Pages

▼

Tuesday, August 05, 2025

08/05 Links Pt2: Ariel Bibas was supposed to turn 6; The Appeal of a Mother Who Buried Her Only Son; Douglas Murray wins defamation claim brought by Muslim activist; Relitigating the 20th Century

From Ian:

Rachel Goldberg-Polin: The Appeal of a Mother Who Buried Her Only Son
Here’s the real truth you need to swallow. One day you will be gone. I hate to be the bearer of reality, but no matter what exciting and thrilling things you feel like you are doing, you are dying. You will skedaddle from this world to wherever it is you think you are going, and you can’t take any of this with you.

So for the love of everything you love—power, ego, legacy, your adoring wife, or any combo of them all—make this end now. I appeal as a mother of a glorious forever 23-year-old son, for whom it is too late.

I appeal simply to you as a nobody. My name is Rachel, and I am an absolute nobody. And therefore, I am everybody.

You can make this happen. Talk in those quiet back rooms. Say whatever you want to have printed in the papers. Feed yourselves whatever you need to.

We don’t care. We nobodys, we everybodys, we are too exhausted to care.

I will parrot whatever will float your boat. We all will. Just let us lick our wounds. Allow us to eat food we cook in a home, and not over a fire outside of a makeshift tent in filth. Give us back our children—those who are starving in tunnels and being forced to dig their own graves. Literally. And those who have already been murdered. Let us bury our sons and daughters respectfully.

Just let us be. Don’t do this stuff in our names. Say you’re sorry, even if it’s only when you are alone in your bathroom at night looking at your own face in the mirror with the door closed. Whisper into your tired eyes while looking at your whiskers already growing again from this morning’s shave. Who do you think you are that you are above “sorry”?

Give us back our 50 hostages. Some are alive and some are only alive in our souls. Let the innocent people who are in Gaza have a chance. We are tired. We are done. We are children of God.

Stop playing with us and our lives.
The link between anti-Israel hate and antisemitism is demonstrably closer today than ever
It can feel like there is no space to breathe sometimes. But this is when our community is most tested, and in the past, we have shown we have the resilience

and fortitude to get through the most difficult of moments. CST now protects double the number of Jewish community events than we did before October 7: this is partly due to a greater need, and desire, for security, but it is also because more communal events are happening. For all the worry, our community is not hiding away.

The same goes for the amount of work CST does supporting Jewish students and schoolchildren, protecting synagogues, and arguing our community’s case in Westminster and with police forces across the country. CST’s research repeatedly exposes and disrupts the activities of our community’s worst enemies, with several of those who would cause us harm now behind bars. All this work goes on every day, sometimes in public and at other times away from the glare of publicity.

We do all of this not because we are scared to be Jewish, but because we are proud to be Jewish: proud of our community, of our Jewish way of life, and of the Jewish contribution to wider society. It has been heartening to see how many people have stepped forward to join this fight, whether they have been trained as CST volunteer security officers, helped with donations to fund our work, or reported antisemitism to CST so that we can take action against it. Everything counts in this fight.

None of us can predict how long this will go on for, but it is unlikely that this wave of antisemitism will suddenly disappear if the conflict in Israel and Gaza comes to an end. More likely is that it will leave deep scars, both on our community and in wider society, that will require years of effort to overturn. But whatever happens, CST, working with our Jewish community, will be ready.
Jew hate surges in our schools — led by teachers' unions
If Jewish parents in New York object to their children being subjected to a woke rewriting of the Holocaust, or a view of Palestine that vilifies Jews, will they be able to opt their children out?

No. They’ll be in for a fight, according to NYSUT.

On July 28, the union issued a response to the high court’s ruling, claiming it applies only “to a single school district” — and that “educators and school leaders are best positioned to select materials.”

Parents with religious scruples can take a hike.

Mamdani has expressed almost no interest in education policy, aside from attacking the city’s specialized high schools — even though the Department of Education consumes more money than any other city agency.

Indifferent to what education means to parents striving for their children’s futures, Mamdani has cynically suggested that Jamaal Bowman, the Israel-hating former congressman and fire-alarm enthusiast, should lead Gotham’s public school system, the largest in America.

Even members of his own party are unimpressed by Bowman: State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs has said the ex-lawmaker should promote “the economic interests of working-class Americans instead of continuing his antisemitic, pro-terrorist advocacy.”

Don’t count on Bowman or Mamdani to heed that advice.

What do you think? Post a comment.

It’s time for New Yorkers, and Americans everywhere, to oppose antisemitism in our public schools.

History’s oldest hatred has no place in our kids’ classrooms.


Oct. 7 families sue Meta for $1b for allowing atrocity footage on Facebook
Families of victims of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas invasion of southern Israel have filed a class-action suit against Facebook parent Meta for failing to block the distribution of footage of the murder, abduction and torment of their loved ones.

The lawsuit, filed in Tel Aviv District Court, seeks 4 billion shekels (~$1.1 billion) in damages. This comprises 200,000 shekels (~$58,000) for each Oct. 7 victim whose suffering was documented and shared online; 200,000 shekels to their immediate family members and close friends who saw the footage and 20,000 shekels (~$5,800) for each Israeli exposed to the footage, Calcalist reported on Monday.

According to the plaintiffs, which also include some survivors, the footage turned Facebook and Instagram into “an integral part of the terrorist attack on Israel.”

“For many hours, in real time and long after the terrorist attack, horrific documentation from the attack (to put it mildly) was disseminated, showing innocent civilians—children, elderly, women, and men— subjected to atrocities that even paper cannot bear to describe,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote in the claim, Calcalist reported.

The footage included “murder, extreme violence” and “abduction of civilians and soldiers, both living and dead,” among other brutal scenes.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Givatayim-based law firm of Matri, Meiri, Wacht & Co.

The attorneys from the firm argue that the videos were allowed to remain online for weeks in many cases, contradicting Meta’s stated policies, Calcalist reported.
The photo from Gaza that misled the world
So instead of explaining that the child’s skeletal condition may not actually be the result of starvation, the New York Times’ apology merely reinforced the article’s original message and congratulated itself on its own virtue. It has also been pointed out that the apology for a frontpage picture was published not on the newspaper’s regular X account, which has 55million followers, but on the paper’s public-relations X account, which has just 89,000 followers.

A friend who spent his career as a columnist and editor at several major American publications (but not the New York Times) explained that this egregious photo debacle is extremely unlikely to have been the result of a misstep by a single person. He explained to me the typical process of publishing a dramatic photo like this on the front page of a large daily newspaper. A photo editor and his or her bosses would have settled on this image among many. It would then likely have been shown at a story conference where senior and section editors, presenting their best offerings of the day, would have discussed what should go on the front page. Many of those editors would have murmured, ‘What a powerful image’. Because it is.

Then you get to the online production crew and the night-print crew, where at least a couple of editors would discuss how, exactly, to play the photo. They would discuss how big the image should be and where it should be placed. They would also decide whether to package it up with a story or put the photo out front but refer readers to the story on another web or print page. As my editor friend explains, it would have been a thought-through, deliberate process.

At every step, editors have to trust that the initial photo editors have ascertained the accuracy of the photo and the caption information. In this case, they would probably have asked the bureau chief or photo editor in Jerusalem and the foreign-affairs staff in New York to check the provenance and location of the photo, and the background of those depicted. Above all, they would have checked whether the story the picture tells is true – that the child was suffering from malnourishment, rather than, say, neglect or chronic disease.

My editor friend admits that mistakes do happen. But each person who handles the photo should have reaffirmed that everything about it is honest. Especially when the claim here is that Israel is, at the very least, allowing starvation.

The photographer and reporter in Gaza, and a slew of people in New York, should therefore have been certain that the child really was suffering from chronic malnourishment. But they clearly were not, and yet they published it anyway. This, my editor friend tells me, is a serious editorial failure. It is not quite as bad as plagiarism or fabulism, which editors should always catch. But it’s close.

Exposing an improperly vetted photograph suggesting mass famine does not in itself refute the narrative that Israel is letting civilians starve. But it does raise serious questions. If a photo seized on by Western media to demonise Israel turns out to be misleading, what else are they saying that might also not be true?
Federal Judge Says Attacks on the Star of David Are Form of Racial Harassment
On Monday, a federal judge wrote that targeting the Star of David is "as racially motivated as the highly offensive racial slur, [the N-word]," while granting protection to a Jewish activist who was allegedly choked when an aggressor yanked an Israeli flag from around her neck. The ruling — which could be a watershed moment for the American Jewish community — appears to be the first successful use of an 1866 Civil Rights Act provision to address post-October 7 antisemitic violence.

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued the preliminary injunction on August 4, 2025 in favor of Kimmara Sumrall, a Zionist activist, against Janine Ali, a member of the anti-Israel group CODEPINK. In a decision that could reshape how courts address antisemitic attacks, the judge found that "The Star of David—emblazoned upon the Israeli flag—symbolizes the Jewish race" and that Sumrall was likely to succeed in her lawsuit alleging racially motivated assault.

The court issued a stay-away order requiring Ali to maintain at least three yards distance from Sumrall in public and prohibiting all contact, after finding that the attack constituted "direct evidence of racial discrimination."

The Incident and Judicial Reasoning
The confrontation occurred on November 13, 2024, during a protest in the Dirksen Senate Building, where tensions ran high between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. According to court documents, Sumrall was wearing an Israeli flag tied around her neck as a cape when Ali allegedly approached from behind and yanked it, causing Sumrall to be choked and her head jerked backward.

The court's most significant finding centered on the symbolic and racial significance of the attack. Rejecting Ali's argument that her actions were merely "anti-Israel" rather than antisemitic—which the judge called "quite a stretch"—the court established that targeting Jewish symbols constitutes racial discrimination at the highest level of offensiveness.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

"Purposefully yanking on an Israeli flag tied around a Jewish person's neck to choke them is direct evidence of racial discrimination," the judge wrote, before making the comparison to the most inflammatory racial epithet in American discourse.

A U.S. Capitol Police Officer, Timothy Bonney, provided crucial testimony, stating he witnessed Ali "walk behind [Sumrall] and grab an Israeli flag that the victim had wrapped around her neck." Despite Ali's acquittal on criminal assault charges in D.C. Superior Court—where the burden of proof is "beyond a reasonable doubt"—the federal judge found sufficient evidence under the civil standard to support Sumrall's claims.
BBC Arabic interviewed Palestinian singer who appeared to defend Bibas kidnappers
The BBC’s Arabic channel interviewed a Palestinian musician who described October 7 as a “new page in history” and suggested the terrorists who kidnapped the Bibas family treated them with more humanity than that which the Israeli forces treat Palestinians, it has emerged.

Rola Azar, a singer from Nazareth who trained at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, was interviewed on Art for Life, a culture programme on BBC Arabic, on June 29.

She was in London performing at the Barbican as part of the UK’s largest festival of contemporary Arab cultures, Shubback Festival.

During the BBC show, presenter Reda El-Mawy said Azar “celebrates” the “Palestinian spirit”. The programme cut to Azar’s music, including a snipped of a song titled Hey Hey Palestine, a verse of which translates to “Palestine is Arab, from the water [River] to the water [sea]”.

This verse – which was not included in the broadcast – was mistranslated on Azar’s TikTok, where instead of stating Palestine will be “Arab”, the English lyrics said Palestine will be “free”.

It has since emerged that a series of posts written in Arabic shared on the singer’s social media accounts include apparent celebration after terror attacks against civilians in Israel. Azar also targeted an Israeli researcher online, referring to certain Arabs as “dogs of Jews”.

In 2021, a private message written in Arabic sent from her X account to Moran Tal, an associate professor of social psychology at the Open University of Israel, said: “You are one rotten Zionist,” according to screenshots shared with the JC by Camera, a US-based media watchdog.

"All the Arabs who support you are suck-ups, dogs of Jews, you and all your thieving people are on my shoe. O Jew, hear this from us, pick up your dogs and get off of us. Tell this to your dogs in my name.”

Separately, an image shared on Azar’s X account in 2021, stated: “Zionists ran away since the first rocket fell... Because it is not their land! They do not know HOW to die for it!”

Azar’s X account subsequently disappeared.
FEMA denies reports it blocked states that boycott Israel from $1.9b in grants
The Trump administration insists that disavowing the boycott Israel movement isn’t a prerequisite for accessing $1.9 billion in disaster fund grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as Reuters reported.

“There is no FEMA requirement tied to Israel in any current notice of funding opportunity,” a Homeland Security spokesperson told JNS. “No states have lost funding, and no new conditions have been imposed. FEMA grants remain governed by existing law and policy and not political litmus tests.”

The department “will enforce all anti-discrimination laws and policies, including as it relates to the BDS movement, which is expressly grounded in antisemitism,” the spokesperson said. “Those who engage in racial discrimination should not receive a single dollar of federal funding.”

The wire service reported that the Trump administration tied access to the grants to avoiding limiting commercial relations “specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel.”
NGOs: ACTIVISM or AGENDA ?
In this episode, Vitor Vicente, Marco Alexander, Olga Deutsch and Ruchie Avital dive deep into some of the most pressing and controversial issues in global human rights and international advocacy:

🌐 Topics Covered:
The state of NGO accountability and transparency in the human rights sector
The rise of Israel advocacy in the age of social media — narrative warfare, censorship, and digital activism
The international response to lawfare, BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaigns, and EU-funded activism


“We find ourselves in a situation where actually the EU does not change course at all following October the 7th.”

NGO Monitor Vice President @olga_deutsch discusses EU-funded NGOs, political warfare, and the abuse of humanitarian frameworks on @TheVVPodcast

We examine how NGOs operate in conflict zones, the blurred lines between activism and propaganda, and how public opinion is shaped in the digital era. explore the legal, political, and ethical complexities behind international funding, human rights discourse, and the consequences of unchecked advocacy.


Douglas Murray wins defamation claim brought by Muslim activist
A Muslim YouTuber has lost a defamation claim he brought against Douglas Murray, the author and Telegraph contributor.

Mohammed Hegab, who posts videos under the name Mohammed Hijab, accused Murray of defaming him in a September 2022 article for The Spectator magazine.

However, a High Court judge has ruled that Hegab “lied on significant issues” in court.

Murray had reported that Hegab, who has more than 1.3 million subscribers on the social media channel, travelled to Leicester that month when rioting broke out between Muslims and Hindus.

The article said Hegab gave a speech to a group of Muslim men – mostly wearing balaclavas, hoods, masks or caps – in which he ridiculed Hindus and their belief in reincarnation.

It reported that Hegab said: “If they believe in reincarnation, yeah … what a humiliation and pathetic thing for them to be reincarnated into some pathetic, weak, cowardly people like that.”

Hegab took legal action against Murray and The Spectator, arguing that he had been referring only to followers of Hindutva, the Hindu nationalist ideology.

After a four-day trial a judge ruled it was “substantially true” that he had been referring to Hindus as a whole, adding: “It was them that he was ridiculing.”

Mr Justice Johnson ruled that Hegab had given evidence that “overall, is worthless”.
The Spectator and Douglas Murray win defamation claim brought by Mohammed Hijab
Mohammed Hijab was a picture of arrogance in Courtroom 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice. Over the three days he gave evidence last month, Hijab – whose real name is Mohammed Hegab – smirked, laughed and slouched in his chair. He hectored The Spectator’s legal counsel, Greg Callus. At the end of his second day in the witness box, Hijab leant over the side and shouted: ‘You are good! You are not bad! You’re a good lawyer! However, even for someone like yourself, with as much intelligence and as much shrewdness and good questioning…Even for someone like yourself you are finding this difficult… It’s an unsalvageable case, Greg! It really is!’

Hijab was sure he was going to win, but today he has lost.

Mr Justice Johnson dismissed Hijab’s defamation claim entirely. What Douglas Murray wrote in The Spectator on 24 September 2022, Johnson has now confirmed to be ‘substantially true’: Mohammed Hijab is a street agitator who whipped up his followers in Leicester during the unrest there between Muslims and Hindus three years ago. He mocked Hindus, and claimed that they must live in fear because they have been reincarnated as ‘pathetic, weak, cowardly people’.

This case was about more than just what happened in Leicester. Hijab sought to show that The Spectator had published something untrue. He failed. But he also wanted to intimidate Douglas and the magazine. He sought damages of tens of thousands of pounds, and tried to recuperate his legal costs of hundreds of thousands of pounds. He attempted to use Britain’s legal system to silence journalists, and to paint himself as an upstanding citizen turned victim.

This has backfired. Mr Justice Johnson is clear: Hijab’s evidence was ‘worthless’, and the man is a liar. Phrases such as ‘not credible’, ‘not consistent’, ‘untenable’ and ‘confected’ fill today’s judgment. Mr Justice Johnson says that Hijab lied in court on several occasions, and was ‘combative and constantly argumentative’. Hijab appeared to have invented contracts after Douglas’s article was published, in order to claim damages for their bogus cancellation. Now he has lost, Hijab himself is on the hook for a lot of money.

You can read the judgment for yourself here. For a long time, Mohammed Hijab has bullied the British press, threatening publications and outlets who cross him with crushing lawsuits. The Spectator, rightly, did not bow to his pressure.


Commentary PodCast: Relitigating the 20th Century
Today we talk about the radicalism of Zohran Mamdani, his standing among New York Jews in a new poll, and how it is that bad ideas and failed concepts keep coming back.


Attorney for Anti-Israel Activist Who Blocked DC Traffic Cites Fictitious Case in Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit, Suggesting AI Wrote It
A radical attorney representing an anti-Israel activist who helped organize an illegal traffic blockade in Washington, D.C., attempted to dismiss a class action lawsuit against his client by citing fictitious case law, suggesting the document was written by an AI chatbot like ChatGPT.

The lawsuit, which Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute (HLLI) filed in January on behalf of drivers trapped in their cars, accuses several anti-Israel organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and Maryland2Palestine (MD2Palestine), among others, of shutting down major roadways in the nation's capital on Feb. 1, 2024, for close to an hour. Police arrested 23 anti-Israel activists on charges of "crowding, obstructing or incommoding." Three were also charged with resisting arrest.

Abdel-Rahman Hamed, the counsel for MD2Palestine and its co-chair, Hannah Shraim, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on June 30. But when HLLI attorneys reviewed the filing, they found Hamed cited case law that didn't exist.

Hamed's "brief includes phony citations that suggest improper reliance on AI or excessive carelessness and may require court attention," HLLI's attorneys wrote in their July 30 response opposing the motion.

"Shraim's brief on this issue is particularly troublesome," it continued. "She cites several cases that do not appear to support the proposition asserted; includes quotes that are not found in the cases; and even cites a case that doesn't exist."


Royal Ballet and Opera cancels Tel Aviv ‘Tosca’ after protest
The United Kingdom‘s Royal Ballet and Opera has cancelled its planned 2026 production of “Tosca” at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, following internal protest over the organization’s stance on Gaza, The Guardian reported on Monday.

The decision follows an open letter signed by 182 staff members, including dancers and musicians, criticizing the company’s ties to Israel amid the ongoing conflict. The staff demanded that the organization refrain from supporting institutions that legitimize a state engaged in “crimes against humanity.”

The letter does not mention the mass atrocities committed by Hamas against civilians in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, including the murder of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 others. Nor does it reference the hostages still being held in dire conditions by terrorists in the Strip.

R.B.O. Chief Executive Alex Beard confirmed the decision in an internal message acknowledging staff concerns, stating, “We have made the decision that our new production of Tosca will not be going to Israel.”

The Israeli Opera’s website no longer mentions the Royal Opera House, which is the main theatrical home of the Royal Ballet and Opera, located in the Covent Garden district of central London.

The signatories accused the Jewish state of committing an ongoing genocide in Gaza—a charge that Jerusalem vehemently denies. The letter also cites that the Tel Aviv venue publicly offers free tickets to Israeli Defense Forces soldiers.

“The RBO is clearly making a strong political statement by allowing its production and intellectual property to be presented in a space that openly rewards and legitimizes the very forces responsible for the daily killings of civilians in Gaza,” the letter reads.
Dutch Holocaust scholar fears dismissal after defending Jewish students
A Dutch Holocaust researcher, Amanda Kluveld, is facing serious threats and intimidation after standing up for Jewish students at Maastricht University, where she is now at risk of losing her job, she told JNS.

Kluveld, a longtime critic of on-campus anti-Israel groups, told JNS in an interview that her attempt to film an antisemitic protest outside a classroom has apparently led to a concerted effort to push her out.

“It happened when I arrived at work—I teach in a designated classroom and am also forced to park in a specific parking spot for my safety,” she said of the May 13 incident. Upon leaving her vehicle, Kluveld said she ran into a group of activists chanting anti-Jewish slogans, calling for Zionists to be removed from campus and comparing them to Nazis.

Determined to document the event—which the researcher said involved sirens, drums and a megaphone, violating university rules prohibiting the disruption of educational activities—Kluveld began filming the rally.

However, when Kluveld recorded the scene, the institute’s integral safety coordinator approached her alongside a demonstrator who demanded she immediately stop filming and delete the footage from her phone.

Kluveld refused, telling the activist to “stop this kind of discrimination,” she recalled in the conversation with JNS. The situation escalated as faculty members, including the dean and director, pressured her to comply with the demand, accusing her of exacerbating tensions.

“They also started chanting at me through that megaphone, coming very close to me, like 20 centimeters [8 inches] away. And they had a flag, poking me with it, letting it touch my head,” she said, adding: “But I simply didn’t leave and stood my ground.”


Jews targeted in 69% of religion hate crimes in 2024, 71% since October 2023, per FBI data
Of the 2,942 religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024, 2,041 (69%) offenses targeted Jews, according to new data that the federal law enforcement agency released in its crime data explorer tool.

The next largest anti-religious bias type last year was the 256 offences targeting Muslims, which made up about 9% of all religion-based biased incidents. That means Jews were about 660% more likely than Muslims to be victims of anti-religious bias offenses in the United States last year.

From January 2019 until December 2024, Jews were victims of 8,376 religion-based bias offenses, or about 62% of the 13,424 religion-based bias offenses. From October 2023—the month of Hamas’s terror attack in southern Israel—until December 2024, Jews were targeted in 3,051 offenses, 71% of the 4,279 religion-based hate crimes.

Since October 2023, Muslims in America have been the targets of 395 offenses, 9% of all religion-based bias incidents.

The FBI’s info in its crime data explorer tool differs from data that it published in downloadable tables about its new statistics. JNS used the explorer tool, which found 2,041 anti-Jewish offenses. The tool doesn’t say if it used offenses or incidents, but a note on the chart refers to “offense counts.”

The Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee stated in releases that there were 1,938 incidents that targeted Jews in 2024. That number, and the others that the ADL and AJC used, come from a chart that is downloadable on the FBI website. According to that chart, there were 2,137 anti-Jewish offenses in 2024, which targeted 2,237 victims and which involved 1,043 known offenders.
‘Death to IDF’ written on Clayton street where a fire damaged multiple cars
Detectives are investigating a hate crime after multiple cars were damaged by a suspicious fire overnight in Clayton.

According to police, the call came in around 3 a.m. for a report of a vehicle fire in the 7500 block of Westmoreland Avenue. The Clayton Fire Department responded, along with other fire departments and Clayton Police.

Officers on the scene found three cars that were heavily damaged from a fire they believe was intentionally set. They also found what was described as “antisemitic graffiti” written in the roadway.

Drone 4 captured video of the graffiti, in which “Death to the IDF” was written. The IDF is the Israel Defense Forces, the national military of the state of Israel.

Another part of this message was a direct attack on an individual. First Alert 4 is blurring part of the threatening message because it’s targeted at a specific individual.

The incident is currently being investigated as a hate crime. Police say they believe the victim, a Clayton resident, was specifically targeted.

Police say no injuries have been reported, and a suspect has not been taken into custody. Police tell First Alert 4 that they believe one person started the fire, but it is unclear if they acted alone.

Jordan Kadosh with the Anti-Defamation League said the message is antisemitic and holds a much bigger meaning.

“When you hear somebody say globalize the intifada this is what it looks like. It looks like burned out cars on suburban streets on america. This is not confined. When somebody says they want to take this fight to jews around the world they mean everywhere,” Kadosh said.


German team drops plan to sign Israeli player after fans complain
Fortuna Düsseldorf, a German soccer team, decided on Tuesday not to sign Israeli national team forward Shon Weissmann after a backlash from fans.

“We examined Shon Weissman in depth, but finally decided to refrain from signing him,” the club posted to its X account.

German newspaper Bild had reported on Monday that Weissman, 29, was on his way to Fortuna Düsseldorf from the Spanish football team Granada. Düsseldorf planned to pay him €500,000 ($577,000).

Fortuna Düsseldorf fans sent messages opposing Weissman to the team. At first, the club defended him, tweeting: “What’s going on here? I keep getting messages. Judging people you don’t know based on their Wikipedia page? That doesn’t reflect our values.”

Düsseldorf fans had gone to Weissman’s Wikipedia page seeking information about him as news emerged that he would be signed.

According to Wikipedia, Weissman had posted to X shortly after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023: “What’s the logical reason that 200-ton bombs haven’t been dropped on Gaza yet?”

Haaretz reported that Weissman also liked and reposted calls to “wipe Gaza off the map,” and responded to a photo of detained Palestinian terrorists: “Why the hell aren’t they being shot in the head?”

Weissman’s agent said that the posts and likes were not by Weissman but by a social-media manager who had access to the player’s accounts, Haaretz reported.
Spanish airline passengers served kosher meals with ‘free Palestine’ written on packaging
Jewish community organisations have condemned a “serious act of antisemitism” on board Spain’s national airline, after Jewish passengers served kosher meals found the words “free Palestine” written on the packaging.

The Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas (DAIA) described how “on flight IB0102 [Iberia] from Buenos Aires to Madrid, passenger Salvador Auday received his kosher meal tray with the inscription ‘Free Palestine’. Other Jewish passengers also received trays marked with the initials ‘FP’.

“The DAIA strongly condemns this discriminatory act and has contacted the airline’s authorities to demand explanations and immediate action.”

The Federación de Comunidades Judías de España (FCJE) which officially represents the Spanish Jewish community, contacted Iberia and received the following response:

“The flight departed from Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires at 1:00 PM and landed at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas shortly before 6:00 AM this morning, 5 August.

“During the flight, several passengers who had requested kosher meals reported that handwritten pro-Palestinian messages had appeared on their trays. The Iberia crew documented the incident and got involved to assist those affected. The captain personally approached them to offer an apology on behalf of the airline.

“Iberia is conducting a thorough investigation, both internally and with the external catering providers, with the aim of clarifying what occurred and taking all appropriate measures.

“At Iberia, we categorically reject any form of discrimination, incitement to hatred, or behaviour that undermines the dignity of individuals. Actions of this nature are unacceptable and go against the values of respect and inclusion that are essential to our company’s identity.”


Jewish community invited back to join Montreal Pride Parade
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs says representatives of the institutional Jewish community have been reinvited to march on Aug. 10 in the Montreal Pride Parade, known as Fierté Montréal.

The confirmation followed discussions with Marlot Marleau, the new board chair of Fierté Montréal. On Monday, he was tapped for the role after Bernard Truong stepped down from the position due to criticism associated with banning Jews from the event.

CIJA stated that “in recent days, it became clear that excluding groups representing the Jewish community sent the message that Jews—and Jewish 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and allies—are not welcome under the rainbow of Montreal Pride. This would have been unacceptable.”

It added that in talks this week, “Fierté Montréal was adamant that the organization opposes antisemitism and had no intention of excluding the Jewish community. Leadership reiterated that every community, regardless of religious affiliation, must feel welcome and safe at their events. The organization issued an apology to Jewish 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals in Quebec and the broader Jewish community for a decision that was felt as a message of rejection.”

The Canadian Jewish center acknowledged the thousands of people, including politicians, influencers, news reporters and citizens, “who condemned the exclusion and called for the Jewish community to be welcomed back into the parade.”

It stated: “We welcome Fierté Montréal’s commitment to reviewing its complaint process. A situation like this must never happen again.”
Jessie J faces backlash after sharing plea for Hamas hostage’s suffering to end
British singer Jessie J has drawn both praise and fierce criticism online after posting an emotional message about newly released footage of Hamas hostage Evyatar David, nearly two years into his captivity in Gaza.

In a story to her 14 million Instagram followers on Sunday, the pop star shared images from the video, describing it as “heartbreaking” and writing: “I just cannot bear the evil in this world. Please God, make the suffering end,” alongside a broken-heart emoji.

David, abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023, has now been held for 667 days. In two videos released by Hamas on Saturday, the 24-year-old appears severely emaciated, clutching a food log showing repeated days without meals. At one point he is seen digging what appears to be his own grave inside a tunnel.

Jessie J also reposted a statement from activist Rachel Moiselle that read: “I thought images of starved Jews digging their own graves would forever be confined to history books. To see the past become present is a horror. Never Again. Again.”

Her comments prompted a torrent of abuse from some social media users, with posts accusing her of being a “disgusting Zionist” and siding with Israel.
A secret AI startup in Tel Aviv got $30B: This Israeli-raised pioneer did it
Silicon Valley's most coveted investment is not a new app or hardware product but a single individual. AI researcher Ilya Sutskever has become the primary reason venture capitalists are investing approximately $2 billion into his secretive company Safe Superintelligence (SSI), Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The new funding round values SSI at $30 billion, placing it among the world's most valuable AI startups.

Sutskever, who gained prominence as chief scientist at OpenAI where he helped develop the technology behind ChatGPT, departed the company last year following a significant conflict with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, according to Wall Street Journal. His new venture operates with extreme secrecy from offices in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv.

Unlike competitors such as Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, SSI has stated it won't release any products until it develops superintelligence – an industry term for AI that can outperform experts across nearly all fields, Wall Street Journal reported. While other companies release consumer chatbots and business applications to generate revenue, Sutskever is pursuing a different approach entirely.

Sutskever has informed associates that he isn't developing advanced AI using the same methods employed at OpenAI, telling them he has identified a "different mountain to climb" that shows early signs of promise, according to people close to the company cited by Wall Street Journal.

"Everyone is curious about exactly what he's pushing and exactly what the insight is," said James Cham, a partner at venture firm Bloomberg Beta, which hasn't invested in SSI. "It's super-high risk, and if it works out, maybe you have the potential to be part of someone who is changing the world."

While most AI startups aggressively seek publicity to attract talent and investment, SSI operates with extraordinary secrecy. Its minimal website contains barely more than a 223-word mission statement. The company's approximately 20 employees – far fewer than OpenAI's and Anthropic's 1,000-plus workforces – are discouraged from mentioning SSI on their LinkedIn profiles, knowledgeable sources told Wall Street Journal.
In a world breakthrough, Israeli researchers grow first long-term human kidney in lab
In a world first, researchers from Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University have successfully grown human kidney organoids – a synthetic 3D organ culture – using kidney tissue stem cells.

The synthetic kidney organs matured and stayed stable for 34 weeks, which is the longest-lasting and purest set of kidney organoids ever developed.

Prof. Benjamin Dekel, Director of the Pediatric Nephrology Unit and the Stem Cell Research Institute at the Safra Children’s Hospital at Sheba Medical Center and Director of the Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine at Tel Aviv University led the study. Doctoral student Dr. Michael Namestannikov, a graduate of the Physician-Researcher track at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine, and Dr. Osnat Cohen-Sontag, a research associate at Sheba Medical Center, participated in the research.

“We have succeeded for the first time in growing a human kidney in the form of an organoid from the specific stem cells of the kidney,” said Dekel. “This is in parallel with the maturation process in the uterus that occurs until the 34th week of pregnancy.”

The study could shed light on processes that lead to kidney diseases, he said. The findings were published in the prestigious medical publication The EMBO Journal.

Isolating human kidney tissue stem cells
Previous kidney models were grown using pluripotent stem cells, special cells that can turn into brain, heart or kidney cells.

“Life begins with pluripotent stem cells, which can differentiate into any cell in the body,” Dekel explained. “But after about a month, the kidney in culture died, and the process had to be started again.”
Hundreds of European rabbis to attend landmark convention in Azerbaijan
Hundreds of European rabbis from across the continent will be gathering in Azerbaijan this fall to discuss the expansion of the Abraham Accords in the first such convention in a Muslim nation.

The extraordinary assembly in the secular Shi’ite country comes amid burgeoning relations between Israel and Azerbaijan that developed from a centuries-long affinity between the two nations into an unprecedented strategic partnership in the face of ongoing regional turmoil.

The biennial convention of the Conference of European Rabbis is scheduled to take place in the capital, Baku, between Nov. 4-6 at the invitation of the Azerbaijani government, which will serve as the honorary host, with more than 500 rabbis expected to attend the event.

The organization’s 70th anniversary convention will address key contemporary challenges and opportunities, including the expansion of the landmark Abraham Accords—which saw Israel reach peace agreements with four Arab countries under the first Trump administration five years ago—to include Azerbaijan as well as the promotion of freedom of religion and the fight against rising antisemitism in Europe.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is expected to address the three-day gathering.

The group’s previous conference, which had been scheduled to take place in the Azerbaijani capital two years ago, was cancelled because of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Facebook deletes video of Israeli hostage, sparking outrage over double standards
The largest Facebook group in Norway, dedicated to combating antisemitism, posted the video showing the condition of Israeli hostage Evyatar David, which had been published by Hamas. According to the group, Facebook removed the video and deleted the post, citing concerns that "the video may contain symbols, glorification, or support for individuals and organizations we define as dangerous."

According to members of the group, this has created a situation in which images of starving children and adults from Gaza are broadcast globally and widely shared on social media, while a video exposing the systematic and horrific starvation of Israeli hostages by Hamas was immediately deleted by Facebook.

"I don't understand how all the fake images of starving children in Gaza can be shared freely, yet a real video of a hostage genuinely suffering from hunger gets deleted, and on top of that, they're threatening to shut down the Facebook group that fights antisemitism? I'm stunned," On Elpeleg, an Israeli-Norwegian who runs the Facebook group Stopp antisemittisme på NRK–Stop antisemitism on Norwegian TV, told Israel Hayom. The group seeks to counter what it describes as the overwhelmingly one-sided stance of most Norwegian media outlets against Israel.

"The Norwegian media refuses to show images or videos of Israeli hostages being starved by the Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza," said Elpeleg. "This is an attempt to silence us. It's been nearly a full day since the video was published and not a single major media outlet here has covered it. It's like North Korea, they only show what fits the agenda."

The group says the video remains visible on its Telegram channel.

In response, Meta Israel said: "Hamas is designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization and is similarly defined by our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy at Meta. This means that any content produced and disseminated by Hamas is banned from our platforms, and we remove it accordingly."
Brother of hostage forced to ‘dig his own grave’ speaks out
Sky News host Sharri Markson sits down with the brother of a Hamas hostage speaking out against the “horrific” treatment of his brother in Gaza.

“He was kidnapped by Hamas at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, that was about 662 days ago,” Ms Markson said.

“Cruelly deprived of water and even forced to dig his own grave.”

Warning: Distressing footage.




Ariel Bibas was supposed to turn 6
Ariel Bibas was supposed to celebrate his sixth birthday on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. Instead, his life was cut short by Hamas terrorists.

Ariel, along with his parents Shiri and Yarden and his baby brother Kfir, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

Ariel, Kfir and Shiri were murdered in captivity.

“The first birthday without Ariel. Close your eyes and think of Ariel’s sweet smile. Ariel was a mischievous child full of love with a smile that immediately melted everyone he met,” read a post on the Instagram page commemorating the Bibas family.

The page invited the public to light a candle or release an orange balloon, to “dedicate a moment to create a good moment with your loved ones that will bring a smile to their faces—send a message, give a hug, offer to help someone.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry tweeted: “Ariel Bibas should’ve turned 6 today. Instead, he was kidnapped and murdered by Hamas with his mother Shiri and baby brother Kfir.

“Stolen from us all, we will never forget you. 50 hostages are still in Gaza. Let them go now,” the ministry added.

Yarden Bibas, along with Ofer Kalderon and Keith Siegel, was freed on Feb. 1 after 484 days in Hamas captivity.

Hamas returned Ariel and Kfir’s remains on Feb. 20 as part of a ceasefire deal, alongside the body of an unidentified Gazan woman. After DNA testing found that the body was not Shiri’s, Hamas returned her remains two days later.

To countless Israelis and others, the Bibas family personified the plight of the 251 hostages that Hamas abducted on Oct. 7, and the brutality of its terrorists. Hamas claimed the mother and her children were killed by Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip, but forensic evidence has refuted that claim.
'We love you and miss you': Bibas family remembers Ariel on his sixth birthday
Slain hostage Ariel Bibas, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists, would have turned six years old on Tuesday.

The family shared a post on Instagram to mark his birthday: “Ariel was a mischievous child full of love with a smile that immediately melted everyone he met,” the post read.

“We invite you to light a candle or to blow up an orange balloon and dedicate a moment to create a good moment with your loved ones that will bring a smile to their faces - send a message, give a hug, offer to help someone.”

“We love you and miss you, Luli.”




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 

at