Wednesday, October 16, 2024

10/16 Links Pt2: Churchill would have stood behind Israel. We must too; Hamasticide: Apocalyptic barbarians at the gates of Israel; Antisemitism has made life in Ireland unbearable

From Ian:

Andrew Roberts: Churchill would have stood behind Israel. We must too
Although the USSR and USA were not fighting the Second World War beside Britain in 1940, and only came into the war as a result of Hitler’s decisions rather than their own in 1941, the British were supported stalwartly by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and other possessions and dependencies around the globe.

By total contrast, much of the world has shunned Israel as she fights its battles against Islamist tyranny and terrorism, ultimately for them as well as for herself.

The recent scene in the United Nations where delegates filed out of the General Assembly room rather than even listen to Bibi Netanyahu sums up the situation.

Meanwhile, South Africa has tried to divert attention from the corruption of its own government by making unfounded charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court.

At least the neutral nations in 1940-41 were privately hoping that civilisation would destroy barbarism: today they cannot even be counted on to do that.

What Churchill said about Britain’s ability “to ride out the storm of war” has powerful echoes in modern-day Israel.

The performance of the IDF was woeful on October 7 itself but since then it has fought with superb professionalism in destroying and degrading Hamas in Gaza, although of course we still eagerly await the moment when Yahya Sinwar meets the same fate as the Führer in the Reich Chancellery on April 30, 1945. Similarly, the failures of the hitherto-much-vaunted Israeli intelligence were apparent for all to see on October 7, yet since then it has carried out the flawless supply-chain “grim beeper” attacks that have done so much to cripple Hezbollah. Churchill would recognise the phenomenon of these early humiliations – with hardly a significant victory from 1939 to El Alamein in 1942, except for the Battle of Britain – turning into later triumphs. The IDF’s steep but highly successful learning curve in Gaza and now southern Lebanon has been impressive, just as it was for the Allied armies in the Second World War.

To paraphrase Churchill in his and his country’s finest hour, Israel is proving herself yet again able to defend her home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what she is going to try to do. It is the solemn duty of everyone who cares about the defeat of barbarism to stand beside her.
Hamasticide: Apocalyptic barbarians at the gates of Israel
Hamas senior leader Yahya Sinwar used his imagination well, ordering the tearing of children from their mothers’ arms and the killing of mothers in front of their children, inventing every possible way to make the terror more horrendous than that of ISIS, to exterminate in the cruelest manner possible. Sinwar commanded his men to kill babies; to brutally rape women of any age, whether alive or dead; to castrate men and boys; to decapitate; to burn entire families alive along with the symbols of their lives. Thus, he forever epitomized the savagery of his movement, making him the absolute leader of contemporary hatred.

Sinwar placed Hamas at the head of a worldwide movement for the deconstruction of history that legitimizes rage as the emblem of life. That believes that it must take this action against all of civilization. This movement has decided that the contemporary outcome of history and religion, including the Jewish-Christian civilization and the human rights culture, is advantageous only for those who created [it], and so it is a tool of oppression to be ripped to pieces. The diabolical choice to tear down this civilization permits any means to destroy the “colonialists,” the “imperialists,” the “racists,” the rich, the white men, and above all, of course, the Jews. This concept finds consensus far from Gaza, first in the Muslim world, which places the “Islamophobes” among the oppressors, and along with the students, the LGTBQ movements, the ecological movements that think the Earth will be destroyed by capitalist interests and the Jews.

The United Nations, the Palestinian Authority, and even the Ivy League universities have still not condemned Sinwar’s atrocities. It is a crime whose “context” is what counts, and nobody expected that after a massacre like Oct. 7, the destruction of contemporary civilization would piggyback on an antisemitic atrocity. The plan, unlike that of the Nazis in their time, was to destroy the Jews by publicizing as widely as possible the resolve to make them suffer one by one. Hamas leaders repeated the promise: “We did it, and we will do it again and again and again.”

Once the barbarians entered Israel, they roared down the roads by the hundreds in white pickup trucks and on motorbikes, shooting everyone they encountered, pedestrians and drivers, in the head and chasing those who tried to escape. They were divided into units, some assigned to close public roads, while others headed for the countryside and the kibbutzim. They were systematic, coming back to seize anyone who might have escaped them. They opened the doors of the cars abandoned at the sides of the roads to make sure everyone was dead and finish off the wounded. Then they came together to shout for joy over the bodies of the dead: Itbah el Yehud! Allah hu Akbar! They all shouted with the index finger raised, indicating their blasphemous oneness of God, the primal call of jihadism: “Allah is great.” By cutting off the head of a baby, the murderer was fulfilling the mission of reconquering the land occupied by the Jews, purifying it of the Western and democratic culture.
Jonathan Tobin: Jewish anti-Zionists can’t be part of our ‘big tent’ community
Historical memory lies at the heart of most Jewish holiday commemorations. During Sukkot, for example, Jews daily welcome ushpizin—“guests” or ancestors, including the patriarchs of Judaism—into their sukkahs, which themselves are a remembrance of the post-Exodus wanderings of the Jewish people in the desert. It is just one example of how identification with the past is very much part of the present. It also emphasizes the collective fate of a people on their way to their homeland, where shelter would hopefully no longer be a function of impermanent huts open to the stars. On Sukkot, we not only invite guests into our homes; it is a way we connect ourselves with that journey to Israel.

But for a small though noisy minority of contemporary American Jews, the fate of other Jews and Israel is no longer a matter with which they concern themselves. As a consequence, it is now more imperative than ever for Jews to stop pretending that one can join those chanting “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the intifada”—slogans that justify and encourage the genocide of the Jews of Israel—and still be considered part of the Jewish community.

Anti-Zionists may be considered Jewish according to religious law as well as mainstream by The New York Times. But in the post-Oct. 7 world, it should no longer be possible to pretend to speak for Jewish values or tradition, or to be part of the Jewish world, while opposing the right of the one Jewish state on the planet to exist and defend itself. That is true whether those who take that position explicitly—as do Jews who join the pro-Hamas demonstrators in America’s streets and on college campuses—or who merely rationalize their efforts from the sidelines or on the platforms provided to them by the liberal mainstream media.


‘New’ antisemitism sure sounds like the old kind
Is it just me, or is the “new” antisemitism starting to sound a lot like the old kind?

In recent weeks, The New York Times has twice published remarks that directly invoked classic antisemitic stereotypes. Many of us had thought that kind of crude bigotry had finally been eliminated from the mainstream media. Apparently not.

Book reviewer Sam Kriss wrote in the Times on Aug. 20 that his Jewish identity is rooted in his affinity for books, matzah-ball soup and his “overbearing mother.”

If a reporter would ask him about it—although I doubt any will—Kriss might claim that he was just joking about his mother. Well, I, for one, am not laughing.

It reminds me of the “joke” made by Rebecca Erbelding, a staff member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., who said the size of her nose sometimes leads people to mistakenly think that she’s Jewish.

“Jokes” about “Jewish noses” and “pushy Jewish mothers” aren’t funny. They perpetuate cruel and demeaning images of Jews. We all know from history where such vicious imagery can lead. You’d think a staff member at a Holocaust museum would be aware of that.

A few weeks after Kriss’s screed about his mother, the Times once again gave a platform to an exponent of the “new” antisemitism. This time, the perpetrator was Lara Friedman, president of a pro-Arab group called the Foundation for Middle East Peace. It should be noted (although The New York Times didn’t mention it) that Friedman’s foundation promotes the anti-Israel BDS campaign and has financially supported the anti-Zionist extremist group called Jewish Voice for Peace.

The foundation and its leaders also traffic in a particular kind of antisemitic stereotyping. In an Oct. 2 news article, Friedman was asked by a Times correspondent about U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s attitude towards Israel. Friedman replied that Harris is “in a bind” because if she were to “give an inch” and criticize the Israeli government (as if she hasn’t already!), “she would be framed as anti-Israel or even antisemitic. Even if she doesn’t give an inch, she’s still being framed as anti-Israel or antisemitic.”
Antisemitism has made life in Ireland unbearable, say Israelis
Israeli people living in Ireland have said their lives here have become “unbearable” in the past year with many afraid to leave their homes and some emigrating to other countries. According to the 2016 census, 664 Israelis and about 2,500 Jewish people live in Ireland. However, the community claims that Ireland’s pro-Palestine stance has led to an increase in antisemitism that has left many families and their children feeling unsafe.

Bar Clara Mendez McConnon, 33, is originally from the upper Galilee region, which borders Lebanon, but has lived in Dublin on and off since 2012. McConnon is currently in Tel Aviv with her Irish husband and their two young children due to the discrimination they have received.

She said: “For me personally it’s just been heartbreaking. I’ve always been very proud to live in Ireland and was actually deep into my naturalisation process of becoming Irish, but the level of mistrust and isolation got to a point that was just unbearable.

“My eldest son who is seven got bullied at his GAA club a few times by his team-mates and the coach for being Israeli.

“We’ve completely avoided the city centre since October 7 because of the violent graffiti and posters of Hamas terrorists — my son is old enough that he’s able to read them. First he was scared and then he started being ashamed of who he is.

“We had families and friends of years that turned on us. I explained that I can only share the Israeli perspective because that’s my life. My family is being evacuated from the north and one of my childhood friends is one of the hostages that is still there [in Gaza].”

McConnon, who is on maternity leave after giving birth to her youngest son, said she experienced discrimination while in a maternity hospital in Dublin. “The stress and anxiety ended up with me having a very high risk pregnancy with a lot of complications and I was told I needed a C section within 48 hours to bring the baby out a month early,” she said.

“One of the doctors that came in for the consultation decided to completely and utterly smash into me with her political views. This was my doctor and I was in a high-stress environment. I demanded that she be removed from the team and I received an apology letter from the hospital.”

McConnon said she had long been a protester against the Israeli government but was still proud to be an Israeli. “I don’t agree with [Binyamin] Netanyahu and with the current government’s policies around a variety of internal affairs,” she added.

Orli Degani, 45, moved to Dublin with her husband and two children in 2018 from Haifa in northern Israel. She said many Israelis in Ireland were afraid to leave their homes.

“Some people have left Ireland to go back to Israel but most who have left went to other countries in Europe with different views,” she said.

“A lot of Jewish people have removed any symbol that might identify them as Jewish or Israeli, they just don’t want to be identified. A lot of people, including myself, at some point in the last year rarely left the house or they didn’t leave the house by themselves.”


Seth Mandel: China Is Building an Anti-Semitic Leviathan
The second prong is fueling the pro-Hamas movement that has roiled US politics over the past year. In May, Rep. Rashida Tlaib headlined a conference in Detroit affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist group. The conference’s web domain was owned by the People’s Forum, an arm of Marxist millionaire Neville Roy Singham’s sprawling CCP propaganda empire. Singham is married to Code Pink founder Jodie Evans. When the New York Times reported on the power couple’s ties to China last year, it noted that “Few on the American political left would discuss the couple publicly, fearing lawsuits or harassment. Others said that criticism would undermine progressive causes.”

The director of the People’s Forum made a furious anti-American speech at the same PFLP-aligned conference. The People’s Forum has also helped organize and publicize pro-Palestinian street protests and walkouts since Oct. 7. In just the first five weeks after the Hamas attacks, the Free Press reported in November 2023, the People’s Forum “co-organized at least four protests… One rally, in Times Square, happened on October 8 before Israel had even counted its dead.”

The third prong is a bit more sophisticated, and suggests the CCP propaganda machine is evolving. Last week, the Washington Post reported that China is “using fake accounts on social media to spread divisive and sometimes explicitly antisemitic claims and conspiracy theories about politicians,” focusing its attention on critics of the CCP, such as Rep. Barry Moore and Sen. Marco Rubio.

One such tweet, part of the Chinese influence operation known as Spamouflage: “What made Barry Moore win? It was the bloody Jewish consortium! Just because he supported the evil Israel.”

Such tweets are reminiscent of the wackier anti-Hillary Clinton ads that Russian trolls spread on Facebook in 2016. One showed a devil-horned Clinton boxing against Jesus, with the tagline: “ ‘Like’ if you want Jesus to win!”

Tweets about “the bloody Jewish consortium”—great name for Borough Park-based punk rock band, by the way—don’t have the reach that the CCP would hope for. As the Post explains, “Posts on X from the Spamouflage network grew from less than 60,000 views per week late last year to 300,000 views per week — an increase of five times, according to The Post analysis. By contrast, [Elon] Musk’s interview with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in August got 275 million views, and many posts on the platform routinely get more views and engagement than the Spamouflage posts.”

The larger concern would be the amount of effort and resources the CCP is putting into fanning the flames of anti-Semitic propaganda. China has by far the world’s largest share of social media users—about 1 billion. And its economic power makes it a far different caliber of foe than Russia or Iran, which both pose immediate security threats to the West but have no instrument of soft power that can match TikTok’s billion global users.

State sponsored anti-Semitism out of China has the potential to supercharge the current crisis. Considering the staying power of Soviet anti-Zionism, China may leave an unprecedented multi-generational legacy of Jew-hatred in the world.
Would I be safer in London or Netanya?
In contrast, my life in London is hardly changed. Yes, I’ve lost some Facebook friends. I avoid central London on the days when it’s full of anti-Israel marchers but I was never much one for going into central London at weekends anyway. And one of my neighbours has hung a Palestinian flag from his window since last October, plus “End Israeli Apartheid” signs, but he’s not someone I know. He’s not right next door. It all seems small beer compared to having hundreds of rockets flying at you.

But talking to my sister and other British Jews living in Israel, that’s not the way they see it at all. As my friend Karen, who has lived in Israel for decades, puts it: “As a British Jew living in Israel, I feel more at peace and secure, at a personal level, than I ever would in the UK. The rise of virulent antisemitism in the UK feels to me more personally threatening than the conflict we face here in Israel. In Britain the hatred feels personal, coming from people who have no connection to or interaction with Jews, yet their hostility targets us for who we are: Jews. The antisemitism I’ve seen in the UK feels deeply rooted in a culture that is growing more openly hostile to Jews, even among schoolchildren. The notion that someone would hate me simply because I’m Jewish terrifies me far more than the idea of being targeted for my nationality.

In Israel, she says, the conflict feels less personal: “Perhaps because I rarely encounter Palestinians. The only second- hand interaction I’ve had has been through the Jerusalem choir, run by my son-in-law, which brings together Palestinian and Jewish youth twice a week. It’s a space for discussion, interaction, and mutual understanding through music. They are a wonderful example of what our relationship with Palestinians could be and should be. The handful of other Palestinians I call friends are people I have worked with over the years who have always been open to discussion and we hear each other there is no blind hatred. In the UK, however, the animosity feels much stronger, hatred from second or third-generation individuals who have never set foot in the Middle East but express venomous hatred towards Jews.

”The safety I feel in Israel is rooted in the knowledge that we can defend ourselves here. If we are attacked, we respond. If rockets are fired at us, we strike back. It’s the reality of living in a country that is ours by right, where war is not a personal threat but a defence of our homeland. I understand that to outsiders the sirens and the constant threat of rockets seem terrifying but living here I feel safer than walking the streets of London, where antisemitism feels pervasive and, more importantly, unchecked.”

I take her point. And yet I still don’t feel it in the way that she does. Maybe it’s because the antisemitism that I see in London is balanced by the many friends who have been supportive, and a feeling that many British people understand the difference between Jews and Israel, Israel and its government, and “the Palestinians” and Hamas better than we give them credit for.

Ultimately, it comes down to whether you feel more British or more Jewish, I guess. Up until October 7, 2023 I always felt more British. But now – well, I’m at 50/50. What would it take, I wonder, to tip me over to feeling that I’d prefer to risk the impersonal rockets?
‘CBS’ producer asked if Jews are ‘human like us’
Already under fire for telling staff not to refer to Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and for criticizing its reporter’s tough questions about anti-Israel bias for Ta-Nehisi Coates, CBS has a more extensive problem of Jew-hatred, according to the Arabic department at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.

Marwan Al-Ghoul, who has long covered the region, was “praised by the network last week for his ‘resolve’ in covering the conflict,” but the CBS Gaza-based producer, “has a troubling social media history,” CAMERA told JNS. “His posts include vile antisemitism—denying the humanity of Jews—open support for terrorism, calls for ‘permanent resistance’ and predictions about the demise of both the United States and Israel.”

“This glaring inconsistency raises serious questions about CBS‘s editorial standards,” stated Jonah Cohen, communications director for CAMERA.

Al-Ghoul “has been praised within CBS for his reporting since Oct. 7. CBS News desk editor Emmet Lyons described him as ‘an incredibly courageous man and a fantastic reporter,’ while senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer said ‘his resolve is simply astonishing,’” CAMERA said. “However, Al-Ghoul’s social media activity reveals deeply troubling views, including blatant antisemitic rhetoric and praise for violence against Israeli civilians.”

According to CAMERA, the CBS producer’s Arabic posts include asking “Are Jews human like us?” and writing “America and Israel are about to go down, but when?”

“Al-Ghoul also praised violent acts, including the murders of Israeli civilians Ziv Hajbi and Kim Yehezkel-Levengrond, and he gave a thumbs-up to a post denying Jews’ humanity: ‘By no means do they count as human, these are monsters in a human body,’” CAMERA added.
'British elites are in complete denial about attempts to Islamize the West'
Borrowing from the Israeli discourse after Oct. 7, Jewish-British journalist Melanie Phillips (73) is one of the UK's earliest and most famous "disillusioned" figures: from being a senior left-wing journalist and a "Jew by accident," to becoming a fighter for neo-conservative values in the West and an outspoken pro-Israel voice.

Lebanon, now in the spotlight of both the conflict and media attention, played a crucial role in Phillips' process of leaving the British left. "The first time I was exposed to the hypocrisy towards Israel in the world press was in 1982, when the First Lebanon War began," she recalled. "I hadn't visited Israel before, had no such plans, and didn't know much about the Israeli-Arab conflict. To my shock, the coverage in the British press portrayed Israel as a Nazi state. I'll never forget how Ariel Sharon, then defense minister, was described as a Nazi general and mass murderer. Out of nowhere, and for the first time since the Holocaust, displays of antisemitism towards Jews in Britain began to emerge, claiming that we, British Jews, support a state that is committing 'genocide' against Palestinians in Lebanon.

"At that time, I was a senior writer at The Guardian. I asked my colleagues – educated and wonderful people on a personal level who advocate moral principles – how it was that a shocking tragedy in the Middle East, where the army of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad murdered between 25,000 and 40,000 people in the city of Hama in Syria, received a side headline in our newspaper, while Israeli attacks against Palestinians in Lebanon received front-page headlines and extensive coverage. 'We have a double standard towards Israel,' I told them."

The answer she heard changed her life: "Of course we have a double standard," her colleagues explained. "Israel is a Western country, so we judge you by our morals, while from the Arab world, which wasn't educated on human rights values, we don't have similar expectations. If we made such a comparison, it would be racism on our part." Phillips replied: "What are you talking about? If someone claims that Arabs can't be expected to be as moral as the West, in my eyes, that's racism."

This conversation was a turning point for her: "The left revealed itself as fundamentally racist. This realization stunned me. They weren't the moral knights I thought they were. Although it took me time to part ways with The Guardian and the left, in retrospect, this was the moment when my previous world began to crumble." Beyond the ideological debate, Phillips realized that in her colleagues' eyes, she was a Jew representing Israel, and accordingly, they addressed her with expressions like "you" and "you all."

The series of attacks on the London Underground on July 7, 2005, sent shockwaves through the UK. Four Al-Qaeda terrorists with British citizenship detonated bombs in three train stations, killing about 52 people and injuring about 700. This tragedy catalyzed the publication of Phillips' most famous book in 2006: "Londonistan: How Britain Created a Terror State Within." Despite being published by a small, unknown publishing house, the book quickly became a bestseller in Britain and the US. "The major publishing houses in Britain boycotted me and refused to publish my books," Phillips explained. "'Londonistan' sparked a wide public debate on the integration of Muslim immigrants in Britain and the West's failure to address the internal Muslim threat, not only in terms of terrorism but also on the cultural front."
How Hamas Infiltrated Europe
Since October 7, when Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,200 people in a single day, anti-Israel—and antisemitic—sentiment has roiled Europe. In the Netherlands, strangers have targeted Jewish people, calling them slurs like “child murderer” and “dirty Jew.” Over the summer, UK voters elected four anti-Israel politicians, all of whom consider the Jewish state’s retaliatory war against Hamas a “genocide”—with one even questioning reports that the terrorists raped their female victims.

On Tuesday, the European Leadership Network, a nonprofit pro-Israel advocacy group, released a report—first shared with The Free Press—that helps explain the origin of this rising hate. It states that an extensive network of Hamas-affiliated officials and activists throughout Europe use a “civilian front” of charities and nonprofits to line the pockets of the terrorist group.

The report, titled “Hamas in Europe,” identifies five European countries where it claims Hamas is most active outside of Gaza: the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Its hundreds of pages detail the histories of at least a dozen individuals with Hamas ties who are living in Europe while they fundraise, lobby for, and make media appearances on behalf of the terrorist group. How Hamas Infiltrated Europe Mohammad Hannoun, a Jordanian native and resident of Genoa, Italy, who has sent at least $4 million to Hamas over the past decade. (Mohammad Hannoun via X)

Here are just three individuals highlighted in the report.
- Mohammad Hannoun, a 62-year-old Jordan native who the report describes as “the epicenter of Italian actors operating or sympathizing with Hamas,” has sent at least $4 million to the terrorist group over the past decade via the Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The U.S. Treasury Department recently said the Italy-based organization, which Hannoun founded in 1994, “ostensibly raises funds for humanitarian purposes, but in reality helps bankroll Hamas’s military wing.” Just three days after October 7 of last year, Hannoun told an Italian journalist that Hamas’s invasion of Israel was “self-defense.” Hannoun, who lives in the northern Italian city of Genoa, has helped promote anti-Israel rallies throughout the Mediterranean country on his Facebook page, often posting about what he calls a “Nazi Zionist genocide in Palestine.”
- Majed Al-Zeer, who has been co-designated as a Hamas operative by the U.S. and Israel, is “the mastermind of the Hamas-affiliated activity” in the UK and Germany, according to the report. In 1996, Al-Zeer, a 62-year-old British-Jordanian citizen, founded the Palestinian Return Centre, which lobbies British Parliament and holds a special status at the UN that allows its members to attend meetings and “mobilize support for the Palestinian cause in the UK and overseas.” In 2010, Israel declared the Palestinian Return Centre an “unlawful association,” stating that “it is part of the Hamas movement.” Even though German authorities have identified the Palestinian Return Centre as a likely front for Hamas activity, Al-Zeer continues to live and organize anti-Israel rallies in Berlin, where he moved from the UK in 2014.
- Amin Abou Rashed, who Dutch authorities arrested last year for allegedly sending about $6 million to Hamas, has a pattern of “hiding behind politics” and “alleged humanitarian efforts” to “promote Hamas’s ideology” through purported charities like the now-defunct Al-Aqsa Foundation. According to the report, Rashed gained asylum to the Netherlands in 1992, and has been pictured with now-deceased Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other officials for the terrorist group.


Eli Lake: U.S. and Canada Label Terror Fundraiser a ‘Sham Charity’

For most of the 1990s and 2000s, PFLP was largely an afterthought for both Israelis and Palestinians (though it did murder an Israeli tourism minister in 2001). That began to change in 2019, when the PFLP killed a 17-year-old girl in the West Bank with a roadside bomb that also injured her father and brother. Since then, the government of Israel has pressed its allies to designate Samidoun as a terrorist front for the PFLP. The designations from Canada and the U.S. on Tuesday are the culmination of that effort.

One place where that designation will have an effect is elite campuses, where Samidoun has long established itself as a partner—and funder—for anti-Israel student initiatives. Just in the past year, Samidoun has co-sponsored a divestment rally at Princeton, taught an “Abolish Imperialism” lecture at Harvard Law School and, most infamously, led a “Palestinian Resistance 101” teach-in at Columbia University that resulted in the suspension of multiple student organizers who used the event to “promote the use of terror or violence.”

As far back as 2017, Princeton’s Palestine club shared links from Samidoun’s media page and encouraged students to work with the group on initiatives to free a Palestinian activist who had assaulted an Israeli soldier. In 2022, Princeton’s Palestine club again partnered with Samidoun to lead a “Palestinian Prisoner Letter-Writing Session” on campus. This long and close relationship between Princeton students and faculty and Samidoun has been replicated at top universities across the country.

Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former FBI analyst and deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury Department, told The Free Press that the U.S. and Canadian governments have debated over the last year about designating Samidoun a terrorist group. Their reservation was due to the fact that Western governments do not sanction organizations based just on violent and hateful speech. “They have been saying horrible and nasty things,” Levitt said. “We don’t designate people for saying nasty things.”

What turned the tide, according to Levitt, was that Israel had accumulated mounds of evidence that Samidoun was, in effect, a fundraising arm for the PFLP. Some of this information has been available for some time. For example, Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy released a report in 2019 that detailed Samidoun’s role in raising money for the PFLP. That report claims that PFLP operatives transferred money from Lebanon to a man named Khaled Barakat when he was living in Europe. On Tuesday, Barakat was also designated as a foreign terrorist financier. His wife, Charlotte Kates, is Samidoun’s “international coordinator.”

In 2022, the Netherlands barred Kates and Barakat from entering the country where they had planned to land and then drive to a pro-Palestine march in Belgium. More recently, Germany designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization in November 2023.

Even though PFLP has not captured the headlines of better-known groups like Hamas or Hezbollah, it remains deadly. Although it was not involved in the original planning for October 7, the terrorist group joined the massacre once it was underway. NGO Monitor has published PFLP statements and Telegram posts that show its participation in the 2023 attack, joining after the first wave of Hamas operatives.


Gallant to hostages’ families: Talks stalled, US ‘not really on this’
During a meeting on Monday with the families of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant painted a grim picture.

Hamas has hardened its stance and negotiations have reached a stalemate, he said, according to Ynet. “I hope we reach something, but right now there is no lead,” Gallant told the families. “Hamas is slow in establishing contact, communication is crawling, and there is no central control by [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar or his people.”

Furthermore, “The Americans are not really on this,” he said.

Gallant’s pessimism stems from the changing dynamics both in Gaza and the broader region. He informed the families that the focus of tensions has shifted to Israel’s northern border, with expectations of potential escalation involving Hezbollah and possibly Iran. “What is happening in the north serves Hamas, and they are waiting,” Gallant explained, suggesting that the terrorist group is hoping to leverage regional tensions to its advantage.

The families’ frustration was palpable following the meeting. One parent of a captive, speaking to Ynet, expressed their disappointment: “The defense minister didn’t tell us anything new. There is a complete stalemate between the sides, and there is no lead to renew the negotiations. Our frustration has worsened, as there hasn’t been such a stuck period since Oct. 7.”

Despite the challenges, Israel is attempting to restart negotiations and continue talks on multiple fronts. Israel Security Agency Director Ronen Bar made a secret visit to Cairo on Sunday, meeting with Egypt’s intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Kamal, according to Hebrew media reports. This marks the first visit by a senior Israeli official to Egypt since Aug. 22.

Amid these diplomatic efforts, Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, Jerusalem’s point man on the abductee issue, remains committed to the cause. Speaking at the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism at Herzliya’s Reichman University, Hirsch stated, “Negotiation efforts and moves related to negotiations are taking place constantly. The problem is the time it is taking.” He added, “We are still unable to get to effective negotiations with Hamas, which torpedoes talks all the time.”


Take it from someone who’s both Black and Jewish: Ta-Nehisi Coates weaponizes race to spread antisemitism
Ta-Nehisi Coates believes he understands the plight and injustice faced by Palestinians within and beyond Israel’s Green Line, and that he is morally compelled to advocate on their behalf because he is African-American — a “conquered person” as he describes himself.

I am also Black, and Jewish, and I also feel morally compelled — to call out the anti-Zionism and, yes, antisemitism at the core of Coates’ new book, “The Message.”

The problem is that Coates, despite his claim of racial license, knows very little about Israel and Palestine – he’s been there once, for barely 10 days – and has made clear he has no interest in presenting Israeli voices that do not espouse his anti-Zionist views.

Your weekly guide through the news and the noise of how rising antisemitism and disputes over how to address it are shaping American Jewish life.

All of this has been known for weeks, ever since Coates – a revered critic on America’s legacy of racism and inequality – revealed the themes of this long-awaited book months ago. What many might not have anticipated, however, is the way in which the antisemitism that infects the book has already begun to spread through the culture.

But then again, no one should be surprised – because that’s how antisemitism works — insidiously and parasitically, in the words of the Canadian-Lebanese-Jewish author and philosopher Gad Saad.

The spread of far-left thinking, Saad writes, manifests like an ideological miasma infecting everything it encounters with rapaciousness and impunity.

The recent fallout from the publication of the new book The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates suggests that anti-Zionism and antisemitism pretty much work the same way – particularly when combined with race and identity politics. Only The Message’s message is magnified by the specter of race, and its ability to strike down intellectual exchange out of fear of being canceled, called “racist” or worse.

The first clue that The Message was infecting the culture around it came last week during an appearance by Coates on the CBS Morning News. There, the author tussled with anchor Tony Dokoupil, who’s white and Jewish and challenged Coates omission of pro-Israel voices along with his failure to include in the book, any mention of Palestinian terror or violence.


Tablet Podcast: Talking Ta-Nehisi Coates With Karol Markowicz
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ latest book, The Message, details his travels from Dakar, to South Carolina, to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Liel is joined by New York Post and Fox News contributor Karol Markowicz to discuss Coates’ problematic approach to “research,” in which he chose not to speak to Israelis directly.


Fashion-Forward Senior White House Official's Hurried Deletion of His Official Anti-Police, Anti-Israel Posts Is Subject of Ethics Complaint: Tyler Cherry Promoted Twice, Called US a Racist 'Police State'
A government watchdog group accused the Biden-Harris administration of violating federal ethics requirements by allowing controversial communications official Tyler Cherry, whom the administration recently promoted to White House associate communications director, to delete social media posts from his verified government account on X and subsequently make the account private, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

According to a complaint filed on Tuesday by Protect the Public's Trust and obtained by the Free Beacon, Cherry, who had been the communications director for the Interior Department, deleted nearly 2,500 posts from his verified government X account and blocked the account from public view immediately after he landed the top role in the White House's communications office in June.

For months, Cherry has faced criticism over now-deleted social media posts in which he accused Israel of occupying Palestinian territory, attacked police officers as racist and likened policing to slavery, blasted the "capitalistic police state motivated by explicit and implicit racial biases," argued that the Republican Party is focused on "white grievance politics," and repeatedly boosted the "Russiagate" conspiracy theory during the Trump administration.

"Cheersing in bars to ending the occupation of Palestine—no shame and f— your glares #ISupportGaza #FreePalestine," Cherry said in one July 25, 2014, tweet. Cherry appears to have made that post in response to the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, which began that July after Hamas militants in Gaza launched a series of missile strikes on Israeli targets.

Cherry was first hired by the Interior Department as press secretary in January 2021 after stints with President Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign, left-leaning consulting firm SKDK, and progressive news outlet Media Matters for America.

In 2022, the New York Times published a fawning article about Cherry's same-sex wedding, which Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland officiated.

On June 23, 2024, the same day he began deleting past posts and shortly after the White House hired him, Cherry issued a statement on X apologizing for those posts. "Past social media posts from when I was younger do not reflect my current views," he wrote. Because he locked his account shortly thereafter, that apology statement is no longer public.


Australia: Victorian Parliament refuses debate
A motion condemning Hamas and expressing solidarity with Victoria’s Jewish community was blocked from debate in the Victorian Parliament yesterday, sparking criticism from opposition MPs.

David Southwick, Liberal Member for Caulfield, attempted to move a motion that would have seen the house condemn the Hamas terrorist atrocities of 7 October, which saw 1,195 people murdered and 251 taken hostage”.

However, the Labor government used its parliamentary majority to refuse leave for the debate, as it was a procedural motion to suspend normal business.

Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) President Philip Zajac said while they are appreciative that Premier Jacinta Allan, Deputy Premier Ben Carroll and a number of their colleagues joined with the local community last week to mark the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel, it is puzzling that the Government rejected attempts to mark the anniversary in Parliament.

He said “There is strength and purpose in a bipartisan motion that mourns civilian deaths, calls for the immediate return of the hostage and supports Israel’s right to self-defence against those seeking its destruction. We would encourage Parliament to come together for this purpose.”

Southwick said afterwards, “All we wanted was a simple, bipartisan statement commemorating the anniversary of October 7, condemning Hamas, and standing with our Jewish community. It’s just sickening that the Allan Labor Government refused to even consider it.”

Opposition leader John Pesutto said after both sides of the Victorian Parliament came together in solidarity with the Jewish community a year ago, it’s disappointing that Premier Allan refused to stand with the Jewish community again.

James Newbury, Liberal Member for Brighton responded by saying, “We have all seen the lack of empathy and friendship shown by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It seems like Premier Allan is doing the very same.”


Spain’s Israel problem
It should come as no surprise that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has joined the call for an arms embargo against Israel. Spain is now in the company of Canada, France and the United Kingdom in calling for or enacting either a full or partial arms embargo.

The Sánchez government has been particularly aggressive in its criticism of Israel, predating the massacres carried out by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. Spain is part of a group of “never-Israel’’ governments inside the European Union, including Ireland, Norway and Slovenia, that compete to see which can excoriate Israel more. It’s no coincidence that all four countries have recognized a Palestinian state in the wake of the fighting.

Post-Oct. 7 comments emanating from the capitals of these countries are deep in charges of genocide and violations of international law. Cabinet members in each place have laced their statements on Israel’s defensive war in the Gaza Strip with full servings of opprobrium.

In May, Spanish Minister of Defense Margarita Robles called the fighting in Gaza “a real genocide.’’ She gratuitously added that Spain’s recognition of “Palestine’’ was meant to “help end the violence.’’

Spain’s minister of social rights, Ione Bellara, has endorsed the International Criminal Court’s case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “war crimes,” calling the fighting in Gaza a “planned genocide.”

Spain’s early and full-throated endorsement of the International Court of Justice’s efforts to push Israel into the dock on genocide charges is but further evidence of the Sánchez government’s efforts to feather its pro-Palestinian street cred.

To be certain that no one would miss the point, Spain has repeatedly voted for a series of anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations in recent years, including the odious document introduced in the General Assembly by “the state of Palestine” and adopted recently, which includes a laundry list of measures to be imposed on Israel, such as an arms embargo and BDS-style trade restrictions.

Just this week, Spain doubled down on ways to further Israel’s isolation by calling for the E.U. to suspend a free-trade agreement with the Jewish state over what it is calling Israel’s “human-rights violations.” In a further move meant to complicate Israel’s operations in Southern Lebanon, the Sánchez government has rejected Israel’s call for U.N. peacekeeping forces in the area to stay out of harm’s way while the Israel Defense Forces conducts its defensive war against Hezbollah.

This is all against the backdrop of the glorious and tragic history of Jews in Spain. Much has been written and told about the “Golden Age” of philosophers and advisers to the royal courts. Maimonides, Judah Halevi, Shmuel HaNagid, Moshe ibn Ezra, and others are names etched in Spanish Jewish iconography and Jewish historical consciousness.

But so is the Spanish Inquisition with its expulsion of more than 100,000 Jews and its auto-da-fés, public humiliation and burning at the stake of thousands of conversos, those Jews who converted to Christianity and who practiced Jewish customs in secret.


MEMRI: Mosque In Windsor, Canada, Holds Memorial Service For Slain Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah And Other Hizbullah 'Martyrs'
The Ahlul Bayt Mosque, a prominent Shi'a Islamic center in Windsor, Ontario, hosted a commemoration service in honor of Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. The mosque, which regularly hosts memorial services in honor of other Hizbullah fighters, frequently also glorifies Hizbullah on Instagram and promotes a Telegram channel which provides minute-by minute updates on Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah, and other groups' operations against Israel. The Mayor of Windsor, Drew Dilkens, was photographed attending a mosque event to support the family of a deceased Hizbullah leader

A gathering at The Ahlul Bayt Mosque on Sunday September 29, 2024, to celebrate the life of the slain leader of Hizbullah, Hassan Nasrallah. (Source: Dearborn.org/preview/photos-isbouh-commemoration-service-for-all-martyrs-of-lebanon-in-windsor-canada-61658, October 1, 2024).

The Ahlul Beyt Mosque has mourned Hizbullah martyrs, starting well before October 7th. Back in 2018, the Mayor of Windsor, Drew Dilkens, was photographed attending an event at the Ahlul-Bayt Mosque, to support the family of a deceased Hizbullah leader. In the picture, Dilkens is shown posing next to Firas Al Najim, a young supporter of the Iranian regime whose scarf depicts the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.[1]

Windsor, Ont., Mayor Drew Dilkens at the Ahlul Beyt Mosque in October 2018 supporting the family of a deceased Hizbullah leader. Dilkens later claimed not having a strong recollection of the event.

On October 1, 2024, a local news outlet uploaded pictures of the commemoration service held by the Ahlul Beyt Mosque for Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah and "all martyrs of Lebanon."[2]

Pictures of the commemoration service were also posted by the mosque's women's group on Instagram (@ayc_sisters), with the caption: "Gathering at the mosque and school of Ahlul Bayt, for the martyrdom of our teacher and our father Sayid Hassan Nasrallah. Though he has left this earth […], he raised us well to never bow to the enemy, our Sayid raised us to be faithful. I wish you would come back, my dear." [3] The Ahlul Bayt Mosque operates an educational institution known as Ahlul Bayt Islamic School, where a memorial in honor of Nasrallah was allegedly also held.[4]

The Ahlul Bayt Mosque, pictured on Sunday, September 29, 2024, showing hundreds of people gathering for the memorial service honoring the slain Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

On September 28, 2024, @aycwindsor wrote a post on Instagram glorifying Nasrallah and calling for his death to be avenged. The caption read: "Our hearts are shattered today. Our backs are broken. Thank you to this leader of leaders for everything he has sacrificed for us. This great man, our father, who's given us a sense of safety & security since before a lot of us were born until now will be avenged. May Allah [] grant him the highest level of heaven. Today we are orphans. Today we lost our father. Today we call out to the Imam of our time to help & guide us. Glory to the resistance. Glory to our leaders. Glory to each revolutionary, from the ones who defend our land & people with weapons, to the young adults in the west who do not back down from pressure and demand justice. Glory to our martyrs."[5]
MEMRI: Head Of Hizbullah Cultural Mobilization Department Youth Section, In YouTube Webinars Featuring Students From U.S., Canada, Australia, UK, Calls For Formation Of Worldwide 'Palestine Force' Of 'Resisting' Students, Professors; American Activist Mohsin Naqvi: Campus Encampments Scare 'U.S. Empire'; Canadian Activist Firas Al-Najim: 'Deviant Jews' Are Treacherous, Know How To Bribe, Steal, Blackmail; 'We Respond To Your Call, Oh Khamenei'
Two international webinars on mobilizing students for Palestine, streamed live on YouTube, featured Hizbullah official Ali Al-Hajj Hassan, head of the Youth Section at Hizbullah's Cultural Mobilization Department. Other speakers included activists identified as "student representatives" from countries including the U.S., Canada, UK., and Australia. The webinars, held on May 16 and August 20, 2024, were hosted by the Imamia Students Organization Pakistan (ISO Pakistan), the country's largest Shi'a student organization. The videos of the events were posted on the ISO Pakistan YouTube channel.[1] The May 16 event, titled "Responsibilities of Students in Palestinians Issue," featured self-described student representatives from the U.S., UK, Australia, Gaza, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Iran.[2] It prominently featured Hizbullah official Ali Al-Hajj Hassan who called for forming a "Palestine Force" of "resisting" students and professors worldwide. The August 20 event featured speakers from countries including Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon, Nigeria, the U.S., Pakistan, Canada, Turkey, and the Palestinian territories.[3]

August 20, 2024 ISO Pakistan webinar with activists from different countries including Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon, Nigeria, the U.S., Pakistan, Canada, Turkey, and the Palestinian territories.[4]

Head Of Youth Section At Hizbullah's Cultural Mobilization Department Calls For Forming 'Palestine Force' Of 'Resisting' Students, Professors Worldwide, Including In The U.S., UK, Germany, Italy, Australia, Who Will 'Carry The Spirit Of The Mujahideen' In Online International Student Seminar: 'We Are In A Historic Moment... Wherever We Are Present, We Must Influence Young People'

The May 16, 2024 webinar, marking International Nakba Day, featured Hizbullah official Ali Al-Hajj Hassan, Head of the Youth Section at Hizbullah's Cultural Mobilization Department. Participants included activists identified as "student representatives" from countries including the U.S., UK, and Australia.

During his speech, Hassan called for establishing an international "Palestine Force" of youth and students across Western and Islamic countries, including the U.S., UK, Germany, Italy, and Australia, who will lead protests in support of armed resistance in Gaza, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, and "carry the spirit of the mujahideen" in their respective countries. He emphasized that the Al-Aqsa Flood war, which he said began on October 8, 2023, is a global war between "humanity and the monstrous West." The youth's role in this global war, he said, is crucial at this historic moment, adding: "Wherever we are present, we must influence young people."

Ali Al-Hajj Hassan also recently spoke about his efforts to mobilize pro-Palestinian activism among students on college campuses in the West in an interview on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV. Other participants in the webinar included Houston-based activist Mohsin Naqvi and Canadian activist Firas Al-Najim of CD4HR.

To view a full transcript of Ali Al-Hajj Hassan's speech, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11562 Head Of Youth Section At Hizbullah's Cultural Mobilization Department Calls For Forming 'Palestine Force' Of 'Resisting' Students, Professors Worldwide, Including In The U.S., UK, Germany, Italy, Australia, Who Will 'Carry The Spirit Of The Mujahideen' In Online International Student Seminar; Adds: 'We Are In A Historic Moment... Wherever We Are Present, We Must Influence Young People', September 17, 2024. Other speakers in the May 16 webinar were identified as Samana from the UK and Baqir Ali from Australia.

Houston-Based Activist Syed Mohsen Naqvi: In The Past, U.S. Protesters Shied Away From Openly Supporting Iran, Hizbullah, And Hamas; But Now, Protesters Chant: 'There Is Only One Solution – Intifada, Revolution!'

Another speaker in the May 16 webinar was Houston-based activist Syed Mohsen Naqvi, who was presented as representing the U.S. student community. Mohsen is also a political commentator who has frequently appeared on PressTV, an Iranian state broadcaster sanctioned and Designated by the Treasury Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.[5] In 2019 he posted a flyer promoting an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran at the Houston Islamic Education Center, in which a children's choir sang that they are the soldiers of Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Naqvi said that it was a true honor to share the screen with a representative of Hizbullah and accused the United States of being complicit in genocide. He said that "the United States Empire" had constantly been exposed for their "atrocious" and "genocidal" foreign policy, not only toward West Asia and South America, but toward the whole world, including their own people. Furthermore, that when the U.S. talked about human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, it was "nothing more than a farce," which was why Imam Khomeini said that the U.S. was Satan. He also said that the Israel was as "weak as the spider's web," and said that the Al-Aqsa Flood operation had left no doubt in the minds of the people that it was the U.S. who was behind the Zionist regime and was responsible for its survival.[6]

Declaring that the college encampments and protests in the U.S. were "not socially engineered," Naqvi said that they were "organic and natural" and the result of the U.S.'s genocidal history, which had "drenched U.S. taxpayers in the blood of innocents in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Africa, South America, and Palestine."[7]


UPenn suddenly cares about ‘academic freedom’ when Jews are involved
For the last year, Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania have been pleading with the university to restore a sense of peace to campus. Throughout my senior year, others and I dedicated ourselves to protecting Jewish students and ensuring that professors were held accountable for fostering an environment of hate.

We have asked repeatedly for accountability and action, yet the university has remained indifferent, allowing this unrest to fester. The core problem stems from professors who not only express antisemitism in their classrooms and on social media but also incite others, and sometimes even themselves, to act on these hateful beliefs.

We were consistently told that tenure is absolute and that “academic freedom” overrides any morals or stability on campus. Yet last month, Penn decided to impose major sanctions on law professor Amy Wax after years of controversy over comments she made, such as, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely in the top half.” I find the comments Wax made deeply disturbing, but I would like to shine a light on the egregious double standard Penn applies when it comes to antisemitism.

The Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility concluded that Wax “violated the university’s behavioral standards by engaging in years of flagrantly unprofessional conduct within and outside of the classroom that breached her responsibilities as a teacher to offer an equal learning opportunity to all students.”

Compare that ruling with the fact that the faculty senate voted in the spring not to disband the anti-Israel encampment, which included terrorist flags, weapons, harassment and intimidation, and vandalism and, in the words of the president of Penn, violated “state and federal law, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.” The clear danger the encampment posed, coupled with five professors obstructing police officers, did not display sufficient “unprofessional conduct” for the senate to open an investigation.

The decision to sanction Wax included a letter of reprimand from Provost John Jackson Jr. stating, “The Board determined that your conduct failed to meet these expectations, leaving many students understandably concerned that you cannot and would not be an impartial judge of their academic performance.” Jackson went on to demand that Wax refrain from “flagrantly unprofessional and targeted disparagement of any individual or group in the university community.”

But the words of the provost aren’t worth the pixels they take up on his screen. Countless professors celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre, constituting disparagement of Israeli students on campus. There was no investigation, let alone consequences, for a professor who displayed a Hamas logo on his Facebook account. Anne Norton, who serves on the executive committee of the faculty senate, has engaged in disgusting antisemitic tropes. Last fall, Norton liked a tweet stating, “Playing the victim is what Jews are best at,” and she just recently defended Iran indiscriminately launching nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. Not only has she not been sanctioned, but she is considered to be an arbiter of what is and is not professional conduct.
Columbia suspends Shai Davidai’s campus access after he allegedly ‘harassed and intimidated’ University employees
Columbia temporarily suspended Business School assistant professor Shai Davidai’s campus access, University spokesperson Millie Wert confirmed in a statement to Spectator on Tuesday.

Davidai publicized the University’s decision to restrict him from campus in a video posted to his Instagram account on Tuesday evening. In the video, he said “the University has decided to not allow me to be on campus anymore. My job. Why? Because of Oct. 7. Because I was not afraid to stand up to the hateful mob. And because I was not afraid to expose Mr. fucking Cas Holloway.”

Wert wrote that Davidai “repeatedly harassed and intimidated University employees in violation of University policy.”

“Columbia has consistently and continually respected Assistant Professor Davidai’s right to free speech and to express his views. His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not being limited now,” Wert wrote. “Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its employees.”

Columbia employees are held to the University’s Policy on Ethical Conduct, which demands that they respect others at Columbia, are civil toward others, and refrain from abusing their power.

Though Davidai was restricted from entering campus, these limitations don’t affect his compensation or status as a faculty member, a University spokesperson told Spectator. The University offered to provide Davidai with alternative office space off campus, the spokesperson said.

Davidai will be allowed back on campus once he “undertakes appropriate training on our policies governing the behavior of our employees,” Wert wrote.

“I told my lawyers, I’m happy to complete the training if Cas Holloway completes it with me,” Davidai said in an interview with Spectator. “Innocent people don’t get punished, not in a democracy, and I refuse to take a punishment for something that I’m innocent for.”


Hamas Loyalist Professor: Jairo Fúnez-Flores at Texas Tech University
American campuses are awash in a crisis of Jew hatred. Ineffectual college administrators have taken tentative steps to try and rein in the proponents of terror on their campuses, but they have yet to confront the most obvious source of this poisonous Jew hatred—their own radical faculty who have not only called for an end to Israel but have outright celebrated the barbaric bloodshed of the terror group Hamas.

The Freedom Center is exposing these radical, pro-terror faculty as the Top Ten Hamas Loyalist Professors. We will be publishing one school per day as a series on Frontpage. Jairo Fúnez-Flores, a professor at Texas Tech University’s College of Teacher Education, is #9 on our list.

#9: Jairo Fúnez-Flores, Texas Tech University
Jairo Fúnez-Flores is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education at Texas Tech University’s College of Teacher Education. According to the university’s website, “his research is situated at the intersections of sociocultural studies in education, curriculum studies, decolonial theory, and qualitative methodology”—but in recent months he has become better known for his rampant Jew hatred and seemingly unconditional support for the anti-Israel terror group Hamas.

On October 7, 2023, the date of Hamas’s barbaric slaughter of over 1200 innocent Israeli men, women, and children, Fúnez-Flores tweeted a quote from Palestinian poet Darren Tatour indicating his support for Hamas’s campaign of terror: “Resist, my people, resist them. In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows and carried the soul in my palm for an Arab Palestine. I will not succumb to the ‘peaceful solution,’ never lower my flags until I evict them from my land.”

He also shared another post that even more explicitly celebrated Hamas’s brutality as justified “resistance” and an act of “justice.” “Reclaiming your right to life is not terrorism—It’s self-determination. Resisting dehumanization, ethnic cleansing, and genocide—it’s justice,” stated the post. “Palestinians didn’t choose to take up arms, they were forced to do so by those who came and stole their land from them.” Naturally, Fúnez-Flores failed to mention that the Palestinians have repeatedly refused generous offers to provide them a state of their own, since it would mean co-existing with the Jewish state of Israel.
UMass Amherst Student Government Passes BDS ‘Reaffirmation’
The Student Government Association (SGA) of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass) proposed and passed on Friday a resolution which “reaffirmed” its previous endorsement of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel just a few days after Jews and Israelis marked the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on the Jewish state.

“Be it further resolved, that the UMass Amherst Student Government Association University Undergraduate Senate continues to urge the UMass Amherst administration, board of trustees, and UMass Foundation to divest from all direct and indirect financial investments and official university partnerships with Raytheon and other defense contractors, all corporations affiliated with Israel Defense Forces, and entities on the BDS list,” the resolution said.

It continued, “Undergraduate Senate continues to affirm the rights of students to protest and make demands of UMass administration and affirms that any talks or implementation surrounding divestment should include democratic oversight from faculty, students, and staff.”

The measure, titled “The Reaffirmation,” also contained spoils for anti-Zionist and pro-Hamas fellow travelers, imploring the university, for example, to drop disciplinary charges filed against students who last semester lived illegally in a “Gaza solidarity encampment” site from which they refused to leave unless administrators complied with their demands for a boycott of Israel.

Coinciding with mass mourning of the Oct. 7 victims, the resolution reopened old wounds, a UMass student — Aviva, who has requested that her last name be withheld from this article — told The Algemeiner. She also argued that, having taken place on Shabbat, the resolution seemed to reveal the intention of its sponsors to exclude Jews from the debate.

“We see time and time again that student governments around the country basically put these votes up on nights such as Shabbat or other holidays when they know the Jewish students cannot show up and that, if they did, their argument would not withstand rigorous debate,” Aviva said, noting that many Jewish students did eventually decide to attend the SGA session. “And we saw that the other night, that there were so many holes in their argument that they were unable to confidently answer many questions both from senators and community members who supported the reaffirmation and who did not.”


Journalist or Mouthpiece? Hamas Shared Anti-Israeli Message by France24 Correspondent
What do you call a person who delivered an anti-Israeli message that was quoted in an official Hamas pamphlet, received honors from top Hamas terrorists, shared the “genocide” libel against Israel and mourned terrorists? A mouthpiece, not a journalist.

Yet, the France24 correspondent in Gaza, Maha Abuelkas, can take credit for all of the above, casting doubt on her objectivity and the journalistic standards of her publicly funded network.

The veteran journalist, who has been working for France24 since 2013, was quoted in a 2021 Hamas propaganda pamphlet that promoted the terror movement’s “Day of Loyalty to the Palestinian Journalist.” Her message blamed “the Israeli occupation” for “severe assaults and violations against human rights, land, and sacred sites”:


“On the 31st of December, we, as journalists, media professionals, and official institutions, commemorate the #Day_of_Loyalty_to_the_Palestinian_Journalist in remembrance and appreciation of all colleagues working in the Palestinian territories, which continuously suffer from severe assaults and violations against human rights, land, and sacred sites by the Israeli occupation.”

Maha Abuelkas, FRANCE 24 Arabic Correspondent.

And the event she was promoting was not merely professional. According to the Hamas Media Office Facebook page, where the pamphlet was published, the “Loyalty” event is aimed at supporting “the professional and national significance of the field’s knights and truth-seekers—those masters of words and images who wielded the lens of the camera and the tip of the pen, making them the most powerful tools of resistance against the occupier.”

Abuelkas also received special honors in 2014 from top Hamas figures and was proud to share it on her Instagram page.

Here she is honored by Hamas’ spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum (left) and Taher al-Nunu (middle), the advisor to former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh:

And here she is joined by none other than senior Hamas official Mushir al-Masri (right), who has vowed to “uproot the Zionists with our axes, knives, guns”:

It doesn’t matter whether Abuelkas truly shares Hamas’ agenda or not. Her unethical reciprocal relationship with Gazan rulers — whom she needs to cover objectively — automatically compromises her journalistic credibility.

The same applies to all the other “journalists” who were exposed by HonestReporting for actively participating in Hamas’ events and honorary ceremonies.


New York Times Goes All In on Slick ‘Apartheid Roads’ Propaganda
The interactive feature titled “Roadblocked,” published by The New York Times, is a visually striking and evidently resource-intensive project. With no fewer than five journalists’ bylines at the top and additional reporting from two others on the ground in Israel, the 3,000-word piece comprises maps, videos, photos, and plenty of cherry-picked quotations that supposedly illustrate the system of “separate but unequal roadways” in the West Bank.

“In the occupied West Bank, Israelis zip along well-groomed roads designed for their convenience,” the piece opens. “Palestinians are shunted onto convoluted routes dotted with checkpoints.”

We are soon introduced to an Israeli and Palestinian, each living in the West Bank, whose daily commutes are presented as symbolic of this allegedly discriminatory road system. The piece then asserts that since the October 7 Hamas attacks, the roads have become “more perilous for Palestinians” due to the threat of “Israeli settlers sometimes attacking Palestinian drivers.”

But because this is The New York Times, a publication that has repeatedly demonstrated its tendency to downplay or outright dismiss Israel’s legitimate security concerns, little attention is paid to the real reason these roads are designed in the way they are.

For example, a caption accompanying a map showing the diverging routes taken by Palestinian and Israeli drivers claims that the barriers and detours are “rooted in Israel’s decades-long efforts to restrict Palestinian movement, prevent attacks on Israelis and increase the Jewish presence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 war.”

The implication that Israel’s road network exists solely to “restrict Palestinian movement” for no reason other than malice is, frankly, absurd. The truth, which The NY Times glosses over, is that these barriers and security measures were put in place to protect Israelis from terrorism. And, crucially, they likely would not exist if there were a Palestinian leadership committed to peace with Israel.

Both the success and necessity of Israel’s security measures, including the completion of the West Bank barrier in 2007, are undeniable. While the barrier significantly reduced the number of deadly terror attacks from the West Bank, the threat of terrorism persists. Last year’s spate of attacks on Israeli civilians, such as the murder of schoolteacher Batsheva Nagari, who was gunned down while sitting in a car, are reminders of this reality.

It’s also important to correct a common misconception about the roads. The difference in license plate colors for Palestinian and Israeli drivers — which The NY Times states is used to “differentiate who can drive where” — is actually based on citizenship or residency, not ethnicity. Israeli citizens and permanent residents, whether Jewish or Arab, have yellow plates, while Palestinian vehicles have their own plates issued by the Palestinian Authority.

The conclusion of the piece is given midway through: Israel is maintaining “apartheid roads,” as per the view of the Palestinian Authority and so-called “other critics.”

That The NY Times could uncritically reference the Palestinian Authority’s accusation of “apartheid roads” without acknowledging the PA’s own role in necessitating the checkpoints and barriers is truly astonishing.

Let’s not forget, this is the same Palestinian Authority that operates a “Pay-for-Slay” policy, where terrorists who murder Israelis are financially rewarded. By offering stipends to those who commit violent acts against civilians, the PA actively incentivizes terrorism.
BBC News facilitation of UNIFIL talking points
As is typical in BBC reporting, he failed to make any effort whatsoever to inform viewers that UNIFIL is responsible for the fact that “there’s no peace” due to that organisation’s 18-year long failure to apply the terms of UN Security Council resolution 1701, according to which the terrorist organisation Hizballah should not be located in southern Lebanon. Moreover, Bachega closed his report with the following inaccurate and partial claim:
“Israel says it is targeting Hizballah in Lebanon but the entire country is under attack, even the UN.”

For years – and even throughout the past year of the war initiated by Hizballah on October 8th 2023 – the BBC has serially avoided telling its audiences about the failure of the international community, the UN and its ‘interim peacekeeping force’ UNIFIL (with its annual cost of over $550 million) to enforce the terms of UNSC resolution 1701.

That context is essential for understanding of how and why the current situation on the ground in northern Israel and southern Lebanon came about, including weapons caches and rocket fire in the proximity of UNIFIL posts, which the IDF now has to clear in order to protect Israeli civilians.

It would appear, however, that the BBC’s chosen framing of this story now includes facilitation of UNIFIL portrayal of itself as the victim of supposedly deliberate “attacks on peacekeepers” as a means of trying to “force us out”.
The Times corrects false reference to 'Israeli settlements in Gaza'
An article in the Sunday Times by their political editor Hugh O’Connell, (“Legal advice may bring more sanctions against Israel“, Oct. 13) included the false claim that there are Israeli settlements in Gaza.

Our complaint to editors was quickly upheld, and the text amended accordingly.


Former PLO Spokesperson Diana Buttu – Who Lives In Israel – Pens Globe & Mail Column Effectively Denying Israel’s Right To Defend Itself Against Terrorism
In an opinion column spanning two pages and nearly 2,000 words in length, Diana Buttu, a resident of Israel, described her various complaints against the State of Israel, beginning with the establishment of the country in 1948, and then skipping most of the interim, and landing on the present-day conflict.

Buttu is a lawyer and former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In this capacity, she was a literal mouthpiece for the PLO, an organization that describes the establishment of the State of Israel as “entirely illegal” in article 19 of its charter which has never been revoked and she has made no secret to hide her anti-Israel animus in many columns and interviews in recent years.

She has also, in the words of a recent Globe and Mail article, “made it her mission” to explain the “context” whereby Hamas murderers butchered 1,200 innocent Israelis.

Buttu’s October 10 commentary in The Globe and Mail entitled: “War in Gaza made me lose faith in international law,” addressed the supposed failure of international law in policing and enforcing limits in the actions of the Israeli military, though in order to make this argument, she veered considerably into a revisionist history of her own imagination.

Buttu Blames Israel, The Victim
A noteworthy excerpt from her column is as follows: “To be clear, this is not the first time Palestinians have been abandoned by international law. In fact, it is the failure of international law’s universal applicability that led to where we are today. Palestinians have lived under a system of Israeli military rule for more than half a century that the ICJ (International Court of Justice) has concluded is illegal because it denies them their most basic rights.”

Self-identified Palestinians who live in Israel, as Buttu does, have the right to vote in Israel’s democratic elections. Palestinians who live in Gaza live under Hamas, a terrorist organization founded with the expressed intention of wiping Israel off the map, in order to represent their interests. Unsurprisingly, once provided the gift of authority by Gazans, Hamas has not been eager to give up this power, and elections have not been held in Gaza since 2006, just one year after Israel unilaterally disengaged from any presence in the territory, removing all 8,500 settlers, 21 settlements and its combined armed forces in a peace overture.

Buttu, of course, neglected to mention these facts. That would hardly fit into her one-sided framing of the conflict. But against whom does Buttu even claim that Israel is fighting? Buttu described the current conflict in Gaza as “a war on Gaza’s children.” Apart from naming Hamas as the instigators who attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Buttu did not name Hamas at all in her piece. She would have readers believe that Israel is carrying out a protracted campaign against Gazan civilians in retaliation for the October 7 attacks without any reference to the military and terrorist capacity Israel is actually fighting against.
Canadian Medical Association Journal’s Equity Audit Misses The Mark: Ignoring Rampant Antisemitism In Canadian Medicine
Healthcare should be a field where every patient and professional can feel safe, valued, and protected, regardless of their background. In Canada, where the Jewish community has contributed substantially to medicine, an inclusive, equitable healthcare environment should address the unique risks they face, especially as antisemitism rises. When a major medical journal like the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) omits Jewish Canadians from its equity framework, it not only disregards one of Canada’s most at-risk communities, but signals to healthcare institutions and professionals that certain forms of prejudice are less deserving of attention. This selective approach to equity compromises the trust and safety of Jewish patients, doctors, and healthcare workers across Canada.

In June 2024, CMAJ unveiled a long-awaited equity audit report aimed at improving its commitment to equity and anti-racism. Commissioned in 2022 and submitted to the CMAJ in late 2023, this report spearheaded by Inclusive Leaders, a Toronto-based consulting firm, set out to address systemic inequities within CMAJ’s practices. However, by prioritizing certain groups—Black, Indigenous, and Muslim Canadians—while omitting Jewish people, the report risks deepening divisions rather than fostering unity. The exclusion of Jewish Canadians is particularly concerning given the sharp rise in antisemitic incidents: while Jews make up 1% of the Canadian population, 2023 alone saw over 70% of religious-motivated hate crimes target Jews and in certain jurisdictions like Toronto, it made up 56% of all reported hate crimes.

So why are Jewish Canadians conspicuously absent from CMAJ’s new, expansive commitment to inclusion?

A Troubling History of Omission
The origins of CMAJ’s equity efforts can be traced to 2021 when a controversial letter described the hijab as “an instrument of oppression.” The backlash from Muslim medical professionals and allies led CMAJ to retract the letter and commit to stronger anti-racism policies. In 2022, CMAJ commissioned Inclusive Leaders to conduct a comprehensive review of its equity practices. Inclusive Leaders’ work, however, while extensively covering anti-Black racism and Islamophobia, notably omits antisemitism. This absence is glaring, especially given the documented rise of antisemitism in Canada.

Inclusive Leaders has yet to include antisemitism in its frameworks or recommendations, raising questions about its scope and commitment to comprehensive equity. This omission in CMAJ’s equity audit implies that only certain forms of discrimination are worth addressing, which is troubling for a journal that aims to serve all Canadians fairly.
Meet Fatima Syed, Canadian Association Of Journalists (CAJ) Vice-President & Anti-Israel Social Media Activist
On the one-year anniversary of the brutal Hamas terrorist attacks that killed over 1,200 people in Israel, Fatima Syed, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), dishonoured these victims’ memory with a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) painting Israel as an irrational aggressor that targets journalists.

Hamas’s spree of slaughter, torture, and rape on October 7, 2023 left tens of thousands of Israelis brutalized, traumatized, and homeless. Yet far from condemning Hamas, Syed used the event’s anniversary to eulogize journalists “killed by Israeli strikes.”

Critically, Syed neglected to mention that between a third and a half of these so-called journalists reportedly had affiliations with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), both are banned terrorist organizations in Canada.

Syed also failed to mention that within Gaza, there is a fine line between journalism and terrorism. Press photographers for AP, Reuters, and other agencies, for example, have been revealed to have close ties with Hamas. Indeed, the parents of five victims of the Supernova Festival massacre filed a civil suit seeking $6.5-million in damages against The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies due to what they allege was the involvement of photojournalists employed or utilized by those agencies in the Hamas atrocities of that day.

Even reporters who aren’t part of Hamas provide hostile, context-free coverage at best. In the Toronto Star article linked from her X post, Syed is quoted as saying that on October 7, 2023, she turned away from “traditional Canadian media.” Now, she says, her news comes from “WhatsApp group chats” that point her “to headlines, language and takes [that] weren’t being reflected in western media.”

When one jettisons actual news in favour of clickbait, the result aren’t facts, but falsehoods. Such reports may be passionate and her footage heart-rending—but ultimately, it isn’t journalism.

That clickbait was on full display in an October 12 column she published in The Toronto Star entitled: “‘I can’t live a normal life after what I saw:’ How my phone became a record of death and destruction.”

While ostensibly an account of the war in Gaza, her commentary was actually a wholesale sanitization of Hamas, the Gaza-based Islamic terrorist group which she failed to mention even a single time, helpfully erasing it from the picture altogether, all while stating – evidently with a straight face – “I’m a journalist,” and making the incredible claim that “Western mainstream media coverage has too often failed to fairly and accurately document what’s happening in Gaza,” despite CBC News, for instance, recently allocating roughly two-thirds of its entire international storylines just on Gaza and Lebanon alone.

Syed’s anti-Israel track record actually began long before October 7, 2023. In 2021, HonestReporting Canada caught Syed trying to pass off unfair accusations against Israel in the Globe and Mail.

In addition, Syed’s X feed is a litany of anti-Israel posts and reposts extending back for years. Tellingly, she’s never mentioned Hamas or Hezbollah. With terms like “Israeli strikes,” she omitted context that might help readers understand the situation. Like the anti-Israel media she now follows, Syed’s rhetoric is heart-rending but falls far short of journalistic standards.
Meet The Breach, Taxpayer-Funded Anti-Israel So-Called “Independent Media Outlet”
The Breach is an independent media outlet that over the past year, received tens of thousands of dollars in federal government funding, wage subsidies from the Quebec provincial government, and major support from Inspirit Foundation, whose CEO, Sadia Zaman, has expressed extremist anti-Israel rhetoric.

Moreover, donations of $500 or more are also tax-deductible, meaning that they are effectively subsidized by the federal government, meaning the public at large.

So, what exactly is the Canadian taxpayer getting for its investment in The Breach?

In one article on October 25th, 2023 by Jeremy Appel, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) was targeted as a “Lobby group pushes Canada to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.” The article juxtaposed a conference hosted by CIJA, “Antisemitism: Face It, Fight It” with “Israeli bombs [raining] down on the impoverished and densely populated Gaza Strip.”

Appel characterized the event as racist toward Palestinians and a denial of Israel’s supposed occupation of the Gaza Strip and Judea & Samaria (“West Bank”). The article also quoted Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), a group that defended Hamas’ right to murder Israelis which protested the event, taking particular issue with Kate Dalgleish, CIJA’s director of public affairs, describing one of the conference’s priorities as defining anti-Zionism as antisemitism.

The denial of Zionism, the movement whereby Jews could exercise self-determination in their historic homeland, is considered anti-Jewish discrimination according to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, widely accepted among Jewish communities.

The article described CIJA’s proposal for the conference as lacking evidence and examples, and utilized IJV’s open letter against the conference to explain to readers how “it is wrong to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.” The letter claimed that Zionism as “a political doctrine” supposedly calls for the creation of a Jewish state that “privileges the rights of Jews over non-Jews, in historic Palestine.”

The vast majority of Canadian Jews are self-described Zionists. It is not a political doctrine, and in attempting to misrepresent Zionism, Appel is playing fast and loose with the truth.
Meet Aidan Simardone, An Immigration Lawyer Helping Bring New Immigrants To Canada Who Glorifies Hamas Terrorism
Aidan Simardone is a Toronto-based immigration lawyer whose role is to assist prospective immigrants so they can find a new home in Canada.

He also fashions himself as something of an expert on geopolitical affairs, and boasts on his website that he enjoys “exploring a wide variety of topics including immigration policy, race and racism, sexuality and the law, and counter-terrorism.”

In commentaries, he has called for loosened immigration restrictions on Gazans entering Canada, despite a large majority of people in the territory supporting Hamas’ genocidal October 7 massacres against Israel, decrying Canada’s “unnecessary barriers.”

He has defended the Islamic Republic of Iran’s firing of hundreds of rockets and drones in April at Israel – an unprovoked attack by the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism, based largely on the argument of “whataboutism,” claiming without evidence that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, and thus, the ayatollahs in Iran were legally and morally justified in doing so.

He has spoken at an event supporting “Lebanon’s right to self-defence,” a curious position to hold given that Lebanon as a purely sovereign state does not exist as Iran effectively controls its terror statelet, and by speaking of “Lebanon,” he is in turn referring to Hezbollah, the genocidal Islamic terrorist organization banned in Canada.

But it is on social media where his most extremist views truly come to the fore to his 10,000+ followers on x (formerly Twitter).

Posting the day before October 7, the first-year anniversary of Hamas’ genocidal attacks on Israel, he explicitly stated that “Israel should be abolished,” a claim that could reasonably be seen as calling for the genocide of nearly half the world’s Jews.

He has shared a post that called Zionism – the Jewish People’s movement of self-determination in their historic homeland – “an evil, racist cult.” and another that said “Israel in its current form as an apartheid state cannot be allowed to continue existing in the 21st century.”


PMW: Warning: Graphic images: Hamas threatens “flood” of suicide bombings: “Our Flood of Martyrdom Operations Will Drown You”
Two weeks before Oct. 7, 2024, which marks a year since Hamas' atrocities in southern Israel, the terror organization threatened Israel with a "flood" of suicide bombings. To give weight to its threat, it posted the above video showing pictures from past suicide bombings and pictures of terrorists who committed or organized suicide bombings, with following captions identifying each suicide bombing:
"The 2001 Jerusalem operation" (i.e., unspecified terror attack)
"The 1994 Tel Aviv operation" (i.e., Oct. 19, 1994, bus bombing, 22 murdered)
"The 2002 Emanuel operation" (i.e., July 16, 2002, bus bombing, 9 murdered)
"The 2002 Safed operation" (i.e., Aug. 4, 2002, bus bombing, 9 murdered)
"The 2024 Tel Aviv operation" (i.e., Aug. 18, 2024, suicide bombing, 1 wounded)
"The 2024 Karmei Tzur operation" (i.e., Aug. 30, 2024, car bombing, 2 wounded)
"The 2024 Gush Etzion operation" (i.e., Aug. 30, 2024, car bombing, 1 wounded)

Hamas' video also features an unidentified would-be suicide bomber who threatens a wave of suicide bombing attacks, or as he puts it, "a flood of Martyrdom-seeking operations, which will deprive [the enemy] of sleep in his home":
Unidentified would-be suicide bomber: "I give my life cheaply on the path of Almighty Allah. We say to the criminal enemy (i.e., Israel) that every passing day of the aggression against our relatives and our people in the Gaza Strip (i.e., in the 2023 Gaza war) multiplies the bill of blood and revenge, and nothing will be accepted in exchange for blood except blood… We in the [Hamas military wing] Martyr Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades say to the thieving enemy that the waterfall of blood flowing over the land of the Gaza Strip will be answered with a flood of Martyrdom-seeking operations, which will deprive [the enemy] of sleep in his home.

This is Jihad – victory or Martyrdom.

Your son, a living Martyr, Allah willing, …a member of the Martyr Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades."

[Hamas, Telegram channel, Sept. 18, 2024]

This video also includes part of the farewell video of Hamas suicide bomber Jaafar Muna, previously exposed by Palestinian Media Watch, who wounded one Israeli when he detonated his bomb outside a synagogue in Tel Aviv on Aug. 18, 2024. Muna imagined that his "bones would become shrapnel and blow up the thieving Zionist Jews":
Showing past suicide bombings, Hamas threatens Israel



US sanctions 10 Lebanese financiers, Syrian drug dealers
The Biden administration sanction 10 individuals and entities in Lebanon and Syria that it says help fund the Hezbollah terror organization, including in the illegal trade of the drug Captagon.

“Today’s action underscores Hezbollah’s destabilizing influence within Lebanon and on the wider region, as the group, its affiliates and its supporters continue to finance their operations through covert involvement in commercial trade and the illicit trafficking of Captagon,” stated Bradley Smith, U.S. acting under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“Treasury will continue to expose and disrupt the illicit schemes that underpin Hezbollah’s ability to continue its violent attacks,” Smith stated.

Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, stated that the three Lebanese people and four companies sanctioned are part of “a sanctions evasion network that generates revenue for Hezbollah that fuels the terrorist group’s operations.”

“Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into Israel, further destabilizing both Lebanon and the region,” Miller said. He added that the three people, who produce and traffic illegally in Captagon, a “dangerous and highly-addictive amphetamine,” harm “communities and countries across the region and beyond” and provide “a source of funding for the Syrian regime and its backers, including Hezbollah.”

“The United States is steadfast in our commitment to disrupt Hezbollah’s access to the international financial system and its various methods of generating revenue, which the Iran-backed group uses to fund its violence,” Miller said. “We will also continue to target the illicit Captagon trade in the region, which has become an illicit billion-dollar enterprise operated in part by senior members of the Syrian regime.”


Repression in Iran, ammunition made in France
A two-year investigation by FRANCE 24 has revealed that hunting cartridges produced by the French-Italian ammunition manufacturer Cheddite were used in Iran during the violent crackdown on the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in 2022. The investigation uncovers how these cartridges are widely available in Iran, despite European sanctions imposed in 2011. It appears the ammunition may have been routed through Turkey, where Cheddite at one point held shares in a weapons manufacturing company. This investigation, broadcast by FRANCE 24, sheds light on the dealings that allowed the ammunition to reach Iranian soil, despite international sanctions.

In the autumn of 2022, protests engulfed Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was killed by the country's notorious morality police following her arrest for allegedly wearing her headscarf improperly. The regime's response was brutal: security forces opened fire on protesters with live ammunition. According to the UN, at least 550 people were killed over the course of six months.

By analyzing videos posted on social media, the FRANCE 24 Observers team was able to confirm the repeated use of shotguns by the Iranian security forces. Shotguns use cartridges that are packed with metal pellets or small plastic balls of varying sizes that scatter upon discharge, causing widespread damage to anyone within range. Bodies riddled with pellets, victims blinded

In the dozens of photographs of victims we collected, their bodies had been pierced by dozens, sometimes even hundreds of pellets. Many of the victims had lost an eye, some even both.

A member of the Basij, the paramilitary militia used by the regime as a key tool of repression, agreed to speak to us anonymously. "Members of my unit aim for the chest or head to kill," he explained. "When you shoot with the metal pellets, the target is obliterated. If you hit someone, it can blind or paralyze them. At close range, it can be fatal."


US $4m fine of Lufthansa sends ‘strong message,’ says House Jew-hatred panel co-chair
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chair of the legislative body’s Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, applauded the U.S. Department of Transportation’s agreement with Lufthansa to fine the latter $4 million.

The U.S. department says that the German carrier discriminated against nearly 130 Jews by refusing to seat them on a connecting flight in Frankfurt in May 2022. The airline agreed to the fine, although it disputes the department’s jurisdiction and insists that it is not guilty of Jew-hatred.

The agreement “sends a strong message that discrimination and antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society and will not be tolerated,” Smith stated.

“The rising tide of antisemitism worldwide cannot be overlooked,” he added. “Tragically, Jewish men, women and children continue to suffer bias, cruelty, hate and violence simply because they are Jewish.”
Police unable to find suspect in theft of plaque honoring Tree of Life
According to a spokesperson from Pittsburgh Public Schools, the district doesn’t know who stole a plaque at Taylor Allderdice High School donated by the 2018-19 boys’ basketball team in memory of the 11 Jewish worshippers killed by a lone gunman at the Tree of Life*Or Simcha Synagogue on the morning of Oct. 27, 2018.

Law enforcement also doesn’t seem to know when someone took the memorial from the school in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the same neighborhood as the synagogue.

Officials say the school district has ordered a replacement. “We remain committed to honoring the victims’ memory and the importance of this memorial in our community,” they said.

On July 2, the Tree of Life synagogue received a bomb threat that the FBI reviewed and determined not credible. On May 17, a judge denied the request for a second trial of Robert Bowers, the man convicted of the 2018 mass shooting.


Israel Allies Foundation publishes list of Israel's Top 50 Christian Allies
The Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) published its list of Israel's Top 50 Christian Allies ahead of Sukkot, the foundation announced on Wednesday.

"The Christian leaders included in this exclusive list express their love and support for the State of Israel through meaningful action, rooted in their deeply held faith," the IAF said.

The foundation noted that since the October 7 massacre, all 50 individuals mentioned in the list have taken part in advocating for Israel.

At the top of the list is Samaritan's Purse founder Franklin Graham, whose organization sent a Disaster Assistance Response Team to the communities affected by the October 7 massacre.

In second place came former secretary of state and CIA chief Mike Pompeo, who, while serving in Congress, was a member of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus.

Along with Pompeo, the list included other former political leaders, Mike Huckabee and Michele Bachmann.

The IAF list also includes media personalities such as Dr. Phil, actress Patricia Heaton, and Kathie Lee Gifford, along with various religious leaders such as Pastor Larry Huch and Bishop Robert Stearns.
Keren Hayesod support for Israel soars despite global antisemitism
In times of distress and crisis in Israel, when wars break out and terror strikes brutally, the connection between the State of Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora is revealed in full force. Since October 7, Jewish communities worldwide have mobilized in an unprecedented way for the State of Israel. This has not just been a financial mobilization but a broad awakening of a deep connection to Jewish identity, our collective future, and a sense of partnership and mutual responsibility.

For over a century, Keren Hayesod (United Israel Appeal), one of Israel’s four founding national institutions, has served as a durable bridge between Israel and Diaspora Jewry. Our role is not limited to fundraising but also involves preserving and strengthening the basic and essential connection between Israel and world Jewry. In normal times, and undoubtedly in difficult times, Keren Hayesod works to maintain and strengthen this connection, with financial support being just one expression of it.

Keren Hayesod was established in 1920 as part of the vision of establishing a Jewish state. It served as a body that mobilized resources from Jewish communities around the world (with the exception of the United States for the past 70 years or so), to support the Zionist enterprise and the State of Israel. Even today, after more than 100 years, we continue to operate in 45 countries with over 60 active campaigns or appeals, not only among Jewish communities but also among Christian friends of Israel.

Since the start of the fighting in October last year, we have raised more than $153 million in our emergency campaign. This impressive achievement testifies to Diaspora Jewry’s deep commitment to Israel. But the amazing phenomenon is that this mobilization is not limited to donations. All over the world, we see Jews reconnecting with their Jewish identity and sense of solidarity with Israel.

It is important to note that mobilization for the State of Israel and cooperation is between all communities – Orthodox, Reform, traditional, and others.
2024 Chelsea Film Festival Lineup Includes Eight Israeli Documentaries, Short Films, Dramas, Comedies
The 12th annual Chelsea Film Festival beginning in New York City on Wednesday will include eight films from Israeli directors, including dramas, comedies, and documentaries related to the Hamas-led terrorist massacre in Israel in October 2023.

“The City,” “Drone Pilot.” and “6:30” will screen on Thursday at Regal Theaters Union Square. “The City,” directed by and starring Amit Ulman, is a “noir hip-hop opera” that revolves around a detective investigating the case of a missing woman. When Sarah Bennett arrives at Detective Joe’s investigation office and asks him to find her missing sister, he agrees to get involved while ignoring the advice of his partner, Jack.

“Despite the warnings and Sarah’s mysterious disappearance, Joe continues to investigate the case until he realizes that behind all the intrigue stands the city’s notorious criminal whom nobody wants to mess with,” reads a synopsis of the film. “Now, Joe must extricate himself from the predicament he has entered.”

“Drone Pilot” is a documentary that will be making its world premiere at this year’s Chelsea Film Festival. It focuses on a man named Haitham Abu Tarif and his close army friends as they cope with the trauma and loss of their friend Sergeant Madhat Yosef. The Border Police officer, and member of Israel’s Druze community, was killed in October 2000 while guarding the Joseph’s Tomb burial complex in the West Bank city of Nablus during an attack by a mob of Palestinians.

Another documentary, “6:30,” features testimonies from survivors of the deadly Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as well as animations and miniature simulations that chronicle the development of the attack across eight locations in southern Israel. The film is making its international premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival.

On Friday, the Israeli short films “Protected Space” and “The Procedure” will screen as part of the festival’s lineup. “Protected Space” is a 10-minute comedy web series about a group of Israeli college students determined to have normal lives and not let the constant missile attacks in Israel keep them from making the most out of their college experience. “The Procedure” is another comedy, but with a science-fiction twist, about a man who goes to a doctor for a procedure to have his anxiety removed from his body.
Iceland Jews to celebrate with lone sukkah in Reykjavik, after nearly 100 gathered for High Holidays
Many Icelandic tours focus on mountain huts in the highlands. A booth in downtown Reykjavik, the Nordic country’s lone sukkah, will host some 35 Jews over the Sukkot holiday, Rabbi Avraham and Mushky Feldman, Chabad shluchim (“emissaries”) to the country told JNS.

Overlooking the waterfront, against a mountainous background, the Chabad House in the Icelandic capital could be confused for Utah, Eilat or Vancouver.

The Feldmans lead the six-year-old organization—the first permanent Jewish institution in the land of fire and ice, which is home to 300 to 400 self-identified Jews, they say. Thousands of visiting Jews have passed through the Chabad in the past six years, they told JNS.

JNS observed an extensive High Holiday celebration in the Nordic country, during which some 80 people gathered for Rosh Hashanah dinner with the Chabad family, two weeks ago.

Throughout the holiday and following Shabbat, the Feldmans hosted varying kinds of meals for Jews hailing from all over, including Spain, Israel, Germany, the United States and Canada. Some were professionals working in the country—as doctors, tour guides, technology entrepreneurs and guest house managers—while others were tourists passing through.

Daytime temperature highs during the High Holiday in Reykjavik ran in the upper 40 degrees.

In the island country, where even non-kosher food can cost ball-park prices since so many things must be imported, the Rosh Hashanah meal featured a dizzying array of homemade foods: fresh salmon filets, a variety of salads and pasta, chicken salad, beef with peas, honey cake, apple pie, potato salad with dill and pickles, hummus and tahini, whole wheat challah with sunflower seeds and a selection of fruits and sweets.




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