Saturday, August 09, 2025

08/09 Links: Israel must end the ‘Palestinian exception’; AOC organizer arrested for terrorist threat; London: 466 Palestine Action supporters arrested; Montreal: Jewish man attacked in broad daylight

From Ian:

Israel must end the ‘Palestinian exception’
The “Palestinian” refugee crisis is not an accident. It is a design. A permanent grievance factory engineered by the Arab world (or the KGB, depending on whose narrative you prefer), canonized by the United Nations and subsidized by the West, all to sabotage the Jewish state.

But this hostile Arab population is not Israel’s responsibility.

It never was. It is not moral to keep Arabs trapped under the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. It is not moral to keep Jewish families next to people trained to slaughter them.

It is not moral to sacrifice Jewish soldiers or prolong a war Israel has the power to end, if only it stops asking permission.

The world has mechanisms for dealing with refugees. But Israel itself prevents those mechanisms from working, by being the only country that stops the process before it starts. By asking “Where will they go?” Israel keeps millions trapped—not just inside Gaza, but inside a miserable weaponized identity that serves only those who profit from Jewish blood.

Tiny Israel absorbs every Jewish refugee, not just from Europe and Africa and the Middle East, but from every corner of an increasingly hostile planet. Let the Arab League, with its 22 member states, massive wealth, and expansive territories, reabsorb their ethnic kin.

Let the 53 Muslim nations show even a fraction of the decency and responsibility the Jewish state has shown by integrating their brothers and sisters of the ummah. Let the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, representing over 2 billion people and claiming to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony,” actually live up to its mandate.

Or let any of Israel’s accusers, from Ireland to South Africa, demonstrate that “Palestinians” mean more to them than just excuses for antisemitic blood libels and fulminations. There are abundant options, all of which are more humane and make more sense than the infernal status quo.

Israel was carved out of a historic Jewish homeland, 80 percent of which remains, to this day, ruled by colonialist Arab regimes in which no Jews are permitted to live. It is time for Israel to stop being the Arab world’s toxic waste facility—a dumping ground for generations trained to kill us and to die doing it.

And if anyone dares ask Israel, “But where will they go?” the answer must be: “Great question; you figure it out. Because it’s not our problem anymore; not after Oct. 7. We tried everything—aid, land, coexistence; we even uprooted our own people by force, but they chose murder. You created these monsters; fed them, funded them, taught them to hate, paid them to kill. Now you deal with them.”

Israel must stop being the only nation on earth expected to feed, house, shelter and empower those sworn to destroy it.

But first, Jews must stop asking the question that no country on earth ever asked about us: “But who’s going to take them?”
Brendan O'Neill: In defence of whataboutery
Brilliantly, some non-Europeans are rising up against Gaza myopia. Luai Ahmed, the Yemeni-born writer who lives in Sweden, has directly confronted the UN on its Israelophobic mania. In a speech at the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, he asked: ‘What about Yemen?’ Half a million souls have perished there these past 10 years, he said. Yemen suffered one of the worst famines of the modern era in the wake of the Saudi-Yemen war. ‘Why does no one care when half a million Yemenis die?’, he demanded. You can envisage the moral preeners of the keffiyeh classes clubbing together to denounce this pesky Yemeni for his crime of whataboutery, for polluting their self-serving ‘Gaza genocide’ narrative with the inconvenient fact that there have been worse wars this very decade.

Even history must now bow to the Gaza delirium. Britain’s independent MP Zarah Sultana tweeted this week about the 80th anniversary of the nuking of Hiroshima. That was a ‘crime against humanity’ that ‘killed tens of thousands in an instant’, she said. Then, like a Pavlov’s dog of Palestinianism, she said ‘We also remember Gaza’, where Israel has dropped ‘five times the power of the atomic bomb’ that was launched over Hiroshima. ‘[This] is genocide’, she cried.

This is a kind of madness, isn’t it? Yes, with hilarious unwittingness Sultana actually made Israel’s case for it: that Israel has apparently dropped more firepower on Gaza over two years than America did on Hiroshima in a split second, and yet the casualities in Gaza are fewer than in Hiroshima, rather proves that this is not a genocide but a war on Hamas. But there’s a moral frenzy here, too. There is a class of people who think of nothing but Gaza. It colonises their every waking moment. It brutally blocks out all other political concerns, domestic and international. It casts its shadow over the present, the past and that starving child in Nigeria. Every human being, alive or dead, now finds his pain measured against Gaza. Ninety thousand human beings burnt to a crisp in Hiroshima? Okay, but what about Gaza? This isn’t activism – it’s hysteria.

I know what they say: it’s because our own governments support Israel that we are angrier about the Gaza conflict than any other. Bollocks. Our governments supported the Saudis too, yet I don’t remember you bawling in the streets every Saturday for the dead of Yemen. Our governments, via the aid industry, are catastrophically failing Nigeria and Sudan, yet you raise not one word. More to the point, the BBC – not to mention CNN, AP and the rest – are meant to be neutral news-collectors, not anti-government leftists. So why are they infected with the malarial Gaza fetish that ails the left and the cultural establishment?

Something else is going on. And we all know it. We all know that hating Israel has become the key source of moral virtue for the influential of the West. We all know Gaza is the issue through which high political society distinguishes itself from ‘the unenlightened’. And we all know that the consequence of this fetishisation of Palestine to the end of boosting the moral fortunes of time-rich, virtue-hungry Westerners is that black Africans and the Slavic victims of Russian imperialism are callously cast aside. That’s my charge: your swirling, one-eyed Israelophobia has nurtured a collective culture of abject indifference to our suffering cousins in Africa and elsewhere. So, tell me – what about them?
Palestine recognition ‘shows Hamas that killing people pays off’
His concern is that, in the eyes of both Hamas and Moscow, violence has been validated by the Western world.

“If Hamas can see that killing pays off, that they [Palestine] will be recognised, they will survive. Russia – similar. If they feel that the international community is willing to recognise that aggression pays off, Putin will not stop there.”

And, with Estonia bordering Russia, the threat feels immediate. “We are getting closer to a much more dramatic and turbulent world,” he said.

“Those forces that have played a decisive role in keeping stability in the Middle East are not today ready or able to make a difference. I mean, first and foremost, the US.

"The situation is difficult. The US is not able to be the unique power player. Nowadays, you have China, Russia, Iran, North Korea. Their aim is to destroy or redefine the current world order.”

After October 7, Mihkelson visited the sites of the Hamas massacre in southern Israel, including Kibbutz Be’eri and the Nova music festival. “It made me understand very deeply the consequences of the past and what could happen next,” he added.

He acknowledged the terrible suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, but also suggested that images of the conflict are being used dishonestly to sway public opinion. “The optics – what is coming out of Gaza – can be used as a manipulative tool. But also without any manipulation, you can see the suffering of civilians is horrible.”

While Estonia voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution last year calling on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, Mihkelson said future steps must focus on results not symbolism.

“Our position has been for a long time similar – we don’t exclude the full recognition of independence of a country… but our first and most important principal here is: if we do so, do we help to bring peace into the region? Will this be more than a political declaration? How will this resonate with what happened on October 7?

"Isn’t this recognition of Hamas, a terrorist organisation that still has as its primary goal to destroy Israeli statehood and kill Jews?”

Likewise, he supports a two-state solution, but said that October 7 pushed the prospect of peace further away. “Estonia’s position has been the same as other countries – agree with two-state formation – unfortunately, there is a very limited will specifically from the Palestinian Arab side to achieve this peace.

"October 7 was a major turning point that pushed that goal of two states living next to each other in peaceful terms further into the future.”

But, despite numerous meetings with the Palestinian Authority, he said he encountered “a lack of courage, leadership and the will to break with a violent past and build something different within the Palestinian state”.


The New Yorker sees Israeli indifference to Gaza – and misses the story
This is how the bulk of prestigious Western media outlets are framing this war. According to the logic of The New York Times, The Guardian, and co, it’s only fair to expect, even demand, that Israelis show the same care for children in Gaza that they have for their own. But do Palestinians owe Israelis anything in return? Don’t be absurd.

Remnick, to be fair, does hint at complexity. He quotes journalists on both sides of the political aisle, as well as a brave Israeli who bemoans the “non-existent” state of Israel’s liberal camp. He even finds space to mention a woman whose home was destroyed by an Iranian ballistic missile.

But he never actually talks to the people he’s pathologising: average Israelis who don’t have doctorates but do have sons fighting in Gaza, daughters mourning their dead husbands, and 21-year-olds who spent months in captivity in Gaza’s terror dungeons. Their voices are absent, because their views would puncture the narrative.

Instead, we get yet another dispatch from the “Tel Aviv is normal and that’s terrifying” genre – a genre that flourishes in elite journalism because it allows writers to moralise without reporting, to emote without asking hard questions, and to feel very, very brave while doing neither.

And let’s be honest: Remnick isn’t trying to understand Israeli society. He’s trying to shame it. He’s writing for the New Yorker reader who believes that all suffering is created equal, except when it’s Jewish. He’s writing for people who believe that noticing Palestinian pain is a sign of moral refinement, yet noticing Jewish trauma is provincial.

In the end, what David Remnick calls a “zone of denial” says far more about his own newsroom than it does about Israel. It’s a denial of history, of trauma, of the deeply rational fear driving Israeli behaviour today. It’s a refusal to grapple with the fact that for many Israelis, this isn’t about mere politics – it’s about surviving a genocidal enemy while the world asks you to apologise for fighting back.

Remnick had the resources and reach to write something insightful, to give The New Yorker’s audience an insight into the Israeli psyche. Instead, he wrote what his peers already believed. That’s not journalism. It’s an echo chamber in prose.

Remnick’s piece ends as it begins: with despair, not inquiry. But the real tragedy here isn’t the story he tells. It’s the story he refuses to consider: that in this war, the real “zone of denial” is not in Israel – it’s in the editorial offices of The New Yorker. And David Remnick is its mayor.
Charlie Rose: Douglas Murray on Donald Trump, America, Israel, and Europe | A Charlie Rose Global Conversation
Douglas Murray is a British journalist, author, and political commentator whose work explores major themes in politics and culture affecting the future of Europe and America.

He is an associate editor at the Spectator Magazine, a columnist for The New York Post and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Douglas Murray has written eight books. He was educated at Eton and Oxford and wrote his first book, "Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas," at age 20.

His most recent book On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization was written after months of on the ground reporting in Israel following the October 7th attacks. His other works reflect his interest in the plight of nations include The War on the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason, The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. Other titles include Neoconservatism: Why We Need It and Islamophilia: A Very Metropolitan Malady. We are at this moment at an important time as Israeli operations in Gaza continue and the humanitarian crisis remains severe. We will talk about many things including Donald Trump, his 10-year influence on America and global politics, the consequences of war in Gaza and Ukraine, the future of Western liberal values and Murray's self-definition. My interview with Douglas Murray is another global conversation about America from the experience of those in media, politics, technology, entertainment, business, universities, and the law. We will include a variety of voices from the left, right, and center in those conversations.




Oct. 7 was culmination of Tehran’s strategic plan, Khamenei website says
The Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel was the result of years of planning by Iran, Mohsen Mahdian, managing editor of the state-run Hamshahri daily, said on Friday in remarks published on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s official website.

Mahdian tied the June 12-day war between Iran and Israel to what he called the same long-term strategy that led to Oct. 7. “The first point is that the war should not be analyzed as a single moment,” he said in an interview that was part of a package titled the Narrative of Victory. “This war was the result of a strategic plan in the field. We had built this over the years.”

He said Israel’s strikes in June were not a show of strength but a move Iran had expected. “You pushed him [Israel] into the corner of the ring, and he has no choice but to attack,” Mahdian said. “He does this not from power, but from desperation. This is a passive move against a long-term program that you have created.”

Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in 2023, Israel has degraded Iran’s regional influence. That campaign crippled much of the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” including Hamas, Hezbollah, and armed groups in Syria and Iraq, and has reduced the capacity of these groups to operate.

Four days after the Hamas assault, Khamenei insisted Iran had no role. “It was the work of the Palestinians,” he said, adding: “We defend Palestine. We kiss the foreheads and arms of the young, wise and intelligent Palestinian planners, but this was their own work.”
Israeli leaders congratulate Armenia, Azerbaijan for peace deal, praise Trump for brokering it
Israeli leaders congratulated US President Donald Trump for brokering peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan in posts on X/Twitter on Saturday.

"Congratulations to President Trump! Your bold leadership and global vision have made another peace agreement possible," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "I also congratulate President Aliyev, Prime Minister Pashinyan, and the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia on signing this historic agreement."

President Isaac Herzog said that he was "deeply moved to see the signing of the historic agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington, under the auspices of Donald Trump.

"Thank you for your leadership and passionate commitment to help reach peace in our world. I hope and pray we will see many more historic achievements around the world under your leadership – above all, the urgent return of our hostages from the hell they are going through at the hands of Hamas in Gaza."

Promotion of peace, stability, and prosperity
The Foreign Ministry also congratulated Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, as well as Trump, for "his administration’s active leadership and engagement made this another landmark achievement possible, promoting peace, stability, and prosperity."
Iran threatens planned Trump corridor envisaged by Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal
Iran threatened on Saturday to block a corridor planned in the Caucasus under a regional deal sponsored by US President Donald Trump, Iranian media reported, raising a new question mark over a peace plan hailed as a strategically important shift.

A top Azerbaijani diplomat said earlier that the plan, announced by Trump on Friday, was just one step from a final peace deal between his country and Armenia, which reiterated its support for the plan.

The proposed Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) would run across southern Armenia, giving Azerbaijan a direct route to its exclave of Nakhchivan and in turn to Turkey.

The US would have exclusive development rights to the corridor, which the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.

It was not immediately clear how Iran, which borders the area, would block it, but the statement from Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, raised questions over its security.

He said military exercises carried out in northwest Iran demonstrated the Islamic Republic’s readiness and determination to prevent any geopolitical changes. Ali Akbar Velayati, adviser to the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran. (Photo/Vahid Salemi)

“This corridor will not become a passage owned by Trump, but rather a graveyard for Trump’s mercenaries,” Velayati said.

Iran’s foreign ministry earlier welcomed the agreement “as an important step toward lasting regional peace,” but warned against any foreign intervention near its borders that could “undermine the region’s security and lasting stability.”

Analysts and insiders say that Iran, under mounting US pressure over its disputed nuclear program and in the aftermath of a 12-day war with Israel in June, lacks the military power to block the corridor.


Netanyahu: ‘We are not going to occupy Gaza’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday reiterated that Israel has no intention of occupying the Gaza Strip, saying the expansion of the war is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing the local population from its regime of terror.

“We are not going to occupy Gaza—we are going to free Gaza from Hamas,” said Netanyahu.

“Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization,” he continued. “This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.”

The Israeli Security Cabinet overnight Thursday decided by a “decisive majority” to approve Netanyahu’s plan to defeat Hamas, including controlling Gaza City.

The Israel Defense Forces will prepare for “taking control of Gaza City, while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” the Prime Minister’s Office said on Friday.

The statement noted that the forum voted on five principles: disarming Hamas, returning all 50 hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, Israeli security control of the Strip and creating an alternative civil administration.

“Ultimately, what Israel needs to do for Israel’s security will be determined by Israel,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday, adding that as long as Hamas remains armed, there will never be peace in Gaza.

“Hamas is not going to suddenly change and go into another line of work,” said Rubio. “Their reason for existing is they want to destroy Israel. They want to drive every Jew out of the Middle East. That’s their goal. And as long as a group like that has weapons and the ability to fight, they’re a threat to peace.”


travelingisrael.com: Let’s not FREE PALESTINE! 7 good reasons why we shouldn’t free Palestine.
Let’s not FREE PALESTINE! 7 good reasons why we shouldn’t free Palestine “Free Palestine” is one of the most well-known slogans in the world. It’s catchy, it’s everywhere—but it’s also a terrible idea. Let’s dive in, because there are so many good reasons why it’s better not to free Palestine...




Israel’s big gamble: Matt Continetti & Hugh Hewitt on the decision by the Security Cabinet of Israel to take Gaza City



Eli Lake: Will the Iranian theocratic dictatorship collapse?



Former youth organizer for AOC busted after urging ‘attack’ on Jewish students at Brooklyn public high school
A Brooklyn woman who worked as a youth organizer for “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was arrested Friday on charges she urged her 25,000 social media followers to “attack” a public high school because Jewish students attend it.

Iman Abdul, 27, is accused of posting a screenshot on Thursday of the location of Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Manhattan Beach on Google Maps and a chilling caption.

“If anyone needs a public school in NYC to attack for whatever reason … Lexus driving Israhell (sic) loving Zionisits (sic) all attend here,” the since-deleted post read.

“They’ve all gone on ‘Birthright,’ it added, referring to a popular program that offers free 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish young adults.

The NYPD arrested Abdul at her Brooklyn home on Friday, charging her with making a terroristic threat, acting in a manner injurious to a child, aggravated harassment, and making a threat of mass harm.

Abdul worked on the Democratic primary campaigns of socialist pols AOC and state Sen. Julia Salazar in the summer of 2018. She was a paid canvasser for Salazar, the lawmaker told The Post.

She also described herself in the 2019 interview as a student at City College of NY, majoring in childhood education, sociology and Latino studies; and a director at IntegrateNYC, a youth–led group advocating for “desegregation” of city schools.

The Instagram post alarmed Jewish advocates fighting against antisemitism in city schools.

“A map. A pin. A call to harm Jews, fellow New Yorkers, children, teachers. This isn’t just dangerous. It’s evil. Jew-hatred doesn’t stop with a threat. It escalates. We need immediate and unequivocal action,” Tova Plaut, a DOE pre-K staffer and Jewish activist, told The Post.

“I am outraged and horrified that a NYC school was publicly marked for attack simply because of its Jewish population,” she added.


London police detain at least 365 for supporting terror group Palestine Action
The Metropolitan Police arrested at least 365 people on Saturday in Parliament Square, London, for holding placards supporting Palestine Action, an anti-Israel group designated as a terrorist organization by British lawmakers in July.

In a statement challenging claims made by organizers of the protest, the Met said, “We are confident that anyone who came to Parliament Square today to hold a placard expressing support for Palestine Action was either arrested or is in the process of being arrested.”

The claim that only a fraction of those who violated the law were apprehended “simply isn’t true,” police continued.

While around 500 to 600 people attended the rally, many were onlookers, media or people not holding placards in support of the banned group, the statement continued.

Those apprehended were taken to Prisoner Processing Points in Westminster area, while those whose details could be confirmed were released on bail, “with conditions not to attend any further protest in support of Palestine Action,” the statement concluded.


Jewish student’s lawsuit against pro-Palestine groups, UNLV still pending after 15 months
A Jewish UNLV student’s lawsuit claiming the university, state higher education system and a host of pro-Palestinian groups fostered an antisemitic environment has faced legal setbacks, including a move for sanctions filed at the start of August, but is still pending 15 months after being filed.

Corey Gerwaski, who frequently wears a Jewish skullcap called a kippah, filed the federal lawsuit last May, alleging pro-Palestinian groups on UNLV’s campus were violating federal anti-terrorism laws and operating as a de facto “propaganda wing” for Hamas by using similar rhetoric in calling for “resistance” and an end to “Israeli-occupation of Gaza” during protests at UNLV.

Gerwaski also claimed that he was unjustly terminated from his position at the UNLV library and received reduced pay for his elected student government role following the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

In the complaint, Gerwaski said he faced an impeachment campaign through which his opponents spread false rumors across campus that he was racist and homophobic, and that his formal complaints to the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents about antisemitism he was facing went unanswered.

When the complaint was filed last year, the antisemitism claims rippled through the Las Vegas community, grabbing headlines at local newspapers and television stations alike.

Almost a year later in May 2025, District Court Judge Andrew Gordon dismissed anti-terrorism and emotional distress claims filed against two of the defendants, Students for Justice in Palestine at UNLV (SJP-UNLV) and Americans for Justice in Palestine (AJP). The majority of claims brought against UNLV and the state’s higher education system were dismissed though a second, amended complaint was filed in June, reiterating surviving claims that UNLV violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and violated Gerwaski’s civil rights.

AJP is a nonprofit, located in Falls Church, Virginia, that lobbies for Palestinian rights in Washington D.C.

Gordon dismissed the anti-terrorism claims, writing that Gerwaski failed to show that the Nevada-based advocacy groups aided and abetted Hamas in its attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. All actions detailed in Gerwaski’s complaint occurred afte


Huckabee slams ‘CBS’ for selectively editing interview on Israel
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee criticized CBS News on Friday for selectively editing a recent interview with him, conveying a different message than the one he expressed in the full conversation.

“Ever wonder how the media edits an interview to give you a different story than the one they had?” Huckabee tweeted.

The diplomat then added a link to the full transcript on the U.S. embassy website, providing readers the opportunity to identify the misleading edits for themselves.

The interview was aired on Aug. 7 and conducted by CBS News’ Debora Patta, who has interviewed individuals attempting to undermine the Jewish state’s moral status, such as the director of “Breaking the Silence,” an Israeli NGO dedicated to alleging Israel Defense Forces war crimes.

The less-than-four-minute broadcasted interview begins with Patta asking Huckabee whether he is “deeply troubled by images of starving children.”

Huckabee replies, “I’m moved when the photos are verified.”

The reporter follows by insisting that “there are real images,” to which the American official says, “Oh, I think that there are certainly people suffering in Gaza.”

In the full exchange, Huckabee answered as follows: “I’m moved when the photos are verified. I mean, we’re all moved when you see someone, especially a child who’s starving. But The New York Times published a picture on the front page of what was purported to be a starving child. Turns out the child had a birth defect and had not been starving.

“There were other pictures, for example, that were published of starving children in Gaza. Turned out one of them was from Yemen. One was from 2017. There was another photo that appeared to be somewhat staged, with photographer all set up to get pictures of a few people herded into a small area …”

At this point Patta interrupted, asking about “real images.”


Six Lebanese soldiers killed in blast while seizing Hezbollah munitions
The Lebanese army said a blast at a weapons depot near the Israeli border killed six soldiers on Saturday, with a military source saying the troops were removing munitions from a Hezbollah facility.

Under the truce that ended last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanese troops have been deploying in the country’s south and dismantling the Iran-backed terror group’s infrastructure in the region.

The deaths come after the Lebanese government decided this week to disarm Hezbollah and tasked the army with drawing up a plan to complete the process by year’s end.

Hezbollah has said it will ignore the cabinet’s decision, which came under heavy US pressure, while the group’s backer Iran said Saturday it opposed the effort.

A military statement gave a preliminary toll of six soldiers killed “while an army unit was inspecting a weapons depot and dismantling its contents in Wadi Zibqin,” in Tyre district near the Israeli border.

Investigations were underway to determine the cause of the blast, it added.

A military source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media, told AFP the blast took place “inside a Hezbollah military facility.” Troops were “removing munitions and unexploded ordnance left over from the recent war” when the blast occurred, the source added.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he spoke to army commander Rodolphe Haykal about a “painful incident” that led to a number of dead and wounded from the army as a result of a munitions explosion as an engineering unit “was working to remove and disable” the ordnance, a presidency statement said.
Iran says it arrested 20 alleged Israeli spies, ‘will make an example of them all’
Iran has arrested 20 people it alleges are operatives of Israel’s Mossad spy agency in recent months, Tehran’s judiciary said on Saturday, warning that they will face no leniency and will be made an example of.

On Wednesday, Iran executed a nuclear scientist named Rouzbeh Vadi, who was convicted of spying for Israel and passing along information on another nuclear scientist killed in Israel’s air strikes on Iran in June, state media reported.

Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told reporters in Tehran on Saturday that charges against some of the 20 suspects had been dropped and they were released. He did not give a number.

“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” Jahangiri was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

He said full details would be made public once investigations were complete.

Executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel have significantly increased this year, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months.

In mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a war during which Iran responded with missile and drone strikes.

The Israeli offensive killed senior military commanders, nuclear scientists and hundreds of others, striking both military sites and residential areas.

Israel said its sweeping assault on the country’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon and realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Montreal: Jewish man attacked in broad daylight with children at his side
A Jewish man was attacked on Friday with his two young daughters at his side in Montreal, in the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension.

Montreal police launched a probe into the incident, after responding to a 911 call about a physical confrontation at the corner of l’Épée and Beaumont avenues at 2:45 p.m., CBC News cited police spokesperson Constable Caroline Chèvrefils as saying.

The assailant fled before police officers arrived at the scene. No arrests have been made.

Chèvrefils confirmed that a video circulating online shows a 28-second portion of the attack. It starts with the victim, 32, laying on the ground as the attacker strikes him several times with his fists. The attacker then stands up and walks away, grabbing several of what are apparently his belongings, after which he tossed the Jewish man’s kippah into a shallow fountain.

One of the Jewish man’s girls is seen clinging to him as he gets up on his knees.

The motivation for the assault was not yet known, the police spokesperson added, according to the report.

The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries, she relayed.

“This is beyond deplorable—it is an outrage against basic human decency,” said Jeremy Levi, the mayor of Hampstead, a suburb on the Island of Montreal bordering the city of Montreal.

“In the heart of Montreal, a Jewish father is savagely beaten in front of his children. This is the Canada that [Prime Minister] Mark Carney has allowed to fester—a place where weakness in leadership has emboldened brutality,” the mayor continued.

“Hampstead made a different choice long ago. We refused to bow to complacency. We increased our Public Security budget by 50%, ensuring we are ready, capable, and unwilling to depend on politicians who lack the courage to protect their own citizens. We will defend our people—every time, without apology,” Levi added.


In a first, Argentinian lawmaker indicted for anti-Israel social media posts
An Argentine lawmaker has been indicted on criminal charges after comparing Israel to the Nazi regime and calling it a “genocide state” on social media.

Vanina Biasi of the left-wing Workers’ Party is the first sitting legislator in Argentina to be indicted for antisemitism, and the case against her marks the first time social media posts demonizing Israel have been legally recognized as antisemitic in Argentina.

The indictment comes as Argentina takes an aggressive stance against antisemitism and anti-Israel activity, fueled by the philosemitism of its populist president, Javier Milei. Charges against Biasi were first filed in late November 2023, days after Milei’s election and before he was sworn in. Biasi lost a series of appeals, leading to the formal indictment on Thursday.

The case against Biasi centers on eight tweets she posted on X between November 27, 2023, and January 29, 2024.

“The Zionist Nazis need to destroy UNRWA humanitarian aid so the extermination can accelerate. They use famine, like in Nazi concentration camps, as a method of extermination,” Biasi wrote in one of the tweets. In another, she wrote, “The Zionist state is Nazi because of its practices and ideology.”

Prosecutors argued that Biasi’s messages went beyond free speech and constituted hate speech under Argentina’s Anti-Discrimination Law. A federal judge backed that assessment in April, saying that her posts incited hatred against Jews, and ordered a seizure of assets equal to about $7,500.

Biasi’s legal team appealed on free speech grounds.

On Thursday, the Federal Chamber unanimously upheld the indictment and asset seizure. The judges ruled that freedom of expression is not absolute and can be restricted to protect others’ rights, national security, public order, health or morals. They agreed that Biasi exceeded the limits of allowable free speech.

Biasi is a prominent leader of the Workers’ Party, a former national lawmaker, and a recently elected member of the Buenos Aires city parliament. If convicted, she could face a prison sentence of one month to three years.
‘Act now’: Jewish organisations urgent plea after neo-Nazi march in Melbourne
A leading Jewish organisation has called on the the Victorian government to “act now” after a neo-Nazi march through Melbourne’s CBD.

Around 100 masked men marched through Melbourne’s CBD in the early hours of Saturday morning — with police watching on.

At the front of the procession past Bourke Street Mall, two individuals carried an Australian flag and a National Socialist Network flag, while another man held a sign reading “White Man Fight Back.”

The march was condemned by state premier Jacinta Allan, who called the participants “goons” and added: “Nazis don’t belong in this country and they know it. That’s why they hide behind masks in the dark.”

In a statement, the Jewish Council of Victoria condemned the march urged the state government to act when parliament resumes next week.

“Eight months after promising anti-masking and anti-hate symbol laws, the government must act now,” they said.

The council also called on the Jewish community to stay strong.

“Hate and menace again found its way in Melbourne’s CBD last night,” the council said.

“A small group of neo-Nazis hid behind masks and darkness, ashamed to show their faces.

“They are a tiny fringe, rejected by the overwhelming majority of Victorians, who proudly embrace our multicultural communities.

“They will not intimidate us. They will not divide us.”

Premier Jacinta Allan announced a series of measures to crackdown on protests in December, including bans on certain fags and symbols, and face coverings at protests.


40,000 to attend Nova Tribe concert in Tel Aviv
Nearly two years after Hamas’s Oct. 7 cross-border terror assault, the Nova Tribe—freed hostages, attack survivors and bereaved families—will unite to remember and heal through music.

Some 40,000 people are expected to attend the commemorative concert at Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv on Aug. 14.

As part of the event, the Nova Tribe has formed a unique musical ensemble made up of survivors and relatives of those killed. The group will take the stage in a public performance for the first time during the concert.

The Oct. 7, 2023, massacre unfolded during a weekend of music festivals in southern Israel, the most well-known being the Supernova rave near Kibbutz Re’im.

What began as a celebration turned into a tragedy, with Hamas terrorists killing more than 360 revelers, wounding many more, and taking more than 40 people hostage.
Parents of teen slain in Sbarro pizzeria bombing meet with US District Attorney Jeanine Pirro
The parents of U.S. teen Malki Roth, murdered in the Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem in August 2001, met with Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, in a July 17 video conference to discuss the extradition of their daughter’s killer from Jordan.

Other senior members of the U.S. Department of Justice involved in the case took part in the meeting in Washington, D.C., which focused on what the Roths termed “concrete steps” to advance the extradition of Ahlam Tamimi.

Although an extradition treaty exists between the United States and Jordan, the Roths have struggled to obtain justice.

“My wife Frimet and I have been unsuccessful for more than a decade in our efforts to engage with any senior U.S. official. We have wanted them to hear us directly, to look us in the eyes as we speak of our daughter, Malki Roth, a 15-year-old American citizen murdered in a horrific terrorist attack,” Arnold Roth said at the meeting.

Pirro assured the Roths that the case remains a priority for the Justice Department and that she would do everything in her power to make the Tamimi extradition happen.

She expressed “in strongly emotional terms identification with our cause and understanding of what we’ve been through,” Roth told JNS.

However, Pirro noted that it wasn’t entirely up to her, as other departments of the U.S. government were involved.

While the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia plays a key role in extraditions, particularly those with implications for national security, it works in conjunction with other agencies, including the U.S. State Department.

The Roths have not been successful in meeting with a U.S. Secretary of State to press their case, despite efforts over the years to do so. The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program has offered up to $5 million for information leading to Tamimi’s arrest.

“The Jordanians are in breach of their extradition treaty with the United States, and have never once been called out on it,” said Roth. “I don’t know of another case like it where the U.S. sees itself as blocked from bringing a fugitive to U.S. justice by a treaty-partner and recipient of lavish foreign aid.” (Jordan receives $1.45 billion in U.S. aid annually.)


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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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