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Monday, October 27, 2025

10/27 Links Pt1: The Creepy Explosion of Holocaust Appropriation; Israel says it received, is identifying body from Gaza; Palestinians' 'Technocratic Government': The Mother of All Deceptions

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Creepy Explosion of Holocaust Appropriation
Michael Starr of the Jerusalem Post had been one of the first to notice the trend. There are those ostensibly from Gaza who, he discovered, added phrases like “I am a Holocaust survivor” to their social media bios. Others posted the phrase alongside pictures of themselves; unlike actual Holocaust survivors, these Gazans were dressed to the nines, their outfits accessorized for Instagram. The high-follower account Middle East Observer declared that “Israelis can’t use the Holocaust anymore” because that “torch has been passed to Gaza.”

But the problem persists beyond everyday Gazans or internet trolls and their boosters. A couple weeks ago former MSNBC personality Mehdi Hasan, a professional anti-Zionist with nearly 2 million followers on X/Twitter, posted the following:

“One of the ways in which the Gaza genocide is worse than a lot of previous Genocides—Rwanda, even the Holocaust—is that you didn’t have Hutus or Nazis mocking the genocide after it was over.”

Obviously the assertion about “mocking” is false. But the real point of his post was to compare the Holocaust favorably to Gaza, a war between armies in which unprecedented care was taken to protect civilians by the IDF, as we now know definitively thanks to post-war data collection. Hasan’s post isn’t traditional Holocaust denial, although it serves the same function. It’s one mere step, however, beyond what Western elites are doing when they bang the “Gaza genocide” drum and—as the odds-on favorite to be the next New York City mayor does—vows to arrest the elected leader of the Jewish state.

But it highlights something else that the Jewish communities under assault from these forces need to grapple with. Much has been discussed about the future of Holocaust education after October 7, and no doubt that debate will continue. But what’s so dispiriting about the “Gaza Holocaust” trend is that it threatens to undermine the entire point of Holocaust education.

The underlying assumption of the concept of Holocaust education is that people want to know and disseminate the truth. But Hasan already knows the uniqueness of the Holocaust, and it doesn’t stop him from posting the above message to millions online. I don’t think Zohran Mamdani or Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example, is uneducated. But the market for their version of anti-history is wide, and whatever social norms once existed to discourage the open propagation of that anti-history are gone. That much is clear watching Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) minimize concerns over a Democratic Senate candidate with a Nazi tattoo.

Certainly, to some extent, the universalizing tendency of Holocaust lessons has enabled this. But clearly something darker is going on. The combination of Holocaust envy among Israel’s opponents in war and Holocaust revisionism among Israel’s critics suggests the loudest voices on this issue are the ones who believe they have the power to negate decades of education. What if they’re right?
The genocide industry
This constantly shifting application of the term genocide appears to have settled on one particular target. Critics of Israel now relentlessly denounce the Jewish State, accusing it of the very crime that necessitated its creation.

These kinds of accusations against Israel actually predate the Gaza war. Apparently, genocide is an inevitable consequence of so-called settler-colonialism – another crime Israel is wrongly accused of committing. One of the main figures promoting the thesis of ‘settler-colonialism as genocide’ was the late academic Patrick Wolfe, who wrote in 2006 of the ‘logic of elimination’ inherent in a ‘settler-colonial society’.

Israel, therefore, is tainted with the original sin of genocide. In the words of one contemporary academic, ‘the continuity of Israel’s settler-colonial policies and practices of massacre and genocide, beginning with the 1948 Nakba, continuing up to today’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip shows that genocide is a fundamental feature of the structure of settler-colonialism. It is a process and not an event.’

This allows the very legitimacy of Israeli society to be called into question. Since it is inherently genocidal, so this line of reasoning goes, it cannot be saved – only destroyed. Other societies accused of genocide – even Nazi Germany – can be re-educated and saved from their destructive impulses. But not Israel, it seems.

This invariably leads to the process of Holocaust inversion. As Matthew Bolton noted in his excellent essay on the meaning of genocide: ‘The eagerness with which so many grabbed the chance to accuse Israel of genocide in the aftermath of 7 October 2023 surely does have something to do with the taboo-breaking thrill of inverting, and thereby finally cancelling out, the Shoah.’

Accusing Israel of genocide dangerously undermines the moral authority of the Holocaust. It belittles the attempted annihilation of Jewish people. Inevitably, this has led many people to deny the existence of the Holocaust altogether. This was starkly demonstrated by Rahmeh Aladwan, a trainee NHS doctor who recently made headlines for her alleged anti-Semitism. Aladwan is the current subject of a tribunal hearing for, among other things, describing the Holocaust as a ‘fabricated victim narrative’. Such insidious views have become depressingly widespread, particularly since Hamas’s pogrom against Israel two years ago.

The efforts to remove the Holocaust from its anti-Semitic underpinning, and to redefine the crime of genocide to apply it to the war in Gaza, amount to an assault on truth, history and reason. That they have found so much success in Western institutions is cause for serious alarm.
WHO discussed use of term ‘famine’ to pressure Israel in December 2023, doctor reveals
Just two months after October 7, international organizations were already discussing how to apply the term “famine” to the situation in Gaza.

This was revealed by World Health Organization representative to Israel, Dr. Michel Thieren, on the Mosaïque podcast last week.

The podcast was created by Akadem and the French Institute of Israel, and former journalist Antoine Mercier hosted the episode.

Thieren attended a multilateral governance meeting about Gaza in Geneva in December 2023. During the meeting, Thieren said organizations discussed how important it would be to scientifically demonstrate the occurrence of a famine in Gaza, and how to use the term for communication and political pressure on Israel. According to him, this was explicitly discussed at the highest levels in these meetings.

“At the very end of the meeting – I won’t say exactly where, and it wasn’t necessarily at the WHO, rest assured – there was a gathering of experts who asked the question quite forcefully. I was there, and I was absolutely stunned. What they were saying, essentially, was that one should try to find a term that could be used to exert pressure. So yes, I was very shocked by that.”

Thieren added that what shocked him the most was that, in these circles, the perpetrators and the victims were designated from the very beginning, “from October 8.”

“So when these people were saying it would be necessary to demonstrate famine, the guilt had already been assigned [to Israel]. When we talk about genocide, the WHO never went there, others did – but very early, these people pronounced these two terms [genocide and famine], they were thrown out right from the start. So the crimes were already predetermined, and then the organizations tried to demonstrate them. And for me, that is not normal at all.”


Israel says it received, is identifying body from Gaza
Israel said shortly before midnight on Monday night that its troops had escorted a coffin across the border into the Jewish state and that the coffin was on its way to the National Institute for Forensic Medicine, where “identification procedures will be carried out.”

Earlier in the night, the Jewish state said that the Red Cross had retrieved the body from Gaza.

“Hamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the deceased hostages,” the Israeli military said.

In the past, the Hamas terror organization has returned remains that it said were deceased hostages, but which turned out to be other bodies.
Israel, Hamas treat Trump's 48-hour deadline as hard ultimatum, US officials claim softer intent
Both Israel and Hamas took US President Donald Trump's '48-hours' statement on Saturday seriously, treating it as a hard deadline, after which sanctions could follow, N12 reported on Monday.

However, US officials said that Trump's message, which called on Hamas terrorists to return the remains of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip was not a hard ultimatum, but was meant to clarify the Trump administration's position that Hamas "must act urgently" to return remains, the report noted.

An Israeli official highlighted that Hamas have acted in a way that appears to show they took the message seriously, as they announced they would return remains three hours before the end of the 48-hour period Trump originally mentioned, N12 added.

If Hamas does not return hostage remains, a move must be made to show Hamas that Israel and the US are serious, Israel clarified to Washington, according to the report.

The Trump administration opposed sanctions including cutting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, arguing that doing so would harm Gazans, and not Hamas or other terrorists, the report added.

A proposal more widely supported by the Trump administration to sanction Hamas would be discussing shifting the Yellow Line further west, allowing the IDF to reoccupy areas from which it withdrew, N12 noted.


Rubio: Israeli strike on Islamic Jihad cell not a ceasefire breach
Washington does not regard an Israeli strike on a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist cell that plotted to attack soldiers in Gaza as a truce violation, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.

“We don’t view that as a violation of the ceasefire,” said Rubio, speaking aboard Air Force One during President Donald Trump’s Asia tour.

“They have the right if there’s an imminent threat to Israel, and all the mediators agree with that,” Washington’s top diplomat emphasized.

The Israel Defense Forces struck a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in the central Strip on Saturday evening, according to the military foiling an “imminent terrorist attack” against its troops stationed there.

The strike was carried out in the Nuseirat camp, according to the IDF.

IDF Southern Command forces remain deployed in Gaza in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and “will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” according to Saturday’s military statement.


Palestinian ‘pay-for-slay’ policy isn’t over, watchdog says, citing Saturday payouts
The Palestinian Authority paid stipends to security prisoners and to families of “martyrs” at PA post offices on Saturday morning, despite publicly claiming to have ended the practice, according to a new report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) director Itamar Marcus on Sunday.

“Yesterday, Saturday, Oct. 25, at 10:00 a.m., the PA Post Offices paid terrorists’ salaries and stipends to families of terrorist ‘Martyrs,’” Marcus wrote, adding that there was “no official announcement” and that payments were delayed so “everyone, even the terrorists’ families, would think that the program had ended.” PMW published screenshots of social media conversations among recipients discussing the amounts deposited, including one exchange stating, “50% of the salaries and [those making less than 2,000 received] the full amount. FYI, the salary is for June.” PMW said the percentage matched the partial salaries the PA paid civil servants earlier this month due to its fiscal crisis.

The watchdog outlined a two-week timeline in which families of prisoners and those killed in attacks pressed the PA for updates, held small demonstrations in Ramallah on October 20, and were told informally by post-office staff that payments would be made on Saturday without an official statement. On the morning of October 25, local Telegram channels began reporting that “the salaries of the prisoners, the wounded, and the Martyrs have arrived at the post office,” and PMW said that payments proceeded “as usual” through the day.

PMW argued that the PA could not announce the transfers because it had assured donors it had ended so-called “pay for slay.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree in February revoking the system of payments to families of prisoners and those killed or wounded in attacks, according to multiple reports at the time. Palestinians visit graves of their relatives, some killed during recent war, during the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday, in the central Gaza Strip, June 6, 2025. (credit: Ali Hassan/Flash90)


Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians' 'Technocratic Government': The Mother of All Deceptions
According to a report by Israel's KAN News, Hamas has already selected half of the technocratic government's members, including figures sympathetic to the terror group, while the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, chose the other half. Mediators, including Egypt, presented the full list to Hamas to ensure its approval, a move that will allow the terror group to maintain influence in the Gaza Strip after the war.

The terrorists who launched the war by committing the worst crime against Jews since the Holocaust and who brought death and destruction on their own people should not be allowed to have a say in the future governance of the coastal enclave.

If Hamas is allowed to maintain a security presence in the Gaza Strip, this means that the new government and its members would be at the mercy of terrorists and militiamen who are already carrying out extrajudicial executions against their critics, political opponents and suspected "collaborators" with Israel.

US President Donald J. Trump's plan for ending the war in the Gaza Strip states: "Hamas and other factions agreed to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza."

The factions that met in Cairo made no mention of an "international transitional body" or the proposed "Board of Peace" as outlined in Trump's plan.

Needless to say, the Palestinian factions pointedly ignored the part of Trump's plan that calls on the terror groups to lay down their weapons. Hamas leaders have repeatedly emphasized that their group has no intention to disarm before the establishment of an independent and sovereign state.

Fatah and Hamas, in short, do not want Trump's "Board of Peace" or any international body to play any role in the governance of the Gaza Strip. Each of the two factions wants the Gaza Strip to be ruled by its own loyalists, masquerading as "independent" and "apolitical" figures.

What we are currently witnessing is an attempt by both Fatah and Hamas, with the help of Egypt and Qatar (Hamas's main sponsor and funder), to circumvent the Trump plan.


Leaked doc. reveals Israel encouraged Qatar to fund Gaza despite sums reaching Hamas - KAN
A 2020 document signed by a former senior official at the National Security Council revealed how Israel encouraged Qatar to transfer money to the Gaza Strip, despite knowing that significant sums were reaching Hamas, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News reported on Sunday.

The former senior official, Ronen Levy, known by his pseudonym "Maoz," who had previously worked for the Shin Bet, wrote, "Qatar works through the Gaza Reconstruction Committee and its chairman Alemadi (Mohammed Al Emadi) in an ongoing fashion to assist in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip by providing financial support to the people of Gaza and by leading civilian and infrastructure projects, in electricity, residential areas, civilian infrastructure, medicine, and support for the population."

Levy was later appointed by then-foreign minister Eli Cohen as the ministry's director-general and acted primarily as the liaison for Qatari funds.

"This humanitarian assistance has continued throughout the coronavirus crisis. It has been vital and has improved the humanitarian situation in Gaza during this complicated time," the letter continued. "Despite the many challenges involved in transferring the assistance, the cooperation and coordination between our countries has ensured that it continues to reach the people of Gaza."

"We reiterate the importance of continuing to transfer the Qatari humanitarian financial assistance through the existing mechanism, i.e., the Ambassador Alemadi and the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, in order to maintain the aforementioned excellent achievements," Levy wrote to the Qataris.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also the prime minister at the time, defended the decision from 2018 to push Qatar to give money to Gaza.


Hillel Neuer: UN's latest anti-Israel commission must be dismantled
On Tuesday, a UN commission of inquiry on Israel will yet again present a report accusing the Jewish state of genocide. Days later, all three members will step down. Instead of replacing them, however, the UN would better serve the cause of humanity and peace by terminating a commission that is prejudiced in favour of Hamas, redundant to numerous other UN mechanisms, and in an era of deep UN austerity, a symbol of moral and fiscal waste.

In July, all three commissioners suddenly resigned, to take effect after their final report this week. Insiders said it was not accidental that their announcement came mere days after another UN figure targeting Israel, Francesca Albanese, was designated by the U.S. government on its sanctions list over her support for terrorism. Navi Pillay, the South African chair of the commission, reportedly feared being barred entry to the U.S., where her daughter lives.

The inquiry was initiated by the Arab and Islamic states at a special session that they convened at the UN Human Rights Council in wake of the May 2021 Hamas-Israel war. Rather than investigating the Hamas rockets that rained down on Israeli civilians, the new commission was tasked with examining the “root causes” of the conflict, including Israel’s alleged “systematic discrimination” based on race. Instead of the usual one-year term for such inquiries, the investigation of Israel was made perpetual — it has no end date. Reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition, which lasted 350 years, and where guilty verdicts were pre-determined.

The distinct bias of the inquiry was further made clear by who the UN chose as its members. Pillay, before being chosen as the supposedly impartial chair, had openly lobbied governments to “sanction apartheid Israel.” On an anti-Israel website, commissioner Miloon Kothari gave an interview questioning Israel’s right to UN membership, and ranting about “the Jewish lobby” that is “controlling social media.” The third, Chris Sidoti, trivialized the issue of antisemitism, claiming that Jews “throw around accusations like rice at a wedding.”

Astonishingly, even after the U.K., Germany, and France and 15 other nations condemned Kothari for antisemitism, Pillay backed him, and he stayed on.
Comer to UN: Hand Over Documents on Terrorist Employees
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Monday formally petitioned the United Nations to hand over a tranche of internal documents related to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) employment of more than a dozen terrorists who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R., Tenn.) said his investigation will detail how "U.S. taxpayer funds sent to UNRWA have been linked to terrorism."

Comer stated in his letter that UNRWA has obstructed these investigations for months, failing to provide federal oversight officials with unredacted documents "related to its staff’s involvement" in terrorism.

"Despite repeated U.S. oversight inquiries, UNRWA, either on its own or at the direction of U.N. Headquarters, has refused to provide necessary documentation," Comer wrote to U.N. secretary-general António Guterres. "This is unacceptable, as the lack of transparency greatly undermines U.S. efforts to assess risk and obstructs the oversight responsibilities of Congress."

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s inspector general—the chief oversight body responsible for tracking American foreign assistance—has been conducting its own probe into the Hamas-affiliated UNRWA employees, according to information Comer obtained. UNRWA has to this point refused to play ball, allegedly instructing partner agencies involved in the Hamas investigation to obstruct the IG’s efforts.

"The U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), at UNRWA’s request, has redacted valuable information" on a dozen staffers who were fired in January 2024 for aiding Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault, further obfuscating "the extent of current and former UNRWA staff’s role in these attacks," according to Comer.
Lawyer posts proof South Africa approved serving defamation suit to UN adviser despite its claims
Service of defamation suit papers to Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, where she gave the annual Nelson Mandela lecture on Saturday, reportedly left the anti-Israel U.N. adviser “visibly shaken.”

A spokesman for Mmamoloko Kubayi, the South African justice and constitutional development minister, said that the sheriff who served the papers wasn’t authorized to do so and didn’t follow legal and diplomatic protocols and that an investigation would be launched.

“Neither the director-general nor the minister gave effect to the above request for service of the process,” the spokesman said. “The minister has instructed that this irregular service of process be withdrawn and extends an unconditional apology to Ms Albanese, to the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the United Nations.”

Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and an attorney for the plaintiffs, posted a copy of what he said is South African authorization to serve the papers to Albanese. The document appears to be signed and stamped by the chief directorate of international legal and treaty affairs.

“You both love to lie,” Goldfeder wrote, to Albanese and Kubayi, “but please remember that the National Jewish Advocacy Center always brings receipts.”

“Ball is in your court,” he said. “We’ll see you in ours.”

Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and Christians for Israel USA filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. The suit, which JNS viewed, alleges that Albanese defamed the U.S.-based organizations when she published a report alleging that they were complicit in gross human rights violations and risked implication in international crimes.

Albanese “falsely, maliciously and knowingly accused plaintiffs, which are religious, charitable organizations, of engaging in serious crimes and morally reprehensible conduct,” the suit states.

The lawsuit details Albanese’s lengthy history of terror support, antisemitic rhetoric and false claims of legal expertise, as well as a legally questionable reappointment to her mandate earlier this year.


After two years of war, Israeli defense minister cancels emergency measures in Israel’s south
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday signed off on the Israel Defense Forces’ proposal to cancel emergency measures in the south that had been in place since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, having been extended multiple times.

The “Special Situation on the Home Front” authorized the IDF’s Home Front Command to impose limits on gatherings and civilian movement.

The declaration did not affect citizens directly, but enabled the military to decide on new restrictions quickly.

Katz’s decision came as the military marked two years since the start of the ground maneuver against the terrorist organization inside Gaza.

Following two years of fighting, Israel and Hamas this month agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal that saw IDF troops partially withdraw from the Strip, leaving them in control of roughly half of the territory.


France responsible for UNIFIL decision to shoot down Israeli drone in southern Lebanon
France was responsible for the decision to shoot down an Israeli drone in Kafr Kila, southern Lebanon, on Sunday, a diplomatic source told French outlet Le Figaro on Monday.

The UNIFIL peacekeepers involved in the incident were from the French military, Le Figaro noted, while commenting that it is rare for peacekeepers to shoot down an Israeli drone.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) claimed that the Israeli drone came close to a UNIFIL patrol and "dropped a grenade," followed by an Israeli tank which "fired a shot" towards UNIFIL peacekeepers.

UNIFIL also claimed that this followed a similar incident earlier on Sunday in the same location where "an Israeli drone flew over the UNIFIL patrol in an aggressive manner."
Censored
UNIFIL claims an IDF drone was flying in an "aggressive" way.
In response, a UNIFIL peacekeeper flashed his genitals at the drone before shooting the drone down.

The peacekeeper’s country is not visible, but the companion appears to be French.


US officer who probed Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing says IDF sniper knew he was firing at journalists
The Monday report noted that investigators were deeply divided about the findings, and that others supported the overall conclusion that there was no proof the shooting was deliberate. Gabavics’s superior at the time, Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, insisted that there was insufficient evidence to prove an intentional attack.

“Ultimately, I had to make judgments based on the full set of facts and information available to me,” Fenzel told The Times. “I stand by the integrity of our work and remain confident that we reached the right conclusions.”

Gabvics said that of all the cases he covered in his career, “this was the one that probably bothered me the most,” because “we had everything there.”

In July 2022, the US State Department said that its probe of the shooting found that “gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh,” but that it also “found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances.”

Because the IDF found the shooting had been accidental, no prosecution was ever opened and the shooter was not named publicly.

A documentary aired earlier this year by Zeteo News, a left-wing news outlet founded by Israel critic Mehdi Hassan, identified Cpt. Alon Scagio, then a 20-year-old sharpshooter in the Duvdevan commando unit, as being behind the deadly shooting. Scagio was killed by a roadside bomb in Jenin last year at the age of 22.

That documentary cited an anonymous US official who worked on the case as saying a draft version of the American report concluded that she was shot intentionally, but the finding was softened to avoid friction with Israel. Monday’s New York Times report revealed that this official was Col. Gabavics.
German broadcaster says Gazan producer killed in Israeli airstrike was Hamas operative
Israel provided documents proving that a Gazan media production worker killed in an airstrike earlier this month was a member of Hamas’s military wing, the German broadcaster cooperating with the slain operative’s company said on Monday.

Germany’s ZDF public broadcaster said in a statement that it had asked Israel for clarification on the strike on October 19 in Deir al-Balah at a Palestine Media Production facility, which killed an engineer, 37, and the son of another employee.

“ZDF welcomes the fact that the Israeli army has complied with the request to clarify the identity of the slain employee of the production company PMP in Gaza. The 37-year-old, who was responsible for handling the transmission technology as an engineer, was apparently a member of the terrorist organization Hamas,” ZDF said.

“As evidence, a corresponding document was presented. Based on the documents, ZDF assumes that the engineer was a member of the Qassam Brigades. The documents do not provide any information about when and how the engineer worked for Hamas or what tasks he undertook. In response, ZDF has suspended cooperation until further notice,” the statement read.

The broadcaster added that the slain engineer was responsible for satellite transmission technology at PMP and was not a ZDF employee. It said it was taking the allegations “very seriously,” including conducting a “thorough review of the case of the killed employee, as well as of the company as a whole.”

“According to current information, however, ZDF has no indications that other PMP employees might be members of Hamas. The IDF has also not provided ZDF with any such information,” it said.

Israel has been accused of targeting Gazan journalists and media employees throughout the war, but the military says it has no such policy, and that many of the people identified as journalists who have been killed during the war were actually terror operatives.


Call me Back LIVE in NYC - with Nadav Eyal and Amit Segal
This past Thursday, Dan sat down with Ark Media contributors Nadav Eyal and Amit Segal for a live Call me Back conversion at the Streicker Center in New York City. They discussed a range of issues related to Israeli and Jewish society and the October 7 war.


Erin Molan: “BEHAVE” Israel’s Ambassador on MAMDANI and internal chaos + Michelle Tafoya hits back!
In this powerful episode 36 of The Erin Molan show, Erin Molan sits down with four-time Emmy-winning broadcaster and host of The Michele Tafoya Podcast, Michele Tafoya, for an unfiltered, heartfelt conversation about why they walked away from mainstream sports broadcasting to stand up for truth, family, and the future of the West.

They discuss:
The cost of speaking out in today’s cancel culture
Why so many athletes quietly agree with them but fear going public
The growing intolerance of the so-called “tolerant left”
How to protect your children and your country from the cultural collapse

Also featuring a powerful on-site conversation with Ofir Akunis, Israel’s Consul General in New York, recorded at the JNF Conference, about the State of Israel, Jewish identity, and the moral fight facing the free world.


Erin Molan: “I’m Not Paid by Israel… I’m Guided by GOD” — Officer Tatum Takes the Gloves Off!
In this exclusive sit-down, Erin Molan talks with Officer Brandon Tatum — former police officer, conservative commentator, and Christian voice for truth — about his journey from law enforcement to political activism, and why his faith compels him to defend Israel.

Tatum opens up about:
His spiritual conviction to stand with Israel 🇮🇱✝️
The backlash he’s faced for supporting Israel — and why he won’t back down
The false accusations that he’s “paid by Israel”
His take on Trump’s foreign policy and the fight against “Israel Derangement Syndrome”
His respectful disagreement with Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, and how his wife’s perspective evolved
Policing, truth, and courage in the post-BLM era


PM has ‘chipped away’ the alliance with Israel after alienating Jews ‘in their time of need’
AIJAC Executive Manager Joel Burnie says Israelis claim the “friendship alliance” between Australia and Israel is unstable.

“Over the past three and a half to four years of the Albanese government, bit by bit, chipped away at the alliance, to the fact now that most Israelis feel that the Australian government at least … no longer likes them,” Mr Burnie said.

“It’s an emotional thing for the Israelis because they feel as though in their desperate time of need, after the sheer violence and brutality of October 7 … that their friends of 77 years, including the Australians, would be with them, and unfortunately, the government never was."




‘Brutal force’: ABC finally shows some ‘key facts’ on Hamas’ operations in Palestine
Sky News host Chris Kenny discusses the ABC’s renewed attempt at “journalistic intimidation” against Sky News Australia amid running a news piece depicting “simple facts” of Hamas’ war against Israel.

“To the ABC, your taxpayer-funded national broadcaster and its Middle East reporting and its anti-Israel bias,” Mr Kenny said.

“They said my criticism of the ABC was a disgrace and they wrote to the bosses here at Sky and at The Australian and at News Corp Australasia.”


Why Zohran Mamdani is the greatest threat to global Jewry of the 21st century
What makes Mamdani’s menace even more odious is how he’s been given almost carte blanche by mainstream media — America’s traditional first line of defense against dangerous racial and religious provocation. No other cultural figure, for instance, would have been allowed, as Mamdani was, to allege a Hindu-led genocide in the Indian state of Gujarat took place in 2002, when no such massacre occurred.

“We don’t even believe there are Gujarati Muslims anymore,” said Mamdani at a candidates’ forum earlier this year. Turns out there are actually 7 million Muslims in Gujarat — a full 10% of the state’s population. Indians, both in India and New York, were outraged by Mamdani’s blood libel.

But no matter. Yet again, Mamdani evaded either political critique or consequence, reducing even the most egregious blunder to a mere news blip and minor campaign inconvenience. But not with Israel and Jews. No one is talking about Mamdani and Gujarat and “genocide.” Aided by his self-defeating Jewish surrogates, no one can stop talking about Mamdani and Israel and “genocide.” Just how Zohran Mamdani wants it.

Mamdani’s relentless centering of Israel — its legitimacy and Jewishness — to fuel his campaign betrays a double standard demanded of no other ethnic group. And this double-standard — Mamdani’s calculated, arrogant Judeo-mania — this is the antisemitism those hundreds of rabbis are warning about.

It’s the kind of arrogance that says, “Why defend charges of Jew-hate when I can have Jews themselves do it for me.” And if elected, this once-casual — yet now commonplace — manipulation of Jewish fear and beneficence is certain to become embedded in culture and politics across the nation. It’s already happening.

Just this week, prominent entertainment industry Jewish figures, including Oscar winners Debra Winger and Jonathan Glazer, signed an open letter to global political leaders asking for Israel’s government to be held accountable for “violations of international law.” It’s classic Mamdani-ism gone Hollywood: Jews against Jews on behalf of Muslims (or Blacks or any other officially “imperiled” minority) — except, of course, for Jews themselves.

The most insidious element of woke culture is how it convinces perfectly reasonable people to act against their own best interests. And when it comes to New York City’s mayoral race and New York City’s Jews, this is exactly what Zohran Mamdani is counting on.
Nearly 600 Israeli companies have created 27,000 jobs in NYC, survey finds
Nearly 600 Israeli-founded companies have created more than 27,000 jobs in New York City, generating billions of dollars for the city’s economy, according to an economic report released on Monday.

The report was compiled by the United States-Israel Business Alliance, which works to foster business ties between the US and Israel. It pointed to both the value of the New York City market for Israeli businesses along with their impact on the city’s economy.

The survey came out a week before the city’s mayoral election. The frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani, supports the Israel boycott movement.

There are 590 companies founded by Israelis in New York City that have directly created 27,471 jobs, with an average income of $160,126, including benefits and bonuses, said the report, which was based on 2024 data.

The companies generated $8.1 billion in total earnings, adding an estimated $12.4 billion in value to the city’s economy and $17.9 billion in total gross economic output.

There are 20 Israeli-founded “unicorns,” or companies worth more than $1 billion, based in the city, the report said.

The report estimated that the companies supported more than 50,000 jobs indirectly, for example, by buying and shipping local products.
From Extremist to Victim: How The New York Times Whitewashed Zohran Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani is no fringe activist anymore – he’s the frontrunner in New York City’s mayoral race. And as Election Day nears, The New York Times seems determined to convince readers that he’s the victim, not the ideologue he’s long shown himself to be. The Candidate and His Record

Born in Uganda and raised in post-apartheid South Africa, Mamdani comes from an outspokenly anti-Israel household. His father, Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, has repeatedly called for Israel’s dismantling and took part in the 2024 campus encampments. His mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, publicly boycotts Israel and promotes the “apartheid state” narrative.

Mamdani himself has echoed the same rhetoric for years. A proud ally of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, he has described Zionism as “racism” and “intifada” as a “non-violent struggle” – historical revisionism that denies the reality of more than a thousand Israelis murdered during the First and Second Intifadas.

As his campaign gained traction, Mamdani tried to soften his image. Out were the open endorsements of BDS and calls to “globalize the intifada.” In their place: rehearsed “clarifications” and half-hearted nods to coexistence. When pressed on whether Israel has a right to exist, Mamdani now says, “as a state that follows international law” – a formulation that conspicuously avoids acknowledging Israel’s legitimacy as the Jewish state.

It’s not an evolution; it’s a strategy. He knows he needs Jewish voters – and that his record makes them wary.
Zohran Mamdani didn’t tell the whole truth about his hijab-wearing ‘aunt’ who feared for safety post-9/11
The “aunt” who Zohran Mamdani said was too afraid to wear her hijab on the subways after 9/11 is actually his dad’s cousin.

The socialist mayoral front-runner made the revelation during a press conference Monday after critics seized on his story, sharing photos on social media of a woman they identified as his aunt, who was pictured without a hijab.

“I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani told reporters about the relative, whom he said he affectionately called his aunt.

Fuhi means paternal aunt in Urdu and Hindi.

Mamdani’s campaign did not provide the cousin’s full name, when asked.

Questions began to mount on social media after a tearful Mamdani on Friday recalled how his “aunt” made the painful decision to stop taking the subway in New York City after facing Islamophobia in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.


CAIR-Ohio Director Moderated Event Featuring Treasury-Designated Hamas Official
“We write to request an investigation by the Department of the Treasury into potential ties between the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas, pursuant to 31 C.F.R. § 594.201(a)(3),” wrote Senator Tom Cotton and Representative Elise Stefanik in an October 14, 2025 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Eight days later, CAIR-Ohio Director Khalid Turaani moderated an online event in Arabic featuring individuals with documented connections to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, including a prominent Hamas official in Europe sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury one year prior. The Al-Zaytouna Centre Event

The Beirut-based Al-Zaytouna Centre hosted a two-panel online conference on October 22, 2025, titled “Palestinians Abroad and Regional and International Strategic Transformations in the Light of Al-Aqsa Flood.” According to the organization’s official website, Turaani chaired the first panel of the event, which was conducted via Zoom. “Al-Aqsa Flood” is the name Hamas gave to its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The second panel featured Majed al-Zeer, a senior Hamas member in Europe who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government, and Sami al-Arian, who was convicted of conspiracy to provide services to the designated terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and subsequently deported from the U.S.

Both sessions were uploaded to YouTube, where they remain publicly accessible with full video documentation — part one and part two.

Jewish Onliner analyzed the Arabic-language event and found that speakers on Turaani’s panel expressed hope that the Turkish army would deploy to Gaza and potentially engage the Israel Defense Forces in combat.

Al-Zeer claimed during his remarks that solidarity and “the resistance” were key to maintaining momentum in what he described as a “strategic shift” in how Europe and the world view the Palestinian issue. Al-Arian stated that “the overall Palestinian situation is much better strategically than it was before the Flood,” referring to the October 7, 2023 attacks.

The event also featured Ziad el-Aloul, a member of several Hamas-affiliated organizations in Europe, including the European Palestinians Conference and the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad. The latter organization was endorsed by former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and designated as a terror group by Israel in 2021 for its work on behalf of Hamas.
Mohammed Hijab can’t appeal libel case loss against Douglas Murray and The Spectator
Anti-Israel activist and Islamic influencer Mohammed Hijab has lost his application to appeal the ruling of a high-profile libel case against journalist Douglas Murray and The Spectator magazine.

The Court of Appeal on Friday rejected Hijab’s request to challenge a ruling that found Murray’s comments about him were “substantially true.”

The decision means Hijab will be forced to repay legal costs to Murray and The Spectator. In August, Hijab suggested this could amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds, with a post on X stating, “I have been given a bill of 670,000 pounds sterling.” This week, he told the JC that the number “is closer” to £850,000 including VAT. “I'm a litigant in person now so I'm trying to figure it all out as I go along,” he said.

Hijab’s failed defamation claim stemmed from an opinion piece written by Murray and published in The Spectator in September 2022.

In the column, Murray accused Hijab – who has 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube – of “cropping up in Leicester to whip up his followers” during unrest between Muslim and Hindu groups in the city. The article argued that Hijab’s visit had inflamed local tensions and contributed to the escalation of violence.

In September, Mr Justice Johnson dismissed Hijab’s libel claim, ruling that Murray’s description of the influencer was “substantially true” and that the article had not caused “serious harm” to Hijab’s reputation.

On Hijab’s conduct in court, the judge described his behaviour as “combative and constantly argumentative. I am satisfied that he lied on significant issues, with the consequence that his evidence, overall, is worthless.”
European opposition threatens Israel's return to hosting int'l soccer
Israel’s national soccer team may have to wait longer than expected before returning to play home matches on its own soil. Despite the end of fighting and ongoing efforts to restore normal sporting activity, several European federations remain opposed to resuming international games in Israel – and some have made it clear they are unwilling to travel there under any circumstances.

According to information obtained and reported by Israel Hayom, at least five UEFA member nations – including Spain, Ireland, Scotland, Slovenia, and Norway- have privately communicated their refusal to play in Israel, even after the ceasefire and recent stabilization in the security situation. Their position reflects growing political pressure in their home countries, where anti-Israel sentiment and boycotts have increasingly spilled over into the world of sports.

The stance of these federations poses a serious challenge for Israel Football Association (IFA) chairman Shino Zuaretz, who had hoped to formally request the reinstatement of international hosting rights by late 2025 or early 2026. Behind the scenes, however, sources say that a bloc of European federations is lobbying UEFA to delay or block any such decision.

'It's political'
“The issue isn’t just about soccer – it’s political,” an Israeli soccer official acknowledged. “Even though security conditions have improved dramatically, some federations are taking ideological positions against Israel. It’s unfortunate that sport, which should unite people, is being used as a political weapon.”

The IFA is now preparing a diplomatic push to secure support within UEFA’s executive committee and rebuild trust among European counterparts. Over the next two months, Israeli officials plan to intensify behind-the-scenes efforts to pave the way for a full return of international matches to Israel. While a sustained calm and a permanent end to hostilities would weigh heavily in Israel’s favor, it appears that political hostility from several countries could continue to complicate matters, regardless of security conditions on the ground.


Why Hate Against Jews in Britain Meets the Threshold of Crimes Against Humanity
Two years after 7 October, Britain lives with the aftershocks of a massacre that began as an attack on Jewish civilians and then metastasised into pressure on Jewish life far from the battlefield. What followed in the UK was not a normalised policy debate about Gaza. It was a surge of targeted hostility, intimidation, and explicit calls for violence directed at Jews and Israelis as Jews, a pattern that Britain’s leading monitoring body describes as unprecedented in scope and persistence. The question we have been avoiding—legally as much as morally—is whether such conduct is merely “hate crime” in the ordinary domestic sense, or whether, given its organised nature, scale, and connection to an ongoing campaign against a recognisable civilian population, it has crossed into the territory of crimes against humanity, specifically persecution. On the evidence, there is now a serious argument that it has.

Begin with what is measurable. The Community Security Trust (CST) recorded the worst year for antisemitism since records began, with the sharpest acceleration immediately after 7 October; that step-change did not revert to prior baselines but persisted deep into 2024–25. In the twelve months after 7 October, CST logged 5,583 incidents, a year-on-year jump of 204%, a shift so marked that mainstream demographers say it altered the emigration calculus of British Jews. On defined days of mobilisation, spikes were visible: after a Glastonbury chant of “Death, death to the IDF” (the Israel Defense Forces) there was a same-day peak in incidents, illustrating how performative hostility in public arenas bleeds directly into street-level harassment and assault. The Government has responded by expanding security funding to Jewish schools and synagogues—an implicit recognition that heightened threat is not speculative but current. None of this is mere “offence”; it is a pattern of targeted pressure on a civilian minority in Britain, temporally and causally linked to a foreign armed group’s attack on Jews as such.

Now the law. Under Article 7 of the Rome Statute, a crime against humanity means certain enumerated acts when committed as part of a “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population,” with knowledge of that attack. Among those acts is persecution, defined as the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights by reason of the identity of the group. The Elements clarify that persecution may be committed “in connection with” other acts listed in Article 7 and must occur within a wider attack—but the mode need not be kinetic; severe rights deprivations and campaigns of intimidation may qualify, where they are widespread or systematic and identity-based.

What Britain has witnessed since 7 October—a sustained, identity-targeted campaign of intimidation and violence-adjacent rhetoric aimed at Jews and “Zionists” in the UK, timed to and choreographed with the military campaign of a proscribed terrorist organisation—maps disturbingly onto the persecution paradigm. When demonstrators chant for the death of Jews or Israelis, when professionals publicly praise the 7 October mass killing, and when organised networks use Britain’s streets and institutions to celebrate or justify violence against Jews under the alibi of “anti-Zionism”, we are no longer in the realm of ordinary protest. We are in a context where a civilian population—Jews in Britain—faces systematic rights deprivations: security at worship and schooling becomes contingent; free movement is chilled by threats near Jewish neighbourhoods; equal access to public spaces is constrained by orchestrated intimidation. The cumulative effect is a severe denial of fundamental rights—safety, assembly, worship, education—because of identity. That is persecution’s core.
Met and CPS accused of string of anti-Semitism failings
Police and prosecutors have been accused of repeatedly allowing anti-Semitic hate speech to go unpunished.

Jewish community groups have compiled a dossier of allegedly anti-Semitic behaviour by pro-Palestine activists after studying hours of video footage on social media and observing many of the past two years’ anti-Israel protests.

In several cases, action by police and prosecutors has been dropped or fallen through at an early stage.

They have now called on the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to come down harder on displays of anti-Semitism, which include the harassment of Jews, open death threats and vocal support for the Hamas terror group.

Among the examples in the dossier compiled by Labour Against Anti-Semitism and other Jewish groups are pro-Palestinian activists who blockaded Jewish community centres and synagogues; calls for “Zionists” and “Jews” to be killed; and speeches in praise of the Oct 7 2023 attacks on Israel.

In one particularly disturbing incident, a Jewish community centre in north London was targeted in October last year.

Pro-Palestine activists were filmed screaming “murderers” at elderly Jewish visitors as they tried to enter, reducing several to tears, including one 80-year-old woman.

In another incident protesters, including some identified in the dossier, were photographed marching through a Jewish residential area of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, where they were heard calling residents “baby killers” and seen trying to prevent orthodox Jews from entering a synagogue.

‘Disgraceful era of hatred’
Critics have said that neither the Met Police nor the CPS are doing enough to tackle anti-Semitic hate speech, which they say has exploded since the Oct 7 attacks.

Alex Hearn, from Labour Against Antisemitism, said: “Time and again, Britain’s Jewish community has been abused and threatened, but the authorities have taken no action against the perpetrators.

“Anti-Semitism in this country has been allowed to spread unchecked for years. It is now totally out of control, and this is the fault of our elected politicians and our police who are only now starting to wake up to the seriousness of the problem after Jews were murdered at their place of worship in Manchester.

“How it was allowed to get to this point is a stain on our country. We need strong action to enforce the rule of law and to bring an end to this disgraceful era of hatred.”
Downing Street urges police action after chants of ‘Zionist scum, off our streets’ in Tower Hamlets
Downing Street has again voiced concern over the Metropolitan Police’s response to antisemitic chants in London, after groups of masked men were filmed in Tower Hamlets shouting: “Zionist scum, off our streets.”

Footage circulating online showed crowds in the East London borough chanting the same slogan while waving Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Palestinian flags outside the local town hall.

The incident occurred during a counter-protest on Saturday, organized in response to a fringe far-right group’s planned march through London’s East End. Groups of Muslim men, dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, were also filmed chanting: “We will honour all our martyrs! From the river to the sea! Allahu akbar!”

Asked about the chants, a spokesperson for Keir Starmer said: “The Prime Minister has been very clear on the need to tackle antisemitism. As he has said before, the police already have extensive public order powers to address the incidents you mentioned.”

Pressed on why antisemitic chants persist despite calls for action, the spokesperson emphasized the need to respect police operational independence but reiterated that police have the authority to “manage protests and, where there is evidence of antisemitism, tackle it as a matter of urgency.”

He added, “We would expect the police to respond robustly.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also responded to the sight of the masked men on the streets saying it was “one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen in my whole life”.

It was “like a foreign invading army marching through our streets”, he added.




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