Saturday, January 11, 2025

01/11 Links: Sharansky: Why Can’t Israel’s Leader Visit Auschwitz?; Inside Columbia University’s ‘Museum of Terror’; Remembering Frank Sinatra's concert in Jerusalem

From Ian:

Natan Sharansky: Why Can’t Israel’s Leader Visit Auschwitz?
What Israel is facing now is a contemporary version of the blood libel raised against Jews for centuries. The original libel accused Jews of using Christian blood at Passover as a reminder of Judas’s betrayal of Jesus at the Last Supper, which took place during the seder. Though Jewish moral law made murder a universal crime, and Jewish dietary law abominates the use of blood, the sinister inverting logic of antisemitism persuaded generations that Jews were guilty of a cannibalistic ritual.

The same Orwellian principle is behind the charge of genocide and crimes against humanity, which takes core Jewish values embedded in Western civilization, like the sanctity of human life, and accuses the Jewish state of collectively violating them. The story is then repeated so many times that it penetrates popular consciousness and legitimizes our persecution, even among the most highly educated segments of the population.

The original libel led to the prosecution, torture, and murder of tens of thousands of Jews over the centuries. For example, one of the most extensive trials for these alleged crimes, the Velizh affair, which took place over 12 years in nineteenth-century Russia, involved the arrests of over 40 people, four of whom died in prison. By the end, all of the accused had been exonerated. Yet when it came time to ratify a court judgment releasing them, Czar Nicholas I said that he regretted having to do so, since the fact that the same accusation had been made for hundreds of years meant that it must be true.

It is this assumption that has kept the libel alive. (As late as 1913, Mendel Beilis was put on trial for ritual murder in Kyiv.) I was shocked, for instance, when the man who would become my closest friend in the Soviet Gulag asked me, out of genuine curiosity to learn about the Pesach seder, what the ceremony was like when Jews used actual blood. He sincerely believed the allegation, despite being an educated man who was imprisoned for his enlightened Christian views.

While today’s version of the blood libel has not been repeated over the course of a millennium, it has been repeated countless times since the tragedy of October 7, 2023, when our enemies tried to launch an actual genocide against Israel. But just as in the Christian world every Jew knew that the original accusation was false, no matter what sanction it received from kings or clergy, today every Israeli on the street knows that the charges against us are untrue.

The current war is the longest and the most difficult that Israel has ever faced, and nearly everyone in the country has served on the front lines or has a family member, neighbor, or close friend who did. As a result, while we disagree deeply on many issues, including our attitudes toward the current government, we all know that there has not been an order to intentionally kill or starve innocent Palestinians. To be sure, there have been many civilian casualties, and every one of them is a tragedy. But these lives were taken not because the IDF targeted them; they were taken because Hamas used them as human shields.

Certainly there are experts and government officials, especially in the United States, who know and document the truth. But Israelis cannot afford to wait until the record is corrected, the fever breaks, and the historians catch up. Neither can countries who will themselves become targets of international courts that cover for dictators and illiberal regimes, not to mention those suffering in China, Iran, and myriad other countries whose crimes are ignored. Even in the Middle Ages, there were popes like Gregory X who did denounce the falsehood of the blood libel, though this was no guarantee of Jewish safety.

Knowing that the original blood libel was a lie, Jews historically had no choice but to continue their lives, preserving their values and spreading the light of justice to all the nations. This did not guarantee safety for the Jew. In the same way, Israelis today have no choice but to continue on our path, fighting for our right to exist as a Jewish democratic state and protecting the world against terrorism as we do.

But the rest of the free world does have a choice. While international law and institutions were intended to promote peace, they have been co-opted by those who seek the destruction of the Jewish state. If the words “never again” are to mean anything, then, they must mean rejecting this state of affairs. Anything less will return us to the same condition that the post-World War II international order was designed to prevent.
Biden Program Meant To 'Protect Jewish Institutions' Pays Out Six-Figure Grants to Mosques That Preach Anti-Semitic Hate
The Biden White House and Senate Democrats have touted their funding for an anti-terrorism initiative they say "has been critical to the security of Jewish institutions." But the program has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent months to mosques whose clerics have preached anti-Semitic hate, cheered Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, and been accused of raising money for terrorist groups.

The Department of Homeland Security has awarded $150,000 in grants since November to Masjid Jamaat al Mumineen, the Islamic Society of Akron and Kent, and the Islamic Center of Bothell as part of its "Nonprofit Security Grant Program," according to federal records. The program gives taxpayer funds to nonprofits and religious groups deemed "at high risk of terrorist attack" to help enhance security.

President Joe Biden touted the program last year as an example of the administration’s "aggressive" actions to counter anti-Semitism and "protect Jewish institutions."

But the mosques have condoned the kinds of violence the grant program aims to prevent. In a sermon last month, Nader Taha, the imam of the Islamic Society of Akron & Kent, called the Oct. 7 attacks a "miracle" that "planted the seed of freedom in the heart of not just only the Muslim world, but the whole world."

"The faces of the children of Israel will be so humiliated," he said in the sermon reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute. Kent State University, where Taha works as a math lecturer, condemned Taha’s remarks as "anti-Semitic," saying that "references to the October 2023 massacre are abhorrent and stand in stark contrast to our institutional commitment to peaceful dialogue, as well as our core values of kindness and respect."

Masjid Jamaat al Mumineen, a South Florida mosque led by Imam Izhar Khan, promotes numerous books on its website that preach violence against Jews and Christians. In 2011, Khan was indicted alongside his father and several brothers on charges that they funded the Pakistani Taliban, a terrorist group aligned with al Qaeda. According to prosecutors, the Khan family funneled money back to the terrorist group to "further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming" of Americans. A judge dismissed charges against Khan in 2013 after he served 20 months in prison, citing a lack of evidence. His father was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but he was released in 2019, shortly before his death.

The Islamic Center of Bothell, located outside Seattle, employs multiple preachers linked to violent rhetoric. Moosa Salie, the current imam of the mosque, served until last year as an official at South Africa’s Council of Muslim Theologians, which declared in September that "We are all Hamas."
Inside Columbia University’s ‘Museum of Terror’
Even before she first stepped foot on Columbia’s quads this past fall, Shoshana Aufzien was aware of antisemitism on campus. But she didn’t truly witness it until November 10, two months after she started studying at Barnard, Columbia’s sister school.

Aufzien was scrolling through Instagram when she spotted a post from Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) and two other pro-Palestinian groups, promoting an event at a Columbia literary society, Alpha Delta Phi (ADP). The two-day event, on November 9 and 10, was entitled “Hind’s House,” in tribute to a 5-year-old Gazan girl, Hind Rijab, who died during Israel’s war against Hamas. A strict schedule was listed for the second day:

2:00 COMMUNITY COOKING BEGINS
2:30 PALESTINE 101 w/ @cujafra
4:00 PROTEST SKILLS TRAINING w/ @cuapartheiddivest
5:00 KNOW YOUR RIGHTS TRAINING w/ C*LUMBIA LEGAL
5:30 DEFENSE TRAINING
6:00 ON TECHNOGENOCIDE
6:30 DIRECT ACTION TRAINING

As a concerned Jewish student, Aufzien decided to go to the event to see what her peers were up to. What she saw, she said, shocked her. “The only way I can describe it,” she told me, “is a museum of terror.”

Aufzien said she usually wears a black skirt, a Star of David, or a hostage tag at campus protests to make clear she’s Jewish. But because Alpha Delta Phi is technically off campus and no campus police were present, she concealed her identity by wearing a Covid mask. As she walked into the foyer of the two-story ADP building, she noticed that the entire place had been converted into an exhibition, with more than 100 students and visitors staring at the displays.

On the first floor, she spotted posters pertaining to five members of Columbia’s Board of Trustees tacked to the wall, listing their various “crimes against the Palestinian people.” Their crimes included “sitting on the board of the NYPD Foundation” and “speaking at AIPAC,” a prominent pro-Israel political action committee.

Inside Columbia University’s ‘Museum of Terror’
Then Aufzien moved to the focal point of the room: a pool table covered with tools, such as wrenches, hammers, ropes, and wire cutters—all of which were used by anti-Israel protesters to break in to and occupy Columbia’s Hamilton Hall last April. Pinned next to the hardware was a note that ordered visitors: “DO NOT GET YOUR FINGERPRINTS ON THESE!!”

The Hamilton Hall break-in was the culmination of one of the largest Columbia protests in history, which began on April 17 and mushroomed into a weeks-long encampment on the school’s main lawn. During the occupation of Hamilton Hall, protesters bashed in windows and doors and held multiple custodians hostage, leading to the arrests of 109 people in and around the building. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has since dropped the charges against the majority of students who took part; now just 15 of the original 46 charged still face criminal charges, including second-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

Inside Columbia University’s ‘Museum of Terror’
Next to the pliers and hammers, Aufzien observed another artifact from the occupation: red headbands stamped with the logo for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—a group that the State Department designated as a terrorist organization in 1997.

“I usually associate Columbia frats with binge-drinking and hazing—not the PFLP,” Aufzien told me.

Across the room, another table was lined with posters; one depicted a hang glider used by members of Hamas to drop into Israel and murder innocent civilians on October 7, 2023. Underneath, the message read: So on that day, the people of Gaza drifted into the sky like a host of colorful dragonflies.


It's time to treat the PA as a terrorist enemy, reject two-state solution
In recent weeks, the PA has been actively fighting local Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) regiments. The PA is desperately trying to regain control of numerous towns that have effectively been taken over by Hamas and PIJ. One battle in Jenin last week left five members of PA security forces dead, along with six from the aforementioned terrorist militias dead. Anwar Rajab, spokesman of the PA forces, accused Iran of arming the terror groups, thereby “destroying internal Palestinian cohesion.”

Considering that the PA lost control of the areas held by Hamas and PIJ years ago, it is worth asking, why now?
One answer is Donald Trump. In Trump’s first term in office, he cut off all US aid to the PA for as long as they continued their “pay for slay” program, which rewards terrorists who murder Israelis with generous pensions. Famously, in May 2017, Trump berated PA President Mahmoud Abbas for lying to him about clamping down on PA incitement of terrorism. With Trump about to return to the White House, the PA is trying to position themselves as one of the good guys, fighting the terrorists.

The timing is not only about Trump. With the Israelis remaining committed to the complete destruction of Hamas’ governing capability in Gaza, the PA is positioning itself for the inevitable “day after” plans. The outgoing Biden administration was adamant in its position that the goal was to hand over governance of Gaza to a “reformed” PA, that would be free of corruption and incitement against Israel. Fighting Hamas and PIJ helps reinforce the belief that the PA is, in fact, changing for the better.

However, it should be noted, that while the PA has been battling these terror groups, PA personnel are also taking part in attacks on Israelis as well. One recent example from last weekend took place in Meithalun, located between Nablus and Jenin. It was reported that an armed terrorist was killed in a shootout with the Israeli forces. What was not included in the spokesman’s report but was later revealed by Arabic media was that the terrorist in question was an officer in the PA security services.

THE SAME Anwar Rajab who called out Iran for supporting the terrorists has been quoted recently praising Palestinians who attack Jews, calling them “the best of our people.” As reported by Palestinian Media Watch, just two weeks ago, Fatah, the PA’s ruling party, celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding by praising terror against Israel and publishing a new logo for the movement depicting Jerusalem and the entire map of Israel.

All this leads us back to the question: Who was Defense Minister Katz referring to when he said that Israel would act against those who send and protect terrorists in Judea and Samaria? And what are the implications of his characterization of the recent terrorism as “an act of war”? Are we to understand that the PA, which continues to encourage and financially reward terrorist murderers, will now be a direct target of the IDF? Or will Israel continue to officially pretend that the PA is not as much an enemy of Israel as Hamas?

Israel's delusional paradigm
Since October 7, there has been much talk in Israel of hakonceptzia – “the conception” – the delusional paradigm that blinded Israeli leadership to the real intentions and scope of the threats to Israel from our enemies.

Now, Israeli politicians from Left to Right have publicly committed themselves to rejecting “the conception,” insisting that we will no longer be fooled. We have been told nonstop that in the new, post-October 7 paradigm Israel will no longer tolerate violations of written agreements or trust anyone else to protect it from its enemies. Does this include a new approach to the PA?

After three decades of PA rule, we now have more than a generation of Arabs raised on the genocidal antisemitic incitement promoted in PA textbooks and media. If Israeli leadership has really learned the lesson of October 7, if they really have moved past “the conception,” then, treating the PA as the terrorist enemy that it is, along with a complete rejection of any kind of “two-state solution” is the only acceptable way forward.
CIA chief says hostage talks ‘quite serious’; White House: Deal possible by Jan. 20
Officials in Washington were cautiously optimistic on Friday about the prospects of closing a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza before the end of US President Joe Biden’s term, with CIA Director William Burns assessing ongoing negotiations in Doha as “quite serious” and White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby saying he believes a hostage deal is possible before January 20.

In his interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the CIA chief said, “Negotiations going on right now are quite serious and do offer the possibility, at least, of getting this done in the next couple of weeks.”

Burns also said that the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian civilians in the Strip were all living in “hellish conditions” right now, adding urgency to the ongoing ceasefire negotiations. He is involved in the talks on behalf of the United States.

Asked who is to blame for the lack of a ceasefire to date, Burns sidestepped the question — unlike Biden on Thursday, who squarely blamed Hamas — and said, “At this point, I still think there’s a chance [for a deal, but] I’ve learned the hard way not to get my hopes up.”

“We’ll certainly — in this administration — work very hard at that right up until January 20, and I think the coordination with the new administration on this issue has been good.”

From the White House, Kirby told reporters that he would not elaborate on Biden’s comments, so as not to harm the ongoing negotiations. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, December 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

“Do I think it’s possible? Yes, we think it’s possible, but not without a lot of hard work still ahead of us,” Kirby said. “We believe it is possible, but it won’t be possible without additional compromise and some hard work.”

He also reiterated the US belief that “Hamas continues to be difficult at the table,” while declining to elaborate as to how.

For over a year, the White House has blamed Hamas for the lack of ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu dispatches top negotiators to Qatar talks amid push to seal hostage deal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Saturday evening that he had decided to send a high-level delegation to Qatar to join efforts to seal a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group.

The team departing Saturday night includes Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ron Bar, IDF hostage point man Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and Netanyahu’s political adviser Ophir Falk.

The decision was made after Netanyahu held a situation assessment on the ongoing hostage talks. He was joined at the meeting by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel’s security chiefs, and officials from the Biden administration and incoming Trump administration.

Netanyahu met with Trump’s incoming US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem earlier in the day. Witkoff met in Doha on Friday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who briefed him on the ongoing negotiations, before he traveled to Israel to meet with Netanyahu. Witkoff was set to return to Qatar to participate in the negotiations, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel, along with the senior Israeli delegation.

According to Hebrew media reports, Witkoff emphasized to Netanyahu during their meeting Saturday that Trump wants a hostage deal by his inauguration on January 20. Channel 12 news said that Trump’s envoy stressed that both sides must show flexibility to get an agreement across the finish line.

According to a report in Israel Hayom, at the end of his meeting with Netanyahu, the two held a conference call with current White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, who is leading the US delegation in Qatar.

Hamas sources claimed Saturday that a deal had been reached and was awaiting Netanyahu’s final approval.

Channel 13 news quoted two sources involved in the negotiations as saying that Netanyahu decided to send Israel’s most senior negotiators to the talks amid “general cautious progress” in the talks with mediators in Qatar.

A senior Israeli official told the network that Hamas has still not provided a list of living hostages to Israel.


Father of Israeli wounded in New Orleans: ‘Part of his skull is missing
In an interview, Israeli Hagai Levin described the impact of the injuries sustained by his son Adi, a member of the IDF Armored Corps, during the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans by an ISIS-inspired terrorist who murdered 14 people and wounded dozens of others. The terrorist also died.

“His state fluctuates, but I’m optimistic. I’ll bring my son home. His life will change—he’ll have metal rods in his arms and legs, an open head wound and part of his skull is missing,” Hagai said.

“There are still injuries we’ll fully understand only in a month when we begin the head rehabilitation process. But he’ll return to us, and for that, we’re moving our home from the Golan Heights to Tel Aviv to be closer to Tel HaShomer Hospital [Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan].”

Adi remains bedridden, as does his friend and fellow IDF soldier Y. (who chooses to remain anonymous out of safety concerns). “I miss everyone terribly and am deeply grateful to the Jewish community here for their support,” Y. said.

The pair’s visit to New Orleans was part of a planned three-month road trip that took them from Nebraska to Los Angeles and then on to Texas and Louisiana. They did not make it to their planned destination of Florida.

Having seen the security camera video of the attack, Hagai said that the vehicle driven by Shamsud-Din Jabbar “hit Adi head-on, crushing his legs and head, dragging him along the road, and pushing his friend to the side.”
Anti-Israel activist who gave hateful CUNY speech bizarrely blames Israel for LA fires
The unhinged, anti-Israel activist who landed on The Post’s front page for a hateful commencement speech at the City University of New York Law School in May is bizarrely blaming Israel for the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

“Dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs on Gaza, turning it into a blazing inferno, has consequences that extend beyond our moral condemnation — there are climate consequences that will find us all,” Fatima Mousa Mohammed wrote on X Wednesday, a day after the City of Angels burst into flames.

“You cannot care about the quality of rain failing in one part of the world while ignoring the rain of fire you help fund in others. The climate crisis will only worsen, and our complacency will only fuel the flames,” read a subsequent X post by the rage-fueled law graduate, whose profile photo on the platform is The Post’s front page from May 30, “Stark Raving Grad.”

The headline referred to her vitriolic May 12 graduation speech, in which she demanded a “revolution” to take on the legal system’s “white supremacy,” blasted city cops and the US military as “fascists,” and called for an end to Zionism.

The deranged speech drew outrage from community leaders and local pols including Mayor Adams.

With nearly 130,000 Californians under evacuation orders, as multiple major fires continue ravaging the southwestern portion of the state, Mohammed issued an eerie warning:

“The flames of Gaza will not stop there, they will find us all if we don’t stop them … None of us are spared in the eye of the empire.”


British organisations deemed terror groups by the UAE for alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood
Eight organisations in the UK have been deemed terror groups by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over their alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The UAE cabinet named the eight groups to be added to the country’s approved “local terror list” of individuals and organisations.

It means they face travel and financial sanctions for their alleged support of terrorism.

It means anyone working for the organisations face travel bans and the freezing of their assets.

Individuals and bodies in the UAE are also banned from providing funds or financial services to those on the list.

The eight organisations range from real estate firms to education and video production companies, with most of the directors or senior figures associated with them listed as Emiratis on Companies House documents.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not banned in the UK or proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

However, Michael Gove last August identified British organisation the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) as a potential extremist body.

A MAB spokesman told The Telegraph: “The Muslim Association of Britain is a British organisation operating entirely within the British Isles, with no presence elsewhere. It is not an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood nor a member.”

But the then communities secretary named MAB as one of several “divisive forces” within Muslim communities and caused “real harm to them” because of their “Islamist orientation and views”.
Pro-Palestinian conference in Denmark drops speaker from group with Hezbollah ties
A pro-Palestinian conference in Denmark has withdrawn the participation of an organization dedicated to prosecuting Israeli soldiers abroad, seemingly due to its founder’s past Hezbollah membership.

The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) blamed “false information circulated by the Israeli press” for the withdrawal of Haroon Raza, an attorney for the group, from a panel at the European Palestinian Network Conference held in Copenhagen on Saturday.

It is unclear what reports HRF, named after a six-year-old Palestinian girl allegedly killed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza last year, was referring to.

A 2003 New York Times profile of Dyab Abou Jahjah, who went on to found HRF, quotes the Lebanese-Belgian activist as saying he’d joined the Hezbollah terror group before immigrating to Belgium at age 19. ”I had some military training, I’m still very proud of that,” he said.

Hezbollah is dedicated to Israel’s destruction and joined the war against Israel after October 7, 2023, in support of Hamas. A ceasefire in Lebanon was brokered last month after Israel led a crushing two-month campaign against the terror group.

HRF said the conference withdrew its invitation after some invitees refused to sit on a panel with Raza because of the reports “falsely linking us to resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine.”


IDF targets Hezbollah terrorists as Lebanese army deploys
Israeli Air Force craft on Saturday targeted terrorists exiting a “military” building in Southern Lebanon that belonged to Hezbollah, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

After their detection, the IAF acted to “remove the threat,” the statement continued.

“The IDF continues to be committed to the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, is deployed in the Southern Lebanon region and will act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” the military added.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Armed Forces said in a statement on X that its troops were completing their deployment in eight towns near the Israeli border, as well as in the coastal area between Naqoura and Tyre, ahead of the projected withdrawal of the IDF by the end of the month.

The Lebanese Armed Forces said it was cooperating with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the five-member committee supervising the truce in implementing the deployment.

The LAF called on civilians not to approach the area as it was conducting engineering work to remove unexploded ordnance and to clear rubble off the roads.

According to the Beirut-based, Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar newspaper, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has assured Lebanese officials that Israel will fully withdraw its forces from Southern Lebanon as outlined in the 60-day ceasefire agreement that took effect on Nov. 27.
IDF: More than 100 airstrikes in Judea and Samaria since
The Israeli Air Force carried out more than 100 strikes in Judea and Samaria since the Swords of Iron war began on Oct. 7, 2023, killing at least 165 armed terrorists who posed a threat to Israeli troops, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement on Saturday evening.

“The attacks are carried out while taking careful measures to avoid harm to unarmed civilians, and according to international law,” the statement read.

Time and time again, the statement continued, Palestinian terrorists have used civilian infrastructure such as mosques, hospitals and schools as bases to conduct their violent activities.

The IDF provided documentarian on three separate operations, in Jenin and in Tulkarem, in which armed groups exploited places of worship for terrorist purposes.

During an operation in the Jenin region on the night of Nov. 19, 2024, terrorists opened fire on IDF troops from a mosque. The following morning, Israeli fighters returned to the mosque and found a shooting range, a training area and firing positions on the mosque’s lower level.

The same night, an Israeli Air Force craft identified terrorists firing at Israeli troops from inside a different mosque.
IDF reveals how terrorists use mosques in West Bank
The IDF identified three mosques that terrorists were using while operating in the West Bank in November and December 2024, including the Jabriyat Mosque in Jenin, the Khalid Ibn al-Walid Mosque in Jenin, and the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Mosque in Tulkarm, the IDF announced Saturday evening.

Since the beginning of Israel's multi-front war in October 2023, the IDF has killed at least 165 terrorists in approximately 110 air strikes in the West Bank.

In several instances, the terrorists were operating within civilian infrastructure, including mosques, hospitals, medical centers, and educational institutions.

At the Jabriyat Mosque, terrorists opened fire at IDF soldiers from inside and around the mosque on November 11, 2024.

The next morning, IDF soldiers searched the mosque and discovered a shooting range on the lower floor of the mosque, a training area, and shooting posts overlooking IDF positions and the area next to the mosque. Dozens of bullet shells were found next to every window from the previous evening.

During the same operation, an Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft discovered several armed terrorists firing at IDF soldiers at the Khalid Ibn al-Walid Mosque.


IDF intercepts rocket fired from the southern Gaza Strip
The Israeli Air Force intercepted a rocket that was launched from the Gaza Strip’s south toward the Jewish state on Saturday morning, the military said.

Red alert air raid sirens blared in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, located near the intersection of the Gaza Strip and Egypt borders. No injuries or damage to property were reported.

Meanwhile in the Jabalia area in the northern Strip, IDF troops killed three terrorists, the military said.

Infantry forces of the 84th “Givati” Brigade identified terrorists who planned to ambush Israeli troops from a nearby building. Using a drone, the military spotted an underground pit inside the building through which the terrorists apparently came out. The IDF opened fire on two terrorists, and after a targeted ambush, the Givati fighters killed the third one, the IDF said.

In addition, Israeli Air Force craft targeted Hamas terrorists operating in a school in Jabalia.

The school was turned into a command center for Hamas gunmen “to carry out terror attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel,” according to the military.

Before the airstrike, “many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, aerial observation and additional intelligence means,” the IDF added.
IDF announces 4 soldiers killed, 6 wounded during fighting in northern Gaza
Four soldiers were killed and six were wounded during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces announced, bringing Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 402.

The slain troops were named Sgt. Maj. (res.) Alexander Fedorenko, 37, from Bat Yam; Staff Sgt. Danila Diakov, 21, from Maale Adumim; Sgt. Yahav Maayan, 19, from Modiin; and Sgt. Eliav Astuker, 19, from Ashdod.

Among the six wounded troops, two were listed in serious condition.

According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun were hit by an explosive device set off by gunmen, who also opened fire at them.

The IDF has recently intensified its offensive against Hamas in the far north of the Gaza Strip, an operation that has been ongoing since last October. The offensive is now focusing on the Beit Hanoun area after raids in Jabalia and Beit Lahiya.

The ongoing operation has led to the deaths of 48 soldiers.

On Wednesday three soldiers were killed in northern Gaza. According to an initial IDF probe, the troops were hit by a large explosive device that was detonated against a tank during operations in Beit Hanoun. That incident came after three other troops were killed and several more wounded in separate incidents on the previous two days.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip now stands at 402.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu eulogized the soldiers on X, writing: “They fell protecting the homeland in battles in the northern Gaza Strip, in a war for our existence and security. Their heroism and bravery will be etched in our hearts forever.”


Call me Back Podcast: What Happened to Jimmy Carter? - with Ken Stein
Yesterday in Washington D.C., former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s funeral service was held at the National Cathedral.

The former president’s post-presidential legacy has had a lasting impact on today’s Middle East. President Carter was known for brokering the Egypt-Israel peace treaty between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, which has lasted over four decades. However, he was also the first national leader of his stature to openly embrace Hamas, to accuse Israel of “apartheid”, and to legitimize Hamas’s slaughtering of Jews through suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism, during and following the Second Intifada.

How did President Carter go from an engaged diplomat working for peace between Israel and Egypt to championing Hamas and its narrative of Israeli “apartheid”?

To discuss the paradox of President Carter when it comes to Israel, and his impact on current day events in the Middle East, our guest is Ken Stein.

Dr. Kenneth W. Stein was a close confidante of President Carter’s, with whom he co-authored books and papers on the Middle East. Ken ran The Carter Center at Emory University, where he was also the Middle East Fellow. He also ran the Israel Studies Department at Emory. He has published numerous books and scholarly articles.

“Making Peace Among Arabs and Israelis: Lessons from Fifty Years of Negotiating Experience” by Kenneth W. Stein


Second Sydney shul defaced in 24 hours
For the second time in as many days, a synagogue in Australia’s largest city has been defaced with antisemitic graffiti including swastikas.

This time, the Newtown Synagogue in Sydney’s Inner West area was the target. This comes hours after a similar incident at Southern Sydney Synagogue in Allawah. These acts of vandalism, described by officials and community leaders as deliberate acts of hate, have drawn widespread condemnation and calls for stronger action against antisemitism.

New South Wales Police reported they were alerted to the vandalism at the synagogue on Georgina Street around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. Officers discovered red swastikas defacing the front of the building.

Earlier that morning, graffiti had also been reported at a home on Henry Street, Queens Park, and offensive comments were found on a poster on Marrickville Road. Investigations into all incidents are ongoing.

David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, condemned the attacks, calling them a deliberate campaign of hate.

“It should sicken us all that for the second time in two days, a Jewish place of worship has been targeted,” Ossip said. “No one should think that these are just acts of vandalism. This is a concerted campaign to intimidate, harass and menace the Jewish community.”
‘Enough is enough’: Swastikas scrawled across Sydney synagogue in vile vandalism attack
The Southern Sydney Synagogue has been vandalised with vile graffiti overnight on Friday, including swastikas, antisemitic phrases and pro-Palestine slogans.

The Daily Telegraph reported two men with hoodies and masks were seen loitering around the Jewish place of worship between 4am and 5am.

Police arrived at the scene on Railway Avenue, Allawah, to commence investigations into the attack.

Large red swastikas were accompanied by scrawled phrases such as "Hitler on top", "f**k Jews", and "free Palestine".

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was quick to condemn the "repulsive" attack and told Sky News such acts were a "precursor to greater evils".

“The targeting of the Southern Sydney Synagogue with Swastikas and vile antisemitic graffiti in the early hours of this morning is a grotesque act and it must be condemned. As history shows, these repulsive incidents are a precursor to greater evils, and it’s no wonder our Jewish community in Australia is living in fear," Mr Dutton said.

"I hope the perpetrators are caught and face the full force of the law. If there’s no repercussions for committing these disgraceful crimes, there will be no deterrence. When will this lesson be learned and how many more incidents of antisemitism need to occur in our country before action is taken.

"Enough is enough."

Antisemitism is 'destroying the fabric of Australian society'
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also fronted journalists in Perth and said those responsible for the attack should face the "full force of the law".

"They are hateful and there is no place in Australia - our tolerant, multicultural community - for this sort of criminal activity," he said.

"We are a multicultural nation. We need to be inclusive and cohesive, and that is what my government is determined to support.

"I know this occurred in Chris Minns, the New South Wales Premier's electorate and I'm sure the NSW Police will continue to take action. They need to be tracked down, those responsible, for this crime."

NSW Premier Chris Minns was at the scene on Friday morning alongside police and later fronted a press conference calling the vandals "bastards" who were trying divide the community with their "horrifying vandalism".

"In my own electorate of Kogarah, in the suburb of Hurstville, the South Sydney Synagogue was vandalised in a horrifying hate-filled attack by individuals who have hate in their heart," he said.

"The painting of a Swastika on a Jewish building shows how appalling these individuals are ... We have lived with the southern Sydney synagogue for many, many years, it's been in our community for decades, it's much loved and much revere by members of the local community.


Four members of anti-Israel Dagestan airport mob sentenced to decade in penal colony
Russian prosecutors announced Friday that four people had been sentenced to a decade each in a penal colony for their part in an antisemitic riot at a Dagestan airport on October 29, 2023.

Hebrew media said it was the harshest sentence yet in connection with the attack, which saw hundreds of anti-Israel protesters storm the Makhachkala International Airport after a plane arrived from Tel Aviv, in a spate of unrest over the war in Gaza, which had been sparked three weeks earlier when Hamas attacked Israel.

Russian prosecutors said the three people who incited the violence on Instagram were still wanted by authorities.

Video footage from the riot showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest). The airport closed for a week after being stormed, but no passengers were hurt.

Regional prosecutors in Russia’s southwestern district of Stavropol said on Telegram that the region’s Georgievsk City Court had found Marat Rabadanov, Radzhab Radzhabov, Magomed Ramazanov and Zaurbeg Khalikov culpable in the violence “on the grounds of ethnic and religious hatred and enmity toward citizens of Israel.”

The Kan public broadcaster said the sentence was the fourth, and the harshest, punishment meted out by the Stavropol court against members of the Dagestani mob in recent months.

The earliest convictions, in June, saw five men jailed for six to nine years each. Last month, another 10 people were sentenced to over eight years in prison, according to Russian media.


Confronting pro-Hamas activists over death threat allegations
Rebel News journalist Alexa Lavoie attempts to question pro-Hamas activists in Montreal about one of their group's members allegedly issuing death threats.




Brooke Goldstein: Here's how Trump can take on surging antisemitism in America
The magnitude of radicalization and Jew-hatred in America cannot be understated. It has become systematized in our education from kindergarten to college. It’s become normalized in our media and daily lives.

Progressive politicians and academics are accelerating the entrenchment of an anti-American agenda to destroy our democratic values and replace them with failed Marxist-Islamist ideologies. "Death to America" and "Death to the Jews" have been chanted steadily on our streets and campuses by people carrying Hamas and ISIS flags.

The so-called Intifada has been globalized and its effects are being felt on the streets of New Orleans and on our campuses. The Trump Administration has promised it will use the tools - and people - necessary to coordinate a whole-of-the-government approach to this crisis.

In prior administrations, the government office tasked with combating Jew-hatred has been the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, an ambassadorial role whose main responsibilities are tracking antisemitism globally and representing the United States in addressing the subject internationally. However, the special envoy will not be regarded as a moral authority if we are unable to effectively manage extremism within our borders.

Given the magnitude of the problem, and the fact that domestic antisemitism is inherently linked to systemic radicalization, either the special envoy role needs to be expanded to include tackling domestic Jew-hatred and its causes, or the administration would benefit from an additional position - an "Antisemitism Czar" to coordinate the government’s response at home.

Modern antisemitism in America stems from a broader anti-American ideology often labeled as "progressive," which has adopted elements of Marxism, embraced radical Islam and promotes narratives of "oppression" to justify violent actions. Such radicalization has taken root in our media, academia, and among certain individuals in government. It’s being expressed in Diversity Equity and Inclusion doctrine, critical race theory, efforts to defund the police, and occupy campuses.

During the Biden-Harris administration, we witnessed a troubling surge in domestic ideologies that justify the murder of insurance executives in New York, pedestrians in New Orleans, and endorse the Hamas kidnapping of American hostages as "resistance by any means."

President-elect Trump has demonstrated unwavering moral clarity in addressing Jew-hatred as part of the larger, more systemic problem that it is, making the protection of Jewish Americans' civil rights a key part of his vision to restore democracy and make America great again.

An "expanded" special envoy or an antisemitism czar would coordinate the federal law enforcement response to Jew-hatred and its underlying causes, ensure the National Guard is employed when needed, root out malign foreign influence and dark money, help prosecute unregistered foreign agents, coordinate investigations into shadowy entities parroting terrorist propaganda, and oversee Office of Civil Rights investigations to ensure Jew-hatred is remedied.
Six CUNY professors ask Supreme Court to let them leave ‘highly antisemitic’ faculty union
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide on Friday whether to hear the case of six professors at City University of New York—five of them Jewish—who want to sever ties with the public university’s faculty union, which they say is antisemitic.

A decision from the high court is expected on Monday, when it is scheduled to release its orders, Jeffrey Lax, a law professor at CUNY and one of the five Jewish plaintiffs, told JNS.

Lax, Avraham Goldstein, Michael Goldstein, Frimette Kass-Shraibman, Mitchell Langbert and Maria Pagano filed a petition with the high court in July, challenging “aspects of New York State’s ‘Taylor Law,’ which grants union bosses monopoly bargaining power in the public sector,” according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which is aiding the plaintiffs.

“This gives union bosses the power to speak and contract for public workers, including those that want nothing to do with the union,” the foundation stated on Dec. 23. “In addition to opposing the union’s extreme ideology, the professors oppose being forced into a ‘bargaining unit’ of instructional staff who share the union’s objectionable beliefs or have employment interests diverging from their own.”

The six professors argue that the law unfairly requires them to accept the representation of Professional Staff Congress, a 30,000-member union, whose anti-Israel public statements they consider antisemitic. The plaintiffs cite “a host of discriminatory actions perpetrated by union agents and adherents, including a June 2021 union resolution that the professors viewed as ‘antisemitic, anti-Jewish and anti-Israel,’” per the foundation.

Nathan McGrath, president of the Fairness Center, which is representing the professors, told JNS that the New York State law violates the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.

“Our clients are arguing that New York’s Taylor Law runs afoul of the First Amendment by forcing these professors, most of whom are Zionist Jews, to associate with an organization they believe is antisemitic,” he told JNS. “Though they are not union members, our clients must still accept the union’s representation.”

McGrath said that the professors’ only recourse is to “quit their jobs entirely.”

“They are asking the Supreme Court to provide them an avenue to continue in their public service without the coercive representation of a union that they believe hates them,” he said.
Columbia University professor retires as probe finds she discriminated against Israelis
A Columbia University law professor has left the university after an investigation found that she had discriminated against Israelis in violation of Columbia policies.

Katherine Franke, a longtime professor at Columbia, was investigated due to comments she made about Israeli students last year. In a January 2024 interview with “Democracy Now,” a New York news outlet, Franke said she and others were concerned about Columbia’s graduate program for students from Israel.

“So many of those Israeli students, who then come to the Columbia campus, are coming right out of their military service,” she said. “They’ve been known to harass Palestinian and other students on our campus.”

Other professors at the law school filed an internal complaint against Franke the following month due to her comments in the interview, Franke told the Inside Higher Ed news outlet. The complaint, filed with the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, said Franke “harassed members of the Columbia community based on their national origin,” she said.

Franke also confirmed the investigation on social media, saying the probe was “unfounded and politicized,” and Columbia’s then-president Minouche Shafik confirmed the investigation to Congress last year.

In an email Thursday to faculty obtained by The Times of Israel, law school dean Daniel Abebe said Franke was “accelerating her planned retirement” and would be leaving Columbia on Friday. The email said she had joined the law school in 2000.

Franke responded to the email, telling other faculty that Abebe’s email “reflects significant inaccuracies” and contained “misinformation,” without explicitly denying her retirement.

The investigation into Franke was conducted by an outside law firm. In November, the investigators determined that Franke had violated university anti-discrimination policy during the “Democracy Now” interview. She also violated university policies barring retaliation by providing the name of a professor who made a complaint against her to a reporter, and for social media activity targeting the complainants, according to a copy of the investigation’s findings obtained by The Times of Israel.

Columbia said in a statement it was “committed to being a community that is welcoming to all and our policies prohibit discrimination and harassment.”

“As made public by parties in this matter, a complaint was filed alleging discriminatory harassment in violation of our policies. An investigation was conducted, and a finding was issued. As we have consistently stated, the University is committed to addressing all forms of discrimination consistent with our policies,” the statement said.


Man convicted of deadly synagogue bombing in France not teaching at Carleton this semester
Hassan Diab, the Ottawa sociology professor who was convicted in absentia in 2023 of a deadly synagogue bombing in France, is “not currently employed” at Carleton University, the school says.

In the fall, Diab taught a course at Carleton called Social Justice in Action, using his own Canadian extradition case in his teachings. His position drew the ire of the Jewish community in Canada and beyond, with B’nai Brith Canada calling on Carleton to fire him.

“The university has ignored B’nai Brith’s formal request to terminate his position, allowing Diab to remain in a position of authority over students,” the Jewish advocacy group wrote on X.

Carleton confirmed this week that Diab no longer works there.

“Hassan Diab is a former part-time contract instructor who taught a course at the university last fall. He is not in the employment of Carleton. Please note that, other than current employment status, the university does not disclose personal employment information due to privacy considerations,” the university said in a statement Thursday.

South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who also has held American and Canadian citizenship, brought renewed attention to the case recently, sharing a November X post from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and asking: “A mass murderer is living free as a professor in Canada?”

The social media posts were based on a National Post op-ed by Iddo Moed, Israel’s ambassador to Canada.

“The decision to hire a convicted terrorist, to have him lecture and influence impressionable students, ostensibly on human rights, contributes to a toxic atmosphere that further marginalizes and victimizes Canadian Jewish students. In contradiction to the values of liberal democracies — like those of Israel and Canada — it sends the message that their safety and well-being doesn’t matter and that terrorism may be tolerated,” Moed said in the op-ed.


‘NYT’ blocks Quaker activists’ ad accusing Israel of genocide
The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that has regularly advocated against the Jewish state, has condemned The New York Times for declining to publish its ad alleging genocide in Gaza.

“The refusal of The New York Times to run paid digital ads that call for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is an outrageous attempt to sidestep the truth,” AFSC General Secretary Joyce Ajlouny said on Monday.

According to the AFSC, the text of its ad read, “Tell Congress to stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza now! As a Quaker organization, we work for peace. Join us. Tell the President and Congress to stop the killing and starvation in Gaza.”

AFSC said that a member of the newspaper’s advertising team requested the group use “war” instead of “genocide.”

After rejecting this change, AFSC said it received an email stating that “various international bodies, human rights organizations, and governments have differing views on the situation. In line with our commitment to factual accuracy and adherence to legal standards, we must ensure that all advertising content complies with these widely applied definitions.”
BBC slammed for sourcing Palestinian media with antisemitic, extremist content
The BBC was accused of “whitewashing” sourcing from Palestinian news outlets that have made extremist statements that glorify attacks on Israel in a report by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).

The report found that the BBC repeatedly cited Palestinian news agencies that glorified acts of terror and made repeated extremist and antisemitic statements.

CAMERA said that the BBC “all too often accepts Hamas’s distortions as fair framing or fact.” The BBC has not responded to these claims, and CAMERA noted that it had not challenged or acknowledged the extremist views of the various Palestinian media outlets.

The report came after the BBC conducted an investigation that showed that Facebook restricted Palestinian news outlets from reaching broader audiences during the course of the Israel-Hamas war.

A CAMERA spokesperson told the Telegraph that the British broadcaster “credited no fewer than five staff members from three different BBC departments with conducting ‘comparative research’ which it used as the basis for an article claiming that Palestinian ‘prominent media outlets’ suffer from a ‘shadow-ban’ that does not affect their Israeli counterparts.”

Antisemitic sources and employees
The spokesperson noted, however, that “seeing as Palestinian outlets consistently support targeting Israel’s Jewish civilians and peddle antisemitism, the entire research is based on false equivalence and fails to note a single Israeli outlet that even remotely engages in such hate speech.

One such instance is when Palestine religious TV host Basha’ir al-Awiwi said: “We’re happy the killed Jews are in hell.”

In another instance, Omar el Qataa, a Palestinian photographer in Gaza who the BBC quoted in the BBC investigation, reacted to a March 2022 attack in Israel that killed four civilians and an Israeli police officer by writing: “If only the rifle could cheer.”

Qataa also posted footage of a January 2023 stabbing attack in Jerusalem with the caption: “Your screams are music [to the ears].”


FDD: ‘Until All Outlaws Are Arrested’: PA Concludes Rare Jenin Crackdown
Latest Developments
PA’s Month-Long West Bank Sweep: The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced the conclusion of the first phase of its security forces’ operation “Protecting the Homeland” on January 9, aimed at targeting terrorists and their funders in the West Bank city of Jenin. Six PA security officers were killed during the sweeps, 247 wanted men were arrested, and 17 car bombs and 245 smaller explosive devices were defused, according to Brig. Gen. Anwar Rajab. He described the operation, launched on December 5, as “very satisfactory” and said it would continue “until all outlaws are arrested and the situation stabilized.” At least eight residents of Jenin were killed in the close-quarter clashes.

RPG Handed Over to Israeli Forces: During their raids in Jenin, PA security forces seized an anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher, which they eventually handed over to the IDF, according to Israel’s Channel 14 news. Israeli reporter Hallel Bitton Rosen said that the weapon would have caused several casualties if it had been used against the IDF.

West Bank Terrorism Persists as Hamas, PIJ, Fatah Claim Roadside Ambush: Amid the PA’s counterterrorism operations, Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, claimed joint responsibility with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade for a January 6 shooting attack near the northern West Bank town of Al-Funduq. The IDF has launched an ongoing manhunt to arrest the perpetrators of the attack, which killed three Israeli civilians and wounded a further eight.

FDD Expert Response
“It turns out that when the PA wants to crack down on terrorism, it can — and even at a steep cost in terms of the lives of its personnel. Call it a West Bank version of the ‘Trump Effect’ — a desire on the part of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas to ingratiate himself with the incoming U.S. president — or a belated realization that Iranian money and weapons were becoming no less a threat to Palestinians than to Israelis.” — Mark Dubowitz, CEO

“The West Bank is on the verge of another spasm of violence as Palestinian terrorists there feel they must fill the vacuum created by Israel’s demolition of the Iranian axis in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria. PA action is welcome and must be coordinated with the IDF. The Jordanian authorities should similarly weigh in and abandon their rote condemnations of Israel’s necessary self-defense measures.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal


Iran unveils hidden underground missiles facility
Iran released footage unveiling the underground weapons storage facility it used in previous attacks against Israel, which it claims holds “new special missiles, Iranian semi-state official media site Tasnim reported at the end of December.

Footage of the facility was later released on IRIB, displaying Tehran officials IRGC Commander Major General Hossein Salami and Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh touring the facility.

Hajizadeh described the facility as a “dormant volcano” days before Salami announced the IRGC’s plans to develop the “new special missiles.”

Among the underground facility’s arsenal is reportedly a number of Qadr missiles - a type of Iranian long-range surface-to-surface missile first revealed in 2007, according to the Alma Research and education Center.

The Qadr missile reportedly sports a modular warhead, which can hold a large number of bombs, Alma reported.



After visiting this missile city, Salami reportedly stated, "The enemy thought that our production capacity had been cut off, but the growth rate of our missile capacity is up to date; missiles are really increasing and upgrading their capacity and capabilities every day in terms of quantity, quality, skill, and design. This increase in capabilities means that the IRGC Aerospace Force will once again unveil its newly produced missiles and missile bases in the near future."

The Tasnim report claimed Tehran was planning to hold new drills this month, making active the hidden “missile and drone cities” in southern Iran - these facilities include one storing vessels and another underground container holding missiles.
With antisemitism in Berlin at a post-WWII high, Israeli expats explain why they stay
On one of the last days of the year, anti-Israel protesters in Berlin delivered a final boost to Germany’s annual antisemitism numbers, as 2024 easily overtook the record number of anti-Jewish incidents of the year before.

Images were shown on social media of Muslim immigrants at an anti-Israeli rally calling for the Jews to be killed, while an Israeli woman said she was attacked in the German capital on New Year’s Eve when she wore a coexistence badge depicting the Palestinian and Israeli flags.

In the first six months of 2024 alone, there were more antisemitic incidents in the German capital than in all of 2023. No fewer than 25 physical attacks against Jews were recorded in the first half of last year in Berlin, and Holocaust memorials were the target of property damage 21 times. More than seven out of 10 antisemitic incidents were related to Israel, according to RIAS, a federal German watchdog on antisemitism.

Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik caused a stir in November when she advised Jewish and gay inhabitants to be vigilant when traveling through neighborhoods with large Arab communities.

“Unfortunately, there are certain neighborhoods where there are mostly Arab people who also have sympathy for terrorist groups. Open antisemitism is expressed there against people of the Jewish faith and origin,” said Slowik.

Still, members of the Israeli expat community in Berlin remain positive about life in the German capital. Precise numbers are hard to come by, but estimates of Israelis living in Berlin range from 10,000 to about twice that.

Jonathan moved to Berlin almost 10 years ago when he was in his mid-40s. He has his own company that imports high-end baby products and his husband Chanan works for a large international fintech company. The couple has 18-month-old twins, a boy and a girl. Last year, they built their own house in a green area, 20 minutes from Berlin’s city center. Asked about the rising antisemitism in the city, Jonathan admitted he only reads about it on social media.
Algerian influencers spread hatred and anti-Semitism in France, minister says
Algeria is trying to humiliate France, France’s interior minister said on Friday, after several Algerian influencers were arrested for inciting violence in a growing crisis between Paris and its former colony.

Four Algerian influencers supportive of Algerian authorities have been arrested in recent days over videos that are suspected of calling for violent acts in France.

Meanwhile, Algeria has also been holding on national security charges French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, a major figure in modern francophone literature, who was arrested at Algiers airport in November.

“Algeria is seeking to humiliate France,” Bruno Retailleau said on a visit to the western city of Nantes.

“Algeria is currently holding a great writer—Boualem Sansal—who is not only Algerian but also French. Can a great country, a great people allow itself to keep in detention for the wrong reasons someone who is old and sick?”

Turning to the influencers, he said it was “out of the question to give a free pass to these individuals who spread hatred and anti-Semitism”.

“I think we have reached an extremely worrying threshold with Algeria,” he said, adding France “cannot tolerate” an “unacceptable situation.”

“While keeping our cool (...) we must now consider all the means we have at our disposal with regards to Algeria,” he added.

One of those arrested is “Doualemn”, a 59-year-old influencer who was detained in the southern city of Montpellier after a video posted on TikTok.

He was deported on a plane to Algeria Thursday afternoon, according to his lawyer, but was sent back to France the same evening as Algeria had banned him from its territory.
Sensational: Remembering Frank Sinatra's concert in Jerusalem
I wonder how many readers can remember what they were doing on November 27, 1975. It’s a date that is unforgettable for me because that’s when I saw my idol performing in person for the first time, after decades of worshiping him from afar.

It’s the night Frank Sinatra came to Israel and performed at Binyenei Ha’uma (The Jerusalem Convention Center).

From the time I was a teenager, his voice and songs had thrilled me. And then, at age 44, the thrill hadn’t lessened. I was probably the oldest bobby-soxer (as his fans were called) in the audience.

Many, many vocalists have been popular over the years, and then faded into obscurity. ]

Not Sinatra – he’s a legend that will never be forgotten. Not so much for his films but for the songs that we danced to, and the lyrics that have been forever etched on our hearts: Frank Sinatra (left) and Gregory Peck talk to an IDF officer in Jerusalem in 1978, when he opened the Frank Sinatra Center at the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus (credit: MOSHE MILNER / GPO)




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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