Thursday, August 28, 2025

08/28 Links Pt1: Israel Shows Some Diplomatic Spine; US, Israel applaud France, Germany, UK decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran; IDF strike on Houthi military leaders

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Israel Shows Some Diplomatic Spine
Israel is responding aggressively and appropriately to two recent public relations challenges, suggesting Jerusalem understands the gravity of its situation as well as the fact that it is in the right on both.

The first is the “famine” libel. Israel is asking the IPC, the multinational monitor, to retract its debunked report on Gaza City. According to Reuters, the Israeli Foreign Ministry is warning that “if a new report were not presented within two weeks, Israel would continue to challenge the assessment and would ask the IPC’s donors to halt their financial support.”

Good. Israel can no longer afford to simply be correct on the merits. If corrupt global agencies are going to insert themselves as partisans into this war then they’ll learn to take a (metaphorical) punch.

As a reminder, Israel first meticulously proved the report false based on the IPC’s own data, which suggests the agency is not merely incompetent but corrupt and compromised.

Indeed, it’s clear the report was released as a preemptive attack on Israel’s new operation in Gaza City. The IPC simply declared famine in the one place in Gaza that the IDF was looking to enter, which was also the one place in Gaza relatively untouched by the war. Still, it’s important to have the numbers on your side, and Israel did (all emphasis in the original):

“The report relied on only half of the data actually collected in July — five sub-samples covering 7,519 children, described on pages 49–50 of the FRC report, with a combined average of roughly 16% — just above the threshold.

“By contrast, a Nutrition Cluster presentation released on August 8 — a week before the August 15 cut-off date — reported the full July sample of 15,749 children. Those results showed unweighted and weighted GAM rates of 13.5% and 12.2%, respectively — both well below the famine threshold.”

So the data were clear: no famine. That the IPC chose to manipulate the data for political purposes suggests the agency has forfeited its legitimacy.
Andrew Fox: How a Humanitarian Crisis Became a Fight for Influence
Our central finding was stark: Israel was effectively absent as a source in the media field covering Gaza, while Hamas became the default provider of information. I recently came across a study by the NCRI, a research center based at Rutgers University that examines disinformation, extremism, and media manipulation. Its report on famine coverage has now confirmed the same patterns.

Four things stand out.
First, Hamas-linked sources are treated as if they were neutral. Reports routinely cite the Gaza Health Ministry without noting that it is run by Hamas. Both our own research and NCRI’s analysis found the same result: in roughly 75–80% of coverage, the Hamas affiliation was left out.

Second, Hamas figures are often repeated without any attribution at all. Almost one in five reports simply quoted the numbers as if they were common knowledge. The Guardian was the worst offender, doing this in 43% of its coverage effectively treating Hamas propaganda as fact.

Third, the headlines tell their own story. NCRI found that they blamed Israel or the GHF for famine, but never once Hamas. That matters, because most readers don’t get beyond the headline. About 75% share stories without opening them. In NCRI’s experiment, such headlines cut attribution of violence to Hamas by 70%.

Finally, damaging rumours about GHF have been amplified far beyond Gaza. One striking case was the claim that its flour contained narcotics. The story was traced back to Hamas’s Gaza Media Office, but by then it had already been echoed in NGO briefings and sympathetic coverage abroad. A rumor repeated became the story.

Tom Fletcher from the UN also became a source of disinformation with a reach of millions. Several months ago, his post on X went viral, falsely claiming that 14,000 children would die in Gaza within two days. The claim was later retracted, but not before more than 2.5 million people had seen it. Coming from a senior UN official, it carried extra weight, making the damage impossible to undo. Later corrections were too little, too late to counter the impact of the original message. What is happening in Gaza is more than a military conflict. It increasingly looks like a struggle for institutional survival: the UN seeking to retain control of aid flows, Hamas working to delegitimize alternatives, and GHF challenging a decades-old monopoly.
WSJ: Israel: "We Need to Survive First. After that Comes Popularity"
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar interviewed by Elliot Kaufman
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar marvels at how governments in the UK, France, Canada and Australia "came to the conclusion they need to recognize a Palestinian state now. In the beginning, it was supposed to be under certain conditions" - if the Palestinians would make peace. Instead, they made war, and "all conditions were forgotten." The states plan to make their recognition official in September.

Many Europeans "cannot understand that the Palestinians - all the factions - their ideology is to eliminate the Jewish state. It's a nice term, 'two-state solution.' First of all, you have a solution. But when you ask, 'Do you want a terror state?'" it becomes a different conversation.

In Gaza, "the real aid situation has improved dramatically. The prices of basic products that had been very expensive fell during the past weeks. And this is because the quantities that enter Gaza, mainly by trucks, and also by airdrops, are huge." Israel has had to facilitate the increase, knowing it is "sustaining Hamas's war machine."

"Of course we are in a very tough diplomatic battle. We are a small nation. We are standing against huge propaganda." But "take into consideration that the current reality comes after a consistent two years of war. I want to hope it won't last with the same temperature on calmer days. We will finish this war."

"We will not risk real interests for a temporary period of quiet and better PR. I still recall how Israel had great PR after the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005." It didn't last. Hamas took over and Israel is still paying the price, in diplomacy and in lives.

"We need to survive first. After that, there comes popularity and how much we are able to convince others around the world."


US, Israel applaud France, Germany, UK decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran
France, Germany and the United Kingdom’s decision on Thursday to return sanctions on the Iranian regime drew praise from U.S. and Israeli leaders and from Jewish organizations.

The trio, which is referred to as the E3, had said in August that it would reimpose sanctions if the Islamic Republic didn’t reach a nuclear deal by the end of the month.

Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, stated that Washington welcomed the decision.

The three countries “have laid out a clear case of Iran’s continuing ‘significant non-performance’ of its nuclear commitments, establishing a strong basis for initiating snapback,” stated Rubio, who is also the U.S. national security advisor. “Moreover, the E3 could have initiated snapback at any point since 2019 but chose instead to first pursue intensive outreach and engagement, to provide Iran with a diplomatic off-ramp from its strategy of nuclear escalation.”

Rubio said that Washington will work with allies on the sanctions but is available “for direct engagement with Iran, in furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue.”

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, stated that “Iran continues to ignore the international community and violate its commitments time and time again.”

“Israel has already demonstrated its concerns about the malicious intentions of the ayatollahs’ regime,” he said. “Now the countries of the world are also joining the fight against the axis of evil. This is an important step on the way to stopping the Iranian nuclear program and increasing pressure on the regime in Tehran.”
Iranian cleanup of nuclear site likely to erase proof of atomic work
Iran has launched a speedy cleanup operation at a nuclear-related site in northern Tehran hit by Israeli airstrikes that will likely remove evidence of any nuclear weapons development work, a research group said on Wednesday.

Satellite imagery “shows a significant effort by Iran to rapidly demolish damaged or destroyed buildings, likely to sanitize any incriminating nuclear weapons research and development activities,” the Institute for Science and International Security said.

The institute, based in Washington, DC, is an independent research group that focuses on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and is headed by David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector.

Iran’s embassy to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and repeatedly has said its program is for peaceful purposes.

The report on the Mojdeh site comes as the UN nuclear watchdog holds ongoing talks in Tehran on restarting inspections disrupted by the June 13-24 war between Israel and Iran and the June 22 US strikes on the country’s three main nuclear facilities.

Britain, France and Germany are likely to begin on Thursday the process of reimposing UN sanctions on Iran for violating a 2015 nuclear deal designed to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, according to four diplomats.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters on Wednesday at the end of a two-day visit to Washington that Iran is legally obligated to allow inspections to resume and that they should begin “as soon as possible.”
Hamas Must Decide: Peace and Reconstruction, or War Without Limit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the backing of the Trump administration, is presenting a new ceasefire initiative. Israel would agree to withdraw from large parts of Gaza and allow for a negotiated framework primarily based on Egypt's initiative. In return, Hamas would release all hostages. The deal envisions Gaza without Hamas's grip but also without the Palestinian Authority (PA), marking a sharp divergence from Cairo's blueprint.

This initiative comes with an unmistakable warning. If Hamas rejects the deal, Israel will expand its military operations inside Gaza, aiming to impose the terms by force. One senior Israeli official described the plan as "peace and reconstruction, or war without limit."

The offer should include the end of Hamas and any other terror militias, enforced by international monitors and the IDF, and a transitional authority supported by regional partners and vetted by international bodies, excluding both Hamas and the PA, but rooted in local Palestinian leadership.

Economic revival must be more than pouring concrete, it must reshape mindsets as well. Gaza's version of post-war rehabilitation should have a vision - to make a Gaza that looks more like Dubai than Tehran. This would require a reconstruction fund overseen by neutral actors, pumping in capital for infrastructure and jobs, but with one condition: participation in a civic, de-radicalizing re-education process. Recovery means learning to stand upright without leaning on militias or martyrdom.
For Hamas, Surrender or Capitulation Is Unthinkable
Since the Gaza war began, Hamas has remained closely allied with Islamic Jihad, which continues to hold one of the remaining Israeli captives, Rom Braslavski. A number of recent joint attacks on the IDF in Khan Yunis have in part been orchestrated by the joint operations room, an organization created by Hamas and Islamic Jihad back in 2006.

Today, it brings together 12 Palestinian armed factions - including, alongside Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Saraya al-Quds, al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, Mujahideen Brigades, and Omar al-Qasim Brigades - and has become the place where many decisions about the war and negotiations are made.

In recent weeks, there are signs that this broader front may be crumbling. Members of the joint operations room have called on Hamas to end the war. During a meeting with the head of Egyptian intelligence, some of these factions also criticized Hamas's procrastination on reaching a ceasefire. Still, these cracks in the coalition have not caused a shift in the brigades' determination to fight. There is actually a consensus among the factions that surrender or capitulation is unthinkable.

As the core members of Hamas's Qassam Brigades see it, only continued attacks on Israeli troops will force Israel to agree to another ceasefire and end the siege. In their view, it was military pressure by Hamas that finally led Netanyahu to sign the U.S.-backed ceasefire in mid-January.
Qatar Does Not Seem Interested in Any Deal that Ends the Rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip: What Qatar Is Saying in Arabic
As the US and other Western countries continue to rely on Qatar to broker a ceasefire-hostage deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip, senior Qatari journalists affiliated with the Qatar's state-run media continue to praise the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas, and are even calling for Hamas to kidnap more Israelis.

Al-Jazeera has been broadcasting similar videos from Hamas since the beginning of the war.

While the Qatari government claims to the Trump Administration that it is working to release the 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip, al-Harmi, closely associated with Qatar's leadership, is calling for kidnapping more Israelis – whom, by the way, he described as "rats."

"If success is not achieved this time in capturing Zionist soldiers at the hands of the heroes of Hamas Brigades, then the second, third, and fourth attempts will succeed, God willing, by adding new rats to the tally held by the heroes of the [Hamas] Brigades." — Jaber al-Harmi, editor-in-chief of the Qatari government mouthpiece newspaper Al Sharq, X, August 26, 2025.

"I swear, the Zionist entity will inevitably disappear.... Its end is near, very near." — Jaber al-Harmi, quoting a video by Al-Jazeera, X August 26, 2025.

"Al-Harmi's views on Israel and the Jews are aligned with the extremist ideology of Hamas and reflect his unreserved support for this movement and for its terror against Israelis – support which is also expressed by the Qatari state."— Middle East Media Research Institute, April 15, 2025.

If Qatar really wanted to end the war in the Gaza Strip, its representatives and propagandists would not be calling on Hamas to kidnap more Israelis.

If Qatar really wanted to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, it could do so by threatening to arrest or deport the Hamas leaders living in Doha or by seizing their financial assets.

It is time for world leaders to listen to what the Qataris are saying in Arabic, not to what they hear from them in closed-door meetings in English.
Cabinet to reportedly discuss partial West Bank annexation at upcoming meeting
The cabinet is expected to discuss annexing certain parts of the West Bank next week, Israeli television reported Thursday, amid growing calls for annexation among right-wing Israeli lawmakers.

According to Channel 12 news, the discussion will be held in light of the recently-approved settlement construction plan spearheaded by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which will see some 3,400 housing units built in the West Bank’s contentious E1 area between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

There was no suggestion that a vote will be held on the question of annexation during the meeting, scheduled for Sunday.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the reportedly scheduled discussion or the issues on the cabinet’s agenda.

International pressure had for years successfully dissuaded Israel from building in E1, with critics arguing such a plan would cut the West Bank in two, severing it from East Jerusalem and scuttling the prospect of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

Reported plans to consider annexing parts of the West Bank stand to further embitter Israel’s relations with several Western allies, as France and others pledged to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly this September.

The Ynet news site reported Thursday morning that Netanyahu has been holding closed-door talks with senior ministers on the issue of sovereignty in the West Bank. While the government has weighed similar moves in the past without results, details of a closed-door meeting of senior officials last week suggested that “the political climate may create a rare opening for such a step,” the outlet claimed.
At White House Meeting, Trump Approves Initiatives in Education, Food Supply and Temporary Housing for Gaza
The international plan to rebuild Gaza was at the center of discussions President Trump convened at the White House on Wednesday. American sources confirmed that detailed proposals were presented at the meeting, outlining responsibilities for organizations and countries expected to take part in the project. During the discussions, Trump approved advancing some of the projects in the near future, including initiatives in education, food supply and temporary housing.

The program is set to be implemented even if fighting continues. International organizations, with international funding, would begin direct assistance to the population in new humanitarian zones in southern Gaza, where the IDF maintains control and relative calm.

Assessments presented in the discussions noted that the chances of a ceasefire before Israeli forces enter the remaining neighborhoods of Gaza City are slim.
“You Can’t Rebuild Gaza If Hamas Is Still There” | Tony Blair In White House Over Gaza
Sir Tony Blair joined US President Donald Trump in a White House meeting to discuss plans for the future of Gaza, according to reports.

The former prime minister, who served as a Middle East envoy after leaving Number 10 in 2007, took part in Wednesday’s meeting about plans for the region when the war with Israel ends, the BBC reported.

According to The Daily Telegraph, a senior US official said Sir Tony had briefed Mr Trump on ideas to rebuild the territory.

Ex-spokesperson for the Israeli Government, Eylon Levy, joins Talk’s Julia Hartley-Brewer to discuss this further.


Most Trump Voters Agree: Hamas Is To Blame for Suffering in Gaza
President Donald Trump's voters overwhelmingly agree that Israel does not bear responsibility for any suffering in Gaza, according to a new poll from the Vandenberg Coalition and TargetPoint.

Fifty-six percent of those voters said that Hamas, after "launching a brutal attack on Israel, stealing international aid from the Palestinian people, and shielding itself behind civilians in Gaza," is to blame, while only 10 percent named Israel as the cause.

Thirteen percent of respondents blamed the United Nations for not allowing enough aid into Gaza and letting Hamas steal aid from the Palestinian people, while another 13 percent said the United States bears responsibility over its support for Israel. Eight percent of those surveyed blamed Arab nations like Egypt and Jordan.

Eighty-one percent of respondents said they believe Israel has a right to defend itself and that the United States should maintain its strong support for the Jewish state. While support for Israel among Trump's voters has remained consistently high since the poll's first edition in June 2025 and has never fallen below 80 percent, this most recent poll indicates that Trump's voters are skeptical of the mainstream narrative surrounding aid in Gaza.

The poll results also fly in the face of recent statements from self-described "MAGA" voices like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) and Tucker Carlson.

Greene, who has accused Israel of committing a "genocide" in Gaza, recently stated that she believes the United States should no longer offer military aid to the Jewish state.

"That means every U.S. tax payer is contributing to Israel's military actions," she wrote on X. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to pay for genocide in a foreign country against a foreign people for a foreign war that I had nothing to do with."

Carlson has consistently called for limiting U.S. aid to Israel and warned against U.S. involvement in the military campaign to degrade Iran's nuclear program, earning him a rebuke from Trump.
Israel demands retraction of ‘fraudulent’ Gaza famine report
Israel is demanding the retraction of a “deeply flawed” UN-supported agency report that declared a famine in Gaza City and claimed conditions are likely to spread in coming weeks.

On Friday 22 August, The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a watchdog used worldwide to classify food insecurity, alleged that 514,000 people – close to a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza – are experiencing famine, with the number due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the report “lies” and a “modern blood libel,” and claimed: “Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation.”

The US described the IPC’s report as part of a “false narrative of deliberate mass starvation” from Hamas.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs director general Eden Bar Tal has now demanded the IPC retract the report in full, vowing to turn to the organisation’s donors – including the UK, Germany, EU and Canada – to stop their funding.

The letter demands that the IPC “conduct an urgent and transparent review” of the findings against the report that “will address methodological breaches and avoid misleading the international community, the public and policymakers.”

Addressing international media on Wednesday, Bar Tal claimed the report had been “forged for political purposes. No doubt the IPC manipulated and ignored data, broke its own rules and hid contradictory evidence. That report was fabricated for a purpose – to support Hamas’ fake starvation campaign.”

In its own assessment, Israel authorities claim the report relied on only half of the data actually collected in July, which if reported in full, placed Gaza City well below the famine threshold.

Additionally, it accuses the IPC of using a “distortion of malnutrition data” to prop up the famine designation, “a designation that would have collapsed had the IPC acknowledged the complete July results.”


Former top Biden aide says he now backs withholding weapons from Israel
Former US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said he would back withholding weapons from Israel, despite opposing such calls during his time in office under the administration of former US president Joe Biden.

“The thing that we were grappling with throughout all of 2024, which is not the case today, is that Israel was under attack from multiple fronts. It was under attack from Hezbollah, from the Houthis, from Syria, from Iraq, obviously from Hamas and from Iran itself,” Sullivan said during an interview on The Bulwark podcast, in an episode that aired Wednesday.

“So the idea of saying ‘Israel, we’re not going to give you a whole set of military tools,’ in that context, was challenging.”

Now, however, Sullivan said that “the case for withholding weapons from Israel today is much stronger than it was one year ago.

“One, they don’t face the same regional threats. Two, there was a ceasefire-hostage deal in place and the ability to have negotiations, and it was Israel who just walked away from it without negotiating seriously,” he said, apparently referring to the January-March truce.

“Three, there is a full-blown famine in Gaza,” he said, referring to the UN’s declaration last week, which Israel has rejected. “And four, there are no more serious military objectives to achieve. It’s just bombing the rubble into rubble.”

Sullivan told The Bulwark that he had counseled Democratic lawmakers who were weighing how to vote on resolutions last month on withholding weapons to Israel that doing so was a “totally credible position that I would support.”


In Gaza, IDF chief praises reservists’ sacrifices
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir focused on the contributions of reservist soldiers during a field tour Wednesday with senior commanders in the Gaza Strip, saying that they “embody the deepest expression of Israeli solidarity and of commitment to the future of the state.”

He praised the commitment and sacrifice of reservist and regular army soldiers, stressing their essential role in achieving current operational goals, particularly the ongoing campaign in Gaza City aimed at defeating Hamas, securing the return of hostages and preventing future attacks like Oct. 7.

“Thanks to the reservists, Israel stands tall against every enemy; your sacrifice is an inspiration to us all. Conscripts, career soldiers and tens of thousands of reservists are answering the call and sacrificing their personal lives, along with their families, for the security of the state,” Zamir said.

“We will do everything to create stability and to reduce the burden on the reservists, with the understanding that this is a precious national resource,” he added.

During the tour, Zamir was briefed on recent activities of the 6th Reserve Infantry “Etzioni” Brigade and the largely reservist 6643rd Territorial “Katif” Brigade—the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade—in the Strip. He spoke with the troops and commanders of the Etzioni Brigade, whose reserve duty has been extended as part of the developments in the campaign, and emphasized his appreciation for their activity in Gaza.

Zamir called for full enlistment from all sectors of society.

“Against the backdrop of challenges across all arenas, Israel’s security requires the full partnership of all parts of the nation. This is a civic duty and a national imperative. I call on everyone to enlist and contribute their share equally; this is the call of the hour,” Zamir said.
Israel plans Syria security zone, aid corridor for Druze, Netanyahu says
Israel is working to create a demilitarized zone in Syria stretching from the Golan Heights to south of Damascus, alongside a humanitarian corridor, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

“Right now we are focused on three things,” Netanyahu declared during a visit to Julis in Israel’s north, where he met with the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, as well as local leaders and members of Knesset from the village.

Jerusalem’s goals include protecting the Druze in Syria’s Sweida region and beyond; establishing a security zone from the Golan Heights south of Damascus, including Sweida; and creating a humanitarian corridor that will allow the delivery of aid, including “food, building materials, everything needed, as well as large-scale medical assistance,” he said.

Addressing crimes committed against Syrian Druze at the hands of state-sponsored militias, the PM said: “We are brothers. Would Israel not extend a hand to save our Druze brothers? And we acted. When I understood the magnitude of the disaster, we acted immediately.

“At the height of the atrocities, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif called me and said: ‘The Jews in the Holocaust cried out for help and no one came. Israel must come.’ It was like an arrow straight to the heart. Because it is not only factually true, it is also morally true, humanly true,” he added.

Defense Minister Israel Katz earlier on Thursday hinted at Israeli military activity in Syria following Arab reports of Israel Defense Forces attacks in the Damascus countryside and the south of the country.

“Our forces are operating in all combat zones day and night for the security of Israel,” Katz wrote on X Thursday morning. The Israeli Defense Forces has not confirmed the operation.


Dry Your Tears for Gaza's Nasser Hospital
On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces struck Nasser Hospital in Gaza. The outcry from Europe was pretty much instantaneous, as it always is. This is how it goes whenever Jews have the temerity to survive a genocidal rampage that was intended to wipe them from the face of the earth and then get proactive about staying alive. For the past 22 months, Israel has fought back, daring to sustain itself, its people and a remarkably vibrant economy in what amounts to the worst neighborhood on the planet.

Here's the truth about the hospital strike and others almost exactly like it: The place is a known terrorist operations center. Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin, an IDF spokesperson, said Monday, "Hamas terrorists deliberately use civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as shields. They have even operated from the Nasser Hospital itself."

Are the deaths of civilians at Nasser Hospital sad? Certainly. Yet unlike Hamas, which has every intention of killing Israelis and Jews wherever and whenever it can, Israel didn't intend to kill them, and it wouldn't have targeted the hospital in the first place if terrorists hadn't been using it to advance the "global jihad" against the Jewish state. In fact, Israel's armed forces could probably be much further along in their quest to stamp out Hamas if they weren't so totally committed to avoiding civilian injury and death at every turn.

In its bid to keep from being "pushed into the sea," Israel is likely to hit more civilian infrastructure in Gaza. When it does, Jew-haters the world over will respond with exaggerated shock. Here's hoping the rest of us will have the sense to see what's really going on.


Seth Frantzman: Israeli strikes in Syria continue into third day, sparking regional condemnations
There have been multiple Israeli strikes and incursions into Syria this week, according to the Syrian government. “A government source told SANA that during a field tour on Tuesday by army personnel near Mount al-Manea, south of Damascus, they discovered monitoring and eavesdropping devices there,” Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Syria’s official news agency, reported.

While the Syrians were trying to “deal” with the devices they found, they were “targeted by an Israeli aerial attack that left a number of martyrs, injuries, in addition to destruction several vehicles, the source added,” the report said.

After the strikes, Israel continued to attack the site, and this was “followed by an airborne landing amid continued intensive hovering,” the Syrian government said.

On Wednesday, Syrian media also reported on Israeli attacks. Syria had condemned an attack “carried out by drones belonging to the Israeli occupation forces, targeting a unit of the Syrian Arab Army near al-Kiswah town in the Damascus countryside, which resulted in the martyrdom of six Syrian Arab Army soldiers,” a report said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Damascus had said “that this attack constitutes a serious violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and represents a clear breach of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” the report said. “It also comes in the context of the repeated aggressive policies pursued by the Israeli occupation with the aim of undermining security and stability in the region.”

Syria has received support from the region in these condemnations. Jordan has been especially vocal. For instance, on Tuesday, Jordan said it had condemned, “in the strongest terms, the repeated Israeli violations and its infiltration into Syrian territory, considering it a flagrant violation of international law and a dangerous escalation targeting Syria’s stability, sovereignty and security.”
IDF Strikes Houthi Military Targets in Yemen: 'Whoever Raises a Hand Against Israel—His Hand Will be Cut Off'
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that it carried out airstrikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen, retaliating against the Iran-backed terrorist group for its repeated drone and missile attacks against Israel, according to multiple media reports.

"The IDF is operating decisively against the Houthi terrorist regime, while simultaneously intensifying strikes against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, and will continue to act to remove any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel," the military said in a statement to the Jewish News Syndicate.

"At press time, the results of the attack were still uncertain," the Jerusalem Post reported, "but there were increasing indications that the Houthis' defense minister and military chief were killed in the attack, as well as potentially others."

Israeli fighter jets struck more than 10 Houthi military targets in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, according to Arabic reports cited by the JNS. The IDF launched the strikes after receiving intelligence about a "gathering of senior Houthi figures from both the political and military ranks," Israel's Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal reported. The Houthis' leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, delivered a televised speech as the strikes unfolded and "was apparently not a target of the strike," according to Segal.

"The Houthi terrorist organization has been operating under the Iranian direction and funding in order to harm the state and its allies since the beginning of the war, undermining regional stability and disrupting global freedom of navigation," the IDF statement added.

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz in a statement reiterated his warning to the Houthis. "After the plague of darkness comes the plague of the firstborn," Katz said. "Whoever raises a hand against Israel—his hand will be cut off."
Israeli strike on Houthi military leaders ‘reflects intelligence infiltration’
An Israeli airstrike on Thursday, reportedly targeting a gathering of senior Houthi regime and military-terrorist leaders in Yemen, including the Houthi minister of defense, Mohamed al-Atifi, and chief of staff, Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari, marks a major upgrade in Israeli intelligence monitoring of a distant Iranian proxy that has proven to be persistently evasive until now.

The strike came four days after a previous Israeli strike targeted several Houthi sites, including a fuel depot that appears to have been tied to the Houthi missile industry.

The attempted decapitation strike on Thursday against the Houthi leadership represents a significant shift that moves beyond previous Israeli targeting of Houthi infrastructure like ports and power plants.

Professor Uzi Rabi, head of the program for Regional Cooperation at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, told JNS on Thursday that the operation demonstrates a new level of capability that conveys a powerful message to the entire Middle East.

“This is a step up, that’s clear. It reflects, first of all, an intelligence penetration. This means there is progress; the step up is likely on both the intelligence and operational levels,” said Rabi.

He argued the strike was designed to have a profound psychological impact on the Houthi regime, reminiscent of Israel’s previous decapitation strikes against Hezbollah’s leadership in 2024

“You throw the Houthis into a cognitive state where they are on the defense, being pursued. What they thought could not happen is now happening,” Rabin told JNS.


Major broadcaster uses decade-old photo of starving Yemeni child for article about hunger in Gaza
TRT World, Turkey’s public English-language broadcaster, has used a photo of a starving Yemeni child for an article about hunger in Gaza, despite the image being almost a decade old.

Writing on X, the network posted a link to a story under the headline "Hungry Palestinians react to UN famine declaration as Gaza crisis deepens".

The post was accompanied by an image of a young child who was visibly malnourished, superimposed with a large quotation reading: "We've been starving for five months."


Gaza at ‘breaking point,’ UN food chief says after visit to hunger-stricken Strip
The head of the United Nations’ World Food Programme warned Thursday that Gaza is “at breaking point” and appealed for the urgent revival of the agency’s network of 200 food distribution points, a day after the Israel Defense Forces announced that it was planning to open an additional aid distribution site in southern Gaza over the coming days.

“Enough is enough,” WFP executive director Cindy McCain said after visiting the besieged territory, where Israel is pressing operations in its offensive against Hamas.

“Gaza is at a breaking point. Desperation is soaring — and I saw it firsthand,” McCain said.

Her comments come less than a week after the United Nations’ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a famine in parts of Gaza, blaming the “systematic obstruction” of humanitarian deliveries by Israel. Israel has dismissed the IPC report as “fabricated” and a “modern blood libel.”

McCain went to Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, where she visited a nutrition clinic keeping children alive and met with displaced mothers who say they struggle daily to find scraps of food.

“I met starving children receiving treatment for severe malnutrition — and I saw photos of when they were healthy. Today they are unrecognizable,” McCain said. People wait as they try to get rice from a charity kitchen providing food for free in the west of Gaza City, on August 28, 2025. (BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

“We must urgently be able to revive our vast and trusted network of 200 food distribution points across the Strip, community kitchens and bakeries. It is urgent that the right conditions are in place so we can reach the most vulnerable and save lives,” she said, calling on Israel to shift from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to the previous system run by the UN and other aid groups.

Aid organizations and much of the international community are opposed to the GHF’s aid system, as it requires Gazans to walk long distances in order to pick up a box of dry food products that need to be prepared, though cooking fuel and equipment are scarce in the Strip. There have also been repeated shootings near GHF sites, with Palestinians claiming hundreds have died due to IDF gunfire.


Call me Back Podcast: How the U.N. Weaponizes the Famine Narrative in Gaza - with Rich Goldberg
On Friday, August 22, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – a global hunger monitor backed by the U.N. – declared for the first time that famine had struck North Gaza. Israel quickly denied the charge, accusing the IPC of “biased and self-interested sources originating from Hamas.”

It’s hard to identify the truth about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but one thing is clear: the U.N. has worked to weaponize the famine narrative as part of its campaign against Israel and against the Israel/US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which supplanted much of the U.N.’s role in Gaza.

To discuss this disturbing part of the equation, we are joined by Rich Goldberg. Rich is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He served in both Trump administrations, including on the White House National Security Council staff. He also spent a decade on Capitol Hill, as an aide to a U.S. House Member and U.S. Senator, where Rich worked on congressional oversight of U.N. Programs in the Middle East.




Jonny Gould Podcast: Tanya Gold: "Shameless: Exploiting the Holocaust". How the brutality of the Shoah is being whitewashed
Tanya Gold’s provocative essay, Shameless: Exploiting the Holocaust is in the Autumn 2025 edition of the Jewish Quarterly, the magazine of stories, ideas, and debates shaping Jewish culture and history.

Tanya takes aim at the state of Holocaust fiction — think Schindler’s List, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and *The Tattooist of Auschwitz*.

She passionately argues these stories push Jewish victims to the margins all too often, centering on non-Jewish heroes or romanticized narratives that soften the Shoah’s brutal reality.

Why do these polished, mainstream tales dominate the raw, firsthand accounts of survivors like Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, or Zalmen Gradowski?

And with antisemitism surging and Holocaust education under revisionist pressure from social media, what does it mean when these works are staples in UK classrooms?

Let’s explore the ethics of Holocaust storytelling, and ask: are we remembering the past—or rewriting it?
Montana Tucker on using her online platform to ‘speak out’ for Israel
Digital creator Montana Tucker discusses being the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and the responsibility she feels in using her social media platform to fight antisemitism.

“For me, having over 14 million followers across platforms, I have to use my voice and my platforms to combat antisemitism, all forms of hate, to speak out for Israel,” Ms Tucker told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“Because I know my grandparents would have done the same if they had social media back then.”


‘Propaganda victory’: Hamas have done ‘very well’ with the Australian government
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says Hamas has done “very well” with the “propaganda victory” over the Australian people.

“I think they have done very well with the Australian government, because the campaign … has gained real traction,” Mr Downer told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“It has been a huge propaganda victory for them to the extent many Australians now marching against Israel.”


Iran ‘hyper intensifying’ Western tension around Israel-Palestine debate
Political Strategist and Adviser Yaron Finkelstein says Iran is trying to create “tension” in Australian society.

Mr Finkelstein told Sky News Australia that they were trying to “hyper intensifying the debates”.

“So social media is a very easy way for foreign actors to create tension in the Australian community.”


Jonathan Sacerdoti: Interview with Palestinian woman whose beer is stocked by Co-Op: refuses to condemn sexual violence
The Co-op supermarket has boycotted all Israeli products — yet it proudly promotes Palestinian beer. Here’s the truth:

🍺 The beer comes from a small Christian-owned brewery in the West Bank.
✝️ Christians there have been persecuted, their population collapsing from 15% to less than 1%.
🚫 Islam strictly forbids alcohol, and Hamas forced Palestinian bars and cafes to close when it seized Gaza.
❌ I visited this brewery in 2017, toured it, bought their wine, even used it for Shabbat dinner in Tel Aviv.
😳 When I interviewed the brewmaster last year, she declined the opportunity — twice — to condemn Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli and other women on 7 October.

So why is the Co-op boycotting Israeli farmers and innovators while stocking beer from a company whose own leader won’t speak out against jihadist rape?

This isn’t morality. It’s hypocrisy on tap.




Detroit should not roll out the red carpet for convicted terrorists
The government-owned Huntington Place convention center is set to host extremists, terror-linked groups and antisemitic agitators. Michigan leaders must act now.

The Zionist Organization of America-Michigan Region writes with deep alarm and disappointment over the decision to host the upcoming People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit (Aug. 29-31).

This conference is not a benign cultural gathering. It has consistently provided a platform for convicted terrorists, extremist ideologues and groups tied to U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.

This year’s speaker list includes Hussam Shaheen, who was convicted in 2004 for leading a terror cell in Jerusalem, recruiting and arming operatives, and attempting deadly attacks against civilians. Released this February in a hostage deal with Hamas, he is now invited as a “guest speaker.” Also on the docket is Omar Assaf, a longtime official of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist group responsible for civilian killings. Assaf has openly justified attacks against Israelis.

Last year’s conference featured Wisam Rafeedie, a member of the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—infamous for airplane hijackings—and Sana Daqqa, the widow of Walid Daqqa, a PFLP commander convicted of murdering an Israeli soldier. PFLP terrorists also committed the 2014 synagogue massacre in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, where four worshippers, including three Americans, were hacked to death and a Druze police officer killed.

These are not “peace activists.” They are individuals tied directly to groups the U.S. government formally labels as terrorists.


Microsoft Fires Radical Anti-Israel Employees Who Stormed President's Office
Microsoft fired four radical anti-Israel employees following a series of disruptions on the company’s campus, including when a group stormed and occupied the office of its president, Brad Smith.

Seven agitators, including the two Microsoft employees, Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli, and a former Google employee, broke into Smith's Redmond, Washington, office on Tuesday, then locked and barricaded the door with chairs and tables. They livestreamed their demand that he appear in "the people's court" for his "crimes against humanity," including "complicity in genocide" and assisting in "kidnap and torture." The agitators said his "failure to appear will result in increased escalations against yourself and all Microsoft executives."

Police stormed in shortly thereafter, clashed with the agitators, and arrested the group, resulting in an abrupt end to the live feed. The two Microsoft employees were fired the next day, a company spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon.

"Two employees were terminated today following serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct," she said. "The first violated the Business Conduct Policy, participated in the unlawful break-in at the executive offices, and other demonstrations on campus, and was arrested by authorities on our premises on two occasions. The second was involved in the break-in at the executive offices and was subsequently arrested."

"These incidents are inconsistent with the expectations we maintain for our employees. The company is continuing to investigate and is cooperating fully with law enforcement regarding these matters," the spokeswoman added.

Following Tuesday's disruption, Smith teased that the radical employees could face punishment and noted that "listening devices" were planted in his office.

"While we honor the freedom of expression, that is a hallmark of this country and American life, but obviously when seven folks do as they did today, storm a building, occupy an office, lock other people out of the office, plant listening devices, even in crude form, in the form of telephones, cellphones hidden under couches and behind books, that's not okay," Smith said.


This Pro-Palestine Group Is Defacing New York
Regardless of motive, the anti-U.N. protests are just the latest example of WOL’s increasing radicalism after the October 7, 2023, terror attacks against Israel. In the months that followed the attacks, WOL organized events, such as “Flood Manhattan for Gaza” and “Christmas is Canceled,” which resulted in arrests, vandalized NYPD cruisers, and street fights. Kiswani described the October 7 attacks as “a psychological and tactical victory for the Palestinian resistance,” adding later that “there has never been any case in history where oppressed people achieve liberation by just asking for it nicely.”

Last year, WOL’s “Day of Rage” protest saw vandalism of the 107th Infantry Memorial, the burning of an American flag, and clashes with police outside the Met Gala. A month later, WOL protesters rushed into the Brooklyn Museum and set up an encampment, resulting in more arrests, vandalism, and even damaged artwork. Following the Brooklyn Museum takeover, the group encouraged its followers to “[t]ake autonomous action,” sharing a map of various museums. Soon after, the home of the Brooklyn Museum’s director was vandalized.

Even as the activities of other pro-Palestinian groups have died down, WOL has continued its disruptive activity. In a separate incident this month, the group again clashed with police outside of Grand Central Station. Earlier this year, it was involved in a protest at Tisch Hospital, the chaotic “Nakba Day” demonstration, and several events targeting visiting Israeli government officials like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Despite its repeated involvement in lawless protests, WOL has largely evaded scrutiny. Unlike other radical left-wing groups, it is not a registered nonprofit. Kiswani has stated her belief that becoming a nonprofit limits organizations’ ability to be sufficiently radical. “The revolution will not be funded. NGOs will not bring the path of resistance,” she told Resistance 101 participants. “The NGOization of Palestinian society is one of the biggest impediments to why [sic] we’re not free today, because we are united in resistance.” As a result, Americans have little insight into WOL’s finances and operations.

Recent demonstrations suggest that WOL may continue to escalate. Yet city authorities have done little in response beyond arresting disruptive activists, with district attorneys often dropping charges. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, for example, dropped charges against Columbia University students, and his office declined to prosecute numerous criminal summonses from pro-Palestine demonstrations across the city. When prosecutors drop charges against pro-Palestine demonstrators; when the Brooklyn Museum refuses to press charges against those who were arrested during an occupation of its lobby, citing “police brutality”; and when diversion programs like Project Reset make summonses vanish, accountability breaks down and sends a dangerous message to bad actors. In that vacuum, groups like Within Our Lifetime thrive, emboldened by the knowledge that disruptive tactics rarely bring real consequences. And WOL may also soon have a friend in the mayor’s office, as frontrunner Zohran Mamdani has previously participated in its protests.

Allowing WOL to evade consequences only reinforces the perception that New York City has a two-tiered justice system. City leaders and law enforcement must draw a clear line between protected speech and lawless action—and prosecute those who break the law while hiding behind the mantle of protest.




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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

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