Wednesday, June 11, 2025

06/11 Links Pt2: The media’s war on Israel: The lies, the bias, and the real story; A Two-State Solution to California’s Woes; Douglas Murray shames Greta for not facing reality of October 7

From Ian:

Israel’s isolation is not a new phenomenon – it follows an old pattern
Despite this constant threat, Israel spent nearly two decades trying to avoid reoccupying Gaza. Yet whatever steps it took to defend itself, even preventive and non-violent, were labelled crimes. A naval blockade and strict border controls aimed at stopping weapons shipments were falsely portrayed as illegal and blamed for humanitarian catastrophes that never materialised. International law was reinterpreted uniquely for Israel, including the claim it still occupied Gaza, despite the fact that occupation, by definition, requires boots on the ground.

Each time Hamas and other jihadist factions initiated major conflicts, the West reliably condemned Israel’s response as “disproportionate,” an accusation typically based on civilian casualty figures provided by Hamas and accepted without question. Israel’s efforts to minimise civilian harm in wars it did not start were downplayed or ignored, while Hamas’s use of human shields – and human sacrifices – was omitted. In other words, what we are witnessing today is not new, only more extreme in scale and intensity.

There are, of course, serious questions one can raise about Israel’s conduct: rhetorical excesses after October 7, poor public diplomacy, the role of far-right ministers in the Natanyahu government, and controversial decisions, such as temporarily blocking aid deliveries to weaken Hamas’s grip on Gaza. These are legitimate matters for debate, as is the suffering of Palestinian civilians, regardless of Hamas’s responsibility for it. Calls for a ceasefire are understandable.

But do these factors explain why Israel is losing Europe’s support? For those familiar with the long history of media (mis)coverage, NGO hostility, UN bias, lawfare, and the radicalisation of parts of the far left and growing Muslim electorates, the answer is no. This war has simply amplified a pattern established decades ago. What we are witnessing is not a break from the past, but its culmination.

This reaction does more than isolate Israel and fuel anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment – it undermines peace itself. The message to Israelis is unambiguous: territorial withdrawal brings neither security nor legitimacy, but more terror and global censure. When even full evacuation leads to escalation and condemnation, the incentive to take further risks for peace disappears.

Conversely, for Hamas, the lesson is also clear: atrocities can shift diplomatic ground. The more brutal the provocation, the greater the pressure on Israel and the louder the calls for Palestinian recognition.

In this way, the West’s reaction doesn’t just misread the conflict – it helps perpetuate it.
Gil Troy: The media’s war on Israel: The lies, the bias, and the real story
Four Israeli arguments to win hearts and minds
First, Israel is defending America and the West, too. Future historians will place this war at the intersection of three global conflicts. October 7 was another searing date in the century-long Arab war to remove Jews from Palestine. Their “historicide” – denying our history – rationalizes waves of attacks, now led by Palestinian movements rejecting Israel’s legitimacy.

Palestinians’ war against Israel also advances an anti-Western global jihad to expand Muslim influence. A French think-tank, Fondapol, cataloged 66,872 Islamist terrorist attacks between 1979 and April 2024 – including 9/11 – murdering 249,941 people. Finally, the Iranian mullahs bankroll these terrorists as part of Iran’s broader alliance of evil with Russia, China, and North Korea, opposing democracy.

This long, messy war tests and teaches America and the West. Condemning Israel’s self-defense efforts exposes the West’s weakened defense posture. Growing Western intolerance for war’s bloodiness and chaos reveals that few have served in the military, while many prefer deluding themselves.

Defending democracy, and your life, occasionally requires toughness. We collectively must be willing to risk killing by mistake to eliminate those trying to kill us on purpose.

Fortunately, America’s investment in Israel keeps paying dividends. While degrading Hamas, crushing Hezbollah, weakening Iran, and thus triggering Bashar Assad’s collapse in Syria, Israel has pioneered medical advances, technological breakthroughs, and tactical innovations on the battlefield. Israel’s improvisations, from bullet-removing robots to pineapple-protein burn gels, to humanoid prosthetics, will protect thousands of soldiers and save millions of civilians in hospitals worldwide, for decades to come.

Finally, by vindicating Zionism, this war advertises Jewish nationalism as a model form of liberal-democratic nationalism. In an age filled with books about “How Democracies Die,” Israel’s young generation of everyday superheroes demonstrates how to defend democracy – and build yourself up by being rooted in tradition, embraced by community, and committed to your country.

This is the song we should be singing, led by the government if possible, but crooned by the people always, because it’s necessary – and true.
Seth Mandel: Road Map for Peace: A Two-State Solution to California’s Woes
Does the U.S. really need all of California? Of course not. Think of all the problems that can be solved with that land. What we’ll again call Alto California—though only the part of the original Alto California that is within the current state’s borders—can be retroceded to Mexico. That way Southern California (or “Baja California”), the part of California that America seems to care about, can remain in the U.S. Would that make Mexico suddenly noncontiguous? Sure, but there’s no reason they can’t just build a tunnel connecting them.

It’s not just about appeasing Mexico. Three years ago, the native Tongva—that would be the tribe that Newsom has been directing his apologies to—got their own acre of land in Los Angeles County. But one acre? California can do better than that. The Greater Los Angeles area is an enormous place, and the Tongva surely have claim to a fair share of it.

But then again Malibu is a Chumash word, according to the state. Chumash is another tribe that doesn’t get as much attention as the Tongva, but that shouldn’t work against them. Meanwhile, Los Angeles carries a great deal of sentimental value for Mexicans as well, and it’d be a shame to force them to get a passport just to see it.

Now I know what you’re thinking: It’s getting pretty crowded here in this hypothetical Greater Los Angeles now. But that’s OK—sometimes justice is crowded.

And there’s an easy solution: Just make Los Angeles an international city! We’d put the greater metropolitan area of LA under a special international regime we could refer to as a Corpus Separatum. The area is home to many religions in addition to its national minorities, so all its holy places—Disneyland, the Staples Center, the Hollywood Bowl, that gas station shop on Pico Boulevard that carries kosher beef jerky—would be placed under a United Nations trusteeship.

And yes, of course Oakland will be demilitarized.

I know this all sounds like a lot, and obviously the devil is in the details, but if what California Democrats are saying about their own state is true, then simply having Donald Trump remove the National Guard from the site of conflict isn’t nearly enough. It doesn’t get at the root causes, you see. Peace isn’t the same thing as justice.

You might be thinking: This is all easy for you to say from thousands of miles away. And you’re right: It is easy for me to say this.

It’s easy for me to say this because the Democratic-progressive one-size-fits-all solution to ethnic and national conflict is seared into my brain. I’ve been listening to it for decades. And what I’ve learned from watching progressives “solve” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that all conflicts are the same. That the historical record is a matter of opinion. That violence and mayhem should be rewarded. That in any conflict, the side wearing a uniform is the Bad Guy. That what is happening—whatever it is, wherever it is—simply isn’t who we are. Finally, as a Jew, I just can’t stand by and watch it happen. It’s time to take Democrats’ advice and advance a two-state solution. You’re welcome, Gavin.


Melanie Phillips: From Socrates to Jerusalem
On my recent US trip, I was delighted to address a meeting in New York of the intellectual forum Socrates in the City to talk about my new book with the group’s founder, Eric Metaxas.

Among other things, our conversation ranged over Islamisation, what we actually mean by “the west”, the impact of the Enlightenment, the damage done by secularism, the self-flagellating tendencies of western liberals and the secret sauce of cultural resilience.

We also discussed the meaning of religion, Jewish identity and my own personal awakening to left-wing bigotry. You can access the event by clicking on the arrow below.
Melanie Phillips: How Jews and Christians Built the West—and Why Only They Can Save It
What are the Jewish and Christian foundations of Western society—and why do they matter today? In this insightful conversation, Socrates in the City host Eric Metaxas speaks with journalist and author Melanie Phillips about her newest book, The Builder’s Stone. Phillips explores Jewish identity, the history of Israel, and the spiritual roots that have shaped our culture. She also reflects on her career in journalism, the cost of truth-telling, and the common misconceptions that cloud our understanding of faith, history, and identity.


Melanie Phillips: Allies no longer
In any event, what conceivable business is it of Britain and the rest to intervene in Israel’s domestic affairs and instruct it what to do with its own government ministers?

They treat no other country like this. But this virulent hostility is now the default position throughout the western so-called progressive and educated world.

Indeed, the more “progressive” the government, the worse this gets. It’s no coincidence that Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway, which have liberal or left-wing governments, are viciously hostile to Israel and are where there’s some of the most extreme and pervasive Jew-hatred in the west.

And their double standards are quite eye-watering.

Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is still getting money and support from Britain and the rest despite continuing to pay some $300 million annually to terrorists and their families as a reward for murdering Jews, and despite the clear evidence of its systemic, medieval and Nazi-style demonisation of Jews.

The Palestinian Authority’s so-called ambassador to Britain, Hussam Zomlot, actually accused the Israelis of having “genocidal genes”. If that isn’t extremist rhetoric that can incite violence, what is? Yet Zomlot isn’t being sanctioned by the British government but continues to be treated as a respected diplomat.

The five foreign ministers’ statement of “unwavering support for Israel’s security” is sheer humbug. Their repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire by Israel would mean victory for Hamas and the certainty of future slaughter of Israelis.

Given the Palestinian Arab strategy of a Palestine state as a stage towards Israel’s destruction, the unceasing calls to slaughter Jews emanating from Palestinian society and that society’s overwhelming and declared support for repeated October 7-style massacres, the two-state solution would be in fact a final solution.

And so these five governments are actively working for Israel’s surrender to genocidal Islamism.

The vilification of Israel is an attempt to cast it as a pariah state in order to prime the world to support its destruction. Britain, Canada Australia New Zealand and Norway have now shown beyond doubt they are part of that shocking campaign.

These five governments have chosen to stand with genocidal Islamists against Israel, with lies against truth and thus with barbarism against civilisation. They are allies of Israel no longer. They are a menace to civilisation itself.


New Quinnipiac poll illustrates deepening partisanship over Israel
A new Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday underscores the growing partisanship over Israel, and the declining sympathies among Democratic voters towards the Jewish state.

The survey asked respondents whether their sympathies were more with Israelis or Palestinians. A 37% plurality said Israelis, 32% said Palestinians and 31% said they don’t know — the narrowest advantage Israel has had since Quinnipiac began asking the question in 2001.

The slippage was driven mainly by Democrats, who now are overwhelmingly more sympathetic towards Palestinians. Among Democrats, just 12% said their sympathies were more with Israelis while a record 60% said they were with Palestinians.

By comparison, in November 2023, shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the Quinnipiac survey found 41% of Democrats saying they were more sympathetic to Palestinians, while 34% said they were more sympathetic to Israelis.

By contrast, Republicans remain overwhelmingly supportive of Israel and independents are still more supportive of Israelis than Palestinians. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Republicans are more sympathetic to Israelis, while 7% are more sympathetic to Palestinians. The small share of Republicans more sympathetic to the Palestinians is unchanged since 2023.

Among independents, 38% express more sympathy towards Israelis, 30% side with Palestinians and 31% don’t have an opinion.

The poll also asked respondents about the significance of antisemitism, which voters from both parties agreed was a worsening problem. Nearly three-fourths of voters (73%) said anti-Jewish prejudice was either a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem. Nearly half of Republicans (47%) considered antisemitism a very serious problem, compared to 36% of Democrats, and 35% of independents.
The Desperation of Piers Morgan: Shouting Down Natasha Hausdorff Was No Off-Script Meltdown
Piers’ Pivot
Which brings us to June 3, and one of Morgan’s most unhinged episodes to date — not because of anything his guest said, but because of how Morgan behaved.

His guest, British barrister and international law expert Natasha Hausdorff, presented a calm, fact-based case for Israel’s right to self-defense. Morgan responded by shouting her down, accusing her of lying, and interrupting her repeatedly.

In short, Morgan reserved more outrage for a composed lawyer than for a ranting Holocaust denier.

In the days that followed, Hausdorff noted on X: “Piers Morgan asks for the truth but refuses to hear it.” A fair comment, given the footage.

Morgan’s response? “It certainly wasn’t coming out of your disingenuous mouth…”

When shown the montage of him interrupting her dozens of times, he doubled down: “Perhaps that gives you some idea of how many times she was spewing bullsh*t…”

Professional, as ever.

Under growing criticism, Morgan attempted damage control via Substack, insisting he had “not switched sides,” that he wasn’t “anti-Israel,” and, with apparent sincerity, claimed: “The truth is that I’m not on any side and never have been. That’s not my job as a journalist.”

But Piers Morgan is not a journalist. He’s a shock jock with a YouTube show. His job is to generate outrage, not to clarify truth. And if that means he needs to shout down an expert in international law to keep the views rolling — so be it.

The irony, of course, is that Morgan’s program has attracted precisely the kind of guests who do have something to say. Hausdorff, Douglas Murray, and Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely have all appeared on Uncensored, drawn by the platform’s reach and the hope that, just maybe, a sliver of truth might cut through the noise.

But is it worth it anymore, sitting across from a man who now behaves like his most unhinged guests, shouting over facts and steamrolling any viewpoint that might interrupt his performance? Any sliver of truth risks being drowned out before it can be heard.

In the end, Uncensored is not journalism. It is content. And Piers Morgan is not interested in uncovering truth, only in courting publicity.
Starmer refuses to call Gaza War ‘genocide’ despite Labour pressure at PMQs
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer today declined to call Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip a “genocide”, despite being urged to do so by a Labour backbencher.

During PMQs Labour MP for Bolton South and Walkden Yasmin Qureshi urged Starmer to take more robust action against Israel, including recognising a Palestinian state.

“What we are witnessing in Gaza is indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians. More than 50,000 people have been killed. Children have been shot while queuing for bread”, said Qureshi, who in November 2023 resigned from the Labour front bench to vote for an SNP-backed parliamentary motion calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza.

“A growing number of genocide scholars, including leading Israeli academics, believe that genocide is taking place under international law. We have a duty to prevent genocide. I served on the UN Mission in Kosovo. We acted to stop mass killing there. What is the difference now?”, she asked, urging Starmer to “intervene immediately to alleviate human suffering and take steps to recognise the state of Palestine”.

Responding to Qureshi, Starmer refused to call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, saying:“The humanitarian situation is dreadful and distressing, and scenes that we have witnessed outside aid distribution centres are frankly heartbreaking. More aid is needed of volume and speed into Gaza and Israel's plan for aid delivery is inadequate and insufficient."

“What is needed is for the UN and other agencies to deliver that aid according to well established mechanisms. And Israel must allow this”, he added, saying that the government were “working with allies to do all that we can to make this happen as well, of course, to get the hostages out who have been held for a very long time”.


Greta's pitiful excuse when asked about her group's support for terrorists - as painfully woke Swedes welcome her home
Greta Thunberg said last night that she was not aware that some of those involved in the 'freedom flotilla' voyage had previously shown support for Hamas and Hezbollah.

'I haven't heard about it or what this person has said,' the 22-year-old activist told Swedish media as she landed back in her home country.

When asked why she did not know about the views of people she was travelling with, she said: 'Because I haven't had a phone.'

She was then challenged by reporters who asked why she had not looked into the issue before she set off on the ship bound for Gaza.

'Should I ask exactly everyone what exactly they have said about everything?' she then asked curtly. 'It would take some time.'

Zaher Birawi, who organised the mission on the British-flagged ship, was accused of being a 'Hamas operative' by Labour MP Christian Wakefield in 2023.

Birawi, who is based in London and describes himself as a 'founding member' of the Freedom Flotilla International Coalition, has also been labelled as such by Israel.

He is the head of the Europal Forum, which Israel designated as a terrorist organisation in 2021, and has previously been pictured with Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader who was assassinated by Israel last year.

Meanwhile an activist who travelled on the Madleen aid boat, Brazilian national Thiago Avila, reportedly attended Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's funeral in Beirut last year, and wrote on social media that he was 'inspired' by the Lebanese terrorist chief.


‘They couldn’t even see it’: Douglas Murray shames Greta for not facing reality of October 7
Author Douglas Murray slams Greta Thunberg’s “unbelievable ignorance” in her plan to sail into Gaza, praising US President Donald Trump for suggesting she go to anger management classes.

“As we now know, obviously a performative piece of activism where they turned up with a boat full of Instagrammers and less aid than Israel gets in every other hour in normal times,” Mr Murray told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“The reports are that when the Israelis boarded the ship, took them safely to port in, I think Ash Dod, and they were trying to show the activists the footage that Hamas took themselves on October 7 of their enormous pride in raping and butchering Israeli women and others.

“Greta Thunberg and co apparently turned their faces away because they didn’t want to see the reality that started this war.

“All these people who are about raising awareness and so on, they will literally turn their faces away from reality if it doesn’t fit their bigoted, blinkered picture and idea of it.”




Dawn French and the comedians who can't resist punching down at Israel
The desire to pull of stunts in order to pillory the Jews also finds expression in the likes of Polish artist Igor Dobrowolski walking round Auschwitz draped in a Palestinian flag with the words "Never Again is For Everyone” – everything, literally everything, is fair game when the punch-line is Israel.

One older model for this performative trickster mockery mode is, of course, the Merchant of Venice, in which Shylock is slowly and crushingly mocked, until, befuddled and bamboozled in court for the “pound of flesh” that is his insurance on a loan to Antonio, borrowing for his friend Bassanio to woo Portia, he – on pain of death – converts to Christianity and scuttles out of sight.

The Nazis loved the Merchant of Venice, which was seized by the Ministry of Propaganda to spread antisemitic propaganda. Their versions amplified the mocking elements, cutting and editing and reducing Shakespeare’s work to the pinpoint of mouth-frothing sadistic anti-Jew obsession. In 1933 alone, it was performed nearly 100 times, while Kristallnacht in November 1938 was accompanied on the airwaves by a radio version.

One of the most famous was a 1943 production of The Merchant of Venice at Burg theatre in Vienna, with Werner Krauss as Shylock, described as “demonic” and, wearing a “bright red wig and exaggerated beaked nose” as he frantically “[scurried] back and forth” spewing “gurgles,grunts and quarks”. Ha ha ha!

One reviewer described him as “something revoltingly alien…[creeping] across the stage”. Like in the comedy shows of Hunter and Currie, the crowds at the Nazi productions were often very revved up, as was the intent, and shouted and jeered at key moments of Shylock disgust.

Dawn French is not original, she is not clever. But in deploying the comic mode to lambast the Jewish state for crimes it has not committed, she finds herself in step with those who have used such tactics to send up matters Jewish in a way that is neither funny nor nice.
Head of UK Islamic school urged Muslims to ‘take up arms’ days after October 7 attack
A Muslim cleric in Blackburn responsible for the education of almost 1,000 children gave a sermon days after the October 7 massacres extolling the virtues of martyrdom and urging listeners to take up arms, the JC can reveal.

The incendiary speeches of Suhail Manya – one of two imams at Masjid e Tauheedul Islam and the head of the religious school affiliated with the mosque – have also featured praise for Hamas, a call to “oppose” Jews and support for killing those who collaborate with non-Muslims.

In his chilling sermons, delivered mostly in Urdu and translated for the JC, Manya has also voiced opposition to the criminalisation of Holocaust denial and suggested that Jews hate Muslims because they are jealous.

A whistleblower at Manya’s mosque who preferred to remain anonymous told the JC that the imam had transformed the mosque – once a place of peaceful worship that celebrated British values – into “a breeding ground for division and radicalisation”.

The source said: “His views pose a serious risk of influencing young and impressionable individuals, fostering extremist attitudes, and even laying the groundwork for potential radicalisation.”

The Charity Commission has an ongoing regulatory compliance inquiry into the Masjid e Tauheedul Islam “to address concerns raised with us about how this charity is run”, the regulator said.

“As part of this case, we are in contact with the charity’s trustees to gather more information in response to allegations received about sermons delivered at the charity’s premises,” a spokesperson told the JC.

Manya is the principal for the madrasah – the religious school affiliated with the mosque – and has been responsible for teaching 950 children in evening classes since 2006.

In one sermon from July 27, 2023, concerning the Day of Ashura, the tenth day of the month of Muharram (the start of the Islamic New Year), Manya warned congregants to “oppose” Jews and Christians, because they are following a “false path”.

“If someone becomes a Muslim and then an apostate, what will we do with him? Mandatory death,” the imam said.

If a Muslim is “causing harm” by collaborating with non-Muslims, “mandatory death” is proposed again as the answer by the imam, who qualified at the Darul Uloom Azaadville in South Africa.

He went on: “When Muslims emulate others, this is rebellion, this is a great crime. Don’t underestimate it.”


Arizona governor vetoes bill to hold teachers liable for Jew-hatred in schools
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, vetoed legislation on Tuesday that would have allowed public school students and their families to sue teachers over antisemitic content in their instruction.

In her veto letter, Hobbs said that the bill was “not about antisemitism. It’s about attacking our teachers.”

“It puts an unacceptable level of personal liability in place for our public school, community college and university educators and staff, opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits,” Hobbs wrote.

“It is disappointing to yet again see this legislature single out and attack our public education system,” she added. (JNS sought comment from the governor’s office.)

Hobbs’s veto announcement cited a letter from the Tucson Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center arguing that the bill, HB 2867, could also chill legitimate classroom discussions about the Holocaust.

The center wrote to the governor on June 6 that Holocaust education “invites students to ask tough questions about the legacy of the Holocaust today—questions that often touch on the history of Zionism, the founding of the State of Israel and the persistence of global antisemitism.”

“Under HB 2867, those discussions could be deemed ‘antisemitic’ depending on how a single phrase is interpreted, regardless of intent or context,” wrote Lori Shepherd, the center’s executive director.

“A student misunderstanding a classroom debate, a parent disagreeing with a textbook or a community member recording a lecture out of context—any of these could spark a lawsuit,” Shepherd said. “No teacher would want to teach this history under those conditions.”

Under the provisions of HB 2867, Arizona would have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred and forbidden education officials from propagating any “antisemitism or antisemitic conduct, act or process that constitutes harassment or discrimination and that creates a hostile educational environment.”
Portland State professor placed on leave after declaring, ‘I am Hamas’
A Portland State University professor who proclaimed “I am Hamas” at a demonstration has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

The faculty member made her pro-Hamas declaration during a June 2 protest in Beaverton, Oregon, on behalf of Tammy Carpenter, a school board member under investigation for her alleged antisemitic social media posts.

“I am Hamas,” said the professor, as shown on video posted by the Willamette Week, to an unidentified man.

He replied: “You are Hamas? Great. What was the plan for Hamas?”

She responded by waving her arm toward the protest crowd and saying, “We are all Hamas.”

Portland State President Ann Cudd, in a statement disavowing the “reprehensible video,” confirmed that the speaker was a university professor.

“Portland State University has been made aware of a short video circulating that includes a PSU professor speaking at an independent, non-university event off campus,” said Ms. Cudd in a Friday statement. “The individual makes statements, ‘I am Hamas. We are all Hamas.’”

Ms. Cudd did not name the professor, but KOIN-TV and StandWithUs Northwest have identified her as Yasmeen Hanoosh, a professor of Arabic in the Department of World Languages and Literatures.

Her biography is posted on the PSU website, but her photo has been removed. The Washington Times has reached out to her for comment.


Argentina’s Legal Case against Iran, and Why It Matters
Yesterday, the Argentinian supreme court upheld the conviction of the former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on charges of corruption. This ruling may make it easier for other charges to proceed against her, including prosecution for her involvement in covering up Iran’s role in the 1994 attack on the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, and in the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in the same city. The cover-up likely included the murder of Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor investigating the bombing.

Richard M. Sanders explains some background to the current case, and a separate court ruling last year that exposed evidence of Kirchner’s guilt:
The court noted Hizballah’s presence in the Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil tri-border area, as well as the threat posed by Iranian-linked aircraft using Argentine airports for logistical purposes in maintaining connections with Hizballah.

It also reviewed other terrorist attacks from Beirut to London, Paris, Kuwait, and Bangkok, which have been attributed to Hizballah and Iran, discussing the role of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the use of its diplomatic establishments to facilitate “the provision of documentation and . . . the transport of weapons to intelligence networks in infiltrated countries.”

The court also considered one possible theory that Iran may have launched the AMIA attack as a reprisal for Argentina’s 1991 decision to end collaboration between its state nuclear-power enterprise and its Iranian counterpart.

With many of the responsible individuals residing in Iran, we are unlikely to see this case resolved soon. Nevertheless, international and Argentine courts and Argentina’s prosecutor are building an important record of individuals (Argentine, Iranian, and Hizballah) who are complicit in this attack and its cover-up. This judicial record will provide a basis for further international pressure on Iran in the short term and ultimately may lead to justice in this long unresolved case.
Rabbinical conference forced to cancel Sarajevo gathering after Bosnian government pressure
A hotel in Bosnia and Herzegovina has cancelled a group booking for a European rabbinical delegation following criticism of Israel’s ongoing conflict in Gaza as ‘genocide’ by one of the country’s ministers.

Rooms for 50 delegates from The Conference of European Rabbis (CER) at the Swissotel in the capital Sarajevo had been confirmed and flights booked ahead of the annual meeting of chief rabbis from all over Europe, including France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, due to take place Monday 16th to Wednesday 18th June.

The event discusses European Jewish issues including rising antisemitism, religious freedoms and the future of Jewish life on the continent.

A note sent to the organisation and seen by Jewish News strongly suggests that Swissotel, owned by global hospitality company Accor Group, was pressurised into cancelling the booking following the publication of an open letter written by the federal minister of labour and social policy, Adnan Delic, which was also published in the Bosnian press.

Delic’s letter says that as a city of “openness and hospitality…it is illogical, deeply unacceptable, and even morally offensive, that in Sarajevo, a city that has survived the longest siege in modern European history, a city where children have been killed, hospitals have been targeted and markets have been shelled, a gathering is being organized from which support is being sent to the occupier who, every day, in front of the eyes of the whole world, commits genocide against the innocent civilian population of Gaza.”

He called “on the organisers to immediately cancel the conference in Sarajevo, and on all relevant institutions to prevent its realisation, and on citizens and civil society organisations not to remain silent in the face of this attempt to morally humiliate our capital and our country.”

In his letter, he calls Israel a “genocidal entity” committing “shameful crimes against humanity.”


Pakistani accused of planning mass attack on Jews in New York for ISIS extradited to US
A Pakistani national living in Canada, who is accused of plotting to target a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 in support of ISIS, was extradited to the United States on Tuesday.

“This case is a reminder of the constant threat of terrorism facing every corner of the world, as well as the disturbing rise in threats against our Jewish communities,” Kash Patel, FBI director, stated. “Your FBI will continue to be on guard and work around the clock to counter them.”

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was sent by authorities from Canada to the United States to face charges, with an initial hearing scheduled for Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Khan “planned to use automatic weapons to kill as many members of our Jewish community as possible, all in support of ISIS,” stated Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, labeling the plan “antisemitic.”

It’s alleged that Khan, residing in Canada, began posting on social media and in an encrypted messaging application about his support for ISIS.


Head of RFK Jr.’s MAHA Institute believes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are real
The director of a new organization founded to advance the priorities of US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has extensively promoted the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a famous antisemitic forgery.

Leland Lehrman, who last month was named executive director of the MAHA Institute, also believes Israel may have been behind the 9/11 terror attacks, and has inveighed against “high-level Jewish Illuminists, or Lucifer worshipers.”

That’s according to a new report from the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, a social justice watchdog group founded by an acclaimed Jewish researcher on white nationalism, detailing Lehrman’s views and writing.

MAHA, short for Make America Healthy Again, is a slogan adopted by Kennedy and his supporters since the anti-vaccine activist dropped his independent presidential bid and endorsed US President Donald Trump. The institute bearing its name says it is committed to “rebuilding America’s health policy and infrastructure” and welcomed several White House personnel to an inaugural conference last month. Opposition to most vaccines is a key MAHA plank — one that runs directly counter to scientific consensus.

Lehrman’s beliefs about Jews — despite having a Jewish father himself, the conservative politician and investment banker Lewis E. Lehrman, the grandson of the founder of Rite Aid — reflect classical antisemitic tropes and conspiratorial thinking.

In 2005, Lehrman penned an article entitled “ADL, Zionist Policies Causing Rise in Anti-Jewish Sentiment” for a website run by Jeff Rense, whom the Anti-Defamation League has deemed an antisemitic conspiracy theorist. In the piece, Lehrman repeatedly praised the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a 19th-century Russian forgery purporting to outline a secret Jewish leadership conspiracy for world domination.

Lehrman wrote that the “Protocols” were “most likely authentic, and therefore represent the most thorough indictment of Jewish Supremacism known to man.” He also asserted that the document would “virtually guarantee a political and historical awakening which will unavoidably lead to an understanding of the continuing problem of Jewish racism and supremacism,” and said Jews were responsible for bringing about “the New World Order.” (In the piece, he claimed he had a prior association with the progressive Jewish magazine Tikkun, which is now defunct.)
‘Nobody helped me’: Israeli tourist in Greece attacked for speaking Hebrew, handcuffed by police
An Israeli tourist was attacked in Greece by a group of pro-Palestinian activists after they overheard him using Google Maps in Hebrew while navigating Athens.

The attackers heard the app's voice command saying "turn right" and, upon realizing he was using Hebrew, launched an assault on the Israeli.



"I went to a gym in Athens, and on the way, my phone was speaking Hebrew. I was using Google Maps. People passed by, and one of them asked me if I was from Israel. I told him yes, and at that moment, he began cursing at me and went into a frenzy," says Meidad Hozeh, 35, speaking to Maariv.

Hozeh described the terrifying moments: "I kept walking, and a group of people began cursing at me and hitting me. I started taking pictures, and I ran into the middle of the road, hoping to escape through the cars, but they kept chasing me even on the busy street."

"As more people joined the attack, I realized I was being targeted. I began running and kicking anyone who came near me. One of the attackers filed a complaint against me. They kicked me while I was running. I fell and somehow managed to get into a nearby restaurant's bathroom and shut the door," Hozeh shared.

He added, "Some of the attackers were Greek, while others were not. They tried to break down the door, and one of them even suggested bringing an axe. I called the guy from where I was staying, told him I was being attacked, and he called the police. They arrived about 20 minutes later."
Three boys face trial in France for antisemitic rape and assault
Almost one year after the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl near Paris, a regional juvenile court on Wednesday initiated the closed-door trial of two defendants accused of performing the act out of antisemitic hatred, and a third accused of orchestrating it. All three are aged 13 to 14.

Two of the three suspects face charges of group rape, physical violence and death threats aggravated by racist hate, the RTL broadcaster reported. The third, the girl’s ex-boyfriend, is accused of threatening her and arranging her rape, also out of racist prejudice.

The Rape of Courbevoie, the affluent Paris suburb where the incident took place, has provoked several demonstrations and widespread outrage among French Jews, who view it as symptomatic of the pervasiveness and intensity of the antisemitism that has surged in France since Oct. 7, 2023.

The trial’s year-long preparation and the fact that the ex-boyfriend faces no jail time due to the fact that he was not yet 13 when the incident occurred have added to the Jewish community’s anger.

According to the girl, RTL reported, two of the defendants cornered her into an empty building on June 15, 2024, in Courbevoie, questioned her about her Jewish identity in the context of the war in Gaza, and then physically assaulted and raped her.

Part of the assault was reportedly recorded. At least one assailant allegedly extorted the girl, demanding 200 euros in exchange for not releasing the footage, which was later circulated.
Nova Scotia man charged with promoting genocide for threatening Jews
B’nai Brith Canada stated on Tuesday that its complaint led to criminal charges against Luke Alexander MacDonnell, 22, for allegedly calling for Israelis to be killed.

“B’nai Brith Canada observed MacDonnell using social media to make threats targeting Jewish people,” said Richard Robertson, the nonprofit’s research and advocacy director. “We alerted law enforcement, who acted in short order to prevent him from causing harm.”

The Nova Scotia man is accused of stating online that “I want all Israelis murdered,” and that he wanted to “see all Zios killed.”

“In a chilling message to his followers, MacDonnell also called on anyone who was armed to ‘go out and kill, injure, take prisoners and bomb,’” B’nai Brith stated.

The New Glasgow Regional Police stated that it charged MacDonnell “in relation to a hate crime that occurred in New Glasgow.”

Police received a report of a hate crime on June 5, and the following day, “responded to a report of postings of online hate speech that occurred from a New Glasgow residence.” Police investigators “learned that the man allegedly posted several hateful messages targeting Jewish communities,” the department stated.
The king and the rabbi: How Milei’s spiritual quest made him Israel’s strongest ally - comment
When the legendary poet Judah Halevi plotted the Kuzari nearly 900 years ago, he imagined a restless Khazar king awakened by a dream in which an angel tells him: “Your intentions are desirable to the Creator, but your deeds are not acceptable.”

Unsatisfied with easy answers, the king summons priests, imams, and philosophers before finally embracing a rabbi’s simple confession: “We believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who brought Israel out of Egypt and spoke at Sinai.”

The literary device allowed Halevi to argue that serious ideas inevitably reshape politics.

Enter Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who touched down in Jerusalem on Monday. A self-designated “anarcho-capitalist,” Milei says that his weekly Torah studies with Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, Buenos Aires’ ambassador in Jerusalem, offer him the moral compass missing in modern politics.

“What I saw in Judaism,” Milei said after a tear-filled visit to the Western Wall last year, “was the constant search for truth and spirituality, an endless journey of growth.”

Moments later, he added a line worthy of Halevi’s king: “Every minute of this trip is a message to the world. It represents something bigger than us.”

Those private convictions are now public policy. Buenos Aires has flipped decades of UN voting patterns, black-listed Hamas and Hezbollah, and promises to move its embassy to Jerusalem once the Gaza war allows.

Milei’s next stop on his current visit will be to the Chagall State Hall, where he will become the first non-Jewish recipient of the Genesis Prize, often dubbed the Jewish Nobel.

The Genesis Prize Foundation chose him, it says, for “unequivocal support of Israel” at a time when doing so carries a cost.

Halevi would have recognized the symmetry: An outsider welcomed into the Jewish story because his deeds, not just his intentions, align with its values.
Argentina to move embassy to Jerusalem in 2026, says Milei
Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, announced in a historic first address to the Knesset on Wednesday that his country will move its embassy to Jerusalem next year.

On his second visit to Israel in as many years, Milei has emerged as one of the Jewish state’s most vocal supporters in South America and beyond. He was received with repeated standing ovations and cries of “Viva Argentina!” and “Viva Israel!” in Israel’s parliament from across the political aisle.

Milei reiterated his unequivocal support for the Jewish state at a time of international opprobrium over the 20-month war against Hamas in Gaza.

“Argentina stands by you in these difficult days,” he said in Spanish, which was simultaneously translated into Hebrew. “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about a large part of the international community that is being manipulated by terrorists and turning victims into perpetrators.”

The Argentinian leader lambasted the “cancer of antisemitism” that has been spreading across the globe following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He said that Buenos Aires will continue to demand that the remaining 53 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza be released, including four with Argentinian citizenship.

“How does the world allow a murderous terrorist organization to continue to hold innocent civilians hostage?” he asked. “When there is good and evil, there is no moral equality here.”


Christian student group gives $100,000 to Golan Heights Druze memorial
A pro-Israel Christian student organization on Wednesday donated $100,000 to honor the victims of last year’s deadly Hezbollah rocket attack on a soccer field in the Golan Heights village of Majdal Shams, which claimed the lives of 12 Druze children.

The donation by Passages, which has been dubbed the “Christian Birthright” for its student tours to Israel, will go to a local foundation that supports community youth pursuing higher education and leadership roles, a memorial soccer tournament and other infrastructure projects.

“In bringing our students to Israel, we try and help them understand the full spectrum of Israeli society and its complexities,” said Zach Bauer, CEO of Passages. “The Druze community underwent a deeply traumatic event in July last year when it lost 12 of its beautiful children, so we wanted to come and express our solidarity as Christian Zionists, show them they have deep support in the U.S., and to make a small gesture to help them, not just recover, but to help them build a better future for their children.”

Majdal Shams Mayor Dolan Abu Saleh said: “The meeting of the delegation with the families of the victims gave them great strength, and the hope to carry on.”

A religious sect that began about a thousand years ago in Egypt as an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, the Druze, who number about one million worldwide, primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, as well as in smaller communities in Western cities around the globe.

More than 150,000 Druze live in Israel, mostly in the Galilee, representing about 1.6% of the population, according to figures from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

The tens of thousands of Druze who live in four communities in the Golan Heights that came under Israeli control in the 1967 Six-Day War have long been divided between Israel and Syria, but are increasingly seeking Israeli citizenship.

Last year, during another solidarity trip, the Christian organization donated $500,000 to Israeli communities bordering Gaza.


Brian Wilson, legendary Beach Boys singer, dead at 82
Brian Wilson, the co-founder of the Beach Boys, has passed away at 82, his official website announced on Wednesday.

"We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world," a statement from the Wilson family said.

Wilson co-founded the iconic 1960s pop-rock group with his brothers Dennis and Carl alongside their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine in 1961.

The group would go on to make the Billboard Top 40 list over 30 times, a feat still unmatched by any American band.




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