Saturday, March 15, 2025

03/15 Links: The Coalition of the Sentimental and the Homicidal; How American Aid Has Subsidized Terror; U.S. kicks out South Africa's Hamas-linked ambassador

From Ian:

The Coalition of the Sentimental and the Homicidal
The short answer is peer approval, credibility, and a temporary sense of moral righteousness, purchased only at the cost of their prior principles. For these are people who, presumably, once upon a time, were morally opposed to rape, mass murder, and the taking of hostages.

That most of the campus protesters are to be found at the most expensive universities, and thus either come from wealthy families or are the recipients of highly prized scholarships, is not incidental to this hypocrisy; poshlost is a crime of privilege. It is a political statement that serves to please the issuer of the statement while not, in any way, advancing the interests of the cause it purports to represent. It is virtue-signaling in which the purpose is to impress oneself rather than change the opinions of others. It is selective sentimentality, frequently accompanied by astonishing callousness. It is an idle amusement, as it’s easy to cry crocodile tears about a conflict one knows nothing about when there is no job at stake, and no bills piling up, and there is the assurance that, if arrested, bail will be immediately available.

Thus, the term poshlost is even more apropos than Nabokov could have imagined and deserves acceptance as a new English-language portmanteau word: These posh and comfortable protesters, play-acting like children in their keffiyehs and waving flags whose meanings are unknown to them, are well and truly morally lost.

Many of these purveyors of poshlost are not merely falsely sentimental or insincere; they are deliberately manipulative in their lust for likes and clicks. They use their selectively empathetic personas in service of nakedly mercantilistic ends. One professional therapist writes: “Now that we are blocking all celebrities, influencers and businesses that do not support Palestine by speaking out and fighting to end the genocide in Gaza, might I suggest we start following those that do? Like, perhaps my small hypnotherapy practice.”

The novelist Milan Kundera, who well knew the horrors of totalitarian rule, has nicely skewered false sentimentality: “Two tears flow in quick succession. The first tear says: how nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: how nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass.” Put another way, “sentimentality is that peculiarly human vice which consists in directing your emotions toward your own emotions, so as to be the subject of a story told by yourself,” as the English philosopher Roger Scruton noted in his autobiography.

The sentimentalists are playing a double game: They are dispensing, and attracting, warm feelings and approbation for themselves and their kind, while at the same time providing cover for totalitarians and terrorists. Though some are well-meaning, and genuinely naive, the innocents among them have long ago been outpaced by the calculating cynics. The latter dress up evil in a manner no different from that of the directors of the Nazi-run Theresienstadt labor camp, where the Nazis planted pretty gardens and painted barracks in lively colors to dupe inspectors from the International Red Cross. (Not that the International Red Cross, then or now, has ever needed any assistance in overlooking Jewish suffering.)

To be clear, there are many different categories and types of lies about the conflict. The insincere sentimentalism about the Palestinians may not be the worst type, but it is the most insidious because it wraps itself in a phony cloak of decency and compassion that appeals to people’s innate moral narcissism. It infiltrates the psyches of the very people who think of themselves as the most kind, the most sincere, and ostensibly the most peace-loving.

They are, in fact, exactly the opposite of these things.

One folksinger on Instagram, who acknowledges living on Tongva land, sings a song referencing “from the river to the sea.” In a musical litany of complaints about capitalism, Covid, hurricanes, “policing gender roles,” climate change, and Israel’s supposed “pinkwashing,” the singer declares, “Lord, at least we have our souls.” This person, like so many of the poshlost army, has posted nothing about the October 7 massacre or the years of rocket attacks against Israeli communities. Which makes Scruton’s point that “a moral argument must be consistent if it is to be sincere.”

If you plant metaphorical gardens that obscure your view of actual murders and sing poshlost folk tunes designed to paint over and glamorize the likes of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, you have become morally bankrupt. Despite your guitar, your guilt, and your peer-approved opinions, you have long ago lost your soul.
The Bibas Children and Ivan Karamazov’s Rebellion
So powerful is Ivan’s argument that Konstantin Pobedonostsev, chief procurator of the Holy Synod governing the Russian Orthodox Church, wondered how Dostoevsky, whom he knew to be a Christian, could possibly answer it. Pause to consider that the strongest arguments against God ever made are advanced in the world’s greatest Christian novel. But that is the whole point: If one is intellectually honest, as both Ivan and Dostoevsky were, one does not refute one’s opponents’ weakest arguments—any fool can do that—but his strongest ones. And if they have not formulated the strongest arguments on their side, one should do it for them. Dostoevsky was proud that he had made a more powerful case against God than any enemy of religion had. The rest of the novel attempts to answer this case by following Ivan’s own method. It does not advance counterarguments but offers, or aspires to offer, pictures of goodness, love, and meaningfulness more powerful than any argument could be. Whether Dostoevsky succeeded in refuting Ivan is another question.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas went one step beyond those cultured and educated parents who tortured their little girl in secret, under cover of darkness. Hamas filmed and broadcast its crimes as if they were the highest moral feats. Recall the enthusiastic tone of that young man who called his parents to boast about his murders: “Open my WhatsApp now and you’ll see all those killed. Look how many I killed with my own hands! Your son killed Jews!… Dad, I’m talking to you from a Jewish woman’s phone. I killed her and I killed her husband. I killed ten with my own hands! Dad, ten with my own hands!… Their blood is on my hands, put Mom on.”

His mother responded: “Oh my son, God bless you!”

“I swear ten with my own hands, Mother… . Dad, go back to WhatsApp now Dad, I want to do a live broadcast… . Mom, your son is a hero, kill, kill, kill!”

“Their blood is on my hands, put Mom on”: In America and elsewhere, Students for Justice in Palestine and other groups rushed to express their delight at the October 7 murders. The more Jewish blood, the better. And when Hamas returned the bodies of the strangled Bibas children, they did so as a great party. Parents brought their children to a baby-murder parade.

Even Hitler and Stalin never did this. They concealed their crimes. I recall reading that the Nazis taunted their Jewish victims that no one would ever find out what had happened to them. With the help of New York Times reporter Walter Duranty, Stalin succeeded in covering up the deliberate starvation of millions of peasants during the collectivization of agriculture. Photographed with a child hugging him, Stalin conveyed the image of himself as perfectly humane.

La Rochefoucauld famously remarked that hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue: Even the vicious profess to believe in kindness. If so, Hamas—and their American followers—are no hypocrites. They flaunt their barbarity. And not just their leaders, but also ordinary people calling home to boast of killings or joyously celebrating the strangling of little children. Such souls are truly dark.

On October 7, and when the Bibas children were returned, I recalled how shaken I had been decades earlier to learn about the torture of Sylvia Likens and to visit what remained of Auschwitz. We often hear of events that partake of evil, but watching Hamas, I felt once again I had touched on evil’s very heart.
How American Aid Has Subsidized Terror
These legitimate strategic objectives are undermined when aid falls into the wrong hands. The Middle East Forum’s research has identified approximately $164 million in USAID and State Department grants flowing to organizations with extremist ties, with at least $122 million directly benefiting groups aligned with designated foreign terrorist organizations. The systemic nature of these failures is particularly concerning. As mentioned, World Vision continued its relationship with problematic partners even after the Islamic Relief Agency scandal, and the warnings about the terror links to Helping Hand for Relief and Development were ignored while funding continued.

The Trump 47 administration, in coordination with Elon Musk’s review at DOGE, has frozen or reassigned many staff positions at USAID, pending a thorough evaluation of who is responsible for these abuses. Spreadsheets posted by the administration to show the extent of foreign-aid spending have been criticized as “wild” or “inaccurate.” Yet the broad brushstrokes are accurate: Billions have gone to questionable projects, and no single line item enumerates them. That is partly because some managers awarded money to unnamed or shadowy organizations, hidden behind the aforementioned “miscellaneous foreign awardees” category.

Eliminating such chaos will take more than new guidelines on paper. A cultural shift must accompany it. If top-level administrators remain committed to certain ideological crusades at the expense of U.S. security, no new rule will suffice. Some staff may need to be replaced or face criminal investigation. Several subcommittee members demanded that the State Department and USAID begin to itemize every last grant, sub-grant, and sub-sub-grant of the past decade. If that demand is met, the public might be shocked by the individuals or organizations that have lined their pockets.

Several U.S. statutes may apply to these cases. The first is 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, which prohibits material support to designated terrorist organizations. Another is 50 U.S.C. § 1705 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which criminalizes violations of sanctions against terror groups. Additionally, false statements to obtain federal funds (18 U.S.C. § 1001) and fraud in federal programs (18 U.S.C. § 666) might be relevant where organizations concealed extremist ties to secure grants.

The reform agenda must be comprehensive. Officials should create an organized “Do Not Fund” list merging data from the State Department, Treasury designations, intelligence agencies, and the Department of Justice. If an organization or its top personnel have documented links to extremist networks, they should land on that list. The system must track sub-grantees, not just direct recipients. Enforceable rules should require prime awardees to itemize every downstream partner and publicly file that information. Meanwhile, robust audits must confirm that an NGO cannot claim ignorance about its sub-sub-grantees.

Foreign aid is one of the noblest expressions of American leadership when it is spent wisely. In past decades, it helped defeat Soviet influence, curb infectious diseases, and lift whole regions from poverty. But the hearing on February 26 laid bare a darker side of modern foreign aid. The subcommittee’s findings were a clarion call for a reset. If U.S. assistance does not serve strategic interests and genuinely support threatened populations, it devolves into a slush fund that underwrites our foes or promotes fringe obsessions.

No one wants children to starve in war zones or real disasters to go unaddressed. Nevertheless, if long-standing agencies have indeed participated in funneling support to radical outfits—among them Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda’s affiliates, or Lashkar-e-Taiba—under a cloak of “humanitarian” assistance, then the time has arrived for serious housecleaning. This is bigger than petty politics. The United States’s credibility and citizens’ safety hang in the balance.

A betrayal of American generosity has occurred, but it need not continue. With bold legislative steps, transparent accounting, vigorous vetting, and swift punishment for wrongdoers, the system can be reoriented to its original mission: harnessing American compassion and strategic sense, not abusing them.
“The U.S. has Become One of the Largest Financiers of Global Islamism” - Middle East Forum Report
When we talk about terrorism funding, Iran and Qatar often take the spotlight for their support of extremist groups. However, according to a recent Multi-year study from Middle Easter Forum, in recent decades, the U.S. has quietly become one of the largest funders of global Islamism, channeling billions of taxpayer dollars through its foreign aid programs. Investigations have shown that they frequently end up supporting groups tied to terrorism, with little accountability or oversight. The State Department and USAID have knowingly funded terrorists and their proxies with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Over the years, the U.S. government has become one of the largest financial backers of global Islamism, with federal funds flowing to Islamist organizations both domestically and abroad. Violent extremists have thrived under U.S. aid programs, often with the agencies’ knowledge. Despite warnings from internal records and watchdogs, little has been done to address this.

A recent investigation by the Middle East Forum revealed that
- $164 million in federal grants: The Middle East Forum's study uncovered that USAID and the State Department approved $164 million in grants to radical organizations, with at least $122 million directed to groups linked to designated terrorists.
- Lack of vetting: Billions of taxpayer dollars have been given to major American aid charities that consistently fail to vet their local partners, many of which have links to terrorism.
- Hamas funding: USAID has funneled millions directly to organizations in Gaza controlled by Hamas, with U.S. officials even visiting terror proxies' offices and launching joint programs.
- Incitement of violence: USAID beneficiaries have called for "cleansing" lands of Jews, with some charity staff openly praising and encouraging violence against Jews.
- State Department funding radicals: The State Department has provided funds to radical domestic groups like the Tides Foundation, accused of supporting pro-Hamas, anti-Jewish violence on U.S. college campuses.
- Complicit charities: Aid organizations such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, and advocacy groups like InterAction have acted as vehicles for terror-tied Islamists, knowingly or unknowingly, both in the U.S. and abroad.
- Domestic Islamist funding: Federal funding has subsidized domestic Islamists involved with Hamas, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Turkish regime, undermining rules designed to combat terror finance in the U.S.
- Lack of transparency: Records of federal funding, especially through USAID, are obscured by poor disclosure practices and deliberate attempts to evade transparency, with millions going to anonymous beneficiaries in terrorist-affected regions.
- Internal concerns at USAID: USAID’s Office of Inspector General has raised alarms about the agency’s failure to properly vet recipients for links to violent extremism and the risk of abuse by armed groups. If USAID merges with the State Department, it is crucial that these concerns are not lost.


Meir Y. Soloveichik: Larry Summers’s Lease Hath All Too Short a Date
Given all that Summers has said, written, and reported about Harvard, the question must be asked: Would he express the same sentiments regarding funding if we were speaking of a Harvard rife with white supremacists? If racist pseudo-history were being taught throughout the humanities departments? If Harvard’s professional schools were to embrace racial hatred and refused to discipline racist mobs? Would Larry Summers still applaud the sustained supply of the federal spigot? To ask this question is to answer it.

Summers has persuasively made the case that a significant part of the university is sunk in a fetid stew of Jew-hate. Why, then, should taxpayers support such an institution short of a determined effort to eradicate this hatred?

Could it be that Summers sees anti-Semitism as a temporary and unfortunate illness afflicting his beloved institution? Can he not acknowledge the anti-Semitism he describes as an evil, one included in the Civil Rights Act’s prohibitions and protections pertaining to all federally funded institutions?

Simply put: Is anti-Semitism a cancer, or is it hate, plain and simple?

Enough is enough. Jew-hatred is not a virus. It is inaccurate to call it a cancer. It is an evil ideology that has been at the heart of some of the worst crimes in human history, one that has been willfully and eagerly embraced by students and significant figures in some of the most important and influential academic institutions in this country. And Harvard professors who are former Harvard presidents should describe it as such.

One of the most famous anecdotes in New York political history concerns the 1976 Senate race between James Buckley and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Buckley went out of his way to refer to his rival as “Professor Moynihan” and to identify him as “a Harvard professor.” When Moynihan was asked why Buckley kept referring to him in this fashion, he reportedly grinned and said: “The mudslinging has begun.”

At the time, it seemed funny; now, not so much. And one of the great tests of our time is whether those in academia, and especially those who are proud to claim the title of “Harvard professor,” will call evil by its name.
When will ‘sideline’ Jews finally speak up against their haters?
Indeed, while the post-Oct. 7 period has seen the rise of “accidental activists” committed to tackling antisemitism, many Jews have remained at the sidelines: silent, scared, anxious and uncertain. Others, such as author Peter Beinart and filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, have actually used their public profiles to lash out against Israel — appearing to blame the Jewish nation as the cause of the current antisemitism emergency.

At a moment when Jewish unity has never been needed more, many Jews are fueling divisions exploited by groups who chant for “intifada” and block Jewish college kids from attending classes.

This is not entirely surprising. Few minorities have been more supportive of or invested in left-leading ideologies such as DEI and other racial preference programs than American Jews. Indeed, during the height of the #BlackLivesMatter protests in August 2020, more than 600 Jewish groups signed an open letter published in The New York Times supporting the pro-black social justice movement. And they did so despite the baffling embrace by BLM leadership of anti-Zionist rhetoric in its seminal 2016 manifesto, which declared Israel an “apartheid state” and accused it of “genocide.”

Meanwhile, on college campuses, DEI leaders such as former University of Michigan administrator Rachel Dawson have allegedly framed Jewish students as “wealthy and privileged,” with little need for the institutional support her office provides to most other minority groups.

The result: Jews have been drowned out by an over-reaching identity politics industry that has profited from their philanthropy but failed to stand up for them in return.

Indeed, even during the height of the controversy surrounding author Ta-Nehisi Coates’ recent book, “The Message,” many Jews privately bemoaned its antisemitic tropes, but told me they were too scared of being “canceled” or called “racist” to publicly decry his writing.

Much of this fear is tied to activist judicial systems that have failed to prosecute anti-Jewish and anti-Israel agitators. Nearly all of the Columbia University students arrested during last year’s encampments, for instance, were allowed to return to their classrooms, and nearly all saw their charges dropped by Manhattan prosecutors. This is the type of impunity and lack of accountability the new Trump efforts aim to reverse — along with the silencing and intimidation that have come along with it.

While the fate of Khalil remains uncertain, the White House has made clear the Biden-Harris-era antisemitic tide must be reined in. And they’re providing the muscle to make it happen. But the White House can only do so much; ultimately Jews themselves must demand their needs are heard — their safety guaranteed — just like the other minority groups they’ve championed for so vocally.

What do you think? Post a comment.

There is no more potent a weapon for Hamas and its global band of sycophants and enablers than Jewish silence. Which is why the time for Jewish timidity is over. Love Trump or hate him, if he can commit to defending Jews globally, Jews — even along the sidelines — certainly must too.
Seth Frantzman: What's behind the Hamas offer to release US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander?
So far, there is a lack of clarity on what Hamas is up to. What does seem clear is that Hamas has received a Ramadan ceasefire and not had to turn over any hostages for weeks. Hamas is recuperating and recovering and recruiting. In Israel, demonstrators who support the hostages and their families turned out on March 15 to demand that the hostages be returned.

Even as Hamas recruits, it continues to threaten Israel. The IDF said on March 15 that “two terrorists were identified operating a drone that posed a threat to IDF troops in the area of Beit Lahia. The IDF struck the terrorists.” Sources in Gaza claimed up to nine people were killed, which would make this the most deadly day of the ceasefire in weeks. Hamas believes it can keep the ceasefire and not have to turn over any hostages.

It is unclear if there is a quiet understanding behind the scenes on all sides that Ramadan will be quiet and Hamas will not have to do anything in return for receiving its free ceasefire. Last year, during Ramadan, there was also less intensity to the fighting in Gaza, but the IDF was still operating against Hamas. At the moment, Hamas controls most of Gaza and thinks it has won the war. It assumes Israel’s current leadership doesn’t want to remove Hamas and that Israel prefers to claim that it will defeat Hamas but not actually go back into Gaza.

Hamas also assumes it can hold onto the hostages for years into the future, releasing a few here and there to receive months of ceasefire each time and then dragging out negotiations between the ceasefires as it is doing now.

Hamas believes that inertia now favors Hamas. It likely assumes that only when elections happen in Israel or there is some incentive for Jerusalem to return to fighting, that there might be another war, and otherwise, Hamas can do as it wants. Hamas has already murdered more than 1,000 people, more Jews in one day than at any time since the Shoah, and it continues to run Gaza after 17 months. It thinks Israel is incapable of defeating it or that interests in Israel prefer to keep Hamas in power and not replace it. Hamas will have to wait and see if this is the case. Until then, it will continue to float various hostage release concepts, as it did throughout 2024, to try to create short news cycles and controversy that favor Hamas as it stalls the negotiations.
Rubio: Hamas’s demands are ‘nuts,’ we’re dealing with ‘savages’
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday slammed as “nuts” the terms being demanded by Hamas in hostage-ceasefire negotiations, while insisting the Trump administration was committed to freeing all of the 59 captives held by the Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza.

“We care about all the hostages, we want all the hostages released. … But we’re also talking about bodies. And these trades that are being made, they’re ridiculous trades—400 people for three. These are nuts,” Rubio said at a press conference during the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec.

“On top of that, you see the condition these people are being released in. … We’re sitting around as the world, sort of accepting that it’s normal and okay for you to go into a place, kidnap babies, kidnap teenagers, kidnap people who have nothing to do with any wars, that are not soldiers … and taking them and putting them in tunnels for almost a year and a half,” he continued.

“The whole world should continue to say that what Hamas has done is outrageous, it’s ridiculous, it’s sick, it’s disgusting. … We’re just dealing with some savages. That’s it. These are bad people, terrible people, and we need to treat them as such,” added Rubio.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday denounced as “psychological warfare” a Hamas offer to release Edan Alexander, 21, in an effort to jump-start stalled talks.

“While Israel accepted the Witkoff plan, Hamas persisted in its refusal and did not move a millimeter,” according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, referring to Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire.

“At the same time, [Hamas] continues to employ manipulation and psychological warfare,” added the PMO.

Netanyahu was set to convene his ministerial team on Saturday night to review a detailed report from its negotiators and decide on the next steps, the statement said.
Hamas ‘impractical,’ Witkoff says, as hostage talks reach deadlock
U.S. Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday blamed Hamas for disingenuously stalling negotiations over an extended ceasefire in Gaza, making “impractical” demands.

“Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire,” Witkoff said in a statement in the wake of a new proposal formulated by Washington.

“Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not,” the envoy warned. “Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes.”

On March 6, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to the Gaza-based terrorist organization, saying that it must release the remaining hostages or else there will be “HELL TO PAY LATER!”

“President Trump has made it clear that Hamas will either release hostages immediately, or pay a severe price,” Witkoff said in his latest statement.

He further said that he and Eric Trager, the U.S. National Security Council’s senior director for the Middle East, proposed on Wednesday in Doha, Qatar, to extend an Israel-Hamas truce beyond Ramadan and Passover as a “bridge” toward talks over a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas was told via the Qatari and Egyptian mediators that this “bridge proposal” must be accepted “quickly” and that Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who also has American citizenship, must be released “immediately,” Witkoff continued.

The four other men with American citizenship still held in the Gaza Strip are believed to be dead.
U.S. kicks out South Africa's Hamas-linked ambassador
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday designated the South African ambassador to the Washington Ebrahim Rasool as a Persona Non Grata, branding Rasool a "race-bating politician."

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The decision comes after Rasool made the inflammatory allegation that Trump was "leading global white supremacist" movement.

A known supporter of the genocidal Palestinian group Hamas, Rasool even boasted that he owned a keffiyeh signed by late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

His longstanding ties to the antisemitic group that on October 7, 2023 perpetrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust are documented by the Middle East Forum.

South Africa filed a claim with the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza during its ongoing war against Hamas, a charge both Israel and the U.S. regard as slanderous and antisemitic.


Seth Frantzman: What Does Israel Want With Syria?
Israel is now singling out Syrian president Sharaa and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS is the group that came to power in Damascus after defeating the Assad regime’s forces. HTS has worked to solidify its control and unify other former Syrian rebel groups to create a transitional government. Sharaa and his foreign minister have held talks with European envoys. He has travelled to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan for meetings. The wider legion and the West have engaged with Sharaa cautiously.

Israel’s condemnations of Damascus and decision to enforce demilitarization in southern Syria represent a potential challenge to Sharaa and also illustrate that Israel is willing to be more aggressive. Israel has carried out military action in Syria over the years, much of it clandestine.

During the Syrian Civil War, the IDF often carried out strikes on Iranian weapons smuggling in the country. These strikes increased over the years as Iran sought to play a more significant role in Syria after 2015. The Israelis dubbed these operations the “Campaign Between the Wars.”

When the Assad regime fell it seemed like good news for Israel. The regime had facilitated Iran’s backing of Hezbollah. Assad was not only close to Iran but also hosted Palestinian military groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which played a role in the October 7 massacre. However, a honeymoon with the new authorities in Damascus never occurred. Instead, the IDF carried out strikes in southern Syria targeting former Syrian regime bases.

For now, the demands that the Syrian government “demilitarize” southern Syria may not be challenged by Damascus. Sharaa’s security forces are made up of men with small arms and civilian-style vehicles such as pick-up trucks repurposed for military use. In short, he doesn’t have an army. The disaster in Latakia illustrates how he lacks control over his own forces. Some of those who back the new government are former Syrian rebels in southern Syria. Some of these groups received tacit backing from Israel and Jordan during the civil war. Therefore, they are likely to be flexible, for now, regarding Israel’s new policies.

Wider questions loom. Will Israel do more to support the Druze? Will the Druze want Israel’s help or find an accommodation with Damascus, as appears to be happening? Beyond the Druze areas in Suweida, some thirty miles from the Golan border, other regions play an essential role in southern Syria. The U.S. military mans a garrison in Tanf near the Jordan-Iraq border. Here, the garrison backs the Syrian Free Army, a small former Syrian rebel unit that was trained to fight ISIS.

Further east, U.S. forces on the Euphrates River are working with the Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF is made up of Kurds, whom Israeli officials also say they will support. While Israeli rhetoric condemning the new Syrian government is—so far—just that, it is clear that Jerusalem is carving out a new, more muscular, policy in Syria.
Arab leaders unite on paper, but who will rebuild Gaza?
THE SUMMIT highlighted several paradoxes: First, though a reconstruction plan was adopted, it is unclear where the funding will come from, as no country has committed to allocating funds yet. This is due to the fact that the war has not yet ended, and there is no guarantee that fighting will not resume.

Second, with the exception of assistance with training police forces, no Arab country is willing to intervene in Gaza. In other words, the Arab states view Gaza as a burden for which they have no desire to take responsibility.

Moreover, the statement – which, as noted, does not mention Hamas at all – fails to explain how the organization will be dismantled and removed and how technocrats will be able to take over the management of Gaza.

Additionally, the summit failed to offer Israel any incentive by linking the solution of the Gaza problem to a comprehensive settlement, aside from a vague reference to the Arab Peace Initiative, from which two states have already withdrawn.

Ultimately, the summit did not produce a useful and effective tool in the immediate term for negotiations over Gaza. It did, however, grant vague Arab approval for the removal of Hamas, opening the way for an alternative Palestinian ruling body. This approval will be significant in the longer term, when this question becomes a more realistic one. In the meantime, the path to that outcome remains shrouded in uncertainty.


Behind the scenes at the Pentagon on the day Hezbollah's pagers exploded
October 17, 2024, seemed like just another day at the Pentagon until a sudden request came from then-defense minister Yoav Gallant to speak to his US counterpart at the time, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“It was morning in Washington, and we received a request for an urgent phone call, so we worked quickly to make the arrangements,” recalls Daniel (Dan) Shapiro, then-deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

This is the first time Shapiro, or any other senior US official, has been willing to discuss in detail the behind-the-scenes events in Washington on the day Hezbollah’s pagers exploded.

“Minister Gallant informed Secretary Austin that Israel had a special capability, which he was about to exercise in Lebanon. He was vague about what it did or how it would work, but he wanted Austin to have advance knowledge of it,” Shapiro told the Post.

He added that, even up until the last minute, Gallant felt compelled to withhold all the details, maintaining the secrecy required for such a sensitive operation. The answer to what Israel’s “special capability” was, as Gallant described it, came from CNN.

“When the call concluded, we were still pretty confused about what he was describing because he didn’t go into much detail. But within less than 30 minutes, we started to see reports on CNN and other television networks about explosions happening in Lebanon,” Shapiro explained.


The former NATO commander investigating the IDF war on Gaza
“The operational procedures the IDF have, in terms of the law of armed conflict, are as strong as ours.”

Former Nato commander General Sir John McColl says “I went there sceptical” and the IDF are doing “their absolute level best” to minimise casualties.


IDF strikes drone operators in Gaza, kills terrorist involved in Oct 7
The IAF struck a terrorist cell in the Beit Lahiya area of Gaza on Saturday, eliminating among others a terrorist who infiltrated Israeli territory during the October 7 massacre, the military announced early Sunday morning.

According to the IDF, the terrorists were operating a drone intended to carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops.

The drone being operated was identified as one consistently used by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, the IDF added.

A number of terrorists were eliminated in the strike, including terrorists who were pretending to be journalists.

This included Mostafa Mohammed Shaaban Hamad, a Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Israel during the October 7th massacre; Mahmoud Yahya Rashdi Al-Sarraj, a terrorist in Hamas' engineering unit; Bilal Mahmoud Fouad Abu Matar, a Hamas terrorist who operated under the cover of a photographer; Mahmoud Imad Hassan Aslim, a terrorist in Hamas' Zeitoun Battalion who operated under the cover of a journalist; Suhaib Bassem Khaled Nagar, an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was released as part of the latest hostage deal and Mohammed Alaa Sobhi Al-Jafeer.

Hamas-affiliated medics told Reuters at least nine Palestinians were killed. Several were critically wounded as the strike hit a car, with casualties inside and outside the vehicle, the medics added. The IDF said a number of Palestinians collected the drone operating equipment and entered a vehicle, prompting Israeli forces to fire.

Witnesses and fellow journalists said the people in the car were on a mission for a charity called Al-Khair Foundation in the city, and they were accompanied by journalists and photographers when the strike hit them.

Salama Marouf, head of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, denied the army’s statement.

“The team was made of civilians and worked in an area near a shelter on a mission sponsored by a charity. They didn’t exist in a prohibited area and didn’t pose any danger of any kind to the occupation army,” Marouf said.


'Message to Iran': US launches large-scale strikes on Houthis in Yemen
The United States struck Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday evening in a message to Iran, at a time when the administration is proposing to open negotiations on its nuclear program, a US official told The Jerusalem Post.

The strikes will last "days, possible weeks" an official told Reuters.

At least nine were killed and nine injured in the strikes, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said on X.

The air and naval strikes hit the Houthis’ radars, air defenses, and missile and drone systems, The New York Times reported.

US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social account that “today, I have ordered the United States military to launch decisive and powerful military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen. They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”Trump also slammed his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, for his “pathetically weak” handling of the Houthi threat.

“Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at US aircraft, and targeted our troops and allies. These relentless assaults have cost the US and world economy many billions of dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk,” the president stressed.

“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated,” Trump wrote. “We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective. The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important waterways of the world, grinding vast swaths of global commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle of freedom of navigation upon which international trade and commerce depends.”


‘Not in trickles, nor 50-day deals’: At rally, ex-hostage calls for release of all captives
As thousands of Israelis across the country demanded the release of hostages held by Hamas Saturday, Omer Shem-Tov, the former hostage freed last month, spoke in a video message at the weekly rally in Tel Aviv, urging the government to reach a deal that would release all remaining hostages at once instead of in stages.

“The time has come for the government of Israel to take matters into its own hands and make a decision that simply brings everyone home at once,” he said. “Not in trickles nor in 50-day deals.”

In the three-minute message, Shem-Tov shared some details of his time in captivity, saying that at times he would eat “a crumb a day.”

He also said he knew when Israel Defense Forces troops were near him.

“When I was above ground, there were terrible explosions. But even once I went underground, there were also a lot of explosions, earthquakes of sorts. I heard the tanks passing over me. I heard the soldiers, and [the terrorists] already had their weapons drawn.

“They were just with weapons in their hands, waiting for them to come,” he said.

“Everyone wants to vanquish the enemy,” Shem-Tov said a short while later in the video address. “Every soldier is a hero of Israel, but still, the military pressure makes it very difficult for the captives.”

During a statement to the press alongside other hostage relatives in Tel Aviv, Itzik Horn, whose one son Iair was freed last month but whose other son Eitan is still held hostage, demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a deal.

“This is the 526th day that 59 hostages have been held in the hell of Gaza,” Horn said.

“I came here today while recovering from surgery to hold up a mirror to Netanyahu. This mirror reflects the terrible results of Netanyahu’s selekzia method,” continued Horn, referring to the process by which some “humanitarian” case hostages have been freed while others are still held captive by Hamas.


DNI Nominee Yanked By Trump Admin Likens Himself to Christ on Cross
Daniel Davis, the onetime pick to serve as deputy director of national intelligence who was yanked from consideration this week over his anti-Israel views, likened himself to Christ on the cross as he tacitly blamed Jews for detonating his nomination.

"Shortly before His death, Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate. All sorts of agitators were accusing Him of many things, some true, others not," Davis, a senior fellow at the isolationist Defense Priorities think tank, wrote Thursday on X, shortly after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard removed him from consideration to be her deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration.

"But Jesus said nothing in his own defense, as recorded in Matthew 27."

"What He suffered, and the unjust things He endured, are orders of magnitude higher than anything to which I may have been subject," Davis continued. "If He can do that under such arduous conditions, then as a follower of Jesus Christ, so too should I, especially under far lesser circumstances. This is all I will have to say on any recent events related to me in the news."

Davis was slated to assume the high-level role until Jewish Insider highlighted his history of advocating against the U.S.-Israel relationship and downplaying the threat posed by Iran. From there, his policy views prompted widespread opposition from prominent Trump administration allies, including Mark Levin, who referred to Davis as a "bizarre" nominee.

During his time at Defense Priorities—a think tank bankrolled by the influential isolationist Koch family—Davis repeatedly opposed military intervention to stop Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. This put him starkly at odds with President Donald Trump, who has affirmed in recent weeks that U.S. military action is on the table to stop Iran’s march towards an atomic bomb.

Davis has also been a vocal critic of Israel, questioning America’s military support to the country in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree.
Woman gets probation after tossing elderly Jewish man to ground
Just 12-months probation for a teenage woman originally charged with stealing an Israeli flag and shoving its 88-year-old owner to the ground in North York last summer.

Hissa Abed, 18, didn’t even have to offer an apology to Joel Sacke for the hurtful chaos she caused.

In a plea deal, her theft and assault charges were dropped in return for Abed pleading guilty to mischief for stealing the flag at the Jewish community’s weekly Sunday rally at Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave. in support of the hostages kidnapped from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“I’m totally dissatisfied,” Sacke told the Canadian Jewish News in an article published Friday.

“(The decision) gives a licence: ‘Oh yes, you can go and beat up Jews. It’s okay. Nothing happens to you. You get a slap on the wrist.’”

According to the March 11 ruling by Ontario Court Justice Howard Borenstein, the Crown had advised the court that the assault charge was being withdrawn as Abed planned to raise self defence and the prosecutor “would not seek to disprove self defence beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Self-defence? Seriously?


Detained Columbia anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil seethed with hatred for Jewish state: ex-classmate
Detained anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil seethed with hatred for the Jewish state, according to a former classmate who told The Post he was an “insidious” presence at Columbia University.

The female graduate student, who is Jewish, said she even dropped a class they took together last fall at the Ivy’s famed School of International and Public Affairs because he made her feel so “uncomfortable” — and her formal complaints to the college fell on deaf ears.

“It would almost be easier if he were some terrifying looking man who threatened to punch people in the face, but he wasn’t,” she said.

“He was very soft-spoken and careful with his words, which almost made him seem more insidious, because it was so intentional – he was never being hyperbolic, he was very clear. He was never joking.”

“You know, he wears polos,” she continued. “It’s not like you meet him and are scared that he’s going to beat you up. To me, it was scary how he was so clearly extreme and so unshakeable in his worldview, which is a very scary worldview, in my opinion.”

Khalil’s laptop especially freaked her out.

It strategically sported one sticker – a map of Israel and Palestine with the Jewish state completely blacked out as if it was wiped off the face of the Earth, she recalled.

“It was just so clear that the thing driving him most in life is destroying Israel and everyone within it and anyone who supports it, and probably all Jews … That to me was scary, that something could consume you like that,” the first-year student said.

Khalil, 30, also routinely boasted in class that he headed the Students for Justice in Palestine movement at Columbia and “didn’t love Jews.”

He was a frequent no-show to class, which centered on Israeli politics, the student recalled. And when he did attend lectures, he disrespectfully interrupted his professor, who is Israeli.
Columbia Activist Who Endorsed Hamas's 'Anticolonial Liberation Movement' Self-Deports After Trump Admin Pulls Visa
A Columbia University doctoral student who expressed support for the "anticolonial liberation movement in Palestine" used the Trump administration’s revamped "CBP Home" app to self-deport to Canada about a week after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked her student visa, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday.

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national and doctoral candidate in Urban Planning at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation was "involved in activities supporting Hammas [sic], a terrorist organization," according to the DHS announcement. The department shared footage from Tuesday of Srinivasan using the "CBP Home" app, the Trump administration’s newly transformed version of the Biden-era "CBP One" app that aims to streamline the self-deportation of illegal immigrants.



"We will continue to look for people that we would never have allowed into this country on student visas had we known they were going to do what they’ve done, but now that they’ve done it, we’re gonna get rid of them," Rubio told reporters Friday morning from the G7 Summit in Canada. "When they said they were coming here to be students, they didn’t say they were coming here to occupy university buildings and vandalize them and tear them apart and hold campuses hostage. If they had told us that, we would never have given them a student visa."

"In the days to come, you should expect more visas will be revoked as we identify people that we should never have allowed in because they lied to us," Rubio added. "Every time we have a chance to revoke them, we will, because it’s not in the national interest of the United States for them to be here," he added.

About two months after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, Srinivasan signed a letter alongside other "Scholars of the Constructed Environment," titled "Palestinian Liberation Is Our Collective Liberation." The letter declared solidarity with the "anticolonial liberation movement in Palestine" and accused the U.S. and Israeli governments of perpetrating a "cycle of settler colonial violence."


Universities, professors now using antisemitism as a way to bash Israel
A British institute that claims to “study antisemitism” is instead turning it into a weapon with which to bash Israel. The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at the University of London will feature a speaker on March 18 on “The Politics of Redemptive Anti-Antisemitism.” Set aside the arcane language, and what you find is the latest rhetorical weapon being used by anti-Israel extremists.

The speaker, King’s College’s Prof. Adam Sutcliffe, is worried about what he calls “enshrined opposition to antisemitism.” He accuses Jews of “emotionalizing public discourse” by “ascribing special meaning to Jewish suffering.” He fears that “the emotional authority of anti-antisemitism” is affecting attitudes toward Israel. In other words, he’s worried that concern about antisemitism is generating sympathy for the Jewish State.

Sutcliffe dislikes what he calls “exceptionalist thinking about the Holocaust and antisemitism.” Put simply, he doesn’t want the Holocaust or antisemitism to be seen as “exceptional.” As far as Sutcliff is concerned, they are just like any other form of persecution or bigotry.

According to Prof. Sutcliffe, “The political and emotional priority accorded to anti-antisemitism has increasingly stood in a rivalrous or antagonistic, rather than a solidaristic, relationship with campaigns against other forms of prejudice, especially with respect to Islamophobia.” Translation to English: People should pay less attention to antisemitism and more to Islamophobia.

Not surprisingly, Sutcliffe has a long record of extremism. He has publicly promoted the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, and he played a central role in the anti-Zionist film 100 Years After Balfour.

Sutcliffe also signed a December 2023 letter asserting that the October 7 attack needs to be “placed within the context of Israeli settler colonialism,” even though every Israeli “settler” was expelled from Gaza eighteen years earlier. He wants us to focus on Israel’s “Jewish supremacy and exclusionary nationalism,” which is a thinly disguised way of saying that Israel is the real villain in this story.

Prof. Sutcliffe says he is “currently working on a history of the idea of historical empathy.” What would be even more interesting would be a psychological study of Jewish academics who seem to feel more empathy for those who rape and murder Jews than for the Jewish victims.
Religious school leader appointed Ofsted chairman
A religious school leader has been appointed as chairman of Ofsted for what is believed to be the first time.

Sir Hamid Patel will take up the interim role until a successor is found for Dame Christine Ryan at the schools regulator.

He is the chief executive of Star Academies Trust, which runs nearly 40 primaries and secondaries, including several Islamic schools.

The trust also runs a Christian school and grammar schools, with many of its institutions rated outstanding by Ofsted.

Sir Hamid has been on the board of Ofsted since 2019 and has led Star Academies since its inception in 2010. He was previously the headteacher of Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School in Blackburn.

While in that role, the school became one of the first in the country to urge pupils to wear a hijab outside of school.

Guidance reportedly told pupils to “recite the Koran at least once a week” and “not bring stationery to school that contains un-Islamic images”, such as pictures of pop stars. Criticised over cleric visit

The school was criticised over a visit in 2010 from Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, a Saudi Arabian cleric who had described Jews as “pigs”.

Sheikh Sudais also prayed for God to “terminate” the Jews and, discussing his visit, Sir Hamid told The Sunday Times in 2013: “The girls wanted to see this guy with 5 million followers. They had seen him on YouTube. He stayed 20 minutes.”

There is no suggestion these remarks were made at the school.

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: “We hope that in his new role, Hamid Patel will adopt a higher degree of scrutiny than he appeared to in his previous occupation. British Jews will understandably be concerned that an individual who invited a man who allegedly described Jews as ‘pigs’ to speak to children will be responsible for assessing the performance of schools.”


Woman injured by celebratory gunfire of Syrian Druze visiting Israel
A woman was lightly injured as the result of “celebratory gunfire” on Friday night as a delegation of some 100 visitors arrived in Israel for the first pilgrimage by Syrian Druze to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Lower Galilee near Tiberias in 50 years.

The tomb of the Prophet Shuaib is known in English as Jethro’s Tomb.

Members of the local Druze communities said they could not leave their homes for hours, accusing the police of lax enforcement of the law, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported.

The delegation consisted of dozens of Syrian Druze clerics, Hebrew-language media reported, although this received no confirmation from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Sheikh Muafak Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze, condemned the celebratory shooting and issued a warning against further gunfire ahead of the delegation’s slated visit to the Druze town of Peki’in in the Upper Galilee on Saturday.

“Whoever dares to shoot in Peki’in is actually shooting at us. Whoever shoots is not one of us,” the leaders of the Druze community said in a statement.

The entry of the Druze delegation to Israel’s north is the latest testament to the tightening relations between Israel and the Syrian Druze community following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December.

However, the Israeli Druze are not accustomed to shots being fired during celebrations, one local resident told Kan.


Moment police swoop on kidnappers who lured Israeli DJ to Welsh farmhouse for 'his own personal October 7' as they are found hiding in fields
This is the chilling moment police caught the three kidnappers who lured an Israeli DJ to a remote cottage in Wales for 'his own October 7'.

The trio were found hiding in fields after the botched kidnap attempt and failed to dodge arrest.

While a red light flashed in the dark, an arresting officer said: 'The time is 22:41, you are under arrest for suspicion of GBH, of kidnap, and unlawful imprisonment.

'The arrest is necessary for a prompt and effective investigation and to protect the person from further harm.'

Faiz Shah, 23, gave the officer his name while he was lying on the ground amidst the dirt and shrubs.

The officer's body cam shows two men being cuffed on the ground before they are hauled away in the dark through the derelict field by two police men.

'Fantastic work, thank you', can be heard on the receiver of the officer's radio.

Faiz Shah, Mohammad Comrie, 23, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, carefully planned the kidnap of Jewish composer Itay Kashti who described the ordeal as 'my own personal October 7.'


Critiquing Palestinian Historiography
For now, what’s important to consider is the historiographic landscape of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The historiography presented by Cooper reflects the Palestinian point-of-view; not a Palestinian point of view, but the Palestinian point of view.

In contrast to Western (including Israeli) historiographies, which are distinguished by their pluralism, the Palestinian historiography is characterized by its rigidity and stagnancy. This is as true for historians living in Palestine as it is for those living in its diaspora, like Rashid Khalidi or Nur Masalha. Insular, totalitarian societies like Palestine have an unfortunate tendency to violently penalize deviation from orthodoxy. If you’re a Palestinian, and you publicly question the basic assumptions of your society’s historiography—like the idea that Zionism was a colonial enterprise, or that the conflict originated with the Balfour declaration and that previously, Jews and Arabs lived together in peace—you run the risk of contracting an acute case of lead poisoning. If you’re living in New York City, and you’ve got people in Nablus or East Jerusalem, you need to be equally careful about what you write down in your books, lest you receive a phone call informing you about some very regrettable developments concerning your “Zionist collaborator” family.

In contrast, Western historiographies are dynamic and varied. Israeli scholarship encompasses views ranging from pro-Palestinian, settler-colonial narratives offered by the likes of Ilan Pappe, to pro-Zionist tales of treacle heroism championed by Netanel Lorch, to everything in between—be it Benny Morris’ unflinching New Historiographic examinations of archival documents showcasing Israeli war crimes, Efraim Karsh’s impassioned defenses of the “Old Historiographic Guard,” or Anita Shapira’s thirty-thousand foot narrative.

Regardless of whose historiography you like best, you run the risk of being called a racist apologist for violence of some stripe or other. That’s pretty much inevitable when discussing this conflict. But when browsing Western historiography, you can at least enjoy the benefits of cognitive flexibility and creative energy of the sort in which Palestinian historiography, with its stifled and static intellectual environment, is found lacking.

The upshot is that when Western narratives are challenged by new information, they can adapt and revise, growing stronger than before. For example, there is little doubt that by incorporating the harsh realities of Israel’s past, which Old Historians like Lorch have traditionally omitted, New Historians like Benny Morris and revisionary traditionalists like Anita Shapira have strengthened the Zionist side of the argument.

This stands in contrast to the Palestinian narrative, which remains mired, decade after decade, in harshly enforced orthodoxy. Consequently, it suffers from the limitations of all stagnant narratives: it cannot adapt, cannot respond effectively to facts that challenge its basic assumptions.

And this is the trap that Cooper falls into. By adopting the standard Palestinian assumptions and narrative, he unwittingly inherits all of its defects, which even his immersive style and sociological depth cannot fix. Ironically, despite enjoying the reputation of a history enthusiast who challenges established narratives (at least, in other contexts), Cooper here becomes yet another reciter of an orthodoxy whose contradiction will get you in trouble in certain parts of the world. Those who have only ever heard Western historiographies to the exclusion of the Palestinian one might therefore mistake him for a maverick (at least on this topic), oblivious to the fact that Cooper is recycling a story as old as it is flawed—albeit in his own unique style.

The Wears in the Wineskin
The key assumptions behind Palestinian historiography are as follows:
1. Jews and Muslims lived together in peace before Zionists migrated to Palestine.
2. The incoming Zionists were colonial invaders with no connection to their presumed homeland.
3. Palestinian Arabs were nationally differentiated from the Arabs of the surrounding region; the Arabs of Palestine were in some fundamental sense distinct, as a political unit, from the Arabs of Syria-Lebanon, the Arabs of Transjordan, and the Arabs of Egypt.
4. The Palestinians were the unwitting victims of British and Zionist machinations, understandably defending themselves from colonial imposition by alien forces. Their actions and shortcomings fundamentally came down to the fact that they were honest to a fault, the victims of both tragic circumstances and colonial scheming. Had they only been more shrewd, had they only possessed the worldly resources necessary to direct their confusion and pain towards more productive means of resistance, they would not have ended up in their deplorable position today.
5. This last one is for an English-speaking audience only. For an Arab-speaking audience, the Jews are evil and everything written about them in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is true. But when addressing an English-speaking audience, like Daryl Cooper—and through him, the audience of his podcast—the Jews are painted in a more humane light. This serves the function of not immediately disqualifying the Palestinian narrative in the eyes of the Western world. However, it carries over that most essential feature of the Palestinian version of events: it ultimately regards Jews as bearing the brunt of responsibility for Palestinian suffering. The summary of this final assumption that they generally opt for is that “the Zionists punished Palestinians for the crimes of Europe.” In this formulation (at least, for English-speaking audiences), the Holocaust did happen, it was bad, and the pogroms and mass killings endured by the Jews were undeserved. But it also didn’t justify the colonization of Palestine.

Taken together, these are the fundamental assumptions of all Palestinian historiography. They form the stagnant wineskin of the story that Daryl Cooper goes on to fill with a delightful new vintage that incorporates his particular strengths as storyteller and amateur sociologist. Let’s tackle each of these assumptions to get a sense of where exactly Palestinian historiography goes wrong, and how Cooper’s presentation of that narrative exacerbates its weaknesses.


Uzbekistan's textbooks promote tolerance, acceptance of Jews, report finds
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an international research and policy institute, has released a groundbreaking report examining Uzbekistan’s educational curriculum, highlighting its attempts at promoting tolerance, interfaith respect, and cultural openness in the Central Asian nation.

The report is the second installment in a three-part series analyzing curricula in Central Asian countries, produced in partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation. The series, which began with Azerbaijan and will conclude with Kazakhstan, sheds light on otherwise relatively unknown educational trends in the region.

The comprehensive analysis reviewed over 100 textbooks across multiple subjects, including Language, Ethics, Civics, History, and Religion. The report specifically examined how Jews, Judaism, the Holocaust, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict are depicted in educational materials.

The report found that Uzbekistan’s curriculum emphasizes the nation’s identity as a secular, multi-ethnic republic where promoting cultural diversity and religious harmony is a cornerstone of education.

The report highlights several positive aspects of Uzbekistan’s educational approach. For instance, textbooks provide clear overviews of Judaism, covering key terms, historical origins, scriptures, and religious practices. Grade 11 students are explicitly taught that tolerance is not only a “spiritual duty, but also a political and legal need,” reinforcing the importance of interfaith respect.
Sen. John Fetterman to take second trip to Israel on Sunday
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) will travel to Israel on Sunday for his second visit to the Jewish state, the Pennsylvania Democrat told Jewish Insider on Friday.

Fetterman told JI of his plans in the Capitol early Friday evening while waiting to finish votes on funding legislation to prevent a government shutdown. The trip will mark Fetterman’s third international trip since being elected to the Senate in 2022. He did not elaborate on his schedule while in Israel.

The Senate will be out of session all of next week.

Fetterman visited the Jewish state for the first time last June, during which he had meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Labor Party leader Yair Golan and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who was then serving as the country’s foreign minister. He also met with then-U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew and families of hostages.

Fetterman opted against visiting the sites of Hamas’ on Oct. 7, 2023, massacres during his first trip, saying at the time that he did not want to make anyone relive their trauma. He instead visited with students and faculty at Hebrew University and took a tour of Yad Vashem, the nation’s Holocaust memorial and museum.
October 7 survivor opens Israeli-Druze restaurant in NYC: ‘Part of my journey, to heal myself’
A New York City chef who survived the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre at the hands of Hamas has launched a new restaurant in the heart of Chelsea that he says is part of his healing process.

Israeli-Druze culinarian Raif Rashed, 40, told The Post living through the day’s horror inspired him to open up Taboonia, an eatery where he serves traditional and authentic Druze food — all made from scratch. The Israel-aligned Druze are an insular Arabic-speaking ethnoreligious minority who originated in Egypt roughly 1,000 years ago as an offshoot of Islam.

“I lost many friends that day,” said Rashed, who refers to Oct. 7 as his “second birthday,” considering the life-altering impact the terror attack had on him. “[Taboonia] is part of my journey, to heal myself.

“I want to make connections between people, with good, healthy food.”

Taboonia opened last month on Sixth Avenue at West 29th Street, following its first iteration as a stall at the Grand Bazaar on the Upper West Side, which he started on Oct. 6, 2024.

Rashed, who served with the Israel Defense Force, was helping his brother operate a food stand at the Nova music festival the day of the terror attack. He recalled spending hours looking for his brother, believing he’d been killed.
Roman-era Jewish bath in Italy may be oldest outside of Israel, points to vibrant Diaspora
The discovery of what could be the oldest mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, ever found outside the land of Israel, raises the possibility that some 1,700 years ago, a coastal city near Rome was a center of Jewish life.

If the structure is indeed a mikveh, and its posited dating is confirmed to be between the 3rd and the 5th century CE, it would be the earliest Jewish ritual bath ever discovered in the Diaspora.

Unveiled Tuesday, findings uncovered at Ostia — a major ancient port city 25 kilometers southwest of Rome — could shed fresh light on the Roman Empire’s vibrant Jewish life, a few hundred years after the violent destruction of the Jerusalem Second Temple and the suppression of subsequent attempted revolts.

Archaeological evidence and historical documents indicate that Ostia was home to a great diversity of religions and ethnicities found across the empire. Recently, archaeologists have proven that the melting pot included a flourishing Jewish community, as attested by findings including remains of an impressive synagogue.

However, the discovery of the mikveh has come as a complete surprise.

“In 2022, we began excavating an area next to the headquarters of the trading corporations and the four pagan temples,” Dr. Alessandro D’Alessio, director of the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica, told The Times of Israel over a phone interview. “Despite its central location, the area had never been dug.”

The expedition was conducted by the team of the Archaeological Park in cooperation with the Università degli Studi di Catania and Politecnico di Bari and with the support of the Museums Directorate of the Italian Culture Ministry.

“Last summer, we found a small chamber in the building we had been uncovering,” D’Alessio said. “The room resembles a well, mounted by a semiapse, and is accessible from the building through some stairs.”




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