Thursday, May 22, 2025

05/22 Links Pt2: Zionism is not hate, but hope fulfilled; The Rhetoric of Hamas and Abbas on Israel Is Identical; Trump admin revokes Harvard’s student visas

From Ian:

Zionism is not hate, but hope fulfilled
Zionism, we are told by its critics, is a colonial project. But how can a people be colonisers when they have no other homeland? The Jewish connection to the land of Israel is not a product of the 20th century. It is a 3,000-year-old relationship embedded in our scriptures, our liturgy, our language, and our identity.

To suggest otherwise is not simply to misunderstand Jewish history – it is to falsify it. And when that falsehood is circulated by those in positions of influence, it does profound harm. It legitimises the marginalisation of Jews who dare to stand up for their people’s right to exist in dignity and peace. It emboldens those who would like to see the only Jewish state in the world wiped off the map. And, as we have seen once again so tragically this week, it bleeds seamlessly into antisemitism and violence.

The murders in Washington DC were devastating but not surprising. For so long we have seen synagogues defaced, Jewish students harassed, and businesses or organisations with even the most tenuous links to Judaism or Israel vandalised. Not because of anything they have done, but because of what they are presumed to represent. Because of “Zionism”.

The irony, of course, is that Zionism is one of the most remarkable movements for liberation in modern history. In just a few generations, it transformed a traumatised, exiled people into a thriving democracy. It created a home for refugees from over 100 countries and offered sanctuary to Holocaust survivors and victims of persecution from Iraq to Ethiopia, and from Russia to Yemen.

As Israel’s Declaration of Independence makes clear, Zionism has always had peace at the core of its national aspiration. To appropriate the tragedy of a war in order to portray it as a malevolent force – as a synonym for racism or supremacy – is not criticism. It is demonisation. It is a deliberate inversion of truth that seeks to rob Jews of their right to speak and act for themselves.

Zionism is not hate, but hope. It is the hope of a people scattered to the winds and returned to their roots. It is the hope of parents raising their children in a land their ancestors only dreamed of seeing. It is the hope of a refugee stepping off a plane and hearing their own language sung in the streets. It is the hope of a nation that, despite all it has endured, still clings to the belief that one day, peace might yet be possible.

That is Zionism. And it is a story worth telling – not through the distorted lens of its detractors, but through the direct and personal experiences and aspirations of those of us who call it our own.

Most people will not give a second thought to the ease with which a high-profile BBC presenter, with no apparent understanding of Jewish identity, would so readily amplify a video which demonises such a fundamental aspect of it. But it could not be clearer that the consequences of that demonising narrative are truly dangerous.

We must do better. We cannot allow the enemies of Zionism to define it. For to surrender that ground is to surrender not only the truth, but the dignity and safety of a people whose greatest aspiration is that one day, Israel – the indigenous and historic homeland of the Jewish People – can exist securely and freely, in peace with its neighbours and the wider region as an equal member of the family of nations.
Seth Mandel: Walk a Few Miles in An Israeli’s Shoes
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has ordered its diplomats around the world to refrain from participating in public events until further notice, according to a leading Israeli broadcaster. The cautionary note comes after last night’s murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington outside the Capital Jewish Museum.

These are, of course, government officials with government-level security. I don’t think most people have the faintest idea of what it’s like for Israelis traveling abroad these days on their own. So here’s a peek at the experience of being an Israeli in the world, via a few stories that demonstrate the point.

Earlier this month, an Israeli tourist attempted to book a hotel stay in the popular Norwegian destination town of Geiranger. The would-be traveler received the following response from the hotel:
“The Norwegian Labor Organization (LO) will soon enforce a boycott that will affect Israeli tourists and Israeli goods due to the catastrophic situation in Gaza. We need to inform you that our staff is organized in LO unions, and they will not break the boycott. I will need to consult with the employers’ organization as I see this as a force majeure situation.”

Force majeure refers to the way unforeseen events can be excluded from normal liability obligations. It seems the hotel could not possibly have expected an Israeli traveler and believes its trade union will be enforcing a boycott against not just Israeli companies and products but people.

Put simply: We don’t serve your kind here.
"Israel Is Only Country that Could Be Attacked on Seven Fronts and Described as the Aggressor"
After Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand last week described Israel's post-Oct. 7 war on Hamas as "aggression," IDF Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani said Sunday that Israel works hard to limit civilian deaths, often issuing warnings beforehand so they can get out of harm's way.

"Israel is the only country in the world that could be attacked on seven fronts and described as being the aggressor."

Shoshani said he had "a lot of respect for Canada," but said Hamas started the war and could end it by laying down their weapons and releasing the hostages.

"We're doing everything we can to fight a terrorist organization and we're not going to fight it in a non-aggressive way."

"We're differentiating and targeting terrorists who have said they want to kill us, kill my family. We have to act against these terrorists to make sure they can't do that."


The Rhetoric of Hamas and Abbas on Israel Is Identical
When one listens to leaders of the PA and leaders of Hamas in Arabic, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between them. Their rhetoric to vilify Israel is identical: "The Zionist Enemy," "the Zionist Entity," and "the Apartheid State." Hamas and the PA both call for flooding Israel with millions of Palestinian "refugees" so that Jews become a minority to eliminate or cast out.

Most of the so-called refugees are not real refugees. Most are descendants - now quite distant - of refugees who lost their homes when five Arab armies attacked Israel in 1948 in an attempt to prevent it from coming into existence. For Hamas and other Palestinians and Arabs, the fact that they failed to thwart the establishment of Israel is a "catastrophe." The real nakba was that they started a war and lost it. Well, if you start a war, that is what can happen.

Statements by Hamas and Abbas show why talk about a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is, unfortunately, just a sick joke. If Palestinians consider the existence of Israel as a "catastrophe" and "tragedy," this means that they will not recognize Israel's right to exist.

Those who continue to advocate for the creation of a Palestinian state need to consider that such a state would be backed, politically and militarily, by Iran and its ruling mullahs, whose declared goal is to eliminate the "Zionist entity" Israel, as well as the United States. In the years leading up to its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas developed a concrete plan to destroy the Jewish state, in full coordination with Iran and Hizbullah.

Iran was a critical player in funding Hamas's plan to destroy Israel. The Palestinians and the Iranian regime do not want Israel or America in the Middle East - period - and are prepared to do anything to achieve this goal, including with nuclear weapons.


Why Do the Arabs in Judea and Samaria Lack Citizenship?
From mid-1948 to June 1967, Judea and Samaria were under Jordanian control. The Jordanians did not recognize the existence of the "Palestinian people" as a separate national identity, nor did they acknowledge the existence of a need to establish a separate Arab state in that area.

Accordingly, the Jordanians did not work to establish a "State of Palestine" in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, or in any other area. Instead of working to establish a new state, the Jordanians annexed Judea, Samaria, and parts of Jerusalem. While most nations rejected the annexation, the Jordanians took it seriously and even gave Jordanian citizenship to all the residents of those areas.

The Jordanians maintained their claim to Judea and Samaria until July 31, 1988, when King Hussein declared that "Jordan is not Palestine," and that he had decided to grant Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem - areas over which he had no title - to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

While the Arab residents of these areas had held Jordanian citizenship for 38 years, on August 20, 1988, the Jordanian government issued a decree announcing that "every person residing in the West Bank prior to July 31, 1988, is a Palestinian and not a Jordanian." In this manner, the Jordanians unilaterally stripped most of these residents of their Jordanian citizenship, rendering them stateless.

While some privileged residents, such as senior PLO figures, were allowed to keep their Jordanian citizenship, in 2018, the Jordanians decided to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas and 30 other senior Palestinian leaders.
The Time for Denial Is Over — Ban the Muslim Brotherhood and Expel Qatar’s Influence from the West
This week, France dropped a political bombshell — and the West can no longer pretend not to see the fuse burning.

A leaked report from the French Ministry of the Interior, obtained by Politico, confirms what many have quietly suspected and many have feared: organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood are orchestrating an influence campaign targeting the European Union itself. Their strategy is precise, well-funded, and ideologically driven — with Qatar and Kuwait allegedly footing the bill.

This is not conjecture. This is not hyperbole. This is a national security briefing wrapped in a slow-motion wake-up call. What the Report Says — and Why It Matters

The French report — discussed at the highest levels of government, including a national security council meeting chaired by President Emmanuel Macron — identifies a network of pan-European organizations aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology. These organizations have been lobbying EU institutions aggressively, with a particular focus on Members of the European Parliament.

Among their objectives:
Criminalizing blasphemy: an outrageous affront to secular democracies where freedom of speech, including criticism of religion, is sacrosanct.
Redefining religious freedom: by pushing a “singular” interpretation rooted in political Islam — not pluralism — that seeks to blur the line between faith and state.
Undermining secularism: especially in France, where laïcité (secularism) is not merely a principle but a constitutional foundation.

Two groups are named directly:
The Council of European Muslims (CEM) — alleged to include members from the Muslim Brotherhood’s inner circle.
The Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO) — described in the report as a “training structure” for future Brotherhood operatives.

While FEMYSO has denied the allegations, and CEM has declined to comment, the French report is built on extensive testimony from academics, intelligence agents, Muslim leaders, and prior governmental investigations. It is not a right-wing hit piece — it is an institutional alarm bell.

The report also claims that these groups use the language of anti-discrimination and anti-Islamophobia as camouflage — launching influence campaigns, for example, under slogans like “freedom is in hijab,” while ultimately serving a rigid ideological agenda. This weaponization of rights language is meant not to empower Muslims as equal citizens, but to create ideological no-go zones where criticism is taboo and policy is dictated by religious orthodoxy.

This isn't new. The UK published a similar review over a decade ago warning about the Brotherhood's deceptive “entryism” tactics: infiltrating civil society, universities, NGOs, and political channels while presenting a moderate face to the West and a radical one in private.

So why does this matter now more than ever?

Because we’re seeing the consequences of that complacency — and because the Brotherhood’s strategy is working.
Victoria Police face legal action over Shabbat protest
Victoria Police will face proceedings under the Racial & Religious Tolerance Act over an apparent decision to locate a pro-Palestine demonstration almost at the doorstep of a synagogue in 2023, triggering the evacuation of 150 congregants during Shabbat worship.

Documents relating to a settlement of an earlier proceeding, launched by Melbourne Jewish activist Menachem Vorchheimer in the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), revealed that police authorised the anti-Israel protesters at Princes Park, directly outside Central Shule.

VCAT heard that on November 10, 2023, four weeks after the Hamas attacks and hours after the firebombing of Caulfield South burger shop Burgertory, owned by Palestine activist Hash Tayeh, a pro-Palestine rally was planned at Princes Park.

As The AJN reported, demonstrators directly outside the shule chanted “Allahu Akhbar” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Israel supporters gathered, some targeted by rocks. Several were treated by Hatzolah, including AJN photographer Peter Haskin, who was hit with police capsicum foam while photographing a scuffle.

In a statement this week, Free Palestine Melbourne (FPM) claimed it did not organise the rally, and did not authorise a post by activist Tasnim Sammak promoting it on its Instagram page. Sammak, the respondent in Vorchheimer’s initial VCAT proceeding, had accused Israel supporters of the firebombing. FPM claimed it contacted police around 5.30pm, shortly beforehand, “to express concerns” about the rally.

FPM stated, “We again reiterate our apology made on 11 November 2023 for the protest location and the evacuation of Central Shule. Organisers nominated the Burgertory restaurant as the location of the rally in a show of solidarity. The location was not chosen with knowledge or foresight of its proximity to a Jewish place of worship.”

Vorchheimer welcomed Sammak and FPM “accepting that Victoria Police stated at the time that the firebombing was not racially, politically or religiously motivated”.

But on social media, Tayeh slammed FPM’s apology as “the equivalent of me apologising for saying Zionists are terrorists and accepting defeat”.
Man arrested over suspected double mezuzah attack in Golders Green
A suspect accused of removing mezuzot from two homes in north west London has been arrested and released on bail, the police confirmed today.

On Monday morning, the mezuzot were allegedly removed from front doors in Bridge Lane, Golders Green. One of the incidents was caught on a CCTV camera, with the suspect appearing to approach a front door and hack off the Jewish fixture with a knife.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that a 33-year-old suspect was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of “racially-motivated criminal damage,” and has been released on bail pending further enquiries.

They did not confirm whether the suspect was the same man caught on camera.

Sharing the footage on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Jewish security charity, Shomrim, said: “Shomrim is supporting the victims of these incidents and continues to provide reassurance patrols in the area.

“The organisation encourages anyone who has been affected or who has experienced any form of antisemitism to get in touch. Shomrim specialises in reporting, and supporting victims of antisemitic crime, and all reports will be handled with sensitivity and urgency.”
IDF Kissufim probe finds that 45 killed during October 7 invasion
The IDF on Wednesday issued its October 7 probe of the battles of both the Kissufim army base and the nearby Kissufim kibbutz, in which 45 mostly Israelis, and some Thai workers, were killed.

Although nearly all of the Israelis were killed by around 150 Hamas Nukhba invaders from two different battalions, one Israeli, Tom Godu, was mistakenly killed by IDF forces who thought he was a Hamas fighter.

Of the Israelis who the Hamas invaders murdered, 27 were soldiers, 10 were kibbutz civilians, six were Thai workers, and one was part of the local volunteer security forces.

Some civilians were reportedly fooled and then killed by invaders calling out that they were from the IDF.

Kissufim had around 300 residents before the invasion.

IDF soldiers held their own at Kissufim base
Unlike many battles on October 7, the IDF soldiers from 51st Battalion at the Kissufim base managed to hold their ground initially for an extended period that morning.

Breaking down the area, there were really around four different battles between Israeli forces and Gazan invaders.

Eventually, nearly all of them retreated to the Kissufim kibbutz, but not before slowing the Hamas invasion and taking a toll on the invaders.

However, regardless of that initial defense, large numbers of invaders, around 40, penetrated near or into the Kissufim base, and around 60, penetrated near or into the Kissufim kibbutz and killed many of the Israeli civilians living there.

In addition, besides those killed, 70 Israelis were wounded during the Kissufim base and kibbutz battles, and one, Shlomo Mantzur, was kidnapped and killed in Gaza.

Mantzur's body was returned to Israel this past February during the most recent ceasefire with Hamas.

Around 25 Hamas invaders were killed in the army base battle and around 30 were killed in the kibbutz battle, with another 50 killed in the nearby area, and around 50 of the invaders eventually returning to Gaza.
Andrew Fox: Israel's Operation to End Hamas Rule over Gaza
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called Israel's recent military push in Gaza "morally unjustifiable." Israel has launched an operation aimed at ending Hamas's rule over Gaza once and for all. Over the past year, Israel's strategy has been shaped by the constraints of American policy under the Biden administration, characterized by measured responses, humanitarian pauses, and repeated attempts at de-escalation. That phase is over.

Hamas remains entrenched, hostages continued to be held captive. The January 2025 ceasefire solidified Hamas's grip on power and enabled it to rearm and reassert control in Gaza. The current offensive aims to dismantle Hamas entirely and bring the hostages home.

Counterinsurgency warfare in densely populated urban areas is notoriously brutal, slow, and unpredictable. Yet if Israel fails to achieve its objectives swiftly, international pressure will intensify. The nightmare scenario is one in which Israel is compelled to cease operations before dismantling Hamas's leadership or securing the return of all hostages.

In such a scenario, Hamas will emerge politically emboldened, asserting that they repelled the IDF, a narrative that will resonate across the region and beyond. Hamas regains legitimacy, Israeli deterrence is weakened, and the strategic status quo becomes entrenched. Either Israel is permitted to complete what it initiated or it is compelled to halt, still ensnared in the cycle of war, ceasefire, and inevitable relapse.
IDF: Hundreds of Gaza Targets Rejected to Protect Civilians and Hostages
As IDF airstrikes in Gaza intensified over the past week, striking hundreds of targets and removing threats in coordination with ground forces, Israeli defense officials defended the oversight of the campaign.

"The IDF remains committed to the same values, with unchanged rules of engagement and strengthened oversight mechanisms," one official said.

"There is no one more ethical than the thousands of IDF officers planning and approving these targets."

Defense sources say hundreds of potential targets have been disqualified during approval stages due to proportionality concerns or the possible presence of hostages.

"Every officer in the process has the authority to halt or object to a strike. This ensures our adherence to moral and legal principles," the official added. "Anyone saying otherwise is simply lying."

In recent days, the IDF struck a Hamas command and control center sheltering senior Hamas leaders located in an underground tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. Israeli officials stressed that the location had been converted into a terrorist command post.

Defense officials also said the IDF uses small, precision munitions where needed to eliminate Hamas operatives while minimizing civilian casualties.


IDF strikes Hezbollah infrastructure across Southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces carried out a series of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, the military said in a statement on Thursday night.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a military site in the Beqaa region of Southern Lebanon that housed rocket launchers and other weapons. The site was being used by Hezbollah terror operatives, the IDF said.

In separate strikes, the IAF targeted additional terror infrastructure, including rocket and missile launchers, across Southern Lebanon.

One of the Lebanese villages where the IDF struck Hezbollah was Toul. Ahead of the airstrikes, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, issued an evacuation warning.

“You are located near facilities belonging to the Hezbollah terror group,” the army spokesman wrote. “For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings immediately and move at least 500 meters [1,640 feet] away, as seen on the map.”

“The presence of arms in the area and the activity of Hezbollah terrorists at the site constitute blatant violations of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF stated, referring to the Nov. 26 truce deal.

“The IDF will continue to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and will prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to entrench itself near the border,” the IDF statement added.


Swedish MEP assaulted as European Parliament debates Gaza
A pro-Israel Swedish member of the European Parliament, Alice Teodorescu Måwe, was verbally and physically attacked by a civil servant from the Left group in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

The incident happened as the E.U. assembly was debating the situation in Gaza.

In Sweden, Teodorescu Måwe is a member of the Swedish Democrats, which is part of the governing coalition, and in the European Parliament, she is a member of the European People’s Party.

While initial reports of the incident were contradictory, European Parliament spokesperson Delphine Colard indicated that the assessment “confirmed the MEP’s version of events’,’ as a CCTV surveillance camera was in operation in the part of the legislature where the incident occurred.

The incident started when the Left staff member, reportedly a Swede of Middle Eastern descent, photographed and filmed the Bucharest-born MEP.

“When Alice asked the person to explain his actions, the person claimed that they intended to publish the images on social media to ‘tell the world what a terrible person’ Alice is,” Natalie Tegelberg, secretary of the Swedish Democrats, told Swedish press agency TT.
'Preposterous’: UN retracts debunked dead babies comment despite media sprawl
Sky News host Andrew Bolt questions why the media is pushing the now-debunked claim that 14,000 babies will die in Gaza in 48 hours.

“14,000 babies in Gaza dying in 48 hours … that claim was clearly preposterous, clearly propaganda, yet it was repeated unquestioningly by media around the world,” Mr Bolt said.

“Did that Palestinian activist, by the way, who shot dead those two Jews in Washington, hear that fake news, by the way – about Israel killing 14,000 babies? Palestinian ones, in two days – is that what made him so proud to be a jew killer?”




Austria’s Eurovision winner says he hopes Israel will be excluded
We’ve seen sore losers with this year’s Eurovision, and now there’s a sore winner.

It’s Austria’s JJ, who won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with the song, “Wasted Love,” but was upset that Israel took part and that Israel’s song, “New Day Will Rise,” sung by Yuval Raphael, came in first in the audience voting.

“I hope the competition next year will take place in Vienna—without Israel,” he said Wednesday in an interview with the Spanish news outlet, El Pais. “But the ball is in the European Broadcasting Union’s court. We artists can only raise our voices on the matter. It’s very disappointing that Israel is still taking part in the contest.”

He also zeroed in on the audience voting system as problematic. “There needs to be a change in the voting system. There should be more transparency in the televoting. This year everything was very strange on that front,” he said.

While JJ won overall, in the audience voting, he received 178 points while Raphael received 297. The winner is determined by a combination of the audience votes, plus the votes of national juries. The national juries awarded “Wasted Love” 258 points, while they gave “New Day Will Rise” only 60. This is similar to last year, when Eden Golan’s rendition of “Hurricane” was second in the audience voting but she only had enough jury votes to finish fifth overall.

While there was no outcry last year about voting methods when the Swedish Nemo’s “The Code” won and Croatia’s “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” by Baby Lasagna led in the popular vote, following Israel’s audience-vote triumph, there has been outrage in multiple countries.

The public broadcasters in Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, and Ireland have asked the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the competition, to examine the results for voting fraud.

They were especially critical of the fact that audience members can vote up to 20 times. Now that the only Jewish state has won the popular vote, this method has become suspect, although televoting has been in use since the late 90s. Even Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, weighed in to call for Israel to be banned.


Trump admin revokes Harvard’s student visas
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced on Thursday that the Trump administration canceled Harvard University’s visa program over the school’s failure to provide her department with information about Jew-hatred on campus.

“It is a privilege to enroll foreign students, and it is also a privilege to employ aliens on campus,” Noem wrote to Harvard’s director of immigration services, Maureen Martin.

“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” she wrote.

Following the revocation, Harvard is prohibited from issuing new student visas, and its current students must transfer to another university to maintain their legal status in the United States.

Harvard has 6,793 international students, making up more than 27% of the student body, per the school’s website.

The secretary gave Harvard a 72-hour ultimatum to have its visa privileges restored if it complies with the department’s demands, including requests for records about student visa-holders committing illegal activity, threatening other students or engaging in protest.

“This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard’s failure tocomply with simple reporting requirements,” Noem wrote.


NYS Republicans fume as Dems kill bill to strengthen protections against college antisemitism
Republican lawmakers are fuming after Democrats moved to block a bill that would give colleges and universities more teeth to combat antisemitism.

The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Putnam), would update the definition of antisemitism under state education law to match that used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA.

“The first step in combatting hate is defining it,” Slater told The Post. “It appears Albany Democrats disagree.”

The change would make it easier to go after colleges and universities that allow hate to fester under Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, supporters said.

“It’s shameful they refuse to take a real stand against antisemitism when they have an opportunity to do so, especially given the significant rise in hate crimes across our state since October of 2023,” Slater added of Democrats.

“They can denounce hate all they want when it’s convenient, but actions speak louder than words.”

Current law protects against discrimination based on ethnicity and religion. But backers of the bill say that more specific language is needed due to Jewish people’s common classification as an ethnic-religion.

The IHRA definition reads: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The bill was considered in the Assembly’s education committee Tuesday but the panel’s chairman, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) said Democrats were rejecting the bill because they believe interpretation of the Civil Rights Act should be handled by Washington.

Benedetto also took issue with the way Slater’s bill was worded.

“The ACLU has concerns about this. Until things are settled federally, I think it’s best for us to hold on to this,” Benedetto said.


From Million-Dollar Homes to Radical Activism—These Posh Private School Alumni Were Among the Arrested Columbia and Barnard Students
Emma Biswas grew up in a life of luxury. She led the robotics team at the Harker School, which bills itself as one of the nation’s top college prep schools and where tuition can reach $65,000. While there, she interned with a biotech company that boasts, "Prospective Nobel Prize Winners Work Here." And until she left for Barnard College, Biswas lived in a San Francisco Bay Area mansion worth about $5.8 million, according to a Redfin estimate.

Then she was arrested for storming a Columbia University library, along with 80 other radicals. The May 7 mob injured two security officials, damaged bookshelves, distributed pamphlets praising Hamas, and renamed the library after a terrorist. They were led by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a notorious anti-Semitic group that wants the Ivy League school to cut all ties with Israel, and chanted, "We want divestment now."

By joining in those demands, Biswas was essentially taking aim at a source of her family’s wealth. Her father, Baribrata Biswas, has been a senior vice president with Synopsys for over 20 years, according to his LinkedIn page. The multibillion-dollar tech company has offices in Israel, which it calls a "hub for innovation," and has supplied components to Elbit Systems, an Israel Defense Forces weapons maker that anti-Israel radicals have targeted.

Biswas was just one of the eight Barnard and Columbia students who attended swanky and prestigious private schools and were charged with criminal trespassing for their roles in the Butler Library storming, a Washington Free Beacon review found.

Another was Barnard student Luna Firefly Deerfield Cuming Shaw, the granddaughter of Mark Shaw, who describes himself as John F. Kennedy’s unofficial family photographer. He also snapped other celebrities such as Pablo Picasso, Yves Saint Laurent, and Nazi lover and collaborator Coco Chanel, according to his website. Cuming Shaw’s grandmother, Pat Suzuki, is an actress best known for her role in the Broadway musical, Flower Drum Song.

Cuming Shaw attended the Putney School in Vermont, which charges day students $50,100 and boarding students $80,200. Despite the price, it advertises itself as a "progressive school" that considers inclusivity "a fundamental principle of the school." It sports two committees dedicated to the cause, allowing it to remain "in the forefront of the drive for social justice." Her mother, Juliet Cuming, is a longtime leftwing activist, Barnard alumna, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) supporter.


‘New Jim Crow’: Sydney uni slammed over plan to ‘segregate’ Jewish students during Palestine protest
The University of Sydney proposed providing a separate entrance to exams “to ensure that Jewish students” could avoid a pro-Palestine encampment in what a Jewish leader has described as “segregation” and a “new Jim Crow”.

Emails obtained under a Government Information Public Access (GIPA) application shed new light on the university’s rolling response to the pro-Palestine encampment, which took over the campus for almost two months last year.

In an email on May 14, 2024 titled “Student encampment planning #20”, USYD’s Associate Director of Risk Strategy and Operations detailed discussions from the university’s midday meetings about the exam period.

“(The exam) should go ahead in the MacLaurin Hall and the Great Hall but we need to be clear of our expectations and that it would be counter-productive for both our students and the protest itself for them to disrupt exam activities,” the minutes stated.

“Mitigations include installing the large electronic signs (big and visible) stating our expectations and ensure that Jewish students have ways to avoid the encampment

when gaining entry to exams (see actions).

“If there is disruption we need to manage this through our misconduct/consequence framework and through contingency planning (e.g. special consideration and a new exam in the replacement exam period) (see actions).”

Further actions were detailed and assigned to various staff, including communication to student groups, discussion of “safe spaces for students and staff” – including exam spaces – and “contingency planning processes offline”.

Jack Pinczewski, a board member at the Great Synagogue in Sydney, submitted in a personal capacity to a state parliament inquiry into anti-Semitism in NSW – the first session of which was held in Sydney this week – that the university “took the view that to separate Jewish students from their peers was the most effective way of ensuring their safety”.

“Despite their good intentions – to protect Jewish students – that university executives contemplated separate entries for Jewish students to exam rooms is an impossibly shameful racist enterprise,” Mr Pinczewski said.

“As a society, would we accept separate entries to buildings for Asian or Aboriginal students? We would not.


BRITISH MEDIA PROMOTE UN’S ‘14,000 DEAD BABIES’ LIE
Fletcher’s accusation began to unravel later that same day when “asked to confirm that [14,000] figure at a news conference, a UN spokesman avoided repeating it“. Instead, he said there were babies in “urgent life-saving need of supplements”, because their mothers were “unable to feed themselves”.

To its credit, BBC later asked for further clarification from UNOCHA, which said: “We are pointing to the imperative of getting supplies in to save an estimated 14,000 babies suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Gaza, as the IPC partnership has warned about. We need to get the supplies in as soon as possible, ideally within the next 48 hours”.

However, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report in question stated that 14,100 severe cases of acute malnutrition are expected to occur among children aged six to 59 months between April 2025 and March 2026. So, the IPC report says that this severe acute malnutrition, not death, could, assuming current aid levels remain the same, take place over the course of about a year – not in the next 48 hours.

So, to recap, the IPC report which Fletcher evidently was citing did NOT say that 14,000 babies will die in the next 48 hours unless sufficient food gets to them. It projected that 14,100 children under the age of five could , under certain scenarios, be severely malnourished over the next 11 months. Finally, even this projection should be treated with skepticism given that the IPC’s 2024 projection of famine in Gaza turned out to be completely wrong.

We’ve contacted the Guardian, Independent, LBC and the National urging them to correct their articles to note what they were reporting as fact was a hoax. To date, Tom Fletcher has not apologised for his libel.
CROSS-PLATFORM PROMOTION OF UN DISINFORMATION BY THE BBC
The May 20th edition of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme included news bulletins and items relating to a statement “on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank” put out by the UK, France and Canada.

At 1:09:45 listeners heard presenter Nick Robinson interview a dentist in the Gaza Strip, followed by a conversation with the BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen and comments from Robinson on the topic of ‘genocide’.

At 2:10:24 listeners heard presenter Anna Foster introduce another long item on the same topic which included a nearly nine-minute-long interview with UN OCHA’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher. Notably, listeners were not provided with any information about the record and activities of that UN body.

Early on in that interview (from 2:13:36), listeners heard the following from Fletcher:
Fletcher: “Let me describe what is on those trucks. This is baby food. Baby nutrition. There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them. This is not food that Hamas are gonna steal.”

Foster failed to ask her interviewee for the source of that number, which he repeated some five minutes later. [emphasis in italics in the original]

Fletcher: “I want to save as many of these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours.”

Foster: “14,000 babies in 48 hours is an extraordinary figure.”

Fletcher: “It’s chilling. It’s utterly chilling. But this is what we do. We keep going.”

Although BBC audiences had not been provided with any information to support the assertion that 14,000 babies were going to die within 48 hours, the BBC chose to post that claim on its website and promote it on social media a couple of hours later.


FDD: 9 Myths About Iran’s Uranium Enrichment Program
President Trump and his administration have demanded that Iran agree to the full, verifiable, and permanent dismantlement of its atomic weapons program — including the regime’s ability to produce enriched uranium — as part of any new nuclear deal. Yet several myths about the regime’s uranium enrichment program mischaracterize its threat, defend its continued existence, or misstate its history and nature. Debunking these myths is integral if efforts to achieve dismantlement are to succeed.

Myth #1: Iran has a legal right to enrich uranium.
FACT: Iran has no unconditional right to enrich uranium.

Nuclear weapons production begins with producing the needed fuel. Iran has pursued uranium, which it is currently enriching up to a level of 60 percent in spinning machines called gas centrifuges. Once that level is achieved, Tehran has accomplished 99 percent of the effort to make weapons-grade uranium. While Tehran has often claimed a legal “right” to enrich uranium as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), that treaty is silent on whether state parties have an explicit right to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium — the key processes that make fuel for nuclear weapons.

NPT Article IV specifies the “inalienable right” of signatories “to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy” but only for “peaceful purposes.” Yet such research must also be conducted in conformity with Articles I and II of the NPT, which forbid the transfer and receipt of nuclear weapons. Tehran has long violated Article II, which requires non-nuclear weapon states parties “not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and not to seek or receive any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” As a result, the IAEA has been investigating Iran’s nuclear activities since 2002. Since 2006, the UN Security Council has demanded on multiple occasions that Iran “suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development.”

Myth #2: Iran is not working toward a nuclear weapon.
FACT: Iran is actively working on efforts that would assist future assembly of a nuclear weapon.

In February 2025, The New York Times reported that the United States and Israel had discovered a secret Iranian team working on the production of “crude” nuclear weapons — those requiring less testing and assurance of functionality to assemble. Iran has currently stockpiled enough highly enriched uranium to produce at least seven of these weapons.

Additionally, in early 2024, the United States and Israel reportedly detected Iran working on dual-use activities relevant to “weaponization” — the construction of a nuclear device. The Biden administration warned the regime to halt such work in June. In July, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) revised its long-standing assessment that Iran is not working on weaponization. In October, Israel destroyed the Taleghan 2 facility, located within Iran’s Parchin military complex, where Iran was allegedly carrying out experiments relevant to weaponization.

Iran has enriched uranium to levels (60 percent) that far exceed what is needed for peaceful reasons, such as to fuel a nuclear power plant (3-5 percent).


Sydney women support Beersheva shelter to honor slain Israeli yoga instructor
Seventy women gathered in Sydney, Australia, recently for a yoga session and healing circle to honor Carmel Gat, an Israeli yoga instructor who was murdered while in Hamas captivity after being abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

The event, held on May 16, which would have been Gat’s 41st birthday, was organized by Lev Echad (“One Heart”), a division of WIZO NSW composed of women aged 30 to 50. The morning began with the lighting of 41 candles, each symbolizing a year of her life.

Funds raised from the event will support Makom Balev (“A Place in the Heart”), a WIZO-backed shelter and empowerment center in Beersheva for women who have no safe place to turn. A memorial for Carmel Gat at the Lev Echad event in Sydney, Australia. She was kidnapped to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and then murdered, May 16, 2025. Credit: WIZO.

Lev Echad members first encountered Gat’s story during a solidarity mission to Israel in May 2024, where they met her family and friends at Be’eri, on her 40th birthday.

“Carmel reminded us that even in the darkest places, light can be found through the body, breath and spirit,” said one participant. “She embodied peace and resilience. Today, we honored her not just in mourning—but in movement.”

Makom Balev offers refuge, rehabilitation and a new path forward—ensuring that Gat’s spirit continues to uplift others.


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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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