Saturday, August 16, 2025

08/16 Links: What America Can Learn from the Hamas Propaganda War; Ending The Muslim Brotherhood’s American Experiment; Gal Gadot says ‘pressure’ to speak out against Israel

From Ian:

What America Can Learn from the Hamas Propaganda War
Hamas and its allies reconfigured their tactics. Rather than hoping for a big story to delegitimize Israel’s counteroffensive, they pounded out a steady drumbeat of falsehoods. A Hamas-controlled organization produced highly suspicious tallies of deaths in Gaza, which then-president Joe Biden and his defense secretary Lloyd Austin both cited uncritically. The new propaganda campaign produced some headlines and, during the previous administration, some pressure from Washington against further Israeli actions against Hamas, but it did not force Israel to withdraw.

Israel’s recent actions to bypass Hamas-controlled humanitarian aid channels and send food straight to hungry Gazans forced Hamas to change its tactics yet again. Over the past few weeks, the media have breathlessly reported lurid stories of starving civilians and massacres near the Israel-supported aid locations.

Many of these stories fall apart upon closer inspection. In some cases, Israel has released videos proving that the supposed massacres never took place. But by the time the Israelis showed what actually happened, Hamas has released more equally implausible stories that generate new headlines.

Alternative media have been no better. Podcast hosts who supposedly question conventional wisdom regurgitate the same claims as their established competitors. Some even sympathetically interview disgruntled former employees of these aid organizations who only lobbed accusations of atrocities after their begging for new work failed.

Although it is currently fighting Israel, Hamas is creating a template America’s adversaries can use in future conflicts with the United States. The next time American troops go into combat against a major enemy, they can expect an incessant stream of reports about alleged massacres and other war crimes.

Many of these atrocities will not be based on anything that actually occurred, but they will nonetheless draw the attention of American media organizations. If the pattern holds, the disaffected people who dominate American mainstream and alternative media will eagerly seize upon these stories to attack their ideological rivals in the United States. Retired veterans with dubious records will endorse these claims. Policymakers should thus expect to start any conflict in a hostile media environment.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Ending The Muslim Brotherhood’s American Experiment
The most damning indictment is not what the Brotherhood did but what America allowed. We had the intelligence, legal authority, and every right to take meaningful action, but lacked backbone. Political leaders preferred comfortable lies to uncomfortable truths, bureaucrats mistook civil rights for moral relativism, and a media establishment treated legitimate security concerns as racist paranoia.

Meanwhile, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – three nations that know the Brotherhood’s threat firsthand – designated them as terrorists years ago. When countries that live under the shadow of Islamist terrorism act decisively while America, the self-proclaimed leader in counterterrorism, stalls, something is deeply and deliberately broken.

Now, however, things are changing. Rubio’s announcement concedes the scale of the failure; we’ve been asleep while our enemies built and fortified their networks. Waking up won’t be easy, but it’s necessary. The Brotherhood’s network was engineered for endurance: a multi-headed hydra — multiple organisations sharing resources while maintaining separate legal identities, overlapping leadership to coordinate strategy while concealing accountability, and financial arteries running beneath layers of charitable fronts. Redundancy is built into every tier, ensuring that if one head is cut off, the others strike back faster and more fiercely.

The designation process will face serious legal challenges designed to delay and deflect: political pressure from allies who cling to the fiction that these are civil rights organizations, and media narratives that frame enforcement as persecution. The Brotherhood will fight back using every tool America’s open society provides. They will leverage their alliances with progressive movements and institutions. The reckoning won’t be gentle. Thirty years of institutional capture doesn’t disappear overnight. Organizations that have positioned themselves as legitimate voices of American Muslims will fight to preserve their influence. Political allies who accepted their support will resist admissions of error. Academic institutions that host the conferences and endorse the scholarship will move quickly to defend their reputations.

But none of that changes the fundamental reality. America has been harboring networks built to advance “a grand Jihad to eliminate and destroy Western civilization from within and sabotage its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers”. They have pursued this mission on a global scale. The evidence was always in plain sight, and the legal authority was always there, but the only thing missing was the political will to act.

Marco Rubio just provided it. The Brotherhood’s American experiment is ending, and its architects won’t survive the fallout. Whether Britain and the rest of Europe follow America or learn the hard way remains to be seen.
Jonathan Tobin: Why the Dreyfus case matters now more than ever
Harris’s novel and Polanski’s film are different in one way because the main protagonist of the story related in the screenplay (co-written by Harris and Polanski) is not the victim, Dreyfus. Instead, its focus is Georges Picquart, the man who—though largely forgotten by history—did more to win Dreyfus’s freedom than anyone else involved in the controversy.

What makes that so remarkable is that Picquart, then the youngest colonel in the French army and who had been his instructor at a staff college, neither liked Dreyfus or Jews, in general. A rising star in an institution where antisemitism ran rampant, the cultured Picquart was typical of his class and despised the bourgeois, unsociable and rich Jewish officer. After being appointed the head of military intelligence in 1895, he uncovered what at first he thought was a second German spy, another French officer named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. He soon uncovered definitive proof that there was only one spy, Esterhazy, and that Dreyfus had been wrongly convicted.

Told to bury the damning evidence, Picquart—a man of honor, even if he was as hostile to the Jews as his peers—refused to do so. As a result, he was demoted, isolated and eventually imprisoned on other false charges. But by bringing the truth to the attention of the Dreyfus family and to French author Emile Zola, whose famous essay “J’Accuse … !,” revived the debate about the case, the path to the falsely accused victim’s redemption was set. Alfred Dreyfus Monument in Tel AvivA monument to French Jewish artillery Capt. Alfred Dreyfus in Tel Aviv, Nov. 30, 2018. Credit: Dr. Avishai Teicher via Wikimedia Commons.

Polanski’s film unravels how Picquart learns the truth, and how both his superior officers and one of his subordinates—the despicable Major Hubert-Joseph Henry, who had forged some of the original evidence against Dreyfus and perjured himself in court—turned on him for not going along with their lies. Each step of the way in what is an even more complicated story than superficial students of the case may know—from the opening scene depicting Dreyfus’s appalling degradation in the courtyard of the École Militaire with a mob screaming for his death and that of the Jews, to Picquart’s astonishment at the dishonesty of his fellow officers to the trials where the truth comes out but is still denied by the courts—is heartbreaking. Indeed, so convincing is the account of how the plot unraveled that it’s almost possible to forget that we know how the story will turn out.

Of particular note is the performance of French actor Jean Dujardin, best known to international audiences for winning an Oscar for his role in the 2011 silent film “The Artist.” His Picquart manages to be both an imperturbable and somewhat stoic military type, yet so invested in the idea of integrity and honesty that he was willing to destroy his own career and life, as well as that of his married mistress, Pauline Monnier (played by Polanski’s real-life wife, Emmanuelle Seigner). Louis Garrel similarly embodies the desperation of Dreyfus, a man caught in a nightmare he knows is rooted in the Jew-hatred of the country he loves.


Ruthie Blum: Shutting down the economy won’t help the hostages
In an interesting twist, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum hasn’t lent its support to the event—or at least not yet. Perhaps its leadership was waiting to hear what Netanyahu had to say to the foreign press on Sunday afternoon, and later that evening to the Hebrew-language media, before settling on a strategy.

Speaking of which, concern on the part of certain coalition partners, along with those hostage families and reservists, keen to achieve total victory in the war rose following Netanyahu’s comments to journalists. Their main misgiving had to do with how the prime minister responded to the question of whether the upcoming attack on the remaining terrorist strongholds would be halted should Hamas suddenly express willingness to free a few hostages in exchange for a ceasefire.

What he said was that he was done with the “drips and drabs”—that he was aiming for the release of all 20 of the hostages. This was a reference to the captives who are still alive; he omitted mention of the 30 bodies that are usually included in such discussions.

Still, the fear that the intention to defeat rather than deal with Hamas could easily be sidetracked wasn’t baseless. It stemmed, among other reasons, from reports of a meeting on Saturday in Ibiza, Spain between U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani. Not a good sign.

To make matters more suspicious—or precarious—the Qatari news outlet Al Araby Al Jadeed, said that a delegation of Hamas leaders landed in Egypt on Monday to resume “ceasefire talks” where they left off. You know, with Hamas basking in the global campaign blaming Israel for a fake famine on Gaza, while refusing to release the hostages whose actual starvation it’s been filming for added torture. Just as it video-documented the atrocities it committed on Oct, 7, 2023—for the whole world to see. And conveniently forget.

That Israelis are divided on every issue connected to the war is typical for a populace whose default is heated debate. Even those in overall agreement argue incessantly over the details.

The latter is the case where rescuing the hostages is concerned. But how can anyone believe that shutting down the economy will further this aim?

Indeed, when did cutting off one’s own nose ever succeed in spiting his foe’s face? The answer is that the protest movement considers Netanyahu a greater enemy than Hamas. Its prominent members have gone so far as to admit it, loudly and proudly.
J’lem mayor urged to rename Gaza Street to Hostages Street
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum appealed to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion in a letter on Thursday to rename the capital’s Gaza Street to Hostages Street until all of the captives are freed from Hamas.

Doing so will “carry a clear and moral message in the heart of the nation’s capital: Until everyone comes home, life in Israel cannot go on as usual,” the forum said.

The families wrote that the move, while symbolic, would be a meaningful step to express solidarity with the hostages’ families, increase public and international awareness, and convey a message of unity and mutual responsibility.

Gaza Street is a main road in the upscale Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, built in the 1920s. The street was built on part of the historical road that connected the Old City’s Jaffa Gate south to the Mediterranean coast, including Gaza City.

The Prime Minister’s Residence is located near Gaza Street.

Tel Aviv adopted a similar symbolic gesture in the aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

A public plaza located in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art was given the temporary name of “Hostage Square,” following a protest encampment at the site on behalf of the families of those kidnapped into Gaza.

Many Israelis and foreigners have visited “Hostage Square” over the past 22 months and taken part in demonstrations of support every Saturday evening and on other occasions, calling for the release of those abducted into Gaza.

Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, with 49 abducted 680 days ago and one, IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin, taken in 2014. Of the 50, Israel presumes that 20 are alive.


The internet doesn’t know what a Nazi is
The willingness of people to spot the specter of Nazism in meaningless examples is a worrying trend seen across the American political spectrum, from Candace Owens all the way to the National Education Association and Ana Kasparian. The Nazis and Hitler have become an all-purpose escalatory device – something you throw at your enemies to score a point – rather than representatives of an unparalleled human tragedy targeting the Jews. For the crowds calling for Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle’s cancelation, the Holocaust is a tool, a crude rhetorical device.

As time passes and the Holocaust moves from living memory to a historical abstraction, this trend will only worsen. When you don’t have survivors sitting there telling you what they saw with their own eyes, the Holocaust becomes just another weapon in the culture wars.

On one level, none of this feels important. Who cares if some random people see visions of eugenics in a commercial with an attractive actress? But as survey after survey reveals, young people in America are becoming not merely apathetic towards Israel, but actively hostile towards Jews. An Anti-Defamation League survey published recently found that nearly 25 percent of Americans thought that the recent attacks on Jews in Pennsylvania, DC, and Boulder were “understandable;” even more worrying, a further 15 percent said that this violence against American Jews – not Israelis, not anyone involved in anything happening in Gaza – was “necessary.” This is the context in which any diminishing of Nazism must be seen. The decentering or blame of Jews in the story of the Holocaust is a deliberate ploy to erode sympathy, to strip away the barely there taboo against anti-Semitism among young people.

So yes, while it’s easy to laugh at those who see wisps of the Nazis in every facet of American life, for American Jews, it’s no laughing matter.
Eitan Fischberger: Meet Anas al-Sharif's Replacement at Al Jazeera: He's Also a Member of Hamas
On Friday, the Qatari state-run network Al Jazeera announced two new correspondents to replace Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqea, who were killed last week in an Israeli airstrike: Shadi Shamiya and Nour Abu Rukba.

Anas, by every available piece of evidence and according to the Israel Defense Forces, was a Hamas terrorist. Qreiqea, too, appeared tied to the group. It should therefore surprise no one that Shadi Shamiya is cut from the same cloth.

Before joining Al Jazeera, he served as head of the correspondents’ department at Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas’ flagship propaganda channel, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. government. In other words, a card-carrying Hamas operative.

And while Shadi keeps his own social media presence relatively sanitized, his wife, Wafaa Abdel Karim, is less discreet. She openly flaunts her admiration for Hamas and jihad. On Facebook, she posted “O Allah, grant victory to our fighters and protect them, O Allah. Destroy the Jews and their supporters, O Lord of the worlds.” She’s posted Hamas propaganda straight from the Qassam Brigades on multiple occasions.


Publicly available info about Nour appears limited at this point. I’ve identified an X account and two Instagram pages seemingly associated with her (here and here), but none contain any noteworthy material aside from the usual anti-Israel propaganda. Will update if I find anything interesting.
Qatar to name school after ‘Al Jazeera’ terrorist
Qatar has supported a campaign to establish a school in Kyrgyzstan honoring Anas al-Sharif, a Hamas Nukhba terrorist killed by the Israel Defense Forces.

Education Minister Lolwah al-Khater is leading the effort to memorialize al-Sharif, who also worked as a journalist for Al Jazeera. Qatari media reported that the school will be built in Kyrgyzstan, a Muslim-majority country in Central Asia.

In February, al-Khater praised Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s “military” wing, following confirmation of his death.

In a poem on her official X account, she wrote of Deif, “Someone like him could only walk this path. … You lived like a sword without a family or a home.”

Educated in London with a master’s degree in computing, al-Khater previously held roles as Qatari minister of international cooperation and deputy foreign minister before assuming her current post in late 2024.


How the Twelve-Days War with Iran Tested the Strategic Alliance between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus
The Challenges Ahead
The twelve-day war marked a significant moment in the consolidation of the strategic triangle. But in the long haul of diplomacy, states tend to reassess options, hedge against risks, and recalibrate national interests in response to realities on the ground. When tensions recede, pragmatism sinks in.

For Greece, the partnership with Israel is deemed strategic because Turkish revisionism, reflected in recent maritime maps claiming Greek island zones, remains an enduring concern. Nevertheless, the diplomacy of “calm waters” continues, and Athens appears intent on avoiding another cycle of tensions.[22] Although U.S.-Turkey relations remain fraught, Washington would not like to see Turkey drifting further away from the Western alliance. In the event of a Greek-Turkish crisis, the United States is more likely to revert to its conventional posture of maintaining equal distance between its two NATO allies.

For Israel, Turkey’s alignment with Iran and support for Hamas constitutes a red line that undermines any potential for rapprochement. Still, neither side sees benefit in further escalation. Ankara has long pursued ambivalent policies: supporting Hamas rhetorically while continuing energy trade with Israel. While the possibility of a future thaw might now seem far-fetched, it cannot be ruled out—especially in a post-Gaza or post-Erdoğan context—including a return to previous plans for submarine pipelines or a tacit understanding in Syria.[23]

Cyprus remains the arc’s most vulnerable point. Turkey’s apparent abandonment of the bi-zonal, bi-communal federation may lead to more endurance tests for the trilateral alignment. The Mediterranean arc’s durability will depend on whether it can withstand not just external threats, but internal fissures. The alignment of priorities, as well as the commitment to shared objectives, will determine its long-term resilience.

Conclusion
Strategic alignments may be drafted in offices, but they are forged—or shattered—in real crises. Mutual support cannot be taken for granted, and trust can erode quickly, especially in times of global transformation and ongoing regional stalemate. The twelve-day war between Israel and Iran served as a stress test for the Greece–Cyprus–Israel strategic triangle. The Mediterranean arc held firm—both operationally and politically—demonstrating not only the partnership’s value under pressure but also a maturing strategic logic.

Greece, Cyprus, and Israel appear poised to build on this momentum, shifting from a logic of common threat to one of vested strategic interest. The Mediterranean arc is being shaped by the hammer of regional tensions and the anvil of global power dynamics. As new alignments take shape across Eurasia during this fluid phase in the international system, the Greece–Cyprus–Israel triangle may emerge as a critical building block within the evolving Indo-Mediterranean security order. Yet, in the long geopolitical marathon ahead, further tests are certain to follow. Whether this strategic coherence can be sustained through future shocks will define its relevance in the evolving regional order.
Daniel Pipes: How Israel Became a "Leper State" – and How It Can Redeem Itself
Israel's Errors
These twin international obsessions – Jews as news, Palestinians as victims – impose the context of Jerusalem's dealing with Gazans. The horror of Oct. 7 offered Israel an opportunity to take advantage of favorable public opinion, such as that shown by Congressional votes, to destroy Hamas. A smart military operation with a clear end-game, taking international biases into account, could have done so.

Instead, twenty-two months of fighting revealed Jerusalem's string of errors. Leading figures spoke irresponsibly about exacting revenge, the military first lacked plans, then wrote them too hastily, only arbitrarily to alter them. Reviewing the conflict, Yoav Limor, an Israeli military analyst, finds that "Israel has lost its way in the Gaza war. It has no clear direction, and therefore no chance of achieving its two declared objectives: returning the hostages and defeating the terrorist organization Hamas."

Focused on internal power struggles and oblivious to the outside world's twin obsessions, Jerusalem barely noted the widely-publicized scenes of humiliation and hunger in Gaza that so soured foreign opinions. Pressure from nearly all sides compelled it eventually to dispatch trucks with supplies but these hardly registered, as reports hostile to Israel continued to dominate. For a flavor of the public relations disaster, consider some headlines from the Times of Israel newsletter dated Aug. 9:
- In major shift, Germany suspends arms exports to Israel over Gaza City takeover plan
- Witkoff said set to meet Qatar PM on comprehensive deal amid scramble to stop Gaza takeover
- Some 20 Arab, Muslim countries slam Israel's Gaza takeover plans as 'dangerous escalation'
- Netanyahu's national security adviser opposed Gaza City takeover plan
- Thousands to rally as hostage mom calls for strike over Gaza plan that "sacrifices" captives
- World condemnations mount over Israeli plans to take Gaza City; UN Security Council to meet
- Israel is committing war crimes – and its legal heads remain silent

The final headline – a report on a letter to the prime minister from twenty Israeli international law professors – may be the most incriminating. When responsible Israelis bandy about charges of war crimes against their government, something has gone desperately awry.

Recent Israeli policies have led to unremitting bad news: failing poll numbers, arm shipments terminations, cultural and academic boycotts, "Palestine" winning new diplomatic support (Australia, France, others), traveling Israelis getting roughed up, and surging antisemitism. As a small country with existential enemies, Israel cannot afford a collapse in foreign support. A disaster of historic proportions may be underway, one that damages Israel and Jews for years, perhaps decades, hence.

The Solution: Victory Delayed
As the author of a book titled Israel Victory (2024), I thrilled when Israel's prime minister reiterated hundreds of times after Oct. 7 his goal versus Hamas: "absolute victory," "clear victory," "complete victory," "decisive victory," "full victory," and "total victory." In similar spirit, I opposed Israeli negotiations with Hamas for its hostages, urging instead a single-minded focus on that organization's destruction.

But now, I acknowledge, the pursuit of instant victory has failed. It has continued too long, wrought too much devastation, and brought crisis upon Israel. True, Hamas militarily is but a shadow of its former self and the Arab League has condemned it, yet it continues to dominate Gaza's population and retains the ability to strike from the shadows. Continued warfare will not likely change this situation but only further impoverish and torment civilians, with the looming possibility of a humanitarian breakdown. Plus, a full Israeli takeover of the Gaza Strip would entail a huge economic burden.

With a heavy heart, therefore, I advocate delaying victory. If Israel's post-Oct. 7 campaign in Gaza began with the goal of eradicating Hamas, it has become a mission to salvage its own reputation. Translated into policy, this means Israel negotiates to secure the release of all hostages; it sponsors a new Gazan-staffed police force and administration that defies Hamas to collect taxes, provide services, and enforce the law; and Israel prepares for Hamas' next act of aggression, which will newly justify its crushing the jihadists.

Israel must defer Hamas' eradication to work first on its rehabilitation. But Hamas has not won, only survived, threatened with future destruction. Israel Victory is delayed, not abandoned. First redemption, then victory.
Danish PM says Israel 'would be better' without Netanyahu, seeks EU pressure over Gaza
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Saturday that Israel "would be better" without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing him as “a problem in itself.” She also signaled plans to use Denmark’s rotating presidency of the European Union to increase pressure on Israel.

“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish outlet Jyllands-Posten, adding that her government believes Israel is “going too far.”

The Social Democrat leader criticized Israel’s new West Bank settlement plans and described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “absolutely dreadful and catastrophic.” “We are one of the countries that want to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet secured the support of other EU members,” she said. Frederiksen outlined potential measures including “political pressure, sanctions—whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole,” mentioning trade and research restrictions.
Israeli envoy to UN’s Albanese, FPA’s Williams: Murder, rape make Hamas a terrorist group
“Hamas is first and foremost a group of murderers,” Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said on Saturday, speaking in response to international figures’ recent characterization of the terrorist group as a political party.

Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, and Ian Williams, president of the Foreign Press Association New York, “both excused Hamas” by considering it a legitimate political party, Leiter said in a recorded message posted on X.

Leiter continued his remarks on Saturday, saying, “Calling yourself a political party does not provide you refuge from being a murderer. Hamas is a political party, yes, but in its charter—its political charter—it clearly calls for the annihilation of Israel and the murder of Jews.

“The fact that [Hamas] couches themselves in terms of politics doesn’t excuse them, doesn’t let them off the hook, it means that they must be defeated, like their predecessors: like the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, like Stalin in the Soviet Union, like the Arrow Cross in Hungary, like the Ustaše in Croatia,” the ambassador said.

“These are all political parties, but they’re murderous political parties, and they have to be defeated—like the Nazis had to be defeated. They, too, Francesca, were elected by the people,” the Israeli official said.

In footage shared by UN Watch on Friday, Albanese, speaking to an audience, appeared to ridicule the framing of Hamas as an evil organization. It is unclear when the comments were made.

“But Hamas, Hamas, Hamas …, I don’t think people have any idea what Hamas is,” the U.N. official said in Italian. “Hamas is a political force that won the 2005 [actually 2006—JNS] elections—whether we like it or not. Hamas built schools, public facilities, hospitals. It was simply the authority, the de facto authority,” she said.


Huckabee lashes Australia over Palestine recognition
United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has lashed the Albanese government for prematurely recognising a Palestinian state.

Speaking to the ABC’s 7:30 program, Huckabee said the US was disappointed that nations like Australia, the UK and others had decided to “pick this particular time to unilaterally recognise” a sate of Palestine.

“The timing has been very hurtful to any prospects of negotiating some settlement in Gaza with Hamas, they basically walked away. This is a gift to them, and it’s unfortunate, and it also is a violation of the agreement that was done in Oslo that any, any type of recognition of a Palestinian state would involve the Israelis. This clearly does not, and it’s, I would say it’s unfortunate, but it’s also very disappointing to the United States,” Huckabee told the ABC.

When asked if he had discussed the issue with President Trump, Huckabee said, “Absolutely, and we’ve discussed it at the State Department level with the Secretary, there’s an enormous level of disappointment and some disgust.

“You perhaps heard the secretary Rubio’s interview this past weekend, and he made it very clear that the result of this has been to completely halt any type of thoughtful negotiations going forward, and it’s just very terrible timing for this to come about.”

Huckabee described the emotional sentiment as “a sense of, you’ve got to be kidding. Why would they be doing this, and why would they be doing it now? And why wouldn’t they not be telling the United States or telling Israel, for that matter? To go out and make a public announcement like this, it was unseemly”.
In a Galilee war room, Startup Nation’s Druze mobilize to help their Syrian brethren in Sweida
Dr. Osama Sheikh, a Galilee Medical Center anesthesiologist, huddled in front of a computer with Tarik Sirhan, a data analyst, on a recent Wednesday afternoon in a war room set up in the community center of this Druze village in the Galilee.

The two Druze volunteers are setting up a platform so doctors in the devastated Sweida province in Syria can request medical supplies. Some 780,000 Druze are now under siege there.

According to reports, about 1,800 Druze have been killed by Syrian government-led forces amid acts of rape, beheadings and executions.

“We’re a start-up, helping doctors in Sweida get the medical supplies they need,” said Sheikh. “We’ve heard from local sources there that doctors are amputating people’s limbs without any anesthesia. There are bodies in the street that nobody can get to and that are being eaten by dogs and wolves.”

Under chandeliers, with an endless supply of black coffee, olives and traditional Druze dishes, Sheikh, Sirhan and dozens of other volunteers from all over Israel have been working around the clock to track and monitor what is happening inside Sweida.

“The Druze are being killed simply because they are Druze,” Sheikh said. “It’s outrageous how hypocritical the world is for being deaf to what is happening there.”


IDF operating in southwestern Gaza City ahead of offensive
The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that troops have been operating in recent days in Gaza City’s southwestern Zeitoun quarter, targeting explosives, gunmen and terrorist infrastructure above and below ground.

Soldiers destroyed a booby-trapped structure used to store weapons, the military said. In one clash, terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at troops, who returned fire and killed the assailants. No Israeli casualties were reported.

The Israeli Air Force has been providing support, striking terror targets in coordination with ground forces.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Wednesday approved the military’s “main framework” for seizing control of Gaza City. During a meeting with the IDF’s General Staff Forum, Zamir endorsed “the central concept for the plan for the next stages” in the war, the army stated. The Security Cabinet approved the plan last week by a “decisive majority.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not occupy the Strip, saying the expansion of the war is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing the local population from its regime of terror.

On Thursday night, Netanyahu outlined conditions for ending the fighting, including the full disarmament of Hamas; the return of all 49 remaining hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, and of the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin, taken in 2014; the demilitarization of the entire Strip; security control of Gaza by the IDF; and establishing “an alternative civilian administration” in the enclave.


Over 200 faith groups, NGOs urge UN to stop enabling Hamas, support US-backed aid effort
Over 200 Jewish, Christian, Muslim and secular organizations and NGOs from more than 15 countries are calling on the United Nations and international communities to collaborate with the U.S.-funded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and demand an investigation of the U.N. relief agency in Gaza.

The interfaith coalition's letter calls on the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly to oppose any attempt to "obstruct or delegitimize" the GHF's work, and for the U.N. to collaborate with the GHF and other credible humanitarian organizations.

The GHF, an Israel-backed effort to provide aid to Gazans without directly supporting Hamas, began distributing aid to Gazans in May and says it has since distributed over 120 million meals.

The letter also calls for a formal investigation into the U.N. Relief and Works Agency's operations in Gaza, as multiple reports have raised concerns about UNRWA's ties to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, as well as how the organization handles aid distribution.

"There is overwhelming evidence that UNRWA-led aid in Gaza has been compromised, enabling Hamas to profit and exert control, contravening humanitarian principles and law. The GHF offers a viable, neutral, and effective alternative," the letter states.

"We respectfully request that the U.N. and world leaders take steps to shift U.N. policy in Gaza away from refusal to cooperate with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and toward one that works in partnership and collaboration with the GHF for the good of the citizens of Gaza."

UNRWA did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

The signatories, which include the Christian Jewish Alliance, Israel Christian Nexus and the American Muslim and Multi-Faith Women's Empowerment Council, asserted that the GHF has proven itself "a far more impartial and effective humanitarian partner than UNRWA."


Richard Kemp: Starmer is appeasing his radical voters over Gaza plans
Colonel Richard Kemp joins Steven Edginton for a candid discussion on the war in Gaza, the push to recognise Palestine, and why he believes Hamas would win any election today. From the October 7 attacks to the dangers of a two-state solution, Kemp shares his first-hand insights from visits to Gaza and the West Bank. He warns of Hamas’s strategy of civilian casualties and explains why Israel will never allow “another Gaza” in the West Bank.


Iranian Dissident “It’s Finally TIME To Tell You Everything…”
Emily Schrader interviews Iranian Dissident and dispels lies against Israel.


Israel Advocacy Movement: Jew SCHOOLS Muslim Influencer in Gaza Debate — Then DESTROYS Him on Islam | Qorantos



US freezes visitor visas for Gazans
The U.S. State Department announced on Saturday it was halting all visitor visas for Gazans, pending a “full and thorough review” of the issuing process.

According to a Reuters analysis, the department issued more than 3,800 B1/B2 visitor visas, which permit foreigners to seek medical treatment in the United States, to holders of the Palestinian Authority travel document so far in 2025.

The department added that a “small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas” had been issued in recent days, without disclosing a figure.

The Gaza Strip has been war-torn ever since its Hamas rulers launched a cross-border attack on Israel’s northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 more into the enclave.

The Israel Defense Forces has been fighting in the Strip for 22 months in a bid to free the hostages and vanquish the terrorist group.

According to U.S. aid group HEAL Palestine, since the start of the war, it assisted in the evacuation of 148 Gazans to the United States for medical care, Politico reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel was holding conversations with a number of countries to voluntarily resettle Gazans.


NYC pol rips Jewish activist over photo op with anti-Israel mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani: ‘Don’t even bother calling’ for funding
A NYC councilwoman warned nonprofits to look elsewhere for funding if they support socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani or others “Hamas sympathizers.”

Brooklyn Republican and staunch Zionist Inna Vernikov made the vow Tuesday regarding her share of council members’ annual discretionary funds – which this fiscal year total $810,000 – in response to video posted on X of Jewish activist Mark Meyer Appel shaking hands with the pro-Palestine Mamdani.

“I know it may not be much, but just a small PSA [Public Service Announcement] for the orgs who will be seeking discretionary funding from me for the next four years: In my discretion, I will NOT fund organizations whose leadership supports Hamas sympathizers and October 7th apologists,” Vernikov said on X.

“So if you want to be like @MarkMeyerAppel, and support or do photo ops with @Zohran Mamdani, don’t even bother calling,” she added, accusing Appel of “commie/jihadi a– kissing.”

And she doubled down Friday, telling The Post “If someone allows themselves to be in a photo with Mamdani, they’re either supporting him or pandering to him.”

“Either way, I will defund them,” she said.


NYC Under Zohran Mamdani? Think Soviet Union 2.0
Mark Levin exposes how Marxism, socialism, and radical Islamism are becoming the Democrat Party’s core. From Elizabeth Warren’s lies to her support for extremist Zohran Mamdani, Levin shows how these forces are gutting New York City — driving out workers, pushing billionaires away, and replacing them with welfare dependency and open-border policies. This isn’t compassion — it’s a power grab that crushes your freedom and prosperity.




Mohamed Hadid calls to ‘end’ Israel
U.S. real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, father of models Gigi and Bella Hadid, called on Wednesday for the destruction of Israel.

“We no longer demand a ceasefire. We demand an end to the state of Israel,” an image with text on Hadid’s Instagram reads. “A state that produces such violence is one that should not exist,” the text went on to read, referring to the Jewish state’s 22-month war against Hamas in Gaza.

A second image in the same post shows a demonstration with a large placard that reads: “You only target journalists when your enemy is the truth.”

Some of the comments underneath the post echoed Hadid’s message. “End Zionism and restore world peace!!!” one commenter wrote.

“Yes exactly this. From the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” another person said.

“I couldn’t agree more! Zioni$m needs to be dismantled for good!” a third wrote.

Hadid, 76, has been vocal regarding his anti-Israel views. He was born in Nazareth in 1948, shortly before his family fled to Lebanon during Israel’s War of Independence, started by the Arabs of the British Mandate for Palestine, who were later joined by several Arab nation’s armies.

Hadid’s family resettled in Damascus and relocated to Washington, D.C. when he was 14 years old.

In April 2024, the New York Post reported that Hadid had spent months harassing Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), sending him racist and homophobic messages due to his support for Israel.


Notorious doctor claims quarter of UK MPs are ‘collaborators and foreign agents’ for Israel in demo rant
A doctor facing multiple complaints of antisemitism has delivered another inflammatory speech to pro-Palestine activists in Leeds in which she claimed a quarter of UK MPs are “collaborators” and “foreign agents” who “put the interests of Israel above the interests of Britain.”

In further incendiary remarks, Dr Rameh Aladwan told the Northerners Demo For Palestine that anti-Zionist Jewish “allies and friends” now had a duty to hold mainstream Jews “to account” and “nurture anti-Zionism in their communities.”

In a speech full of conspiracy theories, Aladwan, who has been reported to the General Medical Council over previous remarks about Jews and Zionism, claimed Western governments, including in the UK, were now “occupied by Zionism, which is Jewish supremacy – that’s the definition of Zionism.”

Local MPs, including Labour MP Fabian Hamilton, had joined with local councillors and communal leaders in Leeds in raising concerns with police about the latest pro-Palestine demos in the city on Saturday.

In a post on X, Dr Aladwan wrote:”British supremacist jews (zionists) tried to shut us down.

“They used a sellout MP and councillor to smear us and even contacted the police But we’re here, standing with the free people of Leeds. You don’t scare us—the harder you try to silence us, the LOUDER we will be!”

Also speaking at the same demo was Dr Rehiana Ali, a doctor and former Parliamentary candidate, who had previously called the dead Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar a “legend,” leading to her temporary suspension as an NHS neurologist.

Video of Aladwan’s speech in front of around 150 activists on Saturday showed her launching a vile and legally problematic attack on MPs she claimed were “directly funded by the Israel lobby.”


Anti-Israel protesters chant ‘RAF shame on you’ at air base demonstration
Protesters chanted “RAF shame on you” as they held a demonstration outside an air base calling for an embargo on selling arms to Israel.

Demonstrators gathered along the barbed wire fence of RAF High Wycombe on Saturday afternoon at the protest organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Protesters held banners that said “end British military collaboration with Israel” and “61,000+ killed, 600 RAF spy flights”.

There were chants of “RAF you work for us, Israel is not your boss”, “RAF shame, shame – killing children in your name” and “RAF blood on your hands”.

A large Palestine flag was erected in front of a replica Second World War Hurricane fighter plane outside the entrance to the air base, with organisers bussing in protesters from High Wycombe railway station.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “On 16th August, as part of our summer of action for Gaza, we will be surrounding RAF High Wycombe, drawing on the legacy of protest at air bases like Greenham Common, and showing the strength of the public demand for an arms embargo.”


Lebanese PM condemns Hezbollah threat of civil war
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced on Friday Hezbollah’s warning that disarming the Shi’ite terrorist group could instigate a civil war in the country.

The Lebanese premier branded remarks made earlier in the day by Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem as “misleading” and “propaganda directed at Hezbollah’s supporters,” according to the Saudi-owned, London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, as part of an interview to be published in full on Sunday.

The Hezbollah leader said during a religious ceremony in the-Shi’ite majority city of Baalbek, situated in northeastern Lebanon, that disarming his Iranian-backed group is “unacceptable,” according to Arab News.

“We live in dignity together, and we build its sovereignty together—or Lebanon will have no life if you stand on the other side and try to confront us and eliminate us,” Qassem was quoted as saying in a speech.

Salam, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, said, “No Lebanese today—not just the wise among them, but all Lebanese, young and old, men and women, in the south or the north—wants to return to civil war. This direct or indirect threat of civil war is shameful. No Lebanese wants to go back to that.”

He criticized Qassem’s accusation that the Lebanese government was acting on behalf of “American-Israeli orders.

“This government is a national Lebanese government. It makes its decisions through the Cabinet and is not subject to external dictates but to the demands of the Lebanese people. I believe the overwhelming majority of Lebanese support the government’s decision to implement a plan to restrict weapons to the state. I have no doubt about that,” Salam said.

He continued, “It is a shame to claim this government is acting under dictates. I do not want to enter into disputes, but I know who is truly subject to dictates, who listens to them, and who has considered himself an extension of external powers,” in a reference to Hezbollah and Iran.

“No one in this government considers themselves an extension of any foreign side,” the Lebanese prime minister said.
Ukraine says its forces bombed a Russian ship carrying Iranian ammo as it ramps up deep-strike operations
The Ukrainian military said on Friday that it carried out an attack against a Russian ship carrying Iranian ammunition, marking one of the latest deep strikes far behind the front lines.

Separately, Ukraine said that it struck an oil refinery that supplies fuel to the Russian military.

The two attacks are the latest in a string of long-range strikes deep into Russian territory and come as Ukraine continues to target critical military and energy facilities. Kyiv hopes this campaign will put additional strains on Moscow's war machine.

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said they struck the vessel Port Olya 4 in Russia's Astrakhan region, which borders the Caspian Sea, during an operation on Thursday. It said the ship was loaded with parts for one-way attack drones and ammunition from Iran, adding that the results of the attack are still under investigation.

SOF said Russia uses the port as a logistics hub to transport military supplies from Iran. They said in a statement that "hitting this vessel disrupts a critical supply chain."
Jewish supermodel ditches her mezuzah over safety fears as antisemitism climbs in London
Jewish supermodel Caprice Bourret revealed she took down her mezuzah (A Jewish door fixture containing a parchment scroll with the shema), fearing that being openly Jewish could endanger her children, she told the MailOnline.

The London-based model is originally from California but moved as her career took off.

London has been one of many European capitals to experience surging antisemitism since Hamas’s October 7 massacre. Over 4,000 incidents were recorded in the UK by the Community Security Trust in 2023 alone.

“It’s such a terrible time to be Jewish because of the hate we can and do receive,” she said. "I don’t recognize this country anymore. Nobody should feel afraid or intimidated because of their religion. The whole concept is bizarre to me, but it’s happening right now."

Bourret said the rise in hate “has made me closer to Judaism…and weirdly enough, with all of this backlash and propaganda against us, it’s made the community a lot closer. It’s really scary, more than anything. My kids are scared and I have to protect them.”
Prague will not host Ye concert, says mayor: 'No room for antisemitism'
Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda has spoken out against a possible concert by American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, signaling that the city will not support hosting the controversial artist. His remarks come amid growing calls from officials and human rights activists to block the performance, citing Ye’s repeated antisemitic statements.

Speculation about a Prague concert followed reports that Ye’s canceled July appearance at the Rubikon festival near Bratislava could be moved to the Czech capital. But city leaders are now distancing themselves from any effort to bring the event to Prague, saying the artist’s views are incompatible with the city’s values and history.

Svoboda told iDnes.cz this week that “there is no request to organize such a concert, and if we were asked, we would not approve it.” In a separate interview with heyfomo.cz, he stressed that “there is no room for antisemitism in Prague.”

Deputy Mayor Jiří Pospíšil, who oversees cultural affairs, reinforced Svoboda’s stance, warning that Prague should not provide a platform for someone who has openly praised Adolf Hitler.

“Prague is not the place to celebrate Nazism," Pospíšil said. "We experienced firsthand the horrors of the Second World War, and we must not give room to people who glorify these crimes.”

"I am strongly against Kanye West performing in Prague," he added. "A person who does not hide his admiration for Hitler has no business in Prague!" Both he and Svoboda emphasized that city authorities would not facilitate the concert, even if organizers sought official cooperation.
Operators of anti-Israel community garden in Queens slapped with vacate order by NYC Parks Dept.: ‘No place for hate’
The leaders of a controversial anti-Israel community garden in Queens that forced attendees to pledge their support for Palestine are finally being ousted after months of legal wrangling.

The NYC Parks Department issued a vacate order this week to the leaders of the Sunset Community Garden with a Sept. 3 deadline to leave — wrapping up a four-month fight sparked by complaints of antisemitism by the garden’s organizers.

“There is no place for hate in New York City, and our community gardens should be safe, inclusive, and welcoming spaces for all New Yorkers,” Mayor Eric Adams told The Post.

“It is reprehensible that the current operators at Sunset Community Garden barred some of their fellow New Yorkers from a city-owned public space because of their beliefs — and specifically tried to bar those who believe in a state of Israel, which the overwhelming majority of Jews do.”

“The Adams administration remains dedicated to stamping out hate wherever it is found,” he said.

The Parks Department had long been pushing for new management at the garden, located at Onderdonk and Willoughby avenues in Ridgewood, and revoked their license May 5, citing a breach of contract.

But garden leaders ran to court claiming they were being discriminated against, prompting a judge to issue a temporary restraining order June 4 that allowed them to stay.
Police arrest suspect after death threat against Jewish man in Montreal
Montreal police say they arrested a suspect Friday after receiving reports of a man making “threats and hateful remarks” toward a group of people in the city’s Saint-Laurent borough.

At around 4:40 p.m., police received several 911 calls and responded to the intersection of Fraser and Saint-Louis streets.

When officers arrived, they quickly found the suspect, a 28-year-old man, and arrested him after speaking with witnesses.

A short video posted on social media shows part of the altercation. In the video, a man can be heard saying “we will kill you” and “you f-cking pig” when speaking to people, including at least one of them being a member of the Jewish community, before walking away.

Caroline Chevrefils, a Montreal police spokesperson, said the suspect will remain in custody until he appears in court Saturday via videoconference from a detention centre.

Police say the hate crime unit was informed of the incident and that it will be up to the Crown prosecution office to determine whether charges will be laid.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) said in a statement that it was pleased that police made a swift arrest.

“Those who seek to threaten members of our community must be held accountable. If you see something, say something,” the group said in the statement.

The incident comes days after a Jewish father was beaten up by a man in a park while he was with his children. A suspect in that case, which was also caught on video, is facing charges.


Gal Gadot says ‘pressure’ to speak out against Israel caused ‘Snow White’ movie to flop
Gal Gadot revealed she believes the “pressure” placed on celebrities to speak against Israel played a role in her Disney film, “Snow White,” tanking at the box office.

“I was sure this movie was going to be a huge hit. And then it happened,” she said, referencing the Oct. 7 attacks, in a clip from her interview on Israeli TV.

The video which started circulating on social media Friday showed Gadot speaking to a room of young people where she explained her stance on the controversial film.

“And what followed, as you know what happened a lot in various industries including Hollywood, there’s pressure on celebrities to speak against Israel,” she continued.

“I can always explain and try to give context about what’s happening here and I always do that. But, in the end, people make their own decisions.”

“I was disappointed the movie was so affected and it didn’t succeed at the box office,” she closed, shrugging it off as she added, “That’s how it goes. You win some, you lose some.”




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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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