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Monday, August 25, 2025

08/25 Links Pt2: Journalists Against Journalism; Looting Jewish History; COGAT releases shocking footage of Hamas brutality against Gazans; The Dancing Hamasniks;

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Looting Jewish History
Every story about Israeli archaeology buries the lede, if you’ll excuse the pun.

The latest is an ongoing debate over how to protect ancient historical artifacts from Palestinian marauders in Judea and Samaria. One proposal would grant the Israel Antiquities Authority, a civil administration agency, oversight with regard to archaeological digs beyond the “green line,” the temporary 1949 armistice line treated as a de facto border. At present, the IAA only has authority over sites inside Israel proper, and the military oversees the rest.

A Times of Israel story about it, after going through the requisite motions of he-said-she-said finger-pointing, extracts from this contested earth the following:

“A separate survey by a group of Palestinian archaeologists in 2024 found evidence of looting at 309 of 440 West Bank sites, according to Salah Al-Houdalieh, an archaeology professor at al-Quds University.”

That’s the most important fact to know about the controversy: The Palestinians admit that Palestinians are regularly looting and destroying artifacts at most of the archaeological sites in the West Bank.

What’s the explanation for the ISIS-like obsession with destroying evidence of history? Well, the real reason is because the modern Arab-Palestinian fable of Jewish colonialism doesn’t withstand the inspection of a single grain of sand. But the Palestinians have their own ready explanation for why they are destroying the historical record of the ancient Jewish land on which they live. Here is the aforementioned Palestinian archaeologist al-Houdalieh, writing in January:

“Looting has always been an issue, but the recent escalation of hostilities by Israel against Palestinians has led to an increase in antiquities looting, as tens of thousands of unemployed people struggle to meet their most basic needs.”

The Palestinians, the academic claims, have been forced to become tomb raiders because the areas under Palestinian governance have no jobs.

This deflection is risible, but we should instead focus on the fact that there is no disagreement on whether Arab Palestinians are actively destroying the history of the world. They do not deny it.
Largest dam in ancient Israel uncovered in the City of David
A monumental dam excavated in the Siloam Pool in the City of David National Park has now been dated in a joint study by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Weizmann Institute of Science to the reign of the kings of Judah, Joash or Amaziah. Its construction may have been a creative solution to the climate crisis, about 2,800 years ago, according to the researchers. The research, published Monday in the prestigious scientific journal PNAS, will be presented at the upcoming “City of David Studies” conference in early September.

The massive wall uncovered in excavations of the Siloam Pool in the City of David National Park was built around 805-795 BCE, during the reigns of Kings Joash or Amaziah of Judah. The discovery of the dam was made by the excavation directors Dr. Nahshon Szanton, Itamar Berko, and Dr. Filip Vukosavović on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

“This is the largest dam ever discovered in Israel and the earliest one ever found in Jerusalem. Its dimensions are remarkable: about 12 meters high, over 8 meters wide, and the uncovered length reaches 21 meters - continuing beyond the limits of the current excavation," the directors stated. "The dam was designed to collect waters from the Gihon Spring as well as floodwaters flowing down the main valley of ancient Jerusalem (the historical Tyropoeon Valley) to the Kidron Stream, providing a dual solution for both water shortages and flash floods.”

“Thanks to highly precise scientific dating, this is the first time it is possible to point with certainty to a structure that formed the basis for the construction of the Siloam Pool, which until now we knew only from the Bible and historical sources,” adds Itamar Berko.

Dr. Johanna Regev and Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto of the Weizmann Institute of Science, who employed advanced micro-archaeological methods and extremely high-precision radiocarbon dating, explained: “Short-lived twigs and branches embedded in the dam’s construction mortar provided a clear date at the end of the 9th century BCE, with extraordinary resolution of only about 10 years - a rare achievement when dating ancient finds. To complete the climatic reconstruction, we integrated this dating with existing climate data from Dead Sea cores, from Soreq Cave, and from solar activity records influencing the formation of certain chemical elements. All the data pointed to a period of low rainfall in the Land of Israel, interspersed with short and intense storms that could cause flooding. It follows that the establishment of such large-scale water systems was a direct response to climate change and arid conditions that included flash floods.”

The newly uncovered structure joins two other water systems from the same period discovered in the City of David: an imposing tower that dammed the Gihon Spring, and a water system that gathered water from the Gihon, directed through a channel into the Siloam Pool, where it was joined by floodwaters blocked by the dam.
Seth Mandel: The Dancing Hamasniks
In a case like Nativ’s, there isn’t much room for interpretation. The university policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of, for example, “national origin.” This is why the rampant anti-Zionism across academia is such a legal problem: The claim that someone can be “anti-Israel without being anti-Semitic” becomes irrelevant. Anti-Israel discrimination is national origin discrimination. The rest is noise.

But the Nativ case also shows why the distinction between anti-Israel prejudice and anti-Semitism is so hard to make. Ask yourself the following question: If Yael Nativ had been an Arab Israeli—which the university and activist worlds increasingly and imprecisely call Palestinian—would she have received the same note? To ask the question is to answer it.

So the problem, very clearly, is not that Nativ is from Israel. It’s that she’s a Jew from Israel.

Interestingly, in her original Haaretz op-ed Nativ made the following observation about her students:

“The diligent students read, listened attentively and did everything they were asked to do, except for one thing — speaking and engaging in classroom discussions. They were silent. A lot. Even when I explicitly asked them to speak or asked a specific question, they reacted with great discomfort.”

So Nativ asked a colleague what the Berkeley students were so afraid of. The colleague responded: “That they won’t say the right thing, that they won’t give the exact answer. That they’ll offend you or somebody in the class, that they’ll be subjected to online shaming or will be canceled on social media. They prefer to stay silent and get through the lesson that way.”

I’m skeptical that’s the full explanation. In case after case, students have been unafraid to insult the Israelis in their midst so long as their professor shared their prejudices. (In plenty of cases it was a professor who initiated an anti-Israel pile-on during class.) The students in Nativ’s class weren’t afraid to offend a Jew or an Israeli; they were fearful of speaking their mind because—at least in some cases, we can presume—all they had to say consisted of ad hominem accusations and personal insults.

The truth is, they had nothing worth saying, so they (somewhat miraculously) managed to say nothing. That may have seemed troubling to a visiting professor but unfortunately, in academia, it’s fast becoming the best-case scenario.


Free Press Editorial: Journalists Against Journalism
Last week, The Free Press ran an investigation into a dozen viral photos published by major international media outlets aimed at depicting starvation in Gaza. All 12 pictures featured distressed Gazans, mostly children. All were skin and bones. And all suffered from preexisting conditions, like cerebral palsy.

Crucially, that last piece of information was absent from the captions or news stories they accompanied. In leaving out that context, the outlets presented an incomplete story. Rather than typifying the situation in Gaza, right now, these are exceptional cases.

We are proud of the report and the reporters who tracked it down. In doing so, Olivia Reingold and Tanya Lukyanova performed a public service by asking and answering a simple question: In a moment of widespread charges by international institutions and news outlets about hunger in Gaza, are these photographs representative? More: How is it that journalists failed to scrutinize information coming out of a war zone with an active terrorist group conducting kinetic and information warfare?

Journalistic outlets love to boast about “impact,” and this story has had more than its share. CNN updated its piece after our reporting, noting at the top that the story had been “updated to reflect new information regarding the condition of some of the subjects.” So did The Washington Post, issuing a correction to say that it had “incorrectly” used a year-old photo in its current coverage of “mass starvation” in Gaza. The Guardian issued no correction but stealthily added one important detail to its coverage: that a previously featured child had cerebral palsy.

In a normal time, this is the kind of work that would be praised by our peers for getting to ground truth. But we don’t live in normal times. And that is not how some of our colleagues in the news media saw things.

To Krystal Ball, host of Breaking Points, our journalism was “just so disgusting.” Ball’s co-host, Saagar Enjeti, chimed in to compare our reporters to Holocaust deniers, saying that a “key tenet of holocaust denial is trying to claim that many of the initial victims or purported victims had other preconditions and that’s part of the reason why they died.”

Those who care about the truth will note that these children were not presented as the initial victims of anything; they were deceptively promoted to reflect the average Gazan. To suggest otherwise betrays a fleeting relationship with reality.

Ball and Enjeti are not alone. Glenn Greenwald, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” argued not just for our censorship, but for our “trial at the Hague.”

Barack Obama’s former deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes (whose nickname, incidentally, in that administration was “Hamas”), says we are “sociopathic.” Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News, predicts reporter Olivia Reingold’s “name will become notorious for a generation.”


James Kirchick: Who Is a "Journalist" in Gaza?
Al Jazeera employee Anas Al Sharif was killed in an Israeli airstrike this month. International watchdog groups claim an unprecedented number of journalists have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas. Yet these assertions rely on an expansive definition of the word "journalist." There is no independent media to speak of in Gaza, and journalists operate at either the direct command or the mercy of Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Of the journalists and media workers listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists who were killed since Oct. 7, 26 were employed by or freelanced for Al-Aqsa TV, which CPJ describes as "Hamas-affiliated." 19 were employed by Al-Quds Al-Youm, which the State Department says is "run by Islamic Jihad," and 7 worked for Palestine Today, which the CPJ calls "pro-Islamic Jihad."

6 worked for Al Mayadeen or Al-Manar, the former affiliated with and the latter owned by Hizbullah. 23 worked for outlets connected to terrorist groups ranging from Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to the Houthis.

What's being hyped as an unprecedented attack on journalists is actually a cynical salvo in an information war. The figure is high because the world has never seen a conflict in which so many people working on behalf of terrorist organizations have been disingenuously characterized as journalists by once-respected watchdog groups.
Ties to Terrorists, the IRGC, and Turkish Intelligence? Introducing TRT World
Turkey's state broadcaster, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), reaches 260 million households worldwide through its international arms—particularly TRT Arabi and TRT World—positioning itself as a credible news source in Western markets. But a new investigation by Jewish Onliner reveals that the network has become a nexus for individuals with documented ties to Hamas, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Turkish intelligence services.

TRT has provided a platform to Hamas officials, including airing an exclusive interview with senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in November 2023, allowing him to outline Hamas's "resistance" agenda to a broader audience. The network also routinely features commentators sympathetic to Hamas. The Stockholm-based Nordic Monitor has documented how TRT repackages anti-Israel rhetoric as journalism, amplifying Hamas narratives while contextualizing the group's violence. TRT Arabi routinely posts content glorifying Hamas, such as an animated video depicting former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a heroic “martyr” in Gaza.

In a statement to Jewish Onliner, Nordic Monitor Executive Director Abdullah Bozkurt explained that TRT “has long abandoned its role as an independent public service outlet and now operates as a propaganda arm of President Erdoğan’s Islamist government.” “Rather than serving the public interest, it systematically spreads disinformation and conspiracy theories to manipulate public opinion, fuel anti-Western sentiment, and promote antisemitism,” he continued.

“Following the mass purge in 2016 after the staged coup attempt, TRT recruited Islamist figures with jihadist views, including those sympathetic to Iran’s clerical regime, further entrenching its role as a vehicle for ideological indoctrination,” Bozkurt concluded.

Key TRT Personnel With Concerning Ties
According to findings from Nordic Monitor, Fatih Er, TRT World's News Director, was allegedly named as a suspect in a Turkish probe investigating ties to the IRGC Quds Force. Wiretapped in 2013 for alleged links to Iran-backed networks, Er was also involved with IHH, an Islamist charity with alleged links to Turkish intelligence and Al-Qaeda. Though never formally charged, his appointment to lead TRT World's news operations has raised significant security concerns.

Nordic Monitor's investigative report also revealed that Enes Adli, the network's Washington Bureau Chief, signed U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) documents claiming TRT engaged in no political activity on behalf of Turkey—a claim disputed by watchdogs given the broadcaster's clear alignment with Ankara's viewpoints and sympathetic treatment of Hamas. According to the report, his filings may have misled U.S. regulators.

Rumeysa Kalın Karabulut, a TRT reporter and daughter of Turkey's intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın, represents another connection between the broadcaster and intelligence networks. In a separate FARA filing dated January 26, 2025, Saltzman & Evinch — a law firm that provides lobbying services for the Turkish government and handles legal representation for its Washington embassy — reported earning $50,000 from the Turkish Embassy between July and December 2024. The firm has a standing $1.5 million contract with the embassy. Among its notable alumni is Karabulut, who previously worked at the firm as a law clerk and has been employed by TRT in Turkey since 2019.
COGAT releases shocking footage of Hamas brutality against Gazans
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) on Monday publicized a series of videos of what it said were “Hamas operatives abusing, assaulting, and shooting at Gaza residents.”

COGAT published the videos as Israel and Hamas compete over the global narrative on Gaza. The terrorist organization is trying to emphasize food-insecurity issues, convincing the UN to label them as “famine.” Jerusalem is trying to remind the world that many Gazans view themselves as prisoners under the authoritarian rule of Hamas.

Calling Hamas “the embodiment of evil and unrestrained cruelty – to preserve its bloody rule,” the videos released by COGAT mostly show extensive beatings of tied-up men lying on the ground, some with their eyes blindfolded, crying out in pain from being struck with hard objects or from being kicked.

The grainy videos also show some gunshots aimed at the people being taped.

COGAT Commander Maj.-Gen. Ghassan Alian, addressing the international community on COGAT’s English X/Twitter page, wrote: “Hamas embodies the essence of evil. The shocking footage illustrates how the terrorist organization Hamas oppresses the population, abuses civilians, and uses unrestrained violence against people in order to maintain its bloody rule and consolidate its power.

“Hamas once again proves that it does not represent the residents of Gaza – it rules over them with force, fear, and cruelty.”
Censored Tweet:
🎥WATCH: Hamas operatives beating, abusing & shooting at Gaza residents, proof of their cruelty and oppression.

“Hamas does not represent the people of Gaza. It rules them with force, fear & violence.” - Major General Ghassan Alian Declaring Palestinian state would violate international law
France and its allies seek to impose on the Jewish state what no country would dare impose on any non-Jewish state, namely to confiscate part of its territory, to recognize another state on part of its territory, and, it seeks to apply sanctions if Israel does not comply. They intend to act like brigands and take possession of a land that does not belong to them and never has. This would be the sixth violation of international law.

Yet, France and Great Britain cannot legally recognize a “Palestinian” Arab-Muslim state on the territory of the Jewish national homeland as defined in the British Mandate. The countries are bound by the prior treaties of San Remo, Sèvres and Lausanne, which they signed, as well as by the content of the British Mandate. France and Great Britain voted for the British Mandate along with 48 other member states of the League of Nations. Such recognition would constitute the seventh violation of international law and a violation of numerous treaties and agreements.

Any recognition of a “Palestinian” state on the territory of the Jewish national homeland, even if it is not precisely defined, is a violation of Article 80 of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the United Nations and its member states from undermining the provisions of the mandates established by the League of Nations, this would be the eighth violation of international law.

To make matters worse, France will invite states to recognize a Palestinian state and thus violate Article 80 of the U.N. Charter within the very premises of the United Nations, which is an aggravating circumstance.

Mandates of the League of Nations grant rights to the peoples covered by these mandates. These rights cannot be modified and apply even after the mandates terminate. Rights to the territory designated as the Jewish national home still belong to the Jewish people, and amputating all, or part, of this territory and granting it to terrorists or anyone else would violate the rights of all the Jews in the world and serve as the ninth violation of international law.

On Sept. 13, 2007, after 20 years of negotiations, France and Great Britain voted in favor of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This declaration specifies that Indigenous Peoples have a right to their lands and resources.

The Jewish people are the indigenous people of Gaza, Judea and Samaria. They therefore have a right to this land. By denying the Jewish people the rights that have been voted on, the coalition will be violating the rights that they have recognized for indigenous peoples, marking the 10th violation of international law.
‘Washington Post’ two-state solution is unrealistic
Israeli security is not the only consideration. Historical facts are also important. A Palestinian Arab state was established in 1922, when the British unilaterally severed the eastern 78% of the Palestinian Mandate from the rest of the country and changed that region’s name to “Transjordan.” Later, they changed it to “Jordan.”

But changing a name doesn’t change the identity of its citizens. The vast majority of Jordanians are Palestinian Arabs according to their history, culture, language and religion. In other words, Jordan is already the Palestinian state that The Washington Post’s editors are shouting for. The only obstacle to Palestinian statehood is that Jordan is ruled by a king who refuses to restore the country’s rightful historical name.

If any Palestinian Arab residents of Gaza, or Judea and Samaria, ever decide that they actually do want to live in a sovereign state where everyone speaks their language, worships according to their religion, and shares their history and culture, then 78% of historic Palestine awaits them, just a few miles to the east.

The Post’s editors wrote: “In a perfect world, every group that wants a sovereign state could have one. But in the real world, they shouldn’t.”

Almost every country in the world has one or more ethnic minorities that would like to have their own sovereign state: the Basques in Spain, the Quebeçois nationalists in Canada, some Native American tribes in the United States, the Kurds in Iraq, the Tibetans in China, the Kashmiris in India … the list is almost endless.

In some cases, the reason they should not be given a state is a simple matter of right and wrong. In Israel’s case, for example, the Jewish people’s historical, religious and legal claims to the Land of Israel are far stronger than those of the Palestinian Arabs.

In other cases, some aggrieved people genuinely deserve a state; however, giving them one would endanger the well-being of others or undermine the country’s very existence. So their theoretical right has to give way to reality.

The Palestinian Arabs are unique: They already have a state in the eastern 78% of Palestine and yet demand a second one in much of the rest of the country. Their demand, too, has to give way to reality.

The Washington Post needs to recognize this reality. Their editors need to accept the fact that the world has changed. A “two-state solution” today means a situation in which Israel will be threatened with an Oct. 7 every single day. That is something no reasonable nation can accept.
The Media Claims This Place Will End Palestine… So I Went There



Why ‘being with it’ means being against Israel
It was in 1987 that Allan Bloom published The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students. His insightful highlighting of the popular moral relativism, the undermining of critical thinking, and additional barriers to the notions of truth and genuine knowledge have been revealed fully these past few years in relation to the perception of Zionism and Israel by college students.

Unfortunately for Israel, many of these students from these past two or so decades have gone into government service, especially in the diplomatic corps, or have become administrative assistants to members of Congress or leaders in NGOs and other institutions of public education and welfare. Others have become college professors and even elected politicians on the state and federal levels. And too many of them possess closed minds, minds locked into a narrative that is wrong.

Moreover, it isn’t just that their thinking processes have been damaged and that their knowledge is inadequate and wrong. Their ability to apply objective moral values is damaged. Unable and now unwilling to admit that the “colonialism” charge made against Zionism is wrong, Israel is automatically dismissed, and its defenses against claims of guilt of “genocide” and “starvation” are disbelieved.

Baseless accusations and blind hatred
Those accusations, they assert, must be correct because Zionism is to be eliminated as it is, supposedly, what it isn’t. It’s the “locked-in narrative” formula. In being “with it,” one need not be smart or a possessor of the essential facts. It is more psychological and social. Everyone seems to be marching, chanting, and Jew-bashing. In Southend, UK, a synagogue is termed “a horrific Zionist area.”

Clashing with the police is heroic. If your parents are well-off, they can afford lawyers’ fees, if a Soros-backed group isn’t funding them. You can become a campus hotshot without having to play rough sports. If you have the correct lecturers (some of whom may be in the paddy wagon with you), your marks will not suffer at all. The campaign is the game.

You need not know exactly which river and sea Palestine is situated between. You can skip the part about Palestine never existing as a geopolitical entity, ever. If confronted, for example, with a query about why pro-Palestinian Arabs have been rejecting every political, diplomatic, and territorial offer of statehood since 1920, you can just, well, refuse to answer.

Moreover, if you are antisemitic, you can send messages like this one to Bethany Mandel, as published in the New York Post on August 19, who had sent her kids to a Jewish summer camp: “[expletives]… your kid who goes to Nazi summer camp! Free Palestine… You are literally indoctrinating your children with the idea that raping and murdering people for their land is not only okay but promised to you by God. Zionism is a disease that you are spreading.”

In addition, Mandel’s observation is quite relevant to my point here: “Her hatred isn’t rare; it’s disturbingly ordinary. And that’s what makes it so dangerous. This strain of progressive antisemitism thrives side by side with self-aggrandizing claims of moral superiority.”

The Free Palestine campaign has an equal opportunity advantage. You can be woke, progressive, liberal, Stalinist, Islamist, and/or antisemitic and still get a round of adulation for your hate and feel good. And all can enjoy each other’s company, all while globalizing the intifada. It’s a lifestyle, if potentially life-ending for Jews.
US doubles down on support for envoy to France after antisemitism row
A diplomatic row between the United States and France escalated on Monday when Washington decided to stand firmly behind its ambassador’s criticism of the French response to a rising tide of antisemitism.

US Ambassador Charles Kushner, the father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was ordered to report to the French foreign ministry on Monday over a letter he penned to President Emmanuel Macron, accusing his government of not doing enough to combat antisemitism.

It was not immediately clear whether the meeting had taken place, but the summoning nonetheless sparked backlash from the US and Israel.

“We stand by his comments,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. “Ambassador Kushner is our US government representative in France and is doing a great job advancing our national interests in that role.”

The controversy erupted amid concerns about an increase in antisemitic acts and hate crimes in France, as international tensions mount over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Kushner, in his letter to Macron, accused France of a “lack of sufficient action.”


‘Europe must choose: Israel or Hamas,’ says Israel’s FM
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Sunday that Europeans must pick a side—either stand with Israel or with jihadists.

“Europe must choose: Israel or Hamas. Every action against Israel directly serves the jihadist axis in the Middle East,” Sa’ar posted to X.

Israel’s foreign minister noted Hamas’s praise of Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, and of French President Emmanuel Macron for his efforts to build a coalition of states to recognize a Palestinian state.

Hamas described as “brave and ethical” the resignations of Veldkamp and the remaining Cabinet members of his New Social Contract Party on Aug. 22, after Veldkamp failed to push through sanctions against Israel at a Cabinet meeting.

“The resignations of these Dutch ministers reflect a principled stance that embodies humanitarian values and highlights commitment to the foundations of international law,” Hamas said in an Aug. 23 statement, according to The Palestinian Information Center.

Of Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, Hamas said it was a “positive step” and a “move in the right direction towards achieving justice for the oppressed Palestinian people.”

Other European countries have already recognized a Palestinian state, including Ireland, Norway and Spain in May.

Hamas welcomed that decision as well.

“We consider this an important step towards affirming our right to our land,” the group said in a statement, calling “on countries around the world to recognize our legitimate national rights.”
EU Jews defend antisemitism czar from pro-Israel bias claims
Major Jewish groups in Europe and beyond on Monday publicly defended Katharina von Schnurbein—the point person representing the European Union for the fight against antisemitism—after lawmakers from the bloc’s legislative arm criticized her, allegedly for arguing against punishing Israel with sanctions.

It s “deeply troubling” to see Katharina von Schnurbein, the E.U.’s coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, “accused of ‘bias’ simply because she refuses to trivialize or ignore threats against Jews,” wrote the European Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Conference of European Rabbis in a joint open letter they addressed to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.

The defense of Schnurbein, who in 2015 became the first person to serve in her position, followed an earlier letter against her filed by 26 left-wing lawmakers from the European Parliament. The co-signatories argued that von Schnurbein had exceeded her institutional authority by attempting to persuade E.U. member state representatives at a closed meeting against imposing sanctions that would affect Israel’s standing in the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

Von Schnurbein declined to be interviewed by JNS on this matter and referred JNS to her office’s spokesperson. He did not reply by press time to a request for comment.

“To attack her for defending Jewish dignity and security is, in effect, to challenge the European Union’s own credibility in combating antisemitism,” added the cosignatories in the letter defending von Schnurbein.

Other Jewish organizations that signed the letter included the World Jewish Congress, Combat Antisemitism Movement, B’nai B’rith International, European Leadership Network (ELNET) and European Union for Progressive Judaism. Jewish groups from most E.U. countries also signed on.
Israel downgrades ties with Brazil after its refusal to approve new ambassador
Israel has withdrawn its request to appoint a new ambassador to Brazil after the South American country refused to approve diplomat Gali Dagan, the Foreign Ministry says, declaring that ties with Brasilia are now being conducted “at a lower level.”

“After Brazil, unusually, refrained from replying to Ambassador Dagan’s request for agrément, Israel withdrew the request, and relations between the countries are now being conducted at a lower diplomatic level,” reads a statement from the ministry.

It notes that the “critical and hostile line that Brazil has displayed toward Israel” since the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023, “was intensified” by remarks from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last year.

Israel declared Lula a “persona non grata,” after he accused Jerusalem of “genocide” in Gaza, saying the only historical parallel was “when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

“The Foreign Ministry continues to maintain deep ties with Israel’s many circles of friends in Brazil,” the statement adds.

Brazil recalled its ambassador to Israel last year and has yet to appoint a replacement.
"That’s Ireland For You” | Irish Medical Consultants Call For BAN On Use Of Medicines Made In Israel
Author Jake Wallis Simons joins Talk’s Peter Cardwell to discuss Irish medical consultants are demanding the state does not give sick children medicines that have been manufactured in Israel.

Around fifty consultants have written to the Irish Government saying, “We respectfully request that Children’s Health Ireland take immediate steps to discontinue the procurement and use of pharmaceuticals manufactured by Teva while viable alternatives exist”.

Peter says: “Believe me, it will have implications here.”


Terrorism made up by Israel to marginalise Muslims, lecturer claims
A senior lecturer appeared to claim terrorism was “made up” by Israel to marginalise Muslims, The Telegraph can reveal.

Dr Tarek Younis, an academic at Middlesex University, delivered a guest lecture at University College London (UCL) as part of the “Culture and the Clinic” unit of UCL’s MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences.

During this lecture, delivered in March, he claimed that “terrorism” was an abstract construct created by Israel, and a made-up word to marginalise Muslims.

Dr Younis appeared to praise students who made anti-Israel and anti-Zionist statements during the class and opened with a moment of silence for “genocide in Gaza”.

Dr Younis has also made a series of posts on social media, which Jewish campaign groups claim are anti-Semitic.

On Oct 4 last year, he wrote in part of a post on X: “Israel is undeniably a racist apartheid system.”

In another post, from June 8 last year, Dr Younis stated that “our work isn’t done until all Zionists are removed from our institutions and are shamed, alongside all racists, into nothingness”. On May 27, in part of a post, he claimed that “our healthcare institutions have a Zionism problem”.


‘The Spirit of Resistance Will Not Be Quenched’: George Mason SJP Releases Radical Recruitment Video Months After Police Uncovered Terrorist Flags at Leaders’ Home
George Mason University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter reemerged Sunday evening with a recruitment video claiming "the spirit of resistance will not be quenched." The radical group went dark for months after police found terrorist propaganda and weapons at its leaders’ home last year, resulting in its suspension.

The video, launched the evening before the start of the fall semester, shows a speaker using a voice modifier and a keffiyeh to conceal everything but their eyes.

"The spirit of resistance will not be quenched until we see full liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea," the speaker vowed, calling on students to join their cause. "We have a moral obligation to carry on the legacy of our noble people, our steadfast prisoners, and our honorable martyrs."

The video is set to a song that praises former Hamas commander Mohammed Deif his "stars illuminate our sky," according to a translation provided to the Washington Free Beacon. It also says an Israeli checkpoint officer’s "blood is permitted, all his blood is kosher."

The recruitment effort suggests the SJP chapter will again play a prominent role in driving unrest on campus following its suspension last semester, which came after police raided the home of two of its leaders, Jena and Noor Chanaa, as part of an investigation into SJP's role in defacing George Mason's student center with messages of "intifada" last September. Officers found guns, scores of ammunition, signs that read "death to Jews" and "death to America," and Hamas and Hezbollah flags, the Free Beacon reported.

In the video, which marked the group's first Instagram post since the raid, the speaker said the suspension was part of a nationwide effort "to douse the flame of the student movement for Palestinian liberation."

"In November 2024, SJP at Mason was unjustly suspended without due cause or process following the raid of our two comrades’ home by Mason PD," the speaker said. "We are all too aware of the tactics that the Israeli occupation uses and the ways in which they manifest in the belly of the beast."

"Despite these attempts to strike fear in our hearts, our allegiance to achieving Palestinian liberation and echoing the calls of our people have not wavered," the speaker continued. "The movement for a free Palestine is a steadfast conviction, a value that no force can silence."

According to George Mason’s Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine chapter, SJP is eligible to reapply for recognition as a student organization for the fall semester.


Censored Tweet:
Up pops David Miller, the ultra racist and Iranian regime propagandist, to ask about British "Zionists", his favourite topic. How do we "escalate"?



Seth Frantzman: US diplomats in Israel, Lebanon push for action on Hezbollah disarmament
US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack and Deputy Special Envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived in Israel on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Monday, Lebanese media reported that Ortagus had arrived in Lebanon.

The regional trip is important because it comes as Lebanon’s government has said it is trying to disarm various groups. At the top of the list of groups that need to be disarmed in Lebanon is Hezbollah.

This is seen as a huge challenge, however, and Beirut has preferred low-hanging fruit. Beirut has tried to disarm Palestinian groups first. Hezbollah has hinted at civil war if the government tries to take its arms.

Pressure may be building on Lebanon now. In the wake of Barrack and Ortagus visiting Israel, Beirut may feel that the US increasingly wants progress in its serious desire to see real action.

London-based The Arab Weekly characterized Ortagus’s return to the scene in Lebanon as important. She has the background that matters, it reported.

“That knowledge is precisely why her return matters,” the report said. “Lebanese leaders thrive on ambiguity, on exhausting new envoys with a maze of committees, statements and staged ‘dialogue.’ Ortagus is not new to this. She has already rattled the system once, and her reappearance signals she is ready to do so again, this time with Barrack as the public face and herself as the watchful enforcer.”
Iranian official claims Israel assassinated then-president Ebrahim Raisi as a warning to regime
Mohammad Sadr, a member of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, alleged that Israel played a role in assassinating then-president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May 2024, along with then-foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others, in an interview with "Synergy" on Sunday evening.

"Synergy" is hosted by Mohammed Hossein Ranjbaran, who is a producer at the state-run outlet Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). He also serves as an advisor to the foreign minister, according to Iran International.

"From the very first moment I said this was an assassination...carried out by Israel," Sadr said, according to Saudi-owned outlet al-Arabiya.

He emphasized that the claim is a "personal analysis," and not based on any documents or evidence, according to London-based dissident outlet Iran International.

Several sources, including the interviewer, have cited that Iran's military chiefs assessed that Israel was not involved in the helicopter crash, and have repeatedly denied any links to an assassination attempt. Anti-Israel activists at the time also alleged Israeli responsibility for the incident.

BBC's Persian-language channel added that Sadr said Israel's alleged assassination of Raisi was intended to send a message that "if Iran continues, we [Israel] will continue as well," insinuating that Israel assassinated Raisi in order to prevent Iran's military build-up, support of Iran-backed terror groups across the Middle East, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and to stop Iran seeking nuclear weapons.

"Because I knew, through my contacts with Hezbollah in Lebanon, that one of the ways Hezbollah and Israel exchange messages is through the operational field; that is, through carrying out operations so that the other side understands the message," Sadr was cited as saying by Iran International.


Suspect arrested over antisemitic graffiti at Melbourne shul
Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit detectives have charged a man with more than 20 offenses in connection with a series of antisemitic attacks on a synagogue in South Yarra throughout the year, Victoria Police said on Monday.

The 37-year-old was arrested at his South Yarra home after detectives executed a search warrant, with investigators confiscating items at the residence allegedly related to the attacks. He was charged with six counts of criminal damage, six counts of mark offensive graffiti, five counts of using an unregistered motor vehicle, five counts of unlicensed driving and one count of failing to stop on police direction.

He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on Nov. 21.

The attacks took place at the Modern Orthodox-affiliated Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, aka Toorak Shule. Formed in 1841, it is listed as the oldest Jewish congregation in Melbourne, moving to its current location in 1930. The incidents took place on March 11, June 21, June 22, July 22, July 30 and Aug. 19.

In July, CCTV footage captured the alleged offender riding a black e-scooter and wearing a mask from the movie “Scream.” All of the incidents were caught on camera, with the suspect arriving at the synagogue each time riding the scooter, and wearing the mask twice.

The Australian Jewish Association posted a picture on Facebook of the June 22 incident, showing graffiti that read: “Free Palestine” and “Iran is da bomb.”

The arrest comes amid a spike in antisemitic attacks in Australia since the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Twenty people escaped without injury when the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation was hit by arson on July 4. A suspect was arrested in connection with that attack.


Nazi-looted painting spotted in Argentine real estate ad
A late-Baroque portrait stolen from a Jewish arts dealer in Europe by the Nazis during World War II has surfaced in Argentina, having been featured in an online real-estate ad, a Dutch newspaper reported on Monday.

“Portrait of a Lady” by Vittore Ghislandi, an Italian painter who died in 1743, belonged to the Dutch Jewish collector Jacques Goudstikker.

In 2006, government-commissioned investigators determined that hundreds of artworks from his massive collection had been seized or bought under duress by the Nazis and were therefore looted. More than 200 of them were restituted in the early 2000s, but many remained missing.

In recent weeks, “Portrait of a Lady” was seen on a real estate listing in Argentina, where it casually appeared as part of the asset’s interior decoration, the AD newspaper reported. The paper’s research into how the painting got there led to Friedrich Kadgien, who had served as top Nazi official Hermann Göring’s financial adviser. Kadgien fled to Argentina after World War II and died there.

The house advertised in the listing belongs to one of his daughters, according to AD. She told the paper she did not know what painting they meant and then said she was too busy to answer their queries, according to AD. Two experts told the paper they believed the painting was authentic, fit the known dimensions for the artwork and that there would be little incentive to forge the painting.

Similar artworks by Ghislandi have fetched only several thousand dollars, and some even less, at auction in recent years.

An heir of Jaques Goudstikker, Marei von Saher, told AD she planned to file a claim and launch legal action to have the painting restored to her family.


Censored tweet: Have you ever heard of the Israeli bandage?
It was invented in 1998 by IDF medic Bernard Bar‑Natan, who found that traditional bandages weren’t fast or effective enough to stop heavy bleeding, the leading preventable cause of death for non-fatally wounded people.

So, he created the Israeli bandage, which can be applied one-handed by a single person to put pressure on wounds without extra gauze or pads, something conventional bandages couldn’t do.


Kosha Dillz -!Aljewzeera (Al Jazeera Diss)
Made this song in 2024 but it seems to be relevant every day. We shot the video in the bombed area of Tel Aviv . We worked with Egyptian, Ethiopian and Yemenite Jews, who spoke Arabic. One of the actors was a Nova Festival Survivor . The cast was as diverse as can be.

There are many actors in the media of propaganda - so this is what I dedicate to them all. And yes…the ham#s gear was real .

If this is provocative to you…good.!

Feel free to ask me about my family and friends who lost their apartments to Missle strikes




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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 

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