Jonathan Tobin: Yes, the whole world is wrong about Israel
We’ve been here before, observing other examples of when journalistic groupthink in the mainstream media creates false narratives.Seth Mandel: Iranian Terror in Australia Clarifies the Stakes
In September 2000, at the start of the Second Intifada—the Palestinian Arab terrorist war of attrition that answered Israeli and American offers of statehood—another atrocity story became emblematic of how false reporting can influence world opinion. The television channel France 2 broadcast edited footage claiming to show that a 12-year-old boy, Mohammed al-Durrah, was shot dead by Israeli forces while clinging to his father. The claim set off a global tsunami of anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations, as well as providing an alleged justification for more acts of murderous Palestinian terrorism.
Yet, as subsequent investigations showed and documented in Richard Landes’ 2022 book, Can The Whole World Be Wrong?, the incident was staged by the Palestinians in a classic “Pallywood” information operation that made it clear the allegation was a hoax. Nevertheless, the mainstream media acted as stenographers for Israel’s foes in much the same way they now do for Hamas’s claims about civilian casualty statistics, starvation and other supposed Israeli misconduct.
Nor is this mentality limited to anti-Israel media bias. Journalistic groupthink, motivated by partisanship or ideology, can have the same impact on other issues.
It happened when some of these same outlets that now defame Israel about Gaza were insisting in 2017 and 2018 that there was credible evidence that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election, though the American public now knows that the charge was a lie debunked by the FBI even before the smear was made public. No one at the Times or The Washington Post has subsequently given back the Pulitzer Prizes they got for those misleading, if not downright erroneous, stories. But in the first years of Trump’s first term, even those who were inclined to support him figured there had to be some truth to the claims if so many journalists all agreed they were true.
The current campaign of disinformation is just as dishonest. But when you consider that its impact is to empower antisemites on both the left and the far right, and to create an atmosphere in which Jews are increasingly at risk, the consequences are not merely an unfairly hobbled administration but a wave of violent Jew-hatred.
Battling untruths is difficult for those who are engaged in the business of public discourse and journalism. How much more challenging is it for ordinary people and college students to stand up against the tide of invective and to defend the justice of a war to eradicate the terrorists for the sake of both Israelis and Palestinians?
It may take more courage than many individuals possess to correctly identify the corporate media’s conventional wisdom about Israel as blood libels that have led to the mainstreaming of antisemitism. Nevertheless, we must remind ourselves and others that just because what seems like the whole world is ready to buy into a lie, that doesn’t make falsehoods true. And just because questioning conventional wisdom that emanates from Hamas propaganda is being labeled as no different from “Holocaust denial” by journalists who pose as truth-tellers, that shouldn’t deter us from pointing out that their narratives are at odds with facts about the war in Gaza.
Though you wouldn’t know it if all you read is the Times and similar outlets, the world is lying about Israel—and those who defend it are not.
Late last night (in DC time, anyway), Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a rather remarkable press conference. Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, had been digging into a spate of anti-Semitic attacks since Oct. 7, 2023. Albanese announced that the agency “has gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion—that the Iranian Government directed at least two of these attacks,” including one on a synagogue in Melbourne.
Albanese continued:
“ASIO assesses it is likely Iran directed further attacks as well. These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. … A short time ago we informed the Iranian Ambassador to Australia that he would be expelled. We have suspended operations at our embassy in Tehran, and all our diplomats are now safe in a third country. I can also announce the Government will legislate to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a terrorist organization.”Iran is waging a war on the West - Australian antisemitism is the latest front On July 31, the US, UK, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden issued a joint statement condemning growing attempts by Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials.
It is no secret that Albanese has received much deserved scorn lately for his handling of Australia’s relations with Israel and its role in the current conflict. The premier at first signaled that he would proceed with caution on the matter of whether to recognize a Palestinian state. But he threw that caution to the wind once all his friends started joining that particular club.
The pleas of Australia’s Jews fell on deaf ears. Albanese seemed suddenly unconcerned with anti-Semitism and the government’s responsibility to confront it. Upon Israel’s objections to this indifference, Albanese’s government got prickly. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Albanese as weak-willed, and Albanese’s home affairs minister shot back that Israel measures strength “by how many people you can blow up.”
The row left Australia’s Jewish community even more on-edge. Yet it clearly left the government looking for a way to prove itself tougher in the face of terror and foreign manipulation. The discovery of Iran’s directing attacks on the Australian homeland was just such a chance. And Albanese didn’t fumble it.
Indeed, moving to outlaw the IRGC is a substantial-enough response. One can argue that it should have already been done, but here we are. As for the diplomatic penalties levied on the Islamic Republic, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who joined Albanese at the presser, explained that this was “the first time in the post-war period that Australia has expelled an ambassador.”
Might, dare one hope, this stiffened Australian spine influence other Western leaders the way those leaders’ weakness influenced Australia? At the risk of courting disappointment, it’s worth considering what France in particular can learn from this series of events.
The US Justice Department alleged in November that IRGC asset Farhad Shakeri had used the criminal associations he developed in prison to plan the murder of US President Donald Trump and Iranian-American human rights activist Masih Alinejad.
Shakeri was also tasked by the IRGC with the surveillance and murder of two Jewish businesspeople and was asked to plan a mass shooting attack on Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.
Brooklyn resident Carlisle Rivera and Staten Island resident Jonathon Loadholt were contracted by Shakeri to stalk and murder Alinejad.
Iran has repeatedly targeted Alinejad, including an alleged 2022 attempt in which an Eastern European crime syndicate was contracted to murder her.
The US Justice Department said in March that Georgian citizen Polad Omarov and Iranian citizen Rafat Amirov were paid $500,000 for the assassination and that they subcontracted fellow criminal organization member Khalid Mehdiyev to commit the deed. Mehdiyev was arrested before the attack due to a traffic violation.
Last May, the Swedish Security Service alleged that the Islamic Republic had been using criminal networks in the country to target its enemies. This included dissidents from the Iranian diaspora, Israelis, and Jews.
“Iran has earlier carried out acts of violence in other European countries to silence criticism and what it regards as threats to its regime,” it said in a statement.
“In order to carry out these security-threatening activities, the Iranian regime has sometimes made use of criminal networks,” it added.
One such incident in Europe may have been the attempted assassination of Spanish Vox party founder Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca in November 2023, Reuters reported.
Eight people were charged in July for trying to kill Vidal-Quadras. Unknown individuals committed the assault on behalf of a criminal organization seeking revenge for the politician’s support of Iranian opposition groups.
Further, the UK Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament warned in July that Iran had made 15 attempts to kill or abduct Jewish citizens and residents in the country since 2022.
In a threat assessment given by the Counter Terrorism Operations Centre in London in October 2024, MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum said that the Islamic Republic was making extensive use of criminals, “from international drug traffickers to low-level crooks,” to target British citizens and residents. McCallum said security forces had foiled 20 Iranian-backed plots.
Case in point, in May, five men were arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. Four of them were Iranian nationals. Three more Iranian citizens were arrested in a counterterrorism operation the day after. The Telegraph reported that a plot had been set against the Israeli embassy in the UK.
Iran has been using criminal elements as proxies and directing attacks in other countries for years, with Australia becoming only the latest example of this.
ASIO said that it was likely that other attacks were conducted at Iran’s behest, hinting that it remains to be seen how many of the country’s antisemitic attacks were at the Islamic Regime’s orders.
The rise in antisemitic incidents across the world raises the question of how many other countries may have been victims of Iranian-backed plots.
Whether the West wishes to recognize this or not, Iran is already at war with it, using its criminal proxies to strike within sovereign borders and then cover itself in thinly veiled deniability.
Australia Expels Iranian Ambassador, Citing 'Credible Intelligence' That Shows Tehran Was Behind Anti-Semitic Attacks in Sydney and Melbourne
Australia on Tuesday expelled Iran's ambassador, closed its embassy in Tehran, and announced plans to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, accusing the Islamic Republic of orchestrating at least two major anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish sites in Sydney and Melbourne.Australia Expels Iranian Ambassador after Iran Found to Direct Local Antisemitic Attacks
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said in a press release that his country's domestic spy agency had "credible intelligence" that Iran was behind the Oct. 20, 2024, attack on a kosher deli in Sydney and the Dec. 6, 2024, attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne. The two arson attacks caused significant property damage and made international headlines at the time.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization since 2019, orchestrated the attacks through "a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement," according to Australian Security Intelligence Organisation chief Mike Burgess, who said the corps was likely involved in other attacks.
Anti-Semitic attacks have surged in Australia since Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. A 2024 report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry found that anti-Semitic acts in the country have increased by 316 percent between October 2023 to September 2024, with more than 2,000 incidents recorded.
The Iranian government has long drawn scrutiny for backing anti-Semitism abroad, including in the United States. Last July, then-director of national intelligence Avril Haines assessed that the Islamic Republic was organizing and paying anti-Israel protesters in the United States to sow division ahead of the 2024 election. Months earlier, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei openly praised the anti-Israel student protesters as "a branch of the Resistance Front."
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday: "Since the terrible events of October 7, 2023, we have witnessed a number of appalling antisemitic attacks against Australia's Jewish community.... Credible intelligence has now been gathered to reach the deeply disturbing conclusion that the Iranian Government has directed at least two of these attacks."
"ASIO [the Australian Security Intelligence Organization] assesses it was behind the attacks on Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney on Oct. 20, 2024, and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on Dec. 6, 2024. ASIO assesses it is likely Iran directed further attacks as well."
"These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. This is an attack on our society, aimed at creating fear, stoking internal divisions and eroding social cohesion. These attacks on our society are totally unacceptable."
"In response, we have informed the Iranian ambassador to Australia he and three additional Iranian diplomats will be expelled. We have suspended operations at our embassy in Tehran and all our diplomats are now safe in a third country. The Government will legislate so we can list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - the IRGC - as a terrorist organization."
— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) August 26, 2025
Australia's expulsion of Iran's envoy: Overdue, but a promising step to protect Australian Jews
Give credit where it is due. Expelling an ambassador and pursuing an IRGC listing are meaningful tools, provided that there is follow-through. That means charging proxies and facilitators to the fullest extent of the law, tightening protection for synagogues, schools, and kosher businesses, funding security upgrades where they are needed, and coordinating with tech platforms and state authorities to disrupt the online radicalization that feeds real-world violence.Was Mossad involved in getting Iran booted out of Australia?
The message must be clear. Foreign regimes and their hirelings will not treat Australia’s Jewish community as a soft target.
A small, human note is in order. For Australian Jews who have endured a year of threats, vandalism, and the awful fear that comes with sending a child to a visibly Jewish school, this decision allows a brief exhale. Not a celebration, just a relief.
Policy cannot erase what happened. It can make the next attack less likely. You are our brothers and sisters; we pray with you and hope this wave of hate will pass soon.
This is also a chance to steady a relationship that has frayed. Policy shifts in Canberra rattled many here and in the Diaspora. If the government now backs these expulsions with the promised IRGC designation, solid police work, and consistent public clarity, trust can be rebuilt. More importantly, deterrence will be restored. Keep going.
Was Iranian involvement in antisemitic attacks in Australia – which led to the closing of the Iranian Embassy there – revealed to the Australian authorities by the Mossad and other members of Israeli intelligence?
So far, Israel has been mum about its potential involvement, but there is a clear track record.
In 2017, Australia thwarted two Lebanese-Australian brothers from blowing up an Etihad Airways flight traveling from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.
Later, in 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited Israel’s intelligence agencies with preventing the potential “unimaginable slaughter.”
Then in 2019, Netanyahu disclosed that the Israeli intelligence that broke the case was obtained through cyber tools.
Netanyahu added that while he could not give specifics, the audience could “multiply by about 50” the Sydney airline terrorist plot, and that would be the number of terrorist plots worldwide (mostly by ISIS) that Israel had helped to prevent, at the time, thanks to its cyber intelligence powers.
Both the Mossad and IDF Unit 8200 utilize offensive cyber tools at times.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said Israel was “directly” involved in uncovering the alleged plot.
“The Etihad flight was almost blown out of the sky and would have resulted in hundreds of people losing their lives, so we are very grateful for the assistance Israel provided in that matter,” Dutton told local radio station 2GB.
Bravo to Senator Claire Chandler for chairing the Senate inquiry which recommended in Feb. 2023 that the IRGC be listed as a terrorist organisation, and for calling with her colleagues in Oct. 2024 to expel the Iranian Ambassador.@SenatorClaire: “Today's revelations from ASIO… pic.twitter.com/Xdb1DPXC1c
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 26, 2025
‘People could have been killed’: Coalition lashes Labor’s antisemitism ‘inaction’ amid shocking Iran revelations
Senior Coalition figures have savaged the Albanese government for failing to list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation two years ago after it was revealed on Tuesday Iran had coordinated two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese moved to expel Iran's ambassador and close Australia’s embassy in Tehran after he confirmed the Iranian government was involved in directing at least two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil.
ASIO has traced both the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 6 and the attack on Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 20 back to Iran.
Australian officials have been evacuated from the embassy in Tehran and diplomatic operations suspended with the government also vowing to table legislation to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation.
The Albanese government went ‘kicking and screaming’ to list IRGC as terrorist organisation
Shadow Attorney General and Jewish Australian Julian Leeser said the Prime Minister “never ever takes a proactive approach” to national security or the antisemitism crisis and said he was “sick to death” of the “government’s inaction.”
“I am absolutely furious about what we found out today, the idea that a criminal regime like Iran has been attacking Australians on Australian soil and two and a half years ago we called on the government, I called on the government as the Shadow Attorney General at the time, to list the IRCG as a terrorist organisation,” he told Sky News host Steve Price.
“I represent the fourth largest Persian community in the country and Persian Australians are a law-abiding people and have been telling me of their fear of the IRGC, it's why I first raised these issues – the IRGC operatives and people from the embassy had been going to community functions."
Mr Leeser said the revelations that Iran had organised attacks against Jewish targets on Australian soil were “such a serious matter” and that it was the “tip of the iceberg.”
“This is such a serious matter, people could have been killed here and what’s the price of the government’s inaction? We’ve seen a synagogue firebombed and a community terrorised,” he lamented.
Albanese government accused of never taking a ‘proactive approach’ for national security
“This government has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to keep Australians safe, they never ever take a proactive approach when it comes to our national security and I’m sick to death of it.
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) August 26, 2025
Why didn't the Albanese Government listen in 2022 and 2023 when AHA called to ban the IRGC and expel the Iranian ambassador?
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) August 26, 2025
Were they so focused on hating Israel that they were asleep at the wheel? https://t.co/ZeU0wwHlCm
Kylie Moore-Gilbert: When I was jailed in Iran, the interrogator showed me a list of Australian sites and began asking questions
In a dimly lit basement interrogation facility sometime in 2020, a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a surgical mask approached me with a list of addresses, typed in English on a sheet of A4 paper.
This man was familiar – I’d glimpsed his face during an earlier session – he was one of the interrogators from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps intelligence branch, a much-feared group which at this point had detained me for more than a year in a special unit within Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian academic who was jailed in Iran for more than two years.
Typed on the piece of paper were the names and addresses of a number of synagogues and Jewish organisations in my home city of Melbourne, including in suburbs such as Caulfield and Doncaster. He wanted to know if I’d visited any of them, and if so, what was inside.
By this time I had no interest in co-operating with my captors, who had sentenced me to 10 years in prison on ludicrous charges of espionage and were attempting to blackmail me into working for them. I told them where they could shove their list of Australian Jewish intelligence targets.
Many months later and under vastly different circumstances, I was able to report this exchange to the ASIO agents who interviewed me following the prisoner-swap deal that ultimately secured my return to Australia.
Those of us who have kept a close eye on the Iranian regime are not surprised by the Australian government’s revelation that the Revolutionary Guard was involved in a wave of antisemitic attacks against Australian Jewish organisations, businesses and places of worship since the horrific events of October 7, 2023.
Numerous examples of similar incidents have taken place overseas, including in the US and UK, where the regime has a history of contracting organised crime syndicates, often paid in cryptocurrency, to target dissident journalists, anti-regime protesters and Israeli government interests.
As soon as it became clear that the antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne – including the so-called Dural caravan plot, the attack on the doors of the East Melbourne Synagogue and attacks on Jewish businesses in Sydney – involved individuals with criminal connections who had no known interest in the Jewish community, many of us began to suspect that the Iranian regime was repeating a known pattern of behaviour here in Australia.
My interview with @abcnews PM program on Australia's decision to kick out the Iranian ambassador and, finally, to proscribe the IRGC as a terror organisation https://t.co/yCAJRl3Jt7
— Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert (@KMooreGilbert) August 26, 2025
Australia has called a spade a spade, rightfully expelling the Islamic Republic's ambassador and labeling the IRGC a terrorist organization for its vile attacks against the Jewish community.
— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) August 26, 2025
The UK, France, Germany, and the EU should seize this moment and follow Australia.…
Sharri Markson reacts to ‘bombshell’ revelations behind antisemitic attacks in Australia
Sky News host Sharri Markson discusses the “bombshell news” that Iran is behind two major antisemitic attacks in Australia – the fire-bombings of a Melbourne synagogue and a Sydney Jewish deli.
“The attacks on the Adass Israel Synagogue and the Lewis Continental Kitchen shook the Australian Jewish community, sparking fear and anxiety,” Ms Markson said.
“Yet some sections of the media, police, and even politicians gaslit Australians, absurdly claiming the antisemitism crisis was a hoax and that there was no evidence hatred of Jews was the motivation for these attacks – that was utterly wrong.
“Australia's intelligence agencies told the Federal government just yesterday that Iran was ultimately behind these violent terror attacks.
“In the face of these chilling developments, the Albanese government had no option but to act today – listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation – despite refusing to do so for more than two years.”
‘Quite distressing’: Jewish community reacts to Iran being behind antisemitic attacks
Adass Israel Synagogue Board Member Benjamin Klein reacts to confirmation that Iran was behind the antisemitic attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue.
The Iranian ambassador to Australia has been expelled after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the nation.
“Quite distressing … traumatic … upsetting for the whole community,” Mr Klein told Sky News host Sharri Markson.
‘Taken a while’: Albanese government ‘finally acting’ on Iranian threat
Strategic Analysis Australia Director Michael Shoebridge has commended the Albanese government for finally acting against Iran – despite them having “taken a while” to do so.
Australia has expelled Iran's ambassador and closed its embassy in Tehran after confirming the Iranian government's involvement in antisemitic attacks on Australian soil.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday confirmed that Australian intelligence agencies had linked the Iranian government to attacks on Jewish institutions last year.
For decades, the Iranian regime has posed a threat to Israelis and Jewish communities around the world.
— Israel in Australia (@IsraelinOZ) August 26, 2025
Today, it became clear that this threat has reached Australian soil.
The international community can no longer be complacent. Australia has taken a principled stand, others… https://t.co/WOBBF2p5u5
He didn't even write a caption for this video, acknowledging Iranian regime terrorism.
— Daniel (@VoteLewko) August 26, 2025
Israel has been at the forefront of dismantling the Iranian Regime terror regime, which we knew was targeting Australians. Just as Israeli intelligence has saved hundreds if not thousands of… https://t.co/YoIavs2ayx
New Zealand is gravely concerned to learn of Australia’s announcement on Iran’s role in antisemitic attacks against the Australian Jewish community.
— Winston Peters (@NewZealandMFA) August 26, 2025
New Zealand unequivocally condemns Iran’s actions, including through proxies, in Gaza, the Red Sea and around the Middle East…
🤡The Iranian terror regime actively targets Jews around the world.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) August 26, 2025
🚨Just last month, the US, Canada, and many European partners warned about Iranian state threats targeting journalists, dissidents, officials, and Jews. https://t.co/l6U9CAAo7F
Labor's Ed Husic along with NSW Labor's representative to the Antisemitsm hearing, Stephen Lawrence march under a picture of Iran's Ayatollah just weeks before a major Iranian terrorist campaign against Australia's Jews was exposed.
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) August 26, 2025
Also pictured is the mayor of Sydney Clover… pic.twitter.com/AkelPPS7r0
The irony of @bobjcarr of accusing the Jewish community of ‘foreign interference’ - classic antisemtiic trope just days before the real foreign interference of Iran is exposed - targeting not just the Australian Jewish community but the Australian way of life. @bobjcarr is on… https://t.co/gnHHPDxrme
— Jeremy Leibler (@jeremyleibler) August 26, 2025
Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr posing with the Iranian ambassador and marching ahead of a Khamenei portrait
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) August 26, 2025
Big questions to answer @bobjcarr now that the Australian government have linked Iran to firebombing attacks against Jews in Australia. pic.twitter.com/VcwsOeFFZs
Australian leftists immediately defending the Iranian regime firebombing attacks against Jews in Australia
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) August 26, 2025
They are ahistorical morons so know nothing about the Iranian backed AMIA bombing in Beunos Aires which killed 85 Jewish civilians
They have a history targeting the… https://t.co/4If6yvP350
The Real Reason Jews Are Hated
"Jewish people brought morality to the world thousands of years ago, and some people are still mad about it." — Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, ynetnews.com, January 27, 2024.WaPo Editorial: Empty Gestures Set Back the Cause of Palestinian Statehood
Even trying to conduct the most moral war in history, and sending humanitarian aid to the Gazans trying to kill them, all of Israel's enemies consider themselves free of such constraints. (Someone asked if the British had ever sent aid to Germany in WWII.)
"Israel Has Created a New Standard for Urban Warfare. Why Will No One Admit It?" — John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Newsweek, March 25, 2024.
"The Jews represent everything the enemies of American civilization seek to destroy: the moral code of the Hebrew Bible, which the anti-Jews seek to replace with woke secularism or radical Islam." — Eric Cohen, editor-at-large of The New Atlantis, Mosaic, May 2024.
"Palestinians are not about creating a state; they're about destroying a state" — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, August 10, 2025.
Israel and the Jews are fighting to save Western Civilization -- for us. If we would let them.
On a symbolic level, Palestinians' dream of an independent state has never appeared closer. At the UN General Assembly in September, Britain, France, Canada and Australia plan to join 147 other countries in recognizing one.
But on the level that matters - the ground truth - rarely has the goal of Palestinian statehood seemed more distant. After nearly two years of war against Hamas in Gaza - sparked after the terrorist group killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 people hostage - the vast majority of Israelis, 71%, oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, compared to roughly half a decade ago.
Recognizing a state now comes at the wrong time. It actually sets back efforts to find a lasting peace. The establishment of a Palestinian state was always envisioned as the end goal of a process in which Israelis agree to swap conquered land for a guaranteed peace. But at the core, the future Palestinian state must recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence and terrorism.
That means removing from any government role groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whose calling cards are the elimination of the Jewish state. It means erasing from the education of young Palestinians in schools and mosques that insidious hatred of Israel and the Jewish people.
Palestinians already have a symbolic de facto state. They have their own passports, and their athletes compete in international sporting events, including the Olympics, under the Palestinian flag. Making the state a reality, if it ever happens, will take much more than symbolic recognition.
It will require the eradication of Hamas, ironclad security guarantees for Israel, and internationally agreed upon borders. All that can only possibly come through painstaking negotiations that win buy in from Israelis and Palestinians.
Seth Mandel: DNC Civil War Over Israel Takes An Odd Turn
If ever there were a moment that foretold the Democratic Party’s current alienation from Israel, it was the 2012 Democratic National Convention. It was there that the party preparing to renominate President Obama produced a previously unthinkable scene: delegates loudly booed as references to God and Jerusalem were added to the party platform.The DNC Passed a Resolution Calling for ‘Unrestricted’ Aid to Gaza and a Two-State Solution. The Party’s Chairman Pulled It After Anti-Israel Dems Complained That It Didn’t Go Far Enough.
Initially, the party’s platform had dropped “God” and excised recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (both of which had been included in 2008). When word got out, and the bad press started, Obama told his party to restore them, lest his nominating convention be overshadowed by headlines containing the word “godless.”
Whatever Obama’s personal feelings about Jerusalem and God, the intraparty fight was a result of his elevation as the party’s standard-bearer because his apathy toward Israel convinced anti-Zionist activists on the left that they had an opening to challenge the party’s professed pro-Israel stances. As our Abe Greenwald wrote at the time: “Today, America got an unvarnished look at the Democratic Party’s internal conflict on Israel. Half of the Party represents the pro-Israel consensus in America. The other half? Not so much. For all the talk about the unrecognizably extreme new Republican Party, it’s the Democrats whose fringe has quietly made deep inroads into the center—especially when it concerns Israel—and fundamentally altered the nature of the Party.”
Here we are 13 years later, and this fight has been out in the open for some time now. Today in Minneapolis, the DNC’s resolutions committee waded into the issue again, and again accomplished nothing more than giving party chairman Ken Martin a headache. From Politico:
“Democrats had appeared headed for a showdown on Tuesday as the DNC’s resolutions committee considered the competing resolutions, one of which called for a military arms embargo and suspension of military aid to Israel.
“The committee initially voted to reject that measure while advancing the one backed by Martin, which called for ‘unrestricted’ aid to Gaza and a two-state solution. But soon after the arms embargo vote failed, Martin announced he was withdrawing his successful resolution, after speaking briefly with the backers of the vote on the sidelines of the meeting.”
So there were two resolutions: one less-politely critical of Israel than the other. The chair himself—presumably speaking for the party big shots—backed the more moderate one. He succeeded in having his preferred resolution passed instead of the more radical one, so he… pulled his successful resolution?
A Democratic National Committee meeting on Tuesday devolved into an anti-Israel slugfest, leading its chairman, Ken Martin, to pull a resolution many party members believed was not harsh enough on the Jewish state. Instead, Martin invited the anti-Israel members to join a committee to reevaluate the party’s position on Israel.100-plus Congress members demand US facilitate ‘massive surge’ in Gaza aid
The Martin-backed resolution, which the DNC initially approved, called for "unrestricted" aid to Gaza and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, language that moderate Democrats have long used. An alternate resolution championed by the party’s anti-Israel wing went significantly further, calling for a full-scale arms embargo on Israel, the suspension of American military aid, and recognition of "Palestine as a country."
DNC members initially adopted the more moderate version in an uncounted voice vote, but Martin ultimately pulled both from consideration after the party’s anti-Israel members revolted. Semafor reporter Dave Weigel captured Martin during a private discussion "with the alternative Gaza resolution sponsors" before he canceled the vote.
"There’s a divide in our party on this issue," Politico quoted Martin as having said. "This is a moment that calls for shared dialogue, calls for shared advocacy."
After abandoning his own moderate proposal, Martin pledged to assemble a DNC committee "comprised of stakeholders on all sides of this" that will "continue to have the conversation, to work through this, and bring solutions back to our party."
The tumult during the meeting reflects the Democratic Party’s growing divide on Israel in the nearly two years since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against the Jewish state. The terrorist organization's massacres ignited a flurry of violent protests, primarily involving the party’s progressive base. Anti-Israel Democrats formed an "uncommitted" delegation during the 2024 election, protesting the party’s convention over its failure to grant a speaking slot to a Georgia state representative with a history of pro-Hamas rhetoric.
Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member who spearheaded the arms embargo resolution, told the Nation in an interview published Tuesday that her efforts represent the will of the Democratic Party.
"I think it starts by acknowledging that this issue is not just something brought forward by me alone," said Minnerly, who works with the Florida-based Youth Action Fund. "It’s a conversation that is had by voters across the country right now, where we see that only 7 percent of Democrats support the Democratic Party’s current position [on Israel’s military action in Gaza] as of polling last week."
The United States and Israel must facilitate a “massive surge” in humanitarian aid—particularly infant formula—into Gaza, more than 100 members of Congress wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday.
The countries “have a moral obligation to address the dire conditions that threaten the lives of Palestinian families,” the letter states, requesting that Rubio respond by Sept. 1.
“No child should face the desperation and suffering we are witnessing in Gaza in real time, and our hearts break for the children killed in Israel and Gaza,” the legislators wrote. “We must use our leverage to ensure the most vulnerable are protected, and we implore you to take these steps to save innocent lives.”
The letter cites reports of mass starvation in Gaza and emphasizes that malnutrition impacts mothers’ ability to breastfeed, “rendering formula the only option for infant survival in many cases.”
The letter also criticizes the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, claiming that GHF aid packages do not include baby formula and that the organization has delivered “only a tiny fraction of the aid that could be delivered by the previous U.N.-coordinated distribution system.” (The United Nations published data in August showing that 88.7% of Gaza aid trucks collected by the U.N. were intercepted before reaching their destination).
All seven members of the Democratic “squad” in Congress, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), signed onto the letter, as did Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is Jewish.
I have no doubt that Ro Khanna *wants* peace. He has offered a recipe, instead, for permanent war.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) August 26, 2025
Rich Lowry: Should We Have Allied with Hitler?
Yes, of course, the Soviet Union was a monstrous regime that repressed a swath of Europe for decades, and it would have been better if hadn’t existed or had been beaten back earlier at some acceptable moral and geopolitical cost, but reality imposes unwelcome choices on statesmen all the time, and the sequencing of our grand strategy — first, defeat the Nazis, then, outlast the Soviets — was the correct one.
Collum throws out some other jaw-dropping idiocies as asides. He says that General George Patton agreed that we should ally with the Nazis against the Soviets. No, Patton wanted to go after the Soviets after defeating the Nazis.
Collum says that we abandoned 20,000 of our POWs in the Soviet Union after World War II, which is rank nonsense. (Check out this extensive report on the disposition of American POWs after the war, beginning on page 28.)
He maintains that the U.S. allying with the Nazis might have prevented the Holocaust, never mind that German forces were slaughtering Jews as early as the invasion of Poland.
And, inevitably, he declares that we knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor beforehand, and since it is a witless conspiracy theory, inevitably, Carlson agrees.
The idea here is that FDR was so desperate to get into the war that he maneuvered us into suffering one of the worst attacks in our history. We certainly knew that a Japanese strike somewhere, perhaps including U.S. bases in the Philippines, was probably imminent, but we didn’t know it would be at Pearl Harbor — that was unexpected, hence the surprise.
If we had known that the Japanese fleet was steaming toward Hawaii, surely we could have intercepted it somewhere at sea, and hostilities would have begun without the nearly uncontested sinking of eight U.S. battleships, the loss of 300 aircraft, and the deaths of more than 2,000 American servicemen.
But who can resist the emotional satisfaction of believing that malevolent forces are at work everywhere and that we, through doggedness, brilliant insight, and great personal courage, are onto them?
According to Carlson and his esteemed guests, those forces have misled us about the Nazis, who weren’t as bad as we’ve been told and shouldn’t have been resisted so strenuously — or, at all — by the West.
This is ignorance and perversity masquerading as brave truth-telling.
Dave Smith and Tucker Carlson: “Darryl Cooper never downplayed the antisemitism of Hitler.”
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) August 26, 2025
Darryl Cooper: “Hitler wasn’t going around and giving antisemitic addresses in public.”
Hitler: Reichstag in 1939, Hitler declares that he will annihilate the Jewish race. pic.twitter.com/HsEnPzZVH8
Candace Owens is saying the EXACT SAME things as neo-Nazis. pic.twitter.com/FGRKtzzsIf
— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) August 26, 2025
Tucker Carlson was warning about the dangers of Muslims gaining access to nuclear weapons in Russia as recently as 2022:
— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) August 26, 2025
“What are the chances that one of those nuclear weapons might wind up in the hands of someone who is truly crazy, and dangerous to us and the world?”
Up… pic.twitter.com/7gZaPoLM4K
MUST WATCH: Nikos Sotirakopoulos hated Jews until he was 28, spreading "every lie & conspiracy theory" about the Jewish people & Israel.
— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) August 26, 2025
Then, bit by bit, @Nikos_17 began to open his mind. This is a powerful account of how one man found the courage to overcome his brainwashing. pic.twitter.com/0SlQWTQGh1
New report on antisemitism at European universities shows ‘environment of hatred’
A new report on antisemitism at universities across Europe shows a “normalisation of antisemitic narratives at universities across national borders… anchored in almost all countries under the guise of anti-colonial, anti-imperialist or human rights narratives” – with the hesitance of university authorities to confront this identified as a “common feature”.With President Under Scrutiny, George Mason Reinstates Infamous SJP Chapter Months After Police Found Guns and Terrorist Paraphernalia in Leaders' Home
The report, titled “A climate of fear and exclusion”: Antisemitism at European universities, was published today, co-written by B’nai B’rith International, the German think tank Democ and the European Union of Jewish Students. It analyses the situation for Jewish students on campuses in nine different countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. Examples of techniques used by so-called “anti-Israel” groups include “threats and physical violence directed towards individual Jewish students or staff”, with multiple examples provided of Jewish students targeted or physically assaulted, “calls to violence and legitimisation of violence as appropriate protest action”, and “solidarity with Hamas and its violent massacre on October 7, 2023, portrayed as “liberation” or righteous resistance”.
In multiple countries, student groups driving the aggression and protests were linked to Palestinian terrorist organisations – Samidoun, for example, is directly connected to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – while “a recurring element is the involvement of Communist groups and party branches”. Across all the countries, the report also identified how “the prominent participation of professors in demonstrations, or their vocal support and unequivocal solidarity with the protest movement has further contributed to an environment of tension and exclusion of Jewish students.”
The report also sets out a series of recommendations for higher education institutions, including the adoption and use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, the need for a clear reporting procedure for victims of antisemitism, building trust with Jewish organisations and Jewish students, and stepping up security, including the vetting of groups allowed on campus.
In her foreword to the report, Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life, said:
“Debate, even heated disagreement, protest and other political manifestations are a part of university life. An important part. Yet protest should never veer into hatred, ostracization, discrimination and even violence.
“However, this has been the experience of many Jewish students in university spaces both in Europe and around the world. European Jewish students have at times opted to hide their identity or in some cases abandon in-person learning altogether due to the environment of hatred that has surrounded them.”
Commenting on the report, B’nai B’rith International Director of EU Affairs Alina Bricman, said: “When Jewish students fear being violently harassed on campus, when in the most prestigious European universities Jewish students might find swastikas or death threats on their personal property, when they are not allowed access to spaces and events due to their presumed Zionism—the free speech argument is a canard. The lack of action on the part of academic institutions is shameful.”
George Mason University, whose president has been in the national spotlight over race-based hiring practices that the Trump administration says violate federal civil rights law, has reinstated its Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, which it suspended last year after police found guns, ammunition, and terrorist paraphernalia at its leaders’ home.
The group teased its return in a radical recruitment video it released on Sunday, one day before fall classes kicked off at the university. Though SJP did not reveal its reinstatement in the video, its suspension terms allowed it to re-register as a student organization for the fall 2025 semester. A George Mason spokesman confirmed that SJP is now a "registered student organization."
"The student organization Students for Justice in Palestine served out its university-imposed suspension after having been found responsible for violating university policy," the spokesman John Hollis told the Washington Free Beacon. "The organization has since regained status as a registered student organization and, like all registered student organizations, is subject to all university and student conduct policies."
The group's return comes at a difficult time for George Mason, which faces an active federal probe into anti-Semitism on its campus. Should the school fail to combat anti-Semitic unrest from SJP this fall, it could bring increased federal pressure. Indeed, SJP is already causing George Mason administrators headaches—in the group's recruitment video, a speaker concealed with a keffiyeh and a voice modifier says the "spirit of resistance will not be quenched until we see full liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea" and says SJP has "a moral obligation to carry on the legacy of our noble people, our steadfast prisoners, and our honorable martyrs," the Free Beacon reported.
Hollis said George Mason is aware of the video and has referred it to Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares's office. He also said school officials will meet with SJP in an attempt to deter violations of school policy.
"The university has been made aware of the newly posted SJP video and is requesting an evaluation from the Virginia AG’s office on whether the video is protected speech," said Hollis. "University officials are meeting with the student organization to reinforce university policy and communicate a zero-tolerance enforcement approach."
SJP's recruitment video is scored with a song that praises former Hamas commander Mohammed Deif whose "stars illuminate our sky," according to a translation provided to the Free Beacon. It also says an Israeli checkpoint officer’s "blood is permitted, all his blood is kosher." The song’s producer, "Wasp nest," is a reference to the Jenin Brigades, a terrorist group coalition that includes Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
🔴 Omar Assaf, former leader of the DFLP, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. His organization praised the Oct. 7 attacks and called for escalation against Israel. pic.twitter.com/xgKHLbYGmf
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) August 26, 2025
Shaheen’s participation was kept off the conference’s official site and quietly announced on Instagram only days before the event. pic.twitter.com/cSzTZ1bCLF
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) August 26, 2025
Terrorists have no place in America. The People’s Conference for Palestine and its sponsors must be stopped. pic.twitter.com/gxzMilUREi
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) August 26, 2025
🚨 Philadelphia: CAIR-Philadelphia is now “partnering” with city schools to promote “inclusive education.”
— Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) August 26, 2025
Among its offerings?
• A 9/11 curriculum that bans teachers from using the words “Islamic terrorists” or “jihadists.”
• A workshop titled “American Jews and Political… pic.twitter.com/IkXtkgSLCT
Further information on Dr. Mirza Hassan and examples of his antisemitism can be found in the linked post ⬇️https://t.co/6JxHpVwWff
— GnasherJew®גנאשר (@GnasherJew) August 26, 2025
Vile ntisemitic posts from WNBA NY Liberty player Natasha Cloud:
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 26, 2025
- claims AIPAC controls the U.S.
- compares the Jewish right to self determination (i.e. Zionism) to the KKK
- claims Israel has been raping Palestinian women for 75 years
Cloud's behavior is abhorrent to… pic.twitter.com/AmdsazEkqY
In another post, Amar Billoo posts a Jewish Star of David to claim Jews control the government.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 26, 2025
Amar Billoo also goes out of his way to deny the atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorists on 10/7, documented by various human rights orgs.@CNM_LLP - until your roster is free… pic.twitter.com/mtGu83obyU
This was you in the week following October 7.
— Heimish Conservative (@HeimishCon) August 26, 2025
So excuse me, but WTF are you talking about?https://t.co/K8RbGMeBoo https://t.co/uEYPa1EzAD pic.twitter.com/frLPCYcJjD
Right now on @bbcnews updates - they are posting about how the journalist Mariam Dagga was 'kind and lovely'.
— David Collier (@mishtal) August 26, 2025
Kind? Lovely? Mariam Dagga publicly celebrated the murder of innocent Jews in a terrorist attack on 27 Jan 2023.
Stop whitewashing Jihadist terrorist supporters! pic.twitter.com/4tzVZY46xo
Another one - laughing as people are murdered in Tel Aviv at a bar by a terrorist... on 7 April 2022 pic.twitter.com/BfDpdMbQsU
— David Collier (@mishtal) August 26, 2025
Orla Guerin has mentioned Hamas on this account just three times since the war began. Two of the posts are critical of Israel.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) August 26, 2025
Do not trust the BBC in Middle East reporting. It is far gone now. https://t.co/YrFQD147MG pic.twitter.com/FyU1YoafqD
Bob Dylan you say. pic.twitter.com/vgKBEKFdID
— Rachel Moiselle (@RachelMoiselle) August 25, 2025
Guardian corrects caption omitting boy's cerebral palsy
Last week, we posted about a July 29 Guardian article “Famine under way in Gaza, UN-backed experts say”, in the outlet’s morning newsletter, which used a Reuters photo of an emaciated young boy in Gaza who was suffering from cerebral palsy – a disease which causes severe digestive issues and weight loss.BBC partly corrects Lebanon ‘shelling’ claim over sixteen months later
However, Guardian editors revised the Reuters caption, dishonestly erasing the child’s pre-existing condition in order to frame the photo as an example of starvation in Gaza.
We contacted the outlet’s editors, asking that they revise the caption to note – as the original Reuters caption did – the boy’s pre-existing condition.
The headline to that report has been amended and now reads “UN observers wounded by explosion in southern Lebanon”.
However, while the BBC’s footnote states that the cause of the explosion “was still being investigated” the IDF had already announced in April 2024 that it was caused by an explosive device planted by Hizballah.
While the amended version of the BBC’s report does not refer to Hizballah in the context of that explosion at all – and despite the BBC’s claim that it had “amended our report to cut out all suggestions that the wounding was caused by shelling” – it does continue to promote the inaccurate claims sourced at the time from Lebanese media.
“Lebanon’s state news agency reported that an Israeli drone strike was behind the explosion, but the Israeli military denied it was responsible. […]
Lebanon’s state run National News Agency said Israeli “enemy drones” raided the area in southern Lebanon where the observers were wounded.
Israel’s military denied this, saying in a statement: “Contrary to the reports, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] did not strike a Unifil vehicle in the area of Rmeish this morning.””
In other words, not only has that disinformation been promoted on the BBC News website for over sixteen months but even after corrections were made to parts of the report, the BBC still continues to promote the falsehood in its typical ‘he said-she said’ style.
The Bradford Labour MP Naz Shah.
— habibi (@habibi_uk) August 26, 2025
What else does she like? 2/4https://t.co/0Ep1bX2mIX pic.twitter.com/qOs1xIFo3y
IDF targets Hamas terror financing in Ramallah
The Israel Defense Forces conducted a large-scale counter-terror operation in the Samaria city of Ramallah on Tuesday targeting a money exchange business that transferred funds to Hamas terrorists.The mysterious case of how a Canadian in Dubai became ‘Miss Palestine’ — and will compete in the Miss Universe pageant
Five wanted terror suspects were arrested and hundreds of thousands of shekels identified as terror funds were seized during the morning raid, according to the military.
The purpose of the cash laundered through this currency exchange establishment was “to advance terrorist activity against the State of Israel and its civilians.”
Palestinian media reported that several people were wounded by gunfire during the operation.
“This activity joins additional activities that the IDF carries out in the Judea and Samaria area, in order to degrade the terrorist organizations’ financial infrastructure and to disrupt their capabilities to fund and advance terrorist activities against the State of Israel and its civilians,” the IDF said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated earlier this month that the IDF will remain in Samaria camps through 2025, revealing that raids have cut terror alerts in Judea and Samaria by 80%.
Nayoub first claimed the title of Miss Palestine in 2022, but says she postponed plans to go to Miss Universe after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas, according to an interview with The National, a United Arab Emirates newspaper.
“We had the Miss Palestine beauty competition and I got the title,” said Ayoub in the September 2022 interview posted to YouTube. “There hasn’t been another Miss Palestine since 2022, due to the genocide … I wanted to focus more on staying behind the scenes because the spotlight was supposed to be on the people in Palestine who are suffering, rather than me.”
Her reference to “genocide” in Gaza has caused outrage in the Israeli press. Meanwhile, some beauty queens are confused by her presence.
“What’s strange is that Miss Universe made the decision to include her,” said Adela Cojab, a New York-based Jewish activist who was a runner-up in the Miss Israel pageant this year. “Miss Universe stands for unity, peace and co-existence — and if she stands for all of those things then let’s have it.”
Cojab, who sued New York University for antisemitism in 2019, said she wants to hear Ayoub denounce extremism and the Hamas attacks against Israel that left 1,200 dead.
“I would welcome an advocate who stands against extremism and stands for the right of all people to exist,” Cojab told The Post.
Israel, which is fighting a war in Gaza, does not recognize Palestine as an independent state, nor does the US. Recently France and Canada, among other countries, said they plan to formally recognize Palestine as a state at the United Nations General Assembly next month.
The Miss Palestine Organization only registered its website in May and features elegant black and white photos of Ayoub holding a glittering crown.
A spokeswoman for the company refused to answer questions about how Ayoub’s 2022 appointment came about, saying only: “We’re currently preparing the official materials for Miss Palestine, and will share the full details in our upcoming media note once it’s ready.”
The company has already put out a call for contestants to register for a 2026 Miss Palestine competition.
Plans for a Miss Palestine competition to be held in Ramallah, in the West Bank, in 2009 were canceled after Hamas officials accused the Palestinian Authority of “spreading moral corruption,” for planning to hold the event.
The model and wellness coach reportedly grew up in Canada and studied English literature and psychology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. She also went to high school in the same area, according to her LinkedIn page.
She taught at the Friends School in Ramallah and has worked with United in Humanity, a Washington-state nonprofit that organized humanitarian missions in Gaza, according to public records.
Ayoub also runs the Dubai-based Olive Green Academy, a company that offers workshops on how to become an influencer.
“We look forward to seeing Ms Ayoub on the Miss Universe stage, showcasing the beauty, talent and resilience of her people,” said Mario Bucaro, vice president of international relations for the Miss Universe Organization.
Thai entrepreneur Anne Jakrajutatip bought the Miss Universe Organization through her company JKN Global Group in 2022. A year later she declared bankruptcy, but the pageant continues. The company was previously owned by President Donald Trump, who sold it in 2015.
Bucaro told The Post that “all applications are carefully reviewed” and evaluated by a commission within the organization. He would not elaborate on how Ayoub was chosen for the competition, but said that Miss Universe is “an apolitical, inclusive organization.”
2/8
— BrightMind (@Brightmind24_7) August 25, 2025
LGBTQ+ Palestinians live under constant threat. Same-sex relations between men are illegal with up to 10 years in prison. But beyond the law, Hamas has brutally persecuted suspected gay men, with documented cases of executions, including being thrown from rooftops. pic.twitter.com/UOe742EyQZ
4/8
— BrightMind (@Brightmind24_7) August 25, 2025
Black Palestinians, many descended from African pilgrims and migrants, face deeply ingrained racism. In Gaza City, they are concentrated in a neighborhood called al-Abeed - meaning “the slaves.” pic.twitter.com/G7ZPEe9liU
6/8
— BrightMind (@Brightmind24_7) August 25, 2025
Christians in Gaza are a tiny minority - less than 2 percent of the population - and their numbers are shrinking every year. Churches, schools, and shops have been attacked, and Christian families report harassment for displaying crosses or celebrating holidays. pic.twitter.com/vsCoI2RZ6H
8/8
— BrightMind (@Brightmind24_7) August 25, 2025
For minorities in Gaza, daily life means living under systemic discrimination and fear. Their struggles are rarely reported, yet they reveal how vulnerable groups suffer not only from war, but from deep social and political exclusion. pic.twitter.com/mk5LzUCcZ8
We have a winner, Ladies & Gentlemen, and it's none of the below👇!
— Imshin (@imshin) August 26, 2025
Mahmoud & Hani Shawarma on Hayder Abd el-Shafi Roundabout in Gaza City were apparently selling shawarma yesterday, 25 Aug '25.
Timestamp: 15 hours ago#TheGazaYouDontSee
Link in the 1st comment https://t.co/2qoHCCAMWi pic.twitter.com/OWtUmpgYoM
Athar Café in Gaza City, has air-conditioning!
— Imshin (@imshin) August 26, 2025
"If you're hot and can't stand the world, come and honor us by ordering an iced coffee and sit in the air conditioning to pamper yourself. Athar Cafe address: Gaza Al-Rimal - Al-Rehab Mall, 1st floor, next to Jawal"
Instagram… https://t.co/8sU9EoNAop pic.twitter.com/SJ6u2Wy6dd
Gaza wartime innovations. Panda Mall on Shuhadaa St. Gaza City are selling different kinds of ready-to-fry chips to be fried at home.
— Imshin (@imshin) August 26, 2025
Timestamp: 20 hours ago (25 Aug '25).#TheGazaYouDontSee
Links + more details in 1st comment pic.twitter.com/TWKKwTXSK4
More from this amazing new spot in Gaza:pic.twitter.com/ObYgTcbuCU
— GAZAWOOD - the PALLYWOOD saga (@GAZAWOOD1) August 26, 2025
August 25, 2025 – Gaza.
— GAZAWOOD - the PALLYWOOD saga (@GAZAWOOD1) August 26, 2025
You can’t shake the feeling that they’re mocking us. pic.twitter.com/e8fWQ0VHab
Washington rejects latest proposal to renew UNIFIL mandate
Even after concessions from supporters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Trump administration declined to green-light a revised U.N. Security Council resolution to extend the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s mandate.
Israel has long criticized UNIFIL, whose mandate expires on Aug. 31, and accused it of failing to contain Hezbollah’s military capabilities in south Lebanon. The Trump administration called the U.N. force an “abject failure” and clawed back tens of millions of dollars in funding.
The Jewish state has said UNIFIL ought to be discontinued immediately, but Washington is reportedly willing to support extending it, provided its new mandate provides a date when it will terminate operations.
France, which is leading the effort to extend UNIFIL’s mandate, drafted terms of a one-year renewal, noting that the Security Council “indicates its intention to work on a withdrawal for UNIFIL with the aim of making the Lebanese government the sole provider of security in southern Lebanon.”
Washington rejected a revised draft from France on Friday. The new draft also called for a one-year extension of UNIFIL and stated that the U.N. force is “planning its withdrawal,” per a copy of the draft that JNS viewed. (As a permanent member of the Security Council, Washington has veto power.)
The revised draft calls on António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, to produce a strategic review within five months to “assess the conditions of a withdrawal of UNIFIL, with the objective that the drawdown of UNIFIL starts no later than Aug. 31, 2026.”
The review would also “explore options” after UNIFIL withdraws for implementation in the future of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for a permanent resolution to hostilities between Israel and Lebanon and insists that Hezbollah and other non-state actors disarm.
There is also to be a “restoration of Lebanese sovereignty throughout the country,” according to the draft that JNS viewed.
🚨 WATCH: US Envoy to Lebanon @MorganOrtagus with a strong message to Naim Qassem, the head of Hezbollah pic.twitter.com/XN4keBd6Gs
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) August 26, 2025
🚨MUST WATCH: When asked what she thought about Naim Qassem, the Chief of Hezbollah’s speech, the great @MorganOrtagus answered in one word: “Pathetic.” Morgen is just the best! pic.twitter.com/bTmblozIQC
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) August 26, 2025
Moscow pushes for six-month delay of sanctions on Iran, as JCPOA talks continue
Russia is circulating a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council that would tack a six-month extension onto the Iran nuclear accord, during which time no action could be taken related to the agreement.
Moscow’s goal is to give more space for negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the so-called E3 powers—the United Kingdom, France and Germany, all of which are signatories to the 2015 nuclear pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The JCPOA is set to expire on Oct. 18. Iran and the three powers are scheduled to talk in Geneva today.
The Russian draft resolution, which JNS viewed, would extend the terms of the JCPOA until Apr. 18, 2026, and during that extension period, would suspend “any substantive consideration of any matters” related to implementing the accord and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which gave legal force to the JCPOA.
There could be future extensions under the Russian resolution. Resolution 2231 allows a signatory to declare that Tehran is noncompliant with the pact, clearing the way for sanctions to return.
London and Paris, which are members of the Security Council, have threatened snapback sanctions due to Iran’s noncompliance on issues, including nuclear inspection access and high levels of nuclear enrichment.
If a member of the council declares that Iran is noncompliant in the JCPOA, another member cannot veto that charge.
The E3 and other Western officials have stated that they intend to decide by the end of this month whether to extend the JCPOA, based on the progress of negotiations in the interim.
Russia is scheduled to assume the rotating presidency of the Security Council in September. It would then be able to obstruct efforts to harm Tehran, with which it is allied.
He’s having Trita Parsi on?
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) August 26, 2025
What was Barak Obama not available for comment? https://t.co/eyU60oIAHa
2/ Electing any rep of the murderous IRGC regime to a UN human rights body is a travesty.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 26, 2025
Here, it's even worse. Under UNHRC Res. 6/102, candidates must have high moral standing, Independence, and impartiality.
Afsaneh Nadipour is an enemy of human rights. Consider: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/74WFcsIGu3
Jerusalem man arrested for painting 'There is a Holocaust in Gaza' graffiti in the Holy Sepulchre
A Jerusalem resident was arrested on suspicion of spraying the phrase “There is a Holocaust in Gaza” on one of the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel Police confirmed on Tuesday.'You’re part of genocide': Chilean synagogue targeted by anti-Israel vandals
This comes just weeks after the same graffiti was found sprayed on the Western Wall, with many Israeli sites linking the two events and claiming that the 27-year-old man could be the author in both instances.
The police report explained that a suspicious man was seen wandering near one of the entrances of the Old City and was later arrested near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a paint spray in his possession.
The police also informed that, thanks to Jerusalem’s surveillance cameras, it was able to identify him as the author of a graffiti made inside the church that read, “There is a Holocaust in Gaza.”
The suspect was taken into custody with a pending court case, while an investigation was opened into the matter.
Second “Holocaust” graffiti in weeks
The preliminary findings of the investigation determined that the arrested 27-year-old was the same that sprayed the Western Wall with similar graffiti at the beginning of August.
On that occasion, a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge denied a request from Israel Police to extend the detention of the suspect involved in the recent graffiti incident at the Western Wall and the Great Synagogue.
The judge emphasized that there was no need to delay the investigation while the defendant remained in custody.
A Santiago synagogue was vandalized on Friday night, according to the Jewish Community of Chile and Israeli ambassador to Chile Peleg Lewi.
Lewi said that the gate of the Bikur Cholim Synagogue, which is in limited use by the Jewish community, was sprayed with red paint and plastered with a poster that depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a bullet hole in his forehead.
“If you keep silent, you’re part of genocide,” read some of the graffiti. Police are investigating the incident and taking the matter seriously, said Lewi.
Antisemitic incidents are rare in Chile, the ambassador explained, noting there had only been a few minor incidents in recent years. Lewi said it was important that calm be sought and that the conflict in the Middle East not be exported to Chile.
The Jewish Community of Chile's representative body condemned the attack in a Sunday X/Twitter post, warning that acts of hatred could not be normalized.
Antisemitism is spreading across the globe at an alarming rate
“Chile is a country that values freedom of worship, and that means we must respect, care for, and protect one another, regardless of our beliefs,” said the community. “Vandalism of a holy site is not just an attack on a community but on the coexistence and peace of the entire country.”
The Anti-Defamation League said on social media on Sunday that the incident in Chile was the latest reminder that antisemitism is a global threat. “No synagogue should ever be vandalized,” said the ADL.
Meet the monsters behind Palestine News Network (PNN), a coordinated gang that engages in aggravated street harassment targeting Jews in NYC, LA, and DC:
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 26, 2025
1. Ramsey Aburdene: worked in the financial sector; remains affiliated with his dad's (Elias Aburdene) investment company,… pic.twitter.com/GK9fbScXqx
Wow that’s the unhealthiest human I’ve seen in a long time. Wow.
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) August 26, 2025
We put the art world’s antisemitism on display. Literally.
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) August 26, 2025
The National Gallery has been an exemplar and one of the few safe spaces for Jews in the arts. So, we made this iconic building our canvas for a night, highlighting its example and pushing others to follow suit.… pic.twitter.com/waeMpe2l8c
“The industrial AI revolution is here”: Nvidia Israel links data centers across continents
A technological breakthrough by Nvidia Israel will allow data centers in geographically distant locations to operate as if they were in one place, effectively creating “AI factories” on a massive scale and significantly increasing the maximum computing power available to the industry, the chipmaker announced on Friday.
Nvidia’s R&D center in Israel, established following its acquisition of Mellanox, is primarily focused on developing communication solutions for Nvidia’s AI chips. Its two flagship communication products enable ultra-fast connections both between chips within a server and between servers inside the same data center. These capabilities are critical for maximizing the processing power of Nvidia’s AI hardware.
Now, the company is unveiling a new development that extends those capabilities beyond the walls of a single facility. The new technology makes it possible to connect physically distant data centers in much the same way, effectively creating one mega–supercomputer and pushing the boundaries of data center computing power.
According to Nvidia, today’s data centers are already approaching the limits of what a single facility can provide, constrained by physical limitations such as energy supply and chip density. The new platform, Spectrum-XGS, addresses obstacles like long latency, which has until now prevented separate facilities from operating as a unified system.
“The AI industrial revolution is here, and giant-scale AI factories are the essential infrastructure,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “With NVIDIA Spectrum-XGS Ethernet, we add scale-across to scale-up and scale-out capabilities to link data centers across cities, nations and continents into vast, giga-scale AI super-factories.”
Nvidia Israel’s breakthrough relies on advanced algorithms that enable networks to dynamically adapt to the distance between facilities. “With advanced, auto-adjusted distance congestion control, precision latency management and end-to-end telemetry, Spectrum-XGS Ethernet nearly doubles the performance of the NVIDIA Collective Communications Library, accelerating multi-GPU and multi-node communication to deliver predictable performance across geographically distributed AI clusters. As a result, multiple data centers can operate as a single AI super-factory, fully optimized for long-distance connectivity,” the company said in a press release.
“We’ve taken away the right for people to go to actually have first hand experiences in places just because the trend is telling you to cancel” Radio host, Fellaris Wambui (@blinkypenguin) on receiving backlash for visiting Israel. pic.twitter.com/h1JP2otRgF
— The Long Form Podcast (@TheLongFormRw) July 3, 2025
"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022) |
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