Monday, June 30, 2025

06/30 Links Pt1: Karen Diamond dies of injuries from Boulder firebombing; A Twelve-Day War’s Twelve Surprises; The poisonous identitarianism of Zohran Mamdani

From Ian:

David Horovitz: Israel was facing destruction at the hands of Iran. This is how close it came, and how it saved itself
Knowing when to stop
The military and political leadership agreed ahead of time to set achievable goals for the war — which were defined as “Creating conditions to prevent Iran’s nuclearization over time, and improving Israel’s strategic balance.” Twelve days in, the IDF reported that those goals had been attained, and that Israel’s position would weaken, and Iran’s strengthen, if the war continued.

The IDF had assessed that several of its planes could go down and pilots could be captured. That didn’t happen. It had estimated that 400 people would be killed on the home front if the war went to 30 days. The death toll was rising.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — whom the IDF deeply credits with creating the conditions for the US to join the attack — agreed that a war of attrition had to be avoided, and that Iran should not be given time to alter the balance of the conflict. With US President Donald Trump very publicly brokering a ceasefire, the war was brought to an end.

Unlike in Gaza, where the war goes on because the goals of eliminating the Hamas threat and returning all the hostages have not been met, in Iran the specified job was done. The IDF was prepared to put uniformed and civilian lives at risk to face down an existential threat, but not when that threat had been eliminated for at least the near future, and when there was a high probability that further incremental gains would be offset by greater losses.

Israel would like to see a “good deal” finalized by the US with Iran, and would hope to provide input on such an agreement’s necessary provisions. But it does not doubt that Iran will do whatever it can to evade even the most stringent barriers to reviving its bomb-making program. If the IDF has to strike again, it believes it can do so within a matter of days.

No surrender
A new painting has been erected in Valiasr Square in recent days. Rather than a scene, depicted from behind, of the march to Jerusalem, this installation shows Iranians from various walks of life — slain recognizable military chiefs, but also soccer stars, engineers, women — looking out into the streets of Tehran.

This is not a portrait of surrender. The depicted Iranians, civilians and military men, are saluting. Rockets are leaving smoke trails behind them. The accompanying slogan proclaims, “We are all soldiers of Iran.”

But this time, only Iranian flags are shown. And the backdrop is not Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock but Iran’s highest peak, Mount Damavand. This is the regime attempting to convey a message of national unity and, perhaps, even domestic focus.

And yet, it is more than possible that Iran spirited away some, maybe even most, of its 60% enriched uranium far from the major sites targeted in this war, and plenty of centrifuges too. Iran is about 75 times larger than Israel — plenty of room to construct smaller nuclear sites, and enrich and weaponize there, while trying to avoid attention. New scientists will replace the departed. It is not impossible that Pakistan or North Korea could be tempted to try to provide Iran with nuclear weapons.

Fresh, quite possibly more radical, leaders will replace the old for so long as the regime can retain power. And that regime, humiliated over 12 days in June, may be more motivated than ever to either scramble for the bomb or, more akin to its approach thus far, to lick its wounds and patiently rebuild the entire program.

On Saturday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi predicted that Iran could resume uranium enrichment “in a matter of months.” Israel expects the regime to try to start resurrecting its program far more quickly than that.

‘If we hadn’t acted now…’
Israel has had a narrow escape.

It was only in a position to save itself, moreover, because Yahya Sinwar, fearing leaks, chose not to coordinate Hamas’s October 7, 2023, with Iran and its other proxies, incorrectly gauging that the rest of the axis would pile in when recognizing his “success,” and join the triumphal, Israel-eliminating march to Al-Aqsa. (Israel is not certain, to this day, why Iran held back.)

Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed last week that the Air Force had struck the “Destruction of Israel” clock in Tehran’s Palestine Square, counting down to Israel’s predicted demise in 2040. It’s not clear that the clock was smashed. If it was, Iran will doubtless fix it. And, we know full well, it was aiming to achieve the goal of rubbing out Israel a lot earlier than 2040.

Was. And is.

Netanyahu on Tuesday accurately described the war as a “historic” victory, and has said it opens the door to potential new normalization agreements. He also asserted that it would abide for generations and that Israel had sent the Iranian nuclear program “down the drain” — assessments that the security establishment would not, should not, dare not, complacently endorse.

The prime minister also declared that Israel would have faced destruction in the near future “if we hadn’t acted now.” On that, there is no disagreement.
Nikki Haley: A safe and secure Israel helps us have a safe and secure America
It's important because Israel is such an important partner for us in the Middle East. A safe and secure Israel helps us have a safe and secure America. None of the other countries in the region were saying anything against it. They knew that there was a likelihood that the US could attack, and they didn't say anything. Why? Because Iran is not just a threat to Israel, Iran's not just a threat to the US, Iran has been a threat to their neighbors for a long time. It's telling that they didn't step up, that they didn't say anything, because they've dealt with the threat of Iran's terrorist proxies for a long time

Those in America that worry about why these strikes took place should understand that those strikes were a move to keep Americans safer. That was a move to take out one of the threats that Iran has used against Americans for years. It's naive to say, "Oh, they were never going to use it," because you have to believe terrorists when they tell you something. When Iran continued to say, "Death to America," they meant it. And President Trump acted to make sure they could never follow through with it. The UN came out and condemned the US for strikes. I'm still waiting for the UN to condemn Iran for their use of ballistic missiles; I'm still waiting for the UN to condemn Iran for not complying with the nuclear inspections. I'm still waiting for the UN to say something to Iran about transferring weapons, which is a violation of the arms embargo.

If Trump would have continued to try and take the diplomatic route with Iran, he would have seen the same thing we've seen for years: Iran continues to delay, delay, delay. They always say they want to talk, but the action doesn't match what they want to do. Trump was right that while you could kick this can down the road if you wanted, the threat would only get bigger.

For us to think that more talks would have changed that is naive. We said, "We're done talking, we gave you the opportunity, you didn't take it, now it's time for us to take action on our own to protect Americans and protect Israelis." That was the right thing to do. Trump only had one choice, because if he had not followed up with these strikes, we would be dealing with Iran and their nuclear threats for years to come.

This is not a time where Israel or America needs to let their guard down. We need to now be very vigilant. Americans need to be vigilant of our military bases in the region. we need to be vigilant of cyber attacks that could come our way through Iran. Iran is not done.
82-Year-Old Jewish Woman Dies From Injuries Suffered in Anti-Semitic Colorado Terror Attack
An 82-year-old Jewish woman who suffered severe injuries during an anti-Semitic firebombing attack early June in Boulder, Colo., has died, prompting prosecutors to file first-degree murder and more hate crime charges on Monday against suspect Mohamed Soliman.

Karen Diamond died after Soliman, a 45-year-old illegal immigrant from Egypt, attacked her and 28 other peaceful pro-Israel demonstrators on June 1 using Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, the Boulder County District Attorney's Office said in a statement, according to the Colorado Sun.

Colorado prosecutors in the statement announced two new first-degree murder charges against Soliman, who is facing more than 100 other state charges, including 52 counts of attempted first-degree murder, 8 counts of first-degree assault, and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device. Soliman is also facing 12 federal charges, to which he pleaded not guilty during a hearing on Friday.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Soliman will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Each attempted murder charge carries a penalty of 16 to 48 years in prison, according to 9News.


Netanyahu to visit White House next week
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House next Monday, a Trump administration official confirmed to Jewish Insider.

The visit, which will come just two weeks after Trump announced a cease-fire between Israel and Iran, will be Netanyahu’s third Oval Office meeting this year.

Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister, is in Washington this week for White House meetings about efforts to end the war in Gaza. “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!” Trump posted on Truth Social over the weekend.

The Trump-Netanyahu meeting also comes after a lengthy post from the president slamming Israeli prosecutors’ corruption case against Netanyahu.

“It is terrible what they are doing in Israel to Bibi Netanyahu. He is a War Hero, and a Prime Minister who did a fabulous job working with the United States to bring Great Success in getting rid of the dangerous Nuclear threat in Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.


Trump orders end of sanctions on Syrian government institutions
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday removing longstanding sanctions on the Syrian government while maintaining sanctions on the regime of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and other destabilizing actors.

The executive order ends the national emergency that the U.S. government declared in 2004 under Executive Order 13338 and revokes the five orders that constitute the basis of that program, according to a senior Trump administration official, who spoke to reporters on background.

The executive order also directs “certain actions with respect to waivers of applicable statutory-based sanctions, export controls and other restrictions,” the official said.

The order essentially eases sanctions on certain parts of the Syrian government, including state-owned entities, such as the central bank.

Congress alone can repeal the sanctions package, which passed under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, but Trump issued waivers for some of the elements earlier this year and intends to explore mechanisms to suspend them under his executive order on Monday.

Some of the sanctions impacted by Monday’s action date as far back as 1979.

“Today’s action will help provide the opportunity to reconnect Syria’s economy with global commerce and rebuild the country’s infrastructure,” stated Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary. “The Syrian government must continue to take steps towards building a stable, unified country that is at peace with itself and its neighbors. It is my hope that the actions taken by the United States will not only provide much-needed relief for the Syrian people, but also give the country a chance to succeed.”


Seth Frantzman: US, Iran have a long road to a nuclear deal
Tehran’s deputy foreign minister said that the “US must rule out any further strikes on Iran if it wants to resume diplomatic talks,” the BBC reported on Thursday.

“Majid Takht-Ravanchi said the Trump administration told Iran through mediators that it wanted to return to negotiations this week, but had not made its position clear on the ‘very important question’ of further attacks while talks are taking place,” the report said.

This presents a complex puzzle. The US doesn’t feel urgency to resume the talks. Iran doesn’t trust the ceasefire and wants promises from the US. The US feels it has won, and that Iran has lost, and Trump wants the Iranian regime to bend its knee.

Tehran, which had been stalling the talks before June 12, is not sure what to do next. This uncertainty could be bad for the region.

It’s likely that Qatar, Oman, and other countries that have contacts with Washington and Tehran, would like to see some kind of stability.

If there is no deal, agreement, or more talks, then the region can likely assume a new round of crisis might be coming.
Trump Drops Sanctions Relief for Iran Following 'Angry, Hostile, and Unhappy' Khamenei Address
President Donald Trump said Friday he has "dropped all work on sanction relief" for Iran, slamming Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei for condemning the United States and falsely claiming victory over Israel in an "angry, hostile, and unhappy" public address.

"During the last few days, I was working on the possible removal of sanctions, and other things, which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The sanctions are BITING! But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more."

"Iran has to get back into the World Order flow, or things will only get worse for them," Trump went on. "They are always so angry, hostile, and unhappy, and look at what it has gotten them—A burned out, blown up Country, with no future, a decimated Military, a horrible Economy, and DEATH all around them. They have no hope, and it will only get worse!"

Trump imposed sanctions targeting Iran's military networks, oil exports, and shipping industry throughout both of his terms, as part of his "maximum pressure" campaign aimed at dismantling the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Iranian state-controlled media in early June lashed out at the Trump administration's latest round of sanctions, accusing Trump of being insufficiently committed to a nuclear deal.

Trump's latest remarks come a day after Khamenei claimed in his first public comments since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran that the Islamic Republic "delivered a heavy slap to the U.S.'s face" and that the United States "achieved nothing." Khamenei in his speech also falsely declared victory over Israel.

U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials have confirmed that the American strike last Saturday dealt a crippling blow to Iran's nuclear facilities.
Khaled Abu Toameh: 'Obliterating' Iran's Nuclear Sites Is Not Enough
"The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose." — Henry Kissinger, Foreign Affairs, January 1969.

Iran's regime may have lost its nuclear sites, but it has not lost its appetite to kill Jews and wipe Israel off the map.

Would the Allied forces have left the Nazi Party as the rulers of Germany after World War II?

Ideally, such a campaign should be spearheaded by the Iranian people themselves with the backing of Western countries, including the US, and Arabs and Muslims who oppose the Iranian regime and view it as a direct threat to their national security. These countries include Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in addition to the recognized governments of countries home to Iran's current and former proxies: Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. They will cooperate once they see that the US is serious about standing against, not appeasing, those who threaten the security and stability of the Arab countries.

With China, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran and its proxies, Trump may be underestimating the intensity of their desires.

With an enriched Iran, freely selling its oil to China, the temptation to rebuild a war machine might be hard to resist.

The weakening or removal of the Iranian regime can only facilitate the mission of obliterating Hamas and PIJ in Gaza, and freeing all the Israeli hostages they hold.

It is time for the Trump administration and its Western allies to understand that there can be no genuine deals or compromises with either Sunni or Shiite jihadists who consider America and Israel as the big and small "Satans."

If the US and the West do not want to be directly involved in bringing about regime change in Iran, they should at least encourage and back any opposition individuals or groups working to topple Iran's Islamist regime. Reinstating economic sanctions on Iran could help accelerate the downfall of the mullahs and their terror proxies. That is the only way to bring peace and stability to the Middle East and prevent further violence and bloodshed. When your enemies say they want to eliminate you, you have every right to eliminate them first.
CIA chief says strike on metal conversion site set Iran nuclear program back by years
CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical US lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran’s lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran’s nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a US official said Sunday.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for US lawmakers last week.

The metal conversion facility that Ratcliffe said was destroyed was located at the Isfahan nuclear facility. The process of transforming enriched uranium gas into dense metal, or metallization, is a key step in building the explosive core of a bomb.

Details about the private briefings surfaced as President Donald Trump and his administration keep pushing back on questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far Iran was set back by the strikes before last Tuesday’s ceasefire with Israel took hold.

“It was obliterating like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” ”And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time.”

Ratcliffe also told lawmakers that the intelligence community assessed the vast majority of Iran’s amassed enriched uranium likely remains buried under the rubble at Isfahan and Fordo, two of the three key nuclear facilities targeted by US strikes.

But even if the uranium remains intact, the loss of its metal conversion facility effectively has taken away Tehran’s ability to build a bomb for years to come, the official said.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the three Iranian sites with “capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree.”

But, he added, “some is still standing” and that because capabilities remain, “if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.” He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing in inspectors.

“Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared, and there is nothing there,” Grossi said.
Daniel Pipes: A Twelve-Day War’s Twelve Surprises
For those who follow international politics, the days following Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran meant an addictive check of the smartphone every few hours to learn the latest twist. From that avalanche of surprises, twelve stand out, one marking each day of the Twelve-Day War. A question about the future follows each historical snippet.

5. A quick, decisive American Middle East success
What are called endless wars have soured the U.S. electorate on nation-building. Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Russell Mead notes the “appalling” record: “From Mr. Bush’s ill-fated invasion of Iraq to Barack Obama’s shambolic intervention in Libya and Joe Biden’s bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, American presidents have blundered across the region, losing trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.” In response, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has defined a Trump Doctrine: articulate a clear American interest; engage in aggressive diplomacy; if that fails, use overwhelming military power; then “get the hell out.” Should the deployment of B-2 bombers actually end Iranian enrichment of uranium, this new doctrine can hold. Should it not, as Iranian authorities insist will be the case, the reluctance to deploy force will be confirmed. Which way will Iran go?

6. Alarmists made wrong predictions
Ahead of time, wild prophecies emerged about the consequences of a U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear sites. American commentator Tucker Carlson, for example, warned this “will almost certainly result in thousands of American deaths … and cost the United States tens of billions of dollars.” In fact, not a single American died in combat, the Hormuz Straits remained open, fighting stayed confined, and financial markets by June 24 had bounced back to their June 12 levels. Will isolationist fear-mongering finally be discredited?

Second, some Israeli surprises:
7. Air power won the day
Analysts concur that prevailing in war requires a willingness to place troops on the ground. The limited Israeli and American goals in this confrontation made it possible to defy that general rule: bombs can more easily knock out infrastructure than conquer and occupy land. Will this exception lead to an over-emphasis on air power?

8. Pre-placed agents changes the battlefield
In-country agents, many Iranian, dispatched drones and targeted assassinations. In a remarkable coincidence, Ukraine unleashed its Operation Spiderweb on June 1, just twelve days before Israel’s Operation Rising Lion. Both required over a year of planning, both involved extensive clandestine activities in enemy territory, and both led to surprise attacks that inflicted highly visible damage.

While sabotage in hostile territory is hardly new, these operations set a new standard: destroying strategic aircraft in the Ukrainian case, knocking out missile launchers and eliminating key regime figures in the Israeli one. “Deep integration of special operations forces, autonomous drones, and AI-enabled intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance is now the baseline for theater entry” writes Benjamin Jensen of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Is he right that this amounts to a “new way of war”?

9. Israel dominates
With the exception of Türkiye, Israel alone in the Middle East seriously aspires to mount a conventional force (that is, airplanes, tanks, and ships). Plus, Israel’s intelligence accomplishments continue to astonish. If Israel’s victory in June 1967 ranks as the most lopsided in history, its June 2025 success ranks not far behind. That is, first the Six-Day War, now the Twelve-Day War. Note that the recent campaign involved far more complex operations than that old one. Also, today’s regional environment favors Israel far more than the one 58 years ago. Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff publicly expects “some pretty big announcements on countries that are coming into the Abraham Accords.” Is this the Saudi moment?


Susan Rice joins Obama, Biden advisors in blasting Trump’s Iran strike
Susan Rice, who served as national security advisor during the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Tehran’s nuclear program while defending the 2015 agreement during a panel discussion at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival on Monday.

Rice, who was on stage with former Trump national security adviser John Bolton and former CIA director David Petraeus, disagreed with her two colleagues that Trump’s Iran strikes were largely a success.

“I think the resort to military action when diplomacy had not been exhausted was a strategic mistake,” Rice said. “And the reality is, and we’re back to this point today, only diplomacy and a negotiated settlement can ensure the sustainable and verifiable dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program. You need inspectors on the ground. You need verifiable constraints that are very significant, and you don’t achieve that by ripping up the 2015 nuclear agreement and replacing it with nothing.”

Rice joins a chorus of former Obama and Biden administration officials who have criticized Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, despite many experts concluding the damage to the program was significant. IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir, for instance, said that “based on the assessments of senior officers in IDF Intelligence, the damage to [Iran’s] nuclear program is … systemic … severe, broad and deep, and pushed back by years.”

Last week, former Biden Secretary of State Tony Blinken wrote an op-ed in The New York Times: “The strike on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the United States was unwise and unnecessary. Now that it’s done, I very much hope it succeeded.”
J Street vs. Israel over Iran
When Israel launched a precision strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 13, nearly every segment of the U.S. Jewish community rallied behind it. Zev Stub of The Times of Israel wrote, “Jewish organizations from across the spectrum came out in strong support of Israel following the launch of its preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities … .”

But there was one conspicuous exception: J Street.

Its statement on June 13 urged “a reassessment” and called for renewed diplomacy, while cautioning that the strike “could give Iran … incentive … to pursue a nuclear weapon.” There was no clear support for Israel’s right to defend itself, no recognition of the existential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program. In the face of a moment that demanded moral clarity, it wavered. Nowhere in its statement did it explicitly say that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

That stands in stark contrast to Israel’s political leadership from all corners of its ideological spectrum.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made his position clear on June 12 when he wrote on X: “Israel’s strike against Iran’s nuclear program and military was vital, and done at the very last moment possible. All Israelis—left and right—support this action of self-defense. Iran was about to get 10 nuclear warheads.”


The Haaretz Killing Field Where Journalism Goes to Die
On June 27, Haaretz published an exposé claiming that “IDF officers and soldiers told [the media outlet] they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present.”

These are serious allegations indeed, and it didn’t take long before the story migrated into Western media, including Reuters, CNN, and NPR, among others.

Let’s examine the serious flaws in the reporting, as well as the agendas behind the story.

Massacre Libels
The past few weeks have seen plenty of Palestinian claims that the IDF is “massacring” unarmed Gazans while they wait for food being distributed by the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

These claims have been found to be, at best, questionable, and at worst, outright lies.

HonestReporting board member Salo Aizenberg has addressed the various charges on X:


Military expert Andrew Fox has written a comprehensive takedown of the most recent Haaretz story and makes the following point:
“The army has deliberately fired at Palestinians.”

A grim and damning line, if true. However, the story soon begins to collapse under the weight of its contradictions. A quoted soldier allegedly describes the IDF creating a “killing field,” complete with heavy machine guns, mortars, and grenade launchers. Yet this supposed “killing field” results in — wait for it — just one to five casualties per day. That’s not a massacre; well, not of Gazans. Perhaps of journalistic standards by Haaretz.

Fox rightly points out that if IDF soldiers were really that bloodthirsty and were employing heavy armaments to target Palestinians, the death toll would be significantly higher. Ultimately, the charges are meant to demonize the IDF by attributing evil intent to its soldiers.

It is also important to note that in many of these stories, the source of the casualty figures is Mahmoud Basel, the head of Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense organization, who has also been identified as a Hamas operative by the IDF.

Throughout this war, footage from Gaza has found its way onto social media courtesy of Palestinians armed with cellphones. While the GoPro footage of Hamas’ October 7 rampage was an all-too-accurate window on reality, much of the subsequent imagery coming out of Gaza has been highly questionable and has been used to create false narratives and blood libels.

The lack of footage of the so-called “massacres” taking place near aid distribution centers is therefore puzzling. If such bloodshed was taking place, how is it that it has not been documented, particularly given the narrative advantage this would give the Palestinian side were it to be true?


Hostage Itzhik Elgarat died under Hamas torture, brother says
Danny Elgarat, the brother of Itzhik Elgarat, 67, who was captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, revealed at a Knesset House Committee meeting on Monday that he learned that his brother died of a heart attack while being interrogated by the terrorists in Gaza.

On Sunday, intelligence officials visited Elgarat and told him the news.

“My brother was with Edan Alexander,” Elgarat told the committee, referring to the young IDF soldier, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, who was released in May.

“They suspected that [Itzhik] was a pilot because he had a tattoo with the shape of an eagle on his hand. They took him for interrogation and he didn’t come back,” his brother said.

“Edan Alexander asked where Itzik was and they told him ‘He was gone.’ Itzik died. He was murdered. He had a heart attack during the interrogation as he was tortured,” Danny Elgarat said.

On Feb. 26, Itzik Elgarat’s body was returned as part of a hostage deal, along with the remains of Shlomo Mansour, 86, Ohad Yahalomi, 50, and Tsachi Idan, 49. All four men had been murdered in Gaza.

Itzik‘s funeral was held at Kibbutz Nir Oz on March 3. He is survived by two children.


Call me Back Podcast: Ending the Gaza War - with Nadav Eyal
Now that the “12 Day War” between Israel and Iran has ended (for now), we are turning our attention back toward the war in Gaza, where 50 Israeli hostages remain. President Donald Trump has been advocating for an end to the war, saying that he believes a hostage-ceasefire deal might come within a week.

This comes amid increasing doubts about IDF achievements in Gaza going forward, especially with IDF casualties on a near daily basis. This past Wednesday, seven Israeli soldiers were tragically killed when an IED hit the armored vehicle they were in.

Joining us to discuss the ongoing IDF campaign in Gaza and the possibility for a new ceasefire deal — and the events taking place in the West Bank — is Call me Back regular and political analyst at Yedioth Achronot Nadav Eyal.

00:00 Introduction
03:22 What’s happening in the West Bank?
14:15 IDF operations in Gaza
26:37 Sentiment in Israel to end the war in Gaza
28:53 The “Tehran for Gaza” deal
43:31 Closing


Ami’s House: What Both Sides STILL Don't Get About Iran (Experts Explain) – Yaron Brook and Elan Journo
Was the U.S. bombing of Iran justified?
The Middle East debate has devolved into partisan hackery and anti-Israel propaganda. Finally, we're bringing REAL expertise to the conversation that everyone is talking about but nobody truly understands.

🎯 What You'll Learn:
→ Why Iran started this war in 1979 (not Israel, not America)
→ The REAL difference between justified military action vs. failed interventions
→ How libertarian "isolationism" is actually surrenderism in disguise
→ Why both neocons AND isolationists get foreign policy catastrophically wrong
→ The moral framework missing from every Iran discussion online

Our Guests: Yaron Brook and Elan Journo from the Ayn Rand Institute - the experts who've been sounding the alarm about Iran for DECADES while politicians played politics. This isn't your typical left vs. right foreign policy debate. This is principled analysis that cuts through the noise and explains why moral clarity matters more than partisan talking points.

🔥 Key Topics Covered:
✔︎Iran's 45-year war against America (Timeline of actual attacks)
✔︎Why Iraq/Afghanistan failed but Iran intervention is justified
✔︎How Israel's recent military success shows what victory looks like
✔︎The philosophical poison destroying American foreign policy
✔︎Why "America First" without principles leads to Putin appeasement

0:00 - 05:22 - Iran Started This War in 1979 - Here's Proof
05:23 - 12:44 - Why Libertarian "Isolationism" is Actually Surrenderism
12:45 - 18:29 - The 1979 Embassy Attack That Changed Everything
18:30 - 25:11 - How Iran Inspired 9/11 (The Connection Media Ignores)
25:12 - 32:07 - Why Iraq Failed But Iran Intervention is Justified
32:08 - 38:44 - The Moral Poison Destroying American Foreign Policy
38:45 - 44:19 - Israel's Military Masterclass: Precision vs. Primitive Brutality
44:20 - 49:14 - Trump's Iran Policy: Brilliant Politics, Terrible Strategy
49:15 - 52:30 - DEBATE: Should We Remove Iran's Regime?


Commentary PodCast: Mamdani, the Dems, and the Gaza Endgame
Bret Stephens joins us to discuss the vote on the Big Beautiful Bill, whether Zohran Mamdani will serve as a model for Democrats nationally, and how Israel might potentially finish the war in Gaza.
Israel-Gaza war will only end with 'complete dismantlement' of Hamas
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin discusses United States President Donald Trump’s belief that an Israel-Gaza ceasefire could happen within the next week.

“We hope this war does end, but I think it will take the complete dismantlement of Hamas to a point where they see no way out,” Mr Rvychin told Sky News host James Macpherson.

“Either accept surrender or exile for their leadership, I think that’s the only way we get to a conclusion here.”


'A Constituency of Anti-Semitism': North Carolina Democrats Pass Resolution Demanding Arms Embargo on Israel
The North Carolina Democratic Party on Saturday approved a resolution that calls for the federal government to impose an arms embargo on Israel, accusing the Jewish state of using U.S. military aid to commit genocide.

The resolution—the first of its kind passed by a state Democratic Party—says that U.S. "military resources that have been made available to Israel through annual and emergency military aid have been used to commit the crime of genocide and other war crimes," according to WFAE. As a result, the resolution states, "the North Carolina Democratic Party supports an immediate embargo on all military aid, weapons shipments and military logistical support to Israel."

Anti-Semitic incidents have surged in the United States following Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. In early June, illegal immigrant Mohamed Soliman attacked peaceful pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colo., with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, injuring eight victims, including a Holocaust survivor, resulting in at least one death. Just weeks earlier, anti-Israel radical Elias Rodriguez murdered two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

Zohran Mamdani, a socialist with a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric, last week won the Democratic primary in New York City's mayoral race. Mamdani 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.

The North Carolina Democratic Party's Saturday resolution has sparked backlash from Jewish Democrats. The party's Jewish Caucus called the embargo measure "troubling," with caucus president Lisa Jewel warning that the resolution would "result in harm to our friends and family" and alienate Jewish voters, according to the News & Observer.
Roger Waters, Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan Join Israel Committing 'Genocide' Smear Campaign, Demand UK Stop Arming IDF
Actors Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, Reggie Watts, and rocker Roger Waters and many more have signed onto a letter demanding that the British government reject a plan to officially label a home-grown Palestinian activist group as a terror outfit.

The British government is debating whether to label the U.K.-based group Palestine Action as a terror outfit after the group has made it a policy to engage in violence, property destruction, and disruptive protests since its founding in 2020. The organization has particularly targeted the British government’s weapons and munitions manufacturing, the products of which are sometimes pledged to the Israeli government to use against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

In their letter, the actors and entertainers insisted that Palestine Action is merely “intervening to stop a genocide.”

“Palestine Action is intervening to stop a genocide. It is acting to save life,” the letter exclaims. “We deplore the government’s decision to proscribe it. Labeling non-violent direct action as ‘terrorism’ is an abuse of language and an attack on democracy.”

“The real threat to the life of the nation comes not from Palestine Action but from the home secretary’s efforts to ban it,” the letter continues. “We call on the government to withdraw its proscription of Palestine Action and to stop arming Israel.”

The letter comes on the heels of a proposal by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to designate Palestine Action as a domestic terror organization. The proposal would put the group on the same list as ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other such groups. But the U.K. high court ruled that Palestine Action founder Huda Ammori had the standing to file a legal challenge to Cooper’s plans, thus delaying the designation.

A spokesperson for Artists for Palestine said in a statement that “Never before has a decision like this been challenged so immediately by artists and so widely across the country. If the Government persists with this ban, it will face anger and opposition on a massive scale.”
UK court rejects legal action against sale of F-35 parts to Israel
A British court ruled on Monday that the United Kingdom need not block the sale to Israel of U.K.-made parts for the F-35 fighter jet, dismissing an anti-Israel group’s legal action to ban it.

The Al-Haq group asked the High Court in London to block Britain’s Department for Business and Trade’s decision to exempt F-35 parts when it suspended some arms export licenses last year.

The direct export to Israel of U.K.-made F-35 components is still suspended. The lawsuit was over parts sent to a global F-35 spare parts pool, from which Israel may obtain them.

Al-Haq maintained the exemption was illegal because the components could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, but the court rejected this argument, The Guardian reported.

The lawsuit cited the fact that the United Kingdom had assessed that Israel was not committed to complying with international humanitarian law.

Yet extending this to ban the export of F-35 parts would “undermine U.S. confidence in the U.K. and Nato”, the Defence Ministry said in its defense of the deal, which the court accepted. The U.S.-based Lockheed Martin aviation firm produces the F-35 with significant contributions from Northrop Grumman and the U.K.-based BAE Systems.

France, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands are among the countries that imposed a partial or full arms embargo on Israel following its conflicts with Iranian proxies, and later with Iran, after Oct. 7, 2023.

The 72-page ruling released on Monday states that that the case revolved around whether the United Kingdom “must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration” due to the concerns expressed in the lawsuit.

“Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive which is democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts,” the judges found.


The poisonous identitarianism of Zohran Mamdani
Mamdani has parrotted all the most fact-lite tenets of identitarian progressivism. At the height of the BLM-fuelled panic around racism in 2020, he fanned the flames. He called explicitly for the police to be defunded. And we all know how that ended: with a sharp rise in violent crime and fatalities within the black community. Mamdani also pushed to abolish certain standardised high-school tests on the dubious grounds that they’re racist. He has spent years complaining about white privilege (naturally). Bizarrely, he also seemingly changes his accent depending on who he’s talking to, putting on a more Middle Eastern-sounding accent when addressing Muslim voters. (This is a longstanding trend in progressive circles, whereby hyper-privileged radicals adopt different accents when addressing different ethnic groups.)

The hypocrisy here is striking. Mamdani’s loudest cheerleaders are elite-left progressives, the same people who’ve spent over a decade crusading against largely imagined forms of bigotry in the tolerant West. Yet point out that the man they’re backing for NYC mayor has proclaimed his ‘love’ for men who raised funds for the genocidal anti-Semites of Hamas and they brush it off without a second thought. These are people who insist that everything from microaggressions to mere ‘silence’ constitute literal violence – yet they have no issue with their guy defending a blood-curdling slogan like ‘globalise the intifada’.

Mandami’s primary victory suggests that woke is far from dead. Yes, cultish and censorious leftism has taken a battering. The more pearl-clutching, superficial elements of the woke movement certainly seem to be in retreat. But the Israel-hating, identitarian core is alive and even flourishing in the West’s major cities.

The significance of Mamdani’s ascent extends beyond New York. It provides a glimpse of the broader direction in which the left appears to be heading. For all that he’s hailed as a moral visionary, he’s firmly wedded to some of the most toxic orthodoxies of contemporary progressivism. That is bad news for New York and beyond.
Mamdani is a wolf in sheep's keffiyehs
Meanwhile, here in New York — the largest Jewish population on Earth outside Israel — our communities are under siege. We’ve seen Jewish-owned businesses burned in Long Island. Jews beaten in broad daylight in Brooklyn. People are afraid to wear Jewish stars in public for fear of violence. And the people behind these attacks chant the same slogans Mamdani defends.

They want to chase Jews out of New York, out of America, out of public life. We can’t let them.

In the days since Mamdani’s win, antisemites online have only grown more emboldened. I’ve seen people openly posting “The intifada has been globalized,” telling Jews to “leave New York,” and even saying “Hitler would have loved this.” This is the climate Mamdani has helped create — one where genocidal slogans are no longer fringe, but viral. Like many grifters these days, he surfs on the algorithmic waves of antisemitism.

What's perhaps most revealing: on my own social feeds, I saw many liberals I knew celebrating Mamdani’s win. But what stood out? Nearly every single one of them was a young, white person with rich parents. These are not working-class voices yearning for communism. These are the luxury activists — performative progressives raised in privilege, insulated from real-world consequences. They chase causes like fashion trends, and for them, bashing Israel has become the latest accessory. It's easy to call for igniting a revolution when you know you’ll never pay the price for the fire.

And this election is bigger than Queens. This is the biggest referendum on Jew-hate in America since October 7. Mamdani, who started the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at his school, which has been the biggest stirring-pot for Jew hate on college campuses, is the perfect poster-boy. This man is so deeply antisemitic, he’s not only built a career on getting non-Jews to hate Jews, but simultaneously tries to poison progressive Jews hate their own people. Sadly, his twisted diversion has worked. To the Jewish liberals who voted for Mamdani — you didn’t vote progressive. You voted for pogroms. You are today’s kapos: Jews who empower those who wish to destroy us, hoping their usefulness will spare them. Unfortunately, when the intifada arrives, they won’t be checking your voting records. Even worse, if Mamdani wins, the police may be too defunded to even come save you. Luckily, it’s not too late to come to your senses. November is a reset.

This moment is bigger than Mamdani. It’s about whether we want a New York that protects its minorities — or sacrifices Jews for political clout.

Jews are already fleeing Europe because of the radical Islamist takeover. We have four months to save New York City from becoming the next Paris, the next London — where Jews are afraid to walk the streets in a yarmulke. The choice is ours. We make up 12% of the city, a million strong, and can still save it. A city where so many of ancestors found refuge at Ellis Island after the Holocaust, illuminated by the light of Lady Liberty herself. It’s a town that represents America on the world stage more than anywhere else. It represents freedom. For Jews, and for everyone.

And make no mistake: political strategists across the world are watching this race. If Mamdani’s antisemitism with a smile playbook works here, it will be exported — to Chicago, Los Angeles, and beyond. New York is the test case. And if we don’t stand up now, it won’t stop here. The intifada will be globalized.

If you vote for Mamdani, you hate Jews. And if you’re Jewish and vote for him, I’m sorry but you hate yourself. Being hateful with a smile doesn’t negate one’s hate. In fact, it makes it worse. It makes it mainstream…




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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