Sunday, October 27, 2024

10/27 Links: 7 October tore at the fabric of civilisation; Why Israel didn’t hit Iran where it would really hurt; Arab Advocates for Israel Speak Out on Social Media

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The war with Iran
But this is emphatically not the end of the existential threat to Israel posed by Iran — a threat that is about to become infinitely worse once the regime acquires nuclear weapons. The Biden-Harris administration regards what’s happening not as a desperate war by Israel against an existential enemy that must be defeated but instead as a set of war games whose rules are set by America.

Those rules mean that Israel must suffer the blows rained down by its Iranian enemy, with the US coming to Israel’s defence only if those attacks threaten to take too many Israeli lives (depending, of course, upon quite how the US calculates the value of Israeli lives against its own strategic goals) — but also forbidding Israel from ending the threat under which its population is therefore sentenced to live in perpetuity according to American diktat. But that’s ok, apparently, because the US has warned Iran not to “escalate” — a warning that the regime in Tehran, regarding with satisfaction the craven Americans grovelling before it, will undoubtedly dismiss with even more contemptuous disdain.

America’s attitude would be unbelievable were it not for the fact that, at every stage in this dreadful year that has just passed, the administration has pressured Israel not to respond in a way that would inflict a decisive blow on Iran or its proxies.

And then there’s the part played by the western media in misleading the public about the war that Israel is being forced to fight. Even in some media outlets whose editorial line is reasonably supportive of Israel, the reporting on its foreign news pages is malign.

Routinely recycling Iranian or Hamas propaganda that’s being pumped out by the UN and many purportedly authoritative security and policy analysts in western think-tanks, academic and other institutions — including western intelligence services — these outlets present the Iranian war of annihilation and Israel’s self-defence against that war as mere “tit-for-tat” exchanges of moral equivalence.

Worse, some of these outlets present Iran’s war of annihilation against Israel as Iran defending itself against Israeli aggression, such as this gem today:
For years, Israel has conducted a campaign of assassinations and sabotage in Iran, including killing the head of Iran’s nuclear programme with a remote controlled machine gun as he drove from his holiday home. Iran has in turn attempted attacks including covert operations and cyber warfare in Israel.

According to Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, head of the Israel Defence and Security Forum (a group composed of robust Israeli military and security analysts), the US election on November 5 is a crucial factor in Israel’s next moves.

If Donald Trump becomes US president and if (second big if) he were to put America at the head of a coalition to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, says Avivi, such a coalition could achieve that outcome in a matter of days. If on the other hand Kamala Harris wins the election and America turns unequivocally hostile (or if Trump isn’t willing to participate), Israel will have to go it alone.

This would take longer, would doubtless involve different tactics and would be far more difficult. But Israel would do it nevertheless — because it has no alternative.

In fighting the west’s most lethal terrorist enemy, Israel is of course doing the west’s dirty work for it. In response to which, Israel’s perfidious allies have shown their appreciation in a mighty strange way.

In the US, the Biden-Harris administration has withheld from Israel essential weapon supplies and threatened to throw it to the wolves at the UN. In Britain, Sir Keir Starmer’s “Biden-Harris mini-me” government — following its partial arms embargo against Israel — has now threatened to assist the International Criminal Court in its “lawfare” attack against the Jewish state by making available to the ICC information gathered by RAF surveillance flights over Gaza that were ostensibly undertaken to help search for the Israeli hostages.

In fighting Iran and its proxies in this seven-front war, Israel is sacrificing its own young people — so many of them the country’s best and bravest — who are devastatingly continuing to fall in battle. In response, the young in America and Britain are expressing their own gratitude for thus being enabled to live in civilian safety by screaming that Israel is committing “genocide” and chanting for its destruction.

In deeply traumatised, heroic and steadfast Israel, it is impossible to exaggerate the disgust being felt at such western decadence, de-moralisation and the willed defeat of civilisation.
‘7 October tore at the fabric of civilisation’
The 7 October pogrom was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, but you wouldn’t get that impression among the Western intelligentsia. Ever since Hamas rampaged through southern Israel last year, the mainstream media have relentlessly presented Israel as the aggressor, for daring to fight back. ‘Pro-Palestine’ protesters routinely smear the Jewish State as a genocidal menace. We’ve witnessed glorifications of Hamas and other Islamist forces on our streets. Anti-Semitism has surged to historic levels. The West as a whole seems to be in a perpetual state of disarray, unwilling to fully defend Israel in its civilisational struggle against barbarism.

Brendan O’Neill’s new spiked book, After the Pogrom, powerfully details how the West’s moral rot has been exposed over the past year. To mark the book’s release, and the year anniversary of 7 October, spiked held an online book launch on 1 October, in which Batya Ungar-Sargon interviewed Brendan. This is an edited extract from their conversation. You can watch the full interview here.

Batya Ungar-Sargon: Why do you think a generation of the most educated people in history failed the great moral test of 7 October?

Brendan O’Neill: Firstly, my book tries to remind people what happened – because I think people have forgotten – on 7 October 2023. But secondly, it tries to put forward some answers for why people failed the moral test. Cast your mind back to the days after the 7 October pogrom, when protesters were on the streets 24 to 48 hours after Hamas’s attack. Israel hadn’t even responded by that point, so why were people on the streets? They were there to celebrate the murder of Jews.

This happened in London, with a celebratory gathering outside the Israeli embassy around 36 hours after the pogrom, with people playing music and dancing. The same happened in Berlin and in Paris and even in the US. We knew at that stage what had happened. We knew that Jewish men, women and children had been raped, murdered and kidnapped. This was as sick and perverse as if people in London had poured on to the streets to celebrate Kristallnacht. It was then that I realised that this was going to be worse than I thought.

The thing that really struck me was those feral attacks on the ‘kidnapped’ posters that Jewish people and their allies had put up in various cities around the West. Everywhere I went in London, I would see these posters torn to shreds. On Finchley Road – in an area in north London heavily populated by Jews – there was a ‘kidnapped’ poster of three-year-old twins taken by Hamas, and someone had daubed Hitler moustaches on them. When that was reported, the anti-racist left said nothing about it. But to my mind, it was one of the worst things I have ever seen. The daubing of Jewish children with a Hitler moustache, the branding of Jewish children as fascists who presumably deserved what they got after they were kidnapped on 7 October by Hamas.

After seeing things like that, I started to think there is a moral rot in Western society. This moral decay, the turn against Enlightenment values, all of this is going to come surging to the surface of society. I think our chickens have come home to roost. We’re now seeing that if you educate an entire generation to look at their societies as institutionally racist, Islamophobic and born from the sins of slavery and colonialism, when you continually educate a new generation to have contempt for the communities in which they live, you are going to turn them away from the values of Western civilisation and possibly push them into the arms of its opposite. This is what we saw on 7 October: a complete tear in the fabric of civilisation. It ended up not being surprising to me that younger generations in the West found themselves warming to barbarism.
We live under a tyranny of the self-righteous
We no longer live in an age of moral relativism, but one of moral absolutism.

That’s one observation made by Canadian academic Eric Kaufmann in his latest book, Taboo, published this year. It’s an arresting inversion of a long-held view. Everyone today does indeed seem to know what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’.

But it also makes it hard to square the argument that postmodernism is at the root of our ethical woes and moral vacuum. Rather than living in a state of doubt and ambivalence, as postmodernism’s most optimistic advocates argued in the 1990s, we now actually inhabit a world where people cleave to firmly held truths and fight over them with righteous fury.

This can be seen most evidently in the present day over Israel and the Middle East. For many, the Israelis – and very often, by extension, the Jews – are the personification of evil. Hence, the precipitous rise of virulent anti-Semitism and of correlating sympathy for the Palestinians. In the minds of many, this is a war of good against evil. The Palestinian flag has itself become a universal symbol of goodness. And when you feel you have good on your side, any sort of appalling or belligerent behaviour or words are permissible.

This Manichean viewpoint is replicated in matters over the environment. Here, those who supposedly have right on their side deem it acceptable to resort to any sort of anti-social behaviour because it’s for a ‘good cause’. Self-righteousness is an intoxicating sensation and a self-perpetuating one. The self-righteous become consumed by their own sense of power. Elsewhere in this regard, others abide by the creed that race determines everything. Others hold to the inviolable sanctity of trans rights.

Luke Conway, another North American scholar, also came out with a book this year. It’s called Liberal Bullies: Inside the Mind of the Authoritarian Left, and it looks at how and why today’s authoritarians do indeed stem from the progressive left. It’s the same story – they believe they are caught in a battle between good and evil. Because they possess virtue, liberal bullies no longer tend to engage in debate with opponents. They give up on argument altogether when possible, feeling the veracity of their positions to be self-evident. This mindset leads to ‘intellectual apathy’ and ‘cognitive rigidity’. As a consequence, they are reliant on slogans, personal intimidation and mob rule.

We should have seen this coming. Indeed, one man foresaw this would come to pass. Just after the 180th anniversary of Friedrich Nietzsche’s birthday last week, it’s worth recalling that it was he who warned of men’s lust for power. He warned of rule by the herd, of the danger of convictions and of the bellicosity of the righteous who believe they can act with impunity. It was Nietzsche who warned that a European civilisation drifting into nihilism would see matters henceforth settled with fists and guns.

It was perhaps no coincidence that Nietzsche was a life-long critic of anti-Semitism. He correctly connected this prejudice with resentment. Anti-Semitism, he wrote, is the emotion felt by those who resent the success of others, for whom ‘someone must be to blame for the fact that I do not feel well’. Of resentment, he continued in 1887: ‘This plant now blooms most beautifully among anarchists and anti-Semites.’


'This is about Western values': Battle is not only about Israel, barred Columbia prof says
Shai Davidai, an assistant professor of business at Columbia University, was temporarily barred from campus this month, for what the school deems was “repeatedly harassing and intimidating university employees.” His social media posts show videos of him publicly asking questions of administrators, as to why they have permitted antisemitic protests on campus.

But the 41-year old Israeli told an audience of 600 at Toronto’s Beth Tikvah synagogue on Sunday that the university has yet to provide evidence of their claim.

Davidai was on a speaking tour that also included a stop in Winnipeg on Tuesday, to share the story of how he became one of the faces of fighting Jew-hatred on campus, and to offer his advice on standing up for liberal values. The talks were organized by advocacy group Tafsik.

According to Davidai, he was the “little problem” that the Manhattan-based school could stamp out easier than large swaths of haters.

He pins the catalyst on an October 7, 2024, memorial service conducted by Jewish students, marking the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel. What he referred to as “Pro-Hamas” students and faculty held a protest against it, holding signs saying, ‘long live the Al Aqsa flood’ and ‘peace and glory to our martyrs,’ he said at the Toronto talk.

Davidai claims he stood amongst the anti-Israel protestors while filming, as he was elbowed and kicked. His goal, he said, was to expose the administration, who he believes should be held accountable. The stunt had two outcomes: two million people saw the videos, and his lawyers called to tell him that the university had banned him from campus. opening envelope

Columnist Jesse Kline keeps you up to date with what’s happening in Israel and the effects of antisemitism on life here in Canada. Friday mornings.

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“Think about that,” he said incredulously. While people were “openly supporting Hamas,” countering a memorial service with Jewish students, “their first concern is to get me off their campus.”

“My goal is to change the university; if it’s through the court of public opinion, or if it’s through the court of law, I’ll do whatever it takes, but I am not trying to be a provocateur. I am trying to change the system,” said the assistant management professor at Columbia Business School.


Assessment of Israel’s ‘Operation Days of Repentance’
Based on very initial knowledge and limited information, I would conclude the following results of Israel’s three-wave Oct. 26 strike on Iran, which were partly strategic, but mostly tactical:
1 Israel finally broke the aura of Iranian invincibility. It dispelled the 30-year obsession in the West that a strike would have apocalyptic consequences, and established precedent for hitting Iran directly. This is no small thing, and lifts an analytical and policy straight-jacket that paralyzed Israel and others for decades. Iran has been exposed as weak; its bluffs and bluster called. The emperor has only old, threadbare underwear. Not quite nude, but close.
2 ⁠Israel started normalizing striking Iran in the same way that, over the years, Israeli strikes on Syria have become routine and barely noticed.
3 ⁠Israel set itself up well for a strike that truly devastates the Iranian regime in the unlikely event that it responds.
4 ⁠Israel showed itself to be a tactical genius and a military power rivaled by none in competence—a true pride of the Jewish people.


On the negative side of the ledger, the bottom line represents a failed strategic result, for the following reasons:
1 The United States wanted Israel to hit mostly that which is aligned with what the administration defines as U.S. priorities: anything that helps to harm Russia’s war against Ukraine. Those sites were, in fact, hit.
2 ⁠Israel limited itself to those sites and the ones that Israel needs to strike in order to operate over Iran. Those sites, namely anti-aircraft, were hit.
3 ⁠Israel did not hit any site that hurts Iran’s regime and could lead to escalation as defined by Iran’s pre-strike chest-thumping: nuclear, oil, infrastructure, regime figures or symbolic targets.
4 ⁠So after a year in which Iran and its proxies killed 2,000 Israelis; destroyed up to 60% of cities in the north; sent 250,000 Israelis to be internal refugees; launched a global campaign of Nazi-level antisemitism; launched 600 missiles and drones into Israel; shut down half of Israel’s ports and caused all international airlines to indefinitely stop flying to Israel; tried to kill several of the most senior Israeli officials; and sent a drone to hit the sitting prime minister’s house, Israel launches a strike that protects Ukraine but leaves everything else untouched.
5 ⁠In other words, after a month of bluster that Israel will change the face of the Middle East, it appears to have returned to the Oct. 6 strategic concept of “we showed them” and deterrence, rather than conducting a strike that shakes the foundations of the Iranian regime and maintains strategic strategic momentum. Instead, it let the United States finally achieve its goal of strategically leashing Israel and forcing it back essentially into a strategically reactive, de-escalatory posture.
6 ⁠Israel thus let Iran’s chest thumping, which was designed to panic Washington, succeed in reshaping Israel’s reaction—in essence, giving Iran control over what Israel would hit.
7 ⁠The key strategic gain Israel had in the last months was that it brought “victory” as understood in terms of regional culture and grasp— that Israel had “lost it,” was “possessed by the jinn” and the master of the house went crazy. But that concept, appropriate for the region, was traded in again for a failed Western understanding of conflict management—“Restraint is strength,” “We showed them,” “Iran got the message”—deterrence.
8 ⁠In short, Iran, whose entire strategy is based on manipulation, chess and using your soul as a weapon against you—all of which depend on your being rational, predictable and manipulatable—used the power of the U.S. as Israel’s strategic Achilles heel to transform the strategic reality of defeat, retreat and fear it faced in the last two months as Israel has become a dangerous uncontrollable and unpredictable force into a successful effort to return Israel into a controllable, reactive and manipulatable position. From there, Iran now can reassert its domination over setting the agenda; manipulate events to reverse its retreat; return the strategic momentum it had lost; and enter a long-range confrontation with Israel on its terms.
9 ⁠Regionally, Israel no longer appears to be the strong horse that can replace indispensable U.S. power, but instead has reverted to being a dependent U.S. vassal in terms of strategic behavior. Everyone knows this was not the strike Israel needed and could have executed, but that it was the strike that Washington imposed.
10 ⁠Israel’s limiting its strike undermines chances for real peace with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were looking for a strong horse that replaces U.S. power. Instead, they see now that Israel is nothing more than an American vassal—which is useless to them.
Following Israeli strikes, Iran ‘exposed’ with weak aerial defense
Israel’s strikes against military targets in Iran early Saturday morning aimed to send a clear deterrent message: that the IAF can strike in the heart of the Islamic Republic should it choose to attack Israel again, while limiting the mission to parameters put forward by the Biden administration.

“The air force attacked throughout Iran,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at an Oct. 7 memorial ceremony on Sunday. “We caused great damage to Iran’s defensive capabilities and its ability to manufacture missiles that are aimed at us … The attack on Iran was precise and powerful, and attained all of its goals.”

After the Biden administration said it opposed strikes on Iranian oil or nuclear facilities, more than 100 Israeli Air Force planes flew over 1,000 miles to Iran. They struck 20 Iranian military sites – and some Syrian and Iraqi ones on the way – including aerial defense capabilities and missile-production sites, some of which were used in Iran’s attack on Israel earlier this month.

Among the sites that Israel reportedly struck is Parchin, home to a former nuclear facility, which includes facilities for manufacturing components of rocket engines used in long-range missiles. It was also home to a secret drone production site, according to Eyal Pinko, a retired Israeli Navy commander and senior researcher at Bar-Ilan University’s Benin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

Another target, Taleghan 2, was a nuclear weapons development test location, according to documents in the Iran nuclear archive obtained by the Mossad in 2018. The Institute for Science and International Security posited that “Israel’s alleged destruction may have destroyed valuable equipment useful in further nuclear weapons development … The building provided intrinsic value … for activities involving high explosives or projectile impact studies.”

The strike left Iran “exposed” in terms of its aerial defense, as well as exposing intelligence about its drone production, Pinko said during a virtual briefing organized by the Jerusalem Press Club. He estimated that it will take at least a year for Iran to recover the missile production capabilities destroyed on Saturday, and that it will be a “huge challenge” to get more S-300 defense systems from Russia, which needs them in its war against Ukraine.

While the attack was effective, it was limited in part because of American pressure to keep the conflict from escalating, Pinko said.

“Israel doesn’t want an escalation with Iran, so I think it’s a good match between Israel’s will … and [an effort] not to upset [President Joe] Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris too much,” he said.
Why Israel didn’t hit Iran where it would really hurt
So that left the option of military targets, of which there is no shortage in Iran. And it’s this option that Israel ultimately took this weekend, hitting sites across the country. Iran remained tight-lipped about the targets, claiming four members of the military were killed, but residents of Tehran saw and heard explosions in the outskirts of the city.

By Sunday morning, satellite photos showed destroyed buildings in military bases near Tehran and in Parchin, and Israeli sources began to brief what they’d hit: planetary mixers. These high-precision machines are the mutant cousins of the kitchen stand mixer, they’re used for making the solid fuel used in ballistic missiles. According to the Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, Israel targeted every single rocket fuel mixer in Iran, and perhaps even a couple in Syria for good measure. Destroying them would essentially end Iranian missile production for months or years.

That’s bad news for Iran and good news for Israel. But it’s also tough luck for the Houthis in Yemen, who rely on arms from Iran, and for Russia, which had been seeking to buy Iranian ballistic missiles for use against Ukraine.

A couple of supposedly ‘advanced’ S-300 air defence systems were also destroyed, not that they seem to have done Iran much good in the first place; no Israeli jets were downed in the attack.

Iran today seems in a bit of a quandary. There is no immediate threat of retaliation from the regime, just bellicose but vague language. Meanwhile, parts of the Israeli right criticised the strikes as not harsh enough, mostly blaming Joe Biden for restraining Netanyahu’s hand.

Netanyahu, though, has been prime minister for most of the last 15 years. If he truly wanted to bomb Iranian nuclear sites with warplanes, he would have done it by now. Throughout his career, Netanyahu’s talent has been finding people who he can blame for restraining him: left-wing coalition partners, Israeli judges and US presidents.

For most of the last year, neither Israel nor Hezbollah wanted a broader war in Lebanon. When that changed, and Israeli leaders decided it was time to take on Hezbollah, it wasn’t subtle; two weeks of pager bombs, walkie talkie bombs and dramatic assassinations.

As it stands, Israel and Iran don’t want an open war – yet. Both sides are still looking for reasons to de-escalate. But Israel’s strikes have proven that if war comes, there is very little that the regime can do to prevent the Israeli air force from hitting what it wants, when it wants.
Netanyahu: Israel ‘severely damaged’ Iran’s capabilities
In his first public remarks since Israel’s attack on Iran overnight Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday stated that the operation was successful, while thanking Washington for backing Jerusalem.

“This is an existential war, a war on seven fronts, against the ‘Axis of Evil’ led by Iran. And in war, as in war—we exact a heavy toll on those who seek our lives,” the premier said.

“Three weeks ago, after we eliminated Iran’s top emissary, the arch-terrorist Hassan Nasrallah, Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles. That attack failed. We promised then that it would be met with firmness—and in the early hours of Saturday morning, we fulfilled that promise,” said Netanyahu. “The air force struck across Iran, severely damaging its defense capabilities and its capacity to produce missiles aimed at us.”

Netanyahu was speaking at a memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery as Israel observed a national day of mourning for the victims of the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.

“All of this followed months of systematic action, according to a structured plan, to cut off Iran’s tentacles—Hezbollah and Hamas. Two days ago, we struck at the head of the octopus—the Iranian regime,” he continued.

“To the people of Iran, I say: our fight is not against you but against the tyrannical regime that oppresses you and threatens the entire region. This regime must understand a simple principle: Those who harm us will be harmed in return. This has been our guiding principle until now, and it will continue to guide us going forward.

“The attack on Iran was precise and powerful, achieving all its objectives. I want to extend my gratitude to all our commanders and soldiers in the IDF and security forces who took part in the operation. To the chief of staff, the air force commander, the air force pilots, the mechanics and all ground crews, the head of Military Intelligence and the intelligence community, the head of the Mossad, and the men and women of Mossad. I also want to thank the United States for its close coordination and assistance.

“Honored guests, citizens of Israel, great challenges still lie ahead. But standing together—we will overcome them. With our strength, we will defeat our enemies and bring a future of peace, prosperity, and growth to our state.”


US, 7 more nations warn PM not to let Smotrich buckle Palestinian economy in West Bank
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and seven of her counterparts sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week expressing their alarm over the potential collapse of the Palestinian economy in the West Bank if Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich fails to renew a soon-to-expire agreement letting Israeli banks transact with Palestinian ones.

“Actions taken by some members of your government to deny the West Bank access to financial resources endangers Israel’s security and threatens to further destabilize the entire region in an already perilous moment,” the Western treasury chiefs wrote in a letter obtained by the Axios news site.

The letter was addressed to Netanyahu, as Western countries have maintained a de facto boycott of Smotrich, since he became finance minister in December 2022.

Yellen — along with her counterparts from Japan, Canada, the EU, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, and France — said that failure to extend the corresponding banking agreement, which is set to expire on Thursday, would weaken oversight of finance flows, disrupt the transfer of much-needed donor funds, and destabilize the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian economy relies heavily on the banks’ relationships with their Israeli counterparts to process transactions made in shekels, as the PA does not have its own currency. Some NIS 53 billion ($14 billion) were exchanged at Palestinian banks in 2023, according to official data.

And US officials have warned that failure to maintain banking relations between Israel and the Palestinians would turn the West Bank into a “cash economy,” which would benefit terrorist organizations in the territory and make it harder for the already-weakened PA to fight such groups.

The West Bank economy has been in dire straits over the past year, as tens of thousands of Palestinian day laborers were denied entry into Israel during the war in Gaza sparked when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.


MEMRI: Saudi Journalist: Rejoicing Over The October 7 Attack, In Disregard Of Its Consequences, Shows Callous Contempt For Human Life; A Direct Conflict Between Iran And Israel Could Turn The Region Into A Volcano
In an article in the Saudi daily Okaz, journalist Hamoud Abu Taleb accused Iran's supporters and proxies in the region of fomenting war and destroying the Middle East instead of promoting progress and prosperity by peaceful means. Abu Taleb wrote that the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel did unprecedented harm to the Palestinian cause and undermined the diplomatic efforts to promote it. The attack also brought complete devastation upon Gaza and led to tens of thousands of innocent victims without yielding any benefit. Those who call to continue the sacrifice until victory is achieved, he said, are insulting people's intelligence and displaying callous contempt for human life.

Abu Taleb warned of escalation in the region, "which is plagued by illness, paranoia and extremist ideologies," and added that a conflict between Israel and Iran could "turn the region into a volcano, with lava flying in every direction."

The following are translated excerpts from his article:[1]
"The following burning question should preoccupy every reasonable person in this world: What is the crime of innocent people who [only] want to live in peace and fulfill their minimal human aspiration of [staying] alive, yet find themselves victims of unnecessary wars that brutally rob them of their souls, or turn them into lost refugees without shelter, food or medicine? They become mere numbers reported daily or statistics appearing in the media, as if they were not human beings. Meanwhile, the decisionmakers responsible for these wars appear on the news, in all their health and glory, to speak of [the need for] steadfastness regardless of the price in casualties.

"This is true of people everywhere on this wounded planet, regardless of any other considerations. However, since the pressing issue at the moment is the tragedy of Gaza, which has given rise to another tragedy affecting Lebanon, human conscience must pose the following question about those who celebrate the anniversary [of October 7] and speak of the need to continue sacrificing lives for victory: By what logic and by what right do they speak so disdainfully about human life? Who appointed them to drag people into Hell, when the result is immense destruction, complete devastation, and millions of people dead, wounded, disabled and displaced? Not only is this disrespect for the lives of the victims; it is also an insult to intelligence, understanding and the very logic of life.

[As a result of the October 7 attack] the Palestinian issue sustained damage unprecedented in its history, [precisely] when the intense international campaign for recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people and their state was yielding positive outcomes. What occurred [on October 7] not only undermined these positive efforts but also enabled Israel to punish the Palestinian people with extreme cruelty and barbarism. There was no achievement, and in retaliation for the death of a limited number of Israelis that day, we have witnessed a year of bloodshed for the Palestinians, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and millions of people displaced, and Gaza being turned into a place unfit for habitation.

"[Today,] we also see Lebanon burning around the clock, after Hizbullah 'rushed' [to Gaza's aid] despite knowing very well that Israel was waiting for such an opportunity. Worse still is the potential conflict looming between Israel and Iran, which could turn the region into a volcano, with lava flying in every direction. Meanwhile, the international community, and the U.S. in particular, are not interested in intervening to prevent the war for good, but [only] in controlling its pace and managing it according to their long-term strategic plans for the region.

"The [Arab] states that believe in moderation, in building the universe and in human welfare sought to turn the region into a place of growth, development and prosperity. They wanted the region's problems, chief of them the Palestinian issue, to be resolved through diplomatic channels using effective political bargaining chips. However, there are always elements whose sole objective is to harm the peoples of the region, complicate their problems, destroy their achievements, justify the presence of foreign forces, and militarize their vital [shipping] routes, causing extensive damage to their economies, security and stability.

"This world is plagued by fools, with people suffering from paranoia and epidemics of extreme ideologies everywhere – but it seems that our region has a particularly high number of them, unfortunately.”
Arab Advocates for Israel Speak Out on Social Media
Born in Damascus to secular Muslim parents and raised in the village of Chtaura in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Rawan Osman, 40, was on her fourth trip to Israel this year when we dined outdoors at a Jerusalem restaurant in mid-September. She plans to move here for good. In preparation, she spent two months this summer studying modern Hebrew in Jerusalem. (“I’m at Level 4,” she told me in Hebrew, during an interview otherwise conducted in English. “I attended an intensive ulpan.”)

Osman has been a vocal advocate on social media for Israel and against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran—including launching an Instagram forum, Arabs Ask, shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, to answer questions about Israel in Arabic. She’s a central figure in a new documentary, Tragic Awakening, about the plague of antisemitism. In May, while visiting Israel on an all-female European delegation, Osman addressed a parliament committee and condemned Hamas’ rape of Israeli women during the terrorist group’s invasion. “I never felt prouder,” she told me. “When I spoke at the Knesset, I officially and publicly announced my recovery from antisemitism. That day was an act of atonement for me.”

Osman is also in the process of converting to Judaism; when we met, she was wearing a gold necklace with a Star of David pendant.

It’s been a dramatic evolution for a woman reared on what she considers the brainwashing of youth to despise Israel and Jews, and who admits to having been an antisemite. Only after moving to France and then Germany, where she lives now, did Osman realize that her parents and teachers had lied to her.

Osman experienced several turning points in her understanding of Jews and Judaism. The first point came in her mid-20s, at a grocery store in Strasbourg, France: When she realized that the other shoppers were Jewish—the first Jews she’d ever encountered—she ran out of the store. But back at her apartment, Osman felt ashamed of her reaction. She returned to the store and, in a conversation with the Jewish shopkeeper, revealed her background.

“On that day, he converted me from an enemy to an ally through kindness,” Osman told an audience at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center across town a few hours after our meal together.

Another Jewish man would play a pivotal role in her reorientation. At a German university, Osman took a course on Judaism. The teacher, a rabbi, taught that “to be a good Jew, you have to become a better person every day,” she told me. “It hit me at my core. I had an epiphany. I was thinking about what he said. Months later, I told him, ‘Judaism is real. Judaism is humane.’ The recipe—everyone can work with it. You can work on yourself bit by bit. There’s no standard [to meet]. It’s you who have to be a bit better.

“It is open for everyone, and the universal morality that Judaism brought to the world is open for everybody,” Osman continued. “It is idiotic to destroy the source that brought order and kindness to the world.”

The experience, she said, “showed me the way back home, the source of light.”

Her final turning point came on Oct. 7, 2023, she said, when she understood after the Hamas massacre that everyone “had to choose” between evil and good—and she went all-in on Israel and the Jewish people
David Friedman: On fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel, Trump beats Harris by a mile
There are a host of issues at play in this presidential election. To many voters, there are more important issues than antisemitism and Israel. But to those who fear the unprecedented rise of Jew-hatred in this country and the existential risks facing the State of Israel, these issues loom large like never before.

Jews living in America whose attire and religious practices identify them as Jews, along with Jews living in Israel, are on the front lines of the respective waves of hatred and violence domestically and inside the Jewish state. Overwhelmingly, and for very good reasons, they prefer president Donald Trump to Vice President Kamala Harris. Here are the main reasons why.

1. Antisemitism at home
Fighting antisemitism requires an expansion of law enforcement and an aggressive campaign to deport anti-American and anti-Israel foreign agitators who have entered our country on false pretenses and invaded college campuses. America’s most elite universities have become ground zero for the advancement of an antisemitic, Marxist agenda.

President Trump wants these agitators out of our country and he will send them home. And those breaking the law will go to jail. Importantly, in December 2019, long before antisemitism exploded on college campuses, President Trump signed an executive order extending the reach of Title VI to antisemitic conduct. That means that universities receiving Federal funding (almost all do) will lose that assistance if they fail to protect their Jewish students from hatred and violence.

Vice President Harris has shown no interest in empowering law enforcement, holding back funding to offending universities or otherwise stopping the spread of antisemitism. In her meetings with far-left anti-Israel student groups, she has validated many of their false charges. The rise of domestic antisemitism has, of course, occurred on her watch.

2. The Hamas War
Since the brutal assault by Hamas on October 7, 2023, President Trump has been clear-eyed and unambiguous: Israel must be empowered to win the war as quickly and decisively as possible. Had Trump been in office, I believe that Israel’s impending victory would have occurred much sooner with a far better outcome for the hostages that remain in captivity by Hamas.

Harris has just been terrible. While she attempts to skate by with the platitude that “Israel has the right to defend itself” (what country doesn’t have that right?), she and her administration have handcuffed Israel’s operations and continue to withhold essential military assistance. Weeks went by as Harris and her team implored Israel not to enter Rafah. Fortunately, Netanyahu did not listen to her – Israel’s invasion of Rafah led to the discovery of massive smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border and resulted in the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas.

The recovery of some of Sinwar’s writings now establishes conclusively that the criticism of Israel by Biden and Harris influenced Sinwar to resist a deal for the return of the hostages.


Marla Maples Jumps to Defend Ex-Husband Trump After Harris Connects Him to Hitler: ‘This is My Daughter’s Father’
Marla Maples, who was married to former President Donald Trump for six years in the 1990s, jumped to his defense late Friday while reacting to a post from Vice President Kamala Harris that connected him to Hitler.

Harris seized on claims from this past week that Trump had previously expressed adulation for the dictator. A piece from The Atlantic cited sources who claimed Trump had said he wished his own generals were loyal to him like Hitler’s were during his term in office.

Former Trump administration chief of staff John Kelly also came forward and claimed Trump had previously told him Hitler had done some “good things” while leading Germany. Trump denied the claims.

On Wednesday night during a town hall on CNN, Harris told Anderson Cooper she believed her 2024 opponent was a “fascist.”


LA Times owner’s daughter says Harris’s Israel support is why paper hasn’t endorsed her
The daughter of the Los Angeles Times owner has claimed her father blocked the newspaper from backing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris over her support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Owner Patrick Soon-Shiong swiftly rejected the notion, pointing out that his daughter Nika has no official position at the publication and her views are her own, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Last week Patrick Soon-Shiong stopped the paper’s editorial board from publishing a prepared endorsement for Harris, the vice president, while saying he wanted readers to decide for themselves. The move prompted a slew of resignations from the editorial board as well as calls from staff for Soon-Shiong to be more transparent about why the paper was not endorsing a candidate.

Nika Soon-Shiong, described by the NY Times as “a progressive political activist,” has in the past faced criticism for trying to involve herself in the LA Times news coverage despite having no position at the paper.

In a statement to the NY Times, she said the decision to not endorse a candidate was made by her family.

“As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide, and as a family that experienced South African Apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children,” she said. “For the sake of the living and in the name of the dead, for the sake of our collective humanity — we must raise the moral floor.”


UN secretary-general won’t condemn official accused of antisemitism; US said to grant visa for visit
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is once again under fire for not speaking out against Francesca Albanese, the controversial U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, who has been condemned for being antisemitic.

Albanese is traveling to the U.S. to present her latest report, "Genocide as colonial erasure," before the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, which oversees social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

Albanese’s report, now widely circulated among member state representatives, shows "the masks are off," according to Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.

"Albanese's target is the destruction of the Jewish state, period," Bayefsky said, claiming Albanese’s report is "a new, unhinged rant — translated, reproduced and spread across the world by the United Nations — utterly ignorant of regional and religious history.

"[Albanese] claims the Jewish people are colonists in Israel and have been engaged in a genocidal killing spree as part of ‘a century-long project.’ It would be laughable, if her hate-mongering and incitement to violence were not so deadly."

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., told Fox News Digital Albanese "failed in her role as special rapporteur for the U.N. She has no interest in the welfare of Israelis or ordinary Gazans but has instead shown to favor spreading hate. Time and again, she has succeeded in continuing to peddle dangerous antisemitic tropes and openly supporting the Hamas terrorists occupying Gaza."

He also had a warning to U.S. colleges, saying Albanese’s "latest reports show how deep her antisemitism runs," adding she "should not be allowed near any educational institutions where she can spread her vicious antisemitism under the flag of the U.N."

On Oct. 17, Albanese retweeted a diatribe that accused the Jewish state of "blood lust," calling it a "must-read for the ages."

Accompanying the article was a cartoon featuring a cyborg in a respirator and hazmat suit bearing the Israeli flag and an American flag lapel pin with bloodied hands giving two thumbs up. Bayefsky said the image is "classic antisemitism."


Despite international pressure, Knesset to vote on UNRWA ban
The Knesset plenum was set to vote on Monday on two bills that would make it illegal for Israeli officials to cooperate with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and for it to operate in Jerusalem.

The United States, the United Nations, E.U. member states and Arab countries have expressed concern about the bills, which were nonetheless slated to come up for a vote on Monday morning following recent revelations about the complicity of UNRWA staff in terrorism. The bills may proceed to a second and third reading, depending on scheduling issues at the Knesset, which returned from recess on Sunday.

The bills, which were initially merged, were separated after passing committee earlier this month. The more restrictive bill, coauthored by Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky and others, proposes to ban all contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA, which would complicate the agency’s work in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

The other, submitted by MK Boaz Bismut of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, would ban UNRWA from Jerusalem, potentially locking it out of the city’s east, where it operates several schools for Palestinians.

On Oct. 13, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter about the agency to Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Yoav Galant. In the letter, which demanded Israel increase the amount of aid being let into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, they noted that they were “deeply concerned” about the bills.
Sen. Cotton urges Biden to impose ‘terrorism sanctions’ on UNRWA
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) last week called on the Biden administration to cut all funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, long accused of ties to Hamas and even having terrorists on its payroll.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s support for UNRWA threatens American national security and enables continued violence while American hostages remain in Gaza,” wrote Cotton in a highly critical letter addressed to President Joe Biden.

Despite Congress passing a bill in March that bars U.S. funds to UNRWA, “Your administration continues to ignore both legislative intent and plain common sense,” the letter continued.

“Your administration has become UNRWA’s most prominent apologist and best advocate,” wrote Cotton.

The letter raised a list of UNRWA links to terrorism, including Hamas weapons stashes found in UNRWA facilities, an Israeli hostage revealing he had been captive in an UNRWA employee’s house and a passport belonging to an UNRWA teacher found on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s body after he was eliminated on Oct. 16.

“You must end your support for those who abet terrorism. I call on you to use your authority under Executive Order 13224 to designate UNRWA as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, allowing the U.S. to impose sanctions and block UNRWA assets,” Cotton concluded.

In a related move, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 27 other Republican senators introduced legislation last week that would cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations and its subsidiary agencies if they downgrade Israel’s status.

“Reports indicate that the Palestinian Authority will attempt to downgrade Israel’s status at the United Nations” following a U.N. General Assembly vote in May, the 28 senators wrote. That vote saw Palestinians gain new rights within their existing non-member “permanent observer” status, which is short of full U.N. membership.


Russia Supplied Satellite Targeting Data for Iran-Backed Houthi Attacks on Western Cargo Ships
Russia provided satellite targeting data to the Houthis in Yemen, aiding the Iran-backed terrorist group’s missile and drone attacks on Western ships in the Red Sea this year, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The Houthis used the targeting data, which was funneled through members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stationed in Yemen, to coordinate and expand strikes on ships along the vital global trade route, according to an individual familiar with the matter and two European defense officials.

The Houthis began targeting Western ships in the Red Sea late last year in retaliation for Israel’s war against Hamas. Since then, the militants have attacked over 100 vessels, sinking two and hijacking another, the Journal reported. Analysts said Russia’s involvement in the attacks is further indication of its efforts to stoke instability in the Middle East and divert Western attention from the conflict in Ukraine.

"For Russia, any flare up anywhere is good news, because it takes the world’s attention further away from Ukraine and the U.S. needs to commit resources—Patriot systems or artillery shells—and with the Middle East in play, it’s clear where the U.S. will choose," said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Berlin-based Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

The Houthi attacks have severely disrupted global trade, forcing many ships to instead go around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Tanker traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, dropped by 77 percent in August compared to last October, according to maritime-intelligence company Windward.


IDF announces two fallen soldiers in Gaza Strip, Lebanon
The IDF announced the death of two soldiers, Warrant Officer (res.) Shaul Moyal, and Staff Sergeant Malachi Yehuda Harari, on Sunday.

Warrant Officer (res.) Moyal, aged 47, from Karnei Shomron, a soldier in the 8207th Battalion, 228th Brigade (Alon), fell during combat in southern Lebanon.

Staff Sergeant Harari, aged 22, from Even Shmuel, a soldier in the Rotem Battalion, Givati Brigade, succumbed to his wounds after being severely injured on October 18, 2024, during combat in the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the IDF's tally, the death of Warrant Officer (res.) Moyal and Staff Sergeant Harari raises the total of soldiers killed on or since October 7 of last year to 771.

Some 360 of this number were killed since the start of the military's ground operations in the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023.


IDF announces names of four fallen soldiers killed in Lebanon
Four soldiers were killed in battle in southern Lebanon, the military said on Sunday.

The fallen soldiers were named as Captain (res.) Avraham Yosef Goldberg, 43, from Jerusalem; Staff-Sergeant-Major (res.) Gilad Elmaliach, 30, from Jerusalem; Captain (res.) Amit Chayut, 29, from Haifa; and Major (res.) Eliav Amram Abitbol, 36, from Eitan.

Capt. Goldberg served as the battalion's military rabbi, Capt. Chayut was a platoon commander, and Maj. Abitbol was a deputy company commander.

The four soldiers served in the 8207th Battalion in the 228th Brigade.

According to the IDF's tally, the death of Goldberg, Elmaliach, Chayut, and Abitbol raises the total of soldiers killed on or since October 7 of last year to 769.

Soldiers wounded in incident
In the incident in which the four soldiers fell, three reserve soldiers, a soldier from the 8207th Battalion, and a Combat Engineering Officer from the 228th Brigade were seriously wounded, the IDF said.

The wounded soldiers were transferred to the hospital, and their families were notified.


One killed, over 30 hurt in suspected terror attack north of Tel Aviv
One person was killed and more than 30 others were wounded on Sunday in a suspected terrorist attack near Glilot, north of Tel Aviv in central Israel.

According to initial reports, a truck rammed into a large group of people standing at a bus stop. The Magen David Adom emergency service reported that medical personnel were treating multiple people at the scene, some of whom were trapped.

Thirty-one people were evacuated to Beilinson and Ichilov hospitals, according to MDA, including six in serious condition, five in moderate condition and 20 in mild condition. Additionally, four people were treated for anxiety.

Home Front Command rescue teams were deployed to help free victims trapped under the truck.

In the afternoon, Ichilov Medical Center announced that one of the ramming attack victims succumbed to his wounds.

Beilinson Hospital earlier updated that eight injured arrived at the medical center, including three in serious condition and five in mild condition.


Hezbollah rocket wounds three in direct hit on Arab Israeli city
Three people were wounded by a Hezbollah rocket in Tamra in northern Israel on Sunday. The Lebanese terror group launched some 75 rockets at the Galilee region.

According to the Magen David Adom emergency service, the victims were transported to Rambam Hospital. A 57-year-old woman was in serious but stable condition with chest and limb injuries, while a 21-year-old woman and 13-year-old girl were listed as being in mild condition due to smoke inhalation.

The Israel Police said that Northern District officers and bomb disposal units were conducting searches at the impact site to make sure there was no further risk to the public.

“Following the sirens that sounded between 12:31 and 12:33 in the Upper and Central Galilee areas, approximately 75 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the Israel Defense Forces said, adding that some of the rockets were intercepted.

Meanwhile, sirens continued to sound in northern Israel in the afternoon hours, with a drone being shot down over the Western Galilee.

Earlier in the day, two people were injured when a Hezbollah drone hit a building in the Bar Lev industrial zone near Acre. A factory belonging to the BAZ aviation components firm was reportedly hit. The company reportedly manufactures aerospace metal components for both civilian and military clients.

MDA said that the victims of the attack were a 61-year-old man in light condition with shrapnel wounds to his chest and a 31-year-old man in light condition with shrapnel wounds to his hand.


President Herzog’s address at official Oct. 7 memorial ceremony
At this moment, our hearts are with the dozens wounded and affected in the severe terror attack near the Glilot base. We pray and hope for their full and swift recovery and send strength to them and their families.

Distinguished guests, it has been a full year that our lives have been shrouded in unceasing and heavy mourning for our sons and daughters who fell in battle—for the faces, the voices and the names; for the entire worlds that were destroyed. A year, a whole year—since that accursed day—Oct. 7th—Simchat Torah, when a cruel and murderous enemy rose against us in an attack wholly filled with barbaric crimes against humanity. This battle has claimed and continues to claim hundreds of lives from us, leaving thousands of bereaved families. But each of us, I feel, carries a few deeply unsettling, even crushing, moments etched into our hearts over this past year—moments that will never fade. I, too, have mine.

Around the hospital bed of Captain Roi Nahari—a platoon commander in the 202nd Paratroopers Battalion, a handsome young man, only 23 years old, from Moshav Ora—stood his parents and siblings, surrounding him like a halo. Michal and I arrived at Soroka Hospital that day, only two days after the murderous attack by Hamas had begun. In the shock of the pain, as their heroic and beloved son hovered between life and death, dear Iris and Ronen, Roi’s parents, asked us to be with them by his bedside in their most intimate, their most terrible family moment—their moment of parting from their beloved Roi. They told us that when the attack began on Oct. 7th, Roi dashed southward without hesitation, together with his team. They saved many lives in a courageous battle at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, until, sadly, Roi was gravely wounded.

It feels strange to use this word, but in a way, Michal and I were privileged to be there with them, with the Nahari family, at that terrible and sacred moment. We saw parents, in their most agonizing moments, standing heartbroken and upright. We saw Rotem and Omer lifting their eyes to their brother in an impossible mix of sorrow and pride. We saw Bar, Roi’s twin brother, his other half, also an officer in the paratroopers, lying on him, holding him, weeping uncontrollably, unwilling to part; and our hearts broke with him. For how can one truly say goodbye? How can you, dear families—how can you say goodbye?

This past year, we have met thousands of bereaved family members, of civilians, of security forces—from the IDF, the police, the Shin Bet, from the various rapid-response teams, and from all branches of our security forces across the country. What I have shared now about Roi and his heroism—we have seen it repeatedly, we have heard it repeatedly, from you—dear families, in every place we have been. Of the heroism and beauty of your loved ones—the most moving faces of the Israeli mosaic, Jews and Druze, Christians and Muslims, from various perspectives and ways of life—who sought to protect the State of Israel and its citizens, with devotion, determination, and a sense of unmatched mission; and who fell while standing guard on that dreadful day and in the war that followed—across the South, the North, Judea and Samaria, and in every part of our homeland.


As Mossad head goes to Doha, Egypt proposes 2-day ceasefire for release of 4 hostages
Mossad chief David Barnea flew to Doha on Sunday to discuss attempts to move toward a hostage release deal with CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the officials will discuss “the various possibilities to restart negotiations for the release of hostages from Hamas captivity, based on recent developments.”

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by IDF troops earlier this month, a development Israeli and Western leaders have described as an “opportunity” to make progress on a deal that would see the release of some or all the hostages held in Gaza.

Hamas will not be involved in this round of meetings, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel, but could potentially join a subsequent round, with mediators shuttling between the terror group and Israeli negotiators.

Qatar hosts a number of top Hamas leaders on its territory.

Israel is exploring the possibility of a small deal designed to kick-start talks with Hamas about a comprehensive deal, said the official, and to understand Hamas decision-making after Sinwar’s death.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in a Cairo press conference on Sunday that his country had proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange four Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners.

The Egyptian proposal — which would include 10 days of negotiations after the release of the 4 hostages — was presented by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar last week to the national security cabinet, Channel 12 reported. Though most of the ministers and all the security chiefs present supported the idea, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir opposed, according to the news outlet.

Netanyahu decided not to bring the proposal to a vote because of the initial two-day ceasefire before the hostages are released, said Channel 12, and sent Bar back to Egypt to improve the terms.


Call me Back Podcast: ISRAEL ATTACKS IRAN - with Nadav Eyal and Jonathan Schanzer
TODAY’S EPISODE: To help us better understand what happened with Israel’s military operation against Iran, Nadav Eyal and Jonathan Schanzer join us for an emergency episode of the podcast.

NADAV EYAL is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Dr. JONATHAN SCHANZER is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Jon previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers. Jonathan has studied Middle East history in four countries. He earned his PhD from King’s College London, where he wrote his dissertation on the U.S. Congress and its efforts to combat terrorism in the 20th century. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew.


Col Kemp: Iran’s Supreme Leader believed to be seriously ill and ‘may only have months to live’
Sky News host James Morrow says Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “may only have months to live” following reports he is seriously ill.

The New York Times has reported that Khamenei is believed to be seriously ill.

“He may only have months to live,” Mr Morrow said.


‘Daddy was a member of Hezbollah. He brought that danger, evil into their home,’ Fetterman says
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) defended his statement that he loved Israel’s attack on Hezbollah pagers in a recent interview with the New York Times.

“It was targeted for members of Hezbollah,” the pro-Israel Democrat said. “You know, no one uses beepers in that situation other than they were a member of Hezbollah.”

The interviewer noted that a young child was killed.

“Unfortunately, tragically, because Daddy was a member of Hezbollah. He brought that danger and evil into their home,” Fetterman said. “That’s what tragically resulted in that poor child’s death, and that’s what’s so terrible. She paid the price because her father was a terrorist for Hezbollah.”

Fetterman added that he thinks a two-state solution is an ideal but isn’t sure any longer that one is possible.

The Times interviewer asked Fetterman about the “nuance” about the “price” being paid in innocent life in Gaza. Fetterman said “there isn’t any nuance.”

“You think that the price that’s been paid is fair?” the interviewer asked.

“The price is terrible. It’s awful. That’s history and that’s war, and Israel was forced to fight an enemy that are cowardly,” he said. “They hide in tunnels. They hide in schools and in refugee camps, and they’re in those kinds of places.”

“That forces them to reach them—they have to go through these civilians,” Fetterman said. “That’s why they’re so evil, and that’s why that’s designed—the death and destruction and the misery, was designed by Hamas. They understood that that’s going to happen. They don’t care.”

“Some people blame Israel,” the senator said. “Well, I blame Hamas.”


travelingisrael.com: Bassem’s Biggest Lie (and Piers Morgan’s Biggest Failure)



Australia bans Candace Owens from entering country due to antisemitism
Candace Owens has been banned from entering Australia, following a history of antisemitic, anti-Muslim and transphobic comments, the Sydney Morning Herald posted for the first time on Sunday morning.

Tony Burke, the Immigration Minister, announced that Owens has had her visa cancelled, meaning she will be unable to travel to the country for her upcoming tour.

“From downplaying the impact of the Holocaust with comments about [German SS officer Josef] Mengele through to claims that Muslims started slavery, Candace Owens has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction,” Burke stated.

“Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”

Jewish groups previously called for her visa to be cancelled in August, with Burke telling the Sydney Morning Herald "Tickets to these events are selling for $100. I hope she has a good refunds policy."


Ex-Tory minister under fire for implying Robert Jenrick’s support for Israel is due to having Jewish family members
An ex-Tory minister is under fire for claiming Tory leader candidate Robert Jenrick takes his “script” from Israel and for implying Jenrick’s Jewish “family connections” might be behind his pro-Israel stance.

Sir Alan Duncan, who was investigated and eventually exonerated by his party in April after claiming the Conservative Friends of Israel group was doing “the bidding” of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is now under fire again for comments he made this week on the YouTube channel “Palestine Deep Dive”.

“Now this man (Jenrick) is an extremist,” Sir Duncan said on the programme, “he does not believe in any kind of two state solution, although he says he does. He knows nothing about it.”

He continued, “he takes his script entirely from the Conservative Friends of Israel and the Israelis, so he would be a disaster if he were leader of the Conservative Party.”

Questioned on why he believes Jenrick, who has a Jewish wife, was a staunch supporter of Israel, Sir Duncan said it is “disgusting extremism born of ignorance”.

“But there’s also family connections which have a Jewish link,” he said. “But just because someone’s Jewish doesn’t mean that they have to agree with Netanyahu.”

Jenrick, who is currently battling Kemi Badenoch to become the next leader of the Conservatives, hit back at the ex-foreign office minister. “There’s a word for those that accuse politicians of being controlled by the Israelis because of Jewish family members.

“Sir Alan has already been investigated for antisemitism once. These views have no place in our party,” he said.

Sir Duncan told The Sun this was an example of “textbook abusemitism”, a term he is attempting to coin that means an unjustified accusation of antisemitism meant to “bully or silence”.

“I will not be silenced. I defend international law. [Jenrick] does not. Will he say unequivocally that all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal? If he does not, then he is not fit to be leader of the Conservative Party,” Sir Duncan said.


Norway’s Storebrand divests from Palantir over use of its software by Israeli forces
Norwegian investor Storebrand Asset Management has divested its holding in Palantir Technologies, citing concern that the AI data firm’s involvement in providing services to the Israeli military and security forces would violate international humanitarian law and human rights.

In an update last week, Storebrand, which manages 1.2 trillion crowns ($109 billion) in assets, said that it had divested its investment in Palentir “due [to] its sales of products and services to Israel for use in occupied Palestinian territories.” The asset manager had previously held about 262 million crowns ($24 million) in Palantir, a spokesperson told Reuters.

The US data-analysis giant develops software using artificial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of facts and figures, which is deployed by government civil administration, military and intelligence agencies. The AI data software platforms are used by intelligence agencies to assist in profiling information to identify targets such as terrorists as well as in operational decision-making for battle plans.

Its AI tools assist investigators in uncovering human trafficking rings, finding exploited children, and in the business realm in flagging complex financial crimes and insider trading.

The Denver-based data-mining firm with a market value of $100 billion has been active in Israel for the past decade and has an office in Tel Aviv run by many former Israeli government officials. In January, Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp hosted the firm’s first board meeting of the year in Tel Aviv to show solidarity with Israel during the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

Storebrand said its decision to end its investment in Palantir comes after the Norwegian government warned Norwegian businesses in an official statement in early March that “engaging in any economic or financial activity in the illegal Israeli settlements could put them at risk of contributing to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights.”

The Norwegian investor also referred to an advisory opinion by the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in July, which asserted that Israel’s presence in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza (despite the military’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005) is illegal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and numerous cabinet ministers, as well as settler leaders, roundly denounced the non-binding ruling.


Anti-Israel demonstrators stage protest outside JW3 communal centre
Demonstrators have gathered outside a conference hosted by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz at the JW3 Jewish cultural centre in London.

Activists can be seen carrying placards accusing Israel of genocide while demonstrators chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

Others can be heard chanting: “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution.”

Haaretz’ London conference, “Israel After October 7th: Allied or Alone?”, brings together political figures, analysts and activists from Israel and the UK to discuss the most pressing issues facing the Middle East today and what a post-war landscape looks like.

Journalist Sandy Rashty posted on X/Twitter that there was only a “handful of officers” policing the event, while families with small children are entering JW3.

“The most disgusting, aggressive scenes and levels of intimidation from ‘pro Palestinian’ activists outside JW3, a Jewish cultural centre in London attended by children, young families. Very little police presence,” she said.

Describing how the protesters had gathered around different parts of the centre, she said: “All entrances covered - including those being used - right now - by children.

“Handful, if that, of officers. Definition: intimidation of the Jewish community across the spectrum.”

In one video, Met Police officers can be seen attempting to calm down protesters and push apart crowds. Masked demonstrators shout “End the occupation now” and “You are mass murderers”, while some slam drums nearby speakers.

In a video on X, a protester with a microphone leads a crowd to repeat: “We will continue to occupy these streets every day of the week, no matter how many police… until Zionism no longer exists in the Middle East, because Zionism is a racist ideology.”

Stop the Hate UK tweeted: “Yet again, @metpoliceuk is failing to protect the Jewish community in London.”


UKLFI: Keffiyeh clad woman guarded Legoland Succah
The black-and-white checkered headdress, which represents the Palestinian liberation movement, is often worn to convey political sentiments in favour of Palestinians or even in favour of the terrorist group Hamas.

UKLFI has written to Legoland to point out that it could be in breach of the Equality Act by allowing the guard to wear the keffiyeh, which created an intimidating, hostile, and offensive environment for Jewish and Israeli visitors.

UKLFI has asked Legoland to clarify whether its staff dress code allows staff to wear politically symbolic items, such as a keffiyeh, or political badges, and if not to reprimand staff who have breached it. If Legoland’s dress code does currently permit such items, UKLFI has asked Legoland to change it.

Caroline Turner, Director of UKLFI commented: “We were delighted to hear that Legoland had provided a succah for its Jewish visitors, during the Succot festival period. However, it seems a little thoughtless for Legoland to have stationed a keffiyeh clad guard outside.”


Sydney restaurateur Al Yazbek reveals his next legal move after being charged with displaying a Nazi symbol
A high-profile restaurateur has pleaded guilty to displaying a Nazi symbol to protest Israel's actions during the ongoing Middle East conflict.

Alan Yazbek was charged with displaying a placard bearing a swastika at a protest in Sydney on October 6.

The protest was the subject of a high-visibility police operation amid heightened tensions one day before the anniversary of Hamas' attack on southern Israel.

Police had alleged that Mr Yazbek, the co-owner of the NOMAD Restaurant Group, displayed a sign with a swastika superimposed on the Israeli flag with the words 'Stop Nazi Israel'.

He was charged with one count of knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol without a reasonable excuse.

In Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday, Mr Yazbek's barrister Phillip English entered a plea of guilty.

He anticipated a sentence later in the day.

Under the new law introduced in NSW in 2022, the display of swastika is punishable by up to 12 months in jail and/or a fine up to $11,000.

He and his wife own up-market Nomad restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Reine & La Rue.

The incident prompted a backlash against the restaurant group and earlier this month he issued a public statement apologising, saying he was not an anti-Semite.

'I apologise unequivocally for my actions at the demonstration on Sunday where I carried a sign that is deeply offensive to the Jewish community,' Mr Yazbek said in a statement.

His 'furious' wife and business partner Rebecca released a statement on Wednesday announcing Mr Yazbek was 'no longer involved in the management of the business.'


Antisemitism in NYC schools fueled by foreign actors, activist educators: report
Activists and foreign actors have infiltrated the city’s public schools with anti-Israel materials, fostering bias and hatred of Jews, according to a new report by a nonprofit think tank.

Teacher groups like NYC Educators for Palestine have collaborated with extremist organizations, some allegedly tied to hostile foreign governments and terrorist groups, to bring “radical, anti-American ideologies” into schools, said the Network Contagion Research Institute, or NCRI, and the advocacy group New York City Public School Alliance, which co-wrote the report.

“The report exposes how the Department of Education’s vetted resources enable radical sympathizers to shape young minds with biased information,” said Tova Plaut, a DOE pre-K coordinator and co-founder with teacher Karen Feldman of NYCPS Alliance, a group of Jewish educators who contributed to the project.

Set for release this week, the report cites DOE documents, school events and staff social media posts as evidence of its findings.

It calls on the DOE to immediately conduct a curriculum review; enforce the chancellor’s anti-discrimination policies; adopt a definition of antisemitism and mandate training on it; and increase oversight of foreign funding.

“If these ideas are left unchecked, they will be internalized by a new generation of students, who will then graduate, attend university, vote, enter the workforce, and raise families of their own, further embedding antisemitic beliefs into wider American society,” the NCRI and NYC Public Schools Alliance said.

The DOE’s recommended resources for teachers include the Zinn Education Project, which provide lessons, workshops and articles highly critical of Israel and the US.

The DOE staff resource list links to the Zinn website, which features a section on “Teaching About Palestine-Israel and the Unfolding Genocide in Gaza” that claims, “Israel has turned Gaza into a ‘graveyard for children.”

Beacon High School in Midtown used Zinn lessons and articles, along with videos from Arab news network Al Jazeera, for a 10th-grade social studies class on the Israel-Palestine conflict, emails reviewed by The Post show.

The content “demonized Jews” while referring to Hamas as “a political party and militant group,” not as terrorists, parents said.

Other resources available for NYC teachers to use at “their discretion” include those from the Teach Palestine project, which gives materials that emphasize “Palestinian victimhood” and frame Zionism as a “colonialist” movement.
UKLFI: Authors and other book workers make false allegations and commit to illegal boycott
An open letter, signed by authors and other book workers, makes false allegations against Israel and commits its signatories to engage in a discriminatory and illegal boycott of Israeli cultural institutions.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has written to the Publishers Association, the Independent Publishers Guild, the Society of Authors and leading UK publishers, pointing out false allegations in the letter and the legal and reputational risks of participating in, assisting or supporting the discriminatory boycott.

The false allegations include:
- Describing the Palestinians’ plight as “the most profound moral, political and cultural crisis of the 21st century”. This ignores genocide in Sudan, ethnocide in Xinjiang, cannibalism in Congo, extermination in Ethiopia, mass murder in Nigeria and ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, amongst other terrible crimes around the world.
- Claiming that “Israeli has made Gaza unlivable”, ignoring the fact that over 2 million people are actually living there.
- Asserting that Israel has killed, at the very least, 43,362 Palestinians in Gaza since October”. That figure comes from a Hamas-controlled ministry in Gaza, whose data has been shown to be fabricated and manipulated, and includes Palestinians killed by Palestinian fire, explosives and rockets, as well as over 17,000 Palestinian terrorists killed according to Israeli estimates.
- Alleging that “this is the biggest war on children this century”, without noting the death tolls in other conflicts, evidence of exaggeration by Hamas and that “children” include teenage terrorists up to 18 recruited by Hamas and other terrorist organisations
- Claiming that this is a genocide, even though the President of the International Court of Justice explained a BBC interview that the Court did not find a plausible case of genocide.


Big Brother pulls episode amid anti-Semitism row after housemate wears T-shirt 'portraying genocidal views'
Big Brother pulled an episode amid an anti-Semitism row after a housemate wore a T-shirt allegedly portraying genocidal views, before re-uploading it.

Contestant Ali Bromley, a forensic psychologist, wore the controversial T-shirt depicting a map of Israel as a watermelon.

The symbol, widely associated with anti-Israel sentiment, went on to spark claims that ITV was allowing 'genocidal' views to be shared among the masses.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism complained to Ofcom, saying: 'How is this becoming the norm?'

It added: 'This graphic has caused significant distress among the British Jewish community, who regard it as a genocidal message similar to the slogan 'From the River to the Sea', which calls for the elimination of the world's only Jewish state.

'How did the show's staff allow this shirt to be worn, let alone broadcast it on national television?

'This incident represents a serious violation of broadcasting standards.'

Bromley was spotted wearing the T-shirt in the garden of the Big Brother house, leaving fans of the show in shock as they branded the act 'vile' and 'despicable'.

The episode was pulled off ITVX on Tuesday night, before being re-uploaded to the streaming service on Wednesday.


In 24 hours, Philadelphia synagogue targeted by antisemitic arson, burglary and vandalism>
Congregation Mikveh Israel, a historic synagogue in Philadelphia, was targeted by burglary, antisemitic vandalism, and arson attempts over the course of a few days.

According to Philadelphia Police, on October 20, 2024, at approximately 10:59 p.m., a man wrote profanities with a marker on a statue of the Mikveh Israel Congregation Synagogue at 44 North 4th Street.

Just over a day later, on October 22, at approximately 2:00 am, a separate suspect lit a dumpster on fire next to the same synagogue, damaging a window.

This was considered to be an act of arson, a fire marshal told NBC News.

Later that morning, at 6:30 am, two suspects attempted to break into the synagogue. Despite damaging a fence and a door, the men failed to gain entry.

Founded in 1740, the Spanish-Portuguese synagogue is one of the oldest in the US.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish himself, condemned the “repeated attacks” on social media. He stated that everyone has “a right to worship without fear” and that antisemitism has no place in the US.

“Mikveh Israel is older than our country. I have visited there many times and am always in awe of its beauty and history. The congregation was founded in Pennsylvania, based on William Penn’s vision of religious tolerance, equality, and understanding.”

Shapiro extended thoughts to the congregation and Rabbi Yosef Zarnighian.


‘Struck soul of our nation’: Biden, Harris mark six-years since Tree of Life shooting
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, released statements on Sunday marking the six-year anniversary since 11 Jewish worshippers were killed at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha synagogue in Pittsburgh.

“Six years ago, as congregants prayed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on a quiet Shabbat morning, a gunman armed with an AR-15, multiple handguns and hate in his heart opened fire and killed 11 Jewish worshippers and wounded six more, in the deadliest act of antisemitism in our history,” Biden stated. “It shattered families, pierced the heart of the Jewish community and struck the soul of our nation.”

In his nearly 550-word statement, in which he capitalized “antisemitism” and “antisemitic” throughout, Biden stated that the Jewish community in Pittsburgh has “shown the country how to courageously turn pain into purpose.”

“They have launched a global initiative to counter hate and hate-fueled violence,” he stated. “This summer, at the site of the synagogue, the nation’s first museum and education center on the history of antisemitism in America broke ground. It is a symbol of the enduring spirit of Jewish resilience despite centuries of suffering, persecution and pain.”

The president also noted that the anniversary of the shooting falls this year close, on the Jewish calendar, to the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack in southern Israel.

“One year later, the trauma and losses from that day and its aftermath are not only raw, but exacerbated by the appalling surge of antisemitism against Jews in America and around the world,” Biden said.




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