Monday, March 31, 2025

03/31 Links Pt2: 60 Minutes: Israeli hostages bond through horror of Hamas captivity; Irish academic warns that anti-Zionism has become her country’s new religion

From Ian:

Schama accuses celebrated writer of ‘sustained moral profantity’ with essay on Israel and the Shoah
Simon Schama has accused the acclaimed author Pankaj Mishra of delivering an “exercise in sustained moral profanity” with an essay on Israel and Gaza that suggested those supporting the actions of the Jewish state had failed to learn the lessons of the Shoah.

In a hard-hitting, and well-received speech, delivered at a London conference on antisemitism, historian and author Schama spoke out against widespread misrepresentation and dilution of Holocaust memory in popular culture.

After citing the more obvious examples of anti-Jewish propagandist in our society, including the rapper Ye, previously known as Kayne West, Schama raised the essay The Shoah After Gaza, published in the London Review of Books by Mishra – who he said had become “a kind of darling of the English intellectual literati left.”

“I think a really low in this process, I mean can you actually sink any lower than this, of actually moving beyond the dilution of Holocaust memory to disqualifying Jews from being the custodians of that memory was reached by Pankaj Mishra in a famous essay he published last year in the London Review of Books.

“He became, as you probably know, the kind of darling of the English intellectual literati left. ”

Schama then said of the essay:”This is an exercise in sustained moral depravity. ”

The author, currently making a new BBC documentary on the Holocaust in an “age of denial”, suggested arguments such as those advanced by Mishara on Israel and Gaza leave a condition in which Jews are only allowed to “say Kaddish in effect for the six million if you come out like Naomi Klein and Judith Butler and Peter Beinhart and you come out as anti-Zionist.”

“So we have a kind of moral selection ramp,” continued Schama, “between those who are allowed to grieve and explain and write and study the Holocaust on condition that you repudiate the Jewish state – 20 percent of whom in its earliest years were Holocaust survivors.”

He added:”You know, sometimes chutzpah, which is a joke for us, can be a kind of ethical crime, as has been committed by Mishra.”

A subsequent book from Mishra was now titled The World After Gaza, Schama noted.

During Monday’s lecture at the London Centre Study of Contemporary Antisemitism conference in central London, Schama discussed attempts to remove the Jewish presence in the modern era from the Anne Frank story, mentioning the lessons to be learned from Dara Horn’s book People Love Dead Jews.

In the film world, Schama also openly criticised the award winning 2023 Jonathan Glazer movie Zone of Interest.

“In the end I became absolutely furious at his own clever self-admiration,” said Schama on Glazer’s film, which focuses on the life of German Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig.

“What you’ll all notice about the Zone of Interest,” Schama said to the audience at his talk, “it was completely Jew free, totally Jew free.”
Ruthie Blum: Methinks the left doth protest too much
In a letter obtained last week by Israel Insider, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Brian Mast (R-Fla.)—the chairs of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees, respectively—requested of the Jewish Communal Fund, Middle East Dialogue Network, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and Blue and White Future that they “produce all documents and information” about dubious practices vis-à-vis Israel.

The March 26 missive to the heads of the above organizations got right to the point in the first paragraph.

“According to reports, the Biden-Harris administration funneled U.S. taxpayer money to certain Israeli entities with the effect of attempting to undermine Israel’s democratically elected government,” it began, with a footnote referencing two JNS articles—one by Caroline Glick and the other by David Isaac.

The former, published Feb. 17, 2023, showed that the left-wing Israeli NGO, the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), had been receiving money from the U.S. State Department. And it was using the cash, among other things, for “democracy education” in Israeli high schools.

As Glick noted, “Since MQG’s primary activity is subverting democracy in Israel by waging lawfare and sowing chaos in a bid to block democratically elected right-wing governments from fulfilling their pledges to voters, it’s fairly clear that when MQG refers to ‘democracy education,’ it doesn’t mean majority rule.”

Isaac’s piece, which appeared on Feb. 18 this year, showed how Elon Musk’s efforts to “expose waste and misuse of funds” by “America’s administrative state” led to the emergence of reports that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had been heavily funding the anti-government judicial-reform protests in Israel.

This, explained Isaac, “led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to … blast what he called the ‘almost inconceivable’ amounts of foreign money that drove the protest movement.”

The letter by Jordan and Mast went on to stress that the “use of federal grants in this manner not only jeopardizes America’s relationship with one of its closest allies, but also undermines core civil liberties protected within the United States and Israel. Additionally, the misuse of federal grant funds may, in some cases, amount to a criminal offense.”
Heidi Bachram: Respite and fight
Last night I went to the most painful art exhibition I have ever been to. It was the opening event for the LCSCA conference on antisemitism and like organiser David Hirsh said, usually such academic spaces are not launched with art. But we are not in usual times.

Curator and artist Mina Kupfermann says she was moved to paint after the horror of October 7. It was an urgent need yet she had no expectation that the paintings would ever leave her studio. No hope that the art world would accept them. She wasn’t wrong. Jewish and Israeli artists have been pushed out and isolated. They have suffered threats, hate and discrimination. Israeli actress Gal Gadot has had to have enhanced security since October 7 due to the explosion in death threats against her. Jewish creatives have found themselves on boycott lists. The worst part is the slow squashing of self and identity as Israeli and Jewish artists censor and silence themselves in order to avoid blacklisting.

The fact that this exhibition happened at all is a miracle. One that occurred within a Jewish community centre. I have little faith that any other gallery would have exhibited it. Another artist Maya Amrami who showed her work was inspired to create it after experiencing severe antisemitism. The anger and frustration at what she went through is palpable.

The third artist was Benzi Brofman who painted victims of October 7 and kidnapped hostages. I know his work well because in December 2023 he created powerful portraits of my husband's cousin Tsachi Idan, alongside Omri Miran who was kidnapped with him from Nahal Oz kibbutz where they both lived. Tsachi and Omri’s wives, Gali and Lishay posed next to them. It was achingly painful an image. As soon as I entered the space, my eyes found it. Or maybe my heart. In that huge place, a familiar face. A smile amongst strangers. Like a private conspiracy, we said hello. Here he was in my home after me just being in his

Soon there were more familiar faces. Friends. Some I hadn’t seen since we had that terrible news and had been to Tsachi’s funeral and shiva. A month ago. A month. How can time move so fast and yet stay silently stuck. Friends, with love and empathy in their eyes and in their words. I get confused sometimes. We spent so long in anxiety and hope, it’s shocking to shift into grief. When they gave condolences I was surprised at why and then I remembered. Tsachi didn’t come back alive.

Oh yes.

It’s a struggle then to know what to say. It’s hard for them too. How can you navigate such horror in a crowded, noisy room with soft jazz and canapés? It’s the right place and the right people but felt entirely wrong. My daughter got overwhelmed at one point and we went to retreat into a darkened, quiet theatre. There, more intimate conversations felt possible. I met the incredible Rachel Moiselle, a gentle and humble warrior. She told me it was so beautifully refreshing to be amongst allies and to just be herself and relax. She hadn’t realised how much she needed it.


Yarden Bibas to 60 Minutes: Only Trump can convince Netanyahu, Hamas to renew ceasefire-hostage deal
Five former hostages held in the Gaza Strip have given harrowing testimony of their captivity, while stressing the need to secure the release of those still in Hamas’s hands, with one of them, Yarden Bibas, appealing to US President Donald Trump as the only person he believes can make that happen.

CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday aired an interview with Bibas, the first the bereaved father and husband has given since his release from Hamas captivity earlier this year and the return of his murdered wife and two young children.

Released hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel and Agam Berger, who were held together in a Hamas tunnel, were also interviewed in a reunion. They spoke of the psychological burden they endured in captivity, being forced to witness the sexual assault of female hostages, starvation and how they helped each other keep up their spirits.

Another former hostage, Tal Shoham, spoke to the network along with the parents of hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, who were held with him. Shoham said conditions were so bad that it led the other two to discuss suicide as a way of ending their suffering.

Their testimonies aligned with those of other hostages who have described the abuse they suffered at the hands of terrorists. The hostages were abducted on October 7, 2023, when the Hamas terror group led a devastating invasion of southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages to the Gaza Strip.

‘Please stop this war and help bring all of the hostages back’
Bibas called on Trump to stop the resulting war in Gaza and bring back the hostages still in captivity.

Asked by 60 Minutes if he has a message for the US president, Bibas responded, “Please stop this war and help bring all of the hostages back.”

Pressed on whether he really believes Trump can help, Bibas replied, “I know he can help. I’m here because of Trump. I’m here only because of him.”

“He has to convince Netanyahu, he has to convince Hamas. I think he can do it,” he said, indicating that both the Israeli premier and the terror group need to be pressured.
Yarden Bibas: Hamas told me that I'd get a 'better wife, better kids'
Released hostage Yarden Bibas was informed about his wife’s and children’s death by Hamas while he was on camera. The terrorist organization filmed him as it delivered the news to him, then told him that Shiri’s, Ariel’s, and Kfir’s deaths were of no consequence.

“They were murdered in cold blood – [by] bare hands,” he told CBS News 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl in an interview released on Sunday. “They [Hamas] used to tell me: ‘It doesn’t matter. You’ll get a new wife, new kids – better wife, better kids,” he said, adding that his captors repeated that statement many times.

The expansive interview on 60 Minutes featured Bibas along with freed hostages Keith and Aviva Seigel, Tal Shoham, and the parents of hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.

As far as Bibas was concerned, his first interview with the media since his release was an opportunity to gain US President Donald Trump’s attention. He believes Trump can end the Israel-Hamas War and bring the hostages home.

Bibas told Stahl that he was released because of the US administration’s efforts.

“I know he can help. I’m here because of Trump. I’m here because of him,” Bibas said. “I think he’s the only one who can stop this war again. He has to convince [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, to convince Hamas; I think he can do it.”

When asked if he had anything specific he wanted to tell the US president, Bibas pleaded for the remaining hostages’ release.

“Please stop the war and help bring all the hostages back,” Bibas said. He mentioned earlier that he believed that Netanyahu’s decision to resume the war in Gaza would not bring the remaining hostages home.

In the interview, Bibas wore a shirt with pictures of hostage brothers David and Ariel Cunio, his longtime friends and neighbors from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“This is David. I’ve known him since first grade, and this is his younger brother, Ariel,” Bibas said, pointing to his shirt.A hostage released in the first phase of the deal confirmed to the Cunio family that David was still alive and in Gaza, Ynet reported in February.

“We did everything together. He was with me in every big thing in my life,” Bibas said. “He was at my wedding. Now, probably the hardest thing that I have to [do is] move [on] with my life – and David is not with me.”

He emphasized that he was worried for the Cunio brothers’ safety and that he was desperate to get them home to their families.
60 Minutes: Israeli hostages bond through horror of Hamas captivity
Freed hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel befriended two Israeli soldiers in captivity, creating a support system that helped all of them endure the terrifying experience.

"60 Minutes" is the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10.


60 Minutes: Freed Israeli hostage Yarden Bibas calls to end war, bring remaining Gaza hostages home
Freed hostages are among those calling for a new Israel-Hamas ceasefire. They warn renewed bombing in Gaza jeopardizes the lives of the 24 remaining captives, who are believed to be alive.

"60 Minutes" is the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10.




Dee family dedicates MDA ambulances to sisters, mother murdered in terror attack
A ceremony dedicating three new ambulances to members of the Dee family who were killed in a terror attack two years ago was held last week in Jerusalem, Magen David Adom (MDA) announced on Sunday.

Each ambulance is dedicated to Lucy, Maia, and Rina Dee, respectively. These family members were murdered in a shooting attack in April 2023 at the Hamra junction in the Jordan Valley. The daughters, Maia and Rina, died at the scene, and the mother, Lucy, succumbed to her wounds three days later.

Rabbi Leo Dee, the family father, his daughter Keren, his parents, his sister, and other relatives attended the ceremony.

Representatives of Israeli Friends of MDA, senior MDA officials, volunteers, and staff were also in attendance.

One of the ambulances will be stationed in the Efrat Regional Council, where they lived, with the other two being deployed in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, respectively, MDA spokesperson Zaki Heller confirmed.

The ambulances were funded by an "anonymous benefactor through the MDA Friends Association in Israel." Heller added.
Irish academic warns that anti-Zionism has become her country’s new religion
An Irish campaigner and activist against antisemitism and attacks on Israel has told a London audience that the “victim-blaming” which took place after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 was “sickening” and “justifying the unjustifiable”.

Rachel Moiselle, in conversation with Soviet anti-Zionism scholar Izabella Tabarovsky, was sharing her views of Irish antisemitism at a packed event, which was part of the London Conference for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. The three-day conference attracted 400 people in person and many more on-line, to hear specialists and academics outline some of the central problems facing Jews worldwide — and offer suggestions as to how to tackle them.

Tabarovsky noted that her family had experienced “the full measure of what the 20th century dealt to the Jews” from family members who had been murdered either by Stalinists or by Nazis, to those who could not get jobs or be promoted in their chosen careers. Even when she herself had applied to college she had had to think whether or not Jews would be accepted at all.

The lesson she drew, she said, was that “when cultural and political institutions in society take on the language of anti-Zionism, an antisemitic outcome is inevitable — and this is what we are seeing today.” Nevertheless, Tabarovsky said, the “silver lining” was that the situation “produces warriors. And Rachel is one of them.”

Rachel Moiselle is the daughter of a mixed marriage — her father is Jewish, but she was brought up Catholic. She had always been aware of her Jewish heritage, she said, but had not studied or dealt with antisemitism in depth until comparatively recently.

Now a Ph.D student at Trinity College Dublin, she took a break from study after her undergraduate degree to work in a not-for-profit organisation. “I came back to a college campus that was drastically changed in culture.” Previously, she said, she had not registered antisemitic remarks or attitudes to any serious extent. “When I came back in 2021 it was glaringly obvious that the college culture had changed, in many ways, but with respect to the discourse on Israel/Palestine specifically.”

The main difference, she said, “was that when I was an undergraduate the references were to what Israel did. When I came back the talk was of what Israel was — that the entity in its entirety had to be destroyed”. This narrative, Moiselle said, was not just among the students, but pursued by lecturers at Trinity to the point where “people felt they really can’t say anything pro-Israel on campus”.

Moiselle said she believed that those she called “cultural Catholics” had replaced their lack of faith with anti-Zionism. She noted that during and after Irish neutrality in the war, Ireland had only accepted between nine and 50 Jewish refugees; and added that what had become worse in Ireland, for her, was the level of denial. “It is very difficult to combat a problem that people refuse to accept exists.”

After 7 October, she said, she echoed activist Noa Tishby that her “Jewish DNA had woken up”. She remains a singular voice of opposition to Irish anti-Jewish racism and is optimistic that she can make a difference.
Irish political eccentrics at Houthi conference
Many in Ireland were astounded to see online videos of two Irish leftist eccentrics presenting at a four-day “conference” in Yemen, hosted by the Houthis.

That Irish duo were Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, onetime members of the Dáil (Irish government) and the E.U. (European Parliament).

Wallace’s western scruffy rock-star look was in stark in contrast to the soberly robed, male-only attendees. Daly duly submitted her western feminism to the mullahs by wearing full hijab. Few women were in the audience.

Blow-up photos behind the symposium stage showed the late Hezbollah leader Hazran Nasrallah, the late Hamas leader Yawa Sinwar and other Palestinian “martyrs”. A banner declared the slogan trope: ‘Allah is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, a Curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam’. (1)

(I wonder where that sectarian screed leaves Christians, Hindus and Buddhist believers in such a visceral, violent world-view?)

‘The conference featured 87 research papers on topics such as student protests in US universities and claims of “Zionist influence” in America. Some papers pushed extreme rhetoric.…’ – reported the Mecca Times. (2)

RTE, Ireland’s national radio broadcaster interviewed Daly (Wednesday, March 26th ). Daly dominated much of the nineteen-minute interview with journalist Sarah McInerney.

At one point, after Daly’s woodenly-worded, anti-American / “anti-Zionist” trope trashing, the exasperated interviewer had had enough and gave this response:

“God, Clare, I don’t know… if I walked into a conference that had a slogan on the wall saying a curse upon Jews, death to Israel, I would walk back out again.” (3)

Sarah McInerney, pulled no punches as she reiterated that the conference had a strong anti-Semitic tone. But unique in these toxic times, she repeatedly referenced October the 7th as being the cause of the Israeli / Hamas war.


Trump Admin To Review $9 Billion in Harvard Grants and Contracts Over 'Anti-Semitic Discrimination' and 'Divisive Ideologies'
The Trump administration is launching a review of Harvard University's grants and contracts, citing the school's "failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination" and its promotion of "divisive ideologies over free inquiry." If Harvard fails to take "meaningful actions" on those issues as early as this week, the administration will "not hesitate" to terminate funds, a source familiar with the probe told the Washington Free Beacon.

The move is the first step in a regulatory fight between the Trump administration and Harvard that is almost certain to escalate.

A source familiar with the probe said the anti-Semitism task force is "laser focused on Harvard" and will be "equally aggressive" with the school as it was with Columbia University. In that case, the administration launched an identical funding review on March 3, slashed $400 million in federal funding on March 7, and sent a list of policy demands that it called "preconditions" for "formal negotiations regarding Columbia University's continued financial relationship with the United States government" on March 13.

Harvard agreed to make some changes aimed at curbing anti-Semitism in January, when it settled a lawsuit with a group of Jewish students. Though the Trump administration's press release announcing the funding review cites those "recent actions" as "welcome," it also makes clear that the school must do "much more" to "retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayers' hard earned dollars."

Indeed, the source familiar with the probe said Harvard "has to take meaningful actions this week" to avoid the prompt termination of federal funds.

The Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and General Services Administration—all members of the administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism—unveiled the probe Monday afternoon. The agencies "will review the more than $255.6 million in contracts" and "more than $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments," according to their press release.

"Harvard has served as a symbol of the American Dream for generations—the pinnacle aspiration for students all over the world to work hard and earn admission to the storied institution," said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. "Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination—all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry—has put its reputation in serious jeopardy."
Students detail antisemitism and intimidation at UK universities
Students from across the UK have shared harrowing testimonies of antisemitic abuse and institutional indifference during two university roundtables hosted by StandWithUs UK in March.

Held at the House of Lords and the Israeli Embassy, the events gave students the opportunity to describe the hostility they say they face for expressing their Zionist identity or hosting events about Israel on campus.

“I am now branded as an outsider,” said one student from Queen Mary University, who reported being shouted at during a peaceful vigil to commemorate the 7 October attacks. “There’s a Zionist there, so you need to shout as loud as possible,” she recalled protestors shouting. She said the university took no action.

A King’s College London student said an interfaith event they organised with an Iranian speaker was shut down by pro-Palestinian activists. “Campus security said it was the worst violence they had seen since last year’s encampments. I was nearly beaten up,” the student said.

Baroness Jacqui Smith, who attended the roundtable on behalf of the Prime Minister, said the government was investing in training for schools and universities to tackle antisemitism. “There is responsibility on higher education leadership that they are acting against these hostile environments,” she said.

Students repeatedly criticised universities for failing to support Jewish and pro-Israel students, with several describing a culture of fear, marginalisation and inaction.

StandWithUs UK is a charity that promotes Israel education and works to combat antisemitism through student programmes, campaigns and community outreach.
StandWithUs: Enough Is Enough: Lies, Defamation, and Intimidation – What These Open Letters Really Represent
StandWithUs Australia unequivocally condemns the defamatory, misleading, and ideologically driven open letters sent to Monash University, the University of Sydney, and UTS management in response to our upcoming campus events.

Let’s call these letters what they are: a coordinated smear campaign designed to intimidate universities, silence survivors of terror, and push a radical, one-sided political agenda. These are not good-faith expressions of concern. They are full of provable lies, dangerous rhetoric, and blatant hypocrisy.

What’s being attacked? Two educational programs:
- ‘Survived to Tell’, a powerful virtual reality experience sharing the personal testimonies of Israeli survivors of the October 7 massacre and the war in northern Israel — not propaganda, not politics, just truth.

- ‘Shared Stories – Interfaith Voices for a Cohesive Future’, featuring Israeli Druze, Christian, Muslim and Jewish speakers standing together for unity, coexistence and understanding — the very values universities claim to uphold.

These programs have toured more than 60 campuses around the world. They promote education, empathy, and social cohesion. And yet, staff and activist groups are demanding they be shut down. Why? Because they dare to give space to Israeli voices.

Let’s be clear:
- StandWithUs Australia is an Australian organisation, working in partnership with Israeli civil society, not a “foreign propaganda arm.”

- Our speakers include civilians, educators, and interfaith voices — not “genocide apologists.”

- The VR experience is grounded in real testimonies and developed with the utmost sensitivity and respect for human dignity.

- To say that these programs “traumatise” students is insulting — especially when Jewish students have faced relentless harassment and antisemitism on these very same campuses with no institutional response.

The language in these letters is reckless. It accuses universities of enabling war crimes and hosting “propagandists” simply for allowing an educational event to proceed. It slanders IDF veterans — some of whom lost family on October 7 — as war criminals. It equates Israeli civilians with oppressors. And it does all of this while demanding censorship in the name of “safety.”

This is not activism. It is academic bullying. It is institutional cowardice wrapped in moral grandstanding. And if university leaders continue to yield to these types of campaigns, they should expect more of the same — more silencing, more division, more threats to open discourse and academic freedom.

We urge the Vice-Chancellors of Monash, USYD, and UTS — and all university leadership — to stand up to intimidation, defend truth and facts over ideology, and reaffirm the core mission of higher education: to educate, not indoctrinate.


Head of Harvard’s Middle East studies center told to step down by end of year
Harvard University told Cemal Kafadar, the director of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies, that he must step down by the end of the academic year, The Harvard Crimson, a student newspaper, reported.

David Cutler, the school’s interim dean of social science, told both Kafadar, a Turkish studies professor, and Rosie Bsheer, a history professor who is associate director of the center, that they had to resign in the coming months, according to a faculty member “familiar with the situation,” per the Crimson. (JNS sought comment from Harvard.)

Kafadar has been on leave for the academic year. The Crimson reported that Salmaan Keshavjee, a global health professor who is the center’s interim director, will retain his post. Kafadar and Bsheer will remain in their faculty positions.

In an email, which the Crimson obtained, Cutler asked colleagues to suggest potential candidates for center leadership by April 16.

A report from the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance accused the Harvard department of demonizing Israel as the “last remaining colonial settler power embodying the world’s worst evils: racism, apartheid and genocide.”

David Wolpe, rabbi emeritus of Sinai Temple, a conservative synagogue in Los Angeles, Calif., and a former member of Harvard’s Antisemitism Advisory Group, said that the change in leadership at the center was “good news.”
Harvard suspends ties with Palestinian West Bank school, grows Israel ties
Harvard University announced that it would pause a research partnership with Birzeit University, a Palestinian school, following public pressure, the Harvard Crimson reported last week.

The decision to suspend ties with the West Bank University comes as pro-Palestinian activists at campuses across the United States and the world have long called on their schools to sever ties with Israel. In 2022, the Crimson’s editorial board endorsed an Israel boycott, and its graduate student union followed suit in November 2023, shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

In the wake of Oct. 7, a parallel campaign at Harvard has called on the school to end a public health-oriented partnership with Birzeit. The campaign was endorsed by former Harvard President Larry Summers as well as Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alum who has vocally condemned pro-Palestinian protests and campus antisemitism. Hamas support on West Bank campus

The Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance called Birzeit “terrorist-supporting,” citing examples of praise for Hamas on campus as well as an instance when an Israeli Jewish reporter for Haaretz was asked to leave the school.

Last summer, the Harvard School of Public Health launched an internal review into the partnership, which was between the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights (FXB) and Birzeit, and decided to pause the program. The review committee will release a final report in the coming weeks.

Harvard’s decision comes as colleges and universities across the country, as well as their students, face increased scrutiny from the Trump administration over policing antisemitism on their campuses. Earlier this month, the Department of Education sent letters to 60 universities, including Harvard, alerting them of investigations into alleged antisemitism on their campuses.

As it pauses the program at Birzeit, Harvard is due to grow its ties with Israel. In January, as part of two settlements with Jewish groups claiming the school had fostered an antisemitic environment, Harvard pledged to partner with an Israeli university.


Senate hearing addresses antisemitism on college campuses
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on the perceived rise of antisemitism on college campuses.

Carly Gammill, director of legal policy at StandWithUs, testified earlier Thursday. Gammill joins “NewsNation Now” to discuss why she’s advocating for students’ rights and safety.




Tim Walz’s daughter’s skipping grad school over college not supporting protesters: ‘Students deserve to be protected’
The daughter of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says she is skipping graduate school in protest against the university’s lack of support for student demonstrations.

Hope Walz made the announcement to her followers on TikTok on Sunday, saying she was disappointed with how the institution she had planned to attend dealt with student protests.

“I applied for one school. I kind of had my heart set on it. I am not going to name the institution, but given recent events I am not going to give my money, go into debt for, or support institutions that do not support students and the right to protest and speak out for their communities,” Hope said.

“Students deserve to be protected. I am not worried about if I were to be protected or not at said institution. I am, you know, a privileged white woman. But I am not going to put myself in the position where I am giving money or supporting institutions that don’t support their students,” she added.

Her announcement comes as universities across the country grapple with how to respond to often-violent anti-Israel protests and the spread of antisemitism on their campuses.
Instagram disables Columbia’s anti-Israel group page for promoting violence
The Instagram page of the anti-Israel coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest was disabled on Monday for the second time since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, a spokesperson for Meta confirmed to Jewish Insider.

The account belonging to CUAD, a coalition of at least 80 Columbia student groups that was formed in 2016 and has gained renewed support since Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, was initially suspended in December 2024.

Columbia’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a member of the coalition, was banned from Meta in August 2024. At the time, a spokesperson for Meta, the company that owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, told JI that the account was disabled for repeated violations of Meta’s dangerous organizations and individuals policies.

According to Meta’s policies, the company does “not allow organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on our platforms.”

The coalition has ramped up its anti-Israel demonstrations, as the university entered into ongoing negotiations with the Trump administration over its handling of antisemitism on campus. The White House cut $400 million from Columbia’s federal funding earlier this month over its failure to address campus antisemitism.

Meta declined to comment on its latest decision to remove CUAD from the platform on Monday. CUAD remains active on several other social media platforms, including X and Telegram.

“This comes after a long and concerted effort from corporations and imperial powers to erase the Palestinian people,” CUAD wrote on X, claiming that this time around Meta is giving “no option for appeal.”


Cyprus court acquits 5 Israelis accused of raping British tourist
A district court in Cyprus on Monday found five Israelis not guilty of an alleged gang rape, dismissing all charges — including rape, forced sexual intercourse, sexual harassment, and abduction — and ordering their release after a year and a half in jail, according to local media and the lawyer for some of the defendants.

In September 2023, a 20-year old British tourist accused the five men, all residents of the Arab Israeli town of Majd al-Krum in the Galilee, of abducting her from the pool area of a hotel, forcing her into a hotel room, and raping and abusing her until she managed to escape.

The defendants confirmed there had been a sexual encounter, but insisted it had been consensual.

A sixth Israeli was also initially arrested, but was later released after police confirmed he was not in the room during the alleged assault.

The court said Monday that the complainant’s account “lacked coherence and contained numerous substantial contradictions,” both internally and when compared to other reliable witnesses, including hotel employees, guests in an adjacent room, and her own close friend, according to Philenews, the English website of local newspaper O Phileleftheros.

Nir Yaslovitzh, who represented two of the defendants, told the Walla news site: “It is a brave decision that completely rejected the complainant’s account and completely accepted my clients’ account.”


Egypt military buildup in Sinai threatens peace with Israel, source warns
Israel has recently observed a military buildup by Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula, according to a security source who spoke with reporters on Monday.

“Egypt has deployed forces beyond the permitted quota, expanded port facilities, and extended runways at airports,” the source said. The source added that these actions violate the peace agreement between the two nations.

Regarding the entry of Egyptian forces beyond the permitted quota, security officials emphasized that “such actions are reversible – it is not a problem to pull tanks back.” 'Israel will not tolerate Egyptian violations,' security source says

The security source emphasized that Israel is committed to maintaining the peace agreement and will not alter its deployment along the border. However, the source also added, “Israel will not accept the situation and will not tolerate violations from Cairo.”

Israel is currently in discussions with both Cairo and Washington on the matter. The source said, “Washington is responsible for upholding the peace agreement and must ensure it is implemented as written.”

So far, Israel has refrained from commenting on Egypt’s military buildup, aside from a few rare statements. In February, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter stated that Egypt’s military buildup in Sinai is “intolerable.” The ambassador added, “For a long time, this issue was pushed aside, but it is continuing. This will be a topic we are going to put on the table – very soon and very firmly.”


Seth Frantzman: Iran's dangerous game: The message behind Tehran's threats to Trump
Iran is issuing a warning to the US regarding potential airstrikes. This comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has been reaching out to Tehran, and the US has stationed warplanes on Diego Garcia. Iran fears that the US may be considering airstrikes if an agreement is not reached, and the Iranian government wants to make it clear that it will retaliate if these threats become a reality.

This is a risky move by Iran, which is using its nuclear program as a bargaining chip to potentially secure concessions. At the same time, Iran is seeking to strengthen its ties with Russia and China.

Iran is ramping up its rhetoric against the US to send a clear message. For instance, a video featuring Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a high-ranking Iranian official, was circulated online, in which he warns the US against striking. Hajizadeh, who heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace unit, stated that Iran could retaliate by targeting US military bases in the region. "The Americans have around ten military bases in the region—at least near Iran—and 50,000 troops," Hajizadeh said in an interview with Iranian state media. "It’s like they’re sitting in a glass house. And when you’re in a glass house, you don’t throw stones at others."

Iran ups rhetoric against the United States, Donald Trump
Iran is stressing that, although the US may have the ability to carry out precision airstrikes on Iran, Tehran has the capability to strike American bases in the Gulf, including those in Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE. Iran believes this could make the US reconsider, as Iran can destabilize multiple regions.

In the past, Iran has used proxies to attack US forces in Iraq, carried out drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia in 2019, and has collaborated with the Houthis in Yemen to target the UAE. Currently, the US is retaliating against the Houthis with the USS Harry Truman carrier strike group.
Iran, Facing Trump Threats, Says It Positioned 'Launch-Ready Missiles' To Strike 'US-Related Positions'
Iran says it has readied "a significant number" of advanced missiles capable of striking American bases and military outposts in the Middle East, drawing a sharp warning from the Trump administration.

Iran's "armed forces have readied missiles with the capability to strike U.S.-related positions," the Tehran Times, a state-controlled newspaper, reported on Monday. "A significant number of these launch-ready missiles are located in underground facilities scattered across the country, designed to withstand airstrikes."

The announcement came in response to President Donald Trump’s threat over the weekend to bomb the country if it does not enter into negotiations over its contested nuclear weapons program. But Trump is not backing down—the White House, in response to Tehran’s war preparations, told the Washington Free Beacon it does "not take kindly to military threats."

"President Trump and his administration do not take kindly to military threats," said White House National Security Council communications director James Hewitt. "The President has made clear he prefers direct diplomatic channels with Tehran, or they will face serious consequences if they do not end their work to obtain nuclear weapons."

Iran’s missile activity was accompanied by a series of threats from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who promised a "strong counter strike" against the United States if Trump follows through with his threat to bomb the country. While the Trump administration and Iran have been trading sharp war rhetoric for weeks, it is the first time Tehran has announced firm military preparations for a potential conflict with America, signaling that the prospects for diplomacy are growing dim.

Iran’s armed forces also announced Monday that they are readying a "harsh and strong reaction to any threat" posed by the United States, warning that an "invasion of Iran’s territory will be met with a severe and strong response with an aggressive approach."

The flurry of war moves was sparked by Trump’s vow on Sunday to bomb the country if it continues to reject diplomacy surrounding its nuclear program, which progressed rapidly during the Biden-Harris administration and remains on the cusp of fully producing a nuclear bomb.

"If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing," Trump said during an interview with NBC News. Though the president has repeatedly emphasized his desire to ink a fresh nuclear bargain with Iran, he has made clear that war plans remain on the table.

"President Trump said it clearly that there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or by making a deal," White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told the Free Beacon earlier this month, when Iran rejected diplomatic overtures from the United States. "We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror."


Jewish director debuts film version of ‘antisemitic’ UK play as Jew-hatred hits record high
Critics, however, remain unconvinced by defenses of Churchill’s work.

“I think it is such an important example of the double standard and innate suspicion that the weathermakers of progressive thought bring to their treatment of Jews,” said Rich. “There is no way on earth that Caryl Churchill’s response to Islamist violence would have been to fantasize about what she imagines Muslim parents teach their children, or that the Royal Court would have put on such a play, or that the Guardian would have produced its own version.”

“But where Jews are concerned, we are treated as some kind of alien group to be poked and prodded like some kind of anthropological-psychiatric study,” he said. “And of course, we are then expected to believe that when they say ‘Jewish’ they are just criticizing Israel. It’s pure gaslighting.”

The closing scene, set against the backdrop of war in Gaza, Rich said, features a monologue containing “a combination of antisemitic tropes”:

“Tell her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them,” says a family member. “Tell her I’m not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them, tell her we’re the ones to be sorry for, tell her they can’t talk suffering to us. Tell her we’re the iron fist now… Tell her they’re animals living in rubble now, tell her I wouldn’t care if we wiped them out… tell her we’re chosen people, tell her I look at one of their children covered in blood and what do I feel? Tell her all I feel is happy it’s not her.”

Dr. David Hirsh, chief executive of the London Center for Antisemitism, is similarly critical of the play, saying it “portrays Jews as indoctrinating their children to be indifferent to non-Jewish suffering and it gives the impression that this neurotic practice is the cause of the persistence of conflict between Israel and its neighbors.”

“Jews have long been accused of murdering non-Jewish children,” Hirsch said. “Today, it is considered legitimate to accuse Israel of executing a deliberate plan to murder non-Jewish children by the thousand. The blood libel is back.”

At the time of the play’s first performance in 2009, British novelist Howard Jacobson condemned it as “a hate-fueled little chamber-piece.”

“Once you venture onto ‘chosen people’ territory — feeding all the ancient prejudice against that miscomprehended phrase — once you repeat in another form the medieval blood-libel of Jews rejoicing in the murder of little children, you have crossed over,” he wrote in The Independent newspaper. “This is the old stuff. Jew-hating pure and simple.”

Dayan believes the notion that the play contains antisemitic tropes is “completely outrageous.”

“I really encourage people to move past that initial discomfort we all have,” said Dayan. “Unfortunately, anything that touches Israel and Palestine is inherently political nowadays… but it’s also something that we need to challenge. We’re talking about a piece that is all about nurturing and protecting the next generation.”

“It’s talking about the pain that we as Jewish people have gone through and it’s tackling that and I hope that we can learn to use these traumas not to lessen our humanity, but to widen it,” he said.
Oregon nurse defends Hamas, justifies murder of Bibas family
Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, which handles complex health needs in the region, fired Camesha Hart, a 51-year-old nurse, after she expressed antisemitic views on social media, jeopardizing the safety of Jewish patients at the medical institution.

Camesha, while working for the top hospital in the Portland metro region, said that she would not treat members of the Jewish community, stating that she "doesn't take care of animals." Additionally, she referred to Jewish people as 'vermin,' 'dogs,' and 'rats.'

The nurse called for an end to funding Israel, advocated for the liberation of Palestine, and posted a photo of the IDF on Instagram with the caption, "May they all meet their ancestors soon."

The nurse has been sharing this type of content for some time, and Physicians Against Antisemitism (PAA) has brought it to public attention.

The nurse showed rejection and opposition towards Israel's military operation in Gaza, calling it a "genocide." Hart also voiced her support for Hamas. On an Instagram story, she posted that she “chooses to go with H group [Hamas] any day."

After her statements about Jews came to light, Hart modified her Instagram username to "HartForHumanity," and her handle is now "CareForJustice."
Australia arrests another man for role in organized antisemitic plot
An Australian man was arrested and charged last Thursday for his role in the vandalization of a Jewish school and other greater Sydney area sites that were previously connected by authorities to an alleged plot by organized crime to distract law enforcement and scam them out of reduced sentences for the mastermind.

The 41-year-old Eastlakes man was charged on March 20 for the January 29 vandalism of the Maroubra Jewish day school Mount Sinai College, an Eastgardens shopping center, and a home in Maroubra and another in Eastlakes. Graffiti on the sites included phrases such as “Jew dogs” and “Jews are the real terrorists.”

During the search of the man’s home, police allegedly found prohibited drugs. The suspect was charged with group damaging property, group damaging property worth less than $2000, driving a vehicle without consent of the owner, driving with a disqualified license, supplying a prohibited drug, and two counts of possession of prohibited drugs. Others charged with the antisemitic incidents

A 40-year-old Penshurst man had been arrested and charged for his involvement in the same incidents in the March 10 crime ring sweep. The Penshurst suspect was charged for driving a vehicle with a suspended license, taking and driving a vehicle without an owner’s consent, resisting police officers, failing to comply with orders to provide information, and giving false information for accessing digital evidence. He was arrested alongside a 30-year-old man, who was charged for possession of a prohibited electronic stun weapon and possession of prohibited steroid drugs.

According to a March 10 New South Wales Police and Australian Federal Police briefing, the Penshurst man and thirteen others were arrested in connection to a wave of arson and vandalism attacks against Jewish New South Wales targets, including the Dural caravan faux terrorism plot.

Law enforcement claimed that organized criminal elements were hiring petty criminals to target the Sydney area Jewish community in a manner that exploited antisemitism in Australia that had escalated since October 7. The criminals had submitted tips about terrorist attacks, including the Dural incident that appeared to target a synagogue with an explosives-laden caravan, in order to divert law enforcement resources and con authorities into cooperation deals. The mastermind hoped to provide information about fake plots in return for reduced sentences and other benefits. In one example, criminals fabricated a fake terrorist plot involving obtaining high-powered firearms, which a criminal offered to provide information to get drug trafficking charges reduced.
Archaeologists find first evidence of epic biblical battle at ‘Armageddon’
For the first time, a team of Israeli archaeologists has uncovered ancient artifacts at northern Israel’s “Armageddon” site that might offer proof of an epic battle documented in the books of Kings II and Chronicles between a king of Judah and an Egyptian pharaoh.

Two academic papers published earlier this year explained how an unprecedented amount of 7th-century BCE Egyptian pottery was found in recent excavations at Megiddo, suggesting that Egyptian soldiers were indeed in the right biblical place at what could be the right biblical period.

“Megiddo is the only site in Israel and the neighboring countries mentioned in the Bible and in all great records of the Ancient Near East,” said Prof. Israel Finkelstein, head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa and long-time director of the Megiddo Expedition.

The Book of 2 Chronicles in chapters 34-35 and 2 Kings in chapters 22-23 narrate the vicissitudes of the 16th King of Judah, Josiah. As he rose to the throne, he was described as a God-fearing leader who brought the people of Israel back to a righteous path after centuries of idol-worshipping and sinful behaviors. Yet, his efforts did not placate God’s wrath against the people. As Egyptian Pharaoh Necho marched against the Assyrians, Josiah confronted him at Megiddo, and Necho killed him (2 Chronicles 35:20-22; 2 Kings 23:29). The Assyrians, one of several biblical foes of the people of Israel, were responsible for destroying the kingdom of Israel in the northern part of the land (where Megiddo is located) in the 8th century CE, a century before the Josiah-Necho battle.

“It is important to note that the re-establishment of the site as an Egyptian stronghold in the late 7th century BCE had long been suspected, mostly based on a biblical verse in the Book of Kings, which described Josiah’s execution at Megiddo by Pharaoh Necho,” said Dr. Assaf Kleiman of Ben Gurion University, a senior member of the Megiddo Expedition staff who led the studies published in Egypt and the Levant and the Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament.

Alongside the massive amount of Egyptian pottery, the excavation also uncovered a significant quantity of vessels from eastern Greece that, based on typological parallels with well-dated contexts in other archaeological sites, must have arrived at Megiddo between 630 and 610 BCE (the Josiah-Necho battle is said to have happened in 609 BCE).

Finkelstein and Kleiman said these findings might hint at the presence of Greek mercenaries, who would have fought alongside the Egyptians against Josiah.

“We know of such mercenaries in the service of Egypt of that time from both Greek and Assyrian textual sources,” said Finkelstein.


Kassy Akiva: Vocally Pro-Israel Coach Leads Auburn To The Final Four
Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl will lead his team to the Final Four this weekend, highlighting an already impressive season, throughout which Pearl has used the spotlight to call for the release of the remaining Gaza hostages.

Pearl, a Jew who proudly calls Israel “the ancestral homeland for the Jewish people,” opened a press conference viewed by millions after the Auburn Tigers’s victory over Creighton earlier this month by drawing attention to 19-year-old American hostage Edan Alexander.

“I believe it was God’s plan to give us this success – success beyond what we deserve,” Pearl said. “To give us this platform. To give me an opportunity to start this conference really briefly and remind the world that Edan Alexander is still held hostage in Gaza right now. … Bring the hostages home.”

Alexander is believed to be the last living American hostage in Hamas captivity.

Later in the press conference, Pearl said Israel is “under attack, it’s under siege, and all it wants to do is live in peace with its neighbors.”

“There are some Arab countries that are actually wanting peace with Israel right now, but there is a segment of the population that there in the Middle East who have been doing nothing but attacking Israel for 85 years,” Pearl added. “October 7th was the worst day since the Holocaust for the Jewish people, and they [Hamas] say they want to do it again and again and again. We have Americans who are held hostage in Gaza right now. It’s unacceptable.”

Pearl was wearing the dog tag “Bring Them Home” necklace during the conference.




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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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