Tuesday, February 04, 2025

02/04 Links Pt2: She Stood Up for the Truth. Then the UN Fired Her; Karma for Columbia; Trump critics want to make America safe for antisemites; David Takes on Goliath in Epic Biblical Series

From Ian:

She Stood Up for the Truth. Then the UN Fired Her.
Nderitu’s first statement on “the situation in the Middle East,” issued on October 15, called for the return of the Israeli hostages as well as a ceasefire. “And then I spoke about Hamas,” she said, “what they did. I described it. . . . And of course, the key thing that made me the enemy was saying that the attacks happened on Israeli territory, which they did.” (Hamas does not recognize Israel, founded in 1948 and admitted to the UN in 1949.)

That night, a UN Office of Human Rights civil servant sent Nderitu an email, cc’d to several top UN officials, including the United Nations high commissioner for human rights and undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs. (In February of 2023, that undersecretary-general would create a stir by saying, in an interview with Sky News, “Hamas is not a terrorist group for us. As you know, it is a political movement.”)

The UN civil servant described Nderitu’s statement as “one-sided,” suggesting that it “might cause reputational risk on the image of the United Nations as an independent neutral impartial body.” For an institution as hierarchical as the UN, this kind of direct written critique of an undersecretary-general by a junior staffer was highly unusual, as was his request that Nderitu review her “statement with the aim to ensure greater balance and harmonize it with similar UN leaders’ statements.”

Little more than a week later, Nderitu received a two-page letter signed by an unnamed group of “concerned UN staff including Palestinians.” While they joined her “in condemning the intentional attacks and abduction of Israeli civilians by Hamas,” they wrote, “we expected that your statement regarding Israel’s attacks on and collective punishment of Palestinian civilians would have been equally clear and unequivocal.”

That December 9, Nderitu hosted a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Genocide Convention, an event that she had been planning for a year. Speakers included judges and prosecutors who had served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and also Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court. (In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Yoav Gallant; neither has been arrested.)

On the same day as the commemoration of the Genocide Convention, another anonymous group, this one calling itself Concerned Citizens of the International Community, posted a petition calling for Nderitu’s resignation on Change.org. It garnered more than 22,000 signatures. “The gravity of her failures demands immediate action,” it stated. “We hereby demand an immediate and transparent review and investigation of the special adviser on the prevention of genocide on her failure to fulfill her mandate and to widely publish the outcome of this investigation.” (No such investigation occurred.)

Just two days later, on December 11, 2023, a second petition on Change.org, this one in support of Nderitu, was posted by an anonymous group called Humans for Human Rights. It received more than 7,000 signatures.

“They were lighting fires under me from every angle,” Nderitu said. While she continued releasing statements on the war in Gaza, including one in February 2024 in which she warned that “the risk of commission of atrocity crimes should a full [Israeli] military incursion into Rafah take place is serious, real, and high,” they were of no avail when it came to her critics. “It’s not about what I said,” Nderitu recalls. “The key thing is that I never called this genocide.”
Seth Mandel: Righteous Among the United Nations
Almost immediately, a UN civil servant wrote an email complaining about Nderitu to several top officials, warning that her condemnation of Hamas “might cause reputational risk on the image of the United Nations as an independent neutral impartial body.” He suggested Nderitu rewrite her statement to copy the usual anti-Israel belligerence from UN activists.

Then, of course, came the open letter from “concerned UN staff” pressuring Nderitu to treat Hamas as Israel’s moral equal. On Dec. 9, she was greeted with a Change.org petition that gave the game away: “With the official in charge of genocide prevention taking no action despite public pressure, statements by UN Special Rapporteurs, and thousands of civilians killed, including UN staff and their families, we demand Nderitu’s immediate resignation and for her to be held accountable for her failure to act in response to mass atrocities in Gaza.”

Nderitu, they said, had failed “to fulfill her mandate”—which was, of course, to lend her credibility to the anti-Semitic mob’s blood libels. She’d open her UN email address to find messages like “Filthy zionist rat, you will burn in hell forever for supporting the rape and torture and murder of little kids by your bestial masters.”

The next venue for the harassment campaign against Nderitu was the UN’s press briefing room, where representatives from Saudi and Qatari state outlets trashed Nderitu by name. Yet here again, the phrasing of those posing as journalists is instructive. One question from the Dec. 14, 2023, briefing was this gem:

“Ms. Nderitu has always been very vocal and very active in calling out every little sign she sees around the world that there is genocide may be happening. She spoke out for Darfur recently, even Nagorno-Karabakh — against the hateful rhetoric coming out of that, Nagorno-Karabakh. Why has she been silent on Gaza?”

It’s at this point that one is tempted to feel encouraged by the reporter, who is so close to getting it! He is, in fact, arguably answering his own question. If the genocide specialist is outspoken on some conflicts but not others, what might we learn from this? The obvious answer is: The genocide specialist talks about genocides and does not talk about cases that clearly don’t amount to genocide. That’s why you have an expert on genocide in that position.

The UN ecosystem completely flips out when an official isn’t corrupt. And these open letters and protests, barely six weeks into Israel’s counter-incursion into Gaza, also serve to remind us how badly anti-Israel activists telegraphed their pitches. “Genocide” was the talking point with which they began the war.

Nderitu didn’t understand that she wasn’t being hired to do her job. She was being hired to read a predeveloped script. It’s just that she was too honorable to degrade her life and work for the sole purpose of spreading lies about the Jewish state. So they’ll have to find someone else.


Jonathan Tobin: Trump critics want to make America safe for antisemites
Left-wing hypocrisy
Indeed, when conservative law professor Amy Wax was suspended by the University of Pennsylvania for being too candid about her opinions, which were deliberately mischaracterized as “racist,” there was no groundswell of support on the left or in corporate liberal media. On the contrary, left-wingers think it entirely appropriate to silence those who disagree with them about woke ideology.

It is not a coincidence that the Ivy League school is, of course, one of those whose presidents testified before Congress in December 2023 that it depended on the “context” as to whether advocacy for the genocide of Jews would violate administrative rules.

We all know that if any student, professor or member of a college staff advocated for the lynching of African-Americans, Hispanics or any other DEI-approved minority (a category from which Jews are pointedly excluded) or some other openly racist cause, they would be expelled or fired with few questions asked. Speakers deemed “racist”—which, in practice, usually just means critical of woke ideology—are routinely shouted down or disinvited. And if foreigners used their student visas to advocate for attacks on blacks or Hispanics or Asians, there would be no rush to the barricades to decry their being deported.

A definition of academic freedom that only applies to those who hate Jews and Israel makes a mockery of the concept. The same applies to those who are angry about the Trump administration’s acceptance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of antisemitism because it correctly notes that those who wish to deny rights to Jews not denied to anyone else are antisemitic. Anti-Zionism is indistinguishable from antisemitism.

The Biden administration accepted the IHRA definition but did nothing to back it up. Trump is working to correct that mistake.

To their credit, liberal Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee endorsed Trump’s executive order, although both included caveats about not violating anyone’s free speech.

But what’s at stake here is not freedom of speech.

Protecting Jews, not Jew-haters
Anyone can say what they like about the Israeli government and its policies. However, advocacy for terrorism against Jews that results in actions in which they are deliberately targeted for violence crosses the line from speech into discriminatory and illegal conduct. Seeking to target those groups that participate in such actions and to defund institutions that get taxpayer money that are facilitating it is neither tyrannical nor McCarthyism. It’s using the power of the law to protect those who are being attacked for being Jewish.

More to the point, foreign students are only here by permission and as long as they demonstrate good conduct. Deporting Hamas supporters is an appropriate and legal measure that rightly punishes those who take advantage of American generosity while taking part in immoral activities. Would we treat members of the Nazi Party or supporters of any other racist or totalitarian movement any differently? If not, then why the sympathy and the rush to support antisemites and Hamas supporters?

Decent people—whether Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, Jews or non-Jews—should be applauding the seriousness of Trump’s stand on antisemitism. Those who stand against it may pretend that they are merely defending the right to express an opinion. That is the height of disingenuousness. Opposing Trump’s executive is an effort to make America safe for left-wing and Islamist antisemites and to treat them as especially worthy of the government’s protection, as opposed to the Jews they intend to victimize.
To Fight Anti-Semitism, Put Criminals in Jail
Yesterday, the Justice Department announced the formation of a multi-agency task force for combating anti-Semitism. Tal Fortgang has outlined in Mosaic some steps such a task force can take, especially when it comes to reducing anti-Semitic agitation at the universities. But there is much else that can and should be done by local governments, and that involves nothing more than enforcing the law:

[A]nti-Jewish crimes tend to consist of petty violence, such as assaults, harassment, thefts, and vandalism. They’re often perpetrated by individuals who know that Jews (especially easily identifiable haredi Jews) are unlikely to defend themselves. Petty thieves make off with money taken from Jews they likely see as enriching themselves by exploiting hardworking people. More often, these acts are driven by inchoate resentment against a people who look funny, behave differently, do not act tough, and yet, on the whole, seem to succeed.

The criminals rarely face consequences. Hardly any of the crimes in the anti-Jewish-violence repertoire get prosecuted, and those that do increasingly result in diversionary-justice measures rather than prison time. New York is under immense pressure from anti-incarceration groups to empty jails and prisons, especially of those held “only” for crimes like assault and battery.

We cannot drum the hatred out of anti-Semites, but we can put them in prison when they commit crimes.


Urban war expert John Spencer brings pro-Israel message to Pittsburgh
Despite what you may have read, Israel is conducting its war against Hamas in the most humane way possible, according to urban war expert John Spencer.

“Israel does everything reasonable and feasible or ever imagined to protect civilians in warfare in Gaza,” he said.

Spencer knows from what he speaks. He spent 25 years serving active duty in the military, with two combat deployments in Iraq, and another decade studying urban warfare from the Pentagon to West Point, where he currently works as the chair of urban warfare studies. He has penned two books, “Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership and Social Connections in Modern War” and “Understanding Urban Warfare.” He’s been on the ground in Gaza four times since Oct. 7, 2023, and even been quoted by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Spencer’s assessments, he said, arise from his experience as well as his conversations with brigade, regiment and division leaders on the ground.

“They are doing everything they can to try and limit civilian harm,” he said, “while the other side is doing everything they can to get civilians killed.”

No one, Spencer said, has presented any evidence that Israel is targeting civilians.

An advocate for the way Israel has prosecuted its war against the terrorist group Hamas, Spencer has appeared on all of the major cable news networks including CNN, MSNBC, FOX News and the BBC, discussing Ukraine’s war with Russia and Israel’s defensive war against Hamas. He’s also made the rounds speaking at various events, working to reframe some of the fallacies reported in the news.

Take, for instance, Israel’s use of 2,000-pound bombs, often reported with images of destroyed buildings.

“It’s not true that Israel is using that tool specifically to cause an inordinate amount of destruction,” Spencer said. “Israel is using that weapon because it’s a standard weapon for penetrating urban structures to get underground.”

Hamas, he said has 400 miles of tunnels, many 200 feet underground. The 2,000-pound bomb, he said, is one of the only ways to reach those targets.

A false narrative has been popularized in media sources like The New York Times, he noted, claiming that the United States rarely uses these munitions, “which is not true at all.”

Spencer also has pushed back against the idea that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, pointing out that Hamas started the war and creates situations where civilians will be harmed.
Belgium adopting pro-Israel policy under incoming government
Belgium's incoming new government, led by Bart De Wever of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance, is signalling a significant change in policy towards Israel.

Unlike the previous left-wing government, the new coalition has adopted a series of pro-Israel measures, including refusing to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state and listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

According to the coalition agreements, Belgium will impose sanctions against Palestinian Arab incitement, support the fight against Iran's nuclear program, and work to stop Hamas funding within its territory.

Furthermore, no sanctions will be imposed on products from Judea and Samaria, and humanitarian aid will be conditional on ensuring it does not reach terrorist organizations.

"This is a 180-degree change from the previous policy," said sources in Belgium's Jewish community, attributing much of this achievement to the efforts of haredi parliament member Michael Freilich.

Among other things, Freilich worked behind the scenes to cancel anti-Israel initiatives and to include pro-Israel clauses in the coalition agreement.
Seth Mandel: Karma for Columbia
Columbia in particular has accelerated its self-destruction. After anti-Zionist activists carried out a rather psychotic intrusion into an Israeli history class, forcing the school to post security at classrooms where Jews might be targeted, the Columbia branch of Students for Justice in Palestine announced it had cemented the sewage lines of a school building.

Another university anti-Semitism club is holding a teach-in designed to instruct attendees on how to replicate the first intifada. When these groups chant “globalize the intifada,” they mean it. Back in November students were even handed a new newspaper called The Columbia Intifada.

These modern pro-Palestinian activist groups are essentially what you’d get if you somehow put Louis Farrakhan in charge of the British Union of Fascists.

Which also helps explain why the Trump administration is going on the offensive. The Biden administration’s policy was to wait until federal civil-rights complaints were filed and then sweep them under the rug. In practice, this meant that when Jews filed complaints about being assaulted on the way to class, the violent anti-Semites would file their own grievance that their feelings were hurt by the accusation. The administration would then throw up its hands as if the complaints offset each other.

Those days appear to be over. In addition to presidential executive actions on anti-Semitism, the Department of Justice announced a new task force this week whose “first priority will be to root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.”

The Department of Education has hit the ground running as well. Yesterday Jewish Insider reported that the department has opened investigations into five schools, one of which is Columbia. “As you are surely aware,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote to Columbia’s president, “more than 500 Columbia students testified as to the university’s longstanding pattern of tolerating antisemitic harassment, intimidation, and acts of violence. Columbia is alleged to have systemic failures in its application of discipline for antisemitic harassment and conduct that violates the university’s disciplinary policy, in part because of the intervention of its faculty members. Equally troubling are allegations that suggest extensive Columbia faculty involvement and material support for campus-destabilizing encampments and for the criminal break-in and occupation of Hamilton Hall.”

The investigation, Trainor wrote, “will examine whether Columbia discriminates against, enables harassment of, or violence against, students and faculty on the basis of their Jewish ancestry in violation of Title VI and its implementing regulations.”

Columbia bet on long-term federal indifference to institutional anti-Semitism. It deserves everything it’s got coming to it.
Trump Department of Education Opens Probes Into Anti-Semitism at Columbia, Four Other Universities
The Department of Education on Monday opened investigations into "widespread antisemitic harassment" at Columbia University and four other schools in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians.

The probe stems from an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week announcing that the federal government will "combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence."

Along with Columbia, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is investigating the University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The law protects students from discrimination and harassment based on national origin, including shared ancestry.

"Too many universities have tolerated widespread antisemitic harassment and the illegal encampments that paralyzed campus life last year, driving Jewish life and religious expression underground. The Biden Administration’s toothless resolution agreements did shamefully little to hold those institutions accountable," acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said in a statement. "Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses, nor will it stand by idly if universities fail to combat Jew hatred and the unlawful harassment and violence it animates."

Also under investigation are Portland State University and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

"These investigations build upon the foundational work of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce under then-Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, which found that university administrations 'overwhelmingly failed' to protect or support their Jewish students, even making 'astounding concessions' to illegal, anti-American encampments," the press release announcing the probes states.

The announcement comes as the Biden administration’s Department of Education reached last-minute toothless settlements with several universities over anti-Semitism allegations just weeks before Trump’s inauguration. Biden settled with five University of California campuses, including the University of California, Los Angeles, along with Rutgers and Johns Hopkins universities. Biden's settlements allowed the universities to escape punishment for civil rights violations and to forgo any admission of wrongdoing.

Columbia continues to deal with rampant campus anti-Semitism. Just last month, for example, anti-Israel student activists unleashed mayhem at the Ivy League school to kick off the spring semester. In one instance, four keffiyeh-clad student activists stormed an Israeli history class and targeted Jewish students with anti-Semitic flyers that glorified Hamas, showed a trampled Star of David, and advocated violence. In another instance, Columbia’s leading anti-Israel student group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, dumped cement into a building sewage system and vandalized another building with red paint.


US Jewish academics embrace an Israel-basher
The leaders of a prominent organization of American Jewish academics have leaped to the defense of an Israel-bashing professor.

Six current or former leaders of the Association for Jewish Studies wrote to the administration of Oberlin College in Ohio the other week in defense of Professor Matthew Berkman, a BDS-promoting anti-Zionist who has long been active in the extremist group Jewish Voice for Peace.

Berkman is scheduled to teach a course on “Jews and Power” at Oberlin. A local group, Mothers Against College Antisemitism, has raised legitimate concerns about whether or not he is the right choice as the instructor. And with good reason.

The JVP regularly compares Israel to Nazi Germany, a slur that is considered antisemitic according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition is used by the U.S. government, as well as many other governments and institutions around the world.

A featured speaker at a recent JVP conference was 77-year-old Rasmea Odeh, an unrepentant Palestinian Arab terrorist who was convicted of murdering two Hebrew University students in a Jerusalem supermarket bombing in 1969. She was convicted in Israel and sentenced to life in prison, spending 10 years there before being released in a 1980 prisoner exchange with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Berkman’s extremism goes back to his student days when he was active in “PennBDS,” a BDS-promoting student group at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was one of the organizers of a national BDS conference held at Penn in 2012.

During the 2016-17 academic year, Berkman spoke at events of the JVP’s Philadelphia chapter, appeared in photos on its Facebook page and joined in its picketing of the Anti-Defamation League’s local office. That year, the anti-Zionist website “Generocity” described Berkman as a “Steering Committee member” of JVP-Philadelphia.
Court Tosses Faculty for Justice in Palestine “McCarthyism” Lawsuit Against UPenn
For the second time, a federal court has rejected an anti-Zionist faculty group’s lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania, alleging “a new form of McCarthyism” violated their academic freedom at the school.

Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Mitchell Goldberg dismissed the case with prejudice, foreclosing any future attempts by the group to refile it.

The Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine (PFJP) and two Penn professors filed their first complaint last March to stop the university from cooperating with a congressional investigation into antisemitism on its campus. We covered the months-long probe of Penn and other schools by the House Committee on Education in the Workforce here.

In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs cast themselves as victims of a modern-day Red Scare, likening the Committee to the House Un-American Activities Committee of the 1950’s, conducting a “McCarthyesque” inquiry into unfounded accusations of antisemitism.

One of the plaintiffs, Arabic literature Professor Huda Fakhreddine, had come under scrutiny during the investigation. The Committee identified her by name for making antisemitic statements in support of Hamas after its October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on southern Israel. Fakhreddine is a founding member of the PFJP chapter that opened in January 2024, one of over 100 FJP groups that sprang up on college campuses after the massacre.


Jewish students at the University of Exeter feel marginalized, targeted and voiceless
The University of Exeter’s decision to decline an invitation to participate in a Kristallnacht commemoration in Krakow and Auschwitz this past November was not merely a missed opportunity. It reflected a deeper, more troubling trend: the systemic marginalization and lack of support for Jewish students on campus. While the university publicly champions inclusivity, my experiences and those of other Jewish students on campus, paint a starkly different picture.

At the start of the semester, as students returned to school and groups set up booths to attract new members, the school asked the Jewish society not to engage in Israel-related conversations or display Israeli flags. While the Jewish society faced intense scrutiny and preapproval for their materials, fliers from controversial groups like “Friends of Al-Aqsa,” known for openly supporting terror groups and contradicting the university’s stated principles, were distributed by multiple student groups, including some with no ties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. University officials acknowledged that these fliers lacked approval but took no action.

I attempted to host a welcome event with CAMERA on Campus, a part of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, which is dedicated to combating misinformation about the Middle East. The event was flagged as “too controversial” by the university’s student guild. After contesting this decision, further bureaucratic hurdles were imposed, effectively obstructing the event.

Meanwhile, anti-Israel protests—organized by student groups on school grounds—are a weekly occurrence. At these rallies, one can hear chants calling for attacks on Jews via a “global intifada” and praise for terror attacks, such as “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around.”

Regardless of whether the university is failing to adequately oversee campus activities or deliberately turning a blind eye to this extreme rhetoric while suppressing Jewish and pro-Israel voices, the result is the same: a clear and unacceptable disparity in the treatment of student groups. The administration’s selective enforcement of rules has created an environment where Jewish students feel stifled and targeted, unable to express their identity or engage in open dialogue without fear of reprisal or disproportionate restrictions.

All of which has led to a hostile educational environment with tangible and damaging consequences for Jewish students.


UKLFI: Dr Kamran Ahmed given Warning by GMC for antisemitic posts
Dr Kamran Ahmed, a Wolverhampton GP, has been given a formal warning by the GMC, following his antisemitic posts on X. These had been highlighted by GnasherJew, and were reported to the GMC by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).

The GMC announced that the warning will remain on Dr Ahmed’s record from 29 January 2025 to 29 January 2026. The GMC said:

“Between November 2023 and March 2024 Dr Ahmed posted and reposted material on X (formerly Twitter) that was objectively antisemitic and seriously offensive. This conduct does not meet with the standards required of a doctor. It risks bringing the profession into disrepute and it must not be repeated. The required standards are set out in Good medical practice and associated guidance. In this case, paragraphs 52, 55, and 81 of Good medical practice are particularly relevant: 52 You must help to create a culture that is respectful, fair, supportive, and compassionate by role modelling behaviours consistent with these values. 55 You must show respect for, and sensitivity towards, others’ life experience, cultures and beliefs. 81 You must make sure that your conduct justifies patients’ trust in you and the public’s trust in your profession. Whilst these failings are not so serious as to require restriction on Dr Ahmed’s registration, it is necessary in response to issue this formal warning.”

Dr Ahmed’s offensive posts, which the GMC agreed were antisemitic included:
On16 November 2023 he shared a post which stated ‘The Israeli flag is modern day swastika. Modern day Nazis behind one man’s ambition- controlling concentration camps & perpetrating a holocaust behind it whilst using propaganda to justify their cause. If the hat fits!’;
On 25 November 2023 he reshared a post which shows an image of two fenced in areas. One says Auschwitz and has a Nazi flag on and the other says Gaza with the Israeli flag on;
On 8 December 2023 he reshared a post which shows two pictures, one which is said to be Nazi Germany and one which is said to be Gaza today. They both show people lined up, with no or few clothes on, with soldiers around them;
On 7 January 2024 he shared a post which stated ‘Can you or [Israeli flag] answer one question- Why. Why are Zionist Jews persecuted and expelled from everywhere throughout history?? (not all Jews- just the ultra nationalist, Nazi, fascist, genocidal ones??)’


Star of Channel 4 immigration show told Israeli Jews to ‘go back to f***ing Europe’
A TV personality who suggested Jews in Israel should “Go back to f***ing Europe” has attracted outraged after being cast in a Channel 4 reality show about immigration.

Former Apprentice candidate Bushra Shaikh, 41, appears in Channel 4’s new series, Go Back To Where You Come From, which aired on Monday.

The show features six people – four anti-immigration and two pro-immigration – who follow migrant routes from Somalia and Syria. Shaikh, who is of Pakistani heritage and worked on the anti-racism in sport campaign, Run Racism Out, is a pro-immigration campaigner on the show.

But in October 2024, the TV personality posted on X: “One state solution. Palestine. And send this European problem back to f***ing Europe.”

Other posts uncovered by the Campaign Against Antisemitism include branding European Jews “the biggest charlatans on this planet” and a “bunch of lying scumbags.”

Another reads: “Anyone else questioning everything you were told about Jewish history…” and a different post questions why Jews are “so protected.”

This week, after an Iraqi Christian who burnt the Qu’ran was shot dead in Sweden, she wrote to her 89k followers on X: “Some of you may disagree but the public desecration of any holy book should be viewed as a hate crime and the offender should face consequences.”

She later said she did mean that he should have been killed, noting “I'm neither sad nor happy that Salwan Momika is dead. I don't care.”


False victory: Why Hamas sells the illusion of triumph as Gaza lies in ruin
Since the beginning of the recent ceasefire deal, a new and ridiculous narrative has emerged – one that Hamas and its terror supporters in the West are trying to convince the rest of the world.

Since the fighting between Israel and Hamas stopped, social media has flooded with images of Gazans celebrating a so-called “victory.” Hamas terrorists have finally shed their civilian clothes, used to blend into crowds and go unnoticed, and have put on their uniforms and weapons to present as if they are victorious and still on top.

Anyone with common sense understands that nothing about Gaza right now resembles a victory. After 16 months of war, Gaza lies in ruins, its infrastructure shattered and its society set back by half a century.

Hamas’s leadership is crippled, half of its fighters have been killed, entire neighborhoods have been wiped out, and hundreds of thousands of civilians are displaced. Yet, despite this devastation, Hamas and its allies are aggressively pushing a different story.

Who in their right mind would look at the devastation in Gaza right now and think this is what a victory looks like?

Hamas and Hezbollah have long mastered the art of misinformation, using it to whitewash their own terrorism and war crimes. Their latest effort follows the same pattern: seize control of the narrative, manipulate public perception, and absolve themselves of any responsibility for the suffering they have inflicted.

The truth is that Hamas knew exactly what it was doing when it launched its brutal attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The slaughter of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 hostages was never about military strategy or Palestinian liberation.


15 Palestinian prisoners freed under hostage-ceasefire deal arrive in Turkey
Fifteen Palestinian security prisoners among hundreds freed by Israel as part of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas arrived in Turkey on Tuesday following their deportation to Egypt, officials confirmed.

“A few days ago, 15 Palestinians came to Turkey via Cairo after they were released,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, in a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.

The former detainees were issued visas by the Turkish embassy in Cairo, Fidan added.

The prisoners are the first taken in by a third country apart from Egypt under the ceasefire terms, in which Israel demanded that Palestinian terrorists convicted of the most serious crimes not be released to Gaza or the West Bank.

Egypt agreed to serve as a temporary landing spot for those murder convicts.

Apart from the 15 sent to Turkey, Qatar is expected to absorb many of the remaining prisoners, a regional official and an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel last week.

The decision on where to send the various Palestinian murder convicts is made in coordination with Israel, the two officials said.

Turkey has been a vocal supporter of Hamas throughout its current war with Israel, which began when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

In 2011, Turkey took in 11 Palestinians who were freed as part of a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas that saw IDF soldier Gilad Shalit released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees.


Trump Restores 'Maximum Pressure' Campaign on Iran, Which Raked in $140 Billion During Period of Lax Sanctions Enforcement Under Biden
President Donald Trump has restored his "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign on Iran in a bid to eliminate the country’s illicit oil exports.

An executive order, which Trump signed on Tuesday afternoon, will reverse the Biden administration’s perennial lax sanctions enforcement that brought Tehran more than $140 billion in profits.

The order kickstarts an administration-wide effort to reinstall "maximum economic pressure on Iran," according to Reuters, which described the effort as "aimed at driving Iran's oil exports to zero." The Treasury Department will be responsible for enforcing sanctions on Tehran’s fleet of oil tankers, while the State Department will nix a series of sanctions waivers that made it easier for Iran to access cash.

The White House, in a fact sheet provided to the Washington Free Beacon, said the directive formalizes a U.S. policy that "Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles."

Additionally, Iran’s "terrorist network should be neutralized" as the United States develops a plan to counter the hardline regime’s "aggressive development" of advanced missiles.

Upon signing the order, Trump described the measures as "very tough" and vowed to never let Iran obtain an atomic bomb. The president said he has measures in place to unleash war on Tehran if it ever succeeds in killing him. Trump, as well as several of his former officials, are actively being targeted for assassination by Iran.

"If they did that they would be obliterated," Trump said in the Oval Office. "I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated—there won’t be anything left."

The effort fulfills a Trump campaign promise to target Iran’s financial networks and continues a policy he pursued during his first stint in the White House when he abandoned the 2015 nuclear accord and slapped a bevy of sanctions on Tehran’s regional terror proxies.

Under the order, the Treasury Department will develop new sanctions and reshape current ones that were dormant during the Biden-Harris administration, the White House said.

International businesses—including "shipping, insurance, and port operators"—are instructed to cease all activities that could empower Iran’s energy sector. At the State Department, current sanctions waivers for Iran will be scrapped, including those that gave it access to global financial networks.

The attorney general is directed to "investigate, disrupt, and prosecute" Iran’s financial networks, including those run by "front groups inside the United States," according to the White House.


Iran Is Developing Plans for Faster, Cruder Atomic Weapon, U.S. Concludes
New intelligence about Iran's nuclear program has convinced American officials that a secret team of the country's scientists is exploring a faster, if cruder, approach to developing an atomic weapon. The intelligence assessment warned that Iranian weapons engineers and scientists were essentially looking for a shortcut that would enable them to turn their growing stockpile of nuclear fuel into a workable weapon in a matter of months.

New intelligence suggests that as Iran's proxy forces have been eviscerated and its missiles have failed to pierce American and Israeli defenses, its military is seriously exploring new options to deter a U.S. or Israeli attack.

There is little doubt about Iran's long-running planning to produce an atomic weapon. Documents Israel stole in a raid on a warehouse in Tehran in 2018 described the technical efforts in detail.
Report: Iran "Secretly Building Nuclear Missiles that Can Hit Europe"
Iran is developing nuclear missiles with a range of 3,000 km. based on designs handed to the Islamic regime by North Korea, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which has previously exposed details of Tehran's secret uranium enrichment facilities, reported. Two sites camouflaged as communication satellite launch facilities have been used to rush the production of nuclear warheads.

"The Iranian mullahs are masters of lies, deception and evasion. For over two decades, they have used negotiations and the West's leniency as a means to advance their nuclear weapons program," said Soona Samsami, a U.S. representative of the NCRI. "Tehran has never been as weak and vulnerable as it is today. The desperate Iranian regime is thus speeding up the development of nuclear weapons."

At the Shahrud missile site, experts have been working on producing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted to a Ghaem-100 rocket. A second site, situated 70 km. southeast of Semnan, is being used to develop Simorgh missiles.


The Khalife sentencing: When will the UK take Iran’s domestic threat seriously?
Daniel Khalife has been sentenced to 14 years after being found guilty of spying for Iran in November 2024. Khalife was also convicted of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, while also eliciting information about members of the armed forces. The former British Army soldier had effectively recruited himself as an agent for Iran, proactively identifying and contacting a sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked individual who then transferred him to what was described as an “English-speaking handler” in 2019.

Khalife’s defense hinged on his claim that he was simply motivated by a desire to serve the UK’s intelligence agencies and was acting as an unsanctioned double agent, only providing his handlers in Tehran with what he viewed as insignificant information. He forged documents and his fictional reports recklessly endangered Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian national imprisoned at the time in Iran on (dubious?) (bogus / trumped up?) spying charges. Khalife even contacted the Security Service twice to offer them his services before they reported him to the police, leading to his first arrest in January 2022. Khalife displayed such incompetence that even his own barrister likened his activities to those of “Scooby Doo” rather than 007.

Yet, these revelations are of secondary importance to what the Khalife trial shows about Iran, and unquestionably reinforce how Tehran is a major, but surprisingly overlooked threat to British national security. Iran has spent years dedicating significant resources to subverting, radicalizing, and attempting acts of terrorism against British interests both domestically and internationally. This nefarious influence can no longer be ignored, and significant action from His Majesty’s Government is long overdue. While attention has rightly been directed towards Russia and China, we must also wake up to the Iranian threat and treat it with the seriousness it deserves. The recently concluded trial signaled Iran’s intentions towards the UK, despite Khalife’s naivety and incompetence.

When given the chance to infiltrate the UK’s armed forces, Tehran seized the opportunity. During his attempted espionage, Khalife collected the names of United Kingdom Special Forces operators, asked his handlers what regiments they were particularly interested in, and took a series of screenshots of systems marked “Secret,” including a password record sheet. Interestingly, an expert report for the defense from Dr. Frank Ledwidge, a senior lecturer in War Studies and former naval intelligence officer, argues that any information Khalife provided could only have been of “limited utility to an enemy state” due to its outdated and publicly available nature. Dr. Ledwidge also noted that even the list of special forces operators would not be of use because “the primary targets of Iranians are dissidents and Israelis.”
Swedish Government Says Stockholm Mosque Used by Iran for Spying
Sweden's government on Monday accused a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Stockholm of being a platform for Iranian spying against Sweden and the Iranian diaspora.

Sweden's Minister for Social Affairs said on X that the Swedish Security Service assessed that the Imam Ali Islamic Center in Stockholm was used by Iran as a platform to spy and conduct activities threatening security.

"This is extremely serious," Jakob Forssmed said, and added that Sweden had stopped all state monetary aid to the centre. He added, without elaborating, that "an additional process" was under way. "State funds should not be used for activities that conflict with fundamental democratic values," he said.


Police probe death of man beaten, robbed of Star of David necklace in Coney Island
Police are seeking support after 53-year-old taxi driver Michael Shelonchik was beaten and robbed of his Star of David necklace in Coney Island Tuesday evening and was later pronounced dead at Maimonides Medical Center.

Antisemitism is at a record high. We're keeping our eyes on it >>

Shelonchik was stopped at an intersection when two attackers entered the backseat of his car and began beating him, eventually taking his necklace. The attackers left the father–of-two unconscious in the backseat.

Shelonchik’s brother told Eyewitness News the necklace was “like [what] the rappers wear but had a Jewish star on it."

"And the Jewish star was all diamond-filled so that must have drew the attention," he said.

The victim's brother added that the necklace was likely worth less than $50, as it was costume jewelry.


Egyptian man arrested for alleged antisemitic assault in Rome
Police in Italy last week arrested a 33-year-old Egyptian man suspected of assaulting a Jewish boy on the street in Rome after ordering him to take off his kippah, Italian media reported Monday.

The Jan. 29 incident in the Italian capital’s center happened in view of the boy’s mother, the Castelli Notizie news site reported. The man allegedly shouted at the boy to take off his kippah, before hitting him, according to the report, which cited police.

The suspect, who is homeless and does not have a criminal record, was arrested near the scene of the incident in the vicinity of Piazza della Repubblica. He was identified using CCTV footage of the incident, as well as of another incident, in which he allegedly threatened a shopkeeper with a piece of broken glass. The man is in Italy legally, the report said, but immigration authorities are now looking into his status.

Like many other countries in Europe and beyond, Italy has seen an increase in antisemitic incidents after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded southern Israel, triggering a regional war and an explosion on anti-Jewish sentiment worldwide.


Delaware State says new coach, with history of Jew-hatred, is ‘perfect fit for our institution’
Delaware State University states that it aims to “cultivate an environment that promotes inclusiveness and collaboration among students, faculty, administration and staff.”

But the public university also announced late last year that it had hired former Philadelphia Eagles professional football player DeSean Jackson, who has a history of antisemitism, as head coach of its football program.

The three-time NFL all-pro player wrote in 2020 that black people are “the real Children of Israel” and quoted from a statement attributed to Adolf Hitler. He also wrote that Jews plan to “extort America” and achieve “world domination.”

He apologized after a swift backlash to his Jew-hatred.

“I really didn’t realize what this passage was saying,” he stated, per CNN. “Hitler has caused terrible pain to Jewish people like the pain African-Americans have suffered. We should be together fighting antisemitism and racism. This was a mistake to post this, and I truly apologize for posting it and sorry for any hurt I have caused.”

The NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles condemned his statements at the time. Delaware State has yet to comment publicly on or acknowledge Jackson’s history of Jew-hatred. (JNS sought comment from the public school.)

“DeSean Jackson is a perfect fit for our institution—incredibly competitive, optimistic about the prospects for our collective future, and focused on the fundamentals of the institution: students first,” Tony Tucker, the school’s athletics director and senior associate vice president for athletics and wellness, stated on Jan. 9.

After JNS published, Tucker told JNS that “Coach Jackson publicly apologized for his comments in 2020, recognized they caused pain and acknowledged clearly that he had made a mistake.”
Man admits support for Hamas in social media posts
A 29-year-old man has admitted a series of antisemitic posts and supporting Hamas on social media.

Zakir Hussain had denied wrongdoing but changed his plea and admitted 11 charges against him on the first day of his Old Bailey trial on Monday.

The defendant, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to four charges of expressing support for proscribed organisations Hamas and Hezbollah.

The offences related to posts on X, formerly Twitter, on dates between November 2023 and January 2024.

He admitted a further seven charges of stiring up racial hatred in comments about Jewish people on the same social media site.

In posts, Hussain hailed October 7 – the date in 2023 when more than a thousand people were killed in a Hamas-led attack on Israel – as a “beautiful day”.

In other comments, he wrote: “We are hunting them for fun in the UK,” and “I’m in London any Jews out there come out and stand up for your religion.”


How the IDF Helped Save Lives and Protect Property from LA Wildfires
As devastating wildfires raged across California, a special unit of Israeli soldiers at the IDF Home Front Command headquarters provided vital data analysis that proved instrumental in saving lives and protecting property.

During American nighttime hours, Israeli analysts conducted comprehensive data processing and prepared detailed operational assessments for the next day's firefighting efforts.

"We developed a specialized daily portal for all American forces in the field... consolidating all wildfire information in a single platform," said Capt. Keren, who heads research and data at the Home Front Command's Operations Branch.

"This included detailed mapping of fire zones, educational facilities, and power infrastructure. When the Israeli firefighting delegation arrived on site, they presented American forces with the comprehensive collected data, enabling strategic decision-making."

"American teams would begin each day with comprehensive situation assessments we had prepared during their overnight hours," said Lt.-Col. Yosef Salem, head of data at the Home Front Command.

"While the United States possesses significant technological capabilities, the crucial elements of emergency decision-making, information accessibility, and inter-force coordination remain challenging for many international emergency organizations," Capt. Keren explained.

"They haven't yet reached the technological frontier where Israel excels and has valuable expertise to share."


From tragedy to innovation: Israeli ingenuity tackles global wildfire challenges
As wildfires rage through Los Angeles, devastating communities and threatening lives, I’m reminded of another fire that changed my life forever – the 2010 Carmel forest fire in Israel.

That disaster, which claimed 44 lives, including my father, Brigadier-General Lior Boker, taught us harsh lessons about the critical importance of innovative solutions in preventing and managing natural disasters.

My father, who served as head of operations for the Israel Police Northern District, died heroically while trying to save others trapped in the inferno. While his colleagues remember him as a respected officer and commander, to me and my two sisters, he was first and foremost our devoted father.

Despite his demanding role, he always made us feel that we were his top priority, remaining deeply involved in our lives and showering us with love and attention. His sacrifice, along with the loss of 43 others, sparked a mission that continues to this day: turning our personal tragedy into action through technology and innovation.

Together with my sister Nofar Boker, we created this initiative to honor his memory and express our profound gratitude for everything he taught us. We’ve transformed our loss into a catalyst for change, carrying forward his legacy of protecting and saving lives.

The scenes from Los Angeles echo what we witnessed in the Carmel – rapid fire spread, challenging terrain, and communities at risk. But they also remind us that in our interconnected world, we have unprecedented opportunities to collaborate and innovate across borders to save lives.

Fight fire with innovation
This is why we established the Lior Boker Innovation Events. Our flagship program is an annual hackathon, which is now in its fifth year at Haifa Innovation Labs at the University of Haifa’s Hub for entrepreneurship.

What began as a memorial has evolved into a comprehensive innovation platform addressing natural disasters, climate change, environmental challenges, and sustainability through various events and initiatives throughout the year.

Our strength lies in our unique ability to bridge sectors that rarely collaborate. We’ve built an unprecedented coalition of partners, including academic institutions, national security forces, emergency services, tech giants (e.g., Microsoft and Google), accelerators, and entrepreneurship centers.

This diverse network of dozens of partners creates a powerful ecosystem where academia, security forces, and industry collaborate to develop practical, life-saving solutions.

Our success stories include WaterDome, a revolutionary forest fire protection system developed by David Shavit at our first hackathon, which uses massive preemptive wetting to protect homes and surroundings before fires arrive.
‘House of David’ Trailer: David Takes on Goliath in Prime Video’s Epic Biblical Series
Prime Video has released the official trailer for its upcoming series House of David, an ambitious biblical drama chronicling the rise of David, the shepherd boy who would become Israel’s legendary king. Take a look above.

Set against the backdrop of ancient Israel, the series explores the downfall of King Saul (Ali Suliman, Jack Ryan), whose pride leads to his demise, and the emergence of David (newcomer Michael Iskander) as the chosen leader. As the young outcast grapples with his destiny, he must navigate a world of political turmoil, personal loss, and violent battles—including an encounter with the towering warrior Goliath (Martyn Ford, Mortal Kombat 2).

The show’s ensemble cast includes Ayelet Zurer (Man of Steel) as Queen Ahinoam, Stephen Lang (Avatar franchise) as the prophet Samuel, and Indy Lewis (Industry) and Yali Topol Margalith (Tattooist of Auschwitz) as Saul’s daughters, Mychal and Mirab. Ethan Kai (Carnival Row 2) plays Jonathan, Saul’s son and heir, while Oded Fehr (Star Trek) portrays Abner, a key royal advisor. The series also features Sam Otto (Snowpiercer), Louis Ferreira (Shogun), and Ashraf Barhom (Tyrant).

Developed by Jon Erwin (Jesus Revolution) and Jon Gunn (Ordinary Angels), House of David is produced by Amazon MGM Studios, Lionsgate Television, and Wonder Project. Dallas Jenkins (The Chosen) serves as a special advisor.

House of David premieres on Prime Video on 27 February 2025, launching with three episodes before rolling out weekly.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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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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