Monday, September 30, 2024

09/30 Links Pt2: The Cold War Against the Jews; The self-induced downfall of the ICC; Why Are Iran’s Thugs Free to Walk the Streets of New York?

From Ian:

The Cold War Against the Jews
In November 2023, I became involved in a small community of Jewish academics who were concerned about these developments. Rather than expending our effort on debating with academic associations, we decided to focus on developing one of our own. In January 2024, I joined 22 North American scholars on a solidarity mission to visit academic campuses in Israel. Our group consisted of faculty members representing Yeshiva University, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Hebrew Union College, as well as Emory University, Bard College, Washington University at St. Louis, and other colleges across North America.

Our visits to campuses across Israel were sobering. As we listened to Israeli professors and administrators share story after story about their exclusion from global academic communities, we became increasingly attuned to the situation’s tragic irony. The same faculty and administrators who had been boycotted as progenitors of apartheid had devoted their careers to producing pluralist campuses. Twenty percent of the undergraduate population of Achva College, which is just a few miles from the Gazan border, is Israeli Bedouin. Tel Aviv University, one of the most elite universities in the world, also serves a diverse student population, 16% of whom are Arab Israelis. Forty percent of the University of Haifa’s student body is Arab Israeli.

The trip convinced us that we are dealing with a global issue that runs not only up and down the educational ladder, but also around the globe. Excluded from journals, conferences, and public gatherings, pressured to change their public writings to conform with others’ sensitivities, and gaslit by administrators who inform them that all of this has nothing to do with antisemitism, we had discovered that to be a Jew in academic spaces was to embody provocation—and that provocation, we were told, had to be suppressed for the sake of everyone’s comfort.

This trend was also surfacing in literary circles outside of academia. In March 2024, the journal Guernica greenlit Joanna Chen’s essay “From the Edges of a Broken World,” a reflective memoir by an Israeli leftist that expressed empathy with both Israeli victims of Oct. 7 and with Palestinian people. The essay’s publication sparked a mass resignation of Guernica’s staff that culminated in a public apology from the journal’s editor for publishing “Genocide apologia”—though there is no evidence of a genocide being committed by Israel, nor was Chen writing apologetics for Israel or the actions of her government. Most recently, Gabrielle Zevin’s novel Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was blacklisted among booksellers for being tainted by the Zionism of its author. Zevin, though Jewish, has made no public statements in support of Israel.

Around the same time that my children were told that the Nazis were coming for them, and that the Jewish teacher working across the street was fired, something else happened to me. A representative of the Jewish Publication Society, a historic press with a reputation for bringing outstanding Jewish scholarship to wide English-speaking audiences, contacted me about applying for the position of their editor-in-chief. Aware of what had been taking place in Jewish literary circles, I jumped at the chance. I was offered the position three months later.

When news of my new position was shared in July, I was inundated with hundreds of emails, text messages, and phone calls from authors of children’s books, poetry, young adult novels, fiction, philosophy, ethics, Bible, religion, and history. All of them sent warm congratulations, but many were more interested in sharing their concern. What was the Jewish Publication Society going to do to meet this critical moment?

I’ve been thinking about this question myself. It’s clear that some of what JPS will achieve in the coming years is going to depend on partnerships with other organizations and institutions. With the right allies, JPS can develop an authors’ cohort, a college research internship, and maybe even a podcast. But more than anything, the question of how JPS is going to meet this moment depends on books. And to publish books, we need Jewish authors to keep writing. In response to exclusion, Jews must build their own centers of knowledge. Every person who cares about Jewish ideas, moreover, should view themselves as a repository of creative knowledge, and view the production of knowledge as an act of resistance against the scourge of antisemitism wending its way through academic circles.

As Jews continue to find themselves isolated in schools, professional spaces, and even in their front driveways, we must recommit ourselves to building communities that foster the production of great Jewish ideas. This is my answer to well-wishers who have reached out to me voicing their concern about the Jewish future: Be creative. Build communities. Go write.
Seven in ten Jewish students “uncomfortable” revealing their religion
A survey of Jewish students published today has revealed that 7 in 10 are “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” revealing their Jewish faith.

In its first report, “I have never felt less protected as a Jew”: Antisemitism at UK Universities since 7th October 2023, the Intra-Communal Professorial Group (ICPG) - which was formed earlier this year “in response to a significant rise of antisemitism across academia globally and in UK higher education” - has found that just 22 per cent of Jewish students are comfortable revealing their faith - a dramatic decline since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Prior to that, the survey finds, 79 per cent of Jewish students had no problem saying they are Jewish.

The ICPG spoke to 500 Jewish students between May 29 and July 3. Although it is not a formal poll was “not a formal statistical sample of the population”, the ICPG says its findings are “broadly representative”.

63 per cent of the students surveyed had seen Jewish students being harassed because of their faith, both on social media and on campus - in contrast to just three in 10 who witnessed it before the current conflict.

41 per cent had been subject themselves to such behaviour over the past year – nearly twice the 21 per cent who said they had experienced antisemitic abuse before last autumn. 5.2 per cent said they had been physically attacked. Others said they had suffered verbal insults, harassment and Nazi imagery. One student said she was “spat at” for wearing “a JSoc [Jewish Society] jumper on campus”, while others said they had been

“chased by a man with a large glass bottle”, been pelted by eggs after hearing the Chief Rabbi speak on campus, had their Star of David necklaces grabbed from their necks and had rubbish thrown at them,

The ICPG said the government should launch a special task force to combat antisemitism in universities.
The self-induced downfall of the International Criminal Court
The idea of creating an International Criminal Court to prosecute the world’s worst offenders, who committed the worst crimes, was a noble one. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Israel and Jews were among the leading proponents of establishing such a court. In practice, however, the ICC has proven to be a colossal failure. Now, as a result of the actions of the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, and his predecessor Fatou Bensouda, the court, as an establishment, is reaching ever-deepening lows.

Bensouda was distinctly hostile to Israel. She was the one who generated the ICC prosecution theory of a non-existent “State of Palestine.” She pushed the court into taking upon itself jurisdiction that it does not possess, to define the borders, de novo, of this non-existent state. She was also the one to officially adopt, lock, stock and barrel, the Palestinian narrative regarding Israel’s actions and to allege that Israeli officials had committed serious offenses.

As regards the Palestinians, Bensouda was quite forgiving and focused mainly on the actions of the acknowledged terrorists. She did however have one saving grace.

In her “Report on Preliminary Examination Activities” (2019)1 Bensouda noted, inter alia, that the Office of the Prosecutor had also received allegations that the “Palestinian Authority has encouraged and provided financial incentives for the commission of violence through their provision of payments to the families of Palestinians who were involved, in particular, in carrying out attacks against Israeli citizens, and under the circumstances, the payment of such stipends may give rise to Rome Statute crimes.”

Bensouda was of course referring to the P.A.’s terror-rewarding “pay-for-slay” policy. This decades-old policy consists of two elements: a) the payment of monthly allowances to injured terrorists and the families of dead terrorists; and b) the payment of monthly salaries to terrorists who have been arrested by Israel. Even though the two elements are technically separate, their common goal is to encourage and incentivize participation in terror. While the payment of allowances to injured terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is mandated by internal policies of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the payment of the salaries to the imprisoned and released terrorists is fixed in a P.A. law—Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners No. 19 of 2004—and accompanying P.A. government regulations. According to analysts and commentators, every year, the P.A. spends an estimated one billion shekels ($270 million) on these terror rewards. The terror-rewarding payments are not concealed by the P.A. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has openly declared on the world stage and in the P.A. media that even if the P.A. is left with only one penny in its coffers, it would pay that penny to the terrorists.
Why Are Iran’s Thugs Free to Walk the Streets of New York?
Many of these plots, U.S. officials tell The Free Press, are Iranian attempts to avenge the Trump administration’s 2020 assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani, head of the country’s elite overseas military unit, the Quds Force. A range of Trump advisers who took part in the operation, including former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and ex-national security adviser John Bolton, travel today with round-the-clock U.S. government-provided security details in response to threats that are still assessed as “high.” In 2022, the Department of Justice indicted a member of Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for allegedly plotting remotely with an American citizen to kill Bolton at or near his home in Washington, D.C. This March, the FBI’s Miami field office issued a nationwide alert seeking information on an Iranian intelligence official—based at times in Latin America—who also was suspected of trying to assassinate Trump-era officials, including Pompeo. The July arrest of a Pakistani national, Asif Merchant, shows the elaborate nature of Iran’s plots inside the U.S. According to his indictment, Merchant traveled to Tehran to meet Iranian handlers who advised him on a scheme to kill Trump at a political rally this year. The Pakistani then flew to New York to recruit would-be hitmen at restaurants and bars to take part in the conspiracy—which allegedly involved creating a distraction at a campaign event to give an assassin an opening to fire. Unbeknownst to Merchant, one of his contacts was a U.S. government informant whom he paid $5,000 to advance the plot. “Now we’re bonded,” the Iranian agent said to his recruit, according to the indictment. Merchant was arrested two months ago, shortly before he was scheduled to depart New York. Pompeo told The Free Press that he traveled to Manhattan this week, in part, to warn foreign officials about the continuing Iranian threat, despite Pezeshkian’s recent rhetoric. A successful assassination of Trump or his former aides could potentially spark a war between the U.S. and Iran. “We restricted Iranian diplomat travels even BEFORE they threatened Americans in the U.S. with assassinations,” Pompeo said in a text message. “The streets of NYC are not the place for plotters and murderers to be given freedoms here in the USA.” He added: “The fact U.S. taxpayer dollars provided personal security for Iranian leaders trying to kill senior Americans is simply lunacy.”

Why Are Iran’s Thugs Free to Walk the Streets of New York?
Pezeshkian departed New York early Thursday following what Iranian state media described as a highly successful final meeting with the Iranian diaspora, including scientists, investors, and manufacturers. Tehran’s most-skilled diplomat and messaging man, meanwhile—former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif—engaged in a round of media interviews with U.S. outlets and flatly denied U.S. accusations that Tehran was pursuing terrorist plots on American soil. The U.S. Treasury Department formally sanctioned Zarif in 2019 for serving as an agent of Supreme Leader Khamenei. But the Biden administration said this week it was diplomatically bound as host nation of the UN to allow the U.S.-educated official to come to New York.

“We don’t send people to assassinate people,” Zarif told Ian Bremmer of GZERO Media. “I think that’s a campaign ploy in order to get former president Trump out of the not-so-favorable situation he’s in in the elections.”

The Iranian dissidents fumed at the freedom Zarif and other Iranian officials were continuing to be given to roam Manhattan, even while the terrorist threats against them remain active. “The only way to help Iran is that you support the people of Iran, rather than providing visas to its leaders or buying this narrative of reform,” Alinejad said. “What kind of reform is this ‘reformist’ Pezeshkian? This reformist is just good PR for Khamenei.”
Why Are Iran’s Thugs Free to Walk the Streets of New York?

U.S. Amb. to U.N.: There ‘Might’ Be Some Antisemites at the U.N.
On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield reacted to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing the United Nations of antisemitism and unfair treatment of Israel by stating that there is “an unfair bias in the U.N. system as it relates to Israel.” But wouldn’t comment on the antisemitism allegations and said that there are some individuals “among member states that that might apply to. I would not apply it to the entire U.N. system.”

Thomas-Greenfield said, “Let me just say, we have raised concerns, consistently, of an unfair bias in the U.N. system as it relates to Israel. We have, I think, an inordinate number of meetings related to Israel, compared to other regions in the world where we have, sometimes, even more problems, like Sudan is an example. So, I think the Prime Minister is right in the sense that there is an unfair focus on Israel. I will not comment on antisemitism. I have no doubt that there are individuals in the U.N. system that might — or among member states that that might apply to. I would not apply it to the entire U.N. system.”


AG Garland: High Holidays ‘should not be a time of fear’
Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged in a speech on Friday to stand by U.S. Jewish communities ahead of the High Holidays and the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, committing to “aggressively investigate and prosecute acts and threats of violence fueled by antisemitism and by hatred of any kind” as Jews gather in synagogues next week for Rosh Hashanah.

“And as we approach one year since the Oct. 7 attacks, we do so at a time when Jews across the country will soon be observing the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” Garland said on Friday in a press conference announcing the results of an unrelated criminal matter. “For Jews, this is a period of solemn reflection and prayer. It is a time to gather together to worship and to be in community with each other. It should not be a time of fear.”

Garland also drew attention to the federal charges brought against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas operatives earlier this month and pledged to continue targeting Hamas operatives. (None of the Hamas leaders charged in the indictment have been arrested, nor has the U.S. announced plans to seek their extradition.)

“Those charges are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’ operations. There will be more to come,” Garland said, hinting at further Justice Department action against the terrorist group. “We are committed to pursuing the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans — and those who illegally provide them with material support — for the rest of their lives.”

In the same speech, Garland also discussed the Justice Department’s efforts to go after Iran.

“There are few actors in this world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism. Iran’s malign activities are wide-ranging,” he said.

He said the U.S. is tracking “lethal plotting against current and former U.S. government officials, including former President [Donald] Trump” and seeking to “disrupt Iran’s funding and support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups.” Further, he honed in on “Iran’s efforts to stoke discord, to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions and to influence our elections,” on the same day the Treasury Department announced sanctions targeting Iranian officials who sought to interfere in American elections.
Son of Hamas co-founder: "Palestine" is a black hole that swallows everything

Harris admin would be ‘most hostile’ to Israel since Eisenhower, expert says
Israel today finds itself standing increasingly alone as the world rejects its right to defend itself against genocidal enemies.

And as the United States heads to elections in November, Israelis are worried that Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is demonstrating less support for Israel and more sympathy for Palestinians and their supporters.

For instance, she has consistently tried to tie Israel’s hands, calling for the Jewish state to end its war against Hamas, and refused to attend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress in July.

According to Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, an administration led by Harris “is likely to be the most hostile U.S. administration to Israel” since U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower’s first term in 1953.

“Even if Harris is neutral on Israel, her progressive base is out for blood and, specifically, Israeli blood,” he told JNS.

As the Biden administration appeases Iran, the Islamic regime attacks Israel directly and through proxies in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza.

Every time Israel went to war against Hamas in Gaza, in 2008-09, 2012, 2014 and 2021, the international community, including the Obama administration, forced Israel to stop fighting. After the horrific Oct. 7 massacre, Israel now aims to destroy Hamas, and yet again, the international community, including the Biden administration, is trying to save Hamas.

Likewise, when Hezbollah launched an unprovoked war against Israel in 2006, the international community forced a ceasefire after Israel attacked.

Even before Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader and arch-terrorist Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, the international community, including the Biden administration, was working hard to achieve a ceasefire to save Hezbollah.

Israel is never allowed to win.
Biden Admin Preps Post-Election Revenge on Israel
Whoever wins on Election Day it won’t be Joe Biden who will head off to join Jimmy Carter in senile infamy or his top administration members who won’t be likely to stay on no matter which way the election turns out.

And the administration is taking it in the noble spirit for which it’s known for, that is to say it’s going to follow in the footsteps of the Obama administration (and plenty of the perps are veterans of Hussy) and avenge the outcome on the Jews. (Hey it’s a popular response for thousands of years. So why not?)

Joe Biden claims that his real priority is a moonshot cure, but it seems like the admin’s real priority is to attack Israel.

The nearly three-month period from the November 5 presidential election to the January 20 inauguration will come with additional “political flexibility,” which will allow space for more confrontational policies vis-a-vis the Israeli government, said the current US official.

The list of steps US President Joe Biden could take would be longer if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election since she is less likely to reverse them, a former senior US official explained. The official added that Harris would also be shielded from any political backlash of such moves due to them being seen as part of her predecessor’s legacy.

The former senior US official acknowledged that certain steps would be less likely taken if former president Donald Trump wins the election because he would be able to roll them back upon returning to office.

The wish list includes sanctioning members of the Israeli government, sanctioning even more Jewish groups and cracking down on Jewish products coming out of territory claiming by Islamic terrorists. Also there are plans for more limitations on weapons and this genius scheme to reopen a terror consulate in Jerusalem.
Kamala Harris Rejects a Two-State Solution
Imagine if you were to read that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris last Thursday said that the so-called Palestinian peace plans are nothing short of proposals for Israeli surrender.

“There are some in my country who would instead force Israel to give up large parts of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Israel accept neutrality, and would require Israel to forgo security relationships with other nations,” the vice president said.

Well, she said it, but instead of “Israel,” she said “Ukraine.” She appeared alongside Volodymyr Zelensky, who, for obvious reasons, resists the notions, raised recently in the US, that he must give in to Russian territorial demands for the sake of a peace agreement.

“These proposals are the same as those of Putin, and let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable,” VP Harris said.

Finally, she gets it! But, you know, not for Jews…

In July, Harris met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and stressed her commitment to a two-state solution, “the only path that ensures Israel remains a secure Jewish and democratic state and one that ensures Palestinians can finally realize the freedom, security, and prosperity that they rightly deserve.”

Zelensky’s visit to Washington took place at a critical juncture, as Russian military advances in eastern Ukraine have intensified, leaving Kiev in a vulnerable state after more than two and a half years of conflict. The Ukrainian president has been touting his victory plan, for which he must obtain serious amounts of cash. Many Republicans on the Hill are not enthusiastic, seeing a two-state solution as a more rational, and much cheaper way to go.

From the Dnieper River to the Black Sea? Probably sounds better in Arabic.
Most swing-state Democrats disavow Sanders’ bid to block aid to Israel
Senate Democrats facing competitive reelections this year are largely distancing themselves from a bid by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) to block a spate of arms sales to Israel.

Before Congress left Washington for its October recess last week, Sanders filed a series of resolutions to block a range of weapons transfers to Israel, including guided munitions. The Vermont senator will likely force votes on the issue when the Senate reconvenes in November.

But a number of Senate Democrats in tight reelection races are saying they won’t support those resolutions.

“At a time when Israel is under attack from Iran’s terrorist proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, calls to limit security assistance to our democratic ally Israel are wrong and dangerous. As Iran, China, and Russia deepen their military ties, it’s in our interest that America’s allies can defend themselves,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) told Jewish Insider in a statement. “This resolution would undermine Israel’s ability to defend against mounting regional threats, which is why I’ll do everything in my power to block it.”

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) similarly disavowed Sanders’ effort.

“We passed aid to Israel on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, and turning back on that aid would be reckless and irresponsible,” Casey said in a statement. “I remain committed to standing with Israel and its right to protect itself while we also work to bring the hostages home and provide much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) said he also opposes the resolutions, while a spokesperson for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said the senator “is reviewing the resolution but has some concerns about Senator Sanders’ approach.”

“Senator Brown strongly believes that Israel has a clear and undeniable right to defend itself against Hamas’ brutal terrorism and voted to send military aid to Israel, along with much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza,” spokesperson Kevin Donohue said. “Ultimately, Senator Brown believes that Israel and Hamas must agree to a ceasefire that ends the war, frees the hostages, and delivers desperately needed humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.”
Individuals who post 'From the River to the Sea' to be denied German citizenship
Individuals who posted “From the River to the Sea” on social media will be denied German citizenship, according to stipulations in the new citizenship law, as cited by German channel NDR (North German Radio and Television) and the Federal Ministry of the Interior this week.

People who are employed in Germany can work to obtain citizenship after five years, compared to the eight years previously required in the law. While the law was passed on June 27 of this year, the requirements have been tightened, especially that “Racism, antisemitism, or any other form of misanthropy rule out naturalization,” according to the ministry.

One of the requirements for citizenship, clause 10.1.1.1.3.1, concerns “Germany’s special historical responsibility for the National Socialist injustice and its consequences, especially for the protection of Jewish life.”

This clause stipulated that an individual who contravenes Germany’s legal commitment to the protection of Jews may not be eligible for citizenship.

It included denial of the fact or extent of the genocide of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and accusing Jews or the State of Israel of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

The above can be considered grounds for exclusion from citizenship, as, according to NDR, people are considered incompatible with a commitment to the German constitution if they violate Germany’s special historical responsibility towards Jewish life.

This stipulation includes liking, sharing, or commenting on such slogans on social networks.


Manipulative author Ta-Nehisi Coates’ dangerous vision of Israel without Jews
Never mind Coates frames this entire section as a mea culpa for his ignorance of the Palestinian plight and, by his own admission, had zero interest in hearing “both sides” — what he described as the “defense of the occupation.”

Backed by his trauma-tourism jaunt through the Holy Land, Coates is suddenly equipped to deliver the final word on a century of Zionist egregiousness. Amateurish and self-indulgent, “The Message” is the ultimate exercise in intersectional chutzpah coming from the wrong writer on the wrong topic at very much the wrong time.

“Israel,” Coates declares after a visit to the West Bank, “had advanced beyond the Jim Crow South.”

But the West Bank is not Israel — and its increasingly militant Palestinian residents bear little in common with segregation-era African Americans, my own family included.

This is just one of many examples of “The Message’s” factual frailty.

There are no winners in “The Message” beyond Coates’ own ego. Jews, for instance, are essentially erased, save for the Zionist pioneers he reduces to white supremacists — along with the wincey Kapos who accompany Coates through Jerusalem as they echo-chamber his foundational anti-Zionism.

Despite his imprimatur of moral purity, Palestinians hardly fare better. Coates may believe his prose speaks for a people “erased from the argument and purged from the narrative,” but his fetishistic reverence for Palestine and Palestinians lacks any of the necessary nuance upon which nations (such as Israel) are actually founded.

In Coates’ hands, everything Palestine-related — their food, their architecture, their stories of exile and rebirth – is worthy simply because it’s Palestinian, even though the exact same parallels can be found among Israeli Jews.

“The group spoke about politics in a manner of communal intimacy — the way my people speak when no white people are around,” writes Coates of a Palestinian-American community he visits near Chicago upon his return from the Middle East. Take it from me, Ta-Nehisi — someone who’s both black and Jewish — we Jews speak exactly the same way when we’re among our own.

Such silly setups — Coates’ cringy Pale-fabulism — confirm the hollowness of the DEI culture that gave voice to folks like Coates in the first place.

Whether in Palestine or Philly, Coates’ veracity — like those of the Palestinians he obsesses over — rests in his color and identity, not in truth or facts.

How else could a book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict come to market with no serious consideration of Hamas or intifada or the Oslo Accords — only “ethnic cleansing” and Gaza “reservations” and lots and lots of “whiteness.”

Coates’ reliance upon the “Jews are White” trope is perhaps the most damning confirmation of his disdain for Jews and Judaism. As my own blackness attests, Jews — including a plurality of Israelis — aren’t exactly “white.”

Indeed, the only motivation behind Coates’ “Jews are white” charade is to edify the claims of “genocide” and “zionist-colonialism” now parading through city squares and college campuses intended to legitimize Hamas barbarism and justify Jewish death.

And this, ultimately, is the real message of “The Message.”

At the end of his section on Israel, Coates finds himself in Jerusalem’s venerable King David Hotel, overwhelmed by Israeli “racism” and his manufactured parallels to its American equivalents.

Horrified by the hotel guard who’d dared ask if he was a hotel guest, Coates declares, “I could only ask myself, what the f–k am I doing here” in Israel?

A better question would have been, “What the f–k is Ta-Nehisi Coates doing writing a book like ‘The Message’?”
Dumisani Washington: Ta-Nehisi Coates joins the Black4Palestine deception
I offer these quotes from a recent New York Magazine article The Return of Ta-Nehisi Coates as evidence: “Our own age of strife takes Coates to three places: Dakar, Senegal, where he makes a pilgrimage to Gorée Island and the Door of No Return; Chapin, South Carolina … and the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

“Coates is interested in patterns of domination, in how oppression replicates itself in different contexts, and in the ‘related traumas of colonialism and enslavement,’ as he writes in his essay on Dakar, a beautiful, searching examination of how his racial consciousness has evolved over time and across space. ‘I knew slavery and Jim Crow, and they knew conquest and colonialism,’ he writes of the Senegalese. The kinship he feels with the Palestinians has similar origins. ‘I felt the warmth of solidarity of ‘conquered peoples,’ as one of my comrades put it, finding each other across the chasm of oceans and experience,’ he writes.”

There are so many African slaves to Arab masters in Libya that one African Union representative called Libya “The new Gore’e Slave Market.” Coates did not travel to and comment on Libya. “Oppression” and “enslavement” are what Nigerian Christians are experiencing as some 6,000 are slaughtered each year by Islamic terrorists such as Boko Haram or the Fulani Herdsman. As Nigerian Stephen Enada explained in Newsweek: “When African children and women are killed in their sleep, teenage girls sexually trafficked across the Mediterranean and young boys kidnapped for use as child soldiers, there is no global response. Terrorism is planned, funded and executed by terrorists and their global networks.”

Enada then asked, “Why are there no reports analyzing funders and planners of terrorist murder in Nigeria, of genocidal assaults in Africa?”

Coates did not travel to and comment on Nigeria.

After the Hamas massacre of some 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, former Sudanese slave Simon Deng wrote a piece for Tablet magazine, First They Came for My People, Then They Came for the Jews.

“What Hamas did was precisely like what Arab Sudan’s genocidal government did to my people,” Deng wrote. “Since they invaded Africa in the seventh century, Arab Muslims had always been doing jihad. We will never really know many Blacks have died between then and today. It is one of those numbers which, because it is unknown, proves how huge the suffering must be.”

Coates did not travel to and comment on Sudan. He did not “[feel] the warmth of solidarity of ‘conquered peoples’ ” under any Arab imperialist regime. He was not “interested in patterns of domination, [or] how oppression replicates itself in different contexts” when it came to the 1,400-year-long Arab enslavement of Africans.

Like the misled who have come before him, his sympathies have been manipulated towards what he perceives as anti-colonial, anti-Western or anti-White movements. This is how Yasser Arafat and the PLO repackaged the Nazi-inspired determination to destroy the Jewish State of Israel. Recast the Israeli Jews as white settler-colonizers and Western imperialists—never mind the fact that Zionism is the liberation movement of the Jewish people or the fact that over 50% of Israel’s Jewish population fled the Arabized/Islamized countries of North Africa and the Middle East.

Coates’s insistence that Israel is oppressing Arab Palestinians is a prescribed, Marxist binary of oppressed vs. oppressor. It ignores both the wealthy and exploitative Arab regimes in power (Hamas’s surviving leaders are worth $11 billion) and the true suffering in the region.

In his critique of Coates’ newfound Palestine cause, Unherd’s Ralph Leonard touches on an additional aspect of the Black4Palestine travesty.

“The irony is that before the ’70s, Black American writers, activists and intellectuals such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Bayard Rustin and Paul Robeson would have said the same thing [that Coates says about Palestine], but [said it] about the Zionist cause. Many Black nationalists, from Edward Wilmot Blyden to Marcus Garvey, made analogies between the Zionist project to ‘return’ the Jews to Zion and their own ‘back-to-Africa’ schemes.”

Africa-Israel Weekly published an academic article by professor Ansel Brown of North Carolina Central University (an HBCU) entitled Zionism and Pan-Africanism: A Common Journey to Recapture Ethnic Self-Realization. The Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (IBSI) also produced a video based on Brown’s work. As the saying goes, there are so many receipts that refute the Black4Palestine hypocrisy, that one must be diligent to ignore them.
Anti-Israel “Comedian” And Propagandist Bassem Youssef Slated To Give Five Performances At Government-Funded Theatre In Toronto
Over a two-day period in mid-October, one of the world’s most prominent anti-Israel activists will be slated to perform five shows at a venerated and publicly-financed theatre in Toronto.

Bassem Boussef is an Egyptian-American self-described “comedian” who has long been accused of spreading anti-Jewish hate, and whose X (formerly Twitter) account was previously suspended for his rhetoric, will be appearing at The Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres in Toronto for five shows on October 11 and 12.

The Elgin & Winter Garden Threatres are owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust, whose mandate is to “conserve, interpret and share Ontario’s heritage.”

Youssef’s social media is a veritable cesspool of anti-Israel propaganda, much of it arguably veers into open Jew-hate in our opinion. In fact, for a supposed comedian, virtually his entire feed on X (formerly Twitter) is a cornucopia of anti-Israel disinformation, disseminated to his nearly 12 million followers.

He has claimed Judaism has been “hijacked by Zionists,” has claimed that accusations of antisemitism are a “fear tactic… used to shutdown (sic) conversations and scare people,” and has condemned what he characterized as “this ‘divine’ status to take other people land and kill then because “you are chosen.’”

Youssef’s screeds are a mix of powerful ignorance and a willingness, even enthusiastic embrace, of conspiracy theories and overt disinformation.

He has unrepentantly claimed that there were no Hamas mass rapes committed during their October 7 massacres in southern Israel, claiming that it was “debunked times (sic) and times (sic) again.”

Not only are there multiple first-hand reports of rape carried out by Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organization, it demonstrates Youssef’s enthusiastic embrace of hateful conspiracy theories, as long as it dovetails in well with his larger anti-Israel fanaticism.

Leaning heavily into medieval blood libels, he has depicted Israel as a bloodthirsty country, writing that “Israel’s right to defend itself is unquestionable. And eventually, it will do so—down to the last American soldier, the final U.S. dollar, and every drop of the last Arab’s child blood.”

He has claimed that the news media is run by Jews, then shrugged and claimed that accusations of anti-Jewish hate against him are ridiculous. He has written that “the number one threat to Jewish people in the world is Zionism,” which is the Jewish People’s national movement of self-determination in their historic homeland. He has shared a video purporting to show a Jew assaulting a Palestinian, which featured the caption “God’s Chosen People.”

Youssef shared one post from an account which asserted that a video, of unknown origin, depicting an Olympic athlete wearing a menorah tattoo, whose hands are covered in blood, was anti-Jewish. In response, Youssef responded “if playing the victim was an Olympic sport. Oh why do (sic) the world hate us?”
Emmy-Nominated Film About Israeli Siblings Released From Hamas Captivity Screens in New York
A film about two Israeli siblings who returned from Hamas captivity in Gaza after being abducted at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 screened in New York City on Monday, two days before representing Israel at the News and Documentary International Emmy Awards ceremony in Manhattan.

“Sister & Brother in Hamas Captivity” by award-winning director Yoram Zak is an episode of “Uvda,” Israel’s leading investigative and current affairs television program from Keshet Media Group. The episode was nominated in the category of current affairs and competed against nominees from Brazil, India, and the United Kingdom.

The “Uvda” episode is about Maya and Itay Regev, siblings from Herzilya who were kidnapped at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists during their rampage across southern Israel, in which they murdered 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages. At the Nova Festival alone, nearly 400 people were killed and approximately 40 others kidnapped.

Zak spoke to the Regev siblings about their captivity for the “Uvda” episode, but prior to their return home, Zak’s film crew followed their parents, Mirit and Ilan Regev, starting from the 10th day of their children’s captivity until the whole family was reunited.

The Regev siblings were kidnapped along with their friends Omer Shem-Tov, who remains in Hamas captivity and turned 21 in late October, and Ori Danino, 25. On Sept. 1, the Israel Defense Forces announced Danino’s death and the recovery of his body from a Hamas tunnel in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. There are still 101 hostages that remain in Hamas captivity, 97 of whom were kidnapped on Oct. 7.

In the “Uvda” episode. Maya, 21, and Itay, 19, also talked about the days leading up to the Oct. 7 massacre. The siblings vacationed in Mexico with their family for three weeks in late September and early October last year. They shared with Zak photos and videos from their fun-filled trip to Mexico before they landed back in Israel on Oct. 6 in the evening. The next day, they went with friends to the Nova Music Festival.

Among other things discussed in the “Uvda” episode, the Regev siblings talked about passing notes to each other during captivity when they were separated, which gave them strength to survive. Itay explained how he was held captive in the same room as Shem-Tov and together they managed to say the Jewish prayer over wine and bread every Friday, in honor of Shabbat, by reserving some grape juice and pretzels given by their captors. Maya talked about befriending another Hamas hostage who ultimately died beside her in captivity, complications with her leg injury while held in Gaza, and staying optimistic that she would return to Israel to her family.

Maya and Italy were among 105 civilians released from captivity in Gaza during a weeklong truce in late November between Israel and Hamas. Both were shot in the legs by terrorists on Oct. 7.

The Regev siblings, their father, and Zak attended the screening of “Sister & Brother in Hamas Captivity” in New York City on Monday that was hosted by The Jewish National Fund and the Israeli Consulate. They participated in a Q&A after the screening. Also in attendance was Noa Argamani, a former Hamas hostage abducted on Oct. 7 who was rescued by the IDF in June.

Maya explained to the audience that she had eight surgeries on her left leg upon returning to Israel and had to undergo many months of physical therapy and other treatments to regain her ability to fully walk again. Zak, who is the producer of the “Big Brother” television series in Israel, said that Monday’s screening was the first time he had seen her walk unassisted.


"High Court Sides with Israel, Rejects Release of Terrorist’s Body before the Hostages Go Free"
The High Court of Justice on Monday unanimously rejected a petition filed against Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Political-Security Cabinet over their decision to hold the body of terrorist Walid Deka for the purpose of negotiations for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Judges Yitzhak Amit, Ofer Grosskopf, and Gila Kanafi-Steinitz ruled that the decision of the minister and the cabinet did not deviate from the limits of reasonableness and proportionality, and therefore there was no reason for the court’s intervention.

The ruling stated that this was a precedent case, as it was decided to maintain possession of Deka’s body even though he is an Israeli citizen. The court ruled that “the military commander has the authority to order the possession of the bodies of terrorists for the purpose of negotiations.”

The verdict also states that Deka had been adopted as a symbol by the terrorist organization Hamas, which gave added credence to the minister’s decision.

Back in September 2019, a seven-judge High Court panel for the first time reversed a 2017 ruling of a three-judge panel that the military commander did not have the authority to keep the bodies of terrorists for the purposes of negotiations and that if the state wanted to pursue this policy, it had to do it through legislation.

The petitioners in 2019 were members of the families of six terrorists whose bodies were held by the state: the terrorist who carried out the attack on the Promenade of the Governor’s Palace in which four soldiers were murdered and 18 others wounded; the terrorist who murdered the late Hillel Yaffe Ariel in Kiryat Arba; the terrorist who participated in the attack in which Rabbi Michael Mark was murdered in south Mount Hebron; the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack in Jerusalem in which Livna Malihi and the late police officer Yosef Karma were murdered; the terrorist who carried out the attack on the bus in Jerusalem in April 2016; and a terrorist who carried out an attempted attack in the Shechem area.


Gay newlywed couple alleges they were booted from Seattle gay bar because of their Israeli citizenship
A newlywed gay couple claimed they were bounced from a gay bar in Seattle because they are Israeli.

On Saturday night at approximately 9:45 pm, the couple, spending their honeymoon in the US, went to Diesel, a bar on 14th Ave in Seattle, and approached the bouncer to present their IDs to gain entry. According to the couple, who wished to remain anonymous, “Our IDs are Israeli passports. Upon seeing that our identification was from Israel and accordingly that we were Israeli, the employee’s demeanor immediately changed and he appeared to have a look of disgust on his face.”

The couple continued, “He let us into the establishment initially, but then, only several moments later, approached us within the establishment and told us that we needed to leave. His exact words were “This is going to be a no, and you must leave right now.”

The couple told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, “We believe that this was a violation of our civil rights as we were subject to discrimination and harassment based on our national origin. We were afraid during this interaction that we would be subject to violence by this employee or others at the establishment, and this caused us public embarrassment, anxiety, and distress.”

“In addition to being illegal discrimination based on national origin, we believe that this was discrimination based on our religion, Judaism, which comes at a time of unprecedented antisemitism across the US and especially in Seattle.”

Diesel told Hoffman in a statement, "The incident you described did not take place at our establishment. The only people asked to leave our premises this past weekend were people who did not have valid ID (validity being defined by WA State LCB as required to enter an establishment that serves alcohol), appeared already intoxicated (WA State LCB does not permit alcohol service to apparently intoxicated persons), and tried to have their friends sneak them in through the back door. Obviously, these details, as confirmed by our security camera system, do not reflect the story you have stated in your email so there must be some misunderstanding."

Before receiving the statement, the couple told Hoffman that Diesel was their first stop of the night.

Diesel added, "We have never and would never refuse someone service based upon their valid (as defined by WA State LCB) passport, no matter the issuing country." The Washington State Liquor Control Board lists a passport as a valid form of ID.
Breaking the brand: The Palestinianization of American academia
The 2023-24 academic year will be remembered for its inept university presidents, antisemitic college deans, fringe-left activist professors and gullible, pro-Hamas students. Collectively and individually, especially at the nation’s top schools, they have twisted to the breaking point the carefully curated reputations of their institutions. Across the nation, campus sympathy has shifted from the victims to the perpetrators of terrorism. College students are waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags, and chanting praise for Yahya Sinwar. Academia has become Palestinized.

To specialists who follow the problems of Middle East studies, the displays on college campuses after Oct. 7 were not surprising. But to the majority who do not follow the ins and outs of academic politics, watching college students and faculty members align themselves with political violence in the name of “resistance,” celebrate the murder of Israelis and call for a “global intifada” had many Americans questioning whether the results of a college education are worth the cost—and not just in dollars.

The academic brand
On one level, academic brands are merchandising tools—bumper stickers and clothing displaying school mascots and logos. More important is the intangible dimension of the academic brand—one part reputation, pointing to the past, and one part promise, pointing to the future. Universities with storied histories promise that their past success will be repeated with future success.

At the nation’s top schools, brands are focused on exclusivity. Only a small percentage of students can attend these elite institutions. If the people who run them don’t appear to be the smartest, most impressive and erudite people in the nation, then the brand suffers. Claudine Gay lost her job as president of Harvard because of the damage she did to the brand.

The brand killers: MESA & SJP
Academia could not have been Palestinized without Middle East studies programs and their leaders in the embattled Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Together, they are largely responsible for academia’s realignment against Israel and in favor of the Palestinian “resistance.” They are also responsible for much of last year’s academic brand deterioration. The more prominent the Middle East program at any given school, the greater the damage to that school’s reputation.

Since the 1980s, academia has been dominated by leftists, many of whom view the United States negatively and elevate America’s adversaries to heroic status. David Rapoport argues that, for the left, “When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Palestinian Liberation Organization replaced the Viet Cong as the heroic model.” For today’s campus radicals, Hamas has replaced the PLO as the heroic model.

Middle East studies professors have spent the last several decades supporting academic boycotts of Israel, excusing or downplaying Palestinian violence and “normalizing” Hamas. They have dedicated their energies and expertise to creating a language that justifies “resistance” against “settler-colonial empires.”

MESA and Middle Eastern studies professors who control the profession lead by example, demonstrating how they expect their students to think, write and behave. Too many accept political violence by Palestinians as a form of “social justice” and expect their easily influenced students to do likewise. After all, they also control how or if graduates have access to the job market.

In 1993, one of those professors, Hatem Bazian at the University of California, Berkeley, founded the most virulent of all the student protest groups—Students for Justice in Palestine. SJP is a leading vector of the antisemitism eroding academia. It published a “Toolkit for Resistance” on Oct. 8 that provided the template for the first wave of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests and continues to be the most significant instigator of campus unrest. Schools that have SJP chapters have protest problems. Most schools that don’t have one don’t have protest problems.

Schools that do not have an SJP chapter should do everything possible to prevent one from being established. Fordham University is the biggest winner in this category since it did not allow an SJP chapter to take root on its campus.
Yeshiva University touts ‘incredible growth’ as it rises slightly in ‘U.S. News’ rankings
Yeshiva University climbed slightly in the “national universities” category of the 2025 U.S. News & World Report “best colleges” rankings to No. 98, up from No. 105 in last year’s ranking.

The Washington, D.C.-based publication ranks colleges and universities based on data from the prior year, so the 2025 rankings draw on information that schools self-reported and filed with federal and state agencies in 2024. The “best colleges” rankings are of undergraduate programs. U.S. News ranks graduate schools separately.

Yeshiva is tied for No. 98 with six other schools—Florida International University, Gonzaga University, Rutgers University-Camden, Temple University, the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Iowa. As of fall 2023, Yeshiva had an undergraduate enrollment of 2,319, while enrollments of undergraduates at the other six schools with which Yeshiva tied ranged, according to U.S. News, from 3,922 to 44,045.

The Yeshiva University Commentator, a student publication, reported in 2023 that the school was tied with 10 other schools that year for No. 105. That ranking represented a drop of 38 numbers in the rankings, the paper reported.

“YU has fallen in college rankings before. In 2017, YU dropped 28 spots to 94th place after spending almost two decades mostly between the 40s and low 50s,” per the Commentator. “In 2019, YU was ranked 97th, before recovering in recent years.”


Special briefing: Crisis on Campus | StandWithUs Live
StandWithUs Executive Director of the Emerson Fellowship and Campus Affairs, Rena Nasar First and senior at Brown University, Brooke Verschleiser discuss the current challenges for Jewish students on college campuses.


StandWithUs campus leaders | Countering antisemitism and standing up for Israel on campus
StandWithUs campus leaders from around the world discuss how they counter antisemitism and stand up for Israel on campus.




Columnist In The Conversation Claims All Of Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Efforts Against Hezbollah Are Just Meant To Terrorize Lebanese Civilians
Nearly a year of nonstop rocket attacks on Israeli towns from Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group, in “solidarity” with its ally Hamas in Gaza, has caused widespread damage across northern Israel.

The rocket attacks have made tens of thousands of Israelis refugees in their own country, and have killed and injured dozens of Israeli civilians, most notably 12 children from the Druze religious minority, massacred by a Hezbollah rocket during the summer as they played soccer in a field.

Against such a violent and unprovoked onslaught by a genocidal terrorist group dedicated to Israel’s violent destruction, what is Jerusalem to do in order to protect its population? According to a September 23 opinion column for TheConversation.com, the answer, apparently, is next to nothing.

The commentary: “After recent attacks, the Hezbollah-Israel confrontation could become more intense,” written by Emilie El Khoury, a postdoctoral fellow at Queen’s University’s Centre for International Policy and Defence (CIDP), repeatedly drew a false parallel between Hezbollah and Israel, despite one party launching unprovoked attacks for a year.

Israel’s Only Target In Lebanon Is Hezbollah
In her article, El Khoury framed Israel’s counter-terrorism operations against Hezbollah, not necessarily as an attempt to downgrade the group’s ability to massacre Israelis, but as a tool of psychological warfare against Lebanese civilians.

Referring to the September 17 and 18 explosion of Hezbollah-issued mobile devices in a strike attributed to Israel, but not confirmed, El Khoury quoted a United Nations official claiming that “it is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians,” and adding her own commentary that Israel’s efforts are “designed to spread fear among the civilian population.”

Pager Attack: Most Precise Anti-Terror Operation In History
What El Khoury conveniently left out is the massive setback faced by Hezbollah as a result of the pager attack: scores of terrorists incapacitated and the group’s communication in disarray, and all of it accomplished with pinpoint precision that has been called “the most precisely targeted anti-terrorist operation in the history of the world” by analyst David Frum.

That did not stop El Khoury from attempting to twist a remarkable precision strike into the polar opposite, claiming that “many innocent civilians were killed or injured, including women, children and health-care workers. People from all walks of life felt a palpable threat, giving rise to unprecedented solidarity.”


Latest Report on BBC Coverage of Israel-Hamas War Highlights Old Problems, Raises New Concerns
CAMERA UK and CAMERA Arabic are very pleased to have been able to contribute to a comprehensive new report compiled and edited by Danny Cohen, a former director of BBC Television, concerning BBC coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Although our daily monitoring of Israel-related BBC content long predates the war initiated by Hamas on Oct. 7 2023, the events of the past year have both highlighted existing issues – including the corporation’s refusal to describe terrorists as such, the lack of adequate oversight of BBC Arabic and the performance of its complaints system – and raised new concerns.

As the world’s largest media outlet and as Britain’s publicly funded national broadcaster, the BBC’s role in providing its audiences with accurate and impartial information in an era of “fake news” is of prime importance.

For the BBC to regain public trust, an independent inquiry into its adherence to editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality in its coverage of Israel and Jewish affairs is crucial.

Commenting on the new report, British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said:
Few institutions are as vital for our national cultural identity or for the health of our democracy as the BBC. That’s why the content of this report, which records the repeated and longstanding failure to ensure impartial and accurate news coverage of the existential war that Israel is fighting on multiple fronts, is so profoundly troubling.

The data could not be clearer: wherever sustained misinformation and demonisation of Israel is found, incidents of anti-Jewish racism surge. That’s one of the reasons why the accuracy and objectivity of our national broadcaster is so important for the Jewish community. And of course beyond that, in an uncertain world the public needs to know that it can trust the BBC.

I know this is a matter that senior leaders at the BBC take seriously, but the multiple failings highlighted by the report show just how much work there is yet to do. In particular, I endorse the call for an independent inquiry, undertaken by personnel and with terms of reference that command the confidence of the Jewish community.

Trust in the BBC is crucial, but trust can only be restored when impartiality is upheld and accountability is ensured.

British Jewish community organisations have also called for an independent inquiry.


BBC Verify avoids the ‘why’ in report on damage in Lebanon
Irvine-Brown refrained from informing BBC audiences that Aitaroun is right next to a Hizballah military zone and includes Hizballah positions and infrastructure.

He closed the report as follows:
Irvine-Brown: “Despite calls for a ceasefire, it looks like the exchanges will continue across the border. We continue to use a combination of these tools to tell you what we can about the damage done.”

As we see, BBC Verify’s interest in “the damage done” is not only limited to one side of the border but also to one possible cause – Israeli airstrikes. Despite plenty of film clips being available online, BBC Verify has absolutely nothing to tell BBC audiences about the damage and deaths caused in Lebanon by exploding Hizballah munitions stored in civilian buildings.

And clearly Irvine-Brown and his team were not in the slightest bit interested in telling their viewers about the root cause of “the damage done” in Lebanon: Hizballah’s concealment of weapons and missiles in civilian areas and its exploitation of residents as human shields.

In other words, BBC Verify chose only to “tell you what we can” about particular parts of the who, what and where of this story – and is even less committed to explaining the why.
Jeremy Bowen frames the Lebanon story for BBC audiences
5. Portrayal of Israel’s actions in Lebanon as not conducive to achieving its declared aims.
September 18th: “Bowen: Tactical triumph for Israel, but Hezbollah won’t be deterred”

“And it doesn’t get closer to Israel’s strategic aim of stopping Hezbollah’s attacks and allowing the more than 60,000 Israelis on the northern border who haven’t been in their houses for nearly a year to return home.”

September 24th:”Bowen: Israel is gambling Hezbollah will crumple but it faces a well-armed, angry enemy”

“Israel’s offensive rests on an assumption – a gamble – that a point will come when Hezbollah will crumple, retreat from the border and stop firing into Israel. Most observers of Hezbollah believe it will not stop. Fighting Israel is the main reason why Hezbollah exists.” […]

“Israel believes the time has come to be aggressive and audacious, to blast Hezbollah away from its borders. But it faces an obdurate, well-armed and angry enemy. This is the most dangerous crisis in the long year of war since Hamas attacked Israel and at the moment nothing is stopping it spiralling towards something much worse.”

6. Portrayal of Israel’s actions as indiscriminate and/or illegal.
September 18th: “Bowen: Tactical triumph for Israel, but Hezbollah won’t be deterred”

“But there is fury and alarm in Lebanon and the wider region that Israel’s attacks appear to have been launched with little concern for bystanders and family members who have been wounded and killed alongside Hezbollah fighters.”

September 24th:”Bowen: Israel is gambling Hezbollah will crumple but it faces a well-armed, angry enemy”

“Some critics as well as enemies of Israel said the warnings were too vague and did not give enough time for families to evacuate. The laws of war demand that civilians be protected, and forbid indiscriminate, disproportionate use of force. […]

Take the pager attack. Israel says it was aimed at Hezbollah operatives who had been issued with the pagers. But Israel could not know where they would be when the bombs inside the pagers were triggered, which was why civilians and children in homes, shops and other public places were wounded and killed. That, some leading lawyers say, proves that Israel was using deadly force without distinguishing between combatants and civilians; a violation of the rules of war.”
Beware of cliché-wielding Guardian columnists
Veteran Guardian* foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall unleashed a torrent of lies, distortions and clichés in an effort to blame Jerusalem for defending itself from the Iranian backed terror group that’s been firing rockets on Israeli communities in the north. The piece (“Netanyahu’s lethal bombs will turn Lebanon into another Gaza. He must be brought down now“, Sept. 24) blames Israel entirely for the current war, while letting Hezbollah off the hook.

Tisdall, in fact, frames the illegal Shiite militia as the reasonable party in the dispute, writing that “Hezbollah has been clear all along. It says it will stop firing missiles when a Gaza ceasefire deal is agreed, not before“, which he contrasts with what he falsely alleges is the refusal of Israeli leaders to reach a deal. He also evokes Al-Manar-style propaganda by characterising the last two days of IDF strikes on Hezbollah military targets as a “massacre”, despite the fact that Lebanese authorities reported that the overwhelming majority of those killed have been adult males.

The Guardian journalist even mocks Israeli ‘claims’ that Hezbollah has been terrorising the north, writing that “Israel’s ambassador to the UK insists on the BBC’s Today programme that it’s all about the terror threat in the north“, before asking, “Whose terror, Tzipi Hotovely?”.

At one point in the op-ed, Tisdall offers his sage advice for how not to facilitate the return of 60,000 Israelis, writing that the IDF assault will not allow the “Displaced residents” to “safely return“, before offering up the mind-numbingly banal and ahistorical platitude that “Violence begets violence. It does not bring security, just more hatred and vengeance“.
La Presse Editorial Cartoon Lambastes Israel For Allegedly Killing Hezbollah Terrorists
Casting Israel’s prime minister as a blood-sucking vampire en route to Gaza, which borrowed from classic antisemitic tropes, was seemingly insufficient for Serge Chapleau, a cartoonist at La Presse. It was a cartoon published in March that played directly into the hands of Hamas terrorists by inverting the victim and the perpetrator. If Israel’s leader is a vampire, Hamas terrorists are presumably his poor victims.

La Presse apologized and removed it. One would expect them to operate with increased caution – particularly in promoting skewed opinions in cartoon form – but no. On September 25, they were again guilty of promoting the agenda of terrorists – this time of Hezbollah.

Chapleau’s latest image showed a picture of a pager that had received the message, “BOUM” and underneath was written, “This is not a grenade.”

The implied criticism is that Israel was allegedly wrong to detonate the pagers that put 1,500 Hezbollah terrorists out of action. The luxury of a cartoon is that it does not have to say what Israel should do instead.

Hamas And Hezbollah Committed To Israel’s Destruction
Israel finds itself surrounded by genocidal enemies hell-bent on its destruction. The day after Hamas’ massacres on October 7, the worst mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust, Hezbollah started firing unprovoked, indiscriminate missile attacks at Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Over the last year, it has fired at least 8,500 rockets, killing and maiming dozens of civilians. It has displaced 80,000 civilians in the north of Israel, even before their recent escalation. It has caused the Majdal Shams massacre, killing 12 Druze children while playing soccer. Currently, school is closed for Israel’s northern inhabitants and they are directed to stay near their safe rooms.

Hezbollah’s actions are in support of Hamas, meaning, at Iran’s behest. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is dedicated to Israel’s destruction. In April he told Ismail Haniyeh – then Hamas chief – at the funeral of Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s then president, that Israel “will one day be eliminated” and that “Palestine will rise from the river to the sea.”

Israel has therefore been forced into a fight for its survival. Using pagers that only Hezbollah used was a highly precise method of targeting combatants.


MEMRI: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Sends Condolences To Hizbullah Following Death Of Nasrallah
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement on its official media in which he expressed his condolences to Lebanese Hizbullah for the death of Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah who was killed on September 27, 2024, in an Israeli attack on Beirut's southern Dahiyeh district, a known Hizbullah stronghold. In his message, Abbas claims that Israel is waging “genocide against the Palestinian and the Lebanese people.”

Similar statements were released by the PLO and the Fatah movement, which are also headed by Abbas.

It is notable that these statements are being issued despite the acute tension between the leadership of the PA and Iran and Hizbullah which, in accordance with instructions from Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, continue to arm and operate terrorist militias in the West Bank with the aim of perpetrating attacks against Israel and toppling the PA government.[1]

This condemnation from the PA leadership, headed by Abbas, is part of the double-dealing policy that he has adopted which, on the one hand, opposes the interference by Iran and Hizbullah in the West Bank, while at the same time exploits the Nasrallah assassination to incite against Israel and to accuse it of aggression and genocide against the Lebanese people. This corresponds with the official PA line that relates to the killing of Palestinian terrorists as aggression against innocent civilians.[2]

This report reviews the condolence messages issued by the PA, the PLO, and Fatah:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: Condolences On The Martyrdom Of Nasrallah; Israel Is Waging Genocide Against The Palestinian And The Lebanese People
On September 28, 2024, President Abbas issued a statement of condolence on the occasion of the death of Nasrallah. The statement released by the PA news agency Wafa, that also appeared on Abbas’s Facebook account, read, “The president of the state of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, sends today, Saturday [September 28], condolences to the Lebanese Hizbullah for the act of martyrdom by its secretary-general, the sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

“His honor also sends warm condolences to the government of Lebanon and the Lebanese people, the brother, for the martyrdom of the civilian victims resulting from the oppressive Israeli aggression, and the continuation of the war of extermination against the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people.”[3]

Poster with condolence message on the Facebook account of President Abbas (Source: Facebook.com/President.Mahmoud.Abbas, September 28, 2024)

Statement From PLO Executive Committee: “The War of Extermination Against The Palestinian People And The Lebanese People Must Stop Immediately”
Similar messages of condolence to the Hizbullah terrorist organization were published on the same day by additional PLO and Fatah movement elements. For instance, the PLO Executive Committee, headed by Abbas, also expressed “its condolences to Lebanese Hizbullah on the martyrdom of its secretary-general, the sheikh Hassan Nasrallah,” as well as “warm, heartfelt condolences for the martyrdom of the civilian victims [killed] as a result of the Israeli aggression and the ceaseless attacks on Lebanon.” The statement declared that “the war of extermination against the Palestinian people and the Lebanese people must stop immediately.”[4]

Chairman Of The PLO Palestinian National Council: A Heinous Crime Directed At The Martyr Hassan Nasrallah
In the name of the PLO Palestinian National Council, its chairman Rawhi Fattuh eulogized “the martyr Hassan Nasrallah and his comrades who rose to heaven as the result of the heinous crime of the assassination perpetrated by the forces of the Israeli occupation.” The statement read, “This heinous crime, directed at the martyr Nasrallah and his comrades, is the continuation of the aggressive policy of the Israeli occupation and a desperate attempt to impose its hegemony on the region by means of bloodshed and cowardly assassinations.”[5]
PMW: Netanyahu still thirsty? Have some Lebanese blood! - Palestinian Authority daily cartoon
A cartoon in the official PA daily depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opening a bottle of Lebanese blood after having finished off a bottle of Palestinian blood:
Cartoon depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an empty bottle of Palestinian blood to his legs and opening a bottle of Lebanese blood

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida website, Sept. 28, 2024]

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stressed where his sympathies lie and sent his:
"Condolences to Hezbollah in Lebanon over the death as a Martyr of [Hezbollah] Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.
His Honor the president also conveyed his condolences to the Lebanese government and the brotherly Lebanese people over the deaths as Martyrs of the civilian victims who died as a result of the oppressive Israeli aggression…"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida website, Sept. 28, 2024]

Abbas' Fatah movement likewise:
"Eulogized Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary-General Martyr Hassan Nasrallah, who died as a Martyr with a number of leaders of the [Hezbollah] party, following an assassination operation that was carried out by the Israeli occupation army as part of its systematic war of annihilation against the two peoples, the Palestinian and Lebanese."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida website, Sept. 28, 2024]

The PLO also joined in:
"The PLO Executive Committee conveyed its deep condolences to Lebanese Hezbollah over the death as a Martyr of its Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah."
[WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 28, 2024]

During the current 2023 Gaza war, Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah have not been actively pro-Nasrallah and Hezbollah. Moreover, the PA and Fatah, while continuing to defend what they call the Palestinian's right to attack Israel on Oct. 7 as an act of self-defense, they have actively criticized Hamas, their popular political rival, for the death and destruction in Gaza. But just as the PA praised rival Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh after he was killed by Israel, so too Nasrallah is being turned into a heroic "Martyr" by the PA and Fatah.


‘More than a full-time job’ covering Jew-hatred in Canada since Oct. 7, ‘National Post’ editor says
Rob Roberts, the editor-in-chief of the National Post in Canada, was “blown away” when he learned that the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation intended to honor him with a community award for his newspaper’s coverage of Israel.

The 20-year-old charitable group plans to bestow its Advocate Award of Excellence, which celebrates “integrity in journalism and media,” on the Montreal-born, non-Jewish journalist at its Oct. 15 gala in Toronto. Conrad Black, the National Post founder who lost his seat in the British House of Lords this summer, is slated to offer opening remarks and present the honor.

“It’s obviously a nod to the whole staff of the Post. We’ve made our coverage of antisemitism a priority,” Roberts, 58, told JNS. “We tried to get Israel coverage right and balanced.”

Roberts was chosen for the award due to his leadership in fair reporting on Israel, Andria Spindel, executive director of the foundation, told JNS. He is a stand out at a time when too many “ideologically driven media” are full of “distortions, misinformation and disinformation,” she said.

“We’re getting accurate reporting, sensitive reporting and factual reporting in Canada from the National Post,” Spindel added.

The committee that selects awardees was particularly impressed with a series of articles in the Post dedicated to Israel’s 75th birthday, according to Spindel.

The paper “published stories about Israel from all aspects of society—not just the startup nation, but they gave you insights into the history, the people, challenges, successes, failures, criticism, a variety of voices,” she said. “That was the first thing that came to conversation when we wanted to salute this success.”

She added that “we wanted to amplify the story about honest reporting because in so many places we see so little of it.”
Man who shot two Jews in Los Angeles sentenced to 35 years
Jaime Tran, 29, who pleaded guilty in June to shooting and trying to kill two Jewish men in Los Angeles as they left synagogue on Feb. 15 and 16, was sentenced to 35 years, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.

The sentence was the low end of the plea agreement, which was for 35 to 40 years for Tran’s federal hate crimes.

“After years of spewing antisemitic vitriol, the defendant planned and carried out a two-day attack attempting to murder Jews leaving synagogue in Los Angeles,” stated Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general.

“As millions of Jewish Americans prepare to observe the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Justice Department reaffirms its commitment to aggressively confronting, disrupting and prosecuting criminal acts motivated by antisemitism, or by hatred of any kind,” Garland said. “No Jewish person in America should have to fear that any sign of their identity will make them the victim of a hate crime.”

Per the department, Tran “obsessed over his antisemitic hatred for years leading up to the attack.”


‘Most exciting find in a millennium’: Oldest Hebrew book goes on display in DC at Museum of the Bible
If Herschel Hepler, associate curator of Hebrew manuscripts at the Museum of the Bible, hadn’t been searching Google Images in April 2016, he probably would not have found an image of a Hebrew manuscript in the museum’s collection which was in Afghanistan at a time when it was supposed to be in Egypt.

If not for that revelation—which raised enduring questions about international law, diplomacy and ethics—the private museum in Washington likely wouldn’t have conducted tests on the Afghan Liturgical Quire and learned that it is not only older than previously thought but the oldest known Hebrew book.

The discovery, and Hepler’s communication with the photographer who documented the book when it was in the possession of an Afghan ruler, led the museum to enlist the scholar Malachi Beit-Arié as research lead on the project. Beit-Arié pushed the museum to conduct dating tests in 2019 of four parts of the manuscript, which indicated that the book is eighth rather than the ninth century. (Beit-Arié died at 86 last October.)

“If we hadn’t expanded the project around Malachi, I doubt any other scholar would have the confidence to argue for us to do four radiometric dating tests,” Hepler told JNS. “The logical progression of this seems obvious now, but it didn’t occur to me.”

Such tests degrade small portions of the parchment. “There are a lot of manuscripts and codices that have a date range and radiometric dating, and they took one sample from one page, and they say, ‘Well. Here’s the date range,’” Hepler told JNS. (A codex is a bound book, a manuscript is a hand-written text and a quire refers to 24 same-sized sheets of paper.)

“We took four samples across the structure of the manuscript, including what we know is the last thing added,” Hepler told JNS. Tests revealed that even the newest part of the book had the highest probability of being before the year 780, during which there was a large “solar event” that presented “a hard line on the carbon in the atmosphere,” the curator said.

At a reception at the Museum of the Bible on Sunday, which drew officials from the U.S. State Department, former Afghan officials, Afghan Jews who live in the United States and Washington Jewish leaders, the notion that the oldest Hebrew book had endured and found its way to Washington was frequently cited as a “miracle.” The book is on view (through Jan. 12) in the exhibit “Sacred Words: Revealing the Earliest Hebrew Book.”
Former Miss Iraq isn't afraid to salute Israel, 'I want to be on the good side'
Sarah Idan pulls out her phone. "Look, this is a video from two days ago," she tells me as we meet in a friend's apartment in Los Angeles. She doesn't feel safe meeting anywhere else, not even in her own home. When I asked her about the source of her concern, she showed me the video she recorded this week.

"Stop following me," Sarah's frightened voice can be heard from behind the camera pointed at a man with an Arab appearance, sitting in a large pickup truck and smoking while looking at her maliciously. "He followed me from my house," she explains, "I even made different turns to check if he was really following me, and only when I saw that he was going everywhere I was going I started recording."

She describes how her heart was racing at those moments, thinking he might pull out a gun and kill her in the middle of the street, and recounts that only when more and more passersby gathered around them and threatened to call the police if he didn't drive away – did the man flee the scene.

Q: Who do you think sent him?
"I don't know. That's the thing, I have no idea, but it's not the first time. It happens all the time. I always have to look over my shoulder. This is my life, especially after October 7. It has definitely intensified since then: the strange activities, the cars that come and park near the apartment, the people standing there watching me. I don't know why. Maybe it's to try to scare me or something."

Q: Do you fear for your life?
"If I'm going to die, I'm going to die. It can't get worse than that. I should have been dead a long time ago."

Q: Explain this to me. You're not Israeli, not Jewish. How are you willing to continue dealing with this and sacrifice your life for Israel?
"It's not for Israel – it's for the free world. There's God's side, the good side, and there's the evil side. The people who hate Israel – the Islamists, the communists, the fascists, all these crazy people – they are, you know, against the free world and free will. Many people are mistaken when they think that everything I do is just for Israel. It's not. It's because I know that Israel is the only one standing against the terrorists, against the crazy people. So yes, I want to be on the side of the good."

Saddam and I
Idan (34), dressed in an elegant designer dress and wearing shiny Gucci heels, fits perfectly into the Hollywood landscape visible from the window. We're sitting in the penthouse of Tomer Shmulevich, an Israeli producer living in Los Angeles who was responsible for Idan's visit to Israel after October 7. Below us, luxury cars speed between the well-manicured trees and magnificent houses of Beverly Hills in the City of Stars, light-years away from where she grew up.

"I grew up in the early 90s under Saddam Hussein's rule and under severe sanctions," she recounts. "Sometimes there was no electricity at all, and sometimes only for three hours a day. Same with water rationing. Food was barely available.

"The bread, which was hard as a rock, my mother would tell us to dip in tea so we could chew it. Fruits were a luxury. I remember one day, I got a banana and took it with me to school, and all the girls were in shock. 'Oh my God, she's holding a banana, she must be really rich!'"




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