Monday, September 29, 2025

09/29 Links Pt2: The Gaza flotilla: the Woke Man’s Burden; Charlie Kirk wrote of his ‘deep love’ for Israel in letter to Netanyahu; Daniel Loeb: If Israel was a share, I’d buy

From Ian:

Cotler-Wunsh resigns as antisemitism envoy citing lack of gov't strategy to combat hate
Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism Michal Cotler-Wunsh resigned from her volunteer position on Monday in response to the failures of the government to develop a strategy to combat rising global antisemitism and to engage with the issue and her office, according to a press release by the former Knesset member.

Cotler-Wunsh said that a few weeks ago, she had received a government proposal for “continued engagement” that didn’t reflect the challenges of antisemitism, recognize the imperative of the role, or implement a national strategy against antisemitism as part of the state’s foreign and security policy.

While Israel was engaged in an existential war, what the ex-envoy described as the eighth front of antisemitism was being waged “without a comprehensive strategy or authority that enables and equips to fight in the manner necessary.”

This included the recognition of the role of the antisemitism special envoy around the world and in Israel, said Cotler-Wunsh, who claimed to have repeatedly asked the Foreign Ministry to institutionalize the role. She claimed to have submitted several drafts for the establishment of infrastructure, including cross-ministerial and organizational collaborations.

Recommendations ignored
Cotler-Wunsh said that these recommendations, and others more broadly on the matter of antisemitism, were ignored as she unsuccessfully attempted to meet to update and engage with officials in the government, Knesset, ministries, and other institutions.

A few weeks after the outbreak of the war, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general allegedly informed Cotler-Wunsh that the originally agreed-upon arrangement and budget for her office was being cut and was no longer approved. Without a budget, the volunteer envoy’s efforts abroad were initiated by inviting parties as the sponsors of the projects.
The Jewish TikTok Plot By Abe Greenwald
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Anti-Semitism has a fascinating ability to commandeer the entirety of one’s thought process. When Jew-hating takes hold of you, not only does the Jew become the cause of all your problems; his evil handiwork can be seen in the most banal circumstance.

This makes anti-Semitism a merciless condition, as the Jew-hater can never give up the hunt for evidence of Jewish malfeasance. Anti-Semitism is the comprehensive, round-the-clock work of decoding reality to fit a fantastical script.

Take what happened online over the weekend. On Friday, after addressing the UN General Assembly, Benjamin Netanyahu met with some American social-media influencers and journalists in New York City and was asked about the very online, anti-Israel far right. Here’s the essence of his response:

They’re not any different from the woke left, I mean, they’re insane…. We have to secure that part of the base of our support in the United States that is being challenged systematically. A lot of this [anti-Israel propaganda] is done with money. Money of NGOs, vast money of governments…. We have to fight back. How do we fight back? Our influencers.… We’re going to have to use the tools of battle. The weapons change over time. You can’t fight today with swords. That doesn’t work very well. And you can’t fight with cavalry. That doesn’t work very well.… But we have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefields in which we’re engaged. And the most important ones are on social media. And the most important purchase that is going on right now is? TikTok. Number one. And I hope it goes through because it’s consequential.

If your mind hasn’t been hijacked by anti-Semitism, it’s clear that Bibi stated nothing more than the obvious: Anti-Israel social media has an outsize effect on public discussion owing to the monetary investments of foreign organizations and governments. Several independent investigations have revealed as much. And among the many anti-Western propaganda elements of TikTok’s algorithm is the promotion of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic content. So, yes, Netanyahu expressed “hope” that TikTok gets sold to Americans.

But if the Jew-hating parasite has taken hold of your faculties, you see all sorts of nefarious activity in Bibi’s comments. “Imagine any other national leader speaking to Americans like this,” posted one X user with more than a quarter-million followers. “Oh, you can't actually. Because no other nation thinks they have a right to dictate what we say or how we feel.” This anti-Israel zombie believes “I hope” means “I dictate.”
Khaled Abu Toameh: Thanks to the West's 'Useful Idiots,' Iran's Terror Proxies Celebrate Recognition of 'Palestinian State' by Moving Jihad to West Bank
The groups and their patrons in Tehran do not care if Palestinians in the West Bank are killed and displaced as a result of their terrorism. Iran's mullahs and their Palestinian proxies have only one thing in mind: murdering Jews and eliminating Israel.

Those Western countries [France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, among others]... have chosen to ignore that the PA is unwilling to confront the terror groups in the West Bank.

In the eyes of the Iranian regime, Hamas and PIJ, these moves could not have taken place were it not for the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.

"Why are the countries recognizing a Palestinian state today? Before October 7, did any country dare recognize a Palestinian state? The fruits of October 7 are what caused the entire world to open its eyes...." — Ghazi Hamad, senior Hamas official, to Qatar's Al-Jazeera, August 2, 2025.

Even if the war in the Gaza Strip ends, Qatar, Iran, Hamas and PIJ will never give up the fight to destroy Israel and replace it with a radical Islamist state. The attempt to transform the West Bank into a second base for jihad highlights that ending the war in the Gaza Strip will not end the dream of wiping Israel off the map.


Brendan O'Neill: The Gaza flotilla: the Woke Man’s Burden
In leftish circles there’s a palpable relish over the sailing of Western warships in the direction of Israel. ‘Wow’, cried Owen Jones. ‘Spain is offering direct military protection to the flotilla…. So what now, Israel?’ He sounds like those white-haired war hawks who said ‘Checkmate, Saddam’ when US frigates besieged the Persian Gulf in 1990. Novara Media could barely contain its excitement when Turkey joined the ‘protection’ of the flotilla. ‘Civilian boats now flanked by four warships from three different countries’, it crowed. And that’s a good thing? Warships in the Med? Next time a Blair-like leader puffs himself up as a ‘humanitarian’ as he engages in militaristic manoeuvres against a state that he’s branded evil, I don’t want to hear a word from the left – for that’s what they’re doing right now.

Of course, it is highly unlikely that Spanish, Italian or Turkish warships will cross into the 12 nautical miles off Israel that count as Israeli waters – however much the flotilla’s faux-hippies might desire such a disastrous ‘amping up’ of pressure. And yet even their accompaniment of the flotilla through the Med could cause a flare-up in diplomatic affairs. As the Middle East Forum points out, that literal ‘NATO warships’ are ‘escorting a flotilla’ that is on a ‘collision course… with the Israeli navy’ is a big problem. Imagine if the Armada de México, the second largest navy in Latin America, were to escort to the edge of American waters 52 boats packed with people who think America is the scummiest nation on Earth. The US would be pissed. Well, Israel has a right to be pissed, too.

The flotilla looks less like ‘a protest’ and more like a ‘provocation’, says the Middle East Forum – and one which, courtesy of those frigates and the activists’ call for more navies to join in, could have ‘military consequences’. It’s hard to disagree with this assessment. If the flotilla’s aim were merely to drop off aid to Palestinians, why would it so noisily savour the arrival of warships and dream of their sailing all the way to the shores of Israel-Gaza? We need cool heads. These Israelophobic sailors might want to ‘amp up the pressure’ but Israel should refuse to do so. It should calmly intercept their boats and send the passengers home.

The flotilla and its fevered war dreams expose the ugly truth about Israelophobia. This fashionable rage of the activist class dresses itself up as ‘anti-war’ but it positively pulsates with a warlike loathing for one tiny nation. They imperiously damn Israel as a ‘rogue state’, sounding more George W Bush than Mahatma Gandhi. Some even dream of its erasure. ‘From the river to the sea!’, they cry. Or even ‘We don’t want two states, we want ’48!’ – a call for a return to that apparently blissful era of 1948 before the modern State of Israel was founded. This isn’t peace activism – it’s a moralistic crusade fuelled by a rank Western chauvinism that views Israel as an uncivilised blot on our planet, as the savages of the modern era. A nation supposedly in the grip of ‘genocidal mania’ that only ‘external intervention’ can fix.

The unhinged language, the sheer animus, is indistinguishable from the ‘humanitarian’ calamities of the 2000s, when imperious forces in the West likewise branded states in the Middle East as vectors of human evil that our civilised armies had a duty to encroach on and defeat. Israelophobia is the Woke Man’s Burden, neo-colonial arrogance in the drag of pacifism. The truly progressive cry today is ‘Hands off Israel’. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and every wanker in the West – back off and leave the Jewish State alone.
Jake Wallis Simons: Greta’s Gaza flotilla is nothing but a ship of fools
Believe it or not, I happen to know one of the activists on Greta Thunberg’s ship of fools currently sailing for Gaza under a fluttering keffiyeh.

He’s a young chap called Kieran Andrieu, who describes himself as a “political economist”. We had a spat on television a few months back when he accused me of lusting after the deaths of children.

In a former life, Andrieu was “head of external relations” for Luftur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets, who was previously found guilty of electoral fraud, including religious intimidation and vote-rigging. Andrieu has since praised his “moral leadership”. Nice fellow.

Anyway, I can’t help but wonder which side Andrieu is on at the moment. I don’t mean in the conflict between the Middle East’s only democracy and its enemies – don’t be silly, now – but in the vicious war of equity, diversity and inclusion that is raging aboard the flotilla itself.

All is not well on the high seas. According to recent reports, Khaled Boujemaa, the Tunisian convoy coordinator, has lashed out against the LGBTQ+ activists, particularly a certain “communist queer militant”.

He wasn’t the only one. Mariem Meftah, another Muslim seafarer, also lamented the homosexuals aboard. “Being a ‘queer’ activist means touching on society’s values,” she complained, adding that the cause of Gaza was “sacred to us as Muslims”. Samir Elwafi, a Tunisian television personality, agreed.

As the woke-Muslim alliance began to eat itself, Greta Thunburg abandoned her captaincy in protest at the leadership committee’s tendency to communicate too much about internal affairs and not enough about the “genocide”...


Turkey saves activists from leaky ship, as Gaza-bound flotilla nears Israeli waters
Turkey helped evacuate activists aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla after one of the vessels broke down and began taking on water, organizers and the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported Monday.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg among its participants on some 50 boats, departed from Barcelona earlier this month, aiming to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver symbolic aid to the war-torn enclave. It expects to reach the Gaza Strip on Tuesday or Wednesday, if it is not turned away before then.

In a statement posted on Instagram, the flotilla organizers said the mission was temporarily halted after one of the ships, Johnny M, sustained a leak in its engine room.

“All participants have been safely transferred to another vessel. Some will be reassigned to other ships, while others will be brought ashore,” the statement said.

According to Anadolu, the vessel was located in international waters between Crete, Cyprus and Egypt when it issued a distress call early Monday.

Turkish authorities, including the Turkish Red Crescent, coordinated the evacuation effort.


‘Son of Hamas’ Calls for Israeli Counter-Flotilla to Block Gaza Convoy of ‘Terrorist Sympathizers’
Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, called on Israelis to mount a counter-flotilla against an international convoy seeking to breach the Gaza blockade, declaring: “This isn’t a protest; it’s malice. We’re not debating. We’re sailing.”

Known by his Shin Bet code name “The Green Prince,” Yousef took to X over the weekend, writing on Friday to urge hundreds of Israeli vessels to confront what he called “fifty boats draped in fake flags, packed with terrorist sympathizers.”

“Listen closely, Israeli boat owners – sea wolves, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters,” he wrote. “Fifty boats draped in fake flags, loaded with terror supporters, setting sail to smear us while our hostages rot.”

He said the flotilla was no act of protest but an act of hostility. “This isn’t a protest; it’s malice. We’re not debating. We’re sailing,” he continued. “Hundreds of hulls – yours, mine, every stern that’s tasted seawater – roaring at dawn, flags raised, horns blaring, screaming. No collisions – just presence: a blue-and-white wall for the hostages, for every Israeli still breathing.”

He called on Israelis to join in through a WhatsApp codeword. “Send ‘Noah’s Ark’ to WhatsApp for meeting points and details,” he instructed. “Bring diesel, bring pride, and the roar of a nation that doesn’t kneel.”

He followed up on Saturday with another post warning that the flotilla’s stated mission was a fraud. “The flotilla sails under the lie of baby formula for infants,” he wrote. “Behind it: the Muslim Brotherhood’s hidden agenda, deploying human shields to ignite a global crisis and paralyze Israel.”

He said the activists’ real role was to shield terrorists. “For two years straight they’ve denied the core crime — Hamas exploiting civilians as human shields since the start of the war, hiding behind them to dodge every strike, then crying ‘genocide’ as the city burns.”


Charlie Kirk wrote of his ‘deep love’ for Israel in letter to Netanyahu about how to counter rising opposition to the Jewish state in the US
Assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu how to counter “anti-Israel sentiment” among Gen Z and win the “information war” being waged against the Jewish state, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

Kirk wrote to Netanyahu in the May 2 missive that he was alarmed by “anti-Israel and anti-Semitic trends” hitting “record levels on social media” since one of his “greatest joys as a Christian is advocating for Israel and forming alliances with Jews in the fight to protect Judeo-Christian civilization.”

“My team and I have spent months analyzing these trends and debating ideas that could help you and your country pushback [sic] against these disturbing developments,” he said in the letter, reproduced in full below for the first time. “Anti-Israel sentiment can undermine American support for Israel.”

“The purpose of this letter is to lay out our concerns and outline potential remedies. Everything written here is from a place of deep love for Israel and the Jewish people,” added Kirk, who defended Israel when speaking on college campuses as part of his duties leading Turning Point USA, one of the nation’s largest conservative youth organizations.

“I think it’s important to be brutally honest with those you love. In my opinion, Israel is losing the information war and needs a ‘communications intervention.’”

Netanyahu first mentioned the letter in a Sept. 18 video address, eight days after Kirk, 31, was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University, to dispute “monstrous” falsehoods that Israel was somehow behind the killing.

Right-wing pundit Candace Owens and others have claimed that Kirk was being blackmailed into making firm defenses of Israel in public while questioning US support for the Jewish state privately. Pershing Square Capital Management boss Bill Ackman later published private text messages disputing the characterization.

In the letter, Kirk urged Netanyahu’s team to stop “subcontracting” rhetorical defenses of Israel to American surrogates — and pointed out that, as TPUSA’s main voice on American college campuses, he often felt like he was “defending Israel in public” more strenuously than the PM’s office from accusations and questions, including:
“Israel is an apartheid state.”
“Why does Israel conduct ethnic cleansing?”
“Why is America subsidizing Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people?”
“Is American aid helping to subsidize Israel’s free health care?”
“Israel and the Jews are running U.S. foreign policy.”
“Israel and Jews are responsible for 9/11.”
“Defending Israel is not in our U.S. national interest.”
“Why is Israel trying to drag us into a war in the Middle East?”


‘It’s f***ing epic’: Azealia Banks on touring Israel and why she loves Zionism and Jews
Azealia Banks has never been one to sit quietly while the world tells her what to do. This week, the rapper is boarding a plane to Israel, determined to defy the cultural boycotts against the Jewish state.

“Everyone has been on Israel’s d*** and talking s*** about Jews all summer, but nobody will talk to Jewish people,” she tells the JC in an expletive-filled interview from London ahead of her flight. “I'm really excited to go see a group and a fanbase of mine that I feel is underserved.”

For Banks, 34, known for her breakout single “212”, the idea of musicians influencing foreign policy is ridiculous. “Music listeners or musicians don't have any jurisdiction over war,” she said, and boycotts just mean “entire groups of people are cut off from music”.

“We already have sanctions on Russia, I can barely reach my Russian audience, and there's a war in Ukraine, so I can barely reach anyone there. I don't think that it's appropriate to keep trying to shut people off from music.”

It’s a refreshing take from an artist with 3.2 million monthly Spotify listeners, and comes less than a week after Icelandic singer Björk joined 400 musicians in the “No Music For Genocide” campaign, geo-blocking her catalogue from Israeli streaming services.

If artists are serious about this kind of action, Banks suggests, there are many more countries they should be targeting, and it would begin a never-ending cycle.

"Once you start trying to ban Russians or ban Israelis from listening to music, then there are so many people that need to be banned from music. I can't be that person because, honestly, the argument just wouldn't stand up.

“The entertainment industry should be the one industry that's left out of all of the sanctions and blockings. That's just what I believe.”

Despite her ardent belief in putting art above politics, Banks has repeatedly come up against the consequences of supporting the Jewish state. This summer, she cancelled two performances at UK festivals because, she claimed, the promoters “forced” her to say “free Palestine” and she has lost friendships and industry connections.
Israeli DJ cancelled by UK event company due to ‘concerns about his background’
An Israeli DJ well-known for his strong support of Israeli-Palestinian coexistence has had his performance cancelled by a UK events company because of what they termed “concerns about his background”, describing their “solidarity with the Palestinian struggle”.

Origins Sound had planned an event with Roi Perez, a popular Israeli DJ who was one of a number to have performed at Glastonbury this year. However, the company then posted on social media that they had “read the recent statement from Ravers for Palestine and want to be absolutely clear that as a collective, we firmly and unequivocally support Palestinian liberation. We do not want to take any action that undermines that struggle or risks platforming voices in ways that contribute to the ongoing genocide and Israel’s settler-colonial project.”

The screed from “Ravers for Palestine” said that Perez “is not ‘incidentally from Israel. He has served as a linchpin of its nightlife for many years – a convenor and connector, energetically developing and mediatising its scene and encouraging international acts to visit.”

It went on to say that Perez had organised an event in November 2023, and quoted from the event’s literature, which said that “the funds will directly help survivors and evacuees of the 7/10 massacre, unsheltered Bedouin communities, displaced Palestinian communities due to settler violence, queer Arabs in both Israel and Palestine in need of professional psycho-social counselling and other underserved groups.”

The ”ravers for Palestine” group bitterly criticised Perez for this, claiming that “This paragraph fully embodies the eliminationist project of liberal Zionism. The settler as innocent victim of senseless Native ‘massacre’. Caveated scraps available for the natives deemed recuperable or non-threatening: the ‘loyal’ Bedouin model minority, plus queers (ergo, Natives who aren’t at risk of producing more Natives).”

Perez, who is himself queer, is a long-time supporter of the LGBT community.
Ro Khanna Told Free Beacon He Would Reject Hamas at Anti-Israel Conference. He Railed Against AIPAC Instead.
Rep. Ro Khanna, the Silicon Valley Democrat eyeing a presidential run in 2028, told the Washington Free Beacon last week he planned to reject Hamas at a controversial Arab-American political convention in Michigan this weekend. He didn't, railing instead against Israel, AIPAC, and "right-wing" media in front of an audience that also heard from supporters of the terrorist group.

Khanna faced scrutiny last week ahead of an appearance at ArabCon, which featured multiple speakers who have praised Hamas and Hezbollah or made anti-Semitic remarks. Responding to those concerns, Khanna said he has "never been to a conference where I agree with every speaker," but that "speaking at ArabCon is important."

"I will discuss my efforts to recognize a Palestinian state without Hamas as part of a two state solution," Khanna told the Free Beacon. "Recognition of Palestinian statehood—alongside continued efforts to secure Israel's safety and guarantee its future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people—is essential to achieving peace."

But Khanna did not live up to that pledge at ArabCon, held in Dearborn, a predominantly Muslim and Arab suburb of Detroit that has been dubbed "America's jihad capital." Khanna did not mention Hamas or the terrorist group's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Nor did he call on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it took during the attack.

"Every other week I get AIPAC attacking me. Someone hasn't cued them in that every time they attack me my popularity goes up," said Khanna.

He said that Democratic leaders "are making us on the side of the pariah in world opinion."

"If this party does not have the moral clarity on issues of Gaza, on issues of Palestinian national aspirations and statehood, on issues of not having military weapons killing women and children and starving people in Gaza then we will not have the moral vision to win back the trust of the American people."

Khanna made a single reference to Israel's security, mentioning a letter he released last week that "recognizes Israel's security" as part of a two-state solution. Khanna has criticized Hamas's Oct. 7 attack before, but he did not share those sentiments with the ArabCon audience.

It is unclear why Khanna stayed silent about Hamas at ArabCon. But such criticism would have likely alienated the Dearborn audience, which Khanna sees as key to winning swing-state Michigan.
Former "Squad" Members Scheduled to Speak at Convention Featuring Editor That Employed Hamas Terrorist
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) has begun announcing speakers for its 18th Palestine Convention titled “Beyond Survival: Resisting Genocide,” set for November 27-29 at Tinley Park Convention Center in Chicago.

The convention lineup includes Ramzy Baroud, editor of The Palestine Chronicle, whose outlet employed a Hamas operative who held Israeli civilians captive in Gaza. Also scheduled to speak are former Representatives Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, both recently defeated “Squad” members who lost their Democratic primaries in 2024.

Baroud’s Legal Troubles and Alleged Terror Ties
Israeli hostage Almog Meir Jan, 22, was held by Abdallah Aljamal, a spokesman for the Hamas-run labor ministry in Gaza who has contributed to several news outlets in the past, and who was a correspondent for The Palestine Chronicle, which is run by Baroud’s nonprofit.

Baroud is also a senior fellow The Turkish Center for Islam and Global Affairs, which is led by Sami Al-Arian, who was convicted in 2006 for conspiracy to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

Public social media posts published by Baroud have including him celebrating Hamas Oct 7th massacre and sharing images that glorify members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), another designated terrorist organization.

Concerns Regarding Glorification of ‘Martyrs’
Adding to the controversy, AMP has promoted conference events including, “A rich program celebrating our martyrs & heroes” on social media, featuring an image of Anas Al-Sharif. The IDF confirmed that Al-Sharif was “head of a Hamas cell, responsible for facilitating and advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces” while simultaneously working as an Al Jazeera journalist. Al-Sharif was eliminated in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City in August 2025, with AMP’s promotional materials appearing to celebrate him as a heroic figure despite his terror activities.


Pro-Terror Rhetoric Dominates Second Annual ArabCon Conference in Dearborn
Stu Smith, an investigative journalist with the Manhattan Institute, has been documenting extremist rhetoric at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s (ADC) second annual ArabCon conference in Dearborn, Michigan, held from September 25-28, 2025.

Some of the most shocking moments Smith documented include Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) mocking conference critics by sarcastically asking attendees to “raise your hand if you’re a pro-terror radical,” attorney Ali Awad declaring “I donated all of the ticket sales to Gaza just to say a big f*ck you to all you Zionists,” and Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin attacking sitting Congress members as “devils who are supposed to be representing us but are representing a foreign country.” Revolutionary Calls and Attacks on Constitutional Law

The conference’s most incendiary moments revealed speakers promoting radicalism and calls for revolution against American institutions. Chris Smalls, the former Amazon Labor Union president, declared “we gotta escape this two-party plantation” and proclaimed “this is a revolution, but the revolution starts with yourself.”

Amy Greer, serving as lawyer for Mahmoud Khalil, called for the legal system to operate within a “liberatory framework” rather than constitutional principles. Smith identified this language as stemming from radical academic traditions and representing “the infusion of extreme leftist philosophy into law” that abandons impartial justice in favor of activist outcomes.

Mahmoud Khalil himself appeared at the conference, claiming he had been “deported twice” and revealing he was “set to start a career as a Palestine policy adviser for an organization at the UN” before his legal troubles began. Khalil reaffirmed that he will continue “advocating for the liberation of Palestine” regardless of his legal issues.

Praise for Convicted Terrorists and Extremist Figures
Perhaps most disturbing were speakers who openly praised individuals convicted of terrorism. Lara Sheehi, a psychology professor at the Doha Institute, lauded convicted terrorists Walid Daqqa, Georges Abdallah, and Khalida Jarrar — all of whom were members of the U.S.-designated Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization — as teachers who “have always taught us that the psychological terrain is a primary terrain for targeting.” She described their insights as valuable lessons about combating what she termed Zionism’s expansion into “our psychic space.”

Zahra Billoo of CAIR-SF Bay called attention to imprisoned Holy Land Foundation figures, stating “Who does deserve airtime is Ghassan Elashi, is Shukri Abu Baker. Like they are still behind bars. They’re like grandparents now.” The Holy Land Foundation leaders were convicted in 2008 of funneling millions to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, yet Billoo presented them as sympathetic elderly figures deserving public support rather than convicted criminals who financed terrorism.


Trump admin investigates California State University system over alleged mishandling of Jew-hatred
The Trump administration is investigating alleged mishandling of Jew-hatred at the California State University system, according to an email that Mildred Garcia, the public system’s chancellor, penned to the school’s community on Friday.

According to the email, which JNS viewed, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency, “initiated a systemwide antisemitism complaint” against the school and has contacted “some faculty and staff members across the system to review allegations of antisemitism and to speak with them about their experiences on campus.”

The university system “is and has always been committed to operating within all applicable state and federal law, and we will cooperate fully with both federal actions,” the chancellor wrote.

Amy Bentley-Smith, a spokeswoman for the chancellor’s office, told JNS that the university system “unequivocally condemns antisemitism and continues to comply with longstanding federal and state anti-discrimination laws, as well as CSU policies.”

The system “is committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful and supportive learning and working environment for all members of our community,” she said.
House ed panel demands answers from Harvard on campus Jew-hatred
Republicans on the Committee on Education and Workforce demanded answers from Harvard University on Monday about whether the school has created a hostile environment for Jews.

Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the committee, and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), chair of the House Republican Leadership, wrote to Harvard president Alan Garber about potential violations of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discriminating on the basis of race, color and national origin.

“Harvard does not appear to have disciplined, and instead has rewarded, two students who assaulted an Israeli Jewish student who was filming a ‘die-in’ protest on Oct. 18, 2023,” they wrote.

“To make matters worse, in April of this year, one of the attackers received a $65,000 fellowship through the Harvard Law Review to work at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group that even the Biden-Harris administration disavowed due to its virulent antisemitism,” they said.
Why Is Rutgers University Protecting Noura Erakat?
Jewish students face unprecedented hostility. Yet Noura Erakat—who defends Hamas and glorifies terrorists—remains a respected voice at one of America’s oldest universities and a frequent guest on mainstream media.

As the new academic year begins, we must confront a painful truth: what, if anything, has been done to stop the wave of antisemitism and extremism that swept through our campuses last year? Has faculty culture shifted? Have universities taken responsibility? Or are Jewish students once again returning to classrooms where intimidation is ignored and hate is quietly excused?

The picture grows clearer as more details emerge about Qatari funding of American universities. The rise of extremist voices has not been accidental. They were nurtured, financed, and elevated to shape the very discourse of higher education. Last year, those voices succeeded in spreading division and fear. This year, the question is whether universities, and the broader public, will finally find the will to confront them.

Nowhere is this failure more visible than at Rutgers University, where the case of Professor Noura Erakat shows just how little has truly changed.

Rutgers, one of the nation’s oldest and most influential public universities, boasts of its research and diversity. It is proud to educate tens of thousands and shape global conversations. Yet it has also become a place where Jewish students face hostility at levels not seen in decades.

The numbers are stark. During the 2024–2025 academic year, Jewish students nationwide endured a record 2,334 antisemitic incidents, according to Hillel International. That represents more than 500 additional cases compared to the prior year and nearly ten times the level recorded in 2022–2023. While physical assaults slightly declined, online harassment surged by 185 percent, a reflection of how hatred has adapted and spread through new channels.

At Rutgers, the crisis has been especially severe. Federal investigators reviewed more than 400 reports of hostile environments on campus during the 2023–2024 school year, of which 293 involved antisemitic or anti-Israel behavior. These ranged from vandalism and social media threats to disruptive protests at meetings with university officials. The U.S. Department of Education opened a Title VI investigation, concluding that Rutgers had likely failed to protect students from a toxic environment. The university settled, effectively conceding that the atmosphere on campus had crossed a dangerous line.

Into this hostile environment steps Noura Erakat, a Rutgers professor whose public presence has only grown more influential. Erakat is not simply a lecturer; she is a frequent United Nations speaker, a media commentator, and an activist whose words echo well beyond the classroom. But her record raises disturbing questions about the values Rutgers is endorsing by keeping her in its ranks.


Ship ablaze after being hit with projectile in Gulf of Aden, in likely Houthi attack
A likely missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels set a ship ablaze in the Gulf of Aden on Monday. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Local Yemeni media reported a possible ballistic missile launch from territory controlled by the Iran-backed terror group.

Shortly after, a ship in the Gulf of Aden some 235 kilometers (150 miles) off the coast of Aden reported seeing “a splash and smoke” in the distance, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported.

The UKMTO described the incident as an attack and urged ships in the area to exercise caution, as did the private security firm Ambrey.

Shortly after, the UKMTO said “a vessel has been hit by an unknown projectile.” It added: “The vessel is reported to be on fire.” Ambrey later acknowledged the strike as well, which mirrored an attack on September 23 that missed a ship.


Serbia arrests 11 citizens accused of stirring Jewish-Muslim hate in France, Germany
Serbian police have arrested 11 people over hate-motivated acts in France and Germany, including defacing Jewish sites and placing pigs’ heads near mosques, authorities said Monday.

The suspects, all Serbian, were allegedly trained by another Serbian, who is “currently on the run,” on “the instructions of a foreign intelligence service,” Serbia’s interior ministry said in a statement, without specifying the intelligence service’s nationality. “Their objective was also to spread ideas advocating and inciting hatred, discrimination and violence based on differences.”

France has launched a series of investigations in recent years into acts of vandalism linked to foreign interference, with many observers pointing the finger at Moscow. Those attacks have often targeted the country’s significant Jewish and Muslim communities, at a time of heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. European intelligence services have also thwarted Iran-backed terror plots against Jewish sites, including, reportedly, in France and Germany in 2024.

The heads of nine pigs, considered impure in Islam, were found in early September outside mosques in Paris and the surrounding region, sparking outrage and alarm over rising anti-Muslim hatred.

According to the Serbian interior ministry, between April and September, the group allegedly committed a number of attacks in Paris and its surroundings, including throwing green paint on the Holocaust Museum, several synagogues and a Jewish restaurant.

They also posted stickers with “genocidal” content and left pig heads near Muslim religious sites, some of which were tagged with French President Emmanuel Macron’s name.


Man who killed four, including two Jews, in Manhattan had brain disease, NYC coroner says
Shane Tamura, 27, of Las Vegas, who killed four people, including two Jewish women, in Manhattan on July 28, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease commonly referred to as CTE, according to the New York City medical examiner’s office.

“CTE has been found in the brains of people who played U.S. football and other contact sports, including boxing. It also may occur in military members who were exposed to explosive blasts,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “Symptoms of CTE are thought to include trouble with thinking and emotions, physical symptoms and other behaviors. It’s thought that symptoms develop years to decades after head trauma occurs.”

Among the changes observed in those with CTE are “impulsive behavior” and “aggression,” according to the clinic, a major medical center in Rochester, N.Y.

Tamura entered a building, which included the National Football League headquarters, on Park Avenue in Manhattan and fired multiple times with a rifle before killing himself. Wesley LePatner, 43, and Julia Hyman, 27, both of whom were Jewish, were among his victims.

Law enforcement has not stated publicly that there is any suspicion that the attacker targeted Jews. Didarul Islam, an off-duty police officer, and Aland Etienne, another security guard, were also killed.

Tamura stated in a suicide note that his mental illness might have been caused by CTE due to playing football. He asked that his brain be tested. On Friday, the medical examiner’s office stated that its findings “correspond with the classification of low-stage CTE, according to current consensus criteria.”

“The science around this condition continues to evolve, and the physical and mental manifestations of CTE remain under study,” the officer said.
'Dirty Jew, we will kill you': French man beaten while returning from mikveh
A 67-year-old Jewish man was assaulted in the French town of Yerres (Essonne) on Saturday morning, local media reported on Sunday evening.

According to reports, Gilles Cohen, who was wearing a kippah, was on his way back from the mikveh when he was ambushed from behind and beaten.

The attacker shouted "Dirty Jew, we will kill you!” before searching Cohen in an attempt to “find money and the keys to the synagogue.”

The Évry prosecutor's office told TF1-LCI that a passerby intervened and rescued Cohen.

Antoine Léaument, LFI MP for the constituency, said, "The insults uttered during this attack leave no doubt about his antisemitic motive. The perpetrator of this heinous attack must be found and tried."

Attack echoes many similar ones
Yonathan Arfi, the President of CRIF, noted that the attack echoes many similar ones, including attacks on rabbis in Orléans, Deauville, Neuilly, and Levallois in recent months.

"No one will uproot the Jews from France," he said. "But it is high time to uproot the antisemitism that is festering in society, using a conflict 3,000 km away as a pretext."

The Évry public prosecutor confirmed to TF1-LCI that an investigation is underway for attempted violent theft resulting in more than eight days of total incapacity for work, committed on religious grounds, and for death threats made on religious grounds.

"His eye is very, very swollen," Mendel Gourevitch, director of the yeshiva in Brunoy, a commune near Yerres, told AFP.

Gourevitch claimed that Cohen still had the courage to come and attend the Sunday morning service.
US sues over November anti-Israel protest outside New Jersey synagogue
The US Justice Department is suing anti-Israel organizations and demonstrators it accuses of intimidating Jewish worshipers at a New Jersey synagogue, using a US law that has traditionally been used against people blocking access to abortion clinics.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in New Jersey federal court, alleges that a November 13 protest against an event at a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, billed as a spiritual service and Israel real estate fair, escalated into violence.

Demonstrators physically assaulted some worshipers and chanted and used vuvuzelas — plastic trumpets sometimes used by soccer fans — to disrupt the event, according to the complaint.

The case was brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, a 1994 law that prohibits the use of force and physical obstruction to interfere with people at reproductive health centers or houses of worship.

The Justice Department has brought several cases against protesters who have obstructed abortion clinics, but the case appears to be the first time the law has been used to allege interference with religious worship, according to Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The practice of turning a blind eye to these attacks on houses of worship throughout the United States stops now,” Dhillon, who was nominated to the role by US President Donald Trump, told reporters at a press conference.


Daniel Loeb: If Israel was a share, I’d buy
The famed US investor and hedge fund manager spoke to “Globes” during a recent visit to Israel about the US economy, AI, his Israel investments, love of Judaism, and anti-Semitism.

US investor Daniel Loeb, owner of the Third Point hedge fund, has earned a reputation as an activist investor who is not afraid to share his opinion on his investments, even when they’re unpleasant to hear. Whether in letters to investors or in media interviews, he doesn’t spare those companies that made mistakes and lost his trust, but at the same time, explains how mistakes or failures have turned into investment opportunities. He also hasn’t shied away from organizational changes, changing management and in extreme cases, even waging legal warfare.

Recently, however, it seems like something has changed for this New York shark. Loeb, who has been on a journey to rediscover his Judaism , engages in philanthropy and has set up a fund to invest in startups. Consequently, he’s spent less time on fighting, softened his tone toward portfolio companies, and devoted more time to spiritual activity. It seems, too, that the criticism he received for selling tech stocks too early has been replaced by a significant AI acquisition strategy with Nvidia in the starring role.

Above all, the 2025 model Loeb is a man of contrasts: He grew up in a secular home in California, but now leads Torah study groups in New York, invests in alumni of IDF elite intelligence units, and cultivates ties with rabbis, even those calling for draft exemption for haredi Jews. And now, as someone who was concerned about global antisemitism even before October 7, he intends to play a pivotal and influential role in the Jewish world, both in the US and in Israel. During a recent visit to Tel Aviv to attend institutional investor technology conference Jefferies TechTrek 2025, Loeb gave this exclusive interview to "Globes."


Over 1000 Babyn Yar Massacre victims identified under fire of Russian invasion
One thousand and thirty-one previously unidentified victims of the 1941 Babyn Yar massacre have been named, the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center announced amid simultaneous ceremonies in Jerusalem and Kyiv commemorating the 84th anniversary of the mass murder.

Research over the last three years with partners like the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has led to the identification of these new victims, adding them to the database of 29,732 names.

During the same period, an additional 2,000 records were corrected, with details such as age, address, family ties, professions, and circumstances of death clarified.

At the ceremony at the National Library of Israel, its Memorial Center’s chair, Natan Sharansky, said that they were getting close to naming all 33,771 Jews murdered during the Babyn Yar massacre 84 years ago. In 2006, Haaretz had reported that only 10% of the victims had been identified by Yad Vashem.

According to the Memorial Center’s statistics, 301 of the victims were infants, and another 5,363 were children and adolescents. The youngest was three days old, and the eldest, 104. Still unknown are the ages of 5,865 of these victims of the Nazi-led massacre.

Allowing the memories to live on
As part of the Jerusalem ceremony marking the anniversary of the mass murder, held in conjunction with the March of the Living, a reading of the newly identified names, a Kaddish memorial prayer, and a panel on the challenges of remembrance during wartime took place.

The ability to remember was a recurring theme during the event, with National Library chairperson Sallai Meridor detailing in a speech how there was an attempt by the Nazis to hide their crimes ahead of the Soviets’ advance by burning the bodies.

In essence, the Nazis attempted to incinerate their victims and scatter their ashes into the wind, so that not even their memories would remain, said Meridor; the Memorial Center has, nevertheless, been able to restore these memories.Sharansky said in his own address that Babyn Yar was therefore not just a symbol of atrocity, but also a symbol of the erasure of the memory of people and crime.

Growing up in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, there was a massacre pit not far from where he lived, Sharansky continued, but the knowledge of the site’s true character was not common knowledge. Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin was “in a struggle against Jewish identity,” and the Soviet government discouraged discussion of the Holocaust.

Even in Israel, many had not heard the name of Babyn Yar, March of the Living Israel CEO Revital Yakin Krakovsky told The Jerusalem Post.
Remembering the fallen: These are the 1,032 previously unidentified Babyn Yar Massacre victims



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

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