Pages

▼

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

03/12 Links Pt2: On Purim, celebrate Jewish self-defense, not self-loathing; The Antisemitic Influencer Problem; Mahmoud Khalil had security clearance from British Government

From Ian:

What Has Israel To Do With Civilization?
Josh Hammer’s new book, “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West” will be available on March 18, 2025. Preorder it: HERE.

The question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” has never been more poignant than at a time when both Europe and Israel are the canaries in the coal mines of a civilizational war.

That war, cultural, spiritual and material, and its antithesis in Athens and Jerusalem, are at the center of Josh Hammer’s new book, ‘Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West’. Hammer, a writer, lawyer and thinker whose world spans everything from the First Liberty Institute to Jews Against Soros, evocatively captures that crisis.

Beginning with Oct 7 and the western response which ran the gamut from horror to enthusiasm, on both the left and the alt-right, Hammer turns to the roots of the biblical truths of the Judeo-Christian consensus that is now under attack from all sides to rebuild a new unity.

The Left rejects both Athens and Jerusalem, choosing a crude pantheistic paganism, devoid of both reason and faith, in which hedonistic cults, exotic sexualties, and public manias are to liberate us from the confines of a civilization created by ‘dead cishet white male slave owners.’ The ‘altists’ on the Right reject not only the idea that Athens has anything to do with Jerusalem, but seek to tear out Jewish influences on the West which, depending on their varied credos can include anything from Christianity itself to the Enlightenment or even the very idea of monotheism, They long to return to an old paganism, a bronze age of barbarism devoid of divine morality and religious consciousness making way for bloodshed, slavery and eugenics.

Neither idea is new. Europe flirted with both beginning with the French Revolution and climaxing catastrophically with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. But many of the influencers of a new generation are returning to the same old follies and that is why ‘Israel and Civilization’ is so vital.

Hammer not only rebuts many of the antisemitic obsessions of the influencer caste by delving into the actual history of Judaism, but he asserts the centrality of the Bible and its teachings within the West and more specifically in the founding of the United States of America, tracing the origins of the Mayflower Compact, Thanksgiving and the debates over the Constitution to religious ideas and values emerging out of Judaism.

While the idea of a Judeo-Christian code came to be mentioned much more frequently after the rebirth of Israel, Hammer shows that even Founding Fathers like John Adams anticipated a return of Israel alongside that of the newborn United States. To them, Washington D.C. needed both an ‘Athens’ and a ‘Jerusalem’ to thrive and take root in the mind and heart of a new nation.

“I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize Men than any other Nation. If I were an Atheist and believed in blind eternal Fate, I should Still believe that Fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential Instrument for civilizing the Nations,” John Adams wrote.
Jake Wallis Simons: Trump is right about Hamas-supporting activists. Britain should emulate him
Yesterday, all hell broke loose in the United States when the Trump administration took into custody a former employee at the British embassy in Beirut by the name of Mahmoud Khalil. They intend to deport him. Syrian-born Khalil had spearheaded virulent anti-Israel rallies at Columbia University – which last week lost $400 million in federal funding on account of the antisemitism endemic at the college – and, according to the White House, had distributed leaflets bearing the Hamas logo.

The group to which Khalil apparently belonged, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, had made its ideology clear in a post on Instagram last August. “We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilisation,” it said, adding that members “seek community and instruction from militants” as part of “our Intifada”. There was much interest in this online in the wake of Khalil’s arrest.

Despite details such as these, the episode inevitably drew outrage from the Democrats, civil rights groups and free speech advocates, who accused the administration of using its immigration enforcement powers to silence freedom of speech. This neatly summarised the problem: these people seem to think that supporting jihadism equates to reasonable criticism of Israel. What will it take for the penny to drop?

The British link has brought many in this country up short. The United States may have a problem with Hamas sympathisers, especially on its most prestigious campuses, but this one had worked as an officer of His Majesty. What does this say about our vetting?

Or – even more worryingly – the culture prevalent in certain pockets of our Arabist foreign office, which allows men like Khalil to take plum positions at our embassies? I’m reminded of the time, for instance, when our Deputy Consul General in Jerusalem led a British team at a “Palestine Marathon” event that was held in protest against the “apartheid” security barrier that protects Israeli civilians from potential suicide bombers in the West Bank. The plucky British diplomats wore T-shirts showing a map of the region that did not contain Israel. Because of course they did.

It’s time to get Trumpy on these people. For years, British society has been riddled with Hamas activists, sympathisers and attendant useful idiots who have been subverting our values from within. For years, Whitehall looked the other way while charities allegedly linked to Hamas raised millions of pounds a year, which — according to Israeli intelligence — was funnelled into the terror group’s coffers, funding their terror tunnels and armaments.
Cotton introduces two bills targeting ‘rotten culture on university campuses’
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) took aim on Tuesday at colleges that have housed anti-Israel and antisemitic protests—and some of the students that participated in them.

Cotton reintroduced legislation, the Woke Endowment Security Tax (WEST) Act, to impose a one-time, 6% tax on the endowments of 11 leading U.S. universities, including Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.

A separate bill, the No Student Loans for Campus Criminals Act, would prevent students convicted of crimes in connection with protests from receiving federal student loans or loan forgiveness.

In introducing both measures, Cotton referred to the protests, some of which backed an independent Palestinian state but others that called for the destruction of Israel, glorified the terrorist group Hamas or attacked Jewish students on campuses.

“Many of America’s so-called ‘top’ universities continue to grow massive endowments almost entirely tax-free while failing to condemn antisemitism and violence against Jewish students on their campuses,” Cotton said.

The senator said that the excise tax—which also would apply to endowments at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Washington University and Yale University—would help boost security along the U.S. southern border and reduce the federal debt.


Jonathan Tobin: On Purim, celebrate Jewish self-defense, not self-loathing
This is not the first time in history in which some Jews have internalized the hate that has been directed at them. Those who do so have embraced beliefs that seek to undermine both the unity and ability of their people to survive. So, it is unsurprising that this leads them to rethink traditional practices and sacred texts in order to serve contemporary political agendas rather than the purpose for which they were written and preserved through the ages.

In this way, the Haggadah used for the Passover seder has become a platform for every possible cause but that of Jewish liberation. That can be harmful since it transforms the one Jewish ritual in which even most secular Jews participate into something that doesn’t reinforce their identity in ways that promote their sense of Jewish peoplehood.

As irritating as that may be, the damage that it does cannot compare with a reinterpretation of Purim that has become the preferred narrative for those who hate Israel and support those who seek to destroy it. In this way, the Purim tale is not so much about Jewish salvation as it is an excuse to depict ancient Jews as mass murderers. In so doing, this buttresses the smears of the modern-day State of Israel and its war of self-defense against the genocidal terrorists of Hamas.

That’s the spin we’re getting from people like anti-Zionist writer Peter Beinart, who wrote this week in The Guardian to argue that Purim provides the proper context for the debate about the war Israel is waging on Hamas after terrorists infiltrated the southern border and attacked Jewish communities on Oct. 7, 2023. Similar revisionist articles were also published in The Forward by novelist Michael David Lukas as well as on the My Jewish Learning website by leftist Rabbi Jill Jacobs, a shrill critic of Israel, though the latter doesn’t specifically raise the war in Gaza. A not-dissimilar piece, albeit without a byline, can also be found on the website of the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation, founded by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, which is best known for its video library of testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust.

Holiday revisionism
Purim is celebrated each year on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar, which begins this year on the evening of March 13 and lasts through sundown the next day, right into Shabbat. It commemorates the foiling of an attempt at the genocide of the Jewish people in the Persian empire 2,500 years ago and is celebrated with the reading of the biblical book of Esther in which the story is related. On Purim, costumes are worn to remember how the Jewish Queen Esther concealed her identity before revealing herself to the Persian king in order to save her people. More than any other Jewish holiday, it is a day of merrymaking with children’s carnivals, sending gifts of food to friends and neighbors, attending parties and festive meals, not to mention immoderate consumption of alcohol.

But Purim revisionists aren’t so much interested in the plot of the evil Haman to slaughter the Jews and their deliverance due to the courage of Esther and the cunning of her cousin Mordechai. They are more concerned with the denouement of the Purim story told in the ninth chapter of what is also referred to as Megillat Esther (the “Scroll of Esther”), which is, as these writers are at pains to point out, often overlooked amid the fun.


Christopher Rufo: The Antisemitic Influencer Problem
The new antisemitism has taken a different turn. The leaders of this movement are not political activists but social media “influencers” who have constructed a narrative based not on a left-wing, oppressor/oppressed framework, but on a diffused, right-coded conspiracy theory. Jews, in these influencers’ telling, have taken control of American media, flooded society with pornography, and organized sex-related blackmail rings to secure support for Israel.

The tenor of this campaign is also new. While Sharpton sought to convey a sense of earnest outrage, the right-wing influencers have adopted a detached, ironic, schizoid tone—hallmarks of postmodern discourse. When Kanye West advertises a swastika T-shirt, it is not because he is signaling support for an organized neo-Nazi movement but because it symbolizes transgression and is bait for digital censorship, which would let him play the martyr. (West’s troubled mental state should not be discounted as a factor here, either.) Online, the narrative gets circulated through left-wing networks, which consider it useful for undermining support for Israel, and through right-wing networks, which find it helpful for building an audience.

The ironic tone, of course, does not exculpate West and his followers. Nor does it mean that their narratives will be contained to the digital realm. American Jews rightly fear that this postmodern antisemitism will spill into the real world and result in violence, as it has done in Europe and with the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh. The dynamics of such violence also reflect the complexities of the new digital culture. Unlike the Crown Heights riot, where Sharpton’s rhetoric was directly mobilizing the mob, the relationship between online discourse and acts of decentralized, memetic violence is often ambiguous.

There is also the question of cui bono. The simple answer is that Jews provide a convenient scapegoat: Kanye West can pin the blame on a “Jewish doctor” for fallout related to his bipolar disorder; Andrew Tate can shift responsibility to “the Matrix” for his various criminal proceedings. But there is another answer, too, one that reprises the Sharpton model: business. The internet rewards scandal, shock, and virality, and conspiracy theories enjoy burgeoning market demand. Candace Owens has never been more popular, turning each outrage and accusation into new views, followers, subscribers, and revenues.

This problem has no easy answer—certainly not digital censorship or criminalization of speech. The better approach involves patience: Push back on antisemitic narratives and build an establishment capable of both garnering attention and enforcing boundaries of decency. Antisemitic ideologies might be lucrative in the digital economy, but they are poison in the political realm. The right should reject them and their merchants, just as it rejected Sharpton a generation ago.


How a Brown University Professor Helped Drive Anti-Israel Materials Into K-12 Schools
In 2011, Brown University’s Choices Program, which develops curriculum on history and current issues for K-12 schools in all 50 states, taught high school students "of the historic Jewish ties to the land that is now Israel." In 2015, anti-Israel academic Beshara Doumani, then a founding director of Brown's Center for Middle East Studies, began advising the program—and the materials shifted in tone.

That year, the Choices Program released a revamped version of its unit titled, "The Middle East in Transition: Questions for U.S. Policy." The unit, which included an acknowledgment of Doumani's "invaluable" contributions, provided students with new definitions of "colonialism" and "imperialism," according to an Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) review of the curriculum materials obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. It also included a map that listed Tel Aviv—not Jerusalem—as Israel's capital.

Two years later, an updated edition of the same unit went further. Included alongside the map of Middle Eastern capitals was a quiz calling on students to "fill in the missing countries and capitals below." Students received credit for writing "Israel" next to the listed "Country Capital" of Tel Aviv. The unit also eliminated a section on Israel's creation, according to the ISGAP review, "instead moving the discussion about Israel's creation to a few brief paragraphs within the section titled 'Israel and the Palestinian Territories.'"

Around the same time, in December 2017, Brown's Choices Program uploaded videos meant to supplement its Middle East materials. They referred to Israelis as "colonizing people," argued Palestinians are not "fundamentally anti-Semitic," and referred to Gazans as "occupied people" who "live for the most part as refugees." By 2019, the program's unit on Iran—which previously referred to Hezbollah as a "labelled terrorist organization" and noted Tehran's threat to "wipe Israel off the map"—instead called Hezbollah a "militant group," the ISGAP review found. One year later, Brown named Doumani the inaugural Mahmoud Darwish Chair of Palestinian Studies, making him the first endowed chair in the field at any U.S. university.

While anti-Semitism in higher education has driven headlines in the wake of Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, it has reared its head in public K-12 districts as well. Doumani's work for the Choices Program reflects the overlap between the two issues. Each year, an estimated one million students use the program's curriculum materials, which were taught in roughly 8,000 high schools in recent years.

Brown has dismissed accusations of anti-Semitism in the program's curriculum materials in the past, arguing that it has a commitment to "help educators guide thoughtful consideration of diverse views" and present "strongly opposing points of view and then ask students to evaluate them and develop their own questions and conclusions."
High school seniors reject Columbia over campus chaos: ‘Why would you want to go there?’
It is a privilege to study at a college, university, graduate school or professional school in the US. Non-citizens afforded this opportunity are indeed fortunate.

Although many of the institutions of higher learning tout their devotion to academic freedom, the current scenes on campus bear no resemblance to genuine critical thinking and the civil exchange of ideas. Moreover, academic freedom does not mean students, professors or staff members are free to violate the law or engage in proscribed behavior, inconsistent with the code of conduct at the particular institution. This includes not harassing, intimidating or assaulting fellow students or staff, or committing vandalism.

Educational institutions receiving federal funding are also subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination on the ground of race, color or national origin. This includes targeting of Jews and excluding them from participation in any program or activity, as well as, preventing Jews from accessing campus facilities or attending classes.

There should be a zero-tolerance policy for violations and an expectation of harsh consequences such as suspension and expulsion, as well as civil and criminal penalties where appropriate.

There is also another overlay of concern arising out of activities that are in support of a terrorist organization. Providing material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) like Hamas is a crime under 18 USC 2339B.

Endorsing or espousing terrorist activity or persuading others to endorse or support terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization (as described in 8 USC 1182) is explicit grounds for deportation of an alien under 8 USC 1227.

It should, therefore, be no surprise that Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University, who reportedly led activities aligned to FTO Hamas, was arrested by ICE in coordination with the Department of State as a prelude to deportation.


A guide for college students and useful dupes
Over the next month, high school seniors across the country will find out whether or not they got into their first-choice college. But for some students who had dreamed of going to Columbia University, acceptance suddenly doesn’t sound so hot.

“If you were to compare Columbia with virtually any Ivy League, virtually any other Ivy League will win [in terms of desirability with students] — and even non-Ivies like Duke, Emory and Washington [University] in St. Louis,” college admissions consultant and Command Education CEO Christopher Rim told The Post.

As President Trump has cut Columbia’s federal funding in an effort to squash chaotic pro-Palestine protests, applicants are weighing whether to accept an offer of admission from the school or to go elsewhere.

Hopefuls applied with the knowledge that the campus had been shut down by a pro-Palestine encampment last spring, but Rim says they generally didn’t expect things would still be so crazy.

“Lots of my clients thought things would be back to normal by now,” he said. “And by the time the school year starts in the fall, who knows? One thousand things can change again.”

The non-stop drama has Rim predicting that many of the families he works with, “unless they have a very specific reason they want to go to Columbia,” will happily throw an acceptance letter aside for an alternative school.

While regular decision admissions results haven’t been released yet, early decision offers — which require binding commitments from students — were made over the past couple of months.

Rim said he has has several parents desperate to back out of those deals. One family is trying to wiggle out because funding cuts might shutter a lab their child was planning to work in on campus.

He added that some locked-in early-admission students feel a sense of relief watching the president crack down on their future school.

“They’re actually liking what Trump is doing,” Rim said. “They’re like, OK, maybe things are actually going to change.”
Columbia Unbecoming (2004)
A 2004 documentary about the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students at Columbia University.


Andrew McCarthy: Does the Constitution really protect Columbia agitator Mahmoud Khalil from deportation?
We know this intuitively, and it is a bedrock principle of the criminal law. The First Amendment prevents the government from criminalizing speech itself – it is not a crime to utter words. It prevents the government from criminalizing the mere gathering together of two or more people – mere association is not a crime.

Nevertheless, if a person is credibly accused of crimes like extortion, there is no legal prohibition against using speech as evidence of those crimes. And if a person is credibly accused of conspiracy, there is no legal bar against presenting the conspirators’ association with each other as evidence that they were joint participants in a criminal agreement. Mahmoud Khalil 'shouldn't have been welcome on campus,' says Bethany Mandel Video

Keep that in mind. We’re already hearing twaddle about the First Amendment from apologists for Khalil, the Syria-born former Columbia University student. He claims Palestinian heritage and the Trump administration is seeking to deport him over his role in campus uprisings driven by his support for Hamas – which has been formally designated a terrorist organization under U.S. law for nearly 30 years.

In a nutshell, the defense goes like this. Khalil is a lawful permanent resident alien (LPR), a green-card holder. As a matter of law, that makes him a U.S. person whose rights approximate those of an American citizen. Ergo, he cannot lawfully be expelled from the United States for constitutionally protected conduct – his association with other pro-Hamas student agitators and his speech on their behalf as a "mediator" in interactions with Columbia’s administration. Now, there are a number of legal flaws in this defense (I’ve outlined them in this National Review essay). While the rights of LPRs are similar to those of American citizens, they are not identical. LPRs are still aliens. Federal immigration law has long provided that aliens can be deported over criminal conduct, terrorist support, and national security concerns – something that cannot be done to U.S. citizens.

But I want to take issue with the basic premise that Khalil’s conduct was nothing more than constitutionally protected speech and association for which no American would face legal consequences.

We seem to grasp that in organized crime cases. In all my years prosecuting them, I never heard a defense lawyer claim that, when the boss told the button to "whack that guy," he was simply exercising his free speech rights.

Yet, when I began doing terrorism cases after the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993, I found that jihadists would make substantially that argument – they would just emote glowingly about our society’s veneration of religious liberty and political convictions in order to obscure that they were making it.

Don’t be fooled.

Khalil is not subject to deportation because he is a Muslim or because he is deeply opposed to Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. His political speech and association with like-minded students (whether Muslims or non-Muslims) are not the point – even if he and his supporters would have you believe they’re the only point.

When he "mediated" on behalf of campus agitators – who had set up an illegal encampment blocking other students from tending to their studies and normal campus life, and who had illegally occupied and vandalized university buildings – he wasn’t engaged in political speech. He was pressuring the university to make concessions to the agitators’ pro-Hamas demands, with the understanding that if the administration did not capitulate, more and worse damage would be done on campus.

That’s not political speech. It’s extortion. American citizens who engaged in such behavior would not have a First Amendment defense. They’d likely face prosecution – and, in fact, dozens of the agitators were arrested in connection with these activities, and may still face other legal consequences.


Mahmoud Khalil had security clearance from British Government
The Middle East Eye has revealed on Wednesday that Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University masters grad who was detained by the Department of Homeland Security on Saturday night after his green car was revoked by the State Department, had security clearance from the British government. He worked, the outlet states, as a "programme manager at the Syria Office in the British embassy in Beirut from 2018 to 2022."

Khalil "worked as a local manager for the Syria Chevening Program, a prestigious UK government international scholarship scheme, as well as for the Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund," MEE states. Khalil came to the US in 2023, obtained a green card, and completed graduate studies at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs in December 2024.

British diplomats had kind words for Khalil. Former diplomat Andrew Waller said that to gain his position in the UK's embassy in Beirut, he "went through a vetting process to get the job and was cleared to work on sensitive issues for the British government." Waller said that the UK program with which Khalil was affiliated is a "flagship UK soft power policy."

"It brings the brightest students from around the world to UK universities. Mahmoud ran its Syria programme and interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants on behalf of the British government," Waller said. Khalil also served as a "local staff political officer" and a translator both for language and context in meetings. Waller had nothing but kind words for Khalil, per MEE.

That vetting process held no weight with the Trump administration, which, acting on Trump's order to quell antisemitic protests on campus, has set about revoking visas and green cards of student activists who engaged in the chaos on college campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre.

Student activists on college campuses took up the side of the Hamas terrorists who perpetrated the pogrom which killed 1,200 people and kidnapped over 200, more than 50 of whom are still being held by terrorists in Gaza. It is believed that many of those Hamas is holding hostage are dead.

The Chevening scholarship, MEE reports, is a program of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and aims to "support UK foreign policy priorities and achieve FCDO objectives by creating lasting positive relationships with future leaders, influencers, and decision-makers."
Ted Cruz argues VISA students are not protected under First Amendment
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued the United States has no obligation to keep VISA students within the country, specifically those who engage in antisemitism on college campuses.

Cruz’s comment comes after the Trump administration sought to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student on a green card from Syria, who is being detained as legal fights over his deportation continue. In assessing the Trump administration’s actions against Khalil, who was a part of Columbia University’s encampments in April 2024, Cruz sternly warned that anyone who hates the U.S. or is “an antisemitic bigot” should not come to the country, adding that those on student VISAs are not protected under the nation’s First Amendment.

“Coming to this country on a VISA is a permissive matter,” Cruz argued on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum. “It is a matter of grace, and we’re not going to bring in people who hate America. We’re not going to bring in people who terrorize their fellow students, who attack Jewish students, who threaten Jewish students, who burn American flags. We have no obligation to let people in who hate this country.”

Cruz then expressed gratitude to the Trump administration for canceling grants to Columbia University, arguing that school administrators “embraced” the pro-Hamas protests taking place on campus grounds last year. He was also enthusiastic that “this will not be the only person deported,” contending that those protesting Kahlil’s imprisonment are partaking in “self-reporting” since many are also on student VISAs.


The ICE Detention of a Columbia Student Is Just the Beginning
In a statement on Monday, Trump reiterated that “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity” will not be tolerated, noting that many protesters on campuses are “paid agitators.” (The Department of Homeland Security and the White House declined to comment on further actions at any other schools or how many arrests may be made in the coming weeks.)

This weekend, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted that the State Department would be revoking the student visas and green cards of Hamas supporters. But exactly how this policy will be carried out remains unclear. Axios reported that the government will use AI for its new “Catch and Revoke” program to scan the social media accounts of students who are studying in the U.S. on visas to help identify those who support Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Mark Goldfeder, head of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and a constitutional law expert, told The Free Press that there are several strong legal arguments for the revoking of visas.

For starters, Turner v. Williams, a Supreme Court case from 1904, set the precedent that aliens can be deported if they are engaging in specific dangerous activities or if they have certain dangerous views that those “who hold and advocate them would be undesirable additions to our population.”

“The Supreme Court has been clear that the First Amendment might apply with some conditions to foreigners, and there [are] over 120 years of Supreme Court precedent saying that this is literally one of those conditions,” Goldfeder said.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed in 1952, a visa holder who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support[s] a terrorist organization” can be deported. This statute, Goldfeder says, could survive what’s called “strict scrutiny” under the First Amendment.

“The statute would have to protect a compelling governmental interest and be narrowly tailored to protect that interest,” said Goldfeder. “Because free speech is so incredibly important, in order to survive strict scrutiny, there would have to be an additional constitutional imperative weighing on the other side. What would that be? National security.”


Trump border czar Tom Homan warns Columbia anti-Israel agitator is first ‘of many’ to be targeted
Border czar Tom Homan has warned that Columbia University anti-Israel protest ringleader Mahmoud Khalil will be the first “of many” legal green card holders to be nabbed and targeted for deportation if they abuse their rights.

Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian who received his graduate degree from the Ivy League school in December, is fighting deportation after he was detained over the weekend by federal immigration agents in the Big Apple.

The 30-year-old — who was a driving force behind many of the anti-Israel protests, building takeovers and encampments that have plagued Columbia for more than a year — had not been charged with any crimes tied to his activism prior to his arrest.

Still, Homan insisted Monday the feds “absolutely can” boot someone from the US — even if they are here legally — and vowed Khalil wouldn’t be the last to be locked up and potentially thrown out.

“That’s just one out of many,” Homan told Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” on Monday of Khalil’s detainment.

“I mean, did he violate the terms of his visa? Did he violate the terms of his residency here, you know, committing crimes, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings, destroying property?” Homan added.


Columbia won’t help identify ‘pro-Hamas’ students, White House says
Columbia University is refusing to help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identify students from a list of individuals, who have “engaged in pro-Hamas activity” on campus, the White House said Tuesday.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters at a briefing that the department has gathered the names of other individuals it believes have fallen afoul of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to combat antisemitism.

“They have been using intelligence to identify individuals on our nation’s colleges and universities—on our college campuses—who have engaged in such behavior and activity, and especially illegal activity,” Leavitt said.

“I don’t have a readout on how many arrests will come, but I do know that DHS is actively working on it,” she said. “I also know that Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals, who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity, and they are refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus.”

“As the president said very strongly in his statement yesterday, he is not going to tolerate that,” she said.

JNS sought comment from Columbia. A spokesman for the university pointed JNS to a statement from Columbia’s interim president saying that the school has and will continue to “follow the law” and that it has a longstanding policy of denying law enforcement access to non-public campus areas unless they have a warrant.

The White House’s claim that Columbia is refusing to cooperate with the department’s investigation comes amid ongoing controversy over deportation proceedings against Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate, who is a leader of the anti-Israel protest movement on Columbia’s campus.
Jewish student slams Mahmoud Khalil’s actions as opposite of ‘free speech’ and says Cornell anti-Israel mob ‘not a surprise’
Federally detained Columbia University agitator Mahmoud Khalil’s case is “not about free speech,” a Jewish student told The Post — after his school, Cornell, was the latest to be caught up in disruptive, anti-Israel protests.

Sam Friedman, a 21-year-old junior at Cornell’s College of Engineering, was at the Ithaca, New York, campus’ Bailey Hall on Monday night when a mob shouted down the Israeli and Palestinian speakers who had gathered for the event entitled “Pathways to Peace.”

But despite the hosts’ noble intentions, and the participation of both sides in the conflict, including former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former prime minister of the Palestinian authority, Salam Fayyad, Monday’s talk quickly descended into chaos.

“I’m a big free speech advocate. I think free speech is really important, and what these people did at Cornell is the opposite of free speech,” Friedman told The Post. “They intentionally blocked people from speaking freely.”

The organizers of the protests and walk-outs at Cornell, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), now face suspension as a registered campus group, the college’s interim president, Michael Kotlikoff confirmed.

It comes as fury has erupted on many campuses across the US following the arrest of Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil on Saturday by ICE agents for his role in anti-Israel campus protests where sick flyers glorifying Hamas were distributed.

The Trump administration believes the US has legal justification to deport Khalil, 30, a green card-holding Palestinian who received his graduate degree from the Ivy League school in December.

It’s a position Friedman supports.


Michael Goodwin: Dems defending Columbia anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil is yet another example of how they and elite schools failed Jewish students
Even before the latest probes were announced, Harvard, MIT and Penn had imposed hiring freezes because the Department of Health and Human Services aims to save money by reducing its grants by $4 billion.

The schools’ hiring freeze came because of the way most federal research grants are structured. In addition to a specific dollar amount for the actual research involved, grants also include additional amounts of up to 75% to pay for administrative and facility-wide costs, including salaries.

The added funds are fungible, an example being that Columbia says it gets 25% of its annual operating budget from Washington.

But even before the civil rights crackdown, the Trump administration planned to cap the added amount at 15% of the original grant.

That would be a huge hit to big research institutions like Columbia, making the penalties for civil rights violations the equivalent of a second earthquake.

Even the elite schools with large endowments would face major turbulence, especially if big donors pull back.

As the potential consequences become clear, some defenders are wailing that Trump is out to destroy higher education.

Blah blah blah.

Just remember that the schools have only themselves to blame.
What are the beliefs of Mahmoud Khalil’s activist group CUAD?
With the Saturday arrest of Columbia University Apartheid Divest senior activist Mahmoud Khalil, the organization that has been involved in a series of confrontations with New York City academic institutions has been thrust back into the spotlight.

The issue of law enforcement action against the group’s leadership cannot be separated from the actions and objectives of CUAD, which perceives itself as a revolutionary force working toward the destruction of the United States and Israel.

The means to achieve this are not just through vandalism and civil unrest, which CUAD directly employs, as the group also supports terrorism at home and in the Middle East, praising the October 7 massacre as the pinnacle of revolutionary action.

CUAD, a coalition of far-left and anti-Israel student activist organizations, led many of the post-October 7 protest actions at Columbia University.

The flagship Columbia encampment established in April inspired a global campaign emulating the occupation of campus spaces. The Columbia encampment project culminated in the occupation of Hamilton Hall, with the activists renaming the conquered facility “Hind’s Hall.”

In the short term, the protests sought to pressure New York academic institutions to disclose all investments and cut any financial and academic ties with Israel, its institutions, or those in relationship with them.

Yet the revolutionary ideology that motivates CUAD seeks more than these immediate objectives, in the same way that new demands have arisen by activist groups once their calls for a ceasefire were met.


Ilhan Omar’s Daughter Promotes Fundraiser For Pro-Hamas Activist in ICE Custody
Isra Hirsi, the daughter of "Squad" member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), championed a fundraiser supporting Mahmoud Khalil, the student activist and foreign national facing deportation by the Trump administration over his pro-Hamas campus organizing.

The online fundraiser was launched after ICE took Khalil into custody Saturday night after the State Department revoked his visa and green card. By Wednesday afternoon, the fundraiser had raised nearly $270,000, surpassing its $250,000 goal and prompting administrators to set a new target of $500,000.

Hirsi, a far-left activist, anti-Israel agitator, and Barnard College senior, posted a screenshot of the fundraiser with a link to the webpage on her Instagram story Tuesday afternoon, which at the time had raised about $115,000.

The money "will help Mahmoud and his family’s urgent and evolving needs as we work to secure his release and support his family during this incredibly difficult time," according to the fundraising page. The funds will go toward Khalil’s legal defense, secure bail if he becomes eligible for release, assist his family, and cover medical expenses. They will also bankroll "long-term justice efforts" to "hold those responsible for his unlawful detention accountable."

The fundraiser ends by noting, "Mahmoud has dedicated his life to fighting for justice. Now, he needs us to fight for him. Let’s stand together and bring him home."


Wild scenes as dozens of protestors are arrested in clash with NYPD as 'pro-Hamas' Columbia University graduate faces deportation
Dozens were arrested in New York City after swarming the streets to protest the arrest of 'pro-Hamas' rioter Mahmoud Khalil.

Student activists staged a sit-in at Columbia University on Tuesday, before hundreds of protestors descended on Washington Square Park, reported CBS News.

The group moved from the park, and marched through Lower Manhattan. Some protesters were arrested at City Hall, although police have not provided a total number of arrests as yet.

The New York Post reported at least a dozen protesters were handcuffed after they blocked the streets and refused to listen to NYPD instructions to clear the road.

'Move cops, get out the way, we know you're Israeli trained,' some protesters chanted. 'Oink, oink, piggy, piggy. We're gonna make your lives s****y.'

Images showed keffiyeh clad protesters wearing face coverings as they marched through the streets carrying Palestinian flags.

Khalil, 29, a Palestinian who was born and raised in Syria, helped to lead protests against Israel at Columbia University last year. He also acted as a negotiator between students and university officials.

The protests were allowed to run rampant for two weeks. They were marked by violent assaults and instances of Jewish students being afraid to go to class.


Anti-Israel Cornell students disrupt ‘peace’ event with foul, antisemitic chants directed at ex-foreign minister
Foul-mouthed anti-Israel protesters disrupted an event at Cornell University, where former Palestinian and Israeli officials came together to discuss peace in the region.

The “Pathways to Peace” discussion — which featured Israel’s former foreign minister and vice prime minister, Tzipi Livni — descended into chaos when unruly activists broke out in antisemitic chants and hurled abuse at the politician.

“F–k you, war criminals,” a keffiyeh-clad female student yelled, according to video of the commotion shared by Cornell student Sam Friedman.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” other demonstrators shouted, using the slogan deemed antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League.

Friedman, a 21-year-old junior at the Ivy League institution’s College of Engineering, said he attended because he was “excited” to hear both perspectives.

“I was very excited for the event, I’m a Jewish student, and I’m interested in what’s happening in the Middle East,” he told The Post.

“I thought this was a really good way to hear not just Israeli perspectives, but also Palestinian perspectives.”But from the start, it was “marred with protesters,” Friedman said.

“The irony is that you had Livni, who is a left-wing, pro-Palestinian Israeli, an advocate for the Palestinian state, and the former head of the Palestinian authority, and meanwhile these students not only won’t listen to them but they’re shouting them down,” the junior said.


‘Deeply concerning’: Albanese govt torched after extremist groups found to infiltrate uni campuses
The Albanese government has been torched for its apparent inaction after universities were advised to heighten security to prevent “outside agitators” found to have flooded campuses during pro-Palestine protests and encampments last year.

Last week, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) released an interim consultation paper containing measures universities should adopt in response to “external actors” and “outside agitators” setting foot on campuses to push their pro-Palestine agendas.

The TEQSA brief said the "outside agitators" have been identified as a “challenge” educational institutions “need to manage”.

“Many of the more serious incidents that occurred during the protests and encampments involved external actors,” the paper said.

In TEQSA’s interim guidance report, universities were advised to tighten their campus management in four key areas.

TEQSA advised the display of a statement at the entrances to campus, outlining the conditions of access to the grounds of the university, securing building access through key cards, issuing identification cards for students and staff, further CCTV monitoring and body cams for security guards.

Shadow education minister Sarah Henderson told Sky News Australia it was “deeply concerning” extremist organisations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir had been “allowed” to operate on campuses and menace students and exploit academic institutions to push their ideology.

Ms Henderson said the Albanese government had “failed to act decisively” and the TEQSA proposal was a “band-aid solution to a serious and escalating problem”.

“For a year, the Coalition has been sounding the alarm on this issue… (and) called for a judicial inquiry into the rise of antisemitism on university campuses – the government voted it down,” Ms Henderson said.

“We called for a national antisemitism code to protect Jewish students – again, Labor rejected it.”

“And today, the university regulator admitted it has not even asked the Education Minister for additional powers, despite just making a submission to a Senate inquiry stating that it needs them.”


(Another) Washington Post Journalist Loves Hamas and Calls Israel an "Illegal State"
What more can be said about The Washington Post’s descent into outright villainy that hasn’t already been said? Once a highly respected newspaper, it has since earned the moniker “Al Jazeera on the Potomac,” largely due to its pathological obsession with demonizing Israel, whitewashing the crimes of genocidal terrorist groups like Hamas, and even scolding the families of Israeli hostages for failing to sufficiently denounce casualties in Gaza—casualties that are solely the result of Hamas launching the war with its October 7 massacre.

A newspaper is only as credible as its journalists, and in the case of The Washington Post, it’s clear that at least some of its reporters have allowed their personal biases to bleed into their coverage.

Enter Heba Farouk Mahfouz. A former journalist for Germany’s DW network and a freelancer for The Times, The Guardian, and PBS, Mahfouz has been with The Washington Post since 2016. She’s also described by Wapo as a “researcher” for its team, which means she plays a role in finding the info and sources used in the paper’s pieces.

I only wish I had caught her blatant antisemitism and support for terrorism earlier—it might have spared us years of egregious coverage.

But since this is what you’re all here for, let’s dive into some of Ms. Mahfouz’s greatest hits, shall we?

Heba Farouk Mahfouz’s Greatest Hits
Call me old-fashioned, but I think it’s wildly inappropriate for a journalist to report on a country she believes is “illegal” and shouldn’t exist.

Ms. Mahfouz also thinks that Zionism—the belief in the Jewish right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland—is racism. By the way, the UN revoked its infamous 1975 “Zionism is Racism” resolution in 1991.

In 2004, while inaugurating the first United Nations conference on antisemitism, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan acknowledged the organization's past failures, stating: “Let us acknowledge that the United Nations’ record on anti-Semitism has at times fallen short of our ideals. The General Assembly resolution of 1975, equating Zionism with racism, was an especially unfortunate decision. I am glad that it has since been rescinded.”

On Hamas Terrorism
Ms. Mahfouz’s views on Hamas are unsurprising, given that they both share the same goal of Israel not existing anymore.

While she does concede that she “[doesn’t] like Hamas’ social repression of Palestinians,” she finds it in herself to still “always and forever support the resistance as long as it is against the Zionist entity.” Now that’s real devotion.

She similarly posted that “I am always and forever with the resistance! And with Hamas and Hezbollah too, as long as their weapons are against Israel….”


Negotiations for hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov's release expected to begin, sources tell 'Post'
There is general agreement between the relevant parties to begin negotiations for the release of Russian-Israeli Elizabeth Tsurkov, Western diplomats have told The Jerusalem Post.

Tsurkov, 38, a researcher at Princeton University, was kidnapped in March 2023 in Baghdad by the pro-Iranian Shi’ite militia Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi terrorist organization.

In January, Iraq’s foreign minister said Tsurkov was alive, and that Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani is working to facilitate her release.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, has been working on the issue.

Amid reports in recent days about the transfer of Tsurkov to Iran, Western diplomats told the Post they believe she is still in Iraq.
Iran Rejects Trump’s Diplomacy, Setting Up Showdown as War Talk Escalates
The White House on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to take military action against Iran if the country does not consent to negotiations on its contested nuclear weapons program, ratcheting up pressure just a day after Tehran’s hardline leadership categorically rejected diplomatic overtures from the Trump administration.

"To reiterate, President Trump said it clearly that there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or by making a deal," White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told the Washington Free Beacon. "We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror."

Tehran, however, says it has no interest in negotiating with America. Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei was defiant on Wednesday when he promised to retaliate if the United States resorted to military force.

"Iran does not seek war, but if the Americans and their cohorts do a damn thing whatsoever, Iran's retaliation is decisive and definite, and the one who will be the loser would be America," Khamenei said during a meeting with Iranian university students on Wednesday. "Iran is capable of dealing a blow to the aggressor and will definitely hit it back."

The fiery rhetoric comes less than a week after the White House confirmed that Trump sent a letter to the Iranian leadership asking for diplomatic talks. That letter was delivered Wednesday to Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting with a delegation from the United Arab Emirates.

"The claim by the U.S. president that they are ready to negotiate is a deception of world public opinion," Khamenei said, adding that if Iran "wanted to acquire nuclear weapons, the United States could not have stopped us."

Just a day earlier, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian expressed a similar sentiment, rejecting talks with Washington and daring it to attack.

"When you threaten me, I don't want to negotiate with you," Pezeshkian said Tuesday during a televised speech. "Do whatever damn thing you can."

Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said Tehran may be miscalculating when it dismisses Trump's threats to start a war.

"When Trump signals all options are on the table, he means that—from good to bad," Taleblu said. "Despite Iranian newspapers saying Trump is beating an empty drum, his willingness" to kill Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in his first term and to keep imposing crippling sanctions signals the American president's more recent comments "should not be minimized."

Trump has repeatedly said he prefers a diplomatic solution to address growing concerns around Iran’s nuclear program but also made clear he will not shy away from the military option.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury laments ‘resurgence of antisemitic rhetoric’
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Rowan Williams has condemned the “resurgence of antisemitic rhetoric’.

Speaking at the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Annual Memorial Lecture at King’s College London, he said: “We have witnessed the resurgence of antisemitic rhetoric and activity, within the nightmare cycle of violence that has been so much more deeply entrenched, with the butchery of 7 October.

“The desperate plight of the hostages is a bitterly vivid symbol of the way that so many lives – Jewish and non-Jewish – are held hostage by a climate of terror.”



A close friend and colleague of Rabbi Sacks, Lord Williams also spoke movingly of the late Chief Rabbi and asked how Rabbi Sacks might have approached the profound challenges of our time.

Stuart Roden, a trustee of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy, said: “The annual memorial lecture continues to pay tribute to Rabbi Sacks, who had a unique ability to convey Jewish teachings and texts in a way that resonated with people of all backgrounds and faiths, drawing on our shared humanity as a foundation for a better society and future.”

Lady Elaine Sacks added: “This year’s memorial lecture in memory of my late husband was a testament to his enduring impact even beyond the Jewish community.”
Two middle-aged women defied the Nazis, one ‘wrote’ a book that betrayed the other
Matthew Goodman didn’t set out to explore that question when he began research for his new book, “Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal.” He meant to tell the story of Etta Shiber and Kate Bonnefous, middle-aged women in Nazi-occupied Paris who sheltered dozens of British and French soldiers trapped behind enemy lines and smuggled them to safety.

His source text was “Paris-Underground,” an enormously popular account of their exploits first published in 1943 and credited to Shiber and two co-authors. It told how the two women helped establish an “escape line” for soldiers in the first months of the occupation, how both were arrested by the Gestapo, and how Shiber was released after 18 months while Bonnefous (called “Kitty” in the book) continued to suffer in Nazi-run prisons.

The book spent 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list on the way to selling half a million copies, with a boost by the influential Book-of-the-Month Club. Constance Bennett, a highly paid star of the 1930s, produced and starred in a Hollywood movie adaptation released in 1945.

“It checked a lot of the boxes that I look for when I write a book: It’s got a dramatic arc. It has interesting characters, it has larger significance,” Goodman recalled in an interview. “My only worry was that I was going to be too dependent on the memoir for my book.”

Not to worry: The more Goodman dug, the more he found much of the book didn’t match the historical record. While Shiber and Bonnefous did run an escape line, the book was largely fictionalized, and Shiber didn’t write it. What’s more, an inspiring story of wartime courage took on a darker tone when Goodman found evidence that the book’s publication actually endangered Kate, at the time still a prisoner of the Nazis.

“Ultimately it becomes a larger, more complicated story and, to me, a more interesting story, because it does get into this sort of moral calculus,” said Goodman. “Kate is obviously betrayed by this publication of the book; Etta is betrayed by the publishers,” who assured her that its publication would not make things worse for her friend. “At the same time, you can understand why they might have said that, because it did help the war effort. It’s a complicated affair.”
Labour MP urges party to bring in anti-BDS bill to stop councils pursuing ‘unpatriotic foreign policy’
A Labour MP has called on the government to bring in their own version of “anti-BDS” legislation to stop local councils from pursuing policies that differ from Westminster on defence and foreign affairs.

According to the Daily Telegraph, several councils – including Dudley, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham and Islington – have backed motions to divest from British defence and security companies in response to demands by pro-Palestine activists.

The actions of these councils, some of which are Labour-led, contrast with the government’s aim to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027.
UKLFI: Complaint sent to the OSCR after boycott of Coca-Cola products by the Glasgow Film Theatre
The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) has been accused of breaching charity law by not serving Coca-Cola products from the cinema bar for the duration of the Glasgow Film Festival.

This decision to boycott followed objections from staff who refused to handle any goods or brands with links to Israel, in line with the Palestinian BDS National Committee. (Its members include the Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine, which consists of groups including the terrorists Hamas, PFLP and Islamic Jihad.)

Unite Hospitality, the union for hospitality workers in bars, restaurants, cafes, casinos and hotels across the UK and Ireland, announced that the workers’ demands had been met on 3 March 2025 following a boycott by the GFT’s front-of-house and cleaning teams.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has written a letter to the OSCR, the independent regulator for charities in Scotland, citing breaches of sections 7 and 8 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the Act), pointing out that anti-Israel campaigns such as boycotting companies that operate in Israel are outside GFT’s charitable purposes and therefore illegal.

Furthermore, UKLFI believed that the GFT was also in breach of section 66 of the Act in relation to the breaches of duties by the GFT’s Trustees, the Equality Act 2010 and its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
Starmer condemns antisemitism in NHS after Jewish staffer called ‘baby killer’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned antisemitism in the NHS after a shocking case emerged of a Jewish healthcare worker being called a “baby killer” by a colleague.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq raised concerns about rising antisemitism in the NHS, citing the incident in her constituency as part of a disturbing trend.

“The NHS that I know and love is open to everyone regardless of their background,” Siddiq said. “Could I ask the prime minister what he is doing to ensure that my Jewish constituents can safely use our beloved NHS?”

Starmer described the reports as “deeply concerning” and “completely unacceptable,” insisting that racism and discrimination have no place in the health service.

“I expect all trusts and healthcare providers to take necessary action against any staff who have expressed views that do not reflect the values of the NHS,” he said.
UKLFI: Barts Health NHS Trust introduces No Political Symbols staff dress code following multiple sightings of pro-Palestine badges
Barts Health NHS Trust has confirmed that hospital staff are not allowed to wear political symbols following a review of its uniform policy that comes into effect this week. There have been a string of incidents in the hospitals of the Barts Health NHS Trust, where Jewish patients were distressed by staff wearing pro-Palestinian badges and clothing.

The latest incident to be reported by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) to Barts NHS Trust was when a young Jewish woman went to Whipps Cross hospital for a caesarean birth. During the 24 hours that she was in hospital, she encountered three members of staff wearing political slogans: two with “Free Palestine” badges on their lanyards and one with a watermelon badge.

She commented:
“The display of these symbols made me feel extremely vulnerable, particularly given the level of antisemitic activity we’re all witnessing via the extreme elements of online activity and at the UK-wide marches etc. While waiting for surgery in the operating theatre, I felt panicked as each person walked in that they too would be wearing a badge and that my care may be jeopardized or, that someone who dislikes Jewish people or Israel would be responsible for the delivery of my child which, even if not a risk to my health, feels wholly unpleasant.”

“I understand the strength of feeling from those deeply concerned about the conflict. However, I do not see that it is reasonable to have political views on display in the workplace, particularly when dealing with patients at their most vulnerable and when the conflict and the symbolism surrounding it are so deeply complex.”

This patient was also particularly concerned that even though it has been well publicised that Jewish patients find these symbols intimidating, the individuals who were caring for her continued to wear the badges with no regard for the impact on patient wellbeing.


Artist stands by Netanyahu-Hitler painting after exhibition ban
An artist whose painting depicting Benjamin Netanyahu and Adolf Hitler morphing into one another has defended his work after it was removed from an art fair.

Monster, by James Earley, was pulled from The Other Art Fair in London’s Truman Brewery after the opening night for allegedly violating the event’s terms and conditions.

The piece, part of the artist’s Racism and Colonialism collection, has since been sold to a private buyer for £3,750. Earley, responding to the backlash, said he has faced “waves of hate and insults” and claimed that pressure from critics has led galleries and art platforms to distance themselves from him.

He wrote on his website: “I strongly disagree that art should be censored, and I will not be silenced,” and urged supporters to share his work online.

Addressing accusations of antisemitism, Earley told Jewish News: “I am not antisemitic. I have previously created paintings that call out the horrors of the Holocaust and how evil that period of our history is. I’ve been to Auschwitz and crumbled as I learnt the cruelty that took place there. I just want all the violence to stop, whether it’s done by Hamas or the IDF. My views are of Netanyahu and not the people of Israel.”


Still upright at 85, John Cleese to bring sit-down comedy to Israel
John Cleese, the legendary comedian who charmed the globe as a member of the Monty Python troupe, and in “Fawlty Towers” and “A Fish Called Wanda” among other hits, will return to Israel for three shows in June.

Cleese, 85, will perform his new show, “An Evening with John Cleese,” in Jerusalem on June 26, and in two Tel Aviv locations on June 28 and 29.

The show is pegged as an up-close and personal encounter with the British creator and actor as he tells his life story, reminiscing about all kinds of moments in his history.

Reviewers of the show have commented on Cleese’s brand of “sit-down” comedy — as he jokes that he’s too old to do stand-up — as well as plenty of one-liners and stories about aging, cancel culture and politics.

Cleese will probably comment on Israeli politics as well, something he’s been known to do, but with a gentle approach.

Cleese last appeared in Israel in 2019 for a set of shows titled “Last Time to See Me Before I Die.”


Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 

at