Saturday, May 31, 2025

05/31 Links: Where have all the Jews gone?; Iran secretly enriching enough uranium for nine nuclear weapons; Radiohead’s Thom Yorke condemns ‘cynical’ Hamas

From Ian:

Where have all the Jews gone?
Just as in the past, American Jews are moving away from urban cores – where violence and now anti-Semitism are more obvious. Historian Arthur Hertzberg estimated that between the end of the Second World War and 1956, one-third of all Jews left the urban centers for the suburbs. When you think of Jewish communities, particularly outside orthodoxy, you think not of the Lower East Side but Long Island and Westchester. In LA, Boyle Heights has been supplanted first by the San Fernando Valley and increasingly the Conejo Valley even further from Downtown. In Greater Baltimore today, three-fourths of all Jews live in the suburbs.

The same forces – crime and rising anti-Semitism – have also prompted many Jews to move to the South. Long seen as too conservative and Christian fundamentalist, the South is now the ‘it’ place for Jews, both in terms of basic safety and economic opportunity. Demographer Ira Sheskin notes that while the north-east’s share of US Jews has dropped from 68 per cent in 1955 to 41 per cent today, the South’s share of the US Jewish population has soared from a mere eight per cent in 1955 to 24 per cent. The ‘hot’ cities for Jewish growth include Dallas, Houston and Atlanta, as well as Miami.

More and more Jewish young people are choosing colleges on similar grounds. For generations, the dream of Jewish parents was to send their offspring to the Ivy League, or the great public universities like Berkeley or UCLA. But today, the leading destination for Jewish students is the University of Florida, with the University of Central Florida ranking third.

The reason for this shift is simple. Jewish young people are safer in the South. According to one study ranking universities’ level of hostility toward Jewish students, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and three University of California campuses were among the most hostile. The least hostile environments included Tulane in New Orleans, Washington University in St Louis and five colleges in Florida.

Jews may be in the depths of despair, as their havens throughout the West sometimes seem to be turning into an anti-Zionist, Jew-hating hellscape. But they have hope, too. After all, Jews have survived outside Israel for two millennia by adapting, shifting their locales and their political loyalties to fit changing realities. We may be horrified by recent events. But in the face of those who yearn for our destruction, we will persevere.
NYPost Editorial: Hamas’ cease-fire ‘counteroffer’ is just a demand for Israel to give up the war
Witkoff’s latest offer would have Hamas turn over 10 living hostages and a dozen or two bodies, in exchange for 125 terrorists serving life sentences plus another 1,000-plus jailbirds and a 60-day ceasefire and ongoing talks toward a full peace settlement.

But Hamas knows full well that Netanyahu won’t end the war until the terrorists are all dead, surrendered or expelled from Gaza: He refuses to allow for any possibility of another Oct. 7, and Israeli public opinion so far supports him.

So the terror group’s counteroffer is to demand some kind of guarantee that Washington won’t let the IDF resume operations when the 60 days are up, as well as the resumption of aid entering under UN or similar auspices, without Israeli controls.

As things stand, Hamas is toast within months.

To get hostages returned, Israel will allow it a respite — and so risk some development (Netanyahu’s ouster, a drastic shift in the region, Washington concluding it needs the war ended; who knows?) that would let the terror group hang on in Gaza.

Unless Team Trump decides to overrule Israel’s unchanged war goals, Hamas will have to settle for that hope of a lifeline, or no deal is happening.
Iran secretly enriching enough uranium for nine nuclear weapons, IAEA report says
Iran carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the UN nuclear watchdog at three locations that have long been under investigation, the watchdog said in a wide-ranging, confidential report to member states seen by Reuters.

The findings in the "comprehensive" International Atomic Energy Agency report requested by the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors in November pave the way for a push by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany for the board to declare Iran in violation of its non-proliferation obligations.

A resolution would infuriate Iran and could further complicate nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.

Using the IAEA report's findings, the four Western powers plan to submit a draft resolution for the board to adopt at its next meeting the week of June 9, diplomats say. It would be the first time in almost 20 years that Iran has formally been found in non-compliance.

Tehran says it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and has long denied accusations by Western powers that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran said that a report by the UN nuclear watchdog on Saturday is "politically motivated and repeats baseless accusations", state media reported.

Iran said it will "implement appropriate measures" in response to any effort to take action against Tehran at the IAEA governors' meeting.

While many of the findings relate to activities dating back decades and have been made before, the IAEA report's conclusions were more definitive. It summarized developments in recent years and pointed more clearly towards coordinated, secret activities, some of which were relevant to producing nuclear weapons.

It also spelled out that Iran's cooperation with IAEA continues to be "less than satisfactory" in "a number of respects." The IAEA is still seeking explanations for uranium traces found years ago at two of four sites it has been investigating. Three hosted secret experiments, it found.


'Unacceptable': Witkoff slams Hamas for 'backwards' hostage deal changes
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff slammed Hamas for making what he called were "backward" changes to the US-backed hostage deal proposal.

"I received the Hamas response to the United States’ proposal. It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week," Witkoff said on X/Twitter.

"That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire," he concluded.

His statements came following an official announcement from Hamas saying,"Following a round of national consultations, and out of our responsibility to our people and their suffering, Hamas today submitted to the mediators its response to the latest proposal by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, in a manner that will lead to a permanent ceasefire, a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensuring the flow of aid to our people in the Gaza Strip."

"As part of this agreement, ten live Israeli hostages, held by the resistance, will be released, in addition to the return of eighteen bodies, in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners," the statement concluded.

The original Witkoff proposal did not include a full IDF withdrawal or a permanent ceasefire, meaning the response doesn't answer positively to the terms, and Hamas added terms of its own.

The Prime Minister's Office also responded to Hamas's changes, saying, While Israel has agreed to the updated Witkoff framework for the release of our hostages, Hamas continues to cling to its refusal."

"As stated by President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, Hamas’ response is totally unacceptable and takes the situation backward."

"Israel will continue its efforts to bring our hostages home and to defeat Hamas," the statement concluded.

Later, N12 and Ynet reported that Hamas's demands included a ceasefire for up to seven years.


Four decades of cold diplomacy: Egypt-Israel peace was never real
Hope is not lost
Despite the hostility, not all hope is lost. A younger generation of Arabs, especially those exposed to social media, travel, and education abroad, are less interested in the old hatreds. The Abraham Accords proved that when peace comes with transparency and shared prosperity, real normalization is possible.

However, Egypt never followed that path. Its peace with Israel was a transaction, not a transformation. Until Arab societies confront the decades of anti-Israel indoctrination in their media, schools, and religious institutions, no treaty will truly normalize anything.

The Israel-Egypt treaty is often celebrated in Western capitals. But in Cairo, it’s still a source of shame, resentment, and denial. That’s the paradox: a peace that stopped wars but didn’t stop the hate.

If we want real peace in the Middle East, it cannot be forced, faked, or forged behind closed doors. It must be built slowly, honestly, and with the courage to challenge narratives that keep hatred alive.

Until then, the Israel-Egypt normalization remains what it has always been, a cold peace wearing the mask of diplomacy.


‘Gaza has won, and Gaza will win’: Arab MK’s speech at anti-war rally draws outrage
Ayman Odeh, the leader of the predominantly Arab Hadash-Ta’al Knesset party, said at an anti-war rally in Haifa on Saturday that “Gaza has won, and Gaza will win,” drawing condemnation from the right wing.

“Israel has become a pariah state across the world, among all nations and in the West. After more than 600 days [of war], a majority among both peoples says: ‘If only those days had never happened,'” Odeh told the crowd. “It’s a historic loss to the right-wing ideology that was crushed in Gaza. Gaza won, and Gaza will win.”

According to Haaretz, about 2,000 people attended the left-wing rally, including representatives from 20 peace organizations.

“The [Benjamin] Netanyahu government has normalized the war, and we will normalize the opposition to it,” he continued. “This demonstration marks a turning point in the struggle to end the war, both in the number of participants and in the sharpened political messages.”

Odeh also addressed the weekly anti-government protesters calling for a hostage-ceasefire deal.

“Kudos to the demonstrators on Kaplan Street (where weekly rallies are typically held in Tel Aviv),” he said. “But you must recognize the core issue. The [judicial overhaul] stems from the occupation. There is no democracy with occupation.”

Turning back to the crowd, Odeh said: “You are the overwhelming majority in the world, you are on the right side of history and the future. The Israeli government is calling for genocide, and when we say these are crimes against humanity, it gets outraged. We will say it to their face: this is genocide, this is ethnic cleansing.”

MK Ahmad Tibi, who leads the Ta’al party, which is part of a joint slate with Hadash, also gave a speech at the same rally in which he read aloud the names of the nine children of the al-Najjar family who Gazan authorities said were killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.

“Every hour, a child is killed in Gaza,” he said. “We’re here to say: stop bombing children, stop the war crimes.

“This Knesset is a Kahanist Knesset,” Tibi said, referring to disciples of the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane. “[Itamar Ben Gvir’s] Otzma Yehudit [party] has five or six Kahanists, but the Likud has more Kahanists.” He also likened the rhetoric of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, about the need to conquer Gaza and expel its residents, to Nazi Germany.

Responding to Odeh’s speech, Likud MK Tally Gotliv called him on X a “terror supporter” whose speech “assisted the Gazan enemy.” She argued that Odeh is seen as a potential future coalition partner by The Democrats party leader Yair Golan, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman and National Union MK Gadi Eisenkot.
Defense Ministry awards security prize to 'movie-like' systems behind Nasrallah killing
Defense Minister Israel Katz will award the Israel Security Prize for 2025 to the "Eitan" Armoured personnel carrier, the "Oron", "Shavit", and "Eitam" aircraft, and unique capabilities that led to the killing of former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, the Defense Ministry stated on Thursday.

"A tremendous contribution to the country's security. These are capabilities you only see in movies, which made a decisive contribution before the campaign against our enemies, and some even helped in the elimination of Nasrallah,” Katz said.

“I congratulate the winners who continue to ensure Israel's security – today and in the future." About the winning defense systems

The Eitan APC is an 8x8 wheeled armored personnel carrier designed for infantry fighters, allowing operations in highly threatening combat scenarios.

The Eitan has played a significant role in the Israel-Hamas War, including participating in the rescue of hostages from Gaza.

The prize for the Eitan APC will be awarded to the military directorates responsible for its development and production, including the Merkava and Armored Corps Directorate (MANTAK), the Security Procurement Administration (MAHAR), the Weaponry Division, the Operational Mobility School of the Ground Corps, the Medical Corps in the Technology and Logistics Branch, and the Nahal Brigade

The Shavit, Eitam, and Oron mission aircraft played a vital role in defending Israel’s airspace during the war and preserving intelligence superiority. The system is based on advanced technologies that provide control and monitoring capabilities.
IDF: Hundreds of bombs found in Gaza homes, UNWRA sacks
The Israel Defense Forces found explosive devices hidden inside sacks belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, the military said on Friday.

The bags, meant to hold food, were in a building that previously functioned as a school in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, the IDF said.

In another building that previously served as a school in Khan Yunis, situated in the southern part of the Strip, a tunnel shaft was discovered and dismantled by Israeli troops, the army added.

Efforts led by the IDF Southern Command in the southern and central parts of the Gaza Strip in recent days have located more than 800 explosive devices and weapons in courtyards and residential buildings, the military said.

Dozens of tunnel shafts have been “uncovered, investigated and dismantled” in the same areas.

During operational activity in Gaza on Friday, IDF soldiers killed four armed terrorists after identifying them in close proximity, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement.

Also on Friday, an Israeli Air Force craft struck and killed Hamas terrorist Khalil Farwana in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. He served as the head of a weapons manufacturing site in the organization’s weapons production headquarters, the statement continued.

The Force further attacked dozens of terrorist targets throughout the Strip, including gunmen, “military” sites, observation and sniper posts, as well as additional terrorist infrastructure, the IDF and Shin Bet said.


Seth Frantzman: Hamas won't collapse, even with the death of both Sinwars
For instance, Israel has been wrong in the past about assessments of success in Gaza. After the eleventh day of 2021 it was widely reported that the Hamas “Metro” of tunnels in Gaza was set back “years.” These reports were wrong. The metro was apparently not damaged very much, and Hamas repaired it in time for the October 2023 attack.

Hamas has always grown more powerful after wars with Israel. It has also replaced numerous leaders in the past. It has come back from blows such as losing Sheikh Yassin to an IDF airstrike, as well as Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi. Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh, who was key to procuring weapons for Hamas, was also killed in 2010. A long list of Hamas leaders have come and gone.

The Sinwars helped build Hamas into the genocidal powerhouse it was on October 7. However, their deaths have appeared to come and go without much of a change in the organization’s behavior.

Yahya Sinwar was hunted down and killed in Tal al-Sultan near Rafah in October 2024. He was alone when he was killed. A few of his last comrades scattered. His death reminds us of the death of the Persian leader Darius III who died fleeing Alexander the Great. He also died after his empire and his men had melted away. However, Hamas doesn’t seem to be willing to give in.

This is what is perplexing about these tactical triumphs over the Hamas leaders in Gaza. Israel possesses great excellence in hunting down Hamas leaders and eliminating Hamas commanders. However, the larger strategy appears not to have met with tactical success. What that means is that as Hamas loses leaders, Hamas doesn’t seem to actually cave in. Now that could be changing as situations change on the ground in Gaza. The IDF’s new plan Gideon’s Chariots is supposed to press home the attack and seize ground, rather than the raiding strategy the IDF conducted in 2024.

Ceasefire-hostage deal discussions
However, the lack of collapse among the Hamas cadres in the Central Camps is still striking. The group appears to be recruiting many young people who are not willing to stand and fight. Its arsenal is depleted. It doesn’t seem to have much left. However, it holds 58 hostages and appears to continue to be able to communicate with its leaders in Doha when it comes to hostage deals.

In fact, the Hamas terms for these deals don’t seem to change, despite leadership losses. The deal of January 2025, was primarily similar to the one Hamas wanted throughout 2024. The deal being discussed now is similar to the one offered Hamas in March.

Hamas has some things it wants. It wants an end to the war. However, it never seems to be on the verge of collapse. Even if it is, the deaths of its leaders don’t seem to be leveraged in any kind of Clausewitz-like stratagem. Instead, Israel plods forward in tactical successes, without a clear post-war strategy or an exit strategy for Gaza, or even a way to replace Hamas with some other type of civilian authority. Hamas assumes all it has to do is wait and it will maintain some kind of control. Then it can find the next Sinwar to replace those who came before.


A Tale of Two Aid Centers: How the Media Blamed Israel and Covered for Hamas
This orchestrated propaganda effort is not journalism. It’s full-on, unabashed activism in the service of Hamas and those who seek to tarnish aid efforts for Gazans that the terror group can’t loot.

Take, for example, The New York Times’ Jerusalem Bureau Chief Patrick Kingsley, who said he was “not surprised” by the UN criticism of the new Israeli-U.S. aid scheme. Sadly, he was quoted just below a paragraph that covers for Hamas:


The tale of these two incidents exposes a disturbing truth: reporters and editors in once-respected news outlets think they can get away with biased reporting whose display this week, only one day apart, was all too obvious.

But why should we be surprised? As Charles Dickens already noted, such times reflect the age of foolishness and the season of darkness.


Jonathan Sacerdoti: British antisemitism and power: Tom Bower on Gary Lineker, Zionism, the BBC and the Holocaust
British investigative journalist, historian, and author Tom Bower is renowned for his unauthorised biographies of power players like Robert Maxwell, Richard Branson, King Charles III, and Jeremy Corbyn. In this explosive and unflinching interview, Bower turns his gaze on Britain itself—taking aim at the BBC’s bias on Israel, Gary Lineker’s ignorance, and the myth of British wartime heroism. He argues that the UK would have abandoned its Jews if the Nazis had invaded, exposes the dangers of Holocaust memorialisation done wrong, and warns of the alarming rise of antisemitism today. A fearless dismantling of hypocrisy, propaganda, and the comforting lies power tells itself.

1:25 Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Is a Mistake
3:08 “Genocide” Is Being Politically Weaponised
4:48 BBC Accused of Holocaust Distortion
6:14 How Gaza Became a Tool to Undermine Jews
7:00 Why Memorials Won’t Stop Antisemitism
8:04 Memorials Covered to Appease Protesters
9:04 How Britain Protected Nazi War Criminals
10:06 The British Could Have Bombed Auschwitz
11:12 Would Britain Have Deported Its Own Jews?
12:18 Britain’s Pro-Nazi Establishment Exposed
13:03 What Tom Bower Found in Classified Archives
14:31 The Men Who Murdered Jews Now Run Institutions
15:54 How the West Recycled Nazi Scientists
17:00 What the Establishment Tried to Bury
18:17 Anti-Jewish Bias from 1945 to Today
19:18 The Auschwitz Survivor in Bower’s Childhood
20:20 BBC, Islamism, and Today’s Antisemitism
21:28 How the BBC Enables Antisemitic Marches
22:44 “Where Are the Brits of Cable Street Now?”
23:45 Who’s Really Driving UK Antisemitism?
25:00 Why Holocaust Memorials Hide Today’s Hate
26:15 “They Love Dead Jews—Not Living Ones”
27:24 Ignorance and Cowardice in British Leadership
28:35 The Real Reason Jews Are Demonised Today
29:38 The Rise of the Islamic Political Bloc in Britain
30:26 Can a Christian Party Even Compete?
30:55 Are Most Brits Still Decent? Bower Thinks So
31:55 Why Memorials Don’t Teach Anything
32:45 Ignorance Is the BBC’s Real Problem
33:40 Universities: The Root of Today’s Hate
34:50 “River to the Sea” = Call for Mass Murder
36:08 Guilt-Tripping Jews with Netanyahu’s Image
37:04 How Power Corrupts—and Who Gets Crushed
38:00 Why Bower Only Writes About the Living
39:02 Branson, Maxwell, and Ruthless Narcissism
40:01 The Victims Behind Every Powerful Person
41:00 “Everyone Has to Go to the Toilet”
42:12 What Evil Looks Like in Real Life
43:08 “Maxwell Hated My Book Title”
44:27 Netanyahu, Hostages, and the Perfect Trap
45:56 Is Every Politician Corrupt?
47:05 Can Anyone Live Up to Bower’s Standards?
48:00 The System That Rewards Ruthlessness




Rep. Ritchie Torres demands investigation of socialist-leaning Park Slope Food Co-op over alleged anti-Israel hate
The Park Slope Food Co-op is cooking up anti-Israel hate — and must be investigated by the city and state, a Bronx congressman urged this week.

Rep. Ritchie Torres fired off letters Friday to NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other city and state honchos demanding the state Division of Human Rights and NYC Commission on Human Rights probe allegations of “an insidious pattern of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination” against Jews — or anyone who is pro-Israel at the crunchy Brooklyn co-op.

“Anti-discrimination laws must be rigorously and impartially enforced — without exception,” the Bronx Democrat wrote Friday.

The socialist-leaning Union Street institution has long been locked in a holy war over Middle East politics, highlighted by members in 2012 voting down joining an international boycott of Israel products during a contentious meeting that became ripe for mockery by Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.”

But in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, members who support the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement have seized control of the co-op’s governance, according to Torres and members sympathetic to Israel.

“The cumulative effect is the creation of a hostile environment for Jews, particularly those who affirm a connection to the Jewish homeland,” wrote Torres, who is mulling a run for governor.
Fifth case of NYC teachers getting anti-Israel propaganda in DOE schools is ‘clearly an attack’
Hateful anti-Israel propaganda has slipped into city Department of Education literature and schools at least five times in the past two months, The Post has learned.

In the latest instance, faculty members at a large Brooklyn elementary/middle school received an email Monday with the subject line: “How Much Jewish Wealth From The Black Slave Trade Was Used To Help Create Israel?”

Among a dozen links to inflammatory texts, the email includes several articles branding Jews as former slave owners; a piece by Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakahn claiming “Jewish behavior has ill-affected Black people and others;” and a Palestinian children’s workbook decrying “bullies called Zionists.”

“It’s clearly an attack,” a Jewish teacher who received the diatribe in her DOE email told The Post.

The incident is evidence of rising antisemitism in NYC schools and other educational institutions since the Israeli-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023, experts say.
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke condemns ‘cynical’ Hamas, ‘extremist’ Netanyahu government
His bandmate Johnny Greenwood has become one of the most vocal non-Jewish artists rejecting pressure to boycott Israel over its war in Gaza. But famously reticent Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke had not said anything about the war — until now.

On Friday, Yorke posted an extended statement to Instagram lamenting the pressure he had faced to comment on the war, saying that it had affected his mental health. Then he gave the crowd what it wanted, writing, “For those who need to know.. let me fill in the blanks.”

He began by saying that he had regretted not speaking out when he was heckled during a concert in Melbourne last year. After briefly engaging with the heckler, a pro-Palestinian concert-goer who wanted him to condemn “the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” Yorke stormed off the stage.

“I remained in shock that my supposed silence was somehow being taken as complicity, and I struggled to find an adequate way to respond to this and to carry on with the rest of the shows on the tour,” he wrote.

“That silence, my attempt to show respect for all those who are suffering and those who have died, and to not trivialize it in a few words, has allowed other opportunistic groups to use intimidation and defamation to fill in the blanks, and I regret giving them this chance,” he added. “This has had a heavy toll on my mental health.”

Yorke proceeded to condemn “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his crew of extremists,” whom he said the international community should continue to pressure. He had previously criticized Netanyahu in 2017, when Radiohead performed in Israel over the objection of pro-Palestinian advocates.


Pensioner who was arrested over 'thought crime' tweet receives £20k payout from Kent Police
A retired special constable has received £20,000 compensation from Kent Police after being wrongly arrested over a social media post warning about rising antisemitism.

Julian Foulkes, 71, from Gillingham, Kent, was handcuffed at his home by six officers after replying to a pro-Palestinian activist on X.

The force detained Foulkes for eight hours, searched his home, and issued him with a caution following his arrest on November 2, 2023.

Kent Police later confirmed the caution was a mistake and deleted it from his record.


Greta Thunberg to set sail on humanitarian mission to Gaza as critics beg her to stay with Hamas:’ Let’s hope it’s a one-way voyage’
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg will sail to Gaza this weekend aboard a humanitarian aid ship — a voyage critics are urging her to buy a one-way ticket for.

The 22-year-old climate advocate, along with several other high-profile activists, will embark on the “Madleen” from Catania, Sicily on Sunday to deliver vital supplies to the Palestinian people in Gaza and protest Israel’s months-long blockade there.

The World Health Organization has warned that Gaza is at risk of famine because of the blockade, with three-quarters of its population suffering “emergency” or “catastrophic” food deprivation.

“The world cannot be silent bystanders,” Thunberg said about the mission, run by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).

“This silence and passivity that we are seeing from most of the world is deadly. We are seeing a systematic starvation of 2 million people. Every single one of us has a moral obligation to do everything we can to fight for a free Palestine.”


Holocaust memorial, two synagogues in Paris vandalized with green paint
France’s Holocaust memorial, two synagogues and a restaurant in central Paris were vandalized with green paint overnight, according to police sources on Saturday, prompting condemnation from government and city officials.

“I am deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on X.

No arrests have been made so far.

Retailleau last week called for “visible and dissuasive” security measures at Jewish-linked sites amid concerns over possible antisemitic acts.

In a separate message seen by AFP, the interior minister again ordered heightened surveillance on Friday, ahead of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

The French Jewish community, one of the largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials since the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.

“Antisemitic acts account for more than 60 percent of anti-religious acts, and the Jewish community is particularly vulnerable,” Retailleau said in the message seen by AFP.


We need to remember which airlines abandoned Israel, even if it comes at a cost
By nature, I am a glass-half-full kind of person rather than a glass-half-empty type. Living and working in Israel’s longest war with airlines and tourists avoiding us like the plague, it often feels like we are living in a dystopian world. We seem to take one step forward, quickly followed by two steps backward.

We have seen holiday after holiday pass us by, scathed by the near dearth of foreign airlines. The summer of 2024 had much of the country traumatized by the war and the lack of progress with the hostages. Tens of thousands of citizens had been called up, and the thought of going abroad to get a break was anathema to a large percentage of citizens.

It did not help that aside from the three Israeli airlines – Arkia, Israir, and El Al – there were only a smattering of airlines touching down at Ben-Gurion Airport. An Emirates here, an Etihad there, with an Ethiopian plane flying under the radar and being caught in the crossfire.

The fall of 2024 saw a new US president, who assigned a personal envoy and a friendly ambassador to try to release all the hostages and bring some type of respite to the ongoing war. Secular Israelis would watch TV all day on Saturdays as several hostages were released.

At this stage, many airlines resumed flying to Israel. They did it surreptitiously, quietly, with little noise. The Lufthansa Group, comprised of Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, and Swiss, resumed operations, breaking the logjam that had the three Israeli airlines monopolizing the flights.

Air France and British Airways, along with the Polish LOT and Italian ITA, joined the party, and clients and travel professionals let down their guard and started selling these airlines. This became the new norm. With a neutralized Lebanon and Syria, a war with Gaza became palatable. Very few tourists were flying to Israel, though; the country was still at war.

For North America, where El Al’s 85% market share led to record profits quarter after quarter, Delta and United also came back. For them, unlike the European carriers, it is a far more courageous move as their crews have to sleep one or two nights in Israel. However, as the famous saying goes, If you build it, they will come – and they did. Hezbollah had been defanged, Syria was no longer a viable threat, and Gaza… well, the war had been going on for so long, it had become a way of life.
Glasgow Film Theatre rejects BDS
The Glasgow Film Theatre Trustees have rejected the endorsement of BDS and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), and will decide on ethical programming and purchasing on a case-by-case basis.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) had reported the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT), which is a charity, to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), which regulates Scottish charities, as a result of its announcement that it would be boycotting Coca Cola products, and had removed them from the theatre during the Glasgow Film Festival. There had been a boycott by the GFT’s front-of-house and cleaning teams on handling any goods targeted by the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.

The film theatre had upset many of its regular Jewish film goers by its boycott of Coca Cola products earlier this year and by the anti-Israel statements made by some of its staff.

UKLFI had pointed out to the OSCR that the GFT was likely to be acting illegally and going outside its charitable objects by adopting BDS. BDS and PACBI are part of a central Palestinian boycotting organisation whose aim is the destruction of the Jewish State and whose members include the terrorist groups Hamas, PFLP and Islamic Jihad.

The Board of Trustees at GFT issued a statement on 29 May 2025 saying “As an independent charity, trustees are legally required to act in the best interests of the charity, and in line with its charitable objects, which are for Glasgow Film, principally to educate the public about film. To meet this obligation, we believe that all decisions, including those relating to ethical purchasing and programming, should be taken independently, and on a case-by-case basis, informed by robust internal policies and processes.”


BBC bans Gaza freelancer who describes Jews as 'devils'
The BBC has banned a Gaza reporter who described Jews as "devils," according to British newspaper The Telegraph, on Saturday.

The public broadcaster's Arabic channel has been ordered to stop hiring Ahmed Alagha, a freelance journalist repeatedly used by BBC Arabic, for his controversial antisemitic comments and anti-Israel social media posts, including posting to social media that "the Jews, they are the devils of the hypocrites," and defending the October 7 massacre.

According to The Telegraph, the newspaper published stories revealing Alagha's antisemitic statements in April, after which the BBC continued using him, and again on May 12, the paper said.

In May, BBC chairman Dr Samir Shah announced that the broadcaster would appoint an independent individual to investigate BBC Arabic, as part of a review of the BBC's standard of reporting of the Middle East conflict, The Telegraph said.

Media campaign group, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) has called on the BBC to review its Arabic channel's use of contributors and ability to offer objective and balanced broadcasting.


Inside Israel’s buffer zone in Syria
Meanwhile, seemingly ignored by its closest ally in Washington, Israel digs in, literally.

It is digging a vast anti-tank defensive ditch along the border, with 30km now completed and another 30 to go.

“Mortal danger. Active military zone,” reads the sign on the border fence, topped with coils of vicious-looking barbed wire.

That more or less sums up Israel’s attitude to Syria at the moment, despite the great wave of hope across the Middle East unleashed by the fall of Assad.

The day before The Telegraph visited, troops stationed on the Israel-occupied Golan side of the border conducted an exercise to see how fast they could reach certain Syrian villages in an emergency.

And they say that while they have had some success in persuading villagers in the border zone to give up their weapons, few communities trust the situation enough to hand over all their guns.

“We don’t want to occupy, we don’t want to kill,” the official said. “We just want to protect the border and protect our people.”
Israel strikes surface-to-air missiles in coastal Syria
The Israel Defense Forces on Friday night attacked surface-to-air missiles and weapon storage facilities containing coastal missiles in the Latakia Governorate in Syria, the Israeli military said.

These weapons “posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

“The IDF will continue to operate to maintain freedom of action in the region, in order to carry out its missions and will act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” the statement concluded.

The Latakia area is located in northwestern Syria on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

These strikes come on the backdrop of reports from earlier in May that Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government was engaged in talks with Israel aimed at de-escalating tensions between the two countries.

“There are indirect talks taking place through mediators to calm the situation and try to contain it so it does not spiral out of control,” al-Sharaa said at a press conference in Paris on May 7 alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, according to AFP.
Iran's spy game: How the Islamic Republic convinces Israelis to betray their homeland
Roy Mizrahi and Almog Atias, both 24 and childhood friends, are residents of Nesher, near Haifa. Mizrahi was deep in debt due to a gambling addiction, and Atias was not far behind.

Then an opportunity arose that offered to them a way out of their financial mess.

A member of an online swingers group, Mizrahi made the acquaintance of an anonymous member who asked him to do a bunch of seemingly unrelated and harmless tasks, and in return he was paid handsomely.

First he was told to photograph the area around his home and then document a car dealership’s sales board. He was then asked to burn a note with a message against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Then, the missions became more sinister, and at some point, according to police investigators, Mizrahi became very aware that the people calling the shots were Iranian, and he was doing their beckoning. Next, he transferred a bag buried in the ground he believed to contain a bomb from one location to another. Then, it was time for the main mission.

Together with Atias, who was also recruited by the anonymous online member, a surveillance camera was purchased and the two rented a hotel room in Tel Aviv, before traveling to Kfar Ahim, the southern Israel home of Defense Minister Israel Katz. They were ordered to install a camera facing the access road to Katz’s home, but the mission was aborted due to the presence of security guards.

Defense officials told the court that the surveillance was part of a larger plan to assassinate the defense minister.

MIZRAHI AND Atias are not an abberation. It seems that every couple of weeks a new story emerges about the recruitment of Israelis by Iranian intelligence.

According to a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) report issued in January, the year 2024 saw a 400% increase in espionage cases compared to the previous year.

Supt. Maor Goren, head of the security division at the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 – The National Crime Unit, told KAN Reshet Bet that the arrest of Mizrahi and Atias marked the 20th case his unit and the Shin Bet have handled over the past year involving Israelis suspected of spying for Iran.


Barcelona severs relations with Israel until 'basic rights in Gaza respected'
The Barcelona City Council has severed relations with Israel, international media reported on Friday.

The proposal for breaking relations with the Jewish state was made by the Catalunya en Comú (People's Party) and the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC), and said that the city will suspend "institutional relations with the current Israeli government until respect for international law and international humanitarian law is restored and respect for the basic rights of the Palestinian people is guaranteed," according to the proposal's text that was accessed by El Pais.

The PSC, which co-signed the suspension of relations, was joined by votes from the Republican Left of Catalonia party (ERC), which also presented a request to the city's mayor, Jaume Collboni, to ban Israel from the Fira de Barcelona trade fair institution.

The Spanish city had also decided to sever its status as a twin city with Tel Aviv.

The proposal's text also includes contractual clauses to cease working with "pro-Israel companies," according to El Pais. It also requested that the Port of Barcelona not dock vessels carrying weapons to Israel.

The Hamas terrorist organization issued a statement, commending the Barcelona City Council for cutting ties with Israel and for suspending the partnership with Tel Aviv.

"We urge nations and cities worldwide to activate the boycott of this rogue occupation," it said.


Poland to vote for next president, with Holocaust history an apparent item on the ballot
Poland is heading to the polls in a neck-and-neck presidential election that will shape the country’s future on the world stage — and its approach to history.

On Sunday, voters are casting their ballots in the decisive runoff between Rafał Trzaskowski, the liberal-centrist mayor of Warsaw, and Karol Nawrocki, a right-wing historian who has helmed a nationalist effort to rewrite Poland’s role in the Holocaust.

The candidates offer starkly different visions for Poland. Trzaskowski promises cooperation with the European Union and social changes, such as loosening restrictive abortion laws and allowing civil unions for LGBTQ people. He would clear a path for Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who came to power with the centrist Civic Platform party in 2023, to deliver democratic reforms.

Meanwhile, Nawrocki, who has the support of US President Donald Trump, is backed by the right-wing Law and Justice party that led Poland from 2015 to 2023. The party isolated Poland from the EU, was scrutinized for undermining democratic norms and tightening government control over the judiciary, the media and Polish history.

Law and Justice promoted historical narratives about Polish victimhood and resistance to the Nazis, while delegitimizing research on Polish antisemitism or Poles who killed Jews. In 2018, the country passed a law that outlawed accusing Poland or the Polish people of complicity in Nazi crimes. Although the infraction was downgraded from a crime punishable with three years in prison to a civil offense, critics say it had a chilling effect on historical research.

Nawrocki heads the Institute of National Remembrance, which gained a reputation for advancing nationalist narratives about the Holocaust under the Law and Justice government. He has centered that version of history in his campaign.

One hot-button issue for Nawrocki is the 2021 trial of historians Jan Grabowski and Barbara Engelking, who were accused of defaming a late Polish mayor in their book about Polish collaboration with the Germans, “Night Without End.” The scholars appealed and won the case, but they still attract fury from some right-wing politicians like Nawrocki.
Flemish politician posed with fascist flag, used Nazi slogan
The European Jewish Association strongly condemned the actions of Filip Dewinter, a senior member of Belgium’s extreme-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party, who was recently photographed posing with a fascist flag and using a Nazi slogan.

The flag belongs to the of the fascist Verdinaso (Union of Dutch National Solidarists) movement, a collaborationist group active before and during World War II. Dewinter used the phrase “Onze eer is trouw,” a near-literal translation of the official SS motto “Meine Ehre heißt Treue” (“My Honor is Loyalty”).

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association, said in a statement: “There is no place in European politics for those who flirt with fascist symbols, historical revisionism, or Nazi-era slogans. It is simply grotesque and unacceptable that a politician in this day and age would openly pose with the flag of a movement whose members helped deport Jews and collaborated with the Nazi regime.

“We call on Vlaams Belang to take immediate action and expel Mr. Dewinter from the party. Far-right organizations that pretend to fight antisemitism while simultaneously engaging in nostalgic tributes to fascism are totally devoid of credibility,” he added.

Michael Freilich, a Belgian member of Parliament and the European Jewish Association’s special envoy for intercultural dialogue and Holocaust remembrance, raised this issue during a session of the Antwerp City Council last week, citing the unacceptable double standard of condemning antisemitism while glorifying collaborationist movements of the past.

Regina Sluszny, president of the Antwerp-based Forum of Jewish Organizations, said: “The true nature of Vlaams Belang is once again exposed. Behind the polished image and strategic outreach to the Jewish community lies the same ideological soil—one that flirts with fascism, glorifies authoritarian history, and denies the lessons of the past.”
PSG fans display 'stop genocide in Gaza' banner during Champions League final
Paris Saint-Germain fans displayed a banner reading “Stop genocide in Gaza” during the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday.

PSG fans have expressed support for Gaza several times since the Israel-Hamas war began, including displaying a giant “Free Palestine” banner during November’s Champions League match against Atlético Madrid.

The banner could lead to PSG facing a fine, as UEFA bans the transmission of provocative content, particularly that of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature,” the Washington Post reported.

According to the Washington Post, the penalty could be a fine of up to 10,000 euros.

The team has not released a statement acknowledging the banner.

Fans inside the arena wrote on social media that the cameras avoided showing the banner for the remainder of the game.
A-League grand final, Melbourne Victory v City live: news, scores, updates
Melbourne City are A-League champions for a second time after holding their nerve to deny local rivals Melbourne Victory a record-equalling fifth grand final triumph on Saturday night.

Yonatan Cohen’s 10th-minute goal, the third fastest in men’s grand final history, was the difference in the showpiece conclusion to the competition’s 20th season watched by an AAMI Park sporting-record crowd of 29,902.

The matchwinner would have had himself a brace but headed a gilt-edged opportunity wide from Marco Tilio’s cross with a quarter of an hour remaining.


New doc tells story of Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, the new documentary portrait of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Holocaust survivor, and Jewish writer who devoted his life to sharing the story of what millions of his fellow victims couldn’t, received the Yad Vashem Award and was just shown at the Docaviv Festival.

The documentary opens with a telling quote from Wiesel: “Whoever listens to a witness, becomes a witness.” That encapsulates his life’s mission: He wanted to create a world of witnesses, and he did so by bringing the story of the tragedy of the Holocaust to millions.

But living a life filled with this sense of mission took a toll on him, personally, and on those around him, as this candid and very compelling documentary by Oren Rudavsky shows.

The film came about because the director’s friend, author and Holocaust film historian Annette Insdorf, who was close to the Wiesel family, had been getting requests from filmmakers who wanted to tell Wiesel’s story since he died in 2016. But she felt that Rudavsky and his late partner, Menachem Daum, who collaborated on such documentaries as Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust, would be a good fit for a Wiesel film.

“The process of making a film is partially by choice, partially by chance, and partially whether you can raise the money to make it,” Rudavsky said. He decided to make the film despite all the obstacles.

“I think a figure like Elie Wiesel is somebody whose message of tolerance and speaking up in times of crisis is very relevant today,” he said. “His kind, prophetic, messianic way he spoke is very… well, timely is the wrong word because he’s timeless, I think.”




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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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