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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

07/22 Links Pt1: Just Say It: ‘Israel Was Right’; The World Looks Away from Syria's Atrocities but Fixates on Gaza; Munich citizens form human chain around synagogue to protect from pro-Palestine rally

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Just Say It: ‘Israel Was Right’
Of course there’s plenty of throat-clearing throughout the piece, for example the repeated insistence that Israel hasn’t proved that Hamas steals the aid. Which is weird, because the article is about the writers discovering beyond any shadow of a doubt that Hamas steals the aid. Palestinians in Gaza are risking their lives to detail to American publications what Hamas is doing to them, and the journalists make sure to insinuate that everybody—literally everybody, Israelis and Palestinians alike—is lying and that Hamas is good, actually.

Is this just another example of media bias? Ho-hum, right? Not exactly—there’s more to this particular story. The same day the Post ran the preceding story, it also ran a second story on humanitarian aid in Gaza. This one was an attempt to paint the one group delivering aid to Gazan civilians directly—an effort backed by the U.S. and Israel and involving Western companies—as the problem.

The piece repeats evidence-free accusations, parroted directly from Hamas, that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is acting as some kind of lure to hungry Palestinians so that the IDF can shoot them. Rumor-mongering such as this has consistently led to firms backing out of working with the aid group, other aid groups boycotting them, and restaurateurs abroad being physically attacked for providing food for the GHF to distribute to Gazan civilians. Hamas is starving Palestinians, and some of the critics of the GHF are gleefully advancing that starvation agenda.

The main point of the GHF is to provide aid to Gazans without letting Hamas commandeer that aid instead. Here is what this second Washington Post story has to say about that: “Hamas is demanding a return to the U.N.-coordinated system of aid delivery that operated in Gaza for decades. Israel charges that Hamas has corrupted that system.”

“Israel charges.” If only there were some way for reporters to investigate the situation and publish a 2,000-word story in one of America’s largest daily newspapers!

Israel also says water is wet but offers no proof. So who knows.

We don’t have to he-said-she-said the living daylights out of the news. Everybody involved knows the facts, and those facts comport precisely with what Israel has been saying all along.
Selective Outrage: The World Looks Away from Syria's Atrocities but Fixates on Gaza
For the most part, the world did not take much notice of the brutality of Syrian soldiers in the Druze region of Sweida. The first article about the situation to appear on the front page of the New York Times print edition was on July 17. That piece led not with the story of atrocities in Sweida, but "deadly airstrikes" launched by Israel in Damascus.

In the 10 days since the incident that spurred the fighting in Syria that claimed more than 1,200 lives, the Times devoted more of its front page to stories and pictures about Gaza and Israel than to Sweida and Syria.

In an age where pictures are more important than words, there were no pictures from Syria but two large pictures from Gaza on the Times front page during this period. The Times' lead story on Monday was "Israelis shoot dozens rushing for aid in Gaza," a piece that relied heavily on figures provided by Hamas, numbers Israel insists are significantly inflated. That same day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 205 people killed in Syria - more than the number cited in Gaza. Yet it was Gaza that led the front page.

The disparity in international attention is predictable. Gaza leads the global conversation. The fighting in Syria, unless Israel is involved, struggles to get notice. Israel is held to different standards and is judged by a different measuring stick. Moreover, Hamas spokespeople - camouflaged as the Gaza Health Ministry - feed journalists a steady stream of data, images, and interviews.

Gaza fits a frame the media loves: strong vs. weak. That David-and-Goliath template is easy to tell and emotionally resonant. Sweida? It's messy. Bedouin militias, Government loyalists, Druze fighters. No clear villain, no single victim group. It's complex, local, tribal. That makes it harder to explain and easier to ignore.

Pro-Palestinian advocacy is highly organized, heavily funded (thank you, Qatar), and globally embedded - across university campuses, human rights organizations, and social media influencers. The Druze, on the other hand, have no such infrastructure. They're not backed by Gulf money, and they lack a global network of activists lobbying on their behalf. This is, ultimately, about what the world chooses to see and what it opts to ignore.
Andrew Fox: The Gaza War and the West's Reckoning
Here is the key point: these are not just fringe outbursts. If there are Nazi flags at a rally, it becomes a Nazi rally. The same standard should be applied to Palestinian protests: any antisemitism makes them antisemitic rallies.

The West’s openness has become its Achilles heel. Adversaries understand this. Iran, Hamas, Qatar, Russia and their fellow travellers exploit our freedoms with surgical precision. They flood our social media with lies, fund our institutions, radicalise our youth and our immigrant populations, divide the remainder, and then sit back as our societies unravel from within.

Even international law has been weaponised. South Africa, echoing Hamas’s own rhetoric, took Israel to the International Court of Justice over false genocide charges. This was lawfare, pure and simple: an attempt to use legal institutions to delegitimise a liberal democracy defending itself against terrorism. The ICJ, by entertaining these claims, granted Hamas the antisemitic, Holocaust-inverting propaganda victory it sought.

This is not just about Israel. It never is. As history shows, when antisemitism surges, democracy itself is under threat. The Jews are the canary in the coal mine. If we cannot protect them, we have failed to protect the moral integrity of our society.

The Gaza conflict has exposed the fault lines. It has demonstrated that Western democracies are at risk not because we are weak, but because we have become complacent. The antisemitism now widespread in our streets is a reflection of national health. As Jonathan Tobin said, “If as a society we can’t stand up and protect our Jewish communities, we are done for.”

How do we fight back? How do we defend the values that made our societies strong? How can a divided society of strangers restore freedom, reason, tolerance, and truth when a tsunami of malign propaganda and foreign funding floods us?

The perfect example in the last 24 hours: disinformation over Gaza has led to twenty Western governments demanding that Israel immediately cease fire, even though Hamas is the party that rejected the most recent proposed ceasefire deal.

I fear we are lost. Our governments cannot even recognise the problem, let alone conceive a solution. We are ignoring the canary’s warning, and the entire mine is collapsing around us.


Jeffrey Herf: Hamas’ Disappearing Responsibilitiy in the Genocide Accusations
In an over 3,000-word opinion piece in the New York Times of July 15, Brown University professor Omer Bartov concluded that Israel has committed genocide in the war in Gaza. His arguments are similar to those he has made since November 2023. Since then, together with many other historians of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, I have disputed his claims.

Describing Israel’s wars of self-defense as examples of genocide was a theme of the propaganda of the Soviet Union, and Soviet bloc, the Palestine Liberation Organization during the war in Lebanon in 1982, and recently from the government of South Africa. It has been a frequent theme in the demonstrations and encampments on American campuses after October 7. The contribution of Bartov, and some other historians of the Holocaust, has been to seek to lend academic respectability to what has, for decades, been an effective but false tool of political warfare.

The publication of Bartov’s essay in The New York Times, and at least so far, the absence of an equally long and detailed dissent is troubling. Historians and analysts at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University have provided such a much needed reply in their recently published “Debunking the Genocide Allegations: A Reexamination of the Israel-Hamas War (2023-2025).” The study critically examines accusations about starvation, intentional killing of civilians, the credibility of the Hamas Health Ministry figures, and the reliance of journalists on compromised sources.

My rejoinder as a historian is to focus instead on the conceptual problem in the genocide accusation, whether from Bartov and others, namely, the disappearance and repression of the agency and responsibility of Hamas for launching a war of extermination, and then for fighting the resulting war with a strategy intended to maximize death and suffering in Gaza. As a result, Bartov et al. attributed genocidal intent where it does not exist and ignores it where it does. The clearly articulated consensus of the Israeli government is to wage war to defeat Hamas and other affiliated terrorist organizations, but not to wage war against the people of Gaza. Bartov does not mention Israel’s efforts to minimize civilian casualties while also pursuing the military goal of defeating a terrorist organization fighting from a massive underground fortress which cynically uses civilian shields to foster the accusation of genocide against Israel.
The PR War and the Real War By Abe Greenwald
Via Commentary Newsletter sign up here Almost two years later, it’s easy to see that there never really was much of a PR war between Israel and Hamas. On the one side, there has been Israel’s account of its actions and justifications, and on the other, there’s the propaganda of Hamas and its sympathizers.

Israel had more important things to worry about. Namely, winning the actual war. And it’s done a hell of a job at that, even as tens of thousands of protests have raged around the world. I never cared about Israel’s image management after October 7 because the survival of the Jewish state depends on its ability to deter and defeat those who try to destroy it—not on getting other people to like it.

But, while I fully expected Israel to be defamed and demonized as it fought its multifront war, I didn’t anticipate the scale of naked Jew-hatred that would arise in the United States. Few of us did. After all, demonizing Israel has traditionally been used to mask one’s anti-Semitism as humanitarian concern. But this time, many of the anti-Semites have decided to go without the mask. They now disparage Israel and assault Jews for being Jews. They chant, “Free Palestine” and peddle lies out of The Elders of Zion.

Anti-Semites feel little need to cover-up their anti-Semitism these days because the taboo against Jew-hatred has been eroding across the American political spectrum for years. While the Squad was softening the ground on the left, populist influencers were testing the waters on the right. So by the time Israel was forced into war in 2023, the Jew-haters were bursting to declare themselves.

Which further speaks to the futility of Israel’s engaging in a PR war. Zionism and its supporters were facing worse odds than ever before in the American public square. One consolation in this is that it’s been delightful to watch the outspoken Jew-haters seethe as the U.S. stands with Israel in its successful efforts to take out the enemies of both countries.

As for anti-Semitism in the U.S., American Jews must defeat that in the way that the Jewish state fought off its enemies. Not by pleading our case, “educating” bigots, or attempting to be more likeable. We, too, have more important things to do. We, too, must win the real war. That means using every legal, financial, and organizational tool at hand to identify and punish those who seek to do us harm and removing every obstacle they try to place before us. It means fighting unapologetically like the people Israel.


Hamas Facing Financial and Administrative Crisis as Revenue Dries Up
Hamas is facing its worst financial and administrative crisis in its four-decade history.

"Hamas is not rebuilding their tunnels, they're not paying their highly trained fighters, they're only surviving," said Oded Ailam, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad, and now a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

Nor can the Hamas administration meet the payroll of police and ministry employees in Gaza, or continue to pay death benefits to the families of fighters killed.

Earlier in the war, Hamas relied on taxes imposed on commercial shipments and the seizure of humanitarian goods.

Hamas profited "especially off the aid that had cost them nothing but whose prices they hike up," said a Gazan contractor.

He saw Hamas routinely collect 20,000 shekels ($6,000) from local merchants, threatening to confiscate their trucks if they did not pay.

Hamas civil servants threatened several times to kill him or call him a collaborator with Israel if he did not cooperate with their demands to divert aid.

He knew at least two aid truck drivers who were killed by Hamas for refusing to pay.
The Druze “October 7th”: How Syria’s Transitional Government Enabled the Massacre
Qatar's Role: Putting Terrorists in Suits
Qatar's influence in the transition of Syria's government has been substantial and controversial. Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Qatar has backed opposition forces—including those in the current government. Qatar’s strategy also includes legitimizing former extremist elements through a process some critics describe as "putting a suit on a terrorist."

This approach involves rebranding militant leaders as statesmen through media campaigns, diplomatic engagement, and financial support. Qatar, a substantial backer of both Hamas and HTS, has a troubling pattern of providing financial backing to organizations with terrorist origins, then attempting to facilitate their international recognition.

Turkey’s Sponsorship of Islamists in Syria
Qatar, alongside Turkey, formed a unified bloc in supporting the same rebel groups during the Syrian conflict, including some internationally designated as terrorist organizations and the new government.

Turkey serves as another primary patron of Syria's extremist factions. Throughout Civil War, Turkey provided logistical support, safe haven, and military backing to HTS and other Islamist groups now governing Syria. President Erdogan's government facilitated foreign fighter transit, weapons transfers, and medical treatment for militants. Turkish intelligence maintains ongoing relationships with factions now accused of minority persecution, prioritizing regional influence over religious minority protection— including those who took part in the massacre.

Syria's Other Targeted Minorities
The Druze are not alone in their vulnerability. Syria’s Christians and Yazidis have also suffered forced displacement, mass abductions, and targeted killings under the new Islamist regime in Syria. Attacks on churches have resulted in dozens of deaths in Damascus and other cities.

Alawite villages have faced house-to-house massacres, beatings, and forced displacement, usually at the hands of Sunni extremist groups but, increasingly, with the complicity or participation of government-affiliated militias. Smaller groups such as Kurds and Armenians have experienced continuing displacement and property expropriation as new alliances are forged and old community boundaries dissolve.

A Cycle of Religious Violence Continues
The reality emerging from recent events in Suwayda is bleak. The atrocities against the Druze reveal not only the persistence of sectarian violence but also the complicity and direct involvement of a state apparatus frequently celebrated abroad as a force for stability. The so-called rehabilitation of Syria’s leaders—backed especially by states like Qatar and Turkey—does little to address the deep-rooted links to terrorism and factional violence that endanger every vulnerable group.

For the Druze, as for other Syrian minorities such as Christians, Alawites, and Yazidis, the current wave of violence is not simply a repeat of history but a new catastrophe. It is a sectarian disaster on the scale of October 7th, fueled by many of the same ideological animosities, and it threatens with impunity as long as armed factions, both within and outside official structures, are granted free rein to pursue their deadly agenda.
FDD: Why No States for the Druze or the Kurds?
Meanwhile, Palestinians, whose leaders were often more preoccupied with internal power struggles than with building institutions for autonomy, are seen as uniquely deserving of sovereignty.

Self-determination is a right, but it does not guarantee well-governed and prosperous nations. Each population will have to weigh the pros and cons of going it alone or staying within the borders of a bigger state.

Self-determination should be straightforward. In southern Syria, for instance, communities could vote—town by town, village by village—on whether to secede or remain. Damascus should respect the outcome. The same applies to the Kurds in northeast Syria; denying their right to self-determination lacks justification.

Secure, sovereign populations are less likely to fuel conflict. Granting minorities like the Druze and Kurds their own states could reduce tensions and foster stability in the Middle East.

Once smaller states achieve stability and contentment, they could explore unification or merger, similar to the European Union or the United States.

Self-determination and sovereignty aim to ensure populations are secure, prosperous, and content. When a state’s sovereignty fails to deliver these outcomes, it should be renegotiated—whether by dividing nations like Syria, Iraq, or Lebanon, or merging them, as Iraq and Syria attempted in the 1970s. State borders should remain flexible and always negotiable, serving the needs of their people.
Israel Police: No damage to Palestinian church in alleged arson
No damage was caused to ancient church ruins in the Palestinian village of Taybeh in Samaria despite media reports and statements to the contrary by high-ranking Christian officials who pointed the finger at “radical Israelis,” the Israel Police confirmed on Monday night.

“Contrary to misleading reports, no damage was caused to the Church of Saint George in Taybeh. The fire was limited to an adjacent open area, not the holy site,” according to the statement.

The commander of the Israel Police’s Judea and Samaria District has initiated “a thorough investigation,” it continued. “If arson is confirmed, justice will be pursued regardless of race or background. Due process is based on facts, not headlines.”

The statement noted that several Israelis and a Palestinian called emergency services to report the fire outside Taybeh on July 7.

Last week, the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of Jerusalem issued a statement claiming that “radical Israelis from nearby settlements intentionally set fire near the town’s cemetery and the Church of Saint George.”

A joint statement days earlier from the priests of the three churches in Taybeh—Father Daoud Khoury of the Greek Orthodox Church, Father Jacques-Noble Abed of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and Father Bashar Fawadleh of the Roman Catholic Church—claimed that “Israeli settlers deliberately ignited a fire near the town’s cemetery and the historic Church of Saint George (Al-Khadr), a fifth-century site considered one of the oldest religious landmarks in Palestine.”


Amnesty calls for war crimes probe into Israeli strike on Iran’s Evin Prison
The strike on Evin was part of a sweeping assault Israel launched on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program on June 13 with the stated aim of stopping the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said it had recently taken steps toward weaponization.

The strikes on Evin came amid a wave of strikes on Tehran on on the penultimate day of the war that hit key assets and symbols of the Iranian regime in Tehran, including facilities belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the prison and the “Destruction of Israel” countdown clock.

The victims of the June 23 attack included administrative staff, guards, prisoners, and visiting relatives, as well as people living nearby.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners were being held at the time in the prison.

Among them were Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French nationals arrested three years ago accused of espionage.

They were not injured in the attack, their families said, and have since been transferred to a different location.

France, and other western governments, consider them and others to be “hostages” taken by the Iranian authorities for leverage in negotiations.


Soldier KIA in Gaza, raising IDF wartime toll to 895
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed fighting Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip, the military announced on Tuesday morning.

The fallen soldier was identified as Sgt. Maj. (res.) Vladimir Loza, 39, of the 5th Brigade’s 7020th Battalion, from the southern city of Ashkelon.

On Monday night, the military announced the death of Staff Sgt. Amit Cohen, 19, of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion, from Holon.

According to a preliminary investigation, Cohen was killed when Israeli munitions exploded inside a building in Khan Yunis. The IDF said it was continuing to probe the cause of the blast.

The death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the Gaza ground incursion on Oct. 27, 2023, stands at 451, and at 895 on all fronts since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, according to official IDF data.

“My wife, Sara and I, send our heartfelt condolences to the families of Staff Sgt. Amit Cohen, of blessed memory, a Golani fighter, and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Vladimir Loza, of blessed memory, a fighter in Battalion 7020, who fell in battle in Gaza,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Amit and Vladimir fought bravely to protect Israel’s security, and together with the entire nation, we mourn their loss and embrace their dear families,” Netanyahu continued. “We also pray for the full recovery of those wounded in the difficult incidents.”

“May the memory of our heroes be blessed and forever cherished,” the premier concluded.


Exclusive — Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: UN Aid Trucks are ‘Sitting Here Idle’ in Gaza
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says that the United Nations is no longer capable of delivering aid to Gaza, partly because its trucks are looted — and partly because some of its drivers work with Hamas.

In a video provided exclusively to Breitbart News, GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay is seen in Gaza, pointing out United Nations trucks that are “sitting here idle,” food rotting, because there is no one who will take them to delivery sites.

Chapin contrasts the incapacity of the United Nations with the activity of the GHF, which uses private security contractors to guard its own trucks, and delivers millions of meals per day to Palestinians in Gaza.

The GHF is an independent project that receives some financial support from the Trump administration, and which is permitted to operate in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces, which coordinates security outside the GHF aid delivery sites.

Fake news accounts, often pushed by Hamas and amplified by the United Nations, have claimed that Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians at GHF aid sites, but that has never actually happened.

Fay told Breitbart News that there has sometimes been violence outside the GHF sites — sometimes carried out by Hamas, which has attacked Palestinians trying to obtain aid, and has attacked GHF workers as well.

Israeli soldiers have also sometimes fired warning shots at large groups of Palestinians that deviate from approved access routes, if they are seen to pose a threat to the troops. But no one has been shot at a GHF site.


IDF: No famine in Gaza, but if UN keeps holding back 950 trucks, could be
Despite global claims, there is no famine in Gaza as of yet, the IDF said on Tuesday.

However, it cautioned, the UN and other international aid groups currently have a record 950 trucks sitting on the Gaza side of the border that they are failing to bring to Gazans.

All of this comes amid worldwide media coverage, based on Hamas Health Ministry reports, claiming that 15 Palestinians have died of starvation in the last 24 hours and that 600,000 people in Gaza – nearly one third of the population – are suffering from malnutrition.

A top IDF official met with leading UN bureaucrats regarding the issue on Tuesday, demanding to know how they could accuse Israel of causing famine in Gaza, which, again, has not happened yet but might shortly should the UN continue to abandon its trucks – while simultaneously leaving the aid trucks to sit there without distributing the food.

According to the senior IDF official, the UN bureaucrats sat quietly for at least 20 seconds, struggling to come up with a response. Eventually, one of them said that they would make more of an effort to get the trucks moving again, the IDF reported.


Israel and Syria said to resume talks after ceasefire ends Sweida violence
Israel and Syria have resumed dialogue on security matters in the wake of deadly sectarian clashes that saw the IDF strike in Damascus and in Syria’s southern Sweida province last week, Saudi media reported Tuesday.

According to the Saudi channel Al-Hadath, the talks are being mediated by Turkey and the United States, and an Israeli delegation is expected to travel soon to Baku, Azerbaijan, to finalize understandings with Syria.

However, the report also said Israel is not currently committing to halt its strikes in Syria and is demanding a demilitarized zone along the border, as well as a permanent presence in the buffer zone that the military seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The Axios news site, citing unnamed sources, similarly reported that US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack would lead a meeting with senior officials from Israel and Syria on Thursday.

It was unclear where the meeting was due to take place, but sources told Axios that it was expected to focus on security arrangements in southern Syria and increasing coordination and communication.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to the report.


Eylon Levy Reveals The One Thing Anti-Israel Activists Do BETTER Than Israel
In this episode Ollie speaks to former spokesperson for the State of Israel Eylon Levy. Eylon shot to global fame after October 7th where he became Israel's spokesperson and staunch advocate for Israel's military operations. Since leaving Eylon has set up his own podcast 'State of a Nation' and is the head of the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons' Office.

0:00 Intro
2:10 How did you become Israel’s spokesperson after Oct 7?
4:58 How international support for Israel faded?
11:03 Should Israel have moved faster?
13:58 Does Israel need to give a clearer vision for the future?
18:23 Thoughts on Trump’s Gaza relocation plan?
20:19 Media mistakes Israel keeps making?
22:11 Should we care about being liked?
24:00 But does hasbara work?
26:29 Can we learn from anti-Israel campaign messaging?
28:38 Are there any pro-Israel messages that are unhelpful?
31:00 When George Galloway stormed off a debate with you because you’re Israeli
36:43 Let's get personal (Bonus section)




Hunter Biden: The worst thing that has happened to Jewish people globally is Israeli gov't
Hunter Biden, son of former US president Joe Biden, said Jews are less safe globally due to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's actions and that Netanyahu's responses to Iran and Hamas's October 7 massacre are calculated to consolidate power, in a Monday interview with Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan.

Biden began by addressing the global backlash against Jews, which he linked to Netanyahu’s leadership. "What’s happening is that Jewish people globally are being lumped in with the horrific acts of Benjamin Netanyahu," he said.

"People are associating all Jews with the actions of Netanyahu, and that’s a problem." He stressed that many Jews, particularly those outside Israel, do not support Netanyahu's approach but are nonetheless being targeted. "Not all Jews support what Netanyahu is doing, but they’re still being targeted because of it," Biden remarked.

Biden also insinuated that Israel, or Netanyahu specifically, had intelligence on Hamas's October 7 massacre prior to the event. "If the Mossad had the [defense] plans for the October 7 attack a year before it occurred, why were you not prepared? Why did you not have soldiers in the southern part of Israel, where the attacks occurred, for up to 7-12 hours?" he asked, questioning the failure to act on intelligence.

Biden criticized Israel’s military response to Hamas, arguing that bombing Gaza would only perpetuate violence. "No matter what, unless you literally kill every single person that inhabits Gaza right now, you would have a generation upon generation that would justifiably haunt Israel and haunt the United States," he said.


‘Hamas media’: Former IDF spokesperson accuses the West of falling for propaganda
Former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus has weighed in on Australia joining calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Australia has joined 24 other nations - including the UK and France - in condemning Israel over the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians seeking aid.

The statement accuses Israel of an “unacceptable denial of humanitarian aid”, adding the Israeli government’s aid delivery model is “dangerous and deprives Gazans of human dignity”.

“I am saddened that so many Western governments are falling for Hamas propaganda,” Mr Conricus told Sky News Australia.

“It is Hamas media.”


‘Took against Israel from the start’: Australia joins calls for Gaza ceasefire
The Australian's Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan discusses Australia’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“The Albanese government is not trying to have any effect on the Middle East, it’s just trying to manage domestic politics,” Mr Sheridan told Sky News host Peta Credlin.

“Because it took against Israel right from the start, it now has no influence with Israel at all.”


Penny Wong ‘virtue signalling’ with joint statement against Israel
Former Labor MP Michael Danby discusses Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s “virtue signalling” by joining countries in a joint statement against Israel.

“She is virtue signalling to the people demonstrating outside Parliament House,” Mr Danby told Sky News host James Macpherson.

“It is primarily domestic; it has got little to do with the actual situation.”


Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Australia’s parliament reopening
Australia’s Parliament reopened on Tuesday to the loud presence of hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators demanding sanctions on Israel over the war against Hamas in Gaza, according to the Associated Press.

Protesters gathered outside Parliament House in Canberra, calling on the government to go beyond individual sanctions against Israeli officials and impose broader penalties on the State of Israel itself.

Security blocked 15 demonstrators from entering the Senate gallery during a speech by Attorney-General Sam Mostyn, who represents Australia’s head of state, King Charles III.

Inside the chamber, Senator Mehreen Faruqi of the Australian Greens staged a silent protest, holding up a sign that read: “Gaza is starving, words won’t feed them, sanction Israel.”

Australia has so far issued financial and travel sanctions against specific Israeli officials, including government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, but stopped short of broader action.

Social media influencer and activist Hillel Fuld saw his visa revoked in June, with the Australian government citing national security and public order concerns.

Tuesday’s protest followed Australia’s decision to join over two dozen other nations in a joint statement demanding an end to the war in Gaza.
Hamas continue to ‘refuse’ ceasefire as Labor government turns away from Israel
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma discusses the Labor Party’s pro-Gaza statement during the return to parliament.

“It’s Hamas that steadfastly refuses to accept that ceasefire deal as has been the case now over several months,” Mr Sharma told Sky News host Steve Price.

“Hamas thus far is refusing to do so.”


‘It’s a massacre’: Druze atrocities in Syria compared to October 7 attacks
Psychologist and lecturer at the University of Haifa Dr Sawsan Kheir discusses the atrocities committed against the Druze community in Syria.

“Lots is not known to the world,” Ms Kheir told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“There is a genocide taking place in Syria against the Druze community.

“It’s a massacre, I call it October 7 of the Druze, genocide is taking place, children … are being killed.”




US podcasters host antisemitic influencers after backlash over Netanyahu interview
Pro-Trump US podcasters the Nelk Boys streamed conversations Monday with several antisemitic influencers after the release of their interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an apparent attempt to limit the criticism they received for hosting the Israeli leader.

The one-hour interview with Netanyahu on “The Full Send Podcast,” hosted by Kyle Forgeard and Aaron Steinberg, known as the Nelk Boys, was recorded on July 8 during the prime minister’s visit to Washington and released Monday. Commenters on the podcast the hosts for hosting the prime minister amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and not asking Netanyahu tough questions on the matter.

“0 pushback you literally just let a war criminal talk freely for an hour to millions of fans just horrible horrible, you guys are truly,” one viewer commented.

“I’m so happy the comment section knows how vicious and evil this man is. I can’t believe Kyle is humanizing this man. Speechless, I am at a loss for words,” another wrote.

Shortly after, the Nelk Boys began live streaming with influencers Sneako, Myron Gaines, Hasan Piker, and Nick Fuentes — all known for circulating antisemitic and anti-Israel conspiracies — who offered commentary on the interview.

Sneako, who has been banned from YouTube and Twitch for antisemitic remarks, said “Trump is basically owned by Netanyahu” because the US president pulled out a chair for Netanyahu at their meeting earlier this month.

“How do you put America first if you send $4 billion to Israel every year?” Sneako asked the hosts, to which they responded that they agreed that Netanyahu’s behavior was making it harder for Americans to support Israel.

Myron Gaines claimed Netanyahu “lied about a bunch of shit” in the interview and falsely claimed, “a lot of the shit that happened on October 7 was a lie,” referring to the 2023 Hamas massacre that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

Gaines denied the occurrence of mass rapes during the massacre, and also claimed that Hamas’s goal of the invasion was to capture as many hostages to exchange for prisoners, instead of mass killings, adding, “a lot of the innocent people that were killed were killed by the IDF” in an attempt to prevent Hamas from taking more captives.
Josh Hammer Show: Jokes, Jerks, and Judging the Line (Feat. Ami Kozak)
Josh is joined by comedian and musician Ami Kozak for a no-holds-barred conversation about what it means to be a comic in 2025—with President Trump back in the White House. They break down Josh’s recent TPUSA conference debate with Dave Smith and ask the hard question: Should a guy like Smith even be invited to speak at prominent conservative conferences? From free speech to platforming anti-Semitic voices, Josh and Ami tackle the fine line between open dialogue and giving a mic to people who just don’t deserve one.


Youth wing of the Democratic Party passes amendment opposing Israel’s ‘ongoing genocide in Gaza’
The Young Democrats of America, the youth wing of the Democratic Party, has passed an amendment to its foreign policy plank opposing the “Israeli government’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

The amendment, which passed narrowly at the organization’s convention in Philadelphia last week, also expresses opposition to the Israeli government’s “occupation of the West Bank, and its denial of civil and political rights on an equal basis in the territories it militarily occupies,” according to an updated foreign policy plank reviewed by Jewish Insider.

The changes to the organization’s foreign policy stances underscore a sharp decline in the perception of Israel across the Democratic Party as Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza wages on after more than 21 months.

Last month, a poll released by Quinnipiac University found that among Democrats, 12% said that their sympathies lay more with Israelis, while 60% sympathized more with Palestinians. In February, a Gallup poll found that just 33% of Democrats have a favorable view of Israel overall.

The Young Democrats of America added the word “genocide” to an existing amendment, which outlined its policy stances for the years 2023 to 2025. It was proposed to “reflect current events and align with present-day actions,” according to a platform committee document from the convention obtained by Jewish Insider.

Using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza has become a lightning rod for discussions surrounding the war. Israel and its supporters vehemently deny the characterization, but as the death toll mounts in Gaza and killings at aid distribution sites have been reported on a near-daily basis, some of Israel’s supporters are beginning to use the term, as are a number of scholars of genocide.

At the biennial convention last week, YDA also approved a resolution that voiced support for student protests “against US complicity” in what it called the “Israeli government’s genocidal actions in Gaza,” according to a document shared with Jewish Insider.


Munich citizens form human chain around synagogue to protect from pro-Palestine rally
Several hundred people formed a human chain around a Munich synagogue to protect the Jewish community from a mass pro-Palestinian protest in a moving show of solidarity.

The Friday pro-Palestinian rally, organized by the group Palestine Speaks, was given permission to travel right past the city’s main synagogue, posing a threat to the Jewish community. The protesters shouted “Death to the IDF” and waved Palestinian flags, according to footage from the rally.

According to the Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Antisemitism, “Hamas terror was glorified as ‘Palestinian resistance,’ and German, Israeli, and French hostages held by the Islamist terror group were denounced as ‘war criminals.’”

The Munich Police Department provided increased security for the synagogue, assigning 150 officers from the Protection Division, the Special Support Command, and the mounted police unit to the scene. It also set up barricades and checkpoints to control access to the area.

However, the police weren’t alone. Hundreds of locals from various groups showed up in force to form a human chain. One of the groups – München Ist Bunt – posted ahead of time on Facebook: “We protect our synagogue! Join the human chain against antisemitism.” The protesters were joined by a musician who sang, “Stick together against hatred of Jews throughout the country.”

Holocaust survivor Charlotte Knobloch, former Munich mayor Christian Ude, former regional bishop Susanne Breit-Kessler, and Social Democratic Party city councilor Micky Wenngatz, chair of the München Ist Bunt alliance, all spoke at the nearby St. Jacob’s Square.


Hamas lawyer called for ‘copycat’ Palestine Action groups
A lawyer who represented Hamas called for “copycat” direct action groups to spring up to replace the banned Palestine Action.

Franck Magennis was one of three lawyers who worked on an unsuccessful application to remove Hamas from the Home Office’s list of proscribed organisations.

It has now emerged that Mr Magennis spoke at a conference in the days before Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist group, and called for copycat groups to pick up the mantle.

Mr Magennis, a barrister at Garden Court Chambers, reposted a video of himself making the speech at the Socialist Workers’ Party’s Marxist Festival on the day the ban came into effect.

In the video he calls for: “Copycat direct action groups… to spring up everywhere… We mustn’t let the British Empire, that is participating in this genocide, push us around. They do not have the power to stop us.”

He also tells the audience Zionism is in a “serious crisis” and encouraged supporters to “kick it to death”

He said: “It [Zionism] is in a serious crisis; it looks like it is not long for the world, but that doesn’t mean that we can be complacent. We must assure that we kick it to death. It must not be allowed to survive this crisis.”

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism has made a complaint against Mr Magennis to the Bar Standards Board alleging that is conduct diminishes public trust in him as a barrister.

The group alleges that posts on his social media amount to a criminal offence, namely the support of a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.


'F–k peace' Anti-Israeli protester accused of torching NYPD cars charged as supporters cause chaos in court
A smug anti-Israeli protester charged with torching nearly a dozen NYPD cars was hit with criminal mischief charges Tuesday as a mob of unhinged supporters sparked a near-riot in Brooklyn.

Jakhi Lodgson McCray, 21, strolled out of Brooklyn Supreme Court after being arraigned in last month’s arson stunt that caused at least $800,000 in damages to police vehicles — with about a dozen keffiyeh-wearing troublemakers who berated cops and reporters with vulgar threats.

“You guys are f–king disgusting,” one wanna-be bully told reporters. “You’re a f–king piece of s–t.”

One cop asked the mob, “I thought you guys were all about peace.”

“F–k peace,” one punk fired back.

The state court arraignment came one day after McCray, identified by law enforcement sources as a known “Free Palestine” protester, was arrested on federal arson charges in the car-torching case.

The charges stem from the early morning caught-on-camera incident at an NYPD parking lot just one block from the 83rd Precinct station house around 1:30 a.m. on June 12.


Greek protesters block Israeli cruise ship from docking, forcing reroute to Cyprus
An Israeli-owned cruise ship was prevented from docking at the Greek island of Syros on Tuesday and was instead rerouted to Cyprus due to a large anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protest taking place at the port.

The “Crown Iris” cruise ship, operated by Israeli shipping giant Mano Maritime, was carrying roughly 1,600 passengers when it arrived at Ermoupoli, in Syros, at around midday for a six-hour visit.

Initially, Mano Shipping said that there would be a “slight delay” in disembarking the ship, as it estimated that the demonstration would disperse “within half an hour.”

But as 3 p.m. came and went and the delay stretched on, Mano Shipping decided to skip Syros entirely and reroute the ship to Limassol in Cyprus instead.

Passenger Dror Marshalkowitz told Channel 12 that it took the police two hours to arrive at the scene and that “whoever took the decision” to reroute to Cyprus “apparently did the right thing,” given that there were 300-400 children on board and it was best not to put them in danger.

During the extended delay at the port, passengers told Channel 12 news that they had been told by onboard security to remain indoors, rather than to go out onto the deck.

One Israeli passenger told the Kan public broadcaster, however, that when one of the passengers saw the protest, “we raised Israeli flags and some of us started singing.”

“We felt safe inside the ship, but the children are a little stressed,” the passenger said.




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