Tuesday, July 29, 2025

07/29 Links Pt2: Leaked email blows apart BBC’s impartiality claims over Gaza; Australia’s Jews have been abandoned; Regina Spektor: ‘You’re just yelling at a Jew’

From Ian:

Jonathan Sacerdoti: The leaked email that blows apart the BBC’s impartiality claims over Gaza
Most egregious is the email’s declaration that it is ‘indisputable’ that Israel is the occupying power in Gaza and therefore legally responsible for preventing hunger. This claim is presented without qualification, despite the fact that the status of Gaza under international law is disputed. Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, removing all settlers and military presence. It argues, with some legal backing, that it does not meet the criteria of occupation, since it neither governs Gaza nor maintains a permanent presence. Even under post-October 7 operations, Israel maintains that its actions constitute temporary military engagement, not sovereign control.

International legal opinion may be divided on this. The BBC’s own editorial guidelines insist that politically contested labels such as ‘occupation’ should be attributed and contextualised, not asserted. That rule has been disregarded. The internal memo presumes a singular legal reality, eliding complexity in favour of moral indictment.

The BBC memo mirrors the line taken by BBC presenters, including Nick Robinson, who recently interviewed the Israeli government spokesman David Mencer. It sounded like institutional ventriloquism, from the body which insists it won’t call Hamas terrorists, but has no room for debate over whether Gaza is ‘occupied’.

In asserting the infallibility of its chosen narrative, the BBC omits basic journalistic standards: to interrogate all sides, to distinguish between fact and allegation, and to treat political and legal claims with appropriate scrutiny. Instead, it has opted to police language internally, enforce ideological conformity, and condemn without due diligence.

When the Corporation insists that only one party bears responsibility, and instructs its reporters accordingly, it is no longer informing the public. It is persuading them.

Why is it our national broadcaster seems so desperate to attack the one non-Israeli body which is doing the most to undermine the Hamas stranglehold over Gaza and its people? The closer the GHF and Israeli army get to finally defeating the terrorists, the more shrill the BBC’s insistence that the Jewish state is deliberately starving children. They have trouble believing a self-declared Islamic jihadist dictatorship might have designed this level of suffering and torture, but none in believing the Jewish democratic state did so.

The BBC is publicly funded and legally obligated to remain impartial. This latest leaked email suggests it is failing in that duty. As ever, there is virtually no chance the organisation will admit, redress or be penalised for this failing. They never are.
Australia’s Jews have been abandoned – we’re through the looking glass now
From day one, communal leaders warn the state and federal governments that unless they crack down, the situation will deteriorate and end in violence.

Twenty-two months on, one synagogue has been burnt to the ground, a second narrowly escaped the same fate earlier this month on the same night an Israeli restaurant was trashed, cars have been torched, graffiti is rife, and, just last week, young Jewish school kids on a trip to the Melbourne Museum were harangued by far older students from a non-Jewish school, whose teachers reportedly shrugged off the incident. This weekend, meanwhile, the National Gallery of Victoria was forced into lockdown as protestors rallied outside, demonstrating against the support it receives from a philanthropic Jewish family.

And the response from our nation’s leaders? Furrowed brows and the same empty words over and over again. “There’s no place for antisemitism in Australia.”

Except there is. To such an extent that a) it’s in the news here virtually every week; b) it’s making international headlines; c) there’s a palpable sense of fear in the community, with members literally saying they feel they have no future in Australia; and d) possibly most shocking of all, friends and family in Israel, who are in the middle of wars on all fronts and constantly running to bomb shelters, are ringing us up to find out if we’re okay because they’ve heard how terrible things are Down Under.

We’re through the looking glass here, people.

I say the governments have failed to act. That’s not strictly true. The federal government did appoint an Antisemitism Envoy some months ago, who last week delivered a series of recommendations.

Is the government taking them up? Well, as one minister said, underlining where it’s all going wrong – they’d wait to receive a report from the Islamophobia Envoy before making any decisions. Yes, even though the two are quite distinct and even though the number of incidents targeting the Muslim community is a fraction of the number targeting the Jewish community, the government has sacrificed its moral compass on the altar of political expediency.

By failing to crack down on anti-Zionism—which attacks on synagogues and school kids clearly demonstrate is simply antisemitism through the backdoor—they have allowed antisemitism to fester.

For a country that prides itself on multiculturalism, there’s only one explanation: we’re through the looking glass here, people.
Khaled Abu Toameh: The Muslim Brotherhood: A Terrorist Organization That the US Must Designate as One
Recently, Jordan joined the list of countries that have banned the Muslim Brotherhood: Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Austria. The move came after Jordanian authorities announced that they had arrested 16 people suspected of planning attacks aimed at "targeting national security, sowing chaos and sabotage."

The Muslim Brotherhood, in addition, has served as an inspiration for Islamist terror groups Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda. According to the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit international policy organization working to combat the growing threat exposed by extremist ideologies: "Before ascending to the highest positions of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Osama bin Laden, and Ayman Zawahiri belonged to a common ideological precursor, the Muslim Brotherhood."

The Muslim Brotherhood has been able to fool many Westerners by pretending that most of its work is based on charity and humanitarian aid. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mujama al-Islami (Islamic Center) in the Gaza Strip started as a charity and was even licensed by Israel.

"Since the 1970s, the Muslim Brotherhood has been aggressively whitewashing its image. By doing charitable work, the Brotherhood pretends to be a humanitarian agency. The charitable work, however, is camouflage for the Brotherhood's real mission — undermining Western society, promoting Sharia law, and pursuing global domination.... The Brotherhood will use any tactic, including subversion and violence, to dismantle Western societies." — Pastor Michael Youssef, Daily Wire, June 24, 2025.

Designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization would give US law enforcement and intelligence agencies the legal tools they need to protect Americans. It would allow them to:
• Freeze financial assets used to fund radical networks;
• Block the travel of known Brotherhood operatives;
• Investigate and prosecute U.S.-based affiliates;
• Expose front groups that serve as recruitment pipelines;
• And cut off the flow of resources from foreign governments and donors.

Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization is vital not only for the national security of the United States, but also for combating Islamist terrorism around the world. If America's Arab allies have reached the conclusion that the Muslim Brotherhood is a dangerous Islamist terror organization, there is no reason why the US and other Western countries should continue to pretend that it is all about charitable and humanitarian work.


Seth Mandel: Yelling At Jews
Music websites that covered the encounter—which Spektor handled perfectly, and any normal society would see her response as a deserved rebuke of the anti-Semitic hecklers—made sure to add snide closing paragraphs criticizing Spektor. Over the course of her career, Spektor has now gone from cheered to jeered for embracing her faith and her family’s story. It is a disturbing sign of a cultural shift, especially in the arts.

Across the pond, the situation is similar. Jewish comedian Philip Simon was preparing to perform his one-man show at the upcoming Edinburgh Festival Fringe when he received the following note from the host venue: “We feel it is inappropriate for us to provide a platform for performers whose views and actions align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with humanitarian violations.”

I want to repeat that last phrase for emphasis: “align with the rhetoric and symbology of groups associated with.”

As Liz Lemon says to Jack Donaghy in a classic 30 Rock exchange: “Just say ‘Jewish,’ this is taking forever.”

Specifically, the venue said, Simon’s “views concerning the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine … are in significant conflict with our venue’s stance against the current Israeli government’s policy and actions.”

What are Simon’s expressed views on the conflict? According to Simon, he has “never expressed support for anything other than freeing the hostages and finding a way for peace.”

His views aren’t really at issue, because one would have to be a soulless monster to take issue with his opinion that hostages should be released alive. A second show of his, “Jew-O-Rama,” was canceled by another venue.

Rachel Creeger’s performance of her show, “Ultimate Jewish Mother,” was also canceled by that same venue. (Creeger is an Orthodox Jewish comedian.) According to Creeger, that venue has reassured her in the past: “We’ll look after you, no one messes with OUR Jews.”

Perhaps when they made that promise, they hadn’t considered the symbology of the rhetoric that aligns with groups that are associated with all those other Jews.

The arts are quickly becoming a place where you are told to either denounce the Jews or get off the stage. For non-artists, the lesson is that advocating for the release of innocent hostages is now coded as support for “genocide.” If you thought the anti-Zionist discourse was bad before, the worlds of art and activism are telling us, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
‘You’re just yelling at a Jew’: Regina Spektor responds to anti-Israel activists at concert
Musician Regina Spektor responded to anti-Israel activists attempting to disrupt one of her concerts by telling them, “You’re just yelling at a Jew”.

The Jewish singer-songwriter was interrupted by multiple protestors at her concert in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, yelling variations of “free Palestine”. Other audience members are understood to have responded by shouting “Am Yisrael Chai”.

As seen in video footage shared on social media, Spektor, who was born in Moscow to Jewish parents and moved to the US as a child, responded to another protestor who said they were “watching dying children”, telling them: “You can leave the show if you want, this is not an internet comment section. I know you’re mistaking my show for a YouTube video.

“I think you should go because this is not the place for that conversation. I’m a real person who came here to play music. If anybody wants to walk out, this is your chance. Does anybody else want to take a walk? You can.”

A few members of the audience are understood to have left.


Brazil quits Holocaust alliance as it backs genocide case against Israel
Brazil has quietly withdrawn from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) just days after formally backing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice – a dual shift in policy that has sparked outrage among Jewish groups and Israeli officials.

Though the Brazilian government has not issued a public statement, the withdrawal was confirmed by pro-Palestinian Brazilian groups, domestic media, and Israel’s foreign ministry. According to reports in Metrópoles, Brazil’s foreign ministry notified the Israeli embassy in Brasília last week.

Israel’s foreign ministry branded the move a “profound moral failure”, posting on X: “At a time when Israel is fighting for its very existence, turning against the Jewish state and abandoning the global consensus against antisemitism is both reckless and shameful.”

Brazil had held observer status at IHRA since 2021. Sources cited by national outlet UOL said budget constraints were a factor – though the timing has led to fierce criticism from Jewish leaders, who accused the government of undermining Holocaust remembrance for political purposes.

Fernando Lottenberg, Commissioner for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism at the Organisation of American States (OAS), called the move “a mistake” and warned it could impact Brazil’s 120,000-strong Jewish population.

“Being integrated into the IHRA is a way to demonstrate commitment to peace, Holocaust education, and the fight against antisemitism,” he said. “Especially at a time of rising hate, great care must be taken so that actions unrelated to diplomatic tensions do not affect the safety of the large Jewish community living in the country.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s Latin America office went further, stating: “Withdrawing Brazil from an international organisation that seeks to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and combat antisemitism is not a measure against the State of Israel. It is contempt for Jews.”
UCLA Agrees To Pay Millions, Enter Into Consent Decree To Settle Discrimination Suit From Jewish Students
UCLA agreed to pay more than $6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Jewish students who said the university allowed anti-Semitic discrimination during the spring 2024 anti-Israel encampments, which included a "Jew Exclusion Zone."

Just hours after the settlement was inked, the Justice Department announced that it found UCLA violated federal civil rights law by failing to "respond to complaints of severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment and abuse that Jewish and Israeli students faced on its campus from October 7, 2023, to the present."

In June 2024, Yitzchok Frankel, then a second-year UCLA law student, filed a lawsuit alleging he was "harassed and blocked from approaching the encampment by antisemitic activists, all with the assistance of UCLA security." He was later joined by two additional Jewish students and a medical school professor, and the Justice Department's notice of violation on Tuesday also pointed to findings in the Frankel suit.

Under the settlement, UCLA will contribute over $2.3 million to eight Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel at UCLA, while another $320,000 will go toward UCLA’s Initiative to Combat Antisemitism. It will also dole out $50,000 to each of the plaintiffs and pay $3.6 million of their legal fees.

In addition to the payments, UCLA will also enter a consent judgment that prohibits it from "knowingly allowing or facilitating the exclusion of Jewish students, faculty, and/or staff"—including discrimination based on one’s "religious beliefs concerning the Jewish state of Israel"—from university programs or spaces. The agreement will be in effect for 15 years.
Antisemitism is back in British academia
British universities collectively appear to be unaware of the definition of insanity: to repeat the same action, and to expect, somehow, a different result.

The ‘action’ is simple: introduce a new set of rather vague, hazy regulations, enforce them to such a minute degree that they might as well not exist at all, wait for a new report to be released detailing administrative failings that permit antisemitism to flourish, and repeat.

The latest report of this sort, released a fortnight ago, describes antisemitism’s growth to become ‘normalised in middle-class Britain.’ What differentiates this report from those that have come and gone already – and those that will inevitably arrive in future – is less about where antisemitism occurs, and more about who participates in it. It is no surprise that the arts sector, the NHS, and universities are most particularly under fire from the report’s co-authors, former defence secretary, Penny Mordaunt, and the government antisemitism advisor, Lord Mann. The surprise, however, is that antisemitism appears to have sprouted among Britain’s most well-educated and well-off citizens.

Such things have been evident in the United States for some time already: Columbia University’s 2024-2025 tuition exceeds $93,000, a small fortune for just a year of study in such an environment that evidently lends itself more to protests and virtue-signalling activism than to any actual learning.

What has taken longer to spread, though, is antisemitism in educational institutions across the pond. The numbers in Britain point to a definite collective increase in antisemitism: according to the Community Service Trust (CST), recorded antisemitic incidents increased by 147% in 2023 following the October 7, 2023, massacre. In 2024, numbers remained the second highest ever recorded, short of those in 2023. CST logged over 200 cases in every month of 2024 except December – apparently, it was too cold for anyone to bother attacking Jews.
Pro-Palestinian ‘sham’ charity partnered with Ivy League schools: reports
An organization that was recently added to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s terror financier list due to its affiliation with Hamas has partnered with several Ivy League schools to push anti-Israel propaganda.

Since its founding in 1991, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has operated as a sham charity. It is “responsible for funding Hamas’s Military Wing under the pretense of conducting humanitarian work, both internationally and in Gaza,” according to a June Treasury Department news release.

The organization “purports to represent the interests of Palestinian prisoners,” but has long been affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist group involved in the October 7, 2023, attacks against Israel, the news release states.

In recent years, Addameer has advanced its anti-Israel propaganda through partnerships on American college campuses, including Harvard, Yale, and Cornell, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

The Free Beacon detailed Addameer’s involvement in several meetings with anti-Israel groups on campuses, including Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia Law School, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and the Arab American Cultural Center at the University of Illinois Chicago.

The organization has worked with colleges “to push unverified allegations against Israel,” the outlet reported.

In collaboration with Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, for example, Addameer wrote and submitted a joint report to the U.N. accusing Israel of apartheid crimes.

The organization also collaborated with Yale Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic to send the U.N. another letter demanding Israel release Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were members of the PFLP. Addameer conducted similar efforts with Cornell Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.

Additional schools, including the University of Chicago via its Student Justice for Palestine and Organization of Black Students, as well as Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies, have hosted events featuring members of the terrorist financier.


The Intifada that Hasn't Arrived
Since Hamas's surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 Israelis, the Israeli military has assailed and occupied much of Gaza, ramped up operations in the West Bank, struck Houthi targets in Yemen, devastated Hizbullah in Lebanon, hit nuclear and military sites in Iran, and bombed parts of Syria. All these adversaries have links to terrorism. Through its proxies and on its own, Iran has attacked Israeli and Jewish targets around the world.

In these circumstances, Israel appears to be courting a new wave of terrorist attacks, maybe even a wider uprising. Yet the number of terrorist attacks within Israel since Oct. 7 has been surprisingly low. A third intifada, in which Palestinians would rise up against Israel as they did between 1987 and 1993 and between 2000 and 2005 remains a distant prospect.

That is in large part attributable to the success of Israel's campaigns against its enemies, the disarray of its foes, and its stiffened internal defenses. Israel has devastated the leadership of Hamas, Hizbullah, and now Iran. As Israeli campaigns against Hamas in the past have demonstrated, killing terrorist group leaders, especially at a rapid pace, can undermine the overall effectiveness and capacity of these outfits, making it difficult to stage operations.

Guarding against Israeli strikes also creates its own logistical problems. Leaders must avoid phones, email, and other forms of communication for fear of having their locations revealed. They must trust few people and meet with fewer. In short, they cannot perform the functions of leadership if they want to stay alive.

Fatigue and disillusionment may be setting in among the Palestinians. Polling in May indicated that 75% of West Bank Palestinians fear the war will spread into the West Bank, leading to the kind of destruction seen in Gaza. Although half of Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank still support Hamas's decision to attack on Oct. 7, this support has fallen from 72% in December 2023. The devastation of Gaza is causing many to think twice about the costs of violence.


Police detain suspect in killing of Palestinian activist
Yuval Abraham, an Israeli far-left activist who co-directed “No Other Land” together with Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra, identified the slain Arab on X as “a friend who helped us film.”

According to Abraham, the shooter was Yinon Levi, who has been sanctioned by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Japan for alleged acts of violence against Palestinians.

A spokesperson for the Hebron Hills Regional Council told JNS that the incident involved “dozens of Arab rioters” who attacked “Jewish workers and cars carrying out work to develop a new neighborhood” of Carmel.

“One of the workers who was attacked by dozens of rioters fired in self-defense,” the council spokesperson said, adding: “According to an Arab report, one of the rioters was wounded and killed in the shooting.”

The assailants were said to have descended upon the Jewish community from the nearby Arab village of Umm al-Khair, which the spokesperson described as a “hotbed of provocations and riots over the years,” noting that foreign anti-Israel activists often use it as their base of operations.



Attorney Avichai Hajbi, whose Honenu legal aid organization represents the suspect, said he would be demanding the shooter’s release during a remand hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court later on Tuesday.

“It is very serious that the Israel Police is requesting to extend the detention of a resident who was attacked by a stone-throwing mob, which endangered human lives—his and others,” stated Hajbi.

“I am sure that at the end of the day the court, when it examines the evidence in the case, will order my client’s release,” the lawyer said.


Syria's Jihadist Order Is a Global Threat
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are actively propping up Syria's jihadist-led government even as its armed forces carry out ethnic cleansing against minorities from the Druze and the Alawite communities. Yet the West and its allies risk legitimizing a regime ideologically aligned with the very jihadists they once vowed to destroy.

From July 13 to 20, Syria's newly revamped public security forces brutally attacked the Druze population of Suwayda, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,340 people. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 196 civilians were summarily executed by government forces, including women, children, the elderly, and even medical workers.

An American citizen, Hosam Saraya, 35, from Oklahoma, was executed alongside seven family members by government forces. A widely circulated video shows the forces grabbing Hosam from inside his family's house and then shooting him dead on camera. His crime? Being a Druze. If it were not for Israeli intervention with airstrikes that forced the government forces to withdraw from Suwayda, the number of casualties could have been far greater.

Despite his refurbished statesmanlike appearance and softened tone, Ahmed Al-Sharaa is a long-time militant with roots in al-Qaeda's ideological ecosystem and a disciple of global jihadism. Under his leadership, Syria's public security forces are an amalgamation of Salafi-jihadist militias. Many of them are foreign fighters, now masquerading as state officials. Their recent campaigns of violence against the Druze and Alawites are systematic purges meant to cleanse Syria of communities that do not conform to their radical Sunni orthodoxy.


Elliott Abrams: The Decline of the Iranian Empire
After a decade in which Iran's expanding power and influence seemed irreversible, they were in fact reversed by Israel - with last-minute help from American B-2 bombers. What's left is a much weakened Hizbullah (Iran's key proxy), Syria free of Assad (a Russian and Iranian ally), and an Iran without air defenses or an advanced nuclear-weapons program.

The Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, caught Israel by surprise because its security elite thought there was a modus vivendi with the terror group: as long as it could rule Gaza, with Qatari money flowing in, Hamas was satisfied. It was viewed as bought off and no longer serious about its murderous ideology. Oct. 7 taught the Israelis to stop psychoanalyzing their enemies, to look at those enemies' capabilities, and to assume that whatever capabilities exist will eventually be used to kill Jews.

Iran's direct attack on Israel on April 13, 2024, changed the rules of the game. Since the Reagan administration, a series of presidents has tried to negotiate with Iran and avoid confrontation despite Iran's hand in killing Americans in terrorist attacks and during the Iraq War.

President Trump's bombing of Iran, as H. R. McMaster has written, "reminded officials in Tehran that they cannot antagonize their adversaries in the region with impunity - and reminded officials in Washington that Iran's theocratic dictatorship cannot be conciliated. 'De-escalation' was never a path to peace - it was an approach that perpetuated war on the Iranians' terms."

Recent events have led many states to change important calculations. Iran and other friends of Russia and China have seen that, at least in the Middle East, those two powers are paper tigers. Everyone has seen the superiority of American to Russian military hardware. China has seen that American military power is not theoretical. The Gulf Arab states have seen that Iran is much weaker than they thought. By restoring its reputation for military and intelligence excellence, Israel has made itself an appealing partner for potential Abraham Accords participants.

The barbarians of Hamas and the mullahs in Tehran had something very different in mind when they started their major attacks on Israel in 2023, but their actions and the Israeli and American reactions have proved that the United States and its allies remain the dominant powers in the Middle East.
Israeli soccer coaches attacked in Athens
The head coach of Israel’s national soccer team, Ran Ben Shimon, and assistant coach Gal Cohen were attacked in Athens on Thursday, the country’s Channel 12 News broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

The incident took place in the hours before the Hapoel Beersheva-AEK Athens match as the two men were roaming the Greek capital city’s streets while speaking Hebrew, Ben Shimon told Channel 12 News.

A passerby approached the coaches and began shouting pro-Palestinian insults, he recalled. When the two ignored the abuse, they were pushed, according to Ben Shimon’s account. The attacker was “removed from the scene” by the Israelis and other civilians following the incident.

“We attended Maccabi Tel Aviv’s matches in Cyprus and Beersheva’s match in Athens as part of our duties,” Ben Shimon told Channel 12. “The disgraceful incident in Athens was handled quickly and efficiently, and I can only regret the ignorance and impudence of that individual.”

“I doubt he even recognized us as the national team coaches, and in my assessment, the reason for the incident was simply that we were Israelis speaking Hebrew,” the Israeli coach said. “I am proud to represent my country everywhere, and this certainly won’t deter me in the future.”
Oxfam to retrain fundraisers in response to Mill Hill mezuzah claims
Oxfam has pledged to retrain its fundraisers after video footage emerged showing charity workers allegedly knocking on the doors of Jewish residents and raising the subject of deaths in Gaza. The organisation said it would ensure staff understand the impact the conflict is having on the UK’s Jewish community.

Members of north west London Facebook community group ‘Inside Mill Hill and Edgware’ last week claim that a man and a woman representing the organisation had gone door-to-door questioning the significance of mezuzahs on Jewish homes.

Some members of the group claimed houses without the religious symbols were not targeted in the fundraising activity.

Jewish News has seen a letter from Oxfam responding to one concerned resident who complained. It denies the duo were only approaching Jewish homes.

It says the organisation, having investigated the matter, knows “the appalling rise of hate and discrimination in the UK has impacted communities like yours and we utterly condemn this. Hate, discrimination and prejudice are against everything that Oxfam stands for and not something we tolerate.”
Finnish researcher says Israel seeking ‘final solution’ in Gaza
The head of a state-funded research institute in Finland accused Israel on television of seeking a “final solution” against Palestinians through “annihilation” in “concentration camps,” prompting local Jews and others to accuse her of spreading antisemitism.

Susanne Dahlgren, director of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East, spoke last week with Finland’s public broadcaster YLe, where she was interviewed about Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “clearly is driving toward ethnic cleansing,” said Dahlgren, whose institution received 91% of its budget in 2024 from Finland’s education ministry.

Dahlgren criticized Germany for supporting Israel, using language that Yaron Nadbornik, president of the Central Council of Jewish Communities in Finland, told JNS was antisemitic.

“A central country is, of course, Germany, which, for a historical reason, is now making the Germans pay for what they did to the Jews in the previous century,” she said.

The working definition of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance includes an example that speaks of “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” Nadbornik told JNS this meant that Dahlgren “engaged in antisemitic rhetoric,” with no pushback from YLe.
Neo-Nazi who live streamed fake bomb threats to Jewish hospitals in NYC and Long Island learns his fate
A Oregon antisemite has been sentenced to five years in prison for phoning in phony bomb threats to Jewish hospitals on Long Island and livestreaming the chaos as it unfolded, federal prosecutors said.

Domagoj Patkovic, 31, terrorized medical workers and patients during a months-long spree in 2021, calling in threats to Jewish health care facilities in Nassau County and across the Big Apple — falsely claiming he had planted C-4 explosives throughout their buildings.

Local police responded to the scene in several instances and conducted bomb sweeps.

Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Valley Stream hospital was partially evacuated and placed on lockdown that September after his bomb hoax made under the alias “Abrahimavich,” according to court documents.

Patkovic, of Portland, claimed to have hidden explosives in maintenance closets in the hospitals and vowed to blow the building up — all while live on Discord, a social media site popular for real-time voice chats, gaming communities, and increasingly, extremist content and fringe groups.

When a 911 operator called the number back, Patkovic — still in front of a live audience on Discord — doubled down on the threats and confirmed his identity. And in at least one case, even flipped the camera to reveal his face.

The neo-Nazi eventually confessed to participating in swatting and bomb threat calls with others, according to prosecutors — while also identifying himself making the “Sieg Heil” Nazi salute over a man’s unconscious body in a picture from an unrelated incident.


Austrian restaurants, campsites refuse Israelis as activists interrupt Salzburg festival
Austria has seen a spate of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents over the last few days, including barring of Israelis from restaurants and campsites and the pro-Palestine hijacking of a music concert.

On Saturday, six pro-Palestine activists disrupted the speech of Vice-Chancellor Andres Babler during the opening of the Salzburg Festival and shouted “Blood on your hands!” The incident raised significant questions about the event’s security, given the six protesters were wearing fake staff IDs and were able to enter easily. Antisemitism is at a record high. We're keeping our eyes on it >>

Security has now been tightened, according to festival director Lukas Crepaz. However, various Austrian papers and figures raised the question of what would have happened had the activists been armed.

Austrian paper Kurier spoke with one of the activists, David Sonnenbaum, who ran onto stage with red-painted hands. “I was amazed, myself, at how easy it was,” he said.

No one apparently noticed that the forged ID cards bore the words, “Salzburger Festspeiben” [Salzburg Festival, incorrectly spelled] instead of the correct text “Salzburger Festspiele.” Background checks had clearly not been carried out, as the names on the ID cards were fictitious. The six activists were arrested and an investigation is underway.


Battle Psalms of the Republic
Review of 'Fear No Pharaoh' by Richard Kreitner
‘Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other” is how Abraham Lincoln described the dueling forces of the North and South in his Second Inaugural Address. He was, of course, speaking to a predominantly Christian national audience—but the words resonated with America’s Jews, who constituted half a percentage point of the population at the time. From their number, Richard Kreitner has assembled the cast of characters he portrays in his engaging volume, Fear No Pharaoh.

Ernestine Rose was the daughter of a Polish rabbi but had renounced her Orthodoxy as a child. She arrived in New York in 1836 at the age of 26. There she advocated for women’s rights and against slavery and became friends with Susan B. Anthony and Walt Whitman. Her efforts led to the passage in 1848 of a New York law giving women property rights in marriage. This was months before the Seneca Falls Convention formally inaugurated the women’s rights movement. Eventually one of the most prominent abolitionist orators in the country, Rose spoke alongside Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and William Lloyd Garrison at countless meetings and conventions. While her advocacy stemmed from her universalist leanings—“Humanity’s children are, in my estimation, all one and the same family [and] therefore there should be no slaves of any kind among them,” she believed—she would, later in her career, ac-knowledge her own background as “a daughter of poor, crushed Poland, and the down-trodden and persecuted people called the Jews, ‘a child of Israel.’”

August Bondi came to his anti-slavery views from a more consciously Jewish perspective. Though he never kept kosher, Bondi considered himself “an enthusiastic Jew” as well as a “lover of humanity.” After arriving from Vienna in the mid-19th century, he fought for the North and was a supporter of the radical abolitionist terrorist John Brown. In his memoirs, Bondi wrote that those who came after him should know that “Jeuhudim were active at the very commencement of the ‘late unpleasantness’ between the States.”

Then there was the Swedish-born Morris Jacob Raphall, the first rabbi to offer a blessing before a session of Congress. Raphall’s January 1861 sermon in New York defending slavery from a biblical perspective was so well received that the New York Historical Society asked him to repeat it at an event chaired by the telegraph inventor, Samuel Morse. In contextualizing the explicit permission the Bible grants to slave-owning, Raphall noted that the Patriarchs possessed slaves and the Ten Commandments mandated Sabbath rest for them. He added, however, “The slave is a person in whom the dignity of human nature is to be respected; he has rights.” Kreitner suggests Raphall “intended his sermon as a last minute peace proposal, an audacious effort to patch up the differences…and use Judaism as the glue.”
Rare intact 5,500-year-old Canaanite blade workshop unearthed in southern Israel
A rare manufacturing workshop for Canaanite blades — distinct flint tools primarily used for agricultural tasks — has been uncovered at Nahal Qomem, near the southern Israel city of Kiryat Gat, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday.

“This is the first time a Canaanite workshop has been uncovered in its full context,” Dudu Biton, an IAA expert on flint tools and Canaanite blades, told The Times of Israel by phone. “It’s truly extraordinary.”

Dating to the Early Bronze Age, approximately 5,500 years ago, the site features hundreds of subterranean pits, some of which are lined with bricks.

The sheer quantity of artifacts, along with the flint cores used to produce them, offers invaluable insight into the early stages of urbanization and the rise of trade specialization in ancient Israel.

“Canaanite blades and cores had been uncovered in other sites across Israel, but only isolated ones and out of context,” said Biton. “This time, however, we’ve discovered not just a few, but hundreds of them, along with the full range of materials related to their production.”

The site was first identified around two years ago during preparatory work for a new neighborhood in Kiryat Gat.

“I remember when Martin [Pasternak], the head of the excavation, sent us a photo of three flint cores — we couldn’t believe that all three had been found in the same location,” Biton recalled. “Then more and more began to surface, and the site just kept expanding.”
Jewish executive among those killed in Midtown Manhattan shooting
Wesley LePatner, a senior managing director for the investment management firm Blackstone, was one of four people killed on Monday during a mass shooting at the Midtown Manhattan office building where she worked, according to the New York Post.

“We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePatner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue,” Blackstone told the Post. “Words cannot express the devastation we feel. Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed.”

LePatner, 43, also served on the board of trustees at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School and UJA-Federation of New York. She received UJA’s Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award in 2023 for her dedication to the Jewish community.

“Wesley was extraordinary in every way—personally, professionally and philanthropically. An exceptional leader in the financial world, she brought thoughtfulness, vision and compassion to everything she did,” UJA wrote in a statement. “She lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people.”

Following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, LePatner “led a solidarity mission with UJA to Israel, demonstrating her enduring commitment in Israel’s moment of heartache,” UJA stated.

“We mourn the loss of a life taken far too soon and extend our heartfelt condolences to her husband, Evan, her children and her entire family,” the statement read.


Dispatch from a Reservist in Gaza
A mortar took my arm in Gaza in 2008. I live in Los Angeles, but I've spent every vacation day accrued since 10/7 in Gaza. Or the tunnels under Lebanon.

On my final mission this trip, we found a tunnel shaft in Gaza, and I was ordered to clear it. I threw a grenade. Pulled the pin with my teeth. The guys couldn't get enough of it. Like something out of a '90s action flick.

It obviously means something to them that I fly in from so far away. That I show up, one arm short and still in the fight.

They mean something to me, too. These men who risk everything. They leave behind spouses, infants, careers. Full lives. They don't complain. They don't make speeches. They just pack a bag and come.

They talk about the strain at home. Kids who won't sleep while they're gone. Wives who cry in the kitchen but stay strong on the phone.

They talk about October 7th. About the bodies. The friends they lost. The pieces they had to gather. How, sometimes, there weren't enough left to bring back. And what it takes to keep going after that.

Out here, no one needs to pretend. It's the realest place I've ever been. For a few short weeks each year, in this place, with these men - it's the only time I feel whole.
IDF Podcast: Bravery and Resilience: Yoav Tzivoni’s story
In this episode of Mission Brief, Lieutenant Brielle speaks with Master Sergeant in reserve Yoav Tzivoni, an IDF reservist, combat medic, and sharpshooter who lost his leg in the early days of the Swords of Iron war.

Yoav shares his journey from growing up during the Second Intifada to serving in Gaza, and the life-changing injury that tested his strength and identity. After months of rehabilitation, he returned to his unit with a prosthetic leg, determined to keep serving — this time in a new role.

He opens up about the pain of losing his teammate Tzvika, the moral challenges IDF soldiers face, and his unwavering belief in justice and peace. This is a story of sacrifice, resilience, and what it truly means to serve.
Israeli, 85, dies of injuries caused by Iranian missile, upping war toll to 30
An 85-year-old man who sustained moderate injuries in an Iranian missile attack during the 12-day war with the Islamic Republic in June has succumbed to his wounds, local media reported on Monday night.

The victim, who was wounded when a residential building in Rehovot in central Israel took a direct hit on June 15, died at Kaplan Medical Center, according to Israel Hayom. His funeral took place on Monday evening.

The Hebrew daily cited Elchanan Roth, commander of the ZAKA rescue organization’s Unit 360, as recalling how the victim was saved from the “heavy destruction” caused by the Iranian ballistic missile assault.

“From one of the apartments we heard the voice of the elderly man who was moderately injured. We approached the rubble and spoke to him to understand his condition, and then, with the assistance of additional forces, we rescued him from the rubble,” Roth told Israel Hayom.

“Today, we sadly received the news of his death,” stated the ZAKA rescuer, adding: “This is a difficult day for me and the volunteers.”

Iran’s missile attacks last month have now killed 30 people in Israel, while wounding more than 3,000 and displacing over 13,000 others.


After a year of silence, former hostage Shlomi Ziv publicly shares story of IDF rescue
When the gates opened at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Valley Train heritage site in Kfar Yehoshua, the sweltering outdoor temperature on one of this summer’s hottest days didn’t deter the nearly 300 people who came to hear former hostage Shlomi Ziv launch a series of talks telling his story.

Ziv, 42, was one of four hostages rescued on June 8, 2024, in a daring mission carried out by Israel’s Shin Bet, IDF and Border Police’s elite Yamam counterterrorism unit, during which Yamam officer and team leader Arnon Zamora was killed. The operation was later named in Zamora’s honor.

Attendees came from across the Jezreel Valley and beyond, eager to hear the first in a series of Ziv’s public events more than a year after his dramatic rescue.

“We owe it to Shlomi to come and listen,” said a woman who traveled from Kibbutz Yifat in the Galilee. “We’ve come to bear witness.”

Rows of chairs were set up in front of the site’s historic stone buildings, once part of the ticket office for the legendary train line that ran from Haifa down to the Arabian Peninsula. As night fell, the old station was bathed in soft lighting, giving the evening a sense of reverence and reflection.

Quietly but confidently, Ziv stepped onto the stage.

He spoke for over an hour, beginning with a traumatic incident during his military service that left him with severe PTSD. That trauma, he said, ironically prepared him in some ways for what was to come after he was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, while working as part of the security team at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.

The audience listened in silence as Ziv described his 246 days in captivity, held alongside fellow hostages Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov.
Filipino Ex-hostage Jimmy Pacheco names newborn daughter in honor of Israel
Gelienor “Jimmy” Leano Pacheco, 34, a Philippines-born caregiver for an elderly man on Kibbutz Nir Oz, was abducted on October 7 and released in the November 2023 hostage deal. His love for Israel remained strong even after his return to his home country; so much that his newborn daughter was named in its honor.

On Tuesday, Pacheco’s wife, Clarice, gave birth to a daughter. The couple named the baby Israela.

The couple named their daughter as a tribute to the nation that protected them, friends of the couple shared on social media.

Nearly two years ago, Pacheco was abducted after the elderly man he cared for, Amitai Ben Zvi, 80, was murdered in his home amidst the October 7th massacre. “When they took me, I never expected they’d bring me back alive,” Pacheco said after he was freed in the first ceasefire in late November 2023.

Pacheco fought to survive for his family
Through his captivity, Pacheco fought to survive for his family. He shared after his release that out of desperation, he had turned to any food option he could, including eating toilet paper dampened by water on the walls. He did this in order to survive long enough to see his three other children again.

The Kibbutz Nir Oz community lost many people, when over 100 residents and some 15 foreign agricultural workers were killed in the massacre, according to the IDF. About 80 more were taken captive, with many others still remaining in captivity almost two years later.




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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