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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

06/25 Links Pt2: Seven soldiers KIA in Gaza; The Threat of Zohran Mamdani; The toxic narcissism of Palestine Action; ‘Severe, pervasive’ Jew-hatred at MIT

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: The Threat of Zohran Mamdani
Thoughts on the staggering out-of-nowhere victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral primary—I say “out of nowhere” because six months ago literally no one in America knew who he was and I say “staggering” because last night he got 43 percent of the first-choice vote in a 9-candidate election in which more than 1 million New Yorkers participated, the highest primary turnout in 36 years.

1. What you will hear is that Mamdani ran a brilliant race, and he did—he focused on the fact that living in New York City is ridiculously expensive and he would control costs by applying socialist principles to city government, somehow finding a way to “freeze” rents and starting city-run grocery stores, among other free stuff. Andrew Cuomo came into the race intending to run as the “order” candidate, talking about cleaning up the subways and the streets in a non-partisan manner. But his team seemed to drop that entirely and instead talk about how he’d get things done, including deal with affordability, and stand up to Donald Trump. So he was playing on Mamdani’s turf rather than his own. That’s clearly because his polling and focus groups indicated his issues weren’t resonating with Democratic primary voters. He was also thrown off course by the fact that incumbent mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the primary race after his indictment on charges of accepting bribes from Turkey and his subsequent pardoning by Trump. He assumed he could run with Adams as a punching bag and instead he became the punching bag all the other candidates in the race took turns pummelling.

2. Mamdani immediately became a serious contender when it turned out he was raising oceans of money—$9 million, with matching public funding bringing his campaign to around $17 million in all. That suggested he had caught fire as a grass-roots candidate, and indeed, the results showed that. But he raised a huge amount of money before he showed grass-roots strength. Where did that money come from? His campaign says he had 18,000 donors in New York City, and those donations are the ones that got matched by public funds ($8 for every $1 raised up to $250 per donation from a city resident). But according to the website City Limits, “Mamdani received 4,494 out-of-state contributions. Cuomo: 1,030. Who are these donors? You know who they are—they’re Bernie-bro leftists and Muslim activists.

3. Next to Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, who has run and won statewide twice for attorney general, Mamdani got more votes last night in the NYC primary than any Muslim candidate has ever received in the United States. And while he ran on affordability and did not make his anti-Israel obsession (he opened a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine at Bowdoin) a centerpiece of his campaign, he didn’t hide it even though he was running in the most Jewish city in America. Why? Because it was a feature and not a bug. Because it was a significant reason, if not the most significant reason, for his grass roots support.

4. To put it simply: Mamdani won because of October 7, by which I mean, he is the encampment candidate. He is the “Free Palestine” candidate. He is the “globalize the intifada” candidate. He emerged from the pack because this was his secret sauce. He is a foreign-born Muslim who rose from the ranks of the anti-Israel movement of the 2010s that laid the groundwork for the explosion of anti-Semitism in America over the past 20 months. He’s smart and articulate and able and impressive. He is also an implicit celebrator of anti-Jewish violence and anti-Semitic evil. He said he would have Bibi Netanyahu arrested if Bibi came to New York City. He did not moderate his views or his positions as he ran for office here. That’s because they were good for him financially and electorally.
Seth Mandel: Brad Lander and the Collapse of NYC’s Jewish-Political Establishment
Lander has long been a supporter of one of the most prominent anti-Semitic activists around New York City, Linda Sarsour. When Sarsour said that a person cannot be both a Zionist and a feminist, Lander defended her. She has since been a fixture of the same progressive anti-Zionist circles in which Lander travels and campaigns.

Another former staffer of Lander’s is Shahana Hanif. When she left Lander’s employ to join the City Council, she immediately amplified a social-media post with the phrase “globalize the Intifada.” (Years later she deleted the tweet.) Soon after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre, Hanif was arrested at a Democratic Socialists of America anti-Israel protest and accused Israel—before it had commenced its counteroffensive in Gaza—of genocide. She also joined the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia for a photo op.

This year, Hanif ran for her council seat against a Jewish challenger. In May, Lander joyfully gave Hanif his full endorsement in the race. “It has been a joy to watch her grow from a staffer and organizer in my office to a passionate elected official,” he said.

Which is all helpful background for Monday night’s Colbert show. The New York Times gushed that the two “Showcase[d] Their Unique Alliance.” Lander was more explicit: “there is something quite remarkable about a Jewish New Yorker and a Muslim New Yorker coming together to say, ‘Here’s how we protect all New Yorkers.’”

Of course, there is no such intent to protect “all” New Yorkers. But Lander receives little pushback from the Jewish-political world of city politics. Indeed, Sen. Chuck Schumer tweeted this morning how proud he was of Mamdani. When Cuomo criticized progressive anti-Semitism during the campaign, the head of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs criticized Cuomo for it.

Lander is part of a larger story of the collapse of New York’s Jewish-political establishment, which has forced Jews to seek representation in non-Jewish politicians who inevitably get told to mind their business when they criticize anti-Semitism. Lander has played an important role in this collapse by being a sherpa of sorts for rising Jew-baiters. Schumer kissing Mamdani’s ring is merely the capstone of this project.
Trump, post-New York primary: Mamdani ‘a 100% Communist lunatic’
U.S. President Donald Trump excoriated Zohran Mamdani, the New York state representative who came in first on Tuesday night in New York City’s ranked-choice mayoral Democratic primary, as a “Communist lunatic.”

“It’s finally happened, the Democrats have crossed the line,” Trump stated. “Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist lunatic, has just won the Dem primary and is on his way to becoming mayor. We’ve had radical lefties before, but this is getting ridiculous.”

Mamdani, who, if elected, would be the first Muslim mayor of New York City, has made waves within the Jewish community and elsewhere with his anti-Israel rhetoric and refusal to censure the words and ideas behind “Globalize the intifada.”

“He looks terrible, his voice is grating, he’s not very smart, he’s got AOC plus-3, dummies all backing him,” Trump said, referring to progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). (It wasn’t clear who else the president was referring to; however, other members of the so-called “Squad” in Congress also supported Mamdani.)

“Even our great Palestinian senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, is groveling over him,” Trump said. “Yes, this is a big moment in the history of our country.”


Trump demands end to PM’s graft trial: ‘The US saved Israel, and now is going to save Bibi’
US President Donald Trump demands the Israeli justice system drop its corruption case against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!” Trump writes in a lengthy post on Truth Social.

Trump calls the corruption probe a “politically motivated case.”

“Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State,” Trump says.

“It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu. THIS TRAVESTY OF ‘JUSTICE’ CAN NOT BE ALLOWED!” he says.


Witkoff: We will have big announcements on countries coming into the Abraham Accords
The White House thinks there will be "big announcements on countries that are coming into the Abraham Accords," the Trump administration's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday during an interview with CNBC.

The Abraham Accords were a development in the Middle East during US President Donald Trump's first term in office in 2020, when the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan agreed to normalize relations with Israel.

"One of the President's key objectives is that the Abraham Accords be expanded," Witkoff told CNBC.

Witkoff also noted that he and his team are working in coordination with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department in order to "get more countries to come into [the Abraham Accords]."

"We are hoping for normalization across an array of countries that people never would have contemplated would come in, so we are excited for that prospect; it will also be a stabilizer in the Middle East," Witkoff added.


David Collier: Channel 4 News takes direction from Hamas
Exclusive: Channel 4 News won awards for its reporting covering the Gaza conflict. So I went looking for an early Channel 4 news item to look more closely at what was so ‘award worthy’ about their reporting, and guess what I found… Channel 4 News, the first Doctor – and the viral story

I started by looking for early news footage on the conflict from Channel 4, and I found a 7 minute clip from October 25 2023 titled ‘Inside the Gaza hospitals facing catastrophe’.

In the footage, the very first ‘witness’ who appears is Gazan doctor Mohammed Qandil from the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

Setting the stage for the entire piece, Mohammed Qandil tells the viewers that the situation is so bad, that because they do not have electricity, the doctors at Nasser hospital are left working on the patients with the light from mobile phones (those filming do not stop to ask how they charge the mobile phones if there is no fuel).

This story, of the Gazan surgeons performing operations using only the flashlight of their mobile phones, became one of the early viral stories of the conflict.

All provided by the good doctor at Nasser hospital – and the first person interviewed in the Channel 4 News item – Mohammed Qandil.

Who is Mohammed Qandil
Mohammed Qandil was born in 1988 and qualified in 2012 in the Hamas led Islamic University of Gaza. According to the CV posted by Nasser Medical Complex he spent several years working in Qatar at Hamad Medical Corporation (Qatar’s leading public healthcare provider). Qatar of course is home to much of the Hamas leadership. Qandil appears to have returned to Gaza to work at the hospital in 2019.

Which brings us to the 2023 Oct 7 conflict. This post was placed on the Hamas run media channel on telegram at 14:08 on 14th October 2023.

The post is an instruction from Hamas for ‘colleagues’ (Gazans with cameras pretending to be journalists), to go to the Nasser Medical Complex and use Dr Muhammad Qandil as the correct source for information. Even handing out his phone number.

We know this is him, because the same number (059 7532991) appears on Qandil’s professional FB page:
It is a bit of a coincidence that Channel 4’s ‘men on the ground’ happen to hand them the footage from the same doctor that Hamas is telling everyone to talk to – but in reality this is how these doctors always end up on our screens. Hamas points out the ‘loyalists’ that Gazans are allowed to use as ‘witnesses’ in the Hamas pantomime – and hey presto – Channel 4 present it all as real news being delivered by a trustworthy and impartial source.

So the first deception in the Channel 4 piece is that we are not told that the journalists were directed to speak to this doctor by Hamas.


Piers Morgan Claims He Doesn't Platform Holocaust Deniers. His Guest List Says Otherwise
A heated confrontation on Piers Morgan Uncensored recently reignited debate over the show’s record on platforming Holocaust denial and antisemitic rhetoric. In a viral interview on June 23, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, told Morgan that his show had become “the main platform for Holocaust deniers.” Prominent Guests With a Record of Holocaust Denial or Distortion

Although Morgan fiercely rebutted the accusation as “absolute, categorical weapons-grade nonsense,” the record shows that he has, in fact, given airtime to figures who have publicly questioned or distorted the facts of the Holocaust.

Dan Bilzerian
The most explicit example came in November 2024, when American businessman and Influencer Dan Bilzerian appeared on Piers’ show. During the interview, Bilzerian flatly disputed the established death toll of the Holocaust, declaring, “I would bet my entire net worth that it was under six million.” He went further, claiming Jews “basically invented genocide” and asserting, “I believe that Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to the world today,” echoing classic antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories.

Morgan did challenge Bilzerian, at one point asking, “Do you accept Dan, that you are just blatantly antisemitic,” but critics argue that the very act of giving Bilzerian a global platform legitimized these views and allowed them to reach a far wider audience.

“I would bet my entire net worth that it was under six million.”
— Dan Bilzerian


Additionally, in a post published on X in May 2024, Bilzerian claimed that the Hamas-led October 7th massacre “was was lied about and exaggerated just like your holocaust was.” He also added that “there were no mass rapes” committed during the massacre. This, despite extensive investigations and eyewitness accounts having confirmed that widespread sexual violence occurred during the attack.

Candace Owens
American political commentator and author, Candace Owens, who has also appeared on Morgan’s show, has engaged in Holocaust distortion and revisionism. Owens previously cast doubt on the well-documented atrocities committed by Josef Mengele, remarking, “The idea that they just cut a human up and then sew them back together. Why would you do that? Even if you’re the most evil person in the world, that’s a tremendous waste of time and supplies.” She also dismissed survivors of Mengele’s experiments as “bizarre propaganda.”

During an appearance on Morgan’s show, she stated that “People have been milking the Holocaust narrative in the same way that black Americans were milking the slavery narrative.”

In December 2024, Owens stated, “What Bibi Netanyahu has done to Palestinians since October 7th is a holocaust,” a rhetorical move widely condemned as trivializing the murder of 6,000,000 Jews.


Commentary PodCast: The Mamdani Nightmare
Chris Stirewalt joins us to discuss Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary. How did an intifada-supporting socialist win? What does it say about New York, the Democratic Party, and the future of Jewish life in America?


Reaction: NYC Nominates a Socialist for Mayor
How did a 33-year-old socialist who wants to institute government-run grocery stores beat the former state governor to win the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City?

It’s an astonishing political story—and one with enormous consequences for New York City and the Democratic Party. Will Andrew Cuomo, who conceded the race late last night, run against Zohran Mamdani as an independent? And, if so, will he split the independent vote with Eric Adams. . . and throw the race to Mamdani?

No one has covered this story like The FP’s Olivia Reingold. Join her and senior editor Will Rahn Wednesday at 11 a.m. as they break down the vote and tell you everything you need to know about the man who might be New York City’s next mayor.




Dem Leaders Schumer, Jeffries Embrace NYC Socialist Zohran Mamdani
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) on Wednesday praised Zohran Mamdani following his Democratic primary victory in New York City's mayoral race, saying that Mamdani's socialist campaign—which includes proposals such as government-run grocery stores—resonated with voters.

"I think what's clear is that [Mamdani's] relentless focus on affordability had great appeal all across the city of New York," Jeffries said when Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough asked if Mamdani's upset win Tuesday evening over former New York governor Andrew Cuomo "provides a roadmap for Democrats running in 2026 on how to energize the base."

Mamdani "outworked, out-organized, and out-communicated the opposition," Jeffries told Scarborough.

Schumer echoed the praise, writing in an X post that Mamdani "ran an impressive campaign that connected with New Yorkers about affordability, fairness, & opportunity." Schumer added that he spoke to Mamdani Wednesday morning and will meet with the socialist candidate soon.

Mamdani and Schumer have worked together before in support of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, the Senate minority leader noted. Schumer, who is Jewish, in the post did not mention Mamdani's history of anti-Semitic comments.

Jeffries in an X post said that he and Mamdani "spoke this morning and plan to meet in Central Brooklyn shortly."

Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who was endorsed by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), has long faced scrutiny over his far-left agenda, which includes government-run grocery stores, rent freezes, free public transportation, and a $30 minimum wage.

He has also come under fire for his anti-Semitic rhetoric. The candidate earlier this month defended the phrase "globalize the intifada," a popular chant at anti-Israel protests that calls for violence against Jews worldwide. He has refused to acknowledge Israel's right to exist, expressed support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and declared that, if elected mayor, he will not visit the Jewish state.


After Mamdani victory, Jewish Democrats alarmed by party’s tolerance of antisemitism and anti-Israel extremism
When Joe Biden announced his presidential campaign in 2019, he stated explicitly, in a slickly edited campaign video, that one of the issues motivating him to reenter politics was fighting antisemitism and hate. He specifically mentioned the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 and the white nationalist protesters who were “chanting the same antisemitic bile heard across Europe in the ‘30s.”

One of Biden’s former high-level aides pointed out to Jewish Insider how different that rhetoric was from the position staked out by Zohran Mamdani, the upstart New York assemblyman who won a surprise victory in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary on Tuesday.

In the closing days of the campaign, Mamdani, who began his activism journey as a Students for Justice in Palestine leader at Bowdoin College, defended the term “globalize the intifada” as an expression of Palestinian rights. Mamdani’s defense of the phrase was strongly criticized by Jewish groups across the ideological spectrum, who view the phrase as a call to violence. While Mamdani has pledged to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe, he has not acknowledged their concerns about his invocation of a phrase tied to a violent, yearslong Palestinian uprising.

“Biden was elected running a campaign in 2020 premised on combating antisemitism. That was the animating feature that got him into the race. So the politics of this have really moved,” said the former White House official. “This is all about language and people using their microphones, and the fact that someone could feel empowered to double down on these ideas and win a mayoral race in New York City, that doesn’t happen by accident. It takes years of moving the goalposts on this language, on what it means to be antisemitic in America in 2025.”

This Biden administration staffer, who requested anonymity for fear of professional backlash, is one of many Jewish Democrats questioning where their party is heading after a dynamic young socialist with radical anti-Israel politics is on track to become mayor of the largest city in America, which has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. Coupled with Democrats’ reluctance to offer support for President Donald Trump’s targeted strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, which drew support from major Jewish groups, Mamdani’s ascension has some pro-Israel Democrats concerned about the future of their party.

Put more bluntly by another senior Biden administration official: “I feel like a person without a party,” they told Jewish Insider.


Mamdani Supporters Celebrate Win with Cries of 'Globalize the Intifada'
Far-left Zohran Mamdani supporters across the country celebrated their candidate’s victory in the New York Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday with cheers of "globalize the intifada."

Mamdani made headlines over his refusal to condemn the phrase—a call for violence against Jews and Israelis—in a recent interview, a decision that led the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to issue a statement sharply criticizing the candidate. While Mamdani has not publicly chanted the slogan, pro-Hamas protesters on college campuses in the United States often do so during their demonstrations.

In recent weeks, radical pro-Hamas terrorists have globalized the intifada themselves, culminating in the Washington, D.C., shooting that left two young Israeli diplomats dead and the firebombing of a group of Jews in Boulder.

One Mamdani supporter who reacted to Tuesday night’s election results was Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian writer and correspondent for the Nation with a history of advocating violence against Jews.

"Consider the intifada globalized," he wrote on X.

El-Kurd faced scrutiny from British authorities last year after declaring, "We must normalize massacres as the status quo" at an anti-Israel rally. He has praised Palestinian "martyrs" who took part in the Second Intifada—in which terrorists killed over a thousand Israelis—and has described Israelis as "neonazi pigs." El-Kurd also excused Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in an X post published that same day.

"What is happening in occupied Palestine is a response to weeks and months and years of daily Israeli military invasions into Palestinian towns, killings of Palestinians, and the very fact that millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are besieged under Israeli blockade," he wrote. Months earlier, in February, El-Kurd delivered a lecture at Princeton University, where professor Zahid Chaudhary heralded him as a "truth teller." El-Kurd went on to tell the crowd that Palestinians have no choice but to resort to violence against Israelis.

Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, recently the subject of a glowing New York Times profile, posted on X that "its [sic] white boy jihad summer." Piker has said that "America deserved 9/11," has claimed that "it doesn’t matter if rapes happened on October 7th," and has exhorted his followers to murder landlords and "let the streets soak in their red-capitalist blood."


Seth Frantzman: IDF's campaign in Gaza may take new form after Israel weakened Iran in 12-day war Will the campaign in Gaza take a new form due to Iran's weakening by 12-day war?
The IDF has moved slowly to consolidate gains in areas of Gaza. This includes southern Gaza’s Rafah and Morag corridor areas and parts of the Netzarim corridor. It also includes areas in northern Gaza, such as Jabalya and those north of Gaza City. The question now is whether the campaign in Gaza will take a new form since Iran has been weakened by the IDF’s 12-day war there.

With Iran weakened, it’s possible that a new initiative in Gaza could take shape. For a year and a half, countries such as Qatar and Egypt have sought to mediate a ceasefire and hostage deal. Much of that deal’s structure remains the same as in the past. US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff had sought a way to extend a ceasefire that was brokered in January 2025.

However, it broke down in March. Proposals to create a short-term ceasefire have been floated. Hamas wants an end to the war. Israel has said it doesn’t want to end the war. This means that Hamas is in charge of half of Gaza while around 50 hostages remain captive there.

If Iran’s influence weakens, Israel may sense that it has won the regional war and might become more flexible in its approach toward Hamas, leaving the terror organization to control Gaza. It could also lead to Hamas realizing that it has less support abroad and is more isolated without Iran. However, Hamas does have backers in Turkey and is hosted by Qatar. It is not totally isolated.

It’s possible that Doha might encourage Hamas to be more flexible after the capital played a key role in brokering the Iran ceasefire. Doha has increased support from Trump as a result. Trump wants the war in Gaza to end.

The key questions now are whether the Iran conflict opens up options in Gaza or not. Will the opportunity be seized to make changes? In the past, the tactics in Gaza have usually been removed from a broader strategy. For instance, when Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar were killed, there was no attempt to seize the opportunity to try to divide or weaken Hamas using bold new military offensives.

As a result, Hamas is in charge of half of Gaza and is entrenched in Gaza’s central camps area and Gaza City itself. The central camps include Nuseirat, Deir el-Balah, Maghazi, and El-Bureij.

These areas were historic refugee camps in the 1950s. In the 1980s, many Hamas members who came from these areas joined the terror organization. As such, they are perceived as a Hamas stronghold. The IDF has never operated to eliminate Hamas in these areas. Any strategy going forward will have to account for this.
Seven soldiers KIA in Gaza, bringing IDF wartime toll to 878
Seven Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed on Tuesday when their armored vehicle was struck by an explosive, the military confirmed on Wednesday morning.

The soldiers were identified as Lt. Matan Shai Yashinovski, 21, from Kfar Yona; Staff Sgt. Ronel Ben-Moshe, 20, from Rehovot; Staff Sgt. Niv Radia, 20, from Elyakhin; Sgt. Ronen Shapiro, 19, from Mazkeret Batya; Sgt. Shahar Manoav, 21, from Ashkelon; Sgt. Maayan Baruch Pearlstein, 20, from Eshhar; and Staff Sgt. Alon Davidov, 21, from Kiryat Yam.

They all served in the IDF’s 605th Combat Engineering Battalion.

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin elaborated on the incident during a Wednesday afternoon press briefing, stating that during operational activity in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza, “an explosive device was attached to an armored Puma vehicle belonging to the brigade’s forces.”

Defrin continued: “As a result, the armored vehicle caught fire. Rescue forces and helicopters were dispatched to the scene and attempted to extract the soldiers, but were unsuccessful.”

He added that the “complex incident” is still under review and that the findings will be presented to the families and, subsequently, to the public once the review is complete.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a “very difficult day for the people of Israel,” expressing his and his wife Sara Netanyahu’s sorrow over the deaths.

“Our heroic fighters fell in battle to defeat Hamas and to free our hostages in the southern Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu stated.


IDF downs Houthi drone from Yemen
The Israel Defense Forces intercepted on Wednesday afternoon a drone launched toward Israel by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen.

“A short time ago, the Air Force intercepted a drone that was apparently launched from Yemen. The UAV did not enter the country’s territory. No alerts were activated in accordance with policy,” the military stated.

The attack came just hours after the IDF shot down two unmanned aerial vehicles believed to have been launched by Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Jerusalem and Tehran had agreed to a truce, ending the 12-day war between the two countries.

Early Wednesday morning, senior Houthi official Hazam al-Asad took to social media to congratulate “the Islamic Republic of Iran and all the free people of the nation” following the ceasefire.

“True victory is to adopt the cause of supporting Palestine, to confront the American hegemony, to stand against the Zionist entity, to thwart its goals, as well as to strike deep into its core without hesitation, without concern for calculations or losses,” al-Asad wrote.
Kassy Akiva: Hamas Is Preparing Attacks On American Contractors Helping Distribute Aid In Gaza
Hamas is surveilling and preparing to attack American contractors working for the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to a source familiar with the group’s operations.

A senior Trump administration official confirmed that threats from Hamas against the contractors are a growing concern.

“While the GHF has so far provided upwards of 40 million meals, Hamas is threatening violence — this time to humanitarian workers, which includes Americans, at the GHF sites themselves,” the official told The Daily Wire.

Concerns about a potential Hamas attack come after Hamas assassinated around a dozen Palestinian GHF workers earlier this month while they were taking a bus to aid distribution sites ahead of their first day of work. Seriously injured survivors were reportedly denied treatment at Nasser Hospital, according to GHF.

The senior official warned that Hamas should “be careful not to miscalculate.”

“This administration remains laser focused on Gaza despite other events in the region,” the senior official added.

GHF has been tasked with implementing President Donald Trump’s Gaza aid initiative, designed to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches Gazan civilians while preventing Hamas from seizing supplies — a problem that has persisted since the war began following the group’s October 7, 2023 massacre. Since it began operating on May 26, GHF has delivered more than 43 million meals at its four distribution sites.

The sites, which have workers present around the clock, are staffed by Gazans distributing aid, along with American contractors who handle security. While the Israel Defense Forces are not directly involved in the operations, they remain stationed within half a mile to respond quickly in the event of an attack or security threat.

According to the sources, several suspicious men have routinely visited GHF’s distribution sites without taking food, and instead appear to be monitoring GHF workers and their security systems. The sources believe that the military-aged men are part of Hamas and enter the sites to “size up” GHF’s security, weapons, and fighting positions.


IDF kills head of exchange moving funds from Iran to Hezbollah
The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday eliminated Haytham Abdullah Bakri, the head of the “Al-Sadiq” Currency Exchange, in a strike in Southern Lebanon.

The exchange serves as a transfer mechanism for the Hezbollah terrorist organization, handling funds originating from the Iranian Quds Force, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

These funds are used by Hezbollah for terror-related purposes, including purchasing weapons, manufacturing materials, paying operatives’ salaries, and supporting other ongoing operations, the military added

Over the weekend, the IDF also eliminated Behnam Shahriyari, the commander of the Quds Force’s Unit 190 in Iran, who oversaw the mechanisms enabling the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars annually to Iran’s proxies.

These mechanisms included money transfer routes from the Quds Force to Hezbollah, using currency exchanges in Türkiye, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates to offset Lebanese exchanges.

“These two eliminations constitute a severe blow to the Iranian financing routes to Hezbollah,” the IDF stated.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military continues to target infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

On Monday, the IDF struck sites north of the Litani River containing rocket and missile launchers, as well as weapons storage facilities. The military noted that Hezbollah’s continued presence in the area constituted a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire understandings between Jerusalem and Beirut.


Jonathan Sacerdoti: "Radical Islam Will Conquer the West Unless We Wake Up" Ex-Intelligence Officer's Stark Warning
Dr Reuven Berko is a former senior intelligence officer, Middle East expert, and scholar of radical Islam. In this intense and uncompromising conversation with Jonathan Sacerdoti, Berko exposes the ideological and strategic threats posed by radical Islam – not only to Israel, but to all of Western civilisation.

From Tehran to Paris, Berko outlines how jihadist ideology and political weakness are colliding, and why Europe is in danger of sleepwalking into cultural extinction. With vivid examples from his intelligence work, he challenges liberal illusions, confronts the reality of religious warfare, and warns that survival now depends on rediscovering national strength, identity, and pride.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand what’s really happening in Israel, Iran, Europe, and the ideological battle shaping the 21st century.

💬We Discuss:
🕋 The apocalyptic ideology of Iran’s Islamic Republic
🛡️ Why secular Europe is unequipped to survive jihad
😔 How Western guilt fuels its own demise
🕌 Islam, reform, and the myth of peaceful coexistence
🇮🇱 What Israel’s experience teaches about strength, survival, and identity

📺 Chapters:
01:20 – Holocaust memory and Israel's survival instincts
02:55 – Iran’s apocalyptic theology and Jewish resilience
04:53 – The Ayatollahs' global strategy and Israel's counterplay
07:11 – Shia vs Sunni: Same goal, different route
08:47 – Why peace treaties in the region are doomed
11:02 – Violence, robbery and conquest in Islamic tradition?
13:02 – Can Islam ever reform like Christianity and Judaism?
15:12 – Saudi Arabia’s attempted reformation – real or fake?
17:00 – The myth of Palestine and radicalised prisoners
20:00 – What the Quran really says about the Jews
24:20 – How Anat Berko and Reuven interrogated terrorists
26:00 – The Arab Spring was a Western delusion
28:09 – Nuclear weapons, oil, and the Ayatollah's ambitions
30:10 – Macron’s fear and the Islamist enclaves in Europe
33:00 – The coming civil war in Europe?
35:10 – Why secularism can’t defeat jihad
37:05 – LGBT activists marching for Hamas: “shooting their own legs”
39:03 – Hassan al-Banna, envy, and the collapse of Islamic civilisation
43:00 – What Europe must learn from Israel to survive
46:50 – The West must wake up – or lose everything




Senate GOP mocks Iran war predictions by Tucker Carlson
During a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton's (R-Ark.) colleagues laughed as he listed off predictions by Tucker Carlson about what would happen in a war to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Why it matters: Cotton urged senators to treat online conservative influencers like they treat MSNBC hosts — ignore them, two sources familiar told Axios.

Cotton presented polling showing GOP support for President Trump's actions on Iran during Tuesday's Senate Republican lunch.
Cotton did not specifically name Carlson, but he listed parts of a June 4 Carlson post on X about the potential ramifications of a war with Iran.
That list included $30 gas prices, runaway inflation and the possibility of another world war.


Ami's House: Iran EXPOSED The Commentator Class | FULL EPISODE
The entire Middle East landscape shifted in 12 days. While everyone's panicking about World War 3, we break down why the podcast class got it completely wrong.

🔥 What You'll Discover:
⃗⃗→ Why Trump's Iran statement makes perfect sense (and isn't contradictory at all)
→ The dangerous new political coalition forming around anti-Israel sentiment
→ How podcasters are using Iraq War trauma to analyze completely different conflicts
→ The difference between having "opinions" vs just having "sentiments"
Why Breaking Points is getting 300K+ views with anti-Israel content

⚡ MUST-WATCH MOMENT at 19:40: We explain why defending Israel in one sentence is impossible (but we try anyway)
🎯 The Big Revelation at 21:52 - How a new left-right coalition is building that could reshape American politics

0:00 - Recapping Iran news
4:24 - Trump's "contradictory" statement decoded
13:27 - Why the podcast class only knows Iraq War analogies
15:20 - Opinions vs Sentiments
21:52 - The anti-Israel coalition nobody's talking about
29:06 - Why Jews feel safer but Americans don't
37:46 - Candace Owens goes full Holocaust denier
48:23 - Tucker vs Ted Cruz: Who won?
56:39 - The end of elite consensus building




Azealia Banks cancels festival shows claiming promoters ‘forced’ her to say “free Palestine”
American rapper Azealia Banks has cancelled her performances at two UK festivals this summer because she claims the promoters “forced” her to say “free Palestine”.

In a post on X on 25 June, the star claimed the promoters of Boomtown Festival and Maiden Voyage threatened to cut her from the bill for not agreeing to their demands, which she called “overt antisemitism”.

Her performances at Boomtown, a festival held at Winchester’s Matterley Estate from 6 to 10 August, and the one-day Maiden Voyage, at south London’s Burgess Park on 9 August, were Banks’s only two UK dates this summer.

She wrote: “I am cancelling Boomtown and Maiden Voyage, the promoters have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say free Palestine and threatening to cut me from the bill because I won’t say free Palestine and I’m not dealing with the threats and I’m not putting on a f***ing hijab.

“They’re both basically trying to extort me - by insinuating that I need to say I support Palestine or they will drop me from the gig BUT I would much rather drop them and not associate with anything that has cheap group think bulls*** attached to it.

She added, “If they want to allow some no-name dj’s to bully them into desecrating the nature of this music ecosystem and make ME the issue - whilst there being absolutely no ethical consumption under capitalism. Then that’s fine.”

Her expletive-filled post continued, “More thinly veiled racism. And overt antisemitism from the f***ing gays for Hamas.”


Anti-Israel group damages military equipment due to be sent to Ukraine
The head of a Belgian company has expressed his frustration after anti-Israel activists caused more than €1 million in damage – including military equipment due to be sent to Ukraine.

More than 100 members of the Belgian chapter of ‘Stop Arming Israel’ entered a hangar belonging to OIP Land Systems, in the city of Tournai, daubing graffiti and wrecking the company’s equipment.

The anti-Israel group stated that it had identified “10 companies in Belgium that have had links or that contribute to the arming of Israel…As long as they are not forced to do otherwise, these companies will continue to contribute to this macabre business.”

OIP Land Systems buys military vehicles and surplus goods for resale after reconditioning. It is a subsidiary of Elbit, an Israeli defence firm.

However, as reported by the Notélé news site, Freddy Versluys, the head of OIP Land Systems said that: “We don’t sell anything to Israel. The vandals entered the hangar and damaged the computer equipment. They also damaged vehicles that were due to be sent to Ukraine. There’s at least €1 million in damages and a one-month delay in delivery to Ukraine.”
Brendan O'Neill: The toxic narcissism of Palestine Action
Listen, if you attack Jewish-owned businesses, and remove ribbons for Jewish hostages, and do death-camp drag in grotesque mimicry of Jewish suffering, then it’s possible you are not actually on ‘the right side of history’. That’s how Palestine Action conceives of itself: as being on the right side of history. As morally unimpeachable warriors against the great evil of our times – Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza. And it is precisely this delusion of holy purity, this self-righteousness on steroids, that means this movement feels so untethered from the moral norms and practical considerations of traditional protest groups and instead thinks it can do whatever the fuck it wants.

Palestine Action embodies the religious mania of Israelophobia. It is a devotional cult masquerading as a left-wing organisation. It has it all. The holy garments – the keffiyeh – and the Satanic entity that must be conquered at all costs: Israel and its supporters. Its love of red paint, to symbolise the Jewish State’s ‘bloodletting’, speaks to its driving force of visceral wrath over temperate analysis. A toxic mix of infantile Third Worldism and bourgeois self-regard has birthed this army of white saviours that imagines it must slay the unholy ‘Zionist entity’ and rescue the wretched of Gaza. The end result is the demonisation of Israel, the infantilisation of Palestine and the overestimation of the worldly role of a gaggle of plummy tossers in keffiyehs.

This is the toxic narcissism of the ‘pro-Palestine’ movement. A movement so drunk on self-importance that it has become utterly blind to the moral complexities of the Middle East. A movement so allergic to truth and reason that it calls a pogrom ‘resistance’ and war ‘genocide’. A movement so cavalier about Jewish security that it will holler ‘Globalise the intifada!’ in the aftermath of an ‘intifada’ that involved the largest mass murder of Jews since the Nazis. A movement so bereft of logic and calm that it will creep into a Jewish suburb in the dead of night, armed with hammers and paint, and not once stop to think: ‘Should we be doing this? Is this bad?’

The state should not proscribe Palestine Action, no. But everyone who gives a single damn for truth, reason and Jews should oppose it, and ruthlessly. The reign of the pompous and hateful has gone on for too long.
MPs turn on Zarah Sultana who declares ‘we are all Palestine Action’
Politicians from across the political spectrum have strongly criticised suspended Labour MP Zarah Sultana for appearing to express support for Palestine Action, which is set to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

On Tuesday afternoon she declared, “we are all Palestine Action” and shared an emoji of a Palestinian flag in a post on X.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, confirmed on Monday that the government intended to proscribe Palestine Action, saying in a statement that the direct-action group’s “activities meet the threshold set out in the statutory tests established under the Terrorism Act 2000.

“This has been assessed through a robust evidence-based process, by a wide range of experts from across government, the police and the Security Services.”

The move, which was hinted at on Friday following the group breaking into RAF Brize Norton and damaging two aircraft, was welcomed by Jewish communal organisations.

Sultana’s latest comments were rounded on by MPs, including several from Labour.

Hemel Hempstead MP David Taylor told the JC that she should not be readmitted to the Parliamentary Labour Party and have her membership of the party rescinded.

“Zarah Sultana is not a Labour MP. I am not aware of any plans to change this. The whips and party are best placed to oversee any change to this fact. As a backbench MP, it is my view that Ms Sultana embodies the very worst of politics. If it were up to me her party membership card would be rescinded.”
Quarter of Brits ‘strongly back’ suspending all UK arms exports to Israel, new poll suggests
Twenty-five percent of Britons “strongly support” suspending all UK arms exports to Israel, a new poll has suggested.

The new survey data, published by the respected polling firm Ipsos also showed around half of Britons believe the Israeli government (54%) and the Iranian government (49%) respectively bear a great deal of responsibility for the conflict between the two states that ended in a ceasefire this week.

Other actors identified as having a great deal of responsibility for the conflict include Hamas (26%), the United States (24%), and Hezbollah (22%), while 20% don’t know.

On the question of stopping arms sales to Israel, a further 18% said they “tend to support” leaving a combined total of 43% supporting the move, which has long been the call of far-left and Islamist politicians.

Meanwhile 21% said they opposed the suspension of arms sales – made up of 12% who strongly opposed and 9% who tended to oppose.

The survey, conducted between June 20th-23rd, 2025 (with the large majority of fieldwork completed before the US strikes on Iran on the 22nd), also saw strong support for the UK to use diplomacy with Israel, Iran, and other countries to de-escalate the situation.

Two-thirds (66%) of Britons said they supported this use of diplomacy. On the UK government’s performance, three in ten (30%) believe Keir Starmer has done a bad job responding to the conflict. 18% say he has done a good job, while a third (33%) say neither.
Palestine Action activist to give Glastonbury talk
A Palestine Action activist is set to appear as a speaker at Glastonbury Festival.

Francesca Nadin, who described herself as a former “political prisoner” and contributes to the Revolutionary Communist Party website, is listed as a speaker at the festival.

Nadin said she was arrested for “conspiracy to commit criminal damage” against two Leeds banks, Barclays and JP Morgan, that activists claim have financial ties to Israel.

Details of her presence at the festival emerged on the day that Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, confirmed that the group will be banned as a terror group following a break-in at the RAF base at Brize Norton.

A video shared by the group showed an individual on an electric scooter spray red paint into the engines of Airbus Voyager aircraft, which they claimed would be used to support British military operations in Cyprus and the Middle East.

As of Monday, official listings for Glastonbury Speakers Forum events state that Palestine Action’s Nadin is set to appear. The same event listing states that other speakers will include Baroness Jones, a Green Party peer.

Also listed is Sam Holland, the leader of Youth Demand, the activist group that claimed credit for vandalising Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery.

Lady Jones told The Telegraph that she was only aware that she would be joined by Youth Demand, and not Palestine Action.

She said: “Yes, I’ll debate with them. I do know that belonging to, or expressing support for, a proscribed organisation is a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

“This is a shocking overreaction by the Government to a couple of protesters using paint.

“Such a move would be completely non-proportional and a hugely worrying restriction on the right to peaceful protest which is a cornerstone of democracy.

“But PA isn’t proscribed yet. Plus 239,900 people follow it.
Perhaps you can ask Mark Rowley and Yvette Cooper if there is a plan to arrest them all?”


Italian store chain replaces Israeli products with ‘Gaza Cola’
An Italian supermarket chain said on Tuesday that it would remove Israeli products and promote “Gaza Cola” to protest Israel’s actions.

Separately, a British chain, Co-op, said it would stop sourcing goods from Israel, Iran and 15 other countries that Co-op called “internationally recognized” rights abuses and violations of international law.

The Italian Coop Alleanza 3.0, which has hundreds of stores in Italy, “decided to remove from its shelves some items of peanuts and tahini sauce produced in Israel and the SodaStream branded items,” the chain wrote in a statement.

This is part of “calling for the immediate cessation of military operations” in Gaza, the chain said, and to protest “the blocking of humanitarian aid destined for the civilian populations of the Strip by the Israeli Government.”

Israel and the United States helped create an aid organization, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has delivered millions of meals and other goods to civilians in a manner designed to sever Hamas’s control over resources.

“In addition to the decision to remove those products from the shelves,” the statement said, “for a couple of weeks now [the chain] has chosen to include a particular product in its assortment, Gaza Cola,” which is “a 100% Palestinian-owned project.” Gaza Cola, according to its website, is a product of “Palestine House, London.”


‘Severe, pervasive’ Jew-hatred at MIT, per lawsuit
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has failed to address “severe and pervasive harassment and discrimination” of Jewish and Israeli students on campus adequately since Oct. 7, according to a lawsuit that the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Wednesday.

Paul Eckles, the center’s senior litigation counsel, told JNS that the 71-page complaint details a “series of real pervasive acts of antisemitism,” including urinating on a Hillel building, celebrating Hamas, chanting for Israel’s destruction, giving out terror maps and identifying Jewish groups using antisemitic slogans whose “only possible purpose of which would be to incite violence against those organizations.”

The “terror maps” that students distributed throughout campus highlighted buildings that “had connections to the Jewish and Israeli communities and promoted violence against them with the phrases ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ and ‘resistance is justified when people are colonized,’” per the complaint.

The complaint also alleges that a professor at the school publicly harassed a Jewish student and a Jewish postdoctoral associate and that the university failed to take disciplinary action against the faculty member, identified in the complaint as Michel DeGraff, a faculty member at MIT’s humanities, arts and social sciences school. (JNS sought comment from DeGraff.)

DeGraff “aggressively” filmed Israelis, who were singing “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, in May 2024 when an anti-Israel encampment was erected on campus, per the complaint. The professor allegedly “shoved his phone” in the face of Lior Alon, the postdoctoral associate named in the suit who is now an instructor at the university.

“Soon after, Professor DeGraff posted videos on social media with Alon’s face, name and personal information, including details of his Israeli military service, tagging Al Jazeera and others—putting Alon at serious risk,” per the lawsuit. “Professor DeGraff edited the videos, creating a false narrative vilifying Alon.”

The professor also published an op-ed in a French paper that defamed Alon and falsely attributed statements to him, per the complaint.

Alon emailed Sally Kornbluth, the MIT president, asking that the school require DeGraff to remove his offensive social media posts, but MIT never responded or took any disciplinary action, the complaint alleges.

Kornbluth kept her job, though the Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania presidents both stepped down after the trio testified about Jew-hatred on campus before a House Committee on Education and the Workforce in December 2023.

The new lawsuit also alleges that DeGraff harassed Will Sussman, president of the MIT Graduate Hillel, to the point where the doctoral student dropped out of his doctoral program at the school.


IDF blocks off Samaria village in response to repeated terror attacks
The Israel Defense Forces had closed off an entrance to the Palestinian town of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya in the Binyamin region of Samaria following repeated terror attacks emanating from it, the army told JNS on Tuesday.

“Checkpoints throughout Judea and Samaria are opened and closed in accordance with operational assessments,” the IDF said in a statement.

“This particular route was blocked because it had been used by suspects who carried out numerous stone-throwing and Molotov cocktail attacks targeting civilian roads near the village,” the statement noted.

The blockade was enacted after Jewish residents of the region organized daily prayer rallies outside the Arab village in protest against the attacks.

“Starting Thursday, we … will begin holding morning prayers at Lubban at 7 a.m. until the situation changes and we receive what we want from the regional brigade commander,” stated a group of residents from Eli, Shiloh and Ma’aleh Levonah in a May 28 WhatsApp announcement.

In the wake of the May 14 terrorist murder of Tzeela Gez, rock-throwing attacks have been reported in areas that were previously relatively quiet, including near Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya. For 1 km., or 0.6 miles, Israel’s busy Route 60 north-south highway passes by the village’s schools.

Israel’s Ynet news outlet cited security sources as claiming on Monday night that Iran regards Palestinian terror organizations in Judea and Samaria as its “last proxy” and was working to ignite more violence.


‘Outrageous, shameful’ NJ Assembly won’t adopt IHRA Jew-hatred definition, Gottheimer says
New Jersey Jewish leaders blasted state Assembly members who cancelled a vote, which would have enshrined a widely accepted definition of antisemitism into state law, at the last minute on Tuesday.

The groups walked out of an Assembly committee meeting Monday after being told by panel chair Shavonda Sumter, a Democrat, that there would not be a vote on the legislation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred.

“To postpone an issue so critical to the safety and security of New Jerseyans is to turn a blind eye to and exacerbate the ongoing surge of antisemitism across our state, our nation and the world,” stated Jason Shames, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, on behalf of the CEOs of the four other New Jersey Federations.

Rabbi David Levy, the New Jersey regional director at the American Jewish Committee, told JNS Tuesday that the state’s Jewish organizations are trying to decide their next steps.

“Antisemitism is a critical problem and growing in New Jersey. It isn’t going to solve itself,” stated Avi Posnick, the Northeast executive director at StandWithUs.

“Unless N.J. legislators decide to take the first step to addressing antisemitism, defining it, they are not part of the solution,” Posnick stated. “Like all groups, Jews must be the ones who define their own experiences with oppression. Rather, through inaction and delay, the legislators will be part of the problem, abandoning the safety of large segments of New Jersey residents.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) called for a vote, noting that 70% of Assembly members co-sponsored the legislation.

“It’s outrageous and shameful that the New Jersey Assembly refuses to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism as hate surges across our state,” the congressman told JNS. “The Assembly needs to stop stalling and finally bring this bill to the floor for a vote.”

“No more delays,” Gottheimer said. “Our Jewish communities deserve better.”
Seattle fans wave Palestinian flags during Club World Cup match
Seattle Sounders fans unfurled dozens of Palestinian flags during their Club World Cup elimination soccer match against Paris Saint-Germain on Monday evening, marking another instance of anti-Israel protest at the tournament.

The demonstration occurred as regional tensions soared following the U.S. strike in Iran and subsequent Iranian retaliation, Israel’s Channel 12 News outlet reported.

The display took place in the opening moments of the second half of Monday night’s match, which ended in a 2–0 defeat for Seattle, eliminating the U.S. Major League Soccer club from the competition.

Fans in the stands waved Palestinian flags alongside team scarves, drawing attention from cameras and global viewers. After a few minutes of chanting, the flags were lowered.

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) rules prohibit fans from displaying the flags of nations not participating in its tournaments, but the organization did not issue any immediate response to the incident. This follows a pattern of inaction from football’s governing body in the face of similar protests.

This was not the first time Seattle supporters had voiced political opposition during the tournament.

At a prior match in Seattle between Inter Miami and Japan’s Urawa Reds, a group of Sounders fans staged a demonstration outside the stadium.

Protesters held signs reading “Red Card to Israel” alongside graphic images and piles of clothing meant to symbolize the destruction in Gaza.

Despite Seattle’s early exit from the competition, FIFA could still impose sanctions. In November 2023, the Union of European Football Associations fined Scottish club Celtic £15,200 ($20,500) after its fans filled the stands with Palestinian flags during a Champions League match against Atlético Madrid.
Toyota completes antisemitism probe – but won’t tell Jewish victim if complaint upheld
Toyota has completed its internal investigation into a senior employee accused of directing antisemitic abuse at a BBC journalist – but has refused to say whether the complaint was upheld, Jewish News can reveal.

The mobility subsidiary Woven by Toyota, where senior designer Piotr Klarowski was employed, informed BBC Middle East Editor Raffi Berg this week that the company’s internal review had “been conducted” – more than three weeks after he formally raised concerns about a string of abusive social media posts.

However, Woven declined to share the findings or confirm whether any action was taken.

In a statement to Jewish News, Berg said: “It is disappointing that Woven have been unwilling to let me know whether the complaint that a senior employee has engaged in antisemitic abuse against me has been upheld or not. I have been left in the dark.”

Berg had submitted evidence showing at least 11 separate tweets targeting him by name from Klarowski’s account. The posts – now deleted – referred to him as a “vile Zionist Jew”, a “little rat”, and a “filthy Jew”, while accusing him of supporting genocide and dragging the BBC into “state propaganda”.

In one post, Klarowski allegedly asked whether Berg had been “finally sacked”. Others described Israeli Jews as “subhuman creatures” and claimed that calling them rats or pigs would be “offensive to those animals”.

As previously reported by Jewish News, Klarowski’s accounts were linked to a now-deleted LinkedIn profile identifying him as a senior product experience designer at Woven by Toyota, a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. Public records show he previously held design roles at ITV and Samsung.
Warren Tredrea social post promotes 'antisemitic conspiracy theories', Jewish Council says
The Jewish Council of Australia has condemned a social media post by AFL football legend Warren Tredrea, saying it promotes "far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories" and Holocaust denial.

In a video posted on Tredrea's Instagram account, a guest on the former Port Adelaide captain and premiership winner's new podcast makes statements about Israel, which he says is a "fake state" that was behind the creation of terror group ISIS.

The guest, introduced as British Army veteran AJ Roberts, said Zionists were responsible for "controlling World War II", and also claimed the 9/11 terrorist attacks were carried out by Mossad.

"Mossad created ISIS with Barack Obama so ISIS actually stands for 'Israeli Specialist Intelligence Service'," Roberts told Tredrea.

The Jewish Council of Australia has criticised the post, saying that blaming World War II on Zionists is a form of Holocaust denial.

"The Jewish Council of Australia is deeply disturbed by the amplification of far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories in this Instagram post and podcast episode," executive officer Max Kaiser said in a statement.

Mr Kaiser criticised other comments by Tredrea's guest in the same Instagram post, saying it included "bizarre" theories "about satanic rituals, chakras and ley lines which are way off the deep end and do nothing to illuminate current events".


Bosnian government apologises for cancellation of Jewish delegation
The government of Bosnia-Herzegovina has apologised for the cancellation of a hotel booking for delegates from The Conference of European Rabbis.

As reported by Jewish News, the Swissotel in Sarajevo, the country’s capital, withdrew as a venue for the event following an open letter by a Bosnian federal minister stating that the city “must not be a stage for supporting genocide”.

Adnan Delic referred to Israel as a “genocidal entity” committing “shameful crimes against humanity”. Subsequently cancelling the booking for 50 guests from across Europe, Swissotel cited “recent developments and significant public attention related to the upcoming event.”

In a letter sent today to the CER’s president Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjano Kristo, who said she was also writing “in a personal capacity”, expressed her “sincere regret” for the incident.

“I hold the firm conviction that all three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognise the vital importance of interreligious and intercultural dialogue as a cornerstone for fostering mutual trust, understanding, and lasting peace”, she said.

Kristo added: “I would like to underscore my deep belief that antisemitic rhetoric has no place in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We remain steadfast in our commitment to act collectively to prevent such manifestations in our society.”

Kristo ended the letter with “a warm and respectful invitation to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina. Your presence would serve as a powerful symbol of unity and reaffirm our dedication to openness, tolerance, and continued cooperation.”

Rooms for the delegates 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.

Whilst expressing his appreciation for the letter, calling it a welcome gesture, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt replied that “any meaningful apology must come from those responsible. Federal Minister Adnan Delic, who led the public barring of our rabbinic meeting from Bosnia and Herzegovina, should be the one expressing regret. If he refuses to apologise, we call on the Government to publicly dismiss him. Anything less shows tolerance for intolerance at the heart of the Government, despite letters they may send to us privately.”
New Zealand’s Xero to snap up Israeli fintech startup Melio for up to $3 billion
Israeli fintech startup Melio, the developer of a payments platform geared toward small and medium-sized US businesses, has agreed to be acquired by New Zealand cloud-based accounting software giant Xero Ltd. in a deal worth up to $2.5 billion.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Xero will pay Melio an upfront $2.5 billion in a cash and equity deal. An additional $500 million will be paid if certain milestones are met over a period of three years.

The multibillion dollar deal comes as the tech industry, one of the main growth engines of Israel’s economy, has been facing continuous headwinds in raising financing and attracting investment over the past two years, due first to the contentious planned judicial overhaul at the start of 2023, then the outbreak of war with the Hamas terror group in October of the same year, and most recently the 12-day conflict with Iran.

Founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Matan Bar, Ilan Atias and Tomer Barel, Melio launched its platform in 2019, tapping into a massive B2B (business-to-business) payment industry in the US that still often involves payments to suppliers via checks and paper invoices, long payment cycles and cumbersome processes. Headquartered in New York, the startup employs about 600 workers, of whom 400, including its senior management, are based at its offices and R&D center in Tel Aviv.

“Joining Xero is an incredible opportunity for the Melio team to further our mission to reinvent the way businesses pay each other,” said Melio co-founder and CEO Bar.

While consumers have started getting used to payment apps to transfer money between friends or to service suppliers, small businesses have lagged. Melio says its platform is built on the belief that “paying and getting paid shouldn’t be a burden for small businesses.”

The platform is tailored to help businesses transfer payments electronically more quickly and easily, while providing them with data insights and control over their cash flow. It is used by 80,000 customers to process more than $30 billion in payments.

Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy said the acquisition aligns with the company’s plans to expand in the US market.




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