Friday, April 04, 2025

04/04 Links Pt2: How did young people go so wrong they cheer killers and rapists of Hamas?; Antisemitism among Irish Christians at ‘Medieval’ levels; Orange butterfly renamed in honour of Ariel Bibas

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Princeton Honors Official Involved in Altercation with Jewish Student
After viewing the parts of the Piegaro incident that were captured on video, it isn’t surprising the court ruled in his favor. Strother and two other men—according to testimony, the men were faculty advisors helping the pro-Palestinian demonstrators—are seen walking up the steps to the door of a building. Piegaro asks Strother his name and affiliation with the university. Strother ignores him until Piegaro goes to enter the building along with Strother and the others. Strother then appears to put out an arm to stop Piegaro. Piegaro is heard saying “don’t touch me” and the video ends as, according to witnesses, Piegaro tumbled down the stairs. A fellow student said she saw Strother holding Piegaro “like an open pair of scissors” and then drop him, the Times reported. Strother claimed Piegaro initiated contact but confirmed he grabbed Piegaro and then accidentally dropped him down the stairs.

The judge in the case ruled that Piegaro had shown poor judgment but had done nothing that amounted to assault.

And what does the school think of Strother’s job performance? “Ken approaches this complex task in a human-centric way, building relationships that foster transparency, trust, and understanding, and are shaped by his personal integrity and strategic vision,” the school said in announcing Strother’s award. A dean at the school added, presumably without irony: “I often see Ken interact with the most impassioned groups and individuals, when emotions run high… Yet, even in these most challenging situations, I’ve observed Ken demonstrate the most incredible degree of patience, grace and diplomacy.”

Piegaro’s case attracted no media outrage. No free-speech groups rushed to his side. No US senators protested his arrest, as they have done for pro-Palestinian activists. The Princeton administration, Piegaro’s fellow students, activists who claim to be outraged by police action against protesters, the legion of free-speech warriors who appear to apply their principles selectively—no one seemed to have much to say about Piegaro.

Indeed, Piegaro himself may have put it best, not just for himself but for the wider Jewish community in the post-Oct. 7 world. According to the transcript of a police officer’s body camera video, after Piegaro falls down the stairs he explains to the officer that he’s not with the main protests, and you can tell because he’s the one with nobody coming to his aid. “Notice they’re not swarming,” he says of the pro-Palestinian protesters who would otherwise be surrounding the cops and refusing to let the arrest happen without a fight. “It is because I’m not on their side.”
‘We’re playing violins on the Titanic’ – the whistleblower who won’t stay silent
Before that, he was anonymous. A former tourism professional who’d lived in Israel, his family returned to the UK and he pivoted to online investigative work. Initially, he simply wanted to promote Israel. But it quickly became something more.

“I went in undercover,” he says. “It almost started as a hobby, but I realised how serious it actually was.”

By then, “John” was a fixture in private anti-Zionist spaces. “I was sitting in the corner, recording everything. I wasn’t scared – nobody knew who I was. Over time, I became a recognised face in those circles, just not as David.”

He dismisses the idea that his work makes him a spy. “There is value in what I do. I feel almost blessed in some ways, because my life has purpose. I’m doing something fundamentally good, so there is an inner peace that comes with this.”

But the stakes are rising. Collier receives daily death threats. He’s been assaulted in the street – twice. He refuses to report the threats, not wanting to “waste police time”. If someone means to hurt him, he says, “they won’t send a warning”.

What worries him more is the political climate in Britain. “We’re fighting a very, very complex battle,” he says of UK Jewry. “It’s multifaceted. Not every ally is an ally. Not every enemy is an enemy. Our community is fractured. But we need to unite. Fast. We’re in trouble.”

He sees social media as a self radicalisation tool. “I spend so much time in the sewers. I still have active anti Zionist accounts.”

He paints a grim picture, one roundly rejected by many in the mainstream of the Jewish community, of a nation spiralling toward extremism. Of Islamist radicalisation surging online and an emboldened far right preparing to return fire. With the Jewish community stuck in the middle.

“These two elements are feeding off one another,” he warns. “A spiral. And in that chaos, moderate voices get pulled into dangerous territory.”

And what of British Jews? “There will be your Stamford Hill, ultra-Orthodox communities. They won’t go anywhere. The ultra-Orthodox communities are growing while our communities are shrinking.”

His analysis of Western society is bleaker still.

“We’re on the Titanic,” he says. “And the question becomes — what is my role? Some people may be good engineers. Some may be just standing there with buckets trying to throw the water out faster than it can come in. I reference organisations like the Board of Deputies here, playing the violin on deck, just to make sure everybody else is calm.”

His role? “I’m screaming at people to get in the lifeboats.”

Collier is under no illusions. “We might lose,” he says. “But I’ll be damned if I go down playing music. I’ll fight to the utmost of my ability, using every weapon I have.”
Why the ‘60 Minutes’ segment with freed hostages fell short
IN HER opening remarks, Stahl referenced the 24 live hostages but not the rest of the 59. She blamed the prime minister, saying “Netanyahu resumed the bombing of Gaza, breaking a fragile ceasefire that was exceedingly popular with Israelis.”

The seasoned television journalist neglected to say that the ceasefire had ended weeks earlier when Hamas refused to release more hostages and that the terror group tried to bomb several buses, which would have exploded in central Israel and resulted in another massacre if they had set their timers right.

To contend with the evolution of anti-Israel narratives, this week the watchdog HonestReporting unveiled its new artificial intelligence tool which checks articles for five categories of media bias: 1 Delegitimizing of Israel’s sovereignty
2 Justifying and legitimizing violence against Israel, Israelis and Jews
3 Denying violence against Israel, Israelis and Jews
4 Deflecting and shifting blame to Israel
5 Fabricating and distorting facts, including atrocity propaganda.

While the 60 Minutes segment does not explicitly put the onus on Israel, its framing choices and selective narrative emphasis shifts emotional blame, despite Hamas being the perpetrator of the crisis. This leads viewers to feel that Israel may be prolonging the war unnecessarily, even though Hamas is the one holding hostages and continuing hostilities.

No Israeli military or policy voices were presented to explain the rationale for continued operations in Gaza. These subtle narrative-framing choices may contribute to distorted public perceptions.

This is even more dangerous in a show that made a rare effort to show Israeli victims and suffering in a media climate that is heavily biased to show only Palestinian suffering.

In the court of international public opinion, the journalists and their producers are the umpires and referees. Criticizing them and pointing out what they get wrong does not make you a sore loser or winner.

It makes you the educated news consumer you should be.


Douglas Murray: How did young people go so wrong they cheer killers and rapists of Hamas?
I’ll be launching my new book Friday afternoon at Columbia University. “On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization” will be available from all good bookshops on April 8 and is available for pre-order now.

I accepted the invitation from the good students of Columbia because it is at just such institutions that we have seen one of the most disturbing things to happen since the attacks of October 7, 2023.

You would have thought that when young women are raped by gangs of armed men, young Americans would not be on the side of the rapists.

When a party of young people at a dance rave in the early hours are attacked by truckloads of armed terrorists, you would think it would be an easy question to understand: Should you be on the side of the unarmed, terrified young people being hunted down in the woods and the fields, raped, shot and macheted in front of their friends?

Or should you be on the side of the monsters who committed those acts — the people who roamed among the piles of dead bodies to see who might still be alive, who could be kidnapped and stolen from their families?

One survivor of the Nova party told me of seeing a young woman on her knees in front of a gang of armed men. Her best friend had just been killed in front of her. The terrorists were debating whether to kill her or kidnap her.

“I don’t want to die,” she was screaming. The terrorists shot her in the face as she was screaming.

Is it hard to decide which side to be on after an atrocity like that? For me, it isn’t. For most Americans, it isn’t.

But an alarming number of people — especially the youngest and most privileged in our society — chose the other side. Instead of being on the side of the victims, they sided with the perpetrators.

They could have sided with the people who had been kidnapped — including young Americans like 21-year-old Edan Alexander from New Jersey, who is still being held in Hamas captivity. Instead they sided with the kidnappers.

They did so long before Israel’s military response began in Gaza, an action with two aims — to release the hostages and to destroy Hamas.

We now know that on the day of October 7, pro-terror groups in the US were organizing to attack Israel — to demonize it and to lie about it. As I reported here in The Post at the time, on October 8, some of these terrorist supporters gathered in Times Square — to support the massacres as they were still going on.

None of this moral insanity happened because of Israel’s actions. It happened because we have people in our midst who are on the side of the rapists, murderers, beheaders and kidnappers.

What the hell has gone wrong? This is one of the big questions I ask — and try to answer — in my new book. I do because I believe that the outbreak of disorder and violence that has burst out on the streets and campuses of this city since October 7, 2023, is not Israel’s problem. It is ours.
Piers Morgan Uncensored: ‘Not Going Fast ENOUGH!’ Douglas Murray on Deportations, Trump Tariffs, Gaza and Putin
Douglas Murray has been one of the most polarizing voices on two of the biggest conflicts of our time, having made multiple frontline visits to both Israel and Ukraine.

A recent essay of his roiled MAGA by accusing the movement of absorbing Kremlin narratives on Putin, further underscoring his status as an independent thinker.

As his new book 'Democracies and Death Cults' already begins to make waves, he joins Piers Morgan for an in-depth discussion. Does he think Trump's reciprocal tariffs will work? Why are so many American conservatives against supporting Ukraine? And what happens for Gaza now? All this and more is covered in the latest Uncensored.

00:00 Introduction
02:30 Trump’s tariffs and deportations
10:28 - Dealing with Putin
20:07 - Is MAGA wrong on Ukraine?
23:22 - Douglas responds to Jack Posobiec criticism
27:30 - Hamas ‘Death Cults’
32:30 - “No innocent civilians”
38:30 - What happens to Gaza now?


The October 7 wake up call for unity against antisemitism | Think Twice
According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the horrific Hamas-led Palestinian attacks on southern Israel that took place on Oct. 7, 2023 raise troubling questions about the reactions from the international community. Rather than rallying to Israel’s defense, much of the world responded with a surge of antisemitism that has impacted the lives of Jews around the world as well as isolating the Jewish state.

He is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Israel Ellis, author of 10.7 The Wake Up Call: Global Terrorism and the Rise of Antisemitism in a World Gone MAD. Ellis, a Canadian entrepreneur and author who has a son who serves in the Israel Defense Forces, says his new book is an effort to answer the question of how this catastrophe could have happened. It’s also intended as a primer about the facts about Oct. 7 and the war against Hamas in response to the denial about the atrocities as well as the lies that have been spread about the Jewish state’s conduct in the conflict.

He spoke of his outrage about the Jew-hatred that is made itself felt throughout North America and especially in his home of Toronto in which sympathy for the Palestinians’ “death cult” and hostility to Israel has become widespread. He pointed out that one of the key factors in transforming colleges and universities into hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism and hostile environments for Jews is the corrupting influence of money from Qatar and Iran. Ellis also thinks that the importing of students from the Middle East who have helped lead antisemitic demonstrations and illegal activities has helped transform these schools since the 1990s when he studied the Middle East.

Ellis believes a big part of the problem that Israel faces is the way the West, especially the Obama and Biden administrations in the United States and the Justin Trudeau government in Canada “betrayed” Israel by appeasing Iran and undermining the war on Hamas. He is hopeful about the new administration of President Donald Trump, whom he believes is a “messenger of God,” whose outlier personality and role as an agent of “chaos” has brought about a necessary change in the conversation about the Middle East.

Ellis also believes that an imperative of the post-Oct. 7 world is to create Jewish unity. He believes that can only be achieved in Israel by the creation of a constitution and a change in the way the Knesset and government are elected. Though he admits it seems an unlikely prospect, he asserts that when you consider that “Israel is a land of miracles,” anything is possible.

Chapters
00:00 The Importance of '10-7, The Wake Up Call'
04:19 Personal Reflections on October 7th
11:45 The Rise of Global Antisemitism
20:09 Understanding the Education System's Role
25:30 The Normalization of Antisemitism in the West
34:49 Government Failures and Misunderstandings
37:41 Canada's Political Landscape and Antisemitism
40:15 Leadership and Political Hope in Canada
42:59 Trump: A Controversial Figure and Divine Providence
48:00 Israel's Political Dilemma: Hostages vs. Defeating Hamas
57:26 The Crisis of Jewish Unity and Political Representation
01:04:26 Healing Trauma and Moving Forward in Israel


Hamas says it won’t move hostages to safety, Israel responsible for their lives
The Hamas terror group said in a statement Friday that it will not move living Israeli hostages out of areas in the Gaza Strip that the IDF has ordered to be evacuated in recent days, saying the Israeli government will be at fault if captives are killed.

The IDF has issued evacuation orders for the entire Rafah area, Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, and other areas in the Strip’s north, some two and a half weeks after resuming fighting amid the collapse of a hostage-truce deal.

“Half of the living Israeli prisoners are located in areas which the Israeli occupation army has requested to be evacuated in recent days,” claimed Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

“We have decided not to transfer these prisoners from these areas, and to keep them under strict security measures, which are extremely dangerous to their lives,” Abu Obeida said in his statement, which was issued in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

He added that “if the enemy is concerned about the lives of these prisoners, they must immediately negotiate their evacuation or release.”

“The Netanyahu government bears full responsibility for the lives of the prisoners. Had they been concerned about them, they would have adhered to the agreement signed in January. Most of them would probably be in their homes today,” Abu Obeida added.
Probe reveals Nirim deserted by IDF on Oct. 7, residents still feel betrayed by gov't
The IDF probe into its failure to protect Nirim in the southern part of the Gaza Corridor from Hamas on October 7, 2023, was issued on Friday.

Around 150 Hamas terrorists, in three waves, invaded Nirim and the surrounding areas, murdering five civilians and taking hostage five deceased residents. In battles in and around Nirim, Hamas invaders killed 10 soldiers and took another eight soldiers hostage.

Prior to the war, it had a population of just over 400, and it is located close to Nir Oz, which was also utterly abandoned by the IDF until the early afternoon of October 7, when it was mostly too late to confront Hamas invaders, who had mostly returned to Gaza.

Residents did acknowledge to The Jerusalem Post that there are many more IDF positions nearby now and that Nirim's "White House" - a small nearby outpost - now has four times as many forces as it did on October 7, including more tanks.

While aspects of the report, especially where the IDF admitted its complete across-the-board failure to defend the residents, were appreciated by some of the Nirim residents, they still feel abandoned now.

Nirim resident and Channel 12 reporter Shai Levy told the Post during a recent visit to the village, "The IDF deserted us on October 7. Many residents were slaughtered before any real help came. My family and I only survived by keeping the invaders out of our safe room."

"While security is better now than before October 7, 18 months after October 7, the IDF still has an emergency order preventing most residents from returning, unless they are part of the local security squad like me," stated Levy.

Further, Levy added, "We hope we can restart schools here in September, but the IDF and government still have not made clear promises, and at some point, more residents may decide not to come back."

In addition, residents said that there was almost constant military noise from rockets, to warning sirens, to Israeli drones.


Gaza protesters rally for doctor who shared KKK video
A protest broke out outside the British Medical Association (BMA) headquarters in London on Friday in support of a doctor who had previously endorsed an antisemitic video produced by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Dr Swee Chai Ang, 76, an orthopaedic surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust and a founding trustee of UK charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), was barred from addressing the BMA’s Medical Students Conference after it emerged she had shared antisemitic material.

In 2014, Ang sent an email endorsing a video produced by white supremacist and former KKK leader David Duke. She later claimed she had been unaware of Duke’s identity or his connections to the Ku Klux Klan.

In 2008, she proposed the creation of a “defence force for Gaza” in a blog post for the Lancet Global Health Network. The article, titled “The wounds of Gaza” and co-written with Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, was taken down in 2009 due to factual inaccuracies, according to a removal notice issued by the publisher at the time.

Despite claims circulating online that Ang was informed of her ban from the conference with just 48 hours’ notice, the BMA stated that Ang had been told in December last year that her invitation was rescinded, "after we became aware of reports that Dr Ang had previously shared material, that she did not author, which was antisemitic."

Ang accused the BMA of “shutting down free speech.” She said in a statement: “My message is one of peace and humanity, not divisiveness. I am committed to my British patients in the NHS and my Palestinian patients through MAP for the same reasons, a duty of care towards their wellbeing.

"What sort of example is an organisation setting when it lets pernicious politics interfere with a message of caring for one’s patients?”

Abu-Sittah, the controversial plastic surgeon and rector of Glasgow University who delivered a tearful eulogy for the co-founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, accused the BMA of having “sunk to new depths of moral cowardice and genocide enablement” by cancelling Ang’s talk.

Ang vowed to speak outside BMA House at the time her original talk was due to take place, and dozens of pro-Gaza demonstrators gathered with loudspeakers for what they described as a “protest against censorship”.
Chicago therapist who created blacklist of ‘Zionist’ therapists disciplined by state licensing body
A Chicago therapist who created a blacklist of “Zionist” therapists that she said people should avoid was reprimanded by Illinois’ professional licensing body, after concerns about her conduct were raised last year.

In March 2024, Heba Ibrahim Joudeh shared in a group for “anti-racist therapists” in Chicago that she had created a list of Zionist therapists “that we should avoid referring clients to.” Most of the people on the list had never publicly spoken about Israel or identified themselves publicly as a Zionist. Instead, several of them told Jewish Insider last spring, their only unifying factor was being Jewish.

Last month, Joudeh received a formal reprimand and was “ordered to take continuing education due to unprofessional conduct,” after months of disciplinary proceedings. The reprimand does not require her to apologize to the therapists whose names she shared publicly, nor does it affect her ability to continue practicing in Illinois.

Several Chicago Jewish therapists whose names had appeared on Joudeh’s list told JI on Thursday that they were glad to see Joudeh face consequences but that they wished the punishment was stronger.

“It’s been a year since this happened, and we are still traumatized by the experience,” said Dana Cohen, a clinical social worker. “Therapists who engage in discriminatory practices should face more than just reprimands. They need to be held accountable in ways that not only address the harm they’ve caused but also work to prevent future incidents of discrimination.”

Ira Finkel, a social worker whose practice focuses on anxiety, told JI he was disappointed in the outcome. “She doesn’t even have to apologize or have any meaningful consequences for her blatant engagement and encouragement of antisemitism and harm done to our profession,” Finkel noted.
Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy ‘regrets’ Hamas supporter’s podcast
Gideon Levy, a journalist for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, on Wednesday said he regretted appearing on the podcast of Jackson Hinkle, an American anti-Israel activist and supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah who attended former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in Lebanon.

Levy’s statement that “I should not have done it” follows criticism that by agreeing to appear on the podcast he had legitimized Hinkle.

Levy, who has accused Israel of apartheid and who penned an op-ed about Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza titled “If It Isn’t a Genocide in Gaza, Then What Is It?” said he wasn’t aware of Hinkle’s “dark, antisemitic views,” as Levy called them.

“To my embarrassment, I had never heard of Hinkle before,” Levy, a veteran and senior investigative reporter for Haaretz, wrote about Hinkle, who has 2.9 million followers on X. Hinkle has been the subject of dozens of profile items in mainstream media, including one on CNN in September.

“The more I found out about him, the clearer it became that this is a person who spreads falsehoods, including fabricated and manipulated quotes from Haaretz,” wrote Levy, who also noted that Hinkle “fully identifies with Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Levy’s “first acquaintance” with Hinkle’s “real character” was after seeing Hinkle toting a rifle two days after the interview in Sanaa, Yemen. Hinkle was there as a guest of Houthi rebels, a proxy army of Iran.

The collaboration with Hinkle triggered many condemnations of Levy in Israel.


Universities at Risk: How Extremist, Far-Left Groups Exploit the Israel-Palestinian Conflict
Since October 7, student activism around the Israel-Hamas conflict has surged, but extremist political organizations, particularly the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), have hijacked the movement to push their own radical agendas. These groups are not driven by a genuine pursuit of peace — but by the opportunity to recruit students and spread misinformation, fueling division and putting Jewish and Israeli students at risk.

Far-left groups like the SWP have long aligned with pro-Palestinian causes, but their involvement goes beyond solidarity. Their rhetoric frequently crosses the line into outright incitement. Far-left organizations frame the October 7 massacre as legitimate “resistance,” glorifying violence and encouraging radical activism. This distorts reality, undermines nuanced discussion, and fosters a toxic atmosphere on campuses. Universities are failing in their duty to protect all students — including Jewish and Israeli students — from this growing hostility.

A critical question arises: why are UK-based political parties prioritizing the Israel-Palestine conflict over pressing domestic issues? For groups like the SWP, this conflict serves as a convenient narrative to illustrate a Marxist struggle between the “oppressed” and “oppressor.”

In their framework, Palestinians are victims, and Israelis are cast as villains without any further analysis or critical thought — a gross oversimplification that strips Palestinians of agency and ignores potential paths to peace. The SWP openly rejects diplomatic solutions, labeling a two-state solution a “fantasy” and advocating for the destruction of Israel and other capitalist countries instead of peaceful coexistence.

These groups openly condone Hamas and justify terrorism. The SWP has repeatedly distributed materials praising Hamas and legitimizing “courageous” violence against Israelis. One of their pamphlets even defends suicide bombings as part of a “long tradition of Palestinian guerrilla actions,” dangerously normalizing terror attacks against civilians. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) has pushed conspiratorial claims that Israel used October 7 to justify military action, trivializing mass murder and inciting further division and hatred against Jews.

Despite their extremism, these groups operate freely on UK campuses. The SWP and RCP recruit students by embedding themselves within pro-Palestinian student societies, organizing demonstrations, and distributing propaganda outside university grounds. My own university claims it prohibits external groups from campaigning on campus, yet the SWP has repeatedly been allowed to do so. In Edinburgh, the SWP-affiliated student society posted “Victory for the Palestinians – Why it’s right to resist Israel” just days after the massacre, demonstrating their true intent: to escalate hostility rather than seek justice.

The SWP also collaborates with figures known for their extremist views, hosting them at student events, including a Palestinian surgeon who has openly praised terrorists like Leila Khaled, Ahmad Jarrar, and Maher Al-Yamani — individuals responsible for hijackings and deadly attacks against civilians.


Trump admin reportedly to freeze $500m in Brown funding over Jew-hatred
The Trump administration is set to freeze more than half a billion dollars in federal funding for Brown University as part of its crackdown on universities that it says foster antisemitism, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

Some $510 million in grants and contracts could be halted, making Brown the fourth Ivy League school that the administration has gone after for alleged Jew-hatred on campus following similar freezes at Columbia University and Princeton University, ina addition to a federal audit of $9 billion in federal grants and contracts at Harvard University.

The AP cited a White House official who “was not authorized to speak publicly about the plan and spoke on condition of anonymity,” and Frank Doyle, the provost at Brown, reportedly emailed campus leaders that he could not substantiate “troubling rumors” that the Trump administration intended to cut off federal funding. (JNS sought comment from the U.S. Education Department.)

Officials from Brown and leaders of its Jewish community, including the chancellor of Brown and the director of its Chabad chapter, issued a statement on Thursday denying that the university had fostered Jew-hatred on campus.

“Brown University is home to a vibrant Jewish community that continues to flourish with the steadfast support of the administration,” the open letter stated. “Amidst broader concerns about antisemitism on college campuses, Brown stands out as an inclusive environment where Jewish life is deeply integrated into campus culture.”
NYC public schools accused of ‘abhorrent’ antisemitism after anti-Israel ‘Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit’ is included in newsletter
The head of New York City public schools was forced to apologize for linking a “Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit” in a newsletter this month — sparking outrage in the Jewish community.

The Office of Student Pathways Newsletter, which is blasted out monthly to select teachers and parents across the nation’s largest public school system, included a bullet point titled “Guidelines for teaching about genocide” — which linked to a Google doc titled “STOP GAZA GENOCIDE TOOLKIT.”

The 17-page document contains radicalized messaging that encourages readers to “Stop arming Israel and free Palestine!”

The ‘toolkit’ breaks down how to mobilize pro-Palestine campaigns on social media, how to boycott and encourage divestment from pro-Israel organizations and encourages readers to print out Palestine yard signs — among other calls to action.

Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos admitted to what she called a “troubling oversight” in a statement on Thursday night that condemned the toolkit as hateful and antisemitic.

“This language is hurtful to many in our Jewish community, and we deeply apologize,” Aviles-Ramos said in the statement posted to social media.

“Once leadership became aware of this link, we immediately ordered its removal and have already begun conducting a thorough investigation as to how this was added to @NYCschools communication,” the chancellor said.

A version of the “toolkit” appears to have also been linked to in the October-November 2024 newsletter. The document, which has since been updated, called on readers to participate in “rage week” and “resist genocide” by mobilizing on the Sat. Oct. 5 “day of action” ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.
California Public School Teacher Played Students Turkish Propaganda Video Likening Israel's War on Hamas to the Holocaust: Lawsuit
A teacher at a public high school in California showed 10th-grade students a Turkish propaganda video that equated Israel’s war on Hamas to the Holocaust and suggested Jews should be "ashamed" as a result, according to a new lawsuit community activists filed against the district.

The incident was just one example of the "pervasive discrimination and bias against Jewish students" in the Santa Clara Unified School District, according to the Department of Education Title VI complaint filed by StandWithUs and the Bay Area Jewish Coalition this week.

According to the complaint, Santa Clara teachers and officials have used their classrooms to push claims that Israel commits "genocide" and promoted maps that replace the entire Jewish state with "Palestine." In one class held last March, an unnamed history teacher in the district showed students a video that accused Israel of "committing Holocaust in Gaza," the suit states. The video was published by TRT World, a news outlet that is a registered foreign agent for the Turkish government.

The news comes as the Trump administration cracks down on anti-Semitic harassment at schools, which has surged since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks against Israel. The administration has launched Department of Education civil rights investigations and threatened to cut billions in federal funding to schools that don’t comply.

The complaint says Jewish and Israeli students in Santa Clara have been "subjected to repeated harassment, intimidation, marginalization, and discrimination based on their Jewish ancestry since at least 2023." The district has "allowed an egregiously hostile environment to fester for its Jewish and Israeli students," said Jenna Statfeld Harris, senior counsel and K-12 specialist at StandWithUs Saidoff Legal department, in a statement.

The Turkish video in question showed photos of Jewish Holocaust victims juxtaposed with photos from Gaza, including "untraceable" images of children with Arabic writing on their arms that the segment compared to the tattoos Nazis branded on concentration camp victims. It also featured an interview with a Holocaust survivor who accused Israel of "killing children" and said she was "ashamed" of being Jewish.

"I am actually ashamed sometimes to acknowledge that I belong to the tribe that is killing innocent people," said the woman in the video.

The same teacher, who is still teaching at the school, also distributed classroom materials to her 10th grade class to raise "awareness" about Israel as an "oppressive apartheid state" that is pursuing a "genocide," according to the complaint.


Most Americans Agree With Deporting Mahmoud Khalil, Foreign Students Who ‘Support’ Terror Groups, Poll Finds
About two-thirds of the American people support the deportation of non-citizen students, such as Mahmoud Khalil, who indicate support for internationally recognized terrorist groups, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll.

The poll — conducted from March 26-27 among registered US voters — was released amid ongoing furor over the Trump administration’s sweeping arrests and detainments of non-citizen students who have allegedly expressed support for terrorist organizations, primarily Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in many cases participated in raucous, often destructive and unsanctioned anti-Israel demonstrations on university campuses.

According to the newly released data, most Americans, 63 percent, believe that the Trump administration should “deport” foreign students who “voice support” for terrorist groups like Hamas, while a slightly higher 67 percent want such deportations for non-citizens on campuses who “actively support” such terrorist groups. About one-third of voters in each case said they believe the students should stay in the US.

Meanwhile, the data showed that 63 percent of Americans believe the Trump administration should revoke permanent resident status for “pro-Hamas activists like Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University,” compared to 37 percent who indicated the government should not be able to revoke one’s green card in such circumstances.

Khalil, who was born in Syria and came to the US in 2022, was one of the leaders of the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University last year, when activists illegally seized parts of the campus and refused to leave unless the school boycotted the world’s lone Jewish state. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him early last month for what the Department of Homeland Security alleged to be leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” Khalil, who became a permanent US resident last year, is fighting his deportation in court and arguing the government is violating his civil rights.

However, a striking 69 percent of respondents in the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll said the federal government should “have the authority to revoke the green card of a permanent legal resident and deport them if it can prove that such a person actively supported a terrorist organization like Hamas.” By comparison, 31 percent said the government should not have such authority.


Harvard Sanctions Pro-Hamas Group Over Unauthorized Demonstration Led by Reinstated Students
Harvard University has imposed disciplinary sanctions on the pro-Hamas student group Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) following its staging an unauthorized demonstration, placing it on probation and suspending its privilege to hold campus events until long after the end of this academic year.

The measure, announced on Wednesday, brings PSC operations to a halt, The Harvard Crimson reported, as the group planned to hold eight events in the month of April alone. Harvard told the paper that PSC’s own actions prompted the severe response from the administration. The group, it said, used “amplified sound” during Tuesday’s protest outside University Hall, obstructed university business, and invited an unrecognized group, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP), to participate in the demonstration.

PSC lambasted Harvard on Wednesday, arguing in a statement posted on Instagram that the administration “sanctioned PSC without clarifying what relation, if any, it had to the rally.”

It continued, “We call on all student organizations to stand with the movement for Palestine — silence will not save us. Demand that Harvard: defend academic freedom, protect its students from [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement], and divest from genocide.”

Harvard’s swift sanctioning of PSC came just days after the Trump administration announced that $9 billion in federal contracts and grants awarded to the school will be considered for termination because of allegations that it has failed to meaningfully respond to the campus antisemitism crisis.

PSC’s cheering of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities across southern Israel, which included sexual assault and murder, are in part responsible for placing the university at the center of the debate on antisemitism and left-wing extremism in higher education

Beyond sanctioning the campus group, Harvard has recently taken other steps that appear driven by the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy for campus antisemitism. Last month, it fired a librarian whom someone filmed ripping posters of the Bibas children, two babies murdered in captivity by Hamas, off a kiosk in Harvard Yard and denounced him as “hateful.” Additionally, it paused a partnership with a higher education institution located in the West Bank, a move for which prominent members of the Harvard community and federal lawmakers had clamored in a series of public statements.

However, an Algemeiner investigation has uncovered that Tuesday’s demonstrations at Harvard were made possible by steps the university refused to take after PSC convulsed the campus with disruptions and occupations of school property during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Two ringleaders of the protest — Prince Williams and Kojo Acheampong — are among several undergraduates who the university suspended and then promptly reinstated for their roles in organizing a November 2023 unauthorized demonstration in which Williams led a chant of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely recognized as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.


Columbia University Radicals Welcome New President By Vandalizing Campus Bathroom With Hamas Triangle
Columbia University’s leading anti-Semitic group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), showcased its latest act of anarchy Thursday afternoon: a campus bathroom defaced with red paint and inverted Hamas triangles.

"A group of anonymous actionists welcomed @Columbia’s new AIPAC-backed university dictator Claire Shipman with a redecoration of Columbia’s bathrooms during her campus visit," CUAD wrote in an X post accompanying four photos of the graffiti.

The photos show two bathroom stalls vandalized with red paint on the walls reading "WELCOME SHITMAN"—referring to Shipman, Columbia’s new acting president—punctuated by upside-down triangles, a symbol Hamas uses to denote Israeli targets. The same symbol accompanied other phrases, including "FUCK the TRUSTEE COUP" and "free PALESTINE." "WELCOME SHITMAN" was also scrawled across a toilet seat.

Flyers were posted in the stalls featuring a doctored image of Shipman crawling out of a toilet with a caption reading, "Shitman! Shitman! We know you. You arrest your students too!" The flyers bore the logo of Columbia’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter, another anti-Israel student group, suggesting it was also involved in the vandalism.

Columbia released a statement saying it notified law enforcement and was investigating to identify the perpetrators.

"On Thursday, restroom facilities at Lerner Hall, Columbia University’s Student Center, were vandalized with graffiti that included disturbing, personal attacks," the statement read. "Law enforcement was notified, the vandalism was removed swiftly, and an investigation is underway to identify those involved. Defacing property with harassing, threatening, or intimidating language is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at Columbia."


Hollywood Reporter Corrects: Israel-Hamas War Started With Hamas’ Oct. 7 Attacks
CAMERA’s Israel office yesterday prompted correction at The Hollywood Reporter after an otherwise informative article grossly misreported the start of the war between Israel and Hamas (“Paramount+ Acquires ‘The Children of October 7’ Documentary“).

The March 26 article had absurdly stated: “Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks sparked the ongoing Israeli-Gaza conflict.”

In fact, it was the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of Israel, including the terrorists’ orgy of murder, kidnapping, rape, mutilations and torture of civilians in their homes and in a dance party, which sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The war clearly began with Hamas’ devastating attack, not Israel’s response to the terror group’s Oct. 7 invasion and mass war crimes.

As Associated Press rightly reported in recent days: “The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.”

The Hollywood Reporter editors agreed with CAMERA that a correction was necessary and commendably amended the article to correctly state: “The Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Southern Israel sparked the ongoing Israeli-Gaza conflict.”


NY Times Hid Own Reporting on Hamas-Linked Journalist
The New York Times described a Gaza airstrike last week as follows:
On Monday, Al Jazeera reported that Hussam Shabat, a journalist who contributed to its coverage of the war, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his car in northern Gaza.

To drive the point home, the next sentence placed the killing in the context of Palestinian casualties that were, according to Hamas, journalists:
At least 208 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Gaza government press office. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

It’s all, perhaps, technically true. But the Times reporters knew, or should have known, more about Shabat than they let on. Just a few months ago, Israel pointed to evidence that the journalist doubled as a terrorist. On social media last October, its military announced it had captured documents exposing Shabat as a trained Hamas sniper, and the supporting documents were posted online.

None of this should be news to the New York Times — above all because it was news in the New York Times. On the same day Israel blew the whistle last October, the paper reported on the allegations.

It was newsworthy then, and it was more so after his death. And indeed, after CAMERA contacted the Times last week, the paper amended the piece to acknowledge the key context that had been omitted.

But why did those reporting on his death, Hiba Yazbek and Bilal Shbair, initially omit Shabat’s dirty little secret? Did they fail to do basic reporting, not even consulting their own paper? Or did they actively conceal a key part of the story in the service of a narrative?


Congressional Republicans Prepare 10-Bill Sanctions Package To 'Gut' Iran and Punish Its Supreme Leader
Congressional Republicans are mounting an effort to codify President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign on Tehran via a 10-bill legislative package that would sanction Tehran's leadership, cut off its access to cash, and strangle the regime's regional terror proxies, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

The campaign includes "the toughest Iran sanctions package ever proposed by Congress," according to the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the House's largest GOP caucus, which is leading the effort. Together, according to an RSC fact sheet, the bills "would gut Iran's ability to fund terrorism throughout the region, sanction the Supreme Leader of Iran," and compel future presidents to fully "enforce sanctions on Iran's oil sales," which hit historic highs under the Biden administration.

While the Trump administration has already issued a slew of executive orders reinstating intense economic pressure on Tehran, a future administration could easily undo them in the same way former president Joe Biden rolled back the tough Iran sanctions imposed during Trump's first term in office. By locking in these initiatives legislatively, any future administration would have a much more difficult time easing economic pressure on Tehran.

Rep. August Pfluger (R., Texas), the RSC's chairman, told the Free Beacon he is building support for the effort with fellow House Republican leaders and hopes to bring the package to a vote in the near future. Trump's team, he said, backs all of the bills included in the package.

"We have an extreme sense of urgency," Pfluger said in an interview. "There's no daylight in between what leadership ideologically views as the right thing to do and what we have put forward." As Iran marches closer to a nuclear weapon and bucks the Trump administration's effort to restart diplomacy, the package can serve as a tool to increase pressure on Tehran's hardline leadership, Pfluger said.

The bills appear to have a good path to passage in the House. In the Senate, the GOP's razor-thin majority, paired with the upper chamber's 60-vote threshold, makes approval more difficult. Still, Pfluger and others said talks are underway with prospective Senate sponsors, including Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Tom Cotton (R. Ark.), and Jim Banks (R., Ind.), himself a former RSC chairman.

A senior congressional aide familiar with discussions said the Iranian regime intends to "wait out" Trump's term in office with the hopes that a future Democratic administration once again reverses pressure.
Antisemitism among Irish Christians at ‘Medieval’ levels, say researchers
Antisemitic attitudes among Christians in Ireland are “disturbing” and “Medieval,” due in large part to entrenched religious beliefs held by the Catholic community, according to a new survey.

Conducted by Professors Motti Inbari of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Kirill Bumin of Boston University and Metropolitan College, the study’s findings revealed even stronger anti-Jewish sentiments in the Republic of Ireland than they found in their survey of the United Kingdom, published in January, the authors said.

The December 2024 study of 1,014 Christian adults in Ireland found that a third believe Jewish people “still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust. Some 49 percent agreed with the statement “Jews are more loyal to Israel than this country” and 36% said they believe Jews “have too much power in the business world.” About 31% agreed with statements that Jews “don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind,” and that they are hated “because of the way they behave.”

Ireland’s support for Israel is just a third of that in the United States, where the pair have conducted extensive research of Christian communities. Only 11.3% of Irish Christians support Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians, compared to 42.3% of Americans polled last year, the report found. Conversely, 45.6% of Irish respondents support the Palestinian side of the conflict, versus just 11.2% of Americans.

The findings come amid heightened tensions between Ireland and Israel, following Israel’s decision to close its embassy in Ireland in December and Dublin’s joining South Africa at the International Court of Justice in its genocide case against Israel.

Ireland’s Jewish community is small, numbering only about 2,700, a fraction of a percentage point among the country’s population of 5.3 million. About half of the community resides in the capital city of Dublin.

“What struck me is that we have the same percentages of people in both countries who say that they are generally familiar with the conflict, getting the same information from the same media, yet their understanding is fundamentally different,” Bumin told The Times of Israel. “Our study shows that much of this is due to differences in pre-existing theological beliefs, political and social attitudes, and levels of exposure to Jews that drastically vary between the US and Ireland.”


Tel Aviv Museum of Art Among 100 Most Visited Museums in 2024
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art was among the world’s 100 most visited museums in 2024, according to a list announced by The Art Newspaper on Tuesday.

The Tel Aviv-based museum ranked 78th on the prestigious list with more than 1 million visitors (1,057,362) last year, which is a 17 percent increase from 2023. This is the seventh year in a row that it has been included on the list. The museum was only open for 260 days in 2024 because of security concerns surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, leading to a 23 percent decrease when compared to projected numbers, according to The Art Newspaper.

“This international recognition is particularly significant in a year marked by war and a cultural boycott against Israel in the global art scene,” the museum said.

The museum noted its most popular exhibit in the past year has been “To Catch a Fleeting Moment: 150 Years of Impressionism,” which features approximately 80 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the 1860s through the 1930s. It also marks the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition held in Paris in 1874. The exhibit, which opened in October 2024 and runs until Aug. 2, has so far garnered hundreds of thousands of visitors, according to the museum.

In front of the museum is Hostages Square, where there are regularly press conferences, rallies, and other events in solidarity with the hostages who were brutally kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during their deadly massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“I’m especially proud in this difficult time that the Tel Aviv Museum is gaining international recognition and placed among the top museums in the world,” said Tania Coen-Uzzielli, director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. “The museum, next to the Hostages Square that has already become an integral part of us for over a year, due to the war, has become a cultural anchor of Israeli society, a healing space for many communities and a place of comfort and hope for the general public.”

Uzzielli thanked the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality and Mayor Ron Huldai for supporting the museum. She also gave a “heartfelt thanks to the dedicated museum staff who worked and worked tirelessly to maintain relevance and redefine the museum’s role in times of crisis, and at the same time present non-stop exhibitions of fine art from Israel and the world.”

“I thank the large crowd that chose to come to the Tel Aviv Museum in these times,” she added. “Thanks to you, we continue at all times to be committed to preserving culture for the general public and for the future of the place where we live.”
IDF approves guided tours inside Syria military zone during Passover
For the first time since Israel’s founding, civilians will be allowed to cross the border fence with Syria and join guided tours inside a restricted military zone during the upcoming Passover holiday, the Israeli military announced.

The unprecedented tours, which have received special authorization from the IDF, will include access to the Roked Stream, the El-Hama Bridge on the Yarmouk River, a tunnel from the historic Hejaz Railway and a lookout near the Mount Dov site associated with the biblical “Covenant Between the Pieces.”

The initiative is a collaboration between the IDF Northern Command, the army’s 210th Division, the Keshet Yehonatan educational center, the Golan Field School, the Golan Regional Council and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

The Roked Stream, which serves as part of the border between Israel and Syria, is the Golan Heights’ longest stream, stretching 46 miles (74 kilometers) through basalt cliffs, waterfalls and natural pools. Located within a closed military zone beyond Israel’s security fence, the area has until now been off-limits to the public. Tour participants will be allowed to swim in the stream’s pools at their own risk.

One tour will take visitors to the El-Hama Bridge, which crosses the Yarmouk River and once formed part of the Valley Railway line that linked to the Hejaz Railway. The bridge was destroyed in 1946 during the pre-state “Night of the Bridges” sabotage campaign carried out by the Jewish underground. The tour also includes Tunnel 105 and other segments of the historic railway route.

Three of the guided hikes are intended for families with strong hiking ability, according to organizers. A fourth, less strenuous tour will include a visit to the Mount Dov lookout, situated within a closed sector of the Hermon ridge. From there, visitors can view southern Lebanon, the Lebanon Mountains and the Bekaa Valley. The route to the site passes through the Pear Valley and alongside the Arar and Sion streams.

One tour will take visitors to the El-Hama Bridge, which crosses the Yarmouk River and once formed part of the Valley Railway line that linked to the Hejaz Railway. The bridge was destroyed in 1946 during the pre-state “Night of the Bridges” sabotage campaign carried out by the Jewish underground. The tour also includes Tunnel 105 and other segments of the historic railway route.

Three of the guided hikes are intended for families with strong hiking ability, according to organizers. A fourth, less strenuous tour will include a visit to the Mount Dov lookout, situated within a closed sector of the Hermon ridge. From there, visitors can view southern Lebanon, the Lebanon Mountains and the Bekaa Valley. The route to the site passes through the Pear Valley and alongside the Arar and Sion streams.
Volunteer on Israeli army base, learn Krav Maga
Sar-El, a volunteer organization supporting the Israel Defense Forces, is offering two new programs to encourage Diaspora Jews to help the Jewish state as war with Hamas and other terrorist entities continues.

It is partnering with Birthright Israel to offer a two-week volunteer experience for 18- to 50-year-olds. Participants will have the opportunity to assist Israel’s defense efforts—from organizing supplies to buttressing essential logistics for the IDF. Program dates are June 8-19; July 13-24; and Dec. 21-Jan. 1.

Since the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel has been facing increasing demands on its resources. Volunteers from abroad fill in for necessary tasks while soldiers and reservists have been called to multiple fronts.

Sar-El is also offering a two-week program combining logistical support for the IDF with Krav Maga training in partnership with the Wingate Institute, Israel’s National Center for Physical Education and Sport.

The program is designed to provide volunteers with the chance to contribute directly to Israel’s frontline efforts while gaining self-defense skills. Tasks include packing medical supplies, sorting essential equipment and organizing food packages for soldiers.


Orange butterfly renamed in honour of Ariel Bibas
The Academy of the Hebrew Language has renamed a striking species of orange butterfly — Melitaea ornata — in honour of murdered Israeli toddler, who was especially fond of them.

Previously known in Hebrew as Citimite Yerushalayim, the butterfly’s name referenced Jerusalem — a connection that made the tribute particularly fitting, as “Ariel” is another name for the city. It will now be called Citimite Ariel.

In a letter to Ariel’s father, Yarden Bibas, the Academy expressed its hope that this gesture might bring some small comfort amid the family’s grief.

It reads: “At a meeting of the plenary session of the Hebrew Language Academy, members unanimously decided to adopt the request of the zoology committee of the academy and to change the name of the Jerusalem spotted butterfly (Melitaea ornata) after your butterfly-loving son Ariel. From now on the butterfly will be called Ariel spotted.

“We thought that of all the orange butterflies of our country, this butterfly deserves to bear the name Ariel, since it is one of the names of Jerusalem. Let this be some comfort in your grief. And let his memory be remembered for all those who perished and fell in this heavy disaster and in this heavy battle.”

In his eulogy to his family on 26 February, Yarden, who was released after 484 days in captivity said: “Ariel, I hope there are plenty of butterflies for you to watch, just like you did during our picnics.”

Red-headed Ariel, together with his baby brother Kfir and mother Shiri, was murdered by Hamas in Gaza after being kidnapped from their Kibbutz Nir Oz home on 7 October 2023.




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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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