Sunday, January 05, 2025

01/05 Links: Blinken’s stunning confession; Israeli embassy original target in Taylor Swift terror plot; Kamal Adwan Hospital Was a Hamas Military Base

From Ian:

David Collier: The BBC apology should be absolutely rejected
The reason the apology should be rejected is simple. The BBC apology is a tick box exercise for the BBC – who have no choice but to apologise on this particular issue. Why? Because we caught the BBC red-handed and forced them into a corner.

What did the BBC actually admit to? The discriminatory treatment is being explained away by the BBC as a slight misstep that is easily corrected. As if one person (in this case probably presenter Ben Brown), made a small mistake in focus. In the apology the BBC stated the interview should have been ‘less about politics and a little more about Chanukah’. That is nonsense and does not address the key issues at all. The real question here is WHY the interview with the Rabbi was approached so differently from the interviews of the Imam and Reverend?

It is important to remember just how blatant the discrimination was. The interviews with the Imam and the Reverend were both headed by sympathetic videos. The Rabbi had none. The images that accompanied the first two interviews were respectful and religious – the Rabbi got images of tanks. This is without even referencing the aggressive line of questioning or the 2:1 nature of the whole setup – with two Palestinians being given airtime, against just one Israeli.

Which means this was not just about the presenter or questions raised during the interview. The BBC’s anti-Jewish discrimination was a team effort. Ben Brown (the anchor) wasn’t the producer of the program. He also had nothing to do with the first interview. It would be a big mistake just to point the finger at Ben Brown (and an equally big mistake to whitewash him).

What about those responsible for putting together the photos. Or the planning producer who probably set up a lot of the questions in advance. What about the programme editor? Who decided that there would be no sympathetic video at the start?

There are several people involved here – and not ONE OF THEM saw a problem. In fact, as the problem became amplified as each piece of the bias added to the next (no sympathetic video, hostile photos, aggressive questions) – it seems that every step of the way the BBC’s anti-Jewish mindset played its part.

They say that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. It is also true that it takes a pack of antisemites for the BBC to ambush a Rabbi during a live interview. This was a team effort.
Israeli embassy original target in Taylor Swift terror plot
In a chilling revelation of threats facing Israeli diplomatic missions, a 19-year-old ISIS supporter considered attacking the Israeli embassy in Vienna before planning to target a Taylor Swift concert, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The case highlights security concerns for Israeli interests in Europe.

Before settling on the concert venue as his target, Beran Aliji, a dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia, had carefully evaluated other high-profile locations, including the Israeli embassy, Kurdish diplomats and a Shi’ite mosque, according to police records obtained by the newspaper.

The discovery prompted heightened security measures at Israeli diplomatic facilities across Europe, as investigators uncovered evidence of Aliji’s extensive consumption of terrorist propaganda and his pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State.

By July, amid what he described as a mental-health crisis, the Austrian teenager quit his factory apprenticeship and isolated himself in his apartment, becoming obsessed with thoughts of death, he later told police. Without money or prospects, and lacking close friendships, he immersed himself in violent videos and secret chatrooms devoted to the Islamic State.

“These are bitter, angry people,” Bruce Riedel, a counter-terrorism expert and 30-year veteran of the CIA, said. The case reflects a broader pattern of self-radicalization that concerns Israeli and Western security officials.

The investigation revealed hundreds of text messages and multiple police reports showing how Aliji sought guidance from individuals he believed to be Islamic State members. “My operation is to take place at a big concert,” he wrote in one message, according to Austrian records. “I will try to get a gun and bombs. If that doesn’t work, I will use big knives. Or I will kill a police officer and take his rifle.”
One Israeli on respirator, other has serious injuries after New Orleans attack
Elad Shoshan, the Israeli consul to the southwest United States, told JNS over the weekend that he went to New Orleans after learning that two Israelis had been hurt in the car ramming attack, which the FBI is investigating as a terror attack, in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

He did so “to be with the injured, assist their families, connect with the authorities and local Jewish community, communicating with the medical team and preparing accommodations for the arrival of the parents to New Orleans,” Shoshan told JNS.

“The Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest wishes to extend its heartfelt condolences to the families affected and offer prayers for the swift recovery of those injured,” he added.

Both of the Israelis, whose families requested that their names not be released, are in their mid-20s and are receiving medical care, Shoshan told JNS.

“They were visiting the United States as tourists, looking forward to ringing in the New Year in New Orleans,” he said. “It is tragic that these young men, who came to experience the joy of this vibrant city, have become victims of this shocking act of terror.”

“What should have been a special celebration has turned into an unimaginable tragedy for them and their families,” he added.

One of the young men is on a respirator “due to severe head trauma and internal injuries,” according to Shoshan. “The second Israeli is stable and communicative but is also recovering from serious limb injuries.”

Relatives of both arrived in New Orleans late on Friday night “to be with them during this difficult time,” Shoshan said.


Caroline Glick: Blinken’s stunning confession
Under harsh questioning from the Times’ anti-Israel reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Blinken revealed that U.S. pressure on Israel began immediately after Oct. 7, 2023, and became a central feature of U.S. policy in relation to the war from its very earliest days. From the outset, the provision of unlimited supplies to Gaza—euphemistically referred to as humanitarian aid—has been the constant focus of U.S. pressure on Israel.

Almost immediately after the Oct. 7 invasion, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a siege of Gaza. The move was self-explanatory. The Gazans had taken 256 Israelis hostage to Gaza. So long as they weren’t released, Gaza would remain under siege. Siege warfare has long been considered one of the most humane, least destructive forms of warfare, and it is legal under the laws of war.

The Biden administration would have none of it. Blinken described how he compelled Israel to resupply Hamas from day one of the war.

“We’ve said from Day 1 that how Israel does that matters. And throughout, starting on Day 1, we tried to ensure that people had what they needed to get by. The very first trip that I made to Israel five days after Oct. 7, I spent with my team nine hours in the IDF’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, six stories underground with the Israeli government, including the prime minister, including arguing for hours on end about the basic proposition that the humanitarian assistance needed to get to Palestinians in Gaza.

“And that was an argument that took place, because you had in Israel in the days after Oct. 7 a totally traumatized society. This wasn’t just the prime minister or a given leader in Israel. This was an entire society that didn’t want any assistance getting to a single Palestinian in Gaza. I argued that for nine hours.

“President Biden was planning to come to Israel a few days later. And in the course of that argument, when I was getting resistance to the proposition of humanitarian assistance getting in, I told the prime minister, I’m going to call the president and tell him not to come if you don’t allow this assistance to start flowing. And I called the president to make sure that he agreed with that, and he fully did. We got the agreement to begin assistance through Rafah, which we expanded to Kerem Shalom and many other places.”

So, to fend off an assault from an anti-Israel reporter, Blinken explained that President Joe Biden wouldn’t visit Israel until Israel capitulated to Blinken’s demand that it feed and water the people of Gaza who supported Hamas’s decision to take 256 Israeli children, babies, women and men hostage. Blinken also admitted that the reason that the 100 hostages are still in Gaza is that Hamas perceives the administration as pressuring Israel to capitulate to Hamas.

Blinken could have added that by demanding that Israel feed the people of Gaza, he and Biden removed any fear Hamas leaders might have had that the people would overthrow them. Unconcerned with that prospect, Hamas felt no pressure to release the hostages.

It bears noting that when Blinken arrived on Oct. 12, 2023, Israel still didn’t know how many of its citizens had been taken hostage. It still didn’t have a clear assessment of how many people were dead. Hundreds of victims had yet to be identified due to Hamas’s mutilation and destruction of their bodies. Just last week, Israelis learned that half of the 1,200 Israelis butchered that day were beheaded.

What was most notable about Blinken’s admission is that he didn’t appear to believe that there was anything wrong with the policies he imposed on Israel. Many military leaders have argued persuasively that had Blinken and Biden left Israel to pursue its siege strategy, combined with airstrikes, Israel could have fomented Hamas’s capitulation, or at least its surrender of the hostages, by the end of 2024. While Blinken’s statements indicated that he is at least in partial agreement with that assessment, he gave no indication that he felt remorse for the devastating impact his policies have had on the hostages or for the fact that those policies are a primary reason that the war is still ongoing.

The question is whether his assessment will impact his actions in his last two weeks in office.


NYTs: Secretary of State Blinken: Why Hasn't There Been a Unanimous Chorus around the World for Hamas to Put Down Its Weapons and Give Up the Hostages?
As the Biden administration winds down, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview on Jan. 2, "When it comes to making sure that Oct. 7 can't happen again, I think we're in a good place. Israel has destroyed Hamas's military capabilities. It's eliminated the leadership that was responsible for Oct. 7."

"We remain fundamentally committed to Israel's defense, and unfortunately it faces adversaries and enemies from all directions. And that means that the support that the United States provides over many administrations, Republican and Democrat, over many years, that support is absolutely vital to making sure that Israel is able to defend itself, that it can deter aggression coming from many other quarters, whether it's Hizbullah, whether it's Iran, whether it's the many Iranian-backed proxies, whether it's the Houthis, you name it. That support is vital to making sure Israel has a deterrent, has an adequate defense."

"Whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, we've seen it: Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a ceasefire and the release of hostages....With this daylight, the prospects of getting the hostage and ceasefire deal over the finish line become more distant."

Q: It was reported that Benjamin Netanyahu blocked a ceasefire deal in July that would have led to the hostages being released. Is that true?

Blinken: "No, that's not accurate. What we've seen time and again is Hamas not concluding a deal that it should have concluded....One of the things that I found a little astounding throughout is that...you hear virtually nothing from anyone since Oct. 7 about Hamas."

"Why there hasn't been a unanimous chorus around the world for Hamas to put down its weapons, to give up the hostages, to surrender - I don't know....I do have to question how it is that we haven't seen a greater sustained condemnation and pressure on Hamas to stop what it started and to end the suffering of people that it initiated."
Antony Blinken Says the War in Gaza Won’t Define His Legacy

Blinken told Israel Biden wouldn’t visit after Oct. 7 if Jewish state didn’t let aid into Gaza
On the one year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on southern Israel, Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security advisor, told attendees at the Israeli embassy in Washington that he traveled with U.S. President Joe Biden to Israel on Oct. 18, 11 days after the attack—”the first president to visit Israel in a time of war.”

Two days after Biden’s visit to Israel, on Oct. 20, 2023, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters at a press briefing that “this is the first president ever that’s been able to go to an active warzone without our military, you know, controlling what’s happening on the ground.”

In an interview, which the New York Times published on Saturday, Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, revealed that the White House threatened Israel that it would cancel that trip of Biden’s if the Jewish state didn’t agree to U.S. demands.

“The very first trip that I made to Israel five days after Oct. 7, I spent with my team nine hours in the I.D.F.’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, six stories underground with the Israeli government, including the prime minister, including arguing for hours on end about the basic proposition that the humanitarian assistance needed to get to Palestinians in Gaza,” Blinken told the Times.

The argument took place, Blinken told the paper, because Israelis were “totally traumatized.”

“This wasn’t just the prime minister or a given leader in Israel. This was an entire society that didn’t want any assistance getting to a single Palestinian in Gaza. I argued that for nine hours,” Blinken said. “President Biden was planning to come to Israel a few days later, and in the course of that argument, when I was getting resistance to the proposition of humanitarian assistance getting in, I told the prime minister, ‘I’m going to call the president and tell him not to come if you don’t allow this assistance to start flowing.'”

Blinken told the Times that he “called the president to make sure that he agreed with that, and he fully did.”

“We got the agreement to begin assistance through Rafah, which we expanded to Kerem Shalom and many other places. We’ve tried all along to look out for the needs of so many people who’ve been caught in this horrific crossfire,” he told the Times. “And we have a traumatized Palestinian population.”

Blinken said that aid in Gaza has been “grossly insufficient.” He and other senior U.S. officials have said in the past that Hamas seizes aid that enters Gaza, although that didn’t come up in the Times interview.


Israel denies Hamas claim that it approved list of 34 hostages for release
Israel denies a Reuters report that Hamas approved a list of the 34 hostages it would release in the first stage of a hostage deal.

“As of now, Hamas has not given a list of hostages,” says the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement.

According to Channel 12, Hamas submitted a list, but did not indicate who was alive and who was not.


Nova massacre survivor flees Brazil amid war crimes probe
An Israeli tourist has fled Brazil after a federal court for the first time authorized a criminal investigation into his actions as a soldier in the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Brazilian media reported Sunday.

Judge Raquel Soares Charelli authorized the probe on Dec. 30, news site Metrópoles reported. The reports in Brazilian media did not name the Israeli, who according to Israeli media reports has fled the country. He was wanted for actions allegedly taken during his military service in the Israel Defense Forces.

Israel, the United States and other countries have roundly rejected allegations that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza.

Yuli Edelstein, chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said in response to the Brazilian move that he would convene a classified discussion into the prosecution of Israelis abroad. “I am embarrassed for Brazil and its government, who surrendered to the pro-Palestinian legal terrorism,” the statement continued.

The former Israeli soldier, identified by Israel’s Channel 12 News only as Y., 21, traveled to Brazil as a tourist for the Chanukah holiday period together with three friends. He and his friends all left the country after receiving a warning from Israeli foreign ministry employees, according to Channel 12.

The man, who recently completed his mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces’ Givati infantry brigade, survived the Nova music festival, where Hamas terrorists murdered more than 300 people on Oct. 7, 2023, including his girlfriend, according to Channel 12.

The allegations against him concern his actions as a soldier in a residential area of Gaza in November 2024.

Another complaint has been filed against an Israeli visiting Chile, Ynet reported on Sunday, though officials have not yet identified the man as a suspect or announced a criminal investigation in Chile.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has publicly compared Israel’s actions to those of Nazi Germany, and accuses it of committing genocide in Gaza.

Da Silva, who in May recalled Brazil’s ambassador from Israel, is persona non-grata in the Jewish state, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in February.

The complaint in Brazil was filed by an anti-Israel group called the Hind Rajab Foundation. According to the Jerusalem-based watchdog NGO Monitor, the organization was founded by Dyab Abou Jahjah, a longtime advocate of terrorism and purveyor of antisemitic hatred based in Belgium.
Knesset to hold urgent meeting over Brazil's investigation into IDF soldier for 'war crimes'
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Yuli Edelstein announced on Sunday that an urgent meeting will be held on Monday to address the possibility of legal persecution of IDF soldiers abroad.

The discussion follows the Brazilian authorities’ demand to investigate an IDF soldier for alleged war crimes. The classified session is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.

“For months, the members of the FADC and I have repeatedly warned that the legal persecution under false accusations of war crimes would not stop with the prime minister and the defense minister but would inevitably target IDF soldiers as well,” Edelstein said.

“I am embarrassed for Brazil and its government for capitulating to pro-Palestinian legal terrorism. I expect to hear from IDF and Foreign Ministry representatives about their action plan to defend our soldiers from these malicious sanctions and persecutions.”


The Hind Rajab Foundation behind IDF soldiers' doxxing, legal campaign threats
The Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint last week against an IDF soldier vacationing in Brazil, accusing him of “participating in massive demolitions of civilian homes in Gaza during a systematic campaign of destruction.”

Subsequently, the Brazilian Federal Court ordered an investigation be opened into the soldier on account of the “war crimes” he allegedly committed.

HRF is one of the anti-Israel organizations that has recently targeted IDF soldiers with doxxing and legal campaigns, basing its allegations on footage published by the soldiers on their social media accounts.

According to its website, it “focuses on offensive legal action against perpetrators, accomplices, and inciters of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine.” It also claims to prioritize “awareness campaigns to challenge Israeli impunity.”

Most recently, the foundation targeted soldiers vacationing in the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates.

In November, the foundation requested the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against approximately 1,000 IDF soldiers listed in a document filed to the court.

The HRF claimed it had collected 8,000 pieces of evidence of the participation of a blockade in Gaza, the destruction of infrastructure, the occupation of civilian homes, looting, and the targeting of civilians.

According to NGO Monitor, the foundation, named after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in Gaza City in January of last year, was formed in September.

According to the HRF website, it is a branch of the March 30 Movement, a larger anti-Israel organization, which is committed to the recognition of “genocide in Gaza.”


Australia Axes Ice Hockey Championships Amid Security Fears Linked to Israel
In a stunning turn of events, Ice Hockey Australia (IHA) has officially cancelled its plans to host the upcoming world championships in Melbourne, citing safety concerns related to the participation of Israel. IHA president Ryan O'Handley made this announcement in a leaked email, detailing the escalating anti-Israel sentiments and protests in Melbourne as a primary reason for the cancellation.

"The safety and security of players and spectators is our foremost concern," O'Handley wrote on December 28. "Anti-Israel activities have dramatically intensified since Australia was awarded the championship, leading to significant worries for the event's safety." Victoria Police added that they had expressed concerns regarding the possibility of incidents arising during the championships due to the current climate.

However, Victoria Police have distanced themselves from the blame, clarifying that while they provided feedback on protest activities, they did not recommend the cancellation. A spokesperson stated, "Any decision regarding the event’s future rests solely with Ice Hockey Australia, and there are no specific threats to Victorian events at this time. We encourage everyone to continue their daily activities without fear." This enforced a narrative of safety that contradicts IHA's claims of threat.
Daneil Greenfield: Biden Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom to Nazi Collaborator
Congratulations to Hillary Clinton, Jose Andres, and Bill Nye who managed to not be the worst person that Biden decided to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to.

That honor goes to George Soros.

This Soros. “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.”

And this one. “America and Israel must open the door to Hamas”

As well as, “I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me into trouble. But when I had made my way in the world, I wanted to indulge my fantasies to the extent that I could afford.”

And also, “It’s just like in the markets — that if I weren’t there — of course, I wasn’t doing it, but somebody else would,” Soros on helping confiscate Jewish property during the Holocaust.”

Finally, there’s the minor matter of Soros being found guilty of insider trading in France.

But Soros does fund the Democrat Party and that matters more than his organizations causing the deaths of countless people by enabling criminals, terrorists and other monsters.


Wikipedia Editors Title Article “Nuseirat Rescue and Massacre”
Wikipedia editors decided to rename the “2024 Nuseirat rescue operation” article to “Nuseirat rescue and massacre” after enough editors insisted that the only way the article title could be neutral is if “massacre” is included.

The operation, which occurred in June, involved Israeli forces rescuing four hostages in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry (last year, Wikipedia editors imposed a near total ban on the using the “Hamas-run” qualifier) has claimed that more than 200 Palestinians were killed during the raid. Anti-Israel editors were aghast that “rescue operation” was used in the article title when it was first written in June, prompting editors to write a separate article titled “Nuseirat refugee camp massacre,” with the rationale being that another article was needed to discuss the “massacre” aspect of the operation.

On Oct. 12, there was a consensus (meaning the result of a discussion based on numbers and site policy arguments) to merge the two Wikipedia articles into one, though as of publication time, the “Nuseirat refugee camp massacre” article still exists. Shortly after the verdict to merge the stories, a discussion known as a “Requested move” (RM) suggested that the “2024 Nuseirat rescue operation” article be renamed to “Nuseirat rescue and killings.” But that was not enough for anti-Israel editors, who vehemently insisted that “massacre” needed to be in the title in order for the article to be neutral. Wikipedia titles are derived from the most commonly used terms in reliable sources (WP:COMMONNAME), and anti-Israel editors argued that United Nations human rights experts like U.N Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, Oxfam International, Doctors Without Borders, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, European Union High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell all called the operation a massacre, as did sources like Al Jazeera, +972 Magazine and Middle East Monitor. The editors argued that these sources outweigh mainstream media sources that avoided using the term “massacre.”

Middle East historian Asaf Romirowsky, who heads Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and the Association for the Study of the Middle East and North Africa, called Albanese “a known antisemite,” citing a report from UN Watch documenting all the “antisemitic lies that she has been spreading with her latest tour on American college campuses.” This is the “whole Palestinian Hamas operating system that basically has created this kind of entire ether that allows them cascade this information out there using these very trigger words, using the so-called ‘neutrality’ of the United Nations,” he added. “This is the same organization who denies the fact UNRWA has been complicit with Hamas ––and that they are Hamas … all these vehicles is where Hamas turns to when they are trying to put pressure on Israel and using the so-called international humanitarian aid network of organizations because they all buy into the Hamas propaganda, hook, line and sinker.” Romirowsky further contended that “the Palestinian cause within U.N. circles is religion, and it doesn’t matter if the source is coming from Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, they [are] seeing this binary perspective where Israel can do no right and the Palestinians can do no wrong.”


Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya Was a Hamas Military Base
Senior Hamas operatives were running the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya in Gaza, IDF investigators learned during interrogations, the N12 news website reported Thursday. Lt. (res.) D said that the terrorists arrested at the hospital all pointed to the hospital director. "We understood that the person at the very heart of the event, orchestrating the terror and Hamas activity in the compound, was the hospital director himself." During the raid on the hospital, hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh was "strutting around like a peacock" and was "confident he wouldn't be arrested, believing he was untouchable and in control of the situation."

Lt. D, an IDF field investigator, explained that his "unit has a technological and intelligence system that can clearly distinguish between civilians and terrorists." Master Sgt. (res.) G said, "Every Hamas terrorist we interrogated confirmed that the Kamal Adwan Hospital is their military base: it's where they regroup, store their weapons, and manage the intelligence they gather. Some of the hospital rooms have been converted into Hamas operational rooms."

The hospital did not even really function as a hospital. "It was made to look like a hospital, and patients were brought there just for appearances. In reality, there are entire sections meant solely for the entry of Hamas terrorists."


IDF could've stopped Oct. 7 by monitoring Hamas's Telegram, researchers say
Had posts published on Hamas-affiliated Telegram channels weeks prior to the October 7 massacre been analyzed and monitored in Israel, the outcome of the events could have been very different, Lt.-Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi argued in an article published recently by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

At the center of Dahoah-Halevi's analysis is the figure of Maam Rashid al-Masri, also known as "Abu Hafs." Al-Masri, a Hamas Nukhba terrorist, managed the Telegram channel named "Military Tactics" and co-founded the "Al-Qassam Brigades Dispatch" channel.

The content on the "Military Tactics" channel was not merely propagandistic. According to Dahoah-Halevi, the channel served as a platform for disseminating professional military literature from the Al-Qassam Brigades, featuring detailed guides on topics such as precision shooting training, sniping, camouflage and deception, checkpoint operations, infiltration, ambushes, and operational movement.

These channels were neither secret nor hidden — they were open and accessible to all. The "Military Tactics" Telegram channel even shared professional content showcasing the organization’s level of preparedness and operational capabilities.

During the critical hours before the attack, beginning at 12:20 a.m. on October 7, the channel posted a series of detailed messages that should have raised red flags, including: "We say to the Zionist enemy, [the operation] coming your way has never been experienced by anyone," "There are many, many, many surprises," "We swear by Allah, we will humiliate you and utterly destroy you," and "The pure rifles are loaded, and your heads are the target."

The final message in the series, posted at 12:26 a.m., read: "You have been warned. What is coming will be immense," accompanied by symbols of fire and a green heart, which, according to Dahoah-Halevi, were both emblematic of Hamas and Islam.

However, Dahoah-Halevi further asserted that the warning signs appeared much earlier. As early as September 17, a message from the Al-Qassam Brigades claimed, "Expect a major security event soon." The following day, on September 18, a direct threat was issued to residents of the Gaza border communities, stating, "Before it’s too late, flee and leave [...] nothing will help you except escape."


The Solution to the Houthi Problem
The Houthis have adopted a strategy aimed at exhausting the Israeli population, thereby increasing pressure on the Israeli government to halt its military campaign in Gaza. The Israeli Air Force has conducted four strikes over the past year against infrastructure sites in Yemen, but the Houthis have continued their attacks and have effectively rendered the Eilat port completely inoperative.

Targeting Iran is unlikely to influence the Houthis' calculations regarding their ongoing campaign against Israel. Although the Houthis rely on Iranian support to build their military capabilities, they maintain independence in decision-making and do not necessarily prioritize Iranian interests.

The Houthis view their actions against Israel as a means of "joining the big league" and being recognized as a force to be reckoned with. Their continued attacks on Israel and the U.S enhance their standing among the local population.

The ability to stop or significantly reduce Houthi activity against Israel will require a shift in approach. Efforts against the Yemeni terrorist organization must be sustained and continuous. Coalition activities should be more intensive and target a wide range of Houthi assets. The group should always feel under threat and on the defensive.

Looking ahead, even if the Houthis temporarily halt their attacks, the Houthi regime in Yemen must ultimately be overthrown. Yemen has forces - primarily in the southern part of the country, supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE - that could take control, should the Houthi regime collapse.
IDF finds weapons stockpiles at peak of Mount Hermon
Israeli soldiers found stockpiles of weapons at the peak of Mount Hermon, an area that the Syrian army had held since the IDF withdrew after the Yom Kippur War, the IDF said on Sunday.

During an operation that concluded in recent weeks, troops from the 810th “Mountain” Brigade searched military structures and key terrain points, locating, confiscating and destroying weapons caches and intelligence assets. Mines, explosives, anti-tank missiles, rockets and launchers were among the weapons found.

Israeli forces have been positioned inside the Golan buffer zone and at the peak of Mount Hermon since jihadist rebels overthrew the Assad regime in early December.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria’s Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and the country’s de facto leader, has asked the United States to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Golan buffer zone and the peak of Mount Hermon.

Moreover, al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, asked the Biden administration for humanitarian aid, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported on Friday.

Sources in Israel said that they did not receive any demand from Washington with regard to Syria, adding that the Jewish state will not compromise on its security, according to the report.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Jerusalem would not allow another massacre to take place “on any front,” writing on X after a visit on Thursday to Israel Defense Forces troops serving on the border with Syria.

“Israel is closely monitoring the situation in Syria and will not jeopardize its own security. We will not allow another Oct. 7 [attack] on any front,” he tweeted.


Israel offers $933 million to returning northern evacuees
Israel’s government on Sunday unveiled a 3.4 billion shekel ($933 million) plan for encouraging the return by March of some 60,000 residents who had been evacuated from at-risk locales near the border with Lebanon.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Ze’ev Elkin, who serves as an additional minister in the Finance Ministry, announced the plan, which offers incentives for all returning residents and additional ones to those willing to leave their state-funded accommodations by early March.

Those who return by March 7 will be eligible for a grant of 15,360 shekels per adult and half of that for each child ($4,217 and $2,108 respectively.) The grant will be halved with each passing month, down to a minimum of $526 and $263 for those who return after June 2.

All returnees will be eligible for an additional 10,000 shekel grant ($2,746) per adult and half of that per child regardless of their return date. The extra grant is meant as compensation for disuse damage to houses and property during the residents’ absence. War-related damages are paid separately pending individual appraisals by the tax authority and regardless of whether and when they return.

The National Insurance Institute, which is responsible for paying out the grants, said in a statement that it could only start paying them in May.

Smotrich in announcing the plan focused on allaying returnees’ safety and security concerns. “The key to returning home is security. We do not intend to compromise on this issue. Hezbollah has suffered a very severe blow, and today we see determined and uncompromising enforcement. We will not allow the threat to re-emerge, not on the northern border nor on the northern residents,” he said.
Katz: Israel will act if Hezbollah refuses to exit Southern Lebanon
If the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization refuses to withdraw from Southern Lebanon in accordance with the terms of the Nov. 26 ceasefire agreement with the Lebanese government, the deal will be void, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Sunday.

“Israel is interested in the implementation of the agreement in Lebanon and will continue to enforce it fully and without compromise to ensure the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Katz said during a visit to an Israel Defense Forces base in Israel’s north.

“But the first condition for the implementation of the agreement is the complete withdrawal of the Hezbollah terror organization beyond the Litani River, the dismantling of all weapons, and the [removal] of the terror infrastructure in the area by the Lebanese army, something that hasn’t happened yet,” the Israeli defense minister continued.

“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act independently to ensure the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” he said.

U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein, who played a pivotal role in brokering the ceasefire agreement, will travel to Beirut on Monday for talks with top Lebanese officials.

Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen news outlet, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, cited the head of the terrorist organization’s Coordination and Liaison Unit, Wafiq Safa, as saying on Sunday that its ally in parliament, Speaker Nabih Berri, would meet with Hochtein to discuss “Israeli violations.”

Israel will likely soon notify the United States that it does not intend to withdraw its forces from Lebanon when the 60-day ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah expires.
Relying on the Lebanese Army May Delay IDF Withdrawal
For two months, a joint operations center between the IDF and U.S. CENTCOM has overseen the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.

If a Hizbullah violation is detected, the IDF gives Lebanon's army 24 hours to address it. Left unresolved, the IDF intervenes, either via airstrikes or ground forces.

Immediate threats, however, prompt swift action without coordination.

Lebanese Army forces have yet to deploy sufficiently south of the Litani River, as required by the ceasefire.

IDF engineers continue uncovering hidden Hizbullah infrastructure, including weapons caches and tunnels.

The IDF has informed CENTCOM that it will not withdraw from southern Lebanon unless the Lebanese Army fulfills its obligations and Hizbullah's military infrastructure is dismantled.


Ep. 63. Terror Strikes the Nova Music Festival. Ofir Amir
Producer of the Nova Music Festival Ofir Amir joins Gabe to talk about the Hamas massacre at the Nova Music Festival that took place in the early morning hours of October 7, 2023 in Southern Israel. Ofir was shot in both legs and survived. 411 others were murdered and 47 were taken hostage. Hear Ofir's story, what he saw, and how his community is turning the darkness into light.


Ex-hostage Yagil Yaakov: Albag video gave me flashbacks to having rifle pointed at me
Former hostage Yagil Yaakov responded to the Hamas propaganda video of female IDF observer Liri Albag on Saturday, stating that the clip gave him a flashback of a terrorist pointing a Kalashnikov rifle at him when he was in captivity.

Yakov's comments were posted to his Instagram story.

Yaakov was 13 years old when Hamas released him during the November 2023 pause in the Gaza war after 52 days of captivity.

While he was held hostage, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad filmed him and directed what he should say for a propaganda video similar to Albag's.

"Liri's video brought back a flashback for me from a little over a year ago when a Kalashnikov rifle was pointed toward me while I was terrified and begged to return home," the post began.

"The terrorist stood in front of me telling me what to say in [in the video], and I was alone, without anyone. I just hoped that my mom would see it and know that I just wanted to come home," the post continued.

Yaakov then explained that Albag has been in that situation "waiting for over a year."

"Liri enlisted in the IDF out of a sense of mission," he continued. "Liri needs to come home."


Erin Molan: Bat Beep Crazy: Biden claims he would've beat Trump... heh?!
Erin Molan dives into global politics with her patented no-holds-barred look at recent events. From Biden's regret over dropping out of the presidential race to Michelle Obama's somber Christmas message, and from Trump's New Year's message to the ongoing human rights crises in Afghanistan and beyond. Explore the hypocrisy of activism, the Houthis' real agenda, and debunk the myths about war heroes.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro: The World's Gone Crazy
0:25 - Biden's Regret's Presidential Race
1:15 - Michelle Obama's miserable Christmas message
2:05 - Trump's New poll numbers
2:40 - Trump's New Year's Message to Hamas
3:20 - Women's Rights Crisis in Afghanistan
4:11 - Silence from Feminists and Activists
10:50 - Hypocrisy in Human Rights Activism
6:30 - Genocide of Alawites in Syria Ignored
8:02 - Houthis' Real Agenda Beyond Gaza Support
9:00 - Iranian Supreme Leader's Hypocrisy on Truth
10:42 - Debunking 'War Criminal' Accusations Against a Hero




Alana Hadid: Israel not haven for Jews because it sterilized Ethiopian Jews
Influencer Alana Hadid, daughter of real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid and sister of models Bella and Gigi Hadid, said the State of Israel was not a safe haven for Jewish people because it sterilized Ethiopian Jews who immigrated to the country.

“Did you know Israel forcibly sterilized Ethiopian Jewish women and then tried to cover it up?” Hadid told her almost 700,000 Instagram followers.

Hadid asserted that Ethiopian Jews weren’t allowed to emigrate to Israel until they “finally arrived” in the 1980s and 1990s, and even then were met with racism.

In the video, which had been liked 25,000 times by press time, Hadid said Ethiopian Jewish women migrants were “sterilized” with contraceptive injection Depo-Provera, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, provides contraception for around three months.

Haaretz issued corrections for its 2013 article claiming that Israeli officials admitted to such a policy. While it initially reported that then-Health Ministry director-general Prof. Roni Gamzu had halted the prescriptions of the injection to Ethiopian women who didn’t understand the treatment, the outlet clarified that when 35 women made allegations in 2012 about forced or coercive practices for birth control, without admission of any policy, Gamzu took the precaution to order a halt to the prescriptions if there was doubt that women of any background did not understand the implication of the treatment.

“The original version failed to state that this instruction was issued ‘without taking a stand or determining facts about allegations that had been made,’” Haaretz said of its article.

Haaretz reported in 2016 that a three-year state comptroller investigation determined that there was no evidence that the state had administered the shots in any improper policy.


Andrew Pessin: "Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism," On Campus, Third Installment
Most importantly, progressives claim they are motivated by human rights and social justice concerns, so shouldn’t they invest most of their time, energy, and resources in places where those are most badly threatened and violated—namely the long list of other conflicts and situations around the globe listed above, including the enemies of Israel, and more? Instead, what we get on campuses and elsewhere, on most other matters beside Israel: silence.

Needless to say, even if all of the allegations they levy against Israel were true (which they are not), the single-minded focus these groups direct to alleged Israeli misdeeds surely suggests something sinister. They only really care when Jews are the alleged perpetrators; as the title of Tuvia Tenenboim’s recent book put it, they thirst to “Catch the Jew!” Imagine a group of twenty-three men, one Black, the others all white. Then imagine a website called “Black Crimes,” obsessively documenting and disseminating bad deeds done by the Black man while not only ignoring his many good deeds but ignoring the far greater number of, and worse, bad deeds done by the twenty-two white men; and, to boot, imagine the website also advocated for isolating, harming, or even killing the Black man on the basis of those bad deeds, while ignoring or even advocating for the benefit of the white men. Even if all its information were true—the Black man did those bad deeds—the website’s racist motives would be clear to all, given what it does not say about the good deeds and all other offenses. Throw in that most or all of the allegations are in fact lies and misrepresentations, and the racist conclusion seems inescapable. Now substitute “Jew” or “Israel” for “Black” and “Arab” for “white” and it seems equally inescapable: these progressive parties are motivated by their antisemitism to focus on the Jewish state, i.e. the Jews.

This point is only reinforced by the otherwise inexplicable alliances these parties make with the Islamists.[27] Many of the continuous campus rallies after October 7 have displayed open support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, waving their flags, celebrating their achievements, mourning their “martyrs,” calling on them to continue their “resistance,” holding signs saying “Long Live Al-Aqsa Flood,” and so on. Does one really need to point out that the progressive movement could not have less in common with the Islamists—who are homophobic, transphobic, misogynist, reject diversity, reject pluralism, reject tolerance, reject human rights, reject freedoms of speech, assembly, conscience etc. indeed, reject “progressivism” in every detail?[28] The only thing they share is “hatred of Israel,” but even that makes no sense for the progressives, since Israel is by far the party that better aligns with what progressives say they value. Anti-Zionists coined the phrase “Progressive Except for Palestine” to indicate their disappointment with the minority of progressives who support Israel, on the assumption that progressives should be anti-Zionist. But that is exactly backwards: that phrase should refer to the exceptions to their values that the majority of progressives make in support of Palestine. There is literally nothing progressive about “Palestine” or the Islamist groups leading the violence for “Palestine,” and there is much that is comparatively progressive about Israel—yet they work toward dismantling the Jewish state while establishing an anti-progressive Palestinian state.

It’s hard to imagine what could explain this other than a deep-seated hatred of the Jews that, while theoretically forbidden in their circles to express explicitly, can express itself as anti-Zionism. It’s not the “Jews” they hate but “Israel”—even though their hating Israel makes no sense, given their values, except insofar as it expresses a hatred for Jews.

Nor can you explain this by saying that progressive groups combat “Islamophobia,” and care about human rights for Muslims. As noted earlier, these Islamist groups don’t believe in “human rights” for anyone including Muslims, and have murdered far more Muslims in their quest for jihadi supremacy than have remotely been killed by Israel over the decades. And, again, there are many Muslims opposed to these Islamist groups. Progressives could—indeed should—side with those Muslims, rather than the Islamists.

The most they can say about their “progressive” support for anti-Zionism is something like this. (i) They are against white supremacy, (ii) They support the indigenous against settler-colonialists, and (iii) They support the oppressed against their oppressors. But their application of these positions to the IPJAMIC is truly ludicrous. Point (i) depends on complete ignorance of the “racial” reality, where both Israeli Jews and Palestinians span the spectrum of skin colors from light to dark; and anyway no group has been a larger victim of white supremacy than the Jews. Point (ii) depends on complete ignorance of the history of the region, in which Jews are indigenous to the Land and the establishment of Israel was a major decolonization process. Point (iii) depends on an absurdly narrow and historically ignorant framing of the IPJAMIC, where in fact the Jews were for a long time and still are the “oppressed” aggressively contested by most of the Arab and Muslim world (which outnumbers them in population and land mass by orders of magnitude), and are currently defending themselves in a seven-front existential war launched against them. And all of the above depends on (a) the humanitarian racism of completely denying Palestinians any agency (i.e. that they can be and have been aggressors), (b) the antisemitic denial that Israelis (i.e. Jews) are ever justified in defending themselves (in fact “resisting” Palestinian or Arab aggression), and (c) failure to appreciate that the IPJAMIC is a national and religious conflict (not “racial”), where one side is actually driven by Islamist jihadist genocidal aspirations entirely inconsistent with “progressivism.”

In light of all this, only one conclusion is possible: progressive anti-Zionism is driven primarily and deeply by antisemitism. In the best case this would be of the epistemic variety, the kind that isn’t particularly conscious; though one cannot but suspect, in light of the bloodthirsty enthusiasm so many displayed for the October 7 massacre, along with their open alliance with the Islamists waving the flags of the jihadist terror groups, that it is also of the more explicit variety.

The true “progressive,” in short, should be on the Zionist side of the conflict; the fact that so many aren’t can only be explained as the product of antisemitism. One might (though probably shouldn’t) give the Palestinians themselves a pass, but not anyone else—neither the right-wingers, nor the Arabs and Muslims collectively, nor the progressives, nor even the Jewish progressives who operate either by prioritizing their progressivism over the Judaism and/or contorting their Judaism into an expression of progressivism.

Mehdi’s arguments, then, fail, and fail thoroughly.


Police confirm stabbing of woman, 74, in Jerusalem last month was terror attack
After a weeks-long investigation, police and Shin Bet confirm that last month’s stabbing of an elderly Jerusalem resident was a terror attack.

After the court lifted a gag order this morning on the investigation’s details, police say that the attacker had already been acquainted with the victim, a 74-year-old woman, while working as a cleaner in her building.

Police arrested the suspect, a 60-year-old resident of East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, for questioning a few hours after the attack, which took place in the city’s downtown.

He appeared in court earlier today as prosecutors request to extend his detention and plan to file an indictment against him in the coming days.

According to police, the attacker visited the victim’s home the evening prior as part of a repair service, and left the same evening after telling her that he needed screws in order to fix the problem.

The next morning, the attacker returned to the apartment and attempted to strangle the elderly woman to death. Upon realizing he forgot his walking stick at the scene, the attacker returned to find that his victim was still alive. He then took a knife from a nearby drawer and began to stab her multiple times.

After she called her daughter, police and emergency responders arrived at the scene and transported the elderly victim, conscious but in critical condition, to the hospital.


Female terrorist attacks Israelis in Deir Qaddis
According to initial reports, a female terrorist attempted to stab a group of Israelis at a car wash in the Palestinian Arab village of Deir Qaddis in Samaria on Sunday.

No casualties were reported.

Israeli forces were conducting a search for the assailant.
Palestinian Authority Security Forces Involvement in Terrorism
Since the establishment of the PA, members of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) have been directly and actively involved in terrorism against Israeli citizens and the IDF.

The PA glorifies the memory of those killed in the act of terrorism and lauds them at ostentatious military funerals.

From 2020 through March 2024, 46 PASF terrorists were killed in the course of targeting Israeli citizens, security personnel and soldiers and were posthumously crowned as "martyrs."

In addition, at least 25 PASF terrorists were arrested by Israeli security forces and at least 7 were wounded.
Israeli forces eliminate wanted terrorist who served in PA police
Israeli security forces eliminated a wanted terrorist during an overnight operation in northern Samaria on Saturday. He had served in the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service, according to reports.

The Israel Defense Forces, Israel Police and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) confirmed in a joint statement on Sunday that as part of counter-terror raids throughout Judea and Samaria, forces killed an armed terrorist during a shootout in the village of Meithalun, near Jenin.

Ramallah’s official Wafa news agency mourned the slain terrorist on Sunday morning as the “martyr hero” Hassan Ali Hassan Raba’iya, saying he held a rank in the P.A.’s police forces equivalent to that of lieutenant.

Anwar Rajab, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF), “expressed his condolences to the family of the martyr, the entire Raba’iya family and the people of the village of Meithalun, asking Allah to bestow upon him His vast mercy and peace,” according to the official Wafa report.

The Israel Police’s Spokesperson’s Unit published video footage of the operation in which Raba’iya was killed on Sunday afternoon. The statement noted that forces, during searches of his home, found a shotgun, explosives, weapon parts and 96,000 shekels ($26,000) in cash.


Abu Muhammad al-Jolani's Attitude toward Israel
Senior security officials in Israel describe Abu Muhammad al-Jolani - the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham who overthrew Bashar Assad's regime - as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" - a terrorist who might eventually act against Israel. According to political sources in Jerusalem, the U.S. has recommended that Israel consider opening communication channels with Syria's new regime. Israel's current approach is to "respect and suspect" al-Jolani, maintaining no communication channels with him.

To date, al-Jolani has refrained from military action against IDF forces despite the expansion of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights and Israel's massive bombing that destroyed Bashar Assad's weapons arsenal. His responses have been limited to filing official complaints with the UN Security Council. He has not called on Syrians near the Israeli border to oppose IDF operations and has demanded the disarmament of Palestinian factions in Syria.

For now, al-Jolani's priority is stabilizing Syria, gaining Arab and international recognition, uniting Syria's diverse ethnic groups under his rule, and lifting sanctions to revive the economy. Confronting Israel does not align with his current goals, particularly as his forces lack heavy weaponry, most of which Israel destroyed to prevent it from falling into his hands.


Link to full video: Syria's current interim Minister of Justice, Shadi Al-Wais, appears in 2 videos from 2015 in which he oversees the public executions of two women accused of prostitution.



Iranian Policy and the Future of the Tehran Regime
Dr. Dan Diker and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser interviewed by Shoshana Bryen (Jewish Policy Center)
Kuperwasser: The Iranian regime's perception of itself and also the perception of the Iranian people of their regime is in shambles because it was proven that it cannot cause the kind of damage to Israel it proclaimed it could. It cannot defend itself and cannot defend its most strategic assets, including the nuclear program.

It was further proven that the Ring of Fire [of Iranian proxy forces] that it has built around Israel is falling apart. It was not built well enough to withstand the Israeli reaction to an attack by one of the members - Hamas. And its economic situation is terrible, and Donald Trump is coming, and "maximum pressure" is going to be imposed again. And the people of Iran can't stand the regime anymore anyhow because of the economic difficulties which mostly have to do with the corruption and the ineffectiveness of the regime.

Diker: Israel has always maintained very strong relations with various leaders within the 88 million Iranians, 90% of whom have rejected the regime since the early to mid-1980s. Now is an ideal time because many of the tentacles of the Iranian octopus have been cut off. It leaves a great opportunity for the Iranian people, and they know the Israeli people are aligned in support of the need to change the regime.

The challenge is to get the Americans on board. The major frustration of the Iranian opposition is that American governments all have done more to stabilize the regime than they have to destabilize the regime.

Oct. 7 proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that the conflict we face is religiously and ideologically driven. This is not a territorial conflict. We are not witnessing a conflict over borders and territory. We are really facing jihad; we are facing Holy War, as Iran has reminded us time and again since 1979. There's really very little difference strategically between the commitment of the PLO and its Hamas opponents to rid the Middle East of Israel.

Kuperwasser: The people in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza learn about hating Israel every day. These are people highly motivated to execute terrible attacks against the Jews. Look at the famous phone call that the guy from Hamas made to his parents on Oct. 7, how he boasts about killing the Jews. He thinks he did an excellent, very admirable deed. These are the people we live next to.

We Israelis learned the lesson. We are not going to go back - we are going to change the situation in Gaza. We're going to change the situation in Lebanon, and we are going to change our security doctrine. We are going to have many more soldiers deployed along the border in order to face any eventuality.


Landmark ruling: Argentine politician convicted of antisemitism under IHRA definition
A criminal court in Buenos Aires convicted left-wing politician Alejandro Bodart last week for violating the country's anti-discrimination law, which is based on the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

Bodart, of the Workers' Socialist Movement, received a suspended sentence of six months in prison following the ruling on December 30, 2024. Antisemitism is at a record high. We're keeping our eyes on it >>

The news was announced by both the Simon Wiesenthal Center Latin America (SWC), which provided an expert affidavit that the court relied on, and also by Bodart himself.

The landmark ruling used the IHRA definition - codified into Argentina's legal framework since 2020 - to rule Bodart's actions antisemitic.

Bodart's actions centered on the content of three posts on X/Twitter, in which he referred to Israel as "racist and genocidal" and called for Israel to be eradicated and replaced with a single Palestinian state "from the River to the Sea."

Such statements, under Argentina's law, contravene the IHRA definition-based anti-discrimination dogma.

Bodart also equated Zionism with Nazism in a third post.
After Chilean politicians label menorah ‘symbol of death,’ hanukkiah vandalized, lighting canceled
Hanukkah celebrations in Chile met opposition this year, with politicians decrying the hanukkiah as an icon of genocide, a public hanukkiah being vandalized, and protesters threatening to shut down a candle lighting ceremony in a series of events that raised concerns with local Jewish community leaders.

Hanukkah candelabra for its ostensible connection to a supposed genocide in Gaza.

“The candelabra is the symbol of death,” Moreira said on social media.

Sáez, on X/Twitter, demanded the justification for installing “such a sensitive symbol” in the context of a “genocide of civilians in Palestine.”

AJC snaps back
The American Jewish Committee criticized Sáez and leaders like Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font for importing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into their own country and, by doing so, “endangering the Jewish community through hostile and inaccurate rhetoric.

“Let us be clear: The menorah is a symbol of light and hope for the Jewish people and has nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” AJC Latino posted to X on December 20.

Los Lagos parliamentarian Mauro González Villarroel defended the Puerto Montt hanukkiah installment, urging Moreira on social media, “Respect each other.” Moreira responded that the matter was not one of freedom of worship and dismissed Villarroel as a defender of genocide.

The Jewish Community of Chile (CJCh) issued a statement on December 18 condemning the senator’s comments as one of the “most intolerant, serious, and contemptuous” recent events for freedom of worship in the country. The organization explained that the candelabra is a religious symbol and there was no conflict with Christmas, which the Jewish holiday usually falls near.
Canadian politicians condemn Nazi swastika graffiti on Winnipeg community center
Canadian politicians on Friday issued condemnations against the vandalizing of a Winnipeg community center with Nazi swastikas.

The Winnipeg Friends of Israel raised attention on Tuesday, sharing images of a swastika and initials on the wall of the Westdale Community Center. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday that at least five swastikas had been painted on the Charleswood area building.

“Will authorities continue to pretend that Jews are overreacting or make an effort to find the perpetrators?” Winnipeg Friends of Israel challenged on Facebook.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said on X/Twitter that the vandalism was a “blatant act of antisemitism” and urged the public to contact the Winnipeg Police Service if they had any information.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew urged all residents of the province to stand against antisemitism and all forms of hate, condemning the antisemitic graffiti.

“We must honor the survivors of the Holocaust and live up to our global commitment of ‘Never Again’ by calling out those voices of hatred who use the images of that dark era in human history such as in this incident,” Kinew said on social media.

Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley MP Marty Morantz called the vandals cowards and warned that they would “pay the price for your racism.”

“Am Israel Chai,” Morantz wrote on X.

Part of a disturbing trend
Winnipeg South Centre MP Benn Carr warned that the incident was part of a disturbing trend of antisemitism in the city and across Canada.

“No member of any community deserves to live in fear, especially our children, who are now forced to make sense of why there are acts of hate towards them in their own backyards,” Carr wrote on social media.


Afef Abed takes Gallant’s Knesset seat, becoming first Druze coalition MK
Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s resignation from parliament formally took effect on Sunday, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana announced.

Afef Abed, a member of Israel’s Druze minority, took Gallant’s seat in the Knesset on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party following Gallant’s departure, Ohana said in a statement.

Ohana (Likud) said he met Abed on Sunday morning at the Knesset building in Jerusalem, wished him success and congratulated him on the new position.

Abed, 50, from the Druze community of Yarka in the Galilee, received the 43rd spot on the Likud list in the Nov. 1, 2022, Knesset election. He is the first Druze MK in Netanyahu’s current coalition of right-wing and religious parties.

Abed is reportedly close to Netanyahu, serves as a member of the Likud secretariat and was once the deputy chairman of its youth movement.

Israel’s Ynet outlet cited the incoming Druze lawmaker as previously having expressed support for the 2018 nation-state law, which formally defined the Jewish state as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.”

“I don’t think anything has changed, with or without the nation-state law,” Abed was quoted as having told reporters. “I don’t see a problem with it.”

Gallant announced his resignation from parliament in a national address on the night of Jan 1., some two months after being fired by Netanyahu.

Gallant said in his speech that he was staying within the Likud Party. “The way of the Likud is my way,” the legislator claimed. “I will continue to fight for the national, ideological and Zionist path of the Likud movement.”
'I Know People Hate Me': Jesse Eisenberg Opens Up on Experiencing Anti-Semitism Since His First Film
A Real Pain writer, director, and star Jesse Eisenberg is opening up about how he feels he’s been the target of anti-Semitism throughout his entire career. Per Deadline, via The Times of London, Eisenberg said when he was making his first film he saw various anti-Semitic comments.

Eisenberg said around the time that Roger Dodger came out in 2002 when he was 18 years old, he saw a comment that called him “short, ugly, and Jewish.” He said he saw another person comment, “I hate Seth Rogen and Jesse Eisenberg. I like their movies, but something about them makes me hate them.”

The actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work in The Social Network (2010) actor addressed those comments with The Times. “I could have told them what they hate about us! So I know people hate me. It is just something you take as a given and, you know, register as a handicap,” Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg’s Newest Project is A Real Pain
In his new film, A Real Pain, which also stars Emmy-winner Kieran Culkin (Succession), Eisenberg and Culkin play cousins David and Benji, respectively, who go on a tour through Poland to honor their grandmother. Eisenberg shared that for his new film, he was motivated by “a lack of connection to something bigger than my world.”

The Now You See Me actor added, “There’s also guilt that I live in a materially comfortable world, yet know what’s happening in other places - and that feeling of helplessness and disconnect makes you feel small and meaningless.”




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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