Monday, September 08, 2025

09/08 Links Pt2: Our house is on fire, and the cavalry isn’t coming; The slow death of the genocide lie; Albanese Sued Over Legal Campaign Against Pro-Israel NGO's

From Ian:

Our house is on fire, and the cavalry isn’t coming
The failure of the Jewish establishment—the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Jewish Community Relations Councils and Jewish Federations—to protect and defend the Jewish community against the decades-long build-up and the current surge of hatred in the United States has become a subject of public concern and analysis. The organizations that have claimed to speak for us and guard us against antisemitism have proven unwilling or unable to meet the challenge.

The Jewish Leadership Project, along with others across the country, for years has sought to persuade, pressure, and, when necessary, shame establishment leaders into prioritizing the defense of our community. We believed that if they could be made to see the growing danger with clarity, they would recalibrate and lead. But they have not, even after the explosion of antisemitism following the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, and even as their supposed progressive allies turned on us.

Our leaders have refused to pivot. I believe that they will not and cannot.

Many resist this conclusion. It is far easier to cling to the hope that our old structures still work—that the powerful organizations of the past can still deliver security and stability. Abandoning that means accepting that the responsibility to protect our families and future now rests on us all. And the sooner we face this truth, the better.

But first, the community needs to understand why the Jewish establishment won’t change. Effective leadership of any enterprise requires a sober recognition of errors and a concerted effort to analyze why the leadership’s assumptions failed and the courage to chart a new course. It is human nature to resist acknowledging catastrophic mistakes, especially when you have raised hundreds of millions of dollars promoting yourselves as the most competent to do the work. Jewish leaders fear that when the enormity of their errors becomes broadly known, their community support might collapse, their (often) lucrative jobs will be at risk, and they will feel public shame.

Leadership is about knowing the territory so you can develop effective paths forward. Jewish leaders, however, have failed to grasp the obvious tectonic shifts in the American political culture. They assumed—and then placed all our bets on—the notion that classical liberalism, which had for so long protected Jews, would endure.

But classical liberalism—with its respect for pluralism, civil rights and the rule of law—has been eclipsed by a radical progressivism that paints Jews as privileged “white oppressors” and portrays Israel as the world’s villain. Even as it gained ascendancy, Jewish organizations deluded themselves by assuming that woke ideology was an exuberance of youth when it was, in fact, brilliantly organized, paid for and operated by nations like Russia, China and Qatar, and wealthy antisemites; and supported by the social justice-NGO complex. It’s not going to fade.
Brendan O'Neill: The slow death of the genocide lie
Most damning of all is the actual content of the resolution. It is about as far from judicious analysis as you can get. The opening paragraph says Israel ‘has killed more than 59,000 adults and children’ in Gaza. It is a flagrant abandonment of a scholar’s prime duty – to pursue truth – to talk about the dead in Gaza without mentioning that a very significant percentage of them are Hamas fighters. The resolution accuses Israel of carrying out ‘deliberate attacks’ on ‘hospitals, homes, commercial buildings’. Again, Hamas is invisibilised – no mention is made of the hard-proven fact that Hamas operates in such buildings. It is a profound inversion of truth to accuse Israel of turning civilian infrastructure into warzones when it was Hamas that did that.

Perhaps ‘the experts’ neglected to mention that many of the dead are Hamas militants because to do so would be to admit this is war. Not a new holocaust, but war. War between an army of anti-Semites and the democratic state they so savagely attacked on 7 October 2023. It is a lie of omission to erase the Jew-hating militia from the tragic story of Gaza. When inconvenient facts are buried to stitch someone up in a court of law, we call it a miscarriage of justice. So what should we call this travesty of a resolution?

Also last week, the alternative experts at the Scholars for Truth About Genocide made a highly convincing case that what’s happening in Gaza is war. The IAGS, they said, failed to mention one simple fact: that this tragedy would end ‘if Hamas were to release all the hostages… and lay down their weapons’. To leave out such info is an outrage, they said, because it wilfully obscures the truth that Israel’s intention in Gaza is not to destroy the Palestinian people but to secure the return of its own people and fortify its territory against further attacks from the neo-fascists of Hamas. These are war aims, not plans for extermination, and so they are casually, cynically redacted by the ‘genocide’ obsessives.

Two alternative experts, writing in the Jerusalem Post, have reminded us of another truth overlooked by the IAGS – that Israel has ‘facilitated a large volume of humanitarian assistance’ for Gaza. It has ‘helped [to] vaccinate children in Gaza’ as well as delivering medical equipment and fuel for hospitals. People can debate, if they like, whether Israel has done this stuff well or not. But the idea that a ‘genocidal’ state would try to attend to the food and health needs of the people it is genociding is so absurd that it deserves nothing but the most savage ridicule.

The events of last week confirmed that misinformation is the rotten soil in which the genocide lie has taken root. Will it die off now? Not right away. Too many people now accrue their thin sense of virtue through propagating this nonsense so that they might pose as warriors ‘on the right side of history’. Indeed, falsely accusing the Jewish nation of genocide is fast becoming the most conformist cry of the cultural establishment, so much so that they will unceremoniously cast you out as a ‘denier’ if you dare to demur from their ideological loathing for the Jewish nation that they have the gall to doll up as ‘scholarship’ or ‘activism’. But the lie has certainly taken a beating. The truth is crying out for a fair hearing. Let’s listen.
UK Foreign Office: Israel not committing genocide in Gaza
David Lammy has said an assessment carried out by the Foreign Office has concluded Israel’s actions in Gaza did not constitute “genocide.”

The former Foreign Secretary wrote to the chair of the International Development Committee last week when he was still in the post.

He said:”“As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’. The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”

Committee chair Sarah Champion had written to Lammy repeating claims that the UK’s policy of continuing to supply parts for F-35 fighter jets that have indirectly been sent to Israel was aiding genocide in Gaza.

The Times reports that Lammy said the government had “carefully considered” the question of genocide.

While it could not conclude Israel was guilty of this, he described the war in Gaza as “utterly appalling” and added far too many women and children had been killed.


Hundreds of academics call on genocide scholars group to retract declaration of genocide in Gaza
Nearly 200 genocide, Holocaust and legal scholars are calling on the International Association of Genocide Scholars to retract its resolution finding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

In a letter finalised on Friday, the scholars charge the association with “critical errors” in its resolution, including failing to consider Hamas’ role in the deaths in Gaza and whether any explanation other than an intent to harm an entire group can explain the crisis there.

“It is critical that we not water down the legal elements of genocide for the purpose of advancing ideological positions and bias,” the letter says. “Holocaust and genocide scholars can have legitimate concerns about Israeli conduct in Gaza without working to disparage the very legal standards that exist to protect people from these crimes.”

The letter’s signatories include former U.S. Department of Justice war crime prosecutor Eli M. Rosenbaum, former Hague legal fellow Isaac Amon; the Holocaust Museum of South Florida; and the pro-Israel attorney Alan Dershowitz, as well as several Holocaust educators and survivors’ children.

The letter represents an escalation of criticism of IAGS since its widely publicized resolution announced on Monday. In a volley of op-eds and elsewhere, the critics lambasted the group’s membership and low voter turnout as suggesting a scholarly consensus that did not exist.

On Thursday, IAGS responded to the criticism, writing in a lengthy statement that its membership inbox had been spammed with messages employing fake names including “Adolf Hitler” and email addresses such as “f—kiags@retards.”

“The IAGS general email and members of the Executive Board have received a great deal of abusive hate mail and social media posts this week,” the statement read. “Such responses are clearly unacceptable, and create an environment of harassment, bullying, and abuse.”

Accusations that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza have long been launched against the country over its nearly two-year war in the enclave, and have gained traction even among some of Israel’s staunchest supporters in recent months as Israel has continued its offensive following the end of a ceasefire earlier this year. Israel rejects the allegation and condemned the IAGS resolution as an “embarrassment to the legal profession and to any academic standard.”


MEMRI: Israel Has Thwarted The Iranian ICBM Threat To The U.S. Several Times, Beginning In 2011: A Two-Decade Review
Iran's Revival Of Its Long-Range Missile Program And Iranian Threats To Senior U.S. Officials
In June 2004, media reported that Iran had resumed its project to build the Shehab 4 and Shehab 5 long-range missiles that constitute a threat to Europe and the U.S. The order to do so was issued by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

According to a military source in Iran's Defense Ministry in 2004, "at a meeting last week [early June 2004] with commanders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), it was [reported] that [Iran's] Defense Ministry had received $1 billion to revive the project of the Shehab 4 [2,500-km range] and Shehab 5... whose range is 4,900-5,300 km."[1]

Senior Iranian officials close to the IRGC have been voicing concrete threats about missile strikes against the U.S. or Europe since 2004. Hassan Abbasi, an IRGC theoretician who was then head of its Center for Borderless Security Doctrinal Analysis, spoke in May 2004 about a plan to eliminate Anglo-Saxon civilization by firing missiles at "29 sensitive targets in the U.S. and the West" and that these sites had already been identified by Iranian intelligence. Pointing out that Iran had "identified and spied on" these 29 sites, "with the aim of bombing them," he said:

"It is our intention to [cause] the explosion of 6,000 American nuclear warheads [in the U.S.]. We have identified [29] weak points and passed on the information about them to the guerrilla organizations, and we are operating through them."

Adding, "We have also established a department for Britain, and the discussion about its collapse is on our agenda," he stressed: "We are also working with Mexicans, Argentineans, and anyone who has a problem with the United States."[2]

According to another report, Abbasi said: "We are defending the [line of] violence and war against the enemies of revolutionary Islam. I am proud of my actions, that are causing anxiety and fear among Americans... We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization and for uprooting the Americans and the English. Our missiles are now ready to strike their civilization, and as soon as the orders from the Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei] arrive, we will launch our missiles at their cities and facilities...

"[But] because of the [Iranian president Mohammad] Khatami's policy, and his 'Dialogue Among Civilizations' initiative, we have been forced to suspend our programs... and now we are [again] about to carry out the plan... The global front of unbelief is the front against Allah and the Muslims, and we must use everything we have to attack this front, by means of our suicide operations or by means of our missiles." (See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 723, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Official Threatens Suicide Operations: 'Our Missiles Are Ready to Strike at Anglo-Saxon Culture… There Are 29 Sensitive Sites in the U.S. and the West', May 28, 2004; Inquiry and Analysis No. 181, The Internal Debate in Iran: How to Respond to Western Pressure Regarding Its Nuclear Program, June 17, 2004.)

The Iranian ballistic missile threat to the U.S. is also from medium-range (up to 3,000 kilometers) missiles, which Israel has also thwarted over the years. On August 19, 2025, Majlis National Security Council member Hayat Moqaddam, a former senior IRGC officer and head of Iran's National Security Research Center, told Didiban Iran in an interview that for the past 20 years the IRGC Aerospace Force had been working to target Washington, New York, and other U.S. cities by missiles launched from the sea.[3]
Legal Violations, Sanctions Circumvention, and the Erosion of International CounterTerrorism Architecture
Conclusion
The evidence presented in this article demonstrates that France has systematically violated its domestic and international legal obligations through extensive funding of organizations with documented connections to designated terrorist entities. These violations are not inadvertent oversights but represent a deliberate pattern of conduct designed to support anti-Israel organizations while maintaining plausible deniability.

The Al-Haq Europe circumvention scheme, facilitated by French government funding, represents a paradigmatic case of state complicity in terrorism financing. The establishment of European entities to evade international sanctions, combined with continued French financial support, demonstrates the urgent need for enhanced international cooperation in counter-terrorism enforcement.

France’s diplomatic hostility toward Israel, manifested through systematic funding of BDS organizations and recognition of Palestinian statehood, creates a context that explains these legal violations. However, geopolitical considerations cannot justify violations of fundamental counter-terrorism obligations that undermine international security and legal stability.

The international community must respond to these violations through coordinated legal, diplomatic, and economic measures designed to ensure French compliance with established counter-terrorism standards. The precedent established by French conduct threatens to undermine the entire international framework for combating terrorism financing, making decisive action essential to preserve the integrity of global counter-terrorism cooperation. State responsibility for terrorism financing cannot be evaded by using intermediary organizations or making claims of humanitarian purpose. France’s systematic legal violations demonstrate the continuing relevance of international legal mechanisms designed to hold states accountable for their complicity in terrorist activities, regardless of the political motivations underlying such support.
Stephen Pollard: Starmer discusses statecraft with a leader who funds terrorists
Were I to be more formal I should call him Dr Abbas, since he has a doctorate in Holocaust denial. Not in the study of Holocaust denial, that is, but a doctorate pushing actual Holocaust denial. But no matter how unsavoury Abbas may be, were Sir Keir merely welcoming him to London for general talks on the current situation in the region, the prime minister would be doing the job for which we pay him. Except that’s not why Abbas is here or what Sir Keir is primarily discussing with him.

He is here, of course, for talks about the imminent recognition of a Palestinian state by the UK government, which has rightly been described as a reward to Hamas for October 7. (Don’t be taken in by the sophistry that there is some kind of decision still to be taken about this; the UK will definitely be recognising a Palestinian state at or before the UN General Assembly later this month. It is too cowed by its fear of those Muslims who vote along sectarian lines not to go ahead.)

Contrast this welcome for Abbas, leader of an authority which inculcates and rewards terrorists, with the UK’s policy towards the leader of a nation still described (at least nominally) as an ally, which was the victim of the largest single massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and which is fighting to disable and destroy the terror networks in the Middle East.

Israel has taken out Iran’s nuclear programme, has defanged Hezbollah and is in the midst of removing the threat of Hamas. How has the UK responded to this? By blocking some arms exports to Israel, by re-funding UNRWA, the UN body which employed some of the terrorists who took part in Hamas’ massacre on October 7 2023, and by backing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defence minister.

In other words, while the UK rolls out the diplomatic red carpet for Abbas, its attitude to the leader of its supposed ally is that he should be arrested if he sets foot here. The contrast could not be more stark or more telling, or the conclusions anyone genuinely concerned with tackling terror in the Middle East more obvious.
Spain recalls amb. to Israel for consulations after Sa'ar makes antisemitism accusations
Spain's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations, hours after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar accused the Spanish government of "antisemitism," following its new measures against Israel-bound ships and aircraft over the war in Gaza.

"At the very same time that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez attacked Israel, Palestinian terrorists attacked and murdered six Israelis, among them Yaakov Pinto, a new immigrant from Spain."

"Sánchez and his twisted ministers, who justified the October 7 massacre, have long since chosen to stand with Hamas and against Israel. Disgraceful!"

In his statement, Sa'ar also said the government used the measures to divert public attention from corruption scandals.

On Saturday, the Spanish government planned to approve sanctions against Israel at the next Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday, El País reported. Spain working to implement arms embargo on Israel The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Sumar electoral alliance in Spain have been reportedly working to implement an arms embargo on Israel.


LA Holocaust museum deletes post saying ‘never again’ can’t only be about Jews
Holocaust Museum LA stated that it removed what it called a “pre-planned social media campaign intended to promote inclusivity and community,” because the post was “easily open to misinterpretation by some to be a political statement reflecting the ongoing situation in the Middle East.”

“That was not our intent,” the museum said. “It has been removed to avoid any further confusion. We promise to do better, and we will ensure that posts in the future are more thoughtfully designed and thoroughly vetted.”

Other users shared screen captures of the since-deleted post, which stated that “‘Never again’ can’t only mean never again for Jews.”

Holocaust museums, many of which have decried claims that Israel is guilty of “genocide,” have been criticized for attempting to universalize the Holocaust.

“The urge to ‘universalize’—that is, to hitch Jewish experience to the wagon of ‘tikkun olam,’ or healing the world, is a glaring reality in Jewish museums generally and in museums on the Holocaust in particular,” wrote Walter Reich, Yitzhak Rabin memorial professor of international affairs, ethics and human behavior and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at George Washington University professor, in Mosaic magazine in 2016.

“But intolerance isn’t what animated Hitler to murder the Jews,” added Reich, a former U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum director. “What animated him was a vicious form of antisemitism.”
Democratic Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner Compared Terrorists to ‘Freedom Fighters’ in Post 9/11 Op-Ed
Graham Platner, a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, defended terrorist groups in a post-9/11 newspaper op-ed, arguing "one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter" and lamenting that "every terrorist is portrayed as evil."

Platner, a Marine veteran running against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, was in high school when he co-wrote an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News that chastised media outlets for ignoring the motivations of terrorist groups in order "to appease the nation’s newfound sense of patriotism."

In the Nov. 25, 2002, article, Platner and his comrades said media outlets often provide an "incomplete story" of terrorist acts. They took issue with "incomplete coverage" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "where a sometimes-oppressive Israeli state can be, and often is, portrayed as a victim." And news outlets failed to discuss the "motivations" of Chechen rebels who weeks earlier took hundreds of hostages in a Moscow theater to pressure Russia to withdraw from Chechnya.

While the students said they did not condone terrorist attacks on the United States, Israel, or Russia, they asserted ending "terrorist actions is best achieved by understanding the circumstances under which they were committed."

Those sympathetic views emerge as Platner gains momentum in the Maine Senate race, which could determine which party controls the upper chamber. Platner has landed an endorsement from democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), giving Platner a significant boost in the race against five other Democratic contenders.

Platner, who currently runs an oyster farm, has already faced scrutiny for anti-Israel rhetoric and criticism of American foreign policy. He accuses Israel of genocide in its war against Hamas, but has not publicly condemned the Islamist terrorist group, which slaughtered 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. He has criticized Collins for taking campaign donations from the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee, saying in a Facebook ad it is "an endorsement I will never get. Because what is happening right now in Gaza is a genocide."
Zohran Mamdani says he’d keep NYC out of Israel Bonds investment if elected mayor
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, has said that if elected, he will oppose restoring the city’s historic investments in Israel Bonds.

The city’s investments in Israel Bonds — totaling some $39 million as of January 2022 — were not renewed when they matured in 2023. The decision was made by Mamdani’s ally, city comptroller Brad Lander, who cited a general policy of avoiding debt to foreign governments, saying Israel had been an exception and was now being treated in accordance with the rule.

In an interview with CBS New York broadcast Sunday, Mamdani stopped short of calling to divest from Israeli businesses, though he did not explicitly reject the position, either, saying the city should focus on where it is “directly implicated” in violations of international law.

“And in the city pension fund, purchasing Israel Bonds, that, to me, is something that is a clear indication of our values — and we know that our values are actually with international law,” he said.

In a July letter to New York Mayor Eric Adams, Lander said that as of May 2025, the city’s public pension systems held more than $315 million in Israeli assets other than Israel Bonds, mostly common stocks.

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, has alarmed much of the New York business and Jewish communities as well as some within the Democratic Party with his left-wing and anti-Israel views. Election Day is November 4.

Mark Levine, the Democratic nominee for comptroller, has said he will restore the bonds, and confirmed after the comment from Mamdani — whom he has endorsed — that he still intends to do so if elected.


Al Jazeera-Trained Video Editor for Local NYC Television Station Has Canvassed for Mamdani, Compared Trump's US to Nazi Germany
An Al Jazeera-trained video editor for New York City’s local PIX 11 television station has canvassed for Zohran Mamdani and taken a starring role in promotional material for the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York.

Joshua Kaitan Lucas, whose LinkedIn page shows that he has worked for PIX 11 since May 2024, posted a video on Instagram in June of this year ahead of the Democratic mayoral primary, exhorting his followers to vote for Mamdani and asking them not to rank former New York governor Andrew Cuomo on their ballots.

"Don’t rank Cuomo," Lucas said in the post, in which he tagged Mamdani. "Cuomo has received seven-figure donations from corporations and MAGA donors."

He tagged Mamdani in another post from March 12 of this year, writing, "The world can be what we make it."

Lucas has also appeared on Mamdani’s social media accounts. The nominee, currently a New York state assemblyman, posted a photo with several canvassers on Aug. 17 that featured Lucas posing right next to him.

PIX 11, though owned by Mission Media, is operated by Nexstar Media Group—which, according to several pages on its website, prohibits political activity among its journalists.

"Contacts with government officials, whether direct or indirect, shall at all times be maintained as proper business relationships," Nexstar’s code of business conduct reads. "These contacts must never suggest a compromise of objectivity of such persons or cast doubt on the Company’s integrity."

A letter from Nexstar management in a 2022 report touts the company’s decision to "codify a policy prohibiting journalists and news personnel from making political contributions or participating in local, state, and national politics."

Another section in the same report, titled "journalistic integrity," maintains that Nexstar reporters and editors "put [their] personal biases aside to approach the topics [they] cover with balance," adding that "Nexstar journalists at all levels refrain from political activity."


UN Palestinian Rights Envoy Sued Over ‘Defamatory, Derogatory, and Hateful’ Legal Campaign Against Pro-Israel Nonprofits
U.N. Palestinian rights envoy Francesca Albanese was sued in federal court on Monday for waging a "defamatory, derogatory, and hateful" legal campaign against two pro-Israel nonprofit groups, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The case has the potential to challenge Albanese’s diplomatic immunity and open the door for further lawsuits.

The Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and Christians for Israel—two U.S.-based nonprofits that work to foster closer ties between American and Israeli communities—allege Albanese, whose formal title is U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, "knowingly spread malicious lies" when she threatened them earlier this year with potential "criminal liability" for their work in support of the Jewish state. Both nonprofit groups say Albanese’s lawfare campaign harmed "their reputations and financial wellbeing" and warrant "compensatory and punitive damages."

The lawsuit stems from a series of "threatening letters" Albanese sent to corporations and nonprofits across the globe over the summer in which she warned organizations to cut business ties with Israel or face legal repercussions. The intimidation campaign drew a private rebuke from the Trump administration in April, which formally petitioned the United Nations to fire Albanese, and played a role in the State Department’s subsequent decision to sanction her for waging an "illegitimate and shameful" anti-Israel crusade.

The first-of-its-kind lawsuit takes aim at Albanese’s diplomatic immunity, which plaintiffs believe the official has abused.

The pro-Israel groups argue Albanese violated the United Nations' Code of Conduct by spreading "Jew-hatred" in numerous public spaces over the years. Her legal campaign also took place during a time when her role as a special rapporteur had lapsed, meaning her diplomatic immunity had expired as well, plaintiffs allege.

Albanese’s position was up for renewal by the United Nations during the time she issued the legal threats and compiled the July report. The United Nations only voted to reinstall her in April 2025, after the letters had been sent and multiple nations, including the United States, objected to her continued employment.

Albanese’s mandate "legally expired on April 30, 2025 and she held neither official UN status nor any arguable immunity as of May 1, 2025," the plaintiffs argue. "Though published under the guise of an official UNHRC report, [Albanese’s] appointment as Special Rapporteur had legally expired prior to the Report’s publication in June."

Should the two nonprofit groups succeed, they could set the stage for other American entities named in Albanese’s report to sue for defamation. The Trump administration’s Justice Department formally warned Albanese of those potential consequences earlier this year, telling the U.N. staffer her legal campaign was "defamatory, dangerous, and a flagrant abuse of [her] office."

Now, an American court will decide whether that is the case.


Exclusive: Berlin’s mayor slams city’s university for hosting Francesca Albanese on Gaza ‘genocide’ panel
The mayor of Berlin has condemned a Berlin university’s decision to host Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories saying the city should not tolerate “hate, or inflammatory rhetoric in his city.

The Free University of Berlin, the German capital’s second-largest university, has invited Albanese, despite backlash from city officials.

In a statement to the JC, Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner, said: “Berlin’s universities are places for teaching and research, but they also impart values. We do not tolerate antisemitism on our university campuses.

“For this reason, an appearance there by the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, who has repeatedly displayed hatred of Israel and minimized the role of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, is out of the question. I expect the Freie Universität to send a clear message against antisemitism.”

Rich Goldberg, a senior advisor at The Foundation for Defence of Democracies (FDD) who previously served on the White House National Security Council – has suggested the university could be violating US sanctions by hosting Albanese.

Speaking to the JC, he said: “Hopefully every party involved in this event has a very good sanctions lawyer because there are multiple ways in which they could tripping U.S. sanctions wires.

“Is she getting an honorarium? Is someone reimbursing her travel? Is there any other kind of transaction involved? If they aren’t careful, they'll be the next entities sanctioned for material support to a designated person.”

Albanese is due to speak on a panel titled Forensic and Counter-Forensic Approaches to Reconstructing International Law – A Cartography and Anatomy of Genocide in a pre-conference workshop of the European Society of International Law’s (ESIL) annual conference, being held at the Free University from 10 – 13 September.

According to ESIL, “this workshop will examine the interplay between legal and forensic analysis of the crime of genocide in Gaza.

“It will explore how forensic investigations – including satellite imagery, open-source intelligence, digital modeling, and counter-mapping – reshape evidentiary practices and redefine accountability in international law.”


House hearing to address ways labor laws ‘warped’ to advance Jew-hatred
Witnesses at a Sept. 9 hearing on Capitol Hill will address ways that “unions are escalating antisemitic discrimination by protecting antisemitic workers instead of protecting Jewish ones,” a spokesman for the House Committee on Education and Workforce told JNS.

The House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions plans to hold the hearing, titled “Unmasking Union Antisemitism,” on Sept. 9 in the Rayburn Office Building.

Scheduled to testify are attorneys Kyle Koeppel Mann (New York Legal Assistance Group) and Glenn Taubman (National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation); Cornell University doctoral candidate David Rubinstein; and Joseph McCartin, professor and executive director of Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor.

“Unions are defending students, who disrupt campus proceedings or make Jewish students feel unsafe, instead of calling out or condemning antisemitic behavior,” the spokesman told JNS. “Unions have also filed lawsuits against employers, who try to ban antisemitic rhetoric in the workplace.”

Republicans on the House panel believe that “labor laws meant to protect organizing efforts are now being warped to extend protections to non-union related activities and advance antisemitic harassment,” the spokesman said.

Sara Robertson, press secretary for the House committee, told JNS that the hearing aims to “demonstrate that antisemitism is not just a college campus problem.”

“It has infected workplaces, and unions are actively defending these behaviors while forcing Jewish members to pay dues,” she said.
TUC leader accuses Netanyahu of committing genocide in Gaza
The General Secretary of the TUC has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of committing genocide in Gaza in his keynote speech to the annual conference.

To applause, the TUC leader Paul Nowak said: “Congress, Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups are clear.

“Amnesty International is clear. Medicine San Frontier is clear. And I think we should be clear as well. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is committing genocide in Gaza”.

In a speech at the conference in Brighton, which did not reference the terror attack in Jerusalem that same morning, Nowak also called for the immediate recognition of the State of Palestine, adding, “because you cannot, you cannot have a two-state solution without a safe, secure and free Palestine”.

Nowak said he wished to reiterate the TUC’s stance on the Gaza conflict, which calls for a “permanent cease fire, the release of all hostages and all Palestinian political prisoners”.

Shaher Saed, the general secretary of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions

He also backed the suspension of the UK trade deal with Israel, tougher sanctions, a ban on imports from the occupied territories, respect for international law and the end of licenses for the arms trade with Israel.
1,800 actors and filmmakers vow to boycott Israeli movie industry
More than 1,800 film industry figures, including major Hollywood actors, vowed to boycott Israeli cinema bodies they claimed were “implicated in genocide” in Gaza, in an open letter published Monday.

“We pledge not to screen films, appear at, or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions — including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters, and production companies — that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” read the letter published in The Guardian newspaper.

The signatories included British stars Olivia Colman, Riz Ahmed, Aimee Lou Wood, Josh O’Connor, Tilda Swinton and Joe Alwyn (the latter of whom had a supporting role in the recent post-Holocaust drama “The Brutalist”); American actors Mark Ruffalo, Emma Stone, Ayo Edebiri and Cynthia Nixon; Spanish actor Javier Bardem; Mexican filmmaker Gael García Bernal; and filmmakers Ken Loach, Yorgos Lanthimos, Adam McKay and Ava DuVernay (the latter’s film “Origin” compared Nazi rule to slavery and global caste systems.)

They join several progressive Jews who have long been vocal pro-Palestinian activists, including Ilana Glazer, Hannah Einbinder, Emma Seligman and Wallace Shawn.

The letter, organized by the group Film Workers for Palestine, said it was inspired by filmmakers who had refused to screen their work in apartheid South Africa.

The pledge is distinct from other previous arts and culture Israel boycotts in naming specific Israeli cultural institutions that the letter’s signatories are boycotting. Those include major Israeli film festivals like the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, Docaviv and TLVfest.


Spain Follows Slovenia in Threatening to Withdraw From 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel Participates
Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has joined Slovenia’s national broadcaster in threatening to withdraw their country’s participation in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) if Israel is not banned because of its military actions in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Urtasun appeared Monday morning on the Spanish news show “La hora de La 1 on TVE” and reminded viewers that in May, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the ESC, to ban Israel from the international competition. Urtasun said on Monday that if Israel participated in the ESC “and we fail to expel it, measures will have to be taken,” as cited by the Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia. He said he believes Israel’s participation in the contest cannot be normalized and tolerated.

Urtasun, who is also a spokesperson for Spain’s left-wing alliance Sumar, additionally denied that it is antisemitic to denounce the so-called “genocide” taking place in Gaza and described Israel as a “genocidal government.” He also said he feels pride over Israel’s decision to ban Spanish Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz and Minister of Childhood and Youth Sira Rego from entering the Jewish state because of their antisemitic statements and criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced the sanctions early Monday against the Spanish politicians because of their “anti-Israel and antisemitic” comments and “support for terrorism and violence against Israelis.” Spain has condemned the move in a released statement. Sanchez is a longtime critic of Israel, and last year called for Israel to be excluded from all international cultural events, including the Eurovision, because of its military campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE will ultimately make the final decision regarding Spain’s withdrawal from the ESC.
Jewish Voice for Peace Members Form New, More Radical Anti-Zionist Student Group
Some college students affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), an anti-Israel organization that has helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza, have announced that they are forming a new group, citing dissatisfaction with what they described as JVP’s insufficient efforts to “dismantle Zionism.”

The students announced on social media on Sunday the formation of the Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front, an organization which they claim will take a more adversarial stance toward Zionism on campus.

“We work to dismantle Zionism in its entirety by confronting Zionist institutions on campus, to struggle for divestment, and to pursue the criminalization of Zionism as a white supremacist weapon of war,” the Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front wrote on Instagram.

The group characterized the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel as a form of legitimate “resistance” and declared the Israeli military response as a “horrific expansion of the Zionist project” and a supposed “genocide.”

“In one month, we also mark two years of the strongest sustained resistance by the might of Palestinian journalists, doctors, men, women, and children, refusing to abandon national liberation and continuously defying vicious onslaught, backed by American dollars,” the group continued.

The Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front claimed that it adheres to the Thawabit, a Palestinian nationalist framework that includes the so-called “right of return” for millions of Palestinians and their descendants to Israel, claims to Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital, and explicit support for “resistance” against the Jewish state. Palestinian leaders and activists have described the Thawabit as a set of principles aimed at eliminating Israel and establishing a Palestinian state in its place.


Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Journalists Attacked – By Whom?
Reporters Without Borders also ignored allegations that many of the Palestinian journalists targeted by the Israel Defense Forces were affiliated with Hamas and other terror groups.

The silence of the international community has empowered Hamas to get rid of most of its political critics, as well as journalists who dared to criticize the terror group and its leaders. Consequently, the only Palestinian journalists who were free to operate in the Gaza Strip for nearly the past two decades were those working for Qatar's Al-Jazeera (Arabic) television empire, serving as Hamas's unofficial mouthpiece, or those whose reporting was limited to attacking and smearing Israel.

Several international news agency journalists received telephone threats and warnings against covering Hamas' suppression of the protests.

Those who continue to ignore Hamas atrocities and human rights abuses against Palestinians are doing a great disservice to the Palestinians: they are allowing Hamas to get away with its crimes against its own people.


Censored tweet:
I realize it looks the same, but this footage is new from today.
The use of children in propaganda, injured or not, is appalling—and paramedics should refuse to be part of it.




UN nuclear watchdog warns Iran time running out for talks on inspections
Time is running out in talks between the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran on how to fully resume inspections in the Islamic Republic, the watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday, adding that he hoped the discussions would conclude within days.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has not had access to Iran’s key nuclear facilities since the United States and Israel bombed them in June. Iran passed a law after the attacks suspending cooperation with the IAEA and saying any inspections had to be approved by its Supreme National Security Council.

The IAEA and Iran are now in talks on the “modalities” of a full resumption of inspections, though Grossi says that does not alter Iran’s duty to allow verification measures such as inspections as a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“There is still time, but not much. Always enough when there is good faith and a clear sense of responsibility,” Grossi said in a statement to a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors.

“Progress has been made. It is my sincere hope that within the next few days it will be possible to come to a successful conclusion of these discussions in order to facilitate the resumption, the full resumption, of our indispensable work with Iran,” he added.

Their talks are taking place against the backdrop of Europe’s top three powers having initiated a 30-day process on August 28 to re-impose sanctions on Iran. The curbs were lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that unraveled after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of it in 2018.


Swiss medics launch anti-Israel hunger strike over Gaza outside parliament in Bern
Swiss medics began a hunger protest outside parliament on Monday over the Gaza war, pressing Bern to take a more critical stance toward Israel, as the UN rights chief accused the country of engaging in “genocidal rhetoric” against Palestinians in the Strip and called for the “carnage” to end.

Switzerland has condemned some Israeli actions in the conflict, such as an attack on a hospital last month, but has held back from stronger steps sought by the protesters, such as imposing sanctions on Israel or recognizing a Palestinian state.

Medics have signed up to protest outside parliament in pairs wearing stethoscopes and medical tunics splashed with fake blood, taking turns in 24-hour fasts in a relay system throughout the September parliamentary session.

“A white tunic used to protect you. Today, if you want to save your life, you take it off, and that’s intolerable, and it’s intolerable we’re not reacting to that,” said Professor Pietro Majno-Hurst, a surgeon and member of the Swiss Healthcare Workers Against Genocide.

Israel has denied charges of genocide in Gaza and accused Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.

The protest in Switzerland follows actions in Swiss universities and other anti-Israel protests over the weekend.

“We can say the government is currently silent, inactive, I would say, fairly cowardly, and is very lacking in courage. And I think today, it’s time for a change,” said Professor Karl Blanchet, director of the Geneva Center of Humanitarian Studies, who is part of the protest.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Nicolas Bideau said Switzerland was “deeply concerned” by the humanitarian situation in Gaza and repeated calls for a ceasefire and for respect of international humanitarian law.

“The Federal Council believes that the recognition of a Palestinian state is part of the prospect of lasting peace based on the two-state solution,” he added.


Russell Crowe and Rami Malek captivate Toronto in historical drama ‘Nuremberg’
Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Rami Malek captivated their Toronto audience in historical drama “Nuremberg,” which received a roaring four-minute standing ovation after its world premiere on Sunday.

Director James Vanderbilt’s film chronicles the eponymous war crimes trials of 22 major Nazi figures after the end of World War II.

Crowe plays the role of infamous German Nazi leader Hermann Göring, while Malek portrays US Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, who is assigned the task of evaluating him and other Nazi captives.

“There have been a lot of World War II movies but there haven’t been a lot of post World War II movies,” Vanderbilt told Reuters on the red carpet ahead of the premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

He said having an all-star cast that also includes Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant, John Slattery and Leo Woodall, made working on the project easier, which is based on Jack El-Hai’s 2013 non-fiction book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist.”

Göring was a fascinating character to play, Crowe said, as he dipped into explaining the different stages of the Nazi leader’s life and ambitions, leading into the Nuremberg trials.

“You get to the end of the war, they decide there’s gonna be a trial. And Hermann, he still thinks he can talk his way out of this,” Crowe said.

Grant, who dons the role of British lawyer David Maxwell Fyfe, spoke of Vanderbilt’s exhaustive research on the topic.

“There wasn’t a question that anybody could ask that he didn’t have the answer to,” the English actor said.

The movie will be released in theaters in November.


Here I Am with Shai Davidai: From Anonymous Graffiti to Worldwide Fame | Episode 54: Nitzan Mintz & Dede Bandaid
In this episode of "Here I Am with Shai Davidai," Shai sits down with renowned Israeli street and gallery artists Nitzan Mintz and Dede, known for his iconic Band-Aid art. The conversation explores their creative journeys, the meaning behind Dede’s Band-Aid symbol, and how art became a tool for healing personal and collective trauma. Nitzan shares her story of turning poetry into public art as a way to process her own experiences, while Dede discusses the origins of his Band-Aid motif and its evolution from a personal symbol of PTSD recovery to a universal message of hope and connection. Together, they reflect on anonymity, artistic freedom, and the power of art to bring people together.

This season is dedicated to Shai’s grandmother, Leah Davidai, who passed away earlier this year. Sponsored in part by Iron Dome Coffee, visit www.irondomecoffee.com for an exclusive discount just for our listeners.


Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 41: The rise and fall of Ottoman Jewry with Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak
The first Jews to become subjects of the Ottoman Empire lived in Greek-speaking western Anatolia during the Ottoman conquests of the region in the early 1300s. The next seven centuries of Turkish-Jewish interaction were mostly a story of Turkish tolerance rooted in the Jews’ usefulness to the empire.

For example, when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492, Sultan Bayezid II sent his navy to offer them safe transport into his empire. The Jews were considered a talented and industrious population, so much so that Bayezid is reputed to have quipped about the Spanish expulsion of them, “You call Ferdinand a wise king, he who impoverishes his country and enriches mine!”

But this tolerance was always conditioned on the Jews’ subservient status as dhimmi, or protected class, under the Ottoman “millet” system.

In the 19th century, a series of reforms meant to strengthen the flagging empire in the face of growing European power instituted legal equality for minorities, broke down the old social hierarchies — and as with the removal of ghetto restrictions on the Jews of Europe, made the Jews’ situation more precarious.

In our first focused treatment of Sephardi Jewry, we dive into this history with Tel Aviv University historian Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, born in Istanbul and a scion of that centuries-old community.

This episode is sponsored by Jeff and Masha Gershman who asked that we share a story of Jewish bravery on or since 10/7 so that we all might be reminded not just of our pain and anxiety but also of our individual and collective strengh. In consultation with the Gershmans we chose to share the story of Nitai Meisels, one of the friends Rachel and I lost in Gaza. Master Sergeant (Res.) Nitai Meisels, 30, was killed on December 24, 2023 by an anti-tank missile fired at his tank in the Gaza Strip during a mission to locate hostages. He volunteered to be in the formation’s front tank.

Nitai is survived by his parents Ayala and Eitan, his sisters Adi and Oriya and brother Aviad and their spouses and children. This episode is publishing close to Nitai’s birthday on vav Tishrei on the Hebrew calendar, which falls this year on September 28. If Nitai had survived the fighting he would be turning 32 this year.




Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



AddToAny

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Search2

Hasbys!

Hasbys!

2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

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.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Show All

Blog Archive

Copyright © Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News | Powered by Blogger
Blogger Templates