Sunday, December 01, 2024

12/01 Links: Douglas Murray says 'many in Europe want to throw Israel to the crocodiles'; On Mary and the Mob; The Oxford show trial

From Ian:

Douglas Murray says 'many in Europe want to throw Israel to the crocodiles'
Since October 7, Israelis have come to appreciate and love Douglas Murray. The British author, editor, and journalist, whose name was previously known mainly to conservative thinkers among the people of Zion, has become a frequent visitor to our region over the past year. When not here, Murray "bombards" the global media: responding to false claims, shattering blood libels, defending our righteousness, and exposing the nakedness of those who seek to portray Israel – which is fighting for its existence – as the source of troubles and problems.

This year, Murray has also gotten to know us and fallen in love, especially with IDF soldiers. Despite his British reserve, evident in all his conduct, he cannot hide his sympathy and admiration for the uniformed members of the Israel Defense Forces. "It's the soldiers," he responds when asked which Israeli inspires him the most. "I am repeatedly amazed to see them, 18 and 19-year-olds, defending their people with courage and sacrifice in exceptional circumstances. I'll share one example: a friend of mine, with whom I entered Lebanon during the past month, is a sniper who lost an arm in battle inside Gaza. Despite the injury, he insisted on returning to service and fighting. I admire people like him."

Murray has entered Lebanon with IDF forces several times and seen up close Hezbollah's preparations to attack northern Israeli communities. He's clear that what happened in the communities near Gaza could have befallen the Galilee, only with far more horrifying intensity. "Hezbollah's tunnels so close to the border were the most terrifying thing I've seen," Murray recalls. "I stood at one of Hezbollah's compounds, looked toward the Israeli cities and villages, which I know well, and thought how fortunate it was that Israel managed to prevent such an attack. We'll see what happens following the ceasefire taking effect, but it's clear that the terrible danger of a massacre in the north was prevented." Israeli military vehicles at a gathering site next to the border with Lebanon as seen from an undisclosed location in northern Israel, 30 September 2024 (Photo: EPA)

Although he prefers not to enter Israeli political disputes, Murray has a clear insight into another danger – the danger of division and extremism. "Sometimes an outsider sees certain things in Israeli society and thinks that only those with a death wish could do such things," he diagnoses sadly. "I wonder how those Israelis who threatened refusal during the judicial reform discussions feel now. These are the kinds of things that truly break society. When in August 2023, IDF commanders had to declare that despite the refusal, units would maintain operational readiness, this was music to the ears of Israel's enemies. Without criticizing any particular segment of Israeli society, we must reiterate the importance of preserving what's shared in society, certainly when facing a common enemy."

"But after October 7, this society proved its ability to live together, unite against a common enemy, and overcome. That's encouraging. Politics, of course, always brings back the divisions. But I hope Israeli society will remember the lessons of the past year. Sometimes, people tend to go crazy over things that aren't really that important, certainly compared to bigger issues. Emotions run high, discourse intensity increases, and people make threats they don't necessarily mean. This isn't unique to Israel – look at what happened recently in America. Media outlets and even Democratic candidates called Donald Trump 'Hitler,' a 'fascist and tyrant,' saying 'his victory would end democracy.' And now these same people are knocking on his door begging for interviews, which says several things about them. One is that they never meant what they said. I expect them to reflect and learn to restrain themselves. Something similar happens in all democratic countries, including Israeli society."

Unlike the US, in Israel, the left's hatred toward Netanyahu and the right hasn't diminished with their rise to power and has taken the form of attempting to prevent them from implementing right-wing policies.

"That's indeed the big issue here, and within it, there's a phenomenon of external intervention to prevent policy implementation, not just in war management, in all areas. It's crazy and reaches absurdity. It was quite amusing, to put it mildly, to see American administration officials during the judicial reform discussions criticizing Israel for the idea of moving to political appointment of judges. When the American administration criticizes another democratic country's internal policy, that's strange in itself, but to criticize it for aspiring to adopt the American model? In America, there's nothing more political than Supreme Court appointments. Much of the external criticism of Israel isn't just unfounded in facts; it's simply hypocritical. And regarding what's happening inside Israel, there's no doubt that regulating powers between government branches is a major challenge."

Murray has written plays, biographies, and non-political books, but gained fame through his ideas and no less through his brilliant ability to clothe them in sharp, precise formulations – both written and spoken. His published books have become international bestsellers, and the subsequent series of public lectures have drawn audiences of thousands.

In 2017, Murray published "The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam," which remained on the Sunday Times bestseller list for 20 weeks, even reaching the top spot. Since then, the book has been translated into dozens of languages. Murray argued in the book that Europe is committing suicide by allowing culturally hostile foreign immigration into its territory and losing its "faith in its religion." In days when Europe's ruling elite, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pursued an open-door policy flooding Western Europe's wealthy nations with millions of Muslims from the Middle East, Murray's statements were seen as subversive. Instead of engaging with them, the left – true to form – rushed to label him an Islamophobe, dismissing him outright as an extremist and presenting his concerns about the West's fate in the face of Europe's quiet conquest by Muslims as paranoia.

Seven years later, even Murray's critics would find it hard to deny the new European reality, which proves daily that Merkel and her ilk were wrong, and he was right all along. If, in 2017, critics still dared to mock the "apocalyptic picture" of future Europe in Murray's book, this picture is no longer confined to the book's pages. It has taken over Amsterdam's alleys, established itself in Paris's squares, and doesn't skip the streets of Berlin, Brussels, or London. The apocalypse has arrived, and anyone who still doesn't notice its presence is invited to walk through European cities' Muslim neighborhoods wearing a visible Star of David or cross.
On Mary and the Mob
As ridiculous as the attempt by pop Marcionists to strip the Virgin Mary of her Jewishness is, it is dangerous to downplay it. The revival of this ancient Christian heresy is happening in Western societies undergoing a vile renaissance in antisemitic rhetoric and violence. On elite college campuses as well as in the streets of cities like London and Montreal, pro-Palestinian Jew-haters openly celebrate Hamas and Hezbollah.

Modern history shows us where weaponized Marcionism can lead. In 1939, the Nazis founded The Institute for the Study and Elimination of Jewish Influence on German Church Life, for the purpose of “defense against all the covert Jewry and Jewish being” that had polluted the West. The Institute dedicated itself to “understanding Christian German being” in light of this refined knowledge.

Founded with the participation of eleven German Protestant churches, the Institute refashioned Jesus as an Aryan persecuted by Jews. Galilee, where Jesus grew up, was in this view a region inhabited by Aryans—Assyrians, Persians, Indians—who were forced to convert to Judaism. Jesus, then, who in reality died as a Jew, was really an Aryan martyr. When anti-Mary activists shout “Jesus was Palestinian!” you’d better believe there is precedent.

“The Institute shifted Christian attention from the humanity of God to the divinity of man: Hitler as an individual Christ, the German Volk as a collective Christ, and Christ as Judaism’s deadly opponent,” writes Susannah Heschel in her 2010 book The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany.

It has been said that heresy emerges when people take a portion of the truth and turn it into the truth’s entirety. For believers in the Gospel accounts, there is no gainsaying that Jesus of Nazareth died in part because his claim to be the messiah outraged Jewish religious authorities, who demanded his death as a blasphemer. As much as Christians today may despise how our ancestors in the faith used charges of deicide to justify persecuting Jews over the generations, it is intellectually unjustifiable to rewrite Scripture, in effect, to compensate for sins of the past.

That said, it is also the case that Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, could have saved the life of a man he judged to be guilty of no crime, but instead chose political expediency in killing him.

What’s more, in contemporary Christian understanding, the responsibility for deicide lies not simply with the Jewish religious authorities and the Roman political authorities, but with every single human being. This is why, in the Holy Week liturgies of the Roman Catholic Church, the entire congregation recites the words of the mob in Jerusalem: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:21). It continues to this day, in the hearts and minds of every believer. As an Orthodox priest once told me in confession, every time we sin, we in some sense crucify Jesus again.


On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice
As world history played out, the myths and legends of one small seemingly-insignificant little kingdom on the Eastern Mediterranean became the universal story of much of humanity (and this universalisation and appropriation of the Jewish story is now being recapitulated through the universal technology of the Internet). The nation that authored those legends, and whose early history was recounted in them, assumed a theological significance in the narratives of the two great religions that appropriated them. On a very deep level, Jewish sovereignty in the ancient Jewish homeland disrupts (or at least challenges) the master narratives of both Christianity and Islam.

Supposedly, Martin Luther once joked that if the Jews ever regained sovereignty over the Land of Israel, he would convert to Judaism. Leaving aside the implausible notion that a German once told a joke (that’s a joke by the way), the anecdote is revealing. For Luther, as for so many of the early Church Fathers, the exile of the Jews from their ancient homeland confirmed the validity of the Christian story — the Jews rejected their Messiah and suffered the divinely-ordained consequences: exile and persecution.

For Islam, the geopolitical expansion of the Muslim empire in its early centuries confirmed of the truth (and superiority) of Mohammad’s revelation. As the Quran states: ‘Do [the non-Muslims] not see that We gradually reduce their land from its borders. God decides — none can reverse his decision.’ (13:41).

Thankfully, most Christians no longer reject Zionism on theological grounds. And there are even divergent interpretations of Islam that are compatible with Jewish sovereignty in Israel (see e.g. Mansour Abbas), though these remain marginal. But Jewish sovereignty over Israel touches a very deep cultural, historical, and theological nerve, in a way that Armenian or Laotian self-determination does not.

One of Kirsch’s most interesting arguments is his claim that SCI bears uncanny resemblances to Calvinism (ironically the religion of the Puritans, i.e. the original settler colonialists). Colonisation, in this schema, becomes an original sin which is passed down through the generations, and which we can never overcome through our own efforts. Only by confessing our sin and acknowledging our fallenness can we begin to receive salvation:

We in the West are steeped in sin — the original sin of settler colonisation — in which we are all complicit, and which is the sole source of all injustice in our society. Alas, America cannot be decolonised; for the wages of sin is death. But wait! All is not lost! There is one (Jewish) nation that can bear the sin of the world, and by its gruesome, bloody death bring redemption to us all. As a well-known Second Temple rabbi might have put it, this is (very) old wine poured into a new wineskin.

Ideas Matter
If the long and tortured history of the Jewish people has proven one principle, it is this: Ideas matter. They have consequences. An entire generation of Germans was raised on an ideology of race and nationalism that led them to conclude that the mass murder of Jews was a moral imperative. A century later, a generation of young Americans is being fed an ideology of race and ‘colonialism’ that is leading them down the same moral abyss. Last autumn witnessed the sorry spectacle of many Western students and intellectuals celebrating mass murder, torture and rape. And a poll conducted last December found that a majority of college-age Americans believe that the political grievances of Palestinians are sufficient to justify a genocide of Israeli Jews.

Adam Kirsch has penned a learned and eloquent evisceration of this toxic ideology. But can the voice of reasoned, rational discourse be heard above the shouting of crowds, the explosions of bombs, and the crying of innocents — and through the polarising echo chambers of social media? That remains to be seen.
Towards Peace Realism: 13 Principles
Those of us in the peace realism camp must remember Rabin’s idealism and also the complexity of his analysis: while peace must always be our goal, we must also acknowledge some painful truths: that peace might not always be possible; that military strength is often a pre-requisite for achieving peace; and that the goal of peace can only be achieved by acknowledging the difficult conditions around us and working to impact them so that peace becomes possible.

Here I will attempt to outline 13 universal principles of peace realism that can guide those who seek to build relevant, realistic and popular movements for peace. (Note that while the principles below are universal – their interpretation and implementation will of necessity be context-dependent). 13 Core Principles of Peace Realism

1 Peace as the ultimate goal
Peace is our highest ideal and our end goal. It is the only sustainable long-term solution between nations in conflict.

2 Realistic means
The goal of peace will only be achieved through realistic means, not through the means that sound best in theory or feel the nicest. We must pursue a utopian goal through realistic means. The choice of what means are best suited to shifting reality begins with a sharp-eyed assessment of the problems we are confronting. This means not white-washing or oversimplifying problems on the one hand (as idealists tend to do), while also not giving into the deterministic view that said problems are so deeply entrenched that they can never be resolved (as cynics do).

3 Force is sometimes necessary
In reality, strength and the use of force are sometimes (but not always) crucial tools in enabling peace, when the force is geared towards defense rather than destruction or domination. The weakening of extremist elements (e.g. Hamas, ISIS, Nazi Germany), and proving that extreme outcomes (e.g. Israel’s elimination as a country) are essentially impossible, are key steps in creating the conditions for peace. Egypt vowed in both 1948 and 1967 to wipe Israel off the map – yet its defeat in those wars, and the 1973 war ending with the IDF closing in on Cairo, proved to the Egyptians that they would never succeed in eliminating Israel. After successive defeats, and realizing how much his country could gain by pivoting towards Washington (in foreign aid, military support, etc.), Sadat recognized Israel in 1979, making Egypt the first Arab nation to have peace with the Jewish state.

4 Force must have clear aims and clear red lines
The use of force, if it is to foster the conditions for peace in the long run, must be conducted with clear, morally justifiable aims (for example, “Spain should no longer rule over Venezuela” or “There should not be slavery in the United States”). And the force must be conducted within clear moral red lines: neither peace nor security will not be achieved through sexual violence or the intentional killing of civilians. These principles hold for both state actors and for insurgent groups/independence movements.

5 Strategic thinking over feel-good thinking
Conflicts are emotionally all-consuming, and peace activists rightfully have a strong love of life and hatred for war. But these predilections shouldn’t come at the expense of long-term thinking. The 2008-9 Israel-Gaza war was seen as a catastrophe by peace activists, including all on the Palestinian side and many on the Israeli side. Some 1,110-1,400 Palestinians died alongside 13 Israelis in 3 weeks of fighting. What almost none in the peace camp were willing to ask then was: what is the price of leaving Hamas in power vs. the price of removing it? (Hamas was much weaker then, having only taken over Gaza in 2007). We now know the price of leaving Hamas in power: another decade and a half in which peace was impossible, wars were commonplace, Gazans lived under severe repression and Israeli children grew up under rocket fire – all of which culminated in 1,200 butchered in a single day on the Israeli side, and 40,000 dead in Gaza. Hamas’ removal in early 2009 would have involved terrible costs – yet those costs were a small fraction of what we have paid by leaving them in power. Peace strategists must ask: which option most limits suffering and makes peace most viable in the long run?
Trump’s pro-Israel team sparks debate on Middle East diplomacy
RYNHOLD ADDS that if Israel is offered a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia – which includes the principle of a two-state solution (even if far across the horizon) and nearer-term commitments on the control of Gaza and the position of the Palestinian Authority – Netanyahu may have a difficult decision to make, choosing between his commitments to Smotrich and their combined right-wing base and the potential diplomatic wrath of a president known for taking things personally.

In a recent interview in Makor Rishon, former Knesset speaker and current chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee, MK Yuli Edelstein expressed a similar concern.

“I spoke about sovereignty long before it was popular.” But he reflected that “there will be two problems: opposition from the Left, but also opposition from our own side.” And why would there be opposition from the right?

“When we extend sovereignty to Ma’aleh Adumim and Gush Etzion as a first step, there will be those who rise up to shout, ‘You have sold the Land of Israel. You have made concessions!’ There is no such reality, wherein a Trump administration or indeed any other constellation that we will receive everything in one go.”

Edelstein knows what he’s talking about. When Trump offered Israel the possibility of annexation under the “Peace to Prosperity” plan in January 2020, it was rejected by the settler movement leadership for exactly those reasons. It was not an immediate and full annexation and opened the real, if distant, possibility of some form of Palestinian sovereignty.

Shalom Lipner is a shrewd commentator with experience working with seven Israeli prime ministers. In Foreign Affairs he describes how the political challenges for Netanyahu are in direct tension with his diplomatic opportunities.

He predicts that “Netanyahu will have to read the tea leaves correctly. He needs to seize the moment and wind down Israel’s wars before they begin to cause more harm than good and – no less fatefully – create a rift with Trump.

If Netanyahu can stand up to his coalition partners, he might still be able to end the conflicts and leave Trump the clean desk he asked for. But time is short.”

This may demand uncharacteristically bold decision-making from Netanyahu.

It has always been my personal view that a one-sided annexation of Judea and Samaria would be a strategic disaster for Israel, taking it down the road of becoming a post-democratic country. This for me would be a betrayal of my Jewish and Zionist values.

A broad Middle Eastern coalition, building on the Abraham Accords, could offer an alternate route, a possibility that Hamas wanted to prevent at the cost of the destruction of much of Gaza following their heinous attack on October 7.

Ironically, Trump’s and perhaps Netanyahu’s desire to secure their places in history books, as well as Netanyahu’s understanding of the positive geopolitical change a deal with Saudi Arabia would bring, might be just the circumstance that ends the fantasy of significant parts of the religious Right.

We may witness major developments in the Middle East under the Trump regime, and we should all hope, no matter our political views, that they lead to a secure future for Israel as a Jewish and democratic country.
Trump names Boulos, his mechuten, as senior Arab, Middle East adviser
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump stated on Sunday morning that his mechuten Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-born billionaire whose son Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, will be his senior adviser on Arab and Middle East affairs.

“Massad is an accomplished lawyer and a highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He has been a longtime proponent of Republican and conservative values, an asset to my campaign and was instrumental in building tremendous new coalitions with the Arab American community.”

The president-elect added that his daughter’s father-in-law “is a dealmaker, and an unwavering supporter of peace in the Middle East,” who “will be a strong advocate for the United States and its interests.”

Boulos “was a critical figure for Trump in the swing state of Michigan, campaigning for the president-elect among Arab American voters,” the Hill reported. “Trump ended up winning the state again.”

“President Trump’s doctrine is peace through strength,” the billionaire told Sky News last month. “His main aim and target is to achieve peace in the Middle East. Lasting peace.”

“Yes it’s very tough. From a humanitarian view, it’s very, very sad. And even President Trump is very saddened, and he has expressed that,” Boulos said. “He doesn’t like to see any civilian death, and the civilian death we’ve seen on both sides—whether it’s the Israeli or the Palestinian side, and definitely now in Lebanon—is extremely sad on all sides.”

“He doesn’t want to see more civilian death,” he added. “He wants these wars to be over.”

Earlier this year, Boulos described the favored presidential candidate for Lebanon of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group as a “friend” in remarks to the Associated Press.

He was reportedly also involved with Christian Lebanese parties allied with Hezbollah’s “political” wing.

Boulos subsequently told Newsweek that he is “not affiliated with any party in Lebanon” but remains “acquainted with most Lebanese Christian leaders,” one of whom is a Hezbollah-backed presidential candidate.

In September, Boulos met Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, a P.A. official told local media last month.
Schumer’s shame is Republicans’ gain
New York’s senior senator, Charles E. Schumer, was not on the ballot on Nov. 5, but he is still a big loser — even more than usual.

It’s a long-standing joke in Washington that the most dangerous place to be is between Mr. Schumer and a microphone. Yet he’s been uncharacteristically silent on the tsunami of antisemitism that is sweeping America and his home state. Indeed, to his shame, Mr. Schumer has been working against his Jewish constituents. When he’s up for reelection in 2028, they should work against him.

If you saw Mr. Schumer’s Father’s Day post where he pretends to grill cheeseburgers, you know everything you need to know about this fraud. Not only does he not know that you don’t put cheese on raw burgers, but he also doesn’t seem to understand that cheeseburgers aren’t kosher.

Neither is he.

In a state with the largest Jewish population in the United States, the self-described “Shomer Yisrael,” or “guardian of the Jewish people,” has failed to confront antisemitism with any degree of seriousness. Last month, a 325-page report released by the House Education and Workforce Committee underscored the depth of Mr. Schumer’s unwillingness to tackle the Jew-hatred brewing at Columbia University.

As Jewish students were intimidated and attacked on the elite campus near Mr. Schumer’s home, the dossier reveals that the senator told Columbia University administrators that the school’s “political problems are really only among Republicans,” and that school officials should “keep their heads down” until the issue abates.

Mr. Schumer has taken his Jewish constituents for granted and did nothing as the campuses and streets of New York were overtaken by a grotesque ideology that threatened the very people he feigns to care about.

Last March, the senator poured fuel on the Jew-hating fire when, amid Israel fighting its war against genocidal terrorists, he denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Senate floor and called for the Jewish state to hold new elections.

Perhaps sensing the political uncertainty brewing ahead, reports are surfacing that Mr. Schumer is privately considering moving on the antisemitism legislation as an amendment to the 2025 defense bill, a ploy that Republican legislators accuse Mr. Schumer of directing to conceal the weakening moral character of liberals likely to vote against a stand-alone antisemitism bill.

And a weak moral character is exactly what Mr. Schumer is about.
Tehran Envisioned Using Hizbullah to Destroy Israel
The lesson of Oct. 7, 2023, is that Israel must be uncompromising and proactive when it comes to protecting itself. The fundamentalist regime in Tehran envisions using Hizbullah to destroy Israel and, ultimately, to dominate the region. This can never be allowed to happen.

When the IDF returned to Southern Lebanon, it uncovered another Oct. 7-like attack poised for launch: terror tunnels within sight of Israeli towns ready to unleash hundreds of Radwan terrorists as well as missiles and weapon caches embedded in Lebanese homes close to the border. All of it was set for deployment on command.

Israel must have the operational freedom to act not only against immediate threats posed by Hizbullah forces, but against any force building far from the border. History has proved that only Israel can be entrusted to safeguard the security of Israelis. Israel seeks to coexist with its neighbor to the north. Israel's wars have always been waged against Hizbullah and other terror organizations - never against the people of Lebanon.
Killers of UAE Chabad rabbi intended to kidnap him to Oman – report
The killers of Chabad rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates originally planned to take him hostage to neighboring Oman, before their plan went awry and they murdered him, US media reported Sunday.

The three suspects were driving the Israeli-Moldovan national toward the border, until their plan was somehow disrupted, and the car was left in the Emirati city of Al Ain near the border, with Kogan dead inside, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the investigation into the murder.

While the cause of Kogan’s death has not been revealed, friends and family told the news outlet that he came to a “bloody end.”

Kogan, a 28-year-old UAE-based rabbi, went missing in Dubai at the end of last month and his body was found a few days later. The UAE is holding three suspects over the murder — Olimpi Toirovich, 28; Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28; and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33 — all of them Uzbek nationals who were arrested in Turkey.

On Saturday, the National Security Council warned that the same “terrorist infrastructure” involved in the killing sought to carry out additional attacks in southeast Asia, especially Thailand, a popular vacation spot for Israelis.

The circumstances of Kogan’s death have not been disclosed and it is unclear whether Emirati authorities have established a motive. Israeli officials have said Kogan was targeted because he was Jewish and branded his killing as an antisemitic terror attack. Israeli agencies are assisting in the investigation.

According to Kan, Israeli officials believe that Kogan’s killing was not necessarily carried out on behalf of Iran.


Dubai rabbi’s killers said to be planning attack in Thailand
The terrorist enterprise responsible for the murder of Rabbi Tzvi Kogan in Dubai is planning fresh attacks in southeast Asia and especially Thailand, Israeli authorities warned on Saturday.

“Intelligence suggests that the terrorist infrastructure that perpetrated the murder of Rabbi Tvzi Kogan in Dubai is planning additional terrorist activities,” according to a statement by Israel’s National Security Council. “Relevant security forces estimate this will happen in southeast Asia and especially Thailand,” the statement read.

Kogan’s body was found on Nov. 24. Local authorities arrested three men, all of them Uzbek nationals. Israeli authorities believe the murder may be linked to Iran, which has denied any involvement.

Hebrew media reported on Sunday that an Israeli tourist was assaulted by several Germans in Thailand.

The backpacker, identified only as Ilai, 22, told Ynet that the incident took place on Saturday night in Pai, a town situated about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Bangkok. Four Germans in their 20s asked him if he was Israeli and then punched him, leading to a scuffle, he said.

Ilai, a recently discharged Israel Defense Forces soldier who fought in Gaza, fought off his attackers and sustained only minor injuries, according to the report. He decided not to file a police complaint, he said, fearing this would complicate the rest of his stay in Thailand.

The Israeli government raised the threat level for travel in Thailand to level two on Nov. 24, meaning that it perceives a “potential threat,” and recommended that travelers “take increased precautionary measures.” It also maintained its “high threat” level-four advisory against travel in southern Thailand. Israelis in Thailand are advised not to display Israeli or Jewish symbols and avoid congregating with other Israelis.

The new security advice stopped short of calling on Israel to leave Thailand or avoid it.
Canadian officials make it clear, Jews not welcome here
Take the example of the Jewish National Fund, a charitable organization in Canada for over a century that had their charitable status revoked this past summer. The revocation came after an audit started in 2014 for charitable works that had taken place in 2011-12 and which had never been an issue in the past.

However, a sustained campaign against the group by anti-Israel, anti-Jewish activists pushed the Canada Revenue Agency to reconsider what was approved. Rather than working with JNF, which had never failed an audit before, the CRA pulled the organization’s status, and the issue is now being challenged in court.

It’s very different approach from the one taken by CRA after their audit of the Muslim Association of Canada determined the organization was working with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Syria. While the Muslim Brotherhood is not considered a terrorist group in Canada, documents obtained and reported on by Le Journal de Montreal show there was real concern.

CRA found that the Syrian group had asked MAC for financial assistance, including for weapons. The Brotherhood in Egypt has been tied to political violence.

“Even entities that are not considered terrorist in Canada can put a charity’s resources at risk of terrorist abuse if those entities are linked to violent ideologies,” say CRA documents obtained by Le Journal.

The reaction of CRA to these revelations and several others was simply to ask MAC to take corrective action and not associate with people or groups that may have links to terrorism or violent ideologies.

The difference in treatment could not be more stark and, like the police action, the message to Canada’s Jewish community from government officials could not be clearer. Add to that the attack on Kosher meat by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after hundreds of years of being allowed in this country and you really see what is going on.

Canadian officials are making it clear, Jews aren’t welcome in Canada and they will harass you until you get the picture.

It’s sad and wrong but it is true.


Anti-Semitism at the BBC now ‘normal’ after Oct 7, whistleblower claims
A whistleblower has said anti-Semitism at the BBC has become “normalised” and accused the broadcaster of failing to take seriously repeated claims of anti-Semitic behaviour and attitudes within the organisation.

The experienced member of staff, who is Jewish, said they had been forced to endure anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli comments on a near-daily basis, only for their concerns to be dismissed by managers.

Writing anonymously for The Telegraph, they said: “Anti-Semitism exists in the newsrooms of Britain’s public service broadcaster. It has done for years, and it is alive and well today, refuelled by the events of Oct 7 and after.

“I have experienced it first hand, too much, in my career at the corporation, both before and since the Hamas attacks.”

Their claims come after Jay Rayner, who last week resigned as The Observer’s restaurant critic, accused its sister title The Guardian of employing anti-Semites and its editor of lacking the courage to take them on.

The Guardian said it took the allegations seriously and had a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism.

Referring to the paper’s response, the whistleblower said: “I’ve heard those kinds of platitudes before, namely from my own employer, the BBC.”

They also accuse Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, of failing to get a grip on the problem of anti-Semitism within the corporation, despite his emailing all staff in February to say there was no place for racist abuse of any kind within the BBC.

The whistleblower, who has asked for their identity not to be revealed for fear of being “marked out”, writes: “For Jewish staff, the experience of anti-Semitism and Israel bashing is a daily one and Tim Davies’s statement rings hollow. Actions speak louder than words, and sadly when it comes to anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism at the BBC, its actions practically are mute.”
Sir Michael Ellis: The International Criminal Court has zero credibility left. It cannot survive
The International Criminal Court (ICC) lost any vestige of legitimacy it may have had by issuing its recent arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As France and other countries have since made clear, the arrest warrant is improper, extra-jurisdictional and illegitimate. The warrant is not only entirely without merit on the evidence, but the very issuance of it was an abasement of the court itself.

The ICC cannot survive this episode. It is a ship that has deliberately set a course for the rocks and it is now holed below the waterline. It should be allowed to sink without a trace.

It looks like the Trump administration will deliver a fatal blow to the ICC, and in my view they would be right to do so. Rather like the League of Nations after World War One, there is no point funding an institution that doesn’t work.

As a former Attorney General I take the view that there are several reasons for this. First, any country which is not a member of the court is simply not bound by it. Israel and the US have never ratified it, ironically largely because they feared bias. But by issuing this warrant the court has chosen to ignore that inconvenient fact as far as Israel is concerned and has usurped authority to itself.

It’s like being forced to follow the dress code of a nightclub when you have no intention of going inside. What next? The UK being bound by a treaty it too hasn’t signed? Perhaps someone will next want to compel the UK to adhere to the North America Free Trade Agreement even though we haven’t signed it.

But let’s set aside that little inconvenient truth, after all the ICC did. The second problem for the ICC is that even a country which has signed up to the Court can only be pursued by the ICC if that country is unable or unwilling to deal with any credible allegations itself.

Israel has a robust and fair legal system, their courts regularly strike down their own government’s decisions. An Arab Israeli Supreme Court judge has even sat in judgment on the country’s Jewish prime minister. But the ICC have refused to accept this inconvenient truth as well.
The ICC's Legal Sophistry Won't Bring Peace
The International Criminal Court has, for the first time in its 22-year history, issued arrest warrants for democratically elected politicians. It's hard, though, to see how the warrants stand up as law. Israel is not a member of the ICC and Palestine is not recognized as a state by many. Meanwhile, the Rome Statute that governs the ICC states that any member cannot affect "the rights and privileges" of a third party that is not a signatory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accused of the crime of starvation which, according to the Statute, relates to "willfully impeding relief supplies." Yet Israel permits aid into Gaza daily. Food insecurity is not an indication of deliberate starvation; nor can Israel do anything to mitigate the hijacking of aid supplies by Hamas.

We need international law to govern maritime rights and arbitrate on cross-border trade disputes. But on fundamental questions of national self-defense undertaken by people answerable to electorates, the idea that the ICC has the essential competence or legitimacy to be the ultimate arbiter is massively stretching the power that international law should have.

The clash here is about a fundamental understanding of reality. On the one hand, we have those who believe that the bloody and chaotic practice of war can be ordered and adjudicated upon by bureaucrats in Holland. On the other, we have Hamas's psychopathic barbarities. If the ICC's vision ever had any basis in fact, it died in Gaza. This is the world we are now living in, and it will not yield to delusion or legal sophistry.
Charging Netanyahu with War Crimes Shows the ICC Is Illegitimate and Not Fit for Purpose
[T]he International Criminal Court (ICC)... should be defunded, dismantled, or both.

[By] law, the ICC is precluded from prosecuting any country that already has a valid judiciary system. This stipulation is the based on the treaty upon which the ICC was founded.

Another option that should be considered is for the incoming Trump administration's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to establish whether maintaining US funding for bodies such as the United Nations and its affiliates, the ICC and ICJ, all of which display a strong anti-Israeli bias, is in Washington's best interests. Certainly, without the lavish funding these bodies receive from Western governments, their ability to pursue their own twisted agenda will at least be severely curtailed.
ICC’s decision emboldens those threatening Israel’s existence
The ICC’s actions jeopardize Israeli leaders, senior defense officials, and IDF personnel. The court operates as a tool for Israel’s adversaries, undermining its right to self-defense and emboldening Iran and its proxies.

Karim Khan, facing allegations of sexual misconduct and investigation tampering, falsely assured Israel he would not issue arrest warrants without first allowing a response to accusations.

A Telegraph article earlier this week highlighted the broader implications of the ICC’s decision, stating: “The accusation of war crimes against Israel’s leaders raises profound questions about democracies’ ability to defend themselves.” Since Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, Israel has engaged in self-defense measures aligned with international law, targeting terrorist infrastructure.

Would Britain and its allies have prevailed in World War II had Winston Churchill faced the specter of war crimes charges?

The ICC’s decision rewards extremism, undermines Middle Eastern stability, and emboldens those threatening Israel’s existence. It is a stark reminder of the challenges democracies face in countering evolving global threats.
A historic opportunity to dismantle the ICC
The Knesset must pass an Israeli version of the American Servicemembers' Protection Act immediately. This law would authorize the government to use all the means at its disposal to release Israeli detainees. The arrest of Israeli officials or citizens would be considered an act of war. The law would prohibit all government agents from maintaining ties to the ICC, thus eliminating jurists' temptation to play the court's pseudo-legal game. The law should include the provision that any cooperation with the ICC on the part of Israeli non-profits would constitute a criminal offense. It is well known that extremist domestic organizations provide foreign countries with the personal details of Israeli citizens in order to prompt sanctions against them. The prime minister prevented the promotion of such a law in the past, but Israel cannot expect the Americans to protect it while it refuses to do the minimum needed for its own self-defense.

The incoming Trump administration understands that the US is next in line and how undeveloped states will weaponize the court to curtail America's freedom of action. Therefore, we must call on the American administration to resist settling for symbolic sanctions but actively collapse the court. The Biden administration has already shown the way by issuing sanctions against Jewish sheepherders in Samaria. We expect the US to address the strategic harm to its most important ally with the same severity it addresses graffiti sprayed on Arab houses in Judea and Samaria.

The PA has worked methodically and determinedly to weaponize the ICC against Israel since before it was even established, without ever paying a price for doing so. The Palestinian attempt to isolate and alienate Israel must lead to their own isolation instead. Israel must prevent PA senior officials from traveling and the reception of state visits.

Israel must take meaningful action against states that commit to enforcing the arrest warrants. Spain, which declared it would arrest Netanyahu and Galant if they stepped foot on its soil, operates an unrecognized consulate in Jerusalem that refuses to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the city and serves as a de facto representative of the PA. It is high time to stop turning a blind eye to this consulate and order its complete shutdown, converting the building into an Israeli government office. France expressed a somewhat more moderate view; therefore, Israel should close the Jerusalem-based French culture center for Palestinians and clarify that the next step would be shuttering the French consulate in the city.

The ICC has failed at its noble task of holding international criminals to account. Israel now has a historic opportunity to expose the court's derelictions of duty. Israel must fight back and work to dismantle the court with everything it has.
Khan: Appeal against ICC arrest warrants should be dismissed—for now
Israel’s appeal to suspend the arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant should be discarded at this point, International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan says.

In a paper submitted to the ICC’s Appeals Chamber on Friday, Khan asked the body to dismiss Israel’s appeal. He held that the court’s decision to issue the warrants is only subject to appeal at a later stage in the legal process.

“These appeal proceedings should be discontinued and Israel’s Suspension Request be rejected while the proceedings before PreTrial Chamber with respect to the same Decision follow their course,” he wrote.

Khan added, “In any event, there is no legal basis to suspend the arrest warrants issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber.”

On Wednesday, Israel filed a direct appeal before the Appeals Chamber to the Pre-Trial Chamber I’s “decision on Israel’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court pursuant to article 19(2) of the Rome Statute.”

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that Israel’s notice of appeal shows in detail the degree to which the ICC decision to issue the arrest warrants is “baseless and without any factual or legal foundation whatsoever.”

The PMO added, “Should the ICC reject the appeal, this will underscore to Israel’s friends in the United States and around the world how biased the ICC is against the State of Israel.”

In a meeting between Netanyahu and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the American lawmaker updated the premier on efforts he is advancing in Congress against the ICC and countries that have cooperated with it.

Graham has threatened to sanction America’s allies if they enforce the ICC’s arrest warrants against the two Israeli leaders.
Ya’alon denounced after claiming Israel engaged in ‘ethnic cleansing’
Moshe Ya’alon, who served both as defense minister and IDF chief of staff, accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” in an interview with the crowdfunded DemocratTV outlet on Saturday.

“At the moment, the direction they’re pulling us toward—to conquer, to annex, ethnic cleansing … and to establish Jewish settlement,” Ya’alon said.

Pressed by the interviewer about his comments, Ya’alon said, “There is no Beit Lahiya, there is no Beit Hanun, they are currently operating in Jabalia and are essentially cleansing the area [the northern Gaza Strip] of ​​Arabs.”

Ya’alon’s comments drew sharp criticism from both sides of the political aisle in Israel.

Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “Ya’alon’s words are a lie that helps our enemy and hurts Israel.

“I saw up close the fighters and commanders of the IDF while I was leading the difficult war against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran—the IDF acted according to the highest standards that can be applied in the complex and difficult war that was imposed on us.

“The instructions and orders were always given in accordance with the law and the spirit of the IDF. I suggest to Ya’alon not to be ashamed of his security past, to learn the facts, retract and apologize to the IDF soldiers,” Gallant said.

Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, a former political ally of Ya’alon, and a former defense minister and IDF chief, said, “Not ethnic cleansing—the IDF is fighting terrorists and will continue to do so in the future in the entire Strip.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, “The irresponsible words of former minister Moshe Ya’alon are not true and slander Israel without foundation. I call on him to retract his words.”
Israeli protest leader urged ICC to arrest Netanyahu, Gallant
Nava Rozolyo, a leader in the Israeli protest movement that seeks to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office, was instrumental in the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for the premier, Channel 14 News reported over the weekend.

In an audio recording obtained by the Israeli broadcaster, Rozolyo, who heads the Shame Guard Corps protest group and operates a WhatsApp group with the purpose of harassing elected officials at their homes, can be heard telling a far-left podcast, “I also appeal a lot to the tribunals in The Hague so that they speed up the arrest warrants for Netanyahu.”

According to Rozolyo, the goal of the ongoing anti-government protests is not to convince Israeli voters of a need for political change, but rather to have Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and the security establishment remove Netanyahu from power without an election.

“The rallies do send a message to the world, to the Biden administration, to the tribunals in The Hague,” Rozolyo said on the Oct. 29 episode of the “Hamuzim” podcast. “They see the protests and understand that the government doesn’t represent the Israeli public. Very similar to Iran.”

She added, “The purpose of the demonstrations is to strengthen and speak to everyone who, in the end, is able to pressure those who can overthrow the government. I think there will be arrests and personal sanctions against the leaders of the coalition.”

Channel 14 noted Rozolyo’s close ties to Yair Golan and his far-left The Democrats party, saying she spoke alongside the politician last week.

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, a member of the ruling Likud Party, said Rozolyo’s were “an unprecedented low and everything that is bad in our country.”


Inside the Media’s Duality as Israel Targets Gaza Aid Worker Who Participated in October 7 Attacks
The IDF announced on Saturday that it had conducted a targeted strike on a vehicle inside Gaza, eliminating Hazmi Kadih (also known as Ahed Azmi Qudeih), a Palestinian who infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz and took part in the October 7 terror attacks last year.

Kadih also happens to have been an employee of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid agency. True to form, WCK joined the bloated, overfunded ecosystem of Palestinian-focused aid organizations professing ignorance about their staff’s double lives, instead issuing a statement expressing that it was “heartbroken” over the incident and claiming to have “no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7th Hamas attack.”

This response is particularly rich coming from an organization that, earlier this year, demanded an “independent inquiry” into the IDF’s actions after several WCK workers were killed in an Israeli strike in April. Back then, WCK declared that the IDF could not “credibly” investigate itself and insisted that “systemic change” was necessary to prevent “more military failures, more apologies, and more grieving families.”

Perhaps WCK will now call for an independent inquiry into how someone who took part in the mass murder of innocent civilians and made his support for it crystal clear on social media managed to infiltrate its ranks—or will this damning revelation be quietly brushed aside, as accountability rarely seems to flow in the other direction?

We somehow suspect it will be the latter, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising, given that the media are already laying the groundwork to help WCK weather this scandal unscathed.


Is World Central Kitchen in Gaza a Hamas front?
Should World Central Kitchen be checking which of their workers participated in October 7 massacre and which are stealing food from Gazans?

Gaza watcher Jacqui Peleg (@imshin on X) has been following Gazan social media since 2018, watching videos filmed by ordinary Gazans in Gaza. The picture she sees is very different than that depicted in the West.




UNRWA pauses aid deliveries via key Israeli crossing due to looting inside Gaza
The UN agency for Palestinians said Sunday it was pausing the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip because of looting by armed gangs in the Palestinian enclave.

It marked a further deterioration of ties between Israel and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which have crumbled amid the ongoing war in Gaza that was started last year by the Palestinian terror group Hamas.

“We are pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom… The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a post on social media platform X.

“On 16 November, a large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs,” he recalled.

“Yesterday, we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken,” Lazzarini added.

“This difficult decision comes at a time hunger is rapidly deepening. The delivery of humanitarian aid must never be dangerous or turn into an ordeal,” he wrote.

The UN official did not specify who is carrying out the looting.

Lazzarini largely blamed Israel for the breakdown of humanitarian operations in Gaza, citing alleged “political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid,” lack of safety on aid routes, and Israel’s targeting of the Hamas-run police force, which had previously provided public security.

The Israeli military has said that attacking convoys and stealing aid is an ongoing problem in Gaza. COGAT, the military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, has said convoys are attacked by Hamas terrorists and known crime families.

Lazzarini said the humanitarian operation had become “unnecessarily impossible.”

He called on Israel to ensure aid flowed to Gaza and said the country “must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers.”


IDF kills terrorist Wael Lahluh, who murdered Israeli Yonatan Deutsch
The IDF and Shin Bet killed terrorist Wael Lahluh, who murdered Israeli citizen Yonatan Deutsch, Israel's military announced on Sunday evening.

Lahluh, aged 31, was a resident of the West Bank's Qabatiya, the IDF said. It added that he was the head of a terrorist cell at the time he was killed in the Israeli strike.

The terror attack that Lahluh initiated, which killed Deutsch, occurred back in August. Deutsch, 23, from Beit She’an, was shot in the area of the Mehola Junction in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank. Another Israeli civilian was also wounded during the attack.

The IDF said that after Lahluh carried out the terror attack, he continued to operate in Jenin, recruiting terrorists and planning to carry out additional terror attacks in the near future.

The IDF eliminated Lahluh when an Israel Air Force aircraft struck and destroyed a terrorist cell that it said carried out several shooting attacks against communities in the Gilboa.


IDF hit over 12,500 Hezbollah terror sites in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces struck more than 12,500 Hezbollah terrorist sites in Lebanon during the nearly 14-month war that began when the Iranian proxy opened fire on the Jewish state a day after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of some 1,200 people.

The terrorist assets destroyed include 1,600 command and control centers and 1,000 weapons storage facilities.

The IDF also confirmed killing some 2,500 Hezbollah terrorists, although the military estimates the actual figure is closer to 3,500. According to a joint assessment by Israel’s Channel 12 and the Institute for National Security Studies, the fatalities include at least 11 brigade-level commanders, 37 battalion commanders and 46 company commanders.

The figure is more than 10 times the number of Hezbollah terrorists killed during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between terrorists and noncombatants, reports 3,823 killed and 15,895 injured during the conflict.

Hezbollah’s chain of command was also devastated, as highlighted by the Sept. 27 targeted killing of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Other high-ranking officials killed include Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s successor; Radwan Force commanders Ibrahim Aqil and Wisam al-Tuwail; Ali Karaki, commander of the Southern Front; and Fuad Shukr, the terrorist group’s chief of staff.

Furthermore, some 80% of Hezbollah’s stockpile of 150,000 to 200,000 rockets and 70% of its drone arsenal were destroyed during the war.

Hezbollah launched some 16,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel during the war.

Nearly 70,000 residents of northern Israel have been internally displaced due to the cross-border attacks from Lebanon. During “Operation Northern Arrows,” the Israeli military’s name for the northern war, 45 Israeli civilians and 79 IDF soldiers were killed, according to the most recent data from the Alma Research and Education Center, which monitors the northern fronts.
Houthi ballistic missile triggers sirens in Judean foothills
A ballistic missile launched from Yemen triggered sirens in the Judean foothills on Sunday morning. The missile was intercepted before entering Israeli airspace, according to the Israeli military.

Four people were injured running to shelters, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service. The nature and severity of the injuries was not specified. An additional individual was treated for acute anxiety.

The missile was intercepted by Israel’s Arrow system at high altitude, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

“Following the sirens that sounded between 06:21-06:22 [a.m.] in the areas of the Shfela [Judean foothills], Lakhish and the Yarkon, one projectile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the [Israeli Air Force] prior to its crossing into Israeli territory,” the Israel Defense Forces said.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched multiple missiles and drones at Israel in support of Hamas since the Gaza-based terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of the northwestern Negev.


France claims Israel violated ceasefire, warns of collapse of deal
France has claimed that Israel has breached the ceasefire with Lebanon, with some 52 violations being counted in the past day alone, according to a Sunday Ynet report.

France has further warned of the collapse of the agreement due to such instances.

"The Lebanese are fully committed to acting to maintain the ceasefire and prevent Hezbollah from moving south again, but they must be given time to prove themselves," Ynet cited a French source as saying.

The French reportedly also acknowledged that attempts were being made by Hezbollah to return weapons to southern Lebanon, the Israeli news outlet added.

Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun and Lebanese interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati, both of whom France have maintained close communication with, reaffirmed their commitment to preventing Hezbollah returning to the south and to preserving the ceasefire agreement, French officials said.

"Every violation will be met with significant enforcement, and that is what is happening on the ground," an Israeli source told Ynet in response.

Responding to the claims, Israeli officials stated that the enforcement mechanism of the agreement between Israel and Lebanon "will start gaining momentum" on Monday and Tuesday, and until that time, Israel will continue to aggressively enforce violations across the border.
IDF says paratroopers killed armed Hezbollah operatives near a church in southern Lebanon
Last night, the military says soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade spotted a group of armed Hezbollah operatives close to a church in southern Lebanon, a site previously known to have been used by the terror group.

The paratroopers opened fire at the gunmen, killing them, the IDF says.

“The terrorists who were eliminated were active in [Hezbollah’s] ground defense, anti-tank and artillery arrays in the area, and took part in the fighting while using the church,” the military says in a statement.

After the operatives were killed, the IDF says soldiers scanned the church today and located a tunnel shaft that was used to store weapons.

The IDF is still deployed to southern Lebanon, and it has until late January to withdraw under the ceasefire deal.


Heroic Tales from Oct. 7
Itzik Kara, 56, father of three, is a nurse, a paramedic, and an administrator at Hadassah Hospital. He's experienced in intensive care, recovery, and surgical nursing. Kara served as a combat medic in the Givati infantry brigade and was previously an ambulance driver for Magen David Adom. In his spare time, Kara is a volunteer team head for United Hatzalah emergency services.

"By 7:05, I realized that the Hamas Nukhba special forces were inside Sderot. I am the head of a paramedic team, and I had an ambulance parked outside. Nonetheless, at 7:30 the dispatcher at United Hatzalah told me the situation was too dangerous to head south. But...by 7:45 the decision was made to send teams to rescue as many wounded as possible, danger or not."

Kara posted a call for volunteers' help on the Modi'in United Hatzalah WhatsApp group. Sergio Geralnik, 59, and his wife, Caryn Gale, 58, both paramedics, responded, as did Noemi Dray, 27, a nursing student.

At the United Hatzalah office, the four volunteers gathered their equipment and suited up in bulky flak jackets and helmets. Rockets were flying, but they kept on driving and entered Sderot, where a battle between Hamas and the police for the police station was raging. They were advised by local paramedics that it was impossible to get close enough to help.

They got a call from a military vehicle carrying a soldier with a head wound. They inserted an IV, provided oxygen and staunched the bleeding while racing him to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. They evacuated a second soldier to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. The team continued all day, picking up and treating the wounded. Hamas sharpshooters were positioned along the road they traveled.

Kara said, "Only on Sunday did I realize what danger we were in on Oct. 7. We were concentrating so hard on caring for the wounded that, even though we saw the murdered bodies and we heard the rockets, we somehow had the ability to ignore them and keep working....All the patients we rescued survived."
Legends Among Us: Moshe Leiter
The Legends Among Us podcast, hosted by Rabbi Benji Levy, honors families of those who lost their lives during the Oct. 7 attack and the war that followed.

Moshe Leiter, 39, a decorated soldier and a father of six, was killed leading troops in Gaza. He is the son of Dr. Yechiel Leiter, the incoming Israeli ambassador to the U.S., who was interviewed on the podcast.

Moshe served for 15 years in the Israel Air Force Shaldag commando unit. "He lived the life of someone twice his age," Leiter said.

Moshe guided a trusted team during the Gaza operation. He would tell his soldiers, "Know who you are, know where your friends are, and know where the enemy is."

This is a guiding principle we can all apply to life, Leiter says.

He concluded, "We are fighting not only against Hamas but against a global mindset that blurs the lines between good and evil, truth and falsehood. Moshe and his comrades are our modern-day Maccabees."
My Emily is the last UK hostage in Gaza. Every day’s a death sentence
The brutal truth is that, as of today, not enough is being done in London, Washington, Cairo, Doha or Jerusalem to save Emily’s life. Months after Hamas rejected President Biden’s “last chance deal” to release the hostages, negotiations, led by the US, have ground to a halt, Qatar has stepped back from its mediator role and no other country has filled the gap.

Worse still is how over the past few months Britain’s inaction has mutated into active abandonment. Last week, a United Nations security council resolution called for an end to the war in Gaza without the release of the hostages as a pre-condition. If the war ends with Emily still in captivity, then Hamas would have little to gain by keeping her alive. I was shocked that the UK voted in favour of the resolution, which is a betrayal of Emily and the other hostages, although thankfully the US used its veto.

In meetings with British government officials, past and present, I have been asked what I would have Britain do to better help Emily. Beyond not voting for UN resolutions that put my daughter’s life in even more danger, I do now have a suggestion.

In Emily’s name, Britain should pioneer an international initiative to immediately secure humanitarian aid for the hostages, with the goal of keeping them alive and their condition stable until they are finally released. More than anything, Emily needs a welfare visit, and access to real food and medicine. A simple proof of life would be a starting point.

To that end, the UK has yet to use the significant influence it can bring to bear on Hamas through its international patrons. Hamas’ foreign leadership has been allowed to live in safety and luxury in the capitals of Turkey, a Nato ally, and Qatar, which will this week enjoy a state visit to the UK. Both countries must finally come under diplomatic pressure to force Hamas to allow humanitarian aid to reach Emily and the hostages, at the very least, and consequences for Turkey and Qatar if they come up short but continue to host Hamas.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which has significant influence over Hamas, has also not faced any additional diplomatic or economic consequences linked to Hamas’ refusal to treat the hostages with even a modicum of humanity.

There is much to be done, but Britain does not need to stand alone in the effort to urgently get aid to Emily as the winter sets in. There are 20 different nationalities among the remaining hostages, including American, Canadian, French and German citizens; this is an opportunity for British leadership on a cause that deserves international support.

Over the past year I have been overwhelmed with support, but warm wishes alone cannot keep Emily alive in captivity. I am not asking for pity. I am calling for action.


"The Australian Government Is Confused between Good and Evil"
Former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has accused the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party, of being "confused between good and evil" after she was denied a visa to travel to Australia, where she had been invited to speak by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

Shaked was last granted a visa to Australia in February 2023.

"It's undemocratic and it has never happened to me before from any other country," said Shaked.

"It is a political act committed against my country, so I'm not taking it personally. I think it mainly embarrasses them and it's disgraceful for them."

"Countries that are allies, like Israel and Australia, cannot do such things. Australia and Israel have a very warm relationship, and we consider Australia as a strong ally of Israel, and it doesn't matter who the government is."

A spokesperson for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "The Australian government's decision to deny a visa to former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked is unacceptable. The decision is deeply offensive and troubling, and will have a negative impact on Israel-Australia relations."

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said, "The Albanese government must explain why a former minister in a friendly government and someone they granted a visa to only two years ago is now such a threat they must be banned from Australia."


Emily Schrader: The Oxford show trial
Later, when Haddad raised awareness for the hostages—Arab Muslim hostages—some of the students in the Oxford Union insulted the hostages, grabbed the photo and stomped on it, prompting Haddad to demand their removal. Instead of removing the audience members, however, he removed Haddad, reportedly accusing him of obstructing the movement of a woman who spoke in favor of the proposition.

Meanwhile, notorious anti-Israel activist Miko Peled opened his speech by stating, “Let's assume that Hamas is the devil… Does it justify harming a child? If it means harming [even] the hair on the head of a child, we do not kill… we say, you do not harm a child.” Only to turn around a few minutes later, and violate the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 Section 12A by explicitly calling the acts October 7, which of course included the murder and kidnapping of children, heroic.

“What we saw on October 7 was not terrorism. These were acts of heroism of a people that had been oppressed and killed,” said Peled, prompting not one but two points of order to the president with a request to instruct police to arrest him. However, instead of taking appropriate action, the president appeared to state that he “doesn’t enforce” that.

Only minutes later, in Mosab Hassan Yousef’s address, the president ordered him to leave the debate after he stated that Palestinians, his own community, are “pathetic.” After multiple appeals and a shouting match, Mowafy backed down and allowed Yousef to continue.

Amidst curses and insults of him being a “collaborator," Yousef stood proud and explained that it was he, in fact, who revealed his collaboration with the Israeli security forces and the reason he did so was that he had information on imminent suicide attacks by Hamas that would have targeted civilians.

He followed that by asking by show of hands who else would have come forward to the police if they were in the same position. Only about 25% of the students raised their hands, meaning 75% of the audience would not tell the police if they had knowledge of an imminent terror attack that would kill civilians.

Palestinian writer Susan Abulhawa then spoke for 20 minutes, more than double the allotted time for speeches, during which she demonized all Zionists, and insinuated that Jews are European colonizers and foreigners to the Middle East. “Your ancestors will always be buried in the actual homelands of Poland, Ukraine and elsewhere around the world, where you came,” she stated.

The debate closed with lawyer and international law expert Natasha Hausdorff who, as the only lawyer in the debate, completely debunked the loaded terminology and broke down why allegations of apartheid and genocide have no place in the discussion of the current war in Gaza. Hausdorff, like her debate colleagues, spoke with courage, facts and fearlessness in the face of unbelievable harassment and threats, and closed the shameful debate with dignity.

However, there’s no question that the environment Mowafy permitted is one that empowers the antisemitic lynch mob to believe they have the right to insult Jews and Zionists, but they also have a right to not be insulted. All the while, they are gaslighting and claiming that what they seek is simply “equality.” However, it’s very clear from the dynamics of the debate and the speakers' statements that this is a bald-faced lie. What they are advocating for is much closer to Islamic supremacy, than equality for Palestinains.

Mowafy is no stranger to controversy during his term, having overseen the invitation of guests with a clear bias against Israel—for example, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot. Many attendees expressed disappointment with the double standards of enforcement and the permitting of blatant antisemitism, disgracing the previous reputation of the Oxford Union.

In a comment to Ynetnews, Sacerdoti stated, “The union needs to look closely at the behavior of its president and committee and rethink how it treats the speakers it invites and how it conducts itself more broadly. It has been trashed by the behavior of the aggressive mob that attended yesterday and needs to rebuild its reputation if it is to be taken seriously again.”


Shia Imam: Save Lebanon from Iran's Death Grip
My eyes were opened to the reality of the Iranian revolution during a visit to Tehran, where I heard from Iranian Shia themselves about the lack of freedom and equality in their society, the nepotism and privileges granted to the relatives of the regime and those close to it—issues that should not exist in a system claiming to represent the people's interests. The revolution has forsaken the people it claimed to represent, and it has dragged its society back into the Dark Ages.

So, too, in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has turned what was a beautiful country into a mafia state, and suppressed the intellectual diversity that the Shia community here was once famous for. Historically, Shia scholars in Lebanon were beacons of tolerance, promoting a vision of Islam based on humility and peace, and the protection of other communities. Today, we find that the influence of Tehran and Hezbollah has made us a more closed and violent society, known for choosing the rifle over knowledge and thought.

Before the most recent conflict against Israel, Hezbollah's extremism had forced many of Lebanon's Shia into a choice between emigration or living under submission, suppression, and the constant threat of violence. There is now a growing wave of opposition to Hezbollah within our community, but that sentiment must be backed up by real power from within and outside of Lebanon, if we are to see a real change in our country.

When American and French diplomats come to Beirut to discuss the future of our country, they should know that the Shia community deserves and desires peace, and to live free from the influence of foreign regimes that force us into an endless and pointless conflict. I lost my brother in Hezbollah's wars during the 1990s, how many more sons and brothers have been lost since then?

The loss of my brother, my visit to Iran, and years of struggling against Hezbollah inside Lebanon have led me to the opposite position that I found myself in 1985 when I joined the organization. I now see that peace is the only solution that can satisfy the aspirations of the Shia, Lebanese. and the Arab world. My call to choose peace over Iran has almost cost me my life on several occasions at the hands of Hezbollah, but after the death of Hassan Nasrallah—who was once close with my father—it is one that must be repeated ever louder.

Lebanon's Shia are not people of violence, nor do we wish to be known as such. It is time to reclaim our authentic identity, based on intellect, tolerance, and mutual respect. By holding on to our faith and values, many of us now reject the barbarism of Hezbollah, and seek coexistence, prosperity, and security alongside our fellow citizens and neighbors.

UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701, which call for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the re-establishment of Lebanese sovereignty, are the only hope that my community has to give a better life to our children. However, if the current ceasefire is not enforced, as was the case after the Second Lebanon War in 2006, then Iran and Hezbollah will immediately start the countdown to the Fourth Lebanon War.
Seth Frantzman: Iran scrambles to blame US, Israel for Syria’s troubles
Like many from Lebanon's Shia community in 1985, I joined Hizbullah as a young man, inspired by the revolutionary fervor radiating out of Iran that called for our people to take up arms against Israel and the West. But after seeing Lebanon go through decades of conflict, corruption and spiraling poverty, my vision for my community and country have evolved.

As an imam of the Shia community in Lebanon, I say that the biggest threat to Lebanon and the Middle East is the radical ideology of Iran's regime. The only way to secure a long-term peace in Lebanon is to actively roll back the Iranian regime's control of our country. Our hopes have been subverted by an ideology that is dedicated to violence and the suppression of freedoms.

During a visit to Tehran, I heard from Iranian Shia themselves about the lack of freedom and equality in their society, the nepotism and privileges granted to the relatives of the regime and those close to it.

The revolution has forsaken the people it claimed to represent, and it has dragged its society back into the Dark Ages. In Lebanon, too, Hizbullah has turned what was a beautiful country into a mafia state.

American and French diplomats should know that the Shia community deserves and desires peace, and to live free from the influence of foreign regimes that force us into an endless and pointless conflict. My call to choose peace over Iran has almost cost me my life on several occasions at the hands of Hizbullah.
Israeli jets block Iranian plane suspected of ferrying arms to Hezbollah over Syria
An Iranian flight suspected to be ferrying arms to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon was blocked by the Israeli Air Force over Syria overnight between Saturday and Sunday, The Times of Israel has learned.

IAF fighter jets intercepted the Iranian plane over Syria and ordered it to turn around, and it did a short while later, a defense source said.

The incident was first reported by Ynet, although the news site showed a screenshot of flight data from an unrelated Iranian Mahan Air plane that landed in Syria’s coastal city of Latakia in the afternoon hours of Saturday.

The interception of the flight came as part of Israel’s efforts to prevent Iranian weapons from reaching the Lebanese terror group, during a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

In recent months, the Israel Defense Forces has forced several Iranian flights to make U-turns over Syrian or Iraqi airspace, after they were suspected of carrying weapons to Hezbollah.

The IDF has said that, during the truce, it would continue to act to prevent all weapon deliveries to the Lebanese terror group, including by striking shipments anywhere in Lebanon or Syria.


Seth Frantzman: Are Kurds under threat amid civil war resurgence in Syria?
With the HTS offensive, the Kurds are now again in the spotlight. This is because pro-Turkey propagandists are trying to create tensions in Syria by portraying the SDF or YPG as pro-Assad.

In addition, Turkey is pushing the SNA to attack the Kurds. HTS has turned south from Aleppo to fight the regime in and around Hama, taking the pressure of Kurds in Aleppo and Tal Rifaat.

Things could change. There is talk of tensions near Deir Ezzor and Khasham near the Euphrates River. The SDF could make a move as the regime weakens and takes over more areas.

Already, reports say the SDF has taken over some areas the regime has abandoned, including some airfields. This is important, but if Turkey thinks the SDF is getting too strong, it might attack it.

In 2019, Turkey got the Trump administration to say it would withdraw from Syria. This risked the existence of the SDF.

Many wheels are in motion in Syria. It could leave Kurds and other minorities exposed. These groups have often been pushed to support the regime with claims that if they don’t, then the opposition will persecute them.This creates a vicious cycle in which minorities are pressed to support the regime and then portrayed as pro-regime supporters and attacked because of it. This leads them to back the regime, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Kurds, who have a long history of oppression at the hands of the regime, are powerful enough to have a third way – an autonomy that leaves them outside the regime camp and outside the Syrian rebel camp.

This can also potentially make them seem to be opponents of both. That doesn’t always work out well, but it’s the “least bad” option so far for the Kurds in Syria.


President Bashar al-Assad's Aleppo Palace invaded by Syrian rebels
President Bashar al-Assad's Palace in Aleppo was invaded by Syrian rebels on Sunday evening, according to Arab media reports.

The take overcomes after Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels swept into the city of Aleppo on Saturday, nearly encircling the remaining SAA pro-Regime forces, leading to a reinforcement by SDF-Kurdish forces.

The Palace was captured along with the nearby Aleppo Military Academy, during which they claimed to capture Russian air defense systems.

Almost the entirety of Aleppo is currently in rebel hands, except for a few Kurdish neighborhoods in the north of the city that still remain in SDF hands. Otherwise, the city has been encircled. Some reports indicated that HTS and the SDF were negotiating a withdrawal of SDF troops. However, the SDF denied this.

Serious collapse
This is the first time since the beginning of the Battle of Aleppo (2012-16) that the Assad regime has lost control of Syria's second city, signaling a serious deterioration in control for the regime.

Reports indicate that all Assad troops have evacuated the city and that the only remaining non-rebel-held parts of the city are the northern Kurdish neighborhoods, which were reinforced and held by the SDF as regime troops pulled out.

The SDF and the SAA have tolerated each other since ISIS attempted to take over the region ten years ago, effectively partitioning the country into SDF-controlled (Kurdish majority) and SAA- controlled (Arab majority) regions.


Anti-Jewish attacks in Australia quadrupled after October 7, report finds
Australian Jews experienced more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents over the past year, more than quadruple the number from the previous year, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) said in a report published Sunday.

A total of 2,062 incidents were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, far more than the 495 incidents noted a year earlier. The total does not include antisemitic statements made on social media.

The findings were similar to those published last week on antisemitic behavior in New Zealand over the past year. That report, published by the New Zealand Jewish Council, found that there were 226 antisemitic attacks in the year following the October 7 attacks, more than in the nine years beforehand combined. There are fewer than 10,000 Jews living in New Zealand.

Antisemitic incidents have surged in Jewish communities around the world since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists in Gaza launched a war on Israel, infiltrating towns, killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 hostages in a shocking assault. Many countries are now facing anti-Jewish activity — fueled by virulent criticism of Israeli policies and amplified by incitement on social media — at levels not seen since the Holocaust, with antisemitic incidents up by 100% to 300% or more in many countries, according to surveys.

“There has never been anything like an annual increase of this magnitude,” said ECAJ research director Julie Nathan, who compiled the annual report. “If anything, the raw numbers understate the seriousness of the surge in antisemitism that has occurred.”

The most notable incidents included anti-Israel protests outside synagogues and Jewish schools, anti-Israel activists targeting small businesses owned by Jewish families, Jewish homes targeted with hate graffiti and stickers, and a huge increase in physical assaults against Jews and verbal abuse on the streets, Nathan noted.
'They were looking for Israelis': Israeli attacked by German tourist in Thailand
A German tourist attacked a 22-year-old Israeli tourist vacationing in northern Thailand, Ynet reported on Sunday.

"I passed by a group of four young Germans. One of them asked, 'Where are you from? Israel?' I turned around, and he punched me in the face," Ilay, the Israeli backpacker, told Ynet. "They pushed me, kicked me, and called me 'Israeli son of a wh***.'"

Ilay additionally reportedly sustained a wound to his eye after one of his assailants attacked him. He also suffered from swollen ribs.

"I feel they were looking for Israelis," the Israeli added. "It didn't seem like a mistake."

NSC raises level of travel warning to Thailand
On Sunday, the National Security Council raised the level of travel warnings to Thailand to level two. It had previously warned Israelis to be on alert in the country due to a potential threat.

Israeli visitors to Thailand were advised to avoid attending large events identified with Israel, especially those publicized in advance, as well as places of entertainment and leisure identified with Israel.
Bulgarian officials push to end annual march promoting antisemitism
Bulgarian Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov on Friday urged officials and the public to immediately halt the annual Lukov March in Sofia, citing its promotion of explicit antisemitic messages.

The call followed a meeting between Sarafov, Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization, and Gusti Yehoshua Braverman, head of the Department for Israelis Abroad at the organization. Sarafov described the march as a challenge to values of tolerance, mutual respect and equality, warning of its potential to harm Bulgaria’s social fabric and international relations.

Sarafov also advocated for Bulgaria to formally adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and incorporate it into national law, as part of a global effort to combat hate and Holocaust denial.

“The Lukov March undermines democracy, and its hateful messages have no place in our society,” Sarafov said. He also denounced antisemitic slogans such as “From the river to the sea,” calling for them to be banned, as they question the legitimacy of nations and peoples.

“I call on all responsible authorities in Bulgaria and the international community to act decisively against the spread of hate and to ensure that expressions of racism, antisemitism and incitement are eradicated,” Sarafov said.


Israel’s youngest spokesperson gives British schoolkids lessons in PR
Avital Zalmanovitch-Carasso remembers exactly where the family was when her son Ben, nine, said that he wanted to chronicle how life was for Israeli children since October 7.

“Ben had been in a chess lesson when the sirens went off and we went into our safe room with the teacher. That’s when he said he wanted to make a video.”

Since then, Ben, who is from Tel Aviv, has become something of a social media sensation, attracting viewers from Israel and abroad to his English-speaking Instagram and YouTube channels, where he explains what life is like for children like him in his newfound role of “Spokeskid for Israel”.

His videos were spotted by Israel’s best-known spokesperson, Eylon Levy, and Ben is now Levy’s youngest recruit to his initiative, the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons' Office.

During a brief break from touring Jewish schools in the UK, courtesy of the World Zionist Organisation, where Ben has been sharing his experiences and giving pupils tips on how they can also do hasbara (loosely translated as “PR for Israel”), he tells the JC that he was inspired by his mother, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, who travels around Europe lecturing on the Shoah, often with Ben in tow.

“My mum always finishes her lectures with ‘Never Again’, but when October 7 started, it happened again.”

Ben started to explain to his mother’s students how it felt to be a child in Israel “and we saw that people were listening and asking me questions. We thought it would be a nice thing if I spoke, but I don’t think we thought that I would end up being the spokeskid of Israel,” he says.

Seeing that Israel was struggling to win the PR battle on the international stage, he felt compelled to tell Israel’s side of the story –but through a child’s eyes. “I understand that there are a lot of people against Israel for no reason apart from [watching] fake news, while Hamas is kidnapping hostages, babies, children, women and men. The world is saying: ‘Look, look [at the Palestinians].’ But what about us? I can’t even put it into words how frustrating it is.”




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