Tuesday, August 12, 2025

08/12 Links Pt2: The ‘Empathy’ Lie and the Erasure of the Hostages; We Will No Longer Tolerate ‘Pay for Slay’; Leaders of terror-linked charity bankroll Democrats

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The ‘Empathy’ Lie and the Erasure of the Hostages
As I explained yesterday, there is no longer any disputing that French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that his country would recognize the “state of Palestine,” in conjunction with his and other European leaders’ one-sided pressure on Israel, sabotaged the cease-fire deal that would have brought 10 living hostages home.

Which means that every leader who followed Macron in announcing a plan to recognize a Palestinian state—Mark Carney of Canada, Albanese of Australia, Keir Starmer of the UK—did so knowing the price that would be paid by the hostages.

The remaining hostages, including those who would have been freed had Europe not intervened on Hamas’s behalf, may not survive. But even those who do survive will be tortured, starved, and likely exposed to sexual mistreatment of one kind or another. Every added day of captivity brings them closer to death through painful and utterly inhuman treatment at the hands of Hamas monsters.

To join in the wave of “Palestine” recognition, knowing this, means several Western leaders have made a calculation: They can live with the deaths of the hostages, even when they are partially on their conscience. Such people may not be Hamasnik monsters themselves, but they are at the very least monster-adjacent.

Furthermore, this whole situation exposes something important about the international community. Those who claim to care for the wellbeing of Palestinians in Gaza are not displaying empathy. They are not displaying generosity of spirit or anything of the kind. They are, as they have explained time and again, acting out of domestic political pressure. That is certainly a legitimate driver of political policymaking, but it is not a display of morality or decency.

Were the “humanitarian” activists to advocate with equal force for the hostages, they might be saved. But the rest of the world doesn’t care, and politics is a numbers game: There simply aren’t enough Jews in these countries. That itself is a vicious cycle, and one the callous cowards of the West are unbothered by as well.
Seth Mandel: Why Israel Is Losing the ‘Propaganda War’
Just as recognizing a Palestinian state does not make a Palestinian state suddenly appear. It may be a boon to the people dressing up as the Palestinian state, though.

Is an NGO or some other nonstate entity a “humanitarian” organization because it calls itself humanitarian? Over the weekend there was some excitement in the anti-Israel world over an open letter written by French self-described experts in international law, which made two pretty wild points: that Israel did not have the legal right of self-defense after Oct. 7, and that Israel’s “genocidal intent” toward Gazans was made clear when someone in Israel proposed a “humanitarian city” for Palestinians civilians that was never actually pursued. I’m sure these folks have university degrees in their chosen industry, but not a single person who signs a letter like this is an “expert” in anything except signing their own name.

The propaganda debate over the war is reminiscent of MSNBC’s Joy Reid once explaining that “The enemy of the far-right, in their own words, are Antifa, meaning anti-fascist. So, they are anti-anti-fascist by their own reckoning.” If you oppose a group called anti-fascist, you are a fascist. Magnify this galactic stupidity by a thousand and you have something like what Israel is facing in the international media.

What if we call the Hamas government’s police forces the “Gaza civil police”? Then the UN can argue its trucks are being guarded by legions of people like Dwight from The Office, who boasted of his status as a Lackawanna County volunteer sheriff’s deputy.

And where do you go when you need some solid medical or hospital information? May I suggest the Gaza Health Ministry? The ministry is not affiliated with Hamas because, as you can see, the word Hamas appears nowhere in its name.

Is there a single person on earth in a position of power and influence who actually believes any of this? Of course not. And that is the problem with the propaganda war. Someone who cites the “Gaza Health Ministry” is not someone who has been fooled by one side; it is someone who has chosen one side. There’s no question at all that Israel could stand to improve its response time in providing the real story behind whatever nonsense is leading, say, the Guardian on any given day. But one must also remember why someone would read the Guardian for its Mideast war reporting in the first place.
Meir Y. Soloveichik: We Will No Longer Tolerate ‘Pay for Slay’
In 2002, Benjamin Blutstein was an American student from New Jersey, studying for a semester at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As he began lunch in the school’s Frank Sinatra Cafeteria, a Hamas-planted bomb blew up, ending his life instantly. He had planned to fly home later that day. Blutstein was one of several Americans murdered in that attack and one of many Americans murdered by Palestinian terrorists over the past 20 years. Several of his murderers sit in Israeli prison—and are to this day given a stipend as reward by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The families of Palestinian “martyrs,” suicide bombers, receive similar sustenance.

It was more than two decades later, this past June, that the Supreme Court addressed the legal rights of Blutstein’s relatives and those of others. The case is technical, focusing on matters abstruse and abstract, but if we pay close attention, we will discover that the jurisprudential debate also makes manifest larger questions relating to American foreign policy, mistakes made over the past years—and the new attitude that must be adopted.

The case, Fuld et al. v. PLO et al., concerns the policy of the Palestinian Authority that is known as “pay for slay,” through which the PA continues to bestow financial rewards on terrorists and their families, thereby incentivizing terrorist acts. Families of murdered Americans like Benjamin Blutstein sued the Palestinian Authority for damages. They relied on the 1990 Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows for verdicts bestowing triple damages to those hurt by international terror. They, in turn, were constantly rebuffed by the courts, which insisted that U.S. law had no jurisdiction over the Palestinian Authority.

In response, Congress in 2019 passed the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, specifically stating that the PA would be deemed to have consented to the jurisdiction of United States law if it maintained a presence in American territory and if it continued its “pay for slay” activities. Because the PA does indeed maintain an office in midtown Manhattan, and because its payments for terror are still ongoing, the families of the victims successfully sued the PA in federal court, achieving a civil verdict of hundreds of millions of dollars.

That decision was overturned by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which deemed it a violation of the PA’s due-process rights because it unfairly imposed the burden of “litigating in a distant or inconvenient forum.” While the PA does have an office in New York, the circuit court argued that aside from its presence at the United Nations, the PA had no right to engage in its activities in the United States; the American government was merely turning a “blind eye” to its activities. The PA could not be deemed to have consented to U.S. jurisdiction unless it received some “reciprocal” benefit for its presence in the country.


Leo Terrell: I'm leading Trump's antisemitism task force. We must protect Jewish people now and forever
When President Donald Trump asked me to lead the Department of Justice Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, I answered without hesitation: "Thank you, Mr. President."

Why such gratitude? This mission is deeply personal. I have been a civil rights attorney for 35 years. Jewish friends gave me my start as a civil rights attorney by allowing me to use office space free-of-charge when I was just getting off my feet. I am a child of the 1960s who understands the historic bond between Black and Jewish Americans. I remember the Jewish activists who stood shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and I honor the memory of Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two young Jewish men murdered in Mississippi in 1964 for defending the rights of African Americans.

That history shows how deeply connected the Black and Jewish struggles for equality have been. Standing up against hate in one form means standing up against hate in all forms. The fight against antisemitism is not just a Jewish issue but also an American issue. I am proud to be a Black man leading this Task Force.

For four years, the previous administration largely ignored the rise of antisemitism across the country, leaving Jewish Americans exposed to growing danger. Trump, in contrast, has made combating antisemitism a top national priority.

His administration is confronting its most visible breeding grounds: American universities. At too many universities, antisemitism is not only tolerated but, in some cases, encouraged and protected.

The task force has identified institutions, including Harvard, Columbia, UCLA, and Northwestern, that enable antisemitic conduct. Federal funding freezes worth billions of dollars have forced these schools to acknowledge wrongdoing and adopt reforms immediately. Federal funding is a privilege, not a right. No one would object if the federal government withheld funds from universities that enable discrimination against Black students. The same principle must apply when Jewish students are targeted. Jewish students deserve to attend school without fear of harassment, intimidation or violence.

The fight does not stop at the classroom door. Antisemitism is spilling into America’s streets. An anti-Israel extremist murdered two young staffers of the Israeli Embassy near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. They were an engaged couple preparing to build a life together. Instead of pursuing their dreams, they were gunned down together, and I watched their blood being cleaned from the sidewalk.
Blinken: Western countries are morally right to recognize Palestine, but too hasty
Former US secretary of state Antony Blinken argued Monday that the growing number of Western countries planning to recognize a Palestinian state in September are well-intentioned but are going about the effort in the wrong way.

“With the Gaza crisis still unfolding, this focus on recognition seems totally beside the more pressing realities. Amid the suffering of Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages—and Israel’s announced plan to occupy all or part of the enclave—averting famine, recovering the hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza are the priorities. Talk of two states can wait,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

Blinken assessed that Israel has achieved two of its three war goals in Gaza, namely destroying Hamas militarily and killing those responsible for the October 7, 2023, massacres. But the third, freeing the hostages, “is unlikely to be met by fully occupying Gaza,” and Israel “has failed to develop a plan to withdraw from Gaza and prevent Hamas from taking over again.”

A plan to recognize a Palestinian state is therefore “necessary,” he reasoned, to secure the support of Arab states in providing security forces and aid to help Palestinians govern the territory while excluding Hamas.

However, “unconditionally recognizing Palestine won’t produce a Palestinian state or end suffering in Gaza. Failing to require that Palestinians commit to steps to ensure Israel’s security in return for recognition would fortify proponents of terror on the Palestinian side and rejectionists of Palestinian statehood on the Israeli side,” he argued.

“There’s a better way forward. France, the UK, Canada and Australia should adopt, and the US should embrace, a time-bound, conditions-based path toward recognizing a Palestinian state. Start and end points are a must, because no one will accept an endless process. Palestinians need a clear and near horizon for political self-determination,” Blinken said.

“Recognition should also be conditions based. While Palestinians have a right to self-determination, with that right comes responsibility. No one should expect Israel to accept a Palestinian state that is led by Hamas or other terrorists, that is militarized or has independent armed militias, that aligns with Iran or others that reject Israel’s right to exist, that educates and preaches hatred of Jews or Israel, or that, unreformed, becomes a failed state,” he continued.

He suggested these issues should be addressed over a three-year period that would show “that an independent Palestine will be focused on building a state, not destroying Israel.”


Vile history of organisation Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants to take control of Palestine
The organisation Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong want to run a new Palestinian state has a chequered history of funding the families of dead terrorists and glorifying suicide bombers.

The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister confirmed Australia will recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September.

But concerns have emerged after the government declared the new state would be run by the Palestinian Authority and its 89-year-old leader Mahmoud Abass.

The PA operates a so-called “Martyrs Fund,” which pays monthly stipends to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned for carrying out attacks against Israelis civilians.

The longer the prison sentence, the higher the payment, with some families receiving the equivalent of $5,155 per month which have been linked to incentivising terrorism.

Textbooks used in PA-run schools have long been condemned by international watchdogs for promoting hatred and glorifying violence.

In one instance, a children’s book about female suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat - who killed 21 people in a 2003 bombing - was shared by the PA’s South Hebron Directorate of Education.

A Grade 5 textbook praises Dalal al-Mughrabi, responsible for the 1978 massacre of 38 Israelis, including 13 children.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has also been given new-found authority after Mr Albanese and other global leaders engaged with him prior to the announcement.


'Appalling mistake': Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ‘adopts’ language of terrorists in calling slain fighters ‘martyrs’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has come under fire for “adopting the language of terrorists” during his press conference to announce Australia would recognise a Palestinian state.

Mr Albanese, alongside Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong on Monday, said Australia would formally recognise Palestine in the UN next month.

Sky News host Chris Kenny said he was “surprised” Mr Albanese’s use of the word “martyrs” had not gotten more backlash.

“Our government has made it clear that there can be no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state. This is one of the commitments Australia has sought and received from President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority,” Mr Albanese said.

“The Palestinian Authority has reaffirmed it recognises Israel's right to exist in peace and security. It has committed to demilitarise and to hold general elections.

“It is pledged to abolish the system of payments to the families of prisoners and martyrs.”

Speaking to Sky News, Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson said it was an “appalling mistake, I hope”.

“Of course, that is what the Palestinian Authority calls people who get on school buses and blow themselves to smithereens and take Israeli and Jewish children with them,” Mr Paterson told Kenny on Tuesday.

“No Australian Prime Minister should endorse or use language like that. We should call it for what it is. The Palestinian Authority pays money to the family of terrorists after they kill Israelis. It's one of the many reasons why we should not recognise a Palestinian state.”
Anthony Albanese has caved into the ‘demands of bloodthirsty terrorists’
Sky News host Sharri Markson discusses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

“I never could have imagined that the devastating massacre of 1,200 innocent children and families on October 7 would, less than two years later, reward those who perpetrated it with symbolic statehood,” Ms Markson said.

“But today, this is what we saw, with the Albanese Government declaring it would vote to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN next month.

“This is the Albanese Government caving into the demands of bloodthirsty terrorists, who call recognition the fruits of October 7.

“Shame on you, Albanese, and shame on you, Penny Wong.”




‘Totally out of their depth’: Albanese and Wong humiliated after ‘bizarre’ Palestine plan
Sky News host Andrew Bolt says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong are “totally out of their depth” concerning Palestine.

“Anthony Albanese's plan to recognise a Palestinian state next month, today collapsed into farce,” Mr Bolt said.

“The prime minister and his foreign minister, Penny Wong, have been humiliated, totally unable to explain how their bizarre plan would actually work.

“There's even more evidence that the Palestinian leader they trust to form this state is a corrupt Jew-hating, America-hating, liar who is hated even by Palestinians and is making promises to Albanese he will not keep.

“This just shows how Albanese and Wong are totally out of their depth.”




‘I had better hopes for Australia’: Former IDF spokesperson on Palestine recognition
Former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus discusses Australia’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state.

“Strengthens Hamas, weakens Israel, makes it virtually impossible for Israel to negotiate hostages out of captivity and frankly is tremendously disappointing for a democracy to do,” Mr Conricus told Sky News Australia.

“I had better hopes for Australia, I thought Australian leaders had better sense and understanding, and I’m saddened by it.

“This is a tremendous blow to Israel and to people that want peace.”


Australian government labelled ‘criminally clueless’ after Palestine recognition
Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy has condemned Australia’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, claiming it rewards Hamas for recent atrocities, betrays key allies, and fuels further violence in the region.

“They have no idea the amount of damage they are doing by rewarding Hamas for those barbaric atrocities and encouraging more of them,” Mr Levy said.

“I don’t understand what Australia has to gain by betraying an ally at war, turning its back on its major ally, the United States, and fermenting violence.

“All to try to appease protests that have taken over the streets of Australia, frankly, it's crazy.”


‘Severe blow’: October 7 attacks show there is ‘no legitimate partner’ for peace
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin discusses the Albanese government’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

“There’s a feeling of great fatigue, everyone wants peace, but October 7 dealt such a severe blow to that,” Mr Ryvchin told Sky News Australia.

“That showed Israelis that there is no legitimate partner for peace, and giving up territory only endangers Israelis more.”


‘Truly pathetic’: Albanese’s ‘premature’ recognition of Palestine slammed
The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan criticises Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s “premature” recognition of Palestine.

“It’s truly pathetic; it has no intellectual coherence, no substance,” Mr Sheridan told Sky News Australia.

“It’s very fashionable at the moment around the world among left-wing movements.

“Of course, there’s one Jewish state and dozens of Muslim states … once upon a time, democracies like Australia stood for principle.

“Premature recognition is just a gesture.”


USDA changing reference to state of ‘Palestine’ on its website after JNS query
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which consists of 29 agencies with almost 100,000 employees at 4,500 locations in the country and abroad, is changing an option in a drop-down menu in its organic integrity database for users to identify their location as “Palestine, state of.”

The United States does not recognize an independent Palestinian state, and U.S. officials have said that other countries that have said that they intend to recognize such a state would reward the Hamas terror organization for its attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Thank you for alerting us to this issue,” a USDA spokesperson told JNS. “The database is run by a contractor, and USDA is working immediately to change the listing to the State Department-recognized name.”
Arkansas city changes reference to country ‘Palestine’ after JNS query
The city of Conway, Ark., told JNS that it changed an option in a drop-down menu on the web page of the Conway Community Center, which offered users an option to identify their location as the country of “Palestine.”

JNS asked if the city or the state had a policy of recognizing an independent Palestinian state.

“No. This has been swiftly resolved,” a spokesman for the city told JNS.

The form now offers only an option to input U.S. addresses and not international ones.

The United States does not recognize an independent Palestinian state, and U.S. officials have said that other countries that have said that they intend to recognize such a state would reward the Hamas terror organization for its attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
Zohran Mamdani’s Fantasy Island
There is a version of American liberalism that treats progress as a shared destiny, social improvement being the gradual and unstoppable realization of the popular hope for a better country and world. This was the rhetoric of the Obama era, a time when the arc of history was bending ever forward and when liberals saw their coming accomplishments as the just and natural fulfillment of past movements and ideas. Leaving aside Zohran Mamdani’s statement that the now widely reviled Bill de Blasio was the best New York City mayor of his lifetime, the 33-year-old state assemblyman and Democratic Party mayoral candidate makes no claims to be completing something that somebody else began. Mamdani dreams of turning America’s capitalist engine into a national beacon of entitlement, a place where the authorities solve all major problems of body and spirit: “A life of dignity should not be reserved for a fortunate few,” Mamdani said in his victory speech on June 24. “It should be one that city government guarantees for each and every New Yorker.”

Who doesn’t want “a life of dignity” guaranteed by City Hall? Reality isn’t so accommodating: Leftist experiments in American municipal governance have been a bloody and wasteful disappointment, swiftly earning the hatred of the people these projects claimed to have wanted to help. In San Francisco, progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin lost a 2022 recall election amid the city’s nationally embarrassing deterioration. By 2021, Keisha Lance Bottoms, the once-renowned progressive mayor of Atlanta, was too unpopular to run for reelection. In New York, the left-wing de Blasio, an admirer of the Sandinistas in his youth and probably beyond, struggled to break double digits in polls for a Park Slope congressional primary after two unpopular terms in Gracie Mansion.

However unpopular he may now be, de Blasio looks like a civic giant, the early-21st-century New York mayor likely to have the deepest and longest impact on the city. The charismatic inheritor of de Blasio’s unfinished and unloved ideological project, Mamdani wants a $30 minimum wage, which would strangle law-abiding businesses or drive service jobs into the selectively tolerated informal economy; an indefinite freeze on government-regulated apartment rents, which would further warp an already distorted and exorbitant housing market; a halt on hiring police officers and a focus on a new Department of Community Safety, an experiment that might jeopardize the city’s significant but fragile recent reductions in crime; and free bus service, which would deprive the Metropolitan Transit Authority of about a third of a billion dollars in annual revenue in order to turn the city’s transit fleet into a rolling homeless shelter.

These are not changes that a majority of New Yorkers seem to want. The most optimistic polls for Mamdani have him at about 40 percent support among registered voters, good enough for a commanding lead over a four-way field that includes disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo, semi-disgraced current mayor Eric Adams, and 71-year-old paramilitary leader Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate. Even with this shambolic opposition, Mamdani is on pace to post the weakest showing for a Democratic mayoral nominee since Bill Thompson cracked 46 percent of the vote in his losing bid against Michael Bloomberg in 2009. It has been generations since a Democratic candidate for the city’s top office polled in the mid-30s, as Mamdani has in several post-primary surveys.

Mamdani’s soft numbers aren’t surprising: His campaign comes at a time when New York has moved steadily to the right. Elected Republicans now represent sections of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island in the City Council, the State Assembly, or in Congress. Donald Trump went from roughly 19 percent of the vote citywide in 2016 to more than 30 percent in 2024. The single Manhattan precinct that Trump won in 2024 was in Chinatown, reflecting Asian American frustration at “equity”-driven attempts to gut merit-based programs in New York City public schools. Dozens of Jewish, Black, and Hispanic neighborhoods were more pro-Trump in 2024 than they had been four years earlier.

Mamdani should be beatable, even with a field divided between unattractive alternatives. Endorsees of the Democratic Socialists of America, the hard-left activist network that pushed Mamdani to victory in his 2021 campaign for a state assembly seat in Queens, hold two of the 51 seats on New York’s City Council, the most ideological of the elected bodies representing the Five Boroughs.


Leaders of terror-linked charity bankroll Democrats
Board members of a terror-linked nonprofit organization have cut dozens of checks to Democratic politicians over the past decade, campaign finance records show.

On Oct. 15, 2024, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Samidoun as “an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization.” Employees and board members of Samidoun’s U.S. parent organization, the Alliance for Global Justice, have been frequent donors to high-profile Democratic politicians, including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Employees of Defense for Children Palestine, which the Israeli government has linked to the PFLP, have also cut checks to notable Democrats.

Samidoun, which exists on paper to advocate the rights of those detained by the Israeli government, was determined to be “owned, controlled, or directed by, or having acted for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the PFLP” by the Treasury Department in late 2024. Part of the Treasury Department’s case against Samidoun rested on Khaled Barakat, a PFLP member who serves on Samidoun’s board and has been involved in “fundraising and recruitment efforts support[ing] the PFLP’s terrorist activity against Israel.”

The United States has designated the PFLP as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997, with the Palestinian organization having hijacked planes, carried out suicide bombings, attacked synagogues, and bombed civilians, among other violent acts, according to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Samidoun’s ties to the PFLP and the Alliance for Global Justice’s sponsorship of Samidoun were known long before the Treasury Department’s designation. For instance, the Washington Examiner reported on the link between Samidoun and the Alliance for Global Justice as early as November 2022. The Alliance for Global Justice provided Samidoun with donation processing, health insurance administration, and payroll services. It is unclear if the relationship between the two organizations is ongoing following the Treasury Department’s designation.


Arch-Palestinian terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi claims life of terror was 'ultimately futile' - NYT
Palestinian terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, who was freed from an Israeli prison in February in exchange for hostages held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, spoke to The New York Times in an interview published on Tuesday.

The interview, which the outlet describes as "his first major interview as a free man," describes Zubeidi as "emblematic" of a "sense of hopelessness that imbues Palestinian life."

Zubeidi joined Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (AAMB) during the Second Intifada, rising through the ranks to eventually become the leader of AAMB's Jenin cell, making him one of the most senior terrorists in the West Bank.

However, Zubeidi claimed that his life as a terror leader proved "ultimately futile" in helping to found a Palestinian state. "We have to reconsider our tools...we tried cultural resistance...we tried the rifle, we tried shooting. There's no solution." Zubeidi said.

The New York Times reported that Zubeidi was offered an amnesty in 2007, along with hundreds of other terrorists, as then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert pushed towards his peace plan, which was eventually rejected by the Palestinian Authority.

The report claims that Zubeidi was re-arrested in 2019 after "breaking the terms of his amnesty," however, Israel's Government Press Office refuted this, stating that Zubeidi was sent back to prison after "his involvement in a series of shooting attacks against buses," with a rap sheet which included "Attempted murder; Contact with a hostile organization; and Conspiracy to murder."


Why are religious leaders silent on antisemitism? - opinion
Christian voices of condemnation are even fewer. The raised voices of Pope Francis and Pastor John Hagee are the exceptions and emphasize the deafening silence of their respective colleagues.

On January 26, 2025, on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Francis called antisemitism a “scourge” and urged collective action to eliminate all forms of religious persecution and discrimination. He appealed for unity and remembrance. The Pope’s statement was covered by nearly all mainstream media.

At their summit in July 2025 held just outside of Washington, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) reaffirmed its steadfast solidarity with Jewish communities and strong opposition to replacement theology, standing firmly against antisemitism.

Pastor John Hagee, a proud lover of Jews and Israel and the founder of CUFI, is generally prominently featured in coverage by mainstream media. Following the summit, Hagee said: “In recent weeks, we have seen Jews murdered on the streets and Jewish businesses ransacked here in America... it’s shameful… We are not going to allow the Jewish people to suffer on our watch!”

I found only one more Christian group in the United States that publicly condemned antisemitism. In December 2014 the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) partnered with the American Jewish Committee. They published a joint statement condemning antisemitism and labeling anti-Zionist rhetoric as antisemitic.

That makes two groups. How sad.

Why has there been an absence of respected religious, non-Jewish voices condemning something so obviously wrong?

My answer is that they think that hating and attacking Jews is not wrong. They think that condemning Jew-hatred and attacks against Jews will not go over well with their flock.

Religious leaders have power. They have dedicated followers. Their words wield great weight. It’s not simply that the fight against antisemitism and Jew-hatred isn’t high on their agenda – it’s that it’s not anywhere to be found on their agenda.

Religious leadership has power and influence, and they have been silent. Their silence speaks volumes.
Banned from Australia: Hillel Fuld's Journey from Tech to Israel Advocacy in an Antisemitic World
Sam Schubert of One Jewish State sits down with Hillel Fuld (‪@hilzfuld‬) a former high-tech advisor turned passionate Israel hasbara advocate. In this interview, Hillel shares the heartbreaking story of his brother Ari Fuld's heroic sacrifice, followed by his subsequent pivot from tech to Israeli advocacy after October 7th.

Hillel shares some of his social media strategy for Israel advocacy, the behind the scenes story on his 3 year Australia ban (Kanye West was also banned!), and gives his honest take on what should be done about sovereignty and the Palestinian question in Judea and Samaria. And finally, a message from Hillel to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:45 Remembering Ari Fuld
4:54 Palestinian Authority's Pay to Slay
6:15 What Happens to Families of Terrorists?
7:08 Hillel's New Hasbara Journey
8:59 Netanyahu's Shiva Conversation with Hillel
10:14 Pivoting from Tech to Hasbara Advocacy
12:47 Hillel's Social Media Process
14:36 Hasbara & Social Media
17:23 Significance of X/Twitter
18:36 Banned from Australia
22:25 Global Antisemitism
22:58 Hillel's Mission
26:12 Israeli Sovereignty
29:32 The Palestinian Question
34:55 Why Didn't Israel Declare Sovereignty
36:39 Hillel's Message to Netanyahu


George Washington Was 'Deliberately Indifferent' to Campus Anti-Semitism, DOJ Finds, Putting School in Violation of Civil Rights Law
George Washington University (GWU) was "deliberately indifferent" to campus anti-Semitism, creating a hostile environment for Jewish, American-Israeli, and Israeli students and faculty, and violating civil rights law, the Department of Justice determined Tuesday.

The Washington, D.C., university's failure to take "meaningful action" in response to known misconduct and complaints puts it in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a letter to the school.

"The department finds that GWU students and faculty were subjected to a hostile educational environment that was objectively offensive, severe, and pervasive," she wrote.

"The antisemitic, hate-based misconduct by GWU students directed at Jewish GWU students, faculty, and employees, was, in a word, shocking," Dhillon continued. "The behavior was demonstrably abhorrent, immoral, and most importantly, illegal."

Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the agency "intends to proceed with enforcement" of federal civil rights law, but offered GWU the opportunity to enter into a voluntary resolution.

The Trump administration has already reached high-profile resolutions with several elite universities. Last month, it settled with Columbia and Brown to resolve anti-Semitism investigations, with the Ivy League schools agreeing to pay $221 million and $50 million, respectively. It also reportedly demanded a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, on Friday, just days after the administration revoked $339 million in federal funding.

Dhillon's letter points to several anti-Semitic incidents and accuses agitators of staging protests and establishing an encampment on the University Yard in spring 2024 "to frighten, intimidate, and deny Jewish, Israeli, and American-Israeli students free and unfettered access to GWU's educational environment."


Ivy League Universities Co-Organize Upcoming Webinar With Convicted Terrorist
A webinar scheduled for August 14th will feature Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to providing services to the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), speaking alongside prominent American academics, former UN officials, and media figures in an event co-organized by major U.S. universities including Georgetown, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, and the University of Chicago.

The third session of the Pedagogic Series "Teaching Palestine Today," organized by the Gaza in Context Project and National Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, is titled “On Zionism.”

According to court documents from the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida Tampa Division, Al-Arian was identified as "a member of the PIJ, a member of the 'Shura Council' of the PIJ, Secretary of the 'Shura Council,' and the leader of the PIJ in the United States." The court found that "in his capacity as a leader in the PIJ, he directed the audit of all moneys and property of the PIJ throughout the world and was the leader of the PIJ in the United States."

Concerning Academic Platform
The webinar will feature speakers including Sherene Seikaly, Associate Professor of History at UC Santa Barbara; Craig Mokhiber, former senior UN official and international human rights lawyer; Noura Erakat, Professor at Rutgers University; Adam Horowitz, Executive Editor of Mondoweiss; and Nimer Sultany, Reader in Public Law at SOAS University of London. The event will be moderated by Bassam Haddad from George Mason University, with Yousef Mnayyer from the Arab Center Washington DC serving as discussant.

The involvement of American academics from respected institutions and former UN officials alongside Al-Arian raises concerns about the vetting process for speakers and the risk of normalizing individuals with terrorist connections in academic settings.

Pattern of Terror-Affiliated Activities
Al-Arian's recent activities continue to raise alarm bells. In May 2025, he was photographed attending an event in Istanbul, Turkey, alongside Majed Al-Zeer, identified by European authorities as a central Hamas operative in Germany for whom a European arrest warrant was issued.

Sami Al-Arian (left), attending an event in Istanbul with prominent European Hamas operative, Majed Al-Zeer (right). Credit: Center for Islam and Global Affairs on Facebook Al-Arian, who was deported from the U.S. to Turkey due to his terror-related activities, currently serves as director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Zaim University, which has repeatedly hosted Hamas-affiliated individuals.

On October 6, 2024, CIGA held a conference titled "Fourth International Conference on Palestine Toufan Al-Aqsa & Regional and International Orders," using Hamas' term for its October 7 massacre against Israel. The event featured Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official and U.S.-designated terrorist.

CIGA also hosted Mohammed Mushanish at an event in 2020, identified as a key Hamas operative in Turkey, further demonstrating the institution's connections to members of designated terrorist organizations.


BBC News avoids the full background to Hamas ‘disarmament’ story
However, as was reported by the Times of Israel at the time, al-Hayya also gave another interview to a different media outlet:
“In an interview yesterday with the Dubai-based Asharq News, al-Hayya said that the creation of a Palestinian state along 1967 borders would be viewed only as a temporary solution, and insisted on the Palestinians’ “historic right to all Palestinian lands,” suggesting that the terror group would continue to try and reach its stated goal of destroying Israel.

Hamas’s 1988 founding charter, a virulently antisemitic document rife with outlandish tropes about a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, professes the terror group’s commitment to armed struggle, while rejecting any territorial concessions to “the warmongering Jews.”

In a 2017 bid to curry international favor, Hamas revised the document, claiming the group’s struggle was not against Jews, but rather against “the Zionist project.” But Hamas’s political program still officially “rejects any alternative to the full liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea” — referring to the area reaching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, which includes lands that now make up Israel. The 2017 charter asserts the Palestinian right to the “Arab Islamic land” of Palestine, “which extends from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west and from Ras al-Naqurah in the north to Umm al-Rashrash in the south.””

That context would surely have helped BBC audiences better understand Hamas’ latest statement concerning disarmament, but Mackintosh failed to provide it. His report also tells readers that:
“In the past few days, Arab governments have urged Hamas to disarm and surrender control of Gaza, after a number of Western countries – including France and Canada – announced plans to recognise a state of Palestine. The UK said it would if Israel did not meet certain conditions by September.”

Mackintosh refrained from telling BBC audiences that those “Arab governments” include the 22 members of the Arab League.
Guardian corrects false '60,000 dead civilians' claim
Yesterday, the Guardian upheld our complaint about an article in the outlet’s Australian edition falsely stating that all of the 60,000 Palestinians which the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims have been killed since the terror group’s massacre on Oct. 7th, 2023, were “civilians”.

Here’s the original sentence, in an article titled “Australia to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN next month“, Aug. 11, written by Tom McIlroy and Josh Butler:
As we noted in our email to the outlet, Hamas’s periodically updated Gaza death counts don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, so it’s indefensible for their reporters to make such an assertion. Further, careful analyses of the most recent data suggests that nearly half of those killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, have been fighting aged men – those most likely to be combatants.


Israeli attacked after taking wrong turn into Arab village in Samaria
An Israeli civilian was attacked by Palestinians after taking a wrong turn into the Arab village of Mukhmas in Samaria overnight Monday, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed to JNS on Tuesday.

Several Palestinians hurled rocks at the victim, lightly wounding him, but he was able to flee the village independently, according to the IDF.

Security forces “were dispatched to the scene and linked up with the civilian on the outskirts of the village,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

“His car was damaged,” the military noted. “The security forces take very seriously any incident involving harm to civilians, and are committed to actively pursuing individuals suspected of terrorist activity.”
Netanyahu vows Israeli help on water crisis once Iran is liberated from ‘tyrants of Tehran’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday released a video message addressed to the people of Iran, pledging that Israel would help solve the country’s severe water shortages once it is “free” from the current regime.

“Greetings from Jerusalem, to the proud people of Iran,” Netanyahu began. “Your leaders forced the 12-Day War on us, and they lost miserably. They lie through their teeth, but on rare occasions, they tell the truth.”

Netanyahu cited a recent comment from the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, acknowledging deep national problems, including water scarcity. “‘We have problems with water, electricity, money, and inflation – where don’t we have a problem? There won’t be any water in the dams by September or October,” Netanyahu quoted him as saying. “He’s right. Everything is collapsing.”

The prime minister contrasted the situation in Iran with Israel’s water achievements, noting that the country recycles 90% of its wastewater – the highest rate in the world – and is a leader in desalination technology.

“In this brutal summer heat, you don’t even have clean, cold water to give your children,” Netanyahu said. “Such hypocrisy. Such disdain for the Iranian people.”


Pregnant Jewish woman and her husband attacked in Venice
A Jewish couple has reportedly been attacked in Venice by three men calling the husband a “dirty Jew,” according to Italian media.

The five-month pregnant woman and her husband, both Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic American tourists, were targeted in the antisemitic attack just after midnight on August 9th.

The Venice newspaper Il Gazzettino, quoting anonymous witnesses, said the tourists were taking a walk near the iconic Rialto Bridge in the city centre late Saturday night, when three men began harassing them, unprovoked.

The men threw water at the couple and spat on them, before one of the aggressors freed his large dog from the leash and set the dog on the husband. The dog tried to attack him, but bit into the mobile phone in his trouser pocket.

The couple then managed to flee and reached a kosher restaurant owned by a member of the local Chabad community, where they had eaten earlier. The couple did not report the attack to the authorities and left the city to fly back to America a few hours later, but according to Italian paper Il Gazzettino, other people from the Jewish community alerted the police, which opened an investigation.
Paris air controller who shouted 'free Palestine' to El Al pilots suspended, minister confirms
The air official who said “free Palestine” while guiding an El Al plane in the French airport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle was “stripped of all ability to practice until further notice,” French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot confirmed on Tuesday.

“The analysis of the recordings proves that the facts are confirmed,” Tabarot posted on his X/Twitter and added that “a disciplinary procedure has been immediately initiated. The sanction must be commensurate with the severity of the facts.”

The event happened on Monday night, when El Al pilots said that an air traffic controller said “free Palestine” over the intercom to them as the plane was taxiing to the runway.

El Al told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that it is taking the incident “very seriously.”

The airline emphasized that it would “continue to fly around the world with the Israeli flag on the tails of its aircraft with pride.”
Israel asks France to stop delaying visas for El Al security
Israel’s embassy in Paris has asked the French Foreign Ministry to resolve delays in the renewal of stay permits for security personnel working for the El Al airline, a spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed to JNS on Tuesday.

The request followed media reports on Monday that French authorities had been holding up renewals for the past six months to punish Israel for its war on Hamas in Gaza, which France has called on Israel to wrap up.

A spokesperson for El Al declined to comment on the matter, referring questions to the Foreign Ministry in Israel, whom she said had sole responsibility over the visas of El Al security personnel. The French Foreign Ministry had not replied to a request for comment at time of publication.

Some agents were in France illegally as a result of the delays, others requested a temporary diplomatic visa from the Israeli embassy in France and others returned to Israel, according to i24 News. The report did not say whether the delays had affected the ability of El Al security staff to carry out their duties.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Tuesday expressed his disapproval of the reported delays, posting on X, “Say it ain’t so, France. Say it ain’t so! What happened to France?”
Montreal police arrest suspect in brutal attack on Jewish father A suspect in the Friday beating of a Jewish father in a Montreal park was arrested on Monday, the Montreal Police Service announced in a press release.

The 24-year-old man was arrested for the incident that began when the suspect sprayed the contents of his water bottle at a Jewish man who was with his children at Dickie-Moore Park. The police service said that when the victim approached the suspect, the attacker pushed the father to the ground, then kneed him and punched him several times in the face. A video of the incident posted online by Community activist Mayer Feig also showed the attacker flinging the victim’s kippa into a fountain.

“The SPVM has spared no effort to locate the suspect and is continuing its investigation to shed full light on the circumstances of this criminal act,” said the Montreal Police. “The SPVM would like to thank the citizens who contributed to this outcome by sending us information that facilitated the suspect’s location.”

'Dangerous Consequences of Rising Hatred': Vandals Attack Israel's Embassy in The Hague
Vandals smashed doors and threw red paint at Israel's embassy in The Hague, according to a statement from the Israeli foreign ministry.

Dutch police arrested three suspects for the crime, the Times of Israel reported. Photos released by the embassy show the smashed doors and red paint at the embassy.

While the statement did not discuss the vandals' motive, the crime comes just days after anti-Semitic activists targeted Israeli airline El Al's Paris office, spraying red paint and the words "Free Palestine" and "El Al genocide airline" on the building, according to the Times.

"This cowardly act is yet another illustration of the dangerous consequences of rising hatred and incitement," Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands Modi Ephraim wrote on X. "Diplomats must be able to carry out their work safely and unhindered at all times."

The Hague is home to the International Criminal Court, which has faced scrutiny for its anti-American and anti-Israeli activism. The Trump administration in February sanctioned the ICC for targeting U.S. military members and issuing arrest warrants last year for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.


UN chief puts Israel ‘on notice’ for sexual violence blacklist; Hamas to be added for first time
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has placed Israel “on notice” for possible inclusion in the UN’s “blacklist” of countries and groups credibly suspected of committing patterns of sexual violence in armed conflict.

The “blacklist” refers to the formal annex naming such parties in the UN’s annual Report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. In the current draft of the 2025 report — seen by The Times of Israel and set to be published in the coming days — Israel is not listed in the annex, but Guterres cites “grave concern” in the main body of the document over allegations of sexual violence by Israeli security forces against Palestinians in multiple prisons, a detention facility, and a military base.

In a letter sent yesterday to Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, Guterres warns that Israel is on watch and could be included in next year’s annex. He writes that refusal to grant UN inspectors access has made verification difficult, but says there is “significant concern” over documented patterns of abuse.

The draft also places Hamas in the annex for the first time. The terror group was not blacklisted last year, with the UN citing insufficient evidence directly linking it to reported assaults and calling for further investigation. Hamas’s inclusion follows recently published reports documenting systematic sexual violence both during the October 7, 2023, massacre and against hostages in captivity.
‘Systematic torture and terror’: Health Ministry releases report on 12 freed hostages
Blindfolded nighttime marches through tunnels. Worm-infested food. Months without showering or changing clothes.

A report shared Tuesday by the Health Ministry with the International Committee of the Red Cross and international health organizations describes the ordeals faced by 12 of the hostages who were abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023, and freed during a ceasefire earlier this year.

The Red Cross has not been able to provide any assistance to the hostages during their time in captivity.

Based on testimony and medical records, it details systematic methods of physical and psychological degradation, including ongoing sexual harassment and subhuman conditions.

The abuse laid out in the report, the ministry said, constitutes torture and serious violations of international humanitarian law and called for the immediate provision of food, water and medical treatment to those still in captivity.

The report comes days after terror groups published videos of two hostages looking emaciated, and as Israel endeavors to keep international attention on the plight of the captives, 50 of whom remain held by terror groups in Gaza. It was also published as relatives of the hostages rail against a new government plan to conquer Gaza City, which they say will endanger at least 20 hostages thought to still be alive.

Based on the testimony it laid out, the report said that the living captives are “in immediate danger,” adding, “Every additional day there increases the risk of irreversible damage to their physical and mental health.”


Israeli billboard in Times Square highlights plight of starving hostage
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Consulate General of Israel in New York launched a billboard campaign in Times Square to call attention to starving hostage Rom Braslavski, who was kidnapped during the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023.

Braslavski’s captors, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, released a video recently of the severely emaciated 24-year-old, clearly under emotional distress.

“The consulate hopes this Times Square campaign will not only spotlight Rom’s horrific suffering and starvation in Gaza’s tunnels, but also serve as a stark reminder that Israel still has 50 hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7 and are being starved, tortured and held in inhumane conditions,” the consulate told JNS.

“Their situation is urgent, and they must be freed now,” the consulate said.

A similar campaign highlighted the plight of hostage Evyatar David, a Hamas captive who is also being starved.

“No one will lecture us on morality while humanitarian aid continues to flow into the Gaza Strip and is systematically stolen by Hamas,” stated Ofir Akunis, the consul general of Israel in New York. “We will keep exposing the crimes of terror to the world.”


Rise Against - Ricochet (Official Video)





Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



AddToAny

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Search2

Hasbys!

Hasbys!

2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Show All

Blog Archive

Copyright © Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News | Powered by Blogger
Blogger Templates