Saturday, March 29, 2025

03/29 Links: Netanyahu tells the full sotry of the War; Douglas Murray: How the West can defeat the evil death cults that murder and maim with glee; Making a Holocaust film for an age of denial

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: How the West can defeat the evil death cults that murder and maim with glee
Here in the West, we are prone to trotting out the same old banalities – that people around the world are the same everywhere and essentially want the same things; that everybody wants to just live in peace and bring up their family in safety.

Yet some people do not. Not because they are born that way but because they have been raised that way.

How can anyone hope to overcome a movement – a people – who welcome death, who glory in death, who worship death? Is it not inevitable that against such a force, a feeble and sybaritic West cannot possibly win?

For almost a quarter of a century, I have heard the taunt of the jihadists. 'We love death more than you love life,' they declare. I heard it from al-Qaeda, from Hamas, from ISIS. From Europe to Afghanistan, several of my friends and colleagues had heard such war cries in their last moments.

And it had always seemed to me not just a nihilistic utterance but one that appeared almost impossible to counter.

This year I finally saw an answer to it. I went into Gaza myself, taken there by the Israeli Defence Force, and saw up close its campaign to defeat Hamas and return the hostages to their homes. Of all the Israeli soldiers I met, none took delight in their task.

They could feel victorious on occasion, proud to have completed a mission and got their unit out alive. But none took a joy or pleasure in the task they had to do. They did it not because they loved death but exactly the opposite – because they love life.

They fought for life. For the survival of their families, their nation, and their people. Even the most secular of them knew that the lifestyle most of us take for granted cannot be taken so by them.

They know they won't have the ability to party in Tel Aviv, fall in love, grow a family, or live a meaningful life unless they are willing to fight for it.

'Choose life' is one of the most important commandments of the Jewish people. It is also one of the fundamental values of the West. They, and all of us, can win in spite of the enemy loving death. Because there is nothing wrong with loving life so much. It is the basis on which civilisation can win.
Simon Schama: Making a Holocaust film for an age of denial
It goes without saying that The Road to Auschwitz has been a profoundly painful film to make. But as an effort to staunch the tide of Holocaust denial and dilution, it has seemed to me a morally urgent task and one which speaks to the raison d’être of public service broadcasting. But another reason why I have presumed to add to the already vast literature, visual and textual, about the most horrifying act of extermination in human history, is that I have wanted to honour the many writers and image-makers who, accepting their own eclipse, refused to resign their witness to oblivion.

So they wrote and drew and photographed and hid that work, hoping that it might see the light of day and lodge in the conscience of posterity. What they wanted was, as one of them, the Polish novelist Gustawa Jarecka, put it, not long before she died with her children on a transport to Treblinka in January 1943, was to create a “trace” that “should be thrown like a stone under the wheel of history in order to stop it. The stone has the weight of our experience which had reached the bottom of human cruelty. It contains the memory of mothers mad with grief after losing their children, a memory of the cry of children who were carried to their death without coats, in their summer clothes, barefoot and walked crying, unaware of the horror that was happening to them, a memory of despair of old mothers and fathers who had to be abandoned by adult children and the stone silence of a dead city once a sentence on 300,000 people was implemented.”

All that I meant to do with this film is to ensure that Jarecka’s stone is not dislodged; that history’s wheel not move on, indifferent to this ultimate calamity and the millions it consumed.

‘Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz’, April 7, 9pm, BBC2 and iPlayer in the UK and April 22 on PBS in the US
When Charities Betray America: How “Pro-Palestinian” Protest Groups Promote Anti-Americanism
These findings reinforce the conclusions of Marching Towards Violence: The Domestic Anti-Israeli Movement, a study published by the Capital Research Center in October 2024. The study identified 150 pro-terrorism groups behind the nationwide protests and warned of increasing militancy, particularly targeting law enforcement and perceived “Zionist” targets.

The term “pro-Palestinian” is put inside quotation marks because that is how the groups in question define themselves. We do not concede that such extremist groups are genuinely pursuing an agenda that would benefit innocent Palestinians.

The broadening of the “pro-Palestinian” movement’s agenda to include siding with Western adversaries in conflicts around the world and advocating for defunding the police indicates the movement has become a permanent presence. It will not fade when issues surrounding Israelis and Palestinians lose prominence.

Instead, it will attempt to preserve and expand its infrastructure by exploiting popular causes and inserting anti-Americanism, hatred of Israel, anti-Semitism, anti-Westernism, and anti-police bigotry into those causes’ narratives. Therefore, the observed radicalization will likely continue into the indefinite future and incite violence, hatred, bigotry, and criminality into other contentious causes. Shockingly, many of the groups and individuals who used the keywords denoting calls for violence or hatred of America or the police are officially “charities” or projects of charities, or they enjoy the benefits of official status as student groups at colleges that are either private charities or government institutions.

Key Findings
During the 15 months following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, the “pro-Palestinian” movement’s use of hateful anti-American and anti-police keywords and phrases rose by 186 percent in comparison to the 15-month period preceding the attacks.
The “pro-Palestinian” movement’s hateful anti-American and anti-police posts following October 7 had over 23 million views on X and TikTok and 4.2 million engagements in the form of comments, likes, and shares on those platforms.
Hateful anti-American and anti-police posts endorsing violence skyrocketed 3,000 percent during the 15 months after the attacks in comparison to the 15 months prior to the attacks, indicating that the movement is rapidly radicalizing.
The “pro-Palestinian” movement’s anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli tropes largely depict Israel as an appendage of a villainized United States. In other words, hatred of Israel is commonly rooted in anti-Americanism, anti-Westernism, and anti-capitalism.
A mainstream belief of the “pro-Palestinian” movement is that the United States shares Israel’s illegitimacy because it is a “settler-colonial” state with no right to exist. The movement’s groups and activists frequently state that, just as Israel should be destroyed and replaced by Palestine, the United States and its “colonial borders” should be abolished and replaced by Turtle Island, a mythical land that some Native American traditions claim once encompassed North and Central America.
The movement makes a concerted effort to equate American law enforcement with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or “occupation forces,” as the groups in question often refer to them. Such rhetoric is dangerous because almost all these groups and activists support violent attacks on the Israeli military.
The 78 groups and 30 activists described in Appendixes A and B had the most malicious speech in their posts. Of the groups, nearly half (35), were college chapters of national organizations, which means they receive recognition and likely student fees from private charitable colleges or government-chartered colleges. Two of the groups legally operate as 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofits, 15 groups have an unknown legal status, and the remaining 26 groups are operating as 501(c)(3) “charities,” either as independent nonprofits or as a project of a sponsoring charity.
Of the 30 activists described in the Appendix B, 19 are either employees of a private or public college or are in the leadership of 501(c)(3) “charities.” All of the charities tied to these activists and groups that support violence or anti-American, anti-police animus may be at risk of adverse legal consequences, including loss of tax-exempt status.


EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: NETANYAHU TELLS THE FULL STORY OF THE WAR
In this one hour and ten minute talk, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks us through all the major decisions that shaped the Iron Swords war thus far. (Hebrew, with English subtitles)

00:00 Introduction to Iron Swords War special update
13:52 Initial military decisions and mobilization strategy
25:25 Managing tensions with the Biden administration
38:26 Beeper operations against Hezbollah and missile threats
45:03 Decision to eliminate Nasrallah
52:05 Nasrallah’s Execution & Impact on Syrian regime and regional balance
59:59 Complex hostage negotiations and military pressure
64:31 Changes in Hamas leadership approach
67:03 Future vision for Gaza and regional stability


Israel conveys counter-proposal to Gaza deal mediators
Israel has conveyed its counter-offer to the Gaza deal mediators in full coordination with the US, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Saturday evening, following reports that Hamas agreed to the Egyptian proposal to release five live hostages.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a series of consultations on Friday following the proposal received from the Gaza deal negotiators.

The five hostages would be released in exchange for renewing the ceasefire in Gaza until after Passover and beginning negotiations on a long-term ceasefire, an Israeli official told Walla earlier in the evening.

Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya later said that the Palestinian terrorist group had agreed to a ceasefire proposal it received two days ago from Egypt and Qatar, key mediators in Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Reuters reported.

Hamas had previously voiced its approval of the new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza during Eid al-Fitr, which starts on Sunday, to Egyptian officials, who told UK-based Qatari news organization Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Saturday that Hamas had agreed to release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander and four other hostages.

Hamas’s conditions for releasing the select group of hostages has not been revealed, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News noted on Friday, but states that the terrorist organization needs the ceasefire for a few days in order to suppress anti-Hamas protests that have been held by Palestinians in the enclave this week.

The Israeli official said that the Egyptian proposal was very similar to the one presented by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff several weeks ago during Doha negotiations, which Hamas had rejected. The official also said that the proposal may also include the release of hostages who have died.
FDD: A bad week for the Muslim Brotherhood
It’s not been a good week for two of the Muslim Brotherhood’s most prominent affiliates. In Gaza and in Turkey, the final days of the holy month of Ramadan have been marked by angry demonstrations calling for an end to the rule of, respectively, Hamas and the Justice and Development (AKP) Party.

The demonstrations are not connected and are not referencing each other. Their targets, however, are intimately connected—through their ideological fealty to the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Islamist movement that emerged nearly a century ago seeking to impose Sharia law, and, more immediately, through the energetic backing for Hamas provided by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s regime.

In the Turkish case, the protests were sparked by the regime’s arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu—the mayor of Istanbul who had planned to challenge Erdoğan for the presidency—on fabricated charges of corruption. A member of the secular Republican People’s Party who has said that he considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization, Imamoglu has been vilified by the regime, to the point of having his Istanbul University degree annulled. Under Turkey’s constitution, presidential candidates must possess a college degree, so Erdoğan’s move was an effective if slimy way of shifting his most credible opponent out of the running—for now, at least.

The Turkish authorities have responded violently to the protests, arresting nearly 2,000 people. Such behavior is consistent with Erdoğan’s record, particularly since he overcame an alleged coup attempt a decade ago. According to the U.S. State Department’s most recent report on the woeful state of human rights in Turkey, Erdoğan’s regime is guilty of such crimes as torture, enforced disappearance, pursuing and harassing opponents based abroad, gender-based violence and persecution of the Kurdish minority. Media freedom is heavily restricted, with Turkey prominently listed among those countries where journalists are routinely imprisoned.

Despite its dreadful domestic record, its support for terrorist proxies in neighboring Syria and its lionizing of Hamas, Turkey remains a member of NATO and a candidate member of the European Union. Should the threat posed by Iran to the Middle East eventually be neutralized, Turkey stands ready to assume Tehran’s mantle, with the notable advantage that, unlike Iran’s rulers, Erdoğan shamelessly participates in the institutions created by Western democracies while decrying and undermining the values and policies these same institutions represent.

Over in Gaza, Hamas—lauded by Erdoğan as a “resistance organization that strives to protect its lands”—is separately facing the wrath of its own people. During its long reign in Gaza since 2007, Hamas has periodically faced local opposition over its corruption and the brutal character of its rule. Yet the current demonstrations, which began after Israel issued evacuation orders for the northern part of the enclave following the resumption of rocket attacks against Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza border, are unprecedented. Protestors are calling for an end to Hamas rule during a time of war no less. Their chants include “Out, out Hamas,” “Our children’s blood is not cheap” and the simple “Stop the war.”
Anti-Israel group files war crimes complaint against IDF fighter in Germany
The Hind Rajab Foundation filed a legal complaint in Germany against an Israel Defense Forces reservist for alleged war crimes in Gaza, the organization said on Saturday.

“Among other crimes, [the IDF soldier] bombed a civilian car in Gaza and filmed it burning, with its occupants still inside,” the foundation wrote on social media, with a photo of the fighter that reveals his face.

The reservist, who holds dual Israeli-German citizenship, “is currently on German soil, yet the prosecutor refuses to investigate,” it added.

The foundation collects publicly available information online about IDF soldiers, including details about military operations they participated in, aiming to prosecute them in foreign countries.

It had filed lawsuits against at least 28 soldiers in eight different countries before the new complaint in Germany.

The reservist told Ynet on Saturday: “All their information is incorrect. I served in active duty in the 188th [Armored Brigade] and today I am in a different reserve battalion.

“Official Israeli sources contacted me and told me that [the foundation] had filed the complaint and that I have nothing to worry about. So, I’m not concerned. But I realized that their post went viral,” he related.

The reservist has returned to Israel for reasons unrelated to the complaint, Ynet reported.
Hamas, Al Jazeera admit: Story of IDF rapes in Gaza hospital fabricated
After more than 24 hours of letting the story run freely, Qatari mouthpiece Al Jazeera deleted the page featuring their former story, which accused Israeli soldiers of allegedly perpetrating rape against women during the IDF’s latest excursion against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who barricaded themselves inside the former hospital-cum-terror headquarters at Shifa Hospital.

Though the Qatari mouthpiece hasn’t officially referred to the retraction, all content related to the allegation has reportedly been deleted.

Al Jazeera columnist and former director Yasser Abuhilalah also tweeted, admitting that “It was revealed through Hamas investigations that the story of the rape of women in Al-Shifa Hospital was fabricated… The woman who spoke about rape justified her exaggeration and incorrect talk by saying that the goal was to arouse the nation’s fervor and brotherhood,” adding critically that “As if more than thirty thousand martyrs, ninety thousand wounded, about a million displaced people, and comprehensive destruction were not enough!”

Jihad Khelles, a pro-Hamas preacher from Gaza, also tweeted that it became evident that there was no proven evidence for the events and that the alleged “witness” told a story that she had heard and not witnessed, also adding that “this creates panic and fear” and “makes [Palestinians] feel despair and frustration at a time when we are most in need for stability and reassurance.”

The original story published by Al Jazeera featured a “testimony” by Jamila Al-Hessi, a Gazan woman who claimed that while she was under siege in the area of the hospital complex, she witnessed IDF soldiers “raping women then killing them and burning entire families alive.”

The fake testimony went viral, with many expressing their rage at Israel and at what they deemed Arab failure to protect the honor of Palestinian women, even asking where Hamas and the resistance had gone. However, Israeli news blogger Abu Ali Express also reported that the viral fake testimony also had unexpected reverse ripple effects, leading many Gazans to flee their homes in the northern Gaza strip southwards, which may explain the unusual event of a Hamas investigation into the details.


How US college campuses became playgrounds for radical Islam
What do a Yale scholar, a Columbia student, a Georgetown researcher, 60 colleges and universities under investigation for relentless antisemitic eruptions, and Hamas have in common? In traditional times, the answer should be absolutely nothing.

Institutions such as Yale, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, and Columbia were once guardians of liberal democratic values, committed to fighting hatred and violence. Yet, today, this is far from the case.

A dangerous alliance has formed between the progressive movement in the United States and radical Muslim groups, using the guise of victimhood to create an anti-American coalition. Though antisemitic and anti-Israel at its core, the ultimate goal of this Red-Green coalition is far broader: the systematic destruction of America from within.

To accomplish its goal, the movement has exploited American institutions, using democracy itself as a tool to undermine the very values that have made the United States the world’s most successful democracy.

For years, the Islamo-leftist alliance has been laying the groundwork to infiltrate academia, starting with faculty and staff before trickling down to students. With foreign funding funneled into higher education institutions, this campaign of radicalization has steadily gained ground.

The results became undeniable after Hamas’s October 7 barbaric attack on Israel when the alliance mobilized in force, targeting America and its closest ally, Israel.

Over the past several years, the Red-Green network of terror sympathizers has systematically radicalized young minds, fostering a generation that views America as an illegitimate entity.

They push for open borders, the abolition of law and order, and the delegitimization of democratic governance, all under the banner of “justice” and “liberation.” But their goals are clear: to dismantle the very foundations of American society.

The consequences are visible. Radicalized student mobs have stormed administrative offices, taken over campus buildings, and issued violent threats against those who dared to dissent. Freedom of speech has been suffocated unless it aligns with the Islamo-leftist narrative.


Seth Frantzman: Anti-Hamas Gaza protests face uphill battle with no leadership, allies, or leverage
Israeli views on the protests
Israel also seems skeptical of the protests. Some commentators online have spread conspiracies suggesting that the protests are actually run by Hamas. They also point out that the demonstrators are not calling for peace for Israel.When the bar is set so high for the protesters, it is unlikely they can ever please some voices in Israel. Israeli leaders have generally preferred Hamas running Gaza over the last decade and a half, to having the Palestinian Authority run Gaza.

If the protesters were able to topple Hamas, they would likely want new leadership in the form of working with the legitimate Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah.

Israel doesn’t see the protesters handing over hostages or disarming Hamas. Israel is still waging a new campaign in Gaza that began earlier this month and has so far been slow and relatively limited. It is similar to how Israel ran campaigns last year, going in slowly to nibble away at areas around the urban centers of Gaza.

Israel uses its technological advances to move slowly and make sure soldiers’ lives are not risked. Following the October 7 attack, 300,000 reservists were called up, and it’s clear many Israelis don’t look fondly on another year of reserve duty after serving for most of 2024.

In addition, the ruling government includes haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties who oppose service. This means Israel’s government is divided between wanting to lead a new campaign against Hamas and working with haredi parties that don’t want their children serving. This puts Israel between a rock and a hard place while soldiers and civilians are held hostage in Gaza.

For this reason, the protests in Gaza lack the ability to get to the next step that demonstrations need to reach in order to get real achievements. Since so few countries in the region benefit from the protests, they receive no support.

Additionally, the powerful backers of Hamas in Doha and Ankara do not back the protests. Therefore, some online commentators who back Hamas spread rumors against the demonstrators to undermine them.

Furthermore, since Hamas controls much of the media access in Gaza and only friendly media such as Al Jazeera get good access via Hamas, there is little coverage. Al Jazeera is based in Doha and only covers demonstrations in the region when Doha backs the protests. Doha prefers Hamas in charge of Gaza, and Hamas leaders live in Doha. The protesters are an inconvenience.

It’s not clear what comes next for the protests. They have surmounted some obstacles but many remain. They will require staying power, leadership, a focus for their demands, and also some support if they are to achieve the next steps.

Meanwhile, Israel has to weigh whether it will expand its operations in Gaza as the protests take place. It’s difficult to navigate an army amid demonstrations, and Israel prefers to evacuate Gazans, but it’s hard to evacuate protesters who want to be rid of Hamas.

This puts the protesters also between a rock and a hard place. If they are evacuated, they will likely stop protesting or potentially be squeezed into areas Hamas still dominates. They gained fuel when Hamas went underground on March 18 as Israel restarted its military campaign. Now they face a crossroads.
Spiked: Have Palestinians had enough of Hamas’s tyranny?
Luke Gittos, Tom Slater and Fraser Myers discuss the protests in Gaza against Hamas’s brutal regime.




Israel's Foreign Ministry slams Erdogan for condemning Israel's Beirut strike
Israel's Foreign Ministry slammed Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a Saturday statement for condemning Israel's strike in Beirut on Friday.

"While violently oppressing his own citizens and carrying out mass arrests of his political opponents, Erdogan dares to preach lofty values to the international community," the statement read.

"In Erdogan's Turkey, there is no justice, no law, and no freedom. Israel has no need for Erdogan's absurd moralistic speeches. Israel is acting to defend itself and its citizens from real threats and actual attacks — and it will continue to do so," the statement concluded.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that Israel's strike on Beirut was a violation of the ceasefire agreement Israel holds with Lebanon.

"These attacks have once again exposed Israel's flagrant disregard for international law and its ongoing threat to the region's security and stability. The international community must stand united against Israel's efforts to create a perpetual state of conflict in the region," the statement read.

Turkey has been embroiled in protests following the imprisonment of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main rival. These have been the largest demonstrations Turkey has seen in over a decade.


IDF cancels leave for all combat units in wake of Iranian threats
With Iran threatening revenge for the assassination of one of its top commanders on Monday, the Israeli military took the unusual step on Thursday of canceling leave for all combat units.

“The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements,” the army said in a statement.

The notice comes after the army on Wednesday decided to increase manpower and call up reserve soldiers to the IDF Aerial Defense Array.

Meanwhile, there have been reports of widescale GPS disruptions in Israel, a defensive measure attributed to the IDF as a means to confuse enemy aerial attacks, though the military has remained silent on the matter.

According to Israeli assessments, Iran could attempt to attack Israel through one of its terror proxies, whether it be Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or militia forces in Syria.

Iran holds Israel responsible for the death of Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force responsible for Syria and Lebanon, who was killed in an airstrike in Damascus on Monday.

Along with Zahedi, six other members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the attack, which targeted a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy.

Israel said it attacked terror targets in Southern Lebanon on Wednesday night. “IAF fighter jets struck Hezbollah launch posts in the area of Khiam and terrorist infrastructure in the area of Kfar Kila,” it said.

On Feb. 4, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari revealed that the IAF has attacked more than 50 targets belonging to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed terrorist groups in Syria since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel.
Iran warns US against strikes, slams Israel's strikes on Beirut
As reports circulate that the US is moving more military assets to within striking distance of Iran, Tehran appears to be seeking to warn Washington against escalation. Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Ghalibaf delivered a speech at Tehran University on International Quds Day, March 28, 2025, warning the US.

“If they threaten Islamic Iran, then, like powder kegs, America’s allies in the region and US bases will be made unsafe,” Mohammad-Baqer Ghalibaf said.

This is clearly a threat to US forces in Iraq, the Gulf, and perhaps even Syria. The US has bases in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE. The US also has forces at Asad base in Iraq, in northern Iraq, and a number of posts in Eastern Syria.

“Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Ghalibaf says if the United States carries out military threats against Iran, US allies and American military bases in the region will be made unsafe,” the Iranian state media report. Clearly, this also implies that Iran could strike at Israel or the Gulf states in retaliation for a strike.

Recent reports indicate the US has moved at least four B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Ghalibaf also referred to US President Donald Trump’s letter to Iran. “America’s attitude in the letter is one of a bully… But you can neither bully nor deceive the Iranian nation.”

Iran’s supreme leader has also cautioned against direct talks with the US. It appears the Iranian president and foreign minister are more keen on talks. Ghalibaf spoke of US threats as being a potential “prelude to war.” Trump has reportedly given the Iranians about sixty days to decide. This means they will need to decide sometime in late May.
Hezbollah chief: Hezbollah has fully adhered to ceasefire deal, Israel has not
In a televised speech to Lebanon Saturday evening, Hezbollah's Secretary-General Naim Qassem said that Hezbollah has fully adhered to the ceasefire deal with Israel, while Israel has not.

He added that Hezbollah cannot accept normalization or "the political paths through which 'Israel' seeks to obtain what it failed to achieve through war.”

"The Lebanese state must take a stand... and 'Israel' will not be able to achieve its goals as long as the resistance, the people, and internal unity exist," Qassem stated.

“In Lebanon, we have become a significant force of resistance in the face of the Israeli enemy. In Yemen, there has been a qualitative addition to the confrontation with the Israeli entity. In Iraq, there is a significant capability in resisting American and Israeli arrogance,” he continued, adding that all the groups would continue to stand united against Israel.

"Quds Day is a day of honor. A day to support Palestine. A day of action for its liberation," Qassem concluded.

"All honor and greatness to Palestine and Gaza, to Lebanon, to Iran, to Iraq, to Yemen, and to the peoples who have stood in support."

First Israeli strike on Beirut in months
On Friday, Israel conducted its first major strike on Beirut since a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah was implemented in November, though the IDF has repeatedly carried out minor strikes along the Israel-Lebanon border over the past few months, citing ceasefire violations.

After the strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel would not allow any fire on any of its communities.

"Anyone who has not yet internalized the new reality in Lebanon received another example today of our determination," Netanyahu began.

"The equation has changed — what was before October 7 will not return. We will not allow any fire on our communities, not even a trickle.

"We will continue to enforce the ceasefire with strength, strike anywhere in Lebanon against any threat to the State of Israel, and ensure that all our residents in the North return to their homes safely," the prime minister concluded.


US launches strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, CENTCOM
The US Air Force launched several strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, CENTCOM announced on Friday night.

Yemeni media reported 24 airstrikes on the Houthi controlled cities Sana'a, Saada, and the Al Jawf Governorate in the country's North, with Houthi-affiliated source Al-Masirah citing their correspondent in Saada saying that one civilian was killed and four others were wounded in the country's northwestern city.

Of the 24 strikes reported, the correspondent also claimed that 14 of them were in Saada alone.

The US strikes came a day after the Yemen-based terrorist organization had launched two ballistic missiles towards Israeli territory but were intercepted by the IDF before they could enter the country. As a result, sirens sounded across central Israel at around 1:09 p.m., including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Previous US strikes on the Houthis

The Trump administration accidentally texted their previous military strikes against the Houthis to the Atlantic's editor-in-chief and former Jerusalem Post columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor wrote on Monday on the magazine platform.

Goldberg added that he received the information via Signal, an open-source encrypted messaging service. A Thursday report from The Wall Street Journal elaborated on the intelligence behind a terrorist who was killed in the strikes in Yemen discussed in Signal, reporting that the information was provided by Israel, the Journal cited to US officials as saying.

Israeli officials reportedly complained when the information was leaked to Goldberg.


Hamas releases second propaganda video of captive Elkana Bohbot
The Hamas terrorist organization on Saturday night released a second propaganda video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot, pleading for his freedom.

Bohbot’s family authorized the publication of the footage to the Israeli public.

“For the second time, I am prisoner No. 22. I want to tell you, prime minister …, every morning I wake up without my son! Without my wife! … I want to get out of here!” Bohbot is seen as saying in the video, breaking into tears.

The captive’s family said in a statement, “We are anxious and worried. How much longer can Elkana survive in the hell of Gaza? We are pleading with the people of Israel—listen to Elkana’s cry. Do not forget him. We must save him and our brothers in captivity. This is the second sign of life we have received this week. How many more will there be? Signs of life must not become final memories.

“Elkana, if you can hear us—we will not stop fighting until you come home to us.”

On Monday, Hamas published a video of Bohbot, 35, alongside fellow hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana, 24.

Bohbot and 58 other hostages, of whom 24 are believed by Israel to be alive, have been held in Gaza for 540 days, ever since Hamas led a massive onslaught on Israel’s northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people and abducting 251 more into the Strip.

Bohbot, an Israeli-Colombian dual national from Mevaseret Zion near Jerusalem, was kidnapped by terrorists from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.

He was abducted while he and a friend tried to provide aid to wounded fellow partygoers amid Hamas’s massacre.


Murdered hostage’s daughter says IDF tried and failed to recover his body in Gaza op
The daughter of murdered Israeli hostage Manny Godard, whose body is held in Gaza, said on Saturday that the military recently tried and failed to recover his body in an operation in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces then confirmed the matter.

Godard, 73, and his wife Ayelet, 63, were murdered by terrorists in their home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023. Manny’s body was taken to Gaza. The family was told by the IDF in February 2024 that Manny was murdered during the Hamas assault and that his body was being held by terrorists in Gaza.

Speaking at the weekly rally of hostages’ families in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, Bar Godard said that on Monday, rumors began circulating that her father’s body had been recovered in a mission.

“I started shaking and my mind raced,” she said.

The IDF officer who had accompanied the family since the massacre then told her he was on his way to their house.

“I thought that in a moment he’d come and tell me that dad’s here. But the minute he opened the door, I understood: Dad’s not here,” she recounted.

“He told of a daring operation and brave soldiers who tried to bring Dad back. He said they managed to extract a refrigerator from an Islamic Jihad post with findings related to dad,” she said. “But he said the operation was unsuccessful.”

The officer then told her, “I’m so sorry,” she said.

Shortly after Godard’s speech, the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed the operation in a joint statement. They said troops operating in southern Gaza’s Rafah recovered findings belonging to Manny Godard.

The findings found at the post were taken to Israel and identified by the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute as belonging to Godard’s body, but his body remains in Gaza, they said. His family was updated on the developments.


NYC precinct council prez blasted for tearing down Israeli hostage posters
The head of a police community group in one of NYC’s most Jewish neighborhoods tore down posters of missing Israeli hostages, disturbing footage shows.

Robert Josman, longtime president and treasurer of the 24th Precinct Community Council on the Upper West Side, was filmed cutting down the posters at least twice since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks.

Josman, 59, was filmed earlier this month ripping down the signs while walking a dog, video shows.

And in October, he was confronted by two people when he used a pair of scissors to cut the flyers off a pole, footage shows.

Without identifying himself, he argued it was illegal to post anything on NYC property and said he had consulted with the police precinct — but admitted he didn’t work for the city, according to the video, which has been shared widely online.

Curiously, Josman hasn’t removed any other signage that clutters poles across the neighborhood, critics noted.

A coalition of Upper West Siders is now calling for Josman be booted from his volunteer role as head the council, which primarily advises NYPD police precincts on local issues and makes recommendations for new commanders

“Mr. Josman — whose role is to foster community and police cooperation — has directly undermined his own role by demonstrating overt hatred toward an ethnic group within the city community,” the group wrote in a letter to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and the NYPD brass.

“This selective enforcement to address only the hostage posters while leaving other signage intact makes plain that Mr. Josman is not focused on protecting lampposts, but is instead determined to inflict hatred by spiting the Jewish and Israeli communities in his neighborhood.”

The group is also calling for mandatory anti-discrimination training for all public servants, such as precinct council members.

“Tearing down hostage posters is a despicable act — an attempt to erase awareness of the kidnappings and shield Hamas from public outrage over its violence,” Brooke Goldstein, founder of the #EndJewHatred movement, told The Post. Josman seen talking to critics while taking sign off pole. Seen on UWS corner in the evening, wearing navy jacket and white button down shirt. 4

“Such behavior, especially while hostages, including Edan Alexander, an American from New Jersey, still remain in the clutches of Hamas terrorists and are being tortured and abused every day, reflects an alarming level of hostility toward Jewish people and contradicts fundamental moral values,” Goldstein added, calling on Josman to step down.


NYC doctor fired over disturbing anti-Israel posts denying Oct. 7 attacks: ‘Long live Hamas’
A Mount Sinai doctor who allegedly denied Hamas atrocities and hailed the terror group as “noble resistance and freedom fighters” has been fired from her teaching gig there, The Post has learned.

Dr. Lila Abassi, an assistant professor of medicine at the Upper East Side hospital, was canned earlier this month after a probe into a series of disturbing online posts, a hospital spokesperson confirmed this week.

In a series of unhinged screeds, Abassi, 46, allegedly wrote “Long Live Hamas & Hezbollah,” labeled the Israeli army a “plague,” accused Israel of “slaughtering babies,” and rejected reports of rape during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that left 1,200 Israelis dead and thousands injured.

“Please show me actual rape video,” Abassi wrote in a Facebook doctors group, using the pseudonym “Kluver Bucy,” the name for a rare brain disorder that affects memory and behavior and may cause eating disorders, hypersexuality, seizures and dementia.

And she asserted that Israel was responsible for “massacr[ing] more people on 10/7 than [were] killed by Hamas.”

City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn), who is Jewish, reported Abassi to the hospital last month.

The hospital initiated a probe that ultimately resulted in her dismissal, according to a Mt. Sinai spokeswoman.


Youth activists arrested over plan to ‘shut down’ London in anti-Israel campaign
Six members of the protest group Youth Demand have been arrested at a meeting in Westminster over plans to “shut down London” next month, in a campaign that accuses the UK government of facilitating genocide in Gaza and demands a complete halt to trade with Israel.

The Metropolitan Police said the individuals were detained on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance after officers raided a welcome talk at the Quaker Meeting House at 7.30pm on Thursday.

The group, which describes itself as a “new youth resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide”, claimed more than 30 officers were involved in the raid and said the arrests showed that “police repression has reached a new level”.

A Met spokesperson said: “Youth Demand have stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April using tactics including ‘swarming’ and roadblocks.

“While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.

“On Thursday, officers raided a Youth Demand planning meeting where those in attendance were plotting their April action.

“Six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.”

The force confirmed that a number of houses were also raided on Thursday and Friday as part of the same operation.

Youth Demand said the meeting was intended to be “an opportunity to share plans for non-violence civil resistance actions” and alleged that one of those arrested is a journalist.

The group has made anti-Israel demands central to its messaging, calling for the UK government to cut all trade with Israel and accusing it of enabling genocide. It also wants the state to raise money from “the super-rich and fossil fuel elite” to pay damages for the effects of fossil fuel burning.


Columbia President Katrina Armstrong Steps Down Amid Battle With Trump. Claire Shipman, Wife of Obama Press Sec, Will Take the Job.
Columbia University interim president Katrina Armstrong stepped down on Friday amid the Ivy League school's protracted battle with the Trump administration, Columbia announced in a statement. Her replacement, Claire Shipman, is a former ABC and CNN journalist who until recently was married to former Obama press secretary Jay Carney.

Armstrong "is returning to lead the University's Irving Medical Center," the job she held before she assumed the presidency just seven months ago following former Columbia president Minouche Shafik's resignation, Columbia said. "Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve until the Board completes its presidential search."

The news comes just weeks into Columbia's standoff with the Trump administration over the cancellation of $430 million in federal grant money. At the administration’s behest, Armstrong announced a series of reforms earlier this month intended to jumpstart negotiations with Trump officials to restore the lost funds.

But behind closed doors, Armstrong told faculty members that little would change on campus, the Washington Free Beacon reported. One faculty member accused her of a failure to "understand the political landscape and be able to read the room."

It's unclear whether Shipman intends to implement the policy changes the university announced.

The former journalist, who was serving as co-chairwoman of the Columbia board of trustees, has close ties to former president Joe Biden, who looked the other way as student radicals took over campus last spring.
Columbia’s new prez called Congress hearings on antisemitism ‘Capitol Hill nonsense’
Columbia University’s new president once called Congressional hearings on campus antisemitism “Capitol Hill nonsense.”

Claire Shipman, a former CNN White House correspondent married to former Obama Administration press secretary Jay Carney, served as co-chair of the University’s board of trustees before she was appointed Friday night to replace interim school president Katrina Armstrong.

In a Dec. 28, 2023, text message, Shipman wrote to then university president Minouche Shafik she thought Columbia would be spared from the “capital hill nonsense,” referring to December 2023 Congressional hearings that saw the presidents of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and MIT testify about campus protests against the war in Gaza.

The tense hearings famously resulted in Harvard’s Claudine Gay and Penn’s Liz Magill resigning after they were grilled on whether calling for the killing of Jews would violate their school’s bullying and harassment policies — and answered that it depended on the context.

Shipman’s text messages about the hearings were revealed in a 325-page October report from the Republican House Committee on Education and the Workforce that included leaked messages between university officials.

Columbia’s leaders had expressed contempt for the congressional investigation, according to the report.

In the same text message, Shipman also suggested reinstating student groups that had participated in the protests.

“I do think we should think about unsuspending the groups before semester starts to take the wind out of that,” she wrote to Shafik.


An inside look at Jewish Onliner, the anonymous website that got a Yale scholar suspended
Earlier this month, a pro-Palestinian activist named Helyeh Doutaghi was suspended from her job at Yale University and banned from campus over alleged links to a fundraising group that supports a Palestinian terrorist organization.

The trigger, according to The New York Times, was a report in an ostensible news site called Jewish Onliner.

The name was new to us here at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and to many others in Jewish journalism. And, as it turns out, the people behind the site don’t see themselves as journalists reporting the news, even if they are pleased to be making it.

That revelation came to us after following digital breadcrumbs to identify a person involved with Jewish Onliner, which was registered as a website on December 12.

The website’s registration shields the identity of its owner. And the site does not disclose its staff or have bylines on its articles, which it says uses AI to focus on “combating antisemitism, exposing anti-Israel movements, and dissecting the radical forces undermining the values of the Western world.” But we tracked someone down.

The person affiliated with the site, who confirmed their involvement, is a recent immigrant to Israel from an English-speaking country with training and experience in open-source intelligence and counter-terrorism. The person said the team is multinational and not affiliated with the Israeli government.

And the person agreed to answer questions via email on condition of anonymity, citing the threat of antisemitism.

The subsequent exchange addresses questions about how Jewish Onliner picks its targets, the role artificial intelligence plays in its work, why its content should not be considered journalism, the cost of anonymity and how the initiative is funded. The person said they drafted their responses in consultation with the rest of team behind Jewish Onliner.

At a time when small groups are having an outsized impact on US policy — as Betar and the similarly anonymous Canary Mission have done when it comes to identifying pro-Palestinian student protesters whom the Trump administration subsequently seeks to deport — the exchange offers unusual insight into how one of those groups says it operates. We are publishing it here, lightly edited for length and clarity.


Tate Britain to return painting looted by Nazis from Jewish art collector
Tate Britain is set to return a 17th-century painting to the family of a Jewish Belgian art collector after the work was taken from his home during the German occupation.

The Spoliation Advisory Panel, who examine requests for objects taken during the Nazi era to be returned from the UK’s public collections, said the 1654 work Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Burning Troy by English painter Henry Gibbs was “looted as an act of racial persecution”.

The heirs and great-grandchildren of Samuel Hartveld will receive the work, which the art collector left behind in May 1940 in Antwerp after he fled Belgium with his wife, the Government announced on Saturday.

Mr Hartveld survived the war but was never reunited with his collection of paintings, with many believed to be in galleries across Europe.

The Gibbs painting was bought from the art gallery Galerie Jan de Maere in Brussels in 1994 by the Tate collection, after Rene van den Broeck purchased Mr Hartveld’s collection and home for a “paltry sum”, the panel said.

In May 2024, the Sonia Klein Trust, established by Mr Hartveld’s heirs, launched a claim.

In a statement the trustees said they “are deeply grateful” by the decision to return it.

“This decision clearly acknowledges the awful Nazi persecution of Samuel Hartveld and that the ‘clearly looted’ painting belonged to Mr Hartveld, a Jewish Belgian art collector and dealer,” they added.

“The trustees acting for the Sonia Klein Trust further thank the staff at Tate Britain for working with the trustees and their legal representative Dr Hannes Hartung, to realise the return of this important painting by a highly regarded British painter.

“The staff at Tate Britain were open minded and prompt in their approval of the Spoliation Advisory Panel’s recommendation.”


Israeli rescue team heading to Thailand after powerful quake
An Israeli delegation will leave for Thailand on Saturday night to help in search and rescue efforts after the earthquake that shook the country and neighboring Myanmar the previous day.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Israeli National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi to dispatch a delegation of experts to help with the rescue of 81 workers trapped under a high-rise building that collapsed in Bangkok.

The 21-member team, led by Col. (res.) Yossi Pinto, the commander of the IDF’s reserve national Search and Rescue Unit, was slated to depart from Ben-Gurion International Airport on an El Al flight at 10:30 p.m.

Israeli officials were quoted by Israel Hayom as saying, “The delegation will assist in constructing an intelligence picture for population-based and engineering-based rescue operations and will continue working until the last trapped individual is rescued.”

The death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck on Friday morning, whose epicenter was located close to Mandalay in Myanmar, has exceeded 1,600, according to authorities.

It was the most powerful quake in Myanmar in more than a century, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

In Thailand, dozens have been reportedly killed.

The Israeli rescue mission is set to arrive at the site of a 33-floor building that was under construction, Israel Hayom reported. Several construction workers were confirmed dead, while scores of others remain trapped underneath the rubble.




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