Thursday, October 23, 2025

10/23 Links Pt2: Investor: CNN should fire Christiane Amanpour for ‘antisemitic’ comments; Steven Van Zandt and Gene Simmons: “Never Seen Antisemitism Like This”; Requiem for the Pro-Israel Democrat

From Ian:

Hitler Is Back in Style
There was a time when antiwar meant moral clarity. Now it means moral confusion. Libertarians who once “denounced the empire” now parrot Iranian and Russian propaganda. At a 2023 antiwar rally in Washington, Russian flags were visible among attendees while speakers included Antiwar.com’s Scott Horton and Daniel McAdams. They fly foreign adversaries’ flags at peace rallies and amplify Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” as if it were a libertarian manifesto. When leftists on TikTok were seeing wisdom in Bin Laden’s hatred, libertarians were me-too’ing.

When Putin speaks of “traditional values” or denounces “American hegemony,” there’s a not-so-subtle chorus in American libertarianism nodding along—not because they believe in decentralization, but because they hate the same enemies: Israel and the United States.

These days, the Ron Paul Institute—what I once believed would become a haven for noninterventionist thought—now routinely publishes apologias that find a comfortable home on Russian State television. McAdams of the institution parrots Kremlin framing with such frequency that even mainstream conservatives have noticed.

This Israel derangement syndrome extends beyond America’s borders.

Many of the Israel derangement syndrome libertarians and paleo-populists, for instance, despise Javier Milei, the anarcho-capitalist president of Argentina, not entirely for his policies, but because he defends the West—and the Jewish tradition that helped shape it. Moreover, Argentine libertarians of which I am very fond and in correspondence with have memories of the Islamist Buenos Aires bombings in 1992 and 1994. They are not so naive to the dangers to their rights from Islamic terrorism as their American cousins, who romanticize the musings of Osama bin Laden and claim Hitler was right.

The strange new sympathy for tyrants, the contempt for Israel, the obsession with power hierarchies—all stem from a single contagion: the Howard Zinnification of the liberty movement. Zinn reduced history to a morality play of oppressors and oppressed. Today’s populist-libertarian pundits do the same: Every bomb is a war crime, every Western leader a colonialist, every Israeli soldier a Nazi. It’s not foreign policy—it’s theology.

And Tucker Carlson, once the Buckleyite gatekeeper, now amplifies it all. The man who once fled conspiracy theorists now lives off them. The man who once laughed at “truthers” now platforms them. He didn’t evolve; he adapted. Carlson realized where the audience had migrated—and followed it. The market rewarded outrage, not reason. And so Tucker cashed in his principles for ratings.
Irish president frontrunner accused Israel of ‘Jewish supremacy’ years before current Gaza war
The frontrunner to become Ireland’s next president previously accused Israel of “Jewish supremacy” and said she was reluctant to condemn Hamas.

Catherine Connelly, the favourite to win the largely ceremonial post in tomorrow's elections, told BBC Radio Ulster last month that she was “reluctant to unequivocally condemn” the attack on October 7, when 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage.

The independent left-wing lawmaker claimed that Sir Keir Starmer should not try to stop the terrorists playing a role in a future Palestinian state.

“I come from Ireland which has a history of colonisation. I would be very wary of telling a sovereign people how to run their country,” Connolly said.

She later said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland that she has "utterly condemned" Hamas "over and over".

Connolly went on to describe Hamas terrorists as “part of the civil society of Palestine”.

"[Hamas] were elected by the people the last time there was an election. Overwhelming support for them back in 2006 or 2007. They are part of the civil society of Palestine. We're reliant on them for figures in relation to the deaths."

She said both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes and that Israel has behaved like a "terrorist state", and the October 7 attacks were "absolutely unacceptable".

Meanwhile, in October 2021, years before the recent Gaza war, Connelly – then serving as deputy chairperson of the lower house of Ireland’s parliament – wrote in a parliamentary question that Israel was trying to “accomplish Jewish supremacy.”
CNN should fire Christiane Amanpour for ‘antisemitic’ comments, says Warner Bros. Discovery investor
The widower of legendary corporate gadfly Evelyn Y. Davis is calling on Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief David Zaslav to fire CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour over her “antisemitic” claim that Israeli hostages were “treated better” than Gazans — saying her apology last week is “not enough.”

Taking a page from his late wife’s playbook, Patterson, a WBD investor, sent a sharply worded letter to Zaslav on Monday demanding Amanpour’s dismissal.

“As a stockholder in WBD, I urge you to fire Christiane Amanpour for her antisemitic statement that Israeli hostages were treated better than average Gazans,” the investor wrote in the letter obtained by The Post.

“This is an outrage to American and Israeli heroes who are fighting a war against Hamas and other terrorists. It is an outrage to Holocaust survivors and their families. Fire Amanpour to prove you disagree with her vile statements.”

Patterson, a 70-year-old former diplomat, said he was motivated to act after watching Amanpour’s comments, which aired live on Oct. 13 as Hamas released the last 20 surviving hostages under a US-brokered cease-fire.

Amanpour told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the hostages “were probably being treated better than the average Gazan, because they are the pawns and the chips that Hamas had.”

Hours later, Amanpour walked back the statement on air, admitting her phrasing was “insensitive and wrong.”

“From speaking to many former hostages and their families, like everyone I’ve been horrified at what Hamas has subjected them to over two long years,” she said, recounting their accounts of starvation, beatings and years spent in underground tunnels.

But Patterson told The Post he was unmoved by Amanpour’s statement.


Steven Van Zandt and Gene Simmons Push for Jewish History Education to Combat Hate: “Never Seen Antisemitism Like This”
TeachRock executive director Bill Carbone added, “We’re making American history education more inclusive and engaging by centering it on real people’s stories. Students don’t just learn about immigration — they experience it through Irving Berlin’s journey. They don’t just study the Holocaust — they reckon with it through Anita Lasker-Wallfisch’s survival. That’s history that sticks. By teaching students to see Jewish Americans as the complex, creative, resilient individuals they are, we’re combating antisemitism at its root, before ignorance can become hate.”

In the moderated conversation, Van Zandt was quick to note that “people who take music class do better in math and science, studies show.” Van Zandt’s pitch on education is rehearsed but nuanced: “Testing is not teaching. We need to truly teach the important work of our history to these kids so that they have the right tools to ensure our future is the right one.”

The cross-curricular approach, Van Zandt explained, is predicated on the idea that “if kids like one class and one teacher, they’ll be more engaged.”

“We hope to be that class. We want to figure out a methodology to keep this generation engaged,” he said. “How do you get these kids attention? Curate the education. Give them a reason to be in that classroom.”

Simmons added, “Antisemitism is one domino that connects to the next domino. If we’re not careful, history repeats itself.”

Simmons immediately recalled his mother’s story in the Dachau concentration camp, noting that the past is anything but the past and that educational resources are vital toward breaking the cycle of antisemitic language and tropes.

Speaking of his own Italian immigrant history, Van Zandt added, “Those immigrants planned on assimilating, integrating into the country they were going. We weren’t allowed to speak Italian in the house. Integrate and assimilate and then bring your culture to the land you’ve arrived. We did this so you would keep your culture alive. I think Italian food was an example of something that worked out okay here!”

Van Zandt was quick to note that acknowledging and recognizing the value of different cultures is vital but that education is the necessary catalyst to any real appreciation, particularly for the next generation of students.

Van Zandt’s organization, TeachRock, has reached more than one million students through 80,000 educators in all 50 states, since its inception in 2002. The online educational resource, which was launched to help educators integrate popular music into the classroom, has been free and accessible to anyone online since 2013.

The organization’s next event is Sunday, Oct. 26 at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and will include performances from Van Zandt’s Disciples of Soul band, Jesse Malin, Darlene Love and others.


travelingisrael.com: Sexual Assaults by Hamas on October 7 — Nine Testimonies (From the Survivors — and the Rapists)
Nine testimonies reveal the sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7 from both victims and perpetrators. These stories expose the cruelty behind the attacks and the denial that followed.


Released hostage Matan Angrest returns home after week of supervised recovery
Released hostage Matan Angrest returned home with his family to Kiryat Bialik on Thursday afternoon, after spending a week under medical supervision as part of his recovery.

Angrest was discharged from Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center last week, but had been staying with his family in the nearby Kfar Maccabiah Hotel as part of the rehabilitation process, alongside other freed hostages and their relatives.

Ichilov stated upon his release that “Matan and his family will move to an environment that will allow them a gradual return home, while receiving medical and rehabilitation care according to his needs.”

Angrest exited the hotel Thursday afternoon wearing a scarf of his favorite soccer team, Maccabi Haifa. Dozens of well-wishers gathered outside to bid him farewell, as he and his family set out on the three-hour journey north to the Haifa suburb.

Freed hostage Bar Kuperstein and his father, Tal, also joined the crowd seeing Angrest off, though the 23-year-old needed more time to recover and would stay in the hotel for the time being.

Before taking their leave, Angrest and his family were filmed outside the hotel singing the “Acheinu” prayer for the release of captives, swaying arm-in-arm with the Kupersteins by an Israeli flag.

The family made stops at various points along the route, greeting well-wishers sporting Israeli flags, shirts from the campaign to bring the hostages home, and Maccabi Haifa merch.

Angrest returned to banners draped over the Kiryat Bialik municipality building that read: “Matan, welcome back home!”


Requiem for the Pro-Israel Democrat
It was in this context that Barack Obama rose to power. His presidency energized the party’s anti-Israel wing with dreams of hope and change. To Obama, they imputed their desires for a decidedly less Zionist foreign policy. Yet Obama hardly ran as an anti-Israel candidate. He prayed at the Western Wall during a trip to Israel in summer 2008 and called the Jewish state a “miracle.” His record in the White House was something wildly different. He and his administration were at loggerheads with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which they regarded with skepticism if not derision. They struck a deal with Iran that exchanged billions of dollars for temporary restrictions on its nuclear program. They considered Washington’s traditional orientation toward Israel and the Gulf Arab states mistaken, preferring to pivot toward Iran and its Shia clients. They went beyond mere opposition to Israeli “settlements” in Judea and Samaria, abstaining from a 2016 United Nations Security Council vote holding that the presence of Jews in East Jerusalem was illegal.

All the same, Obama refrained from going too far in the anti-Israel direction. He defended Israeli military actions during the 2014 war with Hamas. He inked a memorandum of understanding with Jerusalem supplying $38 billion in military aid over 10 years. He resisted the desires of the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party to break more resolutely with Jerusalem. Obama’s presidency did not sound the death knell of the pro-Israel Democrat, but it heralded the decline.

Growing hostility to Israel among Democrats coincided with the Obama era’s awokening. The party’s liberal class grew more and more obsessed with immutable traits such as race and gender and began to view all issues, including the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, through the lens of victim and victimizer. In 2016, 40 percent of liberal Democrats sympathized more with the Palestinians than with Israel, compared with 18 percent in 2001. As the party grew more secular and progressive, it no longer had a reflexively pro-Israel base like the Republican Party’s.

The Democratic Party’s position on Israel moved closer and closer to that of anti-Zionist academics. Intersectionality, the theory that all forms of discrimination are connected, came to be seen as representative of the Middle East. That spurred Representative Rashida Tlaib to remark that “the freedom of Palestinians is connected to the fight against oppression all over the world.” Tlaib was voicing an attitude held by more and more Democrats in a party increasingly sympathetic to the “Queers for Palestine” crowd.

The turn happened with breakneck speed under Joe Biden, Obama’s unlikely heir. Biden long fancied himself a dyed-in-the-wool Zionist. Yet the aging Delawarean was swimming against anti-Israel currents in his party. After Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, Biden’s default initial full-throated support for the latter clashed with the younger anti-Israel Obama retreads in his administration and the activist class. Biden’s view of the Jewish state, molded in the shadow of the Holocaust, made way for one much more opposed to Zionism. He soon criticized Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and said that pro-Hamas protesters “have a point.” He had a feeble response to the anti-Semitic upheaval that took over campuses far and wide.

Today it is untenable to argue, as Representative Jerry Nadler did in a 2021 New York Times op-ed titled “Democrats Have Not Changed Their Position on Israel,” that the party is not anti-Israel. The evidence supports the reverse. Some, like Senator John Fetterman, Congressman Ritchie Torres, and, to some extent, Governor Josh Shapiro, can still tout Zionist bona fides. But their stances are arresting because they have become so rare in the Democratic Party. They are now exceptions to the rule.

As Millennials and Zoomers, both of whom are far less Zionist than Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, take the reins from older generations, expect Democrats to grow even more hostile. There will be no more Chuck Schumers, whose rhetoric at least has been generally pro-Israel even if his actions have shown a degree of sheer cowardice almost without parallel, and more and more Zohran Mamdanis—who believe that their hostility to Israel is an element of their growing success and influence.
Frontrunner for Seattle mayor doesn’t list her CAIR endorsement on campaign site
Almost two weeks after the Council on American-Islamic Relations endorsed Katie Wilson, who beat Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell by nearly 10 percentage points in the Aug. 5 primary, the mayoral hopeful still doesn’t list CAIR among nearly 50 organizational endorsements on her campaign site.

Wilson, who is “fine with being called a socialist,” lists the American Muslim Advancement Council on her endorsement page. (JNS sought comment from Wilson’s campaign.)

The co-founder and executive director of the Transit Riders Union has faced scrutiny on the legitimacy of her endorsements after she was accused of faking an endorsement from black civil rights leader Claude Burfect.

CAIR wrote in its endorsement that Wilson “is committed to creating a Washington where justice and compassion guide every decision.”

Wilson has referred to “genocide” in Gaza, and a screenshot purports to show her saying she is open to boycotting the Jewish state, and, as Jewish Insider has reported, her comments are causing Seattle Jewish leaders to worry.

CAIR has blamed Israel for being attacked on Oct. 7. In recent days, Republican lawmakers have asked the U.S. Treasury Department to probe alleged CAIR ties to Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror organization.
CAIR-NJ School Guide Promotes One-Sided Palestine Narrative, Lists Bin Laden Manifesto in 9/11 Curriculum
Following Jewish Onliner’s investigation into the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ coordinated effort to influence K-12 education across six states, Jewish Onliner has identified a copy of CAIR-New Jersey’s 2025-26 Back to School Resource Guide, which instructs educators to focus exclusively on Palestinian suffering while ensuring students advocating for “Palestinian liberation aren’t accused of supporting terrorism or antisemitism.”

The guide directs teachers to CAIR-NJ’s separate 9/11 curriculum, developed in partnership with Teaching While Muslim, which lists V for Vendetta — a film depicting bombing government buildings as heroic resistance — and Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” as recommended teaching resources.

CAIR-NJ’s 2025-26 guide contains a section titled “Discussing Palestine in The classroom,” which provides explicit instructions to educators on framing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The guide instructs: “Educate yourself on the situation in Palestine and stick to the facts, particularly the violence Palestinians have been subjected to at the hands of the Israeli military and the imbalance of power dynamics involved.”

The section continues: “Promote open dialogue: Maintain that all students shouldn’t agitate each other over the relentless violence the US and Israel have been inflicting on Palestinians for decades.”

The guide explicitly tells educators: “Allow students to express support for Palestine and ensure those calling for Palestinian liberation aren’t accused of supporting terrorism or antisemitism.” The curriculum references “the ongoing violence Palestinians have faced, especially since October 2023” without mentioning the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre that killed over 1,200 Israelis and triggered the war in Gaza to free Israeli hostages. The guide makes no mention of Hamas, Palestinian terrorism, rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, or the use of human shields throughout the Palestine section.
Rockefeller Brothers Fund Gave Millions to Terror-Tied Extremist Groups in 2025
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has spent millions of dollars in 2025 supporting an array of anti-Israel groups, several of which have ties to terrorism abroad and extremist activists in the United States, a Washington Free Beacon review of the organization’s grantees shows.

The RBF in April of this year awarded a $135,000 grant to 7amleh, the "Arab Center for Social Media Advancement," under the umbrella of "Peacebuilding." The organization describes itself as an advocate "for Palestinian digital rights," creating a "safe, fair and free digital space for Palestinians."

Its leadership, rather than a list of notable peace activists, consists of several people who have promoted violence and one with ties to terror.

Ahmed Qadi, 7amleh’s "monitoring and documentation coordinator," also served as an officer at Al-Haq, a group the Israeli government has designated a terrorist organization. The State Department sanctioned Al-Haq in September over the organization’s engagement in "efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent."

Mohammad Badarneh, a project coordinator for 7amleh, responded to Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel with approval.

"The only valuable and important duty for a person living under occupation is the extent of his resistance to this occupation — by all means and methods," he posted on Facebook after the attack, according to NGO Monitor.

On Oct. 4, 2015, 7amleh board member Ahmad Darawsha shared an image of Palestinian terrorist Fadi Alon, shot dead by Israeli forces after stabbing a 15-year-old boy. Writing in Arabic, Darawsha said, "You are so beautiful alive above ground, and you are so beautiful alive underground. What shame is brought on us, whether alive or dead."

7amleh was too extreme for the left-wing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), who pulled out of an event with the group in 2024 after her office received a large number of messages about "individuals associated with the event."
Are Pro-Israel Influencers Really Being Paid $7,000 Per Post?
Last month, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft claimed Israel is paying popular social-media personalities an average of $7,000 per post on TikTok and Instagram to promote pro-Israel content.

Citing “previously unreported” documents filed under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the foreign policy think tank and research institute said Bridges Partners – a Washington-based firm working with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Havas Media Group Germany – had invoiced roughly $900,000 for an “Influencer Campaign” running from June to November 2025.

According to the think tank, once supposed administrative and production costs were subtracted, about $552,946 remained “for influencers,” producing an estimated 75–90 posts. From that, it concluded each post must be worth roughly $6,000–$7,000.

The claim spread quickly across social media and was repeated by several media outlets. But a review of the same FARA filing shows that this interpretation simply doesn’t hold up.

What the Documents Actually Show
It’s a campaign budget, not pay-per-post.
The insertion order lists month-by-month “Influencer Campaign (USD)” miscellaneous costs that cover both “payments for influencers and production.” It’s a single, pooled campaign budget – not a rate card, not a per-post payment schedule.

Post numbers are estimates, not evidence.
Each phase mentions “Post volume: approx. 25–30.” These are planning projections, not verified outputs. Dividing total costs by these estimates to produce a “per-post” figure is simply bad math.

Influencer numbers are projected, not proven.
The document says “5–6 influencers begin creating content,” then “3–4 additional activated,” and two “3–4 more.” That totals around 14–18 influencers planned, but no names or contracts appear anywhere. It’s a staffing plan, not a confirmed roster.

No breakdown of how the money was spent.
The filing never specifies how much of the budget went to influencers versus production, travel, editing, or management. The claim that “$552,946 was left for influencers” is a guess, not a fact.

The “second document” isn’t separate – it’s just an appendix.
The appendix to the same FARA filing lists legal fees, consulting services, and banking costs. It doesn’t tie those expenses to influencer work or identify anyone who was paid to post. You can’t subtract those numbers and pretend the remainder equals “influencer pay.”

It’s a proposal, not a signed contract.
Each section of the order is marked “No Contract,” showing these are budgeted phases and estimates, not finalized payment agreements or invoices.
Israeli lecturer threatened with beheading at London university
An Israeli professor at City St George’s, University of London, says he was threatened with beheading by a pro-Palestinian protester who disrupted his lecture this week.

Professor Michael Ben-Gad, an economics lecturer who served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1982 to 1985, told Sky News that masked activists burst into his classroom, calling him a “war criminal” and “Nazi.”

“They refused to leave. They were masked. One of them made a threat about having my head chopped off,” he said.

The demonstrators, identifying as members of City Action for Palestine, accused Ben-Gad of being part of the “genocide in Gaza” and chanted slogans including “Shame, this lecturer served in the IOF [Israel Occupation Forces]” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The latter phrase is widely condemned as antisemitic and calling for Israel’s destruction.

Protesters said the university should not employ someone who had served in the Israeli military, especially during the 1982 First Lebanon War.

Ben-Gad, who has taught at the university since 2008 and previously chaired his department, said he would not be intimidated. “These modern Brownshirts are not going to send me into hiding. I’m an unapologetic Israeli patriot, and no one is going to intimidate me,” he said.
Universities risk tragedy by failing to move proactively against extremists
The university’s response was entirely indicative of the ‘don’t rock the boat’ thought process which has been allowed to take hold in so many academic administrations. It noted that “Goldsmiths for Palestine” had no official status as a student organisation at the university and that the event was taking place off campus. Problem solved, apparently! It may not surprise you to learn that when “Goldsmiths for Palestine” occupied one of the university’s buildings for a few weeks last summer the institution humiliatingly caved in to a series of demands from the group, literally putting these on its own website. So, not an official university organisation then – just one with the power to force the college authorities to cave in to its demands.

Michael Ben-Gad has indicated his determination to carry on teaching, despite the efforts of those whom he accurately describes as “brownshirts”. He has said that his “main concern is for people who are far more vulnerable than I am, and I mean particularly Jewish students who have been targeted all over the country.”

In that regard, too, university responses have been sluggish. On Saturday 11 October, a student at Oxford University, Samuel Williams, led pro-Palestinian marchers in London in a chant which he said “we’ve been workshopping in Oxford… ‘Gaza, Gaza, make us proud, put the Zios in the ground’”. By late afternoon on Monday 13 October, he had been publicly identified. National papers published his identity. And yet it still took another 24 hours for Oxford to confirm that they had suspended a student – at the same time as the police announced that an arrest had been made.

The Prime Minister criticised the university for dragging its feet – and he wasn’t wrong. Having seen the video, university authorities would have doubtless known far earlier than most exactly who this was – and yet they appear to have waited until an arrest had been made to take any kind of action. This made it seem that if he had not been arrested, they may have taken no action at all.

The Jewish community in this country has been begging the authorities in this country to clamp down on the hideous rhetoric and aggressive hate marches which have been allowed to fester, warning that it would lead to tragedy. Almost three weeks ago, this is exactly what happened in Manchester. British Jews have also been pleading with university authorities to clamp down on the rampant intimidation of Jews on campus, which has similarly been allowed to take place virtually unchecked.

Do we really have to wait for another unspeakable horror before they too are moved to act?
INTERVIEW: Badenoch calls for visas of non-British university actvists targeting Israeli professor to be revoked
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for the expulsion of pro-Palestine students who disrupted a lecture at a London university due to the speaker’s links to Israel.

In an interview with Jewish News, Badenoch also added that, if the students involved in the demons are not British citizens, their visas should be revoked.

Speaking during a visit to Menorah Primary School in north-west London, Badenoch said a government under her leadership would “look at” the current government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

However, she stopped short of saying she would reverse recognition, and made it clear: “I believe in a two-state solution, I think many people do, even in the Jewish community.”

Badenoch’s visit came after Michael Ben-Gad, economics professor at City St George’s, University of London, was targeted by masked protesters from a group calling itself City Action for Palestine.

The activists disrupted his lecture, branded him a terrorist, and carried banners calling for the removal of all “Zionists” from the university.

They added: “Shame on City for … allowing a terrorist to be near and teach Arab and Muslim students despite being an active participant in murdering their people”.


Anger as Tel Hai College lecturer says Israel, ‘like Third Reich,’ lost right to exist
A Tel Hai College lecturer was under fire Thursday over remarks comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and asserting that, “like the Third Reich,” the Jewish state no longer has the right to exist due to its actions during the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The northern college has distanced itself from Ilana Hairston’s comments and its student union declared that they harmed the memory of the Holocaust, while Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said the lecturer had crossed “a moral and national red line.”

On October 7 of this year, the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre that started the war, Hairston wrote on her Facebook page about Israel’s interception days earlier of a flotilla that aimed to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

“Just like the Third Reich lost its right to exist, so too has the State of Israel. Just like murderers and rapists have the right to exist in prison, so too Israel’s leadership has the right to a long life behind bars,” she wrote.

Images of participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla being arrested were “hair-raising,” she wrote. “The Genocide State in all its glory — beatings, kneeling positions with hands cuffed behind the back for hours, prevention of medical treatment, humiliating treatment, and threats.”

Israel has rejected accusations of abuse by flotilla participants as “brazen lies.”


“Zionism Is a Disease” Poet Is Hailed in New Harvard Campus Structure Full of Lies
On my way over to yesterday’s Inaugural AI Summit at Harvard University, I passed a giant anti-Israel and anti-Jewish structure that has been newly erected in a central location on the Harvard University campus. (Harvard’s Central Administration “Office of Common Spaces” lists the Science Center Plaza as one of its common spaces, describing it as “Located at the major campus crossroad between Harvard Yard and the Science Center at 1 Oxford Street.”)

The display makes a mockery of Harvard’s motto of Veritas. It also advocates, and is an exhibit of, discrimination on the basis of religion and national origin in a way that makes a joke out of the university’s nondiscrimination policy.

So it’s worth taking a careful look at all twelve panels, along with the messages along the bottom that form, in essence, two more panels.

As far as I know, no one at Harvard this year has offered any kind of official response to the content of the structure. Perhaps that’s in keeping with the new supposed commitment to “institutional neutrality.” The stated justification for the institutional neutrality is to advance the university’s mission of pursuing the truth. In this case, though, what’s on display is not truth but lies—lies that students and other community members, including first-year students living in dormitories with windows looking out on the lies, are basically forced to confront on their daily pathway to classes, meals, and libraries. Absent a response, the truth isn’t advanced.


Inside the extraordinary attempt by a powerful taxpayer-funded news boss at the ABC to kill off journalism critical of his organisation
ABC News Director Justin Stevens has taken the extraordinary move to attempt to kill off journalism critical of his organisation in a letter to his media rivals.

Mr Stevens, who received a taxpayer-funded salary of more than $500,000 in the last financial year, spent time in his official role writing a lengthy letter attacking a critic of his organisation.

In a letter to News Corp Australia Executive Chair Michael Miller, Sky News Australia CEO Paul Whittaker and Editor in Chief of The Australian Michelle Gunn, Mr Stevens said the recent journalism of Sky News host Chris Kenny had been a "disgrace."

Kenny had written in The Australian last week, and spoke on Sky News Australia, about ABC correspondent Matthew Doran.

Mr Doran was the subject of a video by Rebel News' Avi Yemini, who accosted the ABC journalist with brutal questions about the ABC's coverage of the war between Hamas and Israel.

Even though Kenny was critical of Mr Yemini, calling it unfair to Doran to hold him responsible for the ABC's coverage, Mr Stevens wrote in his letter that referring to the video was to publicly support what he called "persistent harrassment and abuse" of Mr Doran, and that sharing the video was a "low point."

"A low point. Chasing someone with a camera and asking questions," Mr Kenny said on his program on Thursday.

"Care to tell us how often the ABC has done that? Is this a tactic from which only journalists are protected?"

"Give me a break."

"No impartial observer could be anything but positive about (Mr Doran's) work."

Kenny called this a "peurile assertion" that "addresses none of the substance" of his criticism, and said "it shows Stevens and the ABC are in denial."

"This is not about Doran and the Middle East team and Stevens knows it," Kenny said.

"This is about ABC reporters, producers and presenters back in Australia too, and it is especially about senior editorial leaders like Stevens, as I said on air and in the paper."
‘Bully’: ABC’s Justin Stevens blasted for move to silence critics of ‘biased’ Middle East coverage

Former ABC director is ‘deeply concerned’ about network’s Middle East coverage

Is the CPJ Legitimizing Hamas Terrorists Who Worked for Al Jazeera?
The revelation that the CPJ considers some Hamas terrorists as professional journalists is sadly not surprising. Since the beginning of the war, HonestReporting has been tracking the CPJ’s running list of Palestinian journalists killed during the war, showing that over 40% of those listed were either terrorist combatants or affiliated with media run by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or other terrorist organizations.

The CPJ’s inability or unwillingness to separate genuine journalists and media workers from terrorists and propagandists camouflaging themselves as bona fide reporters came to the fore recently, when it mourned the death of Saleh al-Jafarawi, a Hamas propagandist and charlatan known to the general public as Mr. FAFO.

When professional organizations refuse to uphold professional standards and provide cover for terrorists and propagandists, it not only discredits these organizations but also muddies the waters of genuine journalism, casting a giant question mark over the trustworthiness of reporters and their coverage of the war in Gaza.
From Al-Shifa to the Tunnels: The BBC’s Two-Year Cover-Up of Hamas’ War Tactics
The BBC’s Adams and Rushdi refer to the tunnel network as “a project shrouded in secrecy.” But there was nothing secret about the underground system. Throughout the war, Hamas has published videos of its operatives in tunnels as well as propaganda videos of hostages being held in inhumane conditions.

Perhaps this is just the BBC once again attempting to justify its own reporting on the war. BBC Verify refused to believe IDF evidence of tunnels, repeating time and again that the footage of a tunnel next to a hospital was unverifiable.

The BBC also downplayed Hamas’ stronghold of Gaza City, only now to admit Hamas’ operational centers have been “concealed under Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.”

However, to report on Hamas’ abuse of civilian infrastructure accurately would require the BBC to acknowledge what Hamas is – a terrorist organization responsible for the horrific murders, rapes and kidnappings on October 7th, 2023, as well as countless other terrorist attacks throughout the years. And that would require the BBC to abandon the false equivalence it has maintained between Israel and Hamas.

Instead of acknowledging the root cause of the war and how Hamas’ use of civilian infrastructure and tunnels further entrenched the territory into war, the BBC, prior to the ceasefire, covered up the terrorist group’s responsibility and instead framed Israel’s defensive actions as disproportionate.

By refusing to confront Hamas’ exploitation of civilians and infrastructure, the BBC has misled audiences and eroded trust in journalism itself. If international media cannot bring themselves to acknowledge the nature of the enemy Israel has faced for years, they not only distort public understanding, but they also enable the very terror networks they claim to expose. Accountability and honesty are not optional in wartime reporting; they are the foundation of journalistic integrity.
IDF demolishes home of terrorist who killed pregnant mother
The Israel Defense Forces has demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who was involved in the murder of a pregnant mother and her unborn son in Samaria in May, the Israeli military said on Wednesday night.

The residence of Jamil Samara was located in the Palestinian city of Bruqin, in the central-west area of Samaria.

Samara, together with other assailants, carried out the shooting attack on May 14 on a road between the Jewish communities of Brukhin and Peduel. Tzeela Gez, 30, was pronounced dead the following morning. Her husband suffered injuries. The baby, named Ravid Haim, was delivered after the attack but died on May 29, having suffered extreme oxygen deprivation.

The shooter, Nael Samara, was killed four days later in a counterterrorism operation in Bruqin. Nael Samara was shot after he approached troops while carrying a suspicious bag and shouting Allahu Akbar (“God is great” in Arabic), according to the IDF.

Three other Palestinians, Jamil Samara among them, were later arrested in connection with the attack.

Following the attack, the Yesha Council stated in Hebrew that it is “shocked and saddened by the terrible attack in Samaria and embraces the family at this difficult time.

“The only way to prevent such serious attacks is to turn the city centers and villages, from which the murderers emerge, into ruins,” the council said. “We have been warning about this for a long time.”


IDF troops find Hitler’s ‘Mein Kamp’ at Hamas charity in Hebron
Israeli paratroopers operating in the Judea city of Hebron discovered a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and other anti-Jewish incitement in the offices of a charity linked to Hamas, the military said on Thursday.

Hebron’s Islamic Charity Association, which “presents itself as aiding the needy,” covertly worked to “promote incitement to terror and to recruit and channel funds to finance the organization’s terrorist activities,” according to the Israel Defense Forces.

During the operation against the charity, which was said to have several branches throughout Judea and Samaria, troops also confiscated some 165,700 shekels (over $50,000) in terrorist funds, the IDF stated.

Israeli forces moved to “seal off the main entrance of the compound where the incitement materials and funds were located,” it added.

In November 2023, IDF troops operating against Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip discovered a copy of Mein Kampf in a children’s room that was used as a Hamas base, Israeli President Isaac Herzog revealed.


US identifies about $9 billion in Iranian shadow banking in 2024
The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that it had identified about $9 billion of “potential” Iranian shadow banking activity, which occurred via U.S. correspondent bank accounts, in 2024. It cited reporting from U.S. banks.

The announcement, a financial trend analysis issued by the U.S. agency’s financial crimes enforcement network, stated that the identification was part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign on Iran,” which it said “will help to ensure financial institutions are tracking and countering the threat posed by Tehran’s shadow banking activity.”

“Identifying Iran’s complex financial lifelines and shadow networks is an essential part of cutting off the funding for their military, weapons programs and terrorist proxies,” stated Andrea Gacki, director of the department’s financial crimes enforcement network.

“By issuing this public analysis, we hope to draw attention to Iran’s shadow banking activity and encourage financial institutions to be vigilant,” Gacki said.

The department said that foreign shell companies, “which exist only on paper with no meaningful business activities,” outside America seem to be responsible for the most transactions (about $5 billion) for the Iranian shadow banking network in 2024.

Dozens of oil companies, which were mostly based in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore and which transacted about $4 billion in 2024, appear to be front companies for Iran. And companies that arranged for Iran to obtain technologies that are illegal to export accounted for about $413 million in 2024, per the department.
Trump pardons crypto billionaire who violated Iran sanctions
U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of the crypto company Binance, on Thursday.

A Canadian national widely known by his initials CZ, Zhao pleaded guilty in November 2023 to a money laundering charge over his company allowing hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit transactions with Iran.

“A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “He served four months in jail, and they say that he was not guilty of anything.”

“They said that what he did is not even a crime,” the president said. “That he was persecuted by the Biden administration, and so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.”

Binance was founded in China in 2017 and is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.

In announcing the guilty plea agreements with Binance and Zhao, the U.S. Justice Department in 2023 said that the company and its former CEO had knowingly violated U.S. sanctions against Iran.

“Binance did not implement controls that would prevent U.S. users from trading with users in Iran and, because of this intentional failure, between January 2018 and May 2022, Binance willfully caused over $898 million in trades between U.S. users and users ordinarily resident in Iran,” the department stated.

In 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed a $3.4 billion penalty on Binance, the largest in the department’s history, for failing to implement anti-money laundering procedures.

“Binance failed to report to the financial crimes enforcement network transactions associated with terrorist groups including Al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” the department wrote.
The return of antisemitic violence in Italy
“With the bodies of the Jews murdered in Manchester still warm, the Italian Left, from Schlein to Conte, including AVS and the country’s main trade union, still shows no compassion and continues to incite anti-Zionist and therefore antisemitic hatred. Despite the ceasefire and hopes for peace in Gaza, their language has not softened, in fact, it has become even more extreme. At this point, it seems clear that they are not interested in ending the war in Gaza, but only in rousing the crowds against the people of Israel, fully aware that this incitement leads to assaults and deaths, including among Italian citizens of Jewish faith. Just like in 1982, when CGIL bore part of the responsibility for the climate that led to the attack on the Rome synagogue.

As the Jewish Community of Milan, we are issuing a final warning: from now on, you will be held jointly responsible and complicit in any attack against Italian Jews. You have crossed every threshold of tolerance. As we return to pray for peace, we say this one last time: enough hatred. Enough antisemitism.”

This statement from Walker Meghnagi, President of the Jewish Community of Milan, comes after several days marked by an uncontrollable escalation of protests, blockades, and violence that have nothing to do with peace. According to official data from the Ministry of the Interior, at least 96 law enforcement officers were injured between October 2 and 4 across Italy: 55 between the 2nd and 3rd, and another 41 on the 4th alone in Rome, where the pro-Gaza march spiraled into violent urban clashes. Police unions like Coisp report as many as 126 injured in just three days.

But another alarming fact stands out: minors were involved in several protests, including elementary and middle school students. In cities like Florence, for instance, organized groups were seen, accompanied by adults leading chants like the notorious “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” A slogan which, as is well known, denies Israel’s very existence and is unmistakably antisemitic in its implications.


New Whole Blood System Cut Israeli Battlefield Deaths in Half
Moshe Tzadok, manager of the automatic blood-typing unit at Magen David Adom (MDA), said, "For trauma patients, we need a special type of blood called low-titer O whole blood."

Unlike standard blood used in transfusions, low-titer O whole blood contains red blood cells, plasma with anticoagulants, and platelets, making it far more effective for treating severe trauma and rapid blood loss.

"This kind of unit is special for bleeding patients," Tzadok explained. "This blood is better than what was used before."

"Twenty years ago, when they used packed red blood cells, the mortality rate was about 15% of injured soldiers in the field. Now, according to the army, it dropped to 7%."
Michael Smuss, last surviving Warsaw Ghetto Uprising fighter, dies at 99
Michael Smuss, who fought Nazi soldiers with Molotov cocktails during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of World War II and became a painter after the war to process his trauma, has died. He was 99.

His wife in Israel confirmed his death on Thursday. She said Smuss died on Oct. 21. Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Center, said the funeral would take place on Friday.

Smuss was born in 1926 in what was then the Free City of Danzig, now Gdansk, Poland. He later moved to Lodz and Warsaw. In 1940, he became one of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people forcefully imprisoned within the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Warsaw Ghetto initially held some 380,000 Jews who were cramped into tight living spaces, and at its peak housed about half a million people. Disease and starvation were rampant, and bodies often appeared on the streets.

Smuss joined the Jewish resistance in the ghetto, and he was active in an underground group led by Mordechai Anielewicz, according to Frank Steffens, a family member living in Germany.

While working to restore helmets Nazi soldiers used in battle, Smuss had access to a thinning substance which could also be used to make Molotov cocktails. He stole as much of it as he could and passed it to the resistance.

“We filled up bottles which were then put up on the roofs of all the houses close to the entrance of the ghetto, with the expectation that, once they’re going to come, we’ll be throwing them down,” Smuss recounted three years ago in a video for the Sumter County Museum in South Carolina, which exhibited his art at the time.

When the Nazis entered the ghetto on April 19, 1943, with the intention of razing it to the ground, hundreds of Jews took up arms in a desperate attempt to fight back.

On that day, Smuss himself threw Molotov cocktails at the Nazi soldiers from the rooftops of the ghetto, Paul Diedrich, a family member living in Germany, who spent a few months with the man in Israel earlier this year, told The Associated Press.

He was also one of the few resistance fighters to survive the almost one month of fighting.




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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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