Sunday, January 26, 2025

01/26 Links: Ghosts of a Holy War : Peace Was Never the Goal; Trump: send Gazans to Egypt and Jordan; Qatar: Hamas will hand over Arbel Yehud and two other hostages before Friday

From Ian:

Peace Was Never the Goal
Ghosts of a Holy War stands out as one of last year’s most under-reviewed and yet most read-worthy books on the Middle East. It spans the Hundred Years' War between Arabs and Jews over a piece of real estate the size of New Jersey and was praised by Israel’s major papers. Apart from the Wall Street Journal, it was basically overlooked in the United States. It deserves better.

Even Mideast mavens will keep turning the pages after the first of 30 chapters complete with 20 pages of tiny-print footnotes. They will be rewarded with a first-rate blend of scholarship and boots-on-the-ground reportage—a far cry from the breathless fare served up by the daily media.

Yardena Schwartz does not present a one-sided view of the War for the Unholy Land. Her heart is with Israel, where she had lived and worked for 10 years as a prize-winning journalist, but her head is that of a scholar who knows how to dissect interests and ideologies.

This book is not yet another regurgitation of the world’s most intractable conflict, but a refreshingly original take. The centerpiece is Hebron, the West Bank’s largest town—hardly a headline-fetching hotspot. Hebron’s main claim to fame is its biblical stature. Arabs call it "Khalil" ("friend"), shorthand for Abraham as "Friend of God." According to Scripture, this is where the Patriarch bought a grave for himself, his wife Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Why focus on Hebron? Ghosts of a Holy War owes its birth to a sheer fluke, a box of letters, photos, telegrams, and a diary from the 1920s gathering dust in a Memphis attic—a bequest from an American named David Shainberg to his family, which it passed on to Schwartz. Young David had gone to study at the Hebron Yeshiva, the largest within the British Mandate. He was no Zionist—he just wanted to be nearer to God, to coin a phrase. The Tomb of the Patriarchs was close enough.

In Hebron, Shainberg studied Talmud and Torah in a world more hospitable than the Pale where the tsar’s Cossacks had routinely slaughtered Jews. Hebron was a place where Jews and Arabs had peaceably lived side-by-side for ages, sharing comity and coffee. Schwartz relates how the city’s "Arab leaders danced into the night alongside rabbis" during holidays and weddings.

On August 24, 1929, the old dispensation descended into a paroxysm of mass murder. Some 3,000 Arabs armed with daggers and axes invaded the Jewish Quarter, butchering 67 men, women, and children, including Shainberg. Fast-forward from Hebron to Hamas on October 7 in southern Israel, a far more deadly orgy exterminating 1,200 with unspeakable cruelty.

At that point, Schwartz’s project—retracing the Hebron Massacre with the help of Shainberg’s treasure trove—cried out for redesign. The author draws a "direct line" from Hebron 1929 to Hamas 2023. "The forces that drove Arabs to slaughter their Jewish neighbors in 1929 were identical to [those] behind October 7." She explains: "The parallels … were so overwhelming, haunting, and chilling" that she had to lay out the whole blood-curdling story in 432 pages.
Israel Declares Victory in Region-Shaping Conflict
On its first day, Hamas's motorcycles, pickup trucks, and hang gliders successfully crossed the border, and their 6,000 riders did a lot of killing and pillaging, but it took hardly 48 hours to kill, wound, capture, and chase away the entire invading force, to the last man. The Gazan fighter, once in combat, proved militarily undertrained and logistically naked. To accomplish the deeper invasion Hamas had in mind, it had to supply its troops with food, gas, and ammunition.

Hamas's assumption that Hizbullah would invade the Galilee was dashed, and Hamas failed to predict that Hizbullah would be floored: its leadership annihilated, its troops decimated, its hardware incinerated, and its outposts razed.

Moreover, Hamas's overarching assumptions, that the IDF would not dare enter Gaza's dense urbanity, and that Israelis had lost the will to fight, proved unfounded. Gaza was invaded big time; Israel's soldiers fought tooth and nail; Hamas's troops were killed by the thousands; and Gaza's houses, roads, plazas, and pavements became piles of rubble, cement, and dust.

Yes, Hamas's offensive will be counted among military history's most successful surprise attacks. However, its planners will be counted alongside Hitler's when he stormed Stalingrad and Japan's when it bombarded Pearl Harbor. They had no idea what they were provoking.

In addition, Hamas's attack triggered Iran's attacks on Israel, which resulted in Israel's counterattacks, which exposed Iran's military weakness. Lastly, Hizbullah's defeat made the Syrian rebels decide that the time for their assault on Damascus had arrived, leading to the downfall of the Syrian regime and its army's demolition by the IDF. The chain reaction now leaves Hamas all alone.

The war since October '23 has ended in Israeli victory, because Hamas lost its Iranian roof, its Lebanese backyard, its Syrian flank, and its geopolitical umbrella, after Russia's loss of its Syrian fort.
WSJ: This Israel-Hamas Deal Sets a Dangerous Precedent
In 2012, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a report from a former president of the Supreme Court aimed at preventing Israel from paying exorbitant ransoms in exchange for its captives and hostages abducted by terrorists. The recommendations weren't enacted into law.

Over the years, 48 Israelis have been killed in military operations to free hostages. Netanyahu sustained a bullet wound while freeing a hijacked Sabena airplane in 1972. His brother Yonatan was killed four years later in an operation which successfully freed more than 100 hostages from Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda.

In recent years, Israel has begun to pay increasingly exorbitant prices for its hostages. Once it refused to negotiate with terrorists; today it does. In the hostage deal of January 2025, for the first time in history, a state is paying a strategic price on the battlefield for the return of its citizens.

Not only are murderers who killed hundreds of men, women and children about to be released, but now the IDF is also withdrawing from northern Gaza, which it conquered at the expense of more than 100 lives. How did this happen?

A combination of factors contributed to the lopsided hostage deal: President Biden was determined to bring an end to the war at any price - war that had cost the Democratic Party during an election year. Netanyahu, in the face of crushing public pressure, needed to bring the hostages home. Trump was eager to prove that he could succeed where his predecessor failed.

Seeing the hostages at home fills the heart with joy. No words can capture the profound relief at seeing men, women, children and the elderly brought home from Hamas's terror tunnels. Yet we must not forget the devastating price extracted.
Israel's Strategic Security Objective in Gaza Is Demilitarization
The ceasefire agreement has breathed new fighting spirit into Hamas's leadership and members. Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas's political bureau who led its negotiating team, promised the struggle would continue until complete victory. Hamas in Gaza will exploit the ceasefire to revitalize their personnel, smuggle and manufacture weapons, reassert control over the population, and maximize political gains from the release of operatives in Gaza, the West Bank, and regionally.

Israel cannot allow the existence of combat forces, means, and military capabilities that threaten its citizens' security. Complete demilitarization of Gaza means denying Hamas and other organizations their military operational capabilities. Alternatives to Hamas rule won't be acceptable to Israel until demilitarization is achieved.

The Palestinian Authority recently concluded a six-week operation in Jenin. The operation ended with reconciliation between the PA and the "Jenin Battalion," providing another proof of the PA's limited capabilities.

Hamas is riding the wave of joy and elation following the release of its operatives from Israeli prison and calling for "escalation of resistance" from the West Bank.


Trump suggests sending Gaza residents to Egypt and Jordan in ‘clean out’
US President Donald Trump on Saturday called on Arab nations – especially Egypt and Jordan – to take in more Palestinians from Gaza to "clean out" the enclave, which suffered extensive damage during the 15-month Israel-Hamas war.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said: "I'd like Egypt to take people," according to the Associated Press.

"You're talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, 'You know, it's over.'

“Something has to happen. It’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.

"So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”

The relocation “could be temporary or long term,” he added, according to AP.

He praised Jordan's previous acceptance of Palestinian refugees and expressed interest in expanding this approach. "I'd love for you to take on more, cause I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it's a mess. It's a real mess," Trump said he had told Jordan's King Abdullah II during a recent conversation.

During the press conference, Trump also disclosed that he had lifted restrictions on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. "We released them today," he said, according to the report. When asked why, he replied: "Because they bought them."

The decision to resume the shipments marks a departure from his predecessor's policy. President Joe Biden had suspended the delivery of these weapons in May to discourage an Israeli offensive in Rafah.

"Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centres," Biden told CNN in May.


Israel Advocacy Movement: OMG Did Trump Just Solve The Gaza Crisis?!



Trump must investigate Robert Malley for treason
With just minutes left in his administration, former President Joe Biden pardoned five family members. In so doing, he may not have clinched the title of worst president of all time, but he did win the gold medal for being the most cynical and dishonest.

Clearly, Biden did not want his successor, President Donald Trump, to do to his family and friends what the U.S. Department of Justice during his administration attempted to do to Trump, his family and his allies—weaponize the criminal justice system and attack political enemies for political gain.

In one respect, Biden is doing Trump a favor. By not spending time settling scores as some in his inner circle would like, the 47th president can stay focused on “making America great again” by implementing the policies he was elected to enact.

However, there is one pardon Biden did not issue and whose conduct cannot be glossed over or condoned—that of Biden’s special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley. As a May 6 letter to then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho)—former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and current chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, respectively—makes clear, Malley left government under a cloud warranting having his security clearance revoked.

“[W]e understand that Mr. Malley’s security clearance was suspended because he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account and downloaded these documents to his personal cell phone,” they wrote. “It is unclear to whom he intended to provide these documents, but it is believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to his email and/or phone and obtain the downloaded information.”

Many believe that the “hostile cyber actor” in this case is Iran and that Malley downloaded the classified information to his phone so that it could be transmitted to the Islamic Republic. It is also believed that the information downloaded pertained to U.S. and/or Israeli intelligence regarding Iran’s nuclear program. In light of the Biden administration’s policy of weakness and appeasement toward Iran, Malley’s conduct must have been incredibly egregious for him to have lost his security clearance.

His conduct is even more outrageous in the wake of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Iran’s role in it. How many Americans and Israelis may have died because of his perfidy may never be known for sure. However, it appears that at a minimum, he was instrumental in putting the lives of Americans and the national security of the United States at risk.

Yet, Malley goes unpunished. To date, his punishment has taken the form of being appointed to the faculty of Princeton University.


Conflicting reports on possible release of hostage Arbel Yehud
Arbel Yehud, 29, an Israeli civilian held in the Gaza Strip who was expected to be freed on Sunday according to the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, may be released later this week.

Various Arab media reports, citing either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad sources, said Yehud will be released on or before Saturday.

Sky News Arabia reported that Yehud would be released in exchange for 30 terrorists held by Israel and the return of Arabs to the northern Gaza Strip.

However, Israel Hayom, citing an Israeli source familiar with the matter, said that contrary to reports, an agreement hasn’t been reached on the release of Yehud, and contacts with mediators continue.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal, Hamas was supposed to free female civilian hostages before female soldiers.

Instead, Hamas released four female IDF soldiers on Saturday: Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Naama Levy, 20; and Liri Albag, 19.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that it would not allow Gazan residents to return to the north of the Gaza Strip until Yehud is free. On Sunday, thousands of Gazans were waiting on the main roads leading north.

Yehud is reportedly being held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. PIJ has falsely classified Yehud as an IDF soldier, according to reports.

Yehud was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led invasion. Arbel Yehud (left) and Ariel Cunio were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023. Credit: Courtesy.

Ariel Cunio, 27, is presumed to be alive but is not listed among those to be released in the first phase of the agreement. The only men expected to be freed in the first phase are those ill, wounded or aged 50 and above.

Ariel’s brother David, 34, was also kidnapped by Hamas, together with his wife, Sharon, and their 3-year-old twins. Sharon and the children were released during the first ceasefire on Nov. 27, 2023.
Qatar: Hamas will hand over Arbel Yehud and two other hostages before Friday
Hamas will hand over Arbel Yehud, Agam Berger, and an additional hostage before Friday, the Prime Minister's Office confirmed shortly after Qatar's foreign ministry announced Sunday.

Additionally, the ministry says Hamas will hand over three more hostages on Saturday as per the ceasefire agreement.

Hamas is also expected to provide information on the remaining hostages set to be released in the first phase of the agreement, an Israeli official confirmed to KAN.

In return, the Qatari ministry said Israel will allow displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza starting Monday morning.

Sources present in the negotiations told KAN that Islamic Jihad withdrew its demand to define Arbel Yehud as a member of the security forces and that she would be considered a civilian.

Arbel is expected to be released in the coming days
According to Arab media reports, Arbel is expected to be released tomorrow or the day after.

Previous discussions about the possible date for the return of Gaza residents to the northern Strip via the Netzarim depended on Arbel’s release, with negotiations revolving around the question of whether to allow the return upon her arrival in Israeli hands, or after the agreement of her release was reached.
Hamas fails to detail status of 26 hostages slated for release in breach of deal
Hamas has failed to provide Israel with a list detailing the status of the remaining 26 hostages slated to be released during the first phase of the ceasefire, in a second breach of the agreement within 24 hours, local media reported on Sunday.

According to the terms of the deal, Hamas was to inform Jerusalem by Saturday which of the remaining hostages, all of whom fall into the humanitarian category — female, children, elderly and sick — are alive.

The terrorist group also breached the agreement by releasing four female Israel Defence Forces soldiers on Saturday while keeping Israeli civilian Arbel Yehud in captivity. Under the terms of the deal, Hamas was obliged to release civilian women and children hostages before freeing the female troops.

Despite the breach, Israel has maintained the agreed ratio of Palestinian terrorists to be released from its jails. The initial terms stipulated that more terrorists would be freed in exchange for soldiers than for civilians.

However, in response to Hamas's breaches, Jerusalem has suspended the return northward of Palestinian non-combatants.

"As per the agreement, Israel will not allow the passage of Gazans to the north of the Strip until the release of the civilian Arbel Yehud, who was supposed to be released today, is arranged," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement released on Saturday, hours after IDF hostages Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy returned to Israel.

Earlier this week, the Israel Defence Forces reiterated that Palestinians would be allowed to return northwards if Hamas adhered to the ceasefire.

Hamas has claimed that Yehud is alive and well and would be freed as part of the next batch of captives on February 1. It has tried to shift responsibility for the failure to free Yehud to Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Salafist group aligned with it that is reportedly holding her.

Overnight, Hamas urged thousands of Arabs to return to the northern Strip in an attempt to put pressure on Israel, leading IDF soldiers to fire warning shots in an attempt to repel the crowd, local media reported.
Bibas family ‘nightmare’ as children and mother left off hostage list for another week
The relatives of the only children still held hostage in Gaza have said that their “world came crashing down” when they were left off the list of those slated for release yet again.

The family of Shiri, 33, Kfir, 2, and Ariel, 5, were named for release in the first phase of the deal which requires Hamas to prioritise the release of civilian women and children.

The Bibas father, Yarden, is slated to be released later in the deal’s first phase.

But the mother and children have not been released in the first two exchanges of the deal.

Relatives of the family have condemned Israeli media for failing to convey “our pain, our struggle, and, most importantly, the crucial discussion about the complexity and tragedy of them not being on the list,” after Hamas violated the deal by releasing captive female soldiers before civilian women.

When the four Israeli women soldiers were freed on Saturday, fears over the Bibas’s fate soured. If alive, they should have been released before any soldiers, according to the terms of the deal.

In a statement on Saturday, the Bibas’s relatives described how their “world came crashing down” when they discovered that Shiri, Kfir and Ariel, were left off the list of captives to be released later in the day.

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said the terror group had violated the terms of the deal by not first freeing all female civilians.

He said Israel would make sure that civilian hostage Arbel Yehud, who is believed by Israel to be alive, is released soon, along with Shiri Bibas and her two small children, Ariel and baby Kfir.

Condemning Israeli media, the Bibas relatives’ statement went on, “Does the grave concern for their lives cancel out the fact that they are civilians in captivity who must be brought home?
First three freed hostages leave hospital week after escaping Gaza
The first three female hostages freed by Hamas terrorists during the current ceasefire have been released from the hospital, Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan announced on Sunday.

Former Gaza captives Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, completed their tests and initial medical treatment at the hospital, according to the statement, which noted that “Sheba Medical Center will continue to support them and their families.”

The ex-hostages and their relatives were expected to move to the nearby Kfar Maccabiah Hotel following their release as they need continued medical follow-up.

Gonen, Damari and Steinbrecher were handed over by Hamas terrorists to a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza on Jan. 19, as part of the ceasefire agreement with the terrorist group.

Following an initial medical examination and reunion with their mothers at the Israel Defense Forces reception point near the Gaza border and their subsequent transfer to the hospital via helicopter, Sheba Medical Center General Hospital Director Dr. Yael Frenkel Nir told reporters that the women’s physical condition was good enough to allow them to focus on reuniting with other family members.

Damari lost two of her fingers when she was shot by Hamas gunmen during the Oct. 7, 2023, kidnapping from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

In a Channel 12 report vetted by Israel’s military censor and approved by the hostages that was published on Jan. 20, the three released captives recalled being held in underground facilities for 471 days with little medical attention, tremendous uncertainty and, at times, despair.


The names and crimes of 80 dangerous terrorist murderers being released by Israel
As Israel celebrates the release of three of the hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023 and anticipates the release of 30 more over 42 days, every Israeli dreads the consequences of the dangerous price extorted from Israel by Hamas.

Israel has agreed to release over 1,900 terrorists, including many murderers, such as Wael Qassem, who is serving 35 life sentences.

General Security Service Director Ronen Bar told Israel's security cabinet last week that 82% of the 1,024 terrorists released in exchange for Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit in 2011 "returned to terrorism." The leaders of Hamas who planned and led the October 7 massacre were released terrorist prisoners. Thousands of Israelis have been murdered as a direct result of previous terrorist-hostage exchanges.

To display the nature of the danger, Palestinian Media Watch has prepared a list of the names of 80 of the terrorist murderers to be released with descriptions of some of their crimes.

Note that among those being released are terror commanders who planned and organized murders by suicide bombing, shooting, and stabbing; bomb builders; and terrorists who murdered with their own hands by stabbing and shooting. As in the past, the majority of those being released now will return to their former positions and be the leaders and foundation of Palestinian terrorism for years to come.

Wael Qassem – Serving 35 life sentences. Led a cell responsible for three suicide bombing attacks in 2002—Café Moment, the Hebrew University cafeteria, and the Sheffield Club, murdering 35 in total.

Ammar Al-Ziben – Serving 32 life sentences. Hamas. Planned several suicide bombings, including the double suicide bombing at the Mahane Yehuda outdoor market in 1997, murdering 16.

Majdi Za'atri – Serving 23 life sentences. Hamas. Planned and assisted a suicide bombing in 2003—drove a suicide bomber to a bus stop in Jerusalem where the bomber boarded the #2 bus and blew himself up, murdering 23, including children and babies.

Ahmad Salah – Serving 21 life sentences. Involved in two Jerusalem suicide bus bombings in 2004, murdering 19 people and injuring over 100.

Sami Jaradat – Serving 21 life sentences. Head of Islamic Jihad in the Jenin district. Planned several attacks, including the 2003 suicide bombing at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa where 21 people were murdered and over 50 were injured.

Fahmi Mashahreh – Serving 20 life sentences. Aided and instructed suicide bomber Muhammad Al-Ghoul, who murdered 19 and wounded 74 on a Jerusalem bus in 2002.
Palestinian Authority has paid 506 million shekels to the terrorists being released in the current exchange
Israel is releasing 734 terrorists over 42 days in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages. All the terrorists, including 200 murderers, have been receiving reward payments as salaries from the Palestinian Authority since their arrests, totaling at least 506,385,600 shekels ($141,837,087).

Terrorists receive an additional payment for wives and children that is unknown and not included in this calculation.

The terrorist who has received the largest amount of money is Muhammad Al-Tous, who was paid 2,254,200 shekels since his arrest for involvement in terror attacks and murder in 1985.

316 terrorists are being freed as millionaires.
259 released terrorists from Fatah
296 released terrorists from Hamas
61 released terrorists from Islamic Jihad
17 released terrorists from PFLP
9 released terrorists from DFLP
3 released terrorists from ISIS
89 released terrorists with no known affiliation

The names, affiliations, and date of arrests of the terrorists was supplied by Israel's Ministry of Justice. PMW has calculated the terror payments based on PA law.


PA's Abbas congratulates released terrorist who murdered Israeli infant
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reached out to one of the released life-term prisoners, Yasser Abu Bakr, extending his congratulations on the release. Abu Bakr, a former member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades during the Second Intifada, had served 23 years in prison.

Abu Bakr was convicted for orchestrating an attack in Netanya in March 2002 that claimed the lives of an Israeli civilian and an infant. He was also found guilty of murdering Police Officer Konstantin Danilov near Baka al-Gharbiyye during the same month. His record included attempts to plan multiple attacks, resulting in several life sentences that accumulated to more than 100 years of imprisonment.

The conversation captured Abbas congratulating the perpetrator. Upon reaching his home in Ramallah, Abu Bakr made a statement indicating there was "no need for scenes of joy due to the many casualties in Gaza."

Yisrael Beiteinu party Chairman Avigdor Liberman issued a response on his Twitter account: "Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas shows his true face again – a supporter of terrorism who congratulates despicable murderers. Someone who embraces perpetrators with blood on their hands is himself a terrorist, and cannot be a partner in any process, certainly not in supervising the Rafah crossing."


Senate Democrats tight-lipped about their plans on ICC sanctions vote
Senate Democrats are remaining strictly tight-lipped about how they plan to approach anticipated votes on legislation sanctioning the International Criminal Court this week.

Democrats held a special caucus meeting on Friday about the bill and other contentious upcoming votes, where they discussed the possibility of seeking amendments to the ICC legislation but came to no conclusions, senators said.

Forty-five House Democrats voted for the bill earlier this month, and the issue will likely similarly divide Senate Democrats. At least seven Democratic votes will be needed to pass the legislation, assuming all Republicans support it.

It’s unclear whether Republicans will allow amendments to the bill, especially since the administration can implement sanctions unilaterally. And there may be enough Democratic senators willing to support the legislation to pass it as-is.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said Friday he plans to vote for the ICC sanctions bill and called on his colleagues to do the same. Two Senate Democrats, Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), voted for the same bill last year in the House. A spokesperson for Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) told JI earlier this month that she supported sanctions in concept, but needed to review the specific legislation.

But for now, Democrats are refusing to publicly preview their votes or plans, or what they discussed at the caucus meeting.


Hamas will 'never stop' trying to destroy Israel
Israeli author and activist Noa Tishby claims Hamas will "never" stop trying to destroy Israel.

Ms Tishby's comments come after four female Israeli soldiers were released as part of the Isreal-Hamas ceasefire deal.

"This is a wonderful day for the parents of the hostages and for the Jewish people of the world," Ms Tishby told Sky News Australia.

"Is it a bad deal? Of course, it is a bad deal.

"These people [Hamas] are never going to stop trying to destroy Israel."


Antisemitism is a ‘terrible blight’ on Australia’s social cohesion
Singer-songwriter Deborah Conway claims antisemitism is not a "left-right issue" and is a “terrible blight” on Australia’s social cohesion.

“This [antisemitism] is not a left-right issue,” Ms Conway told Sky News Australia.

“It is, in fact, an attack on all Australians and a terrible blight on our wonderful community cohesion.”




Barnet FC abandon Amnesty match day fund-raising appeal after fan backlash
Barnet Football Club have cancelled a planned matchday fund-raising appeal for Amnesty International following a backlash from fans over their hostile stance towards Israel.

The National League club – who have a sizable Jewish fanbase – had announced that representatives of Amnesty would be in and around The Hive stadium for the home game against Maidenhead with buckets to collect donations.

The club announced the initiative by the charity was for a project “bringing people together and creating more welcoming communities.”

But after publicising the move on their website the club were inundated with complaints from angry fans who accused them of scoring an “own goal” with the initiative.

In an updated statement on Saturday the club confirmed they had shelved the project due to the “large number of comments made towards the collection” and fears it would create an “unsafe environment” if it went ahead.

Barnet FC statement
After learning of the planning bucket collection for Amnesty’s “Football Welcomes” initiative one angry fan, Jim Kavanagh wrote on X:”While I have sympathy with what’s going on in Palestine, Amnesty’s view is so enormously one-sided that this will be a huge insult to Jewish Barnet fans (of which there are many). Please cancel this.”

Another poster on X, Joshua Jake, wrote:”56k Jews live in Barnet according to the latest census. I can’t imagine how disgusted they must feel by this decision.”

While another X user named Gershon said:”Before your game Barnet FC Hamas are due to release 4 hostages, over 90 still captive. “Amnesty have spent 16 months ignoring them and spouting Hamas propaganda.”
‘Sorry to ruin your weekend’: Israeli singer calls out Roger Waters over released hostages
Aviv Gefen, a prominent Israeli musician, took to Instagram on Saturday to call out Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician and vocal supporter of the BDS movement, following the release of four female hostages from Hamas captivity in Gaza. Waters is widely known for his harsh criticism of Israel, often stirring controversy with his inflammatory remarks.

"Sorry to ruin your weekend," Geffen wrote in English, tagging Waters alongside an image of the four women. The photo showed the hostages moments before their transfer to Red Cross vehicles, where they were seen raising their hands in a gesture of triumph in front of Hamas terrorists.

Roger Waters’ history of inflammatory remarks
Waters, 81, has long been associated with anti-Israel rhetoric. In a contentious interview with British journalist Piers Morgan in July 2024, he claimed there was "no evidence of babies being burned or women being murdered on October 7," calling such reports "lies spread by ZAKA (an Israeli rescue organization) to justify genocide against Gaza’s residents."

Morgan pushed back, citing UN reports that documented sexual violence and other atrocities during the October 7 Hamas attacks. Waters’ comments drew international condemnation, and several Israeli radio stations responded by banning his music.
Ben & Jerry’s accuses parent company Unilever of muzzling it because of Trump
Ben & Jerry’s on Friday ratcheted up its censorship lawsuit against its parent company, Unilever, accusing the food giant of suppressing a planned social policy statement by the ice cream maker because it mentioned US President Donald Trump.

The allegation came in an amended complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, where Ben & Jerry’s in November accused Unilever of silencing its attempts to express support for Palestinian refugees and end military aid to Israel, and threatening to dismantle its independent board.

Ben & Jerry’s wants a court order freeing the board to continue oversight of its social mission, and requiring Unilever to honor its commitment to make $25 million of payments to groups chosen by the ice cream company.

Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Both companies have been publicly at odds since 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s decided to stop selling Cherry Garcia, Chubby Hubby and other ice cream flavors in the West Bank because it was deemed inconsistent with the company’s values.

Israel has controlled the territory since 1967, and its presence there is considered illegal by much of the international community.

The decision to stop selling there led some investors to divest Unilever shares, while Ben & Jerry’s sued its parent company for selling the ice cream maker’s Israeli business to a local licensee.

A settlement in 2022 required Unilever to respect Ben & Jerry’s independent board and social mission, as well as make the $25 million of payments.


‘Electronic Intifada’ co-founder arrested in Switzerland
Ali Abunimah, co-founder and executive director of the anti-Israel Electronic Intifada website, was arrested by Swiss police ahead of a speaking engagement in Zurich on Saturday, the organization said.

The Palestinian-American activist “is currently being detained and has had access to legal counsel,” according to the Saturday statement.

Electronic Intifada said that Abunimah was also interrogated by police at Zurich Airport for an hour before being allowed to enter the country.

According to the report by Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Abunimah had been invited by The Palestine Committee Zurich. The Swiss daily added that local police had been notified of Abunimah’s planned appearance and submitted a request to the Federal Office of Police that he be banned.

Zurich Canton Councilor Mario Fehr told the Swiss newspaper, “We do not want an Islamist Jew-hater who calls for violence in Switzerland.”

Abunimah’s detention was immediately condemned by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. In a statement, the committee said it was “outraged” by what it called a “reminder of the increasing attempts to stifle voices calling for justice and accountability.”

The Arab organization called on the U.S. State Department to “fulfill its responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens abroad and do what it can to secure the safe and immediate release of Abunimah.”

Abunimah previously celebrated Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, murder of 1,200 people—primarily Jewish civilians—as an “anti-colonial operation.”


CBS Is Determined to Redraw Israel's Map
“A map, any map, is a sort of mirror, reflecting the ideas and worldviews of its creators — the people of its time,” observed Israel’s National Library, reflecting on medieval Christian maps depicting Jerusalem in the center of the world.

What, then, does CBS News’ creative cartography with respect to Israel say about the network’s ideas and worldviews regarding the Jewish state?

In August, a CBS News memo regarding the Jewish state’s capital city instructed all employees: “Do not refer to [Jerusalem] as being in Israel.”

This week, the media giant further chipped away at Israeli territory.

“Damari, who is 28, and Steinbrecher, who is 31, were taken from the same kibbutz, which is a settlement,” anchor Errol Barnett’s intoned in a special report on January 19, covering the release of the three Israeli hostages Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Romi Gonen.

Damari and Steinbrecher’s home, Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where they were brutally kidnapped on October 7, 2023, is not a settlement. The kibbutz is located well within internationally recognized Israeli territory. It is nowhere near the disputed West Bank.

In anti-Israel Arabic language discourse frequently delegitimize internationally recognized Israeli territory as “settlements,” signaling that the place — i.e., Israel itself — is supposedly a violation of international law which should be obliterated.

Among the numerous media outlets that have corrected themselves, after erroneously delegitimizing communities sitting on internationally-recognized Israeli territory as settlements, are France24 (Arabic), the BBC (Arabic, dozens of times since October 7), Deutsche Welle (Arabic), Reuters (Arabic), Euronews (Arabic), Agence France Presse (English), and earlier (2017), The New York Times.


IDF says troops destroyed bomb-making lab in West Bank’s Jenin
The IDF says troops destroyed a bomb-making lab in the West Bank city of Jenin during an ongoing counterterrorism operation there.

Operation Iron Wall was launched in the Jenin area on Tuesday.


Qatari Al-Jazeera TV show praises October massacre, Hamas, amid ceasefire mediation
Praise of Hamas’s October 7 “achievements and capabilities,” justification of the massacre in Kibbutz Be’eri, and “exclusive Hamas footage” of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammad Deif all starred in the latest episode of the Qatari state-owned television channel Al Jazeera’s documentary series, What is Hidden is Greater.

Notably, the show’s presenter, Tamer Almisshal, received direct instructions and requests from Hamas, according to Hamas documents exposed by the IDF spokesperson last October.

During the latest one-hour-long episode, Almisshal presented events prior to and after the October 7 massacre based on what he said was “documented evidence.”

These events included Hamas’s “October 5 war order” and “exclusive footage” from Hamas, including scenes showing Sinwar disguised as an elderly person scanning maps with the now-deceased commander of the Tel al-Sultan Battalion, Mahmoud Hamdan, as both supposedly planned an attack in Rafah while standing close to a nearby Israeli tank.

Almisshal praised Sinwar as a man who fought “from zero distance” up to the very end, leaving behind a legacy of heroic leadership.

More “exclusive footage” supposedly came from Hamas’s war room and military council meetings in the days leading up to the massacre, allegedly showing Hamas chief Mohammed Deif with his face blurred, studying maps and “planning the attack” in a studio-like environment.

Deif was heard talking about “taking control” of the areas surrounding Gaza’s borders and calling to “fracture the area of Majdal (Ashkelon).”

Additional ‘exclusive material” from before the attack claimed to show Izzadin al-Qassam terrorists carrying out “investigative missions” near the security barrier and testing Israeli surveillance tech on the fence in preparation for the attack.

Almisshal also interviewed an unnamed masked individual who he said participated in the “operation of the infiltration of Kibbutz Be’eri.”

The individual was being granted a platform “to explain and justify the massacre in the kibbutz,” Almisshal said.

“We were shot at many times by women and elderly people who were carrying guns,” the terrorist said in an attempt to explain why over 100 of the kibbutz’s residents, including children and a baby, were murdered and another 31 were taken hostage.

“I swear to Allah, we took care of the women and children and only shot those who shot at us,” the interviewee said.He said that Israel shot at the kibbutz with warplanes, accusing Israel of the fatalities.
Seth Frantzman: New video shows Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar wandering Gaza in disguise
While the video is making the rounds in pro-Palestinian circles with Sinwar praised for his heroism, the reality of the video raises more questions than answers.

Why was Sinwar off on his own with only a few men? What was the point of this forlorn journey? What was the point of the quest?

Sinwar was not just some battalion commander in the field, he was supposed to be leading Hamas in Gaza.

The leadership of Hamas in Gaza was a goal Sinwar had worked toward for many years.

Why, in the end, did he wander off from the central camps area and Khan Yunis, where he had many fighters, and go to southern Gaza basically by himself with just a few comrades?

Why would a commander and leader do this?

THERE IS some information one needs to know about Sinwar first for the sake of context.

Born in 1962 in Khan Yunis, Sinwar grew up in Gaza, which was then run by Israel.

In those days, the Israelis ran the civil administration and there were Israeli police present. By the 1980s, Sinwar was in his twenties and he joined the new Hamas movement when it emerged.

He was known for murdering Palestinians. He was a kind of mafia thug. Sent to an Israeli prison, he rose up in the ranks of the movement and was released in 2011.

From that point, he built up his power base in Gaza until he took over leadership of Hamas in Gaza in 2017.

This was an important moment for him. He also became the political head of Hamas in August 2024. This gave him tremendous power. He had planned the Great March of Return protests and also several escalations with Israel, including the May 2021 war.

He was testing Israel on his road to the October 7 invasion.


Seth Franzman: Syria says it stopped weapons smuggling to Hezbollah
The statement from the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) is short. It says, “The General Administration of Border Security, following monitoring and surveillance, has seized a shipment of weapons destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The weapons were being smuggled through the Syrian-Lebanese border via the city of Serghaya in [the] Damascus countryside.”

The regime of Bashar al-Assad fell on December 8, with a new government formed under Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani. He has been trying to restore law and order and unify the country and its many armed groups and forces, succeeding to some extent, but challenges remain.

The prevention of smuggling and its publication in state media show he is trying to emphasize the efforts of the new government.

Israel carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria on December 8 and the following days, hoping to make sure weapons from the old regime didn’t land in the wrong hands. The IDF also entered some areas in a buffer zone on the Golan and took over the top of Mount Hermon.

The new Syrian government wants Israel to leave these areas, and by stopping the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah, it is trying to show Israel it can be trusted.

The report of the interdiction of smuggling is making waves around the region. It was on the front page of the UAE’s Al-Ain media. The point is clear. The Syrian government wants to showcase its abilities.

Hezbollah notably mentioned
The fact that SANA is saying these arms were “bound for Hezbollah” is also significant. On January 17, the Syrian government also said it had stopped a shipment of rifles and other weapons, including drones, destined for Lebanon. At the time, it did not mention Hezbollah, but now, Syria’s state media is clearly identifying the recipient.

This all comes as Israel keeps its troops in part of southern Lebanon past the 60-day period when they were supposed to withdraw. That ceasefire began on November 27, and it has been more than sixty days.

The IDF has left part of southern Lebanon, but the Lebanese Army must fully deploy for Israel to withdraw and Hezbollah’s presence to end. However, as revealed by the smuggling, Hezbollah is trying to re-arm.


Iranian hackers broadcast rocket sirens, odes to terrorism in 20 Israeli kindergartens
Iranian hacker group Handala infiltrated panic buttons in some 20 kindergartens Sunday morning, using the systems’ loudspeakers to broadcast rocket sirens and Arabic songs supportive of terrorism.

The systems, run by electronics firm Maagar-Tec, were disconnected, and the company said it was looking into the incident. The matter was also referred to the National Cyber Directorate.

Using another of the same company’s systems, Handala also sent intimidating text messages to tens of thousands of people, the Directorate said, adding that the messages posed no danger and that recipients should simply block the sender.

Handala also claimed to have broken into the National Security Ministry’s command and control system, and stolen from the ministry’s servers four terabytes of internal communications, video recordings, confidential documents and personal records of all police officers and firefighters.

The hacker group posted pictures that appeared to show a control panel for bomb shelters in central Israel, registrars of local police forces’ vehicles, police officers with their weapons, and civilians’ private gun licenses.

However, the Cyber Directorate and National Security Ministry said it had found nothing unusual on the ministry’s servers, Kan reported.

Last week, on a designated Telegram channel created on December 7, Handala had begun what it called a “countdown” to the alleged breach. On Thursday, the group posted an Arabic Quranic verse in which the Prophet Muhammad pledges to wipe out peoples, including Jews, who don’t accept Islam. On Friday and Saturday, the group posted threatening messages aimed at the National Security Ministry,

Iranian-backed hacker groups, some of which are thought to have ties to the government in Tehran, have repeatedly targeted Israeli infrastructure, companies and individuals in recent years. There has been a marked uptick since October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Israeli-linked groups have also claimed attacks on Iranian servers.

Iran’s leaders, who are sworn to destroy Israel, operate an “Axis of Resistance” network of regional proxies to further that aim, including Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis.

It is unclear if Handala is linked to the Iranian leadership, though the Islamic Republic’s state-owned outlet PressTV has positively covered the “hacktivist” group.


Lindsey Graham rebukes Elon Musk for calling on Germany to ‘move beyond’ Nazi guilt
One day after Elon Musk called for Germans to “move beyond” guilt for the actions of the Nazis — the day before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday that he wants “every German child, every American child, to know what happened [during the Holocaust] and that it’s true, not a lie and we never do it again.”

“His [Musk’s] comments did bother me,” Graham told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” Musk made the statement during a video appearance at a campaign event Saturday for the Alternative for Germany party, where he reiterated his support for the far-right party ahead of next month’s elections.

“Holocaust deniers are full of crap. I’m worried that we’re losing 80 years on that, that we’re rewriting history here,” the senator continued. “There are 15 million Jews on the planet because every generation seems to want to go after the Jewish people so they can’t grow and survive. So the last thing I want facing the [anniversary] is to be equivocal.”

Musk, who is an advisor to President Donald Trump, came under fire last week after he made a gesture at the presidential inauguration that some argued was a Nazi salute. Several Jewish leaders declined to criticize the billionaire, calling the gesture unintentional. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Musk was being “falsely smeared” and called him a “great friend of Israel.”

Making light of the criticism he was facing, Musk made a series of Nazi puns on X that drew additional condemnation.

“Is Elon Musk a Nazi? I don’t think so,” Graham said. “Bibi came to his aid.”
FDNY EMT suspended for hateful posts, saying Israel, US ‘do not deserve to exist’
A NYC medic was suspended while the FDNY probes hateful anti-Israel and terrorist-sympathizing comments he is accused of posting online.

“Israel and the United States do not deserve to exist anymore,” Bryan Antolos, 30, a member of EMS Battalion 13 in Washington Heights, allegedly wrote on his Instagram story, according to screenshots shared by the Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism on X.

“The only way to beat the system is to remove it from the face of [the] planet entirely,” Antolos allegedly added.

Antolos also reportedly posted a shocking rant that said terrorist groups like Hezbollah are “almost always on the right side of history,” and claimed, “the world will only know peace when it removes Israel from the map.”

In several other alleged posts, Antolos, who raked in $64,685 in 2024, condemned the United States sending Israel funding following the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists.


In Holocaust day speech, Irish president focuses on ‘horrific loss of life’ in Gaza, sparks protest
Irish President Michael D. Higgins uses his speech at Ireland’s Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and praises the “long-overdue ceasefire,” in the Palestinian enclave, leading some to walk out of the room in protest.

Higgins says he believes that the ceasefire and hostage release deal has been welcomed by “those in Israel who mourn their loved ones, those who have been waiting for the release of the hostages,” as well as the “thousands searching for relatives in the rubble” of the Gaza Strip.

Appearing to draw a line between the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust and the war in Gaza, which was sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror assault in southern Israel, Higgins says: “When wars and conflicts become accepted or presented as seemingly unending, humanity is a loser.”

“War is not the natural condition of humanity. Cooperation is.”

He says that world leaders should be made “acutely aware” of the “complicit actions of silence or the averted gaze of those who, by their indifference, allowed the Holocaust to be planned, prepared and to occur.”

Ireland notably maintained an official policy of neutrality throughout the Second World War.

Ireland’s RTE news outlet reports that several protesters stood with their backs facing Higgins throughout his speech, while others left the room in protest of his participation.

Several people, including an Israeli-Irish woman, were forcibly removed from the room as well, the Irish Times reports.

When the plans for Higgins to speak at the ceremony were announced last month, some of Ireland’s Jewish leaders said that he was an “inappropriate” pick for the event, due to his “grave insensitivity to Irish Jews.”


‘Despicable person’: Sa’ar slams Irish president for using Holocaust Memorial Day speech to criticize Israel
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slams Irish President Michael D. Higgins for using a speech on International Holocaust Remembrance Day to criticize Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

“Even on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Irish President Michael Higgins failed to rise above himself and resorted to cheap and despicable provocation,” says Sa’ar of the Irish leader’s comments at a Holocaust memorial ceremony appearing to compare it to the war in Gaza.

Sa’ar points out that the “largest murderous attack on Jews since the Holocaust came from the jihadist Gaza Strip.” Nevertheless, he says, Higgins “chose to echo Hamas’s false antisemitic propaganda,” resulting in some Jewish audience members leaving the event in protest and others being forcibly removed.

“What a despicable person,” the foreign minister adds. “What a twisted policy.”


NYC replica of famed Anne Frank House amplifies humanity of those murdered by Nazis
It almost felt a little intrusive. Just how much about this girl’s life am I supposed to know?

I was in a reproduction of the secret annex to the canal house where Anne Frank hid for 761 days during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. I’d already snuck around a wooden bookshelf just like the one that separated Otto Frank’s offices from the makeshift sanctuary within.

Then I walked through three rooms: the one shared by Anne’s parents, Otto and Edith, and her older sister Margot; a smaller one shared by Anne and Fritz Pfeffer, Anne’s not-particularly-beloved dentist roommate 40 years her senior; the shared living and dining space that doubled as a bedroom for Hermann and Auguste van Pels; and finally the smallest room of all, the back corner room belonging to Peter van Pels that included a ladder up to the attic where Anne and Peter shared their first kiss.

It was here, scribbling away in my notebook next to another visiting journalist while listening to piped-in audio from one of the juicer passages from “Diary of a Young Girl,” that the Anne Frank phenomenon hit me harder than ever: these were real people.

That revelation — stemming from the mundane (though brilliantly written) nature of Anne Frank’s diary — is, of course, what has sustained her story for generations. For millions of people, Anne’s naturalistic, seemingly effortless writing is the first and perhaps most lasting human connection to the Holocaust, more so than any history lesson or brutal documentary film.

Maybe that is why Michael Glickman, CEO of the company jMUSE, one of the organizations that worked to bring “Anne Frank: The Exhibition” to the Center for Jewish History in New York City, called it “the most important Jewish exhibition presented in this country” during remarks to the press a few days before its public opening.

While the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam was converted into a museum 65 years ago, not everyone can make the trip. And, as Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House explained to us, those that do get to the Dutch city often find themselves unable to secure tickets. (Windmills, Van Gogh and enormous wheels of Gouda in red wax make a nice consolation prize, though.)
Oświęcim’s sole Jewish resident reflects on modern antisemitism on 80th anniversary of Auschwitz camp’s liberation
Among 34,000 people in the town of Oświęcim is just one Jew – a young Israeli named Hila Weisz-Gut. It’s an interesting choice of residence, given the most famous feature of the town is its proximity to the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz – where at least 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, died between 1940 and 1945.

Nearly every member of Weisz-Gut’s grandmother’s family was lethally gassed there upon arrival in a cargo transport from Hungary. Today, Weisz-Gut can see Auschwitz III-Monowitz, where her grandmother survived, from her bedroom window.

She moved from Israel to join her Polish husband in Oświęcim, his hometown, in 2023, fully aware of her own family’s tragic history.

Weisz-Gut said she often faces skepticism and even scorn from Jews and Israelis for her choice of residence. If her late grandmother knew her address, she told CNN, she “would turn over in her grave.” But her neighbors in Oświęcim, she explained, have been welcoming and kind, asking questions and wishing her a Shabbat Shalom, meaning peaceful Sabbath. “I haven’t had even one altercation that connected to antisemitism,” she said.

For Weisz-Gut, maintaining a Jewish presence in the town – even if tiny – is vital. As the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp nears, on January 27, a disturbing trend is emerging across Europe, monitoring groups say – the rise of antisemitism.

Factors in this may be anger over the war in Gaza and a growing far-right presence in some countries, where electoral successes have lent far-right politicians and their supporters a louder voice. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights said some organizations had reported a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents since the October 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel.

“We have observed that whenever there was or is a crisis in the Middle East, it led to a rise of antisemitic incidents in Europe,” Nicole Romain, the agency’s spokesperson, told CNN. “On average, 96% of Jews told us they have encountered antisemitism in their life, and 80% thought that it has been getting worse in recent years,” she added.

The story of Oświęcim, whose population was nearly 60% Jewish in 1939 before the Nazis arrived, serves as a stark reminder of what unbridled antisemitism can unleash.


Jonathan Tobin: Zero tolerance for empty words of Holocaust remembrance
Oct. 7 changed everything
Prior to the existential war for Israel’s existence that began on that Black Shabbat, it might have been possible to make a coherent argument in favor of cooperating with and using the Jan. 27 ceremonies as a way to promote awareness of global antisemitism. But these commemorations are not assisting in educating the world about where tolerance of Jew-hatred leads. To the contrary, it must now be acknowledged that their primary purpose is to provide cover to those who wish to make a distinction between the mass slaughter of Jews in the last century and those who are attempting it in the present one.

In the eight decades since the Holocaust, the growing trend toward the universalization of the Holocaust has long since gotten out of hand. Scholars, self-styled “human rights” organizations and others eager to make use of the historical suffering of the Jewish people for their own purposes have seized on the Nazi campaign to exterminate the Jews as an all-purpose metaphor for what they deemed to be bad behavior.

Those who promote such universalization claim to do so out of good motives. They desire to use the Holocaust as an example of how to combat hatred so as not to isolate it as a distinct event in history that can’t be applied as a lesson to other conflicts. In doing so, they deliberately misunderstand the nature of antisemitism. It is not garden-variety bigotry or unpleasantness directed at people who worship differently but hatred, coupled with a political program, employed to empower those who despise Jews. Other examples of real genocide exist, such as the mass killings in Cambodia in the 1970s by the Communists or the slaughter of the Tutsi tribe by Rwanda’s Hutus—and even one now being perpetuated against Uyghur Muslims in China—but these tend to fall by the wayside in contemporary discussions on the subject.

The Holocaust, however, is unique. It was the culmination of 2,000 years of antisemitism—a virus of hatred that unfortunately did not die out when the Allies entered the death camps, and then defeated the German Nazis and their collaborators. It lives on in groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and all those who echo their genocidal goals on American college campuses with chants like “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the intifada.”

Contemporary antisemites don’t merely engage in slandering Jews and spreading lies about their actions and intentions, such as those uttered about Israel. They seek to delegitimize Jews in ways that are not dissimilar to those of the Nazis, who preached about a powerful Jewish cabal that engaged in conspiracies to undermine and harm non-Jews.

That is why Israel is the object of such hatred and a worldwide movement that not only treats its supposed offenses as the worst on the planet but also as a uniquely evil entity. They also claim that Jews wrongly “weaponize” antisemitism and even the Holocaust to attract sympathy and whitewash their crimes. That is exactly the sort of tactic that Nazi ideologues used to justify their actions.

After Oct. 7, the attempt to make a distinction between the current war on Israel and the Jews, and what happened during the Holocaust is not only outdated but intellectually and morally bankrupt.

Doing more harm than good
Suffice it to say that any commemoration of the Shoah, whenever it is held, must take into account the fact that Israel is currently fighting an existential war to prevent another Holocaust. Any event that purports to commemorate the slain 6 million men, women and children, and the fight against the Nazis, without doing so is a fraud.

Like other forms of Holocaust education that universalize the memory of Nazi Germany’s effort to wipe out the Jews, International Holocaust Remembrance Day may now be doing more harm than good.

The United Nations is an institution that has been a cesspool of antisemitism for decades. But we are now at the point when its agencies like UNRWA have not only helped perpetuate the war against Israel but allowed its employees to take part in the Oct. 7 atrocities and its facilities to be used to imprison Israeli hostages.

You cannot be against the Nazis and also morally neutral about Hamas, and the war against Israel and the Jews. Anyone who tries to play that game should be exposed as an ally of those who seek Jewish genocide or one of their useful idiots. There should be zero tolerance for Holocaust commemorations that do not acknowledge that a genocidal war continues in our own day and that those who falsely accuse Israel of genocide to justify that war have no place at such ceremonies.




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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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