Monday, April 21, 2025

04/21 Links Pt2: Yom Hashoah: It’s time to change how we look at antisemitism; Eulogizing pope, Jewish groups stress his response to Jew-hatred

From Ian:

Yom Hashoah: It’s time to change how we look at antisemitism
For years, educators have been warning about the declining state of Holocaust literacy in North America. Surveys, like the one released by the Pew Research Center in 2020, paint a stark picture when it comes to Americans’ knowledge of what occurred under Nazi Germany. Only 69% of the U.S. adults surveyed could accurately answer when the Holocaust took place. Less than half of respondents knew how many Jews were killed by the Nazis. Even fewer could answer how Adolf Hitler came to power.

Shortly after Oct. 7, however, Holocaust education centers like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began to notice an uptick in interest in their programs. Those educational displays that discuss the causes and effects of Jew-hatred are gaining increasing attention now, including from visitors not familiar with the age-old scourge.

“Many people are being exposed to the term for the first time,” USHMM historian Edna Friedberg told me during a recent conversation. “People are struggling to understand antisemitism—how to recognize it, what causes it, what it says about our societies and the risks we all face, Jewish or not.”

Friedberg believes that the Oct. 7 attacks and the escalation of anti-Jewish behavior that followed are now prompting Americans to ask more questions about what occurred during the Holocaust. “The rise in global antisemitism before Oct. 7 and its global eruption afterward should reinforce to all of us that longstanding antisemitism is what made the Holocaust possible and its continued threat,” she said.

If we want younger generations to understand the link between antisemitic behavior and the risk of tragedies like the Holocaust and Oct. 7, shouldn’t we be discussing the global history of Jew-hatred as well?

For my grandparents’ and parents’ generations, the Holocaust was a singular event—one that wasn’t necessarily discussed in relation to its cause (namely, antisemitism) the way it is today. The traumatic events of the Holocaust were for its survivors events to forget. Nor were they topics one necessarily talked about with family or members of the wider community. For my generation, asking about our grandparents’ experiences growing up in Europe or Russia was off the table, so acknowledgement about the dangers of antisemitism was as well.

I believe that this may be one of the reasons why America’s youngest generations today have such a disjointed understanding of what fueled the Holocaust. Antisemitism isn’t something that the Nazis created in Germany; it was an ancient set of social attitudes that they capitalized on, as old as Jewish culture itself.

“We must start by no longer trying to isolate the Holocaust from the rest of Jewish history or contemporary struggles,” wrote Jonathan Tobin, editor-in-chief of JNS.org, in his column, “Yom Hashoah After Oct. 7: How Holocaust Education Failed” (May 6, 2024). Although Tobin’s observation was made specifically in the context of how Holocaust education is often taught in American schools, it’s a statement that is just as relevant when it comes to the message we impart in our Holocaust memorials, museum exhibits and other educational venues.

If we want younger generations to carry on the lessons we are imparting today about the dangers of antisemitism, we need to be willing to discuss antisemitism’s millennia-long history, as well as the role it played in fomenting a major event like the Holocaust. The tragedy of Oct. 7 did something extraordinary: It inspired people to seek out knowledge independently that they may have felt they weren’t getting in schools and through the media.

We now have an opportunity to build upon that momentum by expanding how we talk about antisemitism globally and why the victims of the Holocaust are never forgotten, and are still honored today.
Jonathan Tobin: Trump isn’t exploiting antisemitism; he’s attacking its root cause
Critics of the Trump administration’s offensive against antisemitism in academia are right about one thing. The list of demands that President Donald Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism sent to Harvard University, as well as those sent to other schools under intense scrutiny for their tolerance and encouragement of Jew-hatred, do go beyond that issue.

Trump has sought to change the way elite institutions of higher education conduct admissions, hiring and conduct discipline, as well as probe the immigration status of foreign students, who are key to the pro-Hamas cause and who led mobs on campus that were guilty of acts of intimidation and violence. He has also threatened to pull federal funds from them if they fail to comply. But in doing so, the task force he appointed aims at more than just making college quads safer environments for Jewish students and faculty.

That has led some Jewish liberals, including many who have expressed criticism of the way Harvard and the other schools that are in peril of losing billions in federal funding, to claim that Trump is “exploiting” the issue. And despite their patent failure to deal with the problem, some Jewish college presidents, including the leaders of Harvard, Princeton University, Wesleyan University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all have the chutzpah to claim that they—and not the administration in Washington—have a better idea of what is and isn’t antisemitism.

They seem to be speaking for many on the political left.

That’s especially true of Jewish liberals, who have long been in denial about the reality of left-wing antisemitism. Their hatred for Trump—rooted in partisanship and class distinctions—simply will not allow them to accept that the “bad orange man,” who is largely supported by working-class voters, is actually fighting antisemitism instead of encouraging it. They also seem to brush aside the fact that, for all intents and purposes, Democrats they have ardently supported, like former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, actually fueled the fires of antisemitism while claiming to combat it.

Is fighting antisemitism ‘bad?’
This viewpoint is represented by a letter circulated by the left-wing Jewish Council on Public Affairs, an umbrella group of Jewish community relations councils once tied to Jewish federations but is now independent of them. It asserts that Trump’s effort to deal with antisemitism on campuses is actually “bad” for the Jews. The missive sticks to partisan talking points about antisemitism being primarily a right-wing phenomenon that were long out of date. Indeed, they are shockingly out of touch with reality since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the surge of hatred that followed that attempt at Jewish genocide. Their main point is a disingenuous claim that attempts to root out the prejudice against Jews and Israel that has become not only mainstream in academia and popular culture, but a new orthodoxy since Oct. 7, must be opposed because these efforts are against “democracy.”

They seem to think that moves to stop pro-Hamas mobs from harming Jews is an abridgement of the rights of those chanting for Jewish genocide (“from the river to the sea”) or terrorism (“globalize the intifada”), even though what is in question is not free speech but unlawful actions that violate the rules of these schools that have gone unenforced.

The text of the letter reflects the signers’ desire not merely to distance themselves from a Trump-led campaign against Jew-hatred but also from the State of Israel. Like individuals who oppose the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, these Trump opponents seem to want to create a “safe space” for those who oppose the existence of the only Jewish state on the planet that would exempt them from responsibility for their prejudice against Jews.

That this letter was signed by groups representing the major liberal denominations of Judaism in the United States—Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist—is a scandal. It’s also a terrible reflection of the way these movements have prioritized liberal or left-wing partisanship over their solidarity with fellow Jews or their sacred responsibility to stand up against bigotry and hatred.
Hey, Harvard—Woke Will Make You Broke
No Ivy League official condemned the massacre on October 7. No one called for the return of the hostages. Most shocking of all, Hamas was treated like a campus mascot. No one highlighted that Hamas is a genocidal death cult that is as much an enemy to Palestinians—most especially women and homosexuals—as it is to Jews.

Universities demand free speech and academic freedom—but only if it is approved speech and the freedom to spread lies and distort history. To this day, each of these institutions believes that threatening Jews is justifiable so long as it is ancillary to supporting Palestinians and criticizing Israel. Talk about shapeshifting, disingenuous nonsense.

Really? You mean if I happen to oppose racial equity, I can shove an African-American on campus and shout, “Lynch Blacks!”? Does academic freedom mean that the Harvard History Department, if it so chooses, can teach only one perspective on the Civil War—the one espoused by the Confederate Army and plantation owners—with each course concluding that Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was presidential overreach?

Universities have surrendered critical thinking to groupthink, replaced free speech with selective censorship, and categorically forbidden viewpoint diversity, especially if it involves seeing Israel as anything other than a settler-colonial, apartheid regime.

Punitive measures were necessary and most definitely deserved. They had well over a year and a half to properly respond to the antisemitism that had overtaken their campuses. Instead: academic jargon and lip service.

At the first, infamous congressional hearing, three presidents of elite schools refused to concede that calling for the genocide of Jews violates their Codes of Conduct. (It’s not protected under the First Amendment, either.) They dissembled, appearing contemptuous, all the while fearing how their testimony would play at home.

The natives on campus were restless, after all. The joke was on Congress. The gods of DEI were running these elite, out-of-touch, self-indulgent academies. Neither the safety of Jews nor the obligations of open inquiry were going to get in the way. Is it any wonder Jewish enrollment at these schools has been declining?

Some things, of course, never change. Many of the Jewish legacy organizations, and the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements, signed a letter opposing the deportation of pro-Hamas foreign students and the denial of federal funds to these universities.

Black Lives Matter déjà vu, anyone? Jews are always pumping their fists at the front of the line, loudly proclaiming their tikkun olam bona fides, only to end up standing alone in other lines, destinations unknown, wondering what went wrong.


Elkana Bohbot to family, IDF: 'I urge everyone, the IDF, and gov't, to release us'
The terror group Hamas has released a video on Saturday showing additional signs of life from Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot, who remains captive in Gaza. He started by sending a message to his wife, Rivka: "I dream of you every day and night. Every hour! I see you and our son Re'em in my dreams! You are a hero. I urge everyone, the IDF, and the government, to release us."

The family of Elkana Bohbot conveyed the following message after the release of the video, through a press release from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum: "We are deeply shocked and devastated. At the end of Passover, the only thing we are experiencing is the complete opposite of freedom. How much suffering must a person endure? We are extremely concerned about Elkana's physical and mental condition—everyone can see it. How much longer will he be required to wait and 'stay strong'?"

"Elkana understands exactly as we do that he has been wronged. How is it possible that the State of Israel did not include him, a father of a young child, in the 'humanitarian list' they formulated? We call on everyone involved to bring them home now and put an end to their suffering, our suffering as families, and the suffering of Jewish people worldwide", they said.

This marks the third time in a month that the terror group has released a video of Bohbot. “This is not psychological warfare,” he said, speaking on Hamas’s release of previous hostage videos. “The real psychological war is me waking up without seeing my son, without my wife; this makes my health not well."

“Do you not understand? I want to get out of here. I do not have food... I am suffocating. I want to get out of here. Please help me,” Elkana added.

Bohbot’s wife, Rivka, said previously, “That’s not my husband’s face. I saw anger. I didn’t feel it was just what Hamas told him to say; he was speaking from the heart.”

'No child should see a video like that'
Bohbot's wife shared a few weeks ago, when Hamas released the previous video: "I pulled over to the side, started watching, looked at my husband's lips, cheeks, sunken eyes, and burst into tears. My son asked, "Why are you crying?" and I said, "Just a moment, Ram," before telling him, "Mom misses Dad." I couldn’t show him the video. This isn’t my husband; it’s someone else. This isn’t the man who left us on October 6 with a smile and blonde hair. That’s how my son should remember his father. No child should ever have to see a video like that."

For a long time, the Bohbot family rarely spoke or gave interviews to the media and was among the less prominent and known families in the hostages' families' struggle.


Freed Hamas hostage dons tefillin in ‘death shelter’
In an emotional full circle, former Hamas captive Eliya Cohen returned on Sunday for the first time to the shelter from which he was kidnapped and donned tefillin.

Cohen was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists while attending the Nova music festival with his girlfriend, Ziv Abud.

When the rocket fire began, they fled to a shelter that later became known as the “death shelter.”

With them were Ziv’s nephew, Amit Ben Avida, and his girlfriend Karin Schwartzman, who were both killed, while Eliya was abducted to Gaza by the terrorists.

Eliya was released from captivity after 505 days. His girlfriend, Ziv, posted a photo of the couple at the bunker today and wrote, “I can’t write anything, just victory.”


On Israel, the BBC seems incapable of getting the simplest thing right
When Hamas terrorists attacked families on October 7 their intention was not to kill Israelis. It was to kill Jews whether they were men, women, grandmothers or tiny babies. By failing to transparently translate the word Jews when used by Palestinians, the BBC has been withholding crucial information on a conflict driven by the well-documented racism of Hamas and its supporters in Gaza.

While an investigation looks into the many editorial failings in the documentary, the BBC pledged to address the translation question separately. It is not clear why two months later there has been no decision on such a clear-cut issue.

There is no doubt that the Arabic dictionary definition of Yahud is Jew. Speak to experts and they will tell you the same. A veteran Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh explains: “When I speak to Palestinians and they say ‘Yahud’ I will write it in English as ‘Jew’. This is the accurate translation. If the BBC or any other media organisation are subtitling it as ‘Israeli’ they are misleading viewers.”

This mistranslation has deep roots at the BBC, where the rightful concerns of the Jewish community have been ignored for many years.

The issue goes back to 2013 when a concerned licence-fee payer complained to the BBC about the mistranslation of Yahud but was met by a wall of corporate intransigence. On this occasion as on many others, the BBC’s complaints’ system operated primarily to defend the broadcaster rather than transparently deal with the issue at hand. In making this ruling, the BBC institutionalised a decade-long journalistic policy, which meant that the racist meaning of statements by Palestinians could be hidden from public view.

This mistranslation is symptomatic of much wider problems in the BBC’s reporting of Israel. Not for the first time did the BBC ignore racism because its target was Jewish people. Not for the first time did the BBC defend a serious failing in its Middle East coverage because it was more concerned about its reputation than factual accuracy. Not for the first time did members of the Jewish community approach the BBC with reasoned arguments but find themselves ignored by the institution.

It is not surprising that so many British Jews have deep concerns about the BBC’s reporting on Israel when crucial issues of accuracy like this have been left uncorrected by the corporation for more than a decade.

For too long, the BBC has not taken issues of anti-Semitism as seriously as other forms of racism. The time for fundamental change is now, and there is no better place to start than on the Yahud question. Only a clear-cut translation as Jew can be accurate.

The question for the BBC’s director general Tim Davie is simple: who knows better when it comes to translation – the BBC or the dictionary?
Gil Hoffman: Meta must label Al Jazeera as state media. Here's why
WHY DOES it matter so much?
Because unlike CGTN, RT, and Press-TV, Americans and others around the world actually believe what they see on Al Jazeera and don’t realize they are being spoon-fed state media from a regime that sponsors terror. Al Jazeera incredibly claims a global audience of more than 430 million people.

The Qataris use Al Jazeera, and its social media channel for young people AJ+, to show the West that they are modern, peace seekers, and not the warmongers they really are.

Al Jazeera has been framing anti-Hamas protests in Gaza as anti-war and anti-Israel, even as protesters say “All Hamas out” in simple Arabic. As The Jerusalem Post’s Middle East correspondent, Ohad Merlin, reported, Al Jazeera analyst Saeed Ziad called for Gazans protesting Hamas to be treated as “traitors” and even urged Palestinians to fight Israel “with the flesh of their children.”

Furious Gazans attacked him on X, calling him a psychopath and a Hamas terrorist, and mocking him for saying in a posh studio in Doha that they should be sacrificing themselves.

This is no isolated incident. From pundits to headlines, Al Jazeera consistently amplifies Hamas’s message while silencing those risking their lives to reject it.

For full transparency, I will disclose that I was interviewed frequently by Al Jazeera and stopped forever at the beginning of this war, when it crossed red lines and became an active combatant.

I will also add that I have never been to Qatar, but I respect the decision of Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein to go there as a journalist. (Even more disclosure: Zvika is a friend, and I wish him well.)

Meta has made responsible decisions lately, kicking out self-proclaimed journalists who used the platform to support terrorism. At the initiative of the media watchdog HonestReporting, Saleh al-Jafarawi, AKA Mr FAFO, was kicked off Instagram twice after pocketing money he raised on the platform for Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital.

It was also right to disable the Instagram account of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest organization, which repeatedly violated Meta’s guidelines.

This is the time for Meta to start labeling Al Jazeera and AJ+, so it will be a little harder for anyone to get away with quoting them and saying “Facebook says it’s true.” ■


Trump Admin to Harvard: Where Is Your Antisemitism Report?
Trump officials have demanded that Harvard University provide them with a copy of a long-awaited report on antisemitism on its campus. It’s the latest salvo in a rapidly escalating confrontation between the Trump administration and the school.

In a letter obtained by The Free Press, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights set forth a series of demands, including that they be sent any reports written by Harvard University’s antisemitism task force, any drafts of those reports, and the names of anyone involved in “preparing and editing the report.”

The letter was sent almost a week after Harvard president Alan Garber said the school would not comply with a list of sweeping demands from the Trump administration. The administration retaliated by pulling $2.2 billion in funding. On Wednesday, the administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to start the process of revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

The demand is only the latest controversy for Harvard’s antisemitism task force, a committee that has been plagued by problems throughout its short existence.

Foremost among them: its failure to deliver a report. The task force had originally said they would publish their findings in the “early fall” of 2024, yet the report has still not been released. The report is meant to detail all occurrences of antisemitism at the university.

The committee has been mired in controversy from the moment it was announced in January 2024.

First, Derek J. Penslar’s appointment as co-chair of the task force was met with harsh criticism from the Harvard community over Penslar’s public comments about Israel and antisemitism on campus. Larry Summers, Harvard’s 27th president, wrote that “Penslar has publicly minimized Harvard’s antisemitism problem, rejected the definition used by the U.S. government in recent years of antisemitism as too broad, invoked the need for the concept of settler colonialism in analyzing Israel, referred to Israel as an apartheid state, and more.” Summers added that “none of this in my view is problematic for a professor at Harvard or even for a member of the task force, but for the co-chair of an antisemitism task force that is being paralleled with an Islamophobia task force it seems highly problematic.”

Then, less than a month after Harvard’s antisemitism task force was announced, its co-chair, ​​Raffaella Sadun, resigned, claiming she wanted to “refocus her efforts on her research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities.”

A source close to Sadun told The Free Press that the real reason for her resignation was that “she found it impossible to make any progress” or to get the committee “to take the problem of antisemitism as seriously as she thought it ought to be taken.”
Harvard University sues Trump administration
Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the federal government agencies that had frozen its grants and threatened its tax-exempt status and ability to host international students, according to a Monday filing to the Massachusetts District Court seeking injunctive relief from the measures leveled in response to the Ivy League School's rejection of the President Donald Trump administration's antisemitism and radicalism reform demands.

The lawsuit charged that the Trump administration exceeded its statutory and constitutional authority when it engaged in arbitrary and capricious threats of withholding almost $9 billion in federal grants and contracts to coerce Harvard into surrendering control, in violation of its First Amendment rights.

Freezing federal funding to a university over alleged 1964 Title VI Civil Rights Act violations could only occur after a failure to comply by voluntary means, argued the suit. Harvard said that it had demonstrated its willingness to address the post-October 7 Massacre antisemitism that had unfolded on its campus. The university said that it had clarified prohibited conduct against Jewish and Israeli students, including the January adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

Harvard allegedly introduced new accountability procedures, clarified policies, and imposed meaningful discipline to prevent campus discrimination. Disruptive anti-Israel protests, which had afflicted Harvard as they had at other American universities since the war's outbreak, were restricted from inside university buildings or where they could interfere with normal university activities or traffic, said the suit. Harvard also introduced doxing policies into its anti-bullying policies.

In a Tuesday statement Harvard University President Alan Garber reminded that he had established the Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias and the Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias "as part of our efforts to address intolerance in our community," and assured that their "hard-hitting and painful" reports and "concrete plans for implementation" would soon be released.

"The government has cited the University’s response to antisemitism as a justification for its unlawful action," said Garber. "As a Jew and as an American, I know very well that there are valid concerns about rising antisemitism. To address it effectively requires understanding, intention, and vigilance. Harvard takes that work seriously. We will continue to fight hate with the urgency it demands as we fully comply with our obligations under the law. That is not only our legal responsibility. It is our moral imperative."

The lawsuit also argued United States Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Management and Budget regulations held that the withholding of awarded grants could only be permitted under specific circumstances -- only if the objectives or terms of the award were not being met and recipients given a chance to comply to fix the issue. Harvard asserted that it had not been notified or given justification for the freezing of the grants related to why they were awarded, and existing federal regulations did not facilitate such sweeping action.
A Top Architectural Journal Planned To Center Its Latest Issue on Israeli 'Settler-Colonial Apartheid and Genocide.' When Its Publisher Said No, the Whole Board Resigned.
The Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), the field's premier scholarly journal, has dedicated past issues to topics like the "various nuances through which water and design mix" and the "relationship between stories and architecture." Last year, the journal landed on a different topic for its fall 2025 issue: The "ongoing Israeli genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza."

The journal's "call for papers"—a prompt for essay submissions—was littered with anti-Semitic rhetoric. It lauded "siege and prison breaks" as methods of "anti-colonial life- and land-protection" and justified Hamas's Oct. 7 attack as "the rupture of settler containment." The fall issue, the journal said, would center on "resistance to the Zionist, militarist, carceral, and capitalist regime of Israeli settler colonialism." Its editors included Nora Akawi, a former Columbia University professor who now teaches at Cooper Union and has endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement as "justice against [the] Israeli racist colonial regime."

The move sparked near-immediate pushback, with one group, Architects United Against Antisemitism, collecting hundreds of signatures in opposition to the prompt's "antisemitic rhetoric and blood libels." After months of inaction, the journal's publisher—the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), which represents nearly 200 architecture schools at top universities across the United States—canceled the issue.

The journal's entire board resigned in response.

The ordeal reflects the proliferation of anti-Semitic activism seen in higher education in the wake of Oct. 7—even in fields unrelated to international conflict like architecture. It also shows how a pledge to address that activism from state and federal regulators has impacted academic leaders' decision making. In a March report, the ACSA said it canceled the Gaza issue not because it disagreed with the content but because of threats from both the Trump administration and at least two governors.

"ACSA learned that university presidents and governors in two states with IHRA antisemitism statutes were notified about the JAE call for papers, and urged to restrict the use of state funds for ACSA membership dues and activities," the association wrote. "These two states alone have 12 architecture programs."

"Other threats exist, particularly executive orders and federal task forces addressing antisemitism and attempting to define diversity/equity/inclusion programs as illegal."
‘Columbia Journalism Review’ editor fired after dispute over anti-Israel protest coverage
The top editor of Columbia Journalism Review was fired on Thursday after he objected to a “significant ethical problem” in a reporter’s coverage of the detention of a Palestinian graduate of Columbia University.

Sewell Chan, the former executive editor of CJR, wrote in a series of social-media posts on Friday that Jelani Cobb, the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, which publishes CJR, fired the longtime journalist after “three pointed conversations.”

“One was with a fellow who is passionately devoted to the cause of the Gaza protests at Columbia and had covered the recent detention of a Palestinian graduate for an online publication he had just written about, positively, for CJR,” Chan wrote. “I told him there was a significant ethical problem with writing for an outlet he had just covered.”

The other two incidents related to a CJR report on a sexual harassment investigation that remains unpublished and a dispute over the writing output and office presence of another employee, per Chan’s account.

Chan did not name the reporter with whom he allegedly had the ethical problem, but his account appears to describe Meghnad Bose, a fellow at CJR who wrote a glowing profile in February of Drop Site News for its coverage “documenting Israel’s crimes” and its decision to interview Hamas officials while seeking minimal comment from the Israeli military.

In March, Bose wrote a profile for Drop Site News of Mahmoud Khalil, an Algerian national of Palestinian descent who recently graduated from Columbia and who was one of the leaders of the anti-Israel protest movement at the school.

The Trump administration arrested Khalil in March and has initiated deportation proceedings against him over his alleged support for Hamas. (JNS sought comment from Bose about Chan’s dismissal.)
At Harvard's Center for Health and Human Rights, Academics Paint Israeli Jews as the Real Terrorists
In late March, Harvard University, anticipating a funding fight with the Trump administration, suspended its School of Public Health's longstanding research partnership with Birzeit University, a West Bank institution known for hosting Hamas military parades. But a half-dozen faculty members and affiliates who have defended Hamas's Oct. 7 attack and accused Israel of "genocide" and "terrorism" remain at the school, a Washington Free Beacon review found.

They include the director of Harvard's François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights, former New York health commissioner Mary T. Bassett, who sent a message to the center's students and faculty just one week after Oct. 7 that accused Israel of "potential genocide." Bassett penned an article for Qatar's Al Jazeera in February arguing that Israel aims to kill "all Palestinians in Gaza" and calling on the Jewish state to pay "reparations."

The Center for Health and Human Rights is housed within the School of Public Health and was the primary source of collaboration between Harvard and Birzeit. Her views are widespread among the academics working underneath her. FXB Center visiting scientist Sawsan Abdulrahim, for example, posted an image of a Hamas paraglider to her since-deleted X account on Oct. 8, 2023, a nod to the terrorists who flew into the Nova music festival, massacred 364 Israelis, and took another 40 hostage. The next day, she shared a post expressing solidarity with the "Al-Aqsa Flood," Hamas's name for the attack.

FXB Center postdoctoral fellow Rania Muhareb, meanwhile, has argued that any improvement in conditions for Palestinians "is predicated on the radical dismantling of Zionist settler colonialism." On Oct. 8, she said those in the West who condemned the attack engaged in "undisguised racism that masquerades as moral concern."

FXB Center affiliate Lara Jirmanus, a family physician in the Boston area and self-described "Lebanese-Palestinian American," has accused Israel of "apartheid," "terrorism," and "genocide," including before Oct. 7. Fellow affiliate Bram Wispelwey, a Harvard Medical School instructor, has suggested Israel's "occupation and apartheid policies" prompted Oct. 7. And visiting scholar Yara Asi, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida and "Palestinian from the West Bank," has charged Israel with "settler violence," "war crimes," "genocide," and "terrorism."
'F— Israel, F— Zionism': Uproar at Cornell Over Featured Spring Concert Singer Kehlani
Pro-Israel students at Cornell University are up in arms over an upcoming spring concert funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars in mandatory student fees featuring the singer Kehlani, who has endorsed "intifada" and said bluntly, "It's f— Israel, it's f— Zionism."

Kehlani is slated to headline Cornell's Slope Day, scheduled for May 7, an annual concert that marks the end of the school year. The university announced the event in a statement touting the "multi-Grammy Award-nominated R&B artist." It did not initially acknowledge the controversy her appearance has kicked up, though university president Michael Kotlikoff said last week that the artist will not make political statements and will forfeit her fee if she does so.

Kehlani, whose anti-Israel activism has garnered national headlines, posted a series of Instagram videos last May in which she said she had lost "any ounce of f—ing respect" for musical artists who did not publicly condemn Israel and its war on Hamas.

"It's f— Israel, it's f— Zionism, and it's also f— a lot of y'all too," she said. Days later, she released the music video for her single "Next 2 U," which opened with a graphic reading, "Long live the intifada," a reference to violent periods in which Palestinians targeted Jewish civilians in terror attacks. She's made similar statements in Instagram posts reading, "DISMANTLE ISRAEL. ERADICATE ZIONISM," "There is only one solution, intifada revolution," "Long live resistance in all of its forms," and, "No one should feel comfortable or safe until Zionism is extinguished."

The selection of Kehlani as the concert's headliner has prompted pushback from Cornell's pro-Israel community. The singer's statements "go far beyond political critique" and target the "vast majority of Jews" at Cornell that consider themselves Zionists, Cornellians for Israel wrote in a petition calling for the university to choose a new headliner.

"The fact that the university would allow for students to bring in a performer with views that actively call for violence to an event where she is supposed to represent all students makes me feel like I am not a respected member of this community," the petition reads.


Georgetown University Awards Medal to Qatari Royal Who Praised October 7 Mastermind
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser celebrated Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar after his death last October. On April 16, Georgetown University awarded Sheikha Moza its President’s Medal at a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of Georgetown’s Qatar campus (GU-Q). The President’s Medal is “one of the highest distinctions conferred” by the university and “is reserved for individuals whose contributions reflect the university’s deepest commitments,” Georgetown Interim President Robert M. Groves said.

Sheikha Moza is the mother of Qatar’s emir and the chairperson of the Qatar Foundation — a nonprofit established by the Qatari royal family in 1995. The Qatar Foundation runs an academic campus in Doha called “Education City” that houses GU-Q along with the Doha branches of several other American universities.

Georgetown says it is “committed to the service of humanity,” yet honoring Sheikha Moza signals that it has different standards for those who direct hundreds of millions of dollars to the university. After Sinwar, the October 7 mastermind, was killed, Sheikha Moza posted on X: “The name Yahya means the one who lives. They thought him dead but he lives.” Hinting at her wish for Israel’s elimination, she added, “He will live on and they will be gone.”

Georgetown and Qatar: A Decades-Old Partnership
Georgetown established its Doha campus in 2005 in partnership with the Qatar Foundation. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Georgetown University has accepted nearly $930 million in gifts and contracts from Qatar since 2005. A substantial portion of the funding came from the Qatar Foundation and underwrote GU-Q.

Sheikha Moza’s award is not the first indication that Georgetown has forsaken its values while soaking up Qatari funds. Last fall, GU-Q invited former Al Jazeera executive Wadah Khanfar to speak at a conference titled “Reimagining Palestine.” Khanfar previously praised Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which he said, “came at the perfect moment for a radical and real shift in the path of struggle and liberation,” and once delivered a eulogy for Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the late Muslim Brotherhood-aligned cleric who gave religious authorization for the abduction and murder of American troops in Iraq.


Palestinians outraged over celebrations for new Ramallah mall
Palestinians are reportedly outraged by celebrations marking the opening of a new mall in the West Bank city of Ramallah, as many believe such festivities are inappropriate given the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, according to Arab media reports this week.

The celebrations, which included music, dancing, and fireworks, were reportedly attended by Palestinian Authority officials.

"Gazans are being slaughtered while the people of Ramallah are dancing," Palestinians reportedly told media outlets.

"The blood of thousands of Gazans didn’t spur any protests in Ramallah, but for the mall’s opening, they’re running. What kind of blood flows through their veins," Gazan blogger Khaled Safi said in response to the celebrations, according to Ynet.

Three key figures were reportedly at the center of the outrage: Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam, businessman Gandhi Jaber, and mall CEO Qassam Barghouti.

Barghouti is reportedly the son of imprisoned Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti.

Hamas-affiliated journalists have reportedly taken the opportunity of the outrage to further sow unrest, according to Ynet.

Many have reportedly said they would boycott the mall.

This is not the first time that Palestinians have sought tempered celebrations as a result of the war. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christian messianic figure Jesus Christ, elected not to have a Christmas tree and to mute celebrations in light of the war.
IDF self-sabotaging by letting Gazans return home, expert says
Eyal Ofer, an expert on Hamas's economy, said that the key to the Gaza campaign is effectively conquering Beit Hanoun in an interview with Maariv on Sunday.

He believes that Israel should issue an evacuation notice for the northern part of the Strip so that the residents move to the south—and fall under Egypt's responsibility: “Otherwise, we are endangering our soldiers.”

As the IDF continues operations throughout the Gaza Strip and a clear, stable solution still seems far off, Ofer warned on Sunday that Israel is continuing to act based on a flawed worldview, and that it does not understand the strategic basis of the campaign. It is leading itself into a dangerous trap that could exact a much heavier price.

Ofer presented a sharp and uncompromising stance and criticized the conduct of both the military and political leadership: “The IDF, unfortunately, for at least 14 months now, does not understand the basis of the campaign in Gaza. Yesterday, we paid for that in blood. And it’s going to get much worse.”

According to him, the issue is not only a failure to understand Hamas as a military, economic, and ideological entity, but also fundamental misunderstandings of the geographical significance of the Strip for Hamas.

“I’ve been writing for many months that Beit Hanoun is the most strategic place in the Strip and that it must be empty—permanently. It should be part of a security zone for Israel where no person is allowed to enter. And therefore, if the city is empty and anyone moving within it is bombed, the existence of a tunnel becomes irrelevant.”


Seth Frantzman: Syrian President al-Sharaa meets US congressman
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with Rep. Cory Mills in Damascus on Saturday, according to Syrian state media SANA.

This is the first meeting between al-Sharaa and a US member of Congress since he became the transitional president of Syria in late January. Al-Sharaa has been traveling in the region recently, including Turkey, the UAE, and Qatar, to shore up support for his new government.

Al-Sharaa has been traveling in the region recently to shore up support for Syria’s new government, including Turkey, the UAE, and Qatar.

The Republican member of Congress from Florida also met with Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani. The move comes as reports indicate Shaibani may visit the US soon. This would be a major step as Syria seeks to get relief from sanctions and open a new chapter in ties with Washington. Al-Sharaa has also been named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of 2025.

Mills visited Syria along with Republican Indiana Rep. Marlin Stutzman. They were accompanied by members of the Syrian community of the US, reports said.

It is not an official trip, according to reports, but it has major ramifications. NBC noted that Mills and Stutzman met Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, “a Syrian-American Christian prelate serving as the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Damascus, Syria, on Friday.”

NBC noted, “Two Republican members of the US Congress were in the Syrian capital Friday on an unofficial visit organized by a Syrian-American nonprofit, the first by US legislators since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.”

In addition, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with Al-Sharaa on Friday.


The Iranian Negotiating Tactic the Trump Administration Doesn’t Get
Trump was certainly hoping to find the Iranian mullahs and functionaries spiritually weakened and willing to accommodate his mandates. But while Khamenei approves of making tactical concessions in pursuit of long-term goals, he would be loath to make them under duress, believing that entices one’s enemies. The cleric also has to worry about his right flank, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. In the past, they weren’t unalterably opposed to nuclear negotiations, or even to trade with the United States (such as buying Boeing aircraft or making oil development deals). What the Corps opposes is concessions to the West that can’t be easily undone. Today they wish to rebuild shattered defenses and revive battered proxies. For those standing sentry, the value of an nuclear weapon as the ultimate deterrent has never been higher, which is why Iranian VIPs are now discussing the utility of having atomic arms sooner not later. The Guards would not look kindly on an old man going wobbly. Khamenei has had their loyalty in part because he has consistently promoted the most ardent among them and unfailingly stood by the guards as they crushed dissent, even when doing so required killing young girls.

The Iranian hardliners also believe they have figured out Trump. In their telling, America is no longer a great power capable of making alliances and imposing its demands on recalcitrant regimes. Javan, the Revolutionary Guards newspaper, sees Trump’s unpredictability and bluster as shtick designed to compensate for America’s essential weakness: “He tries to use his personality in order to create an atmosphere whereby he can achieve dramatic results.”

As the diplomacy between the two sides commenced, Nournews, the mouthpiece of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which makes all foreign-policy decisions, stressed: “Countries that have resisted Trump’s trade tariffs have communicated to him that they are not afraid of his threats and can withstand economic pressure. This type of resistance could compel Trump to reconsider his policies, as such pressures and threats may inflict damage on the U.S. economy.”

All this means that the Islamic Republic has entered talks with the Trump administration not because of external pressure but in order to preserve the essential features of its expanding nuclear infrastructure — and they feel confident they can achieve this if the talks proceed. Along the way, the clerical regime might agree to dilute its stock of 60 percent-enriched uranium, which is near weapons-grade, or even cap enrichment at a lower level. It would be a flashy concession that won’t fundamentally affect the complexion or the trajectory of Tehran’s nuclear program. The mullahs know that what matters most are protecting its new generation of centrifuges. With much greater efficiency and speed, these machines can enrich uranium to bomb-grade and can be housed in small facilities that are harder to detect. According to the Institute for Science and International Security, these advanced centrifuges are already up and running.

Even a stringent inspection regime, unless supported by a well-placed human-intelligence network, would find locating these centrifuges an excruciatingly difficult task. And basing a country’s diplomacy and future security on developing and maintaining a human-intelligence network in a hostile country is a fool’s errand. The Israelis, who have unquestionably developed a good intelligence network inside Iran far better in its operational utility than anything America probably has developed, would never be so bold.

Arms control is a protracted process as technical details require endless negotiations between physicists and politicians. Deadlines always slip and redlines have a way of blurring. All this serves the clerical regime well. Such talks serve as a shield for its nuclear program from audacious Israelis, who may finally have a political consensus to attack Iran’s nuclear sites even if they aren’t confident that they can destroy the underground enrichment plants. The clerical regime once worried that Trump might abet Israeli dreams of a combined Israeli-American aerial onslaught against the Islamic Republic. With talks underway, that fear certainly appears to be diminishing.

Today, the mullahs seem to think they understand the American game plan. Do we understand theirs?
Seth Frantzman: What are Iran’s ‘nine principles’ of deal-making in US-Iran nuclear talks?
Principle five: The avoidance of threats
This principle is in contrast to the Trump administration’s threats in the past regarding Iran seeking a nuclear weapon. Tehran has demanded that the threats stop. It doesn’t want to hear about bombing or other types of attacks.

As such, it appears that Washington has toned down the rhetoric about bombing Iran since the talks began in mid-April, though this may change. However, Iran’s desire to avoid threats may influence the US as long as the talks appear serious.

Principle six: Speed
Iran does not want the talks to drag on forever, which is also a desire of the US. Therefore, this principle appears to be in line with the agenda of both parties. The goal is to keep moving toward a deal, with each week of talks producing more results. So far, this has been the case after two meetings. However, technical details are likely to be an issue.

Principle seven: The containment of nuisances (such as Israel)
This principle is written in such a way as to downplay something that actually concerns Iran a lot more than is presented. Israel is clearly a major concern for Tehran. It wants the US to either restrain Israel or, at the very least, not follow the line Jerusalem wants in the talks.

There is already a sense that Israel’s view of the talks does not completely line up with what it hopes will be achieved, which Iran is pleased by. The idea that Jerusalem is only a “nuisance” in this context is a way for Tehran to downplay what it actually thinks.

Usually, the Islamic Republic threatens Israel with destruction. If Israel is only a “nuisance,” then clearly, it doesn’t need to be the center of Iranian foreign policy. Therefore, the real story of this principle is far less direct than the others.

Principle eight: The facilitation of investment
Iran wants investment after sanctions are removed. The Trump administration has hinted that this may be possible, and Tehran likely put this into the list to please the US president.

Principle nine: The rejection of the so-called Libyan model
This is actually the most important principle for Iran. It doesn’t want to dismantle its nuclear program the way Libya did, as this would leave Tehran vulnerable.Iran buried this principle at the end of the list when, in fact, it is the most important one. The “Libya” model appears to have entered the discussion in terms of what Israel prefers. Iran is, therefore, rejecting the Israeli demand.


Norwegian man held for Nepal Chabad House vandalism
Authorities in Nepal on Saturday arrested a Norwegian man whom they said broke into the Chabad House of Kathmandu and vandalized the place in a suspected antisemitic hate crime, the local rabbi told JNS.

“The perpetrator’s in custody and we’re still learning about the details of the case,” said Rabbi Chezki Lifshitz, who added that no one was hurt in the incident.

Police arrested the suspect shortly after he broke into the building, where thousands of Jews celebrated Passover last week, and broke glass and threw around furniture, according to Lifshitz. Security at the Chabad House has been beefed up, he said, but the institution’s activities will continue as scheduled.

At last week’s Passover Seder dinner, some 2,500 Jews, mostly from Israel, participated in what is often dubbed the largest Seder in the world. Attendance has grown gradually since Lifshitz and his wife, Hanni, established the Chabad House 20 years ago as emissaries of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement to the Asian country.

Antisemitic attacks are rare in Nepal, where many young Israelis travel. Israel’s National Security Council has no specific warnings regarding Nepal, which is estimated to be at the lowest risk level for Israelis.
‘Boozed up’ antisemitic goon who slashed Yonkers barber with his own scissors in rage over Gaza war makes plea deal
A “boozed up” Yonkers man who attacked a Jewish barber with his own scissors in a shocking antisemitic attack last year is facing six years in prison after making a plea deal with a Westchester County judge.

Ahmed al Jabali, 34, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime last week in the Aug. 29 assault on Yonkers barber Slava Shushakova over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, prosecutors said Monday.

Shushakova told The Post after the attack that Jabali was having his beard trimmed at his Yonkers Avenue shop when he flew into a rage, telling the barber that “he has a right as a Muslim to punish Jews.”

Jabali, a Muslim originally from Yemen, was arrested and charged with attempted murder.

On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the lesser assault charge, with the judge promising him a six-year sentence. The charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years under state law.

“Hate has no home in Westchester County,” county District Attorney Susan Cacace said in a statement released Monday. “The rise in antisemitic hate over the last several years is disturbing and completely unacceptable.

“Today and every day, my office stands with the Jewish community of Westchester and will seek justice for victims of antisemitic violence,” the statement said.

Police said Shushakova needed 30 stitches to close the bloody gashes to his right hand and wrist that he suffered in the attack, which temporarily knocked him out of work.
NYC woman who left swastika brick on Cybertruck is a woke therapist who blamed Elon Musk for tantrum
The Brooklyn woman accused of leaving a brick scrawled with a swastika and the word “Nazi” on a parked Tesla is a super-woke family therapist who was involved in criminal justice diversion programs — and blamed Elon Musk for her heinous actions as she was taken into custody.

Natasha Cohen was released on her own recognizance following her arraignment on hate-crime charges Saturday night, according to prosecutors.

Cohen, 46, has a private practice, working with children, adolescents and their families for more than two decades.

She has advanced training in maternal mental health, according to an online profile, and currently sells different therapy worksheets and resources online for parents of children with ADHD, body dysmorphia issues, and anxiety.

In 2015, she also helped young offenders as part of the Kings County Re-Entry Task Force, working in tandem with the Bureau of Youth Diversion and Initiatives to keep criminals out of prison.

Several of Cohen’s social media posts are critical of President Trump. Recently, she posted a meme claiming President’s Day was canceled “until we get a real one.” The day after Trump’s victory, she posted a photo of a memorial candle.

Cops have alleged Cohen not only left the brick on the windshield of a Cybertruck parked on Ditmas Avenue, in what is largely a Jewish neighborhood, but she also dumped a bag of trash on the car.

Surveillance cameras caught Cohen in the act, police said.


Swastika flags hung on route to Stockholm as ‘tribute’ to Hitler’s birthday
Police in Sweden responded to reports from a highway near Stockholm where unknown individuals had suspended large red flags with swastikas from an overpass on Sunday morning.

Drivers on the Essingeleden highway, which connects the city of Solna in the north to the capital, were shocked to see the Nazi flags at the gateway to Stockholm and called the police. Officers arrived at the scene 20 minutes after the first report, took down the flags, and began an investigation.

Mats Eriksson, a spokesperson for the Stockholm police, told the SVT News outlet that authorities were investigating the incident on suspicion of “incitement against an ethnic group.”

According to police, the flags were likely displayed as part of a “tribute” to the birthday of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, whose birthday falls on April 20.

“I am appalled by images of Swastika flags in Stockholm, something we never thought to see in Europe again,” Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman stated in a post on X.


Locals suspect Jew-hatred in attacks on three stores in Toronto area on Passover
Toronto-area Jews told JNS that they aren’t surprised that three Jewish-owned stores in heavily Jewish Thornhill, just north of the city, were attacked over Passover and that they suspect that antisemitism motivated the vandal or vandals.

On Saturday, on the second to last day of the holiday, the front doors of the Judaica shop Shainee’s Gift Selections, the kosher pizzeria My Zaidy’s Pizza and a pharmacy that is part of the chain Shoppers Drug Mart were smashed in. All three are Jewish-owned, and all are part of the Spring Farm Marketplace, which locals call the Sobeys Plaza, after the large supermarket chain anchoring the plaza at Clark and Hilda Avenues.

David Fleischer, a neighborhood local, wrote on social media on Saturday that “when I heard the plaza had been hit, I correctly guessed it was the two stores with Jewish names.” (Despite its lack of a Jewish name, Shoppers has a mezuzah on the door.)

“The Shoppers is a bit of an anomaly, but it is right next to those stores in the plaza,” he wrote. “I expect to soon be assured that this is not who we are as Canadians, and so forth.”

Fleischer told JNS that “when stuff like this happens, I don’t feel like giving the benefit of the doubt.”

“There’s a concern that it’s not just some break-in, and there’s a possible antisemitic subtext,” he said. “I hope it turns out it’s just some stupid kids robbing the registers or whatever, but it feels like it’s something all the time now.”

Arnie Gotfryd, who lives in the area and runs Maxi Mind Learning, which helps train children and adults to focus and learn better using lessons from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, told JNS that he was shocked to hear of the attacks.

“I hope that our antisemitism problem is finally addressed in some meaningful way, but this is horrible,” he said. “It keeps happening. Really, things are getting worse.”

Gotfryd suspects the attacker or attackers committed hate crimes.

“Why did they hit a pizza shop? There’s nothing that you’re gonna get from there. It’s pure hate,” he told JNS. “It’s not like there’s high-priced items from inside a Judaica shop. It can’t be anything but a hate crime.”


Ben Shapiro to be honored at Independence Day event alongside ex-hostage, IDF officers
Israel on Sunday announced the selection of five of the 36 torchbearers for the official state Independence Day ceremony, which will take place next Thursday at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.

Among those selected were a former hostage, bereaved family members, military officers, and the controversial American Jewish right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro.

They were selected by a committee with the approval of Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who was tapped to lead the planning of the ceremony for the second year in a row. There will be a total of 36 torch lighters at the ceremony, with more names to be revealed in the coming days.

While the selection of the former hostages, family of fallen soldiers, and military officers to participate in the ceremony was expected, the selection of Shapiro was not, and was met with some backlash within Israel.

Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, founder of The Daily Wire and host of the popular radio show and podcast, “The Ben Shapiro Show,” has been an outspoken supporter of Israel for years, but his deeply conservative political views — especially his position on abortion rights and his views on homosexuality — have made him a controversial figure.


And They're Jewish with Hen Mazzig: More Than Sloan, The Zohan, and Lana Lang: Emmanuelle Chriqui on Identity, Fame, and Love
She’s played the dream girl in Entourage, the love interest in Zohan, and even Lana Lang in Superman — but Emmanuelle Chriqui is so much more than her most iconic roles.

In this episode of And They’re Jewish, Hen Mazzig sits down with the woman who stole hearts in Hollywood and never lost touch with her roots

From navigating fame while staying proud of her identity, to reclaiming her heritage in an industry that often flattens identity, Emmanuelle opens up about everything--her family’s journey from Morocco to Canada, bias in Hollywood, and the sacred dishes that taste like home.

This isn’t just nostalgia — it’s a celebration of resilience, culture, and unapologetic pride.




Eulogizing pope, Jewish groups stress his response to Jew-hatred, hint at views on Gaza
U.S. and world Jewish groups mourned the death on Monday of Pope Francis, 88, who was elected the first Roman Catholic pontiff from the western hemisphere in 2013. The groups largely emphasized the pope’s relationship with Jews and his opposition to antisemitism, though also gestured to his statements criticizing Israel’s prosecution of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Francis had denounced the “cruelty” of Israeli strikes in Gaza and called for a probe of alleged “genocide” on the part of the Jewish state. He urged followers to think “of the wars, of the machine-gunned children, of the bombs on schools or hospitals.”

In what would become his last public remarks, delivered on Easter on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, he said, “I express my closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.”

“The growing climate of antisemitism throughout the world is worrisome. Yet at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” the pope said. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”

Late last year, the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused the pope of “double standards and the singling out of the Jewish state and its people.” On Monday, the ministry stated, “Rest in peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing.”

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, stated that he is “deeply saddened by Pope Francis’s passing on this Easter Monday.”

“He was a true pilgrim of hope and builder of peace,” the U.S. envoy said. “He embraced the forgotten, uplifted the poor and led with resolute faith and humility.”

“Pope Francis’s views on Israel, especially recently, were problematic, but I don’t think insulting the late Catholic leader is a good look for pro-Israel organizations,” David May, research manager and a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS.




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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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