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Friday, July 25, 2025

07/25 Links Pt2: The worldwide frenzy against Israel; Pilot who kicked Jewish children off plane taught 9/11 terrorists to fly; Behind the $221 Million Columbia Antisemitism Deal

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The worldwide frenzy against Israel
A statement by Britain’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, and the foreign ministers of 27 other countries accused Israel of “the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,” denying “essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population” and soaring rates of “settler violence.”

How can we explain this astounding descent from rationality into the sewers of lethal propaganda? How can it be that in Britain, factual evidence about the Gaza war is met with incredulity, “Zionist” has become a term of abuse, and antisemitism is now regarded as little more than a device for Jews to sanitize the “crimes” of Israel?

There are many reasons, including ideology, ignorance and wishful thinking. There is also the widespread belief that the U.N. and the humanitarian-rights establishment, which have the status of a secular religion, act with perfect integrity and are incapable of lying or doing evil.

But there are far darker impulses at work—the deep desire to prove that the Jews are bad, that they have a unique and destructive power over world events, that they can never be victims.

That’s why the acute threats to the world posed by Russia, China or Iran, the terrible atrocities against the Druze in Syria or the Christians in Africa, the famine and starvation in Sudan—all are dwarfed in the West by its overwhelming, unhinged, vicious obsession with tiny Israel, the focus of a civilizational disorder that is dragging down not the Jewish state but the West itself.
Jonathan Tobin: Don’t be misled by AOC and Mamdani’s fake moderation
Nevertheless, it’s fair to ask whether—given Taylor Greene’s stand on Iron Dome funding and the steady drumbeat of antisemitic agitation from right-wing podcast hosts like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens—the Republicans now have their own Jew-hatred problem.

The Georgia congresswoman’s speech on the floor of the House demanding an end to funding for the missile-defense system that has saved countless Israeli lives was an eye-opener to those who may have thought that hatred for the Jewish state is confined to AOC’s “Squad” mates. Much like the stand of her fellow Republican Massie, MTG’s position can be dismissed as pure isolationism—“America alone” as opposed to Trump’s “America first.” The malevolence toward Israel that she demonstrated was a reminder that antisemitism is the place where the far left and the far right come together.

Given her well-known ignorance of most issues and propensity for saying outlandish things—like talk of Jewish “space lasers” that can only be characterized as stupid—most Republicans have little use for her. But, much like Carlson, she has often been included in Trump’s circle of friends and supporters in recent years. That’s something that ought to worry the vast majority of conservatives and Republicans who remain steadfast supporters of Israel as well as of the president’s tough response to the post-Oct. 7 surge in Jew-hatred that most Democrats oppose.

That said, the question to ask about the willingness of Republicans like Tayler Greene and Massie to make common cause with notorious Democratic antisemites like Tlaib and Omar is whether their faction of the GOP is significant enough to give it any hope of leading it in the foreseeable future. And that is where the real contrast between the two parties’ anti-Israel factions can be found.

The intersectional and virulently anti-Israel faction of the Democrats may not yet be in control of the party, but as the comments of the DNC chair and the refusal of party leaders to disavow an open Israel-hater and an avowed hard-core Socialist like Mamdani demonstrate, they are clearly afraid of them. While Taylor Greene’s stands and the comments of Carlson, Owens and others on the far right can’t be ignored, there is little danger of anyone who shares their views being in control of a GOP that remains, outside of a few outliers, a lockstep pro-Israel party.

That leaves supporters of Israel with the unfortunate reality of a situation where the Jewish nation has become a partisan issue rather than a matter of a bipartisan consensus. This is a disturbing development for a pro-Israel community that has always sought to build support on both sides of the aisle. But that ideal is simply no longer possible in a political universe in which people like AOC and Mamdani have—unlike Taylor Greene—a far from insignificant shot to ascend to high office underneath the Democrats’ banner.
Opinion: When does ‘Jew’ not mean Jew – the BBC’s long obfuscation
The recently published findings of the BBC’s internal review into its commissioned documentary ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’ include a separately-uploaded ‘Action Plan’, part of which relates to the issue of “Language”:

The BBC will issue new editorial guidance to programme makers on the use and translation of the word ‘Yahud/ Yahudi’ into English, following the recommendation in Peter Johnston’s Review. Going forward, programme makers should default to using the literal translation of those terms as ‘Jews/ Jewish’. It will still be possible to use a different translation, but this would need to be referred up to senior executive editor level and the programme should make clear to the audience wherever possible why they deviated from the literal translation. Peter Johnston’s report also recommends that ‘Yahud/ Yahudi’ be looked at more comprehensively, and with external input, through the forthcoming thematic review of BBC Middle East coverage agreed by the BBC Board.

Notably, in the full review Johnston explains that the translation of ‘Yahud’ to ‘Israelis’ and even ‘Israeli Forces’ in the documentary was based on a 2013 BBC Trust ruling, stating that:
“For this Programme, expert advice was sought and taken on the translation of ‘Yahud’ during the compliance phase, which was based on a previous finding from the BBC Trust (the BBC’s former regulator) in 2013 and subsequent ECU rulings on this issue. The BBC Trust had determined previously that the translation does not need to be literal, but should consider the context and who was using the term to aid audience understanding.”

Two years after that 2013 ruling, another BBC documentary featuring children in the Gaza Strip during a war would also mistranslate ‘Yahud’ as ‘Israel’.

While Peter Johnston’s recommendations may give the impression that BBC policy is finally set to improve, a number of points need to be taken into account.

Colloquial Gazan Arabic has distinct terms for “military,” “soldiers,” “Israelis,” and “Zionists”—none of which is Yahud, a word that unequivocally means “Jews.” Even when Gazans use Yahud in reference “to actions by the IDF, the Israeli state, or Israeli citizens” —as the BBC now asserts in its recent review — this occurs within a widely held worldview that sees all of these as indistinguishable.

One of the clearest indications for this mindset is the chant Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahud -popular across the Arab world and particularly in Gaza – which evokes a 7th-century massacre of Jews in the Arabian Peninsula, hundreds of kilometres from Gaza and centuries before State of Israel or the IDF came into existence.


Yisrael Medad: Tainting Jews
For more than 2,000 years, Jews have been and are hated. Hated for their religious customs, for their presumed economic success. Hated for their genes, for the blood in their veins. Hated for their accomplishments. And for what they did or some did or very few did, if at all, but mostly hated for what they haven’t done.

Most of all, hatred of Jews is not directed at individuals, for, after all, “some of my best friends are … .” Nevertheless, any Jew can be hated and usually for any reason.

Today, Jews are informed that tens of thousands of “children” are being killed by the Israel Defense Forces along with the starvation visited on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip. There is no real fact-based objective truth to that claim, or to the claim the IDF is gunning down aid seekers. That Israel is engaged in “genocide. ”

What’s at work here is a desire and a willingness to attach both blemish and stigma to being Jewish. To tarnish, discredit, shame and taint Jews. Jews, not Israelis. Jews, not Zionists. Stalk and harass them in cafes and on subways. Make them feel extremely uncomfortable for something they personally haven’t done.

Jewish schools, school buses and young schoolchildren have recently objects of vicious verbal beratement. Synagogues and Jewish-sponsored hospitals as well. Pro-Palestine protesters can enter a subway car, and threaten and yell at someone with a Jewish appearance for an action that occurred in Gaza, just like an action that happened in Khaybar or Jerusalem or Lincoln, England in 1255, or at the Tower of London in 1279, where almost 300 Jews were executed for “coin-clipping.”

False accusations, made-up crimes and misinterpreted events are among the many historical causes for the deaths and injuries of Jews. That history continues. Jews are to be considered contaminated, a singular caste of modern “untouchables,” due to their love of Zion, their attachment to Jerusalem and their 3,000-year-old religious traditions that include nationalist elements.

Whether practiced and propagated by non-Jews or Jews, Muslim Arabs or those practicing other religions or no religion, anti-Zionism is a subset of classic antisemitism paradigms. Lauren Smith calls the British version the “Rise of ‘Respectable’ Antisemitism.” Progressives are utterly convinced that their antisemitism is simply a crusade for morality and humanitarian values. However, at its root, it’s not only Jew-hatred but seeing the age-old opportunity for that hate to evolve into acts of violence done to Jews and, ultimately, their eradication, along with Israel’s elimination.

It’s crystal clear. But it leaves us with a dilemma: Why would, for example, New York City rabbis support mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist who hasn’t spoken well of the Jews? And do so to “address antisemitic violence?” They cannot expect that from a person who founded the chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine at Bowdoin College in Maine, and who cannot seem to decry the hate-filled chant to “globalize the intifada.”

Self-tainted Jews?
UNESCO: Where culture goes to die
Israel is not the only issue where UNESCO has lost its way. The agency has repeatedly attempted to insert itself into national education policies in ways that have sparked backlash from sovereign governments. In Hungary and Poland, for instance, UNESCO has criticized national curricula reforms while turning a blind eye to the countries’ democratic choices and complex historical contexts. Meanwhile, it has pushed controversial gender and sexuality education frameworks in places like Nigeria and Indonesia, where such efforts were seen as culturally tone-deaf and sparked significant public opposition.

Even more troubling is UNESCO’s habit of cozying up to authoritarian regimes while ignoring their gross human-rights violations. It has lauded Cuba for its literacy programs, despite the regime’s suppression of free thought and imprisonment of dissidents. It has applauded Iran’s cultural contributions while remaining conspicuously silent on that country’s censorship, oppression of women and imprisonment of educators. In China, where millions of Uyghurs are subject to forced reeducation and indoctrination, UNESCO has participated in heritage projects without so much as a word about the ongoing cultural genocide. The agency has too often prioritized appearances and alliances over integrity and accountability.

Moreover, its bloated bureaucracy and mismanagement of funds have been persistent concerns. In 2011, after UNESCO granted full membership to the Palestinian Authority, despite it not being a recognized state under international law, Washington rightly cut off its funding in accordance with a 1990 federal law signed by President George H.W. Bush, which prohibits U.S. contributions to any United Nations agency that admits the Palestinians as a full member. Since then, the agency has continued its downward spiral, choosing symbolism over substance and politics over principle.

Critics of the withdrawal will say that engagement is better than absence and that reform must come from within. But America has tried that route—more than once. We left UNESCO under President Ronald Reagan in 1984 due to its anti-Western bias and poor management, rejoined under George W. Bush in 2003 in a spirit of cooperation, and again suspended funding in 2011. None of it led to meaningful change.

Walking away isn’t a retreat from global leadership. It’s a statement that the United States will not lend legitimacy or taxpayer money to agencies that betray their founding missions and become tools for propaganda and historical revisionism. We should certainly continue to support the preservation of culture and education around the world, but through institutions and partnerships that actually reflect those values.

UNESCO had a noble beginning, but it has lost its way. The U.S. exit should serve as a wake-up call not just to the United Nations, but to every international organization that lets politics override principle.
Seth Mandel: Anti-Semites Have Decided Jewish Children Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Travel
The airline tried to claim that the brief singing was somehow dangerous because the flight attendants were ready to begin their safety demonstrations. This only made the airline and the Spanish authorities look worse. Then the campers’ baggage was removed and they and their counselor were left to fend for themselves and arrange their own trip home. Again, according to the reports, this was one 21-year-old and 47 minors.

The evidence that has emerged since the incident, including the testimony of other passengers, supports the campers’ initial and unchanged account.

Meanwhile, one day earlier, a cruise ship was stopped at port in Greece and prevented from docking by a large group of protesters. Why? The ship is owned by an Israeli company. After several hours, the company made the decision to move on to dock in Cyprus.

Passengers were with their children, and “they are afraid, scared and ask a lot of questions,” one passenger told Channel 12.

About these incidents there is not much else to say besides this: The mistreatment of Jewish children on commercial travel is a growing trend that suggests the “civilized” world has lost much of its humanity. The only good news was that the campers kicked off the Vueling flight were not totally abandoned: The Israeli Foreign Ministry kept in contact with them and made sure everybody found a way home to France. As always, every anti-Zionist demonstration further proves the necessity of Zionism.
Pilot who kicked over 50 Jewish children off plane reportedly taught 9/11 terrorists to fly
According to the airline, the pilot who ordered the Jewish passengers removed was a Canarian aviator with over twenty years experience named Ivan Chirivella.

In a statement, Vueling said: “Iván Chirivella, originally from the Canary Islands and a pilot at Vueling since 2006, operated flight. Over his 19-year career at Vueling, he has accumulated more than 12,500 flight hours, operating routes connecting over 30 countries. In addition to his role as an airline captain, Iván Chirivella - like many pilots - also works as an instructor for aviation professionals at an independent flight school. In this capacity, he has trained more than 100 pilots from around the world in flight operations.”

Chirivella has previoulsy made headlines after his realisation that he taught Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi to fly at Jones Aviation prior to the attacks of 9/11.

A year before the World Trade Center attacks, Chirivella flew with the two future hijackers nearly every day for several months.

In the wake of 9/11, when under investigation, Chirivella reportedly told police that the pair were aggressive in training and even tried to steal control of the plane multiple times and detailed his experiences in his book Cómplice inocente or “complicit” in English.


Spanish Transport Minister describes ejected French Jewish teens as ‘Israeli brats’
Spain’s Minister for Transport has described French Jewish teenagers ejected from a flight in Valencia as “Israeli brats”, potentially further inflaming a highly volatile situation which has caused significant international anger.

Oscar Puente, who has served as the country’s Minister of Transport and Sustainable Motability since 2023, had shared a statement from Vueling which claimed that “the group of teenagers was tampering with passenger safety equipment…attempting to release life jackets, tampering with overhead oxygen masks and removing high pressure oxygen cylinder [sic]”.

In what appears to have been an attempt at sarcastic criticism of right-wing Spanish people, the left-wing politician said: “Will the patriots be with Vueling? Will the law and order lot be with air safety? Will the xenophobes be with the Spanish company? Or will they all be chummy together, backing the Israeli brats?”

The Jewish group has maintained that the cabin crew intervened after they heard some of the campers singing in Hebrew, and that they referred to Israel as a “terrorist state”. They have also stated that when the Guardia Civil – Spanish police – boarded the plane, they were asked what nationality they were. When they said that they were French, an officer police responded that they had heard that some were Israeli.


The ‘protest paradigm’: How student-faculty anti-Israel activity leeched into media
In Kaufman-Osborn’s effusive defense of the Columbia encampment for Project MUSE, the university is “an autocratic property corporation,” and the student protesters are “the encampment’s residents.” In language only an academic would write, he explains that the protesters’ “embrace of procedural democracy was subtended by a struggle to meet mundane needs whose satisfaction is a necessary precondition of the possibility of autonomous self-governance.”

But the brave students of his tale pressed on and built their ephemeral campus utopia. “That infrastructure [which] took shape as DIY sanitation systems, communal kitchens and improvised health facilities owned by no one in particular … challenged the privatized conception of property that would soon inform the encampment’s demolition.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) saw something different with his own eyes: Jewish students “being verbally, and even physically, assaulted. Masked protesters … cheering on and actively calling for the genocide of Jews.”

Contrary to what anonymous FJP members, Socialist politicians and others “on the ground” wrote, the post-Oct. 7, anti-Israel protesters have created nothing but hostile environments. The encampment students, in particular, pilfered university resources and disrupted the education of their peers who want nothing to do with pro-Hamas demonstrations.

If any “created food security,” it was on someone else’s dime.

They also weren’t “residents” but trespassers, and they neither saved democracy nor challenged authoritarianism. As former American Association of University Professors president Carey Nelson aptly put it, they “sought to impose their views on everyone else. They did not doubt they were in possession of the truth, and they sought compliance with it.”

What will the fall 2025 semester bring? Will there be more protests and encampments in solidarity with terror groups? Or, maybe, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be the new cause.

Whatever comes, there will be no shortage of “insiders” to explain why you should not believe your lying eyes.


Josh Shapiro: Mamdani must check ‘blatantly antisemitic’ rhetoric among supporters
One of the most prominent Jewish politicians in the United States said Zohran Mamdani, New York’s Democratic mayoral nominee, should curb “blatantly antisemitic” language among his supporters.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is among the establishment Democrats who have hesitated to embrace Mamdani, a democratic socialist and vocal critic of Israel. Mamdani also has yet to win the endorsements of Jewish Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, though both congratulated him on his primary win.

In an interview with Jewish Insider, Shapiro said Mamdani’s campaign “left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things.”

Mamdani faced backlash during the primary for refusing to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” though he has since said he will “discourage” it.

Many pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activists argue that the phrase “globalize the intifada,” used regularly at pro-Palestinian protests, represents a nonviolent call for liberation. But many Jews and other critics say it functions as a call for violence against Jews and Israelis. The word “intifada,” which means “uprising” or “shaking off” in Arabic, was the name of two Palestinian uprisings, including one from 2000 to 2005 that killed an estimated 1,000 Israelis, mostly in terror attacks on civilian targets such as buses and cafes.
Zohran Mamdani taps senior aide to ousted anti-Israel Rep. Jamaal Bowman as new campaign manager
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has brought on a new campaign manager — who recently served as senior advisor to fire drill enthusiast and Israel-bashing ex-Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

Maya Handa will take the reins of the socialist’s bid for mayor following his stunning Dem primary win over supposed frontrunner Andrew Cuomo last month, Mamdani’s campaign announced Friday.

The Queens assemblyman will face Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and lawyer Jim Walden, all running as independents, in the November general election, along with the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa.

Handa most recently ran the day-to-day for the mayoral primary campaign of state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who struggled to break out from the crowded Democratic field.

Before jumping into the chaotic horse race, Handa served as senior advisor to Bowman, whose last consequential act as a New York representative in DC was pulling a fire alarm to delay a key House vote.

Shortly after, the “squad” member was voted out of office.

Bowman, a vocal critic of Israel who has accused the country of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, is also on Mamdani’s short list for schools chancellor.

Handa, a political operative with ties to the Working Families Party, has a resume packed with lefty lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s bid for president and Mondaire Jones’ 2020 campaign for Congress.


Behind the $221 Million Columbia Antisemitism Deal
Hundreds of Jewish faculty members, staff, and students who work for Columbia University will be eligible to claim a slice of the $21 million it is paying to settle accusations that they suffered unlawful discrimination because Columbia failed to confront antisemitism on campus.

Columbia’s agreement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is “the largest religious discrimination harassment settlement that we’ve ever achieved in our 60-year history” and the agency’s largest settlement of any kind in about 20 years, Andrea Lucas, acting chair of the EEOC, told The Free Press.

The deal includes every Jewish employee at Columbia—and is in addition to the $200 million fine that Columbia agreed to pay over three years to resolve civil rights investigations of the Ivy League institution. The $21 million EEOC settlement is equal to about 0.3 percent of Columbia’s operating revenue of $6.6 billion in fiscal 2024. Columbia students who are Jewish but don’t work for the university are ineligible for the payouts.

The Trump administration’s truce with Columbia goes much further than payouts or fines. It serves as a watershed moment in our nation’s reckoning over the antisemitism that erupted, and then flourished, at colleges and universities across the United States since October 7, 2023.

Lucas told The Free Press that the EEOC’s investigations have found “things out of Nazi Germany.” Students were turned away from educational and work spaces, Jewish faculty were too scared to go to work, students were terrified of getting assaulted or harassed while walking across campus, and much more. “This was a really grave civil-rights violation at a really large scale,” she said.

Inside the government and at Columbia, though, there is tension over whether the Columbia deal will actually inspire fundamental change at the Ivy League institution.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told The Free Press she is “delighted by the deal” and believes it “is a win on both sides.”

“This is just a seismic shift of what we’re going to see happening on our college campuses,” McMahon said. “For those universities that are receiving federal funding, I think we’ve put them on notice.”

“They will know that they should get their house in order,” McMahon warned.
Janitors, held hostage amid anti-Israel protests, settle with Columbia
Two janitors, who filed complaints against Columbia University after they were held hostage during the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall, reached a settlement agreement with the private Manhattan school.

Sources close to the litigation told JNS that Mariano Torres and Lester Wilson settled for an undisclosed amount to end their complaint, which was filed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The commission stated on Friday that a $21 million settlement was reached with various Columbia employees, “who may have experienced antisemitism on Columbia’s campus post-Oct. 7, 2023.” The janitors were not mentioned in the statement. Neither of the two is Jewish. The commission said that the settlement included charges brought on behalf of “a class of all Jewish employees.”

Sources close to the litigation told JNS that “all of the EEOC payouts were made from that $21 million bucket.”

“The Trump administration is committed to combatting antisemitism wherever it rears its head, including the workplace, and universities are workplaces too,” stated Andrea Lucas, acting commission chair. “No employee should be subjected to harassment based on their faith or Jewish identity.”

Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, told JNS that the center and the firm Torridon Law are representing the janitors in a separate and ongoing suit against their alleged captors. Torridon Law represented the two in the commission complaint, according to Lewin.

The Brandeis Center stated in April when the lawsuit was filed that the anti-Israel protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall “assaulted and battered” the janitors and “mocked and derided them as ‘Jew-lovers’ and ‘Zionists.’”


Cambridge secures injunction against pro-Palestine protests on university land
The University of Cambridge has been granted a further 12-month High Court injunction to prevent pro-Palestinian protests across key campus sites, citing “substantial disruption” and ongoing threats of direct action.

The renewed legal order, approved on Wednesday by Mr Justice Butcher, prohibits protesters from entering or occupying university land, including Senate House Yard, the Old Schools, Greenwich House and – for the first time – Chestnut Tree Lawn.

It follows an earlier injunction issued in March, which the university said was necessary to protect graduation ceremonies and staff safety after protest-linked disruption, including a student speech accusing Cambridge of “complicity” in “genocide in Gaza” that led to an evacuation.

Kester Lees KC, representing the university, said protesters believed to be associated with the campaign group Cambridge for Palestine had made clear their intention to continue direct action.

“Statements made by Cambridge for Palestine on their social media accounts convey the message that they will continue to carry out direct action until their demands are met,” he told the court.

In written submissions, he argued the harm caused by previous protests was “substantial”, including the disruption of thousands of attendees at graduation events, staff displacement, and over £230,000 in added costs for security, legal fees and cleaning.

The university also cited encampments erected earlier this year at Trinity and St John’s Colleges, which only ended after separate court injunctions were obtained.


Baltimore school-board meeting disrupted with ‘antisemitic, racist’ image
An “unauthorized individual accessed” and disrupted the Baltimore City Public Schools board of commissioners meeting this week with “antisemitic, racist and obscene adult content,” the district stated on Wednesday.

“This appalling act, which is being investigated as a hate crime, undoubtedly impacted and caused harm to members of our school community,” the Baltimore City Public Schools wrote. “We strongly and unequivocally renounce this criminal act.”

The content displayed was “deeply offensive, threatening and inappropriate in nature,” the statement read.

The Baltimore Zionist District criticized the district’s response, stating that the “explicit image,” which it said featured swastikas and phrases including “Heil Hitler and “kill Jews,” was clear Jew-hatred.

“This was not simply ‘graphic’ or ‘offensive.’ It was antisemitism, pure and simple,” the group wrote. “Attempts to minimize it with generic labels erase the truth and downplay the harm to our community.”

As soon as the board became aware of the display, the meeting was briefly recessed to determine the “safest way to proceed,” the school district stated, noting that the meeting then continued in person with a recording to be shared.

“In our haste to communicate about pausing the meeting, we regret that we failed to acknowledge the harm that the image caused,” the district wrote.


Iran expert, Dr Efrat Sopher, explains why Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear programme were legal
Dr Efrat Sopher, UKLFI Charitable Trust Trustee and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Ezri Center for Iran & Gulf States Research at Haifa University, exercises the right to reply to allegations that Israel's attack on Iran's nuclear programme were illegal, with the South African Jewish Board of Deputies


Ryan McBeth: Iran's Bots Went Dark...And That Gave Them Away
When Israel struck Iranian targets on June 13th, something strange happened four days later—thousands of Twitter accounts tweeting about Scottish independence just… stopped.

That silence? It wasn’t just suspicious. It was evidence.

In this video, I walk you through how a digital blackout in Iran exposed one of the largest Iranian disinformation operations targeting the West. Working with Cyabra, we tracked over 1,300 fake accounts—AI-generated personas pushing division in the UK, attacking the BBC, and praising Iran. And when the lights went out in Tehran, those bots vanished too.

Then they came back… parroting entirely new propaganda.

This is a masterclass in how modern influence warfare works—how state-sponsored actors weaponize your feed and how even silence can be a signal.




Emily Damari opens up about abuse experience in captivity, suicide pact with fellow hostage
British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari revealed in a Friday interview with the Daily Mail that one of her captors treated her so cruelly that she considered suicide.

“They were the worst people,” she said. “The worst family. They would make fun of us and laugh at us. They would tell us: 'Nobody cares about you.' They would hide food from us and tell us we were never leaving Gaza.”

Explaining that she had made a suicide pact with Romi Gonen, the pair had decided to either escape or end their lives to escape the cruelty.

To avoid that fate, Damari recounted how she grabbed the guard who had demonstrated the least cruelty and told him that if the pair weren’t moved, “you are going to have two dead hostages.” Despite the guard, a commander in the terror group, promising to move them, they remained in the family’s control for months. Despite the hopeless situation, Damari said she had a premonition they would soon be released and instructed Gonen to style her eyebrows, and she shaved her legs in preparation for their return to freedom.

From the moment she was taken on October 7
From the moment that Damari was taken on October 7, she recounted how she would rather die than be kidnapped and made a hostage.

When terrorists abducted her from her home, along with her friend Gali Berman, a terrorist shot off several of her fingers while killing her dog Choocha.

When the terrorist told her he would take her to the hospital, Damari recounted how she “understood this was not going to be an Israeli hospital” and told him, “No, no, no, shoot me!' I didn't want to be kidnapped, I would prefer to die.”

“I took his gun, put it to my head and said: 'Shoot me! Shoot me!” she told the Daily Mail, explaining she only went quietly once the terrorist placed a gun to her friend’s head.

After being transported to Gaza and separated from Gali, she was taken to Al-Shifa Hospital and told by terrorists she was more valuable to them alive than dead.




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