Thursday, March 06, 2025

03/06 Links Pt2: The myth of Masafer Yatta; BBC Scandal Exposes the Sham Industry of Anti-Zionist Documentaries; How Hamas exploits, abuses, weaponizes children

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The myth of Masafer Yatta
The reality of Masafer Yatta, however, is radically different. The area was never under Palestinian Arab control. The only people with any legal or historical claim to it are the Jews.

In the 1920s, the Jews alone were promised a homeland by the League of Nations throughout what is now Israel, the disputed territories and the Gaza Strip—a binding treaty obligation that has never been abrogated.

In 1999, Arabs illegally erected homes in Masafer Yatta but failed to obtain building permits from Israel’s civil administration. This violated the Israel and Arab agreed-upon Oslo Accords that gave Israel full control over this area.

In 2022, Israel’s High Court ruled that these homes must be demolished. As a result, the residents moved into nearby alternative dwellings. Many of these condemned structures, however, remained in place in order to provide the illusion of a permanent Arab presence.

None of these facts, of course, was mentioned in the film because they would instantly destroy the lie of helpless Arabs victimized by cruel Israeli oppression.

Masafer Yatta has produced numerous terrorists who have murdered Israeli civilians. Moreover, with the connivance or backing of NGOs such as B’Tselem and Amnesty, its activists harass Jews living in the area by trespassing, damaging property and provoking fights that they film and post online with titles like “settler violence” and “Jewish supremacy.”

In 2021, during a violent incident in Masafer Yatta, an Israeli Defense Forces officer filmed a young Arab setting fire to Arab structures and shouting: “The Jews did it.”

The Jewish Voice reported that this young Arab was none other than the future Oscar-winner Basel Adra, whom it described as a B’Tselem activist and “a known provocateur in the Hebron mountains.” In a succession of contradictory claims, Adra later denied that he had committed arson.

The mythology that has developed around Masafa Yatta is one of many lies that have shaped support for the Palestinian cause throughout the West, investing it with the status of a heroic fight for justice. Obscenely, this big lie has come to define the claim by Western “progressives” to moral and centrist attitudes.
Seth Mandel: A BBC Scandal Exposes the Sham Industry of Anti-Zionist Documentaries
The BBC thus had not only produced a Hamas propaganda film but sanitized the murderous Jew-hatred expressed by Palestinians throughout.

And that is why Shah, the BBC chair, was in front of a government panel expressing his deep regret on Tuesday. The government is letting the BBC take the lead on the investigation, but it is making clear that this is a uniquely shameful tale of BBC infamy.

The earlier Channel 4 program won news awards, including an international Emmy. It turned out that Channel 4 has known the family’s identity since last summer, further casting doubt on the BBC’s already-farfetched attempts to play dumb or claim to have been manipulated.

There are two important lessons here. First, as has become fairly clear by now, a great deal of the “journalism” on the war is being done by members of terrorist organizations fighting in that war. The BBC’s documentary was, perhaps, the worst such example. But it was an example nonetheless. Mainstream international media have corrupted their tradecraft in their desire to enable Hamas’s genocidal cause against Israel.

Second, the fact that this keeps happening is a reminder that in order to paint Israel as a convincing villain, news must be fabricated. Documentaries are perfect vehicles for such audience manipulation, of course. This is was part of the reason the Oscars award to No Other Land on Sunday night was so divisive: As Jonathan Sacerdoti and others have meticulously pointed out, the film’s narrative bears almost no relation to the reality of its subject. It’s agitprop produced to legitimize baldly illegal Palestinian land grabs.

One should consider the following: If Israel were truly the evil oppressor its critics make it out to be, why would all this documentary evidence have to be manufactured and distorted?
Seth Mandel: Gal Gadot and the Controversial Jewish Practice of Merely Existing
One doesn’t have to be a Hollywood insider to understand immediately that this theory is insane. Zegler is vocally anti-Israel in the current conflict and has courted controversy by taking her lemming-like social-media activity to great lengths: After the trailer for her own upcoming movie received spiteful backlash online because of Gadot’s participation in the film, Zegler signaled her agreement with the trolls. All of which is to say: Had Zegler been scheduled to present an award to an anti-Israel film, she would have crawled over hot coals to do so, not traded categories quietly for the sake of avoiding some imagined discomfort on Gadot’s part.

Now, it happens to be the case that Gadot is a class act, in stark contrast to many of her peers, and she would’ve presented whatever award the Academy asked her to. So whoever invented this rumor had an axe to grind. And who was that, anyway? According to Newsweek, the source of the rumor was Jen Perelman, a progressive congressional candidate in previous cycles whose entire political persona has been constructed out of obsessive anti-Zionist rage.

So, yes, Gadot is completely correct to have said last night that just being an Israeli Jew is considered controversial. Apparently there were a number of social-media users who, prior to the Oscars, expressed their wish that Gadot would have to present the award to the Palestinian director. Why? Because she is a Jewish Israeli, and they think it would have made her uncomfortable.

But that’s quite the admission in itself: People want Gal Gadot to be made to feel uncomfortable in public. It gives them great pleasure to imagine it. Why? Because she is a Jewish Israeli. That’s it—a number of Oscars viewers simply wanted to see someone make a Jew feel bad. When that didn’t happen, these folks imagined that the reason it didn’t happen was due to a Jewish conspiracy.

Gadot is handling all this with aplomb, but it is an ominous sign for society that it’s happening at all.


The Existential Crisis of the Liberal Democratic Model
The 9/11 attacks in 2001 marked the beginning of the crisis of the liberal democratic model. For decades, it was widely believed that granting full civil rights and complete equality for all individuals within a state, alongside economic welfare, would prevent violence. However, 9/11 and the subsequent wave of Islamist terrorism on the international stage undermined this belief.

Paradoxically, citizens who had benefited from the fruits of liberal democracy turned against it. Islamist terrorism in Europe proved that Europe's core principles - acceptance, inclusion, and economic welfare for immigrants - were inadequate in preventing violent extremism. It became evident that religious and tribal identity is deeper and stronger than the Western concept of the nation-state.

A widespread assumption held that wars aimed at redrawing borders had become a thing of the past and that the use of force to alter borders or impose one nation's political vision on another was no longer viable. But the Russia-Ukraine war and Hamas's brutal attack on peaceful civilians within sovereign Israel shattered this assumption. The sobering reality is that liberal democracy no longer guarantees personal security, economic prosperity, national security, or even the free formation of opinions, as individual consciousness is today shaped by algorithms.

Diplomacy as practiced by President Trump includes aggressiveness. The world understands only power. Strength is meaningless unless it is demonstrated or used. According to this perspective, the U.S. is strong only if it is willing to leverage its pressure points. The purpose of power is not necessarily to provoke conflict but to avoid it by bending the will of others to secure the desired deal on more favorable terms.
Manipulating math to rescue ‘Palestine’ 
A prominent Washington think tank analyst has added up various terrorism statistics to “prove” that a Palestinian Arab state might not be such a bad idea after all. The problem is that his math is all wrong.

Writing in Mosaic this week, Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy implores Israel not to give up on the Palestinian statehood idea. Because, he says, the math shows that having the Palestinian Authority around has reduced terrorism.

Except that it hasn’t.

Satloff compares three periods. There were the 18 years from 1968 to 1985, when there was no Palestinian Authority and there were 542 Israeli deaths in terrorist attacks. Then there were the fifteen years between 1986 and 2000—leading up to the Second Intifada—when the number of terror fatalities dropped to 472. Then he skips the Second Intifada years, and looks at the eighteen years between 2005 and 2022—when that number dropped even further, to 334.

Satloff’s conclusion: Thanks to the creation of the P.A. in 1994, terrorism has decreased. Therefore, he argues, it’s good that there’s a P.A., and maybe Israel should even give it a sovereign state at some point.

Part of the problem with this math is that his conclusions are based on body counts, but body counts don’t tell the whole story as to whether or not terrorism overall is increasing or decreasing. The outcome of a terrorist attack is determined by numerous factors. Last week, for example, terrorists failed to correctly set the timers on their bus explosives, so nobody was killed. In Satloff’s calculation, that would count as a “zero.”

Yet the mere fact that such an attack was attempted illustrates that the terrorist threat is growing, regardless of the body count.

Even if a terrorist attack is botched or foiled and nobody is murdered, it doesn’t change the fact that the P.A.’s schools and media inspire their young people to plant bombs on buses. The intention must be considered in addition to the results. The intention is what the P.A. completely controls, while the results are often determined by factors out of its control.

The other major problem with Satloff’s creative math is that his omission of the Second Intifada and its fatalities is illogical, and skews all the data. The Second Intifada did not just erupt out of nowhere. It was orchestrated by the P.A. itself. Even Satloff’s own Washington Institute acknowledges that fact. An analysis of the Second Intifada, on the institute’s own website, states: “Violence and terrorism were part of the strategy of Palestinian leadership, especially of its leader at the time—Yasser Arafat.”

So, if you want to decide whether the creation of the P.A. has reduced terrorism, then you have to include the terror wave that the authority itself launched in September 2000 and all of the Israelis who were murdered then. Of course, doing that ruins Satloff’s thesis.
Dramatic shift in two-state solution support
Support for a two-state solution appears to have plummeted among Australian Jewish News readers following the October 7 Hamas attacks, according to the newspaper’s latest social media poll.

The survey, conducted across Facebook and Instagram, shows that 41 per cent of respondents who previously backed a Palestinian state alongside Israel now oppose it – the largest segment in the poll.

When combined with the 28 per cent who report having “always opposed” such an arrangement, nearly seven in ten respondents now reject what has long been considered the mainstream diplomatic solution.

It is important to note that the poll was conducted on social media and open to anyone, making the results unscientific, although more than 1,200 people participated.

Dr Colin Rubenstein, Executive Director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) said, “This result is no surprise at all. The horrors of October 7 not only demonstrated what Palestinian autonomy of the sort that existed in Gaza can lead to, it also saw the supposedly moderate Palestinian Authority respond to the October 7 atrocities by celebrating them, and announcing the terrorists responsible would be added to its ‘pay for slay’ scheme, financially rewarding the murderers and their families”.

“Meanwhile, whatever faith there was in the international community’s willingness to help provide security guarantees for Israel has completely dissipated in the face of the appalling reaction to Israel’s subsequent necessary war of self-defence”, Rubenstein said.

He added that “the evidence is today overwhelmingly that there is no genuine partner for peace on the Palestinian side, while the cultural and political reforms of Palestinian society required to create such a partner is a project likely to take decades.”
If you do not conform to ‘anti-Zionism’ on campus, you become an outcast
On the one-year anniversary of October 7, I received a chilling reminder that even a year after the attack, Jews are still not safe – especially on campus. I should have been preparing for lectures. Instead, I spent the night on the phone with CST and Surrey Police after a bomb threat was sent to our Instagram page. Fear and uncertainty replaced the normality of student life, and in the months that followed, the stress of an ongoing investigation loomed over me.

As secretary of the Royal Holloway Jewish Society, I reported the threat to the Students’ Union (SU), which assured me that the university leadership would be informed. Months later, in a meeting with senior staff, it appeared to me they had no idea what had happened. It seemed that the SU had simply failed to pass it on.

That question came up again when I started reconnecting with my Jewish identity. I had spent many years separated from it, but last year, I made the decision to embrace it again as a result of rising antisemitism. It didn’t take long to realise this came at a cost. I had assumed my friends were open-minded, but for some, their so-called “anti-Zionism” left no space for me. Suddenly, I was treated with suspicion, excluded from events and subjected to Holocaust jokes. It was then that I realised antisemitism on campus wasn’t just about external threats – it permeated student culture. Today, the ugliness of antisemitism is hidden by a new mask, the guise of “anti-Zionism” – if you don’t conform you become an outcast.

The SU’s handling of Friends of Palestine events was also troubling. They had promised to ensure fairness, yet fundraising events took place on the anniversary of October 7 and Holocaust Memorial Day – right beneath the screens displaying a remembrance service.
Breaking the DEI binary in American education | Think Twice
Welcome to Think Twice, the weekly show hosted by Jonathan S. Tobin, Editor-in-Chief of JNS. This episode features Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky, Director of Education and Community Engagement for the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values.

Topics Covered in This Episode:
✅ The Rise and Fall of Woke Ideology: How DEI took over education, corporations and the arts.
✅ Why Jewish Americans Are Targeted: How DEI’s oppressor-oppressed ideology fuels antisemitism.
✅ Ethnic Studies and Radical Indoctrination: How schools push division instead of education.
✅ Settler Colonialism and Israel: The false narrative used to delegitimize Jewish history.
✅ The Left’s War on Liberalism: Why American liberalism failed to defend free speech and individual rights.
✅ How Parents Can Fight Back: Concrete steps to take control of your child’s education.


Israel, the Oscars, and Self-Righteous Applause
In the past few days, some Jews have praised the recent Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody for mentioning anti-Semitism in his acceptance speech, while others pointed out that that Brody couldn’t utter the word without immediately following it up with mention of racism and “othering.” Some Israelis were pleased that No Other Land, the joint effort of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, won an Oscar for best documentary; other Israelis were disgusted because it is an anti-Israel film.

Most interesting was the dispute among those who hate Israel: between those who were horrified that the film’s Israeli codirector, Yuval Abraham, mentioned the plight of the hostages in his acceptance speech, and those who thought the anti-Israel movement should look generously on Israelis who labor to portray their country as evil. Some in the first camp weren’t happy that Palestinian filmmakers collaborated with the “Zionist” Abraham in the first place. Some in the second camp seemed shocked to discover that the pro-Palestinian movement isn’t about liberation or human rights, but hatred and bigotry,

More about the documentary in a moment. But I’d like to say something about the complaint I found least appealing: that Jewish honorees didn’t use their platform to condemn anti-Semitism or plea for the release of the hostages. Who cares? Would Hamas reconsider its negotiating position after a bold declaration from Meryl Streep? Why encourage celebrities to indulge their penchant for grandstanding, or accept them as moral authorities, especially when they rarely show much political wisdom? Unless they are willing to display the sort of courage demonstrated by the Jerry Seinfeld, I’m not interested.

In any case, Peter Himmelman knows more about show business than I do, and has some thoughts on both the ceremony and No Other Land:
No Other Land gives you the tragedy from one point of view. It shows you soldiers with guns, but not the attacks that made them come. It shows you children crying, but not the Israeli children who have been massacred. It doesn’t tell you why Israel must take these actions—just that they happen. And that’s the trick, isn’t it? You take something rooted in decades of war and rejectionism and terrorism, and you strip it down to one story, one image, so that by the time the credits roll, you don’t see history—you see a villain. And in No Other Land, that villain is always Israel.

I watched as actors and artists paraded down the red carpet, pinning little red hand symbols onto their designer suits, patting themselves on the back for their moral clarity. . . . That symbol isn’t just some vague call for peace. It references the blood-soaked hands raised in triumph by a Palestinian lynch mob in 2000, after they tore two Israeli reservists to pieces in Ramallah.

To Himmelman, the posturing of the red-pin wearers is just a way of saying, “See, we are not the oppressor class. We’re the good guys. Please, love us!” As for everyone else:
The jubilant roar of the Oscar crowd after No Other Land won best documentary wasn’t just applause—it was a statement. A tacit or overt declaration that Israel is the villain. That Hamas—the group that throws gay men off rooftops, that burns families alive, that rapes women and kidnaps babies—is somehow the underdog. That 1,200 Jewish lives don’t matter as much as maintaining their carefully curated image.


In No Other Land, the villain is always Israel
A protest that ignores the 1,200 Israelis who were butchered on October 7? That says nothing about the hostages – many of whom are still being raped and tortured in Gaza at this very moment? That calls for a ceasefire while innocent people are being held underground, some of them children, some of them already dead?What does humanity mean to these people?

And the red hand pins. That symbol isn’t just some vague call for peace. It references the blood-soaked hands raised in triumph by a Palestinian lynch mob in 2000, after they tore two Israeli reservists to pieces in Ramallah. They literally pulled their organs out. And when they were done, they ran to a window, held up their hands, dripping in Jewish blood, and the crowd below cheered.

That horrid pin is what Guy Pearce was wearing, this was what Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo, and Phoebe Bridgers were wearing.

Insider’s perspective: being an artist does not confer morality. It doesn’t grant wisdom. It doesn’t mean you understand history, conflict, or justice. It just means you know how to hold an audience. And at the Oscars, they were performing for it. “See, we are not the oppressor class, we’re the good guys. Please, love us!”

The jubilant roar of the Oscar crowd after No Other Land won Best Documentary wasn’t just applause – it was a statement. A tacit or overt declaration that Israel is the villain. That Hamas – the group that throws gay men off rooftops, that burns families alive, that rapes women, and kidnaps babies – is somehow the underdog. That 1,200 Jewish lives don’t matter as much as maintaining their carefully curated image.
BDS movement criticizes 'No Other Land,' citing Israeli collaboration in film's production
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) issued a statement condemning the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land for violating the movement's anti-normalization guidelines on Thursday.

The announcement comes amid heightened debate over the film's portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its growing international recognition following its Academy Award win for Best Documentary.

The film, which explores the displacement of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, has been both praised and criticized.

While many have lauded its exposure of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, PACBI argues that its production and participation of Israeli figures in its creation place it in direct conflict with the standards set by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

In its statement, PACBI emphasized that No Other Land was partially produced through Close-UP, an initiative that aims to facilitate collaboration between Israeli and Arab filmmakers.

PACBI also criticized some Israeli members of the production team for failing to "recognize even the most basic rights of the Palestinian people." It further stated that, "these factors leave no doubt that No Other Land violates BDS guidelines against normalization."

PACBI's condemnation comes despite strong Israeli opposition to the film. According to the organization, "The Israeli' government's opposition to a cultural work that violates BDS guidelines does not automatically mean that PACBI will launch a campaign against it. The core of PACBI’s anti-normalization standards is rooted in defending Palestinian rights, dismantling Israel’s apartheid and settler-colonial system, achieving the right of return, and securing justice and liberation."


Joe Rogan podcast guest says Israel is behind a Jeffrey Epstein coverup. (And 9/11, too.)
A known conspiracy theorist who claimed last year that Israel was responsible for 9/11 joined Joe Rogan’s podcast on Wednesday to peddle more unverified claims, telling Rogan that Israel was the reason Americans would never learn the full truth of the Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse scandal.

Ian Carroll, a do-your-own-research type with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, said on The Joe Rogan Experience that Epstein was merely an employee of “organized crime rings that work on behalf of the CIA, the Mossad and British intelligence.”

“Jeffrey Epstein was the world’s most evil and prolific sex trafficker that we know of so far — ever,” Carroll said. “And he was clearly a Jewish organization [sic] working on behalf of Israel and other groups.”

The claim recalled an earlier post on X in which Carroll stated, “When I see an Israeli flag I immediately know that they support Jeffrey Epstein and want to rape my children.”

Rogan often hosts controversial guests with fringe ideas, and has a reputation for sharing or amplifying misinformation on the show. He’s invited on conspiracists Candace Owens and Alex Jones, promulgated widely debunked COVID-19 falsehoods, and last June he hosted Jake Shields, an MMA fighter-turned-far-right commentator who had said the previous month that Jews control America.

The I’ll-listen-to-anyone formula has fueled Rogan’s unrivaled success in the podcast space: He recently inked a $250 million deal with Spotify, which did not respond to a request for comment.

As Carroll went deeper into his Epstein conspiracy theory Wednesday, Rogan did little to challenge him. “Keep going,” he said at one point.

Later, Rogan seemed to agree. “You can talk about this now, post-Oct. 7, post-Gaza,” he said.

Carroll was notorious for false claims about the Holocaust, Israel and Jewish power long before he joined The Joe Rogan Experience.

He wrote last year that the U.S. was “controlled by an international criminal organization that grew out of the Jewish mob and now hides in modern Zionism behind cries of ‘antisemitism’”; claimed Jews control the media; and said that Israel had manipulated the Holocaust for its own gain.
Ami’s House - Official Podcast of Ami Kozak: Ian Carroll Crossed the Line on Joe Rogan – Here’s Why | Emergency Pod
Was Ian Carroll’s Joe Rogan Interview Antisemitic? Israel advocate & comedian Ami Kozak breaks down the controversy, exposes the double standards, and explains why so many people are getting this completely wrong. 📢 COMMENT BELOW: Do you think Ian Carroll crossed the line?

💬 In this episode, we cover:
👉 The specific rhetoric Ian Carroll used and why it’s dangerous
👉 The history of antisemitic tropes disguised as “legitimate criticism”
👉 Why some people refuse to see the problem (and what that says about the discourse today)
👉 How antisemitism is repackaged in modern media – and why it keeps happening

00: 00 Ian Carroll on ‪@joerogan‬
40:50 Trump's latest ULTIMATUM
44:21 Reactions to Zylensky Oval Office showdown
52:25 Crypto nightmare
58:41 Mike pitches Ami his new AI idea


Senate panel hearing addresses line between Jew-hatred, free speech
As the Trump administration threatens to take a hard line on antisemitic protesters, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Wednesday that addressed where to draw the line between free speech and Jew-hatred.

“You’ll find few people who are more in favor of the First Amendment than I am, and I oppose censorship over political debate,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the panel’s chair, said at the start of the hearing. “Threats to the safety of Jewish people are obviously not protected forms of speech, yet that’s what we’re continuing to see and hear.”

Adela Cojab, a legal fellow at the National Jewish Advocacy Center, testified about encountering Jew-hatred as a New York University student even before the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Anyone can say anything, no matter how abhorrent about Jews or the Jewish state, but they cannot use that hate to justify unlawful discrimination in terms of concrete proposals,” she told the committee.

Cojab endorsed the pending Antisemitism Awareness Act, which passed the House last year and codifies Jew-hatred at a federal level. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who was then the body’s majority leader, declined to put it up for a vote, reportedly fearing insufficient votes from within his party.

Without defining Jew-hatred clearly—which she said ought to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition—“justice is arbitrary,” Cojab said. “Antisemitism thrives in loopholes. Congress has the power and the obligation to close them.”

The hearing, which was titled “Never to Be Silent: Stemming the Tide of Antisemitism in America,” was the first to address Jew-hatred in a serious way since Oct. 7, according to Senate Republicans, who called the meeting.
Home Office warns LSE ahead of next week’s Hamas book event
The Home Office has warned speakers taking part in an “Understanding Hamas” event being held at the London School of Economics (LSE) next week they will face the “full force of the law” if they express support for the proscribed terror organisation.

In a significant intervention ahead of next Monday’s event, at the LSE’s Middle East Centre, a Home Office spokesperson said police “routinely monitor for breaches in terrorism law.”

The Home Office urged anyone taking part in the event “to seriously consider their actions and any views they plan to publicly express.”

Jewish News understands Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is among senior government ministers to be “concerned” about the potential impact of the March 10th event at the London university, promoting a book titled “Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters”.

A Home Office spokesperson told Jewish News:“National security remains our top priority. Hamas is a proscribed organization and it is an offence to be a member of, invite or express support for them, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine.

“We would urge anyone who plans to take part in an event that discusses Hamas to seriously consider their actions and any views they plan to publicly express.

“While it is a matter for the police to determine whether an offence has been committed, and police routinely monitor for breaches in terrorism law, anyone found to have committed an offence will face the full force of the law.”

Jewish News understands that LSE chiefs have been given a firm warning about the consequence of speakers actively promoting Hamas at next week’s event.

Promotional notes for the event on the LSE’s website have been altered on three occasions, toning down original comments on Hamas, an organisation proscribed in its entirety in the UK since 2021.
Columbia’s unapologetic terrorist professor
While student protests dominate the headlines, the true menace on college campuses lies within the faculty. Professors hold the power to shape young minds, using their authority to push personal agendas under the guise of education, while their control over grading can pressure students into ideological conformity. If there is one silver lining to the turmoil since Oct. 7, it is the exposure of thousands of professors who are not merely anti-Israel but often overtly antisemitic.

Nowhere is this corruption of academia more blatant than at Columbia University, where the toxic influence of Edward Said set the tone for a generation of pseudo-scholars that have all but destroyed the field of Middle East Studies as a serious discipline. Columbia established a chair named after Said and gave it to Rashid Khalidi, a former PLO spokesman. Khalidi, a propagandist masquerading as a historian, has spent decades rewriting Middle Eastern history to fit the Palestinian narrative. After more than 20 years at Columbia, he retired in 2024, but not before openly praising the pro-Hamas mobs that have terrorized Jewish students since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The title of a profile in the Chronicle of Education reveals Khalidi’s extremism: “‘When Someone Says I’m a Terrorist, My Feelings Are Not Hurt.’” The article by Evan Goldstein starts with Khalidi addressing students and faculty after the police removed protesters who took over Hamilton Hall and camped out on the campus. Absurdly comparing protests against Israel to movements against racism and the Vietnam War, Khalidi has downplayed the violent nature of Hamas, calling it a “political-military-ideological entity” rather than a terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction.

Khalidi has grown more radical with age as he came to view the PLO as too moderate and a two-state solution as “a cruel Orwellian hoax.” He is a propagator of the “settler-colonialist” drivel to describe Israel and to rationalize terror like the Hamas massacre as “Palestinian resistance.” In an article for the London-based Guardian, he regurgitates Hamas’s talking points about “ethnic cleansing,” “famine” and “genocide,” deliberately ignoring the facts.


Barnard Students Hoist Effigy of College President, Disseminate Hamas Pamphlets as They Occupy Library
A mob of Columbia University and Barnard College radicals stormed a campus library Wednesday afternoon, just one week after they took over another Barnard building and sent a security guard to the hospital.

Video footage shows droves of masked radicals clad in dark clothing storming Barnard's Milstein Library through a back exit that an accomplice held open. Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)—the Ivy League institution's most anti-Semitic student groups and the organizations that orchestrated last week’s incident—took credit for the storming on social media.

Once inside, the agitators handed out Hamas propaganda justifying the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack. They demanded the immediate reversal of "the three Barnard students’ expulsions," "amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestine action," and a complete "abolition of the corrupt Barnard disciplinary process." They also renamed the library after Hussam Abu Safiya, a Gaza hospital director the Israel Defense Forces accused of being a terrorist and holding a rank in Hamas. The agitators voted to stay overnight until Barnard president Laura Ann Rosenbury returned to campus in the morning.

The latest building storming comes as the Trump administration reviews Columbia's federal funding over the university's "apparent failure" to protect Jewish students. The Department of Health and Human Services, the General Services Administration, and the Department of Education jointly announced Monday they were probing the more than $5 billion in federal funding commitments and could issue stop orders impacting more than $51 million.

President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social a promise to end all federal funding for any university that allows illegal protests. "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on [sic] the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!" Trump wrote Tuesday.

On Feb. 26, CUAD and Columbia SJP led a mob that stormed a campus building at Barnard, Columbia’s sister school. They clashed with security guards, sending one to the hospital, and caused $30,000 in damages—all in protest of Barnard's decision to expel two students who interrupted an Israeli history class and targeted Jewish students with anti-Semitic flyers. The culprits got off scot-free after the administration vowed not to pursue disciplinary action, shielded them from police as they exited the building after occupying it for over six hours, and agreed to continue negotiations the next day in a private meeting.

Weeks earlier, members of CUAD dumped cement into a campus building’s sewage system.

Barnard announced a third expulsion on Monday, this time for a student’s involvement in the violent occupation of Hamilton Hall at Columbia last spring.


USyd Retracts Misconduct Suspension of Trans Student at Risk of Deportation
After public outcry, the University of Sydney (USyd) has said the penalties in the misconduct investigation facing a trans student at risk of deportation no longer includes exclusion or suspension, and cited an administrative error in their initial notification.

Luna, whose name has been changed for her protection, is facing a misconduct-related investigation for allegedly writing pro-Palestine messages on whiteboards.

The University’s Office of the Academic Registrar informed Luna she was being investigated for alleged misconduct on February 3, which could result in her suspension. As an international student, a suspension could result in the cancellation of her visa, and see her deported back to her home country of Malaysia, where same-sex behaviour and diverse gender expression is criminalised.

Images provided by the university of the alleged misconduct show whiteboards with the phrases “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “USyd Vice Chancellor Mark Scott supports Gaza Genocide” written in green marker.

“I am a transgender woman seeking asylum in Australia due to immense violence and persecution in my home country, Malaysia,” Luna wrote in her letter to the Registrar.

“As a transgender woman, I have been denied access to gender-affirming care, including hormone replacement therapy, in Malaysia and can only access essential health care in Australia.

“This means that the threat of suspension is a direct threat of life-threatening violence and forced de-transition, removing my access to hormone replacement therapy.”

The University claimed that Luna breached the controversial Campus Access Policy, which requires students to submit a notification of protest, restricts the displaying of banners, posters or stickers to “designated” noticeboards, and allows security to detain students for the purpose of delivering them to the NSW Police.


Manufacturing Victimhood: How Hamas Manipulates Global Sympathy
Hamas has mastered the art of shaping Western public opinion like few groups before it. A prime example is the BBC’s recent documentary from Gaza, narrated by the son of a Hamas commander, which was recently pulled from the BBC’s platforms and has prompted an investigation by UK counterterrorism police amid allegations that the corporation made indirect payments to the proscribed terrorist organization in breach of UK law.

Hamas Lectures on Morality—Seriously?
This week brought yet another example of Hamas’ PR campaign strategy. Major news outlets—including NPR, BBC, and The Guardian—uncritically quoted Hamas press releases regarding the halt of humanitarian aid. They presented these statements as if they came from a legitimate government genuinely concerned for civilian lives rather than from a genocidal terrorist group that has used civilians as human shields for years.

Consider Hamas’ statement by Osama Hamdan, Hamas’s senior official:
Netanyahu’s decision to stop humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime, and a blatant coup against the agreement. The mediators and the international community must move to pressure the occupation and stop its punitive and immoral measures against more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.

Then there’s The Guardian, amplifying Hamas’ call for the world to pressure Israel to open the crossings for “life-saving humanitarian aid.”

Pause for a moment. Hamas—an organization that has kept hostages in inhumane conditions for over 500 days—is accusing Israel of “cheap blackmail.” Hamas, responsible for torturing and executing both Israelis and Palestinians, and whose October 7 atrocities have been described as worse than the Nazis’, now claims Israel is engaging in “immoral measures.” Hamas—a designated terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, and numerous other nations—is calling on the “international community” to intervene on its behalf.

Still unsure about Hamas’ broader goals? Here’s a passage straight from ISIS’s Dabiq magazine, which clarifies the ideology shared by Islamist groups:
Just as your disbelief is the primary reason we hate you, your disbelief is the primary reason we fight you… We have been commanded to fight the disbelievers until they submit to the authority of Islam, either by becoming Muslims or by paying jizyah—and living in humiliation under the rule of the Muslims.
Propaganda without boundaries: How Hamas exploits, abuses, weaponizes children
Are we finally at a tipping point? The severity of the case above led the leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, Kemi Badenoch, to demand an investigation into whether money was transferred to Hamas during the production of the film. Could it be that the BBC not only served as a media platform for Hamas terrorists but may have also funded its activities?!

The harsh public criticism forced the BBC to remove the film from its iPlayer service and announce “further due diligence” with the production company. But the damage was already done - millions of viewers worldwide were exposed to mendacious propaganda centered around a child who was exploited by both a terrorist organization and a once-respected British broadcasting network.

Hamas’s evil does not only stretch to abusing their own children as propaganda tools but also Israeli children during this war. One of the most well-known and truly shocking cases was that of the Bibas family's young children. They were kidnapped from their kibbutz home on October 7, along with their brave mother, Shiri.

Hamas not only kidnapped these innocent children but also abused and murdered them in the most brutal manner imaginable. As if that wasn’t enough, the organization chose to display their bodies on a hostage stage in Gaza, crossing every possible red line of humanity – horrifically using their bodies as propaganda tools.

Media exploitation is but the tip of the iceberg. Hamas's education is the core issue, one that would fester for generations to come. The organization instills hatred in children from a young age and operates summer camps where minors train in shooting and learn to “fight the Zionists.”

Hamas uses children – dead and alive – as part of its propaganda mechanism, without any moral restraints. Children are not seen by Hamas as individuals to be protected but as tools in the cognitive struggle. This is manifested both in the recruitment of minors for terrorist activities, in their exploitation for public relations purposes, and in the horrific use of their bodies as a means of spreading fear and hatred.

As a seasoned media professional, literally on the front lines of the information war, I call upon my peers to open their eyes. Check your sources carefully. Understand that behind every “spontaneous” image of a child in ruins may lurk a well-oiled propaganda apparatus.

As human beings, we cannot afford to ignore this shocking phenomenon. Our silence is tacit consent. As long as we continue to give a platform to propaganda that exploits children, we will be complicit in the ongoing crime against humanity of exploiting innocent minors.
Labour peer joins calls for ‘proper independent review’ into BBC Middle East coverage
Labour peer Lord Katz has joined calls for a “proper independent review” of the BBC’s Middle East coverage and questions of impartiality following the exposure of serious flaws in a Gaza documentary.

Speaking in the Lords, the Jewish Labour Movement chair said he was speaking out as “long-term supporter” of the BBC and of its news output but who now agreed with BBC chair Dr Samir Shah, who told a select committee hearing on Tuesday that the controversy over the Gaza film was a “dagger to the heart of BBC impartiality.”

“This isn’t the BBC’s first misstep in this area as far as the Jewish community perceives it,” added Lord Katz.

The peer then added a “proper independent review of the corporation’s Middle East coverage, not just this documentary, but its wider coverage is essential to maintain our confidence, and importantly the confidence of the Jewish community in this country.”

Appearing before a Commons committee on Tuesday, Shah, and director general Tim Davie said the BBC was now conducting its own inquiry in the flaws around the Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone film, including the clear links and claims of payments made to relatives of Hamas officials.

The corporation removed the documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone from the BBC’s on demand service after it emerged that the child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
More than 200 entertainment figures demand inquiry into BBC Gaza film
Ozzy and Sharon Osborne are amongst more than 200 leaders from the entertainment and business industries who have signed an open letter calling for a full investigation into the BBC’s bias against Israel.

The letter released by the non-profit organisation Creative Community For Peace (CCFP) comes in response to the airing of the documentary, “Gaza: How to Survive in a Warzone.”

The broadcaster removed the film from its iPlayer platform following intense public backlash and governmental intervention. It has since acknowledged serious journalistic failings in the presentation of the documentary, not only platforming Hamas propaganda with the film’s inclusion of a son of one of the terror organisation’s senior officials but admitting that the family of the Hamas minister was paid with British tax money.

Partner at The Blair Partnership Neil Blair said: “This is the latest in a long line of misreporting the Middle East and sugarcoating Hamas and it shatters public trust in the BBC. The BBC has its own rules to follow, as well as the law of the land, and its approach to both has been cavalier at best. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg and there needs to be a thorough, independent and transparent investigation process so the BBC can get its house in order and restore public confidence in its output.”

Since October 7th, the British Jewish community has consistently criticised the BBC’s coverage of Israel.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust have accused the BBC as being “institutionally hostile to Israel” and Creative Community For Peace says the airing of the documentary “substantiates the ongoing critiques of the British Jewish community.”


Getty Images Charges Thousands of Dollars for Oct.7 Video Calling Jews “Dogs”
“Great Job! … May Allah keep you healthy!” a Gaza cameraman is heard saying off-camera to a Palestinian civilian who brags about “unloading” his gun on “a pile of Jews” on October 7, 2023. The cameraman then exclaims “not even one of those Jewish dogs is here.”

These chilling words in Arabic, on the day of Hamas’ massacre in southern Israel, are documented not in the considerable archive of footage recorded by Hamas on October 7. Nor are they part of a Gazan’s personal social media record of that day. Incredibly, they are in a video sold by global stock photo agency Getty Images, HonestReporting reveals, with prices ranging from 399 to 7,250 U.S. dollars, depending on whether it’s bought for media, corporate or advertising use.

The footage, according to Getty Images, was taken by Ramzi Adel, the man who describes Jews as “dogs,” for Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu, with which it has a longstanding distribution agreement. Similarly, Adel’s work can be bought on the Reuters database.

The video also shows Israeli hostages being beaten up and yelled at in a Hamas pick-up truck, and a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance from Gaza driving inside Israeli territory.

Coincidentally or not, a quick search of Adel’s name in the Anadolu database reveals that he is also listed as a worker of the Palestinian Red Crescent, which is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.


Mayor of Palestinian Authority city charged with online incitement
The Palestinian Authority mayor of the city of Bidya, near Ariel in central Samaria, was charged with online incitement in an Israeli military court on Wednesday after being arrested on Feb. 19, authorities announced.

The Palestinian, identified in Hebrew media as Zahir Abdelhadi, was detained last month for “serious incitement against the State of Israel, IDF soldiers and security forces,” the Israel Police said in a statement.

Following a “thorough investigation” by officers of the Modi’in Illit police station and the Military Prosecutor’s Office, Abdelhadi was charged with attempting to influence popular opinion in the municipality through posts that “harm the public order.”

Among other incitement, he stands accused of posting “words of praise, sympathy or support for a hostile organization, its actions and its goals.”

Local media reported that Abdelhadi posted a picture of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin alongside PLO chairman Yasser Arafat with a caption urging unity between the rival Fatah and Hamas terrorist groups.

In addition, during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he shared a video showing masked and armed terrorists, accompanied by a song in Arabic calling for a “people’s war” against the “enemy.”


Daniel Greenfield: Cindy McCain Claims Gaza is Starving. She Should Visit These Gaza Supermarkets
The UN’s World Food Program, the biggest scam without ‘green’ or ‘crypto’ in its name, is at it again.

The WFP has ceaselessly claimed that everyone in Gaza is starving to death for a year and a half now.

Back in December, Cindy McCain, who heads it, demanded $17 billion to “feed desperately hungry people.” Weeks after the brutal Hamas assault of Oct 7, Cindy McCain falsely claimed that Muslims in Gaza were “literally starving to death as we speak”.

In news that will startle everyone, the WFP is claiming once again that Gaza is about to run out of food.

Maybe Cindy can visit Gaza and stop by some of these same supermarkets.


Impeachments and Resignations Suggest Iran May Be Readying a Mad Dash to a Nuclear Bomb
On Tuesday, Russia announced its willingness to help mediate between the U.S. and Iran—an apparent response to America reportedly expressing interest in getting its help. The news comes amid indications Tehran is very close to being able to produce nuclear weapons. Ayatollah Ali Khameini would want to see a restoration of the 2015 agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which left Iran able to keep enriching uranium while promising not to use it to make bombs. But Jason M. Brodsky doesn’t think diplomacy will yield results:

Iran and the United States are talking past each other about “deals.” Iran is still speaking in the language of the JCPOA. But U.S. officials appear to have something different in mind. In a recent interview, Trump publicly disavowed the JCPOA formula, complaining about its short-term duration. This was followed by his national security advisor expressing a willingness to talk to Iran so long as Tehran wants to give up its entire nuclear program.

There is no public evidence to date that the maximum Tehran is prepared to give—a JCPOA-style arrangement—will meet the minimum the Trump administration is prepared to accept. If current positions hold, this sets the stage for a showdown, not a deal, in the near term, necessitating the development of a robust pressure architecture to further sharpen Tehran’s choices.

Meanwhile, Shay Khatiri argues that internal Iranian developments suggest an unwillingness to come to any agreement. He points especially to the firing on Sunday of the minister of economy, whose favorable attitude toward free markets contrasts with the regime’s general preference for a command economy.

The sacking highlights a change of direction in the regime’s foreign policy. . . . Gone are efforts to improve prosperity; back in fashion is the “resistance economy,” which emphasizes patriotic austerity and domestic production of foodstuffs and military goods.

Iranian hardliners do not revert to the “resistance economy” for its own sake; it usually presages an effort to defy the world. In this case, expect Iran to accelerate its nuclear-weaponization process. Khamenei believes he is paying the price, so he might as well get the goods. . . . Rather than deal, it now appears Khamenei only allows diplomacy in the hope it will delay a military attack long enough for Iran to complete its nuclear project.
The UK’s new strategy against Iranian influence
The United Kingdom has placed Iran, including its intelligence agencies, on the highest tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), requiring anyone acting on Iran’s behalf to register or face up to five years in prison.

U.K. Security Minister Dan Jarvis announced that the enhanced tier, effective by summer 2025, is part of a broader strategy to combat covert foreign interference. Iran is the first state to be placed on this tier, which requires transparency in political-influence activities.

This policy comes in response to escalating concerns about Iranian influence in the United Kingdom. Jarvis specifically pointed out that Iran has been targeting Jewish and Israeli communities in the country. Furthermore, he said, that Iran has been using “intimidation and fear” to stifle criticism, a practice the government has condemned and vowed to defend against.

Potkin Azarmehr, a London-based journalist who left Iran after the 1979 revolution, warned that Iran’s influence operations “have become far more sophisticated, mastering how to exploit loopholes in democracy and Western societies’ commitment to religious tolerance. They have exploited loopholes in democracy and diversity, equity and inclusion policies, making it easier for them to operate. After 45 years, Iran has embedded agents now naturalized as British citizens, strengthening their influence.”

The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme has two tiers. The first targets political-influence activities, requiring individuals or groups lobbying senior figures to register. The enhanced second tier applies to foreign powers like Iran, requiring transparency from those acting on its behalf.
State Dept. says all waivers providing Iran economic relief are under review
The United States is reviewing all existing sanctions waivers that provide Iran any degree of economic relief, and urging the Iraqi government to eliminate its dependence on Iranian sources of energy as soon as possible, the US State Department spokesperson said on Thursday.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce made the comments at her first briefing under President Donald Trump's administration when she was asked whether a sanctions waiver that allows Iraq to pay Iran for electricity would be renewed or not.

"We have nothing to announce with regard to the current electricity waiver that expires on the (March) eighth...We are reviewing all existing sanctions waivers that provide Iran any degree of economic or financial relief," she said.

"We are urging the Iraqi government to eliminate its dependence on Iranian sources of energy as soon as possible, and welcome the Iraqi Prime Minister's commitment to achieve energy independence."

The US government has said it wants to isolate Iran from the global economy and eliminate its oil export revenues in order to slow Iran's development of a nuclear weapon.
Jewish community gears up for 80th anniversary of Bergen-Belsen liberation
Ten thousand members and allies of the UK Jewish community are set to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen by British Armed Forces.

The National Yom HaShoah UK commemoration takes place on the evening of Wednesday 23 April at Victoria Tower Gardens, the proposed site of the new UK Holocaust Memorial, directly outside the Houses of Parliament.

The event will bring together Holocaust survivors, refugees, dignitaries, and families from every corner of the community, for what may be the last major anniversary where survivors and refugees are present in meaningful numbers.

Neil Martin, chair of Yom HaShoah UK said: “Standing in the shadow of Parliament, on the very ground where the UK’s new Holocaust Memorial will be built, this year’s Yom HaShoah will be a defining moment. We have a duty not just to remember, but to show up—to be counted among those who stood with our survivors, who bore witness, and who pledged to carry forward the legacy of the Shoah.”

The event will include moving testimony from survivors and refugees, addresses from community leaders, and a yellow candle-lighting ceremony involving 80 pupils representing Jewish schools, youth organisations, and student groups.

A highlight of the ceremony will be a performance by a 300-strong children’s choir from 15 Jewish schools across London, singing Never Again, Yom HaShoah UK’s official anthem, composed by award-winning international songwriter Stephen Melzack.


‘Very distressing’: Liberal candidate’s campaign posters defaced with antisemitic graffiti
Liberal candidate for Wentworth Ro Knox's campaign posters have been defaced with Nazi symbols in Sydney's east amid a series of antisemitic graffiti attacks in the electorate.

Photos obtained by Sky News Australia show Nazi symbols and a Hitler moustache scribbled on Ms Knox's election signage in the suburb of Rose Bay.

Ms Knox's office has confirmed the incident has been reported to police.

Another image shows Wentworth MP Allegra Spender's election signage covering a poster of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas - the Israeli family who died in Gaza after being taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Speaking to Sky News Australia on Thursday night, Ms Knox described the graffiti as "unacceptable" and distressing for the Jewish community.

“We’ve reported this to the police," she told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

"This was just another very distressing moment for our Jewish community."

Kenny then asked Ms Knox about her concerns regarding Ms Spender's campaign corflute seen covering a sign of the Bibas family.

"It's impossible for us to say from those pictures whether it was placed there beforehand, or who might have done it, but you're concerned about that?" Kenny asked the Liberal candidate.

"We're very concerned," Ms Knox replied.

"And we would ask Allegra Spender to talk to her team about this... What happened to the Bibas family was absolutely horrifying for everyone."
Backlog helps accused anti-Israel vandal get bail
One of the men allegedly behind a graffiti spree targeting the Jewish community has been granted bail in part due to a court backlog.

Thomas Stojanovski, 20, has been behind bars since November 28, a week after an antisemitic vandalism spree in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, home to a large Jewish community, on November 21.

Four properties and 10 cars were sprayed with slogans such as “F*** Israel” and “PKK coming”, apparently referencing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The Woollahra incident came amid a spate of anti-Semitic incidents in Sydney and Melbourne, including razing of a synagogue, and a graffiti and fire-bombing attack on a prominent Jewish leader’s former home.

Stojanovski was arrested after police found his fingerprints in a car allegedly left at the scene by the group behind the vandalism.

His bail hearing was told he held a light while his accomplice sprayed hateful slogans.

Stojanovski was granted bail this week after Supreme Court Justice Julia Lonergan accepted there was a real threat the time spent waiting for the case to conclude would exceed any potential minimum jail term.

While the offences were serious and the crown case appeared strong, any potential jail term would need to take in a number of wide-ranging factors.

“If I refuse bail today, Mr Stojanovski, who is entitled to the presumption of innocence, will be in custody bail refused for a period of between nine and (I estimate up to) 18 months waiting for sentence to be passed or trial,” the judge said on Wednesday, in a judgment published on Thursday.

That was not to say it was the only factor.

Justice Lonergan noted she would have no hesitation refusing bail if conditions were unable to address an unacceptable risk Mr Stojanovski “would go out and do this again, either alone or with others”.


Three ‘Nazis’ planned terror attacks as they prepared for race war, jury told
Three “Nazis” who believed a race war was imminent were planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues, a jury has been told.

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court was told that Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were “right-wing extremists” who were preparing to use firearms, explosives and a range of bladed weapons in their attacks.

They were arrested when security services believed an attack could be imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their group, the court heard on Wednesday.

Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, said the defendants had acquired or were trying to acquire a “wide variety of weapons” including swords, knives, axes, spears and crossbows as well as gathering information on explosives and firearms.

He said the preparations they were making included “taking steps to complete the manufacture” of a 3D printed semi-automatic firearm.

Mr Sandiford said: “The prosecution say that these three defendants were right-wing extremists who regarded themselves as National Socialists, or Nazis, and they supported the National Socialist movement in the UK, such as it is or indeed was.”

He said the defendants followed a cause which embraced an admiration for Adolf Hitler, white supremacy, a “hatred towards black and other non-white races”, and glorification and admiration for mass killers who have targeted the black and Muslim community.

He told a jury of seven men and five women that the trio all held a “belief that there must soon be a race war between the white and other races”.

Mr Sandiford said that, at the time of their arrest in February 2024, “all three were involved in making preparations for acts of terrorism in furtherance of their political, racial or ideological causes”.
Fauda returns for fifth series
Are you ready for the return of Doron, Naor, Nurit et al? Hit Netflix series Fauda is returning for a fifth season ten years after it first premiered.

The show, which centres on the story of Doron (Lior Raz), a commander in the Israeli army, often touches on the Arab-Israeli conflict. In series one, Doron and his unit pursue a Hamas terrorist known as The Panther. It was was filmed in Kafr Qasim during the 2014 Gaza War. The third season takes place in the Gaza Strip.

The prequel, Kugel, is currently airing on Izzy TV.

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Ilan Sigal, CEO of Israeli network Yes, revealed the news at Yes’s annual Bar Series event earlier this week, alongside the show’s co-creator, Avi Issacharoff.

According to Israeli publication Ynet, the deal for a fifth season followed months of negotiations between the network and the creators.

Fauda, which means chaos in Arabic, was developed by Issacharoff, an Israeli journalist, and Raz in 2015, drawing on their experiences in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). They are writing season five together.
‘Walt Disney of Israeli animation’ was Mossad agent, who forged docs for Eli Cohen
Before discovering the story of Joseph and Rebecca Bau, who married secretly in the Plaszow concentration camp during the Holocaust, Deborah Smerecnik never imagined that she would make a film.

“It was the love story that drew me in and the fact that there were so many miracles,” she told JNS. “I’m very much a believer in miracles, and I wanted to tell a redemptive story that encourages people to hold on and persevere.”

Smerecnik, who wrote the 2024 film “Bau: Artist at War,” devoted some 15 years to the project, which she admits she nearly abandoned multiple times. The dream “and the belief that I was meant to do it” drove her on, she said.

“Many times, when I’ve had difficult times, I’ve thought about what they went through,” she told JNS. “My husband had Alzheimer’s for eight years. He just passed. But it was the fact that they persevered, they overcame so much, that I keep telling myself—what they went through is so much harder than the majority of things I’ve ever gone through.”

“If they can do it, then I better, right?” she said. “You know, buck up and keep going.”

Some 200 people attended a screening of the film, directed by Sean McNamara, on Sunday at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. The Holocaust and United Nations Outreach Programme and B’nai B’rith International organized the event, which included a question-and-answer period with Smerecnik, McNamara, and Clila Bau and Hadasa Bau, both daughters of the film protagonists.

Joseph Bau was a celebrated artist, writer and Mossad operative, who relied on his drawing and typography skills and his humor to create signs with Gothic script and maps for a Nazi captain before finding refuge in Oskar Schindler’s Brünnlitz camp.


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 4 - Last Jew Standing: The story of Israeli Jews
Israeli Jews are the last surviving remnant of dozens of devastated Jewish communities across three continents. How did this history shape them? What do they understand about the world that few others see?

Join Haviv Rettig Gur for a deep dive into the historical experience that shaped this largest community of Jews ever.

Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th.




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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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