Wednesday, April 16, 2025

04/16 Links Pt1: Hamas said to reject Israeli ceasefire proposal; Arsonist Targeted Shapiro's Home Over his Support for Israel; Cynthia Nixon wraps herself in Palestinian flag

From Ian:

Arsonist Targeted Josh Shapiro's Home Over Governor's Support for Israel, Police Say
The suspect in the Sunday arson attack on Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro's (D.) residence said he set fire to the home because Shapiro is Jewish and supports Israel, according to a newly unsealed warrant.

According to the warrant, Cody Balmer, 38, targeted Shapiro's home on the first night of Passover because of "perceived injustices to the people of Palestine" and Shapiro's Judaism, PennLive reported.

Balmer, who called 911 after the attack and later turned himself in, told operators that he "will not take part in [Shapiro's] plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people." Balmer also called the governor a "monster" and said he needed to "stop having my friends killed," according to the warrant.

Dauphin County district attorney Francis Chardo (R.) said he will use Balmer's statements as evidence of a hate crime, USA Today reported. Court documents released on Tuesday said Balmer was "harboring hatred" toward the governor, according to CBS.

Shapiro, a prominent Jewish Democrat and a finalist to be Kamala Harris's running mate last year, has sparked backlash from anti-Israel members of his party for condemning Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack and supporting the Jewish state. He also called for the removal of a pro-Hamas encampment last year at the University of Pennsylvania after protesters tried to seize a campus building.

Surveillance footage shows Balmer scaling the security fence around the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg before smashing windows and hurling Molotov cocktails inside. While the fire caused extensive property damage just hours after Shapiro hosted a Passover dinner, the governor, his family, guests, and staff were able to evacuate safely.

Authorities have charged Balmer with eight crimes, including attempted murder, aggravated arson, and terrorism. If convicted, he faces more than 100 years in prison.
Media is About to Make Gov. Shapiro Arson Attempt Disappear
The media got very excited when the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion was firebombed because they were hoping it was going to be somebody with the ‘wrong’ politics, but instead the perpetrator, Cody Balmer, was a self-proclaimed “socialist” who claimed that he did it to tell Gov. Josh Shapiro that he “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.”

Now Balmer seems like a nutjob, but had he been a nutjob with the wrong politics, we’d never stop hearing about it, but now he’s likely to get a whole lot less attention because he did it for the ‘right reasons’.

And there’s a pattern to this stuff.

Hamas is the latest BLM. A mania that all sorts of loonies, grifters and people looking for some cause to glom on to and fight a war over attach themselves to.




Hamas said to reject Israeli ceasefire proposal
Hamas has rejected an Israeli ceasefire proposal that would have required it to disarm, according to a report on Tuesday.

“The Israeli proposal relayed to the movement through Egypt explicitly called for the disarmament of Hamas without any Israeli commitment to end the war or withdraw from Gaza. Hamas therefore rejected the offer in its entirety,” a senior Palestinian official told the BBC.

The proposal also called for a six-week ceasefire which would have included restarting the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, halted by Israel in early March, according to the report.

In return, Hamas was to have released half the remaining live captives in the first week of the ceasefire. Fifty-nine hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, of whom 24 are believed to be alive.

Israel’s proposal was submitted days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the BBC.

Hamas at the beginning of April rejected another truce offer, proposing a 50-day halt in hostilities and a step-by-step process for exchanging Israeli hostages and Palestinian security prisoners.

Under the terms of that proposal, Hamas was to have released five Israeli hostages, including American-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander, in several phases. In return, Israel was to have freed some 250 imprisoned Arab terrorists along with 2,000 terrorist suspects detained following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

The initiative also included a pause in Israeli military actions and the reopening of border crossings to allow for the entry of aid.

The spokesman for Hamas’s military wing told the BBC on Tuesday that the terrorist group had “lost contact” with Alexander’s captors after what he described as “a direct strike on their location.”
School of War Podcast: Ep 190: Michael Doran on “Restraint” and the Middle East
Michael Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute, joins the show to discuss “restraintism” as a factor in Trump’s choices in the Middle East.

Times
• 01:46 Introduction
• 02:20 What is it?
• 05:01 Left, right, center
• 06:56 Syria ’07
• 11:47 Iraq Study Group
• 17:21 Populist expression
• 27:34 Balance
• 30:20 Obama v Trump
• 34:56 Oscillation
• 42:16 Back to JCPOA?
• 45:49 Snapback
• 47:44 Syria ’25
• 52:09 Iran and Turkey
Witkoff sends mixed messages on Iranian nuclear enrichment
The Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who is leading U.S. nuclear talks with Iran, again suggested on Monday that the U.S. is willing to allow Iran to maintain some level of nuclear enrichment, as it did during the original 2015 nuclear deal. But Witkoff appeared to walk back those remarks on Tuesday, saying that the U.S. is demanding that Iran eliminate its enrichment and weaponization programs.

“The conversation with the Iranians will be much about two critical points: One, enrichment. As you mentioned, they do not need to enrich past 3.67%,” Witkoff said on Fox News on Monday. “You do not need to run a civil nuclear program where you’re enriching past 3.67%. This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program. And then ultimately verification on weaponization. That includes missiles.”

Allowing Iran to continue any nuclear enrichment provides Tehran with an easy pathway to a nuclear weapon, critics have argued.

But Witkoff offered a different position on Tuesday in a post on X.

“Any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East — meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,” Witkoff wrote.

Witkoff’s follow-up post reportedly came around the time of a White House meeting held by President Donald Trump on the nuclear negotiations. The new comments appeared to contradict both his remarks on Fox News and other recent comments that the U.S. would be open to a deal that included verification that Iran is not weaponizing its nuclear program, and that dismantlement was only an opening negotiating position.

Witkoff’s initial comments on Fox set off a wave of concerned reactions from the U.S. and Israel. Some Iran hawks appear concerned that the Trump administration may be headed toward a deal similar to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Analysts seen as more sympathetic to the regime, meanwhile, celebrated the initial remarks.

Following Witkoff’s Tuesday comments, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) decried anyone in Trump’s orbit pushing for a repeat of the 2015 deal.

“Anyone urging Trump to enter into another Obama Iran deal is giving the President terrible advice,” Cruz said. “[Trump] is entirely correct when he says Iran will NEVER be allowed to have nukes. His team should be 100% unified behind that.”

Cruz was responding to a post from conservative commentator Mark Levin expressing deep skepticism of a new deal with Iran. Levin has openly criticized Witkoff’s apparent concessions to the Iranian regime.
Lawler calls out Witkoff’s comments on Iranian nuclear enrichment
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called out Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s comments earlier this week suggesting that the U.S. could allow Iran to retain some nuclear enrichment capacity in a letter sent directly to Witkoff on Wednesday.

Lawler’s letter comes after Witkoff publicly walked back those comments, but is the most direct and open rebuke of Witkoff’s original remarks from a GOP lawmaker thus far. Other Republicans have implicitly distanced themselves from Witkoff’s comments and praised his reversal on Tuesday.

“I write today to express concern with any attempt to broker a deal with Iran that fails to fully dismantle its nuclear program,” Lawler said, insisting that the U.S. maintain a requirement of full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear enrichment and weapons program. “I urge you to steadfastly uphold this position as a redline for any future agreement with the Iranian regime on behalf of the United States.”

Lawler, who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, specifically cited Witkoff’s Monday comments on Fox News, during which Witkoff indicated that the U.S. could allow Iran to enrich uranium up to 3.67% and implement a verification regime to monitor the nuclear program.

“This idea is all too familiar and calls back to President Obama’s Iran Deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which allowed for similar enrichment levels as well as monitoring and verification provisions,” Lawler continued. “Plain and simple, the JCPOA was a disaster. And any revert back to a similar deal will have the same detrimental effects.”


Biden Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Protested by Pro-Palestinian Activists
Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was protested by pro-Palestinian Harvard University students during his first public appearance since joining the Harvard Kennedy School faculty earlier this month, a campus newspaper reported.

Eight “Harvard affiliates” unfurled banners at a Tuesday John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Massachusetts university’s Institute of Politics where Sullivan was discussing U.S. foreign policy, according to the Harvard Crimson.

While the demonstrators — members of unrecognized student group “Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine” — did not “verbally interrupt” the event, they held posters denouncing Sullivan’s new role on the faculty, which he started on April 1.

“War criminals are not welcome here,” one sign reportedly read.

“First stop Harvard next stop The Hague,” stated another.

When directly asked about his refusal to refer to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a “genocide,” Sullvan replied, “I have not called it a genocide, because I do not believe it is a genocide.”

“I think Israel was trying to defeat a terrorist group, and in doing so, acting excessively. And I think that is quite different from calling it a genocide,” he explained, before adding that the events of October 7 and the subsequent violence are a “horrible, god awful tragedy.”

Campus police officers allowed the protesters to remain with their signs before they voluntarily left on their own accord “shortly before the end of the forum,” the Crimson reported.


Ami’s House: What an ACTUAL Expert on Israel Looks Like– International Lawyer Natasha Hausdorff
There’s a lot of misinformation flying around about Israel, Gaza, and international law. In this episode, international law expert Natasha Hausdorff joins us to set the record straight.

💬 We cover:
⚖️ What international law actually says about Zionism, Gaza, and armed conflict
🚫 Common myths people believe—and why they’re legally false
📺 How Hamas distorts the law to fuel outrage
🧠 The real legal framework behind the war in Gaza and The West Bank

00:00 Natasha on the recent British radio drama
12:27 The state of the Zionism debate online right now
30:32 Natasha reacts to Dave Smith's claims
42:35 The Right and Left have the same goals
50:07 The role Jordan plays in Palestinian suffering




ICC demands Hungary explain why it didn’t enforce Netanyahu arrest warrant
The International Criminal Court in The Hague on Wednesday requested an explanation from the Hungarian government for its refusal to enforce the international arrest warrant issued by the tribunal against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent visit to Budapest.

According to the court’s statement, the request was made under Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute, which allows for proceedings to be initiated against states that fail to cooperate with the court, “thereby preventing the court from exercising its functions and powers under the Statute.”

The court claimed that Hungary violated its obligations by refusing to detain Netanyahu despite an official request sent by the court to Budapest on April 3, the day the premier landed in the country.

The ICC gave Hungary until May 23 to provide its submissions in response.

Shortly before meeting with Netanyahu in Budapest, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that Hungary would be withdrawing from the ICC.

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant. The court accused them of directing attacks against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip and of using starvation as a method of warfare by hindering the supply of international aid amid the ongoing war against Hamas, which started when the terror group attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Netanyahu and the government have strongly rejected the allegations, pointing to efforts to facilitate the passage of large amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza during the war, and insisting that the IDF does not deliberately target civilians.

Israel, like the US, is not party to the Hague court, which relies on cooperation from its member states for enforcement. ICC member countries are required to act on the court’s arrest warrants, but have not always done so.
Activists file arrest warrant for Sa’ar during his London visit
Two legal NGOs in the United Kingdom sought arrest warrants Wednesday against Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar during his visit to London, accusing Israel’s top diplomat of committing crimes in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war with Hamas.

“Sa’ar cannot walk freely in London while innocent Palestinian civilians are buried under rubble. His role in the killing of Gaza’s civilians demands accountability,” said Dyab Abou Jahjah, founder of the Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation, which filed the arrest warrant alongside the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN).

The foreign minister “has no intention to shorten his trip or to change his plans in any manner,” the Foreign Ministry told The Times of Israel in response to the warrant, which was filed with the UK’s Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions, according to a joint statement from the two NGOs.

“The charges focus on [Sa’ar’s] role in the siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza,” GLAN wrote on X, which it said led to “the abduction and torture” of hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyeh.

Israel detained Abu Safiya along with nearly 240 others during a raid on the hospital in northern Gaza in December 2024, alleging that Hamas was using it as a command center.

The IDF said it suspects Abu Safiya of being a Hamas member. In February, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian rights group representing Abu Safiya, claimed he was subject to repeated physical abuse during his ongoing detention in Israel.

Launched in September 2024, the Hind Rajab Foundation has used social media posts by Israeli soldiers, officers and reservists in an attempt to have them arrested for alleged war crimes when they travel abroad.

During what was termed a “private visit” to London on Tuesday, Sa’ar met with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy for discussions that addressed Iran’s nuclear program, as well as negotiations to free hostages from Gaza, according to an Israeli readout.

The nature of the visit could impact the success of the arrest warrant requests, as under British law, Israelis are protected against such action if they are on an official trip.
Israel secures 6-month delay in Hague Court proceedings
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has agreed to postpone proceedings in the case brought by South Africa against Israel, following Israeli objections regarding procedural violations and a lack of transparency.

As a result, Israel will now have until January 12, 2026, to respond to South Africa’s claims—pushing the deadline back by six months from the original July 2025 date.

According to i24NEWS legal commentator Avishai Grinzaig, the court determined that South Africa’s attempt to present evidence without allowing Israel access to it was a serious breach of legal norms. The ICJ ruled that witness identities and evidence cannot be concealed from the defendant state, reinforcing the principle of due process.

Two Western diplomats told i24NEWS that South Africa attempted to submit evidence accusing Israel of genocide, without giving Israel access to review the materials. Israel subsequently filed a series of formal objections, claiming South Africa was violating court procedures and international legal standards.

Initially, South Africa was required to submit its evidence by October 2024, but due to the procedural objections, that submission was delayed and is now expected to be filed by mid-April 2025. The ICJ has since postponed the entire schedule, granting Israel more time to prepare its legal response.


Palestinian stone-throwing terrorists wound two US citizens
Palestinian terrorists threw stones and a paint bottle at a bus filled with tourists near Burka in the West Bank, injuring two US citizens on Wednesday, the military said.

The two civilians were lightly injured and received medical treatment at the scene, the IDF stated.

The IDF and Israel Police responded to the event and began searching for the terrorists responsible for throwing the stones.

Earlier instance of stone-hurling
Earlier on Wednesday, Border Police officers arrested a 21-year-old Palestinian from Abu Dis who hurled stones at security forces during operations in the area, the police said.


IDF downs drone smuggling guns from Egypt, seizes weapons
The military foiled an attempt to smuggle four assault rifles into Israel from Egypt Tuesday using a drone.

The IDF said troops identified the drone as it crossed the border from Egypt into Israel, then proceeded to bring it down. The drone and the guns it was carrying were handed over to police for further investigation.

In recent months, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones.

A few weeks ago, on March 25, the IDF’s Home Front Command downed a drone carrying 50 kilograms (110 lbs) of drugs into the country.

There have also been attempts to smuggle contraband from Israel into Gaza through the air, with suspects on the Israeli side loading up drones with weapons or drugs and flying them over the border. The IDF has responded to several of these attempts with airstrikes in Gaza.

In February, the IDF carried out an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip, targeting a group of suspects who took possession of a drone used in a smuggling attempt. Palestinian media reported several dead and wounded in the strike.

That same month, the IDF carried out a strike in Rafah targeting two suspects who had gone to retrieve a drone flown in from Israel. One of the smugglers was killed, while the second was wounded, Palestinian media reported at the time.


Israel shifts Gaza aid to private sector, backtracks on Gaza aid provision, Katz confirms
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday confirmed that Israel is close to backtracking on a vow not to allow the provision of more humanitarian aid to Gaza before the Israeli hostages are returned and that aid could be restarted soon, though private companies would be used to circumvent Hamas.

Katz’s admission follows a flurry of leaks in recent weeks that Israel would need to restore the flow of aid to Gaza soon if no new ceasefire deal is reached, given that it has been cut off for around six weeks.

Israel had initially said it would permanently cut off aid and that there were no international law questions at stake, given the excess food that Hamas had obtained during the 40-day-plus ceasefire from January 19 to early March.

The defense minister’s statement acknowledged the reality that without restoring aid soon, Israel could run into new questions of alleged starvation.

In contrast, if it restores aid soon, given that many estimates said that Hamas had enough food for at least around three months, the IDF could avoid new claims of attempted starvation by Israel against the Gazan population.

However, Katz’s statement left many questions unclear.

While he referenced private companies for handing out food to Gaza’s population, which he said would sideline Hamas as the party distributing food aid, he did not provide names or details.

This is not the first time that Israel has tried to cut Hamas out of the food aid distribution chain.
IDF: There is no timeline to finishing Gaza war, Hamas police have lost control
The IDF said on Wednesday that there is no timeline for concluding the Israel-Hamas War.

Pressed over and over again, IDF sources said their focus was to pressure Hamas into a hostage deal and to try to defeat it completely, but provided no concrete method or time frame for achieving this.

They also didn’t explain why the current renewed invasion would eliminate the terror group after nearly 18 months of fighting have not.

All questions about whether Israel needs a permanent security perimeter, who will run Gaza instead of Hamas, and how diplomacy will ensure that military achievements are held in the long term, were deferred to the political echelon, when it is well-known that currently the government has no operative plan.

Although the government still talks about Trump’s plan of expelling all two million-plus Palestinians from Gaza, there has been no substantive progress (though many statistically small efforts are underway) for three months – either because most Palestinians do not want to leave or because no country will take them in large numbers.

Rather, the military takes pride in the fact that during the current renewed invasion, Hamas police could not even try to stop the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from northern to southern Gaza, which they had previously tried.

The IDF said that Hamas’s police’s failure stems from the terror group’s loss of legitimacy now that civilians have seen that it couldn’t prevent the IDF from destroying much of Gaza, nor from reactivating the war.
‘No to terror, yes to peace’: New anti-Hamas protest breaks out in northern Gaza
Hundreds of residents of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, took to the streets on Wednesday to protest Hamas rule, the first such demonstrations since the end of last month.

Videos shared on social media showed the protests. Footage also showed Hamas supporters — carrying signs saying, “Beit Lahiya is with the resistance,” a term referring to the terror organizations in the Strip — being thrown out by protesters.

Since late March, sporadic protests against the terror group, which has been the de facto government of Gaza for almost two decades, have taken place in the Strip, despite reports of Hamas attempting to detain and harm demonstrators, and counter to claims by the terror group that the protests are merely anti-war. Many of the protests have occurred in Beit Lahiya.

In clips shared on social media, participants could be seen holding signs reading “Stop the aggression,” “We want to live in freedom,” and chanting, “No to terror, yes to peace,” and “Hamas out!”

Participants were also seen waving flags, including the flag of Egypt — presumably in support of Cairo’s mediation of hostage-ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas — and, in the hands of children, “We want to learn.”

Clan leaders were reportedly also seen at the protest. Statements by some clan leaders were published last month defending and even supporting the protests.


Commentary PodCast: Fight Fiercely, Harvard?
Eliana Johnson joins us today from the Washington Free Beacon to discuss the Trump-Harvard fight, Steve Witkoff's walk-back on Iran, and the firebombing of Gov. Josh Shapiro's house on the first night of Passover.


Israel Advocacy Movement: How people react when they see a Zionist



Going on the offensive against Jew-hatred (w/Brooke Goldstein) | The Quad
Israel innovation envoy Fleur Hassan-Nahoum sits down with Brooke Goldstein, executive director of The Lawfare Project and founder of the End Jew Hatred movement, for a raw and urgent conversation about the legal, social and cultural battle against antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world.

With a rise in Jew-hatred on college campuses and across public institutions, Goldstein outlines how her legal team is pursuing civil rights litigation against discriminatory practices targeting Jews, including major lawsuits against Columbia University and efforts to hold perpetrators of the Amsterdam pogrom accountable. She explains why the traditional "pro-Israel" advocacy framework is no longer enough and how a new civil rights strategy—rooted in law, mobilization and cultural rebranding—is needed to fight antisemitism head-on.

Topics discussed include:
Legal action against Jew-hatred in universities, hospitals and international forums
The connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism
How the American education system has been infiltrated by radical ideologies
Mobilizing grassroots Jewish empowerment
Why the new Trump administration has created a stronger environment for law enforcement and Jewish civil rights
Brooke's vision for ending Jew-hatred and shifting the global narrative.


From Artist to Frontline Hero: Mark Provisor’s Mission to Save Jewish Lives | Judeacation
Discover the inspiring resilience of Israel’s heartland on this week’s episode of “Judeacation” with JNS Middle East Correspondent Josh Hasten, featuring multidisciplinary artist and security expert Mark Provisor. Broadcasting from Jerusalem at the JNS Media Hub, Josh sits down with Mark for a discussion about Israel’s security challenges, the failures exposed by October 7th and the enduring spirit of Judea and Samaria.

Mark Provisor, known for his artwork blending abstract expressionism with real-world experience on Israel’s frontlines, offers a candid analysis of systemic security failures spanning over a decade. He shares first hand stories from the southern border, Judea and Samaria and the northern frontier, where his efforts helped equip and protect vulnerable communities. Mark also dives into the unique diversity and creativity flourishing in Judea and Samaria, far from the tired media stereotypes.

In addition, Mark opens up about his journey back to art, using his experiences of trauma and resilience to fuel powerful works exhibited in Israel and New York. The conversation covers the challenges and beauty of life beyond the Green Line, the vital importance of Jewish unity in securing Israel’s future and why visitors should experience Judea and Samaria firsthand.


From LGBT activist to Trump voter: Yuval David fights back! | The Quad
Israeli innovation envoy Fleur Hassan-Nahoum sits down with renowned Jewish activist and media personality Yuval David to expose the rise of antisemitism within progressive LGBT circles and the dangers of 'pinkwashing' accusations against Israel. Broadcasting from Jerusalem at the JNS Media Hub, Fleur and Yuval deliver an unfiltered conversation about the betrayal of Jewish values in modern progressive spaces and the urgent need for Jewish advocacy today.

Yuval David, once a leading figure in LGBTQ activism, shares his personal journey from celebrated progressive icon to outspoken Zionist advocate—and how he was branded the "biggest pinkwasher" by hate groups like Queers for Palestine. Together, Fleur and Yuval break down the meaning of pinkwashing, the growing exclusion of Jews from supposed movements of inclusion and how anti-Israel propaganda has infiltrated social justice arenas.

They also explore Yuval’s political shift from Democrat to proud Jewish advocate, his entry into Jewish leadership via Kol Israel and offer practical advice for Jews to fight back using social media algorithms.




Dozens of members of UK’s largest Jewish group sign letter condemning war in Gaza
Three dozen members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews have issued a public letter harshly criticizing Israel’s continued offensive in Gaza, revealing a divide within the largest British Jewish group.

The letter, which was published in the Financial Times, includes the signatures of roughly 10% of the board’s deputies, who are appointed from local communities and smaller organizations. It directly criticizes the resumption of the war in Gaza and warns that the “extremism” in the Israeli government threatens its democracy.

“We write as representatives of the British Jewish community, out of love for Israel and deep concern for its future,” the letter says. “The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out.”

The letter highlights the successful return of hostages during the second ceasefire deal, and accuses the Israeli government of breaking the ceasefire to appease Itamar Ben-Gvir and pass the Israeli government’s budget ahead of a potential election.

The letter condemns the deaths resulting from the interruption in aid that took place after the ceasefire’s end and specifically calls out the killing of 15 aid workers last month in Gaza in an incident whose specifics continue to be contested.


Detroit Gaza conference announces dates with advert featuring PFLP
The People’s Conference for Palestine announced the dates for its August event on Thursday, featuring a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine member and the widow of a terrorist in the advertisement.

The launch video for the second annual conference in Detroit, posted to the Palestinian Youth Movement’s Instagram account, included clips of PFLP member Wisam Rafeedie and deceased terrorist Walid Daqqa at the previous year’s event.

“The people united will never be defeated,” Rafeedie said in the closing shot of the advertisement.

Rafeedie had spoken remotely at the previous May conference because he was denied entry into the United States.

Sana’ Daqqa, speaking last year in the event hall named after her deceased husband, was shown in the video stating, “We do not fear this country and its arrogance; we are the ones who create life, and they create death.”

Daqqa was also featured in a promotional social media post on Monday, which explained that the August 29-31 gathering of organizations and activists to participate in panels and workshops would “strengthen our collective commitment to the struggle for a free Palestine.”

The deceased terrorist, who died in an Israeli prison from cancer, had been convicted of commanding the PFLP cell that tortured, mutilated, and murdered IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.

The Thursday video also saw a speaker proclaiming that last year’s conference was a recommitment to freeing “every inch of Palestine from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea.”


Cynthia Nixon wraps herself in Palestinian flag
Cynthia Nixon wrapped herself in a shirt that looks like a Palestinian flag on the promo for the new season of And Just Like That..., the Max show, which is coming up in May.

Nixon, who has been in the forefront of virtue-signaling celebrities claiming to advocate for Palestinians while downplaying Hamas’s attacks on Jews and ignoring their murders and torture of their Palestinian opponents, appears in the just-released trailer for the third season of the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That…, wearing a blouse that features a red triangle next to the black, white and green of the Palestinian flag, as well as a red tie.

“What’s in store for season three?” Nixon, who plays Miranda, asks early in the trailer, while dressed in this shirt. In the rest of the clip, she’s wearing fashionable clothes with no political connotation as the trailer teases various romantic and parenting plotlines, including Miranda’s identity as a woman attracted to women and those who are non-binary.

At one point, Rose/Rocky (Alexa Swinton), the non-binary daughter of Charlotte (Kristen Davis), says, “Mom, believe women.”

The remark seems to refer to a crush that her sister Lily has on a ballet dancer. Still, the line was popularized by the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment movement that the left has embraced in every case where there have been allegations of rape, except for Israeli women who were sexually assaulted on October 7.

Nixon's political statements
Nixon has been trolled for her political statements about the war between Israel and Hamas, with critics noting that although she is a lesbian, she has never said a word about Hamas’s persecution of the LGBTQ+ community in Gaza.

People have poked fun at her for calling herself “a mother of Jewish children whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors,” as if this lessens the absurdity of her political activism, which has included a public two-day hunger strike, which was intended to alleviate hunger in Gaza. During her public statements, she didn’t address the fact that, according to news reports, Hamas confiscates much of the food aid and then sells it at a high price.

She has protested outside the White House and has made such dubious claims as, “Israel has killed more civilians in seven weeks than were killed during 20 years of war in Afghanistan.” She also expressed support for accusations of Israel committing genocide in the case that was prosecuted in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Nixon has been ribbed online for her Palestinian flag shirt, with one X user mentioning her unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York in 2018, saying, “Snicker. Maybe she could become the governor of Gaza.” Nicole Lampert tweeted, “Of course Cynthia Nixon would now bring her ignorant pro-Palestine obsession into the promotion of Just Like That.”

Alan R. Levy tweeted, “The absurdity is jaw-dropping. Cynthia Nixon and her wife would be tossed off a building within 24 hours of stepping into Gaza.”




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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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