Friday, August 08, 2025

08/08 Links Pt2: The media front in the war against civilization; What Real Decolonization Looks Like; Dems move from Joe Lieberman to Mamdani

From Ian:

Melanie Philips: The media front in the war against civilization
All journalists in Gaza work on terms dictated by Hamas. Arab reporters and photographers who supply Western media outlets with material either fear or support Hamas. Any Gazan reporter or photographer who steps out of line faces being removed or killed.

Yet the media have never once publicly acknowledged that every report or image from Gaza is produced under Hamas censorship. As Friedman noted in 2014, it’s why AP would censor certain information from Gaza because Hamas had threatened the agency’s reporters if it appeared, but failed to inform its readers about those threats and told them instead that Hamas was “becoming more moderate.”

News desks collude in these lies because they are ravenous for the story their Gaza fixers, stringers or photographers provide—the story of “Palestinian” suffering and Israeli evil.

Not one of their reports or images from Gaza can ever be assumed to be truthful, because their sources are all Hamas mouthpieces or sympathizers.

On today’s Gaza battlefield, the risks posed by this media corruption, both to Israel’s security and to the truth, are magnified many times over.

It’s not just that opening up Gaza to Western journalists would mean even more Hamas-dictated propaganda bamboozling even larger swaths of the Western public, and playing into their own innate prejudices against Israel and the Jewish people.

Given the obsessive and malignant partisanship by Western journalists in support of the “Palestinian” cause, they might well pass on to Hamas information they discover about IDF positions, intentions or army units.

The despicable behavior by the Western media is not some marginal sideshow. The media is itself an active front in this war, a crucial weapon being wielded by the Islamic world against Israel through Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar and Iran.

This axis has been waging a cognitive war against Israel by suborning and weaponizing the entire liberal internationalist establishment through the United Nations, human-rights law, international courts, NGOs, the universities and, above all, the Western media.

Whether they realize it or not, all have been harnessed to the same cause—to bring about the darkest and most deeply embedded desire of the West to knock the Jews off their moral pinnacle and cast them instead as the cancer of the world.

The Western media must therefore be regarded as an enemy force in the service of a great evil. Rather than giving it more access and privileges, it must accordingly be fought, along with the Islamic forces that have deployed it as a key front in the war they are waging against civilization itself.
What Real Decolonization Looks Like
Jewish and American Indian cooperation isn’t as novel as people may think. In an article in American Jewish History, historian Avery Weinman documents a forgotten moment of solidarity between American Jews and American Indians. From Nov. 20, 1969, to June 11, 1971, the IAT, or the Indians of All Tribes, occupied Alcatraz Island as a full-throated protest and expression of “Red Power.” They stood for “rejection of assimilation, renewed interest in tribal sociocultural and linguistic traditions, and staunch advocacy for American Indian self-determination and legal autonomy on ancestral lands.”

In 1969, Joel Brooks and Rabbi Roger E. Herst, prominent members of the American Jewish Congress at the time, christened a boat Shalom I and sailed it to Alcatraz. Arriving on the fourth day of Hannukkah, Rabbi Herst had brought his own hanukkiah and shared a feast in solidarity with the occupiers, declaring Hannukkah “a Jewish holiday of national liberation.” They broke a challah, ate Jewish food, exchanged Hanukkah gifts, and engaged in “Jewish and Indian folk dancing.”

At that heady juncture of American radical history, where liberation movements had sprung up overnight during the agitation of the ’60s, Jews and Native Americans found a lot of common ground in their retrospective experiences and histories. According to Weinman, these commonalities included “historical themes in three main categories: survival of extreme oppression (including attempted genocide), preservation of socioreligious and linguistic traditions, and strong connection to ancient ancestral lands.”

Uninterrupted and consistent ethnic, spiritual, and cultural ties to the land of Israel go incontestably to the Israelis. Their presence as a people has been documented in the Late Bronze Age. Their story in the land is subsequently chronicled from the Iron Age onward, in their own textual corpora over the centuries, in those of the nations that fought against them, and in the archaeological record. The first temple is under the mosque of the Dome of the Rock, signifying historical primacy. The nation of Israel, as self-declared by Jews, predates the Palestinian cause—it’s not a nation yet—by approximately 3,400 years.

The Palestinian people cannot claim such a pedigree. Which begs the question, is their identity Indigenous so much as it is ethnic and pan-Arab? If the colors of the Palestinian flag are any indication, Palestinian identity is not tied to the land itself so much as to Islamic and pan-Arab identities. Take the Palestinian flag, for instance. Flown since the 1920s, it directly reflects pan-Arab roots. A variant of the 1917 flag of the Arab Revolt, the flag has colors that represent the main dynasties of Arab Islamic history. The Palestinian movement, in other words, was conceived as part of a pan-Arab, not nativist, movement. It has been so since its inception.

To even raise these arguments around the pro-Palestinian mob, however, is to be shouted down, and generally with the same robotic settler colonialist rhetoric, if you can get them to speak. As Izabella Tabarovsky has pointed out time and again, framing Israel as a settler colonialist, apartheid state is vintage propaganda from the Soviet politburo; it was crafted in the ’60s, then circulated robustly across the Soviet Union and through the Middle East. So it is no wonder to find it so readily rolling off the tongues of Islamic extremists and Hamas-supporting Columbia University graduates. It has been around for a while.

It’s the turgid illogic of these narratives that has led some Native American, First Nations, and Aboriginal peoples to subject them to a smell test. As actual suppressed peoples with a history of forced settlement, land theft, and genocide, they know a true colonialist when they see one. This gradual awakening of allyship began at the fringes but is now slowly making its way into the mainstream.

Take Jason Watson, for instance, a Native American activist who is a member of the Chickasaw Nation. Married to a Jewish woman, he lives in Israel and now writes columns and regular blog posts for The Times of Israel. He is also actively involved in restorative justice programs that foster dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.

In a June 11 blog post, he addressed the anniversary of Israel’s Six-Day War in light of the current conflict in Gaza. Watson noted the Colorado terror attack days earlier, where several elderly protesters were set on fire by an Egyptian asylum seeker yelling, “Free Palestine.” The same chant shouted by Elias Rodriguez after murdering Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim with a handgun two weeks before that. It’s a phrase that has been robotically chanted thousands of times in the streets of every U.S. city and on every major Ivy League campus since October 2023. Rodriguez’s tone and cadence were indistinguishable from those of any pro-Palestinian protester.

For Watson, the current toxic rhetoric, the escalation of hostility against Jews, and the Six-Day War are profoundly connected: “At first glance, these events may seem unrelated. They are, however, connected by a deeper thread: the misuse of history, the moral confusion around terrorism, and the erasure of real Indigenous voices in the name of activism.”

He continued, citing his own work with Native American issues and their misappropriation by pro-Palestinians: “I have watched our struggles be co-opted by others. At recent immigration protests, signs reading ‘No one is illegal on stolen land’ were waved alongside Palestinian flags and chants of ‘intifada.’ The implication is clear: that American immigration enforcement, Zionism, and colonialism are all one and the same. It is a neat narrative, though not a true one.”

Watson’s analysis is sobering, but it does not shrink from the stark realities and moral clarity that are required to truly address the issue of Israel’s survival. This starts with recognizing a shared history between Indigenous groups and Israelis. Watson ultimately envisions a world where honest dialogue, divested of harmful rhetoric and mendacious revisionist history, opens the possibility for bridge building.

“Indigenous survival is rooted in reality, not rhetoric,” he concludes. “We do not exist to be used as moral cover for other people’s ideologies. When Indigenous pain is invoked to justify terrorism against Israeli civilians, that is not solidarity. That is erasure all over again.”
Seth Mandel: Sinwar the Symbol
The death of Yahya Sinwar in October of last year was a revelatory moment in the West. After key campus groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia University Apartheid Divest mourned Sinwar’s death, celebrated his life, and built verbal monuments to his status as a martyr, there was nothing left to learn about the tentifada protests across America and beyond: The motivations behind these groups were evil.

Because Sinwar was pure evil. There was no other side to him, no complexity to his character or his contributions to life on earth.

Which is why, though it might sound like a silly thing at first, the news of the rising popularity of Yahya as a baby name in the UK is to be lamented.

Obviously “Yahya,” apparently a name for John the Baptist but not a variant itself of “John,” is far from unheard-of as an Arabic name. But it is not exactly a dime a dozen. I suppose it’s impossible to prove a correlation between the increase in babies named Yahya in 2024 and the attacks of Oct. 7 and the ensuing war. But… come on.

The larger point is less about names and more about the fact of an evil man’s beatification. The coming generation of Yahyas is only going to serve as an unavoidable reminder.

But perhaps that reminder won’t be needed anyway. Progressive activists in the West—who will no doubt soon be walking the streets of hipster Brooklyn with their labradoodle puppies named Yahya—don’t beat around the bush.

“The news regarding the great commander has left our hearts heavy and out [sic] chests breathless,” students at the City University of New York published after Sinwar’s elimination. “Today, we mourn the loss and celebrate the martyrdom of the lion of Al Quds, the beloved Commander, President, Fighter, his eminence, Yahya Sinwar…Every kuffiyeh drawn on the neck of a CUNY student is tied to the neck of the great commander who woke up the world from their deep daze.”


Dems move from Joe Lieberman to Mamdani
Once reliable pro-Israel Democrats like Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Chris Murphy have taken a decidedly anti-Israel turn, leading efforts to withhold U.S. aid from Israel as it fights Iran and Hamas.

Beyond the political realm, antisemitism is exploding in many of the liberal camp’s cultural institutions — academia, public education, Hollywood, medicine — where anti-Jewish discrimination, harassment, and violence are a common occurrence. After several years of trying to hold these institutions accountable, it is increasingly clear that we are not dealing with an epidemic of laziness or incompetence, but an ideological hatred coursing through their bloodstream.

This kind of ideological shift has consequences. After nearly 100 years of loyalty, some American Jews are changing their political allegiance. The Pew Research Center’s June report shows that Kamala Harris won 63% of the Jewish vote, while Trump won 35% — the largest share of the Jewish vote for a Republican since 1988. Put another way, Jewish voters went from D+43 in 2020 to D+28 in 2024, a swing of 15 points towards Republicans.

This is a stunning change for a party that elevated and embraced Lieberman 25 years ago. Could it happen again today? Many American Jews wondered as much when Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was under consideration to be Harris’ VP. We will never know why Harris didn’t pick Shapiro, but we all saw the concerted antisemitic campaign against him in social media and the press.

To be fair, there are some fearless Democrats standing against the tide such as Sen. John Fetterman and Reps. Ritchie Torres and Tom Suozzi, but they appear to be the exception, not the rule. They stand out because most of their colleagues don’t stand up to the Jew haters and baiters.

The Democratic Party once drew Jews to its cause because it was seen as the party of tolerance and equal opportunity. This was a natural home base for immigrant Jews fleeing the ghettos and pogroms of Europe.

Today, the Democratic Party is battling to redefine itself in the wake of its failures in the 2024 election. A growing portion of the left wants it to be a party Lieberman could no longer call home. Having switched his registration to Independent in 2006, Lieberman was ahead of the curve. If Democrats don’t change course, many more Jews will follow his lead.


Douglas Murray: Mamdani smears Cuomo for allegedly talking to Trump —and yet associates himself with Mahmoud Khalil
In his view, the Palestinians “are not being heard” and so the atrocities and barbarism of October 7 were an “attempt to tell the world that Palestinians are here.”

That’s certainly one hell of a way to tell people.

‘It was not inevitable’

In case it isn’t obvious, this is pure apologism for Hamas.

Moderate, peace-loving Palestinian voices comprehensively refute Khalil’s evil view. For instance, the proud American, Gazan-born Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, said yesterday, “Khalil invoked the repetitive and tired idea that the October 7 attack by Hamas was an inevitability, when the truth is far more straightforward and needs to be told by Gazan voices and those who are impacted by the war.”

“October 7 was a choice, not an inevitability! A choice that two psychopaths made from within Hamas’ military wing, Sinwar and Al-Deif. It was not inevitable that Gaza had to be the source of the worst single-day attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

He went on: “Hamas squandered billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives for a fraudulent resistance narrative.”

Unfortunately, Khalil is one of many arrivals in this country who have pushed that fraudulent narrative.

The same people who claim, as Khalil went on to claim in his interview with Klein, that the bloody and murderous Second Intifada (2000-2005) was a mostly “peaceful uprising.”

So, Mr. Mamdani, if Gov. Cuomo is to be smeared for having the audacity to even be reported to have spoken to the US president, what are we to make of you knowingly and repeatedly associating with a terrorist mouthpiece?

What are the voters of New York to think about a candidate for mayor who is so happy to advocate for terrorists for years and associate himself even now with someone who makes such excuses for terrorism?

Any candidate for mayor who thinks President Trump is a more reprehensible figure than a Hamas apologist should be nowhere near the running of this city.


We’ve Overlooked the Insidious Part About Antisemitism: The Brazenness
There’s a simple, obvious truth that helps explain why the Jewish community gets so agitated about acts of antisemitism, and it’s not just the hatred.

Everyone knows that our world is filled with racists and bigots and haters of all kinds. But we also know that one of the unwritten rules of society is that most people try to keep those hatreds to themselves. Who wants to advertise that they’re bigots?

The one exception seems to be the Jews.

For some reason, Jew-haters feel a sense of pure brazenness when it comes to showing off their Jew-hatred. They don’t seem to worry, in other words, about consequences.

Look at the latest figures released this week by the FBI. Although Jews make up around 2 percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for nearly 70 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2024. Anti-Jewish hate crime incidents were the highest number ever recorded by the FBI since it began collecting data in 1991.

That’s a lot of chutzpah and very little fear.

So, what is it about Jews that make us such a “safe” target for haters?

There are the obvious answers, like the fact that because we’re seen as being powerful and successful and are associated with “white privilege,” we can take it. And of course there’s always Israel as the most convenient weapon for Jew-haters.

But there’s something else, and one clue is the fact that I’m writing this column. Jews have a tendency to try to understand everything and then take responsibility for how we can “change” things. There’s a whole cottage industry in our community of organizations, think tanks and activist groups devoted to dissecting Jew-hatred and figuring out the best strategies to fight it.

Indeed we’re so busy analyzing, recording, exposing and fighting that we rarely take the time to sit back and reflect on the absurdity of it all.

Here are the Jews, the one ethnic group that has arguably given more to America than any other, being attacked more than any other. How does that make sense?
One Jewish State: Leading the Fight Against Antisemitism: DOJ Chair Leo Terrell
Civil rights attorney and DOJ Task Force Chair Leo Terrell sits down with One Jewish State founder and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, for an in-depth conversation about his journey from Democrat to Republican and his truly historic mission to get rid of antisemitism in America.

Terrell reveals why he left the Democratic Party, his deep partnership with President Trump, and the urgent fight to defend Israel in the media, on college campuses, and in daily life in America.

In this interview, Terrell goes on to expose the Biden administration’s failures on combatting antisemitism, the media’s distasteful role in fueling anti-Jewish sentiment, and the disgraceful organized college campus campaigns against Israel - many of which started on October 8th.

And finally, Terrell goes out of his way to honor the memory of fallen Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin - whose body is still being held captive by Hamas and seemingly forgotten by politicians.

Chapters:
0:00 Preview
1:02 Intro
2:58 Leo's Background
4:42 Trump, Civil Rights, Antisemitism
8:01 Biden's Failures Against Antisemitism
10:02 How to Fight Antisemitism
16:34 Antisemitism vs Antizionism
20:18 Fighting Antisemitism at Universities
22:55 Media Shortcoming
25:04 Democrats vs Israel
28:16 Support for Israel in Gaza War
34:35 Judea and Samaria
38:44 Hadar Goldin
44:20 Strategy to Fight Antisemitism in America
48:38 A Final Blessing & Farewell


The Muslim Brotherhood’s threat to North America
Not enough attention is being paid to the way foreign funders and supporters of terrorism are infiltrating into North America. That’s the conclusion JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin draws from a new report about the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood produced by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP).

He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by ISGAP’s founding director and president, Charles Asher Small. According to Small, the Muslim Brotherhood is a century-old reactionary Islamist movement whose goal is to complete the work of Adolf Hitler and kill Jews and destroy the state of Israel. It’s just as interested in waging war on the West. To that end, it has spawned the Hamas terrorist movement and, with the financial assistance of Qatar, is also spreading its influence in the West.

As ISGAP’s research revealed, the Brotherhood has made an impact in the United States as front groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) pose as civil rights organizations while spreading hate for Jews. But it has made even greater inroads in Canada. There it has weaponized that country’s liberal political culture and lack of First Amendment free speech protections to promote the idea that any criticism of Muslim antisemitism is Islamophobia and illegal. As Small relates, it has led many Jewish groups and leaders to be silent on a growing problem of Jew-hatred. That is compounded by the fact that many Brotherhood associated groups are now also receiving money from the Canadian government.

Small also discussed the way Qatari money is spreading antisemitism in higher education, something that is also advanced by the presence of so many foreign students from countries where Islamist views are normative. He says it’s important for groups that are advocating terror and being funded from the Middle East to be banned and cut off from funds. Similarly, universities should not be allowed to import Jew-hatred while bolstering their finances.

Chapters
00:00 The Muslim Brotherhood's Global Influence
05:05 Understanding the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada
10:20 The Role of Qatar in Funding Extremism
18:38 The Impact of Muslim Brotherhood Fronts in Canada
25:42 Radicalization and Anti-Semitism in Canadian Society
29:05 The Rise of Antisemitism and Its Globalization
32:17 The Role of Foreign Influence in Education
39:26 Political Climate and Fear of Islamophobia
45:04 Money Laundering and Rogue Nations
47:28 The Threat of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America
52:40 Policy Recommendations Against Extremism


DESTROYING LIES about American aid to Israel (w/Yoram Ettinger)
Are Americans REALLY ‘dying’ for Israel or is America’s alliance with Israel based on mutual interests?

Join Danny Seaman, former senior official at the Prime Minister's office, and Yoram Ettinger, former liaison to Capitol Hill and expert on Israel-US relations, to shed light on the often misunderstood dynamic between the two nations. Yoram shares insights into the strategic partnership that benefits both Israel and the United States, especially in military defense and intelligence, and why Israel’s relationship with America is far more than just foreign aid.

From the influence of American politics on Israel’s diplomatic efforts to the role of the media in shaping global perceptions of the Middle East, this episode dives deep into the complex political landscape of the region. With Israel’s future at stake, Danny and Yoram discuss how Israel navigates the geopolitical pressures it faces, both domestically and internationally.

Join us for this eye-opening discussion, exploring Israel’s fight for survival, its relationships with international allies and the battle for truth in a media landscape filled with misinformation.

Chapters
00:00 The Significance of Birkat HaKoanim
02:18 Israel's Dilemma in the Gaza Conflict
06:34 The International Perception of Israel
08:24 Understanding US-Israel Relations
20:16 The Mutual Benefits of US-Israel Cooperation
31:52 Shifts in American Support for Israel
38:42 Media Representation of Israel


Trump Admin Seeks $1 Billion Settlement From UCLA Over Campus Anti-Semitism, Civil Rights Abuses: Report
Days after revoking $339 million in federal funding from the University of California, Los Angeles, the Trump administration is demanding a $1 billion settlement from the school over campus anti-Semitism and other civil rights violations, according to a Friday report.

Under the proposal, UCLA would pay $1 billion to the federal government in multiple installments, eliminate race-based scholarships, and share admissions data with a federal resolution monitor, CNN reported. The draft deal sent to the school also calls for single-sex housing for women, equal recognition for female athletes, and an end to sex-change operations at the university's medical facilities.

The proposal also requires UCLA to pay an additional $172 million to compensate individuals affected by violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bars employment discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.

A deal would mark the largest settlement that a university has reached with the Trump administration to date. In return, UCLA would regain its paused funding and be eligible for future federal grants and contracts. Last month, UCLA agreed to pay more than $6 million to settle a lawsuit from Jewish students and a professor who said the school permitted a hostile environment by allowing anti-Semitic protests.

The news comes just a week after the Trump administration withheld $339.2 million in federal funding from UCLA, as part of the president's nationwide crackdown on anti-Semitism on college campuses.

Last year, UCLA saw one of the nation's largest anti-Israel protests, sparking bipartisan criticism that the university failed to protect Jewish students and condoned pro-terrorist rhetoric. A federal judge blasted UCLA in a searing ruling last year, writing that school officials stood by as "Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith."
American Federation of Teachers Fundraises for Nonprofit That's Worked With Hamas-Run Agencies
The American Federation of Teachers is fundraising for a Gaza aid organization that has been accused of working with Hamas-linked groups.

In a letter last week, AFT president Randi Weingarten asked its members to donate to its "partner organization," American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).

ANERA, which says it "provides humanitarian assistance and sustainable development to advance the well-being of refugees and other vulnerable communities in Palestine," is one of the largest nonprofits operating in the West Bank in Gaza. It's also worked with Hamas-run agencies like the Ministry of Social Development, which is led by Hamas leader and U.S.-designated terrorist Ghazi Hamad, prompting criticism from human rights watchdogs.

The U.N. has promoted ANERA's work with the ministry, but the nonprofit nonetheless says it has a "longstanding 'no contact' policy with Hamas."

AFT's fundraising for ANERA is fueling criticism that teachers' unions have become a hub of anti-Israel activism. Last month, the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers' union, voted to boycott the Anti-Defamation League over the Jewish rights group's stance against anti-Semitism.

While NEA leadership rejected the vote, they also released a 2025 handbook that omitted Jews from a plan to teach Holocaust remembrance and said they plan to educate the public that Israel was founded through "forced, violent displacement and dispossession," the Washington Free Beacon reported.

On July 29, Weingarten penned an open letter asking union members to "join with me and other AFT members in donating today to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund for Gaza Humanitarian Aid."

"Your contribution will go immediately to relief work on the ground by the AFT partner organization American Near East Refugee Aid (known as Anera), a nonprofit charity with decades of experience working in the area," Weingarten wrote. "One hundred percent of your donation will go to Anera, because the AFT covers any fees for collecting funds."


Police offer protection to Labour minister’s staff after intimidatory pro-Palestine demos
Staff working for Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard have been given police protection outside his constituency office in response to increasingly intimidatory protests by pro-Palestine activists.

In scenes that shocked both hard-working staff and locals in the area, police were called to the Labour MP’s office in Plymouth on Thursday to deal with protest, amid claims several activists had performed Nazi-salutes.

While staff were fearful of stepping out of the office, the demonstration is also said to have impacted on local constituents who were turning up for appointments or seeking access to their MP for urgent support.

With loud music blaring outside, and constant abuse from those on the demo, sources told Jewish News that some locals mistakenly thought they were witnessing a protest by far-right activists when they witnessed some on the protest making Nazi salutes.

Police were also visible at the end of the working day on Thursday offering protection for staff as they left the office.

One source told Jewish News:”Staff have got used to regular protests outside their place of work, but the truth is they are becoming more and more aggressive and intimidating.

“On Thursday afternoon it became unbearable. Thankfully the police came out quite quickly once they were called, but the protestors seemed to adopt this stance of not engaging with the officers.

“Some of the staff are now really scared about coming to work each day. It’s an awful situation, especially when you have local people turning up to try to get help for serious issues, but they can’t get into the office.

“It was actually sickening to see staff coming out of the office on Thursday to go home with police having to give them protection.

“Something needs to be done about the situation, and fast.”
Sixteen-year-old at Islamist ‘warrior camp’ said it ‘felt like Nasrallah was with us again’
Teenagers as young as 16 attended a controversial “warrior camp” in the Peak District, where they received combat training and religious instruction, the JC has discovered.

The JC previously reported that the “Spiritual Warrior Camp” at Darwin Lake in the Midlands is run by London-born Shia preacher and influencer Hussain Makke, who has previously mourned Hezbollah fighters and glorified martyrdom.

Makke was banned from traveling to Austria earlier this year when it emerged that he hailed slain Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as one of the world’s “greatest freedom fighters” and said the size of the crowd at his funeral, which Makke also attended, was evidence that the “resistance” was “alive and well”.

Now, though, the JC can reveal that a 16-year-old boy attended Makke’s Derbyshire camp last week.

In a post on Instagram, the boy, who the JC is choosing not to name because of his age, said being at the camp – which offered “Olympic-level” wrestling training alongside religious education by a pro-Khamenei cleric – “felt like living a whole new life”.

He wrote: “I met new people and learned how to handle things most 16-year-olds wouldn’t normally face.

“I came to a men’s spiritual camp as the youngest, surrounded by brothers two to three times my age.”

He then appeared to refer to the death of Nasrallah, saying: “As Shia Muslims, we all lost someone dear last September.”

Nasrallah was assassinated in an Israeli strike on Beirut in September. "Being in the presence of Mawlana Sayed Hussain Makke brought all those emotions back,” the boy wrote.

“His humility, kindness, and warmth moved me in a way I hadn’t felt before. For one of the first times in my life, I cried – not out of sadness, but from a sense of connection and remembrance.

“In that moment, it truly felt like the Sayed we lost was with us again,” the post went on. “Sayed” is a term of endearment used by Nasrallah’s supporters to refer to the late terror leader.

On his Instagram profile, the boy has used the digits “313” in his handle. According to a Shia doctrine followed by Hezbollah, this number represents the 313 soldiers who will play a crucial role in the reappearance and global domination of Imam Al-Mahdi. The doctrine claims that this apocalyptic war will destroy Israel and the global Jewish population.


New Jew-hatred index offers ‘comprehensive picture’ of how states are doing, ADL says
Most U.S. states are making some progress combating Jew-hatred, but more has to be done at the state level, according to a tool that the Anti-Defamation League launched on Friday.

The ADL’s Jewish Policy Index is a “first-of-its-kind,” interactive tool to assess the efforts of each U.S. state in addressing antisemitism, with a specific focus on “legislation, education and public policy.”

“States have a lot of power even if Congress is gridlocked,” Shira Goodman, vice president of advocacy at the ADL, told JNS. “There are things that every state can do that make a difference for their populations.”

“We have a crisis right now, and we need to pull every lever on the state level and the federal level,” she said. “We think there is a lot of progress to be made, and we’ve set out a path.”

According to the report, nine states—including California, Florida and New York—are taking defined steps to combat Jew-hatred, such as requiring Holocaust education, providing funding for security at Jewish institutions and passing legislation against anti-Israel boycotts.

Then there are 12 states—including Delaware, South Carolina and Wyoming—that have done little to address Jew-hatred, according to the ADL tool.

In between are 29 states—including Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Michigan—that are making progress but aren’t there yet.

The index is designed for policymakers, educators, advocates and community leaders, the ADL stated, to encourage states to take decisive action against rising antisemitism, which spiked in the United States after Oct. 7.

For example, California, New York and Virginia are the only three states that have state strategies to fight antisemitism. All but four states have enacted hate crime laws, and 17 states have moved to address campus antisemitism.
Historic New Jersey Synagogue destroyed by fire
A historic New Jersey synagogue and Jewish community centre has been completely destroyed after a fire engulfed the premises in the early hours of Friday morning, with the Rabbi and his family narrowly escaping with their lives.

Multiple fire crews were called to battle the blaze which had taken hold of Congregation Beth El, in Rutherford, New Jersey, in the early hours of Friday morning. Rabbi Yitzchok and Rebbetzin Bina Lerman, along with their four children, managed to evacuate the premises, which housed Chabad of the Meadowlands.

A statement from the Congregation on the shul website read: “Early Friday morning, a massive fire tore through the Jewish Community Centre of the Meadowlands, home to Chabad of the Meadowlands – Congregation Beth El. It was also where the Shluchim Rabbi Yitzchok and Bina Lerman lived and welcomed guests with warmth and love.

Thank G-d, by a true miracle, the Lermans escaped just in time before the flames consumed the entire structure. But they lost everything: their home, their belongings, and the heart of their community.”

Speaking to the press, Rabbi Lerman confirmed that he and his family had lived at the Synagogue for 11 years, and that the building itself had served the community since the 1950s, though the congregation itself is more than a century old.

“We have a lot of programmes going on, we have services, we have our day camp that’s taking place – I had to call the director to relocate”, he said.

“We’re a very active community, a very loving community – it’s devastating to see the destruction of the synagogue, of everything we love, our Torah scrolls – it’s terrible.”
UKLFI: Urban Outfitters destroys anti-Israel magazines
Urban Outfitters has removed and destroyed the piles of anti-Israel magazines on the counters of its Camden store. UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) had received several complaints from customers who were extremely distressed to face offensive messages falsely accusing Israel of genocide while shopping.

Urban Outfitters has confirmed that it did not purchase and is no way affiliated with Crack magazine, nor would it ever intentionally offer the public any materials that contained such content.

After UKLFI alerted Urban Outfitters’ head office to the stacks of magazines at each check-out counter of their Camden store, Urban Outfitters took preventative action. It destroyed the magazines, and told UKLFI it understands that someone placed them in the shop, completely unauthorised.

Urban Outfitters has now confirmed that it has warned staff how to respond if similar situations should arise in future.

An Urban Outfitters spokesperson told UKLFI: “Please be assured that immediately upon discovering the pile of magazines left at the counter of our Camden store, we removed and destroyed them. Like you, we do not tolerate any speech condoning, denigrating, or impugning others.

For the avoidance of doubt, Urban Outfitters did not purchase and is in no way affiliated with Crack magazine, nor would we ever intentionally offer the public any materials that contained such content.

We have now confirmed with our store associates throughout our operations that this was an isolated incident, where it appears that an unknown third party placed them on our counter, completely unauthorised. We believe that we were not the only retailer targeted. Regardless, we have used this as a reminder to our staff as to how to properly handle these situations, should this ever occur in the future.”

A spokesperson for UKLFI said: “This is a good outcome, as many of Urban Outfitters’ customers had been very upset to see that magazine being promoted in the shop. We are very pleased that Urban Outfitters is taking a firm stance against those attempting to bring anti-Israel hatred into their stores.”


Here I Am With Shai David: Former Sudanese Child Slave's thoughts on #Genocide | EP 51 Simon Deng Pt. 2 of 2
In Part 2 of 2 of "Here I Am with Shai Davidai," host Shai continues his powerful conversation with Simon Deng, a former Sudanese slave and human rights activist. Simon shares his journey from Sudan to the United States, his advocacy through the Sudan Freedom Walk, and his efforts to raise awareness about genocide and human rights abuses. The episode explores Simon’s solidarity with victims worldwide, including his recent walk in Israel to support hostage families, and his reflections on hope, faith, and the universal fight against evil. Don’t miss this moving conclusion to Simon’s inspiring story.


Elgarat’s family shown video of him before death in Hamas captivity
The family of Itzik Elgarat, an Israeli hostage who was kidnapped from his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, and later declared dead, has received video footage showing him alive during his captivity.

Itzik’s brother Danny Elgarat said on Wednesday that Israeli authorities summoned the family to show them a video “from before his death in captivity,” Ynet reported.

Danny called it “a sign of life from the dead.”

He described Itzik in the video as “very emaciated, very scared, very confused. I saw in his eyes that he understood that he would probably never get out of there alive. A feeling of betrayal. He begged for his life in the video. He said he wanted to go back and that he missed his family.”

Danny said that the video was several minutes long, explaining: “I can’t really detail what was there, but as soon as I have it in my hands, I will release it. I’m just waiting for his children who are in Denmark to see the video.”

He added: “I saw the video with my children; we were shocked. This is one of the most difficult and complex days. We’ve been waiting for this for so long—to see Itzik alive, but not after he died. At least today I felt like I was closing some kind of small circle. I saw in his eyes that he was talking to us.”

The Prime Minister’s Office announced on Feb. 27 that the deaths of Elgart, Ohad Yahalomi, Tsachi Idan and Shlomo Mantzur were confirmed following forensic analyses. Elgart, Yahalomi and Idan were all murdered in Hamas captivity in Gaza, while Mantzur was murdered in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and his body taken to Gaza.
Wife of hostage David Cunio says she has seen footage of him in captivity: ‘He looks very desperate, and hungry’
Sharon Cunio, whose husband David is held hostage in Gaza, tells Channel 12 news she has seen footage of him in captivity.

While unable to go into details of the unpublished footage, she says the footage showed David Cunio “from a certain period in his captivity, and he doesn’t look very good. He looks very desperate, and hungry, and misses me and his family.”

“Broken and disappointed aren’t even words” to describe her feelings over last night’s security cabinet decision to advance plans to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, she says, adding that her “heart is crushed.”

She describes the decision as a “death sentence on David” and the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
Bibas family playroom opens in Israeli children’s hospital as lasting memorial to murdered hostages
A new children’s playroom has opened at Schneider Children’s Medical Centre in Israel to honour the memory of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, who were kidnapped and murdered after the 7 October terror attacks.

The vibrant space – featuring orange butterflies and interactive digital games – was designed in partnership with Toys for Hospitalised Children and created with the full support of the Bibas and Silberman families.

The Bibas playroom features a “digital touch wall”, a gaming table, and a mural or rolling green hills with three orange flowers symbolising Shiri and her two sons. The butterflies were inspired by four-year-old Ariel’s love of chasing them on picnics, recalled by his father, Yarden Bibas, in a moving eulogy.

“I wanted it to be in memory of the Bibas family, the children, and the mother,” Michelle Domb, one of the project’s lead funders, told eJewishPhilanthropy in March, when the project was underway.

Domb initially wanted to remain anonymous but later chose to speak out “to make my children proud.” She partnered with Sruli Anatian, another lead donor, who similarly said had he backed the project “to make his mum proud.”

The £118,000 playroom was built inside the hospital’s new Glass Building and was officially opened this week in Petah Tikvah, just months after the family’s funeral. It is the third playroom created by the group in Israel.

Speaking to eJewishPhilanthropy in March, Domb said the project was only greenlit after receiving the family’s full blessing. “I did not want to do anything without the family’s approval and bracha,” she said.

Toys for Hospitalised Children president Rabbi JJ Hecht II met with Shiri Bibas’ uncle, Maurice Shnaider, at a hostage vigil in New York. “I said to him, ‘Maurice, we have an idea and we want your blessing,’ and he cried immediately and said, ‘Yes I love it,’” Hecht told eJP.
Freed from captivity, Keith and Aviva Siegel walk daughter down aisle
Shir Siegel, daughter of former hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel, married her fiancé, Yuval Bar On, Thursday night, realizing the wedding plans that she had pushed off when her parents were abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023.

Keith and Aviva could be seen beaming in a picture Shir posted of herself and her husband under the chuppah — the traditional Jewish marriage canopy — in the ceremony that was also attended by other captivity survivors.

“This is the image of victory,” Shir captioned the picture on Instagram. “And when everyone will be home — that will be total victory. Nothing else.”

In the video she posted from under the chuppah, Shir added two prayers to the benedictions traditionally recited under the chuppah: “That all the hostages should return safely to their families. That peace and love and fraternity should dwell with the entire nation of Israel.”

Footage posted by Shir showed her dancing joyfully with her father, who was released from Hamas captivity just six months ago as part of the last truce-hostage deal with Hamas after 484 days in captivity. Keith, a North Carolina native, could also be seen serenading his daughter with folk singer James Taylor’s “Carolina on my Mind.”

In another video Shir re-posted from her close friend, former hostage Emily Damari, the bride could be seen dancing with Damari and fellow ex-captives Liri Albag, Agam Berger and Amit Soussana, the latter three of whom had been held with Aviva in Gaza.




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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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