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Friday, March 07, 2025

03/07 Links Pt2: Trump Admin Slashes $400 Million In Federal Funding to Columbia; The Incurious Basterds; The Airlines That Still Won't Fly to Israel

From Ian:

How the Trump Administration Is Making Progress in the Fight against Anti-Semitism
On Wednesday, mobs of anti-Israel demonstrators took over two buildings at Barnard (the all-female college at Columbia University), called in a bomb threat, and engaged in other disruptive activities—and were met with a typically feeble response from administrators. But there is hope that things may soon start to change. Nathan Diament takes stock of what the Trump administration has done thus far to restore Jews’ civil rights—beginning with federal investigations into five universities and four medical schools—and of what remains to be done:

It is striking that the new university investigations were not opened in response to students filing complaints—[unlike those begun by] the Biden team—but were launched proactively by the new administration. That alone sends a strong message to university leaders that there’s a new sheriff in town and a new era of enforcement in the White House.

Universities seem to be getting the message. Anti-Israel extremists on campus are now facing disciplinary action from schools. Six months ago, these same universities responded to anti-Semitic vandalism and intimidation with cowardly statements or a free pass.

[But] the fight against anti-Semitism must extend beyond the campuses. The Justice Department should use the full force of the law to prosecute raucous “protesters” in residential Jewish neighborhoods. These protests are designed to intimidate Jews as they attend synagogue and interfere with citizens’ right to enjoy basic constitutional rights. They are criminal and should be treated as much.
Legal assault threatens NY nonprofit that has handled funding for anti-Israel groups
On a sunny April morning in Chicago, a group of anti-Israel activists rushed onto an interstate highway leading to O’Hare International Airport. Irate drivers were stuck in traffic for more than an hour, their anxiety mounting as their flight departures approached.

One of the drivers who missed his flight filed a class action lawsuit against the activist groups that organized the protest — National Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims in Palestine, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and a low-profile nonprofit in New York called Wespac.

The advocacy group, based in Westchester County, north of New York City, has handled funding for a range of leading anti-Israel activist groups around the US. Its status as a financial lynchpin for the protest movement has drawn a barrage of lawsuits that is threatening its existence, in a crisis for the group that deepened last month when it was sued by its own insurance company.

“This is not normal. I haven’t ever seen anything like this, but I haven’t ever seen anything quite as politically charged as this. This is huge,” Doug White, a longtime adviser for US philanthropies, said in an interview.

Wespac, a progressive nonprofit founded in 1974, has served as a fiscal sponsor for the protest groups, in a financial arrangement in which a nonprofit collects donations on behalf of other groups that do not have nonprofit status themselves.

For the pro-Palestinian groups, the fiscal sponsorship means they can receive tax-deductible donations and grants, without having to file the tax documents expected of nonprofits, such as laying out their operating budget, total assets and spending. The arrangement does not require the fiscal sponsor to detail the organizations it collects funding for, meaning the activist groups’ finances are murky, hard to track and closed to the public. Best practices recommend that nonprofits detail their fiscal sponsorships, but Wespac does not make its arrangements public.

Groups affiliated with Wespac have contributed to the harassment of Jews on college campuses, hosted events that supported terror groups, and targeted cancer patients, museums, memorials to the dead, transportation hubs and holiday events.

Following disruptive protests by its affiliates, Wespac was sued in at least five courts — in New York, California, Illinois, Virginia and Washington, DC.
The Airlines That Still Won't Fly to Israel
Roughly a year and a half after Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack prompted major airlines across the globe to pause flights to Israel, many of them still haven't resumed service or said when they plan to do so—including in countries led by bitter opponents of the Jewish state.

Domestically, American Airlines and Delta continue to pause their flights into Israel, citing a tumultuous security situation. Delta intends to restore service from New York’s JFK Airport on April 1, offering 2,000 weekly seats to passengers, an airline spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon. American Airlines flights, meanwhile, remain in limbo. An airline spokesman said that service to Tel Aviv is not slated to resume at this point.

"American continuously evaluates its network and we have nothing new to share at this time regarding Tel Aviv service," the spokesman said, noting that the airline does offer service through its partners. "Customers who are planning travel to Israel can purchase tickets on aa.com on flights operated by our partner airlines that serve Tel Aviv."

Scores of international carriers have similarly declined to announce a date for their resumption of flights to Israel. Here is a collection:


Nicole Lampert: The hostage story that won over a hostile film festival
Something special happened at the Berlinale documentary festival in Germany last month: the Israelis there were given a hug. Not just a physical one but a big psychological one too.

As the annual festival, one of the biggest in the world, opened, actors and producers held up placards for Gaza hostage David Cunio, who starred in a film that premiered at the Berlinale in 2013. A documentary about Cunio, A Letter to David, was one of the opening films this year.

A second October 7 film, Holding Liat, about the family of hostage Liat Beinin Atzili, who was returned home in the first hostage deal, won the top documentary prize this year.

At last year’s festival, Israel was publicly vilified and there were attempts last month to redress this. A Letter to David’s director Tom Shoval told me he felt welcomed after a year that has felt so bruising, particularly for those in the arts.


Second protest held outside BBC HQ over Gaza documentary
A protest has been held outside BBC headquarters after it emerged that a documentary on Gaza featured the son of a senior Hamas figure.

Demonstrators chanted, waved flags and listened to speeches from figures including actress Dame Maureen Lipman outside Broadcasting House in central London.

“We are gathering to tell the BBC: We refuse to fund terrorists with our licence fee,” organiser Campaign Against Antisemitism posted on X.

“Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen the BBC engulfed in scandal, following the broadcast of its so-called documentary… which was tantamount to a Hamas propaganda film.”

“Where is the balance?” Dame Maureen told the crowd. “As always, all I ask for is a level playing field.”

One placard at the protest read: “BBC, I refuse to fund terrorists.”

Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone was removed from BBC iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.

The broadcaster has apologised for the making of the programme, about children living in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war, after conducting an initial review and it has now launched a further internal probe.

The BBC said it is “seeking additional assurance” from production company Hoyo Films after it admitted “they paid the boy’s mother, via his sister’s bank account, a limited sum of money for the narration”.

Other accusations have been made that parts of the documentary were mistranslated, and more children who appeared in it were linked to proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas.


Ian Haworth: The Incurious Basterds
Then, when people say they're wrong, or point out that their hyper-focus on Jewishness is a pattern, or add context to their contextless claims, they rush to cry victim.

“They’ll call you antisemitic, but they’ll never say you’re wrong!”

“They’re trying to silence me!”

“The Jews are mad, so we must be getting close to the truth.”

Yes, you’re antisemitic, and you’re wrong.

Notice the conspiratorial logic used that makes it impossible for them to ever be wrong.

“If people agree with me, I’m right! If people disagree with me, they’re the wrong people, so I’m right!” Foolproof...

But if they were genuinely curious, they’d do more research into opposing arguments beyond “the Jews did it.”

It’s not like it’s hard to find...

The Holocaust, for example, is one of the most widely documented events in human history. You have to try not to learn about it when you do honest research!

But they’re not curious. They’re not interested in reality. They’re not interested in nuance. They’re not interested in truth.

They’re interested in attention, and they can get attention by peddling the same old recycled antisemitic tropes that have existed for decades/centuries/millennia and presenting them like they’re some deep uncovered secret that only they are smart enough and brave enough to share with you all.

Some are more careful than others. Candace Owens will blame the Jews for everything. Ian Carroll will say “I’m not talking about all Jews” and then explain why Jews are kinda to blame for everything. Dan Bilzerian will scream about how the Jews upped the prices at Baby Gap. And Jake Shields and his last remaining brain cell will engage in his never-ending battle with the English language.

But deep down, they’re all the same: incurious attention seekers masquerading as curious researchers of truth.
Joe Rogan invites antisemitic conspiracy theorists into the mainstream
Joe Rogan’s controversial decision to invite a prominent antisemitic conspiracy theorist onto his show earlier this week underscored how the popular podcast host is increasingly handing his megaphone to extremists while failing to challenge their claims, lending legitimacy to a range of false and incendiary views.

Rogan, whose lucrative podcast has more than 14 million subscribers, faced backlash on Wednesday for hosting a friendly discussion with Ian Carroll, a self-described journalist with a sizable following who has frequently spread antisemitic conspiracy theories — claiming that “Israel did 9/11” and that the U.S. is controlled by a “Zionist mafia,” among other baseless assertions.

During their nearly three-hour conversation, Carroll pushed another of his fixations, alleging that Jeffrey Epstein was just an “employee” of “organized crime rings” with ties to “the CIA, the Mossad and British intelligence.” The disgraced financier, he added in an incoherently worded insinuation, “was clearly a Jewish organization working on behalf of Israel and other groups.”

Elsewhere in the discussion, Carroll also rehashed the debunked “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which imagined a child sex-ring linked to Democrats run from a pizza parlor in Washington, claiming a cover-up.

Rogan, meanwhile, never seriously challenged his guest, at one point offering words of encouragement as Carroll continued to invoke a range of antisemitic tropes about Israel, including a claim that the country had been founded by “organized crime figures in America” with ties to “the Jewish mob” as well as “the Rothschild banking family.”

“What’s interesting is you can talk about this now, post-Oct. 7, post-Gaza,” Rogan mused in response to such claims.

In the coming days, Rogan is also set to host Darryl Cooper, a known Holocaust revisionist and a Hitler apologist who produces his own history podcast. In a recent entry published on his Substack newsletter, Cooper said that he would soon be “going to Austin to” join Rogan’s show. Cooper’s appearance would come months after he drew widespread backlash over an interview with Tucker Carlson in which he downplayed the Holocaust and called Winston Churchill the “chief villain” of World War II.

Several leading Jewish and pro-Israel groups spoke out against the podcast on Thursday, raising alarms over Rogan’s behavior amid a surge in antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel.


Trump Admin Slashes $400 Million In Federal Funding to Columbia, Citing Ivy League School’s ‘Inaction’ in the Face of Anti-Semitism
The Trump administration’s multi-agency task force to combat anti-Semitism announced the immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University over its failure to curb campus anti-Semitism in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.

The departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education, along with the General Services Administration, announced the move Friday. Two days earlier, Columbia student radicals stormed a Barnard College campus building—the second time in a week. Within hours of the funding cuts, Columbia suspended its four students who had been arrested while clashing with police during Wednesday’s incident.

"Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses—only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. "Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer."

It’s possible more cuts are coming. The Trump administration’s newly formed multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced Monday that it was probing $5 billion worth of Columbia’s federal funding and threatened to issue stop orders affecting over $51 million in active contracts.

"Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in anti-Semitism. This is only the beginning," the task force’s head, Leo Terrell, said. "Cancelling these taxpayer funds is our strongest signal yet that the Federal Government is not going to be party to an educational institution like Columbia that does not protect Jewish students and staff."

Columbia receives over $1 billion in federal research grants, accounting for nearly one-fifth of its overall $6.6 billion in yearly operating revenue, according to a 2024 report by the Trustees of Columbia.

"We are reviewing the announcement from the federal agencies and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia’s federal funding," a Columbia spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon. "We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff."


Alan M. Dershowitz: Cut Federal Funding to Barnard
[Barnard's] radical "studies" departments are propaganda mills that teach students what to think rather than how to think. Consider, for example, the "Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies Department". Its website calls for students to "smash the white supremacist hetero-patriarchy."

In other words, this women's studies department has little to do with scholarship, teaching or learning. It has everything to do with advocacy. That is true of many other specialized studies departments at Barnard.

Signs at these protests call for "war" and "intifada". Nor is the war limited to Israel. It is directed against Americans as well. The protests involve masked students, faculty and non-students who occupy buildings, prevent Jewish students from attending classes and threaten to close down the college unless it divests from Israel and takes other bigoted actions.

The college administration, instead of disciplining students who break the rules and the law, negotiated with them. Cutting off funding from Barnard will not hurt students who want a real education, because Barnard students can enroll in courses at Columbia, which is affiliated with Barnard. It will put an end to the propaganda "courses", and "studies" "programs" in which Barnard seems to specialize.

It is imperative that freedom of speech, protected by the First Amendment, not be compromised by the government. Barnard is a private institution not bound by that amendment. Moreover, those activities that would cause a shutdown of federal funding are not covered by freedom of speech. They consist largely of physical actions, such as trespassing, blocking access, harassment and other forms of intimidation. Pure protests consisting of speech should not be a basis for defunding.
Cal Poly Told Jewish Students To 'Hide Their Jewish Identity' To Avoid Anti-Semitic Harassment, Federal Complaint Says
After Jewish students at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, were taunted with anti-Semitic slurs and pelted with fake blood, administrators encouraged them to "hide their Jewish identity to avoid being targeted," according to a federal civil rights complaint filed against the school on Thursday.

The students said pro-Hamas activists harassed them as they celebrated the High Holiday of Sukkot, holding a demonstration next to their religious ceremony and chalking "inflammatory anti-Semitic messages" near the religious service, "including ‘Go Away Nazis.’"

In other incidents, the activists disrupted a vigil for victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks by drawing a "Zio Corner" chalk circle around it and throwing red paint at Jewish students meant to represent the "blood of martyrs," according to the complaint. In response, Cal Poly Humboldt suggested that the students could avoid such incidents by appearing less Jewish, the complaint states.

"The message from the University to Jewish students is clear: downplay your Jewish identity on campus or hide to avoid being targeted because the University will not protect you," states the complaint, which the Brandeis Center filed to the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights alongside the Anti-Defamation League and StandWithUs.

The news comes one day after Trump’s Department of Justice launched a sweeping anti-Semitism investigation into the University of California public school system's alleged "pattern or practice of discrimination" against Jewish students. Cal Poly Humboldt, though, is not part of the UC system, suggesting that problems with anti-Semitism extend beyond the Golden State's primary university system.

Much of the anti-Semitic harassment at Cal Poly Humboldt appeared to target the campus Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish religious organization that serves as a community hub for Jewish students.


US yanks first visa of foreign student linked to ‘Hamas-supporting disruptions’ on college campus
The State Department has yanked the first visa of a foreign student linked to “Hamas-supporting disruptions” after President Trump vowed to crack down on those involved in anti-Israel protests on college campuses.

“We revoked the first visa of an alien who was previously cited for criminal behavior in connection with Hamas-supporting disruptions,” a State Department spokesperson said in a Thursday statement first obtained by Fox News.

“This individual was a university student. [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] will proceed with removing this person from the country.”

Neither the student’s name nor nationality was released due to “legal constraints.”

It also wasn’t immediately clear what college the student attended, or what type of protest they had been cited for participating in.

The move comes just days after Trump promised to halt all federal funds for any educational institution that allows “illegal protests” — and to unmask and even imprison agitators.

The commander-in-chief issued the warning as disruptive pro-Hamas demonstrations have rocked college campuses across the country.

His administration has also vowed to pull more than $50 million in government contracts from Columbia University due to the Ivy League school’s alleged inaction on clamping down on anti-Israel protests there.


Yale Law School Scrubs References to Administrator Who Is Member of US-Sanctioned Terror Financier
Yale Law School's Law and Political Economy Project, an initiative funded by the left-wing William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, quietly deleted online references to its deputy director, Helyeh Doutaghi, who is also a member of the U.S.-sanctioned terrorist fundraising entity Samidoun.

The entirety of the Yale Law School webpage for the project was inaccessible just before noon on Thursday. It came back online a few hours later with an updated "Directors and Staff" section that no longer includes Doutaghi. The Samidoun member's Yale Law School biography, which describes Doutaghi's research on "Marxian and postcolonial critiques of law, sanctions, and international political economy," has also been pulled from the web.

Likewise, the Law and Political Economy Project’s "Our Team" page, which as of last month listed Doutaghi as its deputy director and an associate research scholar at Yale Law School, now includes a cartoon image of a political "fat cat" smoking a cigar and carrying a cane alongside the message, "Sorry, but the page you were trying to view does not exist." An archived version of the project's "Our Team" page.

The scrubbing of Doutaghi's online record—Doutaghi herself deleted her LinkedIn account and set her X profile to private—comes days after the Washington Free Beacon reported on her status as a member of Samidoun, an anti-Semitic organization that the U.S. government described as a "sham charity" and "front organization" for the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) when it slapped sanctions on the group in October. Yale said on Tuesday that it had placed Doutaghi on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

The Hewlett Foundation, which funds the Law and Political Economy Project, has not responded to requests for comment. Launched in 2019 in response to the election of President Donald Trump, the project says that it aims to counter "right-wing movements and autocrats."

It is a "network of scholars, practitioners, and students" who "work to understand the relationship between market supremacy and racial, gender, and economic justice" and "explore the distinctive ways that law gives shape to and legitimates neoliberal capitalism."


Meet the Columbia Radicals Arrested for Storming a Barnard Building
Nearly half the radical activists arrested Wednesday after storming a Barnard College library are Columbia University students, a Washington Free Beacon review found.

Of the nine individuals arrested after storming Millstein Library, four are Columbia students: Gabrielle Wimer, Hannah Puelle, Yunseo Chung, and Symmes Cannon. One, Tramy Dong, is a Barnard student. Another, Christopher Holmes, attends Union Theological Seminary, a Columbia affiliate, while the remaining three appear unassociated with either school. They were charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing, and obstructing governmental administration, according to an NYPD spokesman.

Barnard president Laura Ann Rosenbury, however, stressed that the police weren’t called in because the radicals stormed Milstein Library. Rather, she felt the building needed to be cleared to protect the broader student body because of a bomb threat in the building.

The radicals rushed in through a back exit that an accomplice held open, hoisted an effigy of Rosenbury, and passed out Hamas propaganda. They refused to leave, even after they were alerted of the bomb threat. Law enforcement eventually cleared the agitators from the library, but the protesters refused to clear the courtyard outside and clashed with police. Officers began making arrests.

Wimer is a medical student at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. According to screenshots of her LinkedIn that has since been deleted, she is "passionate about global health and human rights" and has "experience in research, program management, and community outreach in multicultural settings." Wimer is the Class of 2025 president, the programming coordinator for Columbia’s Human Rights and Asylum Clinic, and an active member of Columbia’s chapters of White Coats for Black Lives and Students for a National Health Program, according to an online bio.


Royal Television Society ‘reviewing processes’ after Hezbollah supporter makes awards shortlist
The Royal Television Society is “reviewing its criteria and processes” after honouring a Hezbollah supporter.

Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary, who covers the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza for Qatari-owned Al Jazeera English, was one of three people shortlisted by RTS for its Emerging Young Talent award.

A writer for ‘Electronic Intifada’, former researcher at Amnesty International and former news correspondent at Kuwait TV, in Janaury 2022 Khoudary tweeted support for terrorist mass murderer Nasser Abu Hamid, founder of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Hamid participated in the lynching of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah in 2000 and was sentenced by an Israeli court to seven life sentences and 50 additional years’ imprisonment.

Also convicted of 12 counts of attempted murder, he died in prison from cancer in December 2022, 11 months after Khoudary’s post.

Khoudary has also used her platforms to support anti-Israel university encampments and mocked the fate of Israeli hostages in Gaza, responding to concern for their welfare with the comment: “bla bla bla bla bla.”

As revealed by investigative reporter David Collier, Khoudary retweeted posts in support of former Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as posting support for ‘martyred’ members of Islamic Jihad.

She has also posted content referring to Israel’s “war crimes” and “massacres” in Gaza and approved a post illustrated with machine guns that supports armed resistance.
Reuters takes down unauthenticated article after CAMERA intervenes
A Reuters story in February falsely claiming that a murdered Israeli victim was a Mossad agent was retracted on Thursday following an investigation by CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.

Titled “Gaza’s mother’s hopes for return of long-jailed son dashed,” the story wrote that Diaa El Agha, who was sentenced to 99 years in prison for killing Amatzia Ben-Haim with a pick axe, had murdered an “Israeli Mossad agent,” a claim Reuters acknowledged it could not authenticate.

Meaning, they took the word of the Palestinian family as fact.

Agha was set to be freed during Phase 1 of the ceasefire/hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza but was delayed by Israel.

Both the English and the Arabic versions of the article misidentified the victim, Ben-Haim, as a Mossad agent. Neither mentioned him by name.

The wire service subsequently took the article down, adding that there would be no substitute piece.

The story was picked up by other news outlets, including Yahoo, that have also taken it down.

“Why is Reuters publishing articles without doing prior investigations?” wrote the National Jewish Assembly. “The damage has already been done by sharing a story which they cannot verify. They need to do the research FIRST.”


Indian national killed trying to enter Israel illegally was victim of job scam, family says
The family of Thomas Gabriel Perera, an Indian national who was killed by Jordanian security forces last month while trying to illegally enter Israel with his brother in law, claimed that the man was a victim of a job scam, the BBC reported on Friday.

Perera was reportedly lured to Jordan for a well-paying job - one that failed to materialize. After failing to find work, Perera’s family said he tried to enter Israel in search of employment.

CNBC reported the men tried to cross through a mountain valley but were shot at by Jordanian security forces. The site reported that a member of their party tried to communicate with the security force, but the language barrier prevented any understanding from being reached.

Trying to cross into Israel
Edison Charlas, Perera’s brother-in-law who was wounded trying to cross into Israel, told the BBC he paid over NIS 8,700 to an agent before they left India, and paid an additional nearly NIS 2,200 after arriving in Jordan on a tourist visa.

Charlas and Perera were informed after the six and a half hour flight that there were no jobs available for them, Charlas said.

As previously reported by the Jerusalem Post, the pair were offered work with a monthly salary of approximately NIS 14,550.

However, initial reports suggested, in conflict with the family’s claims, that the work promised was based in Israel. The family also told local Indian media that they were unaware of the men’s plans to enter Israel.


Copenhagen council votes to name square 'Palestine Square'
A majority of 29 out of 55 Copenhagen City Council members voted to name a location "Palestine Square", it was announced on Thursday. The new name is set to take effect on April 1.

The discussion to name a Copenhagen square after Palestine has been ongoing for a while, and not without controversy.

In August 2023, a majority of The Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), The Social Liberal Party (Radikale Venstre), The Socialist People's Party (SF), and The Alternative (Alternativet) supported the proposal to name the square.

The decision had been set for October 9, 2023, but was postponed following Hamas's October 7 massacre.

Danish-Palestinians welcomed the decision, viewing it as "a testament to the strong ties between Denmark and Palestine," according to Palestinian Authority state media WAFA.

"They expressed that the renaming signifies Denmark's solidarity with the Palestinian cause, reaffirming the country's stance in support of Palestinian rights and its quest for freedom and independence. Members of the City Council also expressed pride in the decision, emphasizing that it represents the Danish people's support for the Palestinian struggle and their right to establish an independent state," WAFA added.

Fathi El-Abed, chairman of the Danish-Palestinian Friendship Association, expressed excitement over the decision, calling it a "historic day," adding that "it has been a long and challenging process with ups and downs. But now, we can see that there is a majority in favor of naming a Palestine Square in the heart of our Copenhagen," according to Danish news site DR.


90,000 Muslim worshipers pray peacefully at Al-Aqsa on first Friday of Ramadan
Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers prayed peacefully at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on the first Friday of Ramadan despite fears of unrest due to tensions over Gaza.

The Islamic Waqf, which manages the holy site, announced that some 90,000 people attended the Friday midday prayer.

The Old City was under heavy police presence as worshipers made their way through its narrow alleys, past vendors selling food and fragrant sweets for the evening’s break-fast meal.

Located on the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has been a flashpoint for violence, particularly with large crowds gathering on Ramadan, and has seen clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces over the years, with Hamas using its religious symbolism as a means of rallying support.

Palestinian Muslims are now marking the second Ramadan since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7. Though fighting is on pause due to a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli security forces were on high alert nonetheless.

On Thursday, law enforcement said that some 3,000 officers would be deployed throughout Jerusalem to prevent “hostile elements from exploiting Ramadan for incitement, disturbances, terrorism or any form of violence.”

Hamas called on Palestinian Muslims ahead of Ramadan to travel to the Temple Mount in large numbers and oppose attempts by Israel to “desecrate and control” the site, “by any means.”
Palestinian Authority pays February terror salaries as usual
The Palestinian Authority on Thursday morning paid out February stipends from its “pay-for-slay” fund that rewards terrorists and their families for their attacks, the Palestinian Media Watch NGO reported, citing an official announcement by the P.A.’s postal bank.

“Palestine Post announces the beginning of payment of the monetary allowances tomorrow morning, Thursday, March 6, 2025, at the main post offices and through the ATMs,” Ramallah’s announcement read.

According to Palestinian Media Watch, while the bank “did not mention for whom the payments were in particular,” a Telegram channel for P.A. employees noted they were for “the martyrs, wounded and prisoners.”

The NGO also said it was “certain that these are terror salaries, because the P.A. postal service never made payments for the P.A. prior to April 2021. The postal service started making payments only after P.A. banks closed 35,000 terrorist bank accounts … the only payments the postal service makes are terror rewards, which continued this month.”

During a meeting of the ruling Fatah faction on Feb. 21, P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas said Ramallah would not deduct a single penny from the fund, despite a Feb. 10 statement interpreted by some as ending the practice.

“We again emphasize that we are proud of the sacrifices made by the martyrs, prisoners and wounded [terrorists],” the P.A. leader said at the gathering of the Revolutionary Council—Fatah’s second-highest body, which is chaired by Abbas—in Ramallah.

“I told you once and I stand by my word: Even if we have [only] one penny left, it is for the prisoners and the martyrs,” he continued, echoing previous remarks made during a 2018 address in the Palestinian city.
'A badge of honor': Released terrorist claims he knew Oct. 7 would end his life sentence
Ashraf Zughayer, a Hamas terrorist who murdered six people on a bus in Tel Aviv in 2002, told the New York Times that the moment he heard news of the October 7 massacre that he knew his life sentence would shortly be concluded.

Zughayer had helped orchestrate the suicide bombing that killed five Israelis and 19-year-old British Jew Yoni Jesner.

Zughayer was released in January as part of a hostage-ceasefire deal that saw the return of 33 hostages for a pause in fighting and the release of over 1000 security prisoners. The 46-year-old terrorist was released into east Jerusalem, where supporters celebrated the release of terrorists illegally by waving Hamas flags.

Zyghayer’s father, who liaises between residents and Israeli authorities, commended his son’s attack, telling the American news site, “My son’s imprisonment was a badge of honor. You could enter prison for thieving or criminality. But I’m not the father of a criminal, I’m the father of a hero.”

Despite commending his son’s murders, Munir added that he hoped for a better future with “equality” and “human rights” for all, the NYT reported.

During his stint in prison, Zughayer was reported to have learnt Hebrew from October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar. It was through this experience, he told the NYT, that he understood not all Israelis wanted war.

“I used to think that Israeli society was a monolith,” he said, adding that now he understood “some want peace, and some do not.”

Zughayer was arrested shortly after his release for riding unsecured in the back of a pickup truck. He is thought to only be at risk of fines for the charge.

“A nation that wants to break free must fight for it,” Zughayer reportedly said shortly after his release. He refused to comment on whether he thought the Oct. 7 attacks, which saw over 1200 people massacred, had successfully advanced the Palestinian national cause.

“Our goal isn’t to hurt civilians. We were forced into it,” he said. “If the legal system here were just, I would see this whole thing differently.”

Hamas terrorist Ahmed Yousef had no problem in telling the NYT that he thought Oct. 7 “was a terrible error,” adding that “It’s good that there is a prisoner deal, but it did not require all this bloodshed and destruction.”
Palestinian Authority Appears To Resume Terrorism Payments It Vowed To End
Less than a month after the Palestinian Authority supposedly ended its longstanding payments for terrorism, the funds appeared to go out this week as usual.

The Palestinian Authority post office on Wednesday announced "the start of disbursement of financial allocations tomorrow morning … at main post offices and through ATMs." While Palestine Post and the authority’s other official channels did not specify that the monthly payments were for terrorism, social media users were more forthright.

"The payment of salaries to the families of the martyrs, wounded, and prisoners begins on Thursday morning," the administrator of a Telegram group for Palestinian Authority employees told his several thousand followers on Wednesday.

Palestine Post’s announcement is the clearest sign yet that the Palestinian Authority does not intend to follow through on its announced reform of "pay for slay," as critics call the system of payments to security prisoners and the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis.

"All the talk about them changing the system—we don’t see it happening," Itamar Marcus, the head of Palestine Media Watch, an Israeli watchdog group that first flagged the post office’s announcement, told the Washington Free Beacon. "They are still paying the same terror salaries."

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, under growing financial pressure from Israel and the Trump administration, last month decreed a reform of the system of terrorism payments, which account for a large and ballooning share of the authority’s budget. Abbas indicated that terrorists and their families would no longer receive special treatment but instead be "subject to the same standards" as other welfare recipients, who are generally compensated much less generously.

But Abbas and other Palestinian officials have since reaffirmed their support for mass murderers of Israelis in general and the terrorism payments in particular.


Curtis, Rosen introduce legislation to combat Hezbollah activities in Latin America
Sens. John Curtis (R-UT) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced legislation this week directing the federal government to assess Hezbollah’s ability to conduct terrorist activities in Latin America and determine ways to counter its influence in the region.

The No Hezbollah in Our Hemisphere Act requires the secretary of state, in coordination with the director of national intelligence, attorney general, homeland security secretary and treasury secretary, to determine whether any country or region in Latin America qualifies as a terrorist sanctuary under U.S. law and sanction entities that collaborate with Hezbollah.

The bipartisan bill would implement visa bans and travel restrictions on foreign government officials and financial actors found to be materially supporting Hezbollah. Any current visas issued to individuals found to be in support of the terrorist organization would be immediately revoked, unless they were to take verifiable actions to begin combating Hezbollah’s influence. The legislation would also allow the president to waive these restrictions for law enforcement purposes or to remain in compliance with U.S. global obligations.

“Hezbollah is directly responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans. For too long, this Iranian-backed terrorist group has used Latin America as a safe haven for illicit financing, recruitment, and other criminal activities — fueling drug trafficking at our southern border and posing significant threats to our national security,” Sen. Curtis said in a statement, noting that the legislation “directs the United States to take action on Hezbollah’s alarming presence in Latin America to keep us and our allies, including Israel, safe from their terrorist ambitions.”

“Iran-backed Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has operated in the Western Hemisphere for decades to raise funds for its destabilizing activities around the globe,” Sen. Rosen said. “This is a threat to U.S. national security and cannot be tolerated. That’s why I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan bill to make clear that we will not accept countries turning a blind eye to Hezbollah’s harmful actions.”


Trump: ‘We’re down to the final moments with Iran’
U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on Friday that the United States could take military action against the Iranian nuclear program “very soon” if the Islamic Republic does not strike a deal with the United States.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said that there would be “interesting days ahead” with respect to Iran.

“We’re down to final strokes with Iran,” Trump said, using a golf metaphor. “We’re down to the final moments. We’re at final moments. Can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency announced in a pair of reports in late February that Iran has “significantly increased” its production of uranium enriched to 60% purity, just shy of the 90% level considered “weapons-grade” for use in a nuclear bomb.

While Iran claims its nuclear program is peaceful, there is no civilian use for 60% enriched uranium and Iran is the only non-nuclear weapons state that produces such material.

Roughly 92.5 pounds of 60% enriched uranium is the “approximate amount of nuclear material for which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded,” according to the IAEA. As of Feb. 8, Iran has about 605 pounds of 60% enriched uranium.

Trump said on Friday that whatever comes next between the United States and Iran, “it’s going to be a big thing.”

“We have a situation with Iran, that something’s going to happen very soon—very, very soon,” Trump said. “Hopefully, we could have a peace deal. I’m not speaking out of strength or weakness. I’m just saying I’d rather see a peace deal than the other, but the other will solve the problem.”

In an interview with Fox Business conducted on Thursday, Trump said he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Wednesday.

“I said, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,’” Trump said of the letter.

“There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or you make a deal,” he added. “I would prefer to make a deal because I’m not looking to hurt Iran.”
'I wasn’t thinking': Man pleads guilty to setting fire by Jewish museum in Baltimore
A man pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to setting a fire outside the Jewish Museum of Maryland last year, the Baltimore Banner reported on Wednesday.

“I was out of my mind because I was under the influence of cocaine,” Assadollah Hashemi, 66, admitted. “I wasn’t thinking. I accept everything.”

Besides drug abuse, Hashemi also said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Hashemi was sentenced to 15 years in prison but will only serve the time he has already spent in custody, according to the Baltimore Banner report.

After his release, he will be on probation for five years and must adhere to a mental health treatment plan, reporting to the court and a probation officer.

Accused of hate crime
In August, CBS News reported that Hashemi was arrested just days after he started the fire earlier in the week.

Hashemi was accused of a hate crime and taken into custody on charges of second-degree arson and malicious burning.

Baltimore police reported that Hashemi has a history of similar offenses, including an incident in July where he was seen experiencing a behavioral crisis before setting a trash can on fire, CBS News reported.

Additionally, Assistant State’s Attorney Tracy Varda said that less than half an hour before he set the fire, Hashemi sent a text message that read, “If you don’t get back to me, I’m going to have all Jews burned in the furnace.”

Hashemi initially denied the claim, saying, “I have an objection to that — I never said that or wrote it anywhere. That’s a lie.”

Though he later admitted, “I didn’t know what I was doing. I was crazy.”


India-led economic trade corridor could be a bonanza for Israel
At the recent meeting in the White House between President Donald Trump and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders focused on how to make the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) initiative a reality. While the subjects discussed included bilateral issues, such as security cooperation, advanced technology, energy and trade, the central issue that most keenly relates to Israel at this difficult time was the uplifting idea of the economic corridor to stretch from India to one of Israel’s Mediterranean ports, either Ashdod or Haifa, and then on to Europe.

The idea of the economic corridor was first raised in September 2023 during the G-20 Summit in India and received resounding support from the United States, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. These countries, along with Germany, Italy, France and India, signed on to the declaration. The plan envisions two trade corridors: a maritime corridor from India to the UAE and a land corridor via railroad from UAE to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, and then on to Europe. The plan calls for expanding underwater communication and gas pipelines, improving energy grids and telecommunication lines, promoting clean energy technology and enhancing internet access in the hopes of ensuring stability and security between the various regions.

The ostensible purpose of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor is to develop a cost-effective, cross-border, ship-to-rail transit network that would supplement existing maritime and road transport routes. Goods and services would travel to, from and between India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Europe, with the goal of securing regional supply chains and trade accessibility.

Israel is to be the gateway to Europe. Although Israel and Jordan are not officially co-signers of the declaration, Israel’s importance rests not only on its geostrategic location but on its advanced technological prowess as well. The skills that Israel would provide are critical to the success of the IMEC project and to the countries involved.

For Israel, the idea of a regional economic and security alliance is not new. Israel Katz, then-Israel’s minister of transportation and current defense minister, conceived of a plan in 2017 called “Tracks for Regional Peace.” He envisioned connecting Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel with Europe. His successor as transportation minister, Miri Regev, thought along the same lines, calling the project “From Gulf to Gulf” in 2021

What made the vision more than a dream was the Abraham Accords and the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. New ways of thinking were instrumental in a gradual process toward normalization with Saudi Arabia, one demonstration of which included the Saudis permitting Israeli commercial airlines to fly over its territory, saving airlines precious fuel and shortening flight time from Israel to Africa and the Far East. There were also periodic meetings of Israeli and Saudi officials, including a “not so secret” visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (known as MBS). These preliminaries led to the first stages of cooperation in security and commerce. The Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war against Hamas disrupted efforts toward realizing the economic corridor.
Holocaust survivor who designed costumes for Liza Minelli has posthumous art show in Mayfair
The paintings and sculptures of Lilly Fenichel have long been celebrated in America, but the artist beloved by the Beat Generation had to wait until now to get her first solo show in the UK. Only what she would have expected – despite already being hailed a star in the 50s, the abstract expressionist had to turn to Hollywood 20 years later to make ends meet in an era when this school of contemporary art was very much a boys’ club.

Born in 1927 to a fashion designer and a doctor, Fenichel fled Nazi Vienna with her family and after touching down briefly in the UK settled in California, where she studied painting before moving to New York and was immediately accepted into a rarefied circle by Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. Highly-rated enough to be teaching others at the Museum of Modern Art, she struggled to support herself and she returned to Hollywood, where she parlayed her talents into art direction and costume design, most famously creating the gowns for Liza Minelli and her co-stars in the 1975 film Lucky Lady.

Considered part of the LA Cool School in California, she got to mingle with west coast artists such as Ed Ruscha, Rudi Gernreich and positively Jewish starchitect Frank Gehry, who described her as “sexy, seductive, extraordinarily talented and one of the smartest women I have ever known”. Aldous Huxley and Noel Harrison were also fans, but it was New Mexico which became her spiritual home and where she settled until her death in 2016 at 89. Her work is in permanent collections at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the New Mexico art colony where she lived, and nearby Albuquerque, where she died.

Finally gaining posthumous recognition with British curators in 2023, her work was shown with other female abstract expressionists overlooked in their lifetime at the Whitechapel Gallery, and later at the Gazelli Art House in Mayfair. It is this gallery which has honoured her with the one-woman show Against The Grain, which runs until 15 March.
Joshua Namm: Dating While Jewish: It’s Not Just Denmark That Is Rotten
I almost never write about personal issues. In fact, my last personal article was about an incident I experienced in August of 2023. It was published just four days before 10/7 on October 3, 2023, and was about a woman I met on vacation who openly defended her uncle who had been a member of the Hitler Youth. “Defending” is too kind, what she actually did was announce it proudly to me, and then she condescendingly defended him when I reacted like an actual human being.

Before 10/7, most people would have assumed that kind of thing was a remnant of the not-so-distant past. When she defended her Nazi uncle, I was extremely angry, but not even remotely surprised. Blatant antisemitism is something that happened… sometimes.

After 10/7 we’ve seen antisemitism up close on a daily basis.

This article, like that one, was written because people need to understand that antisemitism is real, takes many forms, and is not remotely just an abstract idea, but an increasingly common feature of everyday life for Jews. It is personal.

Thanks for reading Joshua Namm's Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

That was the case on a date I had in December.

I am an American and my date was British. So, because small talk is always part of a first meeting - I expected the usual “you guys think we all eat crumpets,” followed by something like “well you guys think we’re all cowboys, who surf, and hang out with movie stars.” “You drink tea, we drink coffee. You drive on the left side; we drive on the right. You had an empire; we’re the most powerful country in history” etc.

It was actually a lot of that.

Until it wasn’t.

There were some early hints. I mentioned that I like to make Israeli salad and was met with what struck me at the time as an angry look. The same was true of her very obviously negative reaction when I told her that I write about Jewish issues and antisemitism.

Yet, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I should know by now that my “Spidey sense” for identifying Jew haters is very good. (For example, I knew there was something very dark about the Hitler youth woman before she said a word about her Uncle Adolph, or Gรผnter, or Hans - or whatever his name was).

I have had that feeling multiple times in my life, and I’ve learned to trust it. That “feeling” is almost always correct. You can’t be paranoid, but you can learn to trust your instincts about real Jew haters.

That said, I know that the best solution to avoid what I am about to describe would be to exclusively date Jewish women. I also know about J-Date and J-Swipe. I know that there are Jewish singles events. I know that you can meet people by joining activity groups. I know that there are people in the community who set up shidduchim. I know that there are people at shul, Shabbat dinners, and synagogue events.
Remembering Dore Gold as the diplomat who defended Israel's borders and history
Not enough attention was given this week to the passing of Dr. Dore Gold, who served as a strategic adviser to Israeli prime ministers and as Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Dore’s contribution to Israel’s diplomacy was outsized and his oeuvre is instructive. He uniquely knew to zero in on the most important issues of the day.

Earlier in his career as an American academic, he focused on radical Islam and the terrorism it spawned, which was then flowing freely out of Saudi Arabia. His doctoral dissertation on this formed the basis for his 2003 book, Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism. (In more recent years, he acknowledged the deep and positive changes in Riyadh under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.)

In the 1980s at Tel Aviv University (which is when I met him and learned to rely on him as a wise observer of emerging trends), he focused on US defense policy relating to the Middle East. Gold developed the discourse that eventually was broadly adopted by Jerusalem and its advocates abroad regarding Israel’s strategic value to the United States and the importance of anchoring US-Israel relations in close security and intelligence coordination.

Twenty-five years ago, he became an early proponent of Israel’s formal designation as an American non-NATO ally, and of the association of Israel to CENTCOM, the US military’s Central Command structure covering the Middle East, something that finally happened in 2021.

After the Oslo Accords were signed, Gold was dragged unenthusiastically by Benjamin Netanyahu into talks with the Palestinians in the UK and Jordan (even before he became prime minister in 1996), meeting with Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Jordanian and American leaders.

Dr. Gold was always skeptical of Palestinian intentions and the Palestinian Authority’s capacity to pursue true peace. Thus, he sought to ensure that security parameters for Judea and Samaria (and the Golan Heights) were adhered to, as set out by prime minister Yitzchak Rabin before his assassination.

When Dore assumed the presidency of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in 2000, he parlayed this security focus into one of the most important and influential think tank ventures in Israel’s history: the Defensible Borders for Israel project.

Leading a broad range of military generals and defense experts, he sketched out the rationale for Israeli security control of West Bank mountain ridges and the Jordan Valley plus a broad east-west Jerusalem corridor – with detailed maps – and he outlined the key elements of the necessary “demilitarization” of the Palestinian government.
Hollywood STUNNED by Gal Gadot’s GUTSY speech | Meira K Show
๐Ÿ”ฅ The Meira K Show – Your No-Nonsense Guide to Israel’s Hottest Topics! ๐Ÿ”ฅ
Welcome to The Meira K Show, where we break down everything you need to know about Israel, from breaking headlines to deep dives on the biggest controversies. No fluff, no bias, just straight talk.
๐Ÿ‘€ What’s Inside This Week’s Episode?
✅ Israel’s Attorney General Showdown: Will the government finally take action?
✅ IDF Shakeup: What the new leadership means for the war.
✅ Hostage Crisis Update: What’s really happening behind closed doors?
✅ Trump’s Bold Warning to Hamas: A game-changer or just talk?
✅ Hollywood vs. Reality: Exposing the hypocrisy of anti-Israel activism.
✅ Terror Attacks in Israel: What’s going on in Haifa & Gaza?
✅ Oct. 7th Inquiry: Who’s responsible, and should we even investigate now?
๐Ÿ“ข Drop a comment below ๐Ÿ‘‡ What do YOU think of Trump’s tweet? Should Israel take a harder stance? Let’s talk!
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