Saturday, May 24, 2025

05/24 Links: Former hostage Agam Berger: Diplomatic solutions 'won't work' when confronting Hamas; Spain should think thrice before it lectures Israel about genocide

From Ian:

Awash in Anti-Semitism
Societies that mistreat Jews rarely prosper. The England that expelled its Jews in 1290 was a fractious, violent backwater just off the coast of Europe; the England that welcomed them back in 1656 was developing the culture and habits that made it a global superpower. The Nazis staged many of their great rallies in Nuremberg, but in 1946 10 of their leaders swung from ropes there.

Philosemites tend to do much better. Chalk it up to God’s special favor for the Jewish people, the providence that George Washington relied on, or the fact that free and tolerant people tend to handle challenges admirably. Countries that treat Jews well tend to beat all comers, particularly when their love for Jews is an outgrowth of their love for liberty.

Healthy societies tend to repel self-defeating bigotries; it’s the sick ones that drink the saltwater. The high points of Jew-hatred in American history usually come at the nation’s lowest point. For example, the depraved ravings of "social justice" activists like Father Coughlin found their biggest audience during the Great Depression. America’s economic indicators are not nearly that bad today, but the explosion of suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related deaths tells a much grimmer story. And when the American dream seems out of reach, people often blame the Jews.

In troubled times, a country’s leaders must seek out sources of vitality and strength. In a society as boisterous, complex, and constantly changing as ours, this is a daunting task. America’s institutional leaders are clearly not up to it. They have lost their minds and championed socialist economics, wild social experiments, and poisonous identity politics. Many of these lunatics excuse or even cheer on the Jew-hating mobs that emerged on Oct. 7.

Some of their critics are no better. Many of the people who most loudly condemn the left’s follies and villainies in the next breath excuse their allies who embody the same kinds of Jew-hatred and bigotry.

This civilization is in peril, but it still has the intellectual and spiritual resources to prevail. Out of Nuremberg recently came a young man, a Christian who embraced the Jewish people and represented Israel here in Washington. He met a young Jewish woman from Kansas, and they planned out their lives together. They stood for their people, and died for it.

We need more Yaron Lischinskys and Sarah Milgrims.
Rabbi David Wolpe: There is No Justification for Antisemitism
On Feb. 25, 1996, two young American Jews, Sarah Duker and Matthew Eisenfeld, were killed by the bomb of a Hamas terrorist in the streets of Jerusalem. They were students at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, where I was teaching at the time, on a year studying in Israel. They were about to be engaged.

Yesterday, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were shot and killed on the streets of Washington, DC. They were about to be engaged.

There are moments that crystallize fears. Hatred of Jews is always a concern of Jews, one that history unstintingly supports. But in the fraught time since Oct. 7, 2023, the sense of dread has deepened. Thirty years apart, these two events remind us that no single reason or justification has ever been required to hate or to kill Jews.

Statistics are chilling but faceless. According to the FBI’s 2023 Hate Crime Statistics, 68% of all religion-based hate crimes were committed against Jews. Jews are less than 2% of the population.

It is when hatred passes for normal that the chill enters the collective psyche of the decent. As a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Divinity School in 2023, I witnessed some Harvard students chant “globalize the intifada.”

Yesterday’s murder was done, according to the shooter, for a “free Palestine.”
Spain should think thrice before it lectures Israel about genocide
Why is Spain so quick to jump on the genocide-lie bandwagon? It’s called transference. Spain is the one that committed genocide against the Jewish people. Not once. Not twice. But three times.

The first was the rise of the Almohad regime in the 12th century. The golden age of Spanish Jewry came to a violent end, as Jews were given the choice to convert to Islam, flee, or die by the sword. The family of Maimonides, one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of all time, was forced to flee Cordoba for their lives. That was classic religious ethnic cleansing that bears the marks of genocidal persecution.

The second was the Spanish Expulsion of 1492. Under Ferdinand and Isabella, some 200,000 Jews were forced to leave the country they had called home for centuries. Tens of thousands more who had converted to Christianity were hunted down by the Inquisition, tortured, and burned at the stake for “heresy.” Jewish identity was systematically erased from the public sphere. Jewish books were banned. Synagogues were converted into churches. This was physical and cultural genocide in its most thorough form.

And the third time, which occurred within living memory, was when Spain turned its back on the Jews. During the Holocaust, when Europe’s Jews desperately sought refuge from Nazi annihilation, Spain closed its doors to its own citizens. Of the 4,000 Jewish Spaniards scattered throughout western Europe, only 800 were readmitted into their country of birth. The rest were sent to the gas chambers, making Spain a complicit partner in the genocide of its Jewish citizenry.

So when Prime Minister Sanchez accuses Israel of genocide, the irony and hypocrisy are staggering. Israel was created in part so that there would be one place where Jews could defend themselves. That’s what Israel is doing now. Not exterminating a people, but defending its own citizens from one that has vowed to wipe it off the map – while taking unsurpassed measures to protect innocent Palestinian civilians from the pain and suffering their genocidal Hamas regime has brought upon them.


Former hostage Agam Berger: Diplomatic solutions 'won't work' when confronting Hamas
Former hostage Agam Berger met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Saturday, where she stated that diplomatic solutions won't work when confronting Hamas, Israeli media reported.

"If it were possible not to choose war, we wouldn't choose it. But the moment there is a war for the survival of our land, that's what we will do," she said.

"They [Hamas] don't want 'togetherness.' All the diplomatic solutions - I don't know what to call it - it won't work because it's either us or them."

"All the hostages must be released. Now. Hamas must disarm and not be included in the political future of Gaza," Barrot said.

Three months after release, Omer Shem Tov deals with guilt of enjoying everyday life
When he was released on February 22 with five others as part of a ceasefire deal, video showed Shem Tov surrounded by masked, armed Hamas fighters. Under duress, he was seen kissing the head of a Hamas fighter and blowing kisses to the crowd. A van passed in front of the stage, he recalled, and a door opened revealing two hostages who were not being released.

He was handed over to the Red Cross and taken to an area controlled by the Israeli military. “I get out of the vehicle, I look around, I see the sky, the sun. The first time, I feel safe,” he said, adding that he asked the IDF officer who received him if he could hug her.

“It’s the first time in forever I feel love and warmth,” he said.

Shem Tov was taken to meet his parents — his mother, Shelly Shem Tov, had kept his bedroom as he left it, with instructions that nobody should touch or clean it until he came home and did it himself.

“I see my mom and my dad and I run up to them, and I hug them,” Shem Tov said. “I waited for this moment for so long. I imagined it for so long. This is what I want every hostage to experience.”

Shem Tov has embraced the role of advocating for those still hostage — something his parents were already doing — telling anyone who listens they must be brought home.

“It’s really fulfilling. I love what I am doing but don’t like the cause,” he said. “I wish they were all here today. I hope it will be soon and in good circumstances.”

And while he is reluctant to talk politics, Shem Tov worries Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza puts the remaining hostages in danger.

“Every soldier for me is a hero,” he said. “But there is a big but. For me and the hostages, it’s difficult for us while the army is in the area. Places near us are being bombed. I support the army but we have to get them out.”

“If you keep on going with the military pressure, there is a big chance they will be killed.”


Mia Schem's hostage ribbon confiscated at Cannes Film Festival
A ribbon with "Bring Them Home" written on it was confiscated from former Gaza hostage Mia Schem by security guards at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, Schem told N12.

"I came to help in the struggle to bring the hostages back,” Schem told N12.

“Unfortunately, upon arriving at the red carpet, the festival management confiscated the ribbon I was supposed to wear. I refused to give up. I took the yellow hostage pin from one of the delegation members and wore it on my dress," she stated.

Schem was invited to Cannes Film Festival by the local Jewish community, and on Friday, was hosted by the Mayor of Nice, where she spoke at the city council.

Over the 10-day festival, multiple protests against Israel occurred, including one led by twin directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser during a screening of their film "Once Upon a Time in Gaza."

"Gaza is undergoing the greatest and most horrific genocide in modern history,” the directors stated.

In another instance, Australian editor Julian Assange attended a festival event wearing a jacket that read "Stop Israel" and a shirt listing approximately 5,000 names of children allegedly killed by the IDF since 2023.


The DC Israeli Embassy staffer killings are what happens when words become weapons
Words have consequences. Deadly words have deadly consequences.

Two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Sarah Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, who were attending an American Jewish Committee event on Middle East cooperation, were assassinated on Wednesday because of deadly words.

The alleged murderer, American-born Elias Rodriguez, shouted, “Free, free Palestine.” The two young people were planning to go to Israel in a week for their engagement.

Instead, they will be buried amidst untold grief, sorrow, loss, and anger.

What does “Free, free Palestine” mean? It sure isn’t a cry for peace or coexistence. Rather, it’s a call for the annihilation or expulsion of nearly 10 million Israelis, who live in a land associated with the Jewish people since time immemorial.

How to achieve annihilation? The chants that surely inspired Rodriguez — a left-wing extremist without clear links to Islam and the Middle East — and his fellow travelers, tell the story: “Globalize the intifada,” “We are all Hamas,” “F–k the Zionists,” and “By any means necessary.”

Those are unmistakable calls to hatred, incitement, and violence.

They already led to the murder, in 2023, of Paul Kessler, 69, a pro-Israel demonstrator in Los Angeles, not to mention subway riders in New York being told by masked mobs to leave the train if they were Zionists, Jewish students at Cooper Union barricaded in the school’s library while a frenzied mob hovered just outside, Jewish students at Columbia University being told to study from home if they felt unsafe on campus, Jewish houses of worship desecrated and Jewish businesses spray painted and boycotted.

The list is long and growing.
Joshua Namm: To My Fellow Jews: What Will It Take???
In the case of Paul Kessler, his murderer plead not guilty and still hasn’t been tried. He was murdered in November… of 2023.

You can murder Jews, harass Jews, and target Jews in the United States and there will be no marches, no hand-wringing by the media and….no justice.

I (“for some reason”) doubt that Muriel Bowser, the Mayor of Washington D.C., will have “Jewish Lives Matter” painted down 16th street, culminating in “Jewish Lives Matter Plaza,” as she did with “Black Lives Matter.”

The names of the two young people murdered on Wednesday were Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Lischinsky’s last social media post condemned the ridiculous United Nations lie that 14,000 babies would starve to death in Gaza during the next 48 hours.

As Melanie Phillips points out in her recent article “Blood On Their Hands,” that claim is exactly the kind of thing that encourages Jew haters to murder. It IS also what they mean “Globalize the Intifada” means. She goes on to blame the same list of suspects that I would blame:

“The politicians who have allowed the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Iranian extremists to spread their influence throughout western civil society; the media and all those who relentlessly demonize Israel with blood libels and murderous lies, including the British, French and Canadian governments that this week threatened to punish Israel for defending itself—these all bear responsibility for what happened in Washington.”

The claim about the babies in Gaza was just the most recent in a very long line of blood libels that have spread globally, nearly unopposed, for years. This did not start on 10/8, it just became socially acceptable to be this open about hating Jews since 10/8.

It is even amazing that we are using words like “pogrom” and “blood libel” in the modern era. When I was growing up, these were words that applied to the distant past.

Milgrim was born in Kansas. She encountered antisemitism in high school. That experience only strengthened her Jewish identity. She eventually went to the University of Kansas, where she was active in Jewish life. She lived in Israel for a time, then moved back to the United States. She got a job at the Israeli embassy just before 10/7. Her story is heartbreaking for a reason I haven’t heard a lot of people site: she was clearly proud of her Jewishness, cared about the Jewish community, and wanted to make it better.

I have no words for how the loss of a young Jewish life makes me feel.
AJC holds online memorial for murdered Israeli embassy staffers
Attendees of a hastily called memorial service on Friday for Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim praised the Israeli embassy employees, whom a gunman killed in downtown Washington as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.

Participants of the online service, led by the American Jewish Committee, also came to mourn the couple, who planned to get engaged, and to talk about how they hoped the two would be the last victims of the surge of Jew-hatred that has engulfed the United States and the rest of the world since Oct. 7.

Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the AJC, recited Psalm 23 (“the Lord is my shepherd”) and the mourner’s kaddish.

Lischinsky and Milgrim were killed after leaving an AJC event that was part of its ACCESS D.C. program for young professionals. Elias Rodriguez, of Chicago, who shouted “free Palestine” as police arrested him, has been charged with federal and state murder charges.

“We’re all in shock,” said Belle Yoeli, AJC’s chief advocacy officer. “We’re devastated, and we are horrified by another unspeakable act of violence against the Jewish people.”

“We knew it could have happened to any of us anywhere in the world,” said Ted Deutch, the CEO of the American Jewish Committee.

“All of us must do what we can to fight antisemitism, to make this a turning point, to make the world understand we will not accept this as normal,” he said.


Influential Palestinian author callously calls DC Jewish Museum victims ‘genocide cheerleaders’
A prominent Palestinian author and activist callously ripped the two victims of the DC Jewish Museum shooting as “genocide cheerleaders” in a series of hateful tweets — saying she was shocked the bloodshed hadn’t “happened sooner.”

Susan Abulhawa, who served as the director of the controversial 2023 “Palestine Writes” festival at the University of Pennsylvania, fired off numerous posts that apparently supported suspected shooter Elias Rodriguez’s actions just hours after he allegedly killed two Israeli embassy staffers.

Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, who were engaged to be married, were attending a Jewish conference of the American Jewish Committee focused on fostering peace when they were killed on Wednesday.

“Now we’re supposed to feel bad for two genocide cheerleaders after watching these colonizer baby killers slaughter people by the hundreds every day for two years,” Abulhawa wrote on X the following day.

“I’ve seen the inside of too many children’s skulls to give a crap about the human garbage who get off on mass murder,” she raged.

Earlier that day, Abulhawa, who has written extensively about Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, indicated that the shooting was retribution for the pain Israel has been inflicting on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

“Natural logic: when governments fail to hold Israel accountable for an actual holocaust being committed before our very eyes, no genocidal Zionist should be safe anywhere in the world,” Abulhawa wrote.

“What Mr. Rodriguez did should come as no surprise. In fact, I’m surprised it has not happened sooner. Human beings with a conscience literally cannot bear to witness such evil day and day out being inflicted upon the bodies, minds, and futures of an utterly defenseless people, by such a hateful, racist, colonial state.”

The posts drew widespread backlash, with numerous other users calling on the FBI to investigate what they say was a call to violence.

“@FBI this is a direct call to violence,” wrote Eyal Yakoby, a UPENN student and Israeli activist.

Another user piled on, saying: “The “woe is me, the poor Palestinians” routine is getting old. The Nazi ghoul inside you is starting to show. Sorry, I’m fresh out of f—ks for 2 million terrorists obsessed with killing us.”

Another simply said: “You’re a truly awful person.”

A phone number listed for Abulhawa was not in service when The Post attempted to reach her. She did not respond to emails requesting further comment.

The Palestinian author has long been vocal about her hatred for Israel, especially since the outbreak of its war with Hamas, incited by the terror group’s deadly attack on Israel.

Abulhawa served as the director of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival that took place at UPenn in 2023 — weeks before the war broke out.

Numerous donors at the Ivy League retracted their funds, claiming the speakers at the event had a long history of antisemitic statements.

They also demanded that the school’s president, Liz Magill, resign, a move she ultimately made two months later.


Suspected DC Jewish Museum terrorist Elias Rodriguez has links to radical groups funded by socialist multi-millionaire Neville Singham
The suspected terrorist charged with gunning down two Israeli embassy workers in Washington Wednesday is associated with radical socialist groups funded by the far-left Chinese sympathizer, millionaire Neville Singham and his activist wife Jodie Evans.

Elias Rodriguez, 31, who allegedly confessed to killing the couple outside the Capital Jewish Museum and chanted “free, free Palestine!” was part of that network through his association with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a Communist political organization that has fielded presidential candidates since 2008.

In 2018, Rodriguez also raised $240 in a GoFundMe campaign to join the March to Fight Poverty in Washington DC and took part in demonstrations and protests around Chicago as a member of the ANSWER coalition around 2017 and 2018, another radical socialist group, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Both the PSL and ANSWER Coalition are connected to People’s Forum – a Manhattan-based non-profit which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party – through funding from Singham, 71.

All three groups have been involved in anti-Israel protests, with the People’s Forum having a cadre of operatives embedded at Columbia University — an epicenter of protest — according to previous reports.

The People’s Forum received more than $20 million in grants from Singham, much of it filtered through the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, a fiscal sponsor, as The Post has previously reported.

Another group, the Bronx Antiwar Coalition is also connected to groups in Singham’s orbit. The Bronx group applauded the murders of the Israeli diplomats on X Thursday.

“What Elias Rodriguez did is the highest expression of anti-Zionism,” a tweet from the group proclaimed.


Baby-faced anti-Israel teen urges his 1M followers to support suspected DC terrorist in rant so vile TikTok pulled it —then doubles down on hate
An anti-Israel teen with nearly a million online followers urged people to “support’’ the accused DC killer in a rant so vile that TikTok yanked it — and he then doubled-down on his comments to The Post.

Guy Christensen — a baby-faced, keffiyeh-wearing 19-year-old from Pennsylvania who goes by the online handle “YourFavoriteGuy’’ — said in Thursday’s video, “I want to urge you first to support Elias’ actions.”

He was referring to Elias Rodriguez, the 31-year-old alleged hate-filled assassin who gunned down the two Israeli Embassy diplomats leaving an event in DC on Wednesday night.

Christensen, asked by The Post if this could be interpreted as saying he supports the killing of the victims, replied, “I think the only people who are interpreting [that] as such are the people’’ who are using the slayings of “those two Zionist officials … as a pretense to silence critics of Israel.”

The teen — in the TikTok footage that garnered more than 632,500 views before being taken down — called the dead victim, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, a “war criminal.

“And the same was true for the woman,’’ he said, referring to Lischinsky’s slain girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim, 26.

Christensen, a college freshman who refused to say where he goes to school, added to The Post by phone, “You will not hear me sympathize with war criminals.’’

The young man also insisted Rodriguez was “not a terrorist.

“He is a resistance fighter,’’ the teen said.

In his video, Christensen had said, “I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials who worked at the Israeli Embassy last night … and here’s why.
Cam Higby: FAMOUS TikToker ENDORSES D.C. Shooter To Free Palestine
I hope you enjoyed! For more of my content follow me on my other platforms! I am really looking to build my discord community so that you all can have as much fun debating each other as I do and hone your skills. everyone is welcome regardless of political affiliation.


UNICEF Spox on if Hamas Steals Aid: ‘Violence Is Never an Answer’, Ours Doesn’t Get Stolen
On Friday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “The Brief,” UNICEF spokesperson Joe English responded to Israel blaming the humanitarian issues in Gaza on Hamas for stealing the aid by stating that “violence is never an answer and never provides a solution to a humanitarian crisis.” And “When we deliver food, we know that it goes to children.”

Host Jim Sciutto asked, “As you know, Israel blames Hamas for this. They blame Hamas for stealing the aid. What are the facts on the ground?”

English responded, “Our response to this has been consistent all the way through, which is that violence is never an answer and never provides a solution to a humanitarian crisis. UNICEF is one of those organizations where we reach people where they are. We do the last-mile delivery. When we deliver food, we know that it goes to children. When we deliver vaccines, we know it’s going in the children’s arms. When we’re doing psychosocial support work to help children deal with the torment that they have been through, we are there with that child. There is no diversion of those kind of services for children. And so, with all of these new plans around we’re going to have a limited number of places where people can come and get aid, survival cannot be the privilege of those who can go and search for it. We have to meet vulnerable children. We have to meet new moms. We have to meet disabled children, the elderly, the sick, the infirm where they are, and that means through sustained, unimpeded humanitarian access, we do this all around the world. Let us do our jobs.”


IDF strikes over 100 terror sites in Gaza as ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ ramps up
The Israel Defense Forces conducted extensive operations across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the military said on Saturday, killing terrorists and dismantling booby-trapped structures, underground and surface infrastructure, and anti-tank missile posts used by Palestinian terrorists.

Simultaneously, the Israeli Air Force attacked more than 100 targets throughout the enclave, hitting terrorist operatives, “military” compounds and tunnel networks.

The IDF also destroyed the launcher used to fire a projectile at southern Israel on Friday, neutralizing the threat to nearby Israeli communities.

The IAF attacked more than 75 enemy targets across Gaza in a 24-hour period ending Friday morning, according to the military.

Among the targets were terrorist cells, rocket launchers, command and control centers, weapons storage facilities, and additional infrastructure. IDF troops killed several terrorists in Gaza while striking Hamas compounds, weapons sites and sniper posts.

The military announced on Thursday that troops were working to establish operational control and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza.

As part of the ongoing operation, IDF troops killed dozens of terrorists—some in close-quarters combat—and destroyed approximately 200 targets, including observation posts, tunnel shafts and underground routes used by terrorist groups in the Strip.

Hundreds of airstrikes have been carried out so far, targeting armed operatives, weapons stockpiles and key infrastructure.


IDF says it is probing drone strike that reportedly killed 9 children in Gaza
The IDF says it is investigating a drone strike it carried out last night in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis that reportedly killed nine children.

According to Palestinian media, the strike hit a home in Khan Younis, killing nine children of the same family, all under the age of 12. The father of the family and one of the children, aged 11, were seriously wounded. The mother, Alaa Najjar, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty at the time of the strike.

In response to the reports, the IDF confirms it carried out a strike in Khan Younis, saying it targeted several suspects identified at a building close to where ground troops were operating.

“The Khan Younis area is a dangerous combat zone which the IDF ordered civilians to evacuate for their safety before the start of the troops’ operation,” the military says, referring to its warning on Monday.

“The claims about harm to uninvolved [civilians] are being looked into,” the IDF adds.


Terror stabbing thwarted in Hebron
IDF soldiers stopped a stabbing attack by a Palestinian assailant in Hebron on Saturday.

The suspect was “neutralized” at the scene, the military said. No injuries were reported.

Overnight Tuesday, Israeli security forces arrested the mastermind behind the Jan. 6 terrorist shooting in Al-Funduq village, near Qalqilya in western Samaria, which killed three Israeli civilians and wounded several others. The suspect was apprehended in Jenin by IDF troops operating with Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) intelligence.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said on Sunday that he was moving his office to the site of the May 14 terrorist shooting in which a pregnant Israeli woman was killed and her husband was wounded.

“Following the severe terrorist attack in which Tzeela Gez, may God avenge her blood, was murdered, the office of the council head was moved to an open tent opposite the village of Bruqin,” Dagan wrote in a message to residents on Sunday.

Bruqin “is a hornet’s nest,” Dagan charged. “We expect the government of Israel to carry out military operations here in Bruqin, just like it has belatedly begun to do—at the cost of blood—in northern Samaria.”

There has been a wave of Palestinian terrorists targeting Israeli drivers across Judea and Samaria with rocks since the murder of Gez, Channel 14 News reported on Wednesday.


Looters take over five aid trucks in Gaza, sell stolen goods at inflated prices
Five aid trucks in the Gaza Strip were taken over by looters on Saturday, Israeli media reported.

The stolen goods were sold to Gazans at inflated prices in areas such as Deir el-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The humanitarian aid trucks that entered Gaza contained flour, sugar, and sesame seeds. Flour was sold by the looters for NIS 40 per kilo, Israeli media noted.

Additionally, 15 World Food Program trucks were looted overnight in the Strip that were carrying humanitarian aid, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Also on Friday, hundreds of Gazans crowded next to a bakery in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, attempting to access bread after limited quantities of flour arrived in recent aid distributions, according to social media posts.

Footage on X/Twitter showed frantic pushing and shoving as the individuals in the crowd tried to catch plastic bags full of bread that were thrown over a wall or handed through a small hatch.


Why are young people chanting about 'Intifada?': Douglas Murray asks
FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in cable, FNC has been the most-watched television news channel for 18 consecutive years. According to a 2020 Brand Keys Consumer Loyalty Engagement Index report, FOX News is the top brand in the country for morning and evening news coverage. A 2019 Suffolk University poll named FOX News as the most trusted source for television news or commentary, while a 2019 Brand Keys Emotion Engagement Analysis survey found that FOX News was the most trusted cable news brand. A 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey also found that among Americans who could name an objective news source, FOX News was the top-cited outlet. Owned by FOX Corporation, FNC is available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre.


Hugh Hewitt: Eli Lake, host of “Breaking History” joined Hugh to talk the rise of left-wing terrorism in the U.S.



Call me Back Podcast: EMERGENCY EPISODE: Is this the Global Intifada? - with Mitch Silber
On Wednesday night, two employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, were shot dead by Elias Rodriguez, a radical left-wing activist. “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” he said after being taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder.

It’s been almost two years since the chant ‘globalize the Intifada’ has gone mainstream. Is what happened in DC a manifestation of that chant, or is this a lone-wolf incident? If we look around the globe - from Canada, to France, to Germany, Sweden, the UK and Australia - it looks like the US might be joining an already established club, albeit, a bit late.

How should the Jewish community in the US, and Jewish communities around the world prepare, if this is indeed a global intifada?

With us today to discuss all of this is Mitch Silber, who served as Director of Intelligence Analysis at the NYPD and is one of the foremost experts on counterterrorism and radicalization. Mitch currently leads the Community Security Initiative NY.

00:00 Introduction
03:30 What happened in DC?
05:51 The manifesto
07:54 Who were the victims?
12:26 New type of terrorist?
26:31 Jewish security outside of Israel
32:30 What should level of readiness be?
35:44 Outro




PragerU: Shabbos Kestenbaum: Why I Sued Harvard | Stories of Us
Shabbos Kestenbaum grew up a proud Jew and a proud American—never seeing a conflict between the two. A former progressive and social justice advocate, he entered Harvard Divinity School expecting open-mindedness. Instead, he found hostility toward Jews, radical leftist ideology, and institutional silence in the face of rising antisemitism. After October 7, he was harassed, threatened, and ignored—simply for being Jewish. Shabbos filed a civil rights lawsuit against Harvard and began rethinking everything he’d been taught about politics, identity, and what it truly means to stand for justice.


Quillette: Anti-Zionism vs Antisemitism: Explained By Moral Philosopher David Benatar
Read David's piece here. The fact that anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel are not necessarily antisemitic does not mean that they are never antisemitic. Similarly, the fact that anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel are sometimes antisemitic, does not imply that they always are. Determining when anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel are antisemitism requires argument. There will be cases in which the answer is clear, and other cases in which there is scope for reasonable disagreement. In what follows, I will try to unpick the most important factors at stake in determining this.

00:00 – Framing the Central Question
00:13 – Introducing David Benatar
00:39 – Overview of the Essay’s Argument
00:54 – Two Common Claims About Anti-Zionism
01:20 – What Is Zionism? What Is Anti-Zionism?
01:47 – Defining Antisemitism
02:14 – Benatar’s Critique of Prevailing Definitions
03:07 – Is Anti-Zionism a Form of Antisemitism?
03:21 – The IHRA Definition and Its Controversies
03:48 – Historical Analogies: Nazi Germany
04:16 – Limitations of the Jerusalem Declaration
04:43 – Security Concerns and Political Viability
05:24 – Religious Roots of Anti-Zionism
05:51 – 19th-Century American Analogy
06:19 – The BDS Movement: Motives and Impacts
07:01 – The “Settler Colonialism” Critique
07:30 – Debates on Israel’s Founding and Legitimacy
07:43 – Comparing Israel to Other Colonial Histories
08:11 – When Criticism Becomes Antisemitism


Quillette: The Biggest Taboo in Academia: Israel, with Philosopher Maarten Boudry
Maarten Boudry is a Belgian philosopher of science and a prominent public intellectual known for his work on pseudoscience, secularism, and ideological bias. He is a research professor at Ghent University and a vocal advocate for free inquiry and Enlightenment values.

In this episode, Zoe Booth speaks with Maarten Boudry about the growing discomfort around discussing Israel in academic settings—particularly following the October 7 Hamas attacks. Maarten shares how the backlash to Israel's response prompted him to re-evaluate his own views and take a keener interest in the region.

They explore why Israel has become a third-rail topic in universities, the role of antisemitism in shaping public narratives, and the broader challenges of defending liberal values in a climate of ideological conformity. The conversation covers academic boycotts, preference falsification among students, and the leftward shift in higher education. Zoe and Maarten also reflect on Quillette’s role in challenging dogma and protecting open inquiry from ideological capture.

00:00 The Emergence of Interest in Israel
03:27 Controversy and Taboo Surrounding Israel
08:57 The Role of Anti-Semitism in Perceptions of Israel
13:11 Liberalism and Cultural Integration Challenges in Europe
22:15 Ideological Capture in Universities
25:00 Freedom of Speech and Academic Boycotts
29:12 The Silent Majority and Preference Falsification
32:32 The Leftward Shift in Academia
35:36 The Betrayal of Enlightenment Values




Tom Gross: Anger in Israel as world continues to repeat UN & BBC blood libel lie that 14000 babies died in Gaza
Israel to UK, French and Canadian leaders; “When Hamas thanked you for your policies this week, it shows you are on the wrong side of history”

Not only the UN and international media are demonizing Israel: Even the vast majority of Israeli political opponents of Prime Minister Netanyahu are fed up with outlandish claims made against Israel to foreign media by embittered, jealous former loser Prime Ministers Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak.




Tom Gross: Many European countries support Israel and push back against those that don’t (Tom Gross, i24News)



MPs discuss Gaza more than immigration or NHS
MPs have spent more time discussing Gaza than immigration or the NHS since Labour came to power, analysis for The Telegraph reveals.

There have been more than 9,000 mentions of the conflict in the Commons since last July – significantly more than for other major policy areas.

MPs have brought up immigration and asylum 5,700 times and made reference to the NHS on 5,300 occasions in the past 10 months.

Gaza again featured heavily in Parliament this week as David Lammy delivered a statement announcing the suspension of trade talks with Israel.

Much of the debate has been driven by Labour members, who dominate a list of backbenchers to have asked questions about the topic the most times.

The analysis found a similar picture in the Lords, where Israel and Gaza were mentioned by peers five times more frequently than the prisons crisis.

It suggests that the situation in the Middle East is blowing the Government’s agenda off course, distracting from its domestic Plan for Change.

Critics said the findings showed that Parliament was spending too much time focusing on a foreign conflict instead of local issues important to voters.

Lord Austin, a former Labour MP, said: “Constituents who are struggling with the cost of living and worried about their jobs will not understand why so many politicians are so obsessed with a conflict 3,000 miles away.

“It really is amazing to see politicians spend more time talking about Israel than the NHS, prisons, immigration or poverty, which are the public’s top concerns and which our Parliament is actually responsible for, rather than the war between Israel and Hamas which they can’t do anything about.”


Ncuti Gatwa 'AXED from Doctor Who after pulling out of Eurovision gig in Israel row' - as show is 'put on pause amid falling ratings and 'woke' storylines
Ncuti Gatwa will exit Doctor Who after just two series as woke storylines saw ratings for the much-loved show plunge, it was claimed today.

The BBC programme is also said to have been paused for an extended break amid criticism about recent plots involving non-binary aliens, incels and even a pregnant male extra-terrestrial.

Rumours of Gatwa's departure came after his sudden withdrawal from presenting the UK's Eurovision jury scores on Saturday night after Israel, represented by a October 7 survivor, made the final. Ncuti has been vocal in his support for Palestine.

A TV insider reportedly said: 'If the final nail wasn't already in the coffin, it was well and truly hammered in after that.

'Bosses were incredibly disappointed. Ncuti, as the Doctor, is one of the corporation's most high-profile faces'.


In UK, Jewish protester charged over placard mocking Nasrallah
The Metropolitan Police arrested a Jewish demonstrator after he briefly held a placard satirizing the slain Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah, The Telegraph reported on Friday.

The British man, who asked to remain anonymous for his safety, was detained and charged last September over a cartoon that showed Nasrallah with a pager and the words, “beep, beep, beep.”

According to the paper, the man in the latest case held the placard for less than three minutes during the demonstration in Swiss Cottage, northwest London, on Sept 20, 2023. The area, near the home of Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely, has been targeted almost weekly by pro-Palestinian activists since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre.

The placard satirized a targeted Israeli attack, dubbed Operation Grim Beeper, in which explosives in pagers and walkie-talkies killed 42 people, mostly Hezbollah terrorists. Nasrallah survived, but was killed in an airstrike in the Dahieh suburbs, south of Beirut, a week later.

The Telegraph reported that police repeatedly asked the man—who was part of a counter-demonstration against a pro-Palestinian march—if he believed the image would offend “clearly pro-Hezbollah and anti-Israel” activists. Hezbollah is proscribed in the U.K. as a terrorist group.

On Sept. 20, a pro-Palestine demonstrator was filmed in the area shouting, “I love the 7th of October” and “I like any organization that starts with H.” He was arrested under terrorism legislation, but was not charged, The Telegraph said.

The police’s decision to allow pro-Palestinian demonstrators to march through London following the Hamas massacre, including in areas with high Jewish populations and near synagogues, has been highly contentious.
Jonathan Sacerdoti: Jewish protester charged over placard mocking terrorist leader: upside-down, two tier policing
Jonathan Sacerdoti discusses the case of a Jewish man arrested for an anti-Hezbollah placcard.




Anti-Israel parent group uses NYC school name for activism, holds ‘vigils’ to spew antisemitic hate
A Brooklyn elementary school has become an epicenter of hatred since anti-Israel protesters started holding “vigils” on and around the property, spreading antisemitic literature and harassing Jewish neighbors, The Post has learned.

The rallies by PS 139 Families for Palestine, scheduled every Sunday from 11 a.m. to noon at or next to the Flatbush school, have sparked fears that such actions will incite hatred and violence against Jews — especially since the cold-blooded murders this week of two young Israeli Embassy aides in Washington D.C.

“It endangers Jewish lives, and embeds bigotry into the fabric of our educational system,” said Tova Plaut, a city pre-K coordinator and activist against antisemitism in NYC public schools. “It ensures that hatred of Jews takes root in the hearts of our youth.”

“Everybody has a right to protest, but to use New York City school property to do that is wrong,” said the uncle of a student at the Rugby Road school.

“They hate Jews,” he said of the group. “If you’re Jewish, it’s automatically assumed you’re pro-Israel and pro-war.”


Auschwitz museum sounds alarm over ‘harmful’ AI images of Holocaust victims
The Auschwitz museum warned on Friday against Facebook posts with “harmful” AI-generated fictional images of victims of the Nazi German death camp, condemning them for “falsifying history.”

The museum at the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp has long used its own social media accounts to publish authentic victim photos, names and information to raise Holocaust awareness.

Now the museum has discovered that at least a couple of Facebook pages were producing similar victim bios but with fictional information or photos.

“People have started to notice that there are pages, including one called ’90’s History’ where there are short bios of the victims as well as photos that were clearly made by artificial intelligence,” said museum deputy spokesman Pawel Sawicki.

“Producing artificial images of real people, or what is even more troubling, producing false identities of victims, is certainly troubling and also very harmful for the memory of those who died at Auschwitz,” he told AFP.

Such posts were harmful because “producing artificial information, last names, is falsifying history,” said Sawicki.

This sort of disinformation could even lead to Holocaust denial, he added.

“There is, of course, a danger that if we have these fake people, then perhaps someone could claim that the whole thing is made up,” said Sawicki.
US extradites neo-Nazi ‘murder cult’ leader from Moldova over plot targeting NYC Jews
The leader of an eastern European neo-Nazi group has been extradited to the United States from Moldova following his arrest last summer for allegedly instructing an undercover federal agent to dress as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to Jewish children and racial minorities, prosecutors said.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old from the Republic of Georgia, was arraigned Friday before a federal judge in Brooklyn on multiple felonies, including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence.

He pleaded not guilty through an attorney, Samuel Gregory, who requested that his client receive a psychiatric evaluation and be placed on suicide watch while in custody. Gregory did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili, who also goes by “Commander Butcher,” as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’”

They said the group’s violent solicitations — promoted through Telegram channels and outlined in a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook” — appear to have inspired multiple real-life killings, including a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year that left a 16-year-old student dead.

Since 2022, Chkhikvishvili has traveled on multiple occasions to Brooklyn, where he bragged about beating up an elderly Jewish man and instructed others, primarily through text messages, to commit violent acts on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, according to court papers.
‘Inshallah Allah, Get Us Rid of Them’: New Yorker Accused of Attacking Jewish Students Stashed Weapons, $750,000, and Phone Littered With Anti-Semitic Messages, Prosecutors Say
A 20-year-old charged with hate crimes for allegedly assaulting three Jewish students had a stash of weapons, $750,000 in cash, and a phone filled with violent, anti-Semitic messages and pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah images, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors accused New Yorker Tarek Bazrouk, who’s been arrested six times for "his conduct at Israel/Gaza protests," of assaulting the Jewish students between April 2024 and January 2025. Law enforcement searched his Manhattan apartment earlier this month and found brass knuckles (which are illegal in New York), four knives, a taser, an airsoft gun that looks identical to a real revolver, spent casings from an actual firearm, and $500,000 in cash, according to a May 7 filing. An additional search turned up another $250,000, a Wednesday filing revealed.

Bazrouk, however, lives with his parents. He said he has a net worth of $3,000 and that he’s "unemployed" and "supported by his parents," the Wednesday filing said.

The recent filing dropped the same day that two Israeli embassy staffers were shot in cold blood outside the Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. Elias Rodriguez, the suspected killer who confessed to the slaying, then shouted "Free Palestine!" and "I did it for Gaza!"

Investigators found Bazrouk’s phone was littered with significant anti-Semitic sentiment, including messages espousing violence against Jews and images glorifying Hamas and Hezbollah. He also appeared to dox a young Jewish boy on social media.

On April 19, just four days after he first allegedly assaulted a Jewish student, Bazrouk messaged an unnamed associate saying, "These Zionists feening to dox me smh," according to the May 7 filing. After the associate responded, "i’ll [sic] kill them," Bazrouk wrote that if he ever saw a Jew, he’d "boom them."

He also texted that he was "thinking about" lighting someone on fire when he ignited a flare during an April 2024 anti-Israel protest at Columbia University, the filing shows. In May, he told the same associate that he’d defend him if necessary. "You know I gothcu and if I don’t my gun do," he wrote with a laughing emoji.

During a Sept. 17 exchange with the same associate, Bazrouk said "fuck" Jews, and "They are worthless."

"Inshallah Allah get us rid of them," he added.

"[Talk] about Hamas … I got family that are," Bazrouk wrote. "I didn’t even know," he added with a laughing emoji. "I’m mad happy wallah."
NYC yanks license for anti-Israel Queens community garden that forced members to side with ‘marginalized’ Palestinians
The city has yanked the license of a woke community garden in Queens that forced members to take a pledge in “solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized people” of Palestine — but the “radicals” behind the space are defiantly vowing to resist the order.

The Parks Department revoked the license May 5, eight months after The Post first reported about the Sunset Community Garden, on Onderdonk and Willoughby avenues in Ridgewood and which had a special section called “Poppies for Palestine.”

The garden’s 10 “community agreements” — which ironically included a commitment to interrupt “violent behavior or rhetoric that expresses all forms of hate” — breached Parks guidelines, leading to the license’s termination, the agency said.

“Parks informed the garden that their membership requirements were not compliant, as they required prospective members to affirm the group’s political and ideological viewpoints as laid out in the Community Agreements,” the agency said.

The property must be cleared out by June 6.

Garden organizers raged on Instagram that they are “being shut down by racist transphobes and zionists,” but are undeterred, launching an online petition to save the garden and accusing the city of “wrongful termination” of its license.
Korean national tries to swim to Israel after being denied entry
A Korean man was arrested by marine security forces last week after he attempted to infiltrate Israel by swimming from Egypt after he was previously denied entry to the country, Israeli media reported.

The man was handed over to the custody of the Population and Immigration Authority

Investigations revealed the man, who tried to infiltrate Israel through the Taba crossing, had been denied entry to Israel in April 2025 as a tourist.

Braving the swim from Egypt to Israel
A month after the rejection, the man attempted to brave the swim.

He has since been issued a deportation order.

"Over the years, we have encountered particularly creative cases, but a case like this is indeed unique," the Population and Immigration Authority said in a statement.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



AddToAny

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Search2

Hasbys!

Hasbys!

2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Show All

Blog Archive

Copyright © Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News | Powered by Blogger
Blogger Templates