Tuesday, March 18, 2025

03/18 Links Pt2: The Moral Asymmetry Between Israel and Its Enemies; UK parliament report to combat Oct. 7 denial; Google buys Israeli Wiz in record $32bn deal

From Ian:

Something has changed
Despite tremendous costs on the individual level, Israelis know they are here to stay in the Middle East.

Sitting here in Israel, I ask myself if this is the same Middle East it was before Oct. 7, 2023. Yes, the war that was waged on Israel on seven fronts continues into its 17th month, and at least 59 hostages are still not home with many no longer alive.

However, something else has changed.

Although still a threat, Hezbollah has been severely neutered. The Israeli Air Force sent a squadron of F-151 planes on Sept. 27, dropping more than 80 bombs. The body of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s commander-in-chief, was found lying in the rubble the next day. Also eliminated by the Israeli forces were Ali Karaki, commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, and Abbas Niforoushan, deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The real display of Israel’s power came a few weeks earlier on Sept. 17-18 as part of the Israeli operation of blowing up thousands of Hezbollah-owned beepers and pagers. This secret maneuver eliminated Ibrahim Aqil, the commander-in-chief of Hezbollah’s unique elite unit, the Radwan Force.

The Israel Defense Forces have entered and removed dozens of meters of underground tunnels in Southern Lebanon—many lying under children’s bedrooms, replete with RPGs, Kalashnikovs, missile launchers, grenades and explosives.

There is still a threat from Hezbollah, but they are now a mere shadow of the fighting force they once were.
Seth Mandel: The Moral Asymmetry Between Israel and Its Enemies
A commission of inquiry led by the renowned historian Andrew Roberts has now produced the most comprehensive report on the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks. Every kibbutz, town, city, and music festival victimized by thousands of Gazan infiltrators has its own entry in the report. That level of detail, along with the authors’ inclusion of the relevant recent history and background of the conflict, makes it to date the best guide to what we know about the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.

The report, by the Oct. 7 Parliamentary Commission in the U.K., can and should be read in full here. And while it is difficult to summarize a report of this size, it’s worth paying special attention to the way the commission deals with one category of both victim and perpetrator: the civilian.

As Israel renews its strikes on Hamas in Gaza, the usual suspects in the press and on social media are dutifully and knowingly relaying made-up numbers and demographics of Palestinian casualties. The reason they do this becomes clear when one reads the commission’s report: The intentional Palestinian targeting of Israeli civilians for the most heinous of crimes, in many cases by Palestinian civilians, has convinced Gazans and their advocates that the only way to obscure the moral asymmetry between the two sides is to overwhelm the public with large-sounding numbers in the hopes that people forget the details.

There is also an element of psychological projection: The Palestinian perpetrators of 10/7 are guilty of that which they accuse Israel of doing.

Take, for example, the Hamas advocates’ obsession with painting the Jews as baby-killers. While it makes for difficult reading, it’s important to understand the lengths to which the enemies of Israel are willing to go. The youngest victim of 10/7, the report notes, was a mere 14 hours old. The report’s account of the death of baby Naama Abu Rashed:

“At 05:30 on 7 October, her mother woke up with labour pains in her ninth month of pregnancy. Her husband Tarafi drove towards Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheba and drove through Magen Junction where 10 terrorists were waiting across 2 vehicles. They fired at them with a machine gun and the mother was shot in the stomach. The car was also hit, forcing them to stop at Patish Junction to change a tire when they were shot at again. Upon arrival at the hospital, doctors were forced to carry out an emergency delivery. They discovered that a bullet had hit Naama’s leg and while she was born alive, she succumbed to her wounds at around 22:00 that evening. Her mother survived.”

Nine-month-old Mila Cohen, of Kibbutz Be’eri, was shot and killed in her mother’s arms. Eighteen minors lost both parents on that day. Several other minors had lost one parent and seen the other taken hostage. In total, 870 people, including 250 children, lost at least one parent.
Youngest Oct 7 victim was just 14 hours old when her mother was shot in the womb
The youngest victim of the Oct 7 massacre was just 14 hours old, a UK parliamentary report has found.

The study also disclosed the existence of another Briton who died in the attack, bringing the total number of UK citizens killed to 18.

Lord Roberts, the historian who has presided over the report, said its purpose was to produce a definitive account of the Hamas attacks to “counter pernicious” attempts at denying or minimising the atrocities.

The report’s main findings – corroborating studies that have come out of Israel – found that planning by Hamas had begun in 2018, five years before the massacre, and that 7,000 militants had taken part in a “co-ordinated assault” launched from Gaza on 55 separate locations in Israel.

The British casualties of October 7th
Saturday 7th October 2023 - 06:29am Hamas approaches border

Radio transmission by Sgt. Roni Eshel at Nahal Oz Base states that Hamas attackers are approaching the fence, marking the beginning of the land invasion.

7:00am First British Israeli casualties
Three-quarters of attendees from the Psyduck music festival leave the grounds, 16 of whom are killed along the highways. One is Dor Hannan Shafir, a British-Israeli-Irish civilian.

Terrorists reach the Yiftach Outpost in the northern Gazan Envelope. British Israeli soldier Nathanel Young is killed.

7:20am British Israeli Bernard Cowan is killed
Cowan is shot dead in his home by terrorists in Kibbutz Sufa.

7:30am Israelis flee the Nova Music Festival
Traffic congestion leaving the Nova Music festival forces festival goers to abandon their vehicles, as gunfire draws closer. Many flee east over farmland, but those who flee west, back to the festival site, are largely killed. British Israeli Jake Marlowe who was working as a security guard at the festival is killed when Hamas terrorists enter the site.

7:55am Hamas attacks civilians in bomb shelters
On Route 232, the Re’im bomb shelters are attacked. British Israeli Aner Shapira is in Re’im West shelter and killed by a grenade thrown into the shelter.

8:10am British Israeli Police officer is killed
British Israeli Police officer, MST Sgt Devorah Abraham is stationed in the forward command post at the Nova Festival to expedite departure of attendees. She is killed when Hamas enter the festival grounds.

8:30am First British-Israeli hostage is kidnapped
At approximately this time, British-Israeli Nadav Poppelwell is taken hostage, and his brother Roi, also a British citizen, is killed. Nadav is killed in captivity in Gaza.

8:30am Hamas attacks homes in Kibbuzt Be’eri
Terrorists go house to house in Kibbuzt Be’eri; two of their victims are British Israeli citizens, Rotem Kaderon, and Yonatan Rapoport.

9:00am British citizen murdered
Danny Darlington is killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he was visiting a friend.

10:24am British Israeli kidnapped
British Israeli, Emily Damari, sends her last WhatsApp message to her brothers before being taken hostage. (Kfar Aza). At approximately 10:45-11:00 her car is seen driving out the back gate of the Kibbutz, taking hostages to the Gaza Strip (Kfar Aza)

12:30pm British Israeli family murdered
The last time family and friends hear from British Israeli Lianne Sharabi, who is then killed in Kibbutz Be’eri, alongside her two British Israeli daughters, Yahel and Noya. Their father Eli is taken hostage to Gaza.

12:54pm British-Israelis killed in standoff
Pessi Cohen’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri is infiltrated. The house is then used by Hamas as a location to bring hostages, resulting in a stand-off with the IDF. It ends in a battle where all but two of the hostages are killed, including British-Israeli twins Liel and Yannai Hetzroni.

4:00pm British-Israeli soldier is killed
Approximate time of death of British Israeli soldier Yosef Guedalia, who is rescuing civilians from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

Sunday 8th October 2023 - 5:00am
British-Israeli IDF Major dies during rescue
British Israeli Benjamin Trakeniski, an off-duty major in the IDF armoured corps, who is killed rescuing wounded residents of Kibbutz Be’eri.


UK parliament group publishes landmark report to combat Oct. 7 denial
The UK parliament’s Israel friendship group releases a 318-page report that aims to establish an incontrovertible historical record of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led atrocities in southern Israel.

“The purpose of commissioning our report has been to chronicle the events of 7 October with clarity and meticulous, fact-checking precision, to ensure it is never forgotten,” says Lord Andrew Roberts, an influential historian who chaired the report.

The report gives a unique “catalog of events,” providing an unprecedentedly comprehensive timeline of the massacre, a source familiar with the project tells The Times of Israel. It will be officially launched in the British parliament later today, The Times of Israel has learned.

Compiled by the UK-Israel All-Party Parliamentary Group based on research that began in January 2024, the publication outlines the atrocities committed by the Hamas terror group against Israel on October 7 and 8, using survivor testimonies, open-source evidence, and interviews with relatives of hostages and victims, as well as expert analysis from government and security officials, first responders, and medical and military professionals in Israel and the UK.

The report determines that 7,000 individuals participated in the massacre, and includes information on the nature and scale of the murders, including Hamas’s youngest victim, a fetus shot in the womb, as well as its oldest victim, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor killed in his safe room by a grenade.

The document corroborates a previous report by the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence, confirming that sexual violence occurred at multiple attack sites on October 7. Hamas and other groups committed “acts of rape, gang rape, forced mutilation, sexualized torture, forced nudity, and posting sexualized images of victims on social media without consent,” says the report.
Report names 18th British victim of Hamas attacks for first time
All 18 British nationals killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 have been named for the first time in a report commissioned by MPs and peers.

Rotem Kalderon, a 66-year-old dual UK-Israeli national, had not previously been named in lists of British casualties.

A teacher and lifelong resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, around three miles from the Gaza Strip, she lay unidentified for two weeks after the attack on her home on 7 October.

Her name appeared for the first time among the list of British casualties with the publication of a 318-page report commissioned by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Israel and led by historian and Conservative peer Lord Andrew Roberts.

Some 16 British nationals killed in the initial attack had already been identified, along with a further UK citizen, 51-year-old Nadav Popplewell, who died while being held as a hostage by Hamas.

His brother, Roi Popplewell, 54, was killed at his home while their 79-year-old mother Channah Peri was taken hostage and later released in November 2023.

Lord Roberts’ report was commissioned in January last year as an attempt to establish the exact sequence of events that took place on October 7 and counter misinformation about the attacks.

The historian said Hamas and its allies “have sought to deny the atrocities, despite the ironic fact that much of the evidence for the massacres derives from film footage from cameras carried by the terrorists themselves”.


ADL report finds ‘malicious’ Wikipedia editors conspired to impose anti-Israel bias across site
In 2025, all it takes to answer any factual question, no matter how trivial — Who won the 1974 World Series? Where was Taylor Swift born? — is a quick Google search and, usually, a click to Wikipedia, which has 62 million pages in English alone. But a new report from the Anti-Defamation League urges people to think twice before using the popular free encyclopedia, arguing its administrators have failed to prevent biased editors from manipulating entries related to Israel and Judaism.

Wikipedia is maintained by an army of volunteer editors, many of whom have spent years amassing knowledge of the site’s wonky rules in order to keep its pages up-to-date and accurate. But that honor system is vulnerable to bias. The ADL found that a group of 30 editors collaborated to insert anti-Israel and antisemitic narratives and falsehoods into articles, working together in a way that may have violated Wikipedia’s policies.

“Despite Wikipedia’s efforts to ensure neutrality and impartiality, malicious editors frequently introduce biased or misleading information, which persists across hundreds if not more entries,” the report stated.

For instance, the main Wikipedia entry on Hamas was edited to downplay the Palestinian group’s terrorist activity. A subhead that was formerly ‘violence and terrorism’ is now just ‘violence’ — a change that was made on Oct. 19, 2023. ADL researchers found that the first reference of Hamas as a terrorist organization was pushed further down in the lead section, and the description of the Oct. 7 attack no longer mentions the total number of people who were killed during the massacres. Numerous other details about the attacks were also removed.

In the section titled, ‘The 2018-2019 Gaza border protests,’ an editor removed a reference to a 2018 NPR interview with a Palestinian in Gaza who was preparing to launch an incendiary balloon with a swastika on it.

A series of edit wars on Wikipedia’s main Zionism page has, since 2022, sought “to reframe Israel’s founding,” according to the report. After one editor changed the language used to describe the goal of Zionism and the Zionist movement, the editor put a 12-month discussion moratorium in place, which keeps other editors from making edits to the language.

The report issued recommendations toward policymakers, toward private companies that rely on Wikipedia’s information and toward Wikipedia itself, with the gist of its suggestions amounting to a plea to those actors to take antisemitism seriously.
US Justice Department announces task force dedicated to prosecuting 7 October terrorists
A U.S. Justice Department task force will seek redress for victims of Hamas’ 7 October 2023, attack on Israel, in the latest Trump administration move aimed at demonstrating support for Jews and Israelis.

The task force, announced Monday by Attorney General Pam Bondi, will bring together federal attorneys and FBI agents and intelligence analysts to prosecute people who participated in the attack as well as Hamas leaders who orchestrated it. Many of those people have been killed in the subsequent war in Gaza.

The group will also “investigate acts of terrorism and civil rights violations by individuals and entities providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies, and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups,” according to the department’s press release. The Trump administration has accused campus pro-Palestinian protesters of being “aligned to Hamas.”

The announcement reflects the latest way in which the Trump administration is devoting considerable energy to showing support for US Jews alarmed by the 7 October attack and its aftermath in the United States. Trump has vowed to deport non-citizen pro-Palestinian campus protesters and begun that process; has issued an executive order on antisemitism; and has opened new investigations into alleged antisemitism at colleges and medical schools.

“The victims of Hamas’s decades-long violent campaign of terrorism against Israel will always have the support of the U.S. government, and the Department will no longer permit illegal support of Hamas on our campuses and elsewhere in the homeland,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

“Antisemitic acts of terrorism – whether here or abroad – will never go unpunished. This task force represents our unyielding commitment to those who have suffered at the hands of these brutal terrorists.”
'They’ve Refused To Call a Terrorist a Terrorist': Voice of America’s Demise Comes After Years of Liberal Training Sessions, Pro-Iran Bias, and Even Russian Propagandists
When President Donald Trump moved this weekend to dismantle Voice of America, the government-run news network long denounced by conservatives for liberal bias, MSNBC wrote that the move brought an end to "pro-democracy media outlets" countering "authoritarian propaganda" abroad. But VOA's liberal staffers have not only faced criticism for running a left-wing broadcaster similar to NPR; they’re also accused of operating with a pro-Iran bent, producing anti-Israel news coverage, and, in at least two cases, publishing Russian propagandists.

"There have been complaints that they've been very pro-Hamas, that they've refused to call a terrorist a terrorist," former Arizona news anchor Kari Lake told the Washington Free Beacon. Lake has been tapped by Trump to run VOA and is now a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which houses VOA. After this weekend, though, it’s not clear what will be left for Lake to run. For now, she says she's focused on slashing "fraud" and "abuse" at the broader agency.

"I would love to be in that position as director [of VOA], but I'm not. That falls on the current director, who was appointed during the Biden administration," said Lake. "And if I were running VOA, I would do it differently than he's doing it, but it's up to him." That current director, Michael Abramowitz, apparently sees things differently, telling the journalist Mark Halperin that he considers himself "a caretaker" who is "happy to be helpful to [Lake] as she takes on these responsibilities." Abramowitz said roughly 1,300 agency employees are on administrative leave, including himself, and he's unsure if VOA will "survive."

Trump's executive order, unveiled on Friday, orders the agency to cease operations "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." The president can't unilaterally eliminate VOA, an 83-year-old organization whose charter was signed into law by former president Gerald Ford in 1976. But the blunt executive order is effectively a death warrant.

A White House fact sheet accompanying the executive order cited an assortment of reports, including those published in the Free Beacon, detailing VOA's left-wing biases and sympathies toward Tehran. It also took aim at past VOA contributors with ties to the Kremlin, including a "Russian anti-U.S. propagandist" who produced "videos with anti-U.S. and anti-Semitic themes."

VOA's liberal leanings—which became particularly pronounced during Trump's first term in office—run counter to the broadcaster's stated mission to "represent America" and "present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively." Instead, in many cases, it has advanced narratives preferred by America's adversaries and aligned itself with the anti-Trump left.
BBC accused of ‘jaw-dropping propaganda’ for Hamas with Israeli hostages video
The BBC has been accused of downplaying the cruel treatment of Israeli hostages by Hamas.

The broadcaster has been accused of publishing “jaw-dropping propaganda” for the terror group after producing a “puff piece” for its hostage unit.

The Telegraph can reveal that BBC Arabic has now been forced to edit a video clip featuring the “shadow unit” of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigade, which it described as “guarding” kidnapped Israeli hostages.

The video featured a scene of female Israeli hostages who were reported to “thank” their captors for the treatment they received.

BBC Arabic is already facing claims it has given a platform to hate and terror. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, said it was “fomenting extremism and misleading audiences”.

Her comments came after the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) published a 33-page report claiming BBC Arabic was providing a “platform to terrorists”.

Concerns over the report come just weeks after the BBC was forced to pull a controversial documentary on Gaza which featured the son of a Hamas government minister as the narrator and did not inform viewers of his parentage.
Columbia janitors claim they were illegally forced to scrub swastikas then were attacked, trapped by anti-Israel mob as civil rights probe launched
Columbia University is facing a new federal investigation over allegations from two janitors who claim they were unlawfully forced to scrub off swastikas spray-painted on campus before later being attacked and briefly trapped by an anti-Israel “mob” during the takeover of Hamilton Hall last spring.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency tasked with enforcing civil rights laws in the workplace, has opened a probe into complaints from Lester Wilson and Mario Torres, who were forced to fight their way out of Hamilton Hall nearly a year ago, The Post has confirmed.

Both men are making claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging that they faced retaliatory harassment at the institution for “reporting antisemitic and racist conduct.”

“We welcome the EEOC’s decision to open an investigation into Mario’s and Lester’s charges of discrimination,” former US Attorney General Bill Barr, whose firm Torridon is representing the two men, told The Post.

“Columbia has a legal and moral obligation to protect the civil rights of its students and employees. It must be held accountable when it fails to do so,” Barr, 74, who attended Columbia University and lived through the riots of the late 1960s there, added.

It is not fully clear when the EEOC commenced the probe, but records seen by The Post show that the agency was working on the investigation last month.

Wilson and Torres, who had worked at the school for over five years, were both left injured as well as traumatized from the scourge of anti-Israel unrest that engulfed the Ivy League school and have since been unable to return to work as a result, according to the complaints they filed last October.

“Hours after President [Minouche] Shafik issued her statement [that the university had become ‘unsafe for everyone‘], an antisemitic mob assaulted two janitors inside Columbia’s historic Hamilton Hall, calling them ‘Jew-lovers,'” the two complaints for both men recalled of the Hamilton Hall takeover in April last year.

“Columbia had indeed become unsafe for everyone, including the two janitors who were trapped inside Hamilton Hall. And for these two men, Columbia had for months been a hostile environment in violation of Title VII,” the complaints added.


The Case of Terror-Tied Yale Scholar is Clearer Than Mahmoud Khalil’s
In the days since The New York Times covered Jewish Onliner’s investigation into Yale scholar Helyeh Doutaghi’s ties to Samidoun—an exposé that led to her being placed on administrative leave—the public conversation has shifted from her case itself to broader debates about free speech.

That debate, however, misses the core issue.

In October 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department under President Joe Biden officially designated Samidoun as a terrorist entity because it serves as a financial and operational arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP, in turn, has a long history of terrorist activity, is responsible for the deaths of American citizens, and is recognized as a terror group by the U.S., the European Union, and multiple other democratic nations.

The First Amendment is a fundamental right in the U.S. and must be protected, but being a member of a designated terror group is not a matter of free speech.

Doutaghi’s public support of Hamas and the October 7th massacre is concerning, as is her declaration that “I will use everything and anything at my disposal to fight this fascist dictatorship of the United States.”

However, her affiliation with a U.S.-designated terrorist organization—carries a legal distinction that has serious implications.


Justice Department files statement of interest in support of Jewish UCLA students, faculty
The Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism filed a statement of interest in the Central District of California against the University of California, Los Angeles for alleged violations of Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

The statement relates to incidents that took place during the height of anti-Israel protests and tent encampments on university campuses in the spring of 2024. According to the allegations outlined in the filing, Jewish students at UCLA were blocked from entering parts of campus if they were wearing articles reflective of their Jewish faith or if they refused to denounce Israel—an act a federal judge stated was “unimaginable” and “abhorrent.”

The plaintiffs—a group of Jewish students and a Jewish professor—allege that the university “knowingly acted in concert” with or allowed members of the protest encampment to prevent them from accessing a central campus space and adjacent classrooms and library based on their Jewish faith or national origin.

“Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated in our community,” said Joseph McNally, acting U.S. attorney for the central district of California. “Our office will enforce anti-discrimination laws to address the issue of antisemitism affecting our residents.”

Mary Osako, vice chancellor for strategic communications at UCLA, stated that the school “is committed to eradicating antisemitism.”

“Chancellor Julio Frenk, who joined UCLA in January, has a strong track record of combating antisemitism and is actively at work to help UCLA achieve our goal of fostering an environment where all members of our community are able to live, work and learn freely and peacefully,” Osako said. “We recently launched the Initiative to Combat Antisemitism that brings together members of the Bruin community and civic leaders to work toward our shared, unwavering goal of extinguishing Antisemitism.”


Chilling step-by-step ‘manual’ for anti-Israel radicals to sow violent chaos is circulated among Columbia students
A twisted anarchist how-to for wannabe violent anti-Israel agitators has been circulating among Columbia University students — offering a deeply disturbing step-by-step to sowing chaos and destruction.

The chilling 14-page “underground manual” provides excruciatingly detailed tips to help commit destructive criminal acts, with advice such as always buy sledgehammers with cash and consider blocking a targeted building’s water or sewer pipes with concrete “for a messy surprise” — while taking a slew of steps to evade law enforcement.

Some Jewish Columbia students recently spotted the sick guide on the notorious radical website Unity of Fields, formerly known as Palestine Action US.

Palestinian Action US was the States-based arm of a group that initially wrote and distributed the manual in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks — and has praised recent violent protests at Columbia while including the university’s name in its handle on X.

“Some of us monitor Unity of Fields, and a few weeks ago, someone came across this so-called ‘manual’ and forwarded it to me, and I started sending it out to everyone I knew because I wanted everyone to be aware of just how calculated and strategic and radical these people are,” a Jewish Columbia student told The Post on Tuesday.

The group behind the guide is Palestine Action, a UK-based collective that uses “disruptive tactics” against “corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex,” according to its website, in particular Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest producer of weapons.

Several of its members were arrested last year — some even serving jail sentences — for breaking into buildings owned by companies connected to Elbit Systems or other Israeli weapons suppliers.
How Columbia fueled anti-Israel campus chaos by ‘cherry-picking’ students who were ‘really, really, really into social justice activism’
Ever wonder why there was a sleeper cell of pro-Hamas Columbia students ready to bang drums, pitch tents and smash windows after the attacks of October 7? Because the university consciously stacked its classes full of activists.

Elite colleges have long combed their enormous pool of applicants for social justice warriors passionate about community activism.

That admissions strategy backfired spectacularly when kids decided to turn their ire on the university itself in the name of the Palestinians. The result has been reputational damage and crippling federal budget cuts.

“Columbia essentially did this to themselves,” college admissions expert Christopher Rim told The Post. “Students involved in a lot of social justice-type activism were really sought after in the past at Columbia.”

A preference for lefty activists is evident even in the Ivy League school’s application essay questions.

One essay prompt asks students to discuss a “perspective, viewpoint or lived experience” that has “shaped the way [they] would learn from and contribute to Columbia’s diverse and collaborative community.”

Another question probes prospective students’ “ability to navigate through adversity” and asks them to “describe a barrier or obstacle [they] have faced.”

That’s a little rich, considering that 36% of Columbia students come from families in the top 10% of income earners, 62% come from the top 20% — and just 5% hail from the bottom 20%.

“That being one of five questions for students to pick from is pretty telling,” said Rim, founder and CEO of Command Education. “I don’t think a lot of students can really answer this if they’re wealthy and went to a private school. A lot of them don’t have real adversity.”


Washington Post reporter faces scrutiny over anti-Israel social media commentary
A Middle East reporter for The Washington Post is facing scrutiny for online commentary in which she has called Israel an illegal state, openly identified as an anti-Zionist and signaled support for Hamas and Hezbollah, among other posts now raising questions about the objectivity of her coverage on the region.

In an extensive series of social media remarks mostly published between 2012 and 2014, Heba Farouk Mahfouz, a reporter and researcher in the Post’s Cairo bureau whose recent coverage largely focuses on Israel and Hamas, frequently inveighed against Israel, saying it was “not a point of view” but “a fact” that the country is a “colonial, illegal” state. She also described Zionism as “racism,” while dismissing her critics as “Zio-Nazis” — a pejorative deemed by some watchdog groups as antisemitic.

“If my anti-Zionist views hurt your Zio-Nazi feelings, FUCK OFF & SHUT THE FUCK UP!” she wrote in an aggressively worded post in September 2012. “Better, go live in #Israel & see how they’d treat a brown man.”

“Call me a Nazi, call me a terrorist, call me backward, but still, fuck your illegal ‘state’ of #Israel,” she said in another post published the same day.

Elsewhere, Mahfouz claimed that Israel “despises #African #Jews and any dark skinned Jew,” and compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Holocaust. “‘Never again,’ said the Zionist settler who is killing Palestinians now in a genocide,” she wrote in November 2012, ending her comment with the words “Holocaust” and “Gaza.”

Mahfouz has otherwise expressed alignment with Hamas and Hezbollah, according to translated posts first written in Arabic. While she voiced disapproval of what she called “Hamas’ social suppression of the Palestinians,” Mahfouz wrote in May 2013 that she was “always and forever with the resistance as long as it is against the Zionist entity,” according to one translation.

“With the resistance always and forever,” Mahfouz said in a separate post published the following year. “And with Hamas and Hezbollah if their weapons are against Israel and not against Arabs like them.”

Mahfouz, now 34, began working at the Post in August 2016, according to her LinkedIn profile. Months before, she had publicly identified as “anti-Zionist” on her Twitter page, according to archived screenshots — a description she removed after joining the paper.


Palestinian Authority’s ‘crackdown’ on terror was fake
Eight weeks after the Palestinian Authority supposedly undertook a major anti-terrorist operation in Jenin and other cities, Israeli forces continue to capture terrorists, weapons and bomb-making equipment there. It seems as if the P.A.’s efforts weren’t quite as extensive as the international news media portrayed them to be.

Over the past two months, The New York Times has repeatedly claimed that the P.A. was in the midst of “cracking down” on the terrorists when Israel suddenly—and for no apparent reason—sent its forces into the same area. Other major media outlets have circulated similar reports.

It’s interesting that the Times and other media have never done a follow-up story on what happened to the terrorists whom the P.A. supposedly arrested. After all, the authority has a long history of “revolving-door justice” in which terrorists are arrested in front of television cameras … and then quietly released. But when it comes to the P.A., history seems to be conveniently forgotten.

What makes the reporting about the P.A.’s alleged “crackdown,” especially interesting is what has not been reported: Its peace treaty with the terrorists. On Jan. 18, The Jerusalem Post and other Israeli media reported that the P.A. announced it had concluded a peace agreement with the terrorist forces in Jenin, which allowed them to continue operating in the city. For some reason, that part of the story never made it into the Times.

It was only when the P.A. made peace with the terrorists that the Israelis were forced to wage war on them. On Jan. 21, three days after the Jenin peace deal, Israeli forces entered that city in pursuit of the terrorists.

The fact that the Israelis are still capturing terrorists there two months later exposes the truth: The P.A.’s so-called anti-terror operation was a fraud.

Just last week, Israeli security forces uncovered large quantities of combat equipment and bomb-making materials in the P.A.-governed village of Qabatiya, near Jenin, and captured 12 terrorists there.
Hamas an ‘existential risk to the existence of Palestinians’ Gazan activist warns
Hamas represents an “existential risk to the very existence of the Palestinian people” a leading Gazan-American writer and advocate for co-existence with Israel has warned.

Speaking at a Realign For Palestine (RFP) event hosted by the Atlantic Council, Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib added: “Hamas has been a useful idiot to the far-right in Israel to just make our people vulnerable such that we are even talking about their potential expulsion on a regular basis.

“Hamas’s base was weaponised as a useful idiot to keep the Palestinians politically divided, to keep the Palestinians away from realising the two-state solution.”

Alkhatib added: “That’s not blaming Israel for all our problems. That is simply saying Hamas was very valuable for some extremists in Israel. That alone should delegitimise Hamas, that alone should make it worthy of contempt, worthy of being completely rejected.”

Realign For Palestine (RFP) is a first-of-its-kind project that elevates pragmatic Palestinian voices committed to nonviolence, coexistence, and a two-nation solution.

It aims to redefine pro-Palestine advocacy by amplifying Palestinian voices that reject armed resistance narratives and extremist ideologies in favor of constructive solutions that lead to a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

Appearing at last Friday’s event alongside Alkhatib, was Kamal Mashharawi, a 25-year-old who had worked for his family’s solar company in Gaza City, before managing to escape the region as Israel responded to Hamas attacks of October 7 2023.

Also determined to advocate for peaceful resolution to the deadly conflict, the pair both agreed that pro-Palestinian activism elsewhere in globe often had a damaging effect on those it was seeking to help, particularly through support for Hamas and calls for “armed resistance” as the only way forwards.

Speaking at the event in America, Mashharawi said: “Basically a lot of these people are either born here or born outside of Palestine.

“They have never seen how armed resistance never served any mission in the entire world.

“I think most major conflicts in the entire world were solved by diplomacy and negotiation – in Northern Ireland .. South Africa and other places in the world.”

He bemoaned the fact that instead, pro-Palestine activists outside of Gaza and the West Bank had been “not only supporting armed resistance, but also promoting radical and extremist ideologies that don’t actually serve the Palestinian cause.


Google buys Israeli cyber security startup Wiz in record $32bn deal
Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., has agreed to buy Israeli-founded cybersecurity unicorn Wiz for at least $32 billion, marking the largest ever purchase of an Israeli tech company.

The all-cash deal, announced Tuesday morning, underlines Google’s efforts to boost its cloud security capabilities, sharpening its competitive edge against Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud-computing market.

Wiz was founded in 2020 by Israeli entrepreneurs Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik, alumni of Israel’s elite cyber intelligence unit. They previously built and sold Adallom to Microsoft. Now based in the US, it provides cyber security services for the cloud.

Specialising in cloud security, the startup became one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity startups of all time, reaching unicorn status within a year and later surpassing a $10 billion valuation.

It works with Wiz works with major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft’s Azure, Oracle, as well as Google Cloud, and counts Morgan Stanley, BMW and luxury brand LVMH among its customers.

As part of the deal – expected to close in 2026 – Wiz will join Google’s Cloud division. Google will also offer retention bonuses worth up to $1 billion to Wiz employees, ensuring continuity in leadership and talent retention.

Alphabet held talks over a $23bn purchase of Wiz last year, but negotiations collapsed over antitrust concerns. But with a new administration in Washington, the regulatory landscape may now be more favourable for Google, clearing the path for the deal to go through.

“From its earliest days, Google’s strong security focus has made us a leader in keeping people safe online,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google. “Today, businesses and governments that run in the cloud are looking for even stronger security solutions, and greater choice in cloud computing providers. Together, Google Cloud and Wiz will turbocharge improved cloud security and the ability to use multiple clouds.”


Israeli researchers use gene editing to eliminate 50% of head, neck tumors in mice
Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers say they have successfully eliminated 50 percent of head and neck tumors in mouse models using CRISPR gene editing technology.

The breakthrough study, led by Dr. Razan Masarwy from the lab of Prof. Dan Peer, director of TAU’s Laboratory of Precision Nanomedicine, continues Peer’s groundbreaking work using direct injections that target cancer at the genetic level.

The findings were recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Science.

“Oncologists need a big arsenal of weapons to treat cancer,” said Peer, speaking to The Times of Israel on a video call from Massachusetts, where he was presenting his findings at Harvard Medical School. “My dream is that we will replace chemotherapy with a better approach.”

‘Cancer cells are very smart’ Head and neck cancers are localized cancers, often starting in the tongue, throat, or neck, that can later metastasize, Peer explained. Existing therapies for these cancers “often lead to high treatment failure, and disease recurrence, resulting in poor survival rates.”

But if detected early, localized treatment can “effectively target the tumor,” he said.

Explaining that “cancer cells are very smart,” Peer said that the team’s goal was to find a way to target an essential gene “that the cancer cell cannot live without.”
Israel marks 33 years since Buenos Aires embassy bombing
Israel on Monday commemorated the 33rd anniversary of the deadly bombing of its embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, an attack orchestrated by Iran and carried out by its proxy, the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

The attack, which took place on March 17, 1992, killed 29 people and injured more than 200.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar marked the somber occasion in a statement, emphasizing the ongoing fight against terrorism. “Today marks 33 years since the horrifying terror attack on our Embassy in Buenos Aires, orchestrated by Iran and executed by its proxy, Hezbollah,” Sa’ar tweeted.

“As we commemorate the loss of 29 innocent lives, today, more than ever, we remember that the fight against terrorism is vital to the security of our civilization,” he added.

Sa’ar also reaffirmed Israel’s solidarity with Argentina in efforts to bring those responsible to justice, praising Argentine President Javier Milei for his commitment to accountability. “We stand united with Argentina in this ongoing effort, and we thank President @JMilei for his determination to bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said.

The anniversary serves as a reminder of Iran’s long-standing role in global terrorism and its support for Hezbollah, which continues to pose a threat in the Middle East and beyond.

“May the memories of the victims be a blessing,” Sa’ar concluded.


22-year-old is 10,000th participant in Birthright Israel volunteer program
Madison Stock of Woodbury, N.Y., is officially the 10,000th participant in the Birthright Israel volunteer program.

The 22-year-old recently completed working on agricultural projects in Moshav Gamzu, Moshav Zeitan, Moshav Beit Yitzchak, Moshav Gan Haim and Hinanit as part of the subsidized Post-October 7 Volunteer Program. She is still in Israel and has decided to extend her visit.

Stock participated in the 10-day Birthright Israel trip last summer, fell in love with the country, and decided to return as a volunteer.

In the United States, she works in event planning and the restaurant business. She has twin siblings, and both parents have recently retired. Madison StockMadison Stock, 22, of Woodbury, N.Y., is officially the 10,000th participant in Birthright Israel’s volunteer program. Credit: Birthright Israel.

“This volunteer program with Birthright Israel has truly inspired me,” said Stock. “The impact volunteers can make is beyond comprehension. The farmers and communities we supported are incredibly grateful for our help.”

She stated that since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Jewish world has “felt the same loss and pain, which has brought people together in unique ways. The farmers were hit hard by the lack of people coming to Israel to work, so the fact that we came to do impactful work was very special for everyone involved.”

The volunteer program is a cornerstone of Birthright Israel’s mission to strengthen Jewish solidarity globally and deepen ties to the Jewish state through meaningful, hands-on action. It offers Jewish adults, ages 18 to 50, the chance to make a tangible impact on communities across Israel.


‘Snow White’ Star Gal Gadot on Playing Wonder Woman and Speaking Out About Israel: ‘I Had to Advocate for the Hostages’
The first time Gal Gadot visited the Hollywood Walk of Fame almost two decades ago, she had a premonition of her future in entertainment. “Between Madame Tussauds and the Hollywood stars, I remember walking there for the first time when I was 23 and seeing people dressed like superheroes,” she remembers. “And they had Wonder Woman there!”

On March 18, Gadot will be there again, and this time she’ll receive her own star. But even after donning Wonder Woman’s red, black and gold costume multiple times on film — amid delivering a dozen other movie-star turns — the Israeli-born actress seems no less gobsmacked at the prospect of being immortalized by the honor. “I think that it’s going to take me time before I even realize that it’s real,” she tells Variety. “I don’t think that ever in my life I would dream to be able to go through the journey that I’m going through, so I’m very, very humbled and grateful and excited.”

As inevitable as her ascent may now seem, Gadot says that an acting career was anything but a foregone conclusion. “I was a dancer for 12 years, but acting was never something that I did,” she says. “After I graduated, I went to study law and as a side job, I was doing some modeling. And one thing led to the other and a casting director for James Bond wanted to test me for the Bond girl [in ‘Quantum of Solace’].” She didn’t get the part, but got bitten by the acting bug during the process of auditioning.

“I discovered something that I absolutely loved doing,” Gadot says. “And one thing led to the other, and my first role in the movies was in ‘Fast & Furious.’”
Gal Gadot’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony disrupted by anti-Israel protesters amid ‘Snow White’ drama
Hollywood is honoring this Wonder Woman — but not everyone was thrilled to see Gal Gadot receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Tuesday’s ceremony was disrupted by pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters. The pro-Palestinian group held signs that read, “Heros Fight Like Palestinians,” “Viva Viva Palestina” and “No Other Land Won Oscar.”

The crowd shouted, “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation,” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crime” before Gadot was even at the podium.

Police were at the scene and broke up a fight between demonstrators. Law enforcement was also seen handcuffing a group of protesters, per TMZ.

A spokesperson for the LAPD told The Post that officers “were assigned to the location, provided crowd control, and kept the peace.” Despite the disruption, “there were no arrests.”

The Post reached out to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for comment but did not hear back.

Roma Ealaicos, who was across the street from the tented-off area, told Variety, “There’s no reason we should be celebrating an Israeli,” referring to Gadot, 39.

Meanwhile, content creator Dana Nikri held an Israeli flag, telling the outlet that her friends had gone to the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023, and were “murdered.”

Gadot has been vocal about the ongoing war in Gaza, writing after the Oct. 7 attacks, “My heart breaks. My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people.”
Gal Gadot first Israeli actor to receive star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Gal Gadot received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, becoming the first Israeli actor to be awarded the honor.

Speaking at the ceremony, Gadot referred several times to her Israeli roots, even speaking some Hebrew.

“I’m just a girl from a town in Israel,” Gadot said, drawing loud cheers from her supporters in the audience. “To all the young people, especially the young girls, if a girl from Rosh Ha’ayin can get a star on Hollywood Boulevard, anything is possible.”

Gadot also addressed her Israeli family in Hebrew, saying that she loves them, even though they are far away.

The actress, best known for playing “Wonder Woman,” was accompanied by her husband Jaron Varsano, whom she called “my rock, my compass, my firefighter,” and their four daughters — Alma, 13, Maya, 8, Daniella, 3 and Ori, 13 months. “Whenever my success grew, I always got pregnant,” she joked. “I needed to ground myself.”

Speaking to her daughters, Gadot said: “Being your Imma [Hebrew for mother] is the greatest privilege of anything I have ever done. You inspire me to be a better person, to be strong and brave and kind as you are.”




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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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