Friday, April 11, 2025

04/11 Links Pt1: Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported, Judge Rules; The Profound Wisdom of ‘Don’t Start a War with Israel’; A Passover lesson for Jews who oppose Trump more than antisemitism

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Profound Wisdom of ‘Don’t Start a War with Israel’
Brett McGurk gave a deceptively simple answer when the Times of Israel asked him what the lessons of Oct. 7, 2023 and the ensuing conflict were.

“Don’t start a war with Israel,” the former National Security Council official said.

One is tempted to say that that’s an obvious statement, but folks keep starting wars with Israel anyway, and will continue to do so. And that is why there is something more profound behind McGurk’s statement: You can learn a lot about an entity by examining why it has started a war with Israel.

McGurk’s plain meaning was that Israel can be a devastating military opponent. “Ask Sinwar, Nasrallah or Khamenei how they’re doing today compared to October 6,” he added, suggesting that Israel, like the Mounties, always gets its man.

That, however, only works as a deterrent to those who don’t want to lose.

Case in point: Egypt. Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 arguably made the case that Egypt should stop going to war with the Jewish state, that Israel had convincingly displayed its permanence. But there was no doubt after the Yom Kippur War of 1973. After all, that was the war in which Egypt, not Israel, had the element of surprise. And yet afterwards Egypt still had to negotiate to get its land back.

Egypt’s decision to bow out of the “destroy Israel or die trying” party meant Syria would be at a steep disadvantage if it ever decided to invade Israel again in the future. So even though there wasn’t a peace deal between Israel and Syria (as there was between Israel and Egypt), Damascus and Jerusalem have since avoided all-out war. That doesn’t mean the now-deposed Assad family had accepted Israel’s legitimacy. It means the Assads knew their window of opportunity to defeat Israel in war had long gone by.

Jordan was never all that enthusiastic about fighting Israel after the 1948 War of Independence, so the Hashemite Kingdom arguably didn’t even need to learn its lesson firsthand. Amman has found it quite easy to abide by the principle of “don’t start a war with Israel.”

Lebanon is a basket case but its only elements that start wars with Israel answer to Iran. Tehran’s proxy, Hezbollah, knows you don’t start a war with Israel unless you’re prepared to lose. But Hezbollah isn’t concerned about what happens to Lebanon, because it is an agent of Iran.

And herein lies the lesson: The entities that still start wars with Israel know the devastation that is headed their way from the start. The devastation is the point. Hezbollah wants to see death and destruction come to Lebanon, because “Lebanon” as a concept is meaningless to it. Hezbollah is engaged in the practice of human sacrifice.
Jonathan Tobin: A Passover lesson for Jews who oppose Trump more than antisemitism
The question American Jews must ask when they sit down at their seder tables is: What matters most to them? Do they care about Israelis who were murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped by the people all those the campus mobs are cheering for? Are they indifferent to the prospect of more Oct. 7 massacres of Israelis? Are they willing to delegitimize the heroic actions of the Israel Defense Forces in fighting the terrorists? Or are their relationships with liberal and left-wing erstwhile political allies who side with the victimizers of those Jews the only thing that is meaningful to them?

Passover is an exercise in atavism in which we are asked not merely to identify with our ancestors but to imagine that we were actually there in Egypt, suffering in slavery and then liberated by the strong hand of God that led the Israelites to freedom and the land of Israel. That normally requires a leap of imagination and faith that can prove to be difficult when we are living in times of peace and security.

Yet now, when antisemitism is on the rise, is it really so hard to think back on Jewish history, and all the moments when Jews spoke of liberation and “Next Year in Jerusalem,” even when those who sought their deaths were at their doorsteps?

As our liturgy teaches us, many Jews who fled Egypt longed for it and felt uncomfortable when presented with the dilemmas and responsibilities of freedom. Call it “Stockholm Syndrome” avant-la-lettre, but Jews have been identifying with their oppressors and in a state of denial about reality since the Exodus. At every point in history, there have been Jews who preferred to look away when danger was near or to rationalize, excuse or dismiss the peril that threatened them.

That many Jews would take this point of view is unsurprising when you consider how many rewritten Haggadahs omit key parts of the traditional seder that refer to the perennial threat to Jewish life, such as the key line that teaches that: “For not only one enemy has risen up against us to destroy us, but in every generation, they rise up to destroy us. But the Holy One, Blessed be He, delivers us.” Similarly, many leave out the admonition of the traditional service that speaks of resisting those who seek Jewish genocide by asking God to “pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know You and on regimes that have not called upon Your name.” By leaving this out, Jewish self-defense and even the help of allies are delegitimized in the name of a universalism that seeks justice for all except the Jews.

Trump is neither Moses nor Pharaoh, but by seeking to fundamentally reform American higher education by fighting the left-wing antisemitism that is normative there, he is providing leadership that much of organized Jewry has failed to provide. Opposing him on this issue is not a defense of American liberty or the Jews or Jewish values. It is a betrayal of all of them.

The lessons of history
This year, as it has so many times throughout Jewish history, Passover provides a lesson about standing together and supporting the cause of the Jewish people as they continue to fight for their survival. It teaches us that an abstract belief in freedom stripped of the moral values of faith and tradition is a path that leads toward oppression. Those who find excuses to stand apart from the plight of their fellow Jews—and against efforts to defend them—are identifying with the proverbial “wicked son” that the Haggadah speaks of, who asks what the ritual “means to you,” thereby excluding himself from the community.

If there is anything that Jewish history teaches us, it is that those who take such stands will be condemned by their posterity as having sided with the oppressors of their time. For the rest of us, the seder is the reminder that we must find the courage and faith to carry on just as previous generations have done.

We should do so with confidence that we are not alone. We have many friends in the Christian community, as well as faith in the power and strength of the Jewish state—the only true memorial to the Holocaust.

For us, the closing refrain of “Next year in Jerusalem” should not be dismissed as symbolism or an ancient and outdated tradition. It must be a clarion call to arms to defend Israel and the Jewish people and to refuse to let this generation’s enemies triumph. Just as past generations of Jews took heart from the promise of liberation inherent in the seder, so, too, must we do the same.

Wishing all of JNS’ readers, listeners and viewers a very happy, healthy and inspired Passover. Chag Pesach Sameach!


Federal judge rules student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil can be deported
A federal judge ruled on Friday that Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil can be deported.

Immigration judge Jamee Comans said at a hearing that the government’s argument that Khalil’s presence in the U.S. posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” was sufficient to rule he could be removed from the country.

The decision, issued in a Louisiana court, came 24 hours after the Trump administration presented new claims in its monthlong case against Khalil, a former graduate student who led last year’s anti-Israel campus protests against the war in Gaza and subsequent student negotiations with university administration.

A memo submitted to the court on Thursday, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, cited the president’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the country could have adverse foreign policy consequences, regardless of whether they have committed a crime. It stated that the arrest and planned deportation are based on Khalil’s “participation in antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”

“Condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio wrote in the two-page memo, which was first obtained by the Associated Press.

“My determination … is also based on … citations for unlawful activity during these protests,” Rubio wrote.
Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported, Judge Rules
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University protest leader in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, can be deported.

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ruled on Friday that the Trump administration met its burden to support its order to remove Khalil, a Syrian national. Khalil's attorneys have until April 23 to file relief applications.

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday submitted a two-page memorandum from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, invoking the Trump administration's authority to deport noncitizens whose presence in the country conflicts with the nation's foreign policy interests. Rubio noted that allowing Khalil to remain would jeopardize "U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States."

During a Thursday cabinet briefing at the White House, Rubio reiterated that "no one's entitled to a student visa."

The ruling sets a precedent for the Trump administration as it ramps up its crackdown of pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic visa-holders. On Wednesday, Citizenship and Immigration Services began surveilling "aliens' antisemitic activity on social media" to determine their admissibility into the country.

The news comes as Columbia struggles to rein in campus anti-Semitism, which has caused leadership instability and cost the university $430 million in federal funding. While Columbia acting president Claire Shipman has promised to "continue" implementing reforms in a bid to recover the slashed funding, the Trump administration is planning to pursue a legal arrangement that would legally bind the school to the changes, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Last spring, Khalil emerged as a prominent leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)—the Ivy League institution's most anti-Semitic student group, responsible for organizing illegal encampments that plagued campus for weeks. He led negotiations with the school as they unfolded, demanding divestment from Israel. Khalil pledged further unrest in the buildup to the fall semester, telling The Hill he would continue to push Columbia to divest from Israel by "any available means necessary." Video footage placed him at a more recent illegal building takeover at Barnard College that took place early last month.

CUAD has publicly endorsed Hamas's "armed resistance" and routinely engages in anarchism. The group disseminates Hamas propaganda, orchestrates building occupations, and has celebrated terrorist attacks targeting Israelis. CUAD also encourages its members to get involved with a designated terror financier and has hosted speakers on campus who have endorsed terrorism against Jews.


America faces pro-Hamas intifada on its soil
America’s non-profit sector is at the root of the post-October 7 tidal wave of domestic terrorism, antisemitism, and destructive anti-Israel protests plaguing the United States.

A series of large-scale investigations by Capital Research Center (CRC) revealed that the leadership of the so-called “pro-Palestinian” movement is, at its core, anti-American and anti-Western. It views the US exactly the same way it views Israel: as an illegitimate, genocidal entity that must be destroyed.

The cumulative conclusion of these reports serves as a warning about what is to come unless the corrective measures CRC identified are implemented: a burgeoning nationwide insurgency in the US that may be appropriately characterized as the “Turtle Island Intifada.”

These seditionists often refer to the US as “Turtle Island” or the “so-called United States” as a way of delegitimizing America’s right to exist. “Turtle Island” originates from a Native American myth claiming that a supernatural entity created North and Central America on a giant turtle’s back during a flood.

Just as this “pro-Palestinian” movement wants to destroy Israel and build Palestine upon its “settler-colonialist” ashes, it also intends to actualize the vow of “Death to America” by “globalizing the intifada” and “bringing the war home” to “liberate Turtle Island.”

CRC’s newly released study, When Charities Betray America: How ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Protest Groups Promote Anti-Americanism, evaluated the rhetorical patterns of 496 of the most influential “pro-Palestinian” groups and activists in the US in the 15 months before the October 7 massacre and the 15 months afterward.

Within this large sample, CRC found that the movement’s anti-American vitriol increased by 186% after the Hamas-led atrocities. The volume of content itself increased, as did its viewership and popularity.


New Trump WH memo cites Khalil’s ‘participation in antisemitic protests’ as reason for deportation
New claims in the Trump administration’s monthlong case against anti-Israel Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil state that the arrest and planned deportation are based on his “participation in antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.” The evidence, which stopped short of identifying any crimes Khalil had committed, was submitted to a federal judge overseeing the case on Thursday.

A memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, cited the president’s authority to expel noncitizens whose presence in the country could have adverse foreign policy consequences, regardless of whether they have committed a crime.

“Condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio wrote in the two-page memo, which was first obtained by the Associated Press.

“My determination … is also based on … citations for unlawful activity during these protests,” Rubio wrote.


Trump taps campaign surrogate, Orthodox Jewish businessman for antisemitism envoy
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is nominating Yehuda Kaploun, an Orthodox Jewish businessman, Chabad rabbi and Trump campaign surrogate as his administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.

Kaploun helped with the Trump campaign’s outreach to the Jewish community during his 2024 campaign, including a high-profile event, backed by Dr. Miriam Adelson, where Trump courted Jewish voters in Washington.

According to an article in Mishpacha Magazine, Kaploun helped lead outreach to the Orthodox and wider Jewish communities. He said that his work with the Trump campaign was driven by rising antisemitism and the increasingly insecure place of American Jews in society.

“Just a year ago, no one would have believed that Jews would be afraid to be openly Jewish in the United States,” Kaploun told Mishpacha. “The fact that Jews are afraid in progressive universities shows that the United States is going down a dark path.”

“Our situation is similar to that of Jews in 1930s Germany, on the eve of Kristallnacht,” Kaploun said in the article. “They, too, lived in peace and quiet until the ground shook under their feet. And in the United States, the ground is already shaking.”

Trump described Kaploun as a “successful businessman, and staunch advocate for the Jewish faith and the Rights of his people to live and worship free from persecution. With Anti-Semitism dangerously on the rise, Yehuda will be the strongest Representative for Americans and Jews across the Globe, and promote PEACE.”

Kaploun told Jewish Insider he’s “both humbled and honored that the President chose me to represent him and assist him to combat antisemitism and hatred in America and globally.”

In the Mishpacha interview, Kaploun blamed the rising antisemitism in the United States — which he said made parts of the country more dangerous for visibly identifiable Jews than Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — on President Joe Biden who “won’t even make a statement about combating anti-Semitism.” Kaploun said he has also been invited to speak in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Trump nominates Yehuda Kaploun as US envoy to combat Jew-hatred
The leadership of the Orthodox Union stated that “during these troubling hate-filled times, this is a critical role, which Yehuda will fill with pride in our faith and values and confidence in the positive Jewish contribution to every country and society in which we reside.”

“We commend President Trump for this nomination and applaud the high priority he and his administration have placed upon fighting antisemitism,” the OU leaders said.

Among the other Israeli officials who congratulated Kaploun, a Chabad rabbi, were Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Knesset speaker Amir Ohana, opposition leader Yair Lapid, Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli and National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz.

“Hard to say ‘congrats’ on an appointment that is a devastating testament to the tsunami and mainstreaming of antisemitism across spaces and places,” wrote Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s envoy for combating antisemitism. “Looking forward to working with Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun.”

The Conference of European Rabbis also congratulated Kaploun.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who is Jewish, urged colleagues in Congress not to cast even a single vote for Kaploun.

“The irony is not lost on me that the Trump administration—that already contains antisemites in its ranks—is seeking to add a divisive figure like Rabbi Kaploun as its antisemitism czar,” Nadler stated.

“Let’s not forget that Rabbi Kaploun is the same Trump campaign official who falsely claimed that President Biden, ‘won’t even make a statement about combating antisemitism,'” Nadler stated. “This insulting statement couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“Perhaps most offensively, Rabbi Kaploun publicly claims that after Oct. 7, ‘Democrats refuse to even recognize the butchers of women and kidnappers of children as terrorists,'” the N.Y. Democrat said. “This absurd and insulting claim does not deserve a response. There is only one thing such a claim should be: disqualifying.”


IDF destroys booby-trapped Hamas tunnel underneath kindergarten
IDF soldiers from the Golani and Yahalom units located a booby-trapped Hamas tunnel underneath a Rafah compound which formerly served as a kindergarten, the military reported on Friday.

The tunnel shaft was 100 meters away from a compound that was previously used as a school.

Fighters from the Yahalom Unit destroyed the underground passage, which was dozens of meters long and led to a central point in the tunnel network. The underground route was also booby-trapped, the military added.

Contradicting reports on remaining Hamas tunnels
The discovery of the tunnel in the southern Gazan city comes a few days after security sources said that the Israeli military has only destroyed a quarter of all the tunnels in the enclave, even adding that a number of smuggling tunnels crossing from Egypt to the Gaza are still intact.

In January, however, Yoni Ben Menachem, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs from the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told The Media Line that 40% of Hamas tunnels remained in Gaza.

Late last month , the IDF uncovered a network of tunnels running for a full kilometer, which they hadn't found around the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.

Shortly before their recent announcement of uncovering of the tunnel shaft, the IDF said that they had stuck the head of the sniper fire for Hamas’s Tel al-Sultan Battalion, Ahmad Iyad Muhammad Farhat, also in Rafah.


Two soldiers wounded, Hamas commander killed as troops push forward in southern Gaza
Two soldiers were were wounded in southern Gaza on Friday, one of them seriously, the military said, as troops pushed forward and expanded control of a new corridor in the area.

An IDF officer was moderately wounded during an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said.

According to the IDF, a cell of terror operatives opened fire on troops in southern Gaza. The soldiers returned fire, killing two of the gunmen. A short while later a drone struck and killed a third member of the cell.

The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Also Friday, a soldier was seriously injured in southern Gaza, the first badly hurt troop since the military resumed its offensive in the Strip last month.

However, the Israel Defense Forces said the soldier with the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion was apparently injured in an accident and not by enemy fire. The army said he was hit by an accidental discharge of a bullet, without giving further details.

The soldier was evacuated for medical treatment, and his family were notified, the IDF said.

The IDF also said Friday that a Hamas sniper commander in southern Gaza’s Rafah was killed in a recent strike, as forces continued to operate in the area and advanced in the corridor between the city and nearby Khan Younis.


The real reason Israel barred Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed
Yemen-born Mohamed has a history of radical anti-Israel activism, and has aligned herself with individuals and organisations that have openly supported the terrorist group Hamas. The most egregious example came last October, when she attended a fundraising gala for the organisation Al-Arab in the UK and was given an “Outstanding Arab Personality” award.

During the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Al-Arab’s director Adnan Hmidan said in an interview on an Arabic TV channel: “What is happening now is a legitimate right to self-defence… occupation is the legitimisation of resistance.”

In a 2018 Facebook post, Hmidan declared “I love this man” below a photo of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and in another mourned the death of Mazen Fuquaha, a Hamas commander jailed in Israel in 2003 for organising a suicide bombing. He has often been photographed with others close to Hamas, including Muhammad Sawalha, a former Hamas commander in the West Bank. In 2021, Hmidan tried to sue the Labour Party to stop it employing an Israeli as a social media manager, claiming he was a “spy”.

Another politician honoured at the Al-Arab ceremony was Leanne Mohamad, an independent candidate backed by The Muslim Vote (TMV) group who came close to unseating Health Secretary Wes Streeting in Ilford North last year, running a campaign focused on Labour’s support for Israel. In the Commons register of interests, Abtisam Mohamed said she had been given three tickets for the event, with a total value of £2,000.

That same month, Mohamed urged her social media followers to attend a meeting in Sheffield addressed by Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla. He could only appear online, as he was barred from entering Britain for statements praising Hamas, endorsing the 7 October attacks, and spreading antisemitic conspiracies. Mohamed, however, told her readers that Mandela’s talk “should be really interesting” and that he was a “passionate supporter of Palestine”.

The following month she agreed to chair a meeting in Parliament organised by the Palestinian Return Centre, whose director Majed al-Zeer was accused by the Biden administration of being a “prominent international financial supporter of Hamas”. On this occasion she pulled out, citing “personal reasons”. But in January she made a speech at the annual dinner of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), thereby defying an official policy of “disengagement” adopted by both the Labour and Tory leaderships since 2009, after a senior MCB leader endorsed violence against Israel and UK service personnel.
Lammy’s indefensible comparison between totalitarian China and democratic Israel
The Chinese Communist Party is waging a targeted campaign against Uyghurs and other Muslims. Documented human rights abuses include forced labour, one million held in internment camps, torture, sexual abuse and the banning of cultural and religious expression.

For anyone who has visited Israel, where road signs are in Arabic to cater for a Muslim population who hold jobs at all levels of society, there is a stark difference. A Muslim judge indicting the top politician in China would be unthinkable, but it happened in Israel. I’m not suggesting there is no racism or that integration is perfect in Israel, but the situations are starkly different. China withholds basic freedoms from all its citizens – unlike Israel, which is a democracy, albeit, like all other democracies, a flawed one.

Likening a totalitarian empire brutally suppressing criticism to a democratic ally fighting for survival is indefensible rhetoric. Israel’s biggest critics come from within and they do so at no risk, unlike those who try to challenge the Chinese leadership. Foreign Minister David Lammy’s implied comparison of the two is pure hyperbole. Claiming that British MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were barred from entering Israel just for speaking their minds fundamentally misrepresents the situation.

China slapped sanctions on five Conservative MPs for objecting to Beijing’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority group. This was an autocratic superpower regime which does not tolerate any dissent; not a tiny democratic country at war, keeping out those who seek to inflame tensions whilst the country is still under attack – in this case, British politicians.

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) admit they organised the trip for the two Labour MPs, which is enough to ring alarm bells. MAP founding trustee Swee Ang even shared an antisemitic video made by former KKK leader David Duke.

The two MPs went further than criticism. Yang called for sanctions against Israeli politicians and Mohamed initiated a call for a boycott. They are within their rights to do so, but it’s a bit rich of them to now express outrage that they weren’t welcomed into that country with open arms, particularly as they were offered the chance to appeal the decision but chose not to.
British lawyers representing Hamas called for ‘victory to the Intifada’ and said Zionists ‘will be hunted down’
Two of the British lawyers representing Hamas in its attempt to achieve de-proscription in the UK previously mourned the terror group’s leader, called the war in Gaza a “Holocaust,” and posted “Victory to the intifada” on October 7.

London-based firm Riverway Law has submitted a bid calling for the Home Office to remove the group from the UK’s list of proscribed organisations under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The 106-page application, which is signed by the head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, Mousa Abu Marzouk, was presented by Fahad Ansari, the director of Riverway Law with the assistance of barrister Franck Magennis.

However, Ansari has previously paid public tribute to the late leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an airstrike last year. Following Haniyeh’s death in Tehran, Ansari posted: “Ismail Haniyeh has been martyred. May Allah forgive him and accept his lifelong struggle for the liberation of his people.”

He also mourned Hamas finance chief Ismail Barhoum, who was killed by an Israeli strike in March, writing: “May Allah have mercy on him and accept his martyrdom.”

In other posts, he called for Palestinians to be “given arms to defend themselves” and said “Israel will soon be a thing of the past.” He said, “Every Zionist and collaborator that enabled its genocidal existence will be hunted down and brought to justice.”

Ansari has also said that he supports the Palestinian's right to “resist the racist, colonial settler state imposed upon them for over 75 years”.

Days after the October 7 massacre, he condemned the UK Foreign Office for illuminating in the colours of the Israeli flag, accusing them of “siding with the colonial power carrying out genocide tonight”.

In other posts, he said Hamas were “concerned” with the “safety and well being” of the Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza and suggested that Israel’s statement that Hamas killed the Bibas children was a lie.

After some of his prior comments began to circulate on social media following Riverway’s announcement, he posted: “Any empathy that I have demonstrated towards the victims of the ongoing holocaust in Gaza do not in any way detract from the robust merits of this legal application. Israel is a settler colonial apartheid state.”


Labor Macnamara MP Josh Burns to run open ticket, scuppering any preference deal with the Greens
Labor MP Josh Burns will run an open ticket in his inner south-eastern Melbourne seat of Macnamara, departing from any state and national preferencing deals.

The decision means Mr Burns' how-to-vote card will not encourage voters to preference any other party, including the Greens.

Sky News understands Mr Burns' decision is underpinned by a moral objection to the Greens' stance on the war in Gaza.

There is a large Jewish population in Mr Burns' Macnamara electorate, which has been held by Labor since 2019.

Mr Burns will now run an open ticket, allowing Labor voters to decide unaided not to preference the Greens.

Key Labor figures asked party secretary Paul Erickson to run the open ticket, according to The Age.

The critical decision was made not long after the ballot was drawn on Friday, with Mr Burns securing the top spot.

Sonya Semmens, the candidate from the Greens, was present for the draw and came in at third position, Liberal candidate Benson Saulo drawing fourth.

While six candidates are gunning to secure the seat, a tight three-way race between Labor, the Greens, and the Liberal Party is underway.

However, Mr Burns' decision to steer away from directing voters to preference the Greens could work in the Liberal Party's favour, given voting for the Greens second can help keep ALP candidates in the running.


NYC Mayoral Hopeful Accuses Israel of ‘Genocide’ in Gaza During Sit-Down Interview With Hamas Apologist
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Gaza during an interview with controversial streamer Hasan Piker, who has an extensive history of repudiating the Jewish state himself.

On Monday, Piker released a recorded interview with Mamdani, in which the pair discussed a litany of municipal issues ranging from housing to grocery prices. During the discussion, Piker asked Mamdani how he is “feeling” about Israel and whether he believes the Jewish state is “good [or] bad.”

Mamdani responded that Israel is doing “not well at all” and that “many New Yorkers” are “rightfully horrified by a genocide that they have seen over 16 months of.” He argued that Israel has denied Palestinians “universal human rights.”

“I think that any politics worth its salt has to be one that is universal that doesn’t draw an exception, and in this country, we’ve drawn exceptions for far too long, especially when it comes to the application of [human rights] to Palestinians,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani then accused his mayoral opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, of smearing activism for Palestinian human rights as “antisemitism.” He also accused Cuomo of “weaponizing” claims of antisemitism for political advantage.

“I think that what’s so frustrating about this is he’s taking a real crisis of antisemitism in our city and he’s weaponizing it purely for personal gain,” Mamdani said, blasting Cuomo for attempting “to mischaracterize any New Yorker standing up to say that every single person deserves freedom and justice [of antisemitism.]”

Since jumping into the race for New York City mayor, Cuomo has attempted to draw a contrast with his opponents by positioning himself as a stalwart defender of Israel, repeatedly repudiating other candidates for showing insufficient support to the Jewish state.

“It’s very simple: anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” Cuomo said during a speech at West Side Institutional Synagogue in Manhattan.


Spain’s public broadcaster calls for ‘debate’ over Israel’s inclusion in Eurovision
Spain’s public broadcaster said on Friday it has called for a “debate” over Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland due to “concerns” over the situation in war-torn Gaza.

RTVE has sent a letter to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which manages the event, “requesting a debate on the participation of Israeli public television (KAN)” in the contest, the Spanish public broadcaster said in a statement.

The Swiss city of Basel will host the glitzy annual extravaganza — one of the world’s biggest live television events, which involves countries from Europe to Australia — at the St. Jakobshalle indoor arena, with the semi-finals on May 13 and 15, and the final on May 17.

Public broadcasters of participating nations select the candidate which will represent them, so the absence of Kan would mean there is no Israeli performer at this year’s event.

RTVE said it “reiterates its support” for Eurovision “but also acknowledges the concerns that the situation in Gaza and the participation of KAN public television are raising within Spanish civil society.”

“It would be appropriate for the EBU to recognize the existence of this debate and provide a forum for discussion between EBU member broadcasters on the participation of Israeli public television,” the statement added.

Spain has been one of the most anti-Israel countries in Europe since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel that sparked the war, recognizing a Palestinian state in a move Israel says is a reward for terrorism.

Thousands protested at last year’s contest in the Swedish city of Malmo over Israel’s participation against the backdrop of the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

Israeli competitor Eden Golan had to change her lyrics over apparent references to the deadly Hamas assault. She finished fifth in the competition.


Pro-Palestine activist who shouted ‘God Bless Hamas’ under investigation
Police are investigating claims that a pro-Palestine activist openly chanted support for the banned terror group Hamas.

The man was filmed allegedly shouting “God Bless Hamas” as hundreds of pro-Palestine marchers in Leeds city centre on confronted a smaller group of Israel supporters last Saturday. Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “Israel Kills Children”, the man continued: “What about Hamas? They are a resistance group that fought back.”

In an apparent reference to the Oct 7 incursion by Hamas into southern Israel, which killed more than 1,200 Jews – the single largest death toll since the Holocaust – he added: “It was the biggest prison escape on earth.”

When a film crew pointed out that they heard him shout slogans in support of a proscribed terror group, which is illegal under current UK law, the man stated: “I said God bless the resistance. OK, God bless Hamas. Israel are terrorists, they kill children.”

The incident has prompted fears that support for extremism is being normalised in Britain.

The camera crew from News Now Yorkshire can be heard asking a nearby police officer whether the man should be arrested for expressing support for a banned group.

After reviewing the footage West Yorkshire Police has now launched an investigation into the incident.

The force told The Telegraph: “We are aware of footage circulating online following last Saturday’s demonstration in Leeds in which comments are made regarding a proscribed organisation.

“Following a thorough assessment of the footage, a criminal offence has been recorded in relation to those comments, and further enquiries are ongoing.”




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2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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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