Wednesday, July 16, 2025

07/16 Links Pt1: Gaza is a war; just a war; Biden and Hamas prolonged the war, not Netanyahu; The progressive myth of Francesca Albanese; IDF strikes Syrian regime military HQ over threat to Druze

From Ian:

Andrew Fox: Gaza is a war; just a war
To describe Gaza as “just a war” is not to trivialise it. It is to place it in its appropriate frame: a war with extraordinary suffering, in which errors have been made. It is a war that Israel has politically mishandled, whose government failed to establish a clear end state. It has alienated international allies through poor communication and, at times, has failed to rebut disinformation with the necessary urgency—but it is not a genocide. It is a war against a deeply entrenched, ideologically fanatical enemy operating from within a civilian population.

It is also a war that many commentators refuse to recognise as such. There is a strange moral inconsistency in much of the international discourse. When Western powers bombed Raqqa to oust ISIS, civilian casualties were acknowledged, but the operation was described as a necessary evil. When Russia destroyed Mariupol, the world understood the reasoning behind urban sieges (of course, Russia’s war in Ukraine is illegal, and the Russians have committed genocidal actions, but that does not change the fact the world sees urban combat in Ukraine and judges it as such). But when Israel bombs Khan Younis or Jabalia, it is instantly seen as a war crime. This double standard is not only unfair but also distorts our understanding of how wars are fought and won in the 21st century.

Urban warfare, particularly against irregular forces, leads to devastating outcomes. The IDF has thoroughly studied these dynamics. Its experience in Gaza has provided NATO forces with tactical and doctrinal lessons, such as the importance of combined arms integration, tunnel warfare expertise, and forward-deployed legal oversight. It has also revealed the limitations of airpower and the moral dangers of information warfare. Israel’s campaign has not been perfect, but it has shown a willingness to learn, adapt, and review its actions, including prosecuting soldiers for misconduct, a practice rarely seen in the region.

Indeed, the handful of credible allegations of war crimes committed by IDF personnel remain under investigation. Some will almost certainly lead to disciplinary action. However, the scale is significant. A detailed review of available evidence identified fewer than 100 cases of alleged deliberate civilian killings across a theatre that so far has reported over 56,000 deaths. Many of those reports, upon closer examination, are based on unverifiable claims, dubious witnesses, or sources with a long history of political activism. That does not absolve anyone, but it does provide context for the accusation that Israel is operating a military death machine.

The very idea of proportionality in modern urban combat has been distorted. Proportionality is not about equal casualties. The phrase does not apply to entire campaigns, from a legal perspective. It concerns, on an individual strike-by-strike basis, whether the expected military advantage outweighs the anticipated civilian harm in a specific action or strike. This judgment must be made instantly, based on intelligence and legal guidance. Although it is never flawless, the evidence suggests that Israel has effectively integrated these principles into its command structure. To suggest otherwise is to accuse military lawyers, commanders, and soldiers of a conspiracy on a scale that defies reason.

We should mourn the dead in Gaza. We should press for humanitarian access, accountability, and a political solution that prevents further bloodshed. We should also demand intellectual honesty, reject the cynical manipulation of casualty data, and question the narratives that emerge before the facts are established. Most of all, we should resist the urge to transform tragedy into a theatre for moral grandstanding, divorced from the real choices faced by those fighting in real wars.

Gaza is not the end of the world. It is not the beginning of a genocide. It is a war: bloody, badly handled in many ways, but still a war. One in which a liberal democracy has fought a brutal terrorist group in an impossible environment. That doesn’t mean Israel is always right. It means that when they are not, Israel is not uniquely wrong. If we cannot hold both ideas simultaneously—that war is terrible and that not all war is criminal—then we are not prepared to discuss peace, to create a lasting resolution to conflict, or to face the more difficult question: what happens after the guns fall silent, when war ends and politics pick up again?
Honor Is the Rock of the West
It’s been written that love was the great theme of the Holocaust, perhaps to remind us that, after immense infamy, good matters more than evil to moral historians. I’ve always thought this idea is profoundly mistaken, despite the beautiful lines on love by Frankl, Hillesum, or Anne Frank. Love was important, of course, but honor is even greater and more encompassing, including love, lineage, unity with our own, but also commitment, integrity, dignity, duty, and devotion to others. Think of how many suffering people managed to cling to human dignity, faith, love, and care for others amid the greatest hardships and atrocities, intended to deprive them of all hope. Theirs was the honor of living as a conscientious individual every day, in the face of determined efforts to dehumanize and obliterate them. The honor of secretly praying and educating children in a concentration camp. The honor of those who paid with their lives rather than betray their fellows. The honor of dying in prayer, reaffirming the faith of one’s ancestors while walking peacefully toward imminent death. The refusal to be a number.

More recently, we have before our eyes the example of the honor shown by every one of the youths kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, who shared their single pita a day with three or four others, over hundreds of days, without ever losing their love for each other and their country, and without losing hope. Think of the female hostages who were abused by their captors and then put on a display at the last moment before their release in front of jeering crowds of barbarians—and who turned what was intended as a festival of humiliation into a triumph of unbroken dignity and self-respect. What greater example of honor have we seen in recent times? That is the true light that can guide the West today, even in the face of rampant nihilism and relativism. In tough times, when hatred and violence take center stage, the old inherited morality reemerges, and at the forefront is not love, daring, or tolerance—but honor.

Israeli leaders repeatedly say Israel is fighting in Gaza or Iran to save innocents in France or New York. That antisemites snicker in response and accuse the Jews of “genocide” and the deliberate murder of babies with outrage both real and feigned, is no surprise. They’re on the side of hatred. Like the terrorists they admire, they despise honor, and feel a burning resentment toward those who still have the energy and the dignity to embody ancient codes.

What’s troubling is when European or American political leaders refuse to see that Israel’s fight is a defense of the identity and honor of the entire West. Israel is a wall of dignity against barbarism. Honor also belongs to those Israeli soldiers who give their lives for this cause, which far transcends their own interests and borders.

And yes, that example still retains its capacity to inspire others. Donald Trump’s strike on Iran, followed by swift and effective negotiation, was also an act of honor. The U.S. president knew his enemies would make a loud fuss, painting him as a warmonger, despite his actions in office proving the opposite. He also knew he’d face the usual chorus of murmurs, in Brussels as in Washington, calling for “restraint” and “avoiding escalation”—meaning abandoning the basic necessity of effective self-defense.

Trump ignored all that. He knew striking Iran was necessary: for Israel, for the U.S., for Europe, for peace in the West. Iran is the monster that has infected media and political parties, funded chaos across the West, carried out assassinations on our soil; spreading misery at home and abroad, the regime exists solely to destroy Israel and its allies.

Trump knew someone had to do what he did. Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. Preventing that, while reminding Iran who Israel’s great ally is and what its power is, was fundamentally an act of honor, in the face of which even Europe fell silent.

It may be true that honor is now deeply unfashionable in classrooms, among the youth, at work, or even in personal relationships. If the West wants to revive the moral splendor it once had, if it wants to retain the values and pleasures of its own civilization, and mount an effective defense against the barbarism of the savage Islamists, the totalitarian Chinese, and the cynical Russians, it must start by embracing the ideal of honor again—with respect, with memory, and with courage. Once again, Israel is serving as a light unto the nations. We in the West must open our eyes before it is too late.
Jonathan Tobin: Biden and Hamas prolonged the war, not Netanyahu
The myth of the lost peace
The claim that Netanyahu discarded a chance for peace to hold onto power is particularly disingenuous.

As the Times Magazine article states, a deal concluded in April 2024 would have left the Hamas military formations and leadership in place near the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. There, it would have allowed the continued flow of supplies to Hamas via the tunnels under the border between Egypt and the Hamas enclave.

According to the article, the Israel Defense Force chief of staff at the time, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, thought the capture of Rafah was unimportant. That is a reminder that he—and many more of the country’s military and intelligence leadership—were not only fatally wrong about Hamas’s intentions and primarily responsible for Oct. 7. They also were unprepared for the post-Oct. 7 war in which, especially in its opening months, they seemed to accept the idea that Hamas was an “idea” that couldn’t be defeated rather than an actual terrorist military opponent that could be vanquished.

One doesn’t have to be a military thinker on the level of von Clausewitz to wonder why Rafah wasn’t taken in the opening months of the war to cut Hamas off from a main source of supplies. If the IDF was at times “going in circles” in Gaza in the conflict’s first phase, as the Times alleges, it is the fault of the generals and not Netanyahu, who, unlike an American president, is not the unquestioned commander-in-chief of Israeli forces.

Another myth that the Times article props up is that had Netanyahu buckled under American pressure in April 2024 and allowed Hamas to return to its Oct. 6, 2023 status as the government of Gaza, Saudi Arabia would have then recognized Israel.

Both the Americans and the Netanyahu government treat a Saudi willingness to join the Abraham Accords and exchange ambassadors with the Jewish state as a top foreign-policy goal. Still, the Saudis chose not to join the accords in 2020, and they may never do so. Even the modernizing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman understands that recognizing Israel would open his family’s rule up to attacks on the legitimacy of their status as the protector of the holy places of Islam and betray the extremist Wahhabi strain of Islam that has always been a main prop of their regime.

A lifeline for Hamas?
Nor should anyone seriously take the article’s claims that conceding to Hamas 13 months ago would have boosted Israel’s popularity in Europe or among the left-wing Democrats in the United States, whose hostility to the Jewish state has only grown. The red-green alliance of left-wingers and Islamists seeks Israel’s destruction. Whatever sympathy some might have felt after the atrocities of Oct. 7 evaporated even before the Jewish state rallied and began to defend itself three weeks later, seeking the destruction of the terrorists.

The myth of the lost opportunity for peace also ignores that the reason why Netanyahu’s coalition would have crumbled had he given in to the American pressure was rooted not so much in the demands of his controversial political partners, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, as it was in his duty not to damage the security of the Jewish state. Granting a lifeline to Hamas in April 2024, rather than carrying on the war until its military formations were fully destroyed, and Hezbollah and Iran defeated as well as Assad toppled, would have been a strategic disaster for Israel and may well have ensured that the terrorists would have soon been in a position to repeat the Oct.7 massacre. But it would have helped the Biden administration politically and also bolstered Netanyahu’s opponents.

There are many legitimate criticisms to make of Netanyahu’s decisions throughout his lengthy tenure as Israeli prime minister, in addition to those that contributed to Israel’s being unprepared for Oct. 7. It will be up to Israel’s voters to render the ultimate verdict as to whether or not what he has done since then, which may well constitute the finest hours of his career as a politician and leader of his country, outweighs his mistakes and personal faults.

Whatever one may say about him, the claim that the war has been extended primarily to help him cling to power is a smear that should not go unanswered. Fair-minded historians who are not anti-Netanyahu partisans will be forced to conclude that not only was this accusation false, but that by clinging to his principles, the prime minister did his country and the world, which is materially better off with a weakened Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, an inestimable service.


US Middle East envoy Witkoff says Gaza talks going well
US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Wednesday that negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza were going well.

"We have some good news on Gaza and some other things that we are working on," Trump announced at a Bill Signing Ceremony in Washington, while thanking Witkoff.

Earlier, a meeting was held between the Israeli delegation and the Qatari and Egyptian delegations, during which Israel presented new maps reflecting additional flexibility on its part.

A source involved in the negotiations told the Jerusalem Post: “The focus now is no longer on the Morag Corridor; it’s on the Israeli presence in the Rafah area. That’s where the discussions are currently centered.”

According to the source, the mediators are optimistic (not for the first time) and believe the new maps significantly advance the chances of reaching a deal soon.

Trump hoped ceasefire talks would be 'straightened out' this week
Trump said on Sunday he hoped talks for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would be "straightened out" this week.

The US is backing a 60-day ceasefire with a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza, and talks to end the conflict.

Trump told reporters, "We are talking and hopefully we're going to get that straightened out over the next week."


Shas Party follows United Torah Judaism out of Netanyahu government
The Shas Party announced on Wednesday that it would leave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition over its failure to pass a law exempting Haredi men from military conscription.

In doing so, Shas joins another ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism, which quit the government on Monday night.

The immediate significance of the move is that the government, which enjoyed a comfortable 67-seat majority, is now reduced to a minority of 50 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

However, the government is not in imminent danger of collapse as Shas said it would not support a no-confidence motion to bring down the government until after the end of the parliament’s summer session, which concludes on July 27, Kan News reported.

Shas members will also remain on Knesset committees, and party chairman Aryeh Deri will continue to attend the reduced kitchen cabinet. The party will also support any deal involving the release of hostages held by Hamas.

The party doesn’t hold Netanyahu responsible for the impasse. Shas spokesman Asher Medina blamed Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, for the failure to reach an agreement on a military draft bill.

“I know that Netanyahu did everything he could,” Medina told radio station Kan Reshet Bet.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party, responding to the announcement, called for elections.

“A minority government cannot send soldiers into battle, decide who will live and who will die, decide the fate of Gaza and close an agreement with Syria and Saudi Arabia,” Lapid said.

“It cannot continue to transfer billions to the corrupt and draft dodgers at the expense of the taxpayers, and certainly a minority government cannot free the ultra-Orthodox from conscription,” he added.

The Haredi community faces widespread anger in Israeli society for opposing sending its young men to serve in the army.


Huckabee ‘representing the president’ in show up for Netanyahu’s trial
U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Wednesday attended a hearing in the Tel Aviv District court on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial, saying the unusual step was a matter of representing the position of the U.S. president.

“I’m an observer, it’s an open trial. I wanted to see what was happening,” the diplomat told Israeli reporters when asked why he decided to come.

However, as Huckabee took a seat in the courtroom, the proceedings moved behind closed doors and he was required to leave the room, according to Hebrew-language outlet Ynet News.

A photo of Huckabee standing next to Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana inside the court surfaced online, in an apparent show of support for the Israeli premier.

In late June, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his call that the corruption charges against Netanyahu be dropped.

Calling the premier a “war hero” who did a “fabulous job” coordinating with the U.S. on defeating Iran’s nuclear threat, Trump then turned to the efforts to reach a hostage deal with Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that it is “terrible what they are doing in Israel to Bibi Netanyahu… How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING (Cigars, Bugs Bunny Doll, etc.). It is a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure.”

The longtime Israeli leader is “right now in the process of negotiating a deal with Hamas, which will include getting the hostages back,” Trump continued, warning that this “travesty of ‘Justice’ will interfere with both Iran and Hamas negotiations.


Waltz vows to combat UN Jew-hatred in confirmation hearing
Mike Waltz, the former U.S. national security advisor and congressman, vowed to fight antisemitism at the United Nations if confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the global body.

At his nomination hearing on Tuesday, Waltz described the problem of Jew-hatred at the world’s largest multilateral organization as “pervasive.”

“I could probably spend the rest of this hearing, sadly, highlighting the antisemitic activities,” Waltz said. “From 2015 to 2023, the General Assembly passed 154 resolutions against Israel versus 71 against all other nations combined.”

“UNRWA in Gaza, with its staff involved in the Oct. 7 massacre, its schools teaching antisemitic hate, must be dismantled,” he added, referring to the U.N.’s Palestinian aid agency.

Democrats on the committee grilled Waltz about his involvement in adding Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to an encrypted group chat with senior U.S. officials in March to discuss forthcoming airstrikes on the Houthis in Yemen.

“I’ve seen you not only fail to stand up, but lie,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). “You said this journalist intentionally infiltrated that Signal chain. You said that he was ‘sucked in.’ You denied, deflected and then you did something that, to me, really lacks integrity.”

“You sought out to demean and degrade that very journalist in crass and frankly cruel ways that made him a target,” Booker said. “That’s not leadership when you blame people who tell the truth.”

Waltz was removed as national security advisor in May when U.S. President Donald Trump named him as his pick to be U.N. ambassador. Trump withdrew his nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for that post to help preserve a very thin Republican majority in the House.

Waltz denied during Tuesday’s hearing that Trump had fired him and said that no classified information was shared.
Hague court rejects Israeli request to vacate warrants, suspend investigation of Netanyahu, Gallant
The International Criminal Court, an independent court in The Hague that is not part of the United Nations, said on Wednesday that it rejected Israel’s request that it withdraw or vacate the arrest warrants it sought for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

The Jewish state has also asked the court to suspend its investigation of alleged war crimes in Gaza until it first settles the question of whether or not it has jurisdiction to do so. Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court.

The court also dismissed that request in a decision its pre-trial chamber published on Wednesday.

“There is no legal basis for withdrawing, vacating or declaring them of no force or effect at this point in time,” the court said of the warrants. “The impact of Israel’s jurisdiction challenge on the warrants, if any, is something that can only be determined when the chamber will have ruled on the substance thereof.”

The ICC Appeals Chamber ruled in April that the pre-trial chamber needs to review Israel’s challenge to the court’s jurisdiction. As a result, Israel has said that the ICC hasn’t clearly proven jurisdiction and that the arrest warrants are therefore not legal.
The progressive myth of Francesca Albanese
This is a woman who has attended Hamas-linked events, made antisemitic statements, been implicated in academic dishonesty, and raised serious ethical red flags. Yet the U.N. embraced her anyway.

Why? Because Albanese is not the problem. She’s the symptom. Behind her is the larger cultural mutation: the transformation of the “good person” into an ideologue who worships the oppressed, romanticizes the Third World, and demonizes Israel as a symbol of Western sin.

In this worldview, the Jewish people don’t count as indigenous, even if they’re the only ancient people to have never left their homeland entirely. The Holocaust survivors who built farms in the Negev? The Jews from Arab lands who fled persecution and made the desert bloom? Irrelevant.

Albanese’s “progressive” morality cannot process Jewish self-defense—only Jewish victimhood. That’s why when Israel withdraws from Gaza, hands over land, evacuates settlements, and pursues peace deals—ten times, by the way—she still doesn’t know. Because she’s not here to know. She’s here to repeat: “We are the right side of history.”

So what does the “good progressive” say to themselves when, on Oct. 7, Palestinian terrorists burned babies alive and raped women?

They say nothing. Because in Albanese’s world, it never happened.

Greta Thunberg refused to watch the film of the Nova massacre. In San Francisco, they topple Columbus, vandalize Churchill and Lincoln, and call it justice. They erase the past and ignore the present.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to live under siege from rockets, suicide bombings, and terrorist attacks that have killed tens of thousands over 75 years.

But this time, after Oct. 7, Israel knows: its enemies do not want peace. They want destruction. And Israel will not surrender.

That reality breaks the progressive script. It shatters the fantasy of a clean, happy, virtuous peace—one that, if we’re honest, only works if the Jewish state doesn’t survive.

Too bad, Ma’am. Israel is not playing along.


Irish boycott law will harm ties with US, local pol warns
Following condemnations by U.S. officials of proposed Irish legislation that would boycott Israeli products from Judea and Samaria, former Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter warned on Wednesday that a ban would neither be “well received” nor go “unnoticed” in Washington, D.C.

The remarks were made following a discussion on Tuesday in the Irish Parliament’s joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade on the “Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025,” which is being readied for a plenum vote.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and others have previously rebuked the bill.

“This foolish move not only wrongfully targets Israel and the Jewish Community, but also harms American businesses,” Scott wrote on X on Tuesday. “They should think twice about the message they’re sending by passing this bill, which complicates our economic relationship and targets our ally.”

Huckabee wrote on X: “Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness and propose something so stupid that it would be attributed to [an] act of diplomatic intoxication? It will harm Arabs as much as Israelis. Sober up Ireland!” He added that the Irish government should call Israel’s foreign ministry and “say you’re sorry.”
'Selective outrage': Jewish orgs. slam Irish law criminalizing West Bank imports
Ireland might become the first member-state of the European Union to both ban and criminalize the import of goods from Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem, considered by the Irish lawmakers as products of Israeli settlements in “occupied” Palestinian territories.

The Irish Parliament in Dublin is due to adopt the “Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) 2025 law, despite heavy criticism by local and foreign Jewish organizations warning of the negative effects that would have on Palestinians and Jews.

In a hearing of a joint committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Irish parliament, which took place on Tuesday, July 15, Maurice Cohen, chair of the Jewish representative council of Ireland, warned that adoption of the proposed bill would deepen antisemitism in Ireland.

“This bill may feel good”, Cohen said, “but does it do good? Because it won’t bring two states closer. But it might drive Jewish communities here in Ireland further into fear and isolation. Let me be very clear: Criticism of Israel is not antisemitism. But when criticism becomes a campaign, when it becomes law – and no other state is treated the same – we have to pause. We have to question. This bill is not about policy. It’s about posture.

“And I say: Ireland can do better. We can be bold without being biased. Principled without being performative. And most of all, we can be consistent. Let me be very clear. I speak as an Irish citizen – born and raised here in Dublin – and as a Jew, from a small, long-established Irish-Jewish community [descended from those] that arrived here in the early 1600s. And that community is now increasingly fearful. We are witnessing a rise in racism and its not too distant relative antisemitism across Europe, yes. but also right here in Ireland. And while this bill may not set out to target Jews or Jewish life, its message is unmistakably felt by us.”

Cohen stressed the ever growing distance and estrangement between Ireland and its Jews: “One of my best friends with whom I went to school, a long-time respected member of the Jewish community, whose grandfather was the only civilian murdered in the 1916 (Irish) rising, said to me only two days ago, ‘I always thought of myself as an Irishman who happened to be Jewish. Now I know I’m just a Jew living in Ireland.’ Many of us think like that because when the only country in the world you choose to boycott by law is the one Jewish state – not China for Tibet, not Turkey for Northern Cyprus, not Russia for Crimea, or Myanmar for its atrocities – then something is amiss. Selective outrage is not foreign policy. And double standards do not serve the cause of peace”.
UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff explains the risks for US companies if Irish boycott Bill is passed
Natasha Hausdorff informs the Irish Parliament's Foreign Affairs & Trade Committee about the risks for US companies if they pass the proposed boycott Bill. Alan Shatter expresses his surprise that the Irish government has not yet carried out any impact assessment and has not examined the position under US laws.




Eugene Kontorovich on RTE Radio: Israeli Professor on the Occupied Territories Bill
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tells Ireland to "sober up" over the Occupied Territories Bill. We heard from Israeli professor at George Mason University Scalia School of Law, Eugene Kontorovich for his reaction.




As the IDF Grinds Closer to Victory in Gaza, the Politicians Will Soon Have to Step In
Ron Ben-Yishai, reporting from a visit to IDF forces in the Gaza Strip, analyzes the state of the fighting, and “the persistent challenge of eradicating an entrenched enemy in a complex urban terrain.”

Hamas, sensing the war’s end, is mounting a final effort to inflict casualties. The IDF now controls 65 percent of Gaza’s territory operationally, with observation, fire dominance, and relative freedom of movement, alongside systematic tunnel destruction. . . . Major P, a reserve company commander, says, “It’s frustrating to hear at home that we’re stagnating. The public doesn’t get that if we stop, Hamas will recover.”

Senior IDF officers cite two reasons for the slow progress: meticulous care to protect hostages, requiring cautious movement and constant intelligence gathering, and avoiding heavy losses, with 22 soldiers killed since June.

Two-and-a-half of Hamas’s five brigades have been dismantled, yet a new hostage deal and IDF withdrawal could allow Hamas to regroup. . . . Hamas is at its lowest military and governing point since its founding, reduced to a fragmented guerrilla force. Yet, without complete disarmament and infrastructure destruction, it could resurge as a threat in years.

At the same time, Ben-Yishai observes, not everything hangs on the IDF:
According to the Southern Command chief Major General Yaron Finkelman, the IDF is close to completing its objectives. In classical military terms, “defeat” means the enemy surrenders—but with a jihadist organization, the benchmark is its ability to operate against Israel.

Despite [the IDF’s] battlefield successes, the broader strategic outcome—especially regarding the hostages—now hinges on decisions from the political leadership. “We’ve done our part,” said a senior officer. “We’ve reached a crossroads where the government must decide where it wants to go—both on the hostage issue and on Gaza’s future.”


IDF completes corridor bisecting Gaza’s Khan Yunis
IDF Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday that if a hostages-for-ceasefire deal is reached, the army will halt and reposition its forces along lines determined by the political echelon.

“If there is no deal, my directive to the Southern Command is to intensify and expand the fighting as much as possible,” he said, during a tour of the Gaza Strip.

Speaking with commanders of the Givati Brigade, Zamir said, “If there is a deal to release the hostages, it will be made possible primarily thanks to your fighting.”

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday that it had completed the Magen Oz corridor during a special operation in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza.

According to the IDF, the security corridor spans 15 kilometers (9.32 miles), cutting through Khan Yunis’s eastern and western sectors. The Israeli military described the corridor as a strategic element in exerting pressure on Hamas and securing the decisive defeat of its Khan Yunis Brigade.


‘Clashes’ in Syria to ‘end tonight,’ Rubio declares
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced an agreement set to quell the recent engagements in Syria, stating on Wednesday that the situation will come “to an end tonight.”

Israel launched airstrikes into southern Syria, including targeting the entrance to the Syrian military earlier on Wednesday, to protect the Druze community from recent attacks by the Syrian regime forces.

“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria,” Rubio wrote. “We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight.”

He added that the agreement will “require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made; this is what we fully expect them to do.”

While the Israeli government has yet to comment directly on the matter, the Israel Defense Forces posted a quote from Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, chief of the general staff of the IDF, shortly after Rubio’s announcement.

“We are acting decisively to prevent the entrenchment of hostile elements beyond the border, protect Israeli citizens and prevent harm to Druze civilians,” Zamir wrote.
MEMRI: The Spiritual Leader Of The Syrian Druze, Hikmat Al-Hijri, Calls On Trump, Netanyahu, Bin Salman And Abdullah II To Save The Druze Of The Al-Suwayda Governorate From The Syrian Government
On July 13, 2025, clashes broke out in Al-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes following several mutual kidnapping incidents. The new Syrian government headed by Ahmed Al-Sharaa (aka Abu Mohammad Al-Joulani) quickly seized this escalation as an opportunity to intervene militarily in the governorate, which is not under its full security control, and sent troops to "enforce security" there.

In light of damage caused to its image by the massacres perpetrated against Alawite civilians on the Syrian coast in March 2025, with the participation of government forces,[1] the government stressed that the Syrian soldiers and security officers had been instructed to protect civilians and avoid harming them in any way.[2] But in practice, there were many documented incidents of Syrian forces firing indiscriminately at civilians, looting their property, torching their homes and humiliating them.[3] Dozens of Druze have been killed so far, including women and children.[4]

These developments prompted Hikmat Al-Hijri, the prominent spiritual leader of the Druze community in Syria, who is based in Al-Suwayda and is a known opponent of the Al-Sharaa government, to issue a statement on June 16 calling on world leaders – including U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu[5] – to "save Al-Suwayda."

It should be noted that, in a statement he issued one day earlier, Al-Hijri actually called on the Syrian government to extend its control over the Al-Suwayda Governorate, welcomed the arrival of its forces there, and exhorted all the local armed factions to cooperate with these forces.[6] However, a short time later, when the government forces' violence against the Druze civilians continued, he released a statement claiming that his previous "humiliating" statement had been issued "under coercion from Damascus and pressure from foreign countries." He added that Al-Suwayda was facing a war and called to confront it.[7]

It should also be noted that this is not the first time the Syrian Druze have been attacked by the forces of the new government. In late April, following extreme incitement, armed action was perpetrated against them in the Damascus area and in southern Syria.[8]


Netanyahu urges Israeli Druze not to cross into Syria to help kin
Amid escalating violence against the Druze community in Syria’s Sweida province, top Israeli leaders issued a series of strong statements on Wednesday, signaling Israel’s continued military engagement and its deepening concern over the fate of minority groups in Syria.

In a video address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly appealed to Israeli Druze citizens, warning against crossing into Syria to assist relatives there.

“My Druze brothers, citizens of Israel. The situation in Sweida and southwest Syria is dire,” Netanyahu said. “The IDF, Air Force and other forces are in action. We’re working to save our Druze brothers and eliminate regime gangs. Now, I have one request for you. You are Israeli citizens. Do not cross the border. You’re putting your lives at risk. You could be killed, kidnapped, and you’re hindering the IDF’s efforts. So I’m asking you, return to your homes. Let the IDF do its job.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reinforced this message, declaring that Israel would respond forcefully to attacks on the Druze population in southern Syria.

“The signals to Damascus are over—now there will be painful blows,” Katz warned. “The IDF will continue to act decisively in Sweida until these attacks stop and those responsible withdraw.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar weighed in, condemning what he called a pattern of systematic violence against Syria’s minority communities, including Kurds, Alawites and Christians, while calling on the international community to break its silence.

“We are witnessing recurring persecution and pogroms against minorities,” Sa’ar said. “In just six months, mass killings in northwest Syria, attacks on Alawites, Kurd hostility in the north, and church burnings have all gone largely unnoticed by the world.”


IDF strikes Syrian regime military HQ over threat to Druze in Sweida
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday attacked the entrance to the Syrian regime’s military headquarters in the Damascus area in response to reports of atrocities against local Druze residents.

“The IDF continues to monitor developments and the regime’s actions against Druze civilians in southern Syria,” the military said. “In accordance with directives from the political echelon, the IDF is striking in the area and remains prepared for various scenarios.”

“Air Force aircraft have attacked over the past 24 hours—and continue to strike—tanks, rocket launchers, combat equipment and pickups armed with heavy machine guns making their way to the Sweida area of southern Syria,” the IDF announced in a separate statement.

“Additionally, access routes were attacked to establish blockades in the area,” according to the military.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that IDF strikes against Syrian regime forces near Sweida would intensify if threats to the Druze population persist.

“The Syrian regime must leave the Druze in Sweida alone and withdraw its forces,” Katz stated. He emphasized that Israel will not abandon the Druze community and will enforce its disarmament policy in the area.

Katz warned that if Damascus fails to heed Israel’s warnings, military responses will escalate. “The IDF will continue to strike until regime forces withdraw—and will soon raise the level of its responses if the message is not understood,” he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a U.K.-based war monitor, updated the death toll from the clashes in southern Syria to 248 as of Wednesday.


Aid group blames Hamas-linked Palestinians for deadly Gaza trampling
The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Wednesday said it had “credible reason” to believe that armed men affiliated with the Hamas terrorist group were responsible for an incident earlier in the day in which 20 Palestinians in Gaza were trampled to death at one of its food distribution centers.

“We are heartbroken to confirm that 20 people died this morning in a tragic incident in [the southern city of] Khan Yunis,” said GHF.

“Our current understanding is that 19 of the victims were trampled and one was stabbed amid a chaotic and dangerous surge, driven by agitators in the crowd,” the statement continued. “We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd—armed and affiliated with Hamas—deliberately fomented the unrest.”

GHF reported that, for the first time since the start of its operations in late May, its personnel had identified multiple firearms in the crowd of aid seekers, one of which was confiscated. During the incident, an American staff member was also threatened at gunpoint.

The organization added that the incident followed a “troubling pattern” that had emerged in recent days.

“False messages about aid site openings, including at SDS4 (Wadi Gaza) and the long-closed SDS1 (Tal Sultan), have circulated widely on Telegram and other platforms, fueling confusion, driving crowds to closed sites, and inciting disorder,” the agency said.

GHF issued a warning late on Tuesday night to ignore this misinformation and to refer only to its official channels.


Israel intercepts missile lauched from Yemen
Israeli air defense systems intercepted a missile launched from Yemen at southern Israel on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

“Following warning sirens activated recently in several areas, one missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement. The Home Front Command had said the projectile was on a trajectory toward southern Israel, in an area spanning the Dead Sea, parts of Judea and the Negev.

The launch on Wednesday was the first from Yemen since July 10, when Houthi terrorists targeted central Israel, sending millions of Israelis into sheltered spaces in the early morning hours. On Tuesday, Israeli aerial defense fighters downed a drone from Yemen.
US-backed Yemeni forces intercept weapons shipment from Iran to Houthis, CENTCOM says
Yemeni National Resistance Forces (NRF), a coalition fighting against the Houthis, intercepted an Iranian arms shipment bound for the Houthis containing 750 tons of munitions and hardware, US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated on X/Twitter.

“Yemeni partners successfully intercepted a massive Iranian weapons shipment bound for the Houthis,” read the publication, and also shared that the seizure represents the largest seizure of Iranian advanced conventional weapons in their history.

“The NRF intercepted and seized over 750 tons of munitions and hardware, including hundreds of advanced cruise, anti-ship, and anti-aircraft missiles, warheads and seekers, components as well as hundreds of drone engines, air defense equipment, radar systems, and communications equipment”, they explained.

The NRF, led by Gen. Tareq Saleh, is one of the armed forces that fight alongside the internationally recognized government of Yemen and against the Houthi terrorist group.

“The actions of the NRF support the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) and are a direct reflection of their commitment to a safe Yemen, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden,” said the CENTCOM post.


Call me Back Podcast: PART 2: Ron Dermer, Minister of Strategic Affairs
A few days ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Israeli delegation, which included Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, concluded their trip to Washington D.C., where they met with President Donald Trump and other senior American officials.

The visit came just a few weeks after the historic military success on behalf of Israel and the U.S. against the Iranian regime. Following these stunning achievements, there has been talk of future normalization with certain Arab states and the potential for a hostage-ceasefire deal in the near future.

Minister Dermer has been at the forefront of all these issues. In a conversation divided into two episodes, he and Dan discuss Israel’s standing globally and in the Middle East after the war with Iran, the future of Gaza, the hostages, and where the country is heading internally.

00:00 Introduction
01:14 The role of the Palestinian Authority
08:28 Failure of the Oslo Accords
14:16 What happens next with Iran?
26:47 The image war
35:09 The anti-America and Anti-Israel movement
39:09 The roots of Ron Dermer
43:04 Jews returning to Israel
48:37 Outro




Douglas Murray slams Muslim groups for ‘shuttering down’ reporting on terror attacks
Author Douglas Murray discusses a British Muslim council attempting to shutter down reporting on Islamic terror attacks and how it prevents the public from comprehending and understanding “reality”.

“There is a very good example of the consequences of these kinds of silencing and intimidating techniques,” Mr Murray told Sky News host Rita Panahi.

“Which is basically where anyone who writes in the British press about any issue to do with Islamist terrorism will be criticised by various of these bodies for spreading Islamophobia and so on.

“There are consequences for this all the time.”


"There's Something BIG Brewing Within Israel, And It's Getting Serious..."
In this episode, we explore the mounting tension surrounding the Druze crisis in Syria, where Islamist violence is once again targeting one of the region’s most vulnerable communities. We also touch on the latest developments in the hostage negotiations—deals that Hamas continues to reject, raising deeper questions about their true intentions. Finally, we dive into the unraveling political landscape within Israel itself, where internal divisions and growing pushback against Netanyahu are threatening to derail the country's broader war effort. It’s a complex, unfolding story with far-reaching implications.


Misgav Podcast: Ep. 4: Is Israel-Syria Peace on the Horizon?
In this inspiring and timely episode, Lahav and Asher interview Hayvi Bouzo, a Syrian-American journalist, bridge-builder and thought leader. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Yalla Productions, Hayvi promotes dialogue and peace across the Middle East, including through bringing groundbreaking interviews with the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas to her Arabic-speaking audience. The interview goes in-depth into Hayvi’s experiences living under the Assad regime, the actions and policies of the Al-Sharaa government in Damascus, and the prospects for an Israel-Syria agreement. Hayvi also shares the paradigm-shifting trends taking place among youth in the MENA region, which are creating new possibilities for Abraham Accords expansion and peace.

In the first part of the podcast, Lahav and Asher analyze the controversies stemming from the recent Turning Point USA summit in Tampa featuring Tucker Carlson, provide insights into the complex dilemmas surrounding a potential Gaza ceasefire, and explore developments in Syria and their implications for Israel’s national security.


"BRAINWASHING And Propaganda!" | BBC Boss Gets Payrise DESPITE Repeated Failures And Antisemitism
BBC director-general Tim Davie has said he can “lead” the corporation in the “right way” following a series of reputational scandals faced by the organisation.

The BBC has been criticised for a number of failings in recent months which include breaching its own accuracy editorial guidelines, livestreaming the controversial Bob Vylan Glastonbury set, and recent misconduct allegations surrounding the former MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace.

The corporation’s annual report showed that Mr Davie, who has been in the role since 2020, has had a 3.8% pay rise with his salary going up £20,000 from £527,000 last year to £547,000.

Talk’s Kevin O’Sullivan is joined by The Telegraph’s Jake Wallis Simons, who says the West has been subjected to lots of “brainwashing and propaganda”.


'Unions Need To Clean Up Act Over Antisemitism' | Penny Mordaunt x Julia Hartley-Brewer
Former Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt joins Julia Hartley-Brewer to discuss a new report co-authored with Lord Mann, about how prevalent antisemitism has become in the UK.

She says a number of organisations including unions needed to clean up their act over antisemitism, or face consequences, and much of the evidence her and the commission viewed was "shocking".

Will this be something Keir Starmer can get a grip of? Let us know in the comments.




travelingisrael.com: What do Israeli Jews do with all your American taxpayer money?
Everyone’s talking about U.S. aid to Israel—but no one mentions the billions America spends maintaining troops in Japan and South Korea.

In this video, I break down what U.S. aid to Israel really is, why it benefits both countries, and how progressive double standards distort the conversation.


Winston Marshall: The Dark Fall Of Ireland & It's Forgotten Secrets | Brendan O'Neill
Get a better way to stay informed at https://ground.news/winston and see through biased media. Subscribe through my link for 40% off unlimited access.

Writer and cultural critic Brendan O’Neill joins The Winston Marshall Show for a searing breakdown of Ireland’s Israel obsession, immigration, and the ideological void left by the collapse of Catholicism.

O’Neill paints a portrait of modern Ireland, where Israelophobia has become a quasi-religion—replacing the moral certainty once provided by the Church. From Dublin to rural Connemara, Palestinian flags fly, Holocaust memorials are politicised, and the Irish President himself compares Israel to the Nazis.

They explore Ireland’s drift from its once pro-Israel roots, the rewriting of Irish history, and the influence of postcolonial ideology and woke dogma. O’Neill warns that antisemitism is no longer just a fringe prejudice—it’s now embedded in elite institutions, political discourse, and cultural life.

All this—Ireland’s moral inversion, anti-Israel mania, the rise of “progressive” bigotry, and the dangerous return of the oldest hatred in a new disguise…

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:58 The Post-Catholic Era and Its Impact
7:11The Rise of Wokeness and Israelophobia
14:42 Historical Connections Between Ireland and Israel
27:42 The Impact of the Second Vatican Council
36:00 The Role of the Irish President and Government
43:08 The Case of Kneecap and Free Speech
55:44 The Political Response to Immigration in Ireland
1:07:35 The Role of Conor McGregor and Other Voices
1:11:06 The Future of Ireland and Its Political Landscape
1:14:19 A Positive Note on Ireland's Culture and Heritage
1:18:41 Final Thoughts




Eli Lake: Restless Nation: The Making of Modern Iran (Part 1)
Breaking History dives into the paradox at the heart of modern Iran: How a nation born in revolt, from the tobacco protests of the 1890s to the 1979 Revolution, has time and again empowered autocrats in the name of democracy. This week we trace the cycles of reform and repression that still shape Iran today.


The Nissim Black Show: Why Candace Owens is losing fans in under 3 minutes
Candace Owens has always been controversial—but this time, it’s different. In just 3 minutes, you’ll understand why so many longtime supporters are walking away… and why her latest moves have raised serious questions across the board.

Is she being controlled? Or has she crossed a line she can’t come back from?




Dozens protesting UN deals with Israeli tech firms removed from global body’s headquarters
Dozens of people who protested United Nations partnerships with technology companies that do business with Israel were removed from U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

Last week, the United Nations hosted its annual AI for Good Summit in Geneva, where it recognized executives from Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM, all of which are companies U.N. “independent adviser” Francesca Albanese has accused of complicity in Israeli “genocide” in Gaza. (Washington recently sanctioned Albanese, who has a long history of antisemitic remarks.)

Some 70 protesters, including current and former Google employees, bearing signs stating “no tech for apartheid,” tried to enter U.N. headquarters. After security blocked them, the protesters gathered outside the building.

Organizers of the protest said that protesters with Arabic on their clothing were profiled. Arabic is one of six official U.N. languages.

“We expect all of the private sector to work and to engage in work based on the principles of the charter, the universal declaration of human rights,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, said at a press conference on Tuesday when asked about the protest.

“We expect all our vendors that we may have to behave in a way that meets the code of conduct that is specified in our procurement,” he added.

Asked if the United Nations will continue to work with the companies being protested, Dujarric said, “That’s what I’ll say for the time being.”
Protesters block military cargo for Israel at Greek port
Anti-Israel protesters and port workers at the Port of Piraeus in Greece on Monday blocked the unloading of the cargo ship Ever Golden, which was reportedly carrying steel designated for military use in Israel.

The protest, held at the port’s docks 2 and 3, was organized by the Container Handling Workers Union (ENEDEP), with the backing of anarchist groups and members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).

Union chairman Markos Bekris declared that the workers would not take part in unloading any cargo linked to military operations. “We will not allow the port to become a logistics hub for the transfer of war equipment. Our goal is to physically prevent the unloading of this cargo,” said Bekris.

Following the demonstration, the decision was made to reroute the cargo to another ship, the COSCO Shipping Pisces, which is expected to dock at Piraeus on Wednesday evening. The union has already announced its intent to prevent the unloading of that vessel as well.

According to reports, the shipment includes about 75 packages of military-grade steel originating from India. After the Ever Golden was denied permission to unload, the cargo was transferred to the Chinese-owned COSCO ship. It remains unclear whether the steel will eventually be unloaded in Greece or sent to another port.

This is not an isolated incident. Similar protests and port blockades occurred in June 2025 and in October 2024, also aimed at preventing the unloading of munitions reportedly bound for Israel.
Israel-Hamas war protests have cost UK police at least £27m in the past year alone
Police forces in the UK have spent at least £27.7 million on protests related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the year to April 2025.

This figure, obtained by the JC through freedom of information (FoI) requests sent to the 45 police forces in the UK, is likely to be an underestimate since not every force responded.

Some forces only sent costs related to overtime payments – while others sent an overall figure, covering the business-as-usual costs of the officer’s wages, overtime and any additional costs accrued due to the demonstrations.

The Metropolitan Police footed the vast majority of the total bill, spending £24.9 million between April 2024 and March 2025 on Operation Brocks – their response to the 20-month Middle East conflict.

These costs are broken down into opportunity costs, overtime, vehicle costs, catering, mutual aid, expenses, external fleet hire and more.

Other forces were able to answer how much was spent specifically policing pro-Palestine protests.

Ever since the war began after the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023 – in which terrorists killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage – hundreds of thousands of members of the public have taken to protesting each week in London.


Three Women Arrested on Terror Charges After Van Rammed Into Scotland Defence Contractor
Three women were arrested on terrorism charges in Edinburgh on Tuesday after a Ford van was driven into the perimeter fence of a defence contractor in the city.

Police Scotland said counter-terror officers were leading the investigation after three women, aged 31, 34, and 42, were arrested at the Leonardo factory in Edinburgh, the capital of the North Britain home nation. Leonardo is an Italian-owned defence conglomerate that has a major presence in the United Kingdom as its helicopters division is the former British aircraft manufacturer Westland.

The Edinburgh facility produces, per Leonardo, “multi-role surveillance radars and countermeasure systems” and is the inheritor of the Second World War-era Ferranti factory that produced the then-revolutionary gyroscopic gunsights for Spitfire fighters.

A Ford Transit-type work van was driven into the perimeter fence of the defence contractor’s factory but failed to smash through. The suspects are reported to have been arrested on the roof of the van after police arrived and officers used cutting equipment and pry bars to get inside the locked vehicle.

The incident was claimed by activist group Shut Down Leonardo, with a video of one of those arrested speaking offering this as justification: “Leonardo have been producing the precision laser targeting sights… that are used by the Israeli army and they have been used recently in a video we saw about 10 children who were recently bombed”.

Leonardo, for their part, denied supplying parts to Israel at all, claiming their export licences have already been revoked by the UK government. A spokesman for the company said: “Leonardo UK is subject to UK government export controls and does not supply equipment direct to Israel… Our main customer is the UK Armed Forces. We are proud to manufacture technology that supports our service personnel and helps keep them safe. Their dedication underpins the freedom on which our society is based.”


UKLFI: MSF Genocide Adverts paused by Billboard Company
Billboard owners have paused a prominent campaign by Medicins Sans Frontieres which has been upsetting and offending Jewish members of the public.

The illuminated billboards have been seen in Wembley, North West London and in Abbey Wood in South East London. They shout out, in capital letters, “WE’RE WITNESSING A GENOCIDE IN GAZA. WHEN WILL THE UK GOVERNMENT TAKE ACTION?”

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote to 75Media, the billboard owners, explaining that these words amounted to misinformation, were offensive and likely cause distress to members of the public.

Since the advert is offensive, it also breaches 75Media’s terms and conditions.

UKLFI also warned that the advert may breach Section 5 (1)(b) of the Public Order Act 1986 which says that a person is guilty of this offence if they display any writing or sign or other visible representation which is threatening or abusive within the sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm, or distress thereby.

The advert may also breach Section 18 (1)(a) and (b) of the Public Order Act 1986. A person is guilty of this offence if they display any written material which is threatening, abusive, or insulting and having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby. The words written on the MSF advert are likely to be considered insulting and having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred against Jews and Israelis is likely to be stirred up.


Liquidators CLOSE IN on notorious burger boss Hash Tayeh
Several companies behind Melbourne burger chain Burgertory, founded by notorious anti-Israel activist Hash Tayeh, have been forced into liquidation after the Australian Taxation Office pursued court action over mounting unpaid tax debts.

Entities connected to stores in Southbank, Prahran, Niddrie, Coburg North, Richmond, Caroline Springs, Box Hill, Boronia and Black Rock have reportedly gone under in recent weeks. All list Tayeh as founding director and are no longer operating.

The Federal Court ordered the liquidation after the ATO sought winding-up action against the companies for unpaid tax debts. Winding-up notices are typically used by creditors to enforce the payment of valid debts, with the court able to place the company into liquidation if it is unable to pay.

Earlier this year, the ATO also took Tayeh to the County Court over more than $1 million in alleged unpaid taxes tied to a dozen companies he once directed. Court documents allege the companies failed to pay required amounts in PAYG withholding tax, superannuation and GST while under his control.

Tayeh previously denied wrongdoing, telling media, “It wasn’t a tax issue… It’s a campaign of targeted harassment against [me].”

Tayeh remains a controversial figure. In March, police charged him with four counts of using insulting words in public after he allegedly declared “all Zionists are terrorists” at a May 2023 rally.

Outside court in April, Tayeh said the charges were giving his community a voice: “We will not cower. We will not be intimidated... by the will of God, we will win this case.”

Tayeh has been a controversial figure, drawing attention after he falsely blamed a 2023 arson attack on his Burgertory store in Caulfield on the Jewish community, and a subsequent police inquiry into alleged antisemitic remarks made during a pro-Palestine protest in Melbourne.

Just days before the fire, Tayeh was recorded on a podcast talking about arson incidents from within his Arab community but later shifted blame to suit his 'anti-Zionist' activism.

Police later apprehended a 27-year-old man and later detained a 25-year-old man over the Burgertory fire, linking the crime to a spate of arson incidents in Melbourne's 'tobacco wars.'




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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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