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Wednesday, December 11, 2024

12/11 Links Pt1: Israel Chose, and the World Changed; How Israel Went From Disaster to Victory; Hamas hands hostage list to Egypt; What the Melbourne synagogue attack shows us about antisemitism in the diaspora

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: Israel Chose, and the World Changed
The great delusion of post-Marx history is that change results from vast impersonal forces rather than the workings of individual human actions and unforeseen circumstances. What history records is the way free will and sheer contingency gum up the works of the Great Machine of Progress.

Would there have been an Arab Spring without a fruit vendor in Tunisia setting himself on fire in 2010? What if Derek Chauvin had taken the day off on June 20, 2020? What if there had been a blizzard on January 6, 2021?

And…what if Yahya Sinwar had hit his head on a pipe in a tunnel on October 6, been concussed, and hadn’t given the order to move on the kibbutzim and the Nova festival on October 7? Had he hit his head, would we be living in a world today in which Hamas has been all but destroyed, in which Hezbollah has been literally and perhaps fatally crippled, in which Iranian strikes against Israel have led to the mullahs losing their air defenses while steeling themselves for the loss of their nuclear program—and with the Assads gone from power in Syria after 53 years of ghoulish evil the likes of which the world has rarely ever witnessed?

All for the want of a horseshoe nail.

You could argue that a war conducted by Israel to destroy Hamas was always in the cards, just as the Israelis demonstrated they had thought the same with Hezbollah, since, beginning in 2015, they planned to destroy the Iranian catamite army by creating a shell import-export company that specialized in communications devices—and then laid in wait to activate the plan.

The war happened, though, because Sinwar made it happen. It was different north of Israel. The Jewish state chose the time, manner, and place of the pager detonation. They chose. It didn’t just happen. Impersonal forces didn’t move the levers in Gaza or in Lebanon. Leaders did.

Now, why Israel waited as the country’s north was depopulated and the financial, logistical, and psychological costs of that depopulation mounted will be matters of controversy there for the coming generation. Clearly its leaders believed they had to deal with Sinwar’s unprecedented blow first. And clearly they were managing world opinion, which is to say American opinion.

Israel knew it needed to win the war with Hamas, and that there was no way to conclude the war with Hamas without turning north and taking out Hezbollah. And I think Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet (as much as they all hated and hate each other) knew that the United States under Joe Biden simply did not want Israel to win. Biden and Co. may have wanted Israel to prevail in some fashion—but not if it was going to be too much of a pain in the Democratic Party’s ass.
Jake Wallis Simons: With Assad gone, now is the time to bomb Iran’s nukes
The other day, an Israeli intelligence officer who shares information with British agencies in London told me about her work. “Iran is the big focus for us. But for the British, it is maybe third on their priority list,” she said.

Fair enough. Tehran may be a grave threat to Britain but due to its apocalyptic obsession with Jerusalem, it poses a far greater danger to Israel. Despite the differences in priorities, however, the Britain-Israel intelligence collaboration has long been very fruitful.

In 2015, for instance, a tip-off from Mossad led British police to uncover a Hezbollah bomb factory in northwest London with three tons of ammonium nitrate hidden in disposable ice packs. And as we saw this week, when it comes to the threat of nuclear weapons, the London-Jerusalem relationship has proven priceless.

When I visited him at his home a few years ago, Ram Ben-Barak, the former deputy director of Mossad, told me that in the early-2000s, British spies had alerted Mossad to rumours about a nuclear programme in Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria.

MI6 didn’t take the reports particularly seriously, he said. Mossad, however, viewed even a slim chance as a great danger and investigated the matter urgently. Thank God they did. On September 6, 2007 the Ehud Olmert government ordered the bombing of Bashar al-Assad’s nuclear programme.

At the time, many voices, both domestic and international, opposed the attack due to fears of escalation and instability. Even George W Bush – hardly a shrinking violet when it came to military action – refused to give it his blessing. Undeterred, Olmert and his defence minister, Ehud Barak, elected to go it alone.

Now that the contemptible Assad regime has collapsed, that decision looks especially shrewd. If Assad’s nukes hadn’t been destroyed by Israeli jets 17 years ago, Abu Mohammad al Jolani, the obscure 42-year-old terror chief who seized power in Syria last weekend, might well have found himself in control of them today.

It doesn’t bear thinking about. This is a man who took up the cause of jihad after being radicalised by the Second Intifada. This is a man who is literally named after the Golan Heights. Would he have been able to resist placing Tel Aviv in the nuclear crosshairs and pulling the trigger?
‘Opportunity’ to weaken Iran amid Syrian regime collapse, national security experts say
Bashar Assad’s rapid fall as president of Syria offers Israel and the United States a chance to bolster their regional security interests, experts said on Monday during a Jewish Institute for National Security of America online event.

“The Israelis don’t know what’s coming next—whether the next Syrian government will be hostile, and they want it to be as weak as possible, so they are actively targeting the Syrian military,” said Elliott Abrams, a former U.S. deputy national security advisor.

“What’s critical from the American national security point of view is that Syria not become a terrorist state along the lines of Al-Qaeda or ISIS, and that Syria no longer continues to be a highway of support for Hezbollah,” Abrams.

Israel has been using its air force to target chemical weapons stockpiles in recent days—“something they never could have done when there was an existing Syrian state because it would have been taken to be an act of war,” Abrams said.

“There are significant American interests in the region and now with this opportunity to destroy weaponry, Russia is losing out on its bases in the Mediterranean and this will weaken President Vladimir Putin,” he said.

John Hannah, a senior fellow at JINSA’s Center for Defense and Strategy, also addressed the online event. The incoming Trump administration won’t want to spend political capital intervening in Syria, he said.

“The president is making declarations about U.S. policy and meeting with foreign leaders, so we’re in this odd situation where it’s not exactly clear what U.S. policy is at a time of enormous opportunity to further weaken our worst adversaries in the region and establish a less threatening Syria,” Hannah said.

“I hope somehow we can get our act together with the Israelis to figure out what to do, because we may not have another opportunity to achieve the most important national security imperative for the United States, preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon state,” he added.


Hamas hands hostage list to Egypt
The Hamas terrorist group in Gaza has given Egyptian authorities a list of hostages it is holding as interlocuters continue to push for a ceasefire agreement, the Saudi-based Al-Arabiya channel reported on Tuesday.

The list included names of Israeli hostages who are ill and elderly and should be included in an exchange deal, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported. Hamas also provided a list of terrorists it wants Israel to release.

An Israeli delegation that arrived in Cairo after the Hamas delegation had left the Egyptian capital was then given a list of 30 hostages who would be released during an initial 60-day ceasefire, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.

The 30 Israeli captives meet the established humanitarian criteria, including adults over 50 years of age who suffer from serious medical conditions, Channel 13 reported, adding that the identities of the remaining hostages to be freed would be agreed on between the two parties during the two-month ceasefire period, on condition that Israel does not attack Hamas in Gaza and that the terrorist group does not attack Israeli forces positioned in the Strip.

The United States and Egypt are pressuring Jerusalem to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor, the approximately 110-yard wide, 8.7-mile-long strip of land running the length of Gaza’s border with Sinai, Kan News reported.

Hamas has demanded that Israel withdraw from the corridor and hand over full control of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt to the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas has for years smuggled weapons and other materials from Sinai into Gaza via a vast network of tunnels, which the IDF has been locating and dismantling since taking control of the border area in May.
This is my home! Hamas terrorists burned down her kibbutz, killed her husband and dog and kidnapped her — she can’t wait to return home in the shadow of Gaza
Liat Atzili lost nearly everything on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists rampaged through this kibbutz less than two miles from the Gaza border fence.

Terrorists murdered her husband Aviv Atzili and their dog Revy. They ransacked and burned her home and carried her off as a hostage.

But Atzili said she’s determined to return home to the kibbutz — despite the devastation and its proximity to the Gaza Strip.

Thirty-eight residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz were killed and 75 were kidnapped in the attack. In all, one in four residents was either murdered or taken hostage — leaving the kibbutz as one of the most devastated communities following the terror attack.

“I believe that that it’s really, really important to bring this place back to life. I think that not doing that is sort of a victory for Hamas, and that coming back here and living here,” said the US-Israeli citizen, who has family ties to New Jersey.

“I owe that to myself, to Aviv, to the other people who died protecting the place… I think that that’s what they would have wanted. So I’m very committed to it.”

Atzili was freed after six weeks in captivity as part of the first hostage deal. She has said her captors treated her reasonably well.

The history teacher also has not lost her optimism that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be resolved.

“I think we don’t have a choice,” she said. “Really, there are 14 million people living here between the river and the sea, and nobody’s going anywhere, so we might as well find ways to live together.”

More than a year later, Atzili’s home and dozens of others in the community remain in ruins. Her own house was badly damaged by fire, but it remains repairable, she believes.

Before Kibbutz Nir Oz can rebuild, parts of it must first be destroyed — homes damaged beyond repair must be demolished so that new ones can be rebuilt.


Israel’s Priorities in Syria
What should Israel do now?
Beyond celebrating the demise of the 54-year-old Assad family regime in Syria, Israel should contemplate some immediate steps.

- Military deployments along the Golan Heights border with Syria have taken place, but should not reach a point where they are seen on the other side of the border as a menace. There is no reason to fear the rebel factions in the adjacent Dara’a and Quneitra provinces. Many of their commanders were assisted by Israel for years before they had to accept a deal with Assad in 2018. Some of those commanders regularly met Israeli officers in Tiberias and in other places. Many villages in this region have benefited in the past decade from Israel’s Good Neighborhood operation, which provided humanitarian aid on a large scale, and many were treated in a field hospital established especially for them on the Israeli side of the border. Israel should invest in cultivating relations with the local activists, offer support and appear helpful in the coming negotiations on “the Day After in Syria” already initiated by the UN envoy Geir Pedersen.

- Humanitarian assistance to the half million Syrian Druze in the province of Sweida, 100 kilometers east of the Golan. During the past year, the Druze have embarked on a non-armed revolt against Assad and they need to be strengthened in order to insure their role in the future. Israel can drop assistance from the air, but it would be more effective to open a “humanitarian corridor” either from the Golan – as part of a renewed Good Neighborhood operation – or through a three kilometer corridor from the Jordan desert to the southern-most Druze village, al-Anat. From there, trucks could reach the provincial capital Sweida in an hour or so.

- Political advocacy with the incoming Trump administration to maintain the small American military presence (900 soldiers) in the Kurdish territory of northeast Syria beyond the Euphrates river and in the Tanf enclave where the Syrian, Jordanian and Iraqi borders meet. This minimal presence is essential to keep the Kurdish administration and military forces as a buffer against Iranian attempts to gain reentry into Syria. This presence bolsters the US ability to steer the negotiations over a new constitution and government in a sensible direction.

- Diplomatic relations-mending with Turkey’s ErdoฤŸan as the war winds down. Turkey has managed to have the upper hand in its competition with Iran over influence in Syria. Rapprochement with ErdoฤŸan would be complicated yet not impossible. There have been up and down cycles in recent years between Israel and Turkey. The Trump team could encourage such dialogue in order to advance collaboration of moderate Sunni Arab states with both Turkey and Israel as a solid barrier to fend off any Iranian aspirations to regain predominance in the Levant.
'Post' visits Syria in first Israeli media visit since 1974
The Jerusalem Post, on Wednesday, participated in a dramatic visit to an abandoned Syrian base at Tel Kudne in southern Syria, embedded with the IDF, as part of the first Israeli media visit to that country since the 1973-4 Yom Kippur War and armistice.

To the Post’s best knowledge, the last time an affiliated reporter visited Syria, was Abraham Rabinowitz, who visited multiple times between the end of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 1974 armistice.

Standing on the top of Tel Kudne, which was the site of an intense battle during the 1973 War, the Post was able to see nearby the village of Kudne below as well as the village of Jaba, and other Syrian villages and hills deeper into the distance.

Looking to the Israeli side of the border, I was able to see Alonei Habashan and Keshet, which are slightly east of the Gamla National Park and Katzrin in the Golan.

The Post approached the Syrian base at Tel Kudne on an extremely bumpy road in a Sandcat Tigris, a small armored vehicle, winding through the Kudne village for a couple of kilometers, which was almost entirely deserted.

During the couple hours that the Post was in Syrian territory, I only saw one Syrian civilian and not a single Syrian soldier despite having a 360-view of several kilometers around the area.

IDF sources said that the country’s new rulers, the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have not yet had the time to send any forces to the southern border, being that they invaded Damascus from the North and were also themselves surprised at how quickly they advanced.

The base appeared rundown and poorly kept, which would not necessarily be presumed, given that the IDF said that the Syrian soldiers manning the base only fled from it on Friday, less than a week ago.

Sources from the IDF said that the state of the base and its weaponry was more poorly kept than bases belonging to Hamas and Hezbollah, which the IDF has recently overrun.
How Israel Went From Disaster to Victory | Israel Undiplomatic w/ Mark Regev & Ruthie Blum
News in Israel changes from minute to minute, and the past week has been no different. A notable difference is Jerusalem's change of course vis-ร -vis its enemies—from the defensive stance that has pervaded policy since the 1990s to the return of an old-school, aggressive posturing.

Join JNS senior contributing editor Ruthie Blum and Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom—both former advisers at the Prime Minister's Office—for a heated discussion on the latest news unfolding in the region!

Also, they will be discussing the chaos in Syria and what to expect next; the defanging of Hezbollah; nuclear Iran; and antisemitism on the rise.




United Nations ‘rotten’ with anti-Israel bias: Andrew Bolt
Sky News host Andrew Bolt says the United Nations is “rotten” with anti-Israel bias.

Syrian rebels have appointed Mohammed al-Bashir as the country’s interim prime minister.

UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen says HTS rebels have been sending “good messages” to the Syrian people and has seen “reassuring things” on the ground.

“Nothing Israel does to protect itself is right while Syrians – they can murder each other in the hundreds and hundreds of thousands and no real worries,” Mr Bolt said.




BREAKING: Israel DESTROYS Syrian AIR FORCE and NAVY
In the wake of Bashar Assad’s ousting, Israel has struck hard in Syria, launching 300 airstrikes in just a few days—marking probably their boldest air strike since the six-day war in 1967. From destroying air defense systems and Russian-made jets, to sinking Syrian warships, Israel’s response is nothing short of decisive. Watch to see Ben Hilton break down Israel’s bold moves in Syria and what it means for the future of the region.


In the Golan, Druze residents celebrate Assad’s fall
On the main square of the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Israel’s Golan Heights, Nabi Halabi mingled with dozens of fellow residents waving Free Syria flags to loud music at an impromptu celebration on Monday of the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime.

Halabi, 57, greeted his neighbors with a hearty “mabrouk”—Arabic for congratulations—as boys from his community danced around the square’s imposing statue of a sword-brandishing Sultan al-Atrash, a late Druze national leader.

The party, which featured a cake in the colors of the Free Syria flag, was about the collapse of the Assad dynasty’s 51-year-long reign in Syria, where Golan Druze have many relatives. But the festivities were only partly over events in Syria: The celebration was also about what the revolution means for the Druze of the Golan, who may now feel freer to integrate into Israeli society.

“We constantly had this nightmare under Assad, that the Golan would be given back. Now this reality has changed,” said Halabi, who works in renewable energy.

He was referencing a predicament that has defined the Golan’s 20,000-odd Druze since their communities came under Israel’s control in 1967. Nabi Halabi attends a celebration of the fall of Bashar Assad’s dictatorship, in Majdal Shams, Israel on Dec. 9, 2024. Photo by Canaan Lidor.

Amid periodical discussions about returning the land to Assad’s Syria as part of a potential peace agreement, the Golan’s Druze residents have predominantly declined Israeli citizenship, asserting that they consider themselves Syrian citizens living under occupation.

This narrative was widely understood as a communal alibi in case such a deal materialized and they once again became subjects of the oppressive Assad regime, which had waged several wars against Israel even before it became an Iranian client regime in recent years.

In practice, though, the Druze of the Golan integrated enthusiastically into the fabric of society in the predominantly Jewish region, setting up hundreds of businesses in the area, which they market in Hebrew to Jewish patrons.

Especially millennials and younger Golan Druze tend to be fluent in Hebrew and English as well as their native Arabic. Culturally plugged into the Israeli mainstream and its fashions, the appearance of some of them—complete with nose rings, blue-dyed hair and dreadlocks—sharply contrasts with the traditional attire favored by their elders.


France calls on Israel to exit Syria buffer zone as Spain, Germany urge restraint
France called on Israel to withdraw its troops from the buffer zone along the border with Syria, while Germany and Spain urged Jerusalem to show restraint during the transition period in its northern neighbor.

The French Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces must pull back from the zone separating Syria from the Israeli Golan Heights, stating that “any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday he had ordered the army to “seize” the demilitarized zone in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights as a defensive move after rebels swept Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from power.

“France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the foreign ministry spokesman said.

The area is patrolled by a UN peacekeeping force known as UNDOF, with the global body warning Israel on Monday that it is in breach of the 50-year-old deal that ended a 1973 war with Syria. Israel has said it will not become involved in the conflict in Syria and that its seizure of the buffer zone established in 1974 was a defensive move, and that it has taken “limited and temporary measures” solely to protect its security.

Meanwhile, Germany’s foreign minister on Wednesday urged both Israel and Turkey not to jeopardize a peaceful transition in Syria after the ousting of Assad.

“We must not allow the internal Syrian dialogue process to be torpedoed from the outside,” Annalena Baerbock told a Berlin press conference. “Neighbors such as the Turkish and Israeli governments, which are asserting their security interests, must not jeopardize the process.”
Why are Iran and Turkey moving to condemn Israel’s role in Syria?
Meanwhile, Al-Arabiya also reported about Turkey slamming Israel. “The Turkish foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it strongly condemned Israel’s entry into the buffer zone between Israel and Syria and its advance into Syrian territory,” the report said. “Israel is once again displaying its occupation mentality,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Turkey is trying to become a power broker in Syria. Turkey invaded Afrin in northern Syria in 2018 and ethnically cleansed it of Kurds, moving militias into the area.

Later Turkey also invaded another area in Syria in 2019, effectively controlling around half of the border areas of northern Syria, including areas with hundreds of thousands of Syrians. When the Syrian rebels moved to oust Assad, Turkey ordered militias to attack the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish group. Turkey has used the power vacuum in Syria to attack Kurds. Israel has expressed support for Kurds in Syria. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar posted a message on December 10 saying “the attacks on Kurds must stop.”

On December 9 Sa’ar said that in a briefing to foreign “I emphasized the importance of protecting minorities in Syria. The attacks on the Kurds, as we saw yesterday in Manbij, must stop! We are discussing this with our friends in the U.S. administration and other countries. The international community has a moral obligation toward those who fought bravely against ISIS and are also a stabilizing force in Syria.”

Qatar has also slammed Israel and it appears that many commentators who are linked to Doha are being mobilized to highlight Israel’s activity in Syria. “The State of Qatar strongly condemns the Israeli occupation's seizure of the buffer zone with the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic and the neighboring leadership sites, considering it a dangerous development and a blatant attack on Syria's sovereignty and unity, as well as a flagrant violation of international law,” Doha said on December 9.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar said that it “warns that the policy of imposing a fait accompli pursued by the Israeli occupation, including its attempts to occupy Syrian territories, will lead the region to further violence and tension. In this context, The Ministry stresses the need for the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities to compel the occupation to comply with international legitimacy resolutions, as well as to unite in confronting its opportunistic schemes.”


“Israel Doesn’t Want a Stable Syria”: The Independent’s Flawed Analysis
The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley has a long history of reporting from the Middle East for several mainstream media outlets including CNN, Sky News, and London’s Evening Standard. Despite presenting himself as something of an expert, his flawed judgment was most famously on display in 2002 when Kiley conjured up witnesses to speak of Israel’s “staggering brutality and callous murder” in Jenin when the media libeled Israel for a massacre that never was.

Taking on the dramatic fall of the Assad regime for The Independent, Kiley’s analysis includes the following:
Israel doesn’t want a stable Syria, as the Jewish state has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967, and captured more in 1973. It won’t ever allow Damascus to return to the eastern banks of the Sea of Galilee.

Israel “doesn’t want a stable Syria.”

Really?

History and common sense suggest otherwise.

- While the Golan Heights have suffered rocket attacks, including the deadly attack that killed 12 children in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in July 2024, that rocket was fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon. Israel’s border with Syria has actually been one of its quietest over many decades with any security incidents few and far between — stability that has benefited Israel.

- In the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel and Syria signed the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement, which until now has been the longest successful continuous agreement Israel has ever had with an Arab country. That Israel has reacted to the end of the Assad regime by moving forces into the buffer zone to temporarily secure the area of the Syrian Golan where the Syrian Army has fled is a testament to the stability that the agreement brought for some five decades.

- When it comes to Bashar al-Assad, for Israeli policymakers it may be better the devil you know. Granted, Assad was a despicable dictator but he was a known and relatively predictable actor whose primary interest in recent years was his regime’s survival. With Assad gone, Israel is faced with chaos in Syria and a potential takeover by hostile jihadist groups. While Islamist rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has attempted to portray himself and his forces as relative moderates, footage of a rebel spokesman surrounded by gunmen stating, “From here to Jerusalem. We’re coming for Jerusalem. Patience, people of Gaza, patience,” illustrates the potential dangers from Syria’s new rulers. Israel certainly does not benefit from the instability in Syria.


Media Claim Sydney Mob’s Chants for Massacre of Jews Is ‘Celebrating Syrian Regime Change’
There has been outcry over the BBC’s coverage of Syria after the corporation's chief correspondent suggested that Jews will have “a space” in the Arab state's “new chapter”.

In a live report from Damascus, the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet suggested that Jews in Syria would want to return to the Old City to live next to Muslim and Christian neighbours.

Speaking from the Syrian capital on Wednesday, Doucet said: “This is one of the most diverse countries in the Middle East with multiple Christian [and] Muslim sects and you can see it here in the Old City, all the different quarters, Jewish, Muslim, Christian - they’re all here and they want to believe they have a space now as Syria embarks on this new chapter.”

Doucet’s comments have been widely ridiculed, with Jewish officials pointing out that Syria is home to an estimated three Jews following a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Arab state.

The official spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy to the UK, Orly Goldschmidt, noted: “In the 1940s, Syria's Jewish community was 40,000 strong. Today just an estimated three remain. Good luck finding a Jew in Syria for an interview.”

The Board of Deputies’ Director of Public Affairs Daniel Sugarman echoed her comments, “You may find a ‘Jewish Quarter’ in Damascus. You won’t find Jews to interview, though... After hideous state repression (starting well before the Assad regime), the number of Jews there is now three.

“The ethnic cleansing of Jews from Arab lands is something that all post-colonial theorists across the world will ignore, deny or downplay,” Sugarman posted on X.
Outcry after BBC reporter suggests Jews will live in ‘diverse’ Syria

JPost Editorial: What the Melbourne synagogue attack shows us about antisemitism in the diaspora
The Melbourne attack broadcast two messages. First, that Jews aren’t safe, anywhere, and second, that anything can be a target if the ends, whatever they may be, are justified enough in the mind of its attackers.

Australia’s government defended its record on antisemitism, saying on Saturday that since Albanese took office in May 2022, the government has provided A$25 million ($16 m.) to upgrade security at Jewish sites including schools, banned the Nazi salute, and taken action against hate speech. Laws passed last year also banned public displays of terror group symbols.

However, this is a late-stage Band-Aid to the equivalent of a heart condition. The sense of a lack of legitimacy and safety did not begin with the Melbourne arson attack. There was the June vandalizing and arson of Jewish parliamentarian Josh Burns’ office, and the defacement of vehicles, along with arson, in Sydney in November. A report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry found a 316% increase in anti-Jewish incidents in Australia from October 7, 2023, through this past September.

“Everyone has the right to be proud of who they are and to feel welcome, safe, and supported in Australia,” Albanese said on Sunday. “Antisemitism has no place in our country. We unequivocally condemn it.”

The Australian government on Monday, three days after the attack, announced the formation of a counter-antisemitism task force. The Special Operation Avalite for Antisemitism will work with state and territory police to address issues like calls to violence or the advocating for terrorism or genocide.

But the government must do more. Unlike what Netanyahu said, this is not just about Israel, and tying between those two things can devalue the scope and trauma of the attack.

In a world growing more globalized by the day, with identities blurring, it is important to separate attacks like these from each other when they happen. They are domestic incidents first and must be tackled as such. Let’s hope the Australian government follows up on its promises and that the Australian Jewish community begins to feel the effects of personal safety again soon.
After Massive Arson Attack, We in Australia’s Jewish Community Are Under Siege
On Friday morning, the world of the Australian Jewish community changed forever. The confidence that the community has always known has vanished — replaced with a new reality of uncharted, dangerous waters, where tolerance and security are no longer guarantees.

The impact of seeing a holy place of worship burning in the very heart of Jewish Melbourne, was like a stab in the heart of the Jewish people.

A synagogue represents so much more than a house of worship. It is a sanctuary for reflection, for learning, and for community gathering. For Jews, it is a cornerstone of identity and faith. An attack on such a place is not only an assault on Jewish life, but an assault on the core values that define Australia as a tolerant and inclusive society.

Australia’s relationship with its Jewish population has long been defined by warmth, mutual respect, and shared values — tracing all the way back to the early days of the country’s formation. It was the first country to vote in favor of the 1947 partition plan that paved the way for the establishment of the modern-day State of Israel. It was also the famed Australia Light Horse brigade that conquered Beersheba in October 1917, which enabled British forces to break the Ottoman line, leading to the end of Ottoman rule in the Land of Israel.

But the deliberate firebomb attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne reflects a broader, troubling trend. In recent times, the social fabric of Australia has come under severe strain, mirroring challenges in other parts of the world. The dramatic rise in antisemitism, up 316% since the October 7, 2023 Hamas pogrom — and Israel’s defensive response — has been particularly heartbreaking, given the country’s history as a refuge for Jewish people fleeing persecution.

Melbourne’s Jewish community, for instance, has a large number of descendants of Jews who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust. And the country has the largest population of Holocaust survivors per capita outside of Israel. Many found safety in Australia, a land free from the deep-seated prejudices of Europe. They rebuilt their lives and became integral contributors to Australian society. For these families, the attack on a synagogue in Melbourne echoes the dark past their ancestors sought to leave behind.


‘Too little, too late’: Albanese tries to ‘put the antisemitism genie back in the bottle’
Sky News host Sharri Markson has blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his inaction on antisemitism.

“The Prime Minister tried to put the antisemitism genie back in the bottle – too little, too late,” Ms Markson said.

“It seems we can’t get through a week without another antisemitic incident unfolding.

“Our political leaders and law enforcement have allowed it to spread for 14 months, and now they’re trying to act, and it’s just too late.”




Foreign Minister's rhetoric 'endangers' the Jewish community
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip claims Foreign Minister Penny' Wong's continued use of "demonising, provocative and incendiary" rhetoric "endangers" the Jewish community.

"I couldn't bring myself to go and hear the prime minister talk about antisemitism whilst his government continues to plot further policy moves against the state of Israel," Mr Ossip told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

"He [Anthony Albanese] fails to rein in his foreign minister who continues to use incendiary, demonising, and provocative rhetoric which in my opinion endangers the Jewish community."


‘Missing in action’: Prime Minister under fire as Jewish community ‘cries out for leadership’
Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume claims the Jewish community in Victoria and New South Wales are “crying out for leadership” which hasn’t been shown by the Prime Minister.

This comes after a synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed last week, and a prominent Jewish Sydney community was attacked for the second time in less than a month.

This has prompted backlash at Anthony Albanese over the federal government’s response to the rise in antisemitism in Australia.

“This is outrageous – antisemitism has no place in Australia, no place in a multicultural ... society, a tolerant society, and we’re looking to our leadership to stamp this out,” Ms Hume told Sky News Australia.

“Unfortunately, Anthony Albanese has been missing in action.”


Antisemitism terror attacks send ‘chilling message’ around Australia
Sky News host Chris Kenny discusses the lives “terrorised” as multiple antisemitism terror attacks occur around Australia.

“It has happened again, we have warned about it since October the ninth last year … how often and how long we have been calling out the weakness of Anthony Albanese and the state governments as they have stood by and let antisemitism rise,” Mr Kenny said.

“Now it is getting worse.”


‘Horrible’: Antisemitism ‘spreading’ across the world
Newsweek Deputy Opinion Editor Batya Ungar-Sargon says it is “horrible” to see the rise in antisemitism “spreading” across the entire world, particularly Australia.

“It’s, of course, horrible to see this spreading,” she told Sky News host Danica De Giorgio.

“It’s horrible to see my fellow Jews having to deal with this kind of thing.”




Hate crime to be met with ‘full response’ from NSW Police
NSW Premier Chris Minns has condemned the “hate crime” in Sydney’s eastern suburb of Woollahra, calling it a “disgusting display of antisemitism”.

Police are investigating after a car was set alight and “F**k Israeil” (sic) was graffitied in Magney Street, Woollahra early on Wednesday morning.

The latest incident, which occurred just around the corner from The AJN’s Sydney office, follows a car damaging and graffiti spree in Woollahra last month and the arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne last Friday morning.

Minns, along with Police commissioner Karen Webb, announced during a news conference that Operation Shelter will have, operationally, the same level of resources that were in place post-October 7 as the state looks to tackle the spate of antisemitic incidents.

“This is a full response across NSW to ensure the public feels safe at a time of heightened community tension,” said Minns.

“A hate crime on the streets of Sydney, a violent act of destruction, clearly antisemitic, designed to strike fear into the community that lives in this part of Sydney.

“This violent act will be met with the full response from NSW Police.”

Minns said he had spoken to Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon about the incident.

“In that conversation made it very clear to him that we regarded this as a disgusting display of antisemitism and that the vast majority of people that live in NSW are horrified by it and recognise Israel an ally and friend of Australia,” said Minns.

“I want to make the clear and unambiguous.”
NSW Premier rejects Penny Wong’s Israel-Russia comparison
NSW Premier Chris Minns has rejected the comments of Foreign Minister Penny Wong after she equated the democratic state of Israel with the authoritarian regime in Russia.

The Foreign Minister said Australia cannot “pick and choose” when it comes to international law, as she put Israel in the same basket as Russia and China during her recent address to the University of South Australia for the Bob Hawke Lecture.

When asked about Ms Wong’s comments on Wednesday, Mr Minns told Sky News he did not accept the comparison but admitted he had not read the speech.

“If you're asking me directly, would I equate the actions of Russia with the democratic actions of the state of Israel? The answer is no,” Mr Minns said.

“I'm not going to… equate the democratic state of Israel with the actions of Russia. I'm not going to do that. And I don't believe that's the case.

“It's difficult for me to comment about a speech that I haven't read.”

The Foreign Minister has been criticised by Jewish leaders for a supposed campaign against Israel amid Australia’s spiralling relationship with Jerusalem.

"By definition, Australia can't pick and choose which rules we are going to apply," Ms Wong said in her speech on Monday night.

“We expect Russia to abide by international law and end its illegal full-scale war on Ukraine.

“We expect China to abide by international legal decisions in the South China Sea. We also expect Israel to abide by international law.”

The Foreign Minister also said it was “not antisemitic to expect that Israel should comply with the international law”.

The comment appeared to be in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has blamed the Albanese government for enforcing antisemitic policies.

“Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism,” Mr Netanyahu said on Saturday after Australia voted against Israeli’s occupation of Palestine at the United Nations.

The Israeli Prime Minister also accused the Albanese government of an “extreme anti-Israeli position”.

Ms Wong used her Hawke Lecture to defend Labor's stance on Israel as the Coalition has blamed the Prime Minister for “emboldening and enabling” antisemitic crime.
Labor urged to ‘pump the breaks’ on ‘virtue signalling’ against Israel at UN
Former Labor minister Mike Kelly has urged the Albanese government to “pump the breaks” on their “virtue signalling” against Israel at the United Nations.

Victoria Police announced it was treating the arson attack on the Addas Israel Synagogue of Melbourne as an act of terrorism on Monday.

“I was sick to my stomach,” Mr Kelly told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“To see what happened in Melbourne at Addas Israel was just a shock.

“We know where this leads – it’s a stepping stone – and what really disturbs me and concerns me now, and the risk there at Addas was the loss of human life.

“It’s time now to really make this a bipartisan push and pump the breaks on all this virtue signalling at the UN, which is, without question, feeding this, and really the comments from Penny Wong yesterday really aren’t helping.”


Albanese government has ‘tilted against Israel’
Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Colin Rubenstein says the Albanese government “cannot claim no responsibility” for the rise in antisemitism.

Mr Rubenstein told Sky News host Chris Kenny the Labor government has been “consistently one-sided” and “biased” in their approach to antisemitism.

“Since coming to government of course, they’ve tilted against Israel.”


ABC under fire for questioning why NSW premier labelled Sydney attack ‘antisemitic’
Former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger has called out Australia's national broadcaster for its "anti-Israel bias" after a breakfast radio host challenged NSW Premier Chris Minns on why he described an attack on a Jewish community in Sydney as "antisemitic."

Woollahra, a prominent Jewish community in Sydney, was attacked overnight with at least one car set on fire and two homes vandalised with antisemitic graffiti, in one instance the vandalism read: “Kill Israiel” – the country's name spelt incorrectly.

Fill-in ABC Sydney breakfast host Chris Taylor on Wednesday extensively questioned NSW Premier Chris Minns on why he had labelled the carnage as “antisemitic” as opposed to “anti-Israel”.

“Just on your wording in your statement this morning, what’s your reasoning for branding the attack anti-Semitic and not anti-Israel? How do you make that distinction?” Mr Taylor asked the premier on Wednesday morning.

The Labor premier responded: “I mean, I think we would have to be wilful at this point to turn a blind eye to that sequence of events and suggest it’s anything other than an anti-Semitic attack.

“And I want to make it clear if there was an attack on any other community group in NSW on the basis of their religion or on the basis of their nationality, then I would say exactly the same thing.”

The radio host pressed the premier for more details, asking: “So if you’re calling it anti-Semitic rather than just a political anti-Israel statement… you’ve been in the public eye for a long time, would you say anti-Semitism is at an all-time high in your experience?”

Mr Minns responded in the affirmative.


Greens staffer reprimanded for suggesting synagogue arson may have been ‘false flag’
Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi has reprimanded her chief of staff for suggesting last week’s Melbourne synagogue firebombing could have been perpetrated by supporters of an Israeli state to provoke outrage about antisemitism.

Antoun Issa, a former Guardian Australia journalist who works for the Greens’ antiracism spokeswoman, urged people not to rush to judgment about the motivation for the attack after the Coalition put pressure on Labor to declare it was terrorism.

“It could very well be a white supremacist or someone enraged by the genocide or a Zionist false-flag,” he told his 15,000 Instagram followers on Monday. “They’ve done this before,” Issa added, without elaborating.

After this masthead asked Faruqi’s office about the post, the senator said the remarks were “inadvisable and inappropriate”.

“I do not agree with it, and have counselled my staff member about it,” Faruqi said in a statement. Greens leader Adam Bandt also called the post inappropriate.

Issa said: “In hindsight, I regret this post and it was inappropriate. This post was intended to be an academic exercise about the risks of ascribing blame for a crime before the police have come to their conclusions, especially given the prevalence of white supremacy and far-right extremism.”


School of War: Ep 163: School of War Goes to Israel—Lessons from a Savage Year
Host Aaron MacLean recently embedded with the Israeli Defense Forces and saw firsthand Israel’s war with Iranian proxy groups Hezbollah and Hamas. What lessons can Americans learn from Israel’s year of fighting for its survival? Times
• 03:28 The North
• 04:26 Metula
• 07:45 Yishai
• 10:00 Realities and misconceptions
• 18:06 Stalemate
• 22:33 Shaping the fight
• 40:00 Reconnaissance-strike complex
• 46:38 Dotan Razili
• 50:50 Iron Dome in action
• 54:43 Sarit Zehavi
• 1:11:01 Hezbollah defeated
• 1:12:58 “Knowing but not understanding”
IDF strikes in Gaza take out top Oct. 7 terrorists
The Israel Defense Forces killed two senior Hamas terrorists who were among the leaders of the Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre of some 1,200 people, the army said on Wednesday following strikes in Gaza.

Fahmi Salami, who according to the IDF commanded the elite Nukhba Force of Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion in Gaza City and led the Oct. 7 assault on the Paga military outpost near Kibbutz Be’eri, was killed in an airstrike on a structure that had previously served as a school.

In addition to leading the Oct. 7 attack, in which 14 soldiers of the IDF’s Golani Brigade died, Salami “promoted and led many acts of terrorism against our forces during the war,” the army stated.

In a separate airstrike in the Jabalia area of the northern Gaza Strip that was carried out last week, the IDF killed Salah Dahman, the head of the terrorist group’s paraglider unit, the army confirmed on Wednesday. Hamas used paragliders to infiltrate the Jewish state on Oct. 7.

Israel “will continue to act decisively against Hamas terrorists involved in the murderous massacre of October 7,” the statement concluded.

IDF ground forces have been fighting in the coastal enclave following a weeks-long air campaign in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion.

Jerusalem’s war goals for the Strip are to destroy Hamas’s capabilities, ensure that it cannot threaten Israel again, and return the remaining 100 captives held by the terrorists.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Wednesday emphasized the need for ground operations to defeat Hamas, speaking at a ceremony marking a change of command for the Ground Forces.

Hamas “cannot be defeated without entering Gaza on foot and operating inside the tunnels,” Halevi said. “Without maneuvering, we couldn’t eliminate Hamas operatives, locate infrastructure or cause the enemy real distress.”

He added, “We are far from finished. We will not stop until the hostages are returned and Hamas is eradicated. We will continue as long as Hamas seeks to govern.”


Gaza terrorists fire four rockets at Israel
Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired four rockets at southern Israel on Wednesday morning, setting off sirens in several towns and villages along the border.

The Israel Defense Forces intercepted two of the rockets, with the others impacting in open areas, causing no damage.

The IDF’s year-plus-long offensive in Gaza has greatly curbed rocket fire from the Strip, although terrorists in the enclave still intermittently target the Jewish state.

Last week, the Israeli Air Force intercepted one rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip.

On Nov. 21, terrorist forces in Gaza launched a rocket at the border community of Kerem Shalom, triggering sirens in the kibbutz, located at the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border near the crossing of the same name. The rocket was successfully intercepted, causing no injuries or damage.

A rocket from Gaza set off sirens in Kibbutz Erez on Nov. 13, impacting in an open area. No injuries were reported. The community is located less than a mile from the Strip’s northern border and is the namesake of the Erez Crossing.

On Nov. 25, the Israeli military reported that Abd el-Halim Abu Hussein, the head of rocket operations for Hamas’s Western Jabalia battalion, was among several terrorists killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza city. He was responsible for numerous rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli civilians, as well as against Israeli forces in Gaza.


One lightly injured in Bnei Brak terror attack
A 21-year-old man was lightly wounded in an alleged vehicular assault in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak east of Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening.

Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah first responders treated the man on the scene for injuries to his extremities and back before evacuating him to the city’s Maayanei HaYeshua Hospital. Police at the scene of a terror ramming attack in Bnei Brak, Dec. 10, 2024. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.

The suspected assailant, an Arab Israeli man, fled the scene of the attack and was pursued by motorcycle officers from the Bnei Brak-Ramat Gan Police station, according to Israel Police. The chase ended in a nearby underground parking lot, where the man was arrested.

According to an initial investigation, the suspect intentionally drove onto the sidewalk, striking the pedestrian. According to Ynet, police suspected a criminal motive at first, but later determined the motive to be nationalistic.
Three Breslov Chassidim shot on the way to Joseph’s Tomb
Three Israeli men were shot and lightly wounded on their way to pray at the Joseph’s Tomb compound overnight Tuesday, according to Hebrew media reports.

The three men, members of the Breslov sect of Chassidic Judaism, had entered Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria after driving through an Israeli military checkpoint and fled after being fired on, later seeking medical attention at Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, where police subsequently detained them.

“A report was received that during the night, gunfire was directed at an Israeli vehicle that broke through a checkpoint and illegally entered the city of Nablus in the Samaria Brigade’s area. The vehicle exited the city, and its occupants sought medical attention independently. The incident will be investigated,” the IDF spokesperson said, as quoted by Kikar HaShabbat.


A new film spotlights how the Israel-Hamas war played out in poster battles on NYC streets
Israeli-American filmmaker Nim Shapira was in his hometown of Tel Aviv celebrating Simchat Torah and his mother’s birthday on Oct. 7, 2023. That morning, he woke up to rockets, and watched the news in horror as the number of casualties and hostages rose.

It was a harrowing, life-changing experience. But it was how the ensuing conflict between Israel and Hamas played out in New York City, his home since 2013 — thousands of miles from the deadly war — that inspired his most recent film, “Torn.” The film focuses on “Kidnapped from Israel” posters that rapidly appeared around the city and across the globe in the days and weeks following Hamas’ attack, and how they became flashpoints in the culture war over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

When Shapira returned to New York in early November, he, like countless other New Yorkers, was drawn to the very public street campaign to raise awareness about the 240 hostages taken by Hamas. The “Kidnapped” posters appeared at innumerable venues across the city — subway stations, restaurants, politicians’ offices and much more. Just as quickly as they appeared, activists claiming to represent Palestinian voices would tear them down.

In the weeks following Oct. 7, the fast-spreading poster initiative provided an outlet for Jewish New Yorkers and other supporters of Israel who felt frustrated by their inability to aid the war effort, and were isolated by their distance from the fighting. At the same time, the posters became one more front in the battle for public opinion on the war. Many who tore down the posters berated the activists who put them up and launched a counter-campaign highlighting Palestinian losses.

The 75-minute “Torn” is playing at festivals and theatres around the country, including a forthcoming New York City screening at Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center on Dec. 12, followed by a screening at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan on Jan. 21. It explores the motivations of those who both put up and tore down the posters across the city. Following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, “Kidnapped” posters featuring Israeli hostages rapidly began appearing around New York City and elsewhere. (Screenshot from “Torn”)

“It’s a campaign that works in both physical and online spaces,” Shapira, 42, said of the poster campaign following a screening of “Torn” at New York University in October. “I wanted the film to talk about symbols and what symbols mean to us. When you are thousands of miles away from the conflict, most people don’t have skin in the game, but still participate in tearing down the posters. I wanted to explore this.”

“In some way, people tearing down the posters made them go more viral,” added Shapira, who lives in Brooklyn and previously worked in advertising. “I wanted to look at the zeitgeist of what happened and have the film be an invitation for a conversation.”

Among the many subjects of the film are the creators of the poster campaign, Israeli artists Dede Bandaid and Nitzan Mintz, who happened to be in New York City on a three-month art residency when the war began.

“Our Facebook feed was flooded with posts from parents, desperately looking for their children and vice versa,” Mintz explains in the film. “We’re in New York, where life carries on as if it’s all normal.”

“We started brainstorming on what we can do,” Bandaid adds. “How to use our expertise to echo the voices of the hostages? It was clear to us that we must do something in the street to capture New Yorkers’ attention.”
Sharri Markson sits down with Israeli singer Eden Golan
Sky News host Sharri Markson sat down with Israel singer and 2024 Eurovision competitor Eden Golan to discuss the global eruption of antisemitism, the backlash she has faced from her music and how the world has changed since the October 7 attacks.

Ms Markson praised the Jewish singer for her “incredible” Eurovision performance of her song ‘Hurricane’, which was a tribute to October 7.

“At just 21, Eden Golan has shown more leadership on antisemitism, and she has demanded stronger action on the hostage crisis than most people whose job it is to do so,” Ms Markson said.


Grammy Winner Kaya Jones Speaks on Israel, Shiloah TV, and Life as a Conservative Star
Join Ericka Redic and Dr. Lori Fineman as they welcome Grammy-award winning singer Kaya Jones. Kaya is deeply involved in pro-Israel advocacy, participating in Robert Chernin’s Israel Appreciation Day event this year. Hear from Kaya on her new streaming platform Shiloah TV, why Israel is so important to her, and what it is like to be conservative in the entertainment industry.

Grammy-winning recording artist Kaya Jones has a rich and unique background, shaped by her Jamaican family and deep connections to the Jewish faith. As a child, she spent countless hours in the synagogue and attended Hebrew Bible school in Orlando. A former member of The Pussycat Dolls, Kaya has since become a celebrated gospel artist and a passionate advocate for Israel.In the past year, Kaya dedicated four months volunteering in Israel, contributing her talents and insights to the nation’s cyberwarfare efforts. She is also the founder of Shiloah TV, a groundbreaking streaming platform dedicated to showcasing Judeo-Christian media.


Federal officials say government has little ability to block anti-Israel protest groups with history of violence
Federal officials from the Department of Interior told lawmakers that they have limited powers to block applications for permits on protests on public land — even if the people applying for such permits, such as pro-Hamas protest groups, have histories of violent activity.

The testimony came at a hearing on the pro-Hamas protest that defaced Washington, D.C.’s Union Station during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. The revelations about the National Park Service’s procedures are particularly notable given that the ANSWER Coalition — the same group that organized that demonstration, which created tens of thousands of dollars in damage to public property, included assaults on police and has resulted in four arrests — is also organizing a protest of the presidential inauguration in January.

Charles Cuvelier, the associate director of the National Park Service, said that the Department of the Interior had “no actionable intelligence” that would have allowed it to deny the permit application submitted by the ANSWER Coalition prior to the Union Station protest.

And he said that the National Park Service is only permitted under law to deny permits based on the information groups provide in applications — if, for example, they are not providing a sufficient number of marshalls for the group gathered — or “actionable direct intelligence of a contemporaneous nature” to the application.

The National Park Service is not allowed to collect or maintain intelligence files about groups, their organizers or including whether their protests have resulted in violence, destruction of property or other issues in the past, Cuvelier said.

“There’s nothing in the regulation that indicates prior conduct would be a cause for [denying requests] for future permitted events,” Cuvelier said. “We consider each permit on its own individual application. We don’t retain records. We base [it] upon each applicant as it is submitted… Our intelligence gathering must be contemporaneous with the event.”


Lush cosmetics investigating New York employees who told Jews to ‘f*** off’
Lush Cosmetics is investigating an incident which appeared to show employees of a New York branch of the soap shop telling Jewish New Yorkers to “f*** off”.

During a march of New Yorkers against antisemitism, several employees of the cosmetics shop exited the store and started shouting at Jewish passersby. Three Lush assistants stood outside the shop and at least two of them shouted at Jews on the street. Several others appeared to gather inside the store.

In a video of the incident shared to X on Tuesday, one apparent sales assistant can be seen yelling: “You f***ing b*tch, you’re a b*tch”, before leaning over and showing her behind to a Jewish man, threatening him “Kiss my ass” and flipping her middle finger.

Several other staff used hand motions to signal to passersby to leave the vicinity of the shop. “Get away,” another employee shouted towards the crowd.



A spokesperson for Lush told the JC they were taking the incident “seriously” and would be reviewing CCTV footage from the area.

"We are taking this situation seriously and are investigating it fully, including a review of camera footage from the area. Lush does not condone aggressive or threatening behaviour of any kind,” Lush Cosmetics said.

Days after October 7, a Lush store in Ireland attracted controversy for encouraging shoppers to boycott Israel. A picture of the Dublin branch of Lush was posted on social media with a prominent sign in its front window reading “Boycott Israel.”

At the time, a spokesperson for Lush said: "It was an isolated occurrence that does not represent the Lush ethos that ‘All Are Welcome. Always.’ and was swiftly removed.




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