality of life of its neighbors? This is the ridiculous question she poses. And the even more ridiculous suggestion that the Queen makes is that giving precedence to your own citizens constitutes “racism.”
King Abdullah II’s silence on Allenby terror attack speaks volumes
During a field trip to the ironically named Island of Peace in Naharayim in March 1997, Ahmad Daqamseh, a Jordanian soldier, brutally massacred seven young Israeli girls, ages 13 to 14.

Daqamseh, who tried to claim that the girls deserved that punishment because they were “making fun of him while he was praying,” is seen to this day within large parts of Jordanian society as a “hero.” His family has reportedly expressed pride in his horrendous actions.

What came next shocked the entire world: in an act of courage and simple humanity, the Jordanian monarch, King Hussein himself, decided to cut a diplomatic visit to Spain short and pay tribute to the bereaved families in their own homes, kneeling before the parents and expressing his condolences and apologies. This gesture was especially significant in the Middle East, where honor plays a major societal role.

“Your daughter is like my daughter, and your loss is my loss. May Allah help you carry this pain and bless you and keep you,” said the former Jordanian king to one of the bereaved mothers.

Miri Meiri, the mother of Ya’ala Meiri, who Daqamseh massacred, later testified about the king’s visit: “His eyes, which were filled with consolation… I will always carry this moment with me. That a leader like Hussein, King Hussein, can also be a humane person, a man with a noble spirit.”

Twenty-seven years later, another Jordanian citizen committed a heinous crime, murdering three Israeli workers at the Allenby Bridge border crossing on Sunday.

The perpetrator, Maher Al-Jazi, is reportedly part of the non-Palestinian tribal minority in Jordan, which, according to some estimates, numbers around 20% of the population. According to reports, Al-Jazi hails from the southern Ma’an governorate, an area known to be especially poverty-stricken and once a known stronghold of Jihadist elements who were a source of concern for the local authorities.

Just like 27 years ago, following the attack, Jordanians from across the country were seen rejoicing and celebrating, distributing sweets for the assassination of three innocent 50–60-year-olds and praising Al-Jazi for his so-called “heroic” action. However, this time, no king was to be seen or heard.

Formal Jordanian authorities, such as the Foreign Ministry, casually commented that the country “condemns violence and targeting civilians for any reason.” Still, King Abdullah II’s silence resonates even louder than the music and celebrations sounded by the masses.

King Abdullah’s silence is especially striking because in 2014, then-president Shimon Peres and an array of Israeli officials expressed their condolences to the king publicly and personally following an incident in which a Jordanian citizen was shot at that same crossing while reportedly attempting to steal a weapon from a security guard.
Islamists score big in Jordanian election held in shadow of Gaza war
Jordan’s leading Islamist opposition party has won 31 out of 138 seats in the kingdom’s parliament, tripling its representation in legislative elections dominated by frustration over Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

The Islamic Action Front (IAF), a political offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, came ahead of other parties and factions in the legislature after Tuesday’s vote, but was far from clinching a majority, according to official election results released on Wednesday.

The result is a historic win for the Islamists and their largest representation since the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989 gained 22 out of the 80 seats that existed then.

The IAF had 10 seats in the previous parliament elected in 2020 and 16 seats in the 2016 legislature.

The Islamists had sought to capitalize on growing anger over the ongoing war in Gaza among Jordanians, half of whom are of Palestinian origin.

“We are happy with these results and with the confidence placed in us by the Jordanian people,” IAF Secretary-General Wael al-Saqqa told AFP.

“Gaza, Palestine and Jerusalem are all part of the official and popular compass in Jordan and we will work on mobilizing” to “gain their rights and defend them,” he added.

He vowed that Jordanians would give Palestinians “financial and other assistance, and be their lungs in the path of liberation and achieving their right to a free state.”


US grants Egypt entire $1.3 billion in military aid, waiving human rights requirements
The Biden administration notifies the US Congress that it will provide Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid, a State Department spokesperson says, the first time since 2020 Egypt will receive the total amount of US funding despite human rights conditions.

The announcement comes as Washington has relied heavily on Cairo — a longstanding US ally — to mediate so far unsuccessful talks between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza.

Of the $1.3 billion in US foreign military financing allocated to Egypt, $320 million is subject to conditions that have meant at least some of that sum has been withheld in recent years.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells Congres that he waived a certification requirement on $225 million related to Egypt’s human rights record this year citing “the US national security interest,” the spokesperson says by email.

“This decision is important to advancing regional peace and Egypt’s specific and ongoing contributions to US national security priorities, particularly to finalize a ceasefire agreement for Gaza, bring the hostages home, surge humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in need, and help bring an enduring end to the Israel-Hamas conflict,” the spokesperson says.

Blinken issued a similar same waiver on the human rights conditions last year but withheld a portion of the military aid over Egypt’s failure to make “clear and consistent progress” on the release of political prisoners.

This year, Blinken determined that Egypt had made sufficient efforts on political prisoners to release $95 million tied to progress on the issue, the spokesperson said.
US sanctions Hezbollah oil-smuggling network
The Biden administration announced new sanctions on Wednesday targeting an oil smuggling network that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

Bradley Smith, acting under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, stated that Hezbollah used that money to fund its “war machine” against Israel.

“Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability, choosing to prioritize funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon,” Smith said.

The Treasury Department imposed the new sanctions on a Hezbollah financier, two Lebanese businessmen, five companies and two vessels involved in smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Treasury noted that the network “facilitated dozens of LPG shipments to the government of Syria and channeled the profits to Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah has previously worked closely with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to smuggle Iranian oil and petroleum derivatives to the Assad regime in Syria, a close ally of the Islamic Republic, and then used the profits to support its terrorism operations.

Since Oct. 7, Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, displacing some 60,000 Israelis from their homes in Israel’s northern communities.
Iran's Involvement in the Oct. 7 Massacre
The Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities revealed an Iranian campaign to destroy Israel in a war of attrition, both militarily and by its campaign of international political and psychological warfare. The regime was deeply involved in the planning and execution of Hamas's massacre and hostage-taking. Iran's subsequent missile and drone attack on Israel on April 14, 2024, proved Iran plans to make good on its long-stated intention of dominating the Middle East and, ultimately, the rest of the world, under a nuclear umbrella. Iran has also been deeply involved in influencing U.S. and Arab public opinion through perception warfare on media and social networks.

According to Matthew Levitt, a former senior counterterrorism official at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Hamas began receiving Iranian regime funding in 1987. In 2017, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar confirmed that Iran was Hamas's "largest backer financially and militarily."

Iran's policies and motivation to eliminate Israel are ideological and religiously driven. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has invoked the Iranian Shiite "end of days" belief that the destruction of Israel and the Jews would trigger the emergence of the Mahdi, the Shiite messiah.

The Palestinian cause provides a cover for Iran's greater ambitions in the region. In the Iranian mullahs' view, solidarity means providing weapons and training for martyrs - those who willingly sacrifice themselves for jihad. Hamas's use of human shields is an expression of the disposability of human life that the Iranian regime encourages. This renders the Palestinian issue a weapon for Iranian supremacy, not subject to political or territorial compromise between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The Iranian Strategy of "Wearing Down Political Will" in Israel
The Iranians are partners in the current negotiations relating to the Gaza war. They seek to end the war, preserve Hamas's rule, and ensure its recovery. The resistance axis and Iran are attempting to end the war in Gaza without a deal.

To help achieve this, they are waging a campaign aimed at influencing public opinion and wearing down political will in Israel, combined with an ongoing war of attrition in Gaza with its continued casualties. New kinds of strikes from the West Bank, including suicide attacks and car bombings, alongside continued rocket fire from the north, further increase the military pressure and create a sense of vulnerability in Israel.

Iranian analysts recommend intensifying the cognitive warfare campaign, using public opinion in a country under attack as a weapon against it. Iran already made successful use of a similar strategy during the student protests in the United States, where the strategy involved turning the protesters against the U.S. itself.

The aim is to undermine Israel's political will so that it will alter its behavior and cease to fight. Iranian analysts claim that, in the wake of the horrific murder of the six kidnapped individuals, Israeli public sentiment can be exploited against the government in a way that weakens the Israeli security establishment's will to continue the war in Gaza. This is the basic strategy of the resistance axis, and fomenting street demonstrations and other pressures on the government is part of the process.


Hackney man jailed for life after antisemitic arson attack
A man has been sentenced to life after deliberately starting a fire at his Hackney flat in an attack motivated by antisemitism.

Ian Pitkin, 64, set his ground-floor flat on Newick Road ablaze in March this year, forcing several neighbours to escape by jumping out of their windows – one of whom was left with a fractured hip.

One family had to drop their baby down to waiting relatives. The infant was checked by paramedics and was fortunate to come away unharmed.

In total, five people, including a passerby, were injured in the fire.

Pitkin was sentenced last Friday to life imprisonment with a minimum term of six years and 17 days.

He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to arson with intent to endanger life, four counts of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear or violence, and three counts of having an offensive weapon in a public place.

Officers were initially called to a fire at Pitkin’s flat at 12.45pm on 20 March, with paramedics and firefighters also in attendance.

The 64-year-old was arrested shortly after the incident while seeking medical attention for injuries he had sustained in the fire.

A search of his car threw up a number of jerry cans filled with petrol, as well as four air weapons, three knives and two hammers.


Jewelry seized from Poles in Nazi concentration camps returned to families
Stanislawa Wasilewska was 42 when she was captured by Nazi German troops on August 31, 1944, in Warsaw and sent to the women’s concentration camp at Ravensbrück, Germany. From there, she was sent to the Neuengamme forced labor camp, where she was given prisoner number 7257 and had her valuables seized.

Eighty years later, Germany’s Arolsen Archives returned Wasilewska’s jewelry to her grandson and great-granddaughter at an emotional ceremony in Warsaw late Tuesday during which families of 12 Polish inmates of World War II Nazi concentration camps were given back their confiscated belongings.

Some relatives had tears in their eyes as they received the mementos of their long-gone, often unknown family members. More such ceremonies are planned.

Wasilewska’s family was given back her two amber crucifixes, part of a golden bracelet and a gold wristwatch engraved with the initials KW and the date 7-3-1938, probably marking her wedding to Konstanty Wasilewski.

“This is an important moment in our lives, because this is a story that we did not fully know about and it came to light,” Wasilewska’s great-granddaughter, Malgorzata Koryś, 35, told The Associated Press.

When Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945, Wasilewska was taken by the Red Cross from Neuengamme to Sweden, but later returned to Poland. She is buried in her native Grodzisk Mazowiecki, near Warsaw.

From another family, Adam Wierzbicki, 29, was given two rings which belonged to Zofia Strusińska and a golden chain and tooth filling of Józefa Skórka, two married sisters of his great-grandfather, Stanislaw Wierzbicki.
Help! I bought a château — that sheltered hundreds of Jewish kids from the Nazis
When Dan Preston decided to buy and restore a 140-year-old ruined château in the French countryside, the Hampshire chef knew he was in for a challenge.

But since finding out its history as a secret refuge for Jewish children in the Holocaust, bringing it back to life has become a labour of love.

Preston’s two-year challenge to restore Château de Chaumont, in Mainsat, in central France, features in the latest series of hit Channel 4 show Help! We Bought A Village.

In one very special episode, he comes face to face with a French Jew who owes his life to the château that was home to around 200 children hiding from the Nazis during the early years of the war.

“The most important part of the history is that it housed Jewish children that were escaping from the Holocaust,” says Preston.

“They were extracted to here and given a safe haven. There were 150 children at any one time.

“It does spur me on, it makes you feel like you’re doing something purposeful and worthwhile and leaving more of a legacy.”

The château, built in 1886 for an opera singer called Eugénie Bardet, was rented by children’s charity Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE) from 1939.

OSE worked with the French resistance and Jewish children came from all over France to the house. They were then often moved on to other countries or parts of France where they would be safe from the clutches of the Nazis.

Some children stayed for a long time even though the house was within Vichy France. Among them was French actor and comedian Judka Herpstu, who is better known by his stage name Popeck.
House delegation travels to South America for talks trade, Israel defense
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) led a group of legislators on visits last week to Paraguay, Chile and Argentina.

On Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee released a statement detailing the trip, which included Smith and Reps. Mark Alford (R-Mo.), Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Garret Graves (R-La.), Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) and Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.).

The delegation met with Argentina’s President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires and Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña in Asunción. They spoke with representatives from the Ministry of Finance of Chile at trade-focused talks in Santiago.

During the meeting with Milei, the representatives agreed with his position of continuing mutual support for Israel. He also talked about the economic reforms he sought to implement in the country and how the United States could assist.

When talking with Peña, the delegation discussed mutual support for Taiwan against potential Chinese aggression, also a subject of concern to Chilean officials.

“I am especially grateful to President Milei and President Peña for their hospitality and willingness to find ways to work together,” Smith said. “They acknowledged the importance of the relationship with the United States and were eager to find new opportunities to strengthen it.”
World's oldest Jewish text debuts exhibit at Museum of the Bible
The Museum of the Bible in Washington announced on Thursday that it was set to exhibit the world's oldest Jewish book on September 24, just before Rosh Hashana.

The exhibit, Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book, showcases the book, which was discovered in Afghanistan and dates back roughly 1,300 years.

The book, referred to as the ALQ, is comprised of prayers, poems, and pages of the oldest discovered Passover Haggadah, which was mysteriously written upside down. The prayers and poetry in the book draw on texts from the Hebrew Bible.

“The ALQ is one of the most cherished treasures in the museum’s collection, which we are honored to steward and share with people of all faiths,” said Bobby Duke, interim Chief Curatorial Officer at Museum of the Bible. “It clarifies our understanding of the Bible’s journey along the Silk Roads and shines a light on the diverse religious, ethnic and cultural tapestry of Afghanistan throughout most of its history.”

Interfaith effort to rescue the book
The book is also said to hold a connection to the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan. Upon discovering the text, a group of Muslims, Christians, and Jews worked together to rescue the historic document, the museum said. The group later made it accessible across the globe. These efforts had reportedly taken place under the democratically elected Afghan government before the Taliban's takeover.

Herschel Hepler, Museum of the Bible’s associate curator of Hebrew manuscripts and curator of the ALQ and the “Sacred Words” exhibition, remarked, “Jewish book culture preserves many unbelievable stories of survival and interfaith cooperation, from the Sarajevo Haggadah to the Aleppo Codex. The ALQ joins this international ensemble of great Hebrew books, revered for their religious and cultural significance and the stories of their survival.”

“The ALQ manuscript is indeed a gift from God to all peoples of all faiths," The Afghan Jewish Foundation said of the discovery.
NYC poised to officially recognize Landing Day, when the first Jewish community arrived in 1654
Three hundred and seventy years ago this week, a group of 23 Sephardic Jews arrived on the shores of New York — then called New Amsterdam — and created the first organized Jewish community in the city.

What a difference a few centuries make: Today, New York City is home to the largest Jewish population of any city in the world.

On Thursday, the City Council will vote on a resolution to honor both, turning Landing Day from an event marked by a few Jewish leaders into an official date on the city’s calendar. The resolution says it aims to “commemorate the arrival of the first Jewish community in New Amsterdam in 1654 and to celebrate the continuing importance of the Jewish community in the City of New York.”

Landing Day has been commemorated in the city several times throughout history, most recently last year at a ceremony to recognize the 369th anniversary of the community.

That event was held at the Jewish Tercentenary Monument at Peter Minuit Plaza in Battery Park, erected by the State of New York in 1954. The small memorial includes a flagpole adorned with a plaque that explains its purpose is “to honor the memory of the twenty three men, women and children who landed in September 1654 and founded the first Jewish community in North America.”

City signs off
Still, Landing Day — and the existence of this early New York Jewish community — is not widely known among Jews or New Yorkers, which is one of the reasons that Gale Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side on the City Council, sponsored the bill to give it the city’s sign-off.

“When the City Council passes something like this, it’s official,” Brewer told the New York Jewish Week. “It goes into the city record and becomes part of the city’s history. It’s not a holiday, per se, but it is recognized, and it gives it legitimacy.”

The resolution was spearheaded by Howard Teich, the founding chair of the Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative, who organized last year’s commemoration and partnered with Brewer to bring the resolution before the City Council.
Our Champion Advocate
Eylon Levy connected with over 5000 members of the Australian Jewish community during his jam-packed tour of the country for JNF Australia.

The former Israeli government spokesman shared insights into his day-to-day life since the beginning of the war and highlighted the importance of unifying as a global community to help heal and re-build Israel.

“Australia is witnessing its own great Diaspora awakening, or since you abbreviate everything, the GDA – a global display of Jewish mateship,” Levy said in front of a sell-out crowd at Central Synagogue.

“Australia’s embattled Jews have been true battlers. I know every single person in this room feels a personal responsibility for Israel’s continued survival, because rebuilding Israel’s south is critical for Israel’s future.

“Israel is not going to heal itself, and antisemitism is not going to disappear itself. And so I have come Down Under to help build Israel’s down under, from the land of Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, to ‘Oz’.”

Levy told The AJN that Australian Jewry should be proud of mobilising to support their fellow Jews.

“After the October 7 massacre, the whole world scrambled to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But only the Jewish Diaspora has lifted a finger to supply humanitarian aid to Israelis, because so many of them lost everything that dark day,” said Levy.

Levy’s nine-day visit included travelling to Canberra for meetings and visiting the Melbourne and Perth Jewish communities.

One of his focuses was meeting with schools and, in Sydney, he spoke to students from Moriah College, Emanuel School, Masada College and BJE.

“I was personally surprised to discover the extent of concern about antisemitism,” said Levy.

“We can still turn the tide by exposing the nutters. This was a speaking tour with JNF Australia, but also a listening tour to exchange notes about how to fight this hate. One of my main messages was to young people, and I met with students from seven schools: they are not just Gen-Z, they are Gen-Zionist, and that means standing up to bullies.”




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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