Tuesday, January 21, 2025
The UK still hasn’t come to terms with the Muslim Brotherhood
Islam is no longer something that only matters in Islamic countries. It has a global reach and therefore global influence. That has been the case for decades, though we have tried to pretend otherwise. Most Muslims are perfectly at ease in the West. But Islamists by definition see our societies as corrupt and decadent and our political systems as illegitimate. Revelation, not rationally discovered secular law, should determine how we live and are governed.The Red Cross Abets Hamas’s Crimes
Given the symbolic power for Muslims of Islam – which Islamists seek to harness for their own ends – and the growing numbers of Muslims in Europe, that is a challenge to the liberal order of a magnitude we haven’t experienced since the Cold War. So when the UAE decides to proscribe organisations and individuals which they claim are linked to the MB, and some of those are resident or registered in the UK, we should pay attention. This is not necessarily because we know that the UAE are right or – if they are right – that we should take legal action ourselves. The MB is not a proscribed organisation here – though Hamas, which arose out of the Palestinian MB certainly is. The issue is rather different. Successive British governments have seemed to believe that if only we ignore Islamism or pay attention only when a bomb goes off on the Tube or someone is horribly murdered on Westminster Bridge, at Borough Market or on a street in Woolwich, then everyone will get along nicely and everything will be fine. It won’t.
The Islamist challenge to the foundational norms of western societies is clear enough in the current debate over Islamophobia. We have seen the results in Batley, in Wakefield and in Birmingham, where there has been a sustained effort to pretend that the so-called Trojan Horse affair never happened (Policy Exchange, the think tank where I work, has begged to differ). The French see this with Cartesian clarity: its interior minister spoke about the threat from Brotherhood-inflected Islamism on 6 January. So do politicians in Austria, Germany and Sweden. They continue to have difficulty formulating a coherent and collective response. But acknowledging you have a problem is the first step to resolving it. British governments continue to be reluctant to do even that. So reviews like the MBR or those by Shawcross and Sara Khan come and go. Whitehall is repeatedly urged to set up proper structures, to develop proper expertise and use that to shape policies designed at the very least to resist Islamist efforts to create parallel structures or separate societies, promote dependency, disguise funding flows, dismantle the connection between rights and the individual and constrain criticism by restrictions on free speech. The response under the Tories was feeble: they were admittedly distracted. But the response of the current government seems likely to be more regulation, more legal constraints and perhaps the adoption of an expansive and unnecessary Islamophobia definition. That isn’t the answer. The UAE shows what can be done if you know what you’re talking about and have the confidence of your convictions. Perhaps we should try learning from them?
While any hope of reforming UNRWA is a fantasy, that isn’t to say the organization is completely incapable of self-correction. In 2019, writes Richard Pollock, its director Pierre KrähenbühlOnly Hamas can claim victory and genocide at the same time
was forced to resign . . . because of immoral and unethical behavior, including creating a “toxic environment” within the organization, according to the official investigation. . . . The devastating ten-page UN report said he and his top associates, “engaged in abuses of authority for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives.”
So what happens to the disgraced former head of UNRWA? In 2021, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) made him its personal envoy to the president of China. He became the organization’s director-general in December 2023. And that brings us to the events of Sunday, when ICRC officials supervised the handover of three Israeli hostages. As Pollock observes, these officials “stood by and permitted Hamas gunmen and frenzied Gaza City residents to surround and shake the vehicles [transporting the women] as they were about to be released.” This was
the final human-rights indignity supervised by the International Red Cross, which has steadfastly ignored its obligation and mandate to protect unarmed hostages. Unlike . . . in other conflicts, not once did the ICRC never meet with a single hostage during their captivity since they were seized on October 7. The relief agency never provided them with comfort, delivered needed medicines, or assured their safety.
It’s not well known, but in fiscal year 2022, the State Department contributed more than $622 million to the ICRC, making it the largest single donor to the relief agency. . . . The new Congress most likely will hold hearings to investigate the ICRC and consider withholding funds from it.
Hamas wasted no time declaring victory, even before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the existence of a hostage release deal. Despite its losses, the destruction of its leadership and the devastation in Gaza’s streets, the terror group’s propaganda arm pressed forward. "The Al-Aqsa Flood brought pride," they claimed in a flurry of social media graphics, showcasing their creative team working overtime.
This is a population uniquely capable of claiming both genocide and victory simultaneously. The objective is clear: to entrench Palestinian consciousness and reinforce Hamas' grip on Gaza. The armed terrorists who emerged amid celebrations as the cease-fire began underscore this.
Yet, beyond the absurdity lies a critical reminder of the parallel battle for public perception. The potential silence on the battlefield in the coming weeks doesn't necessarily signal a reduction in this campaign. On the contrary, it’s likely to intensify in the absence of physical fighting.
Israel faces a steep challenge countering Hamas’ messaging to its own population. If the Palestinians haven’t realized by now that their actions led to disaster, no Israeli awareness campaign will change that anytime soon.
But the Palestinian public isn't Israel’s primary target audience. The focus should be on the international audience, which has lost sight of why Israel is fighting and what it has yet to achieve. The world needs a reminder of the cruelty of the enemy and the reality that Israel’s national trauma won’t begin to heal until every hostage is returned.
In this sense, the hostage deal represents not only a source of joy, hope and worry among many— but also an opportunity to provide the world with critical context. While the IDF prepares the operation for the hostages’ return, "Wings of Freedom," Israel must also plan a parallel campaign: "Freedom of Truth."
Amid the inevitable flood of media coverage surrounding the deal, Israel should embed content that advances its interests — personalizing the hostages, putting faces and names to those coming home and underscoring that Israel won't rest until all are freed.
It must be made clear that their abduction is not just a personal tragedy but a collective catastrophe and that Hamas' existence remains a dire threat requiring its complete eradication.
Yisrael Medad: What’s in a name?
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has drawn some fire as a result of his legislative initiative in proposing the “Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-Use of Judea and Samaria Act”—for short, the Recognizing Judea and Samaria Bill. In essence, it requires all official U.S. documents and materials to use the historically accurate term “Judea and Samaria” instead of the “West Bank.” Moreover, it calls the term “West Bank” as language that is “politically charged.”The Case Against a Palestinian State: Part 1
Writing last month in the New Republic, Hafiz Rashid, a journalism graduate at the University of Maryland, noted that Cotton is soon to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairmanship and pushed speculation theories that Republicans will be supporting Jerusalem’s plans “to annex the West Bank” with American backing. Rashid added that this and other steps are part of a plot “to ignore Palestinians.”
What the bill actually does is to put a halt to the ongoing attempts to ignore the purposefully mistaken geopolitical names and in addition, almost all of the actual history of the Jews in their national homeland over the past 3,000 years, as well as Zionism not being the recent phenomenon it is erroneously claimed. After all, as but one example, when President John Quincy Adams wrote to Mordechai Noah on March 15, 1819, and informed him:
“I could find it in my heart to wish that you had been at the head of a hundred thousand Israelites … marching with them into Judea & making a conquest of that country & restoring your nation to the dominion of it—For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation … restored to an independent. … I am Sir with respect & esteem/your obliged humble servant.”
It was to Judea and not Palestine that Adams wished the Jews to be restored. It was Judea, not some “West Bank” territory. Much earlier, on Oct. 23, 1765, Ezra Stiles could find no better comparison to an unruly political situation than writing to Benjamin Franklin that there existed no “more deplorable situation than Judea which in the Time of Christ was a Province under a heavy Tribute to the Roman Senate.” The term “West Bank” made its appearance in political lexicons only on April 24, 1950, when Jordan’s Parliament decided to approve King Abdullah’s assertion of some mythical right of self-determination that there be the “complete unity between the two banks of the Jordan, the Eastern and Western, and their amalgamation in one single state.”
Unfortunately, Israel’s media from 1967 to 1968 contributed to the settling of the “West Bank” into the public mind. On Feb. 5, 1968, Knesset member Eliezer Shostak of the “Free Center” faction tabled a parliamentary question in which he protested the use of the term “West Bank” and not “Judea and Samaria” by government ministers and spokesmen. Then-Israeli Prime Minister Levy Eshkol replied: “The official name used by government ministries and the IDF is Judea and Samaria. It is difficult for me to enter into historical research … or to enter into gynecology—how the name ‘West Bank’ was born.” Then-Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan stated the next day: “I do not imagine that it is possible to remove from the sphere of connection of the Jewish people in their homeland the same areas of Judea and Samaria that were the cradle of the Jewish people.”
Even if the Palestinian national movement attained internal unity, its national identity is low on the cultural uniqueness that would serve as a justification for having an independent Palestinian state. Being predominantly Arab-speaking and Sunni Muslim, Palestinian culture is not distinct from the broader Arab Muslim cultures in the region including Jordan, Egypt, Syria, the Gulf States, and parts of Iraq. Has a distinct, local version of this Arab-Sunni identity formed over the past century in the land of Israel? Perhaps. However, as far as cultural uniqueness is a factor in favor of political independence, the Palestinian claim here is weak compared to many other independence movements around the world. The Palestinian National Charter, adopted by the PLO in 1964, reflects this clearly in its opening statement: “Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation.” There are currently 22 independent states who share the language, religion and culture of the Palestinians.Israeli President Isaac Herzog: Oct. 7 a ‘wake-up call’ for limits of two-state solution
Finally, the Charter of the United Nations calls on all its members “to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors,” and member states commit to “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” It should be clear to anyone that a Palestinian state, should one ever arise, would not be a peace-loving state. Palestinian identity is bound up with a rejection of the right of the State of Israel to exist and it has never ceased to back up this demand with action and the refusal of the PA leadership to recognize the right of Jewish independence.
Are there individuals among the Palestinian populace who would be willing to live in peace with Israel? Perhaps. But until now, even the supposedly moderate political faction, Fatah, which operates the PA institutions, cannot bring itself to condemn the massacres of October 7th. Even when Israel will complete its goal of eradicating Hamas’ governing power in Gaza, the fact remains that a majority of the Palestinian populace in Gaza supports Hamas’ goals; whatever criticism that exists toward the movement lies in the realm of tactics alone. So too, a majority of the PA populace in Judea and Samaria also supports Hamas. And if one looks closely at the surveys, it is clear that the majority do not believe in the legitimacy of the State of Israel. The Palestinian national movement has not shown that it intends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with its neighbors but rather precisely the opposite, it would be born into a state of war of eradication against Israel.
None of this should not be surprising when considering that the Palestinian national movement is founded in the violent rejection of Jewish independence in any borders. The first political leader of what later came to be called the Palestinian national movement was Haj Amin al Husseini. Husseini was appointed the mufti of Jerusalem in the 1920’s and greatly contributed to the riots and massacres perpetrated against the pre-state Jewish communities in that decade and in the 1930s. During World War II, Husseini travelled to Germany to ally himself with Hitler and lead the drive for the extermination of all Jews across the Middle East. Husseini is still seen as a national father of the Palestinians society, and their only criticism of him is that he promoted the war against Israel in 1948 which ended in the ‘Nakba’- disaster of Israel’s victory. Given this history it should be no surprise that Palestinians overwhelmingly support Hamas’ genocidal mega-attack and the PA diplomats celebrated it.
No other national movement has been given greater offers for a state on a silver platter and repeatedly refused. This fact supports the argument that the Palestinians do not actually want a state. A people whose highest aspiration is their own political independence do not pass up the opportunity for a state when it is offered to them, whether it meets all their expectations or not. For this precise reason, the Jewish national movement, ie. the Zionist movement, accepted the UN partition plan in 1947, despite it being much less than what the League of Nations Mandate had originally accorded them. Following more missed opportunities to move toward statehood in 1979, in 1995, the Palestinians rejected generous offers of full statehood again in 2000, and again in 2008.
What kind of independence movement passes up multiple offers of independence? The only logical conclusion is that the Palestinians have no substantive reason for demanding independence beyond denying Israel’s right to exist. The project for Palestinian statehood is in essence not a national independence movement at all but rather a movement of violent and political resistance to Jewish independence in any form.
One of the reasons for this is that whatever Palestinian national identity exists is built on an ethos of perpetual collective victimhood. If they were to attain an independent and a materially prosperous existence, they would have to cease seeing themselves as victims, but would then be left in a deep crisis, having nothing left to their collective identity. The Palestinian national movement developed in reaction and opposition to the Zionist movement. If not for Zionism, no part of the Arab Muslim Middle East would consider the local Arabs of the land of Israel a separate national entity. Indeed, even after Israel’s founding the Arab states continued to refuse to recognize the claims of their Arab brethren. Egypt’s Nasser dreamt of a greater Egypt which would control the entire region from its borders to Iraq. Syria’s Assad believed the land of Israel to be part of greater Syria. Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria for 19 years and never considered that the Palestinians should have their own state. Israel has a substantive identity without the Palestinian national movement, but the Palestinians would have no unique political identity without Zionism.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, long a supporter of a two-state solution, described the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks as a “wake-up call” for his outlook on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, telling attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday that his view of peace in the Middle East had shifted.Israeli President Herzog traveling to United States for Holocaust Remembrance Day
He described a bleaker view than he has previously espoused about Israel’s Palestinian neighbors, shaped irrevocably by the trauma of the terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people. While he acknowledged “there must be a political move forward on the Palestinian front,” he did not commit to a Palestinian state as the end point of that process.
“The idea of the two-state solution is something which, on record, I supported in the past, many times,” Herzog said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “But I would say that I had a wake-up call following Oct. 7, in the sense that I want to hear my neighbors say how much they object, regret, condemn and do not accept in any way the terrible tragedy of the terror attack of Oct. 7 and the fact that terror cannot be the tool to get there.”
Herzog’s comments came after a more hopeful statement about Israel working toward achieving normalization with Saudi Arabia, prompted by a question by Zakaria about what steps Israel is willing to make vis-a-vis the Palestinians as Israel seeks to cement its ties with Riyadh.
“It is something that after the enormous pain, really pain and enormous tragedies, we should strive for,” Herzog said of normalization. As Zakaria pressed Herzog for details about what it would take to get there — Saudi leaders have continuously said Israel must make progress in addressing the Palestinian issue before normalization can proceed — Herzog left the details fuzzy.
“Regarding the nitty gritty or the conditions, I would ignore some or all the statements. I think these things need to be discussed in closed rooms. I assume the Oval Office will be involved in it as well,” said Herzog. “Israel is here in this region forever, and that’s why we should aim for it, apart also from the fact that Saudi Arabia itself is a key to regional stability.”
Palestinians “deserve” peace, Herzog said. But after the trauma of the Oct. 7 attacks, the threshold for any kind of Israeli concessions on a Palestinian state seems to have been raised much higher — the price, Herzog said, of unrepentant terrorism.
“We should strive for peace, and they deserve to have peace just like us. But it requires them to disseminate and understand that terror is out of the question under any circumstances,” said Herzog. “There will be a moment where we’ll have to have real peace with our Palestinian neighbors. I dream of that day, but it will take time.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to the United States in the coming days, where he is slated to speak at the United Nations’ memorial service for International Holocaust Remembrance Day next Monday, his office confirmed.Gideon Falter: The Holocaust lives with Jews and rise in antisemitism sparks fears it could happen again
Herzog — currently in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum — will return to Israel before heading to New York City.
According to the U.N., the Holocaust Remembrance Day service will also feature testimonies from survivors, remarks from U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres; the president of the 79th session of the General Assembly, Philemon Yang of Cameroon; and representatives of other member states. Herzog’s scheduled appearance at the service was first reported by the Israeli Ynet news site.
Before the U.N. event, the president is also scheduled to attend the dedication of the Altneu synagogue’s new building in the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Sunday evening.
Herzog’s office told Jewish Insider that the rest of his schedule for his U.S. trip is still being reviewed.
For over a year, we have all seen scarcely-contained antisemitism and extremism on our streets. That has been sickening enough. But it adds insult to injury when that ugly hatred exploits the memory of the Holocaust to turbo-charge its incitement and vilification against Jews.DEBUNKING 3 Big Lies About Israel | David Brog
Our society hasn’t just forgotten what “never again” means: it is turning a blind eye to those who use that slogan and the commitment it represents as a weapon to harass Jews. Society has let them not just flout the promise made to Jews after the Holocaust, but to own and pervert it.
This antisemitism is not only on our streets; it’s also appearing across our society, including on campuses.
Is it any surprise that our polling, conducted by YouGov, shows that young people are more likely to be ignorant about the Holocaust and, surely not coincidentally, sympathetic to Hamas and supportive of the anti-Israel protests in our cities?
Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organisation committed to eradicating Jewish people. It managed to murder 1,200 of them on October 7, 2023. Hamas’s main sponsor is the tyrannical Iranian theocracy whose regime denies the Holocaust while it plots another.
Their supporters have taken over our streets week after week and the effects are being felt in schools and universities, in hospitals and cultural institutions, on television and online.
As a society, we have failed to learn the real lessons of the Holocaust, and, after fifteen months of unprecedented levels of antisemitism with no end in sight, our country is failing its Jews.
Never again is now.
Visegrad24 founder Stefan Tompson met with David Brog in Las Vegas to talk about the biggest myths about Israel and to discuss the Israel-Hamas War, antisemitism, the PR war and the shift taking place in the West.
David Brog is the author of "Reclaiming Israel's History: Roots, Rights, and the Struggle for Peace" and prominent advocate for pro-Israel initiatives and is the Executive Director of the Maccabee Task Force, an organization dedicated to combating antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on college campuses.
00:00 - Introduction
02:15 - Myths about Israel?
05:50 - Apartheid Myth
10:50 - Israeli Settlements
17:01 - Abbas Myth about 1948 War
21:21 - Would a majority Arab Israel work?
24:15 - Genocide Myth
31:57 - Hamas PR Victory
WOW.
— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) January 21, 2025
Nefarious Wikipedia editors have made it appear as though Israel was responsible for every death on October 7. The system is broken. @WikiBias2024 pic.twitter.com/sSnYXveDl3
A happy 20th anniversary for Mahmoud Abbas
It was 20 years ago this week that Mahmoud Abbas was elected to a single four year term as chairman of the Palestinian Authority. I suspect he’s having a very happy anniversary.Questioning the motives behind a South African NGO
When the 89-year-old looks around him, he must be astonished at how the international community has acquiesced in his brutal dictatorship.
According to the U.S. State Department, there is “credible” evidence of “unlawful or arbitrary killings by Palestinian Authority officials; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishments by Palestinian Authority officials; arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners and detainees … .”
Yet when was the last time you heard human-rights groups protesting about P.A. torture?
The State Department says that the P.A.’s laws “discriminate against women, including in relation to marriage, divorce, custody of children, and inheritance.” The P.A. “has no comprehensive domestic violence law.” And those who perpetrate “honor killings” of female relatives are given a slap on the wrist.
When was the last time feminist groups spoke out against this oppression?
Abbas’s four-year term expired in 2009. He remains because he refuses to hold elections. The P.A.’s Legislative Council has not functioned since 2007. The P.A. dissolved its Constitutional Court in 2018.
So where are all the protests from pro-democracy groups around the world?
The State Department reports that the P.A. is guilty of “arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, unjustified detentions and prosecutions of journalists, and censorship; serious restrictions on internet freedom … .”
Why the silence from all those who claim to be concerned about free speech?
Americans have generous hearts when asked for donations to global humanitarian causes, but they may want to think twice when it comes to the South African-based NGO, Gift of the Givers Foundation and its founder, Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman.Jonny Gould Podcast: 172: Professor David Hirsh, antisemitism in academia: becoming a professor despite the hostility
Billing itself as “the largest disaster response non-governmental organization of African origin on the African continent,” focused on helping with “disaster response, hunger alleviation, water provision, health care” and more, the organization has given out hundreds of millions of dollars. It is currently running fundraising “appeals” on its website to help with flooding in Somalia and “Gaza airstrikes.”
Pro-Israel activists are raising questions about the Gift of the Givers. Among them: Who are Gift of the Givers’s funders? Where do the millions of dollars the charity raises internationally go? Why won’t Sooliman publish annual financial statements as all international charities in South Africa routinely do?
Critics are also asking if the charity is just another cog in the wheel of Iran’s “slow-boil” international strategy to destroy Israel through its use of proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, all of which are proscribed as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the United States and other countries.
Direct links between Gift of the Givers and terror funding are lacking, though some compelling circumstantial evidence exists.
Anti-Israel hobbyists habitually dismiss circumstantial evidence when it conflicts with their agenda. However, legal experts say that sufficient circumstantial evidence, presented correctly, can secure conviction in civil and criminal cases.
Sooliman consistently denies wrongdoing. He dismisses claims against him as “Zionist” propaganda. He has called Israel “baby killers, murderers of innocent civilians, journalists, health care and humanitarian-aid workers.” He spreads antisemitic tropes, including that Jews control the world and money.
While he refuses to provide proof of where his funds go, Sooliman demands that his critics either provide “irrefutable proof” funds are going to terror groups to relevant authorities or shut up. Those authorities include Standard Chartered Bank in the United States, through which Gift of the Givers does foreign-currency transactions.
The problem for Sooliman is the different faces he shows.
What happens in academia when the best minds are curbed by antisemitism and its modern day manifestation, antizionism? We all know the problems of campus antisemitism, more acute since October 7th.Harvard University Settles Lawsuit With Jewish Students Who Alleged ‘Severe and Pervasive’ Anti-Semitism On Campus
It’s an honour to discuss and unpack academic antisemitism with world-renowned scholar on antisemitism, Professor David Hirsh.
Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, David focuses on contemporary antisemitism, crimes against humanity and totalitarianism.
He's also Academic Director and CEO of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and he founded "Engage," a campaign against the academic boycott of Israel.
David has a BSc from City University, London, an MA in Philosophy and Social Theory from the University of Warwick, and a PhD from Warwick where he wrote his dissertation on "Crimes Against Humanity and International Law."
He authored "Contemporary Left Antisemitism" exploring antisemitism on the left-wing and edited "The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century: From the Academic Boycott Campaign into the Mainstream".
Despite his considerable achievements, his progress has been hampered by hate.
So how has he stuck at it? And what could he have been if he'd been allowed to use his intellect beyond the fight?
I met David at Action Matters in Vienna in December 2024, organized by ELNET, the European Leadership Network in partnership with the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
This episode is presented with the cooperation and support of ELNET UK, a bipartisan, cross-party international organisation working to advance UK-Israel relations based on shared democratic values and strategic interests.
Considering the awful and disturbing content of our conversation, it’s good humoured, lucid and I hope as you listen, highly informative and educational.
Harvard University settled a lawsuit Tuesday with a group of Jewish students who accused the school of failing to address "severe and pervasive" anti-Semitism on campus. The Ivy League school agreed to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism and issued guidance language on its non-discrimination policy, stating that students who target "Zionists" can face discipline.Harvard agrees to implement IHRA definition of antisemitism as part of settlement
Six Jewish students accused the school of becoming a "bastion" of anti-Semitism in a January 2024 lawsuit. Their suit argued that Harvard’s "deliberate indifference" and "enabling" of anti-Semitism violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. One plaintiff, Shabbos Kestenbaum, declined to join the settlement and continues to pursue his claims against Harvard separately.
"With this settlement, Harvard is demonstrating leadership in the fight against antisemitism and in upholding the rights of Jewish students," a spokesperson for Students Against Antisemitism, which is representing the students, said in a statement. "We appreciate Harvard’s proactive approach to implementing effective long-term changes and its strong commitment to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for every student who pursues their education on Harvard’s campus."
The university committed to remedial actions that combat anti-Semitism on campus as part of the settlement. Harvard, for example, will incorporate the IHRA's definition of anti-Semitism into its non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies. That definition states that "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor," is a form of anti-Semitism.
The amended non-discrimination guidelines will also include examples of anti-Semitism issued by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The university also agreed to post a frequently asked questions page alongside its non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies, clarifying Jewish and Israeli identities as protected classes at Harvard.
"For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity," the FAQ page will state. "Conduct that would violate the Non-Discrimination Policy if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the policy if directed toward Zionists."
Harassment that Jewish students at Harvard have faced, including the exclusion of Zionists from university programming, calls for their deaths, and demands that Jewish students provide their position on Israel, will also be explicitly prohibited.
Harvard University has agreed to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as part of a resolution to two Title VI lawsuits that it settled in federal court in Boston.Cassidy, Fetterman reintroduce legislation encouraging students to file Title VI complaints over campus antisemitism
One of the lawsuits, filed in May by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education, alleged that since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, students and faculty on campus have called for violence against Jews and celebrated Hamas’ terrorism as the university ignored harassment — including a physical assault — of Jewish students.
The other suit was filed in January 2024 by Students Against Antisemitism, a group of six Jewish Harvard students, who alleged the school had not protected them from “severe and pervasive” campus antisemitism. In November, a judge consolidated the two lawsuits after Harvard unsuccessfully moved to dismiss both.
In addition to adopting IHRA, Harvard agreed to prepare a public annual report for the next five years that covers its response to violations of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination and harassment based on national origin. It also agreed to provide clarification on its website that Jewish and Israeli students are covered by Harvard’s existing Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying Policies.
The May complaint, a copy of which was first obtained by Jewish Insider, stated that Harvard allowed student protesters to occupy and vandalize buildings, and interrupt classes and exams. “Professors, too, have explicitly supported Jewish and Israeli terrorism, and spread antisemitic propaganda in their classes,” according to a Brandeis Center statement. “Jewish students are bullied and spat on, intimidated, and threatened, and subject to verbal and physical harassment.”
“This settlement agreement is a major advance for students at Harvard University,” Ken Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center, told JI. “We expect that it will have an extraordinary impact for colleges and universities around the country. There is now a Harvard standard that other colleges will need to strive to meet.”
Marcus called Harvard’s agreement to incorporate IHRA — and to use it explicitly in its anti-discrimination policy — “critical.”
“Harvard isn’t the first university in the U.S. to agree to do this, but certainly the most prominent,” Marcus said. “We expect that their lead will now be followed elsewhere.”
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and John Fetterman (D-PA) will reintroduce their bill requiring universities to make students aware of their right to file Title VI complaints if they experience discrimination or harassment on campus, Jewish Insider has learned.Columbia anti-Israel activists start semester with protest, class disruption
The Protecting Students on Campus Act, to be reintroduced on Tuesday morning, would require the Department of Education to have a prominently displayed link on its homepage to the Office for Civil Rights’ webpage where individuals can directly submit civil rights complaints. The OCR, a part of the DOE, is legally obligated to respond to complaints of discrimination based on national origin under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Additionally, the legislation would require schools that receive federal funds to deliver an annual report to the DOE’s inspector general on instances of and responses to discrimination and require the IG to audit institutions “that report high ratios of discrimination complaints relative to their student population.” It would also instruct the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights to brief Congress monthly on how many reports OCR has received and what the office’s plans are to work through those complaints.
“The threats and attacks against Jewish students since October 7 are despicable. No one should fear for their safety at school because of who they are,” Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said. “This bipartisan bill holds universities accountable to address discrimination and maintain a safe learning environment for all students.”
“Colleges should be places for students to learn and grow, and the Protecting Students on Campus Act would help ensure that they are exactly that. This bill is about protecting young people facing discrimination on college campuses and making sure they know their rights,” Fetterman said.
“The increasing rates of discrimination, including harassment, hateful speech and instances of vandalism, have left students feeling unsafe and threatened based on their race or what country they’re from, particularly over the last couple years. Colleges need to do more to protect students and help them find paths to recourse. This bill would help us get clearer view of where these terrible acts are happening, understand actions taken by colleges to address these occurrences, and hold colleges accountable,” he continued.
Several hundred anti-Israel demonstrators rallied outside the gates of Columbia University in New York City on Tuesday, as student activists vowed to step up their protests with the start of the spring semester.
The renewed protests come as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress put pressure on universities to rein in threatening rhetoric on campuses.
The protesters gathered on Broadway outside a Columbia entrance in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. They chanted “We will honor all our martyrs,” “Smash the settler Zionist state,” and “Intifada people’s war” to the beat of a snare drum.
On campus, several dozen activists gathered and chanted “Long live the intifada” outside the university’s Butler Library, according to video that students shared with The Times of Israel. The protesters then marched off campus to join the activists on the street, two students said. The campus is only open to students and staff with university identification.
“Columbia you will see, we resist till victory,” the protesters on the street shouted. Most of the protesters’ faces were covered in medical masks or keffiyehs.
A handful of pro-Israel counterprotesters held Israeli flags and chanted, “The people of Israel live” in Hebrew. Other students and faculty looked on as they waited in line in the frigid cold to enter the campus. Police set up a metal barricade separating the line and the activists.
The protesters were led by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups led by the campus branches of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Both groups were suspended last year for violating university protest policies but continue to operate as part of the broader coalition. Tuesday’s demonstration was backed by the off-campus groups Within Our Lifetime, the Palestinian Youth Movement and National Students for Justice in Palestine.
The groups call for the eradication of Israel and have vowed to continue their activities since the ceasefire agreement this month.
The Columbia students urged classmates to leave class on Tuesday, the first day of classes for the semester.
“Join us to flood Columbia,” the protest coalition said on social media. “There will be no school as usual as long as Columbia is participating in a genocide.”
“Ceasefire is only the beginning,” they said.
New York City protest groups often label their rallies “floods,” a homage to the Hamas term for the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, the “Al Aqsa Flood.”
On campus, protesters handed out fliers that said, “The enemy will not see tomorrow,” with images of masked gunmen and an inverted triangle, a Hamas symbol, according to images shared online.
Columbia University: masked “free Palestine” activists storm into a class on the history of modern Israel disrupting and passing flyers to Jewish students on “crushing Zionism.”
— Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) January 21, 2025
This is racism and it’s a violation of student there. Disgusting! pic.twitter.com/IYL4Q9jSlx
In addition to potential Title 6 violations, this is a clear violation of University rules. @Columbia must act quickly and strongly to hold these individuals accountable:
— Brian Cohen (@brcohen) January 21, 2025
(8) (serious) continues for more than a very short period of time to physically prevent, or clearly attempt… https://t.co/cEhXb7J4Uq
These flyers are being distributed on @Columbia's campus while the mob threatens students with these chants:
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 21, 2025
“We will honor all our martyrs”
“Smash the settler Zionist state”
“Intifada people’s war”
Columbia is a national embarrassment. Pull their funding. pic.twitter.com/HVpXeFciNB
The mob at Columbia screaming for violence against Jews.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 21, 2025
I cannot understand how this is still happening after 15 months. pic.twitter.com/n5AVfQ0joS
Link to statement: https://t.co/pLs8gDECs2
— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) January 21, 2025
Trainee pharmacist sentenced after writing “hope we kill hundreds more of you” to Israel student society following action by CAA
A trainee pharmacist was sentenced in court yesterday for a message he sent on social media to a university’s Israel student society.
Mohammad Al Accad, 24, also known as Suhail, pleaded guilty to sending a grossly offensive communication at Manchester Magistrates’ Court. The charge related to a message that he sent to the Israel Society at University College London which read: “F*** you and your people, hope we kill hundreds more in the coming days.”
The message was sent on 7th October 2023 in response to a statement published by the society condemning Hamas’ barbaric attacks in Israel on the same day. During the attacks, terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages.
Campaign Against Antisemitism reported the contents of the message to the police after speaking with the victim.
The police offered to facilitate an apology from Mr Al Accad to the victim in lieu of a prosecution, which was rejected.
We also reported the defendant to the General Pharmaceutical Council.
Mr Al Accad was identified by Campaign Against Antisemitism and arrested following a police investigation. During his police interview, he admitted to sending the message, saying he had done so in reaction to recent events.
Despite his admission, the defendant initially claimed that his message was not grossly offensive.
Mr Al Accad was ordered to pay a fine of £675, which was uplifted from a Class B fine to a Class C fine due to the racially/religiously aggravated nature of the offence. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £270 and £85 towards prosecution costs.
Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Mohammad Al Accad’s sentencing marks a victory against those who feel that they can target Jewish students with antisemitic hatred. When antisemitism crosses the criminal threshold, we will do whatever it takes to secure justice. Let this verdict send a clear message to those who target Jews. Ruinous consequences await them.”
Terror organization @NationalSJP will be crying over Yahya Sinwar at the University of Michigan today because they're dumb and evil. pic.twitter.com/SCTkHpsEIv
— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) January 21, 2025
Exclusive: Please read the entire thread.
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@anjewla90) January 20, 2025
After speaking to teachers in other states and their family members, they shared some interesting insights with me that have ties to the @CTULocal1, @jacksonpCTU, and @stacydavisgates. It seems as though there is a nationwide… https://t.co/ExoWsPiULc pic.twitter.com/ineXi9xJ28
Like @stacydavisgates, @LeslieBlattea10 shared Al Jazeera propaganda. This is becoming a common theme among the teacher's union leaders. As well as other pro-Hamas propaganda. pic.twitter.com/YaWjnE3jzu
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@anjewla90) January 20, 2025
Howard Zinn is the predecessor of the 1619 project.
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@anjewla90) January 20, 2025
Why are all the teacher's unions promising to teach it? https://t.co/g3cEI0CEAA https://t.co/eRKEx7tEnd pic.twitter.com/gsOJTp7RQl
It’s the first day of the spring semester @Columbia.
— Shoshana Aufzien🎗️ (@shoshanaaufzien) January 21, 2025
So much for a warm welcome…@CampusJewHate @CUJewsIsraelis @katrinarmstrong pic.twitter.com/7NA4qHQBUJ
BDS boycott McDonalds because an independent franchisee gave free meals to soldiers in the days after the October 7 massacre
— Joo🎗️ (@JoosyJew) January 21, 2025
Low demand in China played a massive part in share price decline
The idea that BDS supporters actually forgo their Big Macs for Palestine is hysterical https://t.co/88u9y2TJIz
Jesus actual christ@FiLiA_charity this is your spokeswoman? She represents your organisation? pic.twitter.com/OEIwsks0a5
— (((Rubie))) (@alexrubner) January 20, 2025
I'm going to ensure that the Jew-hating reprobate leader of @CarterCenter, Karin Ryan, is banned from entering Israel again.
— Sloan Rachmuth (@SloanRachmuth) January 21, 2025
I'm also conferring with @TheJusticeDept about investigating her for FARA violation and material support for terrorism under 18 U.S. Code § 2339B.
Karin… pic.twitter.com/ryZrlUOeSq
Update: antisemite Azeem Rathore is no longer employed with NCH Healthcare System. https://t.co/1K4Zktwapg
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 21, 2025
Mohamed Hadid's many kids have proudly followed in his antisemitic steps.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 21, 2025
One of the worst? His daughter & small business owner Alana Hadid referring to Hamas murdering, raping and kidnapping Jews as "resistance".
Stay informed—follow @stopdontshoporg for businesses that wish… https://t.co/2pygUQfql4 pic.twitter.com/M4qLh07RBs
Do you mean the violence Hamas is committing?
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) January 21, 2025
They have literally declared war against the Palestinian Authority and its supporters. https://t.co/AEreh2mhBQ
It’s another day in London so it must be another pro Palestine event with one of those zany Corbyn brothers. 🤪 pic.twitter.com/rmqDbCw8Aj
— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) January 20, 2025
British Muslim Brotherhood-Affiliated Islamic Scholar Anas Altikriti: Dawah Is a Beautiful Thing, You Can Correct the Lives of the Entire World; In Britain We Created “Alcohol Free Zones” by Convincing Locals It Was Good for the Elderly, without Even Mentioning the Word Islam pic.twitter.com/PemlfpibxX
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 21, 2025
Further information on Mustafa Abdulhussein and examples of his terrorist-supporting posts and antisemitism here 👇https://t.co/kyH9kBQ4su
— GnasherJew®גנאשר (@GnasherJew) January 21, 2025
Please report Mustafa to @TerrorismPolice pic.twitter.com/WMTQFkl0Z8
Speaking at a Muslim Council of Britain dinner this evening, Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian mission in the UK, joins the "more Hamas than Hamas" UK trend. He raises the dodgy casualty stats of the terrorists more than fourfold. pic.twitter.com/6CcL3IvHLp
— habibi (@habibi_uk) January 20, 2025
"Talmud incites the killing of children and remember one thing, whatever you find that Zionists claim about Muslims you'll find that's actually found in the Talmud and the teachings of the talmud where the talmud is instructing the Jewish people to do what the Jews are accusing.. pic.twitter.com/kZ5FKemjdN
— The Electronic Uprising (@uprising_1) January 21, 2025
"Do not refer to it as Israel, refer to it as occupied Palestine, refer to them as occupation, as an occupying force, as terrorists, as Nazis because that's what they are, they are Nazis!" pic.twitter.com/JmCZKDApNO
— The Electronic Uprising (@uprising_1) January 21, 2025
"They refer to Israel as a Jewish state, a racial state, even tho it's not one homogenous group. They say Jewish state but you'll go there and you'll find perhaps a European Jew, a Russian Jew perhaps even an Indian and Chinese Jew, that's how confused they are..." pic.twitter.com/Ig6QpOGZ8k
— The Electronic Uprising (@uprising_1) January 21, 2025
New Knesset law punishes denial of Oct. 7 massacre with up to five
The Knesset passed a law unanimously that criminalizes denying the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.PA must pay terror victims, Israel’s top court says
Oded Forer of Yisrael Beiteinu proposed the legislation, which 16 members supported in its third and final reading on Tuesday.
The law designates denying the massacre to defend or support Hamas or its partners, as a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison.
The proposal clarifies that statements made incidentally, in good faith, or for legitimate purposes will not be considered a criminal offense.
The Israeli attorney general must approve indictments under the new law.
The legislation is reportedly modeled on a 1986 law, which the Knesset passed and which criminalizes Holocaust denial.
“The horrors of Oct. 7 cannot be denied,” Forer stated after the law was approved. “The truth is more important than ever. We will not let lies and hatred prevail.”
Israel’s Supreme Court last week dismissed a petition against a law that compensates the victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks using Palestinian Authority funds.Likud Knesset member calls to revoke citizenship of former MK Hanin Zoabi
Attorney Asher Stub from the Justice for Terror Victims group, which initiated the law submitted by MK Yitzhak Pindrus and others, told JNS on Monday that the Supreme Court’s ruling “cleared the last hurdle” between victims and compensation.
The petition dismissed was filed last year by the Palestinian Authority against legislation passed by the Knesset in March 2024 titled the “Compensation of Victims of Terrorism Bill (Exemplary Compensation).”
It asserted that the Palestinian Authority, which spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on paying salaries to terrorists in Israeli prisons, is encouraging terrorism and is, therefore, liable to pay damages in civil lawsuits. The money is to be deducted from tax revenue that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods passing through border crossings.
The Palestinian Authority claimed the law abused punitive damages mechanisms, adding the law would cause its “collapse.” It also said Israel lacked legal justification to confiscate its tax revenue. Justice Yitzhak Amit wrote in his ruling that the Palestinian Authority’s petition omits how it “pays terrorists and members of terrorists’ families money and benefits at significant rates, in close connection to the criminal acts of terrorism they committed.”
The Palestinian Authority’s Martyrs’ Fund, also known as the “pay for slay” policy, is a cornerstone of P.A. law, granting terrorists or their next of kin the right to receive payments as long as they live.
The ruling clears the path for terror victims or their relatives to file civil lawsuits and receive compensation, Stub said. His organization, Justice for Terror Victims, is handling lawsuits for about 35 families on a nonprofit basis, he said, adding that the statute of limitations on relevant lawsuits is seven years.
According to the Palestinian Authority’s estimates in its petition, it stands to lose approximately NIS 2 billion shekels ($562 million) from immediate tax revenues plus another NIS 5 billion ($1.4 billion) in funds that Israel is already holding that belongs to the Palestinian Authority, it argued.
Likud Knesset Member Ariel Kallner is urging action to revoke former Palestinian-Israeli MK Hanin Zoabi’s citizenship for expressing support for the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.Hamas Is Not an External Force Imposed on Gaza's Population
“There is no place in the State of Israel for supporting atrocities the likes of which have not occurred since the Holocaust,” Kallner wrote in a letter to Israeli Minister of Interior Moshe Arbel on Tuesday. “Anyone who crosses this red line does not deserve Israeli citizenship.”
Zoabi, a former member of the Arab Israeli Balad Party, said during the Palestine Congress Vienna, held Oct. 5-6, 2024, that “It’s not Hamas who is resisting. It is the Palestinian people.”
“You cannot differentiate between Hamas and the Palestinian people. You cannot differentiate between them. Those who entered on the seventh of October—they didn’t enter Israeli borders. They entered their own land. This is their land,” she said to applause.
A video of her comments was made public on Monday by Israel’s Channel 14 investigative journalist Ishay Fridman.
Balad, a left-wing Palestinian nationalist political party in Israel, failed to cross the electoral threshold in the 2022 Knesset elections, receiving only 2.9% of the vote. The electoral threshold in Israel is 3.25%.
Due to its extremist positions, Balad had twice been disqualified from running for Knesset seats by Israel’s Central Elections Committee, most recently in 2022. The Israeli Supreme Court overturned both bans.
It is crucial to recognize that Hamas is not an external force imposed on Gaza's population.
Rather, it is an authentic expression of the aspirations held by the majority of the two million residents of Gaza.
Culturally, ideologically and politically, Hamas and Gaza are deeply intertwined.
To ensure the safety of Israeli citizens, in the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire negotiations to free the remaining hostages, Israel cannot allow armed jihadist organizations to maintain a military presence in Gaza.
Israel must demand the demilitarization of Gaza and the dismantling of all terrorist infrastructure - tunnels, rocket launchers, mortars and explosive devices.
If no international body can enforce this, the IDF will have to undertake this task.
A second demand should be the removal of Hamas from power in Gaza.
Hamas has repeatedly indicated that it does not wish to shoulder civilian governance responsibilities in Gaza, preferring instead to operate as an armed political entity akin to Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Israel should welcome Hamas relinquishing its governing role but must oppose any arrangement that allows the group to retain arms.
Additional context provided by the great folks at @GAZAWOOD1 https://t.co/95eum3rJiN pic.twitter.com/70zZgS2zYt
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) January 21, 2025
During the war, Hamas maintained a policy of not revealing the deaths of most members belonging to the group. It seems things are changing.
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) January 21, 2025
I suspect that once Hamas is convinced that hostilities are over, they will acknowledge the death of Muhammad Deif.
The "bodies under the rubble" are going to be mostly Hamas combatants, which Hamas told people not to report. Funerals, absent all war, are starting. Civilian deaths have been reported in family surveys. Next thread details best estimate of fatalities. 1/
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) January 21, 2025
h/t @MiddleEastBuka https://t.co/o87tMhclQr
More evidence of the sudden appearance of combatant bodies and deaths: https://t.co/C5pY7w02bG
— Aizenberg (@Aizenberg55) January 21, 2025
The question shouldn’t just be about why <18 year olds are held in Israeli jails.
— Joo🎗️ (@JoosyJew) January 21, 2025
The key question is, why do Palestinian adults abuse and indoctrinate their own children, to stab and slaughter others?
This educated hatred is also funded by the @UN and entrenched by @UNRWA pic.twitter.com/gyBEwUUiaB
Ah, now I understand why YOU had a house like that. pic.twitter.com/NT9XOQS8i0
— Joo🎗️ (@JoosyJew) January 21, 2025
Careers in Hamas pic.twitter.com/XPP1O2uYTS
— Liron Kopinsky 🎗️ Let My People Go (@ldkop) January 20, 2025
🚨BREAKING🚨 Senior Hezbollah official was killed in Lebanon today
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) January 21, 2025
Lebanese media outlets are reporting the recent killing of Sheikh Muhammad Hamadi, a Hezbollah official in the western Bekaa region. He was shot at close range six times by unknown gunmen in the village of… pic.twitter.com/XyKPxhLegy
Iranian International Affairs Expert Mostafa Khoshcheshm Refutes President Pezeshkian’s Claim That Iran Never Plotted to Kill Trump: We Put a Price on His Head, I Remember Several Officials Talking about Killing Him pic.twitter.com/yd0irn381i
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 21, 2025
Code Pink, the most nonsensical group since the Judean People's Front Crack Suicide Squad. https://t.co/d1rwiJXN7l
— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) January 21, 2025
Amsterdam comedy club cancels Israeli stand-up after threats
An Israeli comedian's stand-up show at an Amsterdam comedy club was canceled Monday due to threats about his performance, according to statements by comedian Yohay Sponder on Boom Chicago.Save the Children apologise and suspend staff member after ‘unacceptable’ ‘Zionist’ bagel shop video
Boom Chicago said in a statement that upon the announcement of Sponder's Saturday show, they received "significant negative reactions" online and from visitors, including responses that were "outright threatening."
"We began to worry about the safety of our performers, audience, and colleagues. Therefore, we made the difficult decision to cancel the performance," said Boom. "We are deeply saddened that this situation has escalated into a polarized debate about Gaza. In our 32 years of existence, we have never experienced anything like this. Very nasty criticism has come at us from all sides, even though we genuinely tried to do what was best for everyone."
Boom said that it believed in freedom of expression without hate and offered to help Sponder relocate to another venue. Postponing the trip
Sponder said on Instagram on Monday that the show had been postponed, and a new date and location would be announced soon.
"We're working on a new bigger venue, more beautiful, more central, better, we're going to get together and laugh as Jews are supposed to," said Sponder.
Sponder thanked his fans for their support.
Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Netherlands welcomed Boom's decision to cancel the show, asserting that the venue had listened to arguments against allowing him to perform.
"Yohay Sponder is a cultural ambassador for Israel, tasked with whitewashing Israel's atrocities against Palestinians," BDS NL said on Instagram Sunday. "Where other cultural ambassadors do so with music and art, Yohay Sponder chooses hate speech, dehumanization of Palestinians, anti-Muslim racism, and denying and ridiculing war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Save the Children has apologised after a member of staff posted a video saying she didn’t want to buy bagels from “genocidal maniacs” or people that support “Zionism”.
Yasmin Ghaffar, who the JC understands is a member of Save the Children’s public affairs team – frequently in Westminster speaking to MPs and other parliamentarians on behalf of the charity – posted a video to TikTok where she asked followers for recommendations for bagels in New York.
Yasmin Ghaffar, a senior staffer at Save The Children UK and a former official in the UK Foreign Service has announced on TikTok that she is travelling to NYC and is looking for Bagel recommendations. pic.twitter.com/44PVU9iEEl
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 18, 2025
She specified: “I don’t want to be giving any of my money to genocidal maniacs” and added that she is looking for bagel shops that are either “actively pro-Palestinian” or “known to not be in support of that hell-hole place and Zionism”.
Her comments were severely criticised.
Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore said in a post on X that her comments revealed “much about the moral & moronic downfall of Save the Children”, adding “it exposes the degrading of Western charities & NGOs. Save the Children is just one of the many once-great NGOs that [a]r[e] no longer charities at all.”
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