Friday, August 22, 2025

08/22 Links Pt2: The Left’s October 7 Revisionism; Everybody wants a Palestinian state, except the Palestinians; The oppression of Sally Rooney

From Ian:

Gadi Taub: The Left’s October 7 Revisionism
October 7 presented the Israeli left with a daunting challenge: how to prevent the Hamas massacre from sounding the death knell of its most cherished dream, the so-called two-state solution. Having witnessed the vast majority of the Palestinian public cheer Hamas’ savagery, the last thing Israelis wanted to hear was plans for future partition of their land, never mind a peace agreement. Faced with this popular rejection of its central platform, the left first had to focus on preventing the right from consolidating its growing majority, to avert total collapse.

But how could the left leverage an event that showed its side was wrong in its fundamental assumptions about Israel’s neighbors against the right, whose position was vindicated? The answer is simple: Lay Oct. 7 at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s feet.

And so, the left launched a campaign to blame the man who had presciently warned that Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005 would give rise to a terrorist “Hamas state.” Netanyahu’s accurate understanding of Israel’s neighbors didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Oct. 7 happened on his watch.

The campaign required a new narrative that tailored the historical record to suit the left’s political objective. A recent example of this revisionism is an 11,000-word New York Times Magazine piece by Patrick Kingsley, Ronen Bergman, and Natan Odenheimer, titled “How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power.” The piece presents itself as a work of investigative journalism, with new revelations and intimate details “reported here for the first time,” along with scores of interviews and documented sources.

The piece puts forward a neat storyline that echoes the Israeli left’s articles of faith: Netanyahu could have ended the war with a hostage deal in April 2024. However, he keeps prolonging the war to satisfy the radical, irrational hawkish wing of this coalition, all to stay in power. The real reason Netanyahu is desperate to remain in office, the piece argues, is so that he can appoint a new attorney general and thereby quash his prosecution on corruption charges.

Only, there isn’t a single true link in this imaginary chain of political logic. Netanyahu never wanted to end the war with a hostage deal. While the prime minister has pursued a deal for the release of the hostages, the caveat was his absolute refusal to end the war short of achieving all of Israel’s declared goals: the dismantling of Hamas as a military and governing force, the return of all hostages, both the dead and the living, and the assurance that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel’s security. Meanwhile, Hamas never agreed to anything other than a complete Israeli surrender with the full withdrawal of the IDF from every last inch of Gaza, along with funds to reconstruct the strip under its rule, and internationally binding guarantees for the survival of its regime—conditions the overwhelming majority of Israelis would never agree to.

The truth is, nothing would serve Netanyahu politically better than ending the war, so long as it ends in victory. The longer the war drags on without victory, the more support he bleeds, especially among his base. In other words, both The New York Times Magazine’s depiction of Israel’s interests and its assumptions about Netanyahu’s political calculations are wrong.

The same goes for the assertions about Netanyahu’s coalition partners, which the piece gets backwards. The so-called radical wing of the coalition has been pressing for a swift end to the war through a decisive victory. The criticism it has leveled at Netanyahu has been over his prolonging the war with endless negotiations over yet another temporary deal that prioritizes the hostages over Israel’s victory. Had Netanyahu moved to satisfy his coalition partners, we would now be in the final leg of this war, single-mindedly focused on crushing whatever remains of Hamas. Of course, Israel did not take this course of action during the period described in the magazine’s alternative history.

The imaginary account of The New York Times entirely distorts how Netanyahu has had to struggle to make sure Israel doesn’t end the war prematurely, before achieving its objectives. From the moment it began, Netanyahu came under overwhelming pressure to shut down Israel’s military campaign. He faced the combined, and often coordinated, efforts of the Iran-appeasing Biden administration, Israel’s peacenik opposition, a leftist media obsessed with overthrowing him over any other consideration, the weaponization of criminal law designed to impair his ability to govern, and a reluctant IDF brass that preferred a compromise deal over the reoccupation of Gaza.
Douglas Murray: The oppression of Sally Rooney
In the Guardian and elsewhere she has expounded her low-resolution understanding of a foreign conflict into which she seeks to throw herself gleefully. Recently the group Palestine Action was proscribed by the British government as a terrorist group. Rooney was one of the ‘celebrities’ who chose to lobby against this decision. She said: ‘Palestine Action is not an armed group. It has never been responsible for any fatalities and does not pose any risk to public safety.’ Which isn’t quite true. The group has claimed responsibility for hundreds of incidents across the UK, many of which have turned violent. Last summer, Palestine Action activists broke into the Bristol HQ of defence technology firm Elbit Systems. Two police officers were struck with a sledgehammer and an employee suffered head injuries. One of the officers was taken to hospital, while his colleagues seized sledgehammers, axes and other weapons.

In June, Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged aircraft. Estimates of the cost of the damage run from £7 million to more than £30 million. One of those allegedly involved, Muhammad Umer Khalid, 22, faces charges relating to criminal damage and the compromising of this country’s security. One of the group’s heads faces prosecution over a speech he made on 8 October 2023, in which he said that the massacre of Jews in Israel (named by Hamas ‘the Al-Aqsa flood’), which was then still going on, should be emulated everywhere. Or as he put it: ‘When we hear the resistance, the Al-Aqsa flood, we must turn that flood into a tsunami of the whole world.’

Still, Rooney claims that a ban on Palestine Action constitutes an ‘alarming curtailment of free speech’. The other day in the Irish Times, Rooney made herself the martyr in all this, writing ominously: ‘My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets.’ In a similarly self-important vein, she declared that she intended to go on supporting Palestine Action in any way she could, including by donating royalties from her books and TV adaptations.

Although she seems to hear the jackboots of the Stasi British police at her door, Rooney is of course Irish, and appears to live in Ireland. And so wittingly or otherwise she joins a long list of Irish public figures willing to throw themselves into the middle of a row – any row – so long as it allows them the warm, fuzzy feeling of continuing to be part of the most oppressed people ever.
The Betrayal of Journalism in Gaza
Anas Al-Sharif, whose death last week triggered the current wave of international opprobrium, was such an individual. While both CNN and the BBC have confirmed that he previously served as a Hamas propaganda operative, he went on to join Al Jazeera, becoming a recognizable face to millions in the Arab world as he broadcast from Gaza throughout the current war.

In October 2024, the IDF released a ream of personnel files, salary records, and other documents captured in Gaza proving that six Al Jazeera employees were active Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror operatives. Al-Sharif was identified as the commander of a Hamas rocket launching squad and a member of the group’s Nukhba Force — the elite unit that spearheaded the October 7 attack — and was shown to be on Hamas’s payroll. Al Jazeera angrily rejected the charges, claiming that they were being used as a pretext to target its journalists, and continued employing Al-Sharif and the others.

After Al-Sharif and his colleagues were killed in an Israeli airstrike, CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg declared the killings to have been unlawful. “International law is very clear on this point that the only individuals who are legitimate targets during a war are active combatants,” she told the BBC. “Having worked as a media advisor for Hamas, or indeed for Hamas currently, does not make you an active combatant,” she added. Her comments were later echoed by Foreign Press Association President Ian Williams, who told CNN’s Bianna Golodryga that he “[doesn’t] care if Al-Sharif was in Hamas or not,” saying that “Hamas is a political organization” and “we don’t kill journalists for being Republicans or Democrats or, in Britain, Labour Party.”

But that comparison is plainly ridiculous and it is simply untrue that only “active combatants” can be targeted in wartime. Under international humanitarian law, an individual who performs a continuous combat function (CCF) is viewed as having lost his or her civilian status and is indeed considered a legitimate military target. In point of fact, that standard has been applied in numerous conflicts — from the Kosovo War to the Iraq War to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine — to justify the targeting of propaganda officials and functionaries whose activities contributed directly to war efforts. Even a “media advisor” for Hamas — or a propaganda operative for one of its media outlets, like the individuals discussed above — could indeed be targeted if he or she had a CCF, meaning he or she was fully integrated into the terrorist group and was continuously engaged in hostilities.

Yet according to the evidence produced by Israel, Al-Sharif was no mere “media advisor” — he was an actual combatant on behalf of a recognized terrorist group, having commanded a rocket squad and served as a member of Hamas’s commando force. There is no question, then, that he was a legitimate military target.

Which begs the question: Why are media organizations and journalists’ associations defending terrorists?

While it is only natural for there to be a certain circling of wagons at wartime, and while we would expect these groups to stand up for the rights of actual journalists facing various threats in the line of duty, that cannot explain why, time after time, both media outlets and journalists’ groups have turned a blind eye to the gross misdeeds of the individuals they have chosen to protect.

Journalists certainly deserve protection and Israel’s approach to the international media throughout this war — including its ill-considered and continuously detrimental decision not to permit foreign journalists to enter Gaza freely — has been imperfect at best. But by accepting the outlandish notion that terrorists who exploit journalistic cover to engage in hostilities deserve the same protections as actual journalists, these groups betray both their profession and the very individuals they are meant to represent, endangering them and making a mockery of their work. Rather than dismissing or ridiculing honest critiques by media watchdogs, these groups would do well to take evidence of wrongdoing seriously and consider whether the individuals in question are indeed deserving of protection — or of the title “journalist” at all.

Not every journalist can be expected to uphold the ethical standard set by Marie Colvin and others, who sacrificed their lives to protect their subjects, but surely those who go to the other extreme — who exploit their self-identification as journalists to cause, rather than prevent, harm — are worthy of our condemnation and our scorn, not our defense.
Dem senators, Sanders say Israel hasn’t proven Anas al-Sharif of ‘Al Jazeera’ was part of Hamas
A group of 16 Democratic senators, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who votes with the Democrats, wrote to Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, questioning Israel’s claim that Anas al-Sharif was a Hamas member posing as a journalist.

“The recent targeted Israeli strike on a group of journalists and media workers, which killed six journalists, including well-known Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, is just one example of attacks on reporters in Gaza and part of a pattern of violence that has silenced the voices of far too many Gazan journalists,” wrote the senators, led by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who is Jewish.

“Israel has not provided convincing evidence for its claim that al-Sharif was a Hamas militant,” the senators wrote. “Absent a compelling explanation of the military objective for this attack, it appears Israel is publicly admitting to targeting and killing journalists who have shown the world the scale of suffering in Gaza, which would be a violation of international law.”

Israeli officials have publicized records suggesting that al-Sharif led a Hamas cell and was part of a Hamas phone directory. The Jewish state has also published photos of al-Sharif with senior Hamas members, including Yahya Sinwar, who led the terror group until he was killed in October.

Israel said it has more information about al-Sharif that is classified, and that several other journalists who were killed with him were also terrorists.

The BBC reported that al-Sharif worked with Hamas’s media unit prior to the war.

“What steps has the State Department taken to ensure that the Israel Defense Forces, a major recipient of U.S. security assistance, reforms its rules of engagement to mitigate harm to journalists?” the senators wrote.

In addition to Schatz and Sanders, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) signed the letter.


Jonathan Tobin: Everybody wants a Palestinian state, except the Palestinians
Yet underlying this embrace of Hamas propaganda about Israel and the growing support for Palestinian statehood is the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism.

The increase in Jew-hatred around the globe is partly a result of the lies about Israel, as well as the way the victimization of Jews has always encouraged animosity against them. But it builds on the hostility to Jews that is part of the history of the West, as well as is built into the mindset of Arab and Muslim culture.

No other nation in the world would be asked to deliberately endanger itself by allowing its sworn enemies to be put in a stronger position to achieve its destruction. No other nation would be or ever has been judged by such double standards about its conduct. Only the State of Israel and its people are expected to experience the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust and not seek to prevent that from happening again.

Two states for two peoples sounds logical and a nice idea. And in a world where one of the two states was not inhabited by people whose national identity and political culture are inextricably tied to a futile war for the destruction of the other one, it might work.

That and that alone is why the Palestinians still don’t have a state. It’s also why the overwhelming majority of Israelis—and people who support Israel, like the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the United States—refuse to let one be created after trying to give them one to them time and again, only to discover that they were trading land for terror, not peace.

All of this leads one to ask whether those advocating for a Palestinian state now that they’ve repeatedly shown that they don’t want one except as a platform from which they can further their war on Israel understand such facts and history.

Given the abysmal lack of knowledge about the history of the Middle East and the biased news coverage of the conflict, it explains why many think that a Palestinian state is a fine idea or wrongly believe that Jews are colonizers in the country where they are the indigenous people.

It’s also true that many of those advocating for Palestinian statehood or chanting “From the river to the sea” or “Globalize the intifada”—in effect, cheering for Jewish genocide and terrorism against them everywhere—on college campuses and the streets of Western cities are not just ignorant. They, too, seek Israel’s destruction.

And so, it’s time to be honest about the push for Palestinian statehood.

Support for the idea is not about fairness or alleged Israeli misbehavior. It’s rooted in prejudice against Jews, and a willingness to erase Jewish history and rights. And even to acquiesce to the mass slaughter of Israelis as a possibility that is debatable, rather than abhorrent.

Whether the result of political calculations, dishonest journalism or leftist ideologies, the growing support for Palestinian statehood is a function of a desire on the part of many people—whether on the left or a loud minority on the right—to envision the eradication of the sole Jewish state on the planet. This issue is thus a test of international morality as much as anything else. Decent people, whether they are Jewish or non-Jewish or where they are on the political and religious spectrums, must oppose it.
Hotovely to UK: ‘Don’t tell us where to build in Jerusalem’
Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom Tzipi Hotovely pushed back on British criticism of Israel’s construction plans in the E1 corridor, saying Jerusalem will not accept dictates from foreign governments.

“I wouldn’t tell the British where to build in London,” Hotovely told the Daily Mail on Thursday night. “We see E1 as part of greater Jerusalem.”

Hotovely was summoned to the Foreign Office this week by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who protested Israel’s plan to build 3,400 housing units in the area linking Ma’ale Adumim with Jerusalem.

Lammy warned that the plan would “critically undermine” the chances of a two-state solution and “divide a Palestinian state in two.”

The E1 project, long delayed due to international pressure, is considered by Israeli officials essential for securing the capital’s eastern approaches and preventing Ramallah and Bethlehem from merging into a continuous Palestinian bloc that encircles Jerusalem.

London has joined Paris, Washington and other capitals in opposing the plan, warning it would undermine prospects for a two-state solution. Israel, however, says that Palestinian rejectionism and ongoing terrorism—not construction—remain the true obstacles to peace.

Hotovely’s remarks reflect Jerusalem’s growing insistence that, in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, Israel must prioritize security and strategic depth in and around its capital regardless of international pressure.


Kemi Badenoch: Starmer’s decision to reward Hamas with statehood emboldens extremists and betrays Britain
You can tell a lot from what a politician is ashamed of – and what he’s not.

It should have been deeply unsettling for Keir Starmer that Hamas described the Labour government’s plan to recognise a state of Palestine as “one of the fruits of October 7”, but he barely flinched.

The prime minister’s grandstanding on Palestinian statehood is more than a distraction from his inability to deliver for the British people. This affair exposes a deeper rot at the heart of government – a political inclination to surrender without shame.

Days after Labour’s intervention, Hamas released chilling videos of emaciated hostage Evyatar David, forced to dig his own grave. It was a harsh reminder of the evil and psychological cruelty of Hamas. This is an organisation which holds an innocent 24-year-old man in dark tunnels for 680 days, simply because he is Jewish.

While Israel cooperates closely with the UK on counter-terrorism intelligence so that we can be safe from terrorism within our own borders, Starmer rewards the terrorists that hold Israel’s civilians hostage, creating a perverse incentive for Hamas to keep torturing them.

None of it makes any sense because Labour’s goal is not to help build a lasting peace, to influence any real prospect of statehood, or to ease the terrible suffering of civilians in Gaza. Instead, their only goal is to appease anti-Israel sentiment in their party and the Islamist groups whose pressure they cannot resist. In the process, they betray Britain’s security interests, and they betray humanity.

We all want to see an end to the suffering in Gaza. I’m clear that this requires the eradication of Hamas.

The West must not be naïve about terrorism. Hamas is a terror group whose aims are openly genocidal. Hamas live-streamed gruesome videos slaughtering innocent civilians, and it has disrupted the flow of what should be free aid to Palestinians who need it. Yet it is winning the propaganda war in parts of the West.

In the face of social and political backlash, it takes courage to do the right thing. Shamefully, Starmer’s position on Palestinian statehood advances the victory of Hamas’s propaganda war.

Let us not forget that opportunities for a real two-state solution have been rejected many times before by the Palestinians, from the Peel Commission in the 1930s until the present day. The 1948 Partition Plan was a two-state solution, but it was followed by an invasion from several Arab armies with the express intent to wipe Israel off the map.

There can be no two-state solution with Hamas or with any organisation that rejects the existence of a Jewish presence in the Middle East.

Rather than acting in the interest of the British people, Starmer’s Labour prides itself on supposedly putting ‘international law’ at the heart of their foreign policy.

Yet, 40 eminent lawyers wrote to the Attorney General Lord Hermer setting out why Labour’s legally incoherent plan for recognition could breach international law which governs the establishment of new nations.
Germany: Palestinian state recognition now is ‘counterproductive’
Berlin has no immediate plans to recognize a Palestinian state, a German government spokesperson declared on Friday, calling such a move at this stage “counterproductive.”

“A negotiated two-state solution remains our goal, even if it seems a long way off today,” the spokesperson told a press briefing. “Recognition of Palestine is more likely to come at the end of such a process. Right now, it would undermine efforts toward peace.”

Berlin’s statement stands in sharp contrast to the positions of capitals such as Paris, London, Canberra and Ottawa, where governments have signaled willingness to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly annual general debate in September.

On July 31, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accused Germany of “supporting Nazism” by considering the recognition of a Palestinian state in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

“80 years since the Holocaust and Germany is once again supporting Nazism,” Ben-Gvir tweeted ahead of Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s arrival in Israel.

Before his trip, Wadephul reiterated Germany’s position that talks toward establishing a Palestinian state should begin immediately.

“A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security and dignity,” he said. “For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.”
Australia’s unbridled hypocrisy: A colonial project's bias towards Israel's history
Preaching morality
This is hardly the behavior of a nation that can deem to preach to others about morality or international law.Australia’s double standards became patently clear earlier this week when it rescinded the visa of MK Simcha Rothman just hours before his planned trip to the country, citing his “far Right” positions.

Canberra did not hesitate to humiliate a democratically elected member of Israel’s parliament, while at the same time entertaining the prospect of recognizing a Palestinian state, a move that would reward terrorism, encourage further violence, and undermine any chance of peace.

Unlike Australia, whose colonial project rests upon a 200-year history of conquest, the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is ancient and eternal. Our forefathers were buried in Hebron, where Abraham purchased the Tomb of the Patriarchs nearly 3,800 years ago. Our kings reigned in Jerusalem, where the Temple once stood. And though we were dispersed by Roman force, we never relinquished our claim.

The rebirth of the State of Israel in 1948 was not an act of colonialism but of homecoming. It was an indigenous people, the Jewish people, returning to its ancestral homeland. The attempt to cast Israel as a foreign occupier is not only a lie, it is a slander that seeks to erase Jewish history.

Order at home first
So before Australia starts to consider recognizing a Palestinian state, it should first put its own house in order. Let Australia return the vast stretches of land it seized from Aboriginal peoples. Let it forgo sovereignty over its various external territories, such as the Cocos Islands, to which it has no real connection. And let it take serious and concerted steps to assist those from among the Stolen Generations.

Until then, Australia has no moral authority to pass judgment on the Jewish state.

Israel, for its part, should not bow before such hypocrisy. We must stand firm in the face of international pressure and assert our rights – historical, biblical, and legal – to Judea and Samaria and every part of our homeland.

Australia is, of course, entitled to make its foreign policy choices, however misguided they might be. But it is not entitled to rewrite history nor to apply a double standard toward Israel. A nation born of occupation and built on the suffering of indigenous peoples should tread carefully before pointing fingers at the Jewish state.

For, unlike Australia, Israel’s bond with its land is unshakable, rooted not in colonial conquest but in divine and historical covenant. And no amount of Australian hypocrisy can change that.


American Lawyer Notices Something About U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Move Many Missed
In his new book "Because It's Just and Right", Leonard Grunstein takes us inside the story of President Trump moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.


Dave Rich: Neo-Nazi ideology is being embraced by the ‘anti-Zionist’ movement
London, 1962: the National Socialist Movement, a bunch of Nazi wannabes and Hitler worshippers, held a rally in Trafalgar Square under the slogan “FREE BRITAIN FROM JEWISH CONTROL.”

Leeds, 2025: a ‘Northerners Demo For Palestine’ in Leeds, organised and promoted by Yorkshire Palestine Collective, Leeds Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others, features a speech by a UK-based Palestinian-Jordanian doctor, Rahmeh Aladwan, that talks about holding Jewish communities in Britain to account for what is happening in Gaza; and when the video of her speech was posted on X, Aladwan replied with the slogan: “FREE BRITAIN FROM JEWISH SUPREMACY.”

It’s almost identical language, 63 years apart, one from neo-Nazis and the other from an anti-Zionist. The meaning is clear: Britain is unfree because it is dominated by the Jews. It’s hard to think of a simpler example of antisemitism than this.

This is the central claim of all modern antisemitism, from the Rothschilds conspiracy theories of the 19th century, through the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, up to the modern day. It even has its own acronym, ZOG, standing for Zionist Occupied Government. This was popularised on the American far right in the 1990s and spread to all corners of the conspiracy multiverse. According to a 2010 study by Demos of over fifty extremist movements, covering far right, far left, religious extremists, eco groups and cults, “The most commonly held conspiracy theory was variants on ZOG, the belief that Jews secretly control major world governments.”

In other words, this kind of thing, seen on a banner outside court during a hearing for Palestine Action members:

The use of “Zionist” as a euphemism for “Jewish” in this conspiracy theory is very familiar, and has been around for longer than you might think. Early promoters of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the bible of modern antisemitism, claimed that the meetings of these fictional Elders of Zion happened on the sidelines of the first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897 – making the Zionist movement a supposed front from the global Jewish conspiracy from the start. There’s a reason why the Hamas Charter quotes from the Protocols and claims that the Zionist movement was behind the French Revolution, even though modern Zionism did not take shape until a century after the fall of the Bastille. This conspiracist antisemitism might dress up as anti-Zionism but it’s the same old hatred in new clothes.

Except now, people are increasingly willing to say openly that it is Jews, not Zionists, who are the problem. In her speech in Leeds, Aladwan said that “Western governments” are “occupied by Zionism, which is Jewish supremacy, OK, that’s the definition of Zionism.”
‘Promised 3,000 years ago’: Latest antisemitic trend identified by CyberWell
A new antisemitic meme trending on social media was identified by CyberWell, the non-profit confirmed. The ‘promised 3,000 years ago’ meme features Jewish men engaging in antisemitic stereotypes while justifying said behavior.

The memes stereotype Jews as greedy, dishonest, or delusional, according to CyberWell. Though the memes often disguise the antisemitism behind formats suggesting satire or humor.

“This latest trend highlights a broader challenge for social media platforms: AI tools are making it increasingly difficult to monitor and control harmful content at scale,” said CyberWell Founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.

“Relying on users to report hate has proven to be a complete failure, contributing to waves of real-world violence amplified by algorithms that thrive on outrage. Now, antisemites and extremists are exploiting AI tools like Google Veo3 and audio generators like Suno to spread and intensify hate.”

The memes often feature visibly Jewish characters claiming property over items or locations with the song “Hava Nagila” playing in the background, along with the characters justifying their attempts to claim the subject with the explanation it was promised to them by God.

Holocaust references
Mohamed Hadid, a controversial figure accused of antisemitism on multiple occasions, posted to his 1.5 million followers an AI-generated figure stating, “I was promised 6,000,000 followers on TikTok 3,000 years ago.”

CyberWell suggests the “6,000,000” is a reference to the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

Over 100 videos were identified with the same format.

“AI-generated content removes the need for hate to target real individuals with personal identities. This trend has been deliberately shaped and amplified by AI tools to appear as satire and evade platform moderation, yet it is designed to spread anti-Jewish hate that is fueling unprecedented violence against communities across North America,” said Cohen Montemayor.


IDF reveals a senior Lebanese Army officer aided Hezbollah to conceal killing of UNIFIL soldier
A senior Lebanese army officer allegedly collaborated with Iran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah to conceal the terror group’s killing of a UNIFIL soldier, the IDF revealed on Friday.

Suheil Gharb is the head of the military intelligence branch in southern Lebanon. He worked to disrupt the Lebanese Army's internal investigation of the incident and prevent the prosecution of Hezbollah members involved, the military said.

Gharb was found to have disclosed intelligence to Hezbollah in January, including the Lebanese Army's intentions to carry out raids that could harm Hezbollah's activities, according to the think tank Alma Research and Education Center.

The UNIFIL peacekeeper, Irish national Private Sean Rooney, was killed in Al-Aqbiya in December 2022 while traveling to Beirut in an armored UN vehicle. Three others were wounded in the incident, according to the BBC.

A military tribunal in July 2025, in Beirut, sentenced the main defendant, Mohammad Ayyad, to death in absentia, and six other Hezbollah terrorists were convicted for involvement in the murder.

Ayyad had been briefly detained in connection with the case and then released. He could not be reached for comment at the time, Reuters reported, citing a security source.


Cotton to IRS: Investigate Terrorist-Supporting Palestinian Youth Movement
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) on Friday formally petitioned the IRS to investigate the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)—a "virulently antisemitic" activist group that released maggots into Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hotel room last year—for potential violations of the U.S. tax code, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Cotton, chair of the Senate Republican Conference, wrote in a letter to acting IRS commissioner Scott Bessent that the PYM has flouted U.S. law by receiving tax-exempt donations through a third-party nonprofit called Honor the Earth.

"PYM receives funding from Honor the Earth, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization," Cotton wrote. "PYM’s website states, 'We also accept checks payable to ‘Honor the Earth’' and says U.S.-based donations are tax deductible. I believe PYM’s activities, particularly its support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas, should prevent it from receiving tax exempt donations."

The activist group, the senator alleged, "is clearly operating outside of the acceptable scope of activities" permitted under U.S. tax code, "as is Honor the Earth by sending funds to PYM." Consequently, Cotton contended, the IRS must immediately probe the PYM's "funding sources for violations."

The PYM has been under the congressional microscope for more than a year, owing to its role as one of the most prominent organizations spearheading the pro-Hamas movement on college campuses across the country. The group took credit for releasing a horde of maggots and other insects inside the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., during Netanyahu’s July 2024 stay.

The organization posted a video of bugs crawling across a table adorned with U.S. and Israeli flags on Instagram with the caption, "BON APPETIT!! MAGGOTS REPORTEDLY RELEASED ON THE CRIMINAL ZIONIST’S WAR TABLE!"

The stunt led Reps. James Comer (R., Ky.) and Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) to request that Biden administration Treasury secretary Janet Yellen investigate the PYM and 20 other anti-Israel organizations for suspected links to money laundering and terrorism financing, as the Free Beacon first reported.

The lawmakers noted at the time that the group's primary financial support came from the Westchester Peace Action Committee (WESPAC) Foundation, which bankrolled numerous anti-Israel groups before a number of lawsuits exposed the nonprofit as a chief underwriter of the nationwide campus protest movement.


Controversial Pulitzer Prize Winner Set To Appear at Detroit Conference Alongside Terrorists
Palestinian "poet" and writer Mosab Abu Toha, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for commentary, is scheduled to appear at an upcoming anti-Israel conference alongside several radical speakers with ties to terror groups.

Abu Toha, who defended the atrocities of Oct. 7 and disparaged Israelis kidnapped by Hamas, will address the People’s Conference for Palestine, held in Detroit from Aug. 29–31.

Other featured speakers include Hussam Shaheen, who spent 27 years in prison for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder until he was released in February as part of a deal to swap Israeli hostages for Palestinian terrorists. Omar Assaf, a former member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, and Lama Ghosheh, a Palestinian journalist from East Jerusalem, will also deliver speeches. Assaf spent eight years in jail for serving with the DFLP, which is part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, while an Israeli court sentenced Ghosheh to three years in prison in 2023 for inciting violence and praising terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza.

The speaker list caught the attention of the Trump administration, which is preparing to block "terrorist sympathizers" who apply for visas to speak at the conference, a senior State Department official told the Washington Free Beacon.

"Given the public invite lists seem to include a number of terrorist sympathizers, we are going through and ensuring all international speakers slated to attend the conference are being placed on a 'look out' status for visa applications, so we are alerted if a request is submitted and can ensure they are appropriately processed," the senior official told the Free Beacon.

Abu Toha, for his part, has repeatedly come to the defense of Hamas.


Reform leader argues against death penalty for man accused of killing Israeli embassy
The suspected gunman who shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers in May should not face the death penalty, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced earlier this month that Elias Rodriguez, 31, would be eligible for the death penalty if found guilty in the May 21 murders of Sarah Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, as they left the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

“I write to you with a heavy heart to urge that in holding accountable the murderer of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, you do not seek the death penalty,” Pesner wrote. “Even in this most heinous circumstance, we cannot endorse the further taking of human life.”

“Despite the pain of Sarah and Yaron’s murders, and despite the hateful motivation behind their deaths, we believe that the death penalty is a stain upon civilization and our religious conscience,” the letter stated. “Both in concept and in practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant, and we continue to do so today.”

Pesner added that “the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community and communal institutions are aligned in rejecting the death penalty.”

“We pray that as you work to hold the perpetrator accountable for his actions, you ensure he is both punished for his crimes and is never again a threat to Jews or anyone else. As you do so, do not compound the already deep pain by pursuing the taking of another life,” he wrote.

Video allegedly shows Rodriguez shouting “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the incident. A federal jury indicted Rodriguez in August, accusing him of murdering a foreign official, hate crimes, gun offenses, first-degree murder and assault with intent to kill, according to the Justice Department.


Denmark Made a Special Exception To Let In Hundreds of Palestinian Refugees. Here’s What Happened.
In 1992, the Danish Parliament passed a special law granting asylum to 321 Palestinian refugees from Lebanon who were living in the country illegally. Twenty-five years later, a Danish minister, Martin Henriksen, asked a parliamentary committee to examine how they had fared in their new home.

As controversy erupts over the State Department’s decision to temporarily suspend visas for Gazans visiting the United States, an instructive report produced by that parliamentary committee has been making the rounds on social media.

The committee's report cast doubt on the wisdom of the decision to take in those refugees, noting that 67 of the 321 had received prison sentences of some kind, while 137 were subject to legal fines larger than $200. That is, more than 60 percent carried criminal records.

Welfare dependency was also widespread. A majority of the refugees received welfare benefits, according to the report, which tracked those benefits from 2007 to 2016. No fewer than 180 of the refugees, or 56 percent, received welfare benefits during the 10-year span. That figure peaked at 189 in 2016.

"There is no doubt that in Denmark we have previously been too careless with who has been granted permanent residence permits," Denmark's then-acting minister for immigration and integration, Kaare Dybvad Bek, said in response to the report in 2020. "Some of those who have come here are not integrated, and these figures also bear witness to that. It is depressing when such a large part of a certain group has been convicted of crime or is on public welfare."
CUNY must release records to anti-Israel student groups, Supreme Court of New York rules
The City University of New York must disclose its investment records to anti-Israel student groups, the Supreme Court of New York ruled on Thursday.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit in November against CUNY after the university system denied a Freedom of Information Law request by law student Sarah Southey on behalf of CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine and CUNY for Palestine earlier last year.

A university spokesperson told JNS that it “is reviewing the court’s decision, its legal options and possible next steps.”

The records request specifically pertained to CUNY’s investment funds, bonds and private equity holdings, as well as whether it has contracts with companies such as Dell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, according to the NYCLU.

“This decision is a huge win for institutional transparency, accountability and CUNY4Palestine’s campaign demanding CUNY divest from Israel,” Southey said.

The NYCLU argued in its complaint that CUNY had released earlier versions of the requested records to a prison divestment group in 2015.

“Public universities like CUNY have a legal obligation to uphold transparency and treat all its students, faculty and community members equally, no matter their viewpoint,” stated Veronica Salama, attorney at the NYCLU. “CUNY can’t just pick and choose which viewpoints to respect and which to ignore—every student deserves fair, equal treatment.”


Censored part:
StopAntisemitism is deeply alarmed to see former Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola take to Facebook to smear the Israel Defense Forces as "Occupational Forces (IOF)," dismiss credible reporting on Hamas’s use of children in propaganda videos, and shift blame for food shortages onto the Jewish people.

Board of Deputies urges cancellation of Nazi memorabilia auction
Nazi artefacts unfortunately are bought and sold in the UK.

The Board of Deputies has urged a UK auction house to remove hundreds of pieces of Nazi memorabilia from sale, describing their auctioning off as “sinister and deeply concerning”.

Gilbert Baitson, an auction house in Hull, has been advertising almost 250 lots in its “auction of Third Reich memorabilia”. The lots include numerous Nazi party, Hitler Youth and SS badges, as well as a sonnenkrieg [sun wheel] insignia around a swatika. While some of the lots are either for items predating the Nazi era or are innocuous, such as German road sign badges from the 1930s, most contain swastikas and are actively linked to the Nazi party.

Gilbert Baitson’s website homepage describes how the company has conducted “more than 9,000 auction sales” since its establishment 90 years ago, “including Herr Himmler’s spectacles”. Heinrich Himmler was the chief of the SS and a key implementer of the Nazi “final solution”.

While a number of the lots have not received any bids, others have clearly excited some interest, with a “German Spanish Cross with swords”, featuring a prominent swastika, currently having reached a bid of £650. There has similarly been active interest in the purchase of many of the Nazi, SS and SA badges, with bids having been placed. The auction is due to end on 1 September.

The Board confirmed that it had contacted the auction house requesting that they reconsider the sale of the items. Andrew Gilbert, vice president of the Board, said: “There is no good reason people should be bidding on Nazi pocket knives, SS skull insignias, and Hitler Youth membership badges. The buying and selling of these items has no place in our society and, in the context of rising far-right antisemitism, is sinister and deeply concerning.

“We strongly urge Gilbert Baitson to withdraw these items from auction, as have other auction houses such as McTear’s, Bloomfield Auctions, and Vermot de Pas. We also urge the government to ban the sale of such items entirely.”


Israeli family attacked at Dutch resort; police claims nationality not cause of incident
A family of Israeli tourists was attacked at a holiday park in the Netherlands Thursday evening, days after local anti-Israel groups posted videos online of Israeli tourists at another park and “called for action against them,” Israel’s embassy in The Hague said Friday, though local police reportedly said the victims’ nationality was not the cause for the attack.

Two victims of the attack at Center Parcs De Kempervennen, near Eindhoven, required hospitalization, and one suspect was detained, the embassy said in a Dutch-language statement, adding that “it is assumed that multiple suspects were involved.”

The embassy, whose building was defaced last week, added that this was the latest in a series of attacks on Israelis visiting the Netherlands.

“We expect the Dutch authorities to take all necessary measures to protect Israelis and Jews in the Netherlands. Intimidation and violence against individuals because of their background is unacceptable,” the embassy said.

Dutch media identified the hospitalized Israelis as a 37- and 41-year-old, one of whom suffered a head wound, and the detained suspect as a 15-year-old boy.

According to local newspaper Eindhovens Dagblad, the violence took place amid a paintball game between the Israeli tourists and another group, and police said the Israelis’ nationality was not the reason for the attack.

However, the outlet said “discriminatory and threatening slogans were shouted during the altercation,” and quoted a Dutch Jewish community group that was in contact with the victims as saying they were deliberately attacked because they were Israeli.

Days before the attack, several Dutch activists and groups posted videos of Israeli tourists at a different Center Parcs resort, and called on their followers to “take action” against “citizens of the Zionist Entity.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry called on the Dutch government “to come to its senses and act resolutely to prevent attacks on Israelis in its territory, to locate the criminals and to bring them to justice.”


French resort manager arrested for antisemitism after denying entry to 150 Israeli kids
A group of Israeli children, aged 8 to 16, were refused entry to a leisure park in Porté-Puymorens (France) by the manager on Thursday, despite having made a reservation, the Perpignan prosecutor's office confirmed.

The 52-year-old manager said he had banned the group on account of "personal convictions."

An investigation has been opened, and the manager has been taken into custody on account of "discrimination based on religion in the context of the offer or the fortune of a good or service."

The prosecutor's office announced that this is punishable by a maximum sentence of three years in prison. The manager is not previously known to the justice system.

Corine Serfati-Chetrit, of the CRIF Perpignan and the Jewish Observatory of France in Occitanie, said "we are in the midst of a tsunami of anti-Semitism in France."

"This is, without hesitation and without any possible doubt, further proof that it is now a danger to be Jewish and Israeli on French soil."

The resort didn’t directly address the situation, with French newspaper Le Parisien explaining that the place would be closed the following day, Thursday, August 21, due to a 'severe storm.'

Following yesterday's severe storm, we must close the park tomorrow, Thursday, August 21, to conduct a complete inspection of our facilities. This inspection is essential to ensure your safety and to welcome you in the best possible conditions on your next visit. Thank you for your understanding, and see you soon in the air," it reads the statement.


School of War: Ep 224: Barry Strauss on Ancient Rome’s Wars with Israel
Barry Strauss, Corliss Page Dean Fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World's Mightiest Empire, joins the show to discuss the long, fractious, often violent relationship between Ancient Rome and her Jewish subjects.

Times
• 01:11 Introduction
• 01:37 Rome and Parthia
• 07:50 Judea
• 12:07 Roman control
• 17:58 Jewish warfighting
• 20:20 Herod
• 26:03 The Great Revolt
• 31:06 Enter Parthia
• 33:23 The Temple
• 35:01 70 years
• 40:24 Driven out
• 42:02 Parallels with today
• 44:33 Donald Kagan


Brighton 7 October memorial to relocate after council public works announcement
A memorial in Brighton to those murdered and taken hostage on 7 October is to be relocated after 21 months in a public square, after the local council announced plans for the area to “undergo re-landscaping and a re-planting scheme.”

The 7 October memorial in Palmeira Square was set up a month after the massacre in which 1,200 people were murdered – including 18 UK citizens. Since then, the memorial site has featured a nightly service and delivered more than 550 dedications. Visitors to the site have included Chief Rabbi Mirvis, Board of Deputies President Phil Rosenberg, and CO-CEOs of Progressive Judaism Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy.

The memorial has been vandalised more than 50 times, including being completely destroyed on five occasions – it has been lovingly rebuilt each time. Incidents include the memorial book being slashed as well as faeces smeared across it. Antisemitic leaflets have also been left in the vicinity, and mourners have at times been aggressively harassed. Four arrests have been made associated with crimes committed there.

However, other local residents have left flowers, stones, toys and candles for the victims. Many have taken a protective role and defended the memorial when it has come under attack.

The memorial was created by a team of volunteers, including Adam Ma’anit and Heidi Bachram; Adam’s cousin, Ma’ayan Idan, was murdered on 7 October by Hamas terrorists – her father Tsachi was taken hostage and later killed by the group.

Adam said: “The way that members of the community have come together to support us, attend events, look after and protect the memorial, campaign for the hostages, and show real, genuine warmth and solidarity to victims’ families and loved ones is what has made it so special.

“At our time of greatest tragedy and despair, extraordinary humans turned out and showed us that we are not alone. It has also brought our tiny Brighton & Hove Jewish community together and strengthened us in deeply profound and lasting ways. Together, we have built something special that truly honours and cares for all the victims of that terrorist atrocity.”

Heidi described how “it was so important for us to grieve publicly and unapologetically. The victims have been so dehumanised and made to be invisible. We wanted to tell their stories, make them whole again.

“The memorial has brought out the best and worst of humanity. We have learned there is a terrifying streak of hatred that runs through our city but also a comforting show of love. That keeps us going.”




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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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