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Thursday, January 30, 2025

01/30 Links Pt2: The Gaza-Auschwitz Comparison Is a Moral Failure; Hillel Neuer: The Most Hated Man at the UN; Protecting the ICC; Letting Palestinians Leave Gaza

From Ian:

The Gaza-Auschwitz Comparison Is a Moral Failure
The banner proclaiming “Palestine: the victory of the oppressed people over Nazi Zionism,” was prominently displayed behind Hamas terrorists as they forced hostage Naama Levy — whose pants were bloodied at the time of her capture — to smile in an army uniform. The goal of this image is clear: to “Nazify” Israel, whitewash Hamas’ crimes, and invert the roles of victims and oppressors. This is the essence of the Iran-backed terror group’s propaganda.

This is not merely an act of cruelty and humiliation; it is a calculated political message, designed to invert historical roles: Israel as the modern-day Third Reich, and Zionism as its ideology.

But Hamas is not alone in spreading this message. It is part of a long-standing antisemitic propaganda campaign that has gained renewed traction far beyond Gaza.

On American college campuses, in activist circles, and across social media, this rhetoric finds eager amplifiers: “Israelis are Nazis,” “Israel is genocide,” “Hamas is resistance.” Pseudo-human rights organizations, pseudo-anti-racists, and pseudo-feminists echo these slogans. At the same time, these voices remain disturbingly silent about the mass rapes, murders, and kidnappings carried out by Hamas on October 7. Their hypocrisy speaks volumes about their supposed commitment to justice and human rights.

These comparisons are not simply misguided or exaggerated; they have a double-edged effect. On one hand, they trivialize the Nazi atrocities by equating them with a contemporary conflict, tragic as it may be, that differs fundamentally in purpose and scope. On the other, they invert historical roles, casting Jews — victims of an unparalleled genocide — as today’s oppressors. This shift doesn’t necessarily deny the Holocaust outright, but distorts its meaning, drains it of its uniqueness, and repurposes it as a malleable ideological tool. The result is an assault on memory itself — on its ability to prevent the resurgence of hatred and, most urgently, the rising antisemitism witnessed since October 7, 2023.

The accusations of genocide directed at Israel are not new. They trace back to Yasser Arafat and Soviet propaganda in the 1970s, gaining momentum with each flare-up in Gaza. These claims rely on a deliberate distortion of historical facts. The Holocaust was a systematic and industrialized campaign of extermination, carried out in secrecy to annihilate an entire people. Gaza, despite its immense suffering and devastation, is the scene of a conflict between a terrorist group and a sovereign military — not an extermination effort. Comparing Gaza to Auschwitz distorts history and reduces the Holocaust to a vague, manipulable idea, undermining its status as a universal moral anchor.

This confusion does more than undermine the past; it undermines the present. The legal mechanisms designed to prevent genocide lose their potency when misused in this way. Raphaël Lemkin, who coined the term “genocide,” emphasized its specificity: the deliberate, systematic destruction of a group. By conflating the horrors of asymmetrical warfare with organized genocide, we blur the critical distinction between war and extermination. This misapplication of language is not just a semantic issue; it is a moral failure.

The issue doesn’t end with hashtags or protest slogans. It reaches the highest levels of political discourse. In 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of “surpassing the Nazis in its barbarity” during Operation Protective Edge. In 2022, Mahmoud Abbas claimed Israel had committed “fifty holocausts,” and made these remarks in Berlin — the very city where the Holocaust was meticulously planned.
Fifty Years of Using International Law Against Israel: A Social Justice Narrative Takeover
The year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, which declared that Zionism is a form of racism. Nonbinding UN resolutions fuel international court lawfare against Israel, which has only increased following Hamas's October 7, 2023, massacre. The result has been the endowment of moral and political legitimacy to terrorist aggressors, negating the fundamental values of the international system.

A collection of UN resolutions made Palestinian political violence a legitimate form of political expression. UN resolutions provide justification, reinforcement, and prestige for Palestinian terrorism - including that of Hamas. Both sides now "equal," the UN began using the terminology "a cycle of violence" when referring to IDF clashes with terrorists.

The politicized international courts are conducive to the "narrative" approach that reinterprets history and disregards a legal, adjudicated examination of evidence, favoring social justice. The "critical justice" reinterpretation of law views facts through the lens of corrective narratives. Therefore, terms such as "occupation," "invasion," and "blockade" are not interpreted conventionally, but in a way that will afford "social justice."

Alternatively, direct efforts to remold definitions are employed: on December 11, 2024, Ireland requested that the UN broaden its definition of "genocide," so that Israel would be found guilty in the ICJ case.

Israel has become the "canary in the coal mine" at the UN - an indigenous people in their ancestral homeland uniquely targeted for "colonialism." The democratic majority rule principle has been usurped to compel the now outnumbered West to subvert the UN's original vision.
Behind the Mask of ‘Pro-Peace’ Groups in Israel
Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green, the Israeli national directors of the Standing Together movement, were included in the Time 100 Next list for 2024 due to their extensive pacifist activities, such as the national campaign “The North Demands Peace – Deal Now.” As part of this campaign, the organization’s activists hung billboards in northern Israel with the statement “The North Demands Peace” in Arabic and Hebrew. Ironically, or perhaps tragically, one of the billboards placed at the Maxim intersection in Haifa was near a site damaged by a Hezbollah rocket last October. This area also witnessed the horrific terror suicide bombing at Maxim restaurant, co-owned by Arabs and Jews, in 2003, which killed 21 Jews and Arabs and injured 51 others.

The push for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah for a ceasefire at any cost, without restrictions or the possibility of Israeli action for violations, indicates a lack of security awareness among Standing Together activists. Last November, northern residents, local authorities, and community forums expressed firm opposition to the proposed ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, fearing future violations by Hezbollah and the potential for a terrible massacre. This fear was reinforced when an IDF spokesman revealed Hezbollah’s plans to conquer the Galilee. Although the ceasefire was eventually signed, Hezbollah violated it within five days.

Besides calling for a ceasefire in the north, Standing Together does not address the circumstances that led to the Sword of Iron war. While they importantly call for the return of hostages to Israel, they mislead the public by claiming that “the government and media in Israel are ignoring war crimes in Gaza and claiming everything is fine.” They assert that Israel is waging a war of extermination in Gaza and that “we must not get used to killing and starving innocent Palestinians in Gaza, hundreds of rocket launches daily, or abandoning cities in the north and south.”

At a demonstration, one of the national directors held signs showing Israeli and Palestinian death tolls since the war’s beginning, citing 44,249 Palestinian deaths without specifying how many were Hamas terrorists. This figure, from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, is unsupported. According to UN data from last May, a third of those killed in Gaza were women and children. A University of Pennsylvania expert’s study suggests the ratio of killed militants to civilians is around 1:1, according to the UN’s assessment. The ratio in urban combat zones around the world is 1:9, meaning nine civilians killed for every combatant killed — and that Israel is doing far more than any other military to avoid and reduce civilian deaths.

Regarding claims of starvation in Gaza, COGAT has facilitated the entry of over a million tons of aid on 57,545 trucks since the war began. From January to July 2024, the average daily food consumption in Gaza was about 3,004 calories per person, compared to 3,540 in Europe and North America, and 2,600 in African countries. Standing Together fails to blame Hamas for systematically stealing humanitarian aid from the residents of Gaza.


Letting Palestinians Leave Gaza
President Donald Trump has suggested that both Egypt and Jordan should admit some of the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza as refugees. "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."

It's an inherently sensible solution both because of the devastation in Gaza and the likelihood that no matter how much aid is poured into the Strip in the coming years, most of it will be used by Hamas to prepare for the next round of fighting with Israel. The idea of giving Gaza Palestinians shelter and new lives elsewhere is the most humanitarian approach to their plight. The idea is the opposite of what the international community and the Palestinian Arabs themselves have said is acceptable. The international consensus is that the Palestinians who live there must remain in place.

The belief that the Palestinian Arabs who fled their homes in 1948 must stay where they are contrasts with the treatment of every other refugee population of that era. Some 50-65 million people were displaced by wars and the partitions that accompanied the post-colonial era in Europe, Asia and Africa. There are no remaining refugees from that period who have not found homes and the chance to start new lives.

But the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), established to help 700,000 Arab refugees, did not resettle Palestinian Arabs, but rather ensured that they stayed in refugee camps all these years, keeping open the theoretical possibility that they would return to their former homes.

Both Egypt and Jordan are technically at peace with Israel, but Jordan's King Abdullah is in constant fear of the Palestinians conspiring to overthrow him, much as they tried to do to his father Hussein in the 1970s. Egypt, too, is deathly afraid of allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian supporters of Hamas into their country since the government believes they would join forces with the Muslim Brotherhood who seek to overthrow Egyptian President Sisi.

Staying in Gaza means not only a difficult struggle for survival in a devastated, war-torn area. It also means continuing an existence in which their only purpose is to suffer and die so that the war on Israel's existence can go on. In a world where Palestinians were not committed to Israel's destruction, granting the Palestinians statehood might make sense. But we don't live in such a world.

There is no way that the intransigent Palestinians will ever get a state until they find a way to move away from a national identity inextricably linked to the war to destroy Israel. In the meantime, the truly humanitarian thing to do would be to start the process of resettling Gaza civilians who want a better life elsewhere, an option they have always been denied until now. Those who consider themselves to be sympathetic to the Palestinian people ought to support that stand.


A rational suggestion to resettle Gazans
The Palestinian refugee problem continues to this day because it is an integral part of the strategy of Israel’s enemies to delegitimize and destroy the Jewish state. Moreover, it is a problem they do not want to solve because a solution would deprive them of a critical weapon in their war against Israel.

Without the claim of Palestinian victimhood, the war against Israel will be seen for what it truly is, an effort to destroy the one Jewish state in the world and an excuse to kill more Jews.

Trump’s statement about resettlement is achievable if the Palestinians’ fellow Arabs and co-religionists have the will.

There are 21 Arab countries with a total population of about 475 million. There are 49 countries where Muslims constitute more than 50% of the population. Those are the same countries whose governments have for decades claimed to champion the Palestinian cause. Now is the time for them to save the lives of innocent Palestinians and offer them refuge.

Israel will eventually win this war. Hamas will eventually be destroyed. But what about Palestinian civilians? That is the question the Arab and Muslim worlds should ask themselves. Do the Arab and Muslim worlds want a solution to the Palestinian problem? Or do they just want to cling to an ideology with which they can bludgeon Israel?

The early responses of Egypt and Jordan are not encouraging; they are refusing to accept any Palestinian refugees. While disappointing, the responses are enlightening. After failing to destroy Israel in 1948, Egypt captured and illegally annexed Gaza, while Jordan captured and illegally annexed the West Bank. They remained in control of those territories until June 1967 when Israel conquered them in the Six-Day War.

At no time during their nearly 20-year respective occupations did the international community demand that either Egypt or Jordan withdraw from those territories and create a Palestinian state. They waited for the Jews to conquer them before making the demand.

Trump has offered a possible solution. It is unlikely to gain any traction. But let’s not pretend that this would be something unique in history.
Biden quietly approved South Africa’s pro-Hamas envoy. Trump should fire him.
“I do not recognize Israel as ‘Jewish.’”

“Iran is not our enemy.”

These are the words of South Africa’s new ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, who quietly presented his diplomatic credentials to then-President Joe Biden earlier this month. As an emissary of the country’s African National Congress, Rasool has long supported the terrorist group Hamas, defended Iran and strengthened South Africa’s ties with Russia.

Biden should have never allowed Rasool to enter the country, let alone approve his service as ambassador. President Trump should correct Biden’s mistake and demonstrate that the ANC’s brand of anti-Western foreign policy — one that embraces Russia, China, Iran and Hamas — will no longer be tolerated.

Trump should rebuke the ANC by cutting off Rasool and swiftly revoking his credentials — or at the very least encouraging Rasool to step down on his own accord. In other words, Rasool should get the full Trump treatment and be told in no uncertain terms: “You’re fired.”

Rasool’s track record represents all that is wrong with South Africa’s foreign policy under the ANC. He has hosted senior Hamas operatives. He has reportedly praised Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as “one of the greatest inspirations.” Just two weeks before the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack against Israel, Rasool gloated about receiving a signed keffiyeh from the group’s former political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, whom Israel assassinated last July.

More recently, Rasool chaired South Africa’s state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa, which has been a key partner in supporting the anti-Western BRICS framework and increasing ties between South Africa and Russia’s largely sanctioned financial system.

Rasool represented the corrupt government of former South African President Jacob Zuma in the U.S. from 2010 through 2015, so he is no stranger to Washington. But his values are increasingly at odds with our own. Under ANC leadership, South Africa has hosted Russian and Chinese warships for joint naval drills; welcomed a sanctioned Russian military-linked vessel; and supported Iran’s inclusion in BRICS. These actions serve authoritarian interests but do nothing to meet the needs ordinary South Africans.
Witkoff Meets PLO Leader Who Vowed to Spend “Last Penny” Financing Terror
Fresh from his success of implementing the Biden plan and saving Hamas, Steven Witkoff, acting as Trump’s Middle East Envoy, went to Saudi Arabia, homeland of the 9/11 hijackers, and met with a top PLO leader.

Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee and head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs, who is apparently the leading candidate to replace ‘Abbas,

The meeting between Witkoff and Hussein al-Sheikh took place amid efforts by the Trump administration to end the war in Gaza and push for a Saudi-Israeli peace deal that includes a path toward a Palestinian state.

Hussein al-Sheikh isn’t just an Abbas adviser, he’s a possible successor to the aging PLO tyrant (or at least he was until he was recorded badmouthing Abbas) to run the Palestinian Authority.

And Al-Sheikh has a vision. Terror and more terror.



According to a MEMRI report, Sheikh claimed the Palestinians would spend every single dime they have on the so-called martyrs (dead terrorists) and their families as well as imprisoned terrorists.

Sheikh said, “I would like to reassure you of our firm and unwavering commitment: Our martyrs, prisoners, and their families are where we cross the line.”

He added, “Even if we have one penny left, it will be spent on the families of the martyrs and prisoners…They are our purest, most permanent, loftiest, and most precious jewel.”


U.S. Supports Israel's Decision to Close UNRWA's Offices
Amb. Dorothy Shea told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, "Hamas cannot be allowed to play spoiler on behalf of the Palestinians any longer, not after it started this conflict through its horrific attack and its deplorable behavior."

"We are concerned about reports that returned Israeli hostages were held by Hamas in UN facilities during their prolonged captivity in Gaza....This follows a pattern of serious allegations on the misuse of UN facilities - particularly UNRWA facilities - by Hamas terrorists....It is Israel's sovereign decision to close UNRWA's offices in Jerusalem on January 30. The United States supports the implementation of this decision."

"UNRWA...suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous. What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services. UNRWA is not, and never has been, the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza. Many other agencies have experience and expertise to do this work and have done this work."

"Gaza must be fully demilitarized to provide a brighter future for the Palestinian people. Hamas should have no role in its governance. The region has suffered for too long from the nefarious influence of Iran, and its terrorist proxies, who have exerted undue influence and destabilized the region for decades."
Here I Am With Shai Davidai: The Most Hated Man at the #UN | EP 26 Hillel Neuer
Welcome to the 26th episode of "Here I Am with Shai Davidai," a podcast that delves into the rising tide of antisemitism through insightful discussions with top Jewish advocates.

In this episode of "Here I Am with Shai Davidai," host Shai engages in a compelling conversation with Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch. The discussion delves into the pervasive issue of modern anti-Semitism, particularly focusing on the role of organizations like Amnesty International and the United Nations in perpetuating biased narratives against Israel. Hillel shares his personal journey, growing up in a committed Jewish family in Montreal, and how his experiences shaped his dedication to fighting for Jewish civil rights on the global stage.

The conversation highlights the challenges faced by Israel at the UN, where it is frequently condemned more than any other nation, and explores the historical and political dynamics that contribute to this bias. Hillel also discusses the importance of holding the UN accountable to its founding principles and the need for democracies to step up in defending human rights globally.

Throughout the episode, Hillel shares anecdotes from his career, including his experiences speaking at the UN and the resistance he faces from various regimes. The episode concludes with a reflection on the importance of truth and the role of organizations like UN Watch in advocating for justice and human rights.




Protecting the International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a rogue operation that equates Israel with Hamas and has threatened to charge Americans with war crimes for fighting terrorists. Senate Democrats voted Tuesday to protect the court by blocking a bipartisan sanctions bill that has already passed the House. Two Democratic senators voted no, despite having supported the bill last year when they were in the House. When the House passed the ICC sanctions bill again this month, 42 Democrats joined Republicans in support.

Minority leader Chuck Schumer claimed that the bill's language could ensnare U.S. tech companies whose services are used by the ICC. Yet, it isn't clear why tech companies should be exempt from sanctions if banks and other companies aren't. Failing to pass it in the Senate will put the matter in President Trump's hands, and he may go further than the bill Mr. Schumer blocked.

With its warrants to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his former defense chief, the ICC has become an anti-Western menace. The warrants accuse the pair of "crimes against humanity and war crimes" for Israel's defensive war against Hamas. The ICC is clearly anti-Israel, but the theory behind its warrants threatens any democracy that must fight against terrorists who hide behind civilians in hospitals, schools and mosques.
Jonathan Tobin: Democrats betrayed Israel and US interests on the ICC
According to Senate Democrats, it wasn’t their fault. As far as they were concerned, the failure of Congress to pass sanctions this week against the International Criminal Court in The Hague for targeting Israel was the fault of the bill’s Republican sponsors. They say that if the GOP adapts the bill to be more “reasonable,” then they’ll be happy to vote for it. As far as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is concerned, the GOP bill was “poorly drafted and deeply problematic.”

The more “reasonable” bill Democrats want would include protections against the sanctions for American companies that do business with the court and for foreign countries that are, in theory, allied with the United States but members of the ICC and prepared to execute its warrants.

There is nothing reasonable about efforts to water down the ICC sanctions bill. Nor should anyone be deceived into thinking that Congress will have achieved anything on this issue if Republicans cave in and allow the version the Democrats want to pass.

Understanding the dance that the parties are doing on this issue requires reading between the lines and understanding the priorities of Republicans and Democrats on this issue. It’s equally important to realize that this seemingly arcane argument about how broad the sanctions against the ICC should be is really about how they can be rendered toothless and remain purely symbolic measures that do nothing at all.

The reason why Congress is debating sanctions on the ICC was its decision earlier this year to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on bogus charges of war crimes committed by the Jewish state during its current war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Scoop: Senate Democrats’ first major anti-Israel vote is a political liability for 2026: “Senate Democrats hate Netanyahu”
Senate Democrats tanked a bipartisan bill to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week, the latest move to signify the Democratic party’s dramatic break with America’s closest ally. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) was the only Senate Democrat who voted to advance the measure that would punish the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Republicans have slammed Democrats who quashed the bill, and predict that the vote will be politically painful for Democrats come 2026. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and her first major move in that role was to “collect[] Democrats against a pro-Israel bill,” a Republican strategist noted to the Washington Reporter.

Democrats, who controlled the Senate until earlier this month, could have revised and forced a vote on the ICC sanctions bill last year. They “could have gutted the whole thing using amendments in [the Foreign Relations Committee] but they were too scared and wouldn’t let us do anything,” one GOP staffer familiar with the bill told the Reporter.

Former Sen. Scott Brown, who Republicans are courting as Shaheen’s top challenger, told the Reporter that “it’s just another vote that shows how out of touch our New Hampshire delegation is and how out of touch the Democrats are as a whole.”

Brown, a decorated Army veteran who served as an ambassador during President Donald Trump’s first term, said that “Senator Fetterman has turned out to be the real leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate and he recognizes that Israel is a strong ally that needs our support and to compare the response by Israel to the brutality of Hamas shows how out of touch they are and once again shows the true anti-Israel colors of the Democratic Party. Time for change.”

Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) echoed Brown’s remarks.

“New Hampshire deserves a leader in the U.S. Senate who stands with our allies and Jewish Americans across the country,” NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia told the Reporter. “Instead, Jeanne Shaheen has aligned herself with antisemitic terrorist sympathizers at the corrupt ICC.”


After an Anti-Israel Screed, a Call for Better Jewish-Catholic Understanding
A recent Catholic Register article by a group calling itself Catholics for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land (CJPHL) presented a distorted view of Israel and the Gaza conflict—omitting, for instance, any mention of Hamas. In response, Baruch Frydman-Kohl and Richard Marceau call on Catholics to engage more deeply in trying to understand both Jews and their own faith’s relationship with Judaism:

The rabbis of the Talmud warn, “Those who are merciful to the cruel will end up being cruel to the merciful.” (Kohelet Rabbah 6:17). In a similar way, Pope Francis wrote of the obligation to resist an aggressor: “true love for an oppressor means seeking ways to make him cease his oppression; it means stripping him of a power that . . . lets criminals continue their wrongdoing” (Fratelli Tutti 2020).

[By contrast], we see CJPHL and others as undermining efforts of thoughtful Catholics to restore relationships between Christians and Jews at a time when we need more reconciliation and less hatred. Bizarrely, the CJPHL’s op-ed in the Register makes no mention of the indigenous relationship that Jews have to the Holy Land. Hanukkah marked a historic effort of Jews to maintain their place in that land against an invading colonialist force. Approximately two centuries after the Maccabees, Jesus was born a Jew in the Jewish city of Bethlehem, from a Jewish mother, in a Jewish land. Indeed, Jews bear the same name (Israel), speak the same language (Hebrew), worship the same God and reside in the same land as they did 3,000 years ago. For Catholics to understand their Jewish brothers and sisters, it is important to know Israel lies at the center of the religious and cultural identity of a vast majority of Jews.
Ireland’s inverted antisemitism in action
My Jewish-curious journey started off when I was a young, earnest evangelical, in the late 1970s. I’d attended no Holocaust memorials but had accepted Israel embassy invitations to some “birthdays” for the State of Israel.

When Holocaust Education Ireland announced their event for January 26th this year, I applied (slightly late) for a place. The Holocaust Memorial event had booked the large Round Room in Dublin’s Mansion House. It’s website states there are 500+ seating places available for receptions and / or award ceremonies.

In my application to attend, I naively stated I am Ireland’s only Times of Israel blogger. However, their email reply stated the event had “reached capacity” and I could watch the livestream instead. On a video I saw about 30 empty seats at the rear of the large reception room. Did my pro-Israel credentials frame their reply, I wonder?

Plans for President Higgins to speak at the ceremony got announced in December 2024. Some of Ireland’s Jewish leaders said he was an “inappropriate” pick for the event, because of his “grave insensitivity to Irish Jews.”

Higgins’ dismissal of Jewish concerns about rising anti-semitism in Ireland was telling. Ireland’s president dubbed such comments as “a PR exercise” – hardly a diplomatic or presidential use of language.

That rebuttal alienated Irish Jews from Higgins’ being nominated as “keynote” speaker at the Holocaust Memorial event. The government and the Holocaust charity then rode roughshod over Jewish concerns. So much for the loud and proud Irish government policies about diversity and inclusion…

Higgins’ loquacious speech was seemingly written for an academic setting. It had little evident empathy, and instead, was an unremitting flow of semi-lyrical, tick-box blunders. His out-of-place, politically-pungent gut-punches were far from being contextually-accurate.


Daughter of Hamas Leader EXPOSES the Truth About Gaza and Palestine
Nonie Darwish is the daughter of a founding member of Hamas, the militant group based in Gaza, and she has an incredible story to share. Born into a culture of jihad and anti-Israel propaganda, Nonie grew up believing the lies that fueled hatred and violence in the region. After her father was killed in a retaliatory strike by Israel, her family left Gaza and eventually relocated to the United States.

Now living in America, Nonie has become a vocal advocate for truth. In this eye-opening interview with PragerU’s Marissa Streit, she sheds light on the misinformation spread by pro-Hamas groups and the disturbing rise of anti-Israel protests in Western nations. She courageously speaks out about the toxic culture of hate she escaped and offers a powerful message of hope for those willing to stand against lies and push for peace.


Anti-Islam Iraqi activist shot dead at his home in Sweden
An Iraqi Christian man who had publicly burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden died on Thursday after he was shot at his home in Stockholm the previous day, local media reported.

On Wednesday night, “the police were alerted to a suspected shooting that has taken place indoors in an apartment building,” the Swedish Police said in a statement about the suspected murder of Salwan Momika, 38. Police found his body “hit by gunfire” and he was brought to a hospital, where he died on Thursday morning, the report said.

Police have five suspects in custody, they said. Authorities suspect the involvement of “a foreign power,” a Swedish television station reported. Swedish authorities did not elaborate on the motives behind Momika’s suspected murder.

In 2023, Momika set fire to a copy of Islam’s holy book outside Stockholm Central Mosque, triggering violent protests.

A media outlet on Telegram affiliated with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq called for Iranian Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to issue a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Momika, MEMRI reported.

According to Dagens Nyheter, Momika was killed while filming himself and possibly while streaming on social media.

Momika was charged in August alongside one other with “agitation against an ethnic group” on four occasions in the summer of 2023, in connection with the Quran burning.

Following the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, between Israel and Hamas and other terrorist groups, Momika posted pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian content on social media.


Seth Mandel: The Fault In Our Stars
The other recent incident at Columbia was, of course, far less humorous and far closer to what has been the norm of late. Last week, masked activists burst into a class on Israeli history, disrupted the lesson, and handed out leaflets encouraging the eradication of the state of Israel.

“They just want to frighten my students,” Professor Avi Shilon, who was teaching the class, told the New York Post. “I was very much disappointed with the students who came to the class because if you are learning at Columbia, which is an Ivy League university, you should respect first and foremost the need to learn to study the subject before protesting.

“They act very aggressively … these things like that can happen in the street but not within the university, not within the class.”

Columbia President Karen Armstrong immediately condemned the disruption and promised a swift investigation. The school also posted security guards outside classes that the anti-Zionist lunatics might hit next. Armstrong kept her word—so far, three people have been identified as part of the stunt. Two of the three were enrolled at an affiliated school and have been barred from campus. The third was an active Columbia student who has been suspended pending a full investigation.

“Disruptions to our classrooms and our academic mission and efforts to intimidate or harass our students are not acceptable, are an affront to every member of our university community, and will not be tolerated,” the university said.

As the Jerusalem Post notes, “A group of staff affiliated with the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) for Columbia University, Barnard College, and Teachers College sent a letter to the Columbia Spectator on Thursday criticizing the protest.” Apparently a bright red line was crossed in everybody’s estimation.

The two stunts mentioned above are, however, more closely related than they seem. No, no one in astronomy class was threatened with violence, as happened to those on the receiving end of the masked intrusion to Shilon’s class. But on the other hand, it’s a reminder of the ubiquity of this nonsense at America’s “elite” colleges. If you’re Jewish, you will be aggressively confronted in some classes, and passive-aggressively confronted in others. It’s exhausting. And even Columbia administrators may get tired of it after a while.


Barnard Names New Head of Women's Center: Anti-Israel Gender Prof Who Stood Watch as Student Radicals Stormed Columbia Campus Building
Rebecca Jordan-Young, a gender studies professor at Barnard College, is a member of the school's Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapter. Last spring, she volunteered to serve as a "protest marshal," part of a group of faculty members and staff who helped student radicals secure the perimeter of their illegal encampment and stood by as those students stormed a Columbia University campus building, photos obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show. Now, she will lead the Barnard Center for Research on Women.

Barnard named Jordan-Young the center's interim director on Friday. The role opened up after Premilla Nadasen, a Barnard history professor, resigned last month, citing her discontent with stricter campus event rules and "surveillance cameras" implemented in the wake of the illegal encampments that roiled Barnard and Columbia.

Jordan-Young's appointment ensures that another ally of anti-Israel students will lead the center, which was established in 1971 to "assure that women can live and work in dignity, autonomy, and equality." It has since expanded its scope to encompass a wider array of social justice projects, including the "gay liberation movement," the "histories of racism, slavery, and colonialism" in the field of botany, and the "intersections of social reproduction, racial capitalism, care, the state, and liberatory social change."

Anti-Israel and pro-Hamas activism is also included within that scope. Under Nadasen, the Center for Research on Women was advertised as the host of the infamous "Resistance 101" event held last March, which featured a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group and saw speakers explicitly call for terrorism against Jews. When a doctoral student complained to Columbia, organizers moved the event.


Columbia University launching investigation against latest anti-Israel vandals
Columbia University’s administration has launched an investigation — together with law enforcement — to identify the perpetrators of an act of vandalism on Wednesday in which anti-Israel demonstrators clogged the sewage system in the School of International and Public Affairs building with cement and sprayed the business school with red paint.

Columbia defined the spray-painting as an “act of vandalism” in a Wednesday statement, adding that the graffiti “included disturbing, personal attacks.” It said it was “acting swiftly to address this misconduct” and “to identify the individual perpetrators and address their actions.”

“The university has done a better job [responding to antisemitic incidents] compared to in the past year, but at the same time, the actions of these perpetrators has gotten a lot worse,” a second-year graduate student in SIPA who requested to remain anonymous told Jewish Insider. “This went from antisemitic vitriol to cementing toilets and causing staff to be there overnight scrubbing fecal matter out of the toilets.”

In a Wednesday night email to SIPA students, the school’s dean, Keren Yarhi-Milo, wrote that the women’s restrooms on four floors of the building were “vandalized with a cement-like substance causing the toilets to clog.” The walls of the 15th floor restroom were also spray-painted, as was the business school’s Kravis Hall, according to the email.

The Columbia Spectator reported that the graffiti included the phrase “Keren eat Weiner,” a reference to Yarhi-Milo and Rebecca Weiner, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, as well as “5.3.2018-1.29.2024 Hind called we must answer” and “Im scared please help – HIND AGE 6,” a reference to Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl killed during the war in Gaza.


How the Ceasefire Coverage Exculpates Hardcore Terrorists and Murderers
Why are legacy news outlets assisting released Palestinian terrorists in getting away with actual murder?

Using the current Israel-Hamas ceasefire as their cue to place Palestinian terrorists on equal footing as innocent Israeli hostages, some underperforming journalists are sanitizing the bloody records of hardcore terrorists.

“This is not about politics or strategy. It’s about humanity and the shared belief that no one should be left behind in darkness,” Moran Stella Yanai, an Israeli hostage released in the November 2023 ceasefire deal, told the Associated Press in anticipation of the release of more hostages (“Hamas OKs draft agreement of a Gaza ceasefire and the release of some hostages, officials say,” Jan. 15).

The leading wire service boasts to have “done more than any organization in the world to expand the reach of factual reporting.” But recent ceasefire coverage indicates that the news service’s prowess in advancing the faux humanity of terrorists, while obscuring terror victims in darkness.

Thus, after quoting Stella Yanai’s appeal to humanity on behalf of innocent hostages, the AP draws a tidy and unfounded hostage-prisoner parallel:
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, families of Palestinian prisoners gathered as well. “I tell the mothers of the prisoners to put their trust in the almighty and that relief is near, God willing,” said the mother of one prisoner, Intisar Bayoud.

However, there are salient facts that the AP glaringly chose not to advance in its coverage of the Bayouds: Intisar’s son, Habbes Bayoud, is serving a double life sentence for his role in the brutal murders of Yosef Avrahami and Vadim Norzhich, two Israeli reservists who took a wrong turn into Ramallah in September 2000. Presumably, for the victims’ families, Bayoud’s release heralds torment, not relief. But AP neither humanizes their mothers nor notes the unspeakably brutal murders.

And Bayoud is not the only murderer to benefit from the AP’s exculpatory coverage in recent days.


Syria’s Sharaa Declared President for Transition, Consolidating His Power
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was declared president for a transitional phase on Wednesday, tightening his hold on power less than two months after he led a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa was also empowered to form a temporary legislative council for a transitional period and the Syrian constitution was suspended, according to an announcement made by the military command which led the offensive against Assad.

The decisions emerged from a meeting of military commanders who took part in the assault, a campaign spearheaded by Sharaa‘s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group — a former al Qaeda affiliate.

Addressing the conference, Sharaa said the first priority in Syria was to fill a vacuum in government “in a legitimate and legal way.”

He also said civil peace must be preserved through transitional justice and preventing displays of revenge, that state institutions — foremost among them military and security forces — be rebuilt, and that economic infrastructure be developed.

Sharaa has pledged to embark on a political transition including a national conference, an inclusive government, and eventual elections, which he has said could take up to four years to hold.

Wednesday’s announcement did not say when the new legislative body might be picked, or provide any new details for a timeline for the transition.

Fawaz Gerges, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, said the declaration had “formalized his status as the strongman ruler.” “My take is that HTS and Sharaa intend to consolidate single-party Islamist rule.”
Russia Is Giving Iran S-400 Missile Batteries. Should Israel Be Worried?
Russia has gifted Iran multiple S-400 air defense batteries. Last year, the Israeli Air Force obliterated Iran's Russian-built S-300 air defense batteries.

The S-400 is believed to be capable of shooting down advanced warplanes - including Israel's F-35s.

While the S-400 can get a weapons lock on incoming F-35s at around 20-30 miles out, the likelihood is that the planes will have already fired their own missiles at the S-400 site.

Specifically, F-35s can target S-400 sites at 60 miles out, at least 30 miles before the S-400 can target the F-35.

While the Iranians can certainly deploy systems that could complicate the American and Israeli attempt to devastate Iran, the systems used by Israel and/or the U.S. would likely overcome the Iranian threats to them.

If Iran makes it known that they have a working nuclear weapons arsenal, that will merely precipitate the very Israeli and American attack Tehran is trying to avoid.
UFC President Dana White Condemns Bryce Mitchell Over Hitler Comments
Dana White has responded swiftly to the comments made by UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell. Mitchell provided some widely controversial comments on his podcast, which refer to Adolf Hitler as a "good guy."

More news: Cristiano Ronaldo Backs UFC Saudi Arabia Star As Future Middleweight Champion

The video of Mitchell's comments can be viewed above. Mitchell states in the video:

"I honestly think that Hitler was a good guy based upon my own research, not my public education indoctrination. I really do think before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy I'd go fishing with. He fought for his country. He wanted to purify it by kicking the greedy Jews out that were destroying his country and turning them all into gays. They were gaying out the kids. They were queering out the women. They were queering out the dudes."

"That's what your public education will tell you Roli, because you believe your public education because you haven't done your own research. When you realize there's no possible way they could've burned and cremated 6 million bodies, you're gonna realize the Holocaust ain't real," Mitchell said.

Naturally, Mitchell's comments on Hitler have reached White, who took the time to respond following the conclusion of the Power Slap event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

White addressed the media at the event, instantly calling out Mitchell for his comments.

"Before we get started here. Let's get some f****** dumb s*** out of the way the way first here. I'm out here having fun doing Power Slap tonight, and I am sure you guys heard what Bryce Mitchell said. If you haven't, he said some probably, I've heard a lot of dumb ignorant s*** in my day, but this one is probably the worst.

"When you talk about Hitler, who is responsible for the death of 6 million Jews, and he tried to completely eliminate a race of people. WWII was the deadliest war in history. 15 million military deaths, 45 million civilians, and 25 million soldiers were killed in WWII."

"Second of all, Hitler was one of the most disgusting and evil human beings who walked the Earth. Anyone who tries to take an opposing position is a moron. That's the problem with the internet and social media. You provide a platform for a lot of dumb and ignorant people. We have reached out to Bryce, and when we read what he said, we let him know how we feel about it. We are beyond disgusted."


Are Israelis and Palestinians Fighting Over Religion? | Explained
In Hebron, history and faith collide, turning sacred ground into a microcosm of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where holy sites serve as battlegrounds for both reverence and control.

Here, Abraham’s legacy fuels present-day tensions as identity and religion intertwine with politics.

00:00 Intro
00:48 Shared history of Hebron
05:48 The 1929 Hebron M*ssacre
12:16 Fledgling state of Israel
12:46 Jewish return to Hebron
15:04 Oslo Accords and the 1st Intifada
17:17 The Hebron Protocol
17:38 Restrictions on movement & the threat of terror
24:50 How to overcome the conflict


How a Religious Pop Song Bridged Israel’s Cultural Divide
While Israeli society remains divided over critical issues like the conduct of the war, Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, and haredi military service, there are occasional culture touchstones that seem to bridge these divides—even the all-important divergence between the religious and the secular. One example is the remarkable popularity of Yosef Elitzur’s overtly religious song Tamid Ohev Oti (“He always loves me”). Gila Isaacson tries to explain this runaway success:

The song’s appeal lies somewhere between paradox and prophecy. Its lyrics could have been lifted straight from a siddur (prayer book)—speaking of divine providence, prayer, and spiritual renewal. The kind of content that typically stays within the boundaries of religious radio stations and yeshiva hallways. . . . This song reminds me that in times of national crisis, the markers we use to separate ourselves can become the very threads that bind us together. Whether wearing a kippah or a black hat or no head covering at all, sometimes we all need to believe that everything will be “better and better and better.”




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