Monday, April 21, 2025

04/21 Links Pt1: The Dangerous Return of Pre-Oct. 7 Thinking; Douglas Murray: Society is being polluted by people who hate us; Kneecap, Green Day target Israel at Coachella

From Ian:

Jonathan Sacerdoti: Judaism Commands Us to Pursue Peace, but also to Confront Evil
Some 36 out of more than 300 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews published a letter in the Financial Times on Wednesday rebuking Israel's military response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. The Jewish religion and culture values disagreement. But the letter marks a deeply regrettable moment because it presents personal ideology as communal leadership.

It is entirely legitimate for Jews and anyone in the world to criticize Israeli policy, including during wartime. Jewish tradition has long prized argument, debate, and conscience. But it must not - particularly in times of war - blur the moral lines between those who defend life and those who seek its destruction.

The signatories claim that "Jewish values" are on their side - that war is inherently at odds with Judaism, and that diplomacy alone offers a path forward. But this is a selective reading of our tradition. Jewish values embrace both compassion and realism.

The Torah commands us to pursue peace, yes - but it also commands us to defend life, to confront evil, and to understand that in a world where enemies plot genocide, force is sometimes not only justified but required. Ecclesiastes teaches, "There is a time for war and a time for peace." The signatories would have us believe that Judaism demands surrender. It does not.

Their central claim - that diplomacy alone, not military action, has saved hostages - is historically and logically flawed. Every negotiated release of hostages has taken place under the shadow of Israeli military pressure. Hamas has never released hostages out of goodwill; it has done so because it has feared the consequences of continued defiance. Diplomacy works when backed by credible strength. Without it, there is no leverage - only wishful thinking.

The Israeli government did not "choose" to return to war, as if it were an option freely available. Rather, it resumed military action after Hamas repeatedly violated ceasefires, paraded hostages for propaganda, and rejected further disarmament proposals. Ignoring these facts is a refusal to deal with reality.

The dilemmas faced by Israel's leaders are excruciating. Every option is dreadful. But to pretend that there is an easy, bloodless alternative is not an act of conscience. It is an abdication of solidarity. In a time of war, clarity - about who we are, what we believe, and whom we stand with - is not just necessary. It is an obligation.
Seth Mandel: The Dangerous Return of Pre-Oct. 7 Thinking
The shedding of pre-Oct. 7 thinking on the part of many American Jews has occasioned a backlash from the revanchists who seek to undo any progress or advancement the Jewish community has made since that horrific day.

One example of revanchist thinking: the reversion to “keep your head down” Judaism out of fear that if we advocate for our own rights we will be blamed, fairly or unfairly, for the consequences.

This conceit is being increasingly deployed to argue against punishing universities and those affiliated with them for violating Jewish students’ civil rights. The Trump administration has penalized, sometimes harshly, schools that are in breach of federal law. The main fight is over the gobs of taxpayer cash these universities receive while seemingly violating the terms of that government funding.

Those who receive that money (or benefit directly from it) do not want to lose it. One such person is Yale medical professor Naftali Kaminski, who repeats a popular argument: The Jews will regret this.

Kaminski is not wholly representative of his fellow Keep Your Head Downers: he defends the pro-Hamas protests and pretends they are the only affront to Jewish civil rights on campus, which is of course nonsense. He even calls them—and I kid you not—“mostly peaceful.” In contrast, there are plenty of American Jews who don’t want the universities punished for their anti-Semitism but who are willing at least to admit that violent anti-Semitism and institutionalized religious-discrimination policies are bad.

But both end up at the same place: They worry that people will be angry at the Jews.

To which any sentient person would respond: “will be”?

It’s true, the Jews will be scapegoated. That’s how we got here, in fact. Goosestepping campus Hamasniks are scapegoating Jews. A key lesson of Jewish history is that whether or not Jews assert their dignity, they will be blamed for anything that goes wrong. The least we can do in the meantime is stand up straight and demonstrate a little self-respect.
Ruthie Blum: The significance of Netanyahu’s address to the nation
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the nation on Saturday night was not merely justified; it was crucial. In fact, the only real criticism one can reasonably level at it is that he announced it two days in advance.

That misstep, given the tense and fragile national psyche, led to unrealistic expectations. Was a major hostage deal in the works? Had the Israel Defense Forces already struck Iran? The lead-up spurred hopeful speculation among Netanyahu’s supporters and caused his detractors to repeat their usual “anybody but Bibi” mantras.

Not that the content of his 11-minute video mattered to Channel 11, mind you. No, Israel’s national broadcaster, paid for by the public’s tax shekels, didn’t even deign to interrupt its regular programming to air it. Channels 12 and 13 pulled a different stunt—cutting off the clip in the middle, dismissing it as unworthy of a full viewing.

Never mind that Israel is still fighting a multi-front war. Leave aside the fact that its most important ally is engaging in talks with the very entity heading the campaign to annihilate the Jewish state, while striving for regional and global hegemony.

In the eyes of a very vocal, culturally powerful minority, Netanyahu is far more dangerous than the Islamic Republic and each of its murderous proxies. But ignoring what he had to say was as self-defeating as the protest camp’s overall attitude.

It’s true that his statement lacked dramatic breaking news. Still, it was a message that everyone at home and abroad had to hear.

He needed to signal that he has no intention of caving to calls to end the war before achieving all of its goals: freeing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that the denizens of Gaza never again pose a threat to Israel.

Though there’s nothing novel about his reiteration of these aims, he was compelled to counter the false narrative that’s been circulating about first freeing the hostages and later dealing with Hamas. On this, he set the record straight.

“Hamas is a gang of despicable murderers, but they’re not stupid,” he said. “They’re demanding binding international guarantees that leave no room for the illusion of a ‘trick’ that all the so-called ‘experts’ in the TV studios are trying to sell us. They have no idea how the international system actually works.”

He went on, “No one—certainly not the United States, not China, not Russia, not any other member of the Security Council—no one will cooperate with such a ruse, which would make returning to war impossible. We would have no legitimacy to do so.”


Douglas Murray: Society is being polluted by people who hate us
Nevertheless, he won’t turn a blind eye to “nasty anti-Semites who can’t believe their luck” that the orthodox account of the Second World War is being debated on podcasts. “The aim… is basically to minimise the culpability of the Nazis, maximise the casualty figures caused by the Allies, and then claim there is moral parity in World War II. In order to do your final move, which is to say that we, in the West, were worse.” And why would anyone want to do that? Because isolationists believe that had Churchill not dragged America into the war, “the Nazis and Communists would’ve had to fight it out, America wouldn’t have had to put any investment into it, and it could have come out at the end with some sort of Christian nationalism”.

This fantasy must be contested lest it contaminates the whole of conservatism: “On the American Right, there is a certain subset [of ideas] which is the stuff you want to keep in the woodshed. You would want to keep it a mile away from the house.”

So, how decent or woodsheddy is Trump? “He’s very positive about this country, which I like; I like people who like this country.” On tariffs, “I believe he’s trying to sort out a very serious long-term problem for the financial wellbeing of the United States, and obviously in the short it’s possible there will be a lot of upheaval. The question is how long the short term is, and it might be a long time. But the president and vice-president see China as the sole competitor of the United States”, which Murray acknowledges, economically, is probably correct. “I’m concerned about Ukraine policy, pretty enthusiastic about Middle East policy.” The latter largely involves giving Benjamin Netanyahu a free hand.

I put it to him that many Americans, particularly conservative Christians, have become critical of Israel not because they are anti-Semitic but because it is bombing hospitals or killing children. How can one claim to be defending civilisation if one’s methods are so uncivilised?

“That would be fair,” he counters, “if the IDF were deliberately committing war crimes”. It is accused of breaking international law, I reply. “And they’re not guilty… I think the first time in this war that the Israelis were accused of war crimes was around October 8 2023. Accusations of genocide are made against Israelis all the time, frivolously and flippantly by people who don’t know what they’re doing.”

But such accusations are made by Israelis too, no? Some want to put Bibi in jail or to negotiate the release of the hostages. Israeli anti-war activism, he replies, is a fringe opinion: “I’ve interviewed, I think, every Israeli leader in the last 18 months… Everybody would’ve done the same thing [militarily]. That’s from Left to Right because, as I always say, if you were to do it by proportionality of population and do the math” then the taking of Israeli hostages is “the equivalent of many thousand of British people being murdered in one day and burning their homes and thousands more British people being taken hostage and held next door in Belgium or France. And we wouldn’t tolerate it”.

True, but when we bombed German cities in the last war, there were still Christian leaders who opposed the killing of innocent civilians, even in self-defence. “But there’s nothing the IDF… has done in the last 18 months that goes anywhere near that,” he counters. Its behaviour has been “ethical… hundreds of Israeli soldiers have been killed because they are taking the caution not just to level the place”, and a great deal of damage has been done not by bombs dropped from planes but by primary explosives setting off secondaries “because the whole place is so booby trapped”.


Douglas Murray: It's time for hard questions: why are there so many supporters of the death-cult Hamas in Britain?
A poll carried out last year found that only one in four British Muslims believe Hamas carried out rapes and murders on October 7, 2023. It is a figure that should have caused significant soul-searching in this country. Why do so many people in our society believe lies?

I went to Israel as soon as I could after October 7, to interview those who had been attacked that day, to speak to rape victims and survivors of the massacre. I went to the hospitals, the morgues and the massacre sites and was embedded with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza and Lebanon to see the Jewish state’s response to the events of October 7.

Part of the reason I did that was because I knew that the facts about what happened on that terrible day — when 1,200 Israelis were killed and another 250 taken hostage — were likely to be passed over, denied or forgotten by the world. Not least as it focused on Israel´s military response. I suspected from the earliest stages of the massacre, as I saw people celebrating the terrorists in London and New York, that the facts would be ignored. And so I went to bear witness with my own eyes and report what I saw.

But the second reason I spent most of the past year and a half in the region was because I wanted to think and write about another question which arises from the first. The events of October 7, 2023 constituted the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. What almost nobody has wanted to ask is why there are so many people in our country who side with the death cult — who side with Hamas.

There are those, to be sure, who believe that the Palestinian people should have another state in the region and that until they do there can be no peace either in the Middle East or around the world. What they fail to contend with is that in 2005 the people of Gaza were given a state. When the IDF tore the last Jewish families from their homes and even relocated Jewish graves in Gaza, the Palestinian people there had a choice. In the subsequent election they voted in Hamas.

Hamas is a designated terrorist group in this country and many others. Their stated aims include the annihilation of the Jewish people. Their desire is to finish the job that Adolf Hitler started. As soon as they were elected, Hamas murdered fellow Palestinians — from the rival faction of Fatah — and for the 18 years after gaining Gaza they made the strip an enclave of their own. They could have tried to make Gaza flourish and its citizens live in peace with their neighbours. But they didn’t. Instead they spent their 18 years preparing for war.

They taught their children to hate their neighbours. Even if their actions did not speak for themselves, their textbooks and schoolbooks do. The billions of dollars of international aid that poured into Gaza — from this country among others — could have enriched the Palestinian people. Instead, the leadership of Hamas all made themselves billionaires. People like Ismail Haniyeh bought themselves luxury apartments in Qatar and when they died — as most of the Hamas leadership have in the past 18 months — they did so with wealth beyond most people’s wildest dreams.

They also used the money to build a tunnel network and other terrorist infrastructure throughout Gaza. Against every law of war they embedded this terrorist infrastructure in civilian homes, mosques, hospitals and much more. They used these places to stockpile rockets, grenades and other military hardware. When one of the leaders of Hamas was asked last year why the vast tunnel network — longer than the London Underground — could not be used for Palestinian citizens to shelter in, his response was clear. The tunnels were for Hamas fighters and their arms. They were not for the use of Palestinian civilians.


Israel, Hamas, and the Battle for Civilization | Sam Harris & Douglas Murray
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Sam Harris speaks with Douglas Murray about Douglas’s new book, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization. They discuss Douglas’s recent experience on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the need for experts, conspiracy theories, the origins and aims of Hamas, the moral asymmetries between Israel and Hamas, what makes jihadism a uniquely dangerous ideology, Hamas’s attack on the Nova music festival, Douglas’s associations with Trump and Trumpism, Elon Musk and X, antisemitism on the Right, and other topics.

Douglas Murray is a journalist and bestselling author of 8 books, including On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization (2025), The War on the West (2022), The Madness of Crowds (2019), and The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam (2017). He has been a contributor to Spectator since 2000 and an associate editor since 2012. He is a columnist at the New York Post and regularly writes for The Telegraph and The Sun. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.

00:00 Douglas’s Appearance on Joe Rogan’s Podcast
11:52 The Case for Expertise
34:27 Revisionist History and Conspiracies
41:41 Confusion Around Israel and Hamas
59:21 The Unique Evils of Taking Hostages and Jihadism


‘Douglas Murray’s latest book must be read even by those of us who think we know exactly what is going on’
He sees the war between Israel and Hamas as a genuine quest between good and evil and despairs that the West has become so full of self-loathing that it refuses to understand an ideology which quite openly calls for its destruction. He recalls early in the book being shown around Cairo by a progressive Egyptian. He describes how they passed over the 6th October Bridge and went to see the 6th October City.

“Eventually I felt I had to ask him: ‘What is it with all this 6th October stuff?’” he writes. “As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he said, ‘Oh that’s to celebrate our victory over the Israelis’. The idea that Egypt and her allies had lost, not won the Yom Kippur War (or the 6th of October War, as the Egyptians call it) came as a genuine surprise to my friend. And his surprise came as a genuine surprise to me.” The anecdote reveals what Israel is up against: a radicalised ideology, even among “moderate” nations that are officially at “peace” with Israel, where it has become an accepted truth that the the Jews can be forced out if the aggressor keeps attacking.

Elsewhere he brings in heartbreaking testimony from October 7 survivors alongside interviews with everyone from Benjamin Netanyahu downwards. His despatch from the building where Sinwar was killed is visceral.

“As far as the eye could see were the consequences of the war that Sinwar and Hamas had started. I found the last chair that he had sat in and took a seat. There were bloodstains on the side. From here you could see nothing but destruction.”

He sets out to find out how the Israelis managed to screw up their intelligence so badly that October 7 could happen but also answers the question early on when he describes how he was at a UN briefing by Israeli officials in September 2023 after the Israelis killed the top three leaders of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group. “There was something else in the air that morning which was unmistakable, and which in hindsight made me feel sickened,” he writes. “It was the unmistakable, nauseating stench of hubris.”

He looks at the story of Israel since October 7 but, just as importantly, he looks at the wider world, applying theories of antisemitism both new and old which can help us explain the bizarre and frightening way the world turned with people openly celebrating the slaughter of Jews on our streets. Two strands stand out in particular. He writes about Vasily Grossman’s 1959 novel Life and Fate and what he said of antisemitism: “It is a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures and state systems. Tell me what you accuse the Jews of – I’ll tell you what you’re guilty of.” As Murray points out, it is no surprise today that people in actual colonialist nations such as the UK and France or actual white settler nations such as the USA, Canada and Australia should be so determined to pin that label onto Israel. Everything the Western haters of Israel accuse Israel of doing are things the countries where they they live have done: by attacking Israel for this, he argues, they can in some ways assuage their own guilt.

He also explores the ideas of the Harvard emerita professor Ruth Wisse who has said that it wasn’t enough to just point out the October 7 massacre was the worst atrocity carried out against Jews since the Holocaust because that only put the emphasis on the victims. To this Murray writes: “What did it mean that on the streets of every major Western city, people who must have known what had been done on the 7th publicly took the side of the aggressors? As Wisse pointed out, perhaps the question wasn’t raised because nobody wanted to face the fact that this time the Nazis were among us.

Murray rightly argues that the murderous genocidal and specifically antisemitic ideology of Hamas, and its open support in the West should not be ignored. He sees the Muslim Brotherhood – inspired by the Hitler-loving Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini – as the most obvious continuation of Nazi ideology. And he’s rightly shocked that there is no pushback against this.

He reminds us too of the writings of Mehdi Hassan, another bright British journalist who has done well Stateside and who in 2013 admitted in a New Statesman article: “It pains me to have to admit this but anti-Semitism isn’t just tolerated in some sections of the British Muslim community; it’s routine and commonplace. Any Muslims reading this article – if they are honest with themselves – will know instantly what I am referring to. It’s our dirty little secret. You could call it the banality of Muslim anti-Semitism.”

Is it now the world’s dirty little secret? The one we all know but pretend doesn’t exist? Murray has written a vitally important book which should open the minds of many to the danger not only that Israel has faced and continues to face but also the precarious position we find ourselves in the West.
Rogan and Dhimmitude
Western silence is the rule, fast becoming the law — Islamic law. And that is the case whether it is the apparent anti-Semite Dave Smith doing the talking, or the apparent philo-Semite Douglas Murray doing the talking. In Smith’s case, whether he knows it, he is engaging in the Islamic art of taqiyya, or deception, protecting Islam from honest scrutiny and censure. In Murray’s case — and I think he does know it — he is censoring himself, as he struggles against the G-force of dhimmitude brutalizing his native UK, where citizens and journalists (Tommy Robinson) go to jail and writers (Renaud Camus) are barred entry for expressing ideas that are crimes under Islam.

What is dhimmitude? I used to write about it all the time in my weekly syndicated newspaper column (2001-2015), in blogs, in books, until it came to seem there was very little point to explaining it all over again. As conceived by the great scholar Bat Ye’or, author of Islam and Dhimmitude and other vitally important histories, to live in a state of dhimmitude is to adopt Islamic strictures and speech codes to appease Islam. It is a capitulation to the sharia (Islamic law) in societies which remain technically free while buckling under Islamic pressures. Such pressures build with increasing Islamic immigration, which, naturally, even democratically, also builds a demographic in favor of Islamic law. (Such immigration also increases anti-Semitism in a society.) But tell you what: It was far more horrific witnessing the native-Brit dhimmi-enforcers of the sharia at the BBC rise up this week against Douglas Murray for two words he wrote in a column eight years ago after a Muslim terrorist attack in Manchester — he expressed a wish for “less Islam” for the UK — than it is to watch any raging sharia video posted by PalWatch. The pulsating animus of the BBC panelists reminded me of the psychotic machinations of the Stalinist purgers in the Vaksberg book.

As for Murray’s book, I appreciate his sincerity and diligence chronicling the October 7 attack in all its horror and in the de-stablizing aftermath — a geopolitical convulsion triggering a new, extremely dangerous cycle of global revolution. All of this feels very pre-planned, although that is another topic continuously and dangerously glossed over, even as the worst, I fear, is yet to come. While reading the book, however, I was also beset with considerable frustration over the absence of the essential Islamic context of the attacks, the aftermath, the war itself. I suspect editorial dhimmitude, the “business decision,” the determination to “Stay viable,” as the password of retreat goes. Douglas strongly supports Israel, an outpost of Western civilization, in this struggle; that is very clear. However, explicating the struggle outside its clear religious, ideological and strategic principles turns readers, or Rogan viewers, into mere arbiters of suffering or emotion. And then it all devolves into a propaganda battle, which We, the Good Guys, always seem to lose.

Which is where we are now. Arguing over nothing — churning, turning over little that is useful or enlightening. Dialogue & Praxis, indeed. But there is another bait-and-switch to take note of. The fixation on “the Jews” — morality proportionality existence Gaza Hitler JFK Epstein … — that has been forced upon us in this time of Marxist revolution and Islamic dhimmitude not only deflects from talking about “the jihad,” it deflects from fighting both the jihad and the Marxist revolution it is allied with. Now, the watchword has become “fighting anti-Semitism.” I, for one, am against such a fight. In a free society, anyone is free to hate anything; also, it is a giant pitfall waiting to be stepped in. In other words, it is a trap. It leads to division and worse. If you want to see less anti-Semitism in society, triumph over jihad, reverse Islamization, and throw off dhimmitude speech codes. This is the only strategy that guarantees a sweeter, happier society for Western peoples.

Similar thinking along the lines of rejecting the “Great Replacement,” stopping the Islamization of Texas, exposing the infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood into the highest government councils finds expression only very far away from the bright lights of public discourse, whether we’re looking at so-called corporate media, or the most popular podcasts — which, by the way, are also corporate media (see Joe Rogan’s $250 million contract with Spotify, and HarperCollins’s, Murray’s publisher, audiobooks arrangement with Spotify). Congrats, then, are in order for the forces of dhimmitude. So constricting, so complete has been the encirclement, most people do not even notice that they are gasping for facts.


Presenting credentials to Herzog, US ambassador Huckabee says Iran seeks to destroy Israel
After presenting his letter of credence to President Isaac Herzog on Monday, Washington’s new ambassador Mike Huckabee accused Iran of seeking to destroy Israel and the United States.

“It has always been their desire that Israel would be the opening act and then it would be America’s turn to face destruction,” said Huckabee, who also discussed Iran with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday. “Or, to put it another simple way, Israel is the appetizer and the United States is the entrée.”

The statement came as the administration of US President Donald Trump negotiates with Tehran to soften US sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi first held talks in Muscat on April 12, and again in Rome on Saturday, and are set to hold a third round of talks this Saturday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to speak to Trump over the phone on Monday to discuss the talks and other matters, the Walla news site reported, as Iran accused Israel of seeking to undermine the talks.

Speaking to Huckabee on Monday, Herzog said Iran “continues to pursue its radical vision of regional dominance and destabilization — on its own and via its proxies — whilst pursuing nuclear arms and openly calling for the destruction of Israel.”

“I know you, Mike, share both our heartbreak and our absolute resolve to see every last hostage freed from the Hamas dungeons and returned to their loved ones,” added Herzog, referring to the 59 captives still in Gaza. “Immediately. Every last one.”


Yair Rosenberg: The Lies About Josh Shapiro Have Consequences
In an open democracy, there is nothing wrong with forcefully advocating for Palestinians or against Israel—whatever the Trump administration might say. But there was something very wrong with the Genocide Josh campaign. As political commentators noted at the time, no such campaign was marshaled against any other prospective vice-presidential front-runner, despite all of them having the same—or more hawkish—views on Israel as Shapiro. For example, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the preferred candidate of many in the anti-Shapiro movement, had a long pro-Israel record dating back to his time in the House of Representatives. As a representative, he voted to condemn a United Nations resolution against Israeli settlements that President Barack Obama had allowed to pass; called Israel “our truest and closest ally in the region, with a commitment to values of personal freedoms and liberties, surrounded by a pretty tough neighborhood”; and met with Netanyahu personally, releasing a photo to the media of the two of them standing side by side.

As governor, Walz said of the Gaza campus protests: “I think when Jewish students are telling us they feel unsafe in that, we need to believe them, and I do believe them,” adding that “creating a space where political dissent or political rallying can happen is one thing; intimidation is another.” Some pro-Palestinian activists were arrested after protesting outside his residence. Walz and Shapiro advanced the same position on ending the Gaza war—except that Shapiro said that a solution would “ideally” happen without Netanyahu, whom he called “a destructive force for Israel over time,” whereas Walz never openly criticized the Israeli leader.

None of this inspired any progressive pushback, presumably because Walz is not Jewish, and so was not seen as inherently suspect and secretly in hock to Israeli interests. Put another way, the Genocide Josh movement singled out a Jewish candidate for censure over Israel while tendentiously misrepresenting his stance on the issues in order to discredit him. This was not an expression of traditional sharp-elbowed American political discourse, but rather an echo of ancient antipathies.

Since the attempted murder of Shapiro, we have learned that his assailant may have suffered from severe mental illness. Balmer’s mother told CBS News that he “went off his medication,” and that her pleas for local police to get him “picked up” the week before had gone unanswered. In the aftermath of such incidents, there is often an unfortunate impulse to stigmatize mental illness as the source of societal prejudice. But those struggling with internal demons don’t originate our external ones; they reflect them. In their confusion and pain, such individuals latch on to those already targeted by the broader culture and its preexisting pathologies, showing us not who they are, but who we are. This is why deeply troubled people—from Kanye West (now known as Ye) to the murderously disturbed—have more often gone after Jewish people than, say, the Amish. Weakened minds tend to be overtaken by strong currents.

Crimes like the one against Shapiro hold up a mirror to our collective biases. In this case, it appears that high-profile deceptions and double standards about a Jewish politician’s Israel stance contributed to an unwell person trying to kill him. The Passover attack is a warning: If we don’t reckon with the lies about Jews in our public sphere, we will see more lies, and more of their consequences.
Shapiro attack was more than political violence. It's about antisemitism
Yet, news reports pointed to other causes and motivations. The Daily Beast highlighted the suspect's apparent struggles with mental health. Another story was critical of a Republican congressman for saying that progressives' over-the-top rhetoric targeting President Donald Trump and other conservatives contributes to a political climate that makes violence more likely. Opinion: Shapiro attack comes amid appalling rise in antisemitism

Slate's Jill Filipovic even blamed conservatives, not antisemitism, for the attack on Shapiro.

"A man tried to murder the governor of Pennsylvania by setting fire to his home, and it’s barely broken through into the news cycle," Filipovic wrote. "This is in part because there is so much news generated by the Trump administration, from their economically devastating trade war to their attacks on higher education to their refusal to bring back an innocent man they accidentally deported to a Salvadoran prison. But it’s also in part because political violence is losing its shock value, largely thanks to a right-wing movement that embraces violent rhetoric and then either ignores or celebrates the violence it begets."

Is it wrong to point out here that it was the Republican nominee for president who survived two assassination attempts last year?

Perhaps progressives should look at their own violent rhetoric and the "violence it begets."

Political violence is awful, of course. But the attack on the Pennsylvania governor was more than just politically motivated violence.

We now have strong indications that Shapiro and his family were targeted because they are Jewish.

Antisemitism is a sickness that has killed millions of innocent people. We need to call it out and condemn it without hesitation.

Antisemitic incidents have spiked since Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. We've seen ugly antisemitic violence on college campuses, in the streets of major cities and at synagogues in the United States and other countries.

Now, we have seen a Jewish governor and his family attacked inside their home at Passover.

Let's be clear: Antisemitism is an evil we must fight with moral clarity and with the courage to call it out for what it is.
Israel foreign minister: ‘It’s in UK’s interest that radical Islamists are defeated in Middle East’
Like many in Israel, Mr Sa’ar decries what he calls a “new anti-Semitism” in sections of the West. “The historical anti-Semitism targeted the Jews. It hated the Jews, among other things, for being successful. The new anti-Semitism targets the only Jewish state and delegitimises, dehumanises the Jewish state, using double standards. They have this unique approach, denying [Israel’s] right to exist and right to self-defence. When they shout ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, it’s to eliminate the state of Israel.”

As the Passover holidays come to an end, the fact that so many hostages remain in Gaza after so long continues to gnaw away at the Israeli soul. It is the dominant issue in Israel, as well as in the Jewish diaspora, in every conversation and in every thought.

Mr Sa’ar hopes that a new deal can be done, but also warns that he is running out of patience. “We will not sit without doing anything while they still hold 59 hostages. We will not wait forever. We will try to do our utmost in order to have a new reasonable hostage deal. But if we are not eventually able to achieve the cause via a diplomatic or political path, we will have to renew the military operation, and not a limited one, but a powerful one.”

He highlights opposition to Hamas in Gaza, a relatively new development. “The war can end tomorrow. It’s very simple. You know, four words, ‘hostages back, Hamas out’, the war will be over. The international community agrees to the objective, that hostages should be released, that Hamas cannot stay in power. But somehow they are more critical about the means.”

Mr Sa’ar is interested in Mr Trump’s vision for a post-war reconstruction of Gaza, under two conditions. The US president spoke of Gazans leaving, perhaps temporarily, but Mr Sa’ar is clear that he doesn’t support any form of compulsion or coercion. “The decision to emigrate must be a free-choice decision. Sometimes I receive in my private social media accounts appeals from Palestinians who want me to help them to leave. There are a lot of people there that don’t want to live in this mess.”

The second condition is that some countries need to volunteer to accept the departing Gazans. He says that some will be willing to do so. “I don’t want to reveal [which ones] ahead of time, but there are countries I believe will be ready to do so. There are countries that are doing it already, now in very low numbers, and there are countries willing to do that in bigger numbers.”

He points out that nobody objects to Syrians or Afghans voluntarily emigrating, and claims that many critics who oppose Mr Trump’s plan want to “keep Palestinians in the most awful position as a tool in the war against Israel, just as they kept the refugee camps in Arab countries for 77 years”. He says: “How can you be against the immigration of someone who wants [to leave], and there is a country ready to accept them? That’s not human.”


Claims IDF executed Gaza aid workers ‘blood libel,’ probe finds
Accusations that Israel Defense Forces soldiers executed 15 Palestinians, six of whom were found to be Hamas terrorists, in a March 23 incident in the southern Gaza Strip are “blood libels and false accusations against IDF soldiers,” according to a top-level probe published on Sunday.

The internal probe, led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Har-Even and presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, examined the incident involving IDF fire on a convoy of ambulances in the Khan Yunis area.

The investigation concluded that the killings occurred during an “hostile and dangerous combat zone,” and that the soldiers believed they were facing threats to their lives.

“On the night of the incident, March 23, 2025, the troops were conducting a vital mission aimed at targeting terrorists,” the conclusions of the probe read in English, noting that “throughout the operation, vehicles and ambulances moved along the route without obstruction, since the forces did not perceive any threat posed by them. The forces also apprehended two pedestrians who raised suspicion, and released them subsequently.

“This indicates that the troops did not engage in indiscriminate fire but remained alert to respond to real threats identified by them,” it states.

The investigation found that two instances of soldiers opening fire were a result of an “operational misunderstanding,” with troops believing they were under real threat from Palestinian terrorist forces. A third shooting incident on March 23 violated operational orders, it found.

The probe concluded that commanders had acted correctly when they issued orders to collect and cover the bodies, but said the decision to crush the vehicles was a mistake. “There was no attempt to conceal the event, which was discussed with international organizations and the U.N., including coordination for the removal of bodies,” it said.

The probe also noted other operational and reporting failures, including deviations from rules of engagement and a lack of disclosure in initial debriefings. As a result, the deputy commander of the Golani Brigade’s Reconnaissance Battalion was removed from his role, and the commander of the 14th Armored Brigade received an official reprimand.

“The IDF regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians,” it said. “The examination process also serves as part of an ongoing effort to learn from operational incidents and reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences in the future. Existing protocols have been clarified and reinforced, emphasizing the need for heightened caution when operating near rescue forces and medical personnel, even in high-intensity combat zones.”


UN Hid Details of Official’s Travel Funding Amid Alleged Pro-Hamas Financing
The United Nations Human Rights Office appears to have disseminated intentionally deceptive information in an attempt to cover up travel funding that pro-Hamas organizations provided to a UN official.

UN special rapporteur for Palestinian rights Francesca Albanese took a politically-charged trip to Australia and New Zealand in November 2023. The trip included a fundraiser for a Palestinian lobby group, participation in media events, as well as meetings with pro-Palestinian politicians and civil society members, and pushing New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel.

Albanese has been accused of antisemitism by the American, French and German governments, among other entities.

Now, the Australian Friends of Palestine Association, which praised Hamas terror mastermind Yahya Sinwar as “incredibly moving,” claimed publicly that it had “sponsored” Albanese’s visit, and Free Palestine Melbourne, the Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network, and Palestinian Christians in Australia stated that they “supported” the trip. All four are lobbying groups.

i24NEWS asked various UN officials and entities for months whether pro-Hamas groups actually did fund the trip. Albanese repeatedly insisted the trip, estimated by the UN Watch NGO to cost around $22,000, was paid for by the UN, calling claims to the contrary “egregiously false.”

Finally, in July of last year, the UN Human Rights Office, acknowledging it was fully aware of documentation that pro-Hamas groups had said they sponsored or organized the trip, told i24NEWS that, “With respect to the Australia trip by the Special Rapporteur, her travel was funded by the UN.”

They ignored requests to provide any documentation showing that to be the case.


Cutting off Hamas: 'Post' visits IDF's 'Morag Corridor' in Gaza
Along the newly established Morag Corridor, in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF is continuing the daily, Sisyphean work of rooting out Hamas fighters and destroying the organization’s infrastructure.

The corridor, named after a dismantled Jewish community in the area, is intended to drive a wedge between the Rafah and Khan Yunis brigades of Hamas, and then to destroy these formations.

Visiting the eastern part of the corridor, the impression was that the Israeli forces have succeeded in carving out a secure area, from which they are now operating southwards in the direction of Rafah city, where, according to IDF sources, dozens of fighters of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade remain.

Whether these actions will contribute to the final collapse of Hamas resistance in Gaza, or place sufficient pressure on the Palestinian Islamist group to induce a more flexible stance on the remaining hostages (the two goals of the operation, according to the IDF) is less clear.

The force tasked with establishing and consolidating the Morag corridor is the 36th Armored Division, a regular formation of the IDF. With a long and storied history, the Division has been in action since the start of the current war in October 2023.

It took part in the first ground maneuver in Gaza in late 2023, spearheading the IDF’s entry into the Strip alongside the 162nd Division (which is now operating further south, close to the Egyptian border.) The 36th then participated in the fighting in Lebanon, operating in the Maroun a Ras area.

Now it is back in Gaza. One of its armored brigades, the 7th, has remained on duty in the north. The other component parts of the division, the Golani infantry Brigade, the 188 armored and the 282nd artillery regiment, have been engaged for the last three weeks in carving out the corridor.


FDD: IDF suffers first casualties since start of new Gaza offensive
The Israeli military suffered its first casualties since a new Gaza offensive began on March 18. On April 19, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Command Sergeant Major Ghaleb Sliman Alnasasra, a Bedouin Israeli tracker serving in the Northern Brigade of the Gaza Division, was killed in combat in the northern Gaza Strip. Two soldiers from the 414th Battalion of the IDF’s Border Protection Corps and a second IDF tracker were severely wounded in the incident.

There have been few casualties during the IDF’s most recent Gaza push, partially due to the fact there have been few large clashes with Hamas members or other terrorists. The IDF has largely confined its latest operations in the territory to areas along a buffer zone within several hundred meters of the border. However, operations in parts of northern and southern Gaza have extended slightly more inland. In southern Gaza, the IDF has secured a new Morag Corridor that separates the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt from the city of Khan Younis.

The IDF, detailing some operations of its three divisions in Gaza over the past month, states that 30 percent of the territory is now defined as an “operational security perimeter.” The Israeli military also highlighted its focus on precision strikes on terrorist commanders.

The latest combat operations in Gaza have taken place as Israel continued to discuss a possible hostage deal with Hamas. Fifty-nine hostages continue to be held in the territory, and Israel believes around half of them are deceased. On April 19, Hamas released a video of hostage Elkana Bohbot showing that he is alive. Bohbot has been held in Gaza for 563 days. Hamas has released similar videos of several other hostages over the last month.

On April 19, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement via Israel’s Government Press Office saying he would not “surrender” to Hamas. Netanyahu stated that Hamas had rejected a proposal that “could have led to the release of half of the remaining living hostages,” and the group is demanding an end to the war. However, the prime minister rejected the idea of halting the conflict. “If we do not complete the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the next October 7 and the next abductions are only a question of time,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also said Israel continues to be at war “on seven fronts,” a reference to Israel’s fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, terrorists in the West Bank, and the Houthis in Yemen, along with threats from Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Netanyahu said he opposed leaving the “Hamas regime in place in Gaza” and vowed that “we will not conclude the war of redemption before we destroy Hamas in Gaza, return all of our hostages and ensure that the Gaza Strip will never again constitute a threat to Israel.”
Gaza doctor’s post lays bare terror groups’ infiltration of enclave’s hospitals
Mohammed Sakar, head of the nursing department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, published a very unusual post on his Facebook account last week.

In his post, the doctor, who also serves as a spokesperson for the hospital, hinted that he had been threatened by Palestinian Islamic Jihad due to his refusal to let the terror group’s operatives enter and use the hospital.

“As head of the department, I exerted all efforts to reopen the hospital and I succeeded… in serving the wounded,” Sakar wrote. “I made sure that the hospital wards were used only for patients, and not for displaced persons… In this way, I managed to keep the hospital safe and avoid threats of closure.”

Now, he revealed, “I’m being openly threatened, even though I explained to those who came to my office that all the steps I took were to protect the hospital,” he continued. “God will not forgive you.”

The post included a photo of a note Sakar had apparently received that read: “Dear one, you have crossed the line, take heed! – Saraya al-Quds,” referring to the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

The post was deleted a few days after it was published, and since then, Sakar has not posted again on Facebook or appeared in the media.

Sakar’s public disclosure was a rare instance of a medical professional in Gaza addressing attempts by terror groups to infiltrate hospitals. By numerous accounts, these efforts are commonplace in most hospitals in the Strip.

Throughout the war, Israel has repeatedly sent troops into hospitals to root out terror infrastructure and gunmen. It has also offered evidence of the facilities’ regular use by terror groups as bases of operations due to their protected status. But little testimony has come willingly from Gazans themselves.


The Free Press: Explosive Gaza Protests Reject Hamas Terrorism
Exclusive footage and eyewitness testimony from inside the latest— and so far boldest—wave of anti-Hamas protests in northern Gaza. “People have become more daring.”




‘Sad stuff’: MP targeted by antisemitic vandalism
Sky News host James Morrow discusses the antisemitic vandalism attack on Liberal MP Andrew Wallace’s campaign sign.

The signs were destroyed with antisemitic symbolism over Mr Wallace’s face.

Mr Morrow described the incident as “sad stuff” to see during campaigning.


Israel Advocacy Movement: Islamist Snaps After Jew Humiliates Him

travelingisrael.com: The Palestinian Death Culture (The reality that doesn’t fit the mainstream media narrative)
It is really easy to show you that a Palestinian death culture exists. It is all over Palestinian society: their media, their education, their heroes, official documents, and where they choose to invest their money. It is not something they hide. The Palestinian death culture may be very clear to see, but there are two big problems that prevent some of you from seeing it and admitting the obvious...




Israel revokes French lawmakers’ visas
Israel’s Interior Ministry has revoked the entry visas of 27 French lawmakers and local officials, citing a law permitting the denial of entry to individuals deemed likely to act against the state.

The delegation, comprising members of France’s Ecologist and Communist parties, was scheduled to commence a five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. According to the group, the trip, organized by the French consulate in Jerusalem, aimed to promote international cooperation and peace.

Prominent figures in the group include National Assembly deputies François Ruffin, Alexis Corbière and Julie Ozenne, as well as Communist deputy Soumya Bourouaha and Senator Marianne Margate. The delegation also included several mayors and local officials.

In a joint statement, 17 members of the group condemned the visa cancellations as “collective punishment” and a “major rupture in diplomatic ties.” They have called on French President Emmanuel Macron to intervene, emphasizing that their visas had been approved a month prior.

This development follows similar actions by Jerusalem, including the recent detention and deportation of two British MPs and the denial of entry to two European MPs earlier this year, citing concerns over anti-Israel activities.

As of now, there has been no official response from the Élysée Palace regarding the visa cancellations.


Hide your flags: NSC warns Israelis abroad over Palestinian 'day of rage'
The National Security Council issued directives for Israelis on Monday abroad ahead of a worldwide “day of rage” in support of Palestinians scheduled for Tuesday.

The directives included complying with local security forces, avoiding displaying Israeli symbols in public, staying away from protests, and remaining on alert.

“Numerous calls have been identified online to hold protest events, demonstrations, and disruptions in various countries around the world,” led by pro-Palestinian activists, the statement read.

“These protests and demonstrations may escalate into violent incidents against Israelis, alongside concerns that terrorist supporters or lone attackers might attempt to infiltrate protest hotspots to carry out an attack.”

Notify authorities in the event of emergency
Israelis abroad are recommended to notify local security services if there is any emergency, followed by contacting the local Israeli mission if there is one.

Above all else, Israelis should remain vigilant and be aware of their surroundings, the NSC warned.


Two-tier policing row over Palestine march during Passover
Officers displayed a “gold standard example of two-tier policing” during a pro-Palestinian march, a former attorney general has said.

On Saturday, more than 300 demonstrators descended on a Jewish area in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend, without giving Essex Police the legally required six-day notice.

The area is home to a large Jewish community and has five synagogues where, on Saturday, worshippers were attending services to mark the end of the festival of Passover.

One group was stopped by officers as they tried to get home from a synagogue while demonstrators took to the streets, as critics accused officers of a “disastrous failure” in allowing “intimidating” behaviour.

Michael Ellis, a former Conservative attorney general, accused the force of “two-tier policing” and urged Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, to demand an explanation from the Essex Police’s Chief Constable.

He told The Telegraph: “On the evidence currently available, this has been a disastrous failure on the part of Essex Police. They have fallen far below the acceptable standards in maintaining law and order.

“This is a gold standard example of two-tier policing. After Southport, the Government committed that all minorities would be protected. The police allowed this march to go ahead and then prevented members of the local Jewish community from going about their lawful business.

“The Home Secretary must call in the Chief Constable of Essex Police to account for this failure.”

The rally was advertised under the slogan Essex March for Palestine, with one of the organisers suggesting on social media that the location was chosen because it was a “very blue and white area”, thought to be in reference to the colours of the Israeli flag.

But the Southend branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign disowned the rally and said it had played no part in organising it.

Westcliff-on-Sea has a large Haredi Orthodox Jewish community, and one group, which had been returning from synagogue on Saturday, found themselves challenged by police as they attempted to walk close to where protesters were gathered.
Anti-Israel protesters to march through ‘heart’ of small Jewish community in Essex
Nelkin said he had not previously seen a Palestine protest along the Westcliff street where this march is planned. “They normally [start] where the Southend pier is and go up the high street. This is the first time they’ve been to Westcliff and on a quiet residential road.”

He added that he would ask his rabbi to end the service early on Saturday to allow congregants to get home before the protest begins; but he noted that some may still encounter protesters as they assemble nearby.

The planned protest follows recent moves by the Home Secretary to expand police powers aimed at protecting places of worship from disruptive or intimidating demonstrations. These include new conditions on protest routes and timings of marches that may interfere with religious practice.

At the Community Security Trust (CST) annual dinner, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Where a protest has an intimidating effect, such that it prevents people from accessing or attending their place of worship, the full range of public order conditions will be available for the police to use.”

She noted that synagogues such as Central Synagogue and Western Marble Arch had been “hugely disrupted by protest activity” and said the Jewish community must be able to “take part in communal life free from intimidation and fear … particularly when they attend their place of worship.”

In February, the Metropolitan Police moved a weekly anti-Israel rally, which had been taking place close to three synagogues in Swiss Cottage, to King’s Cross after at least 60 alleged criminal offences and following pressure from Jewish community groups and the JC.

The new police powers mean that if Saturday’s demonstration in Essex is deemed intimidating, police could restrict its scale, route or timing.

The protest has been advertised by Chelmsford for Palestine, which claims its aim is to “stop this genocide”.

The group last month resigned from the PSC after inviting the controversial academic David Miller, from whom the PSC has distanced itself, to speak at an event.

Miller, who was reported to the Home Office by the Board of Deputies in March, has urged followers to “find out” where Zionists are and “target them”. He has also accused Jewish schools of promoting Zionism and “radicalising” children.

Following Chelmsford for Palestine’s break from PSC, Miller posted on X: “PSC needs to stop trying to demobilise the movement and stop trying to destroy the anti-Zionist movement which is rising as a result of the genocide in Gaza.”

A rumour circulating on social media that a local synagogue was ordered to close in advance of the demonstration is false. The JC understands no shuls have been asked to shut their doors.

In a statement, Essex Police said: “We’re aware of an event which is planned to take place in Westcliff on Saturday April 19. We have an appropriate and proportionate policing plan in place.

“We’re continuing to engage with our communities to ensure they are safe and feel safe. We would encourage anyone who experiences threatening behaviour, or is worried about their safety, to contact us. Equally, anyone who sees an incident of concern should also contact us.”

Chelmsford for Palestine were contacted for comment.


Kneecap, Green Day target Israel at Coachella
The 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Southern California became a platform for anti-Israel messaging over the weekend, as multiple performers used their sets to launch attacks against the Jewish state and U.S. support for Israel.

Irish hip-hop group Kneecap sparked outrage by projecting slogans such as “F*** Israel, Free Palestine” and accusing Israel of committing genocide—an accusation that Israeli officials and international legal experts have consistently rejected as unfounded and inflammatory.

The group also targeted American foreign policy, claiming the U.S. “arms and funds Israel despite their war crimes.” During their performance, front man Mo Chara likened Ireland’s colonial history to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Palestinians have nowhere to go. This is their f***ing home, and they’re being bombed from the sky,” he said.

Kneecap later claimed that Coachella organizers censored its anti-Israel visuals from the festival’s livestream. The allegation has not been independently verified.

American punk band Green Day added to the controversy when lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong altered the lyrics of the song “Jesus of Suburbia” to reference “the kids from Palestine.” The lyric made no mention of the ongoing rocket fire and hostage abductions, or the role of Hamas and other terrorist organizations that openly seek Israel’s destruction.


Eve Barlow: An open letter: where are the leaders?
After October 7, I went to the Gaza Envelope to bear witness to the horrors of the massacre. I have been to Re’im; the site of the Nova music festival. I went twice. I will never rid my memory of the smell of burned flesh encountered in a tiny bomb shelter off the 232 highway, used by victims and survivors to escape the attacks; a place where 30 civilians were burned beyond recognition by half a dozen RPG grenades. I have met with countless survivors of the Nova massacre, and have documented their stories. I remain close with several of them. Yesterday I was talking to my friend who survived by hiding in a shipping container under the body of her dead fiance for eight hours. She saw the footage of Kneecap, and she was completely bamboozled. "But how?” she kept asking me. “How is this real? It's where so much music was born. How?!"

What the hateful anti-Israel bigots don't understand is that the children of Nova, the Israeli youth, are dreamers, who are very idealistic about the diaspora. Their experience of antisemitism is daily rocket attacks from neighbors in the Middle East, not bourgeoisie elites thousands of miles away going onstage at mainstream festivals and calling for their deaths. How?! is right. How did this happen? Why did this happen? And how is it that there is not a single person coming forward from the festival to explain this?

And where is the pressure from the Jewish moguls who have been at the apex of the music business for decades? Where are your voices? Where are the voices of the non-Jews? If you are a Jew and/or a person of peace in the music industry and you have not used your platform of power and responsibility to call for a statement from Coachella and AEG for mainstreaming terrorism this weekend, you are a disgrace. The true colors are bleeding brightly everywhere. I am so ashamed of each and every one of you. Kneecap Sparks Backlash With Israel Protest During Coachella Set: “F—… | Deadline Hollywood

The Nova survivors are the most courageous people I have ever had the honor of meeting, and when you meet them, which all of you should, you will feel like only in your wildest dreams would you be cool enough to party with them. Something that always strikes me when I hear Nova festival survivors speak is how they appeal to audiences by explaining what a music festival is and why people shouldn't be raped and murdered at music festivals, as if the people they are appealing to don't know.

You all know a lot better than this. I am writing this letter to every person who considers themselves part of the worldwide community of music. I am writing it five years after I had my career stripped from me for forewarning about the harms of the BDS movement, about the treachery of promoting terrorism veiled as “criticism of Israel”. I am writing this to say that if you do not act now, and you do not take responsibility for your failures (and those failures are many), then what are you going to tell your kids the day they ask you why and how another Nova happened? Next time, it will happen at your own festival.

To more peaceful times.
Eve Barlow: Jumping The Shark
This is not “activism”. This is not “progressive”. This is not “free speech”. This is incitement to and blind support of terrorism. Imagine if after 9/11, a band from Ireland performed here and the festival let them put up a sign that said “FUCK AMERICA”. And it was met with rapturous applause?

Kneecap are an atrociously bad band, and this is their selling point, and it’s worked for them. Anyone who listens to Kneecap is not a cool purveyor of urgent punk, but an enabler of middle class square rebellion. Listening to Kneecap is like being a 60-year-old white man dressing like a Rastafarian. Kneecap have managed to gain attention from deserved obscurity by blaming Jews and mainstreaming antisemitism. Kneecap’s members address crowds with statements that are plagiarized from the likes of Nasrallah and Sinwar: “God imprinted blasphemy of the Jews hearts.” On October 8, 2023, Kneecap behaved as though Hamas’s massacre was their own personal victory. They have led their audiences in chants such as “Ooh-ah Hezbollah”. They are a bunch of Irish fascist scumbags, and they are allowed to behave this way without impunity. The music industry loves them and heralds them as “hilarious”, “subversive” and “anarchic”. Meanwhile John Lydon, an actual fucking Sex Pistol, is dedicating his time to telling the world why Hamas are a bunch of “Jewish exterminators” and how it’s imperative to support Israel at this time.

It’s likely some upset Jew wrote this in a Portaloo at Coachella yesterday. The instant I saw it, all I could think about was the Portaloos I personally saw in Israel, strewn with bullet holes and blood, from the kids who died in them, and the terrorists who hunted them down.

The people who went to Coachella this weekend know that they’re going to come home afterwards. That’s, of course, as it should be. Could they ever imagine another outcome?

The sight of it yesterday made my chest tight, my breath short, and my head ready to explode. But unfortunately that won’t be all.

No no, I lost my fair share of idiot followers this week because I welcomed the UK Supreme Court decision to allow single sex spaces to exist under the Equality Act, without the capacity for transactivists to shut them down, and claim that Domestic Violence centers, and rape refuges, and lesbian-only mixers, are somehow violating the rights of those who don’t belong in spaces that are designed only for people who are biological women. I welcome this because I’m a woman and a feminist, a real one, who actually fights for women when it matters, and not when it’s convenient or popular. I welcome this because I believe the word TERF to be nothing but a device to silence women, in the exact same way as the bastardization of the word Zionist is nothing but a device to make Jew hatred socially acceptable. Women and Jews, guys. It’s always women and Jews.




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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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