Saturday, November 23, 2024

11/23 Links: Would the ICC have accused Churchill of war crimes?; Bibi effigy burnt in Montreal 'pro-Hamas' riots; UAE Chabad Rabbi missing feared kidnapped

From Ian:

WSJ Editorial: The ICC’s Assault on Israel—and the U.S.
This is about more than Israel, whose military may have achieved the lowest ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths in the history of urban warfare. The effect of the ICC warrants is to disarm any Western democracy that is responding to atrocities from terrorists and rogue states. This precedent will be used against the U.S., which, like Israel, never joined the ICC.

The ICC indicts Mr. Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for allegedly using starvation as a method of warfare and several other crimes against humanity. The politicization begins with the list of the accused. It includes only two of the three members of Israel’s then-war cabinet, leaving out Benny Gantz, who was the hope of those who want to oust Mr. Netanyahu.

The charge of deliberate starvation is absurd. Israel has facilitated the transfer of more than 57,000 aid trucks and 1.1 million tons of aid, even though Hamas’s rampant theft means Israel is provisioning its battlefield enemy, something the law can’t require.

This is why President Biden said on Oct. 18, 2023, that if Hamas steals the aid, “it will end.” The President broke that promise, and Israel has exceeded its aid obligations.

The international Famine Review Committee found on June 30 that famine isn’t occurring in Gaza—Hamas attributes 41 deaths in the entire war to malnutrition—but that elevated risk of famine will persist as long as the war goes on. Especially when the world backs Egypt’s decision not to allow refugees out of Gaza, trapping civilians in the war zone.

Using Palestinian civilians as political weapons is the essence of Hamas’s strategy, which the ICC now vindicates. Hamas cheered the ICC warrants on Thursday in a statement that “international justice is with us and against the Zionist entity.”

Third, the consequences: Messrs. Biden and Schumer will no longer be able to protect the ICC, which conveniently waited to grant arrest warrants until after the U.S. election and before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

But Rep. Mike Waltz, the President-elect’s pick for national-security adviser, says action is coming. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton plan to press Mr. Schumer to hold a vote on the House bill in the lame duck Congress. If Mr. Schumer refuses, a vote is certain in the next Congress. Mr. Graham is also planning to introduce a bill that goes further and sanctions groups and nations that aid and abet those like the ICC that harm the security of the U.S.

President Trump sanctioned some ICC officials in 2020 for lawlessly investigating U.S. troops, and the court backed down. Mr. Biden revoked the sanctions in 2021. Cutting off the ICC and, say, its top 100 officials from the U.S. banking system via sanctions—with all that means for European bank accounts as well—could cripple the court.

The court’s self-immolation is one more consequence of a Biden foreign policy that has too often put the authority of international institutions above the U.S. national interest. It’s also a reason he soon won’t be President.
Telegraph Editorial: Would the ICC have accused Churchill of war crimes?
Since Hamas launched its murderous terrorist assault against Israel from Gaza on October 7 last year, the Israel Defence Forces have been engaged in a major military offensive, justified as self-defence under international law, to destroy Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure.

Civilians, as inevitably occurs in any war zone, have been killed or injured in the bitter fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists, who regularly use Palestinian civilians as human shields, itself a clear violation of the rules of conflict. In such circumstances, and with hostilities ongoing, making a proper assessment of the civilian casualty figures is difficult, if not impossible. The only figures available are those provided by Hamas-controlled health bodies, which appear to make no distinction between the number of dead Hamas terrorists – estimated to be around 20,000 – and civilians.

Yet, despite not having access to reliable facts, the ICC has nevertheless felt compelled to issue warrants for the arrest of Israel’s prime minister and former defence chief, the first time such action has been taken against the leaders of a democratic country.

The ICC decision raises worrying questions for other democratic countries – including the UK – that could find themselves engaged in conflict. It compromises the ability of democracies to prevail over their enemies if their military operations cause civilian casualties. Would Britain and its allies have emerged victorious from the Second World War had Winston Churchill and other wartime leaders been distracted by the prospect of facing war crime accusations?

The ICC action is also problematic for the British Government which, as a member of the ICC, is now obliged to detain the accused Israelis if they arrive on British soil, despite the fact that Israel is still supposed to be our close ally in the fight against Islamist terrorism.

Sir Keir Starmer’s immediate response was seemingly to back the ICC’s decision, a gesture he may come to regret if either Mr Netanyahu or Mr Gallant visit these shores at a future date. The Government’s confusion on this issue was reflected in the inability of Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, to provide a coherent answer when challenged. Labour would be well-advised to determine how they do intend to deal with the challenge presented by the ICC’s erroneous act.
ARRESTING TIMES IN THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
In the ICC, people in black robes sit to pass judgement on the democratically elected leader of a sovereign civilised country founded to protect its citizens. and world-wide Jewry, against another holocaust, a victim as it is, of attempted genocide by a terrorist organisation whose stated aim is the extermination of Jews.

‘Love of country’ might have been the explanation for the corruption of the judicial system in Hitler’s Germany. But underlying it was the willingness to accept rhetoric that Germany’s depressive economy was due to ‘the other’, Jews, other racial and ethnic minorities, undesirables, homosexuals.

We live in more sophisticated times where justification is softened by less colourful language but the prejudice against Jews and their nation state remains. The truth is, whatever Israel would have done to defend itself, it would have been wrong in the eyes of much of the world. However much humanitarian aid reached Gaza, it would never have been enough. However many civilians died, it would have been too many.

My faith in the international rule of law has been severely shaken.

In Numbers 23:9, the wicked prophet Balaam stares at the Jews, freshly freed from slavery in Egypt, and says: I see them from the tops of the mountains. I gaze on them from the heights. Behold, they are a nation that shall dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. [Num. 23:9] .

The Midrash (a mode of biblical interpretation prominent in the Talmudic literature) says that this phrase means: When Israel rejoices, no other nation rejoices with them... And when the [other] nations prosper, Israel will prosper with them… [Tanchuma Balak 12, Num. Rabbah 20:19] .

Jews have always stood alone. Successfully so for more than 3000 years. They, and their nation state to which they have returned will continue to do so. This madness will pass and those who persecute the victim will, in time ask themselves

“What about those of us who knew better? We who knew the words were lies, and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part?”


Mossad investigating missing Chabad emissary in Dubai, may have been under Iranian surveillance
An investigation has been launched into the disappearance of an Israeli-Moldovan dual citizen who lives in the United Arab Emirates and has been missing since Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Saturday.

It said the Mossad and authorities in the Gulf country had opened the investigation based on information that the man’s disappearance was related to “a terrorist incident,” without providing further details.

“Zvi Kogan, an Israeli-Moldovan citizen and Chabad emissary residing in the United Arab Emirates, has been missing since Thursday afternoon,” the PMO wrote. “Israeli intelligence and security agencies are working tirelessly out of concern for Zvi Kogan’s safety and well-being.”

PMO says Israeli intelligence security agencies working to locate Kogan
The National Security Council has previously issued a Level 3 travel warning (moderate threat) for the UAE, advising against non-essential travel to the destination and recommending heightened precautions for those staying there, the office said.

Kogan's vehicle was discovered in a city about an hour and a half from Dubai, Ynet reported.

Authorities suspect that he was abducted by three Uzbek nationals who subsequently fled to Turkey, Ynet noted.

The UAE’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, according to Israeli state broadcaster KAN, the UAE has opened an investigation into Kogan's disappearance.

Chabad UAE also declined to comment.

Kogan served in the IDF, managed a supermarket in Dubai, and is married to an American woman.

Information in Israel’s possession indicates that Kogan may have been under Iranian surveillance, reports said.
Troubling Details Emerge About Disappearance of Chabad Rabbi, Inaction of UAE Authorities
i24NEWS learned chilling details about the disappearance of Chabad emissary Zvi Kogan, who went missing last week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Kogan did not show up for scheduled meetings he had during the day. After he failed to make contact, his wife contacted the security officer of the Chabad house, who alerted the local authorities. Information about the incident was also shared with the Israeli authorities.

Kogan disappeared from a location about an hour and a half from Dubai. i24NEWS can report that complaints were made to both the Dubai Police and the Abu Dhabi Police on Thursday, yet no actions were taken by either.

i24NEWS also became privy to the information that although Kogan’s car got a speeding ticket on its way to Oman, in this case too the authorities in the Emirates and Oman did nothing.

i24NEWS can also confirm that there is tremendous anger in Israel at the Emiratis, who did not respond to the suspicious signs and did not act in time. In fact, actions were only taken after the intervention of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

The story has troubling echoes of the abduction by Iranians of German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd; he was kidnapped from Dubai to Iran via Oman and was eventually executed.


ICC has sealed fate of hostages, legal expert tells the 'Post'
The ICC’s arrest warrants issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday have significant security implications for the Western world and for the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, Anne Herzberg, a human rights expert and the legal adviser to NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post.

“The ICC has gotten itself enmeshed in our conflict, which is a seven-front war,” Herzberg said.It doesn’t just affect Israel’s battlefronts, she explained, but other global conflicts as well, such as the Russia-Ukraine war.

“It significantly impacts the global fight against terror,” she said.

Herzberg explained that the ICC decision has “sealed the fate of the hostages. Hamas now has zero incentive to do any type of deal.”

She continued, “There has never been a conflict where a party that was subject to an invasion, missile threats from seven fronts, which has twice faced the largest ballistic missile attacks in history, where 1200 of its citizens were massacred, hundreds of hostages taken, and yet has taken the most extensive measures ever seen to allow for humanitarian aid to enter into enemy territory.

“Gallant and Netanyahu have allowed for airdrops, aid trucks, commercial aid, a humanitarian pier, a humanitarian corridor. They have gone above and beyond what the law requires, and yet they were prosecuted for that specifically.”

The warrant says that both were responsible for the mass starvation of Gazans.

“And yet, there is no mention of Hamas’s role in denying the aid, UNRWA’s role in preventing aid, the UN agency’s total incompetence in providing aid,” Herzberg added.
Andrew Fox: The case against Israel is built on lies
The International Criminal Court continues to beclown itself with a farcical case against Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu. It is now plain that any western country aspiring to retain a war fighting capability must withdraw from the Treaty of Rome and the ICC’s jurisdiction. The international rules-based order is dead. It has been subverted and weaponised against us, both in the UN and the ICC.

Anyone with half a brain realises that a country practising deliberate starvation does not facilitate the delivery of over a million tonnes of aid. Likewise, all but the antisemitic, disingenuous and stupidly gullible understand that civilians die in war without that sad fact meaning that they are being targeted. The astonishingly low civilian death toll in Gaza (somewhere between 16-20k civilians have died, remarkable for the amount of munitions dropped) stands as a tragic but notable testimony to the effectiveness of Israeli targeting.

In July this year, I was privileged to be the rapporteur for the High Level Military Group, a collection of distinguished retired senior-ranked officers from a multiplicity of Western militaries. Our extended report is soon to be released, but with the cynical, antisemitic and destructive ICC arrest warrants, our amicus curiae brief to the ICC bears repeating. The full text follows. It is beyond question that the case against Netanyahu and Gallant is built on lies.

I. INTRODUCTION

1. The High Level Military Group (HLMG) is an independent body of former chiefs of staff, senior military officers and cabinet ministers from NATO countries with many decades of expertise at the highest level of land, air and sea conflict and the legality thereof[1]. The HLMG conducted an in-country assessment of the Gaza conflict in July 2024, visiting IDF military HQs from the top level; humanitarian aid installations and operations; units down to battalion level of command; and a visit inside Gaza.

2. Should the Court approve the requested arrest warrants, it is our professional military opinion that this would set standards that are unbearable and unrealistic with regards to military operations and the facilitation of humanitarian activities during active hostilities, and standards which would be unacceptable for other democracies and their armed forces (including our own) that engage in urban warfare.

II. ALLEGATIONS OF STARVATION

3. The complexities of coordinating movement of humanitarian aid in a highly dangerous, complex, urban battlespace cannot be overstated. We visited crossing points built by the IDF since the war began on 7 October specifically to facilitate increased volumes of aid entering the Gaza Strip. We visited two crossing points on the border between Israel and Gaza that were attacked by Hamas on 7 October and since. One of them – the Erez Crossing – was completely destroyed by Hamas on 7 October and since then two vehicle crossing points in Erez were established by the IDF. We observed roads inside the Gaza Strip that were built by the IDF specifically to enable delivery of aid laterally and south to north. That includes a new route constructed by the IDF to allow aid that has already entered Gaza to be transported from the south to the north on Israeli territory. We are aware of the IDF’s considerable efforts to enable air dropped aid by other countries as well as the US improvised harbour (JLOTS) for aid delivery. The IDF operates according to a clear chain of command. The directives and commands we reviewed did not include any order to starve civilians, or to use issues related to humanitarian assistance as a method of warfare, and in fact, included clear statements regarding the IDF’s legal obligations towards the civilian population.

4. When the HLMG questioned IDF commanders there were also clear statements that the IDF had no policy - not from the start of the war and not today - to stymie the facilitation of aid into Gaza or interfere with aid distribution inside Gaza. IDF procedures and capabilities, witnessed by us and used by the IDF to communicate with international humanitarian organisations and assist with their work, suggests this is correct.
UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff explains the issues concerning the ICC arrest warrants to Matt Frei on LBC
Natasha Hausdorff, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, explains the issues concerning the International Criminal Court's warrants for the arrest of Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, as well the almost certainly dead former Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif, to Matt Frei on LBC on 23 November 2024. Video.


Hamas founder's son: Arrest warrant for Netanyahu is 'absurd' | Cuomo
The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them all of crimes against humanity in connection with the 13-month war in Gaza. Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas founder, joins "CUOMO" to discuss.


Half of French People Adhere to Over 6 Antisemitic Prejudices, 12% Happy to See Jews Leave Country: Survey
Hostility toward the Jewish people has surged to alarming levels in France, where half the population adhere to more than six antisemitic prejudices and nearly one in five young people want to see the departure of Jews from the country, according to a new survey.

Ipsos, a market research and consulting firm, conducted the survey of the French public for the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), the main representative body of French Jews, to examine the country’s attitudes toward the Jewish community amid a surge in antisemitic hate crimes over the past year.

The findings, unveiled by CRIF on Thursday and first reported by the French news magazine Le Point, revealed a surge in antisemitic attitudes across France.

Among France’s general population, 12 percent of people are happy to see Jews leave the country, up from just 6 percent in 2020, according to the survey.

“It’s a terrifying figure,” CRIF president Yonathan Arfi told the radio station Europe 1 when asked about the finding.

The number goes up among people under the age of 35, of whom a striking 17 percent think that the departure of Jews from France would be good for the country.

“It is contrary to the historical trend,” Arfi told Le Point. “Young people are more receptive to antisemitic, Islamist, and conspiracy theories, which are invading social networks.”

As for people aged 18 to 24, only 53 percent think that the majority of Jews are well integrated into the population, compared to 84 percent of French people more broadly, the survey found.

Overall, nearly half (46 percent) of French people today adhere to more than six anti-Jewish prejudices, compared to 37 percent in 2020, according to the results. Meanwhile, almost a quarter of those surveyed think that Jews are not really French like the rest of their countrymen, an uptick of more than six points.

The numbers increase among backers of France’s main far-left and far-right political parties. Indeed, the survey found that 52 percent of those who support the far-right Rassemblement National (RN — “National Rally”) and 55 percent of those who support the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI — “France Unbowed”) adhere to at least six antisemitic stereotypes. And a third of LFI supporters indicated they adhere to at least nine such prejudices.
The Netherlands are lost: Dutch seek to blame Israeli victims of Amsterdam pogrom
As I write these words, a demonstration of hate is taking place in one of Amsterdam’s main streets, an unlawful protest by Muslims that signals, all too clearly, that the Netherlands, like other nations, has lost control of its own state to a fanatical Muslim mob. Just days after the antisemitic at carried out by Muslim rioters, it’s apparent that nothing has been learned. The Dutch authorities – including Amsterdam’s mayor and police, who banned the protest – did nothing to stop it.

On the same day that Muslims lay in wait outside hotels to target Jews, one’s thoughts traveled to an even darker period in Dutch history when, on a nearby street about 80 years ago, the Nazis captured Anne Frank and her family, leading to their eventual murder.

A Dutch friend recently sent me an image of the Star of David, writing, “Our thoughts and hearts are with you. This is no longer our Holland.” This message reminded me of the embrace and love Israel received worldwide after the Six-Day War, in which we triumphed over Arab states that sought our destruction. The times have indeed changed, yet the hatred remains the same. Antisemitism is reemerging globally and in the Netherlands, where Muslims and antisemitic Dutch citizens have joined forces, rallying with calls for Israel’s annihilation. Witnessing Dutch citizens shouting “Free Palestine” without grasping the implications of their words, while police stand by and allow blatant law-breaking, is deeply troubling.

A history lesson
We grew up on the legend of the Dutch as “Righteous Among the Nations,” heroes who helped save Jews during World War II. However, the truth is starkly different. Many Dutch citizens betrayed Jews to the Nazis, exposing their hiding places.

Nevertheless, on my first visit to the Netherlands many years ago, I met one of the war’s most condecorated heroes, Maurice Kiek. He hosted my wife and me in the beautiful town of Wassenaar near Rotterdam, and over dinner, we heard about the Dutch who fought alongside Jews against the Nazi scourge.

The Netherlands was different then. Amsterdam was, and perhaps still is, a cosmopolitan city that allowed for diverse beliefs and lifestyles. But with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants, crime and violence have surged. Some of them brought with them a culture that has begun to overshadow Dutch traditions.
Amsterdamned: The shame of Femke Halsema
In the arsenal of the antisemite, denial is a key weapon. Six million Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust? Didn’t happen. The Soviet Union persecuted its Jewish population in the name of anti-Zionism? Zionist propaganda. Rape and mutilation were rampant during the massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023? What a smear upon the noble resistance of Hamas. And so on.

No surprise, then, that the left-wing mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, is now publicly regretting her use of the word “pogrom” in her summation of the shocking antisemitic violence unleashed by Arab and Muslim gangs in the Dutch city in the wake of the soccer match between local giants Ajax and visitors Maccabi Tel Aviv two weeks ago.

One day after the violence, Halsema noted that “boys on scooters crisscrossed the city in search of Israeli football fans, it was a hit and run. I understand very well that this brings back the memory of pogroms.” She could have also mentioned (but didn’t) that the Dutch authorities ignored warnings from Israel that the violence was being stoked in advance in private threads on social-media platforms, resulting in a massive policing failure; that Ajax supporters were not involved in the attacks, undermining claims that what happened was merely another episode in the long history of inter-fan violence at soccer matches; and that the “boys” engaged in the assaults were overwhelmingly youths of Moroccan or other Middle Eastern or North African backgrounds, who gleefully told their victims that their actions were motivated by the desire to “free Palestine.” But at least Halsema grasped the nature of the violence. Or so we thought.

A few days later, she rolled back her initial comments. “I must say that in the following days, I saw how the word ‘pogrom’ became very political and actually became propaganda,” she stated in an interview with Dutch media. “The Israeli government, talking about a Palestinian pogrom in the streets of Amsterdam. In The Hague, the word pogrom is mainly used to discriminate against Moroccan Amsterdammers, Muslims. I didn’t mean it that way. And I didn’t want it that way.”


Report: IDF targets Hezbollah chief in Beirut
A massive explosion in a building in Beirut on Saturday killed 11 people and wounded dozens in what Arab media said was a failed Israeli attempt to kill Hezbollah’s head of operations, Muhammad Haydar.

Israel did not immediately claim responsibility specifically for the explosion early on Saturday in the eight-story building in the Lebanese capital’s Basta neighborhood. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said only that Israel struck an unspecified target in Beirut, the fourth strike in the city in a week.

Basta is situated in the city’s center. The bulk of Israel’s strikes in Beirut have been in the Dahiyeh neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in the city’s south.

Lebanese media reported that at least 63 people were wounded in the strike.

Avihai Edraei, the head of the Arabic-language department of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, posted a tweet on X on Saturday calling on residents of Dahiyeh to evacuate their homes. They are living near Hezbollah installations, he said, against which “the IDF will act in the near future.”

The targets of Saturday’s strikes “were located by Hezbollah in the heart of the civilian population. Prior to the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians,” the IDF wrote in a statement. A headquarters, a weapons depot, “and additional Hezbollah terror infrastructures” were attacked, the statement said.

According to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, Israel has killed 2,450 terrorists in Lebanon and Syria. Lebanese health authorities said that 3,365 people have died in strikes by Israel. Those data do not distinguish between terrorists and civilians. On the Israeli side, terrorists have killed 121 people, with 76 of them being soldiers.
Hezbollah leader who planned attack on US soldiers killed in recent Israeli airstrike
Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq was reportedly killed in a recent airstrike attributed to Israel in Syria, a senior US defense official told NBC.

The defense official told NBC it was unclear when the strike took place, its precise location, and whether it sought to specifically target and eliminate Daqduq.

Daqduq was central in terrorist operations against the IDF in southern Lebanon from 2003-2006 before moving to Iraq and helping to build up terrorist operations against US forces in the region. Daqduq's attack on US soldiers

In 2007, he was arrested by US forces in Iraq on charges of orchestrating an attack on US troops in Karbala in which five soldiers were killed, although he was later transferred to Iraqi custody and released in 2012. After his release, he trained Hezbollah's special forces until he was given command of the Golan File in 2018.

Shortly after being released, Daqduq was among Hezbollah terrorists again, the senior official told NBC.

NBC reported that US officials believed that the terrorists were directly supported by Iran's Qud Forces within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including coordination, training, and intelligence to plan and carry out the attack.

Syrian media had previously speculated that Daqduq was the target of the airstrike and was eliminated, but the IDF has yet to confirm his elimination.


IDF uncovers trove of Hezbollah UAVs, missiles and weapons after IAF strikes in Lebanon
The IDF discovered a number of advanced Hezbollah weapons, including a Kormet anti-tank missile and a UAV, in southern Lebanon following a strike by the IAF, the military announced on Friday afternoon.

Operating in the recently struck area, the military reported it located and dismantled a Hezbollah terrorist command center, which included combat compounds, anti-tank positions, and weapons storage facilities.

The concealed weapons storage facilities contained a Kormet anti-tank missile, grenades, firearms and various items of combat equipment.

Other finds during the operation
The Kormet missile has a range of approximately 8 kilometers and was located on the body of a terrorist eliminated by an IAF strike, the IDF confirmed. A UAV was also discovered near where the missile was discovered.

In another compound, several underground tunnel shafts and weapons storage facilities were located. All weapons found were neutralized.


IDF destroys some 300 booby-trapped structures in Jabalya
Some 300 booby-trapped structures have been detected and demolished by IDF engineering troops in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said on Friday.

The military added that terrorists had positioned explosives in the structures to form an ambush for the troops.

The identification and destruction of the structures were part of a larger operation of the troops in the area to dismantle explosive devices.

In parallel to such operations, the IDF said that troops of the 162nd Division killed numerous terrorists and demolished terror infrastructure via tank fire and using precise strikes. Troops also located many Hamas weapons.

Soldiers also killed terrorists through close-quarters combat and with the aid of aircraft. On the body of one of the terrorists who was killed, troops found a bag with an explosive device and cameras.

Detecting additional terror infrastructure
Further, during operations in the area, troops arrested many terrorists whose interrogations by Unit 504 yielded much information, which aided in detecting terror infrastructure in the area, the military noted.
IDF kills Hamas terrorists who took part in Oct. 7 massacre near Mefalsim
An Israel Air Force aircraft killed terrorists who partook in the massacre near Israel's Gaza border community of Mefalsim on October 7, the military and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Friday.

Among the five terrorists killed were Jihad Mahmoud Yehia Kahlout, a Nukhba company commander and Muhammad Riyad Ali Okel, a Hamas company commander who led the murder and kidnapping in the area on October 7.

The IDF noted that the two had been at the forefront of Hamas's terrorist activities against IDF troops in northern Gaza.

Additional terrorists killed
Anas Jalal Muhammad Abu Shakian, head of a battalion that infiltrated into the Mefalsim area on October 7, Nor Al-Din Abu Al-Jadyan, a Nukhba terrorist and Sahib Hassan Ali Maser A-Daeem, an additional terrorist in the battalion were named as those eliminated in the strike.

The military added that the five had been killed in a strike on terror infrastructure in Beit Lahiya on Wednesday overnight, guided by intelligence information.

The IDF added that prior to the strike it took several steps to avoid harm being done to civilians, including conducting aerial surveillance and issuing evacuation warnings.

"It should be emphasized that in the past, false and exaggerated reports have been circulated on Palestinian networks, which did not align with the information held by the IDF. The IDF emphasizes the need to be cautious of information published by unreliable sources," the IDF statement read.
Hamas says Israeli female hostage killed in northern Gaza, IDF reviewing incident
Hamas's armed wing spokesman, Abu Obeida, claimed on Saturday that a female Israeli hostage had been killed in an area of northern Gaza that the IDF had struck.

In the same message, he claimed, "The danger still threatens the life of another female (prisoner) who was with her," implying that another female Israeli hostage was wounded. Her status remains unclear.

The IDF later stated that it is "currently reviewing the information" and cannot "confirm or refute its authenticity."

"IDF representatives are in contact with her family and are updating them with any information available to us," the statement continued. The IDF stressed that Hamas uses "psychological terror" and acts "with cruelty."

"Please refrain from spreading rumors or publications that could harm the families of the hostages," the IDF concluded.


Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival Memorial Comes to Detroit
A compelling memorial to Israel’s tragic Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival comes to Detroit Nov. 17-24.

Thousands of music and arts fans gathered to celebrate life and music in Re’im Israel at the Nova Music Festival. At sunrise on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, 6:29 a.m., the peaceful music festival was brutally and abruptly disrupted as thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and murdered 1,200 innocent civilians and abducted more than 250 people.

The dream of the Nova Festival did not die at the Oct. 7 massacre. The Moment Music Stood Still: The Nova Music Festival Exhibition, created and directed by Reut Feingold and organized by the Nova Music Festival’s producers, pays homage to the festival attendees, including the 410 murdered by Hamas, the 22 hostages who remain in captivity and the 3,750 survivors. The Exhibition has previously been on display in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

The Jewish Federation of Detroit and The J-Detroit will present The Moment Music Stood Still: The Nova Music Festival Exhibition, a deeply moving memorial dedicated to the Oct. 7 victims of the Nova Music Festival. The exhibition, on display from Nov. 17-24 at The J in West Bloomfield, invites visitors to reflect on the tragedy and resilience of the human spirit in the face of unspeakable violence.

Visitors will travel on a timeline of the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, telling the story of the events on that dreadful day, a carefully crafted mosaic of information, evidence and emotion.

This compelling exhibit brings together a collection of remnants and personal artifacts recovered from the festival grounds, each telling the stories and memories of those who were there.

Video testimonies, written first-person accounts and salvaged mementos offer an intimate view into the experiences of festival-goers, creating a bridge between the vibrant moments before the tragedy and the strength found in its aftermath.

Centered around the unifying call from survivors, “We will dance again,” The Moment Music Stood Still serves as both a testament to the spirit of life and a symbol of hope for a future of unity and healing.


Police told me destruction of Jewish memorial isn’t hate crime, campaigner claims
An anti-Semitism campaigner claims police told her they wouldn’t be able to prove that a man who admitted to destroying an Oct 7 memorial committed a hate crime.

Video footage that circulated on social media just days before the anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks showed a man attacking the Jewish memorial in Hove, East Sussex.

However, Heidi Bachram, who reported the incident, claimed that officers told her they would not be treating it as a targeted attack on Jewish people or a hate crime, despite a man handing himself in to police over the video.

They said the man would be given a conditional caution for criminal damage and the case would not be passed on to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as a potential hate crime, she added.

Sussex Police insisted on Friday that the case was “still ongoing” and a final decision had not been made.

But Ms Bachram claimed officers who visited her home on Thursday said they couldn’t “prove” the incident was a hate crime – a decision that would ultimately sit with the CPS if it was passed on.

The 52-year-old said officers updated her on the case after a man had been interviewed on a voluntary basis having handed himself in.

She told The Telegraph: “They said that he claimed his friend had just died and that the memorial had triggered him because the flowers triggered his grief over the friend that had died.”

Ms Bachram, a Brighton resident, added that officers had also told her the man involved was suffering from poor mental health at the time.

She said: “They played it like it was not targeted, it wasn’t about the memorial, it wasn’t about Jews, it wasn’t about Israel – even though in the video you can hear him arguing with a guy that intervened and he says ‘do you know what they’re doing’ and he says ‘murdering’ later on.

“They told me they couldn’t prove it was a hate crime and that they want to give him a conditional caution for criminal damage instead.

“They don’t want to pass it to the CPS. They’re calling it criminal damage, but there is no hate element to it.”


Idan Raichel creates song renewal in honor of hostage Sagi Dekel Chen
Idan Raichel released a renewal of his well-known song Yored Ha'Erev last Thursday in honor of Israeli hostage Sagi Dekel Chen, who considered the original rendition to be his favorite song.

The song is sung in collaboration with the graduates of the youth music village Bikurim, which was partially founded by hostage Chen. It is also part of the Tamari Project, a musical group that was founded after October 7.

Chen, aged 36, was kidnapped to Gaza from Kibbutz Nir Oz while protecting his family during the Hamas attacks.

While in captivity, his wife Avital gave birth to their third daughter, who had not yet met Chen. He has been held captive for over 400 days.

The video opens with clips of Chen's daughters and Avital.

Avital describes how much she misses her husband, explaining that they have been together since she was 14 years old. Chen's favorite song, by Raichel, includes the lyrics, "I get lost every evening; this is nothing like when I imagined us growing older."
Georgia’s only Jewish state legislator slams Ossoff, Warnock for votes against Israel aid
Democratic Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of the Georgia Statehouse, said Thursday she was “disheartened that both of our U.S. Senators voted in favor” of resolutions to block U.S. aid to Israel.

Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) both voted for resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to block transfers of tank rounds and mortar shells to Israel; Warnock voted in favor of a third resolution to block bomb guidance kits, which Ossoff opposed.

The votes could impact both senators’ future political prospects — Georgia is among the most purple states in the nation, with a significant Jewish population in the Atlanta area. Ossoff, who won by approximately 50,000 votes in 2020, is up for reelection in 2026. Both senators have also been floated as potential Democratic presidential contenders.

“Last night’s votes contradict Senator Ossoff’s claims of [an] ‘ironclad’ commitment to and steadfast support of Israel, aimed at penalizing Israel and thereby weakening a democratically elected government at a critical time,” Panitch said in a statement to Jewish Insider.

She also criticized Ossoff for speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday about a decision by former President Ronald Reagan, decades ago, to halt some arms transfers to Israel, “instead of standing with our current president, Joe Biden, who understands the history and the most recent intelligence coming from the region.”

Panitch said that the senators’ votes will do nothing to impact Israeli leaders but will be deeply hurtful to Georgia voters.

“In the end, the failed vote will not be felt by the Israeli forces or government, but acute feelings of abandonment by our senators are already being felt by pro-Israel and freedom-loving constituents, both Jewish and not Jewish, in Georgia,” Panitch said.

Asked by JI how she thinks his votes will impact Ossoff and other Democrats’ support among Jewish voters in the 2026 election, Panitch responded, “I won’t commit a vote for an election two years from now and without knowing who else is running, but [Ossoff] should be glad the election isn’t tomorrow.”


House Democratic support for bill on terror-supporting nonprofits plummets
Many House Democrats withdrew their support for a bipartisan bill that would make it easier for the federal government to strip nonprofits providing material or financial support to designated terrorist groups, with just 15 House Democrats voting for the legislation on Thursday.

The declining support among Democrats followed warnings from outside liberal groups, as well as a growing number of liberal and nonpartisan Jewish organizations, that the bill could provide sweeping powers to the incoming Trump administration.

An initial version of the bill saw nearly unanimous support in the House — just 10 Democrats and one Republican voted against it. When a new version of the bill came up for a vote last week, just 52 Democrats supported it with 144 opposed. The bill passed by a 219-184 vote on Thursday.

The legislation has been the subject of a lobbying campaign from the ACLU and progressive groups, some of which have branded the legislation as a “nonprofit killer” and claimed it would allow the incoming Trump administration to arbitrarily shut down nonprofits it dislikes. A growing list of Jewish groups — including the Reform and Conservative movements — also joined the opposition, while AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League supported the bill.

On Thursday, the Democrats who supported the bill included Reps. Colin Allred (D-TX), Yadira Caraveo (D-CO), Ed Case (D-HI), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Susie Lee (D-NV), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), JImmy Panetta (D-CA), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Norma Torres (D-CA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

All are pro-Israel moderate Democrats.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the only Republican who opposed the bill, for the third time.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Slammed by Progressives After Voting for Resolution Condemning ‘Global Antisemitism’
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has received an onslaught of criticism from anti-Israel progressives over her decision to vote in favor of a resolution “condemning the rise of global antisemitism.”

On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez supported House Resolution 1449, which affirms the State Department-endorsed “global guidelines for countering antisemitism.” The resolution passed the House by a 388-21 margin.

Ocasio-Cortez, who commonly goes by the nickname “AOC,” voted opposite three fellow members of the so-called “Squad” — a cohort of progressive Democrats with left-wing positions on issues ranging from foreign policy to economics. Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — all stalwart anti-Israel voices in Congress — voted against the resolution, along with a handful of Republicans.

In the face of progressive backlash, Ocasio-Cortez took to Bluesky, a social media website, to explain her decision to vote in favor of the resolution. She implored her followers to “read the text of this bill” and emphasized that it is not “an IHRA bill.” The left-wing congresswoman clarified that she would “NEVER vote for codifying IHRA.”

She added that a “subclause references a separate [State Department] guideline which noncomittally references IHRA” and that it is “nonbinding.” The congresswoman minimized the bill as a right-wing attempt “to get the left infighting.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an intergovernmental organization comprising dozens of countries including the US and Israel, adopted a non-legally binding “working definition” of antisemitism in 2016. Since then, the definition has been widely accepted by Jewish groups and well over 1,000 global entities, from countries to companies. The US State Department, the European Union, and the United Nations all use it.

According to the definition, antisemitism “is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Rashida Tlaib’s latest excuse for not tackling anti-Semitism is both sinister and dangerous
The post-October 7 era has been dominated by the notion that America is awash in an epidemic of Islamophobia. Muslim-American politicians such as Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib – along with the lobby group CAIR – contend that Muslims are fundamentally imperilled across the United States.

Rep Omar blamed “Islamophobia” for the firestorm that erupted following a speech she made in her native Somali earlier this year, a speech that left some of her Republican rivals questioning her loyalty to the United States. Meanwhile, CAIR – the Council on American-Islamic Relations – has released report after report detailing “staggering” levels of “anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian” hate. It noted a 69 per cent increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate incidents from January to June 2024.

This is a despicable rise. What is unacceptable – and dangerous – is the attempt by the parts of the Left to use it as an excuse not to directly confront anti-Semitic hate.

This week, Omar and Tlaib were among a trio of Democratic legislators who voted against a resolution supporting US State Department global guidelines on combating anti-Semitism. (Fellow “Squad”-member Cori Bush was the third). While Omar bafflingly insisted that the guidelines do “nothing to combat anti-Semitism”, Tlaib went one step further, explaining that she withheld her support because the guidelines do “not recognise that the fight against anti-Semitism is connected to our fight against Islamophobia, racism, white nationalism, and all other forms of hate”.

The idea that Tlaib – crowned by StopAntisemitism as “anti-Semite of the year” in 2023 and a woman who once posted on X “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence” – is concerned about ending Jew-hatred is laughable. But her argument has gained traction. Since the first spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes in the weeks following Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel, progressives – both activists and politicians, including the Biden-Harris administration itself – have sought to link efforts to combat anti-Semitism with efforts to end Islamophobia. Inevitably, they end up downplaying the sheer scale of the increase in the former.

Even as late as May of this year – more than six months into the massive college protests that shut down campuses roiled by pro-Palestinian encampments, protests that were notable for shocking attacks on Jews – Biden still felt the need to declare “there is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or discrimination against Arab-Americans or Palestinian-Americans” during his first-ever comments condemning the university chaos.


BEASTMODE: Tom Cotton Schools Code Pink Activist for Wearing 'Terrorist' Durag
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) eviscerated an aggrieved Code Pink activist who confronted him to complain about his lack of support for Hamas and another anti-Semitic terrorists groups. Cotton noticed that the sad old white lady was wearing a (pink) keffiyeh, which was "a well-known symbol for terrorists" popularized by former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The activist whined in response, describing the terrorist durag as a "cultural symbol...a symbol of pride."

As Cotton waited for his train at the Capitol complex, the disturbed woman continued to implore him to recognize the dignity of Hamas terrorists and the deranged liberals who dress up like Hamas terrorists in the name of "solidarity." The senator declined, and ended the keffiyeh debate once and for all: "It's a terrorist symbol and you should be ashamed of wearing it."




Cars set ablaze, Bibi effigy burnt, windows smashed in Montreal 'pro-Hamas' riots
A pro-Palestinian demonstration in Montreal descended into riots on Friday night which saw three individuals arrested, according to international media reports.

The protest turned violent, and demonstrators were recorded clashing with police, smashing windows, and setting fire to cars, according to the Montreal Gazette.

While the protest remained calm for the first two hours of the demonstration, when demonstrators reached St-Urbain Street At 6:10 p.m., the climate of the protest reportedly changed. An effigy of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly burnt.

After the burning of Netanyahu’s effigy, demonstrators began launching small explosive devices and metal items at police, the Gazette reported. By 6:40 p.m., two vehicles were set ablaze, and store windows on St-Urbain Street and René-Lévesque Blvd were smashed.

Three individuals were arrested for assaulting officers and obstruction of police work, according to the Daily Mail.

The protests were dispersed by 7:00 p.m. by police using chemical irritants.

Criticizing Trudeau
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has since been criticized for his absence by Quebec Senator Leo Housakos. Trudeau was attending a Taylor Swift concert at the time.

“Tonight, while Justin Trudeau is partying it up in Toronto, I was meeting with several members of the Jewish community of Montreal,” Housakos wrote on X/Twitter. “Meanwhile, this is our hometown tonight. The pro-Hamas crowd emboldened by Mr. Trudeau’s pledge to arrest the Israeli PM. Hope you had fun at the concert, though, Justin.”

Friday night’s protest followed a student strike in Quebec - which saw some student demonstrators perform Nazi salutes, storm university lectures, and chant for a “final solution.”


Eight activists appear in court over break-in at Israeli defence firm’s UK site
Eight pro-Palestine protesters have appeared in court after being charged over allegedly breaking into an Israel-based defence firm’s site in South Gloucestershire.

Elbit Systems UK’s site near Patchway, Bristol, was allegedly attacked by members of Palestine Action in the early hours of August 6, the Old Bailey heard previously.

Sean Middlebrough, 32, Aleksandra Herbich, 40, Tutea Hoxa, 28, Julija Brigadirova, 32, Huba Muraisi, 30, Qesser Zuhrah, 19, Zahra Farooque, 24, and Kamran Ahmed, 27, are all accused of aggravated burglary and criminal damage.

Hoxa, from Beckenham, south-east London, and Brigadirova, of Manchester, only face those two counts.

While Middlebrough, of Liverpool, Herbich, of Kensal Rise, north-west London, Zuhrah, of Woolwich, south-east London, Muraisi, of Bloomsbury, central London, Farooque, of Fulham, south-west London, and Ahmed, of East Ham, east London, have also been charged with violent disorder.

The group appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday where they were ordered to appear at the Old Bailey on December 6.

District Judge Snow refused the defendants bail and remanded them in custody.

At least 30 friends and family appeared in the public gallery, waiving at the defendants and pumping their fists in the air as they appeared.

After the judge’s decision to refuse them bail, a number of supporters burst into tears. Outside, a small group was staging a protest and waving Palestinian flags near the entrance to the court.

A previous court hearing was told a vehicle was driven into the building’s doors during the protest, and two responding police officers and a security guard were injured.

Ten others have appeared in court and are due to stand trial next year charged over the same incident.

Samuel Corner, 22, of Devon, is charged with criminal damage, violent disorder, and aggravated burglary using a sledgehammer as an offensive weapon.

He is also charged with wounding police sergeant Kate Evans “with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detention of another”.


StopAntisemitism report finds 43% of students wouldn’t recommend their school to fellow Jews
StopAntisemitism saw a 1,500% increase last year in tips about Jew-hatred it received for its 2023 “report card” on campus antisemitism. This year, the nonprofit has experienced what it describes as a “jaw-dropping” 3,000% increase in tips and submissions about Jew-hatred.

“These higher education institutions have utterly failed to protect Jewish students, allowing harassment, exclusion and violent antisemitism to thrive unchecked,” stated Liora Rez, the nonprofit’s founder and executive director.

“Despite reports of discrimination, death threats and open hostility, the administration has taken little to no meaningful action, abandoning Jewish students in their time of need. This negligence not only endangers Jewish students but also sets a dangerous precedent for intolerance on campus,” Rez stated. “Parents, do not fund this complicity with your tuition dollars. Choose institutions that prioritize the safety and inclusion of all students—Jewish students deserve better.”

The 2024 College Report, which runs 24 pages, suggests that more than half (55%) of Jewish students have been victims of antisemitism, and 43% of those Jewish students didn’t feel sufficiently safe to report the Jew-hatred. Among those who reported the incidents, a “staggering” 87% think that their schools didn’t investigate the matter sufficiently.

The nonprofit also found that 72% of college students feel unwelcome as Jews in “certain spaces” on campus, that 43% hide their Jewish identities “out of fear” and that nearly seven in 10 reported being excluded “completely” from campus diversity initiatives (67%), being blamed for Israel’s actions (69%) and feeling that their schools didn’t respond appropriately to protect Jews after Oct. 7 (67%).

“Perhaps most heartbreaking, 43% would not recommend their school to fellow Jewish students,” the report found.

The only four schools that earned “A” grades in the report—among 25 institutions—were Baylor University (Texas), Clemson University (South Carolina), Elon University (North Carolina) and the University of Mississippi.

The grades look at the schools’ “commitment—or failure—to protect Jewish students, offering parents a vital guide to ensure their hard-earned money isn’t spent at institutions that won’t safeguard their children’s safety and dignity,” StopAntisemitism told JNS.

Eight schools got “F” grades: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University (New York), Brown University (Rhode Island), The New School (New York), University of California (Davis), the University of Oregon, Emerson University (Massachusetts) and the University of Washington.
Zionist org preps list of foreign pro-Hamas students, hoping Trump will deport them
A Zionist organization is compiling names of foreign students on visas in the US who spewed anti-Israel bile at campus protests — and is hoping President-elect Trump will give the haters a one-way ticket back home.

So far, the group, Betar, has about 30 names of students from nations such as Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Canada, and the United Kingdom currently enrolled in some of the nation’s top universities, including Columbia, UPenn, Michigan, Syracuse, UCLA, The New School for Social Research, Carnegie Mellon, and George Washington University.

“We have started commencing lists of Jew-hating foreign nationals on visas who support Hamas,” said Ross Glick, director of the US chapter of Betar.

Betar has IDed the haters using a combination of facial recognition software and “relationship database technology” to weed out people who were busted at antisemitic campus protests over the last year.

“One of our issues is processing power, there is just so much video to work through,” Glick said.

Betar is already in contact with “prospective” Trump administration appointees in the Justice Department about how best to take action on those identified, Glick said.

Among those on the list is Momodou Taal, a British national and PhD candidate in Africana studies at Cornell University, who was suspended twice for participating in a pair of on-campus Palestinian protests, most recently in September.

University officials initially told Taal that the latest incident would lead to his F-1 visa being revoked, Newsweek reported.

The Ivy later backed down.

Weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack in Israel, Trump vowed to deport foreign students who chanted in support of radical Islamic terrorism.

He reiterated that promise to donors in May.

“When I am president we will not allow our colleges to be taken over by violent radicals. If you come from another country and try to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or anti-Semitism to our campuses we will immediately deport you. You’ll be out of that school,” Trump said at a rally that same month.
Trump’s AG nominee has called for FBI to question pro-Hamas campus protesters
Pam Bondi, whom US President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to be his attorney general, said last year that campus protesters who express support for Hamas should face FBI questioning.

Trump named Bondi, who served as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, on Thursday. The nomination came after his first pick, the scandal-plagued former Florida representative Matt Gaetz, withdrew following meetings with Republican senators, who apparently made clear that allegations of sexual predation and drug use, which he has denied, would bury him.

Bondi’s confirmation process is expected to face fewer hurdles.

On Friday, Jewish Insider uncovered an interview Bondi gave Newsmax, the conservative news outlet, last year about the spike in anti-Israel protests on American campuses following Hamas’s October 7 attack, which sparked Israel’s multi-front war.

“The thing that really was troubling to me, these students in universities in our country — whether they’re here as Americans or if they’re here on student visas — and they’re out there saying, ‘I support Hamas,’” she said in the October 23, 2023, interview. “Frankly, they need to be taken out of our country, or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away when they’re saying, ‘I support Hamas. I am Hamas.’ That’s not saying I support all these poor Palestinians who are trapped in Gaza.”

A number of protests in the weeks after the attacks included people who praised the attacks, although most of the protesters focused on condemning Israel’s counterattacks and on the suffering of Gaza Palestinians. Over the past year-plus, some hardline pro-Palestinian activists have continued to evince support for Hamas.
Trump AG Pick Pam Bondi Slams 'Ignorant' Hamas Sympathizers
Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, blonde bombshell Pam Bondi, had some harsh words for the "ignorant kids and students" who protested in support of Hamas, the genocidal terrorist organization.


House committees to investigate UC-affiliated research institution for handling of antisemitism
Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced on Friday that the House Education and Workforce and the House Energy and Commerce Committees are jointly investigating the J. David Gladstone Institutes for its handling of allegedly antisemitic incidents, Jewish Insider has learned.

McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Foxx, who chairs the Education Committee, announced the news in a letter on Friday to Gladstone president Deepak Srivastava, where they requested answers about the institute’s handling of allegations of antisemitism and anti-Israel behavior. The institute is a nonprofit medical research group affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco, whose board of regents is set to meet on Friday.

“The reports of antisemitic harassment at Gladstone coupled with the inadequate response by leadership is concerning to the Committees. Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe environment for all trainees, faculty, and staff is a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of Gladstone,” Foxx and McMorris Rodgers wrote in a letter also signed by several subcommittee chairs. “Failing to comply with basic safety protections for members of Gladstone or failure to respond appropriately to and prevent harassment and discrimination, no matter the cause, may be grounds to withhold federal funds from the university.”

According to the letter, the institute received more than $41 million in National Institutes of Health funding in 2023.

The letter points to an anti-Israel email — provided to the committees — that celebrated Oct. 7 and was sent to staff in the days after the attack, as well as Gladstone leadership’s alleged refusal to engage with Jewish faculty about their concerns about antisemitism in the workplace.

It also says that the Center for Combatting Antisemitism sent Gladstone executives a letter in May “requesting administrative action to address the hostile environment and disparate treatment of Jewish members at Gladstone.”

“The Center followed up with Gladstone several times, but never received a response,” the letter reads.

“Jewish faculty and trainees have conveyed to leadership within Gladstone instances of antisemitic harassment and discrimination, which faculty and trainees believe were not taken seriously, making some feel uneasy about speaking out,” the lawmakers wrote.
Anti-Israel protesters disrupt Columbia Hillel event with journalist Barak Ravid
Anti-Israel protesters staged a walk-out during a Thursday evening event at the Robert Kraft Center for Jewish Life at Columbia University that featured Axios reporter Barak Ravid.

Dozens of other students gathered outside the center, located on 115th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, to protest the event.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group of student organizations that seeks to end the school’s financial and academic ties to Israel, organized the twin protests. In an Instagram post, the group noted that the center is named for the Jewish billionaire and philanthropist Robert Kraft.

Elisha Baker, a junior at Columbia and co-chair of Aryeh, a pro-Israel student group at the university, told JNS that it was a shame that student protestors opted to disrupt the event rather than engage with Ravid, one of the most prominent reporters covering the Biden administration.

“Our club is trying to bring interesting speakers about Israel and the Middle East from a wide range of perspectives,” Baker told JNS. “Barak Ravid is an Israeli-American reporter with an interesting lens into the relationship between the American government and Israel.”

“Some people in attendance agreed with a lot of what he said, and some disagreed with him in terms of his political beliefs, but that’s a good thing,” Baker said. “That is the kind of high-level event that our club is trying to put on for people.”

“It’s such a shame that college students at Columbia are immature and unable to confront ideas that they may disagree with,” he added.

“It is a shame that instead of attending the event, listening to what I had to say, asking questions and having a dialogue the students chose to walk outside in the rain and chant false and stupid accusations against me,” Ravid wrote on social media.

Assaf Zeevi, professor of business at Columbia Business School, interviewed Ravid during the event. Zeevi told JNS that the protesters were minimally disruptive when they staged the walk-out, but their actions highlight a troubling refusal to engage in dialogue.


Antisemitic excuse for Russian pogroms removed from UK
An antisemitic reference excusing Russian pogroms was removed from an Oxford University Press (OUP) A-level history textbook, the Jewish Chronicle reported on Wednesday.

The 2015 history textbook on Tsarist and Communist Russia included a section on the Jewish pogroms of 1881-84.

According to the JC, the textbook explained “money-lending and personal riches” as a reason behind the violence against Jews and blamed antisemitism on “the teachings of the Orthodox Church.”

A parent, Jo Sandelson, noticed the phrasing when helping her son with his schoolwork.

“He had been revising, and I was going through helping him before his exams, and he pointed me towards these paragraphs in the textbook. He thought they were clearly antisemitic, and I agreed with him."

“We both said that we must do something about it,” Sandelson explained. Not long after this discovery, the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD) became involved, and a formal complaint was sent to OUP last July.

In response to the complaint, OUP revised the textbook in collaboration with University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education.

The updated version reads, “There had been pogroms and persecution of Jewish communities across Europe for many centuries, culminating in Russia in the nineteenth-century pogroms. This was partly fuelled by the ‘blood libel’ (fabricated accusations that Jewish people abducted and murdered Christian children as part of a ritual), and partly by the wrongful blaming of Jews for, among other things, the death of Jesus Christ and the Black Death in the 1300s.”


Why one of Australia’s best-known Aboriginal activists is taking a stand on Israel
Nova Peris is used to being stopped and recognized across Australia. An Olympic gold medalist, a former member of Australia’s Parliament, and one of the country’s highest-profile Aboriginal Australians, she’s packed a lot into her 53 years. Yet, in recent months, Peris, who runs the Nova Peris Foundation dedicated to empowering Australia’s First Nations People, has found her time increasingly dedicated to supporting Israel.

While Peris has long been a prominent advocate for Aboriginal Australians, the recent conflict in Israel has added a new dimension to her activism. On October 14, 2023 — exactly one week after Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped 251 to the Gaza Strip — Australia held a referendum to change the country’s constitution.

The referendum proposed establishing an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which would advise on policies affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Despite widespread public debate, the referendum was resoundingly defeated, with 60% of Australians voting against it. Peris, as one of the highest-profile faces of the advocacy campaign, was devastated.

“I cried for weeks after the referendum, and until today I am still trying to process how 60% of the country could turn their back on Aboriginal people,” Peris told The Times of Israel.

As she processed the loss of the historic referendum, Peris turned her attention toward the Jewish state.

“I saw some of the imagery that Hamas had recorded [on October 7] and I thought it was unbelievably shocking, beyond evil. So jarring,” she said.

“I began to think: How do I sit back comfortably in Australia, where so many people voted in a referendum to silence Aboriginal people and have not seen our struggle which is so real, but where the people who have supported us so strongly are Jewish Australians,” she said, listing prominent Jewish lawyers who have won seminal cases on behalf of Aboriginal land rights such as Jeffrey Sher and Ron Castan.

“I thought, all these people that have been there for us, supporting us with litigation, and now Jewish people are being kicked to the curb. I said, let me get my head around what’s happened to our Jewish friends,” said Peris.

Peris was horrified by the infamous protest, just two days after October 7, outside the Sydney Opera House, where a mob chanted “Fuck the Jews” and burned an Israeli flag.




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