Sunday, July 20, 2025

07/20 Links: The Forgotten Slaughter of Syria’s Druze—and Israel’s Moral Response; The left’s war on the ADL is a warning to American Jewry; What would Herzl say about Israel today?

From Ian:

The Jews intervened to stop a genocide in Syria; cue the outrage
Reminding the world that there is such a thing as good versus evil—that has always been the Jews’ mission. And that, apparently, is the real war crime. Because, you see, the Jews remember.

We remember when the world watched Jews burn and did nothing. We remember the polite excuses. The Red Cross silence. The bureaucratic neutrality. Of course, we remember—from Kristallnacht to Oct. 7, 2023, nothing has changed.

And so, last week, Israel refused to be apathetic, silent, passive—even though the victims this time were not its own citizens, but its neighbors. Not Jews, but Arabs—related by blood and faith to one of Israel’s most loyal and prominent minorities.

And that’s the real sin. The Jew in exile was the conscience of the world—and was hounded, tortured, expelled, and murdered for it. Now the Jewish state has become the conscience of the world—and the world can’t bear it.

It can’t bear that the people it consigned to the role of eternal victim are not only defending themselves but rescuing others. It can’t bear that those it tried—and still tries—to eradicate are growing in military prowess and moral power.

And it’s not just the world. There is a large American assimilationist Jewish identity that abhors anything that reminds the world that Jews are different—and always have been. They cling to the fantasy that the left’s utopias—progressivism, socialism, academia—are their Promised Land. They bear a special hatred for the Jewish state and for anyone who dares stand with it.

So they lash out. They project. They seethe. They cry “genocide!” every time Israel refuses to sit down and shut up.

Well—too bad. Because last week, while the West was tweeting, Israel was saving lives. The ceasefire—the halt to the slaughter of innocents—didn’t come from Geneva or The Hague. It came from Jerusalem.

So let the world rage. Let the podcasters bloviate. Let the UN condemn. Let Bernie Sanders, AOC and Zohran Mamdani blubber into their Ben & Jerry’s.

Israel rose. Israel acted. Israel saved. Not just like a lion; like a Lion of Judah. And if that offends you, ask yourself why.

But know this: the Jews—at least the Jews with a future—no longer care. History is watching. And, thousands of years later, the Jews—once again—are writing it. Am Yisrael Chai!
John Spencer: The Forgotten Slaughter of Syria’s Druze—and Israel’s Moral Response
This past week, a brutal campaign of violence has unfolded in southern Syria. Hundreds of Druze civilians (a minority community indigenous to the Levant) have been murdered, kidnapped, or forced to flee their homes. Villages have been burned. Women and children were reportedly slaughtered in sacred sites where they had sought refuge. The perpetrators include radical Islamist militants, Bedouin gangs, and regime-backed elements.

These are not vague reports or unverifiable claims. There is footage of Druze civilians being hunted down and executed. Women are stripped and assaulted. Men are beaten, tortured, and forced to leap from rooftops as militants cheer. It is a special kind of evil. Deliberate. Performative. Proud. All of it is shared online for the enjoyment of the killers.

These images are a visceral reminder of the savagery unleashed by Hamas on Oct. 7. The same evil. The same joy in human suffering. The violence is not collateral damage from a larger conflict. It is direct, targeted, and deliberate. It is ethnic and religious cleansing in broad daylight.

The Israeli Druze community has played a prominent role in every aspect of Israeli society. I have personally met Druze commanders serving in the Israel Defense Forces during my visits to Gaza. They are courageous, respected, and integrated. The ties between Israeli and Syrian Druze are real and deeply personal.

Israel's response has included airstrikes against Syrian regime military positions both south of Damascus and within the capital itself. These strikes reportedly targeted forces involved in the attacks on Druze civilians. When a close-knit, historically loyal minority community within Israel cries out to the Jewish state for help as its kin are massacred just across the border, Israel does not turn away.

This is about moral clarity. It is about responding to evil when others stay silent. It is about understanding that the same ideologies that fuel the murder of Druze families in Sweida are no different from those that drove the slaughter of Israelis on Oct. 7. While the international community hesitates, while human rights organizations say little, Israel has stepped forward. When others calculate political risks, Israel sees human lives. When others look away, Israel acts.

The same institutions and voices that claim to champion human rights have gone quiet. There have been no emergency UN sessions. No international protests. No outcry. It is a silence that reveals the selective morality of those who only speak when it fits their politics. It is a silence that enables genocide.
Seth Frantzman: What is Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s real strategy?
What was Sharaa thinking when reports came in about the clashes?
He has mismanaged this in the past. Despite his apparent good choices in foreign policy in the region, balancing various countries, he seems to struggle with tactical decisions relating to local groups.

SHARAA CAME out of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham, an armed group that ran Idlib. Under his former nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, he successfully navigated local politics and tribal groups. He once served prison time in Iraq.

So Sharaa has a lot of experience. Some of the experience had to do with working with extremist groups. Nevertheless, he was able to channel that to create a successful unified HTS army in Idlib that overthrew the Assad regime. One does not simply overthrow a 50-year-old regime. Clearly, it takes some acumen.

On the other hand, revolutionaries who come to power often struggle to rein in the revolution. Consider the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Russia fell into a half-decade civil war that included numerous “White Army” factions fighting the “Reds” and many foreign countries intervening.

Syria has already gone through 14 years of civil war with numerous fronts and factions, with countries intervening. So, wasn’t Sharaa already an expert in this? Wasn’t he steeled by war?

This raises serious questions about Sharaa’s ability to control the conflict in Sweida. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a tough statement on Saturday that highlights this inconsistency in Damascus.

“The rape and slaughter of innocent people, which has and is still occurring, must end,” Rubio said. If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive, and peaceful Syria free of ISIS and of Iranian control, they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres, he added.

“And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities, including those in their own ranks,” Rubio said. “Furthermore, the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately.”

It appears that there is now concern in Washington that Damascus is unable to hold things together. Israel has played a complex role in this. By demanding demilitarization in southern Syria, Israel has helped fuel the chances that there will be a power vacuum. During the Sweida crisis, Israel was quick to begin airstrikes on July 14 and 15. These grew to include a large strike on central Damascus.

The government in Damascus appears to have responded to the strikes by withdrawing its limited security forces from areas near Sweida. The result was that thousands of Bedouin then mobilized to fight. They brought trucks and weapons from home. The Bedouin were fueled by videos circulating online that showed Bedouin being killed by Druze.

Whether the videos were all confirmed is unclear, but the effect was evident. Bedouin tribes put aside their differences and went to fight. Damascus only reined them in on Friday and Saturday. As such, Syria demonstrated that it could stand by and allow fighting to continue.

Damascus is between a rock and a hard place. Sharaa wants to appease groups that worked with HTS to defeat the Assad regime. His natural feelings are toward those Sunni Arabs in Syria who made up the bulk of his fighters.
Druze and Syria analyst for BBC called Zionism ‘pure evil’
A Damascus-based novelist who was interviewed today by the World Service for his analysis on the situation in Syria described Zionism as “pure evil” and “fascist filth” just days ahead of the BBC appearance.

Robin Yassin-Kassab, who lashed out during the interview at Israel’s attempt to “create chaos” in Syria following the IDF attack on military targets in Damascus last Wednesday, posted on X in the wake of the strikes: “Zionist fascist filth is in Damascus […] The genocide state is doing everything it can to make wounded, traumatized Syria collapse into chaos, which will hurt the whole world [...] If pure evil exists, it is Zionism.”

He also wrote: “I have more time for the theory of Zionist control of US politics now.”

Presenting Weekend on BBC World Service on Sunday, presenter Paul Henley asked Yassin-Kassab: “Israel frames its attacks as ‘in defence of the Druze’ – not even the whole Druze community sees it that way, does it?”

Yassin-Kassab responded: “Most of the Druze understand that this is making their situation worse and most of the Druze don’t like Israel and are horrified with the rest of the region at what Israel’s been doing recently… I don’t think it’s designed to defend the Druze, I think it’s designed to create more chaos in Syria so Syria can’t stabilise.”

It comes as Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire following several days of attacks on the Druze minority by Bedouin fighters in Sweida Province.


Recognising Palestine will consign Britain and France to total irrelevance
To be clear, as a former chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, I am deeply committed to the ultimate goal of two sovereign states, Israel and Palestine, living securely and independently at peace. The alternatives are either a greater Israel with no justice for Palestinians, or the terrorists’ goal of wiping Israel off the map completely. Both are unconscionable.

But it is post-empire arrogance to think that countries such as the UK and France, looking in from the outside, can short-circuit the process by officially recognising Palestine as a state without any agreement between the people who will have to live side by side and make it work.

Announcing recognition like this will not make Starmer and Macron key players in the push for peace. The gesture would do the opposite; it would indefinitely sideline France and Britain from the difficult discussions ahead in the Middle East after many years in which their friendship with Israel had made the countries genuinely influential in this vital area.

The consequence of recognising Palestine now, in the shadow of a conflict triggered by the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, would do more damage than just making the UK seem weak and ineffective on the international stage. It would be seen as Britain rewarding the Islamist terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah, and bolstering their Iranian puppet masters, who are dedicated to exporting violence and anti-Semitism to undermine our liberal freedoms in the West.

It is wrong to view any international diplomacy through the prism of the impact it will have on the government’s domestic standing with voters. Leaders need to lead on the international stage and act in the UK’s long-term strategic interest, not be buffeted by ever-changing opinion polls on intractable global issues.

So Labour should ignore siren voices urging it to recognise Palestine to win back discontented Muslim voters in communities where the rise of Gaza-focused independent politicians is a genuine electoral threat.

If party strategists are weighing up the domestic impact of any change on Labour’s policy towards Palestine, they must bear in mind that the political backlash will surely outweigh the benefits. The Jewish community in Britain may be relatively small and contain a wide variety of views on Israel-Palestine, but Sir Keir should not underestimate how many British Jews will feel deeply disappointed in him if he makes this gesture on recognition now. Particularly after he has worked so hard to restore trust in Labour after the appalling anti-Semitism that stained the party during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

It is true that many Jews in Britain are dismayed by the increasingly hardline policies of the Netanyahu government and the scale of destruction in Gaza. That does not mean they will accept or forgive a futile diplomatic gesture on recognition that will be treated as a victory by Hamas.

And the domestic blowback of a Labour Government recognising Palestine now will not end there.

The solutions to conflict in the Middle East may not be top of the priority list of many white working-class voters in towns such as Barrow-in-Furness, which I used to represent in the House of Commons.

But sure as hell those Red Wall voters will hate the idea that Labour is being swayed by the crowds they see marching for Gaza, with all the extremism on display in those protests. That is exactly what they will be told by Nigel Farage and his new army of Reform councillors in key electoral battlegrounds if Labour moves its position.

And just as Hamas would be emboldened by the sense their actions have results, so would the organisers of the marches feel their aggressive tactics have been vindicated – encouraging fresh militancy.

Decisions facing leaders on international affairs are often delicately balanced. Prematurely recognising the state of Palestine should not be one of those decisions.

The Prime Minister is showing strength and deft judgment on other security issues, such as Ukraine and the need for rearmament. He should reject this nonsense and sideline anyone around him who is urging him down this path.
EU must stop funding controversial NGOs
For almost two years, Israelis have been fighting a very traumatic and existential war on many fronts, including agonizing efforts to free the remaining hostages and to rebuild the thousands of lives shattered by Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian attacks. In parallel, the European Union – which claims to promote the principles of democracy and morality – has chosen to funnel millions of euros to Israeli political NGOs that are active in campaigns that demonize Israel’s self-defense and its legitimacy as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Newly disclosed details published by the EU show that in 2024, the European Commission authorized payment of €13.1 million to Israeli NGOs, of which 7.2 million went to groups that have long histories of accusing the Jewish state of “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “genocide.” The EU-funded activities of these NGOs directly promote the global lobbying and lawfare at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, as well as other venues, calling for sanctions, arrest warrants, and arms embargoes in order to deprive the IDF of necessary weapons.

Recipients of EU grants
One EU grantee is the Sabeel, an NGO based in Jerusalem that defines itself as an “ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians” that “encourages Christians from around the world to work for justice and to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Sabeel often uses antisemitic theological imagery and also accuses Israel of genocide. In a January 2025 statement, founder Naim Ateek wrote that “God will ultimately defeat the evil schemes of Zionism.” (A revised version was posted in March without this language.)

The EU has awarded this group one million euros for a project with the declared objective of “preserv[ing] from further erosion and possibly revers[ing] the negative public perception of the prospect for peace and a two-state solution.” It is hard to imagine a group less appropriate for this ostensible task.

Highly politicized NGO recipients of the EU taxpayer largesse, labeled as support for human rights, peace building, democracy, and civil society, also include Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Combatants for Peace, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I). Among these NGOs, politically motivated accusations of apartheid, war crimes, and similar tropes are standard fare.

In 2024, €500,000 was allocated to PHR-I and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel for a project defending Palestinian “detainees.” Among other accusations, PHR-I declared, “The Israeli government and other entities have been exploiting reports of sexual violence [that took place on October 7] in a manipulative and cynical manner.”

In total, half of the EU grants to Israeli political NGOs are ostensibly directed toward activities to “preserve” a two-state framework, ignoring the failure of these groups to influence Israeli society. The EU also funds projects for Breaking the Silence allocated to educating Israeli youth. Previous campaigns have been based on slogans blaming Israel for blocking peace.
The left’s war on the ADL is a warning to American Jewry
The ADL’s opponents offer various explanations, but two recur: the ADL embraces the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which includes anti-Zionism. And the ADL remains a Zionist organisation, even amidst an increasingly anti-Zionist left.

Like other major Jewish organisations, the ADL historically pursued what might be called an intersectional alliance strategy. Consequently, left-wing Jews stood with their political allies on a range of causes, over decades. However, when Jews needed support after October 7 – especially amidst the surge in open, domestic Jew-hatred – many of those presumed allies were nowhere to be found.

Jay Greene, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told me: “The ‘intersectional alliance strategy’ that has been pursued by the ADL and other legacy Jewish institutions for decades has been proven to be a complete failure. The progressive organisations they’ve been courting have openly embraced anti-Israel...activism, and Jews are being purged from their ranks unless they renounce their attachment to Israel.”

Recent Jewish university graduates know this litmus test well: left-wing Jews can be Zionists, or they can remain members of “the Community of the Good.” It’s a binary that has also shaped left-wing activism from voting rights rallies to LGBTQ+ parades.

The NEA’s move to nix the ADL underscores several important lessons for American Jewry. First, anti-Zionism has been mainstreamed on the left. Second, Jewish organisations need a new strategy. Third, left-wing Jews will increasingly face litmus tests imposed on them alone. And finally: Jews who wish to remain engaged in American public life should be prepared to fight – because anti-Zionists are already pushing for their marginalisation.


Jake Wallis Simons: Why Matthew Syed is wrong about Gaza
As the war in Gaza grinds agonisingly on, the resilience of those with sound judgment is inevitably being eroded by the relentless propaganda. The latest of these, perhaps, is Times columnist Matthew Syed. He is, of course, an excellent writer and has written a number of very solid columns on Israel. His latest? Not so much.

Beneath the headline “what we see in Gaza is rekindling jihad. Netanyahu must be stopped” nestles a tightly-argued and eloquent argument that will be taken as tonic by Bibi-haters everywhere. As sophisticated as it may be, however, it rests upon assumptions that are either misguided or downright fanciful.

Before we get into the faults with the column, let me try to summarise its argument. It boils down to these main points:
Israel’s campaign is fostering antisemitism around the world and fuelling a rise in jihadism, which will only create more violence in the future;
Nazi Germany was defeated by military force because it was confined to Germany, whereas jihadism is global so cannot be beaten using bombs;
The war has made Israel “not stronger but ever more fragile, having obliterated its reputation in the global south and Middle East, not to mention once-sympathetic opinion across the West”;
If Israel had acted with “restraint” after October 7, peace with Saudi Arabia would have been assured, Iran would have been “isolated as never before”, funding for Hamas would have “dried up” and fundamentalism would have been “starved of oxygen”;
The hostages could have been released by “releasing more fanatics from Israeli prisons” which would have been “infinitely better” than creating more through radicalisation;
By not fighting so aggressively, Israel would have provided “the antidote to terrorism”, strengthening the Abraham Accords and producing “Rationality. Reason. Trade. Peace. Growth”;
“Restraint” would have made Hamas look “ludicrous” in the eyes of “younger Arabs”, depriving fanaticism of the fuel of misery;
The “endgame” in Gaza remains unclear, so Netanyahu is aiming “to pen two million desperate people into an open-air prison and oversee a ‘voluntary’ exodus, perhaps via the expedient of more bombing or another blockade”;
All has been “masterminded by a PM who has every incentive to perpetuate this heartbreaking slaughter to delay his trial for corruption”.

So there you have it, folks. Restraint! Why hasn’t Israel ever thought of that? Syed even stooped to the “open-air prison” line, despite the fact that 10,000 Palestinians a day crossed from Gaza into Israel daily for work before October 7 (and the Strip has a border with Egypt).

Let’s dive in. To start with, although Syed is correct that antisemitism and Israelophobia has risen worldwide, it is deeply incorrect to suggest that Israel is “not stronger but ever more fragile”.


The dangerous illusion of friendship with Qatar and other hostile ‘allies’
Even more baffling is the U.S. willingness to treat the new regime in Syria, now led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, as if it is a credible partner in regional “stability.” Although al-Sharaa came to power after leading the offensive that ousted Bashar Assad, his leadership of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham raises grave concerns about sectarian extremism and intolerance.

In recent days, Syrian forces under his command have launched assaults on the Druze community in southern Syria, prompting Israel to intervene militarily in their defense. Israeli airstrikes against Syrian military positions were reportedly carried out to protect the embattled Druze, highlighting Jerusalem’s willingness to act unilaterally when minorities are threatened.

Meanwhile, American forces remain in Syria under rules of engagement so restrictive they cannot meaningfully respond to evolving threats, inviting further instability and bloodshed.

There is a broader strategic failure here: the assumption that engagement, economic ties or shared military interests are enough to tame ideological adversaries. This “frenemy” doctrine has failed repeatedly. It assumes that transactional partnerships will produce long-term alignment with U.S. goals. In reality, these arrangements have funded extremism, rewarded bad behavior and alienated our real allies, in particular, Israel.

We have misread the game board. Qatar is not a neutral broker. Turkey is not a Western democracy. Syria is not a stabilizing force. These regimes exploit the West’s desire for dialogue and diplomacy while funding our enemies and weakening our alliances.

The United States must stop mistaking geography for loyalty. Just because our bases are on their soil doesn’t mean their interests align with ours. We must:
Condition military and financial cooperation on measurable action against terrorist groups.
Sanction regimes and individuals who fund or harbor extremists.
Rebuild strategic alliances with trustworthy partners, especially Israel and moderate Arab states that have embraced normalization and peace.
Pull back from failed engagement strategies that assume these hostile actors can be “managed” through diplomacy alone.

The war on terror has always required moral clarity. Today, that clarity demands acknowledging that we are feeding the enemy—militarily, financially and diplomatically—while pretending we are feeding friends.

It’s not just a strategic error. It’s a betrayal of American values, allies and the cause of peace.
Stephen Daisley: The Palestine Action protests reveal Britain’s spiritual sickness
Because these protests portend nothing good for Britain. Recall that Palestine Action is not merely anti-Israel. This is an organisation that openly, proudly targets British companies for vandalism and destruction. That uses criminal conduct to terrorise British business owners into changing their commercial relationships. An organisation whose activists have breached a British military base and damaged RAF planes.

And not insignificant numbers of Britons have assembled in UK cities in solidarity with that organisation. This is not a well country. The last time we found ourselves in this level of economic decline and political dysfunction, in the 1970s, we were called the Sick Man of Europe. But this is a different kind of sickness. It’s a spiritual sickness, a new British disease.

Chants of “f*** your Jewish state” will have been alarming for British Jews, who have been forced to watch in horror as their country, including and perhaps especially its educated middle classes, have been radicalised by events in the Middle East since October 7, 2023.

From Parliament to the press, churches to the universities, the BBC to the NGOs, Britain has become fixated on the war in Gaza, to the exclusion of other, deadlier conflicts. And in a way that is detached from all reason, so that even the sketchiest Hamas propaganda is accepted at face value. It is not simply that Britons are troubled by the human suffering in Gaza – a very real and very grave situation – but that the public square has become thoroughly Palestinianised in a short space of time. All other foreign conflicts, and even some domestic matters, have been pushed aside. Gaza is the new unifying issue of British politics.

That reflects trends that have been in train for some time now. The UK political class is so thoroughly in sway to the political culture of American progressivism that, after Black Lives Matter and “trans women are women”, it was inevitable that they would embrace the historically illiterate Civil Rights frame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The mass immigration of foreign-born Muslims is also making obsessive hatred of Jews and Israel a fact of mainstream political discourse in Britain.

Given the decline of the UK and the modish self-loathing promoted in classrooms, lecture halls, on television and in museums, it should not surprise us that there is some level of sympathy out there for an organisation that vandalises RAF planes, those symbols and guarantors of British self-determination and sovereignty. It’s not just Israel’s defensive capability that is under attack.

Nothing Palestine Action or its acolytes do will change reality on the ground in Gaza or alter the strategic aims of the Israeli government. Israel draws strength not only from its military but from the national self-confidence of its people. In Britain, they take to the streets in the name of foreign nations and imported hatreds.
BBC bosses might as well be replaced with Muppets – they’re a national embarrassment and no longer promote honesty
The BBC’s failure to understand the genocidal racism that fuels Hamas’s terrorism means it cannot be trusted to report on the war between Israel and Hamas accurately.

Instead we get disproportionate and unbalanced coverage and figures made-up by Hamas presented as facts.

When the BBC rushed to accuse Israel of bombing a hospital in Gaza, its international editor Jeremy Bowen claimed it had been “destroyed” and “flattened”.

It turned out that the hospital hadn’t been hit at all.

A rocket misfired by Palestinian terrorists had landed in a car park.

Despite this major error, Bowen later arrogantly boasted he “doesn’t regret one thing” about his reporting.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is just a theoretical debate about a conflict thousands of miles away.

The BBC’s coverage has a terrible impact on people here in the UK.

It is obvious that constantly telling viewers Israel is a uniquely evil country and falsely accusing it of committing a genocide will fuel hatred towards people who identify with or support Israel, which is the vast majority of Jewish people.

It goes a long way to explain why extremists have created an intimidating atmosphere by marching through the streets of our cities every weekend spewing out racist abuse.

Or why Jewish students are targeted at universities, children terrorised on their way to school and Synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses attacked.

And look what happened at Glastonbury where Director General Tim Davie was present as the BBC broadcast a rap group ranting about working for a “f***ing Zionist” and chanting “Death to the IDF”.

It has been three weeks since that disgrace, yet still no one has been held responsible.

We know Hamas is a terror group funded by Iran.

A national broadcaster with a responsibility to promote democracy and freedom ought to know which side it is on when Iran’s dictatorship declares war on the West.

Israel might be the front line but the terrorists in Tehran mount attacks in Europe and here in the UK too.
David Collier: Seen the latest 'massacre at aid site' headlines?
Seen the latest 'massacre at aid site' headlines? They are the result of a vicious and deliberate demonisation of Israel pantomime in Gaza directed by Hamas - that is happening every day.

First, setting the scene. Since October 7 Israel has been fighting in Gaza to rescue hostages and to break Hamas's grip on power. A key part of this has been separating Hamas from aid distribution - which is why US contractors have been brought in to manage aid sites.

Hamas needs to control aid - so making the aid effort fail is in its direct interest. NGOs infiltrated by Hamas and other terrorist groups have aligned themselves with this goal. Their objective isn't feeding Palestinians - it's ensuring the aid program is seen to fail.

Which brings us to the daily pantomime.
Scene 1: Early in the day, (every day) and before the aid distribution starts, Hamas fighters approach & deliberately provoke IDF positions.
The IDF respond to this threat. Mostly by firing warning shots.

Behind the scenes and off camera - in an area far from the aid centre.

Hamas fighters and the IDF are engaged in a war. Several Hamas terrorists are killed and wounded. The bodies of these terrorists are taken to hospital.

Scene 2: Cut to local hospital. Images of dead - mostly men of fighting age are seen. Random people speak to camera about how they were shot at by tanks for just wanting food. Doctors are used to confirm the terrorists were civilians killed near an aid site.

Scene 3: Western media sources - now overrun by ex Al-Jazeera staffers & other Islamists who hate Jews - spring into action. Stories begin to circulate about the latest 'massacre'. The 'journos' know what they are going to write - but reach out to the IDF for a 'right to reply'.

Scene 4: The IDF receive questions from media. They know there was no massacre and know the incident took place not at the aid station, but some distance away. The IDF respond acknowledging their forces were under threat and they fired warning shots.

Scene 5: The activist journo has his story. Hamas (who they believe) say 'massacre'. There are bodies at hospital. The IDF (who they don't believe) say they just fired warning shots.

'Massacre at aid site' headline is built in places like @bbcnews @skynews.

Off camera. No editor questions why with 60 million cameras in Gaza, there is never clear footage of these events. Nobody asks the doctor in hospital how he knows what happened at the aid site if he wasn't even there. The goal is clear. Another chance to demonise Israel. Final scene: 'Massacre' headline runs at media outlets that have turned into pro-Hamas mouthpieces. Curtain falls.


The Hamas Smear Campaign Against the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: Pastor Johnnie Moore
This is the 30 minute TV version of Jan Jekielek’s interview with Johnnie Moore. The longer-form version was released on Epoch TV on July 15, 2025.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a newly established U.S.-backed aid group distributing food in Gaza, is under fire from critics who say hundreds of Gazans have been killed near its distribution sites.

But is there a bigger story here?

In this episode, Jan Jekielek sits down with Johnnie Moore, executive chairman of the GHF and former commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

“We have one mission, to feed the people of Gaza in a way that Hamas—a designated terrorist organization in the United States and Europe—can’t steal the food because for many, many years, Hamas has been stealing the food of the Gazan people,” Moore says.

“The problem in Gaza is that the United Nations and other international agencies created a system which empowered virtually every bad actor and every bad force in the Gaza Strip to make a bad situation worse.”

CHAPTER TITLES
0:00:01 - UN Trucks and Hamas: The Challenge of Aid Distribution
0:00:18 - Introduction to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
0:00:54 - Systemic Problems in International Aid
0:01:07 - The Mission of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
0:03:03 - Logistics of Large-Scale Food Distribution
0:07:03 - Aid Diversion: A Systemic Global Issue
0:12:05 - Addressing Media Criticisms and Allegations
0:17:26 - Security Collaboration with the Israeli Military
0:20:05 - Reach and Impact of Food Distribution
0:21:21 - The Importance of Truth in Reporting




IDF set to begin ground operations in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah for first time
The Israeli military said Sunday that it was set to begin ground operations in Deir al-Balah for the first time since the start of the war, issuing an evacuation order for Palestinians in the southwest of the city in the central Gaza Strip.

“The IDF continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terror infrastructure in the area, as it expands its activities into an area where it has not operated before,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, said on X.

The expansion into Deir al-Balah was announced as fighting continued across the Strip, and alongside ongoing ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, where Israel has accused Hamas of dragging out its response to an Israeli proposal. On Saturday night, thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv to call for the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

Deir al-Balah is one of the few places in the Strip where the military has not yet operated with ground troops because it believed Hamas to be holding hostages there, though it has conducted airstrikes in the city. Hamas has vowed to execute captives if the IDF approaches.

The IDF has avoided ground operations in areas where it believes Hamas to be holding hostages, in order not to endanger them.


Melanie Phillips: The West Is Failing. Israel Is Leading
As the West crumbles under the weight of its own moral confusion, Israel stands as the last line of defense against the rise of jihadist tyranny and Iranian aggression. In this powerful interview, Melanie Phillips breaks down how Israel isn’t just fighting for itself, it’s fighting to save the very values the West has forgotten how to defend.


Why Islamism Is Winning in the West: Muslim Physician Dr Qanta Ahmed on Israel, Islam and terrorism
Dr Qanta Ahmed is a British-born Muslim physician, a fierce critic of Islamism, and a global voice for truth in the face of jihadist denial. In this wide-ranging and courageous conversation with Jonathan Sacerdoti, she dismantles the lies of the Muslim Brotherhood, exposes the ideological roots of 7 October, and warns how Western weakness is emboldening radical Islam.

Speaking from Israel—her 18th visit—Dr Ahmed recounts witnessing 9/11 from Saudi Arabia, treating victims of ISIS and and 9/11, examining the aftermath of Hamas atrocities, and confronting the Islamist infiltration of Western democracies. With the calm precision of a doctor and the moral urgency of a witness, she calls out both the radicalised and the cowardly.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand the true Islamist threat, the complicity of Western media, and how faith, medicine, and conscience collide in today’s war on truth.

💬 We Discuss:
🧕 Why Islamism is a political virus within Islam
💉 What it’s like treating child soldiers radicalised by ISIS
🇸🇦 What 9/11 looked like inside Saudi Arabia
📚 Why “martyrdom ideology” is fake theology—and real terror
🧠 How the Muslim Brotherhood deceives the West
📺 Why Western media ignored Hamas’s sexual violence
🕍 How woke victimhood ideology converges with jihadist goals
⚖️ Why Islamists are Muslims, but betray Islam itself
🚨 How Islamist entryism threatens both Jews and moderate Muslims
🇮🇱 Why Israel is the front line, and the test of the West


What’s Really Happening In Syria That NOBODY Is Telling You!
JL Minute News Update: Syria, Gaza, Mike Huckabee and more in an extensive report covering recent developments.


Jewish & Christian Leaders Reveal What Media Won't Tell You
Israel innovation envoy Fleur Hassan-Nahoum takes the show on the road to Washington, D.C. for an unfiltered and emotional deep-dive from the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Summit. Broadcasting just days after rockets rained down on Israel, Fleur is joined by a powerhouse panel of Jewish and Christian women leaders whose voices are reshaping the fight for Israel in America and beyond.

Together, they tackle the rising wave of antisemitism in the West, the enduring strength of Christian-Jewish alliances and the healing power of solidarity in the face of war. From scumbags of the week to heroes of the hour, the episode features unfiltered commentary on:
Misuse of faith and media to undermine Israel
The truth behind the IHRA definition of antisemitism
CUFI’s 10-million-member network and its campus activism
Candace Owens, misinformation and cultural betrayal
The Abraham Accords, Christian diplomacy and Middle East peace
Why interfaith bridge-building is a strategic and spiritual necessity

This heartfelt conversation spans religion, politics, identity and advocacy. With raw honesty and powerful clarity, the guests challenge disinformation, call out performative activism and spotlight what it really means to stand with Israel in 2025.

Chapters
00:00 The Quad on the Road: Kufi Conference Highlights
02:24 Facing Challenges: Personal Stories from the Conference
05:12 Mixed Leadership: The Role of Jewish and Christian Allies
08:16 The State of New York: A Reflection of National Sentiments
10:45 Understanding Anti-Semitism: The IRA Definition and Its Implications
12:53 Faith and Politics: The Role of Christianity in Supporting Israel
15:43 The Biblical Basis for Christian Support of Israel
18:29 Youth Engagement: Building Future Leaders Against Anti-Semitism
19:40 Experiencing Israel: The Impact of Visits and Support
25:29 Middle East Developments: Hope for Peace with Syria
27:34 Navigating the Abraham Accords
29:08 Iran's Role in Middle Eastern Peace
31:56 The Importance of Christian Inclusion
33:05 Misinformation and Responsibility
34:48 Critique of Anti-Zionism
37:23 Civilizational Clash and Peace
40:25 Celebrating Young Advocates
42:00 Honoring Heroes of the Week


Israel to bar senior UN official over bias on Gaza war
Jonathan Whittall, who leads the Israeli operations of OCHA—the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs—will no longer be allowed to stay in Israel after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar instructed officials to deny him with a new Israeli residency permit after the current one expires.

Whittall maintains residence in Jerusalem while splitting duties between Jerusalem and Gaza. The decision ensures he will not be able to continue his activities in Israel beyond the end of August.

OCHA staff routinely deliver skewed, agenda-driven reports that create defamatory portrayals of Israel unsupported by evidence, including inflated Gaza civilian casualty statistics that required later corrections and underreported humanitarian aid truck numbers that failed to reflect actual delivery volumes, sources at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem say.

Notable examples include OCHA Director Tom Fletcher‘s false accusation that Israel would cause 14,000 infant deaths in Gaza within two days—a claim he subsequently retracted.

Most recently, Whittall, who frequently visits Gaza, publicly asserted that Gaza contains “conditions created to kill.”

Whittall further declared, “What we are seeing is carnage. It is weaponized hunger. It is forced displacement. It’s a death sentence for people just trying to survive. It appears to be the erasure of Palestinian life.”
Flemish gov't. appeals court decision imposing BDS penalties for exporting military goods to Israel
The Flemish Government has appealed a court’s decision to impose penalties on the export of all military goods to Israel, whereas the BDS and the four NGOs involved in the decision have celebrated the ruling.

On Thursday, a Brussels court ruled that the Flemish Government has failed to uphold its legal obligations under the Genocide Convention. It said it will incur fines should it allow materials to be transported to Israel if it is not sure the materials will be used for civilian purposes.

The penalty is €50,000 per container, up to a total of €5 million, and applies to the Port of Antwerp.

This decision is a success for four Belgian NGOs, which previously launched a legal challenge arguing that such shipments could violate national arms trade laws and international humanitarian law. The four NGOs are Vredesactie, Intal, 11.11.11, and the Belgian League for Human Rights.

Their case focused on a container destined for Israel, which was intercepted in Antwerp last month. The container was carrying tapered roller bearings headed to Ashot Ashkelon Industries – a company that manufactures components for Merkava tanks.

While the bearings can be used for civilian purposes, the court ruled that strict scrutiny is warranted given the risk of military use, according to the Belga News Agency.

The four NGOs claimed that many similar goods are exported from Antwerp to Israel; therefore, they argued that all such exports should be stopped.

Flemish president: Court intervention 'not legally permitted.'

Flemish President Matthias Diependaele appealed the decision, claiming it is “far removed from reality” and adding that the court’s intervention “is not legally permitted.”

All four NGOs called it a “historic victory” in a collaborative post on Instagram.


Bill Clinton ‘acknowledging’ Zohran Mamdani on his 'horrific terrorism' ideology is ‘shocking’
Independent Women’s Forum Fellow Dr Qanta Ahmed says New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is likely to be the mayor of New York City.

Dr Ahmed claims Mr Mamdani has “significant ideas” aligned with Islamism, as he is a “self-identifying Muslim”.

“He is an advocate of legitimising the concept of globalising the intifada, which was nothing but suicide bombs on Israelis, twice, claiming thousands of lives of Israelis, Palestinians, a horrific burst of terrorism,” Dr Ahmed told Sky News Australia.

“The fact that he is not being rejected by democratic elites, even Bill Clinton acknowledged his victory, is very shocking.”




‘Appalling’: Attempts made to stop Zionist singer from performing in Sydney
Sky News host Rowan Dean discusses the “appalling story” involving the Australian singer Deborah Conway.

Mr Dean said people in Sydney are attempting to “prevent” Deborah Conway from performing at Marrickville in August, due to her Zionist views.

“Yet so deranged and unhinged are some people that they are trying to have the concert cancelled.

“Even fellow artists who should hang their heads in shame.”


Jonathan Sacerdoti explains anti Druze violence in Syria and Gaza ceasefire possibility



'Blaming The Jews' - Again
The ways to avoid arrest in London these days, according to British author Douglas Murray, are: "[W]hen first being questioned by a police officer, he should promptly shout 'Jihad, jihad, jihad'. Next he should whip out a sign saying 'Slay the infidel' before rounding it all off with a few cries of 'Intifada'... Had [Montgomery Toms] followed my advice, the first officer would doubtless have said: 'Very well, sir, please carry on and have a nice day.'"

It is not complicated: If you do not want your people killed, do not start a war, especially with Israel.

It is concerning that in the foreseeable future, radical Islamists might, demographically, have the political power to use Britain's nuclear weapons.

In simple terms, for career expediency, as a way of gaining political power, the Jews are to be blamed as the main instigator of Islamophobia in France and elsewhere. In this view, dating in France at least back to the Dreyfus Affair and the Vichy government during World War II, the Jews are to blame for France's social woes, but not the consistently violent conduct of radical Islamists in their midst.

That bloodthirsty assault [of October 7, 2023] revealed to the Israelis definitively that if they allow an openly murderous terrorist state along Israel's border, it would be about the dumbest thing they could ever do.

The world has moved on. If the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians want to be any acceptable part of it, they would be wise to hurry and join the other nations in a constructive way or risk being left behind.

If Muslims do not like Islamophobia, all they need to stop threatening, attacking, raping and murdering, and the "temperature" could drop overnight.

Historically, Jews generally have not been racist, at least not more than anyone else. They have lived amicably among foreign cultures for centuries, and are certainly not "genocidal." On the contrary, Israel is home to virtually all cultures and all ethnicities.... Modern Israel has never initiated a war against its neighbors. It is not an imperialist or expansionist nation -- in fact, it fought British imperialism. Israel is a country that, for decades, has simply sought a secure peace.
Vanessa Feltz abused as ‘fascist Zionist scum’ by Gaza protester
Vanessa Feltz has revealed how she was targeted by a pro-Palestinian protester shouting “fascist Zionist scum” as she walked through central London.

Speaking on her LBC show yesterday, the Jewish broadcaster, 63, said the “white man” tried to whip up fellow protesters after spotting her heading home from work and screamed at her over his megaphone.

Feltz said she was singled out “because I'm known to be Jewish.

“I was walking to get to the Tube station when suddenly I heard very, very loudly, ‘Vanessa Feltz, Vanessa Feltz, fascist Zionist scum’.

“I wheeled around and there was a guy, he looked like a white guy to me, not that I know what his origin was, and he was chasing me, screaming into a megaphone and chasing me shouting ‘fascist, Zionist scum’.”

She said: “I’m a grandma, I'm 63 years old, I've never been an athlete, I was wearing wedge shoes and carrying a handbag, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can't run and if he catches me what will you do to me, is he going to beat me up?' And also are other people going to join him, what's going to happen to me?”

Describing the incident, Feltz recalled how a woman came to her aid and stood between her and the man.

She told LBC listeners: “She said, 'Go on Vanessa, you run' – not that I can run. But anyway I sort of waddled off in the other direction. I heard from her afterwards on Instagram – she just DM'ed me, 'Are you ok?'”

She revealed the frightening incident as she discussed MP Diane Abbott's claims that Jewish people do not suffer the same kind of racism as black people.
Royal Opera House cast member unfurls Palestinian flag on stage
A cast member at the Royal Opera House used the curtain call at Saturday’s performance to unfurl a Palestinian flag on stage, fighting off an attempt from an individual offstage to relieve him of the offending object.

The incident, which took place after the venue’s performance of Il Trovatore, saw one of the cast members hold a Palestinian flag while the audience cheered the performers. Video footage by audience members showed an attempt by someone backstage to try and grab the flag away, but the cast member refused to let go, after which no further attempt appeared to have been made to remove the flag.

One attendee at the performance, posting on social media, said “A chorus member held up a Palestine flag throughout the curtain call, & responded aggressively when a stage manager came on and tried to take it off him. The audience reaction did not seem positive… people mostly just got on with the applause. But the aggressive response when staff tried to remove it made it clear that the cast member was determined to make his opinions known, which created tension and some audible anger.

“A man behind me shouted support for the staff member trying to remove it. Someone else then seemed to cheer the cast member for holding on to it. It wasn’t clear the principal cast, standing in front of him, even knew what was going on. Pointless, with a side order of divisive.”

The Royal Ballet and Opera told The Telegraph: “The display of the flag was spontaneous and unauthorised action by the artist. It was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is not in line with our commitment to political impartiality.”

The Royal Opera House receives more than £22 million of public money annually.

Jewish News approached Royal Ballet and Opera for further information – including whether the individual in question was a regular cast member or an extra, and a confirmation that they would no longer be featuring in future performances. Royal Ballet and Opera told Jewish News they would not be commenting beyond their original statement.
Revealed: Palestine protester at Royal Opera House attended £48k-a-year school
A “queer dance artist” who attended a £48,000-a-year school was behind a pro-Palestine protest at the Royal Opera House, The Telegraph can reveal.

The audience for Verdi’s opera Il trovatore was stunned on Saturday evening when a member of the cast unfurled a Palestinian flag during the curtain call.

Footage from the incident showed a stage manager trying – and failing – to snatch the flag from the performer, who was still in costume as a demon.

The Telegraph understands that the cast member behind the protest is Daniel Perry, a self-described “queer dance artist”, choreographer, and DJ.

The dancer studied at the Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire, which charges up to £16,000 per term for boarding.

Alumni include Dame Julie Andrews and Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley.

Perry’s pronouns are “they/them”, according to booking agencies representing the dancer.

The performer recently wore a tank top with the slogan “Free Palestine” to a London performance of Cabaret, a musical set during the Weimar Republic that heavily foreshadows the persecution of the Jews under the Nazi regime.

Perry previously appeared alongside Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley in an earlier run of the same production.

In a social post about the visit, Perry wrote: “In this particular version, we are reminded of how regimental political systems, such as extreme nationalism, and fascism, oppress and eradicate individualism, whilst also segregating people, leaving them voiceless, expressionless and helplessly in control by their oppressors.

“I believe we are currently living in similar times.”

The post added that “Western media” spends more time “debating whether artists should be allowed to express themselves freely at music festivals, than reporting on actual war crimes”.


Campus Riots Made a Generation of Jewish Students Abandon the Left
Ivy League college campuses are some of the most leftist places in the country. The pro-Hamas campus riots radicalized the next generation of leaders into supporting Islamic terrorism, they terrorized Jewish students and in the process, transformed their politics.

When the encampments went up on elite campuses, Jewish students abandoned the far left in droves. The share of Jewish Ivy League students who identify as “very liberal” on a 7-point ideology scale declined from 40% before the encampments to 13% after they appeared. The proportion of “strong Democrats” tanked from 37% to 14% while the Republican share rose from 12% to 18%. Ivy League Jews went from being well to the left of the median Ivy League student to leaning right of the average.

Speaking anecdotally, I’ve seen a political shift among young secular Jewish Ivy League professionals from knee-jerk liberalism to much less enthusiasm for the movement and more openness to Trump. They’re not about to become Republicans, but based on the FIRE surveys quoted here, they are moving away from the Left.

The drop in affinity for the Left is massive and portends a generational shift.

Far too many Jews instinctively felt that they had a natural home on the left. They no longer do.


'On Israeli hands': Rector of Glasgow University tweets Israel committing 'final solution' in Gaza
The Rector of the University of Glasgow compared the situation in Gaza to the "final solution" in a post on X/Twitter on Saturday.

Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon born in Kuwait, tweeted, "Gaza is starving to death. The Final Solution is up to us. It is a US, UK, German, French Final Solution, with Israeli hands."

Abu Sittah was banned from visiting Schengen countries in April 2024 shortly after he arrived in Germany to speak at a conference about Palestine. He was due to provide testimony about his work in Gaza hospitals during the conflict, but was detained on arrival in Germany and forced to return to the UK.

On Friday, a chamber of three judges in Berlin’s administrative court ruled that the ban was disproportionate and the ban was overturned.

When Abu Sittah was installed as rector in April 2024, he pledged to make Glasgow University abandon the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which, according to Abu Sittah, “conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism." All four of his pledges related to divestment of Israel or redefining antisemitism. Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, July 20, 2025. (credit: Ramadan Abed/Reuters)


Head of anti-Hamas Gaza militia says it’s backed by vast tribal network, not by Israel
The leader of a Gazan militia operating in an area under Israeli military control said on Sunday in an interview with British media that his group is not funded or armed by Israel, describing himself as “just an ordinary Palestinian person who cares about his own people.”

Hamas has accused Yasser Abu Shabab of being a criminal, a looter, and a traitor, and earlier this month demanded that he turn himself in to the terror group for prosecution.

“Hamas either accuses their [opponents] of being traitors working with Israel or being criminals. I am neither of these,” Shabab told the Sunday Times. “I was an ordinary construction worker before the war. I have no military training. I am just an ordinary Palestinian person who cares about his own people.”

He added that if a ceasefire is reached between Israel and Hamas, he and his group will need “international protection” from the terror group that rules Gaza, which he said would likely use the pause to crack down on internal dissent.

According to Abu Shabab, Hamas has killed 52 members of his family, including his brother.

He denied accusations by the United Nations that his group was looting aid entering Gaza, or that he had direct involvement with Israel. He said his group was funded and armed by supporters within his tribal network.

The comments contradicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confirmation last month that Israel had given weapons to the group. The decision to start arming the group was made without the approval of the security cabinet, forgoing normal procedure. It was instead led by security bodies, with Netanyahu’s approval, defense sources said at the time.

“I’m from the Tarabin family. We are a big tribe that extends not only to Gaza, but also to Egypt, to Jordan, and even into some Gulf countries. Notable members of our family contributed money, and we used this money to buy products from the markets in Gaza and give it to needy people from our community,” Abu Shabab told the Times.

“When I saw our people were suffering from the fact Hamas was stealing aid and was bringing this war with Israel upon the Gazans, leaving our people struggling and displaced, the idea sparked to create a safe zone for our people where we don’t fight,” he added. “So my tribe and my family started to distribute aid to people who were in need.”

According to the report, the “most prominent wealthy member” of the Tarabins is Ibrahim al-Arjani, a Sinai-based Egyptian businessman who made millions from charging Palestinians fees for using the Rafah crossing to flee the war in Gaza.


British musicians form alliance against Israel
UK trip hop pioneers Massive Attack have launched a new alliance in support of musicians who are facing intimidation “from within our industry” for publicly speaking out against Israel’s military violence in Gaza, the Consequence of Sounds music site reported over the weekend.

Outspoken pro-Palestinian acts Brian Eno, Kneecap, and Fontaines D.C. are among the artists who have joined the effort, sharing a post on Instagram explaining that they aim to support fellow musicians who have been threatened with “attempted censorship.”

“The scenes in Gaza have moved beyond description. We write as artists who’ve chosen to use our public platforms to speak out against the genocide occurring there & the role of the UK government in facilitating it,” the artists posted on Instagram.

The musicians expressed concern for emerging artists who they believe are at risk of being “threatened into silence or career cancellation” by groups such as UK Lawyers for Israel.
Performance by French-Israeli singer draws hate in Belgium
French-Israeli singer Amir’s performance at the Francofolies de Spa festival in the city of Spa, Belgium, was marked by high tension on Friday following accusations of “support for Israeli military action in Gaza” by a dozen artists, including French-Swiss Yoa (real name: Yoanna Bolzli), who canceled her performance.

They denounced the fact that Amir expressed support for the IDF after the Hamas attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Amir’s family made aliyah from France when he was 8 years old, and subsequently served in the IDF Intelligence Corps.

“My social, political, and humanist convictions are incompatible with sharing the stage with an artist who denies the ongoing genocide in Palestine and has participated in events backing the Israeli army,” Yoa declared on social media.

Hostile tags, such as “Spa complice” (“Spa accomplice”) and “Amir machine à tuer” (“Amir killing machine”), were sprayed across the city. Nevertheless, the organizers decided to go ahead with the show.

During the concert, a teenager carrying a PLO flag was quickly removed by security, as was an Israeli flag confiscated earlier, according to Marc Radelet, the festival’s press officer.

No other incidents were reported.
Anti-Israel NGO targets soldiers at Tomorrowland festival
The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed legal complaints in Belgium against two Israeli soldiers, alleging they committed war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

In a statement on Saturday, the Brussels-based group said the two individuals were spotted at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom on Friday.

The Global Legal Action Network is also party to the joint complaints submitted to the Federal Prosecutor, calling for the two’s immediate arrest and prosecution under Belgium’s universal jurisdiction laws.

According to the Hind Rajab Foundation, the two, reportedly associated with Israel’s Givati Brigade, are implicated in attacks on civilians, forced displacement and the deliberate destruction of Palestinian infrastructure. Witnesses stated that a group of Israeli men displayed the Givati Brigade flag at the festival; meanwhile, Israeli youths reportedly tore down a Palestinian flag from a local home.

The Hind Rajab Foundation gathers publicly available information about IDF soldiers, including military operations they participated in, with the aim of prosecuting them abroad.

The organization is one of five that the Israeli Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry recommended in late June for a ban from entering the Jewish state due to legal actions against Israeli citizens.

The others are Al-Haq Europe, Law for Palestine, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) and Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.
‘Genocidal Jew’ Dublin bus abuser is released without charge
An Irish man launched drunken antisemitic tirade at another passenger on board a Dublin bus over the weekend.

The abuser repeatedly called the man a “genocidal Jew” and accused an Irish woman who intervened of “white-knighting for the Jew”, according to a video taken by the man who was target of the tirade and shared on social media on Saturday.

“There he is, the Jew,” the man can be heard saying at the start of the brief video, in which he goes on to say: “The genocidal Jews... they are murdering...they’re the genocidal Jews” while his arm is outstretched towards the victim, as if to slap the phone from his hand.

An Irish woman who came to the passenger’s defence can be heard chastising the man, saying, “Are you being hateful right now, or is he being hateful right now?” before the man begins to accost her for standing up for “the Jew, the Jew, the Jew.”

In a statement to the JC, Irish police said that shortly after 11pm on Friday, 18 July, “Gardaí from Rathmines responded to reports of a disturbance on a bus in Rathgar, Dublin 6. A male in his 30s was arrested at the scene under public order legislation and brought to a Garda Station in the Dublin Region.”

The statement added that the man was “later released without charge” but “investigations into the incident are ongoing”.

Former Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter condemned the incident on Saturday, writing on X: “Just a normal Friday night trip on a bus in Dublin, Ireland, confirming the Irish President & the Irish govs repetitive assertions that there’s no antisemitism in Ireland & denial that their daily false depiction of the tragic ongoing Israel/Gaza war is not escalating antisemitism.”
Hate crime arrest outside Reuben’s after kosher diners attacked
A woman has reportedly been arrested after an attack outside Reuben’s kosher restaurant on Baker Street last week.

Video footage of the attack shared on social media showed a woman approaching diners at a table and throwing their food at them and onto the floor.

Someone off camera can be heard saying: “My phone’s broken…she threw my phone on the floor, it’s broken. She’s pro-Palestinian – she said something about…’Jewish’.”

The woman then appeared to remonstrate with people sitting outside the next café along, and appeared to say, among other things, “I asked her if she was Israeli – she said yes.”

In a message from CST on Sunday, the organisation said: “We are aware of an incident that took place in London where police arrested a woman for a violent outburst, which we believe is being treated as a hate crime.

“CST attended the scene and has been supporting some of the customers in the restaurant at the time it occurred. This is one of many antisemitic incidents to happen in recent months in which Jews have been subjected to hatred and abuse, with Israel used as the excuse.”

Yael Isaac, who was one at the diners at Reuben’s who was targeted, told Jewish News that she and her four friends “were sitting eating our food in peace and this woman came up to us and asked if it was a kosher restaurant. Thinking she was lost or wanted to eat there I said yes.

“In that moment she pushed her body forward and screamed in me and my friends face ‘free Palestine’ and told us we were killing babies. She yelled at us for about 3 mins straight) then walked towards other people to yell at them.

“Then, when she saw I was filming [she] came back, threw our water at us and took her hand, put it in our salad and threw it at our faces, threw my phone on the floor and all our food with it.”

It became clear that this was not an ‘anti-Zionist’ attack.

“In general we couldn’t understand half the things she was saying”, Yael told Jewish News, “but at one point during her tantrum I asked her ‘what if I don’t support Israel?’ She said she didn’t care and that I was Jewish so that’s all that mattered to her.”

Yael said that while she and her friends had not been physically hurt, others had been, alleging that “she had slapped someone and dug her nails into someone’s arm, causing blood.”

It was at that point, she said, that “police were called and arrested her. Then we sat with them filling a report for 3 hours after I calmed down from my panic attack.”

Yael and her friends are Israeli, but she confirmed that both her parents were British and were the only ones from their families to have made aliyah, so her extended family all live in England.

“Me and my friends came over on vacation”, she told Jewish News, describing how after the attack she “was in shock, then I felt fear, not just from the incident but also for the Jewish community in London.

“Antisemitism is rising and it feels like no one cares.”

The woman who carried out the attack appeared to be in the company of Haleem Kherallah, a Palestinian businessman who owns the Shakeshukah Palestinian restaurant a five-minute walk away. There is no suggestion from the video that Kherallah was directly involved in the incident.

Kherallah, who prior to 7 October was perhaps best known for his repeated unsuccessful attempts to buy an ownership stake in Queens Park Rangers football club.

In October and November 2023, Kerallah described how the restaurant was receiving regular abuse and death threats, leading to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, paying a public visit to the restaurant for a meal in November 2023.

The restaurant received public notoriety last month after it appeared to host a ‘watch party’ for the Iranian missile strikes on Israel.


Scott Lawrence: The Manhattan doctor who became an accidental Zionist
“We’re like the accidental Zionists. It was never on our radar to live in Israel. Maybe Barcelona or Holland, but Israel? Nah,” says Dr. Scott Lawrence.

“My wife calls me a chameleon because I can fit in anywhere. And she’s right. But here in Israel, I finally felt like I was home. I felt I could put my bags down.” Learn how to buy your home in Israel with confidence >>

Lawrence and his wife, Heidi, both chiropractors, had started feeling disillusioned with life in Manhattan. Professionally and materially, things were great. They lived near the United Nations in an upscale neighborhood and even owned a private plane. But personally and spiritually, they felt unfulfilled.

In a quest to find the right place to raise their children, they traveled across the United States. Still undecided yet eager to leave Manhattan, in 1996 they rented out their townhouse and took their two preschoolers, Gideon and Sage, on a sabbatical trip abroad. After camping out in European countries for five and a half months, Israel was meant to be a short stopover on their way from Turkey to South Africa by jeep.

Completely oblivious to geopolitical realities, they figured they could drive from Turkey to Israel via Syria and Lebanon. Fortunately, they checked in with the US Embassy first and got a reality check. They backtracked to Greece, took a boat to Haifa, and booked three nights at the Laromme Hotel in Jerusalem (now the Inbal).

“After a day in Jerusalem, I said to Heidi, ‘I think we need to amend our plans a little bit. I feel like a fraud; I don’t know anything about our heritage. I want to start learning.’”

Lawrence, a second-generation chiropractor, had been raised in Long Island, with little formal Jewish education. Not understanding what in-depth Jewish learning entailed, he figured three months in Jerusalem’s Diaspora Yeshiva would be adequate.
What would Herzl say about Israel today? A new documentary takes an educated guess
There are few places in Israel without a street named after the inspiration behind the Jewish homeland, and one of the nation’s top coastal cities also bears his name: Herzliya.

But who exactly was Theodor Herzl, and what would he have made of his dream come true, the establishment of a Jewish state?

That is the central question posed in a new documentary co-written by and co-starring comedian and author David Baddiel, “Theodor Herzl — The Man Behind Israel.” The hour-long film premiered at BAFTA headquarters in London on July 3, the 121st anniversary of Herzl’s death at the age of 44.

Herzl died almost half a century before Israel’s founding; however, he is considered the father of modern Zionism, the movement that paved the political path to a Jewish homeland. In the film, Baddiel follows Herzl from his birth and early days in Budapest, to Vienna, where he moved with his family, went to university, studied law and worked as a journalist and playwright.

It was Herzl’s move to France, where he was dispatched as a reporter, that really brought his ideals into focus as the Dreyfus Affair sparked a wave of antisemitism. It was this that cemented Herzl’s commitment to a Jewish homeland and the establishment of the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897.

In a panel discussion after the screening, Baddiel said he was surprised by the speed at which Herzl went from being “a dilettante” to “like a messiah.”

“He has the idea [for a Jewish homeland], he has the Congress, and hundreds of thousands of people come and the movement is born,” said Baddiel. “He’s the first person to understand the catalyzing nature of antisemitism as a universal experience for Jews.”

Herzl was “tuning in to a massive bellwether of Jewish insecurity,” so his vision was “primarily about safety,” Baddiel said.

Baddiel, author of “Jews Don’t Count,” said he was fascinated when he was first approached about making the film.

“I thought it’s incredible how much this man has influenced history and people like me don’t really know much about him,” Baddiel said. “He is to Zionism what [Karl] Marx is to communism. He is the guy who created the whole idea and who enormous historical realities are either predicted by him or happened because of him.”

And yet Herzl’s legacy is largely forgotten beyond the Jewish world, said Baddiel.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



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