Friday, July 04, 2025

07/04 Links Pt1: Melbourne: Attempted synagogue arson, Israeli-owned restaurant attacked; Hamas hands 'positive' ceasefire response to Qatar; UN Official calls for Israel to be “Dismantled"

From Ian:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Anti-American Academic Who Helped Build the Caliphate
Few voices carry as much weight in international relations as John Mearsheimer. But weight shouldn’t be confused with wisdom. The University of Chicago professor recently claimed that President Trump’s support for Israel’s strikes on Iran had shattered U.S. credibility. Mearsheimer couldn’t be more wrong. His analysis is shaped by the same fixed assumptions that have guided his thinking for years: a reflexive distrust of American power and a persistent failure to understand how adversaries think, act, and escalate.

At the heart of this failure is Mearsheimer’s so-called “offensive realism”, a theory that presents itself as hard-nosed and analytical, but consistently fails to align with how the world actually works. It reduces global conflict to raw power, ignoring beliefs, values, and human nature. Worse still, I suggest it has shaped a worldview so bleak, so disturbingly vacant, that it has warped U.S. foreign policy. It has emboldened adversaries and left allies unsure whether America stands for anything at all.

Mearsheimer’s framework appears compelling at first glance. States exist in anarchy. To survive, they must maximize power. Cooperation is fleeting. Conflict is inevitable. Rising powers seek regional dominance; established powers must crush them to survive. Everything revolves around a single variable: material power. Culture is brushed aside. Domestic politics are treated as noise. Leadership and ideology are irrelevant. The scholar reduces nations to lifeless units in a power equation. This is the danger of spending an entire life in an academic tower. The view from above loses sight of the ground below.

Offensive realism can’t explain why some rising powers integrate peacefully while others lash out violently. It can’t distinguish between real security threats and imagined ones. Most fatally, it assumes every great power is hardwired for domination, an assumption that excuses the aggressor and blames the victim.

Academic theories should be judged by their predictive power. By that standard, offensive realism is among the most spectacular failures in modern foreign-policy thinking.

His most infamous misjudgment came at the close of the Cold War. As the Soviet Union fell and the old bipolar order faded, Mearsheimer predicted Europe would descend into chaos. Germany would re-arm. Nuclear weapons would proliferate. Old rivalries — French-German, Slavic-Germanic — would flare back to life in the absence of American power. He was wrong.

What followed was not chaos but integration. Germany didn’t march; it demilitarized. Eastern and Central Europe didn’t reach for nukes; they reached for NATO and the European Union. The alliance expanded not out of naive idealism, but because former Soviet satellites knew the danger of a world without American power.

Offensive realism isn’t a flexible framework. It’s more like a dogma, shut off from evidence, resistant to contradiction, and endlessly self-justifying. When its predictions fail, it doesn’t change. It just doubles down. Nowhere has this been more damaging than in the Middle East. For decades, Mearsheimer argued that the U.S. should adopt a strategy of “offshore balancing”: withdraw troops, cut military commitments, and trust local powers to stabilize the region themselves. Sunni states, we were told, would contain Iran. Order would develop naturally.
After the success in Iran, here’s how to end the Gaza war strategically
When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets President Donald Trump at the White House next week, it should mark a critical inflection point: the adoption of a roadmap for ending the Israel-Hamas War as part of a major realignment of the Middle East.

Netanyahu is a divisive leader whose actions are often met with extraordinary skepticism, but right now he deserves a share of the credit for defanging Iran and proxies. That creates political and diplomatic capital that can yield results – and can rehabilitate.

The Gaza war has gone on too long, and should end quickly and not with another complex phase structure – with the blood-curdling “selection” of which hostages are freed. Moreover, even if what comes is a 60-day ceasefire, as reported, it should lead to a permanent one. There is a way to do this that’s both strategic and humane.

From the beginning, Israel could have recovered the hostages at the cost of leaving Hamas intact and in power. However cruel it was, most Israelis were willing to risk hostages’ safety to avoid that outcome. But such a posture was never going to survive six months, a year, or more. It is now approaching 21 months, and it flipped long ago.

Now, significant swaths of Gaza lie in ruins, with most structures believed to have been destroyed or damaged. Hamas has seen most of its leaders and battalions eliminated, yet it can still deploy an armed mafia capable of controlling the territory upon which it brought such destruction. So there remains at least minority support in Israel for the argument that the job is not done.

But this is, in truth, not the only reason for the continuation of the war. The far Right flank of the coalition – which can in theory bring it down – wants permanent occupation, if possible depopulation, and renewed Jewish settlement. That’s unpopular, so it’s muted.

This debate cannot go on forever. Ending the war is not only an imperative in its own right, but also opens the door to possible normalization deals with other countries – not only Saudi Arabia but also Lebanon and Syria. Here too, the government and military deserve credit: The thrashing of Hezbollah last year not only freed Israel to act against Iran without fear of rockets from the Lebanese militia but also rescued its two neighbors to the north.


Violence in Melbourne: Attempted synagogue arson, Israeli-owned restaurant attacked
A man attempted to set fire to a centuries-old historic synagogue in East Melbourne on Friday, Australian authorities confirmed. The incident occurred only shortly before an Israeli restaurant in the city was attacked.

At the time of the attempted arson attack, 20 people were inside the synagogue but did not suffer injuries as a result of the incident, according to Victoria Police. Firefighters attended the scene within minutes and extinguished the blaze on the Synagogue’s front door, the Victoria fire department said. Antisemitism is at a record high. We're keeping our eyes on it >>

A man is understood to have poured flammable liquid on the front door around 8 p.m. local time.

The latest attempted arson follows a devastating attack at Melbourne's Adass Israel Synagogue last year.

Protesters attack an Israeli-owned restaurant
The arson attack followed heightened tensions and protests across the city hours earlier over the perceived excessive security at protests, the New York Times reported.

Some 20 protesters were recorded yelling “Death to the IDF” at the Israeli-owned Miznon restaurant. A recording shared by the Daily Mail Australia revealed chairs, food, and glassware being thrown at the venue.

“They came in with their drums and their mic and stuff saying Miznon is not welcome here,” a diner told the Herald Sun. “Then they started getting aggressive, throwing tomatoes, chairs, and glasses. They caused lots of damage to the businesses down here.”

One protester from the restaurant incident was reportedly arrested and received a summons.

“Several other protesters were spoken to by police and had their identities clarified for the purpose of follow-up investigation,” a police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. “Victoria Police continued to support the rights of Victorians to protest peacefully, but will not tolerate the kind of anti-social and violent behavior that was witnessed this evening.”

Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission shared in response to the incidents, “On Friday night, someone tried to burn Jews alive in their house of worship. On Friday night, a mob hunted them down in the streets. This was terrorism. A synagogue, one of the oldest in the country, was deliberately set on fire while Jewish families were eating together. Had the flames reached further, we would be counting bodies, not blessings. Minutes later, a gang of masked rioters stormed an Israeli restaurant. They came armed with hatred and chairs, chanting “Death to the IDF” as they smashed windows and terrorised diners. Children screamed. Glass shattered. Melbourne, for one night, stopped being a safe place for Jews.

"This was a campaign. Not a coincidence. Not a one-off. A targeted, synchronised assault against Jews for being Jews. The fists, the chants, the violence—they were unleashed without restraint.

"To every leader in this nation: If you don’t know what to say, say this: This is barbaric. And it will not be tolerated. There is a sickness spreading in our streets. It wears masks. It carries drums. It chants for death. And on Friday night, it lit a match.

"We are not asking for sympathy. want action. We want justice. We want protection. Not next week. Not after the next attack. Now. And to those who set the fire, who threw the chairs, who cheered from the sidelines know this: You have not weakened us. You have awakened us.. And we will not be silent as the flames climb higher.”


MEMRI: Australian National University Professor Alam Saleh On Al-Jazeera: If Iran Fails To Achieve Nuclear Deterrence, Israel Will Continue To Attack It; Iran Must Take 'Serious Nuclear Measures'
Iranian academic Dr. Alam Saleh, Middle East Studies Professor at the Australian National University, said in a June 25, 2025 appearance on Al-Jazeera Network that if Iran wants to achieve military deterrence, it must take "serious nuclear measures" to prevent further attacks like those it has faced from Israel and the U.S. He said that as long as Israel can attack Iran without suffering any meaningful retaliation, the war will not end quickly or easily. Saleh noted that Israel has been launching strikes in Syria and across the region day and night for over a decade, and if Iran fails to achieve nuclear deterrence, such attacks will continue. He emphasized that Iran cannot abandon its red lines, including uranium enrichment inside Iran, because doing so would strip the country of its deterrent power and ability to retaliate if attacked.

Alam Saleh: "The balance of power between Iran and Israel and the U.S. has changed now. If Iran wants to achieve military deterrence, it must take serious nuclear measures that will prevent such attacks.

"As long as the Israelis can attack Iran without suffering greater defeats, this will probably continue for a long time, and this ceasefire will be fragile and temporary, and [the war] will not end so easily or quickly. As we have seen in Syria and elsewhere in the region, the Israelis have been attacking wherever they want, day and night, for over a decade. Even today, after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad, they continue to attack various military locations in Syria. So, if Iran fails to achieve nuclear deterrence, Israel will no doubt continue to carry out such attacks in the future.

"There is no doubt, particularly after these attacks, that Iran cannot give up its red lines, including the enrichment of uranium inside Iran. It knows very well that if this happens, it will change completely the balance of power between Iran and Israel and the U.S., and Iran will have no power of deterrence, and will not be able to retaliate if attacked."


Senior ANU professor lobbies Iran to take ‘serious nuclear measures’ against Israel in shocking public interview
The Middle East studies specialist, who does not live in Australia told The Australian his comments had been taken out of context, and that he was making an “analytical” argument.

He insisted he did not support any country acquiring nuclear weapons.

“My argument was that if ­Israel increases its military pressure on Iran, it could inadvertently push Iran toward pursuing nuclear capabilities – thereby increasing the threat to Israel itself,” he told The Australian.

“This was not an endorsement of such a course, but rather a caution against policies that might lead to such dangerous outcomes.”

The comments sparked outrage from Jewish groups who questioned if the beleaguered university had adequately addressed mounting anti-semitic sentiments among its staff and students after it came under fire for its decision to reconsider the definition of anti-semitism in late May.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin called on ANU to launch an investigation into Mr Saleh’s interview and his academic record, stating that the development was “profoundly troubling.”

"It is incredible that a professor at one of our top universities is even discussing how to protect the interests of the Iranian regime,” Mr Ryvchin told The Australian.
Hamas hands 'positive' ceasefire response to Qatari mediators, prepared to start negotiations
Hamas handed a "positive" response to the ceasefire and hostage deal proposal to mediators on Friday evening, a Palestinian official familiar with the matter told Reuters.

"We have handed the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, our response to the ceasefire proposal," a Hamas official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The response should help Hamas and Israel "facilitate reaching a deal," the official said. The terrorist organization later added that they "completed its internal consultations with Palestinian factions regarding the mediators' latest proposal to halt the aggression" and that they're "fully prepared to immediately enter into a round of negotiations" on the mediators' proposal for a ceasefire deal.

According to Al-Arabiyya, Qatari mediators received a guarantee from the US that the war would not resume after a 60-day truce.

Hamas demanded that Washington agree to be an official guarantor for a permanent end to the war, Al-Arabiyya added.

This comes after Hamas confirmed early that morning that it was discussing the US-Qatar ceasefire proposal with other Palestinian factions.

A Palestinian official of a terrorist group allied with Hamas said concerns remain over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, and clarity over a timetable of Israeli troop withdrawals. An Israeli source also confirmed that Israel received the document submitted by the mediators and that it, as well as Hamas's response to the proposal, are being examined.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is expecting to know whether Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal over the next 24 hours, Reuters reported.


IDF: Nearing goals in current phase of ‘Gideon’s Chariots’
The Israel Defense Forces is nearing completion of its objectives for the current phase of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and will soon present its proposed next steps to the political leadership, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Efie Defrin said on Thursday night.

“Since the beginning of ‘Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots,’ we have severed Hamas’s control over wide areas of the Gaza Strip and undermined its governance. We are systematically and thoroughly dismantling the terrorist infrastructure, while maintaining a firm and stable hold on the ground,” said Defrin.

“We are achieving long-term strategic gains and preventing Hamas from rebuilding its centers of power,” he added.

Five brigades are pressing forward with determination against Hamas battalions, Defrin said.

The 98th Division has joined the fighting in northern Gaza, operating on the outskirts of Gaza City, including the Shejaiya and Zeitoun neighborhoods. The 162nd Division is engaged in battles in the Jabalia area, while the 143rd Division continues to secure the Rafah sector. The 36th Division remains active in the Khan Yunis region, and the 99th Reserve Division began operations in northern Gaza last week.

“Hamas’s governing control in the Gaza Strip is steadily eroding,” said Defrin. “We have cumulatively achieved the elimination of dozens of Hamas commanders and senior operatives, from the field level to brigade commanders and leadership.

“We have achieved significant progress, but there are still missions ahead,” he continued. “At every stage—every action, every decision—the goals of the war remain clear, chief among them the return of the hostages. This is the paramount mission, one that every soldier and commander in the Gaza Strip, and beyond, carries with him.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz visited Rafah on Wednesday, accompanied by OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and Gaza Division commander Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram.

Katz praised the dedication and resolve of the commanders and soldiers, describing them as heroic and emphasizing their unwavering commitment to defending Israel. “There is no other army like this in the world,” he said, calling on the public to embrace the troops and take pride in their efforts.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli Air Force eliminated a terrorist cell shortly after it fired rockets from the northern Gaza Strip toward the border communities of Sderot and Ibim. The two projectiles were intercepted, and there were no reports of injuries or damage.

In southern Gaza, IDF troops confiscated weapons in the Khan Yunis area, and in the Rafah area troops dismantled dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites and seized weapons.
IDF says 2 soldiers killed in separate incidents in Gaza as toll mounts
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Friday that two soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip where troops continue to push ahead with a grinding offensive.

The IDF announced that Sgt. Asaf Zamir, 19, from Dimona, a soldier in the 53rd Armored Battalion of the 188th Brigade, was killed during combat in the southern Gaza Strip.

Two other soldiers from the same battalion were seriously wounded in the incident in Khan Younis when their vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile. They were evacuated to hospital for medical treatment and their families have been notified.

Earlier, the IDF said that Sgt. Yair Eliyahou, 19, from the community of Ezer, a combat engineering soldier in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, was killed overnight during a combat-related operational accident in the northern Gaza Strip.

Eliyahou was killed when a heavy equipment vehicle fell into a hole in Beit Hanoun, hitting a vehicle being operated by Eliyahou, according to the reported initial findings of an IDF probe.

The deaths bring Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 444. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.


NYPost Editorial: Lefty groups are actually blaming Israel and Gazan aid heroes for Hamas’ evil
Israelis are risking their lives and devoting precious military resources to protect Gazans and help get them food.

Yet anti-Israel media throughout the world, as well as the United Nations and assorted charities, keep leveling similar charges.

The US-based Intercept, for one, says the Israeli military has killed “410 people trying to get food at Israeli-run aid sites in Gaza in the past month.”

No: The ones shooting at these civilians are Hamas and its allies — who may take Israeli fire when soldiers intervene to protect the innocent.

Hamas and its sympathizers simply claim — often via the Gazan Health Ministry, which Hamas controls and has been pitching lies all war long — that it’s all Israelis shooting civilians.

The terrorists want GHF shut down so they can regain their monopoly over aid distribution: Back when the United Nations controlled it, Hamas simply stole the food and used it as a lever to control Gaza — handing it out only to supporters or selling it to raise funds.

Meanwhile, the American and Israeli-backed organization has delivered 52 million meals in just five weeks, and it’s the only group not to have its food looted.

Those in the media and international community who parrot Hamas’ lies and blame Israel for the deaths of civilians are only serving the terrorists’ interests.

At the top of the list: UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who slammed the GHF for “killing people.”

No less than 171 “charities” also called for an end to the GHF, and a restoration of the pro-Hamas system.

Yet some, such as Oxfam, plainly resent the new competition; others are longtime anti-Israel groups such as the Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine Justice Network and countless other professed allies of “Gaza’s government,” which again means Hamas.

Remember: Hamas started this war by brutally murdering 1,200 innocent civilians.

All food shortages are its fault, and groups calling for the end of the GHF are simply playing into its hands — if not consciously promoting it.

What do you think? Post a comment.

Bottom line: The GHF and the Israeli military overseeing the program aren’t killers.

They’re the heroes here.


Day 637 - John Spencer and Lazar Berman: Is the IDF winning in Gaza?
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

This week, we're joined by John Spencer, the chief of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, a research center dedicated to the study of war and warfare. Spencer is a retired Major in the US Army and is a leading expert in military operations in dense and subterranean urban areas.

Spencer reached out to us after we released a Friday Focus podcast, "10 truths about the Gaza war, 20 months in," based on Berman's in-depth analysis, "For now, victory is still within reach: 10 truths about the Gaza war, 20 months in."

Today's conversation is a meeting of the minds in which Berman and Spencer delve into the nuts and bolts of the war in Gaza so far.


Call me Back Podcast: Netanyahu’s Endgame - with Ari Shavit
Over the past few days, we’ve observed strong signs that Israeli leaders are moving to bring the Gaza war to a close, though it remains unclear how exactly this would take shape.

On Tuesday, Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermermet with senior Trump administration officials in Washington, DC. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit the White House on Monday, July 7.

This comes just over a week after Israel’s 12-day war against the Iranian regime. The war also included, of course, a round of American strikes on Iran’s three key nuclear facilities.

Prime Minister Netanyahu spent his entire political career warning of the existential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, and he is now largely being credited — even by domestic critics — with its destruction. As the post-Iran War geopolitical map is being drawn, we wonder, what could be Netanyahu’s next moves in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria. Saudi Arabia, and domestically, in Israel?

To discuss this we are joined by Israeli author and journalist Ari Shavit. Ari is the author of the award-winning book My Promised Land and was a senior correspondent at Haaretz for many years.

00:00 Introduction
4:26 Trump’s hostage-ceasefire deal
7:45 Will the IDF stay in Gaza?
12:00 Who will govern Gaza?
16:30 North Sinai solution
24:19 Netanyahu’s objectives post-Iran war
32:57 New opportunities with Arab states
44:57 Importance of American-Israeli collaboration
46:36 Netanyahu and Israeli division


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 26: How Iran’s regime subverted Shia Islam - with Hussain Abdul-Hussain
The Iranian regime has long claimed to be the bearers of Shia Islam's vision of messianic redemption. The Supreme Leader, who ruled under regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini's ideology of "wilayat al-faqih," or Guardianship of the Jurist, created a new model of a revolutionary conquering Shiism that was previously unknown in Shia Islam, at least in its Arab version.

We are joined in this episode by Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a Shia Muslim writer and analyst in Washington DC and research fellow at FDD. Hussain grew up in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War and in Lebanon toward the end of the country's devastating civil war.

Arab Shiism, Hussain argues, is not what the Iranian regime has tried to make of it, and once freed of the financial, political and often violent influence of Khomeinist "revolutionary" ideology, will revert to its traditionally peaceful ways.

This episode was sponsored by Bennett and Robin Greenspan of Houston, Texas, strong supporters of Israel who recognize Israels' centrality and vitality to the Jewish world. They chose to dedicate this episode to the memory of Igal and Amit Wachs, 53 & 48, American-Israeli brothers who died on October 7, 2023, defending their home of Netiv Ha'asara in the Gaza envelope.


Ep. 63 - Iran’s Place in a Changing Middle East, with Behnam Ben Taleblu
Over the past two years, the Middle East has experienced seismic geopolitical shifts. Most recently, tensions between Israel and Iran escalated to new levels, with the U.S. also intervening to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

In this episode, we speak with Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director of the Iran Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), to unpack the latest developments in the region and explore how they may be reshaping Iran’s position in the Middle East.
Ep. 62 - Visions for a Better Future, with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
In this episode, Policy Fellow James Abrahams and Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib discuss a vision for a better future.

Ahmed grew up in the Middle East, spending time in Gaza during his childhood. He is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where he heads Realign for Palestine. In this podcast, he gives his thoughts on the Israel-Palestine discourse, assesses various barriers to peace, and explains his hopes for what Palestinian statehood might look like.


Visegrad24: The Media Is Complicit
Karen Diamond died a few weeks after the shocking petrol bomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, by an illegal migrant.

Visegrad24 founder Stefan Tompson analyses who is responsible for this act of antisemitic violence, and what role the mainstream media and lax migration laws have played in the shocking rise of antisemitism.

00:00 - Introduction
00:50 - Attacks on Jews since Oct. 7
03:20 - Who is Responsible?
06:30 - Mainstream Media Radicalizes
06:53 - Illegal Migration Brings Terror
08:17 - A Perfect Storm


‘Shylocks’ – Trump under fire for using antisemitic term to describe bankers
Jewish organisations and civil rights advocates have condemned U.S. President Donald Trump after he used the term “Shylocks” – a phrase widely regarded as antisemitic – during a speech in Iowa on Thursday evening.

Speaking at a campaign-style rally in Des Moines, where he celebrated the passage of his landmark tax and spending legislation, Trump referenced the financial burdens faced by American farmers. While promoting estate tax relief for family-run farms, he said: “No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker – and in some cases, Shylocks and bad people.”

The comment drew immediate backlash from Jewish leaders, who said the term, drawn from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, reinforces longstanding antisemitic tropes depicting Jews as greedy and predatory moneylenders.

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, wrote on X: “This is not an accident. It follows years in which Trump has normalised antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories – and it’s deeply dangerous.” She added that the term “Shylock” is “among the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes”.

Asked by reporters after the event whether he was aware of the term’s offensive meaning, Trump said: “I’ve never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that’s a moneylender and high rates.”

The Anti-Defamation League has long flagged the character of Shylock as one of the most recognisable symbols of antisemitic caricature in English literature. In its guidance on The Merchant of Venice, the organisation notes that Shylock is frequently portrayed as “conniving and cruel”, reinforcing deeply damaging stereotypes.


Brendan O'Neill: Is Zarah Sultana the most ridiculous politician in Britain?
Tremble, ye capitalists! For a new spectre is haunting Britain. The spectre of Magic Grandpa and his TikTokking simp. The spectre of a 76-year-old MP who was once besties with Hamas and his 31-year-old protégée who thinks you can have a cock and be a woman. The spectre, at last, of a dazzling alliance between the politician who backed an Early Day Motion lamenting ‘prejudice against pigeons’ and his fresh-faced apostle who once said people without Covid masks make her feel ‘incredibly unsafe’. Bet you’re quaking now, you plutocratic pigs!

This is the news, the delicious news, that Zarah Sultana MP is resigning from Labour to create a radical new party that will be the gravedigger of ‘barbarism’. She’ll ‘co-lead’ the party, she says, with that dusty old idol of community-hall leftism, Jeremy Corbyn. Or perhaps not. Corbyn hasn’t commented. There are reports that he’s ‘furious and bewildered’ that Ms Sultana unveiled their revolutionary plotting without consulting him first. I love it – the party doesn’t even exist yet and it’s already being consumed by ‘People’s Front of Judea’ shit.

We’re all due some mirth in these bleak times, one year into the rule of shite Sir Keir and his emotionally incontinent deputies. And it surprises me as much as it does you that that mirth has come from Coventry’s own void of joy, Zarah Sultana. Her resignation letter is the funniest thing I’ve read in ages. We face a ‘stark’ choice between ‘socialism or barbarism’, she says, cosplaying as Rosa Luxemburg for the titillation of her audience of Media Studies muppets who can’t get through a day’s grind of graphic designing without their ADHD meds, far less fight a revolution against the German Empire.

She makes Rick from The Young Ones sound like Friedrich Engels. We live under a ‘tiny elite bathing in cash’, she wails. All we get is ‘broken promises’, she blubs. The unfairness of it all is ‘obscene’, people are ‘suffering’, and all the while ‘the billionaires’ get even more filthy rich, yada yada. These are Adrian Mole levels of infantile leftism. Though at least he was poetic: ‘Do you weep, Mrs Thatcher, do you weep? / Do you wake, Mrs Thatcher, in your sleep? / Do you weep like a sad willow / On your Marks and Spencers pillow?’

The idea that Sultana is about to do a Brit version of storming the Bastille is comical beyond words. If the sight of Tories sans Covid masks made her feel ‘incredibly unsafe in the chamber’, how’s she going to face down the forces of barbarism? She sums up the Fisher-Price radicalism of the TikTok generation, where one minute they’re saying ‘FUCK CAPITALISM’ and the next they’re taking a self-care day because they saw JK Rowling say ‘he’ about some fat fella in a bikini. ‘Misgendering’ is ‘utterly disgraceful’, Sultana says. This will be the most easily defeated uprising in history – all the riot cops will have to say is ‘dude’ to a lad in a dress and they’ll all be running home to sob into their dog-eared copies of The State and Revolution.
Boss of UK Palestinian charity who shared post backing ‘armed resistance’ handed eight-year ban
The boss of a UK-based Palestinian charity who shared a message in support of “armed resistance” has been handed an eight-year ban from holding management positions in the sector.

The Charity Commission, which has imposed the sanction, said the social media posts of Taghrid Al-Mawed-Layton, the acting CEO of the Palestinian Refugee Project, were “divisive and inflammatory”.

The regulator found Al-Mawed-Layton, who stood for Parliament last summer as part of George Galloway’s Workers Party, used the charity’s social media to promote material “which was not in furtherance of the charity’s aims, and / or was divisive and inflammatory”, according to the Commission, which began investigating the charity in December 2023.

The regulator said that posts on the charity’s social media feed could be interpreted as “downplaying acts of terrorism, and which tried to raise support for a change to Israel’s recognition as a state”.

The charity’s X account re-posted a comment from Chris Williamson stating, “Zionism must be confronted and defeated”.

Another post shared by Al-Mawed-Layton in 2022 stated, “Armed resistance of occupation is legal, not terrorism”.

In an X post on Thursday, Al-Mawed-Layton shared an image which stated: “It is not antisemitic to hate genocide”. In another post, also this week, she wrote about the dead in Gaza, saying: “The people being killed are semites. The people doing the killing are not.”

On Facebook last month, she shared an image of the US flag with a Magen David in one corner. Neither this post nor those shared on X this week were done in the charity’s name.
Action Palestine loses bid to block UK government’s ban under terrorism laws
The pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activist group Palestine Action lost a bid Friday to block the British government’s decision to ban it under anti-terrorism laws after activists broke into a UK military base last month and vandalized two planes.

At a hearing at the High Court in London, the group had sought to temporarily block what it considered to be an “authoritarian” ban, which will go into effect at midnight. The ban will make membership of the group and support of its actions a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

But Justice Martin Chamberlain, who spent all day listening to lawyers representing the group and the government, declined to give the organization interim relief from the ban, which was first proposed by UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and approved by lawmakers earlier this week.

While conceding that the order to proscribe Palestine Action a terrorist organization may have “wider consequences for the way the public understands the concept of ‘terrorism’,” he said it is not “the court’s function to comment on the wisdom of the use of the power in the case.”

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, was hoping the court would temporarily block the government from banning the group as a terrorist organization under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 before a potential legal challenge. Some 81 organizations are already proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Hamas and al-Qaeda.

Ammori’s lawyer Raza Husain had asked the court to suspend the “ill-considered” and “authoritarian abuse of statutory power” until a hearing, which is due around July 21.




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