Thursday, June 12, 2025

06/12 Links Pt1: Israel launches preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear sites, military targets; U.N. Fudges the Data on West Bank Violence

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Pick a Side
Again, there are two sides here: The U.S. is on one, and an Iranian proxy waging a hot war against America is on the other. There is no way to describe those who pressured BCG and who engaged in a massive media campaign to discredit GHF other than saying they are objectively pro-Hamas.

Though in fairness to the anti-American side of the conflict, the terror coalition is led by Hamas, but there are other groups involved. One of them is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an extremely popular terror group among the American left and especially on college campuses. I have written about their seeming ubiquity and their long history of violence against innocents a fair amount over the course of the current conflict because the PFLP continues to set up front groups, forcing the U.S. government to play Whack-a-Mole to stop Americans from funding them.

One such group is Addameer, which the U.S. just sanctioned as a cutout for the PFLP. In response, the UN’s high-profile Mideast rapporteur and virulent anti-Semite Francesca Albanese declared her “full solidarity” with the PFLP-linked organization.

The PFLP has been involved in the post-Oct. 7 terror war against Israeli civilians, has pledged its fealty to Hamas in that war, and has participated in the kidnapping of innocents including, reportedly, the young Bibas children who were subsequently and brutally executed by Palestinians. Just so we’re clear on who and what Francesca Albanese lends her “full solidarity” to.

Again, there are only two sides in this war. The UN has repeatedly chosen to side with Hamas (and the PFLP). Employees of American firms are pressuring their bosses to do the same. All the while, actual Palestinian civilians are murdered in the streets by Hamas but fed by U.S.- and Israel-backed humanitarian coordinators. You can’t be on the side of the UN and Hamas and also be on the side of Gazan civilians and American hostages. So pick one.
Col. Richard Kemp: 'GHF is a turning point in the war, critical in removing Hamas'
Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of the British military forces in Afghanistan, spoke to Israel National News - Arutz Sheva about the work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and its impact on the course of the war in Gaza.

"The establishment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a turning point in the war," Col. Kemp stated. "It is a critical step towards eliminating Hamas from control in Gaza. Their most important means of controlling the population was dominating supply of aid, which was enabled by UNWRA and other humanitarian agencies who could not prevent supplies from being seized by Hamas. Aid was also a vital money-making machine for Hamas which has lost pretty much all other sources of funding to recruit and pay its terrorists. Hamas would take freely supplied aid and sell it to the civilian population at a heavy premium."

"So far, the GHF has delivered a remarkable 19 million meals, including nearly 2.6 million today alone. Some Gazans have commented that this is the first free aid they have received since the war began," he stated. He further noted that the GHF constitutes a "unique and innovative project. It is specifically tailored to deal with the unparalleled challenges that Gaza."

Last night, Hamas terrorists attacked a bus carrying GHF workers, killing eight Gazans who participated in the organization's humanitarian aid efforts. Col. Kemp believes that Hamas decided to attack aid workers because effective humanitarian aid undermines its rule in Gaza. "The effectiveness already of the GHF is demonstrated by Hamas’s threats and attacks against civilians seeking to make use of the system. We also recently saw Hamas murder eight local civilians working for the GHF, and wound and kidnap others. Hamas killing Gaza civilians is nothing new but this is a mark of their desperation. They know just how much the GHF system undermines their control in Gaza. We have seen some limited uprisings against Hamas in recent weeks and there is likely to be more of that as much of the population realises that the terrorists no longer have this stranglehold over them."


Andrew Fox: Aid in Gaza: What is Israel’s New Approach to Humanitarian Aid?
Does this contractor-led aid model have a legal and moral basis? A supportive analysis can indeed find justification, rooted in the same IHL principles discussed earlier. Legally, nothing in the Geneva Conventions mandates that the UN or any specific entity oversee humanitarian relief; what matters is that aid be delivered impartially and effectively to civilians. An occupying power has the right to supervise and control relief efforts for legitimate security reasons, such as searching shipments for weapons or preventing aid from being diverted to enemy fighters.

Israel can argue that excluding UN agencies is a non-arbitrary decision driven by concrete security concerns, namely Hamas’ demonstrated attempts to exploit UN aid. If Hamas has a history of commandeering relief goods, then requiring a new distribution mechanism that excludes Hamas could be seen as a “valid, non-arbitrary reason” to replace the old UNRWA-led system.

The Israeli-US contractor plan rests on the imperative of protecting humanitarian aid from abuse. This considers not only the quantity of aid but also its distribution. By directly provisioning families under close monitoring, Israel aims to cut out the “middleman,” Hamas. In Somalia, only the deployment of US military escorts and later UN peacekeepers ensured that aid could bypass the warlords’ stranglehold. Likewise, in Gaza, a more muscular and controlled delivery system could be seen as the only realistic way to guarantee that food is not weaponised.

UNRWA and others have struggled to prevent corruption or militant interference in Gaza’s aid over the years. From that perspective, it is morally defensible to seek an alternative if the established system is being manipulated. The new model’s emphasis on “rigorous audits” and the involvement of experienced logisticians, including a former World Food Programme director as an advisor, is intended to lend credibility to the assurance that aid will reach its intended recipients.

At the same time, humanitarian organisations warn that “aid operations must remain neutral, independent, and civilian in nature,” and that “treating humanitarian relief as a militarised mission” violates those principles. The new Gaza aid scheme blurs the line between humanitarian and military spheres. Private security firms and Israeli forces securing aid stations directly link relief to one belligerent’s control. This raises legitimate concerns under the humanitarian principles of neutrality and independence. Civilians may perceive aid distribution as an arm of Israeli policy, potentially eroding trust and putting beneficiaries at risk of retribution.

International law does not itself ban an aid mechanism operated by a belligerent, provided that assistance is offered “without any adverse distinction” and not as a reward or coercive tool. Critics are concerned that the contractor model might prioritise aid for civilians who comply with Israeli directives, leaving others out. To genuinely meet IHL’s requirement for impartial aid, Israel and the US must demonstrate that all civilians in need across all of Gaza will receive assistance. If currently only half the population is covered, the plan must urgently expand or risk breaching the principle of impartiality.

So far, the UN has outright refused to participate in the new scheme, with the Secretary-General’s team stating that the proposed model “violates humanitarian principles” and UN agencies will not lend it legitimacy. The lack of established humanitarian actors poses a vulnerability to the plan’s credibility.

Israel’s contractor-driven aid model in Gaza represents a bold recalibration of humanitarian operations in conflict. It challenges the orthodox notion that only UN agencies can deliver aid, positing that when those structures fail, a controlled alternative may be warranted. A conditional, security-conscious aid delivery can save lives without empowering Hamas. Legally, Israel walks a fine line: it must demonstrate that this new mechanism better upholds its obligations to care for Gaza’s civilians under IHL.

Supporting this model does not require a blind endorsement of every aspect; rather, it calls for a nuanced perspective that, in extreme cases, may allow imperfect solutions to outperform dysfunctional ones. The moral litmus test will be whether Gaza’s civilians are better off and more secure in their access to food and medicine under the new scheme.


Israel launches preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear sites, military targets
Dozens of Israeli aircraft participated in an initial wave of strikes on dozens of military targets and Iranian nuclear sites early on Friday morning.

Warning sirens have been set off to get the public ready for potential Iranian counterattacks of ballistic missiles on Israel.

Iran has not yet fired ballistic missiles, but it has thousands of them.

The IDF confirmed that the reason for the attack is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the Iranian regime are an existential threat to the State of Israel and to the wider world," the military.

According to the IDF, Iran has enough uranium to weaponize it to nuclear levels, for 15 nuclear weapons within days.

In recent days, Iran developed a plan with Hezbollah, Hamas, and other proxies to destroy the State of Israel, potentially including attempts to attack via all borders, including Egypt and Jordan.

This was the point of no return, according to the IDF.

Seeking to justify Israel's preemptive strike on Iran, IDF Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin noted that the Islamic Republic attacked the Jewish state twice, in April 2024 and October 2024.

He also said that Iran was the leader of a group of proxies which had carried out all of the attacks against Israel during the war, including Hamas's massive invasion on October 7, 2023 and Hezbollah thousands of attacks on Israel from October 2023 - November 2024.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has entered the security cabinet.

The IDF targets also include commanders, bases, and nuclear sites, though the main goal is nuclear sites.

Further, the IDF said in the last 20 minutes, Iran was taken by surprise and they were attacked in places they didn't expect.

Israel has had strong coordination with the US, but Israeli military officials refused to say whether America was pre-updated or fully coordinated into the current attack, coming hours after Washington seemed to suggest it might not be in the loop or approve.


Trump Says Iran Must 'Give Up Things They Don't Want To Give Up' To Reach a Nuclear Deal—Then Says He's 'Fairly Close to an Agreement'
President Donald Trump told reporters that Iran must offer more concessions than it appears willing to make to reach a nuclear deal, then said the two sides are close to an agreement. He also said an Israeli strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities "could very well happen" and "might help" but "also could blow" ongoing discussions.

"I would love to avoid conflict, but they are going to have to give up things they don't want to give up," Trump said of Iran. "We are fairly close to an agreement, we are fairly close to a pretty good agreement," he added minutes later. "It's got to be better than pretty good, though."

The remarks, which came during a Thursday bill signing ceremony that the Washington Free Beacon attended as part of the White House press pool, reflect the mixed messaging that has come out of the administration as it engages in nuclear talks with Iran. In addition to simultaneously praising and expressing doubt in the talks, Trump said he would oppose an Israeli strike—one that his administration is reportedly weighing how to support—but only if he thinks a deal is likely to materialize.

"As long as I think there is an agreement, I don't want them going in," Trump said.

The president spoke days before a scheduled meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials for a sixth round of nuclear negotiations amid an apparent impasse on uranium enrichment. He said discussions have progressed well and that he hopes to see an agreement rather than military action.

Though Trump professed that he would prefer to avoid a conflict, he said Iran is "going to have to give us some things that they’re not willing to give us right now."

He did, however, say his administration has "had very good discussions with Iran" after claiming that the two parties are "fairly close to a pretty good agreement."

Trump told reporters that he opposes an Israeli strike if a deal seems likely to materialize, saying, "as long as I think there is an agreement, I don’t want them going in."

He said that he would rather see the Iranian nuclear issue resolved through diplomacy than military action.

"I’d love to avoid a conflict," he told reporters. "Whether it’s going in or not going in, [Iran] can’t have a nuclear weapon. I prefer the more friendly path."


In first since 2005, IAEA declares Iran in nuclear noncompliance
For the first time in nearly two decades, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-member Board of Governors on Thursday declared Iran to be in violation of its non-proliferation commitments, potentially paving the way for a referral to the U.N. Security Council.

This move, reported by Reuters and others, follows a series of long-standing disputes between Iran and the IAEA, which intensified after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran and other world powers in 2018. The deal has since collapsed.

The resolution comes amid escalated regional tensions in light of the ongoing U.S.-Iran talks aimed at curtailing Iran’s nuclear program.

Nineteen countries voted in favor of the resolution in a closed-door session, Reuters reported. Eleven abstained, and three—Russia, China and Burkina Faso—opposed the resolution. It was introduced by the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

The resolution, which follows a critical report submitted by the IAEA to member states on May 31, states: “The Board of Governors … finds that Iran’s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran … constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with the Agency.”

In a statement, Israel’s foreign minister said that “Iran has engaged in a systematic clandestine nuclear weapons program. It is rapidly accumulating highly enriched uranium, clearly proving the nature of the program is for non-peaceful purposes.” This and Iran’s consistent concealment efforts, the ministry said, “undermine the global non-proliferation regime and pose an imminent threat to regional and international security and stability.”

The international community “must respond decisively to Iran’s non-compliance and take measures to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons,” the Israeli foreign ministry added.


CIA analyst, who leaked Israeli plans to strike Iran, gets 37 months in prison
The former CIA analyst Asif Rahman, who admitted in January that he leaked classified information about Israel’s military response to Iran’s missile attacks on Oct. 1, 2024, was sentenced on Wednesday to 37 months in prison, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The 34-year-old had faced up to 10 years in jail for the two counts—illegally retaining and transmitting classified national security information.

“For months, this defendant betrayed the American people and the oaths he took upon entering his office by leaking some of our nation’s most closely held secrets,” stated John Eisenberg, assistant U.S. attorney general for national security.

The Justice Department announcement did not mention Israel by name. It stated only that the documents were about a U.S. foreign ally and its planned actions against a “foreign adversary.”

“Rahman removed the documents, photographed them and transmitted them to individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them,” it stated. “By Oct. 18, 2024, the documents appeared publicly on multiple social media platforms, complete with the classification markings.”

Rahman had been a CIA employee since 2016 and carried a top-secret security clearance, including access to sensitive compartmented information, which refers to materials about intelligence sources and methods, and the analytical processes used to generate them.

The Cincinnati native, and Yale University and University of Chicago graduate, admitted to accessing and printing two top-secret documents on Oct. 17.

The leak forced Israel to delay a strike, according to federal prosecutors, though Israel took military action on Oct. 26 as part of a back-and-forth series of strikes.
Iran 'leaks' documents to discredit nuclear chief Grossi amid IAEA sanctions
Leaking materials it obtained, possibly by hacking, to the Iran View 24 outlet, Iran lashed out on Thursday with a personal attack on both IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi and Israeli Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency Merav Zafary-Odiz.

Facing likely condemnation and possibly eventually global snapback sanctions against it from a mix of the IAEA Board of Governors, key European countries who are IAEA members, and the UN Security Council, Tehran is seeking to discredit Grossi and his recent negative reports against it.

Although the US and Israel have sometimes viewed Grossi as too neutral regarding the Islamic Republic and too unwilling to call it out for nuclear violations, Iran has viewed Grossi as increasingly siding with Israel.

The core point of anger for Tehran against Grossi is that once he took over the IAEA in late 2019, he started to pressure it harder about the military aspects of its nuclear program, which the Mossad revealed when it seized Iran's nuclear archives in 2018.

Grossi's predecessor, Yukiya Amano, had been much more passive in addressing these allegations, receiving documents from the Mossad in mid-2018, but not taking almost any actions to follow up on the documents and allegations for several months, and not visiting certain illicit undeclared nuclear sites until almost mid-2019.


Stefanik puts Bank of New York Mellon on notice for ties to Iran-linked telecom
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) sent a notice to Bank of New York Mellon, one of the world’s oldest banks, about dropping its ties to a South African telecommunications provider with a significant stake in Iran’s largest mobile operator.

The House Republican leadership’s chair penned the letter to the bank, one of the largest in the country with more than $52 trillion under custody and administration, on Wednesday. She stated that its ties to MTN Group are “deeply troubling and well-documented.”

The telecom company holds a 49% stake in Iran Cell, “which U.S. authorities and courts link directly to terrorist activities that resulted in the injury and death of American service members and civilians,” Stefanik wrote.

Bank of New York Mellon offers customers the chance to purchase stock in MTN Group through the American Depository Receipts program, which allows U.S. investors to buy and sell shares of companies not listed on U.S. stock exchanges.

The bank provides certificates that represent shares of a foreign company’s stock and can be traded as such.


WSJ Editorial: U.N. Fudges the Data on West Bank Violence
Who's terrorizing whom in the West Bank? President Biden, backed by UN data, built an unprecedented sanctions regime to address Israeli "settler violence," a suddenly ubiquitous term. But the data doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

A new report by Regavim, an Israeli NGO, scrutinizes the statistics from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on which the Biden case relied. It found that of 6,285 violent incidents by "settlers" from January 2016 through April 2023 listed by the UN, "The UN database includes thousands of clearly non-violent incidents in its count of violent events."

Every visit by Jews to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest site, is counted as settler violence. So are class trips to archaeological sites, traffic accidents, state infrastructure work and trespassing by hikers. Other incidents are in Jerusalem, which isn't a "settlement."

Filtering out the thousands of such cases leaves 833 alleged incidents of nationalist violence resulting in bodily harm - a definition the UN claims to apply - over the 7-year period. But these include Palestinians harmed in the process of committing terrorist attacks who are listed as victims of settler violence. In about half the 833 cases, the UN also records the victim's "involvement in clashes," leaving it unclear who started it. In 117 of the cases, the UN says Israeli security forces, not settlers, are to blame.

Meanwhile, the Israel Security Agency records 6,068 serious attacks by Palestinians (shootings, stabbings, suicide bombings, etc.) against Israeli civilians over only two years, 2020-22. The picture of the West Bank of wanton violence by Israeli civilians against peaceful Palestinians is an inversion of the daily reality.
Why Israel Must Now Lead an Interim Solution for Gaza
Today, in Gaza, there is no vacuum - there is only Hamas - and despair fills the streets. The imperative now is twofold: to dismantle Hamas's control from the outside and to erode it from within. This cannot be achieved with bombs alone, but with a competing idea.

Any talk of installing the current Palestinian Authority is a dangerous fantasy. The PA, in its present form, is widely seen by Palestinians as corrupt and illegitimate. To expect it to govern a hostile Gaza is to invite certain failure. Likewise, the notion that external Arab forces could impose order now is naive. A generation steeped in a jihadist worldview would reject them as invaders.

The path forward lies in empowering local actors. The powerful clans and families in Gaza are the only available bridge. This is an interim solution, to build the foundation for a durable, long-term resolution. It is about creating the conditions for a legitimate and functional local Gazan administration to emerge.

Once this local governance is established and the threat of Hamas is neutralized, Israel can reduce its military presence. The final phase would see Israel handing over supervisory responsibilities to a coalition of moderate Arab states, such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, who can help ensure long-term stability and oversee reconstruction.

For this transitional phase to succeed, Israel must maintain absolute and unwavering freedom of security operations across Gaza. This is not a desire for occupation, but a necessary condition for success. Israeli security control is the temporary scaffolding necessary to protect this nascent structure until it can stand on its own.
Will Defeat Lead Palestinians to Reconsider Armed Struggle?
If there’s one lesson to be learned from the history of the Israel-Arab conflict, it’s never to be confident that an end is in sight. Ehud Yaari nevertheless—and with all due caution—points to some noteworthy developments:

The absolute primacy of “armed struggle” in Palestinian discourse has discouraged any serious attempt to discuss or plan for a future Palestinian state. Palestinian political literature is devoid of any substantial debate over what kind of a state they aspire to create. What would be its economic, foreign, and social policies?

One significant exception was a seminar held by Hamas in Gaza—under the auspices of the late Yahya Sinwar—prior to October 7, 2023. The main focus of what was described as a brainstorming session was the question of how to deal with the Jews in the land to be liberated. A broad consensus between the participants was reached that most Israeli Jews should be eradicated or expelled while those contributing to Israel’s success in high tech and other critical domains would be forced to serve the new Palestinian authorities.

Yet, the ongoing aftershocks from the ongoing war in Gaza are posing questions among Palestinians concerning the viability of armed struggle. So far this trend is reflected mainly in stormy exchanges on social-media platforms and internal controversies within Hamas. There is mounting criticism leveled at the late Mohammad Deif and Yahya Sinwar for embarking upon an uncoordinated offensive that is resulting in a “Second Nakba”—a repeat of the defeat and mass displacement caused by launching the war in 1948.

To be sure, “armed struggle” is still being preached daily to the Palestinian communities by Iran and Iranian proxies, and at least half the Palestinian public—according to various polls—believe it remains indispensable. But doubts are being heard. We may be reaching a point where the Palestinians will feel compelled to make a choice between the road which led to past failures and an attempt to chart a new route. It will certainly require time and is bound to cause fractures and divisions, perhaps even a violent split, among the Palestinians.
Bassam Tawil: Did The Palestinian Authority President Really Condemn the Hamas Attack of October 7, 2023?
In all his speeches in Arabic since October 7, 2023, Abbas has very carefully avoided condemning the attack and the murder of a large number of Israelis and foreign nationals.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, which regularly reports on Abbas's meetings, statements, and diplomatic events, also did not report about the letter, including Abbas's alleged condemnation of the October 7 massacres against Israel.

If Abbas actually did condemn October 7 in his letter, he did so only to appease France and encourage it to recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestinian public knows absolutely nothing about the letter or Abbas's supposed "condemnation."

If France really wanted a condemnation of the October 7 atrocities, they should have asked Abbas to issue a statement in Arabic to his own people, and not send a letter (in French) to French President Emmanuel Macron. Such a statement should have been issued by Abbas's office in Ramallah, not the Élysée Palace in Paris.

Macron and his government are.... are apparently trying to show the world that Abbas deserves a Palestinian state because he has purportedly "condemned" the Hamas-led massacres. Unfortunately, however, this is the same Abbas, however, who still pays salaries to families of convicted terrorists who murder Jews, and who consistently glorifies terrorists by calling them heroes and martyrs.

France and the European Union are actually planning to reward the Islamist jihadists who slaughtered hundreds of Jews by giving them a terrorist state funded and armed by Iran's mullahs.

This conference, to recognize a genocidal terrorist state, is evidently Macron's way of appeasing the Muslim jihadists who are now rioting on the streets of French cities. The same holds true for other European leaders: they are willing to sacrifice Jews to placate their Muslim communities.
Israel’s foreign minister attacks Macron over enthusiastic response to Abbas letter
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has claimed a letter sent by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to France’spresident calling for Hamas to hand over its weapons, the release of the hostages, and the start of a renewed peace process is full of “lies” and “empty slogans.”

French President Emmanuel Macron enthusiastically welcomed the letter as being one of ” hope, courage and clarity” writing on X: “This is a decisive moment.”

He described Abbas’s commitments as “concrete and unprecedented,” and said they demonstrate a “genuine willingness to move forward.”

Macron said the letter “charts a course toward a horizon of peace.”

The letter was sent ahead of a conference in one weeks time taking place in New York, at which the UK government will join France and Saudi Arabian representatives.

Abbas addressed the letter to Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.


JPost Editorial: Global sanctions against Israel ministers show dangerous hypocrisy
In other words, it wasn’t only hateful rhetoric that was the target here, but also the ministers’ rejection of the two-state solution. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said as much, stating that comments by the sanctioned ministers are an “impediment” to a two-state solution.

Well, here’s a news flash: about 85% of Jewish Israelis, according to a recent INSS poll, now oppose a two-state solution. Why? Because they’ve been mugged by reality – first by the Second Intifada and more recently by October 7.

The vast majority of Israelis no longer see two states as a viable path to peace, not because of ideology, but because of bitter experience.

That doesn’t mean Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s inflammatory rhetoric is defensible. We find some of their remarks not only irresponsible but morally wrong.

However, these sanctions extend beyond disapproval of rhetoric and into the realm of sanctimonious virtue signaling. If these governments want to condemn Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s speech, that’s their prerogative. But the double standard here is deafening.

These countries are saying they won’t engage with the far-right ministers because of incitement to violence, but they have no problem sitting down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government pays monthly salaries to terrorists – and their families – who murder Israelis.

If these countries want to be taken seriously, perhaps they should start by addressing the inciteful rhetoric heard on their own streets – chants like “Globalize the Intifada,” “Free, free Palestine,” or “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Going after Israeli ministers while ignoring this isn’t virtuous; it’s hypocritical. And it should be called out as such.We commend US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for rejecting the sanctions and making it clear they are anything but constructive.

As he put it, the sanctions “do nothing to promote a ceasefire in Gaza, bring the hostages home, or end the war.” Then he added, “We remind our partners not to forget who the real enemy is.”

Sound advice, indeed.
Jake Wallis Simons: Sanction speech in the Jewish state, tolerate antisemitism all around it
Now that Britain has launched a new foreign policy in which we scrutinize our allies for unpleasant speech to sanction, we can surely expect much more to come from David Lammy. Right? In the name of consistency, you understand.

Cast your eye across friendly countries in the Middle East and you will find candidates jostling to join his list. One that springs to mind is Tunisia’s President Kais Saied. Bilateral trade with his country currently stands at £753 million annually, an increase of 8.7 per cent on last year. As I write, a Tunisian delegation together with ten tech startups are attending London Tech Week 2025.

Yet President Saied has explicitly renounced the two-state solution – a policy held in such totemic regard by Britain’s Labour government – instead demanding “all the land of Palestine” for the Arabs. He has also claimed that a secret “Zionist influence” was behind the naming of a destructive storm that killed thousands in Libya and described the Abraham Accords as “high treason”. Surely this is at least equivalent to the Ben-Gvirs and Smotriches of this world?

Or take Turkey, one of our esteemed NATO allies. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has distinguished himself in recent years by taking a sledgehammer to the secular liberalism of Atatürk and replacing it with a thuggish, Islamist theocracy that offers safe haven to the jihadists of Hamas.

Erdogan has long been waging an appalling war against the Kurds of northern Syria, which has involved, of course, an occupation. Recently, the Turkish strongman has been ramping up the antisemitic rhetoric with remarks like, “they are murderers, to the point that they kill children who are five or six years old. They only are satisfied by sucking their blood” and praying that God may, “destroy and devastate Zionist Israel”. Surely this appalling leader must also be firmly in Lammy’s unwavering sights.

In Egypt, meanwhile, where bilateral trade is worth £4.8 billion annually – almost as much as Israel – 87 per cent of press coverage about Jews in the state-run media was negative over the past year. It has been relentlessly peddling stereotypes about Jewish greed, referencing “the Elders of Zion”, depicting Jews as disloyal and traitorous, and claiming that the Holocaust was exaggerated. How about sanctioning the editors? The rhetoric they publish puts that of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in the shade.

In Jordan, meanwhile, where much of British taxpayers’ money has been spent on “military training and democratisation”, an MP, Imad Al-Adwan, was convicted of smuggling weapons and gold into the West Bank, a crime that easily eclipses the indiscretions of Israel’s far-right. Thankfully, he was convicted. But what of his many fellow politicians who have made, shall we say, colourful comments?
Yishai SILENCES Anti-Israel BBC Host: “You’re Helping Hamas!”
Exclusive Head to Head : BBC versus Yishai Fleisher with special intro direct from Washington DC




United Nations overwhelmingly demands immediate Gaza ceasefire over US, Israel opposition
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza and aid access, after the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council last week.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution that also demands the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, the return of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The text garnered 149 votes in favor, while 19 countries abstained and the US, Israel and 10 others voted against.

The resolution "strongly condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving civilians ... of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supply and access."

Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon told the General Assembly this was "blood libel." He had urged countries not to take part in what he said was a "farce" that undermines hostage negotiations and fails to condemn Hamas.

"It must be acknowledged that by failing to condition a ceasefire on the release of the hostages, you told every terrorist organization that abducting civilians works," he said.


Lawmakers again demand U.N.’s Albanese be fired
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, again demanding that Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, be dismissed from her position.

Albanese, despite alleged private criticism of her by Guterres and public opposition from U.S. and allied officials, recently had her employment and mandate extended.

“This extension sends a signal to the world that the United Nations tolerates and even promotes those who spew antisemitic hatred and harbor long-standing prejudice against Israel,” the letter reads. “This pattern of the United Nations allowing employees to direct vile hatred towards the Jewish people and the obsession with the world’s only Jewish state must end now. Every day that the UN fails to address this systemic bias within its organization, its credibility is undermined.”

The lawmakers argued that dismissing Albanese would be a step to show that the U.N. can address antisemitism in its own ranks.

“We’ve seen over and over again the deadly consequences of this noxious rhetoric like Ms. Albanese’s that crosses the line from criticism of Israel into antisemitic demonization,” the letter reads, linking Albanese’s long history of antisemitic comments to the recent antisemitic terrorist attacks in Washington and Boulder, Colo., as well as the global surge of violent antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023.

The letter was signed by Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Jefferson Shreve (R-IN), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

“Special Rapporteur Albanese has a vile and extensive history of outlandish antisemitic statements and an extreme bias against Israel,” the lawmakers wrote. “Ms. Albanese consistently uses offensive and dangerous rhetoric to absurdly compare Israel’s war on Hamas to the systematic extermination of Jews in the Holocaust … She has also outrageously stated that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself and has refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.”

“She has had plenty of opportunities to take responsibility for her dangerous and misguided rhetoric but instead continues to double down every time she has been called out publicly and states that she has been ‘wrongly mischaracterized as antisemitic,’” the letter continues.


Egyptian authorities apprehend 200 protesters on planned Gaza border march
Egyptian authorities detained more than 200 pro-Hamas protesters in Cairo on Thursday, as the activists planned to break the blockade on Gaza, according to organizers.

Part of the “Global March on Gaza,” thousands of activists left from Tunisia and planned to make their way by land to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, and demand the entry of humanitarian aid.

The march’s spokesperson, Saif Abukeshek, told the French news agency AFP: “Over 200 participants were detained at Cairo International Airport or questioned at hotels across Cairo.”

He added that those detained included nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria.

Abukeshek alleged that plain-clothed police entered hotels where the convoy participants were staying and, after some interrogation, in some cases confiscated cell phones and searched personal items.

Some protesters were held up for several hours at Cairo airport, while others were quickly deported.

The organizers were unable to provide an accurate count of the number of people involved.

A separate train of protestors, known as the Sumud (meaning steadfastness in Arabic) Convoy, left the Tunisian capital on Monday and is coordinating with the Global March on Gaza, also intending to reach the Strip.


U.S. CENTCOM Commander: Israel's "Disintegration" of Hizbullah "Was Brilliant"
Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Michael Kurilla told Congress on Tuesday:

"Hizbullah acted as a sort of Sword of Damocles over the top of Israel. Israel's - the doctrinal term is 'disintegration' - of Lebanese Hizbullah should be studied by every military. It was brilliant."

Kurilla said that part of the problem in defeating the Houthis in Yemen is that they receive 80% of their supplies from Iranian smuggling vessels.

"The hardest part is to find that ship. At any given time, there are between 3,000 and 5,000 dhows between Iran and the Bab el-Mandeb. That's the same distance from the tip of Florida to Boston."


Seven members of terror cell killed after wounding two soldiers in Gaza
Israeli forces eliminated multiple terrorists in Gaza over the past 24 hours, including seven members of a cell that wounded two Israeli soldiers on Wednesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Multiple weapons production and storage facilities in Gaza were hit during the same period, the military said.

The ground operations across the Strip are part of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” a broader campaign with the stated goal of dismantling Hamas’s remaining military capabilities, taking control of key areas and securing the release of hostages.

On Thursday, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) targeted Hamas terrorists operating in a structure in the Shati area of central Gaza that according to the military was being used as a weapons production facility.

The IDF noted that the facility was located close to a medical site, which it stressed was not damaged by the strike.

On Wednesday, a terrorist cell fired an anti-tank missile at troops, moderately wounding two soldiers. The IDF responded with tank and aerial strikes that eliminated seven terrorists involved in the attack.


Gaza Humanitarian Foundation doles out 2.6m meals after Hamas murders eight staffers
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributed some 2.6 million meals on Thursday, it said, only hours after Hamas terrorists murdered eight of the U.S.-backed organization’s Palestinian staff members.

The NGO’s three distribution sites in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan area, the nearby Saudi neighborhood and Wadi Gaza in the central Strip continued operations “without incident” on Thursday, it said.

Thursday’s distribution of 2,605,680 meals brings the total number of meals distributed since the GHF started its operations in the Strip on May 26 to approximately 18,647,662, through roughly 316,320 boxes.

Hamas attacked a bus carrying about two-dozen members of the GHF team at about 10 p.m. in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with at least eight fatalities and multiple injuries confirmed by the organization.

“We are still collecting more information on the deadly and unprovoked attack on our dedicated local team members and volunteers. As of now, we can confirm at least eight fatalities, multiple injuries, and we fear that some of our team members have been taken hostage,” said John Acree, the group’s interim executive director, on Thursday afternoon.

“We carefully considered closing our sites today given the heightened security risks and safety concerns, but we decided that the best response to Hamas’ cowardly murderers was to keep delivering food for the people of Gaza who are counting on us,” continued the director.

“We will not be deterred from our mission towards providing food security for the Palestinian people in Gaza,” he vowed, adding: “We hope to provide more details as additional information is available.”


After Uncritically Citing Hamas To Pin Aid Site Shooting on Israel, WaPo Says Israeli-Backed Aid Org ‘Did Not Offer Evidence’ To Support Claims of Hamas Attack on Its Workers
When Hamas officials alleged, without evidence, that Israel killed "over 30" Gazans near an aid site, the Washington Post cited the claims uncritically. Less than two weeks later, when an American- and Israeli-backed aid organization accused Hamas of killing eight of its workers, the Post dinged the group for not "offer[ing] evidence."

The latest Post piece covered a Wednesday night statement from the aid group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), that said members of its team "were brutally attacked by Hamas" as they traveled "to one of our distribution centers in the area west of Khan Yunis." In its third paragraph, the piece stated that the GHF "blamed the attack on Hamas, the militant group that ruled Gaza, but did not offer evidence." It also referred to the GHF as "a controversial aid group backed by the United States and Israel."

The coverage marked a stark contrast to the outlet's reporting on Hamas's claims that Israel had killed Gazan civilians looking for food.

In that instance, the Post published a June 1 piece headlined, "Israeli troops kill over 30 near U.S. aid site in Gaza, health officials say." It accused Israeli troops of opening "fire on crowds making their way to collect aid from a new distribution mechanism backed by Israel and the United States" and cited a death toll from "the Strip's Health Ministry." The piece did not disclose that Hamas controls the ministry, nor did it contain the word "evidence."

The paper’s coverage of Israel has drawn scrutiny, especially since Oct. 7, over biased reporting and factual inaccuracies that benefit anti-Israel arguments. Six members of its foreign desk previously wrote for Al Jazeera, including Louisa Loveluck, who has earned multiple editors' notes for her reporting on Israel.

Loveluck was one of the writers of the Post's June 1 aid site story, which the outlet first edited without adding a note and ultimately corrected. The "early versions" of the piece "fell short of Post standards of fairness and should not have been published in that form," the outlet said.

Loveluck and her team reached the Pulitzer Prizes’s finalist stage for their reporting on Gaza, an honor Loveluck celebrated with a speech to her newsroom that condemned Israel and failed to mention Hamas or the hostages in Gaza.

The Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 18: Taking on the ayatollahs with Mark Dubowitz
The Trump administration has been trying to hammer out a deal to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. In the last 24 hours, the rhetoric has ratcheted up on both sides, as both Iranian and US officials have warned about impending military action.

A week ago, we recorded a conversation with Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on the Iranian regime's strategy, its nuclear aspirations and what it would take to disrupt those aspirations diplomatically or, failing that, militarily.

Can Iran's nuclear program be stopped? Can the regime be reined in or even toppled? Do the interests of Israel and America overlap, or are there meaningful gaps that could force a divergence in policy? How do we support the Iranian people, who have repeatedly rebelled against the tyranny of the ayatollahs in Tehran?

Mark joined Rachel and Haviv to tackle these questions in a conversation that has only grown more relevant as the days have passed.

This episode was sponsored by Julie and Frank Cohen because they believe this podcast is a way to teach our story, and because understanding our past and present is key to building a better future.

Julie and Frank have asked to dedicate this episode to someone we lost on October 7.

Today we remember 1st Sgt. Eliran Abergil, who was 29 when he died fighting the Hamas terrorists who invaded Kibbutz Be'eri. On the morning of the attack, Eliran was in Tiberias in Israel's north celebrating the Simchat Torah holiday with family.

He rushed down south to join his comrades, met them on the front lines, and volunteered to be one of the first officers to enter Kibbutz Be'eri. He was killed in a firefight with Hamas gunmen. Eliran's wife discovered she was pregnant with their first child shortly after his death.


Fighting Antisemitism: The ISGAP Hour- Shai Davidai
Columbia Business School professor and leading voice against campus antisemitism, Shai Davidai, joins ISGAP leaders Dr. Charles Asher Small and David Harris to discuss activism, scholarship and the climate facing Jewish students in North America.


The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg: Get Your Shtetl Together!
Atlantic columnist Yair Rosenberg joins Jonah Goldberg to discuss the shocking rise of Jew hatred in America, the connection between populist movements and antisemitic sentiments, and Edward Said’s influence—all while poking fun at the podcast bros and reminding the elite institutions about the importance of standing with Israel.


Pro-Hamas protester rewarded with diploma by university
International Security Expert Max Abrahms discusses how he was targeted by a pro-Hamas protester just days after the October 7 massacre.

“The Hamas terrorist massacre happened on October 7 2023, and just three days after that, before Israel had a chance to respond … a guy came to my office area in the hallway and put into my hand a flier … a pro-resistance vigil,” Mr Abrahms told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“I was basically just targeted because I am a Jewish professor.”


ABC slammed as ‘serial offender’ for accusations against Israel
Sky News host Chris Kenny slams the ABC for their coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas.

“We have had Israel accused of bombing hospitals that it never bombed, falsely accused of deliberately targeting aid workers, it has been accused of putting thousands of babies on the brink of death,” Mr Kenny said.

“Israel has even been accused of blocking aid … the demonisation of Israel and the lies told about this war are endless, and our taxpayer-funded ABC is a serial offender.”




Caitlyn Jenner visits Kibbutz Be'eri, calls to bring the hostages home
Transgender activist and Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner visited Kibbutz Be'eri on Thursday, meeting with members of the community and hearing about the Hamas massacre at the Kibbutz on October 7, 2023.

Jenner called to bring the 53 hostages still held in Gaza back. "Currently, the hostages are being held by Hamas as pawns in a political game. This type of fighting must not go on," she said.

"We must bring them home, and this is the only way to end this story. I deeply sympathize with the kibbutz's great sorrow over the loss of 102 dear members." Meetings with kibbutz members

Among other kibbutz members, Jenner met with Yuval Haran, whose father was murdered on October 7 and who had many family members taken captive.


New pro-Israel super PAC launches ads against Zohran Mamdani
A new super PAC funded by donors involved in Jewish and pro-Israel causes is targeting Zohran Mamdani as he continues to surge in the final days of New York City’s mayoral primary, tying the far-left Queens state assemblyman to a range of recent antisemitic incidents.

In a 30-second digital ad released by Sensible City, the super PAC takes aim at Mamdani, a democratic socialist polling in second place behind former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for supporting efforts to defund the police amid a rise in anti-Israel demonstrations and antisemitic violence fueled by Israel’s war in Gaza.

“It doesn’t stop,” the ad’s narrator intones over images of anti-Israel protests as well as antisemitic attacks, notably highlighting the alleged shooter of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington last month. “Day after day, streets blocked, demonstrations, some calling for killing, destruction — it’s not safe. Institution walls defaced with symbols to remind us of what can happen only because of who we are. The haters mean every word they utter. What can we do?”

“Zohran Mamdani wants to defund the police,” the narrator adds. “We need a mayor who puts more cops on the street. What’s your June 24 Democratic primary choice?”

The ad does not mention any other candidates in the Democratic primary, though at least one of the super PAC’s board members and one of the super PAC’s donors have contributed to Cuomo, who has called antisemitism “the most important issue” in the race while touting his staunch support for Israel. He has also criticized Mamdani over his past calls to defund the police.

Mamdani’s hostility toward Israel, whose existence as a Jewish state he has refused to recognize during the campaign, has long raised alarms among Jewish leaders, particularly as polling has suggested that he is gaining on Cuomo with under two weeks until the primary.

But the new ad from Sensible City, which began airing late last week, is one of only a small handful of paid efforts to draw scrutiny to Mamdani’s record of anti-Israel activism, one of several vulnerabilities in his insurgent bid for mayor.


The intifada got globalized again in Los Angeles
Even Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, recently remarked that you can draw a straight line between the “Occupy Wall Street” Marxist protests of more than a decade ago to those of BLM, calls for defunding the police, to those “From the river to the sea” chants about destroying Israel. That insight comes a little late for a leader who endorsed an antisemitic BLM movement in 2020 and allowed his organization to be compromised by staffers who embraced DEI doctrines that undermined Jewish rights.

That same line can be extended to the left-wingers who took to the streets in LA clad in similar gear and with comparable contempt for Western values as those he mentioned.

As Tablet magazine noted, the LA protests are being supported by the same progressive alliance of Democratic Party funders, unions and street-level radicals as those other disturbances. As the Center for Security Policy’s Kyle Shideler says, “the left is a self-perpetuating ecosystem” in which the “connective tissue” between activists on various issues and their more mainstream supporters has created a seamless rotation between their various causes.

In this way, it’s easy to see that despite the seeming distance between the pro-Hamas mobs and those who claim they are merely embracing the stranger and the needy, those who think there is some sort of Jewish imperative to support open borders have been duped by radicals who mean them harm.

The conflict over illegal immigration is just one aspect of a far broader struggle against the Western canon and the values of the American republic that involves woke racism and the movement to demonize Israel as an illegitimate “settler” state.

Even as American Jews rightly focus on the threats to their safety that have been manifested in a series of terror attacks following a surge of antisemitism linked to progressive anti-Zionism, they should not ignore the clear signs that this is connected to the violence in Los Angeles. Standing up to that mob is just as essential as facing down those targeting Jewish students.
LA riots, BLM, Save Gaza: get ready for a summer of destructive far-Left activism
The gods of intersectionality must be beaming down upon America right now. As if by clockwork, the Mexican flags – the most potent symbols of the anti-ICE protests now convulsing the nation – have been joined by…what else?….Palestinian flags and other totems of Gazan liberation. It’s an almost inevitable co-branding of arch-Left ideologies.

The encroachment of pro-Palestinian elements into the anti-anti-migrant riots parallels a nascent – yet similar – alignment between pro-Palestine movement and the #blacklivesmatter.

While actual #BLM flags have yet to join their Mexican and Palestinian counterparts on America’s chaotic city streets, the protestors are clearly taking their cues from #BLM’s summer of rage following the death of George Floyd five years ago. As the New York Post reported this week, one key supporter of the current anti-ICE protests, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, has also backed #BLM protests.

For the moment, at least, the melding of migrants and the Palestinian cause appears to be the most worrisome. Kaffiyeh-clad rioters, faces covered in masks and carrying various Palestinian-related paraphernalia, have attacked police cars and hurled Molotov cocktails in both Los Angeles and New Orleans this past week. This is the globalising of the intifada. Thousands of anti-Israel protesters have long demanded it – except it’s now taking place right here in America.

According to Israel-based media watchdog group Honest Reporting: “in the pages of major newspapers and the broadcasts of primetime news….mentions of the Palestinian flag are fleeting. The presence of anti-Israel groups is buried or ignored entirely.”

The media is unlikely to maintain this ignorance for much longer. Honest Reporting has identified that leading anti-Zionist groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Within Our Lifetime have urged their members to support, if not directly join, the anti-Trump protests. This could fundamentally shift the tenor of the anti-Trump movement from ad-hoc to something multi-national and truly terrifying.

No protest movement in American history has been as well-coordinated and spectacularly violent as the last 19 months of pro-Gaza protests. If we combine this with the LA riots – thousands of illegal migrants facing deportation and with nothing to lose – summer 2025 could make BLM’s weeks of chaos five years ago seem like an Easter Parade.

Of course there’s nothing necessarily organic between marauding for Gaza and rioting for migrant rights. But that’s where #intersectionality conveniently kicks in. The false belief that alignment with one identity-based cause demands alignment with all identity-based causes explains why gay groups and feminists bafflingly champion Hamas, despite the fact it is a misogynistic and homophobic terror group.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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

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